A New Dream

Not so Simple Rescue: Paul's POV

"Frenzy Plant," I commanded, facing the wild alolan Meowth that crossed my path on my way to Iki town. 

With a roar Torterra obeyed, sending huge roots racing towards the meowth who was desperately trying to run away. The roots smacked it from underneath though, tossing the pokemon into the air as it yowled in surprise. 

Pulling a miniaturized Pokeball from my holder and growing it to normal size I pulled back and aimed. Just before throwing the ball, a piercing shriek blasted through the forest, startling me enough to misjudge my throw and miss the meowth as it fell back to the ground. It immediately took off with a snarl, disappearing under the bushes that grew all over. I growled, annoyed that I couldn't scan it to see what kind of moves it had. I doubted I would have kept it, but if it had a good ability I would have considered it.

Glancing over at Torterra and his bulk though I knew there was no way I would be able to catch up to it. With a sigh, I started walking away from the shrill calls that seemed to echo through the whole forest. A dull thud rang out as something hit me in the back of the head and I whipped around to glare at Torterra, who had once again hit me with a weak razor leaf attack.

"What?" I grumbled and Torterra nodded in the direction of the distressed pokemon. "It's none of my concern. A pokemon that loud is just trying to make up for being weak," I spat. 

Torterra narrowed his eye before turning away from me and lumbering towards the shrill noise.I watched him make his purposeful way, weaving the best he could between the tight trees, and my annoyance slowly began melting away. 

If I force him to return he's going to be angry with me for days, I thought to myself as I wondered where Torterra got his kind streak, especially after being my pokemon for so many years. Sighing I followed after him and the shrill calls, quickly catching up to the big lug. As we got closer the call became more distinctive and I narrowed my eyes as a sneaking suspicion of what pokemon was making the terrible noise began to form.

As the trees began to thin and the small blue ball that I had been expecting came into view I frowned. Piplup was looking off the cliff edge, calling out desperately and there was a vine tied to a tree next to me that looked like it had torn and was lying limply a few inches from the edge of the cliff. A female voice drifted up from somewhere and I felt my stomach clench uncomfortably as I realized that Dawn was nowhere to be seen. 

Piplup then looked up and spotted me, his eyes going wide. The little weakling began jumping up and down and ran out from the middle of a group of Yungoos that were backing away from me and Torterra with threatening hisses. Heedless of the other pokemon's reactions Piplup waddled over to me faster than I could even believe and ran behind my legs, beginning to push me forcefully towards the cliff's edge.

"Calm down, weakling. Where's your trainer?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer. 

Piplup continued pushing against the back of my legs and so Torterra and I walked toward the edge. Grateful that I didn't have a fear of heights, I leaned over the cliff's edge and looked down. About ten feet down Dawn was standing on a thin ledge, looking up with a small Vullaby standing in her backpack while gripping her neck.

"Paul? What are you doing here?" Dawn called up to me with obvious shock in her voice. I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to tell her that wasn't really important right now.

"How did you get down there?" I called down to her and the vullaby in her backpack started squawking terribly. 

Ugh, I'm definitely not catching one of those things, I thought with annoyance as I watched Dawn stroke the ugly thing's head to calm it.