A/N: Wow. I really can't believe I made it this far. I can't believe I'm still ALIVEEEEEE. Other than that, I have to thank everyone for their earnest reviews! Really, it's reviews like what I just got that makes me have the energy to keep this going and remain on FF. Thank you for your time to read my feeble piece of work, to tolerate my ongoing grammatical errors, and for reviewing! But best of all I want announce…I'M SO HAPPY TO BE OUT OF THE HELLHOLE I CALL SCHOOL.
Extra note: I'm gonna try to be a bit speedier with updates, but I can't promise anything. In July, like around the second week, I'm going to be gone for about a week and a half. I have no idea whether or not I'm going to have access to the interwebz. Regardless I was falling into the brink of a full-on writer's block…O BOI. ._.
Special thanks: -Perpetual Dreams- I'll never understand how you can deal with me :'D You are just absolutely amazing. :* Srsly, I can't even begin how grateful I am for you to be checking my mistakes because I sure as hell ain't good enough to do it good. HOLLA GRL, I'M WITH YOU ALL THE WAII TOO.
Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon, the characters, or music/lyrics. 'Kay?
Chapter 9
︵
Everytime I see your smile
it makes my heart beat fast
And though it's much too soon to tell
I'm hoping this will last
x./If the moon fell down tonight - Dear Juliet\.x
The cottage inside screamed an interior decorating style of "sugar, spice, and everything nice" from bright pink doilies adorning the small tables holding a tray assortment of cookies, handy pokémon treats, and ceramic bowls filled with an assortment of peppermint candies and dark chocolate truffles wrapped in vibrant foil paper. Around the room were several pokémon fanatics interacting with their partners; others were sitting casually on the equally pink variant sofa. Several of the pokémon joined their owner by sleeping either beside or on their trainer's lap. Ruby's pokémon caught sight of the pokémon treats, quickly abandoning their position following the trainer and more enthusiastic to eat rather than idly waiting. Like a weight lifted off his shoulders, Ruby could feel the tension lessen upon entering the cottage—he will not go without admitting the abnormal style of the cottage, especially the portraits of pokémon hanging on the wall posing in all their beautiful glory—he had to muffle his laughter over the speakers playing a chord of classical musical for scenery sake.
Despite all the pink, Ruby situated himself on the overplushed sofa, grinning at the cup of tea a club member beside him offered. Such a small tea cup, its handle encrusted with beady jewels and a yellow protrusion securing the beads – he titled his head, a random realization over the protrusion that decorated the cup was in the shape of a tauros's tail. Amused by the thought, Ruby gingerly took the first sips from the offered drink. Blinking in surprise, he had an expectation of bitter tea most adults drink; his taste buds were invaded with a perfect combination of sitrus and pecha berry: a sweetness he could barely describe, but the taste carried no traces of bitterness. Chairman, you might be the only person with good taste.
The Chairman offered the bowl of candy at an angle where the truffles were more exposed than the peppermint candies. Ruby would scoff at anyone who would decline chocolate; a pure ambrosia like chocolate is meant to be indulged. Setting the cup down, the scarlet eyes focused on the blue foil, unraveling a small round truffle. Biting inside the gooey center gave him the temptation to lick off the remaining traces of chocolate on his fingers. The Chairman laughed, as if subtly saying, "Eat to your heart's content." Honestly, who was Ruby to decline such an offer? In the back of his mind he was grateful the Chairman had him comfortable enough before he would rant away – and perhaps, Ruby mused, he could have someone else tracking Norman's steps over his search.
"So," Ruby popped another truffle in his mouth, a nervous smile overcoming his disposition, "how do I start?"
The Chairman helped himself to a tea biscuit. "What brings you here?"
"The contest hall," Ruby grabbed a handful of chocolate truffles. "I want to win a ribbon."
The Chairman sipped on his glass of tea, nodding his head in acknowledgement, "Is that so? Is it only for a ribbon?"
Ruby eyes stared the small elderly man down. He paused thoughtfully before answering, "You're good. It's not because I just want a ribbon, it-it's because…"
The Chairman noticed the child's lips twitching downwards in a pensive frown; he had the foggiest idea based on the facial expression as well as the small facial similarity. "You…are Norman's missing son, Ruby, I presume."
Ruby's eyes widened, the cup he held in his clasped visibly shook from the shudder running through his body. He wondered why he allowed himself to easily think the Chairman could keep everything secretive; there was a fine line between confidentially and reporting the finding of a gym leader's—Norman no less, he intimidated everyone in the League with his short responses, mild temperament, and his unforgiving frown—missing child.
Slowly Ruby shook his head, earning a raspy chuckle from the Chairman's end.
"Why so alarmed? Everything said here stays here!" the Chairman assured.
Steven switched tactics on his pokémon choice, after weighing the multiple water pokémon on the offense for Aqua's side, his Aggron would receive far too much damage by the time he found the root of Aqua's misconduct in the museum. Metagross cast psychic on the opposing pokémon, sending the creatures flying to their trainer's direction to temporarily suspend the incoming attacks from the other grunts. Cradily sapped the energy of every spotted water pokémon, successfully deflecting the attacks directed at the innocent victims trembling around the corners or concealed behind the museum's artifacts. His blue eyes locked on the staircase to the second floor, he would advance forward with his other pokémon if the grunts weren't attempting to barricade the only entrance with their snarling mightyena baring their sharp canine teeth.
Sparing a wayward glance to his steel arachnid-like pokémon, he reasoned using earthquake all at once but the museum's small space could destroy the artifacts, if not the building will collapse upon everyone: he could never resort to such a tactic if there was a possibility of a casualty, he could never bear the guilt. The shock an earthquake attack could easily lead outside the museum's radius; without doubt Ruby would be alert and search the cause: there was no better assumption the cause would be the former champion's pokémon considering all his pokémon are capable learning earthquake. The last thing he needed to worry about is endangering Ruby once again with Team Aqua, without much effort they could have enough team power to scoop up one child for hostage. Norman would mutilate me, Steven gulped.
A blood-curling shriek brought him back to his senses, his head whipped in the direction of the scream from a teenager trembling in place, her arms crossed in the air from the mightyena rushing in her direction. Metagross was too occupied concentrating its psychic attack on the opposing foes it had no time to react to its trainer hasty sprint; his arms shielded the raven haired teenager from the maws of the black hound, its razor sharp teeth penetrated deep into Steven's suit and into the skin, beady red blood tinted mightyena's yellowish fangs. Steven cringed; it took every cell in his body to remain completely motionless, patiently waiting for the mightyena to relax its jaw to lessen the pain. Its red eyes widened considerably as it yelped, ripping off a piece of his suit and the white button down shirt he wore underneath. The yelp it screeched however dropped the cloth to the floor; the mightyena ran madly in circles over the overwhelming pain of the grayish-black acid simmering its tail.
Cradily was enraged enough to hazardously spout shots of acid around the museum, the grunts, and the mightyena that attacked its trainer. It stopped attacking mindlessly after being roared by Metagross, the narrowed eyes from the metallic arachnid lessened the fuming anger. Steven pried himself away from the teenager and returned to his pokémon side, chuckling he inspected his wound without much worry. "Shit," he said casually, "it hurts." He blew a puff of air on the bloody puncture wounds to distract the burning sensation, he groaned and shook his hand violently, "Ow, ow, ow! Arceus this hurts!" Turning his back, he allowed his pokémon to resume pummeling the Aqua grunt's pokémon while he could concentrate on his wound. A quick realization struck him, Well damn, there goes my suit. Sighing in disappointment to the destroyed fabric, Steven cursed under his breath.
Metagross temporarily left the remaining pokémon to Cradily to take it trainers side, "'Gross?" 'Are you alright?'
Steven exposed the torn piece of his suit, "It ripped! Now I have to wait for the next shipment! This is terrible…" he lamented with an equally saddened grimace.
Metagross rolled its eyes. "'Meta…gross…" 'That…Cradily, the fool is fine. I cannot even—' Sighing to Steven's rare stupidity, Metagross resumed its task defeating the grunt's pokémon.
The raven haired teenager blew a bubble, amused she securely pocketed away the discarded bloodied cloth in a small plastic baggie. After her bubble popped her fingers traced towards the switch on her earpiece, a distorted static eventually connected her to a line, "It's Marge."
"He sounds like…quite the father," the Chairman concealed his tone of sarcasm by clearing his throat without a loud and unnecessary cough, although Ruby felt at ease detailing every occurrence—he kept his relationship to Wally a secret, his cheeks would burn a crimson red if he so easily spilled every morsel of his life.
Ruby eyed the leftover truffles nesting besides the peppermint candies, through a self-conscious act he touched his cheeks, his fingers running down the skin for bumps. He seen the terrible cases of acne outbreak while he lived in Johto, considering the more advanced industrialization of Johto to Hoenn there was less of a production of factories producing the chocolate and expanding newly fast-food chains from the rapid demand of moo-moo milk and eatery.
"Rest easy, Norman would have no reason to contact our little club. I have no reason to contact him!"
Ruby earnestly perked a smile, "Thank you."
The Chairman cleared his throat. "So will you be participating in Slateport contest? The contest hall is still accepting last minute participants."
Ruby brought the cup to his mouth before nodding; the Chairman eagerly clapped his hands. "I'll call in for you! The contest begins at nine sharp; within these two days you should finish any last minute preparations for your lovely little darlings!"
He almost spluttered his drink into the air, in place he chugged down the hot liquid and violently coughed to regain the proper air flow. Two days? This entire voyage almost made me miss the contest completely! Ruby frantically searched the room with his eyes as if expecting the answers will be clearly found in the clutter of portraits and heart-themed decorations. The Chairman silently scampered to a closet after observing the familiar expression of frantic coordinators, unhooking the lock a clutter of pokémon outfits cramped within tumbled to the floor.
The Chairman pushed aside the outfits that nearly buried him under frills, glitters, and feathery fluff. "Ruby, eyes here!"
Ruby returned his attention to the Chairman; it took a brief second to process the clutter of trendy pokémon outfits cramped within the confides of an embarrassingly small closet. His heart skipped a beat as the scruffy man allowed to take as many pieces as he pleased and create them into newer outfits, by far his imagination ran wild by the unlimited possibilities by the materials on the outfits to customize for his own.
"Can I…really?"
The Chairman nodded. Ruby jumped over the sofa, ransacked the closet, and made short but excited commentary on the material.
Steven observed the second floor with widened eyes; he expected the floor the be teeming with grunts and pokémon alike to the first floor: the entire area downstairs have been left with tracks of pokémon prints and blasts of water, whether or not he might have to pay for the reparations is beyond him. He mounted off his Metagross, his expression fell as he came to realization of the uncomfortable wetness around his ankles. He knew it was tedious to be overwhelmed by his soaked nylon red socks as well as his getting ruined by Team Aqua's wild hounds. Moodily narrowing his eyes at Metagross—of course Metagross will never understand his childish woes, why bother?—Steven returned his attention to the eerily quiet second floor. The exhibits detailed the pioneering of submarines to several modern replicas of Slateport's rich history in the creations of ships and future models for upcoming projects.
Steven was left questioning Team Aqua's interference in the museum for the first floor instead of the entire museum; down below possessed nothing of high value. His eyes scanned the area, neither this floor could possibly give Team Aqua reason to abruptly harm Slateport's citizens; curiously he walked further to inspect the rest of the museum hidden by the structural panes that concealed several exhibits almost entirely. His blue irises wandered, a speck of brown caught his attention—
"Captain Stern?"
The brunette was concentrated heavily on exhibit; hearing his name called had him turn on his heel. A welcoming smile followed, "Oh, Steven, what brings you here?"
He hasn't realized Team Aqua's presence downstairs? "Err…delivery?"
Stern blinked, the sight of the package labeled with a DEVON imprint had his smile rejoiced with flare. "The parts!" he commented excitedly, "This is great! Thank you! With this I could prepare the expedition!"
Steven nodded in acknowledgement as Stern rambled eagerly about the upcoming maiden voyage of the Submarine Explorer 1 to travel route 128's underwater caverns, his eyes drifted towards his Metagross ferociously growling at the stairs. The brief moment Steven almost thought his Metagross has completely lost its sanity, a pack of daring mightyena were pounding on the metallic creature; not far behind, two Aqua grunts circled around the battling pokémon to scan the area for their own priority.
The two grunts exchanged a few inaudible words with one another. One of the grunts approached forward, an arrogant smirk playing his expression, a black gloved drawn out waiting. "Our boss wants those parts," the grunt curled his finger in a hook, repeatedly moving to beckon Stern or Steven to approach, "so give it here."
Steven's eyes dangerously narrowed, he whispered to the flabbergasted Captain to securely find safety amongst the exhibits, behind the grunts he could see Metagross struggling with speedy hounds promptly leaping away from its sturdy legs—Metagross was never the best choice amongst pokémon in close combat that had a type resistance against its psychic abilities; without the use of earthquake Metagross was left vulnerable, enduring one attack after another from the dark elemental hounds. Metagross' large red eyes stole a glance at its worried trainer, This is nothing!
Metagross' jaws crunched down on one of the unsuspecting mightyena's tail; the black creature snarled in pain, its canine teeth weakly tried to gnaw at the metallic legs to have its tail released from the powerful maws. The female grunt left on the sidelines curiously drew her attention at the commotion; her jaw left hanging ajar as the mightyena was spun in the air like a rag doll before violently thrown across the room into the back of the arrogant grunt member. Steven blinked at the spectacle, unsure whether to be alarmed or highly proud of his pokémon.
The grunt sprawled on the floor groaned, he used his elbow to prop the weight of his own and the fainted mightyena lying motionless on his back, "Let it never be said…urgh…I didn't give you a chance…" he craned his neck to the female grunt, "Flood this place for the carvanha!" the grunt barked.
Metagross and Steven simultaneously gawked at the two Aqua grunts. Flood…?
Marge nonchalantly chewed on her bubblegum, her black orbs gazing the stream of water pouring down the stairs in a steady flow; seeing the grunts exhausted from being attacked upon impact from Cradily left them exhausted to budge from their position that left them sprawled on the floor or rather leaning on the corner of the room with their fainted pokémon near their side. The pace of the water flow rapidly increased; within four minutes the water reached close to her knees, and as she ripped her gaze away from the grunts fishing a pokéball out of their belt she took the opportunity to jump over the receptionist desk.
This time I'm not sticking around, Marge thought. She knew Aqua's tactic when cornered; it was a cheap tactic that left her and her partner in an onset of unnecessary trouble and the new water routes were quick to produce a set of wailmers. Assuming at least one grunt had such a team, given a few extra minutes, the museum could flood entirely. Sneaking past the double doors, Marge seethed at the familiar sight of the yellow dorsal fins; she bolted the doors behind her. Good luck, Stone, she hummed bemusedly. It'll be one less pest to worry about.
"So…any reason I hadda get a basket of berries?"
Her partner, Mitch, was a laughable sight awkwardly clutching a ribbon basket of berries in comparison to his husky appearance. Without a word she yanked the basket from his hand. The berries appeared very edible despite the poor quality; the mulch used had not let the fruit advance for their renowned tender taste. Not a single soul would ever be capable of detailing the quality of berries, the cultivating care that every berry needed for their unique nectar to be at its finest. She shook her head rigorously. Those were the old days. Get over it.
"Marge? Hellooo?" Mitch waved his hand in her face, poorly trying to recapture her attention. Marge swatted his hand away as her reminiscent childhood days were immediately cut short; scowling at her partner she turned away from him.
The cottage door swung open, Ruby waved farewell to the Chairman as he departed in the direction of the Center – his pokémon tucked away in their pokéballs
"Wait here, I have one more left to do in Slateport."
Mitch shrugged his shoulder, "Hurry it up. Boss man wants us to devise the plan to snag the meteorite. The gym leaders have been crawling around Meteor Falls like—"
Completely disregarding her partner's sentence, she cleared her throat in an attempt to sound like a gentle lady as much as it pained her; she bit down the urge to curse under her breath from the townspeople shoving her aside in a panicked hoard from the awareness of Team Aqua's presence. Stifling a laugh at the absent cluelessness Ruby possessed compared to the town, it plunged her heart deeply of the peaceful life she wasted in exchange for a position in Team Magma. Marge gently tapped on Ruby's shoulder, her hands pushing forward, offering the basket.
"Would you like these berries? They're great for pokéblocks," she added sweetly. This better be worth it.
Beautiful. From surfing to this.
Steven nervously struggled against the frozen bonds trapping his ankles from a school of fearsome carvanha; their predatorial instincts caused the fish pokémon to slowly circle around the former champion, and to one another they vocalized grunts anticipating a fresh prey. Throughout the havoc the female grunt's wailmer used ice beam at his ankles and hands; he could barely fit his frozen hand inside his pockets to reach for a pokéball. From the background, the swarm of carvanha covered Metagross's body entirely.
Metagross would twitch occasionally to toss aside the carvanha munching on its exterior; despite being his strongest and reliable childhood pokémon partner, Metagross could only withstand so much damage. Steven assumed Cradily must have fainted or passed out from exhaustion. Metagross was weakening under the weight and force of the carvanha; he was surrounded by fishes known for their infamous bite and craving for fresh food. It was all a futile effort as he tried to lift his legs from the cold bonds; the icicles formed around his ankles had pricked his skin throughout his fruitless struggle.
The grunt spun a pokéball on his forefinger, "We could have avoided this, y'know?"
A trail of carvanha passed Steven to circle around Stern trembling in a corner, the package clutched tightly to his chest.
"You're lucky you're not up against our admins; they are way tougher than what we're capable!" The grunt sighed in disappointment, "Our boss Archie considered you a threat? What a joke."
The female grunt stepped up, "Let's wrap this up. Attack, carvanha!"
The school of carvanha echoed a battle cry in unison, they produced their weight in the strength of their fin to leap in the air; their menacing sharp jaws opened to strike and maul the defenseless former champion. Steven clenched his eyes shut, readily prepared for the maws of carvanha to sink down into his skin; whether or not he would live through the attack was constantly plaguing the last of his thoughts. Going through the worst case scenarios of last apologies, Steven daringly open his eyes from the agonizingly long wait.
The carvanha were malicious for their intent to quickly crunch down on their prey; Steven assumed he would already be experiencing the worst pain in his life in less than three seconds. Aggron escaped from its ball, the shine on its tail dying down from an iron tail whipped against several fainted carvanha thrown across the room. Aggron growled at the remaining swarm, opening its jaw projected a bright spherical form of concentrated energy facing the direction of violent fish creatures.
Steven panicked, "N-No! Aggron! Don't use hype—"
It's that girl from the beach…
Ruby accepted the basket; he engaged small talk with Marge on the topic of pokéblocks. Marge found herself swaying away from her objective and offered advice on the mixtures of berries that have the best enhancements; she found herself laughing at the sudden change in his party's appearance after Marshtomp joined awkwardly into Ruby's elegant group.
"It's fine, I got use to it. Really though, thanks for the berr—"
A beam struck out of the museum; water streamed from the hole created that blasted a large quantity of carvanha and two wailmers. Their mid air suspension dropped several down to the ground, others landed on the patches of flowers adorning the rims of houses.
Marge and Ruby stared at the destruction absentmindedly.
"I think I'll be going now…" Marge piped.
Ruby waved her farewell; he shook his head to avoid his judgment to inspect the museum. Walk away, Ruby, walk away and pretend you didn't see anything. Steven went in there; he must have got out while I was inside the cottage. Yeah, that's right…
"…hyper beam…" Steven finished pathetically. He hung his head low in disbelief.
If I knew this would have happen, I would have used earthquake sooner.
Metagross shook off the carvanha hit by the impact of hyper beam – they remained safe by clamping their jaws on its blunt joints. Although visible scratches covered its blue body, it reassured Steven of its overall condition with a soft grunt. The two Aqua grunts backed away defensively, avoiding the occasional carvanha that flew in their direction from Aggron's iron tail.
"I ask for some parts, not a scene."
All eyes turned towards the speaker. Archie nudged away the fainted carvanha with the tip of his boot, his face scrunched up in repulsion to the disarray conducted by his underlings. The glint in Archie's eyes was played with an endless amount of amusement as his sight was connected with the glory of the former champion of Hoenn being trapped within ice; a hardy chuckle Archie could barely contain escaped his lips. The man's laughter slowly died down—Steven sighed in reassurance, the mockery displayed in Archie's boasting laughter made something inside almost snap at the Aqua boss—Aggron's claws glowed a silvery-white aura, essentially threatening to injure Archie with metal claw if he dared to advance forward .
Archie pulled his hands up defensively and jestingly, "Protective, aren't we?"
The blunette absently shrugged, "From here on your safety is beyond my control. Test my Aggron's patience, I dare you." Steven said darkly, the momentary pause let the perky grin on Archie's face twitch downwards.
Archie backed down reluctantly; subtly he ordered the two speechless grunts to depart first. "You win for now…but we will expand the sea!"
Aggron broke the frozen bonds around Steven's ankle with the swift impact of its iron tail attack; plainly he shook his ankles to brush aside the numbing sensation around his toes.
"Keep playing hero, Stone; I'll make sure you regret it dearly." Archie cast Steven a final wayward stare before departing down the flight of stairs with his squad of Aqua grunts.
Comically after Steven confirmed Stern's safety, Aggron threw its trainer over its shoulder and proceeded to descend down the stairs with Metagross quickly following suit, its red eyes contently observing Steven having a fit over being pokémon-handled – Cradily was safely tucked away back inside its pokéball.
'He is still quite the raging handful…' Metagross blatantly remarked.
Aggron rolled its eyes, 'You're telling me. Same foolishness, different day.'
"Guys…I can walk…"
Both Metagross and Aggron disregarded his complaints.
By a stroke of luck, Ruby received the keys to the last available room in the Center; considering the upcoming contest had a set of limited presentations throughout the region, contest events were scarce so townsfolk and travelers would make the trip to witness the event. Regulations in the contest halls frequently change in the span of few years for different regions, the integration of the events traveled to Johto in his last years living there: Johto had more contest events in a year than Hoenn ever had: opportunity was essentially everything. The time limit of forty-two hours left him uneasy; the clothes racked on his arm, the basket in his other hand – Ruby was questioning whether he could have his preparations accounted for before the deadline. Inside the Center had an abundant amount of trainers, travelers, the injured…it came to no surprise the line for treating pokémon was agonizingly long.
To calm his stress Ruby made a beeline around grumbling trainers to the snack machine. In other scenarios, he would search for real fool instead of falling into the temptation for salty snacks the vending machine offered. The chocolate truffles temporarily satisfied his sweet tooth but as a trainer-coordinator as the rest of the Hoenn region…he had so little pokémon dollars it was pitiful. Retrieving the bag from the vending machine, Ruby spun in his heel to fetch the items he momentarily left on a chair. The basket clung to his wrist, the clothes were thrown back on his arm, slowly the scarlet eyed casually popped the snack in his mouth—
His expression fell as the automatic doors to the Center opened; others stared as much as he did witnessing a grown man lying on an Aggron's shoulder and a bored Metagross following behind. Those who paid attention to the sight drifted back to their own business; Ruby hesitantly approached the pokémon from behind.
Steven's groaning was cut short; sheepishly he waved at Ruby with his still frozen hand, "Hey there, Ruby. What floor is our room?"
Ruby's eyes twitched, "Second floor…room fifty…why are you…" The child briefly flicked his eyes at his own hands, shivered, and looked back at Steven. "And your hands…? Steven, what the hell were you doing?"
Metagross nudged Ruby with its head; it dropped its weight to the floor to gesture to the child to situate itself on its body. Ruby blinked, whispered a 'thank you,' and awkwardly sat on the center of the metallic arachnid's head. The hallways were wide enough for Aggron and Metagross to freely move about; the elevator could never withstand the weight of all four—nor could they accommodate the space for a wide Metagross and heavy Aggron—eventually Metagross used its psychic abilities to bring all four members to the second floor. Ruby stared the flight of stairs that were also available. Who am I kidding? Everyone likes the short way.
Ruby found it oddly comfortable sitting on Metagross; it was not exactly luxurious as a plushed cushion but it was enough for Ruby to lie on. "Metagross, want a snack? I'm pretty sure it's edible for pokémon too," he offered by waving the bag.
Steven slyly smirked, "Continue eating, Ruby. Big, mean, and grumpy only likes pokémon brand food."
Metagross scoffed, 'Mean? Grumpy? And I am not particular with my food!'
Aggron mused on, 'Oh Steven, you couldn't be any more right!'
Ruby was lost to the interactions shared between Metagross and Aggron, shrugging his shoulders he casually munched on his snacks.
"Later we'll get you to Nurse Joy, though the potion should remedy most of your injuries. Get some rest, you too Aggron." Ruby explained. He was told Cradily would require Joy's help by Steven. The two steel type pokémon took up a corner to rest—Steven offered to return them inside their pokéballs. Both creatures gave him a look—Ruby discarded the potion before returning to Steven's side. He inspected the ice on the blunette's hands, the clear crystal revealed patches of white discoloration around the tips of the fingers.
"At least you got a minor frostbite. If this kept on for hours, your fingers could have gotten black and gross," Ruby's brows knit together as he splashed hot water on a rag, wiping away the drippings around Steven's wrist. Removing several shards of ice embedded inside the skin gave Ruby the most difficulty; his fingers bleed from the pointed icicles pricking his skin. Aggron could remove the frozen bond from Steven's hands with metal claw. The pokémon refused to do so because its powers could penetrate the ice easily; it could also ultimately crush Steven's hands in the process.
"Ruby, I'm hungry…" Steven complained. Rapidly he was growing bored watching the ice melt away from his hands. When his patience ran thin his appetite intensified. "My wallet is my pocket. Get me food please?"
Ruby sighed, "I'll get you noodles. You need something warm." Fetching the wallet, the child stepped out.
Sure enough, Steven had never intently watch ice melt like he did now; he could not bring himself to disturb his pokémon's sleep for his boredom and without much of an option, he waited for Ruby's return. He kicked away his shoes, allowing his ice cold toes to wiggle in the fresh air flowing from the open window; silently he prayed his toes did not suffer any discoloration: the nightmare of having black toes falling off was definitely not an attractive sight. The ice surrounding his hands did not melt far enough to have the perfect point to punch in the buttons of the television remote; truthfully being surrounded by the little amount of water in the museum reminded him of his surfing incident with Brawly.
Steven paled, Never. Again. Looking at the basin his hands was submerged in, the once clear water was hazing in a familiar red tint. Steven raised his wrist to inspect the wound the mightyena left. Oh now you start bleeding again.
"Oh, Brendan, you're here."
…I just realized he weaseled his way out of my question last time. Who's Brendan?
Ruby anti-climatically entered the room with a large bowl of warm ramen noodles, he failed to notice Steven's gaze as he shut the door behind him with the heel of his foot. Briefly, he hovered over Steven to inspect the water. Upon finding the red discoloration, Ruby placed the bowl of soup beside the former champion to depart inside the bathroom to refill the water basin. Once Ruby returned to place Steven's frozen hands inside the newer basin of water, he began twirling the fork around the noodles.
Steven chuckled, "Boy, what would I do without you?"
The steam covered the coordinator's blushing face; Ruby opened his mouth but closed it when the words were caught in his throat. He could never admit it aloud: having Steven appreciate his company really had something inside him giddy. He needed the moment more than ever after listening to Briney's story of the relationship Steven had with Wallace. He enjoyed having the one he adored so much having to rely on him. Ruby decided to hold his questions after Steven properly ate – a budding smile overcame his features blowing away the steam from the noodles; it was hard enough to keep control of his control when Steven opened him mouth to be fed.
Ruby felt overly conscious if his heartbeat could be heard; it was already hammering in his ears. There was a certain excitement when he was granted the opportunity to wipe away the running soup based fluid that dribbled from either side of Steven's mouth. The heat spread all around Ruby's face; he could barely find a plausible excuse to leave Steven alone for more than five minutes or until his face regained its natural cream white skin tone.
Drawing in a sharp breathe of air, Ruby set the bowl of food aside.
"Steven…there's something I…want to say. I think…"
Metagross and Aggron pried an eye open.
Steven slurped at the noodle drooping from his mouth. "Who's Brendan?" he asked innocently.
Metagross and Aggron closed their eyes once again.
A pause rolled by.
"Feed yourself," Ruby snapped. He tried to sound angry. If anything he was bursting in laughter on the inside how the former champion unintentionally ruined the mood for him.
"No, please! I'm still hungry and…" he lifted his hands, "…and this ice hasn't melted off yet! I'm starting to feel my fingers. Arceus, it itches and hurts."
Ruby shrugged, "Feel the wrath of being frostbitten; you totally deserve it."
Turning his back at Steven, Ruby giggled silently. Yeah, this definitely wasn't the right moment. Looking at the clutter of previous used pokémon outfits, Ruby pensively thought out several ideas for the contest. Time to get to work.
Steven pouted; he tried waving his frozen hands to capture the boy's attention. "Ruby, my food…"
A/N: For all those who don't know/don't remember, Marge is the manga name for one of the Magma admins, Courtney is the game equivalency name. Tabitha is Marge's partner but also goes under the main series in the manga as Mitch. And you know what? I can't help but think this chapter sucked hard. (I also decided to follow the rule of the no-plural usage for pokémon. Ex: [many] pikachu to pikachus. ._.)