CHAPTER TWO
The flower shop had turned up empty without even the smallest Pokémon residing in the building, so Trixie and Karma continued working their way through the streets of rubble in search of the popular bike and motorcycle shop known as Miracle Cycle. Being one of the few buildings not completely destroyed, it wasn't difficult to spot…and neither were the oversized Machoke and Primeape guarding the shop's entrance and watching intently for anyone who might pose a threat to what was obviously the gang hideout Trixie and her Pokémon had been searching for.
The two guards immediately spotted the hotshot Trainer and her loyal Espeon, and wasted no time in attacking them. The Primeape lunged off the short staircase in pursuit of Karma as the Machoke picked up a huge piece of debris nearby and flung it towards Trixie. Both attacks were just barely dodged when the two jumped out of harms way, leaving the Primeape to Karate Chop nothing but the bricked ground with such force it split like an earthquake, and the flying debris thrown by Machoke to miss Trixie and instead completely demolish the unstable balcony of an apartment building directly behind where she had been standing. The furious Machoke threw its head back in an angry roar and beat on its chest in rage, before flinging itself off the staircase and charging towards Trixie as its fist glowed white in preparation for a Dynamic Punch.
Trixie glanced over at Karma, but the Espeon was too occupied with battling the Primeape to shield her Trainer in time. Everything was moving too fast, but fortunately Trixie had just the plan to slow it down. "Karma! Quick, Trick Room!"
Dodging the Primeape's Fury Swipes, Karma pounced elegantly to the side and landed several temporarily safe feet away from the Pokémon. Her eyes began to glow a bright scarlet-red and transparent walls of blue psychic energy boxed in the large area, transforming the street into a peculiar battlefield where speeds were practically swapped and slower beings now moved first.
Standing somewhat of a chance now, Trixie just barely dodged the Machoke's attack within mere seconds of the Pokémon slamming its oversized fist into the debris-littered ground. She literally ran for her life over to the staircase and wasted no time with the crumbling stone steps, instead jumping up and pulling herself over the railing where she ripped a Pokéball from her side and threw the sparkling ruby-red capsule into the street. A bright crimson laser shot out and quickly formed into the white silhouette of a horned canine with an arrow-headed tail. The laser vanished into thin air and the silhouette began to take form, morphing into a powerful female Houndoom with a lean build and dark ebony-black fur. Standing fifty-two inches at the withers plus her head and five-inch-tall horns which were slightly curved back and colored an unblemished reflective silver, this giant canine known as Harper was Trixie's faithful companion and fearsome guardian.
The Houndoom quickly observed its surroundings and after realizing she was in a battle, the Pokémon stood tall with confidence and eagerly looked to her Trainer for a command.
"Karma, lift 'em up with Psychic! Harper, finish the job with Hyper Beam!"
The horned canine resumed her tall and confident posture and stared challengingly at the gigantic Machoke as it charged towards her and she patiently waited for the right time to attack.
Karma pounced upwards to dodge the Primeape's Low Kick before she landed back on the ground and immediately opened her mouth to use Swift. Hundreds of small but powerful star-shaped globs of energy shot out of Karma's mouth and slammed into the Primeape, knocking it back several yards and giving Karma the few seconds she needed to focus. Once again her eyes glowed a beautiful scarlet-red, but this time she wasn't using Trick Room. Both the Primeape and the Machoke became surrounded in a light blue aura and were lifted up from the ground to be placed side by side in midair, but only for mere seconds. As they were held in the sky by the Psychic power of Karma, Harper crouched down and opened her mouth wide to use Hyper Beam, sending a near-blindingly bright fiery-orange beam shooting out of her mouth and slamming into the two Fighting-types. They were knocked back several hundred feet in midair before they smacked into a large pyramid-like pile of rocky debris. The two enemies weakly got to their feet and with a last fearful glance at Karma and Harper, the Machoke and Primeape cried out in terror and fled the scene in forfeit.
"Those poor pokémon…" Trixie quietly said with a quick grimace. "But all that aside, you two were awesome! I'm so proud you girls!"
With her head held high, Karma simply strut her way elegantly over to her Trainer's side and sat perfectly with her pretty lilac tail wrapped around her legs.
Not one to be prim and proper, Harper reared up like a Ponyta and slammed her front paws down into the dusty ground before throwing her horned head back to howl out perhaps the eeriest battle cry of victory the world had ever heard.
Trixie grinned at seeing her pokémon just as proud as she herself was. But the headstrong Houndoom was a little too fired up to do anything but battle at that moment, so Trixie hopped over the staircase railing and walked into the streets to pick up Harper's Pokéball and prepare to return her. "Alright, time for you to rest a bit. After all, a Hyper Beam of that power must've drained a lot of your energy, right?" clicking the capsule open, she then returned her loyal Pokémon and went back up to the storefront to heal her Espeon with some delicious and sweet-tasting Sitrus berries.
Feeling 100% again, Karma stood up and looked to her Trainer curiously. Trixie's eyes became serious with her mouth curling slightly into a grin, a deadly combination of both sheer determination and a hint of mischievousness. After making sure her Pokémon was ready, she gestured towards the shop door. "Let's find some trouble!"
Trixie kicked down the fragile water-damaged door and barged into Miracle Cycle with her Espeon alongside. Within just seconds of them strutting in, her Pokémon swiftly pounced in front of her to create a shield-like force of psychic energy and protect the two of them from the booming gunshots that consecutively barreled towards them at unimaginable speeds.
The shield disappeared just as quickly as it had been created and the Trainer and Pokémon's attention was now focused on the dark silhouette of the frantic gunman carrying a large backpack and fleeing out the back door.
"Quick thinking, Karma!" Trixie said, "But don't let him get away!"
As the Espeon dashed after the thug with speedy elegance, Trixie released Harper from her Pokéball and sent her chasing after him as well. Harper snarled and howled as she charged outside aggressively in the eerie voice that could only belong to a Houndoom brimming with determination, and Trixie hoped for the pathetic gunman's sake that the Pokémon went easy on him.
Trixie ran after the two outside as quickly as her human legs would allow her and watched as the thug's useless handgun was torn from his grasp and lifted into the sky by Karma's Psychic energy. The man shrieked in a defenseless panic and continued running as Harper was gaining on him, but his endeavors soon proved futile as the vicious Pokémon tackled him down into the nail-littered brick street and ignored his screaming as she Crunched on his arm mercilessly until called off by her Trainer.
"That'll do, sweetie!" Trixie said before returning her raging Houndoom to its Pokéball for rest. "Time to chill for a bit!"
Her proud smirk faded into a serious glare as she walked over to the defeated thug and stood over him pointing an angry finger. "Now, you! You tried to shoot my Pokémon!"
The man let out a childish shriek of terror and tried to crawl away backwards, but stopped and screamed once again when he saw Karma standing right behind his head with a sinister grin.
Trixie put her foot on the man's chest, stomping down once as she did so for dramatic effect. "I should feed you to my Houndoom for that! I mean it, too! Food isn't cheap these days for a four-foot dog!"
"Oh, please, no!" the man exclaimed, "I beg you! I don't taste good, I'm wearing Repel!"
At that, Trixie couldn't help but giggle evilly. "I'll spare you another Crunched up arm if you spill the beans on where you were rushing off to."
"Nowhere! Really!" he stuttered, "I was ordered to toss this junk in the sea! I'm just a grunt, I don't have anything valuable!"
"Oh, really? Fit's a bozo like you." Trixie replied as she tossed around Harper's Pokéball, juggling it and spinning it on her finger. "Who do you work for and where should my little doggy go to crush 'em?"
"I don't know, my boss hates me! That's why she gave me Repel and not Max Repel. I already used it all up running from you! That's how cheap it is!"
"It's not cheap at all, it's 350 for one stupid bottle!" she snapped. "Now tell me where your boss is!"
"Ask the red Duskull, she knows everything!"
Trixie stared at the man skeptically. "You want me to talk to a Pokémon? Did I give you a concussion or something?"
"Not a Duskull, the Duskull! The stalker!" he replied with a shudder, "She's everywhere. In the shadows, in our Pokégears, in the PCs…she's gotta have the info you're looking for!"
"I hope you know my Houndoom can track you down and Fire Fang your stupid-looking face if you're bluffing." Trixie said, "I pity the poor thing for it, but she knows your scent now."
The man nodded shakily in understanding, so Trixie decided to keep playing along. She likely already found Cameron's stolen Pokémon and this guy was useless, anyways.
"Great. Now, how do I find this freaky so-called stalker?" Trixie asked.
"No one knows! Her Rotom and Gengar do all her work." the man explained. "But she watches Trainers and if they don't treat their Pokémon right…she punishes them. That's the only way anyone's ever come close to her."
"Then why hasn't she punished you?"
"I don't have any Pokémon…" he frowned, "the boss says I'm too irresponsible."
"Well, your boss is right," Trixie said as she reached down and yanked the backpack from his grasp, "you seem like a real loser."
Having enough of this man's nonsense, Trixie slung the heavy Pokéball-filled backpack over her shoulder and called Karma to her side with a sharp whistle. "I'm outta here, wimp." she said to the man before pointing at him seriously. "But the day I see you in Goldenrod again will be your last, got it?" She flipped on her jacket's hood and looked at the man with one last smirk. "My Pokémon and I own this city, punk."