Chapter 61: Getting Bugged
As Ash and Nikki continued on their way towards Mineva Town they decided to stop for a short break. While Nikki prepared another Contest routine Ash was busy trying to teach Riolu a new attack.
"Okay, Riolu, let's try this again. Use Shadow Claw!" Riolu drew his paw back and concentrated. Pretty soon the shadowy outline of a claw appeared around his paw. He then took a mighty swipe, his Shadow Claw cutting through the air.
"That's the way!" Ash urged. "Just keep practicing that and it'll be second nature in no time."
"(I will do my best,)" Riolu said.
"SO, how is training coming?" Nikki inquired.
"Great. Riolu's getting the hang of his Shadow Claw," Ash reported. "He'll definitely be ready for battle at this rate."
"That's good to hear," Nikki said.
"What about you? How's your Contest training coming along?" Ash wondered.
"Well, I haven't been able to come up with a routine that I feel will get me the win, but I think I'm getting close to a breakthrough," she replied.
"Well, just keep at it. You'll come up with something," Ash told her. With their training session complete they packed up their things and recalled their Pokémon. They were about to head out again when something caught Ash's attention.
What was that?" he wondered, looking over towards some bushes. Being as quiet as possible he and Nikki crept over towards the bush and peeked over. There, a few yards away, was a Pokémon.
"It's a Scyther," Nikki whispered, recalling her encounter with Amalia's Scyther during her last Pokémon Contest. She didn't have an opportunity last time to scan it, so she took this time to get some information about the Pokémon.
Name: Scyther
Species: The Mantis Pokémon
Pokécomm Entry: The sharp scythes on its forearms become increasingly sharp by cutting through hard objects.
"That's a strong looking Scyther," Nikki commented.
"Yeah," Ash agreed. The longer he looked at the Scyther the more he began to think about adding him to his team. Nikki took notice of this.
"You want to try and catch him, don't you," she assumed.
"Like you said he looks powerful, and I could all the powerful Pokémon I can get," Ash responded.
"Just be careful. If he's half as strong as I think he is then he's not a Pokémon you want to take lightly," Nikki warned. Ash gave her a confirming nod before stepping out from behind the bush, catching the Scyther's attention.
"You're mind, Scyther!" he declared. The Scyther seemed to frown, annoyed at the fact that Ash was trying to catch him.
"Go, Noctowl!" The Owl Pokémon appeared from his Poké Ball moments later and squared up to the Scyther.
"Use Air Slash!" Ash instructed. Noctowl flapped his wings, sending out blades of air towards Scyther. The Mantis Pokémon countered by slashing the incoming attack, cutting it in half.
"That looked like a Slash attack," Ash mused. "Okay, Noctowl, let's try…" Before he could issue his next command Scyther used an incredible burst of speed to close the distance between himself and Noctowl. Then, once he was close enough, he slashed at Noctowl, his scythes giving off a dark glow. The attack caused critical damage, sending the Owl Pokémon crashing to the ground.
"No, Noctowl!" Ash shouted. With Ash's attention on his fallen Pokémon the Scyther took this opportunity to leave. By now Nikki had joined Ash as he checked on Noctowl.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked.
"(Yes. Just a little dazed,)" Noctowl replied. "(Just what did he hit me with?)"
"He used Agility to get in close before hitting you with a Night Slash," Ash explained.
"And it looks like he's gone now," Nikki observed. "Guess you can call him the one that got away."
"Not a chance. I'm going to catch that Scyther no matter what," he declared. Nikki just sighed and shook her head. She should have known once Ash got something in to his head there was little chance of getting him to change his mind.
"So, where do we start looking?" Nikki wondered.
"I say we start from the air," Ash suggested. "You feel like doing some aerial searching, Noctowl?"
"(I'll do what I can to find him,)" Noctowl replied.
"Guess I'll help out too," Nikki said, sending out her Chatot.
"What's up?" Chatot asked.
"We're looking for a Scyther. Can you help us find him?"
"Leave it to me," the Music Note Pokémon said. With their tasks clear the two Flying types took to the skies in search of their target.
"Good. While they search through the air we'll look for him down here," Ash said. With their Flying types looking through the air Ash and Nikki started their search on the ground. With any luck they'd find the Scyther quickly.
"I don't know about you, Ash, but we're running out of places to look," Nikki said. So far they had been looking for nearly an hour for the Scyther with no luck.
"I know, but I want to find that Scyther," Ash said.
"I know you do, but unless Noctowl or Chatot had any luck I don't think we're going to find him," Nikki told him. Moments later Noctowl flew down towards them, but the look on his face didn't instill confidence.
"Please tell me you found him," Ash pleaded.
"(Sorry, but no luck,)" Noctowl reported. Ash let out a sigh before thanking Noctowl for his efforts and returning him.
"It's up to Chatot now," Ash said. A short time later Chatot flew down towards them. Nikki held her arm out for him to land on.
"Did you find anything?" she asked.
"I think I might have found him," Chatot reported.
"Where?" Ash asked.
"Follow me," Chatot told them, taking flight once again. Filled with confidence Ash and Nikki took off after Chatot, hoping to find the elusive Scyther at the end of the trek.
They followed Chatot for a few minutes until he lead them to a clearing. There, they found the Scyther they were looking for. Nikki thanked Chatot and recalled him.
"Okay, time to try again," Ash said.
"So, are you going to use Noctowl again?" Nikki asked.
"No. That Scyther's too fast for him," Ash explained. "I'm going to need to go with someone different."
"(What about me? I'm fast enough to match his speed,)" Pikachu offered.
"True, but his attacks are real strong. I don't want to put you at risk of getting hurt by one of his attacks," Ash explained.
"So, you need a Pokémon that's fast enough to keep up with him and at the same time strong enough to take his attacks," Nikki mused. "Do you have one that can do that?"
"If I still had Charizard he'd be perfect, but right now he's more than likely at the Charisific Valley with his family," Ash replied.
"Yeah, he would have matched up with that Scyther pretty well," Nikki agreed. "So, what are you going to do?" Ash thought for a while trying to come up with a solution.
"Maybe I don't need to match his speed. Maybe I need to slow him down," Ash thought.
"How you plan on doing that?" Nikki inquired.
"I have an idea," Ash told her. "It might now work, but right now it's all I got." With a game plan in mind Ash got ready to challenge the Scyther once again.
"Scyther!" Ash called. Scyther looked up and frowned.
"(Why can't you leave me alone?!)" he growled.
"I want to catch you," Ash told him.
"(You tried earlier and failed. What makes you think this time will be any different?)" Scyther wondered.
"It'll be different. Trust me," Ash promised.
"(Humph, we'll see,)" Scyther challenged, taking an offensive stance.
"Onix, I choose you!" Ash shouted, calling on his Rock Snake Pokémon.
"Wait. Onix is his choice?" Nikki questioned.
"Use Screech!" Ash called. Onix opened his mouth and let loose an ear piercing Screech, forcing the Scyther to cover his ears.
"Now use Rock Throw!" With Scyther's defenses lowered Onix tried to take advantage of his type advantage, calling down rocks onto the Scyther. But Scyther was too fast for him, using his Agility to dodge the falling rocks.
"Oh boy, that Scyther just ramped up his speed," Nikki commented. "I hope Ash knows what he's doing." With his increased speed Scyther got ready to close in on Onix, his scythes giving off a dark glow.
"Watch out! He's using Night Slash again!" Nikki warned.
"Use iron Tail!" Ash called. Onix's tail began to glow silver as he powered up his Iron Tail. After a few seconds he swung his tail, but because of Scyther's increased speed he was able to easily dodge the attack and hit home with is Night Slash. Onix grunted in pain, but was otherwise still able to battle.
"That's it, Onix! Stay strong!" Ash urged.
"(He won't be so strong after this!)" Scyther declared, preparing another Night Slash.
"It might be over if this hits," Nikki said.
"Use your Dragonbreath!" Ash instructed. As Scyther closed in Onix spewed forth a purple and blue breath attack, catching the Scyther off-guard. The Dragonbreath engulfed Scyther, forcing him to stop his attack.
"Now, let's hope this worked." Once that attack was finished Ash waited to see what the Scyther would do next. The Mantis Pokémon shook his head and tried to dash forward again, but as soon as he went to move he stopped and doubled over, sparks of electricity dancing over his body.
"Yes! It worked!" Ash cheered.
"Wait, what happened?" Nikki wondered.
"(Dragonbreath must have paralyzed Scyther. He won't be able to dart around like he was earlier,)" Pikachu explained.
"I see. So that's why he chose Onix. He had an attack that would cut into Scyther's speed," Nikki assumed.
"Okay, Onix! We have him where we want him! Rock Throw!" Once again Onix called down rocks to fall onto Scyther. The Mantis Pokémon tried to dodge, but because of his paralyzed state he was unable to and took the attack full-on. The super effective attack hit hard, leaving him barely standing, perfect for capture.
"Go, Poké Ball!" Ash shouted, throwing a Poké Ball at the downed Scyther. The ball made contact and drew the Mantis Pokémon in. The ball shook violently as Scyther tried to break out. After a few tense moments the ball stopped.
"Yes! I caught a Scyther!" Ash cheered. Moments later the ball disappeared as it was sent on its way to Professor Oak's lab.
"You did great, Onix," Ash praised. Overcome with joy Onix picked Ash up with his tail and gave him a hug.
"(Thank you, Ash,)" he said. After a few moments of joy Onix put him down. Ash offered a few more words of praise before returning him.
"I have to admit I was a little worried for a bit, but you pulled it off," Nikki admitted. "Just how did you know that Dragonbreath would work like that?"
"To be honest I didn't. I was just hoping that it would paralyze him," Ash told her. "I just got lucky that it did."
"So you're telling me that it was just luck that that worked out the way you wanted? Man, you have to be the luckiest trainer I've ever met," Nikki laughed.
"Maybe I am," Ash agreed. The two of them shared a brief laugh before turning their attention back to their journey. With Scyther now on the team they got back on their way towards Mineva Town.
Ash's team continued to grow, this time in the form of a powerful Scyther. With this new teammate how will things change? Find out in the next chapter of Search for Power!
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