Chapter 50:  Eggtreme Measures (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

After our dramatic last battle, we’d finished our trip at Fuchsia City, and 
departed.  
Beryl’s contract with us was up, so she’d returned to Ocean Town, Abby told us 
she had a place she could stay, while Emily went home and pretty much remained 
there during trainers’ leave in order for the both of us to use the time 
effectively.  
The house was empty due to Cody being away, my folks still needed in Cerulean 
City, and my older sister really not giving a damn about us all, but I 
digress...  
Two months had passed since me and my friends last saw each other, and I often 
wondered where they were.  
Chad’s whereabouts were a mystery, but he was probably travelling around acting 
like a hero, he’d be fine.  
Scott had disappeared since back in Delft Town, with my nugget.  
I’d caught on to him collecting money for someone called Casey, but that was 
all I knew.  
Rick, I’d only just met, but he’d left a good first impression as the guy I’d 
compete against, he’d called Professor Blossom now and again to switch, and 
sometimes I’d be there to chat as well, I looked forward to seeing him again.  
As for Danielle, Carrie, Eve, and the many other friends I’d made on my 
journey, I had no idea where they were, but I knew they were in good health and 
that I’d see them again.  
Finally, I knew more or less where Emily was, and although we hadn’t seen much 
of each other, she’d called me on a regular basis and we could talk for hours, 
we just kept our Pokémon-related issues on a need to know basis so as not to 
reveal anything until the League, just in case.  
I would have thought she’d be trying to make a move on me in the absence of 
everyone, but it didn’t come up.  
I was a little worried, maybe by trying to preserve our friendship in order to 
fix what had happened to it was wrong, maybe I should have tried harder to put 
all our mistakes behind us and accepted what Emily wanted us to be...  
Or maybe she didn’t want to go into such things on something like a phone call, 
or didn’t want to throw me off my schedule and game, which was probably the 
correct scenario, I’d got a lot of training done, and most of my Pokémon had 
not only learned all their attacks, but grown many levels up.  

It was finally time to head towards the Pokémon League, I’d said my goodbyes to 
Blossom, who couldn’t make it to the League due to keeping so many Pokémon in 
her lab.  
I’d taken a boat to Pallet Town and dropped in on Professor Oak, I was 
congratulated for having received all my badges, and I met his new assistant, a 
Pokémon Watcher named Tracey who’d travelled with one of Oak’s prodigies.  
I couldn’t refuse his offer to check on my some of my Pokémon, and he told me 
that my Staryu was in really good condition, which was nice.  
Soon after, I headed up the upward path of Route 1, soon to be in Viridian 
City, where I’d rest before heading towards the Pokémon League, and where I’d 
meet up with Emily.  

Soon enough, I opened the door of the Pokémon Centre and was immediately jumped 
by Emily, I managed to catch her as she gripped her arms around my shoulders, 
and I lost balance so we ended up spinning as if we were in a romantic movie.  
“Tetsubo! I missed you!” she exclaimed, giving me a light kiss on the cheek.  
“Emily, we talked the other day.”  
“But I haven’t seen your face in two months.  Excluding photos of course.”  
“You have photos of me?” I smiled slyly.  
“That’s besides the point.” she scowled, and then had a look of uncertainty on 
her face.  
“Do we have a room booked? I might call it a night and have one last training 
exercise in the morning.”  
“Don’t go yet.  I... wanted to ask you something.” requested Emily nervously.  
“Sure, go ahead.” I answered.  
We moved towards the comfortable seats around the reception desk.  
“How have you been?” Emily asked.  
“Is this all? Well, I’ve been good, my Pokémon are coming along fine, and 
you?”  
“Just great, I think I’m ready to go far in the League, although I probably 
won’t win...” explained Emily before sighing.  
“Don’t doubt yourself, you’re a great trainer.” I comforted.  
“Well, maybe I’ll get far enough to face you.” she said with not much 
confidence in her voice.  
“And you think you won’t beat me? Emily, you haven’t spent the last year of 
your life working hard to end up so uncertain about how you’ll do in the 
League.  I’m going to battle my hardest, and so should you.  I wouldn’t be 
surprised if you managed to beat me, not that I’m expecting it or anything.” I 
comforted.  
“Thank you...  You always know what to say to make me feel better, which leads 
me to what I really wanted to ask...  Tetsubo...  I’ve tried so hard to hide my 
feelings for you while you adjusted to having me back in your life.  But I 
can’t hold back any more.  I need to know how you feel about me, I can’t wait 
until you come around, I need an answer now.  If you’re not interested, then 
we’ll just remain friends and I’ll move on...”  
I was in utter uncertainty, Emily was practically giving me an ultimatum, tell 
her I loved her, or forget about it forever.  
I wasn’t ready for that.  
“Emily...”  
“Yes?...”  
“Emily, I...  I need a little more time.  I’ve been thinking so much about the 
League, and to give you an answer right now before I can truly process things, 
well, I might make the wrong choice...”  
Emily looked down, “So how long do you need?”  
“Until after the League.  I promise.”  
“Well, okay then.  Choose well...”  
I gave a nervous smile as I departed for bed.  

Next morning I woke up as the sun rose, and the first thing I did was gaze at 
Emily, looking very much at peace as she slept.  
I now had until the end of the League to make a decision, jump into a 
relationship, or lose the chance to do so with Emily forever.  
I needed some air, so I dressed and cleaned myself up and then left with my 
Pokémon towards a small mountainous area.  

There I released two Pokémon I felt needed a little training:  Twinkill and 
Scramble, my faithful Staryu and Exeggcute.  
Evolving the violet lady’s Eevee a while back had made me think about my own 
Pokémon.  
That and Bryan’s own twisted evolution a few months back.  
Twinkill and Scramble were my first Pokémon, Twinkill I’d been given, and 
Scramble I’d caught without too much trouble.  
I held in my backpack the stones that would allow these two Pokémon to evolve 
into much more powerful creatures, but I had morals and beliefs, that it was 
best to have the Pokémon learn all their attacks, and that they should want to 
evolve.  
These two were one attack short of that, and I’d never really asked them about 
evolution recently.  
“Oh well, I guess that’s why I’m training these Pokémon.” I said to myself, 
before a loud voice yelled out, “Hey! I know you!”  
I swiftly turned around, expecting the worse, but I turned to face a cheerful 
face, it was the chubby hiker that Emily and I had encountered twice on our 
journey.  
“It Is you, Wusabi, wasn’t it?”  
I sighed, “Tet-Su-Bo.  If you’re going to shout so loud at me you could at 
least get my name right, um...  Hiker... guy...”  
“Heh, you never asked for my name during the two times we met, its actually 
Mike.” chuckled the hiker.  
“Okay, Mike.  So, what brings you here?” I questioned.  
“The mountains really, thanks to you and your friend, my Machoke has been 
great, and with the other Pokémon, we’re really raking in some rare gems.” told 
Mike.  
“Glad its working out for you, I’d bring out the Pokémon that saved it, but 
one’s not here and the other I released, but the Pokémon over there are mine if 
it interests you.” I explained.  
“Oh it does, there’s a lot of tales going around about some of the new Pokémon 
Trainers, and you’re one of them.” he stated excitedly.  
“Um, that’s great.” I said, with some uncertainty in being some kind of 
celebrity just because Team Rocket were gunning for me, or could it be due to 
my talents as a trainer?  
“Anyway, since we’re here, how ‘bout a battle? That is, if you don’t think I’m 
a pushover.” grinned Mike.  
“I try not to get too big for my boots, of course I’ll battle you, I was 
looking to train.” I said, turning to my Pokémon.  
“Cool, I suggest a best of two battles, Go Golem!”  
“Twinkill! Up and at ‘em!”  

“Golem! Dig into the wall!”  
“Go-Lem!” it shouted, spinning backwards and ploughing through the mountain 
side, with so much rock around, it would have some advantage in this battle.  
“Play it safe Twinkill, Harden!”  
“Star.” it nodded, coating itself with a temporary gold armour, which remained 
with it but lost its colour.  
“Rock Throw!”  
Twinkill leapt away from where the Golem had disappeared, but it had managed to 
burrow down, under and up to reappear from the opposite wall, and several huge 
chunks of rock came crashing down on Twinkill, who pulled itself out of the 
heap.  
“Water Gun!”  
The Golem quickly disappeared again, and so the water didn’t hit it, it wasn’t 
even a vast amount to flood its passageways.  
“Twinkill...”  
“Mega Punch!” interrupted Mike, and his Pokémon shot out of another unexpected 
area and slammed its fist into Twinkill.  
“You holding out okay there?” I asked.  
“Star...” it panted, its gem flickering but not in critical danger.  
“Good, use Psychic attack!”  
“Star!” it shouted, exploding an area of rock, but not the Golem, although we 
soon knew where it had gone.  
“Earthquake and Dig!”  
My Staryu was jolted into the air by the shockwaves, but started spinning in a 
stationary position, while the Golem burrowed into the right wall.  
At this rate, Twinkill was taking many more hits compared to the Golem.  
“Twinkill, Recover.”  
“Aw no you don’t.  Golem!”  
“GO-LEM!!!” it roared, smashing out of the right wall, slamming into Twinkill, 
and continuing until it burrowed into the left wall, effectively cancelling out 
the recovery.  
Twinkill’s gem was starting to lose its colour, so I risked using an attack 
rather than cure up.  
“Surf!”  
This recently taught attack was tricky to pull off, because lots of water 
needed to be generated to form into a wave, Twinkill seemed to use a little 
mysterious magic to form the attack, and the wave crashed into the wall and 
flooded the tunnels made by this battle, it wasn’t long before the Golem came 
crashing out in discomfort.  
“Finish it!”  
Twinkill spun into the Golem and hit it with a risky Double Edge, just to keep 
it stunned, and then a close range Bubblebeam to the face ended this first 
round.  
“Return Golem.  You are indeed as good as I remember and have heard, but this 
will be tough even for you.  Go!” laughed Mike, recalling the Pokémon and 
tossing out another.  
“Another Rock or Ground Pokémon.” I thought, “Or even both.  Scramble! Over 
here!”  
“Ex!” the eggs cheered, having not been used recently due to my Vileplume’s 
situation.  
“Maaaa-Champ!” roared Mike’s second Pokémon, how could I forget about that?  
Still we had a type advantage, although the Stage advantage could very well 
destroy my so-called winning edge.  
“Scramble, use Hypnosis.”  
“Leer and Focus Energy.” smiled Mike, and the Machamp’s eyes glowed darkly, 
scaring the eggs and giving the opponent time to enhance its odds of hitting 
with added power.  
“Use Barrage!” I yelled, and several egg projectiles came whistling down on the 
Machamp, who easily deflected them all with its Karate Chop.  
“Looks like some status ailments will be needed.” I thought before speaking, 
“Poison Powder!”  
The Machamp was rushing forward, but had the quick wits to see this one coming 
and slip to the side.  
“Stun Spore!” I added, but the result was the same, and the Machamp was nearing 
its target/ targets.  
“Leech Seed!” I said at the last moment, and a small seed was created, fired 
and latched onto the Machamp’s head before blossoming into many twisting vines 
that bound its body tight.  
“Shred those vines, Machamp.” smiled the hiker confidently, it’d been a while 
since I faced this Pokémon as a Machoke, when the Screwloose Brothers had upped 
its power by far, but this battle was close to its magnitude.  
“Solar Beam!” I added, while the Machamp stretched its muscles, and snapped the 
leeching mess around it to pieces.  
“Uh oh.” I groaned, Scramble wasn’t close to firing the charged beam.  
“Seismic Toss!” cheered Mike, and the enemy picked up Scramble and hurled it 
into the mountain wall with great and merciless strength.  
Sharp cracks were heard and I feared for my egg Pokémon, their usual small 
cracks had grown, but they were still determined to fight, and leapt at the 
Machamp in a Double Edge formation.  
“Machamp, Fire Blast.” said Mike, and I gasped, could they learn that? 
Apparently so.  
The Machamp held its hands out, and somehow, a blazing star of fire was 
forming, unfortunately it was too late to stop my Exeggcute from attacking, and 
it was charred by the immense power of the flames.  
All six eggs dropped to the floor, but growled as they bounced back up.  
“You’ve got to be kidding, Scramble, don’t overdo it, there’s no shame in 
backing down.” I offered, but it only made them more determined.  
They attempted another Hypnosis, but the Machamp swung its leg and knocked them 
up into the air only for them to fall and crack more, why was this happening?!  
“Cute!” they shouted, firing another Barrage attack, but the Machamp swung its 
arms around and countered them all, before trying another Mega Punch, and at 
the rate my Pokémon were cracking up, this would end it.  
Only one attack could overcome this, “Sleep Powder!” I shouted, and the eggs 
grinned, and sprayed a yellow gas at close range.  
The Machamp’s fist ploughed through something, but it wasn’t Scramble, it had 
punched into the wall above, and its expression was that of a relaxed sleep...  

Mike recalled his Pokémon and shook my hand strongly, “Great battle, I should 
have known you wouldn’t have lost, well, I’ve gotta go, good luck to you.”  
“And you.” I said, turning to my Pokémon, and then gasping.  
Cracks continued to grow along all six eggs that made up Scramble, even after 
the battle had ended.  
“Oh my god, I’ve gotta get you to the Pokémon Centre!...”  

End of Chapter 50A  

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Chapter 50B
Back to Story List #41 - #60
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