Preserve

Stone Cold Criminal

Rubie was up and dressed before Mila awoke. Mila had kindly laid out an outfit for Rubie. A white t-shirt, red jacket and red shorts with red and white shoes. Her favourite element was a red and white baseball cap that sat nicely on her brunette head. She then grabbed an apple and gently woke up Najik by blending strawberries and lemons in a blender. She poured half into a glass and the other half into a dish and lay it on the floor. Najik quickly hopped in and began lapping at the delicious mixture while Rubie flung her backpack over her shoulder. She wasn't brave enough to wake up Kyle, so just knocked on his door. He answered, fully dressed, sucking on a lollipop his Swirlix doing the same. 

"Is that your breakfast?" Rubie asked with a smile, Kyle smirked with a shrug and his Swirlix hopped onto his broad shoulders. 

"Are you going to challenge that gym or not?" he asked and looked at his white watch, "It opens at ten though. We still have an hour to burn."

Rubie nodded and with a thoughtful look headed toward the door as Kyle grabbed a cookie from out of a jar atop a shelf and plucked off the chips to give to Swirly, while he ate the cookie. He grabbed his purse/ messenger bag and scrambled the falling out Pokeballs back into the neon yellow bag. 

Rubie waited for him to catch up before she tossed the house keys at Kyle and exited the house, leaving him to lock the door as he was the last one out. 

Rubie breathed in the fresh breeze as Butterfrees fluttered past them to mingle in flower patches. Adults and their pokemon scurried around the city, most likely heading to work. Kyle caught up to Rubie as she slowly walked down the street and entered the city atmosphere. 

"So what do you wanna do? We could check out the Onix memorial statue, I heard an Onix saved this city once and people come to pay their respects. Maybe we should check it out?" Kyle suggested, adjusting his white glasses. Rubie shook her head. 

"I'd rather just explore. But you can go if you would like," Rubie replied. Kyle shook his head and explained how he doesn't like not having company, and his Swirlix had just passed out due to a sugar rush. Rubie wasn't listening. This was it. This is what she applied to Professor Tamarisks research project for. This is what she saved her money for. Freedom. It was beautiful. 

They wondered most of the city, grabbing fruit smoothies upon fruit smoothies. Rubies anxieties about her family and home and sister, melting away. 

~

Finally, it was Ten A.M. Rubie crouched behind a sign, lying in wait as she watched yawning kids as their parents either pushed them in to do something instead of just sitting in their rooms doing nothing or adults hopping in because they worked at the museum the gym was in. Kyle just leaned against it, sipping a Lum Berry Smoothie, playing a colourful game on his phone. 

"You look like you're about to kill someone, Rubie. Just chill. We'll wait five minutes and then we'll go in," he reassured. Rubie slowly straightened from her crouch position and stuck her nose in the air, 

"I know, I was just preparing to battle. I've only battled someone once, and she was just a girl on a tantrum," she snapped and rested one hand over another on the sign. Kyle chuckled and took a long sip from his smoothie. Rubie walked round the sign and leaned against it next to Kyle. 

"I'm kinda scared. I don't know how powerful the gym leader is! You're going in with me right?" she sighed and looked at Kyle with big eyes. Kyle laughed, 

"I will be checking out the fossil gallery because it has a secret sweet shop. It's supposed to be bright, neon, pastel, kawaii, etc," he corrected, pushing Rubie's face away by her nose. She blinked her 'puppy eyes' away and scowled. She huffed and folded her arms. Najik also seemed to peep and stuck her nose in the air, mimicking Rubies behaviour against Kyle. Kyle finished his smoothie and threw it into a bin nearby.