Last time on Pokemon: Johto Quest! Our heroes came across some interesting characters, including a guy in a Snorlax suit who told them how to get to Ecruteak City, an injured rock snake that tried to kill them, and a couple of kimono-clad women who turned out to be a couple. After battling with the woman in the blue kimono named Kuni, our heroes were on their way to face Morty, the Gym Leader of Ecruteak City. Will they succeed in winning their first gym battle? Probably. But let's not get our hopes up too high.
Emily and Eddy exited an orange and tan building with a neon sign on the right side of it that said, "Pokemon Center", similar to the one in Mahogany Town.
“So Eddy, you ready to take on Morty?” Said Emily as she looked at him. Eddy bleated proudly as he bounced up and down at least twice before spinning around and shooting off tiny jolts of electricity in every possible direction.
“Alright! Let's go!” The two dashed away from the orange and tan building and ran all throughout the city until they came across a blue and orange rectangular building with a brown, dome shaped object covering the top of it. On the right side of the sliding double doors was a metal sign that read: “Ecruteak City Pokémon Gym Leader: Morty The Mystic Seer of the Future!”
The two walked over to the doors and when they were a couple of inches away, the doors gently opened on their own. As soon as they were opened, an extremely thick cloud of white smoke poured out and engulfed the duo. Emily and Eddy coughed for at least a few seconds before Emily covered her mouth with her shirt.
The two scurried through the smoke and once they passed through it, they stopped and turned around to look at the building again, wondering why there was so much smoke coming from it. All of a sudden, a figure emerged holding the handle of a small black box with thin streams of smoke bursting out of them in each hand.
“More fog! More fog!” The figure chuckled as he pointed the boxes towards the sky. Upon closer examination, Emily noticed that the figure was a young man with shoulder length blond hair, light grey pants, and a long sleeved black shirt with two purple cuffs at the end of each sleeve. Not only that, but he was also wearing a purple scarf with dull orange flame-like patterns at the ends of it. He also had a purple headband running across his forehead and ivory beige skin. When the man noticed Emily and Eddy, he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Uh. Hello there,” the man chuckled awkwardly.
“Hi,” Emily replied as she waved at him.
“Oh. Hold on.” The man hurried back towards the building and disappeared into the fog. Once he was inside, he snapped his fingers and a group of ceiling fans suddenly turned on by themselves. As soon as the fog was cleared away by the fans, the man called out to Emily and Eddy, telling them to come in.
They complied and ran straight inside. Once they got in, the doors closed behind them and they found themselves in a pitch black room. Emily knelt down and patted the ground around her with the tips of her fingers. Just as she was about to get back up, Eddy jumped on her back and lit up the orb on the end of his tail.
Luckily, it shined bright enough to allow Emily to see at least a foot in front of her. In the glow of the light, she could see part of a large, beige, tatami mat connected to a short, narrow dock with a wooden beam on both sides that had several cracks in them and looked like they were starting to rot away. The metal planks on the dock were somewhat rusted and a couple of them were even missing.
“I don't know, Eddy,” said Emily, “I'm not sure if it will hold our weight if we walk or run on it.” After she said that, Emily thought to herself, “But, what if we crawled on it?” She began eagerly dragging herself along the dock on her belly. Although progress was very slow, Emily kept chugging along, letting her mind fill with thoughts as to what could be on the other end of the dock. She even resisted the temptation to vomit from breathing in the scent of the dock's planks that could peel paint.
But then, the ground under our heroes instantly crumbled away and they soon began their fall. Their hearts raced as Eddy bleated painfully and Emily screamed in a way that could make the blood of even the toughest around curdle while they tumbled through the air. For what seemed like eons, they fell and fell and fell, with Emily at one point wondering if they had discovered a bottomless pit.
Luckily or unluckily depending how one wants to view it, their fall suddenly stopped when they landed hard on their stomachs, causing all the wind to be knocked out of them. They gradually got up and spent many moments trying to catch their breath. A screech grew louder and louder as it rushed towards our heroes soon after however, causing Eddy and Emily to scream and their hearts to race even faster.
“Eddy! Tail!” Demanded Emily. Soon, the orb on the end of Eddy's tail shined brightly. In the glow of the light, Emily spotted the bottom of an in-tact wooden beam and hastily gestured for Eddy to climb on her back. He immediately obliged and Emily gripped the beam so hard, her hands dug into the wood.
Even as sweat began covering what seemed like every inch of her body, she rapidly scaled up the beam, never daring to look down. About halfway up however, another screech filled the air, only this time, it was close to Emily's left ear and imitated laughter. Emily shuddered and quickened the pace of her scaling as Eddy clung on tighter. Then, Eddy felt a strong pull on his left cone shaped ear and released a blinding jolt of electricity, making whatever was pursuing our heroes briefly visible and forcing it to back off.
Upon reaching the top of the beam, Emily stepped foot on metal planks as Eddy jumped off her back and both breathed a sigh of relief afterwards. The two only took a few steps forward however before they leapt back when a series of spherical paper lanterns quickly lit up one by one, revealing groups of beige tatami mats fused together to create a more gigantic one as soon as they were all aglow. The lanterns surrounded it on nearly every side and hovered above as though they were will-o’-wisps.
On the other end of the gigantic tatami mat stood the blonde haired man with the purple scarf from earlier, his back to our heroes as he stared at a wall. One second later, he spun around and outstretched his arms.
“Welcome!” The man said with great enthusiasm, “I’m Morty. Lover of spooky ghosts! Are you here to challenge me to a gym battle?”
“Yeah!” Emily shouted gleefully while raising her fist in the air. Eddy bleated merrily and bounced up and down.
“Ni---Hey wait a minute!” Morty made his way closer to Emily and stared down at her and Eddy once he was just a few inches away. “How old are you?”
“Five.” Emily said. Morty’s heart grew heavy as he sighed and kneeled down. He looked Emily in the eye and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, feeling as though he was about to tell her that someone she loved passed away.
“I’m sorry, uh, what’s your name?” Morty asked.
“Emily,” She answered.
“Well, Emily. I’m sorry but, given your age, I’m afraid I can’t accept your challenge.” When Morty uttered those words, Emily felt zapped of all her strength.
“Why?” Emily asked.
“Well, you see, if the Pokemon Inspection Agency caught me conducting an official gym battle with someone under ten, my gym could get shut down, I could lose my job, your Pokemon could get taken, my Pokemon could get taken, and I just don’t want to risk it.” Slowly but surely, Emily's strength returned in the form of a fiery rage brewing within her like tea in a kettle. Her teeth and fists were also clenched tightly. Then, Morty added, “I’m sorry. I don’t make the rules. But when you reach ten, I’ll be more than happy to batt---”
“Listen here bub!” Emily shouted at the top of her lungs as Morty jumped up and backed away, “I’ve cracked my head on the ground, been attacked by an evil Houndour, chased and nearly eaten by a giant rock snake since I left home! Why? Because I want to see my daddy and if I gotta get the badges of Johto to do that, then I’m gonna!” Silence took over the room immediately after Emily’s rant concluded. Then, she curled into a ball and began to gently sob.
As Morty stared at Emily and her light purple Mareep doing its best to comfort her, he tried conjuring up memories of his own father, but found that, no matter how hard he tried, none would show themselves. Meanwhile, his heart seemed as though it had a small crack growing down its middle more and more. Eventually, the crack grew big enough to snap the heart in two and the pieces fell to the pit of his stomach. Morty gradually got down to Emily’s level.
“Look, Emily,” Morty began, “I’m. Not going to pretend I know what it’s like to have a father. But your determination is clear to me and, on one condition, I think there’s a way to let you earn that badge.” Emily slowly rose to her feet.
“Like what?” Emily asked as she wiped away her tears.
“Well, W-We’ll just say you’re ten and you have a newly discovered condition called Vertical Deficiency Disorder.”
“Well, if it lets me earn the badge, I’ll do it!” Morty sheepishly chuckled.
“Well I guess that settles it. But I’m not going easy on you.”
“Woo hoo!”
“Hey, I need to ask you something. Have you ever been on air before?”
“No.”
“I see. Well as per the rules of the Pokemon Inspection Agency, I’m required to broadcast every gym battle. Hope you’re not camera shy.” Our heroes let out excited cries as they leaped into the air. Morty jogged over to a door on the right side of the mat covered area and opened it.
Behind the door was a small room with a thin, rectangular mark on the wall facing him. To its left was a keypad with nine purple buttons. After pushing a few of them, the mark slid forward like a cash register drawer and nestled into shallow holes were six balls. The first five contained a black top nearly covered by a yellow “H” and white bottom. The sixth one however had a red top and a white bottom. Morty joined Emily and her light purple Mareep once he picked up the red and white ball.
“Starting the broadcast now.” Morty informed Emily.
“Alright!” Emily happily shouted. Morty ran to the other side of the mat covered area.
“Cameras on!” Morty excitedly called out once he made it there. A dinging sound spread through the gym. “Ladies and gentlemen!” Morty greeted with great enthusiasm, “I, Morty, the gym leader of Ecruteak City, welcome you to bear witness to yet another gym battle. And now, making her on air debut, the challenger, Emily!”
Emily waved her hands in the air while slowly spinning around, trying to figure out where the cameras were. Eddy attempted to imitate her, but was only momentarily successful.
“You ready Emily?” Morty asked. At the same time, Emily and Eddy cheered and widely flailed about. Morty laughed.
“Alright,” Morty said, “let the battle begin!” Eddy beamed as he tightened up his body and bleated loudly, hopping in front of Emily soon after. “Go! Misdreavus!” Morty commanded as he threw the red and white ball in his hand.
Suddenly, the ball froze in the air and a red, jagged beam emerged upon its opening. A few seconds later, a small, dark grey, spirit-like creature materialized from it. Its head was covered in thick strands of hair that appeared to have its ends dipped in light purple paint and dark red, pearl-like beads encircled its neck. As Misdreavus floated above the mat covered area, it released a short screech similar to the one that Emily and Eddy heard earlier, only this time it was deeper in tone.
“Can you believe I raised this one from an egg?” Morty asked while pointing at the Misdreavus.
“Woah,” said Emily. Then, to the Misdreavus, Morty said,
“Love you son! Do your best out there!” The Misdreavus spun towards Morty and winked. Moments later, another Misdreavus speedily floated up from the bottom of the gym and, once it was hovering above the mat covered area, let out the exact same screech from earlier while giving off a smile. Everyone immediately turned their attention to it, with Emily pointing her finger in its direction.
“That’s it! That’s the Eddy puller!” Emily sharply accused. Morty stroked his chin, pondering who Eddy could possibly be. In spite of his uncertainty, Morty shook his head and said to the other Misdreavus,
“Aww. That's a real shame too. I was considering having you join in today’s battle. But, now you'll just have to watch.” The other Misdreavus’ smile morphed into a grin as it began nuzzling Morty’s cheek, hoping that, if it kept this up for long enough, Morty would happily change his tune. Unfortunately for this Misdreavus, Morty just gently shooed it away. “Sorry, but I’m not going to tolerate that behaviour.” The other Misdreavus pouted and returned to the dark depths of the gym. “Gonna go play with the other ghosts? That’s fine too.” When the battle resumed, everyone faced each other. Emily then pointed and said,
“Eddy! Use Thundershock!”
“Misdreavus! Confuse Ray!” Morty instructed with haste.
“Nevermind! Dodge it Eddy!” Eddy rolled around in every which way the moment Misdreavus performed a backflip and launched several light purple beams from his neck beads that speedily slithered through the air. But even Eddy’s rolling wasn't enough to stop one of them from instantly worming its way into his wool, causing him to stagger around and stars to fly around his head. Then, he and Emily yelped in unison as he suddenly smashed his head against the floor uncontrollably. Eddy began to pant quietly.
“I-It’s gonna be okay Eddy. Keep cool! Y-You can do it!” Emily encouraged, “Try Thundershock on ‘em.”
“Misdreavus use Psybeam!” Morty said. Eddy steadied himself and shook his head as quickly as he was able. He then leaped into the air as yellow sparks engulfed his body and Misdreavus blasted a sparkly light purple beam from his mouth, nearly missing the top of Eddy’s head by half an inch. A jolt of yellow lightning burst from Eddy's body, slamming into Misdreavus’ face and sending him spinning backwards in the air, nearly making contact with the wall behind him. Misdreavus slightly scowled as he floated back to where he was previously, feeling a small headache coming on.
“Eddy! Thundershock!” Emily called out.
“Shadow Ball time Misdreavus!” Morty commanded. Once again, Eddy found himself staggering. But just as he tried to stop, Misdreavus shot a giant, glowing purple ball from his mouth that barrelled towards Eddy so fast, Emily didn’t have time to yell for him to leap out of the way. The ball exploded upon hitting him with enough force to make Eddy crash into Emily, knocking her to the floor in the process.
Once the smoke from the explosion cleared, Emily groaned as she rose to her feet. When she finished brushing herself off, she looked down. Eddy was lying on the ground stiff as a board. His black, bead-like eyes were replaced by black spirals and his mouth was slightly agape. Her heart sank and she trudged over to him, picking him up and carrying him over her head soon after. She gently placed him down in the left corner on her side of the mat covered area and kneeled beside him.
“You did great today,” Emily whispered. She stared at him, pondering and pondering about what her next step was supposed to be. But then, Morty said,
“It’s okay. Eddy’s not dead. He just fainted if that's what you’re worried about.”
“That’s not it though.” Emily responded. “I just. What now?”
“Well do you have any other Pokemon?” As soon as Morty finished speaking, a lightbulb suddenly clicked on inside Emily’s head. She nodded and sifted through her pockets before pulling out a red and white ball. She then jogged away from the corner. But just as she was about to throw the ball, she froze and tears began forming in her eyes.
Meanwhile, a thought played out in Emily’s mind. In this thought, she tossed the ball and released the Houndour. Then, it turned towards her, glared at her with its orange, pupil-less eyes, and emitted a growl intense enough to rattle her nerves. She screamed and tried to flee. But the Houndour leaped onto her back, slamming her to the floor and deeply but swiftly sinking its razor sharp teeth into her neck and limbs.
Then, Emily’s mind drifted to a thought where two versions of herself stood behind podiums facing each other. One of them said, “It’s gonna happen!” while the other said, “It’s not gonna happen!” From there, they repeated their opinions, their voices growing louder and more agitated with each utterance, until the thought crumbled to dust when Emily grunted intensely as she hurled the ball with all her might, feeling as though the debate would go on forever and ever if she didn’t.
The Houndour soon emerged from the ball and Emily gasped and her body quaked when it turned to her and barked. It tilted its head slightly and sat down for a moment before walking towards Emily, eying the bandages wrapped around her arm. For a brief moment, it sniffed them, causing Emily to pant and her heartbeat to start accelerating. Emily quickly shut her eyes and stiffened up as it locked its jaws over the bandaged area, trying to hold back the urge to scream.
But then, Emily slowly opened one eye when she felt the bandages being gently removed. At that moment, she realized that it was the Houndour who was responsible. As each piece was taken off, the Houndour put it into a neat little pile. Once every piece was off her arm, it began happily licking the once covered wound it inflicted back on the path leading to Cedar Village. Its eyes met hers as it did so. But this time, they weren’t orange and pupil-less. Instead, its eyes were soft and grey with actual pupils in them. She breathed a sigh of relief and sheepishly chuckled soon after.
“Okay. Okay. T-That’s enough,” Emily said in a somewhat quiet voice, “Uh, there’s a Misdreavus we gotta beat and it’s right behind you.” The Houndour spun in the direction of the Misdreavus, barking with joy once it did so.
“You got everything sorted out?” Morty asked. She gave him a shaky thumbs up. Soon after, she took a deep breath and her body began loosening up. Then, with a small smile on her face, she said,
“Okay Houndour. Use Bite!”
“Misdreavus! Headbutt!” Morty said. With Misdreavus’ head lowered and the Houndour’s sharp teeth bared and all aglow, they dashed towards each other at incredible speed. Just when they were about to crash into one another, the Houndour bounced off one of the lanterns surrounding the mat covered area and harshly clamped its jaws down on Misdreavus’s head, causing him to screech. Emily grinned and pulled her fists towards her. The Houndour then briskly shook Misdreavus from side to side for a few moments, as if he were nothing more than a chew toy. Eventually, the Houndour released Misdreavus from its jaws and sent him careening across the mat covered area. By the time he stopped, his body was soaked in sweat as he quivered and became afflicted with a massive headache. To keep afloat, it took great effort on his part. Emily bounced up and down as she threw her hands in the air.
“Yeah! Nice job!” Emily cheered. The Houndour looked straight at her, its short, pointy tail wagging quickly as it howled. For a brief moment after, its body turned red while upward pointing white arrows covered it from head to toe and travelled towards the ceiling. To Misdreavus, Morty whispered,
“No matter what happens. You will always be my son.” Upon hearing those words, a flame grew inside Misdreavus’ heart, which made him feel as though his current troubles shrunk and that he could defeat any foe. Then, Morty added, “Okay Misdreavus. Let’s use Shadow Ball again.” Emily beamed.
“Bite ‘em again Houndour! You got this!” Emily commanded as she hurriedly moved her hands up and down. The Houndour’s teeth began to glow as it charged towards Misdreavus, who furiously launched a purple ball from his mouth large enough to nearly span the width of the mat covered area itself almost immediately. A ball which seemed undodgeable. That was, until the Houndour flipped on its back and slid underneath, the tip of its nose nearly grazing the bottom of the ball.
When the Houndour was just close enough to Misdreavus, it pounced upwards using only its hind legs and bit down on him with great force and slammed him to the floor when the Houndour let him go. As the giant purple ball was just inches away from Emily, she ducked and the ball collided into the wall behind her. Despite the gigantic explosion the ball caused, the wall barely had a scratch on it.
Misdreavus lay on the floor with spirals in its eyes afterwards. Morty took out the red and white ball from earlier out of his pocket, which was now grey, and aimed it at Misdreavus. A red beam shot out from the ball and slurped up Misdreavus, causing him to shrink the closer he got to it. Once he was inside the ball, Morty held it up to his face and with a smile, whispered,
“You did your best.” Then, he walked to the middle of the mat covered area and motioned for Emily to join him there. She placed Eddy on her head and the moment she got there, she put Eddy on the side of her, with Morty getting on one knee and grabbing Emily’s arm soon after. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Morty announced. He then held her arm up and added, “The winner!”
“Yeah! We won! First try!” Emily happily exclaimed, “Oh my gosh!” Morty then let go of her arm. The Houndour barked as it sprinted in circles, tail wagging wildly. Morty went to face Emily.
“I believe these are for you,” he said. After fishing through his other pocket, he pulled out a nearly round, purple metal pin which resembled a limbless ghost and a miniature disc in a jewel case with a label on it that read: “Technical Machine 30: Shadow Ball”. He then handed them to Emily.
“This pin is the badge right?” Emily asked.
“Yup. The Fog Badge to be more precise,” Morty answered. Emily stared at the badge, which sparkled and shined under the lanterns. Her heart pounded. There it was. An actual badge right in her hands. A badge that formed the first plank in the bridge that would allow her to cross over to the Nidoran region and see her father once again.
“Thanks for the stuff,” said Emily.
“You’re very welcome,” Morty responded. “Do you know how to use TMs like the one I just gave you?”
“Are those the things you put on a Pokemon’s head and then they absorb the stuff inside it?”
“Something like that yes. Back in the day, they would break after just one use. But with these newer ones, you can use them as many times as you like.”
“Wow! But where am I gonna put the badge?”
“Well, whether its a badge case or whatever else, I can call Murph and have him hook you up if you don’t have one already.”
“Thanks Morty!”
“You’re welcome. You know that red and white ball your Houndour was in? It’s called a Poke Ball and I was wondering if you’d also like a belt to put it on.”
“I’d love that!”
“Great. I’ll have Murph get that for you as well. Oh! One more thing.” Morty reached into his pocket and handed Emily seven, orange, five hundred poken bills. Emily quickly snatched them from his hands, threw them on the ground, and grinned as she rolled around in them.
Once she was satisfied, she picked up the bills and put them in her pocket and whistled to the Houndour. It dashed towards Emily, barking with glee the whole way. It knocked her over and repeatedly licked her face with great swiftness, making her laugh. A few moments later, it jumped off of her and sat down. Then, with a big smile on her face, Emily leaned towards it and gave it a big hug as tears of joy raced down her cheeks.
“Would you like a name?” Emily quietly asked the Houndour. It barked in agreement. “Okay. How about Gnasher?” The Houndour grinned, as though thinking the name fit like a glove. Emily laughed. “Alright. Welcome to the team Gnasher.” She pulled its Poke Ball from her pocket, returned Gnasher to it via a red beam coming out of it, took a marker from her bag, and wrote “GN” on the top of the ball.
---
Meanwhile, Back in the town of Iroko, her mother sat on the living room couch watching the Ecruteak broadcast on television. Her jaw was practically on the floor for a few moments and her eyes were watery. Then, she dialed a number on her small, red, rectangular phone with an upside down lightning bolt sprouting from its top center, a spike on its bottom center, and light blue eyes and a smile on its back.
“Jenny, get to Ecruteak!” She said into it.
---
Where will our heroes go next? What will they see? Will Jenny find them? Find out next time on Pokemon: Johto Quest!
Emily and Eddy exited an orange and tan building with a neon sign on the right side of it that said, "Pokemon Center", similar to the one in Mahogany Town.
“So Eddy, you ready to take on Morty?” Said Emily as she looked at him. Eddy bleated proudly as he bounced up and down at least twice before spinning around and shooting off tiny jolts of electricity in every possible direction.
“Alright! Let's go!” The two dashed away from the orange and tan building and ran all throughout the city until they came across a blue and orange rectangular building with a brown, dome shaped object covering the top of it. On the right side of the sliding double doors was a metal sign that read: “Ecruteak City Pokémon Gym Leader: Morty The Mystic Seer of the Future!”
The two walked over to the doors and when they were a couple of inches away, the doors gently opened on their own. As soon as they were opened, an extremely thick cloud of white smoke poured out and engulfed the duo. Emily and Eddy coughed for at least a few seconds before Emily covered her mouth with her shirt.
The two scurried through the smoke and once they passed through it, they stopped and turned around to look at the building again, wondering why there was so much smoke coming from it. All of a sudden, a figure emerged holding the handle of a small black box with thin streams of smoke bursting out of them in each hand.
“More fog! More fog!” The figure chuckled as he pointed the boxes towards the sky. Upon closer examination, Emily noticed that the figure was a young man with shoulder length blond hair, light grey pants, and a long sleeved black shirt with two purple cuffs at the end of each sleeve. Not only that, but he was also wearing a purple scarf with dull orange flame-like patterns at the ends of it. He also had a purple headband running across his forehead and ivory beige skin. When the man noticed Emily and Eddy, he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Uh. Hello there,” the man chuckled awkwardly.
“Hi,” Emily replied as she waved at him.
“Oh. Hold on.” The man hurried back towards the building and disappeared into the fog. Once he was inside, he snapped his fingers and a group of ceiling fans suddenly turned on by themselves. As soon as the fog was cleared away by the fans, the man called out to Emily and Eddy, telling them to come in.
They complied and ran straight inside. Once they got in, the doors closed behind them and they found themselves in a pitch black room. Emily knelt down and patted the ground around her with the tips of her fingers. Just as she was about to get back up, Eddy jumped on her back and lit up the orb on the end of his tail.
Luckily, it shined bright enough to allow Emily to see at least a foot in front of her. In the glow of the light, she could see part of a large, beige, tatami mat connected to a short, narrow dock with a wooden beam on both sides that had several cracks in them and looked like they were starting to rot away. The metal planks on the dock were somewhat rusted and a couple of them were even missing.
“I don't know, Eddy,” said Emily, “I'm not sure if it will hold our weight if we walk or run on it.” After she said that, Emily thought to herself, “But, what if we crawled on it?” She began eagerly dragging herself along the dock on her belly. Although progress was very slow, Emily kept chugging along, letting her mind fill with thoughts as to what could be on the other end of the dock. She even resisted the temptation to vomit from breathing in the scent of the dock's planks that could peel paint.
But then, the ground under our heroes instantly crumbled away and they soon began their fall. Their hearts raced as Eddy bleated painfully and Emily screamed in a way that could make the blood of even the toughest around curdle while they tumbled through the air. For what seemed like eons, they fell and fell and fell, with Emily at one point wondering if they had discovered a bottomless pit.
Luckily or unluckily depending how one wants to view it, their fall suddenly stopped when they landed hard on their stomachs, causing all the wind to be knocked out of them. They gradually got up and spent many moments trying to catch their breath. A screech grew louder and louder as it rushed towards our heroes soon after however, causing Eddy and Emily to scream and their hearts to race even faster.
“Eddy! Tail!” Demanded Emily. Soon, the orb on the end of Eddy's tail shined brightly. In the glow of the light, Emily spotted the bottom of an in-tact wooden beam and hastily gestured for Eddy to climb on her back. He immediately obliged and Emily gripped the beam so hard, her hands dug into the wood.
Even as sweat began covering what seemed like every inch of her body, she rapidly scaled up the beam, never daring to look down. About halfway up however, another screech filled the air, only this time, it was close to Emily's left ear and imitated laughter. Emily shuddered and quickened the pace of her scaling as Eddy clung on tighter. Then, Eddy felt a strong pull on his left cone shaped ear and released a blinding jolt of electricity, making whatever was pursuing our heroes briefly visible and forcing it to back off.
Upon reaching the top of the beam, Emily stepped foot on metal planks as Eddy jumped off her back and both breathed a sigh of relief afterwards. The two only took a few steps forward however before they leapt back when a series of spherical paper lanterns quickly lit up one by one, revealing groups of beige tatami mats fused together to create a more gigantic one as soon as they were all aglow. The lanterns surrounded it on nearly every side and hovered above as though they were will-o’-wisps.
On the other end of the gigantic tatami mat stood the blonde haired man with the purple scarf from earlier, his back to our heroes as he stared at a wall. One second later, he spun around and outstretched his arms.
“Welcome!” The man said with great enthusiasm, “I’m Morty. Lover of spooky ghosts! Are you here to challenge me to a gym battle?”
“Yeah!” Emily shouted gleefully while raising her fist in the air. Eddy bleated merrily and bounced up and down.
“Ni---Hey wait a minute!” Morty made his way closer to Emily and stared down at her and Eddy once he was just a few inches away. “How old are you?”
“Five.” Emily said. Morty’s heart grew heavy as he sighed and kneeled down. He looked Emily in the eye and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, feeling as though he was about to tell her that someone she loved passed away.
“I’m sorry, uh, what’s your name?” Morty asked.
“Emily,” She answered.
“Well, Emily. I’m sorry but, given your age, I’m afraid I can’t accept your challenge.” When Morty uttered those words, Emily felt zapped of all her strength.
“Why?” Emily asked.
“Well, you see, if the Pokemon Inspection Agency caught me conducting an official gym battle with someone under ten, my gym could get shut down, I could lose my job, your Pokemon could get taken, my Pokemon could get taken, and I just don’t want to risk it.” Slowly but surely, Emily's strength returned in the form of a fiery rage brewing within her like tea in a kettle. Her teeth and fists were also clenched tightly. Then, Morty added, “I’m sorry. I don’t make the rules. But when you reach ten, I’ll be more than happy to batt---”
“Listen here bub!” Emily shouted at the top of her lungs as Morty jumped up and backed away, “I’ve cracked my head on the ground, been attacked by an evil Houndour, chased and nearly eaten by a giant rock snake since I left home! Why? Because I want to see my daddy and if I gotta get the badges of Johto to do that, then I’m gonna!” Silence took over the room immediately after Emily’s rant concluded. Then, she curled into a ball and began to gently sob.
As Morty stared at Emily and her light purple Mareep doing its best to comfort her, he tried conjuring up memories of his own father, but found that, no matter how hard he tried, none would show themselves. Meanwhile, his heart seemed as though it had a small crack growing down its middle more and more. Eventually, the crack grew big enough to snap the heart in two and the pieces fell to the pit of his stomach. Morty gradually got down to Emily’s level.
“Look, Emily,” Morty began, “I’m. Not going to pretend I know what it’s like to have a father. But your determination is clear to me and, on one condition, I think there’s a way to let you earn that badge.” Emily slowly rose to her feet.
“Like what?” Emily asked as she wiped away her tears.
“Well, W-We’ll just say you’re ten and you have a newly discovered condition called Vertical Deficiency Disorder.”
“Well, if it lets me earn the badge, I’ll do it!” Morty sheepishly chuckled.
“Well I guess that settles it. But I’m not going easy on you.”
“Woo hoo!”
“Hey, I need to ask you something. Have you ever been on air before?”
“No.”
“I see. Well as per the rules of the Pokemon Inspection Agency, I’m required to broadcast every gym battle. Hope you’re not camera shy.” Our heroes let out excited cries as they leaped into the air. Morty jogged over to a door on the right side of the mat covered area and opened it.
Behind the door was a small room with a thin, rectangular mark on the wall facing him. To its left was a keypad with nine purple buttons. After pushing a few of them, the mark slid forward like a cash register drawer and nestled into shallow holes were six balls. The first five contained a black top nearly covered by a yellow “H” and white bottom. The sixth one however had a red top and a white bottom. Morty joined Emily and her light purple Mareep once he picked up the red and white ball.
“Starting the broadcast now.” Morty informed Emily.
“Alright!” Emily happily shouted. Morty ran to the other side of the mat covered area.
“Cameras on!” Morty excitedly called out once he made it there. A dinging sound spread through the gym. “Ladies and gentlemen!” Morty greeted with great enthusiasm, “I, Morty, the gym leader of Ecruteak City, welcome you to bear witness to yet another gym battle. And now, making her on air debut, the challenger, Emily!”
Emily waved her hands in the air while slowly spinning around, trying to figure out where the cameras were. Eddy attempted to imitate her, but was only momentarily successful.
“You ready Emily?” Morty asked. At the same time, Emily and Eddy cheered and widely flailed about. Morty laughed.
“Alright,” Morty said, “let the battle begin!” Eddy beamed as he tightened up his body and bleated loudly, hopping in front of Emily soon after. “Go! Misdreavus!” Morty commanded as he threw the red and white ball in his hand.
Suddenly, the ball froze in the air and a red, jagged beam emerged upon its opening. A few seconds later, a small, dark grey, spirit-like creature materialized from it. Its head was covered in thick strands of hair that appeared to have its ends dipped in light purple paint and dark red, pearl-like beads encircled its neck. As Misdreavus floated above the mat covered area, it released a short screech similar to the one that Emily and Eddy heard earlier, only this time it was deeper in tone.
“Can you believe I raised this one from an egg?” Morty asked while pointing at the Misdreavus.
“Woah,” said Emily. Then, to the Misdreavus, Morty said,
“Love you son! Do your best out there!” The Misdreavus spun towards Morty and winked. Moments later, another Misdreavus speedily floated up from the bottom of the gym and, once it was hovering above the mat covered area, let out the exact same screech from earlier while giving off a smile. Everyone immediately turned their attention to it, with Emily pointing her finger in its direction.
“That’s it! That’s the Eddy puller!” Emily sharply accused. Morty stroked his chin, pondering who Eddy could possibly be. In spite of his uncertainty, Morty shook his head and said to the other Misdreavus,
“Aww. That's a real shame too. I was considering having you join in today’s battle. But, now you'll just have to watch.” The other Misdreavus’ smile morphed into a grin as it began nuzzling Morty’s cheek, hoping that, if it kept this up for long enough, Morty would happily change his tune. Unfortunately for this Misdreavus, Morty just gently shooed it away. “Sorry, but I’m not going to tolerate that behaviour.” The other Misdreavus pouted and returned to the dark depths of the gym. “Gonna go play with the other ghosts? That’s fine too.” When the battle resumed, everyone faced each other. Emily then pointed and said,
“Eddy! Use Thundershock!”
“Misdreavus! Confuse Ray!” Morty instructed with haste.
“Nevermind! Dodge it Eddy!” Eddy rolled around in every which way the moment Misdreavus performed a backflip and launched several light purple beams from his neck beads that speedily slithered through the air. But even Eddy’s rolling wasn't enough to stop one of them from instantly worming its way into his wool, causing him to stagger around and stars to fly around his head. Then, he and Emily yelped in unison as he suddenly smashed his head against the floor uncontrollably. Eddy began to pant quietly.
“I-It’s gonna be okay Eddy. Keep cool! Y-You can do it!” Emily encouraged, “Try Thundershock on ‘em.”
“Misdreavus use Psybeam!” Morty said. Eddy steadied himself and shook his head as quickly as he was able. He then leaped into the air as yellow sparks engulfed his body and Misdreavus blasted a sparkly light purple beam from his mouth, nearly missing the top of Eddy’s head by half an inch. A jolt of yellow lightning burst from Eddy's body, slamming into Misdreavus’ face and sending him spinning backwards in the air, nearly making contact with the wall behind him. Misdreavus slightly scowled as he floated back to where he was previously, feeling a small headache coming on.
“Eddy! Thundershock!” Emily called out.
“Shadow Ball time Misdreavus!” Morty commanded. Once again, Eddy found himself staggering. But just as he tried to stop, Misdreavus shot a giant, glowing purple ball from his mouth that barrelled towards Eddy so fast, Emily didn’t have time to yell for him to leap out of the way. The ball exploded upon hitting him with enough force to make Eddy crash into Emily, knocking her to the floor in the process.
Once the smoke from the explosion cleared, Emily groaned as she rose to her feet. When she finished brushing herself off, she looked down. Eddy was lying on the ground stiff as a board. His black, bead-like eyes were replaced by black spirals and his mouth was slightly agape. Her heart sank and she trudged over to him, picking him up and carrying him over her head soon after. She gently placed him down in the left corner on her side of the mat covered area and kneeled beside him.
“You did great today,” Emily whispered. She stared at him, pondering and pondering about what her next step was supposed to be. But then, Morty said,
“It’s okay. Eddy’s not dead. He just fainted if that's what you’re worried about.”
“That’s not it though.” Emily responded. “I just. What now?”
“Well do you have any other Pokemon?” As soon as Morty finished speaking, a lightbulb suddenly clicked on inside Emily’s head. She nodded and sifted through her pockets before pulling out a red and white ball. She then jogged away from the corner. But just as she was about to throw the ball, she froze and tears began forming in her eyes.
Meanwhile, a thought played out in Emily’s mind. In this thought, she tossed the ball and released the Houndour. Then, it turned towards her, glared at her with its orange, pupil-less eyes, and emitted a growl intense enough to rattle her nerves. She screamed and tried to flee. But the Houndour leaped onto her back, slamming her to the floor and deeply but swiftly sinking its razor sharp teeth into her neck and limbs.
Then, Emily’s mind drifted to a thought where two versions of herself stood behind podiums facing each other. One of them said, “It’s gonna happen!” while the other said, “It’s not gonna happen!” From there, they repeated their opinions, their voices growing louder and more agitated with each utterance, until the thought crumbled to dust when Emily grunted intensely as she hurled the ball with all her might, feeling as though the debate would go on forever and ever if she didn’t.
The Houndour soon emerged from the ball and Emily gasped and her body quaked when it turned to her and barked. It tilted its head slightly and sat down for a moment before walking towards Emily, eying the bandages wrapped around her arm. For a brief moment, it sniffed them, causing Emily to pant and her heartbeat to start accelerating. Emily quickly shut her eyes and stiffened up as it locked its jaws over the bandaged area, trying to hold back the urge to scream.
But then, Emily slowly opened one eye when she felt the bandages being gently removed. At that moment, she realized that it was the Houndour who was responsible. As each piece was taken off, the Houndour put it into a neat little pile. Once every piece was off her arm, it began happily licking the once covered wound it inflicted back on the path leading to Cedar Village. Its eyes met hers as it did so. But this time, they weren’t orange and pupil-less. Instead, its eyes were soft and grey with actual pupils in them. She breathed a sigh of relief and sheepishly chuckled soon after.
“Okay. Okay. T-That’s enough,” Emily said in a somewhat quiet voice, “Uh, there’s a Misdreavus we gotta beat and it’s right behind you.” The Houndour spun in the direction of the Misdreavus, barking with joy once it did so.
“You got everything sorted out?” Morty asked. She gave him a shaky thumbs up. Soon after, she took a deep breath and her body began loosening up. Then, with a small smile on her face, she said,
“Okay Houndour. Use Bite!”
“Misdreavus! Headbutt!” Morty said. With Misdreavus’ head lowered and the Houndour’s sharp teeth bared and all aglow, they dashed towards each other at incredible speed. Just when they were about to crash into one another, the Houndour bounced off one of the lanterns surrounding the mat covered area and harshly clamped its jaws down on Misdreavus’s head, causing him to screech. Emily grinned and pulled her fists towards her. The Houndour then briskly shook Misdreavus from side to side for a few moments, as if he were nothing more than a chew toy. Eventually, the Houndour released Misdreavus from its jaws and sent him careening across the mat covered area. By the time he stopped, his body was soaked in sweat as he quivered and became afflicted with a massive headache. To keep afloat, it took great effort on his part. Emily bounced up and down as she threw her hands in the air.
“Yeah! Nice job!” Emily cheered. The Houndour looked straight at her, its short, pointy tail wagging quickly as it howled. For a brief moment after, its body turned red while upward pointing white arrows covered it from head to toe and travelled towards the ceiling. To Misdreavus, Morty whispered,
“No matter what happens. You will always be my son.” Upon hearing those words, a flame grew inside Misdreavus’ heart, which made him feel as though his current troubles shrunk and that he could defeat any foe. Then, Morty added, “Okay Misdreavus. Let’s use Shadow Ball again.” Emily beamed.
“Bite ‘em again Houndour! You got this!” Emily commanded as she hurriedly moved her hands up and down. The Houndour’s teeth began to glow as it charged towards Misdreavus, who furiously launched a purple ball from his mouth large enough to nearly span the width of the mat covered area itself almost immediately. A ball which seemed undodgeable. That was, until the Houndour flipped on its back and slid underneath, the tip of its nose nearly grazing the bottom of the ball.
When the Houndour was just close enough to Misdreavus, it pounced upwards using only its hind legs and bit down on him with great force and slammed him to the floor when the Houndour let him go. As the giant purple ball was just inches away from Emily, she ducked and the ball collided into the wall behind her. Despite the gigantic explosion the ball caused, the wall barely had a scratch on it.
Misdreavus lay on the floor with spirals in its eyes afterwards. Morty took out the red and white ball from earlier out of his pocket, which was now grey, and aimed it at Misdreavus. A red beam shot out from the ball and slurped up Misdreavus, causing him to shrink the closer he got to it. Once he was inside the ball, Morty held it up to his face and with a smile, whispered,
“You did your best.” Then, he walked to the middle of the mat covered area and motioned for Emily to join him there. She placed Eddy on her head and the moment she got there, she put Eddy on the side of her, with Morty getting on one knee and grabbing Emily’s arm soon after. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Morty announced. He then held her arm up and added, “The winner!”
“Yeah! We won! First try!” Emily happily exclaimed, “Oh my gosh!” Morty then let go of her arm. The Houndour barked as it sprinted in circles, tail wagging wildly. Morty went to face Emily.
“I believe these are for you,” he said. After fishing through his other pocket, he pulled out a nearly round, purple metal pin which resembled a limbless ghost and a miniature disc in a jewel case with a label on it that read: “Technical Machine 30: Shadow Ball”. He then handed them to Emily.
“This pin is the badge right?” Emily asked.
“Yup. The Fog Badge to be more precise,” Morty answered. Emily stared at the badge, which sparkled and shined under the lanterns. Her heart pounded. There it was. An actual badge right in her hands. A badge that formed the first plank in the bridge that would allow her to cross over to the Nidoran region and see her father once again.
“Thanks for the stuff,” said Emily.
“You’re very welcome,” Morty responded. “Do you know how to use TMs like the one I just gave you?”
“Are those the things you put on a Pokemon’s head and then they absorb the stuff inside it?”
“Something like that yes. Back in the day, they would break after just one use. But with these newer ones, you can use them as many times as you like.”
“Wow! But where am I gonna put the badge?”
“Well, whether its a badge case or whatever else, I can call Murph and have him hook you up if you don’t have one already.”
“Thanks Morty!”
“You’re welcome. You know that red and white ball your Houndour was in? It’s called a Poke Ball and I was wondering if you’d also like a belt to put it on.”
“I’d love that!”
“Great. I’ll have Murph get that for you as well. Oh! One more thing.” Morty reached into his pocket and handed Emily seven, orange, five hundred poken bills. Emily quickly snatched them from his hands, threw them on the ground, and grinned as she rolled around in them.
Once she was satisfied, she picked up the bills and put them in her pocket and whistled to the Houndour. It dashed towards Emily, barking with glee the whole way. It knocked her over and repeatedly licked her face with great swiftness, making her laugh. A few moments later, it jumped off of her and sat down. Then, with a big smile on her face, Emily leaned towards it and gave it a big hug as tears of joy raced down her cheeks.
“Would you like a name?” Emily quietly asked the Houndour. It barked in agreement. “Okay. How about Gnasher?” The Houndour grinned, as though thinking the name fit like a glove. Emily laughed. “Alright. Welcome to the team Gnasher.” She pulled its Poke Ball from her pocket, returned Gnasher to it via a red beam coming out of it, took a marker from her bag, and wrote “GN” on the top of the ball.
---
Meanwhile, Back in the town of Iroko, her mother sat on the living room couch watching the Ecruteak broadcast on television. Her jaw was practically on the floor for a few moments and her eyes were watery. Then, she dialed a number on her small, red, rectangular phone with an upside down lightning bolt sprouting from its top center, a spike on its bottom center, and light blue eyes and a smile on its back.
“Jenny, get to Ecruteak!” She said into it.
---
Where will our heroes go next? What will they see? Will Jenny find them? Find out next time on Pokemon: Johto Quest!