Amends (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus Cody Capture, and Larry and Lorraine of Junior Rocket got off the barrels bobbing along the water’s surface and ran out deeper into the park. The two Water Squad Rockets came bobbing out soon after, and spat out a lot of water, “There they go. Let’s get ‘em!...” Cody and the group noticed, and fled up a winding hill that led to some upper attractions, but once up there, they were blocked by the Water Squad (still dripping wet from just before) and now the Fighting Squad. The two Rockets on that team were dressed like a Machop and Mankey, and their Pokémon were a Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee. “Give it up kiddies, you’re going back home.” one sniggered. “You’ve got nowhere to run.” added the other. “I beg to differ.” spoke Cody, before grabbing the two Juniors and leaping off the edge of the hill and disappearing. As the four Rockets looked over the edge, Cody, Larry and Lorraine rose upwards, now sitting on top of one of the carts of a ferris wheel, shaped like Pokéballs. Cody grinned confidently at the bad guys while Lorraine was feeling brave enough to mock them by waving goodbye to them. “Get down there!” shouted the man in the Psyduck costume, “Stop that ride and bring it back down.” With that, the Water Squad leapt forward and barely got hold of the next cart rising up, and had to drastically pull themselves up or take a fall. “They’re still after us.” complained Larry. “And the Fighting Squad are probably on their way to stop this ride before we can get down safely.” Cody crawled forward and peered down at the hill, the Fighting Squad were indeed running down towards the control booth to halt the ferris wheel. “Looks like its time to break out the Pokémon.” said Cody. “We can’t fight them up here, its too dangerous!” warned Lorraine. “Not for some, and I don’t plan on fighting.” he explained. With that, a Spearow was unleashed, and dived down into the control booth, scaring the man there and making him fall back in surprise, it then latched onto the control stick with its claws, and pulled it up. The Blastoise and Slowbro were now out, barely balancing on the cart and preparing to fire, but it was then that the ride started to shake and move faster. “Bail out!” shouted Cody, “Jump now!” “You are crazy.” said Lorraine. “Trust me!” he shouted. With that he grabbed them again, and dived off the ferris wheel, while the Rockets remained there, not willing to follow. It might had been best if they did, as the ferris wheel started to rotate very fast, causing screams from inside, but worse still for the Rockets holding on for their lives. The water built up in the two Pokémon fired, but their direction and speed causing the water to rain down on some unsuspecting tourists with a small shower. By now the controller had come to his senses and dived back inside to stop the ride immediately. But doing so, the sudden halt catapulted the Rockets and their Pokémon off, and they unfortunately landed in a restaurant on top of several machines, some of which broke and electrocuted the two Water Pokémon into submission. During this, Cody and the Juniors had landed on a large tent, and slid down to land on a bouncy castle. “I haven’t been on one of these for years.” mentioned Cody, trying to bring a little light to the situation. “Well enjoy it cos it’ll be your last.” said the Mankey guy darkly, as the Fighting Pokémon climbed onto the ride. “Hey! No Pokémon allowed! And you! No shoes allowed!” complained the man in charge, but the Rockets pushed him away. Cody and the others ran forward and used the surface to bounce over the Pokémon and the Rockets, and dashed into the nearest attraction, even if it was for kids. The two Pokémon chased them into the fun house, full of obstacles, mazes, and pretty much full of rubbery walls, ceiling, floor and parts sticking out of it. The Hitmonlee leapt forward, albeit slightly off course due to the unstable ground. “Duck!” shouted Cody, and the Hitmonlee flew over them and bounced off the rubbery wall and was rebounded into its partner, the Hitmonchan aiming a punch. It slammed into it and hurt it accidentally with its foot, it received a fierce punch that disorientated it, and then its springy legs tangled around the Hitmonchan. Both were in a mess as Cody and the others made their way through the attraction, and the Fighting Pokémon continued to bounce off the walls, ceiling and ground... The two stepped out the exit having navigated all of the mazes, “I suppose that was planned for as well?” questioned Larry. “No, but it was convenient.” grinned Cody. They didn’t have time to savour their small victory, as psychic spheres came flying by and exploded soon after. The Psychic Squad dressed like a Mr Mime and Abra were slowly advancing on them with an Alakazam and Hypno. “Where now fearless leader?” asked Larry sarcastically. “The ghost house.” he answered. Again, the Rocket Pokémon entered the attraction, but not on the cars provided, they walked through just as Cody and the others had. Something came at them and the Psychic Pokémon reacted and blew it up, but it was only a fake Gengar floating about. The Rockets and the Pokémon backed to the side as some people came through on a railcar, and then the action truly started. Since the car had gone through, the ride was activated, and lots of images of Ghost Pokémon and the regular sort of ghosts went flying around. The Psychics panicked and didn’t scan the area with their minds, they just blasted everything that flew at them, so much that they soon exhausted their strength. That was when Cody attacked, and his Jolteon appeared and spiked the Pokémon a lot with a concentrated Pin Missile attack. The Pokémon fell back onto the tracks and their trainers saw to them, just as a railcar entered the ride. Cody and the ex-Rockets jumped out of the exit and ran, while the Psychic Squad were left dazed, pinned to the front of an exiting railcar. “I don’t believe it...” exclaimed Larry, “We’ve already taken out half the Pokémon Squads, maybe you can save us after all...” “Is that a compliment I hear?” inquired Cody. “Not really.” grumbled Larry. “Oh come on, we’re nearly out of danger, the least you can do is cut me some slack and act a little nicer around me.” requested Cody. “So now you must absolutely believe that we’re true to our word, that we want to leave Team Rocket.” said Lorraine to him. “Of course I do, or else I probably wouldn’t have got you this far.” he replied. “Well you are in as much trouble as we are, but thanks.” sighed Larry. “That’s okay, I-” “That’s far enough.” said a man in a Vileplume outfit, his buddy wore a strange Exeggutor outfit and their Pokémon were an Ivysaur and a Victreebel. “What now?” questioned Lorraine. “Run.” said Cody simply. They quickly pushed through the crowds, while the Rockets were tired of playing nice, and scared away children and adults with their Pokémon to cut a path open. Cody and the others were forced to stop, as they’d reached a part of the park that overlooked a pit used for exhibitions. Today’s were a group of people who had a talent for calmly walking over hot coals on their bare feet. “Sorry guys, but I’ve got another crazy idea.” Slightly to the right of them was a small tower, with a wire leading out of it, hanging over the pit, and leading to another tower, this was probably used for exhibitions that included guys travelling across the wire with the pulleys stacked in a cardboard box. Soon enough, Cody, Larry and Lorraine hooked the said pulleys onto the wire, and hung on with one hand, and travelled down the slightly downward cord, but they followed by the Rockets, and even their Pokémon, the Victreebel and Ivysaur hung on by use of their vines. As they descended, a roar of wonder went through the crowd, and the people walking across the coals looked up, some questioned if that was part of their act, others were annoyed that the attention wasn’t on them. The three reached the other tower, and Cody started ordering, “Get out a Pokémon that can cut this wire!” “Landslide, Slash attack.” said Lorraine, and her Sandslash appeared, leapt up, and cleaved the wire in one swipe. The rest dropped down as did the Grass Squad, the Rockets landed on the backsides, on the hot coal, while the Pokémon slammed down into cans of fire and were set alight, they wouldn’t be able to come after the Juniors any time soon. As for the Electric Squad (dressed like a Pikachu and Electrode with an Electabuzz and Magneton), their costumes made it hard to get by without children’s attention, they followed Cody to a cave exhibit (with many models of Ground Pokémon on show, not that Cody and the others had time to notice them), and with his Geodude, an earthquake was started, and buried the Electric Pokémon in rocks, and then came the Rock Squad, led by Rockets dressed as an Omastar and Kabutops using a Rhydon and Golem. They’d played it smart and separated, then came at the three from different sides, effectively trapping them just around the log flume ride. The two Pokémon stepped forward slowly, and Cody had another idea. “Distract those Rockets, fight among yourselves or something.” The siblings shrugged their shoulders, and tried: “Look what you’ve gotten us into now Sister.” “Its your fault Brother.” The two Pokémon continued to step forward, with no new orders from their trainers. “This isn’t convincing enough.” said Larry, and turned to Cody “Its this idiot’s fault! We should never have gone against the Pokémon Squads, but you had to play the hero!” “You what?!” exclaimed Cody, “You’re lucky I’m even helping you criminals, I’m still ticked at you for breaking Pokémon Battle rules!” The two Rockets extended a hand and motioned for the Pokémon to wait. “I don’t see what difference it made, you’re a lame excuse for a trainer!” “And you two should be in prison! Even if you are immature babies!” “You’re a joke.” “And you’re a convict.” “Loser.” “Psycho.” With that, an Arbok-shaped boat with four people holding their arms up inside came hurling down the slope nearby, and upon hitting the bottom, a wave of water rose up and came down on Cody, the Juniors, and the Rock Pokémon. “Swirl!” “Flounder!” “Water Gun!” Cody and Lorraine finished together. The Rock Pokémon were drenched, weakened, and slipping around, the Water Gun launched by the Poliwhirl and Seaking shot them into the trainers, knocking them out with the weight while the Pokémon were too weakened to chase the three... Finally, Cody and the Juniors arrived in the town square, and took a moment to rest. “That was some great acting boys.” congratulated Lorraine. “Acting?” questioned Cody and Larry, “Oh right, acting...” they added unconvincingly. “Well that’s it, all eight squads are out of it.” cheered Cody. With that, a Lickitung pounced on Cody, and pinned him down, while a Tauros ran at the Juniors but missed as they fell to the sides. “Actually only seven squads were defeated.” said Ben, alongside Becky and two final squad members dressed like a Chansey and Snorlax. “Well excuse me for losing count during all those life threatening encounters...” groaned Cody. The Rockets had forgotten one thing, and there were plenty of openings for the two ex-Rockets to run and get to the exit of the park. “Lorraine...” sighed Larry. “I know we could run, but...” she added. “Yeah yeah, I know, we can’t leave him, he’s gotten us this far out of the kindness of his heart, and after everything we did to him, I say with his help we can take these Pokémon out and get those failures to stop chasing us ever again.” With that, Larry stepped up and unleashed his Wigglytuff. “Wiggly!” it growled, jumping forward, and all the Rockets could do was laugh. “Those Juniors are more babyish than we thought!” laughed one of the Normal Squad members. Larry growled, Bedtime was his first Pokémon, and he’d been teased many times about having a Pokémon usually owned by girls, but he let it go this time instead of losing it as he had done as a Rocket. “This coming from a guy in a Chansey costume? Bedtime, Sing.” “Oh no!” shouted Becky, as she and Ben quickly covered their ears as did the Pokémon and Cody and Lorraine, the two controllers of the Normal Pokémon flopped to the floor and snoozed away, leaving their Pokémon slightly confused as to what to do. “Tuff!!!” Bedtime squealed, ramming the Lickitung so hard it rolled off Cody and fell to the floor, but the enemy Pokémon were smart enough to help each other out, and the Tauros slammed into her, pushing her towards the Lickitung who swept its tongue across her and paralysed her, making it easy for the Tauros to ram it with all its strength. “Return Bedtime.” said Larry, recalling it and drawing his newest Pokémon, as did Lorraine, and Cody stepped back and drew two of his own. “Those Pokémon don’t need those fools, they’re also trained to listen to us.” explained Ben. “And these Pokémon are the toughest in the squad.” grinned Becky darkly. “And that’s why we’ll double the amount of Pokémon to fight this battle.” added Cody, “Go Muscles, Go Flower!” “Maaaa-Champ!” “Vile...” “Go Core!” “Magmar!” “Go Black Widow!” “Jynx!” The Junior Pokémon went for an opponent each, joined by one of Cody’s. Larry’s Magmar and Cody’s Vileplume went for the Lickitung, who once again did as most Lickitungs did and swung its tongue round at them, the Magmar hastily sent out a Fire Blast attack and the Lickitung decided to back down before its tongue was burnt. It backed away, and then let out a horrible shrieking sound, which distracted both its enemies, next it leapt forward, and came down on the Magmar with its weight and left foot. Cody’s Vileplume scattered Poison Powder forward, and the Lickitung attempted to get up and evade it, but in getting up, the Magmar was free, and swung a fierce Mega Kick that lifted up the Lickitung high into the air, but also scattering Ember cinders to burn up the powder now aimed for it. During all this, the Vileplume had been using the attack it had once missed out on learning, solar energy was drawn in slowly, and when the Lickitung reached its highest point, the beam fired and launched it into a statue sitting in the centre of the square. The Magmar looked smug, but the Lickitung burst out the rubble and tried to land on it, but the two Pokémon rolled back, out of the way. The tongue came out again and the Vileplume was too far to help, so the Magmar took things into its own hands, literally. Its eyes glowed white and the Lickitung rose up, trying to fight the fear, that’s when flames suddenly lighted the left hand of the Magmar, and a punch was performed, the Lickitung flung back, and landed in a whirlwind of sharp leaves generated by the Vileplume. Moments before, but occurring during the said fight, Lorraine’s Jynx and Cody’s Machamp were battling it out against the Tauros. It charged past the Jynx, who spun away without damage and blew a Lovely Kiss to send it to sleep, but it missed the stampeding Pokémon, she threw a Psychic- type attack forward and lifted up the Tauros, but it pounded so much against the invisible force, it shattered, and the Tauros struck the floor with Fissure strike, cracking it and throwing up a lot of rubble. The Jynx floated over it with psychic abilities, and the Machamp flipped over it. The Tauros dragged its feet back and charged at the large Machamp, but it grabbed its horns, grounded its feet and slowly forced the Tauros to stop, but the Tauros wasn’t a quitter and pushed with all its might. At least until the Jynx leapt forward and froze the Tauros’s feet in ice so that the Machamp could lift it up and use Seismic Toss. The two Pokémon flew into each other and collided hard, they screamed out, dropped to the floor, and fainted. “I can’t believe it, all eight of our squads, defeated by three kids!” screamed Becky. “Correction: Three kids with great Pokémon.” smiled Cody. “And quick wits.” added Larry, standing alongside Cody as if they were partners. “That’s right.” added Lorraine with a grin, “We’re much smarter than any of you clowns, smart enough to see how worthless it was to once be one of you.” “Let’s get out of here!” shouted the failures, recalling the Pokémon, and then grabbing a fallen member. They ran far away, tripped due to the costumes, picked themselves up, and ran again, chased by hoards of children. “We should leave too, we’ve virtually been on enough rides and this place might have many more Rockets on call.” explained Larry to Cody, but not in the usual rude tone. “You’re right.” agreed Cody... Soon Cody and the ex-Rockets were outside the entrance to the park. “Cody, I’m sorry for everything.” apologised Larry. “What you did was in the past, let’s leave it there.” said Cody pleasantly. “No, I mean my attitude. I’ve been hassling you all day, and look at what you did, you beat eight Rocket Squads despite their strength.” “But you guys helped out a lot, you proved yourselves by far to be great Pokémon Trainers, and that you’re true to your word.” “Us?... Great Pokémon Trainers?... No one’s ever called us that before.” exclaimed Lorraine happily. “Then let me be the first.” smiled Cody. “Cody.” came a new voice, but a friendly one. “Tom, how did it go with Nat’?” “It didn’t, I couldn’t go through with it, she was so excited about dragging me to all the rides that I didn’t get the opportunity. But don’t worry, I’ll wait until the right time to ask, and in the meantime I can drop hints until then.” he explained. “Hey, those guys are familiar...” mused Nat’, “Hey, they’re Junior Rocket!” “Keep it down, Larry and Lorraine have reformed, I promise. And I was thinking, I’d like for them to tag along for now.” requested Cody. “You what?” questioned Tom. “These two really need a friend, they’re innocent, and I want to make sure they get treated as such.” Cody explained. “Well, if you’re sure, Cody.” replied Nat. “I’ve never been more sure, thanks for understanding.” “Well then, I’m Natasha, but please, call me Nat’.” she said, offered her hand to the two. “And I’m Tom.” he added, also reaching out to shake hands. The two ex-Rockets were a little bewildered, they hadn’t had so many friendships all at once for quite some time. “I’d also very much like these two to compete in the League, I know its too late for Gyms and all, but they could take that Pokémon League Admissions Exam thing, its not that far away from here.” “You’re the boss Cody.” smiled Tom. “And for good reason.” added Lorraine. Cody grinned, and stepped forward, his team now extended to accommodate the former Rockets, and now, his newest friends... End of Part B Part A Back to the Side Stories Back to the Pokézone