Pokémon Heroes of Hoenn

Meteorite Fight

Before leaving Verdanturf Town, Sapphire entered the Pokémon Contest being held there, earning her Master rank Toughness Ribbon with Marshtomp. After she earned her second Ribbon, we began our journey to Lavaridge Town, where my next Gym battle awaits. Along the way, Sapphire, Emerald, Leaf and I each caught some new Pokémon with the help of the Heroes of Johto. I caught a powerful Manectric with Fire's advice on battling it. Manectric, I could tell, would prove a valuable addition to my team. Sapphire managed to catch a Breloom thanks to Silver's Gengar and Noctowl. Emerald caught a very speedy Linoone after it... ran into a tree. Leaf even caught an Azumarill after being taunted by it for awhile. Our teams are growing rather slowly, so new additions were warmly welcomed.
Maybe if we didn't always have a problem with something we'd have more time to catch some Pokémon...
To get to Lavaridge Town we'd have to take a cable car from the base of Mt. Chimney, where we are now, to the peak and climb down from there. It's a bit of a pain really. Can't they just make a straight route there? What's so difficult about that? I mumbled my thoughts to myself as I dragged myself towards the entrance to the cable cars, where two men in weird red and black hoodies stood blocking my path. I stared at their backs for a moment, waiting for them to acknowledge my existence. Just as I was about to speak up, one of the men beat me to it.
"Where did the boss say he was going again?" he asked in a raspy voice.
"Meteor Falls. he's gonna steal that Meteorite from that Professor Cosmo guy in Fallarbor Town there." The other man responded with a much smoother tone.
Seriously, can they not see me? He just told me what they were planning.
"Right, right, and we're not allowed to let anyone up Mt. Chimney until he gets back." the first man recited.
"Right, not one exception til the boss gets back." I rolled my eyes as the two men repeated each other, backs still facing me as they spoke. Turning on my heel, I started heading back to where I saw a cave entrance before, realizing I had left everyone else standing around in the exact spot I was headed to.
"There you are, Ruby! What's the matter, did ya make a wrong turn?" Leaf asked cheerfully.
"Not exactly, there's a change of plans. We're going to Fallarbor Town." I stated bluntly, walking past my large group of friends in a hurry.
"What for? That's way off course." Emerald asked, slightly eyeing me from behind.
"Because there's a problem, why else?" I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes once again.
"What kind of problem?" Leaf questioned.
"For the love of- can you guys just accept the fact that there's a problem and we need to fix it before we can even get to Lavaridge Town?! I'll explain later, let's just get to Fallarbor Town as fast as humanly possible!" I snapped, the questioning beginning to get on my every last nerves. Everyone turned to each other, shrugged, and followed my lead without out another word. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I quickened my pace, knowing that we probably didn't have much time to warn this Professor Cosmo guy. I've never even heard of him before, so finding him might also be a problem.
Maybe I should've thought this through more...
After a long walk through thick piles of ashes, we finally saw Fallarbor Town in the distance. I looked back to the others with a quick nod before jogging into town. I figured I should ask for Professor Cosmo first, so I glanced around for someone who looked like they knew their way around here.
As everyone caught up, I spotted an older man at a corner and decided to ask him.
"Excuse me, sir. Do you know where Professor Cosmo is? We need to see him right away." I asked calmly, yet my eyes showed how much of a hurry I was in.
"Why, I'm afraid you just missed him. He already left to Meteor Falls with some strangely dressed men. I'm a little worried for him, actually. The young man can be quite gullible at times." the man responded with somewhat of a sadness in his tone. My eyes widened at his words, realizing we were a moment too late.
"Not good... move it guys, now we're in serious trouble!" I called back, breaking into a sprint towards Meteor Falls. Everyone raced after me, Fire calling back a thank you to the man I had questioned. He watched us run for a minute before shrugging us off and going about his day. Luckily I had explained the situation somewhere along our way to Fallarbor Town, so everyone was pretty much up to date on the situation, otherwise this would've been a pain to talk about.
"We need to move faster! Typhlo, let's go!!" Fire called out, releasing her prized partner. She hopped on its back as it ran on all fours, pulling me up behind her. Gold let out his Rapidash and Dodrio, hopping up on Dodrio's back and leaving Rapidash for Silver and Sapphire, Crystal and Emerald hopping on Crystal's Arcanine. Their Pokémon were much faster than us, and I'd bet they're much stronger, too. They've been training for a lot longer than we have, so there's no way my Pokémon could beat even Gold or Crystal in a full on battle.
Typhlosion, Dodrio, Rapidash, and Arcanine skidded to a stop in front of a cave entrance, signaling us to head in. Fire, Gold, and Crystal returned their Pokémon, thanking them for the ride before placing them in their Pokéballs.
We approached the cave cautiously, listening in as we began to hear voices. I peered in first, spotting two men wearing the same red uniform as the men blocking the cable cars. They were beginning to corner a man in a white lab coat, presumably Professor Cosmo, between them and a small lake beside a waterfall. I growled at the sight, sprinting to the scene without much thought.
"Hey!! What do you think you're doing?!" I snapped, earning their attention.
"What the- what's a kid doing in here?" one of the men questioned bitterly.
"Who cares? Listen kid, you better not get in the way of Team Magma's plans." the second man warned, taking a few steps towards me.
"So that's who you are..." I muttered to myself, "Well too late for that, I already am! The name's Ruby, Ruby of Goldenrod City. You better remember the name 'cause I'm about to become your worst nightmare!" I exclaimed, getting into a battle stance as Combusken released itself for me.
"Tch! Tough talk, then let's battle!! Numel!!"
"Mightyena!!" the two men cried out, releasing their Pokémon as they spoke.
"Hey!! Two against one isn't fair!" a familiar voice cried out, causing me to jolt around to face its owner.
"Sapphire..." I muttered as she ran to my side. She smiled softly at me before shooting a glare at the two men. She looked like a little kid defending a friend from a bully with that expression. Any adult wouldn't take her serious, but somehow I knew she meant business.
"Let's fight together okay, Ruby?" Sapphire asked softly, releasing her Marshtomp as she spoke. I nodded in agreement, turning to face the Team Magma grunts before us.
"Enough fooling around! Mightyena, Bite!"
"Numel, Ember!" the Grunts ordered, their Pokémon charging at our own as their orders were given.
"Marshtomp, use Mud Shot!!" Sapphire called.
"Combusken, Double Kick!!" I commanded. Marshtomp shot a line of mud towards Numel, breaking through its Ember attack and knocking it out with one hit while Combusken roundhouse kicked Mightyena into a rock. The Magma Grunts returned their Pokémon in shock, glaring at us as they finished doing so. I had to admit, I was pretty shocked too. I didn't expect Sapphire to do that well in battle.
I also didn't expect them to be that weak either.
"Man, you guys couldn't let us have any fun?" Emerald asked teasingly, everyone else standing behind her as she stood behind us with her hands on her hips.
"Shoulda got here sooner." I stated with a smirk, relaxing as I was surrounded with familiar faces. I turned back to the so-called Magma Grunts with a glare, earning a flinch from both in response. The one closer to Professor Cosmo glanced back to the shaken man, suddenly snatching the Meteorite from his hands. Professor Cosmo gasped, lunging forward to snatch it back, but the Magma Grunt was quick to dodge. I growled, running for the Grunt with the Meteorite, only to be shoved by the other one. I slipped off the edge of the small platform, my eyes widening as the water below me grew nearer, and a fear of mine rose to mind.
I can't swim.
I hit the water and instantly started thrashing about, gasping for air as my head came to surface each time. I could see Fire pull Professor Cosmo away from the edge and gaze down in shock.
"Ruby!! Are you okay?!" she called down in shock. I gasped as I grasped onto a weak ledge on the rock wall, croaking out the only words I could think of.
"Can't swim!!" I gasped as the rock in my grasp broke, causing me to slip once again into the water. Fire gasped as I gazed up at them desperately, my breaths getting shorter and shorter.
"Quick, Marshtomp!! Save Ruby, now!!" Sapphire ordered. Marshtomp leaped into the water, linking my arm with its own and pulling me to the water's edge. I coughed desperately as I leaned against the rocky floor, Marshtomp patting my back to comfort me as everyone ran to my side.
"You alright there, man? You scared the daylights outa me!" Leaf exclaimed, kneeling beside me and placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Come on, let's get you out of there." Sapphire stated softly, kneeling to my left and mimicking Leaf's motion. They each grabbed the back of my shirt and placed a hand under my chest, pulling me completely out of the water. My coughing slowed to a stop as the water pooled off me, Sapphire and Leaf helping me lean against a stone wall to catch my breath. I gasped out a few times as the air entered my lungs, grateful to still be alive thanks to Marshtomp and Sapphire.
"You jerks, you could've killed him!!" Fire snapped at the Magma Grunts. They turned to each other and shrugged, adding on to her frustrations. Gold took the side of the stunned Professor Cosmo, protecting him from any possible harm while Fire growled at the Magma Grunts. As she had her stare down with the Grunts, our attention turned to the sound of approaching footsteps. My eyes tried to focus through my dizziness as I recognized the man with a Grunt on both sides of him.
"A-Archie...." I muttered, my head beginning to spin as I spoke.
Sapphire leaned closer to me in slight fear, while Leaf, Silver, Crys, and Emerald raised their guard. Fire and Gold hadn't noticed him until after the Magma Grunts turned their attention to him with wide eyes.
"Ah man, it's that Archie guy." a Magma Grunt muttered.
"Come on, let's bail. We gotta get to Mt. Chimney anyways." the other Grunt murmured back, glaring back at Archie before turning to leave Meteor Falls, the first Grunt following after him silently. Archie signaled the Team Aqua Grunts beside him to give chase before turning to the rest of us. I had apparently strained myself from the shock of almost drowning and trying to look up at Archie, and somewhere between the time his Grunts gave chase and Archie turning to us I blacked out.

This is gonna leave me with a nice little headache...