Feuer Frei~ (Josh and Sapphire)

[Night]

Genkei

There were a few things he was certain about today. One, he was not in the mood to do anything. And two, today was not his day. Being a gym leader was fun and all, but waking up early to survey the town was not his thing. He had forgot to set his alarm clock, and woke up an hour late when Sky woke him with her ear-splitting cries and had fallen out of bed in shock. Now he had a head-ache, but he was still a little thankful that his Pokemon had woken him up. Today, he had to go around the village and "socialize," as he was told. Which meant he had to check for any disturbances in the small town's life and see if anyone needed help with anything. Honestly, he'd much rather be battling someone at his gym, but he knew better than anyone else that no one had made it to his gym in more than 4 months. This village, the one he'd been raised in his whole life, was always known to get boring. Life was often dull, and not many found the pleasures he did in Pokemon battling. Walking out of an old couple's house, the red-head stretched his arms up into the air and then proceeded to put them behind his head. He was just about done patrolling now, and was looking forward to going back to his gym and relaxing. But something felt... strange. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but there was a certain atmosphere in the small village that felt almost dangerous. "Ah, who am I kidding? This place never gets into any trouble." He snorted to himself, and watched as Sky flew down out of nowhere and landed right in front of him. "Anything to report?" He asked the bird Pokemon, and the Staraptor shook her head. "Didn't think so." He sighed, and started walking towards the Pokemon center. It was the next stop on his list, and hopefully his last. Gen started walking towards the Pokemon center and his Staraptor followed along behind him, still in a giddy mood from being able to wake her master up.

Words: 340
Notes: Cheddar's turn~
Tagged: No one yet...
Muse: Meh.

[ninjaastronaut]

He hadn't been near the place in weeks, but the stench of the sewers stuck inside Josh's nostrils, a constant reminder of the things he had done that he regeted so much.
Josh had been on the run for something like a week now, he hadn't bothered to count the days, and he'd gotten close to no sleep. Just as he had thought, Team Imum didn't take to lightly to people quitting the group. He'd seen punishments for that first hand and he wanted none of that. Instead, he decided to accept a mission and simply bail while they thought he was off doing what he was told.
They caught on faster than he thought they would.
He just ran into Aria city, fairly early in the morning. He'd been running for over a whole day now, and the taste of vomit was foul in his mouth from who knows how many hours ago. His mouth was dry inside and out, and so were his eyes. He'd felt like he wanted to die after running so long a while ago, but he knew if he didn't do something now the definately would.
Immediately he thought of the pokemon center and started to walk there. Running would've been too much for him at this point. As he started to walk he noticed for the first time that the cracks in his lips had started to bleed, and that his pants were ripped up at the bottom from various things. "I must look terrible." He said out loud to no one in particular.
Slowly he walked, half limping really, towards the pokemon center. For the first time in a long time, he was kind of happy. Exited really, and just for a glass of water or bite of food.
He collapsed of exhaustion right infront of the door.
"What an idiot." He said out loud, again, to no one in particular.

[♫~Leap~♫]

[atrb=border,0,true][STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.7] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.5] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.3] [/style]

[STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; width: 300px; margin: 10px; padding: 10px; text-align: justify; background-color: #F6F4F5; box-shadow: 3px 3px 3px #88878F; font-size: 10px][STYLE=height: 400px; overflow: auto]Ah, Aria Village. How she hated it so. It wasn't her fault, this particular female - I mean, come on. Look at all the fact. It was in the middle of a desert for pity's sake. Who in their right mind honestly told themselves, "I'm going to hang out in the desert for a couple of days and I'm going to like it!". It was a wonder why anyone would want to live out there in the scorching heat for more than a few days. Did they even get water to their homes? Seriously, wouldn't they all die of dehydration? Maybe the had some water, but they were limited so that everyone else could have some and everyone wasn't dropping like flies all over the roads and whatnot. ... Did they even have roads? IT was a village, after all. Maybe they just had sun-baked - Okay, so none of that is really the point. Let's start over shall we? "Gya!" Ah, yes, let's start here. The sun was attacking the ground below unrelentlessly, letting it's unbareable heat bask over the land. It was another hot one - when wasn't it? - and there wasn't a cloud to be seen in the sky. It was a sea of sandy colored dirt, slightly hardened due to exposure to such conditions for a long period of time and the pale blue sky above, stretching out for miles right smack dab in the center of the region known as Lyeant. If one wanted to be a "Pokemon master", passing through this deserted place would be madatory unless you had a Pokemon who could fly all that distance. To put it simply: it was a pain in the neck. A figure on the horizon - clothes colored red and white and chocolate hair flapping in their face - came tearing across the road carved by so many trainer's feet from years of travel. Sweat was dripping down their face at an almost unhumanly pace and their breathing sounded more like a monster's than that of a normal person's. It was evident that they'd been running for quite some time and at a speed they should not have been running. The million dollar question was... why? Why would someone be pushing themselves to such extremes in a place like that? "Gya! I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I am going to do it!" Sapphire's words were slurred and almost impossible to understand. However, like it or not, they were words, none the less. Any moment and the brunette would collapse in an exhausted heap on the ground - that, or hit some obstacle in the way before she could skid to a hault at her destination. The second was prefered, surprisingly, and for one simple reason. That Magmar chasing after her. Suddenly, her tri-colored tennis shoes took their first steps into the tiny little populated area known as Aria Village, though she did not stop their. Her pace was already faltering, her footsteps sloppy and her mind in a blur. And yet, there was still so much further to go... The Pokemon Center. When she burst through those doors in an epic entrance, her fate would be sealed and she would be saved from some unkown evil that was certain to fall upon her otherwise. She didn't dare look back - she already know the fire-type chasing after her was much closer. But, if she could just make it to that orange building... And then, a flash of red. "No!" The words flew out of her mouth without her consent as a fire-colored shape dashed by her own running frame. And, then, through her slowly closing world, what appeared to be that very Magmar on her tail from just moments before was in front of her, back turned to her and running at a speed just faster than her own. With another battle cry, the girl hissed, "Oh, no, I am not loosing to you, you filthy, no good-" Cue a string of swear words, if you may. Of course, all of this must be leaving you confused. Let's back track a bit. Sapphire wanted to not only fight as well as her Pokemon, but also run as fast as they could. So, naturally, she challenged on of her Pokemon to a race. Maga, her Magmar, was the perfect choice for this particular match - Toro, Hono, and Mono would all be to fast for her - as he wasn't particularly speedy, but wasn't all to slow, all the same. It was as simple as this - run all the way from Ishya's Pokemon Center to the one in the tiny desert. The winner would have bragging rights. Loser had to suck it up. Sadly, the distance was greater than what she'd had in mind and she was about to lose it. "If I can... just make it to the Pokemon Center... Find a short cut 'er something... I might... still have a chance... to win..." she managed to say between unhumanly gasps. However, the black ring around her track of sight was growing bigger and her lungs were about to burst. Would she really be able to make it? Would she actually make it through those doors before she could run no longer? Well, she could. Just not before her Magmar. It didn't take long before the building she was headed for came in sight - after all, she'd ran through that town like a speeding bullet, pushing past anyone and everyone in her way. Maga was almost there, but the distance was starting to close between them. Did the fire-type think that it's victory was secure and was slowing down because the threat had supposedly passed? I thought I raised you better than that, Maga, she snorted in silence, slightly glad she'd have more of a chance at victory, but slightly disappointed with the creature all the same. So close to those doors... She was going to make it! The Pokemon didn't even realize she'd been catching up until she was right on him. Reaching out for the door, she knew that she'd make it. That she would win. That she would - "Oof!" One moment, she was racing like the wind, victory secure and eyes set on the prize. The next, she was cascading through the air like someone who'd just been pushed off a ledge. An entire mid-air front flip. Any professional would have been jealous. Suddenly, the gym leader became aware of her situation and realized she'd either come tumbling down into hard ground or, worse, concrete. Letting out a terrified wail, preparing to land head first into a very painful piece of matter, something caught her eyes. Wait a minute - had that person been there before? Her body was not meant with the stone-hard ground. Instead, she came flailing smack dab into a poor pedestrian, knocking both herself and probably them over in the process. Her palms hit the ground as her body unconciously tried to break her fall, hurting her more than the whole "running into a person" thing. Her head clearing up for the first time since she tripped over something, she muttered, "... Ow? Who's the moron who was standing right in the middle of - holy Miltank, are you okay?" While she was angry that some idiot had been standing right in the spot where she was about to fall, this emotion came with other feelings. One, happiness. Seriously? She did not want to smack her jaw against the ground. She would have likely broken it. Second... concern. Sure, she'd gotten out unscathed - well, save for her hands, but she was wearing gloves and they probably weren't scraped in any way - but had the person she'd just barreled into come out the same way? Without getting off, Sapphire tossed her gaze over towards the thing that she believe had tripped her. "Who the heck left they're stuff laying on the road? I blame them!" Of course, after squinting, she realize that it wasn't an object at all. Oh no, but, rather, a person. A human being. Are they... dead? she wondered in her mind, suddenly concieving the thought that she'd thrown someone to their grave. But... no. They were breathing. That meant that they were still part of the living. "Thank goodness..."[/style][/style]

[STYLE= font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 10px;]Template made by Lati of BTN and OTE [/style]

[Night]

Genkei

About halfway to the Pokemon center, Gen was lost in his thoughts, as usual, thinking about what laid ahead of him for the day. A warm gust of wind swept past him, stirring up a small cloud of dust and causing the gym leader's hair to whip around. Covering his eyes with his arm to block the dirt, the red-head let out a groan of annoyance. If there was one thing Aria city was known for, it was definitely the sand. Living right next to the desert wasn't the greatest thing, especially during the sandstorms. As the sand settled and the wind died away, Gen's eye caught something, or rather someone, hobbling towards the Pokemon Center. But something was odd about this person. They seemed to be sick or something, and that wasn't good. Gen quickened his pace towards the person, and when the person fell down he began to run towards him. With his gaze fixed on the mysterious man who had fallen into a heap on the floor, Gen didn't notice the brunette speeding towards him at practically 100 miles an hour. Sky gave a cry of alarm when the girl tripped over the person on the ground, and the red-head's eyes went wide as she did flips in the air and went flying straight towards him. "What the-?!" Was all he managed to shout before the girl ran into him like a cannonball. A "ooof!!" escaped his lungs as all the air was pushed out of them, and the two fell down onto the pavement. The impact of the girl made Gen's head bounce off of the pavement, and he let out a cry of pain. The girl landed on top of him, and the only thing that seemed to be injured on her was probably her hands or knees. That made him inwardly sigh in relief. Of course on the outside he was practically fuming. When the brunette asked if he was okay, he had to push down his anger and give a reasonable reply. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just hit the back of my head on the pavement, nothing too serious." He said, sarcasm in his voice. Of course, that was an understatement. His head was hurting pretty bad now, but he wasn't going to let anyone else know that. With one hand clutching the back of his head, his sat up slowly and looked at the girl, a grimace of pain crossing his face. "What the hell did you think you were doing?! You could've really injured yourself!" He yelled, and gasped as the back of his head started hurting again. This was going to be an injury that would stick with him for a while. "Are you alright?" He asked the girl, and looked around her towards the person she had tripped over. "Let's hope that guy's okay." He muttered, and looked back at her. She looked familiar to him, but now wasn't the time to dig into his memories. His Staraptor walked up to Gen and nuzzled him, her eyes full of concern. "I'm fine, don't worry about me." He told the Pokemon with a small frown. "Can you get off of me now?" He asked the girl, a small blush rising on his cheeks. This was kind of uncomfortable, let alone just plain weird.

Words: 547!
Notes: Lol Gen isn't really concerned about himself xD
Tagged: Josh and Sapphire~
Muse: Meh. Alright, I suppose.

[ninjaastronaut]

Josh was laying on the ground, practically drowning in a puddle of his own shame. He was so close to the pokemon center, he could see it, and that was probably the most depressing thing he'd ever seen.

His parents leaving him was depressing, but he'd never known them enough to really care. Living on the streets, also depresssing, but that was his fualt in the first place for running away. Having team Imum out to kill him was depressing, but it was worse working for them. Dying alone in the dessert, that was almost unexcusably depressing.

"If fate does exist, it is my fate to be depressing." Josh mouthed, half jokingly. He would have said it aloud to himself as he does frequently, but there was simply no energy left to form real words.

The only feeling left in his body was pain. An aching, almost undescribable pain that was in his stomach. No trace of any food or watter was left in his stomach, just a bubbling acidic froth that was slowly devouring him from the inside. He felt no emotion. At this point emotion was useless. He had no strength and no ambition to stand up, so all he could really do was come to terms. Exept his own death.

Alone.

He felt a breeze, something that had been nonexistant to him so far in this blazing inferno of a grave- to- be. Slowly, the breeze picked up. Along with the increasing breeze he heard footsteps, rapid and unsteady, growing louder and louder. Getting ever closer to him the footsteps seemed to echo around him, surrounding him from all sides.

No, they weren't echoing, there was more than one person approaching him, from both sides. He wasn't alone. These people, these footsteps were either coming to his rescue, or were coming from the bowels of the retched sewers to end his depressing life.

But at least he wasn't alone.

Suddenly a heat much more intense, much more unbearable than anything this unholy desert had brought his way came and went quicker than he was realized.

Then the pain in his stomach was given a friend. More pain in his stomach. He had been kicked. Kicked with a force that he could only describe as un-imaginable. The blow that was given to him had to have been traveling at least at the speed of a slow car, and it forced all the breath out of his lungs.

Mouth wide open, and with his eyes open for the first time in hours, he slid across the sandy dirt that surrounded him for miles. As the dust settled it landed in his face, in his mouth as he tried with all of the power he could muster up to regain his breath. The dry, dry dirt was almost as dry as his mouth.

"This is it. They are going to kill me. That damn gang is going to kick me to death just like they do on the T.V." He grit his teeth, he closed his eyes again, waiting for it all to finally be over. Then he waited, and there was nothing. The unbearable nothingness that went on for minutes was even worse than the kick had been. He was afraid to open his eyes, afraid to breath.

He opened his eyes anyway, the curiosity getting the best of him. No one was there. All he could see was sand. But softly, and growing louder, he heard voices behind him. Talking. Two people talking behind him, not trying to help him, not even caring enough to end his missery.

Truely, he was alone in this dessert, in this world. If he wasn't he wished someone would tell him that so he could stop moping.

And he was so very, very thirsty.

[♫~Leap~♫]

[atrb=border,0,true][STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.7] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.5] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.3] [/style]

[STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; width: 300px; margin: 10px; padding: 10px; text-align: justify; background-color: #F6F4F5; box-shadow: 3px 3px 3px #88878F; font-size: 10px][STYLE=height: 400px; overflow: auto]Why did she even bother? Everytime she was training - which was quite frequently, mind you - some idiot had to get in her way. You know, the suicidal, silver-haired boy who decided he felt like falling off a cliff? The blonde-haired female in the cave who sent her falling into the water? And, now, the two guys where were so strategically placed that she managed to trip over one and go barrelling into the other. Was this planned? WAs this some sort of assassination attempt? As ridiculous as it may have sounded - somebody wanting to kill someone like her? Realy? - how could an occurance like this have happened if not planned? The thought that someone was out to get her was pushed to the back of her mind as she focused her attention on her anger. She didn't care what they were trying to do. Trip her, hurt her, kill her... Whatever it was, it was mean and uncalled for and she would not take this without a fight. How could somebody try and hurt her? She was the magnificant Sapphire Birch! She was, essentially untouchable! Well, in her eyes, anyway. The person who decided to mess with her would get a fist in her face, no doubt, and they'd regret the day they messed with her, that she could swear to. She'd felt a twinge of guilt when she tripped over the weak boy and fell onto the strange man. All that guilt boiled up into steaming hot anger. These two. If it was an assassination attempt, they probably wouldn't be the ones who wanted her dead. Possible, but unlikely if she thought about it. They were just the lackies who were forced to do all the dirty work while the true evil hid just out of sight, watching their goons go about their business. Her sudden hatred for the phantom villan who'd ordered them to pull this little scheme was so intense and immediate that she visably flinched, having not felt this mad at anyone since she and Ruby took down Teams Aqua and Magma back in Hoenn. That was the person who she was truly mad at. But that didn't mean that these two were off the hook. Doing what they were told like puppets on a string. Where was their humanity? Couldn't they think and act for themselves? They were going to do away with an innocent girl, just because someone a little stronger than each one of them on their own told them to! They were pathetic, that's what they were, and she found herself hating it ever so much. If her hands didn't hurt so much, she'd be punching the guts out of the red-haired stranger beneath her. Actually, her hands never hurt to much to beat the crud out of someone. Looks like she'd actually get a live punching bag to practice on. Eyes flaring with anger, she raised a fist in righteous fury, prepared to bring it down on the gym leader's face, when - Wait a minute. Gym leader...? "Yeah, I'm fine," the man was saying as her conflicting feelings of hatred, confusion, and recognition left her absolutely baffled. "Just hit the back of my head on the pavement. Nothing to serious." Wait... None of this was adding up! She knew this person! Just looking at her face brought the title "gym leader" to her head. Where did she know him from exactly, what did he have to do with the Pokemon League, and why was he out to get her? ... Oh. That was why. "Oh! Oh, oh, oh! I know you!" Well, sort of. She's seen him in passing at the big parties the league threw and the bimonthly meetings the gym leaders held, though she'd never actually caught his name. Actually, she didn't really pay to much attention to the other gym leaders at all during those events. During the meetings, she'd nap instead of listening to updates across the region and would have to be woken up in order to report that, once again, nothing of extreme importance had occured in Ishya. During the parties, she usually got so drunk, she could hardly walk on her own two feet. ... What? It was better an excuse than any to act completely wild and not get booted off the league. After all, it wasn't like every other league member stayed completely sober during those events. "You're a gym leader, just like me!" He sat up slightly as she congratulated herself with a smirk for her victory. Solved the case of the mystery assassin. I can add that to my resime sometime... However, this victory was short lived when he started yelling at her. Yes, that was right. Someone was yelling at her, not the other way around. Oh, they would regret this! "What the heck did you think you were doing? You could have really injured yourself!" His words made him sound as though he was concerned for her well being and she found a small blush raising to her cheeks. Of course, at this moment, she got angry all over again. "What was I doing? I was doing the world a favor! Do you know how hard I've worked to be faster than my Maga? I've spent days, weeks running and the moment I could actually say that I was faster than a Pokemon was the moment you and that guy over there decided to show up and mess it all up for me! And what about you? You're brain could be blowing up and your head could be filling up with blood! You could have brain damage and you're telling me to be careful because I could have hurt myself?" A gasp escaped hi mouth and, at first, she wondered if it was because of her words. Oh. No. Looked like his head really was giving him troubles. "Are you alright?" he asked her, though her enraged look faded away into a guilty one and she brushed the question off. Placing a gloved hand gently on the back of his head, she asked quietly, "You didn't... actually hurt your head that bad... did you?" She sat there for a moment, ignoring his comment on the boy behind them and his Staraptor and staring at him with sapphire eyes filled with worry. And then the moment was completely and utterly killed. "Can you get off me now?" he demanded, face slightly flushed. In response to this, her own face burned a bright red and she quickly shot to her feet. "There! H-happy?" she asked, refusing to make eye contact. However, Sapphire reached out a hand to her fellow gym leader, throwing one final glance over her should at him. "Well, are you going to sit there all day? Get up, will ya'?" Only moment later did faint moans register in her mind and her blue eyes landed on the figure she'd tripped over before. "Oh, crud balls! Come on - let's get this guy inside the Pokemon Center!" she said the strange man she'd barreled into, racing over to the other stranger and fishing through her pack. There! A water bottle! Warm and low on actual water, but water none the less. Placing her hands under the boy, the brunette attempted to flip him onto his back, making sure she was gentle with him. Once that was over, she placed the openned bottle at his lips and tried to make him drink. "Snap out of it, okay? The name's Sapphire. Sapphire Birch. I'm going to help you, okay? Can you hear me? If you can, I need you to say something to me."[/style][/style]

[STYLE= font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 10px;]Template made by Lati of BTN and OTE [/style]

[Night]

Genkei

It surprised Gen when the girl laying on top of him said that she knew him. He was certain that he'd seen her before, but he didn't really recall knowing her very well. Sure, he'd seen her face a lot, but he didn't remember her name. He tried to search his brain for an answer as to who this girl was, but when she said "gym leader" it instantly clicked inside his brain. "Gym leader... Wait a sec, I remember you! You're the gym leader of Ishya City, right?" He said rather surprisingly, his eyes a little wide as he recalled seeing her at all the boring gym leader meetings that all the leaders were forced to go to. However, he couldn't remember her name. He had always been bad with remembering names, and this was driving him crazy. The red-head was caught by surprise when the other gym leader got angry and started yelling at him. So caught by surprise, in fact, that his eyes went wide and he flinched at her words. It'd been a long time since someone was so angry at him. At first she was mad about how he had interfered with her training, but then she went on to yelling at him for not being concerned about his own well-being. Sure he'd hit his head pretty hard, but Gen honestly didn't think that it was anything to fret over. Head filling up with blood, huh? So that's what happened when you got a concussion. Suddenly the girl's expression changed from angry to where she almost looked guilty. She should feel a little guilty. I mean, she's the reason I got hurt in the first place, right? He snorted to himself, but brushed off the thought. He shouldn't get angry all over again, especially after the girl had finally calmed down. The girl didn't answer his question of whether she was okay or not, but gently put one of her hands on the back of his head. Her question seemed to fly by him as he stared into her sapphire eyes, which were full of worry. As much as he wanted to break eye contact, he couldn't get himself to do it. Gen's face flushed a deep red. Why the heck was this girl so concerned about him? She hardly even knew him. Suddenly the girl, in response to his question of whether she could get off of him or not, jumped off of him, her face bright red. He frowned as she asked him if he was happy now, and he shrugged. The girl, obviously wanting to break eye contact for the moment being, held out her hand to him as for help getting up, and threw him one final glance over her shoulder. He smirked at her question of whether he was going to sit there all day or not, and he took her hand and pulled himself up. Once standing up, Gen was surprised at his light-headedness. Maybe he really did need to get his head checked out. When the other gym leader took off towards the man collapsed in front of the Pokemon center, Gen followed behind at a more slower pace. It would be just his luck to fall down again if he tried to hurry himself. The brunette took a bottle of water out of her pack and tried to get the man on the ground to drink. Upon getting a closer look, the red-headed gym leader noticed that this guy was really messed up. He was really dirty, and really skinny. When was the last time this guy had come across civilization? "Whoa, he really doesn't look too good." He said out loud, and his eyes went wide as the girl said her name to the poor messed-up guy. Sapphire Birch. He really did recognize her name now that she said it. The fire-type gym leader of Ishya City. Yeah, it was all coming back to him now. Instead of standing there like an idiot lost in his memories like he was going to do, Gen knelt down on the ground next to the mysterious man and gave him a gentle shake, careful not to hurt him further. "Hey, come on buddy. Wake up, will ya? We're going to get you into the Pokemon center, so just hang on." He told the guy, not sure if he would actually hear him or not. Gen turned to Sapphire, a worried frown on his face. "This guy is pretty beat up. Do you want me to pick him up and take him inside, or what?" He asked calmly, keeping an eye on the man just in case he woke up.

Words: 786
Notes: Wow, I really wrote a lot this time...
Tagged: Sapphire and Josh
Muse: Good surprisingly.

[ninjaastronaut]

For the longest time. Josh was alone. But not the regular kind of alone, the kind he was used to, when he was either nowhere near anyone else, or everyone simply ignored him. No, this was different. He was secluded from everything. No feeling, no smell, with his sight blurred to the point where all he could see was one shade of tan, it seemed like the only thing that hadn't left him was his thoughts.

"I can't believe this. They just kicked me while I was down, and left to talk to each other. They're probably laughing at me." He could here them talking. He couldn't understand it, sounds forming in his mind more like some long forgotten language than anything he'd ever heard, but it was unmistakably human. They were still there. Near him. But they did nothing what so ever to try to help him.

"If there is a god out there, he sure doesn't like me very much." Josh smiled at the sad joke he made to himself, even though it didn't really make him happy. "Follow your rule." He told himself, "Try your best to look on the bright side." After that he thought hard for a while, trying to think of something that could possibly be a good thing in this horrible scenario. All that came to mind was the bad things around him. He tried to list them off, but the list just seemed to go on and on, and he didn't like that. He decided to top it all off with, "At least I'm not dead... yet."

"What have I come to?" If he had enough fluids in him, he would've been crying right now. He was almost glad he was dehydrated after this, because no man wants to be seen crying. Even if it's by evil, horrible people like the ones near him.

He tried to move his muscles, to lift himself up, tried his best to get back on his feet. To prove to those people that he could. Nothing happened. He didn't even twitch. It was as if his mind was completely disconnected from his body, like one had decided to reject the other.

Now he was sure they were laughing at him. He couldn't hear them anymore, so they must have been laughing at him. They were just trying to cover it up. He was too clever for them, though. He could see through their ruse. He knew deep down in his mind that they were mocking him in his weakened state. He loathed them for that.

"It's too bad that I can't do anything about it. I'm too weak right now." He tried to talk to himself out loud, but yet again, there was simply no energy. He couldn't even move his mouth, and it was gaping open and filled with dirt from when he hit the ground.

"At least no one will feel bad when I die." He said this to himself, but it didn't comfort him in the slightest. It made him feel much, much worse. Then he came to one of the many realizations that hit him from time to time. "I don't want to die while I'm covered in vomit. I can find a better place to die than this one."

He was then determined to make it so he wouldn't die there,
covered in vomit. He couldn't really do anything about it though.

Then he heard it again. That strange, alien language from a time forgotten. But it was much louder this time, much closer to him. It was a man, a man was talking. Was he talking to Josh? Josh wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. He couldn't understand this gibberish anyway. Yet again he tried to talk, this time to them, and failed miserably.

"They must think I'm dead." He thought, "Those bastards laughed at me even though they thought I was dead.

[♫~Leap~♫]

[atrb=border,0,true][STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.7] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.5] [/style] [STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; background-image: url('http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h348/changes29/Sapphire.png'); border-radius: 35px; height: 90px; width: 90px; opacity: 0.3] [/style]

[STYLE=border: #404880 2px solid; width: 300px; margin: 10px; padding: 10px; text-align: justify; background-color: #F6F4F5; box-shadow: 3px 3px 3px #88878F; font-size: 10px][STYLE=height: 400px; overflow: auto]This must have all be a really bad string of luck. It had to have been. There was one person, laying on the ground, half dead. Another, not far away, who was tackled to the ground and hurt his head fairly hard. And then there was a girl who snapped at any insult or scholding who tripped over one of the boys and went hurling through the air, successfully knocking over the other. This wasn't a planned string of events, she knew. She didn't even know the kid and the older of the two males was someone she knew and was a gym leader for goodness sake. So... It must have just been bad luck to have gotten into a situation like this. Had she been walking under ladders and smashing mirrors again? Ruby always told her to stop doing things like that. Luck never seemed to be on her side, anyway. All those people interupting her training sessions were some of the most recent. Her almost getting fired from her job for getting drunk at some party and insulting the lead of the Pokemon Assostiation emmencely. The whole events in Hoenn which just happened to occur when she decided to head out on a journey to beat Ruby in that bet they had. And, oh yeah! That Salamence that kind of scarred her for life? Yes, that was a jolly old time, surely, sitting and watching someone else getting beaten to a pulp by a dragon more than three times his size. Of course, looking at the bad side of things all the time made situations like these dull. She tried to think of all the good things that were happening. Well, this boy could get help from them. How long would it take for someone else to show a little pity and help him inside? Probably quite some time knowing the society that they lived in at that day of age. With them there to help, he'd be better in no time and they could all go on their merry ways. And that was a good thing... right? Helping strangers who need assisstance badly? She'd get good feedback with the league for this kind of rescue mission... She liked it. Maybe she'd even get a raise with the lack of pay she was getting. It wasn't her fault, though, that no challengers were challenging her yet. Oh! And, she'd beat Maga to the Pokemon Center, hadn't - "Maga?" Whipping around, the blue-eyed female saw her Magmar indoors, sticking it's tongue out at her and pulling an eyelid down with one finger in a taunting manner. Clinching her fists, nostrils flaring, and fuming so terribly, she'd have steam shooting out of her ears had this been a cartoon, the girl shouted, "You little twerp! I let you win! This victory means nothing to me, do you hear me? Nothing!" The fire-type was unfazed, however, continuing it's "victory dance" until she gave up and recalled it to it's Poke' Ball. "Darn Maga... Got the better of me by -" Suddenly, she remembered that there was a different task at hand, she trailed off and focused on the two other humans. Just as the red-haired gym leader was remembered in her memory vaguely, she must have been registered in his own mind as well. After she exclaimed that they were both gym leaders, something must have clicked in him mind. "Gym leader... Wait a sec, I remember you!" Oh, how flattered she must have felt. Someone actually remembered her. That was a first in this crummy region. "You're the gym leader of Ishya City, right?" Actually happy that someone could remember something about her, the girl nodded. "Greatest gym leader around, no doubt!" After her stream of yelling at him for yelling at her and for carring more about her than himself, the boy visably flinched and part of her wondered if she had over done in just the slightest. ... No. One can never over do a screaming session, after all. It's just logic. After all that was finished - the flinching, the concern, the much blushing, you know it all - the man finally stood up on his own feet and she let her arm fall to her side once more. When she was at the mysterious teen's side, she heard him mutter something along the lines of, "Whoa, he really doesn't look to good," thought she didn't really pay attention to the words or the person who'd said them. She was more concerned about how the boy on his back was refusing to drink. "Darnit," she hissed under her breath, putting the cap on the bottle and chucking it halfway down the street in anger. It only took moments for the other gym leader to appear by her side, nudging him, and saying, "Hey, come on buddy. Wake up, will ya'? We're going to get you into the Pokemon Center, so just hang on." His next words were directed toward her, but his eyes stayed fixed on the unconcious body. "This guy is pretty beat up. Do you want me to pick him up and take him inside, or what?" "What? No way! That's my job, the heavy lifting. You sit tight and I'll handle this - it'll be a piece o' cake." Cracking her knuckles to add to the effect, the woman proved just that - that it was a piece of cake. In no more than ten seconds, she'd hoisted the limp frame onto her back in a position that made it appear as though she were giving him a piggy back ride. She'd carried larger people than him in this manner. In addition, he was kind of underweight, anyway. That only made it all the more easy for her. "See? Piece o' cake. Now - we'd better get him inside. If Nurse Joy doesn't treat him as soon as possible, I don't want to know what will happen to him." Walking towards the entrance to the building, she used her head to geusture to the door. "After you, mister spikey hair. I'll be right behind you."[/style][/style]

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