Chapter 53:  Risky Line-ups (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

After four days of preliminary matches, 128 battles had taken place, and the 
winners went through to the next round.  
For the past three days, Emily, Chad, Abby, Scott and I had been out 
celebrating our success, I’d extended the invitation to Rick, whom we’d finally 
found close to the forth day.  
Other than that, I’d visited some of the people I’d met along the journey, and 
I had a lot of places to visit.  
I made the point of checking in with everyone I could, as within a couple of 
days, they might be out of the tournament, and not in the mood to converse with 
winners.  
Today, we’d find out who was up against who, and across the next two days, 64 
matches would take place, and lower down the remaining trainers once more.  
I was with Emily and Rick, and we made our way to Central Point, where match 
line-ups were set up and available to see, and plenty of people were around to 
help participants in whatever problems and inquiries they had.  
If only I could report Bryan to them, but if I did, then the Rockets would 
stitch me up for something that would ruin my life.  
“Hey Tetsu!” called Rick, “Its over here!”  
I hurried over and looked up the high list and down, I didn’t want to look 
silly for not finding my name right away, so I conversed with him, “I caught 
your match the other day.  The opponent was familiar to me, I think my friend 
Chad battled her back in Saffron City.”  
“You mean Katie, she’s... spiteful, to say the least, and her little group 
aren’t particularly friendly either, I’m to take on another from among them.”  
“And here I am...” I finally said, noticing my name, “Team Junior?”  
“Don’t you know? Two or more people can enter the League as part of a team, 
provided they keep to the set number of Pokémon as the rules say.”  
“Yeah I know that, but-” I said, pressing some buttons on the console to open a 
window with a picture of the opponents, “I thought so.”  
Larry and Lorraine, formerly known as Junior Rocket, were my opponents.  
“What are those two doing here?” accused Emily.  
“Don’t you remember? They’re reformed.” I explained.  
“Who am I fighting?” she asked.  
“That would be me.” said a male, we all turned to face him, and I recognised 
him as another from back in Saffron City.  
It was Bentley, along with two girls, Kara and Katie, all from the Saffron City 
tournament.  
“Hmmm, you don’t look like much, and I saw You battle, you won’t even beat one 
of my Pokémon.” he smirked, referring to Emily and briefly to Rick.  
“Yeah, Bentley and I are gonna avenge Katie’s loss in the next battle.” Kara 
practically spat out.  
“You don’t know us very well, or else you’d be at least a little cautious.” I 
warned.  
“With you guys? Hah! You might as well pack your bags now!” laughed Bentley.  
With that, the three left, laughing, undoubtedly at us.  
“You guys Have to wipe the smiles off their resentful faces.” I urged.  
“I’ll do my best.” nodded Emily.  
“Tetsu, take it easy, of course we’ll win, you’ve got to loosen up a little, 
don’t take idle threats so seriously.” smiled Rick.  
“I’ll try.” I replied.  
“Is that him?” I heard a female ask, pointing at me but talking to someone 
else.  
“Yeah yeah, thanks.”  
With that, a white haired young man ran up to me, “Hey there!”  
“Garland.” I exclaimed, “Its been a while.”  
“It took a lot of work, but I managed to save up enough money to attend the 
League and get a ticket to one of your matches.”  
“Um, why? Its not like I’m famous.”  
“Yeah, but you’re a talented trainer, plus I wanted to make the effort so I 
could see Inferno again.”  
“Uh oh...” muttered Emily under her breath.  
“Is something wrong?” he asked, “Nothing’s happened to Inferno, right?”  
“No, nothing like that.” I muttered through clenched teeth and hiding my 
nervous expression.  
“Cool, cos I really wanted to see my old friend on the day he became famous.”  
“Oh, did you see Tetsubo’s last match?” questioned Emily.  
“I inquired about it, it was on the Water Field, so of course Inferno wouldn’t 
be suitable for it.”  
“I’m on the Rock Field, but-”  
“I’ll be there to support you and Inferno then.” smiled Garland, before darting 
off.  
“Here comes that fear again...” I groaned...  
“Um, who’s Inferno?” questioned Rick.  
“I’ll explain...” said Emily, leading him away.  

Meanwhile Chad was engaged in his second battle, on the Water Field against an 
old acquaintance.  
“I have to say Chad, all the training was worth it to battle you again.  I’m 
really enjoying myself.” cheered Timothy.  
“Don’t enjoy it all too much, cos the tide’s about to change.” smirked Chad, 
recalling his Raticate after it took a beating from a Gengar.  
Previously, the first battle had been a mismatch, and Chad hastily recalled his 
Blastoise when it was up against a Vileplume, next, his Raticate gave Timothy 
second thoughts about leaving his Vileplume out after it violently chewed it 
half to oblivion.  
Now the combatants were a Gengar and Golduck.  

And close to it all, Abby was engaged in a battle against my old classmate Joe 
on the Grass Field.  
Surprisingly, Abby’s Pikachu had defeated a Victreebel, and then went on to 
defeat a Pidgeot, but barely.  
“You got lucky, but here’s a Pokémon that’ll change the tide of battle...” 
stated Joe, unleashing a Starmie onto the field.  
“Looks like I’m going to be the first among my friends to win a battle without 
switching Pokémon.” thought Abby.  
“Starmie! Thunderbolt!”  
“You too.”  
The two waves of electricity hit, but Sparky’s was weaker due to fatigue, the 
Starmie’s power overwhelmed Sparky, and an explosion shot outwards, the Pikachu 
dropped weakly to the floor, sparks running around its body.  
“Return...  Looks like type advantage is off today, might as well go with 
Foxfire to weaken it and then bring out my Clefairy...”  

After a long fight, the Gengar finally succumbed to the psychic powers of 
Chad’s Golduck, the Vileplume reentered the battle, but a combination of 
Psychic attack and Solar Beam erupted into a force that knocked out both 
Pokémon.  
Finally, it was Timothy’s Seaking Versus Chad’s Blastoise, and due to it being 
held on the Water Field, it was an impressive match from start to finish...  
“Horn Drill!” shouted Tim’.  
“WITHDRAW!”  
The sharp spinning spike slammed into the Blastoise’s shell, and snapped, the 
Blastoise’s defense was very impressive.  
“GO!” shouted Chad, “SKULL BASH!!!”  
The Seaking went tumbling upwards and rose out of the water while the Blastoise 
spun itself onto one of the ice platforms.  
The Seaking splashed down and charged forward, head halfway above the surface 
and aiming for some leaping horn attacks.  
“BLIZZARD!”  
A cold wave of snow was generated from the Blastoise’s mouth which froze the 
area of water around the opponent and trapped the Seaking.  
“BODY SLAM!!!”  
“Blas-Toise!!!”  
“Sea...” trembled the Seaking nervously as the Blastoise threw itself over it.  
The sheet of ice shattered into pieces as the huge Blastoise landed over it, 
both Pokémon rose shortly after, and of course, the Seaking came up defeated.  
“Good match Chad, you’re just as good as I remember...” sighed Timothy.  
“Don’t get down Kid, you did good.” replied Chad.  

“Pixie, don’t blow it...” growled Abby, her match was getting dangerously 
close.  
“Starmie! Hyper Beam!”  
“Pixie, Metronome!” shouted Abby in response.  
The golden beam charged quickly in the Starmie’s gem and shot down, a massive 
explosion followed, the smoke cleared and a small crater was all that 
remained.  
“Starmie, what did you do?...” questioned Joe nervously.  
“Pixie, dying’s not allowed...” stated Abby, knowing better.  
A small path of upturned earth made itself known, when it stopped underneath 
the Starmie, the Clefairy shot up as did a lot of soil, both hit the Starmie 
hard with the randomised Dig.  
“Double Edge.” ordered Abby, and as the Starmie plummeted, Pixie dived down and 
slammed herself into the falling star, forcing it down faster.  
It smashed into the ground, and shuddered as Pixie landed on it, giving herself 
a soft landing while ensuring success over the opponent in the process.  
“The Red Trainer wins the match!”  
“Aw man...  Good work Miss.”  
“You didn’t do too bad yourself.” comforted Abby, recalling her Pokémon and 
leaving the arena.  

Soon enough, Emily and I were sitting in the Water Field audience seats, 
watching Rick’s match against Kara, which had been underway for a while.  
Surprisingly, after a long drawn out fight, Rick’s Victreebel leapt at its 
opponent, a tough Lapras and slashed at it with its sharp leaves while slapping 
it hard with its vine tail.  
“You are so going down!” growled Kara.  
“Prasss!!!”  
The opponent bided its time, and when Leafer rotated itself to attack on the 
opposite side, the face of the Lapras glanced at the Victreebel and blasted it 
with a point blank Ice Beam.  
“Viiii...” groaned Leafer, encased in ice, tumbling across an ice platform and 
landing in the water, Rick recalled it before it sunk to the bottom.  
“Come on Rick, you can do this.” I muttered, Kara was my opponent back in 
Saffron City, she owned a Charmeleon but it probably wouldn’t be used on the 
Water Field, and that thought reminded me of my battle ahead, how could I win 
with Inferno ruining things, and would Garland be able to take it if I didn’t 
use Inferno?  
“Go Ooze!...”  

And close to the time, Scott was in the Grass Field in his second battle 
against Allen Camp, a man dressed in awfully coloured green and pink clothing 
who used female Pokémon such as Jynx and Clefable.  
Scott’s Raichu had been frozen totally earlier on, but his Magmar, Kindle, made 
things right against the Jynx.  
But the Clefable had got lucky and used Bubble and Rock Throw attack made out 
of the randomness of Metronome attack.  
Finally, Scott’s Onix took charge and slipped around the attacks, seeing as the 
Clefable didn’t know what it would be using, she was soon defeated.  
Finally, Shard battled against Camp’s Nidoqueen, but it was currently beating 
it with Fighting-type moves relentlessly.  
“Super job Nidoqueen!” laughed the opponent, “You’ve nearly won Honey!”  
“Onnnn...” groaned Shard.  
“Shard! Fight back! You’ve got a type advantage too! Use Harden, and then shake 
things up!”  
“OOONNN!!!” it roared, still being smacked around, but its coat shined gold for 
a moment and crackled as it became thicker, the Nidoqueen continued to batter 
it back, but Shard’s tail was free and he slammed it into the ground, shaking 
the field and causing a shockwave of rocks to shoot at the Nidoqueen and 
explode.  
The large Pokémon fell back, bouncing across the field painfully.  
The angry Onix was now on a roll, swinging its tail into the pile of rocks so 
that they were flung at the Nidoqueen to distract it.  
“Nidoqueen! Look out Honey!” shouted Allen, but it was too late.  
Shard threw its body into the air, and crashed down on the Nidoqueen, both 
ended up in a twisted mess, but shortly after, Shard unravelled its body and 
slithered away from the defeated Nidoqueen.  
“The Green Trainer wins the match! The Green Trainer wins the match!”  
“One step closer...” muttered Scott, leaving the arena in his usual fashion...  

After a long drawn out battle, Cody was ready to finish his fight, his 
Poliwhirl and Jolteon had battled hard but were eventually recalled, it was now 
up to Cody’s Vileplume, who swept its Solar Beam in a ring around the Water 
Field, cutting through the water and leaving a huge gap that revealed Enrique’s 
hidden Dewgong.  
“Mega Drain!” he called, and the Vileplume sucked out most of the Water/ Ice 
Pokémon’s health.  
Perhaps it had a little strength left in it to battle, but if it had, the 
crashing waves of water filling the holes took it all away.  
“The Red Trainer wins the match! Youngster Cody Capture beats the Green Trainer 
Enrique Glacier hands down!”  
“The others aren’t going to like this...” groaned Enrique, his enthusiasm 
leaving him and his body slumped over the trainer booth.  
“That was so cool!” cheered Cody, “Return Flower...”  

Cody left the arena and the cheers behind and stepped back out into the Pokémon 
Village.  
“Not really anything to do except wait for Larry and Lorraine’s battle, I 
wonder who they’re up against?...”  
Cody stepped forward but another trainer rushed past and knocked him over.  
“Rude...” he cursed, before hearing something just below, Cody peered over the 
small fence overlooking a pale turquoise haired trainer sitting on a bench one 
level below.  
“Okay Guys, we were lucky to get this match, all my calculations were right and 
we’re up against Clint.”  
“Bat.”  
“Venusaur.”  
“Jolteon!”  
“You three remember what he did to poor Flareon back in the dark tournament, 
this is the only chance we have to avenge him.  I wasn’t prepared to destroy 
Pokémon even when it was authorised, but since he’s bound to the rules of this 
legitimate tournament, he won’t be prepared when we return his tactics in 
kind.”  
“He’s... going to destroy a Pokémon?...” questioned Cody, but too loudly.  
“Hey Kid! What do you think you’re doing?!” questioned the man.  
“I didn’t hear anything about destroying Pokémon, I’m just going to go to 
Central Point and... talk to someone...” said Cody nervously and revealing 
everything.  
“Stop there!”  
“You can’t stop me reporting this, its wrong what you’re planning.”  
“You wouldn’t say that if you were in my position, how many Pokémon do you 
own?”  
“Um, ten?”  
“And I bet you love them all very much, I loved all my Pokémon, and I was 
heartbroken when I lost my Flareon.”  
“Um... how did it happen?...” questioned Cody, walking down the stairs to get 
closer.  
“It was in an illegal tournament, no-holds-barred matches, I had no choice but 
to battle there in order to raise money for a loved one, and a vicious trainer 
named Clint battled my Pokémon and his Scyther horribly destroyed my poor 
Flareon.  But then I discovered he was competing here, so I got access to the 
League and got a job here, so I was able to switch some matches around so that 
I could face him, its my only chance to get revenge.”  
“But you’ll be expelled from the League forever and probably lose your job, you 
could even be arrested for your intentions, you can’t kill Pokémon, its wrong, 
no matter what the reason.”  
“Just leave me alone! And don’t tell anyone of this, I need vengeance...”  
The man walked away in a hurry leaving Cody in a complicated situation...  

Back in the Water Field, Rick’s Muk had successful poisoned the Lapras by 
throwing itself all over it, the Lapras’s fins couldn’t reach Ooze and so 
couldn’t do much except dive underwater, but the damage had been done and the 
Lapras went down.  
It was followed by an Onix, that surprisingly managed to keep its balance on 
the small platform.  
Rick got overconfident, and had Ooze splatter itself on the Onix’s face in 
order to blind and overbalance it, but it swung its tail upwards and flicked 
the Muk into the water, where it practically dissolved and was unable to 
reform.  
Rick’s final Pokémon was his Poliwrath, who easily blasted the Onix into the 
water with a tiny Water Gun attack.  
“A reckless choice made by Kara has cost her dearly, we’re down to the final 
Pokémon.”  
“I won’t lose Rick! Go!!!”  
“Licki!” slurped the fat Lickitung that appeared, the ice platform started to 
tilt a little so it had to centre itself to stay afloat.  
“Vortex! Fight on the islands, but if there’s any sign of a tongue attack, then 
dive.”  
“Lickitung! Disable!”  
Rick’s Poliwrath was frozen solid by the Psychic-type attack, and while it 
remained stationary, the Lickitung hopped across the islands to reach it.  
“Slam!”  
“Hypnosis!”  
Only the Poliwrath’s eyes changed in its frozen state, to a glowing blue, the 
Lickitung was already over it in order to press all its weight on it, but it 
fell asleep during the procedure.  
Vortex broke out of the psychic prison and leaped onto another island, while 
the Lickitung splatted onto the neighbouring one, and caused it to spin on the 
surface, the Lickitung stuck to it and constantly going over and under the 
surface of the water along with the spinning disc until it came to a stop, the 
other way around.  
“That was funny.” mocked Rick, before a long tongue shot out of the water 
towards Vortex, who jumped back.  
The Lickitung floated to the top, its round body causing it to rather than 
sink, it climbed onto the island and emitted a horrid wail that luckily only 
affected the field and not the audience seats.  
“Body Slam!” shouted Kara, and the Lickitung leapt forward again.  
“You too!” shouted Rick, and the Poliwrath sidestepped the large Pokémon, and 
threw its weight against it to bounce it upwards.  
The speed of the Lickitung caused its fall to break through the ice, and sink, 
but it rose up again and used its tongue to pull itself up.  
“Hydro Pump!” shouted Rick, after Vortex had used the time to initiate Amnesia 
to increase such an attack, the extra power of the jet blasted the Lickitung 
upwards.  
“Submission!” added Rick, and the Poliwrath spun on the spot before rising up 
and punching the Lickitung hard.  
It fell awkwardly but didn’t submit, while the Lickitung splashed down again, 
and rose up to the surface, its eyes spirals and its tongue hanging out of its 
mouth weakly.  
“The Green Trainer Rick wins! The reckless Kara is out of this tournament!”  
“Reckless?!” complained Kara, “You cheated!”  
“That what your sort always say.” mocked Rick, “’This arcade must be broken, I 
couldn’t see the screen, your Pokémon cheated’...  Get over it, I’ll be happy 
to take you on some other time, once you accept your mistakes and overcome 
them.”  
With that he left the arena, but not before giving me a thumbs up for the 
support.  

“I wish I could have his confidence for the day, I’m going to need all the luck 
I can find to get around my dilemma...” I moaned.  

End of Chapter 53A  

Back to Chapter 53B
Chapter 54B
Back to Story List #41 - #60
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