24th Move: Hive

24th Move: Hive

Ilex Forest Shrine, Johto.

Confused, confounded, and not a little concerned by our hostile response to his abrupt arrival, Bugsy almost skittered back into the bushes. 

The obvious solution would’ve been to physically drag him back to town; but Bugsy was still an accomplished gym leader and was likely just as practised and talented at aura reinforcement as Falkner. Only one of us was probably stronger than him, and April was accordingly being put to good use. “First there was that big earthquake when Uki came—grampa hurt his back, so I hit him with a hammer. Ash, Misty, and Mr Brock came with a Pokéball they couldn’t open afterwards; so I hit it with my hammer, but it still wouldn’t open. Even lady Naoko couldn’t do anything. Then those bad Rocket people stole Slowpoke well. Grandpa ran after them but had to be rescued by everyone else. One of the bad guys tried to explode Uki and his new friends, so I hit him with my hammer and they went away. And-and then we had a big party! We also saved Celebi just now, too!”

So, instead of keeping him in the dark of the recent goings on in Azalea, we took mercy on him and illuminated Bugsy as to the situation–the last mercy we’d give him until the gym challenge was over, at least.

“Wait, wait, wait! Hold on. Rockets? Celebi!? What happened while I was away?”

Before I could launch into the full, elaborate recap of events, though, Naoko had her own urgent word to deliver. “Ah! Pardon me. Apologies, however, I must excuse myself from this conversation. What has occurred today…” Her eyes went glassy for a moment, but she shook her head and concentrated again. “It is imperative that I return to Ecruteak post-haste. There are certain people who must hear of this monumental news at once.” 

Her sentences were punctuated with determination, and her peepers were focused on me. Something told me Celebi wouldn’t be the lone topic of discussion. 

I couldn’t entirely resist the temptation to delay my inevitable fate by even mere moments if I could. “Planning on losing direction for another week trekking back through Ilex again? Let’s head back to the workshop first, ok?”

“Fufufu.” Naoko willfully misconstrued my intention. “Is young Uki worried about this overripe woman?”

“More concerned about monotheistic meddling, if I’m honest.” 

She facetiously covered her giggling with one hand, while the other dipped into her kimono and revealed her Espeon’s dream ball. Her ace Pokémon silently popped out in a pink cloud and circled her trainer. “Worry not. I assure you I have alternate means of transportation. Now, I beg leniency for my lack of manners, yet I must conduct myself improperly, anyway. I cannot be allowed to linger any longer. We shall be reunited soon, everyone.” Both her and Espeon’s eyes glowed, and in that instant they blipped out of existence.

At that display, two pertinent thoughts arose in my mind. First: the move tutor in me marvelled at an Espeon psychically powerful enough to perform a Teleport. Second: If Naoko had been capable of Teleport this whole time, why did she safari through Ilex during her arrival in the first place?

Whatever. Outta sight, outta mind. “Or else drive myself out of my mind.” I mumbled. 

Seeing the hasty retreat Naoko beat spurred Ash into pumping his feet to return to Azalea as well. “C’mon, already! We’re all only here for a two-V-two second badge fight; stall strats are totally wrong!”

Couldn’t agree more. As we hoofed it back to town, I used the time to formulate the fastest tactic to exterminate Bugsy so that Ash could get his turn. Because whether or not everyone liked it, I was first in line.

—

Azalea Gym, Johto.

Regardless of badge level challenge, it was folly to ever underestimate a gym leader. They were, one-and-all, clever enough to use all their afforded resources to the fullest extent. And besides their trained Pokémon, the greatest aspect on their side would always be home-court advantage. 

Falkner had wide open skies for his birds to soar. Bugsy’s domain was the absolute opposite. “Designed this arena to pin any opposition to the floor, I see.”

“It’d sorta defeat the purpose if you did—see, I mean.” Standing on either end of the field, I could barely spot Bugsy’s distinctive lavender mop. 

Towering anthills blocked most of him. Their craggy surfaces pitted with holes extending underground like a pock-marked moat, acting as quick escapes for burrowing Pokémon. In between several spikes were thick tangles of spiderwebs. “Standing obstacles, underground tunnels, and traps too. If this gym leader schtick doesn’t work out, you’ll make a hell of an interior designer.” 

“Please, mister! I’ve got three back-to-back-to-back battles after you. Do you mind not revealing my setup so easily? Let ‘em figure it out themselves so that I can actually assess if they deserve the badge.” He angrily pointed up at the bleachers.

My entire non-Poké posse huddled together on one stretch of wooden, almost rope-ladder-esque seating. Slats of wood strapped with thick cording to two large trees, among many others, ringing the battleground. A heavily shadowed green canopy served as our ceiling. “Limiting aerial agility too, huh? Bet those drooping vines are also great for ambush setting for your insects.”

Done with my dissection despite his earlier protest, Bugsy inadvertently stopped me from purposely frustrating him further. “I choose you, Spinarak! Let’s weedle out the competition!” 

Tossing his Pokéball in the air, Bugsy scooped up the twirling ball into his net. He slammed the end of his bug net hard enough on the ground to form a divot, clutched the ball through the mesh, drew it back and slingshot it a fair distance across the field. 

A red jet of light materialised a teensy green spider Pokémon. 

I had every contention of controlling the pace of this battle, so I was a lot more sedate in releasing my one battler. Rather than chuck Tuki’s ball straight into the fray, I lazily clicked the button to manifest my alpha Pikipek right beside me. 

Bending, I clasped my palm on top of her red plume and whispered to halt her from instinctively shooting off towards her prey. “We’re taking it slow to start. No flying. Take it nice and smooth; we don’t want things to get rocky. We’ll change priorities later.” I was being pretty unsubtle for Pikipek’s benefit, but sufficiently cryptic to obfuscate my tactic. 

Had to get a little tricky and fancy to compensate for Tuki’s as yet limited natural movepool.

“Birds? How predictable. This’ll be a cinch, Spiny. Time to clinch this feather-head to the dirt!” Evidently, Bugsy’s lack of wariness seemed to indicate that my plan was successful. 

“Keep low, stick close, and Peck it.” Bugs are squishy. Easy run’n gun tactics were a reliable opening.

With her best impression of a roadrunner, Tuki zipped off the second I lifted my hand. Wings tucked, beak suffused with sharp flying type energy, puffs of loose dirt trailed behind each stamp of her talons. 

That speed stat training was really paying off. Even without the priority move, Tuki was a blur. 

“Woah! It’s quick for being so chubby. String Shot everything in its path!” Dipping its head and thorax low to the ground, the Spinarak extended its rear legs all the way up to lift and point its abdomen at my velociraptor.

The top of a fat, round, frowny face pattern spat pellet after pellet of viscous webbing. A wall of white webbing unfurled midair, then caltrop-ed the flattest stretch of floor between the two Pokémon. 

No point yelling dodge. As always, a Pokémon will reflexively do so. 

Piercing her nails into the soft topsoil, Pikipek pivoted with extreme precision. Zig-zagging between the patches of gluey lace, Tuki escaped the minefield. Beak angled again at Spinarak, Tuki committed to her attack.

Those suicide runs were coming in clutch, and really let Tuki kick it into high gear. 

“Punish it for getting near you and create distance. Poison Sting and fling!” Spinarak sprung away while channelling noxious purple aura around its mandibles. Poison aura sparked with a chittering crack, spewing toxic needles in front of it, while the Spinarak sailed backwards where it landed on the webbing bridge between two spires. 

A push and launch off the floor, a beat of her wings, and Tuki urgently altered her trajectory sideways. Ta-ta-ta-tack! Barely dodging the rapid fire of poisonous pins that now peppered the ground on her original route. 

Skidding to an immediate stop once the barb barrage did, Tuki again chambered her Peck and zoomed at Spinarak.

Surprisingly, despite being keenly aware of the speed disparity, Bugsy didn’t immediately counter. He tensely waited; Spinarak nervously vibrated on the sensitive webs as Tuki sprinted ever closer. 

He’d betrayed his preferred strategy since the very beginning of our match. In simple terms, trap and chip. 

Bugs can’t hit that hard but they have plenty of moves that can slowly erode their opposition through status and other chipping moves like Infestation. “Hop now! Get inside a burrow!” And what better way to trap than using the terrain to Bugsy’s advantage?

Spinarak didn’t get away clean. More familiar with Tuki’s flight path, Bugsy forced Spinarak to hold until he was confident that Tuki couldn’t manoeuvre herself out of the way. She sailed and Spinarak strafed. Peck painfully grazed its side, sending it spinning uncontrollably—but it managed to avoid a full-on hit. Unlike Tuki, who, much to Bugsy’s growing glee, careened at the cobweb quagmire.

All this time, Bugsy made the mistake of thinking he was spinning his own web. Too bad for him. He’d long since fallen into my trap. 

There wasn’t a need for further instruction from me. Direct contact, even once, with a super effective STAB flying move on a brittle bug like the string spit Pokémon would see it done for. Tuki’s hard-earned SPE stat, combined with her inherent bulk, gave the move more than enough momentum for a one-hit knockout.

The ultimate result of which was that instead of getting ensnared in the mess of webs, Tuki tore completely through its centre. 

My turn was due. I watched carefully as Tuki’s feathered form blew past a white halo of tattered silk. An injured Spinarak, unable to steer himself while falling, spun lower. Curled into a chitinous ball, its green body finally blocked my view of Tuki. 

It was now perfectly within my sights. 

“Reverse! Peck, now!” Heeding my yell, Tuki didn’t bother checking the blind-spot behind her. Extending her full wingspan, a single mighty flap inverted her inertia. She barrel-rolled through the hole, flipped right-side-up, and aimed her glowing beak dead in the middle of Spinarak’s fake mouth. 

Thunk! Spinarak crashed down, and the referee on the side line raised his flag in my direction. “Spinarak is unable to battle. Leader Bugsy, send out your final Pokémon!” 

At that proclamation, I spread my stance wider. Dirt crunched under my shoes as they split slightly more than shoulder-width apart. One hard fist clenched near my waist; while I thrust my other arm, with index finger pointed, overhead at the sky.

“Too early to strike a victory pose, you idiot!” Misty bust a gut from the peanut gallery.

Bugsy was similarly unimpressed at my display. “She’s right, you know? Your celebration’s premature; and even though you beat my Pokémon, it really shouldn’t have been so difficult for that big bird of yours to overwhelm my Spiny. You basically let your ‘mon blunder into every trick I laid out. Only reason you won was because of the type match-up.” Bugsy loaded and fired his net again. “So let me show what happens when I fight flyer with flyer!” 

Both of them were categorically wrong, though. Even as Scyther popped out of its ball—shing, shing!—sharpening its glinting scythes, I remained posed. 

This battle was already over–and so were the restrictions keeping Tuki grounded. 

“Cut!” Scyther buzzed forward at Bugsy’s shouted command. Tuki ascended abruptly at my unsaid signal, disrupting Scyther’s attack from connecting. “Tsk! Still too fast. Fine, time to pile on the pressure. Scyther, Agilit—!” 

Bugsy’d given us too much time, though. My Pikipek hung just below the curtain of vines that a Pokémon like Scyther had zero issue navigating. Tuki denied Scyther the chance to test that theory. 

During his mini-monologue, Tuki had already glided and aligned herself with Scyther, waiting for my final order. “Accelerock!” 

One moment, Scyther brandished its blades to boost its speed. Then, in the blink of an eye—crack!—a spiked, stony wing harshly impacted Scyther’s armour. The exoskeleton practically turned inside out. No amount of carapace could keep pace with quad effectiveness.

Tuki followed her strike with a tactical twirl for extra torque, which sent Scyther hurtling down like lightning until it thudded louder than thunder right at Bugsy’s boots. 

Disbelieving, Bugsy blinked. And therefore missed his instant loss. “Eh!?”