Bugging Out!
When we last left our hero Leo had met up with old friend Evan Brawn, son of an aspiring Gym leader and caught himself a new Pokémon in the form of the powerful little Pidgey. Having convinced Evan to travel with him on his journey to the Pokémon league, the two of them have set on off into the edge of the Viridian Forest and the last leg of the journey to Pewter City as well as his first Kanto League Badge.
As we join them now, they are moving together through the forest and are about to sit down to eat in the sunshine, Leo and Evan are also about to make an interesting discovery.
Sitting in a clearing in the middle of the Viridian Forest Leo, Houndour, Evan and Tyrogue decided it would be a good time to stop and have a bite to eat. It had been a few days since the battle at the Pokémon Centre and the group had grown closer in since then. Leo's Pokémon had accepted Evan and his Pokémon as part of the group now and so as the pair of them let out their Pokémon for lunch there were no many disputes among them. As the three Pokèball rose into the air they caught the rays of the sun and with the usual accompaniment of white flashes, Spearow, Venonat and Pidgey all materialised on the ground around them. Leo set to work cooking the food while Evan set up the place to eat. The Pokémon helped Evan where they could, carrying bowls and plates, spreading out the blanket for the Pokémon to sit on. Pidgey and Spearow spent a lot of time trying to one up each other, Leo smiled as he saw it, realising that not all of the animosity from the battle a few days ago had worn off yet.
"Ok, food's up!" Leo called over his shoulder placing the dishes of Pokémon food, each custom made to the Pokémon's tastes, down on the blanket. He then grabbed his and Evan's and the two sat and ate quietly.
"Hey Leo, that Pokémon food you make," Leo looked up from his food to with an interested look, "how do you know how to tailor it to the Pokémon's tastes?" Leo finished his mouthful and then placed his bowl on his lap to talk,
"My Grandpa taught me. Growing up around a man who is tasked with taking care of all the Pokémon at Professor Sucas' lab I learned a thing or two about cooking Pokémon food. It's a matter of using ingredients that go well with the Pokémon's type as well as its personal tastes. For example, hot, spicy food is often a big hit with Fire-types, but some Fire-types would not like Spicy food." Evan nodded his understanding, "It's mainly trail and error, but sometimes broad type choices can pay off, they did with Spearow and Pidgey." Just as Leo and Evan finished eating Venonat ran over to him, pushing itself up onto the ends of its feet as it spoke to him. "Sure, Venonat, we'll get some training done right after lunch."
"How's Venonat's Supersonic coming along Leo?" Evan asked looking at Venonat as it bounced on the spot.
"Better it's starting to get the hang of it, but it's been chewing on things lately, don't know what that is all about." He said patting Venonat on the head.
"Well, my Dad always says when a Pokémon begins exhibiting new behaviour its trying to learn something new through that behaviour." Leo looked down at Venonat beside him and decided it couldn't hurt to test Evan's theory. He picked up a stick that was nearby and held it out in front of Venonat.
"Go ahead Venonat; do that new thing your doing." Venonat latched onto the stick with such force that it nearly took it right out of Leo's hand.
"Look's like a Bite Attack to me." Evan said looking at the way Venonat was dug in to the wood, but Leo shook his head.
"No, look at the liquid dripping from Venonat's fangs," Leo pointed with his little finger at the drips coming out of the fangs, "I think Venonat is trying to learn Poison Fang." Venonat detached itself and started chirping and bouncing around.
"Looks like you were right." Evan said with a smile. Awesome, Leo thought to himself as he smiled.
A few hours later they were all back on the road, the four of them walking along together, Houndour as usual staying as close to Leo's side as it could without physically tripping him up and Evan's Tyrogue running out ahead punctuating it's steps with high kicks and punching bouts with the air or nearby trees.
"So," Evan said after a brief period of silence, "have you given any thought to the Pokémon you're going to use in your first Gym Battle?" Leo turned to look at him before replying,
"Not really, I mean I don't know a whole lot about the Pewter City Gym so…" Evan held up a hand.
"Don't worry, oh pal of mine, for the Gym knowledge you need is all in here," he tapped the side of his head a few times, "With my father being an aspiring Gym Leader I know about every Gym in the world from their Pokémon type specialisation to their general rules. The Pewter Gym has been lead by a family for a good few generations now and as far as I know the eldest brother Brock, has recently come back from a long journey to take up the mantle of Gym Leader once more and they specialise in two on two battles using Rock-types." Evan took a deep breath to emphasise how fast he had just spoken, but the information was already rattling around Leo's head.
"Well Evan if the match-ups are two on two then I would have to use Houndour and Venonat, Houndour's Dark-type capabilities giving it a greater defence for its Fire-type weakness and Venonat's Bug-type giving it a slight respite from its Poison-type weakness." Evan nodded approvingly but stopped when Leo said, "Hey Evan, where is Tyrogue?" Evan's head snapped forward like it was attached to a group of charging Ponyta and before Leo could offer any suggestions he took off at a run into the woods shouting for Tyrogue. Leo turned to Houndour and said, "Houndour can you try and locate Tyrogue by smell?" Houndour nodded and pointed its entire body in the direction Evan had just ran, rolling his eyes Leo decided he had better go after him and he and Houndour set off at a run in pursuit.
Ahead of them, Evan burst through some trees to find Tyrogue flailing around under a rather large net, Evan ran forward and skidded onto his knees coming to a stop right next to Tyrogue, he started pulling at the thick fibres of the net but they were weighed down pretty tight.
"You! What are you doing to my net?" a scrawny looking kid walked into the clearing from the opposite side, he wore a big straw hat, a white west and carried a hand net and he had levelled an accusatory finger at Evan as he struggled to free Tyrogue. Evan sprung to his feet,
"What am I doing? What are you doing dropping a net on my Tyrogue?" the other kid blinked in blank-faced confusion, and he then looked around Evan to the shape flailing in the net, his eyes quickly widened in surprise and horror to see Tyrogue there and he quickly dropped to his knees in apology.
"I am so sorry, that net is one of my Bug traps see and Tyrogue must have tripped it when it came into the clearing, I meant no harm, here, I will release the net." The boy flicked a switch on the edge of his net and the net lifted from Tyrogue allowing it to sit up and sigh with relief. Evan spun around and helped Tyrogue to its feet and then he turned to the Bug Catcher.
"Thank you for freeing Tyrogue and I'm sorry that I went off on you like that, I was just concerned for my Pokémon is all." The Bug Catcher nodded his thanks, "I'm Evan by the way."
"I am Devon, Bug Catcher extraordinaire and now that we have cleared up that nasty business, how about a battle?" Evan smiled broadly and Tyrogue smashed its fists together.
"Ok, I'm game, get in there Tyrogue…"
"No, no, no not with that, with a Bug-type only another Bug-type could hope to defeat my formidable insects." But when Devon saw the look on Evan's face he had a bad feeling.
"I don't have any Bug-types." Evan said staring at him, Devon recoiled as though he had been struck but before he could speak Leo ran into the clearing preceded by Houndour that was sniffing and barking all at once.
"Evan, oh great, I thought you'd gotten lost out here…" Leo noticed Tyrogue standing next to Evan and said "and you found Tyrogue that's great. Houndour was tracking it with its scent." Then to Tyrogue, "Glad to see you're safe Tyrogue." Tyrogue smiled and replied "Ty-ty-Rogue."
"How about you then!" Devon yelled levelling a finger at Leo this time, "Do you have any Bug-types you can battle me with." Leo looked up at Devon still a little short of breath from running, but when he took in the fact that he was being challenged to a Bug-type Pokémon showdown he smiled.
"You have got yourself a battle…err," Leo looked at Evan with a questioning look on his face prompting him to fill in the name for him, to which Devon replied,
"I am Devon, Bug Catcher Extraordinaire!"
"Oh, I'm Leo; now let's get this party started. Venonat come on out!" Leo threw the Pokèball and with the explosion of white light Venonat appeared on the field bouncing up and down as it usually did. Devon's eyes widened with admiration.
"A Venonat, a rare type of Bug-Pokémon for these parts, well prepare to meet its match, Go! Weedle!" Another burst of white light and a small peach coloured Pokémon with a large stinger on its head appeared in front of Venonat. Leo took the opportunity to scan it with his Pokèdex.
"Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokémon. Weedle are mainly found in forests and grassland hiding under the leaves they eat, their bright colouration helps to warn off predators but if attacked it uses its sharp stingers on it head and tail to poison its foes."
"If you're finished with your lesson for the day shall we begin?" Devon called across at Leo; Leo placed the Pokèdex back in his bag and gestured for Devon to have the first attack. "Alright, Weedle use Poison Sting on Venonat!" Weedle launched itself off the ground and aimed itself like an arrow at Venonat its head stinger glowing a faint purple colour, Leo decided it would be a good idea to counter,
"Venonat, counter that with a Tackle attack!" Venonat launched itself at the incoming Weedle also and the two connected, but seemed to hang in the air for a second as the two impacts fought each other for strength, but eventually Venonat's superior size was too much for Weedle and it was shot backward away from Venonat, who landed with grace. Devon however did not seem fazed by this and got right back on the offensive.
"Weedle get in close with Bug-Bite!" Weedle closed the gap quickly for having such small legs and Leo saw an opportunity to test Venonat's new move.
"Venonat let it get close then use Poison Fang!" Weedle and Venonat got really close Venonat snapped its head back to use its Poison Fang but at it went to bite, the attack faltered the glow on its fangs went out and Weedle slipped through the opening and landed a strong Bug-Bite on Venonat's side. Venonat recoiled from the hit, leaping away panting from the severity of the bite, but Leo had to recover from the failed attack, it clearly just needed more work was all, but if he didn't try and use it what kind of trainer was he, well he thought it was high time he tried something a little more subtle. "Venonat, use Supersonic!" Venonat stood straight all of a sudden as though hit by a Supersonic itself, but as Leo looked across the field he noticed Weedle had done the same thing and as the trainers looked on, both Venonat and Weedle turned as one and walked out of the clearing into the forest, much to their trainers dismay. Without stopping to shout and call both Devon and Leo ran out after their Pokémon Houndour close on Leo's heels and Evan and Tyrogue bringing up the rear. The Pokémon had apparently picked up speed after leaving the clearing as all that remained of them was their tracks and a few snapped twigs, so the trainers picked up speed and followed the trail. All around them they could hear, rustling and squeaking as though the entire forest was moving the same direction as they were. Suddenly Houndour barked and veered to the right, trusting in Houndour's instincts Leo followed it and so did Evan and Devon. Houndour burst through a set of bushes and stood ready to battle sensing a familiar presence with the trainers jumping through the bushes after it and it drew collective gasps of surprise from them all. In front of them was a large metal contraption with enormous radio antennae on top, but the thing that drew the gasps were the legions of Bug-Pokémon crawling jumping and flying their way into the large box that was attached to the bottom of the machine. Leo and Devon caught a glimpse of Venonat and Weedle among the crowded Pokémon and the entire scene seemed to hit Devon extremely hard.
"What on earth is going on here? Who would do this to these majestic Bug-Pokémon?" Devon's outraged cry was met by the sound of mocking laughter and a pair of figures stepped out from behind the machine. Leo's eyes widened with surprise and he levelled his finger at them,
"You!" he yelled, looking at the pair of them , it was the two crooks from the first night of his journey, Rick and Nat and they seemed to recognise him to.
"Look Rick it's that kid who interfered with the Sandshrew job." Nat said to her comrade,
"Yeah and he seems to have brought friends, let's not let him interfere this time," Without having any time to react Leo, Evan and Devon were plunged into a battle, with Rick and Nat throwing their Pokèballs into the air and releasing their Pokémon who immediately went on the offensive, Raticate and Golbat charged across the gap between them and lunged into attacks, thankfully Houndour and Tyrogue were ready, leaping up to defend their trainers,
"Leo why don't you keep them busy and I'll take out that machine." Leo nodded and shouted to Houndour,
"Houndour, use Howl!" Houndour throw back its head and howled loudly stunning the two attacking Pokémon for a moment whilst Tyrogue ran past them and leapt into the air, Evan called out to it,
"Quick Tyrogue use Mach Punch!" Tyrogue geared up to hit the machine, but Golbat recovered from its disorientation and used a Wing Attack as called by Rick to knock Tyrogue out of the air. "Looks like we are going to need some air support here, Leo" Leo nodded and brought out Pidgey, turning to Evan and gesturing to try again.
"Go, I got this, Houndour use Bite on Raticate, Pidgey tie Golbat up in a string of Quick Attacks let's get this machine destroyed." Houndour dashed forward chomping down on Raticate, who cried out and tried to latch itself onto Houndour, but the angle was wrong and it couldn't get far enough around to bite back. Meanwhile Pidgey was striking at Golbat in quick succession confusing it and forcing it spin quickly in the air to try and see where the next attack was coming from. At the same time Tyrogue was once again running at the machine,
"Use Mach Punch Tyrogue and the follow up with a Brick Break!" Tyrogue managed to connect with the machine this time, its first Mach Punch tearing through the outer armour and connecting with the internal systems, the follow-up Brick Break smashed the power supply and the internal computer into smithereens. Nat and Rick moaned and denied that it was happening, but as much as they hated to admit it the machine was destroyed.
"No, that little brat destroyed the controller all of those Bug-Pokémon will be waking up again; we might have a problem, Nat." Rick said to her and held out his Pokèball recalling his Golbat, to its Pokèball, "We should probably get out of here." Nat nodded and recalled Raticate and the two of them turned to run.
"Oh no you two aren't getting away from this that easily Venonat Confusion!" Venonat leapt out of the crowd of Bug-Pokémon and its eyes lit up blue and both of the criminals were frozen in place.
"You can't do this to us, Team Rocket takes care of its own, we won't forget about this you know!" Nat snarled at Leo, but Leo was not listening to them, instead he turned to Devon,
"Would you care to add anything Devon?" Devon nodded his thanks and turned back to the crooks,
"Weedle use Poison Sting" Weedle stung both of the crooks right on the buttocks and then at a signal from Leo Venonat used Confusion to send them flying over the trees. Leo laughed and then hugged Venonat as it came bouncing over to him and Devon dropped to his knees happily as Weedle scuttled back over to him. He then picked Weedle up and turned to Leo. "So Leo, shall we continue our battle?" Leo smiled ruefully and replied,
"Of course, let's get this battle back on!" Leo and Venonat stood at one side of the clearing Devon and Weedle the other and then something miraculous happened, Devon's Weedle began to glow white, the intensity rising with every passing second, "What's going on?" Leo asked although he had an idea.
"It's Weedle, its evolving!" Evan said from the sidelines, and as they all looked on Weedle's shape became indistinct within the glow and then slowly began to change soon the glow was extinguished and a completely new Pokémon was standing in front of Devon it was yellow and the shape of a cone turned on its head with two slit shaped black eyes. Leo whipped out his Pokèdex,
"Kakuna, the Cocoon Pokémon and the evolved form of Weedle, Kakuna usually stay completely still while waiting to evolve again and are often only able to use one move but are able to move their poisonous barb if necessary to defend itself."
"Amazing, so that's what a Pokémon looks like when it evolves, still it doesn't change anything, let's battle!" Leo told Venonat to use Tackle and Venonat launched itself at Kakuna, but Devon seemed to have another idea,
"Harden" Devon said and when Venonat made contact with Kakuna Venonat bounced off it like it had run into a steel wall, however Leo didn't see a problem with that and as Venonat regained its feet, Leo told it to use Confusion. With its eyes lit up blue, Kakuna rose from the ground, its eyes widened in panic as it was unable to defend itself, unable to move its stinger to attack and even Harden was too much of a move with Confusion over its head.
"Spin it, Venonat then throw it into the floor" Venonat obeyed but in order to throw Kakuna it had to release it from the Confusion which it did, but as soon as the blue glow dissipated Devon told it to use Harden once more. Leo just smiled, "Use Disable Venonat" Venonat sent the lance of information into Kakuna preventing it from using Harden and when it impacted on the ground it was hard. Kakuna was unconscious when the dust cleared and Devon knelt down and returned it to its Pokèball the red light keeping it safe.
"Well done Kakuna get a good long rest," Devon then looked up at Leo, "well Leo you are a formidable opponent, and if it wasn't for you and Evan here I wouldn't even have Weedle, and if it wasn't for our battle it would never have evolved into Kakuna, so thank you, I hope that we will meet again someday and congratulations on your win."
"Good luck on your travels Devon," Evan said to him shaking his hand
"and thank you for the great battle Devon, sorry things got interrupted." Leo shook Devon's hand as well and then he waved one final time and ran off into the forest. Leo looked at Evan and they both laughed at the events of the day being so wacky. Leo thanked Venonat for its amazing battle and then returned it to its Pokèball. Houndour barked and nudged the back of Leo's leg and Leo scratched it on the ears, "You did great too Houndour and you held off Raticate great. Shall we go?" He asked Evan and Evan nodded.
"On to Pewter City?" Evan asked and Leo nodded, and so the two of them and their Pokémon headed of once again for Pewter City on the road to the Kanto League.
Leo and Evan have made a new friend in the Bug Catcher Extraordinaire Devon and have had yet another encounter with the dastardly villains of Team Rocket and they even helped his Weedle evolve into a Kakuna. Now as they head off into the new day Leo and Evan look forward to future journeys and Leo's first Kanto League Gym Battle as they continue on the path to the Pokémon League.