"Not at all, they bu—...they bother me."

Maybe something had distracted him, or maybe he didn't want to sound so painfully redundant.

More than bothered though, they frightened him; specifically the larger, chitinous ones with gnashing sets of teeth and creepy, beady eyes. Which was pretty much all of them, unsurprisingly...

Luckily he'd brought along Dread to keep him safe while they carried out their task. They would be safe from the Combee inside their suits, but they had been warned of the danger Vespiqueen posed.

After he'd properly outfitted himself in the proper attire, he gave himself a cursory glance. "Why are we always forced into wearing ridiculous suits when we see each other?" He asked.

Not that he'd expected an answer after asking in a rhetorical sense, he was simply reluctant to wear something so cumbersome. "I'm ready, then."

The tools seemed simple enough to him: A pail for holding, and a sort of scraper for dislodging the honeycomb from the hives. This was too easy.

---

^{Dread is burnin' up with anticipation.}

kyle lopez

"Huh, I guess you're right." That day had been utterly derailed when he ran into River during the last round, which might've explained why he hadn't remembered much of it, specifically sitting down with Kyle. Now that he thought about it, however...

Adrian gives a calculating, concerned sort of frown as he attempts to raise a hand to his chin, only to be thwarted by the beekeeping apparatus. The hand falls to his side at the realization, and he's left shrugging indifferently at the question.

"I suppose that's as good a way to go about it as any." Adrian and Kyle would've began heading towards the largest of hives, though Adrian seemed to take slow strides as if to purposefully remain a step-and-a-half behind Kyle's gait.

"You should let me buy us both a drink after this," he offered Kyle after realizing he'd never really actually talked to him outside some sort of task or other organized affair. "There's a place in Rustboro I like, I'm pretty familiar there."

As they padded within ten feet of the hive, Adrian could hear the ringing of a cacophony of insects buzzing from within. Adrian's skin crawled.

---

^{Dread is burnin' up with anticipation.}
"Can I Buy You A Drink?"
kyle lopez

"Yeah, I brought one." Bursting out of its pokeball, Dread's sleek draconian figure hit the scene, its onyx scales glinting in the sunlight. But as far as smoke went, they needed something to burn that'd actually knock out the bees, and not just irritate them causing indirect provocation.

But their plan seemed to fall short on account of the curious, investigative combee swarming around their vespiquen, whom approached them at a leisurely yet determined pace. "Well, crap..."

With a drained sort of sigh, Adrian elbowed Dread in the side, gesturing forward. "Uh... Heat Wave?"

Hoping to deter them would've been enough, but Dread only knew one Fire-type move, and it was a bit overkill for the situation. In the following moments Adrian felt the air charged with heat as Dread's Solar Powered Heat Wave began to singe the very air and sear the swarming Bug-types.

Most were immediately KO'd from the attack. Adrian tugged at the would-be collar of his suit in a desperate attempt for some relief from the heat that left him feeling drenched and clammy.

"...That didn't kill them, right?" Adrian wore a grimace as he looked over the dropped pokemon, noticing a few twitches here or there, but otherwise uncertain of their health or condition.

...But hey, the hive was accessible now, right?

Adrian would've preferred to smoke out the hive, but he lacked the proper reagents, and Dread had forgotten Smokescreen a long time ago. So he figured it couldn't be helped as he tiptoed around the fallen combees and vespiquen, preparing his scraper and pail for harvesting the hive.

---

^{Dread is burnin' up with anticipation.}

kyle lopez

Charizard went back into his pokeball before anyone watching could put two and two together.

"R-right, got it." Crap, I should've been more careful... Despite being a literal buzzkill, Adrian quickly set about scraping against the honey comb, removing the delicate crust from the hive's combs and pooling liquid amber gold that eventually drizzled into the pail he'd brought, scraping at the trickle of viscous honey to force the flow along.

"Couldn't I just apologize, maybe catch them some new ones," Adrian offered to Kyle with a tone of unease. The last thing he'd wanted to do was upset the person they were allegedly helping.

"I mean, they're pokemon; they'll be alright..." Despite his assurances, Adrian's pace with the scraper didn't slow, proving even he wasn't too sure of the situation's magnitude.

They had to know something like this'd happen...

---

^{Dread is back in his pokeball.}

kyle lopez

"I guess that's fair..." Kyle seemed to see different things as problems than him. If this'd happened when he was younger, aye, there'd have been a reckoning; but the family trust would've settled any problems outside of any court...

The same still holding true to an extent, at least where his own finances were concerned. Not that he didn't still feel guilty, but he wasn't about to start complaining if Kyle was going to suggest they scram before getting caught by the owner.

After scraping enough to fill the pail he'd brought along, he and Kyle would quickly restore the hive to working order as best they could, before hurriedly rushing the liquid gold from out of the hive yard and towards the owner's ranch house.

With their work done, and doubtless other business elsewhere, they both managed to excuse themselves from the beekeeper's house before they bothered to check the hive yard. But not before getting what was promised to them.

---

^{Are we criminals/sociopaths?}