April 16th, Honey Town Pokemon Center

Gary was jotting down the list of moves that were listed on his Pokedex. Currently a page was open that showed the move-set of the fully evolved Hoenn grass starter known as Sceptile. Having already gone through its pre-evolved forms of Treecko and Grovyle earlier in the morning, this was the final member of the line that he had to take notes for. Finishing writing down the last move he groaned as he dropped his pencil onto the desk and rotated his wrist. Flexing his fingers he really felt the ache in his hand as his joints popped.

While he had his laptop open behind him on his bed, he had always preferred hand written notes and so opted for his notebook, with his laptop just being used for research purposes. The Pokedex was a great a tool with lots of data downloaded on it, but it was limited to the information that was programmed into it.

Not that the information in the Pokedex's database was anything to scoff at. Movesets, gender differences, behavioral traits, diets, habitat ranges with regional maps, illnesses and common medical conditions were all programmed onto the Pokedex for every Pokemon that was registered in the International Pokedex database system. There was quite a lot of information and most people would be perfectly satisfied with what they found in it.

But Gary wasn't most people. When he started to study a Pokemon he wanted to know as much as humanly possible about it; and that's where one of the Pokedex's weaknesses became clear. For more obscure information that wasn't already included, or for more detailed information about a specific location that was mentioned in the Dex, one would have to go online and look for it. It was when looking for information like this that the distinct lack of a web browser on the Pokedex became very noticeable. Why one wasn't included was something that many people wondered about, but since the original Pokedex's creator was Gary's own grandfather it meant that Gary knew more about it than most.

In the end it was a simple storage issue. So much information on Pokemon was pre-programmed onto the Pokedex that it left little space for other features such as a guidebook, a phone or a web browser.

Of course there were other Pokedex models currently available that did have those features and many others, but in order to make space for those features the models pre-programmed data was typically limited to information on Pokemon native to just a few regions; usually the trainer's home region and one or two of the nearby ones. Those models could connect to the global database in order to bring up information on any Pokemon outside of those regions, but to do so required a wireless connection which could be spotty in the wilderness. As a result they weren't very popular with traveling trainers due to being unreliable. After all if you had one of those models and ran into someone from overseas out in the wilderness, or went exploring the wilderness overseas yourself, then you'd be out of luck.

The model that his grandfather liked to give out to his sponsors lacked the phone and web browsing features, as well a few other features that would be convenient, but they contained information on most Pokemon regardless of where in the world they were native to while also being able to provide information regardless of how far one was from civilization.

A soft growl drew his attention away from his extensive notes and the Pokedex. Sparing a glance under his desk caused him to smile as his Growlithe was chewing on the toy bone that he had given him back in Pewter City. The Puppy Pokemon's black eyes looked up at him before he returned to chewing on the fake bone. "How can you still be chewing on that?" He chuckled out. Of course Growlithe didn't answer him, he was far too busy chewing on his toy.

Standing up from his desk to stretch his legs he looked at the time on his Pokedex. "It's already 11:50, let's head down to the cafeteria for lunch. After that it's the Bug Catching Contest."

The orange dog covered in black stripes perked up at the mention of lunch. He actually dropped the bone as he emerged from underneath the desk and barked excitedly.

Walking to the door he grabbed his trainer belt off of the bed and shut his laptop. Hours of writing notes had caught up to him as even after he stepped out into the hallway he was still flexing his hand to get rid of the ache. He felt good though as he had accomplished his goal of going through most of the basic information of the Treecko line. There was still a lot to do though as memorizing that information came next, as well as looking in stuff outside of the basic information and then devising tactics against a member of the line. And of course then they'd have to start training in those tactics too. And that was just for the Treecko line, he still had to look into the Fletchling line as well.

Yes there was definitely a lot of work to do.

His hands weren't the only thing that ached though as he felt himself blinking more often than usual. No doubt his eyes trying to ease themselves after they had been staring at screens and notebook pages all morning.

Beside him Growlithe yawned, showing off the set of sharp incisors in his cream colored muzzle. Gary wasn't surprised by him being tired though, they were both up early. Having woken up at 5:30AM Gary had gone through his morning routine of showering, brushing his teeth and doing his hair before he started prepping himself for his study session. After getting all of the devices and stationary set up on the desk, and even having time to look for and open up a few windows on his Pokedex and laptop to pages that had the information he was looking for, he set out breakfast. The Pokemon Center's cafeteria opened at 7am, and so being one of the very first in the cafeteria meant that he was dining alone for the most part. It was at that point that he had released Growlithe to keep him company.

Taking an hour to eat and then taking a short walk around the block to stretch their legs, he had arrived just in time at the medical team's pick-up window as it opened at 8AM. As expected Squirtle, Nidoran, and Pidgeotto were all given clean bills of health. Choosing to let them rest a little longer in their Poke-balls he returned to his room and sat down to start studying.

Seeing Gary still constantly flexing his hand, Growlithe gave the extremity a little lick to offer what comfort he could; he had to hop a little though to reach it as he was quite small.

The brunette from Pallet Town flinched a little at the unexpected wetness against his hand. Quickly recognizing Growlithe's familiar tongue he smiled and chuckled at his only fire type. "Thanks buddy. We're running a little behind schedule, but I really wanted to finish Sceptile's general information." At Growlithe's worried whine he reassured his Pokemon. "Don't worry, we still have time. We'll grab something simple and quick before making our way over to the Institute. We should get there just in time."

Walking through the gates of the Honey Town Insect Institute at 12:50pm gave him just enough time before the start of the contest. "Heh, I don't think this place has changed since Gramps first brought me here years ago."

Comprised of brick, the building had three interconnected wings that formed a vaguely 'U' shape. The campus had an impressive and well-maintained courtyard that spanned between the three wings and was separated from the street by a waist high hedge fence with a black iron gate in the center for an entrance.

"Come on Growlithe, we have to sign in for the contest." Walking through the gate and down the concrete path that led straight through the middle of the courtyard, the duo observed a lot of people milling about on the finely cut grass. Many of them had a Pokemon at their side but he wasn't sure how many of them were actually there to compete in the contest. Even without the employee badges it was easy to pick out the institute's workers based on their clothing. Most wore either three piece suits or white lab coats or some kind of work related jumpsuit. Gary couldn't help but took note of the plethora of bug types that accompanied the institute's employees.

Thankfully he didn't have to look hard for the sign-in table as there was a big welcoming sign above the central door of the middle wing. "If you're here for the Bug Catching Contest then please head to the sign-in table at the side of the lobby!" A staff member shouted from their position standing by the door.

Striding forward Gary pondered as he walked through the lobby door, "I wonder if Ashy-boy is here yet?" Growlithe tilted his head at his trainer's question. "Ha! Doubt it. Ash is many things, but punctual is not one of them. I think the day we picked our starters was the first time he was ever early for something."

Growlithe whined in a questioning tone. His trainer had been particularly talkative about an 'Ash' ever since yesterday.

"What?" Gary crossed his arms and looked down at the fire puppy. His raised eyebrow was be met with the fire type's own inquisitive look. "Look you don't understand Ash and I's relationship. He chases after me and tries to beat me, which I refuse to let happen, and then I antagonize him and he tries harder."

If possible the Puppy Pokemon's head tilted even further in confusion.

"Sigh, look I'm not saying that it's a healthy relationship, but I can't argue with the results." The auburn haired trainer admitted. "This works for us. We force each other to be better like this."

The young Pokemon rolled his eyes at his trainer's stubbornness. He'd probably be happier if he and this 'Ash' character were actual friends.

"Don't roll your eyes at me." He chided.

"Checking in?" Before their conversation could go any further the young lady sitting at the sign-in desk spoke up.

Flashing the young, but still older than him, woman a charming smile as he leaned slightly on the table. "Yes, I am. Gary Oak, at your pleasure."

"Whoa! This place is huge! Way bigger than I was expecting." Ash and Misty were standing at the gate of the institute, surprised by the size of the campus and the number of people that were meandering about.

"Well Graham did say that there were a bunch of different labs. How does it compare to Professor Oak's?" Misty asked from her place beside him.

"Mmm, the main building at the ranch is two stories just like this but it's only about as long as one of these wings." Not wanting to give the wrong idea he quickly added, "But the Professor does have a lot of satellite buildings spread through out his property for different purposes."

Crossing the threshold of the open iron gate Misty took notice of the two wooden murals that were attached to doors. "Oh wow, these are beautiful." On the right door was a Butterfree and on the left was Beedrill.

Looking at them Ash couldn't help but agree. "Yeah, I bet they took a lot of hard work to make them." Each was a circular piece of fine wood with a diameter comparable to the span between Ash's elbows if he held his arms out. Carved into the circular wooden plates were extremely intricate etchings of the two fully evolved bug types that Viridian Forest was known for. The level of detail was so great that even the veins of the wings were present on both.

After a brief moment to appreciate the wooden drawings, they started to make their way down the path. Ash observed the amount of people milling about the lawn of the courtyard. "Lot more people here than I expected. A lot don't look like rookies."

Misty added in her own observations. "A good number of them seem to be employees, but I also recognize a few of them as coordinators from Contests that I've seen on TV."

"Graham didn't say anything about the contest being for rookies only, so that makes some sense. I didn't know you were interested in Pokemon Contests, though."

"I'm not really. The only one I watch religiously is the Wallace Cup because of the emphasize on water Pokemon. My sisters though used to watch Contests all the time so I've seen quite a few."

"Wonder why so many coordinators would be interested in the Bug Catching Contest?"

Thinking it over herself, Misty thought back to the Gym Leader that had accompanied them through the final stretch of Viridian Forest. "If I remember right Graham said that one of the studies that he was in charge of was looking into Wurmple's evolution method. Beautifly is a real popular choice for coordinators from what I've seen."

"Oooh, that makes sense. If your right then I bet even Dustox are pretty popular too thanks to their bright colors."

"At least more than the comparatively drab Venomoth. Probably."

Following the signs and verbal instructions from the staff members they walked into the lobby of the building. Security guards sitting behind the main desk opposite the door glanced at them before pointing over to the side at two folding tables by the wall and then returning to their business.

"Hello! Are both of you here for the Bug Catching Contest?" The peppy girl behind the folding table asked as they approached.

"No, just he is." Misty pointed at him.

"Excellent!" She turned her full attention to him. "Do you know how the contest works?"

"Uh, no not really." He replied honestly.

"Okay, well the rules are pretty simple. You pay a small fee and we give you three of these Park-balls." She held up the type of Poke-ball that she was talking about. The bottom half was the typical shade of white that most Poke-balls had, but the top was a very dark green, like the color of an evergreen tree. His eyes were almost instinctively drawn to the small red marks above the release button. They were shaped like small fangs or claws, flat on top and curved inward to a fine point.

Ash thought that the front of the ball suited a Bug Catching Contest as it appeared to have something similar to a butterfly or a moth-like pattern on the front. Four long stripes that ended in a rounded point spread out diagonally from the center button, each three or four times thicker than the black band that cut every Poke-ball in half. A much lighter green than the one that made up the top hemisphere, they spread out from the central button in four different directions. The two that spread out along the top portion of sphere went halfway around the hemisphere while the bottom half was slightly shorter.

"Don't worry about the fee, it's small. It's just to cover the price of the Park-balls." She elaborated. "You'll have two hours to explore the wooded fenced-in area behind the institute. During that time you can catch any Pokemon that you want. You have the opportunity to catch just one Pokemon or use all three of the Park-balls. If you have three Pokemon caught already and want something else, then you'll have to release one. Keep in mind that the Pokemon will fight back and try to run away, so I recommend that before you release something you make sure that you really want the new Pokemon and have a good chance of catching it."

"So it's not just about looking for Pokemon, you have to really use your judgment on when to use your few Park-balls." Misty stated.

"That's right! As soon as you catch something that you really like you can exit the catching zone whenever you want. You can also stay in the catching zone and keep looking until the time limit is reached. Once the time limit is reached though the Park-balls will lock and no one will be able to catch anything else."

"I won't be the only one looking for Pokemon though, so the longer it goes on the harder it'll be to fine something." Ash considered.

"Sounds like it's best to catch stuff early so you're guaranteed to get something and then keep looking afterwards for something different." Misty theorized.

The person at the sign-in desk smiled at their understanding. "That is a pretty common tactic. After you find something that you want to keep, or the time runs out, you have to present your catch to at the evaluation table."

"Evaluation table?" He parroted.

"That's right. At the evaluation table you turn in your Park-balls and chose one of the Pokemon you caught to keep. They'll unlock that Park-ball while collecting the others. Aside from that some of the Pokemon that have been released into the catching zone are rarer or harder to catch than others and the judges have assigned them points that only they know to represent their difficulty. The people who catch the three rarest Pokemon receive a prize."

"Ooo, what're the prizes?" Misty asked curiously.

The girl giggled at her curiosity. "You'll have to wait until the winner is announced."

Deciding not to focus on the prize Ash asked some more questions. "You said that the Pokemon will try to fight back? And that the Park-balls need to be unlocked?"

"That's right, once you catch something the Park-ball will automatically lock. You can release a Pokemon from a locked Park-ball but they'll be released for real and you'll have to capture them all over again." He nodded in understanding and she answered his other question. "All of the Pokemon are used to being around humans so don't worry about getting hurt, but to them this a big game and they'll try to avoid capture as much as possible. Battling against them is okay and you're allowed to take a single Pokemon with you to battle and help you look for bug types. Like I said the Park-balls will be locked automatically so you won't be able to use any Pokemon you catch to battle."

"I can only take one, huh?" He wasn't expecting that. "Hmmm, who do I take?" He muttered to himself.

"You're better off going with Hoothoot or Fletchling. They can actually help you look for Pokemon." Misty offered.

"Yea, that's a good idea. Thanks Misty." Stroking his chin he thought about the two avians. "Hoothoot would be better for looking, but Fletchling would be better for battling."

The girl behind the table slid an application across the table. "I just need you to fill out this form and I'll need your trainer ID and what Pokemon you plan on using. I'll also take the entrance fee now, cash and credit are both accepted. "

Unzipping his pants pocket and pulling his trainer's license, in addition to a few bills out of his wallet, he placed them on the table. "I plan on using Fletchling for the contest. And I'll pay cash."

Writing down the information she needed from his trainer license on her own form she replied without even looking up. "That's great!"

Once he filled out the basic information for the form he slid it back to her and she handed him the original Park-ball that she had showed them in addition to two others. "Thank you! We don't let people into the catching zone with more than the Pokemon registered to them, if you don't have someone to hold your extra Pokemon then you can turn them in at the table to the left and you can pick them up after. Have fun!"

"Thank you."

"Have a nice day." As they moved away from the table Misty said to him, "I'll watch over Treecko and Hoothoot for you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"I overheard that your going with Fletchling Ashy-boy." Turning around they were met Gary standing behind, a small Growlithe at his side. "I'm surprised you made a half decent decision. Fletchling is more maneuverable and faster than your Hoothoot, so that'll help you with chasing down any bug types."

Sucking up his annoyance from his loss yesterday Ash greeted his rival. "Hey Gary." His brown eyes darted down to the fire type. The Puppy Pokemon's black eyes met his own and it yipped in greeting. "Are you entering with that Growlithe?"

"Of course. Growlithe's strong sense of smell and hearing in addition to his fire typing will make for the perfect partner in this contest." Misty stayed silent as she glared at the youngest Oak. Ash was starting to think that she disliked Gary even more than he did. "Uuum, where'd you find him Gary? I don't think Growlithe can be found in the wild around these parts."

"A trade in Pewter City. Someone was looking for a Mankey so I went out and caught one in the cliffs on the outskirts of the city." The Oak boy explained. "Growlithe and Arcanine are great Pokemon, so it was too good an opportunity."

"Yeah, Arcanine are pretty awesome Pokemon."

An awkward silence took over the group for a moment. Ash wasn't sure what to say to Gary and Misty was still actively giving him the silent glare treatment.

Even Gary was fairly unsure of what to say. 'Moments like this were easier back when we weren't rivals. Maybe I should have just ignored them and not approached.'

Thankfully the silence was broken by a newcomer. "Ash! Misty!"

The jovial call cause all three of them to turn and see the giant form of Graham approaching. He was dressed in a similar green flannel button up shirt and dark jeans that he was wearing when he was in Viridian Forest; although these were obviously much cleaner and less wrinkled than the others had been. Behind his thick bushy beard was a big smile. He paused and his black eyes blinked in surprise at the sight of the third teenager standing next to them. "Is that Gary Oak?" His smile seemed to widen a little further. "Well what a surprise! It's been a while, how are you?"

"I'm good Graham." Gary's tone was far more polite than any of the conversations that he had with Ash and Misty. "I'm looking forward to catching something in the contest."

The man's giant hands came down on one of each boy's shoulder as he laughed. "Haha! Excellent. I'm curious to see what two of Samuel's sponsored trainers manage to catch." The Gym Leader and scientist's friendliness washed over the group and filled them with a welcoming warmth. "Hey, how would you kids like a tour?"

At his question Misty broke the silence that took over her when Gary arrived. "Isn't the contest going to start soon?"

"Ha! Don't worry about it. These things never start on time; besides they need me to start it anyway, hahaha!"

Ash found himself smiling at Graham's words. "Well I can't think of a reason not to take a tour."

Just a few minutes later and the group found themselves brought through the institute and out a side door that led to a flat area off to the side of the building. Looking out at the field on the side of institute's main building, they were greeted to the sight of a dozen or so single story brick buildings. They weren't particularly large as to Ash it appeared that the base of each one looked to be about a similar size to Ash's own house back in Pallet.

"These are the buildings where we rear the bug Pokemon that we study. They don't look like much from the outside, but the insides are designed to stimulate the desired environment for the Pokemon that inhabit them."

"So what kind of Pokemon do you have here?" Misty questioned.

Before Graham could answer Ash interjected, "I bet that you have Wurmple and Beedrill here, right?"

"Wurmple yes, Beedrill no."

Gary spoke up as if he were stating the obvious. "Graham's lab studies the wild Beedrill population and their movements. They have no reason to keep Beedrill here."

"Gary's correct." Graham stated before pointing at a set of buildings to the side. "You're right about us having Wurmple here though Ash. Those three buildings over there are all housing areas for Wurmple." Aside from the numbers that were located on a plaque above the doors, the buildings were virtually identical to all of the other ones, the same brick red walls and concrete gray roof. "Why don't we take a look inside?"

The Gym Leader led them over to the closest of the buildings and gestured for them to look into one of the windows. Looking through the glass plane the three teenagers were greeted to the sight of a single large room that was filled with vegetation. The floor of the building was sodded with dirt and grass. Bushes and shrubbery lined the base of the walls, reaching just under the various tinted windows.

"Wow there are even trees in there." Misty observed about a dozen or so small deciduous trees were planted in the room and filled up the space.

Graham nodded behind the group. "Wurmple are forest dwellers that love to climb trees so we tried to plant as many as possible to best simulate their environment."

"I wasn't expecting so much greenery inside." Ash commented. Looking up at the ceiling he saw that the entire surface was an extensive sun-roof. "Ooo, a sun roof."

"Yes, replacing the roofs wasn't cheap, but it was a necessity." Graham felt a little aggravated just remembering the costs of replacing the roofs, but he pushed the feeling down and moved on.

As Gary's dark green eyes scanned the room he couldn't help but make an observation that needed to be voice, "So...where are all the Wurmple?"

"Hey yeah, I don't see any." Ash piped up in agreement.

"Do you see the boxes that are hung in the trees?" Graham asked as he pointed at one.

"Yeah, I see them." Zeroing in one tree he saw a rectangular wooden box, maybe about the same height of his head but about twice the length, attached to the trunk. It had only a single hole cut out of the front panel, which he assumed was the entrance.

"Looks like they're in most of the trees." The brunette pointed out.

Hearing the two boy's confirmation he explained, "The Wurmple are in those boxes sleeping. This habitat in particular has Wurmple that are raised to be completely nocturnal. The caretakers and researchers wake them as the sun is setting and then they treat the night as if it were daytime. They're fed, groomed, bathed, and play all while most people are asleep. They have strict bedtime; which is when the sun is starting to rise."

While Ash and Misty were being impressed by the dedication, Gary had a question. "So I assume that the hypothesis that your testing with this batch of Wurmple is that by being raised at night it increases the likely-hood that they will evolve into Cascoon?"

"That's right! Wurmple as a species operate twenty-fours a day. Like humans their daily schedule really depends on the individual, with some being early rises and others being night-owls. This changes when they evolve as Dustox is a fully nocturnal Pokemon while Beautifly is a diurnal Pokemon. The thinking here is that Wurmple who are typically more active at night causes something in their brain patterns to lean towards Cascoon when they reach their evolution point."

"Does that mean that you have a group of Wurmple that are kept awake during the day and put to bed at sunset?" Misty questioned.

"Yes ma'am. They're kept right over here." Graham crossed the small strip of grass that separated the two buildings and gestured for them to follow.

As the trio peered in through the window they were greeted to a sight that was extremely similar to the previous building. Trees, shrubs and grass made the inside of the building look like a small park. As opposed to the other building though there were at least a dozen caterpillar Pokemon with pink heads and backs and white underbellies, all being supervised by a man and a woman who were both wearing lab coats.

Looking at the small bug Pokemon's large round yellow eyes and pudgy cheeks as they squirmed across the ground and crawled up and down the trees, Ash couldn't help but comment on them. "Hey they're pretty cute."

"Of course you would think that." He had to fight the smirk at Misty's deadpanned tone. "You think Caterpie are cute."

"Aw come on Misty, you don't think they're cute at all? What about that one that's playing on the ball?" He asked as he pointed at one that was laying on top of a ball and rocking back and forth. When it tipped forward too much it would push off of the ground with the horn on its head and the ball would tip back over until the twin yellow stingers at the base of its tail would touch the ground only to be pushed off again. The small worm-like Pokemon seemed to greatly enjoy the slow rocking of the ball.

To her credit Misty eyed the happy looking bug type for almost a full minute before responding. "No."

"What's wrong red? Afraid of bugs?"

Not answering Gary's question, Misty growled out, "I told you, don't call me 'red'."

"Behavior yourselves children." Graham chided with a bit of a teasing tone.

"Sorry." All three of them responded with the same sense of embarrassment for acting up in front of a Gym Leader.

Recalling Graham's words, Gary asked a question. "You said that three buildings had Wurmple right?"

"Yes the third one is just over there." The scientist pointed off to the side at another of the buildings, which from the outside was just as identical as the others. "It's about the same as this one. In that building the Wurmple are allowed to be awake and sleep whenever they want, but for that group we strictly manage their diet."

"Why their diet?" Ash asked the question that Misty was also thinking.

"Wurmple as a species will eat just about any kind of vegetation, even poisonous berries and other plants that produce toxins. I'm almost jealous of them, as a species they have stomachs of steel. Just like how humans have different taste preferences so too do the Wurmple and so this hypothesis emerged that individual Wurmple that tend to eat a lot of berries or plants that might be toxic end up evolving into Cascoon and then Dustox."

"So you feed those Wurmple poison?" Ash's blunt question caused the Gym Leader to awkwardly scratch at his face.

"We feed them plants that are toxic to us, but not toxic to them." He clarified.

Hearing the hypothesis being tested in the third batch of Wurmple, Gary voiced his own thoughts. "That makes sense. It's not unheard for Pokemon to gain some kind of poisonous trait from absorbing toxins through their diets and Dustox are poison types."

"If you think about it it's almost similar to the way that Tyrouge evolves into Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee and Hitmontop. Tyrouge can only evolve into one of those forms by training themselves, prepping their bodies for their future form. The theory here is that by absorbing toxins through their diet they are inadvertently prepping their bodies to be a poison type." Graham elaborated.

"So has your lab made any progress in understanding the Wurmple's evolution?" Misty questioned.

"So far nothing significant. But with science sometimes learning what doesn't work is just as important as learning what does." A ringing from Graham's pocket broke up the conversation before it could continue.

Stepping away from them the Gym Leader pulled out his phone. "Hello?" The voice on the other side was just a bunch of mumbles to the three teenagers, but they could hear a tone of urgency or anger in it. "Yes, I know. I know." Based on the tone of the mumbling that they could hear it sounded like Graham's words didn't calm down the other person. "Okay, okay. I'll be right there. Yes, I promise."

Slipping his phone into his pocket the Gym Leader turned to look back at the three young trainers. With a loud clap of his hands and a strained smile he addressed them. "Okay! Contest is about to start, so let's get going."

And with that he ushered the kids away from the Wurmple area and towards where the contest would be happening.

They were led around the back of the building and through a thin grove of trees that separated the back of the building from a small clearing where a temporary stage was set up.

"Good afternoon all!" Graham's greeting from his place on top of the small stage was met with the crowds clapping.

"It's great to see so many people here that are interested in catching a new bug type friend. I'm sure many of you are excited to get started so I won't bore you with a speech. Trainers, you'll have two hours to run around the fenced-in area behind me." He gestured to the wooded area behind him. Holding up a Park-ball so that everyone could see it he continued. "During that time you are allowed to catch any Pokemon that you want, but you only have three Park-balls so make your choices carefully. And remember that they might try to fight back, so the Pokemon you picked as your partner will be important." His eyes scanned over the crowd to make sure that his instructions were clear. "We'll announce when the time is up over the speaker system, but you can choose to return whenever you wish. At that time please report to the evaluation table here by the stage in order to have the Park-ball your keeping unlocked. Remember that you'll only be able to keep one of the Pokemon that you catch and any others you catch will be handed over at the evaluation table at the end."

Seeing the anticipation and excitement in the eyes of the various trainers he smiled and figured that they had waited enough. "And with that all said, GO START CATCHING!"

With those words the dozens of trainers present charged forward with cheers of excitement.

Rushing into the wooden area that existed behind the institute, Ash kept his eyes open for anything of interest. Vaguely he was aware of Gary and his Growlithe disappearing behind some trees, but he kept his focus on looking for wild Pokemon.

Fletchling flew just ahead of him, black eyes looking for anything. Zeroing in on something almost immediately after entering the treeline of the woods she chirped out.

Tucked up into a tree was a white Pokemon that was almost completely spherical. The red eyes that peered out from underneath the silky bangs looked bored or maybe even tired. Park-ball in hand Ash considered whether or not he should catch this Silcoon. He didn't really mind a Beautifly, Misty would probably like it, but what if there was something that suited him more? He wasn't quite sure if it felt right about catching it and then releasing it.

The decision was made for him when a Park-ball flew out of nowhere and tapped the Silcoon on the side. Vanishing in a cloud of red energy the Silcoon disappeared and the Park-ball fell to the ground where it wiggled three times before falling still.

"Yes!" A girl's exclamation startled him as she popped into his line of sight. A Pidgey on her shoulder she grabbed the Park-ball with a huge smile on her face. "Can't wait for a Beautifly!" Without even addressing Ash or Fletchling she turned and ran off back towards the stage.

Fletchling's disappointed trill made him flinch. "Sorry Fletchling. That was on me; I hesitated."

"Alright I got a Silcoon!"

"I caught a Cascoon!"

Looking to the side Ash saw another two trainers proudly holding their Park-balls. He knew going in that the longer that the contest went on the harder it would be to find a Pokemon, but it was starting to sink in just how quickly people would start to catch Pokemon.

"Alright I caught a Wurmple!"

Hearing yet another happy cry he started running. "Come on Fletchling!" She chirped as flew right after him.

"Come on Ash! What are you doing?!" Misty was sitting a wooden bench watching one of the many screens that surrounded the stage that Graham was standing on earlier. She had just seen Ash lose the opportunity to catch what she thought was a Silcoon, or was it a Cascoon? They looked so alike it was hard to tell.

"Ash was probably questioning whether or not he really wanted to catch that Silcoon." Startled slightly by the voice suddenly speaking up behind her, she whipped her head around and was greeted to Graham standing behind her.

"Oh! Hi Graham. He should know that he can just release it at the end of the contest if he finds something he'd rather keep."

"Yeah I'm sure he does, but knowing Ash he probably would have felt bad about releasing it in favor of something else."

"Sigh, that does sound like Ash. That thinking isn't going to help him though."

"True, but you have do respect him for it." The Gym Leaser smiled.

"You called that a Silcoon right? That's one of Wurmple's possible evolutions?"

"Right, Silcoon evolves in Beautifly. Cascoon looks very similar, just its silk coating is more purple, and it evolves into Dustox."

"What's with all the cocoons and the Wurmple anyway? There sure are a lot of them." Looking at the various screens around the stage she saw that many trainers were encountering and catching them. The trainers seemed pretty happy to find them too.

"You saw the Wurmple that we're currently working with in the annex buildings. These Silcoon and Cascoon are the ones from the previous group of Wurmple. We have three different groups of Wurmple going at any time, but what we're interested in is what they evolve into, so once the they evolve we don't have any particular reason to keep them."

"So you put them in the Catching Contest to find them new homes." She concluded.

"That's right. And the trainers are so happy to catch them because they're coordinators that are looking for Beautifly and Dustox."

'Well that confirms my thoughts from earlier.' "And the Wurmple? Shouldn't they have evolved for your study before they got released for the contest?"

"The unevolved Wurmple in the contest are as a result of breeding within our groups. They lay the eggs and we pick a few as candidates for the next round of testing and try to find homes for others."

"Huh, well that all-," Her eyes caught activity on the screens that stopped her from finishing her statement, "Looks like Ash ran into another Pokemon!"

Looking at one of the screens he caught sight of the same sight that Misty did. Ash and Fletchling were currently chasing after a red and green flier.

"Peck!" Fletchling flew forward towards the Yanma, intent on slamming her beak into it, but the red dragonfly zoomed out of the way with a Quick Attack.

Its green goggle like eyes zeroed in on the Kalosian bird before it started beating its wings as they glowed. The Sonic Boom that erupted from it forced Fletchling to veer off and smashed into a branch of a tree, breaking it completely.

Using the brief distraction that the falling branch caused the Yanma zipped off around some trees.

"After it Fletchling!" Ash led the charge, chasing after the dragonfly. Having seen some of what Graham's Yanmega was capable of made Ash want to capture this Pokemon. If he could catch it he would be happy and would call it a good day, then turn right around and go back to the evaluation table.

Making it around the trees Ash managed to catch sight of Yanma narrowly avoid an Ember only for a Park-ball to hit it in the face.

"Oh no!" Seeing the green and white sphere fall to the ground and wiggle around caused his heart to drop.

"You snooze, you lose Ashy-boy." Head snapping to the side Ash practically growled at the sight of Gary stepping toward the now locked capture ball with a prideful look, Growlithe following at his side.

"I was gonna catch that Yanma Gary!"

Had Gary known that someone, even if that someone was Ash, was already chasing Yanma then he wouldn't have tried to catch it; etiquette and sportsmanship and all that. But he didn't know and now Yanma was his. Sure he could release it for Ash to catch, but that would have been too nice of a thing to do and Yanma had a lot of potential to be a good addition to the team. Besides he had caught surprisingly easily, if Ash hadn't then that said more about Ash than it did him anyway.

"Sorry Ashy-boy, but for now Yanma's mine." His casual tossing up and down of the ball seemed to make other boy even more annoyed. "If it makes you feel better I plan continuing to look around until the time limit. Depending on what's available to catch in this contest I might release it and you can try again."

Ash just growled in response before turning towards Fletchling. "Come on Fletchling, let's keep looking. Maybe there's another Yanma."

Continuing to toss the Park-ball up and down Gary watched as his rival stormed off. 'Sorry about that Ash, really, but I'm sure you'll find something else that's interesting; you always do.'

Fletchling's black eyes peered back into the yellow ones of the Wurmple. When she tilted her head, it tilted its head too.

"Leave the Wurmple alone." Ash chided over his shoulder as he looked among the trees. If it came down to it he would happily train a Wurmple, he'd happily train any Pokemon really, but until it got to that point he wanted to look for something that suited his battle style more than one of Wurmple's evolutions would.

Heeding his words she bid the caterpillar Pokemon farewell before she jumped and flapped her wings. Landing on top of her trainer's head she joined him as he looked around for anything else.

"I don't see anything. You?"

Fletchling cooed negatively as she shook her head.

"Hmmm, there were a lot of Silcoon and Cascoon near the start and we've been seeing a lot of Wurmple the last few minutes. I guess that makes sense though right?" Fletchling stayed quiet and just listened. She knew that he was just talking to himself; he did it pretty often. "Silcoon and Cascoon don't move much so they wouldn't travel too far from opening of the contest area. Wurmple can move a bit more, but they're not speedsters so finding them about here in the middle is about right."

With a snap of his fingers he had a realization. "If we go all the way to the back of the catching area we'll probably find a lot more unique Pokemon."

Gary had made the same realization that Ash had and had been making his way towards the back of the catching zone since the contest started. Growlithe's sharp senses had proved invaluable along the way as they had encountered a lot of different bug Pokemon. Currently Growlithe was leading them towards something that was very different as a just a few minutes ago he raised his head from sniffing the ground, his ears perked up in attention, before barking excitedly. Whatever it was that he had smelt had to have been very different from anything they had seen so far.

Coming to a stop the Puppy Pokemon growled as he pointed forward with his nose. Sticking out from behind some bushes was a long dark colored rod that ended in a semi-circular bulge on each side.

"What's that?" It bobbed back and forth just slightly so he thought it might be a Pokemon. His suspicion was confirmed when whatever was behind the bush raised itself up, revealing an oval shaped exoskeleton that stood comparable to his own body in terms of height. A single antennae that ended in a circular knob poked up from each side of the large central horn that emerged from its forehead. "A Heracross?!" Even while trying to whisper, as to not startle it, the surprise and excitement in his voice was clear.

'Of course! Stupid! Should've realized that was the horn of a female Heracross.'

Unfortunately he already had three Pokemon captured so he would have to release one. A Heracross was too valuable to pass up. Yanma was a good backup so he decided to keep that one. The Wurmple that he had captured near the beginning had some potential. After catching Yanma and the run-in with Ash he also managed to come across a Combee. Unfortunately for him he had forgotten whether or not the absence of the red mark meant it was a male or a female. Checking his Pokedex afterward he had learned that his guess had been wrong and it was male, which meant that the one he caught was incapable of evolving.

Tapping the release button on the Park-ball, Combee materialized in front of him. "Sorry Combee, but I would really like to try to catch that Heracross over there."

The Combee didn't seem to mind as his three faces smiled in understanding and buzzed off in another direction. Unfortunately for him though the Heracross had heard Combee's buzzing and after it's yellow saw Gary it turned and ran.

"Shit!" Gary cursed as the beetle Pokemon ran off. "Let's go Growlithe."

His companion yipped as he took the lead. The chase lasted for a few minutes, during which time several other participants took notice of the desirable fleeing Pokemon. Several of the other trainers abandoned whatever they were looking for and joined; clearly the idea of adding a Heracross to a team was just too tempting.

The Single Horn Pokemon managed to keep ahead of the various humans. Her short legs weren't great for running, but her wings carried her heavy body well enough. A Murkrow flew past her as it tried to use Peck. An Elekid's Thundershock forced her to the left. Swinging her arm up with a Brick Break she batted back the Growlithe that had started this chase when it jumped at her with a Fire Fang.

"That Heracross is attracting a lot of attention." Looking at the screens Misty saw at least four trainers trying to catch it.

"Can't say I'm surprised that she triggered a raid battle, Heracross are powerful Pokemon. Just their physical strength alone is desirable."

"I haven't seen any others so far."

"That Heracross is the only one in the competition. The other one that was being studied decided that it didn't want to take part in this was instead relocated by Pokemon Rangers to a suitable wild habitat."

She flinched as Gary's Growlithe took the Brick Break and fell into a Machop. "Oh, that's gotta hurt."

"Tell your Pokemon to watch what it's doing!"

Gary frowned as the Machop's trainer half yelled at him. His frown deepened further as Machop threw Growlithe off not so gently.

"Why don't you and your Pokemon watch what you're doing?!" He snapped back. "I was trying to catch that Heracross first!"

Said Pokemon watched the two boys arguing with each other as she hovered in the air. She stopped watching them as Murkrow reappeared and tried to swipe at her with its wing, but she moved to the side and avoided it. She was nearly hit by a Thunder Punch as the Elekid jumped at her but she sent it flying back with another Brick Break.

"You okay Elekid?!"

Hearing the electric type's trainer call out to it pulled Gary away from his argument with the Machop's trainer. 'I don't have time to argue with this loser.' "Growlithe! Ember!"

Blasting the series of small fireballs at the beetle Pokemon, it struck home and Heracross closed her wing case and dropped to the ground. Landing on her feet she crossed her arms in front of her and blocked the attack from her face as best she could. Glowing white needles burst from her mouth and the Pin Missile struck Growlithe the flank as he tried to dodge.

"Meet power with power!" Taking advantage of Growlithe falling to the ground from the Pin Missile, Machop followed its trainer's order and leaped forward with its arm encased in orange energy. Heracross swung her own Brick Break and met the fighting type head on. The two fighting type moves clashed, both struggling for power.

The slight burns on her arms caused Heracross to grimace and Machop found itself struggling against an opponent that was larger than it. Pushing off of each other the two Pokemon stumbled back a step, but Heracross stomped her foot to regain her balance and lowered her head to side before sweeping it and smashing her prominent horn into Machop's side. The force was enough to send the small fighting type flying.

"Aerial Ace!" Murkrow disappeared from sight before reappearing right behind Heracorss, trails of white energy streaking off of it. The dark type crashed into the back of Heracross's legs and the beetle fell on its back. Capitalizing on the opportunity Murkrow's trainer threw a Park-ball at the downed Pokemon.

"NO!"

"Shit!"

The trainers of Elekid and Machop, both upset, shouted out. Gary watched silently from his place by Growlithe's side, having approached after he was struck by the Pin Missile, as the green and white sphere rocked back and forth. All four trainers eyed the capture ball with tensed bodies and held breath for nearly a full minute as Heracross refused to settle in.

Finally the sphere stopped moving and the release button flashed yellow with an audible click before it turned a dull red to signify that it was locked.

"YES!" Murkrow's trainer actually jumped in joy at the sight, her dark type cawing out in its own celebration.

Machop's trainer was far less happy as he cursed. "Fuck!"

"Aaaawww maaan." Elekid's trainer was just as unhappy but refrained from cursing, instead running his palms through his hair with a frustrated look on his face. The electric type patted his leg in a form of comfort.

Gary grit his teeth before breathing deeply through his nose. His eyes looked over at Growlithe and softened. "You okay?"

The Puppy Pokemon's whine was enough to tell him that he wasn't perfect, but he was okay.

Patting his Pokemon's head he stood up. "Come on. Yanma is a pretty good Pokemon anyway. Probably even a winner." He tried to tell himself. "But let's see if we can find something else."

Walking away from the other trainers he managed to hold it in for a few minutes, just enough that they were out of sight and earshot.

"Damn it!" Growlithle yelped in surprise as he smashed his fist into one of the trees. "Argh! Fuck!" His knuckles aching and his bleeding, he held his wrist as he cursed. "Fuck that hurt!"

A sad whine distracted him from his pain momentarily. Growlithe was looking up at him in a mixture of shock and fear; his tail tucked between his legs and his ears flat against his head. Gary's dark green eyes softened at the sight. Crouching down he held out his good hand, "I'm sorry Growlithe. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just...really frustrated that they screwed us over like that." 'Guess I deserve this after what happened with Ash.'

Ears still flat against his head, Growlithe approached before gently licking his bloody knuckles. "Thanks boy. I appreciate it." He patted his Pokemon's head. The feel of the soft puffy tuft on top of his head in combination with the warm saliva momentarily soothed him from the pain.

The Park-ball made contact with the deep yellow face of the Combee. The ball shook around a few times before falling still and the central button flashed yellow with a click just before it locked.

"Yes!" Cheering Ash picked up the capture device. Fletchling flew circles around him, singing a cheery song. "Now let's see." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his Pokedex and checked the newest addition to his registry.

Combee the Tiny Bee Pokemon. A Bug and Flying type. They swear fealty to a queen Pokémon and work diligently to gather nectar. It collects and delivers honey to its colony. Each swarm produces a different flavor of honey.

This Combee is Male and has the ability Honey Gatherer.

"Neat." He looked up at the small bird still flying around him. Scrolling down the page a bit he saw Combee's evolution line. "I knew that Combee evolves into Vespiquen, but it looks like only the females evolve."

Fletchling chirped questioningly.

"Nah I don't really mind if a Pokemon can't or doesn't want to evolve. That being said we do still have two Park-balls left so I still want to keep looking. Especially since I don't know how much interest this little guy has in battling. Not every Pokemon enjoys battling after all."

The Tiny Robin Pokemon nodded her head in agreement with his words. Her older brother Fletchinder was strong, but wasn't particularly interested in combat.

"Y'know though, if I keep him and he doesn't have much interest in battling then I can always send him back to Pallet as a gift to my mom. Bet he'd be a big help with her garden."

Looking at the picture on the screen he couldn't help but compare it to Beedrill. "Combee is a lot cuter than Beedrill that's for sure, but it's still kind of weird looking." What was weird was that it's body was formed of three yellow and orange hexagonal sections that resembled honeycombs stuck together to form the shape of a triangle pointed downward; with each honeycomb having it's own face. "The faces are cute, y'know with their small black eyes and little smiles, but the body it definitely unusual."

"Combee, huh? I guess I can live with that." Ash's capture of Combee managed to be caught by one of the many cameras throughout the catching zone.

"So you're okay with a Combee, Misty?" Graham questioned from his spot on the bench beside her.

"I mean, they have cute faces I guess. And they make honey which is cool." They were shallow reasons to like something perhaps, but she couldn't help how she felt. "Better than a Beedrill anyway."

"Usually not for a battler though." His comment caused her to look him in curiosity. "That looked like one of the male Combee that were released. Male Combee don't evolve and in their unevolved form they aren't as powerful as a Beedrill."

"I know that Combee can be found in Kanto, I remember seeing some in the forests around Cerulean, but are Combee native to the Viridian Forest? I don't remember seeing any."

"No, too many Beedrill in Viridian. Beedrill are too aggressive for Combee to compete for resources with. Pokemon that share a habitat with Beedrill have to have some way to counter them. Butterfree for instance learn a large variety of psychic type moves, which are super effective against the poison type Beedrill. Another example are Venomoth, they're largely nocturnal so they avoid Beedrill completely."

"Oooh, I get it. That's why a lot of Combee honey often comes from Sinnoh then. You said there are fewer Beedrill in the Sinnoh region because of the colder climate."

"Exactly, and so with less Beedrill the Combee population is much larger in Sinnoh. That's actually why we have Combee here at the institute. One of the labs is researching ways for Combee and Beedrill to coexist in similar habitats."

"Why?" She had always understood that messing with the balance of nature was a questionable thing.

"Combee are phenomenal pollinators. Because of human activity and changing climates some areas of the world have seen disruptions in the activity of some pollinators, which affects other flora and fauna. The hope is that by raising Combee in those areas it will help rebound the wild populations."

"But some areas have Beedrill populations that will prevent the Combee from working?" She questioned.

Graham smiled happily as she pieced the information together. "That's right! That's why one of my colleagues is looking into how to they can coexist."

Rounding around some trees Ash caught sight of another trainer with an Oddish at her side staring down a Pokemon he had never seen before. Almost completely circular, the bright red shell was covered in numerous holes that were rimmed by white lumps. It kind of looked like a turtle with its four legs and head coming out of those holes.

"Sweet Scent Oddish." The other trainer's command was emphasized by her pointing towards the small Pokemon. The yellow worm-like head turned towards her, the small beady eyes looking at the grass type as the fan-like leaves on top of its body shook and rustled, a cloud of pink powder floated out from it. As the Sweet Scent fell over the unknown Pokemon its eyes became clouded and its head waved back and forth slightly. Its four worm-like legs, which seemed to mimic the head, wiggled through the grass as it started moving towards Oddish in a daze.

Even from his position several feet away he could smell the wonderful aroma of Sweet Scent. He actually had to stop Fletchling from flying over towards the grass type.

Priming a Park-ball in hand Oddish's trainer waited until the red and yellow Pokemon was close enough before she tossed it. Hitting the mesmerized Pokemon on the side of its red shell the ball opened and the bug converted in energy before being sucked in. The sphere wiggled side to side a few times, before it stopped and the button flashed yellow before settling into a dull red.

"Alright!" The girl jumped with a cheer before running over to pick up the Park-ball. Clutching the green and white sphere in her hands she smiled brightly as Oddish skipped happily around her. "We caught it! We caught it!"

The sound of clapping stopped her and Oddish's celebration. As Ash fully walked out from behind the tree the girl's face exploded red and she started sputtering. "Ah-wh-hi-ahem" She finally cleared her throat, "Um, hi."

Ash just smiled at her meek reply. "Hi, sorry to spy on you. I came across you by coincidence, but I couldn't help but stay and watch. Nice catch!" Fletchling chirped happily in agreement.

"Oh, thanks." Smiling awkwardly she rubbed the back of her head. "I was really looking for a Shuckle and so I'm really glad to have found one."

"Shuckle? Is that what it's called?" He was reaching for his Pokedex to look it up as she replied.

"That's right! I want to open my own pharmacy one day and Shuckle can make delicious juice that can have medicinal purposes."

Shuckle, the Mold Pokémon. A Bug and Rock Type. When Shuckle places organic materials in its husk-like shell, the items are transformed into a unique juice. Shuckle are naturally shy and are most often found hiding beneath rocks.

"Depending on what "organic materials"," she quoted the Pokedex, "that you put in their shell you can produce different types of juices with different purposes and flavors."

"Huh that's pretty cool. Hey you haven't seen any Yanma around have you? I was chasing one earlier, but it...got away." Leaving out the fact that someone else caught it was probably best. He was hoping though that another may be fluttering around.

"'Fraid not, sorry. But I did see a Pokemon that I've never seen before a bit back there." She pointed off to the side. "I tried to catch it, but it burrowed underground and disappeared."

"Underground?"

"Yeah one minute it was there and the next it was gone. I swear it was as fast as a Nincada at digging."

An unknown Pokemon that excelled at digging? That sounded promising. "Thanks for the heads up." Fletchling chirped in a pleasant tone at the girl to show her own gratitude.

As he walked off in the direction that she had seen the unusual Pokemon he heard her say, "Good luck!"

Wandering about in the general area that the girl had seen the unusual Pokemon, Ash had Fletchling looking around from above for any disruptions in the ground.

After almost ten minutes of looking in circles and coming across some signs of a burrower in the area, they still hadn't seen any new Pokemon. "There's definitely something around here, there're holes all over the place." None of the holes seemed to have anything in them though. It's true that there could have been something further in, down the tunnel a bit, but he wasn't about to stick his arm into them.

Fletchling, from her perch on a branch above him, trilled disappointingly.

Before he could decide if he wanted to keep looking or try his luck by looking for something else, the speakers screeched to life. The sharp whine grating his ears and making him flinch.

"ATTENTION TRAINERS! THERE ARE FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LEFT OF THE CONTEST! YOU CAN LEAVE THE CATCHING ZONE AT ANY POINT! REMEMBER TO STOP AT THE EVALUATION TABLE TO SHOW YOUR CAPTURE TO THE JUDGES IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THE GRAND PRIZE AND TO HAVE THE PARK-BALL OF YOUR CHOICE UNLOCKED!"

"Only forty-five minutes, huh? Alright Fletchling-"

The rustling of leaves interrupted him. Just a few feet away a splotch of decaying leaves rustled as the dirt underneath was churned up. He and Fletchling were both quiet as a white head emerged from beneath the ground. Two long whisker-like antennae protruded from its snout, twitching wildly as they picked up pheromones from the air. Light green irises and black sclera peered around as it swerved its head. Later Ash would suspect that it was brought up by the audio from the speaker announcement and was investigating.

Ash wasted no time in ripping a capture ball off of his belt and priming it. Nincada's gaze seemed to make contact with his eyes just as he tossed the green and white sphere, but it didn't have time to react.

Ash and Fletchling watched the sphere closely with held breath as it rocked back of forth quite violently. The Tiny Robin Pokemon was tensed and ready to jump into action should the need arise. When the ball finally stopped shaking and the button flashed yellow with an audible click they both released a sigh of relief.

Standing up straight after having slouched in relief with his sigh, Ash strode forward and picked up the ball with a smile. The dull red glow of the release button was a welcomed sight. "Sweet! A Nincada would be a great addition to the team. You know I think I might have to choose this one over Combee."

As Fletchling landed on his shoulder she chirped inquisitively with a tilt of her head.

At her confusion he elaborated. "Nincada are bug and ground type Pokemon, but when they evolve they become a super cool flying type called Ninjask. Ninjask are super fast and are known to be partner Pokemon of ninjas. Ninjas! Can you believe how cool that is?!"

Fletchling didn't know what a 'ninja' was or why her trainer was so excited but she found Ash's excitement over it was contagious.

Nincada, the Trainee Pokemon. A Bug and Ground Type. It lives underground until it is ready to evolve. Sensing its surroundings is done with its antennae as its eye are virtually blind.

This Nincada is Female and has the ability Compound Eyes.

As the monotone voice of his Pokedex stopped talking he focused in on the picture of the Nincada. It was enough to cause him to pause his excitement over this new catch as he remembered something. "Hmm, y'know that girl said that whatever Pokemon she ran into was 'as fast as a Nincada at digging', which means it wasn't a Nincada that she ran into." An excited look over took his face at the epiphany. "That means that there's still might be a mystery Pokemon out there!"

Understanding his point her own excitement grew and she trilled to show it.

His own smile widening at his partner's happiness, he felt confident in continuing their search. "Let's keep looking for that mystery Pokemon. If we can't find it, or we don't like it, then we still have Nincada to add to the team."

"ATTENTION TRAINERS! THERE ARE FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LEFT OF THE CONTEST! YOU CAN LEAVE THE CATCHING ZONE AT ANY POINT! REMEMBER TO STOP AT THE EVALUATION TABLE TO SHOW YOUR CAPTURE TO THE JUDGES IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THE GRAND PRIZE AND TO HAVE THE PARK-BALL OF YOUR CHOICE UNLOCKED!"

Looking up at the speaker that was attached to a tree, Gary frowned at the announcement. "Forty-five minutes, huh?" He muttered more to himself than to Growlithe. "Well that's plenty of time to keep looking for something; that's assuming that there's anything good left. By this point I bet a lot of trainers have already captured three Pokemon and withdrawn from the contest."

Growlithe looked up at his trainer, curious about what he wanted to do. "Mmmm, I doubt there's another Heracross around here, and even if there was I'm sure that someone else already captured it. They're too valued and to big to hide." The fire puppy nodded his head in agreement. That Heracross dwarfed any other Pokemon he had seen in this contest, even the ones that accompanied trainers, and it was strong enough to give four Pokemon a challenge. "I still want to keep looking, maybe we can find a Nincada; we did see a trainer catch one earlier. One of them wouldn't be bad for the team. Not sure whether or not a Nincada is better than a Yanma, but having Yanma as a back-up sure is reassuring. Yamega can be beasts in battle after all."

Gary's suspicions about people already withdrawing the contest was proven correct as time passed. Over the following twenty minutes they saw less and less of both trainers and bug Pokemon. By this point the only Pokemon he had spotted were a sparse few Wurmple and Combee, specifically male Combee.

The lack of any distinctive Pokemon and the ticking clock was starting to irritate Gary. 'Is there serioulsy nothing good left? I knew going in that Wurmple's line and Combee would be the most numerous, but I didn't think it would be this extreme.' Stewing in his own frustration, his thoughts went back to that Heracross. 'Can't believe such a great Pokemon got away. If those other dweebs hadn't interfered then I would have had one of the most desirable bug types in the four regions. Hell even overseas Heracross is popular Pokemon.'

Seeing the frown on his trainer's face and the occasional growls in anger, Growlithe could tell that Gary was berating himself over the missed opportunity to catch Heracross. He wanted to make him happy, but the only scents that he could pick up were that of Wurmples and Combee.

Suddenly his ears perked up and he stopped walking. A new sound filled the forest. Tilting his head in the direction of the noise he focused in on it. Buzzing. Less loud than Yanma's beating wings but moving faster for sure.

"What is it Growlithe?"

The fire type whipped his head to side that the noise was coming from and hoped to warn his trainer of the approaching Pokemon, but before he could give any proper warning a black and gold mass blitzed out from the trees and crossed over head. Both trainer and Pokemon swerved their heads over to the tree that the new Pokemon landed on.

Gary recognized the black and gold color scheme of Ninjask immediately. While holding out a hand in front of Growlithe to stop him from attacking, he carefully pulled the last of his empty Park-balls off of his belt. Ninjask's two pairs of legs, the anterior ones being significantly longer than the posterior ones, stabbed into the bark as it climbed up the tree's trunk.

It was hard to discern because of the beady unblinking red eyes of Ninjask, but Gary was sure that the Ninja Pokemon was focused on him. He moved slowly so as to not startle it. While he could have had Growlithe try to attack and weaken it for capture, there was too great a chance of it fleeing at any provocation. Ninjask were so fast, and with the time limit almost reached, if it bolted then he would probably never catch it.

Slowly he reared back his arm, all the while never taking his dark green eyes off of the cicada. Eyeing it even as his arm reached the optimal position to throw the sphere. He waited until he was sure that the Pokemon wasn't tensed and ready to jump off.

With a snap he tossed the green and white capture ball as fast as he could. His eyes failed to catch what exactly happened due to how quickly it occurred, but the Park-ball bounced off of the tree trunk while Ninjask hovered in the air just a foot away.

"Ember!" Growlithe was ready and fired a stream of small fire balls, but Ninjask proved far too fast. It avoided that attack with disgusting ease before it turned and took off into the trees. Growlithe leaped forward, ready to chase after it, but Gary called him off before he could far. "Don't bother Growlithe. We'll never catch up with it." The bug type had already disappeared completely from sight, even the buzzing of its wings was gone.

With a disappointed sigh he hung his head and ran a hand through his hair. After a moment of silence he puffed out his chest a little he took a deep breath and straightened his back. "Well that sucks, but I can't say it was outside of my expectations."

Despite being well hidden, Growlithe could hear the forced confidence in his trainer's tone. "Ninjask are world renowned for their speed after all so I knew that there was a good chance of it dodging the ball. It was worth a try though." As he said that Gary strode forward, looking for the Park-ball that had bounced off of the tree's trunk.

The Puppy Pokemon followed dutifully, but remained quiet. When things didn't work out the way that they wanted them to he knew that Gary liked to put on the act that everything was within his expectations and that a part of him had seen the failure coming. He was sure Gary was trying to convince himself of that though more than he was others.

"Finding a Nincada would have better anyway. Catching a fully evolved Ninjask completely takes away the chance to get a Shedninja."

Putting his hands on his hips the brunette looked around. "Did you see where that Park-ball landed?"

Sniffing the ground a few times Growlithe picked up the scent and led Gary over to some bushes, which the ball had landed behind. Brows furrowing in confusion, Growlithe titled his head before sticking his black nose right up against the metal sphere. With a deep whiff he identified the smell of metal and Gary, neither of which was a surprise considering it was made of metal and it had been on Gary's person. But there was a new scent that he couldn't identify. It was definitely the scent of some kind of animal as it lacked the earthly smell of plants and the metallic smell of man-made objects. It didn't smell toxic like a poison type, or bloody like a predator. Still though he growled softly as a warning when Gary began reaching for it.

Taking pause for a brief moment at his Pokemon's actions, he eyed the sphere carefully. It was then that he saw that the release button had taken on a dull red color indicating that it had locked itself and couldn't be opened save to permanently release whatever was inside. "It caught something?" Pulling his blue Pokedex out from the pocket of his skinny jeans, he checked the catch index in order to see his most recent captures. Right next to Wurmple, Combee and Yanma was the image of a completely different bug type, one that even he had never seen before.

"ATTENTION TRAINERS! THERE ARE FIFTEEN MINUTES LEFT OF THE CONTEST! YOU CAN LEAVE THE CATCHING ZONE AT ANY POINT! REMEMBER TO STOP AT THE EVALUATION TABLE TO SHOW YOUR CAPTURE TO THE JUDGES IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THE GRAND PRIZE AND TO HAVE THE PARK-BALL OF YOUR CHOICE UNLOCKED!"

"See anything Fletchling?" Ash could hear her negative chirp even from his position on the ground. They had been looking around for the last half hour and hadn't had any luck finding the mysterious Pokemon. Burrows and tunnels were fairly plentiful in the area, but nothing unusual in them. Most were empty, but they had come across another Nincada in one of them.

Aside from that Nincada and another Combee the only other Pokemon that they had come across was a Ninjask, which had zipped past them so quick that they weren't sure where it went; Ash didn't consider it a big loss though as if he kept the Nincada on him then he could evolve it into a Ninjask anyway.

Realizing the futility of the effort, Ash turned around. "Alright Fletchling let's-whoa!" He was about to start heading back toward the evaluation table, but as he put his boot down the ground under his foot cave in and he tripped.

Seeing her trainer nearly fall on his face, Fletchling flew down and landed near his head. She trilled softly in concern even as he got up. "I'm okay. Trust me I've had way worse falls."

Looking back at the hole that he fell through it seemed that a tunnel had been dug close enough to the surface that it couldn't support his weight. "Wonder who dug this? Doesn't look like a Nincada, too small for one of them." The tunnel's diameter looked about the size of his face, not even his whole head, just the face. "Nincada tunnels usually tend to go deeper than this too; I know sometimes they even go straight down."

As Ash was examining the hole, Fletchling picked up the sound of dirt shifting and churning. Looking behind her she was greeted to the sight of the dirt parting as something rose above the ground. Smacking her wing into the side of Ash's shin caught his attention and he turned and was greet to the same sight. A Pokemon which he had never seen before.

Only the head was above ground, the main body still sitting beneath the soil. The round brown face looked fairly soft, but was capped by a primarily reddish-orange chitinous structure that somewhat resembled a helmet. The edge of the hard protective structure was rimmed by a yellow band that added some color to the small Pokemon. Ash's chocolate eyes were met with the large black irises that peered out from under the head's helmet-like structure.

Freshly dug up soil filled the jagged vertical insect-like mouth. As it swung its head the giant mandibles that adorned its cheeks swept away the dirt that crowded around its new entrance hole. They were, relatively speaking, impressive pieces of equipment. Each one longer than the creature's head and face. Looking it over he briefly thought that the pair of mandibles resembled a Donphan's tusks in shape. They were far more colorful compared to a Donpahn's tusks though, the base two-thirds were yellow and the final third, which ended in a sharp tip, the same reddish-orange of its helmet structure.

"What Pokemon is that?"

The soil fell out of the mouth as it started chittering at them, more in curiosity than aggression.

Hearing that Ash was unaware of this Pokemon caused Fletchling to come to the conclusion that this was the mystery Pokemon that they were looking for. They had to try to catch it then! But if it dove underground then they might loose it. How do they keep it above ground?

There was an easy answer to that, hopefully it worked. Fletchling's feathers ruffled as the clicking noise that it was making continued. Whatever the creature was, it was clear to her that it was a little nervous at seeing them. Hopefully it would take the bait. With her mind made up she jumped to take a position in the air before chirping challengingly at the small insect.

Ash wasn't sure what she exactly she had said, but the timid burrower seemed almost caught off guard by Fletchling's challenge. It took a moment, clearly thinking things over, before it pulled itself out of the dirt completely, exposing its soft larvae-like white body and three pairs of stubby legs. It still looked nervous but its eyes hardened as it lowered its mandibles into the ground before tossing its head up and flinging soil into the air.

'It still looks nervous, but it accepted the challenge anyway.' That caused Ash to smile. He was sure that it would be a great Pokemon to train. 'Wonder if that thing its doing with its "tusks" is a threat display for whatever species it is?'

One of the things that he came to learn about on the ranch was that many species had some kind of behavior that displayed a threat. While the type of behavior varied greatly from one species to another, a threat display served a crucial purpose because while true that most Pokemon enjoyed battling, it was important to remember that there were different types of battles. Sport battles were for entertaining and the trill, but the risk of severe injuries was minimal even in wild Pokemon. Battling for mates or territory however could get extremely violent, sometimes causing severe injuries or even death. In order to avoid that kind of battle many animal species, and even some plant species, of Pokemon developed a threat display that showed their strength to discourage a potentially lethal fight.

Watching this small larvae-like Pokemon toss dirt in the air made Ash think that it was some kind flex, as if it was saying 'Look how much dirt I can throw! I'm strong enough to toss up all of this'. It would make sense that it would make a threat display toward Fletchling as she was a bird Pokemon and bird typically eat bug Pokemon.

"A battle, huh?" The smile on his face grew. "Alright bet, I like the sound of that!" Throwing his arm out, with his finger pointed at the wild Pokemon, he called out to his partner, "Peck Fletchling!"

As she lurched forward the bug opened its mouth and fired off a String Shot. It was quick, but Fletchling was quicker and she had lots of experience avoiding String Shots thanks to the journey through the Viridian Forest. The bug attempted to move out of the way, but its short legs hampered its ability to dodge, and so Fletchling's Peck sent it flying before it tumbled along the ground a few paces.

Ash held off on throwing the last Park-ball as the unknown Pokemon rolled itself over, flexing its tusk-like mandibles. Fletchling circled around and charged forward with Quick Attack. The larvae-like Pokemon squirmed forward, seeming to want to meet her head on. Ash wasn't sure what its plan was until electricity sparked and crackled over its body.

Too late to dodge, Fletchling crashed head-first in the electrified Pokemon with a cry of pain.

"Fletchling, are you okay?!"

Having been pushed back and to the ground by the super effective attack, it took her a moment to get to her feet. Once up she shook herself to clear her mind before she chirped affirmatively, which caused Ash to sigh in relief. Looking back over at the insect he saw that it was pushed back as much as Fletchling had been from their clash. It was on its feet as well, but was panting a bit already.

"I think that was Spark that it used." Looking over his Pokemon he was glad to see that she wasn't showing any signs of paralysis taking effect. 'Between taking that Peck and using a single Spark, its already showing signs of being tired. It looked pretty healthy at first so I doubt it had too much battling today that would have tired it out, so it must be a relatively young Pokemon. And for a relatively young bug Pokemon to use Spark probably means that it's also an electric type; or it maybe it will be at some point?'

Deciding that he really needed to know what he was up against he pulled out his Pokedex, all the while keeping a close eye on the bug type to make sure that it didn't try to flee.

Grubbin, the Larva Pokémon. A Bug Type. Grubbin scrapes trees with its large jaws and drinks their sap. It makes its home underground. If you find its nest, you shouldn't stick your hand inside or you'll get bitten by an irritated Grubbin.

"So it's not an electric type?" Knowing that he wouldn't be able to look more into this Pokemon, or its evolutions given the situation, he closed the device and focused entirely on what was in front of him. "That means that flying type moves would still be super effective against it and that its electric type moves won't be as powerful as if it were."

Eyeing the bug carefully she had to admit that she hadn't been expecting that electric attack. It was the first time that she had been hit by one and she had to admit that it hurt more than she thought it would.

The bug, Grubbin as Ash's Pokedex called it, hadn't left. Instead it stood firm, ready to continue the battle despite its clear exhaustion and earlier hesitation; she respected him for that. When she had first issued that challenge for a battle he had seemed surprised and nervous by the formal challenge, but he had agreed to a battle and apparently he wasn't going to back out of it.

"It's a little risky, but I don't know what Grubbin is capable of so let's try to end this fast with Peck."

With a glowing beak she flew forward. She didn't want to get shocked again, but she agreed that ending it faster was worth the risk.

Grubbin's white body scrunched up a bit and its eyes closed as electricity sparked around it as it prepared itself to attack. Eyes snapping open and body unfurling, uncontrolled electricity blasted out in all directions.

"Whoa!" Ash just narrowly avoided getting struck by one stray bolt, but Fletchling wasn't as lucky. Being so close she had been struck but the Discharge attack and cried out in pain as she was thrown to the ground. "Fletchling!"

Cutting the electric type attack Grubbin panted heavily. Lowering his head he started using his giant mandibles tear through the dirt and quickly the Larva Pokemon disappeared from sight.

"Can you fly?" Fletchling nodded at his question as she got to her feet. That last attack had hurt more than the previous one.

Just as she crouched down to jump into the air Grubbin burst from the ground, the orange and yellow mandibles clenching around her torso. The Tiny Robin Pokemon cried out in pain as they contracted around her.

"Fletchling!" Surprised by how quickly Grubbin had moved when digging, Ash was as unprepared as Fletchling was. With little options he called out, "Peck!"

Releasing a determined cry, her body temperature rose to levels uncomfortable enough that Grubbin's grip lessened slightly just as she slammed her glowing beak downward and into Grubbin's armored head.

With a strangled cry the bug type's mandibles slackened completely and Fletchling jumped out of its grasp and into the air. The Larva Pokemon went limp and collapsed to the ground. Capitalizing on the opportunity Ash threw the Park-ball, which made contact and sucked the bug type inside. Rocking back and forth a few times, the ball eventually settled and the release button flashed yellow before turning a dull red.

"Yes!" His moment of celebrating was brief as he ran over to Fletchling to check on her. "Are you okay Fletchling?" He questioned as crouched down next to her.

Aside from the slight tingling sensation from the electric attacks, her wings were a bit sore from being grabbed and squeezed like they had been. She had to stretch and move them in order to get the feeling back into them, but otherwise she was fairly okay. Grubbing definitely had a fearsome bite and she would remember that. She chirped to reassure him that she was okay.

He breathed out a sigh of relief at seeing his partner okay. "I'm glad your okay." Gently rubbing his hand over the warm soft feathers of her head he smiled at her. "You were really great, you know that?"

The flying type puffed up in pride at his praise.

Picking the Park-ball up off the ground, he turned it around in his hand a few times as if doing so would grant him some form of insight on his newest capture. He jolted slightly in surprise as Fletchling landed on his shoulder, but calmed quickly once he felt her familiar heat. Once again taking out his Pokedex he checked the newest species registered to his account.

Grubbin, the Larva Pokémon. A Bug Type.

This Grubbin is Male and has the ability Swarm.

It knows the moves Vice Grip, String Shot, Spark and Discharge.

"I guess that the last move that it, he," Ash corrected himself, "he used on you was Vice Grip." Fletchling just huffed and ruffled her wings. "Two electric type moves is pretty cool though, and he doesn't even know Dig and he was able to move through the earth that quickly. That's impressive." Before he could do anything else on the Pokedex, the intercom system came to life once again.

"ATTENTION TRAINERS! THERE ARE FIVE MINUTES LEFT OF THE CONTEST! PLEASE START MAKING YOUR WAY OUT OF THE CATCHING ZONE! REMEMBER TO STOP AT THE EVALUATION TABLE TO SHOW YOUR CAPTURE TO THE JUDGES IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THE GRAND PRIZE AND TO HAVE THE PARK-BALL OF YOUR CHOICE UNLOCKED!"

"Guess that's it, not that I can complain though. Grubbin and Nincada both seem to be great catches. Combee is not bad either, heh, Misty might even find him cute."

Fletchling trilled at him questioningly.

"Mmmm, I'm not sure which one to keep." Looking at the screen of his Pokedex he paid special attention to Grubbin's evolutionary line. "Let's look over all three's potential evolutions in the Pokedex while we walk back. Hopefully we'll have a decision by the time we make it to the evaluation table."

"ATTENTION EVERYONE! AS OF NOW THE CATCHING TIME OF THE CONTEST IS OVER! ANY UNUSED PARK-BALLS NOT USED BY THIS POINT WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY LOCKED! PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE EVALUATION TABLE AND SUBMIT YOUR CHOICE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!"

"Where is he? He's taking forever."

Graham was more relaxed as he sat back on the bench and watch the last few trainers make their way over to the evaluation table. "Don't worry Misty, Ash has time before the evaluation table closes. We know that some people like to go right up until the deadline."

The orange haired girl let out a sigh of relief. "Well that's good I guess." Looking away from the Gym Leader she muttered to herself, "I hope that he picks the Combee to keep. I can handle being around that one."

Graham, overhearing it, just chuckled in response. "Wonder what else he caught, we didn't see him catch anything on the screens after Combee."

A few more minutes after the final announcement and Ash finally emerged from out of the treeline with Fletchling perched on his shoulder. They were able to hear the cheery song that she was singing before they had laid eyes on the pair.

Ash's already big smile grew even further at the sight of his friends. His joy and excitement was clear as he ran over to them. "Hey! Misty! Graham! I caught some great Pokemon!"

"Nothing creepy I hope." The orange haired girl muttered.

"I caught a Combee," At that Misty sighed briefly in relief before he continued and soured her mood, "also a Nincada and some Pokemon that I've never heard of called a Grubbin."

"Oh Grubbin! That's a lucky catch. You can't find them naturally in this country. Not to mention that its fully evolved form, Vikavolt, is a powerful special attacker too." Graham was much more impressed with his captures than Misty was. "Nincada is a great find too. I've trained both of its evolved forms, Ninjask and Shedinja, and they're great Pokemon as well."

"Combee are pretty cute, why don't you keep that one?" Misty pleaded.

"Combee are fine Pokemon, but know that only female Combee evolve into Vespiquen and I don't think that any females were released this year. They're great pollinators though so a lot of people like to raise them as gardening assistants." The Gym Leader elaborated.

"So which one are you going to keep, Ash?" Of the three Pokemon that he caught she was obviously hoping that he would keep the Combee, but she got the feeling that he was leaning away from that one.

"Best make your decision quickly. The evaluation table will close soon so that they can announce the winners."

Running his hand over the Poke-balls on his belt, Ash had a unsure look on his face as he thought it over. "Any recommendations?"

"Combee."

"I'm afraid that's a decision that you'll have make on your own." Seeing the disappointed look on the boy's face at his unbiased answer caused Graham to smile a little. "You're a good trainer Ash. I'm sure you'll work well with whichever one you choose."

Hearing Graham, a respected Gym Leader and scientist, say that brought a small smile to his face. "Thanks Graham. But what's gonna happen to the other two Pokemon."

"Don't worry, all the Pokemon that weren't taken by a trainer will find a good home. The institute has relationships with park rangers, Pokemon Rangers, breeders and adoption agencies all across the country. Finding them a good home, either wild or with humans, won't be too hard."

Hearing that visibly eased Ash's mind. "That's a relief." With the guilt now off of his mind he more confident that he could make a sound decision and made his way over towards the evaluation table.

Tapping the mic a few times to make sure it was working, Graham cleared his throat before speaking. "Ahem, Hello! How did everyone enjoy the contest?" His question was met with a round of applause and cheers from the crowd. "That's great to hear! I'm glad so many of you made a new bug type friend. As someone who has dedicated his life to studying and understanding bug Pokemon you have no idea how happy it made me to see so many people turn up that were interested in adding a bug type to their team. All I ask is that you please care for and love your new Pokemon."

Once again his words were met with a round of applause. "All of the contestants have submitted the Pokemon that they captured and picked the one that they want to keep and have judged." Holding up the piece of paper in his hand he continued, "And now to announce the results of the judging and the top three winners. When I call the winner's names please step up on stage and show everyone your new teammate." Glancing at the sheet of paper he announced the first name. "Coming in at third place is Nancy Chan who managed to capture the contest's sole Heracross!"

Gary watched with annoyed eyes as the black haired girl in pink jogged up to the stage with her Murkrow at her side. Tapping the release button on her Park-ball, the female Heracross that had triggered a raid battle materialized to the cheer and applause of the crowd.

"As I'm sure many of you are aware, Heracross is a tough and powerful bug and fighting type Pokemon, one that any trainer should want to add to their team," the beetle visibly preened a little at the Gym Leader's praise, "and one that won't let you capture it without a fight. Nancy actually managed to capture this Heracross during a raid battle. We gave Heracross only the third place spot because while she may be difficult to fight, she's rather easy to locate. We figured someone would surely catch her. For the third place prize I am happy to award Nancy with a Muscle Band!"

The Gym Leader passed over a yellow piece of cloth with two bright red triangles to the third place winner. Waiting a minute for the cheer and applause to quiet down, the Gym Leader continued. "The second and first place Pokemon ranked higher because we honest didn't think anyone would find them, hahaha." His jolly laughter joined by the that of the crowd. "Now! In second place is...Gary Oak!"

Despite the crowd's applause, Gary wasn't sure what to feel as he was walking up on stage. He couldn't say that he was surprised about him placing in the top three, after all even he couldn't identify the Pokemon that he caught without having to look it up on the Pokedex. That meant that it was probably a rare Pokemon that couldn't even be found in this country, so placing in the top three was a safe bet. It had been an agonizing decision to choose it over Yanma, after all Yanmega was such a desirable Pokemon, but in the end he figured it was the best option. Yanma could be captured at some other point, but this Pokemon could have been a once in the life time chance.

The fact that it ended up getting him to second place, even beating out the Heracross that he wanted, was proof that it was a good decision.

No, it was the capture itself that muddied his emotions and prevented him from being excited about the second place prize. On one hand it was a great Pokemon, one that would probably be very useful in his journey in Kanto as he was sure that most trainers would have no idea what they were dealing with. On the other hand though he was very disappointed in the way that he had captured it.

It was dumb luck. Beyond dumb luck! He wasn't even aware that Pokemon had been there. Hell he wasn't even aiming for it. It took no skill or intelligence.

Just dumb luck.

Despite his regrets about how he captured it, he still recognized the value and the potential of this Pokemon. If it took no skill or intelligence in catching it, then he would prove himself, justify himself, by raising it into a powerful Pokemon.

"Gary managed to capture the only Blipbug in the contest." Materializing on the stage next to him and Growlithe was the newest addition to his team. The dark blue and yellow caterpillar that found itself on stage looked around at the crowd with its large reflective beige eyes; looking up at it Ash thought that its eyes looked almost like glasses. The small vertical mouth and eyebrow-like markings gave the impression of it being surprised.

"Is it wearing a bow-tie?" Misty questioned from beside him.

"Heh, sure looks like it." It certainly did appear to have a small yellow bow-tie growing out from its neck. "I think its just really long sensory hair that happens to be yellow and bow-tie shaped. Looks like most of its body is covered in a layer of that hair." Blipbug's dark blue fur was fairly uniformed, but longer tufts of it were present on its head and posterior as well.

"Sensory hair? Like a Meowth's whiskers?"

Ash nodded at her question. "I think so. I once asked Professor Oak why some bug Pokemon had hair or fur; y'know like Venonat and Scyther? He mentioned to me that some of them use those hairs to gather sensory information. Although some have hair for other reasons too."

"Huh, interesting."

Blipbug's large ovular head twisted and turned as it looked around nervously. Its nervousness at being in front of a crowd was obvious as it rubbed the upper pair of yellow stubby legs together. Peering up at the young human beside him, he was met with a small reassuring smile. The smile was relaxing and suddenly he felt a little more confident with having been captured by this human.

He had seen the human and the fire puppy try to catch the Ninjask from his position hiding in the bushes. So busy studying the speedy Pokemon as it escaped, he had completely missed the Park-ball bouncing off of the tree. The green and white sphere landing on his head had stung, but he hadn't been strong enough to force the sphere back open after he was sucked inside.

Unsure of his new trainer's personality he had been nervous about his sudden capture. His nervousness was made worse after he found himself materialized on the stage. Dozens upon dozens of humans had their eyes trained on him, as if they were expecting something from him. But he didn't know what they wanted so he just stood still, wanting to crawl behind a piece of furniture or in a tree hollow.

Seeing his trainer's reassuring smile, as well as the puppy's excited face and wagging tail, told him that he was okay and that he wasn't messing up. It gave him hope that he would get along with his new partners.

"Blipbug were originally described in the Galar region and are known as the Larva Pokemon. They are well known for their intelligence and as collectors of information. Fun Fact: Blipbug is actually the inspiration behind the term 'bookworm'."

Listening to Graham's description from his place in the crowd, Ash thought, 'That sounds like the perfect Pokemon for Gary.'

"It will eventually evolve into a bug and psychic type called Orbeetle. Orbeetle is well known across the sea for their high intelligence, which is comparable to Alakazam and Metagross, and their extraordinary observation skills. We placed Blipbug as a rarer target than Heracross because Blipbug like to use their intelligence to hide, making them a lot harder to find." Graham explained to everyone.

A firm pat on the back accompanied Graham's handshake. "Nice job Gary."

Still uncomfortable about taking praise for an accidental capture, he awkwardly shook the Gym Leader's hand. "Um, thanks Graham."

Quickly turning around and picking up a box that rest behind him, Graham handed the blue cardboard to the young trainer. "For the second place prize I am happy to present Gary with a Pokeblock Case."

Among the cheers and applause of the crowd Gary looked at the tablet sized box. Knowing that a Pokeblock case was about the size a television remote control, he thought that the box was a little large for what was inside it. 'Seems like a waste of packaging, but whatever.' Seeing the image of the Pokeblock travel container depicted on the front of the case caused him to smile though. "Thank you, Graham."

"Don't mention it, you earned it. There's a booklet in there with a bunch of recipes too."

It took a lot of effort to keep the smile on his face at those words as he really didn't feel that he had earned it, but Pokeblock was a great treat for Pokemon so having a traveling case and a recipe booklet was convenient. It was relatively easy to find a Pokeblock mixer too. If he couldn't find one in a Pokemon Center then he would easily find a shop somewhere that had several available for use; shops like that existed in most cities. 'The recipe booklet will be helpful, but I'll have to start looking for recipes that specifically suit my Pokemon too. Heh, always more work to be done.'

With Gary's prize settled in his hand Graham turned to face the crowd once again. "And finally is first place! Like with Blipbug and Heracross, the Pokemon that earned the first place spot was the only one of its species in the contest. And like Blipbug it was originally described in a foreign land." Hearing that caused Ash to perk up a bit. "Having caught the Larva Pokemon Grubbin," a smile spread across Ash's face at those words, "the first place winner is Ash Kethcum!"

"Way to go!" Misty's excited cheer, which was among many from the crowd, was joined by one of her usual slaps on the back. From his shoulder Fletchling cried happily.

Jogging up onto the stage he pulled the only Park-ball off of his belt. It had been a tough decision choosing between the three Pokemon that he had captured, especially between Grubbin and Nincada. Embarrassingly he had stood in front of the evaluation table for several minutes, right up until they closed, thinking over his choice. While the chance to train such a speedy Pokemon like Ninjask, and even the possible potential to have the incredibly rare Pokemon Shedinja, was very tempting, eventually he settled on Grubbin as the newest member of his team.

Scrolling briefly through the Pokedex as he was walking out of the catching zone he learned that Grubbin's fully evolved form Vikavolt were speedy powerful ranged attackers with a secondary electric typing to compliment their bug typing. Nincada, while somewhat difficult to find outside of their consistent seventeen year emergence, weren't impossible to locate in Kanto and so he might have a chance to catch one at some point later on. Grubbin, however, was impossible to find not just in Kanto but also in Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. Nincada and its two evolutions were undoubtedly tempting, but Grubbin was an opportunity that he might not have ever again.

The Alolan Pokemon materialized on the stage next to him. He still looked pretty tired after his battle with Fletchling, but he was conscious and looking around in curiosity. When Graham took a step in front of him the Larva Pokemon, apparently recognizing him, started to chitter happily up at him. Behind his thick bread the Gym Leader smiled at the small Pokemon.

Ash had to hold back the smile at seeing Graham's massive frame standing in front of Grubbin. It made the already small Pokemon look absolutely minuscule in comparison.

"First described scientifically in the Alola Region, Grubbin is often found burrowing through the ground. This is why it was given the highest rarity, as we weren't sure that anyone would be able to find it. As a species they have quite the sweet tooth, they use those impressive mandibles to rip up tree bark to drink sap."

At the mention of tree sap, Grubbin's mandibles started flexing as he chittered excitedly. Seeing his new Pokemon's excitement got Ash thinking, 'I think that the Pokemart sells bottles of honey and tree sap. I'll have to stock up on a few bottles before we leave.'

"Once it reaches its fully evolved form, it'll be a Vikavolt. A bug and electric type, Vikavolt is capable of flying at high speeds. In fact you may have seen or heard of Vikavolt racing; it's a very popular sport in regions such as Alola and Galar. The electric typing Grubbin gains after it evolves isn't for show either as Vikavolt's prominent mandibles channel its electricity into powerful blasts. It electrical blasts are so powerful that they inspired the concept of rail guns!"

The crowd's reaction, cheers and oohs and aahs, to those words were filled with palpable awe. Ash couldn't blame them as the idea that such a destructive weapon was inspired by a single Pokemon was pretty impressive.

Gary eyed his rival's newest catch as it materialized onto the stage. 'Grubbin, huh? Another Pokemon that I've never encountered before. I'll have to add it to my list of Pokemon that I need to familiarize myself with.'

Graham continued talking, explaining a little bit to the crowd about the Grubbin species and its evolution Vikavolt. Gary half-listened, knowing from Graham's last two explanations of Heracross and Blipbug that anything the Gym Leader said would be undoubtedly basic enough that it would come up in his own research of this line.

He had to admit that he was annoyed by Ash winning the contest, but he wasn't going to say anything. Even just giving the small bug type a cursory glance it was clear that it had been through a battle. A worthier victory than his own complete fluke of a capture. Instead he held back any snide remarks and halfheartedly clapped with the audience as his rival was given his reward.

Reaching into his pocket the Gym Leader pulled out a laminated piece of paper that he happily presented to Ash. "For taking the first place prize I am pleased to reward Ash with a bicycle voucher from Cerulean City's famous bike shop."

Ash had to hold himself back from joining the crowd's applause as gratefully took the voucher. '50% off of a bike, sweet.' There was a paragraph written underneath those words that undoubtedly outlined the conditions of the purchase, but that was something that he could look into later. "Thanks Graham." He practically beamed.

"Your welcome. I think Grubbin will be a great addition to your team Ash."

Said bug type chittered happily at Graham's words, which made Ash happy. He knew that sometimes when a Pokemon was captured via battle, it didn't always accept the human that caught it right away, which could lead to a long process to earn the trust and favor of said Pokemon. So far in his journey he had been lucky as both Fletchling and Hoothoot had willingly chosen to join his team. To see that Grubbin didn't have much issue with being captured made his life a lot easier.

Fletchling tilted her head in curiosity at Ash's 'prize'. It didn't seem very desirable, but the way Ash smiled when he was presented it made her think that it was a weird human thing.

Turning to face the crowd once more, the large bearded man spoke up once again. "I want to thank everyone that competed as well everyone here at the institute that made today's events possible. For those of you that added a new teammate to your team, please love and care for it. And with that said the annual Honey Town Bug Catching Contest is officially over!"

Reaching down and scooping his new Blipbug up in his arms, he smiled as the small Pokemon looked at him in curiosity. "I'm glad to finally introdcue myself to you, I hope we can be great friends Blipbug."

The large reflective eyes that stared back at him made it difficult to decern what the Larva Pokemon was thinking, but after a moment he nodded his large bulbous head and whined affectionately. Gary took the noise as a positive after Growlithe yipped and started wagging his fluffy tail.

"I'll introduce you to my current team back at the Pokemon Center, but I have more Pokemon back at my grandfather's ranch."

"Blipbug seems like a great catch Gary."

Turning to the voice he was met with Ash who was looking at him with a neutral expression. Fletchling was still sitting on his shoulder and his new Grubbin had taken up a spot next to his foot.

The brunette wasn't sure what to say. While happy about having Pokemon with such great potential, he was still a little sour about how he obtained it. Ash of all people being the winner of the contest, and beating him simultaneously, was a blow to his pride also. As a result he didn't have it in him to be snarky and competitive; especially since he knew that Ash would respond to any insults by rubbing in the fact that he was the winner. It wouldn't be a good first impression of him for Blipbug too.

"Thanks. Grubbin seems like...a good catch too."

Gary's flat tone and lack of insult caused Ash to blink in surprise. 'Is he upset he didn't win the contest?'

"Are you okay Gary?"

Concern, even if mild, was evident in Ash's voice, which didn't improve Gary's mood. "I'm fine." He said as he started to walk away. "Nothing that a trainer so dependent on luck over skill would worry about."

While frowning from the implication of Gary's words, Ash still couldn't help but feel that there was yet another hidden layer to them. In the end he decided to say nothing as his rival and former friend walked off. Thankfully he wasn't alone with his thoughts for long as one of Misty's rough slap on the back brought him to reality.

Looking at her he was greeted to a bland expression. He passively noted that she was keeping her distance from Grubbin. "Nice job Ketchum. Cerluean's bike shop is one of the best in the region." As her eyes glanced at his new Grubbin, whose own large black eyes stared back at her, her face became more strained. "I just wish you caught something that I would be more okay being near."

He and Fletchling both chuckled at little at her obvious displeasure. Grubbin just tilted its armored head in confusion.

"Sorry Misty. Tell you what, how about we go find a restraunt like you wanted yesterday and we celebrate?" Turning his attention to his new teammate he smiled at the small bug. "We can even get some tree-sap from the Pokemart."

"Sounds great." She replied with an honest smile, which Grubbin seemed to agree with as he chittered and clicked excitedly.

Next Time: The Honey Town Gym Battle!

This chapters title, "Contest of Catchers", is a reference to the Marvel moblie game "Contest of Champions".

Man this was a hard chapter to write. I knew how the chapter was going to end, but I had no idea how to get to that point so I was basically making it up the whole way. I sure wasn't expecting nearly 20K for this. Apologies for no Treecko this chapter, but I couldn't find a good way to write him in so I just left him in his Poke-ball. Gary became a much bigger character in this chapter than I had anticipated, but I really liked having the opportunity to explore his character a bit.

I've known that I wanted Ash to have a Vikavolt on his team almost since day one into the story. Originally I had strongly considered a Heracross for the team as it also hasn't been used much in fanfics and Heracross is awesome, but that idea was quick to get tossed out as I didn't think I could write for it long term.

And so Vikavolt was decided upon pretty easily. I love Vikavolt and I've been surprised that it hasn't been used more in the fanfic community. Since overall I really wanted to use Pokemon that aren't typically seen in fanfics, Vikavolt was an easy and perfect choice. It's typing was a big boon too as it fits both the bug type and the electric type slots for the team.

The decision for Vikavolt was easy, but then I had to figure out how to give one to Ash. And thus the Bug Catching Contest, as well as Honey Town and Graham, was born! This whole arc was designed specifically to justify a reason for Ash to find and catch a Grubbin.

The idea for Gary to catch a Blipbug was a relatively recent decision. I think I only came up with the idea when I was writing Hoothoot's chapter. It gives Gary a unique Pokemon and I think Blipbug/Orbeetle suits an intelligent character like Gary. Gary having an Orbeetle works nicely as a counterpart to Ash's eventual Vikavolt too as they are both 3 stage bug type lines with good secondary typings and similar base stat totals. The fact that both Blipbug and Grubbin are called the Larva Pokemon was a happy coincidence.

The full list of Pokemon that were available in the Honey Town Bug Catching Contest:

Wurmple
Silcoon
Cascoon
Heracross
Combee
Yanma
Grubbin
Blipbug
Shuckle
Sewaddle
Nincada
Ninjask