Hi, I'm posting this for a friend of mine.  She's very interested in C&C
and if you have any to offer, please send it to lynxara@hotmail.com
Thank you.  :)

Sincerely,

Megane 6.7


-- Listar MIME Decryption --------------
-- Name   : Evolution1.txt

An Excerpt from "Great Moments in World Pokemon League History"
-- A treatise by the distinguished William Rutherford, Professor
of Strategy and Tactics at Pokemon Technical University.

Final Battle, the 237th League Mastership Tournament

This Mastership Tournament was distinguished by a sharp increase
in the number and quality of hopeful Masters who entered.  Almost
every battle was well-matched and well-fought, and the Pokemon
used were unusually powerful and well-trained.  

In fact, in later years, this particular Mastership Tournament
has been remembered with a certain quality of 'legend' to it.
While that is a slight exaggeration of the quality of the
Tournament overall, it is no exaggeration when applied to the
final match.   

The final match for League Mastership pitted two exceptionally
skilled young men against each other.  It was no surprise that
both young men were from Pallet, the small village that has
provided the League with so many of its best researchers,
breeders, and trainers.  Nor was it surprising that both
young men came from families long associated with the Pokemon
League. However, the sheer level of excellence displayed by the
both of them, and the innovative tactics used in their battle,
were nothing short of revolutionary.

The first of the two challengers was Gary Oak, using his
devastating team of Hitmonlee, Onix, Gyrados, Jolteon,
Dragonaire, and Charizard.  He was the grandson of the famous
Pokemon Researcher, Professor Edward Oak, and had obviously
benefitted from his grandfather's wisdom.  

Gary was, going into the tournament, considered by many to be the
odds-on favorite to take victory and become the League's next
Pokemon Master.  He was well-schooled in the best tactical and
strategic information of the day, and had raised his Pokemon in
accordance to all of his era's rules of thumb regarding Pokemon
training.  All of his qualifying battles were extremely short, as
his six Pokemon had been well-trained in methods for defeating
each individual pokemon species by working together and pooling
their talents.  

The second challenger was a young man with a background that was
only slightly less stellar than Gary's.  Ash Ketchum was the son
of noteworthy Pokemon Trainer Cole Ketchum, who ascended to the
quarter-finals of the 230th Pokemon League Mastership Tournament. 
Ash's victories at the time were viewed by many as flukes and
lucky strikes, but later generations would realize the brilliance
of his method of training.  

His team of Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, Pidgeot, Butterfree
and Pikachu (a choice that was particularly frowned upon) seemed
to have only barely adequate training, and received very little
useful instruction from Ash himself during matches.  Young Ash
was, in fact, criticized for being little more than a cheerleader
to his Pokemon, despite his stunning victories over many
highly-ranked opponents.    

As such, going into the League's final match, there was the
general expectation that the match would be yet another short,
devastating victory for Gary Oak.  Instead, what has been called
the greatest match in League history took place.  The battle went
on for nearly forty-five minutes, with victory only being awarded
when someone had managed to incapacitate all six of the
opponents' pokemon.  

The sheer number of feints, recalls, and tactical strikes were
breathtaking to watch.  Gary's pokemon were well-trained and
responded to his precise commands; the only actions Ash seemed to
take were to gauge when a pokemon was improperly matched, and
should be removed from battle.  One by one, each young man found
ways to eliminate the other's pokemon, until Gary was left with
his Hitmonlee opposing Ash's Venusaur, Blastoise, and Pikachu.  

Ash wisely sent the more powerful, evolved pokemon against Gary's
fighting pokemon, but they were on the verge of exhaustion, and
rather easily dispatched by the previously unused and fresh
Hitmonlee.  Then the battle was down to Hitmonlee and Pikachu.
Not only was Pikachu considered a weaker type of Pokemon, but he
had also been used extensively earlier in the battle.  By all
rights, Hitmonlee should have easily dispatched the electric
mouse.  

Instead, Hitmonlee found itself frustrated by the sheer stamina
the Pikachu seemed to possess.  It was attacked by the Hitmonlee
until the point where it should have fainted and been unable to
continue, but somehow, the little creature kept getting up and
trying again.  Gary gave his opponent many opportunities to give
up; every time, Ash asked the Pikachu if he should.  Ash was
always refused.  The Pikachu simply refused to give up.  

With victory so close, and the time it should have taken to
defeat the pokemon growing ever-longer, Gary was eventually
overwhelmed.  In a fit of frustration, he commanded his pokemon
to do the unthinkable, and attack the opposing trainer. Though
Hitmonlee never actually touched Ash, he did advance menacingly
upon the young trainer... and to this day, whether or not the
pokemon would have really hurt him is still debated by
historians.  

Regardless of whatever Gary's intentions might have been, though,
the arena was quickly consumed by panic. That atmosphere of
panic, coupled with the expression of fear it must have seen on
its trainers face, seemed to thoroughly enrage Ash's Pikachu. 
Once again the little creature stood up, but this time it was not
to battle, but to run to its trainers' aid.  

Perhaps it was that Pikachu's need to protect his trainer that
caused what happened next; there have been no other plausible
explanations offered by the League's researchers.   Seemingly
spontaneously, Ash's Pikachu began to evolve right in the middle
of the battle.   The form the creature took was not that
customarily associated with the Pikachu, Raichu, but instead a
form that had never been seen before.  

The evolved Pikachu, later to be named Tenchu, moved between its
trainer and the advancing Hitmonlee with speed that previously
would have been impossible for it, and attacked its opponent with
a breathtaking new electrical maneuver, which would in the future be known as the
Fist of Heaven.  Hitmonlee was completely incapacitated by the
strike, and Gary was forced to forfeit. 

After the battle, Ash was crowned the latest Pokemon League
Master. He went on to even further glory later in his young life
when he managed to capture and train 150 of the species of
Pokemon then known to civilization, thereby becoming the only
Pokemon League Grand Master to have been crowned within this
century.  As of this writing, he still serves the League,
assisting young pokemon trainers and presiding over the League's
Mastership Tournaments every other year.  

Gary Oak, however, fared less well after the tournament.  He was
stripped of his right to be a pokemon trainer by the League,
despite several protests.  It has been assumed that Gary then
returned to his hometown,  where he was likely killed in the
Great Pallet Massacre.  However, none of the bodies found were
reliably identified as his, so it is possible (if unlikely) that
Gary is still living out his life in anonymity somewhere in the
world.          
_________________________________________________________________

POKEMON: EVOLUTION ONE

A fanfic by Alicia Ashby [lynxara@hotmail.com]
Co-written by Damien Karolev [hacker@polarcom.com]

Aided and abetted by Christian Rogers and Glazius Falconar
_________________________________________________________________

CELADON CITY  

Shigeru Adauchi hadn't been expecting to meet his contact in a
particularly nice place, but the dive he'd just walked into
surpassed even his worst expectations.  The room smelled like an
unpleasant mixture of mold, urine, and alcohol; and the thin film
of grime that seemed to cover every surface was definitely no
less than a few weeks old.  

Not that any of this particularly mattered to him.  His presence
here was strictly business, and for business, all he required was
an out of the way table, a bottle of scotch, and a reasonably
clean glass to drink it from.  Within a few minutes, he located
his contact sitting in a place that met his expectations nicely,
and wordlessly walked over to join him.

Adauchi's contact was a slender man with ice-blue hair and a more
than slightly pretentious air about him.  He stared expectantly
at Adauchi as he unceremoniously sat down in the chair opposite
him, wiped a shot glass out with his trench coat's sleeve, and
began drinking. It was shortly before the third shot that Adauchi
finally glared irritably up at the man through his sunglasses,
and spoke. 

"Well?" 

The contact affected an exasperated sigh.  "I was hoping someone
with your reputation would have been a bit more civil than the
operatives we usually hire." 

Adauchi's only reply was to emit a guttural noise somewhere
between a grunt and a growl.

The contact frowned, then withdrew a packet of papers from a
briefcase that was sitting at his side.  "My organization
requires your services in dealing with this man," he said as he
withdrew a photograph from the stack and flicked it in Adauchi's
direction.  He slid it off of the table and started studying it
intently as the man continued to speak.  

"It's from one of our security cameras, so it'll be a bit blurry,
but it should be clear enough for you to recognize him in person. 
He's an eco-terrorist who's been plaguing our company lately. 
Operates under the cover name Satoshi.  Initially, he was merely
an annoyance, but he's increased his activities lately, and is
beginning to become very expensive."

"Why not go to the cops?" Adauchi asked flatly. 

The contact answered quickly and smoothly.  "My company is
involved in certain extra-legal activities.  Unfortunately, those
happen to be the activities that Satoshi is sabotaging.  So,
having the interference of the authorities could be very
inconvenient."

Adauchi nodded.  "So, just how much is this guy worth to you?"

Then the contact withdrew an envelope from the briefcase, and
slid it across the table.  Adauchi quietly opened it and counted
up the bills; not even his sunglasses could hide the surprise on
his face.  The sum was impressive, to say the least.

"And that's only half your pay," the contact smugly added.
"You'll receive the other half upon successfully completing the
assignment."

"That's a damned lot of money for just one hit," Adauchi replied. 
His tone was not overtly suspicious, but there was a certain hard
edge to it that indicated that he wouldn't tolerate being
used. 

"Satoshi is much more skilled than he looks.  We've tried to send
our own employees and somewhat less reputable operatives than
yourself against him.  They've all failed.  I simply want to make
sure that you are extremely enthusiastic about completing this
mission.  Satoshi's elimination is well worth the cost to us." 

Adauchi simply grunted in reply, and finished off his fifth shot
of scotch.  "Where do I find him?"

"We've tracked the string of 'accidents' he's been causing for
the past several months.  If he sticks to his usual pattern,
he'll be hitting a facility just outside this city tonight. 
His usual modus operandi is to blow out the compound's
generators, then plant explosives around any departments
associated with a certain project of ours while the lights are
out.  He usually shows up sometime after midnight, to our best
estimate, though he's been varying it somewhat lately.  The
facility could be reached shortly after nightfall if you had
access to a motor vehicle. If not, then I have a list of other
sites he may be hitting in the future..."

"Don't bother," Adauchi interrupted.  "It'll get done tonight."   

"Excellent!  The map you have will show the way, and -- ah,
excuse me, I'm not quite finished yet..." the contact trailed off
as Adauchi rose from the table, and began silently walking
towards the door. "... hey!  HEY!  At least pick up your own
tab!"  The contact rose angrily from the table, and began to
stride quickly after Adauchi.  He arrived at the dive's entrance
just in time to see the cloud of dust kicked up by Adauchi's
motorcycle, as it roared off into the distance.  

The contact remained standing at the door for a few moments,
stunned.  "I... he... how DARE he!!" he screamed, face twisted in
rage.

He quickly stopped himself when he realized he was in public. 
Temper, James.  So what if the hitman had bad manners, as long as
the job got done?  

They'd told him to make sure Satoshi ended up dead.  They never
said that he'd have to do it himself.  If anything, they would no
doubt be impressed with his ingenuity.  That would have to prove
to them once and for all that he was worthy of having his former
status in the organization returned to him.  Yes, he'd finally be
able to show them just how mistaken about him they'd been.  

He'd finally be able to show them all.   

                            __________

Adauchi reached the facility after about forty-five minutes of
driving.  He carefully left his bike in a ravine out of sight of
the long, low, rectangular building, and simply walked the rest
of the way.  He hadn't been told about guards to avoid, so he
decided to operate under the assumption that the compound was
deserted.  If it wasn't, well, then any unpleasantness that
ensued was his contact's fault.  

He approached the compound cautiously, regardless, and quickly
paused to check over the security systems on the first door he
came to.  It seemed to be an electronic key-card system, fairly
standard.  However, certain lights that should have been on
weren't, and nothing happened when he tentatively reached out to
tap a few buttons.  A closer inspection revealed some melted
areas on the plastic shell; clearly, the systems had been shorted
out, probably by whatever his target was using to blow out the
generators.  He allowed himself a slight smile and then pulled
the door outward.  

He checked around the first floor, and found little more than
deserted office space.  Next he walked down into the basement,
hoping to find some kind of generator room.  

Adauchi was, once again, very fortunate.  He entered the basement
to find it one huge, open storage area, littered with imposing
boxes that seemed designed to hold large, heavy equipment.  He
could also plainly hear the sound of the loudly humming
generator... and the distinct, but muffled, sound of human
movement.

He drew his guns, and slowly began to walk towards the sound, the
outline of the building's generators becoming apparent as he did
so.  The sounds continued, growing only slightly louder as he
approached.  Adauchi could now clearly see the figure of a human
male kneeling on the floor, facing a mass of tangled wires. 
Somehow, the stranger had managed to rip the control panel open,
and seemed to be busy pulling out some components.  Probably
surge protectors, if was going to try and overload something that
big.  

Adauchi narrowed his eyes at the figure, and then kicked a small
box nearby.  The loud sound the cardboard made as it bounced
across the bare concrete floor quickly drew the  figure's
attention, as he realized he wasn't alone.  He abruptly
straightened, but didn't attempt to stand or turn around.  

Adauchi strode quickly toward the hunched figure, and soon was
within a few feet of him.  At this range, despite the dim light,
he could tell that this was unquestionably the man pictured in
the photo he'd been given.  

"So... who sent you?" The figure, obviously Satoshi, asked.  

Adauchi didn't answer, instead raising his pistol to fire. 
But before he could pull the trigger, he heard something that
made him take pause.  There arose a scrabbling sound, like what a
small animal running on a tile floor might make.  Instinctively,
he turned to face the new threat, and saw a brief glance of a
mouselike creature, perhaps two feet long, with dark brown fur
and glittering yellow eyes. He saw the creature take a sort of
defensive stance and growl at him, then glow brightly as
electrical energy crackled around its body.

He only dimly recognized that he was dealing with a pokemon
before the thundershock hit.  He staggered, and reflexively fired
off both of his pistols.  However, his spasming muscles couldn't
aim straight, and the bullets flew hopelessly wide.       

A moment later, perhaps half a second, Satoshi bolted up and
attempted to tackle Adauchi to the ground.  The shock hadn't been
a very high-voltage one, though, and he'd recovered enough by
then to partially twist away and swing the butt of his left
pistol in a high arc at Satoshi's head. Satoshi tried to pull his
head back, but couldn't avoid a grazing blow to his left temple.  
Reflexively, he lashed out with a fist, and managed to connect a
strong right punch into Adauchi's gut.

The hitman grunted in pain and dropped his pistols, then
refocused his efforts onto simply getting Satoshi away from him. 
While his opponent was still slightly disoriented, he lashed an
arm out, grabbed his neck, and shoved away with all the force he
could muster.  Satoshi was still unbalanced, and was forced to
roll with the throw to avoid a painful crash to the floor.   

However, in the heat of the struggle, Adauchi had temporarily
forgotten about the pokemon. Its body was already a blur of speed
as it raced towards his fallen pistols.  Adauchi made a vain
lunge at the pistols, but the pokemon's Agility far outstripped
his own.   

The pokemon obediently dropped the pistols at the feet of his
apparent master, who had already begun to get up.   Satoshi
picked the weapons up, looked them over distastefully, and then
hurled them into a corner, where they landed behind some
particularly imposing boxes.

"Let's try this again," Satoshi stated evenly.  "Who sent you
after me?"  He was clearly attempting to look stern, but the dim
light and bleeding gash on his forehead undermined him
completely.

Adauchi steadied himself on his feet, then coolly pulled off his
sunglasses.  He began to polish them on his trenchcoat's sleeve,
while seeming to stare off into the distance.  "I don't know, but
they're paying a lot of money for your ass."

"Usual story," Satoshi dismissed. "Well, I'm not ready to die
yet, so you won't be collecting tonight.  I'd suggest just going
back to Celadon and spending a nice night doing... whatever the
hell it is you people do when you're off."  Adauchi just stood
there, silently, examining his sunglasses. 

Satoshi glared back at him, and ran a hand through his long,
spiky bangs in exasperation.  "Look, just go!  I don't have time
for this."

"Sorry. Business is business," Adauchi replied.

Satoshi sighed. "You do realize that trying to hurt me is a
particular pet peeve of his." He gestured downward at the
electric pokemon crouched protectively at his feet.

Adauchi looked down, and an odd look passed over his face as he
recognized the animal.  "A Tenchu?"

The creature answered for itself.  "Tenchu!" it said defiantly.

Adauchi's eye twitched involuntarily as the creature spoke its
name, and he quickly put his sunglasses back on.

Satoshi noted the reaction, and smiled slightly.  "Yes, the
natural second stage of Pikachu.  And if you know enough to
recognize him, then you know how powerful he is."  

"I've tangled with 'em before," Adauchi replied evenly. 

Satoshi went silent for a few moments, as if he had been
expecting a radically different answer. Finally, he tilted his
head slightly to one side and said, "Then you'd either have to be
a Pokemon Master or a liar.  You'll forgive me if I find the
latter more believable."

Adauchi's face twitched again. His eyes seemed to narrow
slightly, and he irritably replied, "If you're gonna have him fry
me, might as well do it now."

"If I wanted you dead, do you think I'd be trying to talk you
into leaving?  Besides, there's no need for Tenchu to use lethal
force against you, unless you make him mad.  And if you don't try
anything stupid, you won't make him mad."  

Tenchu backed up his master's statement with a stern nod. "Ten."

Adauchi grunted in contempt. "I didn't live this long by being an
idiot. If I even sneeze, that rat'll hit me with a Fist of
Heaven."

"Then don't sneeze," Satoshi half-growled in reply. "Tenchu,
keep an eye on him.  I've wasted too much time on this already." 
Satoshi then rummaged around in an interior pocket of his
heavy leather motorcycle jacket, pulled out a pair of
wirecutters, and briskly walked back to the generator to resume
pulling out surge protectors.  

Tenchu fulfilled his master's command to the letter, crouching in
front of Adauchi with cheeks and back crackling with electricity. 
Adauchi's only reaction was to begin mutely scanning the room's
walls, looking for something that might act as a ground. As he'd
expected, he rather quickly spotted some exposed pipework not too
far away from himself.  

Getting there would be the only tricky part.  He finally glanced
down at the little rodent, did his best to look frightened, and
began slowly backing towards the pipe. Satoshi didn't seem to be
paying any attention to him. The terrorist was standing up after
apparently having accomplished his task, and was heading towards
a series of switches on the wall. 

The Tenchu slowly pursued Adauchi to the wall, seeing no harm in
his action.  Adauchi then leaned against up against the wall in
way that he felt must have looked suitably harmless... and
allowed him to take a firm hold of the pipework.  He held back
most of a confident smirk as he raised his voice to speak.  "Hey!
Get your rat away from me."  

Satoshi glanced up irritably from the wall, where he'd been
switching a few lights on.  "You're determined to be difficult,
aren't y-- TENCHU!"  His expression went from irritation to
horror as he saw Adauchi snap a sharp kick out at the pokemon. 
Tenchu didn't even try to dodge; it instead instinctively
lashed out with a Thundershock.  

The attack washed harmlessly over Adauchi's grounded body, and
the electric mouse barely had time to cry out as the heavy boot
connected with its small body.  Tenchu sailed through the air,
its short, fast trip ending only when it crashed into a stand of
particularly heavy and solid boxes.   

Adauchi immediately lunged towards the boxes that Satoshi had
tossed his guns behind, while Satoshi himself ran frantically
towards Tenchu's still body.  Within seconds, Adauchi had
ducked behind the boxes and grabbed his pistols, while Satoshi
focused on picking up Tenchu's unconscious form as gently as he
could.

However, he had the sense to immediately break and run for cover
behind the heavy objects that Tenchu had crashed into.  He
dived behind them just as Adauchi lunged out from behind the
boxes in the far corner and began firing.  Satoshi managed to
escape with only a deep graze on his upper arm, but had
absolutely nowhere else to go next. The corridor he had ducked
into was a dead end.

Adauchi walked quickly across the room in pursuit, and followed
his target around the corner. Satoshi backed a few steps away
from him, but knew how futile any attempt at flight would be.
All that was left for him to do was clutch Tenchu to his chest
protectively, and watch Adauchi hopelessly.  The hitman simply
leveled his gun at Satoshi's head.

"All right.  You win.  But I'm pretty sure your contract didn't
call for getting rid of Tenchu, too.  Just let me set him down
somewhere he'll be safe.  After that, I don't care," Satoshi
somehow managed to quickly spill out. 

Adauchi paused, and considered the statement for a few moments.
"Fine."

Satoshi seemed surprised at his answer, and gazed at him a bit
more respectfully.  "Just let me get him outside.  I won't try to
run."

The hitman nodded slightly, while still keeping the gun aimed at
Satoshi's head. "Alright."

Satoshi exited the building much the same way he had entered,
going upstairs and out the door with the ruined electronic lock. 
Adauchi followed behind, and kept his gun trained on Satoshi
unwaveringly.  Even when he laid the little pokemon on the ground
near the door, wrapped snugly in his motorcycle jacket, Satoshi
was at gunpoint.  

He scratched the creature behind the ears affectionately, then
stood up with a heavy sigh.  "He was the first one I ever had...
God, I hope he wakes up okay."

Adauchi abruptly lowered his gun, and narrowed his eyes slightly. 
"No one starts with a Pikachu."

Satoshi hadn't noticed, as he had already put his shaking hands
behind his head and shut his eyes in preparation for the deadly
shot.  Despite that, a faint smile seemed to briefly cross his
face and he chuckled slightly as he replied, "Not unless you
oversleep."

A few long moments later, Satoshi cautiously opened one eye to
see Adauchi staring at him strangely, pistol lowered harmlessly
to his side.  "Um... I don't mean to hurry you or anything,
but..." he began in confusion.

Adauchi didn't seem to have heard him, or was ignoring him if he
had. "Where you from?" he suddenly asked.

Satoshi jumped a bit at the unexpected question, and took a deep
breath to calm his nerves.  "Pallet," he finally answered. 

Adauchi's reaction was exactly what he'd been afraid of, an angry
snarl.  He raised his gun quickly and somewhat violently, enough
so that Satoshi actually felt himself flinch.  "Bullshit,"
Adauchi spat at him with frightening intensity.  "Everyone from
Pallet was killed."

Satoshi blinked, and this time took a long, confused glance at
the man facing him.  Slowly, he lowered his hands to his sides,
and replied almost mechanically.  "Everyone who wasn't already
employed by or attempting to get into the Pokemon League. There
were about 23 of us, in all.  I found out about it over a news
report..." Satoshi trailed off, his tone dropping into a
slight growl of anger.

Adauchi suddenly lowered his head, and relaxed his posture a bit. 
He began laughing in a strangely bitter, harsh way, and turned
his back on his target.

"What?" Satoshi asked, fear still lacing his voice.  He found
this actually more unnerving than having a gun pointed at his
head... at least he had some idea what was going on, then.  

"When'd you become a Master?" Adauchi asked with the same
startling abruptness.

Satoshi narrowed his eyes this time.  "How'd you know I was a
Master?"

"Just a hunch, Ash."

With that, Adauchi pocketed his guns and began walking away.

Satoshi appeared thunderstruck, and in that moment of shock, an
idea began forming in his mind.  It would have easily explained
the profoundly odd situation he found himself in, but required a
coincidence that was simply too vast to be possible.
Nevertheless, he felt that he had to try.

"The 237th Tournament!" Satoshi yelled.  "I fought a forty-five
minute battle with Gary Oak in the finals!  But if you know me,
then you already know that!  Everyone knows that! Why do you
care about who I really am?"

Adauchi stopped. "I wanted to make sure you were who I thought
you were.  Heh... this is twice I've tried to kill you now."

Satoshi blinked.  He could not quite believe that irrational
thought of his had turned out to be correct.

"Gary?"

"Yeah."

"They said you were dead!" Satoshi nearly shouted.  "Like you
said, nobody who was in Pallet that night survived!"

"I wasn't in Pallet either. I got held up on the trip home, and
when I got back the place looked like a fuckin' war had broken
out."  Adauchi's voice was almost totally drained of emotion as
he reported that, in a way that made Satoshi's skin crawl.

"Oh dear God," he breathed.  "This... this would explain a lot."  

"You better get out of here," Adauchi said quietly to him. "This
isn't the safest place to stand around chatting." 

Satoshi, for the moment, ignored him.  "You can't be working for
them, Gary.  Not after everything that's happened."

Adauchi turned around slightly at that.  "Who?"

"The people that own this damned hellhole!" Satoshi shouted,
gesturing vaguely at the building they were standing outside of. 
"They're the same people that destroyed the League and Pallet
both!"


Adauchi suddenly became deathly quiet.

"I don't know their name yet, but I know they've got connections
to the Rocket Gang," Satoshi continued, only slightly calmer.

"The Rocket Gang? They were disbanded a long time ago," Adauchi
replied numbly.

"That's what they want you to think," Satoshi said dismissively. 
"You've gotta come with me, Gary.  I have a lot to tell you, and
you're right... there's gonna be a guard sweep here soon, and
I've completely blown my window of opportunity."

"Hmm... where you going?" Adauchi asked.

"Anywhere they can't find us!  I've got a bike stashed not too
far away from here, I can make it halfway across the country in a
few days' time if I need to," Satoshi finished breathlessly.

"Fine," Adauchi agreed after a slight pause. "My bike's hidden
nearby, too. But we gotta go now."

Satoshi nodded. "This place isn't as deserted as it looks. 
They'll find the remains of my work in a few minutes. We'll need
the head start."

                            __________

GRINGY CITY

It had taken several hours of travel, but the two young men
managed to make it into the infamously polluted city without
incident.  The bikes had been parked and left in a carefully
concealed sinkhole not far from the city at Adauchi's - Gary's -
insistence, and they simply walked the rest of the way in.     

Gary also, apparently, frequented the city.  He had an
arrangement of some kind with the owner of quite possibly the
single filthiest establishment ever to call itself a 'hotel' that
Satoshi -  Ash - had the displeasure of frequenting.  
Of course, since he habitually avoided Gringy, he doubted any
pursuers would even think to look for him here.  And regardless
of what he might think of the accommodations, he wasn't about to
pass up a safe haven to stay the night in.  

Ash made a point of staying quiet as Gary talked to the
hotel's appropriately greasy owner, wrangled the keys to a room,
and then turned to stalk up the narrow stairs that lead to the
second floor.  He generally tried to stay out of matters that
were over his head, and besides... this gave him a chance to
somewhat clandestinely examine what his old rival had become more
closely.

It occurred to him, as he mutely followed 'Adauchi' up the
stairs, that the only element of him that was vaguely
recognizable as Gary Oak was the few locks of burgundy hair that
remained at the back of his otherwise shaven head,
carefully bound into a ponytail.  Besides that, there was nothing
about the tall, vaguely skeletal figure left that even remotely
resembled the loud, egotistical, abrasive child he remembered.  

Gary was thinking along a similar line, as he unlocked the
door and idly kicked it open.  However, he was silently berating
himself for not recognizing him sooner, particularly since Ash
hadn't changed a damn bit since he was a kid.  He was taller, of
course, and had grown his hair out into a ridiculously long,
spiky ponytail; but besides that, even down to his taste in
clothes, Ash remained essentially the same.  This begged the
question of how the hell he'd ended up as a terrorist with a huge
bounty on his head, but Gary had the feeling that he'd find out
in good time.

The room was actually somewhat spacious, at least big enough to
not be too terribly claustrophobic.  Besides the bed, there was a
lumpy, aged couch, and a rickety table with a few chairs pushed
up to it.  Not particularly attractive, but good enough for their
purposes.

Ash immediately unzipped his jacket, and pulled Tenchu out into
the open air.  He'd felt bad concealing him like that when he was
still unconscious.  Yet, despite all the years since he'd first
evolved, there were only a handful of Tenchu in existence, and
any person seen carrying one would definitely be noticed.  

Fortunately, though, Tenchu's breathing was regular, and growing
a bit stronger, so he didn't seem to be badly hurt.  Ash simply
laid him gently as he could down on a spare couch pillow, took a
seat next to him, and pulled the first aid kit out of his
backpack so he could work on dressing his own minor wounds.  

Gary stalked over to the table, removing his apparently heavy
black trenchcoat and equally black sunglasses before he half-
threw a chair back and sat down.  With the glasses gone, and some
decent light, Ash could finally see a definite resemblance to
Gary he'd known.  The effect was marred somewhat, though,
when he calmly took off his bandolier, slid the pistols out, and
began examining them carefully.  The fact that, even underneath
the coat, he was still completely clad in black didn't help
either.  

How the hell had Gary ended up doing something like this? And
he'd obviously been doing it for awhile.  Ash had encountered a
few really professional killers in the last few years,
fortunately not as a target before now, and Gary definitely had
the cold, predatory air they usually did.

The two continued clandestinely examining each other for quite
some time, the silence continuing unbroken until Tenchu emitted a
few lazy, tired-sounding noises and blearily opened his eyes. 
Ash immediately broke out of his reverie with a joyous shout, and
picked the equally delighted little pokemon up. 

Gary watched the scene with a detached air for a few moments,
then allowed the slightest trace of a smile to cross his face. 
"You still do it."

Ash looked up, startled.  "What?" 

"Treat that rat better than most people treat their kids."

Ash smiled nervously at the comment. "He's been with me awhile...
Tenchu, calm down, he's not going to do anything."  

Tenchu had begun growling slightly the moment Gary spoke.  "Chu
ten," it finally pronounced dismissively before climbing up to
perch on Ash's shoulder.  From there, it settled for glaring as
fiercely as it could at Gary.  

Gary briefly glowered back at it, then sat back in his chair. 
"Hmmm... well, start talkin'."

"Talking?"

"That's why we came here."

"Oh..." Ash replied softly.  He took a deep breath, then glanced
out of the soot-encrusted window with a sigh.  "I... look, could
this wait until the morning?"

Gary didn't reply, but his expression began to look distinctly
dissatisfied.

"Look... this is really hard for me to talk about, and it's
complicated... it'd be better if I got some sleep first."  Ash's
voice seemed to be close to breaking.

"Fine."  There was no real pity or even emotion in Gary's voice
as he spoke, just simple agreement. 

Ash nodded.  "I don't need much... just a few hours on the couch
and I'll be fine."

Gary grunted absentmindedly, thoughts already elsewhere.  Ash
sighed, and lifted Tenchu down from his shoulder as he looked
down for a moment, pondering.   

"Gary?"

"Hmmm?"

"Um... thanks."

Gary turned around and glanced at Ash somewhat harshly.  "For
what?"

"Not, well, shooting me.  I mean, you easily could have, they're
probably offering a lot for me by now, and... well, I honestly
thought that if I ever saw you again, you wouldn't have been very
friendly around me."  Ash shrugged after he finished, feeling
strangely embarrassed.  

"Ash, that was a damned long time ago.  Get some sleep," Gary
commanded as he slid his bandoliers back on. He then stood up and
slid his voluminous black trenchcoat back on.    

Ash sighed. "I know, it's just -" He blinked, and stopped
abruptly as Gary stalked out of the room, the door slamming idly
behind him.  Ash stared after for a few moments, then shook his
head tiredly.  With Tenchu, as usual, curled up at his side, he
then sank back onto the couch's lumpy pillows and fell into a
fitful, dreamless slumber.
_________________________________________________________________ 
TO BE CONTINUED

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This was my first fanfic.  I hope the experience
wasn't too painful for you. :)

The continuity used for the purposes of this fanfic is primarily
the American dub of the Pokemon anime, but with healthy doses of
elements from the video game, translated manga, and my own ideas
thrown in to help flesh out the world-setting and make it a bit
more "realistic."  As such, you can blame any huge, gaping
continuity mistakes I may have made on that. ^^  

It should be noted that, while I paid homage to the Japanese
incarnation of the show, I haven't seen a full episode of it, and
will not be acknowledging plot events from undubbed episodes. 
I'm not comfortable writing about source material I've never
seen.

Special thanks go out to everyone who pre-read this fanfic. 
Particular thanks go out to Steven Savage, Jeff Yang, and Trey
Tackett, who gave me especially useful feedback on it.

Special thanks also go out to Matt Linkous and Tim
McLees, for being themselves.

Of course, the most thanks go out to my friend and co-writer,
Damien Karolev, without whom none of this could have been
possible.
_________________________________________________________________
COMING SOON: EVOLUTION TWO 

C&C is welcome! Alicia Ashby [lynxara@hotmail.com]
		 Damien Karolev [hacker@polarcom.com]