Ruby and Sapphire: The Next Chapter

A tall, gaunt man stood next to a window in a spacious room that overlooked the bustling Veilstone City. He had blue, spiky hair, and he wore a black and grey suit with a golden G embroiled on it. His expression was emotionless, like a slab of cold stone, as he watched the city with icy eyes. He watched these people, insignificant people, ruining his view of perfection, living in this cursed universe that existed. He knew soon though, it would all be his.

Out of the shadows of the room, a tall, young girl emerged. She bore ruby-colored hair, and had a suit, similar to the man's, but with a dress-like appearance. She cautiously approached him, his back facing her, and with uneasiness, she spoke.

"Umm…excuse me…." she said, obvious uncertainty in her voice.

The man did not turn around, but his voice was like ice. "What is the meaning of your disturbance, Mars?"

"We seem to have a slight problem; it seems that the Pokemon Professor of this region…refuses to work with us." She finished a hint of fear in her voice.

Still not moving from his position, the man seemed to almost sigh, and his voice echoed with power. "I should have expected such. He could be persuaded…but it would be a waste of valuable time. Tell Saturn and Jupiter to abandon any attempts to convince him." He said, his expression still the same.

"I want no interruptions to our plan, Mars." the man said, finally turning around, his stare causing Mars to almost flinch, "I have seen what happened to those failures in Kanto and Hoenn, and I intend to learn from their mistakes.

"Of course, Cyrus", Mars replied, before swiftly exiting the room, leaving the man alone once again.

He continued to look toward the city of Veilstone from the large building that served as his headquarters. He watched as the people below him reveled in their lives with their Pokemon, and thinking about it angered him. He relived himself at thought that it was only a matter of time, and the cogs were beginning to come in place. In the end, people, Pokemon, none of it really mattered. Because soon, everything would be his.

The digitized sound of a Loudreds' cry could be heard blaring in Ruby's room. The young boy's covered form moved and stirred as the irritating sound continued. A hand emerged from underneath the covers, and it reached towards his dresser. When it finally found the Pokemon-shaped clock, it pounded down on it, ending the awful noise.

Ruby stood up on his bed shortly after, rubbing his eyes and stretching. "Why did Dad have to buy me THAT alarm clock", he said as he stood up from his bed. Sure enough, a cry could be heard as a Pokemon, Ruby's Mudkip, Zuzu, leaped onto his chest, sending him bouncing onto the bed. The blue Pokemon continually jumped on his chest, excited his master was up, yet unaware he was irritating him with his jumping.

"Okay, okay Zuzu." Ruby said, taking the Pokemon and placing him down on the floor. "I gotta eat some breakfast first. Then maybe we can go practice for contests." Unfortunately, unknown to Ruby, Mudkip really wanted to go see Ruby's friend, Sapphire.

Ever since that fateful battle about 3 months ago, Ruby and Sapphire were treated akin to League champions in Hoenn. Their names were known by everyone, as they were the ones who helped stop the two legendary Pokemon, Groudon and Kyogre, from finishing their titanic world-ending battle. They came to Littleroot Town as heroes, and if it had not been for the time-traveling Pokemon Celebi, things would be much different than they were now. After about a month, things began to calm down a bit, and Ruby and Sapphire were less and less bothered with their fame. Eventually, their lives went back to normal, even though their 80-day bet that was made about five and a half months before between the two had been settled. Ruby continued practicing for contests with his Pokemon, though he occasionally battled, and Sapphire was busy training hers' to top fighting perfection, though she viewed contests now in a different light.

Ruby walked down the stairs down to the kitchen, where a nice bowl of rice porridge dutifully prepared by his mother was waiting for him. As he sat down and ate his food, he wondered what his plans were for the day. He remembered he was going to face his Dad, Norman, again today, as part of a training regime he was being put through. He thought about Sapphire, and possibly going to see her, when he remembered that she was in vacation in the Kanto region with her family, and was due back today. Her dad, Professor Birch, had wanted to do more research on the Pokemon found in Kanto, and decided to bring the whole family along.

Ruby finished his rice porridge, then got up and put the empty bowl in the sink. His mother was out in Veilstone City, wanting to pick something up in the large department store. As he ran upstairs, he saw Zuzu still sitting on his bed when he got into his room, and Ruby quickly slipped on some of his usual day clothes.

"Okay Zuzu", he said while putting on his pack, "Let's go out and do some one-on-one training before the other Pokemon wake up." The blue mudfish Pokemon happily jumped into his Poke ball, and Ruby picked it up and headed down the stairs and out the door.

Sapphire looked out the window of her fathers' car at the beautiful landscape of the Hoenn region. She had had a good time vacationing in Kanto with her father and mother, but she dearly missed home, her house, he room, and most of all, Ruby. As she looked out her window, while Professor Birch amusingly tried to check his research and drive at the same time, and her mom had dozed off, she thought about that boy. She knew she had feelings for him, and she even had told him before their departure from Mirage Island those many months ago. What made her wonder was why he had not even said a word of the subject matter since then. He had said he cared for her too, before pushing her into an air car and going off alone to face Groudon and Kyogre. He also revealed how he was that same boy that saved her from a wild Salamence all those years ago. That same boy that she still loved. Now she only wondered whether or not he still felt the same. She didn't want to think of it too much, or it would bother her all day, so she put it out of her head.

Looking to her side, she saw the small chick Pokemon, her Torchic, Toro, asleep next to her. She smiled, petting the sleeping Pokemons' orange fur. The car surprisingly rumbled to a stop as they arrived at their home. "Finally", Profressor Birch said as he got out of the car, stretching himself. Sapphire's mother also got up, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "It's good to be home", she said, going to the trunk to grab some luggage. "I'll say", Sapphire chimed, "I still can't stop laughing since Dad got shocked by that sleeping Electebuzz." "Hey, I didn't know it would be mad at me for measuring it, it was huge!" Professor Birch replied as he brought out a heavy, brown briefcase with all his research from the trunk.

"Hey Dad, I'm going to see if Ruby's home. Okay!" the young girl said before running off towards his house. "Okay!" Professor Birch said as he lugged three bags into their house, "Kids…"

Sapphire ran towards Ruby's house, knowing the plan she had exactly in mind. During her vacation in Kanto, Professor Birch had visited Professor Oak in Pallet Town on the account they had research to discuss. She had overheard them talking about new discoveries made by Professor Rowan in the Sinnoh region, a place she had heard of but never been too. Thinking about it, she realized the perfect way to spend time with Ruby again. With a little persuasion, and the fact Ruby could never pass up a good challenge, she decided she would make a new bet with him, start a whole new Pokemon journey, this time in the Sinnoh region. They would both have 80 days, just like in the previous one and they would have to respectively complete their goal. For Sapphire, it would be to beat all the Gym Leaders of the region and earn their badges, and for Ruby, to win all the regional contests. Hopefully, during their journey, Ruby might once again admit his feelings for her, and she would be able to stop her constant doubts. And maybe she could beat his butt of course.

Sapphire walked up to Ruby's house, and wildly knocked the door. Ruby's mother opened it and smiled as she greeted the young girl. "Sapphire! How nice to see you! How was your vacation in Kanto?"

"It was fun." Sapphire replied, obviously impatient. "Is Ruby home?"

"I think so, though that boy can be like his father", Ruby's mother said, "He can never be home sometimes. I think he's around the back."

"Thanks!" Sapphire said, waving as she ran around the side of Ruby's house, running into his backyard. She saw Ruby training with his Mudkip, showing the Pokemon how to do the moves just in the right way so to get the maximum appeal from the contest judges. As she ran towards him, she noticed he hadn't seen her yet, his back facing her, too preoccupied with training Zuzu. She quietly crept up behind him, and though Zuzu soon saw her, she told him to say nothing, and he merely watched.

"Zuzu! Why are you stopping? What are you looking at?" Ruby asked as the Pokemon watched Sapphire, who was directly behind Ruby. Like a pouncing tiger, she quickly got a neck hug on the helpless boy, who fell over via anime style.

"Hi Ruby!" she said, a smile on her face, pinning her boy to the ground.

"Hi Sapphire…" Ruby said, a blush creeping on his face while Zuzu merely chuckled.