Jack woke up late the next morning having slept for over twelve hours following his hectic day. Stretching languidly he exited the Pokémon centre and decided to explore Vermillion City. He had been so focused on training his Pokémon and beating the gym leaders in previous cities that he hadn't made time to just explore and lose himself in the sights and smells of a brand new place.
Vermillion City was a bustling port with overseas connections to both Hoenn and Sinnoh and many ships ranging from huge, rusting metal tankers to small, rickety fishing boats made out of planks of driftwood nailed precariously together. Thousands of sailors passed through each day and Jack watched fascinated as a dark skinned sailor from the sunny land of Hoenn strode past accompanied by a large green Pokémon.
It was about five foot tall, with a double-crested head, a huge leafy tail that was nearly as big as its body, sharp leafy projectiles protruding from its forearms and large yellow bulbs sprouting from its back. The Pokémon was chattering to itself happily but its accent was such a thick Southern drawl that Jack couldn't understand a word.
Jack turned around and stared at another sailor, incredibly pale skinned with a head of flaming hair, from the cold, mountainous towns of the northern Sinnoh region. A huge Pokémon, one that looked to be over seven foot tall, followed him long, thick white hair rustling in the sea breeze.
It grunted and swore in a sibilant accent as it lugged a huge metal crate in its green-furred, three-fingered hands. 'Come on Yuki,' called the sailor seeing the huge Pokémon had fallen behind. Yuki it hissed to itself Yuki. I'm an Abomasnow dammit not a goddamn Shinx! Jack chuckled to himself as he heard this, though he was surprised that the sailor hadn't heard his Pokémon.
Jack's wonderings brought him to the eastern edge of Vermillion and as he began to walk through the sparsely spaced trees of a quiet copse he suddenly heard a loud screaming sound. Jack began to run eastwards towards the large barbed-wire fence and gatehouse which separated and protected the edge of Vermillion from the Pokémon outside.
Suddenly a group of people, trainers from their clothing, sprinted out of the gatehouse with real fear in their eyes. There was a loud roar of anger behind them and a shape smashed through the barbed wire fence. It was a yellow Pokémon with a ruff of white fur round its neck, now ripped and bloodied, and a small pendulum in its hand which had been broken in half. The Pokémon tried to push itself up, but it only managed to push itself up on its hand and knees before it collapsed. It was still conscious, but barely.
The Pokémon's trainer followed it through the fence, sprinting and screaming at the top of his voice, 'run,' he screamed, 'it's awake! RUN!' Another loud roar echoed through the copse, louder and closer this time, and the trainer gave another terrified yelp and sprinted past his injured Pokémon. He was so terrified that he didn't even recall it, just sprinted straight past without even sparing it a glance.
A huge Pokémon ripped its way through the remnants of the fence, ignoring the barbed wire and ripping two, two hundred pound fence posts out of the ground as if they weighed nothing. The Pokémon roared angrily, its eyes red and bloodshot, and smashed the two fence posts together with such force that the wood disintegrated. It was bleeding from two dozen superficial cuts but it the wounds didn't seem to affect it.
Jack pointed his Pokédex at the Pokémon Snorlax the sleeping Pokémon. Very lazy, it just eats and sleeps. As its rotund bulk builds it becomes steadily more slothful. Wake up a sleeping Snorlax at your peril, if its happy dreams are interrupted the Pokémon goes on a vicious rampage, using its incredibly strength to destroy anything in its path.
As the voice boomed out of the Pokédex's speakers the Snorlax fixed its piggy eyes on Jack. It ominously brought its large paws together with a resounding slap and began to waddle slowly towards Jack. 'Oh shit,' exclaimed Jack, backing away extremely quickly. He assessed his options and released Dante, feeling that he would be a safe bet.
'Dante use flamethrower,' yelled Jack, not realising he was making a big mistake. The flames washed over the Snorlax for about thirty seconds before abating, and Jack looked in horror at the unharmed Pokémon. Its skin was barely burnt from the attack, and Jack realised with a sinking feeling that he had just succeeded in making it very, very angry.
The Snorlax's roar was so loud that that the sound seemed to be a physical force, dislodging Pidgey from their nests for miles around and sending Rattata bolting for their 'safe' burrows. Even Dante seemed slightly taken aback by his ineffective attack, and for the first time ever he began to give ground to another Pokémon.
The Snorlax cleared the distance between itself and Dante with a huge jump, hitting the ground with enough force to shake the earth, and landed a huge punch on Dante. Dante was knocked off his feet and sent rolling along the ground for nearly five metres before he stopped and tottered to his feet. The attack had hit him on the shoulder, so was ineffectual, but Dante was shaken by its sheer force.
'Dante use iron head,' ordered Jack. He had decided that he wanted this incredible Pokémon as part of his team and he would capture it if it killed him. Dante exercised his shoulder gingerly, then charged towards the enormous Pokémon. The Snorlax sat down heavily on the ground and tensed its enormous shoulders – over six feet from left to right.
Dante's speed surprised the Snorlax and he connected with its midriff before it had time to land a punch. The Snorlax skidded back slightly and clutched its stomach, but otherwise seemed unharmed by the attack. Then it landed another huge punch on Dante, again knocking the now four hundred pound creature onto its back with contemptuous ease. Dante struggled to his feet, starting to look battered by the beating he had taken, and looked towards Jack for orders.
'Punch it in the face,' shouted Jack, realising that there was so much fat on the Snorlax's body that an attack anywhere else would do next to no damage. Dante leapt towards the Snorlax and smashed its face with a number of powerful crunches accompanied by sickening cracks. Those punches hurt, the Snorlax roared in pain and surprise and grasped one of Dante's arms.
The Snorlax began to spin round, gaining speed rapidly, and threw Dante through the air. Dante landed heavily on the ground thirty feet away and lay still for a moment before struggling back to his feet. He was limping badly now and held his bruised right foreleg off the ground.
The Snorlax touched its mashed face with a pained yelp. Huge bruises now covered its face and blood seeped out from its temple. Any other Snorlax would have gone to sleep now, to rest and recuperate, but not this one. It rose on its huge feet, now berserk with anger, and began to rumble towards Dante.
With each step the ground let out a tortured groan as the one thousand pound creature thundered towards Dante. Dante was injured and couldn't move. He looked in horror as the creature bore down on him. 'Dante use flamethrower again,' Dante stared at Jack again? It didn't do anything last time? Jack stared right back, meeting his Pokémon's eyes. 'Trust me.' Dante obeyed and attacked the Snorlax with white hot flame.
Though the flame barely did any damage to the rampaging creature it did buy Dante valuable time. 'Now Dante whilst it's still blinded by the flame, using iron head on its legs!' Dante limped slowly towards the Snorlax before sprinting towards it, groaning in pain as he did. Dante barrelled through the Pokémon's legs, knocking it face first into the ground with a titanic thump.
The Snorlax lay there in a daze, at least momentarily out of the battle. 'Great work Dante, now...' Jack pulled out a Pokéball from his bag and threw it towards the dazed Pokémon. He watched expectantly as the Pokéball began to twitch. Confused and dazed, the Snorlax couldn't put up too much of a fight, and within ten seconds it was captured. Jack breathed a sigh of relief and collected the Pokéball, placing it in his backpack. Lt. Surge here we come.
The Vermillion City gym was right on the coast, and on the outside looked similar to the two other gyms Jack had encountered. Jack entered, and walked into what seemed like a metal coffin. Most of the gym was metal, the walls, the ceiling....everything except the floor. Large spotlights were fixed on two trainers who stood in the centre of the gym. Behind them large poles with blue, crackling electricity passing between them blocked the way into the centre of the gym.
'Welcome challenger,' said the two men in unison, 'we are the privates of Vermillion Gym. We served with Lt. Surge in the inter-regional war and you can only challenge him if you beat both of us in a double battle.' The talking in unison gag was really creepy, enhanced by the fact that both trainers looked completely different. One was dressed in a smart suit and carried a metal briefcase in his right hand and the other was dressed in the ripped fatigues of a soldier, had an electrical generator strapped to his back and had live electrical cables draped around his neck and shoulders.
Without further words both privates released their Pokémon. Neither was large or impressive – both around a foot tall – but dangerous electricity sparked around their bodies. One looked like very similar to a Pokéball, except it had no button and large angry eyes stared back at Jack. The other was a round steel ball with a large, unblinking eye set in the middle and horseshoe shaped magnets attached to either side. Electricity arced between both magnets accompanied by the faint humming sound of high voltage electricity.
Jack released his two Pokémon onto the field - Dante and Asrael who were both resistant to electricity – and gestured insultingly at the two privates. Enraged they attacked. 'Magnemite attack with thunderbolt,' cried the suited trainer as the other trainer yelled, 'Voltorb attack with charge beam!'
The two electric attacks jolted towards their intended targets, who both endured the attack with easy before retaliating. Jack didn't need to order his Pokémon all the time now, he trusted them to make the right decision.
Dante's flamethrower attack was devastatingly effective on the Magnemite. Its steel body bubbled and melted as it was subjected to the extreme heat and the Pokémon dropped to the floor as a deformed mass of rapidly cooling steel, unconscious after one attack.
Asrael hit the highly volatile Voltorb with an iron tail attack that shattered the creature into two pieces, releasing its stored energy in a storm of bright yellow sparks. The sparks were immediately drawn to the metal surroundings and grounded into the floor without harming any of the trainers within.
The privates recalled their Pokémon and stepped aside without saying a word, their faces expressionless. The electric gates behind them had unlocked and an enormous man walked into view. He must have been six and a half feet tall and he was covered in muscles that bulged obscenely over his weathered skin. Wormlike veins stood out on high relief in his ripped body and his teeth shined whitely against an otherwise tanned face.
'So kid,' the man drawled, 'you beat my privates.' He glared at the two trainers, who quivered with terror at the look on their lieutenant's face. 'I know they're not exactly powerful, but they keep me from having to crush the weaklings.' He stared intently at Jack, 'I would have put you in the weakling category you know, but you are full of surprises. I think that you may be a worthy opponent little stick.' He patted Jack on the back hard enough to make his knees buckle. 'Let's fight kid! I will shock you into surrender.'
Jack picked a Pokéball from his bag and threw into onto the field, expecting to see Dante appear. Instead an enraged Snorlax appeared in Dante's place, fully healed and extremely dangerous. Even Lt. Surge, who was nearly as tall as the Snorlax, stepped back from the furious look on the Pokémon's face.
'Woah kid, that's one angry looking Pokémon. Let's see how it deals with my Jolteon.' Jolteon was a yellow dog like Pokémon bristling with needle sharp fur and it looked distinctly unafraid by the hulking Pokémon that towered over it. 'Snorlax use body slam,' shouted Jack. The Pokémon turned a baleful eye towards Jack I haven't finished with you puny human surprisingly the voice was distinctly feminine I will crush them for you but I will take no orders.
Jack sighed and prepared himself for a battle that he would have no control over. At Lt. Surge's urgings the Jolteon began to spark. Suddenly a veritable storm of electricity was released towards the Snorlax. As unaffected by the electricity as she was by fire, the Snorlax easily shook of the attack and kicked the Jolteon with a huge foot.
The Pokémon twisted its body to avoid the attack but was too slow and was caught a glancing blow by the side of the Snorlax's foot. If the blow had connected full on the Pokémon would have a full complement of broken ribs, but even with a glancing blow the Jolteon was knocked off its feet and slid backwards along the floor for a good two metres before coming to a halt.
'Jolteon, don't be a pussy and use pin missile!' shouted Lt. Surge angrily, and at the insultingly phrased urgings of his master the Pokémon staggered to its feet. Its fur became even more rigid and shot towards the Snorlax. Thin, razor sharp missiles dug deep into her fat, irritating the Snorlax but not actually doing much damage.
With an angry yell the Snorlax jumped in the air and landed belly first on the Jolteon. Lt. Surge winced and turned away. Jack winced and turned away. The privates winced and turned away. The Snorlax stood up, yelled triumphantly, picked out some of the quills from her skin and kicked the furred bag of broken bones with her foot. Lt. Surge recalled his crushed Jolteon and gave another Pokémon the unenviable task of defeating a rampaging Snorlax.
The Pokémon charged with this task was a small humanoid creature, less than half the height of the Snorlax, with yellow fir striped with black, a long cat-like tail and two antennae. 'Electabuzz use thunderpunch,' ordered Lt. Surge, looking quickly towards Jack and wondering why he wasn't ordering his Pokémon. The Electabuzz's fist began to spark and then the Pokémon slammed it into the Snorlax's face with surprising strength.
Similar to her battle with Dante, the hit to the face hurt her badly and the Snorlax fell to the ground clutching the place of impact. Both of her eyes were glued shut and weeping blood - the electric shock must have zapped her eyes quite badly. Suddenly she began to flail around in pain, moaning all the while. Jack put his hands over his ears to block out the sound, but Lt. Surge was smiling and seemed to revel in the suffering of his opponent.
'Use rest,' shouted Jack, 'use it to stop the pain!' The reply was full of agony I can't, I don't know how. I've always been very hyperactive and my parents never taught me rest! Jack smacked his head in disbelief. A hyperactive Snorlax? He thought just my luck. The Snorlax's flailing became wilder and wilder and her large foot caught the Electabuzz a smashing blow to the face.
Jack winced as the Pokémon's head was snapped backwards with the force, its neck nearly snapping. It collapsed to the floor clutching its face, its neck partially broken so it was unable to move the lower half of its body. Simultaneously both trainers recalled the badly injured Pokémon and spoke the words in tandem, 'I withdraw my Pokémon from the match.'
Both trainers stared at each other, surprised with the other's action, before nodding in understanding and releasing their next Pokémon. Lt. Surge knew that the battle was against him, but his next Pokémon was one of his most trusted and skilful battler, so if anyone could beat the young trainer, this Pokémon could.
Jack looked at the orange mouse Pokémon with the lighting tipped black-tail, long ears and sparking yellow cheeks and decided that brute force would be the best way to win this battle. 'Go Dante,' he said, 'use iron head.' Dante was exploding into action before he was even fully released, running at full speed towards the small mouse Pokémon. Lt. Surge smiled, 'Raichu, you know what to do.'
The Raichu reflected that smile on its own face and dropped down onto all fours. Just before Dante hit him he sprinted away, moving so fast that he was only an orange-yellow blur, and released a powerful thunderbolt attack towards Dante from behind.
The fire Pokémon convulsed violently as the electric attack hit it and collapsed onto the ground, paralysed by the sheer voltage of the attack. 'Whilst he's down, use iron tail,' shouted Lt. Surge. The Raichu leapt into the air, its tail taking on a strange metallic sheen, and smashed it into Dante's side. Dante groaned as the attack hit him, he couldn't even tense his muscles to brace himself because of his paralysis, and tried to retaliate.
He managed to raise stand up before his muscles gave way and he collapsed to the floor. 'Raichu again, use iron tail!' ordered Lt. Surge, meaning bash Dante into submission – he wasn't the most subtle of tacticians. Again the Raichu's tail began to glow metallically as it attacked, but before it hit Dante surged upwards, grabbing the Pokémon's tail and holding it in front of his face.
With the mouse Pokémon immobilised directly in front of his mouth Dante attacked with a powerful flamethrower attack. The Raichu managed to wrench itself from Dante's grip, but not before it had been badly charred by his attack. Jack clapped, 'nice work Dante. Way to go.' I love playing dead replied Dante they never think that I will stoop to it, but it is surprisingly effective against annoying little bastards.
The Raichu staggered to its feet, sparking angrily and let loose another powerful attack. Dante grimaced as the powerful electricity coursed through his body, but the attack didn't actually do much damage because of his resistance to electrical attacks. And luckily this time it did not paralyse him. He clenched his teeth together. He hated being paralysed.
Dante didn't need any order from Jack to know how to finish this battle. One powerful punch was all it needed to knock the Raichu out cold. The small mouse Pokémon was physically lifted off the floor by the force of the punch before crashing down, its small body bloodied and battered from its encounter with the much larger Pokémon. Lt. Surge recalled his Raichu and gripped Jack's hand in his own huge one.
His shook Jack's hand firmly, almost lifting the bony teenager of the floor with each shake, 'well done kid. You really have some powerhouses in that team of yours. You deserve this badge.' He pressed a gold, eight-pointed star with a dark orange centre about the size of a large coin into Jack's hand. 'Show this to people and they will have to recognise your skill as a trainer.'
Surge stooped down so that his eyes were level with Jack's, 'whatever anyone says, you can do good things and go far. Remember this in times of strife.' At Jack's raised eyebrows Lt. Surge laughed heartily, 'believe me, there will be times of strife. Remember this when you're trekking down Victory Road, having been beaten to an inch of your life. Remember it and take hope.'
Author Notes: Snorlax, it has been done before, but it is my freakin favourite pokemon! Who doesn't love a super fat but really strong pokemon? I know I have changed Lt. Surge's pokemon but his new team is much better than the old one. I will be doing that quite a lot with gym leaders in later chapters.
P.S. the next few chapters are going to get very exciting so stay tuned.
P.P.S. I have to choose a water pokemon for Jack in the next couple of chapters. I have in narrowed down to Gyarados, Lapras, Poliwrath or Kingdra. Suggestions are extremely welcome.