Updated twice in one day? Hells yes. Watching the newer episodes Torterra started to grow on me, I don't know what it is about that spikey pokemon, but it made it's way into being my second favorite grass starter underneath Bulbasaur. Thanks for the reviews, I received them so quick XD
Kanto Safari
Chapter 7 - "Our Bond"
"Torterra!" the grass pokemon shouted.
Dawn's face lit up, it was definitely Paul's Torterra; a smirk went across his face, had his pokemon really followed him here?
The Seviper recovered and coiled itself back up, readying it's next attack.
"Oh no, Seviper is going to use it's poison fang again!"
Torterra lowered it's head and stood it's ground, Paul stretched out his shaky arm, "Torterra, earthquake!" he shouted as loud as he could.
Torterra rose up on it's two legs and then slammed down into the ground, causing it to split straight towards the Seviper. The snake pokemon was too slow to react and was thrown back into the grass by the clashing of the ground, it shook it's head and began slithering back towards Torterra and the two trainers.
Even in his condition, Paul still was ready for a battle now that his Torterra was here; he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, "Torterra, frenzy plant!"
"Torrrterra!" the grass pokemon cried, it sent pointed branches out of the ground towards the Seviper.
The Seviper dodged the first few branches, but was taken down by the rest. It landed hard onto the ground, the Seviper had fainted and Torterra was stomping it's front feet up and down in victory.
Paul brought his arm back to himself and winced at the pain now coming back to his body, Torterra heard the painful whimpering coming from Paul and immediately went to its trainer's side. Paul opened his eyes and saw the large grass pokemon's head in his face, he couldn't help but smirk a little. Dawn had always thought Paul treated his pokemon poorly, and on the surface that may have been true, but the way he and Torterra looked at each other it appeared as they did have a strong bond.
"I'm fine, Torterra," he said trying to push the grass pokemon away.
During the battle, Dawn had been wondering how Torterra had even got here, she didn't want to think about what might have happened if Paul's pokemon had not shown.
She looked up at the turtle pokemon, "Torterra, how did you find us?"
Torterra went back over to where it had came from, it returned with a dirty pokeball, Dawn gasped.
"Paul, that's your poke ball. You must have dropped it during the first fight with Seviper."
Paul rested his hand on top of Torterra's head, Dawn looked at Paul, "Torterra must have sensed something was wrong. I guess it broke out of it's own pokeball from back at the safari building."
Torterra wasn't the fastest pokemon, Paul knew it must have taken it a while to find them. Normally, Paul would have returned his pokemon back to its ball without even saying thank you, or good battle. Though this time, and it appeared to be what really went on when Dawn and her friends weren't around, Paul thanked his Torterra.
After a small moment of happiness, Dawn remembered the situation they were in; they were lost somewhere in the safari zone, and Paul still needed to get medical help.
"Torterra, Paul is seriously injured. We need you to help us get out of here," she pleaded.
Torterra nodded, an idea then came to Dawn, "We'll put you on Torterra's back, Paul."
Paul raised his hand, "Hold on."
Paul looked at his pokemon, "Torterra, use aromatherapy on me."
Torterra blinked, "Just do it," he ordered.
Torterra took a step back and a pink cloud surrounded Paul and Dawn, and in a brief second it disappeared.
Dawn looked confused, "Paul, what was that for?"
Paul struggled to sit up, "Since it's been too long, it might not reverse the poison. But at least now it won't be fatal."
Dawn remembered hearing from Brock that the move aromatherapy cures any status effects, she pulled on her ear and looked away; it seems that she still had a lot to learn.
Paul finally was able to sit up, he hunched forward and held onto his injured shoulder; Dawn helped him stand and Torterra bent down so that Paul was able to get onto its back. After a couple minutes of struggling and slipping, Paul was on top of his Torterra; and though he had Torterra for a while now, it was the first time he had actually ridden on it.
Dawn gave a soft smile with her arms on her hips, she looked up at Paul, "All good to go?"
Paul nodded, but continued to look down at the girl, he stretched out his good arm.
"Come on," he gestured.
Dawn pointed to herself, "M-me?"
Paul growled under his breath, "Yes, you. Now come on."
Torterra put it's eyes on Dawn and kneeled back down for her to climb on, Dawn ignored Paul's arm and grabbed onto Torterra's spikes. She was finally on top of the grass pokemon sitting in front of Paul; he leaned up against the tree. Dawn looked back at him, impressed that she didn't have to tell the boy to rest up, she kneeled down to get closer to Torterra's head, "Torterra, do you know the way back?"
"Torterra!" it nodded.
The pokemon began stomping it's way into the direction of what Dawn and Paul hoped would be back to the safari building; they traveled through the open field, and it gave Dawn chills. It was only them, ever since the waterfall they had not seen any other trainers, Dawn began fiddling with her scarf as she became more nervous. Paul, who was back against the tree behind Dawn, had already dozed off. She kneeled forward again and whispered to the grass pokemon, "Thanks by the way, Torterra."
It grumbled happily and nodded, and for the next hour there were no other words spoken. Dawn didn't want to rest, she had been worrying more savage pokemon were going to attack, and even though they now had Torterra the grass pokemon wouldn't be able to fight off a herd of them.
Dawn remained holding onto a spike sticking out of Torterra's back as she sat on her knees, it was too bad things had to end like this. Though the safari zone wreaked of fear and terror at the moment, if things would have just gone normally it would have been a nice place to journey through. Dawn sighed, but if the events from the last two days had never happened her and Paul might not have created a friendship, even if it was only the beginning of a little one.
Was it a friendship though? Or was it something more? Dawn had been going over this in her mind ever since Paul carried her through the forest, there just had to be something he's covering up. Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to talk about such things, Paul was injured and the two were lucky enough to have ran into Torterra. First things first, Paul needed medical attention; and maybe, just maybe Dawn would have enough courage to bring up where her relationship might be standing with the once cold hearted pokemon trainer.
Torterra stopped, Dawn almost fell forward with the immediate halt from the grass pokemon, "Is something wrong, Torterra?"
Dawn was hoping Torterra just needed a break, she pleaded in her mind for no more raging pokemon encounters. Paul awoke from his sleep, he noticed that his pokemon had stopped moving, "Torterra, what is it?" he demanded.
Deep in the grass ahead, was a large group of Scyther; one of the Scyther had his eyes on Paul.
Dawn put her hand to her face, "Paul, I think that Scyther is back for you."
Paul had not yet noticed the group of Scyther in the grass, "What are you talking about?" he said coldly.
Dawn pointed into the direction of the Scyther, who were fluttering their wings jumping up and down out of the grass toward the two trainers and Torterra. Paul was unimpressed, he was ready to order Torterra to attack, but then heard the sounds of a helicopter.
***
"We've got more ground crew searching for your friends, if we can't find them, they will." Officer Jenny reassured Ash and Brock.
Ash ignored Officer Jenny's comment, Nurse Joy watched as the Kanto trainer looked out from the window. Ash then sprang up, "There they are!"
Everyone immediately put their eyes on Ash, then they looked out the window, Brock gasped.
"He's right, there's Torterra, Dawn and Paul!"
"Look though, there's a group of Scyther heading towards them!" Nurse Joy shouted.
"We need to land the helicopter down right now," Officer Jenny ordered.
***
"That…that's Ash!" Dawn called out, seeing the spikey haired boy looking down from the window.
Paul was relieved to hear help was on the way, but practically ignored Dawn as the Scyther made their way toward them. Torterra took a step back and growled, "Wait, Paul. Don't attack, there's too many of them. The helicopter is almost here, we-"
Paul pulled Dawn back just in time to miss the incoming Scyther's blade, the pokemon landed back on the ground and looked back up at the two trainers. Torterra charged a few steps toward the Scyther, it backed off and waited for the rest of the group to get closer.
They both then heard Officer Jenny's voice over a microphone, "Stay calm, you two. We're landing down closer, we'll drop a ladder. Keep your distance from those Scyther!"
"This doesn't look good," Brock said putting his hand against the window as he looked down.
The Scyther that first attacked Dawn attacked again, but was blocked by Torterra's head butt. The remaining Scyther finally reached the trainers, the wind from the helicopter started to blow and the grass blew wildly along with the hair of Dawn and Paul. Dawn began to shake as the Scyther began to attacking viciously, Torterra fought bravely and was successfully fighting off each of the Scyther's incoming attacks.
Paul and Dawn tried holding on tight to the grass pokemon's back, but it was becoming difficult as the movements from Torterra swung them back and forth as it continued to protect the two trainers. Paul's recently caught Scyther stood a few feet in front of Torterra, it cried out then jumped in the air off of Torterra's head and had it's blade coming straight down toward him and Dawn.
Paul had no choice but the push the blue haired girl off of Torterra, Dawn stumbled onto her knees as she was thrown off of the pokemon's back. Paul dodged the Scyther's blade and it clanged against Torterra's armor, Paul accidently slipped off of his pokemon and landed onto his back in the grass. He let out a painful gasp and grabbed onto his shoulder, the Scyther saw where he had landed and jumped off of Torterra to attack again. Paul almost had the wind knocked out of him and was now to slow to move, the Scyther's blade came down towards him as if it was happening in slow motion. Paul's eyes widened, then quicky shut them; the sun from the sky seemed to have disappeared, and it felt darker around the purple haired trainer. There was another clanging sound, Paul opened his eyes, Torterra was standing over top of him growling at the Scyther. Paul turned over now laying on his stomache, he could see the Scyther's feet underneath Torterra's head.
The Scyther attacked but Tortera sent out a razor leaf causing the Scyther to retreat a few steps. Dawn was heard screaming from the other side, Paul covered his head as Torterra's feet stomped around him and heard another razor leaf attack being sent off. Dawn noticed Paul was underneath Torterra, she quickly ran and slid under the grass pokemon; the two trainers were breathing heavily as their adrenaline started pumping again.
"We're lowering the ladder down! Be careful, you two!" Officer Jenny shouted.
The sounds of the attacking Scyther, the helicopter and Officer Jenny's microphone all seemed to overlap each other. Dawn gulped, Paul grabbed her shirt and pulled her out from underneath his pokemon, he could see the ladder being lowered over Torterra.
Officer Jenny grabbed a poke ball from her belt, "Growlithe, go! Flamethrower those Scyther, now!"
Growlithe stood near the open door of the helicopter, "Grow!"
The fire dog sent out a flamethrower towards the Scyther and for a few moments the bug pokemon backed off, Paul looked at Dawn, "Get on top and get up that ladder."
"But-"
"Now," Paul ordered, pushing Dawn up onto the grass pokemon.
Dawn was now kneeling on Torterra's back, the ladder flapped back and forth in front of her, "Paul, come on!"
Dawn slipped a little when Torterra blocked another attack from an incoming Scyther, Paul ducked down underneath Torterra, when there was a free moment Paul lifted himself back up.
"Hurry up! I'll go up after you. Now go!"
Dawn's hands were shaking, but she slowly nodded; reluctantly, she grabbed hold of the ladder and started climbing upward. It swayed back and forth from the wind, Dawn lowered her head into her chest and shut her eyes.
Only a little bit longer…"Come on, Dawn! You can do it! Keep climbing!" Ash's voice called to her.
"Pi-pika-pi!"
Dawn continued to make her way up the rope, holding her breath for most of the way, she winced as the sounds of the blades clashed against the armor and it echoed through the area. Paul was successfully dodging the Scyther's attacks with Torterra's help, he looked up, Dawn was being pulled in by Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy; he felt relieved.
It was now his turn, Paul climbed on top of Torterra's back and put his good arm onto the ladder; he then reached for his belt, then felt his heart drop.
Torterra's poke ball…That's right, Paul only had safari balls with him, Torterra's pokeball was back at the safari building. Torterra continued to fight bravely against the Scyther, but was beginning to feel fatigued. Torterra felt something was wrong and turned it's head to look back at Paul, his hand was near his poke ball belt, the grass pokemon knew it's pokeball was back at the building.
"Torterra!" it shouted.
Paul's attention was caught by the turtle pokemon, "Torrrterra!" it shouted again, as if ordering Paul to climb the ladder.
Paul narrowed his eyes, "No, Torterra."
Torterra blocked another attack from Paul's old Scyther, "Scyther!" it cried as it wiped it's blades together.
Torterra began trying to shake Paul off of his back, forcing him to put two hands onto the ladder, "Torterra, stop!" he barked angrily at his pokemon.
Officer Jenny's voice was heard from above, another flamethrower was firing down from Growlithe, "Paul, get on the ladder! Now!"
"Are you alright, Dawn?" Brock asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. We need to save Paul and Torterra! They're in need of more help!"
"Don't worry Dawn, we're not going anywhere without them," Ash reassured her.
Nurse Joy looked over at the boy, "Ash, the helicopter won't be able to hold Torterra's weight. Even if it did, we don't have the equipment to bring it up here."
Torterra sent off a wild frenzy plant attack, and the pointy branches ripped through the ground crashing against all of the Scyther. The grass pokemon looked back at Paul, it nodded, "Torterra," it said calmly.
Paul saw Torterra breathing heavily after the numerous attacks on it, it fought against the rampaging Scyther bravely for him and Dawn, he couldn't just leave it. Paul knew that there was no other way to transport Torterra into the helicopter without it's pokeball, and if he stayed to fight along side his pokemon Torterra's efforts would have been in vain.
Paul put his head against the ladder, he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes; he didn't want to have to do this. He gripped the ladder tight, Paul then started to climb, "Torterra!" the grass pokemon cried, it sent out an earthquake attack, but the Scyther leaped into the air and brought their blades down onto the armored pokemon. The Scyther were growing more frustrated as the armor was not wearing down, Paul's old Scyther saw him trying to escape; it leaped back into the air brought back it's blades for a savage slash attack. Paul gasped as he heard the pokemon heading towards him, it was then knocked away by Torterra's razor leaf, the wind and razor leaves blew by Paul causing him to sway back and forth on the ladder. Paul opened his eyes and continued to climb, not wanting to look back at the scene between his faithful Torterra and the Scyther.
Each step brought more pain to his heart as he was leaving his pokemon further and further behind; Torterra used one last frenzy plant as the Scyther started to mimic what Paul's old bug pokemon had done. The grass pokemon was now panting heavily and was ready to collapse, it's armor had large gashes in it, but Torterra still held it's look of determination on it's face. Ash's head was seen looking over the opening of the door on the helicopter and down toward Paul, "Paul!" he shouted.
Hearing that voice made Paul cringe, and he angrily looked back up at the boy as he continued to climb; with his injured arm, he was making his way upward more slowly than Dawn had.
"Take this!"
A red and white ball was dropped down toward Paul, the purple haired trainer caught it just in time; it was unmistakable, it was Torterra's poke ball. Without hesitation Paul looked back down at his pokemon, the Scyther had gathered up in a group and were preparing a major attack on the grass turtle. They all leaped into the air, their blades glistened in the sunlight and the cries from the bug pokemon we heard overtop of the helicopter.
Paul quickly stuck out his arm, "Torterra, return!"
A red light glowed over Torterra and it was sent back into it's poke ball, the Scyther crashed into each other as it was returned just in time before their attack. They slashed their blades together as they watched Paul reach the top of the helicopter; he held Torterra's poke ball close to his heart as he finished the painful climb. Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy pulled the injured boy into the helicopter; finally, he, Dawn and now Torterra were safe.
Everyone but Dawn's mouth hung open when they saw the condition Paul was in, the purple haired trainer dropped to his knees as the helicopter began flying back to base camp. Nurse Joy laid him down on his back and looked him over, Paul was exhausted; the adrenaline was beginning to wear off and Paul was starting to feel pain and fatigue again. He still managed to get a last few words in before passing out, he looked up at Ash, "How…how did you have Torterra's poke ball?"
Ash leaned forward and looked down at his Sinnoh rival, "When we were taken back to the safari building, Louis had told us that a Torterra had broke loose and was making it's way across the safari zone. I could only imagine that your pokemon would be the only ones to defy the rules of the poke ball. We weren't sure what we were going to run into searching for you two, so I made sure to bring it's pokeball along with your other pokemon with me."
A good deed done by Ash Ketchum, for Paul? It was good enough for him, everyone was now safe, and Paul was now able to rest peacefully as the helicopter made it's way back to camp. Dawn smiled to herself as Paul closed his eyes to rest, no one else had known what had gone on in the forest between them; Dawn still wasn't able to come to a conclusion for herself, she still had to discuss it with Paul. Dawn could feel herself drifting off, everyone was happy to know that the others were safe, but they remained silent on the journey home.
***
Later that evening, Dawn awoke from her days worth of sleep; she was laying on the chairs in the hospital lobby. Brock and Ashwere sitting in on each side of her, both reading magazines from the table in front of them. Dawn sat up and rubbed her eyes, Brock and Ash immediately looked over at her, "Dawn, you're awake!" Ash said relieved.
"How are you feeling?" Brock asked.
"Um, I feel fine," Dawn sat trying to understand where she was.
"You were out for a long time, but Nurse Joy and the other medical team got you all cleaned up."
"I don't remember," Dawn said scratching her head.
"That's okay, as long as you're feeling well, and safe and sound," Brock said patting the girl on the back.
Dawn stood up abruptly, "Paul! Where's Paul?"
"Calm down, Dawn. Paul's doing fine, he's in room 302 upstairs."
She turned around and looked at her two friends, "Is it alright if I go see how he's doing?"
Brock smiled and nodded, "Of course, Dawn. We will be down here."
Ash waved goodbye as Dawn walked off to the elevator that led upstairs; Dawn entered, she was the only one in it. She rubbed her arm up and down, if Paul was awake, now might have been a good time to talk about what happened between them in the safari zone. She was beginning to feel more and more nervous, this is just a little schoolgirl crush, it's nothing.Dawn kept telling herself to calm her down, the elevator dinged and Dawn walked off; she headed down the hall as she continued to look for room 302. Dawn could feel her heart beating as the doors read, 298, 299, 300, 301...
What's wrong with me? I at least need to thank him. Yeah, that's what I'm doing.When Dawn reached room 302 she took in a deep breath, she put her shaky hand on the doorknob and turned it.