Chapter 142:  Gathering (Part B) by Michael Keens/Exodus  

On the deck of the ship, many trainers stood in couples, trios and so forth, 
or in huge rings spectating Pokémon Battles.  
To even see the Pokémon involved would mean getting into those rings, and 
currently Calvin wanted to battle rather than watch.  
Calvin was wandering around and asking random trainers if they wanted to 
battle, but most declined, not wanting their only Pokémon to be hurt when 
medical facilities on the boat were fairly packed with losers of the current 
Pokémon Battles.  
“YEAH! THAT’S THE WAY!!!” someone yelled, the voice was distinctive, as very 
few people spoke that loudly.  
“Calvin, I think Chad’s battling, why don’t we watch him battle and you can 
challenge the winner.” Ellie called.  
He shrugged and walked with her to the gathering trainers, his expression not 
as cheery as usual, what if she’d somehow given away her intentions and he’d 
figured out her plans to leave him she thought...  
The ring was too large and bunched together, so pushing through this 
particular crowd would leave either of them sore.  
“Looks like I can forget about seeing this one.” sighed Calvin.  
“And me?” Ellie questioned, releasing Calvin wasn’t speaking on her behalf as 
usual.  
“You’ll be fine.” he grinned, pushing Ellie forward a little, crawling 
slightly under her and standing up so that she sat on his shoulders, “Just be 
sure to get the winner’s attention.”  
Calvin seemed in his usual positive mood as it turned out, so Ellie’s leaving 
him suddenly would definitely hurt him, but it wasn’t all her fault she 
thought, it was those Rocket people appearing just when her journey began, if 
she ever met one she promised, she’d teach them a lesson just for complicating 
everything for her when she hadn’t even met one of them.  
“Oh, it’s not Chad.” Ellie noted.  
“You sure? I heard his voice and I was several metres away.” called Calvin 
from below.  
“It’s Aaron.” Ellie answered.  
“NOW BLOCK!” shouted Chad.  
“Dad, I don’t need you to cheer me on, and blocking is about all this Pokémon 
can do!” moaned Aaron.  
At his side stood a blue Pokémon with triangle shaped eyes, long floppy ears, 
a bubble-like addition to the head and a black tail.  

“That’s...” Ellie pondered, reaching out so her Pokédex was close enough to 
scan it.  

“Wynaut, the Bright Pokémon.  The unevolved form of Wobbuffet, just like this 
Pokémon, Wynaut cannot initiate an offensive attack first; their strength 
lies in their powerful counter-attacks despite this Pokémon’s small size.”  

The opponent was a dark black dog Pokémon, one Ellie had never seen before.  

“Poochyena, the Bite Pokémon.  Although small, this Pokémon is feared by many 
other Pokémon for the fact that it will attempt to bite anything that moves.  
It has a tendency to chase down unfortunate victims to exhaustion.”  

“Scratch that comment.” grinned Aaron confidently, with a look undeniably 
similar to his dad (though it’d be best never to tell him that), “It’s not All 
this Pokémon can do:  Charm technique!”  
“Wyyy!” it cheered, bouncing about with a cute expression and images of hearts 
flying forward briefly in order to get to the Poochyena and lower its attack 
strength.  
“That’ll do no good.  Poochyena! Howl!” called the opponent, a young boy.  
A horrid scream was emitted and all in the audience showed their discomfort, 
the Wynaut was worse off, its technique failing and the distraction leaving it 
open to attack.  
“Tackle!”  
“Grrrrrah!!!” growled the Poochyena, slamming into Aaron’s Wynaut.  
Ellie gasped a little but Aaron saw something she didn’t, as an orange glow 
now surrounded the Wynaut that threw the Poochyena back some distance.  
“Nice Counter-attack Bounce, I didn’t even have to tell you to do it.  Make 
sure you do that whenever you’re attacked.” smiled Aaron.  
“Wy-Wynaut!” replied the Pokémon.  
“That strategy won’t work.” called the opponent, “Not when I do this! Sand 
Attack!”  
Sharp claws dug into the wooden floor but no dust was produced, Aaron came out 
of a defensive stance to order an attack but was shocked when the Poochyena 
leapt forward and shook its body, some form of dust-like substances being 
thrown on his Wynaut and blinding it temporarily.  
“Bounce! No!”  
“Bite it!”  
“Grraaah!!!” roared the little wolf, slamming its teeth on the Wynaut’s tail 
and yanking it back to trip up the little Pokémon before letting go.  
“This isn’t good, your Wynaut’s a Psychic-type.” reminded Chad.  
“I know Dad, I know!” complained Aaron.  
“Now Tackle it, it still can’t see you or counter!”  
“Grrrrah!!!” screamed the dog again.  
“Splash!” shouted Aaron at the last moment.  
“Splash?” Ellie questioned.  
As the Poochyena dived down from its leap, the Wynaut leapt up, the Poochyena 
crashed and slipped in the tiny patch of water on the deck while the Wynaut 
landed in it and jumped two more times before stopping.  
“That was cool.” Ellie purred, respecting the trickery and skill of using such 
a normally useless attack into a successful dodging strategy, she’d been 
taught some similar techniques by her father and wished she could use come up 
with and use such cunning strategies, but her Kecleon would hardly listen to 
her.  
“It’s over Buddy, but you’ve been a great opponent.” applauded Aaron.  
“Don’t give me your victory speech just yet, another Bite will finish your 
Pokémon, it’s strong against it.”  
“And Counter is strong against yours, but only one of these attacks will be 
happening.  Bounce! Encore!”  
“No!”  
White spheres were unleashed that hit the Poochyena and made its eyes go into 
a trance, the little boy ordered a Bite attack but it instead used Tackle, the 
attack it had used last and was now being forced to repeat.  
The Wynaut braced the hit before an orange screen shot up and dealt the 
opponent a lot of damage that defeated it.  

“No! No!” complained the kid, recalling his Pokémon and sobbing.  
“Aw don’t cry, you did great, I want you to keep on battling the way you did 
today, you came close, and I’m sure that with practice and determination you 
and your Pokémon will get stronger, and when that happens I’ll expect a better 
battle next time we meet.” Aaron comforted.  
The kid sniffed and then smiled, “Okay, I’ll get stronger, but next time I’m 
gonna win!”  
“You probably will.”  
The kid left and the crowd dissipated.  
“That little whiner won’t beat you Son, why give him false hope?” questioned 
Chad.  
“Cos he battled well Dad, I’ve seen worse battles... and Heard about them 
too.” Aaron said before giving his dad a look.  
“Why’d I have to be so honest with my family.” groaned Chad, “I keep telling 
you though, I didn’t know my types, that’s the only reason I lost those 
battles in my really Really early days as a trainer.”  
“Yeah yeah, so I heard, time and time again.  But that kid knew his types, 
even the hard ones like Dark and Psychic-types, so the way I see it, he’s 
doing better than you did Dad.”  
“Keep your mouth shut about that or no allowance...” said Chad with a strange 
grin but a somewhat forceful tone.  
“Dad! These blackmails have got to stop!” whined Aaron.  
“Great battle Aaron.” smiled Ellie as she and Calvin walked over.  
“Couldn’t have done it without ol’ Bounce here, and the guy who bred him for 
me.” said Aaron, now peering at his father.  
Chad exhaled with a smile on his face, looking a little bashful at this, a 
rare expression for him, “It was nothing...”  
“So where are you guys planning on going first?” questioned Aaron, “Soon as we 
get to Slateport I’m gonna head east.”  
“I’m going north to Mauville.” explained Ellie before adding, “And Calvin 
too.”  

The ship came to a complete stop suddenly and everyone nearly fell over, and 
most people when the second jolt shook things up.  
“What’d we hit?” questioned Calvin, “Iceberg?”  
“Nah, but equally as dangerous if you don’t do as we say.” came the sinister 
voice of a man as two figures leapt from the top of a boat and with a fine 
display of acrobatics and leapt down to the deck after several twists and 
turns of their bodies.  
The first was female wearing a mask that only revealed her eyes and mouth, she 
wore a colourful outfit of pinks, yellows and blue, with a long strip of green 
hair that curled in several directions, while the second one was the male that 
had spoken, his mouth and nose were covered but the rest of his face was 
visible, he had dark eyes and spiky purple hair, and wore a red and black 
outfit with a long cape.  
“Hand over all your Pokémon feeble trainers, we of the new Team Rocket have 
need of them.”  
“You won’t use my Pokémon for evil!” shouted out Aaron.  
“Evil?...” laughed the female, “Whoever said we wanted to use your Pokémon in 
that way? We just want to sell them for cold hard cash to fund our group as it 
rises from the ashes and runs the whole of Hoenn!”  
“Take his Pokémon first Callidora.” said the male, his eyes narrowing.  
“You’ve got it Demitrius.” smiled the lady, “Go! Calliope!”  
“Corsola!”  
“Get them Hagen!”  
“Hera-CROSS!!!”  
Their two Pokémon, the coral-like Corsola and the stag beetle Heracross, 
appeared, and charged forward.  
“We can’t just let them do as they please!” called out Ellie, a little 
surprised in her doing so, “Release your Pokémon everyone! Go Sneak! Stop 
those Pokémon!”  
She hurled hers forward while other Pokéballs followed, her ball landed 
closest to the charging enemies but all that appeared was the zigzag of Sneak, 
the two Pokémon charged right by him as he hid in between the two until they’d 
passed.  
“Not even in an emergency will he do a thing I say...” Ellie groaned.  
“Waaaiiilll!!!” called out Titanic as he crashed down on the Corsola, but it 
braced the shock and glowed white, before shooting out points with its Spike 
Cannon attack.  
“Titanic, no!” cried Calvin.  
“Counter, Bounce!”  
“Wynaut!” cheered Aaron’s Pokémon, as it leapt between a group of people and 
the enraged Heracross, and with a flash of light and a booming sound, a 
forcefield blocked its attack and blasted it backwards.  
“Sola!!!” squealed the Corsola, another Spike Cannon charging and then 
shooting towards a group.  
“See-Dot!!!” called out another Pokémon joining the fight, Selene’s Seedot 
skidded to a halt in the path of the spikes and glowed white a little, the 
sharp rocks battered and bruised the Pokémon but it held on and braced all of 
the attack, and immediately retaliated with its Bide technique to send a white 
blast which would double the damage it had received upon its opponent, though 
the Seedot was now too weak to continue fighting.  
Selene scowled “I hate it when I’m disturbed from my beauty sleep.”  
“Hera!!!” screamed the angry beetle, charging for another attack during the 
assault.  
“Divert its attention Frosty!”  
“Spheal!!!” cried Vincent’s Spheal, leaping between the trainers and enemy 
Pokémon and making itself a target, the Heracross turned and charged at it 
horn outstretched but at the last moment the Spheal easily bounced up to avoid 
the rising horn.  
The Heracross leaned too far back and fell over, now wobbling on its back and 
unable to get to its feet, Frosty leapt up and used Powder Snow to form a 
straight line of ice behind the Heracross.  
“Luriri...” motioned Wanda, and her Azurill leapt up and blasted the Heracross 
with water to propel it down the icy path, despite struggling, the Heracross 
could do nothing to stop the momentum make it slide backwards in a spin.  
The Corsola shook itself after recovering from its last attack only to be 
crashed into by the Heracross like a hockey puck, yet both Pokémon managed to 
pick themselves up, ready for more.  
“It’s not over.  You’ve done well you amateur trainers, but your Pokémon are 
already tired out, it won’t take long to win, and then we’ll be successful and 
Team Rocket will begin anew!” laughed Callidora.  
“Are those guys for real?” questioned Selene, “What a bunch of losers...”  
“Attack!!!” shouted Demitrius.  
Ellie turned to the remaining trainers, those that hadn’t done anything 
yet, “Oh come on! Didn’t you hear me, our Pokémon may be weak compared to 
theirs, but together we can take them down little by little, you’ll lose your 
Pokémon for sure if you don’t even Try to stop them! Do it like all of us have 
been doing and we’ll be fine!”  
“You mean do it like We have been doing.” corrected Selene, “Your Pokémon’s 
just hiding away.”  
Ellie groaned as Selene stated the truth about her part in this, making her 
feel down even though she’d just gotten the trainers that were too scared to 
react to join the battle.  
Pokéballs exploded open and several Pokémon from the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn 
regions (but all basic and unevolved) appeared and attacked together against 
the two relentless enemies.  
“Cross!!!”  
“Sola!!!”  
Finally, the two enemy Pokémon crashed down, but their trainers were still 
looking confident.  
“You think you’ve won just cos our Pokémon are down?” laughed Demitrius.  
“If anyone could be a member of Team Rocket just by training Pokémon to be 
evil we wouldn’t have the shortage we do.  Being a Rocket nowadays means the 
trainer has to be as equally as dangerous.  We’ll take your Pokémon by force 
with our own hands!” grinned Callidora.  
Before they could react, a tongue appeared from out of nowhere and scraped 
across their faces.  
They took a step forward, before their bodies shivered, and fell to the floor 
frozen.  
Ellie’s Kecleon reappeared and scuttled back towards the group of trainers and 
Pokémon.  
“Can’t... move...” groaned Callidora.  
“We... mustn’t let ourselves be caught...” muttered Demitrius.  
The Pokémon weakly lifted themselves up, and came to their trainers’ aid, 
supporting them on their backs, and then leaping off the ship towards their 
boat which quickly left, though its direction was a little wavy due to the 
driver obviously being one of the two paralysed Rockets.  
A cheer went up and trainers congratulated each other, all except Ellie, who 
recalled her Kecleon and went to another area of the deck, Calvin noticed and 
stared at her with a look of concern...  

“I should be a part of that victory, after all, I spurred everyone on, but 
since my Pokémon only contributed of its own choice rather than my command, I 
guess no one cares...” said Ellie sadly.  
“I care...” said a tiny voice.  
Ellie looked down to see the Poochyena trainer from earlier staring up at 
her.  
“Well thanks, it’s nice of you to say.” she briefly smiled.  
“I didn’t do anything cos my Poochyena was tired, but your words inspired us 
to battle hard with our Pokémon in order not to be separated from each other.” 
comforted the boy.  
“At least you remember that, everyone else seems to only be acknowledging 
those that fought effectively against those Pokémon...” Ellie sighed.  
“What about your friends I saw you with?” questioned the boy.  
“They don’t really count, as soon as we dock in, I’ll be all alone on this 
journey, and it’s going to be hard for me cos I don’t have anyone to rely on, 
not even my Pokémon.”  
“Excuse me Kid, I need to have a talk with my so-called friend.” interrupted a 
familiar voice.  
“C, Calvin...” stuttered Ellie.  
As the boy left, Calvin glared at Ellie, “What are you playing at, telling 
that kid you’re travelling alone, have you completely forgotten about me?”  
“Calvin...  I can’t travel with you...”  
“And why not?!...”  
Ellie closed her eyes and regretted what she would say, “Because you’re really 
annoying! I can’t take your teasing and winding me up every single day without 
a break! And I don’t need you looking out for me, I never did!”  
Calvin turned away from her, “So that’s why you’ve been inviting others to 
join you? So you could ditch my company for theirs?...  You know what Ellie, 
I’m not going to argue, if you want disregard our friendship so easily, that’s 
your choice, I just hope you realise how disappointed I am that you would act 
this way after everything I’ve done for you...”  
As Calvin walked away at a fast pace, Ellie reached out and wanted to call his 
name, but her predicament meant that she couldn’t have Calvin along with her.  
Sadly, Ellie stared towards the ocean towards where the view of Hoenn would 
appear soon, and then wept at what she’d been forced to do to a dear 
friend...  

End of Chapter 142B  

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