OOC: A bit of an unnecessary artistic license, mind you...you could just have given him Extremespeed instead since Zigzagoon (And thus also Linoone) can get that in pokémon Collosseum. ^^
IC:
"Finally!" Rave said out loud as the time for his battle finally arrived, the Houndoom morph immediately setting off towards his designated arena with a proud swagger, walking past the far less enthusiastic-looking Arin without paying almost any heed to her. Why should he have, anyway? The mouse was amusing enough to toy with as a passtime, but compared to the thrill of a real battle that was nothing more than petty child's play.
"It is now time for the next match!" a voice from the loudspeakers announced as Rave stepped into the arena, "Rave versus Yami, begin!"
"With pleasure..." Rave said quietly, quickly scanning the battlefield with his eyes in search of his opponent, where said individual was didn't remain a secret for long, however, as the Houndoom morph suddenly felt a surprisingly hard hit to the back of his head which briefly caused his vision to blurr, forcing him to flinch.
"What's the matter, pooch?" the Sableye morph taunted, having just landed on the ground a short distance away from Rave, "My Fake Out attack too much for you?"
"You'd wish!" Rave growled, lunging forward with his razor-sharp teeth in clear view, ready to lay a Crunch on the pesky little creature. Yes...he was in battle once more...he could feel it, not only from the small throbbing in the back of his head but in his mind, his spirit...his whole body, the feral instinct surfacing at full in delight of what was about to happen. He could almost feel his fangs closing in on that wretched little creature's throat, hear the scream that would ensue, feel the rush of energy that the blood would grant him, taste...sand?
Rave immediately snapped his whole attention back to the fight, finding himself face down on the arena and quickly getting back up, spitting out the dirt from his mouth and twirling around to spot Yami once more.
"You've got to try harder than that!" the Sableye morph commented, letting out a malicious cackle of laughter at his opponent before leaping backwards and assuming a bold pose, "Come on now...pooch." he said, holding out his hand and gesturing for Rave to come closer, "Show me what you've got, hotshot!"
"I thought you'd never ask..." the Houndoom morph replied, his eyes igniting with he full manic glow of his anger as he tossed his cloak aside, revealing both his diamond-tipped tail, which was now lashing fiercely back and forth, and his Houndoom horns. Relishing his newfound mobility, Rave quickly began gathering up all the heat he could muster into a single, devastating orb of energy which he held suspended in the air between his two palms, the sphere rapidly growing in size and brightness and causing the air around it to ripple and distort until it had finally reached its very limit, at which point Rave lunged forward, dissapearing from view in a Faint Attack and reappearing behind his opponent where he unleashed the whole payload straight into the Sableye morph's back, causing several members of the audience to gasp as the tremendous blast sent the small figure flying across the stadium until he came to a halt at the far side, a cloud of dust and debris gathering around the boy.
"Who's laughing now?" Rave asked with a sadistic grin, sending off another blast of heat, this one a Fireblast, easily identified by its characteristic shape, which bore a peculiar resemblance to a very crudely drawn stick figure.
"That would be me..."
"Huh?" Rave quickly spun around to face the direction of the voice, slightly shocked to find his opponent sitting up on the edge of the judges' box, dangling his feet and looking extremely pleased with himself, an all too common trait among those who had just pulled off a very convincing Substitute.
"Why you little-!" Rave exclaimed, quickly lunging towards his opponent. This time the Sableye morph didn't dodge, however. To the contrary, he lunged forward, efficiently catching the Houndoom morph in mid-air and, with a few complicated and extremely dexterous twists, turning him around and driving him into the ground face first with a Seismic Toss.
"This is almost too easy..." the Sableye morph said, grinning maliciously as he insolently sat down on his opponent, "You think you're such a big tough guy that you can beat anyone by just throwing power at him, don't you?" he asked, slamming Rave with a Night Shade to keep him down on the ground, "Now that you've just successfully wasted your energy on that pointless show of power, what are you going to do to little me, hmmm?"
Rave glared at his opponent with utter hatred, muttering something in a dry, cracked voice which was so weak that his words were inaudible.
"What was that?" Yami demanded, leaning a bit closer and grabbing the Houndoom morph the collar of his shirt, "I said what was that!"
"Payback..." Rave replied in a sadistic voice, suddenly shifting his body out from beneath his opponent and grabbing a firm hold of the surprised Yami, an eerie aura suddenly encasing both of them as the Houndoom morph unleashed his attack on the opponent, thin wisps of a transparent white colour emerging in all directions from the Sableye morph's body, the energy fueling his attacks quickly seeping away.
"Gah!" Yami exclaimed, attempting to wrest his arm away, "A Night Shade will put you in your place, pup!" he brought his arm back in a sweeping motion, spectral energy gathering around it as well, only to fizzle and die off.
"I-" Yami exclaimed in surprise, attempting another Seismic Toss with just as poor results, "How-you...you..." a horrified expression suddenly spread over the Sableye morph's face as he came to a revelation, "You used spite! You drained away my moves while I was talking you cheat!"
"And that's a completely correct answer from contestant Yami" Rave announced in a mock-TV-show host tone, smirking at his opponent, "And now for your prize!"
Flames quickly wreathed around the Houndoom morph's arm before he unleashed them into his opponent, sending the Sableye morph a good bit backwards before they began whirling around him in a Fire Spin which looked quite impressive, diminshed powers or no.
While the members of the crowd were still trying to gather their witts and comprehend this sudden switcharound, Rave walked right next to the roaring flames in a calm and composed manner, stopping for a moment as if to study them while he listened to the screams of his opponent inside before he finally took a deep breath...and blew.
Under normal circumstances, Smog would hardly have been a lethal move by any measure, but when a sizeable cloud of volatile gases meets an equally impressive inferno of flames...things go boom, which was precisely what happened next, a devastating explosion causing the entire arena to tremble as it spread out in all directions, several spectators from the front seats diving for cover as the ensuing wave of heat swept forward.
When the dust and smoke finally cleared, the battlefield was a good bit changed, now bearing a sizeable crater and several scorchmarks. But what caught the people's attention foremost wasn't this change, no, it was the figure standing right in the middle of it, a tall male with pitch black hair, almost equally dark skin and a pair of curved Houndoom horns sticking out of his forehead, his blood red eyes glowing so brightly that they could probably have served quite well as flashlights if necessary. A manic-looking smile played across Rave's face, despite the fact that a good bit of his outfit had been scorched, one of the sleeves of his shirt still burning as he walked over to his fallen opponent. The Sableye morph was badly burned, curled up in a fetal position as if to protect himself, but still alive. After all, he was part ghost, Rave supposed that it had its perks, the little twerp would probably be allright as soon as he got together a Recover technique or two. Just then, the loudspeakers came to life once more, breaching the silence.
"Attention ladies and gentlemen! Can I have your attention please?!" the voice called out, no sounding a good bit shakier, "The judges have come to a decision! The winner is Rave!"
"Tough luck, imp-boy." the Houndoom morph whispered quietly as the crowd took up doing what crowds did best, cheering, if only a bit less enthusiastically than usual, "This..." the Houndoom morph continued, purposefully kicking his opponent in the stomach, the Sableye morph still being too weak to manage any more than the tiniest whimper, "Is for calling me a pooch. And this..." he trod on Yami's face with an equal purposefulness, "Is for ruining a perfectly good outfit."
With that, the Houndoom morph proceeded to collect his cloak and leave the stadium, not even bothering to turn his head as a couple of paramedics rushed forward to see to the Sableye morph's survival.
OOC: In case anyone's wondering, Rave surviving that blast is kind of based on his 'Flash Fire' trait. I hope that's acceptable. ^-^
