A New Dream

Time Flies When You're Training: Paul's POV

After leaving Dawn for the second time I tried to focus all of my energy into training for the pokemon league... But the first two months of training I felt fidgety and irritable and I could tell it was beginning to wear down on my pokemon, and not just the pokemon I had caught in Alola. I would regularly switch out a pokemon with Reggie to make sure that all of my old pokemon were at their best and ready to help me in the pokemon league.

My restlessness led me to travel throughout the islands, searching for new terrain that my pokemon could practice in. One day while we were training in Lush Jungle a familiar voice caused me to freeze mid-command during a mock battle between Electivire and Torterra.

Torterra also froze for a few seconds and before I could recover from the emotional explosion inside me he started walking as swiftly as he could towards the voice, abandoning a confused Electivire. That pulled me from my momentary lapse of functionality and I ran after him and stood in front of him, blocking his path. Not surprisingly he smacked my head with a slightly stronger than normal razor leaf as I stood in his way, but I gestured for Electivire to stand down when he looked like he was going to berate him for it.

"Torterra, I can't let you see her," I said quietly and he glared up at me with more frustration than I thought I had ever seen him express.

"Just hear me out," I said and I blinked in surprise at the gentleness that had crept into my tone.

I saw Torterra's body relax slightly and I glanced over at Electivire, wondering if I should return him to his Pokeball. He stayed where he was though and looked slowly between Torterra and me without expression so I turned back to Torterra and brushed a hand through my bangs.

"I... haven't told anyone this yet because I didn't want you to get your hopes up," I said awkwardly.

Torterra cocked his head to the side, shifting his gaze to the patch of jungle behind me where I could hear Dawn's beautiful laugh echoing. Slowly I explained to Torterra about how Dawn and I realized we had feelings for each other and I decided to leave her to spare her the pain that my mother went through. Torterra's eyes widened with sympathy and I stubbornly ignored Electivire.

I had never told any of my pokemon about my childhood and my promise to my mother. A small part of me hoped that Electivire wouldn't see me as a weakling, but there was nothing I could do if he did so I continued with my explanation. I told Torterra how Dawn had come up with our wager and that we had promised that we wouldn't see each other until the pokemon league where she would do her best to beat me in a pokemon battle.

Torterra listened quietly as I stumbled through my explanation and once I was done all three of us stood silently. Dawn's laugh had long since passed by and surprisingly I felt a strange sense of relief having confided in Torterra. Slowly my original partner took a step closer to me and lifted his head up to me. Surprisingly I thought I understood what he was asking so I knelt down and Torterra gently touched his forehead against mine. A vine suddenly wrapped around my waist and with a yell I found myself upside down, dangling a few inches above the air. Torterra shook me firmly back and forth before setting me back on my feet and I gripped my head, which was spinning from the blood rush.

Electivire let out a grumble and to my surprise, Torterra turned and began speaking to him in his rumbling voice. The two spoke back and forth for a while, Electivire seeming to go from confused to astonished to smug as he looked over at me and folded his arms. I glanced between Torterra and him hesitantly, not exactly sure what they had been talking about, but I thought it was probably Torterra giving him his version of Dawn's and my relationship.

To my shock, Electivire let out a rumbling laugh and banged his giant hand against my back so hard I fell to my knees and had to grit my teeth to keep myself from groaning. With a flare of pain, I returned to my feet and, blinking rapidly, watched as Torterra and Electivire both turned and began walking towards where we had heard Dawn's voice.