Chapter 36:  Digging up Trouble (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

After my defeat against the ex-Rocket, Abby and I continued on our way with the 
vague message she’d given us.  

We’d travelled forward for almost an hour, and I was beginning to doubt that 
the directions were correct, until I walked through a few bushes, and nearly 
fell into a large dip in the land.  
It wasn’t natural, as a concrete road had been paved into it, surely this was 
the path to the original dam.  
I slowly stepped down the ravine, holding Abby and carefully choosing where to 
step, I turned my gaze to her, a cautious look on her face, but a partly calm 
one too.  
Looking at the lady from before, and thinking of Abby now, I could see just how 
much she’d changed since she was with me.  
In the past, Abby just wanted to be alone with her Pokémon, and refused to 
change the way she was, just because people told her to.  
I think the changes started after I’d rescued her Butterfree from the 
Screwloose Brothers, when she asked me to take Flutter into my team of 
Pokémon.  
But she’d gone back into her shell when I met her again in Celadon City, and 
conversation was close to non existent until the Saffron City fiasco, when she 
made the decision to continue travelling with me.  
We’d been through a lot now, and slowly but surely, I was learning a lot about 
her.  
But there was a lot of information missing, such as her home town, her family, 
where she’d caught her Rhyhorn, and received that scar from, and most 
importantly, what she was doing in the Safari Zone, and why she blocked out 
that memory.  
I’d never push her for the answers, it’d taken long enough for her to trust me 
with her secrets, but in due time, I’d like to think I would know everything I 
needed to know about Abby.  
We reached the bottom, but had one final obstacle, as we had ended up on a 
large block of concrete that had been risen from the damaged crumbled road.  
I slowly climbed down it, leaped off, and to finish, tripped over my own foot 
and fell to the floor pathetically.  
“Tetsubo.” called Abby, rather than laughing at me like any other individual 
probably would.  
“Don’t worry, I’m okay, watch that last step.”  
Abby clambered down, and I noticed the rough patches on the concrete that she 
used for support were breaking away, I positioned myself, as Abby slipped, and 
fell, into my arms.  
She was heavier than I’d anticipated, and so we fell to the floor lightly.  
As I looked up, Abby was gazing at me with a little concern, and for some 
reason, I in turn gazed back, wondering why things had just got awkward.  
I shook my head lightly, and picked myself up, with the answer in my head, and 
some complications too.  
With a look like that, there was no doubt that Abby felt something for me, that 
she wanted more than I could give to her.  
The age thing wasn’t the problem here, it was other valid reasons, I didn’t 
know everything about her, I valued her friendship, and I simply didn’t feel 
that way about Abby.  
I had obviously been thinking of Emily too much to even notice Abby’s feelings 
for me.  
She had come to depend on me a lot recently, and I must have been blind not to 
notice how she felt when she’d made it clear that Emily wasn’t worth holding on 
to.  
I didn’t have the heart to break Abby’s, and it’d just be best if the subject 
of romance were avoided totally, just because I’d managed to get over Emily 
didn’t mean I was ready for another girl, especially one that I cared so much 
for as a friend.  
“Um, we’d better hurry, or else this place will probably be flooded, with us 
caught in it.” I said hurriedly, and walked off ahead, not looking back at Abby 
just yet.  

The road ended, and led to a flat grassy area, with a tall structure covered by 
a huge white cloth:  The new dam.  
Abby and I were about to climb it when we heard something, familiar Pokémon 
voices.  
Two little Diglett were conversing with each other, staring up at the dam and 
questioning it.  
“Hmmmm, looks like they also have an interest in the dam.  Um, Diglett? Are you 
worried about the dam too?”  
Upon my asking, they immediately shot themselves back down into their holes.  
I sighed, and released Digda, who was in fairly good health considering the 
battle we were just in.  
“Dig g’ lett, dig!”  
“Digda, I want you to talk to those Diglett, see if they know about the dam, 
and if they’d be willing to help us.”  
“Diglett.” he said, burrowing underground, and approaching the two other 
holes.  
They surprisingly broke away, and all three Diglett sat in one hole, the other 
two untrusting of Digda at first since he was a trained Pokémon, but quickly 
believing his story, that Abby and I weren’t responsible for the dam, but were 
willing to assist them in destroying it.  
“Funny.” I thought, “From the angle I’m seeing those Diglett, it I didn’t know 
better, I’d swear they were a Dugtrio.”  
I hadn’t said this out loud because of the awkward feelings from before with 
Abby, so she locked onto my silence, and approached me.  
“Do you think they’ll help?” she asked.  
“I’m sure of it, Pokémon are more in tune with nature than humans are, I hope 
the other wild Pokémon know about the disturbance.” I replied.  
“But we wouldn’t have known unless that construction worker told us, and I 
don’t think the people we’re looking for had much time to announce the dam’s 
reconstruction.”  
“True.” I answered, glad that Abby’s feelings of me were the last thing on her 
mind right now.  
“Diglett! Diglett, Dig.” said Digda, before tunnelling away with the other 
two.  
“Digda!...  I suppose he’s gone for help, we should head top-side ourselves.”  

It was an easy route, since wooden ladders had been set up in the relevant 
places, Abby and I clambered upwards, and quickly saw the culprits.  
“Uh huh.  Uh huh.  That’s right boss, we’ll be able to make a lot of money from 
this operation, and the water from this dam will end up in your new base to 
power it...  Of course I will.”  
With that, Geneva hung up the phone, and stood by as Rocket Grunts were making 
the final touches to the tool that would destroy many natural Pokémon, and all 
for a few bucks and a selfish way of powering a base of evil.  
“Tetsubo, we should probably go stealth and-”  
“This has got to stop!” I shouted out to everyone.  
Abby gave me a dark stare, probably because I’d normally listen to her 
opinion.  
Geneva gasped, “Its him again!”  
“You guys are beyond selfish, do you not care that hundreds of Pokémon would be 
seriously hurt by your lousy operation? I should call Officer Jenny right now, 
except I want to punish you myself.”  
“You’re crazy! Did you not think we were prepared for intruders?” questioned 
Geneva.  
Every grunt drew a Pokéball and held it out menacingly.  
“There’s no need for all of you.  My reliable Pearl will be enough.  I suppose 
a Pokémon Battle will be your way of deciding how this plays out.”  
“If you’re so confident that you’ll win, then of course.  If I win, all of you 
have to stop the construction and leave, but if you win...  Then Abby and I 
will help you complete the dam.”  
“Tetsubo!” said Abby shocked.  
“Abby, I can win this, Pearl is a pathetic little Shellder that hasn’t seen 
victory in months.”  
“I agree to your terms, but you’re in for a shock.”  
“Cllloyysterrr...” grinned Pearl, having evolved into a Cloyster not too long 
ago.  
“Oh... cripes...” I cursed, before choosing Twinkill for this battle.  
“Star!”  
I’d have used Shockwave, but he wasn’t in any condition to fight, and the dam 
had enough water in it to be used for a battle, but not enough to endanger the 
environment should it spill.  
I noticed how much Abby was worried about me, but also her dislike for my 
overconfidence of the situation, these were Rockets we were dealing with.  

“Pearl, use your Tackle attack.”  
“Same thing.”  
“Cllloy!”  
“Star!”  
The first attack had been a miss for Twinkill, the Cloyster’s shell was 
extremely tough, like diamond, and my Staryu fell back damaged while the 
Cloyster was fine and initiated another attack.  
A multicoloured and almost clear Aurora Beam shined on the Staryu, before 
freezing it up in cold ice.  
“Twinkill! You have to break free.” I pleaded.  
“Star...” it groaned, unable to do so as yet.  
“Destroy it Pearl.”  
“Water Gun!”  
A fierce wave splashed down on the Cloyster, not damaging it, but distracting 
it as Twinkill slowly struggled free, while the Cloyster continued to close in 
on it, using its Leer attack to shine through the water and produce a pair of 
evil eyes to scare Twinkill, should it look at them.  
“Aha, try your Minimize!” I yelled, and Twinkill did its magic and broke free 
through temporary shrinking and teleportation.  
“Pearl, use your Spike Cannon.”  
“Thunderbolt!”  
Twinkill leapt into the air and initiated the attack, but the huge spikes that 
were fired caught it off guard, and lightning fell everywhere, the Cloyster 
withdrew into its shell to prevent any lucky hits.  
“Twinkill...  Hang in there...” I offered.  
“STAR!” it screamed, and slammed into the Cloyster’s shell.  
Could my rage and compassion have been directly seen by Twinkill?  
How much of a link did I share with my first and favourite Pokémon?...  
My dear Staryu, it didn’t have a face, or a language I could always understand, 
but we shared a special and mysterious bond.  
“Cllloy!” wailed the Cloyster, opening its shell and shooting a powerful 
Supersonic wave.  
“Fight it Twinkill...  Fight it!”  
“Nothing can withstand Pearl’s Supersonic, not now that its evolved.” boasted 
Geneva, before letting out a confident laugh.  
Twinkill spun while plummeting downwards, and got one of its star points wedged 
in the floor.  
“Pathetic.  I don’t know why so many Rockets want that stupid starfish.”  
“Neither do I...” I replied, causing Abby to question me, “But what I do know 
is, I need Twinkill.  You’ll never understand the bond we share.”  
“Star...” nodded Twinkill, having found the strength to pull free, and shake 
off the confusion.  
“Twinkill, use your Psychic attack.”  
“Ssstttaaarrr!!!” shouted Twinkill, spinning furiously towards the Cloyster and 
using the attack to force its shell wide open.  
“Thunderbolt.”  
“Star-Yu!!!”  
“CccLllLoYyyYsSSsTteRrr!!!” wailed the Cloyster, giving a shocked expression 
before Twinkill ‘Double Edged’ it.  
“Cloy...” wailed the Water/ Ice Pokémon, before tipping over the edge, and 
falling into the water unconscious.  

“Return...” grunted Geneva in disgust.  
“Good job Twinkill...” I said, returning it to its Pokéball.  
“How did it know?...” questioned Abby, “It was like Twinkill knew how important 
that battle was, how determined you were to win...”  
“You did know that Twinkill’s my first Pokémon, didn’t you?”  
“Of course.  You have a special link, I’ve heard about that, and I wish I had 
that with my Pokémon...”  
There was no time to go into Abby’s issues, we had a debt to collect.  
“There, I’ve won, now leave.” I said firmly.  
“... You didn’t honestly believe we would, did you?” questioned Geneva.  
“But you had a deal.  You would have collected if you won.” complained Abby.  
“True.  But who’s gonna believe you? And how are you going to make us leave?”  
“Pretty much like the rest of your crooked organisation, by giving you a flight 
back home.” I threatened.  
“Boys...”  
Five grunts approached Abby and I, carrying their tools like weapons, we backed 
away, about to release a Pokéball in defense, except we ran out of ground, and 
fell back... into a trap.  
Jonathan appeared from behind a tree, and pulled on the rope that closed the 
net around Abby and I, and hoisted it up.  
“Time for the motto?” he asked.  
“Better late than never.” added Geneva.  

“We’re the head honchos, the ones in charge.”  
“Our deeds are big and our schemes are large.”  
“You can’t win, you’re soon going down.”  
“We’ll inherit the company, we’ll be wearing the crown.”  
“Jonathan.”  
“And Geneva.”  
“We’re the Executive Rockets and what we say, goes.”  
“And you’re going to face your greatest foes.”  

“Except you’ve already gone down, and you’ve already fought and lost to us, and 
now you can sit back and watch as we reopen this dam, and wash out your 
precious Pokémon, right in front of your very eyes.” smiled Geneva.  
“No...” I groaned, “I can’t even fit a Pokéball through these tiny holes.”  
“The lasers won’t work either.” added Abby, having tried to release her Hypno 
through the hole of a net, and ended up having her Pokémon appear and land on 
her.  
“That net is reinforced, there’s no way to break free, and you’ll not be 
releasing any Pokémon, unless you want to hurt yourself.” explained Jonathan.  
He was right, the net felt like it was made of millions of metal strands, and 
if we did somehow break it, it was a very long drop, the rope that hung us up 
was tied around a tree, and it served as the only thing that kept us from 
plummeting.  
“I think we’re just about done here, shall we prepare for the dam’s relaunching 
Geneva?”  
“Yes, I think its almost time.”  
A distant rumbling suddenly started up in the background, one that quickly 
became louder, and the area around the dam started to shake a little.  
“Don’t tell me...” groaned Geneva.  
Many screams from a great deal of different Pokémon filled the area, Bug-types, 
Grass-types, Rock and Ground-types, and few unusual types for the area.  
“Rockets! Deal with this!” ordered Geneva.  
As soon as the grunts drew a Pokémon, a swarm of Butterfree and Beedrill swept 
through the skies, and while the Beedrill gave the Rockets a nasty jabbing, the 
Butterfree shook Sleep Powder on the evil-doers, causing them to drift away, 
lucky for them they didn’t fall into the water.  
Rattatas bit the ropes holding our net, and several Pidgeys caught us when we 
dropped, and allowed us to land safely on the ground.  
“Stop those Pokémon!” yelled Geneva.  
“I only have three! And there are hundreds! Let’s retreat, and finish off 
tomorrow.” advised Jonathan.  
“Idiot! Now the Pokémon know! There won’t be a dam here tomorrow!” shouted 
Geneva.  
“Dig g’ lett Dig! Dig g’ lett Dig!” shouted the three Diglett, mine gave me a 
strange and happy look, before all three nodded, and combined, in order to 
evolve into a Dugtrio.  
“Trio Trio Trio.  Trio Trio Trio.”  

“Dugtrio, the Mole Pokémon.  When three Diglett combine, they evolve into 
Dugtrio, who can burrow more than 60 miles underground and trigger quakes.”  

“Ah...” I cheered, “Digda! Use your Rock Slide!”  
“Trio!!!”  
The two executives held each other in fear as they heard an extremely loud 
rumbling, a tidal wave of rocks rose up and came down on them.  
“The dam’s still standing.” noted Abby.  
“Not for long, use your Fissure strike!”  
“TRIO!!!”  
A cutting tremor swept up the halfway point of the dam, and caused it all to 
collapse.  
The water kept there wasn’t at maximum height, and so it splashed harmlessly 
down below, and crept down into one of the smaller rivers.  
“No! Our dam!” cried the executives.  
“We’ll never be able to afford another construction...” moaned Jonathan.  
“And its not like this was a legal operation.” I noted.  
“Yes, you can’t press charges against all those Pokémon or anything.” added 
Abby.  
“You may as well just walk away.” I told them.  
“No way!” they yelled, stupidly drawing a Pokéball, “We’re going to bring back 
something for the Boss!”  
“Digda...” I sighed.  
“DUGTRIO!!!”  
A wide tremor was started, that swept across the earth and threw the 
executives, and all their grunts sky high.  

“Our plans were all clogged up!” cried Jonathan.  
“Damn, they wrecked our dam!” screamed Geneva.  
And the group disappeared from sight.  

With the danger dealt with, all the Pokémon returned to their homes.  
“Thank you! We couldn’t have done it without you.” I called, “Shall we be off 
Digda?”  
“Tetsubo...” said Abby.  
“Oh yeah...  I suppose since Digda merged with two other Diglett, they might 
not want to leave...”  
I sadly walked over to Digda, and knelt down to it.  
“I suppose you’ll want to stay here and protect the other Pokémon.”  
“Trio.”  
“And that the other two Diglett would prefer to stay in their home.”  
“Trio.”  
“And that you probably never wanted to leave the Diglett’s Cave to become a 
trained Diglett.”  
“Trio.”  
I turned away and sighed, before Abby tugged on my arm to make me look back at 
the Ground Pokémon.  
“Tetsubo, I think it was saying ‘No’ to everything you just said.”  
“You mean...”  
The Dugtrio burrowed up to me, and all three heads snuggled against my leg.  
“Oh Digda, Return.” I smiled.  

With the dam destroyed, and hopefully for good, Abby and I continued on our 
way, this little trip had actually got us much closer to the southern port, and 
we’d be home in no time at all.  

End of Chapter 36B  

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