Azalea Gym cannot be challenged when the player first arrives in Azalea Town, as a Team Rocket Grunt is blocking the entrance. He doesn't leave until Team Rocket has been defeated at the Slowpoke Well.
Generation II
Azalea Town Pokémon Gym Leader: Bugsy
The Walking
Bug Pokémon
Encyclopedia
In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, the Azalea Gym is a giant forest maze. Trainers such as Twins and Bug Catchers hide around every corner, ready to spring upon Trainers. Bugsy is located in the middle of the maze, where he can be challenged to earn the Hive Badge.
Azalea Town Pokémon Gym Leader: Bugsy
The Walking Bug Pokémon Encyclopedia
In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, many aesthetic changes have been made to the Azalea Gym, including a new feature that lets the player ride on Spinarak-shaped karts that travel across different areas of the Gym. The player must travel on the correct spider to advance through the Gym. If the player gets on the wrong spider, however, they will travel to a different area where they must battle a Trainer.
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
The Azalea Gym has only appeared in the anime in Gettin' the Bugs Out. The Gym resembles an indoor forest, with trees and grass growing everywhere. Bugsy lets all of his Pokémon roam free in the Gym, much to Misty's chagrin.
Ash felt confident that his Cyndaquil would be able to easily defeat Bugsy and his Pokémon, but Cyndaquil initially had trouble using its Fire-type attacks, forcing Ash to recall it and instead use his Chikorita and Pikachu. After Ash had beaten Bugsy's Spinarak and Metapod, Bugsy sent out his strongest Pokémon, Scyther, which easily took out Pikachu, leaving Ash with only Cyndaquil. Even though Scyther was able to protect itself from Cyndaquil's Flamethrower with Swords Dance, Ash had Cyndaquil fire a Flamethrower from the above, getting past Scyther's defense and defeating it, thus earning Ash the Hive Badge.
Spinarak is the first Pokémon Bugsy used in his match against Ash, saying that it's one of his strongest Pokémon in his arsenal. It battled against Cyndaquil and almost won with its String Shot and Poison Sting attacks, since Cyndaquil couldn't get its flame started. Eventually, Ash recalled Cyndaquil and sent out Chikorita instead, despite the type disadvantage. Spinarak and Chikorita kept dodging each other's attacks, until Ash told Chikorita to use Sweet Scent, enabling it to Tackle Spinarak and win the round.
Bugsy's second choice for his battle with Ash was Metapod. Metapod used Harden several times to resist Chikorita's attacks, and then surprised Ash by being able to jump and tackle Chikorita. Ash decided to use Pikachu, and after dodging many more attacks, Pikachu managed to attack Metapod with Thunderbolt and win.
The final and strongest of Bugsy's Pokémon was Scyther. It first battled Ash's Pikachu, which it easily defeated with a powerful combination of Slash and Fury Cutter attacks after dodging Pikachu's Thunderbolt with Double Team.
Scyther proved to be an exceptional fighter as it can hold its own against Fire-types by using Swords Dance to counter fire attacks. Using this technique, it almost defeated Ash's Cyndaquil by deflecting all of its fire attacks. Thanks to Ash's strategy though, Cyndaquil gained the upper hand. Instead of attacking horizontally, it jumped above Scyther and used Flamethrower. Scyther was unable to defend itself from the attack and was knocked out of the battle, allowing Ash to earn the Hive Badge.
In the manga
Azalea Gym in Pokémon Gold and Silver: The Golden Boys
Azalea Gym in Pokémon Pocket Monsters
In the Pokémon Gold and Silver: The Golden Boys manga
Azalea Gym appeared in Get up Again, Bayleef, where Gold challenged Bugsy to a one-on-one Gym battle. Bugsy chose to use his Scyther, while Gold, much to Bugsy's surprise, decided to use Bayleef. Being at a type disadvantage, Bayleef was initially on the defensive, but eventually Scyther's attacks overpowered Bayleef's Reflect, fatally wounding the Leaf Pokémon. Despite the fact that his Pokémon was close to dying, Gold refused to give up, wanting to restore Bayleef's self-confidence after its abandonment by Black. This eventually worked, and just as Scyther was about to finish Bayleef off, it used Synthesis to heal itself and then slammed Scyther down to the ground with Vine Whip, defeating it and ending the battle. Bugsy then handed Gold a Hive Badge as a proof of his victory.
In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga
Azalea Gym first made an appearance in The Hardest Bug Pokémon Wins?!, where Red entered the Gym to challenge Bugsy. With Clefairy's gag moves, Red was able to defeat Bugsy and earn himself the Hive Badge. Afterwards, Bugsy also gave him four Poké Balls, with an onion hidden inside one of them, much to Red and his Pokémon's disgust.
The Gym reappeared in PMHGSS05, where Red challenged Bugsy to a rematch. Once again, he emerged victorious, this time defeating Bugsy's Scyther with his Tyrogue.
