Chapter 25:  Reunions (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

Later on, we were seated in the same area we had battled in, the Pokémon were 
let out to play with each other, except Abby’s, and Natalie and Tom were 
involved in a private discussion leaving me to talk with Cody.  
Nat and Tom had a Krabby, a Charmander, a Raichu and a Bulbasaur, but I was 
sure they had more Pokémon than that.  
Abby was alone but it seemed natural for her.  
“You use Stones to evolve your Pokémon, don’t you?” I asked Cody.  
“Uh huh, we used to get beaten before but now my Pokémon are at their final 
stages of evolution.”  
“But what did my battle prove?”  
“That I’m doing something wrong.  I haven’t felt this bad since losing to 
Junior Rocket.” sighed Cody.  
“You battled Junior Rocket?!” I spluttered, “Did they hurt you?”  
“No way! I can take care of myself you know, you’re not the only hero in the 
family.” he said loudly.  
“Where did you hear I was a hero?” I asked inquisitively.  
“On a ferry.” he replied, “The captain saw my name on a ticket and recognised 
your second name, he couldn’t stop talking about you, though you weren’t too 
successful in a Pokémon Battle yourself.”  
“It was two against one, I had no choice but to rally the other passengers.” I 
retorted, “I’ve come a long way since then and saved lots of other people from 
Team Rocket.”  
“I’m sure you have and I can do it too, but still, my team is a little 
disorganised.” admitted Cody.  
“I’ll say, you evolved your Nidorino into a Nidoking early.”  
“And my Gloom into a Vileplume.” he added, “I evolved it straight after it 
learned Petal Dance.  But Sharp evolved and he came out just fine, but my other 
Pokémon can’t evolve through Stones and Torch here is too weak against pro 
Pokémon, but when I find a Fire Stone, I’ll-”  
“Evolve it right away, and let it miss out on attacks?” I interrupted.  
He sighed, “I didn’t know that they’d miss out on attacks when I evolved them, 
and now I can’t teach them anything new.”  
“I don’t know about that...” I smiled.  
“You mean...  Oh yeah, your Ghost Pokémon had a Psychic-type attack, did you 
teach it that?”  
“Of course.”  
“How do you teach moves to Pokémon?”  
“Well there’s computer TMs, they do the job automatically, or trainers can try 
to teach the Pokémon themselves, though you must teach it the right ones, some 
Pokémon are unable to pull off certain attacks.” I explained pleasantly.  
“Uh huh?” nodded Cody.  
“Your Nidoking is a good one to start with, for some reason, their range of 
moves expands when they evolve, and they can learn just about anything.”  
“Uh huh.”  
“And your Jolteon could use a little more power in its Electric attacks, but 
I’ll have to ask for it back afterwards.”  
I handed him the computer TM that taught Thunderbolt.  
“And your Vileplume is missing its most powerful attack.  This’ll help it 
regain the move it failed to learn naturally.” I added, giving him the Solar 
Beam TM.  
I could have used it on my Exeggcute but I wanted them to learn the attack 
naturally.  
“Aw, thanks bro.  I’m sorry I said so many things about you, that five years at 
Pokémon Tech was worth it.” apologised Cody.  
“Sure it was.” I agreed, “... What else have you been saying about me?...”  
“Nothing.” grinned Cody, “I’m familiar with the type chart but not with 
training Pokémon.  My Pokémon used to lose before I started evolving them.”  
“That can’t be true.”  
“I lost about a third of the battles, and since evolving them, they’ve come 
through nearly every time.”  
“But you rushed them into evolution, I’m sure they’ve adapted, but how would 
you like it if I told you to grow up right now?” I asked a little lecture-
like.  
“I understand what you’re saying.”  
His Growlithe was still at his side and yawned a little.  
“Your Growlithe is very protective of you, I’m sure its not as weak as you say 
it is, just encourage it and use it often, more often than your evolved Pokémon 
anyway, and he’ll be sure to learn more attacks and build up its stats.” I 
lectured.  
“And evolution?”  
“Once its learns Flamethrower, then it’ll be at its maturity level.”  
“And all clear to evolve?”  
“Well, yeah, but don’t you think he should decide?” I added.  
“I think I understand the logic in that.” replied Cody.  
I smiled, he was finally listening to me.  
“I’m ashamed to call myself a trainer, while I was training, you were doing the 
same but learning all the skills necessary to become a pro.  I bet no one has 
beaten you since you organised a team of Pokémon.” praised Cody.  
“Oh I have, but I’ve won more often than not because of my studies.  You don’t 
need to study at Pokémon Tech to master the basics, you can be a great trainer 
and not a total brainiac like your big brother.  We all have flaws and its 
nothing to be ashamed of, and some of them can be changed, sometimes my 
knowledge of Pokémon clouds my judgement in real battles.”  
Cody smiled a little, “Thanks bro.”  
A huge net came down on the Pokémon in the left side of the field, Natalie, Tom 
and their Pokémon, half of mine and Cody’s evolved Pokémon were trapped.  
We looked at what had dropped it, a huge mechanical Beedrill, and it was slowly 
raising them.  

“We strike during day or night!”  
“We attack, with all our might!”  
“Don’t mess with us, or we shall fight!”  
“We’re pretty good at our rhyme.”  
“The masterminds, of crime.”  
“We always succeed, every time.”  
“Cletus!”  
“Cassie!”  
“Claus!”  
“If y’all got valuables, yuh’d better block it!”  
“We put Pokémon in our pocket!”  
“We’re the best, so don’t knock it!”  
“We are... Elite Rocket!”  

They stood below the robot which was raising the net slowly, Claus was in 
control, using a small remote.  
“Who?” asked Cody.  
“These are My enemies.” I explained.  
“Dis time, Turquoise, we’re gonna-  Where’s da green gal?” asked Cletus.  
“I don’t know but now there’s a violet girl with him and loads of other people, 
not that it matters.” added Cassie.  
“Of course it does, more Pokémon for us!” grinned Claus darkly.  
“Twinkill, Spectre, Whirlwind, get over here.” I called.  
“You too Jet, Torch and Muscles.” added Cody.  
They were the only Pokémon that hadn’t been caught.  
Abby reached for a Pokéball but Claus used the remote to instruct the Beedrill 
robot to shoot a ring of purple spears around her.  
“A six-on-six group battle will be enough.” chuckled Cletus.  
“Go!” they shouted.  
“Ch’arbok!”  
“Scyther!”  
“Dra!”  
“Reeeowwwlll!!!”  
“MUK!”  
“Monchan!”  
Cody panicked a little.  
“We can’t win this, my remaining Pokémon aren’t strong enough to take on Stage 
2 Pokémon.”  
“Of course not.” I replied, he looked a little dismayed but I wasn’t through 
talking, “Not as long as you don’t faith in them.  Pokémon grow to be strong, 
you just have to be patient and encourage them.”  
He breathed in, “I’ll try.”  

Twinkill jumped in and blasted Snakebite, then used Psychic attack to take 
advantage of its weakness.  
Spectre floated around laughing as Knockout couldn’t get a hit in, but then its 
gloves glowed with electricity and Spectre made his move and used his ghostly 
attacks.  
Whirlwind kept his distance from Queendra and used a Gust attack.  
Cody’s Squirtle, Jet, withdrew into its shell and rolled away from the Muk that 
was looking to crush him.  
Torch, though he had the advantage, was backing away from the Scyther’s blades, 
and Muscles, also with the advantage, wasn’t getting the chance to attack with 
Panther scratching and slashing away.  
“Cody! Guide them! Inspire them! Motivate them!” I shouted.  
They weren’t used to battling without Cody’s advice and their inexperience 
didn’t help.  
“... Um, er...  Jet, bounce up and use your Bubble attack!”  
“Squirtle!”  
He leaped up and blasted a lot of bubbles into the Muk, they exploded and sent 
pieces of Chemical all over the field.  
“Now Tackle!”  
He splattered through Chemical who fell to pieces even more.  
“Muscles, back away and Focus Energy!”  
The Persian leaped at him.  
“Now Mega Punch, followed by Low Kick!”  
The Persian flew into the air, only to be tripped up upon landing.  
“And Torch, try your Take Down!”  
“Scy-Ther!”  
Cutter brought his blades down but Torch leaped back, landed and shot forward.  
“Now Ember!”  
“Growlll!!!”  
The fireball burst out his mouth and exploded on the Scyther, he finished up on 
his own.  
“Good going bro!” I cheered.  
“You mean we’re getting beat by Turquoise’s little brother now, I think not!” 
shouted Claus as all six Pokémon were recalled, several nets were thrown down 
and I was victim to one, my Pokémon were also caught.  
Only Cody was left with his so-called weaker Pokémon.  
“I’ll deal with him, then we’ll dump these kids in the nearest ocean and take 
their Pokémon.” said Claus lowering the Beedrill robot so that he and the 
others could get inside.  

“Yer goin’ ta get a buzz outta dis!” laughed Cletus.  
“And then we’ll return to our hive with these sweet Pokémon.” added Cassie.  
“You’ll soon get the point!” finished Claus.  
Cody quivered, I had to motivate him, its what big brothers were there for.  
“Cody! You can do it! Don't despair and have your Pokémon work as a team!” I 
shouted.  
“... Okay! Jet! Torch! Muscles! Let’s get ‘em!”  
“Squirt!”  
“Growl!”  
“Machop!”  
The robot dived down with all the nets still attached and hanging from the 
front claws, Cody and the Pokémon dived.  
“This will only sting for a second, not!” laughed Cassie as sharp purple spears 
shot out the stinger.  
“Blast those stingers away!” Cody said to Jet, who immediately blasted them 
back up, one of them shot into the robot’s cockpit and barely missed Cletus and 
Cassie’s heads.  

“Dat wus too close!” spluttered Cletus.  
“We almost got stung!” exclaimed Cassie.  
“He’ll be sorry!” yelled Claus.  

They flew down again with the intention of crushing Cody.  
The Pokémon lifted up Cody and leaped up very high while the robot crashed down 
and got its tail stuck in the ground.  
“Torch, use your Bite attack on the nets.”  
“Groowwlll!!!” he wailed and tore the ropes so that all the nets fell to the 
floor, I ran towards Abby and assisted her as she tried to climb over the spear 
ring.  
“Muscles, go into the cockpit and do some damage!” shouted Cody confidently 
pointing at the target.  
“Maaachop!” he yelled and punched through the window before beating down on the 
controls.  
“Hey, don’t you know you should respect other people’s toys?!” screamed Claus.  
Sparks exploded from the console and the whole robot started to shake.  
I ran to Cody, “Good job.”  
“I learned from the best.” he grinned.  
I smiled and pointed at the robot, “Let’s finish this guys!”  
“You too!” added Cody and all six Pokémon that had participated in the last 
fight used their attacks to destroy and lift the robot into the air.  
It flew upwards, then exploded, sending the Elites flying.  

“Fer once Ah wish we weren’t flyin’ high...” groaned Cletus.  
“We came so close to raking in some honey...” moaned Cassie.  
“The Boss isn’t going to bee very happy about this...” muttered Claus and the 
Elites blasted off once more.  

With that, two of Cody’s Pokémon glowed white and grew up.  
“Machoke!”  
“Wartortle!”  
While Cody recorded his new Machoke, I recorded the Wartortle’s data.  

“Wartortle, the Turtle Pokémon.  Its tail is covered with a rich fur that 
stores air before it takes extended dives underwater.  When withdrawn in its 
shell, the tail still sticks out a bit.”  

“They evolved...” said Cody a little ecstatically.  
“And its all because you had faith in their skills.  I told you good things 
happened to those who waited.” I congratulated.  
His Growlithe looked a little down.  
“Don’t worry Torch, you’ll evolve someday...” he comforted.  
“Maybe sooner than you think.” I said, and threw him something.  
He caught it and examined it.  
“A Fire Stone, but why?”  
“I won’t be needing it, not with my Charmeleon serving as my Fire-type 
Pokémon.”  
“Alright, now I can evolve you into...”  
Cody slowed down and looked at me.  
“... You Will evolve into a powerful Arcanine, but not today, we still have to 
learn more powerful attacks, and you’re getting stronger every day.”  
“Growl!” replied Torch happily.  

We sorted out our Pokémon and Cody used the TMs I had given him and eventually 
we were all ready to go our separate ways, me and Abby were heading east, while 
Cody’s group was going west.  

“Bye Cody! I look forward to seeing you in the Pokémon League!...”  

“See ya Tetsubo! Thanks for everything! I promise to become a better 
trainer!...”  

Soon he and his group were out of sight, I turned back to Abby.  
“Sorry to have ignored you.” I apologised.  
“I understand, you haven’t seen him for a long time.  Family is very 
important.” she said rather softly.  
“Shall we be going?” I asked carefully, she’d been pretty cold towards me so 
far.  
“You know Tetsubo, there’s more to you than meets the eye.  I heard what you 
said to Cody, you’re a very nice person and you’re more experienced with 
Pokémon than I took you for.” she said gently.  
That was possibly the nicest thing I’d heard from her so far.  
“Well you understand about Stone-induced evolutions too, you’re patient about 
evolving that Pikachu, Vulpix and Clefairy.” I explained.  
“I suppose I am...” she said closing her eyes, I could have sworn a smile came 
to her lips.  
We continued our walk and went onwards to Saffron City.  
It was sure nice to see Cody again but it was even nicer to have set him on the 
path to glory.  

End of Chapter 25B  

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