Chapter 37:  Ranch Racers (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

As Danielle comforted Lara about her having to drop out of the race, I had to 
talk with Chad.  
“Chad, I need to tell you something.”  
“If its about how cool I am, I understand.” I said smugly.  
“No Chad, this is serious, have any Rockets talked to you about me?” I asked.  
“No, can’t say they have.”  
“Good, but this should come from me.  Chad, I lied to you, from the very 
beginning.  You know Bryan?”  
“The one who kicked your butt?”  
“Yes, the one who-  Hey!...  Bryan... used to be my friend in Pokémon Tech.” I 
explained after complaining.  
“The snob college?”  
“Yes, the-  No, not the snob college, I’m not filthy rich, I barely got in, but 
I got top marks in the end.  Anyway, Bryan blames me for his getting expelled, 
because I did better than him, and because I alerted the people that caught him 
when he was altering grades.”  
Chad was actually paying attention and not questioning me.  
“He joined up with the Rockets, and he got me into this lame deal, that I 
couldn’t tell anyone about him, or else he’d hurt those close to me.”  
“But didn’t he save the snob college’s Pokémon from the Elites?”  
“No, he was a diversion, and I’m ashamed that I let that happen, anyway, Emily 
ended up talking to him, without realising what he was, and he captured her.  I 
managed to rescue her, but she hasn’t forgiven me, and she’s left me for good.” 
I explained a little sadly.  
“I understand, but one question, why are you so afraid I’m going to judge you?” 
asked Chad.  
“Because I, wait a minute, what did you just say?” I spluttered.  
“Are you expecting me to think any less of you? I thought you were going to 
admit to being a Rocket or something.” smiled Chad sensibly.  
“So, you believe me...”  
“Tet’, I wouldn’t think any less of the guy who turned my training around 
because of something like that, without you I’d probably be retaking Gym 
Battles at Vermilion City.”  
“Chad, thank you, I only wish Emily would come around as easily, but its 
different, I promised I wouldn’t lie to her, and then I continued keeping that 
from her.” I said sadly.  
“You two didn’t, you know, get together, did ya?” inquired Chad.  
I nodded sadly.  
“Nice one!” he cheered.  
I glared up at Chad, this was not the time for getting cheered on for scoring 
with a girl.  
“Hey, you’re a nice kid, she’ll come round.” he offered.  
“Somehow I don’t think so...” I sighed.  
“Oh yeah, I knew I was forgetting something...”  
“Gol-Duck!!!” screamed a wild and evil-looking Golduck as it was released from 
its Pokéball.  
“Um, Chad, did you trade that bumbling fool of a Psyduck for that Golduck?” I 
asked.  
“DUCK!” yelled the Golduck, and I did as it said (sort of), as a blue sphere 
whizzed over my head, went out the window, and exploded, on a truck.  
“Return!” shouted Chad, hurriedly recalling it so as not to become a felon in 
these parts, “Um, that was meant to be my way of saying ‘Who’s laughing now?’  
This Is Headache, and he’s not a bumbling fool anymore.”  
“Chad! That almost killed me!” I shouted.  
“Um, well at least he’s no longer a bumbling fool!” grinned Chad.  

Abby quietly knocked on the door of the room that Danielle and Lara were in.  
“Come in...” said Danielle softly.  
“Tetsubo’s talking with Chad, so, I thought I’d help comfort Lara, and offer an 
idea of mine...” said Abby.  
“Uh huh?” sniffed Lara.  
“If Dario’s into trickery that can’t be traced back to him, then why don’t we 
reply in kind?” offered Abby.  
“You mean, get his Dodrio sick, or set a trap on the course?” questioned 
Danielle.  
“Of course not.  Lara, you haven’t reported to Dario that your Rapidash is 
sick, have you?” asked Abby.  
“No, but surely he’d know ‘bout it since he arranged it.” replied Lara.  
“Good, I was thinking, if you can hide your Rapidash here, perhaps you could 
borrow Danielle’s.” explained Abby.  
“No no, bad idea.  Unicorn’s never got used to other people, that’s why I never 
showed Tetsubo, in case he wanted to ride it, I care about him too much for him 
to break something.” warned Danielle.  
“Hmmmm, then in that case, listen to this strategy...” said Abby...  

The next day, the stadium overlooking part of the racecourse was filled up, 
Lara sat in the front row of the audience.  
The racers, riding on a variety of different Pokémon lined themselves at the 
starting line, including Dario.  
He was close to the audience, and saw Lara, dressed in thick clothing and 
holding a white cloth to her face.  
“Uh, Lara, whut happened?”  
“Someone slipped somethin’ inta mah food, got me real sick...  -Achoo!-”  
She sniffed, and blew hard on the handkerchief, “Ah can’t enter the race...”  
“Fools!” thought Dario, “They poisoned the wrong one, but as long as Lara can’t 
race...”  
“Oh don’t worry, Ah managed ta find a racer ta represent me that Rapidash 
likes, so we can still have a fair race.” said Lara cheerfully.  
Dario turned to the right side of the line, and Danielle rode in, on her very 
own Rapidash, and gave Dario an innocent grin and wave, he turned away and 
clenched his teeth and fists.  
“Good luck Dario, you’re gonna need it.” smiled Lara.  
“Grrrr, Ah thought that Pikachu Trainer wus the only one that could also ride 
Rapidash!...” growled Dario.  
Danielle wasn’t the only one joining in, there would probably be traps, and so, 
Chad, Abby and I decided to join in, it wasn’t likely we’d win, but we could 
keep an eye out for traps while Danielle won the race, since she had a 
Rapidash, it was a safe bet to say she knew how to ride one.  
I rode up on Shockwave, Abby on her Rhyhorn and Chad was on his new Tauros, 
although it didn’t look like it’d remain that way for long.  
“Racers, get ready...  Set...  Go!”  
The racing Pokémon shot off, leaving a huge cloud of dust, and one particular 
rider.  
“Come on Heifer! Go! Go! G-Agh!”  
The Tauros jumped and bucked up, and Chad fell to the floor, it then ran off in 
the opposite direction before Chad drew the Pokéball to recall the rampaging 
Tauros.  
“Hello Sir, mind giving us your name?” said a staff member of the stadium.  
“Why?...  I just fell off my Tauros, which is a new Pokémon by the way.” 
pointed out Chad.  
“No, we just wanted to record your name into our record book, for the racer 
who’s fallen off his Pokémon in the quickest time.”  
“Aw man...” Chad complained.  

Meanwhile, the other racers charged down the straight path, speed and 
cautiousness was all that mattered, speed to get ahead, and caution to stay 
clear of other Pokémon, you wouldn’t believe how many racers were said to have 
fallen off right at the start, and speaking of which.  
“NIDO!!!”  
Something had hit a Nidoking in the face, possibly a stone kicked back by 
another racer.  
From what I’d seen, Nidokings could be angered very easily, I just hoped that 
mine wouldn’t turn out that way, I’d trained mine a lot without resorting to 
the Moon Stone, and although I’d used it recently to save it, my Nidoking had 
learned all the available Nidorino-Stage attacks and hopefully would have 
retained its loyalty and respect.  
The racer was then flung into another, riding an Arcanine, taking him out of 
the race, and the Nidoking got into a fight with a Raticate.  
My Pokémon generally didn’t act that way unless instructed to, and with all 
this chaos, provided Abby, Danielle and I steered clear of the other racers, 
the only one that could prove to be a threat, was Dario.  

Soon after the racers had left the straights, Cassie rose up from behind a rock 
and spoke into a phone, “Red Falcon to Violet Hawk, I’ve taken out three 
racers.”  
“Take the Ark K9 Unit to the first downward hill, and commence with Operation 
Burial.” replied Claus...  

The next obstacle was a large upward hill, Danielle and Dario seemed okay with 
their Pokémon, but Abby and I started to fall back a little.  
“Buzz...  Buzz...  Buzz...” panted Shockwave.  
“Just a little further, and then its a fun run down.” I smiled.  
Just then, I heard a rumbling, followed by a racer’s cries, as his (strangely 
chosen for the race) Electrode spun out of control, and bounced down the hill.  
“Shockwave! Duck!”  
I could just about feel how close the Electrode came to hitting us, instead, it 
flew over us, along with its racer, and crashed into a few other racers behind 
us before exploding, and taking out several Pokémon.  
Me and my friends reached the top, and then it was a quick dash down, and 
Danielle seemed to have the upper hand, the steep terrain and her able Rapidash 
gaining a little distance over Dario.  
If he won through skill and speed, I wouldn’t hold it against him, but if he 
tried anything underhanded or unfair...  
My trail of thought was interrupted, as another rumbling occurred, it was 
because rocks were crashing down and rolling down the hill.  
Another racer, a midget in fact, riding on a Wartortle using its shell to slide 
down quickly, was knocked aside by the boulders.  
“Shockwave.  Mega Punch.”  
“Armour, Horn Drill.”  
While Armour turned around, the slope caused it to move onward, he slammed his 
spinning horn into a rock, breaking it into little pieces, and without 
stopping, Shockwave looked back at the boulder behind us, and punched it at the 
last moment, knocking it upwards, and out of the track range.  

“Red Falcon to Violet Hawk, more racers are down, but the turquoise kid and the 
two girls are still in the running.” explained Cassie.  
“Well hurry to the lake and stop them with the submarine torpedoes! If our man 
loses, so do we.” ordered Claus from the other end of the phone.  
“I’ll be there in a-  Yipes!!!”  
The boulder crashed down and the tremor catapulted Cassie down a small chasm 
where she ended up unconscious.  

The next leg of the track was a long lake, with stepping stones to get across, 
Dario went first on his Dodrio, then Danielle, a man with a large hat on a 
Scyther, a red head girl on a Sandslash, and a tough looking guy on a 
Hitmonlee.  
Armour and Abby stepped onto a stone, but before it could leap over to the 
next, the stone sank, and Armour was heavily damaged, Abby crawled out and 
recalled it, before giving me a pleasant nod as I passed by, she’d done her 
best and helped out as much as she could, but I was Danielle’s only guardian 
now.  
Shockwave swiftly leapt across the stones, actually catching up to the others 
through his precision and speed.  

We’d soon completed half the course, and were one step away from the final run, 
there was another downward slope, but it led down to trays of Pokémon food of 
different kinds.  
After all the running, the Pokémon really needed a rest stop before the long 
road to the finish.  
Danielle and her Rapidash slid down and it started to eat, as did other racers, 
while Dodrio’s three heads started to fight over who ate first.  
“Naw! Ah thought we’d sorted this problem out! There’s enough fer everyone!...  
Violet Hawk! Ah need yer help now!”  
“What?” I questioned, looking around while Shockwave stuffed his face.  
A dark smoke covered the field, along with all the TV cameras, and it was 
fairly obvious why and who it was.  
“Muk Uk Uk.” chuckled Chemical, stretching its arms out to grab the Sandslash 
and Hitmonlee, and poison them into unconsciousness, Claus then showed his 
face.  
“I should have known those accidents weren’t... accidental.” I commented.  
I thought I had heard a scream back at the first hill, it must have been Cassie 
when Shockwave sent the boulder flying.  
“Too little, too late Turquoise, we’re here to ensure that a certain individual 
wins this race, if we do, then Elite Rocket shall be rewarded immensely.”  
“And that would be Dario.” I questioned.  
“Or mahself.” added the Scyther rider, removing his hat:  Cletus, “Hyuk Hyuk, 
Ah thought yuh would have figured it out bah now, Dario hired us ta make sure 
he won dis year, he once hired dose idiots Jessie an’ James, an’ dey failed 
utterly, ‘cept dis time Ah’m here ta offer a helpin’ hand directly in da 
race!”  
“So, you must not be very popular in your group if you’ve got to do dirty work 
like this.” I commented.  
“I’d normally be insulted, except I’m rather proud today, we’ve given ourselves 
a fool proof plan, we’ll be rich, and we’ll deliver the Boss some fast Pokémon, 
you and Dread-Head should prepare for an injury that’ll put you out of the 
race!” explained Claus.  
“No! Not him! He can’t beat mah Dodrio in a race! Take care o’ the Rapidash!” 
shouted Dario.  
“Danielle! Get going! I’ll stay here and hold them off!” I called.  
“But-”  
“Go!”  
“... Okay.”  
With that, she and Unicorn charged forward, Shockwave fired a Thunderbolt to 
blast Claus’s Muk, and forced it to drop the racing Pokémon, but before I could 
do the same for Cletus’s Scyther, it had begun to charge forward.  
“That’s it, as long as Cletus wins, so do Ah.” chuckled Dario.  
“Sorry Kid, that’s no longer the case.” coughed Claus, “Cletus pulled some 
strings, and forced your father to open the bet to his family.”  
“He whut?! But... that’s not fair!” spluttered Dario.  
“You hired Team Rocket twice to do the dirty on your opponents, and you expect 
them to be fair?” I questioned.  
“Yeah, Ah hired them ta mess up the racers, but not me!”  
“Too late, once Cletus wins, we’ll sell the ranch to the highest bidder, and 
leave filthy rich.  Who knows, there might be a few heartless bidders that 
could make your family homeless and turn the land into a wasteland full of 
factories.”  
“Its not gonna happen! Yuh underestimated mah Dodrio, he’s faster than any 
Scyther!” shouted a raging Dario.  
“Let’s see it after it tangles with my Pokémon.” smiled Claus, drawing another 
Pokéball, before a second bolt climbed the mountain wall and nearly hit him.  
“Get going Dario! I’ll hold him off!”  
“Why are yuh helpin’ me?”  
“Even if you are a cheat, the ranch would be in better hands with your family 
than with the Rockets.”  
“... Okay, Ah’ll do mah best ta stop ‘em!”  
“Its doubtful he’ll catch up or outsmart the Rockets now, its all up to you now 
Danielle...” I muttered, before turning to Claus to finish the job...  

“I don’t believe how easy this was, huh Unicorn?” smiled Danielle.  
“Neeiigghh!!!” she yelled out, trampling along quickly.  
“Git back here Dread-Head!” yelled Cletus, fast approaching on Cutter, who 
scraped its blades together as it ran.  
“These Aren’t dread-locks!” she shouted back, “I just have a thing for pig and 
pony-tails.”  
“Yuh’d better slow down, or Ah’ll see ta it dat yuh lose more dan dis race, 
maybe an arm, a leg, maybe even yer head!”  
“Oh no.  Ohno, ohno, ohno, ohno, ohno, ohno, ohno...” panicked Danielle, 
pressing her head and tightly hugging her Rapidash in fear.  
“Git back here! The race is mine!” screamed Dario, surprisingly catching up 
after falling so far behind.  
“Y’all ain’t gonna stop me!” grinned Cletus.  
“Yes Ah am, or have yuh forgotten that Flyin’-types have the advantage over 
Bug-types.  Dodrio! Drill Peck!”  
“Cutter! Double Team, an’ Slash!”  
The Dodrio watched as the Scyther split into five, and dived forward, beaks 
spinning.  
Probability and situation were against it, as it dived through the illusionary 
middle one, and started to stumble.  
“Yeehaw!!!” shouted Cletus, turning his Pokémon around to perform a Slash 
attack.  
Dario didn’t stand a chance, as the four Scythers surrounded his Pokémon and 
slashed down, the real one being the only one to contact it, but that being 
enough for his Pokémon to tumble and put him out of the race.  
“Hold on Dread-Head, Ah’ve got plenty o’ dese left fer yuh an’ yer stallion.”  
With a quick Agility technique, the Scyther flew forward, and matched the speed 
of Danielle and her Rapidash.  
“Ah thought we dealt wit’ dat Rapidash, oh well, at least Ah get ta have some 
more fun.”  
“Scyther!!!”  
“Unicorn!!!” screamed Danielle.  
“Neeeiiiggghhh!!!”  
As the Scyther jumped into the air to swing its twin blades down, the Rapidash 
burst into flames, while causing no harm to itself, or Danielle.  
Cletus gulped, “Looks like Ah’m in the line o’ fire...”  

The Scyther and Cletus were blasted into the air, spinning uncontrollably, 
Claus and his Muk ended up in the same way, somehow reaching Cletus.  
“Let me guess, you were fired up.  Idiot.” commented Claus.  
“Don’t insult me, y’all failed too an’, hey, Ah can see mah house from here, 
too bad Ah’ll never be welcome there again...”  
“Hey! Don’t blast off without me!” shouted Cassie from down below, trying hard 
to catch up on foot...  

Without any racers left, it was a clear run to the end, yet, Danielle didn’t 
open her eyes, unaware that she was safe, her Rapidash didn’t need specific 
orders, it knew which way to run.  
It was a photo finish, without the typical second opponent losing by a nose, 
and a roar of cheers filled the arena...  

Shortly after, the victory was awarded to Lara, and ‘her Rapidash’, so that the 
ranch would remain in safe hands.  
“Oh Tetsubo, I was so scared.” cried Danielle, burying her face in my chest, 
“They were so close to getting me.”  
“Danielle, its okay, really, your Rapidash took care of things, as did your 
other Pokémon the day we met, they really look out for you.”  
“But there was so much pressure riding on me, no pun intended.”  
“Actually, Dario an’ the mysterious Scyther Trainer were disqualified.” smiled 
Lara, “Its against the rules ta attack an opponent, but not ta defend yerself, 
Dario might have been able ta get any wit’ his dirty tricks in the past, but he 
wus caught red handed after the Sandslash an’ Hitmonlee riders reported his 
involvement wit’ the Rockets, yuh had nothin’ ta worry about Danielle, apart 
from stayin’ on yer Pokémon.”  
“Thanks...”  
“You the bomb, gal.” congratulated Chad, while I used the opportunity to sneak 
away with Abby, I’d already had a secret goodbye talk with him, and it was best 
to leave Danielle among friends rather than take her on a dangerous journey, 
okay, the third reason was because she had a ridiculous crush on me, but I 
could hardly be blamed for that.  

End of Chapter 37B  

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