I do not own Pokemon

Vike waited for a few minutes to let the others get into position before he swooped down, blasting one of the Rattatas with Supersonic. The wild pokemons howled and screeched in anger, throwing themselves after the Zubat. Vike flew by, just fast enough to take the lead from the angry pokemons but not so fast as to lose them. He launched himself into the open field right in front of the Beedrill's hive, headed straight towards them, the compound eyes of the bug pokemons immediately locking onto him. With an angry buzz, the Beedrills took off after him, only for the Raticates to emerge from the underbrush in an angry snarl. Vike veered upwards, the Beedrills glaring at the retreating Zubat before turning their attention toward the Raticates, charging towards their general direction. With an angry buzz, the swarm launched itselves at the charging pokemons before even giving them the chance to slow down, stingers pulsating and ready to clash. The Raticates slowed down, looking at the Zubat and ready to retreat as the first stinger slammed into one of their ranks. And then the battles started.

In a nearby bush, Parker and Pan saw the Beedrills flying out to join the battle, the sound of fighting rising to a crescendo. Crouching, the two moved into the nest, hiding behind the brown wax constructions and heading towards the core of the nest. They were spotted by a handful of Kakunas, but the pair simply ignored them in their sprint towards the middle, where they saw a large hexagonal structure made of the same waxy material, wide and filled with honey while being surrounded by six pokemon eggs.

"Pan, we need to break this at the base. I try to lift and you strike it."

Parker lowered himself on his knees and grabbed the structure as close to the ground as he could and started to pull. Pan struck the base with her claws, leaving deep gashes into the wax.

"Ok, help me pull!"

Pan grabbed the basin, imitating her trainer and started to pull, small cracks forming into the wax.

"Ok, turn around and…"

Parker's plan was interrupted by a loud screeching sound. The Beedrills were coming back.

"Fuck. Pan, PULL!"

With a hefty pull, the structure broke, multiple fracture lines oozing honey covered the basin, yet it remained still, firmly attached to the ground.

"Fuck it Pan, let's book it!" Parker dashed toward the exit in a mad dash, soon overtaken by the much faster Nidoqueen.

The duo left the nest without looking back, the angry buzzing of the Beedrills behind them was getting louder and louder.

He didn't dare look back. He didn't know how many Beedrills were there, but the sound clearly indicated that they were far too numerous for his liking.

With a final dash, Parker reached his pokemons in a clearing next to the lake.

Parker turned around, intercepting a wounded Beedrill with a swift kick that smashed it into the ground. One was down, but there were ten more angry pokemons.

"We need flying moves! Aerial Ace! Acrobatics! Wing Attack! Air Slash! Drill Peck! Sky Drop! Use all of them!" shouted Parker as he was swarmed by the bug pokemons, stabbing at him with all they had, leaving painful marks all over his raised arms and piercing through his clothes into his torso.

The largest of the Beedrills started to glow, its body shifting into a more streamlined form, the legs turning into extra stingers, its jaw splitting horizontally as the mandibles bit into the Nidoqueen's shoulder, cracking the thick plates of Pan despite the pokemon's furious swipes at the mutated Beedrill.

Vike and Worp took flight into the air and swooped down, taking up speed in a powerful drop with Worp slicing a Beedrill in two and Vike striking one with his extended wing, cracking the Beedrill's head wide open.

The remaining Beedrills swarmed, their stingers peppering Parker and Pan with more hits they could count, leaving a trail of blood on the two.

The mutated Beedrill continued its attack, blood sprouting from Pan's shoulder as the mandibles kept chomping at the Nidoqueen, uncaring of the bleeding claw marks it was receiving in exchange.

Parker jumped onto the swarm, squashing one of the Beedrills against the ground while Vike and Parker continued their attacks, desperately trying to kill the Beedrills as fast as they could before they reduced their trainer to a pin cushion.

With a loud cracking sound, the mutated Beedrill forced Pan to cry out in pain, her blood flowing from her shoulder while Worp and Vike killed the last remaining Beedrills and focused their effort on the mutant. With a swift kick, Parker pushed the pokemon away from the Nidoqueen, right in the trajectory of Worp and Vike descending on the pokemon, splitting the Beedrill in two.

The twitching remains of the bug pokemon convulsed, their form shifting back into that of a regular Beedrill as a smooth and round stone with a red and yellow pattern rolled off of the corpse toward Parker's feet.

Parker and Pan took a deep breath, their bodies covered in bleeding wounds and swollen puncture marks from the swarm's onslaught.

"What the hell was that thing?" muttered Parker, picking up the curious stone.

Had it something to do with the bizarre mutation? He knew for a fact that Beedrills did not evolve, but that thing sure looked like another evolution, even if its effects were temporary. Was it another Rocket research that he wasn't aware of? It looked a lot more natural than the monstrosity they had fought before, but he was pretty sure whatever happened to the beedrill wasn't natural. This stone that Parker was holding onto had probably something to do with it, since it was obviously artificial. Or at least it looked artificial to Parker. Too smooth, too even, too perfectly spherical, it ought to be man-made, right?. But how did it end up here in the middle of nowhere? Had the Beedrills just taken it from an unfortunate passerby? Had it been thrown away from the lab in mount Moon and transported here by the river? And if it was, why had the Beedrills chosen to keep it?

Parker looked at Pan, noticing for the first time the egg sitting behind the pokemon.

"You stole an egg?" He said, shocked at the fact that he hadn't even noticed it during the battle. He chuckled to himself.

"Good thinking, Pan."

He grinned, but then stopped as he took a better look at his companion: that mutated Beedrill had really done a number on Pan and while she might have been able to take another hit, Parker was almost certain that she wouldn't survive a second. He sighed, pulling out a Lava Cookie and handed it to Pan. This operation had been half a disaster. Sure, they got their hands on a Weedle egg, but they didn't get any honey and Pan had almost died. This was his fault. He should have come up with a better plan. He had been too sure of his own and his companion's capabilities and they had paid the price. If the Beedrills hadn't been weakened from the fight with the Rattatas and Raticates, someone could have died. Hell, they all could have died. As the trainer, it was his responsibility to make plans and he had let everyone down by half-assing it.

Luckily, everyone was still alive and now that the Beedrills were gone, they could just go back to the hive to gather the honey.

After a night's rest, once Pan was in better shape.

Helping the Nidoqueen on her feet, he guided her back to the hollow trunk where they had spent the previous night, silently followed by the rest of his team.

Parker woke up the next day with the distinct sensation of something off. He looked around only to notice Vike missing. He left his alcove to look for his first companion, searching for the flapping of blue wings. He soon heard the familiar sound, only to be tackled to the ground by a blue shape , his face now covered in saliva as a massive tongue was licking him.

"Vike, stop it."

As the pokemon moved aside and Parker cleaned his face, he got up and looked at Vike, his figure doubled in size, most of it occupied by a gigantic jaw with a tongue just as long as its previous body size.

"You evolved?!" shouted Parker in joy "That's awesome Vike!"

He hugged his pokemon and tried to lift him up, only to realize that the increased size also meant a rather significant increase in weight.

"At this point I will need to start lifting weights if I want to be able to lift any of you." he chuckled.

The noise attracted both Worp and a freshly awoken Pan holding on to the Weedle egg.

With the team assembled, Parker led the way to the Beedrill's nest, only to find it completely overrun. Claw marks and carcasses of destroyed Kakuna, half-eaten Weedles and dead Rattatas covered the floor. It was pretty obvious that once the Beedrills had been killed, the nearby pokemons had charged into the nest. Accelerating their pace, Parker reached the honey basin, only to see it shattered, a huge pool of honey spread over the ground.

Parker cursed under his breath. He knew his plan to get the honey was half-baked at best, but that was magnitudes worse than what he thought. Had Pan not grabbed the egg on their way out, they would have absolutely nothing to show for their effort. He should have come here yesterday. Yes, Pan and himself had been wounded, but both Vike and Worp were at full combat capacity. Plus, they had access to super-effective moves that would have easily dispatched any remaining Beedrill, Kakuna or Weedle in the nest.

What a waste.

For next time, he would need to really step up his planning. No more half-assing the job, no more improvisation, he needed to demand a higher standard from himself. And most importantly, he needed his pokemons to actually train. He needed to work on tactics, learn how fast his pokemons could perform certain moves, he needed to set up combinations to deal with specific pokemon weakness and he needed to teach his pokemons how to recognize which stratagem to use as well as how to execute it flawlessly.

That was his next objective, but now he needed to try and salvage what he could from this nest.

He tried to gather up a few scoops of honey, but the amount he could recuperate from the broken basin was barely enough to give his pokemons more than a couple of bites worth.

With his mood dampened, Parker led his team out of the nest and back to the lake for some fresh water and to fill up the empty bottles in his backpack.

Parker was musing about how he could have better planned the raid on the hive when he was distracted by Pan's loud shout. As he turned around, he saw a large crack on the egg she was carrying. A second crack appeared on the egg's surface as a tiny stinger poked through.

Parker looked on fascination as the Weedle emerged from her shell into Pan's awaiting arms. Vike and Worp had also floated around the Nidoqueen, observing in fascination the birth of their new companion. Parker smiled.

"Hello, little one."

The Weedle glared at Parker, shooting a line of silk at his face, causing the other pokemons to roar up in a cacophony of noises that could only be laughter.

"Right…I suppose I should give you a name, uh? How about String?"

The Weedle did not respond.

"I'll take that as a no. I'll think of something while we eat."

He said, pulling out a Lava Cookie and handing it to the bug pokemon. To his surprise, the Weedle seemed to ignore the cookie, crawling towards him and trying to reach for something in the man's pocket. Curious, Parker emptied it out on the ground and saw the Weedle grab onto the mysterious stone he had taken from the mutated Beedrill.

"You like it?"

The Weedle nodded, not taking his eyes away from the stone.

"I suppose you can keep it… Gem? How does that sound as a name?"

The Weedle looked at Parker, her eyes shining at him.

"Yup. Gem definitely fits you."

He muttered, holding the Lava Cookie for the pokemon to eat. Gem obliged.

"Eat and get plenty of drinks. Today we start to train like a proper Pokemon team."


Notes

Boss: 10 wounded lvl 11 Beedrills (Swarm) + lvl 22 Mega Beedrill (Adaptability) vs lvl 21 team

Hey, Mega evolutions are a thing! What's their origin? Are mega stones natural or artificial? dunno, but they are cool, so they stay

So... yeah, Parker kinda dropped the ball on this. Sure, he got SOMETHING out of this, but that was sheer luck

New team member! We're almost full! Hope you'll enjoy Gem and the interraction she's going to have with the rest of the team

Next chapters will have a time jump. The team is strong enough that regular mons are no longer a threat, plus Gem will need some grinding to catch up with everyone else