August 23

Steam billowed out from the bathroom as James stepped out, armed only with the towel around his waist and a flashlight. Torkoal and Azumarill filed out after him and made for the house's exit.

"Tell Tracy we appreciate the hot water," James said. The aqua bunny gave a soft nod and closed the door behind her.

With so many newcomers to Oak's home there weren't enough beds or blankets to go around. The Rocket trio weren't strangers to sleeping outside, but Tracy offered them an alternative if they weren't squeamish. He and Jessie had already gone through several houses looking for nonperishables and knew of one that was intact enough for them to sleep in.

James turned around, aimed his light down the hall, and was greeted by a sea of accusing eyes and rictus grins. Vacant as it was, he couldn't shake the discomfort of entering a stranger's home. He'd been tempted to pull down the pictures of the last inhabitants.

"It's just for one night," he whispered to himself and to the portraits, and made his way down the hall. Snores and hisses filtered through the door where Meowth and the rest of their Pokémon were resting. He smiled and hoped they got the rest they needed after such a battle. He reached the end of the hall and the master bedroom. As he opened it, he tried not to sigh.

The only light in the room came from a candle on the nightstand. Its warm glow kept the shadows at bay. Sitting at the edge of the bed, facing a barren wall, was his partner. Jessie hadn't moved since he left for his bath. She was still in her towel. Velvet tresses of damp hair cascaded down her back. It was a nice look for her, he felt.

But do I like it this way because she looks less like Jessebelle?

He quickly dismissed the notion. There was more to it than that. This was a side of his partner no one ever got to see. There was no hairspray to hold her hair up, no eyeliner, lipstick, or makeup of any kind. No additives. Just her. He could look at her face, the same face worn by his terrifying fiancé, and feel at ease.

James walked over quietly, sitting down beside her. She didn't move away or look at him, focus still trained on the wall. He'd given her some space, soaked in her silence for the last hour. Jessie was usually forthcoming with her thoughts and feelings. But that was back when things were normal. The rules had changed since…

My god, has it really been only a week since then?

The decision to stop following Ash and his Pikachu felt like a lifetime ago. Yet the night it all started was still vivid in his mind. A sidelong glance was enough to confirm Jessie wasn't wearing the same defeated expression she had that night, but then…what was eating at her?

The obstacle at Viridian? The Boss' base being destroyed? Being disconnected from command?

James could've spent the rest of the night listing reasons and any one, or all of them, could be responsible for her silence. He'd have an easier time pulling teeth than getting her to tell him what was wrong if she didn't want to talk. Then it dawned on him that even if he knew, what good would it do?

If it was something he couldn't fix, something he had no answer for, what good would come of him knowing?

Solidarity? The comfort of someone who can share her worries? Or…maybe I don't need to know to do that for her.

He scooted towards her, and when she didn't move away he inched further until they were side by side. His arm wrapped around her shoulders. Her cold hair sent goosebumps up his arm; her skin was cool beneath his touch. She didn't respond at first but after a few heartbeats she dipped her head to the side and rested it on his shoulder. They stayed like that for some time. James didn't mind. For the first time in days he felt like he could let himself relax, catch his breath. He didn't have to run for his life or worry about what might be lurking around every corner. There was nothing to pilot, nothing to drive. Nothing that threatened to kill Mime Jr. and his teammates. Sure, there were places that they needed to be, but they didn't have to be there now. For now, they could live in this moment. Even if he was just staring at a blank wall, he was with his partner in crime and he wouldn't trade this moment of peace for the world.

"It's… the first time we've dug a grave," Jessie whispered.

James stiffened for a second, then nodded against her head. "Right."

"It's always been holes and halfway through it I thought that's all that it was until I realized what we were doing and... I kept thinking." Jessie paused, blinking back the moisture around her eyes and taking steadying breaths. James calmly waited for her even as the following silence dragged on for a few minutes.

"The twerp, his Pikachu, all his twerp friends, I, I don't hate them. I don't like them, but it's not like I ever wanted them to be," James felt her shudder as she exhaled and gulped down more air, "the twerpette was really hurt this time and, and you helped her get better, but if things are going to be like this from now on, one day I might have to, I don't want to be the one to-" His hand lifted from her shoulder and stroked the top of her head.

"Our twerps have been through a lot," he whispered, "even before all of… this started happening. Trapped in a sunken cruise ship, stranded on an island of giant robot Pokémon, a dozen world-ending events, usually involving a legendary Pokémon."

He held her hand. "But if something happens, then I'll do the digging."

Jessie nodded against his shoulder, snaking an arm around his waist and pulling him tighter.

She couldn't tell what else she had actually seen. She couldn't bring herself to say she saw him and Meowth at the bottom of the grave.

"You should get some sleep," Tracy mumbled. Brock leaned against the door to Oak's living room.

"I could say the same," Brock fired back.

"I sleep better when my body just gives out. I don't dream when that happens."

"Sorry."

"Don't be, you're not the one who causes them. What's your reason for staying up?"

"I have questions, and there's a few things that you need to know."

"I'm all ears."

The breeder pushed himself off the door and beckoned for Tracy to follow him to somewhere quieter. Dawn was on the other side of the door. She'd finally managed to catch some sleep, and Brock meant to keep it that way. They went up the first flight of stairs into Professor Oak's lab.

"What're your plans after this? Are you staying here, or would you like to come with us?"

Tracy slumped onto the lab's couch, eyes angled towards the ceiling. He was quiet for some time, then his eyes closed.

"I came here to be with Professor Oak. Now that he's… gone," he forced the word out and took a breath to steady himself, "part of me feels like there's nothing left for me here, but I can't help but feel guilty about leaving this place."

Brock nodded. "I won't force you to come with us. If you want to stay here, I'd understand. Things should be a little more peaceful with the fearow's leader gone."

"Or the rest of the flock might come for revenge," Tracy countered, but Brock shook his head.

"I spoke with Samurai after the fight, he told me that most of the flock stuck around to watch the end of the fight and when their leader died, they left. He must've not inspired loyalty from them."

"Sounds about right." Tracy gave a grim smile and stared at his hands. "Let's say I do come with you, where would I be going?"

"That's where this gets complicated," Brock sighed. "Samurai tells me that going into the Viridian Forest is a death sentence. The beedrill are expanding their territory and snatching up anyone they can find, people or Pokémon, to feed their young. I told him all the Pokémon Ash owned but he said that wouldn't be enough. He said we'd need an army."

"So you thought about the flock that Ash's Pidgeot watched over," Tracy surmised. The breeder nodded.

"I thought for sure they would've come to help in this fight."

"I was banking on it," Tracy admitted. "Did Ash say why they didn't come?"

"Haven't heard him say anything about it. I've barely heard him talk. Mimey told me that they found the flock, but that we wouldn't be able to count on them for any kind of help. He wouldn't tell me why."

Tracy turned his hands over, curling his twitching fingers one at a time. At first Brock thought it was some physical exercise for his damaged hands, until he looked up at him.

"Twenty-nine Pokémon is hardly an army."

"You're right. Which is why I came up with a plan. You're not going to like it, but-"

Brock's words were cut short when Azumarill bounded into the room, crying her name and pointing down the stairs.

The glow of morning crept out from beyond the mountain range. While it wasn't much, it was enough to forgo a flashlight. Brock ran out the door. The breeder's jog halted the moment he saw the bodies sprawled across the dirt. He looked away, hand hovering over his mouth as he blinked away tears.

The body was mangled and discolored. Certain segments were bloated with wounds and pustules that wept a dark ichor. Brock wanted to move closer, but the smell hit him like a wall. Moving any closer threatened to make him heave what little food he'd eaten earlier.

Samurai had beaten him there, seemingly unbothered by the foul odor. Tracy and Azumarill arrived only seconds later. His reaction was far less composed. Were it not for Windsheer's corpse, her foot still clenched around her partner's wrist, he never would have known the body once belonged to Sarah.

"She arrived a few minutes ago. Ash and his Mr. Mime were the first to reach them. The…I believe he called her a Staraptor? Well, she was alive moments before I arrived. Beedrill poison is potent, it's a miracle she made it here from the airport." Samurai explained, his tone even and clinical.

Brock needed a moment. Just days ago he had seen this woman alive. Tracy seemed to get over his grief quickly, a trait he no doubt obtained in the week before Ash had arrived.

"Are these the beedrill from Viridian?" Tracy had been looking at Brock but Samurai shook his head.

"Pallet is much too far for even the scouts to travel. This had to be done by a different swarm."

Tracy nodded. "Oak kept a small group of beedrill here on the ranch. Those that survived the blast took some bodies with them and flew away."

"How long ago was this?" Samurai pressed.

"About a week ago," Tracy replied, to which the swordsman bit his armored thumb and frowned.

"We will have to act quickly then. If we are lucky then the group that escaped here is trying to form their own hive. If left unchecked they will become an issue in the future. It will be no easy feat, but it can be done with the forces we have now." Samurai was already moving past Tracy when he felt a shaking hand grab his armored shoulder.

"And what if we're unlucky?" Tracy asked. Samurai stared back at him, unblinking as he spoke.

"If the group that left here found an already established hive, then the coming battles will be," the swordsman paused, as if weighing the word on his tongue, "Costly." He moved beyond Tracy's reach and passed Brock.

"Where are you heading?"

"The man and woman brought us here in a car. I will need it if I'm to catch up with him."

Brock's brows furrowed. "Catch up with-?" The breeder spun around and realized that none of Ash's Pokémon were around. Their trainer was equally absent.

Brock whirled around and roared at Samurai. "You let him go fight them?!" The swordsman merely shrugged.

"If it were any of you I would have gotten in the way, but Ash has seventeen powerful Pokémon. From the look in his eyes, there was little I would be able to do to stop him," Samurai calmly replied and continued on his way to the car.

Brock twisted around to look at Tracy, who gave him a simple nod.

Brock turned to run but stumbled forward. Something popped and snapped beneath his shoe. He glanced down at a pile of red and white shards. It was not the only pile. More were scattered across the road. Something about them was familiar enough to give him pause.

"He gave them a choice," Samurai said from behind him. Brock hadn't heard the swordsman get close and nearly jumped out of his skin. "To leave and live their lives how they wanted to, or to come with him and fight battles they might not survive. Not one of them chose to leave. Each one destroyed their own pokéball and went over to his side. In some ways he has grown up since I last fought him."

A part of Brock wanted to agree with him, but the boy he'd traveled with for years, the one he loved like a younger brother, the one he watched grow into a respectable trainer, had just been laid to rest the night before.

Following Ash to the hive wasn't all that difficult: just follow the carnage. Beedrill corpses were strewn across the plains. The sight had repeated itself for two miles. Looking ahead revealed no shortage of bodies. Rather than swerve around the corpses and add hours to their trip, Brock drove straight over them. It made for a bumpy ride, but Samurai found a small level of catharsis with each jump.

"And you're sure Ash didn't cause this?" Brock asked once again. If it annoyed samurai to repeat himself a third time, he didn't let it show in his voice.

"Yes, Brock. From the position of the corpses and the wounds on their bodies, a physical move slayed them. While it's possible that Ash's party restricted themselves to only dealing physical strikes to conserve strength, the discoloration of their exoskeleton tells me they were already dead by the time Ash passed through here. It is likely the bodies we see now were the scouts chasing Sarah and her Staraptor."

"Why would they chase her all this way?"

"Killing the beedrill with a physical attack allows their bodies to release a pheromone and alerts any beedrill around of their demise and of a potential food source. Fighting one risks alerting the entire hive of your presence, unless you have a move that can chemically change the body enough to render the pheromones inert."

"Okay," Brock's hands wrung the steering wheel. They were at a quarter tank now. Brock had never driven a car. He'd spent a few days with Claudina in her truck on the drive up to Sinnoh and had watched James on the way to Pallet Town. While the start had been a little rocky, going in only one direction through open fields made driving Giovanni's armored limo a simple task.

Samurai's gaze was drawn to the world beyond the window, watching the beedrill bodies that trailed behind them. The sun was shining. Tattered clouds offered patches of shade over the lush green plains. Brock would've brought the windows down to enjoy the cool breeze if not for the green spray that came whenever to drove over a body…which was frequent.

"We may be in luck," Samurai added after a beat of silence.

Brock's eyebrow rose to his hairline. "How so?"

"Sarah and her husband's Pokémon, it would seem they felled a considerable number of enemies. Without seeing the actual hive I have no way of knowing if the percentage removed was substantial, but if this truly is a new hive, then our chances of victory are good. Their staraptor were strong."

"Not strong enough," Brock sighed back.

"I know it does not alleviate the grief you and Ash must be feeling, but it is commendable nonetheless. How long did they travel with you?"

"Not long. A few days, maybe three. The only reason we're still here is because of their help."

"Then we must do what we can to ensure their efforts were not wasted," Samurai replied and leaned forward. "Ahead, the battle draws near."

Brock didn't know what Samurai was referring to, but he saw a twinkling in the distance. In another minute's drive, he made out a roaring inferno that rose from the ground flanked by elemental towers sweeping across the sky.

"Stop the car, now." Samurai's voice was calm as he gave the command, the grip on his sword tight. Brock nudged the breaks until they came to a stop nearly half a mile from the fight. He was about to shift the gears to park when Samurai stayed his hand.

"Keep the car running. I will need you to stay here."

"While you do what?" Brock snapped. Samurai stared at him, unblinking. Brock bristled under the stare.

"We are too late to stop Ash from fighting the hive. I will engage the swarm and help put an end to it. Should a patrolling swarm see this car while returning to help their hive, they will demolish this car to get to you. I would rather not lose such a valuable asset if we can help it. There is no guarantee we will find another working vehicle. You have your Pokémon with you, correct?"

Brock nodded and gestured to the passenger seat where the two pokéballs, containing Croagunk and Sudowoodo, rested. He'd left Happiny back at Oak's ranch.

"Good, release them as soon as I leave and have them protect you and this vehicle." Samurai didn't bother to get confirmation before jumping out the back and breaking into a run towards the battle. Brock wrung the steering wheel and grumbled as Samurai's figure grew smaller and smaller.

Takeda made no effort to hide his presence from the beedrill. He saw a row of them watching their brethren battle Ash's party from a distance, waiting for an opening to enter the fray. The sound of his footfalls managed to draw the focus of one, its blood red eyes glinting in the sunlight. A variance in the buzz from its wings alerted the others. Within seconds, a yellow ring of opponents encircled the swordsman.

He waited for who would make the first move. The Beedrill weren't dumb enough to converge on him at once and risk getting in the other's way; they would come at him in smaller groups of two or three. Takeda bent his knees slightly, widening his stance. He could hear the incessant drone growing louder behind him just as one of the beedrill charged.

Typical, he thought, and with practiced ease he sidestepped in time to see a footlong stinger skewer the air where his head had been. His follow-up strike was a blur, a silver flash in a sea of yellow and crimson. The charging beedrill crashed into the other, throwing their untethered heads from their necks.

This was Takeda's element. This is what he had spent every night and day of the last three years perfecting in the forest. These were the nightmarish creatures he'd grown up with for most of his life. He knew their moves, their tactics, and their limits. The fighters of this fledgling hive could do nothing that the veteran beedrill of Viridian hadn't already shown him in his youngest days.

Years of running and dodging their stingers could be repaid. No longer would he have to watch from the safety of his cabin, fearing the unending, angry buzzing, sometimes so loud it shook his bones. He could finally repay them for every painful sting, for every moment of fear in his formative years. The promise of more fighters no longer scared him.

He welcomed it.

Another side step, another stab at empty air. Takeda's katana slashed up, slicing through the beedrill's arms. The severed arms had barely started to dip when Takeda brought his blade back down, slamming the end of his hilt into the hornet's skull with a satisfying crunch. The swordsman twirled in place, grabbing the falling severed stinger in his free hand in the same spin and stabbing it into the face of the beedrill behind him.

Not so fun when it happens to you.

With every victory a new soldier took its place. Takeda did not mind. It would take a hundred more foes to make him tire and he was not alone. As tempting as it was for him to watch the sphere of carnage surrounding Ash's team, Takeda knew better than to let his focus shift from the task at hand.

A new beedrill dove towards him from above, leading with his main yellow stinger. Takeda shifted his stance and parried the protrusion, sending it wide. The hornet's life would've ended there if not for an opportunistic ally butting in with a Twin Needle. Takeda worked his blade into a rhythm, working new patterns into the flow of the blade.

Takeda reached out to the beedrill whose strike he'd parried and grabbed its main stinger by the base. With a simple swing he lobbed off its head, then brought the blade back around to block a strike to his back. He twisted around, bringing to bear the remaining sixty pounds of hornet upon the nearest attacker.

His smile widened at the discordant buzzes his new club brought forth with each swing. From the corner of his vision he saw a beedrill charge at him. He pretended not to notice as he bisected his next opponent from mouth to stinger. Just before the blow connected Takeda brought up his headless club and braced himself for the crash. A pair of twin stingers wriggled and dug through their comrade's body in a desperate attempt to reach him.

"So much for camaraderie. Not that you monsters would know a thing about that. As for stabbing through someone, this is how you do it!" Takeda growled, hefting his sword and slipping it through his club's thorax down to the hilt. The stingers went still. He twisted the blade and slashed out of the dying sheaths.

Takeda's onslaught continued for several minutes, yet, for all his efforts he was barely making a dent in the hive's forces. His assault on the swarm had managed to bring him close enough to view the epicenter of chaos that had the entire hive's attention. With their focus split on Ash's party and himself, Takeda had instances where he could safely view how Ash's party fared.

Pikachu twirled through the air, carving through limbs, wings, and heads with his Iron Tail. Tauros, still wearing the Alolan saddle, bucked two beedrill behind him into oblivion while Glalie covered him from above and froze the fighters that came at them from the front. Sceptile's body was a green blur, reenacting his previous bout with Ivec and left a trail of bodies wherever he ran.

At first, Takeda couldn't find a few members of Ash's party. He expected the worst, until he noticed several Pokémon he didn't recognize. He wondered if Ash had found survivors to help him fight the hive, but the longer he looked, the more he noticed that each of them bore the resemblance of an earlier form.

The air around Monferno's body was filled with fists. Beedrill who strayed too close found large chunks of their bodies suddenly missing. Floatzel was a veritable storm of Sonic Booms and Water Pulses, darting and effectively covering Kingler whenever he swung about his dominant claw. The crimson crab's pincers parted and unloaded an orange column of energy that erased another swath of drones from the sky. Those that dove too low to avoid the blast were crushed into paste by Donphan in his circuit around the perimeter. Crawdaunt's claw seized a beedrill by the face and unloaded a Bubblebeam at point-blank.

The cacophonous drone of the swarm surrounding Croconaw swalled his cackles. The beedrill pumped their arms at a feverish pace, none succeeded in even scratching him as he danced around their strikes. One drone made the mistake of overextending and moving closer. His efforts were rewarded with a view of several rows of teeth just before Croconaw's jaws snapped shut.

Many a brave and foolish beedrill charged into Torkoal and Quilava's combined smokescreens. Those that lacked that courage watched from a distance as something in the smoke cloud flared up, sending their bold, burning brethren crawling away. At least those who could still crawl.

At the center of it all stood Ash, eyes closed and seemingly blind to the havoc unfolding beyond the safety of a barrier box around him. Standing dutifully behind him was Mimey, hand resting on the back of the boy's head. Acting as their personal vanguard, Muk's role had not changed too much from his fight against the fearow. The beedrill quickly equated contact with death and kept a healthy distance from him. Or they would have, if not for Bayleaf and Bulbasaur ensnaring them and launching them into his slimy maw.

One dedicated beedrill dove at Ash from above, twisting and weaving through the onslaught of elements being thrown at him before stabbing his main stinger against the top of Mimey's psychic box. The world around him seemed to hold its breath. Even the ever-diligent swarm had paused to watch the efforts of one of their own.

The barrier shattered without a sound, each shard dissolving into motes of light. Takeda felt the world exhale, and with it came a pulse that ripped through reality. The air thrummed, condensing to the point where he found it hard to breathe. Takeda grew innately aware of his own heartbeat, how something intangible had intensified and frightened him on a basic, primal level. He was not alone.

The offending beedrill trembled, hesitation locking his arms from its follow up strike. Mimey immediately put up a new barrier, just as a yellow blur rushed past the beedrill and took a piece of its skull. A green blur followed, ensuring the beedrill's arms would never hurt anyone ever again.

A salvo of Razor Leaves followed, then a beam of ice and a torrent of flames. In seconds the body was no more. For the remaining team members who hadn't contributed to the complete erasure of the beedrill, there was no shortage of outlets to vent their fury. The bloodlust around Takeda became palpable; none of it emanated from the swarm.

He could see something feral glint behind the eyes of Ash's party. What was once tepid irritation toward the swarm had erupted into something beyond loathing, something the human lexicon had not named. His years-long resentment for the beedrill seemed impotent by comparison.

While the faces of beedrill were not normally expressive, he could see the terror behind their glossy crimson eyes. The creatures he had he'd grown up with, his boogeymen, were now trembling.

When the last beedrill fell, Mimey unmade the barriers and Ash opened his eyes to see the carnage his team had wrought.

Is this a trick? Takeda thought as he drew closer and found that it was not.

The boy's eyes were cold, unforgiving, and unmistakably red.

Takeda hadn't helped slay a nest of monsters.

He'd followed the real ones to it.

The sun was high in the sky when Brock killed the engine and stepped out of the car. The boy from Pallet walked calmly with his starter and Noctowl riding atop his shoulders.

He passed the piles of beedrill bodies, caving in the head of a fallen fighter in with his foot and continued undeterred. The mounds rivaled his height, at least until they were knocked down by the Pokémon that followed him. Whether by command or something that came naturally to them, fourteen Pokémon, split evenly, marched on each side.

Ash stopped a meter from him and stared, his eyes dark like the night before.

"Where's Samurai?" Brock began. It was clear the boy wasn't going to initiate the conversation.

"Checking the hive, or what's left of it," he answered evenly.

"Why didn't you tell us you were heading out?" Brock tried to keep the anger out of his voice.

"I didn't need anyone's help for this."

Brock's nostrils flared, lips pulled back to bare teeth for just a moment before he composed himself once more.

Ash's Pokémon simply stared at him. Each one was ready to defend Ash at a moment's notice. Brock had known these Pokémon since Ash caught them. He'd been there when they evolved, fed them, and helped Ash care for them, yet he could feel none of that warmth in their eyes. Or maybe that was the extent of what his time with them meant.

They knew who he was, they'd just drawn the line in the sand. If it was a matter between Ash and him, he knew who they would choose every time. Even if he wasn't technically their trainer, he didn't need that title to have their loyalties.

"Ash, you can't just bail on us like this. It's-"

"It's better this way. There's no risk for you or the others, so why are you even complaining?" Ash didn't meet his eyes, more like he was looking beyond him to something on the horizon.

"Because this isn't okay, Ash. Because other people care about you and don't want to see you get hurt. What you did just now was reckless and stupid, and you can't do this alone."

Ash's eye twitched, the first real sign of emotion Brock had gotten out of him since they'd split ways. Pikachu leapt off Ash's shoulder just before the boy splayed his arms out and twisted away to look back at the towers of smoke rising behind him.

"Yes I can! We just did. I didn't need you or Tracy or anyone else! Do you know how many people they've killed? How many Pokémon? They killed Frank and Sarah and their staraptor! We went in. We stopped them. We made sure no one else had to lose their life because of them."

"You left us!" Brock stepped forward, arms trembling at his sides with nothing but force of will keeping them there instead of hitting the boy before him. He could see Mimey watching them, hands glowing softly. Just in case.

"It's not like you were alone," Ash screamed back, wiping the spittle from his chin. "You had Tracy and Team Rocket and-"

"What if the fearow came back, huh? What if they wanted to avenge their dead leader? Did you think about that? Did you think about how we would feel? Or are Dawn and I just other things you can throw into a hole…"

Ash's eyes went wide then scrunched close. He tugged the brim of his hat down and looked away.

Shit. I went too far. Brock dragged his hand through his hair. They stood there for some time. The distant crackle of flames pervaded the air.

"I just… you were safe… and…and if you came," the boy hiccupped behind his hat.

Brock moved in, closing the last few inches between them and hugged him. Ash's arms did not lift to return the hug, but he didn't move away, which was a small bit of progress as far as the breeder was concerned. "We're gonna need to rely on each other if we're going to make it out of this. You don't have to do these things all by yourself. Lean on us a little, okay? We still care about you."

Brock patted the his back and stepped away, Ash's face still veiled by his cap. "What say we head back, huh? Samurai and I have a plan that we want to run by you and Tracy. You wanna ride in the car with me?"

Ash shook his head and walked towards Tauros who bent low and let him on. Brock took the hint and stepped back into the car. The rest of Ash's party, save for Pikachu, Tauros, and Mimey, turned into crimson light and disappeared into Ash's pokéglov.

Ash glanced back at the ruins of the old airport, feeling a little satisfied that he had avenged Frank, Sarah, and their staraptor. Yet, the longer he stared at the smoke, the more he heard Ivec's voice whisper in his ears.

Your kind love fighting, is not the slaughter you see here the spectacle your kind crave?"

"Pika-pi?" Ash's head snapped up and turned to see his starter standing atop the saddle's handlebars. Mimey floated into view, standing atop one of his floating barriers and studying him with concern.

"Pi-ka-chu?"

"Mr. Mime?"

"I'm fine, guys. Don't worry. Let go ho-" the boy grimaced, then shook his head. When his eyes opened the chill of his stare and crimson hue had returned. "Let's head back," he corrected, patting Tauros' head as he gripped the handlebars once more.

Next, Chapter 26: To Bees Or Not To Be?