Chapter 39:  Wild Times (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

I simply stared at Emily, totally unsure of what to say.  
“... I knew you would come here, and... I really wanted to see you again...” 
she explained slowly and nervously.  
“Tetsubo?” asked Abby, stepping in, I saw the disbelief on Emily’s face, and on 
Abby’s.  
“What is She doing here?” they both questioned me.  
“Uh...  Abby, could you give me a minute?” I asked, and then hastily grabbed 
Emily’s arm and took her into Blossom’s private office.  

“Emily, what’s going on? What Are you doing here?” I asked angrily.  
“I thought you’d be happy to see me...” said a slightly downed Emily.  
“Yeah, I would have been, had you not run away from me and left me worried for 
all these months.” I said, turning away and crossing my arms in a serious 
fashion.  
“I’m sure you didn’t stay worried for too long...  So, Abby, huh? Strange 
choice for a girlfriend.”  
“Hey! Abby’s changed, and we are not going out!” I spluttered, turning 
immediately to face Emily.  
“Okay, okay.  Sorry, I just thought-”  
“You thought wrong.” I grumbled.  
“So, you’re still single.” Emily said with a slight impish grin.  
“No Emily, you can’t do this, you can’t just come waltzing back into my life 
like this and expect us to continue from where we left off, you took out all 
your frustration on me and dumped me, it really affected me.  After a while I 
couldn’t live on false hope and so I’ve been trying to get along without you.” 
I explained in a serious and annoyed tone.  
“In case you’ve forgotten, I wasn’t in the best of moods that day for a valid 
reason, you really hurt me too, I know you never meant to, but I thought we 
could trust each other with our secrets...” argued Emily softly.  
“Emily...  I’m sorry, I have no right to shout at you after what I did...” I 
apologised.  
“And I shouldn’t have run away from you, our friendship means a lot to me, and 
friends overcome problems like this.” added Emily.  
“You mean...”  
“Yes Tetsubo, I forgive you.”  
“Thank you Emily, I... forgive you too.”  
“So... you really don’t want to get back together?...” questioned Emily.  
“Emily, I’m sorry, I like you a lot and all, but my feelings are all over the 
place, its bad enough how we were on and off, but I recently gave up hope in 
seeing you again...  It wouldn’t work out if we jumped into things, I don’t 
think I can...”  
“I understand...” sighed Emily, “But do you think there’s enough room on your 
party for me?”  
“You mean...”  
“Yes Tetsubo, I’d very much like to travel with you again.”  
“Emily, I’m okay with that totally, but Abby...  She’s my friend now, you have 
to treat her with respect from now on.” I ordered softly.  
“She’s your friend?...  Okay...  Anything else I should know?” asked Emily, 
hiding her annoyance.  
“Yes, don’t go asking her questions, she says very little to those she doesn’t 
trust.” I explained firmly.  
“Tetsubo...  I know I can’t change what happened, but I hope that one day, 
you’ll trust me enough, to love me again...”  
She walked out of the room before I could respond, but it was for the best, my 
feelings were all mixed up, I couldn’t hate Emily, but I couldn’t totally love 
her like before either, perhaps my feelings would become clear given time.  

“There’s also someone else here to see you.” said Blossom, hastily walking out 
a different door, and into her large garden, not as big as Oak’s place, but big 
none-the-less.  

“So, who did you want me to meet?” I asked.  
“He’s been waiting specifically for you, and I suppose you two are rivals, 
seeing as you both received a Pokémon from me, and I think he knows just about 
as much as you do.”  
My eyes widened as I saw a group of Pokémon around the corner, a Machoke, 
Poliwhirl, Weepinbell and Growlithe.  
Bryan’s Pokémon?! My rival, who got a Pokémon from Blossom...  
It all added up.  
I gasped, and released three Pokémon of my own.  
“Star!”  
“Pidgeot!”  
“Gen-Gar!!!”  
“Tetsubo!” shouted Blossom alarmed.  
“What the?! Go Overload!”  
The large sphere Pokémon appeared and immediately started glowing, I wouldn’t 
let Bryan get the better of me, and recalled all of my Pokémon as it exploded, 
damaging all of the surrounding Pokémon.  
After the Electrode was blackened and damaged, I unleashed Twinkill.  
“Overload! I told you not to do that!...  I thought we were making progress.” 
groaned a lighter voice, one I remembered vaguely, and then He stepped out, the 
trainer in red from Saffron City.  
I didn’t know what to say in response for the moment, so I used the Pokédex to 
break the horrible silence.  

“Electrode, the Ball Pokémon.  It stores enormous amounts of electricity inside 
its body and explodes with little or no provocation.”  

After scanning his Pokémon, I decided to approach him.  
“I’m... really sorry, its just... those four Pokémon are some of the Pokémon 
that a certain guy uses, someone that’s really got to me, I thought you might 
have been him.” I apologised.  
“Hey, turquoise hair guy.” he replied, surprisingly cheerful, “So You’re the 
elusive Tetsubo Capture, I can’t believe its you who’s going to be my rival.”  
“Rival?...” I inquired.  
“Yes, Pokémon Trainers serving under the same sponsor generally become rivals, 
its a popular tradition.” explained Blossom, “I don’t understand why you 
attacked him, but...  Tetsubo, I’d like to introduce you to Ricky Zane, my 
other sponsored trainer.”  
“Please, call me Rick’, everyone else does.” grinned the young man, offering 
his hand to shake mine, “So who’s this guy you hate so much, can’t be me 
surely.”  
“No its not you, just a creep working for the Rockets, even though you ran off 
before I could thank you in Saffron City, I’m still a little annoyed at that.” 
I said pleasantly.  
“Couldn’t.  Too much publicity, and the same went for Blossom telling you about 
me.  I couldn’t let people know who I was, or the Rockets would come after me.” 
replied Rick.  
“Dude, you’re looking at their number one fan.” I added.  
“Well, in that case, I’m their second’, but now that I have a powerful team of 
Pokémon, I can take on any Rocket, without assistance.  I just thought I’d drop 
by, say hello to you, and be on my merry way.”  
I couldn’t hate him, he was too cheery and pleasant to be annoyed at, and it’d 
be fun to have a friendly face to battle on occasion.  
A phone could be heard from within the house, so Blossom ran inside to answer 
it.  
“Hmmmm, I guess I’ll take my Golem, Dodrio, Mr Mime, Muk, Pinsir and Serena, 
since the others are gonna need time to heal.” pondered Rick out loud.  
“That’s quite a team you got there, you know all your types?” I asked 
politely.  
“Of course, my mother taught me everything I know, she won the Pokémon League 
some time back.” said Rick proudly.  
“Jynx...” said the Jynx sadly, presumably the one called Serena, I’d seen her 
with Rick before, and she looked like she was some sort of guardian to him.  
“Well, it’d be great to have a friendly battle sometime.” I offered.  
“Why not have one right now?” grinned Rick.  
“Don’t you have places to be?” I asked.  
“Nah, I’m just looking to get training, and this counts as training.  How 
about you? You must have eight Gym Badges by now.” presumed Rick.  
“I wish, if the Fuchsia Gym Leader had only been qualified, I would.” I 
sighed.  
“I could have told you that myself.  So are we gonna battle or are we gonna 
talk?”  
As I drew a Pokéball, Blossom came running back out, “Its an emergency, at the 
Safari Zone, Mr Slowpoke needs help urgently.”  
“Great Uncle...” I said out loud.  
Rick saw my concern and smiled confidently, “Family, huh? I’m game, just let me 
switch my Pokémon before we go...”  

Shortly after, myself, Abby, Emily, Rick and even Blossom stormed into the 
entrance of the Safari Zone.  
“Great Uncle Slowpoke.” I smiled, but it faded quickly as he had a stern look 
on his face.  
He had short grey hair and a blue cap with the symbol of a Safari Zone warden.  
“Hi Tetsubo, I wish we had the time to talk, and Professor, I’m glad you’re 
here, its going on in Area 3, I’ll escort you there.”  
“Hey, just a moment you two.” said a man at the front desk.  
“You mean us?” questioned Abby and I.  
“Yeah, haven’t you been here before? I remember you won the secret stash in the 
hut, and I remember someone similar to you little girl, are you the girl who 
went into the Safari Zone, but didn’t come out? Well, not through the exit 
anyway.”  
“I’m afraid not, I’ve never been here before.” said Abby nervously.  
I stared suspiciously, noticing Abby’s anxiety.  

“So Tetsubo, you made good on that promise.” said Emily as the group climbed 
and navigated through the jungle trees and hills.  
“What promise?” I asked, bewildered.  
“You once promised to bring me back here, you know? At the Mount Moon Pokémon 
Centre?”  
“Oh, That.  Well, these are different circumstances than the ones I’d have 
liked to take you.” I explained.  
“It was right before you met Bianca...” added Emily to her last speech.  
“Speaking of which, I have a confession, I met up with those guys.” I 
admitted.  
“You... did?...” she asked worryingly.  
“Yeah, they started saying things about you.” I explained, “I tried to defend 
your name, but I didn’t really get through to them, I battled Rita but our 
match was interrupted by an Aerodactyl, and-  Maybe I should slow down and 
explain in more detail so-”  
“Don’t.  I don’t want to hear of them, you’re the only person I’m willing to 
forgive, hearing of those fools isn’t what I need right now, but, thanks... for 
caring...” said Emily sadly.  
Before I could answer her, I was interrupted by Rick, “I see smoke, head for 
that hill and we can see exactly what we’re up against.”  
As we did, Abby fell behind, she started to speed up, but the edge of the hill 
came sooner than expected, and she slipped and fell.  
Rick caught one of her hands, and needed the other to retain a firm grip, 
except Abby looked down, and froze up totally.  
I ran ahead and grabbed Abby’s other arm, and together, Rick and I pulled her 
up, only, Abby wasn’t making any effort, she was... frozen.  
“Abby.  Abby, what’s wrong?!” I shouted.  
“Give the girl some air.” said Blossom, supporting her head until she 
recovered.  
“He was right...” said Abby shaking, “I Was here...”  
“Here?” questioned Emily, “But you said you’d never been here...  Quite a 
lot.”  
“Emily, don’t accuse her of lying, maybe she just... forgot?...” I offered.  
Blossom was staring at the cliff, before she turned and spoke, “I recognise 
this place, it was on the news.  One day after Tetsubo had collected his first 
Pokémon from me, I saw footage from the Safari Zone cameras on television, a 
wild Pokémon attacked a poor girl here, but by the time the doctors came, she 
had disappeared.  And the cameras weren’t any help in finding out where she 
went because something caused them to malfunction.  I believe she ended up in a 
hospital far from here, if I’m thinking of the same person...”  
Abby and everyone else were waiting with baited breath for her to finish.  
“... I was around the hospital that day, advising doctors on curing a patient 
that had been poisoned by an Ekans.  I saw a girl that had the same injuries as 
described in the Safari Zone incident.  Doctors said the damage to her head was 
too severe, that she’d never recover, and then another strange thing happened 
soon after, the girl disappeared again...”  
“Uh huh, and?” questioned Rick.  
“Come to think of it, that was the same day I was in the Safari Zone, and I saw 
you here Abby, but you were different, you didn’t have that scar across your 
eye, and you were a totally different person, you chucked a Safari Ball in my 
face, and then ran.  I thought at first that you had a twin sister, but it 
seems that’s not the case.  Perhaps you lost your memory here or something?”  
“That’s just what I’m talking about Tetsubo.” added Blossom, “I didn’t 
recognise her at first, because its been a while and its scientifically 
incorrect, but Abby here... is the girl I saw in the hospital, and most likely 
the one who had an accident here, yet, she seems fine.”  
My eyes widened, “So we were right all along about her being here, Abby had 
just forgotten this, and luckily for her, forgotten about the incident.”  
“No, no, no...” she groaned, “Its not that simple, images of being hit by a 
large Pokémon are filling my head, images of pain, and fear, and falling, and 
the impact...”  
“Its your memories...” I explained.  
“Maybe this is what caused you to change into the person you are today.” added 
Emily, “A bitter, cold-hearted, withdrawn little-”  
“Emily!” I interrupted.  
“Sorry.”  
“But... its not enough...  I need to know more, the Pokémon that hit me, how I 
survived...  Who my parents are...”  
She froze up again, but out of surprise that she’d revealed this, she sighed, 
and continued, “I only remember waking up near the Viridian Forest with four 
Pokémon, its where I started out on this journey.”  
“Abby...  Why didn’t you tell me this, I could have helped you.” I offered.  
“No Tetsubo, you couldn’t do anything to help me, that’s why I didn’t let you 
know, besides, a psychic told me that you would show me the way, and I think 
she was right...”  
At last, a few explanations had been cleared up, but some were still to be 
explained.  
Abby had been the one I saw from Day... 2, (of my journey), but some horrible 
heartless Pokémon had hurt her, she’d somehow been taken to the hospital, yet, 
she ended up at the Viridian Forest, alive, but without her memories.  
No wonder she acted so strange and withdrawn, not knowing who you were, it must 
have been terrible for her...  

End of Chapter 39A  

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Chapter 39B
Back to Story List #21 - #40
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