“EEEEKH!” Stella screamed in panic at the sight of the barrage of Beedrill chasing after them, and Matt had a wide-eyed expression on his face as Valerie pulled the two into a run. Larry and Mori followed behind, Larry moving his little stubby legs with all of his might as he chased after his trainer. He wanted to dig down and burrow through the ground, but couldn’t leave Valerie unprotected.

  “Why the FUCK would Mori attack the Weedle?!” Valerie asked nobody in particular, a swear slipping out due to the stressful situation as she dragged her friends along.

  “SKAAR-MORYYY! MORI-SKAR!” “How was I supposed to know THAT would happen?!” The bird argued angrily as he hopped along as fast as possible, the sheer density of foliage not allowing the bird to fly.

  “W-W-W-W-We’re not getting away!” Matt noted loudly. The trio made good ground against the storm of Bug-Types, but their droning noises didn’t fully dissipate.

  Larry noted a cabin in the woods to his right, a fair distance away, but before he could even get the others' attention to it, they had already passed it, ‘Damn it!’

  “We can’t run like this forever!” Valerie cried out, panting. She spotted a clearing up in front of them, and finally hardened her resolve, “We’ll act up there!” Once they entered the clearing, she sprang into action.

  In one quick motion, Valerie stopped, released her grip on Matt and Stella’s hand, and picked Sybil's Pokeball from her belt as she flicked it behind herself, “We need to get away from here! Sybil! Larry! Make a diversion!” The bird appeared at the ready, and the two exchanged a glance.

  Larry could already picture the girl's plan, “I’ll Sandstorm the area, so the Beedrill won’t know where to chase. Hit my Sandstorm with a Tailwind on Signal to disperse the dust into the Beedrill, ok?”

  The bird nodded back, calm and ready, “I can already see when to hit it. Simply create the biggest storm.”

  So Larry sprang into action, pulling at all the Rock-TE he could gather. If he wanted to truly confuse and disorient every single one of the Bug-Types, he’d need a Sandstorm far larger than he ones he normally used in battle. His reserves were full, and he felt healthy, but he could already hear the droning buzzes of the Beedrill approaching through the thicket of the forest.

  He began coaxing the dirt and dust of the forest to his will, pulling up every ounce of Rock-TE he could to add his own into the mix. In just a short moment, he could already feel the storm accumulate and grow in size, dwarfing any of his previous attempts, ‘Training really paid off…Concentrate…’

  Rock-TE transformed into dust and floated up into the clearing, spinning around his small form until it had transformed into a violent twister. Behind him, he could already hear Stella groan at the display, “Ugh!”

  “Cover your mouths and noses, guys!” Valerie called out.

  Focusing deeper, Larry forced himself to expand the scope of his Sandstorm. The storm would envelop the human trio as well, but once Sybil used Tailwind and he released his grasp on the storm, all of the kicked-up sand and dust would be taken by the Flying-Type Move.

  The storm intensified even further, the roiling rumbling of millions of particles intensifying even further as the dust began to drag on the branches of trees on the sides of the clearing. Only through some sort of miracle was Larry still able to hear the buzzing of the hundreds of Beedrill rapidly approaching their location.

  Over the extreme din of the storm, he heard the cry of Valerie, “STOP! NOW!”

  In that moment, the first Beedrill appeared in his perception of the storm, storming into the clearing with hate in its eyes, only to be swept up and along on the localized Sandstorm it hadn’t been privy to.

  Larry released his control of the Storm and dug below the ground, popping out not a second later next to Valerie. His trainer still her her friend's hand and called out the command to Sybil, “NOW! TAILWIND! FULL POWER!”

  Sybil obeyed, both her wings unfurled, raised high into a T-Pose as Flying-TE exploded out of her. A wall of powerful winds appeared from behind them in an instant and pushed the sandstorm away just like that. The Beedrill, just beginning to enter the clearing, were all sucked up into the giant gust of sandy and dusty wind, which was rapidly developing into a miniature twister.

  In less than ten seconds, the clearing was empty again, with no Sandstorm to be found, other than the obvious presence of far too much dust for a forest like Viridian.

  “Wow…” Matt spoke, flabbergasted, a nod from Patrat clearly confirming his flabbergasted-ness. Stella nodded back, surprised as well.

  “We gotta get out of here, before the Beedrill return.” Valerie spoke seriously, as she pulled both of her Pokeballs out, “Recall all your Pokemon, we need to run as quickly as possible.”

  Larry and Sybil disappeared back into their Pokeballs as the humans looked at each other anxiously.

  “O-Ok!” Matt held Patrat's Pokeball out to him, and the Normal-Type tapped the button in the middle of the ball to disappear.

  Stella nodded back meekly as well, “Yeah…Return, Mori.” The bird gave her a death glare, but calmed when its gaze traveled back to Larry and Sybil's Pokeball.

  …

  “Whew…That was close…too close…” Valerie lamented, and everyone else chimed in with nods of agreement.

  The trio had made far quicker headway than before, and it had paid off. No beedrill were in sight around these parts of the forest, and this was squarely Butterfree territory. So many Caterpie could be spotted around these parts, it was almost comical, or game-accurate.

  A lot of other Butterfly-like Pokemon made this part of the forest their home. Butterfree, Beautifly, Mothim, and even the rare Venomoth resting in the shade of some treetops. The area was beautiful, but everyone else still had an anxious hand on their hearts due to the close brush with death.

  “I think we should be safe around here. Let’s set up camp, guys.” Valerie looked around the place curiously, “Come on out, Larry.” With a series of POPS! everyone released one of their Pokemon again for safety, and Larry appeared next to Mori and Patrat.

  “I’ve got to ask. What was that?” Valerie turned towards Stella and Mori, “Why’d Mori try and bully a Weedle while inside of a Kakuna hive? Even just saying that sounds dangerous.”

  “I…I don’t know…” Stella shook her head, unsure, “It’s-...Mori is just too…combative…”

  “You’re gonna have to work on that.” This time, Larry’s trainer was addressing Mori himself, “I don’t wanna be too rude, but you can’t continue acting this way, you put everyone in danger. Including your trainer.”

  Mori wasn’t very remorseful, “Skar? Skar-Mori!” “What? Stella is safe!”

  Valerie didn’t understand Mori’s speech, but she didn’t need to, as Patrat answered the bird.

  “Pat?! Rat-Patrat-Rat!” “Stella?! You almost killed her with that!” The rodent pushed past Larry and pressed a clawed finger against the bird's metal coat, “If Valerie, Sybil, and Larry didn’t think that quickly, Stella would be dead by now!”

  At the mention of Larry and Sybil, Mori’s gaze turned to him before flicking back to Patrat, less sure now, “I would’ve been ok…I could’ve defended her.”

  “Really?” Patrat reiterated, “You really think that?!”

  “Obviously!” Mori answered, puffing up his chest.

  ‘So he’s in denial,’ Larry assumed, ‘I couldn’t have fought off all those Beedrill either if I wanted to. Mori’s got a Poison immunity, but I don’t think that matters when every inch of his body is covered in Beedrill.’

  Patrat puffed up at the insinuation for a moment, but deflated, “You know what? Whatever.” He turned back to him, “Larry! Come over here! After those Beedrill, I wanna talk about training.”

  He was dragged along with Patrat, but eyeing behind himself, he saw the conceited expression on Mori’s face waver just a smidge.

  Larry had spent a short amount of time lightly sparring with Patrat, the Normal-Type was more determined than before to improve himself. He still wouldn’t be the Ace of their troupe, but the drive to improve is what gives both humans and Pokemon something to work towards. Once back inside his trainer's tent, the idea came to him that Valerie might be able to find some stuff on the web that could help Patrat. He mentally noted to talk to her once they were back in civilization.

  …

  “EEEEEEEKH!” Their morning was rudely interrupted by the scream of a young girl.

  “Whuh?!” Larry was thrown out of sleep in a confused stupor. His mind worked itself up as he looked around himself. Both he and Valerie were completely safe, the girl was thrown out of her sleep the same way he had been.

  “What the hell is…” With them being outside in the wilderness, Larry knew to tread cautiously, he couldn’t simply go back to sleep and forget about it. He forced open the zipper of Valerie’s tent and looked outside to see Stella’s tent rustling vigorously.

  “Get it off of me! Get it off! EEEKH!” Larry saw the silhouette of both Stella and Mori inside their tent, fighting against something in their tent. In that same moment, he watched as the tent billowed outwards like a hot air balloon.

  “SKAAAR!” The tent exploded when a few sharp gusts of air sliced through the soft fabric of the tent, shredding it like a diced head of cabbage.

  “Oh, god damn it…” Larry stepped out of the tent, Valerie following behind him as she blearily rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

  When Stella saw them, she made a beeline toward them, tears forming in her eyes as she hugged herself close to his trainer, burying her head on her shoulder, “V-Valerie! Valerie! The- There was a bug in my tent!”

  “What the heck happened? A Bug?” Valerie mumbled as she patted the inconsolable girl on her back, “You freaked out because of a Bug?”

  Mori followed after her, his chest puffed out proudly, “I killed it though!”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “I-I thought I felt something weird in my sleeping bag, and when I touched it, it squeaked! Mori hit it with an Air Cutter!” Stella retold at lightning speed.

  “We are in Viridian Forest, we’re bound to find a few Bugs here or there.” Larry retrieved Valerie’s phone while the girl consoled the girl, “Ah, thanks, Larry.”

  Activating the flashlight on her phone, everyone watched as the mess of leftover tent fabric began to wriggle as they closed in.

  “And you killed it?” Larry spoke doubtfully.

  “I thought I hit it…” Mori defended himself.

  “It's still in there!” Stella cried out in a hushed tone.

  “I’m more amazed you missed it,” Larry added on. The tent was torn to shreds, how Mori had managed to miss was a sheer wonder.

  “What the hell is going on out here?” Matt finally poked his head out of his tent, rubbing blearily at his eyes. His usual meek tone was overpowered by his sheer tiredness as he gazed at his phone, “Guys, it's three in the morning…”

  “There was a Bug Pokemon in Stella’s tent, and she freaked out.”

  “Who wouldn’t freak out if one of those things crawled up on them without their consent?!” Stella turned a shade whiter at the sheer insinuation, “I hate Bugs!”

  “It’s still in… whatever's left of the tent,” Valerie added on.

  “Ughh…” Matt groaned as he opened his tent fully, “Ok…Let’s take a look…”

  “You up to take a look, Larry?” Valerie questioned.

  “Sure…” Larry nodded and made his way over to what was left of the tent. When he stepped on the shreds of fabric, one of the sides trembled slightly.

  “Come out, please…” He tried, “We don’t wanna hurt you, and you probably didn’t want to hurt us either…”

  The trembling stopped temporarily, and Larry pulled at the tarp to release the small Bug-Type, it was worm-shaped, that was for sure. ‘Is it a Caterpie?’

  When the shreds of tarp finally cleared, the little Bug-Type was revealed. It looked like a grey grub, with a large, round head. Beige eyes with square pupils adorned its face, while its short segmented body had two rows of tiny stubby beige legs.

  Around its neck was a circle of white fluff, along with three long hairs that adorned its head. Its mouth had a single long buck-tooth which quivered slightly as it chattered in fear. The little Bug-Type looked up at Larry with fear in its eyes, its gaze turned to the people behind him.

  “Are you ok?” Larry tested the waters as he approached the Pokemon, “You didn’t get hurt?”

  Its gaze swapped back to him, but it didn’t answer, only stepping back a step in fear.

  ‘This is the Bug-Type from Kalos, right?’ Larry remembered the Pokemon itself from the games, but couldn’t quite remember its name, ‘What was it called again?’

  Behind him, Matt rubbed his eyes annoyedly, “It’s just a random Bug.”

  His trainer was tapping away on her phone, “I think it’s a Scatterbug…They’re able to spew a Poisonous Powder when they feel threatened.”

  “Ugh…I’m going back to bed.” Matt didn’t seem to be able to care at the moment. He crawled back into his tent with a tired groan.

  Everyone shared a glance towards the boys' tent as the movements slowly stilled back to sleep.

  “Okayyy…I guess everything is going to be ok then.” Valerie finally finished, “What about the Scatterbug, did you find out anything about it, Larry?”

  He shook his head. The previously panicked Bug had since calmed back down and looked at the group of humans and Pokemon before itself more with curiosity than any other emotion.

  Valerie herself stepped forward, holding out a hand towards the bug, “Hey there, why'd you sneak into Stella’s tent?”

  The Scatterbug inspected her hand carefully before stepping past her, its eyes set on the younger girl behind her.

  “W-What?! What does it want from me?!” Stella panicked as the Bug-Type approached her, but Mori stepped in between the two of them.

  “Stay away from her!” He raised a wing in Challenge to the small Bug as it approached, but Larry got between the two of them.

  “Can you stay calm for a single second?!” By now, Mori's whole play-by-play was beginning to go on his nerves. The Steel-Type had run his patience thin by attacking everything that looked remotely dangerous to him and Stella, “Stop attacking small, innocent Pokemon for a single moment, ok?”

  “What?! Innocent?!” Mori sputtered at his defense, “Didn't she just say it's poisonous?! I’m just protecting my trainer!”

  “Yeah, and you can slice a loaf of bread with a single flap of your wings!” Larry rolled his eyes, “The Scatterbug hasn't attacked anyone yet, not even you when you tried to literally kill it. Calm down for once.”

  Mori looked like he wanted to retort, but he gazed at the Scatterbug slowly approaching and simply turned his head away when he quickly glanced at Larry. He retreated to Stella's side after a short standoff, “Whatever…”

  “Thanks.” Larry nodded, satisfied.

  “Umm, you don’t wanna talk?” Valerie tested the Bug-Type in a confused tone, “Hello? Anything?”

  Stella, meanwhile, didn’t look scared of the Bug anymore. She looked disgusted by the small Bug and took a wide berth around the little worm to hug herself back close to Valerie, “Iyah! Don’t get so close! What does it want from me?!”

  “Well, it snuck into your tent, so it must want something from you, right?” Valerie tried, “Why not humor it?”

  “Humor it?”

  “Kneel down and stick out your hand.” She instructed.

  Stella turned to her with a confused turn of her head, “What?! Why would I do that?”

  Valerie rolled her eyes, “It snuck into your tent and sleeping bag, didn’t it? You attracted it somehow. Newborn or other Pokemon with weaker intellects sometimes work on different principles than others. It probably wants something from you and has now focused on you.” She points at Larry, “Remember how it didn’t even react when Larry or I tried to get it to talk?”

  His language studies mentioned the topic for a short moment, but the short and quick of it was that Pokemon that were particularly young or weak sometimes didn’t communicate or weren’t sapient in the same way as regular Pokemon.

  Beedrill and other Bug-Types were the best example, because of their short life expectancy and tendency to quickly evolve, their first evolutionary forms were far more likely to be infants or too young to have properly grasped the concept of communication, instead relying on their instincts far more. It meant that in most cases, trying to communicate with Bug-Types was a more complicated endeavor than expected.

  Their second evolutionary forms had higher chances of sapience in the same way as most Pokemon, and by their third form, they were already fully-fledged and sapient, yet the deciding factor in all cases is age.

  Stella seemed hesitant, but knelt and held out her hand anyway, guided by Valerie with a hand on her shoulder, “I don’t want this…Ugh, why does it look so gross…”

  “Don’t worry, if the Scatterbug wanted to attack you, it would’ve already.” She added, “If you can’t handle it anymore, hand it over to me. For now, I want to find out what the Scatterbug wants from you.”

  The Scatterbug slowed when it closed in, hesitantly inspecting Stella’s hand with sniffs and by giving a courteous look from every angle possible.

  ‘It’s a bit like a dog…’ Larry thought to himself with a slight grin.

  When everything seemed alright to the Bug-Type, it slowly stepped up onto the girl's arm with gusto. The girl had her eyes shut and held her other hand in front of her mouth to stop herself from panicking, “Oh…I hate this…I hate this…”

  “Don’t worry, it's cute.” Valerie grinned as she rubbed the girl's back in support.

  Stella denied instantly, shaking her head vigorously, “I hate it! It’s creepy! It’s crawly and creepy! I feel its legs wriggling up my arm, and I hate it!”

  “Oh, don’t be like that. You can’t be a proper coordinator if you can’t even handle touching a Pokemon.” His trainer argued, “Come on, take a look at it. Its big eyes are actually kinda cute.”

  ‘Smart thinking,’ Larry complimented his trainer, ‘She’s gonna use her motivation for going on a journey to make Stella less adverse to bugs.’

  “Alright…” Stella peeked at her hand with one eye, inspecting the Scatterbug with a grimace on her face, “It…”

  In return, the Scatterbug quirked its head to the side like a dog at the eye contact, “Sca?”

  The motion seemed to calm Stella considerably, her grimace receded, and she finally opened both eyes to look at the Bug resting on her hand and forearm. “It doesn’t look as creepy as I thought…”

  “See? There are far creepier Bug-Types to be found in Viridan Forest. A Scatterbugs is nothing to a coordinator like yourself, right?” Valerie patted the girl on the back in support once again, “Why not try and pet it? It’d probably like that.”

  “Umm, ok…” The girl tentatively raised her hand, floating it towards the Scatterbug's head in slow motion. The Bug tracked her hand with its eyes, but when it finally floated above its head, it squeezed its eyes shut and pushed its head upwards, into the palm of Stella’s hand with an uncharacteristic purr, “Terrr~.”

  “Aww~” Valerie cooed at the sight, “I think it really likes you!”

  “Mhm…” Stella nodded back silently, her eyes glued to the little bug as she caressed its head. Mori could only watch from the sidelines as his trainer petted the little Bug-Type.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Larry’s head, ‘this might be just what Mori needs.’

  Tapping his trainer on the hip to get her attention, Larry pointed at her Pokeballs before pointing at the Scatterbug.

  She got the idea immediately and whispered back a commendation, “Nice idea, Larry!”

  Watching the girl scratch the scruff around the Bug-Type's neck, Valerie put a hand on her shoulder, “Hey, how about catching it? It seems to really like you, and having some variety in your roster is a positive for a Coordinator.”

  Mori’s eyes, previously slowly falling back closed, shot wide open at the insinuation, “WHAT?!”

  She recoiled slightly, an unsure expression on her face, “I…I don’t know…”

  “C’mon, isn’t a beautiful Bug-Type like Vivillon the perfect pick for a Coordinator like yourself?” Valerie whispered encouragingly to her, “They’re some of the most unique Bug/Flying-Types in the whole world…they…” She gazed down at the phone in her one hand, “...they apparently look different depending on where they’re from, making them surprisingly unique Pokemon.”

  Pulling up her phone, Valerie showed her a list of pictures of different Vivillon, “See, they’re all really pretty, aren’t they?”

  “They are…I think a Vivillon would be beautiful,” Stella agreed with a pained nod, “...But I’m unsure if I want to rip this Scatterbug here away from its home.”

  His trainer clutched at her heart emotionally, her own experience of catching Pokemon probably hitting her as well, “Ohhh…I get what you mean…Well, why not ask Scatterbug? Wait here!”

  Valerie quickly shot up and jogged over to her tent. She came back with a simple Pokeball, “I always have a few with me. Hold it out to Scatterbug and ask it honestly if it wants to come with you. It might be less intelligent than your average Pokemon, but I think the message will still come across.”

  “And if it doesn’t?” Stella worriedly took the Pokeball in her free hand.

  The older of the two girls shrugged, “Then you just release it again if it looks like it doesn’t want to stay with you. We’ll be in Viridian Forest for a day or so more, that’ll be enough time to realize if Scatterbug really wants to go with you.”

  The younger girl still looked somewhat hesitant, unsure of the whole process, “I don’t know…”

  So Valerie finally turned real with her, “Look, can you be sure that you’ll win the contest in Pewter City you talked about with Mori alone? He hasn’t been the most forthcoming after all.”

  “Excuse me?!” Mori gawked at the insult.

  “He won’t listen to you, and he’s been a spoiled brat since I first met him.” Valerie complained, “Wouldn’t it be better to get another Pokemon who’s going to be more likely to listen to you as well?”

  “What?” Even Stella turned back towards her with wide eyes at the insult, but Valerie was prepared.

  She pulled the girl in close, whispering in the quietest tone possible, “Please play along, I’m trying to get Mori to listen to you more.”

  For all her ditziness, Stella seemed to get the clue almost immediately, looking at the Scatterbug in her hand with a better understanding, “I see…Maybe that’s a good idea…”

  “WHAT?!” The fact that his trainer agreed freaked Mori out even more than expected. He cawed at the two of them aggressively, “No! I don’t want to be on a team with a gross Bug-Type like that!”

  “Maybe it’s for the best?” Stella spoke thoughtfully before addressing the Bug-Type on her arm, “Hey, Scatterbug.”

  The Bug-Type seemed to register its name and focused back onto her face with a quirk of its head, “Bug?”

  “Do you wanna come with me and become a part of my contest team?” She asked tensely, “We’d travel around the country and compete in contests, where we try to be as beautiful and captivating to an audience as possible.”

  When she finished, the Bug-Type turned its head the other way with another adorable squeak of its own, “Sca?”

  Stella held out the Pokeball to the Bug-Type, “If you want to come with me, press yourself against the button on this ball.”

  The Scatterbug looked at the Pokeball in front of it with childlike curiosity. Its forehead touched the button on the front of the Pokeball and it disappeared in a red flash. The ball wiggled once before it finally clicked shut with a satisfying KA-PONK!

  “Congrats, Stella.” Valerie patted the girl on the back, “You just caught your first Pokemon.”