Kind words are like honey [Sweet Deception]

[Tarlar]

Astrid brushed off her uniform and looked critically at her reflection in the mirror. She pulled down her shirt and fidgeted with the badge fastened to her chest.
"Stop being so nervous," she mumbled to herself, "you have been on many patrols, you are acting like a kid starting in first grade." It was the first time though, that she officially had been given a task in the role she was originally hired as: Training Officer.
She picked up the papers, she was old school and she had printed them from the computer when she had gotten the mail. She worked best with paper.
"Kai Griffin, 21 years old," she read, "my goodness he is practical still a child!"
She mumbled some more as the continued to read, "finished police school with great marks.. blah blah blah, bonded well with partner pokemon.. needs experience," she put the paper down and squared herself up in the mirror again, "of course he does, he is barely dry behind the ears," she grumbled and then looked sternly at her reflection, raising a finger at it, "Do not screw this up Astrid!"

Astrid was walking towards the Pokemon Center where she should meet up with Kai. An introduction and then she would let him take the lead around Cherrygrove, talking with him about what to keep an eye out for and where it would be a good idea to show their presence.
With a good solid plan she stepped through the slide doors to the pokemon center and instantly dropped her plan.
Joy was kneeling on the ground with a crying child in front of her, whom she tried to calm down, a young and very nervous looking officer stood beside them and looked relieved when Astrid appeared.

"Good afternoon," she greeted them all and shot the young man a quizzical look, "Officer Griffin?" He shot her a little smile as he confirmed. "You can call me Astrid. So what is happening?"
"I think Nurse Joy better can explain that," Kai said and gestured her, Astrid smiled expectantly but politely to Nurse Joy, waiting for her to fill her in.

Wordcount: 356
(ooc: Team is Casper, Benny and Alfred. Also noting that I have moved plushie cacnea and plushie swablu from Astrid's box1 to Lei's box2)

[Pixel]

Nurse Joy looked a little tired but grateful for the officers being there. She clasped her hands together and smiled at the pair, before stepping over to where a little girl sat sobbing at a table. Joy had done what she could to console the girl, giving her some water and a snack, but the girl kept sniffling pitifully, rubbing her face red with the backs of her little hands. Clutched under the girl's arm was a torn up pikachu doll, like someone or something had ripped the poor thing in half and strewn the stuffing all around, leaving only the raggedy top half intact. Joy laid a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Can you tell the nice police officers what happened or should I, sweetie?"

The girl looked up with wet eyes and squeaked, hiccuping around another sad noise, "I-I can explain..." She wiped her face again and the nurse gave her a tissue, which she used to blow her nose. "Um. I was at the park playing with my friends from school. These really cute pokemon showed up and got really close and acted really, really nice at first. We thought maybe they belonged to somebody at the park but..." She looked down and pulled the doll from under her arm, "Then they got really aggressive. They started grabbing our stuff and pulling our hair and everyone ran away. They tried to take my dolly but I wouldn't go so it got ripped...one of my friends' mom saw what happened and ran over and scared away the pokemon." She hugged the doll again. "There were, um...three of them. I dunno what they were... I think I've seen a couple of their type around before but one of them I never saw around here at all!"

Nurse Joy turned to the officers, "The incident happened very recently. We called somebody in as soon as the girl told us about it. We were hoping you might be able to do something...since as of late, this sort of thing has been happening all too frequently. She isn't the first to report an incident like this in the area."

[Tarlar]

Astrid listened closely to what the girl had to say, while Kei looked like he had no clue of what to do of himself.
"That does sound very scary, do not worry, we will make sure it does not happen again," she said gently to the girl and looked at Nurse Joy when she added some information. "I see, time to get to the bottom of this, I will let you know if our findings." She gestured for Kai to come along and then set the course towards the park.

"Time for you to use what you have learned," Astrid said cheerfully as they walked, attempting to get a conversation started with the young man. He sent her a strange look, "how? It's just a broken toy and some kids who has gotten too closer, that's all." He shrugged.
"Are you sure about that?" The old woman asked more seriously and he frowned. "Yes, this was just a toy but since it has happened multiply times it is more serious. This time it was just a you but if it continues, especially with children, it will be a child which are hurt next time. Had it just been one time, yes the kids could have done something which had agitated the pokemon. We either have some aggressive pokemon on hand we need to deal with, or some other kind of trouble."
"I.. I didn't think of that," Kai said quietly after a long period.
"At least this will be more interesting than just patrolling the street," Astrid said and didn't get an answer.

They reached the park and they stood at the entrance and looked around, at the moment nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.
"We of course forgot to ask the girl where it happened in the park," the old woman said while Kai stayed silent. She turned towards him, "so what do we do now?"
He looked surprised at her and looked away nervously, "look for clues?" He mumbled uncertain and she pretended to think about it, "that would be a great idea, but the park is big. We need to narrow it down somehow," she looked expectantly at him and he began to sweat nervously.
"I think it would be an idea to ask around, I am sure the ones around have heard a thing or two," She suggested encouragingly and gave some thoughts on how that could be worded.

"Excuse me Ma'am," Kei greeted a woman they encountered, "we're here investigating some incidents between children and pokemon where toys has been destroyed. Do you have any information about that, and especially where some of these incidents has happened?" Kai rambled sounded like he was reading a sentence out loud.

Wordcount: 445

[Pixel]

The sniffly young girl waved sadly as the officers left, still clutching her broken dolly. She pet the turn fabric, eyes red and puffy, breath hitching as she rubbed her cheek against its face. Why were those pokemon so mean and terrible?

Soon Astrid and her companion were at the park that the girl fled, and they would find that there were still quite a few people roaming about, continuing on their day like normal. Some jogged. Some sat on benches as they ate snacks. One harassed older woman herded a flock of five children towards her minivan. The grass was green and the trees full of bright, lush leaves. And the sun poured down upon them warm and soothing. A beautiful day for such a heartbreaking tale.

The women they pulled aside to speak to looked a little startled to be waved down by an officer, but when the topic of children and toys was brought up, she nodded in understanding. Maybe even a little relief that the police were there!

"Yes! Oh there have been a number of incidents around this park as of late. Why, just less than ten minutes ago, I saw some children running and screaming about being attacked by some wild pokemon right over there by that bench." It wasn't too far away. She lead them to the general location. 

A little closer inspection revealed evidence of the crime that had just taken place—a trail of ripped cloth and buttons leading in one direction. However, in the opposite direction, but starting near that same spot, was a trail of crumbs, like perhaps a pokemon had celebrated its victory with a snack.

[Tarlar]

They reached the park and it looked nothing out of the ordinary. "Oh, the trees have already gotten their leaves! That was fast," Astrid exclaimed happily surprised as they looked around, Kai sent her a strange look. Otherwise the park was as Astrid had expected, people were about and enjoying a day outside in the nice weather, kids were playing. Just as it should be, and it was up to them to make sure it stayed that way.

Astrid smiled reassuringly to the woman, people were often nervous when contacted by an officer unexpectedly, everyone was nervous about being in trouble, even the most purest of saint. Kai nodded along as he listened, Astrid noticed a little bit of sweat running down his neck, and she realized he was clenching his jaw tight.
"So we are in hot pursuit, we will get to the bottom of this," she promised as they were lead to the bench.

"Thank you," Astrid said kindly to the woman and sent her on her way, and then turned to look at the evidence, "so what do we have here?" She looked questioningly at Kei who was hmm'ing and walking around but mostly looked to be trying to be busy. Astrid felt the tension grib her stomach and she exhaled, pushing aside the little voice questioningly her if she was doing this right, now he was so nervous.
"The buttons and cloth would fit with the toys which has been destroyed," Astrid said and then commented to herself, "They must really have been ripped apart with that much strewn around." She walked along it a bit and then led her eyes follow it smiling wryly, "and they have laid out a nice trail to follow even."

"So.. so what is there with the crumps?" Kai asked. "Crumps?" The old woman repeated and he brushed her off, "it's probably not important," he said and began to walk over to her.
"No no no no! Everything might be important, show me!" Astrid said and Kai ducked his head but gestured to what he had found.
"And that is a nice trail as well," Astrid said thoughtfully after having studied for a bit, "Well discovered Kai, now we know there are more than one suspect! It would not have done well if we left one behind to keep terrorising the park." She patted him a bit on the arm, and he flashed her a quick smile.
"I think we best split up to cover more grounds, you have a pokemon with you, correct?" She asked and he confirmed by holding up a pokeball. "Since you found the crumps, you can follow those and I will take the other trail. We will meet up afterwards to share what we found, agreed?" She decided and he saluted her, "yes ma'am!"

"I do wonder why he is so nervous, I do hope it is not because of me," she mumbled and sighed again, "you are silly old girl, you have trained and helped many people, but the first time you are assigned one you act like this?" she scolded herself kindly with a little smile. She shook her head and decided to get some company, Benny stood by her side a moment later.
"Hello my dear, we are following this trail of scraps to find the one who has destroyed the toy from where it belongs," she explained and Benny raised a hand cheerfully and gestured for Astrid to follow as he lead the way. Astrid followed content in the knowledge that he had better eyes than her and was closer to the ground, there was no way he was missing it even though it was longer and longer in between them.


Wordcount: 620
(ooc: following the trail of cloth scraps)

[Caramell 🍬]

Kai’s trail would take him off to a row of bushes carefully maintained on a nearby street. Cars roared pasted in infrequent volumes, making it easy to time his moment across so long he was careful to check both ways. The middle bush rustled, its branches bobbing and swaying even when no breeze presented itself as evidence for the movement. Should Kai listen closely, he could hear something…but as soon as he went snooping around, the screeching of a wild Pokemon would be all too deafening as a brown blur darted out from underneath the bush and tore off across the land. Was it gone for good though, or only scouting for reinforcements?

Astrid’s path carried with it more clues. The trail of fabric and bits of stuffing fluttered around the entire park in odd patches, as though the culprit was purposefully trying to mislead them. She would find no rhyme nor reason for their spots, at least not at first. And should she try to follow it as though she were following any normal set of tracks, Astrid would find herself going around in circles inside of the park. Any moment where she might have found a set of tracks leading out of the park, she’d find they would completely vanish as soon as she took one step outside of the park.

However, eventually her intuition or her sharp sight would benefit her. Upon nearing a grove of large live oaks, Astrid would notice something white and fluffy falling out of a knothole in one of the trees. Close inspection would enlighten her to the flying beetle whose small white fist-like arms were busy as work, pressing cloth and stuffing into the tree with a soft smile. Whenever the breeze shifted, though, Ledyba would pause and glance around nervously, trying to ensure none were around to catch it in the act. Astrid would need to be careful as she approached if she didn’t want to risk scaring off the wild Pokemon.

A Wild Ledyba is behind the crime!

Level 12. Careful not to spook it before you manage to get close!

[Tarlar]

"How peculiar, it is spread all over," Astrid wondered as Benny made several zigzag runs to retrieve some scraps which lay further out. "Have they been thrown out as distractions? If so it is not done very well, as it still leads us on in a direction," she muttered and smilingly took a button which Benny handed her. She leaned on her cane, even though her doctor repeatedly told her to straighten her back as leaning would make walking harder in the long run. She rubbed the button between her fingers, "definitely from a child's toy, but how much has it collected?" She mumbled to herself, it was impressive how much could be ripped off it so perhaps there were more than one. Both toys and culprits.

They reached the edge of the park and Astrid stopped with a frown, this had to be wrong. Benny ran out and searched the area but didn't find anything so he returned and quickly after he found another scrap of cloth in the grass within the park and the chase continued.
"They have been all over the place, but no clue to who it is. I wonder if they are toying with me now?"

What it was that draw Astrid's attention to the oaks would be a mystery since she would swear by anything that her eyes were too bad to notice anything falling out of the trees on this distance. Something about the oaks made her pause and look at the with narrowed eyes, something felt off about them, or perhaps it was just her year long experience that told her that would be a pretty good place for a toy thief to hide.
"For?" Benny asked and Astrid shushed him quietly.
"Can you check out those trees please? But be quiet and do not get caught," she whispered and he nodded with an eager seriousness. He folded his arms behind his back and very casually strolled through the grass, and the only reason he didn't whistled along to seem innocently was because he had been asked to be quiet. Astrid facepalmed at the sight.

Benny reached the nearest oak and scurried behind it to peek out from behind, only to ducking his head when something fell out from a little hole in the trunk. His eyes widened and he slowly stretched out for it, while he kept glancing up towards the knothole as if he worried he'd wake a sleeping beast. He snatched the thing and then strolled innocently back to Astrid very, very quickly, looking even more ridiculus that before.
"Fo! Fomantis! Manfo!" He whispered excitedly and showed her the white and fluffy thing he had snatched.
"Good job Benny! So our suspect lives in trees, now how to get it," she said thoughtfully.

Two pair of wings spread in front of Astrid. She had explained the situation to her two winged pokemon and now they were setting of to try cut off the escape routes for the whatever was inside the tree. Astrid hoped it was something without wings, since that would make it easier and Benny would be able to help from below. If it had wings it would almost be impossible.
With the two flyers in place, Alfred above the tree and Casper on the opposite than Astrid herself, with Benny in front of her, she called out to the suspect.
"I know you are in there, please come out. I just want to talk with you and if you come out peacefully nothing will happen to you," Astrid called out and waited to see the response.

Wordcount: 600
(ooc: 2 escape routes attempted blocked )

[Caramell 🍬]

Small white arms worked fastidiously. They stuffed bits and pieces of fabric and stuffing into the knothole in rapid succession, quietly mumbling about his misfortune underneath his breath. Something stirred through the grass, causing the hard shelled red bug with black spots adorning the casings to his wings to pull back. He paused, eyes narrowing suspiciously as a gentle breeze strolled through the grass, causing them to dance and sway in erratic patterns.

Something stirred and for a second, Ledyba was almost positive it was someone meant to catch him in the act. The hard shell opened, and two translucent wings protruded from underneath. Ledyba unfolded them and stretched them in the air, giving them a soft buzz for a second as he considered fleeing in a hasty need to escape. But…as the winds shifts, the grass seemed to die down. Ledyba shrugged and popped back inside of the knothole, stuffing away as he moved different bits of toys and discarded things into new areas to make room.

Benny would wander back to Astrid’s side with the wild Ledyba none the wiser. They surrounded Ledyba, cutting off most of his advances in the blink of an eye, and shouted to him from outside of the knothole. The red beetle popped his head out and hissed, wings unfurling from underneath the hard shell once more. “I’m not here to talk to you, copper!” The bug cried loudly, rattling its body as if to try and threaten Astrid. “You better back up before I poison you all!” Ledyba would toss a bunch of the fabric he had gathered up into the air dramatically, then immediately take to the skies to try and fly away before Astrid could catch him. Which wouldn't be hard, though, as they had the little bug surrounded.

Wild Ledyba refuses to cooperate!

He can't really escape all that well...but he's trying! Level 12, what will Astrid do?

[Tarlar]

Taking to the skies was a natural choice for a pokemon who could fly, Astrid was glad she had thought of that and had Casper ready up there. She of course also had had Alfred ready at the side, should it know that she knew and therefore try to be unpredictable. It wasn't, raising up above the treecrown and buzzing at her. While she didn't understood a thing of what it said, the meaning was clear, it wasn't going to come quietly with her.
In front of her Benny stood, raising his leaf-arms as prepared to defend their old trainer should the ledyba decide to go for her.
"To your left, Casper," Astrid called to the zubat, who turned his head and quickly located the bug with his sonic waves.

"Hey hey hey, where are you going?" He asked innocently although his huge grin probably would betray his motives, especially when it became wider, "you said something about poison, wanna test that out?"
He soared around it calmly, while his forehead began to shimmer with pink energies, while he acted like there was nothing at all. How should he know that some of his moves was visible to others when he didn't know what sight was? He was keeping check of the ledyba with his soundwaves.

Kai came skulking back to Astrid with his tail in between his legs, figuratively of course. He watched her engage with the flying bug and slumped even more.
"Ma'am," he said and looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him, "it got away, my apologies," he said devastated and saluted her, less smartly than he could have.
"That is too bad, but that happens sometimes," she said reassuringly and looked up at the ledyba as well, which Alfred was not also moving closer to, "this one might as well, it has an awfully lot of ways to go that I cannot block. You don't happen to have a flying type on you, do you?" She asked and Kai shook his head.
"So what evidence have you gathered?" Astrid asked cheerfully with an eye on the pokemon above, and Kai slumped even more, "None," he said shamefully.
"That cannot be right, you followed the crumps right? Did whatever that got away be the one who had eaten it?" She asked and he nodded and mumbled something about carrying it in its mouth. "You saw the pokemon too, right?" He confirmed, "yes, but I don't know what it was."
"As long as you know, you can recognize it again," she said and looked questioningly at him, and he confirmed that he could. "Wild pokemon are notoriously hard to catch when they know you are after them, criminals more so since they will try keep an escape route in mind all the time. We now know two of the three suspects, and since they have only terrorized this park, I doubt they'll go very far. With you having an idea of where the one you spotted went, and should this one do the same, we have an idea of what direction to search." The old woman theorized and Kai straightened slightly and looked relieved.

"Would it be an help if I found it on my pokedex and showed you?" Kai asked and Astrid chuckled, "it certainly would! Good thinking."
He buried himself in the device while Astrid returned to watch the pokemon and see if they managed to stop the ledyba or if they would have to chase it. "Alfred, be ready to follow it and keep track of where it is going," she called to the taillow.


(ooc: I'm unsure if the escape roll has happened or if that is what is happening now? If roll is now I'm still blocking two routes. If a battle is happening, Casper is using Zen Headbutt.)

[Caramell 🍬]

Ledyba sped through the air in a hasty attempt to escape, only to find each of his exits blocked! Whenever he zipped down one path, a Pokemon or person seemed to block the way. There were also the ones in the air who helped follow the small beetle, quickly keeping up with Ledyba until he finally collapsed on the ground, unable to escape. He turned, eyes enlarged in worry, and slowly backed up against the base of a wide oak tree. “I’m n-not going anywhere in par-articular!” Ledyba trembled.

One quickl glance around promised that he wasn’t getting away as easily as he hoped. Immediately, Ledyba raised himself back up into the air, preparing to meet his opponent headfirst. The fake poisons with all the torn-up bits fabric didn’t work in his favor to scare them off. He soared in wide circles over Casper’s head in one final attempt, sprinkling bits of wool and cotton over him. “Th-this poison here, s-see?! Prepare to faint!” Ledyba scoffed.

Casper slammed into his opponent in midair, knocking Ledyba off-course. Noo! He couldn’t lose this easily to them! He had an entire team counting on him, who would be upset if they found that he wasn’t up to snuff. Ledyba quickly raised a strange looking barrier around his body, hoping to help protect him from further damage. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?! I’m obviously too big for this battle for you, so uhh…just don’t?” He grumbled, being about a foot taller than Casper in hopes that he could scare the bat off with his size alone.

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Ledyba LV 12
HP 69% [24/35]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Zubat LV 12
HP 100% [35/35]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Ledyba [Early Bird]: Normal [Reflect: 1/5]
Casper [Inner Focus] : Normal

SP21 Casper used Zen Headbutt!
SP21 Ledyba used Reflect!

Ledyba Moves: Tackle, Reflect, Swift, Light Screen

SPOILER: Click to show

GgRUGynwp_1-5
I did not roll. I missed the roll note and was originally going with a successful set up.
I originally felt your descriptions were well done enough on blocking, however. I've rolled.
Sorry about that. Missed the whole 'need to roll' notes.

First? 1- Bat, 2- Bug p_1-2
Casper: acc: p_1-100 crit: p_1-16 strength: p_1-16 flinch: p_1-100

Final Battle will be Double, since Ledyba could not escape. 1-5·1-2·1-100·1-16·1-16·1-100

[Tarlar]

Casper and Alfred did an amazing job keeping the ledyba put, Alfred were quick and zoomed around to be in the way of the bug type and forcing it to turn around, and Casper somehow managed to pop up at the most inconvenient times for the bug. In the end it landed on the ground exhausted with the two fliers flapping their wings above it.
"Aw, is the fun over already?" Casper asked disappointed but grinned when the sound of the ladybug's whirring wings reached his ears. The zubat flinched when the air filled with solids that whirled around, he wouldn't be able to see if they were hard or soft with his soundwaves. Alfred ignored them as they were just a distraction.
"If you remain calm and help us, no harm will be done to you," he offered politely.
Casper scoffed and took a chance to fly straight through whatever it was the ledyba had thrown into the air, "toxic can't hurt me!" He declared and exhaled relieved when the scraps of clothes did nothing but to brush lightly off his body, "see?!" He added victoriously before he slammed into the bug head first. It was clearly taken by surprise! Having no idea what had been coming!

Casper paused as something very weird appeared between him and Ledyba, it wasn't quite solid but his soundwaves were clearly hindered by them and it blurred the form of the bug behind it. What was going on?
"Size? Oh if you insist," he grinned with ill hidden uncertainty, "my partner here will surely be a much better opponent than me then." The zubat turned to the taillow, "you take over, I'm apparently not good enough," he said with pretended taken offense.
Alfred sent him a stern look, "please ask next time, but I will help out," he said, "I don't like to be ordered around."

Casper was unusually quiet as Alfred turned to the ledyba, "what's size?" the zubat mumbled to himself.
"If you wish you don't have to fight, land and we will talk," Alfred offered once again, "I must warn you though, that I currently need to force you to stay put as we're investigating a most despicable crime."
At the slightest hint of Ledyba trying to run off, he would charge at it beak first.

"Found anything yet?" Astrid asked her student, and he answered absentminded "not yet, ma'am."

Wordcount: 400
(ooc: Alfred switches in and uses Peck. I think the roll should have been different as I was only using 2 pokemon to block the escape routes, not the whole team But to be fair, I'm pretty sure I would be in big trouble if I had to take a tripple battle with the current team, I really have screwed up my preparations here )

[Caramell 🍬]

Although Casper tried to be polite, it wouldn’t work. Ledyba shook his head firmly as he tried to fly backwards in hopes that he could still escape. “I… no!” He huffed firmly, pulling a bit more of the fluff and tossing it at Casper. Why weren’t they falling for the gag? It seemed as though they weren’t even phased a little bit by his fake poison? “Stay back or I’ll…. I’ll… I’ll have to take drastic measures!”

Ledyba summoned a shard of glittering, sharp star-like projections as Alfred soared in place of his companion. They were swift, and easily cut through the avian’s soft feathers. “Hah! See? I bet that hurt. Wanna… wanna give up now? We can call this even.” Ledyba gulped, eyes darting around wildly. Somewhere, there had to still be an exit. Right? Right?

“That’ll teach you to mess with us – I mean, me!” Ledyba exclaimed, trying to save face. Alfred immediately soared in and pecked the bug roughly on its head and sides. The reflection Ledyba managed to put up protected the wild bug from the worst parts of Alfred’s attack, thankfully. It covered its face and started to sink slowly towards the ground. I’m a goner! This is the end! Momma, I should have listened to you when I was young! Ledyba thought mentally in its head.


Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Ledyba LV 12
HP 43% [15/35]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Alfred LV 11
HP 45% [15/33]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Ledyba [Early Bird]: Healthy [Reflect: 3/5]
Alfred [uts] : Healthy

SP27+ Alfred switched with Casper!
SP21 Ledyba used Swift!

SP27 Alfred used Peck!
SP21 Ledyba used Swift!
Alfred regained +1 HP from Shell Bell!

Ledyba Moves: Tackle, Reflect, Swift, Light Screen


Notes: Casper HP 100% participated.

Final Battle will be Double, since Ledyba could not escape.

[Tarlar]

If the Ledyba thought that Casper was trying to be polite, it was in for a quite a shock. Alfred on the other hand, acted as gentleman like as always, giving out advice which obviously wasn't listened to in this case, who would believe your opponent in the midst of a battle?
"I can see it isn't poison, just pieces of cloth," Alfred said gently as the ledyba looked frustrated, "poison is usually a liquid, or is coating other stuff." the shiny taillow looked a tad sad as the ledyba stubbornly continued to try threaten them.
"Why do you keep fighting? You say you don't, what is forcing you to continue?" He asked it, trying to get past the said words,"are someone threatening you or your family if you don't?" He inquired with a frown.

The bird winced when the stars pelted his side, yes they hurt, but it could be worse and it didn't stop his attack, which seemed to suck all the courage out of the bug.
"Why are you doing this? What are you trying to gain?" Alfred poked with his questions.

Casper had been listening closely, using his soundwaves to keep up with what was happening. Cloth! The thing in the air was cloth! He had a vague idea of what that was, he followed closely and heard how Alfred flew through that strange wall in between them, slowed a bit but he got through and acted like it didn't bother him at all.
The zubat grinned, and soared around in a wide circle so that he got around the bug. His head began to glow as he charged straight at it. "I'm a poison type you dimwit! I'm immune to all poison!" Casper shouted and ruined his own ambush.

"Here it is! Yungoos!" Kai exclaimed and held the pokedex up so Astrid could see, she nodded as she looked at the picture.
"No wonder I couldn't recognize it, it's not native to Johto! Never seen anything like that before," he mused, before gasping: "so that means that a human is behind this!"
"Or someone has just let it out, abandoning pokemon is not unheard of," Astrid pointed out, "I see no reason for why they should order children's toys broken, a wild abandoned pokemon could be doing it out of desperation or vengenge, trying to get food or attacking due to how it has been mistreated."

Kai looked thoughful, "since there are both crumbs and destroyed plushies, both perhaps? So we need to find all of them to stop it, right? And there is probably one there is a leader, don't you think?"
Astrid nodded with a smile, "That is a good theory, I think you are right." She gestured to the shaking ledyba, "and I think it is safe to assume that this one is not the leader, the one that ran from you might very well be."
"Yeah! Being far from home and potential abandoned, it is prime suspect!" Kai exclaimed confidently and then hit his one hand into the others palm, "and then I let it get away from me! That won't happen again!"

Wordcount: 523
(ooc: Casper switches in and uses Zen Headbutt)

[Pixel]

<I...Nobody. N-nobody is forcing me to do anything! What would make you think such a silly thing? N-now go away. I will totally beat you up if you don't leave now.> The ledyba was faltering, its wingbeats weaker and its eyes darting nervously around like it wanted to bolt. All it had to protect it from its foes was this glittering reflect that was rapidly fading. It wasn't sure how long it would hold up! Then the zubat was suddenly darting forth and the ledyba tried to slow it down with a cascade of glittering stars, but they did little more than shatter as the zubat barged forth, slamming into the reflect and shattering it!

Oh no!

The force of the blow and the shock of its defenses failing made the ledyba wince, flinching back from the other pokemon skittishly rather than pushing forward to continue the fight. Scared.

<I...can't back down> it whispered half to itself. <I don't have a choice!>

Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]
Ledyba LV 12
HP 26% [9/35]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]
Casper  LV 12
HP 77% [27/35]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Ledyba [Early Bird]: Healthy [Reflect: 5/5]
Casper [Inner Focus] : Healthy

SP21+ Casper switched in
SP21 Ledyba used Swift! 2P9ZftGMp_1-16 p_1-16 [-8]

SP21 Casper used Zen Headbutt!! p_1-16 p_1-16 p_1-100 Flinch! [-6]
SP21 Ledyba flinched!
Reflect's effects faded

Ledyba Moves: Tackle, Reflect, Swift, Light Screen


Notes: Alfred HP 45% participated.

Final Battle will be Double, since Ledyba could not escape. 1-16·1-16·1-16·1-16·1-100

[Tarlar]

It was not cooperation that the ledyba showed them and Alfred looked worried at it. "But why do you keep battling if you don't have to?" He asked confused and then looked closely at the bug for a bit, his eyes widened with realization. "Because you think you need to protect yourself against us! How stupid of me!" The bird exclaimed, he flapped his wings so that he moved backwards, "See, now I'll stop fighting, no need to fight me. Can we talk now?" Alfred said reassuringly but the last bit of his sentence got drowned out by Casper shouting about his immunity which of course forced the ledyba to protect itself from the incoming attack.

"Casper! Stop this instance! We need to talk with it, not beat it!" The taillow shouted at the zubat who was laughing as he kept darting around and tried to keep ramming the ledyba with his glowing head.
"So brave you are! Really threatening and scary!" Casper mocked as he zoomed around. Alfred hung in the air and looked like he wanted to pull feathers out of his head, "Stop it! What are you doing?!" He called out fruitlessly.

"Looks like you win this soon," Kei commented as he watched how the ledyba floated closer and closer to the ground, and looked more and more subdued. Astrid agreed and they watched in silence for a bit, he then cleared his throat, "may I ask you a question Ma'am?"
"Ask away," she said calmly.
"Why are you not ordering your pokemon around?" He inquired and she smiled.
"Because I need my pokemon to be independent. I am here if they need help or guidance, but in the heat of the battle I am often too slow to keep up, and an IPF pokemon will need to be able to handle some things on their own, making decisions of their own in a split second. We are partners and we will be much more effective if we all know the task and work together to reach it," she explained and Kei nodded solemnly and touched the pokeball containing his own partner thoughtfully.


Wordcount: 356
(ooc: Casper is using Zen headbutt twice, if necessary. If the battle ends, I'd like to use my multiplier on Alfred.)