A New Dream

Blackmailed Participation: Paul's POV

It took four straight battles of Torterra one hit KO-ing Torracat before his inflated ego finally shrunk to a manageable level. After that our training went well. As my exploration of the back half of the island continued I battled and caught several pokemon to then release them, unhappy with their stats or typing. After two weeks of training I had stopped bothering to catch the wild pokemon I faced and turned my sights to Iki Town and the Kahuna battle that would give me a new Z-crystal. 

To my annoyance I had not been able to get the Z-crystal that I'd awkwardly attached to Torracat's leg to elicit the Breakneck Blitz move that it should have transformed Torracat's Scratch attack into. Finally deciding that a normal type Z-move wasn't worth the frustration, I ripped the annoying thing off of Torracat's leg and stuffed it into the bottom of my backpack.

At the end of a day of training, I took Torterra and Torracat out for a short jog to keep us all limber as we traveled to Iki Town. This area of the forest was much less densely packed with trees so Torterra was able to easily jog along. As we came to a river I slowed us all, taking out the special water bottle I bought that would light up green if there were impurities in the water. After testing it and finding that it was safe to drink I refilled my other water bottles and Torterra and Torracat drank greedily.

Just as I was about to get up and order them to keep moving a small rustle caught my eyes. Turning to search for the cause of the sound a small growl reached my ears and I tensed just as a brown pokemon jumped out of the bushes, snarling as the rocks around the collar of its neck glowed.

"Get down!" I yelled, just as several rocks formed in the air and hurtled towards us. 

Torracat dodged the attack easily but Torterra was not so lucky, taking a few rocks in the side and grunting in annoyance.

"Torracat, go in for a double kick," I ordered. 

Torracat sprang to obey me, rushing towards the smaller pokemon. The pokemon stood still, but just before Torracat reached him it launched itself from its hind legs up and over Torracat, landing lithely on the ground and howling up at the sky. This caused a bright sheen of light to travel up the pokemon's body, indicating that its attack had just gotten stronger. Without waiting for Torracat to turn around the pokemon sent another volley of rock's towards his back and Torracat yeowled in pain, whipping around and giving the rock type a murderous look.

Now this is more like it, I thought as a smile began to spread across my lips. 

"Use Fire Fang, Torracat," I yelled. I knew that move wouldn't do much, but just as I hoped as Torracat ran forward to crush his flaming teeth around the pokemon it jumped over him.

"Now, Double Kick above you!" I ordered. 

Torracat's back legs exploded upward, clipping the pokemon mid-leap and causing it to crash to its side. Without hesitation, I threw a Pokeball and watched with anticipation as the pokemon disappeared inside, but the ball only shook once before it popped out growling at me.

"Hmm, interesting," I said with glee. "Torracat, you up for another round?" 

Torracat growled, crouching down with his tail flicking agitatedly as he faced off against the smaller pokemon. I hadn't seen one before, but I was pretty sure it was a Rockruff, which was a pokemon unique to Alola. The rockruff barked threateningly and once again the rocks growing from its white collar began to glow and Torracat's tail twitched once.

"Run right at it and dodge the rocks," I yelled and Torracat sprang forward without fear, weaving and ducking as the rockruff sent small stones hurling towards him. "Now get close and use Lick," I called. 

Rockruff tried to jump back but Torracat used its larger size to its advantage, batting the rockruff's head to knock it down and following it up with a ghostly lick. To my delight electric currents spread from Torracat's lick, paralyzing the rockruff who growled and attempted to rise even with the effects of paralysis.