route_1065 | Like the waves need the wind, and the morning needs the sun

Like the waves need the wind, and the morning needs the sun

Who: Juudai and Yubel
Where: Cherrygrove City
When: Monday-ish? Maybe Tuesday, idk. The 20th-21st, I mean. In that range.
Summary: Reunion time!
Rating: PG-13 because there will probably be kissing...?!

Log:
Flare was downright exhausted by now, it seemed. Juudai had long since hopped off his Pokemon to venture into the city, and had let him walk around a bit with him as compensation for pushing him so hard. Soon, though, he wound up returning him to his Poke Ball for a well-earned rest, but not before giving him the biggest appreciative hug and petting he could muster at the time. Traveling on foot for immediately after would probably be easier, anyway.

It seemed ironic that their meeting place was also a city by the sea, much like the past -- and as it turned out, the place he spotted her was a street with a nice view of the ocean. Maybe they were both drawn to it by memories or by instinct; who knew? But wherever the place he found her happened to be, it was still Yubel, no matter what she looked like. Perhaps the nostalgia was increased by the sensation of the ocean so close by, though, and also by her being as he remembered her before her transformation so long ago.

"Yubel!!"

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Yubel stared at the ocean for nearly an hour, her memories of that life stirring. She normally didn't think about them very much, wanting to focus on the present and finding her beloved once again. But seeing those blue waves stirred up something within her.

Trouble and Ove slept peacefully in their balls; she hadn't yet managed to get any training time in, but she would see to that once she and her beloved were united once more. Everything could take second place to that.

Then she heard his voice, and her eyes and heart both lit up. She turned, the most perfect and wonderful of smiles spreading across her face. She had no wings, but nevertheless she flew straight toward him.

"Juudai!"

Juudai had to take a step or three back to maintain his balance as she launched herself towards him. He caught her willingly, though, holding her close and squeezing her comfortably for as long as he could.

The memories just came rushing back as he did. Memories of him and Yubel in their early teens, spending time together every waking moment and sometimes sleeping moments as well, reinforcing their relationship as something out of the ordinary, even more than just a prince who loved his servant-slash-best-friend in the romantic sense.

"Finally..." he let slip out in a whisper he hadn't even realized came from him at first, then elaborated with, "I missed you. That's an understatement, but how else am I gonna put it?"

"Beloved..." If it were possible for them to fuse in this world, Yubel would've done so, clinging to him with every ounce of her strength. She moved her head up enough so she could reach his lips with hers and touched them together, as she had wanted to do for longer than even she could imagine.

Her grip tightened around him as she did so; nothing else mattered anymore but being with him.

The kiss startled Juudai a bit; it wasn't the first time it had ever happened, but nonetheless, he hadn't been expecting it. After taking a moment to stiffen slightly, he relaxed just as quickly, allowing her to do as she would for a while without complaint.

But even though he didn't object, kissing in public made him strangely uncomfortable (most of their more intimate moments had been in private where no one could see them), so after a time, he broke away on his own.

"So," he breathed, "I guess asking if you're okay would be pretty stupid, right?"

She smiled, her heart beating faster at the sight of him, at the sight of him loving her and only her, just as he'd promised. She'd known he couldn't stay away from her forever. They would always be together from now on. If not in soul in their world, then in body in this one.

"So long as you are, I am." Yubel herself didn't care about how many people were or were not looking. Let them all stare and know that Juudai was hers!

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was really worried about you, though." What he didn't mention was that he was still rather worried about her in a way, though. To his credit, he showed no trace of it, though. "You weren't here for a while, so I was worried something had happened to you when we were split up. I still can't see or hear aibou, but... I guess I still have to find a way to get the rest of my spirits back, too. For now, though, I can settle for this." He smiled at her sincerely, knowing he was probably opening a can of worms with the mention of his other spirits, but it was something that needed to be addressed eventually.

Her eyes darkened for a moment; did he still think about them, when he had her? She knew that his love had returned in full force, so why? Why were they on his mind so much?

"What makes you think they're here at all? Do you have your deck?" She didn't have hers, which annoyed her when she thought about it. It was hers and she'd lost enough when she came to this world.

"I do, but I'm not actually sure if they're here or not right now, myself. But I want them back, too, wherever they are." Juudai's smile faded, and he adopted a more stern look. "Maybe things aren't completely the way they should be, but I'm gonna try to fix it as best I can."

The faintest hint of a jealous twitch crossed Yubel's features. She noticed the stern look on Juudai's features, but dismissed it. She hadn't done anything so he would turn that look on her.

"Why do you want them, Juudai?" Her words were not laced with hate as they had been during their duel, but with a hint of plaintive pain. "We are together now."

Juudai couldn't help but openly frown at that statement. Not that he didn't sense it coming, but it was disappointing to hear, even so.

"I know that, but they're my friends, and I miss them. You can love someone and still have friends, too. I have a lot of friends here I'd like to introduce you to eventually, as well...!" He smiled genuinely, if a little uneasily at this point.

"I've heard from some of them." She glanced down at her gear, thinking of all of those who had spoken to her and mentioned that they knew Juudai, some from their world, some not. "You've been quite busy, haven't you?" There was a hint of hurt in that tone as well. He could not have forgotten her again. She wouldn't let that happen. After all they had been through, after all he felt for her, he couldn't let that happen!

"...You spoke to them?"

Somehow, that tone didn't sit well with Juudai. He wanted to say something along the lines of "You weren't rude to them, were you?", but that probably wouldn't have accomplished much. Instead, he found himself saying "Yubel, why is having other friends so wrong to you? You already know I love you." He paused, tilted his head, then added thoughtfully, "If they were your friends, too, would it be so hard to accept them?"

"You said only me, Juudai." Reproach tinged her voice just a little. He'd kept that promise before they'd came here, hadn't he? Or meant to...

Then she looked at him, confusion writ large upon her features. "My friends? I only need you, Juudai." Hadn't she proven that already?

"Yubel..." This time, he sounded slightly exasperated. "There are different kinds of love in the world. You're the only one who would ever have what you have now, trust me. But I also care about my other friends, too. I only suggested that because maybe it'd broaden your horizons a little bit. I'm not saying you have to love them like you do me, but maybe... maybe it'd be nice?"

He grinned a little awkwardly at her once the last part was out in the open. "At least, it would make me happy to know you could tolerate my friends, too. I know you're capable of it, at least."

The unspoken part of that sentence was "Because you were capable of it back home". However, he had to choose his words and his tone carefully right now, and he wasn't exactly sure she'd believe that he was from a couple months in her future. It was all a matter of what she wanted to believe right now, considering she could be as stubborn as he was.

The entire concept of even caring about someone who wasn't Juudai was alien to Yubel. She hadn't even thought about it for...for...for ever. Or if she had, the memory of doing so was lost to the winds of time.

But she had felt his love so strong for her, and knew that he wouldn't leave her again. Even...even if he had these other friends.

"I...make no promises, Juudai." She wouldn't lie to him. She never had. But for his sake, she would consider his words.

"That's fine. But it's worth a try, at least." His smile widened, and he felt hope come rushing back into him. Then, he took her shoulders in his hands and drew her close again. "I'm just glad you're not suffering anymore. That's the last thing I would ever want to see happen to you. It's over now, that time of being apart, so don't ever think I'll leave your side again, okay?"

Yubel was used to being taller than Juudai. That was what she had been for so long, that to be so close to his height was still startling. She folded her arms around him. The body didn't matter. Only Juudai did.

"I know you won't."

Juudai held Yubel for a moment, then looked down at her -- yeah, being taller than her now was pretty awkward at this point.

"Hey, so, I wanna meet your Pokemon, too!" he declared suddenly. "They should be your friends too, right? And I've never seen either of their species before!"

She tilted her head for a moment; having these creatures be her friends was a startling concept. But she didn't object to Juudai meeting them.

She pulled out the balls she kept them in and released them, eyeing Trouble firmly. If he so much as rolled that eye in Juudai's direction with harmful intent, she would not be pleased.

"Trouble, Ove, this is my beloved Juudai." She glanced at Juudai, wanting him, she realized, to approve of her ...her Pokemon.

Juudai sat on his haunches, lowering himself to the level of the Pokemon in front of him and smiling at them. He addressed them with a friendly tone.

"Hey, you two. We haven't met yet, so... I'm Juudai! This is all pretty new to everyone, but please help me take care of Yubel, okay?" he said, reaching out tentatively to pat the Larvitar in particular on the head (since the Duskull was probably incorporeal), knowing it could very well lash out and bite him if it felt like it.

Trouble the Duskull not only was incorporeal, but he was still a little pouty over having had his ass handed to him by a small reptile with a large bite. So he just rolled an eye and hovered in place.

Ove the Larvitar, on the other hand, sniffed up at Juudai's hand and licked it for a moment. Finding no dirt to its liking, it eyed him again, then sharply nodded.

"Larv!"

Yubel watched, hints of amusement sparking in her eyes. "I believe he means yes." She let the part about taking care of her slide for now. She was his guardian, she guarded him. But he did know this place better than she did, for now.

Grinning slowly in approval, Juudai patted Ove's head and then withdrew his hand. He looked at Trouble briefly, with a bright smile that seemed to say "don't take it too hard", and then rose, nodding at Yubel.

"I think so! Well, that's good. They seem like they'll be good partners." He then reached into his own bag and pulled out five Poke Balls of his own. "Flare's a little tired right now since I rode him here, but wanna see the rest of mine? I'll let you meet him later, when he's had a rest."

"All right." Yubel was a little curious about who else Juudai might have met. These friends were not quite like the ones from their world, she began to realize.

And if this "Flare" had helped to get Juudai to her, then she definitely approved of him.

"Okay!" Juudai stepped closer to the ocean and flung the balls into the air haphazardly, letting them fall where they would. "I've got Feather, Thrasher, Horn, Morph, and Puff! They have longer names, too, but those are just nicknames to tell them apart from others."

All but Thrasher the Gyarados landed on the sand, looking at their trainer attentively. He moved over to them and started introducing them individually.

"So I have Feather, who's the only girl so far, and she's got a little bit of an attitude, but she's pretty cool. Then there's Thrasher, and he's stubborn sometimes, but that can come in handy, too, because he's also determined to win, hehe. Morph is still a baby, but he's pretty relaxed, kinda like Puff. And finally, Horn is a real fighter, like Thrasher. And I'll let you meet Flare later, but he's as protective and loyal as you are."

He realized after the fact that was kind of an awkward thing to say, but judging by the warm smile when he said it, it wasn't meant as snarky or insulting at all. More of a compliment, it seemed.

"So this is my team so far! They're all my friends, and we help each other out." He stood in front of them, grinning at Yubel, when Morph the Eevee started headbutting his leg affectionately like a cat, wanting to be picked up, and Juudai obliged, ruffling its head fur idly.

Yubel folded her arms across her chest and stared at the group. If these were what she and Juudai had to rely upon for protection, in this world that sucked away their powers, then they had best be strong.

Her gaze shifted over to Juudai for a moment at what he said about Flare, and a hint of a smile touched her lips. As protective as she was? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

"What is the point of all this battling, Juudai?" Yubel wondered. That had nudged at her mind whenever she had had a spare moment to think about something that wasn't him. THere hadn't been many of them.

"It's basically just like dueling in our world. It's both to defend yourself when you need to, and for fun as well." It was actually a good comparison, Juudai thought, since battling was done both for protection as well as entertainment in this world, as dueling was in theirs. Both worlds' respective forms of combat, perhaps. "But that just makes it easy for us to adapt to it, as opposed to people who didn't have something like that in their own world."

She nodded; she wasn't certain if this would be quite like dueling, but she could still see how they were similar. Instead of cards, these monsters were used. Though she had never dueled as others had, for prestige or glamor or respect or fun. Always for Juudai.

So she would do this for him as well.

"You were on your way somewhere when I arrived, weren't you?" She would need to catch up to him in this 'training' thing.

"Yeah, I was headed to Violet City, the town after this one. I was gonna challenge Falkner, the gym leader, and get the badge from there. After you get eight badges, you're supposed to be able to challenge the Champion, from what I heard."

He paused thoughtfully, stroking his Eevee's fur as he did. "I'm not sure what challenging the gym leaders and the Champion accomplishes, other than bragging rights and stuff. And to test your own strength, too. But it sounds like fun, so I wanna try it. I'm a little behind right now, anyway, since I skipped the gym when I first got there... ehehe. And a bunch of other stuff happened along the way that distracted me."

The spiriting away and nightmare occurrences being the most outstanding events he could think of. Spirits here were particularly mischievous, it seemed.

She considered that for a few moments and nodded. There had to be a reason for all of this, even if it wasn't one that was known right now. What would she give as a prize to the best?

That was easy. What anyone stolen from their own world would want: the chance to go home again.

"If that is what we do here, then I'll do it."

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Like the waves need the wind, and the morning needs the sun

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