~Ruby~
"I'm coming back."
"But you're not staying?"
"No."
"Then why come back at all?"
"We have to talk!"
My heart was literally jumping from my chest, thumping in panic at the sound of Sapphire's voice on the other end. It was a little after a day since Wally kicked my ass in battle and I was preparing to leave when she finally called me. I was lucky to have gotten signal on the deck of his house at all, but now that I was talking to her, I wished I hadn't.
She didn't believe me at all when I said I fell in the river, and that alone pissed her off. It was like she was purposefully setting herself up to hate me, and all I was doing was trying to make things better. Her assumptions were wrong and I didn't know what to do. All I could tell her was that I wanted to talk to her in person, even with her insisting not to come back here. I didn't get it. She wanted me to come back? But she didn't want me to come back.
Eventually after going back and forth for about three long minutes, she hung up on me, threatening something about the shows and contests. I grit my teeth together and shoved the phone in my pocket with a grunt.
"She will understand… when I see her." I tried to convince myself, but if I was being honest it was getting harder and harder to force myself to go back at all. She was my reason, and she was being terrible about it.
"Maybe there is something else bothering her?" Wally suggested from behind me. He stood in the sliding glass doorway to his bedroom gripping the wall with careful hands and waiting. "She might just be taking it out on you."
"It doesn't matter anyways." I turned with a sigh, hanging my head and leaving the balcony. "When she gets like this there is no stopping her."
After our battle the other night Wally had taken me to a place where I could get Cattivo some rest and healing since the pokemon center was indeed closed so late at night. I never understood that, but of course, there was no changing a small town like this to fit the city style life. They wouldn't leave a center open all night if you begged and pleaded.
We had walked through the outskirts of the town to where a broke white fence was littered in pieces around a field. It looked abandoned for all I knew, and I thought for a second maybe Wally was leading me to my death in the back of some old barn or something. The whole scene itself turned me off, and I hated the idea of un-thorough people handling my pokemon.
But the owner of the farm turned out to be nice enough, a breeder for that matter, very good with young pokemon. He had not certification to be a pokemon doctor of course, but after some insistent persuading by Wally, I was convinced he could give my pokemon all the health in the world and make him better in twenty four hours. I was counting on that.
And being that he was a breeder, it sort of won me over when I saw all those tiny, newly hatched pokemon he was taking care of. He had a herd of Miltank and Tauros that he bred together often, a large mass of bird pokemon, including some of the strongest looking Altaria I had ever seen. If he was anything it was thorough.
So I left Cattivo there in trusting that it would be back up to one hundred and ten percent when it was healed. Wally left Salamence there too, which worried me; thinking that the two dragon types might have something against each other for the battle. That would be just like Cattivo, to hold a grudge over a couple scars. I figured if the farm was in one piece today when we went to pick them up it was a good sign.
"You know… I'm just curious, Ruby…" Wally followed me through his room, grabbing a backpack full of supplies—which was pretty much all medication for him—and heading out into the hallway of his Aunt's house. He had spent the last hour convincing the woman the he was capable of taking care of himself, but initially it was me that had won her over. In her head I had saved Wally once, I could do it again.
"What?" I asked, taking the stairs slowly, there may or may not have been a tightening in my voice. I should have been excited; this was the start of my fresh start. As soon as I smoothed things over I could get on with living my own life.
"If Sapphire is being so… harsh. Why are you so worried about going back to her?"
"She's my best friend." I stated calmly. "I've known her almost my whole life… we were inseparable for a long time."
His pale blue eyes softened, resembling some sort of cotton beneath the glassy surface. "I'm sorry."
I laughed sadly. "You don't have to apologize. She's not always a brat."
"No. That's not what I meant. I mean… I'm sorry you guys broke up… I—I know its sort of my fault."
I blinked at him strangely. Never once did I think to place the blame on him, and I was shocked that he thought he could. I wasn't stupid enough to believe that Sapphire wouldn't have been just as mad regardless of if Wally had shown up that night or not. Sure she would have gotten her kiss, but that wouldn't have been enough to solve this issue. And yet the blatant guilt in Wally's eyes was real. I actually—surprisingly—felt bad for him.
"It's not your fault." I told him as we left his house and started picking our way up the path that would lead out of town to that farm.
"Sure." He tried to laugh sarcastically, but sounded pained again. He wouldn't believe me even if I assured him again, so I just rolled my eyes.
"Sapphire will find any reason to be mad at me. She likes to be in charge you know? It's a chick thing I assume." I sighed, trying to find the real amusement in this.
"That sounds terrible." Wally shook his head, which was still damp from having taken a shower. His hair stuck out in all directions, flipping up in a feathery way that I had never seen before. My hair normally just dried in a muss and stuck up in all the wrong places. It never looked too terrible, but certainly never as decent as his looked. At least my hair was naturally green, I thought selfishly.
"I've never given much thought to dating… I guess, it just seems like a lot of work. Especially for me, you know?" He smiled lightly. "I spend enough time trying to be healthy and happy myself, how could I ever get the time to make someone else happy?"
I thought about what he said for a second, wondering if maybe he had a point. If I was trying so hard to be myself and to make me happy, then was it going to be impossible for me to make Sapphire happy as well?
I sighed, remembering a time and place in our lives when being happy was easy, and no one had to even try. The desire to be back there again was so strong it shook me like an earthquake from the inside out. Where did we go wrong?
"It used to be so simple." I blinked, staring at the ground as I walked, feet scuffing weeds and kicking pebbles out in front of me. "Sapphire and I were best friends."
"Maybe she's changed?" Wally suggested, and the thought alone made me flinch.
"No. No, she couldn't have." I assured. Sapphire had been the same her whole life. Arrogant, testy, competitive… beautiful. That never changed.
"But people change." Wally insisted. "And sometimes it's a good thing, and sometimes it bad. I changed… I used to wish I dead, because it was easier than the truth. I used to live in a smog filled city, and that alone changed me. I used to be scared of everything; that changed too. I'm changing now. Everyone changes at some point I think."
"Well I've never changed." I shook my head, though in the back of my mind I was thinking that very recently I had changed. Dramatically too; I had actually grown some balls and stood up for myself. But that didn't mean Sapphire had changed.
"I bet you have." Wally's eyes narrowed at me, but they were amused.
I just shook my head.
"Oh hey look!" Suddenly he jumped in surprise. I jerked my head up and looked forward. We were now crossing a large field where pokemon basked in the early sunshine, enjoying the morning heat before it became too much. I blinked in shock at the sight in front of me.
My Flygon, my confident dragon of speed and tactic with all his devotion, was… playing? With that overgrown blue butter ball called Salamence? The two tussled on the ground, nipping at each other's wings with snorts and grunts and loud hisses. To anyone watching for the first time, might think that they were having a real battle, but I knew Cattivo didn't look that mischievous when he was mad.
Wally laughed while I gaped like a magikarp. Playing? How does that even happen? My pokemon got its ass kicked by the big brute, and now…
"Salamence!" Wally yelled to his pokemon, which now resembled a giant growlithe pup. Its forked tongue lolled out its mouth with an exaggerated snuffling, sending drool all over Cattivo. He had him pinned, bright eyed and wings flapping. The thing saw its trainer and hopped off happily, trampling the grass and running on all fours to Wally.
I had to flinch away when that sloppy tongue lashed out and struck him in the face, leaving a trail of slime to dribble down his jaw.
"Ugh. Gross!" Wally shoved the pokemon away and scrubbed his arm across his face. He was fighting laughter though, while I was trying to get past the idea of having that amount of slobber on my face. I shook my head in confusion. Let it go Ruby… you will never understand him.
Cattivo flew over and landed gracefully in front of me, while whipping his tail across the back of the Salamence when it wasn't looking. It snorted and turned its massive head at my pokemon, but there was no obvious sign that he'd done it by now.
"Hey… buddy." I lifted my hand and placed it on the Flygon's head. "What are you… doing?"
Cattivo's eyes narrowed beneath the indestructible red bubble like things, and without explaining himself he just turned to the Salamence and struck out at it again. There was a gentle slap sound before the pokemon whirled and trampled forward. I jumped back and Cattivo took off into the sky, much more agile that the Salamence could ever be.
"They're best friends." Wally gestured for me to fallow him. I had to cast one last glance at the two dragons though—to convince myself that I wasn't dreaming.
"Yeah…" I agreed skeptically.
Wally led us through the field with ease, taking long deep breaths that seemed to contribute over to me. I found myself subconsciously mimicking the way he did that, and ignoring it as much as possible as well. He was so obviously enjoying himself, but who wouldn't be? It was absolutely amazing out, and not one sign of his illness had snuck up on him yet.
"Where are we going?" I asked, seeing as though the barn we saw the eggs in the other night was now in our path.
"I'm just going to let River know we're taking our pokemon." He explained.
River was a large, hairy armed jolly man that liked to chortle at the sight of stupid things. I learned quickly that he loved his job, and found breeding pokemon to be both rewarding and "fun". He had no problem taking the semen of one pokemon and personally injecting it into another. It left me thinking that personally for me, I would rather go back on stage and perform the rest of my life.
Ok maybe not that—but I would pretty much rather do anything else than handle pokemon sperm. It even freaked me out that Wally was friends with this middle aged mountain man. Apparently he "helped out" here once in a while when there was nothing to do and his illnesses didn't keep him at bay. I flinched internally when we entered the barn.
"River?" Wally called. "Hello?"
"In the back!" a roar of a voice came. "Come quickly!"
We cast an awkward glance at each other before running through the straw covered ground to where the noise came from. Wally found him quickly sitting between bundles of hay and kneeling on a towel.
"What is it?" Wally whispered in awe, bending over to look at the thing he held.
A tiny slime ball of yellow fur. I curled my lip in distaste. "Is that… a pichu?"
"Sure is!" River bellowed. "Freshly hatched. You wanna hold it?"
"Uhh… no—no I'm good!" I held my hands up in defense. Wally was bright eyed and cackling along to whatever silent joke was shared between them. Obviously he didn't really want me to hold the little scrap; otherwise he would have offered it to Wally as well. I glared halfheartedly, assuming they just wanted to freak me out.
The man placed the pichu back at its mothers side after a moment of silence. The female Raichu cast anxious glances at me—because I was the stranger here—and wrapped her tail around it defensively. Wally stood up next to me and eyes me carefully.
"You look pretty pale, Ruby." He examined.
"I'm fine." I stated calmly. "I've just never seen a newly hatched pokemon before."
"Boy then I has got a surprise for you." River snorted and spit into the straw at his feet. I couldn't help but imagine they were all hicks around here. Small town people, with nothing better to do than produce pokemon.
"For me?" I asked in surprise.
"Yes! As thanks, I should say." He nodded. "Come over here."
"Thanks for what though?" I asked, following him in confusion. I looked at Wally, who was absolutely sheepish, hiding something more than just giggles.
"Letting your Flygon stay here for the night! I aint' never had a male Flygon around here."
"Uhh… your welcome?"
"Yes, siree, your pokemon was one of the best sperm donors I've ever had."
My jaw dropped as if it was made of lead, and suddenly it felt like I was going to have an attack. I held my breath in horror, gaping, trying to get the image out of my head. I ripped around to look at Wally, who was cocking his eyebrow up in worry, wondering if perhaps I was about to punch him in the face or not.
"You let him…!" I hissed a whisper. Oh my poor molested pokemon… It was no wonder why he looked so happy out there. Talk about change, something obviously CHANGED in him. I slapped my hand over my face, trying to hide the rage.
"It's not that bad…" Wally whispered back to me. "River knows what he is doing anyways…"
"Right here we are!" The man roared, having not heard us. He obviously wasn't fazed by the now extreme flush on my face. If it was pale before it was cherry ass red now. He turned and nearly tossed something into my arms—which would have been horrible if I dropped it— it was an egg.
"You're giving him an egg?" Wally asked in surprise. His face was lit up like a light bulb.
"Well his pokemon gave me damn near a dozen eggs!" River chortled. "It's the least I can do."
I started at the thing in wonder. I had never raised an egg before, and it was much less offensive than the newborn pokemon was. Its shell was very hard, and it had few rough patches where the light would send glitters shooting upwards. It glittered like the night sky, with pitch back swirls dancing across faintly.
"Wow…" Wally reached out and set his slender hand on the shell, feeling tenderly. "This is crazy! Thank you River!"
Part of me wanted to tell Wally that this was my egg, not his, and another part of me wanted to just give it to him now before it hatched and I was stuck with a needy slime ball like that pichu.
"You're welcome boys!" he turned. "Now, I best be getting back to work. Got a frisky magikarp that needs attention."
I swear I vomited a little bit in my mouth. "Ugh." I grunted when he was out of earshot.
"What kind of pokemon do you think it is?" Wally asked honestly.
"I—I don't know if I even want it." I readjusted the heavy thing in my hands. "How are we supposed to travel with an egg? Not to mention I don't know how to take care of it."
Wally grinned. "I have room in my backpack, and I have raised all my pokemon since they were eggs."
Just my luck, I said silently. Bringing the one trainer person in the world that actually knew how to handle eggs with me. I knew this was crazy, and even though it was kind of exciting I knew I couldn't take it with me.
"We can't." I shook my head and went to turn away. I would just go give it back to River… or leave it where he would find it…
"No! Ruby." Wally whined, following me quickly as I headed for the barn door. I approached the outside light as well as Cattivo with a hasty glance around.
"Where did he go?"
My Flygon nudged my shoulder, partially curious about the egg, and partially looking around for his new friend. I got the feeling the two dragons were playing some cheap game of hide and seek.
"Ruby." Wally grabbed me by the bicep and waited until I looked at him exaggerated. My eyes narrowed.
"Just look at it." He took his other hand and set it on the top of the egg. "There is a living pokemon in there, it could be something really rare you know."
I looked down at the egg with a sigh. It was true… it could indeed be a rare pokemon, and judging by its glittery navy blue shell it didn't seem very common now. So the chances were high. Not to mention I did only have five pokemon on my team, I had room for one more… once it hatched it would be fit to go in a pokeball so traveling would be easier.
"You know… When River gives eggs away, it's usually because he doesn't know where they came from or who laid them…" Wally looked up with his horrible wide lilipup eyes. He blinked at me in wanting. "That means that he doesn't really want this pokemon."
Such a guilt trip. I curled my lip at him and took one more glance down at the egg. It seemed to plead with me as well. But what suddenly won me over was the fact that from deep inside the thick shell I could feel something moving, scrambling as if it was trying to reach out to me with mores code. I blinked, trying to wrap my head around the "miracle of birth"… well at least he didn't give me a pregnant pokemon instead. Then I would have to watch it lay an egg.
"Fine." I muttered to Wally. "But you will have to help me take care of it." And by that I meant 'you will have to do all the work until it hatches'.
He grinned wildly and ran a hand through his messy hair. "OF course!"
"You can start by putting it in your bag… I don't have room in mine." I pushed the large oval shaped thing into his arms and walked off to find my pokemon. We had to get going if I ever planned on making it back to Sapphire soon.
"Salamence!" I heard Wally call from behind me.
"Come on Cattivo." I turned to my pokemon, who was still glancing around nervously for the other dragon. He looked at me with a sinking expression, not wanting to leave his game. I took my backpack off my back and loosened the straps far enough so that I could slide them on around his wings. A Flygon with a backpack? Ever think about that?
"Wait…" Wally suddenly looked over, expression growing wide. The amusement faded quickly. "We're… flying?"
"You have a flying type." I flicked my hand at the approaching Salamence.
"But—but I…"
"Just hurry up." I gripped my pokemon by the antennae like horns off the top of his head and pulled myself up quickly to be sitting on his shoulders. "We don't have all day."
"But—Ruby I!"
Cattivo suddenly screeched at the Salamence with amusement. Its blank expression turned into one of sluggish disapproval and a heartbeat later it was shoving its head up under Wally and tossing the trainer onto its back. I smirked as he floundered, gripping his backpack with the precious egg and trying to settle himself. He was gasping in panic—but not in the same way he would before an attack—and looking up at me.
Cattivo took to the skies like a rocket, calling after his new dragon friend, seeming to say something like "catch me if you can!" I held tightly and looked back after me just in time to see the Salamence follow us with heavy flapping wings. Wally clutched on for dear life, and I could have sworn when his face turned up to meet mine he was going into shock. It was my turn to laugh now, as a trickle of blood fell from his nose—great timing to have a nose bleed.
And there was no turning back now… we were off.