The forest's taboo

"Agumon, Pepper Breath."

Somewhere in the jungle, Agumon suddenly poked his head out from behind a tree, opened his mouth, and fired a blast of Pepper Breath.

His opponent seemed to realize that the fireball was unusually powerful. It furiously beat its nearly transparent wings, darting back and forth to dodge the Pepper Breath.

At the same time, its figure became clearer as it flitted through the jungle.

[Species] Beedrill

[Category] Poison Bee Pokémon

[Type] Bug, Poison

[Ability] Sniper

[Level] 11

[Exclusive moves] None

[Learned moves] Bug Bite, Fury Attack, Poison Sting, String Shot, Harden, Fury Cutter

[Base stats] 395 (HP 65, Attack 90, Defense 40, Special Attack 45, Special Defense 80, Speed 75)

[Friendship] -50 (After its unprovoked attack ended in failure, it was expelled from its colony. It deeply resents you and Agumon.)

[Status] Angry

[Summary] Extremely territorial. It will attack like a creature possessed whenever its territory is invaded.

Sometimes, it patrols its territory in groups. Its preferred fighting style is to use its incredible speed to strike opponents with Poison Sting and poison them to death.

"Bzz, bzz, bzz!"

Beedrill let out a low, furious buzz, then raised the enormous white needles on its two forelegs. A crystalline glow swirled around them as it charged straight at Agumon.

"Use Razor Claw to knock its needles aside, and watch out for the poison stinger on its rear."

As Qingliu's voice rang out, orange energy instantly enveloped Agumon's white claws. His large green eyes stayed fixed on his opponent. Just as Beedrill drew close, Agumon stepped forward, swinging both enormous claws with the momentum of his advance.

Clang!

A piercing metallic clash rang out.

The recoil from the massive collision of energy sent both Agumon and Beedrill hurtling backward.

But Beedrill's wings vibrated violently at an uncanny speed, forcibly arresting its retreat. With a sharp flick of the stinger on its rear, it thrust at Agumon.

Already prepared for this, Agumon sidestepped and deftly seized Beedrill with his enormous claws, still coated in Razor Claw's energy. He twisted with the motion and slammed Beedrill into the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw.

"Pepper Breath."

At Qingliu's command, Agumon spat out a fireball. Before Beedrill could recover from being smashed into the ground, Pepper Breath struck its back. Its eyes turned into spirals, and it could no longer battle.

After a quick check to confirm that it no longer posed a threat, Agumon asked Qingliu, "Qingliu, hasn't this one attacked us before? That way it dodges and then charges straight in feels really familiar."

"Yeah. This is the second time."

Looking at the -50 in Beedrill's friendship field on the panel, Qingliu observed half a second of silence for the poor creature that had been kicked out of its colony.

Still, anyone who attacked had to be prepared to pay the price.

"We won't get much experience from beating the same Pokémon twice in a row. Let's go. We should pay a few more visits before dark. We don't have much time left."

Tossing Agumon a Pokéblock, Qingliu quickly left with him to search for another target.

Only... the process proved somewhat difficult.

"Agumon, get ready. Three Ekans are fighting among themselves up ahead to the left."

Looking at the three entries displayed on the panel, Qingliu quickly pointed out the direction.

"Okay."

Agumon nodded, swiftly coated his claws with Razor Claw, and charged in the direction Qingliu had indicated.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

Clearing the two bushes blocking his path, Agumon leaped into the battlefield and was just about to rush forward and attack.

But the Ekans reacted even faster. Almost the instant the bushes rustled, all three turned their heads. Once they saw Qingliu and Agumon, they immediately untangled their tails without the slightest hesitation and fled in three different directions.

Agumon: "..."

Qingliu sighed helplessly, then opened the panel and scanned his surroundings, pointing to the left of the path they had come from.

"There are two Mankey in that big tree over there."

Agumon turned at his words and broke into a sprint, with Qingliu hurrying after him.

Soon, two Mankey came into view, howling furiously in the tree and occasionally trading punches and kicks.

Flames immediately gathered in Agumon's mouth. He took a few running steps, preparing to attack the Mankey in the treetop, when...

One second, the two Mankey were pulling no punches, seemingly furious enough to beat each other to death. The next, they spotted Agumon and looked as though they had seen some terrifying monster. They swallowed, exchanged a glance, then promptly released each other and fled, leaping across the treetops at an extraordinary speed...

Qingliu and Agumon were left staring at each other.

"What do we do now?"

"Ah, forget it. It'll probably be the same wherever we look. Let's just head back to the training ground and practice moves."

"If I'd known, I wouldn't have been so impatient," Qingliu said helplessly. "We should've taken it slowly and made it last."

Over the past two days, the two of them had spent the entire time grinding "mobs" in the nearby jungle, fighting everyone they encountered. With Agumon's combat strength and Qingliu's support, they had been practically unbeatable in the area.

As a result, the local Pokémon all knew that others were getting thrashed by the same human and Pokémon. The number of victims kept rising, and in just a single day, more than half of them had been beaten.

Word soon reached most of the Pokémon nearby.

In the end, whenever Qingliu and Agumon appeared and began looking for a target, any Pokémon that saw them would immediately drop whatever it was doing and flee without the slightest hesitation.

Of course, there were exceptions: Pokémon that came looking for them, hoping to make a name for themselves by defeating Qingliu and Agumon.

Like that Beedrill just now...

The results were obvious. Every challenger was beaten until it could no longer battle. In particular, a level 19 Skarmory, widely acknowledged as the strongest Pokémon in the area, had also been defeated when Agumon found an opening and landed a single Small Explosion. Afterward, it was dumped by the river for every passing Pokémon to see.

Qingliu and Agumon became the taboo of this stretch of jungle.

No Pokémon dared approach them, and the information seemed to be spreading farther and farther. They probably wouldn't be able to find any training opponents from now on, either.

The only good news was that Agumon had risen from level 13 to level 14, and vaguely seemed to be just one step away from breaking through to level 15.

Just as Qingliu was looking at the dwindling supply of Pokéblocks and food in his backpack, wondering where to find suitable Pokémon for Agumon to train against...

A training opponent came looking for them.