Okay, I'm back with another chapter! Easter break for me is officially over and school starts tomorrow again! Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 8: Bugsy In Azalea

After leaving Kurt's house, Angelina checked her Poke-Gear for the time: it was 9 AM, Wednesday. 'Hmm, maybe I should wait,' she thought, fingering the Pokeballs on her belt with one hand while her other arm was holding her Togepi. The Baby Pokemon was asleep; after the hatching, which had been very tiring for him, he had been awake for just long enough to greet his new trainer before dropping off back to sleep. Angelina knew Unown was the weakest Pokémon she had ever encountered next to Marill. Geodude and Gloom were at minimum level, and Lapras and Charmander were both at high levels.

'I need some serious training,' Angelina concluded to herself, not really ready to battle the Azalea Town Gym just yet.

By Thursday morning, however, Angelina's team had greatly improved. Unown was still at the same level, but the rest of her Pokemon were at fairly trained levels also. Excluding Unown, she thought that she could take on the gym leader with little difficulty. She had learned Azalea's gym uses Bug-type Pokémon. 'Too easy,' she thought. She decided to lead with Geodude, then Charmander, Marill, and finally, if all else fails, Unown. She was hoping that all else didn't fail as she made her way towards the Azalea Town Gym after a hearty breakfast at the Pokemon Center.

Taking a deep breath, Angelina entered the Gym and looked around with interest. It seemed to be like a giant greenhouse, with grass, short trees and bushes everywhere. Bug Pokemon could occasionally seen crawling through the undergrowth or flapping languidly overhead. The roof was made of glass, allowing the sun to shine through and giving Angelina a perfect view of the blue sky above her. She was fairly confident of victory, having two Pokemon that were resistant to Bug-type attacks, but she knew that resistance alone would certainly not allow her to walk the battle with ease. As she looked around, she was confronted with a small boy, a few years younger than him and wearing the traditional garb of a Bug-Catcher. An oversized net was held in his left hand and a small Weedle was sitting on his shoulder.

"Who are you?" the boy asked inquisitively.

"Angelina Murakami of Pallet Town. I'm here to challenge the Gym Leader," Angelina replied. The boy smiled knowingly and beckoned her to follow.

"We call Bugsy the walking Bug Pokemon encyclopaedia. He knows everything in the world about Bug Pokemon! Nobody knows more about their Pokemon than Bugsy..." the boy chattered along in this vein for a while until they entered a clearing, where a taller, spreading tree stood.

In the tree's shadow, observing a Butterfree overhead, was a boy about Angelina's age. He had shoulder-length green hair, green clothes similar to a Bug-Catchers and a large and ostentatious bug-catching net was clasped in his left hand. His face was soft, young and full of enthusiasm as he studied the Butterfree.

"I'll leave you here. Good luck, Bugsy!" the boy cried, before heading back into the undergrowth.

Bugsy snapped out of his reverie as the boy called his name, and spied Angelina waiting close by. "Hi. Are you here to challenge me for the Hivebadge?" he asked, smiling.

"Yes. My name's Angelina. I could hardly pass through Azalea Town without meeting and battling the walking Bug Pokemon encyclopaedia, could I?" Angelina teased in reply. Bugsy laughed.

"Yep, that's what they call me; 'the walking Bug Pokemon encyclopaedia'! That's because I know everything there is to know about Bug-type Pokemon. It's taken me ages, but I find that learning the ins and outs of your Pokemon really gives you an edge in battle," Bugsy said enthusiastically.

"Learning about Pokemon is great, but there are some things you can't learn from books. Shall we begin?" Angelina said, eager to be underway.

Bugsy smiled again, "Ready when you are, Angelina!"

With that, they took their places on opposite sides of the battlefield. A male referee, wearing an orange and black sweater, stood on the sidelines raising his hand up and stated loudly. "This is an official battle between Angelina the challenger from Pallet Town and Bugsy the Gym Leader of Azalea Town! Each trainer may use two Pokemon!"

Angelina shuffled her feet eager to start and Bugsy smiled happily.

"Begin!"

"It's time to show the true potential of Bug Pokemon!" Bugsy called out throwing his Pokeball out before it hit the ground revealing a green cocoon-like Pokemon.

"What's that?" Angelina questioned curiously taking out her Pokedex.

"Metapod. The Cocoon Pokemon. This is Caterpie's next stage. It can only harden, so it remains motionless to avoid attack." the Pokedex responded showing the picture of a Metapod.

"So it can't move, huh? Then this will be easy then." Angelina grinned picking up a Pokeball, "Go Spritz!" she threw the Pokeball up as it opened up and released the aqua-mouse Pokemon to the ground carefree.

"Metapod, use Tackle!" Bugsy cried excitedly.

"Ice Punch!" Angelina ordered.

Metapod inched forward, and then ducked and rolled forward towards Marill. After waiting for it to get closer, ice crystals formed on Spritz's arm, and she lashed out at the Bug-Type. It rolled backwards again, wincing.

"C'mon Metapod, use String Shot!"

Metapod obeyed and released a string of sticky web out of its mouth.

"Spritz, stop it with Ice Beam!" Angelina shouted.

Spritz opened her mouth as a light blue ball forms and fires an icy-blue energy at the the web. It freezes completely before it fell and broke into pieces.

"All right Spritz, finish it with Double-Edge!" Angelina grinned.

The aqua-mouse ran towards the cocoon Pokemon at a great speed and hit him with a powerful tackle that sent her back with recoil and knocked Metapod harshly and slidding on the ground towards a surprised Bugsy.

"Metapod, are you okay?" Bugsy asked checking on the unmoving cocoon.

"Meta.." it croaked before it went unconscious and limped.

"Metapod is unable to battle. This round goes to Marill." the referee declared raising his flag towards the challenger.

"We did it, Spritz!" Angelina cheered happily to win the first round.

"Marill!" the blue mouse jumped for joy.

"Metapod return!" Bugsy said recalling his Pokemon back into the Pokball, "That was awesome, Angelina. Now it's time for my trump card! Go Scyther!" he threw the Pokeball out before it popped revealing a tall green praying mantis with a sinister grin.

"Scyther!" the pokemon called out enthusiactically.

"What's that?" Angelina questioned highly intrigued.

"Scyther. The Mantis Pokemon. It's very proud of its speed. It moves so fast that its opponent does not even know what knocked it down." the Pokedex stated showing the picture of Scyther.

"Wow, I could tell we'll be having a hard time with this one." Angelina said, looking concerned at the arrogant-looking Scyther.

"It's time to shine! Scyther, Quick Attack!"

Scyther dashed towards Spritz in the speed of light making the aqua-mouse froze.

"Now use your Fury Cutter!"

Scyther raised his arm blade and brought it down scratching a cut on Spritz's face. Spritz looked confused at the mantis while Scyther jumped back awaiting orders. Angelina looked befuddled until she called over.

"Was that it? That move hardly did any damage to Spritz at all."

Bugsy chuckled a bit, "You're correct. This move may seem weak in the beginning, but using this move a couple of times will double the damage and seriously defeat a Pokemon with one move. This is the move I created when I was watching a wild Pinscir and a wild Scyther fight against each other. Clever, huh?"

"Yeah I'll say. It's our turn now. Spritz, time to use Roll Out!"

Marill curled up into a ball and spun towards the owl pokémon before jumping up and hitting the mantis pokémon.

"Scyther, use Quick Attack now!"

Scyther quickly regained control and dashed towards the aqua mouse pokémon, slashing his blade across her stomach and sent Spritz flying towards the other side hurt.

"Spritz! Are you okay?" Angelina cried out worried.

"Mar...rill.." the aqua-Pokemon moaned before she fell to the ground unconscious.

"Marill is unable to battle! The winner is Scyther!" the referee called out raising his other flag to Scyther. Angelina ran out onto the battlefield and carefully picked up her Marill.

"Keep up the good work, Scyther!" Bugsy shouted out while Scyther started to flex its muscles.

"You were great out there, Spritz. You deserve a long rest now." Angelina said, recalling the Pokemon back into the Pokeball. She fingered another Pokeball and enlarged it. "Charcoal, its all up to you!" she threw the Pokeball and released her Charmander.

"No problem," Bugsy smirked, "Scyther, let's show them how we deal with Fire-types!"

"Charcoal, be careful!" Angelina warned her Pokemon. "Scyther's really fast, but try not to let him hit you!"

Scyther started off by trying to quick attack again. He seemed to completely disappear and reappear right by Charcoal, ready to strike him.

"Char-!" the fire lizard was startled, but the shock helped him jump away, and at once the flame on his tail ignited higher.

"Attack with Ember!"

Angelina watched her Charmander bravely launch burning embers at his larger opponent. She thought this was sure to cause damage to the bug-type, but Scyther countered by spinning himself on the spot with his blades up protectively, deflecting all the fire. She groaned at how well Bugsy could defy the bug-type stereotype of being weak and easily defeated by teaching his team how to defend themselves so well.

"C'mon Scyther, show them what we're made of! Use your Fury Cutter!"

After this command Scyther leapt at Charcoal, blades ready, and slashed. The first hit didn't seem to hurt, but Charcoal wasn't quick enough to escape, and with every blow that landed the damage increased.

"Charcoal, don't give up! Dodge and use Ember!"

The Charmander dodged Scyther's oncoming blades and sent flaming hot embers out and hit Scyther as it was burned and cried out.

"Now finish it with a Tackle attack!" Angelina ordered as her Charmander charged at Scyther and collided head-on. Scyther was thrown off its feet and then landed onto the battlefield, unconscious.

"Scyther, no!" Bugsy cried out.

"Scyther is unable to battle. Victory goes to Angelina Murakami of Pallet Town!"

"We won! We did it, Charcoal!" Angelina cheered. She ran across the field to pick him up and congratulate him, but she stopped. Charcoal was glowing. His body grew brighter until he was surrounded by light. Its small body reformed into more of a fighter; its arms grew and became more toned while his legs got much more muscular and its skin was a much darker red. The tail got buffer, his claws longer, a long red spike forged from the back of it's head, and its gentle purple eyes got more sharper and much more fierce looking.

"Oh wow! You look great, Charcoal!" Angelina awed, taking out her Pokedex.

"Charmeleon, the Flame Pokemon. It is very hot-headed by nature, so it constantly seeks opponents. It calms down only when it wins." the Pokedex stated, showing a picture of Charmeleon.

"Meleon!" Charcoal grinned in agreement. Feeling much more confident, mature and powerful.

Bugsy called back Scyther into his Pokeball and smiled at the cheering trainer with her Pokemon. The pair stopped dancing before Bugsy walked up to them.

"Congratulations, Angelina! You put up a tough battle! You're an expert on Pokemon!" Bugsy complimented.

"Thank you, Bugsy."

"May I present to you," Bugsy began to say watching the referee open up the badge case to reveal the ladybug-looking badge before he picked it up, "The Hive Badge!" He handed it to Angelina and she pocked the badge in her badge box. She put the box away as Bugsy started to talk again.

"My research is still incomplete, so I'm going to research more till I know everything about Bug Pokemon. Maybe once I complete my research, we could have a rematch."

"That would be a great idea!" Angelina said, taking out her Poke-Gear. "What's your phone number?"

After they exchanged Gear numbers, Angelina left the Gym and headed towards the Pokemon Center to heal up her Pokemon. Looking over the map feature in the lobby, she decided to travel towards the next town before sunset. So after retrieving her Pokemon, she leaves the Azalea Town Pokemon Center and heads toward the entrance of the Ilex Forest.

"I wonder what the next Gym Leader will specialize in? Who knows." Angelina shrugged before she kept on walking.

§To Be Continued§

*Angelina battles Bugsy, the leader of the Azalea Town Gym and earns the Hive Badge.
*Bugsy only uses Metapod and Scyther.
*Angelina's Charmander evolves into Charmeleon.

Hope you enjoyed chapter 8, this was really short and not much. Chapter 9 is on the way, reviews are welcomed. Thanks!