Chapter 15: Alpha Beedrill
Liz returned to the Beedrill swarm as if she were coming back to her own home. Over the past few days, her tree-climbing skills had become even more polished. She nimbly scrambled up a tree and, with practiced ease, plucked an Oran Berry—her favorite—and popped it into her mouth.
Will paid the girl no mind. He called for Wally and Milly, and the three of them headed out. As a Lv. 29 Beedrill, accompanied by two Lv. 23 Beedrill followers, taking down the Arbok was an absolute certainty.
Today, this territory would change hands.
"Goldie~ Whatever you're going to do, good luck~" As Will departed with his two followers, Liz stood on a branch and waved at him.
Will didn't turn back, just gave a casual wave of his stinger.
A quarter of an hour later, Will, Wally, and Milly arrived in the Arbok's territory. The Arbok, still unaware of what was about to happen, stood on the ground and glared at the three Beedrill. It probably thought they were the same weaklings from a few days ago. If it were a few days ago, the three Beedrill combined would indeed have been no match for it and would have ended up as a meal.
But times had changed. The Arbok had no idea what it was about to face.
"Get him!"
At Will's command, the three Beedrill charged forward as one.
Wally and Milly played a supporting role, constantly using String Shot and Poison Sting to hinder the Arbok's movements. Will hung back, stacking buffs on himself and looking for the perfect opportunity to launch a surprise attack and land a critical blow.
The battle lasted a long time. Because Will refused to engage the Arbok head-on, the snake eventually realized something was wrong and tried to flee, but the three Beedrill chased it relentlessly. They fought on the run. The battlefield shifted from the Arbok's territory into the Poliwrath's, which even attracted the attention of the Poliwrath itself.
Initially, the Poliwrath was about to intervene when it saw the Arbok trespass. But when it saw Will and his crew, it understood this was a battle for dominance. Given that Will had previously helped his son, the Poliwrath chose to turn a blind eye to the fact that the war had spilled over into his land.
Half an hour later, the Arbok collapsed in defeat.
Huh? Why did my stats change so much?
Will had thought that defeating the Arbok would, at most, raise him by one level. He never expected the change to be so dramatic.
[Beedrill (Alpha)]
Potential: Blue
Level: 30
Type: Bug / Poison
Ability: Swarm
Height: 3m
Weight: 120kg
Moves: Fury Attack, Bug Bite, Poison Sting, String Shot, Harden, Fury Cutter, Focus Energy, Venoshock, Assurance, Toxic Spikes
Not only did a conspicuous (Alpha) tag appear on his status screen, but more importantly, his height and weight had skyrocketed. The change was so obvious that Wally and Milly couldn't help but stare at him in a daze, seemingly unable to process what had just happened.
Isn't this a feature from that Arceus game? Will, however, remembered something. He recalled that in the game Pokémon Legends: Arceus, special boss Pokémon marked as "Alpha" would appear in the wild. These Pokémon were typically far larger than others of their species.
"Will, so big!"
"Will, so strong!"
Wally and Milly couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, their eyes filled with even more adoration. It was as if a leader's radiance had suddenly appeared around Will, and under its glow, their reverence for him was amplified.
"Let's head back first," Will said, frowning as he looked down at his own body. He decided it was best to return to their territory first.
Do other Pokémon also have special Alpha individuals?
Why haven't I seen any before?
Is it because I've truly become the master of a territory?
On the way back, Will mulled over the situation. The "Alpha" designation was clearly important. It had massively increased his height and weight, which was a huge, indirect boost to his survivability. If possible, he wanted to keep this status stable.
Back at their territory.
"Goldie?! How did you suddenly get so big!" Liz scrambled down from her tree and stood before Will, her eyes wide with astonishment. Could a primal beast really grow so much in such a short time? If so, then humanity stood no chance of ever fighting them.
"..."
Will didn't answer Liz because he wasn't entirely sure what had happened himself. Thinking about it now, he realized that the Arbok, the Poliwrath, and even the Fearow and Primeape he had seen before—all the territorial bosses—were exceptionally large. He had previously assumed they were just stronger, and that it was normal for Pokémon in this era to be bigger than what the Pokédex recorded, so he hadn't given it much thought. Now, it seemed there really was an "Alpha" system among wild Pokémon.
"Whoa, Goldie, you look super powerful now," Liz circled Will several times, her big eyes shining so brightly you could almost see stars in them.
"...Hmm?"
Just as Will was about to speak, he smelled something strange. Along with the odd smell came a black, acrid, choking smoke.
"Raticate!"
The Beedrill swarm's number one lackey, the Raticate, came scrambling over with his two little wives in tow. But that wasn't all. A large number of other Pokémon followed behind him. Pokémon that would normally prey on each other and compete for resources were now ignoring one another, all just single-mindedly running in this direction.
"What?! How can the forest be on fire? Did some idiot Fire-type get careless?!" Hearing what the Raticate was squeaking about, Will lost his composure.
A forest fire was a natural disaster for Pokémon like them who lived in the forest. It was more terrifying than a storm or an earthquake.
It should be fine, right? The Water-type Pokémon should be able to handle it... Will's heart began to race. It was his first time experiencing something like this as a Pokémon. But logically, the number of Water-types in the forest should be greater than the number of Fire-types. Not to mention the Rock and Ground-types. Extinguishing a fire should be no problem.
However, from the looks of it, the situation was far more complicated than he had imagined! The Pokémon had no intention of fighting the fire. Instead, they were frantically fleeing deeper into the forest.
Something seems to be driving them.
Will focused his gaze in the direction the Pokémon were coming from. He thought he saw... human figures?
"It's the people from the Silph Tribe! They're the ones who set the fire! This is outrageous! Without the forest, how will everyone survive?! Goldie, hurry, lead everyone away!" Liz recognized the figures at a glance and began jumping up and down anxiously, urging Will to get everyone to flee.