Pokemon: Legends of Hoenn (Alpha Sapphire version)

The Next Step

"You have no idea how much this means to us." Wally's father said to the girl that stood on his doorstep. Here he had been, worrying about the whereabouts of his rather sickly son, and had just been about to go to the police when there had come a knock on his door. To his great shock and amusement, it had been his son and a tall imposing girl that had called herself Alpha. But they were not alone, for Wally held a Ralts carefully in his arms.

After fussing over his son and the newest addition to the family, the man who had been named Eddy had sent the young pair off to bed. Once the boy and his Pokemon had vanished up the stairs and into his room, the proud father had asked his son's other companion what had happened.

Alpha had been rather quiet, stating that the boy had expressed an interest in catching a Pokemon, and that she had helped him accomplish that. She had then excused herself for the night, saying that she wished to leave Petalburg City the next day, before vanishing into the night.

The girl had been hoping to get back to the Pokemon Center for some rest, but her newest addition to the team popped out of her Pokeball. The Ralts, whom she had nicknamed Dancer, had a panicked look on her face.

"Dancer, wait!" She cried out as the Pokemon began running back towards Route 102. Her foot screamed in protest, but Sapphire had no choice. Limping as fast as she could, the girl went after her Pokemon.

She found Dancer in the same spot where she had caught the Psychic and Fairy type, the little Pokemon standing in front of a flattened down area of tall grass. To Sapphire's immense shock there was another Ralts there, one that was blue and orange rather than green and red. A shiny Ralts, quite the rare find.

"Ra..." Dancer cried sadly. The shiny Ralts winced and lifted their head, exposing a rather nasty wound on its temple. It looked infected, and quite painful. The poor thing probably had been attacked by a Poochyena.

"Hey there fella." Sapphire said as she knelt down next to the two Pokemon. The two must have been siblings; why else would Dancer have run off to find him. "I'm going to take you some place where you can get help. Don't freak out, okay?"

The shiny Pokemon gazed at the rough looking girl for a moment, before over at his sister. He would just have to have faith that this stranger wouldn't harm him. Nonetheless the young child tensed slightly as Sapphire carefully picked him up and began heading back towards the bright city lights, Dancer at her heels.

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Nurse Joy had been rather surprised when the girl that had called herself Alpha limped into the Pokemon Center at eleven o'clock at night, a Ralts on her shoulder and a shiny one held in her arms. The girl quickly explained that she had found it out on Route 102 and that it needed medical attention immediately. Nurse Joy had quickly whisked the pair of Ralts away, along with Sapphire's other Pokemon. The girl herself limped to her room, only having the energy to pull off her bag and shoes before falling into bed.

Before she could sleep, however, she had to treat her ankle. The swollen portion of her leg had increased in size, was an angry red in color, and was rather tender. Sapphire flinched as she lightly touched it, knowing that she had pushed herself too much that night. The girl made a quick poultice out of some herbs she had bought and applied it to the wound to help with the pain and the swelling before tightly binding the injury. After that she flopped backwards onto the mattress, her head landing on the pillow. Before she could wrap the blankets around her, she was out like a light.

The trainer was up bright and early the next morning, taking advantage of the Pokemon Center's showers to rinse off the dirt and dust that had accumulated while traveling this far. Sapphire treated her ankle, which was looking a lot better now that the medicine had started to work, swallowed two tablets of some over the counter pain medicine, and got dressed. Leaving the room she had borrowed as neat as she had found it, the teenager went down to the lobby of the building.

Her Pokemon had been taken care off, even the shiny Ralts, though the wound had scarred over. Sapphire had, after much deliberation, asked the young Pokemon if he wanted to join her team, and he had accepted. Sapphire had nicknamed him Sword, and the little Psychic type was currently sitting next to his sister, chowing down on a piece of fruit.

Their morning meal was hurried, and soon all six Pokemon were back in their Pokeballs. According to what Sapphire remembered of her father's schedule, the man would be training right now. If she was going to leave town, now would be the time to do it.

The only road that led to Route 104 took her straight past the gym. Despite the apparent danger, Sapphire could not help but peek in through the windows. She could see her father in a slightly darkened room, sitting in the proper seiza style. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be meditating.

Much to the girl's horror, as if he could sense her gaze, he opened his eyes and lifted his head. His daughter jerked her head out of view, but knew that he had seen her.

There weren't any other present options available to the girl at the moment. Scrambling up onto one of the rather large rocks that were part of the gardens that decorated the front of the gym, the girl clambered up onto the roof, pulling her body away from the edge. Her ankle was complaining at the sudden abrupt movement, but Sapphire dared not cry out. She flattened herself as much as humanly possible, all in an attempt to not be spotted.

It was good that she did so, for the doors to the gym opened up and her father walked out. Norman had a scowl on his face, one that only seemed to grow deeper and more pronounced as he scanned the immediate area for his daughter. Logically he knew that he had seen the fugitive, but the girl seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Sapphire was lucky that he didn't consider the roof of the gym to be a viable hiding spot. Five tense moments passed before Norman eventually gave up and returned to the gym, the door sliding shut behind him. The girl let out a sigh of relief before carefully shimmying to the edge of the roof on the side of the building. Checking to make sure that there were no windows where she was located, she carefully lowered herself as far down as she could before letting go of the roof and landing in the brush. She crawled through the tall grass and into the trees, waiting for the gym to be out of sight before standing.

The girl doubled over and let out a pain-filled moan as her ankle protested for being forced to bear her weight. But now that her father had seen her, Sapphire could not risk staying in town. Spying a thick fallen tree branch on the ground, she picked it up and fashioned it into a makeshift crutch. It wasn't ideal, but it would do in a pinch.

"Shade, let's go." Sapphire whispered as she called out her trusted partner. The Sneasel appeared in a small flash of light, though he remained on the ground. He could tell that his trainer was in a lot of pain, and that it would not be a good idea to ride on her shoulder like he normally did.

"Sneasel." He said before climbing up into the trees, acting as another set of eyes for his injured trainer. Sapphire bit back a groan as she took her next step. It was going to be a long trip to Rustboro.