After the Rain (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus Storm clouds gathered together, growing and growing, engulfing the skies and raining down shot after shot of powerful lightning bolts, coupled with a hail of raindrops to tumble down on the earth, and anyone who was unlucky enough to be caught in it. “Stupid! Stupid weatherman!” cried out Danielle, searching through her backpack for cover, but all she found was a small comfort blanket she’d kept since she was three. “Oh well, my hair’s gonna stink like something awful, but I shouldn’t go catching a cold... I just hope I don’t get struck by lightning...” She was a little wrong about this, the blanket was smaller than she remembered, and barely covered her head. “I wish I’d come more prepared, but I just had to move fast in order to catch up to my true love...” Danielle had made good time collecting Gym Badges, because her travelling could be done in double time, thanks to her roller skates, and her faithful Rapidash. She’d battled at Lavender Town against the assistant Gym Leader Alistair, using her Raichu and Clefable versus Gastly and Muk. Then she’d headed towards Saffron City, where Tetsubo had told her he was going, but she’d run into a nasty trainer that had tried to steal her most personal belongings, but she’d caught a glimpse of Tetsubo, and he must have saved her, how else could she explain her stuff not being stolen, she just wished that Tetsubo could have stuck around with her after that. The Gym Leader in Saffron City was too tough for her, and claimed that Bug Pokémon and rare Ghost Pokémon were the only ones who could defeat her, so Danielle called it quits and went through Celadon City, Grey Town, Aquamarine Town, Vandyke City, Juniper City, Jade Town and Crimson City for her Gym Badges. Now in the area closest to Fuchsia City, Danielle felt empty, she should be training her Pokémon, except she’d done that for over a year now, her Pokémon were more developed than new trainers’ ones could be, so she could take it easy. But Danielle wanted to find Tetsubo now, she’d told him that she’d see him when she got her Gym Badges, well, at the League actually, but it was practically the same thing. She really should have asked him for his home town before they departed. Danielle sniffed a little, and then sneezed, she clicked her fingers in anger, Hazel Town was just a few moments away, and she’d obviously began to come down with something. How could she chase Tetsubo down if she got sick?... “I’ll find you Tetsubo, my love, you’re the one for me, I know you are...” “Hold it right there!” shouted a tough arrogant male. “Hold what?...” “Shut up Bimbo.” insulted a snide sounding female. Danielle turned around slowly, to face a man and woman in purple Rocket uniforms, they wore berets, scarfs and boots. “Who, who are you...” panicked Danielle. “We’re Rockets, she’s Becky, and I’m Ben, and we want all the Pokémon you have on you.” Fear shot into Danielle like an arrow in her back, and gave her a cold feeling. Any sort of danger, Bug-types and fierce Pokémon drove Danielle to panicking, otherwise, she was her normal ditsy, flirtatious and persistent self, she didn’t know what to do in times like this, but her Pokémon did. Ben had spiky black hair, while Becky’s hair was long and auburn-coloured. Becky was holding a futuristic-looking gun, while Ben was flipping a silver coin and catching it constantly, the woman slapped his side in order to make him stop. It wasn’t just the two of them here though, there were three other Rockets standing around menacingly. “Do you need me to write it down kid? Give me your Pokéballs!” shouted Becky. “I... I don’t want to...” “Its not a question of what you want, its what We want and what we’re going to get.” smiled Ben. “I wish... that my knight in shining armour was here...” prayed Danielle, as she ducked down into a crouch, and rocked herself. “Ever since Guyver Dam, Tetsubo’s been so distant towards me...” thought Abby, the current travelling companion of Tetsubo Capture. “Have I done something wrong?... Should I ask him?... Or should I just act my normal quiet self until he snaps out of it?...” “We’re almost at Hazel Town... Um, is something bothering you Abby?...” he asked her. “Um, I suppose so, its just that you’ve been-” “Hey, what’s that over there?” questioned Tetsubo, walking away swiftly. “... Ignoring me...” she finished, before following him. Becky stepped forward, aiming her gun so that Danielle didn’t try anything. “You’re pathetic, but I bet you’ve got reasonably good Pokémon.” she commented. “You’re the pathetic ones, stealing from little girls!” shouted Tetsubo, forcing his side into Becky’s and making her fall, the gun falling to the floor and spinning to a halt. “You okay?... Danielle?!” spluttered Tetsubo upon seeing the girl’s face. Danielle’s eyes lit up, and her mouth was open wide as she gasped in happiness. Wearing his blue sleeveless coat, yellow shirt and green jeans, and still with his spiked back and shoulder length turquoise hair was Danielle’s hero, oh, and some other girl with red hair overlapping half her face wearing purple clothes, boots and beret. “Tetsubo!” And then she leapt onto him and hugged him tight. “I wished for you to be here, and here you are!” “Um, Danielle, please get off.” “Why?” “Tetsubo, I saw the Rockets and- Who is She?” scowled Abby. “Abby, this isn’t what it looks like. Is it Danielle?...” asked Tetsubo firmly. “Of course not, we’re worth so much more to each other...” “Danielle?! This isn’t the time for that!” “Oh, sorry.” “Go Whirlwind, Go Shockwave!” “Go Pixie, Go Sparky...” “Um, Go, Spaghetti, and you too Basher.” “Pidgeot!!!” “BUZZ!!!” “Cle-Fairy!” “Pika!” “Gela!!!” “Dew-Gong Gong Gong!” “Grrrr, Go! Ivysaur, Magmar...” shouted Becky. “Ivy-Saur!” “MAGGG!!!” “Get them Hitmonlee! And you too Blastoise!” yelled Ben. “Hitmon-Lee!!!” “Blast!!!” “Tung!” “Gol...” “MAG-NA-TON!” Next to appear were a Lickitung, a Golem, and a Magneton, controlled by each of the usual Rockets. The following battle didn’t last too long, ever since their failure on the S.S Anne, the boss of Team Rocket had punished the Failure’s Rockets’ level squads far more than they, for humiliating Team Rocket’s bigger Pokémon, now Ben and Becky could only rely on their Pokémon, and that of the three grunts they had with them. The Hitmonlee glared at Abby’s Clefairy, and gave a snide look, thinking it had the type advantage, it leapt forward. Pixie growled at it, but didn’t scare it one bit, and ducked down into a Defense Curl as the Hitmonlee rolled forward and leapt upwards into a kick, but because the Clefairy ducked down, the Hitmonlee crashed into a tree. “Cle’... Fair’... Air’... Ry...” sung Pixie, and the Hitmonlee quickly fell asleep. “Fair... Ry!” One Doubleslap, followed by a powerful Double Edge, and then a Metronome Thunder attack was enough to make the Fighting Pokémon faint. The Blastoise ran towards Sparky, pulling its head into its shell, and then shooting out to put power and speed into the hit. The Pikachu leapt up, over the Blastoise’s head, and rolled down its shell, dark clouds formed in the sky and a quick blast of lightning hit Sparky and charged up the Blastoise. But it quickly withdrew into its shell and spun, knocking the little Pikachu over. It landed, and its cannons were drawn, to shoot two parts of a Hydro Pump. Sparky charged head on, and used Agility at the last moment, spiralling around the jets of water and reaching the Blastoise, who withdrew again. But the Pikachu wouldn’t be hit by the same technique twice, and clambered into the opening too, before using Thunderbolt to fry the Blastoise’s insides, so to speak. Shockwave, Tetsubo’s Electabuzz powered up for a Thunderbolt, when the enemy Lickitung cancelled it out with a paralysing lick to the face, followed by a Body Slam. The Electabuzz screeched loudly and the Lickitung fell back, Shockwave shook himself off, grabbed the tongue, and shocked the Lickitung into defeat. Tetsubo’s Pidgeot fared flawlessly against Becky’s Ivysaur, who started the battle with a Solar Beam, but because of the weather, it took too long to charge, and Whirlwind flew down for an attack. The beam fired, but Whirlwind was set on a certain pattern, and easily circled around the beam with Agility, even when the Ivysaur adjusted the beam to move to the sides. Whirlwind dived into a Sky Attack, flames charging around it just before it reached the Ivysaur, Whirlwind virtually tore through it and landed, as did the Ivysaur moments later, but on its face. Tetsubo and Abby had let their Pokémon go without instructions once more, but Danielle’s did it on a regular basis when she was in her panic state. Spaghetti, her Tangela leapt aside as a Golem, rolled up in a ball stumbled forward, he performed a Vine Whip to catch it, but the Golem was too strong, and dragged the Tangela behind it, hitting every rock and tree on the way. The Tangela growled, and used a Mega Drain, the vines serving as a direct link between the two so that he’d get his health from the Golem, who came out of its ball phase, only to be lifted up by the vines, and slammed down. Finally, Becky’s Magmar blasted a small flame at Danielle’s recently evolved Dewgong, searing it just a little, Basher retaliated with an Aurora Beam, and a cold rainbow light shined on the opponent, who walked slowly through it, easily managing to resist it. A Fire Punch was next, and the Dewgong fell back burned, but used the moment to surprise the Magmar with a Bubblebeam as it fell, and before it landed, the Magmar had fallen. “We’ve won, I suggest you leave before I make you, here’s some advice, your way probably hurts less.” threatened Tetsubo, while Danielle stared at him wide- eyed and idolising him. “We don’t need Pokémon! We’ve got this!” laughed Ben. As the two turned to a contraption hidden in the bushes, Tetsubo turned to a Magneton spraying electricity everywhere, and his Pidgeot slammed into it to protect him. Danielle peered back at the two main Rockets, placing the strange coin into the machine that immediately came to life. “Careful with that coin!” Danielle heard Becky say, “The machine overheats easily and we’ll have to take that coin out soon!” Danielle saw it come to life, and figured it was aimed for Tetsubo, so she dived at him and forced him down as a beam shot out very quickly and barely missed the two, instead hitting the Magneton. It was so fast that Tetsubo and Abby, distracted by some stubborn enemy Pokémon, didn’t see it. “Danielle, I’ll be okay, there’s no time for hugs, just stick by and I’ll protect you. Don’t be scared...” comforted Tetsubo, misinterpreting Danielle’s diving on him. “I can’t help it...” “You should really see a doctor about that, you need to learn how to deal with your fears.” She nodded in reply, and turned back to the hidden machine, the one that Tetsubo hadn’t noticed yet, and decided to take action, storming forward and pointing so that her Pokémon followed. But Becky drew her strange gun and took a shot, and Danielle could only duck down and panic. “Ge-Laaa!!!” squealed Spaghetti, diving in front of its trainer and taking the main force of the laser blast, but the following explosion flung the two back, into a group of trees. “Dew... Gong!” shouted Basher, shooting an Ice Beam to encase the gun in a thick layer of ice, it then leapt towards Danielle’s position as another beam was fired from the cannon, it was so strong, it tore through trees as it pursued the Ice-type Pokémon. “Re... Return...” called Danielle, reaching out weakly and pulling the Tangela back into its ball, before drawing Basher’s, she knew they could handle themselves, but this was too much, she didn’t want to see them get hurt. “We can only do one more quick shot before we have to recharge.” shouted Ben. “Then we’ll just have to make it count, aim for the guy, the Boss will promote us back to our rightful positions if we can off one of the most hated enemies of Team Rocket.” ordered Becky. Before they could do so, Basher leapt forward, and Ben panicked and took a shot, the beam missed, and shot upwards, and the Dewgong head butted the machine and overloaded it. It didn’t explode, but the coin was ejected, and flew into the group of broken trees where Danielle was, and landed in her bag. Danielle quickly recalled her Dewgong as soon as she saw it, and then gasped as the top of a tree cracked and fell towards her, she screamed out as it crashed down. “Retreat!” shouted Becky, before whispering “We offed the young one, and she’s the only one who knows about the big weapon, we’ll come back for the coin and destroy that guy.” The Rockets scarpered and Tetsubo brushed off some water from his hair, “They’re not even a challenge these days...” Tetsubo quickly noticed that Danielle wasn’t at his side, and turned towards a patch of ground with several markings, he turned towards the group of collapsed trees and gasped, as a small trail of red could be seen next to Danielle’s unconscious body. “Oh no, Danielle?... Danielle!!!...” End of Part A Part B Back to the Side Stories Back to the Pokézone