The more work Shalin did for Hoenn's Rangers, the more she thought about formally joining them. There was even a particular Ranger proactively forwarding missions that would fit the explorer's niche well. Today, she would be on yet another one of said assignments. As she soared astride Queen Zing, ber Beedrill, headed to an abandoned Ranger outpost just outside Oldale Town, she reviewed the mission briefing.

TO: Shalin Nariya (shalin.nariya@nariyaexpeditions.com)
MISSION: "Welcome to Applebees"
PROTOCOL: Dispersal
DANGER: ★☆☆☆☆

A Combee and Vesipquen infestation has forced the absndonment of a small Ranger outpost on Route 102, west of Oldale Town. This is negatively impacting response time for Ranger service calls to southwestern Hoenn. Your mission is to capture at least one, then disperse the rest of the Bug-types and render the outpost suitable for use again. Be careful! These Combee are much more aggressive than typical specimens.

Good luck! We're all counting on you.

Shalin had the perfect way to make the hive scatter. What better way to scare off a bunch of bees than a bigger bee? As the Vespiquen of the hive came into distant view, the Beedrill's rider felt a sudden tingling throughout her body. Queen Zing was excited to show why she was the superior Bug-type queen, accelerating toward the outpost whilst her wings roared loudly and intensely with a drone that could probably be heard from their destination. Shalin tugged at the enormous bee's reins, swerving back and forth madly to get her blood pumping.

Shalin was expecting this to be a solo operation. To her surprise, there was another woman already there, observing the swarming Combee. There had to be dozens of them flying about the building that was in a state of disrepair. Smiling at the prospect of having a little help, as well as someone to show off to, she had Queen Zing land near the older woman, then removed her earplugs once her mount's wings were still.

"To save the outpost, what else?" the young greenhead replied with a smile on her face. "And what better to do that with my Queen here showing them who's boss?" She explained her approach as Queen Zing waved a foreleg sting in greeting. It was far from professional, but it would get the job done! Technically speaking, anyway. "We catch one to give back to the Rangers, and the rest of the hive has a reason to find a more suitable location for their hive!" The explorer got so carried away with her plan she forgot to introduce herself. "Right! Shalin, wildest Pokémon rider this side of Hoenn!"

While Shalin was a lover of some bug-type Pokémon, she was far from an insect expert. Her strategy was a lot more brute force, using her trio of bug Pokémon to intimidate the swarm into relocating. After all, Beedrill were some of the most aggressive forest predators in the world, and were known to decimate the hives of other insect Pokémon on a regular basis! Even hundreds of Combee would find repelling a queen like Queen Zing impossible.

The wild child was about to explain her position based on a documentary she watched when she was younger. According to the documentary, Beedrill were natural predators of Combee, a single Beedrill was more than capable of taking on a small hive of them, bringing back its larvae for its own hive to gorge on. Their one weakness was that Combee could tolerate very slightly higher body temperatures than Beedrill could; enough Combee swarming around a Beedrill and vibrating their wings at full speed could generate enough heat to cook the Beedrill alive. This swarm, though, was far too small to be able to do that to such a large Beedrill like the one Shalin rode in on.

Instead, she just went along with Dione. It seemed like she was a professional. "Right; I'll just follow your lead." She tried to think of a Pokémon that could help, but she had come prepared for a totally different type of fight! Frowning, she chose to stay atop her Beedrill. "After you put them to sleep, I have a lot of Pokémon that can easily move them wherever we need." She wasn't completely useless, but she was pretty close!

"I... I d-d-don't," Shalin stammered. She was very good at taming, befriending, and even riding wild Pokémon. Where she fell short at in her expertise with interacting with wild Pokémon was in her ability to calm ones that were already escalated. There was only one way she knew how to deal with angry Pokémon, and that was through force. "My Pokémon would be good at moving them once they've been incapacitated."

The bug expert's logic was sound, though. Fully grown bug Pokémon were surprisingly tricky to handle. With how escalated these Combee were, she came prepared for a battle. "Just let me know when you're ready. I've got a handful of Pokémon that can help relocate them in no time flat!"

Dione truly was a bug expert, her understanding of the type going well beyond Shalin's. "Had I understood, I would have come prepared for a totally different kind of battle," Shalin replied, internally upset with herself and even showing it a little. "That's why I was a little frustrated. With Beedrill being a natural predator of Combee, I thought it would be an efficient way to locate them. But you're the bug expert, not me." It felt strange not to be the bug expert; she was often that in her circle of friends, given how many of them were on her rotation.

The Butterfree's SLEEP POWDER was potent, Queen Zing leaping into the air and beating her wings at the minimum speed needed to jump away from the radius of the sleep-inducing pollen. She was conscientious of the fact that her rider did not have her earplugs again. Even at the minimum, it was louder than her wings going at full speed with the ear protection. While her ears weren't ringing, they would have been if the wings buzzed with the speed needed to lift them off the ground.

"It's a good thing we were supplied with so many Poké Balls to relocate the hive with, huh?" With that, the girl began getting to work on temporarily catching them to relocate them. "The Rangers just want one, right?"