Chapter 40:  Unexpected Alliance (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

After our adventure in the Safari Zone, Emily, Abby and I had taken a rest 
shortly after our leaving Rick, and now, we were walking carefree towards the 
Fuchsia Port that would take us to Cinnabar Island.  
Since this would end my journey and put me on three to four months of Trainer’s 
Leave, we weren’t in a rush, we’d probably have to wait for a boat either way, 
so there was no point in tiring ourselves out.  
I walked along the southward road deep in thought, troubling thoughts.  
When I say I, I mean it, Emily and Abby followed behind me giving strange looks 
towards each other.  
It was really hard to think of what to say, on one hand, Abby had been 
withdrawn since Emily’s return, that and the discoveries of her lost past, and 
we needed to talk about it, except Emily was acting as jealous as we had left 
off, even though we were far from together.  
And Emily, we had so much to talk about, what she had been through, and why she 
chose to come back now, except that would make Abby feel left out.  
I was trapped, and slowly realising that taking both Abby and Emily on at the 
same time might have been the biggest mistake of my life.  

“... Tetsubo.” spoke both girls at once.  
“No, you go first.” they said, again in unison.  
“Okay then.” smiled Emily cunningly, and strolled over to catch up with me, 
Abby seriously frowning in our direction.  
“So...  Seven badges, huh? Never thought I’d overtake you.” said Emily.  
“I’ve had problems...  Gym problems to be precise.” I stated.  
“Got overconfident, huh?” grinned Emily.  
“No, I just made some bad decisions.  Let’s not go into it, I’ll give myself 
two months to find a new Gym, if that doesn’t work, then I’ll backtrack to a 
Gym that you know will be open.  Check?” I briefed.  
“Check.” replied Emily.  
“I’ve come too far to fail.” I added, to no one in particular.  
“So, what happened while I was away?” asked Emily softly.  
“I let off some stream on the wrong people, and my Pokémon, but I got over it, 
a lot of my Pokémon evolved from time to time, we saw Chad and he’s doing fine 
on his own, it turns out that the guy from the power plant is a decent person, 
and Bryan showed up again, and-”  
“Maybe you should stop, he hurt me pretty bad, hurt us, I don’t want to know 
what he tried with Abby...” interrupted Emily sadly.  
“He didn’t succeed in anything, apart from another Pokémon Battle with me, but 
because Abby trusted me, we got away unharmed.” I explained.  
“That’s good.  I can’t say that my journey has been exciting, its been lonely.  
Most of the time I was fuming and complaining about you, the other half I was 
regretting and thinking about us.  I got my eight badges despite that, and some 
new Pokémon, and I evolved most of them and-  That’s it, I knew I forgot to ask 
you something.”  
“Um, yeah?...” I questioned.  
“Tetsubo, it was really nice how you gave me a Moon Stone back there, and I 
know this sounds selfish, but I kind of had to use my last Moon Stone, and I 
noticed you had two, and that you probably don’t have a Jigglypuff or Clefairy 
to use that one on and-”  
“I don’t, but Abby does.” I interrupted.  
“Oh shoot, I forgot, so I suppose you gave it to your new best friend...” 
sulked Emily.  
“Emily...” I muttered subtly, “I thought you were going to try and get along 
with her.  Besides, she doesn’t want to evolve her Pokémon.”  
“So that means you do have it.”  
“That’s not the only reason you came back is it?” I said with a strange grin.  
“How can you say that?!” exclaimed Emily.  
“Sorry, bad joke.” I apologised.  
“I see you still don’t have total faith in me after our separation, so I’ll 
battle you for it, right here, right now.  I’m sure you’ll want the battling 
experience.” said Emily decisively.  
“Emily, we don’t have to fight.  I’ll give you the Moon Stone if you really 
need it.” I offered.  
“But I want to.  You gave me a lot when we were travelling, and for me to walk 
back into your life and expect you to keep on giving is selfish.  I’ll feel 
better for it if I earn the Moon Stone, I had something to give to you, but I 
think your battling for it will justify my giving it away.”  
“If you insist Emily, but you’d better not underestimate me, I’ve come a long 
way since Celadon City.” I stated.  
“I didn’t just mope around after we split, I’ve been training extra hard too.” 
added Emily.  
“Tetsubo, what’s happening?” asked Abby curiously.  
“I’m going to battle Emily.” I said.  
“And here I thought you were getting along...” said Abby rolling her eyes.  
“Pokémon Battle Abby, a friendly match with prizes on the line.” I corrected.  
“I think I shall referee.” she replied, standing in the centre but not directly 
between Emily and I, “This shall be a best of three battles with no time 
limit.  Begin.”  
“Go!” we both shouted, I had no idea what Emily was offering should I win, but 
it had better not be like, a kiss, or something similar, I could still see she 
wanted to get back together, but I just wasn’t ready.  

“Nine!!!”  
“Buzz...”  
A Ninetales, Emily wasn’t kidding about getting some new Pokémon, luckily, I 
had started strong with Shockwave.  
“Shockwave! Use your Thunderbolt!”  
“Tails, Dig underground!”  
The Ninetales was really fast, and it was gone before the lightning blast could 
touch her.  
“Shockwave, use your Screech attack to bring it into the open.”  
“Bllleeehhh!!!” screamed Shockwave, the sound was painfully discomforting for 
us and hopefully for the Ninetales.  
It was, but it had dug underneath Shockwave and an eruption of earth flung him 
into the air.  
“Now use Fire Spin!”  
“Nine!”  
I didn’t even get to utter a command before the attack was initiated, a quick 
red tornado quickly grew into a hurricane that swept across the field and 
sucked Shockwave in, burning him constantly, before spitting him out.  
Unfortunately, the attack had left him with a lot of burn marks, and the ‘Burn’ 
status was surely going to take its toll.  
“Use your Quick Attack Tails!” ordered Emily.  
“Seismic Toss!” I shouted.  
Shockwave blocked the force of the Ninetales, but was in a position to lift it 
up, and leap into the air, spinning a lot, and then throwing Tails down.  
She could do nothing against her falling, but she managed to straighten herself 
out, and aim at my Electabuzz.  
“Flamethrower!”  
“Nine!”  
Shockwave disappeared in the long flame that blasted out of the Ninetales’s 
mouth, which continued to shoot out constantly, until something hit her and 
made her stop.  
Shockwave had pushed through the flames and performed a Quick Attack of his 
own.  
“Tails-”  
“Mega Punch!” I interrupted.  
Now Shockwave was the faster acting Pokémon, and with a swift and powerful 
punch, the Ninetales was flung into the air, and Shockwave took initiative and 
used Thunder, but stood underneath Tails’s position so that the lightning bolt 
struck her and caused a lot of damage.  
Emily’s Ninetales fell down hard, and was recalled.  
“You’ve really been training that Electabuzz, I didn’t think you could bond 
with it so well.” complemented Emily.  
“Thanks.” I replied, remembering how Emily hadn’t really got over her first 
encounter with Shockwave.  
“But as Abby decided, you’re going to have to recall it and show off your other 
Pokémon.” added Emily confidently.  
I did so, and drew out my Gloom’s Pokéball.  
“Go!”  
“Marowak!”  
“Gloom Gloom!”  

“Marowak, the Bonekeeper Pokémon.  The first Marowak was small and weak until 
it started using bones as weapons.  Since then, all Marowaks have become more 
and more aggressive.”  

“And I see another of your Pokémon have evolved.  It looks good.” I commented.  
“Graveyard’s more than just good you know, its one of my most reliable Pokémon 
for a reason.” replied Emily competitively.  
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have a type advantage.” I said 
confidently.  
“Well if you hadn’t noticed, I have one too.” replied Emily in kind.  
“Guys...” said Abby quietly, “You’re acting a little differently...”  
“Tetsubo, my starter Pokémon is a Gloom, I know how they operate, and I know 
their weaknesses.  Graveyard! Use your Bonemerang!”  
“Maro-Wak!!!” it shouted, hurling the large bone at Pollen.  
“Pollen, jump over it!” I shouted.  
It did, but in a spin, nothing to get it dizzy, it was just used to spinning 
when it leapt into a Petal Dance.  
“Now use Mega Drain to get the upper hand.”  
A whistling zapping sound occurred as a green burst of energy ripped out of the 
Marowak and floated towards Pollen.  
“Uh uh uh.  You should know better.” taunted Emily.  
“You what?” I questioned.  
“GLOOM!!!” squealed Pollen as the bone spun back towards it and sent it out of 
the range of the Mega Drain ball.  
“You’ve really grown as a trainer, but you’re still losing.” I smiled.  
“Don’t count your eggs before they’ve hatched, and speaking of eggs, your 
Gloom’s about to get cracked.” threatened Emily lightly, “Graveyard! Bone Club!”
The Marowak slammed its bone down on Pollen’s head, much in the way a person 
broke a hard boiled egg with a spoon, only much more violently.  
“We’ve got to take it up a level, use your Petal Dance and Solar Beam!” I 
ordered.  
“Can he do that?...” questioned Emily.  
“We’ll soon see.” I smiled.  
Pollen leapt up and created a tornado of leaves and grass around itself, and 
while directing it towards the Marowak, solar energy was being drawn into the 
top of the hurricane.  
“Pollen! Go for it!” I cheered.  
“Gloooooommm!!!” he squealed, and the beam was fired, but since he was spinning 
around uncontrollably, the beam became separated into small shots, and several 
of them were flying around the arena and making smaller explosions upon impact 
with the ground.  
“Graveyard, defend yourself, use Focus Energy, and then use Bonemerang again.” 
ordered Emily firmly.  
“Marowak, Maro...”  
First he started spinning his bone to deflect the weak solar shots, and once 
Pollen ran out of energy, he started charging the tornado at Graveyard, but the 
Marowak was powering up for a critical hit, and then the bone was thrown.  
Because of the strong winds, the bone was pulled into the cyclone, but kept on 
spinning, and Pollen was not only hit by the initial two passing hits, but a 
lot more, because he was the source of what pulled things into the whirlwind.  
The cyclone exploded and the leaves fell down naturally, while my Gloom fell 
down, beaten excessively, and utterly confused.  
“Never mind Pollen, you did your best.” I sighed.  
“Nice one Graveyard!” shouted Emily, happily hugging her Marowak, she saw me 
looking at her and gave me a snide grin before returning her Pokémon.  
“Bet you’re surprised at how much better I’ve got.” smiled Emily.  
“Maybe so, but don’t think the last battle will be so simple.  I’m throwing in 
the meanest Pokémon I have.” I shouted.  
We threw our Pokéballs down hard, and the Pokémon appeared.  
“Wigglytuff!”  
“So that’s why she needs the Moon Stone.” I thought, “She probably evolved a 
Jigglypuff with the first one.”  
“Rooooaaarrr!!!” shouted out my Charizard.  
“Tetsubo, is this really necessary?” questioned Abby, “Inferno might take this 
so-called friendly fight too far.”  
“Sorry Abby, but I’ve got to show Emily how much I’ve progressed as a trainer.” 
I replied.  
“That’s not... Inferno, is it?” asked Emily nervously.  
“Uh huh.” I answered.  
“Have you tamed it yet?” questioned Emily.  
“Well...” I said, rolling my eyes to the side nervously.  
“Then I guess we win, Inferno never battled anyone that was below it, and I 
don’t think a fluffy pink bunny by the name of Harmony will win its battling 
interest, use your Strength!”  
“Wigglytuff!!!” shouted Harmony, ploughing her fists into the ground and 
pulling up a big chunk of earth as if it were a carpet, and quickly throwing it 
soon after.  
It smacked down on Inferno hard and crumbled, and he glared ferociously at her, 
before blasting her with a Flamethrower attack, and then lying down.  
“I knew it, Charizards are really hard to train, and yours evolved from a 
Charmander that was difficult from the start! Harmony, use Rest, we can take 
this fire dragon.” stated Emily confidently.  
“Guys...  What’s up with you two?...” asked Abby with great concern, “A moment 
ago you were talking to each other pleasantly, and now you’re acting as if you 
hate each other.  Why?...” 
Emily and I stopped dead, and thought long and hard about this, what had 
started as a friendly match had turned into a contest to prove who was better.  
“She’s right.” I said firmly, “Emily, we should stop, I don’t care if you want 
to call this a win or a draw, but this match is hardly worth falling out 
over.”  
“... Yes Tetsubo, you’re right...” agreed Emily, “I guess I got caught up in 
trying to show you that I’ve grown as a trainer without your help.”  
“And that I’ve grown without needing you around me...  I’m sorry if I hurt you 
with anything I said.” I added.  

We recalled the Pokémon and gave each other a handshake.  
“The battling experience was good, but let’s not battle like this unless we 
have to.  I really don’t need the Moon Stone, its yours.” I said.  
“And you deserve something for your generosity, give me your Pokédex.” Emily 
told me.  
I gave both to Emily, who attached my Pokédex to her own, “I’m sorry I cut you 
off, but I was just so angry at the time, I realise I’ll be taking some entries 
from you, but I know the one I have will make the trade complete.”  
Emily had reinstalled our Pokédex link, and when I checked my Pokédex 
afterwards, there was 1 new entry to read.  

“Articuno, the Freeze Pokémon.  A legendary bird Pokémon that can cause 
powerful snowstorms.  It remains dormant in cold mountain caves and doesn’t 
like to be disturbed until the right time of year, usually in winter.”  

“Now that’s more like the Articuno I ran into, I didn’t realise that different 
Pokédex sometimes say different things about certain Pokémon.” said Emily, 
while I was flabbergast.  
“You saw the legendary Articuno?!” I spluttered, “You Have been around.”  
“Its a very interesting story actually, wanna hear it?” offered Emily.  
“Sure.” I said immediately.  
And then, the three of us left, chatting away as if our battle hadn’t occurred, 
the battle turned out to be a little personal, which in some people’s opinions, 
may have gone against the rules of Pokémon Battles.  
And so Emily and I would probably never battle like this again, unless the 
Pokémon League forced us to, but I could see that Emily had progressed as a 
trainer, and if I ever did lose to her, I’d have nothing to be ashamed about, 
I’d be proud of her.  

End of Chapter 40A  

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