The Big Bug Contest!

*National Park Gate*

"So apparently, that way is the Bug Catching contest…" Lyra said looking at the map and pointing toward a doorway in front of us. "But I'm curious as to what's off to the left. I've never noticed that door before."

"Well, let's check it out. What do you say Gabriel?" I asked my Togepi, whom I was carrying in my hands.

"Left door! Left door!"

"Show me what's behind the left door!"

*Pokeathlon*

As we entered the building, I accidentally bumped into this big dude. He turned to face me. He was a very heavy man with one of those snow white walrus mustaches, and a white Mohawk on an otherwise bald head.

"And who are you?" He asked in a gruff voice. A Poliwrath who was standing next to him in the same position, turned and looked at me and Gabriel.

"S-sorry." I said. "I'm Hank, and this is my Togepi, Gabriel."

For a second I thought he was going to hit me, but his angry expression turned into jolly laughter. "You've got one hell of a tackle my boy!" He laughed.

"Th-thanks…" I said.

"The name's Magnus!" He said, holding out his hand. The Poliwrath held out its to Gabriel. "Me and Poliwrath, well we own this here stadium! Welcome to the Pokeathlon!"

"The Poke-…athlon?" Lyra inquired. "What is that?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked young lady! Allow me to dive into the crystal chapter of pokemon mythology. As I'm sure you know, we didn't always have the medicine that we have to treat diseases today, so long ago when a giant one swept over the entire Johto region, recovery for anyone at all seemed impossible!"

"What happened next?" Gabriel asked intrigued.

"What happened next?" I asked Magnus so that Gabriel's question would be answered.

"Well, the crystal chapter says, that a single hero and his three pokemon got wind of a place where a cure for everyone might be, but the journey would be dangerous, and there was absolutely no proof of any medicine or antidotes actually being there!"

"He and his pokemon went anyway though, didn't they?" Lyra asked as she gave me a grin.

"Why yes!" Magnus said. "Despite all the townspeople advising against it, the trainer and his pokemon set out for the rumored cure! They had to make their way through ten challenging and deadly obstacles, and when they finally reached the end…"

"There was a cure?" Lyra asked.

"No!" Magnus said. "Just like most townspeople said, absolutely nothing was there!"

"That's…disappointing…" I said.

"Maybe not…" Magnus said. "Because as the townspeople watched the hero and his pokemon go through obstacle after obstacle, they became filled with hope that perhaps they could be cured after all! The hope was so great by the time the hero completed the tenth obstacle, that everyone had already chased out the disease from their bodies, and the fact that nothing was in the rumored area didn't matter anymore!"

"So the hero and his three pokemon….they healed the people…with hope?" Lyra asked

"And dedication!" Magnus said. "There were plenty of times when the hero wanted to give up, but he looked at his pokemon, and thought of the townspeople and knew how much they were counting on him, and he would continue to push on."

"So what does this have to do with the Pokeathlon?" I asked.

"The Pokeathlon is a chance for trainers to choose three of their pokemon and compete in a set of three of ten sporting events to reflect the hero and his three pokemon overcoming the ten deadly obstacles!" Magnus said.

"Cool…." Gabriel's eyes lit up.

"When can we sign up?" I asked.

"Right away!" Magnus said. Yes! "As soon as the renovations are finished in a month or so!" Ugh!

"A whole month?" Gabriel asked.

"A whole month?" I asked.

"Yes a whole month…" Magnus nodded. "We're developing a system that will award the pokemon medals if they win one of the five competitions. There's Speed, Stamina, Power, Skill, and finally, Jump. Here, let me see your pokedex." Magnus said as I gave him my pokedex. "This button right here…" He said pointing. "You can check how good your pokemon is with each of its athletic attributes using this button. Be sure to pay attention to those because they can change upon evolution, or sometimes even upon leveling up. When the renovations are complete do come and participate! You can get some great prizes if you rack up enough points on the chart!"

"Alright we will!"

*National Park*

"The rules are simple: You catch one bug pokemon using these park balls and then we will judge the bug pokemon based on level and stats." Said the park attendant. "You have twenty minutes. Your time starts now!"

*Wild Caterpie appeared at level 20*

Nuzlocke….Caterpie…..only one shot at this….

I threw the park ball, and the Caterpie was caught. When all was said and done, I got third place. Not bad Caterpie, not bad.

I could keep the Caterpie if I wanted to, so of course, I did.

*Bo the Caterpie joined the party*

I walked a few steps.

*Bo evolved into Metapod*

*Bo evolved into Butterfree*

*Bo learned Psybeam*

Well, I didn't win the bug contest, but that worked out nicely. Just in time for Ekruteak's Ghost Gym in fact….

*Route 36*

"So here's that infamous tree." I said as I sprinkled some water on the Sudowoodo.

"Sudo!" It lunged at me. I threw an Ultra Ball at it, and caught it rather easily.

*Trent the Sudowoodo joined the team* (Sent to Box)

*Route 37*

*Charolette the Spinarbox joined the box forever….*

*Sunnyside was poisoned!*

"Hank…I don't feel so good."

"It's ok!" I said as we were almost to Ekruteak.

*Sunnyside survived the poison!*

"See what did I tell you?" I said as we kept walking. "You'll be f-"

"Well, this trainer looks nice and weak!" A woman said walking up. " Go Wigglytuff! Rollout!"

"Sunnyside Hypnosis!" Sunnyside used Hypnosis, but it was too late. The Rollout hit the poor Exeggcute…and there was nothing I could do anymore.

*Sunnyside fainted*

In a fury, I sent out Gabriel and used Metronome. It turned into Sheer Cold.

As I gave Sunnyside a proper burial, Lyra finally caught up to me.

"Oh Hank…" She said as she saw my tears. "If you don't want to do this anymore, we can just go back to New Bark Town. I certainly won't think any less of you, and neither will anyone else, I'm sure of it.

"Lyra, please send out all my other pokemon."

"Why?" Gabriel asked as Lyra sent out Talon, Liteweight, Flint, and Bo.

"I need to talk to you." I said to Gabe. "All of you." I motioned to my other pokemon. We all huddled around Sunnyside's grave.

"Listen…" I said. "I planned not to tell any of you until we reached the Indigo Plateau, but…These rules, this nuzlocke…."

"Yes…" Flint said. Talon got a solemn look on his face.

"Hank…." He said.

"I've gone on a journey just like this before." I said. "And for the same reason! To stop it! To put an end to these rules!"

"Oh Hank…" Lyra said as she sat down beside me.

"I got really far too, working together with pokemon much like you! But just when it seemed that we weren't going to be defeated, disaster stuck, and they all went down with me. So I'm going to give you guys an offer. We can stop this… All this adventuring. We can just call it quits and go back to New Bark Town, or if you don't trust me, I have a friend in Goldenrod, who'll look after all of you along with those fortunate enough to survive my last journey. The thing is though, I'm not going to continue this quest unless you're all 100 percent on this. Of course, first, you have to believe in me. That is essential if we're going to succeed in even getting back home. So what do you say guys? Are going to keep on this journey? Do you believe in me?"

There was silence for quite a long time. Flint looked down at the ground. Talon started to nervously peck at his wing. Bo kept checking his hands to see if he was holding any food.

"Hmmm…." Liteweight thought while hopping.

"I….I believe in Hank!" Gabriel finally shouted.

"Gabriel!" I said!

"Gabriel!" Lyra smiled. She looked at me. "That Togepi really likes you Hank." She said. "You just told him a very ugly truth, but he still loyally stands by you."

"You…you believe in…in him?" Liteweight asked. "He who has been careless enough to lose two pokemon in the same week?"

"Well, when you paint him in that light, it does make him look rather bad, but…" He looked at me. "But Hank has also saved all of us from death on countless occasions, and not only that but all of you!...Every last one of you! You were all weak and fragile basic pokemon when he first caught any of you! And me! I hatched from an egg at level 1! I'm level 16 now, and I haven't ever even suffered a single scratch! Hank's a human, and mistakes, mistakes can happen, but even though…Even though I might be throwing my life away, it's completely worth it for what I'm fighting for! Imagine a world where you don't have to live in constant fear of dying every minute! Imagine a world where you can freely battle, and not have to worry about not being able to battle again another day! That's the world that Hank wants! A world where we can live freely! He only ever has our best interests in his mind and it's easy to see that he cares about us a great deal. Come on don't any of you agree with me?"

"…"

"…."

"…"

"…..I…..I agree with you!" Flint said.

"Flint!" I said, with a smile on my face as Flint walked over to side with Gabriel.

"Gabriel's right. When I first met Hank, I absolutely hated him! I thought he was just another inexperienced trainer…but since Hank and I left New Bark Town, not only have I grown stronger thanks to him, but I've also learned how to work in a team and how to accept ideas and opinions other than my own! And while I may not be happy that's he's already tried and failed at this challenge, I'm still going to stand by him and fight until the very end. Which, mark my words, will be a happy one! I'll make sure of it!"

"I agree too." Bo said as he fluttered over. "I may have only just met Hank, but already he's gotten me to evolve not once, but twice! I owe him my sincerest thanks, and can't think of any way better than to help him realize our ideal region.

"I…I guess I agree too…" Liteweight said. "You have quite the way with words kid." He said to Gabriel. "I'll help the boss too. He needs to have someone for advice I guess." The Skiploom said.

"Alright," I said laughing at Liteweight's last comment. "It looks like we're all in agreement here!"

"Well, not everyone." Flint said. I looked at him quizzically.

"Talon's yet to reach a conclusion." Liteweight said, looking at the Pidgeotto.

"Oh, is that all?" I asked. "No need to worry about Talon, he was all in the whole time! Weren't you Talon?"

"Of course I was!" The bird said as he flew up and nestled on my head. "I didn't fly over here from Kanto for nothing you know!"

"Thank you Gabriel." I said turning.

"Anytime!" Gabriel said, and just as we were about to enter Ekruteak City, Gabriel turned a bright white light.

*Gabriel evolved into Togetic*

You better watch out Mewtwo. We're not quite done fighting yet!

*Burned Tower*

"Suicune, Suicune!" Entei said as he woke Suicune up. "Do sense him? He's here! They're finally here!"

"Yes…" Suicune said. "Finally, Let us finally meet, Hank Coro!"

The death count is now double what it once was at a larger than life 2. Fun fact: When Sunnyside died, Gabriel did evolve after that same battle, which really took away the pain...I also never wanted to give up on this run through, because I was finally getting to the more colorful and in depth parts of the game.