Chapter 51:  Welcome to the League (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

The legendary Pokémon simply stared us down, possibly calculating its chances, 
I used this moment to edge my Pokédex to peep out of my jacket pocket, and 
scan:  

“Moltres, the Flame Pokémon.  The legendary bird Pokémon of fire, every flap of 
its wings creates a dazzling flash of bright flames that can turn the night sky 
red.”  

“Oh yeah, real helpful.” I moaned, it wasn’t as if this Pokémon was just 
neutral, it had attacked Scott and Abby, and it didn’t look like the retreating 
type.  
Another shriek filled the air, and energy was fuelling another Fire attack as 
we stood there.  
“Leviathan!”  
“Spiral!”  
“Squirt!”  
“Hydro!”  
“Twinkill!...”  
The five Water Pokémon appeared one after another in the order called for.  
“Raaaar!”  
“Omanyte!”  
“Poli!”  
“Blastoise!”  
“Star!”  
“ATTACK!” shouted Chad loudly, and the Pokémon charged forward, at first a long 
Ember flame shot out of the Moltres in a straight line, each of the Pokémon had 
the quick wits to dive to the sides in mid-run, but Scott’s small Poliwag 
wasn’t fast enough and was clipped by the flames and knocked back.  
Scott caught it in his arms and comforted it, “Don’t worry Squirt, you’re just 
not strong enough to be a part of this...”  
The Blastoise prepared to fire its cannons, but the Moltres attacked it first, 
blasting out a spiralling flame that soon circled the Blastoise and rose up 
into a fiery cylinder that kept it trapped, the Blastoise fell back as the 
transformation occurred and its water jets were fired, but instead of hitting 
the Moltres or even the flames, they shot up and hit the rocky ceiling as did 
the flames.  
While Abby’s Gyarados blasted the Moltres with a Hyper Beam, halfway through it 
the ceiling broke away and several rocks tumbled down on Leviathan, one 
particularly big rock slamming down on its head and pinning it to the floor.  
Twinkill attacked the Moltres with a Thunderbolt attack but the change in 
Leviathan’s position forced the remainder of the Hyper Beam to slide to the 
side.  
Twinkill screamed out as the powerful attack hit it hard and flung it towards 
the Moltres, who slapped it hard with its right wing and threw it out of the 
battlefield, while Abby’s Gyarados was now too tired to get itself out 
immediately due to fatigue.  
If all that had been planned out by the Moltres rather than a fluke, we really 
were in trouble.  
Emily’s Omanyte was up next, and rolling towards the Moltres quickly, inside 
its round shell and screeching across the cavern floor, the Moltres blasted a 
Fire Spin in its direction but it quickly drove itself to the side and 
surprisingly started rolling across the curved cavern walls.  
It slammed into the Moltres, a sharp horn now appearing on Spiral’s body and 
piercing into its wing.  
It then wrapped its blue tentacles around the left wing (it was able to remain 
on the burning appendage because it was very resistant against fire), and bit 
into it with hidden teeth.  
The Moltres screeched out, and started to peck the Omanyte with its sharp beak, 
several times, but it remained there for now to give the other Pokémon a chance 
to attack without the worry of two hot wings.  
The Blastoise’s red hot prison had dissipated due to not being fuelled by the 
Moltres, and Hydro dived forward, spinning with its head and limbs inside its 
large shell.  
It hit it with the shell first, and then as it rebounded off, Hydro’s head 
popped out and slammed into the Moltres with a close range Skull Bash.  
The Moltres growled, and its eyes were glowing white in anger, but the 
Blastoise kept up a brave face and attitude, while Scott’s Poliwag squealed and 
hid behind us all.  
The Moltres then blasted the Blastoise with a huge Flamethrower attack, and 
didn’t let up, the Blastoise slowly walked towards it, the sheer heat 
distracting it from launching a successful Water attack.  
It growled, and then tumbled to the side to get out of the extreme heat, and 
then launched a quick Water Gun attack, but the Moltres retaliated, its body 
glowing almost gold.  
I was about to tell Chad what this meant but the charge had been initiated long 
ago, and the Moltres tore past the Blastoise, its body glowing and its heat 
stronger than ever.  
Hydro went sprawling backwards, and hit the cavern wall so hard it penetrated 
it with its shell and left a large dent in it, and was then buried in rocks.  
Of course in the process, Emily’s Omanyte had lost its grip and fallen off, the 
Moltres didn’t stop with Chad’s Blastoise, and turned around to hit Spiral with 
the same Sky Attack, hurling it to the side so that it slammed into and became 
wedged in the cave wall.  
Chad and Emily sighed and recalled their Pokémon.  
“All the Pokémon are down or out.” quivered Emily.  
“You might be right.” I sighed, looking at the rocks that covered Twinkill.  
The Moltres glared back at us, and mercilessly blasted a huge Flamethrower 
towards all of us.  
Some screamed, some gasped, some glared and remained silent.  
To me, everything seemed to go into slow motion, and yet we wouldn’t have been 
able to outrun the flames without one or all of us getting injured.  
And then a white sphere of light with beams shooting out and spinning around it 
leapt in front of us, and a huge jet of water shot out of it and pushed back 
the flames.  
“Poliwhirl!” shouted Squirt, having evolved to save us all, and shouting as if 
to tell us to move.  
We did so, as even its Hydro Pump couldn’t push back the flames, its body 
glowed again as the remainder of the flames blasted it, but it came out with 
little burns having used the Amnesia technique to build up its defense against 
the flames.  
The Moltres appeared to get tired of using its own huge and powerful attacks, 
and settled with an Ember attack that scattered flames everywhere, but the 
Poliwhirl’s Bubble attack blocked most of them off.  
It glared at Squirt and used Leer again, but now he wasn’t scared...  
“I think its great that Squirt’s evolved, but its not enough, he needs support 
if he’s going to get that Moltres to back down.” stated Scott.  
A booming explosion threw the rocks covering Twinkill towards the Moltres, and 
hit it hard since generally, Rock attacks were double effective against Fire/ 
Flying-types and Twinkill’s Psychic attack resulted with the same effect as a 
Rock Slide.  
“Star!” it shouted, angry at the Moltres’s attempts to hurt me and the others, 
its points curled up as if the equivalent of a guy clenching his fists, it then 
spun in the air and water blasted out of several areas.  
Twinkill’s version of the Hydro Pump blasted water out of all five of its 
points and drenched the Moltres.  
“That’s it!” I shouted, confusing the others.  
“That’s what?” asked Emily.  
“Twinkill! Catch!” I shouted out, hurling the Water Stone I’d picked up long 
ago towards my Pokémon.  
It leapt up, contacted it, and glowed, its constant spinning in the air made it 
look like its points were multiplying due to speed, what was actually happening 
was that Twinkill now had an extra addition to its body, an almost identical 
part of itself attached to its back minus the jewel on its front, which was now 
more of an octagon shape and a magenta colour, the rest of Twinkill would 
forever be a beautiful light purple colour.  
“Star-Miiiieee!” it said in a completely new voice, it was more shrill, and 
slightly whispery.  
As I stared and my wonderful Pokémon all grown up, I scanned it with the 
Pokédex, and completed all 151 entries in the process.  

“Starmie, the Mysterious Pokémon.  This Pokémon is said to come from outer 
space.  Its central core glows with the seven colours of the rainbow.”  

“Squirt! You’ve got help now, work together with Twinkiller!” shouted Scott.  
“Ahem, that’s Twinkill.” I corrected.  
The Moltres screamed out and raised its wings to propel itself higher, and then 
a blue light glowed around it to enhance its speed.  
Squirt blasted a Water Gun at the Moltres but it easily dodged it, until a 
different blue light surrounded it, the sort that froze it in place.  
“Poliwhirl!!!”  
The Moltres screamed again as it was hit hard by a Hydro Pump and crashed down, 
Twinkill followed up with a Thunderbolt to shock the Moltres, the water all 
over it enhancing the shocking.  
Squirt ran forward and body slammed the Moltres to distract it, and then 
Twinkill hit it with an Ice Beam, the remaining water over the dampened flames 
easily freezing the Moltres, but its head and beak were free for it to slowly 
melt the ice with its flame breath.  
Finally, Squirt distracted it some more by occasionally hitting it with Water 
Gun attacks, while Twinkill blasted the roof of the cavern with a Psychic 
attack, forcing it to break and come crashing down on the Moltres, and 
inadvertently creating a hole in which daylight shined through.  
The Moltres’s screams were weak now, and it managed to hover into the air 
again.  
It stared at us all, and breathed heavily as it scanned the cave for all that 
had defeated it, it then growled, and then shot up through the hole in the cave 
and took off.  
“Aw man, I shoulda caught that Moltres...” moaned Chad.  
“That wouldn’t be fair considering we chipped in.” stated Scott.  
“Yeah Chad, we were fighting for our lives!” added Emily.  
“Let’s just get out of this cave before any more Pokémon attack us.” I sighed, 
taking the lead and moving forward.  

Hours later, the five of us climbed out the caves, tired, dirty, and looking 
like a mess in different ways.  
I was surprised to hear happy parade music as we approached a grassy area with 
a long path running through it.  
A truck was slowly running through the road, with a man in sports clothing 
carrying an Olympic-style torch running ahead of it.  
An old man with long flowing grey hair, moustache and beard rode up on the top 
of the truck, he wore a red shirt, green shorts and a blue baseball cap, I 
recognised him, a key figure of the Pokémon League:  President Charles 
Goodshow.  
He noticed us and had his truck slow down.  
“Hey, you kids look like you crawled out from under a rock.”  
“Something like that.” I said, “Please tell us we’re close to the Pokémon 
League.”  
“Of course, but... did you kids just go through the old Victory Cave?”  
“If that’s what you call that place, yeah.”  
“Why? In the old days trainers were supposed to go through that place as a 
final test before the League, but we scrapped that tradition years ago because 
most trainers got lost and were late for the League, you should have gone up 
the main road and turned right, the signs clearly say so.”  
“Signs?...” I groaned, “How did we miss that?” before remembering how Abby’s 
flute had led us away from the path I’d originally intended to follow.  
“But Abby, didn’t you say a gentleman told you that was the way to go?” I 
questioned.  
“I guess he must be competing this year, apparently he told Chad and Scott the 
same thing.” she answered with a nervous clenching of teeth.  
“Well its nice to see that tradition being continued every year by those that 
lose their way.  You kids want a lift? The opening day ceremony is due to begin 
as soon as I reach the stadium with the torchbearer.”  
“Oh yes...” I replied happily.  

Soon the opening day ceremony was in order, rows of trainers stood in 
horizontal lines to form two squares, divided between the two sides of the 
arena that would have the final matches in, with a line between the two leading 
to the stairs where the torch was located.  
President Goodshow of the Pokémon Torch Committee stood at what would be the 
winner’s podium and was reciting a long speech about the trainers, their 
accomplishments and their spirit.  
My friends were close by, but not directly next to me.  
I was excited, as there were over two hundred trainers standing in the arena, 
and I’d take on the best of them in the most awaited competition in my 
journey.  
I could see several familiar faces:  The violet trainer, Rick, Bert, Carrie, 
Eve, and many more, but all were too focussed on Goodshow’s long speech to 
notice me.  
I continued looking around, but then I quickly stopped and stared straight 
ahead at Goodshow, Danielle was also here, I hoped she hadn’t noticed me, I had 
enough problems with my small anxieties about the League ahead and Emily’s 
ultimatum about our relationship without Danielle and her vice grip on me 
throughout the entire tournament.  
Suddenly the person ahead of me stepped back and bumped into my head with his 
back.  
“Hey.” I complained, “Watch it.”  
“Watch yourself Capture.”  
I almost gasped as I stared up the huge body towards the masked face, the man 
moved his metal mask slightly as he turned to gaze at me with his eyes.  
“Bryan...  You have no right to be here! You’re a Rocket.” I whispered.  
“I’m also the best trainer this country has to offer, so I’m competing just as 
you are.” he mused.  
“You’re not welcome here, the Pokémon League is a place for good honourable 
trainers to compete against each other, you don’t belong here after all the 
evil you’ve done, once I report you-”  
“Once you report me, you’ll be in as much trouble as I, you see, Team Rocket 
regards me as one of their best, and managed to acquire enough badges to get me 
into the League, I’m such a valuable resource that I was granted my request to 
battle and humiliate you on national television, provided I won the League and 
handed over the prize money to the Rocket scientists.  Of course I knew you’d 
consider reporting this, so if the truth does get out, you’ll also go down with 
me.”  
“How so? I’ve done nothing wrong.” I inquired.  
“That’s not how the world will see it, Team Rocket has many connections, we 
could easily link you to something incriminating.” chuckled Bryan.  
“So why not just do that anyway?” I frowned.  
“Because I requested it, I know you’ll go far in the League, far enough to face 
me, and when I defeat you, I’ll be known by all as the trainer who beat you.  
We could frame you at any time we wish, but currently, Team Rocket would rather 
keep owed favours saved up for more profitable matters.”  
“So you’ll only use them if I attempt to report you, and I’ve got to let you 
remain here and compete.  But that’s not fair, I know your Pokémon have been 
enhanced illegally.”  
“So? I don’t care, its your fault I went down the path I went, I deserved to be 
the best at Pokémon Tech, I could have been a great trainer that didn’t need to 
rely on illegal substances, but you took that away from me.  I could never get 
a legitimate sponsor after I was kicked out of Pokémon Tech, joining the 
Rockets was the only way to become a trainer after that.  Now its time for 
payback, you’ll never beat me, and seeing your dreams slip through your fingers 
is the only way to satisfy my long-time obsession.”  
“You’re scum Bryan.” I growled.  
“And you’re not as great as you think you are, soon the whole world will know 
who’s the better trainer out of us.  Battle hard Capture, but know that sooner 
or later, you’ll face me, and that’s when you’ll drop out of this tournament.  
Catch you later Capture.”  
With that he turned back to Goodshow, finishing off his speech, and awaiting a 
trainer I’d never met to run up the steps of the front of the arena and light a 
huge torch with what was apparently the flame of Moltres, in order to inspire 
all the trainers competing.  

This year’s Pokémon League had finally begun, but I no longer felt excited, and 
full of fire like I should have.  
I felt anger, and fear...  Lots of fear...  

End of Chapter 51B  

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