John left the gym and looked over at Pokéstock
'99, which was now in
full swing. Score was on the stage trying to give away a Rhydon.
"Hey John, Where are you going?" Tiki asked.
"I'm heading back to the Game Corner, see if I can be a
winner."
John soon reached the building and entered.
"Excuse me, sir, you're going to have to put your Pokémon
back into its
Pokéball."
"Oh, ok, Ariel, return!" John bought some coins, then
sat down at a
machine and started.
Click. Charmander. Click. Charmeleon. Click. Blastoise!
"Damn!"
John changed machines. CLick. Pokédex. Click. Pokéflute. Click.
Jigglypuff. A couple of coins popped out. Looking around, JOhn
saw one
machine that interested him. Match up three symbols, get the
Pokémon.
john placed a couple of coins in the slot,and pulled the lever.
Scyther.
Pinsir. Jigglypuff. Undeterred, he tried again. Jigglypuff.
Jigglypuff.
Eevee.
"Damn Eevee. Jonpageori could've had a singing
partner." Dratini.
Dratini. Dragonaire. "Aggh!" Scyther. Pikachu.
Raichu.
Wigglytuff. Wigglytuff. Wigglytuff. A small package popped out.
John
opened it, and kaboom! His face was black. He tossed the package
into
the trash. Last coin. Dratini. Dratini. Dratini! This time, a
slip of
paper appeared. John took it over to the Prize Center and
collected a
Pokéball. He opened it up and the small dragon Pokémon popped
out, then
leaped on his shoulder. Satisfied, he headed back and saw Pipian.
"Hey Pip!"
"John! You have a Dratini! Damn you! I wanted one!"
The Dratini looked at Pipian and proceeded to switch shoulders.
John
laughed. "Well,it seems to like you alot, so why don't you
have it?"
"Are you sure?"
"Go ahead. I'll try for a different Pokémon." John
gave Pipian the
Pokéball, then secretly cursed and headed back to the Game
Corner...
Re: By Shimarisu
Only to be stopped dead in his tracks, as he felt
something strange wrap
around his stomach. He had the odd feeling that he was walking on
thin
air. He looked down, and realised that he indeed was walking on
thin
air. And then he realised what had happened.
The robust little Ivysaur that had become his captor grinned
oddly, and
lowered him to the floor. It retracted the vines that had held
him, now
it had got his attention.
"What?" John was confused.
"Saur!" said the creature, meaningfully but also rather
pointlessly. It
seemed awfully pleased to see him. "Saur!" it said
again. And then it
did something rather bizarre. It whipped out one of its vines
again, and
smacked it against the pocket of his jeans, making the money
inside it
jangle. And then it grinned once more, almost politely.
"Saur!" it said, meaninglessly.
"What?" John repeated, making up the pretty pointless
interchange.
"Saur!" Again it struck his pocket. Again John heard
the coins, that he
was about to exchange for the equivalents to use in Game
Corner. And
then the realisation hit home.
"You want some money?" he ventured incredulously.
"Saur!"
"But you're a Pokemon! What could you do with it? Anyway,
it's mine, I
was about to use it on the machines."
The Ivysaur looked disappointed. But it also looked like it
wasn't
likely to budge. John got the feeling that if he walked away,
this
persistant little creature would probably follow. Who did it
belong to,
anyway? He looked around. There was nobody watching, so obviously
the
owner, if there was one was absent. It was most puzzling.
What sort of Pokemon - besides a Meowth of course - was
interested in
human currency?
Re: By Syke6888 L
John pondered this a little, then decided the
best way to get an answer
was to give up a couple of coins to the Ivysaur. Happy, the
little
creature gave out a loud "Saur!" and ran off. John
secretly followed the
creature, Ariel at his side. He almost lost it a few times, but
had also
released Tara for eye-in-the-sky surveillance. Soon the little
creature
stopped and John said, "Who's there?
Re: By Shimarisu
A young woman walked out of the shadows. She was
painfully thin, her
hair was unkempt and her skin was wet, and red as if she'd
hastily
scrubbed away at it to get it clean. She smelt of the kind of
pungent
soap that you only find in public washrooms. Bruises covered the
exposed
areas of her body. But her eyes shone through all this, an almost
iridescent green. She was wearing what appeared to be a black
Team
Rocket uniform, with the 'R' missing across the front and the
seams all
showing. This too, appeared to have been hastily scrubbed - it
was
dripping and bore the marks of soap residue. John guessed,
correctly,
that she'd turned the tunic inside out in a somewhat futile
attempt to
hide her identity.
She glanced across the area in his field of vision, but her eyes
never
once stopped to take anything in. He hadn't seen her look at him,
but
somehow he knew that she was well aware of his presence. But she
did not
display any interest in this. Instead she regarded the Ivysaur at
her
feet.
"I told you" she stated, "that I don't need any of
this. I can find my
own food and clothing, so stop patronising me."
The Ivysaur seemed nevertheless happy at its accomplishment. It
nudged
the coins that the woman had not taken towards her boots.
"Saur!" it said.
"I'm sure you're very pleased with yourself. But I never
told you what
to do, so stop making people think that I did! It makes them
think I'm
one of them!" She turned away slightly as if to indicate a
certain lack
of interest in the creature.
"Saur!"
She turned around suddenly as if in defeat, then subsequently
snatched
up the coins in a defiant air that suggested victory.
"Fine," she said.
"Looks like I'm buying you some dinner today. That was what
you wanted,
wasn't it?" She smiled defiantly.
"Saur?" The Ivysaur looked defeatedly at the
ground. It was
disappointed, not from its inability to communicate a point, but
in its
mistress' refusal to accept it. And the woman was already
striding
meaningfully towards the nearest shop that sold tasty Pokesnacks.
After
what appeared to be a moment's deliberation, the creature
followed.
John had taken all this in, and was surprised that the woman had
ignored
him for the whole time he was there, stood out in the open
observing the
bizarre conversation. It occurred to him that while the Ivysaur
was
robust and well fed, its trainer appeared on the brink of
starvation.
And yet she didn't seem weakened by this - she was already
pushing open
the heavy door of the shop with defiant abandon. Ivysaur plodded
some
metres behind, looking singularly fed up with the whole
situation.
Re: By Syke6888 L
"Woah," was all John could say about
the current situation. What was
going on here? Surely she was Team Rocket, but since when is a
Rocket as
low on the totem pole as her? But despite her looks and luck,
there was
an independence about her that radiated like a lamp. She had
ignored him
the entire time, and refused her Ivysaur's help. John decided to
follow
her and find out more.
"Leave me alone," the woman said to him. John was
surprised.
"Why? You look like you need help."
"I'm fine. Just go, and thanks anyways."
"Look, I'm not going 'til I know more about you. Who are
you? What's
wrong?"
Re: By Shimarisu
"Nothing's wrong. Now leave me alone."
She made to close the
door in his face, but there were people in her way who
wanted to get out. And Ivysaur was by now trying its best to
grab her hand using one of its vines - it wanted those coins
she held to be spent elsewhere. Murasaki snatched the
probing vine out of the air and held it tightly. Ivysaur
looked dejected.
"I'm not going." John was adamant.
"Fine then, I don't care what you do."
She walked up to the counter, and made a point of peering at
a menu that was laid out on top of it, even though she
couldn't read a word. After deciding that she'd spent the
required amount of time perusing it, she addressed the
cashier who was looking at her in a funny way. As a result
of the unwanted inspection that she was receiving from two
parties, she sounded noticably irritated.
"I want some food. For a plant pokemon." She abruptly
dropped the coins on the counter. "Is this enough?"
The man serving continued to eye her suspiciously, as he
reached behind and took down a packet of something
nondescript from the shelves that lined the back of the
shop. He soundlessly pushed it onto
the counter. Murasaki picked up the packet with finger and
thumb, as if it was some foreign object that she really
didn't want to touch. It didn't look like it contained much,
some vitamins perhaps? But Murasaki decided not to argue, it
was too much effort. She haughtily stalked out of the door,
with John still following her. She released the vine that
she still held in her hand, and Ivysaur retracted it.
"Here," she said, addressing the creature. "I
don't know
what you do with it, but it might do you some good." She
broke open the packet and dropped the contents - which
looked like pellet-sized biscuits, onto the floor. Ivysaur
gave in, and made a point of eating them noisily. Murasaki
pretended to take great interest in watching the pokemon
eat, but she nevertheless grew more and more irritated by
the presence of the person still standing behind her. She
was about to tell John to go away again, but then something
occurred to her. She turned, and examined him closely.
Scruffy jeans and T-shirts were certainly not her style, but
the situation had become somewhat desperate...
John felt very uneasy. There was something very
disconcerting about this woman's eyes. Nevertheless he tried
again.
"Look. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Murasaki smiled, though it was not a pleasant expression. "I
told you, I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's
help. But if you have some spare clothes you can give me,
and you give them to me, and then leave me alone, I may
consider it fortuitous."
She sniffed, as if to indicate that she didn't care what
happened either way. But an unpleasant feeling was creeping
up her spine. The neurosis grew, and threatened to take over
her body, she felt the hairs on her arms tingle as if
responding to a threat. She shivered, but then swallowed and
allowed the bad feelings to disperse.
This was not asking for help. It was not admitting that she
needed help. She just wanted this kid to go away. And that
was all...
Re: By Syke6888 L
"Sigh. There are some peple you just can't
help," John thought. He
reached into his backpack and pulled out some clothes. He placed
them
near the girl, then left. As he left, he took one last glance at
the
strange girl.
Awhile later John found himself back at Pokéstock. Looking
around, he
decided to find T.A.C. and hopefully get the thought of the girl
out of
his mind.