Chapter 4:  Friendships and Love (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

In the morning, I woke up first, Emily had taken the bed.  
I decided to leave her be, and remembered that I should leave right away to see 
if the Pidgey was okay.  
I decided to leave the map with Emily, it was her choice, if she did decide to 
go without me at least she’d find her way, but I’d have to comfort my Nidoran.  
Grabbing my Pokéballs and strapping them to my belt, I ran out the Pokémon 
Centre to Route 1.  
There were a couple of junior trainers around, some battling each other.  
I could see a Butterfree fighting against a Geodude, no doubt the Butterfree 
might win if it had learnt its first Psychic attacks but if the Geodude had 
Rock attacks over Ground, it would change everything, but I had no time to 
watch the results.  

I went to the same place I saw the Pidgey first.  
“Hey there, are you feeling better?”  
“Pidge-ey!”  
It shot a look at me and flapped its wings, I ducked as it flew by me.  
“Hey, I helped you out and all you can do is attack me! What gives?!”  
“Hah ha ha!” laughed a little boy, he was dressed in bug catcher clothes, 
“You’re having trouble controlling such a weak Pidgey?”  
“Its not weak, and its not officially mine.”  
“I know, you shouldn’t bother, that Pidgey is weak and just won’t evolve.”  
“You mean, you just abandoned it, that's why it was so untrusting.”  
“Yeah, who cares! I only want strong evolved Pokémon.”  
I was angry at his ignorance, “Pidgeys may take time to evolve but you need to 
be patient with all Pokémon to bring out their power.”  
“What do you know?”  
I was getting real annoyed with the kid.  
“How about a Pokémon match then? I’ll prove you’re wrong.” I said.  
The kid was rude, a lost match would teach him a lesson.  
“You’re on.”  
“How about a two-on-two battle?”  
“Works for me.”  

We released our Pokémon.  
“Free-Free!”  
“Ran! Ran!”  
I figured I’d give Needle a proper go.  
I scanned the kid’s Pokémon to fill out the entries...  

“Butterfree, the Butterfly Pokémon.  Known for the poisonous powder in its 
wings, be careful not to inhale any of its dust.  Butterfree is a mixture of 
the Bug and Flying-types.“  

I was then ready to get my Nidoran some winning experience.  
“Butterfree! Poison Powder!”  
“Needle, resist it and Focus Energy!”  
The poison had no effect, since Needle was a Poison-type himself, he had very 
little chance of being poisoned and this gave me the chance to have Needle pump 
up its fighting strength.  
“Now! Horn Attack!”  
“Sleep Powder!”  
The horns flew at the Butterfree and hit it harder than it normally would have, 
but Needle was subjected to the gas and fell asleep, it was his first battle 
and I didn’t want the next Pokémon hitting it while it slept so I returned it 
to its ball.  
“How?!...  Even with type differences, Butterfree’s a Stage 3 Pokémon! Grrrr...  
Beedrill! Come out and play!”  
“Bee!”  
“Dusty!”  
“Veno-Nat.”  

“Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokémon.  It has three stingers, one on its rear and 
two on its forearms, it flies very fast and often appears in swarms.  Beedrill 
is a mixture of the Bug and Poison-types.”  

“Beedrill! Attack it with your Twineedle!”  
“Dusty! Dodge it and then use your Disable attack!”  
Dusty leapt left and right as the Beedrill jousted fast with its lance-like 
arms, then unleashed the Disable attack on it.  
“Now Leech Life!”  
The Beedrill broke out of its confusion.  
“Fury Attack!”  
The Beedrill hit first but the Leech Life followed healing Dusty back to almost 
full health.  

“How could you win?! Your Pokémon haven’t even evolved yet!” complained the 
kid.  
I noticed, he had a Butterfree and a Beedrill, the two Pokémon that achieved 
their Evolutionary Stages faster than any other Pokémon.  
“You don’t quite get it kid, Pokémon aren’t weak just because they’re in their 
Stage 1 forms, they’re very powerful as you can see.  You just need the 
patience and care before they can realise their strength.  I’ve worked with my 
Pokémon for a long time without evolving them and they have proved themselves 
to be very powerful.” I lectured.  
Little did I know, at the time, the Pidgey was listening to me with watchful 
eyes.  
“Gah! You cheated! Stage 1 Pokémon can’t beat a Stage 3!”  
I gave up on arguing, the chances were it he didn’t learn from this, he’d just 
have to learn the hard and humiliating way when opponents would beat him 
because of his underestimation.  
I was about to leave when I heard the Pidgey again.  
About to draw my Pokéball, I stopped when it slowed its descent and landed on 
my shoulder, it then rubbed its soft feathers against my cheek.  
“Pid-gey.”  
“Pidgey, are you actually being nice to me? What made the change?”  
I thought for a moment.  
“Did you see and hear everything that happened, I guess so.  I’m sorry your old 
trainer doesn’t appreciate you, but if you’d like to come along with me, I’ll 
treat you with respect and care.”  
“Pidgey!” it said happily flying into the air.  
“We’ll start by giving you a name you can live up to, how about Whirlwind.”  
“Pidgey!”  
“I thought you’d like it.” I said looking for the Pokéball I had previously 
caught it in, it would still have all its data, so... “Whirlwind, Return!”  
The Pidgey happily flew into the light and went inside the ball.  
I smiled, it felt so satisfying to take in an otherwise unappreciated Pokémon.  

Returning to the Pokémon Centre, I had Whirlwind ride my shoulder as I greeted 
Emily.  
“Oh, you got it to come with you.  Nice job.” she congratulated.  
“Emily, I’m going to be heading off soon, have you made a decision about what 
you’ll do?”  
“Well, you’ve proven that you’re a good friend to people and Pokémon, and our 
Nidorans do want to be together so... as long as you don’t mind...”  
“Of course not!” I said loudly, then I quieted down aware of the other people.  
“That's it then, you’re stuck with me for a while.”  
“Replace ‘stuck’ with ‘happy to be’ and you’ve got a deal.”  
She rearranged the letters in her mind then turned back to me.  
“Tetsubo, you’re such a great friend, people could learn a lot from you.” she 
said shaking my hand.  
My Pokémon Journey was getting better all the time.  
I had caught two new Pokémon and gained myself a travelling companion.  

End of Chapter 4B  

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