Venipede are generally considered by trainers to be weak pokemon, but no one has informed these pokemon of that fact – or if they have, the Venipede refused to listen. On an individual level, Venipede, despite their determined efforts, are indeed constrained by their physical limitations; predatory birds defeat them with only modest difficulty, and any trainers who enter their habitat can easily fight one off. But when the Venipede gather together to swarm, they are often compared to a miniature marauding horde, and those foolish enough to ignore them soon learn of these pokemon's strength in numbers.
Venipede do not technically gain a helping hand by fighting in groups, as a Plusle or Minun might; three Venipede against three other pokemon have all the disadvantages of a one-on-one match. But Venipede populations are large and ferocious, and it is a rare city with enough pokemon to approach the weight of numbers these bugs possess alone. A Venipede swarm is like a deadly storm, and, in this peaceful age of city-states and disbanded militaries, is no easier to stop.
After the Venipede march through a land, the grass, trees, and shrubs are eaten bare. Buildings are rarely broken, but often climbed, and a few weaker structures lose windows or collapse outright under the pressure, but Venipede are most dangerous to balcony and rooftop gardens, which meet the same fate as their ground-level counterparts. The remains of half-eaten grass pokemon and a few foolish birds who underestimated the Venipede litter the ground, and trainers should be advised to return their own grass-types to their pokeballs at the beginning of any Venipede swarm. And the Venipede, once their march is complete, evolve to Whirlipede and roll away in all directions, individually stronger than before, but no longer a swarming catastrophe.
