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Chapter 9 - The Foreboding Forest

On a normal night, the moonlight above would be a pleasant backdrop to a beautiful stroll, reflecting on the surface of the water by the bridge as it broke through the treetops of Pinwheel Forest.

The sight of sleeping Sewaddle on the trees cuddled between Swadloon, the more recent addition of the Slakoth line asleep and hanging from a tree… Audino helping younger Pokémon be brought back to their parents after a long day of play... all would have been a backdrop for a perfect night stroll through the forest.

There was none of that tonight.

The Pokémon all around them either scattered at the sight of the humans, or watched them with careful eyes as they walked by… the atmosphere thick with uncertainty and… fear. There wasn’t any other way to describe it, and Lena didn’t need Arthur out to just feel it on the back of her neck.

…Despite that, some of the Trainers in front of them were still mingling in light conversation in front of them as Hillary and her Beartic guided them to the meeting point. Lena did her best to ignore them as she continued to work through her own plan, but one of the Trainers turned slightly back to her and William, his Houndoom walking next to him, his expression inscrutable from the darkness and angle.

“Hey, so… what other Pokémon do you even have, kid? An Oshawott ain’t gonna cut it against a Beedrill if you encounter one.”

Lena could tell the guy was fishing for information, and his tone, while on the surface seemed like it was out of worry… it had a hint of condescending under it. Before Lena could speak up first, William beat her to it with a surprisingly even tone. “A Fire Ghost Type, he knows Aerial Ace and Rock Slide, so Type coverage isn’t a problem if we fight Beedrill.”

The Trainer’s expression shifted to something more akin to confusion. “A Fire Ghost Type…? I mean… Lampent is great with things like Flamethrower, but their physicality won’t let them throw much… I mean, you do you kid if you even managed to teach them that moves, but there isn’t anything your Oshawott can do to protect you if you get swarmed, how old is he anyways?”

Ronin seemed to glare at the man, and William’s own tone was a bit more pressed, focusing on the Trainer now with a fixed stare. “Ronin needs a bit more experience battling and aiming Water Gun in environments he’s not used to, such as low light environments, and it’ll be nice to get Weedle or Kakuna out of trees without causing any permanent damage…” Pausing for a moment, it was clear William was considering adding something before shaking his head slightly and staring forward… clearly dismissing the man from further conversation, while Ronin was glaring at the Trainer and his Houndoom in defiance.

Said Trainer only scoffed slightly, shaking his head and muttering about ‘stubborn kids these days’ as he turned forward, his Houndoom doing something similar, even sneering at William for a moment before mirroring the Trainer. Lena waited a moment for the man’s attention to be taken away before looking down at William, speaking in a hushed, but gentle tone. “Hey, are you okay? The other Trainers were talking about you earlier and that wasn’t right…”

William seemed… too blasé about it, Lena would say it felt almost forced as he gave a slight wave of his arm. “It’s… fine, they shouldn’t, but I’ve heard worse working before. You haven’t been insulted until someone called you a son of a protestant whore.”

“Buhhh-wh-what?”

Before she could even attempt to parse what a ‘protestant’ was, she started to make notes of William’s body posture. It was… too straight, rigid; his other hand was in his sweatshirt pocket making a left to right repetitive motion, and then she noticed that William’s other hand had his Pokédex as he walked, and with one missing Poké Ball on his belt…

‘He’s been rubbing Charon’s Poké Ball as some sort of grounding agent, or… anxiety stimming method.’ Lena realized, her own hand moving down to Arthur’s Great Ball unconsciously… feeling his Aura instinctively reach out for a brief connection that surrounded her with a brief comforting warmth, even Rina’s Dive Ball shook slightly.

Lena moved her hand all the way, rubbing both Poké Balls on her belt, and shooting them an appreciative glance, but turned back to William quickly after. “You know you don’t have to put on a brave face all the time you know… I know it’s been a stressful couple of days for you, and that’s putting it mildly.”

William turned back to Lena with a fixed look filled with a cocktail of emotions, one of them being to her surprise, concern directed at her. “And what about you…? You’re in the same boat as I am.”

Before Lena could question what he meant, he continued. “You’ve just been promoted to a — ah… higher level —” He said carefully, glancing briefly at the Trainers in front of them to make sure no one was listening in on purpose before continuing. “— and this is sudden for you no doubt, and then you’re given an assignment that requires you to trek all over the Region for your boss for an indefinite amount of time following a kid around… ”

Glancing back at the Trainers in front, he waited a moment before continuing, his tone lower than before. “...And on top of that, you’re attempting to keep doing your normal Ranger obligations of Missions and Quests… I don’t… know you too well, but even to me that… I dunno, just… I know I haven’t been helping, wanting to rush to Straiton, then not flying here causing us not to get a room… but…”

The worry in his tone wasn’t uncharacteristic, but having it directed at Lena herself so pointedly did prompt a mix of emotions she wasn’t sure she could work through right now… but it was clearly another deflection, or at least, to a degree.

…Even if Lena couldn’t deny some of his concerns, given the last two years.

“I’ll be fine… just… ” She paused for a moment, knowing William could read people really well, Lena deciding to give a little for him. “...it has been a lot, but I’m good to keep going. It’s the adults responsibility to do so. Just don’t shoulder other’s worries on yourself kid, that’s an easy way for gray hairs early.”

She could see that William was frowning slightly, hesitating again before he just nodded, but he clearly was not convinced…

There wasn’t any time to investigate it further, as Hillary made a whistling noise, suddenly grabbing everyone’s attention. Lena turned to observe the scene, seeing Hillary standing in front of a setup canopy with a table underneath. On the table, supplies were easily accessible for people to grab with boxes of Nest Balls, Antidotes, even Potions of various tiers. Hillary’s eyes passed over everyone as the Trainers stopped their various discussions, flicking from Trainer, to Pokémon, back to Trainer.

To Lena’s grateful surprise, she didn’t linger on her or William, just simply nodding. “It seems that you’ve all started to organize yourself into groups. Good, makes this easier.” Hillary said as she opened her Styler. “As Miguel most likely said, my name is Hillary, I’m one of the other Ranger’s in charge of this Mission. I’m here to answer any questions, and provide other support as needed… yes?” She halted her speech, as one of the other Trainers had already raised their hand.

“Yeah, so… where are the Gym Leaders for this situation? Why isn’t Burgh, or even former Leader Lenora assisting?” She said, her tone a bit pointed and maybe even accusatory. Said tone made Hillary sigh deeply, even her partner Beartic mirrored her with his breath visible in the air from how deep he sighed as well.

“Due to the fact that, as far as the League is concerned, this is an issue related to a foreign intruding a local Pokémon habitat. As a result, the Ranger Union is obligated to step in to assist with capturing, handling, and relocating as many of the species to a proper location for the safety of Pinwheel Forest’s diversity, and for the safety of travelers and Trainers.”

It was clear she was reading something from memory, Lena has had to give answers as such before… but she didn’t expect Hillary to continue. “On top of that, the Pokémon League has specifically ‘requested’ that the Ranger Union handle the situation independently without involving any body of them, and the Nacrene Police only just gave us the approval to close Pinwheel Forest for a volunteer Mission.”

‘So… the League wants the Ranger Union to clean up their mess with how they handled the Diversity Act then, got it.’ Lena thought to herself with a scoff she couldn’t hide, some of the other Trainers echoing similar sentiments with mutters under their breath…

Another Trainer, next to the Darmanitan, spoke up with a more impatient tone over the voices. “So, what is the money going to look like? I don’t wanna have to split my earnings with anyone else who doesn’t pull their weight.”

He didn’t name anyone specifically, but Lena could feel the brief side eye some Trainers were giving her and William, thankfully, Hillary spoke up faster. “It will be based on how many Pokémon the individual has caught. When you return to this home point, the Nest Balls with Pokémon of the captured Weedle line will be tallied up, and logged with your Trainer ID.” Taking a breath, she continued. “After the Mission has concluded, and the total amount of Weedle, Kakuna, and Beedrill you are registered to have caught are totalled up, a deposit will be made to the League Account tied to your Trainer ID. If you have a private bank account you’d prefer, please let us know during the conclusion of the Mission so we can get the details down.”

That seemed to stem some of the people's concerns… Lena making a mental note to see if she could exclude herself… she’s still getting her paycheck for being a Ranger so William could use a bit more spending money since the starting stipend wouldn’t last forever…

‘Maybe as an apology for dragging him into this… he doesn’t seem inclined to do much battling, so wouldn’t be getting money from that…’ She thought to herself for a moment before Hillary continued, forcing herself to snap up.

“If there are no more questions… Please remember to stay in your groups while out in the forest, stay away from the outer boundaries, have the emergency line on hand, and please do not hesitate to take any Antidotes, Nest Balls, or Potions. Just let us document who took what so the finance team doesn’t bite us with an audit.” She joked, mirroring Miguel in the beginning.

After her comment, some of the Trainers started to disburse, Lena about to walk off as well, but William gently grabbed her jacket, making her turn to him. “Something wrong?”

“You got Nest Balls?”

“Uh… no… I uh…” William’s eyebrows fell, a slightly unamused expression on his face as Lena could feel Rina’s Dive Ball shake, probably with amusement at her expense. Sighing slightly, she turned and walked over to the table with a faint grumble as she started writing down her Trainer ID and noting down how many she was taking.

Apparently Hillary was also a tad amused, smirking to her as she started grabbing them, glancing around to make sure that no one else was nearby, she began speaking. “So, big leagues now, huh? Gotta say, I’m a bit surprised you weren’t promoted earlier… ”

At this Lena’s hand hesitated, and her face shifted into something confused, her brain giving her buffering response automatically. “Huh?”

With a wave, she tried to dismiss whatever she was meaning to say. “Never mind, just wanna say congratulations, it's still a big leap still nevertheless and we’re happy for you.” Then, as if Lena wasn’t still trying to process her last sentence, Hillary’s eyes turned a bit more… intrigued. “Still though, surprised that you got put on essentially monitoring duty for the long term as your first ‘big’ Mission.”

At Lena’s still confused expression, Hillary clarified. “Miguel sent me a message while we were walking, he should be here soon… but, basically, just giving me a heads up what your plan was…” Shooting a glance to the side, Lena followed similarly, noting how William had grabbed four Antidotes and was writing down his name on a check-out sheet next to them… his Pokédex out as he copied down his Trainer ID as well for the items.

Hillary turned back to Lena with an amused expression, prompting her to sigh. “Yeah, it’s… been a long couple of days… I uh… haven’t been able to check the main Ranger communications if people are sending me messages.” Lena said awkwardly, making Hillary shug in response.

“It happens, still a bit surprised you’re here though… would have thought that you would have focused on your main Mission.” Hillary said… her tone was still more curious than pointed, but Lena could tell she had her own thoughts.

“Well… heard what was happening, so I knew that the Ranger’s in the area would be limited if they were calling for Trainer volunteers, no point in me not helping if I’m trying to be a ‘Trainer’ undercover.” Lena said, maybe a tad defensively, but Hillary didn’t seem to care, simply nodding.

“I suppose. Just don’t get yourself or the kid hurt. The Beedrill are really nasty lately… actually…” Hillary trailed off, glancing at William before shaking her head. “Nevermind, keep in contact, stay safe.” She finished, politely dismissing Lena as she had a perplexed expression on her face, but nodded in a goodbye before turning around to head into the forest with William close behind.

After a moment, and once they were far enough away, William spoke first. “So… what’s the game plan?”

“Well — shoot, let’s get everyone out first.” Lena started, even as Rina and Arthur popped out of their Poké Balls at her voice, William fumbling for a moment from the bright light, but released Charon as well, who shook himself off and grunted slightly as he materialized next to William.

“Typh… Phloosion…” (What I wouldn’t give for a hand crafted Poké Ball…)

“I’ll look into that for you later…” William said with a roll of his eyes, though his tone didn’t have sarcasm on it as he turned back to Lena, who was making sure her Fine Styler was fitted on her arm correctly. Arthur spoke first before she could, his expression clouded with concern as his tassels rose with a faint blue glow as he took in the aura of the forest.

“Lena… there’s a presence of… fear surrounding the forest. The local Pokémon are nervous, afraid… confused.” Arthur said, a tad quietly as he looked around, as if speaking too loud would disturb the balance even further just from his voice.

“Well… let’s see if we can’t alleviate that, but keep an eye out for any defensive Pokémon outside of the Weedle line.” Lena responded, making Arthur nod in understanding. After that, she turned back to William and his team, and crossed her arms. “I’m going to be honest… I’d rather not have brought you here, a situation with aggressive Pokémon and this situation aren’t things a seven year old shouldn’t be close to…”

She noticed William’s shift in posture at her start, but she continued. “However, given that I couldn’t leave you alone anywhere safe either… We'll work down to the west part of the forest together, I didn’t see anyone head in that direction so no one should see Charon at least. We’ll focus on catching the stray Weedle and Kakuna. Leave any Beedrill to Rina and Arthur and I… don’t want to start a forest fire with a Flamethrower, so try and stick to Ember if possible.”

William winced at that mental image, but Charon seemed to huff. “Typph-Grrrr…” (I’ve been in Unova for decades. I know how to control and aim my flames…)

Lena nodded, but still raised her hand. “I know, but better safe than sorry… Rina know’s Rain Dance, but we’re not trying to disturb the other Pokémon here more than they already are.”

Charon grumbled still, but conceded the point, William shifting his bag slightly as he glanced down at his Pokédex, a frown forming as he stared at it. “I’m not sure if we’ll even see any Beedrills this way…”

“What do you mean?” Lena asked, only making William shake his head.

“I’m… probably overthinking it… just… sorry, nevermind… we’re already behind, so let’s get going…” He said, putting his Pokédex away as Lena frowned at the clear deflection… but just nodded and took the lead. The group fell into a silence as the noises of the forest surrounded them; the Mission officially started.

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Three hours had passed, and Lena already made note of several things.

Firstly, Pokémon were staying away from the main areas, hiding, and shortly after they began, a Sawk who was staying with a group of younger Pokémon flinched at the sight of William, and looked nearly ready to fight… if not for the towering Hisuian Typhlosion glaring at him.

There was a brief conversation between the Fighting Type and Arthur, where it was revealed that William’s yellow sweatshirt made them think he was a Beedrill.

It genuinely surprised Lena how quickly he swapped it out after that for a red one, which surprised her even more that he had more than one color of sweatshirt, Rina even commented that it almost made him look like a mini-Ranger.

Secondly, the air was wrong. The very aura of the place was wrong, and it only got worse the deeper they went in.

Lena could feel it against her skin with a faint tingle at the back of her neck, almost taste it on her tongue as time progressed, and even as Kakuna and Weedle were being caught more and more…

She wondered how the other Trainer’s were fairing, or if it was being she was staying linked with Arthur during this to help find where more Weedle and Kakuna were located.

All of this hammered in how serious this was to the Pokémon of the forest as well, and how badly the Beedrill and its line have impacted the biosphere.

‘Well, we’re here to fix it.’ Lena mused to herself, shaking off the thought and taking a deep breath to refocus as she positioned herself seeing a Kakuna hanging from a tree, blinking as it stared at Rina with beady eyes as she distracted it.

Her right arm braced her left, her Fine Styler primed and aimed at the Cocoon Pokémon, a moment of pause and silence broken by another breath. Then, with a subtle movement of her finger, the Capture Disc flew forward across the air past Kakuna, before she pulled her arm back causing it to curve back around.

Using the Fine Styler made Lena feel like a conductor at an orchestra, her left arm swiping across the air with a rhythm as she guided the Capture Disc around the Kakuna dangling from the tree. Blue after images were visible in the air, forming an almost complete circle. In a few quick cycles, the circle was complete and coalesced into a white light around Kakuna, who shook slightly and blinked.

“Capture complete…” Lena muttered with a faint smile under her breath, stretching for a moment with a pop in her back, before quickly documenting another captured Kakuna on her own private Mission log… she knew that Hillary and Miguel would have their own, but documenting everything was still a habit…

‘Twelve Weedle, eleven Kakuna…’ Lena mused with a hum… glancing at the time for a moment; it hadn’t even been more then a hour and she had already caught that many. Arthur stood resolutely by her side, eyes already closed with the blue glow of aura around him as he observed the forest for the next group… and Rina was already walking up to gently pull Kakuna down from the tree, who chittered in response.

“Kk-KkKk-KKk.” (Being moved. Held gently. No threat felt. Are you Queen?)

“Float-Zel, FFLoat!” (Yes, I am a queen, but not yours!)

Lena couldn’t help but snicker under her breath from Rina’s antics, her mood slightly rising as she closed her Styler and pulled out a Nest Ball from her pocket while expanding it. Kneeling down, she lightly tapped it against the Kakuna’s head where it vanished in a flash. It shook only once before the button flashed, signifying a successful capture.

Lena couldn’t help but take another breath, shifting her bag around for a moment and putting it in an empty pouch. Inside, the other Nest Balls of her captures lay, ready to be given to the other Rangers at the meeting point once she runs out.

“Be glad that William reminded you to grab some before we left.” Arthur said with a low tone, one that seemed chiding, but she knew he was just poking fun at her as well. “It would have been awkward to explain to the other Trainers how you managed to wrangle so many Kakuna and Weedle without capturing them.”

“I know, I know… just been a while since I’ve actually done real captures as a Ranger, can you blame me for being excited? Even if they’re easy, it feels nice to use my Styler again regularly…” Lena defended herself, Rina humming slightly and agreeing with her, but than grimaced.

“Floatzel-Floaat… Zel-Float.” (The Weedle are a little spicy… stupid stingers…) Rina grumbled with a cross of her arms, glaring at her hindpaw where a slightly red spot was visible from when a Weedle had headbutted her without her noticing. Thankfully, the Poison Sting wasn’t strong, and didn’t even poison her, but Lena still applied an Antidote to be safe.

‘William still has a couple just in case… speaking of which…’

She turned around and squinted in the dark, he was actually a bit challenging to see, still wearing his red sweatshirt. William was crouching low to the grass with Charon next to him somehow even lower than he was with no flames from his vents emitting as they watched, almost akin to a predator, a Weedle slowly crawling up a tree.

William carefully wound his arm back and threw a Nest Ball at it; the aim was a tad off, but the tracking of the capsule kicked in and shifted it just enough to land a hit at the side of the Bug Poison Type who let out a noise of surprise. It disappeared in a green flash before it landed on the ground without even shaking, already confirming the capture as it fell.

William stood up and rolled his shoulders as he went to pick up the ball, while Charon lumbered up a bit slower and grumbled. Ronin poked his head up from the grass like a Furret, looking side to side… probably having not seen anything due to his height.

“Typh-Phlos. Flosion.” (You missed the Sudowoodo, kid.)

“That’s a tree, grandpa.”

“Flosion. Phlo?” (Well you aimed at it, didn’t you?)

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

William snorted, but kneeled and grabbed the Nest Ball. “I’m doing my best, not all of us can use souls to track Pokémon, some of us need that automatic tracking.”

“Flosion. Phloooisn-Typh…” (Then just get better at throwing. Trainers these days have it too easy…) Charon complained with a roll of his eyes. William didn’t say anything in rebuttal, simply shrinking the ball down (after visibly pausing to make sure he did it right) and walked over to Lena, his team close behind.

‘Oh, shoot, I just realized…’ With a sad smile at him, Lena's face shifted to something sympathetic. “I know that a Trainer’s first ‘real’ capture is supposed to be special… I’m sorry that you didn’t get that…”

William didn’t seem bothered by it, just waving it off. “I didn't really intend to… capture a new team member anyways… anytime soon, I guess… so doesn’t really bother me…” he trailed off, seeming to struggle with the words he wanted before he shook his head and dismissed the thought.

The young Trainer then handed Lena the recently caught Weedle, but also fifteen other Nest Balls from his pockets, making her whistle slightly.

“Man, you are catching a lot… I wonder how many the others have caught…”

William hummed, frowning slightly before he asked his own question, his tone sounding… worried, concerned. “Have you seen any Beedrill yet?”

Lena paused at this question, but shook her head. “None yet, I haven’t seen any…”

William seemed more perturbed by that, but Lena quickly waved a hand. “They’re probably all by their nest for the night… it might be deeper in, so the other Trainers probably got some.”

William only hummed at her response before feeling his sweatshirt pocket again, frowning at the amount of Nest Balls he had left. “Maybe… I’m running low on Nest Balls, can we head back and grab some more?”

“Oh — Yeah, we’ll probably catch a couple on the way back anyways…” Lena said, glancing at Rina and Arthur with a silent message through Aura to be more aware now since she wasn’t gonna use her Styler so close to other Trainers.

As they started to walk back, William was silent, and had at some point got his Pokédex out and was scrolling across what looked like… a map? Ronin was sitting in his hoodie and looking at the device as well. William also had an empty Nest Ball in his hand as he walked, Lena watching him carefully to make sure he didn’t trip over any roots as he was very focused on the device.

Before they reached the main camp, right around the corner, William did pause long enough to swap the Nest Ball in his hand for Charon’s Poké Ball from his belt and hold it out. Charon rolled his eyes at his ward, tapping the center button and vanishing after a moment. William simply held the capsule as they started to walk into the group, Lena noticing that a good handful of other Trainers were sitting down under the outdoor canopy that had been setup.

Miguel was talking to Hillary in a hushed tone, a concerned look on her face that shifted one she noticed Lena and William emerging from the left side of the path. “Welcome back, everything okay?” She asked while flicking her eyes up and down at the two, her shoulders relaxing a little…

“Yeah, we’re doing good. What happened here though?” Lena asked, noting how Miguel’s shoulders slumped as he sighed and crossed his arms.

“We’re struggling to keep contact with any Beedrill long enough to capture them, We’ve only gotten two Beedrill captured by Trainers, and only one from me on my way in.” A frustrated sigh exited Miguel before he glanced over at the Trainers sitting down. “We are finding Weedle and Kakuna scattered about, which we’ve gotten some. Apparently the Beedrill that are sighted engage in hit-and-run tactics… scattering the Pokémon and Trainers, and just… leaving. They don’t come back.”

Lena paused putting the Nest Balls from the table, her hand frozen in midair as her mind processed the information. Should could similarly feel Arthur’s confusion and concern at that comment through aura…

‘That… so they aren’t defending the nest? Or a queen Beedrill? Why not?’

Arthur grunted at her side and glanced at the darkness of the forest around them. “Is it possible they don’t have a nest…?”

“No, with how long they’ve been here, and the amount of reports, they’d have to have a nest… but they aren’t centralized right now for some reason.” Lena replied aloud, even as Miguel and Hillary gave her a confused expression.

“Floatzel-FloatZEeel. Zel-Flo?” (It is a bit odd that we’ve been seeing so many Weedle and Kakuna here and there… but no hive of them… don’t they usually work in groups?)

“Mind filling us in here…? We don't have whatever psychic magic you have.” Hillary said with a cross of her arms, Lena feeling a faint blush raise to her cheeks, but quickly explained what her partners were saying. The two other Rangers nodded in agreement, but the confusion remained, a frustrated expression forming on Hillary’s face.

“Doesn’t help that the police haven’t been giving us the exact location of the attacks when people call it in. All the reports just list ‘Pinwheel Forest’, Bouffalant shit.” She said sharply, before Miguel elbowed her and tilted his head at William, who was staring deep in thought at his Pokédex but still heard the comment as a scowl formed on his face.

“Glad to know the fucking police in Nacrene City are just as dense as Accumula Town’s.” He said with a sarcastic, absentminded tone. Either he missed, or ignored Miguel and Hillary’s choking sounding reactions, as he started to walk over to the Trainers sitting down, who looked up at him with various looks and he started to ask them a question while showing them the screen on his Pokédex, most of them though, just seemed to just be amusing his question.

Lena couldn’t focus on that, instead having to focus on Miguel and Hillary, along with their partners shooting her incredulous, even slightly accusing looks, making her raise her hands in her defense. “He was swearing like a sailor before I came into the picture, don’t look at me!”

Miguel’s eyebrows rose a notch, snorting as he shook his head. “Yeah, well make sure he doesn’t swear when in a Gym Battle if he wants to get on the Ace Trainer Program. They’re starting to review those in finer detail.”

“I haven’t actually seen the Typhlosion you mentioned yet…” Hillary said, glancing at William and Ronin, or more specifically, the Poké Ball that he was holding and kept rubbing with his thumb as one of the Trainer’s pointed somewhere on the screen of the Pokédex.

‘Shit, I hope that lie spreading isn’t an issue.’ Lena cursed, already feeling Arthur’s unimpressed stare at her back even without Aura.

She didn’t have time to dwell on it, as William stood up suddenly and was walking back to the table, shifting his own bag around and opening it up to an empty pouch, with a firm expression on his face. “I’m taking thirty Nest Balls.”

The three were surprised, but gave no protest as he grabbed them from the container, counted what was in his palm, before dropping them into his bag, and repeating it.

Lena blinked for a moment, before she realized she also hadn’t given them all the Weedle and Kakuna they had caught. Fumbling for a moment, she started to place the Nest Balls containing them in a container on the side of the table, her mind scrambling to catch up as William zipped up his bag slightly, but open enough to easily get into it if need be.

William waited for her to finish giving the two Rangers their catches, and for her to write down how many they had caught… she wrote down her Trainer ID for the check in sheet and William’s which she thankfully was able to recall. Then she grabbed some Nest Balls as well before William seemed to take the lead. “Come on, let’s head to the northern part of the forest… Charon wants to check something.” William said, his tone pointed in a way that gave Lena the hint that he didn’t want to release Charon in front of the other two.

Without preamble, he started to walk down the pathway, Lena hesitating for a moment before following close behind, Rina already speaking to Ronin.

“Floatzel-Float-ZEeeel?” (What’s going on, what’s got your Trainer in a tizzy?)

“Sha-Wott. Oshaaaa.” (William thinks there might be something else going on… Charon felt…) The Water Type paused, struggling to find the right words. “...Wott.” (...Off.)

Lena’s face scrunched up, but she refrained from commenting until they were far enough away. After about a minute, she could barely make out the figures in the light of the rest area, William glanced behind them before feeling comfortable enough to release Charon. The old Typhlosion shook his body slightly, muttering something under his breath that Lena couldn’t discern, but he stood up and let his collar illuminate. “Ty. Phlos. Phlo.” (You thinking what I’m thinking, kid?)

“Mostly… the Beedrill aren’t doing this at random, that’s for sure. It’s not a mistake we haven’t encountered them yet from where we went.” William said, Lena suddenly raising her hand to pause them both.

“Wait, wait… backup a moment, what are you talking about?”

William froze, his thoughts clearly thrown off by the sudden question, but he responded quickly enough. “I was looking at the Pokémon found in Pinwheel Forest back at the Pokémon Center… just was curious to see what information the Pokédex could give for specific Pokémon…” Pausing for a moment, William motioned to Lena’s left arm. “Sorry, can you pull out the map on your Styler first? It’ll be easier to show and explain…”

“Sure... One second.”

William flipped open his Pokédex again, as Lena was busy pulling up the area map. “Remember the software Professor Juniper mentioned she added, the Habitat Mode?”

Lena blinked and ran through her memories… the words faintly ringing a Chingling in her head. “Uhh… yes?”

Her tone must have not convinced William judging by his expression, but he didn’t let it distract him. “Well, it’s supposed to only show you all the Pokémon in a designated area from the most recent up to date information and sightings… but if you do this…” Using both hands, he pressed a few buttons at once, before finally pressing the center button a couple times. The entire screen went black, before suddenly some kind of old computer text thing appeared. BOS or something?

William then proceeded to type away at a speed that astonished Lena.

/usr/william/home# cd /dex/habitats/pinwheel_interior/

/dex/habitats/pinwheel_interior# tail logs.dat -1024 | grep Sewaddle

March 3, 20XX - 08:17 - Sewaddle sighted at (25.1678, -119.1796)

March 3, 20XX - 08:17 - Sewaddle sighted at (25.1861, -119.1814)

March 4, 20XX - 08:17 - Sewaddle sighted at (25.1009, -119.1004)

March 4, 20XX - 08:17 - Sewaddle sighted at (22.1009, -115.4272)

March 4, 20XX - 08:17 - Sewaddle sighted at (19.8374, -110.4107)

March 7, 20XX - 08:17 - Sewaddle sighted at (17.7834, -95.5687)

March 7, 20XX - 08:17 - Sewaddle sighted at (15.1009, -92.3547)

...And on and on it went.

Lena peered over incredulously. “Wait, is that location data for every Pokémon in the forest? How does that work?”

William looked thoughtful for a moment before his face fell into a frown. “I... don’t actually know. I think it might just do an area scan whenever somebody with a Pokédex or other recording device walks by to record what Pokémon are around for research purposes.... I’ll have to ask Professor Juniper later…?”

“...How in the name of the Twins did you figure this out?”

William suddenly looked very, very exhausted. “Every machine has to have some sort of control alt delete combo, your Fine Styler probably has—”

“No, I meant… how did you type all that? How did you know the commands? Aren’t Pokédexes supposed to be… locked down?”

William went silent for a moment, looking just a hint embarrassed. “…Don’t tell Ms. Clare but uh… I might’ve… uh… modified… the shared computer a bit to let me install some video games, and uh… miiight have disabled all the child safety crap for my account. Allegedly.”

Lena did her best ‘I’m disappointed in you’ look.

He quickly cleared his throat after an awkward beat of silence and motioned back to the screen. “I decided to cross reference the dates with the other Pokémon in the forest… like… look at the coordinates for Sewaddle for example…”

With a nod, she opened her Styler and started to glance between the two devices, cross-referencing the coordinates on her Styler’s map. Most of the locations were along the eastern edge of the forest, outside the normal boundaries for most travelers. “The coordinates are similar in the beginning, dunno why it seems to be in the middle of nowhere though...” William muttered, his tone a bit confused…

“That’s… one of the main breeding locations for the Sewaddle, I think…. It’s a bit farther north than it was last year when I read them but nothing too unusual...” Lena said, though with a bit of concern laced into her voice.

His frown grew more pronounced as Lena said that. “Well… I don’t think it is anymore, because if we compare it with the Beedrill sightings…” William started navigating to the command showing the Beedrill coordinates by pressing up a couple times and entering it, prompting another wave of text to appear.

/dex/habitats/pinwheel_interior# clear

/dex/habitats/pinwheel_interior# tail logs.dat -1024 | grep Beedrill

March 3, 20XX - 08:17 - Beedrill sighted at (32.1861, -123.1654)

March 4, 20XX - 20:28 - Beedrill sighted at (31.9958, -121.7892)

March 7, 20XX - 09:22 - Beedrill sighted at (24.5168, -109.2357)

March 7, 20XX - 15:24 - Beedrill sighted at (23.1598, -110.1256)

March 8, 20XX - 12:21 - Beedrill sighted at (25.9871, -120.7535)

March 15, 20XX - 10:56 - Beedrill sighted at (24.5498, -120.7895)

March 16, 20XX - 09:44 - Beedrill sighted at (25.1562, -121.4782)

March 16, 20XX - 16:17 - Beedrill sighted at (25.1726, NaN)

ERROR: Coordinate invalid for Beedrill sighting at 3/16/XX 16:17, Stack trace:

March 18, 20XX - 11:59 - Beedrill sighted at (23.1781, -98.1588)

Lena’s eyebrows furrowed as she focused on the timestamps between the Sewaddle and Beedrill. One Beedrill popup appeared, then two, then three started to appear closer and closer to the colony. Suddenly, there was that sudden wave, and the Sewaddle coordinates changed, and the Beedrill sightings overtook their original location.

Before she could interject, William started to speed through the commands again, where a similar picture was painted with the Slakoth line near the northern, outer reaches of the forest, their tribe suddenly getting scattered and pushed inward towards the main paths.

Then, sightings of Beedrill starting to appear more frequently closer around the main path, Lena’s eyebrows furrowing and hissing as she started to realize what was happening from the pattern

‘They’re deterring Trainers and by extension, Rangers from seeing the true extent of their action by being so aggressive and pushing the native Pokémon inwards… shit, this is worse than I thought.’

“And going to the last two days…” William muttered as he sped through again, Lena noticing the Beedrill starting to appear more and more frequently in the north-eastern section… until he got to today's date, and pointed at a couple specific positions. “...and here is where the Trainer’s were attacked by them tonight, literally trying to prevent them from going further…” He paused for a moment, his voice getting low, but not low enough for Lena to be unable to make out “...like guerilla warfare…?”

The comparison made Lena feel a bit confused, but she ignored it for now. “But… why? Why do all this?” Lena muttered rhetorically, frowning as William let out a frustrated sigh.

“No idea, but Charon’s… sensing distress in that direction, most likely they’re doing something to… cause it.” William phrased weirdly, frowning and glancing at the old Typhlosion, who said nothing as he stared off into space with his ruby eyes with an indiscernible look in the direction the Beedrills were appearing.

Arthur frowned and closed his own eyes and focused, his tassels floating for a moment before nodding and crossing his arms as he stared in the same direction. “I sense it too now… the air is muddled with so much emotion it’s… hard to track, but it’s most potent in that direction.”

Lena hummed… glancing up at Charon with a serious look. “Would you be able to guide us there?”

The Typhlosion said nothing, simply staring off in the distance for a moment before blinking once. Whatever daze he was in lifting off of him as he turned to Lena. “Phlo. Typhlosion.” (Yes. Follow me.)

Without further preamble, Charon started to walk forward into the darkness, his collar like an almost mesmerizing beacon as William started to follow closely behind. Lena glanced at the darkness of the water as they started to walk over the bridge… the clouds veiling the moon above, making the water look like a deep, dark abyss of uncertainty, much like what they were walking into it felt like…

----------------------------------------

Twenty minutes later, the group was still following Charon deeper and deeper into the forest… the landmarks that Lena recognized getting fewer and farther between. William had picked up a piece of wood along the way and gave it to Ronin to whittle into a walking stick with his scalchop and water pressure manipulation. When asked, William said something along the lines of “talk soft and carry a big stick” which was probably just some young boy thing.

But maybe it was to distract himself, if the heavy, furrowed expression glued to his face for the past hour or so was anything to go off of….

“So… are Missions like this normal?”

Lena blinked out of her thoughts, glancing over to him. “What do you mean?”

“Like… is the sudden appearance of a new species of Pokémon on a Route or forest, or wherever enough to call for a Mission, I suppose Pokémon migrate but… agh.” William shook his head, trying to find the right words. “I guess what I’m trying to ask is at what point does new Pokémon being introduced to an area, aside from harming other native Pokémon or travelers, would call for a mission. Like, at what point is it just nature doing its thing or is it a problem that needs to be fixed?”

Lena quickly reached back mentally to her old lessons from the Ranger School. “Well… for starters… let me use Sinnoh as an example, as it’s the Region I know best next to Almia, and probably the best case of when a Mission isn’t called.” Lena started, clearing her throat for a moment to give another moment to gather her explanation.

“Let’s take… Iron Island for example, do you know where that is in Sinnoh?”

“Yeah, you get there from… Canalave City.” William said, seeming to take a moment to recall something before answering.

Lena rolled her eyes. “There’s more than just one ferry there, but whatever. After a League season ended in Hoenn, the Rangers there started to get reports of Sableye and Mawile being found in the mines. You know what the diets of those two are, right?”

“Um, probably rocks and minerals? Mawile’s a Steel and Fairy type, and Sableye has a thing for jewelry. Can’t say I’m too familiar with either of them beyond trivia, though.”

“Sableye don’t actually eat the gemstones they find, but close enough. Anyway, Iron Island’s ecosystem is surprisingly delicate as all the native Pokémon there have different nutritional needs. Almost all of the Pokémon who live there are lithotrophs, but their specific dietary needs vary. A Steelix needs more magnetite and limonite compared to a Graveler, for instance.”

“Okay, so what’s the catch?”

“Well, Mawiles are predators by nature, so their diet is to consume processed minerals by consuming other lithotrophs. And Sableyes are attracted to places of greed, valuables, and anything shiny — they feed off of the emotions of greedy individuals. So when a colony of Mawiles start picking fights with the native populations, the natives start digging for new food sources and hiding places, exposing new valuable minerals like sperrylite. That attracts the Sableyes and makes everything worse.”

A frown found itself on William’s face as he considered this. “And this was supposed to be a case where a Mission wasn’t required?”

Lena couldn’t help but smile at his reaction. “Well, among the materials exposed, were also highly concentrated pools of the same material that is used to make Metal Coat, which then allowed more Onix natively living there to evolve.”

William started to nod, seeing where this was going… “Which… than in turn created more tunnels? Leading to more living space, which then also in turn caused more resources to be available to the Pokémon?”

“Got it in one! It’s a delicate, but honestly fascinating microcosm of species being introduced, albeit, unintentionally, providing a huge boon for the already existing species. That’s why whenever those suits say something like ‘Introducing non-native species hurts out native Pokémon’ or something, they’re wrong, because they fail to realize that a little bit of competition helps make the whole ecosystem more stable long term.”

The young Trainer hummed, nodding along before he moved onto the inevitable topic. “And when things like the Unova Diversity Act happen? Basically having humans force it?”

“Float-Zel.” (Rangers get blamed for every small thing outside their control.)

William snorted at Rina’s comment, but turned to Lena still for the serious answer, her expression shifting into something frustrated as she nodded. “As much as I hate to say it, Rina’s right.”

With a sigh, she continued on. “The Ranger Union’s done multiple studies showing that increasing Pokémon biodiversity helps strengthen a region’s already existing population of Pokémon… when the government doesn’t half-a—half-bake the implementation and neuter all the funding.”

‘I think William’s foul mouth is rubbing off on me...’

“Politics.” William said with a flat, disdainful tone; a sigh left him as his expression started to become more thoughtful… “So, how do Legendary Pokémon fit into that then? I don’t believe for a second that a Pokémon like Virizion would let a crisis in Pinwheel Forest go on as long as this one?”

Lena nearly tripped in her footsteps at the question, catching herself before stopping dead in her tracks like a Deerling in headlights, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Arthur visibly recoiled and Rina whipped her head back so fast that a small part of Lena’s brain still functioning after that bombshell was concerned she might've sprained her neck.

“H-How — who told you that?! H-How did you know that?!” Lena was fully turned towards William now, the frustration from thinking about the Unova Government and League evaporating from shock, as if a Poison Type attack had been dumped directly over it.

William stopped walking under her gaze, clearly surprised by her reaction. “What… do you mean?”

“What do I — How do you know that Lady Virizion’s usual domain is in Pinwheel Forest?!”

William's face shifted just slightly a new expression that Lena hadn’t seen before, anxiety, realization, and fear, his tone matching it. “It’s not... common knowledge that Virizion was here…?”

Lena sputtered verbally before mustering up as much Top Ranger professionalism as she possibly could, even with the shocked incredulity staining her voice. “Common knowle— no, it most definitely isn't. I didn't know about Lady Virizion’s presence in the forest until a couple years ago, and such information is supposed to be confidential and on a need-to-know basis.”

William seemed frozen at that info, the light from Charon’s collar enough for her to notice that he had gone pale. And Lena could still see the subtle hints of his anxiety such as how he was biting his lip, or how one of his hands retreated to his sweatshirt pocket and squeezing the fabric inside.

Unable to hold back a sigh with a mix of emotions about what this could mean, her own clear exasperation echoed with her tone. “Please tell me the truth… how did you know that?”

William was quick to respond, despite being nervous. “Uh, shit — w-well it’s common knowledge at home… u-uh… and Charon has been here l-longer than I have, so he just confirmed that…” He was looking behind her, probably pleading with him to step in.

Lena took a minute to compose herself before quietly and slowly turning around to face Charon. “Is this true?” Silently, her Aura reached out to Arthur, telling him to look for signs of deception; his Aura flared in acknowledgement.

The Typhlosion snorted dismissively. “Typho... Lolo...Sioooon.” (What, you think she wasn’t going to notice a foreign Ghost invading her territory? Of course I know Virizion, and I’ve known her long before any of you were born.) He turned around and started walking down the path he was leading them on again. “Ty. Phlolo. Typho…” (You humans gotta’ remember I’ve been here long before there were people living here. What you call Unova I still call Isshu, and I, and many other Pokémon don’t care about what you think is ‘confidential’ or not.)

He turned around to look at the group who was still standing where they were. The group reluctantly started following behind.

“Lolo Tyyy.” (“Now are you going to answer my Ward’s question or not? I think it’s a fair question, considering I don’t feel Virizion’s presence anywhere nearby, either.”)

Lena left his question to stew in silence for a bit as she considered her words carefully. She may have been a Top Ranger now, but she wasn’t sure of her limits of what she was allowed to disclose…

“I… don’t think I’m allowed to say where she is at the moment, but you are right in that Lady Virizion is currently somewhere else. I’m sure if she were here, she would have taken care of this issue long before it would have gotten out of control.” With a sigh, she leveled William with a stare… though it probably came off more like a pleading look. “With that said, please keep this information to yourself… ”

An anxious chuckle left William’s throat before he spoke. “I know, that’s why I didn’t ask around the other Trainers and Rangers earlier…”

Lena’s stare faltered, and she could only take a deep breath and pinch the bridge of her nose. “...We will be having a conversation about this later.” She grumbled to herself, saying no more even as her mind raced with possibilities.

The sounds of the forest were deafening as the group continued on in silence.

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Beta Readers:

David “TheBlizWiz” R

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