CHAPTER 3: THE BEST PEST
"Hello there!" yelled a tall chubby man from Lacey's door way. He jogged over to me a Swablu following him closely. "You must be Hayden, Lacey just ran into her room whining about you, Professor Lucas called me earlier, you need a pokedex?"
Todd Regg was Lacey's step brother and a student of the Sinnoh PC legend Bebe, he was responsible for advancing the pokedex in every major way for the last 3 years. Even though he was linked to a famous family that stretched into Johto and Kanto, as well as being associated with the creators of Pokemon storage, he still could make a name for himself.
"It's going to take some explaining to do. Of course they're not as point and click as the old days," he smiled in a warming way and lead me inside the house.
When me and Lacey were kids we used to play here, mostly when our brothers decided to get together in order to think up wacky ways to impress their idols, the Poke'Professors.
The house was large and covered in dragon décor, due to Lacey's father's obsession with the beasts. I learned most of what I knew about the dragon type by listening to Lacey's dad tell stories or from what all of her picture books held. She once bragged to me saying they had a library on every dragon pokemon including the extremely elusive Reshiram.
" So since you beat my baby sister I take it you'll be a trainer on the side of Professor Lucas's request?" he said taking a snack out of an enormous Shelgon shaped fridge. "I guess that means you'll be challenging Grammy Reut?" he sat down at a long table held up by wooden Flygon as he pulled open a pudding. "Mind me asking how many pokemon you have?"
"Just Albero, my Sudowoodo," I said patting his pokeball.
"Sudowoodo? The rock type? You're going to challenge Grammy Reut with a rock type?" he licked the spoon clean as wide eyes peered at me.
"Yea, why ?"
"Well Grammy Reut is a grass type trainer, if you bring a Sudowoodo to-"
I drowned him out, he was right, if she's a grass type user and if try and use Albero, I'll get creamed.
"..and that's how Lacey beat her with Gibbs, but it'll be hard for a Sudowoodo," he finished scrapping his pudding cup clean.
"Lacey already beat a gym leader?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I'd just wiped the yard with Lacey and she was still better than me.
"Two actually, she challenged a dark type leader from up north when he came through town a few weeks back,"
Now I really couldn't believe what I was hearing, the only dark type leader in Hellspun is my uncle Gregg, if he'd already lost to Lacey how could I beat her without surprise.
"If you want to challenge Grammy Reut I'd suggest going and catching a bug type from the fields behind our property, they've all already been entered into my pokedex, you should go see how many you can get into yours. "
/The Fields\
The tall grass behind Lacey and Todd's house was part of the Keyler forest. Many pokemon trainers were walking away as I approached.
"What's going on?" I asked to a passing trainer.
""Me and my friends have just had our fill of these pokemon, nothing but Wurmple, Pineco, and Venonat," he said pointing to five pokeballs on his belt.
'Damn.' I thought. Todd had said that only those 3 pokemon were around here but I'd hoped to run into something a bit more fierce like a Pinsir or Masquerain, both were shown off in my catalogue back home for their strength. I called out Albero and began searching for a bug to make my own. Albero wandered off amongst the tree line and stood still, I was almost unable to see him with the night beginning to fall.
Three hours seemed to drag by as I looked through the tall grass and found nothing. The other trainers must've scared the bugs they hadn't caught away. I decided to give up until morning and to go find Albero. He was standing exactly where I'd left him stiff as a statue, except hanging onto him was a shiny purple bug.
"What is that? " I whispered as Albero squirmed and the bug began to awaken. Its back opened to reveal thin wings that it started to hover with. I could see it more clearly and my pokedex shook as its radar apparently went off. I opened it.
"Heracross, the one horned pokemon. Heracross are extremely territorial, however upon losing to another pokemon they will gracefully leave and find a new home." A robotic female voice said in a slightly creepy tone.
"Albero," he limbered up now and opened his eyes to face the pokemon, "Use Block,"
Albero projected a huge wave of energy that prevented the Heracross from leaving the area. It descended a few feet and turned to Albero glaring as it buzzed in annoyance.
"Use your Rock Throw attack, " I shouted to Albero.
Stones lunged upward at the hovering Heracross, however they weren't fast enough. Albero was pushed back slightly by a quick slashing attack from Heracross.
'Albero, use your Copy Cat technique," the notes the old woman had given me were proving more and more useful as I watched Albero swing his arm in a fast motion toward Heracross. At first it looked as if it would simply move out of the way yet again, but Albero changed the direction of his swing and caught Heracross sending him feet backwards onto its knees.
'This pokemon must be weak to whatever move that was, it barely looks like it can stand'
"Go pokeball ! Catch that Heracross," I watched the ball soar through the air and drag Heracross's light purple body into itself. It rocked a few times and then settled motionless.
I walked up to the ball and grabbed it as I called Albero back into his pokeball.
"Let's get you back where I can take a good look at you," I said shining Heracross's pokeball. Today made me feel more and more like a trainer as it passed.
/Frau Household\
"It's a weird looking bug," Lacey said staring at Heracross as it clinged to her wall napping as it was on Sudowoodo earlier. "Suits you, " she stuck out her tongue as Gibbs smiled behind her, they shared a lot more than I thought apparently.
"You're just jealous because I caught something rare around here," I smiled looking at my pokemon shine, it snored loudly in a buzzing noise.
"You're both right actually," Todd said walking into the living room with another pudding cup. "Heracross is definitely rare to Keyler Forest , but it shouldn't look like yours does."
"What do you mean?" I said the shine mattering less as I realized I had a dud.
"They're supposed to be blue, loser" Lacey said matter of factly petting her Gible " You can't even catch a pokemon the right way,"
"Actually, Lacey he may have done very well, much better than you did with all the bugs you caught me to send to his brother last spring," he began scrapping his snack yet again. "He caught what is known as a shiny, they're rare variants of pokemon with different coloring, coordinators go crazy over them,"
"So he isn't a dud?" I said smiling petting Heracross's back
"Yep, and he isn't a he, your Heracross is a girl, you can tell by the horn," he said walking away yawning as he turned into his room.
"It's a lazy bug if you ask me, most pokemon are energetic after they're caught, yours is just a couch potato," she stretched and carried Gible to her room as she mumbled a few last words, "I'd name a pokemon Slouch if it were that lazy,"
"That might not be the worst idea, Lacey," I said laying down staring at Heracross sleeping on the wall and Albero sitting near it nodding off, "Goodnight Slouch,"
