Chapter 16:  Shell Shocked (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

Morning soon came, we’d have rushed, but who knew when Surge would actually 
return, we sat in the dining halls and finished our breakfast.  
“Oh yeah, I’m gonna go and kick those Pokémon right out!” shouted Chad.  
“Chad, don’t draw so much attention.” said Emily quietly in return.  
“I can’t wait, I’ve learned a lot over the part few days, and I’ve got my 
Staryu, Charmander and Exeggcute to get me through this one.” I said 
confidently.  
“I think I might use my Bulbasaur and Magnemite.  I wish I had some new 
Pokémon...  My Clefairy is too young to battle.” commented Emily.  
“I might give Chewtoy the first try, then go onto my Geodude, Mankey, or 
Farfetch’d.” said Chad surprisingly sensibly.  
“Um, who gets to go first?” I asked, realising our situation, all three of us 
were eager to take on the Lieutenant.  
“I guess, we’ll draw straws.” said Emily, removing the drinking straws and 
tearing two of them in half.  
She produced them in her hand so that no one could see which were the short 
ones.  
“Longest straw goes first.”  
We each grabbed one and pulled, mine was the longest.  
“Guess I’m going first.”  
“Who gets to go second?” asked Chad.  
“Don’t worry Chad, I can wait, you go straight after Tetsubo, then I can talk 
to him while you battle.”  
“Why thank you Emily.” I smiled as I went to reclaim my Pokémon.  
Of course we didn’t know what Pokémon the Gym Leader would use but I had a 
good range.  
It would have been easy to simply ask around about this and choose a Pokémon 
with a type advantage but I’d not gone through five years of Pokémon Tech 
ignoring and blocking out talks and gossip regarding which Gym specialised in 
what type just to (in my eyes) cheat my way to badges.  
Some Gyms were blatantly obvious about their specialties or openly told 
trainers once inside the Gyms but unless that was apparent, I preferred not to 
know in order to challenge my skills properly and truly earn my badges, even 
if going for type advantages was one of my battling styles.  
Inferno would have the advantage over Ice, Grass and Bug-types, Twinkill, over 
Fire, Rock and Ground-types, and Scramble would win over the Water, Ground and 
Rock-types; it was a good variety.  
I received the five Pokéballs, most Gyms only allowed three-on-three matches at 
most, and I figured I’d find a new Pokémon that interested me soon enough and 
wouldn’t have to report to Blossom because I had too many Pokémon.  
Taking a look out the window, I peered at the Gym, the lights were on inside.  
“Guys, its open, I’ll get straight to it and tell you all about my impressive 
victory.”  
“Good luck Tetsubo...” said Emily softly.  
“Knock ‘em dead buddy.” finished Chad.  

It didn’t take long to get there, the Gym was currently having work done to it 
so I couldn’t clearly see the design, so being careful not to touch anything I 
squeezed through and opened the door, inside was practically too dark to say.  
Adjusting my eyes, I saw two people, one, a man in a leather jacket and short 
hair, the other, a woman with red hair, sports headband and red top.  
They simply stared forward at me.  
“I’ve come for a Gym Battle, I’m Tetsubo Capture from Fuchsia City.” I said 
trying to sound confident, but trembling.  
“Okay kid.” said a gruff voice from behind them.  
A large man appeared from the darkness, his hair was yellow and spiky and he 
was muscular and wore a green/ brown trenchcoat with no shirt underneath and 
the same coloured trousers with combat boots.  
“But trust me, it won’t be easy!”  
He towered over me, I hoped his Pokémon wouldn’t...  

We were soon in the arena, a gravel covered floor with the Pokémon Stadium 
design.  
“This will be a two-on-two battle.” announced the other man through a speaker, 
“No time limit, let the battle begin!”  
“I choose Twinkill!”  
“Go Magnemite!”  
“Star!”  
“Mag-na-mite!”  
Bad move, in a typical simulation, Twinkill would lose, but I had to show my 
Pokémon were different.  
“Twinkill, let’s fight all the way!”  
“Star!”  
“Hah! A Staryu, it won’t last long against my Pokémon! Magnemite! Use yer 
Supersonic!”  
“Mite!”  
Twinkill scowled as the waves hit it.  
“Water attacks won’t work, let’s use your Swift attack!”  
“Magnemite, use yer Swift attack too!”  
The attacks both hit and the stars went flying everywhere, both Pokémon were 
stunned.  
“Magnemite, use a Sonic Boom!”  
“Twinkill! Harden!”  
A golden aura floated around Twinkill, before its body was coated in it, giving 
it armour, it wasn’t enough as the winds flung Twinkill into the air.  
“Twinkill! Fly down and Tackle!”  
“Don’t give it a chance Magnemite! Use yer Dun-derbolt!”  
Twinkill didn’t make it, at such close range it took the full force of the 
Electric attack and fell, it tried to pick itself up slowly.  
“Quickly Twinkill, Recover.”  
But Surge didn’t give it the chance.  
“Finish it, Swift attack!”  
Twinkill went flying into the wall and sunk down exhausted.  
“Twinkill...” I sighed recalling it.  
The one element I hadn’t accounted for:  Electric...  
“Inferno...  I’m counting on you...”  
“Char!”  
“Yuh should loin kid, da only way ta beat Electric Pokémon is wit’ a 
Ground-type.  No one can beat me udderwise! My Electric attacks are too 
powerful!”  
“My Pokémon can win without the type advantage!” I shouted, “Inferno! Use your 
Slash attack!”  
He didn’t do anything, I looked at his opponent:  A Magnemite, basically a 
bucket of bolts and two magnets; not good enough for Inferno, I knew there’d be 
problems but not like this.  
“Inferno, that Magnemite is powerful, don’t doubt its strength!”  
“Char!”  
It ignored me.  
“Hah! Look at dat, he can’t even get his Pokémon ta listen ta him, in dat case 
I’ll make a switch.  Go Voltorb!”  
“Voltorb!”  
“Is that any better Inferno?”  
The Voltorb glowed with power, the Charmander’s eyes lit up and he approached 
the opponent.  
“Give it an Ember!”  
“CHHHAAAARRRR!!!” it screamed blowing flames.  
“Bounce off da wall and Tackle it!”  
It flew over the flames but Inferno saw it coming and aimed the fire there, it 
heated up Voltorb and it closed its eyes, the heat must have been unbearable 
for it.  
It landed hard, looking defeated, Inferno rose up and blew flames in victory, 
but the Voltorb’s eyes opened.  
“Inferno! Don’t turn your back! Behind you!!!”  
“Self Destruct!...”  
“Vol-Torb!...”  
It glowed, Inferno was too close to escape, if only he hadn’t acted so 
confident.  
Keeping that promise to Garland might be harder than I’d thought.  
Inferno fell, hurt bad by the explosion and the Voltorb had used all its 
strength too but since Surge still had Magnemite intact, I had lost.  

“Yuh didn’t prove a thing, kid.  Come back wit’ a Ground-type and play da 
chicken way ta win a badge from me.” said Surge mocking me.  

I left the Gym a little saddened, especially when my friends came to greet me.  
“So?”  
“How’d you do?”  
“I lost...” I said sadly.  
“What?!” shouted Chad.  
“But you knew so much...” said Emily.  
“I used the wrong Pokémon...”  
“Don’t worry Tetsubo, I’m sure you could give it another go later.”  
“Mind if I give it a try?”  
“Sure Chad, we’ll hang out with you before you leave.”  
Chad entered the Gym.  
“Come on Tetsubo, let’s get your Pokémon healed and then you can tell me what 
happened...”  

Later we talked, not about Surge of course, there was a loose rule that 
trainers keep Gym Pokémon and their types secret from other trainers, at least 
until they found out for themselves.  

“Twinkill was at a loss and Inferno didn’t respect his opponents, he also got 
overconfident in the middle of a battle and that’s what cost me the match.”  
“So you’ll need a better strategy...”  
“I guess so...”  
“Kid, let me tell you something.” said a sinister voice.  
“Uh huh?”  
A suspicious man was hidden away.  
“If you want to beat Surge, there’s a place with the Pokémon you need, to the 
east of this city.   Its called Diglett’s Cave because-”  
“Digletts made it, right?”  
“Yes, there you’ll find the Pokémon you need.”  
“Okay thanks.”  
“Now what’s this information worth to you, huh?”  
“Nothing, you already told me everything.”  
While we left, he thought for a moment then sunk his head low.  
“Oh...  I always get that part wrong...”  
We picked up the Pokémon and went just outside the other end of town, there was 
a cave, definitely not man made, the patterns in the rock were too small for 
any tool to have done it, we immediately entered and looked around.  
It was too dark to make out where we were going and there were a lot of 
routes.  
“Inferno.”  
“Char...”  
“I know you’re disappointed about the battle, would you please walk ahead of us 
so we can look around?”  
“Char...”  
He did as he was told but didn’t look happy about it.  
There was nothing here, it was totally silent.  
We walked through the lonely caves for several minutes until we reached the end 
of one of the tunnels.  
“What a ripoff, that guy said I’d find what I needed here.”  
“Ripoff? You didn’t pay him anything!” commented Emily.  
Climbing up a ladder we reached daylight, but all around us was a fence, many 
thick trees and a small house.  
Maybe inside the house I’d find what I needed?  
No such luck, just an old man with a Pokémon.  

“Mr Mime, the Barrier Pokémon.  Mr Mimes like to mime and perform, if it is 
interrupted, it may slap the enemy with its broad hands, this makes its 
Doubleslap attack very effective.”  

“Oh hello, I suppose you came through Diglett’s Cave hoping it’d lead somewhere 
interesting, hyek hyek hyek...” laughed an old man happily.  
“Uh huh...” we said at the same time.  
“What a cute Pokémon...” commented Emily.  
It was doing typical mime moves, “Mr Mime!”  
“The invisible wall tricks, you’re so cute...”  
Emily ran towards it and into a glass plate.  
“I guess... those walls... are real...” she muttered falling to the floor, her 
Pokéballs fell and opened.  
“Oddish!”  
“Chan-sey!”  
“Clef?”  
Lucky ran to Emily’s aid, Chanseys were nurses by nature, that’s why each 
Pokémon Centre had one.  
The old man gasped.  
I followed his sights to the little Clefairy.  
He picked it up, the Clefairy had no complaints, Emily returned to normal and 
saw it.  
“I’ve always wanted one of these for a companion...  But, I suppose you’ll go 
back with her...”  he said suddenly depressed.  
“Excuse me? But do you like that Clefairy?” asked Emily.  
“Of course I do, I’m all alone here, apart from Miles here, but I’ve always 
wanted a little Clefairy as a friend.”  
“You’re in luck sir.”  
His eyes appeared to shine with joy.  
“You mean it?”  
“Yes, it doesn’t fight, and I’ve been looking for someone to give it to, you’d 
take good care of it, wouldn’t you?”  
“Of course! Let me repay you...  Uh...  How about you look after Miles in 
return?”  
“What? Really?”  
It wasn’t paying attention, just doing tricks.  
“Well...  Does it fight?”  
“I’ve seen it practice attacks along with tricks.  It’ll fight, I’m just not 
that sort of trainer and Miles deserves to see the world and perform.”  
It was a perfect swap and both trainers got what they wanted.  
 
Returning back into the caves, the tremors started and tiny burrowers could be 
seen all around the cave, along with child-like voices singing as they worked.  
They must have been asleep before, but now it was time to work.  
Digletts, hundreds of them all around us, we had totally stopped moving, it was 
best not to get in their way.  
A lone one popped out of the ground and looked confused.  
“Diglett!”  
I looked carefully at it.  

“Diglett, the Mole Pokémon.  Digletts prefer to live underground and feed on 
plant roots, they occasionally pop up eight inches out of the ground and their 
real size still remains a mystery.”  

“A Ground-type, and they’re totally impervious to electricity.”  
I had to catch it.  
“Inferno! Go!”  
“Char...”  
“Inferno, use Ember on the Diglett.”  
“Char...”  
I should have known Diglett wouldn’t meet Inferno’s standards.  
Apparently annoyed with being ignored, it burrowed underground.  
We could hear it slowly approaching Inferno.  
“Dig g’ lett Dig, Dig g’ lett Dig, Dig g’ lett Dig...”  
The earth exploded and the Charmander fell back into the cave wall, cracks 
formed and small rocks fell down.  
With so many Diglett working, this place was dangerous even for their own 
kind.  
Dust was falling on top of the Diglett, I knew what would follow, I had to 
hurry...  
“Inferno!” I shouted.  
It was angry with the hit it had given him and blew flames on it.  
It looked dizzy and stones were already falling, stones which would really hurt 
Inferno and the little Diglett.  
“Inferno, Return! Pokéball!...”  
The ball hit and the cavern roof collapsed burying the ball.  
“Digda!”  
“You’ve already named it?” asked Emily puzzled.  
“Why not, or every Diglett might come along, do you really want that?”  
“Of course not, they’re small but they can cause a lot of hazards, so why was 
this one here?” pondered Emily.  
“Probably got separated from its group.  Ugh! The rocks are too heavy!”  
“Miles, you’re a Psychic-type, right? Could you try a Confusion attack to move 
these rocks?” Emily asked her Mr Mime.  
“Mime! Mr Mime!”  
It slid its hands across an imaginary wall and the rocks blasted off, there 
were more tremors so I grabbed the ball and we hauled ourselves out.  

Outside and panting for breath, we rested and I let out Digda.  
“Diglett?”  
“Digda, you’re okay.”  
“Dig!”  
“Did you get lost from your group?”  
“Diglett...”  
“I’m sorry if I caused you to get left behind but I could use your help...”  
“Dig!”  
“You’re going to come along even without knowing what’s ahead?”  
“Diglett!”  
“Tetsubo, you did just save it, why not accept it trusts you and hold onto it?” 
said Emily.  
“Okay then, Digda...  You’re my Pokémon!”  
“Dig g’ lett Dig!”  
I recalled it and we returned to Vermilion.  

“Where were you?!” we heard Chad shout, “You were there for Tetsubo but not 
me!”  
“Sorry Chad, we got a little caught up.” apologised Emily.  
“But I’ve got a Pokémon that might help me beat Surge.”  
“You guys can talk about Surge while I battle him them.” said Emily, it was her 
turn now.  
“Okay then, good luck...”  
“So, whatcha get?”  
“A Diglett.”  
“Yup, you’ll win easy, you noticed he’s an Electric-type Trainer, Boulder beat 
his Pokémon easy.”  
“Because Ground-types don’t conduct electricity.” I added, “But doesn’t it feel 
wrong at all?”  
“Wrong?”  
“Well, perhaps you figured it out, I was told what to do and where to go, its 
all too easy that I won’t have learned anything.”  
“But as long as you get your badge, it shouldn’t matter.” said Chad.  
“Chad, it will, what if I have to battle an Electric-type and I don’t have 
Digda, what then? I’ll be in the dark, but if I don’t do this then Surge will 
have the last laugh...”  
“Well if it were up to me, I’d say use the Diglett and win, but we’re different 
people.”  
“Surge thinks I won’t beat him without using the type advantage, it seems that 
he may be right.”  
“And this is where I cut in, Tet’, there’s lots of ways to battle, but if your 
heart is against a choice then you should probably do what you can to follow 
your heart and do what you believe to be right...”  
Chad walked away to give me time to think, all I thought about was how sensible 
and true he’d been while saying all that, no heroic name, no showing off, no 
shouting.  
There was a side to Chad we’d never really gotten to know and might never get 
to know...  

End of Chapter 16A  

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Chapter 16B
Back to Story List #1 - #20 
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