Chapter 9: Moving Day
After another hard day's work, it was already evening when Will returned home with Milly and Wally. They feasted on a large number of berries and fell into a deep sleep.
He awoke sometime in the middle of the night. He felt a gaze fixed on him, pulling him uneasily from his dreams. He looked around, and his eyes finally settled on a large figure standing beneath the tree.
A three-meter-tall Poliwrath.
Seeing this creature, Will initially felt a bit puzzled. After all, a Poliwhirl needed a Water Stone to evolve into a Poliwrath. A wild Pokémon wouldn't know if its evolution had special conditions, so it certainly wouldn't go out of its way to find an evolution stone. Seeing a Poliwrath in the wild was an incredibly rare event. This one must have had some kind of fortunate encounter.
This guy is even stronger than that Arbok.
Will could tell just from the aura the Pokémon was emitting. The pressure he had felt from the Arbok during the day was mostly due to its 'Intimidate' ability at work. But the pressure from this Poliwrath came from pure, unadulterated strength and a higher level.
The Poliwrath just stood there with its arms crossed, but it projected a presence that the newly-crowned Arbok couldn't hope to match. It was clear this Poliwrath had been the boss for a very long time; it had developed a natural, commanding aura.
The Poliwrath looked up, quietly watching Will in the tree. It didn't say a word before turning and walking away.
He's telling us to leave.
Although the Poliwrath hadn't spoken, Will understood its meaning. It had probably heard from the little Poliwag that Will had saved him before, so its method of "eviction" was very gentle. It was practically "inviting" them to leave.
"We should probably leave once the sun comes up anyway. Living here is getting inconvenient," Will mumbled as he rolled over.
These past few days, they had been fighting until they were half-dead, only to have to fly a long way back to their nest. It was exhausting. It would be much better to just move directly into the Arbok's territory. They could claim a few trees as their territory there, and then slowly push outwards. Once they did, no blind fool of a Pokémon would dare to cause them trouble.
Will estimated that at their current leveling speed, they should be strong enough to take on the Arbok in a group fight within a week. When that time came, their Beedrill swarm would be the new kings of that patch of land.
With that thought, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
When he woke again the next morning, Will called over the other four Beedrill.
"It's time for us to move."
"Bzz? (Why?)" Frost tilted his head in confusion. He thought their current home was perfect. They had endless food and a very peaceful environment. Why would they need to leave?
"Well... we're going to take over other Pokémon's territory, live in a more comfortable nest, and eat even tastier berries," Will said after a moment of thought.
You couldn't explain complex ideas to young Pokémon like these. They wouldn't understand idioms about being prepared for danger in times of peace. There was no such thing as a permanently safe environment. The Sandshrew from the other day was a prime example. Besides, even if they didn't actively grind for levels, they would eventually hit level 20 just by eating every day, and the Poliwrath would evict them then anyway.
"Bzz! (Okay! Let's move!)" Frost's eyes lit up, and he nodded eagerly.
"Just grab those berries. We can always gather the other stuff later," Will said, pointing to the rarer berries that cured status effects. As for common berries like Tangleberries and Oran Berries, which were everywhere, there was no need to transport them.
Each of the five Beedrill picked up a small pile of berries and flew towards the Arbok's territory. Moving day for Pokémon was just that easy. There wasn't much to pack. Their only real possession was this stash of berries, and even that wasn't particularly important. If Will hadn't been too lazy to spend time searching for these rare berries again, he would have just taken his squad over with nothing at all.
Bzzz-bzzz-bzzz~
Will was already very familiar with this flight path. Likewise, the Pokémon living along this path had become very familiar with Will and his Beedrill. Now, they didn't even have to look up. The moment they heard the distinct buzz of their wings, they knew it was time to hide. Otherwise, that psycho would lead his gang over to give them a beating.
Will flew at the front, his wings beating so fast they nearly gave Wally and Milly a cold. He was being deliberately high-profile to let everyone in the Arbok's territory know they had arrived. After days of beating up everyone along this route, many Pokémon had memorized the sound of his squad. Now, hearing it again only made them want to run as far away as possible.
"Let's set up camp here for now."
Will finally settled on a territory that belonged to a Weepinbell. He had noticed that the fruit trees in this area had an excellent harvest; the fruit on the branches was almost untouched. It was clear that the Weepinbell not only didn't eat the berries but had actually taken great care of the trees.
As for what the Weepinbell ate... it certainly wasn't dirt.
Don't be fooled by its plant-like appearance. A Weepinbell might look harmless, but the reality was completely different. When a Weepinbell got hungry, it would swallow anything that moved. Small Pokémon like Rattata and Caterpie would be swallowed whole, where the dissolving fluid in its mouth would melt them down into food.
Under the collective gaze of five Beedrill, the Weepinbell fled reluctantly. Will had already beaten it once by himself. Now that its opponent had brought four friends, it had no desire to get beaten again.
"Alright, from today onwards, this area is our territory!"
Will chose the largest tree in the vicinity as their "main nest."
They spent the rest of the day organizing their new home and "greeting" the neighbors. They gathered soft leaves to make beds at the top of the tree trunk. Then they harvested all the fully ripe berries and stored them under a cool pile of leaves. After that, they carved cross-marks into the large trees within their territory as a warning to other Pokémon.
The final step was greeting the neighbors. Many of them were "old faces" that Will had already beaten up, and the few who weren't quickly got acquainted after receiving their own beatdown. Now, basically every Pokémon in the surrounding area knew that a small Beedrill swarm had moved into the Arbok's territory.
But in reality, how could five Beedrill even be considered a "swarm"?
"Frost, Rusty, I have a mission for you two. From now on, if you see any of our weaker kin, bring them back to our territory. We need to expand our team!" Will ordered the two Beedrill, who had been lazing around the base all day.
From here on out, he would tackle leveling and expansion simultaneously. He would take Wally and Milly to continue battling everywhere, accumulating experience and raising their levels as fast as possible. Meanwhile, Frost and Rusty would be responsible for finding weak Weedle and Kakuna. They would protect these weaker brethren as they grew, thereby expanding the size of their team.