Shadow Skill: Mock. A laughing whinny that brings to the forefront of the mind, a person's shortcomings in order to make them utterly lose faith in themselves and their abilities.

Rapidash can go from 0 to 150 in ten steps. They are a sight to behold when they race, for the faster they go, the hotter their mane burns. Highly competitive, they can often be seen challenging others to races. Shadows seem to desire a win, and will play dirty to achieve it.

Angel opened her eyes to a bright light shining directly in her face, followed by the voice of someone demanding to know who she was and what she was doing in their stables. The person didn't lower the beam even when she raised a hand to shield her eyes. They yelled the question again, and she knew she must come up with something quickly to prevent this from becoming a public scene. "I'm so sorry! I brought an injured Pokémon here to rest." She looked around the area of the stables that she could see, then turned back to the owner. "It looks like she wandered off when I fell asleep."

After several seconds, they lowered the light, and Angel blinked her eyes repeatedly. As if that would help get her vision back faster. Their usage of a flashlight finally connected to the reality that it was nighttime, and she swore softly under her breath. She gave a quick bow. "Excuse me. I'm late for an important meeting!" Angel ran towards the man, who surprisingly moved out of the way to let her pass.

Thoughts rushed rapidly through her mind as she paused long enough to get her bearings before heading towards the target. As she maneuvered her way through the obstacle course of a city, she heard a loud neigh. Instantly, she went into panic mode, wondering if the owner of the stables had decided to punish her for trespassing after all. But a glance behind her made her stop in her tracks.

A Rapidash ran by her so fast, the force of the backwind knocked her on her bottom. She cried out as she hit the ground hard, and then heard a sound similar to tires screeching. The absence of hooves let her know before turning around that the Rapidash had stopped. Well. Either that or was far enough away to no longer be heard. Wait. Was the purple aura she'd just seen her imagination? Or had she found a third Shadow in the same day?

When she turned around, the Rapidash was no longer in sight. Still staring at where she last knew the horse to be, she screamed and spun around when she felt warm air on her face. How had the horse gotten behind her so fast? Rapidash nickered, backed off a little, and then pranced in place.

"You…Want to race?"

It gave a loud whinny, and reared. Its front feet danced in midair, giving Angel the chance to see that it was female. Even though Rapidash seemed to be aware of how squishy her new friend was, Angel still scooted back a foot. Better to be safe than sorry. Rapidash then hopped beside her in such a way that reminded her of Pinkie Pie from that one children's cartoon, and she couldn't help but burst out in laughter.

Angel shook her head and got to her feet as the Rapidash stopped dancing to look at her strangely. "You wouldn't understand." She looked to the ground to make sure nothing had fallen out of her backpack, and then readied herself for the race. "On the count of three. One. Two—"

With another whinny, Rapidash sped off, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.

"Oh-oh. So that's how you want to play, is it?" Even had Rapidash played fair, Angel knew she wouldn't have won anyway. But at that moment, it didn't really matter to her. She ran after the Shadow, enjoying the moment.

After a few minutes, they came to a halt across the street from the Silph Company. Her body tried to go limp on her, and she had to place a hand on the wall of the house beside her to steady herself. She'd pushed herself harder than expected with that run. But Arceus, did she feel so much better. Though only temporary, the burning sensation in her legs and lungs gave her a different kind of pain to focus on.

Beside her, the Rapidash strutted back and forth, acting as if her win was the most spectacular thing in the world. Her fiery flames had settled down to a muted orange, tinged with purple. Angel chuckled softly, and reached out a hand to stroke Rapidash's snout. "You did good, girl."

Her attention turned to the building, trying to figure out a last-minute plan to finish what she came for. An idea suddenly came to her, and she looked to Rapidash as she considered the possible consequences. It was a dangerous choice, putting your trust in a complete unknown. There were so many ways that things could go wrong. And without a working knowledge of the associate, things could quickly go south for you while they escaped all punishment.

She half growled, half sighed. There was simply no other choice. "Hey. Mind doing me a favor?"

Rapidash let out a questioning neigh, and her ears perked up.

Angel didn't respond immediately, going over it all in her head one last time, hoping for a different course of action. But nothing came to her. It was time to go all in. "There is something inside the building that I need to fetch. If it's not too much to ask…Could you possibly provide a distraction for me?"

Before she could even discuss the possibility of a reward, Rapidash rushed the building and began wreaking havoc. It didn't take long for the night shift to chase after her.

It wasn't until the last of the employees had gone around the side of the building that Angel ran towards the door. She cursed instantly upon opening it. For there, in the middle of the room, was a desk. And, at the desk, sat a man. He was on the phone with someone when he saw her. His face immediately went from laughter to shock. He was too far away to hear his words, but she knew what was the most likely thing said.

Not waiting to see what he did next, she bolted for the stairs. She easily recalled the blueprints to the building, and ran effortlessly through the corridors, climbing floor after floor.

Five minutes later, she reached the doorway she was looking for. Placing a hand against the metal, she braced herself as she attempted to catch her breath. She could hear her heartbeats in her ears, and feel each one pulsing through her chest. No matter how quickly she inhaled, she couldn't fill her lungs. Her entire body felt like it was overheated. Every muscle trembled, making it difficult to even lean. Angel placed her other hand on her stomach, desperately wishing for it to settle down as well.

A soft whimper escaped her lips. Whatever was wrong with her was getting worse. With Kanto being the closest to Blossomly, her parents hadn't tried elsewhere for answers. But it was clear she needed to try harder. Someone in as good of shape as she was shouldn't be experiencing this.

Finally, her symptoms lessened enough to return focus to her mission, and she took a step back to look at the door. There was a sign on it, claiming a Bio Lab was beyond this point, and warned people from entering unless they wore a hazmat suit. But according to the dossier, the entire sign was just a deterrence to keep those without clearance from sating their curiosity.

Her head turned left, then right, checking for people in the area. When she saw none, Angel typed in the first keycode listed on the papers, crossing her fingers that it worked. If it didn't, it meant that she'd been too late, and it had been two weeks since the codes were last changed. Thankfully, the device clicked, and the light turned green as the door hissed open.

Knowing Rapidash couldn't keep everyone distracted for much longer, she quickly scanned the giant room, looking for the item in particular she'd been sent to obtain. Unfortunately, the layout had changed from when she'd been given the data. That shouldn't be a problem, though. What she sought was clearly identifiable. Besides. How many glowing pink containers could there be in the world?

Dropping the backpack from her shoulders, she opened it, and gently stuffed the vials into the outer pouch as she could. She managed to get six there, and two more inside, but there were still three left. Unfortunately, based on the shouts she could hear in the distance, she knew there was no time to rearrange. Hoping it wouldn't matter much, she left the last three in the container, and then went to the window.

Angel opened it, placed two fingers in her mouth, and gave a loud, piercing whistle. Within seconds, the Rapidash appeared. As soon as she was close enough, she leapt out the fifth story window, deftly landing on Rapidash, who cried out. "Sorry, girl. It hurt me, too."

Just as she was getting ready to turn Rapidash into a gallop, a voice called out to her. The one from earlier. Her gaze turned to the window she'd just leapt out of, and she found herself unable to breathe at the sight of the person standing there.

A Houndoom's bark sounded, distracting her, and when she glanced back at the window, nobody was there. Angel shook her head, reminding herself yet again that not only was there no way it could be her. And that now was not the time to be focusing on such questions.

She had no clue where to go next, or what she planned on doing now. The only thing she knew for certain is that she needed to put as much distance between herself and this town as possible. And so, they ran so far away.