Heroes and Damsels
It wasn't my intention to pick up baggage as I traveled across Orre in my attempt to stop Team Snagem, but the girl wouldn't listen. That was the problem with playing hero—the minute you saved a damsel in distress, she wouldn't leave you alone. In most situations, this wouldn't be that bad. But I didn't have time to listen to a chatty teenage girl.
But she could see them—the Shadow Pokémon. She mentioned something about Pokémon with a strange aura; she obviously had to be talking about them. Even I, once a member of Team Snagem, couldn't tell the difference. If I was going to free the Shadow Pokémon from the organization's hold, then I needed her.
I didn't like it. I didn't like it one bit. But I had to do it.
"Thanks, Wes!" she exclaimed, and I wished she wouldn't say my name so loudly. She giggled, and I forced myself to turn away from her before rolling my eyes. This was going to suck. But I would just have to keep my cool… keep my thoughts to myself and my actions as kind as possible. "I thought you might say that!"
I had to stop myself once more, this time from curling my hands into fists. What, did she think that just because she was a girl, she would get everything she wanted? She needed to understand the rules here; I needed her to point out Shadow Pokémon to me, and she needed me to protect her. If this was going to work, neither of us ever needed to talk.
"Just for a little while, Wes," the girl reminded me. I tried to remember what she said her name was, but maybe that wasn't important either. I would prefer if she forgot mine. "I'm heading to my grandfather's house in Agate Village."
I just hoped we'd get there quickly.
Rui proved particularly useful after all, but that didn't mean I liked having her around. She was talkative, giggly, and clingy, and having the extra person really slowed me down. Still, if there was one thing I gave her credit for, she really loved Pokémon. She didn't battle, but she knew a lot about them—and maybe that was why she could see the Shadow Pokémon.
That didn't mean that I liked her; it just meant I respected her.
"Hey, Wes…" she began one day as we rested in the motel in Pyrite. She was on particular guard in this town considering this was where she had been kidnapped, and she stayed closer to me than I would have liked. I would have liked to get two rooms in the motel, but neither of us had the money for it.
I looked up from the newspaper I collected from one of the trash bins outside the room; Rui eyed the paper nervously, as though just looking at it would make her contract some horrible disease. I didn't particularly care—I just needed to read the news. There could be some update on what was going on with Team Snagem.
"Why did you save me?" she wondered, tugging her red ponytail and biting her lower lip. I wanted to gag; the whole cute act never really won me over—I was too practical for it. So, if she expected that to make me a little less cold towards her, it probably wasn't going to work. And if she wanted the answer I thought she did for that question, she wasn't getting that, either.
So, I settled with the predictable answer: "I did what any honorable person would do."
In reality, I didn't know what made me do it. Maybe it was the boy who pointed out there was a person in the bag and struggled to open it. Maybe it was basic human nature that made me do it—after all, I didn't know that there was an annoying redheaded girl in the bag, and it could have been anyone. But maybe I was taking the whole "hero" thing too far. Then again, I was saving the Pokémon, not people. I was no hero for them.
"Oh…" Rui sounded disappointed. I couldn't say I felt bad about it. "Well, you know, it's a good thing you did. You wouldn't have been able to snag that Makuhita without me." She bounced on the bed, moving to sit up on her knees. "But I have to ask—where did you get that snag machine? Why do you have it of all people?"
Why do you say it like that? I wanted to ask, but I bit my tongue. Although, snapping at her would probably be better than admitting the truth. How did I tell her—no, how did I tell anyone that I had ever been part of Team Snagem. Their ideals were misled, their values nonexistent, and while I would be the first to admit that my records weren't the cleanest, they were crooks. I had been looking for gain when I joined them—anything to get me out of the shithole I lived in—but they just disgusted me.
And I didn't mind revenge. They got what they deserved.
"I stole it," I admitted, figuring this would, at least, make her a bit more apprehensive about getting on my nerves. But instead of looking surprised by my blatant disregard for the law, Rui looked mildly amused. Her smile grew instantly, and she laughed so loudly and so crudely that I forgot for a minute that she was supposed to be innocent. Or was she playing with me?
"That's funny."
Oh. She was making fun of me. As if she had any right to do that! Didn't she realize who she was dealing with? I was the one with the power here. I was the one who Team Snagem was after—and if I wanted her gone, that could very well happen. And I didn't mean gone as in left. That was—and I knew it—harder.
"I'm serious. I stole it from Team Snagem's headquarters," I said, figuring I could very well play with her, too. She would love this—be practically eating out of the palm of my hand! Because if she thought for just a minute that I knew where Team Snagem's hideout was, then she would be all over that like—
"You stole it from Team Snagem's headquarters?" she yelled, jumping off the bed and hurrying towards me. She grabbed the front of my jacket and shaking me with a surprising amount of force. My head wobbled back and forth, and I wouldn't be surprised if I felt that in my neck later. "Then you know where it is!"
I smirked, and her hands loosened from my clothes. "Not anymore, I don't. I blew it up."
"Blew it up?" she repeated, and I nodded.
"Yep. Blew it up… you know… boom." I crossed my arms, relaxing against the ripped armchair—which very well could have been pulled from the dump. "I put explosives in the west wing of the headquarters to distract them, stole the portable snag machine, left as quickly as possible, and detonated the other explosives I planted around the facility. They didn't even know what was coming."
"You blew it up?" Rui screamed, and for a minute I thought she might start shaking me again. But instead, she got up in my face, pointing a finger inches from my eyes and waggling it at me. "They probably had Pokémon in there! Do you know how dangerous that was? You could have killed a bunch of Pokémon!"
"Not to mention people," I pointed out, half-jokingly, and Rui hit my arm.
"That's not funny! I thought you were trying to save the Pokémon, not blow them up!" Rui inches backwards, shaking her head and collapsing back on the bed. "I can't believe it. All this time I thought you were this noble guy who wanted to save those weird Pokémon. But you're just as bad as all those other guys… Miror B and them."
I furrowed my eyebrows, sitting up straighter and uncrossing my arms. "Hey, hey, hey… hold up a minute. I am trying to save the Shadow Pokémon. I completely disagree with Team Snagem's motives, and I will do everything I can to stop them. I can also guarantee that no Pokémon were hurt when I blew up the headquarters." Rui just rolled over, flopping onto her stomach. "Listen, I don't want anything bad to happen to those Pokémon, either."
Rui just hummed into the comforter. I didn't know why I cared that she was annoyed with me now, but it irked me a little. It probably only bothered me because admitting this meant that I was indirectly admitting that I needed her special ability to save the Pokémon—which meant that I needed her. Oh well. She didn't seem to care either way.
"You know," she finally said after a few minutes of silence. I was beginning to like it, but all good things had to come to an end. "Well… thanks for saving me."
I frowned, lowering my newspaper to look at her. She had sat back up on the bed and was staring at me, her eyes bright and her smile beaming. Well, she had gotten over her animosity towards me relatively quickly. Maybe she hadn't ever been mad at all. Maybe she was just a really annoying girl who liked to give me a hard time.
Maybe this would work out all right.
"You're welcome."
She stayed with me all the way to the end. Even though she promised that she would only stay with me for a little while, theoretically until we got to Eagun's house, she never left my side. I swore to myself that I would never let her get to me, never want her to stick around, but promises were always meant to be broken.
"Wes." Rui took my hand, watching the sky as Ho-oh passed over us. I found myself staring at her instead. "I guess it's finally over. You did it, Wes… you really did it. And you were so cool!" She squeezed my hand, finally moving her gaze to mine. She smiled, winking at me and giggling the same giggle that I once never wanted to hear.
It seemed like the world wanted to come talk to me and shake my hand and congratulate me on a job well done. Rui slipped away for a little while, talking to her grandfather while the police force and citizens of Orre talked to me. I wanted to retreat; though I wanted to defeat Cipher, I never wanted the attention. I just wanted peace.
It wasn't until Rui took my hand once again that I felt it. She came back over to me after talking with Eagun, slipped her hand into mine, and pulled me away from the people trying to talk to me. I didn't ask where she was bringing me, and I didn't complain. I just let her take control and lead the way out.
"Let's go home," she told me, and I nodded. I didn't know where home was, but I needed one all along.
"Hey, Rui…" I slowed to a stop at the foot of the hill of Agate Village, and she hovered close to me as I passed my P*DA to her. I could smell her perfume while standing this close; it reminded me of something sweet—like berries, perhaps. I had become well-acquainted with the smell, so perhaps it was more appropriate to say that berries reminded me of Rui. "Check out this e-mail I just got from that guy Dash from Phenac City."
Rui held the device in both hands, narrowing her eyes as she read over the words on the screen. "'I'm Dash from Phenac City. I'm just an ordinary citizen who happens to run around the town's fountain'," she read aloud, as though doing so might make it more believable. "'So what gives you the right to have your Pokémon attack me? You don't deserve any respect as a trainer. Shame on you!'" Rui shook her head. "What? Is he for real?"
"I'm more concerned as to how he got my e-mail…" I muttered, but Rui hit me. She tended to do that a lot, but I had grown used to it.
"Well, don't you think we should—you know—set this straight with the guy? Because, and correct me if I'm wrong, unless you've been traveling to Phenac City while I have been asleep, this isn't possible." Rui put her hands on her hips, still standing so close to me that there wasn't much room for her to do so. "But I know you're not that kind of guy."
I smirked. "Do you?"
"Oh, shut up, Wes." She smiled, passing the P*DA back to me. "You know you're a pretty good guy after all."
I didn't say anything in response to this—because I didn't want to let slip how I felt.
"This is my home!" Rui announced as we touched down in a small, rural village outside of Orre. I was unfamiliar with the terrain, but my motorbike handled it well. I got some strange looks while driving it on the way here, so they obviously didn't have anything like it. I didn't mind, and nor did Rui. But she rarely minded that stuff.
I glanced around at the houses surrounding a small square in the center of the village. "Which one?"
Rui pointed to one of the larger houses, and we walked towards it. She opened the door without a key, just walking right in. This was a lot different than what I was used to; everyone locked their doors where I grew up. But we strolled into her house without so much as a warning to whoever was inside.
"Hey, Dad!" Rui called, and a man came bouncing down the stairs. His hair was as bright as Rui's, though touched with gray, and he was clearly just as touchy-feely since he lifted Rui into a bone-crushing hug when he saw her. She laughed, hugging him back, and I just stood awkwardly beside the two of them until he noticed me.
"Hey, I saw you on the news once. Weren't you the one sending your Pokémon to attack people?" Rui's father demanded, and Rui waved her hands in front of his face.
"No, no, that was an imposter. Dad, this is Wes. Wes, this is my dad." She grabbed her dad's hand and my hand and forced them together, and her dad's eyes narrowed as we shook. "Dad, Wes doesn't have anywhere to stay…"
Her father's eyes bounced between us several times before he shook his head. "No. Nope. Absolutely not."
"Dad!"
"Rui…"
She opened her mouth to respond, but I cleared my throat. Here she was, the damsel in distress again. I knew exactly what her dad was thinking… and the fact that Rui was fighting back told me that she thought of me as a friend only. So, I would play hero one last time and rescue the poor damsel.
"It's all right," I assured her, patting her shoulder. Her dad didn't miss that move; his gaze followed my hand as I retracted it. "I can find my way. I'll see you around, all right? Thanks for all you've done, Rui."
I nodded at her dad, smiled once more at Rui, and then walked out of her house. I was just hopping into my motorbike when Rui came sprinting out of her house towards me. I started the engine, preparing to leave, but she jumped into the side cart before I could get moving. I turned off the ignition and put my hands in my lap.
"I'll find it with you. Your way," she said, standing up from the side cart and wrapping her arms around my neck. She touched my lips with hers, leaning her chest against mine, and I moved my hands along her hips. We merged as one for only a moment before she pulled away, only barely, her lips still moving along mine as she said, "I'll save you this time."
The role of the hero and the damsel in distress: it was predictable—and unwanted, at least in my story. But sometimes, in order to be a hero, you needed the damsel first.
Author's Note: All right, so this is the first of three requests that I finished. I realized while writing this that I totally love Wes because he's so badass and not stereotypical Pokémon hero. He's a boss, haha. I really want to replay Colosseum right now, but that requires having my GameCube up here. So, I have to wait until my break.
I should've added more in between Cipher's defeat and Pyrite Town there in the beginning, but it's literally been, like, years since I've played Colosseum, and I didn't feel like watching hours of walkthroughs. I watched a couple videos for reference, but that was about all I could handle, haha.
But yeah. This is for Draconasaurus, so I hope you enjoyed it! :)