Happy belated birthday to one of my favorite characters of Pokémon Special and the character whom I relate to the most: Silver! Also, I would like to wish everybody who is reading this a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance! With that out of the way, I want to start with the story, yes, but there are still four things that I have to say before we begin:
1. Happy birthday to the person I'm dedicating this fic to! Said person being DaPokemonMadster! Check her out if you haven't done so already because I can guarantee you that you're missing a lot if you let this opportunity go to waste!
2. I wasn't sure which universe Lolishotashipping is, so if you were expecting either the game or anime versions of Steven and/or Cynthia, sorry… I am using their Pokémon Special counterparts. On a related note: those who don't know that Lolishotashipping is the pairing of Steven and Cynthia should have been able to tell from the cover picture of this story!
3. Time frame of this story will be several months after the Platinum chapter, so keep that in mind while reading this story please!
Alright, I admit it: I lied… I still have the disclaimer to do (but I promise we go into the story after that!). I do not own anything related to Pokémon, which includes the cover image (source of the picture has been given previously).
"Elizabeth!" the turquoise haired man cried out in horror as his heart shaped Pokémon fell down in defeat. At the same time, the steel blue haired man on the opposite side of the battlefield was petting his metal bird lovingly. Crouching down, the turquoise haired man held his defeated Pokémon in his arms, "Speak to me! Please!"
"Relax Wallace, she's going to be fine," the steel blue haired man said, shaking his head at his friend's antics. Rummaging in his pocket, he took out a yellow colored rhombus and gave it to the heart shaped Pokémon, "That should do it. And I guess this means I win our little wager, huh?"
"Yeah yeah, whatever Steven," Wallace muttered under his breath dejectedly as he admitted defeat. When he saw Elizabeth open her eyes again, however, he couldn't help but allow his face to lit up. With a smile plastered on his face, Wallace recalled the now recovered Elizabeth back to her Poké Ball. After making sure she was securely fastened, he turned to Steven who, in turn, had already secured Skarmory's Poké Ball back on his own belt. Wallace dusted off his clothes before asking the question that had been on his mind ever since their battle begun, "Not for nothing, but what do you have against Ruby and Sapphire anyway?"
"You seem to have misunderstood my wording my dear friend," Steven laughed slightly upon realizing what was going on, "It's not that I have anything against them that I asked you to watch over them for me, but that I really have to be somewhere else instead. I can't be at two different places at once after all, and unfortunately, the other place is more important right now. Give my regards to Ruby and Sapphire nonetheless for me alright?"
"And where might that be?" Wallace inquired, shocked to see his long time friend smirk. Taking his time to rummage through his pockets, Steven finally found what he was looking for. Smiling triumphantly, he showed the piece of paper to Wallace who, in turn, took a second to look at it before turning to Steven with a shocked expression on his face, "You're not kidding right?"
"Of course I'm not!" Steven replied, shocked that his friend would think that way. Placing a gentle hand on Wallace's shoulder, he smiled, "So take care of them for me right?"
"Very well…" Wallace muttered.
As the gentle zephyr-like breeze blew through his hair, the man known as Steven Stone opened his eyes and sat upright. As he stretched his arms, the steel blue haired man looked around, taking into account the many, many flowers that blew in the breeze. Sighing contently, the male was about to lay down and doze off once more until another voice could be heard in the area.
"Sleeping again are we?" the voice was stern but at the same time an undertone of amusement could be heard in the words. Steven opened his eyes to see a woman of about his age leaning against the tree he was lying under, her knee-length blonde hair swaying in the breeze in the same manner as the flowers were and her black coat held securely in her arms. Steven chuckled before letting himself drop down on the soft soil below before she continued, "You didn't come all the way to the Sinnoh region just to lay in the flower fields of Floaroma Town now did you?"
"I didn't…" Steven admitted, putting his hands behind his head and opening his eyes to look up, "But tell me Cynthia… can't I enjoy the wonderful weather you people in Sinnoh are blessed with? It's not everyday that we can enjoy laying outside like this after all."
"Well… I guess you can…" Cynthia's response was hesitant but she was smiling nonetheless. Feeling the gentle breeze hit her face, she decided to give in and made herself comfortable on the soft ground beside Steven. After a short and comfortable silence, Cynthia opened her eyes again and broke the silence between the two, "So tell me… why did you come over to the Sinnoh region anyway?"
"You know why," Steven laughed as he took out two small circular stones from the case laying beside him, one metallic gray in color and the other one a light cyan in color, and held them up for Cynthia to look at, "I was looking for these two for years. A few weeks ago, somebody here told my father that they had these two stones in their possession and were willing to give it to him. They made an appointment and my father send me to get these in his place. Fortunately for me, he isn't so much into stones so he said that I could have them instead."
"That is indeed very lucky!" Cynthia laughed, affected by the sheer joy on Steven's face as he was looking at the two stones in his hand, "So… not wanting to be rude or anything, but what is so special about those stones? You said they are rare but what makes them different from any other stone?"
"I could show you…" Steven thought out loud, before securing the two stones back in place in his case and standing up, surprising the blonde woman, "But I'm afraid that I have to get going again. As you said, I can't be wasting my time just relaxing in every single flower field… I have to go to some places."
"Places? Like?" Cynthia inquired, not wanting to be left in the dark. Turning to the young man beside her, the blonde woman was surprised to see a smile plastered on his face, "What's so amusing?"
"Nothing," Steven replied, quickly looking away so as to not be caught smiling. Even while facing away from her, Steven knew she was looking at her and he raked his brain to find a suitable response to get out of the situation, "I'm just excited at the prospect of collecting more stones exclusive to the Sinnoh region!"
"Men and their stones…" Cynthia muttered while shaking her head, but even Steven noticed the smile that was clearly visible on her face. Taking a deep breath, the blonde woman looked the blue haired man straight in the eyes, "Alright then! I know a place that I'm sure you'll love! Tell you what, I'll bring you there myself!"
"And where might that be?" now it was Steven's turn to have his interest piqued. Cynthia, knowing how much the suspense was killing, was trying to prolong the silence as long as she could. The silence only lasted for ten seconds until which Steven snapped, "Come on Cynthia, tell me."
Stifling a laugh, the blonde woman turned around to face her companion and smiled brightly.
"Celestic Town!"
"Granny! I'm back!" Cynthia called out as she entered a small house in the small town of Celestic, closely followed by Steven, a few days later. It did not take long for either of them to find out that the house deserted and empty, causing the blonde woman frowned in concern, "Where could you have gone off to?"
"What's wrong?" Steven asked as soon he saw the concern on Cynthia's face, even though he could already guess what the source of her concerns was. As Cynthia was busy looking around for signs of her grandmother, Steven could not help but notice a folded piece of paper under a vase near the door. Careful as to not let the vase fall and shatter into many pieces, the blue haired man finally managed to take the piece of paper before handing it to Cynthia, "Perhaps this will answer some questions."
"'Gone on trip, be back in two months or so. Granny,'" Cynthia read aloud, before letting herself drop on the couch, slumping down in exhaustion. Steven soon followed her lead and took a seat on one of the chairs in the room, looking at the Sinnoh region champion patiently, waiting to see a response from her. After half a minute of extended silence, Cynthia, still looking at the ceiling with empty eyes, broke the silence, "I'm sorry for dragging you all the way out here…"
"No, that's alright!" Steven quickly blurted out without putting much thought into it, only to find out that he did, in fact, not mind going to Celestic Town. When he saw Cynthia looking at him in a funny way he quickly raked his brain to find a reason. From the corner of his right eye, the Hoenn region champion saw something that he instantly put all his hopes on, "So tell me… those ruins over there—?"
"Don't try and convince me that you went to the Sinnoh region just for the Celestic Town ruins," Cynthia smirked, having caught on as Steven found himself chuckling lightheartedly. Smirking confidently, the blonde quickly added, "I mean, you said it yourself right? You came here to look for rare stones and whatnot."
"That was indeed my original reason for coming here, yes," Steven admitted casually as he gratefully accepted the glass of water that was offered to him by Cynthia. Taking his time to drink the contents of the glass, Steven finally turned serious as he looked at Cynthia, "But those ruins peak my interest now, so can't you do me a favor and tell me more about those ruins?"
"Alright if you say so…" Cynthia finally sighed as she took a sip from her own glass. Taking a deep breath, she started talking but, as Steven soon noticed, she did so while avoiding direct eye contact with him, "As you may probably already know, the Sinnoh region boasts the greatest number of discovered legendary Pokémon native to the region of all the regions thus far… Those ruins depicted the locations of the three legendary lake guardians of the Sinnoh region: Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit."
"I've heard about those Pokémon…" Steven muttered before he could stop himself. Cynthia turned to look at him as he continued, "They're supposedly the beings that gave humans willpower, knowledge and emotions in the distant past right?"
"That's not all," Cynthia said in reply, shocking Steven as she proceeded to close her eyes, remembering the events of several months ago. After an extended period of deathly silence, the blonde woman broke the very silence that she had initiated, "They can also be considered to be the keys to getting to the legendary Dialga and Palkia. As a result, those three legendary Pokémon have been the target for criminal organizations in the past."
"Dialga and Palkia? You mean the legendary Pokémon that are supposed to be able to control time and space?" Steven blurted out as Cynthia, visibly startled at Steven's knowledge of the Sinnoh region, nodded in response. He frowned slightly, which did not go unnoticed by Cynthia who knew that something was on his mind, "But what do you mean that they are 'the keys' in getting to Dialga and Palkia?"
"I'll tell you more about it tomorrow; it's getting late and we should get some rest," Cynthia said, nodding outside. Steven, curious, turned to look out the window himself only to see that the sun had already set. Sighing, the Sinnoh region champion stood up and motioned her Hoenn region counterpart to follow her, "Since it is late and my fault that you didn't get to do what you wanted to do, dragging you all the way here to Celestic Town and all, you can stay here for the night."
"Thank you," Steven replied in gratitude as he entered the room appointed to him. It wasn't long after that the young man had made himself comfortable in the bed in the room, staring at the ceiling while being lost in thoughts. Not knowing how long he lay there, Steven found himself dozing off at one point.
Steven did not know what woke him, only that he was fully aware of his surroundings later that night. Yawning widely, the young man was about to go back to sleep when he heard an explosion coming from outside the house, shaking him awake immediately. Quick to change into some warmer clothing, Steven grabbed the Ultra Ball containing his Metagross that lay on the nightstand and went outside.
It was a lot warmer than Steven thought it would be, instinctively letting his coat slide off his back. It wasn't long until he found out what caused the rise in temperature as the scene that was presented to him shocked Steven speechless, leaving him helpless to do anything but stare at the scene in front of him. The ground had deep, smoldering craters as humongous chunks of still sizzling rocks were spread out across the field. He saw Cynthia recall her Garchomp a little further ahead and ran up to her, "Cynthia! What's going on?"
"Steven?" Cynthia was visibly caught off guard by his presence, causing her to stumble back a bit. The resulting silence that followed lasted a good half a minute until Cynthia muttered her response to Steven's question, "Training…"
"At this hour?" Steven inquired. Although it was true that he himself didn't know what exact time it was, he knew for a fact that it wasn't the time of day where trainers would typically go out and train, "Why?"
"I have to…" Cynthia muttered almost inaudibly, clenching her hand into a fist and trying her hardest not to show Steven that she was, in fact, trembling. She took a few deep breaths before looking at the blue haired man directly in the eyes, "I have to get stronger!"
"Get… stronger…?" Steven repeated slowly as Cynthia nodded in affirmation, "Why?"
"I still have a long way to go…" Cynthia replied in response as she tightened her grip on her Garchomp's Ultra Ball.
"If that's the case…" a grin slowly crept on the young man's face as he enlarged the Ultra Ball he was holding, "How about I help you out a little then?"
"That's… alright…" Cynthia began, beginning to sway as her eyelids drooped and she felt herself falling backwards and losing consciousness. The last thing she could remember was Steven rushing over to her while crying out her name…
Cynthia didn't know how long she was unconscious… she didn't know how she got where she was… she didn't even know where exactly she was! What she did know, however, was that she was laying on a grassy patch outside as she slowly opened her eyes and began to take in her surroundings.
"The moment that you collapse while not doing anything…" a voice Cynthia instantly recognized as Steven's came from her right. The blonde woman quickly turned her head in the direction of the voice and, sure enough, Steven was laying on her right as he was staring at the stars in the night's sky. Obviously informed by her sudden movements, Steven turned to face her and smiled, "Is when you know that you've pushed yourself too hard."
"I could tell that much even without your scolding," Cynthia admitted, trying to avert the focus on her collapsing to something else as Steven chuckled at her reply. She was about to continue but Steven beat her to it.
"Next time when you want to train to get stronger," Steven started with his eyes closed and a smile plastered on his face, the tone and the smile doing their job of grabbing Cynthia's attention and interest, "You know where to find me."
"Thank you…" Cynthia replied with a genuine smile of her own. As the blonde was trying to get up, she added "We should head back inside and get some rest."
"We could do that…" Steven began slowly and Cynthia knew directly that he had no intention of going back inside from his tone alone. It wasn't long until he looked at her, smiled and continued, "Or we could take advantage of the fact that it is a cloudless night and it isn't all that cold out right now to enjoy the beautiful night's sky a bit longer. It's important to train but it is also important to take regular relaxing breaks once in a while after all."
"Yeah, let's go with that!" Cynthia laughed contently in agreement before making herself comfortable again by Steven's side. It wasn't long after that the two regional champions fell into a comfortable silence as they lost themselves looking at the bright stars above while laying side by side.
And that's it! I know that this isn't my usual writing style but, alright… Hope you liked this Lolishotashipping one-shot! Enjoy your Christmas day and don't forget to check out DaPokemonMadster's works! Also, Happy New Year in advance everybody!
Specifically to DaPokemonMadster: I originally wanted to do Frantic but I just couldn't get Sapph right for some reason (which is interesting seeing as I usually have problems writing Ruby…), so I decided to settle for Lolishotashipping instead. I find it quite fitting actually, seeing as you're the one who introduced me to this pair… anyways, hope you liked it and hope you have a great day!
