[Video]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[The video comes on to show an adult Vespiquen and Combee, along with 54 baby Combee, slowly flying over the surface of the Lake of Rage. Now and then one falters in the air, but quickly recovers and returns to its position in the flight. Fearow and Archeops (who has been thoroughly instructed that she's not allowed to attack any of the baby Combee) are escorting the swarm on the sides, wings spread to glide and only occasionally flapping in slow, graceful arcs. Apollo's following behind on the shoulder of his Golurk, as evidenced by the sound of thrusters in the background. The sun has begun to set, casting a golden red light over the scene and reflecting off of the lake's surface. Several Magikarp poke their heads out of the water briefly to watch the swarm fly overhead, and several Gyrados surface to watch as well, the roar of one off-screen echoing across the lake. Just before the feed ends, a Milotic leaps out of the water, sending droplets flying to catch the light and glitter, forming a faint rainbow in the air for an instant.

Apollo remains silent. He has nothing to add to this scene.]

Comments

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

I think that she wanted both, but I never asked her. Hives usually have a lot of bees in them, so it's probably the same for Combee hives.

[captainash]

Combees are a lot bigger than normal bees, though. If the numbers are the same, they could easily take over a whole forest.

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

Most of the Pokémon in the area are higher levels and all the babies are still level 1, but I'm going to keep an eye on them to make sure that nothing goes wrong. It'll be harder to fix a problem like that here than it is back home. I can't just hunt and eat whoever's causing trouble here.

[captainash]

I could capture them and set them free elsewhere, but then they might cause new problems there.

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

It would depend on where they were released, but it might. Moving some of them might not solve the problem. Like one deer who I knew back home. She ate so much that I was afraid that she would strip the whole mountain.

[captainash]

...How big would a deer have to be to eat that much? Was it even a normal deer?

[Even if it's probably a slight exaggeration.]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

She was getting pretty fat. She liked to eat a lot and was always hungry, even though she wasn't pregnant or anything like that. Other than that she was a normal deer.

[And thank you, Genesis of Aquarion OVA, for once again dropping something on the viewers that I now have to try and justify ICly.]

[captainash]

She wasn't ill or anything? Strange. I guess gluttony is more universal than I thought.

[It offers a nice challenge, at least?]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

I guess so. I've met other animals who ate more than other animals of their kind did, but she was the only animal I've met who ate that much.

[I guess?]

[captainash]

If she was that fat, you'd think a predator would have tried its chances. That had to slow her down, right?

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

I was the predator. She was definitely slower than other deer, though not as much as I thought she'd be.

[captainash]

She sounds more and more like a particularly impressive specimen. A danger to her habitat, but impressive.

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

Everyone is impressive in their own way. She was just following her instincts. She didn't understand that what she was doing was causing a problem.

[captainash]

And no one tried to explain the situation to her?

[...Wait, is he seriously considering diplomacy with a deer?]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

[He's probably talking to the only other person who would, so he's in good hands.]

I did, but animals can't always understand things that are that big. She and the other animals were starting to notice that the areas that she was eating from had fewer edible plants, but they didn't see that there was a pattern starting.

[captainash]

...It's funny, but for some reason I think most Pokémon would have understood exactly what you meant. It's too bad she couldn't.

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

They would. Pokémon seem to be able to understand more complicated things than the animals back home could. That deer still lives on inside of me, so maybe she understands the things that I can now?

[captainash]

...I wouldn't know. I don't have much experience with the spirits of dead animals.

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

I don't either. I've sometimes felt Grandpa's spirit in the forest, but I've never felt the spirits of anyone else.

[captainash]

You've... felt him? Was he trying to communicate with you, or was he just there?

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

I sometimes feel like he's trying to say something, but usually he's just there for a moment.

[Despite all of the supernatural occurrences in his canon, my personal headcanon is that Apollo's imagining his Grandpa's presence.]

[captainash]

...Maybe he's trying to look after you, and that's the only way he can.

[That's kinda sad.]

[whateveryoueatliveitspart]

I think that that must be what he's doing.

[Well reincarnation is a major thing in his canon - Apollo's past life is a major plot point - so I assume that souls don't hang around. Then again, the reincarnation is on a 12000-year cycle, so there's time to stick around, but my sense from the scene is more that Apollo's attributing the voice of his conscience to his Grandpa.]

[captainash]

That's good to hear. Family should care about each other even beyond death, after all.

[The Grandpa!conscience is the more interesting possibility, really.]