Chapter 130: Ancient Ruins, First Encounter with Courtney
"I want Mudkip," Ruby said, holding up a Poké Ball.
"Hey, why did you choose a Water-type?" Sapphire said, somewhat annoyed, as she adjusted the clothes Ruby had handcrafted for her.
Ryan and the others had arrived at Professor Birch's laboratory, and Sapphire was also unhappy that Ruby was using a Water-type Mudkip to counter her Torchic. After all, Sapphire was a very competitive girl, the classic tomboy type.
Ruby looked Sapphire up and down and said, "Yep, the size is perfect."
Ryan facepalmed: "This girl is asking for trouble!"
Sapphire's face flushed instantly, steam practically rising from her head. She grabbed Ruby's collar and yelled, "How do you know my measurements?"
"Did you forget? Last time—" Ruby was about to say something, but Sapphire covered his mouth and tackled him.
Ryan and Lillie exchanged glances, both their eyes filled with curiosity. But they decided not to ask now. If Ruby revealed what happened, things might get even more awkward.
After much commotion, Ryan's group finally added another member: Sapphire. Her goal was to become even stronger than Ruby, so she also wanted to challenge the Hoenn League and participate in the Ever Grande Conference. She decided to accompany Ryan on his journey.
Ryan and Lillie didn't refuse. Seeing Ruby and Sapphire bickering, they knew they wouldn't be lonely on the journey.
Ryan glanced at the map and said, "Next, we'll head back to Petalburg City, but first we'll stop at Oldale Town. There's a ruin there—let's check it out."
Everyone agreed, so they headed for Oldale Town.
By the time they arrived at the Pokémon Center in Oldale Town, it was already dark. Ryan and his group took two rooms, planning to stay until they could visit the ruins tomorrow before returning to Petalburg City.
But as soon as they entered the rooms, the lights went out. Ryan and Ruby exchanged a glance and immediately went out to see what was going on.
Outside, they saw Nurse Joy anxiously preparing to check the power supply. Ryan then remembered that the Pokémon Center had Pokémon being treated.
"Nurse Joy, let us go check what's wrong with the power supply. The first priority is to restore the power," Ryan said. "I choose you, Gardevoir!"
Ryan sent out his Gardevoir, and Ruby did the same with hers. The two Gardevoir followed Nurse Joy to the backup power room, grabbed the prepared electrode cables, and used their full-power Thunderbolt.
With the Pokémon Center's power restored, Ryan and Ruby immediately went to check the external power supply, only to discover that the wires had been sabotaged.
Ryan pondered for a moment and pulled out a small notebook from his backpack. He had written down notes in case they might be needed later in certain situations. After all, he'd been in this world for so long that some details had become fuzzy.
"Professor Cozmo, Team Magma," Ryan muttered, glancing at the two names in the notebook. He instantly recalled the connection.
He immediately grabbed Ruby and ran toward the ruins. When they arrived, they found a man with spiky hair surrounded by a group of Team Magma members. They watched as a Team Magma member presented a small box with four meteorite shards on top.
"There's a lot of people. I'll handle half. Ruby, can you handle the rest?" Ryan whispered in Ruby's ear.
"Let's try," Ruby whispered back.
But just as they were about to act, one of the Team Magma members suddenly turned around, flicked their wrist, and fired a stream of liquid from a device on their glove, hitting where Ryan and the others were hiding.
"We've been discovered!" Ryan thought, unsure what the liquid was. He grabbed Ruby by the collar and jumped to avoid the liquid. At the same time, Ryan and the others were surrounded by Team Magma.
Ryan instantly sent out Hariyama, Blaziken, and Metagross. Ruby followed suit with mudkip, Delcatty, and Sylveon.
But the opposing team, consisting entirely of Poochyena and Zubat, looked fairly standard. The person who had shot the liquid at Ryan and the others also approached, accompanied by a Camerupt.
The female member, dressed in Team Magma's admin uniform and seemingly their leader, chewed gum as she asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"It's none of your business where we go," Ryan said.
"Capture them and tie them up first," the female admin said.
As soon as she finished speaking, the surrounding Team Magma members gathered around, pulling out ropes to restrain Ryan and the others.
"Roar!" Ruby, sensing the situation was dangerous, took the initiative.
The Roar echoed, and the surrounding Zubat and Poochyena were forced back into their Poké Balls. Ryan shouted, "Metagross, use Psychic on them!"
Metagross was quite powerful, and while controlling multiple people was somewhat taxing, it was manageable for a short while. During the brief moment when Team Magma was immobilized, Ryan's speed exploded as he burst through the crowd. He reached out with his right hand and grabbed the female admin's collar, his left hand securing both of her hands behind her back.
"Alright, your leader is in my hands. Behave yourselves," Ryan said.
"Yeah. Nice moves. Do you have a girlfriend?" The female admin asked, chewing gum, completely unfazed by her capture.
"What?" Ryan was stunned for a moment.
Then she immediately used her helmet to headbutt Ryan in the face, completely disregarding his grip on her. Ryan instinctively reached out to block the headbutt, but the next moment he realized his mistake.
Now that her hands were free, she immediately grabbed Ryan's right arm and threw him to the ground with a judo throw. At the same time, she removed a spike from her helmet, pressed it against Ryan's throat and said, "You're still too naive, innocent boy."
Ruby had also been captured, and their Pokémon had been defeated. Ryan regretted not bringing one of his main team members. With just one of them, all the other Pokémon combined would have been no match.
"It's done, Ms. Courtney," the person who had brought Professor Cozmo into the ruins emerged and spoke to the female admin.
Courtney? So she was one of Team Magma's three admins? Ryan couldn't help but think.
"Is this the place?" Courtney said calmly.
"No," the member said.
"Then let's retreat," Courtney said.
"We've contacted them, and they'll be here soon," the member said.
Then, the sound of helicopters could be heard from the sky. Three helicopters circled overhead, lowering rope ladders, and the Team Magma members evacuated one after another. Only Courtney remained. Courtney looked at Ryan and smiled, "Goodbye, innocent boy. I hope we'll meet again. I really like you."
With that, she kissed Ryan on the cheek, then jumped onto the rope ladder, and the helicopters took them away.
Ryan rubbed his still aching back and smiled faintly, "I hope they make their move quickly. I wonder what Maxie and Archie's expressions would be if they knew that what they're doing now is ultimately futile?"
"Is it over?" Ruby said helplessly as he lay on the ground. "That was exhausting."
(End of Chapter)
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