Chapter 7:  Route 3 or not Route 3? (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

“Emily?” I asked, “What was the deal with that kid earlier, you were 
daydreaming when he made those cheeky comments about you, and you called him 
Honey.”  
“He said I was pretty, and gorgeous, what’s so wrong with that? As for what I 
said, it was just silly flirting.”  
“You’ve never called me Honey.”  
“And you’ve never called me Pretty.”  
I thought about this, she was right, I had a lot of feelings for her but I’d 
never told her any of them, even when we were young and she wore all those cute 
little dresses to parties, I’d never even commented on them.  
“Well I, I would have, but I wasn’t sure how you’d take it.”  
“Well don’t worry, I know you’re shy and I’m loud, you’re a little withdrawn, 
I’m overly confident, but I won’t take offence or anything if you want to make 
a friendly comment, ‘kay?”  
“... Uh...  Sure.”  
“There you go hesitating again.  Tetsubo, you have got to loosen up a little, 
I’ve already taken care of the bookworm thing by using my Pokédex while you 
concentrate on fighting, now you have got to be a little more open with me.  Is 
there anything on your mind you’d like to say? Anything at all?”  
I couldn’t tell her about one of my problems, the promise with Bryan, and right 
now I didn’t feel like talking about the trophy thing in Pewter City, what else 
was there to say, apart from my feelings?  
This might be the only right time...  
“Well, I know I don’t really say it, but I appreciate you more than I can 
show.”  
“Really, that’s sweet, just like you, you’ve got such a good heart, you always 
help those in need, and you’ve put in a lot of study, but you’ve got to live a 
little, don’t hold back your emotions, and try new things.”  
“Emily...” I asked, letting go of all my doubt, but I decided not to go too 
far, “If things were different, could we ever be... more than friends?”  
She turned around suddenly, surprised at my sudden confidence and 
bravery, “Well...”  
She was lost for words, “Why should things have to be different?”  
A small rush of hope ran through me, she didn’t reject me.  
“But, Tetsubo, you have to understand that I really, really value your 
friendship and I’d rather not get into that sort of thing, can we just forget 
we had this conversation for now?”  
“Okay Emily...  And thanks, I just had to know a few things.”  
She looked a little worried.  
“Emily, I will leave it there, I just needed to know how you felt.”  
“Maybe in different circumstances, I would have dated you on the spot, right 
here.”  
My eyes opened, but I knew she was about to tell me something else.  
“But I just don’t know if I could handle it if I lost you...”  
She stayed silent for a while.  
“Emily, would you care to share whatever’s bothering you, with me? We’re still 
friends.”  
“I was ditched for a reason, in all the time I knew my friends, they didn’t 
really like me, cos I was loud and cheeky and they were... embarrassed by me.”  
I listened knowing where the story ended of course.  
“There was this one guy in the group, there was something about him that I 
really liked, I can’t really explain, but we were never alone together so I 
could never tell him how I felt.  When we left on our Pokémon Journey, I let 
myself go and told him how I felt in front of everyone, only to find that he 
was dating my best friend.  Those two started avoiding me, my best friend felt 
that she couldn’t trust me to stay away from her guy...”  
She stopped, as did I, “I was already in the bad books for my ‘embarrassing’ 
personality, and then my best friend started spreading rumours about me among 
the group, if anyone really cared about me, they wouldn’t have believed them, 
but it showed what they really thought of me, they all took my friend’s side 
and acted horrible around me, hurting my feelings so much...  Finally in 
Viridian City, they rejected me and kicked me out the group, the ones I trusted 
so had just left me behind.  And then you came rushing back into my life, my 
true friend, so I ask of you to understand that I’m scared of any other sort of 
relationship right now because of what happened.”  
“What did you think of the guy after this?”  
“He wasn’t worth it, he showed his true colours and I hate him now.”  
“I promise Emily, I’ll always be your friend.”  
“That means a lot to me Tetsubo.”  
“Emily, you don’t embarrass me, you make me proud to be your friend.”  
She hugged me, some tears showed in her eyes, “Do you promise?”  
“Yes.”  
“And you would never lie to me?...  You’ll always be there for me?...”  
“Of course, I would never lie to you.” I said without any doubt, this guy had 
hurt her real bad, couldn’t appreciate the gift to be loved by such a special 
girl.  
I could understand that he already had a girlfriend but he couldn’t even let 
Emily down lightly.  
If I ever met these people I’d- No, even with my Pokémon, I could not use them 
for personal battles, I would have to respect all of Emily’s decisions.  
“I’ll always be there for you...”  
Emily sniffed, wiping the tears.  
“Okay, let’s get going!” she suddenly yelled, picking up the pace, she could 
hide her sadness well, I understood her that much.  

A few hours later, we rested at the Pokémon Centre quite near to Mount Moon.  
We dropped the subjects of our pasts and our current relationship with each 
other, it was better that way, I was satisfied with the way things had turned 
out.  
There was hope for us, in the far away future, I felt better now, more 
confident because of our conversation and Emily’s honesty.  
We had finished dinner and our Pokémon had been returned but we figured we’d 
stick around,  book a room and visit Mount Moon tomorrow, so we did, and sat in 
the reception just chatting.  
“You saw a Dratini? Get out of here!”  
“Fine!” I said in a joking manner, getting out of my seat, but then immediately 
sitting back down.  
“Well if I have the funds by the time I decide to go back home, I might take 
you there and see if we can find it again.”  
“You’d make a good trainer for it.”  
“Yeah, but I think it likes its freedom better...”  
The Safari Zone seemed big enough for Pokémon to think of it as their home, and 
they had watchmen like Great Uncle around if they ever got into trouble.  
I quickly thought of the girl in the beret, but realised that thinking about it 
wouldn’t do any good, she was different from the girl I saw, it must have been 
her twin.  
We were both interrupted by laughing, we saw the cause of it and Emily stormed 
out of her seat.  
I looked ahead, two boys and two girls, the only thing that could enrage Emily 
that much was... them.  
A red-head in pale green clothes, an older guy with brown spiky hair and blue 
clothing, and a young guy and girl, the guy, of Spanish origin with gelled 
black hair and the girl, a long blonde. 
“Oh, I see the jerk patrol is enjoying itself!” she shouted at them.  
“How on earth did you catch up with us?” asked the red-head girl.  
“I admit I had a little help, but I’m strong enough to become a great trainer.”  
“You mean the turquoise kid? Emily, your standards are a little low, but I see 
it took no time at all to rope in a new guy.”  
“He’s my friend, Bianca!” she screamed.  
The nemesis had a name.  
“No one is that sensitive over a friend.”  
“And you’d know all about that! And you Sebastian, I’m so sorry I embarrassed 
you with my unique personality but you could have turned me down gently!”  
“Don’t talk to my man like that!” screamed Bianca.  
“No, Bianca, I can handle this.  Get out of my life, ‘Green’, I never liked 
you.” said the older guy.  
“And that’s what makes me ashamed of myself for falling for you, you think I 
was an embarrassment, you should look at yourself.”  
“Why I-”  
“Stop this yelling! People and Pokémon are trying to sleep!” shouted Joy to the 
group.  
“We were just leaving, the company here stinks.” said Bianca, and her group 
left the Centre.  
Emily was ready to burst, I quickly held her back as the group left the 
Centre.  
“Emily, they’re not worth it, don’t do something you might-”  
She ran out the door before I could grab her again, I didn’t expect that from 
her.  
Before I made it out, I heard a sharp slap, Bianca was on the ground.  
“You jerk!” screamed Bianca rubbing her cheek, “I’ll rip your hair out!”  
“Beeee!” screamed Buzzer, just released from his ball.  
I realised how far Emily was ready to take this.  
“Emily! Don’t do it! You’ll be arrested and lose your Training License if you 
harm her with that Beedrill!” I shouted.  
“Oh no.” said Bianca, “If the little missy wants to play with Pokémon, then 
I’ll prove how pathetic a trainer she is, Go! Stallion!”  

With a deafening neigh, the Ponyta stomped its front legs on the ground.  
“Stallion! Ember!”  
“Buzzer! Twineedle!”  
The embers were thrown around before Buzzer jammed its claws into the Ponyta, I 
was about to record it when I remembered about the previous trade, all those 
Pokémon were the ones her ‘friends’ owned, it must have hurt her seeing those 
names on my Pokédex.  
The Ponyta flung its front legs up, and Buzzer tried to release its grip on 
it.  
“STOMP IT!” shouted Bianca, Buzzer was in the wrong place at the wrong time and 
was easily hit by the otherwise inaccurate attack.  
“No, Buzzer, get up, you can do it, Don’t give up!!!”  
“Beee...” it collapsed.  

“No! Buzzer! You have to keep going! Get back up and fight! I can’t lose this! 
I can’t...”  
She was ready to burst into tears.  
“You haven’t grown as a trainer, you still lack that certain something, what 
was it again, oh yes, talent!”  
Her eyes were full of rage again and I had to dive and grab her before she 
totally lost it.  
“Come on Sebastian, let’s leave the witch with her runt.” said Bianca before 
leaving.  
“Let me go Tetsubo! She insulted you too, we can both get her!”  
“No Emily, I won’t.”  
The crowd left and I held on until they were far enough not to be caught up in 
a hurry, receiving a couple of bruises as she pounded her fists on me to try 
and make me let go.  
“Tetsubo, please, I...”  
She let loose all her tears, I knew this was the best thing to do sometimes, 
forget all the baby comments and let loose the sadness.  
“There, there, let it all out...”  
“I could... have taken her, she hurt me so much...”  
“Pokémon shouldn’t be used for personal battles, you know that.”  
“I know... that I have to train harder...  So I can beat her, and laugh in her 
face...”  
“That's a better approach but not quite what I was looking for.”  
“How can you be so calm all the time?! Isn’t there anyone in your life that you 
utterly hate, that you lose all control over?...”  
Bryan...  
“Um, no, no one, but I can see how bad this is for you.  Come back inside, 
please?”  
She had wept most of what needed to be, and had calmed herself down.  
Still holding her, I led her back in, feeling guilty, I had already lied to 
her, a lie that was holding me down for so long.  
Yes, I do hate someone, but because of my stupidity, I can’t tell anyone, or my 
loved ones would be in danger...  
Someday Bryan...  I’ll beat you in battle and tell the world what you’re really 
like...  Then I’ll never have to lie again...  

End of Chapter 7B  

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