"Wait, no! I didn't come here to fight!"
Seeing the raw hostility in Heracross's eyes, Guinaifen waved her hands frantically. This felt different from a standard wild encounter; the atmosphere was thick with a narrative weight she hadn't seen yet in the Johto update. She didn't want to accidentally ruin a special plotline by being too aggressive.
However, Heracross was beyond listening. Driven by sheer protective instinct, it lowered its massive horn and initiated a reckless Horn Attack.
"Bayleef, dodge! Use Body Slam to pin it down, gently!"
Heracross was stumbling, its movements sluggish from its prior wounds. Bayleef sidestepped the charge with ease and leaped, using its weight to press the beetle Pokémon firmly into the grass.
"Cross..."
The exhausted Heracross let out a weak groan. The effort of the charge had drained its final reserves; under the weight of Bayleef, it slipped into unconsciousness.
"Chirp! Chirp chirp!"
The moment Heracross went down, a chaotic swarm of tiny shapes rushed out from the treeline. Guinaifen watched in stunned silence as a dozen "baby" Pokémon—Rattata, Bellsprout, Ledyba, and even rare sights like Cleffa, Igglybuff, and Smoochum—pounced on Bayleef.
They were tiny, clearly in their juvenile stages, and lacked any real combat power. Their tiny punches bounced harmlessly off Bayleef's sturdy hide, looking more like a flurry of adorable tickles than an assault.
"We mean no harm! Bayleef, get up, quickly!"
Guinaifen felt a pang of guilt. She had only meant to restrain the guardian, but the poor thing was so weak it couldn't take even a non-lethal pin. Bayleef stepped off carefully, moving with the exaggerated caution of someone walking through a room full of glass ornaments, terrified of crushing the frantic little ones underfoot.
Once back at Guinaifen's side, Bayleef used its head-leaf to wipe sweat from its brow.
[Bayleef's Thought Bubble: Fighting a Champion is easier than trying not to step on a Cleffa.]
The chat exploded with "Awws" and theories:
"Did Lil' Gui just stumble into a Pokémon Daycare in the wild?""Those baby Pokémon are so small! Where are the parents?""This level of detail is insane. Look at the Smoochum trying to look tough!"
"Bo-cha! Bo-cha!"
Suddenly, a Smoochum with a particularly determined look stepped out from the group. It climbed up Bayleef's leg, perched on its head, and let out two sharp cries. To Guinaifen's surprise, the other babies stopped their "attack" and retreated to Heracross's side, some of them trying to use weak, flickering Life Dew or Refresh moves that did almost nothing.
The Smoochum looked at Guinaifen, narrowing its eyes as if judging her soul. Satisfied by what it saw, it leaped from Bayleef's head onto Guinaifen's shoulder, grabbed a handful of her hair, and began tugging her toward the fallen Heracross.
"You want me to help?"
"Bo-cha!" The little ice-type nodded vigorously, pushing aside a worried Igglybuff to make a path.
Guinaifen knelt beside the guardian. Close up, she could see the new second-generation designs—the soft pink of Igglybuff and the star-shaped ears of Cleffa. If the situation weren't so dire, she would have scooped them all up for a cuddle.
As she flipped Heracross over and helped it sit up, it opened its eyes, cloudy with fatigue. Smoochum leaned in, whispering "Bocha-bocha" into its ear, seemingly explaining that the humans were friendly.
Guinaifen pulled a Super Potion from her bag and sprayed it across the beetle's cracked carapace. The results were instant; the jagged lines began to knit together, and Heracross's breathing evened out. She followed up by handing it a handful of Sitrus Berries.
Heracross ate them greedily, its strength slowly returning.
"By the way," Guinaifen asked, "what happened to you? What could do this much damage?"
Heracross looked at the half-eaten berry in its hand, its mood suddenly turning somber. It let out a low, resentful buzz. Guinaifen sighed; without a telepathic link like Fu Xuan's, she couldn't understand the story.
"Bocha... Bocha~"
Smoochum tapped Guinaifen's cheek, gesturing for her to lean in. Guinaifen expected another tug on her hair, but instead, the Smoochum planted a soft kiss on her forehead.
The world blurred.
Guinaifen felt a wave of vertigo. When her vision cleared, she was still in the forest, but she was seeing through a haze of pink light—a Remembrance shared through Smoochum's psychic energy.
She saw Heracross standing tall, though already bruised, facing down a massive, snarling Ursaring. The bear Pokémon roared, its eyes bloodshot with rage. Heracross fought bravely, but it was protecting the huddle of babies behind it. Eventually, a devastating Hyper Beam blasted Heracross through a tree, leaving it broken.
The scene shifted earlier. She saw the clearing as it used to be—a peaceful nursery where the babies played while Heracross lounged in a honey-filled tree. Then, the Ursaring had barged in, driven by a territorial frenzy, attacking anything that didn't flee. Heracross had stood its ground alone to ensure the little ones could retreat to the hidden thicket.
The vision faded. Guinaifen found herself back in the present, her eyes stinging with tears.
"So that's it," she whispered, looking at the scarred clearing. "This was your home. That Ursaring drove you out and hurt you while you were making sure the kids got away."
Heracross looked at her and gave a slow, solemn nod.
Guinaifen stood up, her fists clenched. "Well, family... I think we found our first Legendary Adventure. And it starts with a very big, very rude bear."
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