Hello all and welcome to a new story of mine. I'd first like to thank you for checking out my story. There's so many out there, I appreciate that you took the time to check out mine.

I don't have too much to say, and I'm sure that you just want to get to reading, so I won't keep you any longer. I'll have more to say at the bottom. Enjoy.

*THUD*

A red flag was thrust through the air accompanied by a whooshing sound.

"Scyther is unable to battle," A booming voice made it's way all across the battlefield. "Quilava is the winner," he continued, "and the match goes to the challenger Chace!"

One of the two boys who was battling, the one on the left side, jumped in the air and gave a shout.

"YES!" he yelled. "I knew we could do it!" His Pokemon, the Quilava, ran over and jumped into his arms, which knocked him over because he was too big. The boy wasn't mad, but laughed instead as the Pokemon started to lick his face in excitement. "Okay, okay, that's enough, Quilava, c-cut it out!" he got out between his chuckling.

The other boy, the one on the right, watched the two with a furled brow. His face drooped and he fell onto his knees dramatically, dropping his bug-catching net in the process.

"Not again," he mumbled to himself. He gripped his green shorts and tried to fight back tears. He couldn't have lost again. It's just not possible. How could he lose this much?

With his head still down and his eyes still closed, the boy took off a Pokeball from his belt and pointed it at the green bug that was face down on the grassy floor in front of him.

"Scyther…return," he said, just making him more depressed as the feeling of defeat sank deeper and deeper into him. A red beam shot out of the Pokeball which engulfed the scyther, and soon it dissolved into red energy and was sucked back into the ball.

The boy put the Pokeball back onto his belt and stayed on the ground a bit more, wallowing in his misery.

Eventually, however, he knew he had to get up. Even if he felt awful, he was still a gym leader, and he had to have on his best attitude towards his challengers.

It took a lot of strength to get back up onto his feet and even more courage to walk across the battlefield to meet the person on the other side.

The other boy had gotten back up after being knocked down and his quilava sat beside him as they waited for what the gym leader would say to him. It took him a bit, but he eventually opened his mouth.

"It…it was a good battle," he uttered, trying his best to keep all of his emotions from bursting out of him.

"Yeah, I guess it was, thanks!" the challenger said, completely oblivious of the leaders internal crisis. "I've got to say though," the first boy continued, "I really thought that you'd be harder to beat, being the 'bug Pokemon expert', and all. I didn't expect to be able to beat you only using my quilava."

He knew that the boy didn't mean it as an insult, but it just added to the pain he already felt. It was like he just kept dumping salt onto his already infected wound.

The gym leader bit his tongue so he wouldn't say anything he'd regret later. He reached down into one of his short pockets and took out a small, red and black pin. With his teeth gritted, he handed it to the boy.

"Here, this is yours."

"Aww, really? Thanks!" the first boy said with enthusiasm.

"That's the hive badge," the leader continued on with his explanation that he gave every challenger.

"Whoa, that's really cool. I've got to go show this to my pa! Come on, Quilava!"

"Quil-Quilava!"

And just like that, he was gone from the gym. He ran out before the leader could say anything more or even give him the TM he always gives people who beat him. He wanted to ask him a few more things before he left, like if there was maybe something he could have done better, or what was the key to his strength and how he was able to beat him so easily. But now he wouldn't be able to ask him any of that.

With the challenger gone, however, the leader now had time to himself. Time to think…

Time to cry…

The boy went back over to his net and casually picked it up. He examined it for a second before walking over a spectator bench. He propped up his net on a nearby tree and sat down.

He looked around at his gym, which may look more like a greenhouse to some people. But with the whole gym being made up of grass and trees, it made it easier to raise bug type Pokemon. The sunlight that was let through the transparent roof also allowed for the plants to grow and the Pokemon to get their sunlight. The boy liked it, as it made him feel like he was always outdoors.

The feeling quickly went away as he remembered his loss. The boy let out a long sigh before taking out another pin from the same pocket that he had giving to the challenger. He examined it closely. It was designed to look like the back of a ladybug, or, in terms of Pokemon, a ledyba or ledian. While he didn't use either of those Pokemon at this gym, he still thought the design was nice; he had come up with it himself.

He twisted it around in his fingers while he went over the battle in his mind.

Seven.

He had lost seven times in a row now, three of those times the challenger didn't use more than one Pokemon. It was what really competitive people called, a 'sweep'. A complete wipe of his team.

The boy thought some more about the battle. Was there something else he could have done differently? Was, perhaps, he missing something that everyone else had? Is that why he just hadn't been winning?

"Hey, Bugsy," a voice snapped him out of his deep thoughts. He looked up and saw his referee. He was dressed the same as all Johto Pokemon League referees. In his hands were two, small flags. One green, one red. He placed them down on another one of the benches before continuing his sentence. "I was thinking about going out to eat. Do you want me to get you something?" he asked

The boy, Bugsy, turned his head and looked over at the clock that was placed high above the battlefield so it would be hit by any attacks. It read 1:38, (or 1:37, Bugsy was never the best at reading analog clocks,) which was a little bit after lunch time.

"No," Bugsy replied with a shake of his head. "I'm good."

The judge's eyebrows raised up a bit.

"Really? You didn't eat breakfast. You sure you don't want anything?"

"Yeah, I'm not hungry," Bugsy replied. He wasn't lying either. He really didn't feel any hunger.

The judge nodded slightly to show he understood. "Alright."

And like that, the judge left through the doors and was gone, leaving Bugsy alone.

Well, he wasn't truly alone.

Right after the judge left, one of Bugsy's Pokeball opened on its own with a flash of light. The Pokemon came out and sat the bench right next to Bugsy, on his left.

Bugsy was still examining the badge in his hand, twisting it around. He didn't need look which Pokemon had come out. That he already knew.

"How are you fairing, Scythe?" he asked without looking up from his fixation.

"Scy-ther," was her reply back, which Bugsy took to mean "Alright" or maybe "Fine."

"Good," Bugsy said with a smile. He ran a hand through his medium-length, light purple hair. His smile quickly disappeared and his eyes made their way to the ground. "I-" Bugsy started, but was stopped by a sniffle. His eyes closed before he continued. "I'm sorry, Scythe. I'm sorry that I lost again."

A small tear escaped his eye. Bugsy didn't even try to wipe it off, because he knew more of them were on their way.
"I know that you always do your best for me, Scythe," he continued as another tear fell out. "All my Pokemon do. I'm just so sorry that I…can't win for you."

Bugsy couldn't help but cry some more. No one else was around, so it didn't matter. No one else would see him. Scyther patently waited as she listened to her master.

"I'm just wish I could be a better trainer so that I could stop letting all of my Pokemon down. What kind of Gym Leader am I if I fail my Pokemon over and over again?"

Bugsy felt something lay on his leg. He opened up his eyes and looked at down. It was Scyther's arm resting on him. He moved his head up to look at his Pokemon.

She was sitting right next to Bugsy, with her wings tucked in and her other arm over a spot of her stomach that was hit by a hard Flamewheel in the last battle. Her large, green legs were tucked under the bench, letting them have a rest after tiring them out.

Scyther was staring directly at him, her blue eyes sparkling from the sunlight let in by the roof of the gym. Her eyes were filled many different emotions. Compassion, sadness, comfortness, just to name a few. Bugsy and his Scyther stared at each other for a few seconds, neither of them saying anything. It was Scyther who broke the silence.

"Scyther-Scy," she said to him softly. Bugsy didn't have a clear idea of what she had said to him, but he believed it to be along the lines of, "It's alright," or "Don't worry about it."

No matter what she had said, though, the sentiment behind it was clear. Even after all these losses, Scyther wasn't mad at him. She still believed in her trainer.

Bugsy turned back away from his Pokemon and wiped away the tears that had fallen down his face. He gave himself a few deep breaths before nodding a few times to himself.

"Right…" he trailed off. "I'll…I'll think about it."

Just then, Bugsy remembered something very important that he needed to do. He hoisted himself off of the bench and extended an arm out to his green friend.

"Come on, let's go get the others healed."

Scyther bore a smile herself as she took her free arm and had Bugsy help her up, avoiding the blade, of course.

And with that, Bugsy and Scyther were gone from the gym, leaving it completely empty of any inhabitants.

Trainer and Pokemon, the two of them headed down the small streets of Azalea town. This town wasn't known for its population; that kind of city would be Goldenrod. No, in fact, Azalea town wasn't known for much, actually. Sure, Kurt, the Pokeball master, lived here, and they had the slowpoke well a little ways from the town, but not much else, if Bugsy was going to be honest.

But he didn't mind. He liked the idea of living in a small, not often visited town. It had a quaint feel to it, and Bugsy liked it.

As they walked down the street, Bugsy observed all of the gazes of the people from the town. As the Azalea town gym leader, most people, if not all, knew him. He traveled out of his gym often, so it wasn't an uncommon sight to see him strolling about, but Bugsy still caught people's gaze on him. Perhaps it was just because he was such an important figure. That must be it.

To get his mind off of all that, Bugsy turned to the Pokemon by his side.

"Hey, Scythe, you sure you're doing alright?" he asked his Pokemon. "That looks like a bad burn you've got." The bug didn't verbally respond, but simply nodded. She was still holding it, so it must still hurt. "Are you sure you don't want to go back in your Pokeball? You could rest up there." Bugsy knew what her answer would be, but still thought he should ask anyway.

Indeed, as Bugsy predicted, Scyther shook her head. She wanted to be out with Bugsy. He didn't even try to argue. He knew there was no point with her.

"Alright, if you say so. You know I only ask because I'm concerned for you," Bugsy said honesty. Scyther knew this well, and gave another nod. This made Bugsy slightly smile. "We'll see what we can do for that burn. Maybe someone in the Pokecenter has a rawst berry. How would you like that.

"Scythe," the bug type replied simple, which Bugsy took as an "Okay." Scyther wasn't a very expressive Pokemon. She only really got that way when Bugsy was feeling sad. All other times she was a very strong and to-the-point kind of girl.

The two walked only a little bit more before the large, red roof appeared in their sight. Walking up to it, the doors to the center slid open by themselves. Bugsy entered the automatic doors first, as Scyther insisted, and she followed behind him.

As the two doors closed behind them, literally all ten eyes in the center were on him. This was different than the streets, however, because he knew most of the people here. Three trainers about Bugsy's age were sitting in the far left corner table, two girls and a guy. The guy had on some sport's attire, representing his favorite team. What the team was, Bugsy didn't know, as he never had kept up that much with sports, but it clothing was the usual. Shorts, a tank top, flip-flops, and a sun-visor.

The guy was shifting through some cards- probably sports related- before Bugsy entered while the girl next to him watched him. She had on some standard causal wear: Jeans, t-shirt, sneakers, glasses, also nothing special.

Finally, the second girl who sat on the opposite end table wore a vibrant red dress with heels to match it. She was clutching a large, green book in her hand while looking out into space through the Pokecenter's large window. While Bugsy recognized the first two people, this other girl was a new face to him.

Another kid was sitting by himself in the opposite corner. He was wearing almost identical gear to the first girl, although he also had a scarf to go with it. Bugsy questioned why someone would need to wear a scarf in the middle of spring, although he passed it off as some sort of fashion trend. Just like sports, fashion was something Bugsy was not to keen in keeping up with. Bugsy had seen this kid a few times before, but didn't know him by name.

Nurse Joy, who was behind her desk on her computer looked like every other nurse in every other Pokecenter around the world. She had her pink hair and her white nurse outfit that people had come to expect.

For the first few seconds after Bugsy entered, the whole center was quiet. No one spoke a word. Then, like an explosion, the two kids that Bugsy knew from the trio bursted out of their seats and ran over to him, saying, "Hey, look, it's Bugsy!," and "Whoa, hey Bugsy, nice to see you!"

"Hey guys! How's it going?" he asked as they ran up, a wide smile on his face.

"Today's going really well," the boy, Joseph, replied. "You know why? I was able to catch an Absol over in the Ilex forest today."
Bugsy was happy for his friend but also a bit surprised. Both were evident in his voice.

"I didn't think you could find Absol in the forest."

"Yeah, well, me neither. That's why I was so happy to catch one."

"Hey, Bugsy," the girl, Josephine, broke into the conversation. "How did your gym battle go, huh? Did you win? Did you win?"

Immediately, the memories of the gym battle came back for Bugsy, and all the feeling did too.

"I…I lost again," Bugsy spat out his cheerful attitude gone as fast as it had come. The faces of both the siblings turned grim along with Bugsy's

"Aww, that's too bad," Joseph said remorsefully. "I was sure that you would be able to beat this challenger."

"Hey, cheer up Bugsy," Josephine spoke with an uplifting tone. "I bet you'll beat the next one."

"Yeah, well…" Bugsy turn away from the people in front of him and looked outside the large window of the Pokecenter, to the sky beyond. "That's what you've been saying for the last 6 battles, and it still hasn't come true. I don't know why I keep losing, only that I am. I don't really know what to do at this point."

The three stood in silence, letting what Bugsy had said sink in.

After some time, Bugsy pushed past to two and walked up to the nurse while Scyther followed behind.

"Hey, Nurse Joy, can you take care of these two Pokemon for a bit and make sure they're feeling alright?" Bugsy asked as he took off the two Pokeballs that he used in the battle from his belt.

"Of course, I'll be happy to heal them for you," she responded with her affectionate voice that Bugsy had come so accustomed to. He handed the Pokemon over to her, which she then put on a medical tray. She got up and was about to head into the back room to give them a check up until she noticed Bugsy's other Pokemon.

"Scyther, that's some burn you've got. Are you sure you don't want me to treat that?"
Scyther gave a weak shake of her head, to which Bugsy just shrugged.

"You know her, Nurse Joy. She wouldn't take the Pokecenter's help if her life depended on it."

"And that's exactly what makes me worried." Nurse Joy lectured like a mother. "Bugsy, as Scyther's trainer, don't you think you should take some action to get her healed, even if she doesn't want it?"

Bugsy let out a small chuckle. "You say that like I haven't tried before. Last time I made her get healed, she nearly destroyed the whole building by slashing up the place. She just has her own sense of pride. Isn't that right, Scythe?" Bugsy asked while lightly nudging his Pokemon with his elbow.

"Scy-ther" she replied with a slight smile, happy that her trainer was sticking up for her.

"Alright, but at least make sure that burn gets healed, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll do that" Bugsy assured her. After that, Nurse Joy turned back to the door to the back room as it automatically opened, and walked into it, the door closing behind her.

"Hey, Bugsy," Jonathan spoke up from behind him. "I've got a rawst berry in my bag if you want it."
"Sure," Bugsy said while wheeling around. "I'm sure Scyther would like it too." Scyther gave a small nod to show that she, indeed, would like it too.

Jonathan ran over to his backpack that was sitting next to his chair and fished out of it a small cooler. He opened it up and scoped up a small and blue berry with green leaves. "Here, catch," he said as he tossed the berry over to Scyther. Without moving from her spot, she opened over her mouth and caught it with her teeth, crunching down the second it touched her mouth. She started to chew it as Joseph put the cooler back into his backpack and walked back over.

"That should make your burn better after a little bit of rest," Bugsy commented. Although he was aware that scyther already knew this, he still felt like it needed repeating. "Why don't you go sit over there," Bugsy motioned to Scyther's favorite spot on the windowsill. "I'll be over there in a second."

Scyther had just finished up her berry. After she swallowed, she nodded and walked casually over to the windowsill and slowly sat down on it.

"So, Bugsy," Josephine turned Bugsy's thoughts away from Scyther and back to the people in front of him, "We have someone we want you to meet."

Josephine directed Bugsy over to the table they were just sitting at. The girl from earlier lowered her head to avoid eye contact with any of them.

"This is our cousin," Josephine prefaced. "Bugsy, meet Hillary. Hillary, Bugsy."

"Nice to meet you," Bugsy greeted with his arm outstretched. Hillary briefly glanced up at the hand, but her eyes quickly darted back to the ground. Bugsy retracted his arm when he saw that he wasn't getting a handshake.

"Don't mind her," Jospeh assured Bugsy while sitting down. "She's really shy to everyone, even to us sometimes."

"See, I wanted to introduce you to her because she's a big fan of your book," Josephine explained as she also sat down next to her brother. Bugsy followed suit and took a seat by Josephine, not wanting to get too close to the shy Hillary.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Bugsy said with a smile, happy to distract himself from his gym battle defeat. He motioned to the book that Hillary was clutching with her hands. "I'd love to hear what you're favorite part of the book is."
Hillary sat motionless, her vivid dress shining in the sunshine. Eventually, she build up the courage to give out a shrug.

"She's not going to ask, so I'll do it for her," Joseph interjected. "But Hillary told me that she would really like your autograph on that book."
Bugsy turned back to the timid girl. He didn't ever expect someone would want his autograph. He bore the gentlest smile he could. "Oh, uh, sure, I can do that," he said, a little surprised. He slowly extending his arm, not all the way, but just a little bit. He didn't want to scare such a shy girl as her.

Again, Hillary fell silent. The only movement came from her breathing as the book that was on her chest rose and fell. After quite a bit of time, Hillary finally unlatched the book from her hands and passed it onto Bugsy. He took it slowly and brought it closer to him. Once it was in his possession, he flipped it over to examine the cover.

"THE TRUTH ABOUT BUGS," it read in large letters, and then under it, in much smaller letters, "A trainer's guide to bugs and how to use them." Finally, at the very bottom, it read. "Written by Bugsy."

Flipping it over to the first page, Bugsy took out a pen from his shirt pocket and wrote down his signature in the top left corner. After he was done, he closed the book and handed it back to Hillary, who bashfully took it back. The second the book was in her hands she grabbed it tight and held it close to her once again.

At about that time, Joseph raised up his arm and took a look at his watch. He stretched his arms out above his head before bringing them back and saying "Well, the big game will be on soon, and I don't want to miss it." He hoisted himself out of his chair before saying goodbye to Bugsy and walked out of the Pokecenter. Josephine giggled at this.

"I should probably go too to make sure he doesn't wreck the place, like he usually does. See you later, Bugsy."

"Yeah, see you."
Josephine too raised herself up from her chair and ran out of the Pokecenter, hoping to catch up to her brother.

After that, the Pokecenter was quiet again. Because the other two left, only Bugsy and Hillary were at the table now. This was now getting awkward, so Bugsy got up out of his chair and started to go over to Scyther to see if she was doing alright. Before he was able to take any steps, Bugsy heard a noise come from the girl behind him. He turned back around to see her staring right at him. When she met Bugsy's gaze, however, her eyes immediately went back down to the floor.

Bugsy was a bit confused by this. "Did you...want to say something to me?" he asked. The girl was once again silent, so Bugsy thought it was nothing. He was about to go away for a second time before he heard Hillary say something again.

"Did…" was all she said. Bugsy turned back around and looked at her again, and this time she didn't look away. "Did…" she continued, "did you really get bullied as a kid because you liked bug types?"

Bugsy found this question somewhat odd, although he did talk about himself and his childhood in the first part of the book. Taking the steps back, Bugsy sat down at the table again, this time directly across from Hillary.
"Yeah, I did…" Bugsy replied quietly, but loud enough that she could hear him on the other end of the table.

"That's…awful," Hillary got out. "I've always thought you should use the Pokemon that you want to, regardless of who they are. Why did they hate bugs so much?"

Bugsy was caught off guard by how much Hillary was talking now, although he answered the question all the same.

"I don't know. Everyone thought that bugs were weak and useless in battles when I was younger." This time, it was Bugsy's turn to look away from Hillary. "Maybe they weren't far off," he uttered when he thought about how many times he had lost.

Hillary's face turned downcast along with Bugsy's. Both of them didn't say anything, leaving the Pokecenter eerily quiet again.

"But, that's my problem, not yours," Bugsy said as he choked up a smile. After a long sigh, he got out of his chair. "I need to go check on Scyther. I'll see you later," he said as a general goodbye. Hillary stared at Bugsy for a little bit longer as he walked away before her eyes went to their usual place on the ground.

"Hey, Scythe, how's that burn?" he asked once he was over to Scyther. She nodded to show that she was fine. Her arms were crossed and off her burned area, so he assumed that she was at least doing okay.

With Scyther checked on, Bugsy decided that he should stop procrastinating and get to what was bothering him. He needed time to think of why he wasn't winning. He sat down in a chair near Scyther and took out some earbuds and his Pokegear, both of which were stashed in his other Pocket that wasn't carrying his badges. Listening to the radio always helped him him focus his thoughts. He put the earbuds in turned the radio to on. Instantly, music flooded Bugsy's ears. He closed his eyes and listened to the sweet tunes for a second before delving into the problem at hand.

Why did he keep losing at gym battles, he thought to himself. Was it a flaw in his strategy that he was oblivious to? Maybe it was the simple fact that he needed to train more. Or perhaps…

Bugsy slowly moved his head over to his left to see his Scyther still with her arms crossed and her head down. Once she noticed that her trainer was watching at her, her head perked up and she looked back at Bugsy.

Perhaps he wasn't the reason he was losing…but it was because of his Pokemon

Bugsy hated this idea and immediately condemned himself for thinking it, but the thought just kept coming back to him. Everyone had always told him the bugs were weak and that he was better off studying something more worthwhile. He had always ignored them, especially when he was younger, because he just beat out everyone who talked bad about him. But now that he really had the time to think about it…maybe they were right.

Bugsy still loved bug types; that didn't change, had never changed, and will never change. But maybe bug types just weren't meant for the competitive scene. It was possible that bug types were just meant for casual battlers and people who did Pokemon battling as a hobbie. Maybe, by forcing his bugs to battle in really competitive ways, he was really just putting them up against odds that they couldn't win. Not because they were weak or petty, but because everyone else was so much better.

The music from his earbuds suddenly stopped and a colorful ringtone replaced it. Bugsy took out his earbuds out of his ears and unplugged them from his Pokegear. He clicked the bright green 'accept call' button on his Pokegear and put it up next to his ear.

"Hello, this is Bugsy," he answered.

"Heeeeeeeyyyyyyy Bugsy!" A loud and overdrawn female voice came from across the Pokegear. This startled Bugsy so much that he almost dropped his Pokegear and had to juggle it for a second to get it back in his grip. Once he had it again, Bugsy put it back up to his ear.

"Oh, hey, Whitney," he replied much less enthusiastically.
"Hey there Bugs-Bugs, how's it going?"

Bugsy silently wondered why Whitney would be calling at a time like this, but he kept that to himself.

"I'm doing…fine," Bugsy replied simply.

"Well that's good!" Whitney exclaimed, unaware of what Bugsy was truly feeling. "So I have a question for you."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Where are you right now?"

Bugsy didn't answer for a second, as confused by this weird question as he was.

"Uh…I'm in the Pokecenter, why?"

"Oh okay." Whitney said simply. She was silent after that, so Bugsy had to follow up with a question of his own.

"Um…why did you ask me that?"

"Oh, well, you weren't at your gym, so I didn't know where you could be."

"Wait, my gym? Whitney, are you here in Azalea Town?"

Bugsy hered Whitney giggle from across the line. "Of course I am! How else would I be able to be at your gym."

"Okay, well what are you doing in Azalea town?"

"Oh, I decided to take a break from the Goldenrod gym for a bit. And what better way to do that than hang out with some friends. So I'll be waiting for you in the park, okay? Don't be late, k?"

"Hey, Whitney, wa-"

*click*

Bugsy took his Pokegear away from his ear when Whitney hung up. He gave a slight shake of his head. Once Whitney had her mind to something, no one could change it. He put his Pokegear back in one of his pockets and got up out of his seat. He would continue to think about his losses another time. Maybe spending time with friends was just the thing he needed to do.

"Alright, Scyther, I'm going to the park to meet up with Whitney. How about you take a break in your ball?"

Scyther looked up at her trainer and stared at him for a bit. It wasn't a menacing glance, but nor was it a compassionate one. It was simply just a look.

Bugsy cracked a small smile. "Please?"

Scyther still didn't answer. Eventually she gave a small nod along with a "Scy". Bugsy knew that this was the most affirmation he was ever going to get out of Scyther, so he unhooked her Pokeball from his waist and pointed it at her. He clicked it open and red beam shot out, enveloping Scyther. She was then sucked into the Pokeball, and it closed with another click.

Bugsy put the ball back on his belt and walked out of the Pokecenter, the doors closing behind him with a soft thump.

Thanks for reading. I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can.