Chapter 6

I woke up first the next day. Steven still had his warm hand in mine, and even though he was asleep, he gripped my hand like a toddler. I let him hold it for a few more minutes as I observed how calm he looked. What had happened that made him so pained last night? He was having an anxiety, no, a full blown panic attack. It was like he was dying, and he didn't want my help. What could have triggered something so drastic?

It was when I pulled away my hand that he woke up. He saw my face first and blinked, groggy and confused. Then memories of the night before came to him and his eyes averted immediately. He sat up and turned the other way.

"What?" I said, standing up. "Are you ok?"

"Sapphire," he said quickly, interrupting me. "You promised not to tell anyone. I hope you see to it you keep that promise." There was a pause.

"I never break a promise," I replied. This time, he paused.

"I hope I didn't interrupt your sleep." Wow. He was actually concerned for me? Then these things must've happened before. Has he had these before while he was alone? The thought of him sitting in a room having a panic attack of that magnitude was scary.

"You didn't interrupt it," I assured. "I was still awake."

"Good." He paused then turned to me. His smile was kind. "Thank you, Sapphire." My heart started beating again.

"O-oh, no problem."

"Let's see if Wally and them are awake," he continued, changing the subject. When both our bags were packed, we left the room. Nurse Joy had just taken the key from Steven when the front door to the center opened and Wally walked in, his parents behind him. The boy looked pale until he saw me. Then his face broke out into embarrassed heat. His eyes turned to his feet, where he toyed with his shoes. Steven and I approached the parents. They handed me a bag of pills and inhalers. There was a paper inside that instructed which ones to take and when to use them, along with how much. Wow, this kid had a whole pharmacy in his backpack.

"Be sure not to leave him by himself," his mom reminded. "He'll need to be watched at all times. Don't forget."

"We won't," Steven assured. As his Dad put on Wally's backpack, the kid crossed his arms and looked to the side, pouting. He obviously didn't want to go with us. As his parents went over some important medical information with Steven, I held out my hand to Wally. The kid looked at me oddly.

"Sorry about yesterday," I said. "I didn't mean to scare you like that." He blinked in surprise.

"I was the one that tackled you," he mumbled, looking to the side again. "Why are you even helping me? I don't even know you. I can make it there fine by myself."

"I have a feeling you know that's a lie." He stared at me, eyes narrowed. "Oh c'mon, can't we be friends?"

"I'm not saying that," he said quickly. "I just don't want to be babied. That's all that my parents do." I smiled at him.

"I promise that won't happen on this trip. If it does, you have my permission to tell either Steven and I off." He paused. "We just want to make sure you get there safe. There's nothing better than being with the champion and I."

"What's your name?" He uncrossed his arms and stepped up to me. Then he held out his hand. "I'm Wally." I took his hand in mine and shook it. He was warm and his hands were soft.

"I'm Sapphire. It's nice to meet you." I added a warm smile to the end of it. The young boy smiled back, suddenly at ease with himself. There was no telling how he was raised, but it must've been somewhat like being in a bubble all the time. In a way, maybe he and I weren't so different. Maybe we could get along just fine.

Steven tapped the side of my arm, an indication that it was time to go. I straightened and nodded at the mother and father in turn. They nodded back, tears welling in their eyes. Wally saw and sighed in frustration. They then proceeded to hug him and kiss him all over, telling him what a great and amazing young boy he was. He returned the compliments like he had been rehearsing. Then we stepped out of the pokemon center and proceeded back on the road. Wally's parents waved goodbye, blowing their noses into some tissues, and headed back in their house, where I guarantee they were in each others' arms, crying.

Steven looked down to Wally. "Do they worry a lot for a reason?" he inquired. Wally blew air through his mouth.

"They worry way too much," he answered. "I'm just fine. I can take care of myself." He paused. "Thank you for taking me there, anyways. I don't know the route too well." It wasn't the real reason, but Steven accepted it.

We had just exited Petalburg when a sea breeze wafted through the air and shuffled our clothes. The salty breeze tasted like the ocean I had never seen. Yet as soon as we traveled out far enough, we were greeted by a sandy beach that was occupied by several Wingull that cawed angrily when the breeze caught them again. The ocean behind them was calm, clear, and gorgeous. The only thing disturbing the deep blue waters was a boat perched next to a house, and it was too beautiful to really categorize it as a disturbance. Watching it roll over the waters with amazing grace was almost hypnotic.

Cinder jumped from her ball and started charging towards the wingull on the beach, scaring them with a blast of fire before the bird were forced to retaliate with a barrage of water guns. The fire chicken pokemon was forced to retreat, squealing in delight. She was quite courageous, I'd give her that. When she was back at my feet, she jumped into my arms, cuddling under my chin. The wingulls saw her get to me and flew away, making annoyed faces as they left.

Wally inhaled the air through his nose and breathed it out, exalted. "I'll miss Petalburg while I'm in Verdanturf," he admitted. "But they say it smells even nicer there. Lots of flowers and grass and trees." Steven agreed with a nod.

"Oh, I almost forgot." The champion pulled a pokeball off his belt and handed it to the young boy, who took it with awe spread evenly across his face. "It's a ralts. Norman thought you'd like it, and your parents agreed you needed protection."

"No way!" the boy shouted in excitement. "I've always wanted my own pokemon! This is the greatest day ever!" He threw the ball and a ralts appeared. The psychic and fairy type looked around, confused, then saw Wally, who approached it with a hand in front of him to show he didn't mean to harm it. It was like watching too magnets stick together. The instant those two touched hands, they grabbed each other in a warm hug. It was a match made in heaven.

After we finished watching our fair share of the beautiful sea and our pokemon running about, we headed northwards. I saw it right from the ocean: Petalburg Woods. It was a deep and dark forest that could often get confusing if an inexperienced trainer wandered into it without a guide. Luckily Steven knew his way through.

I hadn't noticed it before, but when we left Petalburg, Wally walked between Steven and I. Now he was on my side and Wally was on my other. He really meant was he said when he wanted me to walk by his side at all times.

We entered the wood and were almost immediately enveloped in darkness. It was bright enough to see where we were going, but if any pokemon were in our path, it would be hard not to disturb them. Luckily Ralts and Cinder could take on anything that came their way without much issue. It took some practice, but soon Wally and I were double battling like professionals. We could take on hoards of pokemon without having to talk about which moves we needed to use. We just went out and did it. The thrill of battle enveloped us both, and soon we were taking on pokemon that hadn't challenged us.

Wally laughed and attacked a taller pokemon that was hiding out in the brush. Ralts' screech hit it dead on and the pokemon came running out into the open, where it tripped over a vine and hit the ground, hard. When the light was right and we could see what it was, it turned out Wally hadn't attacked a pokemon but instead a human.

"Sorry, mister!" Wally ran forward and began to help the man up. But as soon as he touched him, the goon dressed in dark blue grabbed the kid by the throat and lifted him into the air. Steven and I were so stunned that we almost didn't react when the man, in his goofy uniform, tossed him to the side. Wally hit the ground and fainted, the wind from his lungs taken.

Steven ran forward and grabbed the man by the collar, where he held a pokeball to his face in challenge. I ran over to Wally and lifted him into my hands. Thank goodness! He was breathing just fine. He was also pretty light, I could carry him if the time called for it. He was bleeding from the cheek, however. I managed to pull up my sleeve and cover it to stop the slow flow before it got any worse.

"Hey, I remember you," the goon said to Steven. He knocked the pokeball out of his hands and grabbed the champion by the collar as well. The two of them started fighting over control of each other which ended with them grabbing hands and pushing on each other to try and overtake their balance. The man in the blue hood smiled at him. "You're the guy I nearly drowned in rain. How'd you survive that anyway?"

Nearly drowned Steven in rain? What was he talking about? I saw him pull out a blue ball from his pocket, which Steven immediately made a grab for. The goon managed to get it out of his reach just in time. "Ah ah ah," he tormented. "If you misbehave I might just use this again."

"Get the orb, Sapphire!" Steven hollered. "Get the orb away from him!"

He didn't need to say any more. I set Wally against the trunk of a tree and charged at the man. As soon as I got close, he tried to put Steven in my way, but I managed to avoid hitting him and roundhouse kicked the fool in the face. Taken by surprise, he dropped the orb. Steven made a dive for it and caught it right as the goon fell to the Earth.

I grabbed the mans' hands and pinioned them behind his back, where I used a pair handcuffs Steven had given me to contain him. He turned to look at me from an awkward angle.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked with a lisp. I must've broken some of his teeth.

"I'm the girl who just took you down," I answered, finishing locking him up and getting up. Steven stepped to my side and looked down at the man, obvious hate in his eyes. "What was he talking about?"

"The night I ended up on your doorstep was the night he used this," Steven explained, holding up the blue orb, "to make it rain cats and dogs." I stared at it. That thing? Making it rain so heavily? "I don't know what it is either. I'll get it to Dad in Rustboro. He can examine it and tell us what we need to do with it."

"I'll tell you what you need to do with it," the goon said. From this angle, it became apparent his jaw had been kicked slightly out of place. "Give it back before I break your arms. I'm not afraid to kill the two of you."

"From the ground?" Steven asked, skeptical. "I'd like to see you try." He had just finished speaking when two other people dressed in blue jumped us. I automatically rolled the one that tried to jump on my back, throwing her right on top of the goon we had already apprehended. She landed on him hard, knocking the wind out of him. She looked up to me and I kicked her in the stomach. She fell backwards, right into another bush. She was pretty skinny. Her black hair had more volume than her entire body weight. Even when she found herself at my feet, she was adjusting her cute blue outfit. I stared at her. She was wearing more makeup than clothes and had enough of a spray tan to go as a carrot next halloween.

Steven was quarreling with a much different character. He was almost twice as tall and nearly three times as muscular. He had torn the torso of his uniform, so all he wore were some tight-fitting shorts. He picked up Steven by the arm while the champion kicked at him pointlessly. It was when I jumped forward and kicked him right between the legs did the thug fall with a great thud and a barrage of curses. No pair of handcuffs could hope to wrangle this guy, so Steven pulled out a gun and aimed it at him.

"Shelly, retreat!" the giant roared. The girl I had knocked over stood up with some difficulty. I tried drop kicking her, which was probably a bad idea. She grabbed me and threw me into the trees, where I found myself tangled.

"Right behind ya, Matt!" she called back, darting towards Rustboro. I had just gotten myself free when Steven grabbed me and halted me from chasing after them. They scurried into the sunlight that led out of the woods, where they were lost. I turned to Steven, confused.

"You did well," he praised. "Better than me, actually." I let my stance fade and met his eyes.

"Why did you let them go?" I questioned. "We were winning." He tilted his head slightly.

"You must know that even if we apprehended the girl, Shelly, then the giant wouldn't hold back about hurting us. In a sense, we were outnumbered." His eyes glanced towards the goon on the ground. His eyes were spinning after being landed on by Shelly. I wasn't sure if he was actually hurt but just savoring the touch of the overly-hot woman. "They didn't mind to lose this guy. Must mean they were either selfish, or higher ranked."

He walked over and pulled the man up by his cuffs. "You're coming with us. I hope you talk as well as you get caught." The man, who had snapped out of his trance, blew his lips.

"Team Aqua doesn't talk," he said, rebellious.

"So you're part of Team Aqua?" The goon paused, realized his mistake, then shut his trap for good. "That's what I thought. Sapphire, can you get Wally?" I nodded at him. But when I turned around, Wally wasn't at the tree the man had thrown him against. He was standing up to me with crossed arms, eyes lowered. Steven and I froze in place.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked, voice cross. "I thought pokemon trainers were supposed to battle, not fight and arrest one another." I sighed through my nose.

"It's really nothing worth mentioning," I argued. "They attacked us first."

"Sounds to me like Steven has seen this guy before." The green-haired child held up the blue orb Steven had taken from him. The champion blinked in surprise, then searched his person for the same item. It turns out that Wally was quite the sneaky pick pocket. "And this doesn't really look like a normal item to be carrying around."

"Hey, kid," the Aqua goon hissed. "Be careful with that thing. Touch it the wrong way and you might just sweep us all away." Wally stared at him. There was a part of him that wanted to test it to see if he was right, but the better side of the child knew better. He put it in his pocket.

"Are you guys some sort of special cops?" Steven and I froze at his words. "I won't tell anybody, I just want to know."

"No, we're just cops." Steven kicked the Aqua grunt in the back of the heel and we were on the road again. I followed by Steven's side, watching the grunt out of the corner of my eye. Wally followed on my other side, eyes on the ground.

"I want to know more about what's going on," Wally pressed. I glared at him.

"We're cops. This guy is bad. That's the end of it." He wasn't satisfied at all by the answer.

"Then this orb is just some stolen gem right?" Wally pulled it out of his pocket. Steven handed the perp to me and made a grab at the boy. Nimble on his feet, the young trainer managed to avoid his grasp and get further down the road. "Oh, so it isn't a normal ball, isn't it?"

"Give it here, Wally," Steven warned. "It's police business. You wouldn't understand."

"I think I'd understand just fine," he replied, polishing the orb on his jacket. He examined it closely. "This sign on here… I've seen it before. They taught us about it at school…" Steven made a grab for it again, but Wally was quicker. He managed to get further down the road and turn back to us. "It's some sort of pokemon that needs this thing, right?"

"Gah, you three are annoying!" The grunt, held by his cuffs, looked Wally right in the eye and began talking. "The pokemon's name is Kyogre. It's the pokemon of the sea. That orb right there, once we get it near her, will awaken her from a deep slumber. We plan to use her to overflow this petty region, if not the world, in water." We all stopped. Steven turned from Wally back to the goon. "You heard me right, Stone. That orb there is pretty important. If you don't want to be killed, I recommend you give it back."

"Who are Team Magma?" Steven questioned.

"C'mon, man. I told you enough already. Just let me go."

"No." Steven grabbed him by the collar. "You will tell me what Team Magma has plans for as well." The grunt sighed.

"Alright. I guess the cat's outta the bag anyway." He shrunk away. "Dude, back off. I'll tell ya once you get a good distance out of my face." Steven did as instructed. "Ok, so at the beginning there was one team. We didn't have a name, we were still young and reckless. We found two orbs, that one right there, and another one that's red. When we got the orbs, fights broke out, and the team split into two: Team Aqua and Team Magma. We took the blue orb to raise Kyogre and flood the land. Team Magma took the red orb and wants to raise Groudon, who they hope can burn away all the oceans and instead make this petty region nothing but a giant land mass."

I looked to Steven. He was processing this heavily. Wally was in the background, holding the blue orb even more carefully than before. The goon spat some blood out of his mouth. "Choose to believe me or not: it's the truth. And it's all I know. Can I go now?" Steven raised his hand, silencing him. He looked to me, asking with his eyes what to do. It filled me with pride to be the one to make a decision.

"Take him back to Rustboro," I advised. "He may not know anything else, but he knows how to use the orb. We'd be just playing with fire if we tried to figure that thing out on our own." Steven nodded in agreement. Wally walked up to his side and quietly slipped the ball into his hand. The champion ruffled his hair and put the orb in his pocket.

"C'mon," the guy begged. "I don't know as much about it as you think."

"You're the best we got," I said. "C'mon, we're heading to town. If you fight, I'll take you down." Steven pulled up to my side and handed me a gun while Wally and the goon weren't looking. I think he was beginning to trust me more and more.

And I was really liking it.