As the voice called out to him, Thomas would spot the figure in better detail. They seemed to be raising their hands in order to signify that they came in piece. Thomas, for his part, seemed to ease up on his stance. But before he could approach the figure, he would hear something come in from behind. A Heracross would dart at him, clearly attempting to gore him with his Megahorn. Thomas would respond by quickly rolling to the left of the attack, causing the horned insect to sail past him.

Thomas would quickly pluck one of the six Pokeballs he had on him, brining out Freke the Alakazam. The Heracross looked on at the Psychic-type with an audacious grin. The Heracross would fire a volley of Bullet Seeds at the Alakazam. In response, Freke would calmly teleport out of the path of the seeds, emerging on the Heracross' left. In retaliation, he would fire off a Psychic blast at the insect, sending the creature off his feet, and colliding violently into a tree.

Thomas approached the single horned beetle, noting that the fork-like horn gave it away as a male. Thomas would produce a vacant Pokeball, and tap the creature with it.

"Good work, Freke.", Thomas told the Alakazam.

Whether or not the capture was successful, Thomas would slowly and calmly approach the other figure. "I come in peace!", Thomas would call out to the figure calmly.

---

tags: @vya
notes: Cap attempt on Heracross

During the skirmish, the Heracross seemed to outright ignore the attempts by Vya's Pokemon to deter it from attacking their master. But then, given that its focus was on the Kalosian, it didn't seem to be necessary. In any case, the encounter ended quickly, thanks to the Alakazam's quick work on the insect. Once the capture had succeeded, the ball was immediately sent back to his PC. The Heracross had potential, but would need to be refined.

Before Thomas could respond to the man's comment about his Pokemon's strength, he would feel the ground rumble. Freke would quickly grab his master's arm, Teleporting him to safety before a Steelix would emerge from below where Thomas and Freke were positioned only seconds ago. Thomas and Freke reappeared to see the large, metallic serpent emerge from the earth. From its maw, a stream of sand would pour out into the area, whipping up into a violent Sandstorm. Thomas would pull up a cloth to cover his nose and mouth, and would do his best to shield his eyes from the sands blasting them. As he was doing this, he was backing away from the battlefield, doing his best to get out of the Steelix's range.

By virtue of Magic Guard, the Alakazam didn't seem to be bothered by the Sandstorm at all. Freke would merely look on calmly, yet intently at the towering Steel-type, who looked down at the trainer and his Pokemon. Freke would mellow himself into a Calm state of Mind, improving his focus in the process. The Steelix, who noticed his prey wasn't moving, fired off a Stone Edge volley at the Alakazam. Freke would simply Teleport as the sharp stones closed in on him, causing them to fall into the ground.

As Freke reemerged behind the Steelix, the metal serpent would sweep his Iron Tail at the Psychic-type, hoping to swipe the annoying creature. In his state of calm and focus, Freke would once again Teleport out of harms way, emerging to the Steelix's right. Once he reemerged, the Alakazam would use Telekinesis in order to pin down the Steelix's head. Despite its best attempts, the Steelix would find himself unable to move his head from the Psychic force pinning it in place, to the point where Freke was able to lift the serpent off the ground. Freke would then fire off a Focus Blast at the creature's head. The otherwise slow and easily avoidable attack easily connected with the head of the Steelix, thanks to the state of suspension that Freke had put the serpent into.

The Steelix would land to the ground limply with a thud, kicking up an impressive cloud of soot and sand in the process. After a moment of confirming that the Steelix wasn't moving, Thomas tossed a Pokeball at the creature, impressed with its performance through the battle.

"You okay?", Thomas called out to the other man as the dust was settling.

---

tags: @vya
notes: Cap attempt on Steelix