Never too old. [F]

[Tarlar]

"How are you doing Cyan?" Ella called out to the mudkip, who had stopped running around and was rubbing his eyes again.
"My eyes hurt," he sniffed.
"At least he is not wailing anymore," Janus commented and Ella sighed.
"Be ready to jump in, I'll better relieve him a bit," Ella said to Janus, before she walked forward and called out to Cyan. "Come over here Cyan, you have done a great job."
He stumbled over to her, and she pushed him gently in the direction of Janus. "I'll clean your eyes as soon as I have made the pidgey pay a bit for what it has done to you," she told him gently before she turned to the pidgey, that she was ready for whatever it had in mind for her. She couldn't chase it around, so she would wait her time and try hit it with one of her hands, she wouldn't risk knocking it out, so better use her weak arms so she wouldn't hit that hard.
"Wasn't that fun?" Janus asked Cyan, who tried to look skeptically at the joltik, but found it difficult with such irritated eyes.

"I see," Astrid said thoughtfully and felt a bit sad that Mikey hadn't thought much about it and that his parents hadn't interfered. They were probably that kind of parents, who thought that the boy's pokemon was just a toy, and not something they should take serious. They often forgot that as long as the kids were so young, the pokemon were their responsebility as well, and they needed to take care of any problems that appeared, even if it was just squabbling low leveled ones.
"Are there any times, where they are arguing more than others?" She then asked him, she couldn't keep her mouth shut.
"I would like to help you, if you want it. Wouldn't it be nice if your pokemon became friends instead of bullying each other all the time?" She asked Mikey with a smile, as she tried persuade him.
She expected it to be like when children were teasing each other, and if she could figure out how to raise her own sons, then a pair of small pokemon couldn't be much more difficult, right?

Behind them all, inside Astrid's trolley, something started to move as it wanted to get out. For now none of them had noticed as they were too occupied with other stuff.

(ooc: Ella switches in and uses pound.
wordcount: +400 = 4000/4000 EGG HATCH! )

[Thirdie]

Mikey seemed to ponder Astrid's question for a good while. So long actually, that she even managed to put in her offer to help, before he opened his mouth. "Oh, would you?" he exclaimed, and smiled with hope shining in his eyes. The old lady would be a real life saver, if she could help him with his trouble, and make Spaghetti and Ravioli friends instead. He hadn't thought anything could be done about their quarreling, and had stuck to just trying to discourage the behaviour, hoping it would pass. However, if another solution could be found, he was more than happy to try. "I would love if they could be friends faster." He went on, and then sincerely tried to answer her question, temporarily forgetting the battle. "I don't know if there're times when they fight more than others. It's just like Ravioli can't stand the sight of Spaghetti, and always attacks him, especially when he's weak from battling. And Spaghetti talks a lot at Ravioli, when I'm holding one of them."

Ravioli shook his feathers, too busy with what Cyan and Ella was up to, to listen to Mikey's blabber. He hopped around on the ground, and when Ella crawled out to him, he immediately kicked up even more sand. Mikey hadn't said anything, but Ravioli was proud to think for himself and show how good he was. The action got Mikey's attention, and soon a new shouted order filled the air. "Alright! Give it a Tackle!" Ravioli huffed. Of course it had been his intention all along. He beat with his wings to pick up speed, closing in on Ella. She had some trouble with the sand, he had kicked up, and he opted to stay away from the small hand she was swinging around. He reached her and managed to puff her to the ground, but somehow he didn't really dare to go full force.

~~
Meanwhile, the moving something on the trolley made a continous cracking, and if anyone cared to look, a sudden glimpse of light gave a short burst along with a jerk that rattled the entire trolley once. Then it was over, and a small set of horns peaked out from hiding.

---

Trainer Battle

Mikey's Ravioli♂ |level 5|
HP: 13/20 (spd 12)
Status: Normal (-4 att)
Used Sand Attack, then Tackle.

Astrid's Ella♀ |level 8|
HP: 18/27 (spd 18)
Status: Normal (-1 acc (3/4))
Changed in. Used Pound but missed!

A Skiddo hatched from the egg!
Please fill out its information

[img alt=" " src="http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s480/Thirdmindsif/Her%20er%20Lukas/Pokemon%20sprites/Pokemon%20sprites6/672%20-%20Skiddo.png"]
[b]Skiddo[/b]
Name: ??
Gender: ??
Level: 1
Moves: Tackle, Growth
Ability: Sap Sipper
Nature/Personality: ??

(Ooc: As I have been made aware, stats go back to normal when changing out, so this has been edited(21/12).)

[Tarlar]

Astrid smiled fondly when Mikey excited expressed his happiness, that was what she liked most with children, they were so honest in how they felt and they were always eager to show gratitude. It was refreshing with one who accepted help so happily, as most adults tended to be too proud or ashamed over their own limitations. Including herself, she had to admit though she herself thought she had become better in her older days.
She frowned when Mikey told her, he had no idea what so ever what the problem was, and she mentally scolded his parents for not keeping an eye on them and try solve the problem while the pokemon was still small.
She had had several of cases where children had been injured because pokemon had snapped or hadn't had any proper training before evolving and then went out of control.

Mikey's lack of knowledge about his own pokemon's behavior, reminded her on how much some of her colleages had hated to work with children. They often thought differently than adults, not always so logically so it could be a challenge to get the answers you needed out of them.
As children often had noticed other things or were made weird connections, Astrid herself found it funny to work with them and didn't mind the extra work they were.
In this case it was a huge problem though, since if Mikey didn't know anything about his pokemon and since his parents obviously didn't cared, she had to turn to the pokemon, but how did you do that?
She knew a lot of the police investigators had interviewed pokemon in cases where they were witnesses or a part of the crime, but she hadn't been at those and had no idea how they did it.
She looked at Ella who was facing Ravioli now. She could probably have gotten help from her, but she was too busy now.

Ella felt tired into the bones and though it disappointed and worried her that she missed the pidgey, she wasn't surprised. At least all Cyan's whining made it look down on her too so it didn't use full strength on her. She wouldn't be able to endure that for long.
"Was that on purpose?" Janus called out to her and she sighed a bit annoyed.
"Give me a chance please, I can't remember when I last battled and honestly I don't enjoy it," she answered him.
"Your last battle was against the rattata called Spaghetti," Janus imformed her helpfully and Ella sighed again.
The froakie gestured to the pidgey, "Let's continue," she told it and tried to focus on where it would be going, so she could hopefully hit it with her paw.

Astrid was glancing to the dark clouds above her head as she wondered if she could find a solution before the clouds would open up and try soak the land. She would prefer to be inside when that happened.
She did not see the little head peeking out from it, but she noticed when when her trolley fell and looked stunned at the blanket containing the egg rolled out. A brown head with horns and green leaves around its neck fought to get out of its second protective (and soft and very much destroyed) shell.
"Yakul," Astrid gasped and forgot everything about Mikey and the battle as old memories smacked her in the face with the sight of the skiddo.
The species had been the main character in a children's book she had read numerous of time for first her own sons and later for Aglaia and Dorthea.

The little skiddo placed a hoof on a part of the blanket and the pushed against the cloth, ripping it apart, she made a few jolly funny hops from happiness as her hooves touched the grass. The skiddo looked around with gleaming eyes, taking in the nature around her and made a few more happy hopping as she readied herself to race off to investigate it all.
The skiddo stopped abruptly as a hand was placed on her horn, and she turned her head to look at the old woman beside her, her bright eyes locked with the old human's experienced ones.
"Yakul," Astrid whispered with a smile and tears in her eyes, and the skiddo relaxed under the woman's hand as she gave in for Astrid's wishes. This woman needed her, that was for sure.
Yakul bleated happily back to her new trainer and accepted being caught without any protests. Astrid called her out shortly after, and the skiddo hopped around, tasting gras and leaves which was interrupted with her outburst of racing and leaping around in joy.

---

Skiddo
Name: Yakul
Gender: Female
Level: 1
Moves: Tackle, Growth
Ability: Sap Sipper
Nature/Personality: Bold. Lives in the present and doesn't worry much about past or future. She is wary of anything dangerous but doesn't back down if she needs to face it, though she will try keep a healthy distance. Since Astrid touched her horns for the first time and she saw her honest heart and weaknesses due to her old age, she had appointed herself as her protector.

(ooc: selfupdated Yakul and Ella attempts another pound)

[Thirdie]

Mikey's attention was back on the battle, and he quivered with excitement, as he felt sure Ravioli had the upper hand. The blue frog hadn't even hit Ravioli. "Alright! We'll finish this quickly, and then we figure out how to make you friends. Another Tackle, Ravioli!" Mikey hit a fist to the air in a jump, and watched the battling Pokemon.

Ravioli puffed up his feathers at Mikey's confidence, and ran forward, not even bothering with taking to the air. His overconfidence was his downfall though, as Ella's attempt to foresee his whereabouts paid off, and he ran straight into her paw. He squaked and landed on his back, unable to stop his feet's momentum, and unable to get his head passed the outstretched limb. He blinked once, and then jumped up, pushing Ella away from him. She didn't seem to budge much though, and he retreated in frustration. The froakie felt more and more like an unmovable wall.

Mikey watched this, but didn't notice his Pidgey's trouble, and as a new thought hit him, he looked to Astrid with a question. "How are we going to find out, what's wrong?" At that moment Astrid was preoccupied with something new, and Mikey looked in awe at the new creature, that graced their presence. "Wow! What's that?" He had never seen or heard about Skiddo before. It was pretty obvious he didn't know the children's book, Astrid thought about.

---

Trainer Battle

Mikey's Ravioli♂ |level 5|
HP: 6/20 (spd 12)
Status: Normal (-4 att)
Used Tackle.

Astrid's Ella♀ |level 8|
HP: 17/27 (spd 18)
Status: Normal (-1 acc (3/4))
Used Pound.

(Ooc: I'm letting the weather be at the moment, since I remember reading somewhere, that the weather only changes with a new thread. If this isn't the case, I'll let it be up to the next mod post to change the weather at will.)

[Tarlar]

To Ella's relief Ravioli began to be overconfident which would make him careless and more prone to make mistakes. How confident he had become was still a surprise for old Ella, as he didn't even took to the sky but instead chose to run straight at her. She more or less only had to raise her paw and let him run into it, though it wasn't until he had actually done that, that she dared to believe he wasn't going to trick her somehow.
She looked puzzled at the pidgey and her surprise didn't became smaller when he tried to push her away really weakly.
It took her few more moments before she managed to pull herself together, she wasn't used to be the strong one, and realize now was the perfect time for Janus to get some experience.
"Janus, are you ready?" She called over her should while she kept an eye on Ravioli.
"Is it now?" The joltik asked surprised though he had waited impatiently for a while now, it was hard to believe it really was his turn now and that he should learn a lot from it. He had followed the preparations closely, but until he had seen (or rather experienced) the result, before he wanted to see it as something that would work.
"Come one, I don't think we find a better time than now," Ella said happily as she was now hopefully done with battling for today.
Without saying another word Janus raced throught he grass, excited he now wasn't only going to face a bird, but was actually going to try take it down too! Out there he hesitated for a momen, unsure of what to do first, leaving himself open for an attack, but then he would pursuit Ravioli until he hit him.

Ella hurried back to Cyan to help him wash his eyes clean for sand, but she paused surprised when she looked back at Astrid.
"Who's that with Astrid?" Ella asked and Cyna looked around confused.
"Who? Where?" He asked as he tried to see with his irritated eyes.
"Oh sorry, let me help you first," Ella said apoligizing and gently started to clean his eyes with a very soft bubble attack.

Astrid looked surprised at Mikey. "Don't you know the stories about Yakul? Or Yakkuru as some are calling him, didn't you mother read you those stories? Yakul and the Very Tall Grass, Yakul and The Hunt For Sunflora. My own children and grandchildren loved them and wanted to hear them all the time." Ella explained puzzled, she had thought everyone was reading those books for their children.
"I am pretty sure his species is called skiddo, if that is what you want to know?" She asked Mikey, before going back to his earlier question.
"As for solving your problem, I don't know how I could talk wiht a pokemon and understand their answers," she said honestly and half hoped Mikey could come with some obvious answer to that problem.
"If not, I can try see if Ella could help. Would Spaghetti be able to talk with her?" She asked.

(ooc: That is correct, weather only changes outside of battles, my hints is because I expect it to start raining as soon as this battle ends ^^)

[Thirdie]

Ravioli shook his head when Janus took Ellas spot. All that changing around the strangers did confused and frustated him to no end. He was tired and wanted to be done with this. Janus looked small and weak though, and he took his frustation and threw it into another attack, completely ignoring if Mikey had any say on the matter. Mikey was busy with the old lady anyway. Ravioli flapped his wings and puffed the small bug to the side once, and when Janus didn't react immediately, Ravioli gave him another push. He was tempted to try and eat the bug, but he could always make an attempt, when he had won.

Finally, Janus got his bearings, and as Ravioli tried to get a little distance to him, Janus ran after, stabbing at the bird's exposed feet. Ravioli screeched and stumbled to the ground looking back in surprise at the small yellow spider. How had that happened?

~~
Mikey looked equally puzzled, as Astrid told about the stories she had read aloud to her children and grandchildren, and he shook his head in the negative. He thought about mentioning the stories he actual knew, but they were just ordinary boring ones about Pidgeys and Rattatas and Caterpie growing into a beautiful Butterfree. He was happy for a name to the species though, and said thank you. "Well, I've taught Spaghetti and Ravioli both to say yes and no. Would that help?" He asked. Never as soon had Astrid made the suggestion of having Ella have a talk with Spaghetti, that something flapped its wings above their heads, and a few snow flakes fell from the sky. Mikey looked up, his face one of awe. The next moment two finely wrapped presents dropped down in front of them, and Mikey jumped for the closest one with a scream of joy. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Delibird!" Mikey ripped at the paper, but spared enough time to tell Astrid the second present was probably to her, if she hadn't pick it up already.
It turned out Mikey's present held a nice wooly shirt with a picture of a Rattata and Pidgey playing in the snow. Astrid's would reveal 3 Rare Candies. Mikey pulled the shirt over his head, and admired the illustration for a moment, before he returned to their conversation. He looked to the battling Ravioli before he carefully found Spaghetti's ball. "We could try, but can we hide it a bit for Ravioli. He is very jalous when in the middle of a battle."

---

Trainer Battle

Mikey's Ravioli♂ |level 5|
HP: 3/20 (spd 12)
Status: Normal (-4 att)
Used Tackle 2 times

Astrid's Janus♂ |level 3|
HP: 9/16 (spd 9)
Status: Normal
Changed in. Used pursuit

The holiday Delibird paid a visit and delivered a gift!
It contained x3

(Ooc: Unfortunately, I'm not able to update your inventory)

TIKI: editing to say that Rane updated this, before we have any confusion

[Tarlar]

Janus knew he was not strong, but his first meeting with the big bird made him realize just how weak his little size made him. He had seen birds through the window but had never had any reason to fear them as he had been safe and sound inside Astrid's house, but know he understood why he had always been a bit wary of the feathered pokemon. Didn't it look a bit hungry too?
He was easily swept aside by Ravioli, but as it didn't hurt much he was quickly back on his feet and continued to pursuit the pidgey.
He didn't know what else to do, or how to avoid getting hit himself. He was so small that if he tried to jump away, he would more or less still be in the same spot.

~~~

It was a shame Mikey didn't tell her about the stories he had been told, Astrid would have loved to hear the ones about rattatas and pidgeys who could turn into butterfrees. Her own children and grandchildren were too old to be interested in such stories now, but perhaps she would be lucky to get grand-grandchildren at some point. Who knew?

"You have done that? What a good idea, I'm sure that will come in handy!" Astrid said impressed and felt it would be much easier to help the youngster, if his pokemon wanted to listen to her and they could figure out to ask the right questions.
"Don't you think it is possible to talk to Spaghetti while Ravioli is occupied with Janus? If it looks like it is going to be a prroblem, we just wait until the battle is over," Astrid glanced at the sky again, "but I would prefer if we didn't waste too much time here. It looks like it is soon going to start raining."

She was about to go around the battling pokemon and join Mikey when snow started to fall. With a worried look on her face she pulled her raincoat tighter around her body and looked up, missing the gift that was thrown down beside her. Was it going to snow now? That would force her to go back and ask for shelter until the weather turned better. If it was really bad, she would have to wait continuing her journey until the weather turned to something better. She couldn't risk being caught in a snowstorm.
"What gift?" Astrid asked when Mikey pointed out "the other" probably was hers. A ripping sound make her look down.
"Yakul, stop!" She exclaimed and pushed her away from the present left behind by the delibird. The skiddo was happily munching away on the part of the wrapping and box, she had ripped off the colorful present.
Astrid peeked inside and found three pieces of candy, which she absentminded put in her pocket, she rarely ate candy, and she placed the box further away from Yakul.
"Don't eat it!" She told her and turned her attention back to Mikey. Yakul sneaked forward and carefully pulled the box with her a bit away from Astrid, before she started to eat the rest of it too.
"How do you want to hide it? Won't it just look suspiciously if we're turning our back to them?" Astrid asked a bit confused, why so secretive?
"How does Ravioli become jealous? Does he want your attention all the time?"

[Thirdie]

Mikey had smiled at the praise of teaching his Pokemon something useful, and listened thoughtfully to Astrid's concerns about the weather and his battling Pokemon. He shook his head regretfully, and explained. "Ravioli doesn't like Spaghetti anywhere near his battle. He doesn't say much if I'm a bit occupied with other stuff, but if I take Spaghetti out for something, he attacks Spaghetti instead of his opponent." He was just about to tell her his plan of how to hide Spaghetti from view, when the thing turned out to be a mood point.

Janus and Ravioli had battled on without caring for any interruptions. Ravioli blowing Janus to the ground once more, when he decided he didn't want the bug to sting his feet again. It didn't help much though, as Janus was soon up and running, and his next attack got Ravioli to stumble and fall right into stone hidden in the grass. Ravioli was out for the count, and janus could take a break.

Mikey had an ear for fainting Pokemon, and he turned his head, when Ravioli sank to the floor. "Oh, Ravioli! You were doing so good!" Mikey cried out, and ran to call him back. he was obviously upset, but not more that he couldn't return a few moments later with Ravioli safe in his ball. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. Your Pokemon wore him out. He'll be resting for while now." he concluded and offered the payment for a good battle, all of 300. Then he looked to the sky too, and wrinkled his nose. "One of my friends has a shelter not far from here. He uses it, when he's out looking for bugs on rainy days." He offered as a way for them to stay dry even if the rain started up.
If Astrid took the offer, Mikey would help gather her things, and they could even let Ella and Spaghetti talk, while they walked there, as he had let Spaghetti out first thing.

---

Trainer Battle

Mikey's Ravioli♂ |level 5|
HP: 0/20 (spd 12)
Status: Normal (-4 att)
Used Tackle

Astrid's Janus♂ |level 3|
HP: 5/16 (spd 9)
Status: Normal
Used pursuit

Janus won and gains 3 levels. He is now level 6!
He can learn Thunder wave. Do you want him to forget something else?

Ella helped and grows to level 9!

Cyan helped and grows to level 8!

Astrid won 300 from Mikey

TIKI updated

[Tarlar]

Ella concentrated on Cyan's poor irritated eyes and carefully washed them clean for all grit she could find, until he declared that his eyes didn't hurt anymore. They were of course still a bit irritated, but the feeling og something in them was gone.
It was just in time for the mudkip to see Janus win his battle, though the joltik didn't belived it until Cyan started to cheer him.
"You did it! You beat it, yaaaay!" He shouted excited, happy that someone taught the sand-throwing pokemon a lesson or two.
"Well done," Ella praised him and smiled proudly to him. She was proud that her plan for both giving Janus some well needed experience, as well as giving Cyan a bit more courage to fight, had succeeded.
Janus looked wondering at them as Cyan ran to him and jumped around him playfully, Ella stayed back and turn to join Astrid a moment later. She wanted to learn who this new green, horned pokemon was.
"You are really happy I won the battle, why?" Janus asked Cyan curiously and the mudkip stopped to look surprised at him, "aren't you happy tou won?" Cyan asked back.
Janus thought about it for a moment, "I'm happy I wasn't eaten, it looked hungry, but I'm not excited about it like you. I didn't do much after all," Janus explained as he looked wondering at the mudkip. Cyan looked weird at him for long moment and then started to try explain to the joltik why it was so good, he had beaten the bird and why himself was happy.

"Hi," Ella greeted the skiddo friendly, and she looked up from the half-eaten box to look at her. She stretched her neck to take a few careful sniff, "Hi, who are you?" Yakul asked innocently and Ella smiled varmly, as she sounded like a child.
"My name is Ella, I'm a froakie and with the human behind you. Who are you?" Ella said kindly and patiently.
The skiddo looked from Ella to Astrid a few times, before she made a few happy jumps, lost her balance and rolled over in the grass. She was quickly back on her feet and look at Ella with shining eyes.
"Me too! That is so fun!" She exclaimed and forgot to present herself.

"Ella?" Astrid asked quietly and the froakie didn't get time to ask Yakul anymore questions. Astrid looked after Mikey as he ran to his pidgey and picked him up, before recalling him. She didn't really felt happy that her pokemon had managed to win the battle over the child, but there was little she could do about it, and she didn't think it would have been fair to either Mikey or her own pokemon to let him win on purpose.
"Froa?" Ella asked and Astrid returned from her thoughts.
"Oh, yes. Mikey has some problems with his pokemon attacking each other, I was hoping you might be able to help me figure out what the problem is?" Astrid asked just as a few heavy raindrops started to fall.
Ella looked surprised at her, was she going to try help another human train his pokemon?!

Hadn't it started to rain and hadn't Astrid heard about trainers paying each other after a battle, she would have refused to accept them as she was sure it was his only money and he was a child after all.
The cold rain made her nervous though and she absentminded took them at put them into her pocket with the plan of giving it back to him at some point.
"A shelter would be good, or else I have to get to the nearest town as fast as possible," she said worried as she pulled her raincoat closer to her body, wasn't it getting really cold too?
"Or else I fear I may have to cancel my journey before time," she continued and Ella looked worried at her. She liked what she had experienced with the old woman so far, and she would hate for the Astrid to give up, which would probably sent her on to another trainer.
"Please, show the way, and quickly," Astrid said urgently and Ella called for Cyan and Janus, so that they weren't going to be accidently left behind.

(ooc: wanted to chose the move Janus should forget for Thunderwave, but you have already updated it for me )

[Tiki]

As Mikey and the old woman, Astrid, continued to the shelter, the two were rushed by the impending rain that was teasing them. It was a few, light drops from the sky. One or two fell on Astrid, then one or two on Mikey, and then more than two fell on the scenery that they're trying to hide from. The (brisk) walk to the shelter took about three minutes to get, which was plenty enough until the rain start to pour-- thirty seconds after they went inside.

When they arrive, it wasnt a surprise that Mikey's bug catcher friend is here, too. He greeted the two with a friendly smile, "Hi, Mikey and Ma'am. You made it before the rain!" After Mikey had introduced Astrid and the bug catcher with each other, he went to show the shirt he got from the purple Delibird. The bug catcher replied, "Ooh! Nice! The Delibird gave me a new hat for bug catching! It says it's more rain resistant too! So, how is your Pokemon? I remember you told me that they were fighting. I ask my mama and she said that maybe they feel jealous of each other, and that maybe you need to show them equal amount of love."

"Really? I give them food when it's meal time..." the naive Mikey replied.

"No, my mama said love. Food by itself isn't love," the bug catcher hissed.

"Then How do I do that?"

"I don't know, my mama said that I did something right because my Caterpie and Weedle don't fight."

As the rain continued to pour outside, it can be seen that the two bug type Pokemon were sleeping next to each other, on a leafy bed that the bug catcher kid built. Mikey watched, trying to figure out how to make his Pokemon become friends.

"Maybe I could sleep with both of them at night?"

"Maybe you can try that?"

The two children weren't exactly sure if that would be the solution, but Mikey did say that his rattata likes to sleep on his bed at night. Perhaps, the older woman would be more experienced with this?

OOC: let's wrap up this mikey mini plot

[Tarlar]

Astrid hurried after Mikey as fast as she could, but her legs were not as good as they used to be, and she couldn't walk that fast, though she did her best to keep up with young Mikey's speed. She looked worried as the water felt much colder than what had threatened to fall earlier and she wasn't dressed for wintery temperatures.
When they reached the shelter her breath sounded like a wheezing, she waved briefly to the other boy as she sat down on her trolley, and she concentrated on her breathing while the boys talked.

Ella and Cyan stayed out in the rain and enjoyed the wet coldness, while they watched Yakul who was staring up at the sky with wonder. She once in while shook her body when it felt too wet, but it otherwise didn't made much difference as the rain continued to soak her.
Janus, who had grown up inside Astrid's house, did not like the rain, and he was quickly to join her in the shelter, placing himself on a wall in a safe distance from the opening.

When Astrid had finally caught her breath, the rain was pouring down and she worried, if hse would have to sti here and wait it out, who knew how long that would take? Perhaps it was better if she returned to New Bark, but what was closest? She had walked quie a distance today and her legs started to feel a bit sore, now she was sitting still.
She looked at the boys and she decided she better help Mikeywith his problem first, he deserved that much. Then they could always answer her questions later.
"Are you saying, that you have favourited one over the other? Then it is no surprised Ravioli is jealous. Why have you done so?" Astrid ask him firmly. That was a really bad thing to do, like a parent giving most love to one of her children, how terrible for the other!
"I guess you have given Spaghetti a lot of attention while Ravioli has battled, that would explain why he has attacked him instead of his opponent," Astrid continued sternly, this was a serious matter.
"Of course you shouldn't start give Ravioli all your attention, but try give them equal and who ever is battling should have your full attention, they will need your support." Astrid explained and realized that would count her too, she hadn't paid much attention to her pokemon's battle, but unlike Mikey she didn't understood much of what was going on.
"And it will be good training for both of your pokemon, if you gives them attention and pets when they are behaving, and ignores them when they are misbehaving, does that makes sense?" She asked more friendly.
"If you are not sure, what to do with each one of them, think of what you like to do with them and what they like to do. If you like to sleep with Spaghetti, perhaps it could be fun to climb trees with Ravioli?"
Astrid hoped it was what Mikey needed to hear, as she didn't know what else he could do. If he asked, she would try come up with more things he could do with his pokemon, but she didn't have that many ideas, because what did you do with your pokemon besides battling? Janus had always just been there, it wasn't like they had really done anything together, expect now they were traveling.

If it settled it all, she would change the topic.
"This cold rains forces me to find the closest town and wait it out. Your Shelter is wonderful, but I'm not as young and strong like you two, I'll end up catching a cold if I sit too long here," she laughed kindly.
"So which town is closest? and in which direction?" She asked them. She was sure she would be able to get there rather shortly as she had looked over the map for the route at home and had estimated it would take her a couple of hours of walking, if nothing delayed her. The question was how far she had got on the route by now.

(ooc: I would like to wrap this up and get going to Cherrygrove, so I don't need any new encounter here, though I would need room to introduce Placido the whismur.
Thanks for the miniplot! It was really fun ^^)

[Tyger]

Mikey and the bugcatcher watched Astrid with slight concern as she started wheezing before they struck up their conversation. Mikey would turn to look at the woman as she took her heaving breaths occasionally, but then restruck up his argument for a few distracted moments. It wasn’t until she started speaking that Mikey hushed, nudging the bugcatcher with his elbow to be silent and respect the elder woman. Her words cut deep though, and her tongue was sharp. She seemed displeased with the way Mikey had been favoriting Spaghetti, and he was about to hear about it.

”It’s not like I meant to favorite him!” Mikey groaned, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. Had he really been playing favorites? ”Yeah, I do pay attention to Spaghetti when Ravioli battles, but I didn’t think it was making Ravioli mad…” Mikey looked down at the ground and sniffled. ”Maybe I should start switching out and doing it to Ravioli instead!” Mikey’s naïve plan seemed to be sound, until Astrid said otherwise. She told him he’d have to find balance with his Pokemon, instead of swapping and showing favorites to Ravioli instead. 

”So balance, huh? Maybe you’re right. I can start spending time with Ravioli to balance it out, and climb trees like you said!” The boy seemed to beam from ear to ear, and he released Ravioli in the safety of their shed. Ravioli ruffled his feathers but before the bird could do anything else, Mikey started speaking. ”Ravioli, I’m sorry that I’ve been showing favorites, because you’re both my favorite and I didn’t mean to show you otherwise. I promise that I’m gonna be a better trainer to you two, and make sure that you both feel loved and taken good care of, okay?”

The words seemed to resonate with the bird, who chirped for a moment before fluttering to Mikey’s shoulder and nuzzling the boy’s face happily. Mikey giggled and patted the bird before Astrid mentioned catching a cold and where the town was. The Bugcatcher, who was silent up until now, pointed down a main path. ”Cherrygrove is that way, we’re really close, so it shouldn’t take you too long.” The boy smiled, and Mikey turned to face Astrid. ”Thank you so much for your insight, I was too stubborn to see what I was doing. I have a lot to learn as a trainer and I only hope I’m as good of a trainer as you one day!” Mikey smiled. The path ahead wasn’t dangerous, and it wouldn’t take too long for the woman to get to Cherrygrove, so the boys didn’t fret about the safety of the woman. Besides, she was wise and had Pokemon. As they departed, both boys waved and yelled goodbye, sending their best wishes to the travelling woman.

[Tarlar]

Astrid's face softened when Mikey clearly took her words to his heart and reacted much stronger than she had expected. She had to remind herself he was only a child and that she had to not demand anymore than he would be able to handle.
He really showed that he was a child when her few suggestions turned him completely around and he went from being devastated and frustrated to beaming with happiness.
She looked surprised at him when he did not only decide to do something about it, but even chose to grab the tauros at its horn. She smiled proudly when he called out Ravioli and apologized.
"I would say that was a very grown up thing to do, but a lot of grown ups wouldn't have the gust to do, what you just did there," she praised him.
"I am sure you will get far, both of you," she said and included Mikey's friend in the praising as well, he had helped quite a bit and the boys had figured out what the problem was all by themselves. She kust had to help them learn what solutions there could be.
Besides, it wouldn't be good if she favorited Mikey just because he was the one with the problem, the other boy was a big reason Mikey had realized the problem and hopefully he would learn from this as well.

"That sounds good," Astrid said pleased when she was told Cherrygrove was close by. It would feel like a step back if she had to return to New Bark, who knew when she would get going again? If she got stuck too long due to the rain, she may had had to chose to go back and try again another time, if she would ever get the chance.
Astrid listened humoured to Mikey's thanks, and when he said he hoped to be as good as her one day she began laughing.
"Good, me? My dear friend, I have only started today and I have no idea what I'm doing," she smiled broadly to them.
"No my boys, when it comes to battling I'm sure you know a lot more than me, there was a reason I didn't order my pokemon around. Didn't you notice? That I have even won any battles, is because my pokemon knows more about battling than I do." She said and looked out at the ones she had sitting in the rain.
"I must admit though, that handling pokemon, especially young ones, are quite similar to human children, which I have a bit experience with as I has both children and grandchildren," Astrid said warmly and got up on her feet with a heavy sigh.
"It looks like the rain has quiet down a bit. I'll better get going before it gets worse," she said as she looked out and adjusted her raincoat.
Then she held a hand out to the boys, "thanks for everything, take care." she said as goodbye and Janus recognized the handshake as someone leaving and hurried to get on Astrid's trolley to not get left behind.
~ ~ ~

Astrid didn't get long though before she met someone else, another traine, who had been so lucky to encounter a rather rare pokemon on this route: spinda.
He didn't think so himself as the spinda continued to try stomp on his charmanders tail, and to Astrid's pokemons surprise, it was doing it in the attempt of helping it!
The man didn't wanted to spent a lot of time on the troublesome pokemon and instead wanted Astrid to buy it. As she felt sorry for the friendly spinda and she didn't have time to try help him like she had done with Mikey, she ended up accepting.

The spinda soon proved to be a bit of a mouthful though, but Astrid didn't get to keep her long as another trainer soon appeared and wanted to trade to get the spinda. Long story short, Astrid soon had a whismur instead of a Spinda.
He seemed nice and was opposite the spinda in at least one aspect: was very quiet. It was a relief for the old woman, the spinda had been a bit too energetic for her taste. she had been exhausting!
They soon got Cherrygrove in sight, and as it got even chillier around here, Astrid Recalled everyone except Ella and Cyan, and hurried to find the Pokemon center. She would need a good warm bath and couldn't wait to lay beneath a couple of warm blankets and relax after this eventful day.