So, so, so… Looks like we're almost to Mélange Town. Just this one more obstacle and Grey and James are set for their next Gym Battle. …Or ARE they? Well, that's something only I know, so it looks like you guys will have to wait for the next couple of chapters or so.
Also, if I could ask my reviewers and current readers a favor, please spread the word about this story if you like it. I've already got a good number of reviews, but I'd like a wider criticism base. Again, if you're already reading this but not reviewing, please do so as it is a bit of an insult to read an author's story and not leave a review (not just to me, but to ALL the authors around here).
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Pokémon series/franchise. All of that belongs to its rightful owners: Nintendo, Game Freak, and Satoshi Tajiri AKA the greatest man to have ever had an idea for a video game.
KEY:
"normal speech"
"thought"
translated pokémon speech
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Pokédex Entries
Chapter 10: The Honeymaker's Dilemma! Enter: Rogue Heracross!
Now that the group was several miles away from the haunted house they'd encountered three nights before, they were in much, much higher spirits than they were before. Grey and James had managed to get some good training in through fighting the trainers they'd run into on the road which also benefited June. As per usual, the girl took great pleasure and interest in studying the battle techniques and pokémon of the passersby.
However, Juniper seemed to fly into a sour mood whenever the events of the haunted house were mentioned. If anyone so much as mentioned the word 'Haunter', she'd fix them with a glare powerful enough to rival an arbok's. When asked about her out of character reaction to the subject, she'd dismiss it with a low growl before returning to her usual bubbly nature.
All in all, things were looking up for the motley crew. The only person who seemed at all displeased was none other than Rachel. She'd mostly kept to herself lately, brooding over how afraid and powerless she was in the face of the Ghost-types until the very end and found herself ashamed of that.
"For Arceus's sake, I sat there like a brain dead claydol!" she screamed in her mind. What Jameson had said didn't do much to boost her spirits, either.
She also counted herself lucky that it was only one banette and not more, otherwise she wouldn't have been as brave as she was. She only had an inexperienced mudkip and a vulpix with her and if it were anything more than that banette, she'd have ended up, as Grey would say, a quivering pile of dog food.
"I need to make a change," she whispered to herself as she sat on the sidelines of Grey's current battle. "I have to…" she gulped, guilt gripping her from all sides; attacking her for even thinking about doing what she had in mind. "I have to do that…"
Vulpix, silently sensing Rachel's anxiety, mewled softly and nuzzled against her leg.
"Thanks, girl," Rachel said, grateful for the Fox Pokémon's consolation. "You'll make this a whole lot easier for me."
"Maverick, give him an Iron Tail!" Grey commanded eagerly, completely immersed in the current battle. His onix responded by commanding a metallic glow to surround his tail before slamming it into the opposing mightyena. Maverick nodded, silently thanking Grey for teaching him the new move.
Mightyena collided with Maverick's tail and skidded across the ground, falling unconscious at its trainer's feet. With that threat out of the way, Grey gave his next command.
"Soul, end this with Dragon Rage!" The young charmander gave a loud battle cry as his eyes flashed and his flame grew before he launched the ball of cracking dragon energy at his enemy, a highly weakened flaafy. The ball exploded on contact, sending the opposing flaafy into the air before it landed unceremoniously next to Mightyena, unable to battle any longer.
"Aww, crap," Grey's opponent groaned. "First Mightyena and now Flaafy… That makes six losses now!"
"Hey, don't feel bad, dude. It was a good game," Grey said with a grin plastered on his face. "If it's any consolation, that Mightyena you've got was crazy fast but it was no match for Maverick," he said proudly, patting the onix's rocky hide.
The boy didn't take it as much of a compliment. It was more Grey applauding his own skills and pokémon.
"You probably would've beaten Soul if it wasn't for him blocking your attacks."
Maverick gave a low rumble of appreciation. He was glad to have come with Grey, but it may have just been the ego-stroking he liked best. Aside from the battles, that is.
"Char char!" Soul shouted indignantly. He huffed proudly; as if he'd ever loose to that mutt.
"Yeah," the boy sighed, paying Grey his prize money. "But I thought after all that training we did in the Mélange Woods, we'd be a sure fire win."
"Hey, that's were we're headed next," Jameson realized. "If it was such good training, do you think you can tell us what kinds of pokémon live there?" The boy nodded. Juniper raced to her bag to get her clipboard and pen, intent on capturing his every word.
"Sure. But let me warn you; the wild ones in there are, like, really powerful," he said, stressing the caution in his voice. "There were obviously tons of Bug-types there. Y'know, the normal caterpie, kakuna, kricketot, and wurmple hanging out in there. But there were also a whole bunch of ursaring there, or at least I think that's what I heard. I didn't go in deep enough to find out."
"Obviously; you don't mess with an ursaring," Grey reasoned with a snort.
"Right," the boy nodded, shooting a slightly annoyed look at Grey before continuing. "Also, I ran into a dude who had a sort of store house there saying that there were butterfree, beedrill, and even a heracross running around stealing from him. He said it was a real problem." Grey, June, and Jameson's ears all pricked up at the mention of the heracross. Capturing, or in Juniper's case, studying such a rare and powerful Bug-type was an opportunity they couldn't pass up.
"Anyway, good luck to you guys. As for me, I'm gonna stay as far away as possible from that forest for a while." With that, the boy took off in the opposite direction.
"Well, are we gonna get going or what?" Grey asked, pocketing his prize money and calling Maverick back into his poké ball.
"Let's," Juniper nodded. She opened up Rosewood and Sylva's poké balls to let them walk beside her. The furret scurried up to take her usual place around June's shoulders while Sylva stuck close to her trainer, cool and composed.
"For once you have a good idea," Jameson said, smirking.
"Don't start with me, Rhodes," Grey warned. James ignored him and grinned eagerly, looking ahead at the forest that seemed to open up invitingly several miles ahead.
"Whatever, man. Just know that once we get to that forest, I'm going to capture that heracross!" he declared.
"In your dreams, buddy," Grey challenged just as eagerly. "That bad boy's mine." Jameson smirked, a devious idea coming to mind.
"Okay, then. We'll make it a contest. Whoever captures the heracross gets treated to a dinner of the winner's choice when we get to Mélange Town. Pokémon get dinner, too, and the loser pays for it. Deal?" He offered his hand to Grey in challenge, a confident smirk on his face.
"You are so on," Grey said, competitive spirit blazing to life in his chest as he grasped Jameson's hand without hesitation.
James retrieved his hand and let both of his pokémon out to walk with him. Sniper yawned and took to lazily flying overhead while Shishi let out an annoyed moan as he settled himself on James's head. Jameson slightly shivered at his duskull's cold touch but quickly got used to it after the initial shock.
"You guys mind cutting the chatter and let us get going?" Juniper joked. Grey nodded and released Lucy from her ball to get going. Rachel silently let Mudkip out of his ball and the youngling immediately took to yipping excitedly.
Yay, yay, yay! Rachel's back! he said happily. He hopped over to Soul and eagerly asked, Where are we going now, Soul? Huh, huh, huh?
That forest, Soul said with a grin. If everything goes right, we'll have a new friend.
Yay! New friend; new friend! Mudkip sang all the way back into Rachel's arms. Soul took his usual place on Grey's right shoulder while Lucy climbed up onto his head, both pointing towards the Mélange Woods.
"There's no way we're gonna lose to James, buddy," Grey said to his charmander. He clenched his fist confidently and broke out into a run. "That heracross is mine!" Jameson scrambled after him not wanting to fall behind so quickly. Atop his head, Shishi complained about the bouncing he felt whenever James's feet hit the ground. He could already tell that this day was not going to go well.
"Oh, come on! Not again!" the man yelled, throwing his hat to the ground in frustration. He let out a huge sigh and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "That's the third damn time this week!"
The combee that surrounded him made mournful buzzing sounds at the sight of their damaged home and his vespiqueen was by no means pleased. She was using every last bit of her energy to control her anger and not lash out at the next thing that moved. The home that her owner had built for her was again damaged by none other than the local population and, at this point, she wanted nothing more than to go out there and beat some sense into those…those… Vespiqueen was so mad, she couldn't even find a word to describe the ones who'd done this.
Her owner's heart sank like a lead balloon as he surveyed the damage. The giant honeycomb that he'd built in the clearing he stood in - his pride and joy and crowning achievement - lay in veritable shambles. There were claw marks nearly everywhere from the ursaring breaking their way into it. Most of the honey buckets and jars were broken with the lucky few only being strewn across the ground and the east wall had a giant hole busted right through it.
"No doubt from that damned heracross," he muttered venomously. Pieces of the structure lay scattered across the forest floor and nearly every board that comprised of the ceiling was destroyed. It would take him weeks to repair everything and by that time, all of the honey that he and his pokémon worked so hard to make would have been gone; consumed by the butterfree, beedrill, ursaring, and that lone heracross.
"Well, guys," he sighed, "looks like I'm going to have to rebuild. Again." Vespiqueen shook her head vehemently and placed one of her claws on her owner's shoulders consolingly.
"Well, what can I do, Vespiqueen? This is just going to happen again and I don't have the money to hire guards or the time to catch other pokémon and raise them to defend the honeycomb," he said dejectedly. "We're better off moving somewhere else." At this, all twenty combee in his possession expressed their objections, making it clear that they had no intention of moving at all.
"Sorry, guys. But we're going to have to. This can't keep going on," the man said resignedly. "Now, help me salvage what's left of the honey so we can get out of here." The man's pokémon sadly followed the order and ventured into the wrecked honeycomb to scrape whatever meager amount of honey still existed on the walls.
By then, Grey and Jameson were locked in their bet, both searching for the heracross. The two of them were a ways ahead of the girls in their search. So far, both of them had turned up with no evidence and Grey was beginning to get impatient. Jameson, however, kept a level and patient head while having Sniper search by air above him.
"This should knock Grey down a peg or two," the boy in blue snickered deviously. "Then we'll see who the better trainer is. Once I find that heracross, it is game over for him and I get to chow down at his expense."
"You think that they're maybe taking this a little bit too far?" June asked innocently as they moved through the forest.
"Gro-vyle," Sylva shrugged, not really caring who won. Chances were that neither would and that they'd make fools out of themselves. In all honesty, Sylva was banking on that to happen. It was amusing to her, how these humans reacted to losing one of their childish wagers.
"I mean, I don't think that either of them has a good chance of catching it; at least not at their current level," Juniper continued.
"Mhm…" Rachel hummed absentmindedly as she took in the scenery, lost in a swamp of her thoughts. The forest was almost unusually thick with foliage. So much so that most of the sunlight that normally would've come down as a soft gold from in between the leaves of the trees was actually turned a light green. The mingling of the yellow and green light was giving the whole area a calm, peaceful look that practically screamed 'nature'. Their footsteps made rustling sounds as they moved through the thick, leafy underbrush and mingled nicely with the assorted warbling cries of the taillow and starly perched in the higher branches.
Naturally, caterpie and wurmple and weedle all hung from those same trees, dozing in the sun and completely unafraid of the threat of the bird pokémon. There was even one tree completely covered in the bronze cocoons of what must have been over a hundred kakuna. Rachel made a mental note to stay very far away from that tree at all costs.
But none of this beautiful scenery even registered a blip on the proverbial radar for Rachel; she was much too deep in her thoughts. She had, by some freak whim of the Legendaries, considered taking a page out of Grey's book and catching a pokémon or two to train alongside Vulpix and Mudkip so she'd be able to fend for herself. At least until she found a way out of the Silver Ring. The idea was indeed a good one and she could always train with Grey and Jameson to learn the basics.
But no matter how good the idea sounded, a combination of her ranger training and her own conscience told her not to do it. Back in Almia, Pokémon Rangers and even civilians were strictly forbidden from carrying poké balls. Rangers specifically were not allowed to train any other pokémon besides their designated partner so as to build a lasting bond of trust between ranger and pokémon. It just simply was not done, which is why Rachel felt a pang of guilt whenever she felt Mudkip's poké ball inside her pocket and why she felt anger and a feeling being betrayed when she thought of Grey having become a trainer.
On the other hand, Rachel couldn't rely on her little brother, James, and June to protect her for the entire trip. Both her pride and her conscience vehemently protested it. There was really only one option for Rachel now and that was to catch a pokémon and train it alongside her current two.
"It looks like I'm going to have to swallow my pride on this one," she said softly.
"What was that?" June asked, startling Rachel out of her thoughts.
"Eep!" she squeaked, jumping a bit in surprise. She nearly displaced Vulpix from her perch on her head, eliciting an annoyed mewl from the Fire-type, and almost woke up Mudkip. Good thing the little one was such a heavy sleeper.
"Oh, Juniper," Rachel breathed. "You scared me."
"Is there something wrong?" June asked with a look of concern. Rosewood's expression mirrored that of Juniper's and even Sylva showed some interest. Rachel sighed and said,
"It's just…" she began, struggling to find the words. "I can't…use you guys as a crutch as long as I'm traveling with you, y'know?"
"What do you mean by that?" June turned her red head to the side, steel colored eyes wide with interest. Rachel looked down embarrassedly, her pink hair forming a curtain over her face as she traced in the dirt with her foot.
"I mean I can't keep traveling with you, my brother, and James and not pull my own weight in the battle department. And, so, I was thinking…" she mumbled, leaving her sentence up in the air.
"Thinking…?" Juniper urged.
"This goes against everything I believe in, but…" Rachel bowed her head, clenched her eyes shut, and forced out the words. "June, will you please teach me to catch a pokémon?" June's eyes widened and her mouth formed an 'o' as she finally understood.
"So you're finally giving in, huh, sis?" Grey laughed before Juniper could say anything. He had momentarily put his search for Heracross on pause. If his sister was finally going to admit that he was right for once and ask for his help, he wanted a front row seat to watch her beg.
"Char char?" Soul asked confusedly, looking up at Lucy for an answer.
"Bui," Lucy grunted, not caring one way or the other.
"You want to catch and train a pokémon so that, in the event that you personally get assaulted, you can defend yourself?" Juniper confirmed. Soul, having gotten his answer, tried and failed to contain the smirk on his face. "Well, that's not so bad. Why are you acting so shy about it?"
"Because," Grey interjected, "my saint of a sister knows it's 'against the rules for a Pokémon Ranger to be in possession of or use a poké ball of any kind'." The glee in his voice when he mimicked the words Rachel had said countless times before was barely restrained. "Oh, this is just too perfect." Soul covered his mouth to hide a snicker.
"Shut up, Grey," Rachel growled. Vulpix breathed a little warning flame to back up her owner while Mudkip still dozed. "This is only a temporary thing so I can defend myself. It's not like I like breaking the rules. Unlike you."
"Ow, my poor little feelings," Grey deadpanned. Ignoring him, Rachel turned to June, an imploring look on her face.
"So will you help me, June?" she asked, letting her hazel eyes get shiny to back up her request.
"Well, I would," Rachel's spirits immediately deflated, "but I've never really caught a pokémon before," Juniper admitted with some embarrassment.
"What about Rosewood?" Grey asked, pointing to the furret in question.
"She was a gift from mom as a sentret," Juniper explained.
"But if you can't teach me," Rachel started, dreading the other option, "then that means…" She looked over at Grey, already regretting having ever opened her mouth. A smug smirk formed on Grey's lips as he offered a hand to his big sister in triumph.
"Welcome to class, sis. Your first lesson starts now."
"Why me?" Rachel whined.
"Hey, Grey, do you want to lose this bet or what? Get back over here and start looking if you don't!" James called from his position in the bushes.
"Scy scyther!" Sniper called from above.
"In a second! Let me enjoy this a bit more," Grey said, laughing and relishing the rare position of power he was in.
"Enjoy wha- Is that a vespiqueen?" James shouted. Grey's focus was immediately shifted. He whirled around in James's direction, almost displacing his two passengers, and slid next to his rival to observe this said vespiqueen. Sniper landed next to James with a dull thud.
"Where; where is it?" Grey whispered excitedly.
"Over there," Jameson said eagerly, pointing a finger in the rare Bug-type's direction.
"Over there?" Grey looked in the completely opposite direction. Shishi gave another one of his sighs, grabbed onto Grey's head, and turned it in the right direction. Shaking off the eerily cold feeling of being touched by a ghost, Grey's eyes widened as he got a good look at the Beehive Pokémon. Taking his Pokédex out and pointing it at the vespiqueen, Grey let the machine produce the information.
Vespiqueen, the Beehive Pokémon. A strictly female species, Vespiqueen is the evolved form of a female combee. Males are incapable of evolving. This pokémon is well known for commanding massive swarms of its pre-evolution, even housing and giving birth to infant combee within her lower body. Vespiqueen are waited on hand and foot by their followers, but will exhibit surprising strength when threatened. Vespiqueen is protective, maternal, and highly aggressive, but shows a hidden soft spot for the delicious honey produced by her colony.
"That's amazing!" Grey whispered. He reached for his belt to pull out an empty poké ball but stopped when he saw a blonde-haired man dressed in an orange shirt and overalls, several combee swarming around him. "Oh, wait, we can't catch her. She has a trainer."
Jameson noticed this as well and put away his ball with a sigh. "Ah, well, I only came here for Heracross, anyway. Let's keep looking, Sniper. …Sniper?"
The boy in blue's eyes widened exponentially. His scyther had vanished without a trace and he knew that could never, ever end well for him. The mischievous mantis was known for always getting into some kind of trouble when left alone.
"Augh! No; that's the last of my honey! Get away, you damned scyther!"
"And there it is," Jameson sighed, Shishi sighing along with him. He looked over in the vespiqueen trainer's direction to see none other than his scyther buzzing around a giant wooden honeycomb, scraping honey off the walls with his scythes and licking it off greedily. Vespiqueen and her combee servants were angrily buzzing around their fellow Bug-type, throwing attacks his way to try and get him away from their honey. Every time they did, Sniper would just fly off to another part of the wall and continue eating.
"Wait, don't hurt him!" James shouted, bursting out of his hiding spot and rushing over to stop Sniper from getting into any more trouble.
Grey stifled a laugh and motioned for the girls to follow him with a wave of his hand. Rachel whined but followed after Juniper to see what all of the commotion was. Mudkip was roused from his sleep and looked around with a look of groggy confusion.
Whu…? What's going on? Mudkip yawned.
Probably something stupid, Vulpix reasoned cynically. Honestly, can those boys go at least one day without getting into some kind of trouble?
Probably not, Sylva said with a shrug. She gave a light laugh and followed the boys, slightly interested as to what mess they'd gotten into now.
"Hey!" James shouted. He rushed down the hill, waving his arm to gain the man's attention and sliding to a stop at the bottom. "Hey, listen, I'm real sorry. Sniper just has a bad sweet tooth; he really didn't mean it."
"It's alright," the man sighed. "There wasn't really much left anyway. But, still, could you get your pokémon down?" He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder in Sniper's direction. The scyther now had his head buried in the delicious golden goo that adorned the wall, greedily eating it by the mouthful.
"Sorry," James repeated. "Sniper, get back down here!" Sniper dug his head out of the honey pile and ashamedly flew back down to James's side, head covered in honey.
"Dude, Sniper's got one hell of a sweet tooth," Grey noted as he slid down the hill, the girls right behind him. "Sorry about that," he said to the man in overalls. "We just came here looking for a heracross. You seen one around here?" The man's face darkened and he clenched his fist at the mention of Heracross. His pokémon's buzzing increased in volume and anger.
"Yeah, I've seen one," he spat bitterly. "It's one of the pokémon living here that keeps eating my honey stores. Thanks to it and the others, I'm gonna have to move my entire set-up somewhere else. My name's Danny, by the way."
Rachel took one look at the honeycomb Danny built and winced at the damage. "One heracross did all of this?" Mudkip jumped out of her arms to gawk at the ruined honeycomb.
Big hole, he noted. From her perch, Rosewood gave a silent, awed nod of agreement.
"One heracross, a swarm of beedrill, and about ten ursaring," Danny sighed. "I've tried setting traps and stuff to keep them away, but this is the third time this has happened. I'm at my wit's end." His head pounded thinking of all the money he spent on Max Repels in an effort to keep the combs safe.
Shishi shook his head in disbelief. The nerve of some pokémon, ruining this man's hard work. Have they no shame? he muttered in the wispy voice of an old man.
Apparently not, Lucy replied. I'd hate to tangle with the ursaring that made those claw marks. She pointed at a set of gashes that ran deep into the wood.
Speak for yourself, Soul said with a grin. That sucker'd make for a great fight.
"Wow, the pokémon here must really like honey," June noted. "Do you have any way to defend this place?"
"I just got finished telling Vespiqueen," Danny said, pointing to the Beehive Pokémon currently in the honeycomb ordering her combee around, "that I don't have the money to hire guards or the time to train new pokémon. I'm still going to school on top of tending to the honey; it's how I pay tuition, on top of other expenses."
"Well, maybe we could help," Rachel offered with a sunny look. "See, I'm a Pokémon Ranger from Almia and we always make a point of helping anybody in need. We could stay the night or maybe make it so the pokémon around here won't steal from you anymore."
"Vul vulpix," Vulpix nodded in agreement.
"You'd help a total stranger?" Danny asked, his face lighting up with gratitude.
"Yeah, sure," James smiled. "It's no big deal. We could hang out here, maybe help you rebuild a bit and then go out to drive off any pokémon that come by looking for a free meal. What do you say, June?"
"Sounds like a good idea," the redhead smiled. "Sylva makes a good guard and Rosewood can be a lookout."
"Fur ret!" Rosewood saluted, turning her face into a stalwart mask of professionalism.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" Grey protested. "What about Mélange Town? What about my next Gym Badge? We can't spend an entire day in here; it'll set us back! Plus, I still have to teach Rachel to catch a pokémon and capture Heracross!"
"Grey, how could you say that?" Rachel admonished. "He needs help and as a Pokémon Ranger -"
"I keep telling you that I am not a ranger," Grey cut in, growling. "And I am gonna catch Heracross. There's no way I'm paying for Jameson's dinner."
"Good luck with catching it," Danny snorted. "That heracross is unbelievably wily. It's somehow gotten past every trap I set and eats the most honey out of all of them."
"Which is exactly why I want it on my team," Grey said with a nod.
"Come on, Grey, don't be such a jerk. I bet it won't even take that long. We can be out of the forest by tonight if we work fast," Jameson said in his most convincing voice. "Danny really needs some help here. We can at least help him save what's left of the honey."
"Scy?" Sniper asked excitedly.
"No more for you," Jameson deadpanned.
"Argh, fine," Grey resigned. "I'll help; I'll help. No need to twist my arm on this. But first, let's go, Rae. Time for your lesson." He walked over to his big sister and grabbed her wrist, dragging her over to another part of the forest. Vulpix, Mudkip, and Lucy followed behind them.
"What is his problem?" Danny asked James. James sighed, shooting a look at Grey's retreating back.
"Long story short, he's really impatient and likes to rush things. Honestly, he needs to grow up and lose the attitude," he said contemptuously.
"I guess so," Danny shrugged. "Come on; grab a honey bucket and let's get started."
"Right," James said, hoisting a bucket over his head. "June, let's get started."
"In a second; this is too much fun!" June called from above. James looked up to see the giggling redheaded researcher being carried through the air by Danny's combee swarm while Vespiqueen conducted their path. "You have to try this, James!"
"Maybe some other time," the boy laughed.
Heracross was just about fed up with this situation. There he was, minding his own business sucking on some tree sap, when who should appear and ruin his fun but the leader of the ursaring pack. Ursaring had demanded that Heracross move away from the oran tree to allow him to pick some berries. Heracross ignored Ursaring. Having dealt with the pokémon before, he knew that Ursaring was more of an annoyance to him than a threat.
Unsurprisingly, Ursaring became violent.
The Hibernator Pokémon angrily climbed up the tree and knocked Heracross away from his meal with a strong blow before going on to greedily hoard berries for himself. Heracross was usually like the rest of his species: calm and aversive to confrontation. But when attacked first, he couldn't just sit around and take it.
Heracross flared his wings and positioned himself downward, aiming his horn at the oran tree. He pushed off the ground with his powerful legs and a grunt of effort, ramming the tree with all his might, his horn's power backed by the force of his push. Ursaring fell out of the tree and landed ungracefully on his back, getting up to stare down Heracross with a look of unbridled fury.
With the usual roar, Ursaring charged forward, his claws outstretched. He savagely brought them down in a vicious swipe, but Heracross was prepared. He bent down, letting the claws strike his iron-hard carapace, and thrust his horn up and into Ursaring's gut. He then pulled back from the winded bear and pulled raised a claw before bringing it down upon his head in a brutal Brick Break.
"Ra cross," the Single Horn Pokémon hissed contemptuously. Thoroughly annoyed, he flared his wings and flew away. If Ursaring was going to be petulant about the tree, then he would just go to his other source of food: the honeycombs.
Ursaring groggily roused himself, noticing that Heracross was nowhere to be found. He deduced that the Single Horn Pokémon had gone to the honeycombs to raid what was left in order to avoid confrontation. The vengeful pokémon that he was, Ursaring was not about to let that happen. He let out a loud, vicious roar that traveled far from where he stood. Ursaring would not stand for this humiliation. He thundered off after Heracross, aiming to get some payback.
The tree Rachel noticed was covered in kakuna suddenly buzzed to life as Heracross passed it. An entire swarm of beedrill flew out of the thick leaves to follow their fellow bug while a butterfree swarm congregated overhead. Ignoring their presence, Heracross continued to fly towards the honeycomb, stomach growling the whole time.
At the same time, Grey and his sister had begun their lesson on capturing pokémon. Grey crossed his arms impatiently, tapping his foot as his sister sat on a nearby rock to listen to what he had to say. Vulpix settled next to her and Mudkip leapt into her arms, blissfully unaware of what was going on.
"Okay," Grey began, "I'm not going to do a physical demonstration, so listen up. Catching a pokémon is as easy as one-two-three."
"Char," Soul nodded sagely.
"Well, if it's so easy, then get to teaching," Rachel said eagerly. She pushed all guilt to the back of her mind and listened intently.
"Okay, okay. First, you need to find a pokémon you want to catch and have one of the pokémon you already have battle it to make it weaker," Grey explained.
"But that's so barbaric!" Rachel protested. "Won't they get hurt?"
"Of course they're going to get hurt; that's the risk you take when you start a battle. As a trainer, you have to give commands to your pokémon to make sure it isn't really hurt. And pokémon fight each other in the wild all the time, so it's not as barbaric as you say it is," Grey said, quick to defend his beliefs. "Can I continue?"
"Sorry," Rachel said in a small voice.
"Thank you. Okay, so after the pokémon you're targeting is weakened, preferably when its dazed or knocked out, you use one of these," he plucked an empty ball off his belt and expanded it before placing it back in its place, "and throw it at your target. You just need to hope your aim's good and that the pokémon's too weak to fight back against the ball."
"But wait, isn't that sort of forcing them to come with you?"
"Not really," Grey said with a shrug. "They're given a fair chance to fight so that they aren't captured and even when they're in the ball, they can continue to try fight their way out of it. A poké ball doesn't have a one-hundred percent success rate."
"But what about that pokémon's family? Wouldn't they miss it?" Rachel implored, trying to find at least one flaw in the system.
"Rachel, if you haven't noticed, all pokémon want to fight to become stronger and compete against other pokémon, wild or trained. Hell, there are some wild pokémon that are even jealous of trained ones and want to be caught."
"Char charmander," He's right, you know, Soul agreed. Lucy also nodded in agreement, having had a first hand experience in this. Rachel deflated, utterly beaten by Grey's logic.
"Okay, fine, you win," she resigned. "Now, can you recommend a pokémon for me to catch?" Grey put a hand to his chin in thought.
"Well, there's bound to be beedrill in this forest since we saw that kakuna tree. Maybe even a zigzagoon or a pidgey. Especially if the pidgey becomes a pidgeotto and then a pidgeot later on," he suggested. Grey stretched his back, sighing in content as he felt a few vertebrae pop.
Rachel considered the options carefully until an imaginary light bulb lit up over her head.
"What about that heracross you and James are after?" Rachel suggested. Grey let out a bark of a laugh and Vulpix's fur bristled angrily.
"Yeah, right," Grey said. "You aren't even close to being able to catch something like a heracross."
"Well, neither are you. You're still just as new as James is," Rachel shot back indignantly.
"Okay, that's true, but still. I think we've got a better chance at catching it than you do, sis. No offense or anything."
"Oh, don't sell me that, Grey. And saying 'no offense' doesn't lessen the offense at all," Rachel shot back. Grey only sucked his teeth at her and Soul and Vulpix sighed exasperatedly. The Thomas sibling rivalry was a very tiresome event.
"So are we gonna find you a pokémon to catch, or what?" Grey asked in a low voice.
"I guess so," Rachel muttered acidly, not looking at her brother. "You want to go look for one?" Grey's answer was drowned out by the sound of a pair of massive insect wings buzzing loudly overhead. Grey and Rachel looked up, a wide grin broke across Grey's face and a look of awe blooming on Rachel's. Vulpix stared on with disinterest, Mudkip gawked, Lucy smirked a bit, and Soul, as usual, grinned and flexed his claws.
"Heracross!" the Single Horn Pokémon called as it flew by. Noting the shape of its horn, Grey deduced that Heracross was male. He reached for the poké ball he'd put away and took off in hot pursuit of Heracross, Soul and Lucy hot on his heels.
"Come back here, Heracross!" he shouted.
"Wait, Grey!" Rachel called after her brother. "I still don't have a poké ball!" Grey hastily dug around in his messenger back and tossed his sister an empty ball before continuing his pursuit of Heracross.
"Good luck, Rae! Meet you back at the honeycomb!" he shouted. "Soul, Ember! Lucy, Aqua Jet!"
"Char!"
"Bu~i!"
Heracross let out a startled cry, losing his focus as he was hit from behind by the combination attack and stumbled in his flight as a result. He turned around, eyes narrowing angrily at Grey and his two pokémon.
Perfect, he thought, irritated. All I want is some food and now look what happens. Why is everyone trying to pick a fight today? Heracross pointed his now glowing horn down at the three chasing him and winged forward, slamming his prized appendage into Lucy's stomach before throwing her into the air and letting her fall back down limply. He turned back around and put on a burst of speed, eager to lose his pursuers and finally get something to eat.
"That was Megahorn," Grey noted as he caught Lucy while running. He stopped for a split second to pick up Soul and took off running again.
Rachel looked at the ball in her hand in silent contemplation. It's shiny, metallic red surface seemed to look back at her, as if daring her to use it. She let out what felt to her to be her umpteenth sigh, her confidence fading fast.
"Vuuul…" Vulpix mewled, nuzzling up against Rachel's legs. She urged her forward with her nose and pointed towards where Heracross had flown off.
"Mud mud!" Mudkip yipped encouragingly.
"Thanks, girl; thanks 'Kip." Rachel clutched the ball, her confidence skyrocketing and her face setting into a determined state. "Let's go get that heracross."
Suddenly, a loud, angry buzzing and the warbling cries of more than a dozen butterfree reached Rachel's ears. She turned around, looking up with a gawking look to rival Mudkip's and saw a solid cloud of black and yellow chasing after Heracross. Right behind the beedrill swarm were several butterfree, lazily flapping in the same direction. Rachel's blood ran cold as ice, a worst-case scenario forming in her head.
"If those beedrill are after that Heracross…then that means Grey's in trouble!" she screamed, horrified. She took off desperately after her little brother, boots crunching through the undergrowth with every step.
Soul was having a difficult time keeping up with his trainer's long stride with his tiny legs. Nonetheless, he plugged on through and continued to lob fireballs at Heracross in an attempt to weaken the Bug-type while Lucy rocketed by with another Aqua Jet. Heracross was surprisingly agile and quick for a pokémon of his size, able to sidestep Lucy's attack and fly above Soul's before being hit. All the while, Grey kept his focus on catching and keeping up with Heracross.
Heracross was obviously getting riled up and angry that he was getting attacked for the second time in less than a half hour. Seeing as he didn't know any ranged attacks, he was confined to knocking the buizel out of the air and dodging the charmander's potentially painful attacks. He deftly swerved under a Water Gun attack before getting blasted full in the face by Soul's Dragon Rage. The force of the impact actually made the Single Horn Pokémon do a backwards flip through the air before landing heavily on the ground and becoming susceptible to a Water Gun that pinned him to the spot.
"Nice shot, guys," Grey praised his pokémon. He took out another empty ball and expanded it, pointing it at Heracross. "You're mine now, buddy. Poké ball, capture -"
"Heracrau!" Heracross suddenly bellowed, pointing behind Grey with a look of utmost fear upon his face. Soul's flame shrank and Lucy looked eyes widened with fear in an instant. Confused, Grey looked towards where Heracross was pointing to see a caterpie hanging from a branch and munching on a leaf.
"What was the point of…" Grey's left eye twitched as he realized that he'd just fallen for the oldest trick in the book. 'Duped by a heracross' was definitely something he could mark down as a highlight of his adventure. "That wasn't funny, man!" he said, turning on Heracross angrily, only to see Soul and Lucy running behind the retreating Bug-type.
"Guys!" he called after them. "I didn't say to go after him; why're you all running?" He was about to go after them when the same buzzing that struck fear in Rachel repeated its actions with him. His entire body shook as he slowly turned around for the second time to see the beedrill swarm rapidly closing the gap between himself and them.
"Oh…CRAAAAAAP!" It took a split second for him to realize that their poisonous spears were pointed at him, for what reason, he had no clue. Another scream tore itself from his throat and he took off literally running for his life.
The beedrill, not knowing the way to the honeycomb on their own, were angry at Grey for attempting to capture their meal ticket. They knew that he'd most likely try once more, so, naturally, they had to remove him from the equation. As one, they took aim at the fleeing teenager, spears glowing a venomous purple as they fired their Poison Sting attacks at him.
Grey fearfully sped up at the sound of their assault. He most definitely did not want to get hit with that many poisonous barbs at once; it spelled instant death! There were so many things he hadn't done yet in his short life: he'd never driven a car, he'd never had his first beer… for Arceus's sake, he'd never been kissed! He continued to run, catching up with Soul, Lucy, and the heracross, scooping his companions up and making a sharp turn away from the swarm. They kept following him, however, and the three of them bemoaned their luck.
I knew getting caught by a human would be the death of me! Lucy cried.
I'm too young to die! Soul shouted pitifully. I'm only three years old! Somebody help us!
"I hate beedrill!" Grey roared, pumping his already burning legs as hard as he possibly could. He needed to find a place to hide; anywhere. Anything was better than being stung to death by a beedrill swarm.
"I haven't even earned my second badge yet…" That one thought momentarily dashed all of Grey's fears in an instant. That was correct; he hadn't obtained the next badge yet and he had vowed to gain all of them and challenge the league. Heatran's blood would turn to ice before Grey died without finishing his quest.
"Soul, if you trust me, I've got an idea!" he said to his partner. Soul gulped uneasily, but nodded nonetheless. "We're not gonna go out like this!" He boldly turned around, holding Soul out with one hand and shouting, "Smokescreen, now!"
Soul took a huge gulp of air and belched out a cloud of thick, acrid smoke. The smoke washed over the swarm, instantly putting a majority of them to sleep while only rendering the more fortitudinous ones slightly drowsy. Ignoring their comrades as they fell right out of the air, the remaining beedrill were more focused on ridding themselves of their sleepiness and continuing their vicious chase of the human boy, killing intent fully present.
"I honestly cannot believe that worked," Grey muttered to himself. Taking no more time to stick around, he ran off to put as much distance between himself and the beedrill.
Jameson let out a grunt of effort as he placed the honey bucket he was carrying into the pickup truck that Danny had gotten. He cast a look back at the ruined honeycomb and frowned. It was a shame that Danny's honeycombs had been demolished by the local pokémon but there was nothing that could be done about it.
"It's a shame," he said to himself, sticking his finger in the bucket to sneak a taste. He licked the honey off his finger, savoring the delicious taste. "His combee make really good honey."
"Scy scyther?" Sniper asked innocently, eyeing the honey buckets hungrily.
"Not after last time," James said sternly. "That was totally uncalled for, you helping yourself to Danny's honey." His scyther looked down in apologetic shame. "Serves you right, you sugar demon."
"That the last one, James?" Juniper asked. She was currently using one of her water bottles to bathe an irritable and squirming Rosewood. The clumsy furret had accidentally fallen into a puddle of honey and shrieked in disgust. Her fur - her precious fur - was ruined now, made sticky by the infernal honey. If she never saw the stuff ever again, it'd be too soon.
"Rosewood, sit still or else I'll never get this out of your fur," June muttered.
Told you to watch your step, Sylva chuckled.
Shut up, you stupid lizard, Rosewood fumed. I don't like this any more than you do.
Speak for yourself; this is hilarious for me, Sylva responded.
As it is for me, Shishi said, voice and wispy laughs barely above a whisper as he twisted the cap on a honey jar and handed it to Danny. Rosewood growled at them both, vowing to get them back as June doused her head.
"Alright, thanks a whole lot, guys," Danny said, wiping sweat off of his brow. "I can't even begin to tell you how big of a help you were. Just a few more buckets and we're done."
Like the grovyle said, speak for yourself, Vespiqueen said haughtily. That ruffian scyther of theirs had to be restrained the whole time and kept away from my honey.
Sorry 'bout that, Sniper laughed sheepishly. I just can't control myself around such good sweets. Vespiqueen gave a proud smile.
Well, since you think so highly of it…
"Don't even try sweet talking her, Sniper; you're not getting any more honey," Jameson admonished.
"Scy scyther scy!" the Mantis Pokémon protested.
"Well, then, learn some self control, you psycho," his trainer laughed.
"Okay then," Danny said. He recalled the combee to their poké balls and produced a set of keys from his pocket. "When your friend and his sister get back and help us with the rest of this, how'd you like a ride to Mélange Town?"
"Wow, you mean it?" June asked excitedly. Rosewood shook all five feet of her body out, spraying June in the face as she did so. "I can just feel the love, Rosewood," she said dryly.
"Of course I do. It'd take me the entire day to do this on my own and I really am grateful," Danny said with a friendly smile.
"Thanks, man! You're a lifesaver," Jameson praised.
"I should say that about you guys," Danny laughed. "However…there's one stipulation." A sly smirk adorned his face and he twirled the truck's keys on his finger.
"What's that?" Juniper asked.
"You, the kid, and James ride in the back with the honey buckets. Rachel sits up front with me." A sly grin formed on Danny's face at the confused look on Juniper's face and the smirk on James's.
"Oh, I get it; don't want the kids messin' you up while you get in good with Grey's sister," James said amusedly.
"You catch on quick, James," Danny replied, making no denials about his intention.
"Just wait until Grey hears this," Juniper laughed, envisioning an enraged Grey glaring at Danny while the latter had his arm around a giggling Rachel. "Think he'll flip?"
"That or laugh his head off," Jameson said, his voice straining as he stretched his back. He took a seat on the truck to rest, joined by Shishi's presence on his head. An odd buzzing sound reached Juniper's and Rosewood's ears, appearing to be getting closer.
"Do…do you guys hear that buzzing noise?" she inquired carefully. Sylva's eyes narrowed and she moved in front of her trainer, taking a defensive stance.
"What noise?" Danny asked curiously. "If you mean the buzzing, it's just Vespiqueen's wings going -"
"No," June interrupted. She took Rosewood in her arms protectively and felt her entire body tense up. "It's sound isn't the same as Vespiqueen's; it's bigger and louder."
The air became intensely charged with anticipation; Jameson slowly got off the truck and gave a silent nod to Shishi. The Requiem Pokémon conjured up a Will-O-Wisp in his small hands and Sniper was there in a flash, all childishness gone. His eyes turned hard as rock and his blade-arms glinted in the green light.
"You think it might be -" Danny began, only to be cut off by a giant blue blur bursting out from the trees and skidding across the ground in attempt to stop itself. It tripped on a rock, did a front flip, and crashed into the remains of Danny's honeycomb, making an even bigger hole than the one on the east side.
Shards of wood flew all over, accompanied by a loud crash from inside the honeycomb. Jameson gave another nod to Sniper and his pokémon reacted in an instant. He winged his way through the hole and raised one of his blades only to be knocked back by a blue horn with a curious cross shape adorning the tip.
"Hera crau!" Heracross barked as he dug himself out of the wreckage, glaring at his scyther opponent.
"It's that damned heracross again!" Danny shouted accusingly. "It's probably back for another free meal. And it busted yet another hole through the wall! Damn it…"
Jameson silently pulled out his own Pokédex - a navy blue copy of Grey's - and scanned Heracross.
Heracross, the Single Horn Pokémon, the Pokédex recited in a female voice. Heracross is surprisingly strong for its size, able to knock down fully grown trees with its horn and endure attacks with a carapace said to be as strong as steel. Despite this, Heracross are normally docile pokémon, only fighting when threatened or attacked. Heracross feed on tree sap by biting through the bark with their powerful jaws. Its eating habits unwittingly enter it into a symbiotic relationship with Butterfree, but makes it unpopular among most Grass-type pokémon.
Gender: Male
"Stand back and let me take this one," Jameson commanded, eager and authority riding his voice. He ran over to help his scyther up, Shishi following behind him like a ghostly sentry. "If I catch him, then my bet with Grey is sealed. Sniper, you ready for a one on one fight?"
"Scy," Sniper grunted. He took his weight off Jameson and took a battle stance, eyes narrowed, feet spread apart, and scythes crossed dangerously.
"Hera?" Heracross hissed confusedly. It didn't take long for him to realize that Sniper would be his opponent and that Jameson was his trainer. This was turning out to be an extremely taxing day for Heracross; all he wanted was some food and he's been challenged to a battle not once, not twice, but three times in a row. As he stood up and brandished his horn boldly at Sniper, he wondered exactly what he'd done to deserve all this.
"Ra cross!" he hissed challengingly.
"If you say so, let's begin! June, you getting this?" Jameson asked, grinning.
"As if you had to ask," the girl called back, completely immersed in taking notes.
"Heh, I guess you're right. Sniper, Quick Attack!" James ordered, throwing a hand out at Heracross.
With a grunt of effort, Sniper flared his wings and pushed off the ground, rocketing forward with great speed and leaving a glowing white trail behind him. In an instant, he had his shoulder buried in Heracross's thorax and was pushing the Single Horn Pokémon back with seemingly little effort.
Heracross wasn't about to let himself be bested and dug his feet into the ground, effectively stopping Sniper's attack in its tracks. He smiled victoriously and reared his head back to slam Sniper in the side with his Horn Attack. Sniper tumbled across the ground like a skipping stone and crashed into a tree, both his back and pride bruised.
"Shake it off, buddy," Jameson urged in a calm voice. Sniper groaned as he endured the pain and stood himself back up, ready to take another command. "Good job. Now get him with Wing Attack and make it a good one!"
Scy-ther!" Sniper shouted as he pushed off the ground, wings glowing with a fortifying light. Heracross reacted quickly, flaring his wings as well and flying upwards with a burst of great speed. Sniper gave chase, easily catching up and slamming his glowing wing into Heracross. While his opponent was dazed by the super-effective move, Sniper wheeled around and crossed his scythes together, empowering them and slashing Heracross with a well-placed X-Scissor.
Heracross flipped in the air, fighting to right himself before Sniper could attack him again. He straightened out just in time to dodge as Sniper streaked by using Quick Attack and glared down at the green bug. Heracross blazed forward himself, air currents splitting at the tip of his horn and surrounding him as he sped towards Sniper. The Mantis Pokémon's eyes widened in surprise and he attempted to dodge, slightly angling his body so that Heracross would harmlessly pass by.
Sniper received another jarring surprise when a sharp wind burst that trailed behind Heracross collided into him and left several cuts.
Heracross turned around in midair, braced himself, and slammed his prized horn into Sniper's gut. The attack sent Sniper speeding straight back down to earth where the impact of his fall kicked up a huge dust cloud.
"I don't believe it; that was Aerial Ace!" Juniper cried in awe.
"Just my luck for it to know a move that never misses," James growled. "Sniper, you alright in there, buddy?" he called out of concern for his pokémon. Sniper gave a weak groan in response before falling unconscious.
"Well, it looks like it's your turn now, Shishi," Jameson sighed.
"Dusssk…" Shishi replied in a feeble sounding whisper. Just as he was about to float into battle and bail his teammate out, the duskull heard another curious buzzing noise accompanied by a trio of screams and desperate footsteps headed their way.
"There's another heracross?" June hypothesized ecstatically.
"No, but there's a crap-load of beedrill!" Grey screamed as he burst onto the scene. He took refuge behind Danny's truck just as the swarm of beedrill following him furiously made themselves known.
"Just our luck!" Danny shouted. He turned on Grey, shouting, "You were dumb enough to piss off a beedrill swarm?"
"Hey, don't look at me, dude!" Grey said defensively. "I was just teaching my sister when Heracross flew by and I chased after it and next thing I know, I'm running for my life!"
"Char char!" It's true! Soul affirmed.
"While I highly doubt that, we've got more important things to deal with," Jameson said. "Shishi, Shadow Ball spread!"
"Duskull!" Shishi cried, lobbing a Shadow Ball at the swarm and breaking it into a carpet barrage with a smaller version. The beedrill were bombarded and covered with a thick smoke more acrid than Soul's as the attack exploded on them.
"Vespiqueen, let's not let them have all the fun," Danny commanded. "Use Power Gem!"
The buzzing from Vespiqueen's wings grew in intensity as she concentrated on the jewel in her forehead. She placed both claws on either side of it as the gem glowed an iridescent white before throwing them out and sending a multitude of crystalline fragments racing forward. The fragments struck the remaining beedrill that were still standing, instantly knocking them out.
Grey, having found his courage again, bravely commanded Soul to use Ember on the last two beedrill. Soul's fireballs impacted the beedrill and set their entire bodies ablaze in a second. The Poison Bee Pokémon fell out of the sky and joined their fallen comrades in crumpled, blackened heaps.
"Oh, man, am I glad that's over," Grey sighed as he rested doubled over with his hands on his knees. "Thanks a lot, guys."
"Don't mention it," Danny said. He took a few poké balls out of his pockets and used them to capture some of the injured beedrill. "Thanks to you, I think I may have gotten some new honeycomb guards."
"Now that that's over," Jameson said, recalling Sniper to his ball and giving him a silent thank you, "it's time for me to capture Heracross!"
"Charmander?" Soul wondered.
Confused, Grey looked around the area until he saw Heracross standing in front of the ruined honeycomb, still waiting for Jameson to finish their battle. Under normal circumstances, he would've hightailed it out of there when the beedrill showed up, but after seeing Jameson's duskull fight, he decided to stick around and test his skills. Also, he knew that even if he did run, Jameson would pursue him, so it would save him the hassle to just tay put.
"Ra cross," came his expectant hiss.
"Wha… No way!" Grey shouted. He pointed an accusing finger at Jameson and then at Heracross. "You didn't tell me that Heracross came here!"
"Your loss, dude," Jameson said offhandedly. "It's still my turn."
"'Your turn' my ass," Grey grumbled. "Soul, use your -"
"Guys!" came Rachel's distressed call. She skidded to a stop in the middle of the clearing, head turning left and right as she looked for Grey. "There was a beedrill swarm," she said between breaths, "and they were chasing after -"
"Me?" Grey asked. Rachel turned toward his voice and her brother waved at her, obviously fine. "I sort of led them back here and we took care of them."
"We? Danny and I and our pokémon were the ones who did most of the work," James pointed out.
"Whatever!" Grey groaned tiredly. "The beedrill are gone now. Danny caught them and there's nothing to worry about any-"
"Gumaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"I opened my mouth too soon," Grey sighed. "What now?"
His question was answered by none other than Ursaring, the Hibernator Pokémon slowly thundering into the clearing with rage written all over his face. Heracross tensed up at Ursaring's appearance.
Did he honestly follow me all this way because of a few berries? he said incredulously.
"What'd you do to piss this one off, Grey?" Jameson demanded.
"Don't look at me; I didn't even know this one was around!" Grey shot back.
"Hera! Heracross! Ra crau~!" Heracross shouted. Ursaring's attention turned towards the Single Horn Pokémon and he began shouting, roaring, and growling furiously at him.
"What're they saying?" June asked Grey, tugging on his sleeve.
"I think…" he struggled. Grey strained his ears to try and catch what they were saying. It came to him in small ripples, but he understood the general meaning. "Ursaring's mad at Heracross because…of a food dispute? At least I think so."
"Should we just let them battle it out? Because I'm starting to get really tired of this," Danny groaned.
"None of us have pokémon that can take on an ursaring as mad as that one," Juniper admitted. "Sniper would have a chance but Heracross already beat him.'
On the sidelines, Rachel gulped audibly. Her knees shook, she started to sweat with fear, but she knew she had to do something. Chances were, if Ursaring beat Heracross, it'd be going after them next due to the bear's notorious temper. She felt Vulpix nudge her forward again and took a calming breath. She steeled her nerves and took a tentative step forward, common sense telling her to back out now.
"Mud," Mudkip nodded encouragingly. That was all the push Rachel needed at that point. She ran out at Ursaring just as he lunged at Heracross.
"Hey!" she called. Ursaring, Heracross, and all others present focused their attention on Rachel. "Back off."
"Rachel, are you crazy?" Grey yelled, honestly worried for his sister's well being. "That's an Ursaring; it'll rip you apart!"
"Grey, I can't just sit around and not pull my own weight anymore. You guys do all the battling and, as long as I'm going with you, I need to do some of it, too! It's not in me to sit back and let other people protect me!" Rachel declared boldly.
"You couldn't pick a weaker target to battle? Maybe a caterpie or, hell, even one of the beedrill if they were still attacking us. But an ursaring?" James shouted.
"I have to do this," Rachel said stubbornly. Mudkip took a seat at her side, offering silent moral support.
Ursaring momentarily ignored Heracross's presence to deal with this new annoyance. He tightened his muscles and extended his claws, putting on the best enraged face it could.
"Vulpix, let's do this," Rachel said. Vulpix nodded and took a seat in front of Rachel. She stared at Ursaring unblinkingly as if daring him to attack.
On the sidelines, Lucy watched with intrigue as Rachel took the stage. After hearing about how the girl'd reacted during the haunted house incident, she labelled Rachel as a weakling but, now, seeing her overcome her fears to take on an enraged Ursaring, she realized she'd been wrong. In the back of her mind, she toyed with the idea and the possibilities of switching trainers.
Come on, jarhead. Let's dance, Vulpix taunted. Ursaring happily obliged, leaping at Vulpix with full intent to kill.
"Confuse Ray!" Rachel commanded.
Vulpix's eyes adopted an unearthly blue color and she stared straight into Ursaring's eyes. The Hibernator Pokémon, unable to tear his gaze away, succumbed to the Vulpix's spell. He held his head in pain, not knowing which way was up or down or what he should even be doing.
"That was actually pretty good," Grey noted, awe in his voice.
"Now use Quick Attack!" Rachel felt her heartbeat rise in the rush of battle, adrenaline beginning to pump into her system. Vulpix then stood up and attacked in a flash, burying her skull in the center of the ring on her opponent's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Ursaring attempted to attack with Slash but ended up tripping over and knocking his head against a tree when Vulpix jumped out of the way. Head spinning, he jumped back up and started using Thrash, only managing to punch, kick, bite, slash, and hurt himself badly in his attempt.
"Vulpix, use Extrasensory!" Rachel ordered. She'd never before told Vulpix to use the move and wanted to see what the effects would be. She got her wish; Vulpix's eyes turned purple and she again locked her gaze with Ursaring's, twisting and burning the inside of his mind with her overwhelming psychic attack. However, Ursaring got lucky. The mental pain he felt from Extrasensory inadvertently freed him from confusion's grip, allowing him to push himself forward and land a devastating Fire Punch attack on Vulpix.
The petite fox's fur burst into flames as was sent flying into a tree. She slid to the bottom but easily righted herself. Her fur was still curiously burning, but she felt almost no damage from Ursaring's attack.
"Hera…" Heracross muttered in silent awe.
"Is that…?" June wondered. Her eyes grew expectantly as she watched the flames grow in intensity with each passing second.
"Flash Fire!" Grey cheered. "Awesome! It's been a while since I've seen Vulpix's ability."
"What's Flash Fire?" Rachel asked.
"Wise up, sis! You should know this," Grey responded gleefully. "If Vulpix gets hit with a fire attack like Fire Punch, she absorbs the flames and uses them to power up her own fire moves!"
"Quick, end this!" James shouted.
"Right. Vulpix, end this with Flamethrower!" The fire on her back dissipated as Vulpix charged a swirling fireball in her mouth. She reared her head back and threw it forward, sending a more powerful than usual Flamethrower attack barreling into a shocked Ursaring. Ursaring screamed in pain as the flames consumed him on the spot, blackening his fur and sapping every last bit of his strength until he was no longer able to fight. Still on fire, Ursaring fell to the ground.
Danny took out yet another poké ball and tossed it at Ursaring. The bear pokémon was sucked into the ball and didn't even put up a fight; the ball pinged, signaling a successful capture.
"I…I did it," Rachel whispered to herself. "I did it!" she repeated louder, jumping for joy and hugging Vulpix and Mudkip when they jumped into her arms. "We did it, Vulpix; we won our first real battle!"
"You know, I'd think she'd be more disappointed than happy," Grey said. "But, she did it."
"Dude, your sister rocks," Jameson grinned.
"Looks like natural battling talent runs in the family," June said with a giggle. "And I got some great notes on Flash Fire, too. This will really help my research."
"Phenomenal!" Danny praised.
"Heracross!" the blue beetle shouted, cutting the festivities short.
"Oh, right!" James and Grey chorused, each taking out poké balls and marshalling a Soul and Shishi forward.
"Back off, Grey; he's mine!"
"No way, you had your chance!"
"Hera," Heracross said with a shake of his head. He pointed to Rachel defiantly, then pointed back at himself before jabbing the air with his horn a few times. "Hera! Heracross!"
"It looks like he wants to battle my sister," Grey said in amazement.
"Go for it, I guess," James shrugged, putting away his ball.
"R-Really, Heracross?" Rachel asked him. "You want to fight Vulpix and me?"
"Ra cross!" he nodded determinedly. Heracross took a battle stance and let his wings out from under his shell, eyes narrowed and ready for battle. "Heracrau!"
"Okay, then. Vulpix, show him Ember!"
"Vuuul pix!" the scarlet fox mewled. She opened her mouth and sent out a barrage of tiny flames. Heracross knocked them out of the air with his arms like he was swatting flies before flying at Vulpix and ramming her with his horn. Vulpix stood her ground and fixed Heracross with a death glare, eyes blazing purple in use of Extrasensory. Heracross's cry of pain was much louder than Ursaring's due to the type disadvantage, but he silenced himself quickly and pushed on in spite of the damage.
"Hera!" he roared as his horn began to glow. He forced it under Vulpix and vaulted her into air like a volleyball. Vulpix flailed as she attempted to straighten out but Heracross was there in a flash to knock her back down with another Megahorn. As Heracross landed, Vulpix struggled back onto her feet, looking to Rachel for a command.
"Oh! Uhm… Use Extrasensory again, but keep your distance!" Rachel said unsurely. She was still new to battling and this was only her second time. Vulpix cried out, her eyes flashing yellow this time. A multicolor ball of psychic energy formed between her eyes and shot out as a condensed beam. Heracross jumped out of the way and flew at Vulpix, horn glowing brightly again. Vulpix fired off another Extrasensory that struck Heracross full in the face and sent him onto his back with a yelp of pain. Heracross struggled to get out of his prone position to no avail.
"Yes, you've got him!" Danny shouted.
"Vulpix, Flamethrower!" Vulpix summoned the scarlet flames quickly and breathed out another torrent. Unable to dodge, Heracross was seared by the powerful Fire-type attack and flailed his limbs, desperately trying to move.
That was when Lucy made up her mind. She knew that Grey would be disappointed after only spending such a short amount of time with her, but this was what Lucy wanted to do. In her mind, Lucy thought that if Grey was true to his word, then he'd let Lucy do what she thought was best for her. Lucy let out a sigh; she'd miss being on the same team as Soul. She'd finally grown to respect the confident little fire lizard.
Vulpix ceased fire and looked over her shoulder at Rachel, who had pulled out the miniaturized poké ball Grey gave her in deep thought. Nodding quickly, she pressed the button in the center and expanded the ball before taking careful aim. At that exact moment, Grey and James's hearts simultaneously fell through their stomachs.
"If she catches Heracross…" James began fearfully.
"Then that means we have to…" Grey finished, his eyes widening even further.
"Poké ball! Capture on!" Rachel cried as she lobbed the ball at Heracross. It struck him on the horn, converting him into red energy that was sucked into its center. The ball closed and fell to the ground with a soft clunk where it began to rock back and forth furiously as Heracross tried to fight his way out. For almost a whole minute, all present watched full of suspense until the ball finally stopped shaking and emitted a soft ping.
"YES!" Rachel mimicked her brother and punched the air in victory.
"NO!" Grey and James yelled. Rachel collected the ball and held it proudly in the air, Vulpix and Mudkip dancing beside her.
"I caught Heracross! Chew on that, Grey!" she laughed triumphantly as she danced with her pokémon. "And it's all thanks to you, Vulpix!"
"Vul vul!"
Soul and Grey stared on in utter disbelief while James pounded the ground beside them, Shishi patting his shoulder comfortingly.
"Well, you guys did make a bet," June said, keeping the laughter out of her voice as best she could.
"I don't believe this," Grey muttered in a hollow voice. "She actually did it. She said she'd never do it, but she just did and now she's rubbing it in my face…"
"And now we have to buy her dinner…" James lamented. "Please tell me that she isn't a big eater. Please, Grey."
"Okay, I won't. Say goodbye to your money, James." The boys gave twin groans of defeat, irony smacking them in the face with the force of a speeding car.
Afternoon rolled around with Rachel still in extremely high spirits. She'd borrowed some of Grey's supplies to heal Heracross's injuries and decided against giving him a nickname. After scanning him with the Pokédex, they learned that Heracross knew the moves Horn Attack, Aerial Ace, Brick Break, Megahorn, Endure, Leer, Night Slash, Take Down and, surprisingly, Iron Defense.
By that time, the sun hung low in the sky, bathing the forest in a calming orange light. All of Danny's remaining honey had been salvaged and placed into the back of his truck, Rosewood was now free of honey in her fur, and Grey and James were still lamenting the loss of their bet.
"I really love karma," Rachel sang, Mudkip once more dozing in her arms. "It knocked Grey down a few pegs and got me a free lunch and a Heracross."
"Ra cross," Heracross grunted through a mouthful of Sitrus Berries.
"Oh, shut up!" Grey and James shouted angrily.
"Congrats again, Rae. You were a natural out there," June complimented. Rachel took the compliment bashfully, saying it was no big deal.
"Okay, guys, honey's all loaded up. Thanks again for helping me out," Danny said, dusting off his hands on his shirt.
It meant a lot to Daniel. Thank you all again, Vespiqueen said with a regal bow.
It was our pleasure, Vulpix replied respectfully.
No big deal, Soul shrugged.
Try saying that while carrying another bucket, lizard, Lucy and Rosewood said in unison.
"No problem, dude," Grey said.
"Weren't you originally against this, Grey?" June pointed out naively.
"Not helping, June," the black-haired boy deadpanned.
"We were glad to," Rachel said. "Thanks again for giving us a ride to Mélange Town."
"Don't mention it," Danny said with a grin. "As a thank you, there are a few jars of honey I'll give you when we get to town. Now, if you kids and pokémon wouldn't mind getting in the back, we can get going."
"Hey, wait, there's not enough room for all of us," Grey pointed out.
"Yeah, I know," James said. "Heracross and Sniper can follow us by flying and I think Sylva's focused enough to ride on top of the truck."
"No, no, that's not what I mean," Grey said hurriedly. "Where's Rachel going to sit?" Juniper and James erupted into laughter now that Grey had finally asked the question. "What's so funny?" he asked in confusion.
"Rachel," Danny said flirtatiously, "will sit up front with me." He draped an arm around a blushing Rachel's shoulders. Grey's eyes widened then narrowed accusingly in the same motion. He turned to June and James expecting an answer.
"You guys never told me that!" he roared.
"We wanted to see the look on your face, and man, was it priceless! Almost makes losing Heracross not hurt as badly," James guffawed.
"S-Sorry, Grey," June said through her laughs.
"You're telling me that we worked all day helping Danny out and now he's flirting with my sister?" He turned to Danny and pointed an indignant finger at the blonde boy. "Dude, not cool!"
"Sorry, kid; them's the brakes," Danny said smugly. "Get in the back if you want a ride. Otherwise, you can go on foot."
"Maybe I will," Grey huffed petulantly.
"Fine, dude; your loss," James said, traces of laughter still present. He climbed into the back and sat on a honey bucket, Shishi riding on his head. June sat next to him with Rosewood across her shoulders while Sylva jumped onto the top and sat down to balance herself. Sniper, Vespiqueen, and Heracross took flight above them.
"Suit yourself," Danny said with a shrug. "Come on, Rachel; let's get to know each other better." Rachel played along, giving Grey a smug look before getting into the car with Vulpix.
"Sure, Danny. Let's," she said with a seductive edge that made Grey's eyes pop out of his skull.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked suspiciously. The group laughed as Danny started the car and drove off. "Guys, you're not gonna leave me out here, are you?" he shouted after them. The just kept on driving and Grey's annoyance grew.
"Fine, I've still got my pokémon with me. Right, Soul?" There was no response. "…Soul?"
"Char char!" the fire lizard called as he and Lucy waved at him from the back of the truck.
"Soul, you traitor!" Grey shouted. He took off after them. "Wait; I changed my mind! You can have my sister! I still need a ride! Guuuuuys!"
Ahh, can't you just feel the love between them? I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, but it did take me a while, which I apologize for. Upside is, you get eight more pages of reading than normal!
So Rachel captured Heracross. Sure, she broke one of the rules she held in the highest regard, but they say one's pride is most important. Plus, she gets a free dinner for her and her pokémon out of it, so I see no room to complain.
And Jameson's revealed to have his own Pokédex, except his is female. Wait, can Pokédexes even be classified by gender?
Poor Maverick barely showed up in this one... You'll be seeing a whole lot more of him in the future, though.
Next chapter's Mélange Town, so you know that's going to be eventful. We have Grey and James's gym battles coming up and there might even be some new additions in the pokémon department.
Anybody else reminded of the episode where Ash pisses off a beedrill swarm and Butterfree bails him out? Ahh, memories. Am I right, or am I right?
Team Regal's rival villainous team will make quite an appearance in the next few chapters, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
That's all the post-chapter notes for now. Remember, if you don't click that little review button on the bottom of this page, it gets closer and closer to pulling a Sasuke and turning to the dark side. And we don't want that, now, do we? Remember to tell me what you think of this chapter!
Chapter Preview:
Grey: I can't believe you guys actually left me in the woods on my own.
Rachel: Oh, calm down. We came back for you, didn't we?
Heracross: Hera hera.
Grey: And quit rubbing Heracross in my face. It's not cool!
Rachel: This is just payback for what you said earlier in the forest. It's called karma, little brother~
Juniper: Do I always have to be the one to end your sibling rivalry? We need to get this chapter preview out of the way, so quit it and fight later.
Grey: Okay, fine, I'll do it.
Jameson: Let me. Okay, so next time, we finally make it to Mélange Town and Grey and I are pumped for our next Gym Battle. Mélange Town's a quiet little place out in the rural area, but it's got a pretty active small city further in town and there's miles of plains land surrounding it. I might just catch myself a new pokémon.
Grey: Hey, don't interrupt! And if it's a contest you want, then let's do it! We both catch a pokémon by the end of the day. Whoever doesn't has to…give up half their prize money from the Gym Battle to the winner!
Jameson: But I didn't want a contest…
Grey: Well, since we both lost the last one, I don't count it. There has to be a winner between the two of us this time.
Soul: Char man der!
Jameson: Okay then, you're on, Grey!
Juniper: Just be careful while you're in town. There are some shady people walking around in these weird uniforms and they look pretty dangerous.
Rachel: Like the guys back at the tunnel?
Juniper: No, even worse. These guys mean business.
Grey: No problem! The three of us can beat them without even breaking a sweat.
Rachel: Three?
Juniper: Well, you caught Heracross, so I guess that makes you a trainer now.
Rachel: How about a Pokémon Ranger with a trainer side job?
Jameson: Sounds good to me. Now, this preview's gone on long enough; let's tell them the chapter title.
All: Next time on Challenger!: Duel in the Grassland! Gang-leader Zangoose!
Grey: And Heracross is gonna help me!
Heracross: Ra cross?