Wurmple

After the Rustboro contest came to a end, the gang was traveling through route 104 to get to Rustboro City. Just then May noticed a red caterpillar squirming around.

"That's a Wurmple." Brock said.

Ash looked it up on the Pokedex.

"Wurmple, the Worm Pokemon. Using the spikes on it's rear end, Wurmple peels the bark off trees and feeds on the sap that oozes out. This Pokemon's feet are tipped with suction pads that allow it to cling to glass without slipping."

"Wurmple evolve into Beautifly actually." Brock said.

"Really?" May asked.

She thought it looked kind of cute and decided she would capture it.

"I want to have a gorgeous Beautifly of my very own and enter it in a contest." She said before running off to capture Wurmple.

"Should we follow her?" Max asked.

"No we leave this capture for her to do herself." Ash said. "I helped May catch her Azurill, so it's best we leave her to catch another Pokemon herself."

"Ash is right." Brock agreed. "Besides May will need to learn to do things herself while being a Pokemon trainer."

Max knew Ash and Brock were right.

Meanwhile May was looking for Wurmple so she could capture it. But then something caught her eye; she saw a Bellossom dancing in a field of flowers.

She looked them up on the Pokedex.

"Bellossom, the Flower Pokemon and the evolved form of Gloom. When Bellossom get exposed to plenty of sunlight, the leaves ringing it's body begin to spin around. This Pokemon's dancing is renowned in southern lands."

"That Bellossom is gorgeous." May said. "I know I want to catch a Wurmple, but I also want to catch this Bellossom too."

She sent Torchic out to battle Bellossom; Ash explained to her some time ago that fire attacks were super-effective against grass type Pokemon.

"Torchic use Ember on that Bellossom." She said.

Torchic fired Ember at Bellossom, doing some damage to it. Bellossom got angry and fought back with Magical Leaf.

"Quick dodge with Agility and then use Peck." May said.

Torchic quickly dodged the Magical Leaf with Agility and then it pecked Bellossom really hard.

"Okay use Ember one more time Torchic." May said.

Torchic fired another Ember attack at Bellossom and this time it was injure significantly.

"Okay time to catch this Bellossom." May said. She tossed an empty Poke Ball at Bellossom and caught it.

"Hooray my second capture and I did it on my own this time. Now let's try to catch a Wurmple." May and Torchic ran off to find a Wurmple to catch.

Back with Ash, Brock, Tomo and Max...

Ash was training his Zigzagoon and Shroomish. Ash's Zigzagoon was male and he knew Tackle, Sand Attack, Headbutt, Dig, Swift, Substitute and the egg move Extreme Speed. Shroomish was male too and he knew Tackle, Stun Spore, Leech Seed, Bullet Seed, Sludge Bomb and the egg move Wake-Up Slap.

"You guys have some good moves." Ash said to Zigzagoon and Shroomish. "But now I'm going to train you guys to learn new moves okay?"

Zigzagoon and Shroomish nodded to say yes. Ash had Latias help Zigzagoon learn Thunderbolt and he helped Shroomish learn Sunny Day and Headbutt.

Shroomish was practicing Headbutt on a tree, but then two Wurmple fell out of the tree.

"Hey look at that." Ash said. "Pity May isn't here. Never mind, I can catch these two for myself. Shroomish hit those Wurmple with Stun Spore."

The Wurmple were paralyzed by Stun Spore and Ash easily caught them.

"That was a good catch." Tomo said.

"Yes and so I'll end up having my own Beautifly and Dustox." Ash said.

He found out from the Pokedex that Wurmple can evolve into either Beautifly or Dustox; Dustox was a moth-like Pokemon.

Just then a boy around Ash's age came up to the gang.

"You did a great job capturing those Wurmple and that Shroomish is a great battler." The boy said to Ash.

"Thank you." Ash replied. "I'm Ash, by the way."

"And I'm Franklin." The boy said.

Tomo, Max and Brock introduced themselves to Franklin too.

"Hey Ash, do you mind if I have a Pokemon battle with you?" Franklin asked. "You see, I just got home from traveling and I haven't had a Pokemon battle in a while. So can I battle you please?"

"Of course." Ash said. "Besides it will give my Pokemon some practice before our gym battle."

"Great do you know about double battles?" Franklin asked.

"I do actually." Ash said. "To tell you the truth, I've been participated in double battles before."

"Great, then it will be a double battle." Franklin said.

Ash and Franklin then began their double battle. Franklin was using Ariados and Yanma and Ash was using Taillow and Zigzagoon.

"Zigzagoon use Extreme Speed and Taillow use Aerial Ace." Ash said.

Zigzagoon charged into Ariados at high speed and Taillow charged into Yanma.

"Yanma use Sonic Boom and Ariados use String Shot." Franklin said.

Ariados fired String Shot to trap Zigzagoon, but Zigzagoon managed to dodge it and Yanma fired Sonic Boom at Taillow, who was hit by the attack.

"Okay Zigzagoon use Thunderbolt on Yanma and Taillow use Air Cutter on Ariados." Ash said.

Zigzagoon shocked Yanma hard and Taillow fired blue X-shaped blades from it's wings at Ariados. Yanma and Ariados took a lot of damage from both attacks.

"It seems Zigzagoon mastered Thunderbolt thanks to Latias." Max said.

"Yeah and Taillow learned Air Cutter back at Prof. Oak's lab." Tomo said.

"Now Zigzagoon and Taillow use Extreme Speed and Aerial Ace again." Ash said.

Zigzagoon and Taillow charged at Yanma and Ariados and they fainted. So Ash was the winner.

"You were great Zigzagoon, Taillow." Ash said to his Pokemon.

Franklin congratulated Ash and thought he was a good Pokemon trainer.

Meanwhile May was still looking for a Wurmple to catch. At that time she met a trainer called Franklin; surprisingly enough he looked like the Franklin that Ash and the others were talking with now.

"So May, you are on a Pokemon journey?" Franklin asked.

"Yes." May said. "And I'm traveling with my little brother and some friends."

"That's nice." Franklin said. "Actually I'm planning on traveling myself."

"Oh really?" May asked. "Well I hope you enjoy your journey. Even though I've only started my journey, I'm starting to like it little by little."

Suddenly May saw a Wurmple.

"Finally, now's my chance to catch my own Wurmple." She said and this time she sent out Azurill to battle Wurmple.

"Use Bubble Azurill." Azurill fired multiple bubbles at Wurmple and Wurmple was hit by the bubbles.

"Now use Slam." Azurill grabbed Wurmple with her tail and slammed it onto the ground. May tossed a Poke Ball at the Wurmple and caught it.

"All right I caught a Wurmple!" May cheered.

Azurill jumped up and down in happiness and Franklin congratulated her. May then decided it was time for her to get back to the others and Franklin decided to go with her to meet her friends.

At that time, Brock had just finished making lunch and Franklin was going to join them. Just then May came over to them and told them that she successfully captured Bellossom and Wurmple.

"Wow congratulations May." Ash said. He told her that he captured two Wurmple.

The Franklin who was also with May stepped forward and the amazing thing was that the two Franklin look-a-likes were identical twin brothers. The Franklin who was with May was called Forrest Franklin and the other Franklin was called Forrester Franklin.

"Well we've certainly had a good day today." Ash said and the others agreed with him.

While all of this was going on, Team Rocket was on route 104 too and they had just captured a swarm of Wurmple in some Poke Balls. Jessie had also captured a Wurmple for herself. James found out that Wurmple evolved into either Beautifly or Dustox.

"I reckon that the boss will want these Wurmple to become Dustox." James said. "I mean Beautifly don't look as powerful as Dustox are because of Dustox's toxic wings."

"Yeah, but don't forget the headquarters have a lot of Butterfree even if they don't look tough." Jessie said.

"That's true." James replied.

"Come on, we better leave this forest before someone sees us." Meowth said.

Team Rocket grabbed the Poke Balls full of Wurmple and left to find Hoenn Pokemon somewhere else.