Swift breathed in hard and painfully, her entire body shook in exhaustion as she struggled to carry herself forward, every step bringing a terrible agony. Her sides heaved in and out with great difficulty, every ounce of her strength zapped from her body. Darkness encircled her, its terrible black shrouding any visibility, and destroying all hope. Even though Swift was an Espeon and was particularly adapt to such poor light, the shadows surrounding her had become too much for even her to bare, the thoughts of darkness only brining the images of the murderous scoundrels who thrived in it, the monstrous Pokémon who preyed on the weak and who even now were lying in wait to attack.
"Have you given up yet," a voice growled, Swift went silent and still, the voice of her pursuer apparent even though it was muffled by a sudden burst of wind, she carefully began to form her light and rugged body into a fighting stance, her will overpowering her weakened state, and though her normally cool and elegant composure was scarred by scratches and burns, she stared ahead with her beautiful and fierce eyes, concentrating on nothing but the menace before her.
"Come out here to fight me." Swift yelled out, her voice shaky but still quite steady for her poor status. "Prove to me you're strong, you coward." Her challenge was met with malicious laughter, a pair of red eyes appearing in front of Swift, cold and cunning. Swift returned the gaze, her purple eyes meeting them with a powerful and courageous light, all signs of fatigue not visible at all in her stern expression.
"As you wish." Her foe shouted savagely a sudden burst of flame erupting from the darkness lighting the forests shadows with its ferocity and light. The houndoom leaped forward from his hiding place, landing in front of his greatest and smallest foe, every bit of hate he had for the Pokémon before him obvious, as he glowered down at her, a ball of energy forming inside of his mouth as he readied a shadow ball, it glowed and sizzled with power, its sole purpose to finish off the only Pokémon which had stood in his way. Swift though forced herself to jump out of the way, her aching limbs carrying her high into the air and landing clumsily on the cold muddy ground. The shadow ball slammed harmlessly against a tree trunk, causing it to crack with the attacks rage.
"Must you really humiliate yourself again Shadefire." Swift calmly countered as she straightened herself out, standing straight and sure. "Or do we have to go through this process again."
Shadefire let loose an aggressive snarl facing Swift once more. "Accept your fate." He roared bounding towards her, his mouth gaping and cruel as he attempted to use his crunch attack, but once again Swift narrowly escaped his jaws, leaping bravely to the side and out of harm's way. Now she prepared her own attack, a weak but affective move. She kicked up the mud under her paws flinging the debris into her opponent's eyes, making him stagger backwards in blindness. Swift quickly took the opportunity to run away, her wobbly and weak paws carrying her away from Shadefire's threats and furious snarls, but even as she ran, she knew it wasn't over, soon the rest of the pack would be upon her, the ideas of the snapping and snarling houndours urged her onward, helping herself have the strength to carry on. Behind her a long and loud howl melodiously streamed in the background, the call loud and perilous.
"And so it begins." Swift breathed her eyes glowing as she searched diligently through the darkness for the first of Shadefire's demons. Her heart raced even faster as she felt herself soar across the muddy ground, which soiled her once velvety clean fur, soon the sound of splashing could be heard around her, as others joined her close behind, their spiteful presence deeply contrasting that of the one they were even now hunting down. In total five houndour's followed her each one purely bent on pleasing the alpha who had given them orders to attack!
Swift quickly let loose a powerful psybeam attack, striking a tree branch behind her, it crashed downwards landing on one of the houndour's, a whimper escaping his mouth as he collapsed under the large branches weight. The other four sped up, racing towards her even faster despite their downed pack member. The tree filled forest began to gradually transition into a more rocky and harsh surface, and Swift quickly ducked into a narrow passage of rock, its tall rock walls surrounding her on either side.
Soon however she regretted her decision the space becoming wider but the passage suddenly ending, forcing her to come to an abrupt stop as a large rock wall stood in her way. She quickly turned around, only to be met by a lunging houndour's jaws which tore into her pelt harshly, only releasing when Swift scratched his cruel muzzle. All four houndour's surrounded her, glaring at Swift with their violent stares, not letting her escape their pitiless circle. Shadefire slowly emerged behind him, an evil grin crossing his terrible lips. "Good bye Swift." He taunted his tail lashing out behind him.
Suddenly a deep and loyal voice called out from the top of the rock wall, a Lucario stood there a bright blue aura sphere sparking dangerously in his hands. "Not so fast Shadefire, if you mess with our leader, you must face us all." A houndoom stood next to him a large scar stretching across his eye and down his muzzle; he jumped down from the wall landing in front of Swift protectively, aggressively facing the much larger houndoom in front of him.
Shadefire hunched down in a fighting position, an anxiety subtly showing in his demeanor. "Aura, Blaze, how nice of you to join us, it's too bad that we can't be friends, you really do seem like such loyal Pokémon."