A New Dream

Play Nice: Paul's POV

"They're so cute!" Dawn whispered at my side.

I rolled my eyes, not at all surprised that was what she noticed first. Taking out my Pokedex and making sure it was muted I scanned the four Minior. I didn't need a Minior, but it might be worth it to at least see what moves they had.

I had just decided to catch one when a loud, metallic cry sounded and the four minior scattered just before a steel body slammed into the ground where they had been moments before. My eyes went wide as the pokemon righted itself and spun around, searching for his prey. 

Now that's more like it, I thought with a slow grin as the metang opened and closed its metallic claws. 

Before it could leave to pursue the minior I stood up quickly and released Torracat. Metang quickly turned his attention to my yeowling fire type and his red eyes gleamed. Immediately Metang's teal body began to glow white and it charged forward in a Take Down attack.

"Jump on top of it and use Fire Fang," I ordered calmly.

Torracat obeyed without question, leaping just before Metang could crash into him and landing on its head. Before he could create a Fire Fang though, Metang began to spin wildly, knocking off Torracat who crashed to the ground in a heap before quickly getting back to his feet.

"Flame Charge," I said, starting to feel excited. 

Torracat instantly burst into flames and streaked towards Metang. The wild metang's head began to glow blue and suddenly a spectral wave shot from it and towards Torracat. The Zen Headbutt hit Torracat head-on and sent him flying backward. I frowned as Torracat came to a stop a few feet away and shook his head.

"Get up, Torracat," I called out to him confidently. 

Torracat met my eyes and set his mouth in a determined line. As he propelled himself to his feet his body began to glow with a blue light and I smiled quietly. I had been waiting for Torracat to evolve for a while, especially after defeating two totem pokemon with hardly any effort. As Torracat grew his body filled out into the muscular build of an athlete and he stood erect on his legs. Once the blue light faded Incineroar threw back his head and roared up at the sky, a flaming belt of fire now encircling his waist and his front paws sported wicked claws on each finger.

Metang watched the transformation silently but as soon as Incineroar began his roar he fired off another Zen Headbutt. Incineroar stood his ground and the attack, which had bowled him over just moments ago, now slid past him like a raindrop. I grinned widely, thinking that his evolution couldn't have been better timed.

"Darkest Lariat," I said and Incineroar flashed me a toothy, wicked grin before spreading his arms out wide. 

Wispy black smoke began to curl off of his paws and I watched with excitement as Incineroar began spinning, the black smoke becoming thicker and more ominous as he spun towards the fleeing Metang. But Metang wasn't fast enough and Incineroar slammed into him, tossing him several feet away. Metang jerkily got back up and his body began to glow white as he tried once more to use Take Down on Incineroar.

"Grab him and use Fire Fang," I ordered. 

Incineroar dropped to all four and began barreling towards the charging pokemon. With a powerful kick of his legs, Incineroar went airborne. He snagged one of Metang's clawed arms as he sailed over him and then the biggest fire fang I had seen him create burst forth and chomped down the middle of the metang. It went down hard and I threw a Pokeball at it confidently. The Pokeball shook three times before the chime sounded the successful capture and Incineroar roared triumphantly up to the sky.

"Wow! Torracat you evolved!" Dawn said with amazement as she walked over to him. I could see hesitation on her face as she lowered her arms and looked up at Incineroar, who was now an inch taller than her. "I don't really know how to hug you anymore," Dawn admitted, warily regarding the ring of fire around Incineroar's waist.