Pokemon: Johto Quest Episode 3 So Far

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? Eh, we'll see.

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 roofs. 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 waddled 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 red and white 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 red, draconic tube-like 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 took the suit and ran like the wind towards the Lake of Rage.

He dove in and once he got back to the surface, he punched the stain multiple times. But alas, the stain was still there. As his options dwindled, he dragged himself back inside and tried putting it in the washing machine. He poured in as much soap as he could find and about a half hour later, the machine had stopped. 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 manpower 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 waterways 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 black and white metal 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 waterways Earl mentioned earlier. However, the waterways 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 than 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 occasionally 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 floated to the top almost instantly as his wool seemed to function like a large buoy.

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 first 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 desperately 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 ledge 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 halt and its body rapidly sunk to the bottom, which made a loud thud when it collided with the ground. Despite the fact that she was sopping wet, she just stood there for quite a while. It seemed the the only sound she could hear was the sound of the howling wind.

Just then, a lightbulb went off in her head. She slipped off her backpack and opened it up. She searched through it and pulled out a red and white 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.

"Darn it!" Emily screamed as she slammed her fist down. After that whole fiasco, Emily decided to sit down and catch her breath.

"Hey Eddy. You doing alright?" Emily asked as she turned her head towards him. However, Eddy didn't respond and just stood there, staring at nothing. Emily called out to him a couple more times but he still didn't respond. Inside his head, an event started to play out.

-----

In this event, he pictured himself travelling through a cave with a girl who was a little older than Emily. However, the girl was slightly taller than her and wore a black ballcap with the bill covering her neck. A tuft of brown hair could be seen sticking out of a large hole in the hat just above her forehead. Not only that, but she also wore a white T-shirt with black sleeves and baggy denim shorts with little white strings hanging at the bottom.

"You know, Eepy!" the girl grumbled as she turned towards him, "I don't understand why mom sent me of all people to look for my stupid brothers. I mean, it's not my fault they stayed out too late!" Eepy bleated and turned his head from side to side. The two aimlessly wandered through the cave, with Eepy stopping to sniff something every once in awhile. As they were walking however, they started to feel the ground shake beneath their feet. The girl gasped and turned towards him.

"Eepy! I think the cave is starting to collapse! Let's get out of here while we still have a chance!" the girl screamed frantically. Eepy and the girl promptly turned around and ran as fast as they could. While they were running, a giant rock snake with a deep scar on its right cheek jumped out of the ground and landed in front of them, blocking their path. The two stopped dead in their tracks and turned around, going back the way they came. They didn't get very far however as the rock snake whipped its lower body and tightly wrapped it around the girl. It raised her up to its mouth and as it did so, she yelled and squirmed relentlessly, hoping that she would get free. Unfortunately, she was still stuck in the rock snake's grasp by the time she was inches away from its mouth.

As this was going on, Eepy stared at the rock snake and noticed several large holes in its body. All of as sudden, a lightbulb went off in his head. He stiffened his body and clenched his teeth. Yellow sparks appeared around his ears and his entire body soon became engulfed in electricity. He took a deep breath in and bleated loudly as he fired a jolt of yellow lightning from the middle of his body. The snake became engulfed in electricity once the jolt struck it. However, the snake just stared at him calmly and never moved an inch. He immediately stopped what he was doing and let his mouth hang open. Soon after, his body began to shake as tears rolled down his face.

The rock snake opened its mouth and released the girl from its grip once the lower half of her body was inside its mouth. The snake smiled as its heavy jaws clamped down on her. As soon as this happened, he heard the girl crying, along with the sounds of her bones crunching. He layed down and covered his eyes as his body continued to shake. He bleated quietly as his breathing accelerated. The crunching and crying continued for an agonizingly long time until suddenly, the cave went quiet. He slowly uncovered his eyes to see that the girl was nowhere to be found and that the only things left were the snake and the girl's hat.

As he was looking around, the rock snake spotted him and quickly slithered over and constricted him with its lower body to the point where he could barely breath. He tried to wriggle his way out but just like with the girl, the attempt had failed. The rock snake lowered its head and whiffed him several times. Once it was finished, it grinned from ear to ear. Its mouth was watering and wasted no time lifting him up to its lips. As it was doing so, it heard a loud huffing noise. It grunted as it rapidly spun its head around. A few seconds later, it spotted a small, bipedal creature with a yellow hide that resembled a cluster of bricks. It had blue, almond shaped eyes, a pointed snout, and triangular ears with white insides. Its tail was thick and conical and it had two long claws on each foot. It also had three sharp claws on its forepaws.

When it spotted the creature, it roared and hurled Eepy straight into a wall before burrowing into the ground. He found himself lying on the ground, unable to move. He bleated weakly and his vision became blurry. A few moments later, he regained just enough strength to walk over to the girl's hat. When he was within reach, he bit down on it and immediately collapsed. At that point, he could barely keep his eyes open. Eventually, he heard what sounded like two boys arguing in the distance and his ears perked up. The arguing slowly grew louder and louder until he could clearly hear what they were saying.

"Oh c'mon, Ricky! You can't give me just one more chance to get that Sandshrew!?" one of the boys growled.

"Tom, it's one in the morning! I think it's time to call it a day, don't you think?" Ricky replied.

Just then, he gathered up all the strength he had left and engulfed his entire body in electricity. He then shot out a jolt of lighting from the middle of his body and bleated as loud as he could. A few seconds later, he stopped and everything went black.

-----

Back in the present day, Emily called out to Eddy and clapped her hands. Eddy bleated at the top of his lungs and sprinted in circles. A few seconds later, he bounced all over the place and fired a series of jolts from the middle of his body in quick succession. Emily wailed as she ran for the water's edge. She opened up her bag and rummaged through it so fast, she nearly tripped and fell in. Eventually, she pulled out a blue plastic drinking cup and scooped up some water. She ran over to Eddy and splashed the water on his face. All of a sudden, Eddy stopped firing off electricity and stood still. He wheezed and stared at Emily. She hugged him and said, "It's okay. The rock snake can't hurt us now."

-----

Meanwhile at the Lake of Rage, Jenny was curled up near her bike behind the bushes. Her eyes were locked shut and a smile stretched across her face. She found it impossible to moves any of her limbs and her breathing was slow yet rhythmic. Suddenly, a brown, round owl with a scar running diagonally across its left eye and the right side of its crest missing slowly flew towards Jenny and landed on her shoulder. It tilted its entire body backwards and quickly jabbed its beak into her neck. She screamed and jumped a couple of feet into the air. Her head darted from side to side, trying to figure out what woke her up.

She panted heavily for a while until she gasped. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a blue and white horseshoe shaped object with a small handle bar protruding from the side that was held up by a short blue base. She pushed the white button that was closest to her and the device popped open. On the inside was a brightly lit screen on the top and bottom. She looked at the bottom screen and her eyes widened.

"Gah! I overslept!" Jenny yelped. Without a moment to spare, she hopped onto her motorbike and revved it up. She then slammed her foot on the gas pedal and plowed through the bushes, sending them flying in the process. As she zoomed through the Lake of Rage, she quickly bobbed and weaved around various pedestrians, such as a fisherman walking over to the lake, just barely missing them each time. As she approached a large, rectangular building, she pushed down on the bike's gas pedal even more and tucked her head in. A few moments later, a booming thud shook the building as millions of glass shards flew forward like little rockets. Suddenly, a man wearing a dark blue police uniform jumped out of his seat and fell to the ground. Once he got up, he saw Jenny's motorbike speeding through the building.

"Hey! You're going to pay for that!" He yelled as he shook his fist.

Two seconds later however, another booming thud could be heard and the man growled as he rubbed his temples. When Jenny made it through the building, she made her way through Mahogany Town and leaped over the brown jagged ledge. When she did this, she soared high enough to reach the top of the plateau on the right side of the blue and orange building. When she touched down, she quickly made a sharp turn to the right and flew in the air for at least ten seconds. When she hit the ground, she found herself rapidly approaching the waterways. She screamed and squeezed the handbrake, holding onto it for dear life in the hopes that it would stop the bike before it hit the water. The tires screeched as the bike gradually slowed down. A couple of seconds later, the bike came to a halt and when Jenny saw that it stopped at least a couple of inches from the water way, she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

She got off the bike and flipped it on its side. She tried to push the back wheel towards the front wheel but no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't budge. She then tried to moving the front wheel towards the back wheel but this wheel also refused to move. She continued to do this for at least a few moments before something dawned on her.

"Oh, I forgot. It doesn't fold up like the kid's bikes do." Jenny dully expressed. She sat down and looked at the ground. A couple moments later, she turned around and stared at the large clusters of evergreen trees. She pictured her bike laying on its side within the sea of trees. However, a flock of small, plump birds with brown and cream coloured feathers flew down towards the bike and latched their small yet sharp pink talons on to it and started to lift it up. They flew out of the forest towards a dirt road. When they saw a man walking down the road, they released the bike, which started falling to the ground rather quickly. The man tried to jump out of the way but the bike landed on top of his legs, crushing them in the process, resulting in him not being able to get up.

Jenny gasped and sighed. She turned towards the mountain and imagined the bike laying on its side in a cave-like area. However, she also pictured a group of floating grey boulders with muscular looking arms hovering over to it and repeatedly battering the poor bike until it was nothing but a pile of scrap metal.

She shook her head and turned towards Mahogany Town. She envisioned walking into a building with her bike and seeing wooden shelves running across its blue walls. She then pictured a bald, somewhat chubby man with a black polo shirt standing behind the counter. She went over to him and said,

"I'd like to sell my bike for three hundred thousand Poken." The man leaned over the counter and got a good look at the bike.

"Best I can do is fifty Poken," the man said. Jenny growled and stomped out of the store with the bike still in her hands. After that, Jenny stood up and raised her right hand to the side of her hat.

"Farewell, bike!" Jenny cried out. She kicked the bike into the water, where it slowly sunk to the bottom and slammed against the rock snake's body once it got there.

-----

After a short walk, Emily and Eddy had arrived in Ecruteak City, still sopping wet. An intense, cherry-like aroma wafted through the air and trees with thin brown trunks and branches covered in small pink flowers were scattered around the city. A few men and women could be seen walking down the cobblestone streets that wrapped around the base of the brown and white buildings. Just then, Eddy's ears pricked up and he turned to the right, with Emily doing the same a short while after.

In the distance, they heard the sound of flutes, maracas, and a shamisen playing together to create a wonderful song. Eddy slowly wandered away from Emily, trying to figure out where the song was coming from. He walked for at least a minute until he stopped in front of a beige, three story building with a scaly, dark blue roof that curved upwards at the corners. At that point, the sound was loud and clear and Eddy skipped up the building's stone steps.

When he got to the large double doors, he jumped up and tried to grab the door handle without any success. Just then, Emily finally caught up with him and noticed that he was bleating and hitting his head on the door. Emily ran up the steps and asked Eddy what was wrong. He pointed to the door handle and bleated quietly. Emily giggled and leapt up towards the handle. Unlike Eddy, she was able to grab it. However, when she pulled on it, she discovered that the door wouldn't budge. She pulled on it again and tried putting both of her feet on the door. Still, the door refused to open. She then tried pulling it while kicking her legs as fast as possible but unfortunately, it didn't do squat.

All of a sudden, Eddy tapped his hoof on Emily's back a couple of times. She quickly turned her head towards him.

"I'm tryin' Eddy!" Emily screamed. He then pointed to an open window on the first floor towards the right side of the building. Emily moved her head to get a better look at the window. She gasped and jumped off of the handle. She ran towards the window, with Eddy following suit. When they got to the window, Emily stared at it and tried to come up with a way to get up there. It took her at least a half a minute before she smiled and snapped her fingers. She walked over to Eddy and gripped his sides with both hands. She then lifted her arms up a few times before she was able to hoist him up to the top of her head. She took a few steps back and charged towards the window. When she was inches away from it, she heaved both of her arms forward and released Eddy from her grasp.

Eddy found himself flying through the air and as he did so, he stretched his arms and legs out as far as he could. A few moments later, he crash landed on a thin, unoccupied wooden bench in a large room filled with other people sitting on similar benches. Despite the landing, nobody in the room turned their attention towards him. Meanwhile, Emily looked up at the window and bounced up, grabbing the ledge of the window in the process. She gathered up all the strength she could and pulled herself upwards. Once she was inside, she climbed onto an empty bench and scanned the room, looking for Eddy. A couple of seconds later, she spotted Eddy sitting on a bench a few rows in front of her. She then stepped onto a thick wooden platform and walked over to him.

She sat down on the bench and wrapped her left arm around his back. Once Emily got comfortable, she noticed that there were at least five, pale faced woman with different coloured kimonos gracefully dancing on stage. The more she watched the performance, the harder it became for her to look away. Eventually, the women on stage stopped dancing and the audience began to clap their hands and cheer as loudly as possible. Emily and Eddy began to clap as well, though Eddy lost his balance and fell on his stomach when he did so. The audience stood up and began to migrate towards the double doors. Emily looked around the room and yelled,

"What, that's it? What a rip-off!" After that, she sighed and followed the crowd to the doors. When Emily got close to the door, Eddy lifted his head and inhaled a few times before stopping dead in his tracks. He twisted his head towards the stage and locked eyes on a woman wearing a blue kimono. He darted towards the woman, gradually increasing his running speed the closer he got to her. Once he was able to see the whites of her eyes, he smiled and rammed into her as hard as he could. She screamed and plummeted to the ground almost instantly.

Once she fell to the ground, Eddy smiled and bleated. He then took a few steps forward and rubbed his nose and mouth against her face. She blushed and a woman wearing an orange kimono on her right started to giggle.

"Are you wearing that perfume again, Kuni?" said the woman in the orange kimono as she grinned from ear to ear.

"Miki, we aren't allowed to wear perfume during our shows." Kuni replied.

"Wait, we aren't? Oh crap." Miki whispered anxiously.

A few moments later, Emily ran over to where Eddy was and looked at Kuni and Eddy.

"There you are, Eddy!" Emily exclaimed.

"So you're his trainer! Well, you should've seen what he did to Kuni." Miki laughed. She then explained to her about what happened.

"Eddy! You can't tackle her! She's not a Pokemon!" Emily rebuked. Eddy sighed and jumped off of Kuni. She then gradually rose to her feet and stared at his soaking wet wool.

"Oh. You poor thing. Come here," said Kuni. Eddy walked over to her and when he was close enough, Kuni lifted the lower half of her kimono and covered him up. She repeatedly rubbed it against his wool as if it were a towel. She eventually stopped and once she did, Eddy eagerly emerged from underneath. Thanks to Kuni, his wool was dry and fluffy once again.

"Now that I think about it," said Kuni, "I thought all trainers nowadays started with either a fire type like Cyndaquil, a water type like Totodile, or a grass type like Chikorita. You know, I'm starting to doubt the credibility of that 'Fun Facts with Professor Elm' show." Just two seconds later, Kuni's face lit up and her smile grew wide.

"Speaking of Chikorita, aren't they just the cutest things, Miki? Every time I see one, I just want to scoop it up in my arms and---" Before she could finish what she was saying, Miki interrupted her and said,

"Hey Kuni, I thought you hated Chikorita ever since one of them tried to cut your hand off with Razor Leaf." Kuni harshly nudged Miki with her elbow and quietly growled, "Shut up, Miki." Several moments later, Kuni took a closer look at Emily and gasped.

"Oh no. You're all wet too?" Kuni sighed as she put both hands on her cheeks.

"I can get Felix to dry her off with Flamethrower." said Miki. All of a sudden, every other kimono clad woman, including Kuni, shouted, "No!" in unison.

"Okay! Geez." Miki said in a mildly angry tone.

"Yeah, I'll just take a towel." said Emily.

"Actually, I have a better idea." Kuni replied. She walked towards Emily and grabbed both sides of her stomach. She then hoisted her up into the air and Emily found herself laying in her arms. As she lay there, her mind began to drift. She envisioned herself laying down on a couch watching a television program. In this program, a small, feline creature with cream-coloured fur that turned brown at the tips of its hind paws and tail, was learning to walk and talk to impress a creature just like it.

While Emily was watching the program, she was struggling to keep her eyes open. All of a sudden, her mother stood in front of her and scooped her up in her arms. The next thing Emily knew, she found herself inside her bedroom being gently tucked into bed. Her mother bent over and picked up a plushie of a small, bipedal creature with bluish fur on top of its body, and a milky colour on the underside. She turned to Emily and handed it to her. She then leaned towards her cheek and gently kissed it.

"Well, here it is!" said Kuni as she stared at a large, dark brown wooden box with glass doors in the front. At that moment, Emily gasped and shook her head. Kuni then looked down at her and noticed a single tear sliding down her face. She placed Emily on the ground and used one of her sleeves to wipe away the tear. Once the tear was wiped off of her face, Kuni took a closer look at Emily.

"Um, do you mind changing out of those clothes for me?" asked Kuni. Emily nodded and ran towards the dark brown box. Once inside, she noticed a button next to the glass doors. Above the button was a small strip of paper that said, "Tint Windows."

"What does that mean?" Emily thought to herself. She decided to press it and much to her surprise, the glass doors started to turn an inky black colour and Emily was eventually unable to see anything out of them.

"So that's what it's for!" Emily exclaimed as she put her hands on one of the doors. A few moments later, Emily took her hands off of the glass and turned around. She then noticed a cute little wooden bench with a rolled up towel on it and decided to sit down, removing her backpack in the process. All of a sudden, the box started to heat up and it soon got to a point where it seemed like Emily was inside of an oven. Despite this, she took off her shirt and shorts and neatly folded them up.

"Alright! They're off," Emily shouted. Suddenly, she could hear footsteps approaching and eventually heard one of the doors creaking open. She quickly grabbed the clothes and hid behind a wall. A couple of seconds later, she pushed the clothes out of the box and the door soon closed. On the outside of the box, Kuni bent over and picked up the clothes. She then walked away, with Eddy closely following behind and Kuni and Eddy made their way towards a chrome, rectangular machine with a large handle on the side of it mounted on top of a tall wooden board with a hole in it.

Kuni went over to the side of the machine and set the clothes down on the ground. As she did so, Eddy walked around the machine and sniffed it. He then looked up at the large hole and smiled. He walked away from the machine and charged towards it once he got a good distance away. When he was close enough, he leaped up towards the hole. However, his body was too big to make it through the entire hole and as a result, he became trapped and flailed his blue hooves around, hoping to get free. He bleated as tears poured down his face.

Luckily for him, Kuni eventually noticed this and rushed to his side. She stared at him for at least ten seconds as she tried to think of a way to free him from the evil hole. Suddenly, she ran over to a wall with a small glass case hanging on it. In this case was a large steel blade with a black square hilt laying on a wooden stand with two pillars at each end that resembled wrenches. On the glass itself, there was some writing that read, "In case someone gets stuck, break glass."

Kuni removed the thick light blue sash that kept her kimono closed and rolled it up until it resembled a thin tube. She pulled back her arm and forcefully thrusted the sash towards the glass. Upon impact, the glass turned into a thousand tiny beads and Kuni grabbed the blade from the stand. She ran over to Eddy and stabbed an area of the board that was extremely close to Eddy's left side. She started sawing around Eddy until the wood surrounding him popped out and broke under his weight once it hit the floor. Kuni put the blade down and hugged him.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Kuni asked. Eddy bleated and smiled as Kuni wiped the tears from his face. She then lifted up the curly tuft of wool in the middle of his forehead and gave him a kiss. Eddy began to blush and his heartbeat sped up. He started bleating profusely and rolled around on the floor. As he was doing so, Kuni looked at the pile of clothes next to the machine and gasped. She then knelt down and unfolded the clothes. She then noticed the dirt and grass stains covering the shirt and shorts. Upon noticing the stains, her eyes widened and she started to frown. A few minutes later, she knocked on the door of the wooden box.

"Hello?" said Emily, "Can I have my clothes back?"

"Oh sure. Hold on," Kuni replied. She then made her way over to a tall grey locker and opened it up. She took out a plastic bag and rummaged through it. She eventually found a dark green short sleeved shirt with a small, quadruped creature with blue-green skin and a green plant bulb on its back standing on top of white text that read, "I Am Number One!" She also found a pair of crisp denim shorts that seemed like they were brand new. She then folded them up and walked over to the unfolded clothes near the machine. She fished through the pockets of Emily's black shorts and pulled out a red and white ball, which she put on top of the new pile of clothes.

A couple moments later, she knocked on the door of the wooden box and opened it up. Once Kuni was inside, Emily screamed and quickly jumped behind the bench.

"Don't look at me!" Emily shouted.

"Why, what's wrong?" Kuni asked in a rather distraught manner.

"Grandma says that if you look at naked people, Arceus will send you to the Distortion World before you die." Emily replied. At that moment, Kuni was about to say something but suddenly stopped herself a couple moments later. She then took a deep breath in and held it for at least ten seconds as her eyes darted around aimlessly.

"These used to be my son's clothes so I don't know how well they're going to fit," Kuni spontaneously replied.

"What happened to my clothes?" Emily asked.

"I was going to donate them but I figured you needed them more," said Kuni.

"Um, what about my clo---" Before Emily could finish, Kuni put the clothes down on the floor and quickly closed the door behind her. So after...whatever that was, Emily emerged from the box, donning the new clothes.

"Eddy!" Emily yelled. Unfortunately, Eddy didn't seem to hear her and continued to roll around on the floor. Emily shouted his name again and he stopped rolling almost immediately after. He then skipped over to her and bleated. She asked him if he was ready to face Morty and he nodded happily. They walked away from the wooden box and made their way towards the entrance. Before they could leave however, Miki spotted them.

"Hey! Are those my son's old clothes?" said Miki.

"Yeah! Kuni gave them to me!" Emily replied.

"I see. You know, I've been thinking. Why don't we have a battle?" asked Miki. Just then, Kuni snuck up behind Miki and shouted, "Boo!" Everyone but Kuni yelped and jumped at least a foot in the air. Kuni laughed and quickly kissed Miki on the cheek.

"So what's this I hear about a battle?" Kuni asked. Emily and Eddy didn't respond as their eyes were bugged out and their mouths hung open. Miki explained to Kuni that she wanted to have a battle with Emily.

"Actually, I think I should battle her," said Kuni.

"No. You and Vincent have been slacking off on your dance training," Miki said as she smiled and patted Kuni on the head.

"But, you've been doing that too," Kuni replied. Miki constantly tripped over her words, trying to come up with something to prove her wrong. She eventually sighed and gave up.

"You know what? Why don't we let Emily decide?" asked Miki. They turned towards Emily and Kuni asked who she would like to battle. Eddy and Emily gasped and shook their heads. They looked around the room before turning their attention to Miki and Kuni. Eddy poked Emily's side and sprinted over to Kuni. He then pointed his hoof towards her and rapidly moved it up and down.

"Hmm, I think I'll go with... Miki," said Emily.

"Yea ha!" Miki shouted as she slapped her hands together.

"Nah just kidding. I'll go with Kuni," Emily said as she closed her eyes and smiled.

"What?" Miki whispered. She took a shallow breath in and tensed up her arms so much, they began to shake. She then started to growl and as her rage was building, it suddenly stopped a couple of seconds later. She then said in a calm voice,

"I don't particularly care for this decision."

Eddy bounced up and down as he joyfully bleated. Kuni told Emily to follow her to the stage. As they made their way towards the stage, Eddy never strayed away from Kuni's side. When they went up on stage, Kuni told Eddy to go with Emily and he obeyed without question.

"Alright Emily, you go on the left side of the stage and I'll go on the right," said Kuni. After that, the two walked away from each other and went to the side they agreed upon. Kuni lifted the right flap of her kimono and pulled out a red and white ball.

"You ready, sweetie?" asked Kuni. Emily said yes and Kuni yelled,

"Go, Vincent!" Kuni then gently tossed the red and white ball. When the ball was in mid air, it had stopped moving and split open. A red jagged beam came out and released a light blue creature that stood on all fours with three small toes on each foot. It had a dark blue marking around its head and a ridge down its back with a split tailfin at the end of its body. It also had a white ruff around its neck, and three fins around its head made of cream-coloured webbing.

At the sight of the creature, Emily's jaw dropped.

"Woah! A Vaporeon," said Emily, "My mom always said I was part Vaporeon!" Kuni laughed and said,

"I guess that's why you decided to battle me, huh?" Emily nodded her head in agreement and explained that her mother showed her pictures of it in a book called "The Encyclopedia of Eeveelutions".

"Get out there, Eddy!" Emily shouted. Eddy then jumped in front of her and made eye contact with Vincent.

"Eddy, use Thundershock!" Emily yelled. Yellow sparks materialized around his ears and he fired a thin stream of yellow electricity from the center of his body at Vincent.

"Dodge it and use Dig, Vincent!" Kuni screamed. Just as the electricity was about to hit him, he swiftly leaped out of the way and rapidly dug into the stage using his front paws. Pretty soon, he fell beneath the stage and Eddy moved his head from side to side, trying to figure out where Vincent was. Before he could find him, Vincent sprung up from underneath the stage and bashed his head against Eddy's stomach, launching him several feet into the air. Eddy hit the ceiling hard and rapidly descended to the ground immediately after.

Once he made contact with the ground, he landed on his stomach and it seemed as though all of the air was knocked out of his lungs, as he wheezed rather heavily. Emily opened up her bag and searched through the messy collection of items. She eventually found a purple aerosol can and rushed to Eddy's side. She looked at his wool and saw no visible marks on it. Thinking that the damage was on the inside, she asked Eddy to open up his mouth and she put the nozzle of the can an inch awat from it and pulled the trigger three times. A couple of moments later, Eddy's breathing returned to normal and the battle resumed.

"Use Tackle, Eddy!" Emily commanded. Eddy bleated and stampeded towards Vincent.

"Vincent, use Hyper Beam now!" Kuni said excitedly. As Eddy made his way across the stage, a white ball quickly formed inside Vincent's mouth. A moment later, the white ball turned into a large beam and Eddy rolled out of the way just in time to avoid it. Because of this, the beam ended up putting a hole the size of a monster truck tire in the back wall of the stage.

In the aftermath of the attack, Vincent quietly panted and he struggled to keep his head up.

"Eddy! Use Thundershock again!" Emily screamed. Yellow sparks immediately formed around his ears and he launched a slim beam of electricity from the center of his body at Vincent. As soon as the beam hit his body, he whimpered loudly and closed his eyes. He stiffened his muscles as he tried to endure the attack. This went on for about ten seconds until Eddy stopped to prevent himself from becoming too exhausted. He then ran back to Emily's side and waited to see what would happen next.

Miki and Emily gasped as their eyes widened. Two pink hearts flew out of Vincent's head as he barked wearily. Against all odds, Vincent managed to survive the attack, although he was laying on the stage and severely damaged. After witnessing this, Emily and Miki shouted, "How?" at the same time.

"Well, ever since Murph gave him some of those rainbow coloured Pokebeans, he's been able to endure extremely strong attacks more often. He also been more affectionate too," said Kuni.

"I wonder where I where I can get some of those," Emily thought to herself. All of a sudden, Kuni told Vincent to use Surf. Soon, Vincent slowly got up and his eyes glowed a light blue colour. A forty foot wave quickly formed behind him and once it did so, it hastily moved across the stage. When the wave hit Vincent, his entire body dissolved into it. Emily and Eddy screamed as the giant wave got closer to them. They sprinted off of the stage and jumped towards Miki. While Eddy landed in her lap, Emily ended up inside Eddy's wool.

"Wow! It's so roomy in here!" Emily said excitedly. Once the wave crashed against the left stage wall, Miki stood up and effortlessly lifted Eddy over her head. She then hurled him towards the soggy stage.

"Get back up there!" Miki said in a slightly annoyed tone. When Eddy's body slammed against the stage, Emily went flying out of his wool and rolled on the ground for at least a few seconds. She quickly got up and brushed herself off.

"Vincent, use Dig!" Kuni yelled.

"Tackle 'em, Eddy!" Emily shouted. Eddy darted towards Vincent as he quickly dug into the stage. Before he could get under it however, Eddy rammed into him and sent him flying towards the wall on the right side of the stage. A few moments later, Vincent collided with the wall and fell to the ground. His eyes turned into black spirals and he was no longer able to move.

Suddenly, a high pitched dinging sound could be heard and small white sparks flew out of Eddy's wool. Emily's eyes grew wide and she gasped, wondering what just happened to Eddy. Kuni turned her attention towards Vincent for at least a few seconds before walking over to Emily.

"Congratulations guys! You won!" said Kuni. Emily cheered as Eddy ran around in circles. As that was going on, Miki stood up and gave a round of applause. Kuni got out a red and white ball and pointed it at Vincent. Suddenly, a jagged red beam shot out from the center of the ball and hit Vincent. Within a couple of seconds, his entire body became engulfed in a blue light and the beam moved back towards the ball, with Vincent rapidly shrinking in size as he traveled up the beam. Kuni put the ball away and lifted the left flap of her kimono. She pulled out three, orange rectangular pieces of paper and hid them behind her back.

"You wanna know what you get for winning?" asked Kuni.

"Experience?" Emily replied.

"Well that and...This!" said Kuni as she revealed the orange papers to Emily.

"Is that..." Emily asked. Before she could finish asking her question, Kuni interrupted her and said,

"Yup! Fifteen hundred Poken." She gently handed the papers over to Emily and as soon as they were in her hands, she stared at them.

"Wow! No wonder battling is so popular!" Emily chuckled. She went silent for a few moments as she thought to herself,

"I wish my mom would've told me about this." Just then, Eddy walked over to Kuni and stood on his hind legs. He then put his front hooves on her upper leg and stared up at her. She looked down at him and smiled.

"You want something too?" said Kuni. Eddy bleated loudly and Kuni lifted the left flap of her kimono. She then got out a rainbow coloured bean that was in the shape of a heart and knelt down. Eddy sniffed the bean for a moment until he scooped it up in his mouth. After he consumed it...