“Talk,” Virah fidgeted under the ranger's stare, “we're not going to hurt you,”

“I know,” Virah looked around, “but Team Rocket will-”

“We can help in protecting you from them,” one of the rangers replied in reassurance, “Team Rocket won't hurt you, we'll make sure of it.”

“... okay,” Virah looked around, “I know the name of the guy who's making the uh, pa-pa- par-”

“Particle Accelerator,” the rangers cut to the chase.

Virah nodded, “that,” she scratched the back of her neck, “uh, his name is Cyrus- but that's all I know- really, I don't know anything else about it-”

A hand clapped her shoulders and she looked up to meet the ranger's eyes, “what you said is already more than enough,”

“T-thanks,” Virah returned the man's smile while mentally preparing herself for what she was going to say next. Her request is most likely going to be denied seeing as she didn't formally put it up but it was worth a shot, “the Beedrill nest… I know- I raised them,”

The two rangers shot each other a knowing look and they kept eye contact for an uncomfortable while before one of them shrugged. The other turned to Virah, “did you submit a formal request for creating an entire brood?” Virah shook her head, “what about their transfer to Ilex Forest?”

Another shake of her head was Virah's reply.

Both of the rangers sighed but she didn't let it get to her, “well- I was about to but my Beedrills moved away on their… own?”

“That happens more commonly than you think,” one of them said, “but if they're yours then… hm, it's a pretty big brood- how did you even get them to that point?”

“I raised them in a breeding center,” Virah answered, “uh, Eggtech,” the name got the two rangers to react with widened eyes, “I took care of the brood in one of their abandoned ranches, it's near here and we can call one of the people who told me it was fine to breed Weedles if you want-”

“There's no need for that,” one of the rangers shook their head, “raising Beedrills isn't exactly illegal but an entire nest can be quite harmful to any passing trainer which is why it's our job to push them out of public places,”

“Are- are they in a public place?” Virah asked.

“No, that was just an example, they're deep in Ilex Forest,” one of the rangers denied with a shake of his head, “and we should probably get going-” he paused, “we'll get one of us to lead you around the forest for protection against Team Rocket,”

The ranger was about to walk away but then stopped, “she's going to be a Bug Type Specialist so you can also lead her to the brood and see if you can convince the nest of Beedrills to be passive toward any possible trainers going near their home,”

Virah nodded, “I'll… do that- or try to,”

“Good, well, those two girls are looking at you-” Virah looked in the direction where the ranger was pointing at and saw Grene and Whitney staring at her in concern, she waved at them, and they waved back, “- they're your friends huh? Well, you should probably go to them while waiting for Nera,”

“I'll do that,” after her reply, the two rangers walked away from her.

Virah ran back to her friends and the first thing that Whitney did when she got near was expectedly ask a question in concern, “why did they talk to you?”

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“It was something related to Nitro's parents and the Beedrill brood I've been telling you two about,” the two girls nodded at that, “their nest apparently got discovered and the rangers wanted to push them away so I talked to them,”

“Push them away?” Whitney, someone who has most likely experienced Beedrill nest extermination firsthand, looked at her in confusion, “I thought Beedrill nests get wiped clean by rangers?”

Virah shook her head in a lie, “they said that they'll push them out though,” they didn't, and Virah clearly eavesdropped on them talking about “wiping out” the nest and they would have- will wipe the nest out if she doesn't convince them that her brood isn't dangerous.

“Hm.” Grene hummed, “well, are they going to?”

“Not… really,” Virah shook her head, “I hope so at least,”

“I'm sure your brood will be fine,” Whitney said with a shake of her head, “Beedrills are smart, and they usually move away from their nest when one of their scouts or a Weedle spots rangers frolicking near it, they know that they're being targeted then and move away,”

“Maybe they'll survive, yeah,” Virah said with a wry smile.

But she should definitely try to convince Nera that they're docile though, and if the ranger doesn't believe Virah, then she could just go and tell the brood to move away somewhere hidden because the rangers want to wipe them out.

“Another ranger is coming our way,” Virah looked away at Grene's words and faced the woman the martial artist nudged her head towards.

Nera looked… tough? Is that the right word to describe her?

Much like Grene, Nera had muscles on her arms, with bulky biceps and broad shoulders, it wasn't as wide as the male rangers- why would it? Virah thought this was a stupid thought, - but they were visibly larger compared to the teachers and parents around them.

Actually, Nera was visibly larger compared to all the girls around her, which Virah thought made sense given that she was a ranger and rangers obviously had muscles right?

So it's only understandable that her face was flushed and hot. Yep.

The woman wore the standard ranger's uniform on her person; with a brown vest over a black shirt and a pair of pants that had the same color as her vest. Her black boots splashed mud onto the back of her calves with each step.

Nera waved at the three of them, “I'm Nera,” she introduced, then her eyes scanned their group, her gaze stopped on Virah, “and you must be Virah,”

Virah nodded, “I am,”

“Good!” Nera said with mirth, “and it's not like my guess could've possibly ever been wrong since no girl has features like yours, they're… very distinct,”

“Thank you,” Virah bowed to hide the fact that her face felt hot.

“Well, if your friends don't mind, I want to talk to you for a bit about your problems,” Virah stopped bowing and looked up at Nera, and the ranger gestured for them to get away with her head, “is it okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” Whitney was the one who answered, “Virah can get away from us for a bit, right Grene?”

“Mhmm.” The martial artist hummed and nodded.

“Great,” Nera placed a hand on Virah's shoulders, “now come on, we need to get going,”

“We should,” Virah gave her friends one last glance as they walked and saw them both nod.

She and Nera walked to the edge of their group, far from her fellow students as well as Nera's squadron. Here, there were only trees, grass, and soil, and the two of them, Virah supposed, but that's a given.

Nera made her way to a tree and leaned her back against it.

The ranger pointed behind her, “this is Ilex Forest,” Virah nodded, she already knew that, “it's a dangerous place and the Beedrill that you raised came here when they moved,” Virah nodded again, though this was something that she also knew, “they're deep within the forest, near the territory of a Nidoking and a Nidoqueen.”

Instead of nodding, Virah considered Nera's words and chewed on them for a bit, before she could get to any proper conclusion though, the ranger elaborated even further, “territorial disputes between wild Pokemon leave their local ecosystem in a mess, and usually, this sort of thing would be fine and we rangers just wait it out but right now…”

Virah turned to where Nera was gesturing and her face paled, she looked away from her schoolmates and back to Nera, “they won’t hurt anyone!”

“I know kid, calm down,” the ranger let out a sigh and raised a hand to scratch her auburn hair, “just- okay, listen to me,” Virah nodded, “we want your Beedrills to protect the students,”

Virah blinked, “excuse me?”

Nera laughed, “that's a real shocker to hear isn't it?” The ranger only had that split second of clarity to say those words in reply before she started laughing again, when she calmed down, she shook her head at Virah, “we're in a very tight spot right now thanks to Team Rocket,” Virah looked on, “which is why we're going to gamble this thing on your Beedrills,”

“You want me to talk to them about protecting my schoolmates? They're not going to sit around near a kid all day, they have to work for food.” Virah retorted.

“I'm well aware of how Beedrill nests function,” Nera tapped three of the Netballs on her belt, “I have one myself after all,”

“Oh,” Virah tilted her head, “you have a brood?”

“Yeah,” the Bug Type specialist said with a grin, “it's better than looking for and catching new Bug Types every now and again you know?”

“I guess…” Virah murmured, “so you want me to… what? Exactly?”

“I want you to convince your brood to talk to me,” Nera pointed at herself, “after that go away and let me negotiate about how we need them to patrol the outskirts of our planned area for your exams,”

Virah was suspicious- especially since Nera wanted her to “go away”, - but she nodded, saying, “will this get them to be protected?”

“Kid, if this succeeds, I'll put them under my wing,” Nera grinned, “so, whaddya say?”

Virah nodded, not like she had a choice, “I'll do it.”