Pokémon Heroes of Hoenn

Friends Forevermore

We stayed in Sootopolis City for about a week, only the Gym Leaders leaving to return home. Dad was extremely hesitant to leave, looking for almost any reason to stay. I noted that he wasn't the way I had always known him to be anymore. He no longer seemed to have an ever growing disliking  towards me, but a genuine feeling of fatherly love. I have no clue what humbled him so much, but I assumed it went something like my humbling process. Regardless, as much as my heart did long for him to stay in fear that he would change again, I knew he had a job to do, and I had to remind him of that. Dad eventually went home without me, allowing me and the other Regional Heroes to take a week off from training. We all found many different ways to relax, each seeming to bring us more memorable moments to add to our hearts.
Fire and Silver found fishing to be a calming pass-timer, which lead to a hilarious moment when they so happened to fish up a Luvdisc.
"They say if a couple fishes up a Luvdisc they'll have a loving relationship that never ends!" Fire exclaimed cheerfully. I burst into laughter every time I recall how red Silver's face got the minute she said those words. Gets me every time.
Gold and Crys decided to have a water race between Gold's Quagsire, Quagsi, and Crystal's Dewgong, Dewgo. Quagsire was put to shame in that race, but on the bright side, Dewgong managed to knock a Magikarp into a wall, causing it to miraculously evolve and chase Dewgong through the water until Leaf's Plusle and Minun zapped it. Gold and I got a good laugh out of that too. Crystal on the other hand, not so much.
Sapphire and Leaf played with some of the local wild Pokémon who were startled by Groudon and Kyogre's attack, helping them feel at ease once again and even giving Sapphire a new addition to her team, an extremely cute and playful Spheal.
Emerald and I decided to do some productive training, and by productive training, I mean Emerald was teaching me how to swim. You would think that I would feel confident with Emerald's Lanturn, which she caught when searching for Team Aqua's​ location, and my Milotic by my side to keep me from drowning, but no. I panicked so much, I accidentally splashed water onto Emerald's Ninetales, which was given to her by Flannery. It was so angered to the point that it refused to quit attacking me with its Flamethrower until Milotic fought back. If it weren't for Crystal's Chansey, Cici, knowing Heal Pulse, those burns wouldn't be healing for quite some time. Green, Blue, and Yellow all decided to have a beach day, which lead to Green being chased by a Sharpedo, meanwhile Red simply watched in amusement.
As the days went on, I spent more and more time training both my mind and body with Lance, Steven, and Wallace, which was a great opportunity for me. My Pokémon and I trained side by side, helping me grow an even deeper bond with each of them. Lance was an excellent teacher, his Dragonite helping my Pokémon strengthen their moves to even greater heights than I would've thought. If it wasn't for Steven though, I probably wouldn't have had a mindset as calm and quick thinking as I do now. Wallace helped me really develop a bond with my Pokémon in a different way. He told me that playing with my Pokémon was a good way to strengthen the friendship we would need to get even further as partners.
Blaziken and I had a couple work out cessions, practicing our physical abilities on punching bags and enjoying a nice cool bottle of water afterwards. Mightyena and Manectric deeply enjoyed it when I through a frisbee for them to chase, letting them burn off some energy and feel the freedom of the wind.
Flygon enjoyed flying through obstacle courses created by the attacks of my other Pokémon such as Flamethrower and Ice Beam. Milotic loved playing searching games, where I would hide its Pokéball and let it find it on its own. Zangoose really didn't care what we did as long as he was beside me. Sometimes just snacking on things or taking a nap outdoors underneath the shade of a tree was enough to make his day.
Though our week of relaxation was fun, it couldn't last forever. Eventually we said our goodbyes to Wallace and Steven, the rest of us heading for Lillycove City together. The Heroes of Kanto and Johto, along with Lance and Proton, had all booked a ship back to Kanto, preparing to head home to await their next adventure.
When we reached Lillycove City we still had plenty of time to look around, letting us check out the local art museum, the department store, and even the Pokémon Fanclub, the members of the club losing their minds when they spotted us.
The time eventually came when our senior Heroes would have to part ways with us, causing a feeling of sorrow to well up inside of us. We approached the docs, finding their ship and standing off to the side of the stairway so others could board and we could say our goodbyes.
"So.... I guess this is really it." I stated softly, a sad smile on my face as I spoke.
"Yeah, it is. But we'll always be friends, and friends always find a way to meet again." Fire stated confidently.
"I guess you won't be here to cheer me on to victory in the Pokémon League then..." Leaf boasted with a proud smirk.
"Mmm, I don't know. We were actually planning to cheer on Ruby in the Pokémon League." Crystal teased.
"Ha!!" I exclaimed mockingly towards Leaf, earning a grumble from the blonde haired boy in response.
"In any case, we're wishing all of you luck during the rest of your journey." Silver stated calmly.
"No one could've said that any better, Silver." Gold complemented, earning a light nod as thanks from Silver in response.
"Thank you guys for helping us out all the time. We couldn't have made it this far without you." Emerald stated softly.
"That's true, you taught us a lot more than we could've learned from anyone else." Sapphire added in agreement.
"If anything we should be thanking you." Red stated modestly.
"Thank us? What for?" I asked.
"I agree with Red. You guys helped us to grow stronger mentally." Green added warmly.
"Yeah, seeing you grow helped us reflect on our pasts, which will help us build our futures." Yellow stated softly.
"And you're a big inspiration to our dreams as well!" Blue exclaimed cheerfully.
"I never thought of it like that..." I murmured.
"Youth is a beautiful thing. When you're young, you learn from one another, helping each other grow stronger together, instead of striving only to be the one at the top. That's a good lesson to remember." Lance stated wisely.
"In any case, I've learned more from you kids than I did from my fellow adults, besides Lance here. If it weren't for these four, I'd probably be behind bars right now or worse." Proton added with a tone of gratitude as he put his arms around Fire, Gold, Silver, and Crys, who each smiled up at him in response. "Then I guess we could say you taught us and we taught you." Leaf chuckled.
"Precisely." Silver stated with a nod of confirmation. The Captain of the ship called for all last passengers to hurry along, causing us to speed up the pace.
"Well, we've gotta go, so..." Crys murmured.
"Yeah, bye. And thank you all for everything." I stated softly. With tears in her eyes, Fire rushed towards me and threw her arms around me for a quick embrace.
"You'll always be like a little brother to me, Ruby." Fire whispered into my shoulder so that only I could hear her. With that, she pulled away, dried her eyes, and turned to board the ship with one last smile. As the ship began to leave the docs, we waved back and forth to each other and called out our goodbyes.
"Be sure to watch my Pokémon League challenge on TV, okay!!" I called out.
"We will!! And we'll be sure to cheer you on to victory!!" Fire called back.
"Good, 'cause next time we meet, you owe me a battle!!" I yelled teasingly.
"You got it, Ruby!!"
"Bye bye!!" Sapphire called out, listening closely as they yelled back until we could no longer hear each other anymore. We stood in silence for a while, nothing much for us to say now that most of our friends had gone their separate ways.
"Hey, Ruby? Lillycove City has a Contest Hall, but they aren't holding any real Contests for a few days. They are holding a Contest for fun though. It's a partnership Contest where two trainers enter together to compete for an unofficial Ribbon. Would you.... would you enter it with me?" Sapphire asked hesitantly. I looked at her in confusion for a moment, surprised that she was asking me of all people to enter a Contest with her, but seeing the longing in her eyes told me she was serious. After a moment I smiled softly and softened my gaze.
"Sure, why not? Let's enter it together." I stated softly, earning a look of pure joy from Sapphire.
"Say, why don't we enter it too, Leaf? It's not official or anything, so I think it'll be a nice change of atmosphere." Emerald suggested.
"Well, I never have been on stage before, and watching all those times Sapphire competed was pretty fun... So yeah, I'm up for it." Leaf agreed cheerfully.
"Come on then, let's go sign up!" Sapphire called cheerfully, leading the way to the Contest Hall.
The four of us entered the unofficial Contest together in two different entrances, Leaf and Emerald and me and Sapphire, each of us putting our heart into simply having fun.
Emerald's Ninetales and Leaf's Mawile proved to be a pretty good team, making it through quite a few rounds together. Unfortunately for them, Sapphire's Delcatty and my Zangoose proved to be unbeatable. We flew through every match, earning victory after victory, until finally we reach the end, where once again, our bonds proved unbeatable. Sapphire and I won the final matching, calling the Contest our own and earning the unofficial Contest Ribbon. It was a bright red Ribbon with light blue stripes outlining both the top and bottom of it. The Ribbon was split into two halves by the golden metal that held both Ribbons together, and when the two golden halves were locked together, a small sentences could be read on it.

Partners now and forevermore.