Chapter 25: About to take off

I blinked a few times before resuming my walk to Fortree City. As I told Josh, I walked around Route 119 for a while. I was just thinking about everything but then again thinking about nothing. I was about to take on another gym leader and I knew that I might have to face Team Aqua again very soon. And then there was him, Steven… the one who had been occupying my mind during the last week.

We didn't text each other that much during those days, he kept telling me that he was busy and that bugged me a bit… if you know what I mean. But who I am to think about if he has a girlfriend or not? Of course he would have one, just looks at him! I'm sure we will never be more than friends. He deserves better… Eh, I've already rambled enough.

When I decided that I walked enough, I crossed the bridge and soon, I was in Fortree City. It is a breathtaking place! It's almost like a forest; all the houses are built on the top of trees. That sure is a good place to live. And plus, I can say for sure that Fortree City has the cleanest air of the entire region. I also remembered the Pokémon Ranger School in there. I wanted to go and pay a visit, but I wasn't going to have enough time to do that…

First of all, I went to the pokémon center to heal my pokémon. I had to wait a bit because there was a little line up. Fortunately, all the pokémon were healed up very quickly and my turn arrived really soon. Once the nurse finished with my pokémon, I exited the place with the intention of going to the Pokémarket. But what I saw when I stepped out of the building left me almost breathless… It was Steven! He was walking towards Route 120. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to follow him. I know I sound like a stalker, but that's what love can do to people…

When he was already far enough, I began to walk. It wasn't a very long walk, but to me it felt like a thousand of kilometers. Luckily, I found him soon. He was standing in the middle of a bridge. I walked towards him slowly, almost like a ninja. I wanted him to see me, but at the same time I didn't want to. Ugh, I'm so weird! But obviously, he ended up being aware that he wasn't alone. When he turned around my heart almost jumped out of my chest. I was really happy to see him again!

"Emily? So, we meet again! How has it been?" He greeted me, smiling in a way that could have made me melt.

"I… I've been doing good… More or less." Of course, I was referring to Team Aqua, but I was too nervous to speak in a coherent way.

"Have you been using the mega bracelet wisely? I suppose I needn't even ask, though. Not when it comes to you and your team." I gasped when he finished his sentence.

"Do… do you really mean that?" I babbled.

"Of course! You shown me that you are a pretty nice trainer and you have an equally nice team." Could someone please pinch me? To this day, that still feels like a dream.

"Why, thank you very much!" I said as my cheeks burned hot like the sun.

"There's no need to do that! By the way, I wonder… have you noticed? Hm? There's something here you can't see. Now, If I were to use this device on the invisible obstacle…"

"What?"

"No, no…" Steven interrupted me. "Rather than describing it, I should just show you. That should be more entertaining. Emily… Are you and your pokémon ready for battle?"

"Yes, we always are!" I said somewhat nervously.

"Good. In that case… I want you to take this." He handed me a thing that resembled a pair of virtual reality goggles. "Try it on. I'm sure it will fit you." Indeed, they fitted me pretty well. "Do you see something?" He asked.

"Yes! It's… it's a pokémon!" Once the pokémon saw me standing there, he tried to attack me.

I promptly sent Trevor to battle. I commanded him to use dual chop. Trevor attacked that pokémon, which my Pokédex identified as Kecleon, by striking him with his claws. Then, Kecleon attacked Trevor by slashing at him with his claws. After that, I told Trevor to use fury cutter but the wild pokémon avoided the attack and punched Trevor in the face. I didn't want to make a fool of myself with Steven there, looking at me. So I ordered Trevor to use his next attack…

"Trevor, use leaf blade… AT FULL POWER!" My voice was a bit shaky as I was saying this, but never mind. Obeying to my command, Trevor slashed at his opponent using the sharp leaves on his wrists, which was enough to make that Kecleon faint. I got rid of the goggles and I turned around to see Steven.

"Just as I expected. That's called a Devon Scope. It's a fantastic piece of tech that lets you see pokémon in hiding. Consider it a gift from me. Take it." He said calmly.

"Oh, thank you!" I said as I put the device on my bag which was… a gift from Steven.

"And one more thing…" Steven said while reaching for something on his pocket. It was an object I was already familiar with, it was a mega stone. "This stone ranks as one of my favourite stones in existence, I have no doubt that your pokémon will like it, too." He said as he gave me the mega stone, which I grabbed slowly due to my hands shaking constantly. I hope he didn't notice that…

"So… this is one of your favourite stones and you are giving it to… me?" I asked while smiling like an idiot.

"Yes, why not? We are friends, after a…" He couldn't finish the sentence, because I hugged him. Yes, I actually did that! I felt like if an invisible force was pushing me towards him, I couldn't have avoided that even if I wanted to.

Hugging Steven felt so great… I could feel how he slowly hugged me back. Obviously, he was surprised by my gesture. Feeling the warmth of his body against mine made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But I broke that embrace soon so it wouldn't get awkward.

"I… I'm sorry." I felt the need to say that all of sudden.

"You don't need to apologize because of that!" After a few seconds of silence, he began to speak again. "You know, Emily… I like to see trainers and pokémon who are trying their best. That's why I like you so much." And at that moment, my sight went completely white for a moment.

"Th-thank… thank you!" I babbled in a ridiculously high pitched voice.

"You're most welcome!" He went silent for a moment. What if he realized how I was feeling at the moment? "Hm? It seemed as though something just… shone for a moment in your bag. I'm sure I sensed the power of some kind of stone… A meteorite? No, it couldn't be…" Phew! After that, he changed his attitude. "Well, let's meet again someday. Bye!"

"Bye!" And then he left. A sense of loneliness overcame me for a while, but I fixed that by remembering his words… i"That's why I like you so much."/i… Those words made me the happiest girl on Earth!

As I walked back to Fortree City, I chanted gibberish. I was so excited that I wasn't even aware of what I was saying. And if you add to that the fact that I sing really badly…

"Aasgahshyewyafsfgfsgfafuensbgvadad!" That's literally how my "song" sounded. A flock of Taillow took flight from a nearby tree. Do I really sing that badly?

I hurried back to Fortree City. I wanted to ask someone what kind of mega stone was the one that Steven gave to me. As soon as I found someone, I ran toward that person, who was a young woman.

"Hi! By any chance, do you know what kind of mega stone is this?"

She observed the round object for a moment. Then she began to speak.

"For the look of it, I'd say it's a sceptilite. But that's just me. If you have a Sceptile, you should show it to him to see what he thinks."

"Thanks a lot!" I said as I ran back to Route 120.

I released Trevor from his pokéball. Immediately, he jumped to a nearby tree. Luckily that tree wasn't too tall, he could still hear me. What I had to say was really important and even might be the key to success in future battles!

"Okay Trevor, look at this." I reached my arm to him while I held the mega stone. "Do you think this can be useful to you?"

In the blink of an eye, he jumped from the tree and approached me with a swift movement. He stared for a while at the shiny, round object. It looked like he was really interested on it. And he even grabbed it out of my hand!

"Be careful with that, Trevor! Someone very special just gave it to me…" I smiled coyly. "…and it's for you! This will make you stronger!"

Trevor seemed happy after hearing that. He gave the mega stone back to me and after I told him that I would give it to him very soon, I returned Trevor to his pokéball. Then, I went back to Fortree City, looking for a certain kind of shop. Fortree City is small, but luckily, I could find the place I was looking for.

It was a small shop where they make tailoring, repair of jewelry and… yes, they also make small stuff that pokémon can wear. I decided to ask them to make an armband with the mega stone embed into it, so Trevor could wear it.

I entered the place, there was like five or six persons looking around or speaking with the staff. I approached the man in the desk while I grabbed the stone from my pocket.

"Hi! I have a little question!"

"Yes, madam?" The man said politely.

"I have this mega stone and I was wondering if you could embed it into an armband, it's for one of my pokémon." I mentioned as I handed the object to him.

"Of course! It will take less than ten minutes. I'll be right back."

After that, the man disappeared through a door, which I supposed lead to some kind of workshop. The wait wasn't too tedious, there was a really cheering song playing to the background. It helped me to feel all pumped up for the upcoming battle against Winona.

Before I could realize, the clerk was back with exactly what I asked for: it was a black armband made of a really strong fabric, which had Trevor's mega stone set in the middle. It would look really good on him!

I had to pay twenty pokédollars for it. After I thanked the clerk, I left the shop and I released Trevor from his pokéball.

"Well Trevor, a promise is a promise! Here you have your mega stone." I chirped as I put the armband on his right arm. Trevor was really happy with it and he even gave me a hug as a sign of gratitude!

I remembered the battle against the wild Kecleon. He didn't get a lot of damage, but I sprayed a superpotion on him anyway. After that, I gave Trevor a reassuring pat on the back and I returned him to his pokéball. The next things to do were going to the gym and confront Winona and then… what came then was too intense!