Chapter 17: Awakening the Sleeping Giant!
After been on the road for two hours, the group finally arrives at Camphrier Town, a town is said to can taste the ages.
"Wow this place is amazing." Serena compliments on the town's beauty. Ash laughs a little and he says, "Though it isn't as beautiful as you."
This causes Serena to blush, and before anyone can say anything, Ash changes the topic and says with excitement, "Well, I am going to win the second ribbon here."
"Yeah, though the contest holds tomorrow, we can go sightseeing in this town first." Luke says.
Suddenly a loud rumbling noise breaks the silence and everyone then covered their ears. Once it stops, everyone assumes that it is safe to take their hands out of their ears.
"Man that was ear-splitting." Luke says as he rubbed his ears.
"What was that awful noise?" Trenor asks.
"I don't know. Let's ask somebody." Clemont says as the group then sees a young woman sweeping the front of her door, and they decide to ask what is going on.
"Excuse us?" Ash asks, but the lady does pay no attention to them, much to their confusion.
"Hello can you help us." Ash asks again while waving his hands to get her attention.
Eventually, the lady looks up to see the group trying to call her and takes out what appears to be ears plugs she wears out of her ears.
"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't hear you." She says with an apologetic tone.
"It's no trouble at all. We were just wondering what was the loud noise we heard a moment ago." Serena asks.
"I see you guys must be visitors that are passing through this place. Come on, I'll show the source." She says as she takes them to the center of the town, where they see a Snorlax sleeping there, the snoring of this Pokemon has caused them to cover their ears again.
"So that Snorlax has been making that noise?" Ash asks with the lady nodding.
Trenor says, "And it looks much heavier than yours, Brother."
Ash sighs and says, "Yeah...my Snorlax eats a lot, but it also does a lot of training as well."
Luke says, "Yeah, pretty weird to see a Snorlax that can swim pretty well. But let's get back to reality now, why is there a Snorlax sleeping in the center of town?"
"Because today marks the Snorlax Festival." The woman says as the others are confused, Bonnie asks, "Snorlax festival?"
"Once a year, Snorlax comes down from the mountains and uproots and eats the roots of the harvested field's crops. By digging up the roots, Snorlax cultivates the fields and makes the good crops grow. Every year, once Snorlax has dug up the roots, a festival takes place out of gratitude. There, Lord Shabboneau plays on his Poké Flute in gratitude and Snorlax returns to the mountains once more."
"Wow so Snorlax is part of the lifestyle here." Serena says in awe.
"But this time Lord Shabboneau doesn't play the Pokeflute, I wonder what is going on." The woman says. "If he doesn't play the Pokeflute, Snorlax will never wake up and the festival will be ruin."
As the loud snores continue, Clemont says, "Then I should wake him up this time."
Ash says, "Oh my, Clemont, no..."
"The future is now, thanks to science! Clemontic Gear on!" Then he takes out what seems to be an alarm clock. "This was a forceful alarm clock that was supposed to wake up Bonnie, now I can try using it on Snorlax."
"What did you mean it is supposed to wake me up?" Bonnie asks while still covering the ears.
"Now let the switch on!" Clemont says as he presses the alarm button.
As the alarm clock starts to ring, the noise is getting louder and the four of them as well as the woman are covering their ears harder, Serena says, "Clemont, it's not working."
"But how? It should be fine, maybe I should make it louder." But it is not doing well and eventually, the waves causing it to explode, covering them in dust. "Not again..." Clemont frowns.
Luke says, "Did the Snorlax wake up from the explosion?" He turns around and see Snorlax still sleeping. "I guess not."
"So where is this Lord Shabboneau? Why hasn't he come to play the flute?"
"I don't know, several towns people have already went to ask him, but they are unsuccessful..." The woman replies.
"Then let us try, maybe they will listen to us." Ash says.
The woman nods and says, "His castle is just on top of the hill up ahead if you want directions."
Everyone thanks her and heads off to the castle. Ten minutes later, they finally reach the main entrance. They knocks on the door and a man around his sixties in a butler suit answers.
"Greetings, how may I help you?" He asks.
"We wish to speak with Lord Shabboneau." Trenor says.
"What business do you wish to speak with Lord Shabboneau?" He demands.
"We wish to speak to him on the town's behalf." Luke says as the butler knows.
"Very well, follow me." They then go inside, there they see fancy furniture, priceless artifacts, and ancient paintings. The servant then shows them to the throne room.
"Please wait here, Lord Shabboneau will be with you shortly." He then leaves to a hallway, most likely to check on the Lord himself.
After that, a man in expensive robes and a crown on his head appears on his throne.
"I am Lord Shabboneau, ruler of Camphirier. My friend says you wanted to speak to me." He says.
"Yes,we came on the town's behalf and ask if you could play the Pokéflute for the festival tonight." Ash requests.
Right away Shabboneau nearly falls off his throne as to try to come with an excuse.
"Ohh..um.I-I-I can't,...I...threw it out." He sweat drops.
"But why would throw something like that out?" This time Serena asks.
"Oh I-I-I-I threw it out be-because I'm now allergic." He says.
"But if you don't play, the townspeople will eventually end up hating Snorlax." Luke says.
Ash looks at his heart at the same time, he says, "Lord Shabboneau, I want to ask if the reason you can't play the flute is because Princess Allie of the Parfum Palace took it away?"
This causes shock to everyone as the Lord sighs, "Yeah, I tell her that I need that flute to play, but she just takes it away..."
"What if we go and get the Pokéflute back?" Clemont asks.
Lord Shabboneau gives a small chuckle before speaking. "If you plan on negotiating for the Pokéflute, you might have better luck trying to steal it. Because she will never give back the flute." Shabboneau states.
"Well she hasn't ran across us yet. We'll get the flute back." Ash says.
"Well...I wish you all best of luck. Pafem Palace is just on the other side of Camphirier Town." Everyone nods and heads to the door.
Ash and his friends walk past Route 6 and find Princess Allie. When they arrive there, they see Princess Allie panicking with her maids.
"Hurry up and find him! I can't lost my precious Furfrou!" Allie yells at the other maids as they rush out of the palace.
Clemont steps forward and says, "Excuse me."
Allie notices the people and she just gives them an bratty attitude, "What now? I have no time to talk with passersby like you."
Luke notices something is wrong and he asks, "Um, what's wrong here?"
"My Furfrou runs away because it doesn't like to take a bath! And now I can't find him!" Allie says in depression.
Ash feels bad for the princess and he says, "Why don't we help you find it?"
Allie looks at them with surprise, as she didn't expect people come and help her. She sighs, "Alright. The last time I saw him, he runs to the garden over there."
Ash and the others find Furfrou at the backyard and chase him, it takes them awhile since the Furfrou is hiding in the maze. Ash also notices that the Furfrou has the Matron Trim, which is different from his with the Star Trim. After putting him in the corner, Princess Allie rushes over and hugs the Furfrou.
"Oh, Furfrou, thank you so much. I am sorry about before." Allie says. Furfrou then licks her as she giggles, then Allie says, "Thank you for helping me out. What brings you here?"
Ash says, "Well, we are here for the Pokeflute, since Lord Shabboneau needs it to wake up the Snorlax."
Allie says, "Oh the Pokeflute." She calls her maids as they go get the flute to them. "I thought I can blow it, so I take it from Lord Shabboneau, but it has no use for me. Take it as my thanks."
"Thank you for your kindness." They bow to her before leaving the Parfem Palace, Princess Allie also bids them to come again.
Back at the town, Ash and his friends arrive at the castle. "Lord Shabboneau...we got it." Ash presents the flute back to the Lord, and he is so happy as he hugs the flute like it was a new born baby.
"Oh good, you have my eternal gratitude, the same goes to all of you." Lord Shabboneau says as they smile.
They head to the balcony as Lord Shabboneau says, "People of Camphier Town, I present the Pokéflute and the beginning of the Snorlax Festival." Everyone then cheers as they can finally celebrate.
As the Lord is about to play the flute, it is then swiped by a robot arm and on a rooftop is the annoying trio.
"Haha we got it." They start to cheer, causing Ash and the group to groan.
"You idiots!" Serena yells.
"Ha, by the time we control Snorlax using this flute, we know who the real idiots are." Jessie says as she is about to blow in."
"Wait, you can't blow it, don't do it!" Shabboneau pleads.
"I can't hear you!" Jessie then plays the flute, but she plays a screeching tune, everyone starts to cover their ears again as what she blows is not music, but rather a perish song.
"I was trying to tell them, only I'm the only who could play the flute." Shabboneau mutters.
"Ohh you really need lessons." Meowth says to Jessie while holding his ears.
Meanwhile Snorlax is starting to wake up, but he doesn't enjoy what it is hearing. From there it stands up and stares at the source of the noise.
"There, you see, I woke up Snorlax with my genius." Jessie says as she starts playing again. Snorlax suffers from the noise and has enough, he then unleashes a Hyper Beam at the trio which causes them to shirk and then blast off.
"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" They yell as they go off. At the same time, Ash gets the flute in midair and gives it back to Lord Shabboneau.
He then plays a soothing melody that Snorlax takes a liking. The whole town then celebrate as Snorlax dances around while eating the town's offerings.
"Now that is a happy ending." Serena says.
"Yeah." Ash smiles as they enjoy the fireworks.
Here is a new chapter, and in this chapter, I decide to change the anime part into the game part. I hope you like this chapter and the next one is going to be Ash's second Contest and one of the characters from the past is going back to the contests to be Ash's rival. I wonder who it is? But I will say is not Dawn or May.