"One on one."

With that said, he released his grip on his Arcanine who took the sudden freedom a bit too eagerly. It wasn't long until the two dogs began to tear into each other. Both territorial creatures who wanted to act as the alpha dog. Roman soon released his grip on the Manectric and directed it to join the Houndour and Ditto. While it outright ignored the presence of the disgruntled blob, it did turn to look at the Houndour who seemed to have no care in the world, almost just happy to be involved. His Manectric envied that sense of innocence the pup had. But it watched as the other dogs took to the fight, willing to stand down per his master's orders.

Roman didn't dare look at Lorelei, unwilling to give her the satisfaction that he registered her existence. Even now, she disgusted him. (How many years had it been in hindsight?) He flexed his hand a bit before he shouted a command at his Arcanine, who managed to stop its onslaught of attempting to bite and rip at the Houndoom's throat. Thankfully the fire type dog managed to back off just a bit, but it wasn't for long before he commanded it forward again in an attack of attrition.

"Extreme speed."

Arcanine dashed forward, moving back and forth in a way that attempted to make the moment it lunged unpredictable. But once it seemed he had the Houndoom focused on its movement, he lunged forward to strike.

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At the sudden release of the smog, Roman instinctively took a few steps back. He'd been victim to it before, and even at the sight of it, he could feel the blood crawling up his throat metaphorically speaking. His expression remained flat as he watched his Arcanine struggle from the poisoning, but it still stood firm. Here and there, it would seem to nearly fall, but somehow its legs never gave out. In its weakened state, Roman saw an advantage here. With a breath out, he ordered his staggering dog forward. Much like its trainer, the Arcanine refused to give up.

"Reversal."

In an attempt to make up for the damage it had taken, the Arcanine seemed to power up from its own suffering to charge forward and attempt to assault the Houndoom with a fighting type attack. At least that was one slight advantage the fellow fire type had on the dual fire/dark type, and Roman would take every advantage to it that he could.

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Roman winced as he saw his proud fire-type begin to bend at the damage it had taken from Mother. Teeth clenched as he calculated the best route to go. He didn't want his pokemon to be harmed any further than he had been, so Roman had to think fast as his Arcanine began to cry out in pain as the bone slowly began to splinter.

"Go for the throat. Fire fang."

With the order given, the fire type breathed in and gathered flame from his core before he brought his fangs down onto the neck of Mother herself. Flames seared and scorched as the fire type began to rip his head back to make the fire/dark dual type to submit to some degree. Fire wouldn't do much damage, but perhaps the bite portion of it could bring the Houndoom to her knees.

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For a moment, it seemed Roman's Arcanine struggled to stand from the sudden impact. That, on top of the way her Houndoom had practically shattered its leg, was enough to solidify the way it simply lay there, limp and practically lifeless. Though its ears perked at the statement of 'regardless of the outcome'. That was only said when someone was certain of victory -- ironic really. Lorelei was a woman who was so sure of herself. And perhaps in its last hurrah, Arcanine pushed itself up, legs buckled and bent to show that it wasn't in perfect health at all, but despite its injuries, the biggest one was the blow it took to its pride of letting down its trainer.

The Arcanine charged forward, slamming itself into the Houndoom that Lorelei referred to as Mother, charging at what was its best form of 'full force' in a Play Rough attack. It wanted to take its opponent down with it. No matter if the attack made contact or not, the Arcanine managed to collapse at the end of it. It lay fainted, and Roman drew it back into its pokeball to recover. He'd take it to a pokemon center right away to recover.

"I've done my best, what can I say," he offered plainly.

Despite the straightforward comment, he was proud of his team and all it did. He continued his stride forward and stopped as he knelt down to give the Houndoom a gentle yet firm pat on the head. She had done spectacularly, perhaps a bit too forceful in her approach, but like pokemon like trainer, he supposed.

"You won't be able to garner his affections if you keep treating him so roughly. Be forward in your approach."

With that said, he stood back up and approached Lorelei before he offered a hand out to shake to accept his own defeat.

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