The silly tale you see below, accompanying this wonderful sketch a friend provided, can be thought of as a sequel to a prior story I wrote for another friend of mine, Hank. He the looming Pokemon Professor and I serving in as a sheepish assistant.

Hope you enjoy!

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“That’s not going to help. Trust me.”

Fiddling with his phone, the Siamese cat swiped to the PokeRadio app and launched it. A radio dial, or its likeness anyway, came to fill the screen.

“Again, I can assure you this is not going to turn out the way you want it to.”

Arthur turned his nose up at the offered advice. He dragged a finger along the dial and switched it to the POKEFLUTE station and triumphantly held his phone out before him. Soothing tunes wafted out from its speakers.

The gargantuan mass before him, once unmoving, shifted in place. Its furred form, radiating warmth, rose from the dusty path.

“You were saying?” Arthur boasted. “Snorlaxes are nothing! My brother told me all about them!”

“That’s no Snorlax,” Radda snorted.

THOOM

The mass slammed down with the force of an EARTHQUAKE.

THOOM

Once more, the tremendous entity raised itself off the earth only to slam down against it once more.

“A Lavender Town classic,” a thunderous voice from on high rumbled approvingly.

“WHAT?!”

“Hello to you too, Arthur,” Professor Hank teased as he tapped his feet to the beat.

“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy,” Arthur wailed as his arms hung limply at his side. “That’s so… that’s so lame!” Cheeks puffed out, the Siamese mewled and mrowled at the injustice of it all.

“Look. We had to get creative with how we gated you off, okay?”

The Pokemon trainer kicked impotently at the dusty path while his tail undulated grumpily behind him. A tremendous wall of grey fur and black padded flesh, spanning the entirety of the route, blocked Arthur’s advance.

Arthur looked to the dense foliage, trees and bushes alike, lining the sides of the path.

This tree looks like it can be CUT down! Would Arthur like to CUT it?

Ignoring the menu prompt entirely, the feline forced his way through the thorny bramble of branches and darted off into the surrounding forest. The tremendous tower of fur and flesh slid forward, flattening trees with ease, to block Arthur’s advance.

“Cayla never had this problem,” the Mareep mused aloud while he adjusted his glasses. “Piss and moan all you want. We’re doing this for your own safety.”

A prodigious set of paws, nearly sky smothering in size, tapped their toes against the ground in agreement. The displaced air billowed past the Mareep and flummoxed feline.

Professor Hank used WHIRLWIND!

Bleating, Radda leaned into the gale while Arthur found himself violently tumbling back through the forest and back onto the main path.

The novice trainer’s Abra, legs crossed and hovering above the ground, snored gently as its sleeping form sailed past Arthur on the breeze. A purple glow, the conjuring of psychic energies, filtered out from between its closed eyelids.

“I get it. Really, I do. You want to explore this wide and wonderful world in whatever order you please.” Arms crossed about his wooly chest, Professor Hank’s assistant could do little more than sigh. “But you’re not supposed to sequence break this. There’s an order to this, a learning curve, you’re supposed to follow. That and most trainers mind their menus!”

Arthur harrumphed as he was levitated off the dusty route and back onto his feet. He mumbled a thank you to his loyal Psychic-type before he resumed scowling at the electric sheep.

Radda rolled his eyes. “The Pokemon, and Trainers, outside of Violet City’s borders are well beyond your current capabilities.”

“Abra and I can take ‘em!” the Siamese asserted.

“Does Abra know anything other than Teleport yet?” Radda asked with eyebrows arched.

“He will soon but-”

“Uh huh. And uh…” Lips pulled flat, the Mareep reached over to slap at Arthur’s lumpy and jingly pockets with his clip board. “I can already tell Trainers will just looooove locking eyes with you. Maybe convert some of those coins into Pokedollars when you have the chance?”

“Why’s that?”

“No reason. Anyway…”

Arthur leaned forward curiously when Radda produced a handful of Pokeballs from his pocket.

“Here. The Pokemon here are placid and docile enough that you should be able to capture them with ease. Take some time to build up your first team, one with moves other than Teleport, and maybe we’ll let you through.”

The feline rolled the red and white orbs within his palm and smirked at the Mareep.

“Don’t get any funny ideas,” Radda scoffed. He cast a sideways glance at the sizeable stompers filling the periphery of his vision. “Besides. I’m already caught and claimed for,” the Mareep acknowledged with a faint blush as Professor Hank teasingly splayed his broad toes.