Chapter 14; an immovable object
Sonic and raichu exited the tunnel passing underneath Saffron city and continued on their way, Celadon city now within their reach. Tails' words echoed in his head.
"Confidence doesn't need flaunting" Sonic thought "way to contradict yourself buddy".
They reached the top of the hill and as the path took a decline Celadon city appeared before their eyes. As the duo of partners made their way down, Sonic continued to fight with his rampant thoughts.
"If you can't show your awesomeness, how do you even show your confidence? Tails is wrong. He has to be. When I go home Amy will regret choosing Shadow. He will never be as awesome as me. We will train hard, crash team Rocket and just for fun take home the league tournament trophy" he thought to himself imagining returning to his hometown, winner of the tournament, Amy's face full of admiration and Shadow's face full of jealousy.
"They'll see. I'll show them".
While entering the town they received a message from Tails.
"Head to address at the end of this message. There you will find one mr Fuji. He was a pokemon researcher in the past. Nowdays he tutors pokemon and trainers. He doesn't do it for free. You will be tested".
At the end of the message was the address. Tails usually joked in his messages. Not in this one.
"I'll show you too. I'm nothing like Shadow" Sonic thought as he and raichu who had started to notice his trainer's bad attitude.
Reaching the address he rang the bell but no one answered the door. Walking to the back of the house he saw an old man giving food to pokemon in small dishes. Turning around he saw Sonic and smiled gently.
"Good evening young man. What can I help you with?"
"Are you mr Fuji?"
"That would be correct. Am I to assume your pokemon need tutoring?"
"Yes".
"Very well then. Send them out".
Sonic sent out kadabra, wartortle and his shiny nidorino which to his surprise sparkled when coming out of its ball. Mr fuji observed them and raichu.
"Yes. They seem happy with you… and strong for their time as partners to a trainer. This one seems distant" he said pointing at nidorino.
"Caught it yesterday" Sonic explained.
"I see. Do you need some specific tutoring?"
"I was wondering if there is a way to teach a ground move to nidorino".
"Hm… usually the nidoran species and their evolutions learn ground moves by observing pokemon who learn them naturally. Like rhydon. However only 3 ground moves have been recorded so far. Mud slap, dig and earthquake. Now unfortunately for you earthquake is a very powerful move. At this point even if your nidorino was to learn it, the attack wouldn't do much. So that leaves only mud slap and dig".
"I see" Sonic said in deep thought "well I'll need a moment to think about it. Is it possible in the meantime that kadabra can learn any move other than its typing?"
"It can learn a plethora of moves".
"Hm…" Sonic hummed thinking of possibilities. He recalled the discussion the rocket grunts had in lavender town and remembered the weakness of psychic types.
"How about a ghost move?"
"Yes. It can learn shadow ball".
"That's one good attack. So um… how does this work now? Do I pay you for it? or…?"
"I don't take money from trainers for this. But before I teach any moves to either of your pokemon you will need to pass a trial for each move you want to learn".
Sonic realized what Tails meant when he said he would be tested.
"What sort of trial?"
"That depends on the kind of moves you want your pokemon to learn. For example you want your nidorino to learn a ground move. I want you to…" he began saying until a girl run past Sonic and to mr Fuji holding a cubone in her hands.
"Reina you found him! Where did the little guy go this time?"
"He tried to get to Lavender mr Fuji. But he got lost and instead run into a snorlax blocking the road on the west of the city. Had I not calmed it and brought it back, the snorlax could have possibly woken up and attacked".
"I see" mr Fuji said in a serious tone "there is not point keeping him here any longer. Take him to my house in Lavender for the time being".
"But sir while he stayed there he was agitated".
"I know. I'll join you soon. In fact your timing of bringing the news about the snorlax is spot on" he said turning back to Sonic, whom Reina only then realized was there.
"Pardon me young man my manners have completely eluded me this whole time. This is Reina. She helps me in the pokemon shelter I have in Lavender town".
Sonic's green eyes turned to Reina who blushed.
"I'm Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog".
"R-Reina" she said offering her slightly trembling hand to a handshake.
"Sonic, while I know I said you would need to pass one trial per move you wanted to learn I think I will give you a grand trial instead. Rid the road off snorlax and I will help tutor your pokemon to any moves you need now and anytime you need me to".
Sonic was caught off guard by this proposal. Free move tutoring for his pokemon? "Don't mind if I do" he thought.
"Consider it done sir" he said smiling and recalled his pokemon motioning raichu to follow him.
"Let's get this done quick" he said in excitement "new moves are calling for us!"
"Rai!" raichu cried out in excitement as well.
Just 20 steps outside of town Sonic saw it. The snorlax blocking the path. While it was not as bad as the snorlax from the seaside he had encountered the day before, it was still a problem. While people could walk around it through the trees, vehicles couldn't. Deciding to take action before the authorities came and woke it up themselves, he sent out kadabra.
"Alright kadabra. Confuse this chungus so he gets off the path! Confusion!"
Kadabra used its move but it had little effect on Snorlax.
"Hm… maybe you can't confuse it because it's sleeping? Ok then let's wake it up! Raichu blast it with thunderbolt!"
Raichu discharged but the electricity looked like it barely tickled the snorlax as it merely moved a bit probably cause of reflex reaction and continued sleeping. Sonic was dumbfounded.
"Ok. This could be a bigger problem than I expected" he said as he went to the foot of a tree and sat in the shade to think.
"Snorlax has great defenses. More specifically its special defense is sky high. Us being special attackers won't help much. Wait a minute not all of us!" he said remembering his new shiny catch.
"Nidorino come on out! Double kick!"
Nidorino kicked snorlax twice but it barely damaged it.
"Damnit of course. You're not very strong yet. Ok. Use poison sting. Maybe the poison will wake it up".
Nidorino used its move resulting in a big fat nothing as the fur was thick and no poison could be administered.
"Scratch that too" Sonic said hitting the ground in frustration "ok new plan. Kadabra lift nidorino above snorlax. Nidorino use double kick while falling. The impact will be greater if we add your weight to the total power of the move".
They executed the plan and Snorlax let out a small roar in its sleep, as Nidorino landed on its side.
"We're getting there" Sonic said smiling.
His smile was short lived however as Snorlax turned in its sleep to a face down position resulting in Nidorino being stuck underneath it. Raichu and Kadabra rushed to help it, pulling with all of raichu's strength and kadabra's growing psychic power, freeing it after a while as Sonic hit the ground again in frustration.
"Does nothing work on this thing?!"
An hour later having tried all the combos he could think, both him and his pokemon were lying on the ground almost ready to give up. Sonic was just lying there feeling defeated. His pokemon on the other hand were ready to faint. Snorlax had used sleep talk a couple of times and headbutted them roughly.
"We have tried everything and nothing works" Sonic said slowly while looking at the clouds as the sky began turning dark" what now?"
"You ok there?" a voice was heard.
Sonic lifted his head and saw Reina approach.
"Oh it's you. Reina right?" he said lying back down.
"Yeah. Everything ok?"
"Do we look ok? And worst of all I went and said consider it done".
Reina laughed. Sonic felt embarrassed not realizing Reina was not laughing because she found it funny but rather cute.
"Yeah yeah, go ahead laugh it up" he said "after what I said" he got up stretching as he had begun feeling numb from laying down for so long "I totally deserve it".
Reina laughed for a little bit more.
"Ok I'm sorry. It was a little funny though".
"How come you're here?"
"Well mr Fuji actually sent me to check on you".
"I see. Go ahead and tell him I failed. This thing will not budge".
Reina knew that was what she had to do but something told her not to do it just yet.
"How about you and your pokemon just take a break instead? I mean… mr Fuji never gave you a deadline".
"He didn't. But soon someone will contact the authorities and they will move the snorlax themselves".
"Oh no they won't. They've tried. It's been there for a few weeks".
"Woah what? This is serious trouble" Sonic said remembering the other Snorlax "there is another Snorlax blocking the way on the east coast. It's on a very narrow path. With Saffron city being kind of unsafe due to team Rocket, rock tunnel is the only actual way to get to this city… and it's not for vehicles".
"Yeah it's been like that for a while. How about you join me for dinner? You can try again tomorrow for the Snorlax. That way I can tell you also why the Snorlax has been there".
"…ok".
After recalling his pokemon and healing them in the pokemon center, Reina took Sonic to a local hot dog stand. She got a normal hot dog but Sonic asked for chilli sauce on his own – "hot dogs are nice but chilli dogs are a no brainer for me" he explained with a smile – sat down at a park bench to eat them.
"Isn't it hot?" she asked him.
"It is. But I like spicy" he said enjoying the familiar taste "so why hasn't anyone moved the Snorlax already? I was in Vermillion recently and attempted to travel to Lavender town by going north following the coastline but a Snorlax was blocking a narrow path so I had to find another way. The authorities were already there preventing people from proceeding".
"There have been sightings of strange activity in town lately. Some say it's connected to team Rocket. So the authorities are working tirelessly to find any lead to make sure it's not team Rocket and if it is, stop them before their plans reach completion".
"I see. Makes some sense actually. Snorlax can be quite dangerous. I doubt they would not make it their priority to move it if there wasn't something bigger in play. Come to think of it I didn't even try to catch it instead of forcibly moving it. Though it could prove to be more of a liability than an asset if all it does is sleep".
"You could try it tomorrow. You don't have to keep it if you don't want to. Speaking of which…what will your pokemon eat for the night?" Reina asked Sonic.
"I guess food from the market. I have some in my backpack".
Reina contemplated for a moment.
"Maybe um… they would prefer some home-made food for once?"
"Home-made?" Sonic asked in surprise.
"I mean… if you of course want to… you're their trainer… I'm just making a lot of homemade pokemon food with my mom for mr Fuji's shelter in Lavender town… just saying".
Sonic kept his face calm but on the inside he was racking his brain.
"Team Rocket is literally in town and she is just willing to open her house to a random stranger she met a few hours ago?" he wondered but in the end relented.
"If I'm no burden to you or your mother… I'd be honored".
"Great" Reina said as her face lit up "follow me".
Sonic couldn't comprehend why all that kindness and excitement but followed her regardless.
A few hours later after meeting Reina's parents, making himself comfortable and feeding his pokemon, he decided it was time to go to sleep. Lying in the guests room he kept contemplating how to move the Snorlax, whether trying to catch it would work and if he caught it what he'd do with it.
"Snorlax is indeed powerful" Sonic thought "but it sleeps a lot. Imagine sending it in battle and it just goes down cause it won't wake up. It does have the sleep talk move but it still didn't always work when we were attacking it".
His phone suddenly began ringing. Jolting up as to not wake Reina or her parents he grabbed it and accepted the facetime call before even reading the name on the screen.
"Hey Sonic".
"What the… Knuckles? Why are you calling so late? Is something wrong?"
"Does something have to be wrong to check on my friend?"
"Ok you make a fair point. I'm ok. Just resting".
"Spoke to Tails earlier".
"Are you gonna lecture me about my growing confidence too?"
He could tell Knuckles was caught off guard. Sonic usually was a calmer person.
"No. I'm happy your confidence is building up. Tails is too. But I think his concerns are not without good reason".
"You said this is not a lecture but it sounds like one".
"Ok ok I'm stopping. So how did it go with the tutor?"
Sonic hated how Knuckles had changed the subject like nothing had happened. He didn't like leaving jobs half finished. He sighed.
"Haven't gotten around to it yet. My payment for his services as a tutor is to move a Snorlax that is blocking the street outside of town. I have been trying all evening and it didn't budge. More than that it knocked almost everyone on my team out cold".
Knuckles listened to his friend rumble on about all he tried remaining calm. Sonic could also swear he heard typing from Knuckles' end of the line. After Sonic was done explaining all of his efforts, Knuckles started talking again.
"So this path didn't work. Try another one then".
"You serious?" Sonic said trying as hard as he could not to rage "I told you I tried so many combos already nothing worked".
"Yes. The path of battling didn't work. So try another path".
Sonic realized what Knuckles meant and relaxed but still remained confused.
"If battling is not the answer… what is?"
"This is where me and Tails come in".
"Knuckles no. This is my trial. The question was rhetorical".
At that moment Tails joined the facetime call.
"So now you won't accept help from us?" he asked.
"T-Tails?" Sonic said in confusion.
"I had joined the facetime for a while, just not activated my mic or my camera" he explained still cold. Sonic felt a bit saddened that Tails was still like it.
"Knuckles texted me the problem. While you were rumbling about what you tried and didn't work, I researched Snorlax. I found and downloaded this melody".
A message was received by Sonic on their chat screen.
"Do NOT play it right now. It's a pokeflute melody. I don't guarantee it will work but it's a pointer towards the right direction".
"You see pokeflutes are used to soothe pokemon's souls. And they also can awaken a sleeping pokemon like Snorlax. Play it close to Snorlax and it should wake up. Though as Tails said because it won't be a real pokeflute it may not work and you will have to find a real one".
Sonic was engulfed in a barrage of emotions. He felt grateful for his friends, stupid that he didn't get to find the answer on his own, weak, that he had to rely on his friends for that, excited at the prospect of his pokemon learning new moves and worried that mr Fuji wouldn't accept the completion of the trial because it wasn't the proper way all at the same time.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked them.
"Why else?" Knuckles said.
"Maybe because we're your friends and care about you?" Tails said, a bit of frustration towards Sonic in his voice which Sonic noticed. He felt that Tails being not cold but rather a bit of mad at him was better than being totally cold.
"We have to go. It's really late. Don't lose yourself in your growth Sonic" Knuckles said and both he and Tails hang up at the same time. Sonic wanted to call them back and ask them what they meant but decided it against it resorting to sleep, hoping it would calm the raging sea of emotions inside him. He looked at raichu sleeping peacefully next to the bed.
"Not lose myself in my growth" he repeated in his head as he remembered Amy's words.
"Shadow knows how to assert his dominance. And you? Anything but that. You really didn't know me if you thought I would like you".
"Myself was a loser" Sonic thought despite knowing his friends wouldn't approve of this thought "what would be so bad about losing him if it meant growing into something better?" he wondered as he let himself drift to sleep.