Diary of Woe (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

My name is Emily, I’m seventeen as of a couple of months back and this is my 
first attempt at keeping a diary.  
I was meant to do this years ago to organise myself better but now that I’m 
starting my Pokémon journey, I decided to take action and go for it.  
For a few years now, one of my close friends, Tetsubo, went to a boarding 
school, he’s the only friend that goes back to when we were young.  
But I made some new friends and had some great times, though recently, I’ve 
started to feel a little detached from the group.  
First up is Bianca George, the one that I am more friendly with.  
A stunning red head that always managed to make things work for her and always 
a leading figure.  
She’s confident, independent and very tough in an argument, I don’t think she’s 
ever lost one when I think about it.  
She owns a really cool Ponyta and a fierce Spearow: Stallion and Swoop.  
Next up was Sebastian Raine, a real cool guy that I quickly developed a crush 
on.  
He has spiky brown hair and he’s muscular and older than I and Bianca, he’s 
handsome and cool and...  Well, he’s Sebastian.  
He has a strange Tentacool called Tsunami.  
The other two, I’m not that close to, but I try to be.  
There’s Enrico Silva, a foreign kid from far away that transferred here, he’s 
wise and level headed and quite sensible.  
He has a Seel called Freezer and a Mankey called Primal, he devotes a lot of 
time to both of them in order to make them stronger.  
Finally is Rita Jones, an easy going kind of gal, she hangs around the group, 
rarely makes suggestions and is easy to get along with.  
She owns a fierce Ekans called Squeeze and surprisingly, a Rhyhorn, which she 
named Charge.  

Day 1/ 2:  

We had all arranged to travel around the world together and made a pact to get 
into the Pokémon League.  
I had to go all the way to the Celadon area for my first Pokémon, the only 
sponsor in Fuchsia was a recent qualified researcher called Mary...  Something 
or other, but she had already chosen two kids to sponsor and was looking for a 
third, but because I didn’t have any qualifications like my friend Tetsubo, she 
really wasn’t interested in looking after the Pokémon of a total beginner.  
My sponsor was located in a field north of the Bird House where a lady was 
awfully secretive and hard to get directions from.  
Eventually, after outsmarting her, I found the place, at the bottom of a 
valley.  
It was farm-like in appearance but very spacious for my future Pokémon.  
Professor Beech was a moderately old man with ginger hair and a beard, he wore 
large glasses and a long brown coat and hat, and he seemed happy enough to look 
after my Pokémon, provided I tried to record as many entries as I could on the 
Pokédex to aid his studies.  
Out of my choices of an Oddish, a Poliwag and a Machop, I went with the Oddish, 
she was much cuter than the others, but only by a little, I was tempted by the 
Poliwag but I had to go with my heart.  
I found out it was a female and that they needed an extremely rare Sun Stone to 
evolve into their final form of:  ‘A ballerina,’ someone had said, but its 
doubtful they were telling the truth.  
I named my Oddish, Blossom, and returned home.  

Day 3:  

My friends were a little surprised at my choice and questioned why I didn’t 
take the Machop.  
But I was a little different from them and made my own choices rather than 
follow theirs all the time.  
The guys were never truly on my wavelength and I questioned if I should journey 
alone.  
I felt a little outcast at times nowadays and felt as if people were talking 
about me behind my back, but on the other hand, I was terrible at planning my 
way around, I didn’t even have a map and it would be best to tag along with 
someone who knew where they were going.  

We had received our Pokémon earlier than expected and so Bianca decided that we 
should take a trip for a couple of days before starting our journey to catch 
new Pokémon, to see the surrounding landmarks and generally relax.  

The first place was in Gringy City which was undergoing a clean-up due to 
polluted waters.  
Bianca arranged a tour for us in the Power Plant and while there, I got 
separated and ran into a Magnemite being overwhelmed by Grimers.  
I tried to save it but Blossom was weak against Poison attacks and passed out.  
Bianca had to come to my rescue and fought off as many as she could with her 
Ponyta, I took the Magnemite from a couple of Grimers and ordered it to fight, 
I knew it had the power to.  
With my uplifting words, it shocked the pests and became attracted to me, so I 
managed to put it in a Pokéball and take it with me.  
Still, Bianca was a little ticked off at my detour and told me that next time, 
she’d leave me behind.  

Next we toured Scissor Street, and while the others were shopping, I checked 
out the Pokémon Centre.  
It was my first time and I wanted to know where everything was, so that I could 
look like I knew what I was talking about, the next time we went to one.  
There I found Chanseys working their buns off because of an accident down the 
road, and one Chansey that had overworked herself, I helped a woman named Nurse 
Joy to relax the Chansey, and in the end, she asked if I could take her with me 
on my journey.  
The Chansey named Lucky was too caring for her own good and helped others over 
her own health and safety, Joy figured that it wouldn’t have as much work to do 
if it only healed a small party of Pokémon and the holiday would do it good.  
So that was my third Pokémon and of course, I came back late, everyone but 
Sebastian was annoyed, Sebastian didn’t much like shopping and had strayed away 
also, but came back with a Seel as his newest Pokémon.  
Perhaps we had some things in common after all, we had a nice chat about our 
catches and it was nice to talk with him without distractions from the others, 
Bianca was alone on that bus cos she usually talked with Sebastian.  
I know it was a little cruel but I continued to talk with Sebastian at every 
opportunity, to make up for the times when I was the one left out.  

Day 4:  

We stopped at a country town and while the others tested their Pokémon, I 
ventured into the forest to see if I could get another Pokémon, I already had 
more than the others and it got me a little more attention than normal so of 
course I’d want to keep it that way.  
Also, I managed to bring Sebastian with me, he was in need of new Pokémon too 
and we both got some slightly weak Pokémon, I got a Weedle and he got a male 
Nidoran.  
We joked and laughed our way back to town where Bianca was, a little moody, she 
asked to talk to Sebastian in private.  
As I sat down to lunch, the ‘talk’ became shouting, I went to check out what 
was wrong, when I heard something that would hurt me.  
“Sebastian, I need you so much more.  I want you to stop talking to Emily, 
she’s bad news.”  
How dare she, there wasn’t anything rotten about me,  sure I was a little loud 
and adventurous when I knew what I was doing but certainly not bad news.  
I stormed out and I don’t think Bianca even knew I overheard.  

Later I was in deep thought, Sebastian was clearly avoiding me, what had Bianca 
said about me after I stopped eavesdropping?  
I wouldn’t let him run away because of the possibility that Bianca liked him in 
the same way I did.  
I came between him and Bianca at every opportunity during the visit to Maiden’s 
Peak.  
They probably thought I was acting strange, but that’s the way they described 
me anyway.  
I know it ticked Bianca off but if she wanted to play dirty then she should be 
prepared to face some grime in kind.  
Sebastian was awfully nervous about my intrusions and even more so when Bianca 
got on the wrong boat in that Tunnel of Love attraction.  
I... kissed Sebastian while in there alone with him and he was very much 
surprised and told me he wasn’t ready for this and that he didn’t want me 
telling anyone what had just happened, what sort of hold did Bianca have over 
him?  

The day ended and it was time to go home and prepare for our journey, we would 
be leaving at early evening tomorrow.  
I let my Pokémon go free tonight and they all behaved.  
I had a visitor that night:  Bianca.  
She told me that Sebastian and her had something special and that no matter how 
much I tried, I’d never get him.  
In response, I told her that it was up to him, and then Bianca left suddenly, 
saying, “If that’s the way it is...”  
It didn’t make sense.  
I slept uneasy and when I did sleep, I had nightmares about the group kicking 
me out and Sebastian acting horrible to me.  
In the end I didn’t sleep at all and got to know my Pokémon.  
No one I knew bonded like I did with Pokémon.  
I constantly looked after mine, and talked with them regularly, trying to learn 
about each one’s individual needs and problems.  
It seemed they were the only ones that listened to me these days.  
As loud and outgoing as I was, I always kept my ear open to listen back rather 
than say my share and not care for other’s opinions.  
The Pokémon eased my anxieties and I later drifted to sleep with each of them, 
except Discharge, my Magnemite, it didn’t seem to have the need for sleep and 
floated around as if guarding us from intruders.  

End of Part A  

Part B
Back to the Side Stories
Back to the Pokézone