Paul and Dawn: First Light

Chapter 58: United

Another Team Magma grunt was keeping watch in here, moodily looking at the ceiling right next to Tom, but sitting on an outcropping of rock. Looking to the right, I saw Dawn. She was curled up and restrained just like Tom, her eyes closed. She seemed unconscious and I noticed a trickle of blood on her forehead. 

An intense wave of anger rose in me and I suppressed rushing to her aid- this needed to be done slowly and carefully. I retreated into the shadows as far as I could. 

"Hey, Roger?" Tom asked weakly. 

"What?" Roger snapped. I heard shuffling feet and guessed he'd stood up. 

"I was just wondering what you were thinking about the plan." 

Chancing another look from my hiding spot, I noticed the Roger's back was turned to me as he looked down at Tom. I hesitated- Tom could easily betray me and let his fellow Team Magma member know about my presence. If I was caught, I wouldn't have a chance at rescuing Dawn. On the other hand, it seemed like Tom was attempting to distract Roger. I know Tom had seen me. We'd made eye contact. Deciding that this was probably the best chance I was going to get despite the risks of Tom betraying me, I began walking quietly towards Roger. 

"Who cares what I think, Tom? Huh?" Roger rubbed the back of his neck. 

"I do. You could make a difference." 

"Yeah, I'd be another burnt victim. Look at your arm, Tom. You don't honestly think I'm stupid enough to get burned too, do you? Or worse." 

I was getting closer, only feet away. Suddenly, Roger was about to turn around, but Tom yelled, "Ow!" 

Roger's head darted anxiously to Tom. "What did you expect, idiot?" 

"Take a look at this! I think it's going to get infected." Tom eyed his arm. 

Roger made an exasperated noise, but knelt to examine Tom's burnt arm. I was two feet away. One foot. 

I raised my arms, then grabbed Roger's head and slammed it against the rock floor with enough force to knock him out. He lay sprawled at Tom's feet. Roger hadn't even had time to yell. 

"You didn't have to kill him!" Tom whispered furiously. 

"I didn't. He's still breathing," I assured him, though a pang of fear ran through me after staring at the result of attacking a man with his back turned. It was a cowardly thing to do. 

But they'd taken Dawn and I wasn't about to play fair if they wanted to screw with the rules. 

Tom eyed me for a second. "I know you came here to rescue the girl, but please help me out. I know where your Poke Balls are. Untie me." 

"And why should I trust you?" I raised an eyebrow. 

"Because," Tom frowned, "I never wanted to join Team Magma in the first place. I just had nowhere else to go. Besides, they don't care about me anyway. You saw what Fuller's Houndoom did to me because I defended your friend." 

I struggled with the idea of freeing him- he could be lying. He could just turn me in and both Dawn and I would be captured. Still, he'd helped me get past Roger unscathed. 

Dawn's second chance type of attitude really was rubbing off on me. 

"Fine." I grunted, taking the pocketknife I kept in my back pocket out that I seldom used, glad that I'd never stopped carrying it. I cut the ropes that bound him. "Keep watch. Don't make a sound." 

"Got it." Tom winced as he moved his left arm, which looked absolutely horrible from the Flamethrower attack. He got up and made his way quietly towards to cave's entrance. 

I stood up and turned to face Dawn. She looked extremely fragile and tired. Dust from the cave clung to her skin, making her seem paler than normal. 

I knelt down and wiped some blood away from her face. "Dawn." 

She didn't move. My heart raced- was she even still alive? I rubbed her arm with my hand. "Dawn, it's me." 

Finally, Dawn stirred and groaned, her eyes first falling on the ropes that bound her. She looked up until her eyes met mine- first full of confusion and then hope. She smiled weakly. "You came." 

Right then, as I stared back into her blue eyes, I realized I couldn't live without her. That if she was spirited away to some other region by human, monster, or anything else, I wouldn't be able to rest until I hunted them down and got her back. I put a hand on her cheek. "I can't leave you, Dawn."  

Tears filled her eyes and I looked away, still so overfilled with emotion that I didn't feel like myself. "Come on. Let's get you out of here." 

"My head hurts," Dawn whimpered. 

I probed it with my finger and she winced as I went over a cut. "It doesn't look big enough for stitches, but it looks painful. What happened?" 

"That man hit me," she whispered. "Knocked me out." 

Anger boiled inside me again. "We're leaving and I'll take care of him. He won't ever hurt you again."  

She seemed to take a deep breath and I tore through the ropes. Dawn shook her arms out, grimacing from the soreness.  

"Can you stand?" I whispered. 

"I think so." I helped her get to her feet and she winced. "My head just really hurts, but I think I'm ok. Where's Piplup?" 

She looked around in horror as she realized Piplup wasn't anywhere around. 

"I don't know. Bagon is the only Pokemon they didn't take and he's hurt. I'm not sure if he can battle. Tom, a member of Team Magma, is apparently on our side and can get us our Pokemon back. At least that's what he said." 

"Do you trust him?" Dawn asked. 

I shrugged. "Not sure yet. We'll see. Promise me something." 

"Anything."

I looked into her eyes. "If something bad happens, I want you to run. I want you to get as far away from here as possible, even if that means leaving me behind." 

"Paul, I couldn't-" 

"Do you understand?" 

She glared at me for a full ten seconds before saying. "Yes." 

"Good. Now let's go see Tom."

Duh duh DUUUUH!

Hey guys! How'd you like the chapter? Tom's not dead, he's surely alive. (I just listened to the song God's Not Dead so now I'm singing Tom's Not Dead. Because it's trueeee) 

The next chapter is the super epic one by the way. I'll be updating next Friday (6/27/2014 -I can do math) so stay tuned. 

I was writing in Dawn's POV a lot today about her future. I'm hoping that story will be something I can work on. Really, I need to work on actual stories I can publish as books. By the way, just wondering- if I published a non Pokemon related book on Amazon or something (Romance/Adventure/Comedy/possibly dystopian sci-fi like novels), would you read it? I'd love to see what you guys think because I obviously love to write and seeing if people would read something non Pokemon related would be cool.

As always, thanks for reading. I appreciate it so so much- every single read, comment, follow... it's just so amazing. So thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Pokemon Question of the Day: (I don't know if I've asked this one yet) Which type best symbolizes you? You can base that off of personality, your battle strategy, your favorite color... whatever you want. I'm curious :)

Have a wonderful day, guys. Just keep swimming on out there in the big ol' blue. 

-Flips