[PW!] A Shortcut Over Mountains?

    Pipian quickly made his way through Route 9 battling just a few trainers
on the way.  He stopped at the Pokécenter and quickly healed his pokemon.
He was about to go through Rock Tunnel when he saw a sign (Shabbily written,
mind you).  It said:

      ----------------------------
      |Shortcut to Lavender Town.|
      | Quicker than Rock Tunnel |
      |       This way --->      |
      ----------------------------

    "What the heck!  I'm not in any rush anyway...  Hmm... this looks like
one of the TR paths that we...  I mean they travel by..."

    Pipian took the path.

FARTHER UP THE PATH:

    "Jessie, are you sure it's OK to trick people into using this backway
path?  It does seem a little, err... treacherous..." said James as he looked
down the 1,000 ft. high cliff that lie on either side of the path.

    "Quit complaining!" yelled Jessie.  "It gives me a headache."

    "Yeah.  Remember, we're here to capture trainers' pokemon by cornering
them on this path somewhere,"  replied Meowth.

    "Well... OK..."

    They quickly found places to hide on the path and waited.

MEANWHILE:

    Pipian was having some difficulty traversing the path...

    "I'm not quite so sure how this is quicker and easier than Rock
Tunnel...  Oh, well."

    He managed to make his way up to where the three bumbling members of
Team Rocket lay.  They popped out.

    "Prepare for trouble!"

    "And make it double!"

    "Jessie, James, Meowth, shut up, will ya?" said Pipian.

    "Wai...  How do you know our names?" asked Jessie.

    Pipian thought for a moment...

    "It's not everyday that another Rocket gets to meet such esteemed
personages of Team Rocket."

    "Hey!  Thanks for the complimen...  Hey!  If you're Team Rocket, where's
your official clothing?"

    "It should be...  Right here."  Pipian opened his backpack and pulled
out his old TR clothing. <I knew bringing this would come in handy...> he
thought.

    "Why aren't you wearing it?"

    "Undercover..."

    "Ah..."

    "Now if you'll excuse me, you foo... I mean fellow members, I must make
haste to Lavender, direct orders from the boss."

    "Oh, OK."

    Pipian rushed by them, and in the process, accidentally knocked the
three of them off the cliff.

    "Waugh!" said Jessie, James, and Meowth as they tumbled down the cliff.

    As Pipian hurried on, he thought he heard them say "MONDO!  Come here!"

    He made good headway on slightly more solid ground.  Soon, he stumbled
upon an Electabuzz that had apparently escaped from the power plant.  Of
course, he LITERALLY stumbled upon it, so it was fairly mad...

    "Go...  Kadabra!  Use Psychic!"

    Unfortunately, the attack missed, and the Electabuzz successfully landed
a Thundershock on the unsuspecting psychic pokemon.

    "Psywave it!"

    This managed to hit, only slightly damaging the pokemon.  It
Thundershocked back.

    "Try one more time."

    This time, the Kadabra managed to hit the Electabuzz in...  Oh...  Let's
just say a critical place and managed to weaken it enough.

    "Pokéball!  Go!"

    Pipian's pokéball hit the pokemon.  It shook...  And shook...  And
shook...  And the Electabuzz escaped.

    "OK...  Let's try a Great Ball!"

    This time, the Electabuzz was caught.

    "Cool!  I caught an Electabuzz!" said Pipian.

    By this time, it was getting dark, so he hurried on and managed to reach
Lavender by nightfall...

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