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“Attention passengers en route to Lilycove. This is your captain speaking. I have just been informed by the Lilycove Port Authority that several pods of Wailmer and Wailord have taken up residence in the harbor and are blocking the way for any boats coming or going.”
“Well, that sounds suspicious…” said Terry.
“Shh!”
“The LPA is working with Pokémon trainers to remove the whale Pokémon from the harbor. In the meantime, we will have to make land in Mossdeep city. This will take a half hour off of our travel time for tonight. We apologize for any inconvenience and will work as hard as we can to land in Lilycove in a timely fashion. Thank you for your understanding.”
“We could just get off in Mossdeep,” said Laura as the captain hung up, “Once we’re in Hoenn again, we can just use Rayquaza to go wherever we want.”
“I-I’d rather not…”
“Yeah, yeah…”
Laura lay down next to Terry on the bed and sighed a little, Pokéball in hand.
“Which one is that?” asked Terry. Laura let the Pokéball open: it was her Archen, one of the Pokemon she'd obtained in Unova. The feathered dinosaur Pokémon hopped around a bit before settling down on her stomach.
“Man, this is gonna be so different for you,” she said to it, “But I bet you’ll like it in Hoenn. It’s nice and warm there.”
“Ar,” said Archen.
“I wonder what kind of Pokémon you’ll evolve into…” said Laura, “Only one way to find out, right?”
The ship’s horn blared. Archen leaped up in alarm but, seeing that the two trainers were still calm, decided that there was nothing to worry about.
“Hey, Laura?” said Terry, “Do you… do you think that girl will ever get together with her man again?”
“Who–oh,” said Laura, “Why? What’s this all the sudden?”
“I don’t know,” said Terry, “I mean, we barely knew them for five seconds, and then we had to see how their story’s ending. It was kinda heart-wrenching, actually… I just keep wondering if they’re ever going to see each other again.”
Laura turned her head slightly to look at him.
“Of course they will, Terry,” she said, “Touko said so herself. ‘The world is round’. Why do you think you and I got the opportunity to cross paths again?”
Terry was quiet.
“To be honest, I’d forgotten about you,” said Laura, “Ten years went by and you were completely out of mind. But then Zoroark tried to steal my Pokémon, and she led me on a wild goose chase to Unova… which is where I found you.”
“You… forgot about me?”
Laura laughed.
“There was a lot going on in those ten years, I guess.”
“Yeah…”
* * *
It was late in the evening when the ferry finally arrived in Mossdeep city. Several trainers made their way off the ship; Mossdeep was either their final destination or they had a flying Pokémon to take them elsewhere. Laura and Terry fell into the latter category.
It felt good to breathe the humid air of Hoenn again, Laura decided. Archen looked around hurriedly from its perch on Laura’s shoulder, unsure what to make of its new environment. Laura’s Swampert carried her bag for her, while Terry carried his own luggage.
“Man, Mossdeep…” said Terry, “I haven’t been here in god knows how long. Hasn’t changed a bit from the looks of things.”
“Well, as long as we’re here…” said Laura, “We may as well drop in on people, right? I don’t know if you’ve met the new gym leaders here, Terry.”
“Leaders?” Terry shifted the weight of his suitcase from one hand to the other, “As in, plural?”
“Yeah, after Selty retired. Her twin kids took her place as gym leader a few years ago.”
“I didn’t know Selty had kids.”
“Yeah you did, Terry. They were hanging around the gym all the time.”
“I never noticed them.”
“Anyway, their names are Tate and Liza,” said Laura, “They’re really cute, too. Look just like Selty, I swear. They decided to have a psychic gym instead of dark, and got the whole thing set up pretty fast.”
“Are they any good?”
“Yeah. I mean, for gym leader standards. They don't really have a team strong enough to compete with mine yet, but it looks like they can do a pretty good job against trainers more or less at their level.”
“What else has changed around here?”
Laura started walking for the Pokémon Center. Terry followed her, deciding that the more time they spent walking around, the longer he could put off taking a ride on Rayquaza.
“All kinds of things happened since you left,” said Laura, “I mean, besides the obvious fiasco at Sootopolis eight years ago. Team Aqua and Magma got back together… I dunno, three or so years ago, maybe four.”
“Why?”
“Beats me, man. Had something to do with the fact that Kyogre is still moping around somewhere. They never did get hold of it, luckily. A friend of mine took care of them for me.”
“Because you were… where?”
“I was staying the hell out of it. I’d decided that I’d had enough of this ‘hero’ stuff. Hoenn’s full of trainers who can stop evil teams and whatever, and it’s probably a good idea for me to stay out of the spotlight anyway. In any case, Mae showed them who was the boss, and they decided to give up for good.”
By now they’d reached the Pokémon Center. To Laura it was as familiar as if she’d lived there her whole life, but to Terry it was a fountain of nostalgia. They took their seats around a glass table in the corner of the main lobby.
“Anyway…” Laura continued, “This new place opened up called the Battle Frontier.”
“Oh! I saw one of those in Sinnoh!” said Terry.
“Really?” said Laura, “I thought the only one was here…”
“You need to travel more.”
“Shaddup. Anyway, yeah. That was open pretty quickly. I think it opened up like right after what happened in Sootopolis. I gave it a try, but it was a different kind of battling than I was used to, so I didn’t get very far. Only won one symbol. Mae’s going after all the symbols, which sounds pretty crazy to me…”
“Right,” said Terry. The thought of a new kind of battling experience got him excited. Something new had been waiting for him in Hoenn all this time?
“Gym leaders have come and gone… I think the only gym leader who didn’t give up his post is Wattson.”
“Jeez.”
“Well, wait, that’s a lie,” said Laura, “Juan retired and gave the gym to his student, Wallace. I don’t think you ever met Wallace, did you…?”
“Doesn’t ring a bell, no. I do remember Juan, though.”
Remembering Juan made Laura shudder a little. She knew she’d reconciled with him already, but many of her memories of him were from that time in her life…
“Grandpa is still in the elite four.”
“That’s good. What about you, Laura? I used to hear about you on the news all the time, and then you just kinda poofed.”
“Well,” said Laura, “When I was done making a total ass of myself, I dissolved my little empire and moved in with Steven.”
“Steven… oh! The rich kid from Rustboro! Man, I haven’t seen that kid in ages…”
“He’s definitely not a kid anymore,” said Laura with a laugh, “He was Pokémon Champion by the time I moved in with him, but he doesn’t spend a lot of time at the league these days.”
“So I guess he got his dream of becoming a steel-type master, huh…” said Terry, “Wait a second. Moved in… were you two actually an item?!”
“Yeah,” said Laura, “We dated for like five years or something ridiculous like that. Lived together for three. Actually, we only recently broke up.”
“Why’s that?” said Terry, “It… it sounds like you were really into each other…”
“I dunno,” said Laura, “It wasn’t on bad terms or anything. We just decided that it wasn’t the same anymore. We were both looking around again, and--honestly? I don't think I'm cut out for the whole romance thing. It's not for me.”
“Oh…”
“Hey! I just remembered something,” said Laura, “Steven’s house is actually here in Mossdeep. Should we go see if he’s there?”
“Huh? I guess…” said Terry, “I mean, wouldn’t it be awkward to just stroll in there with another boy? Even if we’re not dating, it’d still be kinda–!”
“No,” said Laura, “You’re a mutual friend; I bet he’ll be glad to see you again. Furthermore, I’m pretty sure he’s dating Mae by now.”
“Wait, what–?”
“Don’t worry, I’m the one who set them up. Come on. Let’s go say hi.”
* * *
It was dark outside by the time they left the Pokémon Center, but Laura didn’t seem too concerned. She knew that Steven wouldn’t mind if she dropped in on him late at night. He would be pleasantly surprised, wouldn’t he? They hadn’t spoken since shortly before she left for Unova. That had been a while ago… What was the last thing she’d said to him? That’s right. She’d told him to take care of Mae for her. She smiled just thinking about it. Mae was the kind of girl Steven needed: someone who could show him the same passion he showed her.
She knocked gently on the door at first. When there was no answer, she knocked a little harder.
“Man, it’d suck if he’s out looking for rocks again…” she said.
“This late at night?” said Terry.
“Well, sometimes he’ll take overnight trips just to camp out in a cave or something–!”
The door opened suddenly. Steven was there, slight irritation on his face. He wasn’t wearing the jacket and tie that Laura was so used to. He immediately brightened when he saw who it was.
“Laura!” he said, “And…”
“You remember Terry, right?” said Laura. Steven’s eyes widened.
“Good lord... Terry? Look how tall you are!”
“Me?” said Terry, “Look at you! Jesus christ, I wouldn’t have recognized you!”
The three of them had a good laugh. Archen, not sure what else to do, squawked along with them for the sake of making noise.
“Come on in,” said Steven warmly, moving aside so the two of them could pass, “Who’s your little friend? I’ve never seen a Pokémon like that before.”
“This is Archen," said Laura. "It’s a Pokémon from Unova.”
Archen puffed itself up proudly.
They sat down on the couches in the main room while Steven went to ready some tea for them. Terry looked around, drinking in the expensive decorations and display cases filled with rare rocks. It was certainly obvious that Steven came from a more affluent background than Terry was accustomed to.
Steven sat across from them, setting the tea tray on the coffee table gently. Laura and Terry each took a cup.
“Well?” asked Steven, “How was it? In Unova, or wherever it was you went?”
“It was great,” said Laura, “It’s such an awesome place; I totally recommend a visit. There’s so much to see and do there, and a whole bunch of Pokémon you can’t find anywhere else. It has a different vibe, too. More hi-tech, I guess. But I got to find that Pokémon that almost stole Swampert, and we managed to work all that out. That was the important thing.”
Steven smiled.
“What were you doing there, Terry?”
“Taking the league challenge, of course!” said Terry, “Now I’ve got full badges from five regions!”
“It looks like you haven’t changed a bit,” said Steven.
“Yeah yeah,” said Terry, “But I think the best part was finding Laura there. What’re the chances, right?”
“Indeed,” said Steven, “It's strange that it worked out like that. But I’m glad… It seems you and Laura have worked out whatever animosity you had before. If I recall, your parting wasn't on the most friendly terms."
"Haha, yeaaah..." Laura smiled bashfully.
"In any case, it's good to see you, Terry." Steven turned his attention to the other boy. "We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“And battling!” said Terry, “I haven’t fought you in like ten years! I wanna see what kind of strength is coming from the current Hoenn champion!”
Steven smirked.
“I’m interested to see how far that goes.”
Laura finished her tea and set the cup back on the table. It was funny, being here with her two best friends and biggest rivals. She could only barely remember the last time they’d been in the same place--their battles at the Hoenn League tournament all those years ago. The last time they’d talked with each other as friends and not as bitter enemies… That one was probably lost to oblivion.
She stood up.
“I have to pee,” she announced. When they were younger, this kind of disclosure wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. They had been so comfortable with each other back then…
“Okay,” said Steven, “You remember where the bathroom is?”
“Yep.”
Laura took her leave. As soon as Terry heard the bathroom door close, he turned to Steven and looked at him seriously.
“Steven,” he said, “Laura told me… after she gave up everything she’d built, she came to you.”
“That’s right,” said Steven, “It was quite a mess. It wouldn’t surprise me if Laura’s shenanigans made international news.”
“Yeah. I heard all about 'em. It was kind of amazing, actually. If you think about how young she was, and how it didn’t take her very long to do all of that…”
Steven scoffed.
“It wasn’t really anything to be proud of.”
“Huh?”
“She was not… the most pleasant person to be around back then. As Champion, she abused her powers and treated Hoenn as a personal playground. People only went along with it because she kept getting more legendary Pokémon on her side. They didn’t want to risk any more calamities like what had happened at Sootopolis.”
“Oh…”
“People tried to stop her. People like Wallace and Juan, and even our old friends Archie and Maxie. They did everything in their power to make her stop. It was useless, of course. Somehow it didn’t register that way in her brain. Instead, she thought they were either trying to seduce her or take away her powerful Pokémon. She saw them as her bitter enemies, rather than concerned friends...”
“I… I had no idea it was that bad…”
“And one day, it was as though a switch was flipped in her brain,” said Steven, “She realized that she’d made a huge mistake. The blinders came off, and she threw everything away. She set the legendary Pokémon free, gave any facilities to nearby towns, and showed up at my doorstep in the pouring rain.”
~~~
It was raining that evening when Steven came to his door to answer a knock. There she stood, a dark, rain-soaked poncho over her head and an odd smile on her face.
“I’ve done it.”
“Done what?” he answered breathlessly.
“It’s gone. I’ve erased everything.”
“What do you–?”
“The legendary Pokémon are free, Steven. Team Groudon is disbanded. The gym will sink to the bottom of the ocean. Everything is how it should be.”
They stood there silently for a little while.
“Maybe Hoenn will forgive me someday. For what I’ve done. I’m going to disappear for a little while. That’ll do me some good, I think.”
“Wait!” said Steven. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his house, “Wait. Don’t disappear. Please.”
“Why?” she asked, “I’m only the saddest wretch in all Hoenn. Nobody would miss me if I just faded away.”
“That’s not true,” said Steven, “… that’s not true, Laura. I would miss you.”
She looked up at him with anguished amber eyes.
“You… mean it?”
“Of course I mean it. Stay with me, Laura. Even if it’s just for a short time.”
“… all right.”
~~~
“Why did you take her in, after all that?” asked Terry, “If she really was that much of a jerk…”
“I took her in because I knew I was the only person left who still believed in her,” said Steven, “The only one who knew that beneath the self-absorbed shell, there was a real girl with feelings who was crying for someone pull her back together.”
Terry was quiet.
“She’s the one who gave me courage,” said Steven, “In Rustboro, at the Space Center, in Sootopolis… I wouldn’t be as far as I am if I hadn’t met her. I owe her so much… I guess my way of paying her back was to be the only person in Hoenn willing to take care of her.”
“Is that why you broke up in the end?”
Steven paused.
“Yeah. That might have been part of it.”
Terry looked down.
“I… I had no idea it was that complicated…”
“It’s all right,” said Steven, “All of it’s in the past, and you weren’t here anyway. She’s changed, and she knows what she’s doing now. Hoenn moved on; nobody remembers all of the ridiculous things she did. No one wanted to remember, and time took care of the rest.”
The bathroom door opened, and the two men fell silent. Laura came back into the room, but she didn’t meet their gaze.
“Did you…” said Terry, “Hear all of that…? You were in the bathroom for a while…”
Laura was quiet.
“You two…” she said, “Are the most honest people I know.”
They didn’t say anything, unsure if she was going to go on.
“I need that,” she said, “I need that kind of honesty from my friends. I didn’t want to hear it back then, but now I need it. Thank you guys.”
She wiped her eyes.
“You have no idea… how long I’ve waited for the three of us to be together again… Just like how things used to be…”
“Laura…” said Terry. He stood up and took her in a tight embrace.
“Before we were rivals, before I messed everything up…”
“Laura…”
“You didn’t mess everything up,” said Steven.
“Yes I did.”
“It’s my fault for leaving in the first place,” said Terry, “I couldn’t be here to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid.”
“And it’s my fault for not being brave enough to tell you what you were doing wrong,” said Steven.
Laura sniffled. Steven stood up from the couch and joined in the embrace, sandwiching Laura between himself and Terry.
“But none of that matters now, right?” said Laura, “I can be strong on my own, too. Terry’s here, and Steven’s here, and I’m here… It’s like nothing ever happened...”
The three of them stood together, holding each other and fighting their tears, for a long time.