Tia competes in the Bug-Catching Contest and gets more than she bargained for.
Tia sneaked through the tall grass, wiping the sweat from her brow. It was incredibly hot and humid, and the tall green stalks towering over her head were not helping at all. It was silent, with nothing to hear but the grassy footsteps of the other contestants of the Bug-Catching Contest.
Suddenly, there was a rustling noise, followed by what sounded like knives being sharpened. The sharpening noise sent chills down Tia’s spine, and she slowly turned around, afraid of what she would see.
She came face-to-face with a giant Scyther, its blades crossed and pointing right at her.
A squeak came out of her mouth, which immediately became a screech. She turned around and ran, smacking the tall grass away from her face, while the Scyther followed.
A moment later, she turned around, gathering her courage, and her hand gripped the single Poke Ball the contest had allowed her to carry.
“Go, Windy!” she shouted, throwing the Poke Ball. A shiny, golden Pidgeot appeared, flapping her wings.
“Use Wing Attack!”
Windy’s Wing Attack hit the Scyther in the face, but all it did was make it angry. The Scyther flung a bladed arm toward Tia, who ducked. The blade missed her head and hit a tree instead, slicing it in half.
Tia stared at the tree stump in shock, then scrambled away. Windy made a worried noise as she ran to her.
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” She then turned her attention back to the Scyther, who was eyeing them angrily. “Twister!”
The attack hit the Scyther head-on, but it managed to stay on its feet, and started stumbling around like a drunken old man. Its blades flashed through the air, dangerously close to Tia and Windy.
Tia quickly threw a Park Ball at the dizzily dancing Scyther. She waited anxiously as the Ball wobbled three times, then finally clicked shut.
“YESSSS!” she said, her voice almost a whisper.
“SHH!” A Pokefan and a Bug Catcher popped out of the tall grass and shushed her angrily. “You’ll scare all the Bug Pokemon away with that racket!” They promptly disappeared.
Tia blinked, then picked up the Park Ball, shaking her head. This is the National Park, she thought, not the library!
“… And the second place winner is: Tia, who caught a Scyther!” the announcer called out. “The score was 180 points. The second place prize is an Everstone!”
Tia got up to receive her prize as the audience clapped. “Only second place?” a girl sitting nearby asked incredulously, “They showed your battle on the viewscreen. That Scyther was huge!”
Tia shrugged. “Second place is fine to me. I got more than I asked for from the contest…” She looked down at the Park Ball containing Scyther with a disturbed expression.
Later, at the Pokemon Center, Tia set up her workstation and checked the Park Ball’s capture data.
Scyther
Level 20
Gender: Male
Capture Rate: 1.48
Tia nodded to herself. She’d heard that Park Balls were rebranded Great Balls that were overstocked, and the capture rate seemed to prove it. It made sense, since most starting Trainers bought Poke Balls, and most veteran Trainers tended to buy more Ultra Balls, leaving the Great Balls behind on the shelf, and…
She sighed. No matter how hard she tried to think about Poke Balls, or capture rates, or anything else, she just could not get the Scyther’s blades and the chopped tree out of her mind. That could have been her head. She shivered, hugged her legs to her chest, and put her head down, trying to hold back her tears.
Naito noticed the tears glistening on her face, and hopped onto her shoulder, cuddling against her. Tia picked him up and hugged him as she cried, not caring if anyone else noticed.