Ledian (Ledyba)

Quatropunctata alabaster

Overview

There is a peculiar sort of modern arrogance that history can be divided into two phases: the era of primitive mysticism and the Age of Science. The latter began only a few centuries ago. Before it no significant advances were made beyond, perhaps, the very basics of mathematics. Sometimes in their rush to repudiate ‘superstition,’ scientists reject ancient wisdom that is largely correct. Ledian appears to be one of those cases.

The ancient poets, from India to Kalos to the Andes, claimed that ledian fed upon starlight. In the late 1700s a man by the name of John Alabaster published a lengthy treatise on how this belief was the height of ancient foolishness. Cultures around the world had built and protected homes for ledbya near their fields because ledyba prey upon other bugs. The same farmers would also complain when ledian ate the fruit from their orchards. What place was there for starlight in their diet?

It is true that ledyba hunt bugs and ledian are very fond of fruit. However, it has been recently discovered that the cells on a ledian’s carapace generate energy in reaction to relatively dim starlight. It is unknown what the advantage of such a strange diet is. Bright light does not trigger this reaction. Extrapolating from close relatives is also difficult. While ledbya look almost exactly like a larger version of a baseline insect, their organ systems are closer to a klinklang than a butterfree, to the extent that their physiology is understood at all.

Ledian are fascinating and loyal pets that can hold their own in even international competitions. Unfortunately, the ledian cycle limits the times in which ledian are available and even further limits the amount of time most trainers will have to bond with their partners.

Physiology

All stages of ledian are classified by the Department of Agriculture as dual bug- and flying-types. There is some contention as to whether fairy should replace either of the current typings. Ledyba are not directly related to terrestrial insects. Their build and habits are still similar to them and they manipulate bug elemental energy reasonably well. Ledyba struggle to fly, but ledian are very adept fliers and aerokinetics. Ledian have a close association with the night sky and have inscrutable biology like many fairies. All three typings are supported. For now the government has stuck with the traditional typing.

Ledyba have two segments. The larger of the two contains its wings and six small legs. The back of its carapace is marked with five black stars. The exact size and pattern of the stars varies between individuals. The second segment contains the ledyba’s head. Their eyes are complex and quite similar to those of cephalopods or vertebrates. They have two large black antennae on their head. These antennae are used for smelling the world. Ledyba have scent glands located right beneath their antennae. They use these glands to signal their emotions, location, and intent to conspecifics. Ledyba are counter-shaded with yellow abdomens and orange backs.

Ledian are some of the largest flying insects, reaching heights of up to five feet in parts of the world that are both warm year-round and have excellent air quality. Alola is one of those places. Ledian have a proportionally large head segment and a proportionally small ‘body’ segment. The two are connected by a short but visible neck. Ledian have black dots over their scent glands. Curiously, ledian have conventional compound eyes rather than the more complex eyes of their juvenile form. Ledian legs become more specialized with two serving as feet used for balance mid-flight and four growing longer and developing hard, round tips that vaguely resemble boxing gloves. Ledian gain a darker red coloration upon their backs.

Ledbya appear to subsist entirely upon starlight. Ledian sometimes eat very sweet fruit or berries during summers, long periods of continuous cloud cover, or times of abnormally bad air quality. Ledian have rarely been observed producing waste and never been documented producing solid waste. Their digestive system, like almost all of their other organs, appears to be entirely different from known organic pokémon. The inner workings of ledian are still largely a mystery. Some organs (their ‘brain,’ their scent glands, their three hearts) readily appear to have a purpose. Most of their organs do not.

The amount of energy a ledian obtains from starlight appears to be based upon the number of stars visible, air quality, cloud cover, the phase of the moon, and the length of the night. There is preliminary evidence that ledian energy production might depend upon the alignment of planets, long-term fluctuations of the Earth’s tilt and distance from the sun, and the presence of nearby comets.

Ledian can reach lengths of five feet and weights of thirty pounds. They live for no more than three years.

Behavior

Ledyba are some of the most gregarious of all pokémon. They live in swarms with a minimum of several hundred members. Very large swarms can contain thousands of individuals. Ledian are less social, but still prefer to live in groups of six or more. In the wild ledyba are known for forming huge swarms and, when attacked, grouping together and throwing up reflective shields around the entire swarm. Particularly powerful or stealthy birds enjoy preying upon ledyba, which causes their numbers to steadily decline. Even with human training and protection the total number of ledian in Alola inevitably declines to roughly 1,000 at its low point.

Ledyba have long been known to find and kill other non-pokémon insects in their home. Ledyba emit a steadily stream of insecticide from their scent glands and use their weak punches and wind attacks when their poison alone won’t do the trick. The purpose of these hunts is unclear as they do not compete for food with these insects and they seldom attack ledyba except in self-defense. Ledyba usually spare pollinators so they are beloved by farmers. The species was deliberately introduced in 1851 to safeguard plantations. This introduction has led to a decline in local insect populations, but Alola’s birds of prey have kept the ledian population in check.

Ledian also make a habit of hunting bugs. There are records of ledian going after vikavolt in the first few cycles after their arrival in Alola, but they have since stopped hunting the beetles. Vikavolt, in turn, have stopped hunting ledian. Almost all other non-pollinating bug-types are fair game. Ledian punches are surprisingly powerful and can be unleashed at rates of up to 130 punches a second between all four arms. Ledian’s preferred tactic is to ambush a bug while it rests and unleash fast, targeted punches to a particular area on their target’s exoskeleton. The resulting force is not intended to break the exoskeleton. Rather, it is meant to put pressure on weak points elsewhere and cause the insect to burst open.

Ledian hunt insects that do not compete for space and food. They do not eat the remains or lay eggs in them. Attempts to discern their reasoning through telepathy have proven unsuccessful, beyond traumatizing the human psychic. Past editions of this guidebook have referred to the trauma as simple arachnophobia. This no longer appears to be the case. The creatures telepaths see when they sync with ledian have nine long legs covered in spines that branch off into clusters of more spines, a core body that appears to be made up of a dodecahedron with giant, rapidly-moving eyes visible on each pane, translucent purple wings almost as large as the rest of the creature, and a constant scream one telepath described as “…a baby crying on a plane, but its voice is a car crash, metal on metal... the volume is always changing… as if pure, all-consuming hatred was condensed to a single word…” Telepathic scans have further confirmed that ledian minds are structured nothing like those of any other observed insect pokémon. These traits have made them minds a subject of intense curiosity among non-telepaths in the field of pokémon studies and also a subject that almost no telepath wants to touch.

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It is hypothesized that the so-called “ledian spiders” may be relatives of metagross. Metagross seem fascinated by ledian. Ledian, in turn, are terrified of metagross.

All stages of the evolutionary line rest in the day and fly at night in what appear to be elaborate dances and social rituals. It is unclear what the purpose of these are or what they mean, as ledian are just as likely to perform them with a member of their swarm they appear to dislike as they are to perform them their closest partner.

Husbandry

Because ledyba need no extra food than natural starlight and produce no waste, they would appear to be ideal pets. Several factors complicate this analysis.

Ledyba become incredibly stressed when living in a swarm with fewer than twenty members. This is infeasible to replicate on most standard teams of six pokémon. Ledian are less gregarious, but still require either a full team of six pokémon or near-constant interaction with their trainer. They are intelligent and loyal creatures and enjoy play.

Ledyba prefer to sleep in their pokéballs. Ledian have no particular preference between being in a stasis ball or sleeping outside. Habitat balls can lead to boredom or panic attacks and are not recommended. Ledyba and ledian both drain their energy reserves while they are in their pokéballs and will need to be let out each night. It is recommended that they have a guard pokémon, preferably an electric, rock, or ice-type, to ward off birds of prey.

Ledian are almost constantly releasing powerful scents to signal their moods. Sometimes these scents can be quite pleasant. Sometimes they are not. It should be accepted that a ledian trainer will gradually gain a rather distinctive scent due to their pet’s communications.

Ledian are some of the easiest pokémon to tame due to the almost absurd lengths they will go to in pursuit of the fruits they enjoy. Providing challenges or games with fruit as a reward will convince a ledian to practice their moves, engage in battle, or pick up prosocial behaviors for a comparatively low cost. Ledian do not appear to gain weight when overfed, but it is best for a trainer’s wallet if they don’t overdo it. The more rewards a ledian gets, the less they will respond to the opportunity of obtaining food.

As the ledian’s life cycle ends they will attempt to leave their trainer. They should be allowed to go as every surviving ledian is important for restoring the population at the end of the cycle (see Breeding).

It is extremely difficult to train a ledian alongside other bugs. Butterfree, ribombee, and vikavolt are the only exceptions in Alola. Very experienced bug specialists can sometimes pull it off, but it’s a task best left to zookeepers and the world’s top trainers and researchers.

Illness

Ledian very seldom get sick. When they do there is nothing a veterinarian can do for them given their odd physiology. Ill ledian should be comforted, exposed to as much starlight as possible, and left outside of their pokéball. Sometimes they will recover on their own.

More than one ledian has come to view feigning illness as a trick they obtain fruit for performing. Trainers should resist the urge to overfeed ‘sick’ ledian.

Evolution

Ledyba grow steadily after birth through repeated molts until they reach a height of roughly two feet at seven months of age. At this point their size remains stagnant for one to three months until they begin metamorphosis. The soon-to-be-ledian will drop down to the floor of the swarm’s nest and remain there, protected by other members of the swarm, for roughly two weeks. During this period they undergo repeated molting and rapid growth.

Ledyba only evolve when they have a ready source of protection. When a ledyba is held without other ledyba, something that is legal but generally inadvisable, they will only evolve when provided a dark and sheltered area for at least one month.

Battle

Ledyba are cowards that actively avoid battle with anything bigger than an inch long. They are more likely than not to simply freeze up when exposed to an opponent.

Ledian are naturally combative and can be disciplined to hold back from killing other bugs with the help of some wild pokémon and fruit. Ledian have access to highly targeted punches, aerokinetic attacks, and low-level telepathic attacks. They are perhaps best used as supporting pokémon that set up telekinetic barriers, annoy the opponent, or otherwise facilitate a teammate’s sweep. If a trainer is willing to invest time and money on specialized training and TMs, ledian can learn a plethora of nasty tricks to capitalize upon their screens. Roost and drain punch compensate for their relative frailty. Tailwind, agility, substitute, swords dance and baton pass can help set up another teammate. Encore, infestation and u-turn can help establish momentum. Ledian are also intelligent enough to know multiple tricks simultaneously which can keep opponents guessing as to whether ledian will serve as a momentum-builder, a sweep enabler or an all-out attacker. This has given ledian a niche in competitive battling circuits despite their lack of bulk or power.

For amateurs with less time, resources, and knowledge to put into training a ledian, it is best to go for a screen-augmented attacker route. Mixing one or more of the classic protective screens (reflect, light screen, safeguard) with moves such as comet punch, bug buzz and air slash together will let ledian continue to play a role through either the end of the island challenge or the end of the cycle, whichever comes first.

Acquisition

Ledyba require a Class III license to capture, adopt or purchase. Ledian only require a Class I license. The disparity is in place to prevent trainers without the time, resources, or skill to wrangle twenty or more ledyba from trying to do so.

The abundance of ledian and their evolutionary stage largely depend on the time in the cycle. Consult a bug pokémon or agricultural supplies store to learn about current availability. At some points in the cycle the capture of ledian is strictly prohibited. Late in the cycle when ledian are present and no longer living in large swarms they can typically be found near orchards, gardens, plantations or some sparse temperate forests. Ledian are easily intrigued and bribed with fruit and hugs. They can be overpowered and captured, but it’s usually best to get them to join your team voluntarily. Simply giving them food, attention and a community is enough to establish dominance over them.

Breeding

It is impossible to breed ledian in captivity.

Ledian operate on well-known cycles based around total lunar eclipses, which occur about once every 2.5 years. Eggs are laid during the eclipse and hatch two to three weeks later. Ledyba eggs are about the size of a ping-pong ball and look and feel more like a crystal than a standard egg. The eggs are translucent and the growing ledyba is clearly visible.

When the ledyba eggs hatch there are suddenly hundreds of thousands of tiny ledyba in Alola guarded by roughly 1000 ledian. Predators take advantage of this. Mortality is particularly high if the cycle begins when migratory birds are in Alola. By the time ledyba reach full size, there are typically only ten thousand remaining in the archipelago. Once all the ledyba have evolved they begin to split off into smaller swarms of ten to twenty individuals. Individuals and swarms are gradually coaxed into captivity or killed off by predators until only about 50 swarms remain in the wild, with another 25 in captivity on large plantations. The remainder are held by private trainers or zoos and botanical gardens.

As the end of the cycle nears the captive ledian will begin to leave their trainers to return to the place of their birth. On the night of the total lunar eclipse the ledian will begin one final moonlight ritual, this one with a clear purpose. Details of this event are largely unknown as ledian react with hostility to humans approaching their mating grounds and have even been known to destroy drones sent in to observe. The next morning the ground of the mating areas are littered with eggs. Ledian will spend the next six months fiercely defending their offspring. Most will die in this process as predators flock to the swarms.

The remaining ledian will begin to die off six months after the eclipse, unleashing powerful and incomprehensible psychic waves as they do so. Some captive ledian will choose to return to their trainers to die. Those that successfully return will embrace their human and initiate a psychic connection. Trainers report visions of vast fields of brightly colored stars and what appears to be a nebula in the middle-distance. The humans often report feelings of confusion and awe at mundane objects such as trees or forks in the following weeks, along with an overpowering sense of love for almost everyone and everything.

Relatives

Ledian can be found in most tropical and temperate areas of the world. Despite their large range they do not have any distinct subspecies. Their closest relative on Earth may be metagross, but this is largely speculative.