Chapter 230: Reunion!
~Third POV~
[Hoenn Region, Days Later, Dewford Town – Harbor]
*SPLISH*
Days later, Sapphire and Azure approach Dewford Town while riding on Lorry. Sapphire's eyes widened as she grinned excitedly, declaring, "Hey! Master, there it is! There it is!! That's Deford Town in the distance!"
Azure, lying on Lorry's back, gazed at the incoming image of Dewford Town in the distance. Pikachu and Eevee were both chilling on his stomach as he replied, "I can see that, Sapphire. It took days to get here… it'll be nice to be on dry land again!!"
Pikachu and Eevee nodded their heads, agreeing. But then Lorry twitches as Sapphire asks, concerned, "Lorry, ya tired?"
*SKRTCH*
*AAHHCHOOO*
But suddenly, Lorry sneezed greatly, causing Sapphire, Azure, and his partners to jump up before slamming down from the sneeze of Lorry the Wailord. Azure groaned, "Owww… remind me to never make Lorry or any Wailord sneeze…"
Sapphire shyly apologizes on Lorry's behalf as she views the wave her Pokémon caused in awe, "Sorry… but that's incredible… Lorry… you just made a huge wave with your sneeze! Huh? Hey, Lorry! Toss me in the air!"
*FOOM*
On top of Lorry's water sprout, she took a view from above. Her eyes widened as she saw what her Lorry sneeze did in an embarrassed tone, "Oh no!! The huge wave Lorry made with its sneeze is headin' right for the people on the beach! LOOK OUT!"
*RMBL*
*RMBL*
Sapphire closes her eyes, unable to see, as her Lorry sneezes, causing an accident that sends a wave of water rushing to the people swimming at the beach. But Azure, meanwhile, spots someone surfing the wave. But through the gaps in her hand, Sapphire suddenly saw a man and his Makuhita come in, and they surf the wave.
*SPLASH*
Surfing in style, the man yelled excitedly, surfing the waves as they came close, "Phew!! That was a nice big wave!!"
*Splash*
After they finish, Sapphire and Azure come in, and she apologizes for the wave that Lorry created in an apologetic tone, "Hey!! You all right?!"
The man says casually, "Yeah. Why?"
Sapphire began to apologize profusely, clasping her hands together, "I'm sorry, I am! Lorry sneezed and made a mess of your waves…"
The man's eyes widened, hearing this, as he casually replied, seeing Lorry in the distance, "Your Wailord made that huge wave… just by sneezing?! Cool. Don't worry about it."
The man nonchalantly played off Sapphire's accident as he eyed Azure knowingly, saying coolly, "Waves that size are perfect for surfing! Couldn't have asked for a better one."
Azure took this time to chime in curiously about the man's surfing habits, "Right. You're really something, ya know that? Tried the Alola waves?"
The man grinned widely as he nodded his head, snapping his finger at Azure knowingly, saying casually, "Right man! Alola waves are good too when you visit them, but besides, it was good training for my Pokémon here too."
Sapphire looked at the Makuhita performing some jabs as she asked, confused, "Um… This Pokémon looks like a Fighting-Type to me… how come you're teachin' it Surf?"
The man reveals that he was training his Makuhita, despite it being a Fighting-type and not a Water-type, as he explains, "Haha… I did say I was training my Pokémon, didn't I? But that doesn't mean I was trying to teach Makuhita the move Surf. Like you said, this is a Fighting-type Pokémon. What I wanted to learn from surfing is the soft and flexible fighting style."
Sapphire blinked her eyes, muttering, confused, "Soft and flexible?"
The man nodded as Azure explained to Sapphire in a calm tone with a knowing voice, "That's right. There are two kinds of fighting styles. The Hard and Tough Style and the Soft and Flexible Style. Hard and Tough is where you use your own body strength to defeat your opponent. Soft and Flexible uses your opponent's strength against them."
Sapphire blinked, realizing this as she summarized the principles with surfing in an amazed tone, "You don't resist the flow – you ride with it. Kind of like surfing… right?"
But it was when the man leaned closer, eyeing the two as he introduced himself to them in a casual tone with his arms crossed, "So if you're thinking about challenging me, you'd better keep that in mind. I'm Deford Town's Gym Leader. Name's Brawly!"
Sapphire looked surprised by this as Brawly continued eyeing the two of them, "I see you've earned your Stone Badge from Roxanne. That must mean you both want to challenge me, too, right?"
Sapphire nodded her head excitedly, "I do, I do!!"
Brawly looked towards Azure with an eager grin as he calmly replied, eyeing Brawly, "Same. But I'll wait after Sapphire first, then you and me."
Brawly nodded his head knowingly as he had a plan in mind, responding to Sapphire in a sheepish tone, badly acting, rubbing the back of his head, "Well, I'm going away for a while, starting tomorrow, to a training camp. So, if you want to battle me, you'd better drop by the gym tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest. See ya."
With that, Brawly takes his leave, leaving the two alone. With that, both walked down the harbor as Azure playfully said, "Well, it's either we have tomorrow or tonight to challenge him, Sapphire. So, what are you going to do to pass the time, hmm?"
Due to Brawly being 'busy', Sapphire is forced to wait until the next day to have her Gym battle, so she walks around waiting with Azure by her side. When they arrive at Dewford Town, Mr. Briney decides to let Ruby off before searching for his mystery fish again, as he said, thankfully, "Okay, come ashore, kid! And thanks."
Ruby hops off the boat of Mr. Briney as he sighs in relief, muttering to himself, "Finally… bleagh… I still feel seasick. Hey…"
As Sapphire and Azure walk down the dock in Dewford Town, they're eyes connect, seeing each other. The two Trainers met up once again as they exclaimed, "It's you!!"
Mr. Briney looked confused as he asked, baffled, "Hey, kid, you know them?"
Sapphire grins as she introduces themselves to the surprising Ruby of her words, introducing Chic proudly, "More than that!! He's my Rival! And my Master!"
Mr. Briney is confused as Sapphire explains to him. In the meantime, Ruby looked at Azure, baffled as he asked, confused, "Uh… how the heck did you become her Master? Weren't you the loner type?"
Azure sighed helplessly, shaking his head as he explained himself, crossing his arms as his Pikachu and Eevee chuckled, "Sigh… it kind of sprang up on me, honestly. Even gave some deep thought before ultimately agreeing. What's your story with the old man?"
Ruby sighed, mimicking Azure's actions as he helplessly said, his arms slumping down, "Sigh… lots of things. And I prefer not to say it, thank you very much."
*Pop*
Tossing Ruby's Poké Ball, it opened as Rara came out, surprising him. Rara hugged him tightly, thanking Azure happily, "Rara!! Oh, thank goodness you're safe and okay! Mr. Sky, did you take care of her, and how's Wally?"
Asking his questions, Azure smiled as he replied casually, "No worries. I took Wally home to his parents, and he'll pull through. As for Rara, I made sure to take care of her by feeding her, but I do apologize that I haven't maintained her care. Although I made sure not to train her much, if possible. Just some exercises."
Ruby hugged Rara tightly as his expression turned to relief, hearing this. Rara climbed over his shoulder as he patted her head, saying happily, "At the very least, I know you're okay and back with me. That's all that matters, Rara. Thanks for taking care of Wally while I was gone. I bet I must've scared you, huh?"
Rara smiled happily, hearing the news that she was back with Ruby. But then Sapphire made a snickering comment about his contest that got his attention, "And this here's Ruby. He's traveling around Hoenn too… *snicker*… to compete in all the Pokémon contests."
Ruby, listening to her words, yelled, hearing her snicker as he demanded, outraged, "What are you snickering about?!"
Ignoring the outraged Ruby, Rara chuckled lightly as Sapphire began to explain their bet between her and Ruby, as Azure learns about this physically for the first time, "Our goals might be different, but we've got the same passion inside us!! That's why we decided that we have 80 days to accomplish what we said we would! Then we'll meet up where we started and show how much we've learned and accomplished!!"
Mr. Briney nods, understanding this as Ruby noticed Sapphire's clothes as he said happily, seeing her wearing them, "Come to think of it, you're already wearing clothes that aren't made out of leaves! You've become civilized. That's a step."
Sapphire moved her arm away in anger and replied, "Hey! Hands off, bub!!"
Sapphire asks Ruby how many Ribbons he has won, curiously, "So how goes it? Been a little over a week… won any contests yet?"
Ruby sheepishly lowers his head, muttering defeatedly, "Uh… not yet."
Sapphire grins smugly as she shows off her Stone Badge in the air, proudly declaring, "Well, I've won somethin'! Ha!"
Ruby's eyes widened in surprise, seeing this as he tried to make an excuse in an embarrassed tone, "A Gym Badge! Um… I just need to get to a town that hosts a Pokémon contest, and it'll be a piece of –"
But Sapphire interrupted him as Chic raised its head high over Mumu in a smug tone, said confidently, "Oh, really? I still don't think a weaklin' like you can survive a tough journey through Hoenn. 'Pokémon have to be cute and byoot-a-fool. I can't stand to see 'em fight!' You still sayin' stuff like that?"
Ruby pouted, turning his back to her as he argued back at her in an annoyed tone, "What's wrong with what I say? I have my own way of doing things!! The pursuit of beauty! Pokémon contests are wonderful! Fantastic! Awesome! Not that someone like you, the wild girl of the Mountains, could ever understand something as sophisticated as that!!"
The two quickly get into another argument about their training styles. Azure, seeing this, sighed deeply as he muttered out loud, intervening, "Good grief, you two are a handful. How about instead of arguing and causing a scene, we all head to the Pokémon Center to recover."
Both eyed him swiftly before they turned around, saying bitterly, "Fine!"
Ruby turned to Mr. Briney as he bowed his head in a thankful tone, saying, "Mr. Briney, thank you very much for everything."
With that, the trio began to move to the Dewford Town Pokémon Center. Along the way, Ruby and Sapphire merely turned their heads away as Azure thought, 'Hmm… these two are quite the difficult blockheads. I wonder – '
Before Azure could continue thinking Ruby finally spoke up as he said in a thankful tone, "I owe you one, Azure! You helped me get Rara to me and Wally out. Ask me anything… I'll be happy to help!"
Azure smirked, hearing this as Sapphire jokingly rebutted, finally speaking, "Master, what could he do that you want something from him? He couldn't defend himself, which makes me wonder how you'll survive traveling around Hoenn?"
Ruby shot her a glare as Azure calmly replied knowingly, "Nah. Ruby's strong, even if he doesn't like to battle."
Sapphire looked at Azure, shocked, pointing at him ingenuously. Meanwhile, Ruby was internally shocked as she said, stunned, "Him? The drama queen who prefers outside beauty, strong? Surely you're joking, Master?"
Ruby, at the same time, agrees with Sapphire, disproving Azure's words, "No way! Pokémon battles are barbaric, and it gets my Pokémon dirty! Something I don't like is happening! I don't know how you could compare to battling related to me!"
Ruby was fussing over the appeal of beauty to Azure. Sapphire snorted, hearing this as she muttered confidently, "Tch. The idea of beautifying your Pokémon makes me sick to my stomach. Pokémon should be left to their natural states!"
Azure raised an eyebrow, eyeing Ruby weirdly as he bluntly said with a doubtful voice, "Weren't you a Gym Leader's kid? He should've taught you the basics to defend yourself in the wild against Wild Pokémon? You were stranded at sea for days, couldn't be weak if you weren't strong enough to survive?"
Hearing this, Ruby frowned lightly but quickly changed from a nervous look to a determined expression as he pounded his chest lightly, saying, "That's right! But I only got through it by sheer luck! And besides, I only fight back in self-defense!"
Sapphire frowned, seeing nothing particularly charming about her rival's words. Ruby eyed Azure cautiously through a glint in his eyes as he thought, 'He's very observant. Hopefully, my explanation would make him back off…'
Azure shrugged his shoulders as they made their way to the Pokémon Center, and he said casually, "True. You could've made it through sheer luck, but I like to think you're strong. However, I'm interested in searching the Granite Cave to meet the unfamiliar Pokémon that reside inside. Could find a potential new member for the team or train before Brawly's match after getting our Pokémon checked out."
Hearing this, both Ruby and Sapphire's eyes narrowed. Both nodded, agreeing to the idea of heading to Granite Cave as they had different objectives in mind…
/////
A/N: Reach the goal of 300 PS to get a Bonus Chapter!