The Dark Forest and Its Leaves [[Open]]

The dark forest leaves rustled quietly as the wind passed by the trees from above, below the trees, near the trunks, lay a houndour. He had been up all night and was now sleeping quietly on the forest floor in peace. Zera had left Grassviel for the night, desiring to be alone for once in what felt like his life. Naps were a favored pass time of his, so being disturbed would not be wise if any pokemon were to pass by. The hound's ears twitched along with his legs slightly as he dreamed of ruling his own territory, and being the leader of a large and strong pack.
The houndour howled in triumph in his dreamland as his fire swallowed those who opposed him. His laugh did not last long as a tsunami seeming to originate from nowhere put out the flames and whisked him away. The canine was shocked awake from the wall of water smashing into him, and remembered that it had just been a dream. He was both relieved and slightly disappointed, he wanted the first half of that dream to be reality, but he would have to work in order to do that. The houndour huffed, looking up at the leaves that obscured his view of the sky, it must have been night time from how excessively dark it was. The hound smiled, the cover of darkness was comforting, as was the absence of other company. There was less sound, and he was in peace an quiet.
One problem, being alone meant he was more vulnerable. There was nobody to watch his back if he were attacked. The hound's ears flattened upon the realization, and suddenly he didn't like being so along anymore. The hound stood up, sniffing the air as he did so.
He smelled nothing as the wind carried scents away from him, he quite liked Shadowhue, compared to that wretched Pecha Forest with that horrid sweet scent of pecha berries. It was quieter, darker, more befitting for a pokemon of this type. He would have claimed a bit of the land here if not for the chilly nights. He wanted someplace warm, someplace comfortable. He would have to move on soon, he needed to find a certain poochyena at some point and he doubted the pooch would have gone too far. The houndour huffed, and began his walk around the forest.

Enzu walked slowly through the trees as he did his best to navigate Shadowhue Forest. He would slowly shift his feet forward, feeling the grass and dirt beneath his feet. Now that Enzu had returned to Shadowhue he was determined to begin a new training regime for himself, and part of that included occasional nightly walks through Shadowhue.

The purpose of this training was to increase the strength of Enzu's other senses besides sight, during dark nights where the moon was barely visible like tonight were perfect because it was extremely difficult to see in Shadowhue. Enzu kept his breathing slow and quite so that he could listen for any movement that was out of the ordinary.

As he continued on his slow walk Enzu heard a howl that was definitely different from the low hum of the wind. He didn't head in the direction of the howl though, he was not in the woods for the purpose of fighting, simply sensory training; however he still prepared himself for confrontation in case it occurred.

The hound of fire and darkness merely shouldered his way through the bushes instead of stepping around them. He made quite a noise in his walk, since he did not care if a pokemon heard him or not. If a pokemon wanted to battle, then they could bring it! He was not going to be scared off by little weedles that might have lived in this forest. He had driven out Beedrill from their own homes before, surely a little old weedle wouldn't be any more difficult. Zera held his head high and he went onward, only lowering his head to avoid branches of bushes that were about to scratch at his eyes.
He had a bit of an empty feeling around him, not like he himself was empty, but everything around him had nothing in it. He was beginning to feel smaller, and worst of all, weaker. His ears flattened insecurely, and he picked up the speed of his pace, his eyes darting nervously from side to side. He was alone. He liked being alone though! So why was he feeling so terrified? Little did the houndour know, he could not handle being alone, and merely liked the thought of being alone. He needed someone to make him look bigger, for without a weaker one by his side, he was nothing.
Zera finally stopped and gave a quick look behind him, he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He gave his head a fierce shake and put on a rather irritated looking face in case others were watching.
"Maybe...looking for someone to uh...'borrow' some items from would be the good thing to do! Yeah...yeah that's it!" he gave an outer smirk and an inner sigh of relief before calling out in a howl, "Hellooooo? Any one out theeeeere?"

The small warrior slowly stepped over a root as he made his way through the darkness. He had been wandering about for quite some time and was beginning to consider returning towards town. But before he had made his final decision, he heard a voice coming from slightly ahead of him. And decided to investigate, he slowed his breathing even more, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. As Enzu got closer to where he had heard the voice he hung closer to the trees, less light shown on the trunks so he figured he wouldn't reflect much light and he would be able to get closer without being noticed. he reached a small clearing and noticed a Houndour looking around. Enzu had guessed that this pokemon was the one who had called out, and probably the same one that had howled just moments earlier. Enzu waited before approaching the Houndour though, most pokemon that were out at this hour would usually be up to no good and Enzu was practicing caution in this case.

The lonely little houndour's ears pressed against his skull once more as not a single voice was heard in return. What happened to the pokemon of the night in this area? Was it so dark in the day that they now have their night and day flipped? The houndour would have liked the presence of even a feral pokemon at this moment in time. The sense of being small was growing, and something to attack and help him in feeling stronger would have been appreciated by the houndour. Zera had been about to give up on his fruitless search before a slight breeze blew towards him, carrying a strange scent he had never quite smelled before. He blinked, trying to identify the scent, which was fresh but rather odd. It was rather metallic, as if whatever was the source was a steel type, which would be beneficial to the hound if a fight was started but the pup lacked this knowledge, focusing his strategies around brute force. The canine's ears straightened out again as he strained his ears, listening for a sound, but hearing none, "Hello?" he dared to ask, "Who's there?" he demanded.

Enzu remained calm and kept his breathing silent as the Houndour noticed him. He did not dwell long on the fact that he was noticed, he wasn't much for stealth anyway. Granted that the Houndour hadn't completely noticed him yet he decided to wait patiently in his current position for some sort of event to occur. Even though this event may cause some noise, Enzu hoped that the Houndour would try not to make too much noise so that no feral pokemon would awaken from their slumber. But as the wind continued to blow Enzu kept his eyes trained on the Houndour and prepared to move, his Psycho Cutter wouldn't work on a Houndour so he would need to be swift in his movements and attacks.

The houndour was nervous, he smelled something he did not know of, and it was a bit too quiet. He liked the silence, but this silence was growing eerie. The houndour took a step back, before taking two steps forward, not wanting to step back and look scared to any that may be watching. The small hound was growing a bit paranoid in this predicament, so he decided it was time to move on. He had figured that the smell was probably just nothing, or a sleeping pokemon a bit far off in the distance. Zera continued onward, but not able to get far without something erupting from the bush he had been about to enter. The bush shook madly before a shadow burst from its hiding place, causing the houndour to give a yelp of surprise and turn the opposite direction and run a few feet before turning back around, only mad now that he had been forced to run away even a little bit. The houndour took a deep breath, trying to identify the creature who was concealed in the darkness by scent.

This dice is not existing.

Enzu heard the Cacnea start coming out of the bush before the Houndour had, but unfortunately he wasn't able to move fast enough to stop it from moving any further. Enzu moved away from the tree and went to stand in between the Houndour and the Cacnea. The Cacnea simply glared at Enzu and Enzu returned a calm gaze back at it. But before either of them began to move, Enzu heard the sound of another pokemon coming from the opposite direction that the Cacnea came from. Without turning his head Enzu spoke to the Houndour, "I don't know who you are, but it looks like we are going to have to work together to defeat the two of these guys." Whovever the two of these are that is, I still don't know what kind of pokemon the other one is.

This dice is not existing.

Zera blinked as a red, black, and white figure darted in between him and the cacnea. The pokemon seemed to have sharp blades on every part of him but the back, perhaps making the back be the weak spot of the pokemon. The hound had thought that the pokemon was friends with the other until it spoke about needing to work together. He merely huffed in annoyance and spoke, "I don't know who you are either, but just don't get in my way!"
The emptiness was gone, and replaced with the sheer joy of a battle about to begin. The void of loneliness was filled by the presence of a Pawniard, a Cacnea, and some other pokemon. The houndour's jaws opened as a red and yellow orb formed in his mouth, the two colors seemed to dance with each other as the houndour stepped around the pawniard and threw back his ears and lowered his head. Bright flames leaped from the orbs and hurtled towards the Cacnea like tiny meteors, striking the cacnea and pushing it onto its back. The cacnea flailed for a moment, before swinging its arms and using momentum to swing itself back onto its thorny feet. The cacnea glared, and then seemed to suddenly double in size, using Growth!

Enzu just sighed and shook his head when the houndour simply started attacking. Once it had attacked the Cacnea, Enzu jumped to the side so that he would not be in between the two of them. Enzu noticed that the Cancea's arms had gotten larger so he figured that it would be best to keep his distance.

Enzu started to deposit energy into the blades on his hands so that they were glowing red and the energy grew so that the blades were twice their original length. Enzu then leapt away from the Cacnea and started to swing his arms so that the blades of energy flew at the Cacnea. One of the blades hit it's arm and the other hit it on the upper part of its body. The attacks caused the Cacnea to stagger and step back slightly, but didn't do enough to knock it out.

Due to his focus on the Cacnea, Enzu hadn't noticed another pokemon come up from behind him. All of the sudden when Enzu landed a sticky substance attached itself in between his legs, making it difficult for him to move. He was able to turn his head and noticed a Weedle coming up from behind him. "Be careful!" he shouted to the Houndour, "There's a Weedle here too."

The houndour blinked and looked at the weedle as it seemed to glare at him in the most threatening way possible. The houndour blinked and began to laugh at the weedle, "You really think you can beat me? I drove a hive of Beedrill out of their very homes," he growled at the weedle. The words in the growl were to low for the Pawniard to hear, but his growling became more obvious has he raised his voice. He had forgotten about the cacnea for the moment, and was determined to show this Weedle just how he had taken down the Beedrill's nest by himself.

Zera's jaws parted once more and the orb returned just above his tongue, the flaming ember shot out at the weedle, knocking it back a fair distance and dealing massive damage. The houndour smirked, and took a single step forward, only for his foot to get caught in something sticky below. He looked down and saw that a strange web like substance was pinning his paw to the ground. He attempted to rip it out, but before he could try much, the cacnea had come up from behind and slammed its arm into his side. The Houndour howled in surprise as his paw was ripped from the webbing from the force and he was knocked away once more. The houndour huffed in annoyance, a bit of ember dropping from his jaw as he did so, not thinking to use the flames of his ember to burn the substance that held down the pawniard and allow it to move around and fight more.

With all of the different events happening around him Enzu was able to remain calm and assess the situation because of his Inner Focus ability. He took a deep breath and began to use the ability in the same way that his father had taught him. All of Enzu's surrounding went dark as he began to evaluate everything that was going on and determining what the best course of action was. He started by focusing on the pokemon around him.

First to analyze was the Weedle behind him. From experience during his travels Enzu knew that the only attack that would most likely come from a Weedle was Posion Sting or String Shot, unless it knew Bug Bite but that was unlikely, so the only thing Enzu would have to worry about with the Weedle was being slowed down from it's string shot, and the web could most likely be cut with Psycho Cutter.

Second was the Cacnea attacking the Houndour, given that this pokemon was the only one that would end up attacking and damaging Enzu it was the obvious target. The only issue would be keeping a safe distance from it since it's arms had gotten larger from its Growth. So the best attack to use would be Psycho Cut.

Finally was the Houndour, at this point Enzu could assume that the Houndour was an ally, and its Ember attack would be effective against the pokemon they were fighting. The only issue was that it seemed reckless and wasn't that experienced in fighting multiple enemies, or working with other pokemon either.

After some careful thought Enzu came up with his plan of action. He would need to be swift in order for it work. He began by building up energy in his arms for a Psycho Cutter. He used a smaller blade to cut the web that had stuck his legs together. He then quickly shot the other Psycho Cutter in the direction of the Houndour and the Cacnea. Enzu knew that his Psycho Cutter wouldn't hurt the Houndour, but if it hit it would at least sever the webs that stuck it to the ground. And if the attack hit the Cacnea then the attack should knock it back and give the Houndour long enough to burn the webs himself.

The plan worked, the cut severed the threads and the Cacnea was knocked away from the houndour. The cacnea was forced to regret not training to evolve, else it would have been immune to such an attack.

Zera flinched when he saw the slice of psychic energy rushing towards him, it reminded him of the Kadabra, he loathed kadabra. The attack seemed to be absorbed into his body after severing the threads due to his dark typing. Zera seemed to glare at the Pawniard a bit, not liking the looks of the psychic type move, before burning the remains of the string off of him, and freeing his movement back to the way it used to be. The hound turned to the Cacnea, his lip curled in a snarl as the tip of his hears touched the back of his head.

He seemed to have forgotten about the weedle, and his jaw opened to reveal crackles of electricity surrounding his teeth. The hound charged forward and clamped his jaw onto the cacnea's arm, ignoring the pain of the pokemon's spikes as the Cacnea screamed, electricity coursing through its body. The hound finally released the green spiked pokemon, allowing it to fall forward, paralyzed. The cacnea twitched occasionally, showing it was still alive and kicking, but it the paralyses was strong, and kept it from moving. The Houndour looked behind him, searching for the Pawniard, only to be assaulted by a large silky string of web once more that pinned him close to the cacnea.

Enzu was shocked to see the Houndour use Thunder Fang. It must have been a move that he had inherited from his father because most pokemon of their kind don't know that move. Enzu noticed the Enzu noticed the Cacnea was barely able to move after it took the Thunder Fang, he also noticed out of the corner of his eye that the Houndour had gotten stuck by the Weedle's web once again.

Enzu ignored the Houndour for the moment and started to store energy for one more Psycho Cut from both of his blades. He figured that the Cacnea would barely be able to handle another attack, so it would be safe to use two blades. Without moving from his spot Enzu swung his arms and launched the two Psycho Cuts towards the Cacnea. The two blades of red energy flew at the Cacnea and both of them hit it square in its chest. They attack sent in flying backwards and it crashed into a large tree trunk. The Cacnea then fell to the ground and didn't move, it's eyes took the form of spirals.

Now that the Cacnea was down for the count, Enzu turned around and turned his attention to the Weedle how was still a short distance away from him. "Well then," he said to the Weedle, "Are you going to stick around? Or do you want the same thing that happened to your friend there to happen to you?" he asked.

The weedle seemed to glare even more, it lashed out at the pawniard, a new kind of webbing coming from it. The web crackled with Electricity, and seemed to spread out as if ready to pin the pokemon down entirely instead of little globs of goo.
Zera struggled against the sticky web for a few moments before remembering his fire. He burned the web while the Weedle was using ElectroWeb against the Pawniard, and once he was free, the ball of ember appeared in his gaping mouth once more, only for the hound to be assaulted by the same electric filled web. Zera was pinned to the same tree the cacnea fell from, and screeched as the electric energy coursed through his body.