The Difference between a Rival and an Ally

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A small fox like creature with gray fur for a coat yawned and shook herself as she wandered about the forest, foraging for food and items. She also searched for a new victim to steal from. The sun shined on two gold clip-on earrings on her right ear, both on the lower part of her ear. She had recently stolen these from a jewelry store in Grassviel, after having stared longingly at it for days from afar. The Zorua was proud of her catch, and paid no attention to how it stood out with its shining. She thought of it as more of a bait trap, luring pokemon towards the shining object upon her ear for her to steal from. She smirked as she sat down and began to groom behind her ear in the dark forest that was her home. She was comfortable here in the dark, at least so she convinced herself. The zorua was slightly uneasy in the dark, being alone and undefended..

the poochyena screeched in pain, but managed to live. It decided to attempt to take revenge, and tried to use another dark pulse.
Mirage dropped her illusion with a sly smile and prepared her own Dark Pulse, aiming lower as the poochyena aimed higher. Mirage felt the dark energy flow through her as the dark matter collected around her, and finally unleashing in almost perfect sync with the clumsy poochyena. The poochyena had fired a few seconds earlier, and it's pulse was rather wobbly and weak while Mirage's was straighter, thinner, and stronger. The thinner a ring was the more it would cut, the poochyena's was rather dull since it had not quite gotten used to the move and was only attempting to mimic what it saw.

Watching the two Dark Pulses get fired, Ava had to make a quick decision. Probably can't avoid both, which one won't do as much... She dug her scalchop into the ground directly between her and Mirage, her shell blocking the worst of the attack as the Poochyena's hit her right in the face, leaving a cut across the side of here face that luckily wasn't too deep. The Oshawott stumbled back a step and pulled her scalchop out of the ground, slightly disoriented. The Poochyena yelped, getting hit by the other Pulse and taking minor damage, but shaking it off due to its typing. It turned its attention to Mirage and lunged towards her, aiming to tackle the other Pokemon.

Mirage met the poochyena in mid-air, leaping towards it as it leaped towards her. The two fell to the ground after a harsh collision. The two then began a huge festival of snarling, biting, and flying fur. Finally, Mirage managed to pull of another Dark pulse and sent the Poochyena flying into the trunk of a tree. The poochyena screeched in pain, falling to the ground, but forcing itself to stand back up once more against these menaces to its territory. Mirage merely huffed and spat out some grey fur that had been the poochyena's. She had nearly reached its neck, she would have bit it, but only to scare it. She didn't quite agree with killing, viewing it as a cowardly act. Killing another pokemon was just saying that you feared of them coming back and defeating you, it showed that you were not confident in your own abilities to become stronger. The zorua looked back to the oshawott, seeing if it was about to make a move.

Ava simply stood back and watched the other two Pokemon go at it, preferring to stay on the sidelines for that scuffle. After all, why get involved when you could wait for the other two to tire one another out and wait to take the last one standing down? Watching the Poochyena get launched into a tree, the Oshawott decided to focus on it and jumped towards the Poochyena, swinging her scalchop down at its head with the flat side in an attempt to knock the hostile Pokemon unconscious. She saw no reason to kill the other Pokemon, it had nothing she needed and was simply defending its territory. That was something Ava would respect.

Mirage watched as the oshawott went for the poochyena instead of her, finishing it off and knocking it out. Mirage decided to wait for the oshawott to make a move once more, giving the side of her paw a lick and passing it by her ear as she groomed herself. She licked her muzzle as she waited for a move. Was the oshawott going to continue fighting and STILL try to steal the earrings off of her ear, or was it going to give up and try a different tactic, maybe even give up? Mirage's tail flicked to and fro as she awaited the oshawott, ignoring the groaning poochyena that thought it had failed to protect its turf as it picked itself up and limped away after waking up.

The Oshawott grinned, watching the Poochyena walk off. It wasn't necessarily that she enjoyed its pain, more that she enjoyed coming out of a battle alive and kicking. Ava placed her scalchop on her fur and looked over at the Zorua as it groomed itself, showing no sign of hostile intention any longer.
"Well, that was something. You seemed to enjoy yourself." She commented, no longer carrying the calm and collected tone of earlier but a more light hearted and almost relaxed one.

Mirage ceased her grooming as the Oshawott spoke to her. She placed her paw on the forest floor and spoke, "For a battle where I had to fight physically, it was decent."
Once again, Mirage didn't enjoy getting her paws dirty. She had no choice but to meet the poochyena in the air though. There was no way she would get far away enough in time without it being able to grab her hind leg or tail. It would have the advantage and she probably would have had her tail ripped off and handed to her on a golden plate. The Zorua was still on her guard though, at this moment she would have been trying to trick herself into lowering her guard if she in the oshawott's position, so she felt the need to be weary.

"Right, because I'm getting the feeling you're not a fan of getting physical with an attacker unless you have to." Ava made the comment as more of an observation, debating whether or not to keep up her attempts. No. At this point it just isn't worth whatever those are worth. I'd do better finding something else from another Pokemon. The Oshawott decided, leaning against the tree trunk. "So, who are you?" She asked, looking over at Mirage.

"Oh so you have not yet heard of me? I could have sworn my face was all over the bulliten board by now, especially with that disgusting Ludicolo gunning for me for Arceus knows what purposes. I am Mirage, I wont bother giving you a pseudonym since you've seen my face and it would be pointless to lie at this moment, you seem smarter than most of the pokemon i've met."
Mirage ran her paw behind her ear once more, making her earrings tinkle once more, but more out of an accident than taunting. Mirage was being honest with the Oshawott, only because they had put up a decent fight and amused her by falling for her antics with ease. The Zorua placed her paw back on the ground as she awaited an answer.

"I suppose I would have heard of you had I been hanging around the guild. Since I haven't, I would say I have an excuse." The Oshawott stated in a matter of fact voice, still keeping an air of friendliness. What had changed now was that Mirage wasn't just some random by standing Pokemon, and she seemed to be smart and able to put up a good fight. In a sense she had earned Ava's respect for that.
"I'm not exactly looking to head anywhere near the guild, it's not exactly my kind of place. I'm Avaria, you can stick with Ava." The Oshawott greeted herself.

"It's fun to see just how far I can sneak by it, especially when seems nobody to be in the forest that has anything of value. I'm just going to assume that you're what the guild would consider an outlaw since you came for the purpose of stealing my earrings. They're rather cheap actually, I just didn't want to pay."
Mirage didn't know the exact price for them, but the earrings couldn't have been TOO expensive because they were simple clip-ons. They had pinched her ears at first, but soon she had grown used to it and the dull ache had faded. The zorua began to wonder how well known she was to the town? Was she talked about frequently? Was she just an annoyance or had the town feared her?

Avaria squinted somewhat, looking at Mirage's ears and noticing upon a more focused glance that they indeed didn't seem to be worth as much as she had initially thought.
"Well, what do you know. I guess I just get ahead of myself sometimes." She said, not sounding too disappointed at the loss of a good target but still not sounding very happy about it. Truthfully the Oshawott wasn't much of a planner, while she put together a general idea on the fly things changed and were improvised occasionally due to her impulsiveness.
"Anyways, you would be correct. I don't think I've been noticed around these parts often enough to have my name plastered all over like you, as you say." Ava mused.

"I'm more infamous for some creep ludicolo who claims to be madly in love with me posting up a mission to come hunt me down and bring me back to him. I dread the day a team picks up that mission, hopefully he'll find someone else's tail to chase after, more preferably someone his age..." Mirage shivered as her ears flattened against her head in disgust. She wondered if she should lay a bit low for a while, and "Be good", maybe the ludicolo would lose interest and leave her alone. Mirage would have gone to kick his behind any day, but she was not yet strong enough to take on a fully evolved pokemon.

"I guess you best be careful then. Maybe you should try and send him a message somehow, something straight to the point and convincing." Ava suggested, blinking as Mirage explained. That's not the kind of thing that anyone would want happening. Hope I'm not as unlucky as her with that sort of thing. The Oshawott thought to herself, nodding her head as she did and shivering slightly. "If you need any help with it, I wouldn't mind helping." She added, deciding to make the offer.

"Thanks, me and another pokemon, a sentret, tried sending a message through one of his own. He sent the underling or whatever it was to search for me for him so we tried sending a message through that. If it doesn't work and a rescue team comes after me...well i may as well be served on a silver platter, because the mission only allows for the stronger teams to take and i'm not exactly that strong compared to others..." Mirage spoke more than she wanted to, and though she hated admitting the need for help, she had no choice. She was being hunted, surely, and there was no way she was going to get out alive through wits alone. The mind is stronger than the body, but MULTIPLE bodies? No competition.