@Scytherwolf; @Soups;

Episode 114a: Pop Goes the Sneasel! (part 1)

"I really do hope Nelson meets Entei one day..." Ash mused as the group continued along the path to Mt. Silver. "Not as something to be caught and tamed, but as an ally, and a friend."

He was snapped from his thoughts when he saw a large crowd of people gathered at a large closed gate. "Is the Johto League so popular that lines form the day of?"

"Doesn't look like that kind of line to me..." Brock replied.

Ash flagged down a man in the crowd. "Excuse me, sir...why are all these people here?"

"There's some kind of commotion going on on the other side." the man explained. "The bad thing is, this gate leads to Mt. Silver, so everyone's stuck!"

Ami took advantage of the gate opening to dash through the crowd. [Yay! It's open!] she cried, which went unheard over the attendant explaining to the crowd what was going on.

[Ami, wait! Not yet!] Tintri cried, racing to grab Ami moments before she could walk through the gate.

Ash and Misty retrieved both Tintri and Ami seconds later. "I am so sorry, sir...Ami can be curious, but she usually doesn't mean to cause any trouble..." Misty explained to the guard in the watchpost.

"My Pikachu was only trying to corral my friend's Marill before she got into trouble, sir." Ash agreed.

"It's probably perfect timing anyway, since I didn't know how else to say this." the attendant sighed.

But before he could finish, two angry trainers ran down a set of stone steps in the distance. "Looks like those guys were in the heat of battle..." Misty mused as one of the trainers angrily yelled something at the attendant.

"I could only hear 'lost' and 'fire'..." Ash replied. "So what was that all about?"

"We have a huge problem on our hands--nobody's been able to get to the Sacred Fire." the attendant explained with a sigh. "That's what we were trying to tell everyone."

"What is the Sacred Fire?" Ash asked, intrigued.

The attendant was about to answer when a male voice interjected "If I may, I can answer this young man's question, sir."

Ash whirled around to see a young man with dull brown hair wearing a purple and coral shirt and tan pants approaching the group. "Who are you?"

"My name is Harrison." the young man replied. "I came here all the way from from Littleroot Town, in the Houen region."

"I've heard of Houen, actually." Brock smiled. "It's supposed to be to the south of Kanto."

"I've done some research about this place, and if any of you are storytellers, what I discovered would be perfect to tell before an audience as a historical tale." Harrison offered.

Brock eagerly retrieved his story notebook and a pen. "Fire away."

"The story goes that long ago, this area was a place known for many fierce battles and wars." Harrison explained. "People ravaged the place so badly that the Pokémon suffered because of it and the vegetation was wiped out. But one day, Ho'oh appeared after a battle and sang her Swanna Song, unleashing a rose colored flame that stopped the battles and "burned" the area back to life. Eventually the forest that stands today was restored. But a bit of a tree was left burning for a long time. This fire was placed in the shrine nearby."

Recently there have been reports of a Sneasel, a Machop, and a Machoke preventing people from getting near the shrine." the attendant explained. "Every trainer who volunteered to try to stop the rogue Pokémon ended up coming back with injured Pokémon, broken bones, and other serious injuries--it's a miracle no one's been killed. We're deeply concerned about the matter, because without the Sacred Fire, the Silver Tournament can't start, and there would be no Johto League!"

Ash nodded to show he understood. "I'll make sure we can recover the Sacred Fire from the Sneasel, mainly because I wants to compete!"

"Actually, I've always wanted a Sneasel as a souvenir from Johto, so I'll help you out if you can get your hands on it." Harrison offered.

"Thanks." Ash smiled before asking the attendant "Where is the shrine?"

"North of here--once you get halfway up the stone steps, you'll reach a path that branches to the left--the shrine is at the end of that path." the attendant replied.

"Let's do this!" Misty cried.

"Come on! We have a League to save!" Ash led the way up the stairs as the crowd looked on...

To Be Continued...