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With a final wave, Sapphire steps past the sliding glass doors of the hotel lobby and out into the cool afternoon air of Sootopolis. The full warmth of summer has yet to descend onto Hoenn, especially here. The cool ocean breeze mixed with the fading warmth of the sun makes a great change of environment from the over-cooled air-conditioned event halls of the hotel. There were plans for a dinner with a few of the researchers from the other regions but Prof Birch had sensed her growing fatigue earlier in the day and got her out of it.
Slowly walking and navigating the winding alleys and roads of Sootopolis, Sapphire made her way to an overlook with a clear view of the entire crater. Sootopolis was by no means a large city, but the densely packed and terraced architecture of the place gave it a sense of scale rarely found elsewhere in Hoenn. Sapphire leaned on the railings and scanned the horizon. It had been almost exactly 5 years since the last time she had arrived at Sootopolis City, right before the ‘event’. Overlooking this tranquil scene, it is hard to believe how quickly the city has recovered from the disaster.
Stretching her back, Sapphire unconsciously turned and looked at the direction of the memorial site - a large black monument presiding over one of the many small parks dotted about Sootopolis. From across the crater, a strangely familiar silhouette stood in front of the monument. She had barely recognized the figure before she had started sprinting towards the park.
She was never familiar with the streets of Sootopolis but the enclosed nature of the city gave her hope of navigating it with enough determination. Following the curve of the city as far as she could, Sapphire desperately ran through the various boulevards and alleys of Sootopolis. All the while praying, hoping she had not been mistaken. 20 minutes later, she had made her way towards the side street next to the memorial.
Crouched over the memorial was a man who Sapphire thought she would not see again after that fateful day, so many years ago, and most definitely not at the very same place they had last said their goodbyes. Sapphire could not see his face nor his expression but his solitary figure quietly hunched over the memorial gave a solemn air to the place. In front of him lay a single flower, placed carefully at the base of the memorial and in his right hand was a pokemon badge, the Balance badge, scratched up and chipped at its edges but polished to a shine.
“Ruby?” Sapphire wished out loud.
The man palmed the badge and picked himself up. He was still sporting the same outfit he had left Hoenn with all those years back, albeit altered to a slightly larger fit to match his growing physique. Although well fitting and still clearly tailor made, the outfit had traces of patches and tears all over it. The beanie he had worn to cover the scar he had over his eyebrow was gone, his jet black hair gently moving with the breeze. Turning around, he turned and stared at Sapphire with an astonished expression.
“Sapphire?”
Ruby for the first time Sapphire could remember, was standing taller than her. Sapphire did not know how to react. All those years ago, the abrupt farewell and tragedies shared, all those feelings unresolved - it was all slowly coming back. She held her composure. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scold him, she wanted to smile, laugh and welcome him back, she wanted to share so much with him. But none of those feelings bubbled through.
“Long time no see Ruby.”
“Yeah… it’s been five years hasn’t it?”
“Is that what brought you here?”
Sapphire looked past Ruby and glanced once again at the solitary flower laid at the memorial’s base.
“Y’know you could’ve just waited for the proper ceremonies a few months from now.”
“I… don’t want to get caught up in all the ceremonies. Wanted to come here for a quiet moment. On this day as well.”
“Your birthday?”
“... Yeah. I never got to share it with him. Even if we weren’t on the best of terms then.”
Ruby slowly walked past Sapphire and leaned on the park’s railing overlooking the crater.
“Time flies huh Sapphire. Five years on, you’d scarcely find a trace here of what happened on that day.”
Sapphire could not find the words to reply to Ruby’s musings and tried to force the conversation away from the events of that day.
“So where have you been Ruby? All these years?”
“I was back home in Johto. Funeral rites and affairs.”
“For five years?” Sapphire retorted bluntly.
Ruby hesitated for a moment, but did not turn back to face Sapphire when replying.
“No… after that was done I went to Mt. Silver. I needed the time alone...”
Another moment of silence descended between the pair. After what felt like an eternity, Ruby finally turned around and spoke up.
“So what about you Saph? What have you been up to these last 5 years?”
“I got into Pokemon research. Pa was tired of watching me mope about the house for weeks after the event and dragged me along for his fieldwork. I guess I never really stopped since then.”
“So you gave up battling?” Ruby asked, staring straight at Sapphire.
Sapphire was briefly taken aback by the pointedness of his question.
“I suppose I did. Never really found the time to devote myself to that afterwards. It felt different, you know? Battling was no longer about the sport or craft of it anymore. The consequence of our failure that day… the weight of responsibility from being a pokemon trainer, battling not just for yourself or those close to you but also for the citizens of Hoenn... I wasn’t sure if it was the same thing I fell in love with all those years back.”
Ruby looked back at Sapphire, clearly uncertain in his response to her sharing.
“What about you Ruby? Did you ever pick contests back up?”
Sapphire knew the answer already but she had to hear it straight from Ruby. He never got the chance to compete for his Master Ribbons save the beauty ribbon and by all accounts had quietly left the contests scene. The online contest results tracking websites have turned up zero results of Ruby’s name or of his pokemon as well. Thinking back, Sapphire wondered if Ruby too had done the same to look up her progress in battling, trying to find out if she was still pursuing the dreams and the promises that brought them both together for the second time.
“I left it all behind when I left for Johto. Contests were never big back home but after that day… I think I get what you mean by it being different. The words that dad used to scold me with, I guess all those words came back to me... I don’t think I’ve thought about contests since that day years ago.”
Another silence falls upon the conversation. Five years is a long time, especially five years after such a big event. Sapphire felt that Ruby was slipping away from her once more, that the phantom she had been chasing on and off for the past five years that has materialized in front of her at this moment was going to take off and disappear once more, this time for certain. Sapphire was desperately thinking of a way to find a conversation piece, anything to try and bridge the gap that had grown between the two of them.
“Hey Saph,”
Sapphire looked up at Ruby, his expression obscured by the shadows cast by the sun slowly setting behind his back.
“Do you have time to battle?”
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In a field about an hour’s flight away, on the outskirts of Lilycove, Sapphire and Ruby alighted from the aircar Ruby had borrowed from Wallace. The setting sun, now nearing twilight, sets upon the ocean to their west. The sound of the tide gently lapping against the nearby cliff face droned on, as the squawks of Wingulls rung out as they flocked before returning home to roost for the night. Sapphire had agreed to the battle mostly on a whim but something told her to go with Ruby and hear him out.
Sizing up Ruby as an opponent, the changes he has gone through in the past five years became ever clearer. Back at Sootopolis she had noticed his clothes and outfit being different, more rugged, worn and outdoorsy. This time it was his physique. Ruby clearly had been through his growth phase but even as he stood taller than Sapphire now he had clearly undergone extensive training with a significantly more toned body. Turning her focus back towards the battle, Sapphire started going through the battle fundamentals she had learned and which had guided her faithfully oh so many years ago.
Battles always boil down to three elements - the environment, the participants and the objectives. Failing to consider any of these elements brings in unneeded uncertainty and recklessness. Sapphire tossed out Toro from her ball and took her familiar battle stance, crouching down with one hand supporting her weight on the floor. She had developed the stance to prioritize agility and preparedness to match the first flurry of moves of a battle and let her keep better track of the opening tempo of the fight. Ruby stood still and released Nana. Both pokemon and trainer pairs stood still for a brief moment to take in the state of play.
The terrain was flat, even, and unobstructed. A quick glance over the field revealed no hidden rocks or loose ground to leverage or avoid. Such terrain favoured the attacker, especially fast ones. With nothing to gain from picking a spot or defending, fast unrestrained attacks are harder to punish. Yet Sapphire felt it was not right to make the first move. Sapphire had been watching Ruby from when he picked and released Nana and observed his eyes darting around, looking at the same features of the field she was instinctively looking at. Ruby, despite lacking that natural intuitive instinct at scoping battles, had clearly learned his craft over the last five years. In such a position, where the opponent is equally skilled at figuring out the battle terrain and the relative position of attacker versus defender in a battle, moving first can give away a reckless opening.
Despite the battle having barely commenced, Sapphire gritted her teeth. She had barely developed her battle style or prowess over the last five years and Ruby was intimately familiar with Toro’s moveset and capabilities from the time they were training together. She felt this was going to be an uphill battle and the only way out was to strike hard at any errant opening Ruby might give to her. Sapphire watched as Ruby’s eyes focused and as his body moved in anticipation of issuing a command, Sapphire quickly gestured for Toro to enter an open defensive stance.
Ruby pointed at Toro, issuing a wordless command. The gesture clearly meant more than a simple attack command as Nana sprung into action, circling the static Toro. Sapphire sensed that a move had yet to be made by Nana but Ruby was taking this opportunity to size up Toro’s guard. Not wanting to sit around as Nana and Ruby figured out the perfect way to unpick their defenses, Sapphire decided to break up the early testy and tentative tempo of the battle with an early offense.
“Toro, Blaze Kick!”
Upon hearing the call, Toro took a short hop into her kicking stance and prepared to send her foot into Nana who had been circling around. The open and predictable move however was easily dodged by Nana. Ruby was still standing still, intently watching these early moves unfold. As Nana was preparing to return to her defensive movement of circling Toro, Ruby raises a hand in the air, his index finger pointing at the sky. Nana caught the signal and leaped back and looked to be winding up a charging attack of some sort.
Ruby brought his arm down in one swift motion and pointed at Toro. At that signal, Nana started to dash towards Toro, moving erratically and pouncing and weaving left and right. Sapphire realized at this point that whatever move Ruby was aiming to make was a battle ending move. Sapphire tried to watch Nana’s movement pattern but nothing indicated the move that was coming at the end of this. Then she saw it. A glimmer, a sparkle.
“Toro! Double Kick!”
Toro took one step forward and aimed her kick straight at Nana who was at this point barreling straight towards her. Nana in one fluid motion, takes a shallower step right before charging straight into Toro’s prepared kick and pivots on her forelegs, swinging her body barely past Toro’s first kick. It was at this point Nana bared her fangs and the blinding light of a charged Hyper Beam started to shine past the gaps of her teeth. Just as Nana is about to unleash the move point blank, Toro quickly changes her missed first attack into a short hop, pivoting on that leg to turn and knee Nana’s jaws shut. As Nana gets knocked away, the charged energy contained within her jaws fades out as well.
Ruby calmly walked towards Nana and uses a potion to treat Nana’s wounds. Sapphire recalled Toro to her Pokeball and slowly approached Ruby. Noticing Sapphire walking towards him, Ruby gives Nana a quick reassuring rub and a pat before returning Nana back to her pokeball.
“That was a good battle. Hard to believe it's been five years since you last properly applied yourself at it.”
“Well yeah I was kind of surprised too. Sometimes I have to deal with rowdy and territorial pokemon while I’m out doing field work but I usually don’t have many opportunities to be in straight pokemon battles with other trainers.
Ruby sat down cross legged and wistfully stared towards the setting sun and the last rays of twilight. Sapphire joined and sat down next to him.
“Hey Saph,”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think I should have followed battling from all the way back when I was a kid?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I… I sometimes think about those ‘what-if’s. Like, what if I had been a better battler when the crisis five years ago happened? Or what if we never needed to move into Hoenn? Those sorts of ‘what-if’s.”
“What about what if you had stayed in Hoenn five years ago?”
“Saph…”
“I know you had it hard Ruby. I can’t imagine how it might feel if Pa were to… not be here with us today but I think you’ve always been too hard on yourself… Whether it be the Salamance attack when you were barely a child or five years ago, there are somethings in this world that one of you or I or anyone can’t change on their own. I realized that when I decided to give up battling. I realized that a part of me was kicking myself down over and over for those past mistakes that I could not get myself to accept and move on from. But its not always helpful to live our future lives fixing our past mistakes over and over again.”
Ruby took in Sapphire’s words carefully and hung his head down.
“Saph…”
Ruby lets out a light chuckle and mutters to himself.
“I suppose I’m still living those same mistakes today.”
Ruby picks himself up from the ground and extends a hand to Sapphire. Sapphire accepts the help and pulls herself up from the ground.
“Thanks Saph for the battle today. I don’t think these last five years have diminished your batting skills in the slightest. Indeed it made me reconsider my own progress.”
“Don’t take it too hard, that fight was partly a fluke. If you decided to take me on in a straight up brawl I’m quite sure you would’ve beaten me. Even after taking those hits, I could see that Nana was still eager and raring to go.”
“Fair enough I suppose. C’mon I’ve got to get you back to Sootopolis before its too late at night.”
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Back at Sootopolis, long after the sun has set and deep into the evening, Ruby flew the aircar over to an open field near to the hotel Sapphire was staying at. After Sapphire alights from the aircar, Ruby tosses a small pouch at Sapphire.
“What is this?”
“Something that I think you deserve to have gotten even after all these years.”
Sapphire opens the pouch and sees the same chipped and scratched badge Ruby was palming from earlier in the day. As Sapphire looks back up, Ruby was preparing to fly off on the aircar.
“Hey Ruby!”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for the battle!”
“Oh, eh, sure,”
“See you around!”
Ruby takes a small pause.
“See you around too, Saph. Take care.”
Ruby finally closes the roof of the aircar and speeds off into the star-filled summer night.