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Pokemon, Asylum of the Damned

Chapter XXXIX

Saga IX - Phantombadge Saga

Chapter I - Return

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Tom fidgeted his hand in his jacket pocket. When he brought it out, he held 
a small rectangular case, made of clear plastic. Inside of the case lay the 
seven Gym badges he had won since he first started his journey. Popping his 
new Zerobadge into the case, Tom laughed to himself as he stuffed it back 
into his jacket pocket. "A year and a half," Tom smiled to himself, "And 
only one badge left to go!"

Tom's joy suddenly turned to sorrow. "Porygon, Porygon, where are you?" he 
asked aloud in a mutter. Tom looked down by his feet as he walked down the 
path to Double City, and longed to have Porygon by his side, diving along 
with him. "Goddamn Rockets," Tom snarled to himself, clenching his fists.

And then, Tom thought of Jennifer. "Wonder how that car of her's is goin'" 
Tom wondered to himself. "Maybe I should have waited for her to get it fixed 
at that autobody shop," Tom said to himself, "she could'a given me a 
ride..." Tom sighed as he continued his journey on the gravel road on a lush 
meadow.

Suddenly, Tom heard someone calling in his direction. Tom looked to his 
right, and then to his left, down a path that attached itself perpendicular 
to the gravel road he was on. It was a younger boy, maybe about twelve years 
old, running his way. The child's wavy brown hair bounced up and down with 
every stride, almost in perfect unison to his yellow and black striped 
T-shirt. "Huh? Who're you?" Tom asked the boy as he approached.

The child stopped when he was at Tom's side and bent his knees, huffing. 
When he finally regained his breath, he stood up to Tom. The top of the 
boy's head was hardly at the level of Tom's chest. "Are you the guy with the 
Machoke who beat Jackie in Funsen city?" the boy asked.

Tom nodded. "Yeah. So?"

Instantly, the boy pulled out a Pokeball from his jeans pocket. "My name's 
Johnny, an' I challenge you to a match!" the child exclaimed.

Tom jolted a bit. It had been months since his last informal trainer battle. 
Johnny took seventeen paces away from Tom, then turned and faced him on the 
length of the gravel road. "You and me!" he said confidently.

"Okay then," said Tom, " you challenged me, you send out first."

"Fair enough," said Johnny, juggling his maximized Pokeball in his hand. 
"Can you go a little easy on me though?" he asked cautiously.

"I never go easy on anyone," Tom said with a sly grin.

"Yeah," Johnny murmured. "Well, I'll send out my starter Pokemon first!" 
declared Johnny. "Squirtle, go!" With that, Johnny tossed his Pokeball to 
the ground where it sprung open. A beam of red light shot from the ball and 
soon materialized into a Squirtle.

"Squirtle!" croaked the turtle Pokemon. Tom pulled out his Pokedex.

"Squirtle, the turtle Pokemon," said the Pokedex. "Using its amazingly hard 
shell, Squirtle can turn itself into a living projectile with a blast of 
water. Squirtle are one of the few Pokemon to be registered as official 
starting Pokemon."

Tom hummed, and stuffed his Pokedex back into his pocket. "In that case," 
Tom smirked to himself, plucking a Pokeball from his belt and enlarging it, 
"Go Swinub!"

Tom lobbed the ball onto the ground. Like Johnny's Pokeball, the ball popped 
open and Swinub appeared from the resulting flash of energy.

"Nub," Swinub squeaked.

"Okay Squirtle," Johnny ordered, "Headbutt!"

Tom smirked. "Relax Swinub," he said with pride.

Swinub did so as soon as Squirtle charged at him, and he hardly felt any 
impact at all when Squirtle rammed her head into Swinub. "Uh oh," Johnny 
murmured.

Swinub was still motionless. "Squirtle, Tackle!" Johnny commanded. Squirtle 
nodded, stepped back a few paces from Swinub, and then hurled herself at her 
opponent. Squirtle bounced off Swinub's woolly fur like a rubber ball on a 
wall. Again Squirtle tried to topple Swinub with a Tackle attack, yet Swinub 
stood his ground, simply unaffected by Squirtle's furious attacks.

Suddenly, Tom sighed. "Swinub, Take Down," he said calmly.

Swinub suddenly sprung to life and brutally rammed the tired Squirtle in the 
gut. Johnny gasped with horror as he watched his Squirtle bounce along the 
gravel road like the rest of the pebbles on it from Swinub's Take Down.

Johnny quickly zapped his Squirtle back inside her Pokeball. "That all?" Tom 
asked haughtily.

"Not yet," said Johnny, replacing Squirtle's Pokeball with another, "Go 
Sentret!"

Johnny let the ball drop to the ground. As soon as it opened up, out popped 
a furry Sentret.

"Sentret, Tackle!" Johnny ordered. Sentret squeaked and nodded, and then ran 
towards Swinub. Both Swinub and Tom remained completely calm. When Sentret 
did make contact with Swinub, he found himself meeting a similar result as 
Squirtle had- bouncing right off of Swinub, doing more damage to himself 
than his enemy.

"Swinub, Skull Bash!" Tom ordered.

Swinub obeyed, and rammed Sentret in the face without a thought. Sentret 
squealed in pain as Swinub's snout bashed into his face, spraying a cloud of 
blood over Sentret's face. Sentret lay facedown on the road motionless and 
bleeding.

Johnny sagged, and zapped his defeated Pokemon back inside his Pokeball. 
"Man, you are good," he murmured.

"So, I guess I win then," Tom smirked to himself.

"Not yet," Johnny said with a grin, "I have one more Pokemon... this one is 
really stronger than my Squirtle and Sentret!" Johnny smirked. "How about 
the winner of this round wins the whole thing?" proposed Johnny.

"I don't think this kid's Pokemon could be any more pathetically weak," Tom 
thought to himself. "Okay," said Tom.

"Alright then!" Johnny exclaimed with glee as he took out another Pokeball, 
"Get ready to be pulverized!"

Swinub squeaked. "Go ahead," Tom challenged.

"Come on out," Johnny breathed, "Porygon Two!" he declared, suddenly 
bringing his voice up as he tossed the Pokeball to the ground. The small 
sphere hit the ground and opened up. From the brilliant flash of light came 
a sleek-looking red and blue Pokemon- Tom instantly recognized it as a 
Porygon Two.

Tom was about to pull out his Pokedex, when Johnny commanded, "Porygon, 
Hyper Beam!"

But the Porygon Two was still.

"Porygon!" Johnny said with disgust, "Hyper Beam!"

"Something..." the Porygon Two muttered with perfect synthesized speech, 
"Something seems familiar about that Swinub..."

Suddenly, the Porygon Two perked its eyes up from the Swinub to Tom. "Tom?" 
the Porygon Two asked with disbelief, "Tom, is that... you?"

Tom gagged. "P-P-Porygon-?" Tom stammered.

"Tom!" the Porygon Two exclaimed with unbridled bliss.

"Porygon!" Tom cheered as both the human and Pokemon ran towards each other. 
Tom slid on the ground and landed in a kneeling position to allow Porygon 
Two to slide into his embracing arms. "Porygon! It's you!" Exclaimed Tom, 
not even trying to fight back the ears of joy that were streaming from his 
eyes.

"Tom! I can't believe it's really you!" Porygon Two wept with happiness as 
well, even though he had no tears.

"What happened to you?" Tom asked his long-lost friend.

"What happened to you?" Porygon Two asked the same question to answer Tom's. 
Swinub soon scurried over and rubbed his snout into Tom's side 
affectionately.

Johnny was now standing over the three. "Hey, is your name Tom?" Johnny 
asked.

Tom stood up an answered, "Yes."

"Then you are Porygon's trainer!" Johnny exclaimed. "Porygon, it is Tom!"

Tom looked at Porygon Two. "Porygon, did you tell him about me?" Tom asked.

"Not about the Team Rocket incident though," Porygon Two lightly whispered.

"Are you kidding?" Johnny said with glee, "Ever since I got him, he's been 
talking about you nonstop!"

"Where'd you find him?" Tom asked.

"I traded my Hoothoot for him," said Johnny.

"Doesn't really matter," Tom sighed. "Now that he's yours," Tom sighed, "I 
don't suppose it'd be right if I just..." Tom trailed off.

Suddenly, Swinub started rubbing his snout at Johnny's ankle. "Swinub," 
asked Tom, "how'd you like to go along with Johnny instead of me?"

Swinub squeaked with joy and nuzzled Johnny's leg some more. "Can I really?" 
Johnny asked Tom.

"I'll trade you Swinub for Porygon," Tom offered. "I gotta' repay you 
somehow."

"Let's trade!" Johnny declared.

Tom nodded, and pulled out his Pokedex. "Cool, he has a Pokedex," Johnny 
murmured to himself. With a few pressings of buttons on the Pokedex, Porygon 
Two and Swinub began to glow. And, in a flash of light, they were standing 
where each other once was- they had instantaneously switched places.

Swinub squealed with delight as Johnny zapped his new Pokemon into Porygon 
Two's old Pokeball and put it back in his pocket. Tom resized and reattached 
Swinub's old Pokeball to his belt. "You don't really care for Pokeballs, do 
ya' Porygon?" Tom asked. Porygon Two shook its head.

"Oh wow! A Swinub!" Johnny squealed with delight, skipping off down the 
road. "Bye Porygon!" he called from behind him.

"Thanks a lot!" Tom and Porygon Two called after him, waving him off.

"Porygon," Tom said, "I've been a little thick-headed," Tom sighed, "and I 
lost you because of it. I'm sorry."

"Ah, that's alright," Porygon Two hummed. "After all, it takes a big 
thick-header to admit his mistakes."

Tom laughed. "And I see you're still smart-alecky!"

Porygon Two laughed as well. "And you're still... well... you!"

"And you're still Porygon!"

Tom and Porygon Two continued their discussion of each other as they 
continued down the road to Double City.

-End

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