Bug Contest

After the Pokeathlon concluded, the gang noticed a event was taking place in the National Park. The park keeper explained that they were holding a bug catching contest.

"You go through the park; catch a bug type Pokemon for yourself and the winner gets a Sun Stone. And the trainers that come in first, second and third get to keep the bug type Pokemon they captured."

Misty decided not to participate since she didn't like bugs, but Ash definitely wanted to enter.

"Can I join in?" Tomo asked the park keeper, even though he was only nine.

"Anyone from eight to sixteen can enter as long as they have a Pokemon." The park keeper explained.

Ash and Tomo quickly got in line to register.

"I hope to win and get a new Pokemon big brother." Tomo said.

"So do I." Ash replied.

"I must ask." Misty questioned. "Is the Sun Stone a evolutionary stone?"

"Yes it is." Brock nodded. "It allows Gloom to evolve into Bellossom and Sunkern to evolve into Sunflora."

"It would be nice to win that." Ash said. "And I could add it to my collection of evolution stones."

Just then a girl wearing a black and yellow striped jacket walked up to them; it was Casey.

"Hi guys." She said.

"Hi Casey." Ash said. "How have you been?"

"I have been great." Casey replied. "My Pokemon and I have been on a winning streak like my favorite team the Electabuzz. And my team of yellow Pokemon with black stripes is starting to build up."

Casey had caught herself a Beedrill and a Flaffy. She explained that Flaffy evolves into Ampharos, which is a yellow Pokemon with black stripes.

"I still haven't caught an Electabuzz yet, but I will get one. For now though I am focusing on winning this bug catching contest and getting a new bug type Pokemon."

Tomo revealed to Casey that he had an Elekid, the pre-evolved form of Electabuzz. Casey was shocked and felt defeated, but soon perked herself up again.

"I'm not letting that get me down." She said.

After Ash, Tomo and Casey signed up for the bug catching contest, the announcer explained all the rules. Next all the trainers were given a Park Ball.

"You can only catch a bug type Pokemon with the Park Ball." The announcer said. "And the judges will decide which three bug type Pokemon are the best for first, second and third place."

The bug catching contest commenced shortly after that. All those who registered started running through the park to catch a bug type Pokemon, while those that didn't register which included Misty and Brock, sat down in stadium seats and watched the events from a big screen.

Ash and Tomo went together so they wouldn't be separated.

"Where shall we look?" Tomo asked.

"Well bug type Pokemon always take shelter in bushes and trees." Ash said. "So I intend to search the bushes and trees first."

Tomo agreed and went with Ash towards the trees. Growlithe had his nose ready to sniff them out. Trainers were looking everywhere for the bug type Pokemon; through bushes, through grass and looking between the branches of trees. There were all kinds of bug type Pokemon in the forest; Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree, Weedle, Kakuna, Beedrill, Scyther, Pinsir, Venonat, Venomoth, Paras, Parasect, Spinarak, Ledyba and Pineco. Back at the seats Misty kept on screaming after seeing all the bug type Pokemon on screen and poor Brock was doing his best to calm her down, to no avail.

Meanwhile Ash and Tomo were still searching for bug type Pokemon to catch when suddenly Growlithe noticed something by some wild flowers. A big ladybug was flying over the wild flowers.

"What Pokemon is that?" Tomo asked.

"That's Ledian, Ledyba's evolved form." Ash said,

Tomo decided that he wanted Ledian and had Growlithe attack it with Flamethrower. Ledian was hit by the attack and was injured. Tomo threw his Park Ball at the Ledian and caught it in a second.

"Nice job Tomo." Ash complimented his brother.

Just then a rustle was heard from the bushes nearby. Out of the bushes came a big pink and purple and yellow striped Pokemon.

"Hey that's an Ariados, the evolved form of Spinarak." Ash said. "I'm going to catch it."

Mareep used Thunderbolt on Ariados. Ariados was fried by Mareep's attack. Ash threw a Park Ball and quickly caught it.

"I hope we get to keep Ariados and Ledian." Tomo whispered.

"So I do Tomo." Ash whispered as well. "I would like to have Ariados on my team."

"Yeah and I want to keep Ledian." Tomo said.

Meanwhile Casey was looking for bug type Pokemon as well. She had already battled and captured a Pineco, but felt that it may not be enough. She had seen and battled other bug type Pokemon as well, but she thought they weren't enough either.

"Since we are aiming to win, we will need a bug type Pokemon that is strong." She said to Chikorita.

Just then they saw a Scyther in the long grass.

"That Scyther is just what we need to win the contest. Let's go Chikorita." Chikorita used Razor Leaf on Scyther. Due to it being a grass type move, it didn't do a lot of damage. Scyther fought back with Fury Cutter.

"Don't give up Chikorita." Casey said. "The game isn't over yet."

Chikorita fought back with another Razor Leaf attack but Scyther simply cut the leaves with it's scythes.

"Tackle." Casey commanded.

Scyther kept slashing Chikorita with it's scythes and was about to deliver the final blow when it was suddenly shocked.

The source was Ash's Mareep.

"What are you doing here?" Casey asked. "I saw this Scyther first."

"I'm here to assist your Chikorita." Ash replied. "What you're doing isn't fair to it."

"Yeah and Chikorita will lose automatically to Scyther because it's a bug/flying type." Tomo added.

"Chikorita will win." Casey said.

She was too stubborn to listen to what Ash and Tomo were saying. Scyther got up after being shocked and was about to slash at Chikorita again, but Growlithe scared it off with a Roar. Casey was shocked when Scyther flew away in fear.

"What did you do that for?!" She shouted.

"You were pushing Chikorita too hard even though it was unable to continue battling." Ash explained.

"He's right Casey." Misty added.

She and Brock had seen everything Casey had been doing on the screen and all the battles she subjected Chikorita too. They also thought Casey wasn't being fair to Chikorita either and decided to head to the park to speak to Casey.

"Casey, do you prefer winning battles over your Pokemon?" Misty asked.

"Absolutely not." Casey argued. "My Pokemon mean a lot to me."

"If that's the case, you should think more about how your Pokemon is feeling." Ash said.

"That's right." Misty nodded in agreement. "You've been more concerned about winning this contest than thinking about how tired your Chikorita is."

"What you need to do is not only think about your feelings, but your Pokemon's feelings too." Brock said.

Casey started to feel ashamed about how she had been behaving towards her Pokemon and felt like crying. Chikorita went over to Casey's side to soothe her.

"I'm sorry Chikorita." Casey apologized and gave it a hug.

The gang was happy Casey and Chikorita made up.

Suddenly they heard a small explosion not far from where they were standing.

"What was that?" Ash gasped.

"I don't know." Brock said. "But we better check it out."

The gang and Casey hurried to find out where the small explosion came from. What they saw was a shock; injured bug type Pokemon were scattered around.

"Who on earth did this?" Tomo gasped.

Laughter was heard above them; Team Rocket was in their balloon.

"What are you three doing here?" Ash demanded.

"Well we wanted to enter this contest to get a bug type Pokemon to." James said.

"But we were told that those over sixteen cannot enter." Jessie said. "So we decided to trespass into the contest with our balloon to catch all these bug-type Pokemon."

"Yeah and with the help of these Pineco and their Self-Destruct attack catching bug type Pokemon is easy." Meowth said.

Team Rocket had used cables to capture a dozen wild Pineco and were using them to self destruct and weaken the other wild bug type Pokemon. The gang and Casey were not happy with what Team Rocket was doing.

"I may not like bug type Pokemon, but this is terrible." Misty said.

"We've got to stop them." Ash said.

Casey stepped forward.

"You guys are despicable!" She shouted. "This is a fowl move and I am going to stop your fowl play by defeating you."

Team Rocket laughed; they didn't believe that she could defeat them.

"Chikorita." Casey said. "We will need to strike hard with all our might to win this game."

Chikorita nodded in agreement and then suddenly he began to glow.

"What's happening?" Casey asked.

"I think Chikorita's evolving." Misty said.

Misty was right; Chikorita turned into a bigger version of himself with a bigger leaf on it's head and big buds were around his neck.

"Chikorita evolved into Bayleef." Casey said, happy with the evolution.

Ash looked Bayleef up on the Pokedex.

"Bayleef, the Leaf Pokemon and the evolved form of Chikorita. The scent of spices comes from around it's neck. Somehow, sniffing it makes you want to fight."

"Okay Bayleef use Razor Leaf to cut those cables and free the Pineco." Bayleef easily cut the cables with his Razor Leaf and all the Pineco were freed.

"Oh no." Meowth said. "I think we're in trouble now."

He was right; Mareep sent Team Rocket flying with Thunderbolt.

Soon the contest came to a end and it was time for the judges to examine the captured bug type Pokemon and see which three trainers had won. The trainer that came in third place was a girl named Christine, who captured a Venomoth and she got a gold berry for a prize as well as keeping Venomoth.

"I can plant this gold berry and grow more of it." She said.

Tomo came in second place and got en Everstone for a prize and got to keep Ledian. Ash came in first place and got the Sun Stone for a prize and got to keep Ariados.

"One more evolution stone for my collection." Ash said.

Everyone else clapped and cheered for the winners.

Ash and Tomo were happy they got to keep Ledian and Ariados.

"I'm happy for you Ash and Tomo." Casey said. "And I don't feel down at all, because my Bayleef is all I need."

After that the gang said goodbye to Casey and went on their way.