Archie watched as the girl was sent flying backwards. He marveled at the power of the mighty legendary Pokemon before him, but his thoughts quickly turned to the girl who called herself Mina. With the battle between Groudon and Kyogre raging on their assault of attacks were literally destroying the land around them. His team were safe. Even those fools Maxie and Team Magma were safe where they were, but the girl was right in the middle of their battle.
After Archie and Maxie awakened the legendary Pokemon they immediately began attacking each other, and the girl was trying to stop them. He thought that she was a foolish child. No matter how much she pleaded they would not stop until one of them was victorious. Such was the nature of these great beasts. He watched as an enormous wave of water crashed onto the ground in front of him. His eyes grew wide as he saw Mina get pushed over the edge and hit her head on a stone.
He knew very well that the girl could swim, but a knock on the head such as that would have made even himself loose consciousness. Turing toward Shelly and Matt he saw that neither of them had been paying much attention to her. He looked in the direction of Team Magma and saw Maxie staring at him with fierce eyes. He held his gaze for a moment before Maxie pointed at the water and nodded his head urgently. Furring his brow Archie turned and ran headlong onto the battlefield.
"Brother?!" Matt called after him.
"Don't worry yer heads," Archie called back to him, "That foolish girl is trying to get herself killed."
He could hear the calls of his team following him, but one voice rang out above the others, that of his oldest friend Maxie, "Don't let her die!"
"Easier said then done you fool," Archie thought as he neared the edge of the landmass.
Without pausing Archie dove head first into the water. He swam down several feet before Mina came into view. Just as Archie had thought the blow to her head had knocked her unconscious. As Archie closed the distance between them smoothly his heart began pounding harder then ever. Bringing an arm around her waist he kicked with all his might back toward the surface. Once his lungs were filled with fresh gasps of air he swam to a lonely patch of land floating on the water. It was away from the war between Groudon and Kyogre, but their battle cries could still be heard quite clearly.
"Hey, are ye all right scamp?" Archie called shaking Mina lightly by the shoulders.
When she made no rely or movement he set her down on the ground and knelt beside her. Her body was completely motionless, and as far as Archie could tell she was not breathing.
"Mina," he called shaking her again, "say something girl!"
Cursing under his breath Archie bent and put an ear to her chest. He listened and waited for a moment before he shot up with such speed that his vision became blurry.
"No you don't," he said as he began pushing up and down on her chest, "if yeh leave like this that fool Maxie will never let me live it down. Now come back!"
Archie continued giving her compressions for two minutes before ripping his headband off in a mixture of anger and desperation. He looked upon her face for a split second before beginning to give her mouth-to-mouth. He continued this for well over four minutes with no change.
Gasping for breath of his own Archie looked down at her through teary eyes, "Mina I'm begging yeh, please come back. Don't…." he paused and gritted his teeth, "This is all our fault, if we hadn't awakened the ancient Pokemon you wouldn't have…"
He stopped and continued giving her compressions. As he was pulling away from her mouth once more Mina began coughing up water and struggling for air.
"That's it scamp," Archie said helping her to a sitting position, "breath deep and slow."
Mina sat gasping for air as she struggled to keep her eyes on Archie. He knew what must have been going through her mind, and he would not blame her for it. Everything that was happening now was his and Maxie's fault and she hated them for it. She was a protector of Pokemon and here they were trying to make them destroy the world.
"Archie…" Mina gasped.
"Calm down," he said simply, "yer alright now, scamp."
Much to his surprise Mina came forward and embraced him in the tightest hug he had ever received. They stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity before she pulled away from him.
"Thank you for saving me," she said looking down.
Struggling with a laugh he replied, "It's fine scamp. I'd do it again if it needed to be done, but don't go scaring me anymore."
Mina looked up in surprise, and noticed something she had overlooked earlier, "Archie, were you…"
She broke off as he wiped at his eyes, "Just the salt water. Darn stuff will irritate yer eyes if you open them too long,"
Mina was about to reply, but when she saw his reaction she smiled. She did not understand why or how, but even with the legendary Pokemon fighting behind them they seemed to be in a different place. Mina stood up with Archie's help and they looked behind them with determination.
"I guess we better stop 'em," Archie said as he started walking back toward the battle. Mina began walking after him, but then stopped. "What?" he questioned.
"Your bandana," she said and tossed it to him.
Blushing slightly he tied it back on his head, "Thanks scamp."
"You know, I think you look better with it off," she said with a smile as she ran past him.
Archie watched her run for a moment stunned before running after her, "Have ye ever heard of a captain without a hat or bandana?! It looks plain weird!"
The two managed to make it back to the battlefield and stop the dispute between Groudon and Kyogre with the help of Maxie. Although the teams would not discuss it amongst themselves Team Aqua noticed a difference in their leader when he came back with the girl, and Team Magma noticed a similar difference with their leader when he saw that she was safe.
With the two legendary Pokemon asleep once more Mina continued her journey, but she would never forget the two brave men she met that fateful day, and the captain that saved her life.