Chapter Two: Attack of the Bug Catchers
Yellow and Sparkle's time in Viridian City was not a long one, primarily because the Pikachu did everything within her power to prevent any diversions. However, the girl's short attention span meant that they didn't head straight to the northern exit. They made short detours to the Poke' Mart and a boy who warned them about the types of Bug Pokemon that dwelled within the Viridian Forest. Again, because of Yellow's attention span, all she got out of the boy's monologue was "Quibbyroastybrass"… somehow.
Once they reached the northern exit, the girl and Pikachu found themselves standing before a shaky elderly man holding an oversized mug of coffee that was purple in color with an image of a Koffing's face stamped straight in the middle and the word "Koffee" printed underneath it.
"Ah, I've had my coffee and now I feel great!" exclaimed the jittery old man before taking a sip of his beverage. "COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE COFFEEEEEEE!"
Overwhelmed with a sudden fear for their lives, the trainer and electric mouse bolted as fast as their legs would allow to the second route of the region.
"Waaaait! Don't you want me to show you how to catch Pokemon?!" the caffeine-driven man called after them, then took another swig from his mug. "COFFEE!"
"Grandpa, I think you've had enough coffee," said his granddaughter as she advanced with intentions on snatching his mug.
"NEVER!" he bellowed. "MY COFFEE! COFFEEEEEEEE!"
After one more sip, he retreated behind a bush and protectively held his mug to his torso as if it were a precious child.
Stationed at the maw of the Viridian Forest and breathless from their horrific encounter with the coffee-addicted old man, Yellow and Sparkle met the other's gaze. The girl was relieved that they were safe. The Pikachu was disappointed that he didn't catch up with her trainer, and mentally prayed that something will capture her in the future and deliver her from her duty as her Pokemon.
"Did we… lose… him, Sparkle?" Yellow queried between pants.
"I don't think… he was even… following us," the Pikachu responded in her native language.
Breathing rate regulated, the pair ventured forth. Beneath the shade of a massive tree was another boy, who's friendly smile completely disarmed them.
"Hi," he greeted. "I came here with some of my friends. They're itching for Pokemon fights."
Before Yellow could respond, their attention was averted as another boy came sprinting from where the path disappeared behind a wall of trees. His condition and the frantic way he ran raised a red flag for the Pikachu, while her trainer remained oblivious. His clothes were tattered, his hair was messy, one of his shoes was missing, and his skin was scraped and dusted with dirt in various spots. Diving behind a line of tree stumps, he trembled like an epileptic Magikarp.
"Hi!" Yellow addressed the whimpering boy in a cheerful intonation as she peered over the stumps, completely unaware that he had just barely survived a horrific encounter deeper within the maze of trees.
The boy curled up into a ball and proceeded to rock back-and-forth whilst repeating the same phrase over and over again.
"They're out to get us all… They're out to get us all… They're out to get us all…"
"Who?" the girl questioned, only now beginning to sense that something was amiss.
"The Bug Catchers!" cried the psychologically scarred boy, falling to the ground to uncontrollably sob.
"Pika!" Sparkle gasped, slapping her paws to her mouth.
"What are Bug Catchers?" Yellow inquired.
In order to answer her trainer's question, Sparkle snatched the Poke' Dex from her pocket. Opening up the device, she pressed a few buttons to bring up the search engine.
"Bug Catchers are psychotic Pokemon Trainers who train only Bug Pokemon. They are called Bug Catchers because if they bite you, you will catch a bug… called rabies."
"Cool! Rabies sounds like a strong Pokemon! I wanna catch a rabies!" Yellow turned to her Pikachu, her eyes aglow with excitement. "Let's go, Sparkle!"
Picking up her reluctant Pokemon, Yellow ventured along the path that would take them deeper into the Viridian Forest. The boy standing next to the gigantic tree watched them leave with gradually increasing concern. As he finished conducting a silent prayer, he happened to remember that he forgot to sedate his Bug Catcher friends before turning them loose that morning. Dropping to his knees, he rummaged through the duffel bag that seemed to have magically materialized at his side. Feeling a multitude of pricks, he withdrew his hand to see just that many syringes jutting out from every direction on his hand, sedative seeping into his system.
"Uh-oh."
The boy subsequently collapsed as he succumbed to the effects of the sedative.
The two explores traversed along the path, the human taking in the scenery while the Pokemon urged said human to move faster. While the Pikachu would love for something to happen to the girl, no one deserved an encounter with a rabid Bug Catcher.
Suddenly, a figure leaped out of a tree and landed upon the dusty road. Standing upright, he eyed Yellow and Sparkle with a menacing glare that could even make the legendary professional wrestler Hollywood Hulk Hogan run away crying for his mommy. Scrambling out of Yellow's arms, Sparkle positioned herself behind her trainer. Yellow, however, felt no hostility from the creature.
It was a Bug Catcher.
"Hi! I'm Yellow! What's your name?"
"You have Pokemon?" the prepubescent beast cried out. Fishing out a Poke' Ball, he released a Caterpie. "Let's fight!"
"Yaaay! My first Pokemon battle!" Yellow rejoiced, hopping up and down in exhilaration. "Go get it, Sparkle!"
Although Sparkle knew it was a very poor decision to fight a Bug Catcher, it was her duty as her Pokemon-no matter how stupid the trainer was. Inching from her spot behind Yellow, she dropped into a battle stance.
"Sparkle, use Splash!"
All noise in the universe seemed to halt the instant Yellow finished giving her command. Turning her gaze up at the girl, the Pikachu cocked her head a small degree in confused befuddlement.
"What's wrong, Sparkle?" Yellow asked, also appearing quite confused.
"Pikachu cannot learn Splash, you dimwit," said the Poke' Dex, seeming to have magically found it's way next to Yellow's feet.
"Oooooh…" A look of semi-realization dawned upon the girl. "Okay, then use that zappy attack!"
As Sparkle charged up the electrical energy stored within her cheek pouches, she wondered if she could be considered an idiot for understanding her trainer's command. Before she spent any time contemplating, she fired her attack. Lacking the training in controlling where her shocks went, she ended up hitting Caterpie, the Bug Catcher, and even Yellow. The attack possibly fried what little brain cells the girl had remaining.
Smoke wafting from the blackened bug, it tipped right over. Eye twitching, the Bug Catcher recalled his Pokemon.
"You have sizzled my beautiful Bug Pokemon! I shall cast a plague onto your house!"
Back in Pallet Town, Yellow's mother was in the process of watering her red and white spotted piranha plants-that she might have attained in another video game universe-when frogs began raining from the sky. Tilting her head heavenward, her eyes went round in unrestrained bliss.
"Froggies!" she proclaimed, breaking into a dash down the road. "Protect the wigs and manholes!"
One of the frogs found itself landing straight into the jaws of a piranha plant. Closing its mouth, the plant devoured the unfortunate amphibian and belched.
Face-to-face with an enraged Bug Catcher, Yellow and Sparkle were filled to the brim with terror as they wondered how they were going to get out of this situation. Okay, Yellow wasn't; she was too busy noticing that the Poke' Dex was reminiscent to a Game Boy. The Bug Catcher eyed his prey and brandished the Poke' Ball that contained his prized beast. Sparked with anew terror, Sparkle backed up, pressing her body against a tree.
"Uh-oh."
Following suit, Yellow, too, backed up. Sparkle gazed up at her trainer, wondering if she was beginning to catch on that they were in trouble.
"No!" Yellow shouted as the Bug Catcher closed in, cackling madly. "I'm not interested in buying real estate!"
The Pikachu groaned. She should have known Yellow wasn't smart enough to realize their predicament.
Evil grin spreading across his face, the Bug Catcher cracked open the Poke' Ball and out popped a mutant Weedle. The creature's body was almost grotesque in shape, body a much darker shade of yellow, with long hairs like whiskers spouting from its body here and there. The only thing loveable about it was its beady black eyes and extra large and pokeable nose.
Procuring a top hat and cane from the plot hole, the Weedle put on the hat and began to tap dance.
"What's it doing?" Yellow wondered, she and Sparkle observing the Pokemon's performance.
"Weedle's ritual tap dance before attacking its prey," the Poke' Dex relayed as it magically formed in Yellow's hand.
The deformed Weedle ceased dancing and violently shredded his hat and snapped his cane in half. Yellow and Sparkle watched in mild bewilderment as the creature destroyed its own props. Turning to its victims, the small bug pulled out the deadly weapon feared by all…
Fruit Gushers.
"The Fruit Gushers wielded by Weedle are feared by all throughout the universe. Weedle will shove them in their victims' mouth and their heads will turn into an oversized fruit."
"Noooo! I don't wanna be a fruit-head!" Yellow despaired.
"For once, and the only time, you and I agree on something!" Sparkle affirmed.
Weedle ripped open the package with a sinister chuckle that sounded like Snoopy.
"Sparkle! Destroy!" Yellow commanded, which the mouse willingly complied.
The bug shrieked from the electrical shock. Body twitching, it dropped its now charred Fruit Gushers and crawled back into its Poke' Ball with a doglike yelp. Hissing, the Bug Catcher grasped a whistle dangling from his neck and blew it. In exactly 59.42 seconds, more of his kind arrived on the scene. In unison, they released their Pokemon and ordered them to avenge their friend's defeat.
"All right, Sparkle, beat up all the things!"
A horde of Caterpie and Metapod used String Shot at once, aiming straight at Sparkle, but the Pikachu managed to avoid them with a well timed leap. As the Caterpie and Metapod ceased, the Electric-type hopped onto the string, which had formed into a large ball. Stepping aback at a fast pace, she moved it forward. She struck the crowd of bugs with the sound effect of a bowling ball knocking over pins.
The Weedle were vaulted at the Pikachu like poisonous darts. Time literally slowing down, Sparkle leaped, flipped, and ducked out of the Weedle's paths in literal slow motion. Every single of the poisonous bugs going headfirst into trees, their stingers sinking into the trunks, time returned to its regular pace.
Victory was attained and Yellow and Sparkle let out a conjoined cheer.
The Bug Catchers withdrew their Pokemon and turned to their enemies with expressions of malice. Slowly coming forth at the speed of zombie-complete with the brain-dead groans-, Yellow attempted to plan their next move, but the effort only resulted in a headache.
This was it. The Bug Catchers were in range. The first one that had been defeated stepped forth to make the first attack. As he pounced, he found himself on the ground in a deep sleep. Yellow, Sparkle, and the remaining Bug Catchers examined the sleeping one and spied a single tranquilizer dart sticking out of his neck. When a single Bug Catcher made the move to yank it out, he, too, was hit.
"Nighty-night, little fishy," the Bug Catcher murmured as he blacked out.
The confused individuals looked to the direction to where the shots originated and there, standing at the far end of the path surrounded by a glorious glow was the boy Yellow and Sparkle met earlier, tranquilizer gun hoisted on one shoulder.
"Are you two all right?" he questioned worriedly.
"Yeah, we're fine!" Yellow cheerfully chirped.
The boy cocked his tranquilizer gun and took aim, the Bug Catchers scrambling like cockroaches. Yellow and Sparkle stood clear as the boy fired away. One-by-one, the Bug Catchers dropped like flies and were sent to Dreamland.
"Thanks for saving us! You can come with us if you want," the girl offered.
"Thanks, but no thanks," the boy, who shall be from this moment on be referred to as Josh, declined. "My rightful place is here. I must…"
Josh trailed off upon noticing he had missed a Bug Catcher. As he was making an attempt to escape, he received a tranquilizer in the rear.
"I must stay and keep my friends under control and make sure this never happens again."
"What happened?" Yellow idiotically inquired, earning exasperated groans from both the Pikachu and boy.
Dispensing their farewells, Yellow and Sparkle continued on. After a couple of hours of doubling back and bumping into trees, they were rewarded as the exit came into view. Breaking into a run, they departed the Viridian Forest.