Painted Ghouls

Chapter 15

WARNING: graphic violence

Shifting around, Athena would welcome the warmth the cap provided, taking a few moments to relax. Eventually, she shook her head, lifting the cap onto her. Blinking away any leftover tears, she would try to analyze the dream. Never before had something like that happened to her. She missed Zeke and Zachary dearly, but she never got a dream like that from them. Why? Were they ashamed of her? Did Brendan just want to cheer her on?

Sniffing, the fire type would flinch as a dark shadow loomed over her, and she slowly turned her head around to gaze up at Lucas. His eyes were narrowed, and were complimented by a frown laced on his lips. His eyelids were drooping just a tad, signaling that he possibly didn't have a good sleep. The expression wasn't exactly a surprise to the tiny chick Pokémon, except for maybe the tired look he held. Dropping a few berries by her side, the dragon-and-psychic type would release a grunt.

"You cried like a newborn last night," he grouchily mumbled, flapping his wings slowly as he gazed back at the entrance of the cave. "Hurry up and eat." Lowering her head, the Torchic would oblige to his orders, eating the berries as quick as she could. Gulping them down, she lifted herself to her feet, her eyes flickering down to the stone floor.

"Are we training today?" she softly asked, blinking her eyes. Please say no. A part of her was hoping that he'd simply shake his head to her question, but another part of her already knew the answer to said question.

"Of course," the dragon-and-psychic grumbled in response, glaring back down at her. "You need to train." Studying her up and down, he would quickly add, "You're weak. I don't care how much you hate training; if you take one step into the wild by yourself, you'll be killed instantly."

Athena nodded her head silently. As much as she hated to admit, he was absolutely right. She wouldn't be capable of defending herself when no one was around. That had been proven multiple times by the battles she was tossed in the days before. Despite that, she still wasn't happy about training to become a fighter.

With another mighty flap of his jet-like wings, the male would float out of the cave, not bothering to look back to see if the Torchic was following. Either way, she was, though her movements were just a tad slower than what he wanted. Finally taking the time to glance back at her, the dragon-and-psychic type would snort, eyes narrowing into slits.

"Hurry up," he growled, gritting his teeth slowly. Adding a hop to her step, Athena hurried after the eon Pokémon, not wanting to anger him any further. Once she caught up, he curtly nodded his head, looking around.

"The berry stack in the cave is running low," he flatly mused, his amber irises taking over the surrounding premises as he continued flying forwards. The female cocked her head. Berry stack? She hadn't seen a pile of berries in the cave at all. Maybe he kept it hidden? "That means I have to go get more." Stopping by a tree stump, he would release a sigh. The fire type stopped beside him, gazing up at him expectantly. "You kept me up a good portion of the night."

Athena blinked, bringing her vision down to get a good gander of the land that surrounded them. The two had traveled to a portion of the forest she had never been in, so basically all of it was unfamiliar. Quite a ways in front of them laid a few yellow flowers that slowly swayed in the small breeze that wafted through the air. A duo of Wurmples sat by those flowers, drinking nectar from their centers.

"Go fight those two Wurmples," Lucas ordered, nodding towards them as he glared down at the fire type. "They better be dead when I come back." Picking up the female, he would scoot forward before throwing her into a pile of flowers. With that, the dragon-and-psychic type rocketed back toward where they came from, before taking a sharp turn to his left and disappearing from sight.