While Flash and his friends begin their long journey to Hoof Town to compete in The Hoof Cup, they meet a boy called Spark Plug, who is struggeling to catch a mischevious Abearab.
- Aborted Arc: At the beginning of the chapter, it is suggested that Twilight try to capture a third Pokémon for the Hoof Cup, since the finals are a three on three battle. She briefly considers trying to catch Abearab, before the plot chanages to trying to help Spark Plug catch it instead. Twilight does not attempt to catch a third Pokémon for the rest of the story afterwards.
- Brutal Honesty: When everyone is amazed at how Abearab managed to avoid getting caught by using Protect, saying it must be pretty strong to evade capture for a week, only for Spike to point out that maybe Spark Plug is just really weak. Spark admits he's right, since he's only been a trainer for 10 days.
- Butt-Monkey: Spark Plug has been trying and failing to catch Abearab for a week, while Abearab treats the whole thing like a game.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Spark Plug initially sees his capture of Abearab as this, since he didn't catch it in a fair battle, he just did it to save it after it fell off a cliff, so he chooses to release it to do it the right way some other time. Fortunately though, Abearab chooses to stay with him anyway.
