A Warm Heart For Hoenn

Up to Dewford and into the Caves

Wally introduced himself to Cilan since he didn't meet with him before and I smiled at the thought of the two being best friends. They were so different from each other.
Wally led us through the familiar routes we used to take and saw Pokémon very familiar to us. Cilan and Pansage were super excited, checking out every site in the area.
Heck we had to stop seven times just to watch him stare at trees. We met a lot of the Gym Leaders I faced before and I got a lot of looks when I passed by in the streets.
"Is that the world champion?" A trainer asked.
That was when I got the signal to run. Cilan and Iris were also on my heels but as much as Wally isn't really my friend, I still had to drag him along with me so he can keep up the pace.
"I think we...made it," Cilan panted.
"I hate being famous," I yelled.
"Well, Leon felt the same way for a while," Wally shrugged.
"Wait, you know Leon?"
"Duh, Galarian champ."
I rolled my eyes and climbed up a tree, sitting on a branch. Iris followed and so did Cilan.
"Wally! Get up here! The view is amazing!" Iris called.
"It's alright...I'm just really afraid of heights," he stammered.
"It isn't so hard! Come on! Show him Emolga!"
Emolga glided down to Wally and sat on his head, making him grin. Emolga motioned to the tree and Wally wobbled up to it, trembling.
"Pan-sage, Pan-sage, Pan-sage!" Pansage cheered.
"Come on!" Iris told the rest of us, "Wally! Wally! Wally! Wally!"
Wally and Emolga flew up the tree fearlessly and he clung onto the branch Iris was sitting on. He leapt onto it and when I thought he was going to stop there, Emolga slapped the back of his head with her tail and urged him to keep going.
Gulping, Wally climbed on. He went up and up, passing my branch and soon, he reached Cilan's branch.
"Awesome Wally! Hey wait, where are you—?" Cilan stopped as he watched Wally climb on, "Wally! That's too high! The branches will start to snap!"
Emolga didn't make him stop though. She just kept on pushing him up there. Yeah, now I see what she was trying to do. She was just trying to get Wally more active.
Emolga is unbelievably active and she would get anyone sitting down moving right back up: from climbing trees to electrocuting body parts.
"Emolga!!!!" I screamed, "Get him down!"
"Emo-Emolga! Emo!" She waved her arm dismissively at me and kept getting Wally to climb higher.
"Seriously?!" I sighed and climbed after them.
Cilan was right—not a shock since he is most of the time. The branches started to snap under my feet when I followed Wally.
"Emolga!" I yelped.
A branch snapped under my foot and Emolga gasped as I fell. She launched off Wally's head and dove after me. As much as she tried to break my fall, she couldn't do it because she's almost the size of my head.
Before I hit the ground, something silver caught me mid air with talons and flung me onto its back.
It dropped me to the grass gently and took off into the sky again. Was that Skarmory? A hand stretched out and I took it, shaking all over. Wally also fell but Haxorus was the one who broke his fall.
Cilan raised his eyebrows and Iris started to giggle. What did they think was so funny when I almost could have broken a neck from that fall? When I looked up, I found the owner of the Skarmory and I realized why they were giggling.
A silver haired man stood in front the of me with steel blue eyes and he looked at me with a smile.
"Amy...long time no see," Steven said.

I gasped, collapsing again, becoming the lightest shade of pink and in the tree, I heard Iris gasp for breath to avoid laughing out loud.
"S-S-Steven!" I gasped, "I mean...uh, hello!"
Emolga landed on my shoulder and he eyed her. Since we met before, Emolga liked exploring these metals he wears and when Steven scratched her down to the cheeks, he was electrocuted so hard that he flew into a cave wall.
"Good to see you again, Amy," he smiled, "You too Emolga."
Emolga smiled proudly and rubbed her paws against her fluffy cheeks which zapped crazily. Iris climbed down and so did Cilan. Wally eventually fell down too just as he started to climb again.
"So what are you doing here?" I asked.
"I was on my way to Dewford when I heard that the 'World Champion' was here so I came over to check it out," he explained, "Any chance it could be you?"
"That's me..." I giggled.
I'm almost twenty or something and he was about the age of twenty two by now but I just proved to him how much of a child I can become. Iris gave me a slight pat on the shoulder and went: "She can have a battle with you if you wanna."
"WHAT?!" I hissed.
"That would be an honor," he said.
The way he smiled at me sent all the red color of my blood up to my cheeks. Of course, this battle had to be now since we were running out of options about where else we were supposed to battle.
"Metagross," Steven called him out as he threw the Pokeball through the air.
Since Houndoom takes battling way too seriously and Lucario was way too tired, I used the Swampert to get the Ground Type Advantage.
There were Mega Stones strapped to our Pokémon and Steven eyed the Necklace on Swampert's neck with interest. I did the same with Metagross's ankle bracelet.
"Mega Evolution battle?" We both said at the same time.
"Battle BEGIN!" Iris yelled.
"Flash Cannon!" Steven commanded with no hesitation whatsoever.
I didn't even muster up any words and watched Swampert get shot to the ground. What the heck just happened? Why did I freeze up all of a sudden? Keep it together Amy, you're World Champion now. Swampert glared at me for help and I watched Metagross pound the ground angrily.
"Swampert! Hammer Arm!" I shouted.
He raised a fist high and smashed Metagross to the ground by pounding him over the head. Fighting moves are also very effective on Steel which meant that Hammer Arm did a number on Metagross.
"Meteor Mash, Go!" Steven ordered.
Responding, Metagross flung Swampert's fist off his head and his front feet clanged together, glowing a galactic light.
Like a rocket ship, Metagross flung himself forwards and smashed into Swampert hard right into his stomach.
"Swampert, time to mega EVOLVE!" I raised my arm high and put two fingers into my Pikachu tail sash.
Steven did the same by lifting his stickpin to his lips. Both our mega stones burst in light and our Pokémon Mega Evolved.
"Show me what you've got," Steven told me.
A part of me felt heated up but the other part wanted to slap that sly smile right off his face and out into tomorrow.
"Alright! Use Bulldoze!"
Now I knew why Steven didn't mind Swampert releasing his full fury onto Metagross. He just stood his ground anyways and Swampert's moves did nothing.
"Earthquake," he told Metagross.
Of course.
He (listen, I know Metagross doesn't have a gender but just pretend it does okay?) slammed his claws into the ground and the earth shook roughly, making Swampert wobble from side to side in order to keep balance.
"Swampert! Let's strengthen our moves a little! Use Waterfall!"
Roaring, Swampert unleashed his maximum power onto Metagross and doused the entire area with enough water for a city to run.
"Chance TAKEN!" I roared, "Use Bulldoze, GO!"
Swampert slammed a Metagross head first and they both collapsed. What made it different was that Metagross fainted but Swampert stayed strong and held onto whatever HP of him is left.
"I lost? Again?" I held my breath but Steven laughed as if it didn't bother him one bit.
He came over to me and put an arm onto my shoulder, slightly rubbing it and said, "You are the World Champion."
I blushed but tried to hide it by fake coughing.
"Hey...Steven..." I muttered, "Mind taking us along with you to the caves? I would love to find another Mega Stone for Brendan's Aggron there. As a little gift..."
"Why not? Come on, I'll show you the way."