FSE

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We spent four days flying over the ocean. We found breaks along the way - small islands, large enough for us all to set down on and sleep the day away beneath a protective Reflect. Several of the older Ledyba carried a great net between them, too, and if we grew tired during the flight we could land in it to rest our wings for a time.

The ocean gave way to a pretty beach, and then a large forest... and after another half night of flying over trees we made it to the Great Swarm.

I didn't believe what I was seeing at first. Hundreds, thousands of Ledyba were gathered in the meadow that stretched on as far as I could see. Individual Ledyba darted back and forth in numbers that put the swarm I lived in to shame. The stars seemed to glow brighter as they shone down on all the activity, twinkling in wordless encouragement to the Pokemon scurrying and flying about.

The Matriarch led us to the edge of the barrier and spoke with the Ledyba there. I didn't hear what they said, and I was too awestruck to pay any attention anyways. The barrier stretched upwards as far as I can see, and seemed impenetrable, though I noticed a bit of activity near the top where a few Ledyba worked along what looked to be giant cracks running through the otherwise unbroken screen. It was a magnificent Reflect, obviously the work of hundreds and hundreds of very skilled Ledyba, and I just stared at it while the Matriarch spoke with the guards. I suddenly understood why I had been encouraged to practice my own abilities so much - I still had no interest, but I had to admit it would be exciting to take part in creating something like that.

The guards finally accepted the Matriarch's words, and they took down a segment of the barrier to allow us through. They replaced it just as quickly, then led us through the huge field. They stopped before a small clearing, and the Matriarch began to drop the supplies she carried in the center of it. The rest of the Ledyba in my swarm did the same, and I was pulled in to help them. I wanted very much to explore and see everything in this new place, but the older Ledyba would have none of that. I spent most of the rest of the night helping to unpack and arrange things, then set up a large tent covered by the net we had used to rest on during our journey.

By the time we had finished our scent was strong in the clearing, and I knew I would be able to find my way back no matter how far into the Great Swarm I wandered. I suspected that might have been the point, as I realized just how easy it would be to become lost among the other swarms otherwise. The Matriarch told us we were free to explore and meet others, but that we were to return here to sleep. She singled out certain Ledyba from the older ones and gave them specific instructions, but I was far more interested in other things.

I flew aimlessly at first, just taking in the sights and scents. There were lots of other 'camp' areas where other Matriarchs had made temporary homes for their individual swarms, and while the individual styles and scents were interesting at first, I soon found myself exploring other areas. There were several areas set up for food and water to try, and I got to try several interesting flavors of foods - strangely shaped berries, exotic smelling saps, sweet honey with undertones of sour or spice. The Ledyba handling the food all seemed excited whenever I mentioned I liked something, and suggested I come by their camp if I was interested in living somewhere the particular food was common.

I found the offer odd at first, but as I explored more and heard it repeated I began to understand that one purpose of the Great Swarm was for the smaller swarms to exchange Pokemon. If a swarm needed more Ledyba to help support it, they could get some from swarms that had too many nestlings, or had members that were tired of their current swarm, or who wanted responsibilities or opportunities their current swarm couldn't offer.

And once I understood that, I also realized that the Great Swarm was essentially split into two styles of competitions. The first was of the various swarms competing against each other - the style of the camps, or the different flavor foods they had brought with them. They showed off in different ways to attract the interest of an individual Ledyba that might be looking for a new home, trying to entice stronger and healthier Ledyba to their swarm. And the second was the competitions between individual Ledyba. I came across events where Ledyba were engaged in using their Reflect ability for various goals, like redirecting as much water from the fast-flowing stream as they could, or to corral a group of rambunctious Ledyba that couldn't have been more than a week or two old. I saw other events designed to test the flying capabilities of individuals - who could be the first to get from one end of the Great Swarm to the other, or who could do it while carrying the most berries or young Ledyba, or who could navigate an obstacle course made up of stationary Ledyba holding various cloth flags. That one was particularly interesting, since I didn't understand what the flags meant at first, but I gradually realized that the racer was meant to pass one color on the left and the other on the right.

Participants would be given small bits of cloth depending on how well they did, or even a special berry if they managed to finish in a certain time. I also noticed other observers at the events, older Ledyba who seemed more interested in the contestants than in the races, and who would often approach a skilled participant after an event. I wasn't sure what their conversation involved, but I suspected it was similar to the conversation I had held with the berry vendors - an invitation to visit their swarm, or join it.

I considered trying out one of the races... but I flew above an even better event while I was considering it.

Nearer to the center of the Great Swarm a field had been surrounded by a large rope. It made a rough circle, and inside two Ledyba fought each other. There seemed to be rules of some kind, but I didn't really grasp them - all I cared about were the punches being thrown back and forth by the two Ledyba in the ring.

The crowd was mostly made up of guys, and they made space for me as I landed and shoved towards the edge of the ring. There were a few other women there, including an older Ledyba I recognized from my own swarm, but they all seemed bored and unhappy, as if they were only there as some kind of punishment. I ignored them after a quick glance and focused on the fighting in the center.

The two combatants were good. They bobbed up and down in between flurries of punches with obvious skill, though it was just as obvious that the individual punches were fairly weak. The smell of excitement grew from the crowd as the fight went on, especially after a particularly well-aimed punch left the opponent staggering.

It was a lot of fun to watch, though I kept imagining what it would be like to be in the ring and throwing punches of my own. I noticed groups of Ledyba in the audience would cheer or boo when things went well or poorly for one of the fighters, and realized they must be there to encourage somebody from their swarm, but I didn't know either of them enough to feel like cheering. I was just excited to see the fighting.

The fight ended suddenly, with one combatant delivering a series of blows to the other Ledyba's back, driving into the tougher shell and slamming him into the ground. The crowd booed and cheered, but the fallen Ledyba didn't get up. Instead his legs just fell out from beneath him and sprawled to the side in exhaustion. Another Ledyba - this one wearing a green cloth around one arm - flew into the ring and held up an arm of the victorious fighter. Cheers erupted from the crowd, with a few Ledyba even jumping up and down in excitement. One of the women just yawned, but they all seemed to take note of the Ledyba that had won.

I knew the fight was over, but I wanted to fight too. I flew forward into the ring, pausing before the two standing Ledyba. "That was awesome! I wanna try too; can I go next?"

The Ledyba with the green cloth just blinked at me and started to point off in another direction, but the victorious Ledyba answered first - by laughing. "You? You want to fight me? You're just a nestling! It wouldn't even be a fight, and I'm not a nursemaid. If you want a spanking that badly, go tell your Matriarch you've stolen berries and she'll have somebody else whoop you; I'm here for real fighters. Go back home and maybe come back in a few years when you're old enough."

The crowd around me started laughing, and I felt my blood grow hot at their jeering. I looked back at the winner of the fight, and instead of seeing a potential hero, or a fun combatant, I saw every one of the patrolling Ledyba from my own swarm that would tell me to go back to the nest and practice my reflects.

And there was only one response to that.

I don't think he expected it at all, and he definitely didn't expect it to be as strong as it was. My punch landed right in his face and knocked him back onto his shell. His arms flailed in the air in surprise as the crowd around me went silent. I felt the weight of the bored Ledyba's eyes suddenly on me, taking a sudden interest... and I saw them look back at the Ledyba on the ground with a new calculation in their eyes.

The Ledyba with the green cloth smirked at me, as if sharing some joke that I didn't get, and pointed again. "You can sign up with the Ledyba there; just look for somebody in a green band like this one."

I glanced around at the crowd but was still too disgusted at the way the victorious Ledyba had treated me. "Never mind. I changed my mind."

I didn't wait for the Ledyba to reply before I jumped in the air and flew away from the ring, seeking something less upsetting to do instead.

I wandered around for a little bit, but nothing else caught my eye. Everything seemed to be winding down for the day as the stars grew dimmer overhead. Eventually light from the sun started to peek over the horizon, and I followed the scents back towards my swarm to settle in for a good day's sleep.

---

The Matriarch sighed as her lieutenants droned on with reports. A few nestlings were interested in the food they had brought to the Great Swarm, but none of any particular note. If they were short on bodies by the end they could recruit one or two, but otherwise they weren't very interested. Several fast fliers had been revealed in the competitions before they had arrived, but most of those had already been wooed by other swarms. Nobody had shown any particular skill with Reflect, but they weren't in any particular need in that area. They really needed a good forager; their island wasn't the biggest one out there, but it was still pretty sizeable, and flying from one end of the island to the other could be a three or four day task. Somebody who was strong enough to carry back a lot of berries at once, or who could sniff out where they were; those were the Ledyba she was interested in. And the male she had assigned to watch the races had come up empty - it was still early in the Great Swarm, but they were a remote swarm and there usually weren't any other swarms that would arrive after theirs did.

She looked back around her lieutenants and noticed a bored Ledyba near the back. Oh - the one assigned to watch the fights. She hadn't gotten a report on that yet, and they were doing okay on guards, but it wouldn't hurt to hear if anything interesting had occurred. Though it probably hadn't - the fights were usually boring ones that just interested males, though she had to admit that she enjoyed watching them too. She would have liked to watch them herself, or even compete in it, but her duties as Matriarch never allowed her to do either. She had made the mistake of assigning males to watch the fights at first, as every young Matriarch tends to do, but quickly stopped when she realized it was impossible to get good reports out of them. They were just too excited about the events and were easily biased by things that didn't mean much in regards to the competitor's fitness as a candidate for their swarm - so she had ended up following the time honored tradition of giving it to a female Ledyba who had done the worst job the preceding year. She motioned towards that Ledyba with lazy motion. "What about the fighting ring?"

That Ledyba jerked, as if she had been falling asleep, and shook her head. "N-nothing too exciting. About what we'd usually expect; none of the fights today had any particularly strong or resilient fighters."

The Matriarch sighed and started to move on - she hadn't hoped for much, but pulling in a strong fighter this year could give her leverage at next year's Great Swarm when he grew bored and wanted to join a swarm with Ledyba she did need - but the Ledyba suddenly giggled. "Oh! I almost forgot - there was a pretty good fighter near the beginning; he was on a winning streak until one of our nestlings flew up and knocked him out while the referee was in the middle of declaring his victory. It was the best part of the show; you should have seen his face."

The Matriarch snapped back around to look at her lieutenant, suddenly calculating. "Which nestling?"

The Ledyba's grin vanished under the Matriarch's intensity, and she tried to remember. "Uhhh... the five-moon old one, the one that keeps sneaking out and ignoring her practices."

The Matriarch grinned. That was good news indeed - she knew about that particular nestling; a problem child, but one who admittedly had developed quite a strong punch from all her truancies. The nature of the swarm society made it very difficult to know whose child a particular nestling was... but the Matriarch had recognized a lot of her own youthful tendencies in that nestling, and suspected she might be her daughter. That's why she hadn't come down too hard when she learned of a nestling wandering around and scaring the patrols - it had been too easy to remember her own boredom at practicing reflections for endless hours, and the excitement of exploring the forest and seeing all the new surprises it held. And she knew what kind of experience and strength that would give to a young Ledyba. Regardless of any relationship to the Matriarch, that nestling had the willpower to become a Matriarch herself one day, if she ended up growing wise enough.

The other swarms would only hear that a fighter had been knocked out by a nestling and dismiss him entirely, without realizing that a fighter had been doing well until a strong nestling had clocked him. He wouldn't have any luck getting into another swarm this year, so she could get him to join her swarm with a minimum of effort and haggling. She might even manage to unload a few of her problems onto his swarm if she played things right, as compensation for taking somebody that would now be viewed as an embarrassment. "Excellent. Go find his swarm tomorrow and give me a report on it, and what they might be looking for, but don't seem too interested - pick four or five other swarms to check out too, and give me a report on all of them. We might be able to pick up a strong guard this year. If nothing else I bet he'll be able to carry a lot of berries, but he might even be able to help better train our own foragers and guards. It's not our primary goal this year, but it would be nice if we can take him with us when we leave." She paused as she mulled over a few extra thoughts, then nodded at her lieutenant.

"Good work. Make sure that nestling has the day off tomorrow night too; maybe we'll get lucky and she'll scrounge up some other potentials for us. Give her a pass for outside the dome too; who knows where she'll pay off at."

The Ledyba blinked in surprise at the praise, but nodded. "Should I give her any special chores?"

"Just to be herself. That's already done enough, and I suspect she'll be more use if we don't give her commands to ignore." The Matriarch looked back around her lieutenants, looking for the next report. What was it? Oh. Competition on berry stalls. She sighed, and prepared for the rest of the late morning meeting.