Yay new chapta!!! I'm sorry for the long update… I was just been so into writing my story, 'The Ruler of Sinnoh'… I promise Targeted will post up faster as soon as I finish writing that story… Anyways… Ohohohohoh… what will await our two heroes…?
Paul: Obviously, it's gonna go like this… Dawn gets herself in trouble… and I'm gonna have to rescue her… again…
Me: DUN SPOIL IT!!! And just because Dawn's the damsel in distress of the story doesn't mean she'll be in trouble ALL the time… She can defend herself, too, you know!
Paul: Whatever…
Me: Meany… Jerk… Poo head…
Paul: Call me whatever you want, it's not gonna make a difference…
Me: -vein popped on head-
Ultima: Ok, enough said, begin the chapter already… not that I really care…
Me: Yeah, thanks for reminding me, Ultima. Nearly forgot… XDXDXD
Paul: Not surprising…
Me: Bleah, you meany I hate you… -Kicks him-
To all my fellow readers, it took a while, but I finally got my writers spirit back. I know you've waited a long time, and I'm sorry… I hope you understand and all, I have my own life and interest and I don't have much time to get into the spirit of writing… I hope you enjoy this chapter. Okay, without further ado, CHAPTA BEGIN!!!!!
Chapter 6: I Will Protect You
Paul had woken up early, Dawn was still sleeping peacefully, a happy smile on her face. Paul blushed slightly at the sight. She was so innocent, and her fever seemed to have been cured over night.
'Why do I feel this way?' Paul thought. 'I barely even know her, and I feel so hot around her… Am I getting sick?'
Paul got out of his sleeping bag to prepare breakfast. Dawn woke up after Paul finished making breakfast.
"It's about time you woke up, breakfast is ready…" Paul said. "You wanna eat or what?" Dawn just blushed slightly, still thinking about what Paul had said to her last night.
"Sure… why not…" Dawn said shyly. The two sent their Pokemon out to eat. "Paul, if you're not going to take me to Cyrus, why do I have to stay with you? Why can't I just go back home? I just don't understand that…"
"It's not safe for you to return to Twinleaf yet…" Paul said. "We have to stay on the move until its safe for you to return home again… My allies could come back to Twinleaf and get you back again if you return, and you really wouldn't want that, would you? So we have to stay on the constant move… You really don't know how to think ahead… don't you…" Dawn just pouted a puppy dog pout. After breakfast was finished, the two teenagers cleaned up the camp site and packed up their tents.
"Well, let's get going…" Paul grunted as soon as they finished packing up. "I really don't want Cyrus to find us." Dawn blushed slightly.
"Okay, let's go…" Dawn said as she heaved her pack over her shoulders.
The two had traveled though the deep, thick forest for quite a while. Although they had encountered a few wild Pokemon, none of them were a threat to Paul.
"Paul, I'm scared…" Dawn said, holding Paul's arm tightly. "It's not the wild Pokemon, but I have a strange feeling something bad is going to happen to me…"
"Don't worry, if something happens, I'll protect you…" Paul said, a sarcastic smirk on his face. "After all, it's why I'm here…" Dawn blushed slightly.
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you…" Dawn replied. "I just have a feeling that we're being watched…"
Meanwhile, from afar, two figures were staring at them from above.
"Hey, what's Paul doing?" One of the figures asked. "He's supposed to head toward our base, not be protective to her…"
"Guess he just couldn't do it…" His partner said. "Well, we were sent here by Cyrus to keep an eye on things, but looks like we'll have to do things ourselves…"
"Uh… What exactly are we going to do?" The first figure asked dumbly. His partner rolled his eyes and smacked him with his fist.
"We're going to capture the target ourselves, dumbass…" His partner growled. "And we'll receive all the credit for the capture. Who knows, probably we'll get a promotion…" His 'idiotic' partner grinned goofily.
"Oh, I like how you think…" He said enthusiastically. "Let's do this!"
Back with Dawn and Paul, the two decided to take a break and have lunch.
"So where are we heading to?" Dawn asked as she took a bite out of her sandwich. Paul looked at his map, reading it carefully.
"The closest Pokemon Center is pretty near." Paul said. "We can rest there, get supplied and then get going again… We'd better hurry though. I'm starting to have a feeling that we're being watched as well…"
"Paul, do you smell something funny?" Dawn asked as she wrinkled her nose. Paul sniffed the air.
"Yeah, I do…" Paul said. "Something's going on, we'd better hurry…"
Before the two could make any sort of movement, a purple smoke filled the air. Dawn and Paul coughed and choked violently.
"Paul, where are you?" Dawn asked, still choking on the thick, purple fog. Before she could hear Paul's response, she felt herself being grabbed from behind.
'Damn, this fog is annoying me…' Paul growled. He reached for his belt and grabbed a Pokeball.
"Honchkrow, Defog!" Paul ordered. The black, crow Pokemon complied by blowing away the thick fog in another direction. When the smoke cleared, two figures with bowl-shaped haircuts were revealed, confident smirks were on their faces. Not only was their haircut bad, but they had really tacky uniforms, a yellow 'G' was embossed in it. Held in their clutches, was Dawn, gagged and bound. A worried look was on her face. In front of them was the grunt's Pokemon, a Glameow and a Stunky.
"You guys were sent here by Cyrus, weren't you?" Paul growled. "You'd better let her go right now, before I get really mad…" The grunt smirked.
"Oh I'm so scared…" He said. "But all the power in the world won't matter if you can't catch us… Stunky, Screech!"
The Skunk Pokemon replied by unleashing a shrill screech. Paul and Honchkrow were forced to cover their ears to block the terrible sound, their eyes shut tightly.
"YOU IDIOT, YOU SHOULD'VE WARNED ME BEFORE YOU ATTACKED!" His partner growled, his ears ringing with pain.
"Er, sorry," His partner replied meekly. His partner sighed rolled his eyes.
"NEVER MIND, JUST FORGET ABOUT IT… LET'S JUST MAKE A RUN FOR IT!!!!" He growled. His partner nodded and the two partners in crime ran off with their tied up, blue-haired prize. Paul opened his eyes, recovering from the screech attack.
"Honchkrow, after them!" Paul ordered. Honchkrow let out a loud squawk and the two chased after the two criminals.
'Dammit, I won't let them get away with this…' Paul thought in his head. 'No matter how troublesome you are…' Dawn's kidnappers looked behind them.
"Ah, he's catching up!!!" One of them said. His partner rolled his eyes and smacked him on the head.
"Don't look back, just run!" He snapped. Dawn looked back at Paul worriedly.
'Paul, please be careful…' Dawn thought in her head.
"Honchkrow, Aerial Ace!" Paul shouted. His Pokemon replied by diving at the two grunts. The stupider of the two widened his eyes.
"Ah, what do we do now?" He said frantically. "He's attacking us!" His smarter partner rolled his eyes.
"I'll run away with the target, you just distract them the best you can." He said. "And make sure you buy me a lot of time…" His partner nodded.
"I got it…" He said. "Stunky, Poison Gas!" His Pokemon replied by shooting out a potent fog at Honchkrow. The Crow Pokemon was enveloped by the fog, stopping its attack. Paul glared at the grunt angrily.
"You'd better get out of my way…" Paul growled. "Before I become really angry…" The grunt grinned.
"Oh, I'm so scared…" He said, grinning. "If you want to rescue your little girlfriend, you'll have to get through me first…" Paul glared at him angrily.
"I have no such feelings for her…" Paul said. "She's just some troublesome girl who I want to save from Cyrus." The grunt grinned, he didn't even look slightly worried.
"Well, you won't be able to save her…" The grunt began. "If you can't even beat me…" Without warning, he threw a Pokeball, out came his Stunky.
"You see, while my partner is the brains of the group…" He began. "I'm the brawns… Stunky, Poison Gas!" His Stunky replied by sending out a powerful, poisonous gas. The grunt was okay because he put on a gas mask, but Paul and Honchkrow weren't so fortunate.
'Dammit, I gotta get rid of this smoke…' Paul thought in his head.
"Honchkrow, Defog!" Paul ordered. The Crow Pokemon replied by beating its wings soundly, eliminating the smoke. After the smoke cleared, Paul and Honchkrow realized that the two had disappeared.
"Dammit…" Paul cursed. "He got away… The coward…" Before Paul could get going, he saw his Honchkrow get smashed by Stunky's Poison Jab.
"I told you…" The grunt grinned. "I'm the brawns of the group, and I'm going to buy as much time as possible for my partner to get away. I can't really buy time if I just run like a wussy…" Paul smirked.
"Looks like you're not as stupid as I thought…" Paul replied. "Honchkrow, Sky Attack!" Honchkrow charged at Stunky in a brilliant orange light.
"Stunky, Screech!" The grunt ordered. Stunky replied by letting loose a powerful howl, slowing down Honchkrow's attack.
"Now, one more time," The grunt ordered. "Poison Jab!" Stunky charged at Honchkrow, but Paul didn't look concerned at all.
"I've seen through your strategy now…" Paul said. "Your Stunky uses stasis afflicting moves to slow down my Pokemon, then you fight back with power moves… Good strategy, but it can easily be turned against you…"
"Oh really…" The grunt smirked. "Well why don't you show me how?"
"With pleasure…" Paul said calmly. "Honchkrow, Ominous Wind!"
Honchkrow stopped its Sky Attack and started to beat its wings, a purple wind flowing from its powerful, black wings. Although it didn't have much effect on the Dark-type Stunky, it was enough to stop its Poison Jab from connecting and blew it away.
"Ominous Wind also has another effect…" Paul smirked. "There's a small chance it can raise Honchkrow's power, Honchkrow, finish this with Sky Attack!"
Honchkrow let out a victorious cry and charged at Stunky with full force. The attack connected and was enough to knock out Stunky in one hit.
"Well, you beat me fair and square…" The grunt said as he returned his Stunky. "But don't think you're off the hook yet, I stalled a lot of time… My partner should be long gone by now…" Paul cursed, the battle with the grunt took way too much time…
"Dammit…" Paul growled. "You'll pay for this…"
Paul hopped on his Honchkrow, and his Pokemon took flight, searching for the blue-haired damsel in distress.
Meanwhile, the other grunt had grown tired from so much running and took a break. Dawn was still with him, bound and gagged.
"Man, carrying you isn't easy…" The grunt said. "You're pretty heavy you know…" A vein popped on Dawn's head.
"Mmmm, Mmm, MMMM! (Translation: ARE YOU SAYING I'M FAT?!?! " Dawn muffled. The grunt grinned.
"Chill, girl, I can't understand what you're saying… but I can guess…" He began. "And no, I'm not saying you're fat, I'm just saying I tire easily… Yeesh, girls these days are so touchy and predictable these days…" Dawn just glared at him.
'I'm not as predictable as you think I am…' Dawn thought. 'Did you predict this?' Dawn grabbed one of her Pokeballs with her bound hands and released it. Out came Dawn's Swinub. Swinub used Ice Shard to cut Dawn's ropes. The grunt's eyes widened.
"Wow…" The grunt muttered. "Didn't see that coming…"
"Looks like the tides have turned…" Dawn said as she removed the gag from her mouth. "Swinub, Take Down!"
"Don't think you're off the hook…" The grunt said as he released a Glameow. "Fury Swipes!" Dawn didn't look too concerned, though.
"My mom owns a Glameow…" Dawn said. "I know what a Glameow can do, Swinub, Ice Shard!"
Swinub replied by firing a chunk of ice at Glameow. The Cat Pokemon sliced through the ice gleefully, but came across another surprise.
"Now's your chance!" Dawn said. "Swinub, Take Down!" Swinub slammed itself into Glameow hard. Glameow grunted in pain and fell to the floor, injured by the attack. The grunt just smirked, unfazed by the damage Dawn's Pokemon caused to his own.
"I'm aware your mother has a Glameow…" The grunt smirked. "But you didn't predict this, did you?" Glameow stood up, and flashed in a brilliant bright light.
"You see, for this occasion, I trained my Glameow until it was at the verge of evolving…" The grunt said. "And I knew your Swinub would take damage from Take Down, so I used that to my advantage, and took this moment, to evolve my Glameow, into a Purugly…" Dawn's eyes widened in shock.
"So you see…" The grunt said, with his new Purugly. "Although my friend is the brawns with strong Pokemon, I'm still the better trainer, coming up with strategies to devastate my opponents, Purugly, Slash!" Purugly charged at Swinub, smashing it with a swipe of its claw.
"Swinub!" Dawn cried as she ran to her injured Pokemon's side, but Purugly came in front of her. Using its spiraling tail, it ensnared her, squeezing the life out of her. Dawn clenched her teeth tightly, her eyes shut tightly in pain. The grunt walked up to her slowly, a smirk on his face.
"Ready to go with me quietly yet?" The grunt asked coldly. "Just admit defeat already, your friend, Paul, won't come to save you…" Dawn just glared at the grunt, an eye opened defiantly as Purugly squeezed her tightly.
"Like hell I will…" Dawn said defiantly. "And Paul will come, just you wait…" The grunt sighed.
"Suit yourself…" The grunt said, putting a gag on her to stifle her screams. Then he snapped his fingers. Purugly squeezed its tail even harder. Dawn screamed in pain, but it couldn't be heard due to the gag. Meanwhile, Swinub was struggling to stand up. It was weak from the slash attack, but after seeing its master in danger, it stood up, ready to fight again.
"I thought I knocked you out a while ago…" The grunt said. "Not that it matters, my Golbat will take care of you…" The grunt sent out his Golbat. The bat Pokemon dashed at Swinub with a Wing attack. The attack connected, and hurt Swinub badly.
'Swinub, please, you did enough…' Dawn thought in her head. 'I don't want you getting hurt because of me…'
Swinub didn't stop fighting though, it kept firing shards of ice at Golbat. But Golbat was faster, and proceeded to bombard Swinub with powerful Wing Attacks. Dawn looked away, she couldn't bear seeing her Pokemon get hurt.
'Is it over before it even began?' Dawn thought in her head. 'Am I going to be caught by Paul's boss and eventually die?'
Swinub stood up for one last time. Golbat saw that its opponent wasn't quite down yet and charged at it with Wing Attack one last time. Swinub stood its ground , ready to take the attack. As it did so, a brilliant flash of light erupted from Swinub.
"What?" The grunt exclaimed. "It's evolving!" Dawn smiled weakly.
'Swinub…' Dawn thought in her head. 'Even though things looked bad, you didn't give up… thank you…' With that, Dawn passed out from the strain Purugly had caused her.
The flashing ended, Swinub wasn't there anymore, replacing it was a bigger, stronger looking Pokemon… a Piloswine.
"Shit," The grunt said. "I'm not losing to some girls Pokemon, Golbat, attack!"
Piloswine roared loudly and charged at the grunt's Golbat. The poisonous bat tried to fight back with a Wing Attack, but Piloswine was too fast and strong, knocking the bat Pokemon out in one fell swoop.
'Shit, that Piloswine is strong…' The grunt thought to himself. 'I have to use my last resort…'
"You'd better stay back…" The grunt said, holding the unconscious Dawn close to him. "Unless you want something bad to happen to your master…" Piloswine didn't look too concerned though. It unexpectedly fired an Ice Shard. The powerful attack smacked Purugly accurately in the face and knocked it out in one hit, releasing Dawn and slicing her gag while it was at it. Piloswine fired a second shot to freeze the grunt in place.
"Dammit, this isn't over yet!" The grunt said angrily at Piloswine. "I'll break free and you'll regret messing with me!" Piloswine just snorted and picked up the unconscious teenager on its back. It really wanted to finish him off, but he knew revenge wouldn't be what its master would want.
"Don't you know when to give up?" A voice from the shadows said. "Not to mention, what you put Troublesome through really pissed me off…" Dawn opened her eyes weakly, slowly regaining conscious from the shadow's voice.
"P…Paul?" Dawn said weakly. "So you came to save me, eh? Looks like you were a bit too late though…" Paul knelt down to Dawn's side.
"Don't talk…" Paul said softly. "You've been put through a lot, you need rest." Dawn smiled weakly at Paul. Then the young teenage girl fell back asleep.
'Wow, I'm surprise such a troublesome girl could take care of herself…' Paul thought in his head as Dawn lost conscious again. 'Guess she's not so weak and useless after all…'
"Why are you so willing to help that girl out?" The grunt asked, still in his Ice Shard prison. "If you just did as you were told, I wouldn't have put you through so much trouble…" Paul just glared at him coldly.
"Can't you see it's not about what happens to me?" Paul said in a cold voice. Then his eyes seemed to soften. "It's about what happens to her… I just can't bear seeing her get hurt by Cyrus…"
"You know, if Cyrus finds out that you're softening up…" The grunt began. "He's going to hunt you down, and he's not going to stop until he gets her… and what happens to you, will be much worse than what happens to her if he finds out you've grown soft and betrayed him… I'm going to tell him everything that happened, and man, you'll be in a lot of trouble!" Paul narrowed his eyes at him.
"Then go ahead and tell him…" Paul said in a calm, cold voice. "I'll be ready for him…" The grunt's partner then came.
"Hey, partner…" The grunt said meekly. "Sorry our plan didn't work out quite as planned…"
"Yeah, whatever, now can you break me out of here so we can go home?" The other grunt asked annoyed, a vein popped from his head. "I swear, your such a good for nothing brawns for brains…" His partner quickly replied by having his Stunky smash at the ice. After a few minutes of smashing ice, the two grunts were off to base. As they did so, the smarter grunt looked back at Paul.
"Mark, my words…" He said coldly. "I will tell our master… and I will... get my revenge…" Paul narrowed his eyes at him.
"I told you once, and I'll tell you again…" Paul said. "When that day comes, I'll be ready…" The grunt just gave a smirk at Paul, and was off to the base. Paul then proceeded to take Dawn and Piloswine back to a Pokemon Center.
A few minutes later at the Pokemon Center, Dawn woke up in a hospital bed. Paul was next to her.
"Where am I?" Dawn asked. "What happened to those two grunts? Did we beat them?"
"Yeah, we beat them…" Paul said in a soft voice. Dawn looked down at the floor in shame.
"I'm really sorry I put you through all of this…" Dawn said shamefully. "Maybe if I wasn't so troublesome, you wouldn't have been put through so much trouble… And maybe if I were stronger, you wouldn't have to go through the trouble of taking me to the Pokemon Center"
"Don't worry about it…" Paul said. "No matter what happens to you, no matter how troublesome you are… I will always protect you…" A small blush crept on Dawn's cheeks.
"You should go get some rest…" Paul said softly. "You've been through a lot today. I'm going to go check on our Pokemon." Dawn smiled back at him and closed her eyes. Exhausted from the day's events, she fell into a blissful sleep.
Meanwhile…
Back in Cyrus' base, the two grunts had returned. It was a long trek back to the base, but in the end, it was worth it…
"We are really sorry boss…" The smarter grunt said apologetically. "We didn't think Paul would be so willing to protect the target." Cyrus didn't even look angry, he was smirking…
"Oh, Paul… you are so predictable…" Cyrus said to himself. "I knew you wouldn't be able to do such a simple task, even if the reward was all the Pokemon in the world…" Cyrus then turned his attention to the two grunts.
"You two did well, not only did you get valuable information, but you tested their ability as trainers. Therefore, you are rewarded with a promotion." Cyrus said. "The two of you are now leaders of grunt squads, 9 and 10…" The two looked really happy. Although groups 9 and 10 were the newest, most inexperienced of the grunts, they felt they were actually rising up…
"Now, Ash, I have a job for you… This is your first task, so be careful…" Cyrus said to the raven haired teenager. "I want you to bring the target to me… and bring her alive…" Ash grinned.
"Great!" Ash said cheerfully. "When do I get started?" Cyrus just gave Ash a smirk.
"Anytime will do fine…" Cyrus said. "Just bring the target alive…" Ash nodded, and proceeded to get ready
'We'll see for how long you'll be able to keep this game of Cat and Mouse…' Cyrus thought in his head. 'Tomorrow… that's when we'll test your abilities…'
To be continued… (I hope…)
AHHHH… I'VE REALLY GOTTEN RUSTY!!! I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN SO LONG… I'M REALLY SORRY IF IT SUCKED BADLY.
Thunder: Really? I didn't think it was that bad… I really respect you for writing again! The wait was long, but it was definitely worth it!
Me: Thanks, it means a lot to me…
Ultima: -Eyes twitching- This sucked… you've really gotten bad… I've lost all respect for you as a writer…
Me: WHADYA SAY? I'LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS!!!!
Ultima: Chill, I was just kidding… I'm just saying it was a bit cheesy and corny… You see, cheese and corn don't fit well…
Me: … That's random…
Hah, I proved Paul wrong! Dawn was able to fend for herself this chapter! What can I say? I'm just so awesome like that…
Paul: Yeah, whatever…
Me: I wouldn't be so chill about it… I just proved you wrong, and so… you must suffer a penalty game…
Paul: so, what's the penalty game?
Me: Although I really would like to do this myself… kiss Dawn…
Dawn and Paul: WHAAAAAAT?
Me: -Smirks- You heard me…
Paul: -Sighs- Fine… -Kisses Dawn-
Me: HAU!!! HIKARI-CHAN/SHINJI-KUN KAWAIIYO!!! OMOCHIKAERI!!! –Takes Paul and Dawn home- (Watch Higurashi for the reference… If you have seen Higurashi before… lawls…)
Paul: What the? Why are you talking in Japanese? Let me go right now!
Anyways, about those two grunts, I thought it would be nice to have a little comical relief… so I added them. You will see them here and there once in a while… They might have a cameo appearance in every chapter! Just kidding, but they will return sometime… (Hint, hint…)
BOO YEAH, PILOSWINE PWNED!!! As you could see, I'm a pretty good fan of Mamoswine and its pre-evolutions. And I really hate Golbat and Purugly, they are so annoying! Confuse Ray, Swagger, ARGH!!!! Just thinking about it irritates me… Don't get me wrong though, I'm a huge fan of Crobat… (I mean, who would hate Crobat? It's such an awesome Pokemon…)
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! I know it was a REALLY long time since I wrote and again I apologize. But now I'm back, and I have my writer's spirit back… I think…
~Honou