[attr="class","jacktext"]



With a glance toward Poe's wings spread wide to block the opening from the enraged combee outside, Jack tossed a pokeball as he stepped up to stand beside Zev. His dragapult flowed sinuously through the air to join the fray where the other two pokemon were freeing themselves from the wall of honey oozing down over them.[break][break]

"Ideally we just need to remove her gem, that's the source of the primal energy that is driving the aggressive behavior we keep seeing," Jack said to Zev while he gestured toward the gleaming red crystal adorning the vespiquen's head like a crown. "I don't want to capture or kill her," he grimaces. "There must be nearly a thousand combee in this hive that will scatter and die if they don't have multiple strong females to evolve and new hives. The ecological fallout for the area would be catastrophic."[break][break]

The vespiquen's body heaved from the mound of honey beneath the cracked wall, but before she could free herself, Jack's dragapult turned invisible and reappeared suddenly in her face to astonish her. The leader of the hive flinched in shock, buying more time for the two trainers and their pokemon.

[break]

[attr="class","jackooc"]
[break]

NOTES

+ Mission: Beeees!

BY GUNSMILE

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","jacktext"]



Jack nodded his agreement to the plan before refocusing on the fight. "Dragapult, blast her unconscious!" he commanded as his pokemon hovered in the air behind the distracted vespiquen. Two dreepy launched from their cradles and whistled through the air, Jack barely catching their contented expressions as they sped past. At the last moment the insect queen turned, swatting one of the dragon darts from the air even as the other struck her in the chest. She retaliated with another poison sting but the dragapult was quick enough to dodge out of the way.[break][break]

"She's fast," Jack said to Zev, being sure to keep his voice low. "Any chance you and your ambipom could knock a few more combs of honey open so we can go for the gem while she's sticky?"

[break]

[attr="class","jackooc"]
[break]

NOTES

+ Mission: Beeees!

BY GUNSMILE

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","jacktext"]



As sticky honey coated the vespiquen, Jack resisted the urge to shout in triumph. While the honey did not seem to slow down the raging insect pokemon, his dragapult saw the opportunity it was presented. The whistling of flying dragon darts filled the hive as another pair of dreepy launched toward the vespiquen. This time, instead of striking her directly, they sunk into the viscous honey coating her body and began to gnaw on her abdomen. With shrieks of pain, she moved her attention from Zev's ambipom to the small dragons biting into her.[break][break]

"Now, Dragapult!" Jack commanded as the vespiquen dug furiously into the honey as the dreepy continued to bite her. In ghostly silence his dragapult disappeared and reappeared in striking distance, ripping the gem from the queen's head with her teeth and tossing it to the floor where it rolled to a stop near the two trainers.[break][break]

Scarlet energy seemed to evaporate from the vespiquen where the gem once adorned her head and all at once the angry buzz of the combee swarm outside fell silent.

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[attr="class","jackooc"]
[break]

NOTES

+ Mission: Beeees!

BY GUNSMILE

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","jacktext"]



"We make a good team!" Jack said and couldn't help but grin at his friend. Returning his dragapult to her pokeball, Jack accepted the gem fragment and turned it over thoughtfully in his hands. The same scarlet light that evaporated from the vespiquen as she fell seemed to drain from the gem like a sink with the drain open. In the space of several breaths the strange energy faded away, leaving behind only a normal, if oddly shaped, red gem.[break][break]

Jack shrugged as he turned his attention back to his friend. "The lab report said it detected primal energy but I'm not very familiar with it. This gem isn't the typical shape for most combee so it may have been part of a larger stone. The energy is gone now, but I'll send it off to the lab anyway," he said as he slipped the item into his pack.[break][break]

"We'd best get going. Even with the gem gone, she's not going to be happy if she wakes up and finds us standing in her hive," Jack jerked his head in the direction of the unconscious queen. Jack nodded to Poe and the corviknight lowered his wings and shuffled out of the entryway, allowing the morning light to spill into the hive interior.

[break]

[attr="class","jackooc"]
[break]

NOTES

+ Mission: Beeees!

BY GUNSMILE

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","jacktext"]



Jack followed his friend, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, imagine the chaos of a tauros stampede," he said, thinking about larger pokemon and the havoc they could cause if influenced by this primal energy. He continued, "The lab is pretty good, hopefully they will be able to make some sense of that gem and come up with a plan. I'll make sure your name and contact information is included in my report so the League can provide remuneration for your services."[break][break]

As the hive shrank behind them and Jack's thoughts turned to the flight home, his mouth turned up into a smile. "Thanks again for coming, mate. I know you were working hard at Howling last night and you sacrificed some sleep for this but there's no one else I'd rather have at my side in a fight. I've been feeling lost since I came back from Galar, but being here with you and helping our Hoenn's people and pokemon, I feel so much better."[break][break]

Jack mounted Poe with a jaunty wave toward Zev before launching into the sky.

[break]

[attr="class","jackooc"]
[break]

NOTES

+ Mission: Beeees!

BY GUNSMILE