Chapter 41:  Royal Flush (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

I returned to the Pokémon Centre to find Emily and Abby in different areas, it 
would probably be best to leave Emily alone for now, she seemed to blame me for 
Needle’s turning out the way he did, but it was hardly my fault.  
Needle would be history if I hadn’t given it the opportunity to evolve.  
Instead I chose to sit with Abby (and Trap), she didn’t have it in for me as 
much.  
“Where’s Needle?” she asked.  
“Outside.  Its understandable that he’d be just a little upset over all this, 
he gave me the impression that he was going to train, but I know better.  We 
really have to resolve this before we move on...”  

“Rina...”  
“I’m sorry Poisoness, this wasn’t how it was supposed to be...” spoke Emily 
glumly.  
“Poli...” said Whirlpool, trying to comfort its new ally.  
“Rina.” said Poisoness with something else on her mind.  
“Poisoness?...  What are you-  Don’t do that!”  
Pretty much every trainer and Pokémon turned towards Emily, and she gave a shy 
nervous grin in return, while snatching her bag from Poisoness.  
“I can’t let you evolve, not after seeing what Needle’s become.  Evolving won’t 
make this problem go away, I’m sorry.”  

“... So, what are you going to do?...” questioned Abby.  
“Let him reflect on how he’s acted, and in the morning, I’ll have another talk 
with him.  Maybe even straighten this out.” I suggested.  
“Do you think there’s a chance of getting those two Pokémon together?”  
“I think its just because Poisoness is down a stage in the evolution process, 
we just have to let Emily see that Needle became what’s he’s like on his own, 
not solely because of its evolution.”  
“Bell...” spoke Trap, it was strange to see the new Pokémon taking so much of 
in interest in our lives, almost as if they were our Pokémon now.  

“Rina?...”  
Little did I realise at the time, that Poisoness was eavesdropping and forming 
a plan in her mind, but Emily had overheard too.  
“Return.” she said quietly.  
“Rina?” questioned Poisoness.  
“I said Return.” Emily snapped, pulling out the Pokéball, shooting the recall 
laser at the Nidorina, and drawing her back into the ball, afterwards, she took 
one final look at Abby and I, before departing to bed.  

“I think she’s mad at you.” said Abby snidely.  
“Shut it Abby...” I replied in a tiresome tone.  

Late that night, while everyone was asleep, a certain Pokémon had quietly 
released herself from her Pokéball, and crept through the Pokémon Centre.  
Even though I had stayed up in the room with the front desk to ponder a few 
things, and fell asleep while doing so.  
And so, the Poison Pokémon snuck by me, dragging a ladies’ handbag behind her.  

Outside in the park, Needle was still staring into nothingness, deep in 
thought, when a familiar voice spoke out to him.  
“Nido, Nidorina!”  
“Nido...” he answered, turning around to face his old flame.  
“Nido, Nidorina!”  
At this point, the conversation will be pretty useless to you if we continue 
like this, so I’ll translate for once.  
“Am I not good enough for you anymore?” questioned Poisoness, “Just because you 
evolved means the end of our love?...”  
Needle looked sad, but didn’t turn away from Poisoness, he just didn’t know 
what to say in response, but he wasn’t rejecting her having truly thought about 
everything.  
“I have a Moon Stone, I can be like you, but will it be worth it? Will you take 
me back if I evolve?” she asked her former lover.  
“You’d really evolve for me? After everything your trainer said?...” questioned 
Needle.  
“So it Is a problem with my stage.  Well I’ve learned all my attacks, so other 
than your violent ways that put my trainer off evolving me, there’s no reason 
for me not to.” explained Poisoness.  
“I don’t deserve you, I’ve changed since we were torn apart, outgrown you, and 
become a different Pokémon on the inside as well as the outside.  Just leave me 
and find someone better.” suggested Needle.  
“I can’t do that...  You’re the one I want.  You may have forgotten about what 
we’ve been through, but the memories are still burnt into my brain as if it 
happened yesterday.  Don’t you remember how we met?” questioned Poisoness.  
“I... remember...  We were Nidorans, our respective parents lived in the same 
cave, until a monstrous Pokémon and a group of evil men came and captured many 
of our kind.” stated Needle.  
“Uh huh.” continued Poisoness, “We were the only two that escaped, and we 
travelled far and wide, until we made a home for ourselves near Viridian City.  
You promised me that you’d always look out for me, and I promised the same, 
that I’d take care of you.”  
“But I failed to do so, when your and my trainer found us and engaged in a 
Pokémon Battle, we battled hard, but I was unable to protect you from being 
captured, and then I was outnumbered and caught as well.” finished Needle.  
“But we were lucky, the trainers turned out to be inseparable friends, sort 
of.  
At least until months down the line.  During that time we were usually called 
to fight side by side, and our trainers realised we were in love and let us 
spend plenty of time together.” added Poisoness.  
“But when we were separated, I accepted it and tried to move on, I thought my 
trainer wouldn’t make up for what he had done, but I saw how sorry he was and 
forgave him, and fought by his side until an Aerodactyl nearly ended my life.  
I had to evolve, I didn’t choose to, but it seems the evolution process changed 
me, enhanced my fighting spirit.” explained Needle.  
“Its okay to be that way, most Pokémon are...  I didn’t handle things too well 
after you were taken away, I couldn’t battle until my trainer promised me that 
she’d find you and bring us together, I was so happy after that, and I’ve 
battled very hard, but I never thought you’d evolve without me, seeing as we 
did so once together.” replied Poisoness.  
“...”  
“So can’t you see, I don’t want to be away from you anymore, I’ll do anything 
if it means I’ll get you back.” pleaded Poisoness.  
“I’m sorry, but-”  
The two Pokémon were interrupted as a giant blue robot in the shape of a certain 
Pokémon quickly extended a round metal shackle and snapped it shut around 
Needle.  
“Got him, stupid kid, leaving his Pokémon out in the open like that.” grinned 
Willy Screwloose.  
“Should we go after the big guy’s Pokémon while we’re here?” asked his brother 
Billy.  
“Forget it, we’re not his underlings, and it’d be stupid to get into an 
unnecessary fight against Tetsubo after the amount of times he’s beaten us.” 
replied Willy.  
“Rina!” shouted Poisoness.  
“Aw nuts, there’s another one.” groaned Billy.  
“Its no match for this robot, and its kind of significant that we’re piloting a 
Nidoqueen robot.” grinned Willy.  
“Nidoking...” struggled Needle, but the shackle was clamped tight around him, 
he couldn’t break free.  
“Nidorina...” growled Poisoness.  
The brothers saw this and burst into laughter.  
“Ooh, better be careful of the little lass Pokémon, she might dent our 
machine.” joked Billy.  
“Uh huh, she might dent the fist with her face! Let’s destroy her, the Boss 
doesn’t need weak Pokémon like her.” added Willy.  
Poisoness secretly gave off a sly grin, and looked towards Emily’s bag, with 
the item she’d brought to prove her love to Needle, now it would be her secret 
weapon.  
If only she could have reached it, because the Screwloose Brothers retracted 
the left shackle and replaced it with a huge robotic hand, quickly slamming it 
down on Poisoness.  
She spun herself to the side and barely avoided the attack, but a cutting 
tremor followed and tore across the soft grassy floor and made it uneven, and 
in the process, throwing the bag to one side and spilling its contents.  
“Rina!” cried Poisoness in disbelief, she was far from the one thing that could 
save her and Needle.  
“What the? What’s she so upset about, cos its not the giant hand.” pondered 
Billy out loud.  
“The bag, something fell out...  Its a...  MOON STONE!” panicked Willy.  
“A what now?” questioned Billy.  
“You moron! Moon Stones evolve certain kinds of Pokémon, and she’s one of them! 
Grab it!” ordered Willy.  
“The stone or the Pokémon?” inquired Billy.  
“The stone! The stone!” screamed Willy.  
With that, the robot stomped forward, Poisoness could have made a run for the 
stone, but she would have risked being trampled, instead she lay shaken, while 
the hulking Nidoqueen reached the stone and held it up high in the spare hand.  
“No evolution for you Lassie!” laughed Billy, reaching for the controls that 
moved the fingers, but he was whipped by a convenient cane that stung his hand 
a lot.  
“Are you a total idiot?!” questioned Willy, “That’s a Moon Stone, its extremely 
rare and expensive, we can sell it and make better machines with the money!”  
“Rina.” nodded Poisoness from below, with the two hands occupied, she stood a 
better chance of going for the brothers.  
She opened her mouth wide and shot out a barrage of needles at the front screen 
that resembled a Nidoqueen’s eyes.  
But they bounced off harmlessly and cluttered to the floor.  
“Heh.” chuckled Willy, “We may not have much of a budget these days, but we can 
still afford to have a needle-proof screen.”  
“Uh huh.” continued Billy, “The only thing we couldn’t do was make the robot 
water-proof-”  
“BILLY!!!”  
“What?! She can’t understand me, Pokémon are stupid creatures!”  
Not this Nidorina, she peeped behind the hulking robot to see the lake that her 
allies had been swimming around in, but she’d not be able to use her 
opportunity without evolving.  
As she raced towards the robot, Emily, Abby, the runaway Pokémon and I were 
running towards the park.  

“Are you sure that Poisoness ran away?” I questioned.  
“Of course, her Pokéball’s missing and so’s my bag.” replied Emily.  
“Its no mystery where she’s gone.” stated Abby.  
“But the explosion that woke me up, it came from the park.” I added.  
“It did?...  Oh Poisoness...” groaned Emily.  
“I’m sure the Pokémon are okay, Needle can take care of anything...” I assured 
her.  
I stopped talking as I saw the size of the Nidoqueen-shaped robot, closely 
matching the size of the tall trees.  
“... Except maybe a giant robot four times his size...” I added.  
Emily gasped, “Poisoness!”  
She was scurrying up the robot’s body, from the legs, to the stomach, to the 
chest plate and close to the shoulders and arms, waving about her goal, but the 
robot wasn’t just letting her walk all over it (so to speak), many laser blasts 
were being fired, and Poisoness was barely managing to avoid them all.  
“Hah hah, you can’t have it!” teased Billy childishly as it made the hand 
holding the Moon Stone swing slightly to the sides as if it were playing 
keep-away.  
“Billy! Stop being such a fool, the goody-two-shoes are here!” shouted Willy.  
“Oh great, motto time...” he sighed.  

“We specialise in drugs, and the odd chemical test.”  
“Machinery, genesis, we’re the best.”  
“Stay out of our way, or you’ll be crushed.”  
“You can’t tell of us, you’ll soon be hushed.”  
“Billy.”  
“And Willy.”  
“We’re the Screwloose Brothers, the Team Rocket Scientists.”  
“Mess with us and feel our Pokémon’s fists.”  

During the whole speech, Poisoness had been crawling up the robot’s shoulder, 
lasers were firing and the left arm was swinging in a silly fashion, and then a 
creaking sound followed.  
“You idiot Billy! You’ve jammed the shoulder joint, we can’t attack with the 
hand anymore!...  Good thing I always supervise the construction of our 
robots...”  
Poisoness tried to seize her chance and had just reached the arm, but one of 
many lasers finally caught her and hit hard, causing her to fall weakly onto 
the shoulder of the robot.  
“No!” screamed Emily, reaching for a Pokéball.  
“Hold it right there!” shouted Billy, extending the right arm with Needle 
attached to it.  
“Draw a Pokémon and we’ll crush this one, we’re not bluffing, we don’t actually 
care for this one’s safety over our own.” threatened Willy.  
Billy pushed his glasses closer to his eyes as he looked out the glass screen 
and added “And don’t even think about using Bryan’s Pokémon, I can see them 
hiding behind you!”  
The two Pokémon sighed and stood by us, not making a move, they understood how 
much danger Needle was in.  
“Whirl...”  
“Bell...”  
“Good observation Billy.” applauded Willy, “I’d tell the Nidorina to back off 
too, surely she won’t risk her lover’s life.”  
“They know.” I stated.  
“Of course we know, these are the two Pokémon that foiled our Machoke scheme, 
its good to have revenge for that.  Now call her off!” spoke Willy darkly.  
“... Do it Poisoness!” I shouted, I didn’t want to risk the brothers hurting my 
Pokémon, but Poisoness was the only one in a position to save him.  
The Nidorina spat and weakly crawled forward, the arm being the final leg to 
run, or crawl in her case.  
“You stupid Pokémon, you blew it!” shouted Billy.  
With that, the shackle around Needle began to shrink down, tightening around 
Needle and crushing him even with his amazing body defense.  
“Ni-Do...” he groaned, “Nidoking!!!”  
“RINA!!!” cried out Poisoness, charging forward and being hit by more ongoing 
lasers.  
She looked defeated, and Emily’s eyes were wide open in shock.  
“Watch as your lover dies, its of no consequence to us, we’ll just take the 
Moon Stone for ourselves and those runaway Pokémon to make the Boss happy, 
while you’ll have lost two Pokémon forever! Ha ha ha ha ha huh?!”  
“Rina!!!” screamed Poisoness, drawing every last bit of strength in her and 
leaping forward, catching the Moon Stone in her teeth, and then landing on the 
ground safely.  
“Poisoness...” sighed Emily wearily and happily, “Go for it!”  
I turned to Emily a little surprised at her change of heart, but it was 
understandable, “But I thought-”  
“Look how determined she is to save Needle, surely such a determined and 
compassionate Pokémon will retain those great qualities after evolution.” 
explained Emily.  
“I’m glad you feel that way.” I smiled.  
While we were talking, Poisoness was glowing, her form changed from that of a 
four legged animal into more of a humanoid shape, she was soon standing on two 
feet and forming two strong arms.  
“NIDOQUEEN!!!” she bellowed out, standing with an impressive body and height.  

“Nidoqueen, the Drill Pokémon.  Its hard scales provide strong protection and 
it uses its hefty bulk to perform powerful moves.”  

“Poisoness?...” questioned Emily nervously, to which the Nidoqueen turned to 
her and smiled, “You’re still you, you haven’t changed for the worse...  That’s 
great...  Now go get those creeps!”  
“NIDO!!!” she bellowed, charging forward and slamming all her weight into the 
overrated metal copy, and forcing it back.  
“If only you hadn’t been so stupid, we could still fight that thing!” 
complained Willy as the robot was shunting back, and then again a second time 
by Poisoness’s follow up.  
“I’m sorry, I was just trying to be like those bullies that always picked on 
us...” whined Billy.  
“Well we’re going to make a real splash now!” growled Willy.  
The third strike not only threw the robot back and tumbling into the lake, but 
it threw the brother’s out of their seats and made them end up in a heap, away 
from the controls.  
The water got everywhere on and inside the robot, and electricity was sparkling 
all around.  
Poisoness charged back to the right arm, and tore away at the shackle with Fury 
Swipes.  
With her new and improved claws, she easily broke them in two, and Needle was 
released, leaving just enough time for the two to dash away before the robot 
exploded, and sent the brothers sky high once more...  

“Oh Poisoness...  I’m so sorry!...” said Emily with tears in her eyes as she 
hugged the larger Pokémon, “I shouldn’t have shouted at you, you wanted to 
evolve, and I should have let you.”  
“Ahem.” I coughed.  
“Oh, and I’m sorry Needle, I shouldn’t blame you for how you are...” added 
Emily, “I should blame Tetsubo.”  
“Hey!” I complained.  
“What I mean is, Tetsubo thought it best to let you embrace your fighting 
spirit.  Its not like you aim to kill your opponents, you just get carried away 
in battle.  And if Poisoness still loves you despite that, then who am I to 
complain...”  
“Nido.” nodded my Nidoking, stepping towards Poisoness, who broke off the hug 
with Emily, and ran to her lover.  
“We’ll never separate you two again...” I promised, I’d almost forgotten how 
beautiful these two Pokémon were together.  
“Well as long as you and Emily continue training them separately, you can’t 
guarantee that.” interrupted Abby, pretty much spoiling the moment.  
“You what?” complained Emily.  
“I know I’m right, unless you and Tetsubo decide to do everything single thing 
together for the rest of your lives, you can’t promise these Pokémon that 
they’ll always get to be together.  I know the only real option may be new to 
you two, but I’d do it if it meant my Pokémon’s happiness.” suggested Abby.  
“You mean... release them...” I said slowly, and a little sadly.  
“I guess it was wrong of us to catch them separately in the first place, 
and...” 
sniffed Emily, “But now you two are strong enough to fend off any trainers that 
try and come between you...  I just...”  
Tears were streaming down Emily’s face now, and as I soon realised, the same 
went for me.  
We’d trained these Pokémon virtually from the start of our journey, and it 
would be sad to see them go, but Abby was right, the two Pokémon deserved their 
freedom and a real chance to be together, as trainers, Emily and I had a 
responsibility to keep our Pokémon happy.  

Shortly after, we all left Ebony Town and reached some plains with a few 
mountains not too far away, a good home far from civilisation for the two 
Pokémon to live.  
“... I guess, this really is goodbye...” said Emily.  
Her Nidoqueen seemed just as sad, and remained silent.  
“But this is for the best, this is what you wanted...  You take care of 
yourself now... and have lots of healthy Nidoran...”  
“Queen...”  
“I’ll miss you and all Needle...” I spoke, “But you have your lover back, and a 
purpose.  Just save up that battling spirit for when it matters.  You have a 
new purpose to fight for now...”  
“Nido...” said Needle sadly.  
“It’ll be okay, I’ll tell the other Pokémon later, I don’t want to make this 
any harder than it already is for you, we’ll triumph in the League, and I’ll 
always remember our journey together...”  

Soon enough, the two Pokémon were standing in the horizon, their forms 
blackened by the sunset but making their actions clear to us, we walked further 
down the plains, waving to the Pokémon and vice versa, until they were out of 
sight.  
Abby walked ahead, not really wanting to be a part of Emily’s and my depressive 
circle.  
“You okay Emily?...” I asked softly.  
“Just give me a few moments, maybe the night to cry, and I’ll be my cheery old 
self in the morning.” she sniffed.  
“It really was for the best you know, so don’t go thinking that Abby is 
insensitive for swaying us towards that decision.” I requested.  
“I don’t blame her, I’d have probably thought of doing the same thing 
myself...  
I have to be happy for those two, they grew apart, but they worked out their 
differences, and now they’re back together again.  Sounds kind of like us...” 
stated Emily.  
“Emily, you know we shouldn’t really talk about that subject right-”  
“Come on, let’s go catch up with Abby.” said Emily, feeling much better and 
taking off, while I sighed.  
I always got anxious when Emily talked about us in that way, she’d just as 
quickly dismissed it, but I probably hadn’t heard the last of it.  
What had cheered Emily up made me feel uncertain, I still wasn’t ready to start 
anew with a relationship.  
Gee, Pokémon had it much easier than people when it came down to love.  

End of Chapter 41B  

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