Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’ (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

Waving goodbye to his newfound friends, Chad walked away from the end of the 
S.S Anne with his six Pokémon, Chewtoy, Ragecage, Entwine, Boulder, Dux and his 
Squirtle that was yet to be named.  
Tetsubo and Emily...  They sure were nice kids, a bit younger than him, but 
good friends considering the little time he had spent with them.  
He had met them in Mount Moon and he had agreed to protect Emily from danger.  
Tetsubo started as a tag-along but later grew to be a big help to Chad, he was 
on his case a lot, until Chad proved he had learned something, and though he 
was now a little too dependent on type advantages, it was better than not 
knowing what would beat his Pokémon.  

He recalled all his Pokémon and went back inside and searched for his room.  
“Number 01, here it is.”  
“GET OUT! GET OUT!” screamed a lady just coming out of the shower.  
“Sorry! Sorry! Didn’t see a thing!” shouted Chad running out, “Heh, heh, heh.” 
he added grinning.  
The door opened and the lady was dressed and gave him a good slap.  
“Owiiee...  But the ticket said my room number was...  Oh, that’s right, I was 
holding the ticket upside-down, my room is number 10!” said Chad slapping his 
head.  

Chad went to his room and put his bag inside, but decided to hold onto his 
Pokéballs just in case he found someone to battle today.  

He waltzed into the busy kitchen, seeking a snack.  
“’Ey! You cannot come een ‘ere while we are cookeeng! You arrrre een ze way!” 
shouted a chef.  
“Ze meal shall be rrready laterrr, we weell tell you when eet eez ready!” said 
another.  
“Nah, I’m just looking for a snack, whatcha got?” asked Chad pleasantly.  
“Get out of ourrr kit-chen!” shouted a third cook, trying to pull Chad’s arm 
but failing to move him.  
Chad pulled his arm forward and sent the cook into a pot, a slippery soup fell 
to the floor and Chad lost his grip and went sliding into the bins.  
He shook of the potato skins and fish bones among other junk and picked up a 
round green ball.  
“Cool, a Great Ball, guys, can I keep this?”  
“If you get out rrright now, yes you can keep eet!” screamed the head chef, and 
all five cooks worked together to throw him out.  
“You’re not getting a tip!” yelled Chad.  
“No one gives us tips anyway! They always pay ze waiters!”  
“Good point.”  

Chad left the cabin and went out to the deck.  
Turning the corner, he saw a couple of Pokémon battling.  
“This is my chance to show that CHAD THE CHOSEN IS THE NUMBER ONE TRAINER!” he 
suddenly yelled.  
A young man was scared by the sudden loudness of his voice and fell off the 
boat, but caught the rail and was helped up by one of the sailors.  
As he looked around the corner, he could see the whole deck and there were more 
than just two trainers standing around.  
“Oh yeah! Trainers! Hey everyone, who wants to challenge CHAD THE CHOSEN!”  
They all stopped and stared at him, some laughed, but one trainer approached 
him.  
“I will Mr Chosen.  My name’s Timothy.” said a trainer with spiky black hair 
and blue clothes.  
“Yeah...  Okay then.  Three-on-three battle.  Go!”  

“Squirtle!”  
“Bee!!!”  
“Ah, a Beedrill, I travelled with someone who owned one, that should give me an 
advantage.” boasted Chad.  
“Yeah?” asked Timothy.  
“Yeah, Beedrill’s a... Psychic/ Flying-type?...”  
“Way off! Beedrill! Poison Sting!”  
“HYDRO! WITHDRAW!”  
“Squirt?”  
“Don’t you think its a cool nickname?” grinned Chad.  
The Squirtle shrug its shoulders and sunk into its shell, the needles hit and 
bounced off.  
“HYDRO! WATER GUN!”  
“Bee!!!” screamed the Beedrill falling back, it plunged forward and took the 
remainder of the blast.  
“Beedrill! Twineedle now!”  
“WITHDRAW!”  
It did as told but the lances hit it constantly until the Beedrill thought to 
jab inside the hole.  
“Squirtle!” screamed Hydro as he fell back, he rubbed his head with an angry 
expression.  
“You can’t use the same attack again and again and expect me to not to learn.” 
said Timothy confidently.  
“I could use a type advantage, Hydro, Return, GO BOULDER!!!”  
“Geo!”  
“ROCK THROW!”  
Without any rocks around, Boulder threw himself at the Beedrill and crushed it 
underneath him.  
Chad was tempted to try his new move Earthquake but he took into consideration 
what might happen to the ship if he did.  
“Beedrill! Return! Go Goldeen!”  
“Return Boulder! GO DUX!”  
This proved that Chad considered types both ways.  
“I know we ain’t got so much of an advantage, but I need a fresh Pokémon.” said 
Chad.  
“Farfetch’d!” it agreed, spinning its leak.  
“Peck attack, Goldeen!”  
“A Water-type with a Flying-type move? SHOW HER HOW ITS DONE!”  
“Far!”  
Dux leaped up but the Goldeen was faster and slammed its horn into him.  
“Farrr!!!”  
It landed and Dux decided to finish what it had started and flung itself 
forward, used the leak as a pole and rose a little before aiming to dive bomb 
the Goldeen with its beak.  
It succeeded.  
“SAND ATTACK!”  
The Farfetch’d tried to kick some dust but found none on the polished wooden 
floor, worse still, the recently cleaned floor caused Dux to slip up.  
“Hah! Goldeen, use the floor to push yourself forward into a Horn Drill.”  
“LEER!”  
The Goldeen’s eyes went narrow as it got scared and slid past Dux.  
“HAH! DUX, USE AGILITY TO CATCH UP WITH HER!”  
He ran forward and partially used the slippery floor to catch up with the 
Goldeen, Chad liked to use outside resources to his advantage.  
“FINISH IT OFF WITH SLASH ATTACK!”  
“Goldeen! Wake up and complete the Horn Drill!”  
“Far...!”  
“Goldeen!!!”  
There was a clash and both Pokémon collapsed.  
“Goldeen, Return.”  
“You too Dux.”  
“You pretty competent, though a little odd.” commented Timothy.  
“DON’T YOU DARE INSULT CHAD THE CHOSEN, WE SHALL WIPE THE FLOOR WITH YOUR LAST 
POKÉMON!” shouted Chad.  
“Considering this Pokémon doesn’t use the floor, I’d say I have an advantage.  
Go Haunter!”  
“Hau ha ha ha!!!” it laughed.  
Chad was totally stumped, if he’d just read the book Tetsubo had given him 
before rushing out into battle, he might have been able to identify this 
Pokémon and its type.  
Chad was a little lost.  
“Um, Hydro, come back out!”  
“Squirtle, Squirt!”  
“Haunter, use your Night Shade!”  
“HYDRO! SKULL BASH!”  
He sunk into his shell as the evil energy caused an explosion of dark waves on 
him, then flew forward, head outstretched.  
“YEAH! YOU’VE GOT IT NOW!”  
Hydro charged right through the Pokémon and smacked itself on a nearby cabin 
wall.  
“How could you miss?” asked Chad dismayed.  
“That’s the nature of Ghost Pokémon, Mr Chosen.” said Timothy confidently, “One 
type is ineffective against it but the same goes for Haunter.”  
“I have no time for cryptic clues, HYDRO! TACKLE!”  
He once again went through and crashed into a stack of buckets and mops.  
Hydro growled angrily.  
“WATER GUN!”  
“Squirtle!!!”  
“Haunter!”  
This one connected and did some damage.  
Chad realised that the kid meant Normal-types, and that this Ghost Pokémon, 
though was unharmed by Normal-types, it couldn’t deal any damage to them, Chad 
thought about what would happen if he had used Chewtoy instead.  
Although Chewtoy couldn’t be harmed, he wouldn’t be able to attack back, unless 
he used the only other type of move available, Toxic, but that was a slow 
draining move and that Haunter was sure to have more up its sleeve, though it 
didn’t have arms.  
Chad was glad he had spent time with Tetsubo, now he thought a little more 
often before reacting.  
“Haunter, Hypnosis!”  
“Squirt...” said Hydro drowsy.  
“HYDRO! WAKE UP!”  
A bubble was forming on his nose, he was well and truly asleep.  
“Dream Eater!”  
Purple globes left Hydro and zapped into Haunter curing it of the previous 
damage.  
Hydro was defeated though it looked peaceful in its sleep.  
“Return, GO! BOULDER!”  
“Geo!”  
“Uh oh.” said Timothy.  
Chad knew he feared something.  
“ROCK THROW, BOULDER!”  
“That’s okay, Haunter, use Lick!”  
It extended its tongue, but Boulder threw a small shard from himself which hit 
the tongue and shot it into its mouth.  
The Haunter looked uneasy and spat out the pieces.  
“Use Toxic attack!” shouted Timothy.  
Boulder moved aside as the purple gunk hit the floor.  
“Poison move?” pondered Chad, “Perhaps its a Poison-type...  Think Chad, think, 
what are they weak against?”  
Timothy had sighed a look of relief when Chad had used Rock Throw.  
“He’s okay with Rock Throw, and wouldn’t take damage from Normal moves, looks 
like there’s only one thing left...  BOULDER, EARTHQUAKE!”  
He let the matter of the ship’s condition pass him by, he just wanted to win.  
Boulder punched the deck and fragments of wood and the odd piece of metal flew 
up and buried Haunter under.  
“Hey!” shouted a voice from below, “No Earthquakes or related moves that would 
damage the ship! Don’t you know that’s why the original ship sunk?!”  
“Sorry!” apologised Chad.  

“Good match.” said Timothy shaking hands.  
“Anyone else want to battle before I get some shuteye?” asked Chad.  
“I will.” said a confident voice belonging to a snide man with copper-like hair 
and a dark green coat.  
“And you are?”  
“David Parish.  Master Trainer.”  
Chad disliked him already, he sounded cool, maybe even more than himself.  
“Three-on-three battle, okay?”  
“Don’t worry, sleepy-head, I’ll make this quick.”  
Chad growled and threw Ragecage’s ball.  

“Mankey!”  
“I choose you Graveler!”  
“GRAVELER!”  
“But... aren’t Fighting-types strong against Rock-types?” asked Chad.  
“Sure they are.”  
“In that case, RAGECAGE! SUBMISSION!”  
“Counter it Graveler.”  
Ragecage spun himself forward and outstretched his leg.  
He partially hit its target, but the Graveler grabbed his feet then flung him 
back so that he spun round several times before landing.  
“I don’t understand, it should be rubble...” said Chad a little nervous.  
“My Pokémon are at such a high level that they don’t need to care about ‘type 
disadvantages’.” said David confidently.  
“RAGECAGE! TRY A SEISMIC TOSS!”  
He dived under and lifted the Graveler.  
“Graveler, Self Destruct.”  
“Mankey?!”  
Both Pokémon were caught in the explosion and fainted.  
“What an idiot.” commented Chad.  
“Perhaps you’d like to know, I have never lost a battle.” boasted David 
confidently.  
Chad was willing to believe him, he was able to counteract Chad’s every move.  
“Return Ragecage, GO! CHEWTOY!”  
“For this battle, I’ll choose Eevee.”  
“Raticate!”  
“Eui!”  
“Um, you sure? Look how tiny it is.” commented Chad.  
“That’s exactly what I want everyone to think.” replied David, “Focus Energy.”  
“CHEWTOY, USE HYPER FANG BEFORE ITS DONE!”  
“Raticate!!!”  
He leaped forward, but the Eevee jumped a little to avoid it and continued to 
charge, Chewtoy landed face flat on the floor.  
“Chewtoy! Whaddaya doing? USE QUICK ATTACK!”  
“You too Eevee.”  
They shot at each other but surprisingly, it was Chewtoy that was catapulted 
backwards.  
“Finish it, Eevee, Bite.”  
“Eui!!!”  
“Cate!!!”  
Chad recalled it, it looked a little down.  
“All I have left is Entwine, GO!”  
“Gela!”  
“Return, Eevee, I choose Golduck.”  
“Golduck!!!”  
“Wow.” said Chad impressed, “Where did you get one of those?”  
“You need to catch a Psyduck and evolve it.”  
Chad shook his head and remembered how angry he was, that even type advantage 
and size weren’t helping him.  
“Another Pokémon with a disadvantage.”  
“To a silly trainer, yes, but real experts will learn not to look into type 
advantages and live by level advantage.”  
“ENTWINE! STUN SPORE!”  
“Too bad its not part Poison so I can show off Golducks one-hit knockout 
Psychic moves, still I’ll be done in two.  Golduck! Confusion!”  
The particles of dust disappeared and Entwine fell to the floor.  
“Time to wrap this up.” said David.  
The vines on Chad’s Tangela flung forward and bound around Golduck.  
“My thoughts exactly.” smiled Chad, “ENTWINE, BIND ATTACK, THEN SLAM!”  
The vines tightened, then loosened to separate and lift the Golduck into the 
air.  
“Break away Golduck.”  
“Gol-Duck!!!” yelled the Pokémon grabbing Entwine’s vines and lifting him off 
the floor.  
He pulled him up while using psychic powers to lower himself down, then threw 
Entwine to the floor.  
“Finish it with Surf.”  
The Golduck closed its eyes and its gem glowed.  
A wave of water lifted from the ocean and splashed down on Entwine hard.  
He was out cold.  

“I can’t believe I was beaten by Pokémon with disadvantages.” moaned Chad.  
“Don’t worry too much, think of it as an honour that your Pokémon were beaten 
by me.” smiled David.  
Suddenly a huge net was fired on a crowd of trainers.  
Chad, Timothy and David weren’t caught in it but spinning ropes appeared and 
spun around them until they tightened.  

Five Rocket Grunts wearing purple uniforms made themselves known.  
“Ha ha ha! It worked, now we just take the Pokémon back to the Boss and he’ll 
give us our old jobs back!” laughed a leading male with spiky black hair.  
“This had better not be a repeat of what happened on the last boat heist.” 
commented a woman with long auburn hair.  
“Of course not, this time we tied up the passengers before attempting to steal 
from them.” replied the man before turning to the captives, “Hello everyone, 
we’re members of Team Rocket and you’re going to be donating all your Pokémon 
to us!”  
“You make it sound like a good thing.” commented the woman.  
“Okay, I’ll try again, we’re Team Rocket, and now that you’re helpless to do 
anything, we’re going to take all your Pokémon away from you! Ha ha ha ha ha!”  
“Much better, and the laugh adds to it.” commented the woman.  

End of Part A  

Part B
Back to the Side Stories
Back to the Pokézone