Torkoal

The Route was beautiful in green grass and bright wildflowers. Putting her hands behind her head, Nadia strolled along in no hurry. "I'd almost think the map was outdated," she said to no one in particular. "Given that I'm going to a volcanic area known as the Fire Path on this nice grassy meadow."

She stretched, then checked her wrist computer. She scrolled the Poketch screens to her email bin. There, she had a message from Professor Oak: 'Current Pokedex pictures of wild Slugma are unacceptable. Please seek out replacements. Recorded areas of Slugma habitats: Fire Path, Hoenn; Sevii Islands volcanic region, Johto. Payment for replacements will be determined upon previews.'

It also had an attachment of the unacceptable pictures, or picture as it was. It was a low-quality image of two or three Slugmas. The group was huddled together to where the untrained viewer couldn't tell where one Slugma ended and another began.

'This should be easy', she thought. Just about anything would be better than that picture. No fee was set, but she knew Oak paid well for good pictures. Although she'd never met the man in person, she had made enough sales to him to trust that he'd equal her effort.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an impatient whinny. Before she could even get to saying, "Now what?" she saw the problem. An enormous tortoise was crawling.....ever.....so.....slowly toward the entrance of the Fire Path. Its tough skin was the color of clay while its tougher shell was the color of charcoal. The shell had a few holes in it, from which tendrils of black smoke curled out. The Pokemon stood five feet tall, but was easily eight feet wide, leaving only a margin of error for it to enter the cave.

Next to the tortoise was an irritated Ponyta, flipping his fiery tail and stomping his foot because the tortoise was blocking the way. He was also five feet tall, but only if he held his head up. The tortoise was unfazed by the Ponyta's tantrum.

Nadia gave a quick whistle. "Marcus, come here."

The Ponyta gave one last snort and one last stomp, then walked back to Nadia. He had a 'I'm only doing what you say because I like you,' look on his face.

"I appreciate your cooperation," she told her Pokemon. "But I'm not sure what that is. We'd better not bother it too much."

Even though they'd better not, Nadia could never resist taking a picture of a Pokemon she had not seen before. She could squeeze both identification and an extra fee out of Oak if she got a good photo of this beast. However, getting the south end of a north-bound Pokemon did not make for a valuable photo. She would have to get around it, or in closer.

The unknown Pokemon took.....another.....slow.....step.....forward.....and....dragged.....its.....body.....along. Nadia crept alongside the giant tortoise, signaling Marcus to stay where he was. He pawed at the ground, nervous about letting her get close to a Pokemon bigger than he was. When the photographer got to the outer wall of the tunnel, she aimed her camera and clicked the first shot.

At that, the tortoise.....turned.....its.....head.....and.....blinked.....at.....her. It.....snuffled,.....sending.....twin.....ribbons.....of.....charcoal.....smoke.....into.....the.....air.

Nadia was able to take several shots before Marcus got too antsy and rushed to her. He growled, letting the tortoise know, in no uncertain terms, that it was not to harm the photographer. In response, the tortoise snapped its neck out to bite the Ponyta.

Seeing it move quickly startled Nadia into tumbling backwards. Marcus hopped out of the way and growled again, asking if the strange creature dared to challenge him. The tortoise responded with, "HOOOOOOOOO," that sounded somewhere between a horn and a whistle. It released a thick cloud of smoky ash that momentarily blinded the human and Ponyta.

Nadia managed to grab her shirt to cover her mouth and nose with before breathing in too much of the heavily scented smoke. Still, it stung her eyes and irritated her throat, forcing her to cough when the smoke began to thin. Marcus sneezed several times in a row, enduring it better due to his natural affinity for fire. When they could see clearly, the strange tortoise was gone.

She got up and walked away from the Fire Path entrance to a clear spot of air, then took a long drink from her canteen. Marcus shook his head and snorted, annoyed that the stranger had gotten away. "Are there going to be more of those things in there?" Nadia wondered aloud. "I'm gonna reek of charcoal by the end of the day."

Still, a job was a job. She went in to find the Slugmas.

…

Torkoal Emerald entry: It battles using energy it gets from burning coal. When loosing (sic) smoke from its nostrils, it lets off a sound that is similar to a locomotive's horn.

After originally posting this, someone pointed out that Torkoal are only one foot high. Oops. But I like it too much to change it at this point.