Pokémon Heroes of Hoenn

Lounging in the Lavaridge Springs

I panted roughly, glaring at Maxie as the sweat ran down my neck. We battled hard, the fierceness of the battling knocking out Maxie's Camerupt and Golbat and my Mightyena and Combusken, leaving me with just Manectric and Maxie with Mightyena. Fire, Silver, Gold, Crystal, Emerald, and Leaf all gathered behind Sapphire and I, watching as the battle commenced. As the battle heated, I ended up having to signal Emerald to pull Sapphire back with them so she wouldn't accidentally get hit by an attack.
"Give it up, runt... You can't win this." Maxie panted out, trying his best to shoot a glare at me but only managing a look of annoyance due to his exhaustion.
"My name... is Ruby." I huffed, holding on to one of my knees to keep myself from falling forward.
"Ruby, Runt, whatever your name is, it won't matter when I'm through with you. Mightyena, Shadow Ball!" Maxie ordered.
"Manectric, Thunderbolt!" I cried out. Manectric countered Mightyena's Shadow Ball with its electric attack, breaking through it and landing a critical amount of damage on Mightyena. I glanced over Maxie's shoulder to spot an unexpected sight. There was Gold, stealthily taking the Meteorite from the machine, a vine wrapped around his waist holding him in the air. I realized the vine must've been Meganium's and smirked as Gold waved the Meteorite above his head at me, causing Maxie to turn around.
Just as he did, Gold flung the Meteorite at me and Meganium pulled him back around before Maxie could see him. I caught it easily, mentally thanking myself for playing sports back in Johto. Maxie turned back to me with a look of irritation, completely oblivious to what just happened.
"What are you smirking at?" Maxie asked in annoyance. My smirk only widened as I waved the Meteorite at him, causing his eyes to widen as he jerked his head to his machine, finding the Meteorite was indeed missing from it. "How did you-?!"
"Manectric, Thunder Fang!" I ordered swiftly. Manectric attacked with the same amount of speed, instantly knocking out Maxie's Mightyena and calling it a win for us. Maxie growled, glaring at me as I laughed and turned on my heel, smirking over my shoulder at the redhead. "Later, Maxie. No more plans of mass destruction, alright? Oh, and next time we meet, let's have another battle. I'd beat you down any day." I teased, turning back to my friends with a victorious smirk.
"You'll pay for this, you hear me?! Ruby!!" Maxie screamed out angrily, increasing my amusement. Manectric met my pace, grinning up at me as he too enjoyed Maxie's rage.
"Nice job, Ruby!" Leaf exclaimed.
"I can't believe you beat the leader of Team Magma the first time you met him." Emerald stated, shooting me an impressed smile.
"At this rate, you'll be Hoenn Champion in no time! And then I can finally challenge you to a real battle!" Fire exclaimed with a competitive grin.
"Oh yeah!" I chuckled, smirking back at the Champion of Johto.
"I'm just glad nobody got hurt, thanks to Ruby." Sapphire stated softly, a look of peace on her face.
"Well you can't thank just me. Gold's the one who got the Meteorite." I credited, shooting a grin at the more experienced trainer.
"Heh, it wasn't much really. Though it did bring back memories of when Fire and I first met." Gold stated cheerfully, grinning at the raven haired girl.
"How so?" Crystal asked, shooting them a look of confusion.
"Oh, I get it. When Gold and I first met, I was being accused of stealing by a cop. That's when Gold came in and used Chikorita's Vine Whip to swoop Cyndaquil and I up and put us right next to him. I remember it scared the life out of me at
first." Fire stated with a light chuckle.
"Yeah, she wouldn't stop screaming til Maggie put her down."  Gold snickered.
"Hey, you try being lifted into the air out of random, then come talk to me." Fire teased.
We headed back to Fallarbor Town to return the Meteorite to Professor Cosmo. He was overjoyed when I handed it to him, thanking us a million times and giving us each a hug out of pure joy. After we left, we found a Contest Hall at the edge of town. Sapphire was lucky to find there was a Contest today, and we cheered her to victory from within the crowd. She earned her Master rank Coolness Ribbon with Breloom, which was definitely a well earned victory, if you ask me. Now all she has left to win is the Cleverness and Beauty Ribbons.
When we finally reached Mt. Chimney and took the cable car up, we climbed down the ragged mountain side to Lavaridge Town. I broke into a run upon spotting the town, making a beeline for the Pokémon Center.
We put our Pokémon to heal with the nurse at the front desk, and to our surprise, we found that this Pokémon Center is a little different than others. This Pokémon Center had a hot spring beside it that you could get to through a door to the back left of the lobby.
We got into our bathing suits and rushed for the springs, the privacy wall in the center splitting the hot springs for both men and women. Gold, Silver, Leaf, and I made our way to the boy's side, finding a comfortable corner to relax in. I didn't realize how stressed out I was until I could feel the tension draining out from me as I relaxed myself in the steaming water.
A peaceful silence rose over us as we took in the relaxing feeling. That is until a thought popped into mind. I grinned to myself a bit, raising my head from where I rested it in the smooth stones, turning to face Silver as I did so.
"So, Silver..." I called softly, trying to hide my amusement as I started up a conversation. Silver slowly opened his eyes, humming a yes as he did so. "You and Fire, huh?" I questioned. Though I wasn't being specific in my question, Silver got the memo, flinching in response as his eyes widened a bit. Gold flashed Silver a grin, amused by his response to my question.
"Y-yeah..." Silver muttered, dropping his gaze to the water.
"How did that happen?" I asked resting an arm up against the rocks.
"I-it's uh... it's a long story..." Silver muttered shyly, his face taking on a bright red color.
"Oh come on, Silv! We've got time!" Gold exclaimed half teasingly.
"Then why don't you tell them how you and Crys became a thing?" Silver asked through gritted teeth.
"But our story doesn't have nearly as many near death experiences and crying as yours does!" Gold exclaimed teasingly, earning a growl from Silver.
"Wait, what? I wanna hear about that!" Leaf exclaimed, grinning at Silver eagerly.
"I think we all want to hear about it." I teased, flashing a sly smirk at Silver.
"Shut up!! See, this is why I wanted to stay in Pallet Town! At least I was getting some productive training in with Green there!" Silver exclaimed.
"Yeah, and Red still wants to silently attack you for taking the heart of his little sister." Gold deadpanned.
"That's not true, Red and I get along just fine!" Silver snapped.
"Oh please, I watched him eyeball you whenever you and Fire are alone." Gold teased, obviously lying, though that didn't make the situation any less amusing. Leaf and I snickered as the two senior trainers went back and forth at each other until we decided to get out of the springs. When we left, we found the girls in the lobby, Sapphire holding a portable Egg Incubator with a light blue egg in her lap.
"Where'd you get that, Sapphire?" I questioned, leaving my fluffy white towel on my head.
"An older lady gave it to me. She said she wanted me to raise the Pokémon inside it well because she couldn't get it to hatch." Sapphire explained calmly, smiling softly at the egg in her lap.
"Wow... I wouldn't think someone would just give a Pokémon egg away like that. But she must've really seen something good in you to entrust it to you." I stated softly. Sapphire grinned at me, nodding in response.
"A Pokémon egg, huh? I remember Professor Elm studied those sometimes... Hey, we should give him a call!” Gold suggested cheerfully.
"Do you think he'll want to speak to me? I haven't exactly spoken to him since I apologized in person." Silver murmured.
"Yeah, it's fine. Professor Elm is a really nice guy. I've busted a few windows of his when playing with the locals and he still welcomed me warmly whenever I came by." Gold assured. Silver nodded, heading to the Pokémon Center phones to give the Johto Pokémon Professor a call.
"I think I'll give Professor Oak a call too then, what do you think, Crys?" Fire asked, getting up from her seat beside Sapphire.
"Sure!" Crys agreed cheerfully, following Fire to the phones as well.
"Wait for me! I haven't seen old man Oak in ages!" Leaf exclaimed cheerfully as he went with Fire and Crys. I turned to Sapphire and Emerald calmly, tilting my head to the phones before speaking.
"You wanna give Professor Birch a call then?" I asked casually.
"Yeah, I'm up for that." Emerald agreed, getting up and stretching a bit before strolling to my side.
"I'm sure dad would want to hear about my journey so far, too." Sapphire stated with a cheerful grin, leading us to a video phone to ring up her dad.
I guess it's nice to call home every now and then. It's always nice to know that the one's you care about are doing well, so giving them a call is one way to find out. I bet it feels good to get a call from someone you care about as well.

After all, you never know what could happen, right?