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Ethan long heard the screeching bat even before Malik had the chance to warn him with a bark. Seeing the poison bat coming at him he ducked to avoid being hit by the Zubat. Really a Zu-frigging-bat!? He couldn’t help but growl at the thought of it in his own head. The man could have gone to any god damn cave within any region and he would find one of these pieces of shit with his eyes closed! Maybe his intel was bad when he heard there being decent pokemon migrating through the safari. Whatever if nothing else this bat would make good experience. “Ready yourself,” he ordered as Malik leaped forward ready to fight when the Zubat turned around and was coming at the pair once more. [break][break]

“Wait for it,” he ordered the fire hound as their opponent flew toward Malik, Ethan waiting for the right moment to strike to get the most amount of damage from their attack. Once it was close enough Ethan gave two whittles in succession one long another short for his order when the Zubat was less than several feet from them allowing Malik just enough time to unleash his FlameThrower making the bat pokemon fly into the flames at what may as well been point blank range. [break][break]

Having been hit so close the Zubat fell to the ground which made the trainer smile. Now this was the kind of reaction time he had been training Malik for. Though obviously the young hound still needed to work on his power as the Zubat used its wings to pick itself up once again and once again take flight. With a screech Zubat used it’s Supersonic attack which easily made Malik confused. That was an annoying attack, “Malik crunch,” Ethan tried to order instead of whistling his orders as usual in slight hopes that it would help the confused pokemon a bit. [break][break]

Though that plan had failed as Malik tried to run at the flying pokemon just to trip over himself and crash nose first into the ground, well… he tried? Ethan was attached enough to Malik to give him that. Zubat went back on the offensive as it tried to gain some of its health back with the use of Absorb which hit its mark, thankfully though Malik was resistant against such an attack. [break][break]

“Flamethrower once more,” Ethan ordered figuring that breathing some fire in a single direction would be easy enough for his confused partner, which thankfully it was as Malik was able to hit the Zubat once more knocking out the pokemon as it fell to the grassy ground all burnt. It would recover… maybe, not Ethan’s concern if he were being honest as he walked over to Malik and gave him a single pat on the head, “Good work,” he complimented making the pup perk up, especially since his trainer wasn't often one to give much praise. Malik quickly followed his trainer to see what else they could find.

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The two had been traveling long enough for Malik to get his wits about him once again, after a painful few minutes of watching the hound trip over himself and sway back and forth a few times. Well he was at least getting better, but he was far from what his old team used to be. It was the rumbling of the ground that caught both pokemon and trainer’s attention as they looked afar seeing a small heard of odd looking Tauros? Wait was this thing it’s evolved form? Did Tauros evolve? Ethan was so confused by this unknown pokemon that it distracted him enough to not realize that one had strayed from the herd and was now rampaging at them. SHIT! Was all he had time to actually think before his body reacted on instinct alone. The fighter in him quickly sidestepped the buffalo pokemon, arm reaching out to grab a horn using the pokemon’s momentum in addition to his own leverage to pull on the horn forcing the not Tauros’ head to turn sharply, causing the pokemon to trip over himself as it crashed to the ground. [break][break]

Okay one, OW! Ethan grumbled as he shook his wrist as he was not mentally prepared to do that even if his body just reacted on its own. Secondly it was down, “Malik Fire Fang!” he ordered his mind still driven mostly by instinct rather than his usual logic as Ethan actually called out the attack rather than whistled as he has been training Malik to get used to. Okay maybe he himself was out of practice as well. Though at least Malik was still quick to react as the hound’s mouth and fangs became surrounded in flames before he bit down on fallen ‘not Tauros’ body. He jumped back as the pokemon shook itself to get the fire pokemon off him. [break][break]

With a huff from its snout, and a stomp from his’s hoof the pokemon was ready to charge again, it’s body glowing a slow shade of red as it used Rage on itself. “This way!” Ethan ordered simply as he snapped his fingers as the two of them ran back to put some distance between the wild pokemon and themselves. Once again the wild bull was after them, but thankfully despite it being the tank it was they did get enough of a lead on the ‘not Tauros.’ With another snap of his fingers he called out, “About face,” he ordered as both pokemon and trainer slid to a stop to face the bull coming at them, “Flamethrower, stop it in its tracks!” With that Houndour drew a quick breath and used the fire move once more which the pokemon seemed to ignore as it took on the fire blast full force running through the fire to try and attack its targets. [break][break]

Ethan quickly acted when the bull got to close as he grabbed his partner and dived to the side to avoid the flaming pokemon raging at them. Ethan pushed himself up to one knee as he watched the pokemon slow its pace. Was nothing going to stop this thing? Ethan couldn’t help but think as the bull turned at them, its body shaking from the burns it received from just taking the flame thrower head on. At first it looked as if the ‘not Tauros’ was going to attack once more but finally it had collapsed and knocked out from the damage which allowed both trainer and pokemon to sigh in relief. Impressive as this pokemon was, it was not his style to use such a pokemon. Their strength was amazing, and the fact that it could take so much damage was something else. However that was all it was: strong. [break][break]

Not wanting to be there when it woke up Ethan recalled Malik into his pokeball to give him a chance to rest and Ethan ran off. Hoping that he could find another pokemon that would provide such a challenge for the two.

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Ethan finally slowed to a stop from his run, the old man taking in a few deep breaths. He wasn’t worn out yet as right now, though the adrenaline from having fighting the ‘not Tauros did get his heart pumping. Okay now to keep going, however the presence of another caused Ethan to pause in his steps as the… shit he knew this one, Scraggit, he was pretty sure that was what it was. Yeah Ethan has never been to the Unova, nor has he dealt with many of them. He knew a few of them, but yeah most of the pokemon he wasn’t too familiar with outside some he found to be interesting. By the way she moved Ethan could tell that she was looking for a fight. “Alright you want to play, we’ll play,” he chuckled about to grab Malik’s pokeball before recalling that the hound might be a bit worn out. So maybe not the best idea.
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With that in mind he quickly grabbed Shay’s pokeball and released him for the Scraggle… Scraggit… the thingy to challenge. “Shadow Sneak” he ordered unaware of this yellow pokemon’s dark typing as Shay did as command for now as he dropped into the shadows that surrounded them with trees providing good coverage before the ghost pokemon came out to attack. It did hit though due to the type advantage that Ethan was unaware of it didn’t do nearly as much damage as the virus man was hoping for.
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Afterward the little pokemon used Feint Attack having disappeared and appeared behind Shay to attack, Ethan well familiar with the attack to recognize it easy. Shit the pokemon had dark moves which already he knew Shay was going to be terrible against. Okay new plan, “Shay by my side,” he ordered the weaken pokemon to which it was confused at first but decided to go with whatever the crazed man thought. “Use Screech,” he ordered as the puppet pokemon floated over to him and used the attack making the dark and fighting pokemon to cover it’s hears in an attempt to keep out the sound but to no use. After the Screech Ethan ran forward this time before kicking the small fighting pokemon as Ethan was no stranger to fighting pokemon himself.
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Not having expected the human to get involved the Shedding pokemon was struck full on and crashing against a nearby tree. “Night shade,” he ordered as he moved out of the way, the ghost pokemon complying as his eyes tured into a bright pink before releasing multiple crimson rings from his body at the fallen scraggy. With the weakened defense and effort of both Ethan and Shay the fighting pokemon was out cold and Ethan just wore a victorious smile. Now to move on.

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With a flash of red light, and some protest on Shay’s part, Ethan returned the ghost pokemon back to his pokemon knowing that after having been hit with the dark attack it may as well be useless without having some time to rest. Already three pokemon have attacked him, and people thought most pokemon to be peaceful, yet sadly none of them were of any interested to him. He was going to need to punch his intel in their god damn face once he left this place. With a crack of his neck, followed by his knuckles Ethan was once again exploring the safari. He took in the sights as he explored, noting a few pokemon here and there but like before nothing catching his interest, that was until he spotted a small pride. [break][break]

Curious, Ethan went a bit closer watching a group of Litleo, finally a pokemon he knew about from Unova, all of which were fighting with one another. Though upon closer inspection most of them were picking on the smallest one of the bunch. The ex-cop wasn’t sure if it was some parental instinct, or an old sense of justice that he once had before his world went dark, but Ethan didn’t feel like sitting back and just watching the smallest of the group get picked on. “Time for a little intimidation tactic,” he spoke as he pulled Malik’s pokemon feeling he should be recovered enough. Summoning the fire hound, the second Malik was released he unleashed a flamethrower at the whole group, the small group of Litleo backing up to avoid the attack, many of them looking confused one what to do before a human came walking up from behind his partner with a dark grin that radiated the promise of pain. After seeing Ethan the group all ran away, pleasing him in a way.[break][break]

That was when the smallest Litleo roared with its squeaky voice at Ethan, its expression angry that the human had interfered with his fight. “Oh were you trying for a challenge?” Ethan teased thinking he might have picked together why the others were picking on it, not because it was small but probably because he was picking fights. “Then let us provide you one, Malik,” he called to his pokemon giving a quick whistle before the Houndour quickly disappeared and reappeared behind the smaller pokemon as he used a Feint Attack on the lion. In its already weaken state Ethan knew the Litleo wouldn’t last long, but as the small pokemon used an ember attack on Malik with little effect the man could appreciate it’s spunk. [break][break]

Looks like he found himself a little volunteer, Ethan thought to himself as he readied a safari ball. The man whistled once again in a different pattern which made Malik move to use a Crunch attack on the lion pokemon. Malik tossing it away with its teeth after the attack. Seeing the Litleo knocked out Ethan threw the pokeball in an attempt to capture the small pokemon, hopeful for success.