Bugsy's New Friend (Bug Catcher TF)

Andy hated bug pokemon.

He really couldn’t explain why he did, he didn’t find them gross or annoying, he disliked them. Unfortunately for him, he lived in Azalea Town. In fact, his house was right next to Bugsy’s Gym so he constantly heard the young gym leader training and playing with his pokemon, giving him no end of headaches.

“Come on Metapod!” he heard Bugsy yell as he was laying in bed, he growled and covered his ears with his pillow in anger “Come, do it again!” he tried to ignore it and go to sleep, but after 20 minutes of Bugsy screaming at the top of his lungs, he snapped and stomped up to the window

“BUGSY!!” he yelled at the gym leader, he jumped in surprise “PLEASE, SHUT UP!! I’M TRYING TO SLEEP, AND DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOU TRAINING YOUR DISGUSTING BUGS TILL FOUR IN THE MORNING!!!” he ignored the shocked look on the gym leader’s face, slamming the window shut and falling into bed, passing out almost immediately. The next morning, he walked down to the kitchen and started making breakfast when he heard a knock on the door, he sighted, turned the stove off and walked to the door “Who is it?”

“Hey Andy” he heard a young voice say in the other side “It’s Bugsy” Andy felt a lump form in his throat as he opened the door

“Hi Bugsy” Andy said awkwardly “Look, dude I’m sorry about last night”

“Don’t apologize” Bugsy said happily, walking inside “I’m the one who should be apologizing” he looked at the gym leader in shock as Bugsy continued “I didn’t know you hated bug pokemon so much”

“Yeah…” the teen said, running a finger through his blonde hair “That’s still no excuse to scream at you in the middle of the night” the lavender-haired boy shrugged and grabbed his hand

“Come on, I want to make up to you” he said with a smile “I’ve got a gift for you, come on!” he dragged the teen out the door and towards the gym, without giving Andy the chance to put on socks or shoes. The two walked inside the gym as Bugsy lead him to an area with thicker foliage full of bug pokemon, stopping right in front of it

“Bugsy…” Andy said, having stayed quiet as a way to try and apologize “I don’t think I can go there…” he looked over to the young boy and saw he had removed his shoes and socks, his bare toes buried in the grass

“Don’t worry about it” Bugsy said, grinning “You’ll be fine, none of the pokemon will do anything unless I tell them.”

“Okay, but why are you barefoot?”

“Oh, I prefer to leave less of a mark on the grass in there, so I go in barefoot” Bugsy explained. Andy nodded, as soon as he did that, the lavender-haired boy dragged him into the foliage.

“Bugsy?” Andy asked quietly, looking around carefully “Where are we going?” the gym leader stayed quiet as they walked into a clearing, filled with flowers and long grass, before Andy could comment, Bugsy whistled loudly. Shortly after he heard a buzzing sound as a Yanma flew towards them

“See?” Bugsy said as Yanma landed on his arm, holding it out towards Andy “You like him?” Andy looked at the dragonfly pokemon, not seeing Bugsy nodding quickly.

“Actually, it’s kinda-“ Andy was cut off when he looked at the pokemon’s eyes, which were glowing slightly “What’s happening…..?” he said slowly

“Hmm, guess I was right about Yanma’s hypnosis not being strong enough” Bugsy said as he pulled out two poke-balls and threw them in the air, an Ariados and a Venomoth appearing “Alright guys, use psychic!” he said, pointing at Andy. The teen attempted to run before his body froze

“Why are doing this Bugsy?” Andy cried

“Well, when you yelled you hated bug pokemon, I thought I’d do something about that” Bugsy explained “Yanma!”

“No wait!” Andy tried to say, before the hypnosis washed over him again

“Alright, listen to me Andy” the lavender-haired boy said, pulling out a small vial “Forget everything that happened before this moment except your name and mine” the blonde teen nodded, his mind slowly going blank, his mouth slightly agape. Bugsy smiled and poured the liquid in his mouth “Swallow” the hypnotized teen obeyed, but as he felt the liquid go down his throat, he snapped out of the hypnosis

“Blagh” Andy coughed “What was that!?” not noticing as he got shorter, his hair slowly turning brown.

“Don’t worry about it” Bugsy said “It’s nothing”

“Yeah, it’s nothing” Andy mumbled, being highly suggestible due to the hypnosis

“Andy, listen to me” Bugsy said slowly “My pokemon are gonna stop using psychic, and I don’t want you to run away”

“Run away?” Andy repeated, confused “Why would I run away?”

“No reason” Bugsy said with a smile as he returned all his pokemon to their poke balls “Come on” Andy nodded and followed his friend through the plants, gladly admiring any bug type pokemon Bugsy showed him.

“Why did I hate bug types” Andy thought to himself, slowly shrinking into the body of a ten-year-old as they walked towards a part of the gym that looked more like a locker room “Their awesome! So is Bugsy, I wish I could stay here! Maybe I can ask him- “

“Okay Andy, here. The present I told you about” Bugsy said, handing him a bundle of clothes

“Thanks Bugsy!” he said, not noticing how high pitched his voice sounded

“Your welcome” the gym leader said “You might want to change into it” Andy looked down confused and gasped. He was wearing an oversized white T-shirt and beige shorts; they look to be for someone about six years older than him

“Yeah, that’s a good idea” he said, a dopey grin on his face. Bugsy pointed to the bathroom, and after changing out of the oversized clothing and looked at himself in the mirror. A green muscle shirt with a yellow stripe, dark brown short and lace less shoes, a green and white symbol on the pants’ leg, finally he plopped on the hat and grinned “Awesome, I look like a Bug Catcher!”

“Hey, you look great” Bugsy said, walking in along with two bug catching nets

“Thanks!” Andy said, a surge of joy at seeing the net “And those?”

“This is the second part of the gift” Bugsy said “I mean, if you’re going to be a trainer in my gym, you’ll need one of these” he handed the net to a flabbergasted looking Andy

“Me… a gym trainer…” Andy mumbled, before exploding in joy and hugging the lavender-haired kid “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!”

“Hehe, your welcome” Bugsy said “Alright, first things first. You need to catch a bug from the gym in the net to use in battle” Andy nodded, gripped the net and ran outside to the foliage, swinging his net at any bug that came near

“GOTCHA!” he yelled as he trapped a Beedrill, Bugsy smiled. He had a new addition to his gym and a new friend to catch bugs with