In an instant, Lightning leaped into the air. He hovered in the air excitedly, trembling with anticipation. "Don't worry, Thunder!" he declared. "I'll finish this Gyarados off in a heartbeat!" He zipped off to the lake so fast that he was just a blur of feathers.

"No!" I screamed. Flying quickly after him in desperation, I pecked him sharply on the shoulder. "What are you doing, Lightning?" I yelled. "Remember what Falkner warned: 'Don't get into any unnecessary fights!' We're running away from this Gyarados. Right now."

Lightning just growled angrily and flew away even faster. Wanting to scream in fury, I found myself following him to the lake where the scary, furious Gyarados waited to wreak havoc on the forest. I really don't want Lightning to do this, I thought, but Lightning will need as much help as possible.

What happened next happened so swiftly that I thought time had sped up. All I saw were blurs of Lightning swooping, diving, and flying out of the way, while the Gyarados roared and tried to attack the furious mass of feathers. White streaks of speed zipped around the raging beast as Lightning rammed into the Gyarados over and over again with Quick Attack. Swallowing hard, I tried to help out, but everything was moving too fast. I could only watch helplessly as the battle roared on. But then, I suddenly saw that something was different. The Gyarados's fangs were glowing with a vicious blue light…

"Lightning!" I shrieked. "Look out!"

Lightning whirled around to face the Gyarados, but he was too late. In a flash, the serpent's icy blue jaws were closing in on him. I watched in horror as the Gyarados clutched Lightning in its jaws for a while; then, it tossed Lightning into the air, slipped under the water, and disappeared with a light flick of its tail.

"Oh, no!" I screamed, and immediately dashed to catch Lightning and break his fall. However, instead of catching a warm mass of soft feathers, my body brushed against a freezing, solid block of ice.

"Don't ever do that again," I scolded.

Lightning glared at me angrily. "Why not?" he hissed. "I could have defeated that Gyarados easily, if it weren't for that stupid Ice Fang attack."

Lightning's feathers were still covered with remnants of freezing ice. He shook himself vigorously from the cold. "Besides," he added, "you didn't have to drop me from a tree to the hard ground to defrost me. The fall really hurt."

"Serves you right!" I snapped. Did Lightning even remember Falkner's warnings? "Don't you remember what Falkner said when we left? We aren't supposed to get into any unnecessary fights, and fighting a random wild Gyarados is the most unnecessary fight I can think of."

Lightning turned away and shrugged. "It's a nice way to practice my fighting skills," he said absentmindedly. "By the way, after all this time, you still haven't caught any lunch yet."

How could Lightning be so apathetic about this? I pecked him as hard as I could on his shoulder, and he jumped up in pain, facing me angrily. "Lightning, this is serious business!" I growled, resisting my pressing urge to holler into his face. "Listen, if you ever become incapacitated, we are both goners. Please, please stop fighting and keep both of us safe!"

"Well," Lightning screeched, "Thunder, stop being so stubborn and picky and keep both of us well fed! If you can't at least try to catch a Magikarp, you're going to starve when we have to cross the ocean."

"Then we won't cross the ocean!" I declared. I stretched my wings out, suddenly realizing how hungry I was. "You know what, I'm going to hunt for Bug Pokemon. If you're scared, then fine. You can stay on this tree while I go hunt."

I leaped into the air and scanned the ground for bugs. To my surprise, Lightning followed me. I'll ask him why later, I thought. I'm hungry, and I need some food.

Suddenly, I spotted a flash of movement – a small brown Weedle was wriggling amongst the roots of a small tree. My stomach growling slightly, I focused of the movements of the Weedle and dived towards it. Closing in on the bug, thinking of a wonderfully delicious meal, I got ready to clamp my beak on the little Bug Pokemon…

… Suddenly, my dive was halted abruptly as my beak banged against solid, unyielding steel.

"Ow!" I cried, landing awkwardly on the grass. Rubbing my painful beak with my wing, I looked up apprehensively into the eyes of a fierce, intimidating Scizor.

I had heard of Scizor before – they were renowned as the toughest Bug Pokemon in all of Kanto and Johto. However, this was the first time I was meeting a Scizor in real life. The bug was enormous; so enormous that I was amazed that it was even a bug. Each one of its claws as big as a small Magikarp, and its dark red armor gleamed in the sunlight. The Scizor's eyes held a cold, intimidating expression that was extremely odd for a bug Pokemon. Even though I knew that it was a mere bug, I felt myself shivering a little with fear. The bug was also a Steel type, after all.

"For your information," the armored bug screeched in a surprisingly high-pitched voice, "That Weedle belongs to my trainer. And no one – not even Flying, Fire, and Rock types – ever harms my trainer's Pokemon without getting a beating from me first."

"Oh – I'm sorry – I didn't know that the Weedle belonged to a trainer," I stammered, still a bit surprised that the Scizor was female. "Guess I'd better get out of here, then."

"Wait!" Lightning called, circling down to land beside me. He narrowed his eyes at the Scizor, though I could tell that his scrutinizing eyes held a trace of fear. "Hey, you're the Scyther who defeated Falkner and I so long ago!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Guess you're even more powerful now that you've evolved."

"What?" I cried disbelievingly. So this Scizor was Bugsy's powerful Scyther, who had given Lightning his fear of bugs? "But… but… you're a girl?"

"'Course I am; what did you think I was, a plant?" the Scizor snapped. She put her claws on her hips angrily. "My name's Crystal Ice. NOT Crystal, and NOT Ice. Crystal Ice."

"Well, pleased to meet you, Crystal Ice," I said sarcastically, for I wasn't pleased to meet the screeching, hot-tempered bug at all. "I guess Lightning and I should continue on with our journey."

I turned to leave, but Crystal Ice swiftly planted herself in front of me again. For a Steel-type, she was surprisingly fast, which made me a little worried. "No, you can't leave yet, whoever you are," she snapped. "You tried to eat poor Rosie here. That's right; even Weedle have names. I'm going to report you to Bugsy. He can decide what he wants to do to you." With that, the Scizor flew swiftly away.

"What a jerk," Lightning growled. "She didn't even say goodbye or anything."

I nodded angrily and looked down at Rosie the Weedle, who had been too scared to speak this whole time. "Please don't eat me," she whimpered. "I'm Bugsy's only Weedle."

"Fine," I groaned, though my growling stomach was screaming at me to pounce on the Weedle and gobble it up. Forcing myself to look away, I waited and waited for the Scizor and her trainer to show up. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Crystal Ice and Bugsy burst through the nearby bushes, the Scizor almost screaming. "And one of the Pidgeot is Falkner's Pidgeot, the one we defeated together so long ago!" she shrieked. "They were trying to eat Rosie! You must make sure they are punished! Really punished!"

"Relax, Crystal Ice," I hissed. "You know perfectly well that Bugsy can't understand you."

"Well, who cares?" Crystal Ice shrieked. She started to frantically point to Lightning, Rosie, and I. "I found these Pidgeot, trying to eat Rosie," she explained. "Since Rosie belongs to you, you can determine the fate of these two Pidgeot."

Bugsy, the purple-haired bug catcher, scratched his head a little. I had heard many hilarious stories of Bugsy before, but now I was finally meeting the Azalea Town gym leader in person. If it weren't for the stories from Boulder and Cascade, I would have thought that Bugsy were a girl. Okay, Boulder and Cascade, I thought triumphantly, you were right; Bugsy DOES look like a girl after all! Now all I needed to confirm were the rumors of Bugsy getting stuck in trees. I giggled a little at the thought of tiny little Bug Pokemon struggling to get a human out of a tree.

"All right, Scizor," Bugsy said finally, "Are you trying to say that these Pidgeot were trying to harm my Weedle?"

Crystal Ice nodded vigorously.

Bugsy studied Lightning and I sharply. "Hmm, you Pidgeot look wild. You probably didn't know that the Weedle was mine." He glanced at Crystal Ice and said, "We'll spare these Pidgeot for now."

Crystal Ice hissed angrily, but said nothing.

Bugsy peered at Lightning's tracking device. "Hey, what's this?" he asked with interest as he held the tracking device in his hands and examined it closely. Lightning stiffened, and my mind raced. What is Bugsy going to do to the tracking device? I thought frantically. Will he destroy it? But Bugsy just turned it over and peered at the words written on it. "If this Pokemon is ever found badly injured, please heal it as much as you can and contact Falkner, the Violet City gym leader." Bugsy read the phone number out loud, number by number.

"Wow, you're Falkner's Pidgeot!" Bugsy exclaimed. "I remember defeating you with Scizor so long ago, back when Scizor was still a Scyther!"

Lightning's face turned bright red. "You don't have to rub that in!" he groaned.

Bugsy just laughed. "Why don't you two come to my gym?" he suggested. "I'll call Falkner and tell him that you two are with me. But remember, if you eat my Bug Pokemon, Scizor here will give you a punishment you will never forget."

"Just look at this place," I whispered in awe.

The Azalea Town gym looked more like a forest than a Pokemon gym. All around me, tall, verdant trees loomed out from the earthly ground, while the bright, powerful sun cast its rays through the almost invisible glass walls and down on the many sun-loving plants. Bug Pokemon of all sorts filled the forest – Caterpie and Spinarak crawled up and down tree trunks; Metapod and Kakuna hung, unmoving, on tree branches; Ledyba and Ledian flew absentmindedly through the crisp, clean air.

"It's just like that fake forest in the Violet City gym, only real," I breathed.

"And crawling with creepy things that pop out of nowhere," Lightning groaned. "How long are we going to stay here, anyways?"

"Long enough to get a good rest and a full stomach," I stated, my stomach growling loudly again. The sight of all the Bug Pokemon around made me even hungrier, but the Bird Pokemon law of bound me: Never, ever, eat another Pokemon in the presence of humans.

Bugsy led us through the forest to the battlefield – it looked simple enough, like all the other battlefields I had seen before. "Everyone, stay here," he commanded. Without any other words, he disappeared into the thick forest.

Sighing, I landed on the outer boundary of the battlefield, where a small food bowl stood. Lightning landed beside me, though I knew that he was not hungry. My stomach rumbling, I bended my head to feast on the Pokemon food –

"Stop!" Crystal Ice shrieked, as she planted herself in front of my food bowl.

I looked up and growled. "Not you again!" I hissed. "Why can't I eat? I'm starving!"

"You tried to eat Bugsy's Pokemon. As a result, you must be punished," Crystal Ice hissed. "No food for you until tomorrow morning."

"Oh, cut that out, Crystal Ice." A voice sounded from above my head; looking up, I spotted a female Butterfree swooping down from a tree to face Crystal Ice. "This Pidgeot probably is starving. It isn't fair to make her wait until next morning for food."

Lightning tensed a little. Really? I thought. He's even scared of Butterfree, the friendliest and prettiest Bug Pokemon around? No matter what, my flock never hunted Butterfree – they were known for their kindness and helpfulness during hard times.

"You cut that out, Willow," Crystal Ice retorted. "I'm sick of you being so friendly to any visitors we get.'

"You're the one who needs to learn how nice it is to be friendly," Willow admonished. "Why don't you go talk to Bugsy? He probably has some fresh berries for you."

Crystal Ice paused a little, but the thought of fresh berries seemed very tantalizing to her. Without a word, she flapped her wings and sailed away into the air.

"Whew; I thought she would never leave," Willow said, as she fluttered down to the ground. "Don't pay too much attention to Crystal Ice. She may be Bugsy's main battler, but there are many things that she lacks – such as good manners and thoughtfulness."

"How about you?" Lightning asked; I was genuinely surprised that I could not detect any traces of fear in his question. "Are you one of Bugsy's main battlers?"

Willow nodded. "I'm Willow, if you didn't know that already," she said. "I was a Metapod for a very, very long time before I evolved – and I'm glad I did. Now I'm good at blowing foes away with Whirlwind and putting enemies to sleep with Sleep Powder, but Crystal Ice does most of the fierce contact-battling."

"Oh," I said lightly. "I'm Thunder, and this other Pidgeot here is Lightning." I glanced at the food bowl. "Can I eat this food? I'm starving."

"Oh, of course!" Willow exclaimed. "It's Bug Pokemon food, so you might not like it, but you can eat it if you want."

"Thank you," I murmured, and plunged my head into the food. This food wasn't at all like Bird Pokemon food; it didn't have any meaty taste to it and instead tasted a bit like leaves and grass. However, I was so hungry that it didn't matter. Gulping down all of the food, I stepped back and burped lightly. "That was nice of you, Willow," I said.

Before Willow could respond, we heard voices nearby. Following the voices, I spotted Bugsy, talking on a videophone. "…your Pidgeot is doing great," I heard Bugsy say. "He's having lots of fun right now with the other Pidgeot and my Butterfree."

"It's Falkner!" Lightning whooped with delight, and flew with amazing velocity to the videophone.

"I wish he'd calm down a bit," I sighed to Willow. "I actually didn't come here to talk to Falkner on a videophone. Now that I'm here, I need you ask you this: Have you seen a trainer named Ash Ketchum?"

Willow cocked her head to one side. "Oh, of course!" she exclaimed. "Back when I was a Metapod, he came with his friends Misty and Brock to win a Hive Badge from Bugsy. That was about six months ago."

"Oh… thank you," I stammered, still surprised that I was so far away from Ash. I decided to change the subject. "So, Willow, does this gym have a Berry Expert of any sort? I mean, someone who knows a lot about berries?"

"Why, that's me!" Willow exclaimed. "This gym is full of all sorts of berries, and I can show you all of them and their uses and properties."

"Really?" I asked, getting excited. If Lightning got into a lot of fights, he would of course need berries to treat his wounds. "Can you show me as many berries as you can, while Lightning is busy talking with Falkner?"

"Sure!" Willow exclaimed. "Let's go!"

To be continued…