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Chapter 10 - The Scramble of Life

William knew about Virizion’s location.

The silence permeated throughout the group, making every step feel like a second in eternity. Her body focused on following Charon to their destination, while her mind was traveling along her own loose, scattered thoughts. The landmarks she could point out as a Ranger who had patrolled the forest before blurring into background static and noise.

William knew about Virizion’s location, not suspected, knew.

Her eyes darting to William for what felt like the nth time this hour, it was easy to see how he walked closer to Charon since the revelation of before. He had become silent as a sleeping Togepi, not a single word leaving him since.

Of course, there were always rumors moving about on forums, stories of sightings around their domain spoken at gatherings, but nothing actually confirmed for the public, even with Swords of Justice being more active in recent times… especially after Team Plasma. The Ranger Union had more contact with them than the League due to them being out in the field more, helping Pokémon and humans; but even then, it was only and strictly on a need-to-know basis.

Lena didn’t even know about Virizion’s location until the… after Route 10 and Victory Road collapsed.

‘No. No. I will not think of that now… Not now. Not while I’m on a Mission.’ She stopped herself, taking a deep enough breath for Arthur to glance in her direction, but she forced herself to ignore it. Recirculating her thoughts, she returned back to the main point she kept turning over in her head.

William didn't just know about Virizion’s home domain from a rumor. The way he said and phrased his question, with such certainty… that was someone who knew. Yes, Charon said he told William, and… personally met her, but before that….

“...it’s common knowledge at home…”

Lena couldn’t help but feel her frown get even larger as she glanced at William’s back, he purposely wasn’t looking at Lena, instead looking around at the trees around them with Ronin doing similar. ‘But that doesn’t make any sense… you said that Pokémon weren’t really around where you’re from… right? How would it have been common knowledge?’

‘...Was that a lie? Or was the common knowledge comment a lie… what about other things?’

The piercing thought nearly made her trip, but she smoothly caught herself from stumbling on a tree branch before continuing the line of thinking, trying to keep herself from jumping to conclusions. ‘Of course he’s not telling me the truth, he’s a kid and… I’m an adult who technically uprooted him from what he’s known. Of course he wouldn’t trust me… I know it’s only been a couple days since we’ve known each other but…’

Halting her conflicted emotions, she started to run back through the conversation again… noticing how panicked William had looked when he realized he messed up. He was scared, genuinely.

‘What are you scared of though…? I… I hope it’s not me, but is it… the knowledge that you know about Legendaries? Or…. is it what someone could do with that knowledge, or —’

“Typhlo-Phol.” (William, Ronin, stay behind me.)

“Lena, the trees—!”

Like a Bubble Beam being popped by a Bullet Seed, Lena heard the air being cut and then the sound of impact in front of her that popped every line of thought. Her eyes started to catch specks of dirt rising from the ground followed by hissing and bubbling, rapidly approaching her. Her instincts took over and she jumped back just as the dirt started to rise up from where she once stood. Arthur surged forward and spun his aura staff around to defect the projectiles where she once stood.

Meanwhile, Charon took a short breath and shot his own projectile, soaring across the field like a fastball before colliding and exploding slightly. A pained buzzing noise was heard along with a thump in the clearing in front of them as the Ember scorched the body and illuminated the area long enough for the sight of yellow and black stripes to be visible.

Lena’s body was already in motion, the Capture Disc flying between the trees and starting to curve around the fallen Bug Poison Type, but the anger was clear in its eyes. It aimed one of its stringers forward, a purple shine surrounded it for a brief moment before it shot out with an almost liquid glob towards the line of the Styler, forcing Lena to arc it upwards to avoid hitting it, but causing the toxic move to splatter on a tree with a sickening hiss.

This distraction was enough however, for Rina to jump in with an Ice Beam from her maw, hitting the ground until it reached the Beedrill’s other stinger, freezing it in place from the weight of the ice as it built up. The Poison Bee buzzed angrily and looked to aim at the Floatzel, but Arthur had run forward with Extreme Speed and slammed his aura staff against the still-free stinger, pinning it into the ground.

The Beedrill let out another high-pitched buzzing noise, writhing and attempting to get out of its predicament, but the capture disc resumed its cycle around it, spinning faster and faster. Like before, the glow of the rings around it finally collapsed in and the Beedrill’s body flashed, no longer attempting to struggle, but looking upset and angry, emotions overflowing still.

Lena breathed in and out for a moment, the adrenaline of the encounter still rushing through her as she glanced at William to make sure he was okay. He was frozen, his eyes going wide as he gulped and both of his hands squeezed the stick tight that Ronin had continued to strip down… it was just now that she noticed the end of the stick had been sharpened enough to a point that it looked like a makeshift spear, the Oshawott holding his scalchop similarly and looking a tad angry at the fallen bug.

Charon started to walk toward the Beedrill with William following close behind, Lena doing similarly as Arthur stood above it, still making sure it wouldn’t use its other stinger even with it being ‘captured’. It stared up defiantly at the group, a vibrating hiss directed at Charon and and Arthur, before locking eyes with Lena, its wings waving back and forth with a noise that made William shiver and wince beside her.

She had to ignore that for now, staring back down at the Beedrill and crossing her arms, trying to appear as stern as possible. “You know, it’s not nice to attack people and Pokémon at random, this isn’t even near your hive.”

“BBBzZZZ-BBbbzzz-!” (I do my job! Hive will get new space, forest will become home that Queen wants!)

Lena mentally paused, but physically kept her stance and expression the same, already finding a point to press on. “Oh? And what home is that?”

An almost gurgling hissing noise echoed from it, beady red eyes staring up at the Top Ranger with disdain. “BZzZz! HHzZZZZBBbbzZ!” (A home for Beedrill and eggs! And no one else!)

Its eyes narrowed at Lena, a flutter of wings happening as it seemed to tremble in absolute fury. “HHzZ-BZzzzz. BBBZZR! BBZZZHHHssSS!” (Queen was given forest. Told to take what she needs! Hive needs to remove other hives for eggs!)

“And what of the other Pokémon in the forest? Do their lives, their family, not matter?” Arthur spoke evenly, but Lena could feel the restrained anger in his Aura, his paws burning blue as he held the aura staff motionless.

“BZZzZ-HHISSsss… BZZz-ZBZZz.” (If they not strong to protect own hive… they do not deserve it, like purple bugs.)

At those words, there was a shift in the air, Lena barely noticing how Charon had turned away from the Beedrill towards a direction… the wisps of ghostly fire around his neck growing, making Lena take stock of her situation and look around as well.

It was then she realized that they had gone off the main path maintained by the League and Rangers, heavily. She hadn’t noticed in her own thoughts… and as she looked around in the darkness, she couldn’t identify if or how far they were from the ‘open-to-the-public’ area of Pinwheel Forest they were at this point.

Before she could question anyone, a sudden sharp gasp left William, followed by Charon’s eyes seeming… horrified. “Typh…. Phlosion…!” (They’re already… Almighty Sinnoh…!) With a start, Charon got on all fours and started to bolt in the direction he was staring in.

William said nothing, but fumbled with his backpack and threw a Nest Ball in the direction of the Beedrill before running after Charon. Ronin actually jumped out of William’s hoodie and used Aqua Jet to get ahead of him to follow Charon. Lena and her partners stared in shock and confusion, surrounding a Nest Ball that barely had flashed to signify the capture was complete.

“W-Wait — Will —!” Lena lurched forward and grabbed the Nest Ball, her knuckles scraping against the ground for a moment before she kicked off and started running after him with Rina in tow. Arthur leapt into the trees and started to gain on them… Lena gritted her teeth slightly as she tried to reorient her mental compass, to see if they were heading even further away from the main path, ‘off-route’ as it were.

Her anxiety about that was cut short however, as a new noise entered the sound of the leaves and the breeze… the sound of echoed buzzing, wood from trees splintering, followed by a rumble of crashing leaves, and pained noises drowning it out.

She could still make out Charon’s glowing collar in the distance, standing before a clearing immobile as William finally got to him and stared out… Lena ran up behind him and was about to speak up before her eyes bore witness to the scene in front of her.

An entire group — no, what looked like an entire hive of Beedrill were flying in and out of a clearing of what looked like a Venipede nest. Like javelins, Twineedle from a multitude of Beedrill pierced the air, some trying to hit any visible target. It didn’t matter if one didn’t hit, another three Beedrill aiming in the same general direction would have hit one of their targets.

Venipede scurried about in a panic and attempted to avoid the attacks. Some Whirlipede tried to protect their home, but were unable to properly hit the flying targets with Rollout, even as their hardshells protected them. Meanwhile, multiple Scolipede looked pained, while still attempting to defend Venipede behind them with Venoshock and Iron Defense, but Lena saw some collapsed on the ground, with Twinneedle embedded in their body…

If there was a word to describe time slowing down, yet simultaneously speeding up, Lena would describe the scene in front of her as that. And Lena knew this nightmare was only just beginning.

Her body started to feel like it was moving through Muk sludge, the panic and chaos of the scene in front of her paralyzing her body for a moment from shock, even as her mind screamed at her.

Finally, with her training and memories of past Missions rattling in her head, time resumed for her body to speak, Rina and Arthur already standing ready at her side at seeing the situation.

“Rina! Stay with me and help me focus on capturing, Arthur — ” She froze, her mind racing to decide what to do as Arthur’s aura flared intensely. A quick glance at William and Ronin let her see Charon standing protectively in front of them. He would be okay with Charon. “Arthur, go in and get as many you can to safety and heal the most critical with Heal Pulse! Don’t hold back on defending them! All out!”

Arthur didn’t even glance at her, jumping in with his aura staff glowing brightly in the night as he leapt forward towards a group of Venipede hiding behind a Whirlipede that was being targeted by multiple Beedrill. With that, Lena glanced at William and put on a firm expression. “Catch what you can, but defend yourself. Don’t put yourself in the line of fire!”

Before she could hear William’s response, she ran in with Rina next to her, her mind already organizing certain Beedrill into groups, on how to capture them and how aggressive they were acting.

‘Two on the left, fast and nimble, four on the right, targeting a Scolipede —’ Her thought halted as she glanced up above, seeing an absolutely massive Beedrill flying overhead, watching all this chaos unfold. Two smaller Beedrill were next to them for a moment, and the slightest movement of their head, along with pointing from their needle suggested to Lena who this was.

‘The queen… alright, that's the eventual target.’

She was too high up in the air to capture her directly, so they’d need to bring her to them. Glancing at the four Beedrill to her right, her body started to move; her right arm braced her left as her fingers made the full releasing motion, feeling the Styler kick back against her slightly from the full force being applied.

The Capture Disc flew across the clearing, and she purposely arced her arm to make sure the Capture Line went across the line of vision of every single Beedrill, distracting them from their target and making some of them flinch from the bright light of the line.

It didn’t last long, with all four of them now focusing on the Capture Line like Lena intended, her arm swinging to make the Capture Disc avoid a volley of Twinneedle at it. The dirt on the ground was getting displaced, clouds of dust forming from not only the attacks from the Beedrill, but from how fast the Capture Disc was spinning above it as Lena forced her arm to move in finer and more precise movements.

The line started to glow more, even as the Beedrill got more aggressive with some trying to physically stab the line with their stingers, but Lena’s control was too fine. Although it didn’t look much like a circle, the line connected with itself enough, glowing brightly before enclosing around the group, halting their attack mid-motion as they slumped to the ground and looked towards Lena.

She paused, but only for a moment when she noted how they still looked absolutely angry at her, but made no motion to attack. Sure, some Pokémon were still upset after being captured… but this felt… more.

Grabbing Nest Balls from her pocket, she quickly threw them at the captured Pokémon to completely remove them from the field. Her eyes were already scanning for the next target closest to her as she made sure the Capture Disc was loaded back in her Styler. She glanced at where Rina’s Bubble Beam was going to try and focus on a slowed Beedrill, but her eyes did flick to Arthur for a moment when it caught the light from his staff, glowing bright with pure Aura.

Across the field, there were a group of three Beedrill twitching on the ground as Arthur corralled a group of Venipede and Whirlipede away. One Whirlipede was struggling to roll, with gashes on its front, enough to make Arthur pause and quickly use a Heal Pulse… Lena couldn’t help but note that he was carrying what looked to be a hatchling Venipede in his arms as he did this.

This wasn’t just a nest or hive for the Venipede, this was specifically where they laid their eggs.

Of all the places to attack, this was among the worst that the Beedrill could have hit. This was targeted, an invasion, not just an infestation.

With a revived urgency, she didn’t even wait to identify another group, recalling the Capture Disc and swinging her arm to send it forward again. Her eyes flicked to the closest group, two Beedrill who were watching her from a distance away and started to move away as the Capture Disc got closer to them, but they had clearly seen what happened to their friends.

They bolted away in different directions, moving fast and rapidly changing their direction mid-flight. Lena mentally cursed, before she felt the ground tremble slightly as a sudden avalanche of rocks and dirt landed over one of the Beedrill. The attack caused it to try and go lower to avoid it, but instead it started to tumble against the ground, rolling end over end and letting out pained buzzing noises before it came into contact with a sudden flying Nest Ball and vanished.

Her eyes followed the trajectory, and her blood froze and her body went cold. William was in the open surrounded on both sides by Charon and Ronin, his head whipping back and forth between targets with a mix of emotions on his face that she couldn’t read in the chaos.

‘What in the name of the Twins are they doing…!?’

Her attention was snapped away from the sudden panic by an incoming yellow blur from the corner of her vision and a cry from Rina she couldn’t discern, but she still got the meaning from the tone alone. Instincts took over and she shifted downwards suddenly as a Beedrill neared looking to attack her with a Fury Attack.

Rina in return, let out an angry noise and leapt at the Beedrill with her fangs still emitting frost before she bit down outright, the frost building up rapidly around the Beedrill as it screeched and buzzed in pain.

Rina then threw the Beedrill to the ground, where it bounced once, then twice, before it stilled after a moment of twitching. She was panting angrily, glaring up at all the flying Poison Bug Types before an almost feral growl left her throat before she spoke. “FLoooatZEL! Floatzel!!” (I’m the target here! Don’t you dare touch her, you parasites!)

Lena cursed as her thoughts started to unweave, but her training took over. She ignored the Beedrill on the ground in favor of issuing a new order to Rina so she could focus. “Rina! Distraction!”

Though her earlier words weren’t laced with Dark Type energy, it appeared it was still as effective as a Taunt as she separated from Lena to follow her command. Several Beedrill looked absolutely pissed and started to hone in on Rina, one shot a volley of Pin Missiles, another moving in to jab with Twineedle, and another seemed to almost glow red with anger, and charged in outright enraged.

Rina responded by shooting forward with Quick Attack, avoiding all the attacks before shifting and using Aqua Jet to slam one in the chest and into the ground. Other Beedrill started to notice the interlopers however, and shifted their focus away from the scattered Venipede families.

However, as a result of this, Lena could see her partner’s body become peppered with stray shots, noises of pain leaving her as she shot a wide Bubble Beam at the offending foes, some clipped their wings, some hit dead on, but more just kept joining.

“Charon, Flamethrower! Ronin, Water Gun any that come near!”

William’s voice made her whip her head back to see him looking in the direction of an incoming Beedrill as a sudden volley of flames consumed it from Charon, while the Water Type on the other end shot a torrent of water specifically at the wings of another Beedrill that dared to come near his Trainer. The water crippled their flight from the weight on the wings just long enough for Charon to shift his head and shoot a fine Flamethrower at Ronin’s target that looked more akin to a blowtorch with how fast it exited his maw.

The young Trainer wasn’t idle either, grabbing Nest Ball after Nest Ball to hit one Beedrill after another, ignoring them as the capsules stilled after a moment. His left hand gripped the stick tight enough that his knuckles were white, as if a sharpened stick would beat a Beedrill stinger.

His eyes flicked to Lena as she neared, but he refocused on Ronin and Charon even as she felt her words rise up from her lungs to scream over all the chaotic noises on the field. “William — what are you doing?!”

“Defending — ! Rock Slide — !” William cried out, forcing Charon to shift his posture as he sank his hands into the ground and let out a growl and ripped the ground up almost like a rug into the sky. The Rock Type energy crumbled in the air while falling on approaching Beedrill, but some saw the Move coming, darting outside its range while only one or two got clipped by the hailstorm, flinching just enough to disrupt their flight falling to the ground.

Grunting, Lena forced her Styler forward to the Beedrill, she didn’t register the force of it launching the Capture Disc as she started to move her arm rapidly to capture them before they fully regained their bearings. Thankfully, the damage caused even by the slight hit from Rock Slide was enough to weaken them that the Styler was able to complete the capture quickly, their bodies glowing as they stayed slumped on the ground, angry still, but passive.

The entire situation had gone up in flames, Lena glancing around to try and find some avenue she could get William out of this. Everywhere she looked, the buzzing of the Beedrill, and the pained noises of Pokémon around her competed for her attention all at once.

In front of them, more Beedrill were now looking to focus on them, behind them, she could hear Rina’s Bubble Beam popping against Beedrill, along with the noise of something hitting the ground, to her side, was Arthur defending another group with his staff spinning to deflect both Pin Missile and Twineedle.

‘They’re becoming more aggressive…’

The realization of a Fire Type nearby among the Beedrill most likely acted like a powder keg, and the sight of their members slowly dwindling, or becoming ‘passive’, only added fuel to the mess.

Glancing over at Rina and trying to salvage the situation, Lena aimed her Styler forward to assist, the disk flying across the forest as she tried to focus on a slower group of Beedrill, dripping wet most likely from her Bubble Beam. Although slowed, the buzzing Pokémon scattered once they saw the circle start to form as she moved her arm, the hoard hitting the Capture Disc with the tip of their body, causing the blue line to disappear into sparkles.

‘Dammit! There’s just too many of them…!’

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Her building worry was stomped down to prevent it from overwhelming her, and she was about to call out for William to at least get out, but before she could she had to duck back as a lone Beedrill decided to try and take their chance at attacking her. She swiped her arm back, the motion triggering the automatic return of the Capture Disc back to her Styler, and letting her launch it again at full force. Attempting to distract the Beedrill, she started to swipe her arm around to form the Capture Circle.

Her attempt only seemed to anger them even more, before the circle could form fully, it flew to the side and looked to aim an attack at her… its stingers glistening with toxins dripping from it aimed squarely at her. Her mind already started to run through poison treatment procedures, and what items she had on her to treat it… until a Nest Ball hit the Beedrill square in the head coming from the opposite direction, practically clotheslining it from the force.

Before it could let out a noise of pain or surprise, it vanished into the capsule and started to shake, Lena froze at the sudden event, but William’s voice snapped her out of it.

“Capture it when it breaks out — Ronin, keep going for the wings!” He cut himself off as another Beedrill attempted to get close to his team, Ronin responded by shooting his Water Gun forcefully once more, pushing the attacker back and making them flail in the air until they hit the ground in a soaked heap.

Lena turned back to the fallen Nest Ball, watching the light on the center flash red as it shuttered violently, making her start to spin the Capture Line wide ahead of time. By the time it was making its third circle, the Nest Ball burst into two halves as a dazed, but furious, Beedrill emerged.

It was too late though, and by the time it gained its bearings and looked around for the person who threw that Nest Ball at it, the Capture Line was glowing and finally closed around it. Beedrill’s body glowed similarly for a moment, looking even more confused, but less agitated, letting Lena grab her own Nest Ball from her pocket. She fumbled with it briefly before she chucked it at it, removing it completely from the field as it vanished with a flash into the ball without it even shaking once on the ground.

Her mind started to turn, a new plan forming slowly… Rina was slowing them down with Bubble Beam, which did have the unintended side effect of knocking some of them clean out after the barrage was too much. However, she still had to deal with just the sheer volume of Beedrill…

‘Okay, think, reassess… we’re outnumbered, we have to play the long game, whittle them down.’ She thought as she already was priming her Fine Styler to attempt to capture once again with a new plan. Lena took a breath for a moment, recentering herself before she cried out across the field. “Rina! Whirlpool! Gather them up!”

While different from how any of them were trained on the situation, the Floatzel didn’t hesitate. Rina’s cry was followed by the sound of a swirling torrential burst of water, a swirling mass of water forming around their mouth that shot forward and tripled — no, quadrupled in size as it left her mouth.

Like a tornado tearing across the field, Beedrill were swept inside, taken completely off guard from the sudden change in attack as they desperately tried to regain their orientation, impossible to do inside the swirling vortex.

Seeing exactly what she wanted, Lena swung her arm forward almost akin to a throw, the Capture Disc speeding across the forest as her eyes followed the trajectory of the Whirlpool. She swept her arm in an arc to make sure neither the line nor the Capture Disc would be in contact with the swirling mass, though due to its size the circles were wide, not closing in on themselves as fast…

Gritting her teeth, she moved her arms even faster, forcing the Styler to accelerate the process as she felt her arm burn from the movement. She could see the Beedrill start to at least surface the torrent, fighting back against it and causing it to lose energy. Thankfully, her extra force she put in allowed the Capture Line to fully glow and connect, finally closing around the Beedrill just as the Whirlpool collapsed. The Beedrill looked dizzy and disoriented as they collided with the ground in a heap, some even landing on top of each other, but they didn’t make any motion to jump back into the fight.

The number of Beedrill actively attacking was noticeably lowering, Lena could at least see the sky without being completely overwhelmed from the scale of the Bug and Poison Type Pokémon. However, that didn’t mean they were out of danger yet, as she could hear William’s frustrated noise after another rumble of the ground, Lena glanced to notice that Charon had attempted another Rock Slide to hit a group of Beedrill, but only one out of the five were hit, completely overtaken by the falling rocks.

William looked slightly frustrated, glancing at Charon while he threw another Nest Ball at a fallen Beedrill, the ball going wide, but thankfully the fleeing Beedrill didn’t interfere with the tracking as it hit the one that had fallen from the Super-Effective attack. “No Heat Wave?”

“Typh-Ghr…Pholosion!” (No, I don’t know that, kid!)

“Dammit — what about a wide Ominous Wind?!”

“Typhlos-Plhos!” (Too narrow, it targets the soul of the — down!)

William reacted instantly, hitting the ground as Charon snarled with embers sparking from his mouth as he wound his fist forward engulfed in flames, meeting a Beedrill diving towards them head-on. The Fire Punch launched the Beedrill away into a tree, where they splat with a shuddering of their body before falling unconscious. William didn’t even bother throwing a Nest Ball, but pointed in a direction for Ronin to shoot another Water Gun, which seemed to be getting less and less pressure as time went on… the young Oshawott starting to run dry.

Lena turned her attention away, she needed to find a solution to this, now. Before it got worse than it already was.

A quick glance at Arthur indicated he wasn’t doing much better, more than seven Beedrill next to him lay completely knocked out, their arms and even wings crumpled, but Arthur was struggling with the sheer number of them as he continued to direct others to safety. Some Whirlpede were actually attempting to hit the Beedrill attacking him to assist their saviors, leaping into the air with Rollout. This didn’t stop Arthur from having to rapidly use Quick Attack, or even Extreme Speed to just keep avoiding more Twinneedle attacks. Two Beedrill even looked to be closing in with sharp stingers…

Then a crackling frigid beam of ice overtook the incoming attackers, the temperature dropping enough that even Lena could feel a rush of cool air hit her as Rina nailed the two bugs in a solid encasement of ice from afar. Lena couldn't tell what she screamed at Arthur across the field, but the nod from the Lucario indicated he got what she said.

Although most of the Venipede had left the area, some Scolipede were still present, trying to protect their nest from the attackers… or protect their young. One in particular was surrounded by a group of three Beedrill shooting at it, behind it was a hollowed-out tree. The fully evolved bug’s body wobbled, but did its best to hold firm, its eyes closed tight in pain…

“Rina! Back me up! Gather them again!” Lena cried out, sending the Capture Disc flying forward towards the three Beedrill without hesitation. Her mind was already putting together how to do this.

Her body shifted as she arched the line across the Beedrill, instantly drawing their attention to it as they buzzed angrily and diverted their attention to it instead of the Scolipede. Lena then arched it to the side, forcing the Capture Disc to make a sharp turn and the Beedrill to mirror it as they tried desperately to shoot it down. Lena’s left middle and pointer finger curled and twitched together as she forced all her focus on where the attacks were coming from, deftly causing the Capture Disc to make the slightest adjustment to narrowly avoid another Poison Sting or Twinneedle. Slowly wearing out the group until another swirling mass of water collided with them from Rina, another Whirlpool consuming them as Lena didn’t wait for all of them to be taken up to start circling the Capture Line around them.

However, the rapidness of the order, or Rina starting to tire out from the attacks she had taken must have not provided the Whirlpool with enough energy, as it broke up before Lena could complete the capture. The Beedrill shaking the water off themselves and looking ready to scatter once more…

Almost like a Flash attack however, the entire area was lit up by a fiery orange glow that burned Lena’s eyes due to its proximity, but it was also enough to force the Beedrill to cover their eyes and shy away in place. Despite her eyes and body burning from the sudden heat that covered the field, Lena wound her arm back around and started to spin the Capture Line around the Beedrill rapidly as fast as possible.

Her arm burned as she conducted it, watching the circle around the group get more and more solid… glowing blue… and in a final crescendo, it closed around them, the Beedrill fluttering their wings to the ground but still covering their eyes from the scorching light and shying away from the super-effective attack in primal fear.

Lena forced herself to turn to the source, her eyes blinking before shifting to a squint to try and keep them from drying out from just the pure heat of the attack. Charon was using a monstrous Flamethrower while on all fours at a hoard of Beedrill in the air that were diving for them. His normally fiery purple collar glowed bright orange and roared above him almost like a normal Typhlosion, pure Fire Type energy being pulled into the attack.

Like Cutiefly falling from the sky, tens of Beedrill fell from the torrent of flames as it continued, flames surrounding their body for a moment as they hit the ground…. Most that landed didn't move, but the ones that did move did only for just a moment. Lena could see the tell-tale signs of them being burned as those ones collapsed as well.

The attack held longer than any Flamethrower Lena had seen, even when Charon’s flaming collar started to shrink into itself more and more like a flickering candle, he kept it going until William spoke up. “Charon — stop!” He had a panicked look on his face as he turned to his guide, noticing how Charon panting slightly from the move he just used, pushing himself up with one paw before shaking himself off. The flames around his neck were still low as he regained himself after using such a move.

“Typh… Phlosion… Grrr… Phlo…” (Kid… don’t worry… oh, it’s been a while since I’ve held a Strong Style move that long…)

William cursed, glancing at Ronin and noting how he was getting exhausted as well… Lena couldn’t help but glance at her own team now, noting how Arthur was using Heal Pulse on a group of Whirlpede, while also gritting his teeth as visible poisonous needles stuck out from his body. He may have been immune to Poison Type and being poisoned, but Twinneedle being a Bug Type had still whittled him down…

‘Dammit Arthur, don’t overextend yourself —’

“Shit, Lena there’s one — God dammit — Ronin, get ready!” William said suddenly, disrupting her thought before bolting forward, Lena reached for him, but couldn’t grab his sweatshirt in time to stop him. She stole a glance back at Charon, who managed to gather himself enough to start shooting rapid-fire Embers at approaching Beedrill the best he could. He paused for a brief moment and glanced back, his crimson eyes meeting Lena gaze with an unreadable message, before both of them turned back to their targets and moved.

William had run forward towards the fallen Scolipede who was in front of the tree, he kneeled down with his head jerking over injuries as he tried to shakily open his bag for healing supplies.

Lena felt her throat close as even from afar she could tell they were too much, the Scolipede didn’t so much as move as William hesitantly placed a hand on its body… for just a moment before he glanced down to his side. That’s when she noticed a Venipede was next to him, gently nudging the fallen Pokémon every couple of seconds, a desperate look in the eyes of the Bug Poison Type as they turned to look at William.

“Fuck — Lena, I don’t — I-I don’t know —” He halted, and that’s when Lena heard it. A more… intense buzzing. The kind of buzzing that made all the hair on the back of her neck stand up on all ends, rattling inside her ears and head to the point where she swore it was physically inside her.

Turning to the source, she saw the queen was actively in the fight now, apparently the sight of the monstrous Flamethrower was finally enough to bring the queen into the fray despite the danger.

Moving from singular targets with an unnatural speed, its stingers had a dark miasma about them which clued Lena into thinking that it was using Pursuit against the fleeing Pokémon… until it saw Lena and William.

Hate born of malice, made it change focus as it shifted and dove across the field for them. Lena heard Ronin cry out defensively, the Oshawott grabbing something from the bottom of William’s hoodie while having water surround him. Like a bullet, he shot through the air for the Beedrill with an Aqua Jet, water splashed around William and Lena due to the proximity, but she paid it no mind as her breath got stuck in her throat.

The young Water Type was in no way strong enough for such a Pokémon yet, and images of what was about to happen shot through her mind in a panic.

William looked to ignore Ronin bolting away, instead focusing only on the Venipede who was still staring at the fallen Scolipede, trying to say soft, but shaky words to them that Lena couldn’t hear from the noise around her.

To his right, the queen did not expect a sudden rush of water to hit her before she reached the ire of her anger, and seemed to falter for a moment as Ronin charged right into her… before she turned red and seemed to vanish into the Aqua Jet.

Ronin’s Aqua Jet finally ended with him in midair, but Lena could make out his flippers holding a Nest Ball, which made her realize that he had been holding that through the attack. He pitched it forward with an aggressive cry into the forest as it shook violently with the button blinking red in the air. Lena felt a thought of shock hit her at the plan, but she shoved that down to focus on what was in front of her.

The Venipede seemed to ignore all around them, before making a surprised noise as William did his best to scoop them up towards his chest with one arm, his other arm still holding the sharpened stick.

“I-It’s alright — we’re getting you out of here…” Lena barely heard him make out as he glanced over to Ronin and jerked his head in a direction, prompting the Water Type to rush back to his side. Before he could reach William, the flash of a broken Poké Ball appeared in the forest and the angry buzzing of a Beedrill echoed in the clearing. Its eyes glaring red hate towards everyone as it dove forward towards the group with stingers glowing for a Twineedle attack.

Lena’s body reacted automatically, saying nothing as she pushed her body in front of William to protect him from any attack… before the Beedrill shimmered in midair, and then almost vanished in a blur.

She didn’t have the physical time to react to what happened, but the noise of the Beedrill suddenly on the other side of her made her mind realize what just happened.

Aerial Ace.

She only had enough time to shift her head to see the queen stop the move and start to dive forward from the new position, two stingers dangerously close to the group… it looked to be moments away from touching them before a sharp stick suddenly halted its approach, jabbing right into its stomach.

Lena saw the stick that Ronin had sharpened for William stabbing into the midsection, not puncturing, but definitely surprising the insect as the momentum of its attack was suddenly stopped at a very fine point.

“Ronin — SLICE HER!”

He shoved the stick forward to push the attacker back, Lena heard something crack as he did so, but she couldn’t tell if it was the stick William was holding, or something in the exoskeleton of the queen Beedrill. The motion must have been akin to another gut punch for the Beedrill as she faltered back away from them and moved a stinger to her stomach where William’s stick had pushed into it.

Another rush of water sounded behind her and she felt some water hit her as Ronin flew above them, stopping mid-attack with his scalchop in hand before he dragged it against the queen’s body. The speed that the Aqua Jet provided allowed his scalchop to drag against her body akin to a blade. It was no Razor Shell, but Lena could see a line of blood form on her body as Ronin flew past, a pained hissing buzz leaving the queen as it moved another stinger to the cut.

Wasting no time, and with time feeling like it was slowing for a moment as she reacted, Lena felt her body burn as she lifted William and the Venipede up in one go with one arm, and ran. William let out some sort of noise, or maybe said something, Lena couldn’t tell as she focused on getting away from the queen before she recovered.

She could hear the rush of water behind them as Ronin caught up, but Lena didn’t dare to glance back, instead doing her best to squeeze her link with Arthur through Aura as quickly as possible. ‘Arthur! Backup! I need —’

She couldn’t complete her thought, feeling a pull at her leg as they pushed forward and caused her to suddenly hit the ground, her grip on William being lost as she saw stars.

She forced herself to turn, her throat constricting as she saw one of her legs entirely encased in webbing. She glanced around, finally seeing some Beedrill overhead who had shot the one who had attacked their matriarchy, before they were suddenly hit by a frozen Ice Beam from Rina from afar.

She suddenly heard tearing, turning back to see William gripping the String Shot and ripping it away from Lena’s trapped leg with a grunt, but doing the best he could to wipe it away “Come on — stupid sticky —”

The Venipede William was carrying suddenly made a noise, William freezing for a brief moment before hitting the ground as a sudden torrent of toxic Poison Stings flew across the air inches away. William made a noise and pulled the Venipede close to his chest. The attack only lasted a couple seconds, but it felt like hours as they waited for the noise of the attack cutting through the air to stop. Finally, after a moment he shifted up and went to pull the rest of the Sting Shot away, freezing as he noticed the shadow of the queen Beedrill just over them.

Her eyes were directed at William, its proboscis dripping with what looked like a mix of saliva and toxins as it panted and stared at the two… the cut Ronin had made dripped a flow of blood, and the spot William stabbed with the stick had a ghastly purple bruise already forming that covered its entire midsection.

But it continued to stand strong, looking at the two humans under her, ready to put an end to this. William reached for a Nest Ball to grab them some time, and Lena attempted to at least awkwardly shoot a Capture Disc as a distraction. Her voice was stuck as she tried to scream at William to run, time seeming to slow for her again as hundreds of images ran through her mind of what was about to happen once again…

Then, a flash of blue slammed into the queen, and an angry, feral growl followed. The force of Arthur’s attack sent the queen a bit away from the momentum, but he followed up with his aura staff, staggering it once again with a quick strike downwards, sending it collapsing to the ground. Arthur then shifted, practically leaping on top of the queen with what looked to be Strength focused entirely in one of his closed paws, making her body sink into the ground and leave an indent as he panted. The queen struggled, buzzing once again and forcing another echoing slam sounding in the forest as Arthur let out a furious cry on impact as the queen finally stilled.

Lena looked shocked at her partner’s brutality for a moment, but she was pulled away from it by William grunting at her side, ripping away the rest of the webbing around her leg… his face pale as he turned to her, panting heavily most likely as the adrenaline looked to be wearing off. “A-Are you okay? Shit — I… h-here…”

He moved his hand to help Lena stand up, the Ranger taking his hand, and then reflexively placed her other hand on his left shoulder as he shifted and stood up with her. He struggled a little, his legs wobbling probably due to overestimating his actual strength, reminding Lena to stand up herself on her own so as not to burden him.

The Ranger grunted and started to take stock of the area… the entire breeding area was ruined from the chaos. Dirt was ripped up from the attacks, poison needles sticking out of the ground like fallen javelins, areas either scorched or soaked from Water or Fire Type attacks… but the Beedrill were fleeing now, seeing that their queen had been taken out and were inclined to flee, lest they get targeted next. Scores of tens of fallen Beedrill surrounded them, either captured in Nest Balls, or completely unconscious from being beaten, frozen, or burned.

Lena couldn’t help but let a bubbling laugh leave her as the reality hit her.

They did it.

William panted heavily next to her, no doubt exhausted as he shakily kneeled down and opened his bag, but she couldn’t help but feel a rush of energy flow through herself as she stood up and took a deep breath….

There was still a lot to do, reporting on what the Beedrill had been doing, capturing all the fallen Beedrill from this, relocating them to a safe place… Helping the forest Pokémon rebuild the ecosystem and biosphere…

…Figuring out who released the Queen in the first place would be the main one… the League would have to get involved at this point…

But still. They did it. The crisis was over, for them at least.

As she wiped her forehead, Rina suddenly let out a choked, horrified noise. Snapping her head towards her, Lena nearly fell down as the Floatzel tackled her and started to look her over.

“Float-FloatZEL! Fl-Float? Zel?” (Lena! You’re bleeding! Where were you cut — where did they hit you?)

…What?

Now with Rina suddenly on top of her, Lena looked down at her hands, seeing a bit of blood on the back of her palm. Reaching up to her forehead, she confirmed that the liquid running down her hair and forehead was, indeed, sweat. Quickly feeling around her body, she noticed overall she felt sore, but nothing hurt as if she was cut or seriously injured.

“Grk— Guh— Braaaaahhhg—”

William was kneeled over vomiting onto the ground.

Charon let out a panicked noise, kneeling down next to William while looking him over now. Ronin was looking equally worried, glancing frantically between Charon and his Trainer with his own noise that Lena couldn’t tell if it was a cry of William’s name, or of shock. Kneeling down quickly, Lena’s mind was rushing through issues while her eyes darted over William, looking at his head, and gently moving her hand carefully so as to not directly touch it.

‘Vomiting, oh, Twins, does he have a concussion? Or — is it stress? Did he cut himself? Or — or —’

Where his shoulder was soaked from Ronin’s Aqua Jet, the water had made the fabric darker and damp, allowing it to hide a slowly building bloodstain. The fabric looked almost burnt, sizzled away, and identical to Poison Type attack's effect on clothes… and under it, Lena could see his skin turning purple around a raw cut.

Her eyes flicked to the ground, seeing bits of Pecha Berry where he vomited, his bag open at the side, and a half eaten berry in his hands, suggesting he had already attempted to eat one or two before the one he had. The reality of the situation hit her as William’s face got even paler, his body shaking as Charon let out a panicked noise, saying something she couldn’t discern all the noises started to blur.

With her thoughts falling around her, she ripped her own bag open and reached for an Antidote to try and stabilize William. Her vision closing around the edges as she barely was able to grab the item, her own throat dry as before she could rip William’s sweatshirt off to apply it, he lurched again and vomited.

Lena shifted over to him, waiting for him to stop coughing before starting to lift the sweatshirt up off of William to get to the injury, but instead Charon took over and ripped it off outright, allowing them both to see the full extent of his shoulder.

“Thyh… Phlosion…!” (Oh, Sinnoh… William—!)

The entire upper left shoulder was a sickening purple, more so than what a bruise would look like, the poison already working its way through his body with speed that Lena hadn’t seen before. She wiped away the light blood still pooling… seeing the full injury… horror running through her as she was, it wasn't deeper than a fingernail. He had been barely grazed and still was poisoned.

The blood leaving now wasn’t red, it was changing colors as the toxins seeped in, Lena starting to apply the Antidote to try and stabilize him…

One second passed… the purple still spreading down his arm… even as she followed the entire path down with the medicine for his body to absorb it as soon as possible.

Then two seconds passed, nothing reacting still, Lena feeling her breathing stop as she realized the Antidote had no effect on him.

Lena’s vision turned into desaturated, colorful TV static. Her arms turned to jelly. Her breaths became quick and light. Memories of that day began racing through her head.

Elle.

Ringing in her ears.

Leone.

Her palms drenched in clammy sweat.

Micah.

Her legs gave out and she fell forward.

Not again.

The TV static changed channels, now looking like the ground.

No.

Her head made contact with the ground.

Please.

“—ena…! Lena! We need to get William to a hospital! Call for a medical helicopter! We won’t be able to Fly him there!”

Arthur’s yanking Lena up by shoulder was finally enough to bring Lena back to reality. Her body movement was jerky as she opened up the Map on her Styler and saw her exact GPS coordinates before she navigated back to hit the first radio frequency on the screen. Practically screaming to anyone who could hear on the line, she desperately tried to keep her own panic out of her voice.

“T-This is Top Ranger Lena Winifred of the Unova Ranger Union! I need air evacuation to Castelia Children’s Hospital immediately!” She screamed, just as William’s face started to turn pasty white, his eyes unfocused with his body swaying to the side as he muttered something under his breath, unable to hold himself up anymore.

Charon caught him, panic written all over the Typhlosion’s face as he held his limp ward, before letting out a horrified noise that Lena wasn’t able to discern, but snapping her back into what she was doing. “I have a child in critical condition, suspected toxic poisoning from a Beedrill! I’m in the northeast side of Pinwheel Forest, coordinates 49, -135. Send a helicopter and a stretcher, I-I don’t think he’s stable enough for me to Fly him over there!”

Lena went to reach out to check William’s vials, to see if she could do something, anything. Charon only pulled William closer to himself in response, clearly not about to let anyone else touch his ward right now as his presence almost seemed to shrink down, almost as if it was to protect William’s entire being. His red eyes stared at his ward whose eyes were closed, but whose body shook slightly with labored breathing.

Her left hand nails dug into her own palm as she repeated her desperate cry. “I-I repeat, I need a helicopter evac to Castelia Children’s Hospital to coordinate 49, -135 immediately! Over!”

Lena could only shakily pull her other hand away and stare as the reality of the situation seemed to almost come crashing down above her as a whisper left her lips. “Please… don’t die on me William....”

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Beta Editors/Readers:

David “TheBlizWiz” R

Garmfild

Post Release Edit:

Special Thanks:

Strictly Worse - For pointing out a misspelling of Arthur, fixed now across all sites.