Chapter 25: How Do You Like My Beedrill?

"Liepard, come back."

N, still hidden in the depths of the forest, lightly recalled his "Liepard." The Mud Shot from Blackhawk's Muk didn't just miss its mark; it blasted right through the trunk of the massive tree N had been standing near.

"!?"

The Team Rocket members had no idea what kind of game their opponent was playing, but a split second later, a piercing vibration tore through the air, a sound of buzzing wings getting closer and closer!

Blackhawk snapped his head up. A Pokémon with a black-and-yellow striped body and two massive, pointed stingers for arms burst out from behind the shattered tree.

A Beedrill?

Upon closer inspection, the Beedrill's body was splattered with mud, the remnants of the Mud Shot that had pierced the tree and struck the Pokémon hiding behind it.

Bzzzzzzzt!!

As the moonlight filtered through the canopy, a suffocating shadow began to sweep across the sky. A massive, roiling "black cloud" was rapidly invading the sky, threatening to swallow the last traces of moonlight.

It was a swarm of Beedrill!

Beedrill are among the most common Bug-type Pokémon. A single wild Beedrill isn't particularly formidable; while its attack power and neurotoxins are notable, it possesses a fatal flaw.

For a Beedrill, this weakness is absolute.

They are incredibly fragile. It isn't an exaggeration to say their defenses are paper-thin. With poor HP and even worse physical endurance, they are the ultimate "glass cannons." To an extent, this glaring weakness often overshadows their strengths, which is why few Trainers choose to raise them.

A lone wild Beedrill isn't a threat. The problem is that wild Beedrill are never alone.

They are infamously territorial and are a true communal species. If you spot one Beedrill in the wild, a hive is almost certainly nearby, and that hive could contain hundreds, even thousands, of aggressive hunters.

A Beedrill is fragile, yes. But once their numbers reach a certain threshold, a swarm willing to fight to the death effectively erases that weakness. Even a flock of Pidgeot, the natural predators of Bug-types, would hesitate to provoke a Beedrill hive. To do so is to invite a relentless, suicidal onslaught.

"Impossible... How can there be a Beedrill nest here!?"

Blackhawk's face turned a sickly shade of green. Before beginning their investigation, they had carefully scouted the perimeter. They hadn't found a single trace of a hive!

Did that guy lure them here? No, that can't be...

If anyone had attracted a swarm of this magnitude, well over a thousand strong, they wouldn't be able to escape the perimeter themselves. This wasn't just a small cluster; it was a localized disaster. Even an Elite Four level Trainer might turn tail and run when faced with such overwhelming numbers.

Even the ferocious, rampaging Ursaring had taken one look at the approaching swarm and high-tailed it into the brush, let alone these Team Rocket grunts.

"But wait... that means that guy is finished too!"

Before sprinting for his life, Blackhawk stole a quick glance back. He saw the stranger who had ambushed them actually waving in their direction.

Though the face was obscured, Blackhawk's intuition screamed that the man was smiling.

He's actually smiling?

The stranger looked like he had no idea what was coming up behind him. That was an entire swarm of Beedrill capable of turning an Alpha-level Pokémon into a pincushion in seconds. The man was idiocy personified!

Perfect. Leaving him there to act as bait would draw the Beedrill's aggro, letting the swarm eliminate the pest who dared provoke Team Rocket. Two Birds with one stone.

Then, the massive, buzzing cloud of Beedrill streaked right past N. They didn't even give him a second glance.

Blackhawk: "?"

"Wh-WHAT???"

Shocked to his core, Blackhawk actually stumbled in his retreat. The Beedrill hadn't even looked at the stranger; they had flown right past him. Hundreds of Beedrill had gone out of their way to swerve around that specific patch of forest, heading straight for the Rocket scouts.

Incredible. What was happening??

He briefly hoped the Beedrill weren't targeting humans at all, but that hope vanished instantly when a grunt at the rear was swarmed and stung by the enraged insects. Seeing this, Blackhawk abandoned all delusions.

The fear of death, cold as an Ekans, slithered up his spine and coiled around his throat. The sensation made his hair stand on end, and his blood felt like it was flowing backward in his veins. He began to tremble violently.

Run! Running was the only option left!

Without another thought, Blackhawk pushed his body to its absolute limit, sprinting toward the exit of Nichiyo Forest. The remaining Rocket grunts scrambled after him; one slow step meant certain death.

"Good work, Timburr. You too, Zorua."

"Tim-burr!"

"Zua!"

Both Pokémon basked in N's praise, puffing out their chests with pride.

N had used Zorua's Illusion ability to hide his identity. Zorua were incredibly rare; if any Team Rocket members managed to survive, a Zorua would be a lead they could use to track him. For this reason, anonymity was essential.

N hadn't sent Zorua to attack the Rockets to defeat them, but rather to buy time for Timburr's part of the plan.

While the chaos unfolded, Timburr had been stationed dozens of meters away, hurling rocks toward the Beedrill hive. To a Beedrill, any living thing that intrudes upon their territory, Pokémon or human, is a target for a lethal chase. Since Team Rocket was already locked in a noisy battle with Ursaring, they became the obvious targets for the swarm's fury.

As for N himself, standing in the open didn't matter. He was a "Child of Nature," a son of the forest blessed with the Viridian Power. Having lived as a "good neighbor" in Nichiyo Forest for years, he often provided aid to the Beedrill colony. Even the most xenophobic Beedrill wouldn't dream of attacking him.

This made him the only human in the entire region who could stand in the middle of that buzzing storm completely unscathed.