Chapter 56:  Personal Battles (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

Things were getting more tense in the Pokémon League, I was now in the top 16, 
along with Emily, Abby, Scott, Rick... and Bryan...  
Now that we’d battled on all four fields and proved successful on them, we’d 
now battle in the Indigo Stadium, firstly with 6 Pokéballs in possession but 
only using 3 Pokémon.  
If I succeeded in this next round, then I’d battle with a full team of 6 
Pokémon for 3 more rounds.  
It felt an honour to be this far up in the League, but deep down I wanted more 
than that, but to get it, I’d most certainly have to beat Bryan.  

I was in Central Point early that morning, and awaiting the battle times and 
opponents to be posted on the computerised board, it had meant to be put up 
last night but technical problems had occurred and it was promised we’d receive 
them now.  
“Oh Tetsubo, you don’t know just how proud we are of you for making it so far.” 
went on Mom, she’d mostly congratulated and complimented me throughout the 
whole phonecall, “Are you eating well? Is everyone treating you nicely?”  
“Mom, I’ve got a whole lot of friends and acquaintances competing here, and 
food is free for trainers.  Are you and Blossom doing as I asked?”  
“Of course we are, Blossom and many other Pokémon Professors are recording 
every match, whether you or your friends are in them or not.”  
“Cool, it’ll be great to look at how all the other trainers battled when this 
is over, and to catch up on the battles my friends were in that I missed.  Can 
I speak to Dad?”  
“Oh sure Honey, Paul, get over here!”  
The picture on the phone shifted and I could see many people from our home, in 
our house.  
“I didn’t know there were so many people there to cheer me on...”  
“Oh yeah, we’re all rooting for you now that Cody is out of the tournament...  
Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t think, you’ve always had the whole stage fright thing, 
maybe I should kick everyone out.”  
“Dad, its okay, I was nervous in Round One as you probably noticed, but ever 
since then, I’ve been confident in every battle.”  
“As you can tell, lots of people from home are cheering you on, I think there’s 
a hoard of girls in the city parading your name around, you’re sure going to be 
popular with the ladies when you get back to the party we’re throwing for 
you.”  
“Okay, One:  I think I’ve always been popular with the ladies whether I mean to 
be or not, and two:  A party? The League is only halfway over.”  
“Win or Runner Up, we’re throwing you a party two days after the League, so be 
sure to do your best, and invite all your friends.”  
“I will Dad.”  
“So, my son’s popular with the ladies now? Reminds me of my younger days...”  
“Dad, I know you met Mom at a young age and never looked at another woman.”  
“Yeah, I know I only had eyes for Sue, but I was still popular.  How’s things 
with Emily working out, we accidentally opened a letter left here by her and 
your mother couldn’t help but read it.  Did you two meet up at some point?”  
“Yes Dad, but there’s nothing to speak of between us two, apart from 
friendship.”  
“She’s a nice girl, and a real looker too.”  
“I know Dad, and I’ll be making a decision about us shortly after the League, 
I’m a little uncomfortable talking about these things actually.”  
“Okay then, I’d better let you prepare for your next match, we’re all cheering 
for you.”  
“Bye Dad.” I said, hanging up and seeing that the battle line-up had been 
updated in full.  
“So, all of Fuchsia City is cheering me on as well, I won’t disappoint them.” I 
pondered as went to check who I was up against as always, the lists were much 
shorter now and easy to find my friends, my opponents and rough estimates for 
the time of the battles.  
“Its getting harder now, isn’t it?” asked a female voice.  
“Sure is.” I answered without looking at her, “But its much more rewarding 
and-  Giselle!”  
“Hey there Tet’, how’s my old friend holding up?” she smiled, offering a small 
hug.  
“Great, just great, but I have to say that the five years in Pokémon Tech 
really helped.”  
“How long has it been since we last saw each other?”  
“Many months, is Joe with you?”  
“Yeah, but he’s no longer in the tournament.”  
“That’s too bad, but you’re still battling, right?”  
“Of course, maybe we’ll get to battle again, I’m sure your Pokémon are stronger 
now.”  
“I like to think so.”  
“... Looks like I’m up against someone called Bert, he beat your loudmouthed 
friend, didn’t he?”  
“You’ve been watching matches.”  
“But unfortunately, none of yours, at least none of us will have an advantage 
through knowledge of our Pokémon.”  
“I guess not.”  
“I’d better be off, looks like my match is up early so I’ll need to prepare.  
Don’t watch it, okay? Just know that I’ll battle hard so we can compete against 
each other.”  
“Sure Giselle, I’ll look for you later so we can hang.”  
“Count on it.”  
I’d actually forgotten to read my battle time and opponent in all the excitement 
of seeing Giselle again, she was a great friend from years ago and I’d had a 
small crush on her then, but that was over now.  
As soon as I started looking, someone bumped into me from the side, “Looks like 
I’m up against... Him...” growled Bryan, actually showing anger towards someone 
other than me, he knew I was there because he spoke to me afterwards but didn’t 
look at me, “’Capture, don’t you dare lose...”  
With that, he left, his body language showing a lot of rage, I looked at the 
board and checked his name first:  “Lion Versus Brandon... and Tetsubo Versus 
Erin...  Now why would-  Erin and Brandon!” I realised.  
Those two were some of the harshest bullies back in Pokémon Tech, and probably 
the reason that things got so bad between me and Bryan.  
He used to be overweight, and so picked on by the two bullies, and that’s why 
he changed himself, in order to fight with and overcome them.  
It was the wrong way of doing things and I interfered, which led to my almost 
being drowned in order to silence me.  
I’m not sure why Bryan was so angered by it all today, unless he intended to 
overcome Brandon in a Pokémon Battle, I however, felt a little fear, those two 
nearly killed me, and would probably harbour a lot of hatred for me for getting 
them expelled.  

Meanwhile Scott was up early, and so was Carrie, within one evening, the two 
had begun a friendship, maybe with the possibility of more.  
“... And that’s about it, I’ve been travelling with Eve for the past year, but 
as soon as the Johto League begins, she’ll be old enough to travel with some of 
her own friends, and I’ll be able to do the same.  You never told me about your 
family, well?”  
“Carrie, I, er-”  
“Sis! You’re not going to believe this...”  
“Saved by the brat...” whispered Scott.  
“Its about your next match.”  
“Uh huh, so who’s my next opponent?” smiled Carrie, turning to Scott to see his 
expression.  
“You’re looking at him...”  
Both Scott and Carrie felt a shock run through them and then they both gave off 
nervous glances towards each other...  

Later on, Emily stepped into the Indigo Stadium and stood at her side of the 
arena.  
“The Red Trainer, Emily Whyte has arrived, she’s battled with a strong set of 
Pokémon in her first four matches, but here’s where the competition gets even 
tougher, since all trainers now competing have proven themselves as clear 
winners in four straight matches.  She’s up against the Green Trainer Rick 
Zane, who is entering the arena now!”  
“Here we go...” sighed Emily nervously.  
“Hey there!” called Rick cheerfully, “Since we know each other, some friendly 
advice:  Try not to take the match too seriously, you’ll perform better.”  
She couldn’t help but smile, “Its too bad my heart longs for Tetsubo...” she 
whispered, “Or else you would have a chance with me...”  
“Begin!”  
“Mime!”  
“PINSIR!!!”  
Both Pokémon were released simultaneously and stared at each other with stern 
and intimidating expressions.  
“Psybeam!” called Emily, Miles swiftly brought his hands together and fired a 
rainbow beam at the opponent, it was a direct hit.  
As Crusher was pushed back, it grounded its feet, its closed eyes signifying a 
technique in action.  
The beam dissipated, but as soon as the effects wore off, the Pinsir leapt 
forward and came down on Miles, trapping and lifting it in its horns.  
Rick winked and said calmly, “Gotcha...”  
Emily also had a sudden confident expression, “Got you too.”  
“Mime!” shouted Miles, a Thunderbolt attack easily conducting with the Pinsir’s 
body.  
The horns loosened and Miles leapt up, but so did the Pinsir, spinning around 
and its fist rising to deliver a strong punch.  
Both Pokémon fell hard, suffering from the two way effects of the Submission 
attack.  
The Pinsir recovered first, rocketed forward, grasped its claws around Miles’s 
arm and hurled him into the air.  
He landed hard again, and the Pinsir was far from done, leaping forward and 
then directly down on Miles, its horns set in a direction that would deal heavy 
damage.  
“That’s Guillotine...” gasped Emily, “Miles! Teleport!”  
“Mi-” he uttered, vanishing completely as the Pinsir crashed onto the floor, 
luckily for it, it didn’t gets its horns stuck as we’d seen knockout attacks go 
wrong more often than right.  
The Pinsir searched the area with its eyes, and a flash of light exploded in 
front of it, blinding it long enough for Miles to follow up with Thunder Wave.  
Crusher rolled back and concentrated despite the minor shocks running through 
him, though he stood still, his body was rotating in a circle.  
“Enough Sword Dance Crusher, Slash.”  
“PIN-SIR!!!” screamed Crusher, rushing forward and swinging its head and horns, 
but Miles was ordered to teleport again.  
The Pinsir crashed and spun uncontrollably, it stopped as Miles appeared, 
shooting a fully charged Solar Beam attack down upon it.  
Its hands came up and held back as much of the bright beam as possible, unseen 
to Emily and Miles, yellow energy was drawn into the Pinsir until the attack 
ended.  
“That must have it down to near zero health, use Doubleslap!”  
As the Mr Mime charged and raised one hand, the Pinsir leapt from its seemingly 
weakened state and slammed its weight into the Mr Mime, white energy pouring 
out its hands as it struck with both.  
Miles was batted some distance and landed, utterly defeated.  
“What was that? Surely Miles had more health than that...” uttered a shocked 
Emily.  
“Bide.” smiled Rick, “I had my Pinsir use it when you used Solar Beam, that 
bright light was all of the damage from that attack multiplied by two.”  
“You really know your stuff...” whispered Emily, “No wonder I couldn’t get 
sponsored by Blossom, you and Tetsubo are in another league than most...  I’m 
going to have to work hard.”  
Emily’s Mr Mime was recalled and replaced by her trustworthy Marowak, who 
appeared in mid-air, flew forward, and slammed the ground hard enough to 
perform an Earthquake attack.  
Crusher leapt forward to Body Slam Graveyard, but a surprising Bubblebeam 
attack was unleashed upon it, followed by Ice Beam which contained the Pinsir 
in a cold rock, and then Fire Blast exploded on it, finishing the match.  
Emily smiled, “Marowaks aren’t known for their special abilities, but it was 
well worth teaching these moves to Graveyard, I guess when one hangs out with 
you calculating types, the smarts rubs off on you.”  
Rick said nothing, but remained calm and cheery as his next Pokémon appeared.  
“Waaaak!!!” screamed the three heads of his Dodrio in unison.  
“Flying-type.” pondered Emily, “Graveyard, Ice Beam!”  
“Agility Ostrio.” grinned Rick, and his triplebird Pokémon swiftly leapt to one 
side and then dashed at the Marowak, “And Drill Peck!”  
Graveyard fell back but hurled its bone forward, the Dodrio leapt over it and 
charged, an aura of red burning around it.  
“I forget.” panicked Emily, “Bone Club and Bonemerang are Ground attacks in 
nature, Flying-types are usually invulnerable to Ground attacks because they’re 
mostly tremor-like attacks, does that mean Graveyard’s bone is useless?...”  
The Dodrio was now sprinting, and the red aura overwhelmed it and gave it the 
appearance of a fireball.  
Graveyard was shunted back but caught its bone as it returned and swept it 
across to hit each of the Dodrio’s heads to cancel out the Sky Attack.  
“Good work Graveyard, that was neither of the official bone attacks, I’ll have 
to experiment that theory some other time, in the meantime, I think we’ll use 
your other attacks...”  
The Dodrio started to peck harshly at Graveyard with Fury Attack but it 
defended using Rage to empower its attack power at the cost of a little 
damage.  
With a huge charge, the Dodrio was knocked sky high, sadly for Emily, it came 
down with an improvised Fly attack.  
“Head Butt!” called Emily, her Marowak leapt up and both Pokémon’s heads 
collided hard, causing both Pokémon pain and to fall to the floor.  
“Maro...” groaned Graveyard, before a burst of wind blasted it back.  
“Hyper Beam.” called Rick, and after a successful Whirlwind attack, the three 
heads pulled back and charged energy in their beaks.  
“This is crazy, but its all we’ve got left, Bonemerang!”  
The Dodrio easily ducked the bone as it spun over them without affecting their 
charge.  
Without the bone, Graveyard was defenseless, the Dodrio’s heads blasted out a 
golden beam that overwhelmed him, but they forgot about the bone, it spun back 
at them, and at the last moment, they swerved their heads around to avoid it 
but bashed into each other, and the shock of that sent the heads twisting 
around each other.  
Graveyard was shaking with weakness but expelled a Fire Blast attack at the 
enemy before collapsing.  
The Dodrio, unable to focus was hit head on, the necks and heads were unknotted 
but they collapsed to the floor.  
Rick noticeably clapped before recalling his Pokémon as Emily did, “Good job, 
how about releasing our last Pokémon at the same time, its only fair right?”  
In the fifth round, trainers could carry six Pokéballs but only use three, 
Emily had no weakness to prey on unless she got lucky in the choice she made.  
“Ivy-Saur!!!”  
“Jyn-xxx...”  
“Oh... No...” gasped Emily.  
“Don’t give up there Emmy’.” smiled Rick, “You still have a chance you know.”  
“You’re right.” Emily smiled back, “Thanks.”  
“Ice Punch!” said Rick immediately after.  
“Hey! No fair!” moaned Emily, “Poison Powder!”  
The Ivysaur was punched and ice formed around the area, but it exhaled a blast 
of purple spores that sent the Jynx coughing back.  
“Hang in there Serena, this won’t be as easy as I thought.”  
“Jynx.” she nodded, before jumping forward and slapping Solar hard, following 
up by slurping her tongue across the Ivysaur’s face to induce paralysis.  
“Leech Seed!” called Emily, and it was done, but the Jynx blocked it with 
Bubblebeam, the seed hit the floor and sprouted slapping vines but proved 
absolutely ineffective this way.  
The Ivysaur tackled and then tore across the Jynx with Cut attack, but she 
pounded in return and then lifted up the large Pokémon and performed a Seismic 
Toss.  
Solar landed hard and immediately sent a Mega Drain sphere forward, it hit the 
Jynx, drained off a little health and then spiralled back to the Ivysaur, but 
Serena deflected the energy ball with a Blizzard attack, this also hit Solar 
hard and froze him in ice.  
“No...” cried Emily, “It can’t be over already...  Can you hear me Solar? You 
have to fight! You have to!”  
“It looks like Emily’s Ivysaur is incapacitated, we’ll give it a minute to 
break free, but if it can’t then the match will go to Rick.”  
“Fight it Solar! Fight it!” called Emily before she realised another voice 
saying the same thing.  
She turned to Rick, cheering on its opponent, “He Really Is something else...”  
Half a minute passed, three quarters, Solar still remained, it came down to the 
last few seconds when:  
“IVY-SAUR!!!”  
A white light that shined around Solar shattered the ice, and out came a 
growing Pokémon.  
“VENUS-SAUR!!!” he bellowed.  
“You... evolved for me...” sobbed Emily happily, “Let’s go! Double Edge!”  
The Jynx was caught off guard and slammed into, she outstretched her hands and 
cast a Psychic attack to pin Solar in the air, and then blasted him with Ice 
Beam.  
He landed but still had some strength to go on, evolution greatly upgraded all 
aspects of a Pokémon, Solar charged forward and used Razor Leaf attack to shoot 
many sharp projectiles ahead of it, but Serena used Psywave to deflect and 
defend, the force of the two attacks sent them back at their owners, the Jynx 
dived while the Venusaur was moving too fast to change direction.  
Solar took the pain of its own attack and charged into the Jynx, who seemed to 
collapse under the weight.  
“And this battle appears to be...”  
“JYNX!!!” screamed Serena, both fists charged with ice and her punch hurling 
the Venusaur away from her, the Venusaur crashed down, areas around its body 
cold and weak.  
“... Turning in another direction but for the final time, Rick fends off 
Emily’s evolution and manages to win!”  
“Return...  You did you best and I’m proud.” sighed Emily, disappointed, but 
not showing it, she bravely smiled at her opponent, “If I had to lose, I’m glad 
it was to someone so warm-hearted and kind.”  
Rick nodded, “Don’t get down about it, you were tough, and Serena has a great 
deal of experience.”  
With that, he turned and left the arena while Emily exhaled and walked slowly 
out herself.  

And closely after that match, Abby was battling against someone from her past, 
a spiky black haired trainer with a red waistcoat by the name of Harris Hart.  
“I’ve seen that trainer before...” pondered Abby, “But where? And why do I even 
care?”  

Abby was well into this battle, which had gone like most, one Pokémon winning, 
then losing to the next opponent, the next Pokémon coming out would win and 
from there on, well, usually it couldn’t be told, final matches could always 
surprise.  
Abby’s Rhydon had first combated Harris’s Tangela, and Abby refused to back 
down even though type advantage was against her, with her new moves Mega Punch 
and Mega Kick, the Tangela was dealt some harsh blows, but it was a good 
dodger, and got around Armour’s Horn Drill and Hyper Beam, all the while using 
Growth to enhance its special attacks.  
As soon as Armour got tired, the Tangela struck with Solar Beam, Vine Whip and 
Mega Drain, though it didn’t get to feed off the stolen energy since Armour 
stomped on top of it before it could reach the Tangela, with its weakened 
armour becoming ineffective, Tangela was able to Slam into Armour and finish 
the first bout.  
Next came Foxfire, Abby’s Vulpix, who evened out the scores, using Fire 
attacks, and Dig attack to burrow away from a Sleep Powder attack, and then 
following up with Fire Blast, she then got around a Poison Powder attack by 
using Quick Attack, and while the Tangela fainted, the Vulpix quickly used Rest 
to return to full health.  
Before she could finish, a fierce Persian appeared and slashed Foxfire hard, 
and then surprisingly used Bubblebeam to weaken her.  
Foxfire used Double Edge while the Persian attacked with Take Down and the 
results of the clash were bad for both Pokémon.  
The Persian recovered first and bit at poor little Foxfire before hurling her 
across the arena, Foxfire started to panic and used Roar, but the Persian was 
too proud a Pokémon to be scared into its Pokéball by a little Vulpix.  
As it attacked again, Foxfire managed to catch it off guard with Fire Blast, 
but tired herself out in the process, leaving the Persian enough time to hit 
her with Fury Swipes and then Thunderbolt.  
Harris had cheered on his Pokémon, leading Abby to recognise him from 
somewhere.  
“Only one Pokémon left...  I mustn't take risks.  Leviathan might have trouble 
without water in the arena so I won’t experiment until I’m out of battle, and 
that Persian’s power might beat Nightmare.  My fate is in your hands...  
Sparky.”  
“Pika! Chu?!...” questioned Sparky as it saw the nasty-looking opponent, 
“Pika...”  
“Don’t be scared Sparky, remember you promised to help me win the Pokémon 
League in order to reunite me with my family.  Go out there and do your best.”  
“Pika...”  
The Persian attacked with Pay Day, scattering coins (from out of nowhere it 
seemed) everywhere, but Sparky dodged and used Flash to blind the Persian with 
a bright light, it then used a recently taught technique, Submission to deal a 
hard blow (of the Fighting-type which dealt more damage due to type advantage), 
but hurt Sparky with the complex stance and strike.  
The Persian screeched a terrible sound and then flooded Sparky with Bubblebeam 
attack, Sparky couldn’t concentrate while being pulverised, until Abby had it 
perform something new.  
It leapt up high and on top of the beam, using the bubbles as stepping stones 
and diving towards the end to land on the Persian and use Thunderbolt up 
close.  
The Persian retaliated in kind, its tail uncurled and somehow it was able to 
use a Thunderbolt of its own, Sparky quickly used Light Screen to defend 
himself and at the first opportunity, used Quick Attack to slam into the 
Persian, and Thunder to strike it hard.  
As the Persian collapsed, Abby smirked briefly, “Good job, Persians are known 
for their power, but not their defenses.”  
“Good job there Abby, but you shan’t beat this Pokémon, we made a pact long ago 
to get here and do our very best, its my first Pokémon and it hasn’t taken a 
fall during any of my League Battles.”  
“Draaa!!!” cried out a Seadra as it appeared on the field, using its spiral 
tail to balance itself on land.  
“Seadra... which evolves from Horsea, which means...  That’s who you are.” 
pondered Abby, “On the day I awoke after the amnesia, I saw you with your 
Pokémon, and it gave me the idea of training Pokémon and soon enough, the 
decision to fight here for my family...  Sorry I’ve got to beat you even if you 
did affect my life, but my mission is far more important than simply winning a 
League.”  
“Bubblebeam!” shouted Harris, and a flurry of bubbles was unleashed, with a 
look, Abby was able to convey to Sparky what she wanted, the little Pikachu 
took a big leap, and the Seadra aimed upwards, the beam of bubbles now took the 
form of a slanted line, one Sparky was able to practically slide down.  
As it did, it unleashed a Thundershock attack, but the Seadra was smart enough 
to give up on Bubblebeam and bounce to safety as the bolt shattered against the 
floor where it had been.  
“Skull Bash!”  
“Draaa!!!”  
The Pikachu was slammed into hard, but was able to release a static sphere 
which burst into a net of electricity, Thunder Wave would now occasionally 
paralyse the Seadra for a few moments.  
It fought the urge to stiffen and fired an Ice Beam forward, Sparky flung 
himself to one side but the speedy Seadra on the move squirted a thick purple 
liquid from its snout which made him dizzy.  
“Pika...”  
“Toxic.” noted Abby, “We don’t have much time left to finish this...”  
“Hydro Pump!”  
“Dodge, and Thunderbolt!”  
Sparky rolled across the floor as a gigantic jet of water was unleashed, and 
swiftly blasted it with electricity to reach the Seadra, it saw this a mile 
away and ended the attack early.  
Sparky took initiative and ran towards it as it jumped away from its last 
attack, and threw himself forward in a spin.  
Sparky’s tail in particular slammed into the Seadra and dealt heavy damage with 
Submission, seeing as its tail was its biggest tool, but the results tired 
Sparky out a little.  
“Its pooped, use Hyper Beam!” called Harris.  
“Sparky, quickly! Throw it off!” called Abby in our usual cryptic way of 
communicating with our Pokémon in order to launch successful secret 
techniques.  
The Seadra had quickly generated the beam, and fired, it would tire immediately 
after, but would make no difference if it ended the match.  
Seconds before it was fired, Sparky used its specialty element to cause a flash 
of light, the Seadra was disorientated and temporarily blinded.  
“Don’t worry! Its right in front of you...  Now! Fire!” called Harris.  
The Seadra spun its head to the sides once before unleashing the huge force, 
the beam ploughed a line in the arena floor, and straight at Sparky.  
“Do it now!” shouted Abby, and something happened, though too fast for anyone’s 
eyes.  
The beam exploded as it hit the area around the Pikachu, that much was clear.  
“Is it over folks? It looked like it to me but I’m constantly surprised.” 
pondered the commentator.  
“Dra...” panted the Seadra.  
“Good work Seadra, you deserve a nice rest.”  
“And you’ll get one, right after you lose.” interrupted Abby.  
Harris looked up in time to see three Pikachus rushing forward, and then the 
centre one leaping up and slamming into the Seadra, he couldn’t have 
intercepted it if he’d tried, his Seadra needed a breather after that Hyper 
Beam attack.  
With a squeal, the Seadra fell to the side, and onto the floor.  
“What a great ending! Double Team and Slam! Abby cut it close but proved she 
deserves to go on in this tournament, thanks to both the trainers for a 
fantastic spectator event.”  
“I can’t believe we lost...” moaned Harris.  
“Don’t get down about it, please.” spoke Abby, “You don’t realise it, but you 
helped me in a big way once, I wish you could have gone further, but-”  
“Its okay, me and Seadra’ll be alright.” interrupted the boy, “And whatever I 
did in the past, I’m glad I did it, you’re a fantastic Pokémon Trainer.  Good 
luck in the rest of the tournament.”  
Abby didn’t expect that from him, but clearly showed a smile, but hid the 
blushing that came from his compliment as she left.  

One of my close friends had moved forward in the League, while one dropped out, 
there were still more battles to get through this day, one of them being my 
own.  
I had many thoughts and feelings about my opponent, and about Bryan seemingly 
going through the same thing, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about my 
next match.  
Back in Pokémon Tech, when I first started there, I’d befriended a more 
overweight and nicer Bryan, at first, two bullies called Erin and Brandon 
tormented him because they could.  
This led to Bryan changing himself, first the outside, and sadly, the inside, 
which distanced Bryan from me and then made him act differently and eventually 
end his friendship altogether with me because we had different solutions to 
dealing with the bullies.  
When Bryan risked everything just to get back at the two through fighting, I 
tried to stop it before it happened by alerting the teachers, but I was led 
into a trap before I could properly do so, and was blackmailed by Erin who held 
me under the surface of a cold swimming pool and promised to let me out in 
exchange for my silence, but something happened, I became trapped down there 
and almost drowned if not for one of my teachers saving me.  
For years after that, I kind of had a fear of water, I’m surprised I’ve never 
brought it up here or to my friends, I must have blocked it out as I’ve swam on 
occasion during the last year.  
In fact, its ironic that my starter Pokémon was a Water-type despite my 
trauma.  
But now some of those fears were resurfacing, not the water thing, that surely 
wouldn’t happen here, but for whom I was facing.  
My misfortunate situation was the proof that led to the two bullies being 
expelled from Pokémon Tech, I’m sure they didn’t care for having to leave the 
study and work (they were time wasters and didn’t study), but they had strict 
parents that apparently would have sent them to some form of military school.  
I wasn’t looking forward to facing Erin, I knew she wouldn’t be able to hurt me 
in front of thousands in the stadium and millions over the world watching, but 
I was certain she could get to me with words.  
Pokémon Tech wasn’t always perfect, but my experiences, good and bad, shaped 
the person I am today, if I’d studied without the problems I’d faced, I might 
have lost myself in work, and ended up an overconfident snob that looked down 
on people.  
Either way, regardless of what I could have been and what I am today, I didn’t 
want to feel as down as I’d once been, Bryan’s being here got to me as it was, 
the only thing that could help me was the promise I’d made to Emily, I would 
battle with everything I had and not give up, and to Cody’s friend who’d lost 
to Bryan, that I’d go on to beat him for her and all he’d beaten.  
With a small token of confidence and hope restored, I headed towards the Indigo 
Stadium, my Pokémon ready but my match some time away, I needed to prepare 
myself some more, without any of my friends present.  

End of Chapter 56A  

Back to Chapter 55B
Chapter 56B
Back to Story List #41 - #60
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