Rosa leaned against the railing of the Driftveil bridge, connecting both parts of the city together. The ocean splashed lazily beneath her feet, the sound of waves calming her and Flareon. The trusty fire-type sat on the railing beside her, keeping close to her trainer as Rosa stroked her fur absent-mindedly.
The sun was gone already, replaced by the moon and its fellow stars. Flareon purred softly as Rosa stared upward at the sky in deep thought. It was a beautiful setting; the streetlamps reflected off of the water below, the birds were singing lullabies in the distant woods and all of the shooting stars above her darted and danced across the sky.
It was gorgeous. And she had it all to herself. Alone. Well, not really, Flareon was there, but she was falling asleep, so she was disqualified.
"This is like a movie, isn't it Flareon?" Flareon only grumbled tiredly, slowly dozing off. Rosa continued to speak her mind anyway. "It's like the end scene, where the handsome and heroic knight in shining armor comes riding in on his gorgeous steed, maybe a noble white Rapidash, and he takes the beautiful maiden's hand and lifts her onto the horse, and they dash off into the night to spend eternity together." Flareon snored in response, causing Rosa to sigh. "Well, I wish I was like you, and didn't worry about romance, but the difference between you and me, is that I'm a teenage girl with weird hormones and stuff and I actually have feelings over the subject!" Flareon groaned and rolled over slightly, also slightly angering Rosa. "So you don't care if I'm lonely?" No response, just comfortable sleeping. Rosa huffed. "And here I thought we were friends..."
Rosa heard shoes slapping the bridge, heading in her direction, so she dismissed it as a citizen just crossing. The person stopped and leaned on the railing beside her, and when she looked up, she saw it was her childhood friend Hugh. He gazed at the ocean, then turned to look at her, and gave her the 'sup head-nod.
"Hey Quilfish-Head." She nudged him jokingly.
He nudged her back. "Hey Donut-Hair."
"Vampire Kid."
"Double-Bun."
"Tight-Pants."
"Visor-Brain."
"Hugh-Boo."
"Movie-Dork."
"Uh, correction. Movie star." Hugh rolled his eyes, chuckling.
"Right, right..." He patted the sleeping Flareon. "So how about that battle earlier, huh?"
"Well, I think you need to train more, because every one of your Pokemon was a one-hit knock-out." Rosa commented with a playful nudge, and Hugh stared at her wide-eyed.
"Are you kidding me?" Hugh scoffed. "Eelektross took at least two hits from Serperior and Emboar lasted through Floatzel's attack!"
"No! Emboar doesn't count! He was holding that Focus Sash!" Rosa said defensively. "And if Serperior used Frenzy Plant instead of Leaf Blade, then it would have been a one-hit KO!"
"But she didn't use Frenzy Plant, did she?" Rosa crossed her arms, and put on a pouting face.
"Well, she would've if I told her to. But she will next time, and you'll see!" She promised, and Hugh laughed.
"Ok, ok." He shook his head, rolling his eyes. His neighbor and best friend became a trainer after he did, but she caught up to him pretty fast, and even surpassed him just as quickly. It went from him mentoring and looking after her to running after her and struggling to keep up to her quickly expanding world. When Bianca gave her the Snivy, she immediately went from shy and quiet little Rosa to the excited and bold and fearless Rosa. He remembered their other childhood friend Nate complaining that he liked Rosa better when she was introverted and quiet, because she didn't have a Pokemon then, and he didn't have to constantly lose to her. Hugh didn't really care; he liked both of Rosa's personalities. Nate is still obnoxious, and Hugh is still a tough guy. The only one of the trio to have matured on this journey was Rosa. In the old days, it had always seemed like Rosa was the weaker link, but she had obviously shown herself worthy to be a leader. Both boys ended up being dragged around by her and constantly defeated by her. She sure had proved herself, and had undoubtedly surprised the boys.
"So, how's life with the ex-Plasmas?" She asked casually.
Hugh shrugged. "Eh. Days go by, and very few Pokemon are returned to their trainers. It's hard to track them down, and it's a painful process when either the trainer or Pokemon has moved on."
"That's horrible," Rosa commented. How do you give up on a missing Pokemon? Or a missing trainer? "You don't just move on. You keep searching for your partners! You don't just let them go! That's like a mom who gives up on finding her kid! It's just not supposed to happen like that!"
Hugh shrugged. "It happens more often than you think, but still not very frequently. We returned an Eevee to a little girl, who cried happily to be reunited with her pet. And yesterday, we found the trainer who owned the Basculin twins. Though sometimes it isn't always perfect, more times than not, the two are very excited to be reunited together. There's always the initial confusion, recognition, and usually happiness and gratefulness."
"Last time I was there, I saw you guys had a lost Luvdisc. I played with her, remember? Did you find her trainer?" Rosa asked.
Hugh smiled. "Yea, yea we did. That reunion went much better than planned." He recounted the memory. "We tracked down her trainer, a really nice guy, by the way, and he was ecstatic to see his Luvdisc alive and safe. He thanked us kindly and asked us if we could help plan a surprise. So, according to plan, we all boarded the Royal Unova in our Sunday best, and he brought his girlfriend." Hugh smiled wider, remembering the happiness in their expressions. "He told his girlfriend that he had a present for her, so he gave her a Pokeball. He told her it was a late birthday present. When she opened it, the Luvdisc popped out, and the girl was very excited. Luvdisc is popular among couples, might I add." Hugh noticed Rosa smiling, as she seemed to recognize sort of where this was heading. "Then, when she noticed the Luvdisc was holding something, she took the black box and examined it. And inside it was-,"
"An engagement ring!?" Rosa blurted excitedly, then blushed and looked down, signalling for Hugh to continue.
"Right," Hugh chuckled. "When she looked to him for an explanation, you guessed it, he was one knee and asked for her hand in marriage."
"Aww!" Rosa gushed. It was no secret that she was such a sucker for sappy love stories. "Did she say yes!? Did she, did she, did she!?"
"Yes, Rosa, she did. Anyway, they're now engaged and happy. We got a letter the other day, a thank-you letter, and they said we were welcome to attend the wedding if we could. Rood said that we probably won't though, because you don't really want Team Plasma at a wedding anyway. After all, they did take the Luvdisc away in the first place."
"Ah. Bummer." Rosa sighed. "Makes sense, but still, what a bummer."
"Yea..." Hugh sighed too, staring at the lights everywhere. He looked up, but the stars were gone, replaced by clouds. Hugh returned to gazing at the lazy waves. "But there are a lot of happy reunions."
"Liepard and your little sister are getting along well together again, you know?"
"Yea, they are." Hugh smiled at the mention of his little sister, one of the few things he was so protective over. "I'm glad Liepard remembers her, I was worried that they would have to stay separated by a Pokeball. I was even considering going out and catching her another one, a kinder one, but my parents said that it wouldn't be the same."
"Well, Hugh, you have to remember, if you took Liepard and replaced it, then you would be doing the same cruelty as other trainers do when they move on. And I know you don't want that for her."
"Absolutely not. I would never." He sighed, and tried to change the subject to her. "So what's been going on in Rosa's world lately?"
"Oh my Arceus, I am going insane, my schedule is so tight lately." She took a deep breath. "What with all of the movies, and managing Join Avenue, and being the champion, and all of this and that, let's just not even get started on any of it." She said, rubbing her temples.
"Yea, you seemed stressed." He held out his arms, inviting a hug, and Rosa accepted. Hugh's strong arms wrapped around her seemingly fragile body, and her thin arms wrapped around his tall and lean form...
The hiss of rain interrupted them.
"FLLAAAAIIIRRRREE!" Flareon flipped out, the falling water drops hissing on her warm fur with little steams and hisses. She cried in shock and ran around in circles before cuddling around her trainer's legs, as if trying to hide under her feet from the rain.
"Okay, calm down!" Rosa smoothly released Hugh, and pulled out her Pokeball. With the press of a button, a very relieved Flareon was returned to her home in the Pokeball. Rosa laughed at the ball in her hand. "Silly, silly Flareon..."
"She's pretty quirky isn't she?" Hugh laughed too. "Just like her trainer."
"Mm, not quite. The main difference is Flareon hates the rain. I, however, love the rain." She placed the Pokeball in the safety of her bag as she said it. She looked up at her tall friend. "So are you going to take shelter, or hang out here in the water with me?" She had to speak louder to be heard over the drizzle.
Hugh's smile could still be seen through the mist of the falling rain. "Nah, I'll hang." Rosa smiled, and stretched her arms above her head, aiming to soak up as much of this rain as she could. Hugh pulled out his iPod, and pointed to it with a brow raised. Rosa nodded, knowing by eye-contact-communication that he asked her if she wanted to listen to music.
He plugged in a portable speaker, and set it on shuffle, and the two sat there along the railing as they listened to the music. It was just some random songs, a little Hinder, a pop song or two that his sister downloaded, just that kind of stuff.
Hugh looked over at Rosa. "Do you need my jacket or anything?" He asked her.
Rosa looked back at him and smiled. "Actually, the opposite." She stood off of the railing and took her visor off, placing it on Hugh's head for safe keeping. Then she started to lift her shirt, making Hugh feel a little bit awkward.
"Uh..." He looked away, but he could still hear her giggle at his reaction. "Um, Rosa?"
"Calm down, you dork, I'm not stripping in public. What kind of girl do you think I am?" He blushed, feeling like an idiot, and he looked back at her, to see that she just took off the first shirt, revealing a pink tank top that she always wore. She lazily crammed it in her bag and set the bag on the ground. Then she repossessed her visor. "And thank you for holding that..." She placed it on her bag, and stared at Hugh's blush. "You didn't actually think I was getting naked, did you?"
"No, no, of course not!" He laughed awkwardly, and Rosa, obviously amused at him being awkward, lightly punched him in the arm.
"Don't be such a derp, Hugh!" She chuckled, and stretched her back out in the rain, enjoying the feeling of the cold water droplets on her skin. Hugh shrugged off his jacket, and unclipped his bag from his belt, tossing both on the ground behind Rosa's stuff, following her lead. He ran his fingers through his wet hair, then shook it like a wet dog, splattering Rosa. She just laughed at him.
They returned to leaning on the railing and listening to some tunes. Every few songs, you would hear one of them saying, "This is my favorite song," or hear them humming along to it, or bold Rosa just singing along to them, or dancing solo to them or whatever.
Then the song "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain came on.
"Oh, I love this song!" Rosa gasped. Edwin started singing, and Rosa started to hum in tune with the singer.
Hugh watched her, his silly Rosa sway side to side, singing the chorus to the ocean.
"And I'll be your crying shoulder." She sang, her voice actually not that bad. "And I'll be love suicide. Yea, I'll be better when I'm older, and I'll be the greatest fan of your life." She stood there and sang every line on key, and Hugh was actually pretty surprised at her.
When the song was over, Hugh nudged her. "Hey, I didn't know you could sing." He smiled at her, and she shrugged.
"Yea, well, just add it to my existing list of many talents." She laughed, and Hugh couldn't help but agree. Rosa was great at just about everything she did, be it acting, partying, battling, especially battling, performing, drawing and just being overall amazing at everything she did. Hugh found that the only thing that he was better at than her was having hair that looked like a Pokemon. He won with Quilfish hair, but she would argue that hers kind of looked like a Tentacool with swollen eyes. But the Quilfish head still won. And he was better at threats, and fights and 'unleashing his rage', because Rosa just wasn't the kind of person to have rage.
"You know, I've seen you dance at parties before. I've even seen you dance on the catwalk with Elesa. But," Hugh took his iPod, and scrolled through it, trying to find a song that he could work with, hoping that his sister had downloaded something just right for what he was about to do. Or attempt to do. "Though I've seen you go crazy and dance for fun, I've never seen you slow dance, or dance formally to anything."
"Maybe I'm just not a formal kind of person." Rosa shrugged.
"But can you dance like that?"
Rosa's eyes took on a shine, that shine that said what her words would say. "Are you doubting me?"
"I'm just saying, I've never seen you slow dance or anything, but it's okay if you can't... Hey!" Rosa was suddenly on him, grabbing his hands and wrapping them around her own waist, and she pressed her hands to his shoulders. His eyes were huge, staring down at her incredulously, and she had on that challenging smirk and a brow raised, daring him to test her. That was always her face when she was doubted and wanted to prove someone wrong.
"Want to try me?" She purred, her eyes glinting. Hugh's face started to heat up, but he managed a sly grin back at her, sliding the iPod forward and selecting the first song he found; "You and Me" by Lighthouse.
Rosa smiled, and slid her hands forward, slipping her fingers behind his neck, keeping her eyes on him. He tightened his grip on her tiny waist, and they started to sway slowly, side to side, in sweet and slow circles.
"It's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to lose..." The music played, and Hugh couldn't help but feel it was like that in that moment. It was her and him alone on that bridge, in the rain, not even caring who else was around, not even caring about whether or not someone could see them. It was just them, Hugh and Rosa.
Rosa felt it too. Just her and Hugh on that bridge. Her and Hugh against everything. It had always been her and Hugh. Her and Hugh against each other, her and Hugh against gym leaders, her and Hugh against Team Plasma, just her and Hugh against the world.
Rosa, despite Hugh being a jerk to her sometimes, always considered Hugh as her one and only best friend. Nate was also close, but he couldn't come close to her relationship with Hugh. Rosa would always be there for him, to help him up as he fell and hold him together as he fell apart. If she hadn't felt that way towards him, he never would have found Purrloin, or Liepard rather.
Hugh watched his friend's face as she looked down, her eyes exposing that she was obviously in thought. He was actually surprised that she took this challenge, but then again, they were rivals, so she would never turn down any of his dares.
Rosa looked up and creased her brows in confusion. Hugh raised a brow, asking her what was up, and she gingerly lifted her hand and touched something on his neck. There were three faded pink lines, like an old scar...
"Was this..?" She asked quietly and shyly, and Hugh just nodded.
"Yeah, that's the scar from Team Plasma five years ago." He reached up and wrapped his fingers around her wrist softly.
"It looks like a Zangoose mark or something... Maybe a Sandslash?"
"Actually, it's an Absol, but you were close." He lightly tugged on her hand and lifted it off of his neck and back on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it."
"I wasn't worried, it's just... You never showed it to me, that's all." Suddenly she smirked. "I guess that explains why you wear that high-collar jacket all the time, huh?" He smirked and nodded. They continued dancing.
"Rosa, you know I'm proud of you, right?" Hugh said out of the blue, surprising Rosa slightly.
"Really? How so?"
"Well, when we first met, Nate and I would always mess around, and you would constantly dragged around by us. We were just some stupid boys, and I'm sorry you were forced to do stupid stuff with us. But still, you were always so shy and quiet all the time."
"Well, when I was in front of people, yeah, I was pretty awkward."
"But remember the day you got you and Snivy met? I saw something change in you that day, and I am so incredibly impressed by everything you've done since then. Movies, battles, everything you do. I'm learning new things about you everyday, Rosa."
"Thanks Hugh. That, that actually means a lot to me." She smiled, and clung tightly to him as they swayed. "Hugh?"
"Yes, Rosa?"
"You know I love you, right?"
...
"Hugh?"
Hugh's heart pounded against his ribs, and he felt his face getting hot. See, this was exactly what he was talking about; she used to keep everything to herself, but now here she goes, spilling her thoughts openly.
"Hugh?" He heard her giggles turning into laughter. "Calm down, Hugh-Boo, you should have known that man!"
"Geez, you are so random sometimes, Rosa..."
"Me? Random!?" She laughed even harder. "I ain't the one who asked you to dance!"
"I didn't ask you to-,"
"Yes, you did! I can read you better than a book, I read you as easily as a brightly lit sign that reads, 'Hugh's Thoughts!" She laughed and nudged him, and Hugh was blushing insanely. Back in the old days, he would have told her to shut up, but he wouldn't want to be mean to her or anything nowadays. Especially now that she could easily pull some magic new talent of beating him up.
"S-s-so?" He stuttered, then looked down and groaned as Rosa laughed at him. He hung his head, utterly embarrassed. He didn't know it was that obvious...
He started to let go, but Rosa stopped him. "Wait, what do you think you're doing?"
"I'm letting go-,"
"Didn't you hear me? I said I love you, Hugh."
"I-I thought you meant as just a friend-,"
"Well, of course you are my best friend Hugh, but I like you too. I'm just more subtle yet less afraid to admit it." She said flatly in a matter-of-fact tone. "I might have asked you to dance too if I had some music on me."
"R-Rosa, I-,"
"Stop stuttering Hugh! Just kiss me already!" She let go of him and had an impatient, yet excited smile on her face and her eyes glinted. Hugh stood there stupidly like a Deerling in headlights, but Rosa rolled her eyes and pulled him close.
Once Rosa was within a few inches, he didn't hesitate to press his lips on her.
At first, Hugh was shyly touching her lips, but within a short moment, he was enthusiastically pressing himself on her. Rosa reached her hands forward and twisted her little fingers in his spiky, yet soft hair. Hugh moved her lips along his own, even trailing his tongue along those lips as he held her against him.
Rosa did have the biggest crush on him since they were young, but she's been pretty quiet about it. Over the years, she's tried to use body language and subtle hints to admit she liked him, but Hugh was, well, pretty dense. He was never good at taking hints anyway, hence her just telling him to kiss her already.
Hugh had also thought she was cute, but he was a pretty hard-headed guy who couldn't really comprehend girls. He figures that's why she was always treated as one of the guys, even though she was obviously a girl, a very beautiful girl, might he add...
He finally pulled away, allowing her a moment to breathe, but he still didn't let go of her.
"You know, Hugh, it's about damn time..." Hugh laughed nervously along with Rosa. She stared intently into those crimson eyes, leaned forward and whispered so close to his ear that her voice just tickled it. "So is that all you got, Quilfish-Head?"
He smiled mischievously, and leaned down for another taste.
Author's Note:
I had a dream about those two, they are so cute! (My precious little babies!)
I don't know why, but I always see Rosa as she seems shy, but she's not afraid to try some new things. I also see her as the bold one, and she tends to have to make the first move in most of her ships, but she doesn't mind. I honestly think Rosa is very fun and funny and so not afraid of anything.
Anyway, I hope for all you sequelshippers, that you liked it. I might also write a sequelshipping versus livecastershipping story, because both of those are SO FREAKING ADORABLE THAT I MIGHT DIE!
So hope you liked it!
Bye! :)
