Astrid led the group back towards the heart of the forest, her green eyes scanning the surrounding trees. Shadow and Leaf followed, moving together practically as one, the Espeon likewise scanning the area with an intense gaze, and even Leaf was taking the situation with more seriousness and caution than he usually presented. Frost walked only a few paces behind Astrid, his eyes adapting to the darkness enough to be able to start getting a reliable read on the Absol.

Frost unfortunately lacked a genuine reference pool to compare Astrid to other members of her species, and legends and myths involving the disaster Pokemon was little better than hearsay when it came to analyzing one. A cursory examination would have to do, until he got a better opportunity to study her, or even simply to view her under better light conditions.

Astrid had a noticeably fit physique, and her claws were viciously sharp, as expected of an active predator. She had a brace of some sort fixed to one of her legs, possibly a training weight of some sort, although Frost had never seen anything like it before. Muscles flexed noticeably, even beneath the fur of her legs, with each step she took, and and the way she bobbed her head was indicative that she was relying on all her senses to take in details of her surroundings - scent, sight, hearing. It wasn't proof of her battle prowess, unfortunately, but very rarely had Frost met a predator Pokemon that was incapable of holding its own in battle. The question there was how good she was.

Mannerisms was a different issue. Astrid's tone was almost constantly nonchalant, if not playful, and her tail wagged with the frequency of an excited kit. However, her voice and words reflected that she was not as young as she acted. If anything, Frost was willing to peg her as being several years older than he was, with a lot of experience, but possibly lacking in social skills. The way she had fumbled the interactions with Bee-Bee earlier was a possible indication of such, and it hadn't escaped Frost's notice that she had also stumbled when talking to Leaf. Sympathy and tact were not her strong suits.

Sadly, it was really too soon to glean much from these observations. Age alone would imply that she was a decent-enough battler, and she hadn't shown many other behaviors or quirks that Frost could analyze sufficiently. She could have been a trainer's Pokemon, based on the brace she wore, but that seemed a little unlikely under the circumstances.

It was a puzzle, but not in the same vein as Leaf and Shadow were, prior to Shadow's explanation of their history. Astrid was less mysterious and more just an example of insufficient information. No matter, he would probably get a chance to observe her later, once they found the source of the forest's conflict.

The only other thing of note was that, in contrast to Cecilia's behavior around Shadow, the Absol showed little to no signs of being attracted to Shadow. During the journey from Solaceon to Eterna, it had been extremely noticeable how often female Pokemon noticed Shadow. It was the perfect blend of amusing and grating to behold.

Further observation was cut short by sounds echoing from an area up ahead. Astrid paused and shot a look back at the Eons, confirming that they were likewise aware of the impending danger zone. Frost mirrored the glance, taking note that Shadow had nodded solemnly, almost noticeably fidgeting in anticipation, and Leaf had steeled himself, his soft brown eyes glittering with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

"Okay, stay alert," Astrid suggested, and she continued forward, moving with swift and practiced motions, like a hunter stalking oblivious prey in preparation of an ambush. The others followed, Shadow whispering instructions to his brother as they drew nearer to the source of the noise. There was a constant drone of insect buzzing, and the occasional sound of battle. His fur prickled with barely contained excitement, forming frigid quills along his body, and he noted that his breath was emerging as an icy mist.

Astrid tensed as the path expanded into an open section of forest, but her tail still flicked playfully. Frost swiftly scanned the clearing, taking note of the numerous species of Bug Pokemon present. There was a trio of Beedrill, one of them vaguely recognizable as Bee-Bee, but they weren't the only ones.

Scattered among the ranks were several honeycomb-shaped insects, each adorned with a pair of tiny wings and facial features on the honeycombs. Two different species of butterfly-like insects were buzzing angrily, seemingly the opposing force. One of them had tattered green wings with red markings in contrast to its purple body and yellow compound eyes. The other was a more traditional butterfly, with a white body and bright, colorful wings.

"Ooh, Dustox and Beautifly," Astrid noted. Frost suspected her tone was supposed to portray a sympathetic wince, but it sounded like nonchalance, or even amusement. As they watched, the colorful butterfly darted towards the nearest Combee and jabbed its body with its barbed mouth, the Combee squealing in surprise and pain. One of the Beedrill lunged at the Beautifly, but a multi-colored beam of light fired from the tattered moth Pokemon's eyes, striking the Beedrill mid-charge and hurling it forcefully against a tree, where it slid to the ground, dazed and weakened.

Leaf growled, and Frost turned to look at him in alarm. This was the first time he had ever really heard Leaf make a sound like that. It wasn't his usual growl of annoyance or irritation, but rather a deeper, more feral, rumble in his throat. Without waiting for any sign from the others, Leaf launched a flurry of razor-edged leaves from his body at the Beautifly, most of them whizzing past harmlessly, but one of them grazed the insect's wings, forcing it to release its victim. The Combee fell to the grass, twitching in agony, and the two remaining Beedrill swiveled towards the group, Bee-Bee buzzing in surprise.

She swiftly made a series of gestures and buzzing to the other insects in her group, and judging by the less hostile looks sent their way, she had satisfactorily communicated whose side they were on. Frost and Astrid stepped forward, moving along the clearing's perimeter to partially encircle the two opposing Bug-types. From the corner of his eye, Frost could see the remaining Combee flocking over to their fallen companion, extracting it from the battle zone and retreating among the trees.

"It can't be just the two of them," Frost mused aloud. "They couldn't possibly be that large a threat on their own to an entire hive."

"I wouldn't underestimate them on that alone," Astrid countered from across the clearing, her tail wagging. "Some Pokemon are far stronger than they appear."

Unfortunately, the hostile Bug-types had already recovered from the surprise of their appearance, and were returning to the offensive. The Dustox flapped its wings forcefully, scattering a storm of light purple spores from its body. Shadow's eyes widened and he pushed Leaf to the side. The Leafeon took the cue impressively well, because he darted out of range of the scattered poison dust, then spun and fired off another small barrage of sharpened leaves, this time directed at the poison moth.

Meanwhile, Shadow maneuevered himself away from the toxic spores, watching the haze with a wary eye. Neither of the hostile Bug-types seemed to be paying him much notice, but to be fair, they had more than enough opponents to focus on as it was. One of the remaining Beedrill charged at the Beautifly, only to collide with a strong gale of wind produced by the butterfly's wings. The Beedrill flinched, and the Beautifly's wings glowed with a white light. Before anyone could do anything to intervene, it closed the gap between it and the dazed hornet, and struck the Beedrill's midriff with its glowing wings.

Time seemed to stand still for that brief moment, and even from this distance, Frost could see the pure disbelief and pain etched within the Beedrill's eyes. And then its wings went still and it fell to the ground, as lifeless as a puppet whose strings had been severed.

Bee-Bee's rage was evident by the roar of her buzzing wings, and she launched herself at the Beautifly like a missile, her barbed forelegs jabbing at her opponent so quickly that she was practically a blur of motion, yet by some miracle, the Beautifly remained unscathed, maneuvering around the strikes with swiftness that Frost never would have thought possible of such a visibly non-threatening Pokemon.

Leaf and Shadow had focused their efforts on the Dustox, each of them firing their respective projectiles at the toxic foe - Leaf pressing an attack with his razor-edged leaves, and Shadow attempting to catch the Dustox mid-dodge with spheres of psychic energy. Astrid observed both ongoing clashes passively, her green eyes widening with interest, as if the whole thing was some kind of spectacle. Frost had similarly remained passive, but his reason for doing so was more a desire to feel out the strength of these two opponents, and simultaneously avoiding the risk of striking one of his allies with an errant Shadow Ball. It would be insultingly easy to simply launch a few Ice Beams or similar and win practically in a single move, but already he was seeing evidence that this approach could have backfired to ridiculous extents.

These two Pokemon were far stronger than he would have thought, although he had no intention of admitting that Astrid was right in saying as much. They were very fast, very aggressive, and alarmingly evasive. Recklessly launching Ice Beams in such an enclosed forest area against such opponents could endanger the ecosystem built up here, risking not only his allies but also wild Pokemon unrelated to the conflict. Therefore, he would have to use tactics separate from his Ice abilities, and projectile attacks still carried too much risk with Bee-Bee, Frost, and Leaf engaging their opponents so closely.

Something still seemed off. These Pokemon were certainly formidable, but he couldn't imagine them being able to hold off against overwhelming numbers, something the Eterna Hive should have as an advantage. No, these two were probably members of a rival Bug-type faction within the forest, perhaps even elite members, although Frost didn't have the slightest idea if such a faction would use a hierarchy.

And there had been sounds of destruction from a distance, yet this clearing was devoid of any such signs, like broken tree branches or chunks of bark. With that in mind, he assumed the main destruction was taking place elsewhere, and that Bee-Bee and her Beedrill vanguard had simply engaged these two here.

"Look out, Leaf!" Shadow's voice broke through Frost's thoughts, and he turned towards the other Eons. The Dustox the brothers had been fighting had split into three images of itself, each of the copies flapping their wings and spewing another cloud of poison dust.

Leaf growled and leapt backwards, his soft brown eyes narrowed at the Dustox trio. The gem on Shadow's forehead shimmered with silver light and one of the Dustox twitched, vanishing without a trace. Leaf leapt at one of the remaining Dustox, the end of his tail glowing with green light, spinning in mid-air to strike the moth with his tail.

The Dustox screeched loudly, a gash forming across its tattered wing, and the remaining duplicate vanished without a trace. Angry compound eyes glared at the Leafeon, and it spat a foul glob of purple muck from its mouth. Shadow's forehead gem glowed once more, and a pale barrier formed in front of the Leafeon, deflecting the sludge away from his brother, where it struck the ground harmlessly.

Leaf murmured a word of thanks to his brother, and a vine extended from one of the sprouts on his body. With a hint of clumsiness still apparent in his technique, the Leafeon flicked the vine forcefully across the Dustox's abdomen, sending the poison moth reeling. Shadow fired another condensed sphere of psychic energy in that moment, and despite the Dustox's attempts to dodge, a second sphere struck it squarely in the face, erupting in a spray of sparks and coursing energy.

When the sparks faded, the Dustox was motionless on the grass, one of its wings twitching faintly before going still as unconsciousness claimed the moth.

Watching them filled Frost with a sense of pride. To see the two able to hold their own in battle like this was a sure sign that their training had not been in vain. Just a week ago, he had needed to intervene any time that Shadow came into conflict, but now he seemed to have gained enough control over his psychic abilities to fight without Frost's aid at all.

That said, the Glaceon was beginning to wonder if he and Astrid were currently engaged in a secret contest to see how long they could go without joining the fight. Neither of them had done anything since arriving, instead leaving the battling to the younger Eons and Bee-Bee.

Sudden movement caught Frost's attention, and he spun around, forming a Shadow Ball in his maw. Something hard connected with his jaw, forcing his mouth shut, and the Shadow Ball detonated prematurely, the Glaceon reeling from the blow, his dark eyes tearing up.

"What the-?" Astrid gasped, taken aback by the appearance of a new threat. Frost blinked to clear the pained tears clouding his gaze, and he could see a crimson insect standing before him. It stood on two legs, and its arms ended in vicious pincers, decorated with yellow and black markings. Much of its body seemed to be covered in metal, yet its movements appeared unhindered by this feature.

The Scizor stepped forward, Frost instinctively stepping back a pace, his eyes scanning the crimson bug for any noticeable weaknesses that he could exploit. There was an overwhelming sense of confidence and pressure radiating from the Pokemon, the likes of which he hadn't seen in any Pokemon aside from Lin. Fear was already beginning to claim his heart, juxtaposed with an eager desire to test his mettle against such a foe.

One of the crimson insect's pincers clicked loudly, and the Beautifly moved so quickly that Frost wondered whether it had teleported to the Scizor's side, leaving Bee-Bee momentarily confused before she spotted the Scizor.

"You..." the Beedrill hissed, her voice dripping with more venom than probably existed within her body.

The Scizor glanced at Bee-Bee indifferently. "You know me? Tut, can't say the same for you. Beedrill lackeys are all the same to me."

Bee-Bee's next response was buzzed too rapidly to be understood, but even Frost got the gist of what was said. Leaf looked completely confused, so either he hadn't caught any of the Beedrill's words or, more likely, he hadn't understood the specific phrases she had used.

"That's nice, sweetheart," the Scizor commented indifferently, and its eyes swept the clearing, pausing briefly on the two defeated Beedrill and the fallen Dustox. "Oh, that's a shame. The hive didn't even send their best Beedrill and your sister got taken out, Sugar," the Scizor commented to the Beautifly.

"Am I to assume you're the ringleader?" Frost asked, allowing a slight sneer to cross his face as he spoke, offering an indirect challenge to the bipedal insect. No one else had dared to move, and despite her obvious aggression towards the Scizor, even Bee-Bee had remained where she was, her eyes never leaving the two enemy insects.

"Do I know you?" the Scizor wondered, regarding Frost with disinterest. Frost bristled at the dismissive tone, but forced himself to remain calm and level-headed. He was rapidly getting the impression that the Scizor was deliberately using an attitude to rile up his opponents and bait them into attacking recklessly.

"Not personally, but I imagine you've heard of me before," Frost replied, flicking one of his head dangles with purposeful arrogance. "I'm Frost. Ring a bell?"

"I'm not even going to pretend to think about that one," the Scizor answered indifferently, taking another step into the clearing, and Frost took another pace backwards, keeping a constant distance between himself and the crimson insect. "I don't know any male Glaceon, and my business here is exclusively with the Hive."

"And you expect us to simply step aside and permit you to do as you please with the forest and its inhabitants?" Frost sneered, shifting into an aggressive stance, his icy fur bristling.

"No, that's not it," Astrid spoke up from the back of the clearing. "Thresher is a tactician, not a leader." Shadow flinched and glanced at the Absol, who was gazing intently at the Scizor. Her expression was more serious than usual, and like Frost, she had shifted into a more battle-ready stance.

"Oho! I almost didn't notice you, Astrid," the Scizor chuckled, and his eyes glinted. "So you caught onto the reality of this situation, have you?"

"Yes," the Absol answered blandly. "You've got a pronged offensive, don't you? And I'm betting you're the greatest threat, but the least invested, to avoid a decapitated army situation if you lose."

"Not much gets past you, Astrid," the Scizor chuckled. "I wanted a tri-pronged offensive, but I knew Spice struggles against superior numbers if she gets separated from her sister for too long. By keeping myself in reserve, I can ensure the Hive's forces remain split, even if they get a leg up on the Wurmple twins."

"Bet you didn't plan for us to be here," Frost noted smugly.

"You're of no importance. The only factor that matters is I didn't anticipate Astrid," Thresher corrected indifferently. Frost bristled, the temperature of the area dropping drastically, until everyone's breath began coming out as a cloud of icy mist.

"Hey! It's too cold!" Leaf whined, but Frost paid the complaint no attention. All that mattered to him right now was the crimson bug standing before him. A smirk tugged at his mouth, and his dark eyes sparkled with excitement.

So...this opponent believed that he didn't matter, huh? Then it was about time to see what Frost could do to change that impression.