In this chapter, our protagonists are going to face Bugsy...he knows everything there is about bug Pokemon...hence the reason why he's a Gym Leader. And yes, for some strange reason, most of the Gym Leaders in Johto have their Pokemon type be weak against the Pokemon type of the Gym Leader preceding them. It's ironic.

Chapter 16: Float Like A Butterfree

"So, I heard that you got rid of Team Shadow...I appreciate it. For some strange reason one of them was blocking the entrance to my gym..." stated Bugsy.

"Could you get out?" asked Lucy.

"I was doing my research...so I wasn't aware that there was someone blocking the entrance..." explained the Gym Leader.

"What research is that?" inquired Jake.

"Bug types...I do research on bug Pokemon." stated Bugsy.

"I see..." nodded the boy.

"So...who wants to go first? I haven't had a trainer come up for a while so I'm willing for a Pokemon battle..." noted the bug Trainer.

Lucy volunteered. She was the one who had defeated the Team Shadow Executive so it made sense that she would get to go first.

"Alright then...go, Kakuna!" exclaimed Bugsy.

"Strange, I was expecting a bug Pokemon that was fully evolved..." answered Lucy.

"None of my Pokemon are fully evolved actually...I think that will change soon though." explained Bugsy.

Lucy nodded.

Fortunately, she had brought her Ponyta for the fight.

"Go, Ponyta!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Ponyta!" shouted the horse Pokemon.

"A fire Pokemon? That's not a bad choice." answered Bugsy.

To make matters worse for Bugsy, cocoon Pokemon were slow...and Ponyta was anything but.

"Ponyta, use Ember!" ordered Lucy.

Ponyta burnt Kakuna.

"Kakuna!" exclaimed Kakuna. Not even her hard shell was going to protect her from fire.

"Now use Stomp!" instructed Lucy.

Lucy's Ponyta nodded, and stepped on Kakuna.

Kakuna fainted. So much for her defenses.

Bugsy withdrew his Kakuna, and sent out Metapod.

"Metapod!" exclaimed Metapod.

However, he got the feeling that Metapod wasn't going to fare any better.

He was right on his Pokedollars.

Ponyta hit Metapod with an Ember, and this time it was a critical hit.

Metapod fainted.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

Now that two of his three Pokemon had fainted, it was time for Bugsy to send out his last Pokemon.

That last Pokemon happened to be Scyther.

"Scyther!" exclaimed the mantis Pokemon.

"This one's a lot different from the last two Pokemon I faced..." noted Lucy.

Bugsy nodded. This Pokemon just so happened to be his strongest.

Those blades sure looked sharp..Lucy noted had better approach Scyther with caution.

Or better yet, fight from a distance.

Lucy's Ponyta attacked Scyther with Ember.

He was burned...but that wouldn't be enough to take him down. He was one tough bug.

In retaliation, he slashed Ponyta with his blades. Ponyta was fast, but Scyther was fast too.

Ponyta stomped Scyther on the face.

This angered Scyther, and he attacked Ponyta with a buffet from his wings.

"Ponyta..." murmured the fire Pokemon. She was feeling exhausted.

"Fire Spin!" ordered Lucy.

Ponyta nodded, and surrounded Scyther with fire.

Unfortunately, he flew right over it and hit Ponyta with his blades once again.

Ponyta fainted.

"Ponyta..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

"That didn't go too well..." noted Lucy. At least Scyther seemed to be worn down.

She then remembered something.

Didn't she still have her Mareep?

She would come in handy during this fight.

"I choose you, Mareep!" shouted Lucy.

"Mareep!" exclaimed the sheep Pokemon.

"An electric type? Well, my Scyther is a flying type..." noted Bugsy. In fact, Metapod would be as well once he evolved into a Butterfree.

"Thundershock!" instructed Lucy.

Lucy's Mareep nodded, and zapped Scyther with electricity.

"Scyther!" exclaimed the mantis Pokemon.

Scyther tried slashing Mareep with her blades...but she found out that touching Mareep resulted in being zapped.

"Scyther!" shouted the bug Pokemon.

"That's one good defense..." noted Lucy.

Mareep nodded. Too bad it didn't protect her from ground Pokemon...but she couldn't have everything, now could she?

Scyther tried hitting Mareep with her wings...but flying attacks didn't harm electric Pokemon much, now did they?

"Mareep, use Thundershock!" ordered the girl.

Mareep nodded, and Scyther fainted.

"Scyther..." murmured the mantis Pokemon.

"Nice! I may know so much about bug Pokemon but you seem to know much about all sorts of Pokemon...maybe I should try learning about different Pokemon myself...perhaps if I learned about flying Pokemon I would know how to counteract them..." remarked Bugsy.

Lucy nodded.

"Here is your Hive Badge. Try not to get lost in the Ilex Forest..." explained the bug Pokemon trainer.

"I heard that Ilex Forest is straightforward..." noted Lucy.

"Maybe, but you should still pay attention to your surroundings..." said Bugsy.

Lucy nodded.

The two of them went to heal their Pokemon.

Bugsy came back a short while later.

"So, you wish to face me next? You already know what Pokemon I'm going to use but I hope you enjoy this Gym Battle regardless. I feel like battling bug Pokemon is a good way to research them..." noted Bugsy.

Jake nodded.

"You know, if I weren't a bug type specialist, people would probably mistake me for a girl..." remarked the bug catcher.

"My teammate's a girl and she actually likes bug Pokemon..." explained Jake.

"That's ironic, isn't it?" noted Bugsy.

Jake agreed.

Speaking of girls, he wondered where Sarah was headed.

Meanwhile in the Ilex Forest...

Sarah scanned Heracross with her Pokedex.

"Heracross, the Single Horn Pokemon. Heracross is a docile Pokemon, and it loves tree sap! Despite its peaceful nature, Heracross packs a large amount of power!" exclaimed Sarah's Pokedex.

Sarah noted that Heracross was a strong Pokemon. Naturally, Jerry would want his hands on it.

"Slowpoke..." said Slowpoke.

"I used to have a Slowpoke until he became a Slowbro...he's a million times better than yours!" exclaimed Jerry.

"My Slowpoke hasn't evolved yet, so I suppose that's true...I only caught my Slowpoke recently though so cut him some slack." answered Sarah.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. Jerry had no respect for his opponent.

Heracross got to attack first, since Slowpoke was so slow.

"Ha! Your Slowpoke would rather snooze than fight on the battlefield! Horn Attack!" ordered Jerry.

Her across nodded and hit Slowpoke with his horn. Apparently, that was where a lot of his strength came from.

However, Slowpoke didn't seem hurt too much.

"Hmm, what should I do?" asked Sarah.

"Slowpoke?" inquired Sarah's Slowpoke. A psychic type would come in handy for the situation.

"Use...Confusion?" inquired the girl.

Slowpoke nodded, and used Confusion to make Heracross confused.

"What?!" shouted Jerry. Slowpoke didn't seem to be fighting at all until a moment ago.

"Heracross?" questioned Heracross. He couldn't seem to remember what he was doing.

Perhaps he was drinking tree sap?

Now that he thought of it, he simply loved tree sap.

That sounded quite delicious.

He went over to a nearby tree and began to guzzle the tree sap.

"Heracross..." murmured the beetle Pokemon. He was so glad that he was in a forest. Then again, this forest was his home.

Jerry groaned. Why did his Pokemon have to be incompetent? People said that he was the incompetent one, but he thought that they were stupid.

Since Heracross was distracted by the tree sap, Sarah decided she should have Slowpoke attack again.

"You're a water type, right? Do you have any water attacks?" asked Sarah.

Slowpoke nodded.

He splashed Heracross with Water Gun.

"Heracross!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Slowpoke had washed away all the tree sap from the tree.

Heracross started to cry.

Jerry groaned.

"Don't be such a baby Pokemon!"

"I feel sorry for Heracross..." noted Sarah.

Slowpoke nodded.

Jerry groaned. It seemed that Heracross wasn't able to battle anymore.

He withdrew Heracross and decided to send out another Pokemon...one that wasn't such a crybaby.

Ironically, Jerry happened to be a crybaby himself. It seemed that a trainer's Pokemon reflected their personality in some way. Sarah's Totodile in particular fitted her perfectly.

"Go, Dunsparce!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Dunsparce!" shouted Dunsparce.

Sarah noted that Dunsparce and Diglett were very similar Pokemon. Dunsparce wasn't a ground type Pokemon though, was it?

If so, she didn't have a type advantage.

In fact, it seemed that Dunsparce was a normal type Pokemon.

Dunsparce used Glare on Slowpoke.

However, Slowpoke didn't seem too phased.

"Come on!" shouted Jerry.

Slowpoke splashed Dunsparce with Water Gun.

"Dunsparce!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon.

He burrowed underground, hoping to get the jump on Slowpoke.

He resurfaced shortly afterwards and hit Slowpoke with his drill.

"Slowpoke!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. That surprised him.

However, he hit Dunsparce with Confusion.

"Dunsparce!" exclaimed the land snake Pokemon.

He hit Slowpoke with Rollout, and Slowpoke fainted.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the fainted Pokemon.

"Finally...that Slowpoke was such a pain..." noted Jerry.

"I guess I should try beating Jerry at his own game..." remarked Sarah.

Sarah sent out her Ekans.

"Ekans!" exclaimed Ekans.

"My snake Pokemon is better than yours!" bellowed Jerry.

Ekans bit Dunsparce on the head, and he fainted.

"I don't know..." answered Sarah.

Jerry sighed, and sent out his Totodile.

"Finish the job!" ordered Jerry.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's aggressive Totodile.

Totodile sank his teeth into Ekans, causing her to screech.

"Ekans!" shouted the snake Pokemon.

"Not again..." noted Sarah.

Totodile used Water Gun, and Ekans fainted.

"You want to face Totodile?" asked Sarah.

Totodile nodded.

"This time, I'll win!" exclaimed Jerry.

Jerry's Totodile used Scary Face.

Sarah's Totodile leapt a few feet, but he calmed himself down.

He scratched Jerry's Totodile on the face.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

This made him mad, and he used Rage.

"I don't think we'll like him when he's angry..." answered Sarah.

"Totodile..." murmured Sarah's Totodile. He didn't like Jerry's Totodile when he wasn't angry.

Sarah's Totodile bit Jerry's Totodile once again.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

In retaliation, he splashed Sarah's Totodile with Water Gun.

Totodile wiped himself off, and scratched Jerry's Totodile once again.

He got a critical hit, and Jerry's Totodile fainted.

"Darn it! I lost again!" exclaimed Jerry's Totodile.

"Yep..." nodded Sarah.

"I can't stand losing to you! Just wait until my Totodile evolves into a Croconaw!" shouted Jerry.

Jerry left the forest.

"Er, how do I get out of this forest?" questioned the girl.

"Totodile?" asked Sarah's Totodile. Who could they ask for directions?

At that very moment, a wild Oddish appeared.

"Togepi!" exclaimed Sarah's Togepi.

"What is it, Togepi?" asked Sarah.

Togepi pointed to the wild Oddish. The plant Pokemon seemed like a friendly one.

"Er, can you help?" asked Sarah.

According to the Pokedex, this Oddish was female.

The wild Oddish nodded. Personally she liked visiting the shrine dedicated to its guardian, Celebi. Rumor has it that Celebi could travel through time. Had she ever caused time paradoxes?

The Oddish showed Sarah the way out of the forest.

"Thanks...how can I repay you?" asked Sarah.

"Oddish..." said Sarah's Oddish. To be honest, she was somewhat of the adventurous type. Sure, Ilex Forest was nice, but what was the rest of the world like?

That was something that she would like to know.

"You want to explore the world?" asked Sarah.

"Oddish." said Sarah's Oddish. She also liked dancing.

"You like to dance? Well, whatever floats your boat." answered the Team Shadow Grunt.

"Totodile!" exclaimed Sarah's Totodile. He wanted to be on a boat.

Sarah caught the Oddish with her Pokeball.

She then exited the forest and began to head to Goldenrod City.

Incidentally, that was where her home sweet home was.

"It'd be nice to to be back home...though I need to head back to the hideout..." noted Sarah.

Perhaps she could say hi to her mother while she was at it...of course, she didn't seem to be home much. She was typically at the Game Corner trying to get coins.

To be fair, there were Pokemon available at the shop. They were rather cute.

Sarah set out towards the city.

Inside the Pokemon Center in Azalea Town...

"I thought you wanted to face the Gym Leader..." explained Ned.

"In a moment. I'm watching TV..." stated Chris.

Apparently, the incident at Azalea Town had made the news.

"Good evening. I'm Mei Dia. Team Shadow made the headlines when they stole various Slowpokes from a small town so that they could harvest their Slowpoketails for money. Luckily, two children managed to stop them. And yes, they were just children. Apparently, they decided that there was more to a Pokemon adventure than simply collecting Gym badges. We salute them. The operation was being headed by notorious criminal Larry Adachi, who had apparently decided to join forces with the team in order to make more profit. He had the honor of being one of Team Shadow's executives. Police are currently investigating as to who the other executives could possibly be." explained the news reporter.

"Darn. I guess Team Rocket aren't the only ones that like abusing Pokemon. I swear, people need to stop exploiting Pokemon for profit. It's more fun to battle them anyway." answered Chris.

"I prefer researching them." stated Ned.

"Chansey!" exclaimed one of Nurse Joy's Chanseys. It was a good thing that there was a Pokemon Center in Azalea Town. There were a lot of requests for them to treat their Slowpoke. It was a good thing Slowpokes had a healing factor. It made their jobs a lot easier.

Chris continued watching the news. Who else was going to be on TV?

Maybe it would be a famous celebrity.

Just for the record, Bugsy is a guy, not a girl. And yet for some strange reason his Pokemon happen to be female...maybe it's some sort of joke. Even his Scyther happens to be a girl.

And it seems that Sarah has caught another Pokemon once again. Good thing this wild Pokemon was friendly.

In the next chapter, Sarah is going to catch another Pokemon. And yes, she's catching Pokemon rather quickly. I will try to give her Pokemon some development though. They're more interesting that way.