Ball Master Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Pocket Monster parody: Patreon Reward

Chapter 14 

Chapter 15 Goldenrod Arc: Buggy Fun!

Misty was shocked to see Primeape back on the team. They told her the whole story, and she couldn’t believe that Anthony was such a loser. Ash was happy to have his friend back, and they were looking for some action.

Thankfully at Goldenrod Park they were having a Bug Catching Contest. “What do you say Primeape, wanna enter the contest with me?”

“Prime ape ape!” He sure sounded excited.

They go to the park, Misty tagging along despite not liking bugs. Though she wouldn’t admit it, she was starting to feel left out. She had the strangest feeling that Ash and Brock were closer now, and it felt like she was being left behind. Plus she was sure the two were off doing special training or something, Ash has been getting stronger and more mature.

If she was gonna beat him she had to know his secret.

There were a lot of trainers eager to participate in this event. Ash bumped into Casey and her Chikorita. She sang the new fight song for her favorite Sports Team the Electabuzz. Ash, Primeape, and Pikachu sweat dropped. “If I know you Ash, you are gonna try and get some new Bug Pokemon.”

“Sure am, how have you been Casey.” She chuckled.

“I got myself two badges!” She proudly declared, showing off her Zephyr Badge and Hive Badge. “I haven’t been able to beat Whitney yet, but with some new bugs on the team we are sure to win!”

“Well if it isn’t Ash.” Another familiar face appeared from the crowd. Ash smiled.

“Shingo!” Beside him was his partner Blade, a bad ass Scizor. “Long time no see.”

“It has been awhile, you are looking well.” Shingo complimented. Brock twitched, getting the feeling Shingo was trying to flirt with Ash. “When did you get a Primeape?!” He gasped as the Fighting type danced around behind him happily. “You didn’t use him in the Kanto League.”

“He was training, but he’s back home where he belongs.” Ash pets him and Primeape agreed. “We decided to do some bonding and reconnect with this contest.”

Shingo chuckled. “You do know fighting type moves aren’t very effective against bug types right? Even if you did, I bet that wouldn’t stop you.”

“I’m not worried, we got a secret weapon, and besides bug moves aren’t very effective against fighting types either.” Shingo laughed again.

“That is true.” Brock pulled Ash away.

“So what have you been up to Shingo?” He asked.

Shingo smirked and pulled out a badge case. “I’ve entered the Johto League.” He had the Hive and Plain badges.

“That makes us rivals!” Ash said excitedly.

“It does indeed, you opened my eyes Ash. You helped me see what I want in life.” He said, taking a hold of Ash’s hand. The two were having a moment, but Brock interrupted again.

“Don’t you guys need to register!?” The trio tensed and rushed to register before the time ran out. Now safely registered Ash showed off his three badges. Casey was impressed he beat Whitney as well. To their surprise Ash also had a contest ribbon.

“You are entering contests?” She gasped.

“We both are actually.” Misty said.

“Cool, do you have any ribbons?” Casey asked and Misty sulked.

Casey was entering the Bug Catching Contest with her Chikorita; Shingo was entering with Blade, and Ash with Primeape. Ketchum left Pikachu and his other mons with Brock. They came out and planned to cheer for him on the sidelines.

Shingo was rather impressed with the different kinds of monsters Ash had obtained. He was gonna have to update Ash’s data later.

The registration closed with the last two entries being Kojiro (James) and Musashi (Jessie), in disguise of course. Kojiro was using his (Growlie) Growlithe and Musashi was using Diva (Azumarill).

This contest had simple rules, you can only enter with one Pokemon, if your Pokemon gets knocked out you are out. Trainers would use special Park Balls, they’d be given a total of 5. So you could catch up to five bug pokemon. The winner would be decided based on points.

Monsters like Scyther and Pinsir were worth 5 points, monsters like Beedrill and Butterfree were worth 3 points, Kakuna and Metapod were worth 2 points, and monsters like Caterpie, Weedle, Pineco, and Paras were worth 1 Point.

Those that placed in the top four would be allowed to keep the Pokemon they caught. The winner would receive six Great Balls, a Sun Stone, some Silver Powder; an item that boosted bug type moves, and they’d be allowed to keep their remaining Park Balls, if any, which were effective against Grass and Bug types. Second Place would receive 3 Great Balls and a Metal Coat. Third and Fourth Place would receive a Great Ball.

It was no wonder there were so many entries for this thing. Catching new pokemon, fabulous prizes, this was gonna be a blast. It wasn’t an easy contest despite what people think. Catch the wrong end of a Pineco’s explosion and you’d be out of the game. Bug Pokemon also had the habit of swarming which made catching one specific monster difficult. You also had to worry about status conditions, so the challenge was real.

The catching contest began and everyone raced into the large park.

“Keep your eyes and ears sharp okay Primeape?”

“Prime!”

Ash encountered a Weedle, but before Primeape could attack Casey sniped their battle. She caught the Weedle. “Hey that was my Weedle!”

“You snooze you lose Ash. The Electabuzz never miss a chance to steal home. You let your guard down!” Ash wanted to point out that sniping catches wasn’t very sportsman-like. The two just sweat dropped.

Casey and Chikorita ran off to go after more bug types. “We’ll get the next one, right Primeape?”

“Prime prime!” He was getting pumped up now.

Ash’s monsters and Brock were cheering from the spectator section, while Misty was cowering behind a tree.

Ketchum encountered a Spinarak. He remembered how cool they were in Catallia City, where the Officer Jenny used Spinarak instead of Growlithe. “Let’s catch one!”

It was quick to use String Shot but Primeape dodged and landed a solid Karate Chop. “Park Ball Go!” Ash threw one of his balls, and it struck sucking the spider monster up.

Jiggle...Ping!

“Wow these Park Balls are something else!” Ash picked up the ball and high fived Primeape. “Nice job!” Ash didn’t know it yet but this little bug had a rare ability known as Sniper making critical hits do even more damage.

The two were 1 for 1 as far as points went.

Casey was looking to make it two to one. She had Chikorita battle a Pineco, but accidentally disturbed a whole tree of Pineco. The swarm attacked forcing Chikorita to fight a whole bunch before she could catch one. While she caught it Chikorita was tired out. Bug types were strong against Grass types, so Chikorita had to expend more effort to do enough damage let alone work to land the final catch.

Shingo wasn’t have much luck at first, that is until he found a Butterfree. Blade helped bring it down, and with this catch Shingo took the lead in points gaining three.

Jessie was having worse luck than Shingo, and it stayed bad. Even when she spotted a Venomoth, Diva’s Water Gun just angered it and it got them with Stun Spore and fled. They both got hit and would be out for the rest of the match.

James used his pressure point knowledge and found a Pinsir in a tree. Growlie’s fire power helped land him a nice catch. He shot up to the top spot with five points. He may have blown his luck on this one, as he struggled to find catch another bug. Growlie tended to get excited and ended up scaring away some of the weaker ones, and when he startled some of the bigger ones they showed their anger by releasing poison spores into the air. James grabbed Growlie and ran for it.

Casey wasn’t about to be out done, so focused on winning she didn’t notice how tired Chikorita was getting. She came across a Scyther. “Alright Chikorita let’s get him!” This was a bad call.

“Scy?” This Scyther wasn’t a push over, it was a battler.

“If we get a Scyther we are practically guaranteed to win the contest!” She cheered. “Play Ball!” Chikorita attacked with a Razor Leaf, but it wasn’t very effective. Scyther struck back and hit Chikorita way harder. “Don’t be afraid Chikorita stay tough and hang in there!”

It wasn’t a manner of fear, Chikorita was just too tired to dodge. She launched a Razor Leaf which Scyther knocked away. “Don’t give up, try a Tackle attack!” Chikorita obeyed and got hit hard. “Don’t let Scyther walk, try another Razor Leaf!”

Chikorita tried, by Scyther used Swords Dance in a clever way redirecting her attack right back at her. “Dodge it Chikorita!” She wasn’t paying attention, she didn’t have the strength to dodge. He got a power boost and Chikorita got a smack down. “Chikorita don’t give up fight fight fight!” She called, and poor Chikorita did her best.

She jumped and landed on Scyther’s face hanging on for dear life. “Keep it up Chikorita, you aren’t out of this yet!”

“Casey that’s enough!” Ash called out.

“What do you want, I saw this Scyther first!”

“You need to stop, you are pushing Chikorita too hard.” He pointed. “She doesn’t even have enough strength to attack anymore.”

“What do you know...Chikorita is gonna do whatever I tell it to!” Chikorita lost focus and Scyther sent her flying.

“Primeape!” the fighting type sprang in and caught her. Scyther charged in. “Primeape, give him a Thunder Punch!”

“Prime!” His fist became cloaked in lightning and wham he hit Scyther hard. He even became paralyzed, but the Scyther wasn’t giving up.

“I like your spirit!” Ash had Primeape battle Scyther and threw a Park Ball.

Jiggle...Jiggle...Jiggle...Ping!

Ash caught him. “Maybe it’s time to hit the showers, Chikorita needs a rest.” He said before running off.

“Ugh, he got one over on me.” She growled. “Well that can’t be the only Scyther in the park. Chikorita…” She looked and Chikorita was gone.

“Looks like it’s over for Team Casey.” Brock points out.

A Shiny Paras found Chikorita and gave her one of his mushrooms to try help replenish her strength.

Casey found Chikorita, but…

“Come on Chikorita, let’s go find a Scyther!” The little Grass type was done. Had Primeape not caught her, she’d have hit the tree and been knocked out. She couldn’t battle anymore. When she shook her head no. “Hey, quitters aren’t allowed on this team!” Bad move, Chikorita went off with her new Paras friend.

-x-

Ash was currently in the lead in points, but Shingo wasn’t giving up. He had his own source of luck and met a shiny Venomoth. It was dazzling and striking with it’s powder blue coloring. Blade battled it, with his speed avoiding the Stun Spore was easy and with a quick Park Ball throw, he became tied with Ash at 6 points each.

Sadly there wasn’t any bonus points for catching a shiny bug.

“Let’s win this Blade!” They went looking for another bug to catch.

Ash was worried about Casey, he hoped she’d listen to him and retire from the contest. “She should know the health and safety of her Pokemon is more important than a contest.” Primeape agreed.

Casey had overheard having been searching for Chikorita. “Oh no, what have I done…” She sniffled. Not only was she too focused on winning to see her Pokemon was exhausted, but she said something awful to Chikorita who knocked herself out for her.  “Chikorita...I’m sorry…”

She was done with the contest, she just wanted to find Chikorita and apologize.

Ash would have helped, except he just bumped into a swarm of Beedrill and had to run. The two were quite fast, kicking up a cloud of dust as they booked it. He thought he had ditched them, but one of them was persistent. “If it’s just one we can handle it, right buddy?”

“Ape ape!” Primeape got him with a Thunder Punch, before blocking a Twin Needle attack. Beedrill tried to keep this fight in the air, but with all the trees around Primeape was fine, using a tree to aide his jump he did a summer salt before landing a Karate Chop.

“Park Ball Go!” Ash threw the ball and it sucked up the Beedrill.

Jiggle...Jiggle...Jiggle...Ping!

“That’s three bugs for us!” Ash said happily. He had a total of 9 points and he was in the lead. He bumped into Chikorita and the Shiny Paras and helped bring them back to Casey. The sports nut apologized and Chikorita forgave her.

“I still have a lot more growing I need to do huh?” She sighed.

Ash patted her shoulder. “That’s what the adventure is all about, failure isn’t the end as long as you learn from your mistakes you can grow and be a better trainer.” Casey wiped her eyes.

“Thanks Ash!”

The Paras wanted to go with Casey, mostly it wanted to go with Chikorita, so Casey caught it with a Park Ball. They both had three mons, but Ash’s were higher point value.

A bell rang out signaling the end of the contest. Ash won first place, Shingo got second place, Kojiro got third, and Casey got fourth. James was quite pleased with himself, his Growlie did get some good experience and he caught a Pinsir who quite liked him.

Casey felt her catches represented her well, each of them were small, but could grow up into something great just like her.

Shingo had a romance going in his party, it seems his new Venomoth had a thing for his Butterfree, but...it seems his Butterfree had a crush on Ash’s Beedrill. This created a rivalry between Venomoth and Beedrill.

Brock started to freak out. ‘If two trainer’s Pokemon fall in love, its likely the trainers will fall in love too. If Ash starts dating Shingo what will happen to me?’ He began to cry. Misty had no idea what he was freaking out about.

Jessie was pissed and wanted revenge. She got Meowth and they attacked the stage, trying to steal the Bug Pokemon and the prizes. Casey’s Chikorita evolved into a Bayleef. With a more powerful Razor Leaf, the prizes and Pokemon were cut free from Team Rocket’s net.

“Meowth do something!”

“Roger!” He pushed a button and the balloon sprouted some mecha butterfly nets.

“Scyther, show ‘em what you are made of!” Scyther flew up and slashed through the nets. “Spinarak your turn.” The little spider mon webbed them up, tying them up good and tight. “Beedrill say goodbye!” Beedrill popped their balloon sending them blasting off again.

James felt bad, but it was their own fault. He got his Pinsir and prize back, congratulated Ash on winning the contest. His Pinsir and Ash’s Scyther had a moment, but was it aggression or love…

Shingo thanked Ash for the help. “Here, I want you to have this.” He gave Ash the Metal Coat. “If your Scyther wants to evolve, he’s gonna need that.”

“Thanks Shingo!” Ash hugged him. The purple haired lad blushed and melted.

“I’m heading to the gym in Ecruteak City, it’s a gym that specializes in Ghost Types.”

“Thanks for the tip, there’s still some stuff I wanna do in Goldenrod, but we’ll meet again.”

“Count on it!” The two shared a fist bump. Butterfree swooned over Beedrill, as Venomoth glared at him. Things between these two were gonna be interesting.

Brock was seething a bit, but then Ash approached him. “Here Brock, I want you to have this.” He gave him one of the Park Balls.

“For me?”

“Yeah of course!” Brock blushed and Shingo narrowed his eyes; a new rivalry was born. He took the gift and felt touched. Ash loved him as much as he did his monsters, he had nothing to worry about. They both had a Park Ball now.

Misty wanted one of Ash’s Great Balls, but that wasn’t happening. He was gonna save these. He knew about Great Balls, but they were so expensive.

Casey was gonna do some training to prepare for her rematch with Whitney. “Let’s meet in the league!” Her new Shiny Paras might be the key to stopping the monstrous tank. Plus with her tougher Bayleef she had a powerhouse to match.

Ash gave Scyther the Metal Coat, and Spinarak wanted the Silver Powder. Primeape did an amazing job, tonight he was gonna reward him and bond with his new bug types.

To be continued Goldenrod Arc: Buggy Bonding

Ash and Brock have a wild time with Ash’s new Bug monsters. Primeape mates with his trainer. Spinarak is quite creative.