How long had they been tailing this scent, she wondered? A scent based on a hunch -one she always trusted-, and one which her Zoroark had acted upon. There was no contract this time around; she hunted freely, of her own volition and with the intent to capture and destroy… if they were in fact who she thought they were. And as Yvaine and her Zoroark came upon a raised plateau, oddly cleared of brush and other plants, voices of chanting filled the air. The bounty hunter smiled.

Looks like she hit the jackpot.

Both pokémon and trainer stooped forward, making themselves as small as possible as they stalked further; Yvaine in a crouching position, her Zoroark on all fours, moving like a nimble shadow as it took the lead. Had its fur been fully dark, it could’ve passed for an actual shadow in how it moved, but for what it was, it did very well. Yet, when they came within a proper distance to see what was going on, Zoroark froze rigid, its head snapping towards her left. And there it remained, staring at the cover Guillermo Marceliño and his pokémon were hiding behind. For a moment her prey was forgotten. The mercenary knew fully well her partner wouldn’t alert her like that if it wasn’t anything that could jeopardize her position. She had trained it as such, after all.

With a short snap of her fingers Zoroark regarded her, and replied to the gestures she made with a two short nods, then eyed the bushes again. Just two…. either a scout, or someone spying on the brass up ahead as well. Only one way to find out. She moved back further into the bushes behind her, trying to conceal herself as much as possible, while her Zoroark stayed more in sight to off-set prying eyes.Her hand scuffled in the dirt until her fingers found a small, round pebble, and with a strong flick of her wrist threw it at the bushes about a dozen feet beside her.

Guillermo Marceliño

☉

Silence pursued, and when a sun-tanned man and his colorful unicorn partner emerged from the thicket minutes later, the mercenary was left to wonder whether he either had not taken note of the rock she'd thrown, or whether she'd really missed her target by such a margin. So she just watched as he walked onto the "stage", making all the red-clad figures cease their dancing and chanting for a moment to go into a stare-down with the ranger. Or so it seemed from her position.

When the ground started shifting and shaking, Yvaine decided to step up as well. "Zoroark, use Agility and find who's doing this!" she'd call to her partner while trying to get up the plateau as well despite the ground's heavy protest. With a nod Zoroark dashed off, nimbly jumping up, off and against rising stone, and across emerging fissures, until it could pinpoint a Camerupt vividly stomping its feet. It hissed and struck it in the flank with a well-aimed Night Slash, at least temporarily disrupting the Earthquake at hand enough for people to find their footing again.

The redhaired mercenary appeared left from the ranger, saluting the man with a two-fingered salute to her temple. "Not to rain on your parade, but… asking nicely? Really? Command some respect-" she turned, punching an incoming cultist square in the face. "Or just punch 'em in the face to get the point across." Zoroark growled in the distance as the robed ones started ordering their Ninetales and Vulpix to attack, the heat quite readily rising as they unleashed a barrage of Flamethrowers and Embers onto the two. "Right's yours!" she pointed, hoping he'd go in for a pincer attack with her.

Guillermo Marceliño

☉

"Because if it'd be using Hydro Pump we'd be in real trouble." she replied to his retorical question while sliding away from her own fire barrage, and thus moving within hearing range of Guillermo's grunting laments. She didn't have to act all Captain Obvious, but she couldn't help it either. Today was a day of fire and burns, apparently. "Or maybe they're just trying to give us a warm welcome!" she said with a devious grin, putting her fingers to her mouth to blow a shrill whistle.

Her Zoroark knew what the whistle meant and dashed forward, unleashing a Night Daze to take out the Ninetails Zuza had just blinded. With the small window that created Yvaine was making her way forward, driving her knee into one of the Cultist's fireballs, followed by a throat chop that sent him hacking to the floor. Now trainer and pokémon were within throwing distance from one another, Zoroark roared menacingly, using its full length and Scary Face in the hope of intimidating some of the smaller pokémon and nearby cultists. And it seemed to work; one Vulpix hightailed it out of the clearing and into the forest, followed by its cultist trainer that tried to stop it from fleeing, while another cultist froze with an expression that seemed like they were to faint any moment now. They stayed on their feet ever so bravely, albeit rather pale.

Guillermo Marceliño

☉