| Pokemon Conclave: The Orange League
Part 5: The Rogue Snorlax © 1999-2001 Willow McCall Aoife whistled some random tune as she rode along on Ruari’s Lapras with Ruari and Petra, polishing her Coral Eye badge. Next to them on Ruari’s Dragonair, Sora and Ferio were riding (Sora had liked Ronan so much she asked Ruari if she could ride him to the next island. Ruari and Ronan both said yes). Sora had her blue first place ribbon from the Sea Race in her hand, and she was looking at it as if she still couldn’t believe she had won. “I mean, I’ve won races before,” she had said, “but flying races, not aquatic ones. This is totally different.” “And since it’s not your area of specialty,” Ruari had said, “it’s even more impressive that you came in first. Good for you!” Now Sora was pinning on her ribbon and peering at her reflection in the water. “Isn’t it a pretty color of blue, though?” she said, beaming. “It doesn’t match my hair though…” She held the ribbon up next to her face and narrowed her eyes at her reflection against the glare on the water. “Oh well. I still like it.” “Sora, mind where you’re going,” Ferio said, tapping Sora on the shoulder. Sora looked up and saw a Seel drifting lazily in the water in front of them that she would have collided into in a minute if Ferio hadn’t warned her. “Yikes.” Sora steered Ronan around the Seel carefully, trying not to make any waves and disturb it. “Thanks for warning me, Ferio.” “Any time, space cadet.” “Hey,” Ruari said. “I thought _I_ was the resident space cadet.” Ferio didn’t answer; she was preoccupied, looking up at the sky. “Maybe that guy at the dock was right, maybe we shouldn’t have gone out today.” Petra looked up as well. “Yeah. Looks stormy, doesn’t it?” “It’s not gonna rain,” Aoife said. “How do YOU know?” “Because I have good anti-rain karma.” “Ahh. So was it this great anti-rain karma that caused your Coral Eye badge match to get rained out, or what?” Aoife sniffed. “You’re just not sensitive to my karmic vibrations, Ferio.” Ferio snorted, and Aoife turned around so that she was facing backwards on Lapras’s shell and carried on polishing her badge. “Hey, wait a minute.” Aoife looked up and saw a blue thing moving erratically towards them in the water. “What’s that? That better not be Ermynne…” But as the blue thing drew closer Aoife saw that it wasn’t Ermynne…it was worse. It was a periscope, and as it emerged from the water Aoife saw that it was attached to a submarine shaped like a Mantine. “Oh no,” she groaned, “not Team Rocket.” “Where’s Team Rocket?” Sora said, turning around. “Oh, no.” But the Mantine sub just zoomed on by, but as it passed a wailing cry of “Team Rocket’s getting attacked by Qwilfish agaaaaaaaaaain!” could be heard. At the mention of Qwilfish the five girls simultaneously pulled their legs out of the water so as not to get stung or bitten. “That…was odd,” Petra said, watching the Mantine head off into the distance. “Hey, guys? Maybe we should find an island to rest on, just for a minute…I think the wind is picking up.” The wind was picking up. The sky was getting darker and clouds were rolling in as well. “Oh, crap,” Ruari muttered. “I just felt a raindrop.” “Let’s get out of here,” Sora agreed, picking up the pace a little. “Oh, great,” Aoife said. “What?” “There’s something else out there.” Aoife was watching another blue blob on the horizon as it came closer and closer. This time it really was Ermynne, as Aoife could see when the blob got close enough. “Oh, man.” “Aoife Ketchum!” Ermynne yelled, getting close enough so Aoife could see she was shaking her fist. “I challenge you to a Pokemon match! Right now!” “Ermynne, it’s about to storm!” Aoife yelled back. Ermynne pulled up alongside Ronan. “So? You’re not afraid of a piddly little storm, are you?” “From the looks of it, I wouldn’t use the words ‘piddly’ and ‘little’ to describe this storm,” Ferio said. CRACK-BOOOOOOOM. Thunder and lightning. All six of the girls looked around to see where it had struck, to see how close it was. “Ermynne, you can’t seriously want to battle in this weather.” “Fine then, coward,” Ermynne said, not quite getting the point. “Cop out on this one if you want, but as soon as we get to mainland you’re toast.” “If we don’t get to mainland soon we’ll all be toast,” Petra said, as the waves thrashed against them. “Come on, guys, we have to—“ BAROOOM. More thunder, and then a wave. It came up suddenly and from behind, so they didn’t have a chance to get away from it. It broke just over their heads, so naturally they were pulled under, and it was going to be a long time before they surfaced again. *** “Unnh…” Aoife woke up, feeling sand underneath her, but she didn’t open her eyes yet, it was still too bright and she was getting adjusted. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, considered opening them, then closed them again. “Too tired…” “Morning, sunshine,” a voice next to her said. Aoife opened her eyes and the voice’s face swam into focus. It was Ermynne. “YAAAAAH!” That got Aoife up pretty quickly. She jumped up and scampered away from Ermynne. “What…what are you doing here?” “Remember the thunderstorm?” Ermynne said, propping herself up on her elbow and looking at Aoife from under her bangs…a look Aoife most definitely did _not_ like receiving from Ermynne. “Guess we got washed up on this deserted island…alone.” “No way,” Aoife said, getting up and brushing herself off. “They’ve got to be around, I mean…we were all together when the wave came, so they can’t have gone too far, can they?” Ermynne looked nonchalant. “Not necessarily. Storms can take people way farther away than where they started. But come on, let’s go look for your little friends.” She got up and started off down the beach. “Wait!” Aoife ran after her. “Don’t you want your match now?” “Nah,” Ermynne said. “I want to find your friends first, so they can be there to watch when I beat you.” Aoife did a near-facefault into the sand. “I should have known it was something like that.” They walked in silence for a while, before Ermynne said, “Hey….what if we ARE here alone? What if we’re the only people on this island? Then what?” “I dunno,” Aoife mumbled. “We go to some other island to look for the others, I guess…hey, where’s your Lapras?” she asked, changing the subject. “It’s here,” Ermynne said, patting her Pokeball. “I had an auto-return system put into all my Pokeballs, just in case of a situation like this.” “Really? How does that work?” Aoife asked, trying not to sound too interested. “There’s a three-mile radius. Whenever the Pokemon leaves that, it’s automatically returned.” She grinned proudly. “Pretty cool, huh?” “Yeah, I suppose,” Aoife said. “Hey, there’s Ronan!” She spotted a long blue and white band across the sand and ran towards it. “Who?” Ermynne asked, but she got no answer. She ran after Aoife and crouched down next to her by the apparently injured Pokemon. Ermynne looked around. “So where’s this guy Ronan?” “Right here, dummy,” Aoife said, pointing to the Dragonair. “It’s Ruari’s Pokemon.” She noticed Ronan had a number of thin red lines across his body, and the skin around them was slightly red-tinted too. “And he’s hurt.” “Let me see.” Ermynne pushed Aoife out of the way and leaned over Ronan. She examined him for a while, then turned back to Aoife with a grim expression. “He has an infection.” “What? Oh no!” Ermynne nodded. “Looks like some kind of poisonous coral got him. Do you have an antidote?” “Oh, nooooo,” Aoife wailed. “Petra has all our medicine! What are we going to do?” “You’re going to step aside and let her take care of it.” Aoife turned around, and Petra and Ruari were standing over her. “Thank god you guys are here,” Aoife said, as she and Ermynne scooted over to let the other girls take over. “Thank god indeed,” Petra said, pulling the antidote out of her backpack. “If it is coral like you said, Ermynne, it could be really serious.” “Okay, Ronan,” Ruari said, patting Ronan’s nose consolingly. “Petra’s going to take care of you and it might sting a little but it’s good for you in the long run, okay?” “Air,” Ronan whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut in anticipation. He winced as Petra sprayed the antidote on him, but it was over soon enough. “There,” Petra said, taking a towel out of her bag and cleaning him off with it. “That didn’t hurt so much, did it?” Ronan looked at Petra gratefully, and Ruari returned him to his Pokeball. “Let’s let him rest.” The girls stood up and looked around. “So if Ronan was here, that means Ferio and Sora must be nearby, right?” “Yep!” The girls turned around to see Sora’s head poking out of the bushes. “Glad we found you. C’mere, we gotta show you something.” The four of them followed Sora into the bushes until they came to a small clearing in the forest, where Ferio was standing already. “See?” Sora said, spreading her arms out to indicate the area. All the trees in the forest were pomelo trees, and they bore fruit—hundreds of fruit on each tree. And these were no ordinary pomelo—each of them was nearly the size of a soccer ball. “Isn’t this cool?” Sora said. “We’ve been having great luck today, haven’t we? We all wind up on this island together, not like the last time we were shipwrecked, and we end up on an island that has plenty of food, so we don’t have to worry about that either!” “I wouldn’t exactly call it great luck to wake up next to my psychotic rival,” Aoife muttered. Sora stood on tiptoe and picked a few of the pomelo off the nearest tree. “Now! Who wants to be the first to try these?” “STOP RIGHT THERE!” yelled several female voices at once. This was followed by a series of rapid thwacking sounds as a round of arrows flew through the air and stuck into the ground around Sora’s feet, one of them narrowly missing Petra. “…eep.” Sora squeaked, freezing in place and looking around. Her assailants poked their heads up out of the bushes where they were hiding, revealing themselves to be seven young women, armed with bows and arrows and wearing camouflage-printed clothing. “Hey!” Petra said. “Guys, now I know where we are! We’re on that island where Destiny’s Child did their Survivor video! And these ladies are…um, whoa.” She stopped when she saw that the nearest one was pointing her loaded bow at Petra. “Come no closer,” she warned. Petra did as she was told. One of the lady archers, a tall blonde about Ferio’s age or a little older, stood up and stepped out of the bushes. “Who are you?” “We’re travelers, I guess,” Ferio explained. “We’re from Kanto—“ “THEY’RE from Kanto,” Ermynne interrupted. “I’m not. I’m from Mikan.” “Yeah. Anyway, we’re just…passing through. We got washed up here by the storm.” The blonde glared at them, although she dropped her bow; this made Petra feel slightly more relieved. “These are the Pomelo Islands, and pomelo thiefs will NOT be tolerated.” “I’m sorry,” Sora said, still not daring to move. “We didn’t know these pomelo were protected, otherwise we wouldn’t have come near them, I swear.” The blonde looked like she was considering this. “Very well. You may keep the ones you picked, but pick any more and we won’t miss next time.” She and the other archers turned to leave. “And I suggest you leave promptly,” she added, over her shoulder. “If you don’t have transportation we’ll provide it for you, get you to the nearest island.” And with that, they left. All but one, the youngest of the group, a short redheaded girl who stayed behind with Aoife-tachi. “You guys okay?” she asked. “Sorry about my sister, she gets a little obsessive about these trees sometimes.” “That was your sister?” Ruari said. “Yeah,” she said. “Silvia’s really protective of our orchards, which is good sometimes, but she’s gotten a little paranoid. Now she thinks everyone who comes near the island could be a thief.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s annoying. I’m Cinzia, by the way.” She stuck out her hand, and Petra shook it eagerly. “Hi! I’m Petra Stone, and might I say that you really do have a lovely pair of—“ “PETRA!” Ruari screeched. “What? I was just going to say eyes…” “Yeah, sure,” Ruari said. “I’m Ruari, and I’m Petra’s _girlfriend._” She emphasized the word, just to make sure Cinzia didn’t get any ideas. “And I sympathize with you about the whole sister issue. I have an older sister too, and I know how annoying it is.” The other members of the group introduced themselves in turn. “Nice to meet you guys,” Cinzia said. “Why don’t you come back to our house for a while? You need a place to stay, and Silvia won’t mind…too much.” “That sounds great!” Aoife said. “Er…as long as I can room with someone other than Ermynne. Or Ferio, for that matter.” Ermynne looked mildly disappointed, but she hid it well. “I’m sure that can be arranged.” “Great,” Cinzia said. “If you’ll follow me…” (Who's that Pokemon? It's Snorlax!) “So tell me about Pewter City,” Cinzia said eagerly. During dinner, she had strategically positioned herself across from Petra while Ruari looked on, rather miffed. Petra was about to launch into a fascinating explanation of her city when Aoife broke in. “Um, Cinzia? What’re these?” She held up a bowl of orange-colored…stuff. “Mashed potatoes, of course.” “Ah. Right.” Aoife helped herself to some, then stopped. “So why are they orange?” “Well,” Cinzia said, “they’re Silvia’s special recipe. Orange potatoes.” “Orange…potatoes?” Aoife looked at the lump of orange stuff on her plate with distaste. Cinzia laughed. “They’re actually not as bad as they sound, really. Sil just wants to use up the rest of our surplus product. That’s why we have orange-glazed chicken”—she pointed out each dish as it was mentioned—“and mandarin slices in the salad.” “Hmm.” Aoife was skeptical, but she took a tentative bite of orange potatoes anyway. The others watched her face for a reaction. “You know…these aren’t so bad.” She took another bite and smiled at Silvia, who had just sat down at the head of the table. “Compliments to the chef.” Silvia smiled rather stiffly back. “You’re welcome.” “So,” Cinzia said, batting her eyelashes across the table at Petra. “Where were we…ah, yes. You were going to tell me aaaaaaaall about Pewter City.” She leaned forward with interest, and Ruari frowned. “Well, ah…” Petra began, flustered by the attentions of the redheaded girl. “It’s, uh, a very nice city, of course.” “Mmm.” “And it’s, uh, in the mountains, and there are forests and lakes and it’s very beautiful over there.” Then, before realizing what she was saying, Petra blurted out, “You should come see it sometime!” “Petra!” Ruari hissed, kicking Petra’s foot under the table. “I’ll definitely do that,” Cinzia agreed. Ruari gave Cinzia a death glare, then, on a sneaking suspicion, she devised a plan. “Oops! I’m afraid I’ve dropped my fork…” She pushed out her chair and bent down to pick it up. Under the table she saw exactly what she thought she would: Cinzia had shed her sandals and was now stroking Petra’s ankle with her bare toes. “That’s it,” Ruari thought, getting to her feet so hastily she forgot her fork. “This ends now.” Leaving her dinner half-eaten on the table, she stood up and pushed in her chair. She excused herself from the table and, as she left, paused to lean over Petra’s shoulder. “Saph, I’m tired. Can we go now? Back up to our room?” This last part was loud enough for Cinzia to hear, and unbeknownst to Ruari, Cinzia withdrew her foot. “What?” Petra was now an aware, almost fully functioning human being now that the distraction of Cinzia’s overactive foot had been removed. “Oh, uh, sure.” As soon as Petra stood up Ruari began to steer her away from the table. “You’ll have to excuse me, Cinzia…it was nice talking to you, though.” “Any time,” Cinzia called back, as Ruari gave her one last glare before leaving with Petra. “Where are they going?” Aoife asked. “Away,” Ferio said. “And good job they are—I think if I’d have had to see that little redheaded harpy over there making bedroom eyes at Petra any longer, I’d have spewed.” Cinzia looked disappointed at Petra’s sudden flight, but soon found another worthy candidate on whom to bestow her affections. “So you say you’re from Mikan Island? I’ve never been there, what’s it like?” “Umm,” was all Ermynne could manage, she blushed and looked down, suddenly fascinated by her salad. “Miss Silvia! Miss Cinzia!” A camouflage-wearing man dashed into the room, panicking. “The rogue Snorlax! It’s back!” “What?” Silvia immediately jumped up from the table. “Are you sure?” “Positive,” the man said. “It’s been spotted at 0800 hours from the eastern watchtower. And it’s cleaning up fast!” “Wilson,” she said to the man, “grab a truck and get out there. Cinzia and I will be meeting your men at the tower and we’ll track the Snorlax from there.” To her sister, she said, “Cinzia, get changed. It’s back.” *** “The rogue Snorlax,” Cinzia explained, as she drove out to the site of the Snorlax sighting (Aoife, Sora, Ferio, and Ermynne had insisted on coming with her; Petra and Ruari were…busy). “It comes once every five years, when our harvest is at its peak. You’d think that after thirty years of running this farm our family would have figured out what to do with it, but…” “So the Snorlax eats all your pomelos,” Ferio said. “And it won’t stop until it’s eaten every last one—or until you stop it by force.” “That’s the thing,” Cinzia said, looking more stressed by the second, gripping the steering wheel. “It can’t be beaten in a Pokemon battle. It’s undefeatable. We have to think of some other way to stop it.” Aoife was the only one who wasn’t worried. “It’s okay, Cinzia. We’re all excellent Pokemon trainers here—well, I don’t know about Ermynne.” This earned her a well-deserved glare from Ermynne. “But the rest of us are all very experienced. We’ll take care of it!” “Yeah, you’re so experienced, Aoife,” Ferio said, “having been training for all of a year and a half.” “Be quiet,” Aoife said to Ferio. “I’m sure I can more than handle this—“ The reason she cut off was apparent. They had arrived at the site where the Snorlax was, and though Snorlax were usually huge compared to most Pokemon, this one was big even compared to other Snorlax Aoife had seen. And it was shoveling pomelo in its mouth by what looked like the hundreds. “What should we do, Miss Silvia?” one of the workers shouted to Silvia, who was back in her camouflage outfit again, with her bow slung over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about that Snorlax,” Aoife said, jumping out of the truck. “Leave it to me…and Chu-Chu!” Her Pikachu jumped out of the truck behind her. “Pikapika!” “And Vaporeon, Weepinbell, Pele, Spearow, and Machop too!” As all six of Aoife’s Pokemon jumped into action, Ferio gave her a disapproving look. “What? This isn’t an official Pokemon battle, so I can use all my Pokemon at the same time if I want.” “She’s right. The Snorlax isn’t about to cry foul play,” Sora agreed. She pulled out some Pokeballs of her own. “And if that’s not enough, we’re ready to back her up.” “Okay, let’s start with Vaporeon, Surf!” SLAM. One body slam from the Snorlax took care of Vaporeon pretty fast. “Thunder shock, Chu-Chu!” SLAM. “Okay, uh…Pele! Fire Blast!” SLAM. Now Sora, Ferio, and Ermynne had their Pokemon out, and they were trying valiantly to help Aoife. “Treagle, Razor Leaf!” “Hitmonchan, Thunder Punch!” “Piloswine, Ice Beam!” But nothing worked. Finally, an exhausted Aoife collapsed in the shade of what remained of one of the pomelo trees the Snorlax had stripped bare. “You were right, Cinzia,” she panted, “this thing IS unbeatable.” “Come on,” Sora said. “We _have_ to think of a way to stop it. There’s gotta be a way…right?” “Not necessarily.” Then Aoife remembered something. “Guys, listen! If I remember right from Pokemon education in school…yes, I think this is it…a Snorlax falls asleep after it finishes eating. I’m not sure of the exact amount, but after a certain number of pounds…” But Cinzia was shaking her head despairingly. “No. This Snorlax is different. It doesn’t stop until every last pomelo on the islands is gone.” “So we try to out-eat the Snorlax!” Aoife shouted triumphantly, thinking she’d finally hit upon the solution. Ferio started to laugh uncontrollably. “What?” Aoife demanded. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Ferio said. “I thought you were serious. Never mind. My mistake.” “Grr.” Aoife growled, folding her arms resolutely. “Then if you have a better idea, please tell us.” “I certainly do.” Ferio dragged her backpack out of the truck, then pulled a few cylindrical objects out of it and arranged them around the Snorlax, at which point Aoife could see they were candles. “Hey, Ferio,” she said, poking Ferio in the shoulder. “Whaddaya doing carrying around a bunch of candles for?” “Just in case.” Ferio didn’t explain further, but instead pulled a matchbook out of her pocket and struck one. “Hey! You can’t just light a match in the middle of the forest!” Silvia protested. “You knock that candle over and the whole forest’ll be gone, just like that, faster than if the Snorlax had got to it.” “Which is why we have a water Pokemon on hand,” Ferio said. “Don’t we, Ermynne?” “What? Oh yeah, sure.” Ermynne, noticing Ferio’s significant glance, released her Shellder from its Pokeball. Ferio pulled a miniature tape player out of her backpack and turned the sound up all the way (which still wasn’t very loud) and it began playing soothing, meditative music, accompanied by nature sounds. “Is she crazy?” Aoife said, watching Ferio. “That’s very likely,” Ermynne agreed. “Shh, guys,” Sora said. “Let’s see what Ferio’s plan is.” “Now, Snorlax,” Ferio said, seating herself in front of the Snorlax, which she had surrounded by candles. “We’re going to meditate, okay? Imagine you’re on the beach, letting the waves break over you…over and over…become one with the ocean…” “Oh, god,” Aoife broke in, interrupting Ferio’s Zen moment, which the Snorlax wasn’t buying anyway. “You’re going to meditate it to sleep? I can do better than that.” Fumbling around in her pocket, she pulled out a 5 yen coin and a length of string (where the string came from and what it was doing conveniently placed in Aoife’s pocket, only Aoife knows). “Move,” she said, stomping over and taking Ferio’s place in the candle circle. Frowning, Ferio rolled out of the way and began packing up her meditative paraphernalia, disappointed her plan hadn’t worked. Aoife tied the string through the hole in the middle of the coin and held it up level with the Snorlax’s face, then swung it gently back and forth. “Now relax, Snorlax…you are getting sleepy…very, very sleepy…” It wasn’t working. “I don’t see how you can badmouth what I do, then try to hypnotize it,” Ferio said, as the Snorlax got up and stomped away, beginning on another grove of Pomelo trees and leaving Cinzia and Silvia to mourn silently for their lost product in the background. Now it was Sora’s turn to get struck by inspiration. “I’ve got it!” “What have you got, Sora?” Aoife asked. “An idea. You wouldn’t happen to have a Pokemon transport computer at your house, would you?” she said to Silvia. “Or at least know where a Pokemon center is around here?” “No Pokemon centers,” Silvia said. “We do have a transport computer, though. What for?” “There’s a certain Pokemon of mine I think would be useful,” was all Sora would tell anyone. “Fine. I’ll take you back. We’ve got to hurry, though.” Silvia and Sora jumped in the truck and sped away, leaving Cinzia, Ermynne, Aoife, and Ferio to deal with the rapidly diminishing pomelo crop. *** Back at the main house, Sora got the Pokemon she needed, but just as they were about to leave they got a call from Cinzia. “Silvia, I’m on Pomelo Septimus now,” said Cinzia’s face on the voice screen. “What?” Silvia demanded. “What the hell are you doing on Pomelo Septimus?” “The rogue Snorlax swam all the way over here,” Cinzia said, looking distressed. “It cleaned off Pomelo Primerus and still wasn’t satisfied.” “We’re on our way.” Silvia quickly hung up. “Come on. We’ll grab a boat.” “You guys back?” Petra came down the stairs in boxers and a t-shirt, yawning. “I was wondering where you’d gone…” “Petra, we—“ Sora began, but Silvia pulled her away. “No time for chit-chat now! We’ve got a Snorlax to stop!” And Silvia grabbed Sora’s arm and pulled her out the door, down towards the docks. “Huh. Wonder what they’re all doing.” “Who was that? Are they back?” Ruari appeared at the head of the stairs behind Petra. “Sora and Silvia. And they said something about a Snorlax they had to go catch, or something…” She shrugged, then climbed back up the stairs to meet her girlfriend at the top. “But who cares about them. Now shall we resume our previous activity?” “Of course,” Ruari agreed, smiling slyly and flinging her arms around Petra’s neck. “And I wouldn’t be totally opposed to using the handcuffs this time either…” *** “I certainly hope you have a good plan,” Silvia said, as she and Sora arrived in the boat at Pomelo Septimus. “Because I don’t want to have made that trip for nothing.” “I’ve got a plan, all right,” Sora said, clutching the Pokeball she had just transported. “We just have to find that Snorlax.” It wasn’t too hard to do, as the thing left a trail of seeds behind it. Pretty soon they were in the clearing with Aoife, Ferio, Ermynne, a near-tears Cinzia, and a still eating Snorlax. “It’s hopeless,” Cinzia said in an oddly low voice. “Hopeless! It’s already destroyed 15% of our livelihood and at this rate it’s going to destroy it all…what are we going to do?” “We’re not going to sit around and cry about it, for one thing,” said Silvia, just a little more composed than her sister. “Sora has a plan. Don’t you, Sora?” “Sure do.” Sora held up her Pokeball, then flung it out. “Go, Seleneon!” For the first time in a very long while, Sora’s Seleneon emerged from its Pokeball. This was the Pokemon she’d chosen to evolve her Eevee from Chantelle into, using a Moon Stone. It resembled an Eevee, except in being pink and purple and…well, fluffier. “Selen!” it giggled. “Seleneon, use your Sing on that Snorlax!” Sora said. Seleneon took a deep breath, then started singing. “Seleeeeeeeneoooooon, selen seleeeeen eooooon…” The Snorlax’s eyelids drooped (although with its slitlike eyes it was hard to tell) and it yawned, then fell into a heap, shaking the ground as it did. “Did it work?” Aoife asked, approaching the Snorlax cautiously. A loud snore from the gigantic sleeping Pokemon told her that yes, it had indeed. “All right! Sora saves the day again!” Then, without warning, Aoife collapsed into a comfortable bed of leaves next to the Snorlax and fell asleep herself, snoring almost as loudly as the Pokemon beside her. “What a day, huh, Aif?” Ermynne said, poking Aoife with her toe. “First you wake up next to your enemy, then you fall asleep next to a Snorlax.” She looked around at the others. “So what are we going to do about the Snorlax, huh? We can’t just leave it there, it’ll just wake up and start rampaging around again. Someone should catch it.” “Yes, someone certainly should,” Sora agreed, looking pointedly at Ermynne. “I wonder who? You, Ferio?” “Nah, I already have more Pokemon than I can handle,” Ferio said, giving Ermynne the same stare that Sora was. Ermynne looked nervous. “How about we let our enterprising young trainer friend Ermynne take this one?” “That sounds like a plan,” Sora agreed. “Well? Go ahead, Ermynne. We’re giving it to you.” “Er, thanks and all, but I really don’t think…” Ermynne said, backing away. “Yeah? Well, I do think.” Ferio leaped forward and, with lightning fast reflexes born of karate training, she snatched an empty Pokeball from Ermynne’s belt and threw it at the Snorlax. “Snorlax, you belong to Ermynne!” The Snorlax was sucked inside the Pokeball, and Ferio tossed it casually to Ermynne. “Here ya go, Ermynne, merry Christmas.” “Damn,” Ermynne muttered, following the two Pomelo sisters, Ferio, and Sora (the latter two carrying Aoife) to the boat. “Maybe I can trade it off on the next person I see once we get to the mainland…yes…that should do…” Then, with a sigh, she mentally added, “Whenever we get to the mainland, if we get there at all.” Author's Notes Hahaha! Ermynne's hitting on Aoife! Ehee, I thought that was so funny...anyway, yeah. Now this is the longest episode, beating out Orange League episode 2, which had 9 pages, this one has 11. Woo, exciting. And how did you like Cinzia's flirtations with Petra over their very...orange dinner? I'd have to go with Ferio's opinion on this one, that she's a "little redheaded harpy". And it looks like someone out of our happy purple-haired couple has a thing for bondage, snicker snicker. Which one, Petra or Ruari? I...don't know, actually. You'll have to ask them. Oh yeah, and you'll notice I gave up on the spacing thing because it was getting annoying and, well, it just didn't look like Conclave any more. This way it looks a little glommed together, but I'm used to seeing it this way. back |