A WILD SNORLAX APPEARED!

#143 Snorlax

When Snorlax was first discovered, Pokémon researchers attempted to measure just how large its capacity for consumption was. The researchers brought the Snorlax an inexhaustible amount of food, carried in from nearly a dozen different regions, and provid-ed it to the Snorlax as fast as it could eat it. This experiment was deemed incomplete, however—presented with an “inexhaustible” amount of food, the Snorlax ate inexhaustibly, forcing the researchers to give up. The Snorlax even ate rotten and poisonous food without showing a single symptom of illness.

Ravenous Somnambulists. Snorlax will make themselves at home anywhere that there is plenty of food. This typically includes dense forests, mountain valleys, or country sides where crop fields and orchards are in easy reach. They do nothing but eat and sleep—occasionally at the same time. Even when fully asleep, a Snorlax can track food by smell, navigate its landscape, and shovel food into its mouth just as good as it can while wake. The Snorlax can’t see while asleep, of course, but its unconsciousness insulates it from most hazards it could bump into while exploring.

Rotund Roadblocks. A fully content Snorlax is prone to falling asleep anywhere that it’ll fit, and unfortunately for most travel-ers, they are especially inclined to sprawl out across busy roads. It makes sense that a Snorlax would be drawn to these spots—roads are usually well-maintained, flat, and near their sources of food—but entire trade routes can be held up just by a Snorlax blocking one key passage or another. Since Snorlax are so hard to wake up or move, many travelers carry special flutes with high notes capable of rousing a sleeping Snorlax.

Gluttonous Giants. Farmers, store owners, and others responsible for large amounts of food dread invasions from lumbering Snorlax. These visits are inevitable, but almost impossible for an unprepared person to deal with because Snorlax, especially when sleepwalking towards their next meal, are obliviously impervious to most attacks or deterrents designed against them. As a result, farmers in Snorlax country carry extreme amounts of ordinance, or may even invest in magical wards again these gluttons. While blunt force trauma may scarcely tickle a Snorlax, a powerful explosion or repellent spell may scare it off.

 In memory of Unshō Ishizuka.