Chapter 15: Arrival in Rustboro
Wowee, thank goodness for breaks from homework. I thought my brain was going to melt! A big thanks to ZeroZangetsu, and Lucky Narga for following or favoriting this fanfic. And a big thanks to Veraa2 for the PM'd review.
AgitatedDog9288: Well, without spoiling too much or being very derogetary, right now Sapphire's battling style is very rudimentary with little to no strategy, much how a young kid would play Pokémon. So a loss is a good way to kind of wake her up a bit, take her down a few notches and make sure that she doesn't get too overconfident with all the easy wins she has had so far. And as for Team Aqua retreating, they didn't have any Pokémon able to battle with either, so retreating was the safe option. It's one of the whole "good in the short term, bad in the long term" scenarios. And thank you for the review, by the way.
Please note, the character of Brook was created by The SignOfLibra, I just filled her out a bit based on what the owner left in a review.
Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own anything official!
"Perhaps you should call your parents." The Devon Corp Employee, who had introduced himself as Tristan, suggested as he walked down the second half of Route 104 with the girl that called herself Alpha. "I know you're old enough to be on your Pokemon journey, but you should let them know that you were attacked by Team Aqua.
"No way." Alpha retorted angrily, her hand clenching into fists. "They didn't attack me, I stepped into that situation myself. And I'm not calling my parents."
"I understand you want to be independent." Tristan tried to pacify the girl. "But-"
"I'm not calling them. I'm not going to go crawling back to them because I lost a battle." Alpha knew it was rude to interrupt the man, but she didn't care. Tristan frowned, before looking at the girl. Understanding dawned in his eye.
"You're mad at your mother and father." He realized. Alpha gave a noncommittal shrug, and some kind of half laugh escaped from her mouth.
"Mad's not the proper word." She said. "I think that perhaps furious is a much more appropriate term."
"Why?"
"I'm not some ten year old brat, you know." Alpha scoffed. "I'm thirteen and a half. My overbearing mother refused to let me go on a journey when I turned ten, couldn't bear the thought of having me leave home. I was forced to watch all the younger kids, all of my friends, leave my hometown and go travel around the region, while I stayed at home. Do you know how humiliating it was, how much the kids teased me about not being able to travel like a normal trainer, and how much it hurt knowing that they were right and that in a few years they'd be off on their own journies while I'd spend another birthday at home? My mom turned me into the laughingstock of the city's children."
Her voice shook with both rage and pain in remembering those wretched times, and Tristan found himself feeling sorry for the girl.
"As for my father." Alpha spit out that word like it was one of the worst curses in the world. "He got to travel around for his job, training himself and his team. Any other kid would admire him as a trainer, look up to him, but I don't because if he had been home then I know mom would have let me leave. It's his fault that I was a joke to the other kids, just as much as it is my mother's. I hate them both, and there's a snowball's chance in Orre's desert that I'll go dragging myself back to them after a loss. I'm not going back to them."
"I had no idea." Tristan said awkwardly. Alpha shrugged, as if to say it didn't really matter. By now they had reached the outskirts of Rustboro City, and it was here that the two parted ways. Alpha was off to the Pokemon Center to get treatment for both her injured team and for her ankle, which had swollen up again during her hike through the forest. Tristan was heading for the Devon Corp's headquarters, where he would receive his next assignment. Despite her foolish anger, Tristan had taken a liking to the girl, and she had been rather brave in placing herself and her team in harm's way to protect him. Because of this, he invited her to come by the large building later to potentially meet the president of the corporation. Sapphire agreed to stop by at seven o'clock that night, and thus the two parted.
Nurse Joy was horrified when she saw the condition of the girl's team, and quickly whisked them away. Judging from the panicked expression on Chancey's face as the pink Pokemon took Sapphire's partners back into the treatment rooms they were going to be in there for quite some time.
Knowing that it would be best to let Nurse Joy have some peace, Sapphire instead walked over to one of the PCs available in the Pokemon Center. Turning it on, she began to try and figure out how to pull up her personal account so she could take Sword out for that promised adventure. But for the life of her she wasn't able to figure out how it worked. She was already in a bad mood regarding her loss, and this wasn't helping things. The girl was steadily growing more and more frustrated.
"Need some help?"
Sapphire glanced behind her to see a preppy looking girl with brown hair tied up in long twin tails that fell to about her waist. She wasn't particularly tall or short, but somewhere in the middle. Eyes that were bluer than Swampy peaked out from underneath her long sideswept bangs, and her skin had a light tan to it. There was a smile on her face, though it seemed to hold a hint of mischief. The newcomer wore jean shorts, a blue hoodie, and a blue and white hat.
She wasn't alone. Much like how Sapphire herself kept Swampy out as much as possible, this girl had a pink cat shaped Pokemon that was curled up on top of this stranger's hat.
"Skitty." The cat yawned.
"And what makes you think that I need some help?" Sapphire asked carefully.
"Oh, I have no idea what prompted that thought." The stranger proclaimed. "It couldn't possibly be the fact that you've been handling that poor PC as if it were a hunk of meat, it has to be something."
"Very funny." Sapphire snarled, her temper flaring at the sarcastic remark. "I bet if you listen really hard, you'll hear that there is a grand total of no one laughing."
"Well forgive me for trying to have a little bit of fun." The girl replied cheerily. "The name's Brook, and then this is my Skitty Zoe. I found her in Rusturf Tunnel a few weeks ago. Isn't she adorable?"
"She's a bit pink for my taste." Sapphire muttered under her breath.
"So, I take it you don't know how to access the Pokemon Storage System, huh?" Brook shoved Sapphire to the side and began typing away at the PC. "It's really simple, you just pull up this menu here, and then you go to this option, click on that, wait for it to load, and then just select the third option of the drop down menu."
It was fortunate that in her messing around with the PokeNav out on Route 104 that Sapphire had found out how to change her name to Alpha in the device, because the registered name popped up on the screen. Brook studied it a moment, a grin on her face.
"So, you're named Alpha, huh?" She said. "It's nice to meet you. So, you here in town for the gym challenge?"
"No, I'm not staying in Hoenn, I'm going to Johto." Sapphire saw no reason to hide her goal if it got this Brook character to leave her alone. Her hopes, however, were dashed as Brook's face lit up in a grin.
"I knew I recognized that accent! You're from Goldenrod City, aren't you!" She squealed. "I'm from Ecruteak City, you know, the one that's right to the north! Oh, it's so good to meet someone from back home."
Sapphire mostly tuned Brook out as the girl kept on gushing about how wonderful it was to run into another Johto native out here, and instead withdrew Sword's Pokeball. Choosing to just walk away from the hyperactive girl, she sighed in frustration as Brook chased after her.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Out." Sapphire replied shortly, having already developed an intense dislike for the girl. "By myself, with just one of my Pokemon for company. No one else."
"Oh, I hear you. So, where are we going?"
"We are not going anywhere." Sapphire snapped. "I, however, am."
"Well excuse me, princess." Brook retorted. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed today."
"If you're here for the gym challenge, shouldn't you be pestering the gym leader instead of me?" Sapphire asked.
"Nah, I already beat her." Brook proudly displayed the badge that was pinned to the band of her fedora. "One down, seven to go! It's gonna be epic beating the others."
"Go bug someone else." Sapphire eventually ordered. "I have things to do."
"Only if you promise me something."
"What?" At this point, Sapphire would have gone back to her parents if it meant getting away from the rather annoyingly cheerful and sarcastic Brook.
"Have a battle with me the next time we meet." Brook said.
"And pray tell, why do you want to have a battle with me?" Sapphire wondered.
"Look, I get it, I may seem like an annoying little ten year old, but I'm sixteen." Brook explained. "I had to help take care of my family's business for a few years while my mom was sick, so I didn't start my travels until I was thirteen, but if there's one thing I've learned it's how to tell at a glance who's a strong trainer. You're an angry kid, but I can tell that you're good at Pokemon battles, and I want to see that strength first hand the next time we meet."
"...whatever…" With that, Sapphire stalked off, a bit unnerved as to how easily Brook had been able to read her. Brook, for her part, let out a whoop of delight at the prospect of battling Alpha. It would be a good one, that thing was certain. And Brook was going to ensure that it would end in her own victory.
Finished! So, what do you all think? Let me know by leaving any and all comments, compliments, or constructive criticisms in a review! Brook's Skitty will use some random move via Assist to take care of any and all flames!
