Chapter 29:  The Snorlax Stop (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

A few days after the bridge incident, Chad, Abby and I were still on our way to 
Delft Town where one of the new Gyms was located.  
“We’re getting close now, just a little further and I’ll be competing for my 
sixth Gym Badge.” I said anxiously.  
“Seventh.” added Chad and Abby together.  
My head sunk down.  
“Don’t rub it in guys...” I groaned.  
“Its no big deal, so I’m a better trainer than you.” said Chad apologetically.  
“Is that so? Want a Pokémon Battle?” I challenged.  
“Oh yeah, I’ll beat you this time!” shouted Chad.  
“Considering that Tetsubo’s in a hurry, maybe we shouldn’t.” suggested Abby.  
“Yeah, I know he’s scared.” grinned Chad.  
“Scared? I beat you twice!” I argued.  
“But you couldn’t make it a third back in the Fighting Championship.” said 
Chad firmly.  
“The Elites cheated!” I shouted.  
“Yet I beat them.” added Chad.  
“Chad!” I groaned.  
“And now I’m unbeatable with my Hitmonlee, Jackie.”  
“One:  You named it wrong, and two:  I beat it on the bridge!” I listed.  
I turned to Abby who had taken a seat and was simply watching us attack each 
other with an inquisitive stare.  
“Are you done?” she asked simply.  
“Quite.” I replied.  
“I won.” added Chad.  
“You’re an idiot.” said Abby quietly.  
“No you didn’t, I-”  
I gave up and joined Abby in the following walk.  

We turned around a corner and bounced on a rubbery wall which catapulted us 
down to the floor.  
“Hey...  Who put a wall in the middle of the...  Oh.” I muttered, looking 
upwards.  
A huge Pokémon was slumbering in the way of a small path between two very high 
cliffs.  

“Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon.  This Pokémon is incredibly strong but is known 
to sleep and eat rather than fight.”  

“Snorlax?...  How are we gonna move it guys? This is the quickest route to 
Delft Town.” I questioned.  
“Leave it Tet’, let’s just double back.” suggested Chad.  
“That's a good idea, but it’ll take a week or two to go back down the other 
route, the mountain path, the bike bridge, the days of walking to the next 
available bridge and the walk to Delft Town.  From there might take another 
week, I can’t afford to waste time now, I’m three badges away from entering the 
Kanto League and we only have a few months left, two of which should be spent 
at home training.”  
“Well, let’s try to move it.” said Abby simply.  

We tried from every angle, and failed on every one, pushing it from the front 
was a definite no-go, and trying from the sides nearly crushed us.  

We sat around it deep in thought.  
“Aha!” I shouted, surprising the others.  
“What?” asked Abby.  
“My alarm clock, I’ve never slept through that.” I explained.  
I climbed up some of the right cliff next to the Snorlax, the alarm was 
activated but the Snorlax managed to sleep through it.  
“He’s some late sleeper...” commented Chad.  
“Use your Staryu.” suggested Abby.  
“Why me?” I asked, Chad had plenty of Water-types.  
“Because...” muttered Abby dropping a Pokéball to the floor.  
“Karp! Karp!” screamed the newly released Pokémon, a Magikarp that splashed and 
bounced around on the floor.  
“Oh right, I forgot about that Pokémon.” I added.  
Chad covered his mouth but couldn’t help himself.  
“Bah!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” he wailed falling to the floor, “Oh man! That has 
got to be the most pathetic Magikarp I’ve ever seen, and Little Miss Sarcasm 
carries it around all the time! This is too much!”  
“I bet it could beat your Psyduck.” challenged Abby.  
“Try it!” yelled Chad.  
“Psy? Duck!”  
The Magikarp was quick to use its only damaging attack, Tackle, on the Psyduck, 
it was bigger than normal Magikarp as it managed to crush the Psyduck under its 
weight, Abby knew that attacking Headache would enhance its powers, and must 
have informed her Magikarp.  
“This is Leviathan, I know he’s below average now but Chad won’t be laughing 
after he evolves.” explained Abby.  
“Yeah right, what does it evolve into? Magicr-”  
Leviathan flung itself forward and slapped Chad in the face with its wet body.  
“Owiiieee...” he groaned.  
“Return Leviathan.” said Abby firmly.  
“That’s going to make a fine Gyarados someday.” I commented.  
“Thank you Tetsubo.” said Abby softly.  
“Okay, Twinkill, Water Gun!”  
“Star!” it yelled, and blasted the Snorlax’s face with water.  
It kept at it for 15 seconds before stopping, surely this would get it 
moving...  
But it didn’t.  
Somehow it had managed to sleep right through that.  
“Any suggestions?...” I asked...  

We tried everything, each Pokémon used an attack but Snorlax’s huge stomach 
prevented many physical attacks and he simply slept through the special ones.  
We thought to just leave it and tried to climb over it but we got stuck in its 
stomach, squashed against the sides and if we made it to his head, he always 
seemed to develop the need to scratch and the simple motion batted us down to 
where we started.  

“I give up...  Maybe we should take the long route back.” I groaned.  
“Finally listening to me, huh?” grinned Chad.  
“Well there doesn’t seem to be an alternative.” I muttered.  
“Tetsubo, are you really going to just give up?” asked Abby looking at me 
deeply.  
“Well, maybe there’s an angle that we’ve missed.” I replied, Abby seemed to 
look up to me, I couldn’t disappoint her, nor did I want to go all the way back 
and I definitely didn’t want Chad to think he was right, he had a big enough 
head as it was.  
“Let’s try again.” I said.  
“Well stuff this, sorry guys, but a champion trainer can’t wait around for this 
Snorlax to wake up, I’ve got to work on my training, alone it seems.” moaned 
Chad.  
“That’s too bad Chad, I’m sorry about that, its like you and your friend Bert.” 
I said a little sadly.  
“Come to think of it, you’re kind of like him, perhaps that’s why I joined you 
in the first place.  You should meet him sometime.” explained Chad.  
“Sorry to have wasted your time.” I apologised.  
“No worries.  See you again? Pokémon League?” he grinned.  
“Definitely.” I said without a doubt.  
“Train hard, next time I’ll beat you.” grinned Chad.  
“What, with your Psyduck?” I grinned back.  
“Yeah with my Psyduck, you may as well laugh now-”  
“Okay.  Heh heh heh heh.” I joked.  
“... Laugh now, because next time I’ll wipe that smile off your face.” said 
Chad firmly.  
We slapped hands together and he soon departed, it was kind of sad to see him 
go again, and for the same reason he walked a different path than his old 
friend, but if he wasn’t enjoying himself and making use of our company, then 
it was for the best.  
“Okay Abby, so have you got any new plans?” I asked.  
“How about catching it?” she suggested.  
“Great idea.” I smiled.  
I drew out a fresh ball and chucked it at the big lug.  
It hit its belly and got stuck.  
The Snorlax stretched, and the Pokéball was catapulted into my shoulder.  
“Owiiee...” I groaned, “How could it resist now?”  
“I heard from an old man that a Snorlax must be locked in a battle to capture 
them, if they’re in a deep sleep like this, then the Pokéball won’t pick up on 
it.” said Abby suddenly.  
“Couldn’t have remembered that sooner?...” I groaned, rubbing my shoulder.  
It made sense, perhaps the Pokéball was designed to obey certain morals and 
perhaps it felt that Snorlaxs deserved a chance to defend themselves from being 
captured.  
There was a sound from behind us.  

“We strike during day or night!”  
“We attack, with all our might!”  
“Don’t mess with us, or we shall fight!”  
“We’re pretty good at our rhyme.”  
“The masterminds, of crime.”  
“We always succeed, every time.”  
“Cletus!”  
“Cassie!”  
“Claus!”  
“If y’all got valuables, yuh’d better block it!”  
“We put Pokémon in our pocket!”  
“We’re the best, so don’t knock it!”  
“We are... Elite Rocket!”  

“Oh... no.” I said sarcastically.  
“Hello Turquoise, we’re here for that Snorlax, its quite a rare find.  Stand 
aside and let us take it.” smiled Claus darkly.  
I turned to Abby who gave me a wry grin.  
I winked to her in return.  
“Oh dear, we’d never stand a chance against them, we’d better do what they 
say.” 
said Abby unconvincingly.  
“Yeah.  You can have the Snorlax, I’m sorry.” I said, putting on a helpless 
act.  
“Heh, finally giving us da respect we deserve?” said Cletus, and he and Cassie 
stepped up to the Snorlax.  
“Hello sleepyhead.  Team Rocket’ll make good use of such a juggernaut like 
you.” said Cassie to the Snorlax as if it were small and cute.  
“Okay, bring in da machine!” yelled Cletus, and Claus drove into the area with 
a robot shaped like a Venusaur.  
“Vine Whip Clippers, activating.” he said, and two thick green wires extended, 
and at the ends were large cuffs that closed tightly around the Snorlax’s legs, 
another two closed around its arms.  
“We’ll get this Pokémon even if we have to drag it back to the headquarters.” 
said Claus, and made the robot pull backwards.  
It didn’t get too far before the wires were tested, they stopped moving and the 
Venusaur robot was the one that was having trouble, not the Snorlax who wasn’t 
even trying to resist.  
“Uggghhh...  Guys! Get in here and help me!” yelled Claus, and Cassie and 
Cletus soon joined him inside.  
“And Pull!!!” shouted Claus.  
The Venusaur robot’s wheels were emitting screeching sounds, and the robot 
slipped slightly to the sides while trying to pull the Snorlax.  
“Activate the jets!” screamed Claus.  
Cletus and Cassie pressed some buttons, and some jets appeared at the front of 
the robot and flames erupted from them, but the Snorlax would still not be 
moved.  
“Almost got it...  Almost...” grinned Claus.  
Abby and I stared in disbelief, not only that the large robot ploy wasn’t 
working but the fact that the Elites believed that they were making progress.  
The wires snapped and the robot flew into the air and into the distance 
flipping constantly.  
“Whoa! Whoa! WHOA!!!...” screamed Cassie.  
“We’ll be back!...” shouted Cletus.  
“Yeah Snorlax, just...  Wait right there!...” finished Claus.  

“I Don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” I commented sarcastically.  

It was getting dark so we returned to the Pokémon Centre in a small place 
called Canary Village not more than half an hour away.  
There we’d retire for the night, and hopefully think of a way to wake up that 
Snorlax so that we could get on with our journey.  

End of Chapter 29A  

Back to Chapter 28B
Chapter 29B
Back to Story List #21 - #40
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