The second week of school wasn't as emotionally challenging for either Ruby or Sapphire as the first, but it still saw some interesting developments. On the bus trip over, Sapphire again looked out the window at Routes 101 and 102, but the thought it gave her was different: "Hey Ruby, I remembered, weren't we going to do some sciencey thing on Mount Chimney?"

It came back to him, too. "Hey yeah; I guess we must have been too busy yelling at each other to remember that this Saturday."

"We will have to go back," said Sapphire, in a voice that suggested she didn't actually see it as a chore.

"Hmm, maybe so, if we focus on that," said Ruby, in a voice that suggested he did see it as a chore. Still, he added, "Well, if I did it before, I maybe can do it again."

"Even better," giggled Sapphire. "After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"

Ruby was droll. "That Salamence didn't quite kill me, and I just got weak after that."

Sapphire quipped back. "Nah; it was me that made ya get weak after that. So now I'll keep almost killing ya ta pay you back!"

"Let's survive this week first," Ruby said. Still, that wouldn't be the last time the Geology project came up.


In Language class, Ruby began discussing the assigned reading with Cedi and her clique. He was happy to see that she kept her promise to behave and not talk about Sapphire, and she was fairly competent intellectually. However, Cedi had a few plans for the next period, in Physical Education.

This week, the activities of the sexes were switched from last week, meaning Ruby found himself on the soccer field. He thought he did better than he expected to—perhaps the trek up Mount Chimney Sapphire put him through really had helped-though he sure wouldn't become an MVP like Sapphire had last week, and he probably wasn't giving this his all, anyway. Some things were worth pushing for Ruby; sports generally weren't among them. Still, it was more diverting than fielding had been last week, and he didn't fall and injure himself as he had when he was made to bat and run.

Things were worse for Sapphire, who now had to play baseball. (Or softball, as the other girls called it, for no reason Sapphire could see, but Ivy alleged it was an attempt to make girls sound weaker.) That wasn't the only way this week was an inversion of last, the other issue was that this time, Cedi was on the same team—as captain. How she got there wasn't clear, but she had a special use for this exalted position in a dusty game that probably wouldn't normally appeal to her: She stuck Sapphire far in the outfield. "Why waste good athleticism," Sapphire wondered…for a few seconds, before figuring it out. The probable reason was that Cedi wanted to degrade her new nemesis, and was willing to give up the game for this very reason. Ivy, who was on the opposing team, may have hesitated to try hard against Sapphire, but with Sapphire relegated to a virtual non-entity in this game, she came through and indeed, Sapphire's "team" lost the game badly, while Sapphire herself got no exercise and might have become even more bored than in her math class—and a bit angry on top of it!

Even so, she wasn't feeling especially vengeful, which is why, as she strode into the shower room, she was disturbed to hear an aggressive conversation between Ivy and Cedi. "I know what you were trying to do today, you spiteful little whore," accused Ivy.

"I haven't any idea what you're talking about." Cedi had quite a spine.

Ivy didn't appreciate that bravery, and grabbed Cedi's collar and pushed her against the wall. "You do. You stuck Sapphire in the outfield out of spite, and you aren't going to get away with that sort of crap. You'll suffer for-"

"What's the problem?" That was Sapphire, who had arrived at the scene—actually, come running because she was worried. "I heard my name."

Ivy let Cedi loose, but kept at her. "This whore put you in that humiliating situation today, and should pay for it."

Sapphire couldn't exactly deny that, but couldn't condone what Ivy thought of doing, either, so she said, "I'll tell the staff. C'mon, let's hit the showers!"

Ivy acquiesced, but continued to talk of this once they got there. "You're letting the Man take care of this?"

"I'm gonna try, at least," said Sapphire. "I think if things can change here, then it will help everyone."

"Whatever," said Ivy. "Let me know how that goes."


Geology class dawned, and Ruby and Sapphire got their first group activity, in the form of identifying key characteristics of various types of rocks, which they would be quizzed on later in the semester. There was also a textbook chapter on the formation of terrain via such means as time, erosion, and sediment build-up, which fortunately was read by students who raised their hands and volunteered. Rather than stew in a feeling of inferiority, Sapphire decided to make the best of it and look at the text, attempting to put the pronunciations she head with the text she saw. She thought she made some progress, but obviously she still had a long way to go.

At any rate, the class didn't finish the chapter that day—they were long enough to last the whole week—and after a bit of group reading, the teacher spoke more about the Geology projects students were assigned. Twice during the semester, they would present a report on a specific geological subject related to one of the chapters they had read up to that point. With that, he dismissed the class with a little bit of homework.

As Ruby and Sapphire walked out, Sapphire said, "Well, we've read some of a chapter. Wanna start lookin' for a project at Mount Chimney this weekend?"

Once again, Ruby was a bit reluctant. "Would we really find something relevant to this week's chapter by hiking Mount Chimney?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't hurt to look!"

"Unless I fall on my face or back again," said Ruby.

"Well yeah; I guess there's that," she admitted.

"Of course," continued Ruby, "I also fell on my face playing baseball, and there, unlike with your Mount Chimney excursion, I don't think I got much benefit, since the rest of the time I was just in the field doing nothing."

"Hey; funny ya should mention that," said Sapphire, who just remembered today's events. "Funny like a crutch; I mean. I had to play baseball today, and I had to stand around outfield, too; real lame."

"A star athlete like you?" Ruby hadn't anticipated Sapphire being in the same athletic quagmire as himself.

"No; a gal who Captain Cedi really hates like me. She pro'ly stuck me there just to spite me!"

Now Ruby understood; that did sound just like Cedi. "Ugh; that slippery sandshrew is a nuisance indeed. I promise to tell her not to do that when I see her in Math Class; she listens to me…though not too well."

"Also," suggested Sapphire, "I really think ya should talk to the gym coaches; tell them their policies stink."

"I don't know…"

"I'll back ya! I have a feeling they will listen to me!"


Come Tuesday morning, Sapphire did not hesitate to remind Ruby of his mission to reprimand Cedi. He saw her on the bus and gave her a look. (Hopefully a mean one, but Ruby was rather out of practice at doing so.) Sapphire could have done a lot better, but as usual she was staring out the window instead.

Still, throughout math classes Ruby kept looking back at Cedi, right in the face. She knew something was up, so outside, she ended up starting the conversation first. "You were staring at me a lot. Secret admirer much?"

Ruby was shocked at this theory. Cedi, he thought, was either stupid or a jerk deliberately missing the point, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to tell her exactly that. "No," he simply said, "I was glaring at you because I do not approve of your treatment of Sapphire in PE yesterday."

"Oh? What did she tell you?" Cedi was trying to be innocent.

Ruby didn't buy it. "You stuck her in the outfield so she couldn't do anything."

Cedi shrugged. "Plenty players have to go in the outfield just in case."

"Stop it," insisted Ruby, "You put Sapphire there specifically."

"Well can you blame me," asked Cedi, in the process admitting she'd been in denial just seconds ago, but not dwelling on that. "She's too good. If she was allowed in a key position she'd just beat the other players!"

"So this has nothing to do with her beating you in particular?"

"Oh no," said Cedi, not convincing Ruby at all. "I just want to be fair."

"I'll look into that myself," said Ruby, and he walked away. Silently, he cursed himself for not being more firm with Cedi, but he meant what he said. "Sapphire is right," he thought, "we really do need to take this up with the faculty."


Meanwhile, Sapphire was trying hard to deal with her Language class. She now knew better than to get on the teacher's bad side, so even though, as of the third session of this class, she still had a great deal of trouble reading, she said nothing. Then, the class began to read their assigned novel aloud, and this was actually something of a relief. Once again, Sapphire could to some degree follow along, trying to put sounds with the text. Unfortunately, some of this was also assigned as homework, for which she didn't know what she was going to do.


At the same point, Ruby was having quite a bit more fun—if not without his own bit of embarrassment—in Drawing class. Today was the beginning of figure-drawing, via manikins. Students got to take turns borrowing them, posing them, and copying the shapes—no; forms, as art teachers insisted upon calling natural things—and if they liked, add some definition to turn the drawing into something that resembled a human more than a featureless, stringless marionette. Ruby, acting subconsciously, had posed it into an image he remembered from this Saturday, and drawn on a female bathing suit, before he realized he was starting to draw Sapphire in the hot spring, beckoning him to join her.

He paused at the realization, and looked around nervously. No students seemed to be looking, but the teacher's voice announced that she was. "That is quite good," said the teacher. Ruby didn't quite yelp in surprise, but he did cover the drawing with his arms. "No; let me see again." Ruby did, because why keep from the teacher what she was supposed to see, when she wouldn't even know why it embarrassed him? "I applaud your decision to start by drawing a barely-clothed person," she continued. "That's a good way for beginners to keep it simple, and I don't tell people to do it because I like to test whether they can figure it out themselves." At that revelation, Ruby noticed another boy across the room who had been listening (and probably drawing a more heavily-clothed figure) glare at the teacher, but if she noticed, too, she didn't let on. "It looks like you're done copying from the manikin, so I would like you to let someone else use it, and work on another assignment now. Try to finish this one as homework!"

Ruby was relieved to put this embarrassing drawing on hold for the moment. Now that he thought of it, Sapphire was about the only girl he had ever seen so lightly-clothed. When he saw her that way on Saturday, he thought he'd barely taken notice. Maybe, though, he was just trying not to take notice, because some part of his mind was clearly fixated on that image. At any rate, the new task was to draw Pokémon from photos, so he spent some time drawing a familiar one, Mudkip, and then, for reasons equally unsure to him, doodled some square glasses and a thick black mustache on it.


Sapphire, meanwhile, resumed the task of learning to read music in band class, which at this point was focused on timing. "So who can tell me," asked the teacher, "how many beats there are in a 'whole note'?"

Another student raised his hand eagerly, and the teacher called on him to answer: "One!"

The teacher corrected: "That sounds reasonable, but it is actually four. In most songs, there are four beats per measure, and hence a whole note lasts, the whole measure. So then, who can tell me how many beats in a half note?"

Something in Sapphire clicked, and she answered. "Two?"

"Very good, Ms. Birch," said the teacher.

Yes; music was a bit like math, but more fun, and Sapphire grasped the beat part. Perhaps people who thought on their feet were apt to do so. Throughout much of her life, Sapphire hadn't had much appreciation for the arts. They were just a part of human culture that never seemed important with regard to fighting for what was right when that culture's safeguards against natural chaos failed. However, she always had liked music, or at least, upbeat, sensuous music. It felt like a sort of motivator in getting one to move and rise to challenges. Actual notes, however, felt a bit too much like text to her; perhaps easier, but not worth learning when she needed to prioritize reading text. As such, she'd gone with her and Ruby's thought that she should take up drums, which used less notes, although she didn't yet have any drums to bang. On the way out of class, she thought, "Maybe if we used music to teach Math, a lot of people would like Math better." She walked toward the bus stop, and waited for Ruby. "And maybe, if I did a big drum solo on my desk in Math class, I would get in big trouble!" She chuckled at the thought, regardless.


On the bus ride home that afternoon, Sapphire said she wanted to talk to Ruby about a variety of things that were a bit private, and that they should wait until they got to their secret hideout. Ruby agreed, and so they squared it away with their parents and went back to the cave.

Sitting at the table as they had a week ago brought Ruby back to the nasty mood of that occasion, but Sapphire didn't seem upset; simply concerned about…what, exactly? She began the conversation: "So Ruby, I been thinking, what if we bumped up our helping each other out stuff?"

"What exactly do you mean by that," asked Ruby. Sapphire made it clearer:
"Well first, I need some more help with reading; like a lot more, so I'd like help each night if possible. But also, there's PE tomorrow, so we should go talk to the teachers then, together. From there, I think we can arrange me training you more often; like during the week."

Ruby was a bit surprised by all of these proposals. Sapphire was very good at judging immediate situations and making split-second decisions, but he often seemed to be the better planner, so why she was suddenly doing more planning, he wasn't sure. He said, "I unfortunately cannot promise I'll always have time to help with your homework, but I can tonight and will try whenever possible. But what's this about 'training during the week?'"

"Dunno yet, exactly," admitted Sapphire. "The important thing, though, is you and me—together or not—do stuff as opposed ta not doin' stuff. I can think of activities that are better for buildin' strength and agility and all than what we get there, and so we take it up with them tomorrow."

Ruby remained skeptical of such a move's success, but he resolved at this point that he shouldn't counter Sapphire on it; besides, she had a point, and doing this probably couldn't hurt even if it probably wouldn't help. So he said, "Okay, I'll do that with you. What's with all of this ambitious planning, by the way?"

Sapphire shrugged. "Call me naïve, but somehow I think school education doesn't work in a lot of ways. I've been thinkin' about a buncha stuff, math too, and how it could be taught better'n what we get, in a way that makes it more fun ta people. Right now a lot of it is just stupid."

Ruby chuckled. "That is no secret. Sometimes I think Math textbooks are written by people who never studied anything else! What's even sadder is they think they know what they're talking about, like this ridiculous 'space detective video game' question I came across that obviously was made by somebody who never played video games. Also, who ever heard of a 'space detective' anything?"

Sapphire chuckled back. "Well, if they make us study Math along with a buncha other stuff, why don't we write Math books?"

Ruby seemed a bit shocked at the suggestion. "I don't like Math that much!"

"Oh sorry; I don't mean 'we' as in you and me, but some students who know a lot more should write Math books to be more fun."

"Maybe," said Ruby. "Don't you need help with your reading?"

"Yeah; sorry," said Sapphire. "It's just at the beginning of school days, I was thinkin' for a while that things had changed so much that someone like me, who wanted so much ta help people with their problems, had no place anymore. Now I see that ain't true; people are always gonna have some sorta problems and always need help. I may not be the right person to help all the time, maybe not you either, but I'd always like ta try!"

"You know," said Ruby, "I actually like that idea." The two spent a few more hours in the cave, with Ruby sitting with Sapphire in order to help her read her assigned novel; similar to how they had with the otter book. This assigned novel wasn't nearly as entertaining, but even so, something of that warm, fuzzy feeling came back.


The next day, after an awkward two hours of Ruby having to read with Cedi and "friends," and Sapphire trudging through math work while thinking of drumming, the two began Physical Education class with the usual clothes change, and then the warm-up exercises, but then they met up and went to talk to the head coach. "Excuse me, coach," said Sapphire in a surprisingly happy tone for someone who aimed to complain, which reminded Ruby of how she kept calling him that on Sunday, "me and my pal Ruby wanna talk ta you about somethin' important."

Ruby wondered why she was sounding so amiable until the coach responded with equal joviality. "Hey there; 'Super Girl'! Looks like there's a super boy in your life! So wazzup?"

Ruby was dumbfounded…then not so much. Of course the Physical Education head coach would be impressed with Sapphire, as well as a large ham on par with her and his father. What he was not expecting, though (in addition to himself being called "Super Boy", of course), was Sapphire's response: "I think you should tell him, Ruby!"

Why was she forfeiting her own clout? Ruby had no choice but to say something, and so he chose to say what she recommended: "Pardon me, sir,"—Ruby wasn't used to calling people "coach"—"but I don't think the activities you assign us are necessarily optimal for improving fitness."

"Huh," asked the head coach, prompting Ruby to wonder if he shouldn't have used such big words, before the coach continued, "Like how da you mean?"

Ruby's eloquence vanished out of apprehension: "Well for starters, well, baseball is, uh…"

"—stupid." Sapphire had finished his statement for him, bold as always.

"Awww; I like it," said the head coach. Ruby was relieved that he didn't get angry, but clearly he wasn't convinced.

So Ruby stepped back in with more articulation, as was required to clarify. "I mean, it's not an exertion—um, an exercise—or activity for a lot of people. A lot of them just stand in the field doing nothing of value."

The Head Coach still debated. "Well of course batting and running's more fun, but a good captain'll give all players the chance to do that at times."

"But my captain wasn't good; she was Cedi," said Sapphire. "She stuck me, probably the MVP, in the outfield just cos she hates me!"

Ruby now had close to the same spirit for debate, as he added, "My captain wasn't good, either; he was…well; I don't know his name, but he did the same thing to me, for somewhat different reasons, and-"

The Head Coach interrupted: "Well, I will have to talk to Ms. Cedi about that garbage! Lemme tell you a secret; she has a record of sneaky stuff like that! But what about you and your captain, what's your name again, Rupaul?"

Ruby tried not to wince as he answered that, as he'd been called that before, as an insult by people who knew his real name. "My name is Ruby. As you can probably see, I am not as strong as my friend here, to put it lightly. So I was stuck in the outfield just because I wasn't useful for anything important, and that was just the start of the problem. The next time, the captain tried to get rid of me, telling me I was on the other team that day, and then the other team's captain said the same thing, and so I called the first captain out on it, so he just stuck me in the outfield again."

"Oh my, I am sorry," said the coach, and even sounded like he meant it.

Ruby continued: "So as you see, I'm in a conundrum. I'm not very strong, so I get stuck in a position where I don't do anything, so I can't get stronger."

"Meanwhile," said Sapphire, "I'm too strong for coach Cedi's tastes, so I get stuck there and get all cagey and stuff!"

"Really," Ruby added, "I'm sure baseball is an interesting and strategic game when played by a team that learns to coordinate tactics, and I'm not saying the school shouldn't have an official team to do that. Back in Johto, there is a gym leader who is very athletic from playing softball, so it obviously works under the right circumstances. But we're not such a team. We're students who get put in at random with people we don't know and/or don't like. It really isn't good exercise for most people."

"I see…" said the coach, clearly thinking of where to go from here. "Well; you guys are playing soccer this week. You finding that any better?

"Yes; thank you," answered Ruby, "in that I actually am doing something constantly." (Ruby realized he was making a lot of such statements lately. It seemed Sapphire had awakened a critical side of him, or something had.) "I'm not sure it's quite ideal, though. Chasing a ball doesn't seem like a definitive way or necessary to get a good, even workout. I don't think it's quite what I need to get stronger, and I think other students are in the same boat."

Sapphire chimed in, "Hey by the way, coach: I took Ruby hikin' and mountain climbin' this weekend, and he said it really worked helped! Ya should try to do stuff like that here!"

While Ruby took some embarrassment at that revelation, the coach chuckled. "I don't know if I can do that, Super Girl. I ain't got a mountain in our field, and plus the liability stuff from angry parents would be so bad, it's just-"

"So have them sign a waiver," said Ruby, who was shocked to find himself butting in and getting behind Sapphire's brash proposal. "Parents sign waivers all the time. Or don't sign them, but teachers give them out all the time, as with when classes take field trips."

"Hey yeah," said Sapphire, with a grin on her fanged face, "We could all take a field trip ta Mount Chimney and stuff!"

"I really do wonder if that's doable," pondered the coach, "but I'd like to do it."

"In the meantime, though," asked Ruby, "What about our problems?"

The head coach put his hand on his chin, and thought some more. "You two are excused from playing baseball if you wish. I will talk to Cedi and whoever you—uh, Ruby's captain was, and let them know their attitude ain't acceptable. Past that, I can't promise anything, but I'll keep you two in mind."


As Ruby and Sapphire left to go back to the playing field, Sapphire wasted no time in celebrating her victory, hollow though it may have been thus far: "See; I told ya things would go well, 'Super Boy'!"

Ruby giggled and blushed at that, as much as he had at "Coach," and responded, "We don't know if anything got accomplished. We don't know if policies will change or not."

Sapphire was not to be dissuaded. "We let 'im know there's a problem, and that's something done already. Like back when that Salamence attacked, and ya fought 'im, I was too weak ta help, but as of then, I knew I was too weak, and I had ta quit bein' too weak, and-"

"And knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe. I get it." Ruby was snarking, but he really did acknowledge Sapphire's point and made this clear. "I really have to admit, I was worried that pointing out a flaw in the system would get me in trouble with it, but the head coach took it very well."

Sapphire turned to look at him. "Ya know, Ruby, I gotta be straight with you; even I had that worry, a bit. After all, I got in trouble doin' that in Language class, so who knows."

Ruby was still impressed. "Well, that head coach was really nice about it. Something was making me worry about brash, athletic people always being mean-natured, until that happened. Still, having known you, I probably should have already abandoned that prejudice many times over."

"Awww; that is so sweet," said Sapphire, and she emphasized this point by lifting Ruby right off the ground and squeezing him a bit too hard for comfort, until the empathy Ruby just mentioned made her take notice of his discomfort and embarrassment, and put him down.

"Of course," Ruby retracted, "With love like this, who needs hate?"

Sapphire kept her spirits up. "Hey; that gives me an idea! Since we're excused from baseball today, let's do this instead!" With that, before Ruby had even regained his composure, she leaped onto his back, wrapping her arms and legs around his torso (not as hard, fortunately, but with added weight instead), and shouted. "Let's go; Super Boy! Or else I'll sink these fangs inta yar neck and then Cedi will never shut up with her stupid 'vampire' comments! Giddy up!" Ruby might have mentioned that he was never under any obligation to play baseball, so maybe was still obliged to play soccer, but he figured he'd better endeavor to obey out of fear, or respect, or admiration, or whatever. All the while, he stayed uneasy at the realization that he had used the term, "love."

NOTE: I apologize for taking a month to get out a short, and possibly bad, chapter. I know I'm lagging, and I get Writer's Block when it comes to school chapters, or at least I did this time. Fortunately, next time, actual Pokémon battles! Stay tuned!