Wurmple, Beautifly, and Dustox

There was an inviting citrus floral scent; that was all the reason Beautifly needed to come here even this far into the evening time. He flew over the crowd of humans, searching. For some reason, they had gathered to listen to someone speak. The women were all in long dresses with lacy necks and exquisite buttons. The men were all in striped suits and low hats. With them were restless children and patient Pokemon.

Up on the staircase to the town hall, five men were gathered behind one speaking. "Therefore, in making Rustboro the most modern city in Hoenn, we are pleased to announce that the streetlight project is complete! In a brief time, our fair city will be safe to walk around in, as all shadows will be illuminated and no criminals can hide."

There were cheers and claps to this announcement. But Beautifly didn't care what the humans were up to. Where was that flower he smelled? Although the scent was strong, he saw no plant to go along with it. He flew back, trying to pinpoint the source.

"And before long, our plan will come together to add more comfort and ease to our lives. The citizens of Rustboro will all have electrical resources to draw on, to light your homes and make them safe, to run machines to make your lives easier. We are headed into a glorious age where man controls electricity and, soon after, all the powers that only Pokemon have possessed thus far."

Ignoring the crowd and speech, Beautifly was led back to one woman in a bright blue dress. There weren't any flowers in her outfit, but the citrus floral was definitely coming off her. But there shouldn't be any pollen on a human. Or was there? He came up on her while she was listening to the speech and gave a test lick to the strongest origin of the scent, her neck.

And immediately grimaced. The perfume tasted pungent, of alcohol and orange pith. Trying to wipe the taste off with his forelegs, he said, "Pah! Ugh, that's horrible."

Finally noticing him, the woman waved her hand up at him. "Shoo, leave me be."

Beautifly flicked his wings at her, sending off itchy scales to irritate her skin. "Stuuuupid. It's not my fault if you taste disgusting." He flew off.

Away from the crowd, he caught another scent, that of a geranium. He followed that and found a flower box hanging by a window. It had a dozen red and orange geraniums in it and they had been left here, free for the taking.

"Good, flowers at last," he said before taking in the tasty pollen.

"Um," a small voice piped up. "Um, could I get some help here?"

"What?" Beautifly looked away from the flowers to the glass window in front of him. Hanging on there was a smaller Bug, a caterpillar with a red exoskeleton and a pair of horns on her head and tail end. "Oh, hi Wurmple. Odd place to find one of you."

"I'm a little confused," she replied. "I climb up places to find trees, right? But I've climbed way up here and haven't found any trees. I'm lost."

He glanced down; they were five stories up. "You certainly are. This is a human building. There won't be any trees on top of it."

"Oh no." She moved down the glass a short ways to be closer to him. "What do I do?"

"Get off it and go back to the forest, duh. Here, I'll help in a minute."

"Why not now?"

"I'm eating, geez. Let a Beautifly and his flowers be."

"Sorry!" she replied, scrunching up closer to the glass.

After he'd went through all twelve flowers, he picked Wurmple off the window and flew south with her. The sky was tinged with dark violet and evening. Knowing that he'd want to sleep as soon as it got dark, he stopped at the first set of trees and set her in a branch. "Now stick to climbing trees for the time being, all right?"

"Sure, thank you." She crawled over to the trunk.

"So, fall's coming up. Have you decided what you're going to evolve into?"

She paused. "Um... no, not really."

Beautifly twirled around, showing off his wings. "You ought to become a Silcoon, so you can be a Beautifly like me. We're better than the Dustox."

"Really?"

"Of course! You don't see these stunning yellow wings on them, do you? No! They have dusty purple wings that are shabby looking. A Beautifly is much more beautiful."

"Yeah right!" a voice called out. A Dustox fluttered into the tree. He landed and held his violet wings out. "You guys look so gaudy. We're much more dignified."

"Dignified?" Beautifly demanded. "You lurk about in the night, like witches and goblins. You're evil."

"Ain't no such thing as goblins. And your feelers are so flimsy."

"Well they look better than your dumb old cone things."

"I still dunno," Wurmple said. "But I got time, I think." She crawled onto the trunk and began pulling up part of the bark to get at what she ate, tree sap.

The two males held a starting contest for a minute. Then the Dustox added, "So what've you done today? Mistaken some lady's perfume for flowers."

"YOU DID NOT SEE THAT!"

He tilted his head, then grinned. "So you actually were that dumb?"

Scowling, Beautifly flew off. He turned around for a second to call out, "Stuuuuupid Dustox! I'll beat the snot out of you in the morning." Then he darted off to find a place to sleep.

Dustox laughed. "Yeah right. Man, those Beautiflies are so silly. I don't see how they can make such an obvious mistake."

There was a white flash, followed by a soft hum. For the first time, electric streetlights brightened the city of Rustboro. It was dazzling, bewildering. It was human technology.

Over in the tree, Dustox was bewitched. "The... the... the stars? What happened to the stars? How'd they fall to the ground?" He took off.

He approached one of the white lights, expecting it to stay infinitely far away as the stars always had. But no, it stayed put. He was able to get right up next to it and gaze into its unearthly beauty. It wasn't quite what he had expected. Shaped like a cylinder with a rounded top and metal bottom, it held inside it a coiled wire that glowed intensely. A warmth came off it, so unlike the chill of previous starry nights. When he touched it, it was hard and smooth, like a glass window. Only, stars had nothing to do with windows. Right?

"Oh my gosh," another Dustox said, coming up alongside him. "The stars have blessed us by coming down to greet us."

"Yeah." he replied. He felt his stomach grumble. "I'm hungry, but I don't want to go all the way back into the forest to eat. The stars are so pretty, even close up."

"There's a tree nearby," the other one said, not tearing her eyes from the white light. "We can stay by it."

"Is it really a star?" a third Dustox asked, coming closer.

As the night progressed, more and more Dustox came into Rustboro to gaze at the lovely lights. In the morning, a great many people were angered that all the trees in the city had been chewed up by the mass of Pokemon from Petalburg Woods.

…

Ruby entry: Using the spikes on its rear end, Wumple peels the bark off trees and feeds on the sap that oozes out. This Pokemon's feet are tipped with suction pads that allow it to cling to glass without slipping.

Ruby entry: Beautifly's favorite food is the sweet pollen of flowers. If you want to see this Pokemon, just leave a potted flower by an open window. Beautifly is sure to come looking for pollen.

Ruby entry: Dustox is instinctively drawn to light. Swarms of this Pokemon are attracted by the bright lights of cities, where they wreak havoc by stripping the leaves off roadside trees for food.

I've always wondering if moths have a religion dedicated to streetlights. Anyhow, I must have been playing Okami at the time to write Beautifly like that.