Chapter 14
5:03 PM – Crimson Reef Island, Southern Forest Trail
The treasure map was garbage.
Jayden had seen better cartography scrawled by hyperactive five-year-olds with crayons. The lines wandered drunkenly across the yellowed parchment, proportions wildly inconsistent, and half the landmarks were labeled with descriptions like "big tree" and "rocky place." Really helpful stuff.
Still, the fatty and his crew had seemed convinced it was legitimate, and they'd already survived passing through Rattata territory to reach this point. That meant something, even if the map itself looked like a practical joke.
According to their earlier conversation, the route continued south through Weedle territory, then terminated in a Caterpie colony where the supposed treasure was buried. Two more Pokémon territories. Two more opportunities for everything to go catastrophically wrong.
Nincada scuttled along beside him, occasionally pausing to investigate interesting scents or dig test holes in the soft earth. The Ground-type seemed pleased with itself after the earlier victory, antennae held high with what Jayden could only describe as smug satisfaction.
He didn't discourage it. Confidence was useful, as long as it didn't cross the line into recklessness.
The forest had grown noticeably quieter as they moved south. Fewer bird calls, less rustling in the undergrowth. Either the local wildlife had learned to keep their heads down, or something in this area had established dominance strong enough to suppress the usual chaos.
Neither option was particularly comforting. Jayden kept one hand near his knife, eyes scanning the tree line constantly. Ambush predators loved silent forests.
An hour passed before the first warning signs appeared. The trees here were older, their trunks thick enough that three people couldn't encircle them with linked arms. The canopy overhead had woven together into a living ceiling that blocked most of the sunlight, reducing visibility to maybe twenty meters in any direction.
Perfect conditions for an ambush. Even better, the undergrowth had thickened into a tangled maze of roots and vines that would slow any attempted escape to a crawl.
Jayden crouched low, motioning for Nincada to do the same. The Ground-type pressed itself flat against the earth, compound eyes gleaming as it watched its trainer for instructions. Smart.
Nincada was learning to read situations, anticipate danger before Jayden even gave commands. That kind of battlefield awareness took most Pokémon months to develop. They'd managed it in days.
He pulled out the treasure map again, cross-referencing the crude landmarks with his surroundings. If he was reading this disaster correctly, they'd just entered the edges of Weedle territory.
The map showed the colony as a rough circle occupying maybe two square kilometers of forest. Not huge, but big enough to be a serious problem if they attracted attention.
The smart move would be skirting around the entire area, adding several hours to the journey but avoiding conflict entirely. Jayden looked at the darkening sky, then at the map's indicated treasure location.
Straight through Weedle territory would take maybe ninety minutes at a cautious pace. The long route would add at least three hours, possibly more if the terrain got difficult. Three hours meant traveling after dark, and traveling after dark in an unknown forest filled with hostile Pokémon was a fantastic way to die screaming.
He folded the map and tucked it away. Sometimes the risky choice was actually the safer option. Funny how that worked out.
"We're going straight through," Jayden murmured to Nincada. "Stay close, stay quiet, and if we run into trouble, you dig us out immediately. No heroics. Understood?"
Nincada chirped softly in acknowledgment, antennae twitching. The message was clear: it trusted his judgment, even when that judgment involved walking directly into a Bug-type colony armed with poison stingers and bad attitudes.
They moved forward with exaggerated care, each footstep placed deliberately to avoid snapping twigs or rustling leaves. Jayden had done enough wilderness infiltration in his previous life to know the basics: maintain low profile, control your breathing, and for the love of everything holy, don't make sudden movements.
Nincada followed his lead naturally, its body language mirroring his own cautious advance.
Twenty minutes in, they encountered the first Weedle. The Bug-type was feeding on tree bark, its segmented body curled around a branch as it methodically stripped away the outer layer with surprising efficiency.
Jayden froze mid-step, arm shooting out to signal Nincada to halt. They stood absolutely motionless for a solid minute, barely daring to breathe, while the Weedle continued its meal completely oblivious to their presence.
Eventually it finished eating and crawled higher into the canopy, disappearing among the leaves. Jayden exhaled slowly and continued forward.
One Weedle wasn't a threat. The problem would be stumbling into a cluster of them, or worse, accidentally disturbing a Kakuna cocoon.
Weedle were relatively docile as Bug-types went, but Beedrill—their final evolution—were territorial nightmares that operated on a simple philosophy: see intruder, murder intruder, feel good about yourself.
Another thirty minutes of nerve-wracking stealth passed before the forest opened slightly into what might generously be called a clearing. Jayden stepped through a gap in the underbrush and immediately understood why the map had marked this area as dangerous.
Kakuna. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds.
The golden cocoons hung from every available branch like some kind of grotesque fruit harvest, their metallic shells gleaming dully in the filtered sunlight. They swayed gently in the breeze, completely motionless otherwise, suspended in the liminal space between Weedle and Beedrill.
Some of the cocoons looked fresh, their shells still soft and pliable. Others appeared much older, their surfaces hardened to the consistency of steel.
Jayden felt his stomach drop. This wasn't just a Weedle colony. This was a Beedrill nursery in the final stages before mass emergence.
Every single one of those cocoons represented a future murder hornet with anger management issues. And judging by how many of them had that distinctive dark yellow coloring, the emergence was happening soon. Days, maybe hours.
Nincada pressed against Jayden's leg, trembling slightly. The Ground-type could sense danger even without analysis. This place radiated threat on a primal level that transcended species boundaries.
Every instinct screamed at them to turn around and run.
But running would make noise. Noise would disturb the Kakuna. Disturbing the Kakuna would trigger premature evolution.
And premature evolution would result in Jayden and Nincada becoming very dead very quickly when several hundred angry Beedrill descended on them like a biblical plague.
So running was out. Which left the truly insane option: walking through the forest of Kakuna and hoping none of them woke up early.
Jayden forced himself to breathe slowly, evenly. Panic was the enemy. He'd been in worse situations. Probably. Maybe.
The specific examples weren't coming to mind immediately, but he was pretty sure they existed. He activated CIPHER with a thought, overlaying tactical data across his vision.
[SPECIES DETECTED: Kakuna]
[COUNT: 347 visible specimens]
[METAMORPHOSIS COMPLETION: 78% average]
[THREAT LEVEL: Critical if disturbed]
Three hundred and forty-seven. That was worse than he'd estimated. And seventy-eight percent metamorphosis completion meant most of these Kakuna were literally one loud noise away from popping open and releasing fresh Beedrill with all the restraint and mercy of a chainsaw-wielding psychopath.
"Well," Jayden whispered, so quietly the words were barely audible even to himself. "This is going to suck."
He took the first step forward with the careful deliberation of a man disarming a bomb. His boot touched down on soft moss, distributing weight evenly to avoid sudden pressure changes.
Nothing happened. The Kakuna continued swaying gently, blissfully unaware.
He took another step. Then another. Nincada followed, moving with such exaggerated caution it was almost comedic. Almost.
Hard to find humor in the situation when your life expectancy was measured in how quietly you could tiptoe.
The clearing stretched ahead for what looked like two hundred meters, maybe more. At their current pace, crossing it would take at least twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes of perfect silence, perfect control, perfect luck. One mistake, one snapped twig, one poorly placed footstep, and they were done.
Jayden compartmentalized the fear, locked it away in the same mental box where he kept all his other counterproductive emotions. Fear was useless right now. What he needed was focus.
He counted steps mentally, using the rhythm to maintain consistency. Step. Pause. Scan surroundings. Step. Pause. Scan.
The repetition was almost meditative, once he fell into the groove.
They'd covered maybe fifty meters when Nincada suddenly froze. Jayden stopped immediately, eyes darting around for the threat.
Then he saw it: a Kakuna cocoon hanging at head height, directly in their path, swaying slightly more than the others. As Jayden watched, a hairline crack appeared along its surface. Then another.
The metamorphosis was accelerating. This one was waking up.
He couldn't go around it without potentially disturbing other cocoons. Couldn't go back without crossing ground they'd already covered, doubling their exposure time.
Couldn't stay still forever because eventually that Kakuna would emerge regardless. The math was simple and brutal: they had to move forward, right now, and hope the emerging Beedrill was too disoriented to immediately attack.
Jayden pointed at the cracking Kakuna, then made a sharp cutting gesture across his throat. Nincada understood instantly: if that thing fully emerges and looks hostile, we're running.
Stealth would be over. Survival would depend on speed and Nincada'sDig technique to escape underground before the entire colony descended on them.
They crept forward. Ten meters from the cracking Kakuna. Eight meters. Five.
The cracks were spreading faster now, pieces of golden shell flaking away to reveal dark yellow and black striped segments underneath.
Three meters. Two. Jayden could see the Beedrill's eyes through gaps in the cocoon, compound lenses focusing slowly as consciousness returned.
One meter. They were directly beside it now, close enough that Jayden could have reached out and touched the thing.
The Beedrill shifted inside its prison, one massive stinger pressing against the interior shell. It was going to break free any second.
Jayden took one more step. Then another. They were past it.
The cracking Kakuna was behind them now, still working its way toward freedom but no longer blocking their path. He didn't look back.
Looking back was a good way to trip, and tripping would make noise, and noise would kill them. Eyes forward. Keep moving.
Don't think about how many Beedrill could be waking up right now.
The sound of shattering chitin echoed through the forest behind them. The Beedrill had emerged.
Jayden heard the distinctive buzz of wings as it took its first flight, circling its former cocoon in confusion. New Beedrill were always disoriented immediately after evolution, their brains still calibrating motor functions and sensory input.
They had maybe sixty seconds before it fully oriented and noticed the intruders in its territory.
Sixty seconds. Jayden picked up his pace, abandoning some caution for speed. They had to reach the far edge of the clearing before that Beedrill raised an alarm.
Nincada scuttled faster, its many legs working in synchronized rhythm. Behind them, the buzzing grew louder as the Beedrill gained confidence in its aerial abilities.
Forty-five seconds. One hundred meters to go.
The Beedrill swooped low over the clearing, compound eyes scanning methodically. Jayden pressed himself against a tree trunk, motioning for Nincada to do the same.
They stood frozen as the Poison Bee Pokémon passed overhead, its shadow sliding across the forest floor like a predatory bird.
Thirty seconds. The Beedrill landed on a branch twenty meters away, antennae twitching as it tested the air.
It was searching for something, probably food or threats. Its gaze swept across the clearing methodically, compound eyes processing visual data in ways human brains couldn't quite manage.
Fifteen seconds. Jayden moved again the moment the Beedrill looked away, covering ground in quick bursts between periods of absolute stillness.
Nincada mirrored his movements perfectly, reading his body language like they'd been partners for years instead of days.
Five seconds. The tree line was right there, safety just ten meters away. They were going to make it.
Jayden allowed himself the tiniest spark of hope.
Then Nincada's hind leg caught on an exposed root.
The Ground-type stumbled, claws scraping against bark as it caught itself. The sound was soft, barely audible, the kind of noise that would normally disappear into background forest ambiance.
But in this deathly silent clearing, filled with hundreds of soon-to-be-homicidal Beedrill, it might as well have been a gunshot.
Every Kakuna in the immediate area stopped swaying. The newly emerged Beedrill snapped its head around, compound eyes locking onto them instantly.
Its wings flared, stingers extending as it released a high-pitched shriek that Jayden recognized from his previous life as a danger call.
All around them, cocoons began cracking open.
"Run," Jayden said calmly.
Then he bolted for the tree line like hell itself was chasing him, because it basically was. Nincada surged ahead, moving faster than Jayden had ever seen it move, claws tearing up earth as it ran.
Behind them, the shrieking intensified as more Beedrill emerged from their cocoons, still disoriented but plenty angry enough to chase down intruders.
Jayden crashed through the undergrowth on the far side of the clearing, branches whipping across his face and arms. He didn't slow down.
The buzzing behind them had grown into a roar, dozens of wings beating in chaotic unison as the newly emerged Beedrill took flight.
They were faster in the air than Jayden was on foot, and they knew it.
"Nincada, Dig! Now!"
Nincada dove into the earth without hesitation, claws churning through soil like a living drill. A tunnel opened beneath them, and Jayden threw himself into it just as the first Beedrill caught up.
He felt the rush of air as a stinger stabbed down, missing his head by centimeters. Then he was underground, Nincada already working to collapse the tunnel entrance behind them.
The sounds of frustrated buzzing echoed from above, muffled by layers of earth. Jayden lay in the darkness, breathing hard, heart hammering against his ribs.
That had been too close. Way too close. Another second and he'd have been Swiss cheese.
Nincada chirped quietly beside him, antennae brushing against his arm. The Ground-type sounded apologetic, probably blaming itself for the stumble that triggered the chase.
Jayden reached out and patted its head gently.
"Not your fault," he whispered. "We're alive. That's what matters."
They stayed underground for nearly an hour, waiting for the Beedrill swarm to lose interest and disperse. Eventually the buzzing faded, replaced by normal forest sounds.
Jayden gave it another thirty minutes just to be safe, then had Nincada carefully excavate an exit tunnel.
They emerged into early evening twilight, the sun painting the sky orange and purple through gaps in the canopy. Jayden checked his surroundings carefully, confirming no Beedrill were in sight, then pulled out the treasure map.
According to his best guess, they'd made it through Weedle territory. The Caterpie colony should be directly ahead, maybe another kilometer.
One more obstacle. Then they'd reach the treasure and find out if this entire nightmare had been worth it.
Jayden folded the map, took a deep breath, and started walking south again. Nincada followed without complaint, despite probably being exhausted.
The Ground-type had earned its rest, but rest would have to wait until they'd secured whatever prize waited at the end of this ridiculous journey.
The forest grew darker as night approached. Somewhere in the distance, a Hoothoot began its evening call.
The trial continued, relentless and unforgiving. But Jayden Cross was still standing, still moving forward.
And as long as he kept moving, he'd find a way to survive. That's what survivors did.
End of Chapter 14
"Fortune favors the bold, but it really loves the ones who know when to run like hell."