I am starting to receive some credibility for this story. I hope the rating gets a bit higher. Let's get it on with the story then.
Chapter 10: Honey
Chief Officer Ollie Braxley was standing alone in his office, looking at the contents on his billboard. He glanced at the posters with the five children, he remembered the day he met them. The Pandora leader has given him specific orders to capture them, but he began to wonder if the information he gave him was accurate. It was clear that the kids weren't exactly guilty for some of the crimes they were accused of, yet they were put into search warrants for them.
'Why would these kids blamed for the crimes they didn't commit? We found evidence that they weren't involved.' Braxley had questioned himself those all day.
Braxley was about to go to the HQ department to receive some personal backgrounds on those trainers when his phone rang. Braxley went towards his desk and quickly took his phone receiver.
"This is officer Braxley." He spoke through the receiver. "How may I help you?"
"Hello officer," The voice in the other line was scrambled. "Van Damien has told me of your services to me. I am the ultimate seer of the Pandoras. I am SIN."
Braxley could not believe his ears. This was the first time ever that SIN had actually made contact with someone other than Van Damien. "I'm...I'm sorry but...can you prove to me that you are SIN?"
"The fact that I am calling you to your private phone should be proof enough."
Braxley then realized that he was right, no actually knew the line to his private phone, not even Van Damien, private phones were usually used to contact the higher echelons of power, such as the government; it appears SIN managed to hack into the global mainframe. "May I ask why you are calling me?" Braxley was shaking a bit from talking to the mysterious caller.
"I believe Van Damien told you to contact me regarding the fail-safe of the Pandora's womb. I will tell you about it and you will pass it on to him."
Braxley remembered the last order that Van Damien had given him. He started talking slowly. "What can you tell me?"
"I have not gotten the exact coordinates, but I can tell you where it might be. Yes...I am talking about 'Andromeda'".
The group was marching ahead to the slobby forest, the ground was soaked with muddy dirts and the place was infested with bug pokemons. Amy was browsing around and saw bug pokemons like Pinsirs and Yenmas sucking on a tree skin which seemed highly unusual.
"Ew, what are those pokemons doing?" Amy asked in disgust. "It looks wrong."
"Oh, they are sucking on honeys." Rebecca answered. "Bug pokemons tend to be attracted to sweet aroma coming from forest trees, usually they all contain honeys in them. What you are looking at is them leeching on honeys attached on trees."
"Honeys come from trees?" Amy was dazzled. "I thought they come from bee hives or something."
"Wrong." Eric corrected her. "Combees collect honeys off the flowers and gather them on their hives. Basically, honeys originated on flowers. Sometimes however, when trees are close to fresh river waters and other flowers, they are able to nurture bio-chromatic synthesis which allows them to produce honey just like the flowers. So you see Amy, the trees we are walking by are one of those trees, bug pokemons drinking honey sap from them is proof."
The group watched the honey-sucking pokemons for a while, and then they continued forward. After venturing deeper in to the woods, the area seemed to be getting darker.
"Wow, is it night time already?" Amy asked after noticing how dark the place was becoming.
"It's not even noon yet." Ingrid pointed out.
"It's the woods." Eric said. "The branches above us have thick jungle ivy and vines, which are blocking the light way above. Seeing how damp this area is, I should say that the vines here are larger because of how much water they drain."
"Ingrid, we might need your fire when we walk here." Rebecca recommended.
"Okay," Ingrid responded. "but I won't light them now. The place isn't that dark and I want to save my magic as much as I can."
"Point taken."
Five trainers were walking along the wet dirt field. Every steps they took felt like they were walking on mud pit that could swallow them any second. After a while, when they made it through half way to the end of the rain forest, Eric stopped them.
"Wait." Eric made everybody stop in their tracks. "Look ahead of us." Eric was now pointing towards the greenish field they seemed a bit suspicious. The field was moving a bit and it was shallow, unlike every other part of the areas they walked on. "That greenish area is the bog pit, these pit may sink us in once we go in them."
"Ugh, then let's not take any chance with it then." Amy was willing to take a different route instead of getting dirty.
"Well," Eric spoke suddenly. "that's the problem actually, this pit is the only thing standing in our way towards our destination. I am reluctant to say, but we are going to have to go through it."
"Are you kidding me?" Ingrid said. "I've only purchased this dress yesterday, and it costed me more than half of our savings we had the last time. There's no way I am going in there and mess it up."
"Then are you willing to go through without wearing it at all?" Eric questioned her.
"Well..." Ingrid hesitated. "No...I guess going through this pit while wearing nothing is actually a bit worst."
"We are risking our lives on this mission of ours," Eric pointed. "I should say that we should have no problem risk getting our clothes dirty while we are at it."
"He's right." Rebecca said. "I don't like getting ourselves messy either, but it's all or nothing. As a fellow trainers, we must learn to face anything as we travel, trainers survive by going through with all this; we must learn to adapt as well."
"Ugh...if that's the case then..." Amy was hesitant, but she knows that to become one of the best trainers, they must learn to face anything. Her dad taught her that when she was little.
"Okay then." Eric began. "I'll lead, and then you guys can follow after me carefully. Hopefully these bog pits aren't deep as I think."
Eric took the first step on the bog and walked ten centimeters. The rest followed him forward the bog, which didn't appear to be very deep.
"Hey..." Amy started. "this isn't so bad-"
Suddenly, all of them began falling down the bog, the surface was now at the same length as their waist. It appears that Amy spoke too soon.
"Ugh!" Ingrid whelped. "Crap, they are all over my new dress!"
"Yuck..." Rebecca also responded. "From what I am feeling, I think I was better off being drowned in that lake back there, it's better then walking through this waste. At least my laptop is safe." Rebecca was holding her laptop bag above her head before entering the bog.
"These mud..." Heather spoke quietly. "it feels slimy."
"It's okay, they are just mud." Eric assured. "The quality on the bog is the least of our worries. There could be pokemons inside this pit, like Basculins or Stunfisks."
"Geez Eric." Amy now said. "Why did you have to mention them? Now I really want to get out of this tub of goop!"
"Then let's move forward. We can worry about the messy clothes when we get out." After Eric finished saying, they all started moving. Each step they took felt like walking on the surface of the earth that was about to pull them beneath. They were unable to see their footing and whatever they stepped on felt grotesque. While Basculins were swimming by them, but none of them really cared. All they focused on was getting off the swamp. Ten minutes later, they made it out of the bog. As they became glad from being out of the swamp, their happiness lasted short when new problem arose with their clothes all dirty.
"That's it." Ingrid said. "I am planning to shower three times tonight. Once with my clothes on, and twice without them."
"I've got to say," Rebecca spoke. "I'm surprised that we made it without running into any problem. I half expected to run into any swamp pokemons in there."
"C'mon." Amy cried. "Let's get moving so that I can get myself washed." Amy turned around to take off her boots to get mud out of them. Just then, Eric noticed something that was attached to her.
"Um, Amy." He said. "There's something on your back."
"Huh?" Amy listened to Eric's words and decided to follow it. She began placing her hands to her back to see what was sticking onto her. When she finally reached it, she saw that Eric was right, whatever was on her she made contact with something that felt...slimy.
"OMAGOD!" Amy flipped. "What is it?! WHAT IS IT?! Get it off ME!"
"Amy, take it easy." Eric approached her and held her still to see what was clinging on her back. He slowly turned her and saw that...it was a pokemon.
"Shellos?" Cried the green and blue slug pokemon.
"Not to worry." Eric assured. "It's just a Shellos, it's not gonna hurt you or anything because they are very docile."
"Eww..." Amy was weeping in disgust. "It feels so slimy...please get it off me..." Amy just stood there, unable to handle the pokemon attached to her. It then crawled itself towards her shoulder and faced the rest of the group.
"Wow." Rebecca took a look with great focus. "It's an east form shellos. The moss colored version of Shellos only appear on damp environment at the eastern part of our region. It's color fits perfectly with the swamp. It must have been living in that swamp water we went through."
"I don't care about it's resume!" Amy cried. "Just get it off me!"
"Why don't you just catch it off you?" Ingrid suggested. "That thing looks pretty much attached to you anyway, and I don't think it intends to let go of you."
"Ugh." Amy just decided to handle it herself and plucked the pokemon off herself. She then placed the Shellos to the ground. "Go back to the swamp where you came from." She then faced the group. "C'mon, let's get going and get to a nearest town so that I can get myself cleaned up."
"I couldn't agree with you more." Ingrid also pleaded, and then the group continued ahead without saying another word. While walking, Amy noticed that the Shellos was following her.
"Shell~" The Shellos said.
"I told you to go back to the swamp!" Her mood was wearing thin. "Why are you following me?"
"Shell~" The Shellos cried again.
"It says that it likes you." Heather interpreted.
"Well I don't like you, okay?" Amy blurted. "Plus, you belong here in this swamp, so just stay!"
Amy had the group hustle up ahead, hoping to lose the Shellos. After they moved on a bit further, the little slug pokemon took its time to slowly go after them.
The group ventured deeper into the forest, which seems like it was becoming thicker and much darker. Their patience was wearing out by minutes, frustrated that they have yet to find a way out of there.
"This is getting hopeless." Ingrid cried. "As we waste time searching for an exit, the day grows older. We'd better get out of here before night time arrives."
"Not to worry." Rebecca assured. "I have a GPS installed in my mobile screen device, I'm sure that we can use it to get out of here." Rebecca got her device out of her bag and then tried to turn it on. But for some reason, the device didn't lit up its screen when she pressed the button for power. "What the...why won't it turn on?" Rebecca inspected the device to find out the problem. After holding it sideways, she saw that drops of water was coming out of an opening of the screen. "Oh no...the mobile TV...it got wet...why?"
"Maybe it got soaked when we got across that swamp water back there." Eric suggested the likely explanation.
"Crap." Rebecca realized. "I was focused on saving my laptop bag that I forgot about my other one. What is wrong with me?!"
"We should find the exit before we run into anything more unfortunate." Ingrid said.
"Come on, what else can go wrong?" Amy thought. And then a second later, she was about to have her answer.
Bunch of droplets of water was starting to fall on them, as if it was raining.
"You just had to jinx it, didn't you." Ingrid's tone was dark.
"Crap!" Rebecca cursed. "We need to find a place to hide from the rain!"
The group obliged and made a run for a hiding. Luckily they found a large tree that was standing on its roots, they were able to go underneath the tree and avoid getting wet. Though they made it out of the rain, they had another problem.
"Great," Amy said. "we are soaked all over. I'm starting to think that we should have taken the mountain path now."
"Why did it had to rain all of the sudden?" Said Ingrid.
"This place is a rain forest." Eric said. "So it was bound to rain sometime. We are going to have to stick around here until the rain stops."
"Yeah, but for how long?" Ingrid asked. "We are all wet, so if we stick around long enough we might catch a cold."
"Can you make fire Ingrid?" Rebecca suggested.
"It's not easy when I am in a wet environment. Plus, the raining makes it hard for me to focus."
"Just give it a try." Eric said. "Even a little bit of fire can be helpful than doing nothing at all."
"Alright then." Ingrid decided to take Eric's advice and gathered a small bits of flammable woods on the ground and used a stick to make fire. She placed the stick at the center of both her palms and rubbed it hard in between. After giving it a rough rub, fire was starting to come out. Ingrid placed the burning towards the gathered woods and tried to strengthen the flame. "I hope that helps a bit."
"It's enough, thanks." Rebecca said, she and the group approached the flames to warm themselves.
Amy started to feel itchy around her. "Ugh, this wet clothes isn't doing good for me. I am taking it off." Amy then started to take her white vest off, which surprised the group.
"Whoa, Amy." Rebecca quickly said. "What are you doing?"
"Taking off my clothes." Amy continued stripping. "Clothes dry quicker and you lay them flat."
"Wise suggestion," Ingrid said. "except that you forget that there is a guy in present right now."
Amy paused for a while. She just realized that she have committed an action without thinking straight. Being with the group that was mostly girls made her think that it was alright to take off her clothes. She didn't know why, but she had completely forgotten that there was at least one boy among them. Amy was turning red, feeling embarrassed. "Kyah! What was I thinking?!" Amy turned to Eric, thinking that he would be looking at her while unable to handle the indecency. To her surprise though, he was mainly focused on the fire. "Uh, Eric?"
"What?" Eric spoke without facing her.
"You aren't behaving like what guys normally act when a girl takes her clothes off in front of them." Amy said.
"Why would I be?" He wasn't even looking at Amy.
"Why?" Amy was surprised. "Because you are a guy! Aren't you tad bit shy to see my bare skin?"
"So what?" Eric's tone didn't change. "Whether they are expose or covered, skins are skin." Eric turned away from them. "I am going to look around for more firewood. I'll try to be back as quickly as possible." He then ran off in the rain, leaving Amy speechless.
"Don't worry about it Amy." Rebecca said. "Eric always seems to keep his emotions in check. His behavior isn't like any other guys."
"I'm not sure whether he's ignorant, or trying to be ignorant." Ingrid said. "But it never seemed to really bother him about indecency. Whenever I change in his presence, he seem to just avoid seeing me changing really well. I just think that he's oblivious."
"If that's the case, then-" Amy began taking the rest of her clothes off her. "I'm just gonna dry myself like this. I suggest you guys do the same."
"This is gonna be awkward but-" Rebecca also did as Amy did. Afterwards, Ingrid and Heather also shed their clothes and placed them around the fire.
The girls stared at each other, all of them wearing nothing but their undergarments. Amy placed herself near the fire and just looked at her companions. She noticed that they were also staring at her.
"Wow Amy." Ingrid looked at her. "You have a nice body for a fifteen year old. Have you modeled before?"
"Um, this adventure we are having right now?" Amy said. "It's actually the first time I've actually left my hometown. I just happen to know how to keep my figure in check without going anywhere. You seem to be a nice figure yourself." Amy said after looking at Ingrid's all-too-nice perfect body of an ideal woman.
"Thanks I suppose." The two girls then looked at Heather.
Despite the girl looking a lot younger than them, her body also looked mature. Her skins were pale, thin, delicate, and the C-cup breast along with a great shape of her hips and thighs made her look a bit sexy.
"Heather," Amy said to her. "if you were to guess your age, how old do you think you are?"
"I don't know." Heather responded. Ingrid observed her with close inspections.
"Hm, from the looks of it you look about between 12 and 14. Judging from your good-looking body though, you may actually be older than you look. It's really hard to tell if you are younger than us or about the same age."
Heather blushed and then attempted to cover herself by crouching while holding onto her knees. The girls then looked at Rebecca, who was sitting o a rock while using her laptop. The girl with glasses also surprisingly had a nice looking body. Her skin looked smooth, with decent C-cup and a pair of attractive legs.
"Say," Amy said. "What are you doing right now?"
"Researching the net to see if wet mobile devices can be repaired." Rebecca was looking hard at her laptop. "Fortunately, I found out that it isn't permanent damage; I just need to wait a long while for it to dry. I also need to replace some of the chips inside so the hardware wouldn't cripple the system when I turn it on again." Rebecca closed her laptop and stared at the other girls. "Oh my. Eric's going to have a fit once he sees us like this."
After a while, the boy in question returned with some sticks and branches he was able to find. When he returned to the campsite, he saw the girls wearing nothing but their lingerie while their clothes were placed by the fire. Eric stared at them for a long time, lost for words.
"I feel like..." Eric started. "...I'm in some kind of an orgy photo shoot."
"Wha...what are you saying all of the sudden? Idiot!" Amy blushed. The others also made embarrassing faces.
Long time has passed and the rain continued to drop hard. Eric was sitting by the fire, taking only his tops off and revealing him in his grey tank top. The girls took a good look at his surprisingly great figure and eyed him in amazement. The long silence became awkward, so Amy decided to break it with a question currently in her mind.
"Say, I've been wondering." Amy watched the fire crackle as she spoke. "What kind of help will we receive from this Professor we are going to go see?"
"Professor Blanche is one of the brilliant mind who have been researching the pokemons' growths." Eric answered. "She have observed the pokemon's evolution up close to inspect the cause of their metamorphosis. For instance; how they are changed or what the changes' effects are, the shapes of their new forms, and even studied their categorical values. Strengths of the pokemons skyrockets as they evolve, but each pokemons wields different kinds of stats combinations depending on their natures and how they were growing from consuming good enough of vitamins. The professor spends her time researching it all and holds the blueprints on all of the researched evolutionary equations. Recently, she have been working on something that has to do with something from her recent research, the ultimate development."
"What's that?" Amy wondered.
Eric gave himself a brief pause before answering. "Mega evolution."
Amy pondered the terms. She have heard of 'evolution', but never heard of the term 'Mega evolution'.
"Mega evolution?" Amy asked. "What's that, some kind of a hidden stage for the pokemons to evolve in?"
"You can say that." Rebecca replied. "Simply put, it is something which only several pokemons can develop, but only if their bonds are strong enough with their trainers. When pokemons evolve, their forms and their new strengths becomes permanent, however with mega evolution; although it can maximize their stats drastically, this form of evolving is only temporary. But there is a catch, you can only wield one mega evolving pokemon in the party cache, laws of physics prevents the unlimited use of such powers."
Amy sounded amazed by what she have just learned. "Wow. How is it done?"
Eric answered this time. "Two things are required for the trainers to mega evolve their pokemons, a mega bracelet and a special marble called mega stone that can activate it. Professor Blanche have studied this source of power for so long, there is no doubt that she have developed those devices on her own."
"So we are going to use mega evolutions to fight the Pandoras?" Amy was astounded by all this. "Awesome!"
"It is, but there is one problem." Rebecca started. "Pandoras have also developed those bracelets, and therefore can also mega evolve their pokemons."
"Huh?" Amy sounded disappointed.
"The reason we needed professor Blanche's help in the first place," Rebecca continued. "is because we needed capability to even the playing field so that we can stand against the Pandoras. We couldn't face the deeper parts of the organization because we lacked enough strength to fight them."
"And professor Blanche holds the key to help face them?" Amy wondered. "I thought she had something that the Pandoras didn't afford yet, what would be the point if they could mega evolve as well?"
"Whether that's true or not," Eric started. "one way or another, we need her help to face them if we ever encounter Pandora grunts that can mega evolve their pokemon. Plus, mega evolving pokemons isn't the only thing professor Blanche is trying to accomplish. She have found a way to break another laws of science regarding mega evolving."
"And what would that be?" Amy asked.
"That's what we are going to find out." Rebecca said. "Once we reach Boreal, she'll provide us all the answers that we need."
The trainers stared at the fire longer than they could count how many raindrops they've heard hitting the ground. As the rain fell, there was silence and there was an unpleasant mood around the atmosphere. There was so many questions left unanswered such as if they'll ever get to Boreal or if they'll have any great chance against the organization whether they get there or not. No one even knew what kind of the projects the Pandoras were even working on, but Amy have watched Eric's eerie emotion across his face; at that moment she began suspecting that maybe Eric knew more than he was telling her. But if that was true, why would he need to conceal it? After a while, rain stopped falling and the forest became much clearer than ever due to the arrival of the sunlight.
"Looks like the rain stopped." Ingrid said in a relieved tone. "At long last. I'm glad that it didn't last longer than I feared."
"Just because it's called rain forest," Eric said. "doesn't mean that it rains forever here. The forest calms down from time to time before releasing its unprecedented stormy weather."
"Well, then." Rebecca said. "How about we find a way out before it rains again then?"
The girls put back on their clothes after they dried up and started getting out from under the tree trunk. Before they could leave though, they started to smell something nice.
"Say." Amy sniffed the air. "Is it just me or do I smell something sweet?"
"You're right." Rebecca could also smell it. "This aroma isn't like anything I smelled before."
"What do you think it is?" Amy wondered.
"This fragrance." Eric began. "It's usually what attracts pokemons. I suspect that it's coming from nearby."
The group followed the traces of the fragrance towards the bushes blooming multiple colored leaves. Once they've gone through the bushes, they saw something that nobody else have ever seen before with their own eyes. Shining before them was like a fortress with golden colors swarming with little bug pokemons gathered around the area.
"What is that?" Amy was mesmerized by what they were seeing.
Rebecca gave a light chuckle before explaining. "My, so that's where the great scent was coming from. Girls and boy, what we are looking at is none other than a Combee hives, where the honeys they collect are gathered."
The hive they were seeing wasn't like anything they've ever seen. It was large, and it was hanging right above the giant tree before them. The swarm of Combees were flying around the hive as if the were protecting it, it was reasonable; after all it was their home. The golden color of the hive was illuminating within the sunlight, and the great fragrance they've smelled was extravagant. It appeared that this was the only place inside the forest that looked like majestic heaven, instead of some dark and gunky cesspool of toxic waste.
"Well," Ingrid began. "Usually I don't bode well when it comes to bugs, but I believe that this sight is glorious. Those Combees have outdone themselves."
"I've read about this before." Eric pointed. "Combees search for honeys in meadows and then collect them in their nest. So that's the nest, this is actually my first time seeing their nest up close."
"Wow," Amy said. "How did they built such thing?"
"Just like how Spinaraks and Galvantulas built their territory with their webs," Rebecca answered. "Combees produce durable silks which they use to make their nest out of. The hexagontal shape within their home is made so that they can store each of their house in order to keep their younglings in. Obviously, they use honeys to keep them all together, that's why the hive smells so nice. I never imagined that they could build it so large though."
"But this forest doesn't have a meadow." Amy realized. "So where do they get the honeys from?"
"Don't you recall when we saw bug pokemons sucking honeys from the trees when we first entered this place?" Eric reminded her. "Combees not only find honeys from flowers, they also find them inside the tree saplings. Still, I'm amazed that they were able to fly all over the forest for the sake of their daily welfare despite how big this place is. I am admired by their efforts."
"Hold on," Rebecca began searching her bag. "I want to photograph this." She took out a miniature digital camera and took several shots of the Combee hive.
"Say." Amy began saying. "Is there any particular reason they are collecting honeys beside fortifying their fortress?"
"Probably to feed their children and themselves." Eric said. "Honeys are like Combees' sacred treasure. They work everyday to gather them in one place. Although they do collect them to feed children, they mainly feed it to their queen."
"Queen?" Amy thought.
"Yup." Rebecca replied. "Combees are doing their labor for the sake their ruler, and their only mother who provides more of them. Vespiquen. The mother that watches over all of the Combees and their house. For serving her, the queen rewards them by ensuring their survival. This way they can continue their ways and prosper."
"Wow." Amy was amazed. "Where is this queen?"
"Most likely deep inside the nest." Eric said. "But no one from outside could get to her, because she was well protected by the walls within those hives as well as the male Combees who swore to protect their majesty. They are quite sensitive when it comes to security, due to the other bug pokemons constantly attacking them. They do what ever they can to protect the queen at all cost."
"How come?' Amy asked.
"Because if they lose their queen," Eric continued "it is all over for them. No kingdom could survive without their ruler, and once they lose the one in charge, the kingdom could crumble in the matter of minutes; if not then seconds."
"Wow." Amy pondered the possibility.
"What if there was hope?" Heather suddenly said. "If they had a heir to the throne, then the kingdom could survive right?"
"Well..." Eric hesitated. "It's not that easy because-"
Suddenly, they heard a swarming noise. It was a sound of buzzing which seems to be getting louder and louder as if it was approaching them.
"What's that sound?" Ingrid asked.
"Look!" Rebecca pointed above. "It's coming from over there!"
Everyone then saw it, a group of hostile bug pokemons were coming towards the Combee hive. Like a swarms of locust, they came in charging while equipped with their pair of needle arms. The pokemons looked like bees but with intentions of taking down a territory.
"Are those..." Amy said with aghast look. "Beedrills? What are they-"
"I think I know." Rebecca said as she adjusted her glasses. "They came to take over the Combee territory to take their honeys. They are one of the pokemons that would resort to force in order to get what they want."
"Of course." Eric crossed his arms and watched the trespassers. "Once there is a country with better settlement, there are bound to be 'invaders' that would want to take it as their own. It's like the Greek invading Troy who are trying to defend their home from them. Which sides will win? That is the question."
The group saw the Beedrills that are taking out the almost harmless Combees which are being decimated little by little. Beedrills were all firing their Twin Needle attacks at them as well as Poison Jabs which dealt significant damages to the Combees. Their only defense mechanisms were their Gust and Bug Bite attacks, which didn't seem to do much against the army of Beedrills. While each Combees were falling to the ground while being wounded, some of the hornets were attacking the hive fortress; tearing down its walls in the process. They all saw the poor Combees, tethered; bashed; and poisoned on the ground, they seemed helpless against the invaders.
"Can't we do something?" Amy pleaded. "We can't simply let them take out those poor Combees, who worked so hard gathering those honeys."
Eric was simply watching. Amy didn't think her words have reached him.
"Eric come on!" Amy said to him. "I know that you are against butting in others' business, but letting all this happen while we could be helping...it just feels wrong! So please..." Amy grabbed his arms and shook them, hoping her pleads could put some sense in him in order for him to notice all the madness happening.
"Amy." Eric finally spoke. "I wasn't insisting on letting this happen. It's true that we have no right to get in someone else's fight, but letting casualties occur when we wield the ability to prevent them is the same as murder. I have seen many deaths in the past..." Eric paused for a while and closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. "...and I am not about to see it happen again." Eric took out one of his pokeballs and threw it out in the open. "Zubat!" Eric cried
"Jip jip!" Cried the summoned bat pokemon.
"Help those Combees fight." Eric commanded. "Use Wing Attack!"
"Jip Jip!" The Zubat took out its wings and flied towards one of the Beedrills and hit it with its wings. The Beedrill felt great pain and then fell to the ground.
"Eric..." Amy was happy that Eric have agreed with her for once. She then took out her own pokeball. "Thank you, now let me help you. Go Shroomish!"
"Shroo!" Cried the spore pokemon as it got summoned.
"Cripple those Beedrills with Stun Spore!" Amy demanded instantly.
"Shroomish!" The Shroomish blasted its yellow powders towards the Beedrills and made them feel numb. As they breathed within the powders, they began acting strange as if they got hit by tasers.
"Drill..." The Beedrills were not amused by the two trainers' interruption and then engaged in battle with them. They have gathered in many numbers and began to fortify against their new opponents.
"There's no turning back now." Eric said. "you ready?" He asked Amy.
"One hundred percent!" Amy assured.
"Very good." Eric faced the Beedrills again. "Zubat, rattle them with Supersonic!"
"Jip jip jip!" The Zubat emitted some kind of soundwave from its mouth and aimed it towards the Beedrills. The Beedrills gained another ailment that started to make them turn against each other.
"Buzzz~!" The Beedrills were relentless, and some of them began charging towards their enemy with their needles pointed at them. The attacking Beedrills initiated their Fury Attacks.
"Tackle them Shroomish!" Amy commanded.
"Shroo!" The Shroomish charged itself to attack the attacking Beedrills and managed to knock them down.
"Zubat! Bite them!" It was now Eric's turn to fight and he told his pokemon to fight in close range.
"Jip!" The Zubat took out its fangs and began dealing some damage on the fallen Beedrill.
They have gotten the upper hands now. While the battle was going on, Rebecca went and started to pour some potions on the Combees that got hurt during the invasion. Ingrid and heather helped her while trying to avoid getting caught in the crowd of ongoing battle. Although the Beedrills were having hard time retaliating, they were persistent. They began calling for backups and all decided to storm right at them.
"Can we keep this up?" Amy wondered.
"Giving up already?" Eric said. "I'm just getting warmed up." He focused on his pokemon again. "Zubat, use Supersonic on them once more!"
"JIP!" The Zubat emitted its soundwaves again and managed to keep the Beedrills off balance.
The Beedrills began changing their angle by firing their Pin Missile attack. They shot their thorns at the end of their thorax like arrows fired by archers. Some of them also attacked with Aerial Ace move as close range attacks. Due to the constant attacks from those Beedrills, both Zubat and Shroomish started to take multiple hits.
"This isn't good." Eric admitted. "Looks like we'll have to use desperate methods to ensure their survival of battle."
"I'll say." Amy understood what they were to do now.
"Zubat, Leech life!" Eric commanded.
"Use Mega Absorb Shroomish!" Amy did too.
The two pokemons began leeching some health off their enemies with their draining moves and managed to regain some of their lost healths.
"Now take them out with Wing Attack!" Eric gave the finishing order.
"Jip!" The Zubat went and sliced a lot of them in grand dexterity. The Beedrills that got hit by it all fell to the ground in agony. As the bees dropped out of the battle, the Zubat and the Shroomish both began glowing.
"Oh my!" Amy have already seen this many times now and realized that it was the process of evolution.
Both her and Eric's pokemons were developing sudden growth under the bright white light. As they glowed, their forms began materializing into another shapes. The Zubat became bigger while the Shroomish began to obtain a larger body. When the light finally faded, the two pokemons have revealed their new forms.
"Gol!" Cried the Golbat.
"Breloom!" Cried the Breloom.
"Alright! We beat the Beedrills and evolved our pokemons!" Amy was beaming with delight.
"It's not over." Eric didn't seem like celebrating however, and there was a reason. "Look up there!"
Up on the tree where the honey fortress was hanging, a bunch of Weedles crawled down towards it and began chomping on the hives. They were chewing the hive piece by piece while the Beedrills were dealing with the Combees who were its sentry.
"Those Weedles are more of a threat than their beloved champions. They are infesting the entire hive, if we are to help them we are going to have to take them out as well." Eric pointed at the Weedles and called his Golbat. "Golbat, use Air Cutter to get those Weedles off."
"Gol!" The Golbat's Wings glowed and it flapped them to send out several blast of air slashes on the Weedles feasting themselves on the giant beehive.
"Wee!" The Weedles all feel from the tree, knocked unconscious after getting hit by Golbat's Air Cutter move. Their infiltration plan was a failure.
"I guess that the Beedrills are taken care of now." Amy took a breath with relief. "There's not a single one flying around now."
"Yes." Eric responded. "But the sudden silence is strangely suspicious. I hope I'm wrong, but I think there are some more Beedrills nearby."
The two trainers relocated the rest of their companions who managed to patch up the wounded Combees. After giving them the progress they've made from the battle, they started talking.
"I think you are right." Rebecca spoke to Eric. "The Beehive looks unstable after the beatings it took from the Beedrills. There might be chances that some of them began attacking in it."
"In that case, shouldn't we check it out?" Ingrid asked.
"How?" Amy replied. "The entrance to that hive only fits anything that's the size of the Combees."
"True." Eric said. "But while there was battle taking place in the front, I suspect that there was an infiltration at the rear, most likely they tore down the wall to get in. If that's true then we should be able to get in through it."
They decided to take Eric's consideration and went behind the beehive. As he said, there were several large holes there, big enough for the Beedrills to get in.
"Seriously Eric, how many times do you have to be right?" Rebecca asked sarcastically.
The trainers made the holes bigger for them to enter and decided to investigate inside. The hive was surprisingly large on the inside, the surroundings were covered with golden honeys and had multiple Hexagonal crevices within the walls. On the floor, they saw some Combees, all wounded on top of their own honeys.
"So there were battles going on in here too." Rebecca instantly took out some potions and began treating the wounded bee pokemons.
"I wonder where the Beedrills are." Amy asked as she looked around. Honeys were dripping on top of her as she searched the place. She figured it was because they were inside the hive that the honeys fell, but later the honeys began dripping a lot harder, at this point she decided to look up. And what she saw, startled her.
"GUYS!" Amy pointed upward and made them see the Beedrills draining the honeys on the ceiling. Amy took action at the sight of them. "Breloom! Use Seed Bomb on them!" Amy cried to her Breloom, who was out of the pokeball this whole time.
"Breloom!" The Breloom threw bunch of large seeds at the Beedrills above and when it hit them they exploded. The blast made the Beedrills dispatch and then they began charging towards it with their poisonous stingers.
"Use Air Cutter Golbat!" Eric gave the order.
"Gol!" The Golbat used its Air Cutter move again to take out the Beedrills before they can land their attacks on Amy's Breloom. Finally, all the Beedrills were taken out.
"Is that all of them?" Amy was hoping that all of the Beedrills were taken out now.
"I don't think so." Eric said. "Those Beedrills looked like bottom-feeders. When there are soldiers fighting, there is a general giving them the order. I haven't seen the 'General' yet."
"So where is-" Before Amy could finish, they heard some sounds from not far from where they were. It sounded like another battle was taking place.
"What's that?" Ingrid asked.
"It's coming from over there." Eric pointed at the direction of the sound. Then they all went towards it to find out the source. When they got there, they saw two pokemons fighting. It was between a Vespiquen and a large green Beedrill.
"Bizz~!" Cried the Beedrill.
"Viizz!" Cried the Vespiquen.
The Beedrill continuously assaulted the Vespiquen with its Twineedle attack, but the Vespiquen kept protecting itself with Defend Order move. The Beedrill's attack became more violent and soon it started to break down its shield made from bunch of little bugs with its might. When Vespiquen could no longer hold on, it finally took massive hit from the attack.
"Is...is that the leader?" Amy could not believe how different it looked from the others. "Why is it so large? It's color is also different."
"It must be a 'Shiny' Beedrill" Rebecca said. "On extremely rare occasions, trainers can bump into pokemons that's in different colors from its usual colors. The reason for its larger size though, it's questionable."
They all saw the Vespiquen, feeling helpless from the damage it took. It was now at the Beedrill's mercy. The Beedrill took out its stinger, attempting to take out the queen with its Fell Sting move. Amy decided to get in and save the pokemon.
"Breloom! Help that Vespiquen! Use Headbutt!"
"Breloom!" The Breloom ran towards the Beedrill and hit it hard with its head. The Beedrill got knocked back but managed to regain its footing. The pokemon was preparing to retaliate.
"Bizz!" The Beedrill charged right at it.
"Jump over it!" Amy commanded. "And then Headbutt again!"
"Bra!" The Breloom hopped and dodged the Beedrill's stinger. It then bashed its head on the large bug. But the pokemon quickly turned around to swing its stingers again and managed to hit the breloom with its Twineedle attack. The damage somehow poisoned the Breloom.
"Brugh!" Cried the Breloom.
"It appears that it got poisoned from the attack." Eric said. "Twineedle can sometimes poison its target."
"Crap!" Amy didn't like the sound of that. "Breloom! Will you be alright?"
"Breloom!" The pokemon however felt healthy for some reason, it responded to her with confidence.
"Weird. Her Breloom doesn't seem to be in pain from the toxic." Ingrid wondered.
"The only explanation for that would be that the Breloom has the Poison Heal ability." Eric said. "Instead of taking damage, the poison will regenerate it."
"Alright then!" Amy was delighted by the info. "Breloom, get that Beedrill with your Seed Bomb attack!"
"Breeloom!" The Breloom threw more of its large seeds and then blasted the Beedrill with them. But the move didn't do good damage on it due to its 4X times resistance to grass-type attack.
"Amy, you are gonna have to use normal-type move against it." Eric advised. "Grass-type moves don't do very much against bug and poison-types."
"In that case, use Headbutt again!"
"Breloom!" The Breloom attacked the Beedrill with its head again. But the Beedrill avoided and then stabbed the Breloom with Poison Jab attack.
"Not good." Eric said. "Even with Poison Heal ability, it's still weak to poison-type moves. If only if it can somehow use a move that is more effective against bugs then it might have a better chance of countering it."
"I think it can though." Rebecca said after treating the Combees. "Breloom is now a part fighting-type, so like many fighting-type pokemons it should have access to many rock-type moves. Amy can you think of one?"
"I do have one move in my mind." Amy said.
"Then see if your Breloom can use it." Eric told Amy.
"Alright." Amy faced her pokemon. "Breloom, try to hit that thing with Stone Edge!"
"Breloom!" The Breloom gathered its might to its arms which were now covered with rocky pieces. The Breloom then used its powerful arms to hit the Beedrill. Unfortunately, the pokemon evaded from the attack.
"Argh! I almost had it!" Amy cursed.
"Stone Edge is a predictable move after all, so it was bound to miss." Eric sighed.
The Beedrill flied around the area and then began shooting its Electra Webs at its opponent from its mouth. The move landed and shocked the Breloom a bit.
"What!" Amy was surprised. "I didn't know it can use moves like that!"
"That's odd." Rebecca said. "No wild Beedrills should be able to learn Electra Webs. Only move tutors can teach it to pokemons owned by trainers."
"This Beedrill might not be an ordinary wild pokemon then." Eric thought. "It doesn't matter though, we need to focus on taking it out first."
"I'm way ahead of you!" Amy said. "Breloom! Try using Stone Edge again!"
"Breloom!" The Breloom repeated its previous move and tried to attack the Beedrill with it. But the Beedrill dodged it again.
"Argh! Not again!" Amy was getting frustrated.
The Beedrill was getting hyped up, it now looked at Amy with its blue eyes. It then changed its strategy by attacking her with its attacks.
"Crap! It's now heading right for Amy!" Eric realized.
The Beedrill was quick on its wings, it aimed its stingers at Amy and tried to pierce her with them. Before it can land its attack on her though, a blast of water came out of somewhere and soaked the Beedrill and made it fall to the ground.
"Biz..." the Beedrill tried flying again, but its wings were too wet for them to fly.
"What the-" Amy said, looking around to see where the waters came from. she then heard a rather familiar cry.
"Shell~!" The little Shellos from earlier came from nowhere and fired its Water Pulse move at the Beedrill, protecting Amy.
"You!" Amy recognized the green and blue pokemon that landed right in front of her. It now had determinations to fight for her.
The Beedrill got back on its feet and tried attacking its attacker. But the Shellos acted by firing its Mud Slap at it. When the splat of mud hit the Beedrill, the pokemon became blinded. The little guy faced Amy and then gave her a nod, indicating that she now had the chance to attack it once more.
"Thanks..." Amy then faced the Beedrill. "Now's your chance Breloom! Use Stone Edge!"
"Breloom!" The Breloom equipped itself with rock like arms and charged right towards the blinded Beedrill. It then finally landed its attack on it, dealing a massive damage on the Beedrill and send it flying towards the Hive wall and knocked it unconscious. The battle was now over. Amy approached the Shellos and crouched towards it.
"You." She said to it. "Even after I said some awful things to you, you still came to aid me and then saving me?"
The Shellos nodded. "Shell~"
"Thanks..." Amy said quietly. "and sorry for saying that I didn't like you."
"Shell~" The pokemon cried happily. Amy now made a new bond with another new pokemon companion.
The Beedrills retreated out of the hive after learning that their leader have lost. One of them looked back at them, declaring that they will return someday. The Combees that fought have gotten better thanks to Rebecca treating them and they gave them all their thanks for helping them out. The Combees were now okay, despite the damage their fortress took. But what of their queen?
"Guys the queen!" Amy said. The group looked at the Vespiquen, who seems to be injured.
"I'll go mend her wounds." Rebecca advanced, but Eric stopped her.
"Wait. Something seems wrong." The Vespiquen seemed wounded, but it wasn't concerned about its injuries. In fact, its concern was focused on something else entirely.
"I'll go see what's wrong with it." Eric slowly approached the vespiquen, who was simply sitting on its throne looking beneath itself. Eric made to the point where he could see a lot better, when he saw what the queen was looking at, he now understood.
"Guys." Eric finally said. "Do you recall when I said that the honeys were like the Combees' sacred treasure?"
"Yeah?" Amy was wondering where he was going with this.
"That wasn't actually true." He said. "Combees produce honeys practically everyday, they are more like their valuable resources than treasure. Their real sacred treasure is something else entirely. Come look."
Curious, the girls also got closer to the throne where the Vespiquen was sitting. When they finally gazed at what Eric was pointing at, bit of confusions were there.
"What the-" Amy was sure she missed something. What she was looking at was a single Combee, with a broken wing. Question was, what made this Combee so special that the queen was being so concerned for. "-it's just a Combee."
"No it isn't." Rebecca took a closer look at the Combee. It was shaking in fear and it was feeling great agony from its broken wing. Rebecca adjusted her glasses to have a better look at it. When she inspected the Combee, she realized what Eric was talking about. "This Combee...is none other than the heir to the throne."
"Pardon?" Amy asked.
"Do you see that there is a red triangular dot on the third head of this Combee?" Rebecca pointed at it and they all saw it. There was a red dot on the forehead of the Combee's bottom head. Amy recalled that none of the Combees she's seen had anything like that at all.
"Yeah, what about it?" Amy demanded.
"This is a female Combee." Rebecca explained. "Out of the Combees that the queen breed, only 12 out of 100 ever come as a female."
"And why does it matter?" Amy was still confused.
"Amy." Eric said. "Only female Combee can evolve to a Vespiquen."
"Huh?" Amy said.
Eric now faced Heather. "Heather, you once asked if there could be heir to the throne for the kingdom that lost its ruler."
"Yeah?" Heather nodded.
"You are right." Eric said. "The Combees' generation could be saved if they simply had a new heir to the throne after they lose their queen. But there is a catch, only the female can take the throne since only they can evolve, but the problem is that the Vespiquen can only breed a female Combee rarely. As you see, the red dot indicates that is is a female. There is no worry once the queen dies once it breeds a female, but what if it dies before it could ever conceive the female? Even if laws of nature didn't prohibit the males from breeding, Combees lack the proper reproductive organs to conceive an offspring, only the adult can lay new life for them. Yes, the Vespiquen is quite endangered because of this fact. Once it dies without a proper heir, the kingdom is lost, forever. So you see, their treasure is something that can ensure the survival of the Combee race, in this case the female heir to the throne."
Eric's explanation made sense now. Once the queen or its heir gets vanquished, there won't be any insurance that the Combee family will ever survive towards the future generation, and the only way for them to strive was that the lineage continued. For the Combees, the female were the best hope of survival of their race since only the queen can govern them and guide them. It was no wonder that the Vespiquen was very protective to its only daughter of the family. The Vespiquen didn't seem to care about its own wounds, but it was worried about the Combee before it. The Vespiquen leaned closer to her and rubbed itself to it sadly. Rebecca got closer to the Combee while holding onto her potion spray.
"It'll be alright." Rebecca assured it. "I'll treat her wounds gently."
As Rebecca was patching up the Combee's wing, Vespiquen looked at her. The pokemon then made as if it was talking to her.
"Vzzz...vzzz..." The pokemon said.
"Huh?" Rebecca stared at the queen.
"She says thank you." Heather translated.
Rebecca smiled at the Vespiquen and replied, "You are welcome."
"Vzz...vzzz...vizz..." The Vespiquen continued speaking.
"It also says that-" Heather continued to interpret. "-that it wants you to take the Combee with you after you treat her wound."
The request coming from the pokemon was very unexpected, as they all stared at her with questionable looks.
"Huh?" Rebecca said. "Wh...what do you mean?"
"Vzz..viizzzz...vz vz vz..." Vespiquen only blurted.
"The Beedrills-" Heather continued. "-they will come back to tear down their hive to steal their honeys, annihilating the Combees in the process. In order to ensure the safety of their race, it wants us to keep this Combee safe so that their lineage may continue whether they survive the next Beedrill attack or not."
Then they all looked at the queen. Judging by its look, they could tell that this decision was not easy for it to make. However the Vespiquen knew that their survival of their endangered race was of the highest priority over family. It knew that it can't survive if it stays with them, so the queen decides for it to be well protected by their saviors of today.
"Are you sure about this?" Rebecca asked it.
"Vzz." The Vespiquen answered and nodded. They didn't need Heather to let them know that it replied 'yes'.
"It knows that it won't be able to see its child again." Eric said. "But in order to keep it safe, even a possible permanent farewell is necessary."
Amy knew how the Vespiquen felt about all this. Her own mom was hesitant to let her go on her adventure, but trusting her determinations and confidence to get through with it gave her the courage to let her go. The Vespiquen also decided to trust her own instinct and let her child fly out to the world for her own good.
"Rebecca, it looks like you'll have to fill in your party slot again today." Eric said.
"You want me to carry it?" Rebecca mended the Combee the best as she could. "Alright, I'll keep it in good care."
"Vizz viz." The Vespiquen thanked them.
"The queen said not to worry." Heather said. "While we are gone, its underlings will try and rebuilt the colonies that got wrecked today and regather the lost honeys too."
"That's the strange thing about the Combees." Eric said. "No matter how slim their hopes are, they will always try and recolonize."
"Well then." Ingrid said. "We should get out of here before the Beedrills come back any time soon."
"I agree." Rebecca allowed the Combee she treated to try and hover for a bit with a patched-up wing. After ensuring that it recovered a bit and some more farewell moment between mother and daughter and promised them that they will return to reunite them someday. The group finally left the hive and got back on tracks.
The forest seemed less gloomy as they climbed up the trails out of the pest-zone. The path ahead was getting shinier by every steps they took.
"Say, is it me or are we heading right for the exit now?" Amy looked ahead and saw a hope of relief. There was indeed an exit out of the woods, one which they all were hoping to see before the end of the day.
"Thank god." Rebecca said. "Looks like we are getting out of here today after all. More good news is that I managed to get my mobile touch-screen device working too."
"Let's celebrate once we go through that exit shall we?" Eric advised and they all decided to run towards the bright light ahead of them.
As they reached outside, they were looking towards the new path right away. They were now looking at the view of their next destination from the top of the hill. Under the bright blue sky was the Wacabec town, the city of old relics and history.
Somewhere underground
The factory was under production using serums of ultra-violate liquid which is injected on pokeballs lied to the moving conveyer belt. Atop the upper elevated level, a lone figure was watching the progress of the mysterious production. While the masked figure was looking at what he created, another figure approached him with a fax-receiver. The second figure was female wearing velvet dress and had her garnet hairs flow down to her spine. The manly figure took a receiver from the machine and placed it by his face.
"Yes?" Van Damien spoke to the caller and listened. "I see, SIN has made an excellent progress on his part of the investigation. Very well. Send me what he's got so far." He then hung up.
The fax machine then produced an A4 paper displaying a photograph of the trainers he placed search warrants on, each placed individually with personal infos on them. When he saw one of them, he smirked.
"Is something the matter?" The female spoked.
"My my." Van Damien said with an amusing tone. "Fate has the tendency to be toying with me." He eyed the paper closely. "It's a small world we live in after all." His moods have changed drastically as he laid his eyes on one of the four mugshots. The one he looked at was none other than, Amy's.
I stressed a lot while trying to get this done. Sorry for the delay, I was really busy. Looks like the trainers are making great progress of strengthening their pokemons. Anyway thanks for the wait and I hope that you guys enjoyed reading. A bit more of a filler I know, but at least I've added materials that allows the plot to progress.
Trivia time:
In "Team Fortress 2", the most class I play recently is Spy and Sniper. My spy is equipped with 'Cloak and Dagger', 'Spycicle', and Tape-recorder'; While the sniper equips 'Jarate', 'Bushanka', and 'Sydney Sweeper'.
I hope I see you guys in the next chapter, where the plot thickens deeply. You'll just going to have to wait to find out how. Later.