That single green-potential Pokémon Egg alone made Aoki’s operation an overwhelming success.
As for the two yellow-potential eggs, Aoki would take them along if possible, given their parents’ solid talents.
Although weaker than green-potential Pokémon, they were still relatively rare.
Even within the same yellow potential tier, there was a massive difference between offspring whose parents were both yellow-potential versus those whose parents were green-potential.
Still, since he could no longer carry them, there was no need to force it.
The value gap between a yellow-potential Pokémon and a green-potential one wasn’t a minor difference; it was virtually exponential.
With Murkrow’s help, Aoki carried the egg on his back and returned to the ground.
He needed to leave this dangerous place before the Beedrill swarm returned.
Taking a different path from the one he had arrived on, Aoki and Murkrow cut through the center of the forest toward another direction, avoiding any encounter with the returning Beedrill.
Just as Aoki left the Beedrill nest with the egg, far off in the distance, the Beedrill Leader felt a sudden jolt in her heart, as if something precious had been ripped away from her.
The thought of the three eggs left behind in the nest flashed through her mind, sending a surge of panic through her body.
“Buzz!
Buzz!” Driven to absolute fury, the Beedrill Leader shrieked madly, terrifying the surrounding Beedrill so much that none dared to breathe loudly.
Immediately, she spearheaded a desperate dash back toward the nest.
By this time, Aoki had completely departed Beedrill territory, wide-circling the wildly returning swarm, and reached the safety of Metapod territory.
His original plan had been to wait until all the Beedrill were evaded, then destroy their nest directly.
Deprived of their home, the Beedrill would recklessly search for enemies while scrambling to rebuild, giving Aoki and Murkrow openings to pick them off.
They wouldn’t get surrounded, and with proper maneuvering, they could fight only a few at a time, slowly picking apart the entire colony.
However, discovering a green-potential Pokémon Egg inside the nest was an unexpected windfall, making a change of plans entirely acceptable.
What Aoki didn’t realize, however, was that stealing this egg would trigger a reaction far more violent than directly destroying the hive.
The Beedrill Leader rushed back to the nest at maximum speed, leaving the rest of the swarm far behind.
When she saw that only two eggs remained where three should have been, a burst of intense rage overwhelmed her.
Crimson flared in her eyes with madness, and pure killer intent radiated from her entire body.
When the rest of the swarm finally caught up and saw that their leader’s child had been stolen, they too fell into madness.
To the colony, the leader was their sky.
A leader with exceptional talent elevated the entire hive, but now, the child with the absolute highest potential had been stolen—effectively snuffing out the future hope of the whole colony.
“Buzz!
Buzz!” Furious Beedrill swarmed across the forest, buzzing in absolute rage.
Suddenly, an image surfaced in the Beedrill Leader’s mind: that pitch-black Pokémon and the human beside it!
Through a parent’s innate connection to its young, she sensed that her child had been taken by that exact pair.
Consumed by rage, the leader shrieked again.
At her command, every Beedrill raised its head like loyal soldiers waiting for their supreme king to issue orders.
The two pairs of wings on her back vibrated wildly into a blur.
The Beedrill Leader launched herself out of the nest, catching the lingering scent of the egg in the air, and gave chase.
The entire swarm followed suit.
With the Beedrill launching a total mobilization, the entire forest plunged into unrest.
Seeing the frantic swarm darting overhead, no wild Pokémon dared to stand in their way.
Any creature with a shred of survival instinct could sense the tension in the air and scrambled out of sight long before the swarm arrived.
Following the trail Aoki had left, the Beedrill gradually drew close to Metapod territory, eventually pulling to a halt before its borders.
The Pokémon the local Beedrill despised most were Butterfree, who were also their biggest rivals.
However, Butterfree were gentle by nature and rarely picked fights, while the Beedrill didn’t want to needlessly provoke another species with equal reproductive capability.
Thus, the two colonies had always maintained a tense truce, minding their own business.
Yet as the aggressive Beedrill horde flew toward Butterfree territory, the Butterfree sensed the crisis and quickly gathered.
At the boundary of the two territories, the two species met in force for the very first time.
“Buzz!
Buzz!” Smell of her child’s remaining scent hanging in the air, the enraged Beedrill Leader didn’t care about the Butterfree blockading the way.
The scent clearly led right through their territory.
“Freeee!
Freeee!” The Butterfree Leader flew out from its swarm, issuing a stern warning to the raging Beedrill.
Unwilling to listen to a single sound, the Beedrill Leader shrieked and charged straight into the territory.
The Butterfree Leader attempted to step in, but two Beedrill darted out from the flanks to intercept it.
Taken by surprise, the Butterfree colony hadn’t fully rallied yet; their numbers were far inferior to the Beedrill’s.
Moreover, because the Beedrill were fighting with suicidal fury, more than a dozen of them breached the defensive line despite the Butterfree’s desperate struggle—and the first to break through was the Beedrill Leader.
“Freeee!” the Butterfree Leader cried out in frustration.
Unable to defeat the two intercepting Beedrill instantly, it could only watch as the enemy leader flew deep into their domain.
Meanwhile, Aoki and Murkrow were resting at their campsite.
The Beedrill Leader’s egg sat on the ground, wrapped tightly in a bundle of leaves, while Murkrow happily munched on its favorite Pokéblocks.
Lying back with his hands behind his head, Aoki had no idea his actions had ignited a war between two major colonies.
Back in his past life, after attaining Quasi-Elite Four strength and securing a stable rank within Team Rocket, he no longer had to personally capture Pokémon for resources.
Consequently, he had forgotten that Pokémon Eggs shared a faint bond with their parents and failed to mask its aura in time, only wrapping it in leaves after the fact.
“Caw!” Murkrow suddenly stopped eating and snapped its head up.
Its wild instincts alerted it to an approaching danger.
Aoki sat up slowly, looking at Murkrow in confusion.
“What is it, Murkrow?” Just as he asked, a faint buzzing echoed in the distance.
Aoki’s expression shifted, and his eyes locked onto the northern horizon.
A yellow shape gradually appeared over the horizon, followed by over a dozen smaller yet similar silhouettes.
“Beedrill.” Aoki recognized the familiar shapes immediately, having dealt with them for the past two days.
“I didn’t expect them to chase us all the way here.
Looks like I really poked the hornet’s nest.” Seeing the Beedrill Leader appear, Murkrow grew excited instead.
It had been itching to fight her properly without an audience.
As for the dozen regular Beedrill trailing behind, Murkrow ignored them completely.
Aoki let out a faint laugh.
It seemed the Beedrill swarm had paid a heavy price just to reach this spot.
And if there were only this few left, he and Murkrow had nothing to fear.
Catching sight of the two familiar figures right where the scent abruptly ended, the Beedrill Leader realized her suspicions were true.
Driven by fury, the remaining Beedrill charged without hesitation.
“Murkrow, prepare for battle,” Aoki said softly as the targets approached.
“Caw!” Murkrow, fully fed and energized, called out and took to the sky.
“Activate Tailwind immediately.
Start by taking out the visibly injured Beedrill with Astonish.
Then use Tailwind to block the Beedrill Leader while you clean up the rest.
Once they’re down, we’ll take on the opponent you’ve been waiting for 1v1.” Facing the incoming charge, Aoki calmly issued the optimal strategy.
The next moment, currents of air swirled around Murkrow as it transformed into a streak of black light.
Flying-type energy wrapped around its body, boosting its speed even further.
Murkrow launched a Gust straight at the Beedrill Leader, creating a wall of violent wind that blocked her path.
Then, black light flashed repeatedly.
Having undergone continuous wing training, Murkrow was even faster than before.
Delivering rapid Pecks, it knocked several already-injured Beedrill out of the sky, rendering them unable to fight.
Just then, the Beedrill Leader broke through the Gust barrier.
Meanwhile, six remaining healthy Beedrill rapidly thrust their twin stingers, unleashing a volley of Fury Attack at Murkrow.
Caught between finishing its previous move and starting another, Murkrow dodged nimbly through the air, but two of the Beedrill managed to land hits.
As the battle shifted toward the upper slope, Aoki finally had a clear line of sight for the Microchip to scan the Beedrill Leader’s stats.
[Pokémon: Beedrill (Leader) (Light Green)] [Gender: Female] [Level: 17] [Type: Bug / Poison] [Ability: Swarm] [Held Item: Leader’s Aura (Boosts a Pokémon’s potential by one sub-rank)] [Egg Moves: Bug Bite, Pin Missile] [Basic Moves: Twineedle, Fury Attack, Rage, Pursuit] [Tutor Moves: Drill Run, Agility] [TMs: None] *Leader’s Aura—an inherent trait exclusive to leader Pokémon that enhances talent while commanding absolute loyalty from others of their kind.*