Disclaimer: No Ownership of Pokémon or Legend of Zelda

Golden Bugs, Platinum Love

Chapter 1: Princess Routed

The lands laid scorched, blood still stain the grass and dirt. A helmet in the shape of a squid's head rested straight-up. The kingdom of Hyrule continued to repair the damage caused by the fights with the castle and the forces of the Twilight sent by the late Usurper King, Zant. In a town that looked like middle age Europe, the townspeople fixed buildings that seemed to have damages beyond repair. Regardless of the construction, a local tavern served drinks to its customers. A middle-aged rotund redhead woman with pointy ears served drinks and collected colored gems as payment. "Everyone will get a drink!" she promised. "Hold your horses!" As customers received pints, some gathered in celebration.

"Ganondorf is no more!" one announced. "Three cheers! Link is our hero!" The crowd cheered for the one who rescued the kingdom.

"Hip hip hooray!" they repeatedly shouted with glee. Down the road, a shop bustled with customers buying equipment like potions and bombs. A little man with a tuff of hair on top enjoyed the service in his merchandise flying off his shelves.

"I'm definitely making a killing!" the little man sneered. "Link's wear is now becoming everyone's!" While the town bustled, a blond girl in a blue dress walked through the streets. She carried a basket with fruit and bread. The pigtail blond had dots of different colors around her eyes. As she neared the town's south entrance, three girls spotted the blond.

"Agitha!" the girl with crimson red hair called out. She left a large tent called "STAR Game" with a blue-haired girl in a blue blouse over a white shirt and ragged skirt, and a green-haired in a green robe and purple skirt. The crimson-haired wore a red robe and blue skirt. The blond turned to the three who emerged.

"Misha!" she recognized the crimson-haired. "How's STAR Game?"

"Nearly repaired. We hope Link comes back so that we see more of his work." Agitha giggled to the wishes of Misha.

"Oh, Link!" the green-haired girl cooed. "We want to see you shoot our hearts in love!" The blue-haired noticed the basket and decided to ask.

"Are you going on a picnic?" she asked.

"I am, Kili," Agitha replied. "And I won't be alone. Luckily, it's not with Link."

"That's okay," Misha brushed off. "I just wonder how long he'll be with Princess Zelda?" Agitha could only imagine.

"So, does that mean you're eating with the golden insects?" the green-haired guessed.

"I am," Agitha confirmed. "It's thanks to the wolf and that Midna girl that I have my golden bugs with me." Misha heard the plan and wanted to excuse Agitha to have her picnic.

"Alright, you and your insects have fun," she excused. Agitha left the town and proceeded out to a field of flowers. She looked up to the blue sky. The black wolf with a mane that covered half of its back and the blue eyes that had.

"I wonder if I'll see that friendly wolf again?" she wished. She laid a blanket onto the grass. She started to open a cage full of shining insects. She had a pair each of ants, snails, ladybugs, mantises, butterflies, Phasmidas, dayflies, stag beetles, grasshoppers, pill bugs, normal beetles and dragonflies. That's when a glowing blue butterfly fluttered towards her. Quickly, Agitha recognized it. "A Goddess Butterfly?" The Goddess Butterfly flew around Agitha with a swarm of other butterflies circling her. Agitha felt like she's in a tornado of butterflies as the Goddess Butterfly rested on an offered finger. More butterflies surrounded her. She saw no opening to the swarm around her like the twister it played. After about a couple of minutes, the butterflies scattered, flying in different directions. When Agitha could see again, she found herself in a forest. She became perplexed. "I thought I was in a field of flowers. How did I get here? I didn't even move a muscle." She looked inside to the cage and opened it up. "Is everyone alright?" The bugs gave off a shimmering sound. She sighed in relief before becoming curious. In the trees, she saw giant ladybugs with huge eyes, green caterpillars and blue beetles. "Where did I end up?" That's when a large brown bear with a circle on its chest emerged from around the corner. Quickly, she began to backpedal. The bear sized itself, arms spread. It let out a roar that made Agitha start to retreat but her feet got tangled and she stumbled. The bugs quickly scattered. "No! My Golden Bugs!" The bear approached, ready to maul her at any moment. Agitha spotted two snails, both shimmering with one green and the other pink. She gathered the snails and raced off.

Meanwhile, three kids, a mouse and a living egg came to a crossroad. "Looks like we have to choose where to go," the redhead girl sighed. She had her hair in a sideways ponytail while wearing a yellow sleeveless shirt a size small and denim shorts held up by suspenders. The egg in her hand had red and blue spots. It has stubby arms and its head took the shape of a crown. She turned to a tanned young brunette man. His zigzag spiky hair stood up while he wore a green t-shirt under an orange vest and brown cargo pants. "Brock, what does the guidebook say?" Brock glanced into a booklet he had.

"Let's see…" he studied. "Both ways lead to Ecruteak City and one path can get us there in days. That path also leads us to a special forest." This made the redhead and a raven-haired boy curious. He wore a red baseball jacket with a green triangle printed on the front. Also on him was a blue short-sleeve jacket he donned open over a black t-shirt and jeans. The yellow mouse on his shoulder had red cheeks, brown streaks on its back and the tail took form of a lightning bolt.

"What's so special about the forest?" he asked. Brock studied the booklet more.

"According to this, the forest is called Pollentasia," he read. "It's a known forest within Johto, famous for being a breeding ground for Bug Pokémon." The redhead gasped in horror.

"B-Bu-Bug Pokémon?!" she yelped. The information made Brock giddy.

"This can't be false!" he sneered. "I want to see a breeding ground for myself! I, an upcoming Pokémon Breeder, cannot pass this opportunity to see a breeding ground and study from it!" The redhead wasn't in favor of seeing a lot of Bug Pokémon.

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" she snapped. "I wouldn't mind breeding grounds for Grass Pokémon or Flying Pokémon! Heck, I'd go in favor of one for Water Pokémon… BUT BUGS BUG ME!"

"Settle down, Misty," the raven-haired tried to reason. "You don't have to yell at Brock for something he wants to see. Besides, we'll be fine as long as we leave them alone." Misty scoffed, not believing the raven-haired.

"Easy for you to say, Ash!" she stammered. "You probably don't worry so much since you have Heracross… and that you don't have Bug Pokémon wanting to crawl on you every chance they get!" Ash sighed to Misty's frustration.

"Misty, I know you don't hate ALL Bug Pokémon," he pointed out. "Tracey's and Aya's Venonat, Koga's Venomoth and Butterfree are a few examples." Misty irked to Ash's explanation, wishing it wasn't the case. "Aside from that, what about a Bug Pokémon that's also part Water-Type?" Misty gulped to the possibility of a Bug/Water Pokémon.

"Ash has a point about that," Brock backed up. "With wild combinations like Water/Flying or Dark/Electric or even Fire/Steel…" The egg-like creature seemed open for all sorts of possibilities.

"I'm still saying that I'm distrusting on Bugs," she insisted. "And that's final!" Ash, Brock and the mouse sighed to Misty's unrelenting rant.

"Well, I wanna see some Bug Pokémon," Ash decided. "I bet we can see some rare ones." The mouse squeaked in favor of Ash's choice.

"If I'm gonna be the greatest Pokémon Breeder," Brock started. "A place like Pollentasia is a great start." Brock's words prompted the egg to raise a hand in agreeing, much to Misty's chagrin.

"Togepi…" she whined. "Why?" Counting, Ash had to tell Misty the bad news.

"Sorry, Misty," he smiled. "Looks like the votes are in and yours is out." Misty's mull told them she refused but had no choice in the manner.

"Besides, if we took the other route, it'll be a few weeks to reach the other side," Brock added. Misty felt betrayed. Meantime, Agitha hid within the forest from the bear. She took a deep breath from the encounter.

"What was that bear mad about?" she wondered. "And what happened to the field of flowers?" She looked to her two snails. "I'm glad I didn't lose all of you. I just wonder where my other 22 left for?" Agitha wandered around for a little while, trying to find a sign of her Golden Bugs. "That wolf will be mad if I said that I lost it by some bear." Just below her on the path, the Goddess Butterfly flew in front of Misty who jumped at the sight. She landed on Togepi's little nose.

"GET IT AWAY!" she shrieked. Ash and Brock turned to find Misty putting Togepi down and backing away from it. The boys blinked to seeing the Goddess Butterfly on Togepi as the mouse approached both.

"What's that?" asked Ash.

"I'm not quite sure," Brock shrugged. "I don't even think it's a Pokémon!" The mouse offered its tail to the Goddess Butterfly which she accepted. Ash knelt to the mouse as it returned to him.

"Let's see it, Pikachu," he requested. Pikachu offered its tail to Ash. He stuck a finger out for the Goddess Butterfly to perch herself onto it. "I wanna say that it looks like a really tiny Butterfree." The Goddess Butterfly leaped from Pikachu's tail to Ash's finger. He stood up to examine further with Brock.

"It does," he surveyed. "I'm still wondering where it came from." Pikachu crawled up to Ash's shoulder while Brock lifted Togepi who wanted the Goddess Butterfly back.

"C'mon, Misty," Ash assured. "It won't bite."

"Easy for you to say, Ash!" the redhead snapped. Hesitant, she approached. Her shaky hand offered, the Goddess Butterfly didn't move from Ash.

"Relax, Misty," Brock instructed. "It won't come to you when your hands aren't still." Misty couldn't get her hands to behave.

"I can't help it if my history with bugs isn't as spotless as yours!" she argued.

"It would help if you take a deep breath," Ash advised. Misty groaned to the instruction.

"Okay… fine…" she caved. She took a deep breath and soon another. Agitha appeared at the top of the steep hill by the road. After her second deep breath, she stuck her hand out again, a little more stable. The Goddess Butterfly flew to Misty's knuckle and landed for her nervous and sweaty face to see the insect. Soon, she relaxed herself. "Hey, it's not so bad. The more I work with something like this, Bug Pokémon may not be so bad." Back on top of the hill, Agitha looked back to see if that bear continued to follow. She took a couple of steps back when she lost her footing and began falling down the hill.

"AAAHHH!" she yelped. All turned to the blond rolling. Ash sprinted to cut Agitha's path. He reached the edge as she arrived at the bottom. The momentum seemed too much. Agitha bounced once and crashed into Ash with her eyes closed. She flew into his arms and he caught her. He rolled a few times before stopping the cap flying off his head. Misty and Brock ran over to check on their friend.

"Ash!" they called out. Ash reeled as the Goddess Butterfly flew from Misty's hand to her ponytail. Ash looked to see who he caught, finding Agitha in his arms.

"I'm good," he cringed. "But who's this?" Ash held Agitha's head with one arm, her legs in another and the rest of her body on his lap. Pikachu and Togepi seemed interested with the new girl.

"Good question," Misty pondered. Agitha began to stir and noticed that she's being held. She looked up to find Ash's face.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Her astonished face saw the boy who caught her. She immediately wrapped her arms around him, a gleeful smile on her face.

"My knight in shining armor!" she cheered. Misty and Brock gawked to Agitha's action, though not as big as Ash.

"That happened fast," Brock gulped. Ash couldn't do anything but bear the hug. Agitha may have her knight, but what about her Golden Bugs? All she has are her snails.

TO BE CONTINUED…