Painted Ghouls

Chapter 20

"Lava?" she repeated, her eyes narrowing slightly. "So it's a volcano?" The Latios chose to not verbally respond; instead, he only nodded to confirm her suspicions. Athena felt her shoulders sag. The name alone was intimidating enough, but the mere fact that the area was a volcano was just frightening. What would happen if she were to fall into the lava? Normally, fire types cannot be burnt, but some are not able to withstand the heat of lava. From what she knew, Combusken were unable to endure the blistering heat lava provided.

Athena wasn't really excited to leave the forest in the first place, but somehow she was now even less thrilled to leave. The forest may be filled with relatively weak Pokémon, but she couldn't help but admire it. She had lived in a forest for most of her life- it would be hard for her to leave the comfort of trees and hike up some volcano. Hopefully she would get accustomed to the new changes quickly once they arrive. Otherwise she wouldn't have a good time there, needless to say.

"Residing by the volcano is a town," Lucas continued, not keeping his gaze off of the disheartened Combusken. "Fallabor Town, I believe. It's much like Littleroot Town, if you have been there." He spat out the last sentence, but she didn't bother to feel affected by that. She had been in Littleroot Town before. For just one day and one night, yes, but she had been there. With Brendan. The thought of her former trainer made her flex her claws in resentment.

The Latios ignored her actions. "There may be humans residing there," he continued, his wings flapping once more. Apparently there was a lot to know about this new location, considering the amount of information he was giving her. "Thus, we must avoid them as much as possible. Your kind is rather rare these days- trainers would do anything to catch one of you. I, too, am part of a rare species, but I can easily turn invisible if need be." Athena curtly nodded. Avoiding humans would be easy, should they just dwell near the crater of the volcano. Despite not liking such an idea, she knew that no human would dare to such a risky thing.

The dragon-and-psychic type finally closed his mouth, finished with his long speech about Pyre Mountain and the land around it. With a rapid blink, he would turn his cranium to gaze at the sky, a frown pursed on his lips, as expected of him. The young fowl Pokémon followed his eyes. By now the sun had just made it above the horizon, casting bright streams of yellow light across the area. The songs of Taillow could be heard in the distance, signaling that the day has truly began.

Damien must be up by now, she sighed mentally, her vision dropping back toward the grass. As much as she tried to erase the guilt, it still came back. When they arrive at the volcano, hopefully such emotions would fade away into nothingness. She didn't want to feel any form of guilt the entire time she was away from the forest, after all.

"It's time we depart," Lucas flatly spoke, jolting her away from her thoughts. Motioning his cranium towards the stretch of land in front of them, he would begin to swiftly float away. "Come along." Hurrying after the eon Pokémon, the Combusken would take one final look back at the cave. If Lucas were to constantly move whenever she grew stronger, this certainly would be the last time she would see the stone.

The chilling winter air moved through the area, causing her to fluff out her feathers instinctively. Despite having feathers, Lucas did not do the same thing. Instead, he continued moving onward, naturally ignoring the wind. For quite some time the two would remain moving this way, making their way through the forest. After what felt like centuries to the young fowl Pokémon, the Latios abruptly halted, his vision placed onto the land beneath the hill they stood on.

He remained still for a few moments, before lowering himself to the ground. "Get on," he mumbled, gazing back at the dumbfounded Combusken.

"What?" she asked, her feathers smoothing out. She wasn't sure if she had heard the directions clearly.

"Get on," he instructed once more, already losing his patience. She had heard the directions clearly the first time, apparently. "We are flying the rest of the way. It is much faster if we do so." Closing her beak, she would nod, moving to stand beside the eon Pokémon. With a hop, she would plop on top of his back, before shifting around in an attempt to stay in a sitting position.

Not giving her time to get comfortable, the dragon-and-psychic type shot upwards. Letting out a squeak, she leaned forward, Brendan's cap resting beneath her stomach as she wrapped her arms around Lucas' neck. She could feel the wind blasting against her face as he began to rocket forwards. He must've been going at lightning speeds in order for the wind to manage to sting her cheeks in such a way.

"Get your arms off of my neck," Lucas growled, glaring back at the female. Tentatively, Athena would retract back into her sitting position, her claws now firmly grasping onto Brendan's cap. Looking down, she released another squeak, her feathers fluffing out out once more.

They were high up into the air- much higher than she had expected. If the eon Pokémon chose to go just a few notches higher into the air, the two would be dreadfully close to the clouds. The towns below them looked like tiny specks of black and gray dirt, but they were soon replaced by a white and blue mixture of blurred colors. "Where are we?" she asked, her eyes blinking in wonder. The eon Pokémon glanced down for only a fraction of a second.

"Right above Mauville City, I believe," he spoke, his wings flapping. "Pyre Mountain shouldn't be far off now." Nodding, the female brought her gaze forward. In the distance laid a giant shape, resembling a rocky triangle of sorts. She assumed that the shape must be the volcano. What else would it be? Either way, she was slightly surprised at the sheer size of the landmark. Hopefully they would fly up to the top of it, instead of climb all the way up.

Her feathers smoothing out once again, she leaned forward just a bit, curious of what Fallabor Town would look like. Lucas had said that it was similar to Littleroot Town, but surely it wouldn't resemble it too much? Glancing down at Brendan's cap, she would hesitate, her eyes narrowing in frustration. Hopefully the humans there wouldn't be frightened of her. Actually, she hoped that none of them would even come across her. She was done with humans- every single one of them.