Josh pulsed Saber's reins, the Manectric responding by making a leap over honey farm's outer fence. It was a dramatic entrance, but not one he was unfamiliar with. The racer's electric personality gave him a flair for the dramatic. "Alright, let's scout this place out," he said, the Manectric slowing his pace to a canter and eventually a trot. It did not take him long to hear the sound of a large insect buzzing. It was quite recognizable, given the amount of time he spent at the arcade alongside a girl who liked riding giant bug Pokémon. How did he get talked into taking this job, anyway? While he wasn't afraid of Beedrill like he used to be, they were still unpleasant.

He followed the buzzing noise, not taking too long to find his boss for the operation. The queen of the hive was visible, too; while she a Vespiquen and not a Beedrill, it was still terrifying to think of how debilitating her venom would be. Best to give her a wide berth. "Captain Maher, I presume?" Josh asked, his Manectric mount letting out a bark. "Rookie Ranger Devlin," he introduced himself, "but I go by Josh. The Rangers' Guild told me I can't do just rescues if I want to get out of my green uniform, so here I am."

He evaluated the situation based on the briefing over RangerNet and additional details Captain Maher had given him in person:

TO: Josh Devlin (josh.devlin@hoennrangers.gov)
CC: Cpt. Boruta Maher (boruta.maher@hoennrangers.gov)
MISSION: "Smoke Out the Bees"
PROTOCOL: Calm Wild Pokémon
DANGER: ★☆☆☆☆

A farmer on Route 115 has lost a large portion of his Combee hive from an attack by a predatory Pokémon. As a result, the hive's Vespiquen is on edge and will not let the keepers anywhere near the hives to harvest honey. Your mission is to calm the queen through any means you see fit. Nonviolence is preferred but not required. Use of Fire-type and Water-type Pokémon is highly advisable. Please see attachment for the farm's coordinates.

Good Luck! We're all counting on you!

After a couple minutes to think, Josh had come up with a solid idea. He dismounted and withdrew Saber, then sent out three of his Pokémon: Ares the Charizard, Aslan the Pyroar, and Resheph the Dragonair, all of which were decked out in riding gear similar to what his Manectric wore. Ares' eyes followed the Vespiquen, like he wanted a piece of that giant bug-type. "These are the three I planned on using, and I feel the best way to handle this is as a two-front battle. The queen is probably not upset at us, but at whatever is stalking the hive." He started pointing in various directions as though he was drawing on a white board.

"So Aslan here," he pointed to the male Pyroar, "is a really good tracker. He'll try to pick up the scent of whatever Pokémon I feel is causing the queen to be so angry. With how good he is at it, tracking whatever Pokémon caused all this trouble shouldn't take him long." He paused to collect his thoughts. "Ares here," he pointed to the Charizard whose tail was burning hotter than normal, "it will be his job to use his fire attacks to try to corral the Vespiquen away from where Aslan is working. I would prefer that she is unharmed, but if push comes to shove, I will try to graze her with fire attacks and incapacitate her."

The Dragonair let out a coo to greet the Captain before floating next to her trainer, which prompted him to mount up. "And I'll be using Resheph, this Dragonair, to put out fires with her Aqua Tail and observe from above. Her Thunder Wave might be helpful if things escalate out of control. Sound like a plan to you?"

"Ten-four," Josh replied, acknowledging the Captain's advice. He was more than a little sidetracked by the Floatzel that emerged from his boss's Poké Ball. "Your Floatzel's impressive-looking. As a Pokémon racer, I've always wanted to catch one. They can really zoom across the surface!" His eyes shifted toward the split-tailed Pokémon that looked like it was focused on only the mission. "...Sorry, I got a little distracted." He gave Resheph a gentle pat on the neck. "Alright everyone, let's get to work."

Resheph, the Dragonair Josh was mounted on, spiraled skyward to an altitude where he could get a Pidgeot's-eye view of the action and be out of range of the bug-type's limited flying capabilities. The serpentine Pokémon circled the hive, Josh experimenting with how close he could get to the Vespiquen without attracting too much attention from her. If all went well, Ares would keep her plenty busy.

Josh's Charizard took to the air and began approaching the giant insect. Unlike Resheph, Ares could not hover; he had to maintain a certain minimum speed to be able to produce enough lift to remain airborne. Ultimately, both those Pokémon would serve supporting roles for the star of today's mission, Aslan.

It was the Pyroar's job to track down whatever was agitating the stinging insect queen that had an entire hive of drones under her command. His keen sense of smell gave him the edge in tracking down whatever was in the tall brush. It did not take him long to find the Thievul stalker, but it was already ready for him, SNARLing in his face! Not wanting to be outdone by a sonic attack, the Pyroar inhaled deeply and bellowed a HYPER VOICE that made Josh flinch and cover his ears.

The tremendous noise made Vespiquen furious, turning around to fly in the Pyroar's direction and send her drones after both of them. Ares was on the job, though, spewing streams of crackling FLAMETHROWER between the Vespiquen and the deafened quadrupeds clawing at one another.

The battle below Josh was really starting to heat up; even his superior was contributing with a Swift attack. He eased up on his hold on Resheph's reins, a command to descend close to the chaos. And chaos it was; it appeared the Thievul was winning their shouting match. Josh recognized that if this shouting match continued, the Thievul would win. Resheph and Josh descended to within earshot despite the danger from the Vespiquen's drones. "Aslan, TAKE DOWN!" he shouted. With a loud purr, the big cat flung himself at the dark-type with reckless abandon, trying to pin the big fox underneath his great paws.

On the other front, the Vespiquen was furious at both of them, commanding ATTACK ORDERs from her drones toward both the Floatzel and Ares. The pseudo-dragon shrugged the stings off; being both Fire-type and Flying-type made. Another FLAMETHROWER was quick to disperse the drones, even grazing the Vespiquen herself.

Now she was furious.

Rainbow-colored lights surrounded Ares from beneath as the queen's POWER GEM glowed, sending the flying lizard to the ground with the force of a tumbling boulder. "NO! ARES!!" Josh shouted, diving low enough to the ground to recall the fire-type that had been felled in a single attack. He sent out his Skarmory in an effort to corral the Vespiquen away from Aslan. It would be much more difficult now, though, what with the knowledge of the queen's attacks, and that the Skarmory had no ranged attacks...

When Josh's boss told him to watch his use of fire, that was when it dawned on him. The title of the RangerNet request was "Smoke Out the Bees." Had he only realized this a little sooner, he could have made use of Ares' SMOKESCREEN to...well, do exactly as the title requested. Thanks to Vespiquen's POWER GEM, though, he had now been denied the chance.

Though Josh had failed in demonstrating development of his INSIGHT by mistaking the forest for the trees and failing to evaluate the big picture, there was still another of the Three Virtues he could still develop, and that was proving to be one of his stronger ones: the FORESIGHT to question his instincts and think outside the box. With Ares down and the Thievul flipping a weakened Aslan onto his back after staggering from his powerful TAKE DOWN, he would very quickly be without any Fire-types. He would really have to improvise now.

Not wanting to see his Pyroar suffer any more, Josh recalled him and released his Manectric to take the place of the Thievul. "Try to scare him off with your THUNDER WAVE!" he called from above the battleground. With how much he was exposing himself to the drones, it was only a matter of time before they and their queen started harassing him and his Dragonair. He kept his focus on ensuring the two battles stayed separated. If he could get the Thievul to retreat, he was certain that would calm the queen down. It was a bit more difficult this time, though, Bladestorm having to rely on his AGILITY to leave walls of air blades in his metal wings' wake and corral the Vespiquen away from the real battle.

The combination of AGILITY and THUNDER WAVE did the trick! The Thievul backed down. While the hive's Vespiquen was still buzzing furiously, she was nowhere near as escalated as she was before. Josh felt comfortable guiding Resheph down to ground level again, circling the hive to recall the rest of his Pokémon before reining the Dragonair toward the Captain and the tub of Berries he had provided. There were all kinds, but the ones that stood out most were Oran, Sitrus, and Rawst Berries.

Josh dismounted his Dragonair just long enough to grab a clump of each before floating just above the ground again. Not wanting to simply throw the clumps in front of the hive and risk too strong an arm disturbing the colony further, he bravely coaxed the dragon-type forward. The two floated toward the hive, Josh gently tugging on Resheph's reins when he was not comfortable getting any closer. He set down a clump of Sitrus Berries in front of the hive, a clump of Oran Berries on the right, and a smaller clump of Rawst Berries on the left, mostly intended for the Vespiquen's drones that had been badly burned by Ares' Flamethrower. The hairs on his exposed skin stood on end, expecting that he could receive a painful sting at any moment if his methods to befriend them were rejected!

Josh's FORESIGHT had paid off in spades. His creativity in using wind instead of fire to corral the Vespiquen away from her assailant did the trick. The Berry clumps were enough to de-escalate the queen and her drones, said drones devouring the entire clump of Rawst Berries. Their burns would heal in due time. He withdrew all his Pokémon once he could confirm the situation had been resolved.

The two tracked down the beekeeper together, Josh reporting what had happened. "It was a great big Thievul that was attacking the hive," the racer and Ranger reported. "No wonder the Vespiquen was upset. As a Pokémon racer, I wanted to catch the Thievul for myself, but just didn't get the chance. Either way, I don't think that Pokémon will be bothering your hive again for a looooooooong time."

Once Josh had delivered his report, he released Saber, his Manectric, and prepared for the short ride back to Rustboro Ranger HQ. "Been a real pleasure working with you, Captain," Josh said, offering a handshake. "If I see you post a new mission that fits my specialty, I'll sign up for it. See you around!" With that, he swung aboard the Manectric and rode toward Rustboro City to report in.