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Yuri's slow reaction time and clumsy movements gave the woman plenty of time to dodge the haphazard blow - not that she seemed to need it; even without being suddenly turned horizontal, he was obviously dizzy from his existing injuries.

"Hey now, why don't you lie down for a while? You look like you could use a rest. Oh, but make sure to elevate your torso." Though she was obviously physically weak, she was light enough on her feet to suggest she had had formal training to harness that agility. When Yuri regained his footing and looked to his opponent, he would find her with a small blade in her hand and a sweet smile on her face, "I don't like hurting civilians, but I'm not going to back off just because you're putting up a fight. I only need one more pokemon to fill my mission quota, you know."

Luke maneuvered to Yuri's side, standing slightly forward in an effort to create space between themselves and the woman. However much he insisted on the tough guy routine, it was obvious Yuri wasn't in any condition to fight someone. "Team Rocket, huh?" And not terribly shy about it. "What is it about you guys that makes you think people are just going to hand over pokemon if you say so?"

"Um, I thought asking was more polite than just like frisking you for pokeballs or something, but if that's the way you want it then I guess my hands have been in less pleasant places." She shrugged. "I don't really care what pokemon it is. I just need one that's sufficiently trained in a pokeball in my hand, comprendre?"

The disembodied glare in the woods took on a physical form - that of a Mismagius - and released the Telekinesis with a violent shove to throw the Growlithe at its human without caring that its own trainer was standing over there as well, the ghost itself bearing the brunt of the Flame Wheel dispassionately. The woman jumped away from the projected path of the dog and from her opponent's fists with a brief yelp, the suddenness of her motions knocking her weapon from her hand. "Geez!" she complained, "Don't go ticking off Ghosty! She doesn't care about a thing I tell her, you know!"

While the stranger berated Yuri, Luke made a grab for her wrist, pulling her back before she could retrieve her knife. "You said you don't want to hurt anyone. It's not like we want to hurt anyone either, so why don't you just leave?" People were supposed to be reasonable, right? She didn't seem outright malicious or violent, at least, so was it really necessary to reach a resolution through fighting? Just for once Luke wanted to have a peaceful, even if not pleasant, encounter with Team Rocket...

"Sure, I'm not hurting anyone, right?" the woman said, still smiling despite the severity of her gaze. "And you're not hurting anyone either. Because we were born as human beings, we have the luxury of communicating when we disagree and using words to overcome those disagreements. We're not like these base animals that go at each other's throats at the first hint of anger." She gestured lightly to the pokemon battling on their own direction. The Mismagius flinched as the Wild Charge connected, dodging aside before it bore the brunt of the attack. Either through recognition of the type advantage or through mere chance, it countered with Power Gem, driving a sudden hateful strength into its movements.

The woman seemed content to let the ghost-type battle however it wanted, allowing her attention to linger on Luke. "You're being awfully selfish, you know? I stand at the forefront of ground-breaking medical research, and you're holding me back because what? You can't stand the thought of being apart from your pets?"

Luke frowned slightly. "I don't know what you're trying to convince us of, but you're just making yourself sound like a lunatic."

The girl's seemingly permanent cheerful smile soured suddenly, "Ah, shut up, I hate people like you." Her free hand reached into her pocket. "You can keep the knife, I guess. It was standard-issue anyway." The device she withdrew was sleek and black, crooked like a gun, and paneled in bright yellow.

The Mismagius watched disinterestedly as the Growlithe noted its scent, countering the action with another Power Gem. If it wasn't aware of the move's effectiveness previously, it certainly was now.

Luke didn't really recognize the device the woman was drawing against him, but it resembled a normal gun closely enough that he at least knew it was dangerous. Yuri's reaction confirmed that suspicion, though Luke wasn't prepared to counter the sudden interruption to his balance and was removed from the alleged medic's target area. The woman's taser missed its intended mark, the probes instead reaching the older swordsman who now occupied the space where Luke had been.

The Mismagius was obviously unprepared to take impact from the attack, the previous Odor Sleuth making the ghost-type vulnerable to the otherwise ineffective attack, and it made swift attempts to recover its composure. With an expression that suggested the pokemon was disgusted with the duration of the battle, it returned fire with its own Psybeam.

If Luke wasn't familiar with tasers or their effects before, then he had just become unpleasantly acquainted with them. At the forefront of his recognition was the fact that this stranger - this Team Rocket chick - had shown up out of nowhere and done something awful to his friend. Despite her earlier acquiescence, talking clearly wasn't something that would bring them to any kind of resolution. I use a sword to protect people was a lofty phrase that came to mind, but he didn't have that sword with him, and even if he did he wasn't sure he would be able to wield it properly.

But this was what he had been training for, right? "Dammit, don't give me any of that 'good person' crap! Who the hell do you think you are?!" There was a luxury ball in his hand, his thumb on the release--

"Oh, that's perfect!" In a brisk motion, the woman raised a pokeball of her own, placing a Spinarak on her forearm, "Yo Buggy, do that thing with the web!"

There were a lot of things one should be prepared to face when dealing with Rockets, but a massive amount of spider web was not among Luke's expectations.

Luke had heard about how Spinarak's thread was supposedly strong enough even to use as temporary casts, but even knowing this he was still surprised that he wasn't able to break free of the binding. He struggled against it nonetheless in growing agitation, "Wh-what the hell?! Let me go!"

The woman advanced casually, bending to reach for the luxury ball that had fallen from its owner's hand in the midst of the sudden attack. Luke was briefly face-to-face with a rather glum-looking Spinarak's unapologetically empty stare, and then the Rocket leaned away with the pokeball in her hand. "You see?" she said, tilting her head towards the sphere. "Just one, and nobody had to get hurt over it." Her eyes slid over towards Yuri's still disabled form. "Nobody had to get hurt."

Luke watched the girl stretch her arms and return her pokemon to their pokeballs the same as he would watch a movie on TV. Somehow he was suddenly not completely sure of what was going on, and he didn't fully comprehend the situation until the image of the stranger's turned back disappearing into the forest foliage had burned itself into his mind. "What are you doing?! Get back here and give him back! You can't just-- You can't just...!" He was shouting at the empty air, and the only progress he made in this endeavor was to waste his breath. Overwhelmed by a sudden sense of simultaneous helplessness and panic, he leaned backwards and lay in the grass.

"Damn it..."

Luke lay immobile - though not by his own choice - with his hands clenched into fists and his green eyes fixed unseeingly forward. For the moment, he appeared completely unaware of Yuri's presence. He drew in a breath and exhaled it in an angry shout.

"Arceus damn this stupid web, let me after her!" She couldn't have gotten but so far already, and surely Leste could catch up. Hell, even sending Tenebrae after her would be better than nothing at this point, but he couldn't even reach his pokeballs like this. What was he supposed to do...?

The first mistake had been just letting her walk up to them so casually. It should have been obvious from the start that she had some kind of agenda. Then the crazy talk started, and for some reason he had been naive enough to think he could reason with her even after that. He should have knocked her out as soon as he got that grip on her wrist. She was just some girl, shorter than him and probably with nothing else going for her aside from that agility. Hell, she'd proved her malicious intent early on when she kicked out Yuri's feet. Rational people didn't go around talking about how they were good people and knocking strangers down. She gave them like a hundred different clues and he still let this happen.

So entrenched was he in the what-ifs and should-haves that Luke was startled when the tension binding his hands was suddenly released. He became aware of Yuri's efforts and regarded the man with a brief gratitude before reaching for the premier ball and dusk ball remaining at his belt - the Lairon, he assumed, wouldn't offer much in a situation where speed was the most valuable asset. His hands hesitated on the release switches, though. He'd just lost one pokemon; did he really want to send off two more under the possibility that they would meet a similar fate? Tenebrae was smart, though, and Leste had the advantage of flight. They would be fine, they had to be.

With a short breath, Luke released the Umbreon and Pidgeot, gesturing towards the forest in the direction the woman had absconded, "A blonde woman went into the woods with Mieu. Go after her but be careful about it." Though he had intended to give the instructions levelly, he was unable to keep the urgency and severity from his tone. The two pokemon, however, understood amply well as a result. They had been training alongside Mieu since joining the boy's team, and neither was particularly inclined to let the matter go. Voicing their compliance, the pair started off in the indicated direction, Tenebrae taking to the shadowed underbrush and Leste searching the forest from above. Their trainer took the knife in hand and worked at undoing the remaining threads.

"Sorry," he said offhandedly. "Are you all right?" Obviously not completely, but it didn't look like the weapon had left any physical wounds, at least...