Painted Ghouls

Chapter 24

Peering over the long rectangle, she froze as she caught sight of a frail Beautifly, who appeared to be frantically flapping its wings. It appeared to be tearing into an oran berry, and judging by its movement, it also looked as if it was the source of the scent. She hesitated once more, confused as to how a bug type was creating such a tantalizing scent, until it dawned on her. The Pokémon was using sweet scent, and possibly by accident.

"Armaldo will be angry," it mumbled under its breath, its voice surprisingly masculine. The Pokémon- whom was presumably a male- appeared to be talking to itself, interestingly enough. "This is his territory. His food." The young fowl Pokémon blinked, confused at what the Pokémon meant by food. She hadn't seen any food upon nearing the area.

Looking past the oblivious Pokémon, she felt her beak drop open. A pile of fresh, ripe berries were surrounding the bug-and-flying type. He must've managed to collect these berries- and somehow keep them fresh, let alone hidden by this Armaldo fellow he mumbled about earlier. Would sweet scent be capable of keeping food fresh? The idea seemed a little far-fetched, but it was very well possible. Before she could properly react, however, the Beautifly whirled around, staring straight at the Combusken with widened eyes.

With a loud squeal, the Pokémon lifted himself into the air with a single flap of his wings, before charging straight at its newly-found opponent, planting a tackle. The young fowl Pokémon let out a caw of surprise as she found herself falling onto her back, landing against the cool, rough tile of the city. Releasing her grip on her trainer's accessory, she lifted her cranium upwards, glaring at the Pokémon. The bug-and-flying type defensively placed himself in front of the berries, his wings spread out. He appeared to not be one to share.

Hopping onto her feet, Athena would take a deep breath, flames curling on her tongue. However, before she could fire the ember, the butterfly Pokémon frantically flapped its wings as if he were fighting a storm. As it did so, yellow particles drifted away from the dainty appendages and toward the female, sticking to her beige feathers. Static electricity noises began to crackle as she struggled to fire the attack from her beak. She had been paralyzed.

"Thank goodness," the Pokémon breathed in relief, relaxing as it lowered itself down a bit. "Stun spore is pretty handy." The last statement wasn't directed toward anybody, for at that point the male had his back turned towards the female.

Athena struggled against the effects of paralyzation, but to no avail. She would be stuck here for a while, by the looks of it. Emitting a grunt, she glared at the butterfly Pokémon as it began to mockingly eat one of the berries. Now he was facing his opponent, mischief shining in his eyes as he took a small, slow bite of an oran berry. The female tried to lunge forward, but she remained stuck in her position.

"I'm assuming you want a berry?" the Beautifly cooed, flapping forward with elegant, taunting strokes of its wings. "These do taste mighty good." The Pokémon would then release some form of laughter as it reared back, using its strange appendage on the front of its face to mess with the treat. The young fowl Pokémon snorted in response, managing to at least narrow her eyes into tiny slits.

The Beautifly paid no attention to her after that. Turning around once more, it began to feast upon the stack of berries in front of it, clearly enjoying the feast. Athena took this as a chance to attempt to break free of paralysis. With muffled grunts, she tried her hardest to at least move her foot. After a few moments of struggling, her left right foot scooted just a tad, but not by much. It shouldn't take too long to break free now.

Her vision flickering back towards the butterfly Pokémon, she waited, unsure if he was going to turn around once more. Once she was certain that he was done with his taunts, she went back to work. This time she had managed to move her arm a few spaces forward, and she could feel the effects of the sparkly particles fade away. Finally, after just a few more moments of struggling, she managed to topple forward, free of paralyzation.

Landing on her chest, she released a soft groan, before lifting herself back onto her feet. Her muscles ached from the previous experience, but she tried her best to ignore that as she charged toward the oblivious Beautifly. Releasing a shrill caw, she allowed flames to envelop around her entire frame as she lunged forward, effectively tackling the bug-and-flying type. Pinning him down, the Combusken allowed the flames to flicker around her body. The opponent released a frightened screech as fire began to spread around on its body, and desperately he tried to shake off his attacker, but to no avail.

The fire-and-fighting type would watch the scene, satisfaction pouring through her as the male began to burn into nothing but a mere crisp. Long ago she would've despised such a brutal way to end an enemy, but nowadays it seemed as if she didn't mind it at all. After all, this Pokémon did paralyze her, and then taunt her straight after that. It deserved such a brutal death as this.

Shifting around, Athena allowed the flames around her to extinguish. The Beautifly she pinned was nothing but a dark brown, charred corpse. Raising her claws, she allowed a feeling of triumph to rise through her as she stared at her fallen opponent. She had won. Swiftly, she stabbed her claws into the back of its neck, signifying her victory.