Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon Special or Pokémon Adventures.
Fandom: Pokémon Special/Pokémon Adventures
Theme Word: Cinnamon
Character/s:Ruby, Nana, Coco, Ruru, Ruby's mom, Sapphire
Word Count: 2,301
Feedback: Please! Any concrit can help me improve!
Notes: Lots and lots and lots of line breaks. Well, I guess you can't expect anything less from a story made mostly entirely of memories.
hahAHAHAH. Ha. Give Meta cinnamon. She will warp it into Ruby's childhood life.
I don't understand myself, either. Sob.
After the Salamence incident, his father had left home, leaving his poor mother to fend for herself and her child. In fact, for a while, she had been too depressed to make anything, so Ruby took it upon himself to prepare the meals. He had learned a little bit of cooking from watching his mother (such as how to boil water and pour hot water into the little instant ramen cups, good boy), and after a while, he upgraded to more savory, healthier things.
Fixing meals, no matter how hastily or sloppily, made her smile, and that made Ruby smile. After all, if she smiled, she wouldn't cry.
However, his mother was always a strong individual, and she was up and taking over the housework in no time. Ruby decided to use most of his free time to help her, buying groceries or mopping the floor. He really didn't have anything else to do, since most of his life before was taken up by battling. He did it a lot more sparingly now, and never around people. These restrictions forced Ruby to spend his time on other things, but nothing he did made him anywhere near as passionate.
…Well, there was sewing. That came pretty close.
One day, around the end of the month, his mother suddenly stood up (nearly knocking over her toast and orange juice) and ran to the kitchen. Ruby, curious, followed her.
He saw her sitting in the middle of the kitchen, her back to him. Coming closer, he saw her gripping a jar in her hands. Even closer inspection revealed cinnamon.
At least once a month, his mother would make a batch of cinnamon buns for his father. They were always his favorite food, and he had once postponed a dinner appointment just to eat them in the comfort of his home.
Ruby heard a sob. He looked up from the jar, and was shocked to see his mother quietly crying.
Oh no! His frantic mind quickly spun around one thought: Stop her from crying. He quickly hugged her, whispering to her in hushed tones.
A minute or so later, she calmed down. Ruby, however, grew irritated. It all suddenly seemed so unfair. His father didn't have to leave. He could've stayed; then they wouldn't be in this mess. His mother wouldn't have had to be depressed. She wouldn't have to cry. She wouldn't cry over a stupid cinnamon jar. They would have been a happy, complete family. Maybe getting stronger would stop people from being sad in front of him. Who else better than a Gym Leader, his own dad, to help him, to guide him? Why did he leave them?!
Ruby glared at the jar, now laying abandoned onto the floor, and furiously kicked it.
The cinnamon jar rolled, speeding up, gaining momentum. As soon as it crashed into one of the walls, it broke, spilling spice and glass shards all over the floor.
Ignoring his mother's sharp cry, he ran up and started to crush the fragments with his bare feet. By the time his mother had removed the sobbing Ruby from the mess, the mixture of cinnamon, glass and blood had spread into the living room. Hearing the commotion, Ruby's Pokémon ran to the scene. Ruru stood by the doorway warily, his horn flashing brightly, while Coco anxiously pawed at the floor and Nana whimpered, sniffing Ruby's blood.
Still flailing, it took much longer than his mother for Ruby to calm down. It was a close call; none of the wounds were too deep, so no scars would be left. Sitting on his bed, wincing at the alcohol being rubbed on his soles, he finally whispered:
"Mom, are you mad at dad?"
She cringed, like she expected the question. After a moment of silence, she replied:
"People usually pay too much to dwell on the past."
That was the end of that conversation; Ruby mulled over her words long after she had tucked him in bed with a goodnight kiss. His six-year old brain could not understand the meaning behind her words. In the end, too tired to properly think, he slowly drifted off into slumber.
The next day, a piece from the news woke Ruby from his sleep.
"…and opening of the Contest Hall tomorrow night; many Coordinators from the Hoenn region will be gathering in Goldenrod City…"
Still blinking away the last dregs of sleep, he marched downstairs, ignoring the sharp protests of his feet. His mother was watching the news. A quick glance into the kitchen showed no evidence of the mess from last night.
"Mom, what was the TV talking about?" He asked. Startled, Ruby's mother shot up about a foot into the air and promptly started to berate him.
"Young man, what are you doing, standing up on those feet?! You could permanently damage them! Do you have any idea how lucky you were?!" And so on. Glad that his mother at least seemed to be normal, Ruby tuned her out and focused on the news. It was talking about Contests.
The more he heard, the more he was interested. A competition where the objective was to please the audience, to make them excited and happy? Ruby could appreciate something like that. He suddenly recalled the words his mother had spoken last night. Is this what she meant? If he could make her happy in a Contest, would she stop thinking about his dad? Maybe being so happy would drive away her sadness?
He suddenly wanted to participate in these Contests. He would win a bunch of them and dazzle people with his Pokémon. Then, maybe, his mom would stop being so depressed. Maybe, someday, he might even see that delicate girl in the audience, that beautiful girl whose innocence he had shattered, and his performance would heal her heart, even if by a little.
It wasn't perfect. But it was a start.
A sudden warmth at his side caught Ruby's attention. He glanced at his side to see Nana, snuggling up close to him. Soon after, Coco and Ruru joined up, and they were one big bundle now, just squirming and giggling as they rolled around.
As fun as that was, it reminded Ruby of one other thing he had to do.
Sneaking out of the house as quickly and quietly as he could, Ruby headed towards the usual spot he and his Pokémon trained in. Taking his father's last words (begrudgingly) to heart, Ruby had not suspended his training. There were many wild Pokémon in the forest in his backyard, and Ruby fought many of them with Coco, Nana and Ruru almost every night, under the cover of the dark. Tonight, however, was different.
"Ruru, Coco, Nana," he whispered to his Pokémon, "y'know I've been trying for a while to find a way to stop people, especially mommy, from crying, right?" They nodded an affirmative. "Well, today, there was a news piece about Contests. It's kind of cool, actually; no one gets hurt! All you have to do is look pretty, use pretty moves, and gen-rally be all-around pretty!"
Noticing the fumble of the long word, Ruru, Coco and Nana sweatdropped.
Ruby continued, his voice turning more serious. "…But, you see, this means you guys will work extra hard. Something like this needs more…" he trailed off for a moment, looking for the word, "…fanciness, y'know? It's not just about using the strongest attacks on the other Pokémon anymore. You have to perform so that a lot of people think of your moves as pretty!"
By this point, his voice had dropped to something barely audible: "…Sorry if you don't wanna do it, but can you guys and me, you know—"
Coco suddenly pounced on him, and Ruby almost yelped in surprise. As it was, the force of the jump made him fall to the ground. When he looked up, he saw all of them beaming; Coco especially, jumping up and down on his stomach.
He teared up, immediately thanking whatever God was up there that he'd been blessed with these amazing Pokémon. "Thanks, guys…"
A sudden question came to him, and he blurted it out without even thinking.
"Hey, do you guys want to keep battling, or just do Contests?"
The quick shift in mood said all that was needed to be said. He groaned, then shrugged. As long as no one saw him fight, that was all that mattered.
(Unbeknownst to him, that night, Ruby's mother peeked from the back door, sat on the comfiest chair she could find, and simply wondered about her son.)
The next day, Ruby dragged his mother to see the grand opening of the Contest Hall. There were a lot of people, and he almost lost his mother in the crowd, but despite the lack of comfort, Ruby found himself enjoying Contests very much. The Pokémon that were participating were very skilled, pulling tricks and turns effortlessly. He took notes on the Coordinators. He even held out his Pokéballs so his Pokémon could see the show.
Ruby's mother woke up the next morning to a disaster area in the bathroom, her son in the middle of the floor.
When he heard the door open, Ruby guiltily hid his mother's hairbrush and hair gel under the sink.
His Pokémon hid themselves in the bathtub, almost collapsing in there from lack of sleep.
Needlessly to say, Ruby spent most of his day scrubbing the floor and apologizing profusely to his mother and his Pokémon.
While passing a bakery, Ruby smelled the familiar, if unpleasant scent of cinnamon.
About a year ago, he started to hate cinnamon, like it was a representation of his father. No matter how many times he tried to forget about him, cinnamon would always bring the memories back.
Always the good memories, in fact. Never the bad.
He opened the door to the shop, an old-fashioned bell signaling his entrance. A pudgy, old man with a tattered chef's hat greeted him with a booming laugh. "What do you want, son?"
With no hesitation, he answered, "The cinnamon buns."
Ruby paid the man for the pastry and walked out. He ran to the National Park. After wandering for a while, he sat on a bench, crushed the buns, and sprinkled the crumbs into the air. Pidgey and Spearow flocked towards him immediately, eagerly pecking at the food.
He soon found a better word than pretty: beautiful. That was what he kept using from then on. Even if Nana participated in the Cool category, Ruru in the Intelligence category and Coco in the Cute category, they all had their own, natural beauty to them.
He could only imagine how beautiful a Pokémon for his Beauty category would be.
Some of his peers had mocked him for participating in Contests; Ruby ignored them. They simply did not understand the beauty of them. Every time he joined one, his mother would be in the stands, cheering him on. Her face, only then, lit up like the sun with pride and joy.
Ruby knew this was what he was aiming for since two years ago; to make people smile. To help them have a brighter day, to cheer them up.
He felt himself doing more good now then he had ever before. He knew, with all of his heart and mind, that this was much more beneficial than any battle could ever be.
This, however, did not stop him from enjoying a fight every once in a while.
Ruby looked back at his past and wasn't surprised he could clearly see his rocky path from an idealistic, young man into a teen with a cold, pragmatic heart.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Jolted from his thoughts, Ruby opened the front door.
Sapphire stood on the other side, carrying a bow-wrapped bag in her right hand.
"I-I just s-stopped by—" She cleared her throat, prompting a raised eyebrow from Ruby. "T-Th' point is, I just wanna wish ya a happy birthday! Take it an' be grateful!" She thrust the bag at Ruby. Catching it, he immediately recognized the scent wafting through the opening.
"…Cinnamon buns?"
"Y-Yeah, that's right! 'S something wrong?!" She looked slightly peeved at his expression.
Ruby wasn't listening. His mind whirred back to his memory of a kid, when he had broken a jar of cinnamon in anger:
"People usually pay too much to dwell on the past."
"H-Hey, say somethin'!" Sapphire yelled.
"…It smells good."
"Huh?"
"Your cinnamon buns," he replied, "they smell pretty good."
"Y-Yeah! They're pretty good tastin', too!" She jabbed a finger at him, fiery pride glowing in her eyes. "Ya better eat them all, 'cause I tried a million times to get 'em right!"
Ruby smirked. "Oh, you tried so hard just for me?"
"Tha's right!" That was not what Ruby was expecting. He stared at Sapphire.
"I know you're a prissy kid 'n all, but it's your birthday. No one deserves anythin' less than somethin' really good for things like that!" She exclaimed.
Ruby reached into the bag and tore off a piece of the bun. He ate it slowly, savoring the taste of the food. Sapphire watched him in earnest, waiting for an answer.
He swallowed. "…Yeah, that's pretty good!" He declared. Sapphire beamed full force, and Ruby knew right there that battling was something he could never give up on. The little girl from five years ago had grown up to be someone strong, independent, someone who thought, along with many others, that she had changed for the better.
If someone like Sapphire, wild and abrasive, could battle without hurting anyone, why couldn't he, provided a little caution?
After all, it was about time he stopped compromising.
I can't begin things, I can't end things, I can't pace my stories, I can't Ruby, I can't write…
Someone, please, help me…concrit is extremely appreciated!