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Pokemon, Asylum of the Damned

Chapter XXXVII

Saga VIII- Zerobadge Saga

Chapter III- Some Things Never Die….

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Tom rubbed his sore side through his worn leather jacket. He felt like his 
ribs had split apart down the middle of their bones. “Fucking Rockets,” Tom 
growled to himself. He rubbed his throat, remembering his escapade at Mega 
City as he traveled down the dirt road towards Zero City. Suddenly, 
something within Tom sagged. “Porygon, where are you?” Tom asked himself, 
rubbing his itchy eyes.

“There you are!”

A sudden shriek from behind Tom made him whirl around. It was Jen, and she 
was in her convertible car, driving towards Tom and stopping beside him. 
“How’d you disappear like that?” Jen demanded an answer, “And what happened 
to your face?”

“I teleported,” Tom smirked.

“Yeah, and I’m Houdini,” Jen said sarcastically with a sting. “What is it 
with you and Mega City?”

“Nothing,” Tom spat out quickly.

“Right,” Jen groaned, “Spit it out.”

“Nothing…really,” Tom weakly replied.

“Come on, Tom,” Jen sighed, “What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on,”

“Really! Nothing!”

“Oh, for the love of- what is it?”

“Nothing!” Tom roared. Jen jolted in her seat.

A few silent seconds passed between them. “Okay, jeez, don’t have to be so 
edgy,” Jen growled. “Wanna’ ride?” she asked, popping up the locks of the 
passenger side door.

********************

“So, are you headed to Zero City too Jen?” Tom asked in the passenger seat 
of Jen’s car.

“Yeah,” said Jen, “I figured I’d meet an old friend who lives there.”

“Who?” Tom asked.

Jen looked sideways at Tom. “Not until you tell me about what happened in 
Mega City.”

Tom groaned. “Jen, just drop it okay?”

“Na-uh,” Jen spat out. “Let me guess, your girlfriend lives there?”

“N- wait, yes! That’s it! My girlfreind,” Tom said quickly.

“Problems?” Jen asked intrusively.

“Sure,” Tom said.

The subject of conversation suddenly ended right there, when as soon as the 
car approached a roadside tree, a large blocky shadow leapt out from behind 
the tree. Jen shrieked, slammed the brakes, and flung the wheel to the 
right. The large figure held out its hand and stopped the car effortlessly. 
Tom’s jaw dropped wide open when he recognized the figure.

“Rhydon!” the behemoth roared.

“Rhydon!” Tom gasped, “You again-!”

“Why doesn’t he look happy?” Jen weakly asked Tom, still shivering and 
shaken.

Tom hopped out of the car and stood in front of Rhydon. “Listen Rhydon,” Tom 
groaned, “Kangaskhan can’t fight you, and Porygon’s missing, so I can’t know 
what you say. So save us trouble and go away.”

Rhydon never laughed harder in his life. Tom could tell that Rhydon was 
still swearing madly at him.

“Tom, what’s going on?” Jen asked quietly.

“This Rhydon’s got a grudge with Kanghaskhan,” Tom said dryly. “He got a 
beating every time he challenged him. He never learns-”

Rhydon roared in anger, and slammed his foot down on the ground, shaking the 
earth beneath all three beings. Jen yelped as Tom held on tightly to the 
side of the car.

“I think I know what you’re saying,” Tom said to Rhydon, “but the answer is 
no.”

With a snarl, Rhydon shot out his hand and grabbed Tom by his collar. 
Rhydon’s stare burned holes through Tom as he held the human to his face. 
Then, without a half-thought, Rhydon tossed Tom away. Tom sailed through the 
air, and landed with a large thud on the ground in front of Rhydon. “Ouch,” 
Tom groaned, rubbing his hip.

Jen was about to get out of the car and sic one of her Pokemon on Rhydon, 
when Rhydon simply reached into the car, grabbed Jen by her Pokeball belt, 
and tore it off her waist. “My belt-!” Jen gasped. Jen was about to yell at 
the thieving Rhydon, until Rhydon shot her a sharp glare that fastened her 
to her spot.

Rhydon looked at the tiny Pokeballs on Jen’s belt, and then tossed them 
aside. Rhydon roared again, pointing at Tom. Tom wearily got back to his 
feet and wiped his and Larry’s blood off his face. Begrudgingly, Tom plucked 
off a Pokeball from his belt, enlarged it, and dropped it to the ground. The 
Pokeball rolled along the ground, and then popped open. With a spark of 
light, Kangaskhan materialized from the ball.

Rhydon needed no further provocation. As soon as Kangaskhan realized what 
was going on, he barely found time to shield himself from a rushing Headbutt 
from Rhydon. Kangaskhan grasped Rhydon’s drill-like horn just before it 
plunged into his stomach. With a cry of effort, Kangaskhan lifted Rhydon 
above the ground by his horn, pivoted on his heel, and slammed the behemoth 
on his back with a Seismic Toss. Despite his heavy girth, Rhydon bounded up 
to his feet from the attack and thanked Kangaskhan with a Mega Punch to the 
gut. While Kangaskhan was doubled over and wheezing from the assault, Rhydon 
sucked in a deep breath, and then violently exhaled a blast of fire from his 
mouth, kicking up a thick cloud of smoke around the two monsters.

Jen had to hop out of her car and dash beside Tom to avoid getting roasted 
by the flames of Rhydon’s Fire Blast. “Tom! Are you okay?” Jen asked 
frantically.

“I’m relatively fine,” Tom groaned, rubbing his swollen lip.

“You’re really trouble-prone, aren’t you?” Jen asked sarcastically, ignoring 
that battling behemoths momentarily.

Kangaskhan had Rhydon on the defensive now; Rhydon had his arms raised 
across his face to shield himself from the hailstorm of Dizzy Punches from 
Kangaskhan. “I hope they don’t get too close to my car…” Jen murmured.

To Jen’s dismay, Rhydon quickly shifted the balance of attacks and tried to 
slam his intermeshed fists down upon Kangaskhan with a Counter attack, 
instead having Kangaskhan dodge out of the way and end up smashing a large 
hole in the hood of Jen’s shiny red convertible.

“Not again!” Jen cringed.

From Tom’s perspective, it looked like Kangaskhan had the upper hand, up 
untill Rhydon suddenly smashed his fist into Kangaskhan’s gut with a 
brilliant flash of flames and a boom, landing a perfect Dynamicpunch. 
Kangaskhan keeled over and spat out a glob of blood.

“Kangaskhan!” Tom gasped. He and Jen watched in horror as Kangaskhan reeled 
again and again from Mega Punch after brutal Mega Punch from Rhydon. Tom had 
seen enough and was about to intervene, when he realized that having two 
missing teeth was not better than just one.

Suddenly, Tom’s brain gleamed from a sudden idea. Tom quickly slid behind 
the two giants, scooped up Kangaskhan’s Pokeball, and dashed back to the 
shocked Jen’ side. “You foolish-!” Jen gasped.

Tom ignored Jen and aimed his Pokeball at Kangaskhan and announced, 
“Kangaskhan, return!”

The thin red laser beam that shot from the Pokeball zapped Kangaskhan, and 
sucked him back inside his ball. Rhydon looked around for his foe, and then 
suddenly laid eyes upon Tom.

“He was already hurt before the fight Rhydon,” Said Tom angrily to Rhydon, 
“It’s not fair to him to continue.”

Rhydon laughed. “Rhyyyyyyyy,” he chuckled.

Tom minimized Kangaskhan’s Pokeball and stuck it back on his belt. Within 
instants, he held another full-sized one in his hand.

“Oh, I get it,” Jen said quietly to Tom, “You’re gonna’ try to catch him, 
aren’t you?”

Tom further ignored Jen. “Rhydon, you’re a coward,” Tom growled at the 
beast, “Picking on the weak!”

Rhydon roared with laughter.

“…And you’re taunting him like that to throw him off, aren’t you?” Jen 
chuckled, “You’re pretty sly, Tom.”

“Why don’t you pick on someone who’s not already injured?” Tom challenged 
Rhydon, jabbing his thumb into his chest.

Both Rhydon’s and Jen’s jaws dropped. “You’re crazy too!” Jen shrieked at 
Tom.

Rhydon just laughed again, and suddenly charged at Tom. With a scream, Jen 
dove clear out of the rampaging Rhydon’s path. Tom still stood there, 
awaiting the lumbering beast.

Suddenly, when Rhydon was almost within striking distance of Tom, Tom 
quickly dropped the empty Pokeball in his hand and kicked it in midair. The 
Pokeball sailed through the air, headed straight for Rhydon. Rhydon 
struggled to stop himself from moving and colliding with the speeding 
Pokeball, but his heavy armor-like body kept him skidding towards it. The 
Pokeball smacked Rhydon in the face, popped open, and zapped Rhydon inside. 
The ball fell to the ground and shook violently. And then it was still.

Tom breathed a sigh of relief. He wearily picked up the Pokeball, and then 
walked towards the trembling Jen, who had just rolled over after huddling 
and shivering on the ground for cover. “You- you- you crazy bastard-!” Jen 
spat out between fast-paced breaths as she wearily sat up, “You nearly gave 
me a heart attack!”

“Sorry Jen,” Tom weakly sighed. Tom took Jen by the hand and helped her up.

Then, Tom showed Jen the Pokeball that contained Rhydon. “You caught him-?”

Before Tom could utter a word, the Pokeball began to shake once more. 
Suddenly, with a blinding flash of light, the ball sprung open. When the 
glowing light subsided, Tom and Jen nearly died with shock when they saw the 
angry Rhydon towering over them. Jen weakly trembled, and quickly slid away. 
Tom was frozen to the spot by Rhydon’s burning glare. Instead of sending 
Tom’s head off, Rhydon calmly knelt down, picked up the broken Pokeball from 
the ground, and stood up again. Rhydon held the Pokeball in Tom’s face for a 
while, and then crushed it in his hand. Then, Rhydon tilted his head and 
opened his jaws, and flicked the crushed Pokeball into his mouth and 
swallowed it whole. “Oh, shit,” were the only words that Tom could manage to 
mutter before Rhydon fiercely grabbed Tom by the collar of his shirt and 
hoisted him into the air. Rhydon glared angrily at Tom. Tom squeezed his 
eyes shut and began to mumble various prayers.

Before Tom could finish murmuring the Our Father in his head, he suddenly 
felt himself drop to the ground with a thud. Rhydon was hunched over him, 
with a twisted expression of shock and surprise on his face. Behind him, Tom 
could see a familiar long green tail slashing about behind Rhydon. “Ice 
Punch again, Feraligatr!” Jen’s voice commanded. With another thud, Rhydon’s 
body violently arched backwards with a roar of pain. Suddenly, Rhydon 
whirled around and smashed his forearm into Tom’s savior’s face, sending the 
alligator-like creature flying backwards. “Feraligatr!” Jen gasped.

Rhydon, sensing his immanent defeat and capture, turned on his heel and 
dashed off, quickly disappearing beyond the horizon. Tom soon felt a pair of 
hands help him back to his feet. It was the scaly hands of Jennifer’s 
Feraligatr, who took time to rub the blood away from his bloody lip. Jen was 
quickly standing at Tom’s side. “Tom! Are you okay?” Jen asked worriedly.

Tom groaned. “Still fine,” he murmured.

“Which is more than I can say for my car,” Jen whined, looking at her 
smoking car. A small fire had just erupted underneath its hood.

All three of them wearily trudged back to Jen’s totaled car, where 
Feraligatr spat a small glob of water on the small fire, extinguishing it 
immediately with a small squealing hiss. Tom sighed, and plucked another 
Pokeball from his belt. Opening it up, Tom’s trusty Machamp popped out and 
stood beside his trainer. Tom got behind Jen’s car and put his hands on the 
bumper. “Machamp,” Tom groaned. Machamp and Feraligatr gave their respective 
moans of complaints, then tiredly joined Tom behind the smashed convertible 
and placed their hands on the bumper beside Tom. Jen sighed, and hopped in 
the drivers seat.

-End (for now, heh heh heh….)

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