It has seemed that Arceus was not done with him yet. In fact, he felt as though the god of pokemon was mocking him with this appointment today. Did the league seriously doubt his position that they send a Elite Four member to check up on him? Really? It hasn’t even been that long. His gaze flickered to referee, giving him a stiff nod once the gym leader was on his side of the pit. The referee nodded in return, waving for the challenger to enter onto the battlefield. His gaze fixed upon a familiar face, watching him descend down the stairway and onto the somewhat grassy battle field at the bottom of the pit. Shifting his weight, the man eyed him carefully as he called out to him. Two of his canine’s peered at him.

Maverick offers a small smile in return, forgetting that he was known through Hoenn as a houndour and houndoom master. He found it funny seeing how apparently, Kyle was known as a mightyena master. “Yes,” he chuckled lightly, shrugging his shoulders as his arms uncrossed to have his hands retreat to his pockets, “It would seem so. I am the houndoom guy. They are beautiful and powerful creatures.” Taking a deep breath, he let his fingers in his pockets dance with the poke balls inside there while he spoke. “It’s nice to see you Kyle,” the man greeted politely, greeting with him a slight bow at the waist before his gaze returned to his, “Our paths have cross once again.” The man eyed the mightyenas. Although the man wasn’t sizing up his creatures or trying to judge them, just pure curiosity. His love for dark types overpowered his tactical thinking.

The urge to call out his own pair of mightyena was so very strong. What better battle against dark types when both sides are pure dark, same species? But the man, had a better idea. Sense Kyle was indeed Elite Four, surely he would kick his ass. So instead, why not try something a little different but still kind of the same. Hmmm? The man snatched the two capsules in his pocket and tossed them out. The balls burst open, revealing the very well known Azula. The massive sic foot seven tall rapidash skull wear houndoom threw her head back and a joyful howl. The sounded bounced off the walls of the pit, sending a chill down Maverick spine as it always did. The other was a normal houndoom by the name of Lukas. He was a mangled dog with years of battle scars the littered across his entire body. The most noticeable scar is the one that begins over his left eye across his face to the right side of his lip. The houndoom’s head lower, ebony lips peeled back slightly to show a glimpse of his pearly whites. A low growl resinates from his throat.

“Hope you don’t mind,” the man hollered over to Kyle when Azula stopped howling, “But these two need some exercise. Canines against canines. Sounds good?” It really didn’t matter whether or not Kyle agreed or not. His pokemon were set and now, so were his. Maverick let his gaze flickered to the referee, giving him a nod that he was ready. And yet again, the man announced the terms of the battle. And still, Maverick found it very annoying and completely unnecessary. But hey, the rules are the rules. If the league wants to pay someone to do this, it’s on them. He couldn’t help the rolling of his eye though.

“Today! Mister Kyle Lopez, our very own Elite Four, challenges Gym Leader Maverick Ryder to a double battle using pokemon only of full or part typing. The rules are simple. Battle until both pokemon on either side are down and can no longer battle. Challenger has first move whenever he is ready. Begin!”

It was only when the challenger called a command that the true battle had begun.

One of the mighyena’s showed off some confidence with a snarl, forcing both Azula and Lukas to take a step back at the creature’s newly found aggression. The other began to bark erratically at Lukas. This act confused the male. Why was he barking at him? As he tried to understand this odd behavior, the creature suddenly felt light headed and stumbled slightly into Azula as though he has lost his balance. She retaliated with a snap at him. He growled at her, moving away and trying to regain his balance. Great. Just great.

“Stay focus!” The man growled in a low tone, knowing what has happened to Lukas, “Azula, close the gap. No mistakes. Lukas, focus with odor sleuth then follow Azula’s lead.” The massive hell hound didn’t waste a moment. She lunged forward as soon as her trainer barked the order. No mistakes. That’s easy. She already had a plan in motion. The canine darted towards the one that snarled at her, her aim was to whip around last minute and iron tail the male.

Meanwhile, Lukas held back a little bit to gather himself. The confusion was clear but he did as he trainer asked. His nostrils flared with the intake of scents, taking notes of his new opponent stenches using odor sleuth so he could not lose them and will not miss his attacks. It was only when he was sure he had both opponents scents memorized that he followed after Azula. However, the confusion made him slower than her. His plan was to attack the other male, whipping around to slam his iron tail into the one who confused him in the first place.

The massive six foot seven rapidash skull wearing hell hound launched herself forward swiftly towards Charlie in hopes to slam him with her tail. The canine swayed back and forth in an attempt to not give away her main target. Her long arrow tipped tail took on a silverly glow before turned into steel. The canine whipped herself body around last minutes in full intimations of hitting the one with all her might with the steel type move. But as she got whipped around, the other mightyena was quick to intervene. The canine bared his teeth, muzzle clamped down on her steel tail. A snarl ripped through her throat as the creature caught the iron tail with a crunch and held onto her, refusing to let go. Azula wasn’t a new to this tactic. The hot taste of sulfur tickled her throat and almost instantly, her muzzle burst open in a powerful fire blast at her holder.

But just as the female houndoom let the fire blast out, the other mightyena let loose a hyper beam.

The two powerful attacks collided with a loud boom, the shock waves sent Azula off her feet and land roughly a few feet from where they fought. A soft whimper escaped her followed by vicious snarls. Pain rippled through her left side when she hit the ground, both from the landing and what little damage she took from the hyper beam. The female stumbled to her feet, lips peeled back to reveal her pearly whites. She wasn’t down yet and still had a lot of fight in her. A simple flex of her leg muscles launched herself forward into motion once again. Although she was slightly slower this time around due to the damage she just took, the houndoom darted straight for delta again. And once again, her aim was to use iron tail on delta before he could try to save his partner from Lukas wrath. Whatever he was planning on doing.

With the assist of oder sleuth, Lukas whipped himself around last minutes to slam his iron tail into one of the mightyenas. A sharp yelp indicated he hit his mark as the blast of the two attacks shock waved him back a few steps. However, he was lucky enough as he was able to brace himself. It was only when the blast was done that Lukas didn’t waste no time. He lifted his head to the sky and let loose summoning cry as the dust and dirt started to settle. Suddenly, the sky clears in the small opening over them as harsh sun rays basket them into sunlight. Lukas, still daze from the confusion, could almost feel the suns ray boost his fire attacks. And once the sunny day was fully in effect, his ruby orbs turned to Charlie.

Charlie stared him down in an intimidating, Lukas growled back almost feeling as if his will to attack lower. But, the creature knew the canine needed time to recover and this could be his chance. Taking a deep breath, he could feel the thick lava build within him. Swiftly, the hot substance formed and erupted from his parted muzzle. His mind set and direction was simple. With him still being somewhat close to Charlie, the creature hoped with Charlie needing to recover from such a power attack that he would get hit with Lukas powerful flamethrower charged up by sunny day.

In the background, Maverick remained silent and observed. He felt no need to assert his well worded battle creatures just yet.

Thanks to the odor sleuth use earlier, Lukas was able to hit his mark with his souped up flamethrower by the sunny day. The stream of flames bellowed from his muzzle in one power blow, almost setting the canine ablaze as it snarl viciously right before the fire torched its fur. The scarred male houndoom let out his own snarl of protest as the canine tried to flee from him. But when the canine ordered his body to move and play chase, a sudden dizziness washed over him. His head spun, knocking him off balance and forcing him to stumble on his feet. The canine shook his head to try and clear the haze, regaining his balance just as quickly as he lost it. His eyes narrowed, blurry figures moved before him. Which one was the correct one?

He lifted his nose to the air, trying to scent out his enemies from Azula. Once he thought he found a direction to aim, muzzle parted. A light green ball began to form between his jaws. And swifter than normal due to the sunny day aid, the light green ball grew in size and intensity. Within minutes, a beam of yellow and green energy shot out from his muzzle. His aim was for one of the two mightyena’s who were fleeing from their side of the battlefield. Hopefully, the odor sleuth would help his aim but he is awfully dazed.

Azula wasn’t having much luck either. Although she manages to get her capture off of her, the mightyena tried to get distance between them. With her being her, she wasn’t about to let the canine get away form her. Falling for the trap, the hell hound raced after delta intending to iron tail the creature. Right as she got in close and hoped to use her long steel tail to hit the male, he suddenly turned and faced her. His got her off guard, forcing her to hesitate her attack. The canine suddenly was… playful? She watched as he strut his stuff, showing off his roguish charm in hopes to attract her. Unfortunately, it worked.

Maverick clenched his jaw tight as his beloved six foot canine was under the effects of attract. Her once defensive ready to fight stance shifted into a lax position. Her long tail wagged back and forth, even as the canine fled away from her. She pounced back and forth on her feet, throwing her head back to let loose an exuberant howl. Her trainer cursed under his breath, knowing damn well it will be a while before she gets over it. She was lucky Evo, her real mate, wasn’t here to see this. After she let loose her howl, her heart filled orbs locked onto Delta. She let out a playful bark, falling into a impish bow before raising to her feet and chasing after her new boy toy. Taking advantage of her desire to play with her new boy toy, Maverick barked an order in hopes it would stick.

“Give him a little nibble with crunch!”