Pokémon Adventures: GAMER PATH

~Third POV~

[Hoenn Region, Meanwhile, Route 101 – Sapphire's Secret Base]

Ruby later wakes up in a cave with Nana, as he mutters, confused, "Huh? Nana… where are we…?"

Ruby looks around the cave, seeing a Pokémon that saved him from falling off the cliff. He thought curiously, 'That's the Pokémon who saved us…'

*BEEP*

That's when a ringing sound got his attention. He looked to see a Rotom Phone as he got a call on Birch's Rotom Phone that he accidentally picked up earlier, answering the call, "It's coming from that man's bag… Guess I'll answer it. Hello?"

On the other end of the phone, Prof. Birch asked in a concerned tone, "You! Is that you…?! That Pokémon contest-crazed boy I just met?! Are you all right?! That's great! I'm sorry I got you involved in this!! You're not hurt, are you?!"

Ruby looked around and checked himself as he answered calmly, "I'm fine. But I'm not sure where I am… looks like some kind of cave."

Birch from the other end asked in a surprised voice, "Oh?! How'd you get there?!"

Ruby looked to see the Pokémon on the tree branch as he said, "A green Pokémon helped me. It carried me here."

Prof. Birch sounded surprised by this but soon introduced himself in an excited tone, "Oh my, what a surprise! I've never heard of a wild Pokémon behaving like that before! Oh, by the way, allow me to introduce myself – The name is Birch. I'm a Professor. I study Pokémon. I was doing fieldwork today, you see, when…"

Ruby abruptly stands up as he nonchalantly replies in a confident voice, "Don't worry about me. I'm not hurt."

That was when Birch decided to be blunt, which instantly made Ruby freeze in alarm, "Oh, if I may ask… is your name by chance… Ruby?"

Ruby's eyes widened in alarm as he yelled, startled, "How did you know?!"

Professor Birch chuckled as he revealed that the shoes Ruby had were in a happy tone, "Those shoes you're wearing… Running Shoes with an acceleration feature created by the Devon Corps. They haven't been released to the public yet, but… someone begged me to procure a pair for his son's birthday, so I did. His name was Norman… your father, right? I knew you when you were quite small."

Ruby abruptly replies in a surprised voice, scratching the back of his head, "Yeah? That's… neat. What a coincidence."

But internally, Ruby was panicking as he mentally thought worriedly, 'Well, that's just fabulous… a friend of my dad's…'

As Ruby worries about his runaway plan, he feels relieved by what Birch says in a confused tone at the other end of the phone, "You just arrived today, didn't you? What were you doing out there in the wilderness all by yourself?"

Ruby mentally sighed a breath of relief as he thought, 'Phew… good. I guess he doesn't know I ran away…'

*Pat*

As Ruby worries about his runaway plan being revealed, the "Pokémon" that saved Ruby earlier begins to talk to him, concernedly, as it took the phone, "Hey, are you awake? I'm tellin' ya… I was really surprised when somethin' came fallin' from that cliff over there. This place is downright nuts. Ya can't hardly even follow the road if you're tryin' ta get outta here."

Shocked at the idea of a talking Pokémon, Ruby freaks out, "That Pokémon just… spoke!! Aaaaah! Freaky! Get away from me!"

*Jump*

Under the pretense of panic, Nana attacks the mysterious creature…

*BITE*

Biting the 'Pokémon' in the arm, it recoiled in pain, "That hurt!"

*Fup*

Angered, the creature rips off its leaf cloak, revealing it to be a human girl wearing a leaf bikini and a Torchic on top of her head. She growled and angrily yelled at him, "I was just tryin' to help ya! What'd ya go and do that for, huh?!"

Ruby exclaimed in shock, "Ack! Y-You… you're human?!"

Ruby figures out that the girl he met is a human while she attacks him in anger. The girl sends her Torchic to attack Nana using Ember.

*Fooosh*

*Sizzzl*

The attack burned Nana's hair as it caused Ruby to scream in horror, "Aaaaah!! My poor Nana's beautifully brushed fur!!"

Still on the phone, Prof. Birch asked, in a concerned voice as Ruby recalls Nana, "What's the matter, Ruby?!"

After being informed of the situation, Professor Birch tells Ruby to take one of the two Pokémon in his bag for protection. The two Pokémon were Mudkip and Treecko.

*BOM*

At Birch's suggestion, Ruby chooses the Water-type Pokémon, Mudkip. But at first glance, he contemplated his choice, 'Ick. Maybe I should have picked the green one… not going to win any cool or beauty prizes anytime soon… maybe toughness, though…'

Both the girl and Torchic pounced, "Hisssss!!"

The girl continues attacking, even easily beating Mudkip in the process, and demands in a furious tone, "And now that I have your attention… I saved ya! So why d'you want to go and attack me…?!"

Birch overhears her voice and reveals to Ruby in an embarrassed tone, "That girl is my daughter… Sapphire Birch. She assists me with my fieldwork."

Now knowing the situation, Ruby tries to explain to Sapphire the misunderstanding, "This is all a big misunderstanding. I've met your father. I have his bag and Rotom Phone. And he gave me this Pokémon too!"

But that was when Ruby noticed Sapphire ignoring him, and asked confused, "Uh… are you listening to me?"

Sapphire crawled like a predator in a defensive stance on all fours as she replied sharply, "I'll just hafta trust that ya know my pop… and talk about it later!"

*SLTHR*

*SLTHR*

Appearing before them in Sapphire's secret base was Seviper, the Fang Snake Pokémon. Ruby startled asked, "W-what's that?!"

Sapphire checks her Pokedex, seeing that it was a Wild Serviper that attacked them. It lunged with a Poison Fang attack…

*CRASH*

Both Sapphire and Ruby managed to dodge the poisonous attack. Sapphire attacks the Seviper, grabbing its tail as she yelled at Ruby furiously, "Whatcha doin?! Gimme a hand here, will ya?! This is one powerful Pokémon! If ya don't do somethin' fast, you're gonna get hurt!!"

*Woop*

Ruby to help her, only to have him refuse her request by showing off his Pokémon in a determined tone, "No way! My dream is to become the champion of every Pokémon contest!! If I let my Pokémon fight too many battles, they'll get all muscular and lose their cuteness!"

Hearing his words, Sapphire's left eyebrow twitched as she replied harshly to Ruby's dreams, "Pokémon contest…? You mean… the silly ones where they only care about the Pokémon's looks?"

Ruby, outraged by Sapphire's response, exclaimed in shock at her words, "Silly ones?! They're not silly!!"

Sapphire sighed as she took control of the situation, and she ordered, "Right… whatever. Chic! Ember!!"

*Sssss*

Chic, the Torchic, unleashed a fireball at the Seviper as it seemingly fainted. Sapphire defeats the Seviper, and they get into an argument over which is better: Pokémon battling or Pokémon Contests.

Then Sapphire slyly grins as she has an idea. Turning around to see Ruby, she declared confidently, "I know! How about we have ourselves a little bet? My dream is to be the best Pokémon battler ever! To do that, I'm gonna go round to all 8 gyms and challenge all the Gym Leaders! I'll beat'em all! And you… You wanna win all the Pokémon contests! When we're done, we'll meet here again and show how much we've improved!! How about in… let's say 80 Days to complete our bet!!"

Ruby yelled, outraged, being roped into her plan, "I haven't agreed to your plan yet…"

Sapphire cheekily grinned at Ruby's cowardice as she declared boastfully, "Oh yeah? How come? Ya scared?! If you become the champion of every Pokémon contest in 80 days, then I'll give you your props. And I'll change my mind about contests, too. How about it?!"

Being goaded into it by her words, Ruby took a moment to think seriously. Then, with a serious expression, he agreed confidently, "Fine. You're on!"

Sapphire grins as she starts to stagger, finally letting her final words be muttered, "Good. It's… a deal!"

*FWUMMP*

Suddenly, Sapphire faints, as she is concerned about Ruby. He quickly noticed the claw marks on her back as he thought guiltily, 'Claw marks! Oh, I see now… she must have protected me from that Mightyena's attack… when she caught me as I was falling off the cliff…'

Ruby took a knee and began giving Sapphire medical treatment. While doing medical treatment, Ruby began taking her measurements as he thought proudly, 'As thanks for saving me… I, the great Ruby, shall give you my greatest wardrobe change! Better be thankful I've altered my clothes to fit you. They'll look great on you.'

Finishing up with measurements and giving Sapphire his customized uniform, he finished up his work. But then the Seviper awakens and attacks Ruby again. Ruby's eyes hardened, but before he could issue an order… a new voice entered the scene.

"Vulpix! Flamethrower!"

*SSSSS*

A stream of fire attacked the Seviper head-on as it was tossed into the wall. It was defeated instantly as this made Ruby alert as his eyes narrowed critically thinking, 'Oh great, what now… wait, that was a command, so that must mean…!'

*TMP*

Stepping inside Sapphire's Secret Base, Azure finally revealed himself. Over his shoulder were Pikachu and Eevee on top of his head.

To his side was an unusually large Vulpix as they came inside. Azure raised his hands in surrender as he said calmly, "Sorry if I spooked you there, kid. But can you tell me if a kid fell down the cliff? Prof. Birch asked me to collect the kid to safety if possible. I'm guessing she's the one?"

Azure pretended to casually come inside, seeing the scene before him. It took him a while to find Sapphire's Secret Base as he thought bitterly, 'Damn seems like I was a bit late locating this place. If I came sooner…'

He shook his head as Ruby sighed a breath of relief. He quickly explained the situation to him as he thought confusion in his voice, 'Phew… another close call. But… why does this guy seem familiar…'

He shook off the confusion as Azure said calmly, rubbing his chin in an understanding voice, "I see… well, in any case, you two are alright, so that's what matters. And judging from your attire… You started your journey, right? Do you need a hand getting out of this place?"

Ruby, seizing the chance, shook his head, handing Prof. Birch the bag to Azure as he said proudly, running past him, leaving the scene, "I'm good, sir! Seeing that you know Birch, I can leave her in your hands! But I've gotta run and start my journey! See ya!"

Running away, Ruby successfully escapes from the two as Azure helplessly sighs at the scene, helping Sapphire up, "Sigh… what a kid. But I'm not gonna get too invested in their love story, too much drama for my taste."

Chic stood on guard in front of Azure and his Pokémon. It was prepared to fight, but Azure extended his hand over Chic's head as he stated calmly, "No worries, little one. She'll be in good hands as we leave."

*Shiii*

Using his Viridian Force, Chic's eyes widened, feeling a soothing sensation. It was cautious of Azure, but decided to trust him for now as he carried Sapphire piggyback style with both Pikachu and Eevee trotting on the ground.

Carrying the bag of Prof. Birch Azure's eyes, a Treecko blinked in the last Poke Ball present in the bag, a Treecko looking at him curiously. Azure chuckled as he thought, 'So Sapphire gets Torchic. Ruby has Mudkip. And lastly… this was supposedly Emerald's Treecko, but he never wanted it. That means… he'll be my official Starter Pokémon, huh… this is gonna be interesting.'

/////

A/N: Reach the goal of 400 PS to get a Bonus Chapter!