Chapter 9:  Ties of Friendship (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

We left early the next morning, and returned to Route 4, Melanie, Bulbasaur and 
Oddish followed of course.  
We needed some way to prove ourselves to Bulbasaur.  
“I know, first we’ll let all our Pokémon run free.” I suggested.  
I dropped all my Pokéballs.  
“Staryu!”  
“Exeggcute!”  
“Venomoth!”  
“Pidgeo-to!”  
“Ran!”  
“Abra...”  
I realised that in the struggle to capture my Abra, I hadn’t recorded it:  

“Abra, the Psi Pokémon.  Even when they are sleeping, they can sense danger, 
and teleport away, this makes them hard to catch.”  

Psychot teleported as soon as he got out of the ball.  
“Wait!”  
He reappeared 5 metres away, I decided to recall it before it ran away 
totally.  
I missed the first time, but kept alert and recalled it as soon as it appeared 
again.  
“I guess Psychot needs some more training, but don’t let that discourage you 
Bulbasaur, my other Pokémon are great friends.”  
They all crowded around, they always liked these social calls where they 
wouldn’t have to battle.  
“Emily, Chad, release your Pokémon too.”  
“Mag-na-mite.”  
“Chan-sey!”  
“Ni Ni!”  
“Oddish!”  
“Bee...”  
“Fairy.”  
“Geodude!”  
“Rati-CATE!”  
“Gela!”  
“Mankey!”  
Poisoness ran to Needle immediately, and Emily’s Oddish was interested in 
Melanie’s, it appeared to be a female, and Melanie’s was male.  
Chewtoy and Ragecage looked fierce, probably used to only being called out for 
battle, it would do them good to lay back, and finally, Emily’s Beedrill was 
still unhappy.  
“Bee!”  
It flew away.  
“Buzzer! Oh...  We’re not doing a good job at showing Bulbasaur we’re good 
trainers.”  
“Come on Emily, let’s go find him.”  
I took her hand and we chased after Buzzer.  
It took a few hundred yards to find him, floating sadly in the corner of a 
fence.  
“Buzzer...  Whatever I’ve done, I apologise, just tell me what I can do!” 
pleaded Emily.  
“Emily, remember Bianca and her Ponyta, Buzzer lost and you took it pretty 
hard, I think Buzzer’s upset cos you yelled at it, and because it let you down 
when you wanted to win so badly.” I said.  
“Bee!” said Buzzer in a ‘That’s right’ tone, my guess was correct.  
“I’m... so sorry Buzzer, I won’t ever yell like that again, to you, or my other 
Pokémon.”  
“Be-ee...” said Buzzer a little more happily, but not trusting Emily enough.  
“Come on Buzzer,” I said, “Let’s get back to the others.”  

We arrived back to see a huge Meowth-shaped balloon over the area we left our 
Pokémon in.  
“Oh no!” I shouted, we heard laughter from above.  
Two people were wearing white Rocket uniforms, and they had a Meowth with 
them.  

“To protect the world from devastation!”  
“To unite all peoples within our nation!”  
“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”  
“To extend our reach to the stars above!”  
“Jessie!”  
“James!”  
“Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!”  
“Surrender now, or prepare to fight!”  
“Meowth! That’s right!” finished the Meowth.  

“A talking Meowth, now I’ve seen everything...”  
I gasped as I saw all of our Pokémon in a large net connected to the balloon, 
Chad and Melanie were trapped in a heavy net nearby.  
“Give us back our Pokémon!”  
“Let’s think about it James, no! Ha ha ha ha ha!” laughed the woman with long 
pink hair, Jessie, I think it was.  
“We were just passing by after our meeting with the Boss, he’s still angry at 
us for not catching the other twerp’s Pikachu, and then we saw all those 
different Pokémon and we couldn’t help ourselves! Wheehehehehehehoohoohoo” 
laughed the man with blue hair, James.  
"And once we bring these back to the Boss, he’ll call off our debts for sure!” 
finished the Meowth.  
“Goodbye now!” they all said, and the balloon rose into the air.  
“Grrrr...” I scowled at them, and turned back to Emily, she was the only one 
with a Pokémon.  
“Emily!”  
“Please Buzzer, you know I care about you, and I promise I won’t take out my 
anger on you again, just help us get our friends back.”  
The Beedrill took a long look at her face, but looked scared.  
“I know it looks tough, but once you get our Pokémon free, we can handle the 
rest.” I explained.  
“I believe in you Buzzer.” said Emily.  
That’s all it took to inspire Buzzer and with a look of hope in its eyes, it 
flew upwards.  
"Hah! Them pests are tryin’ to defeat us with a little Beedrill!” laughed the 
Meowth.  
“I’ll blow that pest out of the air!” said James loading up a bazooka.  
“Buzzer! Watch out! Use your... Agility!”  
“You sure its ready, Emily?”  
“I hope so...”  
Whether it was ready or not, Buzzer was willing to try, building up energy, it 
dashed to the side as the explosive round burst by.  
“Whoa! Its fast!” commented James.  
“Beeee!”  
“Pin Missile!”  
“Beedrill!”  
The large stingers burst out of Buzzer, and pierced two nice holes in the 
balloon, which began to plummet.  
“Quickly, Buzzer! Use Twineedle on the net so the Pokémon can land safely!”  
“Bee... Drill!”  
All our Pokémon came out, and cleared the area before the balloon hit the 
ground hard, the Rockets were dazed.  
We lifted the net off the others.  
“Ohhhh, you won’t escape...” groaned Jessie, “Arbok! Lickitung!”  
“Ch’ar-BOK!”  
“Tung!”  
“Weezing! Victreebel!”  
“Wee-Zing!”  
“Viiiiiiii!”  
“Ow! Get off me!”  
The Victreebel didn’t like its trainer much and had half the man inside its 
mouth.  
At the time, I didn’t think to use the Pokédex, they had almost stolen all of 
my Pokémon and might have some tricks up their sleeves, I couldn’t stray from 
the battle.  
Unfortunately, I had a sense of duty towards the rules, one Pokémon per enemy 
Pokémon.  
“Psychot!”  
“Abra.”  
“Ch'ar-Bok!” shouted the snake.  
“Abbbrraa!”  
It teleported behind me, oh well, I had time to change.  
“Dusty! Help us out!”  
“Venomoth!”  
Emily and Chad were dealing with the Weezing and Lickitung, Chad’s Geodude was 
throwing the Weezing down, and Emily’s Magnemite was shocking the Lickitung.  
“Ch'ar-Bok!”  
Dusty froze for a moment, and was knocked back, I guess it didn’t like Arboks 
after the chain of losses we had with them.  
“Arbok! Acid!”  
“No!”  
I recalled it before it could be damaged, I couldn’t let history repeat itself, 
and I couldn’t let these people win so they could take my Pokémon.  
“Twinkill! Let’s do it!”  
“Star!”  
“A Staryu, hah! Arbok! Bite it.”  
“Twinkill! Swift attack!”  
“Ch’arbok! Ch’arrr!”  
The Arbok didn’t like that.  
“Water Gun!”  
“Arbok! Poison Sting!”  
Twinkill was too slow to react to the needles that came bursting out the water 
blast, I gasped as they hit.  
“Twinkill!”  
It was shivering, trying to hold itself together, but Twinkill was my strongest 
Pokémon, and we had to beat back these bullies.  
I heard Melanie scream as the Victreebel we forgot about closed in on her.  
“Ha ha ha! Razor Leaf!” said James.  
Melanie covered her eyes.  
“Bulba!”  
Bulbasaur leaped forward and counter-attacked it with its own Razor Leaf 
attack.  
“Bulbasaur...  You saved me.”  
“Bulba...”  
“Pay attention brat!” shouted Jessie, getting my attention, “Arbok! Wrap 
attack!”  
“Twinkill!”  
It wouldn’t respond, it was too tightly bound.  
“Ch’ar!!!”  
The Arbok squeezed it with no mercy.  
“Ha ha ha ha ha! If you want me to stop this, hand over your Pokéballs and 
we’ll leave you with that squirt!”  
“No way! My Pokémon are my friends, and Twinkill is a lot stronger than you 
take it for! Twinkill! Water Gun!”  
My Staryu outstretched its arms, the Arbok was surprised as Twinkill spun round 
slowly and scowled at Arbok, even though it didn’t have a face.  
The Arbok was worried, with a crash, the water blast flung Arbok into Jessie.  
“Ow! Lickitung! Use-  Ow!”  
The Lickitung also landed on her.  
“Ha ha!” laughed Emily, “Discharge is too fast to be paralysed by Lickitung’s 
tongue!”  
“Oh no! Weezing!” screamed James.  
“Geo!”  
Boulder performed a quick Seismic Toss, and Weezing was thrown into James’s 
head and knocked him down.  
“But where’s Victreebel?” asked Meowth.  
“Viiiii!”  
The Bulbasaur was being hit hard as the Victreebel barged into him again, it 
landed hard, with bruises all around.  
“Ah...  Good work Victreebel, now use your Vine Whip and capture it.” said 
James.  
The vines flew out at the Bulbasaur, there was a thud, I looked up, Emily was 
standing there, groaning at the pain.  
She blocked the Vine Whip for that Bulbasaur, now that was true compassion.  
“Blossom... Use your Poison Powder...” she groaned.  
The other Oddish tug on my trousers.  
“You want me to instruct you? Okay! Oddish! Help Emily’s Oddish out with Poison 
Powder too!”  
“Oddddiisssh!” they both screamed letting loose the poisonous dust.  
“Viiiii!” screamed Victreebel.  
“Now try your Acid!” shouted Emily cheerfully.  
“Petal Dance!” I followed.  
“Viiii!” it screamed. cowering from the searing pain, it didn’t notice the 
other Oddish spinning from behind.  
“VIIII!”  
It landed on the heap in the balloon’s basket.  
“Meowth, don’t just stand there! Go get those pests!” shouted Jessie.  
“Wha?! Wait a minute, I don’t-  Waaagh!” screamed Meowth as Jessie picked him 
up and threw him forward, he improvised and his sharp claws suddenly appeared.  
Emily’s Oddish blasted another blob of acid at it.  
“Waaagghhaaagghhhaa!!!” he screamed running back into the balloon.  
“Load up the balloon’s weapon systems!” said James.  
“Don’t stop there Oddish! Use your Petal Dance to blow the Rockets away.”  
“Odd... Diiiiisssshhhh!”  
The Rockets screamed as the tornado lifted their balloon into the air, and sent 
them flying.  

“Team Rocket’s blasting off again!!!...” the three screamed as they flew into 
the distance...  

“Yeah! Good job everyone!”  
The Pokémon cheered and shouted for joy.  
“That was actually easier than the Rocket’s I’ve faced.” I commented.  
I ran to Emily, who was sore from the pain, and tried to help her up.  
“Aii!” she screamed, “Bulbasaur...  I’m very sore, you okay there?”  
“Bulba...” it said gratefully.  

Later at Melanie’s place, we got ready to depart, wondering how Bulbasaur felt 
about us.  
Emily started walking towards the door, but the Bulbasaur wouldn’t risk letting 
her go.  
“Bulba!”  
“So you want to come with me? Really?!”  
“Emily, I’d be grateful if you took care of this Bulbasaur, you’re the only 
other person it really trusts.”  
“Of course I’ll take care of him!” she said loudly.  
“Then my work here is done, I’ll miss you Bulbasaur, be sure to take care of 
each other...”  
“Bulba...”  
It was sad to be leaving Melanie, but Melanie wasn’t a Pokémon Trainer.  
“I guess we did what we set out to accomplish.” I said before I heard a 
familiar voice and the little plant Pokémon jumped into my arms.  
“Oddish!”  
“Tetsubo, it looks like Oddish wants to be your Pokémon.”  
“Really, how come?”  
“Its been really lonely after its trainer set it free, Oddish is a Pokémon that 
likes being trained, and I see how much you care for your Pokémon, please take 
Oddish under your wing.”  
“Well I’d have to drop one of my older Pokémon off at Blossom’s, but I’d be 
happy to train Oddish, and I’ve got to pay you back for helping me catch my 
Abra.”  
“Oddish! Oddish!”  

Melanie departed Cerulean City, and we waved goodbye to her.  
“Take care of other! Buh-Bye!”  

The sun was setting, and the Pokémon Centre was open again, it had been a great 
day and we’d found some great new friends.  
Tomorrow we would go to the Gym to pick up our next badge, the real adventures 
were just beginning...  

End of Chapter 9B  

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