Session 57, VP2

It did not take long for the group to reach where their maps said they would find The Hive. Strangely, no settlement stood anywhere within view. All that lay before them was a cavern, jutting above the fields. The trainers all exchanged confused glances- save Reinhold. 

 

The hooded entrance to the cave looked strange in the sunlight. Almost like there was a sort of wall of shadows, preventing them from being able to see within. Almost as if the yawning portal was consuming the light...

 

When Sylvie stepped forward to pass through the dark mist, Reinhold accompanied her. Something about his bearing gave the sense that he had perhaps seen this before. The rest of the group watched with no small amount of worry as their two friends disappeared into the blackness.

 

Thankfully, they did not need to wait long. Reinhold's head poked back through the veil to beckon them onwards. Passing through through the entrance caused each of the party to feel a slight tingling of goosebumps. As their eyes adjusted to the dim level of light within, it quickly became apparent why.

 

Bugs. An uncountable number of bugs. The rock of the ceiling & walls was practically invisible, as swarms of Bug Pokemon crawled on top & around each other. Sylvie looked...nonplussed by this. Still, the creatures seemed to pay our heroes no mind. Several of the Pokemon were Volbeat & Illumise; the firefly Pokemon were responsible for what little light there was.

 

The layout of the cave was straightforward. After this entrance chamber, the cave led to set of descending stone steps. Carved into the wall above them- the only portion of the cave free of bugs- was an ancient carving. In elegant whorls, it depicted a massive wolf, chasing the sun with open jaws. Skoll, if Bronze remembered correctly from a travel brochure she had once read.

 

With a collective shrug, the party decided to descend. The stairway lasted for what felt like two stories at an even grade. When it came to a stop, the trainers found themselves in a surprisingly cozy series of tunnels. The walls were all smooth, clearly hewn lovingly by human hands. Every few feet, a small dish of sugar water hung from them at strategic points. Fireflies were perched atop these to serve as living "lamps". While the group took this all in, Reinhold suddenly shivered. A minuscule Volbeat crawled out of his shirt on the back of his neck, before taking flight down the hallways. Strange.

 

Voices softly echoed from further along the passage. The group continued forward towards them. Soon, they came across strange hexagonal chambers splitting off from the hallway. None of these had doors of any kind, allowing the trainers to see various townsfolk within. Some waved a greeting at the newcomers, while others paid them no mind at all. Not a single resident they saw seemed uncomfortable with the lack of privacy.

 

At this point, the smell of food caught our heroes attention. This, combined with a low level of chatter ahead, implied a feast of some kind was taking place. Before they could make much more headway, a voice called out to them from around a corner.

 

"I thought I told you that you weren't welcome here, Elof," a middle-aged woman called in a carrying voice. The sound of rapid footsteps followed as she came into view. She stood of average height, with a lithe build. Faint purple hair was piled atop her head. The grey strands added an air of elegance to her soft, but stern, expression. She came to a stop as she saw the gathered trainers, her priestess' robes taking a second to catch up with her sudden halt.

 

Her face quickly changed to a look of confusion. There was a moment's silence between both parties, before Bronze chimed in to say that the group disliked Elof quite a bit. At this the priestess began to blush. She profusely apologized for the case of mistaken identity as she introduced herself.

 

This was Morphada, the resident Gym Leader of The Hive. Introductions went around, & she welcomed the party to her hometown. She spoke briefly with Sylvie as she led the trainers to the feasting hall. Here, what must have been most of the townsfolk were gathered around one, extremely long table. Morphada led the group to some empty chairs at one end of the table.

 

Their host made sure everyone had been given a plate & gotten to eat a bit before resuming conversation. The food on offer was largely a mix of pancakes & waffles, with a multitude of flavored syrups. Despite the sweet servings, Morphada announced there dessert yet to come. She left the table to fetch them- &, simultaneously, nearly all the townsfolk quickly dispersed back to their homes. Our heroes had just enough time to exchange confused looks before Morphada returned with a dessert cart.

 

Atop it rested what looked like chunks of solid amber. The Gym Leader stacked these "delicacies" on a platter between those remaining. The eager look on her face caused guilt to war with the trainers' hesitation to consume what looked like rocks. Finally, Reinhold bit the bullet- which in this case turned out to be a chocolate chip cookie encased in nearly 4" of crystallized honey.

 

There was a resounding crack as he broke off a piece of the desert. Each chew was audible, sounding like footsteps crunching on gravel. Somehow, the Martial Artist powered through. The others watched with awe as he finished the entire delectable with aplomb. When Morphada asked for his opinion, Reinhold gave a thorough & well-thought out review, suggesting a few ways to enhance the dish for the future.

 

The others were nervous to be asked to sample the desserts, which made it all the more of a relief when the Gym Leader asked Sylvie for more details on the matter they had previously messaged about. The Empath was clearly distressed at the idea of discussing things in public. Morphada picked up on this, & suggested she come visit them in their guest quarters after cleaning up the remnants of the meal.

 

When our heroes mentioned not being sure they could afford such a thing, Morphada adamantly refused to even consider the notion of charging them. Her god, she explained, taught that coexistence & harmony were ideals to strive for. She did her best to ensure all those in The Hive- visitors & residents- felt welcome & safe.

 

To lead them towards their rooms, Morphada introduced the group to her Larvesta, Jeofree. The massive caterpillar sat quietly between them as the priestess took her leave. Without warning, Jeofree launched a series of silk strands from his pepper-like horns. They wrapped around Sylvie's shoulders to form a sort of papoose. The Pokemon quickly pulled himself onto her chest accordingly. A light layer of slime oozed from his belly as he lassoed two final lengths of silk to the Psychic's earlobes.

 

The Larvesta gently pulled on these "reins" to guide Sylvie to the rooms. Eager to get the bug off of her, she took off at a near sprint, leaving the others struggling to keep up. This led them to a more remote section of the town, far from any of the townsfolk's rooms. There were enough rooms for them to split up however they wished. A bit further down the hallway was the only room they'd so far seen with any form of door. The sugar posts near it stood empty & dark.

 

Jeofree inched his way to the floor off of Sylvie. As the caterpillar left to rejoin his trainer, the party unpacked their belongings into the guest quarters. They had time enough to settle in before they heard Morphada's footsteps coming down the hallway.

 

Gathering in Sylvie's room, they began to discuss the matter of Harbinger Valley. Seeing that Sylvie seemed a bit leery, Bronze moved to hang a blanket in the doorway. A pained look flashed across the Gym Leader's face which she quickly tried to hide. Though Bronze moved to pull the blanket down, Morphada insisted it was alright in a strained voice. Why did this seem to bother her so? A matter for later, perhaps.

 

Sylvie struggled through the beginnings of her dilemma. Every time she seemed ready to gloss over a detail, Lauren chimed in with the facts in a clinical tone. It took some time to work through the tale, during which the group could see Morphada alternate between looking sad & furious.

 

Once everything had been shared, the Gym Leader explained just why Ilvri had put Sylvie in contact with her: Morphada was Hysterig's ex-wife. Sylvie was momentarily gobsmacked at the idea that anyone had ever loved her village's elder. Thankfully, Morphada took no offense. 

 

According to her, it was a terrible mistake of a relationship for its duration. When Hysterig mistreated their- Morphada cut herself off before finishing the thought, shaking her head as if to dispel it. Anyway, she knew the village's layout well enough, providing it hadn't gone through any major changes. When Sylvie mentioned her chief fear was getting psychically detected by the Psychic Gym Leader, Morphada removed an arrowhead from a small pouch around her neck.

 

"This might be a mite...disturbing," she warned the group in an embarrassed tone. Reinhold sensed a surge of familiar power from the arrowhead as Morphada burst apart into a swarm of tiny Yanma. Several of the dragonflies nestled under the back of Sylvie's collar. Donner immediately cocked his head in confusion, exchanging a look with Lauren. Somehow, with the dragonflies in place...neither of them could psychically detect Sylvie at all!

 

A few moments later, the Gym Leader reformed sitting on a bed. Sweat dotted her brow from the effort as a light green glow emanated from the arrowhead. Morphada introduced herself fully now: her family name was Vefrlauss- one of the Swordthanes of old. 

 

This sparked some discussion between her & Reinhold. After confirming his cousin had not visited this area yet, he relayed some information Aegson. The bug priestess thanked him, & asked where his own relic was. Reinhold explained that he was seeking it currently. At the moment, he was uncertain whether it would be safe to ever wield it, or if it should be destroyed. Morphada studied his face for a moment. With a warm smile, she said that the fact he was even considering this meant he was likely more than up to the task.

 

Circling back to the main topic, the trainers began suggesting various ideas of how to handle Hysterig. Notably, Sylvie herself remained quiet. Each time one of her fellows spoke of hurting- or even killing- the Gym Leader, she winced. Despite what he was doing to Hestr, it was clear the thought of such bloodshed sat ill with her.

 

Morphada reached out to take one of the Empath's hands in her own. She squeezed it gently with a warm, comforting expression on her face.

 

"And...what do you want to come from this, Sylvie?" she asked softly. The others fell silent. In their desperate care for their friend, they had been making suggestions to resolve the issue on their own terms- not hers.

 

Sylvie looked at the floor in silence. A swirl of expressions ghosted across her face, before she took in a slow, calming breath. 

 

"I...I don't want to attack my home," she began in a hushed tone. "I know what he's doing to Hestr is terrible, & I know what he wants for me is just as bad, but I, I don't want to kill him." With a surprising amount of steel in her eyes, she rose her head & her voice.

 

"All I want is to save my friend & get out. I don't care if we even confront Hysterig directly. I just want him to know I was able to get one over on him one last time." Sylvie's voice blazed with more fire than any of her friends had heard before. "I don't want him to die a martyr- I want him to live a loser."

 

Morphada's face split with a smile of genuine happiness. 

 

"Then there is no need to think of this as an assault, no need to involve any armies," she replied. "It almost sounds like...you'd like to pull off a heist." Something about this caused a mischievous grin to spread on Sylvie's face.

 

The conversation had been necessary, but quite draining. Sensing this, Morphada stood to take her leave. She took one, quick glance at the room with the closed door before leaving for her own chambers.

 

In the morning, the party once again reconvened in the feast hall. Morphada seemed in higher spirits than the night before. In fact, she suggested she knew a way to take everyone's mind off of Harbinger Valley. As the official Gym Leader of The Hive, she formally challenged the trainers to a Pokemon battle! She gave them directions to the town's Pokemon Center & to the stadium where she would be waiting for them.

 

Our heroes made a few minor adjustments to their teams to prepare. In the arena, Morphada stood vigil at one end of a battlefield drawn in chalk. Falling from her shoulders was a strange, shifting cloak that covered her entirely. She swept her arms back to wave a welcome to the challengers- revealing that her cloak was actually comprised of a bunch of baby Bug types.

 

Several of the residents sat in stadium seating as the trainers released their Pokemon. Bug types were known to be somewhat fragile, but Morphada fought as if to dispel that notion entirely. 

 

She brought a wide number of types to bear against the party over the course of the battle. In the end, she released a quartet of Millimic as the last line of defense. The Treasure Lure Pokemon proved a hardy foe indeed. It took many rounds of combat, but eventually the last fell before our heroes' might.

 

Morphada gladly awarded them the Hivemind Rune for their victory. As they basked in the applause, the trainers realized that their shoulders did indeed feel lighter. Being able to tackle & defeat this obstacle had given them a boost of confidence towards their looming confrontation in Harbinger Valley. 

 

Look at all they had done thus far: beaten 4 Gym Leaders, saved Drillsberg, defeated Solgaleo. Yes, Hysterig seemed incredibly daunting- but had he ever taken down a Legendary Pokemon? They could do this. They would do this. All that remained now was to figure out exactly how......