EDIT 23.4.2011 – Dear god, opened up this story a while ago and BAM GRAMMATICAL ERRORS EVERYWHERE. Fixed things up (read: deleted about 2304928 ellipses), changed a good number of awkward sentences. I hope it's a little less painful to read.
Disclaimer: Erm, I don't own own Pokemon. Just copies of the games. And the DVD of the movie with Lugia in it. And this story.
Whisper
She flings one hand out desperately to protect herself from the growling mass of fur and teeth that has backed her to the edge of this gorge. The little creature in her arms has closed eyes, shallow breathing; it has been used as punching bag for far too long. It snaps back at her, and she takes another tentative step back. The ground beneath her feet breaks off, and as stated by the rules of gravity, she falls too. Plummeting to her almost-certain death, she squeezes her eyes shut and hugs her pokemon as close to her as possible. She hurtles down, down...
Sapphire wakes with a start. Sitting up, she leans against the wall and rubs her eyes, cursing her nightmare. It's the salamence thing all over again.
'Sapphire?'
She jumps, startled.
'What?'
'Could you be a little nicer to your rival-slash-best-friend? He's skipped breakfast on a request to tell you to get back home,' Ruby leans on the side of the entrance to the hideout, a smirk on his face.
Sapphire throws a cushion at him. He ducks and it flies out and lands in the grass behind him.
'Argh! No! I bought that last week!' Sapphire strides out, whistling, hands behind her head as her 'rival-slash-best-friend' rushes to pick up the cushion and return it to its designated spot, all fluffed up.
Ruby ends up tidying the rest of the cave, until satisfied. He is surprised (and relieved) to hear her voice - she's waited for him.
'Hey – catch!' She tosses an apple to him from her place on the tree. He tries to catch it with one hand but he misses and it drops on the ground next to him. Picking the apple up and wiping it with a handkerchief from his pocket, sarcastically calling out a thanks. Sapphire hides a smile and rolls her eyes. She hops off her branch and walks on ahead. He cheats and uses his running shoes to catch up to her, and they walk side by side back home – apples in hands, the nightmare forgotten.
'Mauville?'
'Yep.'
'How—'
'On foot.' Blue eyes challenge red ones. 'You coming or what?'
Ruby's eyes gleam. 'Offer accepted. When are we-'
'Now.' Sapphire allows herself a triumphant (fanged) grin. Not that it was of the utmost importance to set out immediately, but her impatience didn't let her waste any time.
She follows Ruby into his house, greets his mom, examines various contest badges and trophies (albeit a little contemptuously), helps herself to food and teases, challenges, chatters and annoys her companion in a distinctly Sapphire way.
He pretends to not be listening, choosing to pretend to try to concentrate on making sure he has not – and he will not – miss packing anything. Despite his best efforts, a small smile escapes from his stony expression far more frequently than he would've liked.
Ruby's glad she isn't scared of him anymore.
Sapphire lies on her back on his bed, watching Ruby upside down as he takes stuff out, considers, then packing or returning the item as he pleases.
She picks up a spare hat of his lying next to her, examining it from all angles. It is too big to fit over a normal head (perfect for his bigheadedness, Sapphire thinks smugly), and the funny spikes at the end make the hat look like a very badly sewn glove. She jams it onto her head, scooting over to the mirror to examine her appearance.
'Ugly,' she proclaims. Ruby pauses and swivels around. It's not unflattering, he thinks privately. Aloud, he makes a remark:
'No it isn't. I made it.'
'Narcissist.'
'Savage.'
'Pretty-boy.'
'Barbarian.'
'Fop.'
'Neanderthal.'
'Homo—'
'Mirage Island!' Ruby yells.
Sapphire blinks, then blushes furiously. This is the first time he's mentioned it since it happened. She manages three words:
'Yo-you haven't forgotten?'
'There's nothing wrong with the hat.' He disregards her question (ears reddening), and ploughs on. 'I'll get you a new bandanna if you want. I'm done packing. We can go.'
Grabbing Sapphire by the arm, he drags her out of his room in a very unRubylike manner, opting to stomp down the stairs and out the door.
Embarrassment set aside, Sapphire tries to sneak a peek at Ruby's expression, which is stubbornly turned away from her. She tugs at his hat instead (the one on his head).
'Hey!' He whips his head round, ready to reprimand her – and momentarily forgetting the (hopefully subsiding) blush on his face.
She laughs (a tinge of pink returning to her cheeks), and throws an arm over his shoulders.
'You know Mauville is the other way, right?'
'I've built another secret base somewhere here – you can wait there and I'll go find some food.'
'Your secret base has no food?'
'Uh-huh. 'S one of my older ones, so I don't use it very often.' Sapphire's stomach growls. 'Hey – can I borrow your shoes? I'll be back faster and then we can eat earlier and sleep earlier.' She grins widely. 'I doubt you'll be able to get anywhere tomorrow if you come with me.'
Defeated, Ruby slumps against the wall. He feels as though he has been walking, climbing and surfing for an entire day (he has, actually). It was apparent he lacked the energy and stamina that Sapphire had. Why she decided to bring him along, he was still figuring out.
Wearily, he unties his shoes, throws them half-heartedly at Sapphire and hauls himself to the pathetic pile of cushions in the corner. He falls asleep before his head hits the (dirty!) pillow.
Sapphire saunters over to Ruby, lifting his hat and running her fingers over the scar on his head.
'I'm sorry,' she whispers. 'I'll be back soon,' she calls, louder this time.
That was half of the truth, she thinks as she wanders the woods aimlessly. She hasn't been here for a long while...and her memories as to where the berries were are a hazy recollection. Blaziken is beside her; the pair of them on the ready for any possible attack.
The sun is starting to set. Sapphire looks worriedly at the sky.
She's lost.
Shaking her head to clear her mind, she starts to search for a suitable tree to spend the night on. A medium-sized tree with particularly thick branches catches her trained eye, and she scampers up nimbly, returning Blaziken back to its pokéball and climbing higher, higher - until she finds herself in the midst of a leaf canopy. She calls Ruby, but no one picks up; worn out by the day's journey, she scoffs. Sapphire figures he probably won't wake, so she leaves a message.
'Hi. It's Saph. Um. Yeah. The sun is setting and I'm los—too far away from the base to make it back in time. Sorry. I'll find you tomorrow. Somehow. Yeah. Okay. See ya.'
Sapphire tries to settle herself as comfortably as possible on the tree. It takes a while, but she falls asleep...
She flings one hand out desperately to protect herself from the growling mass of fur and teeth that has backed her to the edge of this gorge. The little creature in her arms has closed eyes and looks like a punching bag. It snaps back at her, and she takes another tentative step back. The ground beneath her feet breaks off, and as stated by the rules of gravity, she falls too. Plummeting to her almost-certain death, she squeezes her eyes shut and hugs her pokemon as close to her as possible.
She hurtles down, until she crashes into a thick canopy of leaves. The branches break her fall, but do not spare her any cuts or bruises. She collapses onto the forest floor. Turning on her back, she looks up at the leaf canopy that has saved her life.
The sound of footsteps draw near.
Sapphire's survival instincts kick into action and she awakens.
She peeks over the huge branch she has spent the night on.
A smirking face, an ugly hat and open arms await her on the forest floor.
'Found you.'
END
R&Ring, anyone?