A/N: Hey, listen!
So it's been a long, LONG, LOOOOONG time since I've updated...*really lazy* I actually started writing this chapter last week, got a writer's block, basically said "Screw it, I'll finish it later." And today was that later. x3 I hope you like this chapter...It's another filler chapter, but another "twist" in the story. This actually will affect Paul and Dawn's relationship. :D Muahahaha!
Anyways...enjoy!
~Dolphinz514
Chapter 9:
Trapped Again?
The light in the cave was dim as sunlight somehow found its way into the damp tunnels. Small clouds of dust gathered and dissipated in different spots on the dirt floor as small disturbances passed by. The air was slightly thick from the mist gathering from the remnants of a rain storm as dew drops were claimed by gravity's clutches and fell beneath their previous area.
Paul shifted slightly as he felt a few small drops of dew splash on his forehead. He opened his tired eyes slowly as he adjusted to the light in the cave. He sat up, and grabbed his left temple, attempting to stop the pounding headache he had. Looking around the cave to his left, he saw that it was somewhat dark and dusty. There was a large pile of rocks and boulders in the side of the cave. That must've been where the hole was, Paul thought. He also noticed a large pile of dirt laying in the shadow of the cave, and there was oddly a tree growing out of it.
A tree?
Paul stood up slowly, not wanting to further agitate his headache, and trudged over to the pile of dirt. His body ached all over, reminding him just how hard of a fall they had. His clothes donned blood stains all over, due to the cuts and scratches rocks had given him. Did I really get banged up that badly? Paul's attention returned to what he thought was a pile of dirt, when he realized it was something else.
That's not dirt! That's Torterra!
"Torterra?" Paul said quietly, the random tree growing in the cave making more sense. The large Pokemon stirred and lifted it's head. It's eyes lit up when it realized that Paul was standing beside it.
"Tor!" Torterra shouted excitedly, as it stood up and rubbed its head by Paul's hand.
"I'm glad you're okay. Good thing you weren't out of your Pokeball when the hole collapsed," Paul continued quietly as he petted his Pokemon.
Wait, how did you get out of your Pokeball?
Paul thoughts raced around his mind as he recollected what happened the day before: Him and Dawn standing beside a hole before turning to run away from an avalanche of boulders crushed them. The hole caving in, and Dawn slipping down the hole. Paul reaching his arms out to lift her up, remembering making a promise to her about how he'll never let her go; Even if it's a promise she didn't hear.
DAWN! Is she okay?!
Frantically scanning the areas of the cave he didn't earlier, he saw Dawn lying on the cave floor, her body curled in a ball in a pathetic attempt to keep herself warm.
"Dawn!" Paul said, startled slightly to see Dawn so cold on the ground. He jogged over to her side and rolled her over onto her back, her blue orbs remaining shut. "Dawn..." Paul's voice trailed off, hardly even a whisper. "Please be okay."
He replayed the events of yesterday through his head one more time as he closed his eyes. Opening them once again, he leaned against the wall and pulled Dawn so she was leaning into his body. Paul looked at Dawn's pale face and worried that her skin tone was barely more pale than normal. "You'll be okay; I'll make sure of that," Paul promised silently, hoping that his words can be true. "Just please wake up," he pleaded as he stroked one side of Dawn's cheek.
As if on cue, Dawn opened her dark blue eyes and sat up slowly, yawning. Paul sat up, too, relief washing over him that his crush appeared to be okay. Dawn stretched her arms above her head and behind her back, before standing up to stretch her legs, not noticing that Paul was behind her against the wall.
"Torterra, we should hurry and find somewhere to get out of this cave," Dawn suggested as she threw her pale yellow backpack over her shoulders.
"That sounds like a plan," Paul agreed, standing up and stretching his own legs.
Upon hearing his voice, Dawn turned around and saw Paul wiping the dust off of his gray jeans. "You're..." Dawn began, but her voice remained quiet, unsure how to comprehend the fact that Paul was okay.
"We need to move as fast as we can if we don't want to worry about food rations and such," Paul continued as he dusted off his bloody clothes.
"You're okay!" Dawn exclaimed as she hugged Paul. "I was worried!"
Paul blinked a few times at what he heard Dawn say. "You were?"
Also realizing what just spilled out of her mouth, Dawn quickly let go of Paul. "Of course! Ha...ha...you know, cause you're my friend and all!" she quickly added with the a few nervous laughs inserted.
"Oh...okay," Dawn said, ending their conversation in a slightly awkward silence.
"Ummmm..." Paul started again, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Let's keep going then?"
Dawn nodded as she began walking down the tunnel. That was a little...awkward, Dawn thought as her eyes remained on her feet while she walked.I wonder if Paul found it awkward, too... She glanced behind her, wondering if Paul was also deep in thought, but he was looking at her instead. Paul blushed and looked away quickly, hoping that Dawn didn't notice him looking at her. Dawn also blushed and turned her gaze back to her feet. He was looking at me! And he blushed when I caught him! I'm so excited, I could squee!
"SQUEE!" Dawn exclaimed loudly, her voice echoing off the walls of the tunnel and her arms thrown up in the air. Realizing what she had done, her face turned red from embarrassment, and put her arms to her chest. Meep! Did I seriously just do that?!
"Dawn, everything okay?" Paul interrogated, puzzled from her random outburst.
"Ye-yeah! Everything's just peachy!" Dawn said, looking back and forming her fingers into a "o" shape for emphasis.
"Okay..."
'Everything's just peachy!'?! What the heck! I NEVER say stuff like that! Dawn ranted in her thoughts, beating herself up for being obvious. If I'm not careful, he's going to find out I like him! That's twice already today!
'Everything's just peachy!'? Paul repeated to himself. I've never heard her say anything like that...Is she really okay? Paul placed his onyx gaze on Dawn again. I'm sure she's okay...maybe she's trying to come up with new sayings instead of her frequent 'No need to worry!' ...She's so cute.
Paul froze in his tracks as he heard a low grumbling. "Did you hear that?"
Dawn stopped too, as well as Torterra. "Hear what?" she asked, checking the cave walls for anything.
"That low grumbling sound..." Paul answered, his voice trailing off in focus as he attempted to figure out what it was.
"It's probably your stomach," Dawn concluded. "We haven't eaten in a while, you know."
"But I'm not hungry. Is it your stomach."
"I haven't felt my stomach grumbling, no."
"It must just be my imagination, then. Let's keep going."
Paul quicked his pace to be side by side with Dawn. I swear I heard something...where did it come from?
A low rumble sounded from the cave behind them, drawing everyone's attention.
"Please tell me you heard it that time," Dawn pleaded in a whisper, being a little frightened for what the odd noise could be.
"Yeah...I heard it," Dawn replied with a shaking voice. She began to come up with causes for the noise in a pathetic attempt to not let herself get even more scared. "I bet some rocks are falling down where he fell in the cave, or maybe there's a sound of water outside above the cave...or..."
While Dawn was spurting out explanations, Paul backtracked their path a little bit to see what the mysterious sound was. He saw a shape moving in the shadows towards them, and it was moving fast.
"ROAAAAAAR!" The sound echoed throughout the cave and shook the walls.
"What th-?!" Paul started to say until the source of the sound appeared out of the shadows.
"It's an Aggron!" Paul shouted as he ran back to Dawn.
"So that means..." Dawn began to speak but was interrupted by Paul.
"It means we run!" Paul answered quickly, grabbing Dawn's hand and continuing running.
"Why can't we use our Pokemon to defeat it?!" Dawn yelled as they were running.
"Think about it: If our Pokemon fight against that Aggron in this cave, the cave and walls could fall apart!"
"I didn't think about that!" Dawn admitted, running as fast as she could.
"ROAAAAAR!" Aggron screeched as it fired its Hyper Beam attack towards Dawn, Paul and Torterra, just barely missing them by a foot or two, since it was merely a warning shot.
"We need to find somewhere to hide!" Dawn exclaimed, out of breath.
"Agreed!" Paul responded. He felt Dawn's hand slip from his as she stumbled and fell to the ground. "Dawn!" Paul helped her up again and they continued running, Torterra now ahead of them.
Torterra suddenly stopped, its gaze on the cave wall. "Tor!"
"What is it, Torterra?" Paul asked, slowing down to stop beside Torterra, holding Dawn's hand again. He looked where his large forest Pokemon's gaze was fixed on. There was a hole in the cave wall, leading into another small room in the cave. It was just big enough for a human to fit through. "It'll do for now! Thanks, Torterra!"
"We're going in there?" Dawn said, slightly concerned to crawl through walls in a cave.
"Yup," Paul finished. "Torterra, return."
"What if the wall falls down while we're going through?!"
"It won't, so don't panic! Just go in!"
"ROAAAAR!"
"Hurry, Dawn!" Paul exclaimed as Dawn began to climb into the hole.
"I'm trying!" Dawn argued back, using her hands to hoist her body weight up into the hole. Paul grabbed the bottom of her foot to assist her.
"I'm up! I'm climbing through, now!" Dawn announced as she hurridly made her way into the hole.
"ROAAAAAAAR!" The Aggron had noticed Dawn and Paul attempting to escape into the hole. He started it's Hyper Beam attack, preparing to hit its target this time.
"Not good!" Paul stated obviously, and lifted himself up to the hole in the wall. He crawled through it, and found that Dawn had made it safely to the other side. He made it all the way through when the Aggron reached the opening of the hole its prey escaped into.
"Ahh!" Dawn cried, covering her face in terror.
Paul took hold of Dawn, attempting to comfort her, even though he was slightly scared himself. "Don't worry! We'll be okay!"
With its Hyber Beam was fully charged, Aggron launched it's attack at the hole Dawn and Paul disappeared into. The cave walls shook, and the wall crumbled down, closing the hole. The Aggron attempted to claw its way to the trainers, but it gave up eventually and walked away.
"That was close," Dawn whispered, hoping to not bring the attention of the angry Aggron again.
"Yes, it was close," Paul repeated as he observed the walls of the new room they were in. "It looks like we're trapped."
"Seriously?!" Dawn asked, beginning to worry. "I don't want to starve in here!"
"We're not going to starve, Dawn," Paul said assuringly, grabbing Dawn's shoulders. "but what we don't want to do is panic, so calm down, okay?"
"Okay," Dawn responded, controlling her breathing to slow it down.
Paul looked around the walls again; there wasn't even a small hole or indent in the ceiling.
How are we going to get out of here?
A/N: So, some people last time were like "NO! It's a short chapter! Meanie!" ...Okay, they didn't really say that, but they were sad that chapter 8 was a short chapter. So I tried to make this one as long without it being an awkward chapter. This was just barely seven pages on my writing document, and usually my chapters are 5-6 so...you're welcome. XD
So, how will Dawn and Paul make it out of that little room in the cave? And will the Aggron come back? Will their food rations last? What happens if they run out of water?
Keep reading to find out! (Once I update again, that is. *is a meanie* :))
Thanks for reading!
Review...? PLEASE?! I will love you forever! Like, more than I already do! :D That's sounds like a good deal, right?
I bet 20% of you will review this time..*sigh*...oh well, what more can the author do?
~Dolphinz514
