Chapter 28:  Vicious Cycles (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

After a couple of days, we neared Delft Town but were still far from it.  
“I love my new Hitmonlee.  Just think, if you’d trained harder, it could have 
been yours.” bragged Chad.  
“For the last time, I was fighting Claus and the Elites, and they cheated, as 
they did with the final match, except me and Abby stopped them, understand?” I 
explained beyond annoyed.  
“I understand that you’re jealous, but not why you’d say something like that 
when I won through skill.” said Chad a little sadly.  
“You’re so full of-”  
“Um, guys, look ahead.” interrupted Abby.  
There was a large bridge that led across the ocean to the north east isle.  

“... I’m sorry but only bikes and cars are permitted to cross, there’s a bridge 
for people in the next town over.” said the guard at the gatehouse.  
“But we need to cross this bridge to reach Delft Town soon.” I pleaded.  
“I’m sorry but rules are rules.”  
I sunk my head down, “Well that’s the end of my precisely planned schedule.”  
“Don’t worry Tet, I’m sure things will work out, they always do.”  
Chad was becoming quite optimistic, or just a fool hoping for the best.  

“Welcome to the Sunny Town Pokémon Centre, may I help you?” asked a polite 
Nurse Joy.  
“A quick refresh for all my Pokémon please.” I said, and Abby and Chad 
deposited their Pokéballs.  

“If only the bikes weren’t so expensive.” I moaned a little later on.  
“Excuse me, but your Pokémon are ready.” said Nurse Joy.  
As we retrieved them, a videophone started ringing.  
“Ring Ring Ring! Ring Ring Ring! Phone Call! Phone Call! Ring Ring Rin-”  
I was relieved that Nurse Joy picked it up so fast, that voice was annoying and 
I wondered how Blossom dealt with it, with me calling her quite often.  
“Hello sister, this isn’t a social call I’m afraid.” said the Nurse Joy 
calling.  
“I can see by the look on your face.”  
“We have some very sick Pokémon, and something is holding up the traffic on the 
bridge, we urgently need some medicine from your end, I was hoping you’d help 
since we did the same kind of favour for you a year ago.”  
“But I’m too busy taking care of the Pokémon here...” said the Nurse Joy here, 
turning to face us suspiciously, “I overheard you saying you needed to reach 
Merry Town, how would you like to do an errand for me?”  
“But we can’t cross, we need bicycles or a car to cross.”  
“The car is doubtful, and pointless since there’s too much traffic, but we have 
some bikes you can borrow, until you reach Merry Town.  The bike paths are 
usually clear.”  
I smiled at Abby and Chad, and Chad gave me an inquisitive stare, he was right, 
things did tend to work out for the best.  

Later, we were crossing the bridge along the bike lanes, Chad had a single bike 
and Abby and I had a double seated one.  
The view was nice and the seaside smell lingered in the air, this was a nice 
area to stay if you were on holiday, but I had a lot of work ahead of me.  
I only had five badges while Abby and Chad both had six, I was getting held 
back by Rockets way too often and I had to catch up, if I had straight wins in 
Delft Town and Terracotta City, and then go home to Fuchsia City and find the 
Gym there, I’d be set up and have plenty of time to train for the Kanto 
League.  

We heard yelling and explosions from up ahead and had no choice but to go that 
way, it was the only way forward.  
There were a crowd of people in a circle, one side had normal bikes, the others 
had motorcycles, they were both cheering and yelling at something in the 
middle.  
A Pokémon Battle.  
“Go! Golem! Rolling Tackle!” shouted a man with long spiky hair that stretched 
upwards.  
“You get ‘em Chopper!” shouted a woman with long green hair and a black leather 
jacket.  
The Golem savagely hit the already tired Tentacruel.  
I drew out the Pokédex since I was at a close enough range to scan the 
fighters.  

“Golem, the Megaton Pokémon.  Its hard shell can easily withstand dynamite 
blasts with little damage.  It sheds its skin once a year and grows bigger.”  
“Tentacruel, the Jellyfish Pokémon.  It has 80 poisonous tentacles that stretch 
and contract freely.  They wrap around prey and weaken it with poison.”  

“Return Tentacruel.” said a man wearing blue, I’d seen him before somewhere but 
I couldn’t place it just yet.  
“The final match is now, for leadership of the bridge.  Get in there Tyra.” 
said Chopper confidently.  
“With pleasure, get out there Cloyster.” said the woman with green hair.  
“Finish ‘em Jimmy.” said the man in blue, it seemed he was the leader of the 
bikers while Chopper was the leader of the bike gang.  
“Sure thing, Go Tauros!” shouted Jimmy, a man with naturally white hair.  

“Cloyster, the Bivalve Pokémon.  Its shell is harder than diamond, when inside 
its shell, Cloyster can withstand practically anything, and counterstrike by 
shooting the spikes from its shell.”  
“Tauros, the Wild Bull Pokémon.  This wild Pokémon charges enemies furiously, 
while whipping its foe with its three tails.  Though powerful, it can only 
charge in a straight line.”  

The battle was fierce and the trainers seemed to push their Pokémon and not 
care what happened to the opponent.  
“Cloyster! Ice Beam!”  
“Cllloysterrr!!!” it grinned sweeping the beam to the side, some of the beam 
almost hit the other gang members.  
This bike gang didn’t seem to care that they’d nearly frozen a person, at least 
not when it came down to their enemies.  
The Tauros charged forward but the Cloyster jumped up and crushed down on it, 
it kept on moving, and before it collapsed, the Tauros’s vision was compromised 
and he charged into one of the people.  
“Agh!!!” screamed a man with a bright yellow coat and brown hair, he fell to 
the floor and a snap was heard.  
“You damn idiots!” he screamed, “You broke my leg!”  
“Well you nearly froze Charlie!” shouted one of the bikers.  
This battle was getting out of control, Pokémon Battles should be controlled 
and should never harm the trainers or spectators.  
Before they could utter another command, I left the bike and unthinkingly 
stepped between the two Pokémon.  

“Stop this fight!” I shouted.  
“You’re not a cop, get lost!” shouted the bikers’ leader.  
“You’re making this battle dangerous, if you have to watch, do it from a safe 
distance!” I yelled.  
“And you’re no safety inspector either!” shouted Jimmy.  
“No but I’m a sensible Pokémon Trainer, why are you two fighting anyway? 
Pokémon shouldn’t be used to solve personal disputes!” I questioned.  
“Well its their fault!” shouted Chopper, “This bridge was our territory first 
and then these road hogs came along to take it!”  
“I don’t see yer name on it!” shouted the other leader.  
“Yeah, you tell ‘em Rush!” cheered one of the bikers.  
“You seem familiar.” I said looking him over, then my eyes widened, that short 
black hair, that dark blue coat, he was one of the guys from the gang I’d 
encountered, the ‘Wild Dogs’.  
“You’re one of the bikers from Celadon City, the ones who robbed the store!” I 
shouted with an accusing pointing of a finger.  
“Wait a minute, I remember you! You’re the one that got our leader doin’ 
community service!”  
“See, we don’t want no delinquents on our bridge!” said Chopper seizing the 
moment.  
“Now hang on, surely-”  
I was interrupted by sirens going off from both sides of the road:  Police 
cars.  
“Geez! The cops! Let’s burn!” shouted Rush.  
I ran back to Abby, “I don’t want to get caught by the police here, let’s leave 
before we get punished for their mistakes.”  
“Okay.” she replied.  
It was a disarray of bikes and motorbikes fleeing the area and Abby and I got a 
little caught up in the crowd...  

“You sure we should let ‘em out?”  
“We have to, he didn’t do anything bad to us.”  
A door opened and Abby and I were released from the small room.  
Chopper and Tyra were there eying us cautiously.  
“We’re letting you go, provided you don’t go cryin’ to the police.” said 
Chopper.  
“I guess not, but why were you using Pokémon for a personal battle, can’t you 
talk it over?” I asked.  
“No way! They’re flipping convicts and this bridge was our turf first!” yelled 
Chopper.  
“The bridge belongs to no one.” said Abby calmly, and rather bravely I might 
add.  
There was an unsettling silence before Chopper spoke up, “Fine.  But its our 
favourite hangout place and we can’t have two gangs.”  
“No, you can’t...” I agreed without really thinking about what I was saying.  
“You what?” asked Abby politely.  
“Nothing, just thinking about something.” I replied.  
“One question.  Where’s Chad?...”  

Chad had ended up elsewhere.  
“I bet yer turquoise-headed friend brags about ‘ow ‘e shamed our old leader, 
doesn’t ‘e?!” accused Rush.  
“Nope.” said Chad, leaning back in the chair confidently.  
He was cool-headed when he needed to be and nothing seemed to scare him.  
“Well since ‘e’s not around, maybe I can tell you the truth about what ‘appened 
at Celadon, we were stealin’ money for one o’ ours who got injured in a 
different gang battle, and our old boss only really cared about nabbin’ the 
Porygon.  After that kid scared us off and beat him, we eventually worked hard 
and organised a fund raiser instead, but now we can’t even show our faces in 
Celadon and we were working fer a good cause.  Now we just want possession of 
this bridge ta ride around on without those punk kids getting in the way, ‘ow’s 
about you join us?”  
“No thanks, I have better dreams.” replied Chad.  
“Like what?!” shouted Rush.  
“I’m Chad the Chosen, renowned Pokémon Trainer.” he said proudly.  
“Well Mr Chosen, you’re either gonna ‘elp us fight the bike gang in our 
decidin’ battle or we’ll throw you out of this abandoned lighthouse and into 
the ocean, what’s it gonna be?...”  
“... I’m not stupid, I’ll stick around, but only if you give me something to 
eat.” he replied relaxing his head back.  
“Get Mr Chosen a snack.” said a tired Rush, dealing with Chad was tough on any 
person.  

Abby and I were given a tour of the bike gang’s home, then I realised how much 
time had been wasted, “I have to get this medicine to the Pokémon Centre!” I 
shouted.  
“Another one?...  He’s just like Awesome Ash, we’re not bad people, we’ll help 
you cross the bridge but to do so we need to beat that motorbike gang, you said 
they were bad, so how’s about it?” smiled Chopper.  
“Well, couldn’t they have changed?” I asked.  
“No one changes fast, didn’t you see how their Tauros injured Charlie?” accused 
Tyra.  
“I also saw your Cloyster nearly freeze someone.” I said unimpressed.  
“Yeah...  Well, he didn’t, and that’s all that counts.” grinned Tyra guiltily.  
“We’re going to have a rumble with the gang and chase them off this bridge, it 
might mean some accidents will happen but we’ve got to fight to secure our 
hangout.  Once we’re done, we’ll escort you to the Pokémon Centre to deliver 
that medicine.” explained Chopper.  
“I’ll help, but I won’t let go of my morals, I won’t harm people without good 
reason and I won’t overly harm an enemy Pokémon.” I said firmly.  
“Well, I guess we can’t argue with that.” replied Chopper.  

That night, the two gangs came together at the halfway point of the bridge and 
a lot of cursing that I won’t talk about was said.  
Abby and I were at the back, we’d have tried to escape this and get to Merry 
Town, but the Wild Dog Gang were blocking the path, a victor would have to be 
declared if we were to pass.  

“Everyone!” yelled Chopper, “Let’s rumble!!!...”  

End of Chapter 28A  

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Chapter 28B
Back to Story List #21 - #40
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