I've been wanting to do this story for a long time, to tell the truth... But my other stories (along with a side of depression) have been stopping me from doing so. But, I feel like I should at least give this a try and crank out something! So, if you're a lover of bug types and bug type users (and who isn't?) then this is the story for you! :3 Yaaaaaaaaay!

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"Growlithe, hit that scyther with fire fang!"

Bugsy's eyes widened as he watched the fire puppy launch itself at his pokemon, teeth blazing with red hot flames as it darted across the battlefield at an alarming rate. Desperately, he cried out to his down scyther. "Scyther, you gotta dodge it!" He ordered, hoping his words would reach the injured pokemon. Scyther's eye opened, and with a startled yelp it barely scrambled out of the growlithe's way, unsteadily rising to its feet.

"Can you keep going Scyther?" Bugsy asked, fully understanding if his pokemon needed to through in the towel. Scyther glanced back at its trainer, nodding its head as it raised its bladed arms. "SCYYYYY!" It cried out as it readied itself for the growlithe's next attack.

Growlithe's trainer smirked. "All too easy," she cackled as she imagined how that Hive badge would look on her vest. "Alright Growlithe, let's finish this with Flamethrower!" She commanded, determination in her eyes. Growlithe nodded, then suddenly shot the flamethrower attack straight at Scyther, who jumped up to dodge the attack.

"Alright, that's it!" Bugsy praised, pumping his fist. "Now, use fury cutter!"

Scyther's blades sharpened, and as swiftly as possible it landed behind the growlithe, slashing at it with its bladed arms. Unfortunately, the growlithe was amazingly quick, dodging every move the scyther made. The fire pokemon jumped away from the final attack, sneering at the bug it was battling.

"Growlithe, quick attack!"

In what could only be described as a blur, the growlithe charged at Scyther, knocking the poor bug off its feet. Scyther landed on its back, dazed and hurt. It slowly tried to rise to its feet, but the growlithe's trainer commanded another fire fang. Bugsy watched in horror as Growlithe sunk its fangs into his pokemon's chest, the scyther crying for the pain to stop as the flames began to consume it.

"Scyther, return!" Bugsy barked, his voice a pitch higher than usual as he yanked out his pokeball. The scyther returned to its pokeball, ending the match with the gym leader's defeat. Bugsy sighed as he glanced down at the red and white orb in his hand. "You did your best," he whispered, then clipped it to his belt as he turned back to award the challenger, who was hugging her growlithe in victory. Biting his lip, he approached the victor, his hand fumbling through his pocket for the Hive badge. He took a deep breath, and held out the badge to the young girl.

"You've earned it," he said, forcing a smile on his face. "As proof of defeating me, I give you the Hive badge!"

The girl snatched it from the bug type user's hand, pinning it to her pink vest as she grinned. "Wow, thanks!" She cheered, petting her growlithe's head. "Although, no offense but I'm really surprised you're a gym leader. Growlithe swept through your entire team like it was nothing!"

The smile immediately disappeared from Bugsy's face. He glanced away and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "It-it must have been really strong..." He mumbled lamely.

He then watched as the trainer and her growlithe walked out of the gym, and the moment they were gone he kicked the nearest tree as hard as he could. He immediately regretted that as pain shot up his toes, and that just made him more agitated. "Dammit!" He hissed. "Why does this keep happening?"

"Um... Boss?" A small voice squeaked behind him. Turning around, the bug type gym leader saw a young girl, only about fourteen, staring at him with worry in her eyes. Her name was Sarah, and she was one of the official trainers at Bugsy's gym.

Bugsy shook his head. "I'm fine, Sarah..."

Sarah wrapped an arm around her mentor's shoulder. "I know, it's just..." She bit her lip, cutting herself off.

"Five times." Bugsy muttered. "Five times this month I've lost. Five matches, five losses, all within thirty days." He slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. "What kind of a gym leader am I? I'm supposed to be able to put a trainer to his or her limits, but instead they all get through MY limits!"

"It's okay, boss," Sarah said, attempting to make things better. "You're just in a funk, that's all. It's gonna get better, honest."

"Whatever..." Bugsy grumbled, shrugging off his friend. "I'm going home, lock up the gym for me, will you?"

"Oh... Uh, sure..."

When Bugsy was gone, Sarah shook her head and pulled out her pokegear. She knew there was someone she needed to call...

...

Bugsy practically shambled into his house, his feet dragging across the floor like a zombie. He threw the house keys in a random direction, not caring where they landed; he'd find them in the morning. Unfortunately for him, the keys landed on the house phone, causing it to play his missed calls. Bugsy groaned as he heard Morty's voice through the speaker.

"Listen, man... I swear, I'm sorry!" The ghost type user frantically apologized. "I swear, I had no idea that Whitney was using me to cheat on you. If she did, I would've never have gone out with her, man!"

Bugsy knew that was a lie, considering that Morty has been dating Whitney even after he found out she was already in a relationship.

"C'mon, Bugsy! Don't let this ruin our friendship, okay? Call me back when you get the chance." *click*

Bugsy simply flipped off the phone, rolling his eyes at Morty's lame excuse for an apology. The bug type gym leader briefly pondered if it was the failed romance between him and Whitney that caused his severe losing streak, but before he could come to a decision another message played. This time it was from Falkner, Bugsy's best friend and the flying type gym leader over at Violet City.

"Bugsy, it's been awhile!" Falkner's voice greeted warmly. Although the user of bird pokemon was known for his serious personality, around his friends he was more warm and friendly. "How's it going? I know you're busy with your gym and all, but I think we should hang out later. I know this new food joint over in Olivine City that's supposed to serve the best magikarp sushi in Johto! What do you say, buddy? Call me back!" *click*

A few seconds passed, and Bugsy made his way to his room after deciding that Falkner's message was the last one for now. Groaning, the young man collapsed on his bed, face buried into the pillow as he tried to sleep off this losing streak. He felt something tiny wiggle up his leg, which he assumed was the baby weedle he hatched three days ago. He didn't bother trying to pry it off, he knew how affectionate the poisonous little insect could be.

And soon after, Bugsy began to drift off, his eyes slowly closing as he fell asleep.

He didn't know how long he was asleep, but he was suddenly awoken from his slumber by a knocking on is front door. Opening one glaring eye, the bug type user tried his best to go back to sleep and ignore the knocking. However, the visitor wasn't taking no for an answer, so Bugsy slowly stood up, making his way to the front of the house. Muttering curses to himself, the young man opened the door, surprised to see his friend Falkner.

"What are you doing here?" Bugsy asked, wondering why his friend decided to travel to the next town.

"Why do you have a weedle on your head?" Falkner countered, pointing up at the worm who had, unknown to Bugsy, decided to make a nest out of his hair. With a sigh, Bugsy pulled the weedle off and held it in his arms as he allowed Falkner to enter. Falkner immediately sat himself down on the sofa, Bugsy following is example.

"So what are you doing here?" He repeated, his hands softly stroking the baby weedle.

"Sarah called me," Falkner answered. "She said you've been in a stump, been losing a lot of matches."

Bugsy glanced away. "Yeah..."

"I don't think it's because you're a bad gym leader, Bugsy," Falkner said. "You're one of the best I know. I think you're just trying to recover from Whitney, that's all."

"Y'know, this isn't really making me feel any better." Bugsy growled, his eye twitching slightly.

"Let me continue," Falkner said. "Anyway, I feel like for you to get better, you need some time away from her."

"Like a vacation?" Bugsy guessed.

Falkner snapped his fingers. "Exactly," he confirmed. "And in an ironic twist of good luck, I already have the perfect solution!"

Bugsy just stared blankly at his friend, which the bird expert took as a sign to continue. "Yesterday, I bought two tickets for a boat going all the way to the Kalos region!"

"The Kalos region?" Bugsy repeated quietly. Although he had heard of the region before, he didn't know anything about it. All he knew was that it was famous for some kind of tall tower in the dead center of the region. But other than that, the region was a complete mystery to him. Falkner seemed to sense his friend's confusion, because he shook his head and pulled out two tickets from his back pocket, holding them up for Bugsy to see.

"It's a beautiful region," the Violet City gym leader explained. "I went there once with my father when I was a little kid, and I've always been wanting to go back. I'm sure you'll love it, and it'll do you some good to get out of this place for a couple days."

"I don't know..." Bugsy glanced away, still not sure what to think of this. True, he probably did need some time off, but he couldn't just leave his gym behind, right? Falkner seemed to know what Bugsy was thinking, as usual.

"Look, Sarah's a damn good trainer," he reasoned. "She has her own bug types she could use, she could run the gym until you get back." He then grinned. "Take Scyther with you, she could use a break too. Besides..." He leaned in close. "Kalos has so many different bug type pokemon, a bug lover like yourself would lose his mind!"

Bugsy bit his lip at the tempting offer. "Like what?" He asked.

"Do you know what a Galvantula is?"

"Galvantula?" The name sounded so strange to the young gym leader. "No, I don't believe I do."

"It originates from the Unova region," Falkner said. "Not only is it a bug type, it's an electric type too."

Bugsy's eyes widened. A bug type that had a counter for its usual flying type weakness? It excited him, to be fully honest. Whatever this Kalos region was, Bugsy guessed it couldn't hurt to check it out...

...

About two days later, Bugsy and Falkner were boarding the ship that would sail them straight to Kalos. Bugsy had brought his scyther, who was resting in its pokeball, and his newly hatched weedle, which sat comfortably on his shoulder. Falkner had only brought his Pidgeot, leaving the rest of his pokemon back in Violet City.

"Bye, boss!" Sarah exclaimed, waving her hands as she watched the ship depart. "I hope you have fun, I promise to take care of the gym until you come back!"

"Thanks, Sarah!" Bugsy hollered, waving goodbye. "I know I can count on you!"

Eventually, Sarah was nothing but a tiny speck, and soon she disappeared from view altogether. Bugsy sighed, sitting down at a nearby table, Falkner right across from him. "You're right, Falkner," he said. "I did need this vacation."

"I'm always right, buddy." Falkner joked, putting on a pair of sunglasses. "The overall boat trip shouldn't over until noon tomorrow, so let's enjoy what we have so far."

"You're right," Bugsy agreed, leaning his head back. "Let's just enjoy this."

"Bugsy?!" A feminine voice cried out in shock, startling the two gym leaders. They both glanced up, Bugsy's eyes widening in horror.

"Aw, shit..." Falkner whispered to himself.

Standing there in front of them was Whitney, the Goldenrod City gym leader and Bugsy's ex. And standing behind her, with an awkward look on his face was her current boyfriend, Morty.

...

So did you love it? Hate it? So-so? Let me know in the reviews! And remember, stay wykkyd!