Last time on Pokemon: Johto Quest! Emily received her first gym badge from Ecruteak City Gym Leader Morty. Hooray! Yes she got it at the cost of fainting Eddy. But she did conquer her fear of the Houndour (whom she has decided to name Gnasher) so I guess it balances out.
After leaving the Ecruteak City Pokemon Center, Eddy and Emily sauntered towards a dark red, torii gate-like structure located across from the gym. Attached to it was a sign with an upwards facing arrow and text underneath that read: “Route 37.” Emily turned her head toward Eddy.
“I like how it makes Gnasher’s ball stick to it like a magnet,” said Emily as she pointed to her new belt from Murph.
Eddy winked and gave a slight bleat. Once they were on the other side of the gate however, they gasped as they tripped, each landing on all fours just in time to save themselves from falling harshly on their faces. Emily rose to her feet.
“What the---” she said before suddenly looking down. Upon closer examination of the ground, she noticed a set of train tracks nearly hidden by the grass. “Alright Eddy! Let’s see where these go. I hope we see some cool trains on the way. Because trains, okay... They’re like... Really nice.” With that, the duo took a left and walked along the tracks.
Moments later, they stopped when they arrived at a neglected, single story building encompassed by a sea of trees. Its windows were nothing but cracked, empty frames. The bricks were covered in graffiti ranging from museum caliber artwork of various creatures to messages that even the world’s greatest decipherers couldn’t decode and its caved in roof looked like its contents were being sucked in by a sinkhole in the center. On its side were train tracks leading beyond the point of a partially opened, corroded garage door.
“Oh wait a minute!” said Emily. “I think I know what this is!” She proceeded to crawl under the opening of the door, with Eddy rolling behind her shortly after.
The cold, gloomy inside of the building housed a single, concrete train platform to the left littered with debris. A small staircase ascended towards it, which looked as though it could’ve crumbled if even the slightest amount of weight was applied to it. On the far end was a desk with a table on the wall behind it for train departure and arrival times. The date on the top of the table was May 3rd, 1998. A yellowed banner hung in front of the desk that read: “We at Ecruteak Rail Station are extremely grateful for serving you all of these decades! For train service, please use the Magnet Train station in Goldenrod City from this point on.” On the track side was an enormous, rusted passenger train that had seen better days.
Emily stared at the train with widened eyes and her mouth agape, marvelling at its size and wondering what secrets it held. After a big leap, Emily gripped the edge of the platform and climbed onto it without expending much effort. Eddy scuttled backwards. Then, he charged at the platform and executed a wonderful flip in the air. When he landed a bit far away from Emily, she turned around and gave him a tiny round of applause. Eddy bleated happily, standing on his hind legs and taking a quick bow soon after.
The two entered through the one of the first doors of the train. There, they saw cracked leather seats that still had a hint of blue on them and a few handles from the ceiling that had fallen to the floor long ago. Along the tops of the doors were faded advertisements, with one in particular reading: “Buy this! I don’t know what it is. But buy this!”
“Oh my gosh! This train must be like a billion years old. Does it even have sleeper cars?” Emily said as she jumped onto one of the seats. She then got off and, with Eddy by her side, walked through car after car after car. Eventually, they arrived at the train’s tail end. Here, they discovered that, yes. The train did indeed have sleeper cars, though most of the pillows, mattresses, and blankets were absent. The ones that did remain were either covered in scratch marks or were rather moldy.
Just then, Emily and Eddy suddenly stopped moving when they heard somewhat light footsteps making their way toward the train. Emily and Eddy rushed to one of the train windows on their left to figure out what could be making them. A moment later, they spotted it. On the platform was a small, quadrupedal creature with scruffy, light green fur and a tiny tail. Dark green spiky buds formed around its neck and a large matching leaf sprouted from the top of its head. On the side of its body was a slightly smudged message written in black spray paint that read: “Worst starter.” Suddenly, the creature caught a glimpse of the duo and yelped before scurrying away.
“Wait! We’re not going to hurt you!” Emily called out as they ran towards the closest train door.
The creature dashed toward a corridor behind the wall with the departure and arrival times. But just as it got deep into it moments later, a mountain of wood and steel debris suddenly crashed down onto the poor creature. It wanted to wriggle or bash its front legs against the floor again and again or whip the leaf on its head in order to create smaller, razor-sharp leaves or anything else to escape. But the only thing it was actually capable of at that moment was crying out and taking short breaths. Just then, multiple sets of footsteps raced down the corridor.
“I think it’s coming from down here, Eddy!” said Emily. When the duo reached the mountain of debris, Emily pointed to it. “Okay Eddy! Grab what you can and do it fast.”
Eddy nodded and got right to work. With his mouth, he gripped wood and steel and hurled it down the corridor while grunting and performing a small jump each time he did so. With great haste, Emily lobbed every piece of debris she grabbed towards a distant door she was facing. But then, she suddenly stopped to groan.
“This is taking forever!” Emily grumbled.
She grabbed Gnasher’s ball from her belt, spun around, and flung it. When Gnasher came out, Emily commanded it to quickly remove any debris it could. With a proud bark, Gnasher obliged and within moments, the debris mountain was finally leveled.
Emily, Eddy, and Gnasher all leaned in towards the creature. It was now covered in small cuts, its breaths were quiet but labored, and its whole body ached. Emily gently approached it. The creature gasped as it shuddered and tried to hop up and flee once again, but found itself unable to do so. Once she was close enough, Emily knelt down beside it and rummaged through her bag, finally pulling out an opaque purple aerosol can a short time later.
The creature’s eyes widened as it cried out, thinking that this unknown item would greatly worsen its wounds or even allow one to write another message on whatever blank space its body had left. Emily held up one finger. Then, with a nearby tiny wood fragment, she made a small slice above her left wrist. A moment later, she took the bottle, sprayed it on the slice, and within seconds, it faded away. The creature blinked twice with great force as its mouth hung open.
Emily pointed to the creature’s wounds and it gave her a slight smile and nod. Emily sprayed its wounds and by the time each of them completely faded away, she stepped back. The creature’s slight smile turned into a grin as it rose to its feet, feeling free of all its aches. Then, in the direction of Emily, it started to walk and soon rubbed itself against her leg. But suddenly, it decided, on nothing more than a whim, to jump into her arms. Emily caught it and as the creature was in her arms, it quietly purred and the desire to close its eyes washed over it. Emily hugged it tighter and tilted her head down to gaze upon it.
“You’re okay now,” Emily whispered to it. She grabbed Gnasher’s ball off of her belt and looked at Eddy and Gnasher. Then she pointed the ball at Gnasher. “Thanks for your help today.” A red beam shot out of the ball and slurped Gnasher back inside it. “Okay Eddy, let’s find a place to wash them.” Eddy nodded with a bleat.
After much searching, Emily and Eddy noticed a small pond area within Ecruteak City and made a beeline for it. Once at the pond area, the creature jumped into the water and laughed as it vigorously splashed about. By the time it decided it had been in long enough, the creature climbed out of the water and shook itself dry. When it turned to gaze upon its reflection within it, the creature saw something it would’ve never imagined. Its spotless fur actually shined in the sunlight. Its mouth curled into a smile and it began to shed little tears. With the grime and paint washed away, it was as though all of its pain and worries had also washed away. It slowly walked to Emily and hugged her leg, silently vowing to never let go and silently vowing to never leave her side.
“You wanna come along with us?” Emily said with a laugh. The creature’s heart skipped a beat as it squealed with joy. “Okay then, I’d like to give you a name. How about... Leaf?” The creature shook its head. “Um, okay. What about---” she then looked at the buds on its neck. “Julie! Get it? Because your buds look like jewels.” The creature nodded rapidly.
With that, Emily opened her bag, fished out a Poke Ball, and held it in front of Juile. Before she could open her mouth however, Julie slapped one of her front feet against the button in the middle of the ball. It opened and a red beam poured out and sucked Julie inside before closing moments later. The ball wiggled three times. Then, it stopped, clicking and releasing small sparks soon after. Once Emily wrote “JU” near the top of the ball with a marker, she clipped it to her belt and put the marker back in her bag.
“Okay, where to next?” Emily wondered as she stroked her chin. “Oh I know! I heard that there was a train station in Goldenrod. Let's go check it out!” Eddy bleated while performing a little hop.
---
Meanwhile, back on Route 42, Officer Jenny dragged herself along the ground leading towards a building on the border of the route itself and Ecruteak City, grunting loudly as she went about it. Eyeless bats from the nearby cave nibbled on her socks and hat.
Moments later, she arrived in Ecruteak City and gradually stood up. When she was finally on her feet, she zipped from person to person, informing them of her search for Emily and the “sheep” she was travelling with and tried to see if they had any information on where they had gone. To her dismay, no one seemed to have a clue. That was, until she ran into Morty on his way back to the gym.
“Well, given that she’s on a quest for badges and how they seem to be the closest,” Morty told her when she asked him, “I would say that she and Eddy are in either Goldenrod City or Violet City. By the way, have you ever thought about why sh---”
“Thanks for your help gotta go bye!” Officer Jenny hastily replied before speeding off towards Route 37.
---
Eddy and Emily eventually arrived in Goldenrod City. Its streets were paved with glimmering gold bricks. Most of the buildings didn’t scrape the sky nor kiss the ground and the hustle and bustle of pedestrians was in full force.
“There it is! There’s the station!” Emily happily announced as she pointed to a beige building with a white roof.
When they reached the station, Emily looked up at the extremely tall building with elevated railways bursting out of nearly every single floor. She shook and gulped, feeling as though she was about to fall.
“I-It’s too tall. Let’s go somewhere else,” said Emily.
So the duo did just that. But as they did so, Emily stopped and saw a man wearing a T-shirt that read: “I hate Whitney!”
“You wanna know why Whitney really became Goldenrod’s Gym Leader? Well I’ll tell you why! It’s because her Miltank is actually a Maletank! That’s right! That’s why it crushes everything it fights!” the man yelled at the passersby.
Emily and Eddy slowly backed away and as soon as they felt safe enough, they made a dash in the direction of a signpost outside the city with an upwards facing arrow that read: “Route 34”. The route had a single, winding sandy road. On both sides were large patches of dark green grass. Beyond the left’s grassy patches was a large forest and beyond the right’s was an ocean blocked off in part by a white picket fence. In the distance was a grey building with a green, rectangular shaped dome for a roof.
“What a weirdo!” said Emily. “But, what if it can crush everything? Okay, that’s it! If we’re gonna beat Whitney and get her badge, we gotta get really strong and you know what? There’s gotta be like a gajillion wild Pokemon in all this grass. So let’s go!”
After Eddy and Gnasher had battled at least several times each against different creatures, another creature appeared. It was a yellow, chubby, two legged little thing with a small trunk and a large brown marking which made it look like it was wearing a pair of trousers. Emily threw Julie’s Poke Ball into the air.
“Alright Julie! Show me what you got!” Emily commanded once Julie was out of her ball.
Julie took a deep breath and blew a thick cluster of purple mist into the creature’s face before it even had a moment to react. The creature coughed as its body glowed purple at least twice in succession as soon as the mist subsided.
“Dodge it Julie!” Emily cried as glowing spirals came flying out of the creature’s palms. Julie swiftly weaved around the spirals and whipped around the leaf on her head, making hundreds of razor-sharp leaves burst from it and pelt the creature. After that, the creature was panting and it stood on one knee, thinking that it was down, but not out. However, its body glowed once again, forcing it to fall to the ground as its eyes turned into spirals. Then, Julie rushed to Emily’s side and joyfully nuzzled her leg.
“Wow! That was amazing!” Emily said as she knelt down to pet her. “Is this your first battle?” Julie nodded and Emily put her back in her ball.
From there, Emily’s team continued their battling, with Emily switching between Eddy, Gnasher, and Julie every now and then. During all of that, Eddy learned a new move called Thunder Wave, a move where Eddy would spit out a small yet fast moving jolt of electricity that caused the foe’s body to be covered in sparks on impact, slowing its ability to move at the same time.
When sunset arrived however, Emily stepped back as Eddy’s entire body became bathed in a white glow. Then, a blinding flash emitted from him and, for a few seconds, Emily was unable to see much of anything. When she regained her sight, she was in awe. Eddy was now bipedal with light pink skin, white wool that only covered his head and neck, and a slightly smaller bulb at the end of his tail. In addition, he was also the same height as Emily, clocking in at two feet and seven inches. He turned to Emily, who dashed toward him and gave him a big hug.
“Oh my gosh Eddy!” Emily happily cried out. “You evolved! You actually evolved! Let’s go celebrate!”
Eddy grinned and the two made their way back to Goldenrod City. Once there, they stopped and looked around, trying to decide where they should go to celebrate. To the left in the distance was a purple and grey building with a gold crown above its entrance. On the crown were letters that spelled out: “Arthur’s Arcade” with smaller letters underneath that read: “Come and enjoy our five floors of fun!”
“Woah! That’s so cool!” Emily gleefully shouted as she pointed to the crown. She bolted toward the building with Eddy in tow.
The inside of the dimly lit, carpeted arcade was filled with the sounds of thunderous laughter, swearing, and the games themselves, which consisted of Skee Ball, machines for a game called Voltorb Flip, those crane games that no one can ever seem to win, and a wall to wall size shooting gallery. In fact, the sheer volume of these sounds made it nearly impossible to hear one’s thoughts. When Emily and Eddy approached the glass counter, they saw a set of stairs leading up to it and decided to take them. A few moments later, a man behind the counter attended to them.
“Welcome to Arthur’s! What can I do you for?” the man yelled.
“I wanna play!” Emily replied.
“First time?”
“Yeah!”
“Alright! One moment.”
Moments after the man turned and walked toward a door that read: “Staff Only,” Eddy looked down and peered at the inside of the counter. Baskets of small prizes lined the shelves, including ones with shiny stones of various colors nested inside them. On the front of the stones were carvings. One basket had green stones with a lightning bolt while another had stones with flames. The one that caught Eddy’s eye the most however was a basket of light blue stones with a snowflake carved into them. Suddenly, a memory started playing in his mind.
---
In this memory, Eddy was with the brown haired, black ball cap wearing girl in her room where she held an object the size of a diploma up to his face. Around the object was a wooden frame surrounding a pane of glass. Behind the glass were various stones, much like the ones in the baskets, which had labels under them indicating what kind of stone they were. Above them were the words, “Andy and Ernie's Stone Collection.” It seemed that all but one of the holes inside the object had been filled. Under the missing hole was a label that read: “Ice Stone.”
“Can you believe it Ernie? We’re so close!” Andy proudly announced.
Eddy bleated, beaming with joy.
---
“Alright, here’s your Thrill Card with three hundred Thrill Points loaded on,” the man said to Emily as he handed the card to her, interrupting Eddy’s memory in the process. “Oh and your tickets will be loaded onto the card as well. If you want more Thrill Points, you go to one of those Thrill Card refueling machines littered throughout the place and pay for them yourself.”
Emily thanked the man before dashing over to one of the Skee Ball machines. Eddy quickly caught up to her and gave her shoulder a tap with one of the mitten shaped hands he had gained from evolving. Emily turned around and asked him what he needed. Eddy pointed to the card in her hand.
“Oh you wanna play too? Okay,” said Emily.
After Emily got him his very own Thrill Card, the two continued towards the Skee Ball machines. For hours on end, Eddy and Emily gleefully bounced from game to game, racking up hundreds and hundreds of tickets in the process, only stopping on occasion to add more Thrill Points onto their cards. When the two decided they’d had enough fun for one day, they proceeded to the counter where they received their cards.
“Did you win a lotta tickets?” the man from earlier asked.
“Yeah!” Emily shouted with joy.
With a wink, Eddy grinned and raised a fist in the air.
“I guess you two are ready for prizes.”
“Yeah!”
“Okay, let’s see what you got on those cards.”
Emily was first in handing her card to the man. When he pulled out a handheld device from his pocket and swiped her card down its side, his eyes widened.
“Wow! Not bad for a first timer,” the man said. “Boy, you almost got enough tickets to empty this whole section. The walls, the shelves in the counter.”
Emily eyed a basket full of round candies sitting on one of the shelves inside the counter, each protected by a pink wrapper. On the basket was a label that read: “Rare Candy: Mago Berry Flavor 50 Tickets Each.”
“Can I have a few of those?” Emily asked as she pointed to the basket.
The man laughed. “A few? Kid, take the whole basket!”
Emily complied with his suggestion and the man took the basket and poured every one of its candies onto the counter. Emily’s mouth watered as she took in the candy’s extremely sweet aroma and dumped them into her bag. The man asked if she wanted anything else. She looked at the right side of the wall and saw a variety of baseball hats bearing the arcade’s logo, pointing to a red one shortly after. Once the man retrieved it and put it on her head, he once again asked if there was anything she would like.
“All those,” Emily requested, gesturing to a section of the wall containing a variety of TMs.
The man grabbed one of each TM. “Okay, we got,” he said as he placed each one on the counter, “Swords Dance, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, and Calm Mind.”
After placing the TMs in her bag, Emily told the man that she was all set and, using the handheld device, he deducted the cost of the items from the amount of tickets she’d won. When Eddy’s turn to choose his prize rolled around after getting his card swiped, he pointed to the basket with the stones he gazed at earlier.
“Oh! An Ice Stone,” the man said. “Not a bad choice. You want just one or more than that?”
Eddy signaled to the man that he only wanted a single stone. When Eddy took hold of it, he closed his eyes and hugged it as if it were the world’s softest plushie. A smile grew upon his face and he was nearly in tears as a sense of pride and joy overwhelmed him. Moments later, he gently stuffed the stone into his wool.
When they departed from the arcade, night time had come around. Emily felt as though she could still smell the candy and, as her stomach growled, her mouth watered even more. Eventually, it got to a point where Emily had no choice but to throw down her bag and consume five of the candies all at once in order to quell these feelings and felt full soon after.
“That was great! You want any Eddy?” said Emily.
Eddy nodded and consumed one of the candies. White sparks flew out of him and he spun around. Then, something dawned on Emily.
“Hey Eddy,” said Emily, “I’d like to use one of those TMs on you. You know, as like a present for doing real good today. Would that be okay?”
Eddy happily obliged and after he selected Thunderbolt, Emily placed it on his head and soon, Eddy forgot how to perform Thundershock, as he already knew four moves and needed to replace one to make room for Thunderbolt. From there, Emily used the Flamethrower TM on Gnasher and the attempt went without a hitch.
With Julie however, there was a bit more trouble. It seemed like nearly each TM would make a screeching noise.
“This TM is incompatible with this Pokemon,” a voice would say after every screech.
Not only that, but every time another person passed by, Julie hid behind Emily until they were gone. Then, Emily tried using the Swords Dance TM on Julie and when she did, it worked flawlessly, which made Julie smile and trot in place. Emily laughed and reached into her bag. After pulling out one of the candies, Emily gave it to Julie, who gobbled up every bit of it. Like Eddy, white sparks also flew out of her once she finished it.
Suddenly, Emily noticed that every light now had a faint glow around it and that every sound echoed. Emily shivered slightly as she put Julie back into her Poke Ball.
“Hey Eddy. W-Why is it echoy?” Emily asked.
Eddy raised an eyebrow and shrugged, clueless as to what she was talking about.
Emily sighed. “Oh! Maybe I’m just tired. Come on Eddy. I’m sure there’s a place to stay somewhere.”
But when the two started walking, Emily felt as though her steps were very light. Soon, she started to walk faster and faster until she eventually broke into a full on sprint, her arms stretched out and a grin plastered on her face while she did so. But in her haste, the hat flew off her head and neither Eddy nor Emily seemed to have enough time to notice.
Eventually, they came across a hotel. In front of one of its doors was a sleeping bird with brown and beige feathers, as well as a pink beak. Above it was a sign that read: “Tiny Pidgey is dreaming. Please use other door.” Once the duo checked in for the night, she and Eddy made their way to their assigned room. Inside the room was a giant bed populated by the softest of pillows and blankets and across from it was a television sitting on a wooden bureau that seemed as though it was fresh out of the box. On the right of the television was a small, black fridge with a microwave on top. Emily threw her bag on the floor and dashed toward the bed. With one big leap, she landed on it soon after, laid down, and shut her eyes. However, she soon discovered that her body was too jittery to sleep and began laughing and hopping on the bed as if it were a trampoline.
“Come on Eddy!” Emily prompted excitedly.
But Eddy just stood there for a moment, chuckling and looking at the floor, before shrugging and reluctantly joining her. As they jumped about, with Emily performing flips every now and then, small white orbs started to cloud Emily's vision.
“Look Eddy! Snow!” Emily said before sticking her tongue out.
Eddy looked around, but spotted nothing of the sort. Then Emily noticed her body growing lighter and lighter until suddenly, she bolted out of the room and down the hall, focusing her sights on the elevator at the end of it. She eventually got on and slapped the button for the hotel roof. At one point, two men, one in a blue business suit and the other in a grey one, joined Emily on the elevator.
“I hear there’s a Hypno in the woodsier parts of Route 34,” said the blue suited man.
“Let me guess? It’s hypnotizing kids and taking them away, never to be seen again, right?” the grey suited man asked.
“Exactly.”
“You know, I remember a Hypno doing the same thing to the son of someone called Eileen Palmer.”
At that moment, Emily was struck by an epiphany. She fished through her bag, tuning out the men’s conversation, until she found an envelope with the name “Eileen Palmer” right in the middle. Upon closer inspection, Emily also noticed addresses under Eileen’s name and the upper left hand corner, as well as “Return to Sender” written in the lower right hand corner. When she opened the envelope, she pulled out a letter, which read:
Dear Eileen,
While you were at work today, your son Allen went missing. I went into his room to see if he wanted something to eat, but there was no sign of him anywhere! Not only that, but I also noticed that his window was open. To be honest, I’m not too surprised about this. I gave him as much love and attention as I could, but I guess it was too much for him and he took off.
I reported it to the police and while they did search the area for him, they came up empty handed. Maybe if I leave, he won’t have to deal with me and come home. It sounds dumb, sure, but I get the feeling that it might work. If he does come home, I want you to sit him down and remind him that I was never meant to be a replacement for anyone in his life.
Your loving partner, Jason.
Once Emily finished reading the letter, her eyes were wide and her jaw nearly fell to the floor. For a few moments, she was stuck like this.
“He was a daddy before? No wonder he’s so good at it!” Emily finally whispered.
---
Meanwhile, Officer Jenny stood in the middle of Goldenrod City, stroking her chin.
“Hmm. If I was a kid in a big city, where would I go?” Officer Jenny wondered. She then looked around and soon spotted Arthur’s Arcade. “A-Ha!”
Once inside, she thoroughly examined the room and when she saw that Emily was nowhere to be found, she made her way to the counter and asked the man if he’d seen her.
“Yeah, I seen her,” the man answered. “Got herself a red hat and everything. I think her Flaaffy was a shiny since its colors were different from a normal one.”
“Well thanks for your help,” said Officer Jenny.
“Not a problem,” the man replied.
“She has a shiny sheep!” Officer Jenny quietly squealed after turning away from the man. Once she left, she continued to roam the city in search of Emily and her Flaaffy.
“When I find her, I’ll take her out for a good meal, get whatever else she needs, and bring her home,” Officer Jenny promised herself.
Moments later, she stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed a red hat on top of an antenna attached to a blue building with an observation deck in the middle of it. From her belt, she pulled out a Poke Ball.
“Alright Noctowl! Grab that hat!” she commanded as she threw the ball.
A large owl then burst from the ball. Its wings, tail feathers, and triangular chest pattern were dark brown while the rest of it was light brown. Beige rings formed around its eyes and its matching eyebrows were shaped like horns. It flew off with great speed toward the hat and swooped it up in the blink of an eye.
When Noctowl gave Officer Jenny the hat, she returned it to its Poke Ball. Upon examining the hat, she found that it indeed matched the ones found at Arthur’s Arcade. She hastily grabbed another Poke Ball from her belt and threw it. Popping out of the ball was a Growlithe. Officer Jenny got down to its level and put the hat in front of its nose. Upon giving it a good whiff, the Growlithe barked and dashed in the direction of the scent, with Officer Jenny joining him almost immediately after.
---
Emily dashed off the elevator and onto the roof the moment the doors opened. The roof itself was littered with shiny wooden benches and trees that seemed as though they had recently received a trimming. Once Emily hopped onto one of the railings surrounding the area, she jumped and held out her arms as though they were wings that would allow her to fly. But instead of soaring through the sky, she tumbled to the ground.
As she descended, the world around her seemed to slow down significantly. In fact, she was able to get a good peek in the windows of the surrounding buildings. Through one window was a boy around her age playing with a Growlithe and through another was a woman sliding a freshly baked Mago Berry pie out of the oven. For more than a split second however, Emily saw a creature staring out of a window. Its skin was yellow, its ears were pointy, and its nose was large. Its neck was surrounded by white, stringy fur and in its hand it held a silver coin attached to a string. Emily gasped and her heart raced.
“Oh no! It’s the Hypno!” Emily cried. She tried rapidly flapping her arms in the hopes of flying upwards and away from the creature, but it was no use.
---
On the ground, Officer Jenny and her Growlithe stopped dead in their tracks when they noticed a crowd of onlookers gathered at the base of the hotel.
“What the heck is going on there?” Officer Jenny exclaimed. She bolted towards the crowd and soon realized they were gazing in horror at Emily’s descent. “No!”
She then pulled out Noctowl’s Poke Ball from her belt and threw it. When it was out of its ball, Officer Jenny commanded it to catch her. The Noctowl darted towards Emily and tightly gripped her arms with its large feet. When Emily and the Noctowl returned to the ground, they found themselves in the middle of the crowd, as the Noctowl wanted to show that she was indeed safe from harm. The crowd’s wild cheers seemed as though they could’ve been heard from miles away.
“Hero bird! Hero bird! Hero bird!” the crowd chanted as they pumped their fists in the air.
---
Emily stood there, almost wheezing as her body shook violently. Then, various colors began to fade away from her vision. First the blues, then the greens, and then the yellows. Soon, the only colors Emily could see were red and grey. Suddenly, the Hypno appeared once again, this time right in front of her. It raised the hand that held the coin on a string. But Emily screamed at the top of her lungs and scrambled through the crowd before it could do anything else.
Later on, she burst through the entrance to a building with a sign above it that read: “Goldenrod Tunnel.” She flew down the stairs, then down a hallway with market stalls and dove into an open cleaning closet, slamming the door behind her soon after. Within an instant, she collapsed to the floor of the now darkened room. She was soaked from head to toe in sweat, her breathing was labored, and it seemed as though her heart was about to give out.
---
Meanwhile, Officer Jenny rushed through the city, wondering where Emily could’ve gone. Suddenly, she and Eddy collided with each other and fell to the ground.
“Hey!” Officer Jenny said as she rose to her feet. “Watch where you're---” before she could finish, she went silent, taking a moment to closely examine Eddy. Then, with her hands on her cheeks, she squealed. She got down on her knees and repeatedly petted him, gushing about how adorable of a sheep he was in the process. But soon, she stopped, realizing that he matched the description of the Flaaffy the man at the arcade gave her. “Wait a minute! Is your trainer’s name Emily?”
Eddy nodded enthusiastically.
“Well follow me because I’m looking for her!” Officer Jenny ordered.
---
As Emily laid in that room, she allowed tears to escape from her eyes, wondering how her parents, Eddy, Gnasher, and Julie would be able to live their lives without her. But moments later, she remembered hearing stories about people coming back to life as Pokemon and their mannerisms from their old life breaking through their new bodies and showing themselves, overwhelming whom they knew with glee. With that, she mustered up whatever strength she could to smile and proceeded to close her eyes. But then, just as they were about to shut completely, the door burst open.
Standing before Emily was a bright light that slowly dimmed to reveal a four legged, centaur-esque creature, much like the one on the necklace she wore. Its wispy mane was long, its belly had two vertical lines running down it, and wrapped around the middle of its body was a circular object that seemed as though it was made from fused together pickaxes.
She wanted to grin and pray upon seeing it, but lacked the strength to do so. Instead, she allowed her jaw to hang open.
“Arceus?” Emily asked the creature.
“Uh. Yes! It is I,” the creature responded in Officer Jenny’s voice. Arceus walked over to Emily and, with one of its hooves, gently wiped her eyes. Moments later, Emily’s ability to see every color besides grey and red returned. Emily gasped.
“Yay! Color!” said Emily. Arceus laughed. “You do a great Officer Jenny impression.”
“Thank you,” Arceus replied.
“Will I come back as a Pokemon? Can I say bye to Eddy?”
“No. It’s not your time. Also he---”
Just then, Eddy dashed past Arceus and hugged Emily with tears in his eyes.
“Eddy,” said Arceus, “put her on my back and I will take her to a place of healing.”
Eddy complied with the request and he and Arceus bolted out of the room. Will Emily recover from this harrowing ordeal? Find out next time on Pokemon: Johto Quest!
After leaving the Ecruteak City Pokemon Center, Eddy and Emily sauntered towards a dark red, torii gate-like structure located across from the gym. Attached to it was a sign with an upwards facing arrow and text underneath that read: “Route 37.” Emily turned her head toward Eddy.
“I like how it makes Gnasher’s ball stick to it like a magnet,” said Emily as she pointed to her new belt from Murph.
Eddy winked and gave a slight bleat. Once they were on the other side of the gate however, they gasped as they tripped, each landing on all fours just in time to save themselves from falling harshly on their faces. Emily rose to her feet.
“What the---” she said before suddenly looking down. Upon closer examination of the ground, she noticed a set of train tracks nearly hidden by the grass. “Alright Eddy! Let’s see where these go. I hope we see some cool trains on the way. Because trains, okay... They’re like... Really nice.” With that, the duo took a left and walked along the tracks.
Moments later, they stopped when they arrived at a neglected, single story building encompassed by a sea of trees. Its windows were nothing but cracked, empty frames. The bricks were covered in graffiti ranging from museum caliber artwork of various creatures to messages that even the world’s greatest decipherers couldn’t decode and its caved in roof looked like its contents were being sucked in by a sinkhole in the center. On its side were train tracks leading beyond the point of a partially opened, corroded garage door.
“Oh wait a minute!” said Emily. “I think I know what this is!” She proceeded to crawl under the opening of the door, with Eddy rolling behind her shortly after.
The cold, gloomy inside of the building housed a single, concrete train platform to the left littered with debris. A small staircase ascended towards it, which looked as though it could’ve crumbled if even the slightest amount of weight was applied to it. On the far end was a desk with a table on the wall behind it for train departure and arrival times. The date on the top of the table was May 3rd, 1998. A yellowed banner hung in front of the desk that read: “We at Ecruteak Rail Station are extremely grateful for serving you all of these decades! For train service, please use the Magnet Train station in Goldenrod City from this point on.” On the track side was an enormous, rusted passenger train that had seen better days.
Emily stared at the train with widened eyes and her mouth agape, marvelling at its size and wondering what secrets it held. After a big leap, Emily gripped the edge of the platform and climbed onto it without expending much effort. Eddy scuttled backwards. Then, he charged at the platform and executed a wonderful flip in the air. When he landed a bit far away from Emily, she turned around and gave him a tiny round of applause. Eddy bleated happily, standing on his hind legs and taking a quick bow soon after.
The two entered through the one of the first doors of the train. There, they saw cracked leather seats that still had a hint of blue on them and a few handles from the ceiling that had fallen to the floor long ago. Along the tops of the doors were faded advertisements, with one in particular reading: “Buy this! I don’t know what it is. But buy this!”
“Oh my gosh! This train must be like a billion years old. Does it even have sleeper cars?” Emily said as she jumped onto one of the seats. She then got off and, with Eddy by her side, walked through car after car after car. Eventually, they arrived at the train’s tail end. Here, they discovered that, yes. The train did indeed have sleeper cars, though most of the pillows, mattresses, and blankets were absent. The ones that did remain were either covered in scratch marks or were rather moldy.
Just then, Emily and Eddy suddenly stopped moving when they heard somewhat light footsteps making their way toward the train. Emily and Eddy rushed to one of the train windows on their left to figure out what could be making them. A moment later, they spotted it. On the platform was a small, quadrupedal creature with scruffy, light green fur and a tiny tail. Dark green spiky buds formed around its neck and a large matching leaf sprouted from the top of its head. On the side of its body was a slightly smudged message written in black spray paint that read: “Worst starter.” Suddenly, the creature caught a glimpse of the duo and yelped before scurrying away.
“Wait! We’re not going to hurt you!” Emily called out as they ran towards the closest train door.
The creature dashed toward a corridor behind the wall with the departure and arrival times. But just as it got deep into it moments later, a mountain of wood and steel debris suddenly crashed down onto the poor creature. It wanted to wriggle or bash its front legs against the floor again and again or whip the leaf on its head in order to create smaller, razor-sharp leaves or anything else to escape. But the only thing it was actually capable of at that moment was crying out and taking short breaths. Just then, multiple sets of footsteps raced down the corridor.
“I think it’s coming from down here, Eddy!” said Emily. When the duo reached the mountain of debris, Emily pointed to it. “Okay Eddy! Grab what you can and do it fast.”
Eddy nodded and got right to work. With his mouth, he gripped wood and steel and hurled it down the corridor while grunting and performing a small jump each time he did so. With great haste, Emily lobbed every piece of debris she grabbed towards a distant door she was facing. But then, she suddenly stopped to groan.
“This is taking forever!” Emily grumbled.
She grabbed Gnasher’s ball from her belt, spun around, and flung it. When Gnasher came out, Emily commanded it to quickly remove any debris it could. With a proud bark, Gnasher obliged and within moments, the debris mountain was finally leveled.
Emily, Eddy, and Gnasher all leaned in towards the creature. It was now covered in small cuts, its breaths were quiet but labored, and its whole body ached. Emily gently approached it. The creature gasped as it shuddered and tried to hop up and flee once again, but found itself unable to do so. Once she was close enough, Emily knelt down beside it and rummaged through her bag, finally pulling out an opaque purple aerosol can a short time later.
The creature’s eyes widened as it cried out, thinking that this unknown item would greatly worsen its wounds or even allow one to write another message on whatever blank space its body had left. Emily held up one finger. Then, with a nearby tiny wood fragment, she made a small slice above her left wrist. A moment later, she took the bottle, sprayed it on the slice, and within seconds, it faded away. The creature blinked twice with great force as its mouth hung open.
Emily pointed to the creature’s wounds and it gave her a slight smile and nod. Emily sprayed its wounds and by the time each of them completely faded away, she stepped back. The creature’s slight smile turned into a grin as it rose to its feet, feeling free of all its aches. Then, in the direction of Emily, it started to walk and soon rubbed itself against her leg. But suddenly, it decided, on nothing more than a whim, to jump into her arms. Emily caught it and as the creature was in her arms, it quietly purred and the desire to close its eyes washed over it. Emily hugged it tighter and tilted her head down to gaze upon it.
“You’re okay now,” Emily whispered to it. She grabbed Gnasher’s ball off of her belt and looked at Eddy and Gnasher. Then she pointed the ball at Gnasher. “Thanks for your help today.” A red beam shot out of the ball and slurped Gnasher back inside it. “Okay Eddy, let’s find a place to wash them.” Eddy nodded with a bleat.
After much searching, Emily and Eddy noticed a small pond area within Ecruteak City and made a beeline for it. Once at the pond area, the creature jumped into the water and laughed as it vigorously splashed about. By the time it decided it had been in long enough, the creature climbed out of the water and shook itself dry. When it turned to gaze upon its reflection within it, the creature saw something it would’ve never imagined. Its spotless fur actually shined in the sunlight. Its mouth curled into a smile and it began to shed little tears. With the grime and paint washed away, it was as though all of its pain and worries had also washed away. It slowly walked to Emily and hugged her leg, silently vowing to never let go and silently vowing to never leave her side.
“You wanna come along with us?” Emily said with a laugh. The creature’s heart skipped a beat as it squealed with joy. “Okay then, I’d like to give you a name. How about... Leaf?” The creature shook its head. “Um, okay. What about---” she then looked at the buds on its neck. “Julie! Get it? Because your buds look like jewels.” The creature nodded rapidly.
With that, Emily opened her bag, fished out a Poke Ball, and held it in front of Juile. Before she could open her mouth however, Julie slapped one of her front feet against the button in the middle of the ball. It opened and a red beam poured out and sucked Julie inside before closing moments later. The ball wiggled three times. Then, it stopped, clicking and releasing small sparks soon after. Once Emily wrote “JU” near the top of the ball with a marker, she clipped it to her belt and put the marker back in her bag.
“Okay, where to next?” Emily wondered as she stroked her chin. “Oh I know! I heard that there was a train station in Goldenrod. Let's go check it out!” Eddy bleated while performing a little hop.
---
Meanwhile, back on Route 42, Officer Jenny dragged herself along the ground leading towards a building on the border of the route itself and Ecruteak City, grunting loudly as she went about it. Eyeless bats from the nearby cave nibbled on her socks and hat.
Moments later, she arrived in Ecruteak City and gradually stood up. When she was finally on her feet, she zipped from person to person, informing them of her search for Emily and the “sheep” she was travelling with and tried to see if they had any information on where they had gone. To her dismay, no one seemed to have a clue. That was, until she ran into Morty on his way back to the gym.
“Well, given that she’s on a quest for badges and how they seem to be the closest,” Morty told her when she asked him, “I would say that she and Eddy are in either Goldenrod City or Violet City. By the way, have you ever thought about why sh---”
“Thanks for your help gotta go bye!” Officer Jenny hastily replied before speeding off towards Route 37.
---
Eddy and Emily eventually arrived in Goldenrod City. Its streets were paved with glimmering gold bricks. Most of the buildings didn’t scrape the sky nor kiss the ground and the hustle and bustle of pedestrians was in full force.
“There it is! There’s the station!” Emily happily announced as she pointed to a beige building with a white roof.
When they reached the station, Emily looked up at the extremely tall building with elevated railways bursting out of nearly every single floor. She shook and gulped, feeling as though she was about to fall.
“I-It’s too tall. Let’s go somewhere else,” said Emily.
So the duo did just that. But as they did so, Emily stopped and saw a man wearing a T-shirt that read: “I hate Whitney!”
“You wanna know why Whitney really became Goldenrod’s Gym Leader? Well I’ll tell you why! It’s because her Miltank is actually a Maletank! That’s right! That’s why it crushes everything it fights!” the man yelled at the passersby.
Emily and Eddy slowly backed away and as soon as they felt safe enough, they made a dash in the direction of a signpost outside the city with an upwards facing arrow that read: “Route 34”. The route had a single, winding sandy road. On both sides were large patches of dark green grass. Beyond the left’s grassy patches was a large forest and beyond the right’s was an ocean blocked off in part by a white picket fence. In the distance was a grey building with a green, rectangular shaped dome for a roof.
“What a weirdo!” said Emily. “But, what if it can crush everything? Okay, that’s it! If we’re gonna beat Whitney and get her badge, we gotta get really strong and you know what? There’s gotta be like a gajillion wild Pokemon in all this grass. So let’s go!”
After Eddy and Gnasher had battled at least several times each against different creatures, another creature appeared. It was a yellow, chubby, two legged little thing with a small trunk and a large brown marking which made it look like it was wearing a pair of trousers. Emily threw Julie’s Poke Ball into the air.
“Alright Julie! Show me what you got!” Emily commanded once Julie was out of her ball.
Julie took a deep breath and blew a thick cluster of purple mist into the creature’s face before it even had a moment to react. The creature coughed as its body glowed purple at least twice in succession as soon as the mist subsided.
“Dodge it Julie!” Emily cried as glowing spirals came flying out of the creature’s palms. Julie swiftly weaved around the spirals and whipped around the leaf on her head, making hundreds of razor-sharp leaves burst from it and pelt the creature. After that, the creature was panting and it stood on one knee, thinking that it was down, but not out. However, its body glowed once again, forcing it to fall to the ground as its eyes turned into spirals. Then, Julie rushed to Emily’s side and joyfully nuzzled her leg.
“Wow! That was amazing!” Emily said as she knelt down to pet her. “Is this your first battle?” Julie nodded and Emily put her back in her ball.
From there, Emily’s team continued their battling, with Emily switching between Eddy, Gnasher, and Julie every now and then. During all of that, Eddy learned a new move called Thunder Wave, a move where Eddy would spit out a small yet fast moving jolt of electricity that caused the foe’s body to be covered in sparks on impact, slowing its ability to move at the same time.
When sunset arrived however, Emily stepped back as Eddy’s entire body became bathed in a white glow. Then, a blinding flash emitted from him and, for a few seconds, Emily was unable to see much of anything. When she regained her sight, she was in awe. Eddy was now bipedal with light pink skin, white wool that only covered his head and neck, and a slightly smaller bulb at the end of his tail. In addition, he was also the same height as Emily, clocking in at two feet and seven inches. He turned to Emily, who dashed toward him and gave him a big hug.
“Oh my gosh Eddy!” Emily happily cried out. “You evolved! You actually evolved! Let’s go celebrate!”
Eddy grinned and the two made their way back to Goldenrod City. Once there, they stopped and looked around, trying to decide where they should go to celebrate. To the left in the distance was a purple and grey building with a gold crown above its entrance. On the crown were letters that spelled out: “Arthur’s Arcade” with smaller letters underneath that read: “Come and enjoy our five floors of fun!”
“Woah! That’s so cool!” Emily gleefully shouted as she pointed to the crown. She bolted toward the building with Eddy in tow.
The inside of the dimly lit, carpeted arcade was filled with the sounds of thunderous laughter, swearing, and the games themselves, which consisted of Skee Ball, machines for a game called Voltorb Flip, those crane games that no one can ever seem to win, and a wall to wall size shooting gallery. In fact, the sheer volume of these sounds made it nearly impossible to hear one’s thoughts. When Emily and Eddy approached the glass counter, they saw a set of stairs leading up to it and decided to take them. A few moments later, a man behind the counter attended to them.
“Welcome to Arthur’s! What can I do you for?” the man yelled.
“I wanna play!” Emily replied.
“First time?”
“Yeah!”
“Alright! One moment.”
Moments after the man turned and walked toward a door that read: “Staff Only,” Eddy looked down and peered at the inside of the counter. Baskets of small prizes lined the shelves, including ones with shiny stones of various colors nested inside them. On the front of the stones were carvings. One basket had green stones with a lightning bolt while another had stones with flames. The one that caught Eddy’s eye the most however was a basket of light blue stones with a snowflake carved into them. Suddenly, a memory started playing in his mind.
---
In this memory, Eddy was with the brown haired, black ball cap wearing girl in her room where she held an object the size of a diploma up to his face. Around the object was a wooden frame surrounding a pane of glass. Behind the glass were various stones, much like the ones in the baskets, which had labels under them indicating what kind of stone they were. Above them were the words, “Andy and Ernie's Stone Collection.” It seemed that all but one of the holes inside the object had been filled. Under the missing hole was a label that read: “Ice Stone.”
“Can you believe it Ernie? We’re so close!” Andy proudly announced.
Eddy bleated, beaming with joy.
---
“Alright, here’s your Thrill Card with three hundred Thrill Points loaded on,” the man said to Emily as he handed the card to her, interrupting Eddy’s memory in the process. “Oh and your tickets will be loaded onto the card as well. If you want more Thrill Points, you go to one of those Thrill Card refueling machines littered throughout the place and pay for them yourself.”
Emily thanked the man before dashing over to one of the Skee Ball machines. Eddy quickly caught up to her and gave her shoulder a tap with one of the mitten shaped hands he had gained from evolving. Emily turned around and asked him what he needed. Eddy pointed to the card in her hand.
“Oh you wanna play too? Okay,” said Emily.
After Emily got him his very own Thrill Card, the two continued towards the Skee Ball machines. For hours on end, Eddy and Emily gleefully bounced from game to game, racking up hundreds and hundreds of tickets in the process, only stopping on occasion to add more Thrill Points onto their cards. When the two decided they’d had enough fun for one day, they proceeded to the counter where they received their cards.
“Did you win a lotta tickets?” the man from earlier asked.
“Yeah!” Emily shouted with joy.
With a wink, Eddy grinned and raised a fist in the air.
“I guess you two are ready for prizes.”
“Yeah!”
“Okay, let’s see what you got on those cards.”
Emily was first in handing her card to the man. When he pulled out a handheld device from his pocket and swiped her card down its side, his eyes widened.
“Wow! Not bad for a first timer,” the man said. “Boy, you almost got enough tickets to empty this whole section. The walls, the shelves in the counter.”
Emily eyed a basket full of round candies sitting on one of the shelves inside the counter, each protected by a pink wrapper. On the basket was a label that read: “Rare Candy: Mago Berry Flavor 50 Tickets Each.”
“Can I have a few of those?” Emily asked as she pointed to the basket.
The man laughed. “A few? Kid, take the whole basket!”
Emily complied with his suggestion and the man took the basket and poured every one of its candies onto the counter. Emily’s mouth watered as she took in the candy’s extremely sweet aroma and dumped them into her bag. The man asked if she wanted anything else. She looked at the right side of the wall and saw a variety of baseball hats bearing the arcade’s logo, pointing to a red one shortly after. Once the man retrieved it and put it on her head, he once again asked if there was anything she would like.
“All those,” Emily requested, gesturing to a section of the wall containing a variety of TMs.
The man grabbed one of each TM. “Okay, we got,” he said as he placed each one on the counter, “Swords Dance, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, and Calm Mind.”
After placing the TMs in her bag, Emily told the man that she was all set and, using the handheld device, he deducted the cost of the items from the amount of tickets she’d won. When Eddy’s turn to choose his prize rolled around after getting his card swiped, he pointed to the basket with the stones he gazed at earlier.
“Oh! An Ice Stone,” the man said. “Not a bad choice. You want just one or more than that?”
Eddy signaled to the man that he only wanted a single stone. When Eddy took hold of it, he closed his eyes and hugged it as if it were the world’s softest plushie. A smile grew upon his face and he was nearly in tears as a sense of pride and joy overwhelmed him. Moments later, he gently stuffed the stone into his wool.
When they departed from the arcade, night time had come around. Emily felt as though she could still smell the candy and, as her stomach growled, her mouth watered even more. Eventually, it got to a point where Emily had no choice but to throw down her bag and consume five of the candies all at once in order to quell these feelings and felt full soon after.
“That was great! You want any Eddy?” said Emily.
Eddy nodded and consumed one of the candies. White sparks flew out of him and he spun around. Then, something dawned on Emily.
“Hey Eddy,” said Emily, “I’d like to use one of those TMs on you. You know, as like a present for doing real good today. Would that be okay?”
Eddy happily obliged and after he selected Thunderbolt, Emily placed it on his head and soon, Eddy forgot how to perform Thundershock, as he already knew four moves and needed to replace one to make room for Thunderbolt. From there, Emily used the Flamethrower TM on Gnasher and the attempt went without a hitch.
With Julie however, there was a bit more trouble. It seemed like nearly each TM would make a screeching noise.
“This TM is incompatible with this Pokemon,” a voice would say after every screech.
Not only that, but every time another person passed by, Julie hid behind Emily until they were gone. Then, Emily tried using the Swords Dance TM on Julie and when she did, it worked flawlessly, which made Julie smile and trot in place. Emily laughed and reached into her bag. After pulling out one of the candies, Emily gave it to Julie, who gobbled up every bit of it. Like Eddy, white sparks also flew out of her once she finished it.
Suddenly, Emily noticed that every light now had a faint glow around it and that every sound echoed. Emily shivered slightly as she put Julie back into her Poke Ball.
“Hey Eddy. W-Why is it echoy?” Emily asked.
Eddy raised an eyebrow and shrugged, clueless as to what she was talking about.
Emily sighed. “Oh! Maybe I’m just tired. Come on Eddy. I’m sure there’s a place to stay somewhere.”
But when the two started walking, Emily felt as though her steps were very light. Soon, she started to walk faster and faster until she eventually broke into a full on sprint, her arms stretched out and a grin plastered on her face while she did so. But in her haste, the hat flew off her head and neither Eddy nor Emily seemed to have enough time to notice.
Eventually, they came across a hotel. In front of one of its doors was a sleeping bird with brown and beige feathers, as well as a pink beak. Above it was a sign that read: “Tiny Pidgey is dreaming. Please use other door.” Once the duo checked in for the night, she and Eddy made their way to their assigned room. Inside the room was a giant bed populated by the softest of pillows and blankets and across from it was a television sitting on a wooden bureau that seemed as though it was fresh out of the box. On the right of the television was a small, black fridge with a microwave on top. Emily threw her bag on the floor and dashed toward the bed. With one big leap, she landed on it soon after, laid down, and shut her eyes. However, she soon discovered that her body was too jittery to sleep and began laughing and hopping on the bed as if it were a trampoline.
“Come on Eddy!” Emily prompted excitedly.
But Eddy just stood there for a moment, chuckling and looking at the floor, before shrugging and reluctantly joining her. As they jumped about, with Emily performing flips every now and then, small white orbs started to cloud Emily's vision.
“Look Eddy! Snow!” Emily said before sticking her tongue out.
Eddy looked around, but spotted nothing of the sort. Then Emily noticed her body growing lighter and lighter until suddenly, she bolted out of the room and down the hall, focusing her sights on the elevator at the end of it. She eventually got on and slapped the button for the hotel roof. At one point, two men, one in a blue business suit and the other in a grey one, joined Emily on the elevator.
“I hear there’s a Hypno in the woodsier parts of Route 34,” said the blue suited man.
“Let me guess? It’s hypnotizing kids and taking them away, never to be seen again, right?” the grey suited man asked.
“Exactly.”
“You know, I remember a Hypno doing the same thing to the son of someone called Eileen Palmer.”
At that moment, Emily was struck by an epiphany. She fished through her bag, tuning out the men’s conversation, until she found an envelope with the name “Eileen Palmer” right in the middle. Upon closer inspection, Emily also noticed addresses under Eileen’s name and the upper left hand corner, as well as “Return to Sender” written in the lower right hand corner. When she opened the envelope, she pulled out a letter, which read:
Dear Eileen,
While you were at work today, your son Allen went missing. I went into his room to see if he wanted something to eat, but there was no sign of him anywhere! Not only that, but I also noticed that his window was open. To be honest, I’m not too surprised about this. I gave him as much love and attention as I could, but I guess it was too much for him and he took off.
I reported it to the police and while they did search the area for him, they came up empty handed. Maybe if I leave, he won’t have to deal with me and come home. It sounds dumb, sure, but I get the feeling that it might work. If he does come home, I want you to sit him down and remind him that I was never meant to be a replacement for anyone in his life.
Your loving partner, Jason.
Once Emily finished reading the letter, her eyes were wide and her jaw nearly fell to the floor. For a few moments, she was stuck like this.
“He was a daddy before? No wonder he’s so good at it!” Emily finally whispered.
---
Meanwhile, Officer Jenny stood in the middle of Goldenrod City, stroking her chin.
“Hmm. If I was a kid in a big city, where would I go?” Officer Jenny wondered. She then looked around and soon spotted Arthur’s Arcade. “A-Ha!”
Once inside, she thoroughly examined the room and when she saw that Emily was nowhere to be found, she made her way to the counter and asked the man if he’d seen her.
“Yeah, I seen her,” the man answered. “Got herself a red hat and everything. I think her Flaaffy was a shiny since its colors were different from a normal one.”
“Well thanks for your help,” said Officer Jenny.
“Not a problem,” the man replied.
“She has a shiny sheep!” Officer Jenny quietly squealed after turning away from the man. Once she left, she continued to roam the city in search of Emily and her Flaaffy.
“When I find her, I’ll take her out for a good meal, get whatever else she needs, and bring her home,” Officer Jenny promised herself.
Moments later, she stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed a red hat on top of an antenna attached to a blue building with an observation deck in the middle of it. From her belt, she pulled out a Poke Ball.
“Alright Noctowl! Grab that hat!” she commanded as she threw the ball.
A large owl then burst from the ball. Its wings, tail feathers, and triangular chest pattern were dark brown while the rest of it was light brown. Beige rings formed around its eyes and its matching eyebrows were shaped like horns. It flew off with great speed toward the hat and swooped it up in the blink of an eye.
When Noctowl gave Officer Jenny the hat, she returned it to its Poke Ball. Upon examining the hat, she found that it indeed matched the ones found at Arthur’s Arcade. She hastily grabbed another Poke Ball from her belt and threw it. Popping out of the ball was a Growlithe. Officer Jenny got down to its level and put the hat in front of its nose. Upon giving it a good whiff, the Growlithe barked and dashed in the direction of the scent, with Officer Jenny joining him almost immediately after.
---
Emily dashed off the elevator and onto the roof the moment the doors opened. The roof itself was littered with shiny wooden benches and trees that seemed as though they had recently received a trimming. Once Emily hopped onto one of the railings surrounding the area, she jumped and held out her arms as though they were wings that would allow her to fly. But instead of soaring through the sky, she tumbled to the ground.
As she descended, the world around her seemed to slow down significantly. In fact, she was able to get a good peek in the windows of the surrounding buildings. Through one window was a boy around her age playing with a Growlithe and through another was a woman sliding a freshly baked Mago Berry pie out of the oven. For more than a split second however, Emily saw a creature staring out of a window. Its skin was yellow, its ears were pointy, and its nose was large. Its neck was surrounded by white, stringy fur and in its hand it held a silver coin attached to a string. Emily gasped and her heart raced.
“Oh no! It’s the Hypno!” Emily cried. She tried rapidly flapping her arms in the hopes of flying upwards and away from the creature, but it was no use.
---
On the ground, Officer Jenny and her Growlithe stopped dead in their tracks when they noticed a crowd of onlookers gathered at the base of the hotel.
“What the heck is going on there?” Officer Jenny exclaimed. She bolted towards the crowd and soon realized they were gazing in horror at Emily’s descent. “No!”
She then pulled out Noctowl’s Poke Ball from her belt and threw it. When it was out of its ball, Officer Jenny commanded it to catch her. The Noctowl darted towards Emily and tightly gripped her arms with its large feet. When Emily and the Noctowl returned to the ground, they found themselves in the middle of the crowd, as the Noctowl wanted to show that she was indeed safe from harm. The crowd’s wild cheers seemed as though they could’ve been heard from miles away.
“Hero bird! Hero bird! Hero bird!” the crowd chanted as they pumped their fists in the air.
---
Emily stood there, almost wheezing as her body shook violently. Then, various colors began to fade away from her vision. First the blues, then the greens, and then the yellows. Soon, the only colors Emily could see were red and grey. Suddenly, the Hypno appeared once again, this time right in front of her. It raised the hand that held the coin on a string. But Emily screamed at the top of her lungs and scrambled through the crowd before it could do anything else.
Later on, she burst through the entrance to a building with a sign above it that read: “Goldenrod Tunnel.” She flew down the stairs, then down a hallway with market stalls and dove into an open cleaning closet, slamming the door behind her soon after. Within an instant, she collapsed to the floor of the now darkened room. She was soaked from head to toe in sweat, her breathing was labored, and it seemed as though her heart was about to give out.
---
Meanwhile, Officer Jenny rushed through the city, wondering where Emily could’ve gone. Suddenly, she and Eddy collided with each other and fell to the ground.
“Hey!” Officer Jenny said as she rose to her feet. “Watch where you're---” before she could finish, she went silent, taking a moment to closely examine Eddy. Then, with her hands on her cheeks, she squealed. She got down on her knees and repeatedly petted him, gushing about how adorable of a sheep he was in the process. But soon, she stopped, realizing that he matched the description of the Flaaffy the man at the arcade gave her. “Wait a minute! Is your trainer’s name Emily?”
Eddy nodded enthusiastically.
“Well follow me because I’m looking for her!” Officer Jenny ordered.
---
As Emily laid in that room, she allowed tears to escape from her eyes, wondering how her parents, Eddy, Gnasher, and Julie would be able to live their lives without her. But moments later, she remembered hearing stories about people coming back to life as Pokemon and their mannerisms from their old life breaking through their new bodies and showing themselves, overwhelming whom they knew with glee. With that, she mustered up whatever strength she could to smile and proceeded to close her eyes. But then, just as they were about to shut completely, the door burst open.
Standing before Emily was a bright light that slowly dimmed to reveal a four legged, centaur-esque creature, much like the one on the necklace she wore. Its wispy mane was long, its belly had two vertical lines running down it, and wrapped around the middle of its body was a circular object that seemed as though it was made from fused together pickaxes.
She wanted to grin and pray upon seeing it, but lacked the strength to do so. Instead, she allowed her jaw to hang open.
“Arceus?” Emily asked the creature.
“Uh. Yes! It is I,” the creature responded in Officer Jenny’s voice. Arceus walked over to Emily and, with one of its hooves, gently wiped her eyes. Moments later, Emily’s ability to see every color besides grey and red returned. Emily gasped.
“Yay! Color!” said Emily. Arceus laughed. “You do a great Officer Jenny impression.”
“Thank you,” Arceus replied.
“Will I come back as a Pokemon? Can I say bye to Eddy?”
“No. It’s not your time. Also he---”
Just then, Eddy dashed past Arceus and hugged Emily with tears in his eyes.
“Eddy,” said Arceus, “put her on my back and I will take her to a place of healing.”
Eddy complied with the request and he and Arceus bolted out of the room. Will Emily recover from this harrowing ordeal? Find out next time on Pokemon: Johto Quest!