Part thirty four of the race. This was the difficult part - move with utmost skill through the bracken, avert the attention of the guardian mightyena, do not underestimate the powers of electric fencing, and then move straight and swift like a ninja past the old lady with the frying pan - who, with no doubt, would be waiting at the front door like every other day this week. For a pensioner, that woman had deadly aim. For this particular house belonged to Crazy Sue - a wealthy woman, who had grown extremely paranoid over time. And as such, she had taken certain "security" measures for her home, growing impatient with the amount of youngsters using her garden as a Residential - Market area shortcut. Well, possibly if she hadn't built her extension through the field like cycle route, she wouldn't have had said problem in the first place…

Good thing Zebstrika's moves were like lightning. He could clear the traps and snares in one gracious jump, unfortunately, crashing like thunder on the way back down, alerting the guardian hellhounds. Each one of them rose from the damp earth, bristled their dark matted fur, and bored all bloodshot eyes on the zebra. Half a stride later, and they all chased after him, in organised chaotic unison.

Zebstrika's rider looked upwards to the skies. The most striking feature about her was her metallic red hair, and matching eye colour. She was young, around 16 or so, and while her clothing was ordinary by street market standards, she only ever chose shades of brown and scarlet to suit her personality. Scanning the clear blue above, and finding them empty, she smirked to herself. It seemed that this particular shortcut had worked it's magic. Racing along the somewhat questionable estate, she planted her bare feet inside the leather stirrups until her behind rose from Zebstrika's flank, and took the reins with well gloved hands. The electric fence was coming up next - the beginning of the end. As the zebra neared, his horns and mane sparked an electric gold, as his entire body became alive. Although the rider was well insulated, she could still feel the tension of the electricity through her muscles. Even so, the adrenaline rush right now conquered all forms of mild pain, and her ride really needed a boost to gain some distance from the mutts yapping not too far behind them. Did they suddenly become faster within the last couple of days, or was Sue feeding them steroids?

Motor Drive kicked in. The electric pulse coursed through Zebstrika's veins, from just a soft brush from the fence. That lady must have really wanted to kill her today, with that high a voltage. The rider sent a soft whisper to her pokemon - his hooves glowed with energy, and in two sparky jumps, he cleared the entire mansion's height and stood proudly on it's roof. The hounds however were smarter than usual, and pressed their way into thin flanks on either side of the building with alarming speed. Steroids and additional Omega 3 tablets, it seemed. Some lady had way too much time on her hands. "Keep up the momentum, we still have one last hurdle!" The rider urged her mount on, and halfway through their third leap, it was clear that they were going to make their way successfully across the boundary. Mightyena, however feral they might have seemed, knew this boundary well - the electric tags on their collars were but a painful reminder.

Which only left one thing. Mid air, the rider turned back to the house, just to check. She swore she dodged it by at least a mile, and yet, here the flying metal saucer was, en route to her face. Perhaps semi expecting the impact was worse than not seeing it coming at all - it made the fall all the more painful. She landed far from her mount, on top of that, rolling a couple more metres further, sending a flurry of small rocks and pebbles into the air in the process. The gloves cushioned the impact on her wrists, at least, but blunt shards of gravel were imbedded into her skin all over. Through a hazy vision, she could see Crazy Sue's figure just at the doorway - silver hair tied up in a carefree bun, smiling, and holding the nozzle to a flamethrower. There was no way in hell that device would reach the girl in the dust, but was it risky taking chances?

Exhausted, she lay on her back. Well, at least this run was better than last week's, and by the regular clip clops of Zebstrika's hooves, he didn't seem too hurt either. Once again, the rider looked up into the clear blue, somewhat deflated. Almost immediately, her eyes constricted with passionate anger. A wing's shadow passed over her, and a draconic figure could be seen, leisurely marking it's way across the sky. No. There was no way in hell that she was going to lose now. Not after all of this. Zebstrika already knew - he galloped back to his master, leaning so that one length of rein trailed his side, almost touching the ground. Skilfully, the rider took a hold of it, then used her impressive arm strength to return herself onto his back. Her own spine felt unnaturally disjointed, but she knew that it was a pain that would soon pass. For the moment, all she could do was to intently follow the dragon in the sky.

A/N: Hello, ! This is my very first submission to this website. After many ponderings on the plot for this Pokemon fanfic - I have finally come up with an idea. Before I go ahead with this, I just would like to ask what you guys think of my writing style. Because, really, I'm a little uncertain about it. Pro's out there, how may I become a better writer?

~Memoir Snow~