Episode 35:
Gold Rush

After an unpleasant meeting with Mewtwo, Icy and Insanellama now head for Grandpa Canyon rather than trying to visit the Safari Zone.

Icy sent out Vapor, his Gastly he caught while the two were passing through Lavender Town. Icy had given all his pokémon names while they were there too. Now, he and Insane were on their way to Grandpa Canyon after hearing about a fossil rush there.

Insane let Icy ride on Rapidash with him. “So, what fossils do you think we will find there?”

“I have no idea. I’ve heard they think there might be Aerodactyl fossil buried there too. Wouldn’t that be awesome to have?”

“Be scary if it wakes. Wasn’t it a carnivore?”

“I think so. That could be pretty bad for those miners if they uncover one.”

“Trust me, they’d be happy all they had to deal with was that and not Mewtwo.”

“Heh, and you are one to talk, definitely.”

They rode up to a crossing in the road. “Hey, there’s someone up ahead.”

Insane had Rapidash stop. “Hey bro.”

The other trainer smiled and returned the greeting. “Got them Tauros just like ya wanted em.”

“Icy, meet ChaoticLlama, my brother.”

“Pleased to meet you,” he said through the translator.

“A pleasure Icy.”

“I called him up while we were staying in Fuchsia and asked if he’d bring us some Tauros.”

“Cool! Another pokémon!” Icy ran up to the large bull pokémon. “I think I’ll name you… Diamond.” The Tauros snorted happily in acceptance. Icy got on.

“You sure you can ride it?”

“Guess we’ll find out.” Icy tried getting Tauros to go forward but found himself throw right off.

“Ouch… You got a lot to learn pardner.” Insane and Chaotic spent the next few minutes teaching Icy how to ride Tauros. Before long, he was a regular cowpika. ^.^

“Yaaaaaahooooo…” he cheered.

Chaotic turned to his brother. “Do you ah, yahoo?”

“Not like that…”

It was getting late and the three sat down to eating some fresh steaks Chaotic had brought along. “Well, I best be go’in. Insane, you make sure ya visit the ranch some time soon ye hear.”

“Don’t worry bro. I haven’t forgotten you guys.”

“And Icy, I hope they find a cure for you someday, cause I think you’d make a fine cowboy.” Icy sweatdropped. “Giddyup Tauros!” Chaotic rode into the sunset.

“Well, we best be on our way too Icy. I think Grandpa Canyon is just beyond them hills yander.”

“Alright.” They rode together towards the dig site. Finally, just as the sun was almost gone from the sky, they arrived at Grandpa Canyon. The two took a room at a small motel just outside the canyon.

In the morning, they eagerly ate breakfast and ran to the dig site. There, they found a stand with a vendor selling picks and various other supplies. Icy and Insane both bought picks and headed into the canyon ready to dig up an awesome fossil.

Icy started digging. He wasn’t very fast due to his size and looked quite strange. Some other diggers began staring as they watched the Pikachu dig. Icy suddenly noticed all the people looking at him. He put down the pick. “PIKA!!!” he shouted happily. The crowd just laughed and went back to what they were doing. Icy really didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

Insane was busy digging away. “Hey, I think I found something.” He dug a little more and lifted a small fossil out of the ground. “Hey cool, I think it’s a Kabuto.” Just then, a little boy slowly walked by with tears in his eyes. He was accompanied by his dad. Insane took notice that the boy didn’t have a single fossil, nor did his father. “Hey there.”

The boy looked up at the trainer. “Hi.”

“Hey, how’d you like to have this neat fossil I just dug up. I’m more interested in horses. You want it?”

The boy’s eyes lit up as he accepted the gift. Icy watched his companion display a very kind act of giving. “Thank you so much mister.”

“The name’s Insanellama. Make sure you raise that well.”

“I will.” The father thanked Insane for giving his son the pokémon and the two left.

“Awww, how sweet of you.”

“I’m just in a giving mood it seems…”

“Hey, what’s that over there.” Icy pointed to where the kid and his dad were leaving. He saw a gold sparkle appear for a second, then again. “C’mon.” Icy dragged Insane along.

“Whoa, slow down pika.” Icy kept going. He wanted to see what was up there.

They reached the spot where Icy had seen the sparkle. “Oh my Goddish… look…” They peered behind the rock to see what appeared to be a nest. But there were about a dozen Caterpie lying in it. From deeper inside the rock came a Butterfree, but not an ordinary one, this Butterfree was completely covered in gold. It flew gracefully into the sky then vanished as it passed by the sunlight. The Caterpie slowly moved from the nest to reveal a single golden egg.

“I think they want you to take it Icy.” The Caterpie watched as Icy careful walked into the nest to retrieve the egg.

“For me?” The Caterpie nodded. Icy placed his hands on the egg. He felt a certain connection to it, like he was meant to find it for some reason. The placed it carefully in his bag and the when he looked back to thank the Caterpie, they had disappeared.

“Where’d they go,” Icy said puzzled.

“I guess they had to visit another Caterpie nest,” shrugged Insane.

Icy and Insane called it a day and went back to the hotel to rest.

In the morning, Insane told Icy he was going to stick around and dig for some more fossils. He had heard TR was in the area and didn’t want to let them cause any trouble. Icy said his goodbyes and headed out on his own.