Well, I learned my lesson after Hunter J and I'm never letting someone else do the disclaimer for me ever again… So… I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is owned by those doods in Nintendo. But you already know that, right? :PP
Here's chapter 4! :DD I know it's been a while, but I'm not dead guys! I'll have more chappies of Land Ho and possible new stories coming soon! I've also ready your guys feedback, and I've determined that you all prefer Pearlshipping over Ikarishipping. I'll still do Ikarishipping for all you Ikari lovers out there once in a while, but Pearlshipping seems to be the meta right now if you get what I mean. :PP
Also, this story's rating will be changed to Rated M. I have a few mature content plot points planned ahead, so I may as well change it now rather than later. Trust me when I say this, shit is about to go down after this chapter. XD
Anyways, this chapter is sorta a filler. I mean, after the huge plot bomb I gave last chapter, we could use a fun light hearted chapter, right? Right. But we'll be getting to the good stuff soon, I promise. You could call this the calm before the storm! Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 4: Tribal Madness
The next day, Dawn opens her eyes and wakes up and sits up on her bed. She then groans a bit from the dream she had last night and takes some time to wake up. She then pauses a bit as she looks down to see Paul was kneeling next to the blue haired woman, sleeping peacefully. He had watched over her all night, and took care of her while she was having those nightmares. The blue haired woman smiles at this and shakes him awake gently.
"Rise and shine! It's morning!" She tells the purple haired man as she wakes him up gently. Paul grunts as he slowly lifts his head and gets up. He then looks up at Dawn, and realizes he had fallen asleep last night and backs away with a deep blush on his cheeks while looking away.
"I-I'm… I'm sorry… I didn't mean for that to happen…" Paul mutters sheepishly while a bit flustered from being awoken by the blue haired woman. "Y-You were having a nightmare, so I came in to calm you down, and before I knew it, I-" Before he could finish what he was saying, the blue haired woman smiles and puts a finger to his mouth to silence him.
"Relax, I know you wouldn't do anything to take advantage of me on purpose! You saved my life, after all!" Dawn says reassuringly. "I decided to trust you, because I believe I owe it to you." Paul smiles as the blue haired woman says this and nods his head. He then gets up and heads out room, gesturing her to follow him.
"Well, come! We have a long day ahead of us!" Paul says to the blue haired woman. "We've got to find ourselves food if we want to survive here. And possibly find our Pokemon, wherever they are. They were stranded with us, so they couldn't have gotten far. Hopefully they didn't get separated away from us!" As the purple haired man explains this, Dawn nods her head and gets up on her own two feet. Her injuries had healed overnight more or less, and she felt well enough to stand again.
Moments later, Dawn and Paul were foraging deep inside the forest, beginning their search. As the two of them explore deep inside the forest, the two of them pause while narrowing their eyes. Something, or someone, was watching them.
"It looks like we're being watched…" Paul says silently to the blue haired woman. "Stay on guard! We don't have any weapons or Pokemon to defend ourselves. So be careful." He says to the blue haired woman. Dawn smiles at this and nods her head.
"I appreciate the concern, but it's unneeded." The blue haired woman says reassuringly. "As a marine, I went through rigorous hand-to-hand combat training just for situations like this! I'm not to be trifled with!" Paul smiles back and nods his head. She really was a strong willed woman… Just the kind of woman he would want… He then realizes what he was thinking and shakes these thoughts away while red in the cheeks. He couldn't… He said to himself he wouldn't bring himself to fall for this woman. He then focuses himself, looking around for when their stalkers would strike.
As it would turn out, their stalkers soon make their appearance, with spears raised and pointed at them threateningly should they make a wrong move. It appeared that they were island natives, who made a living for themselves in this island. Paul and Dawn have their eyes narrowed and nod their heads. There was no point in fighting here. They wandered into their territory and they were simply defending themselves. Closing their eyes, Paul and Dawn hold their hands up in surrender. The island natives see that they weren't going to put up a fight and go up to them, tying their wrists with rope and pushing them along, having the two of them follow along as they're taken to their village.
Moments later, the two of them are brought back to the native's tribal village. They're brought before a shadowed figure sitting idly on a throne, watching the over the tribal natives. Dawn and Paul are forced onto their knees as the tribal natives bow and utter a strange, incomprehensible language to the figure before them, but the two of them could gather that they were being offered as sacrifices. The figure stands up and appears before them, emerging from the shadows. Dawn's eyes widen in complete and utter shock… It couldn't be…
… Standing right in front of them… was Dawn's Empoleon, crowned with a veil of flowers and dressed in riches… The blue haired woman was… puzzled… to say the least.
"No way, Empoleon, this is where you've been this whole time…?" Dawn muses with widened eyes while reeling back in utter shock. The Penguin Pokemon seemed to have recognized its master and faces the tribal members, speaking to them.
"Po, Empo!" The Penguin Pokemon says to them while waving its flippers regally. The tribal members seem to understand what Empoleon was telling them and mutter to themselves in their strange language to each other, and nod their heads. They then undo the bindings tying both Dawn and Paul. The blue haired woman smiles as the Penguin Pokemon goes up to its master and hugs her affectionately, petting its head as it glomps her.
"It's great to see you've managed to cope on your own, Empoleon!" Dawn says to her Pokemon affectionately. "So these people found you and now worship you, eh? You must feel like king of the world, right?" She says teasingly to her Pokemon as she strokes its chin. The Pokemon simply puffs its chest proudly and prideful as she says this and nods its head. Paul smiles, seeing that Dawn and her Pokemon were reunited. He then raises an eyebrow and scratches the back of his head while looking a bit puzzled.
"If Empoleon is here, then Electivire should be around too, right? I wonder where he is-" He begins while pondering, but his question is answered as the electric Pokemon is seen locked in quite a fierce battle. His opponent was another Empoleon, but it was slimmer and smaller than Dawn's Empoleon, less trained and developed compared to hers. The smaller Empoleon charges a torrent of water in its mouth and tries to fire, but the attack fails. Electivire shakes his head and motions it to come at him. Paul smiles at this and nods his head. Electivire was always a Pokemon who loved a great battle. However, before the battle could intensify any further, the other Empoleon turns away, completely unmotivated and lies down on a rock, scratching at its back with its flipper. Electivire and Paul both fall to the floor anime style. Electivire was just getting into the groove of things when the Penguin Pokemon stopped battling.
"Looks like that Empoleon over there is lacking in the motivation department." Dawn muses while watching. She then looks up at her Empoleon and tips her head. "Is something wrong?" She asks curiously. Empoleon lets out a gruff, prideful grunt with his arms crossed and a slight red in his cheeks while puffing his chest out regally. Dawn blinks as her Pokemon does this, but puts two and two together and gets a bit of a coy grin on her face as she pokes her Pokemon teasingly and in a bit of a playful manner.
"Ah, I see now… That Empoleon over there is a female, and you have a crush on her, don't you?!" Dawn says knowingly and comically. Empoleon twitches at this and gets a comical cat ripple, but then looks away while red in the cheeks and lets out a comical grunt, refusing to admit she was right. The blue haired woman smiles and nods her head. "Alright, I more or less understand what's going on here. These people worship and respect the Piplup line, and that Empoleon over there is supposedly the village's next guardian. However, it doesn't have the motivation or the drive to do its job. So Electivire is trying to fire up that Pokemon's spirit while my Empoleon serves as a temporary guardian in her stead! And all this time, you've been trying to make yourself cool and presentable to score yourself some points, right?" As she says this, Empoleon is red in the cheeks, but nods his head in the end, admitting that her master was right.
"Well, now we know what the problem is here in this village of theirs, what should we do?" Paul asks the blue haired woman. "Unless we help these people out, Empoleon can't leave here. And how do we motivate that Empoleon to do her job properly?" Dawn thinks about it and looks at Empoleon. He looked as if he wasn't going to be going anywhere until he helped and impressed her. The blue haired woman thinks about it for a second, and then, looks up and smiles.
"Alright, I've decided. We're going to help these people! And at the same time, I can help my Pokemon here find some love. Just leave everything to me!" She muses with a giggle as she pumps her fist energetically. Paul smiles and decides to leave everything to the blue haired woman while Empoleon grows red in the cheeks at this comically and looks the other way while a bit embarrassed. "I think the first thing we need to do here, Empoleon, is show off how impressive your role here is. Make sure to look good out there, and really present yourself to her! That way you're not only presenting the role that she should be playing, but you're making yourself look more presentable as well! Go get em, Tiger~!" She says with a grin as she smacks her Pokemon on the back. Empoleon has wide comical eyes as he's smacked on the back and pushed forward towards the other Empoleon. The female Empoleon lazily looks up at Dawn's Empoleon from her rock bed, lying down lazily and scratching at her behind, yawning tiredly. Dawn's Empoleon swallows hard, and seemed to be trembling. It seemed to be nervous, but finally, it gathers itself.
"Po, Empoleon!" The Penguin Pokemon says as he poses, showing off the jewels dressed all over his body and the sleek sheen of his armor. However, the other Empoleon seemed uninterested and is lightly snoring comically. Empoleon cringes at this comically and flinches, but then sees Dawn cheering him on, urging him not to be discouraged. The Penguin Pokemon complies and charges a Hydro Pump into the air with full power, showing off how strong and powerful he was. The Female Empoleon looks at him with one eye opened, but then turns away, uninterested while yawning comically. Dawn's Empoleon comically turns to stone as this happens and falls to the floor on his flippers and knees comically while sulking and having a depressed aura surrounding him. Dawn cringes a bit as this happens and sweat drops as she watches the scene unfold.
"Ouch… she's a tough one alright… Nice effort though, Empoleon…" Dawn says comically as her Pokemon sulks. She then puts her finger to her chin, thinking of another way to possibly motivate the other Empoleon. "Hm, maybe first of all, we need to figure out what's wrong here. Why she's acting this way." The blue haired woman then comes up to the Empoleon and kneels down to ask her what was wrong.
"Hi there! My name is Dawn Hikari. I'm the 1st division captain of the marines. It's nice to meet you, Empoleon!" She says to the Penguin Pokemon. "So I was wondering what you're doing here? Why are you lying here and not doing your job as village deity? The villagers need you, you know." She says to the Pokemon in a kind voice. The Penguin Pokemon looks up at Dawn, but then, looks away while lying down. She then fidgets around and pauses a bit, before holding out a small picture of a powerful, tough looking Feraligatr. Dawn pauses a bit and puts two and two together, able to figure everything out by herself. The Feraligatr in the picture was a Pokemon Empoleon had feelings for, and it seemingly had disappeared someday. This caused Empoleon anxiety, as she waited for her true love to return. It was just like how Dawn's situation with Ash was… The two of them were similar… The blue haired woman pauses and gives the Pokemon a small, sympathetic smile and puts a hand on Empoleon's shoulder while smiling softly.
"I know it hurts to be separated by the one you love… I know first-hand the pain of losing someone you love…" Dawn says to the Pokemon softly. "But instead of lying around, waiting for him to come back, shouldn't you be going out there, doing your best for his sake? I'm in the exact same spot you're in right now, and I once thought losing him meant the end of everything, but that experience only made me stronger… And I know he's still out there somewhere… I just need to believe. Will you believe in Feraligatr and wait for him to return?" She asks the Pokemon kindly. Empoleon pauses for a bit and looks at Dawn. Finally, she gets up and nods her head, having a determined look in her eyes and finally finding her motivation. The tribal villagers beam at this and look completely surprised that their Empoleon was finally motivated to do her job and go up to her, praising her in their language. Dawn smiles as the problem seemed to be resolved while Empoleon is shown to be comically in tears. The blue haired woman sweat drops and pats her Empoleon on the back.
"Well, tough luck there, buddy. But there's plenty of fish in the sea out there, right?" She says to her partner comfortingly and comically. "What say we get out of here? We need to find a way out of this island after all!" She says to her Pokemon. The Penguin Pokemon fights back the tears and nods his head comically. Paul watched the whole thing and couldn't help but smile. And he was able to find newfound respect for the young, blue haired woman. He then closes his eyes and pets Electivire on the back, urging it to follow along. "We're going too, Electivire!" He says to his Pokemon as he follows after Dawn.
Dawn and Paul wave farewell to the tribal village and their Empoleon. As thanks for their efforts in solving their problems, Dawn and Paul were given a small feast and some food to take on the go before they left. As they leave, Dawn smiles and waves at the tribal people and their Empoleon, heading back to their hideout.
"Take care, and be on your best behavior, Empoleon! When Feraligatr returns, be sure to welcome him back with all your heart!" Dawn calls out to her as she waves farewell. She then turns around, making his leave with Paul.
"Well, that turned out well… We have more than enough food to survive until help arrives!" Paul muses to Dawn with a smile on his face. "And we didn't become tribal food… I would say this whole thing turned out to be a great day." Dawn looks at Paul and nods her head.
"Yeah, I would say so too…" She says softly as she looks onwards, looking up to the sky with thoughts of Ash, thinking that he was still out there… somewhere… maybe… just maybe… She then closes her eyes before opening them and looks at Paul with a grin. "Last one back to the camp is a rotten Exeggcutor~!" She says teasingly and playfully to Paul as she runs ahead of him. Paul has WCE as she says this and catches him off guard. He then grins and runs after her, looking to catch up as the sun sets in the distance.
To be continued
Phew, finally, the filler chapter is done… I know it took a long time, and if felt kinda rushed towards the end, but I really didn't know the direction I was headed towards this chapter and it took me a while to finally establish something good. I think I got a hold of something decent by the end of it all. XD
Dawn's personality was a bit different in this chapter, but I guess you can say that this is a sign that some of Dawn's old personality is showing and she's starting to open up to Paul a bit. XD I mean, he did save her life, so yeah. XD
Anyways, enough rambling. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it was brief. :PP I won't make any promises, but I hope to put out chapters a bit faster than usual. As usual, be sure to review, favorite, and all that good stuff. Don't flame though! Nothing good comes out of hating on me, so don't do it! Anyways, here's the preview for the next chapter. XD
Preview: The finale of the Stranded Island Arc. At long last, Dawn and Paul's salvation arrives, as the marines and the Galactic pirates come to their rescue. Now the two must go their separate ways, but not before thanking each other for everything. And Johanna's and Cyrus's relationship is finally revealed. Next time on Land Ho, Rescued.
~Honou