Growlithe: Tail of a Hero
There was nothing that he could do. He watched hopelessly, as her fate grew closer and closer.
"Stop!" James tried again, but it was too late. "Jess!"
The girl stumbled and fell, right into an overflowing powerful river, hidden from sight and sound by the raging storm. She screamed in shock, feeling the icy water rushing up from first her feet, up her legs, her torso, her neck, and now trying to take her head, carrying her along down in its force.
James raced to the side of the watercourse that was illuminated by the blinding flashes of lightning which cut through the trees with their ferocity. He followed her along the bank, desperately trying to keep up with his friend.
"Jesse! Hang on!" James cried down after her as he tried to think of a way to help her. Suddenly, he stopped short and pulled off his belt and whispered something to the two-poké balls that decorated it. "Growly, you've gotta take care if I…take care of Koffing, and go back to my parents."
With those words, he dropped the belt to the ground and jumped in after his comrade. He could feel the water rushing past him; try to pull him under, too. Please, he thought to himself, I need you, Jess. You gotta hold on…
James dove down deeper, below the surface, not sure whether he would be able to come to the surface again. He was willing to take that risk, just so that Jesse may live. The boy was suddenly caught off guard when he found that he was trying to swim against a powerful current, like it had just changed directions. Great, he thought to himself. Just what you need, James. An under toe. James knew that he should have been hurting with an incredible throbbing pain, but he couldn't tell, for all that he was driven by was the will to live, and bring his best friend with him. With all of his force, James pulled himself out of the reverse current and gasped for a much-needed breath. Again he dove, trying to catch up with his partner who was still crying for help as she hurtled downstream.
James now saw Jesse as she tried to swim against the current, still yelling for help. He now swam with even more force then before, for he wouldn't lose her now. James savagely beat his arms to propel himself forwards. He was now at Jesse's side, trying to catch hold of her to pull her unconscious body out of the river. Soon, though, he did not even have the strength to pull himself from the water. He was out of strength and out of time, or so he thought. As he surfaced for a final time, James saw a familiar silloughette in the last flash of lightning before the world around him went black.
"Groooooooowwwlithe! Ooooowwwwlllll!" The puppy pokémon raced down the river after its master, through the painful rain that beat down on its back, all to show its great loyalty. Growly knew that his master was in need, and he needed to do something, for a friend in need is a friend indeed.
The dog watched as his master and his master's new companion were being taken in one foul sweep. He raced after them, carefully watching, and now he could see that neither had the strength to make it out alive on their own. His time had come.
"Growlithe!" He cried out as he heroically dove in after the two. Swimming through the frigidity water, Growly began to try grasp onto their linked arms to try to pull them away from being swept any further. Pulling with all of his might while quickly losing every last single precious hit point due to his definite disadvantage in the water. The growlithe pulled with all his strength, and with time, effort, and his strong hope which would hold true for always, kept him going on. He dragged them to the shore at last, with him exhausted to the point of fainting just as he was resolved of his duties, when the two were revived themselves.
"Growly, you…you saved us!" James whispered to him as he slipped beyond hearing. James gave his dog a hug, and then realized what had happened, for it was not the enjoyment of the scratch that had accompanied the hug that had brought him into his sleep-like state, but it was brought upon by the sheer exhaustion of the action which he had performed. The boy looked up in a sudden urgency. "Jess! He's hurt bad!"
Jesse looked up after a cough to see the state of their savior. "He doesn't look too good."
"I could see that on my own," James said with a bit of frustration brought upon by his state of shock. "We gotta get him to a Pokémon Center! But alas, we don't know where we are or where we can take him." James let out a sigh of utter greif, for he knew that theend of his friend would soon be near. He tried to hold back his tears as he looked up at Jesse, but had little luck. "He's gonna die…because he wanted to save us…he gave his life for-"
Jesse didn't seem to be paying attention to James's tears, which brought a sudden change in the expression on James's face, but before he could complain about her lack of concern, she pulled out a small vile of a semitransparent green liquid that bubbled as she cracked it open.
"Is that…?" James asked, thinking about his studies on trainer tools.
"Yeah, this is a Revive. It cost me a bit, but this is when we should use it."
"I owe you big time, Jess," James said, looking into Jesse's eyes, seeing how beautiful she was on the inside even though she usually tried to hide it.
"Yeah, yeah, cut it, James. Right now, Growly needs our help." She slipped the vile under the pokémon's tongue and waited for him to drink the contents. Jesse smiled when she was done, and began to walk back to where James had been when he had awakened as the storm let up altogether in an instant. James smiled back at his pokémon, seeing that the dog's breathing was steadying and he was still unconcious, but he knew from the look on the face of the dog that everything would be alright. He called back the puppy and began to follow Jesse back to the place where he had been.
"Come on, James. I've got a heck of a story to tell you."
Author's Notes: Well, I guess I've made a hero out of everyone…except Ekans, that is… oh well. Maybe next time. Anyways. ARB is only gonna have about 10 chapters, so this series is over halfway donewith. If you really think that I should continue beyond that right away, please say so in your reviews. If I do continue this, the next series of 10 chapters will be called "An Adventure for the Team" or something like that. If you have any better ideas, please tell me. That one is half-baked because it's my favorite yet most contravertial time…oh well, not much more to say, so I guess I'm blasting off again!
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