Chapter 58:  Dark Side (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

“What if she’s in trouble?...  It’ll have been all my fault.”  
“You can’t say that Tetsubo.  Abby may be angry at you but she’s not going to 
put herself in any danger, she just needs to be alone.” comforted Emily, lying 
on her front of the top bunk of the shared hotel room that Abby usually rested 
at.  
“Emily, we have to find her, she can’t leave the Indigo Plateau, if she does, I 
won’t be able to help her locate her parents, the winning ceremony is the only 
guaranteed air time I’ll get if I can win the League, and she has to be there 
in order for someone who knows her to come looking for her.” I explained, 
pacing back and forth around the room.  
“She’ll be back Tetsubo, you have to believe that, she’s obviously upset and 
doesn’t want us to see her that way, she’s got that whole uncaring withdrawn 
image to think about.” winked Emily.  
“I’m in no mood to joke Emily, I feel so bad about this.”  
“Tetsubo, you don’t decide who fights who in the League, you had every right to 
battle your hardest even against a friend.  If anyone should feel bad, its 
Abby, I mean, she cheated, she used Flutter to sabotage your match against 
her.”  
“Makes me wonder if Abby truly thought Flutter would be best with me, or if she 
knew all those months ago that we might battle each other here and thought that 
far ahead...” I sighed, before looking to one side, “Is that the time? I should 
go.”  
“No Tetsubo, its dark and cold out, you should just stay here, it doesn’t look 
like Abby’s going to need her bed.” said Emily, genuinely concerned about me.  
“And risk her coming back and getting even more angry at me?...  I don’t think 
that’s a good idea, but thanks for the offer and thanks for this talk, I feel a 
little better.”  
“Anything to help my champ.” smiled Emily, jumping from the top bunk and 
approaching me, “Concentrate on your match tomorrow, Abby will forgive you, 
you’re too much of a good person for anyone to stay angry at.”  
I thought back to when Emily left me after I was forced to keep things from her 
and accidentally put her in danger, maybe Abby would forgive me, but would she 
do it in time for me to help her?  
“You’re such a great friend...” I sighed.  
She tilted her head to the side and smiled, “... I think someone needs a hug.”  
“Needs one? Or deserves one for that comment?” I inquired.  
She shrugged and grinned, “Both I guess.”  
Emily wrapped her arms around me and squeezed for a few moments, “Things will 
work out Tetsubo, you’ve just got to believe that.”  
“Thanks...”  
Unknown to me at the time, Emily looked down as she thought, “I guess that’s 
all I’ll ever be to you...  Just a good friend...”  

Meanwhile, my room was even more incomplete, as Scott was out on this cold 
night with his new friend and prospective love interest Carrie.  
“Thanks for the great night out Scott, but, don’t you think you should be 
resting for your next match?”  
“No real need, provided my Pokémon get rest, which they are, I’ll be fine 
knowing I have your support.”  
“Of course you do, its a noble cause and I pray that you succeed in it...  You 
think you’ll be battling Tetsubo?”  
“Could be, but he’s not going to stop me.”  
“Don’t underestimate him Scott, I know I managed to beat him in our battle some 
time back but I’ve been watching some of his matches and his Pokémon have 
certainly improved by far.”  
“Carrie, my Pokémon are great too, and each of them knows how important it is 
to fight their hardest.  Now can we put all that aside for a few moments and 
enjoy this fine night?”  
“Scott...  I don’t mean to be too forward, but, is this thing we have going 
somewhere?”  
“I...  I’m not sure Carrie.”  
Carrie sighed in disappointment.  
“I’ve never had anyone like you in my life before so its all new to me, but if 
you want me to be perfectly honest, I’m in no rush to change anything provided 
I get to spend more time with you.”  
Carrie lightened up, “Oh Scott, I’m so glad.  I like you, but I’ve not had much 
luck in the way of relationships.”  
“But you’re okay if we just take things slowly and see where it takes us.”  
“Yes Scott.”  
Carrie stared deep into Scott’s eyes, he wasn’t sure whether this meant she 
wanted to kissed or not, but Scott didn’t have to worry about making that 
decision due to an interruption.  
“Hey you, you’re still competing in the League, aren’t you?”  
“Uh huh.” answered Scott to the man wearing a tiger mask.  
“And you’re my opponent tomorrow, I’ve heard a lot about you.”  
“Uh, thanks, and I... have no idea who you are.” answered Scott in a friendly 
tone.  
The mask covered most of the facial features of this person, except his eyes 
and mouth, so it was hard to read him, and made Scott a little wary and 
distrusting of the man.  
“I guess I’ll see you around tomorrow.” finished the man, preparing to leave, 
before turning and asking “You know ‘Capture, don’t you?”  
“You mean Tetsubo Capture? Yes.” replied Scott slowly.  
“Please give him my regards when you next see him.”  
As the man walked away, Carrie shivered, “He gives me the creeps, who is he?”  
“No idea, but tomorrow, he’ll be packing his bags...”  

Bryan, the masked man (though unknown to Scott) walked into a dark alley before 
activating a small device.  
On the tiny screen were black and white surveillance footage shots, all 
focussed on Scott.  
“I was right, that Addison guy is one of Tetsubo’s companions, one who’s gotten 
involved with the Rockets and complicated our schemes if not thwarted them 
completely, I’ll have no trouble sorting this one out.”  
With that, he pressed a button, and then held the device to his ear and mouth, 
“Its me.  I need the following Rockets to meet me on the west side of the 
Pokémon Village...”  

The following day, and the matches started fairly early, probably to prepare 
for the final match in terms of the arena, advertising, broadcasting equipment 
and the ceremony that followed.  
I had chosen my team beforehand without a real strategy, my opponent had beaten 
me once, but we’d surely both changed and gotten better, I probably should have 
been worried about her but I was much more dedicated on winning the tournament 
than I used to be, at least now I’d finally learn her name.  

“Go Veronica!” yelled Rick from the crowds as our match began, I wasn’t 
insulted, they were far better friends than I was able to be with Rick, so it 
was okay for him to support her rather than me, I had plenty of support from 
the people I knew best.  

I’d gotten the bad luck start-off, using my Pidgeot against Veronica’s Jolteon, 
who’d still be an Eevee and Veronica dead if it wasn’t for my using my Thunder 
Stone on it some time back.  
I figured it’d still be learning basic Electric attacks, and I was so wrong.  
We’d gotten some earlier attacks in and battered our opponent a little, but one 
mistake, and Veronica was able to have her Pokémon use Agility to enhance its 
speed, now it seemed to be able to dodge and outrun the majority of my 
attacks.  
My Pidgeot’s latest Whirlwind attack had proven ineffective, this Jolteon, 
correctly named Flash, outran the winds and used Quick Attack to slam itself 
into my Pidgeot, and left spines embedded in it, Whirlwind dived down 
immediately after with Take Down, collided with the Jolteon’s face but was 
assaulted by a close range Thundershock straight after.  
Razor Wind against Pin Missile went bad for both Pokémon, the wind 
projectile-like attacks passed right through each other and both Pokémon were 
grazed by the different bullets.  
Sand Attack briefly blinded the Jolteon, and saved my Pokémon from a now 
inaccurate Thunderbolt.  
Whirlwind navigated to one side, charging a powerful Sky Attack with a red 
fiery aura, but the Jolteon used Agility and jumped away so that Whirlwind 
crashed down, with only a little burn on the opponent to show for its efforts.  
Flash struck, first with Double Kick and then Thunder Wave, my Pokémon used our 
latest technique Rage, and dived at the Jolteon with added power, but with a 
fierce growl, my Pidgeot was distracted, and grew angry enough to get 
careless.  
The Jolteon leapt over him and rolled into a ball, bouncing off his back, and 
sending my Pokémon crashing down with more spines in it, because of these, it 
was getting harder to fight off the paralysis from the earlier assault.  
Veronica used Focus Energy to enhance her Pokémon’s strength, and then had it 
attack with Bite.  
I quickly called for Reflect, and a small glowing barrier rose up and came 
between the Pokémon, the Jolteon’s teeth slammed into the shield and became 
stuck there.  
Whirlwind rose up from the safety of its shield and sent several eggs crashing 
down on the enemy, a veil of smoke swept up as a result and both Pokémon were 
engulfed.  
“Use Bite, Flash.” called Veronica.  
“Whirlwind! Blow it away with Gust before it can get to you!”  
As he flapped his wings, the dust and smoke blew away and both Pokémon could be 
seen.  
Veronica raised a hand and smiled darkly, “Stop there Flash, you know what to 
do.”  
I was shocked as faster than I could counter, Flash sent a crackling yellow 
sphere upwards, and a huge blast of lightning rained down on Whirlwind.  
It could barely stand after the Thunder attack, and was trying its hardest, but 
Flash came hurtling forward and used Take Down to hit my bird as hard as it 
could despite the recoil, and Whirlwind collapsed.  
“Not a good start for semi-finalist Tetsubo, Veronica’s Jolteon is extremely 
fast and powerful.” commented the loud commentator to the crowds.  
“All Pokémon have a flaw, I just have to find it before its too late.  Go 
Digda...” I muttered.  

Meanwhile, Scott was wandering around the outskirts of the Pokémon Village, 
simply awaiting his match.  
A small bird-like machine flew over his head and continued through the skies, 
but something dropped to Scott’s feet.  
“... Carrie’s hairband! Hey stop!” shouted Scott, sprinting towards the flying 
thing...  

“Trio Trio Trio...” chanted my Dugtrio, dodging a small Pin Missile attack by 
burrowing to the sides.  
I had my Dugtrio use Rock Slide, the Jolteon was pummelled a little and 
searched for escape, but my Dugtrio came crashing down for a Body Slam.  
The Jolteon skidded back and leapt forward with red around it, and in its eyes, 
the Rage attack hit my Dugtrio, but I’d also had it use a charge technique in 
the way of Bide, and doubled the damage of Rage to hit the Jolteon with a 
bright damaging blast.  
The Jolteon scattered more spines around, and Digda dodged by using Double Team 
to split up into a circle of fakes that stood around the enemy, the Jolteon 
didn’t panic though, and used the technique Flash to produce a blinding light.  
Digda stopped dead and the three heads shook themselves with closed eyes, while 
the fakes didn’t respond at all, it was hit by Swift attack and was then body 
slammed.  
“TRIO!!!” they screamed, their eyes opening and glowing red, I’d also taught 
this Pokémon Rage, and it slammed itself against the tiring Jolteon.  
Veronica used Double Team herself, and I smiled, I’d used a similar strategy to 
this one once before against an Electric Pokémon, “Earthquake!”  
Digda burrowed its head under the floor, and an immediate quake started, but 
the real Jolteon leapt up, and then dived down to clamp its teeth on Digda’s 
three heads.  
“Fissure!” I shouted, and Digda triggered an immediate tremor, the Jolteon 
hastily let go and leapt up again to avoid the hit.  
As soon as it landed, a gold glow formed at its mouth:  Hyper Beam!  
“Rock Slide now!” I shouted, just in time, Digda raised the floor upwards to 
deflect the beam, energy rushed off the hill and flowed back to the Jolteon, 
hitting it hard before it was buried.  
“Triiiiiii-O!” growled Digda, rising from underneath the enemy and blasting it 
upwards to finish.  
“Flash...” sighed Veronica, “Good job, I’m glad we trained so much, Go 
Radiant.”  
“Ka-ZAM!” it bellowed, the match began immediately, first with a blazing 
Psybeam attack.  
I swiftly had Digda burrow underground, but the Alakazam followed up with a 
psychic explosion upon seeing the occasional trail of upturned earth, and my 
Dugtrio was hurtled into the air, and directly into the path of the Alakazam, 
diving forward and spinning fast.  
Digda was batted down to the ground, shook its heads to rid itself of 
dizziness, and then obeyed when I asked it to let loose a Hyper Beam.  
Unfortunately, the Alakazam was ready, and gave a confident glare as it 
outstretched a hand, and countered the blast with an orange barrier.  
As the energy rushed back towards them, the heads of Digda quivered, their eyes 
narrowed, and a mighty explosion rose up.  
The Alakazam grinned lightly, certain of its victory, it shouldn’t have.  
Digda came rushing forward from the fiery smoke, a white aura around it and 
turning to energy rushing forward, it slammed into the Alakazam with double the 
power of a Hyper Beam, and that was powerful enough to bring the strongest of 
Pokémon down to minimal health.  
“Hang in there Digda, its just as weak as you now, go for another Rock Slide.”  
It nodded and pushed forward, raising another hill of rubble, but the Alakazam 
grounded itself, glowed yellow, and spun, slowly burrowing underground until it 
was completely gone, and safe from the Rock Slide, even though pieces of it 
fell into the hole the Alakazam had made.  
I could hear energy generating, and then I realised, the Alakazam was 
recovering underground.  
“Dig! Stop that Alakazam before its at full health!”  
It disappeared and a trail could be seen moving towards the Alakazam’s entry 
point, but a huge explosion blasted upwards and Digda went flying up with 
several chunks of the ground.  
The Alakazam suddenly appeared having teleported above my Pokémon, and came 
down on Digda with Double Edge.  
“That Alakazam is as tough as I remember it, but its physical side is stronger, 
type advantage is a must now.  Go Spectre...”  

Scott had run for at least ten minutes without stopping, outside of the Pokémon 
Village area and into a mountain cavern which was a great length long.  
Finally, Scott turned the final corner, and saw the mechanical device floating 
stationary between two Rockets, a male and female, but there were four other 
male Rockets in the cave, two on each side of the area, behind the centre ones, 
Carrie lay unconscious, gagged and bound.  
“Let her go!” ordered Scott.  
“My my, so forceful.” smiled the female Rocket with long auburn hair darkly.  
“Let Her Go.” repeated Scott firmly.  
“Can’t do that I’m afraid.  We’ve got orders to do away with her, unless you’re 
willing to make a small sacrifice.” added the purple-haired man beside her.  
“You’re lucky to even have a choice, that girl sure put up a heck of a fight 
and usually she’d have to be punished for the things she said to us, she really 
hates our kind.” stated the lady.  
“So what’s it gonna be, do you care more for your match than you do for your 
girl, or are you going to hand over your Pokémon in exchange for her?” 
questioned the male.  
“That guy in the tiger mask sent you didn’t he?!”  
“So what if he did? You’ve got no proof to link him to us.” replied the 
female.  
“I don’t.” cursed Scott, realising he should have activated the radio function 
on his Pokégear before getting this far into a conversation with these shifty 
Rockets, they’d surely see him activate it if he tried to do so now.  
“So that Rocket either wants me to be late for my match, or not be able to 
compete at all.”  
“Wait a minute, late for your match?” questioned the male, “That’s not one of 
the options we figured you had.”  
“My match starts immediately after Tetsubo’s, but even though my sister’s 
depending on me, I just can’t leave Carrie in danger.  Please Tetsubo...  Don’t 
win or lose your match any time soon, hang in there for me, its the only chance 
I have...” thought Scott before grabbing all six of his Pokéballs and speaking 
out loud.  
“Its an option because I’m going to beat all of you and rush back to the 
stadium with Carrie.”  
“You’ll never succeed.” sniggered the woman, as each Rocket, including her, 
drew out a Pokéball, “Not because you’ll wear out your battling Pokémon, but 
because you’re never going to beat us!”  
“I’m a semi-finalist in the Pokémon League, you’ll be surprised how powerful my 
Pokémon are!...”  

A Hyper Beam was launched at my Gengar, but because Normal moves didn’t affect 
Ghost Pokémon, it passed right through him, but Veronica knew that, behind 
Spectre was one of the hills of rubble, the beam blew it up and showered rocks 
down on my Gengar.  
A Thunder Wave was launched afterwards but Spectre broke through the pile of 
rocks and floated up, he’d glared at the Alakazam and made good on the small 
threat by launching a quick but powerful Night Shade attack, and before the 
Alakazam could recover, gave it a literal tongue lashing with Lick attack.  
The Alakazam swept a fist across but my Gengar leapt back and we quickly 
initiated a Thunder attack.  
The Alakazam glared forward, its eyes a pure white colour, a flash occurred and 
Spectre’s eyes looked unclear, the Thunder attack was launched but missed 
completely.  
“Shake it off Spectre, we can’t give it any chances to attack! We’re behind 
unless you can-”  
A Psybeam cut me off, following by a spiralling blue sphere that would cause a 
Confusion attack, the beam hit, but Spectre recovered and floated aside as the 
blue sphere tore through rock.  
Another Night Shade surged down like a dark web reaching out for the Alakazam, 
it hit the ground and dissipated into smoke, but the enemy hadn’t been hit due 
to the fact it had dug underground again, the Night Shade had taken so long and 
obscured the enemy that it was unable to tell how long it had been since it 
vanished, and too late to warn Spectre before the ground exploded under it.  
He was then frozen solid by Disable, and the Alakazam took the time to charge a 
particularly powerful Psychic attack.  
“Spectre!!!” I yelled.  
“KAZAM!!!”  
“Gar!” growled Spectre, a shattering sound occurring as he broke free and 
quickly shielded himself with Night Shade.  
A black tangled mess rose up but surprisingly served as a shield, the high 
powered Psychic attack exploded and the majority of it seared the Alakazam, 
right before Spectre pushed his attack forward and hit the Alakazam with that 
as well.  
“One more chance.” growled Veronica, “Hyper Beam!”  
It was launched before Spectre could do anything, shooting through him and 
aimed for the nearest pile of rock and rubble, Spectre was ready though and 
rose up just in time.  
As rocks crashed down and the Alakazam breathed heavy from using such an 
attack, I smiled.  
“Mimic!”  
“Gennn-GAR!!!” shouted Spectre with a large grin, launching a Hyper Beam on the 
weakened foe.  
One final explosion, and I’d managed to topple what was certainly one of 
Veronica’s toughest Pokémon, and that got me a few cheers from the crowds.  
“Looks like I’m the crowd favourite.” I pointed out.  
“This isn’t a popularity contest, you’ve still got my best battlers to come.  
Teach him a lesson Spooks.” threatened Veronica.  
“GEN-GAR!!!”  
I didn’t fare too great in this match, Veronica’s Gengar outmatched my one in 
every way, and knew all the secret techniques I’d taught my one, she was 
matching it move for move.  
Night Shade against Night Shade, and Veronica’s overwhelmed mine and sent both 
at Spectre, she was able to add a Confuse Ray and then a Lick attack to the 
mix.  
The same happened for the next line of moves:  Double Psychic, Thunder, Mega 
Drain and even Toxic, all backfired, either affecting both Pokémon, or just 
Spectre alone.  
“Psywave!” we both yelled, but this attack didn’t get pushed back by the 
strongest version, the spiralling waves reflected off each other and sent lines 
of energy in all directions, with different amounts of power.  
Both Gengars were shocked and pulled in different directions by the Psywave, 
Veronica’s appeared to suffer more, but it recovered and finished the match, 
using Hypnosis to lull my Pokémon to sleep and then Dream Eater to steal the 
little health he had, defeating Spectre at last.  
“Need I say anymore?” stated my opponent with a half smile.  
“We can pull this back, We Have To...” I glared.  

As I brought in my reliable Starmie into the battle, Scott was in an equally 
intense one, against six opponents.  
His Onix, Raichu, Poliwhirl, Magmar, Dragonite and Snorlax each fought an 
opponent, if not for their initiative, he would have been in trouble, 
supervising six separate battles at once was hard enough, having full control 
of all six was close to impossible.  
“High level.” cursed Scott, “Just my luck...  But I won’t let anything happen 
to Carrie.  Guys! Hurry it up but try not to get hit!”  
They all nodded, Shard while combating a Nidoking, Raichi against an Ivysaur, 
Squirt against a Primeape, Kindle and an Electrode, Dragoon against a Rhydon 
and Bob was wrestling against a large Machamp.  
“Carrie.  Casey.” muttered Scott, “I’m going to save both of you...  I WON’T 
LOSE!!!”  

End of Chapter 58A  

Back to Chapter 57B
Chapter 58B
Back to Story List #41 - #60
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