As the challenger that had been fighting the trainer with the Ninetales moved away, Taylor strode onto the field. Blinking, Shayde followed her. The Lucario mimicked his trainer's confident steps as she approached the field. Taylor threw back her hood and gave a toothy grin to the man. In stature, the man was nothing to brag about. His body did not seem to fill out his over-sized clothes and the man's unkept black hair looked greasy and dirty. Whatever respect she had for the trainer drained with the man's appearance.

"I'll be your next challenger," Taylor said and the man barked out a bout of laughter. He clutched his scrawny chest and doubled over, wiping fake tears from his eyes as he did. Taylor arched her brows and crossed her arms across her chest, her gray eyes hardening. "Do you accept or would you rather stand their and laugh all day," she said icily. The man clenched his jaw and stood erect.

"Don't mess with me, kid," he snarled which Taylor responded by rolling her eyes. She held her hand out to Shayde and he slipped off his cloak. Going against a fire type with a steel was not the smartest idea, but at the same time, it was; seeing as Shayde was a Lucario, he had an obvious advantage.

"I accept your challenge. It shall be a one on one Pokemon battle," he said, grinning with malevolance.

~~

The man threw the ball up in the air once before flinging it out onto the field. Sure enough, the Shadow Ninetales emerged, snarling and snapping at the air. Its jaws slavered as Shayde walked calmly onto the field. He stood erect for a moment before crouching down, one hand defensively in front of him with the other behind. With a bark of a command from his master, the Ninetales sped toward Shayde at incredible speed.

With the use of agility, Taylor called out for Shayde to hold his ground. "Ninetales, use Fire Spin!" the man screeched. The Ninetales appeared from behind Shayde and while the Lucario turned around, the Pokemon began to run around the fighting type, embers sparking from its tail and trapping Shayde in a fiery blaze.

Shayde flung his paws in front of his face and let the fire scathe his body, the overwhelming heat making him shudder. "Now," Taylor said and Shayde pushed his hands out to his sides, his palms glowing softly. He doused the fire with the aura weaving from his paws to the ground.

"Fire blast." At the command, the Ninetales parted its jaws and let loose a strikingly powerful jet of pure flames. Shayde rolled onto the ground and nearly dodged the attack, his right side being singed painfully on the way. Shayde smirked as his wounds began to build up and he slowly bided his time with the Pokemon.

"Shayde, Dark Pulse." Taylor commanded. Shayde rushed toward the Ninetales, palms glowing with black aura. He thrust out his paws to his sides and a jet stream of black web attacked the Ninetales, knocking the Pokemon at least twenty feet back. It skidded to a stop on its paws, breathing hard. The man was not as confident now.

"Overheat," growled the man and the Ninetales whipped its body around, flinging a jet of extreme heat in Shayde's direction.

"Endure it!" yelled Taylor and Shayde flung his paws up in front of him and let the heat wash over him. He let out a sharp growl and knew what Taylor wanted him to do next. Two huge bursts of light exploded on his palms as he transferred his taken damage into his most powerful move; Aura Sphere.

He clasped his paws together and the light grew unbearably light. "No!" Screeched the man as Shayde hurled the ball of Aura at the Ninetales. It stuck the fox Pokemon and caused it to crash into his trainer. The man did not waste any time. He pushed the Ninetales off of him and sprinted out of the clearing.

Shayde collapsed to one side, panting and gasping hard. Taylor rushed up to him. "Sculyr, you have to go after him!" yelled Taylor as she pointed after the man.

Ooc; Yew Pokemon battle, too. :U

Sculy had watched the entire battle and rage filled him when he saw the owner of the Ninetales race off, leaving behind his injured pokemon. With a slight growl, Sculyr threw back his cowl and bolted after the fleeing man. He pulled out two pokeballs as he ran. One that was a black as night and the other a regular red and white pokeball. He didn't throw them, he let them crack open so that two hound-shaped pokemon were running next to him.

One orange and yellow with stripes of black on her back and the other black with horns in his head and a spade-tipped tail. Both growled as they picked up their trainer's emotions. The black one inched forward.

"Reaper, stop the man," the blonde psychic intoned. The Houndoom snarled and increased his pace as he pulled ahead of Sculyr and the Arcanine. "Scythe, do the same. Surround and do not let him escape."

Scythe, the Arcanine, growled dangerously low and followed the male Houndoom on the hunt.

Taylor knelt down next to the fainted Ninetales while Shayde stumbled next to her. "Rest now," she said as her fingers slid up her shirt and fingered his Pokeball. Shayde shook his head and closed his blue eyes while Taylor merely sighed. She ran her fingers through the Ninetales creamy silk fur and wondered how a person could hurt an innocent creature like this. Without warning, the Ninetales lifted its head and clamped its jaws firmly on Taylor's outstretched arm.

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, waves of pain emnating from her arm, but she did not move. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said through clenched teeth. The Ninetales froze and glared at her with hate-filled eyes. Taylor looked into the black depths and saw nothing but la
yer upon la
yer of darkness. The two sat like that for a while, Shayde looking on in pure horror.

"I'll call you Spirit for your unwavering determination and the fact that I know there's hope in there somewhere for you," Taylor said finally. The Ninetales blinked and for a moment, gratitude and love poked through the darkness, but they clouded with hate once more. Exhausted, the Ninetales released her and fainted.

~~~

"Go after them," Solstice heard Taylor say as he popped out of his ball. The Arcanine smelled another of his kind and with a nod from Taylor, he set off toward the scent. He streaked past the field, disappearing in alley-ways and followed the scent trail of the Arcanine. He found the other streaking beside a Houndoom as they went after the chase.

He followed in step next to the Arcanine, Scythe. He flicked his tail and gave a low growl. His body language to the Arcanine displaying his message. "I'll go around and try to cut him off then we'll trap him."

Scythe bobbed her maned head as one of ears flicked back slightly as she accepted what this male Arcanine said. She pas-sed along the message to Reaper with a snarl and a tail flick across the hellhound-like pokemon. Then, with a shake of her mane, Scythe shortened her pace and moved behind the Houndoom as she bolted off into one of the side alley-ways that ran parallel to the road/walkway that Reaper was speeding along.

Reaper glanced at Solstic through the corner of his eye. The gesture simply meaning; "You better get going. I'll stay along this path. And I have a feeling that Sculyr is planning something." Though the last part was meant for the Houndoom alone. Lashing out his spade tipped tail, Reaper extended his legs more so he took longer strides.

---

Sculyr stopped running and slid to a stop. His chest moving in a heavy, rhythemic pattern that indicated his panting. Raising one hand in the direction his two pokemon had ran off in, he extended his gifts to see if their was anything in front of the fleeing man that could be knocked over to halt the man. Closing his glowing eyes, he found what he was looking for. A few rows and columes of wooden boxes. A smirk twitched his lips as a black glow surrounded the boxes before they toppled over in front of the man.

Opening his eyes, the blue irises had stopped glowing. With a deep breath, Sculyr sprinted off again.