A few nights later, the quartet was almost to the Pokémon Center where they planned on spending the night at, when they hit an unexpected obstacle.
"The Pokémon Center is right over the mountain," Gage said, looking at his map with a flashlight.
It was already pretty dark, so he needed the flashlight. And Elliot needed to keep the blind Deino close by, or else he feared he'd lose it in the relative darkness.
"Great," Rose sighed. She was carrying Lily in her arms, who seemed just as tired as her Trainer. "I'm ready for a big dinner, a hot bath, and a good night's sleep in a comfy bed. Let's get there fast."
"Agreed," panted Poppy. "A relaxing bath sounds great."
"Uh-oh," Elliot said, as he came upon the path that went over the mountain. It was a path between two canyons, so there was no other way over the mountains besides this path. He turned back to his friends and added, "Looks like there's a bump in the road...or a huge lump, to be more accurate."
"What?" chimed in the other three, as they raced ahead to see what Elliot meant.
"Oh no," Gage mumbled, as they saw what was blocking the path. It was a giant Snorlax, in a deep sleep.
"Oh no!" Rose cried, falling to her knees. "This means I'll never get that hot bath!"
"Hm," Gage mumbled, pulling out his PokéDex.
It said: "Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon. Snorlax isn't satisfied until it's eaten about 900 pounds of food each day, after which it promptly goes to sleep."
"So, Snorlax will only wake up if it's hungry?" Rose groaned. "After 900 pounds of food, it could be days before it wakes up!"
"Yeah, there's no way of telling when it ate last," sighed Poppy. Suddenly, she noticed a little pink and round Pokémon jumping on Snorlax's head, like it was trying to wake it up. She asked, "What's that?"
"Looks like a Pokémon," Elliot replied. He pulled out his PokéDex for more info.
The PokéDex said: "Cleffa, the Star Shape Pokémon. Cleffa is the pre-evolved form of Clefairy. Their star shape has led some to believe that they reach the Earth riding on shooting stars. Strangely, many Cleffa are often found on nights of meteor showers."
"Strange, there's no meteor showers tonight," Gage mused.
"Maybe its lost," Rose wondered. "And it's trying to wake up Snorlax so it can use the path to go back home."
"That would make sense," Elliot agreed.
The quartet watched as Cleffa angrily jumped p and down on Snorlax's head, to no avail. Then, it tried jumping on Snorlax's enormous belly, which only cased the small pink Pokémon to catapult into the air. Poppy, the first to notice, raced to where she thought Cleffa would fall, so she could catch it. And, by some miracle, she managed to catch the little pink Pokémon.
"Are you okay, Cleffa?" she asked the Pokémon in her arms.
"Cleffa!" replied the Pokémon happily, saying it was okay. "Cleffa, Cleff!"
"Good!" Poppy grinned.
"Y'know, Cleffa can use an Attack called Wake-Up Slap," Gage piped up. "That might be able to wake Snorlax up."
"Hm," Poppy mumbled. Looking down at the little Cleffa she was still holding she asked, "Hey, Cleffa, do you think that you can try Wake-Up Slap to wake Snorlax up?"
"Cleffa!" replied the Pokémon with a grin.
The quartet watched as Cleffa leapt out of Poppy's arms and climbed up back to Snorlax, launching its Wake-Up Slap directly on Snorlax's face. The group didn't have much hope, seeing that Snorlax was so much bigger than little Cleffa, but, somehow, it worked, and Snorlax got it. It sat up slowly, brushing Cleffa off of its face. Poppy caught it once again luckily, and scrambled out of the way screaming with the rest of her friends as Snorlax made a beeline for the apple trees behind them in the forest.
"We've got to do something!" hollered Rose, who was still clutching Lily. "Snorlax is gonna eat the whole forest if we don't stop it!"
"Maybe one of us needs to try to catch it!" Elliot suggested.
"Alright!" Gage said, stepping up to take the initiative. Throwing out one of his PokéBalls he called, "Go, Raichu!"
"Rai, Rai!" the Pokémon said as it materialized, ready to battle.
"Raichu, Thunderbolt on Snorlax!" Gage commanded.
Raichu launched the powerful electric attack on Snorlax. Somehow, it worked, knocking Snorlax off its feet. Gage seized the opportunity, tossing out one of his empty PokéBalls. It seemed like it took forever for Snorlax to decide whether or not it wanted to stay in the PokéBall, but after quite some time, it decided to stay in there.
"Well," Gage mumbled, examining the PokéBall in his hand. "That was easy."
"Yeah," Elliot agreed. "At least Snorlax isn't going to eat the rest of the forest."
"Mhm," Rose nodded. "And now we can get to the Pokémon Center!"
The quartet started to head off up the mountain path, with Gage staring back at the PokéBall that now contained a Snorlax. Poppy thanked Cleffa, gave it a little hug, and set it back down so that it could find its way back home. She picked up the pace to join her friends, and they climbed over the path and went to the Pokémon Center.
Not too long after that, the quartet had arrived at the Pokémon Center, and was enjoying the large hot baths that the Center provided. Lily, Dratini, Chikorita, Ivysaur and Deino had joined their Trainers and were enjoying the hot baths just as much as the humans were. Everyone had a nice, full belly, since they'd had a wonderful dinner, and was planning on going to sleep in their comfy beds as soon as they were done.
Yawning, Rose announced, "I think I'm going to call it a night. Lily and I are really tired."
"Okay, I think I'll go with you," Poppy said, as she followed Rose out of the bath. Just as she followed Rose, Dratini followed her, leaving the two boys behind.
Back in the room that they were staying in for the night, the girls changed out of their bathing suits. Poppy slipped into her jeans and the black t-shirt she usually wore under her jacket, and sat cross-legged on the bottom bunk, brushing out her long wine-colored hair, with Dratini curled up at her side. Rose was fast asleep on the top bunk, in floral pajamas, limbs hanging off the edge of the bed, as Lily snored, fast asleep as well on top of Rose's head.
"Nice to be in a bed again, huh?" Poppy asked Dratini with a grin, giving it a good pat on the head. "And it'll be really nice to sleep in a bed tonight."
She tucked her brush back into her backpack, and started to tuck herself in under the covers, when a knocking noise at the window caused her to jump. Dratini did the same, and Pokémon and Trainer peered around the beam of the bunk bed to try and see what the noise was. Poppy glanced to Dratini, who gave her an understanding kind of nod, and slithered on over to the table by the window.
It peered out said window, and saw the little Cleffa from earlier standing on the top of a bush and knocking on the window. Turning back to Poppy, Dratini used its tail to point at the Cleffa at the window, incessantly squealing at her.
"What is it, Dratini?" Poppy inquired, hesitantly making her way to Dratini and the window.
Dratini squealed again, pointing its tail at the window ever faster than it had been before. Poppy stepped forward and saw the little Cleffa at the window, seeming as if it wanted to be let in. With an amused and slightly confused sort of sigh, Poppy pried open the window, allowing the happy little Cleffa to bounce inside, and right into Poppy's arms.
"Cleffa!" squealed the little pink Pokémon, as it wriggled happily.
"Hi there, Cleffa," Poppy replied, still slightly confused to as why Cleffa came back. "Did you follow us here?"
"Cleffa," replied the Pokémon. "Cleff, Cleffa, Cleff!"
"Well, you can stay the night with us if you want," Poppy told it. "Isn't that right, Dratini?"
Dratini squealed in agreement with a smile. Poppy and Dratini climbed back into their bed. Poppy set Cleffa down, and it and Dratini started having a friendly conversation for a few minutes, while Poppy watched them with a smile.
A few minutes later, Poppy got under the covers again, and Dratini followed suit, curling up with its Trainer under the blankets. Cleffa, feeling left out, smiled and then leapt right between Poppy and Dratini, cuddling up with the blankets and onto the pillow. Though Dratini and Poppy were surprised at first, they eventually settled in with Cleffa, and all three had a good night's sleep.
The next morning, after everyone was rested, dressed, and had had a good breakfast, the quartet was preparing to head out of the Pokémon Center, and go to the not-so-distant Violet City Gym so that Poppy, Gage and Elliot could obtain their first Gym Badges. And, that little Cleffa was still in Poppy's arms, since it seemed to refuse to be anywhere else.
"Seems like you've got a new friend, Poppy," Elliot observed, as the four met up in the lobby. "That little Cleffa just won't leave you alone."
"I think its because it can't find any of its friends or family," Poppy replied. "And it trusts me since I caught it when it went flying off of Snorlax."
"That makes sense," Gage nodded. "Anyway, are you guys ready to go?"
"Mhm!" Rose affirmed, as Lily nodded in her arms. "Because as soon as you guys get your Gym Badges, I can go compete in my first Contest!"
"But you've never even practiced or anything," Gage reminded her, which clearly was the wrong thing to say.
"I still can do it!" Rose screamed in his face. "I have two Grass-type Pokémon, which are the best kind of Pokémon, and I'll win with two of the best kind of Pokémon on my team!"
"But what if you come up against a Fire-type?" Gage inquired.
"Or Ice?" Elliot added.
"Poison?" Gage continued.
"Flying?" Elliot added.
"And what about the fact that you'll be bound to face Coordinators who've been competing in Contests for years and you've never even battled?" Poppy asked.
Steaming with rage, just like Lily, Rose hollered, "There's a first time for everything and this'll be the first time that I win!"
The other three winced, and backed off, fearing Rose's anger even if she was smaller and younger than all the rest of them. So, they shut up, and finally headed out the door, and straight into the faces of Team Rocket, who'd been staked out all night waiting for them.
"Team Rocket!" exclaimed the quartet, angry.
"That's right!" exclaimed Team Rocket.
"And we're here to take your Dratini, and that Deino, and that adorable little pink blob you have," Trixie explained, a sinister smile on her face.
"Never!" shouted Poppy.
Just as she spoke, Rattata shot a net gun out at them, effectively capturing Dratini, Deino, and Lily. Poppy was able to save Cleffa, still holding it in your arms.
"That's not fair, you can't just take Pokémon!" Poppy hollered.
"Then let's battle for it!" screamed Thomas. Throwing his PokéBall, he yelled, "Let's go, Poliwrath!"
"Poli!" exclaimed the Pokémon as it emerged from its PokéBall.
"Water gun, Poliwhirl!" called Thomas.
Suddenly, Cleffa leapt out of Poppy's arms, landing on its feet, and used some kind of attack that repelled Poliwrath's Water Gun, and sent it back at Team Rocket with double the power. The Water Gun blast forced Team Rocket to go soaring off into the air, though they'd dropped the net full of Pokémon. It didn't take long for Deino to chomp its way out, and all the other Pokémon to climb out and reunite with their Trainers.
"That was amazing!" Gage said. "Cleffa just used Light Screen."
"I didn't even know that Cleffa could use that attack until it evolved," Poppy mumbled, scratching her head.
"But look at Cleffa now," Elliot said. "It's...I think it's evolving."
The other three Trainers looked to where Cleffa was, and sure enough it was glowing, and in a matter of minutes, Cleffa had evolved into a Clefairy with a large smile on its face.
"Wow!" Poppy exclaimed. "Clefairy!"
She consulted her PokéDex, which said: "Clefairy, the evolved form of impish Pokémon is friendly and peaceful. It is believed to live inside Mt. Moon, although very few have ever been seen by humans."
"Clefairy!" the Pokémon said happily, as it leapt back into Poppy's arms. "Clefairy, Fairy!"
"You were great, Clefairy," Poppy smiled. "You saved us from Team Rocket! Thanks so much!"
"Clefairy!" the Pokémon grinned in response.
"So, Clefairy, I'd love it if you came with us," Poppy told it. "I really consider you a friend. But, if you don't want to, that's okay too. I just thought I'd ask."
"CLEFAIRY!" the Pokémon screamed, overwhelmed with joy as it smothered Poppy in a breathtaking hug, as if it couldn't have waited for Poppy to ask.
So, the quartet, now with Snorlax and Clefairy, left the Pokémon Center for Violet City. They were excited and nervous for their first Gym Battles and Contest.
POPPY's current team:
Dratini, Chikorita, Chinchou & Clefairy
GAGE's current team:
Ivysaur, Raichu, Hitmontop & Snorlax
ROSE's current team:
Lily (Chikorita), Flora (Sunflora)
ELLIOT's current (known) team:
Deino