"I love the bug catching contest," said Gaius as he, Arden, and Valor entered the National Park, followed by three of their pokemon—Quenelle, Gimpy, and Borka.

"So did your father," Valor said, smiling. "This is where he caught Rip, you know."

"Where is Rip?" asked Arden, as they headed toward the park's center. There a giant fountain stood, surrounded by tall, lush grass.

"He's… Well, I'm not sure where, to be honest," said Valor, walking out into the grass. Her sons and their pokemon followed her. "You see, your father died trying to help get a stampede of donphan under control. Rip was with him, trying to stop the stampede and… well, after your father died, it tore Rip up. He just left…"

The grass rustled and Borka's fur stood up on end. "Umbreon!" he barked.

Valor looked alert. "What is it, Borka?" she asked, holding a park ball at the ready. A paras appeared in the grass and Valor smirked. "Alright, Borka! It'll be a pretty good catch!"

"Umbreon!" shouted Borka, arching his back.

"Faint attack, Borka!"

"Bre!" said the umbreon. Fast as a blink, he disappeared and reappeared next to the paras, swiping at it with one paw. "Breon!"

"Paras!" yelped the wild pokemon, falling back. Valor threw the park ball. It took the pokemon into itself with a brilliant flash of light. The ball rolled back and forth on the ground thrice, before falling still. Valor ran over to it and picked it up.

"Good job, Borka!" she exclaimed, kneeling beside the umbreon and hugging him around the neck. "That's my boy!"

"Bre!" said Borka, nuzzling her cheek.

Valor looked up at her sons. "You'd better go find your entries for the competition," she said. "Go on, now—I want to see you both place ahead of me."

Gaius cracked his knuckles. "Alright, Quen—let's go have a look what we can catch, huh?"

"Aur-aur-auros!" said Quenelle, tossing his head. Gaius leapt up onto his back smoothly, and urged him on, to a different area of the park.

"Come on, Gimp," said Arden. "We need to find something, too."

"Tortle!" said the pokemon, limping after Arden as he moved through the grass.

"There should be something around here," said Arden, frowning. "The grass is usually crawling with bug pokemon…"

Gimpy frowned. "Wartortle?" he said, looking around. He reached out one stubby hand and moved some grass out of his way, looking beyond it. "Tort tortle war?"

"Stop that," said Arden, smacking the wartortle's hand. "You're going to scare all the pokemon away!"

"Tortle," said Gimpy, holding his hand and glaring up at Arden. The grass rustled and both boy and pokemon snapped their heads toward the sound.

A scyther appeared in the grass and Arden's eyes widened. "Ah!" he said. "A scyther—! They're really rare! Okay, Gimpy! You ready?"

"War!" said Gimpy.

"Alright—water gun!"

Gimpy readied himself to attack. The scyther looked at him sharply, narrowing its eyes. "Scyyyyther!" it screamed, rushing forward and slashing the wartortle across his face. Gimpy fell backwards, into Arden, knocking the both of them down. The scyther turned and fled as they lay in a heap.

"Damn it!" said Arden, kicking Gimpy off of himself.

"Tort!" said the wartortle, landing on the ground harshly. He rubbed the spot where his trainer had kicked him.

"Damn it, damn it," Arden said. He pounded a fist into the ground and sat up. "You're so slow! We would've had it if you could've attacked first!"

Gimpy scowled and got up, working hard at it. "War tort tort-tortle!"

"Don't argue with me," said Arden, pushing him back down. "It's your fault!"

"Tortle!" said Gimpy, rolling around on his shell, flailing his limbs about.

The grass rustled again, and Arden looked up. "Shush!" he hissed at Gimpy. Slowly, a venonat crept from behind a clump of grass, observing the pair carefully with its enormous eyes. Arden reached to his belt and pulled up a park ball. Mutely, he tossed it at the pokemon. The pokemon was drawn into the pokeball, and, as it rolled around in the grass, Arden pulled Gimpy to his feet. With a brilliant flash of light, the venonat broke free.

Arden gritted his teeth. "Alright, Gimp—water gun!"

"Tortle!" said Gimpy. He shot a stream of water from his mouth, which struck the wild bug pokemon.

"Veno!" cried the wild pokemon, recoiling.

"Alright!" said Arden, throwing another ball. With a flash, the venonat disappeared into it. Arden and Gimpy watched, breathless, as the pokeball rolled about, the pokemon within it trying to free itself. Finally, the venonat ceased its struggle and the pokeball went still. With an ecstatic squeal, Arden retrieved it. "Yeah! Alright!"

"You catch somethin', hun?" asked Valor, coming over to him with Borka trotting along behind her. Arden nodded. "That's good… I wonder where your brother got off to?" She looked around, and Arden followed suit. Indeed, he didn't see Gaius anywhere.

"He must've already gone inside," said Arden. "Guess we should, too…"

Valor nodded, and they headed for the park's eastern exit, where the contest would be judged.

"Do you make your wartortle walk with a leg like that?" Valor asked, frowning. "I thought I taught you better than that! The poor thing… You should carry him, Ardie."

Arden frowned. "But he's really heavy, mom," muttered the boy. Valor looked at him sternly. "Eh—fine, I'll carry him…"

Gimpy grinned at Arden smugly. With a sigh, Arden knelt down, glaring at the wartortle. He hoisted the pokemon onto his back, piggy-back ride style, and stood up, grunting slightly with the effort. "I'm putting you on a diet," he said. "You weigh too much."

"Wartortle," said Gimpy, ears drooping.

They entered the building and a man with a clipboard asked to see their caught pokemon. They handed him their park balls, and went to stand with the other contestants. Valor glanced around. "It looks like your brother isn't here, either," she said. "I wonder what's got him…"

"Okay, the judging will begin now," said the man with the clipboard. Arden raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Hold on—there's another contestant that hasn't showed up, yet," he said.

The man with the clipboard frowned. "Well, I'm not sure there's anything we can d—"

With a clatter, the door opened and Gaius rode in, still mounted on Quenelle. He handed a park ball to the man. "Sorry—didn't realize everyone else was done," he said with a smile, urging his steed over to stand beside his mother and little brother.

"What'd you catch?" Arden asked, looking up at him.

"Eh, nothing special," said Gaius, shrugging. "You?"

"I caught a venonat," Arden said, puffing out his chest. Gimpy smacked him gently in the back of the head. "Ehk—Gimpy helped."

Gaius smiled. "That's good," he said, rubbing Arden's head. "I'm proud of you, baby brother."

"Okay," said the man. "The winner has been decided. Third place goes to Arden's venonat."

Arden grinned and Gaius patted him on the back. "Good job, Ardie," said Valor, hugging him.

"Second place goes to Valor's paras."

"Oh!" said Valor, clapping her hands together.

"Bre!" barked Borka beside her.

"Great job, mom," said Gaius.

"And the winner of today's bug catching contest," said the man with the clipboard. "Is Gaius' pinsir."

Arden's eyes widened. "You caught a pinsir?" he asked, looking up at his brother.

"Yeah," said Gaius with a shrug. "It put up quite a fight, too. I would've caught a higher level one, but Quen accidentally fainted it."

"Aur-auros."

"The prizes will now be handed out," said the man. As the other contestants milled about, or left, the man came up to Arden and handed him a gold berry, before going over to his mom.

"What kind of prize is a berry, anyway?" said Arden, frowning. "Is it too much to ask for a prize that doesn't grow on trees all around here?"

"Tortle," said Gimpy, leaning over his shoulder and eating the berry.

Arden scowled. "That wasn't on your diet," he said.

"Waaartortle."

A/N: Hey—just wanted to tell y'all, there are several new pictures up. This time they're profiles for Arden, Dixie, Felicia and Gaius. So if you're interested in knowing what their birthdates are, or what level each pokemon in their teams are, among some other facts, you can go check those out.