The Bug-catching Contest.
Open to all on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, every half-hour, in the National Park.
Rules:
*Only one pokemon per participant allowed
*Only one entry per participant allowed. If more than one pokemon is caught, the participant must chose which one to submit. The rest will be released, but pokedex data will appear as 'caught'.
*Participants are only allowed thirty minutes and thirty park balls to capture a bug. Once time or balls have run out, participants must proceed to the judging area.
Once thirty minutes is up, the judges will choose a third, second and first place from the bugs they receive. Bugs are judged on size, rarity and strength. Participants may receive a berry as a consolation prize, gold berry for third place, everstone for second and sunstone for first.
Good luck!
"What do you think? An excellent chance for me to catch a butterfree!" Kelsie grinned, scanning the new poster which had appeared on the pokemon centre's bulletin board that morning.
James pulled a face; he hated bugs. "Thought you wanted a caterpie?"
"For a butterfree."
"Oh." He guessed it made some sense; caterpies were weak and, he suppressed a shiver, icky. "Might be a bit of extra training, I suppose. And a bug might freak out that stupid Whitney." Last night was still fresh in his mind; the humiliation, the bipolar personality of the girly gym leader chucking him out, because he was a boy. Sexist, that's what it was. Serve her right to get freaked out by a bug.
"Hello… Earth to Jimmy!" Kelsie was waving her hand in front of James' blank face. An evil-looking grin seemed to creep on his face whilst his mind was elsewhere. "If you don't answer me I'll call up Kirralie and tell her you like her…"
No answer.
"Right." Kelsie took out her mobile and was halfway through dialling, when James started to blink. He stared at her, confused.
"What are you doing?"
"Nice of you to pay earth a visit." She smirked, holding the mobile to her ear. "Hello… Kirralie?"
"What are you doing?" James hissed, trying to grab the phone. Kelsie moved out of the way, her smirk still in place.
"James wanted me to let you know that he lurves you." She giggled, James' eyes grew wide in horror. She put the phone back into her pocket. "She said she's coming back to get you."
"You're lying!" He snatched the phone out of her pocket and checked the call history. Kelsie hadn't called anyone since last night. "You…"
"Pay attention next time." She grabbed her phone back and stalked out of the centre, still laughing, but also relieved.
James jogged after her, he knew she was headed to the National Park. Bugs were not his thing, but on the bright side- he could catch a scyther. He caught up to her on route thirty-five, she was staring at her pokeballs; trying to decide which one to use, muttering the pros and cons under her breath.
For James, the choice was simple. He had two pokemon that were super-effective against bugs, and one who had just recently, last night to be precise, learnt sleep and poison powder to go with her stun spore. They seemed like the ideal moves for catching a pokemon. Oddish appeared in front of him, as he threw the pokeball in the air, tumbling out on to the dirt path. She hadn't exactly perfected the acrobatics just yet.
She squeaked, happily as always, and shook her shoots; trying to adjust her bow, which had become lopsided during her tumble. Kelsie laughed and helped her, acknowledging James for the first time in the few minutes he had walked with her. "Your weakest pokemon? You're either super confident or dead cocky."
"I have faith in my pokemon." He replied. "Who are you choosing?"
The choice wasn't so simple for Kelsie. One of her pokemon wasn't so good against bug types, unless they had wings. She would be a good choice for Kelsie's desired butterfree, however.
The other only really knew water moves and they definitely weren't so good against bugs. Unless they were deathly afraid of water, then they would probably knock themselves out by running into a tree in a panic. If she was lucky.
"I would say flaaffy, but I haven't used Polly that much."
"You could always chuck your egg at the pokemon. A hit in the face with that chunky thing would surely knock them out." James joked, but Kelsie seemed to consider it. If it wasn't for the fact that a baby pokemon was forming inside, she may have very well gone for it.
They had reached the entrance. There was still five minutes left till the next contest, so Kelsie still had some time to choose. A man in a green uniform, complete with a matching hat, was walking around with a clipboard, taking down contestant's names and chosen pokemon. Their other pokeballs were taken from them, labelled, and placed in a safety deposit box. The park-keepers were going to all measures to ensure that no-one's pokemon were stolen whilst in their possession. Unlike the day-care centre.
"Name?" Another keeper had approached them, wearing a matching uniform and carrying another clipboard.
"James."
"Full name." The park-keeper glanced up from writing. He looked stern.
"James Rose."
"Pokemon?"
"Oddish."
He took down James' details and pulled out a sheet of sticky labels. "Write you full name on them, stick 'em on your pokeballs and put your pokeballs in there." He pointed at the box on the floor, then handed James a pen. "Your I.d will be checked on your way out." He turned to Kelsie. "Name?"
Kelsie, eventually, had chosen flaaffy, promising Polly she would choose her next time. A sticky label was stuck to jumper; James had gone a little crazy with his stickers. 'James' pokeball'. It said. The park-keeper seemed to think this was a good idea and, once all were checked, sticky labels were stuck on participants and pokemon alike.
"Alright Kelsie, James' pokeball?" James grinned. She stuck her tongue out. Flaaffy picked at her label, angrily. Kelsie helped her remove it and then placed it on her bow so it wouldn't annoy her. "So, how are we going to do this?"
The other participants had already rushed off. Many had fire pokemon and they were already starting to scorch the thick, lengthy grass. Others had nets that they were swinging wildly, narrowly missing other people and their pokemon. It was madness.
"We're never going to find anything in this." Kelsie gestured to the swarm of pokemon and people alike. Fights had already started; who had spotted which bug first, whose park ball had caught what, so on. "I think, being as we're looking for separate things, we should split up. Might be easier."
"You're right." James nodded in agreement, the look on his face uncertain. What had he just agreed to? "Be careful out there." Kelsie assured him she would. "See you in half an hour then. Good luck."
"It's more like twenty-seven minutes now." She chuckled, but wished him luck also and set off in one direction. James took the other.
Kelsie's plan was simple. Scan the trees for a butterfree. If that failed, then the last five minutes would be spent looking for a caterpie. After all, she wasn't there to win, just so she could catch a butterfree. She set a timer on her pokegear and pulled out her pokedex to show flaaffy what she was looking for.
Park-keepers were wandering about, probably to keep an eye on the scuffles, protect the Park's pokemon, and to make sure participants stuck to the rules. Everyone's bags had been confiscated when their were checked, so if their pokemon were poisoned, paralyzed or had fainted, they were advised to head to the safety zone, also known as the judging area, to heal their pokemon. It also meant they were disqualified from the contest and any pokemon they had caught before then would be submitted, usual rules applied.
Kelsie hoped that flaaffy would be ok. She wasn't exactly hoping to battle many bugs, her plan was to run from them, if possible. She also hoped that the other participants left her alone. Most seemed extremely competitive; in it to win it.
The skies and trees were empty; free of most bugs. A few weedle were squirming their way up tree trunks and a few beedrill buzzed about, before getting zapped by a red light and pulled into the spherical containers. Some managed to escape; their buzzing louder and angrier than before, swooping down towards the nearest target to take their anger out on. Others stayed put; caught.
Kelsie sighed, watching several competitors stalk their prey. It seemed that James had some stiff competition; a lot of net-armed partakers were going after the praying mantis James so desired.
There was a clicking noise. Kelsie spun round and came face to face with an oversized, brown, stag beetle. It was grinding its spiked horns together, menacingly, its teeth snapping. "Flaaffy," Kelsie hissed, stepping backwards. "Help me!" Flaaffy steeped forward, crying out, static building.
"Hey!" Some pipsqueak shouted, running forward, net flailing behind him. His pokemon- a rattata- streaked through the grass beside him. "That pokemon's mine!"
"Take it!" Kelsie squeaked, seizing her opportunity to escape whilst the pinsir turned to its new target. "Jeez… I thought this was going to be fun."
On the other side of the park, James was sat on a bench, trying to explain to oddish which pokemon he was after. She wasn't pay much attention; the riled pokemon both fascinated and scared her and she was watching the action with a strange look on her face.
James had to keep pulling her back, he feared she would get lost in the grass, especially as her shoots blended in so well. It was so long, even her distinguishable bow would be hidden from sight. The fact that the competitors pokemon, as well as the wild National Park ones, were acting like they were crazy, didn't help matters either.
"Oddish, stop it!" He cried in exasperation. "I want a scyther." He pointed to the picture, oddish looked up at him and nodded. "That's what we're looking for, we're not here to join in with the chaos. Ok?"
Oddish squeaked. James took that as an agreement and scooped his pokemon up. She settled on his shoulder, but ended up in his arms, due to the number of times she almost fell off.
Twenty minutes passed; James only had about two minutes left. Many participants had either given up, been disqualified, ran out of balls, or had decided to keep the pokemon they had caught, decidedly happy with their catch. Only five or six others were still wandering around, Kelsie amongst them. James was surprised to see she was preening the grass, instead of looking in the trees.
"No luck?" He asked, striding over to her.
"No." She sounded saddened. "I think those maniacs took most of the pokemon with them." She joked.
"Butterfrees are usually in the trees, you do know that right.?"
He was met with a sigh. "I'm not an idiot…"
"I know, I was just…"
"… I've given up wasting my time for them. Caterpies are a lot more common." James understood and offered to help her look, giving up all hope of finding a scyther. Part of him had already known it was going to be a waste of time anyway.
He hadn't be searching long, but it was long enough to see a purple butterfly fly onto a nearby branch. He nudged Kelsie and pointed, she almost cried out in happiness. However, she managed to contain herself, before she scared it away. Flaaffy turned to her trainer, awaiting her instructions, but none came. Kelsie's eagerness forced her to throw a park ball, and it sailed through the air, hitting the branch. It disappeared, with the butterfree, into the thicket of trees.
"What the hell was that?" James laughed, incredulous. Kelsie blushed, shrugging. She ran over to the trees and weaved her way through to where her park ball had landed. The butterfree wasn't in sight and the park ball's button, used to maximise, minimize, release or return, was glowing red, indicating a capture.
"Oh, my, god."
"You caught it? Pfft, fluke."
"I caught a butterfree!"
"Biing-bong!" The tannoy rang out, alerting them of the end of the contest. "Please can the remaining participants make their way to the judging area? Your time is up." They emerged from the trees and headed to the only other building in the Park.
"Pokemon please." The park-keeper from earlier held out his hands, only one of them was filled. "Take a seat while the judges decide." They headed over to Nurse Joy first, to heal their pokemon. They weren't hurt, just tired.
"Alrighty…" An elder-looking park-keeper beamed at them all, clearing his throat for everyone's attention. Many faces turned to look at him. "We have reached a decision." The noise, which had died down at the start of the announcement, now ceased. A few of the participants, who carried nets, crossed their fingers or held their breath. Kelsie noticed one or two of them go purple.
"In third place, is Kelsie Knight…" Faces turned towards the back, to look at the person who had won third place. Kelsie had gasped, audibly, rising to her feet. Her sticky label was peeling off her clothes, the 'James' pokeball' one more visible. "Congratulations, here is your prize." She was handed a gold berry, as well as the park ball containing her pokemon. The butterfree she had always wanted, ever since Ilex forest anyway. At least, she thought it was a butterfree.
"A round of applause for Kelsie Knight and her venonat please." There was a smatter of applause, Kelsie looked at James, baffled.
Venonat?