Pokémon Slate Gray

Season 2 - Episode 05: Catching the Bug

"Wha-huh?" Slate spluttered.

April grinned wider at his apparent shock. "My mom told me you were going to be leaving Almony this morning. I was coming for the contest anyway, so I thought I'd surprise you," she said.

Slate honestly couldn't tell if April's sudden appearance was a welcome surprise or not. He had been hoping she would join him on his journey, but what with being incommunicado for a month, when she hadn't shown up that morning, he had all but written her off.

Still stunned, he asked with a little more vigor than he had intended, "Wh-where have you been?"

"I'll tell you later," April smirked, "if you beat me in the contest!"

"I... I wasn't really planning on entering," Slate responded, feeling a mix of irritation and amusement. He didn't understand why this girl had such an effect on him. She disappeared on him after what happened to his mother, and now she just shows up and challenges him. No apologies, no explanations... How could someone be so brazen?

"Afraid?" said April with a sneer.

Slate felt a fire ignite inside of him. He had a sudden burning desire to wipe the smug look right off April's face. "Fine! You're on!" he answered defiantly.

"Good. That's settled, then," said April before walking away from him, still grinning imperiously.

"Wait, where are you going?" Slate frowned in confusion.

April turned and put a hand on one hip while holding her Rotom Phone screen outward in the other. It displayed a digital stamp. "I'm already registered," she elucidated. "You know what they say, the early bird catches the Weedle. That's a reference even you should understand, right, Kanto boy?"

"Kanto boy?" Slate repeated, his cheeks flushing red.

"Didn't you wonder why people are so antsy to get started? Pun intended by the way," April asked, then proceeded to answer her own question. "For one thing, Silph have raised their prices again, so the contest prizes are more valuable. For another, everyone knows the best Bug-types are found in the mornings—well, almost everyone—and I'm off to snag one while you're stuck in the registration queue! See ya, wouldn't wanna bee ya! Pun intended by the way."

Slate watched speechlessly as April exited the center with a mocking wave over her shoulder, laughing hysterically to herself as she did. Within two minutes, the girl had surprised him, taunted him, baited him into a competition, and taken off before he even understood what was going on. It was a hit-and-run! There was no other way to describe it.

Slate got to his feet with a sense of urgency but without an actual purpose in mind. Thankfully, a chime rang out, signaling the completion of his Pokémon's treatment. He moved to the counter, thanked the nurse, and carefully secured his three capsules to his Poké Belt.

Heading outside, he was dismayed to see that the waiting crowd, while calmer, had grown considerably. Furious with April—and himself—but unwilling to renege on her challenge, Slate reluctantly joined the end of the queue and spent the next forty-five minutes silently fuming.

One good thing came out of this, though. He overheard other contestants discussing the contest. Apparently, Hazell Woods wasn't hard to find. In addition, it seemed as though a special formula was used to judge the size of entrants, so he didn't need to find the biggest bug per se, just the biggest of its species.

Slate shook his head in annoyance as he inched closer to the doors. He had been foolish to let April goad him. He was going into this contest blind. He'd never even been in Hazell Woods before. April, on the other hand, used to live in Hazell Town. And where had her newfound confidence come from? Okay, she had always been confident, to the point of obnoxious, but there had been something different about her in the Pokémon Center.