Chapter 12:  Burning Desires (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

Another day walking down the paths, this time we were near the Route 25 area.  
I had been able to forget the experience at the college, sort of.  
So the Elite Rockets were a trio, and all three of them hated me, and now Bryan 
was a Rocket and was getting involved with the Elites, I wondered what rank in 
that organisation a sleaze like Bryan could make.  
Speaking of Rockets...  

We approached a long bridge that was quite occupied, and were stopped by a kid, 
he was dressed so that it was obvious that he was one of the bug catchers.  
“Hey! You can’t just walk across here!”  
“Okay we’ll run.” said Chad simply.  
“No! This here is Nugget Bridge, you have to fight all the trainers to cross!”  
“You’re on.”  
Another chance to make my Pokémon stronger.  
“What about my friends?” I asked.  
“There are six trainers here, each of you can battle two, but if any one of you 
loses, you have to get lost!”  
“This is the only way to Vermilion City, we have to get through.” commented 
Emily.  
“I have faith in you Emily, and in myself, not sure about Chad though.”  
“Hey! I can win any match.”  
“Provided you have the advantage but you don’t even know about those!”  
“Take it back!”  
“Guys! Come on, give Chad the benefit of the doubt!” shouted Emily.  
“Fine, but I very much doubt he’ll use his brain...” I muttered.  
Those were my honest feelings, Chad was too overconfident and needed to know 
when he was at a disadvantage.  
“I’ll go first.” said Emily.  

“Solar! Go!”  
“... Venonat!”  
“Venonat! Venonat!”  
That brought back some memories, I would have to make some decisions and 
recruit Dusty back onto the party shortly.  
“Venonat, use your Psybeam!”  
“VENO!”  
Whoa, this was a well trained Venonat, my Venomoth hadn’t even learned that 
attack yet, Emily would have her work cut out for her.  
“Solar, to the side and Poison Powder!”  
It leaped, but part of the beam connected, the powder flew out but not aimed 
right.  
Solar landed and stayed down.  
“Now, go in close and Leech Life it!”  
Emily was taking a risk, Solar’s Poison attacks would be helpful against the 
Venonat’s Bug side but the Bug, Poison and Psychic attacks from Venonat would 
take its toll on Emily’s Bulbasaur.  
Anyone would put their money on Venonat, but I knew Emily would try her best.  
She waited until the Venonat was close enough to carry out its attack.  
“Poison Powder!”  
“Vennnnnoooo!”  
It shuddered, took a step forward and concentrated, Solar’s strength was drawn 
out a little but Venonat’s attack was cancelled as the poison took effect once 
more.  
“This is your chance, Tackle it!”  
“Saur!”  
With a strong charge, Venonat fell, tried to get up, but the poison convinced 
it otherwise.  
“Venonat, Return.”  
That was the first battle.  
Chad stepped up ready to take on the next challenge.  

It was a girl.  
“So you’re my next challenge, let me say I’m not impressed.”  
“You will be.” replied Chad.  
“I choose Slowpoke!”  
“Poke.”  
“Slowpoke, that's a Water-type, right?” he asked me.  
“And Psychic.  Its a dangerous mix.” I replied.  
“Ragecage would be able to overpower him but he’s weak against Psychic, so I’ll 
go with CHEWTOY! GO!”  
“Cate!”  

“Slowpoke, the Dopey Pokémon.  Slowpoke is a slow Pokémon and remains in a 
daze, but boasts powerful Psychic and Water attacks.”  

“Slowpoke, Confusion!”  
“CHEWTOY! GET IN CLOSE!”  
Chewtoy dived under the attack in order to get closer.  
“NOW QUICK ATTACK!”  
Chewtoy blasted itself into the Slowpoke.  
“NOW, HYPER FANG!”  
Chewtoy’s teeth were very well-developed as it was probably one of Chad’s first 
Pokémon.  
“Disable, Slowpoke!”  
Chewtoy was frozen, its teeth, inches away from biting the Slowpoke.  
“Now, Head Butt!”  
“Cate!” screamed Chewtoy, falling back.  
“Tackle!”  
“CHEWTOY, TAIL WHIP!”  
He spun round and tripped the Slowpoke with its tail.  
“BITE IT NOW, CHEWTOY!”  
The match was over.  
“This head ain’t all about looks.” said Chad, pleased with himself.  
I was proud too, he actually thought about type differences and was cautious 
about the Pokémon he used, for once.  

I was up now.  
“Ekans!” shouted the male youngster, eager to start the battle.  
“Needle!” I said, releasing my Nidoran.  
Poison versus Poison, I’d need skill here.  
“Ekans, use your Wrap attack!”  
“Ekansss!”  
“Needle! Use Horn Attack and don’t let it get to you!”  
“Ran!”  
Long range won and Ekans’s attack was cancelled.  
“Glare!”  
Needle froze up as the Ekans’s eyes glowed.  
“Bite it!”  
I couldn’t watch as the Ekans sunk its teeth into Needle, but I saw him snap 
out of the fear.  
“Quickly, finish it with Fury Attack!”  
Needle slashed it with its sharp claws and continued to smash away at the 
surprised snake, the little guy was stronger than he looked and the battle was 
quickly over.  

Emily stepped up once more.  
The next challenger was a female junior trainer.  
“Okay, girlie, let’s go, I’ll use Paras!”  
“Parrrasss!” 
This was new.  

“Paras, the Mushroom Pokémon.  It grows by sucking nutrients from tree roots, 
the mushrooms on its back absorb most of this nutrition.”  

“I choose you, Poisoness!”  
“Ni!”  
Good move, Bug and Grass Pokémon were both weak against Poison-types and this 
Paras was both of those, and since Poisoness wasn’t part Grass-type like Solar, 
this match would be in the bag.  
“Paras! Spore!”  
“Spore? Um, Poisoness, just avoid it!”  
Spore was an attack exclusive to Paras and Parasect, obviously Emily didn’t 
know anything about it, and so, couldn’t have a real strategy.  
“Parrraaas!”  
Yellow dust burst out of Paras’s mushrooms, suffocating the little Nidoran in 
it, when it cleared, Poisoness was asleep.  
“Now Paras, Slash it!”  
“Poisoness, wake up! Its gonna hurt you bad!”  
Somehow, Poisoness awakened immediately and dived out the way, Paras got its 
claw stuck in the bridge and was unable to get it out.  
“Tail Whip!”  
“Ni!” screamed Poisoness seizing her chance and whacking the Paras with her 
tail.  
“Finish it with Poison Sting!”  
The horn jabbed in far enough to inject a high dose of poison.  
Paras was unable to battle.  

Chad took part in the following battle, I regretted what I said earlier, he 
really had been learning and I had faith in his abilities now.  
His opponent was a male junior trainer.  
“Let’s go then! Krabby!”  
“Kokekoke!”  
“I CHOOSE ENTWINE, GO!”  
“Gela!”  

“Krabby, the River Crab Pokémon.  This Pokémon’s pincers are not only powerful, 
but are also used for balance when it walks sideways.  If one of these break 
off, a stronger one will replace it quickly.”  

“OKAY, ENTWINE, QUICKLY USE STUN SPORE TO SLOW IT DOWN!”  
“Krabby! Vice Grip!”  
There was a clanging sound, the Krabby had been quick to react, and was clamped 
onto Entwine before the Stun Spore even came out.  
Entwine ran around in pain and fear.  
“Gelagelagelagela!”  
“Calm down, Entwine! Its at close range so...  CONSTRICT!”  
The vines twisted around Krabby and tightened, but one of Krabby’s claws was 
free.  
“Prepare for Guillotine!”  
“Chad, hurry! Its a ‘One-Hit Knockout’ move!” I shouted.  
“ENTWINE! MEGA DRAIN!”  
Just in time, before the Krabby’s claw descended straight down, Entwine 
absorbed its strength and stopped the attack.  
“Crab Hammer!”  
“SLAM IT ENTWINE!”  
Both hits coincided but Entwine was the one to get up.  
Krabby had been damaged too much to survive that attack and fainted.  
That was nearly it, we all felt happy for the other members of the team for 
getting this far, the outcome of the final match would be decided by me.  
We reached the end of the bridge where the final trainer was, dressed in a hat, 
beard and trenchcoat.  

“Good work lad, take this Nugget as proof of you reaching this far.”  
“What about the sixth trainer?”  
“No need, now I’ve got a proposition for you, Nugget Bridge was formed to seek 
out worthy trainers to work for Team Rocket.”  
My eyes shot open, how Bryan’s influence could invoke fear when the other 
Rockets were so easy to beat, I didn’t know...  
“Me join those filthy Rockets?! No way!”  
“How dare you request such a thing!” shouted Emily.  
“CHAD THE CHOSEN WOULD NEVER OFFER HIS SERVICES TO SUCH FAILURES!”  
“Oh come on, its fun.”  
“No.”  
“Reconsider!”  
“No.”  
“I’m telling you to join!”  
“No.”  
“You WILL join us!”  
“No.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes.”  
“Why didn’t you say no? Agh! You might not want to join us but I’m sure we 
could make your Pokémon!”  
With that he tore off the costume to reveal the black uniform and hat and then 
threw a Pokéball down.  

“Zubat!”  
“Whirlwind!”  
"Zubat!”  
“Pidgeo!”  
“Zubat! Use your Supersonic!”  
“Whirlwind! Quick Attack!”  
The battle was quick, Zubat was down but Whirlwind was flying awkwardly.  
I quickly recalled it.  
“Ekans!”  
“Ekansss...”  
“A Poison-type, then I choose Psychot!”  
“Abra...  Abra!”  
It quickly teleported behind me.  
“Please Psychot, don’t be scared.”  
“Abra...”  
“Psychot! Use... Teleport...”  
“What?!” shouted Chad.  
“I goofed, I thought so much about the type advantage that I forgot that 
Psychot only knows Teleport.” I said, ashamed of myself.  
I recalled it, “I’m at a loss.  Okay, Twinkill!”  
“Star!”  
“Twinkill! Use Swift attack!”  
“Ekans! Use your Poison Sting!”  
The projectiles clashed and blasted shards into both Pokémon.  
Twinkill shuddered but held its own.  
“Quickly! Tackle before it recovers!”  
An impressive crashing sound followed as the Ekans fell into an almost lifeless 
coil.  
Twinkill had a lot of experience compared to the Rocket.  
“You’ll never beat my Mankey! Hah!” he screamed, throwing it down.  
“KEY!”  
I noticed a slight look of amazement in Chad’s eyes, this Mankey looked really 
fierce.  
“Mankey! Karate Chop!”  
“Twinkill! Dodge it!”  
“Keep Chopping!”  
Twinkill spun, and dived, and rolled, as the Mankey’s powerful fist tore 
through the wooden bridge parts.  
“Keep it up!”  
“This isn’t a League Battle anymore, this is just a feeble attempt to steal my 
Pokémon.” I thought, “I don’t have to fight if I don’t want to.”  
“Twinkill, run behind that Rocket!”  
“Uh oh.  No!” screamed the Rocket as he covered his body, the Mankey leaped 
over it, but gave it a shove downwards as it chased my Staryu, still smashing 
everything on its way.  
“Run circles around him!”  
“You think getting me dizzy will stop us?”  
“No need, you’re plenty dizzy not to notice what I’m doing.” I said smugly.  
“What?! AAAAARGGHHH!!!”  
The bridge collapsed and both the Rocket and Mankey fell through the well-made 
hole that the Mankey had built up.  
Twinkill had worked with me and so knew the plan and avoided the fall at the 
last moment, I saw the pathetic Rocket float away screaming.  

“Hmm.” I said, before leaping over to join Twinkill and giving it some 
antidote.  
Chad and Emily followed.  
“Ahem.  Tetsubo, you messed up man.” said Chad.  
“What?!”  
“You did, I can see your weakness, you’ve studied Pokémon advantages and 
weaknesses for so long that you sometimes don’t think about the condition of 
the Pokémon.”  
I stayed silent, acknowledging these facts.  
“If I had an Abra that didn’t know any attacks, I would never think to send it 
out to battle an experienced Poison Pokémon, even with the type advantage.  I 
know I probably would have done the same, some time ago, but recently, I’ve 
been learning my Pokémon’s limits, I think you should do the same.”  
“... Chad, I’m sorry.”  
“And furthermore, I-  Sorry?”  
“No one’s perfect, that is a weakness of mine...  One I must get over if I’m to 
become a Pokémon Master.  Chad, I’m sorry to have insulted you, you battled 
much better than I did today.”  
“I may not know much about advantages and weaknesses but I’m learning, and I 
know I can trust my Pokémon to do the best they can.  Let’s let bygones be 
bygones.”  
We shook on it and smiled deep into each other’s eyes, we had reached a better 
understanding of each other and ourselves.  

End of Chapter 12A  

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Chapter 12B
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