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Description
Gym leader backstory:

Back in the day, Tylus was a renown bounty hunter. Outlaw hunting (Especially when the outlaw had pokemon at his side) was quite profitable. His success only multiplied when a strange and exceedingly rare pokemon came to him and asked to join in his endeavors, the request from the lone shiny umbreon that approached him being made in fluent english. The umbreon's seemingly unprecedented and mysterious ability to meld both itself and Tylus with shadows aided in making many previously thought uncapturable outlaws pitifully easy. Sylver (the umbreon's name, or so he claimed) and Tylus quickly became an inseparable pair.

They began hunting for increasingly dangerous outlaws that many others spoke about in hushed tones, eventually earning themselves many colorful nicknames among outlaws across the land. One fateful day, the pair discovered what they thought to be an unimaginable jackpot. Through their not-so-legitimate private connections, they had discovered a bounty with a payout that would have them living like kings for the rest of their lives. The target however, was only vaguely described as "one who travels the realm of shadows". Though that description troubled Sylver a bit, at the very least they still wanted to investigate what they were going against. After they checked with a few of their more unscrupulous contacts, they obtained information on the location of where to meet their client. Every bit of information they obtained however, was highly cryptic and given with regret and unsaid warnings from each of their contacts. Still, they pressed on.

After spending weeks piecing together bits of information and slowly following the trail they created, they finally arrived at the destination everything had lead to. What they were greeted by however, was what shocked them: Absolutely nothing. An empty, grassy plain miles away from any sort of civilization, with the only thing that spoke to them being the cool breeze of the night whispering into their ears.

As they muttered their frustrations and turned back, Sylver suddenly cried out, tackling Tylus out of the way of a beam made of strange, translucent energy. They looked upon their attacker as they landed, but only saw a humanoid silhouette before them. Their attacker charged up another beam to fire, resulting in Tylus scooping his partner up in his arms and diving out of the way. While brave and with good intentions, his actions only guaranteed that the next attack was sure to hit, and as Tylus was scrambling up with his partner still in his arms, the next beam impacted them with astonishing force. Whatever the beam was made of traveled right through the both of them, but without blowing apart their bodies to bits. Instead, it felt as though they were being electrocuted, the both of them simultaneously yelling out in anguish to the point where Tylus failed to notice his body began to glow white, just like a Pokemon that was evolving.  After the beam stopped, the attacker simply said "Good luck" and faded away into the shadows he came from.

Sylver on the other hand, was easily able to notice the change in Tylus, despite the pain Sylver was in. He knew exactly what was happening, and wildly flailed around in an effort to get himself off of Tylus before the impending transformation happened. Though he was known for his quick reaction speed, Sylver was not fast enough this time. The white glow on Tylus' body began to distort and destabilize as the process completed, then erupted into a loud explosion then sent Sylver soaring dangerously high into the air. Tylus' eyes shot open as he regained control of himself, only to see his close friend high above, and now plummeting to the ground. A brief moment of shock froze him, but with all the might in his legs, he sprang up and sprinted as fast as his body could take him towards his falling companion. As Tylus dove into the air to catch him, he realized mid-air that overestimated how far his dive would take him.

As if everything was happening in slow motion, Tylus watched in horror as his Sylver's unconscious body passed the front of his hands, slamming into the ground front legs first, with a sickening crunch. Tylus' own landing knocked the wind out of him, and he laid motionless on the ground in pure shock. A

few moments of silence passed, and Tylus' mind kicked back into gear as he caught his breath and jumped up, gently scooping up the critically injured umbreon before him. It was as he picked him up that Tylus finally noticed a glaring change: his hands were covered in the very same fur that covered Sylver's body. Shaking his head in disbelief, Tylus carefully rolled a sleeve back a bit with Sylver still in his arms, and saw that his arms had suffered the same fate. He almost dropped Sylver from the shock, but Sylver's front legs being impossibly crooked brought Tylus right back to reality. Both of Sylver's front legs were broken, and though he was unconscious, his face was contorted in pain. There was no time to worry about himself. Tylus had fully functioning limbs and the nearest Pokemon center was miles away. He took off, carefully holding Sylver to jostle his body as little as possible.

Two miles soon grew to three, then three grew to five, then eight. As Tylus kept sprinting, he began to realize that he should have been completely exhausted several miles ago. Even adrenaline couldn't possibly take him as far as he had gone, and he was barely winded at all.  A grand total of 14 miles had passed before he finally reached the nearest Pokemon center he could think of, but by the time he finally arrived, all that sprinting had done more than just catch up to him. He was struggling to stand up and walk straight, almost every muscle in his body burned in pain, and his breathing was strained and getting weaker by the second while his eyesight began to blur.

Tylus stumbled through the automatic doors of the Pokemon center, crookedly walking up to the counter with Sylver cradled in his arms.  He paused to try and catch his breath, but it did not return, leaving him wheezing and on the verge of collapsing with everyone in the center staring at him in silence. Judging by the way the Nurse Joy was looking at him, the transformation on his body had taken place everywhere, including his head. He wanted to scream at everyone, to tell them to stop looking at him and help his umbreon with two broken legs and may even be dying. He opened his mouth, but his lungs failed him. All that came out was a sickly wheezing, the strength to speak clearly being drained from him long ago. He willed the last bit of his strength to wheeze out a plea for help.

"Please... My Umbreon... "

Another wheezing fit stole his breath. He inhaled once more and forced out his words.

"Help him... His legs are broken... and he isn't breathing... Stop... Looking at me... and help... hhhh"

And with that, he collapsed, releasing Sylver from his grasp as his consciousness left him. The Nurse Joy began to bark out orders, asking everyone to stay calm and directing some chanseys to take them both away in stretchers. Minutes passed, with everyone who wasn't in a uniform being in an uproar over what they just saw.

"What WAS that?"

"It wasn't human, but it wasn't a Pokemon..."

"I saw fur! And I think I saw fangs too! That had to be some kind of undiscovered Pokemon, I know it!"

The uproar continued for an hour or so, then was suddenly silenced by the sight of the Nurse Joy coming out of the doors of the emergency room. She spoke with authority and concern in her voice.

"The umbreon is going to be okay. His legs have been splinted and dressed. His... owner is resting. NO ONE is to go in that room- "

A flash of what seemed to be moonlight escaped through the windows of the door. The Nurse Joy spun around in alarm and ran back inside the door. The shriek that came from her right after sent everyone else into a stampeding herd to see what happened inside the emergency room. Silence once again swept
the center as everyone looked into the room and found it devoid of it's injured inhabitants.

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Gym Badge: Shade Badge

Gym description:

The inside of the gym is shrouded in absolute darkness. Only the most persistent trainers will meet Tylus, since his battle room is at the end of a long, complex maze, which is even harder once the lack of light is factored in. There are other trainers and workers who are in random locations inside the maze, but they will not force a battle upon any trainer, instead offering them a choice. Incoming trainers rarely turn them down however, as the gym's staff have many rumors describing the lavish amounts of money they give out once defeated. Traps in the form of items are spread around in out of the way corners of the maze. If an item trap is sprung, the trainer is teleported to the beginning of the maze. However, some items are NOT traps, including the occasional elusive rare candy. Items and trap positions are refreshed daily.

Once trainers reach the battle room, the door will lock behind them until the impending battle is complete. The room is simply an empty giant square, with the only source of light (unlike the rest of the gym) being two fluorescent light bulbs in the middle of the ceiling, which only light up a small circular portion of the room. It is devoid of windows or any exits than the one door that leads into it.

Gym leader Description:

At first glance, it's immediately obvious that Tylus is not completely human. While he covers his body in a long, black trenchcoat, and black leather boots and gloves to match, his face can still be seen, and his eerie yellow eyes reflect whatever light happens to be in the room. His head has short, disheveled hair, while the rest of his body is covered in a fine, black fur from head to toe. While almost always covered Most people who come in contact with him will only see his eerie yellow eyes from the distance he allows them to approach him at. Standing at 5'8, his build and weight are average aside from the rather defined muscles he has from his frequent training.

Team members:

Sylver: A quiet, relaxed shiny Umbreon. ALWAYS seen alongside Tylus. He doesn't have a pokeball, and has never been captured by Tylus. Sylver fights for him out of his own free will, and uses strange and unorthodox methods to battle. Rumors say that he is the reason Tylus looks the way he does, but not a soul has been able to prove it. Able to speak fluent English, Sylver often translates for the rest of the team when they need to speak to Tylus.

Xavier: A slow to anger, but powerful Tyranitar. He fights with an unusual sense of honor, letting his skill and strength make up for the disadvantages of fighting the way he does. He allowed Tylus to capture him after he fought Tylus himself and lost, much to his disbelief. Xavier seems to be every bit  as stoic and calm as Tylus, and never backs down from a challenge. He is never afraid to admit when he has lost one, however.

Laria: A graceful, but speedy Weavile. Laria puts in much effort to take out her opponents in style and grace, all while doing so at breakneck speeds. She was captured by Tylus with the help of Xavier, and finds him to be extremely interesting. If she's not in her ball, she is almost always keeping an eye on him. She also has the bad habit of constantly attempting to annoy and provoke everyone on the team, just to see how they'll react. She of course loves to annoy Tylus the most but she rarely gets any serious responses out of him.

Nightfall: A bitter and judgmental Spiritomb. Nightfall refuses to talk to anyone about why he acts the way he does, even to Tylus. He will only say that "What was deserved was given, and will be given is deserved." Sylver and Tylus battled together to capture Nightfall, and he insists that he would have never been captured if the pair hadn't "cheated" to catch him.  His fighting style consists of making his opponents attacks nigh-useless or using their abilities against them.

Fast Facts:

-  Should one decide to scan Tylus with a Pokedex, it will register him as an umbreon.

-  The most popular rumor about Tylus is that he has been seen doing some of the same attacks that his pokemon can.  Skeptics easily attribute this to optical illusions made easy by the lack of light in his Gym.

-  Sylver knows many moves that are impossible for an umbreon to learn. As per gym regulations, he only uses four known umbreon moves. He does however, occasionally switch them out, and rarely ever tells Tylus if he chooses to do so.

-  None of Tylus' Pokemon take any orders from him during battle. Aside from subtle hand movements or small bursts of advice, he is almost always silent, his pokemon rarely needing his guidance to fight.

-  Tylus will recall his pokemon back into their balls when they faint, but if Sylver is downed, Tylus seemingly warps into the arena and scoops him up.The lights will shut off for a split second, and once they power back on, Tylus is right back at his corner of the arena.

-  Tylus' gym is actually a heavily remodeled version of an abandoned Team Galactic building.

-  Xavier takes it upon himself to break up any fights within the team whenever Tylus is not around.  Laria of course, gives him the most amount of trouble.

-  Sylver rarely ever eats anything but human food and sometimes gives Tylus Advice on his cooking.

-  Sylver has beaten everyone on the team in battles, but refuses to fight Tylus.  Tylus seems to know why, but neither of them will talk about it.

-  Tylus loves hand to hand combat and will quickly accept challenges made to fight him instead of his pokemon.

-  Though Laria loves to provoke and annoy Tylus the most, she has a crush on Xavier. She will die before she admits it, and Xavier seems to be oblivious to it. She often finds herself talking to Xavier instead of keeping an eye on Tylus.