Chapter 6

Emerald Emergency

Only a few seconds had passed since Bladestorm was freed from his possession. A scene of within the Russetton Police Station’s front lobby was seen. A youthful-looking woman with a blue police uniform, white gloves, and blue cap with black brim was standing against the wall next to a set of double doors. In front of that woman was an L-shaped reception desk - one half facing the woman, and the other half facing the front door - with a state-of-the-art monitor, keyboard, and mouse atop it. Another police officer, this one a male, was sitting in the chair behind the desk, facing towards the woman. The two heard the front doors slide open, Zakari and the others, all of which sustained battle damage, entering the building. “Hmm?” The two police officers looked over at Zak and crew, Zak instantly recognizing the woman as an Officer Jenny. “Oh, so you’re the Trainers who took up our request,” the Jenny said.

The Edge Punisher nodded. “I take it you’re Tamara Jenny, our client?” he asked.

“Mmhmm, that’s me.” Tamara hummed. “We’ve been hearing a lot of noise coming from outside. Guess you were all duking it out with that Skarmory.” The two police officers all noticed the conditions of the five Trainers, and instantly looked a bit shocked. “Wow, you look all bruised up. I guess that Skarmory really did a number on you.” The Jenny had a slight smile on her face, a worried one at that. But then her smile was dropped for a more serious expression. “So what’s the verdict? What happened to the Skarmory?” Chris then pulled out the Poke Ball he used to capture Bladestorm. The two officers understandably were shocked. “You caught it?” Tamara exclaimed.

“Yeah. And in doing so, we managed to free him from whatever was controlling him,” Zak replied rather quickly.

“Controlling him?” Tamara gasped. “You mean, these attacks weren’t coincidence?” Zak and the others replied by shaking their heads, to which Tamara sighed in reply. “Great. This is more of a headache than we thought. Looks like we’ll have a hell of a report to make.” Tamara muttered the last sentence to the receptionist, who nodded in response.

Brice overheard the conversation. “Report?” he asked.

The two officers gasped. “No need to worry about that,” Tamara replied nervously. Then she shifted the topic back to the Quest. “Now, that Skarmory. I’d like to try and run some tests on it. If you don’t mind, that is.”

Chris nodded, everyone beginning to walk towards the back set of double doors. “I’d like to have a word with him during these tests as well.” Gemini said.

. . .

After a long hallway, the group all arrived at a room closed off by windows from what appears to be some sort of underground research and development area. Only one regular scientist was inside the top room, greeting Tamara Jenny and the Trainers upon their entrance. Chris had the Skarmory’s Ball in his hand, approaching the front panel. A slot the size of a half-circle was seen, with a slightly larger indent within the center. The purple-garbed boy inserted the Poke Ball into the slot, multiple rays extending outward facing the center of the R&D room. All of the rays each fired a white beam, all of them colliding and fusing with each other to form the shape of a Skarmory.

Upon the light vanishing, Bladestorm was slowly opening his eyes, looking up towards the Trainers. “Thank you for freeing me from my possession,” he said. “Were it not for you all, I would’ve destroyed Russetton.” He reclosed his eyes. “Maybe even more than that.”

“Err, should we call this a draw for now?” Gemini said with a sweatdrop on his face.

“I think that would be best, Gemini.” Bladestorm replied, chuckling afterward.

Zakari then remembered that he never scanned Bladestorm with his Pokedex. So he took that out and scanned him.

Skarmory, the Armor Bird Pokémon. Skarmory's body is covered with a steel-like armor, and can fly at speeds of over 100 mph.

“I guess this would be a good enough time to ask this,” the Edge Punisher said to Bladestorm as he put his Pokedex away. “What exactly is your relation to the Hacker’s Legion?”

A shot of what looked to be Bladestorm alongside Scar, Gemini, and 12 other fully evolved Pokemon were seen. “I am a commander within the clan. The leader of the Third Division,” Bladestorm began. The shot changed to one of those 15 Pokemon placed separately with a group of other Pokemon beside each of them. “Our clan had 15 Divisions, each led by one of the 15 commanders. The Scar of Demise, or just Scar as you know him, was the leader of the Eighth Division, while Iced Gemini was the leader of the Ninth Division.” Then, a few of the initially shown Pokemon were seen plotting amongst each other. “Unfortunately, however, some of our fellow commanders had their own ambitions.” Then, a Pokemon whose most distinct feature is its bulbous red vocal sac was seen by itself, with an evil grin on its face. “In particular, the Fourth Division’s leader, Azurai, wanted the role of clan overseer for himself. And from his actions alone, we could all tell that he would stop at nothing to achieve his selfish goal.”

“What about the other commanders?” Zak asked.

Another shot of the other Pokemon, presumably the other commanders, looking evilly towards a quadruped Pokemon with a spiky mane. “Some of the other commanders were also striving for the same goal. But unlike Azurai, they decided to work together as a team so that one of them could gain the title.” Bladestorm continued. Then, Bladestorm, Scar, and Gemini alongside a couple other Pokemon were shown side by side. “The rest of us were recruited and promoted after the first clan overseer, who was also the founder of the clan, stepped down and passed away.”

“I see.” Zakari muttered to himself, the shot flashing white, back to reality.

“So, who was the overseer? Or I guess, who was the founder of Hacker’s Legion?” Brice asked.

Yet another shot was shown, this one of a silhouetted figure - who looked a lot like a bipedal cat - alone. “Not much is really known about the first overseer,” the Skarmory continued. “After our current overseer was given the title, most of the information regarding the previous one all but vanished. Only a select few know all of this wiped information.”

“And, who was the new guy?” Tina asked.

“He was chosen by a vast majority of our clan, including ourselves, to take leadership over us.” As Bladestorm continued, the silhouette warped from a cat-like creature to a silhouette of a quadruped figure with the spiky mane. “Not only is he the overseer, but he is also the leader of the First Division. A Luxray with incredible power and wisdom. His name, is Luxia.”

“Luxia...” Zakari muttered.

Bladestorm smirked, looking towards the wall in front of him. He then took his feet off the ground, and flew at incredibly high speeds towards the wall. Upon impact, the entire room above shook rather violently, and there was a massive indent from where Bladestorm hit. “I believe that should suffice for your test,” he said, still smirking.

Everyone, except for Gemini, was completely in shock of what they witnessed. [Holy shit. He really was holding back his power.] Zak exclaimed in thought. [If he went all out, we all would’ve been obliterated.] The boy then calmed back down. [So this is the true power of a commander.]

The Jenny was also in shock, but also calmed down enough to begin speaking again. “Well, thanks for solving our dilemma,” she said, an amount of money as well as what looked to be a small dark orange-colored CD encapsulated within a round case with hard plastic top and bottom attached to a short black cylinder. Zak grabbed the CD, while the other Trainers split the money. “Here’s your reward. Hopefully that should be enough for your troubles.”

“Thank you,” Zakari said.

. . .

Zak and the others were all seen exiting the police station, most of them walking towards the Pokemon Center. Chris, on the other hand, began walking in the opposite direction. Lily looked back, noticing this. “Huh? Where are you going?” she asked him.

“?” The purple-garbed boy turned around to face the others, with a confused look on his face.

“Leaving already? But we just started,” Brice said, scratching the back of his head.

“...” Zak was silent, giving a smile to Chris. “Well, you did promise me that you’d leave as soon as I found my team. I guess you decided to stay a bit longer.”

Chris closed his eyes. “Yeah,” he began. “I was initially planning to part with you guys back at the lab. At that point, I had already fulfilled my end of the offer.”

“?” Brice and the others were confused. “What are you two talking about?” the Steam Gunner asked.

“I’ve already said this to Zak but...” Chris paused for a second. “I’m not here in Ageos for the same reason that the rest of you are. I’m just here to track down someone who killed my old partner.” He paused again. “But...maybe I have a different purpose in this world than just that.” Chris looked down at his right hand. “These powers we’ve gained. I wanna learn more about them. And maybe the only way for me to accomplish this, is to journey on my own.”

“Guess so.” Zakari said.

“That GM guy, Raptor. He said I was one with darkness. A Shade Caller.” Chris finished.

“That he did.” The Steelheart replied. “Well, best of luck on your journey.”

Chris smiled at everyone. “We’ll meet again, I’m sure of it.” He then turned around and began walking, raising his right hand to make a peace sign. “Later.”

Everyone else waved goodbye at him. Then, after Chris was unable to be seen within the sandy winds, Zakari glanced towards Tina who was beside him. “So what about you, Tina? You gonna go off on your own now?” he asked her.

“...No.” Tina took a while to reply. She then looked down at her open left hand, her Glamour Weaver aura faintly being seen around it. “These powers...I doubt they’re what Professor Pear was referring to. But I’m sure it’s fate that we are the ones that have them now.” Tina then growled, looking away from Zak and the others. “It may pain me to say this, but...” She looked back at Zak, sighing. “Maybe it’s best that I do stick with you guys for now. I wanna learn more about our powers. And why we have them.”

Zakari simply stared at Tina, thinking. [Tina...Back during our battle, you showed signs of the Tina that we know. As I had predicted, you’re still in there. We just have to break you out of this state of alteration. Don’t worry, Tina. We’ll bring you back to your old self. I promise.] Then after thinking to himself, he turned his head towards Tina. “Alright then, suit yourself,” he replied to her. Then he turned around towards the city’s east exit. “I think we should get going, however. As much as I’d like to rest up after that exhausting fight, I doubt just staying here much longer is gonna accomplish anything for us.”

Everyone else nodded in response, turning around as well as they and Zak began walking eastward. The camera then panned upward towards the clear blue sky, only the bright sun accompanying it.

. . .

The group was seen walking north through what appeared to be the rocky outcroppings of southern Route 3. Slitheren was out of her Poke Ball, trying to rest on Brice’s right shoulder after resting on Zak’s for so long. Scar was walking beside Zak in front, with Lily and Tina side by side directly behind him, and Brice in back.

The Snivy looked like it was having a hard time getting comfortable. “H-Hey, can you tense your shoulder a bit more? I can’t lay down very well like this.” She told Brice.

“Oh er, s-sorry. I’m just not used to someone, or something, laying on it, ehehe.” Brice replied nervously, to which Slitheren shrugged. Then he directed his attention towards Zak in front. “Hey, do you think Lily can fly now?” he asked.

“Not sure really,” he replied nonchalantly. “I mean, we all just awakened our powers. Wouldn’t hurt to try though.” A smile was brought on his face as he looked back at his sister.

“Oooohhh, I wanna fly.” Lily said, excited.

Then she began to focus all of her Ageosian energy down to her legs, her expression being a calm one. Then after a couple seconds, she began to levitate off the ground. Then she gasped in excitement, opening her eyes and seeing herself in mid-air. “I really can!” she exclaimed in happiness. She flew around the group and above the nearby trees for a few seconds, enjoying herself a bit too much perhaps. Then she landed back on the ground next to Tina. “Hooray, I can fly~!” The pink-haired girl giggled happily.

Zak and Brice were also giggling a bit, happy for Lily’s ability to fly. Then he looked over at the Zangoose. “Say, Scar.” He grabbed his attention. “What’s it like being a commander of Hacker’s Legion?”

Scar was silent for a couple seconds, a scene playing in his head of him leading his Division around what looked to be a dungeon. “It’s not as pleasant as people think,” he began. “Sure, it’s an immense honor to become one of the 15 most prestigious members of the entire clan. After all, it’s what most of our clansmen strive to become. However, none of them truly know of the responsibilities that the 15 commanders hold. Only us, as commanders, do.”

“Judging by those words alone, I’m going to assume that the 14 other commanders alongside the overseer are what make up some sort of clan council, am I right?” Zak asked.

The next shot was seen of everyone enjoying themselves and each other’s company. Some were playing card games and the like with each other as well. “Yes. The council’s main goal is to ensure not only our clansmen’s enjoyment, but also the safety of the Pokemon world’s inhabitants.” Then, a map of the entire Pokemon world was shown on-screen. “Some of the other commanders are stationed all across this world. Luxia once traveled to Unova, where two Divisions are stationed. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh also each have 2 Divisions stationed within them. The other 5 Divisions - Luxia’s, Azurai’s, Bladestorm’s, Gemini’s, and my own - are stationed here, in Ageos.” Then the next shot showed Scar and all the other commanders using wireless communication via their TVs. “We commanders hold council meetings at the beginning of each week through online communication, to determine what our objectives of that given week are, and what we must do in order to complete them.”

“And what happens if you don’t complete those objectives?” the Edge Punisher asked, the scene flashing back to reality.

“...We’re not sure.” Scar replied. “We’ve never failed even one single objective, so none of us truly know.”

“I see. Guess you all were very capable and deserving of your titles.” Zakari smiled at Scar.

Scar smiled back. “Thank you,” he replied. Then he lost his smile, looking down. “Although, we haven’t had any council meetings in quite some time. Not since the poachers captured and possessed Bladestorm.”

“And I guess that led to you and the other commanders stationed here to cut communication lines and split up, correct?” Zak asked further.

Scar nodded in response. “I’m glad we put a stop to the poachers’ actions. But part of me still worries that maybe there’s something else we’re missing in all of this.” Scar then sighed.

“If you two are done with that little conversation of yours, we should be thinking about our next course of action.” Tina then spoke up rather sternly. “Unlike with the Bladestorm incident, we don’t really have any direct leads as to where to go next.”

Then Zakari got in a thinking pose. “Well there are the Mines in Slate City. But I doubt we wanna take on Team Rocket directly just yet. Back in the police station, Tamara mentioned something about having to make a report. I believe from that alone, we can conclude that we may have affected the Rockets’ plans somehow by freeing Bladestorm. Which can also mean that Team Rocket may have had a hand in the many poacher attacks in the Emerald Forest. As such, we should steer clear of any Team Rocket affairs until things die down a little bit.” Everyone else nodded in response, agreeing with him. “I guess for now, we should rest up in Cerise City. Then while we’re still in the area, we take care of some of the Quests around there.”

“Good idea.” The brunette girl replied, looking off to one side. “Especially for me.”

The next couple seconds were pretty quiet. “?” Then, however, Brice noticed a creature off the corner of his eye. He then stopped walking and turned to face the creature - a light-green plant-like Pokemon with three bitter oblong leaves tipped on its head; crescent-shaped white face with no nose or mouth; brown eyes shaped like elongated ovals; a green “bib” on its neck; and five stubs on its lower body, two of which act as arms, and other two as legs. The creature appeared to be crying.

Everyone else noticed Brice stop, and stopped themselves. Then they turned to look back at him. “Hey, what’s up?” Zak asked.

Then everyone noticed what Brice was looking at. The creature began to look up, stopping crying altogether. Upon noticing the group, it became scared, letting out a frightened gasp.

“Er, we’re not here to harm you.” Brice said nervously.

Lily began walking towards the plant creature, and picked it up. The creature became even more frightened when she started holding it in her arms. “Aww, are you ok? You look so lonely,” Lily said in a worried tone. “No need to be scared of us. We won’t hurt you.”

“I believe that is...” Zak muttered, taking out his Pokedex and scanning the Pokemon.

Petilil, the Bulb Pokémon. Petilil prefer living in rich, fertile soil where all types of plants grow in abundance.

“What’s it doing around here or all places?” The Steam Gunner asked curiously.

“And why is she so scared of us in the first place?” Tina followed up nervously. “Is it because we’re carrying weapons around?”

“That might actually be it,” Zak said in a thinking pose. “She probably thinks because we’re carrying our weapons around, that we’re some sort of poacher group hunting down wild Pokemon.”

Scar began to walk towards Lily and the Petilil she was holding. “Maybe she’s one of the mons who managed to escape the Emerald Forest before the poachers found her.” He hummed slightly, closing his eyes. “It’s a good thing we took care of them when we did. Otherwise, more innocent mons’ lives would’ve been in danger.”

The Petilil was able to hear bits and pieces of the conversation. “Huh? So...y-you’re not poachers?” she asked.

Zakari’s face lit up a bit. “Hmm. Looks like my assumption was correct.” He then brought a smile on his face, walking towards Lily and the Petilil. “Indeed, we’re not. In fact, we’re the group that took care of those criminals.” He brought his left thumb up, pointing it towards his face. “I’m the group’s leader. Zakari’s my name, but you can just call me Zak.”

“Urr,” the Petilil paused for a second. “M-My name’s L...Lilly.”

“O-Oh, that’s uhh...” Zak said hesitantly.

“Wh-What’s wrong? Y-You don’t like my name o--” Lilly replied nervously.

“No no no, it isn’t that.” The Edge Punisher’s tone was of nervousness. “It’s just that...”

“My name’s Lily too, heheheh.” Lily giggled nervously.

“Oh.” Lilly was a little dumbfounded. “Well, y-you can call me Petilil i-if you want instead.”

“Well to avoid confusion, we’ll be doing that, thank you.” Brice said, scratching the back of his head.

“Ok.” Lilly exclaimed happily.

Then the pink-haired Adept Rogue grabbed an empty Poke Ball, and booped Lilly’s head with the tip. Lilly’s body turned into a red transparent beam, entering the Poke Ball entirely and instantly being caught without any resistance. “Welcome aboard, Petilil.” Zak said with a smile.

. . .

After a couple more minutes of walking, the party made it to Cerise City, most of them resting inside the Center at the luncheon area. Lilly was out on the table in front of everyone, with Magus sitting beside her and Scar sitting down beside Lily.

Tina, however, was visiting the local church. She was kneeling down in front of the podium, her head tilted downward and her eyes closed. Her hands were also held together in front of her chest. “Oh Arceus...” She began to pray. “Please allow me to keep a willful mind...and to assist me on this journey...”

Zakari was then seen entering the church, his hands in his pockets and a neutral expression on his face. “Something troubling you?” he asked, approaching Tina.

“?” The brunette girl looked back at Zak. “Why do you ask?” she asked him.

“Well I mean, you’re here at the church praying.” Zakari said, sitting down next to Christina. “There must be something on your mind.”

Tina sighed. “You’re right,” she began. “Right before I began journeying with you guys, the professor told me to travel with you, because he thinks I’ll retrieve something I thought I never had previous.” She paused for a second. “But then, I...we, gained these powers.” She paused again. “I’m almost certain it’s not what he meant. But still, I...I wanna know why we have these powers now, and why they awakened when they did.”

[I’m not sure myself why they awakened back in Russetton. Nor why we were given them in the first place.] Zak was in thought, staring at Tina.

Then the boy heard his Pokedex ringer go off, the ringer sounding very similar to the ringtone on his cellphone. He pulled out his dex, pulling up the message. The message read ‘hey are you two busy? there’s a quest we should probably take care of asap’. “Well Brice wants the two of us to head back to the Center.” Zak said, getting up. “Seems a Quest has caught his eye.”

Tina sighed, getting up herself. “Well, guess we ought to do something for now.”

The two then began their walk out of the church.

. . .

After a couple minutes, the entire group was seen together in the Pokemon Center’s lobby. “So, what Quest are ya talking about?” Tina asked, her arms crossed.

Brice had his Pokedex out, using his game menu to access and scroll through the registered Quests. After a couple seconds, he came to the one titled Emerald Emergency, and tapped it with his finger. When he did, four screens appeared in the middle of the group, each screen facing one of the four cardinal directions. “This one seems pretty important,” he said.

The others began reading the description. “Wild Pokemon ambush...” Zak muttered.

“Badly injured...” Lily muttered afterward.

Tina formed a surprised look on her face. “It’s saying this girl is in grave danger, we have to help her.” Tina exclaimed to the others.

“Hold on a moment.” Zak replied in a thinking pose, Tina letting out a soft “hmm?” in response. “Something doesn’t add up here. We were at Emerald Forest a few days ago, weren’t we? In fact, Tina.” Zak looked towards her. “You lived in the treehouse near the forest entrance for around a year, right?” She nodded in response. “Not only that, but sis and Brice were also in the forest for a short amount of time before Chris and I ever entered. And this particular Quest was posted in Shire Town, which is where he and I stayed prior to entering the forest.”

“Your point being...?” Tina said in an annoyed tone, her hands on her hips and a dumbfounded expression on her face.

“Wait are you saying--” Brice cut himself off before finishing his sentence.

“None of us ever once saw this Molly person during our multiple visits in the forest. So it must be that we never set off the flag for this Quest’s beginning.” Zak concluded.

Christina let out an exasperated sigh. “There you go again with your video game talk.”

Zak was going to reply immediately to Tina, but instead looked at her for a second before facing the four transparent screens. “That’s the only plausible explanation for this. All of our current evidence points towards that exa--”

“Hold it!” The brunette girl interrupted Zak mid-sentence, pointing at him dramatically. “I wanna explain my viewpoint first.”

Almost everyone else in the room sighed. Zak, on the other hand, shrugged. “Alright. Let’s hear it,” he told Tina.

Tina adjusted her eyes, a shine being seen over her lenses as she did so. “Out of our entire group, the only ones that have fully explored this forest are myself, Gemini, and Magus. The rest of you, with the exception of the Petilil that Lily just caught, have only been in the entrance and central areas, meaning it’s most likely that we completely missed where she was.”

“Well in a way, that is true.” Zakari’s response put a smirk on Tina’s face, her eyes closed. “But I think I’m safe to assume that during your time of living in the Emerald Forest, you made regular patrols around every section of the place, correct?”

Tina gasped in surprise, her eyes wide open as a result. “Yeah, I did,” she responded. Then after a second or so of silence... “Er, can I have a look at the Quest real quick? Something about this whole thing doesn’t seem right to me, now that I think about it.”

“Sure.” Zak said, putting his index finger on one of the screens. As soon as this happened, the other three screens disappeared. He then swiped his finger over, the screen moving to Tina.

The brunette girl began looking around the screen, ending on the lower-right corner. A line of text was there, the words being ‘Posted: 6 months ago’. “Six months, eh?” she said in a bit of a dull tone. Then she sighed. “I can’t deny your argument here. Not even once did I see anyone other than the forest’s inhabitants and the poachers over these past six months.”

Zak smiled, closing his eyes while crossing his arms. He then raised his right forearm upward, his right index finger pointed towards the ceiling. “Thus confirming that these Quests are indeed set off by specific flags.” He said.

Christina sighed again, putting a slight smile on her face. “Yep. You win.” She replied in a tone of defeat. “So then, what do you think this ‘flag’ is supposed to be anyway?”

Lily let out a surprised “Ah”. “Maybe we should ask the professor about it. He’s the Quest client, right?” she suggested.

Tina looked at the Quest screen again. On the upper-left corner, Professor Pear’s name was listed. “Yeah, looks like he is.”

“I think that’s the best course of action for now,” the Steelheart declared. Then he sighed. “Although admittedly we’ve been visiting that place a lot.”

Tina sighed. “This is true.”

. . .

A diagonal shot of Professor Pear’s laboratory was shown. “Ah yes, that Quest.” Professor Pear’s voice was heard, the shot shifting instantly to Pear in the front lobby. “Indeed, the Quest has gone unattended over the past six months after its posting. I believe a majority of you already know the reason why.”

“W-Well yeah, we already spoke about that,” Tina replied, her right hand gripping her left arm.

The professor chuckled a bit. “But I digress. Here you are.” He took out four weirdly small spray bottles, each containing purple liquid - Potions, and handed them to the group. “Take these to Molly.” Upon Brice touching them, the Potions disappeared - supposedly going into his inventory. “As the Quest description has stated, she should be somewhere in the central area of the Emerald Forest.”

[That makes sense.] Zak was in thought as soon as Pear finished speaking. [Molly had to have been in an open field when she was ambushed, since that area has four pathways connecting to it.]

“Do be careful on your journey, Trainers,” Pear said to the group as they began walking out. “I believe the ones who ambushed Molly are still around the area she is in.”

Looking back at him, Brice waved back. “Will do, sir.”

. . .

In the entrance of Emerald Forest, the group of Trainers were seen walking northward towards the central area. Magus was sitting on Tina’s left shoulder as Tina allowed it, Slitheren was resting on Zak’s right shoulder like usual, and Scar and Gemini were walking next to Lily and Zak who were side by side.

“So who do you think our perpetrators will be?” Magus asked, looking towards the Edge Punisher. “Judging by the amount of time the Quest has been up, do you think it could be another poacher group?”

“We can’t exactly rule it out completely,” Zak replied, his head turned far enough to the left for his eyes to look over at the Treecko. “But since the Quest flag was set off by asking the professor about it, we should also think about our current situation.”

“We’ve eliminated all of the poachers within the forest as a whole,” Brice, who was walking beside Tina, followed up. “Plus, if it really was poachers, I doubt they’d just simply keep Molly alive out in the open.”

“Exactly,” Zak exclaimed slightly. “I’m betting our perpetrators are something we haven’t faced yet.”

Then everyone arrived at the central area, a lone girl and what appeared to be her Pokemon sitting in the middle. The Pokemon was a light-blue penguin-like Pokemon with a dark blue head; primarily white face; short, yellow beak; dark blue feathers on its head extended down its back and around its neck, resembling a cape; two white ovals on its chest; a small, light-blue marking resembling a crown above its beak; flipper-like arms; and yellow feet with three toes each. The girl, on the other hand, had short jet black hair and was wearing a very traditional girl scout uniform - green scout cap with yellow pin in front, green short-sleeved buttoned shirt, green knee-length skirt, white socks, and regular girls’ shoes. Her embroidered bag was also on the ground, next to the two. The girl looked to have recovered from most of her injuries, while some of the Pokemon’s more serious injuries were still visible even from afar.

The girl looked over at Zak and crew. “Oh! You came!” she exclaimed happily.

Tina waved at her, a smile on her face. “Hi there. I take it you’re Molly Green from the Quest description?” she asked.

Molly nodded in response while Lily took out her Pokedex and scanned the penguin.

Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon. Piplup's limited walking skills often cause it to fall down, but that never hurts its pride.

The Steam Gunner walked towards Molly and the Piplup, the others following shortly after. Slitheren and Magus hopped off their Trainers’ shoulders, landing right behind everyone and walking with them. Once Brice made it to them, he put his right hand out in front of him, the four Potions that Pear handed them materializing below his hand. “Here you go,” he said. He began to treat the Piplup, grabbing a Potion and spraying it onto the scab atop the penguin’s head. The spray slowly dissolved into its body, the scab slowly and completely disappearing. “Heard you got ambushed earlier. How long ago did the ambush happen?” Brice asked as he healed the Piplup’s other wounds.

“Not too long ago actually.” Molly replied in a slightly worried tone.

[Then it looks like whatever attacked Molly might still be nearby.] Zakari, his senses alert, said in thought.

Meanwhile, the Adept Rogue began staring at the Piplup with a rather cute look on her face, the Piplup staring back curiously. She walked towards it, kneeling in front of it. “May I pet you?” she asked rather cautiously, knowing how hard it is for a Piplup to bond with anyone due to its self-pride.

“Piplup!” The Piplup chirped, nodding happily, to half the group’s surprise. Lily picked up the penguin, slowly petting its head. “Piplup Piplup!” The Piplup was chirping with glee, Lily also giggling.

Everyone else was smiling at the two. But then... [!] The Edge Punisher began hearing a faint noise from the east direction. Looking towards the eastern passage, the noise became more discernible. It was the sound of wings buzzing at blazing fast speeds.

“?” His sister had a confused look on his face, as did Brice and Molly. “Big bro, what’s wrong?” she asked with a worried tone, letting Piplup stand again.

“I...” Zakari was a bit hesitant at first to reply, mostly due to him being too focused on the buzzing noise getting louder. “I can hear some sort of buzzing noise...” He paused again, noticing the buzzing grow slightly louder. “It’s coming from over there.”

“The east passage? Buzzing? What do you mean?” Slitheren asked, confused.

Then Molly grew scared. “Oh no! It’s them!” she exclaimed in a terrified tone.

“What?” Zak exclaimed, turning his head back towards Molly. “You mean the ones who ambushed you?” The black-haired girl nodded. Then Zak began thinking. [Is she saying there’s more than one of them?] He looked back over towards the east passage, hearing the buzzing become incredibly loud. [But, that doesn’t seem right. I only hear just the one.] Then, it hit him. And a surprised expression formed on his face. [! Unless...]

Then, however, everyone began to see what looked like an oversized flying bug fly towards them. Said flying bug was a bipedal yellow-wasp like creature with four legs that lack pigment pits; a round head; slightly pointed mouth; large, red eyes; black antennae with a sharp bend in the middle; forelegs tipped with long, conical stingers; hind legs that are long, segmented, and insectoid in shape; two pairs of rounded, veined wings; and another stinger on its yellow-and-black striped abdomen.

Molly became more frightened. “That’s--That’s one of the ones that attacked us,” she said in a fearful tone.

Then, without her ever taking it out, Tina’s Pokedex appeared in her hand and scanned the Pokemon, almost as if done by her subconscious.

Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokémon, and the evolved form of Kakuna. Beedrill fly quickly and attack using poison stingers on their forelegs and tail.

Most everyone got into battle stances. Magus, on the other hand, was slightly unsettled. “Something about this doesn’t sit very well with me...” He turned towards the Edge Punisher. “Hey Zak. You hear any more of them?”

“No, just this one,” he replied, cautious of the Beedrill in front of them. “You are right, however. Something feels...off, about this Beedrill.”

Just then, however, everyone noticed something happen to the Beedrill. Its entire body was beginning to act rather strange. Parts of its abdomen, as well as several other whole body parts began changing colors at complete random.

Most everyone either reacted by saying “What?” or “What the hell?”

Zak, on the other hand, was in thought, a negative grin on his face. [I guess we were right. Something’s happening to this Beedrill. But...I can’t figure out what. This is bad.]

Then, they all noticed a light purple mist beginning to form around the entire open field. “What’s going on here?” Molly exclaimed in a distressed tone.

But then, for what seemed like no reason, the mist disappeared. And afterwards, the bee began to completely glitch out. Its body kept becoming random scribbles of black and white, unable to keep its form intact.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Scar muttered.

Then, a crystalline sphere began encapsulating the glitching Beedrill completely. The sphere slowly expanded, everyone seeing cracks form after only a couple seconds. And after a couple more seconds, the sound of shattering glass was heard as the sphere completely broke apart and revealed an incredibly fearsome-looking creature.

Most everyone was able to recognize that it was still the Beedrill that flew towards them. Zak had also noticed the Beedrill’s antennae had become shorter and now extended forward and back over its head; its eyes also became longer and sleeker; its stingers became longer and larger, which the Trainers all saw as them resembling javelins; its legs were no longer insectoid, and instead resembled conical, black-and-yellow stingers with white lips; its abdomen became larger and grooved, and was attached to its thorax by a black structure; a similar black structure connected its head and thorax; the stinger on its abdomen was now a pale yellow; and it now had black stripes over its entire body. Then, the insect let out a loud insectoid roar, vibrating almost everything in the area.

“Wha--What the hell? What just happened?” Brice said, unable to grasp the situation.

“I’ve...I’ve never seen anything like this before. Did it...undergo an alternate transformation?” Zakari sounded slightly worried, which to most everyone else was at first.

“No way. That Beedrill...” The Snivy also sounded slightly scared. “It...It Mega Evolved!”

“Mega Evolved?” Tina asked.

“It means this Beedrill is temporarily taking on a new, more powerful form.” Scar replied, sounding serious. “But from the looks of it, and where we currently are, I doubt it was caused by a Beedrillite.”

[I guess that means some sort of coding error occurred within this Beedrill.] Zakari thought to himself, slowly losing his worry. His expression became serious. “It looks like we don’t have a choice. We have to take it down here and now.” He grabbed his Nihilblade’s hilt, his tone confident. “Here’s the plan, everyone. This Beedrill came from the east side, so it must be the only one from that passage. We’ll assume that the other three passages each have one more Beedrill heading straight towards here. Lily, Brice, Tina. Pick your sides.”

Tina and Magus immediately jumped towards the north pathway, Tina also brandishing her scythe. “We’ll cover the north passage. Don’t want any more of these strange Beedrills joining.” She said.

Brice and Gemini began walking towards the west pathway, Brice also twirling his Shraider in bayonet form around his right index finger, much like how a traditional cowboy would. “We’ll take care of the west,” the Steam Gunner said.

The pink-haired Adept Rogue, taking out her Crystal Bow, began facing the south towards where they came from. “I’ll block the entrance,” she said. “Good luck, big bro.”

The Edge Punisher, looking back and smiling casually at Lily, then looked towards his Pokemon. “Slitheren,” he said her name, grabbing her attention. “Guard the entrance with Lily.”

“Ok.” Slitheren nodded, leaping towards Lily.

“Scar.” Zak then said, the Zangoose looking at him. Zak looked towards the Mega Beedrill in front of them. “You and I will fend off this bastard.”

Scar, after a couple seconds, nodded in response.

Molly stared in awe of them. [Can they do it?] she thought. [They look strong but...This Beedrill looks stronger.]

Then the two readied their battle stances, Zakari drawing out his greatsword. And then they began to stare the Beedrill down, waiting for an opportunity to catch the fearsome insect off its guard. The Mega Beedrill was also staring down the two, and after a couple more seconds, inevitably grew tired of waiting and flew towards the Steelheart and mongoose. During its flight, it fired out from its left and right stingers a series of 5 small stinger-esque spikes with dark grey bottom halves and small boosters in the very back, all of them flying towards the two with a light green flame being seen from the behind of each spike. Scar dodged the attack by dashing to the left, while Zak ducked under all 5 spikes.

Then he dashed towards the bee, and attempted to stab it with his blade. The giant bee, however, effortlessly dodged to its right, almost as if it moved at the speed of sound. Then the swordmaster spun himself around counter-clockwise, performing a spin slash. However, the bee dodged that as well by moving back at the exact same speeds. The Zangoose then tried performing a Slash attack - three in a row - on the incredibly fast bee. But to no avail, as it dodged all three attacks with ease. Then Scar dashed around 90 degrees counter-clockwise around the bee, and attempted to slam the gigantic bug against the tree directly behind it with an X-Scissor. But the bee knew what it was planning, and flew upward before the attack was even performed.

“What--What the hell is this? I’ve never faced anything this fast before.” Scar spoke in shock from what just happened, looking up at the bee. He was in awe of the Mega Beedrill’s incredible speed.

Then the Mega Beedrill saw an ample opportunity to counterattack, pointed its tail stinger towards Scar’s head, and began flying downward at blisteringly high speeds, attempting to slam its stinger down into the Zangoose.

“!!” Scar, seeing this, just barely managed to dodge out of the way of the attack. Then he saw the bee look towards him, its eyes flashing red. And in an instant, the Mega Beedrill slammed its head against Scar’s, causing him to flinch and walk back a couple steps to try and regain himself. “Wow. This thing’s Mega Evolution really upped its strength,” he said in awe.

Zak then began running towards the gigantic bee, who upon seeing this, fired off another set of Pin Missiles straight towards his general direction. The Edge Punisher successfully blocked the first and second spikes with his Nihilblade, and then sliced cleanly through the other 3 in one horizontal swing. Then he finished running up to the Mega Beedrill, raising his sword above his head. “Tiger Blitz!” He then slammed his sword down onto the Mega Beedrill. Or so he thought, as the bee dodged effortlessly out of the way, and then thrusted its left glowing stinger into Zak’s right shoulder. Blood began to spew from the wound caused by the attack.

But in the midst of the blood spew, the Mega Beedrill felt its stinger be retracted. Zak’s shoulder area, specifically a small patch around the wound, had turned into metal, causing the blood to stop spewing at a result. “Heh heh, guess I should practice using this ability,” he said, chuckling a bit.

Over in front of the north passageway, Tina was able to glance back at the battle. [Looks like Zak and Scar are having trouble back there.] She thought to herself, then faced forward. [But I have to stand my ground. The other Beedrills have to be coming towards us soon.] Then, she and Magus both began seeing a regular Beedrill flying towards them. The two readied their battle stances. [And correct, I am.]

The two then began to sprint towards the Beedrill, Magus also hopping into the air, spinning clockwise three times before Slamming his tail into the bee’s head. The Beedrill was knocked back a few centimeters, trying to retaliate by thrusting both of its stingers at the Treecko one after the other. First the left, then the right. Magus dodged both with ease, and then readied his tail for another attack. “Tina!” he yelled out towards her. Then he Slammed his tail into the Beedrill, knocking him towards the brunette girl. “Catch!”

Tina then readied her Shorai no Kama, bringing it behind her with the blades facing the ground. After a second or two of the Beedrill being flung towards her, she began her attack. “Lotus!” She swung her scythe upward through the Beedrill’s body, jumping slightly off the ground. “Flower!!” Then she spun around clockwise twice, the second time swinging her scythe cleanly through the Beedrill’s body, slicing it in two. And after a couple seconds of floating in mid-air, the Beedrill turned into data and shattered like glass.

Christina landed on the ground, barely even breaking a sweat. “Wow. These seem a lot weaker than I thought they would be,” she said.

“Maybe the Mega Beedrill was the only one that glitched like that,” Magus replied.

“Yeah. You might be right.” Tina said, nodding.

Zakari and Scar, on the other hand, were not having as good or pleasant a time. While Tina and Magus were fighting the regular bee, Zak and Scar were unable to land even a single hit on the Mega Beedrill. They panted in exhaustion, while the gigantic bee had barely even broken a sweat.

[Damn it. We can’t lay even a finger on it.] Zakari thought, still panting. Scar managed to stop panting, beginning to ready an attack. However... “Wait Scar.” Zak told him.

“!” Scar had a look of astonishment on his face, and stopped readying his attack. “What is it?” he asked, looking at Zak.

“Nothing we’ve tried up to this point has worked,” Zak began to explain. “It’s too fast for us to hit normally. We have to think of some way to catch it off guard.”

“Well anything we should note so far?” Scar asked in reply.

“Well, even though it gained this new form, or Mega Evolved as Slitheren put it, it’s still just a Beedrill in the end,” the Edge Punisher began explaining his deductive reasoning. “As such, despite both its power and agility skyrocketing as we’ve already seen, I doubt either of its defenses have increased at all in this new form. Although, it may have grown in bulk. So even if we do manage to land blows, it might take a few to bring it down.” Then, after he finished speaking, Zak noticed off the corner of his eye that Molly was alone, and her Piplup was nowhere to be seen. “What? Where’d Piplup go?” he asked in a surprised tone.

Molly also noticed Piplup gone, and looked around to see where he was. Then she saw the penguin Pokemon running behind the Mega Beedrill, and instantly figured out his path. It ran northward towards Tina and Magus without being heard over the battles, then counter-clockwise around the area beside the trees and bushes.

Zak and Scar noticed the Piplup only a couple seconds after the scout-looking girl did. But the Steelheart also noticed the Mega Beedrill not budging or shifting its focus away from him and Scar. [Wait a minute. Mega Beedrill didn’t notice either.] Zak thought to himself. [That means, Piplup ran around the field completely undetected.]

The penguin then hopped up to the tree beside the Mega Beedrill, then leaped off the side of that tree, his beak beginning to glow a bright pink. Hearing the Piplup jump off the side of the tree, the Mega Beedrill began turning towards the Piplup, but was too slow as the Peck attack landed directly on its back. The bee, in immense pain from the poke, let out an incredibly loud insectoid roar.

Tina looked back at what was happening as soon as she heard the roar. “What the hell?” she exclaimed. But then she faced forward again. [No. I can’t get distracted. We can’t be too careful. There could be other wilds that heard that roar, who may be running towards our location.]

Zakari and Scar were left speechless. [I get it now,] Zak began to think to himself. [Piplup used our attacks as a diversion to get behind the Beedrill and land a sneak attack.] His expression tensed up. [That’s it! That’s our key to winning this fight.] He turned his head towards the Zangoose. “Scar.” Scar turned his head towards Zak. “Got any way to create a diversion? We need to sneak up behind that bee in order to land any attacks.”

Then the Mega Beedrill, now having other plans, looked towards Molly who was by herself. She noticed the bee’s stare, and her body instantly started to shake out of fear. “Ohh no, she’s unguarded. What’s this thing planning now?” Zak exclaimed.

“I think its strategy now is to kill that Piplup’s Trainer.” Scar replied with slight fear in his voice.

Then the giant bee flew over Molly’s head, knocking her cap right off of her head from the intense winds, and then turned around to fly straight into her. But then, her Piplup hopped up and in the way, his beak glowing bright pink again. But this time, instead of one Peck, the Piplup instead fired off an impressively fast flurry of Pecks. The Mega Beedrill, unable to react in time, took the first few hits and flinched. But it didn’t flinch for long, as it shook off the flinch and clashed the Peck flurry with a flurry of its own attacks - a Fell Stinger flurry.

Scar watched in awe. “Incredible. This Piplup is holding its own against that Mega Beedrill.” He said.

Then, Zakari realized. “Wait a second. There it is. There’s our opening.” He asided to Scar. “We can perform a sneak attack while it’s distracted. It may be our only chance to land a decent hit on it.”

At the same time, Brice and Gemini saw a Beedrill flying down the west passageway. Upon seeing the two, this Beedrill opened with a spray of multiple Poison Sting darts from its left and right stingers. The Steam Gunner was able to easily block a good amount of the darts with his shield, while Gemini completely fried the remaining darts with his stored electricity. Then Brice raises his Shraider in bayonet form, yellow electricity being seen on his arm. “Thunder Spark!” He fired his Art, the zap completely shredding the Beedrill’s upper left wing apart. The Mareep followed up by shredding its upper right wing with a simple Thunder Shock.

Then the Beedrill, how getting desperate, fired off another spray of Poison Sting darts. 30 darts to be exact. Brice, in response, shifted his Shraider into machine pistol mode, and began to unload his entire magazine of 60 bullets. The first 30 bullets directly connected with and shot down the 30 Poison Sting darts flying towards him and Gemini, while the remaining 30 bullets completely warped the Beedrill’s body with every bullet impact. Eventually once all of the bullets were expended, the bee fell to the ground and shattered into data pieces.

Switching his Shraider back to bayonet form, he twirled it around his right index finger again for a bit, then brought the barrel up to his mouth where he promptly blew over it, like how a cowboy blows the smoke out of his/her revolver. “Heh. That wasn’t too difficult,” he said with a smirk on his face, which was quickly lost as he began thinking to himself. [Strange though. This one didn’t seem to glitch out like the other one did.]

As that Beedrill was being deleted, the Piplup and Mega Beedrill were still clashing flurries with each other. Zak was seen dashing behind the bee, readying a horizontal swing. Then the two Pokemon stopped their flurries, both of them beginning to feel exhaustion. Zakari attempted to slice right through the Mega Beedrill in this very moment, but it flew upward, dodging out of the way of the attack at the very last possible moment.

[Damn it. I guess it noticed us.] Zakari exclaimed in thought.

Then the gigantic Beedrill is seen descending right behind Molly, who turned around and picked herself off the ground in astonishment. Then she began to randomly throw punches in the Mega Beedrill’s general direction, yelling “Take this, you big bug monster!” in the process. None of the punches, however, were even close to connecting. And after a few punches, she lost her balance and fell down to her knees.

[What is she doing? It’s like she was just flailing her arms around,] Zak said, his eyes shaking a bit. [Her punches don’t have any coordination backing them. There’s no way she could even come close to hitting that thing.]

Then the bee extended its tail stinger from its regular size to about 1.5 times that length, and tried poking Molly with it in an attempt to drain her life. However, Scar intercepted the attack by Slashing at the stinger with his right claw and clashing with it. Then he tried to follow up by raising his left claw engulfed in flames, and perform a downwards Fire Claw. But the Mega Beedrill, while Scar was readying that attack, managed to slip its stinger out, and then dodged the Fire Claw like a blur. Then he replied with his tail stinger being covered in a poisonous aura, and attempting to stab the Zangoose with it. Scar was just barely able to dodge to the Mega Beedrill’s right, but then tried attacking the bee with a Thunder Claw, which it dodged just as easily. Then the bee replied with a Twineedle attack much like the one Magus dodged, the left stinger Scar dodged easily, then the right stinger he just barely dodged due to how quickly after the first thrust he attacked a second time.

[Dammit. This Beedrill’s become too sharp,] Scar exclaimed in thought, a look of frustration on his face. [I don’t think sneak attacks are gonna work anymore.]

Then the Mega Beedrill’s left stinger became coated in the same poisonous aura that its tail stinger was coated in, and then the bee tried Poison Jabbing the Zangoose a second time. But before the stinger traveled far, several bubbles impacted the stinger, recoiling the stinger back near the right side of its head. The Mega Beedrill and Scar turned towards where the bubbles were coming from, and saw the Piplup firing off a continuous stream of those bubbles towards the Mega Beedrill. In response, the bee sped through the attack like a complete blur, Scar barely able to keep track of its movements.

[!] The Edge Punisher turned his head towards the Piplup. [Those bubbles. He’s firing them like--] Then, he paused his thought. “Piplup. Keep firing those bubbles like that.” He turned back towards the Mega Beedrill, a smirk forming on his face. “I just thought of an idea.”

The penguin Pokemon finished its Bubble Beam attack, gasping for air afterward. All of the bubbles the Piplup had fired had completely surrounded the Mega Beedrill. Zak walked forward a couple steps. “By spreading those bubbles out in a way that encapsulates a certain area, this Mega Beedrill’s ability to move around has been severely hindered,” he said, snapping his right hand’s fingers. This caused all of the bubbles to acquire a soft visible vibration.

The giant bee tried to slip through all of the vibrating bubbles slowly and carefully. However, after only a couple seconds, some of the bubbles closest to the bee floated towards and touched it, exploding on impact and sending the bee back to its initial spot.

[Did he just...turn those bubbles into mines?] Scar thought, in awe.

Zakari then brought his right arm out towards the sphere of bubbles, his hand open. “Therefore. You can’t dodge this attack!” He exclaimed. “Hellzone BUBBLE!!”

The Steelheart then balled up his right hand into a fist, a subtle vibration able to be felt by Molly and the Piplup. And as soon as the vibration was felt, all of the vibrating bubble mines instantly flew into the Mega Beedrill’s body, causing explosion after explosion with each bubble impact. Within the massive cloud of smoke being formed, a loud insectoid roar was heard, and moderately strong wines were felt by everyone else in the area.

“!!” Everyone else looked back. Tina, Magus, Brice, Gemini, Lily, and Slitheren. But then Lily and Slitheren heard a nearby buzzing, and looked back forward to see what appeared to be the final Beedrill.

The archer wasted no time, readying an arrow onto her bow and firing it straight at the bee. The arrow completely obliterated the bee’s upper left wing completely. Then the Snivy sprinted up to the Beedrill, jumped up into the air, and slammed her Vines into the bee with Vine Whip. Then, while the Beedrill was flinching, Slitheren Wrapped her vines around its body, and then slammed it against a nearby tree, then the ground, and then tossed it up into the air as she let go.

Lily readied a second arrow, this one aiming straight at the horizontally positioned Beedrill’s head. “OrLei Zas!” Letting go of the arrow, the laser shot completely penetrated the bee’s entire body from head to tail stinger. Not only that, but the scene became a red background, with the Beedrill, insect blood, and laser all become black silhouettes upon the attack landing. Only 3 seconds after this, the scene turned back to normal and the Beedrill’s pierced body shattered into data.

Slitheren stood there, her eyes shaking from pure surprise alone. [Holy shit,] she thought. Then a smile formed on her face as she looked up at Lily. “Wow, didn’t think someone as kind as you would have it in ya.”

“Well I am a PKK after all,” the archer replied nervously, rubbing her right cheek. “Plus it’s only natural in a fight like this to always go for the kill.”

The Snivy chuckled a bit. “That’s true.”

[That should be the last Beedrill.] Zak told himself in thought, looking over at Lily and Slitheren with a smirk of pride on his face. [Good work, everyone.]

Then, the smoke from Zak and Piplup’s combination attack began to slowly clear away. What was revealed was not nothing, but instead a badly wounded Mega Beedrill still barely able to keep flight.

“!!” Molly, who had put her cap back on, had a look of shock and terror. “But--But how?”

“Alright then. This thing’s more durable than I thought it would be. To be able to survive an attack like that, and still be flying.” Zak said, wary of the Mega Beedrill. “But judging by its current condition, it doesn’t seem to have a lot of fight left in it.”

The gigantic badly wounded bee tried to prove Zak wrong by slowly lifting up its left and right stingers. Scar saw it as the bee trying to use Twineedle, but then the two stingers fell completely off the Mega Beedrill’s body, and landed on the ground, completely shattering into data upon impact.

“Hmph. Too bad for you, Mega Beedrill. Looks like we win.” Zak said with utmost confidence.

Then the rest of the group walked towards the center of the area, only taking a couple seconds before stopping and facing the wounded bee. Scar raised his right claw. “Now give up, and surrender your life to us.”

The Mega Beedrill, however, didn’t listen and instead turned towards Molly.

“Wait a minute. What’s it planning now?” Gemini said in a surprised tone.

The wounded bee then extended its tail stinger to its longest possible length - 3 times its initial length, ending right before Molly’s forehead.

“Aaa...a-aa-a...” The black-haired girl was absolutely terrified at this sight.

“No. Molly!” Tina exclaimed towards her.

The Mega Beedrill then began to wind up an attack, supposedly a Fell Stinger. Upon hearing Tina’s voice, however, Molly tried to escape the attack. She turned around and started to get up, but the bee unfortunately stung the back of her right leg. The black-haired girl, yelping in pain from that attack, fell back down on the ground.

“Oh no, she’s not fast enough!” Brice exclaimed in shock.

[Dammit this is bad. There’s no way this Mega Beedrill should have enough energy left to do anything.] Zak exclaimed in thought, with a look of frustration on his face that further tensed up. [That means this fight isn’t over yet, and we’ve exhausted all our ways of landing hits.]

But then, Zak noticed something directly below the Mega Beedrill. A small purple fire that gradually grew larger and larger, until it erupted and engulfed the Mega Beedrill’s entire body. “!!” Everyone reacted in total surprise.

The purple flames slowly burned away the wounded bee’s remaining body into bits and pieces of corrupted data, until there was no more Mega Beedrill to burn. Then, the purple flame went out instantly, the corrupted data disappearing along with it.

“What...?” Magus muttered, everyone still in shock of what they witnessed.

“What the hell just...happened?” Slitheren asked afterward, her words more coherent.

“It got...burned alive,” Zak replied, speaking rather slowly. “By a purple flame.”

Then, everyone began to hear a girlish-sounding yawn from nearby. Looking towards the sound’s direction, specifically where Molly and her Piplup were, they see a Pokemon that seemingly just woke up. This Pokemon was a fox-like quadruped Pokemon with pale yellow fur covering its entire body, that was longer on its haunches; tufts of dark orange fur covering the insides of its ears; a white muzzle with longer fur on its cheeks; large, dark orange eyes; a pointed, black nose; two pointed teeth on its upper jaw; small paws with no visible toes; slim legs; and a fluffy tail with dark orange tip. “Jeezo, that thing was annoying. Glad we got rid of that pest,” the fox, clearly a girl by the sound of her voice, said after she finished yawning.

“Hmm?” Zak hummed upon seeing the fox. “I’ve never seen that species of Pokemon before.” He turned his head towards his Snivy. “Hey Slitheren, is that one of the species from this Kalos place?”

“Yeah, she’s one of the three starter Pokemon.” Slitheren replied. “A Fennekin, from what Pear told me.”

The black-haired girl looked over at the Fennekin, and then over at her beg. “Ehh? Ashe!” she exclaimed in a distressed tone. “What are you doing out of my bag? I-I thought you were asleep.”

“Well, I was,” the Fennekin, whom Molly referred to as Ashe, replied casually. “Right up until I heard a giant explosion nearby.”

“Er that was me,” Zak said nervously, sweatdropping and scratching the back of his head. “Sorry about that, ehehe.”

“Oh. No worries.” The fox giggled, smiling. “Quite the powerful attack you did though.”

The Glamour Weaver took out her Pokedex, this time of her own accord, and scanned the Fennekin.

Fennekin, the Fox Pokémon. Fennekin expels hot air that can reach nearly 400 degrees. It likes to snack on twigs.

Ashe overheard the Pokedex’s chirping. “Well, not very often anyway,” she replied. Then she began to walk towards the group. “So yeah, name’s Ashe. I overheard all of your names earlier. So if you don’t mind,” While talking, the Fennekin jumped up into the air, and knocked the third Poke Ball, the only empty one, off of Lily’s belt. “I’mma tag along with you guys.”

Lily giggled in response, a cheery expression on her face. “Ok then.”

Afterwards, the Fennekin booped her nose against the tip of the Poke Ball, and instantly was caught without any resistance. The archer then picked up the Poke Ball, giggling happily.

Zak was staring at Lily, smiling. Then he looked forward, losing his smile for a more serious expression. [That glitch earlier...What could’ve caused it?] he began thinking. [And, that mist we saw. It surrounded all of us for a brief moment. What’s going on here?] Then he closed his eyes, a frustrated grin forming on his face. [Dammit, this isn’t the place to be thinking right now. We’ll have to discuss this once we get back to the lab.]

After a couple seconds, Lily and Brice walked over to Zak. “First thing’s first. Molly’s injury doesn’t seem too bad. So treating it here would be a waste of time.” While Zak was speaking, Tina rolled her eyes and began walking towards Molly. “Not only that, but it would also leave us with our guards down. But before we get going, we’ll need to make a rough search of our surroundings. We don’t want another surprise attack out here.”

Lily and Brice nodded in response, they and Zak recalling their respective Pokemon before beginning their search. Tina, meanwhile, was speaking with Molly. “You ok, Molly?” she asked, Molly nodding in response. “Don’t mind the others. From what I overheard, they think your injury isn’t bad enough for treatment. Even though it looked like you got stung pretty badly.”

“No it’s alright. Really. You all came to my aid at a great time.” The scout-looking girl said to Tina, a sweatdrop forming on the side of the brunette girl’s face. “Were it not for you and your friends, we may have been dead.” Molly formed a cheerful smile on her face. “Besides, I’d say this wound is the least of what could’ve happened to me.”

“I-I see.” Tina said nervously. “Here. Can you stand?” She offered to help Molly up.

“Mmhmm.” the scout-looking girl nodded, picking herself up off the ground without needing the Glamour Weaver’s help. Although Molly did wince at the pain she felt when standing on her right leg. “It hurts a bit. But not too bad.” She brought her smile back. “Injuries like this are almost nothing for me back at home. I get stuff like this pretty often when I’m outside.”

Tina then put a slight smile on her face, closing her eyes briefly. “...Well if you say so. Now whaddaya say we head back to Pear’s lab together?”

Meanwhile, Lily and Brice had just finished their searching, and regrouped with Zak near the entrance pathway. “Looks like we’re in the clear,” the Spark Master said.

“Heeey!” Suddenly, the three heard Tina yell out to them. She looked rather irritated. “Can we get going now, you idiots? We’re still out in the open!”

Brice looked rather annoyed. “Jeez. You think this Tina’s a lot rougher than ours?” he asked Zakari.

Zak, in response, let out quite the exasperated sigh. “Yeah no kidding,” he replied with a similar tone. He then raised his voice slightly, and motioned his arm at Tina and Molly telling them to follow. “Come on everyone, let’s get outta here.”

The Trainers, after Molly recalled her Piplup, began their walk out of the Emerald Forest, most of them hoping to never return to this place ever again.