Lazily Titled Thing

Pokemon: Johto Quest Season 1 Episode 3: "A Toast to The Ghosts"

Last time on Pokemon: Johto Quest! Emily and her Mareep Eddy have picked up some emotional scars. What do I mean by this you ask? Well not only did Emily get bit by a Houndour, but an old woman told her that getting bit by one of those creatures might cause her to transform into one! On top of that, our heroes decided to stay at the Lake of Rage with this guy who has the biggest grudge against HootHoot in the entire history of Pokemon! So, will the journey be any less scarring for our heroes in this episode? Ehh.

After running through the Lake of Rage, our heroes finally made it to Mahogany Town. When they arrived however, they noticed something that was very peculiar to them. You see, this town seemed a lot smaller compared to what they've seen in the colonies.   A few feet away on their left were two, single story beige houses with red roofes. On the other side of the dirt road was a blue and orange rectangular building with a brown, dome shaped object covering the top of it, which seemed to have a large hole on the right side. Right next to that building was a Pokemon Center with an orange and tan colour scheme. As they looked around, they noticed that the breeze was a bit strong and seemed rather chilly. The two shivered for a bit and Eddy even went as far as to rub up against Emily to keep her warm.

"This seems like a nice place," said Emily, "Why don't we go and check it out?" Soon our heroes charged forward and leaped over the jagged brown ledge and onto the dirt road. They strolled down the road towards the second house until a rotund, dark blue-green creature with a cream-colored face, belly, and feet walked up to them.

"Hey guys!" the creature said as it waved its right hand back and forth. The two yelped and turned around as they began to stare up in awe at the massive round creature.

"Hey look Eddy! It's a Snorlax!" Emily said as she pointed to the creature. She then took off her backpack and quickly zipped it open. She fished through it for a few seconds until she pulled out a Poke Ball. Emily stepped back a bit and forcefully hurled the ball at the creature. The ball slammed against the its belly and bounced right off of it, hitting Emily in the process. Emily growled and angrily threw the ball at the creature. Just like last time, the ball bounced off the creature and hit Emily. As Emily kept throwing the ball at the creature, it turned its head towards her.

"Um kid, you do know this is just a suit, right?" the Snorlax said. Emily stopped everything she was doing and gasped.

"Wow! It can talk without even moving its mouth!" Emily chuckled. Her eyes began to sparkle and a few moments later, she continued to throw the ball at the Snorlax at least several more times. The Snorlax growled and raised its stubby arms to its head and gripped it tightly. It started pulling the head up at least a few times before it suddenly popped off. Underneath the head was a brown eyed man with short black hair and a goatee. Just as Emily was about to throw the ball again, she stopped halfway through and her jaw dropped.

"See kid, I told you it was just a suit." the man said. Emily gulped and slowly put her arms at her sides. She then went over to her backpack and dropped the ball inside. She zipped it up and closed her eyes as she began to rub the back of her neck.

"I'm sorry, sir. Your costume looked so real." Emily chuckled.

"Ah. It's okay kid!" the man said as he kneeled down and rubbed the top of her head. He stood back up and said, "The name's Earl by the way. You know, I'm normally in a red Gyarados suit but let's just say I um..."

He went onto explain how he was on his break when a bit of the grape juice he was drinking got onto the suit. He noticed the stain and screamed like a little girl. He tore off the suit as quickly as he could and ran over to a sink. He put the suit under the water and tried scrubbing the stain with as much force as he could muster. To his dismay, the stain didn't go away. He then tried putting it in the washing machine and poured in as much soap as he could find. About a half hour later, the machine had stopped and when he opened it up, he noticed that the stain was still there. He then got down on his knees and cried. When his boss came looking for him, she found him hugging the suit and bawling his eyes out. His boss asked him why he was crying and he showed her the stain. The boss sighed and told him to get the Snorlax suit.

So, what are you doing all the way out here?" Earl said cheerfully.

"Eddy and I were going to the Nidoran region to see my dad!" Emily replied. Earl looked up at the sky as he drummed his fingers on the side of his suit. He then gasped and quietly said, "oh." A couple moments later, Earl looked down at the duo.

"Yeah, I heard of that place. But I don't think anyone has ever made it there without collecting gym badges. Course, it could be a rumor, but you should still do it as a precaution." said Earl.

"Is that what that guy meant by 'more challenging'?" Emily thought to herself. Emily grinned and turned around, staring at the blue and orange rectangular building. "My dad used to have a place like this in Basswood." Emily giggled. Suddenly, Emily dashed over to the building as fast as she could. She only got a few feet away before Earl grabbed her shirt and pulled it with enough force to stop her in her tracks.

"Woah, kid! Slow down! I wouldn't go in there if I were you. See that hole up there?" Earl said as he pointed to the hole in the building's roof, "That hole is from a Dragonite's Hyper Beam. The gym leader was planning on fixing it up but he doesn't have enough man power to do so right now." Emily sighed and let her head hang low as Earl silently stood there for at least a few seconds before speaking again. "Hey, don't worry kid. There's other gyms in the area."

"Yeah, like what?" said Emily as she turned towards Earl and leered at him.

"Well, if you go west of here, there's a place called Ecruteak City. The gym over there is run by a real nice guy named Morty." said Earl.

"What's to the east?" Emily asked.

"Oh. Well, if you go east, you'll head towards Blackthorn City. I wouldn't recommend starting there though. I heard that the city's gym leader has a real attitude problem, especially when it comes to rookie trainers." Emily and Eddy looked at each other for at least a few seconds. Emily then turned back to Earl.

"So how do we get to Ecruteak?" asked Emily.

"First, you go west towards Route 42. After that, you have two options. You can either swim across two water ways or hike through Mount Mortar. Either way should get you to where you wanna go." Earl instructed.

"Thanks Earl!" Emily exclaimed as she and gave a thumbs up.

"No problem, kid!" Earl replied.

A couple of seconds later, Emily and Eddy happily ran down the road without a second thought as Earl waved goodbye to them.

"Stay safe you two!" Earl called out. However, the duo didn't look back and just kept running. Earl sighed and twisted the Snorlax head back on. Eventually, Emily and Eddy had passed a metal black and white sign with the words, "Route 42" painted on it. At that point, the road had changed from a dirt path to a rock hard yet sandy path. To the right was a tall, rocky mountain and on the left was a rectangular grid made up of moderately tall, dark green grass. About halfway into the route, Emily and Eddy came across the water ways Earl had mentioned earlier. However, the water ways were more like small square lakes separated by a little cave. Not only that, but there was a large, circular hole in the side of the mountain.

"So Eddy, what do you think we should do? Should we swim or hike?" Emily asked as she fluffed Eddy's wool. Eddy bleated and raised one of his legs, trying to point to the mountain. Emily giggled and the two jogged towards the entrance. Once they were inside the mountain, their bodies started to shiver and every time they exhaled, clouds of faint white smoke came out of their mouths. Sounds of water dripping down from the stalactites echoed throughout the mountain. Before they were able to take one more step, a horde of purple and blue eyeless bats swooped in and flew around our heroes.

"Ah! Get away!" Emily screamed as she flailed her arms around. At the same time, Eddy was on his hind legs, trying to swat the bats away by waving his front legs. As they were trying to shoo them away, the mountain started to rumble and shake so much that the bats quickly flew away in separate directions. Emily and Eddy looked around, trying to figure out what was causing the rumbling. Just then, a giant snake made out of grey boulders burst out of the ground with enough force to launch itself at least twenty feet into the air. As it did so, it let out a booming roar that made a few of the stalactites fall from the ceiling. The rock snake then dropped to the ground almost instantly and landed on its stomach. When it did this however, it roared as tears rolled down its face. You see, the rock snake had several deep gashes along its body and the slender fin on its head was missing its upper half.

At that point, Emily and Eddy made a mad dash out of the mountain without even looking back. Little did they know that the rock snake wasn't too far behind. It plowed through the mountain wall, creating a giant hole in its wake. Rather then follow directly behind the duo, the rock snake slithered towards the cluster of evergreen trees on the other side. It wrapped its lower body around one of the trees and ripped it out of the ground. The rock snake spun around and hurled the tree straight up into the air.

In the meantime, our heroes were lying down in the grass, trying to catch their breath and comprehend what they just saw. Their heads were throbbing and their hearts were beating rapidly. They could hear the rock snake's roar getting somewhat closer to them, which made their hearts beat even faster. The rock snake zig-zagged all around and occassionally slammed into the side of the mountain.

"Eddy, I have... an idea," Emily wheezed, "So, that snake is like... made out of... rocks, right? And rocks sink when put... into water. Well, if we jump... into the water, the snake won't be able to get us!" Eddy stared at Emily for a bit before tilting its head slightly. Just then, the rock snake seemed like it was just a few feet away from Emily and Eddy, as its roar made them jump.

"Okay Eddy, when I give the signal, we make a break for the water." Emily whispered hastily, "Ready? Three, two, one... Now!" The two bolted out of the grass towards the first water way. Immediately after, the rock snake jumped up and drilled itself into the ground. As Emily got closer to the water way, she tripped and found herself rolling on the ground. When the pair were just inches away from the water, Emily regained her footing and dove into the water with Eddy following suit. However, Eddy had floated to the top much quicker than Emily as his wool seemed to function like a large life preserver.

Emily made her way to the top of the water just a couple seconds later. As soon as she did so, Eddy jumped on her back just before she could get too far away from him. When Emily was halfway through the fist water way, the rock snake emerged from the water and was practically breathing down our heroes' necks. Before it could anything to them however, it was unable to keep itself afloat for much longer due to its massive weight and as a result, started sinking rather quickly. It desperatly tried to save itself by using all of its might to push itself upwards. Unfortunately, the most it could do when it got to the top of the water was bob its head up and down and gasp for air.

As this was going on, Emily swam towards a piece of land with a cave on it. When she was only a couple of inches away from it, she grabbed a lege and barely managed to pull herself up. As soon as she got onto the land, she turned around and noticed the rock snake trying to keep itself afloat. Soon however, its eyes shut and its breathing stopped. Its movements came to a complete hault and its body rapidly sunk to the bottom, which made a loud thud when it collided with the ground.

At that moment, Emily slowly pulled off her backpack and opened it up. She sifted through it and soon pulled out a Poke Ball. She gradually propelled her arm back and hurled the ball towards the area where the snake was immediately after. However, rather than sinking to the bottom, the ball slammed against the water and floated on the top of it.