Author's Notes: I wish I had that new Pokémon Adventures volume. The Ruby and Sapphire one. It wasn't in the bookstore when I went there, so I had to order it. And I don't know when I'll be able to get that book at the bookstore...

Not like anyone cares about my ramblings. On with the chapter!

Chapter Nine

"Sapphire? Sapphire, where are you?!"

Red was awake and out of bed in an instant. As he jumped out of bed, his foot landed on a Poké Ball on the floor. His foot swung off to the left, and he crashed to the floor, landing hard on his wrist. Red hissed, holding his wrist in pain. Well. That didn't feel quite right.

"What's going on?" he asked, standing up from the floor and looking at where Crystal was wandering around the room. The bedroom door was open, and since Blue was gone, Red assumed that she must have been out in the hall.

"Sapphire wasn't here when I woke up," Crystal answered. "I don't know where she could be... I thought she would've woken one of us up if she had to do something..."

Professor Oak, Green, and Ruby were still asleep, but with the noise Crystal was making, they, too, were beginning to wake up. Green opened his eyes first, blinking just a few times before he was wide awake in an instant. Damn him. Red wished he could be wide awake, just like that.

"What's happening?" Green asked.

"Sapphire's gone."

Ruby was up in an instant. "She is not."

"Yes, she is," Red said. "She must've left to go to the bathroom or something. So maybe we should check there–"

"Guys?!" Blue's voice, out in the hall, sounded shrill and panicky. "Guys, guys, someone get over here, right now. Right now."

Red was out in the hall and running down it as fast as he could, Green and Ruby at his heels. At the end of the hall, the one leading away from the main room, Blue stood, pointing a shaking finger at the door there.

"What is it?" Green asked.

"Ruby, you don't want to see this," Blue said.

"Why?" Ruby said. Realization seemed to dawn on him. "No..."

Red and Green hurried around the corner to see what it was that Blue was talking about. And there, on the bathroom floor, was Sapphire.

Someone had beaten her.

To death.

"No, no, no." Ruby said. "Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?"

Red gulped. He slowly inched into the bathroom. He bent down, hesitantly pressing two fingers against Sapphire's cold neck. He'd seen people on TV do it to check for a pulse.

There was nothing pulsing back at Red when he pressed those two fingers against her neck.

"Well?" Green asked.

Red shook his head. "There's... nothing," he said. "Ruby," he quickly said, "I'm really, really sorry..."

There was some kind of strange cry, and then the sound of something hitting the floor. Blue left from Red's sight, probably to go tend to Ruby, if Red was guessing correctly.

"I don't understand..." Red quietly said. "Who would do this? Do they think this is fun? Do they find enjoyment in killing kids like us? What the hell... What the hell is the point of this?!" he shouted, his voice getting gradually louder as he spoke.

"I don't know," Green said. "Let's get out of here. Close the bathroom door behind yourself."

Red nodded. He stood and left the bathroom, glancing back at Sapphire one final time. Sapphire, the "wild child" who fought with Ruby all the time but really cared about him on the inside.

Red gently shut the door behind himself and headed back down the hall.

Professor Oak couldn't believe that another one of them had died under his plan to stay together and be alert. He went to go check on Sapphire himself, too, as if they were making the story up themselves, and came back with a solemn expression on his face.

"I'm going to attempt to use all of the phones today," Professor Oak said. "I'm assuming that something must have happened to Stephen on his way to Vermillion. We'll need to get help ourselves, but with this hurricane happening right now, I'm afraid to say that leaving the island right now is near impossible.

"I want all of you to stay together. Where you go, you take everyone else with you. I'll be checking the entire building for working phones. I would like all of you to try and use your PokéGears to make contact as well."

Professor Oak left the room then, leaving them all behind.

Red stared at Ruby, who sat in a chair with his head in his hands. Red didn't hear any audible sounds coming from him, but he knew that Ruby must have been devastated. Sapphire was dead, after all. Crystal was sitting on a bed close by, crying, and Blue was alternating between comforting the two.

Even Red found it hard to believe that another one of them was dead. Red was beginning to become aware of a growing pain in the center of his chest, and every time something bad happened, the pain grew. His wrist was hurting, too, but it was nowhere compared to the pain in his chest.

"Let's try our PokéGears," Green suggested. He took out his own watch-like device and punched in a number to all. Red did the same with his own, but the result was exactly as he predicted.

Nothing.

"I've got nothing," said Green.

"Same here," Blue said.

"Yeah, me, too," Red said.

"I'm guessing it'll be the same for Crystal and Ruby," Green said. "Let's hope Grandfather finds a way to contact for help."

"Will the professor be okay, though, going by himself?" Red asked.

"He'll be fine," Green said. Then he muttered, "Probably."

They fell silent. Red watched as Blue moved back and forth across the room, moving from Ruby to Crystal and back again. While Blue was tending to Crystal, though Ruby suddenly leaped up from the chair and raced out of the bedroom.

"Wait!" Blue shouted.

"We'll go after him," Green said. 'We' being Green and Red. Damn. "Stay with Crystal."

They rushed out into the hall and ran after Ruby, who was already much farther ahead of them. He turned sharply left, out into the main room, and Red heard him going up the stairs there.

But when Red and Green made it into the main room, Ruby was nowhere to be seen. They ran up the stairs and looked at each other.

"You search the right side of the place. I'll go left," Green said. Red nodded, and the two split up, running through the halls.

Wasn't this what the professor warned them not to do? Not to be alone? And yet here they were, splitting up. He was sure, though, that the situation they were in made it okay.

Red searched back and forth, looking into each of the rooms, wondering if Ruby had locked himself in one of rooms. If he had, though, how was Red possibly going to find him? There were hundreds of rooms!

Red skidded to a stop and listened carefully. He heard footsteps, upstairs. Either it was Ruby or the professor, but judging by the fact that it sounded more like running, he was sure that it had to be Ruby. The professor wouldn't be running, that's for sure.

"Damn it, Ruby..." Red muttered. He ran down the hall in search of the stairs heading up a floor.

This couldn't be right. Sapphire couldn't be dead. This had to be a joke. She wasn't dead. The wild, barbarian girl who wore leaves for clothes and hated everything that Ruby liked was... she was...

Gone.

Why hadn't Sapphire woken anyone up? If she had, she would be safe! This wouldn't have happened! She would be okay!

She was gone. Gone forever, and there was nothing Ruby could do now to change it.

Ruby heard footsteps thundering around downstairs. Someone was searching for him. Red and Green, he guessed. But Ruby wasn't going to return to that room to have Blue alternate between comforting him and Crystal. Comforting him wasn't going to make a difference. It wasn't going to bring Sapphire back to life.

Ruby turned left, flinging open one of the many doors and running into the room. He shut the door behind himself. Stumbling back into the room, Ruby wearily looked around. It was a large room, mostly empty, aside from a couple of boxes and a dusty dresser.

"Sapphire... Sapphire..." Ruby pulled at his white hat, shifting it slightly, the scar from that Salamence in his childhood showing. That's right, it had been because of that incident that he'd decided to change his ways, from battling to contests... And it had also been when he met Sapphire.

He didn't understand. Why was this happening? He should have... he should have at least showed Sapphire that he liked her, too! He knew she had to have remembered the confession he made to her, but she had never tried to bring it up. He should have done something, anything, just to...

Ruby pulled his hands away from his head and saw a strange, yet interesting, sight. Purple swirls hovered around his hands. Ruby moved his hand back and forth, and slow images of his hands followed the path they made. When Ruby looked up, he saw similar swirls and colors all around the world.

Boxes turned into a kaleidoscope of boxes. The carpet turned blue, yellow, green, gold, silver, all sorts of colors. Butterfree flitted about among the colors. Colors shattered into different colors, exploded into more kaleidoscopes of images.

He saw Sapphire's face among those images. Smiling, shouting, crying. Her face spread into two faces, four faces, eight faces, sixteen faces, and then morphed together into another Butterfree that flew around the room.

"Sapph... ire..." Ruby managed to say.

He did not notice the figure rising up from behind the boxes.

He did not notice the sharp piece of wood that shot through his body.

"Ruby, come on already!" Red shouted. "Where are you? Stop hiding already!"

But Red couldn't blame him. Red himself had wanted to run off and be alone when Yellow had... died... But he hadn't done it. He controlled himself and remained with everybody.

"RUBY!" Red shouted. His voice almost seemed to echo back at him, but that might have been Red's imagination at work. He was suddenly aware of how tired and hungry he was, and hoped that he could find Ruby soon so he could get something to eat.

"Red!" the professor's voice exclaimed. Red's head snapped up, and he spotted the professor hurrying down the hall towards him. "What are you doing here alone? Didn't you hear me? I said everyone needed to stay together!"

"Ruby ran off all of a sudden, and Green and I are searching for him," Red answered. "Are any of the phones working?"

Professor Oak shook his head. "No, none of the phones are working, I'm afraid. But I'll help you search for Ruby. He might be in one of these rooms, hiding."

Red had a bit of a bad experience when it came to checking rooms for missing people. He didn't want to wind up seeing someone dead, but it looked as though he'd have to start checking the rooms if he hoped to find Ruby. Or maybe they could just wait for him to come back. But then he might not come back, and then they'd end up having to check the rooms anyway. Damn it.

Red went to a random door, opened it, and immediately afterwards, his eyes landed on a body that was crumpled up on the floor.

"Ruby!" Red shouted. He bolted across the room, scooping up the boy in his arms. Jutting out of his back was a long piece of wood that came right out of his chest. Without thinking, Red grabbed the piece of wood jutting out.

"No!" the professor shouted. "Don't pull it out!"

His warning came too late, however. Red tore the piece of wood out of Ruby's body, and was surprised to hear a strangled gasp in response. Ruby was still alive!"

"Ruby, Ruby!" Red turned the boy over in his arms so his face was up. "Say something!"

Ruby coughed, and blood splattered down his chin. Red hadn't paid attention to just where the wood had been, but it seemed to have pierced him dangerously close to his heart.

"W-what do I do?!" Red shouted.

"Try to put pressure on the wound!"

But where exactly was Red supposed to put the pressure at? On the wound on his chest or the one on his back? And was that even what you were supposed to do with a wound like this?

Red placed his hand against the wound on Ruby's chest and gently pressed against it. Warm blood bubbled up and coated Red's hand. He pulled his hand back as fast as he could. Maybe he shouldn't have done that.

"Let's bring him downstairs," said Professor Oak. "Hurry!"

Red picked up Ruby's body, and a pain shot through his wrist, the one he'd hurt earlier. Gritting his teeth, Red ran out of the room after the professor. The old man seemed to know exactly where he was going. They found the stairs heading down to the second floor, ran through those halls, until they found the stairs going down to the first floor. Green was waiting down there with Blue and Crystal.

"What happened to him?!" Crystal asked.

"I don't know!" Red shouted. "But he's bleeding a lot, and... and..."

"Put him down on the floor!" Green said. Red hurried down the stairs and nearly dropped Ruby down on the floor. When he pulled his arms away, blood coated the arm that had been supporting Ruby's back.

Red was suddenly aware of just how pale Ruby looked. His eyes wavered back and forth, attempting to focus on the things around him.

"Say something, Ruby!" Red grabbed one of the boy's hands and squeezed it. "Come on, say something, anything! Say fabulous like you always do! Or beautiful, or any of those other weird words you use! Just say something!"

Ruby opened his mouth to speak, choked on blood, and turned his head to the side, spatting the blood out.

"What do we do, what do we do?!" Crystal screamed.

"I don't know!"

"All of you, be quiet and let me think!" Green snapped.

"There's no time to think, Ruby's going to die if we don't do something fast!"

"Ruby, hang on!" Red said.

There had to be something, anything, that they could do to save Ruby. Something, something, something, but how were they supposed to deal with a wound like this? Pressure wasn't working, so what else was there to do? What were they supposed to do?!

Ruby opened his mouth to speak again, looking straight at Red. His hat had shifted to the side, showing the ends of two gashes on the side of his forehead. Ruby's grip on Red's hand tightened, and Red squeezed his hand back.

And suddenly, Ruby's hand loosened. The life faded from Ruby's eyes, leaving them dull, empty, clouded over. Red was so shocked by this change that he loosed his grip on Ruby's hand, and it slipped free and fell to the floor.

A hush fell over the group. Crystal clapped her hands over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. Blue was speechless. Green stared, showing shock, much to Red's surprise.

Red grabbed Ruby's hand again, squeezing it. His hand was frighteningly cold. "Ruby! Come on, Ruby, this isn't funny! This isn't a joke, Ruby! Jokes are Gold's thing, they're Diamond and Pearl's thing, they aren't supposed to be your thing! Come on, Ruby, speak to me! Say something, anything, please!"

But all that Red got was silence.

Red released Ruby's hand, and it dropped to the floor again.

Author's Notes: Huh. That's the first death that someone actually witnessed.

So I killed off Ruby and Sapphire in the same chapter. Yaaay. Sorry if Ruby's OOC. I still can't find the right way to write him, especially how he would react if Sapphire died.

Incidentally, I've finished this story on my computer. I just need to rewrite the chapters, since I wrote most of them at 3 in the morning, and then this awful story will be finished. Yaaay.

Ruby: Why did you kill me so quickly?

NO, BAD GHOST, GO AWAY! GO AWAY!