Author's Notes:

Thank you to all those who favorited this story. Glad to know it is being read. I very much appreciate the reviews, keep them coming!

The Contest Begins

"Soooo, we just paid fifty bucks to catch bugs, and we don't even have a clear idea what the prize is?"

Natalie's voice was coming from the bathroom, projected over the roar of her hairdryer. "I mean," she walked into the room wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt, "I don't even like Bug type Pokémon."

Jet, who was at the in a chair writing something in his notebook, looked up at Natalie. "Quit complaining! If either of us wins that TM, then we will make over twenty times as much as we paid to enter the competition."

Natalie turned off the hairdryer and began to wrap the cord, "Unless it's a TM for Tackle or something."

Jet laughed, "Who would make a TM for Tackle? That's one of the easiest attacks to teach!"

Natalie sighed and laid on the bed, "You know what I mean, Jethro."

They had paid the entrance fee for the contest and got a room for the night. They would only be staying there for just that night, as both Natalie and Jet agreed that camping out would be better for training.

Natalie watched Jet write for a couple of minutes before asking, "You starting a journal or something?" Jet shook his head, "Nah. I'm writing down my strategies and ideas for training to keep track of everything. This is more like a play book."

Natalie stretched out on the bed. "You must really take this stuff seriously," she yawned, "I mean, I know you do. I just didn't know to what extent."

Jet finished scribbling in his play book and put it away. "Well, aside from the fact that I'm trying to get into next year's regionals, I can't let my Pokémon down. They give me a hundred percent and I'm going to give them just as much."

Natalie picked up the remote and turned on the TV, "Whatever."

Jet went in the bathroom to take a shower. Natalie was flipping through channels when she came across a news report.

"Hello Tom! I'm here at the Forest Lodge outside of Viridian City, where the Kanto division of the Bug Catcher's Association is having their first annual Viridian Forest Bug Catcher's Contest."

"Hey Jethro, the Contest is on the news!"

"Huh? I can't hear you!"

Natalie turned up the news story.

"So, as the President of the Kanto Division, what is your hope for the contest?"

A fat older man in a Bug Catcher's Jacket looked in the camera and said, "Well, the plan is to get some local trainers from around the area interested in Bug Catching. Aside from the TM that we put up for first prize, we have several lesser prizes from custom pokeballs to t shirts and other B.C.A. products."

"Interesting," said the news castor, "And what kind of Bug Pokémon do you think we will be seeing this year?"

"Mostly Caterpie and Weedle, as well as their evolved forms. There are also the nocturnal Spinarak in this forest for those brave enough to hunt at night. The big prize though, three months ago we released a young family of Pinser imported from the Rainbow Islands.

There were only ten of them out there, but they were young when we released them so some of them may have been caught by other trainers or eaten by Pidgey. If a trainer did find one, it would sure help their chances of winning the competition."

Jet walked in the room and laid down next to Natalie, "Pinser, huh? I'd like to catch one of those. They are rare in this part of the region."

Natalie covered herself up and said, "No freaky stuff in the middle of the night!"

Jet smiled, "As long as you don't hog the blankets, we're good."

XXX

Bright and early the next morning, Jet and Natalie checked out of the Lodge and entered the Forest itself. Jet found himself a bit overwhelmed by the landscape. To say the trees were huge was an understatement. Many of them seemed five to seven stories tall, and three times thicker than Jet's body.

There were vines and thorns everywhere. There were also small boulders half dug into the earth, many of which were covered in the same moss that seemed to cover everything else.

"Damn, it's hard to maneuver around in this place." Jet grumbled as he went out of his way to avoid more thorns. Natalie said, "Yeah, I've never actually went very far into this forest. This place is huge!"

They had been traversing through the thick trees and pollen ridden atmosphere for a half hour. Besides some local bird Pokémon and a tree full of Metapod, they haven't found anything that would help them in the contest.

"So," Natalie grunted as they jumped over a stream of water, "what exactly are they looking for in this competition? Do we have to find rare Pokémon or strong Pokémon?"

"Um," Jet ducked a low branch, "Besides Pinser, there are no rare Pokémon in this forest. On the seventh day they hold a little battle tournament to see how caught the cream of the crop, so we are looking for strong Pokémon."

Jet heard a rustle to his right and went to check it out. He then found what looked like a big, yellow caterpillar with a stinger on its head sliver by.

"Dibs!" Jet smiled as he pulled a pokeball from his belt. Natalie giggled, "That's what you're entering in the contest? That's not powerful or rare!"

Jet enlarged the ball and slowly began to follow the Weedle, saying in a low voice, "Few Pokémon in this forest are. Instead of judging a book by its cover, try to see a Pokémon for its potential."

Natalie smiled, This guy is definitely interesting. Jet threw the pokeball into the air and Sora popped out. As soon as the Weedle saw a Pidgey it fled into the bushes. Sora went to chase it but Jet said "Stop! If this Pokémon is going to run from you rather than fight back than I don't want it on my team. I have no need for a Pokémon with no fighting spirit."

Evidently the Weedle must have heard Jet because it let out a hissing noise and emerged from the bush. It glared at Sora and hissed again. Jet grinned, "I stand corrected! This little guy has heart! Tell you what, Weedle. If you can beat Sora here than I won't attempt to capture you. But when Sora wins, let's just say I'll help you cultivate that fighting spirit."

The Weedle turned to Jet and nodded, before hissing at Sora again. Natalie gave a soft, "Ohh," of realization. Jethro must have taunted the Weedle on purpose to get him to fight back! He isn't looking for Pokémon who are already strong; He's looking for Pokémon with potential so he can make them strong! He certainly is cocky about his ability to raise them if he thinks he can turn that Weedle into a contest winner in less than a week, though.

Jet called to Sora, "Use Sand-attack!"

Sora dove and kicked up a cloud of sand around Weedle. Jet saw a String-Shot emerge from said cloud, and miss Sora by inches. Jet smiled and said, "Good job, Sora! Now hit 'em with Peck!"

Sora's Keen Eye ability allowed it to enter the cloud of sand without loss of accuracy. It used the type effective Peck attack on Weedle, who squealed and squirmed out the way.

The sand cloud cleared up and Weedle used String-Shot, hitting home this time. One of Sora's wings got caught and he landed on the ground to attempt to get it off. Weedle took advantage and ran straight at Sora, horn first.

"Sora, side-step and use Scratch!"

Sora quickly avoided the horn and used Scratch on the same spot where Weedle was pecked before. Weedle squealed and Jet said, "Finish it off with Tackle!"

Sora ran around Weedle to avoid getting hit with the Poison Sting Weedle tried to use on her, and then went in for a full body Tackle. Weedle was knocked back a couple of meters. Jet took advantage and threw an empty Pokeball.

Weedle was sucked in, and the ball rolled around for what seemed like forever. Finally there was a metallic click and Weedle was caught. Jet went over to Sora and helped pull the web off her wing. "Good job, girl!" He said before recalling her.

Natalie watched as Jet picked up Weddle's Pokeball and registered it on his Pokedex. "You taught your Pidgey to fight on the ground, huh?"

Jet put his Pokedex away and said, "Of course! I teach my team to be able to fight in any condition." He looked down at the newly caught Weedle he had and said, "I'm going to call you Hornet."

Natalie smiled and said, "You're going to name every one you catch, aren't you?"

Jet laughed, "That's half the fun!"

They set off again and Natalie asked, "So, you using it for the contest or you caught just for shits and giggles?"

"I plan on catching a few bug Pokémon today, and spend all week training them. By the end of the week, the one that improves the most will be my contest entry."

They walked for another hour before resting at a large sitrus berry tree. Jet looked up and said, "These things are all over this forest. A good thing too, because these berries have healing properties. I think I'm going to climb up and get some."

"Why not just send Sora?"

Jet shrugged and said, "She deserves a rest. Besides, if you make your Pokémon do everything for you it kind of takes some of the excitement out of life."

"If you say so," said Natalie, "I'm going to sit down for a while."

Jet climbed up the tree; a task made easy due to the amount of branches. While he was dropping berries to the ground, Natalie sat down and leaned against the tree, yawning. "I need to get some sleep tonight. As early as this guy wakes up for training, I'm lucky if I get six hours."

She heard some twigs crack and turned her head. She saw a boy with red hair and a green jacket stumble into view. "Damn thorns!" He saw Natalie sitting and grinned.

"Wow, I don't know a lot of girl Bug Catcher's!"

Natalie raised her eyebrows and smiled, "Do you see a green jacket? I'm here for the TM, not the bugs."

"Oh," the boy's face fell a little bit. "The TM is probably a bug type move. So if you don't like bugs, then the TM's useless to you."

Natalie stood back up, "Thanks for the concern but I'm selling it, not keeping it." Natalie watched as the boy's eyes fell to her chest before saying, "I'm Derek, nice to meet you!"

Letting out a sigh, Natalie crossed her arms and said "Natalie." The boy walked over to her and leaned against the tree in what she was sure was supposed to be a "cool" way.

"So," the boy said, "You in this forest all alone? Cuz I know my way around here. I live right in Viridian, I come here every summer. I could help you find your way. Hell, I can even catch some bug Pokémon for you if you like; good ones too!"

Natalie raised her eyebrows, "Are you serious?"

The boy grinned and said, "Yup, just leave those big bad bugs to me!"

Natalie smiled and said, "Thanks, but I don't think my boyfriend would like that."

The smile was instantly dropped from Derek's face, "You have a boyfriend?"

Natalie's smile got bigger. "Yeah, he's a trainer too. He already has a pretty badass bug Pokémon, so I think I'll be good."

As if on cue, Jet dropped down from a branch and said, "Who's you're friend?" He was carrying a plastic bag full of berries that said Pokemart on it.

Derek looked at Jet and asked Natalie, "This is your boyfriend?"

Jet raised his eyebrows, "Who the fuck are you, anyway?"

Derek took a couple of steps back and said, "I'm the guy who's gonna win this contest! Since you're my competition, how about a little battle?"

Jet rolled his eyes, "No thanks, I'm just catching today."

Derek laughed and said, "Just as well, my Pokémon would own yours anyway!"

Natalie saw a quick flash of anger in Jet's eyes before he calmly said, "That so?"

The boy grinned, "Definitely."

Jet smiled, "Ok, how much you willing to bet?"

The boy laughed and said, "Fifty says you're going down!"

Jet burst out laughing, "Fifty? No seriously, fifty? Bet's against me start at five hundred, kid."

The boy looked dumbstruck, "What? No way! I don't have that kind of money!"

Jet sighed and said "Small potatoes, I guess. Darling?" Jet asked Natalie sarcastically.

Natalie smirked and answered, "Yes, dear?"

"Why don't you face him? You can test out Psycho."

The boy looked worried when he heard the name Psycho. Natalie, however, grinned, "What an excellent idea, sweet pea! I think I will!"

Jet turned to Derek and said, "I'll be the editor of the match. Bet's one hundred. I'll cover her cost if she loses, which she won't. Each trainer uses one Pokémon each. The match continues until one of the Pokémon is either unable or unwilling to battle. Do both trainers' except these terms?"

Natalie said, "Sounds good!"

Derek frowned, "One hundred is a little steep don't you think?"

Natalie sighed, "How the hell were you planning to protect me if you can't even beat me?"

Derek blushed. Apparently this hurt his pride, because he said, "One hundred's fine. I just hope your hubby can handle the cost when I beat your ass!"

Jet raised an eyebrow, "Hubby? Seriously? Whatever. Both trainer's take your positions and send out your Pokémon."

Natalie and Derek gave themselves space to battle. Natalie sent out Psycho. The boy laughed and said, "A Psyduck? That's your secret weapon, the one you called the Psycho? Ah man this is going to be easy. Go Dustox!"

The moth like Pokémon appeared from its capsule and hovered above the ground. It stared at Psycho ready for battle. Psycho simply looked indifferent to the proceedings.

Jet grinned and said, "Aaaaaaaannd, Begin!"

Author's Notes:

Will Natalie be able to put this cocky little shit in his place with her new Psyduck? Will Jet be able to make a weak bug like Hornet into a fighter like Sora? Find out in the next installment!