"Is that all?" I asked him. "All this circus was just to… stuck me with a pokemon called Loser?"
"Yeah. Now there are two Losers in the same place!" And he walked through the door outside, laughing out loud.
I was left there with a creepy Gengar staring at me, trading machine steaming behind me and angry nurse heading right in my direction.
Damn, I don`t want to pay for Douchebag`s stupid jokes! Not now!
"Okay now… Erm… Loser… Use Hypnosis! You know it, right?"
For some reason, he gladly screeched and turned to the woman. His eyes glowed evil red, and she fell asleep right on place. I rushed to her and managed to catch her before hitting the floor. After that I carefully dragged her to the nearest bench, trying to avoid awkward eye contacts with some shocked trainers around us.
"Now, Loser, let`s run…" I quietly sad him and quickly headed to the exit. People hurried to move from our way, but one brave trainer still appeared with his small Nidoran.
"Nidoran, Peck him!" He commanded to the pokemon.
"Hypnosis, on both of them!" I gave the command of my own. Loser was much experienced under the ownership of Douchebag, and he easily put to sleep both Nidoran and his intrusive master.
No one dared to slow us down anymore, and we made out quick and awkward escape from the Pokemon Center.
When I got outside, Douchebag was there no more.
"Damn it!" I cursed him. "Ah, it doesn`t matter. I`ll get that bastard." Suddenly I caught strange look of Gengar on me. The feeling of it is… even stranger.
"Grrr…" He growled and them smiled again. This pokemon always smiles, and that looks really creepy. I begin to regret that I decided to deal with ghost pokemon.
"Don`t get me wrong, pal. I consider you a great pokemon, but… I think that everything should actually be on its place. You – with Douchebag, and my Caesar with me."
He just smiled even wider. I don`t even think he can make other facial expressions.
"Oh… Poor creature. Douchebag mocked you pretty much, didn`t he? You don`t even know what 'loser' is?"
Gengar growled again, continuing staring at me.
"I guess, you don`t know…" I sighed and took a greatball in my hand. Actually, this is the first pokemon I have in something other than regular pokeball. Does this matter? Maybe, not. "Return."
I beamed him back inside and fixed the capsule on my shoulder belt. The fifth one. This can be easily differed from the rest, not only by the evil aura it causes when you touch it.
So, where should I go now? I have some time before professor Oak identifies the record and Douchebag get the information. If he is going to get this at all. What can I do with all my 'free' time? Training?
Or maybe I can head to the next gym? That sounds like an interesting idea. Maybe I can get allies among the gym leaders and with their help destroy Team Rocket. If I`m going to head into sieged Saffron City someday, this can be really helpful.
"There you are!" Suddenly loud female voice sounded from the side. I turned my head to see a familiar girl running to me – Mr. Fuji`s granddaughter. Susan, if I remember.
"Yes, here I am." Was my modest reply.
"I… I wanted to thank you. For saving my granddad." She shyly looked at me. "He is in very bad condition, but if it`s not for you, he would be dead now. You gave us the hope."
"No thanks needed. All I did was just for my own mercenary purposes." I guiltily looked away. "Is he… is he in a coma?"
"Sort of… Doctors don`t know when he will get better. We can just wait. I will wait."
"And I`m going to escape the hell out of here and head to…" I tried to immediately think of something, but nothing good came to my mind. "Do you know where is the nearest gym, girl?"
"Erm… In Saffron City, maybe?" She confusedly replied.
"Damn. There is no way to Saffron City now. It`s blocked for civilians, you know." I was very disappointed.
"Well… How about Vermillion City? It`s nearly as far as Saffron, but on South-West from here."
"Nah, I already have the badge from here. And, predicting your next proposals, I already have badges from Cerulean and Celadon too. What else?"
She made a really deep thought. Looks like my question was not very easy.
"Maybe, then the nearest will be Fuchsia City for you… But it`s literally on the very-very South of region. Pretty far, I have to say."
"Okay, that`s nice..."
I took the map from my greatcoat and opened it to check my route to Fuchsia City. This girl wasn`t lying saying this is damn far. I need to cross four Routes from 12 to the very 15. And then I remembered that Route 12 is blocked by damn Snorlax. PokeDex states that they sleep for weeks, so this one is very likely to be still there.
"By the way… Everything began when your granddad tried to attract my attention with Snorlax blocking the Route 12. He promised to take him away later… Now he isn`t in condition to do so." For some reason I felt extremely sorry for Mr. Fuji. I still think I could do better and save him properly. But it`s too late to think about that. "Do you know how can I awake that Snorlax and clear the road? A couple of very polite cops asked me to."
"Yes! That`s why I was looking for you…" She gladly remembered and got a something like flute merged with pokeball from her bag.
"What is this thing?" I asked expressing a total confusion.
"This is the PokeFlute. If you play a specific song before Snorlax, it will wake up." She handed over this thing to me, but I didn`t accept it right now.
"I can`t play a flute! I just.. don`t know how." I objected. "I never did this before."
"Oh, that`s easy! I`ll teach you." Susan cheerfully replied.
"Really? Right here? I the middle of street? Near the PokeCenter where I… Well… Let`s at least go away from here, okay?" I headed to the other side of street where small park was situated. Susan confusedly looked around, but then followed me.
We got to the park where I found a nice bench to sit on and talk. The place seemed to be pretty deserted in this time, so I could worry less about listeners.
"So… You knew about your granddad`s plans?" I questioned the girl.
"Partly, yes." Susan began her story. "He just wanted to find some good trainer to help us with the disappearance of pokemon on Route 24. Everyone did not care, but he did! He especially liked two Oddishes there - Swappy and Floras, and was really angered when they disappeared. He immediately began the investigation of his own, but when he found out that actually Team Rocket is behind all this… He just realized that he can`t do this alone. So… he heard rumors about you and actually found out them to be true. Our Mr. Bom-bom… Snorlax, I mean… Was the plan to attract your attention."
"And block my way to your town where I actually need to be for helping you?" I seriously questioned her.
"My gramps can be… extraordinary sometimes. He`s very old, you know."
This makes no sense. But… I can`t expect too much from an old man. Senility can be serious. Senility can be dangerous.
"Okay… I think I understand you." I slowly replied trying to convince myself that I actually understood that. "Maybe I do not understand WHY he hired me this way… But I understand what for. The investigation is moving… Slowly and roughly, but moving. And I think I need you to clear Route 12 from your… Mr. Pew-pew… so I could head to Fuchsia City by the shortest route."
"Yes, of course…" She handed over me the flute again, and I didn`t hurry to accept it again. "It`s easy to learn playing it."
"Maybe you will play it?" I supposed. I had absolutely no intention to play a flute… Ever. "Or, maybe, you have a guitar? I can play a guitar! I can play guitar very well!"
"No, I don`t have a guitar, just this... My granddad created it, and this flute helps him a lot. The only thing in a world that can awake a full Snorlax, except for being full no more."
"And… how about coming with me and doing this by yourself? Snorlax belongs to your family, in the end." I suggested again.
"Coming with you?" She looked surprised by such offer. "I don`t know… I don`t want to leave my gramps for too long…"
Her unwillingness was really suspicious. She doesn`t want to leave Lavender town. Or she just doesn`t want to go with me?
"Come on, how about considering this as a… date? A romantic walk across the coastal bridge road with a flute in YOUR hand and Snorlax before us… Right now! And after that we possibly will never meet again…"
"Ah… looks like you leave me no choice." She stood up from the bench and looked at me questionably. "Are you… ready to go? Is your team ready to go?"
"Hell yeah, I`m ready!" I jumped up from the bench and stretched my muscles. When my shoulder hit me with the pain I realized how stupid this idea was. "But why should my team specifically be ready too?"
"Because when Mr. Bom-bom wakes up, it will want to eat… And fight." Susan replied seriously.
"Wait a second! You said only hunger can awake him. If he is not awaken yet… then he is not hungry."
"When it awakes, it will be. No matter if now it is not." Susan answered and headed in the direction of south road, to the Route 12. I just sighed disapprovingly and followed her.
We reached the Silence Bridge on Route 12 and headed to the South. I noticed that I returned to this place again, but now I`m coming from the other side of Snorlax. That sounds really weird, I have to say…
This bothered me quite a lot… When Susan plays the PokeFlute, her Snorlax will awake in fury to attack us. Why so serious, damn it?
"Tell me…" I addressed the girl. "Why would Snorlax attack you when you awake him? Can`t you just calm him down somehow?"
"That`s another problem…" She guiltily looked away. "Mr. Bom-bom never liked me. Only grandpa knows how to calm him down."
"Let me guess… YOU gave him this nickname?"
"Yes, I did! Do you like it?"
"Well, yeah, I consider this a good name." I lied shamelessly.
"Maybe, but… I`m a little bit scared." Susan honestly said. The sincerity in her voice was unmistakable. "It is an unusual pokemon. Kind, but furious and uncontrollable when awoken. When I was younger, I tried to play with him… But he nearly squashed me. Grandpa saved me. And now I`m a little afraid of Snorlaxes."
"Don`t worry, girl. Do you job and I will do mine. My team has earned me four badges already, that has to mean something, right?" I cheered her up with a confident smile on my face.
"Yes, maybe… I wish my grandpa was here…"
We continued walking this bridge to the south. This long damn bridge. I think a couple of hours definitely passed until we reached the place, excluding the time I wasted on battling a couple of trainers. All of them were just regular fishermen with water–type pokemon: Goldeens, Poliwags, Tentacools. I gave Harry the chance to stretch his muscles, and dealt with them without problems. Then we met a young couple on a romantic walk. They suddenly challenged me to a double battle too, and the boy promised to make a proposal to his girlfriend if he wins.
Well… He shouldn`t do that. Now I feel bad for myself because of their loss. Their two Nidoran weren`t a problem for me and my Moment with Reaper, and now I may have destroyed the happiness of a new family. Bad me.
The real problem appeared before us when we finally came to the crossing. The place where Routes 11, 12 and 13 cross each other. And at this exact damn place a huge snoring pile of meat is shamelessly lying here.
I could see the car from the other side of him. Looks like someone tried to pass here, but got into the dead-end presented by Snorlax. The engine is still working, so its owner must be nearby. Maybe, walked away to call for help.
"So, big lazy ass!" I shouted to sleeping pokemon. "Here I am again! How many time passed since we met? A week? More? And you`re still lying here… Shame on you!"
He didn`t reply to me. Well, I didn`t expect him to.
"Okay, girl, begin your magic." I said to Susan and made some steps back. She did that too standing behind me, took the PokeFlute from her bag and lifted it to her mouth.
She began playing it. The music was pretty nice, despite I never actually appreciated flute`s music. But she did her best, and the melody reached Snorlax`es huge ears.
The snoring stopped. For some seconds it was a complete silence with just waves hitting the sand somewhere under us.
But then a loud roar literally threw us away. Susan was going to fall behind from the startle, but I caught her arm.
"Stand back." I ordered her seriously.
She didn`t argue with me about that.
The large body of pokemon before us slowly raised up until Snorlax got to the sitting position and yawned widely.
"What moves does he know?" I asked Susan.
"Oh… I don`t remember… Yawn, maybe? Snore?" She unsurely answered.
"Well, I don`t know neither of them and only can guess what they do." I grabbed the pokeball from my shoulder belt and threw it on the field. "Let`s go, Reaper!"
Susan looked surprised a bit by my choice. But I was sure that some fast AND cunning pokemon will help me there. We can try poisoning this large beast and keep avoiding his attacks until he`s finished.
And right at this moment the beast was looking at us with very angry and hungry look.
"Reaper, let`s start with Poison Sting!" I commanded to my Beedrill. He approached the huge Snorlax to hit him right into the stomach, but suddenly the whole reaper just… bounced off him. The attack looked like nothing to Snorlax.
This bastard didn`t even open his eyes to battle and yawned widely to mock us. Suddenly, Susan behind me yawned too. It`s fine that I`m not prone to all this… social empathy stuff. But Reaper looked like that.
Beedrill somehow yawned too, screeching in a very lazy manner, but then shook his head and faced the opponent again.
"It`s Yawn move! You need to switch!" The girl behind me shouted.
"Why? What does it do?"
"If you will not switch your Beedrill, it will fall asleep on the next turn!"
"We have much of power to resist it, yeah, Reaper?" I asked my pokemon with determination. "Give him another Poison Sting, and aim for the hand!"
I believed in my Beedrill, and he believed in himself too. He furiously launched a pretty strong attack at the opponent`s hand, leaving some scratches… But just that. The next move from Snorlax was unexpected – almost immediately after our attack the beast smashed Reaper with his head. My pokemon was thrown back to his battle position where he… suddenly squeaked and fell on the ground, asleep.
"I told you!" Almost crying Susan shouted.
"Don`t worry, I have another plan…" I said while returning Reaper back to pokeball. "Dumpling, let`s do this!"
Charmeleon replaced Beedrill on the battlefield.
"Iron Rogue maneuver!" I gave the command, and Dumpling executed that immediately. That`s his favorite style.
Maybe Snorlax tried to orient by the sounds, because he didn`t open his eyes yet. Too lazy even for that. Or sleepy. But he tried to attack with his head again, smashing the place right near my Dumpling. I am glad Dumpling was NOT in that place.
And my pokemon knew what to do next. His powered Metal Claw struck the massive back of Snorlax, dealing him some damage.
"And again, Metal Claw!" I gladly commanded.
We attacked again. The smokescreen gave us a good place to hide while large and clumsy Snorlax tries to find us. Another good hit with Metal Claw reached our foe, and a powerful one. Maybe, Dumpling even managed to hit the weak spot – I already can see how unstable Snorlax`s walk became.
The smokescreen began to dissolve, and his effect faded. But instead of attacking us, Snorlax suddenly yawned very widely and fell on the ground. My Charmeleon barely ran away from the large beast that landed exactly on the car nearby. That was expected, really.
But why did Snorlax fall? Did we… defeated him already?
"What`s wrong with him?" I asked Susan.
"I don`t know… Maybe it`s his Rest move…" Girl replied a little scared.
"Rest? What does it do?"
"It makes you sleep and completely heals you."
"Oh…" That did not sound like a good thing. But at the same time it did sound like a good thing!
I could literally see how Snorlax lies there, shines with light pink glow and heals all his wounds from our Metal Claws. Damn it.
"Hit him with your best Embers, Dumpling!" I commanded to my pokemon. We need to use the moment to deal as much damage as we can.
And we did. My Charmeleon burned the sleeping pokemon`s ass so much we even could smell the fried Snorlax over here. To my surprise, it smelled quite nice. I even got hungry… But then I threw away such thoughts.
And finally Snorlax woke up by himself, even angered than before. He scratched the burnt ass and roared at us loudly.
This thing is tough. He is strong, fat, bulky and extremely slow. What could we do to defeat him?
And just then I tumbled to look around the surroundings.
The bridge! This large snoring carcass must weight a hell of a lot and have a lot of inertia. All he did before – just sending Yawns at us and attacking with head when we are close. He didn`t try to move! Because he realized that one wrong step – and he will fall down into the water. We have to use this great opportunity.
"Susan, tell me… If this is your granddad`s pokemon… Do you have a pokeball for him?" I suddenly questioned the girl.
"Well, yes…" She even more suddenly replied positively.
"Then why the heck I`m fighting him? Just return him back, and that`s all!" I shouted at her a little bit angered by her slow thinking.
"Y-yes… Here…" Susan was scared of my sudden reaction and pulled a pokeball from her bag.
"Or, maybe not. Wait. I know why I`m fighting him." I returned my attention to the battlefield. "Because I want to defeat him! Dumpling, use Scratch!"
My agile Charmeleon quickly reached Snorlax`s face and left a nice scratches all over it. Our crazy opponent bended a bit back… and hit us with a powerful Headbutt. My Dumpling was even thrown back from it and fell down the bridge.
"Crap, return!" I quickly saved my pokemon from the unnecessary oceanic bath. Fire-type pokemon wouldn`t like it. And after that, taking into consider all I have just seen, I released my next pokemon on the field.
Harry roared at our opponent and prepared to battle.
"Let`s begin with Acid!" I resumed the fight, and Harry spit a large clot of disgusting purple poison into the face of our opponent. Susan screamed from shock behind me after that. "Don`t worry, girl, he`ll survive. But I want to survive too."
Snorlax didn`t like that at all, and tried to put us to sleep again using his damn Yawn move. And this time I was experienced enough to replace my pokemon.
Now it was Loser to face the threat. It`s his first actual battle, but as far as I know, Snorlax shouldn`t have any moves that hit ghost-type pokemon. When I realized that I know just three of four his moves, I changed my mind, but it was too late.
Too late but not very interesting. The irritating Snorlax used Yawn again, causing Loser to feel sleepy too. This battle is becoming boring already to me too.
"Loser, use Curse!" I commanded to him.
Gengar hesitated for some time, but in the end performed that damn spell that explodes his body and lays a damaging curse on the opponent. Despite the hit Snorlax suffered, the opposing pokemon suddenly fell asleep again. And so did my Gengar.
"Okay, return now…" I beamed Loser back. At least, he did what he was needed to do. Now his place will take my next pokemon to have fun – Moment.
Golbat flew high up and covered the sun with his mighty wings. Yeah, that`s the pokemon to defeat this creature.
"Moment, use Wing Attack!" I gave the command to Golbat, and he did it. He headed straight to the opponent to launch a powerful strike with his wings after which the opponent suddenly… snored.
That was not a usual snore. That was horrible, loud and ear-tearing snore! My Golbat was thrown away with such snore, and both me and Susan barely kept standing after that. Even the car behind Snorlax flew away and fell down. At least, there`s no evidence against me now.
"What was that?" I shockingly asked.
"That`s his Snore move!" Susan explained. "A move that can be used during sleep…"
"Damn it!" I swore and imagined the endless cycle of Snorlax resting each time we hit him and hitting us during his own recovery. That`s not a good thing to imagine, actually.
Time for the plan A.
"Moment, return." I beamed my Golbat back into the pokeball and returned Dumpling on the field. "You have to do this. Jump over him and head to the East part of bridge."
Charmeleon trusted me. He trusted that my plan will work. And so he quickly ran to Snorlax and jumped over him just to be hit by another soundwave from Snore. To our luck, it threw him right on the necessary side of the three-roads crossing.
"Great! Now get to the distance and burn him with all you have!"
Dumpling hopped back and began continuously shoot burning embers into the opponent`s back. Angered Snorlax turned to my Dumpling and threateningly roared at him.
"And now… your turn!" I switched Dumpling with Harry.
This is going to be fun.
"Harry, catch his hands with your vines and hold very tightly, and then… attack him with Acid on the closest distance!"
"Why hands? Our Snorlax doesn`t attack with hands…" Susan questioned me, but I didn`t reply now. I was looking at my Harry.
Weepinbell gave me a mistrustful look, but then faced Snorlax again. As I commanded, he stretched his vines to grab short hands of the opposing pokemon. Our foe tried to break through it, but the grip was very strong. Nice, that`s exactly what I need.
"Go!"
Harry quickly hopped into the direction of Snorlax while keeping foe`s hands caught, jumped right before his face to launch another poisonous clot. But all our preparations and peepers gave the fatty time to launch his own attack. He hit my Weepinbell with head so powerfully that my flycatcher pokemon flew back away from him at high speed.
"Keep the grip!" I shouted to him.
And he did. The strength of Snorlax`es hit and his grip made vines stretch and then send the body of my Weepinbell right back into the opponent`s face, just like a slingshot.
Much more powerful hit from us sent Snorlax back, away from the Route 11 branch and down the bridge. Into the ocean.
"And NOW return him." I gave the command to Susan. Girl hurried to take the pokeball and return beast back.
"Phew…" She sighed loudly with relief.
"Great job, Harry. I think we have just invented a new maneuver! We`ll try it out later, now have a rest." I returned my pokemon back and faced Susan. "So… I think, that`s all. You will be all right with him?"
"I… I think I will." She replied and smiled. "Some time will pass, and it will calm down. I`ll feed it, and it will sleep until my parents are coming back."
"Sounds like a plan." I was really glad to hear it, because I wasn`t going to deal with other problems caused by Snorlax. This thing gave me a lot of trouble, even battling my whole team. Three of five my plans failed against him! But the last one wasn`t use at all.
"Well then… Bye now?" Susan modestly asked.
"Yeah. I`ll be heading to Fuchsia City." I answered and immediately headed straight to the south – to the Route 13.
At least, this battle gave us some good experience. Now I know more about battling huge lazy monsters. Hope this will not be useful against Team Rocket. I don`t want to face Snorlaxes again.
I stopped for a moment to think. There`s one thing I need to do.
"You know, Susan… Give me a call when your granddad wakes up."
"But… I don`t have your number!" She replied confusedly.
"I don`t have it either. Bye!"
I waved at her and headed forward to the next Route of my dark adventure…