A/N: I'm having a lot of fun so far, but I can't help but notice my right eye twitch every so often…
"Why the heck are are those two taking so long?" Ruby huffed, crossing his arms in irritation.
"Perhaps they found a nice spot to go stargazing, it does seem like a nice evening" Platina felt a cool breeze enter the cave, her flowing dark-blue hair moving along with it, and smiled.
Diamond stared blankly at the lady, not realizing it until Platina redirected her gaze towards him. Embarrassed, he quickly spun his head around and cleared his throat. "M-maybe they're lost?"
"Fat chance! Sapphire knows this place better than a I do the Celadon Department Store!"
Platina narrowed her eyes onto Ruby. "You seem to know quite a lot about Sapphire" She then, sat closer beside him. "I am quite interested to know how you both came to be" She placed her chin delicately on her palms, elbows resting on the table, ready to listen.
Ruby's cheeks reddened as he heard this, he quickly looked away and cleared his throat. "T-there is nothing between me and that… wild animal. Why would you even think such a thing?"
Diamond chuckled and eagerly looked at Ruby as he replied, "Well, you both stay in the same secret base which is only a secret to both of you, you just said she knows this forest really well which clearly shows how much you know her and you both have matching outfits…"
After saying a mouthful, Diamond stuffed his mouth with some potato chips he just opened up not too long ago. Platina's eyes widened and she gazed at Ruby, anticipating what he had to say.
The crimson-eyed boy obviously did not expect those words to come out of Diamond. Him, of all people! Platina simply nodded and said,
"I do say, that is quite a lot of evidence!"
Ruby was as red as his name! He plopped his hat down to cover his eyes and stuck his nose high up in the air. "W-well, we share a base because it was cheaper that way, she knows this place obviously because she's a wild child, a-and.. The outfits…"
"I believe you should come to terms with your feelings, Ruby. Obviously from the data my friend here had meticulously thought through, a situation wherein both of you are romantically connected can't be too far off"
Ruby just kept blinking at Platina, unable to think of anything to say. Diamond finished off a chip, licked his fingers, and explained.
"I think what Missy's trying to say is that, you're in denial, dude" Diamond placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him a small it's-alright-girls-are-pretty-tricky smile.
Ruby's cheeks were very red, with the heat following shortly. He rose up with both of his fists tightly closed and angrily told them off.
"LOOK, there is nothing going on between me and that gi-"
Before Ruby could finish his sentence, a bunch of wild Dustox flew from the trees, creating a loud, rustling sound followed by the loud buzzing they made with their wings.
Ruby's eyes narrowed, his piercing red orbs seemed to be still as if it were instinct. He hurried towards where his backpack was, followed by a few other things with great speed.
"W-wait, what's going on?" Diamond said, stumbling a bit while standing as his legs fell asleep throughout the whole thing.
Platina looked left and right, following Ruby's actions; "for a boy to claim his hatred for battles, his ability to sense and react to danger is incredible."
"Sapphire and Pearl might be in danger, we should hurry towards the sound!" Ruby looked at them for a second and ran towards the exit.
"Don't you think he might be over-reacting?" Diamond asked, as he tried to get ready as fast as he could.
"We know nothing of this forest 's dangers, and also-" Platina got her bag, fixed her bonnet nicely on her head and lead Diamond out to the exit. "You must know how one feels when someone he dearly loves is in peril. It brings out a lot of change in a person" She smiled at him after she said this, all Dia could do was look away as blood rushed to his cheeks.
"Seems like the bug pokemon are all…gone"
Pearl struggled as he tried moving his limbs one more time, but to no avail.
"I wonder what scared them all away" Sapphire sighed as she closed her eyes and tried to hear his heart beat through all the noise.
*Doki-doki-doki-doki*
"Ahaha, your heart's beating pretty darn fast!"
Pearl gritted his teeth as his cheeks burned up.
"W-why shouldn't it? I mean, look around you! We're in the middle of a god-forsaken forest, our bodies are paralyzed, and on top of that…"
"No, I'm on top of you. Aahaha!" Sapphire laughed even louder as Pearl helplessly lay there below her.
"I'm not usually the type to kill a good joke, but this IS NOT THE TIME to be making any!"
"T-then I hope those pokemon aren't the type to want to kill us…"
Sapphire peered towards the glowing eyes of a group of unknown pokemon that were making sounds in the bushes.
"H-hey, that wisecrack was… Not half bad, if I do say so myself…"
"Take your own advice Pearl and shut up…" The blue-eyed girl slowed her breathing as she tried to get a clearer view of what was making those noises. It was nighttime, so the only assistance her vision had was moonlight; which proved barely useful when stealthy pokemon are involved.
Pearl whispered, still looking up at the sky to avoid scaring himself to death. "W-what's o-out there?"
Sapphire sniffed the air a few times. "I can… Smell… Mightyena!" Her eyes widened as she realized who the predators were.
"Th-that's bad, isn't?"
"P-pretty much… I can take them on easily, but that was back when I was still able to goshdarn move my body, DARNIT" Sapphire gritted her teeth as she struggled once more in an attempt to revive her paralyzed body.
"Ah! I managed to move my knees!" Sapphire exclaimed.
Movement, for someone paralyzed, was like trying to move while wearing 25 layers of wet clothing, slow, cold and definitely not easy.
She struggled but to no avail as her main goal was to touch the button of her Blaziken's pokeball. "Damn! My legs managed to budge a bit but my shoulders are frozen stiff"
"W-wait, maybe I can move my arms-" Pearl struggled as well, his shoulders just refusing to give way. He was able to move his arm in one swift motion though after a bit, and managed to open one of his own pokeballs.
Both of them sighed in relief and smiled broadly at the shining light the ball produced, only to completely be crest-fallen at the sight of Chahiko, Pearl's Chatot.
"I think you just killed us, Pearl"
"W-wait, maybe I can manage to… No, it's no use! My arm can't even twitch anymore!" His limbs refused to move at all, along with Sapphire's. The Chatot looked around and then saw the sorry state of his master. It chuckled a bit, before responding to the angry screams Pearl directed towards the bird-pokemon.
Pearl looked desperately at his only savior, as he uttered carefully:
"Help; paralyzed; wild Mightyena-"
"Ruby's a big wuss"
The Chatot nodded and flew away, carrying the message both of them left with it.
A vane popped out of Pearl's forehead as he shot his torso up and screamed at her. "How could you manipulate our only means of being saved by adding Ruby's a big wuss? Did it even OCCUR to you that Chahiko has a limited memo-"
He felt his arms able to move again, he was in a sitting position, with Sapphire still in his lap.
"-ry… Wow! Seems like my paralysis is all gone!"
"Congrats to you, Pearl. Now, mind getting' us both outta here?"
"Alright already, sheesh"
Pearl scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, before gently swooping his arms under the girl and carrying her safely away from the wild pokemon. Sapphire blushed as she was carried like a princess being saved by a hero; After all, she was usually the one doing the saving.
"Y'know, I'd probably be the one saving you if my paralysis healed sooner… I'd probably run faster too" Her blue eyes looked away as her arms swayed loosely, following the directions Pearl ran toward.
"Yeah well, you didn't heal sooner. So there" He ran towards a clear area, with plenty of moonlight. It was quiet and calm, with the sound of a small spring flowing gently towards a lake, Illumise and Volbeat flew around the area with their firefly-like glow.
White flowers seemed to give off a faint light as the moonlight reflected on their soft petals. Who knew such a place existed in a middle of a jungle?
He gently placed her on a soft patch of flowers, before stretching his arms out. "Whew! What a close call."
Sapphire's eyes danced around, following every petal, vine and leaf that flew across the beautiful oasis. "I've never seen this place before…"
Pearl heard her voice, soon after, realized that he was in the middle of a moonlit-flower paradise. Like they had been brought into an entirely different region!
"…Neither have I"
Ruby sprinted towards the direction he heard the sound come from.
Diamond and Platina struggled to keep to pace, slowing down here and there to catch breath.
"S-slow down, Ruby… Me and Missy can't… Keep up"
"I could've sworn the Dustox flew away from this area… Right here"
After a few more rounds of checking, Ruby released his Castform and ordered it to use Sunny Day.
"Popo, shine some light on this area, will you?" All the while, the crimson-eyed boy kept a stern and determined look, which surprised his other two companions.
The Castform inhaled deeply, then managed to morph itself into a jelly-like, sun-shaped, yellow pokemon, flying across the small area with ease; and wherever it went, a hint of sunshine followed which had enabled Ruby to look around for clues.
Platina and Diamond followed the lead, as hey looked at the ground closely for any sign of Sapphire or Pearl.
"H-hey, I found something!" Diamond exclaimed, flailing his arms wildly while pointing at a certain spot on the dirt.
Ruby and Platina dashed towards him, looking closely at the spot shortly after.
"Looks an outline of Pearl's body. You can still see the spiky sides his hair had embedded on the ground, along with a few strands of blonde hair" Platina expertly deduced, exercising skills that had been passed on from generation to generation within her Berlitz Clan.
"Any sign of Sapphire?" Ruby urgently questioned.
Platina and Diamond took it upon themselves to take an even closer look, seeing as Ruby had a hard time even seeing properly. (He might have forgotten his glasses at the base!)
"N-no… I don't see any fragment of anything that might have belonged to her…" The lady redundantly said.
"Does she have a pokegear, Ruby? Pearl left his with me so calling him won't do us any good"
Ruby shook his head, paused, and continued looking.
"Judging from the deepness of the area Pearl had lay down on, they might have been stuck her for more than 20 minutes…" The lady added to her observation.
Diamond stood up and scratched his head. "But what would make Pearl wanna lay in the dirt for that long?"
Ruby smelled a hint of Dustox trickery in the air.
"He must've been paralyzed." Ruby expertly concluded, still quite serious about the ordeal.
Platina's eyes widened as she smacked her palm against her forehead.
"Precisely! Exactly why his body had formed that sort of mark on the ground; it also explains the flock of Dustox that had escaped earlier"
Platina and Diamond quickly followed Ruby, seeing as he knew the forest better than either of them. He looked around once more, and retrieved his Popo back into its pokeball.
"Well, Ruby-ole'-pal… Where could they have gone?"
Ruby closed his eyes, then looked at Diamond and Platina.
"Sapphire would've most likely saved that Pearl-friend of yours. Either they're back in the base, or stuck somewhere out here."
Ruby paused for a moment to think, then continued.
"Alright. Ms. Berlitz and Diamond, you both should return to the base in case they've gone back.
It also lessens the risk of you both losing your way again. I'll keep looking, I'll call your pokegears if anything comes up"
The crimson-eyed boy nodded at the pair, clicked his shoes and dashed at an insane speed away from them, smoke trailing his path.
"I've got one question, Missy"
"And what would that be, Dia?"
Diamond coughed and scratched his head.
"Do you have any idea how to get back to the base?"
...
"Not at all"
A/N: That was so fun to write! Can't believe I finished right when the clock striked midnight.
Well, please remember to review, it boosts me to continue!