Just as Combee was resting on a branch, the Mothim quietly crept closer.
With the sweet honey being brewed, a faint and enticing fragrance drifted into the air — a scent that, for the Mothim, held a fatal allure.
Using its Camouflage move, it blended perfectly into its surroundings, becoming one with nature, and stealthily advanced toward where Combee was.
At this moment, Combee was completely unaware, continuing to brew its Sweet Honey as usual. The honey's aroma grew richer and richer.
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz~"
Combee had been in an unusually good mood lately.
Through continuous training, it could clearly feel itself growing stronger at a rapid pace.
According to Lord Aven's judgment, it would not be long before it could successfully evolve.
Therefore, in this period of time, every time Combee produced Sweet Honey, it would slowly absorb it itself, carefully storing up the energy required for evolution.
No one knew how much time had passed before a block of Sweet Honey was finally produced. Combee spat it out from its small mouth and carefully hid it away, planning to absorb it gradually.
But at the very instant the Sweet Honey was spat out, Combee suddenly felt its vision blur — and then, to its shock, the precious block of Sweet Honey it had worked so hard to make was gone!
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz!"
Combee was startled and alarmed, quickly taking to the air, but found the surroundings empty!
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz!"
It flew about angrily in the air in a tight circle.
Before long, it caught a familiar whiff of Sweet Honey in the air and, fuming with anger, flew off toward the scent.
Not far away, in a large tree, Combee finally found its missing Sweet Honey — and saw that the newly joined Mothim was stuffing it into his mouth in large bites!
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz!" 'It's you again, you thief!'
Combee felt as though it might explode with anger. Its wings beat furiously as it unleashed the move Gust.
At once, a violent wind arose on the field, forming into a tornado that swept directly toward Mothim!
"Moth!"
Even while eating, Mothim remained alert to his surroundings.
Sensing the strong flying-type energy gathering, he turned his gaze toward the distant Combee.
Then, flapping his wings, he too used Gust. Another tornado rose from the ground!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh~
The two tornadoes clashed rapidly in midair.
Although Mothim had used his tornado second, its power was still not something Combee's could withstand at full force.
Combee's tornado was quickly shattered, and the oncoming tornado continued toward it without losing momentum!
Seeing the approaching whirlwind, Combee hurriedly dodged away.
After narrowly avoiding the attack, it looked into the distance — but there was no sign of Mothim anywhere in the air!
Clearly, Mothim had once again used Camouflage to hide himself. However, the faint scent of Sweet Honey clinging to him still lingered, giving Combee a target to chase.
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz!"
Combee buzzed angrily in midair.
This was not the first time Mothim had stolen its Sweet Honey, and for the usually generous Combee, this repeated theft was truly infuriating.
Faced with the constant robberies, Combee felt its patience had reached its absolute limit.
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz!"
Suddenly, Combee let out a loud cry.
In the next moment, a brilliant white light burst forth from its body!
Within the radiance, Combee's form began to change, growing taller and taller.
"Plume!"
"Meow meowr!"
At that moment, other Pokémon in the breeding house's backyard, attracted by the battle between Combee and Mothim, hurried over.
They arrived just in time to see Combee mid-evolution, eyes filled with astonishment.
When the white light faded, a humanoid bee-like Pokémon with crimson gemstone eyes appeared in the field — Combee had evolved into Vespiquen!
Vespiquen's appearance was striking. On each side of its head was a small pair of wings. It had human-like arms, a black torso, and the lower part of its body resembled a skirt made of honeycomb structures!
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz!"
Having successfully evolved, Vespiquen beat its wings repeatedly.
Then, in a sudden burst, it shot forward, flying toward the distant forest.
Seeing Vespiquen depart, Luxio and Vileplume quickly gave chase. They arrived just in time to see Vespiquen launch another Gust toward a large tree!
Swept by the tornado, Mothim's figure was forced into view once more. He responded by sending out his own tornado, and the two clashed fiercely in midair!
After evolving, Combee's — now Vespiquen's — strength had increased greatly, reaching the level of an intermediate-tier Pokémon.
Thus, compared to the last time their Gusts collided, this time the struggle lasted much longer before Vespiquen's tornado was finally dispersed.
But that time was enough for Vespiquen to dodge calmly, then rush straight toward Mothim, gathering energy in her hands and striking directly!
Having evolved successfully, Vespiquen could feel her physical power had grown immensely, and she intended to engage Mothim in close combat.
"Moth~"
Mothim flitted about in the air, this time unleashing an even stronger Silver Wind. The whirlwind, laced with shimmering silver powder, swept rapidly toward Vespiquen, silver motes scattering through the air.
At the last possible moment, countless leaves suddenly appeared in midair, colliding with the Silver Wind and dispersing it completely!
Seeing this, Mothim froze for an instant and turned his gaze toward Vileplume and Luxio, who had followed over.
Without a word, his figure slowly faded into the air once again and disappeared.
"Plume?"
After Mothim left, Vileplume stopped Vespiquen to ask what had happened.
Having spent every day together with Vileplume, Combee had always been close to her, and now she recounted the matter with great grievance.
Upon hearing that Mothim had repeatedly stolen Combee's Sweet Honey, Vileplume also became angry, immediately deciding to take Vespiquen along to confront Mothim and demand an explanation.
"Meow meow~"
Luxio scratched his head helplessly with his paw, then turned to run toward the blacksmith's building.
With both the eldest and second sisters away, he had no choice but to find their big brother to step in — they couldn't let Vileplume and Mothim actually get into a fight!
When Aven received news of Combee's evolution, he immediately rushed to the safari zone.
He had been thinking earlier that Combee should be close to evolving, but he hadn't expected the news to come so soon.
However, the reason for its evolution left him half laughing, half exasperated — it had been triggered by Mothim stealing its Sweet Honey.
This was something he had overlooked: Mothim's resistance to Sweet Honey was practically nonexistent. Upon seeing Combee's freshly brewed Sweet Honey, it was indeed likely he couldn't help himself.
Of course, none of that excused stealing food from a teammate. So, upon returning, Aven's first action was to recall Mothim into its Poké Ball and make it face the wall to reflect on its actions.
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz"
After evolving, Vespiquen was overjoyed to see Aven and immediately flew over.
To the master who had once taken her away from her original colony and given her a new home, Vespiquen had always felt deep gratitude.
Now, upon seeing Aven, much of her earlier anger melted away. She hovered happily around him, showing off her brand-new form.
"Congratulations, Vespiquen," Aven said, his gaze falling on the skirt-like honeycomb structure of her lower body.
For Vespiquen, successful evolution was only the beginning. From now on, her body would begin to nurture a great number of larval Combee.
These larvae would live inside her body, feeding on Sweet Honey until they grew into fully-formed Combee and left her hive-like lower body.
While raising these young, Vespiquen would also produce large quantities of pheromones. These pheromones allowed her to control the larvae and Combee under her care. The more pheromones she could produce, the more Combee she could command.
Vespiquen's combat strength was determined largely by the number of Combee she controlled. Once she mastered the primary command moves for controlling them, she could easily battle opponents far above her level.
For instance, although this shiny Vespiquen's evolved form was only at the intermediate-tier Pokémon level, if she successfully commanded enough Combee, she could defeat even high-tier Pokémon.
Thus, her training method from this point forward would be very straightforward — first raise a swarm of Combee, then continuously expand the colony's size. Through the feedback from the Combee, Vespiquen herself would steadily grow stronger!
"Bzzz bzzz bzzz"
Vespiquen nodded happily, indicating that she would work as quickly as possible to raise enough young Combees.
At that moment, memories involuntarily surfaced in her mind — the Vespiquen who had once nurtured her, and the companions she had grown up alongside.
It wouldn't be long before she herself would raise just as many companions, and then accompany them as they grew stronger together!
Right now, she felt an urgent desire to improve her own strength — not only because she wanted to prove herself, but because she felt that only with greater strength could she truly protect both herself and her companions.
(End of Chapter)