Chapter 45:  Tough Love (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

Emily, Abby and I finally strolled into the next location on our journey, the 
famous shipping district called Ocean Town, where we’d surely find a boat that 
could take us to Cinnabar Island.  
We’d first stopped off at the Pokémon Centre to rest up the Pokémon and report 
back to our sponsors, with the exception of Abby who didn’t appear to have 
one.  
Emily’s Pokémon trading was taking a little while longer than expected, so I 
looked for Abby, and found her outside.  
I didn’t alert her to my presence, but rather, watched her from an open 
window.  
“We need to train harder guys, the Pokémon League is almost upon us...  I may 
have started showing traits of my former self, but I haven’t forgotten what all 
my work has been for.  My technique of winning in the tournament may or may not 
work, so we have to try harder so it doesn’t come to that.  Okay, Go.”  
With that, I backed away as a flash of electricity and fire shot close by, Abby 
was training her Pokémon but against each other, a rare way of training but a 
valid one.  
“Tetsubo.” called Emily, but I signalled for her to quiet down, Emily peeped 
out the window at Abby, noted what she was doing, and then dismissed it, and 
turned to me.  
“Back in Cyprus City, that Wesley kid...  You promised me you’d tell me 
everything about Pokémon Tech... before something like what happened with Bryan 
happens again.”  
I turned to her suddenly, that incident led to one of the worst periods of my 
life, when I felt so alone and full of sadness, and when I let my anger control 
me.  
“No, nothing like that, what I kept from you long ago wouldn’t and will not 
endanger you, I’ll never let that happen again.”  
“Tetsubo...”  
“I didn’t want to burden you with my sadness back in Pokémon Tech, I was 
determined to get by on my own...  You thought Pokémon Tech was really great 
for me, but it wasn’t always...  In the first year, I befriended Bryan, stood 
up for him, even though Erin and Brandon were bigger and stronger than me, and 
for that, I was nearly drowned trying to protect Bryan, and for that, he 
rejected my friendship...”  
“The first year...  That was when you suddenly stopped e-mailing me for a 
while...”  
“The second year, I discovered that my sister, Megumi, had disappeared from 
home, and although I tried not to show my sadness by directing my anger towards 
my sister’s memory, Bryan learned of this and used the information against me, 
he drove me towards despair, and I nearly quit Pokémon Tech because of him.”  
“Oh Tetsubo...  I never knew, I haven’t been to your house in a long time...”  
“I had friends like you though, they convinced me that running away would make 
me like my sister, and I never wanted to make others feel as I had, so I 
regained everything I’d lost, and got my life back on track.  But Bryan 
wouldn’t have that, he wanted to be the best no matter what.  Wesley and 
Bernadette tried to get me in trouble, but their plan backfired, and they were 
expelled, as for Bryan...”  
“I know, he told me, he came second best compared to you and got caught 
changing his final grade while altering yours.” interrupted Emily.  
“Uh huh...” I sighed.  
“Tetsubo...  You should have said these things, you didn’t have to go through 
it alone...” sighed Emily.  
“At the time, I was afraid, afraid that by revealing my weaker side and 
burdening you with my problems, you’d turn away from me...  Wouldn’t want to be 
my friend anymore...” I said, looking away from her.  
“Are you sure about that Tetsubo? You knew me, you must have known I would 
never desert you because you have problems, because you’re human...  This is 
because you wanted more from me, isn’t it?” figured Emily.  
“Well... at the time, I, um...”  
“We’re talking about the past, not the present, so be honest.” requested 
Emily.  
“Yes, the memory of you gave me the hope I needed to achieve my goals, but 
because I wanted to prove myself to you, I hid away my problems so that when I 
returned, if you hadn’t fallen for someone else, I’d stand a chance with 
you...” I admitted.  
“Oh Tetsubo, a good relationship can’t exist without friendship, I wouldn’t 
have thought any less of you, I promise...” pleaded Emily.  
“And there you go, it hurts a little to relive past memories, but I promised 
you I’d tell you everything.” I sighed.  
“You had to go through so much on your own because of your doubts and 
insecurity, Tetsubo, don’t ever do it again, if you need to talk, then talk to 
me, about anything.  Lying to me will only force us apart, but share your 
problems with me, and we’ll overcome them together...” explained Emily.  
“Emily...” I simply said.  
I could feel something welling up inside me, the possibility that I might 
actually be clear on how I felt about Emily, I’d always cared for her, but 
recently, I’d been very much confused about what I felt after she refused to 
forgive me for my mistake, I’d almost started to hate her for a time, and then 
she’d come back into my life and sent my emotions and feelings into confusion 
by wanting to be as we once were...  
And now, after remembering how I felt during the old days, was I actually 
coming round to what Emily had been pestering me for? I wasn’t absolutely 
sure.  
“Emily?...”  
“Yes?...”  
The noise from Abby’s training battle grew noticeably louder, and Emily and I 
broke off the conversation and looked out the window to see a build-up of 
electricity and fire explode, and sending beams of energy crashing down, 
several of them on Abby.  
“Abby!” I shouted, but it was apparently taken care of, her Rhyhorn that was 
previously watching her reacted, and charged in front of the blasts.  
One, two, three... and four, and the barrage was over.  

Abby picked herself up and stared at her damaged Rhyhorn, “Armour...  You 
protected me again...  Why do you keep doing this?...”  
“Rhy...” it groaned, turning away from her.  
“Why?...  What did I ever do to deserve such absolute devotion towards my 
safety? I wish you could tell me...”  
“Rhy...”  
“Abby!” I shouted, running towards her, “Are you okay?”  
“Yes, thanks to Armour...  It doesn’t explain why he always protects me 
though...”  
“But... I just assumed you trained it to be that way.”  
“No, Armour’s been this way since I started out my journey after losing my 
memories, and after learning a little of why, I want to know more...  Sparky, 
Foxfire and Pixie don’t seem to have the answers I need, they know who I was 
but not much more than that it seems, but Armour just might have the answers I 
need, I haven’t really given it time to be itself, I’ve only used it in 
battle...” she explained.  
“What are you saying?” I asked.  
“Tetsubo, could you save the boat ride until tomorrow, I really need to be 
alone with Armour, after it protected me so much, I need to give it some 
freedom so I can understand it better.” pleaded Abby.  
“Fine, what’s one day compared to helping you?...” I sighed pleasantly.  
“Thank you, I know how much you’d rather move on...” sighed Abby.  

Abby recalled all her Pokémon but the Rhyhorn, and slowly walked away with it 
towards the outskirts of the town close to a mountainous region.  
“Well then Emily, I guess we’re going to have a day off.” I sighed.  
“About time.” she said, yanking my arm and then holding hers around mine as we 
walked into town.  
It almost felt like we were a couple, and probably what Emily was trying to get 
at seeing as Abby wasn’t around to bug or complain about it, although I might 
have to, this was almost the way Danielle would act around me, and I couldn’t 
stand her actions.  
Emily dragged me around to many shops, the sort of shops in which a girl was in 
paradise, but guys were in hell.  
I sighed as I sat on a chair located in a line of others, close to falling 
asleep, I had to be a little more assertive when it came to girls, else Emily 
would probably do this at every opportunity.  
I was about to drift off when I heard a familiar voice, “But Sis, I don’t wanna 
buy a new dress, this one’s fine!”  
“It couldn’t be...” I smiled, I got up and turned the corner to see Eve, and 
her older sister Carrie, holding up various dresses to her sister to see what 
suited her.  
“Can I help you?” I asked, putting on a fake posh accent.  
“Oh yes, thanks, I’d appreciate it if I could have this dress in size-  
Tetsubo?!”  
“Uh huh.” I smiled, it was always nice to run into a familiar face, and I had 
made so many new friends and acquaintances that I’d probably run into many more 
before my journey ended.  
“Mister!” exclaimed Eve, “Its been a while, how about we have another Pokémon 
Battle right now? Anything to get out of this store.”  
“Ignore her Tetsubo, I’m supposed to be looking after her until the end of the 
Pokémon League and I think she needs new clothes.” explained Carrie.  
“Sis...” moaned Eve.  
“Fine.” she sighed, “But we’re coming back here later.”  
We stepped out of the shop but Emily followed, “Tetsubo, where are you going? 
I’m not quite finished yet...  Who are these people?”  
“Emily, this is Carrie and Eve, we met a while back in Stone Town, Carrie, Eve, 
this is-”  
“Your girlfriend, how nice...” smiled Carrie.  
“My what?” I stuttered, looking towards Emily who had her arm wrapped around 
mine again.  
“No no, we’re just friends, we used to be together, I mean, we were once, I 
mean...”  
“We’re very close, but we’re not dating.” answered Emily, letting go and 
offering a hand to Carrie, “Any friend of Tetsubo’s is a friend of mine.”  
Carrie took the hand and shook it, while I turned to Eve, whose bag appeared to 
be moving.  
“Eve, I think there’s something in your bag...”  
“Eui!...” squeaked a tiny Eevee as its head appeared.  
“Aw, she got out of her Pokéball again...” moaned Eve.  
“Still raising Eevees, huh? Any new evolutions?”  
“No, but I’ve been doing research, and I believe that if raised the right way, 
Eevees can evolve into something other than Flareon, Vaporeon or Jolteon.”  
“New evolutions?” I pondered, “That’s pretty spectacular.”  
“Uh huh, and-  Eevee!”  
The little Pokémon had squeezed out of Eve’s bag, landed on the floor, and took 
off.  
“Come back here!...” shouted Eve, giving chase, while I followed.  

Meanwhile, Abby was in a rocky area with only her Rhyhorn, Emily had recently 
shared some information on the attack known as Strength, her Wigglytuff had 
been given the ability through a rare TM device, but Abby had tried to teach 
her Rhyhorn the technique without it.  
Armour rammed its front horn into a rocky wall, and broke off a large round 
chunk, but it couldn’t quite support it because of its form.  
“Take a rest Armour and we’ll try again later...” sighed Abby, she wanted to 
understand this Pokémon better, but training it to learn new attacks wasn’t 
doing it.  
Abby walked over to her Rhyhorn, sat next to it, and leaned her head against 
its hard body.  
“I want to understand you Armour, but I don’t know how I came to have you as my 
Pokémon.  It must have been close to when I lost my memories, because Sparky, 
Foxfire and Pixie act like apparently who I used to be, while you took on my 
recent personality...  I wish I could figure out what happened...”  
“Rhy...” said Armour, somewhat nervously.  
“It must have happened in the Safari Zone...  Cos that’s what some people 
claimed, a ferocious Pokémon tried to destroy me, but somehow I survived and 
magically ended up in Viridian City...  I’ve been told that trainers don’t take 
their Pokémon into the Safari Zone with them, so none of you could know what 
really happened to me...”  
“Rhy...”  
“So... why is it that you protect me with such determination that you risk your 
own safety, Sparky, Foxfire and Pixie don’t go as far as you to ensure my 
safety.  They do what they can, but they don’t charge right into the path of 
danger constantly...”  
Abby started to remember several incidents in which this happened, mainly 
before she made friends, Armour leapt into danger to shield Abby, blocked off 
many threats, charged into harmful situations to...  
‘Charged’...  That word seemed odd for some reason, no, it was familiar...  
Professor Blossom knew about some traces of the incident, and told her that a 
Pokémon charged into her... and Tetsubo backed up his claims to Abby’s being in 
the Safari Zone because he saw the original her, and because she had a 
Rhyhorn...  
“It doesn’t make sense though...  If he...  Then why did I manage to catch...  
How?!...”  
Abby held her head with both hands as a new memory was now found, a very 
disturbing memory, of the moment she was hurt, she only previously remembered 
the feelings of fear and pain, but not the face of her attacker, but now...  
Now she remembered who caused her that pain.  
“It was You!” shouted Abby, pointing an accusing finger at Armour and hastily 
crawling away from it, “You...  You attacked me...  You caused me pain...  You 
caused me to lose my memories!...”  
Armour’s eyes widened in shock, but it had a guilty expression on its face.  
“Even you remember it!...” shouted Abby, “Is that why you’ve been protecting 
me? Not out of love, but of guilt?!”  
“Rhy...” said Armour, as if it was trying to explain itself, but Abby couldn’t 
understand it, she didn’t want to understand it.  
“I gave you care and love, and all that time it was to the one who hurt me 
most...” said Abby, tears streaming down her face, “Armour...  I hate you!...”  
“Rhy...” growled Armour, taking a step forward.  
“No! Don’t come near me! I can’t trust you! You attacked me! What could I have 
possibly done to deserve this scar?!” she screamed, feeling the shape of the 
cut across her eye.  
The Rhyhorn had a look of absolute uncertainty, guilt, but also sadness.  
“I don’t ever want to see you again! I’m disowning you! Don’t you dare come 
near me, Or Tetsubo, or even Green! You’re a monster!...”  
“Rhy...”  
Abby burst into tears as she turned away and started running.  
But she didn’t get very far before a strong force smashed the ground in front 
of her.  
“Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh...” sniggered two familiar voices from the cockpit 
of a Tentacruel robot.  
“We saw it all, its almost like watching a soap...” grinned Billy.  
“To think, the one Pokémon you classed as your most powerful is the one who 
ruined your life! What a Grade A twist!” laughed Willy.  
“The Screwball Brothers...” said Abby without really thinking.  
“Screw-Loose!” screamed Billy, “And you don’t stand a chance against us this 
time, you’re all alone and without your powerful Pokémon!”  
“Once we take you down and take your Pokémon, then your friends will be less 
prepared to face us the next time.  Hand them over, and maybe we’ll let you 
live...” explained Willy.  
Abby slowly reached for her Pokéballs, but would swiftly throw them in opening 
mode, but she didn’t get that chance, Armour leapt from the side and rammed the 
robot with a lot of force, it fell back but wasn’t critically damaged.  
“Stupid Rhyhorn, why’s it still fighting for her?!” questioned Willy.  
“Armour!” shouted Abby, “Leave now! I don’t want your help!”  
“RHY!!!” it roared, full of rage and taking it out on the brothers’ robot.  
“How dare you?!” shouted Billy, making the robot swing a tentacle forward and 
hurling the Pokémon towards Abby, she ducked, and it slammed into a mountain 
wall.  
“Grrrr, I’ll take care of this, Hah!” yelled Willy as he threw his fist into a 
button.  
The front claws slammed into the floor and a cutting tremor split the ground in 
half, causing Abby and the Rhyhorn to take a fall down the newly made chasm...  

End of Chapter 45A  

Back to Chapter 44B
Chapter 45B
Back to Story List #41 - #60
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