Unfortunately, it couldn't be used alongside enhancement abilities like Haki or Sage Mode.
Without hesitation, Aaron used the "Spiritual Pressure Infusion" Skill Card on Beedrill, pushing its strength to a whole new level.
After that, Aaron took Sceptile and Beedrill through the forest, capturing Bug-type Pokémon along the way.
Before long, all the special Poké Balls provided by the organizers were completely filled.
Three hours flew by.
The competition time was up.
Completely satisfied, Aaron returned without hesitation.
...
At the Bug Catcher Contest platform, it was already packed with Trainers.
Each participant handed over their special Poké Balls to the staff, who began tallying the scores one by one.
"Contestant No. 86, score: 186…"
"Contestant No. 87, score: 154…"
...
"Contestant No. 157, 300 points!!"
"Contestant No. 230, 340 points…"
"Contestant No. 250, 400 points!"
"Oh—that's the highest score so far! Could this be the winning score!?"
...
The middle-aged host held the microphone and announced the scores one by one. When he reached 400 points, his voice rose with excitement.
Contestant No. 250 was a boy dressed in a green vest and matching hat, a bug-catching net in hand. He looked just like a classic Bug Catcher.
His face was flushed with excitement, as if the championship was already his.
The crowd below was visibly stunned by his astonishing 400-point score.
That number was insane. Even if he had caught nothing but Beedrill, he would have needed forty of them to reach it.
"Who is that guy? How did he score so high?"
"I know him. He's called the Bug Catcher—a Bug-type Trainer who's always in this forest hunting rare Bug Pokémon."
"No wonder. He must know this place like the back of his hand. That's how he pulled off a score like that."
"Man, what a shame. If I hadn't been chased by a Pinsir, I could've made the top three at least."
"Seriously, your luck is terrible. Running into something as troublesome as a Pinsir…"
"Don't remind me. It still hurts just thinking about it…"
...
The other contestants continued discussing the Bug Catcher.
Meanwhile, Simon and the others stood off to the side.
Lyra and Grace looked a little pale.
Simon glanced at them and frowned.
"What's wrong with you two? Why do you look so pale?"
"How many points did you get?"
They exchanged a glance, their cheeks flushing slightly.
Lyra hesitated before answering,
"2… 25 points…"
The moment she said it, Simon, Yuri, and the others froze in shock.
"What?"
"25 points!?"
"You've got to be kidding me! Even my dog could score higher than that catching bugs!"
"Hahaha… I'm dying here!"
Yuri burst out laughing.
Grace shot her an annoyed look and said,
"We hate bugs… so we didn't really do anything."
Everyone immediately understood.
So they were just scared of bugs.
Not surprising. Plenty of girls were naturally afraid of Bug-type Pokémon.
"Alright, alright, stop laughing at them."
"Hey, Fishball—how many points did you get? No way you beat me. Get ready to call me Boss."
Victor patted Yuri on the shoulder with a smug grin.
"Hmph… Don't rush. You first."
Yuri refused to reveal her score.
"Hmph. I got 213 points!"
"Well? Think you can beat that?"
Victor said proudly.
Yuri's smile froze.
"Huh?"
"Hahaha! Lower than mine, right?"
"Hurry up and call me Boss!"
Victor burst out laughing.
"Get lost…"
"Say it…"
"No way…"
...
Simon looked around, searching for Aaron, but couldn't find him.
"Where's Aaron? Why isn't he back yet?"
"I wonder if he beat that Bug Catcher's score."
Lyra snorted.
"This kind of competition isn't just about strength."
"Maybe he caught too few Pokémon and doesn't want to come back."
Yuri, still struggling with Victor, immediately snapped,
"That's nonsense!"
"Aaron's probably late because he caught too many Bug-type Pokémon to carry all at once!"
At that moment, Grace suddenly said,
"Aaron's back…"
Everyone turned to look in the direction she was staring.
Sure enough, they saw a handsome young man strolling casually out of the forest.
Aaron walked up to the staff and took out all his special Poké Balls, piling them onto the counter.
The sight completely stunned the staff member.
"Hey… I'm in charge of counting captured Bug-type Pokémon. Empty Poké Balls should be returned over there."
He assumed Aaron had brought back empty balls and pointed it out.
Aaron gave a faint smile.
"That's right. These are all Poké Balls used to catch Bug-type Pokémon."
"What?"
"What did you just say?"
The staff member froze, thinking he had misheard.
Aaron let out a small sigh and repeated,
"I said these are all Poké Balls containing the Bug-type Pokémon I captured. Please tally the points."
The staff member's eyes widened as he stared at the pile of Poké Balls covering the table. He swallowed hard.
"O-okay!"
He quickly began feeding them into the machine.
"Ding… Pinsir, +20 points…"
"Ding… Pinsir, +20 points…"
...
"Ding… Scolipede, +15 points…"
"Ding… Vespiquen, +15 points…"
...
"Beep. Calculation complete. Total points: 2213."
As one Poké Ball after another was processed, the machine continued announcing the results.
When the final ball was scanned, Aaron's total score appeared:
2213 points!!
The staff member stared at the four-digit number on the screen and gasped.
"Is this guy farming in bulk or something!?"
He had worked this job for ten years, and this was the first time he had ever seen such an outrageous score.
...