A New Dream

A Promise to Keep: Paul's POV

I watched Dawn walk away, her still drying hair swishing across her back to the rhythm of her steps. Catching myself staring I quickly turned my head, feeling like my mind was about to implode from the stress of interacting with that infuriating woman. I jerked forward as something smacked against my head and I whipped around to snarl at Torterra.

"What?" I snapped angrily, causing my other three pokemon to take a wary step back from me.

"Terra tor tor," Torterra said in his rumbling voice and I clenched my jaw.

"Why should I treat her any different? She's a nuisance! Somehow she's always a step ahead of me in the trials. And if she's not then she's following me around trying to get me to talk when I have no interest in speaking with her," I growled, knowing that my fury was irrational but also knowing that if I didn't cling onto the anger then other emotions would come in that I could not allow in my life.

"Torterra terra tor," Torterra rumbled, his black eyes flashing with anger.

"If you like her so much then why don't you go be her pokemon?" I spat out. 

Torterra's expression instantly changed to a look of hurt and he hung his head slightly. My anger sizzled under my skin, but a tiny bit of guilt wormed its way in as I looked at Torterra's upset face. I took three long, deep breaths to calm myself and I could feel myself relaxing a little. Torterra continued to hang his head dejectedly and I sighed heavily, dropping to a sitting position in front of him and hesitantly reaching out to place a hand on his head. He looked up at me sadly and I patted him awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, Torterra. I shouldn't have said that," I acknowledged. 

Honestly, when I said it I thought for a second that he actually would leave me, but seeing how hurt he was comforted me more than it should have. Torterra took a small step forward and pushed his forehead against mine, silently showing his loyalty to me and the rest of my pent-up anger fizzled out. After pressing our foreheads together for a few seconds Torterra pulled back and gave me an annoyed expression.

"Terra," he grumbled, looking towards the direction Dawn had gone. I sighed, raking a hand through my bangs that still needed to be cut.

"I'm not going to apologize to her," I refused stubbornly and Torterra narrowed his huge eyes at me. "I can't... be around her right now," I admitted miserably, trying desperately to bury any and all thoughts of her. 

Torterra sighed loudly but he didn't push me anymore and I patted his head in silent thanks. To distract my thoughts I turned to training. Riolu's Force Palm was still taking too long to charge but I didn't trust myself to meditate so instead we worked on Brick Break. Torterra took on Torracat and Rockruff in a 2-on-1 battle and by the time the sun was setting everyone was getting tired. I got everyone some pokefood and then I took off my jacket and began my nightly run, not feeling hungry.

As I ran I tried to focus only on my breathing and the sound of the river beside me. A loud splash interrupted the tranquil evening and I slowed my running gait to a slow jog as I looked around to see what caused the sound. As I studied the river a large Alomamola suddenly breached the surface, flapping its fins as it sailed through the air before splashing back into the river. 

The image of Dawn ordering her Piplup to use Ice Beam on an Alomamola popped into my head and I growled. Shaking my head I went back to my running pace and tried to keep the image of Dawn wearing nothing but a see-through undershirt, a dark blue bra. and matching underwear out of my mind.

Why didn't I just leave? I yelled at myself as I pushed myself to run even faster. 

When I heard the sounds of a battle from the top of the hill I immediately went down to investigate. When I had seen Dawn, dripping wet and battling a massive school-form Wishiwashi I immediately started to leave. But then her Piplup created the biggest whirlpool I had ever seen and I found myself walking closer. Her battle had honestly been painful to watch. None of her Piplup's moves were really effective against the totem and I thought she would give up; but somehow the runt of a pokemon pulled out the win and I had almost been impressed.