As the lucario stumbled past him due to a miscalculation Incendio whipped into action, eyes blazing. Keeping his wings tight to his back to avoid removing any of the smoke that surrounded that two Pokemon he opened his mouth and let a bright fire gather there, blazing around his sharp teeth. Letting his tail slash around in an attempt to trip Shayde the charizard missed the new blow the lucario had been aiming at him and grunted when Shayde's glowing paw slammed into his arm.

Snarling again, this time in pain, Incendio slashed downwards at Shayde's arm, jaws gaping. Flames swirled around his teeth, scorching anything that got too close. One arm hung limply by his side.

Shayde stumbled when the Charizard's tail lashed out of nowhere and caused him to trip. He gained his footing, the agile Pokemon kicking off of the ground with his continued momentum. He felt his paw smack against Incendio and the Charizard let out a grunt. Before Shayde could react, he felt another wave of heat near his own arm before sharp teeth connected with his soft blue fur. The flames licking at the Charizard's teeth blistered Shayde's skin and he cried out, purple eyes burning with pain and arms thrashing painfully.

Shayde ripped his arm out from the Charizard's hold and growled. The Lucario coughed into his palm and leaped back a few feet from the Pokemon. He landed on his toes, as a Lucario normally walks, and peered through the smokescreen, the wall of smog seemingly less now. He could make out the Charizard's full form, arm limp against its side.

The Lucario was panting now, its aura fading from its palms as all of its wounds sunk in. He blinked his icy blue eyes before falling down to one knee, breathing hard. His blue eyes burned with concentration as he pushed himself back up. "Aura sphere." he heard Taylor say and the Lucario prepared the move he knew best.

He settled into his stance, feet splayed apart and hips lowered. He swirled his hands under his dark form, the circles completing their movement while his arms moved backward to accompany the glow of pulsing white and purple aura that was writhing in his hands. It grew larger as the Lucario fed more of his own aura and pain into the ball. With a final howl, he flung the ball with deadly accuracy at Incendio, praying that it would hit the wounded Pokemon.

Incendio hunched over, ragged breaths coming from his mouth. Wings hung limply and he flapped them gently, causing more of the smog to clear by accident. Growling at this Incendio's eyes still burned as he extinguished the flames in his craw. Moving forwards slowly his eyes widened as a sudden blue light flashed in the corner of his vision. Whirling around in what felt like slow motion he threw up his good arm as it hit, throwing him back with a large yowl of agony.

With a crash and thump that cleared away the rest of the smoke Incendio found himsef panting on the ground, the world spinning around him. Clear sun shone down on him as he tried to get up, his body covered with bruises and scratches. Blue eyes showed distress as Cassandra ran towards her charizard, wrapping her arms around his head.

"You won," the girl conceded, though she smiled at the other trainer. Good thing she had bought those hyper potions. Spritzing it on Incendio's wounds she grinned as the charizard hooted gently and stood up, perfectly fine, though still a bit ragged. "Good battle by the way. Usually Incendio wins."

Shayde watched as the ball of aura struck Incendio and caused him to fly backwards. When he was sure his opponent wasn't getting back to his feet, the Lucario slumped to the ground, panting hard and thoroughly exhausted. He hadn't had that good of a battle in years and he was sure Taylor thought so, too by the way she practically tackled him. "Great job, Shay." she gushed as she bowled him over, laughing.

The Lucario gave her a sightly awkward hug before pushing her away. She looked at him with her gray eyes before pulling out a bottle of Hyper Potion. She shook it around and heard a minor slosh in the bottle. "Hmm, we'll have to pick up some more, but this should do for now," she said as she sprayed some down Shayde's side and down the length of his arm.

When Cassandra approached, she greeted Taylor with a fond greeting. "Good battle by the way. Usually Incendio wins." Taylor nodded as she helped pick Shayde back up to his feet.

"We've never had this good a battle in years," Taylor responded and Shayde nodded with a smile toward Incendio. "I've never seen Shay so nearly beat; that was great. Hey, maybe we should go get some lunch or something for the two of them? I'm hungry and I'm sure they must be, too." she said as she glanced toward Incendio.

Glancing back Cass chuckled at the hopeful look in Incendio's eyes. He was basically begging for something to nibble on. "Of course. If I don't feed Incendio he starts whimpering and giving me those puppy eyes." Poking the charizard's trim waist she laughed a bit louder. "He'll become as fat as my walrein Gelato soon enough if he doesn't stop." Ignoring the answering growl she nodded at the other girl.

"What's your name?" she asked after a few moments, feeling more awkward now that the adrenaline rush of battle was over. "I'm Cass. Cassandra Reed, to be exact. Kanto champion." Looking at the village Cass's eyes brightened momentarily. "Hey, I saw a great noodle place that allows Pokemon back in the market. I can show you if you want..."

"A Walrein, eh?" Taylor asked with a slight grin at its nickname. "Oh and I'm Taylor; Taylor Sommers. I'll be glad to introduce you to the rest of my companions after we grab some food," she said, her eyes lighting up when Cassandra told her about the noodle place. "Noodles. That'd be great, Cass." she said.

A half hour later, Taylor was watching Shay attempt to pick up another noodle. They kept sliding through his small black claws that protruded from his similar black-like paws. "Shay..." she began, but the Lucario already had his solution which consisted of him picking up the bowl and draining the food down his gullet the easy way.

"Nice," she remarked as she fingered her own spoon and slid some noodles down her own throat. They tasted slightly of chicken; the little white squares of meat floating amidst the mass of white noodles. "So Champion of Kanto, huh? I was born and raised in Sinnoh, but I never beat the Elites there. I heard Johto was tougher," she said with a wink. "Sinnoh's where I got Shayde, my first Pokemon at five when I accidentally found his egg," she said with a warm smile to her partner who was now wiping his slightly wet mouth.

Eating her own food delicately Cass listened silently as Taylor spoke, not really sure of what to say about herself. Looking at her own Pokemon, who had busily singed his chicken bits and was licking them up daintly with his tongue. Snorting at his impossible maners Cass nodded at Taylor's words.

"Yeah, never wanted to leave my home region and besides, Incendio insisted. He got upset when I mentioned the other regions and their Elite four. Not quite sure why...but, meh." Cass shrugged in a noncommittal maner. Incendio huffed from his place beside her and nodded into his soup bowl.

Looking at Taylor Cass smiled uncertainly. "That's a pretty lucky find. Lucarios are rare, aren't they? It was similar for me and Jester, my garchomp. I found her as an injured gible in the middle of some woods near my hometown when I was twelve? What are your other Pokemon by the way?" 

Shayde busied himself to licking his paws clean, rasped tongue careful to avoid the sharp points on the center of his paw. He listened to the exchange of both trainers and found himself at ease, though his eyes blinked a bit tiredly from the past battle. At least he was content. He listened to the conversation going on, ears alert and swiveling depending on which person was talking. He glanced at his own trainer and yawned slightly, small mouth parting in an 'o'.

"I've only seen one other trainer with a Lucario, so I guess you could say they're rare," he heard his trainer say a beat sheepishly. "And wow, a Garchomp? I heard those were amazingly strong and nearly as rare as the Lucario," she said as she dipped another noodle into her mouth.

"My other Pokemon? Well, I had always roamed around on my Arcanine, Solstice, but ever since my Shelgon evolved into a Salamence, I've been riding her around the surrounding areas. Whiplash is her name. Aside from Solstice, Shay, and Lash, I have Spirit whom I found later in my journey. She's a fiery little Furret." she said with a slight smile. "Can't take my eyes off her for a moment, she's so troublesome."

"I've been thinking about challenging the other Elites, but I figured now that the frontier has opened up, why not come here? By the way, I think we should check out the Poke Hotel. We're whipped after this long day," she said with a slight yawn of her own.

Thanks, Shayde mumbled into Taylor's mind and the girl blinked her gray eyes slowly before raising her brows at the Lucario. He almost never spoke to her through telepathy, the two preferring their silent exchange better. In her whole life, she had only heard a handful of words float through her mind that came from Shayde's. He smiled smugly at her surprise.

Cass nodded at Taylor's words. It was true, lucario were nearly impossible to find. On the other hand, if one knew strength and a certain location they could find swarms of gibles. But it all came down to luck, in the end. Tapping the table she tilted her head slightly and looked at Incendio, who was licking his lips noisily.

"I suppose you already heard about my walrein, Gelato. He's the lazy one of the bunch. Jester the garchomp...oh, yes. Magnet the Ampharos. I got her from my father when he came back from a trip to Johto. She was just an egg then, and my third Pokemon after Jester and Incendio. I'd consider her the mother of the bunch, despite the fact she's the youngest."

Chuckling Cass wiped her mouth and let out a matching yawn to the lucario's, grinning when she realized this. "I suppose so," she admitted sheepishly. "I'm beat after that battle and that extremely boring boatride." Grinning Cassandra pulled out her chair and stood, stretching her arms.  

"Is the hotel a far walk?" she asked curiously, watching the odd exchange between Taylor and Shayde. Almost as if they're speaking, Cass thought with a small cough of surprise.