bring her best fighters. elisabet joins of course, no questions asked. she also grabs the three that had been privy to her training session with boruta maher. and, panicked, willow manages to coerce the tauros into their balls under the premise that they'll finally be able to let off steam if need be. 

it takes her longer than she'd like to get to greyson. eleanor's old car doesn't want to start, of course, so she has to hail a taxi. 

but when she finally does jog beside him, huffing with stress, she finds him shrugging ash from his shoulders. 

"i came as quickly as i could. what did you find?"

Greyson Connors

☉

as she arrives, greyson holds his hands up, quirking an eyebrow.

"calm down, willow." she must've really been stressing over this the past few days. "HQ found traces of primal energy on the captured bees. they were able to trace it to, well, here."
[break][break]
he spreads his arms around him, pulling out what looks to be a digital compass. a white pulse pushes out from their spot on the compass, revealing nothing.
[break][break]
"somewhere."

[attr="class","notes"]willow atkins

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

it all seems so official. and she feels extremely out of place. she tries not to look as indignant as she feels when he tells her to calm down. it's not like she deals with this every day. most of the time, she's treating plant patients for mites! or pruning her flowers so they grow like they need to. 

when he says that he's traced it here, she bites her lip and grabs elisabet's painted pokeball. the leavanny comes out and the relief on her face is palpable. 

elisabet's antennae twitch and then she points. a few globs of yellow honey drip from a fern. 

Greyson Connors

☉

greyson follows the stick-bugs long appendage, catching sight of the golden sap. he moves to inspect it, watching as ash sinks in and all but dissolves from contact with the sticky liquid.
[break][break]
still keeping his attention on it, as if it was going to get up and run away, he fumbles for a plastic bag in his back pocket. he opens it without looking, only peeking to see where the q-tip was. settling it into between forefinger and thumb, he takes a sample and opens a small, plastic container.
[break][break]
greyson lathers the honey in the strange, clear liquid at the base of the vial, then removes it as he begins to twirl the liquid in his hands. after a few minutes, it turns red.
[break][break]
"primal energy," he says finally, pushing himself to his feet with hands on his thighs. "this is definitely the right place." looking deeper down the path, he grimaces.
[break][break]
"you don't have to come, if you don't want to. it's going to be dangerous."

[attr="class","notes"]willow atkins

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

greyson follows elisabet's direction and willow follows his curtails, peering curiously over his shoulder while he works on the honey. she steps a pace back when she realizes that she'd been hovering and then makes a face. then why ask me here in the first place, silly?

"and leave you alone?" she jokes with a thin smile. 

she looks down the path. trees bend over themselves; clumps of ash fall periodically off of weighted leaves. not many find fallarbor as beautiful as she does, but even this is starting to make her anxious. 

elisabet will be able to hear anything that they're about to encounter, but that won't make this any less dangerous, as greyson very endearingly informed her. 

"i want to go with you. and if i'm a hindrance, send me away, please. but if this is what our world is really coming to, i...want to be ready for it." for roman. for my family. 

and maybe to understand bo just a little bit better. 

Greyson Connors

☉

greyson stares at willow for a long moment before breathing out a sigh. "okay," he concedes, turning to the path ahead, "but try and stay behind me."
[break][break]
he wanted to ensure willow was able to get the experience she desperately needed, but not if the threat was something that was beyond them to control. an investigation into primal energy was not something to take lightly, and inviting her along was already stretching his comfort of the situation.
[break][break]
but, what choice did he have? if she'd found out he came here along, she'd lose her shit.
[break][break]
that's almost as terrifying as any of these bees.
[break][break]
ahead of them a massive trees looms, stained white by ash fall. a massive opening has been carved into its massive trunk and, standing guard, are a number of combee.
[break][break]
"well, think we found the nest."

[attr="class","notes"]willow atkins

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she steps obediently into place behind him. she'll let him take the brunt of the offensive, should the need arise. no problems there. but her apprehension about the situation grows as they travel down the path. one thing she notices is the lack of sound. of plusle and minun rooting through the undergrowth, the spinda who like to dance amidst the ashfall. they're all absent. 

when greyson stops, she nearly bumps into him, too lost in her own questions. but she touches his shoulder and then takes a step to the side, dropping her hand as she spies the wall of combee. 

"i brought camellia," she says quietly, drawing the venomoth's ball from her pocket. "she may be able to put most of them to sleep."

Greyson Connors

☉

something, maybe instinct or training, or perhaps too many hours playing games, compels greyson to crouch on the balls of his feet. with one hand he keeps himself still, fingers steady in the soil, while the other cracks his knuckles nervously.
[break][break]
"it's not a bad plan," he says with a nod, his eyes never leaving the entrance to the the nest, "but we need to have a back-up — two preferably — if the primal energy is too powerful and keeps them awake." was that even possible? he had no clue. better to plan for it, than to be caught off guard.
[break][break]
"our primary concern is blocking out the pheromones they release — keep the swarm off our backs while we sneak in." he could purge it by fire, sure, but that was... the ballistic option.
[break][break]
"maybe we can freeze it out," greyson offers, hoisting a pokeball to his hand, holding it in-front of him, "can you keep the sleep ready? just as a precaution?"
[break][break]
a tiny mew echoes out from the newly summoned glaceon.

[attr="class","notes"]willow atkins

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

he's saying a lot of things that are going over willow's head. when he brings up pheromones, they at least have some common ground. putting them to sleep would negate that, but it hadn't once crossed her mind that they may be less susceptible to camellia's sleep powder. she looks down at the ball in her hand, feeling in adequate. 

bo would know what to do. 

still, she nods to greyson and opens the net ball. camellia flutters beside them, shedding small amounts of dust from her wingbeats. willow puts a finger to her lips and encourages the moth to wait for instruction.

"mel can fly just above the blizzard. if they start to anger, she should be able to reach them with sleep powder and not get hit herself." 

Greyson Connors

☉

he gives willow an apolagetic look that lasts a second, if that. this was a trial by fire, he knew, and had this been anything else, greyson would've taken the time to instruct her properly.
[break]
[break]
as it stood, however, primal energy left loose in a hive like this could deal some real damage. handling the threat came first to instructions.

[break]
[break]
"sounds good." greyson and glaceon creep forward more, sticking low to the brush. he keeps watch for any remnants of honey, not wanting to alert the bees to substance and potentially give himself away.

[break]
[break]
close enough, he lets yen do the last few feet by herself. once settled, she releases a BLIZZARD directly into both of the bug-types. ice settles over them, FREEZING one solid. but the other is hardier, built of something different, and its eyes shine with the rage of PRIMAL ENERGY.

[break]
[break]
it begins to shudder and shake, releasing pheromones into the wild.

[attr="class","notes"]willow atkins

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

willow follows as quietly as she can behind greyson, but eventually breaks off away from him. she's several yards away when his glaceon unleashes a blast of flurries at the combee drones. camellia notices the ineffectiveness of the move before willow does and she flutters above the icy gale, shaking thick powder from her wings. 

the drone's buzzing intensifies before it lessens, and the telltale sound of roused combee resonates from deeper in the hive. willow curses under her breath, but then waves for camellia. 

after a few frantic whispers, the venomoth thrums her antennae and releases a buzz of her own. its tempo is calmer than the now-sleeping combee and willow waits, muscles tense, to see if their play at mimicry has bought them any time. 

Greyson Connors

☉

greyson, and glaceon, wait with tense anticipation for the hive to come bursting out of their dens.
[break][break]
it doesn't happen.
[break][break]
he looks at willow and holds a finger up, urging them forward with it. at the tree's base, he peers into the hole. of course, it was dark.
[break][break]
"i think... they've built their hives underground." brow furrowing, he returns the glaceon with a gentle 'thanks', and an accompanying smile. in her stead is a marrowak.
[break][break]
"we'll use WILL-O-WISP to light our way down, and we should try to keep fighting to a minimum. we don't know how many bees they have down here."

[attr="class","notes"]willow atkins

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

pride swells within her as her plan works. camellia hovers above, looking just as satisfactory (or as much as a moth pokemon can). greyson recalls his glaceon and willow nods, but looks apprehensively down at the tunnel. it's not uncommon for some species of combee to burrow, but as far as she was aware, hoenn wasn't home to any of those regional variants.

camellia flutters when greyson brings out his marowak. the moth's compound eyes glimmer and she circles the marowak enough that willow decides to recall her. willow would laugh sheepishly, but her apprehension leaves her serious. 

elisabet takes the venomoth's place instead.

"and if there are too many?" she asks, looking nervously at the opening.  

Greyson Connors

☉