SCH Chap 10
It's about 1:10AM here in my place, so I'm too exhausted to actually type a proper note. Sorry for the wait, and Reviews replies, then.
olihmajor: Aww, thanks lovely. You're the major source of my inspiration for this story, since you're such a devoted fan. Thanks for supporting me -cries tears of joy- Enjoy this chapter(:
Anime-GuardianAngel: Awwn, thanks too lovely, for reviewing and trilling such sweet words every author wants to hear. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter as well(:
"There it is," Blythe smiled over the picket fence as their group stood on the cliff. "Rudeira town, the town of lights… Felicito ala belleza."
"Was that Spanish?" May questioned the female whose hair was whipping wildly in the wind that was present at the very edge of the cliff they were on.
"Yes it was," Blythe replied to the brunette's question. "I picked up a bit of Spanish back in my travelling days."
"Let's go, shall we?" Steven smiled at the two maidens whilst offering a hand to Blythe to help her down from the natural perch on the cliff.
"Okay," She grinned before placing her palms on both his shoulders and, using them as a support, hopped down.
Turning, she took off down the winding slope that led to the town, as shouts of warnings sounded after her from the silvernette.
"Blythe, wait!" May yelled as she hurried after the female, and Max ran after both of them.
Shrieks and whoops of joy at the wind in their faces echoed up to the remaining pair, and teal eyes met emerald ones as they both ran down the slope after their friends.
When Steven reached the foot of the steep slope though, he found the others ahead of a crouching Blythe. As he got closer, he noticed dribbles of maroon liquid on the rocky gravel – blood.
"Are you alright?" He asked as he bent down to take a look at her injury.
"I'm fine, I just scraped the skin on my ankle," She smiled up at him, bandage in hand as she wrapped the gauze around her small, albeit grave wound, "Although I think, I also twisted my ankle..."
"Can you stand?" He helped her up to her feet as she wavered, almost falling from the loss of balance and pain.
She waved his arm off, only to stumble again, and he barely caught her by the waist.
"I'll carry you," He told her, lifting one of her arms to drape it around his left shoulder. "Get onto my back."
"T-That's embarrassing," She muttered, averting her gaze from his serious emerald eyes. "I-I'll just be a burden to you."
"It's fine," He offered a kind smile up at her. "Get on; we'll be at the town soon to look at your ankle, too."
"A-Alright, sorry to bother you like this..." She muttered as she draped the other arm to join its twin around his neck. "Thanks for helping me, Steven."
"Do I get another kiss for that?" Steven teased, giving a smile to show that he was joking, emerald orbs shifting to take in the brunette's face, only to have shock settle in when he saw she was actually blushing. "I-I was joking, Blythe. You don't have to thank me for that."
The rest of the walk to the town was quiet, though the silence wasn't at all comfortable after what he had said, and Steven worried his lip as he stole glances at the female he was carrying. May waved at them once they appeared, while Max tapped away at the Pokénav, searching for the nearest hospital to treat Blythe's ankle.
"Sorry for troubling you guys," The injured female smiled up at them before Max pointed the way towards the nearest hospital, and they started to walk.
"It's fine," May smiled back at her friend before turning back to discuss contest combinations with her teal-haired partner.
Max walked ahead since he had the Pokénav, May and Drew were behind him, deep in a heated discussion about what techniques to perform for the upcoming contest. Without any one of them being focused on the pair at the back, Blythe took the chance.
Once again, Steven was left shocked, albeit less surprised than the first time, when she planted another soft kiss on his cheek again.
"Thanks, Steven," She smiled at him, still in his arms as they continued on their way to the hospital.
"I told you already, you didn't have to thank me that way," Steven smiled down at her, flushing a little with embarrassment. "You could've treated me to a meal or something.
"Canine, ca," Fang barked from their feet, making the pair glance down at the Arcanine. The Pokémon averted its eyes as if to tell them, 'I won't say anything of what I saw.'
Rolling her eyes, Blythe reached out an arm to pat her companion on its furry head, giggling a little at its reaction. Steven smiled at the Pokémon and Master's vast similarity, before he quickened his steps to catch up with the trio in front.
Hours later, when the blue sky faded to a orange and pink streaked one, the gang sat at the Pokémon Centre's café, enjoying a nice dinner with each other. Blythe's ankle had been treated and wrapped with gauze, and she was given a pair of crutches in case she put too much pressure on her injured leg.
Steven, of course, was helping her out, and she was very grateful to him. He had helped her ever since they had gotten out of the hospital, supporting her arms and handing her the crutches to use, helping her admit her Pokémon for rest at the centre, and taking her food for her.
"Thanks Steven," She said again when he returned with their water. "I feel so bad for imposing on you."
"Well, I am your partner," The silvernette smiled at her gently, "So it's my job to take care of you as well."
"I'm sure normal partnerships don't go that far," Max wiggled his eyebrows while saying that, hinting that Steven had other intentions.
"I'm sure they do," Drew butted in, "If Blythe doesn't recover by the time the contest starts, they might lose out on practice."
"Yeah, so you have to get better soon, Blythe," May smiled at her friend, giving the female a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"Yeah, thanks," She grinned widely at all of them. "Don't worry Steven; you'll still suck even without me!"
"Hey," He protested, ruffling her hair for revenge and earning a soft squeal as she fought his hand off.
"Drew and I are going to go practice first," May announced as she finished the last bite of her dinner. "See you guys later!"
"Bye, be prepared to be crushed in this one," Blythe grinned with a wink, waving at the pair as they left.
"I'm going to go train my new Linoone," Max said as he put his cutlery down, and waved as he ran off with the pokéball in his hand.
"See you then," Blythe waved before she patted her mouth with a napkin and turned to Steven. "Shall we go and train as well?"
"Of course," He smiled, helping her up before they went to fetch their pokéballs from Nurse Joy.
Later on, the pair were deep in a forest which Steven had helped to carry Blythe into, and were training hard. Blythe had dropped off her Delcatty to pick up Jolteon, which she had traded for Leafeon before the Silverwing contest.
Right now, Jolteon was getting along with Vaporeon, and they were having fun with Steven's Skarmory.
"Let's run through that routine again," Blythe smiled, fingers curled around the handlebar of her crutches. "Vaporeon, acid armour!"
The water Pokémon disappeared into thousands of water molecules, dropping into the cool lake water. To the untrained eye, it would seem as if Vaporeon had just simply vanished, and Blythe met Steven's emerald eyes.
"Skarmory, steel wing," He ordered, albeit in a calmer manner than his partner.
Obliging, the Pokémon fanned out its huge wings, letting them glow white before it skimmed the surface of the water with its left wing.
"Vaporeon, now," Blythe grinned, raising a hand, "Let's go!"
Gracefully, the water Pokémon that had dissipated into molecules earlier leapt out of the water in one piece, azure coat glossy due to the water remaining on it. Without further ado, Vaporeon opened its mouth and aimed a Blizzard attack skywards.
The attack that was supposed to deal damage to opponents became useless in the sky, floating down at a slow pace, looking a lot like white, fluffy snow.
"Skarmory, use Agility," Steven commanded, and the Pokémon disappeared quickly before reappearing and repeating the cycle.
"Nicely done, Steven," She praised her partner, smiling. "I guess this will do for today, let's go back and see if the others are back yet."
"Alright, return, Skarmory," He held up the Pokéball, letting the huge flying Pokémon fade into it in a red glow of light.
"Do you want to stay outside, Jolteon and Vaporeon?" Blythe asked her Pokémon, Fang beside her.
"Vaporeon," The graceful water Pokémon uttered, tilting its head as if to point its nose at the Pokéball.
"Jolteon," The Electric type uttered as well before both of them vanished in flashes of red beams into their specific confines to rest.
"Let's go," She smiled up at her partner before they started the trek back.
When the pair reached the cafeteria, though, a loud argument with familiar voices could be heard, insults slicing through the thin, silent air, and as they stepped closer towards a secluded booth, they found a teal-haired coordinator and his brunette partner going head to head again, claws and fangs bared.
They were glaring at each other over the last piece of morsel – what seemed to be beef, judging from the texture and color – and Blythe tittered to herself silently behind her hand before glancing up at Steven, who was equally amused. Max was right beside them both of them, looking away with his chin on his palm, acting as if he didn't know them and was just sharing a table. A Linoone – Max's, to be specific – that sat at the table beside Max also seemed just as exasperated at the two, and the standing pair went over to join them.
"Max," Blythe waved, lifting a hand off one crutch, acknowledging only the small boy but not the pair at the table, who were still too busy glaring to notice their arrival.
"How was your training?" Steven asked as he slid into the booth after Blythe, raising a hand to call the waitress over.
"It was okay," Max replied, scanning the menu to see what else was there to order to fill his stomach. "Linoone learned another new move today."
"That's good, maybe you can start going to gym battles too," Blythe commented as the waitress came and they started to place their orders.
Max ordered a grilled-cheese sandwich, exhausted from all his training as his Linoone and Fang ate their Pokémon food off red and blue plastic dishes on the floor, Blythe ordered another steak, and Steven went for a cheeseburger. There was a soft shriek of protest from May when Drew took the piece of beef and ate it, but resignedly ordered a side of fries for herself to compensate her loss.
Moments after, their food arrived, and they tucked in with gusto, while Drew lifted his hand for a nearby waiter to bring him a glass of water.
"You really like steak, don't you?" Steven asked the brunette sitting next to him as he watched her chew happily at the tender meat.
"I love it," was her reply as she lifted her fork to pierce another piece of the cut-up steak she loved so much.
They all turned to stare at the two teenagers who were blatantly ignoring each other as May popped one fry after another into her mouth, stuffing her cheeks like a chipmunk would for storage, and Drew chugged down his water quickly, almost choking in the process.
Blythe felt a rather indescribable feeling – an odd mixture of being stumped to the point of being speechless, yet wanting to say something to make the two of them patch up. She could see the exhaustion of the pair's daily squabbles taking its toll on Steven, watching it reflect in the male's emerald eyes. Max, too, seemed at his limit with the two of them, sighing heavily in exasperation.
Right now, the pair, oblivious to the three pairs of eyes, were quarrelling over the last fry, eyes locked intensely in what seemed to be a staring or glaring battle to win the piece of morsel.
Quickly taking the last few bites of her steak and shoving it into her mouth, Blythe reached for a napkin to pat the greasy corners, while Max hurried with the last bits of his sandwich. Steven was already done, and he seemed to be itching to just jump up and run away from the squabbling pair.
After they shoved the last of their food into their mouths, Blythe nodded to Steven, who inclined his head to Max, who also got the secret plan.
"Well then, I'm going back to training," Blythe half-yelled as she spun around to leave, Fang at her heels. "See you two later!"
Steven hurried after his partner, barely shouting out a "wait for me" as Max also exited the cafeteria, yelling something about having to train as well, carrying his Linoone in his arms.
The pair that were left at the cafeteria didn't seem to notice their friends leaving with stupid excuses, instead, still locked in an intense battle of glaring over that last, cold piece of fry.
"I always wanted to try out that new move," Blythe told her partner as they came to a slow stop by a glistening, clear lake. "Vaporeon, let's rock!"
Giving the pokéball a smooch before throwing it, the aquatic Pokémon appeared, diving straight into the water.
"Let's practice once more," She told Steven, who nodded and picked a Pokéball off his belt.
"Skarmory!"
A loud cry filled the air, and the huge Pokémon flapped its wings, hovering over the aquatic one.
"Let's go," She grinned, lifting one arm, "Vaporeon, acid armour!"
The Pokémon vanished quickly into the water as Skarmory continued to hover over the body of the lake.
"Alright Skarmory, steel wing," Steven ordered, and the Pokémon lifted up into the air in a somersault, wings glowing white as it skimmed the water with said wings.
"Vaporeon, let's go," Blythe raised her hand again, and the azure coat of the graceful Pokémon appeared as it leapt majestically out of the water, landing on the huge Steel Pokémon's back, raising its head to unleash a powerful blizzard attack skywards to make it seem as if it were snowing.
Skarmory's wings were still aglow, and the Pokémon vanished to reappear again in seconds flat, using Agility.
"Vaporeon, aqua ring!" She commanded, bringing down her raised hand.
Water droplets began to form around its body as it stood still, posed on top of Skarmory, and the droplets combined together to create three rings of water that surrounded Vaporeon's body, highlighting its azure coat even more.
"That's a great move," Steven praised as he patted his partner on the head and ruffled her chocolate tresses playfully. "I think that should stand out, especially since we found out the platform for the contest is surrounded by water."
"Yeah," She grinned up at him, "I hope Drew and May have some good tricks up their sleeves if they wanna beat us this time around."
"Yes," He smiled down kindly at her. "Although, I do wonder if they're still glaring at each other over that fry..."
True enough to that statement, the pair were still frozen in their places at the cafeteria, glaring as people walked past them to enter and exit the cafeteria, throwing worried glances at the almost-couple as they refused to look away from each other.
Finally, Drew lifted a hand to quickly swipe the fry off the plate, putting it into his mouth only to spit it out after taking a bite.
"It's already cold," He snorted, crossing his arms, glaring at his partner. "This is your entire fault. If you weren't always all about food, we would be training hard by now."
"It's your fault for taking that last piece of beef I wanted!" She shrieked right back, fingers apart, just about ready to leap onto the teal-haired coordinator she had as a partner and strangle him to death.
As another quarrel started to break out between the almost-couple, their bickering voices involving into shouts and angry outbursts that soon dragged in the brunette's "lousy" coordinating skills, the "stupid, cheerful, overly-optimistic" personality she had, the "countryside bumpkin" attire she always wore, to the teal-haired male's "stupid" hair-flipping habit, his "brain" that always insulted other people and hurt their feelings, and his "insensitivity".
"You two are still at it?" A boy complained, chocolate eyes big and familiar as he stood by the booth with a Linoone perched on his shoulders. "You two are really..."
He trailed off, sighing heavily with regret that he couldn't really do anything as the showdown continued after his tiny interruption, barely even affecting their raging insults and words.
Slowly, he slipped into the edge of the booth, sitting down as he pulled out some Pokéblocks for his Linoone to munch on.
Steven... Blythe... hurry up and get here...
"Alright," Blythe began, pointing towards Steven's Aggron, "Fang, extreme speed with fire spin!"
The Pokémon leapt forward in sharp bursts of high speeds, opening its mouth to unleash a frantic fiery fury of flames, and the Aggron barely panicked.
"Aggron, dig," Steven ordered calmly, and the huge Pokémon buried itself underground in a matter of milliseconds.
"Fang, try to feel the reverberations on the ground for Aggron's movements," She told her Pokémon, ready to counterattack the moment the huge Steel Pokémon emerged from the dirt.
"Canine," Fang barked, obviously as alert as his trainer was.
"Aggron, metal claw!" Steven ordered once more, and his Pokémon charged upwards from the underground.
Fang barely felt the soft vibrations of glowing claws right under him, about hitting him in the stomach when they emerged from the soil if he hadn't dodged at the last minute.
"Fire spin!" She told Fang, and the Pokémon opened its muzzle.
Fang unleashed another fury of flaming rings, but his opponent was fast despite its size, dodging quickly without Steven having to warn it.
"Earthquake, Aggron, let's go!" Steven raised his arm, and the Pokémon slammed its front legs into the ground heavily, and Blythe could feel the ground shaking beneath her at its fury.
"Fang, be careful-!" She managed before she lost her grip on her crutch, letting out a soft cry of surprise as the heavy reverberations threw her off balance, and she felt herself falling, falling-
Warmth seeped through the thin cotton of her oversized, baggy t-shirt as a pair of lean, muscular arms came to her rescue. She felt her eyes widen – sapphire-shaded irises growing rounder with shock as the long locks of her chocolate-brunette hair flew up with her backwards motion.
His legs were placed such that it offered the most support, his left thigh pressed against her right, his right thigh spread out and flanking her left. Strong arms that provided heat through both the cotton of their shirts, and a heavy, panting breath that suggested his quick steps to help her.
Shocked, cyan orbs met frightened, emerald ones. This should make for the second or third time Steven had come to her rescue – if he was the childhood hero from that time – and she smiled wryly to herself inwardly.
Why, did all of these times when she was exactly like a damsel in distress, did a knight with a head full of flowing, silver hair, a pair of laughing, emerald eyes, and a kind smile, befitting a prince?
Hope you enjoyed that, kthxbai. (sorry if i sound mean, i just need my sleep right now.)