“SCHNORR…”  This time it was no sleeping beast, but Aoife who was snoring.  Cloud had run into them on their way up to their rooms from the spring, and had insisted that Aoife get to bed early so that she would be ready for her battle tomorrow.
 “I’m almost sure,” Cloud had said, “that if you’re that close to finding the sleeping creature, that you’ll find the gym tomorrow.”
 And while Aoife was getting a good night’s sleep, the rest of her party were not.  Sora, Aidan, and Ferio were sitting up, debating who would go downstairs and get some more pillows from Cloud, to cover their ears.
 “Fine, then,” Ferio said, throwing off her covers and putting on some slippers.  “If you guys want to stay here and listen to Aoife, that’s cool.  I’ll go get the pillows.”
 She tiptoed out and down the hall, looking for Cloud.  On the way there she passed Room 18, from whence some interesting noises were coming.
 “Petra and Ruari’s room,” she thought, sighing inwardly in exasperation as she continued on her quest for pillows.
 
***
 
 “Hey, I can’t hear it anymore,” Aoife said, breaking the silence as they all stood around the hot springs, listening for the snoring of the sleeping creature.  “It must have woken up…or stopped snoring.”
 “Something I wish you’d done last night,” Ferio muttered.
 “What was that?” Aoife said.
 “I said, where were the noises coming from last night?” Ferio said, covering up for herself without missing a beat.
 “Over here,” Aidan said, pointing towards the bushes on his side of the spring.  “I think that’s where, anyway.”
 Conveniently enough, there was a path beaten through the bushes on that side of the spring, which Aoife was quick to bound up, the rest following behind her.  But about fifty yards up, they reached an obstacle—a very large obstacle—a huge Snorlax sleeping in the middle of the path.
 The group stared at the apparent answer to Cloud’s riddle, except for Aoife, who was too busy dancing around.  “I told you guys it was a Snorlax!  Didn’t I?”
 “Save the victory dance, Aoife,” Ferio advised.  “Remember what Cloud said about the ‘sleeping creature’?  It’s not the type of Pokemon you’d want to run into in a dark alley.  Which is, essentially, where we are right now.”  She made a sweeping gesture indicating the narrow path, barely lit by the rising sun.  
 “Yeah,” Aoife said, “but I have an idea.  Sora, I think I’ll need Treagle for a while.  It knows Razor Leaf, right?”
 Sora nodded.  “Yep.  What for?”
 “You’ll need that attack.  I’ll tell you when to use it.  All I have to do is wake it up.”  Aoife looked to Chu-Chu.  “Okay, Chu-Chu, you know what to do.”
 “Pika pika,” Chu-Chu said.  “Chuuuu!”  Aoife’s plan was to wake Snorlax via a Thundershock from Chu-Chu, which Chu-Chu was accomplishing very well.  
After a few minutes of voltage, the Snorlax grumbled and began to get to its feet.  And it was not very happy.  It identified Chu-Chu as the one who had woken it up, and it rose to its tiptoes, looming.
“What’s it going to do, ballet?” Sora snickered.
 “Now that would be funny,” Ruari agreed, picturing a Snorlax in a frilly pink tutu.
 “Sora!” Aoife hissed.  “Get ready with Treagle!”
 “Oh, right,” Sora said, getting out her Pokemon.
 “Snooorrrrr,” Snorlax grunted, falling forward seemingly in slow motion.
 “Run, Chu-Chu!” Aoife cried.
 “Pi!”  Chu-Chu didn’t need to be told twice.  It ran out from under the shadow of the Snorlax, barely missing being crushed under its massive bulk.
 “Now give it another Thundershock,” Aoife directed.  “Sora, can you have Treagle do Razor Leaf?  And can you tell it to make the leaves go in a pile over there?”  She pointed to the bushes to the side of the path.
 “I guess,” Sora said.  “Now, Treagle!  You heard her, aim your Razor Leaf right there!”  She pointed, and Treagle complied, making the leaves fall in a neat pile as if they had just been raked up off of someone’s lawn.
 “Hey, Snorlax!” Aoife said, as Snorlax began to stand up again.  “Want dinner?”  She picked up a branch from the ground and waved it in Snorlax’s face, while the huge Pokemon swiped at the branch with its paw like a cat.  “Go and get it!” Aoife said, throwing the branch into Treagle’s leaf pile (making sure that none of her friends were in the path of the Snorlax…except maybe Ferio).
 The Snorlax lumbered off the path, sat down in the bushes, and began munching on the leaves Sora’s Treagle had produced.  “Isn’t that interesting?” Petra observed.  “It didn’t want to fight, it just wanted a snack.”
 “At this time of night?” Aidan said.
 “It doesn’t care,” Ferio said.  “Snorlax eat whenever they wake up, and they don’t fall asleep again until they’re finished.  Unless they’re battling, of course.”
 “Well, now that the path is unclogged,” Aoife said, “we might as well follow it.  We might get to the gym…you know, we’ve found the sleeping creature, so the gym should be pretty close.”
 Ferio frowned, but Aoife paid her no attention.  “Have we, though?”
 
(Who's that Pokemon?  It's Snorlax!)

 “Cinnabar Island Gym?” Sora read from a sign that was swinging over an open gate at the top of the mountain.  “Uh…where?”  The gate seemed to lead to nowhere, only a plateau at the top of the hill stood behind it.
 Ferio looked pensive.  “Hmm…if my theory is correct, then…” she mused, taking a few steps forward onto the hilltop.  She found that in the middle of the hilltop was a huge pool of lava, with a few stepping stones peppered throughout.  “Yep.  A volcano.”
 “Really?” Ruari said.  “But it’s not supposed to be active now, right?  I mean, it hasn’t erupted since…”
 She trailed off, and there was silence for a while until Aidan spoke with dawning comprehension.  “Oh, I get it.  The sleeping creature.  It’s the volcano, isn’t it, Ferio?”
 Ferio nodded, but Aoife still wasn’t convinced.  “But a volcano isn’t a ‘creature.’”
 “It’s a metaphor,” Ferio explained.  “The volcano is dormant for many years—you could call that ‘sleeping’.  And when it wakes up, it explodes…that’s what Cloud meant by that.”
 “Bingo!”  Cloud cried, suddenly appearing from nowhere as he jumped up and landed on the opposite side of the volcano pool.  “You’ve found the gym, children.  Now we will battle.  Three Pokemon each.  You may recall or substitute your Pokemon as you wish, but I can’t.  Ready?”
 “This is the second-to-last gym,” Aoife reminded herself, as she took out her Vaporeon’s Pokeball, “so it’s not going to be easy.  But if I’ve gotten this far, I should be able to make it, right?”
 “Ready,” Aoife said.
 “All right, then,” Cloud said, throwing his Pokeball, which bounced once on one of the stepping stones before opening.  “Go, Snorlax!”
 Upon seeing Cloud’s choice, Aoife replaced her Vaporeon’s Pokeball and took out another one.  “Go, Weepinbell!”
 Cloud frowned as Weepinbell, looking slightly nervous at the sight of the lava, landed on one of the stepping stones.  “Aoife, dude…you realize you can only use three Pokemon, right?  And that this is a fire-type gym, right?  You know, I can let you switch if you want to and this one won’t count…”
 “Nope,” Aoife said, standing firm in her decision.  “I want to fight with this one.”  She winked to the group, mostly to reassure Aidan, who was looking panicky.  “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”
 “Okay…” Cloud said.  “Snorlax, use pound!”
 Snorlax stood up and started to wave its arms up and down.  “Is it trying to fly?” Sora giggled.  “Does it think it’s a Spearow?”
 But that wasn’t Snorlax’s plan.  It used its arms for momentum to jump across to the stepping stone Weepinbell was on.  Weepinbell jumped out of the way just in time, but Snorlax followed it.
 “Weepinbell, hurry!” Aoife said.  “Shoot your Razor Leaf out, but aim it over there.”  She pointed to an area downhill from the lava pool, a clearing among the bushes.  “Make sure the leaves all go in a pile, okay?”
 “Bell,” Weepinbell agreed, opening its mouth to shoot out the leaves.
 “Oh, I get it,” Ruari said.  “She’s using the leaf pile trick.”
 Petra watched Weepinbell as its razor leaves built up in a pile where Aoife had indicated.  “But that’s out of the arena.  Snorlax should know it’s not supposed to leave the arena…shouldn’t it?”
 Apparently this was one detail Snorlax overlooked.  When it spotted the leaves, its face brightened and it charged across the arena (somehow managing to not fall into the lava) and down the hill to the leaf pile.
 “Hey!  Snorlax!” Cloud shouted.  “Get back here, man!  You’re not supposed to leave the arena!”
 “Sorry, Cloud!” Aoife said.  “Tough luck, eh?  But league rules say the Pokemon can’t leave the arena under penalty of disqualification.”
 “Shoot,” Cloud muttered, recalling his Pokemon.  “I’m going to have to have a few words with that Snorlax.  But now I have another Pokemon that your Weepinbell might not be able to beat so easily.  Go, Arcanine!”
 Arcanine emerged from its Pokeball with a howl of “Arooooooooooo!”  It was a majestic looking dog lion, orange and black striped like a tiger.  Aoife and Weepinbell gulped nervously in unison.
 “Okay, Weepinbell!” Aoife said, sounding a little less confident than before.  “Use…uh…”
 “Arcanine!” Cloud interrupted.  “Use your ember attack!”
 Arcanine barked, its breath turning into a flame.  Weepinbell barely managed a lucky escape, but it seemed like a fluke.
 “Weepinbell, try Stun Spore!” Aoife said.
 “Weepin-bell,” Weepinbell said.  “Bell.”  It spit out a cloud of powder, which settled into Arcanine’s fur.  Arcanine froze, then sneezed, no longer looking so intimidating.  
 “Paralyzed,” Cloud said, dismayed.  “Oh well.”  He returned Arcanine, and held up his last Pokeball.  “Now for my last Pokemon, and this one’s a real scorcher.”
 “Is that a riddle?” Aoife wondered.  
 She didn’t have to wonder for very long, because Cloud’s last Pokemon was released shortly after.  It was a Magmar, and it looked a bit like Aoife’s Magby, except grown up.  It had the same beak and reddish-orange skin, but was far larger than Aoife’s baby Pokemon.
 “Cool,” Aoife said.
 Her Pokedex agreed.  “Magmar.  The spitfire Pokemon.  This evolution of Magby can keep itself warm even in the coldest of temperatures.”
 “Well, I figured that,” Aoife said, “from Pele keeping me warm on cold nights.”
 “Let’s see your Weepinbell take on this baby,” Cloud said.
 “Same strategy, Weepinbell,” Aoife said.  “Stun Spore!”
 Again the cloud of powder burst from Weepinbell’s mouth, but this time it dissolved into the air before it could reach Magmar.  “Try it again, Weepinbell!” Aoife encouraged.  But when Weepinbell tried another Stun Spore, Poisonpowder, and Sleep Powder, it still didn’t affect Magmar.
 “Magmar has a heat shield around its body,” Cloud said.  “It burns up those pollen attacks.”
 “Uh-oh…” Aoife said.
 “I can’t look,” Sora said, covering her eyes.  “Wake me up when it’s over.”
 It was over soon enough.  Magmar used Flamethrower and made short work of Weepinbell.  After Aoife recalled Weepinbell, Ruari tapped Sora on the shoulder.  “Hey.  You can look now.”
 “You can use two more Pokemon if you like, Aoife,” Cloud said.  “What’ll it be?”
 “I think…Vaporeon!” Aoife said, throwing out the Pokeball she had considered earlier.  Her Vaporeon landed on a stepping stone with a swish of its mermaid tail and a toss of its finned head.
 “Very nice Vaporeon you have there,” Cloud said.
 “Thanks!” Aoife said.  “Vaporeon, use Hydro Pump!”
 Aoife’s cheering section watched as Vaporeon aimed a jet of water at Magmar’s feet, which splashed up and soaked it.  “Since when does her Vaporeon know Hydro Pump?”  Petra said.  “Isn’t that a very advanced move?  How often does she train that?”
 “Ha ha!” Aoife said, already doing a victory dance.  “Douse your head in water and repent, Magmar!”
 With a grunt, Magmar fell facedown onto the stepping stone, then disappeared back into its Pokeball as Cloud recalled it.
 “Woohoo!” Aoife hooted.  “I beat Magmar!”  She looked impatiently to Cloud, who was hobbling around the lava pool towards her.  “That means I get my Volcano Badge, right?  Doesn’t it, Cloud, sir, doesn’t it?”
 “That’s right, young one,” Cloud said, producing a Volcano Badge from his pocket.  “Groovy performance you gave there.  And you have some pretty hip Pokemon too.  You deserve this.”  
Cloud shook Aoife’s hand, pressing the shiny red badge into her palm.  Aoife held it up proudly, then pinned it on her shirt next to her other nine badges.  “Only one more to go before I can compete in the Pokemon League!” she cheered.
 
 
Author's Notes
Cloud rocks.  This episode...does not.  It's too short.  It's all right, though, I guess.  Has some good description, but not much funny stuff.  The sleeping creature riddle, if you haven't guessed, has two answers: Snorlax, and the volcano.  And I...can't think of anything else to say for these notes.  Just read the next episode, all right?  But be prepared: it's sad.
 
back