...

The purple serpentine creature is heading towards the egg with a salivating look on its face. Everyone here, including the spectators, knows the snake is going for it.

The snake looks quite similar to a rattlesnake commonly found in the Americas except for its coloring.

Aside from its purple skin, its eyes, underbelly, the thick stripe around its neck, and rattle are yellow.

But on the other hand, Rosa sees no visible teeth inside its mouth, so she can conclude that its bites are not venomous yet.

'Based on its size, it must be a young creature just out of its offspring stage,' she added after scrutinizing the snake.

While a snake can flick its tongue out to detect danger or the scent of its prey, it appears that its attention was fully occupied on the egg sitting under the tree opening.

They are quite lucky in this regard.

"Beautifly, we need to rescue that egg from that snake. Are you okay with this?" Rosa murmured while sneaking closer towards the tree.

"Bree!"

"Great. Now we just need to wait for the right moment to strike," Rosa replied after hearing Beautifly's agreement.

...

A few minutes after, a human and a butterfly stood behind a thick bush as cover while holding their breath.

They were waiting for the snake to drop its guard when it was going for the egg.

...

Ekans slithered on the grass stealthily, leaving no trails behind it as it moved towards the egg.

He just woke up after a nice long sleep. Usually, he goes out to explore the woods while looking for food to fill his belly.

Small birds and the like are his usual prey. Sometimes he goes fishing in the river if the current is weak enough to swim. Only during a worst-case scenario, he has to snack on the berries growing in the woods.

In fact, it is pretty tasty if he has to say something about it, not that he will never admit it out loud. He is not one of those chipmunks!

'I'm a snake! Like my father and his father before me, we will never admit that!'

It's a routine by this point. Every day, he will go out to find some food, then return to his nest and sleep right off the bat.

To his surprise, he found something new today just after slithering out of his nest.

It looks so round, so white, so... so delicious.

At first, he surveyed the surrounding area several times before finally determining that the egg in front of him was ownerless.

Poor egg, its parents must have had some accident. But, don't worry, you will be joining them soon too.

Muahaha!

Hahahaha!

Cough!

Ehem!

Anyway, not wasting this good fortune, he moved quickly towards the tree while fantasizing about the exquisite taste of the egg in his mind.

The savory and softness of the egg white, the mildly sweet and creamy yolk.

"Beautifly attack that slimy snake now!" Then, a loud sound appeared out of thin air.

"?"

Turning his head towards where the sound came from, he was unexpectedly met with white strings that were moving right to his face.

"Ack!"

...

'This snake is slightly out of its minds,' This thought appeared in both of their minds while watching the snake laughing crazily by itself.

Rosa and Beautifly are only a few meters away from the egg's location.

They had been waiting for this moment for quite some time.

'Now!' Rosa determined.

"Beautifly attack that slimy snake now!" Rosa shouted, instructing Beautifly to ambush the snake while hoping that the snake would be distracted by her sudden loud voice.

"Bree!"

Many white strings shot out from its abdomen and flew off towards the enemy's eyes, attempting to obstruct its vision.

It's a success!

The strings managed to stick on its face.

After that, it rolled on the ground, trying to remove the string from its eyes. While it was struggling, it fired off from a few poison barbs its mouth towards Beautifly based on the scent it sensed by its tongue.

The stingers missed the target by a large margin and went on to hit the tree behind it.

Sss~

"Beautifly, don't get close to it!" Rosa said worriedly after seeing the effect of the snake's stingers on the tree, corroding it slightly.

"Bree!" It replied positively.

Next, a gust of strong winds was whipped up by its wings and launched towards the opponent who had succeeded in removing the strings from its face.

...

'Hah! Finally, I managed to remove these pesky strings. That butterfly is going to get it soon,' Ekans snorted disdainfully.

Just as he turned his head towards his ambushers, he was struck by a whirlwind, courtesy of Beautifly.

"Nani!"

His body was sucked into it and whirled around wildly before soaring off into the sky.

'Ekans is blasting off!'

Twinkle~

(AN: Good times.)

...

"Did that snake say, Nani? Rosa asked Beautifly, who was hovering beside her while watching the snake disappear towards the horizon.

"Bree!" It replied as if it was saying 'anime logic' shruggingly.

'Did it just shrug its wings?' Rosa thought in confusion.

She shook her head, clearing these inexplicable questions out of her mind.

Walking towards the tree opening, she then crawled inside it and took out a half-meter tall egg into her embrace.

"Wow!" Everyone watched the egg, gaped with wonder.

"We did it Beautifly! We saved the egg!" Rosa said exuberantly.

"Bree!"

[That's a huge egg. Is that an egg of a beast? What do you guys think will hatch from it?]

[Slurrp. Yeah, so big, so creamy, so delicious.]

[Hello? Why is there no one asking about that snake who was blasted to the sky?]

[Nah, man, I'm not going there. Nope.]

...

Timburr is walking towards the brown creature sitting alone by the riverside.

On his right hand, he is carrying his trusty tree log. It's one of the best he found long before he met Edward.

It was from an ancient tree struck by lightning and caught fire for seven days and seven nights before it crumbled, revealing the tree core inside. After that, it was bathed in the lake created by the legendary beast, instilling its aura inside it.

And lo and behold, the Samsara Lightning Wood!

'All hail the mighty log, Amen.'

It nodded to itself.

His step is purposeful with a clear intention on his goals.

Yes, right now, the key to his salvation is resting on that plump mouse.

In particular, those big ass teeth are the reason they caught his eyes.

...

"Psst! Bro! Hey! I need your help with something!"

"Go away, don't bother me. Can't you see I'm busy?" The mouse replied annoyingly.

"Don't be like that, bro! Look here. I can pay you for this. I need your expertise on something."

He sneakily took out a bag of Pokemon food from his back and showed it to him while glancing around the surroundings in case Edward and the others returned.

He twitched his head in annoyance and stopped his work.

"First, I'm not your bro. Second, I do not take any commission... What's that in your hand?" Just as he is about to chase away this brute who disturbed him working, his nose caught a whiff of a delicious smell emanating from the stranger's hand.

"It's the food created by my Edward. Just don't tell him that you got it from me because I stole it from him." Timburr whispered into his ears.

He took a few pieces from his hand and threw them into his mouth. Then, it nodded in consent after tasting the food offered by the stranger.

"Alright, you have a deal."

"Great, I need you to help me make this thinner." After hearing his agreement, he placed the log on the ground and showed it to him.

"Is this the legendary wood struck by lightning?"

...

"Hyah!"

A figure stood on top of a rock in the middle of the river, swinging his staff around his body nimbly.

Suddenly, he jumped off the rock and slammed the staff on the surface of the water, creating a large splash of water around him.

"This is great!" Timburr yelled excitedly, examining the staff that the mouse had made from his tree log.

"Timburr! Where are you?" Rosa's voice came from the camp looking for him.

'Oops. I better get back to the camp quickly.'