Not, evidently, to safety.
While something still felt wrong about the solo Pawniard it wasn't until something soft and squishy hit Skarmory in the face that Elinda realized what it was, namely that their escape had been too easy. Dark types weren't known for letting their prey escape, and a lone Pawniard just didn't add up - it wasn't until she followed the thrown object back to its source that the trainer figured out what was going on. Not that it made much sense, though. She didn't recognize the Pokemon on the cliff that they were heading towards but it had been ready for their arrival, a pile of berries stockpiled next to where it stood which were now being chucked at the trio mid flight. To Skarmory's credit the Pokemon didn't drop her, though, but instead kept flying in what was mostly a straight line towards their original destination despite her vision being blurred by what looked to be the remains of an Oran berry. Only releasing Elinda once they were to relative safety, Skarmory dropped to a rough landing herself only a couple of meters away as the new Pokemon on the cliff continued to throw berries at them, likely trying to stall for time until the Pawniard could make it up from the trail below.
At least until the pile of fruit besides it exploded, Beldum colliding into the pile with all the force of a small artillery shell thanks to Take Down. While it was somewhat unclear if the Iron Ball Pokemon had been aiming for the new creature and missed or simply intended to remove all of its ammunition, fact was that it gave Elinda a chance to approach Skarmory, using her sleeve to rub the excess berry pulp from her face and eyes. Able to see again, the Flying type didn't hesitate to step forward, placing herself between their attacker and Elinda in the process - more than anything, she wanted
payback for what was a fairly humiliating cheap shot.
("You oaf! You've any idea how long it took to gather those?! I-") The Pokemon began screeching, clearly upset and trying to shake the berry juice from his fur. Almost all of his anger seemed to be directed at Beldum, still buried in the pile of berry pulp - at least until he saw Skarmory taking a fighting position, stance low and wings splayed as she glared at the other Pokemon, looking for an opening.
("Suppose it was too much to hope Pawniard would do his job...") He muttered, expression equal parts irritation and consideration. He seemed more than a little wary about the idea of taking on even a single opponent who was at full strength, nevermind two or more - the plan obviously hadn't taken that possibility into account, but Elinda didn't particularly care. If anything what unnerved Passimian above all else was the woman's rather odd response to being ambushed by attackers with anything but her best interests in mind.
"Screwed this one up, didn't ya?" Elinda said, calmly stepping out from behind Skarmory to stand at the Pokemon's side - albeit with a small but still out of place smile, considering the situation. While the blond was keeping the presence of the Pawniard at the back of her mind along with the possibility of there being other wild Pokemon in on the gig, the reveal of what seemed like the "pack" leader had put her much more at ease. A Bisharp wasn't something she was quite ready to handle. Not yet. But this Pokemon, considering that he was a bit off put by the idea of tangling with even one of her fighters?
It'd been a good, long while since any of her Pokemon had gotten a half decent fight, and it seemed as good a chance as any for Skarmory to get into the swing of things considering she was raring to go. At a glance this Pokemon was going to be a Grass or Normal type, maybe Fighting or Dark - it reminded her quite a bit of Pancham, albeit much larger. Nothing that would pose a serious threat to the Flying type, however, as Skarmory were built to take a beating and she clearly wanted a go at their attacker.
("Now look, I can exp-")Whatever the Pokemon intended to say, he didn't get all of it out as Skarmory's wings beat down and she closed the distance between herself and the wild one in the blink of an eye. Taken back by the sudden assault as the Steel type's Leer caught him off guard, Passimian's lowered defenses allowed Skarmory to get in a strong opening blow as her talons came up to claw and scratch at the smaller Pokemon, beak coming down to repeatedly Peck him over. One talon closing down over Passimian's arm, the heavier bird's weight pinned him to the ground as he attempted to use Vital Throw to toss the Pokemon off of him, albeit only with partial success. While the attack caused a small amount of pain and momentarily lifted Skarmory into the air, the bird's claws were still closed tight around Passimian's arm and it only served to move both of them over a few feet before the bird landed on him again -
hard.
Elinda, for her part, merely folded her arms as she watched with a degree of disappointment, Beldum having extracted himself from the multicolored pile of goop and dripping juice as he hovered back over to her side. Given the Pokemon's ability to get the Pawniard to work with it and having planned out an attack that
would have worked fine against any of the smaller wild Pokemon local to the area she'd been expecting a fight. Expecting
something. Not this, though, as the enraged bird continued to claw and peck at the bewildered and disoriented lemur, the wild Pokemon unable to put up any significant resistance as what few attacks he was able to land were practically ignored by Skarmory.
Well, it wasn't like there wasn't a use for him, and if Elinda left him here they'd likely just try it again with another hiker passing through. Sticking two fingers to her lips, Elinda gave out a sharp whistle that took a moment to get Skarmory's attention - when it did, however, the bird released her opponent, flapping back into the air above him.
Passimian, however, had gone through enough. He'd rarely had to contend with anything like this directly. His troop hadn't been the strongest, but that was the point of a pack mentality. Why he'd gone through the effort of "recruiting" Pawniard to his causes, although that hadn't been too hard when it was far weaker than he was due to typing. This, though, was more than he could handle alone.
("Pawniard! Get up here, you useless lout!") Passimian screamed, hoping the words would be loud enough and harsh enough to get the dimwitted Dark type to double time it up the cliff if he wasn't already - or worse, if he was debating abandoning their partnership. It might have been through coercion but both had fared rather well as a result, at least until
this debacle. At least that's what the Fighting type was thinking until something struck him hard in the head, the Pokeball thrown by Elinda sucking Passimian inside not long afterwards.
Beldum - Level 9. Take Down.
Ferroseed - Level 5. Growl, Tackle.
Skarmory - Level 5. Peck, Leer.
