Hi! This is the very first shipping fic I've ever made and only the second overall, so any and all advice/constructive criticism here would be immensely appreciated. I hope you like it, and thanks for reading!
"Announcing the next match! Emerald! Versus! Yellowwwwwwww!"
The loud, microphone-enhanced voice rang out throughout the Battle Dome, managing to be heard above the roar of the large crowd. Outside, the sun shone brightly. It was the final day of Emerald's seven day Frontier Challenge, and the little battler only needed to win the Tactics Symbol to complete his challenge- but to do that, he had to go through a tournament with all of the other dexholders first.
Emerald walked onto the stage in his usual gear- well, usual for him anyway. His blond hair stood up in a large crescent on his head. His large, green sleeves concealed extendable hands, and his pants hid platform shoes. All of this hidden extravagance is employed by Emerald as a means of hiding his true height. Silly as it seems, he thinks he needs this to avoid being made fun of. Very few know the truth about his height, much to his relief. He climbed the stairs to the battleground swiftly, despite his platform shoes- a result, no doubt, of his extensive practice with the gadgets.
On the opposite side of the stage, a young girl with long blonde hair and a large straw hat walked hesitantly on to the stage, smiling and waving to the crowd all the while. It was Yellow, the healer from Viridian and Emerald's first opponent. "Hi, Emerald!" she exclaimed with a broad smile upon seeing him. "I'm not too sure I want to battle… but I'll try my best nonetheless!"
Emerald scoffed at her remark, the concept being entirely foreign to him. "Not wanting to battle? Ha! Is that some kind of joke?"
Yellow tilted her head, confused. "A joke? Why would I joke about that?"
He stared at her for a moment, uncomprehending. Suddenly he jumped back, almost falling over in the process, and finally came to a realization: "Y-you don't like battling?!"
The girl put her hand to her face and giggled at the boy's cartoonish reaction. "It's true," she responded. "I don't like battling because it means my friends might get hurt!"
Emerald blinked slowly, unsure how to respond. After all, he'd never really considered that perspective. He finally shook his head, deciding to leave that debate for another time. "Well, Yellow, whether you want to or not we're battling! Don't think I'm gonna hold back just cause you're a cute girl!"
For a second, neither trainer moved. Finally realizing what was said, they both jumped back in shock. "C-cute?!" Yellow stammered as she began to blush despite herself.
Emerald wasn't having any better luck: "Umm! I mean! That is to say…" None of his sentences were completed as he wondered to himself: Now why on Earth did I say that? Gah, concentrate Emerald!
Suddenly, an extremely amused shout was heard from the crowd: "And you yell at me for flirtin' with Sapph?!" It was Ruby, dressed in his usual white hat and red shirt. Sapphire, sitting beside Ruby in the crowd, wasted no time hitting him over the head, shutting him up for the moment at least.
Not. Helping. Ruby. Emerald thought to himself as he looked around for some sort of distraction. He finally found what he was looking for in the announcer and yelled: "Hey, you! Shouldn't we be starting this battle now?"
"R-right, right!" the startled announcer replied. "Here are the rules. Each trainer can use up to three Pokemon! The first trainer who has a Pokemon that is unable to continue the battle loses! Now, are you ready? Then fight!"
Emerald sprang into action, totally in his element. He brought out his first Pokeball with a flourish, tossing out Sceptile. The green, leafy reptile landed on the ground with a thud before staring at Yellow and raising both of its arms in a challenge. "Ummm… here goes!" Yellow shouted as she threw her own Pokemon into the ring. "Let's go Dodosk!" The brown, three-headed bird landed in the ring lightly, all six eyes on its opponent.
"Right off the bat we've got a big type disadvantage!" the announcer exclaimed, trying to pump up his crowd. "Caaaaaan Emerald make up for it?"
Emerald, the picture of confidence, smirked: "Watch me. Sceptile! Get behind him!" Sceptile rushed to do as his trainer commanded, strafing around the bewildered Dodrio. "Now we've got him right where we want him," Emerald said to himself as he broke into a grin. "Iron tail!"
The Sceptile, anticipating his trainer's next move, began the attack even before Emerald had finished speaking. He planted his hands on the ground, pushing against it at an angle. The result was a rapid spin that brought the now-silver tail slamming into his opponent. "Eep!" the startled Yellow exclaimed as her Dodrio was sent flying to the other side of the ring.
Sceptile stood alert, eyes on its opponent, as its tail reverted to its original color. The announcer, after being bewildered for a few seconds, finally reacted: "Oh! Emerald has used his Sceptile's dominating speed stat to make up for iron tail's accuracy and launch a brutal first strike! How will Yellow respond?"
"U- umm!" the pacifistic dexholder looked around with a worried look. "Dodosk, use… uhh… aerial ace!" The bird's middle head leaned back before rushing forward, slicing the air in front of it and creating a current of wind that slammed right in to the leafy Pokémon.
Emerald looked in shock, eyes widening as he began to process what had just happened. "How could someone this obviously inexperienced know to use an attack that can't miss- rather than a stronger attack- against my fastest Pokémon so it can't dodge?" he wondered to himself under his breath.
"Eheh~" the elder dexholder laughed lightly as she turned her head to face Emerald with a gleam in her eye. "Guess you underestimated me, huh?"
Emerald sighed as he detached himself from the party in celebration of his own victory over the Battle Frontier. He, for more reasons than he can count, has never been one for parties. He realized he wouldn't be missed for a while, even if it was his own party he was leaving- after all, everyone would just assume he was with someone else. He headed to the edge of the island and sat down, legs crossed, to watch the sunset spread its vermillion hues across the ocean. Finally getting a moment to himself, he thought about all that had happened in the past week- from arriving at the Frontier to the final battle of the tournament just a few hours ago and everything in between. "Just imagine," he thought to himself- a habit he practices very often- "you finally have a place. A place where you belong." He closed his eyes and saw his new friends, one by one. The ones he respects the most, Crystal, Red, and Green, came first. Next came the two who seem almost as reserved as him, Blue and Silver. He resolved to ask them about it in private sometime before moving on to the next face: the guy he's able to pal around with, Gold. Ruby and Sapphire appeared next, together. No matter how much he might tease them for flirting, he really was happy for them (though he'd never tell them that).
And then, finally, that last person. The one who came out of nowhere and gave Emerald a run for his money. "Heck, I was so surprised I almost lost!" he exclaimed in his head. "To think someone that strong would waste her talents by not battling unless she has to… I don't understand it." His thoughts wandered from there as his shadow lengthened, though they continued to return to the same place. Numerous times, he caught himself thinking about how cute she looked; every time, he blushed furiously and immediately shifted his thoughts to something else. "Thank God no one's here to see me like this," he thought, grateful for the chance to display his emotions fully without someone seeing.
"Emerald? What are you doing way out here?" Suddenly knocked out of his reverie, Emerald spun around to find the source of the voice was none other than the one he was thinking about all this time. And, much to Emerald's secret delight, the orange light of the sun played on her face in the most beautiful way possible, reflecting off her broad-brimmed straw hat and perfectly complimenting her blond hair and brown eyes.
"O-oh! Hi, Yellow!" Emerald stuttered as he tried to recover from the surprise. Yellow, oblivious as always, merely tilted her head. Emerald, still sitting, stared at her awkwardly before remembering that she asked him a question. "Oh!" he exclaimed, pretending that no time had passed, "I'm just out here watching the sunset."
"Oh? You like stuff like that?" she questioned him, leaning in ever so slightly out of curiosity. "I figured you'd only like stuff like fighting."
"…Nah," he admitted after a long pause. "That's not all there is to me. Anyways, I try to watch the sunset as much as I can. Especially in these conditions, what with us being so close to sea level and out on the ocean."
Yellow stared at Emerald and blinked. Evidently he wasn't the only one who got a surprise today. "Y-you know that much about stuff like that, huh?"
"Well, yeah," Emerald rubbed the back of his head and stared at the blazing sea, his expression unreadable. "I guess you could say… I'm full of surprises."
Yellow remained silent, and it was impossible for Emerald to tell what she was thinking. She too stared out to sea for a moment, before Emerald decided to change the topic. "Speaking of surprises, how about you? For someone who hates battling, you sure are good at it."
"Well…" Yellow paused, trying to figure out what to say. Luckily for her, she suddenly remembered why she was there in the first place. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Somebody got a whole big cake! We were waiting for you!"
At the promise of food, Emerald jumped up with a massive grin, both arms raised in the air. Shouting about how hungry he was, he immediately dashed off. Shaking her head, Yellow smiled lightly and started running as well.