Heya, Companions. CK here. Just a quick update. I will be out Friday and if any of you are following PokéUniverse - Sapphire Version, the next chapter will not uploaded until Saturday. Until then, enjoy the new chapter to PokéUniverse - Ruby Version.
Ruby sat on a bench, brushing Nugget's feathers back as he chirped. "There. All better now." Ruby placed the Torchic down, smiling down at him as he chirped and spun on his foot. She arrived to Mauville City about half an hour ago, running into Stone there. No sign of Emeline, unfortunately. "He's certainly looks happy, doesn't he?" Stone said as he sat beside Ruby, patting the Torchic on the head. "Tor tor!" Stone chuckled, taking the folder Ruby took from his jacket. "I've looked over the contents. It seems most of Hoenn's residents connect, including myself." He looked down, handing the folder back to her. "I can't get much from what you've given me yet, but I can look into something. Some of those letters are addressed to his wife, who passed away when he disappeared from the Region. It seems she got them, but there's no record that she wrote back. If she did, it's possible the letters went missing or were destroyed when Maxime received them."
"Yeah… If only we had a way of knowing what happened to them when he broke out this … 'A' guy from prison."
"I think I have a feeling I know who it is, but I need a little more evidence to back it up." Stone muttered, resting a hand under his chin. Ruby stared at the lapel on his jacket, eyes focused on the song. "Ah, I never told you about this stone, did I? This is a Keystone. It's used to make a Pokémon Evolve further. See, Pokémon can Evolve so far and there has been a study that shows that Pokémon can Evolve even past their final Evolution."
"Is that so? How does it work?"
"Let me show you." Stone stood up and tossed a Pokéball forth, letting out the metal Pokémon she saw before. Its' body glistened in the sunlight, making her lift an arm to shield her eyes. "This is my partner Metagross. He's a Shiny,as you can tell. See that band on his leg? With the light blue and yellow stone?"
"Yeah?"
"That's a Mega Stone. We call that one Metagrossite." Stone walked up to the Metagross and patted it on the head. "When you use a Keystone, it activates the Mega Stone which Mega Evolves the Pokémon. Observe." Ruby watched Stone pull his hand away and place it over his lapel, the Keystone glowing to life along with the Metagrossite. Metagross remained still, enveloped in a bright light that shined with many colors, his form changing right before Ruby's eyes.
The light surrounding Metagross popped, leaving a whole new Pokémon. It looked the same as before, but it seemed to be floating off the ground, the four legs acting as arms with sharp claws. A spike protruded from the jaw and the large cross on its face seemed to jump out at her. "Whoa..!" Stone smiled, patting Metagross with a smile.
"Beautiful, isn't it? It doesn't last long, unfortunately. Still, we are finding new ways everyday to further understand Mega Evolution." Ruby nodded, looking down at her hand. She became curious. "Hmmm… I wonder…" Stone looked over at Ruby, crouching before her and taking her hand. "You think you can control Mega Evolution through your gem?" Ruby nodded. "It could be possible…"
"How can I try it out? Will it work on Metagross?"
"Well, you need a very strong bond with the Pokémon, so you might not be able to test your theory out for a while. Unless you can Evolve your Torchic quickly, but even so, it's best to take time when it comes to Evolution." Ruby looked at Nugget, watching him chirp up at Metagross. The tiny Pokémon chirped happily, jumping up as high as he could. "Could you help me train..?"
"Your Torchic would easily get beaten by Metagross. You might have to find a weaker opponent. Somebody who hasn't trained their Pokémon as much as you did."
"Ruby!" Ruby looked up, eyes wide as a figure in the distance waved a hand to her. "Sapphire…? Sapphire!" Ruby grinned as she stood up on the bench and waved back, jumping down to run towards Sapphire. The gem held her arms out, eyes tearing up in happiness. "Come to me!"
"Ruby!" Sapphire held her arms out, smiling at her as they met in the middle, arms wrapped tightly around one another. "I thought I lost you when I ran into the woods…" Ruby chuckled quietly, rubbing her eyes as she kissed Sapphire on the forehead. "I'm fine now. Are you ok?"
"Yes, but… Ruby, what are you wearing?"
"Huh..?" Ruby pulled away, looking down at Sapphire. She was wearing a blue and white striped shirt and ripped shorts, a bright blue bandanna tied around her head. It bore a white 'A' on the front. It really stood out compared to her own red Magma uniform. Sapphire brushed her bangs to the side, falling silent as she looked down. "I have to ask you the same thing, Sapphire."
"This is the uniform I have to wear. This group, they call themselves Team Aqua." Ruby's eyes widen, letting go of Sapphire as she stared. "Aqua..? They captured you?!" Sapphire nodded, looking up at Ruby. "And what about you? Is this uniform for Team Magma?" Ruby nodded, gripping at the hoodie.
"Yeah..! They captured me while I tried to stop them.. I-I'm sorry, I couldn't stop them." Ruby looked down, pushing the hood off her head with a sigh. She pulled her hand away to rub her face, ridding herself of tears. "I'm so sorry, Sapphire…" Ruby sniffled quietly, keeping her face low. "Ruby…" Sapphire lifted Ruby's head up, brushing her bangs away to look at her. "You wanted to be sure I was safe, Ruby. It's not your fault."
"But you still got captured..!"
"While this is true, it has given me an advantage. Here, look at these, Ruby." Ruby looked down at Sapphire's arms as she held up a folder, blinking in surprise. "That looks like the one I found in Maxie's office..! Where did you get this one?" Ruby hovered her hands over the folder, looking at Sapphire as she nods. She took the folder in her own hands, holding it up.
"The leader of Team Aqua, Archie, had it in his office. Did your leader have the exact same one?"
"Sort of. I have a feeling the folders both contain different information." Ruby said as she opened the folder. Her eyes fell on one of the old sketches, holding it up. "Is this…?" Sapphire nodded. "I'm starting to think these two teams are more connected than we think they are."
"Ruby, who is this?" Ruby looked up at Stone, nearly forgetting all about him. "Oh! Err, Steven. This is Sapphire. Sapphire, this is Steven Stone." Sapphire looked up at Stone, letting her bangs fall over her face as she held up a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Steven." Stone smiled and took her hand, shaking it. "Nice to meet you as well, Sapphire. You're a gem, too?"
"That is correct."
"You gems are just fascinating. Ah, you chose a Mudkip, huh?" Sapphire nodded, crouching to pat Brook on the head. "Yes and she's protected me a few times." Ruby smiled, patting Nugget on the head as he approached. "Say, I have an idea, Ruby! You said you wanted to train your Torchic. How about you and Sapphire train together? I've got a few more Trainers who will probably help you."
"What do you think, Sapphire?" Ruby looked at Sapphire, watching her pick up Brook carefully. "I like the idea. Let's give it a try. Who are the other Trainers?" Stone chuckled, patting the two on the shoulders. "You'll see..! Now, come along. Wattson agreed to let us use his Gym to help you all train." Stone led the two Gyms through Mauville City, approaching a building with a few signs that had announcements written on them. Standing outside the door was a man with white hair, wearing a yellow suit and a Hawaiian designed shirt. "Wattson!"
"Ah, Stone! I was just about to look for you! You had me quite shocked when you disappeared!" Wattson laughed at his own joke, looking down at Ruby and Sapphire. "And these are?" Stone smiled, gesturing a hand to each gem. "This is Ruby and this is Sapphire. They'll be training with the others. Thank you again for letting us borrow you Gym to train."
"It's a pleasure to help! Well, Ruby and Sapphire. I hope you're ready to go in there because once you do, you'll be training until you faint like your Pokémon. Think you can handle it?"
"We're ready for anything, sir!"
"You'll be shocked with how hard we train." Sapphire grinned as Wattson laughed again, opening the door. "Alright, then! Get in there and meet your opponents, then!" Stone escorted the gems inside, approaching the middle of the Gym. There were four other people there, all kids with their own Pokémon by their side. Ruby already recognized Brendan and Wally right away. Beside Brendan was a young girl who was patting a large Pokémon on the head.
"Ruby! Sapphire!" The fourth Trainer waved, pushing her scarf down a little to smile. "Emeline!" The gems shouted in unison, smiling as they approached. "You're here to train, too?" Emeline nodded, giggling as Treecko climbed out her trench coat. "Yep! After that little play battle we had in Mossdeep, I thought about training to help Treecko." Emeline looked at Sapphire, gasping excitedly. "Ah, Sapphire! Ruby told me she was with Team Magma to gather information." Sapphire giggled, smiling as she patted Emeline on the shoulder. "I saw. And as you can see, I'm with Aqua."
"Mr. Stone, can we really trust them? They're in uniform," the girl said, looking at the two gems in concern. "Of course we can, May. Wally and Emeline know them. Ruby, Sapphire. This is Brendan and May. Brendan is Professor Birch's son and May is the daughter of our new Gym Leader Norman. He's out in Petalburg City." Ruby and Sapphire smiled as they nodded to Brendan and May. Brendan held out a hand and smiled, Ruby taking and shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you, Ruby. I saw you at the Mossdeep Space Center. Emeline told me you battled her to avoid suspicion."
"Heh. Yeah. I felt a little bad, but she insisted all was ok." Brendan nodded, letting go of her hand and he held up a Pokéball with a grin on his face "I look forward to battling you." Ruby grinned back, nodding as the six Trainers stepped back, forming a small circle. Stone stepped into the circle, looking over each one of them. "Alright, then! The six of you will be training against one another in order to make each other stronger. Usually, this strides from traditional Pokémon training, but if what Emeline has told us is true, then we have to work together."
"What Emeline said…?" Stone nodded to the gems, gesturing a hand to Emeline. "She came to me when I got here to Mauville, telling me that both teams had a hold of the Orbs. In time, they'll be on the move and will be awakening either Groudon or Kyogre." Ruby felt a cold chill take over her, forcing her to shiver. "How does she know they have the Orbs?"
"I didn't.. I had a feeling they did. You're a part of the teams, right? Have they said anything?" Ruby looked down, shaking her head as she rubbed her arm. "Maxie didn't say anything.. Though, I have this feeling he already has it. If that's the case, we're in trouble." Ruby looked at Sapphire, frowning as she looked down. "When I went to Mt. Pyre with the Team, there was only one Orb there. Archie took it already and… Something happened…"
"It's true, then. Emeline, do you have an idea where the Pokémon could be located?" Emeline shook her head. "I don't, but knowing what these Pokémon are capable of, there's a chance one is in the volcano and the other is somewhere in the ocean. Stone nodded, placing his hands on his hips. "Then we don't have much time. Ruby, I want you to train with Brendan. Sapphire, train with May. Emeline, train with Wally. In a few minutes, I'll switch the teams up, so everybody has a fair fight against one another. Is everybody ready?" Ruby looked at Nugget, seeing him puff his chest out before nodding to Stone. "Yes, sir!"
"Take a spot in the Gym and start Training!"
