Chapter 26: They'll Regret That Too
August 17th, 7:30 am, Goldenrod City…
Ruby simply stared at Sapphire in terror and shock. The girl was trembling violently and the materialized psychic energy over her face crumbled apart as the Unown inside her was forcefully ejected. Sapphire gasped and coughed up blood and fell to her knees. Ruby couldn't do anything. He couldn't even think, as he was in too much of a shock. His eyes were glued onto the dying Sapphire and as such, he didn't see the ShadowNet grunt firing his Spike Cannon weapon a few more times until its power ran out.
Sapphire saw the last few spikes coming. Only one was aimed properly and it was heading towards Ruby again. She forced herself up just in time to save him once more. Ruby snapped out when the second spike stabbed through Sapphire's left shoulder. Her blood had splattered onto him and only then he realized that what he was seeing was indeed happening.
"No, no, no! This can't be happening!" he yelled in panic as he quickly crawled towards Sapphire.
"… R – Ruby…" Sapphire gasped out.
Ruby quickly moved so that he could see her face. Dark red blood was flowing from her mouth and onto the ground. Her eyes were still open and weakly followed Ruby's.
"Sapphire," Ruby muttered as he grasped her hands. "Why… why did you do that?"
"T – To… save… you…"
"Why?! Why risk yourself for me?!" Ruby demanded as tears fell from his eyes.
Sapphire coughed as she tried to talk. "Be…cause… I… love you… Someday… you'd understand…" She groaned and coughed up some more blood. "It… hurts so much…"
Ruby started to panic even more as Sapphire's eyes slowly closed. "N – No, no! You can't die! Sapphire!" The girl kept her eyes closed and didn't move. "Sapphire, please don't die. I love you too! I always have! I remember your confession on Mirage Island like it was yesterday and I felt the same way about you since before that!"
Sapphire forced her eyes to open and managed a weak glare. "Oh, now you tell me…"
"Sapphire, please don't die…"
The girl squeezed his hand and tried to maintain eye contact with Ruby. "I… won't. … Not yet… Not now…" She clenched her eyes and groaned. "It's… really hard… to fight…"
"Please hang in there. Help is coming," Ruby said.
He took a desperate look around. He could see the ShadowNet grunt who tried to kill him running away. Ruby wanted to hunt him down and break his spine for what he did to Sapphire, but he couldn't leave her like this. He had no choice but to let the grunt get away. For now, at least. Ruby continued to frantically search for help. To his great relief, he could see Wallace's air car in the distance, rapidly approaching…
…
Pallet Town, 9 am…
…
Black and White sent out their aerial transport Pokémon and prepared to leave for their mission in Johto. White didn't like the idea of leaving for a mission far away while her Sinnoh senior just tried to kill herself, but orders were orders. And though she didn't spend much time with Diamond and Pearl, White had spent just enough to know that Diamond would get the job done. She trusted in his abilities to comfort Platinum. Besides, she tried to talk to Platinum herself for quite some time now, but Pearl wouldn't let her back in the lab. Apparently Platinum was asleep and Pearl suggested that she should remain as such to prevent further problems. So there was nothing White could do about that issue for now.
White steeled herself to do what needed to be done. It was her first combat mission for the Dex Holders against the ShadowNet forces, and she was not going to let anyone down. But she couldn't suppress the terrible feeling that something bad was going to happen. She tried to force the feeling away, but couldn't manage. Her heart seemed to beat slightly erratically every now and then. She made a mental note to either visit an intact hospital or go find the doctors on board the Hoenn Pokémon Association's blimp. Was this a prelude to a heart attack? It couldn't be. She was quite healthy… White snapped out of her thoughts when Black suddenly spoke to her.
"Are you okay there, Miss President?"
White nearly jumped in surprise. "Y – Yes, I'm fine."
"You sure?" Black asked. "You don't look so good."
"It's nothing," White said. She didn't want to worry him with something like this. He'll need all of his sadly limited focus for this mission, after all. She then realized that her hands were pressed firmly against her heart and quickly moved them away.
"Maybe you should stay here while I go on the mission," Black suggested with a worried look.
White smiled at him. "I appreciate your concern, but that's not necessary. But do promise me that you'll… um… look after me," she said sheepishly. She quickly added to avoid suspicion. "I don't want to be left alone fighting a whole bunch of ShadowNet guys while you're doing something reckless on your own."
Black nodded. "I promise. Miss President, I promise you that I will not leave you alone to fend for yourself against a large ShadowNet group. I won't do anything overly reckless by your standards, and I will look after you and make sure you're okay."
"Thank you, Black. But don't make a promise you can't keep."
"You know I'm good for my word."
"I know."
Just as the two Unova Dex Holders left for Johto, Wallace's air car landed near the Hoenn Pokémon Association's blimp, with Ruby, Sapphire, and Wally on board. Sapphire had lost consciousness a while ago, but she was still alive. Barely. The moment the air car landed and its hatch opened, Ruby carried Sapphire out and activated his Running Shoes to dash towards the Hoenn blimp.
Inside the blimp's medical unit, the doctors and nurses were taking a short, well-deserved break. They were all seated around a large table, each with a cup of refreshments.
"Whew. That was a messy operation," one of the doctors muttered.
"I must say, whoever fixed her shoulder did an okay job," said another.
"If you ignore the swelling, then sure," said another.
"At least it's all over," one of the nurses said. "Her leg is fully repaired and pieced together."
The doctors nodded. "As long as the girl doesn't put any pressure on that leg for a few weeks, it will heal nicely."
"The girl's boyfriend seemed awfully worried. I'm sure he'll take care of her now."
"He better. That'll give us the break we need from that messy operation."
Just as the doctors were about to start taking their breather, Ruby came running towards them with Sapphire on his arms. The doctors turned and saw that the girl had two large spikes stabbed through her chest and shoulder.
"… Ah, hell. There goes our break," one of the doctors muttered. "And it looks like we'll have another messy-ass operation on our hands."
"You know the drill, ladies and gentleman. Time to get back to work."
…
Meanwhile, somewhere in Sinnoh…
…
Silver hung onto his Honchkrow in silence, trying to find the right words. Blue had finished telling him about all that has happened, and his attention was still focused on the fact that her parents were dead and that she was brutally chased out of the hospital… again. The last time he heard that she was forced out of a coma and chased out of a hospital in the Sevii Islands, he wanted to freaking glass the place. To accomplish such a feat, he needed to temporarily catch Ho-oh (Arceus preferred, but that was impossible), but the point was, they needed to pay!
Silver contemplated in asking Green to borrow his Charizard for a strafing run of fire. He'd find those bastards who chased Blue (and Platinum) out of the hospital and he'd-
"Silver, look over there," Blue said abruptly, pointing down at the ground.
The Johto Dex Holder snapped out of his thoughts of mad revenge and looked down. "… What am I looking at?"
"Is that one house?" Blue asked in surprise. "That is just HUGE!"
Silver then noticed what Blue was pointing at. He thought it was just a group of several department stores attached to one another next to a large open field. But now that he had a closer look, it was just one enormous mansion and its unbelievably large backyard. Perhaps "backyard" wasn't enough to describe the open grassland that would probably take 7 days straight to just mow the lawn. But that "backyard" was in perfect condition, so… how many people were working there? Silver never thought that mowing the grass and gardening for one house could be a permanent career…
"Is that size really necessary?" Silver asked. "I don't think one family could possibly have enough members to occupy that house."
"Where are we, anyways?" Blue asked. "What town?"
Silver studied the map he had bought for his previous mission. "Apparently we're in Sandgem Town."
Blue perked up. "Sandgem? Isn't that Platinum's hometown? So I wonder if that massive mansion is hers…" She got her Wigglytuff to start landing. "Let's ask. Knowing Platinum's parents would be nice, don't you think? They clearly have some kind of power." She suddenly looked quite depressed as she muttered her next sentence. "… And I want to see just how lucky Platinum is compared to me…"
"Sis, Platinum is not lucky compared to you," Silver said as he got his Honchkrow to land as well. "I know you may not feel the same, but I'd rather be able to survive on my own than be filthy rich. And having heard Platinum's experience before, I got the feeling that she's kind of lonely and she can't take care of herself."
"Alright, so Platinum needs Dia and Pearl to take care of her. But what, are you saying that you're not lonely?"
Silver simply shrugged. "I prefer being alone. Less things to worry about that way."
Blue sighed and shook her head. She wanted to say that she was lonely too, but decided against it. She only felt alone because she felt that Green didn't really appreciate her. He didn't even try to contact her at all and she's been missing for how long? She forced the feeling down. There was no need for Silver to know. "You really need to change that lonely lifestyle. I'll see if I can find you a nice girlfriend. Maybe Gold knows a few girls who'd like you."
Silver looked quite alarmed. "Sis… don't. Just don't."
"Alright then. How about Crys?"
Silver looked even more alarmed. "No, no, no. She'll kill me."
Blue forced a laugh. "I didn't mean I'll make Crys your girlfriend. She'll be fine with Gold, and I think she's in love with him anyways. I meant I'll ask Crys if she knows any friends."
"I highly doubt that, sis. Crys… doesn't really seem like the type who'd have friends outside of work."
"It sounds like you know her quite well, Silver. Maybe that idea about you going out with her isn't such a bad idea after all."
Silver seriously hoped that Blue was merely joking. He'd worry about that later, though. It seemed that there was some trouble in front of the large mansion.
"I told you, I demand to know what you have done to my daughter!" a man yelled angrily from below.
"And I told you, you killed her."
From on top of her Wigglytuff, Blue narrowed her eyes. A small group of people were surrounding someone right next to the mansion (but far, far away from the door), and Blue could see that the group all had ShadowNet uniform… Silver saw them too and prepared for battle.
The two Dex Holders landed quietly and instantly sent out their Pokémon for a battle. The ShadowNet grunts saw them and quickly fled, realizing that there was no way that they'd be able to beat two Dex Holders. Silver's Weavile pitched a sharp shard of ice, piercing one of the grunts in the leg. The rest of the grunts abandoned their wounded comrade and ran like hell.
While Silver held down the wounded grunt and tied him up, Blue approached the man that the ShadowNet group had been surrounding.
"Are you okay?" Blue asked.
"Yes, thank you," the man replied. "But who are you?"
"We're one of the Pokédex Holders," Blue replied courteously. "My name is Blue, and-"
"If you are one of the Pokédex Holders," the man interrupted in a panic-stricken voice. "Then you must know my daughter, Platinum. Tell me, what has happened to her?"
Blue looked a little surprised at the man's panic. "You're Platinum's father? I've heard so much about you. But I don't know what you mean. She was hospitalized after being captured, but she's perfectly fine now."
"These vandals have been saying that… I have killed my own daughter, and they are refusing to elaborate."
"I don't really know what happened to her," Blue said honestly. She was still quite worried about her junior, though. "But perhaps you should call her immediately."
Sir Berlitz took out his Pokégear and tried to call his daughter. There was no answer, however, and the panic on his face intensified. He tried calling a few more times, but Platinum still didn't answer.
"Perhaps we should use this guy to find out what this ShadowNet group was trying to do," Silver suggested once he finished tying up his ShadowNet prisoner.
"Good call, Silver," Blue said in agreement. She looked at Platinum's panic-stricken father. "Could you contact any the Sinnoh champion? I think we'll need her assistance in capturing the ShadowNet guys who ran away."
While Sir Berlitz tried to contact Cynthia, Blue approached the captured ShadowNet grunt, who had Weavile's claws pressed against his throat.
"Now then," the Kanto Dex Holder started. "You have some explaining to do."
…
An hour later, 10:30 am, Pallet Town…
…
Inside the Hoenn Pokémon Association's blimp, there was a series of medical rooms where patients could rest and heal under careful maintenance of the medical crew. In one of those rooms, Crystal slept under the effect of anesthesia. Her shattered leg had been repaired completely and wrapped up tight in a cast in order to heal and her dislocated shoulder had been properly put back into place.
In the corner of the room, Gold sat on a chair and simply watched Crystal. He was really glad to see her alive and recovering, but his mind was burdened by the thought that he was the one who caused all this. Various other Dex Holders have tried to convince him that the incident wasn't his fault, but he didn't listen. It was his fault. But he knew of a way he could atone for his actions…
Crystal suddenly groaned as the anesthesia steadily wore off and the pain in her leg returned. It wasn't nearly as excruciating, but rather, quite uncomfortable.
"Crys? You okay there?" Gold asked.
The groaning immediately stopped and Crystal opened her eyes. She looked over at her side but didn't see Gold. Instead, she found him in the corner of the room, quite far away from her bed.
"… Gold? What are you doing all the way over there?" she asked. "Come closer."
To her surprise, Gold shook his head. "Sorry, Crys," he said quietly. "It's best for you if I stay away."
Crystal quickly sat up. She winced in pain at the sudden movement but shook it away. "What? … Gold, what are you saying?"
"… I'll be around."
The goggled boy rose to his feet and left the room, much to Crystal's shock. The girl tried to say something, but no words came. Once Gold left and shut the door behind him, she snapped out of her shock. She moved her blanket away and inched her way towards the edge of the bed. Her right leg wouldn't move at all, but she dragged it along anyways. Once she was close enough to the edge, she carefully stepped on the cold floor with her good leg. She carefully stood and winced again as her injured leg was left at the mercy of gravity without the soft bed supporting it.
Crystal clenched her teeth and hopped over towards the door. It would've been a lot easier if she had a crutch… but no one expected her to be trying to walk anytime soon, so no one gave her one. She soon reached the door and opened it. Directly outside, Gold was standing right next to the door, looking over at her, temporarily rendered speechless by the fact that she had chased him outside despite her condition.
"… Crys, what are you doing?"
"Gold!" Crystal exclaimed in between breaths. She reached out to him but lost balance and ended up falling into his arms.
Gold held her gently and looked into her eyes. He could see tears welling in her eyes and she looked quite upset.
"Crys?"
"Gold, please," Crystal muttered as she used her good hand to wipe away her tears. "Don't… leave me alone. And stop berating yourself for what happened to me." She wrapped her arms around Gold and hugged him. "You have no idea how much it hurts me to see you like this…"
The goggled boy didn't respond, but carefully led Crystal back towards her bed so she could rest. Once the girl was seated on her comfortable bed again, Gold proceeded to back away again. Crystal quickly grabbed his wrist.
"You're afraid that you might hurt me again," she said. "But listen to me. I know you. I trust you. You won't hurt me again, and I know it. But you're hurting me in a different way by refusing to stay beside me. So please, Gold. Stay with me."
Gold remained silent for a second before he nodded. "Very well then. Sorry, Crys."
Crystal sighed in relief and looked quite happy, despite her current condition. "Thank you, Gold."
Gold dragged his chair back from the corner of the room and placed it next to Crystal's bed. He then sat on it, proving to her that he was going to stay with her this time.
"Alright Crys," he started. "I'll stay with you. But you should still go back to sleep. I'll watch over you."
Crystal nodded, but didn't lie down on her bed quite yet. She felt that she needed additional leverage. She reached over and grabbed his hand with her good hand.
"Listen Gold. I think I need to tell you this before anything worse happens to me," she said after taking a deep breath. Without waiting for Gold to respond, she reached over and kissed him on the mouth. "I… always loved you, Gold. I only realized it when you disappeared in Violet City, but I always did love you. That was why I went to look for you even though everyone told me not to. And that's why it hurts me to see you so sad. So please lighten up and stay with me."
Gold stared at her in shock for a second before he returned that kiss. He gingerly embraced her afterwards, being careful not to cause any damage to her injured shoulder.
"Thanks Crys. I love you too."
He took a glance at Crystal and noticed that she looked very satisfied and genuinely happy. He pulled her in a little closer in his embrace. As he rested his head against hers, he couldn't help but let a few tears fall as his plan crystallized…
…
Several hours later, 6 pm…
…
Diamond woke up from his sleep when he heard something unusual. He rubbed his tired eyes and took a couple of seconds to catch up to everything that had happened recently. Now that he was focused, he could hear the unusual sound coming from directly ahead. He immediately realized that the sound was coming from Platinum.
Diamond quickly jumped to his feet and ran over to the girl. Platinum was still asleep, but she had tears falling from her eyes and occasionally whimpered. Diamond took some tissue and gently wiped away the girl's tears. The moment his hand brushed her cheeks, she stopped whimpering.
"Lady? Are you awake?" Diamond asked quietly.
There wasn't a response. Well, there was no comprehensible response. The girl was mumbling something in her sleep, but Diamond couldn't catch anything. He shook her by the shoulders and this time, her incoherent mumblings became a little clearer. She was saying something about Giratina and shadows. Shadow Force, perhaps? … Was Giratina tormenting Platinum through her dreams? … Could it even do such a thing? Did that overgrown massive centipede with shadowy wings/tentacles have more powers than it used the last time it caused mayhem?
Diamond shook his head. That was irrelevant. Whatever was happening, his priority was to wake Platinum and get her to talk about her problems. As such, he shook her by her shoulders again, but a little harder than before. "Lady, wake up."
Platinum let out another whimper before she woke up. She slowly sat up, her eyes darting from side to side, trying to remember where she was. She soon managed to differentiate the dream from reality and her expression darkened significantly.
"Would you like a cup of water?" Diamond asked. Platinum didn't say anything and simply shook her head. "Would you like something to eat?" he asked again. Again, she shook her head. Diamond crossed his arms and thought for a few seconds, wondering how he should approach the problem. He decided to ask subtly at first so that Platinum could be… lured into discussing what was troubling her so much. "Lady, are you doing okay?" Diamond asked as he tried to look into her eyes.
Platinum remained quiet. She simply stared at the floor and appeared as if she didn't hear his question. Diamond knew that she wouldn't like to talk about what happened. But he also knew that she had to talk in order for her to get better. So he tried something different. Since Platinum wasn't going to answer subtle questions, he'd ask bluntly and add some of his Mesprit-approved emotions.
"Lady, please tell me what's wrong," he said quietly. "… We're friends, aren't we? If something's bothering you, your friends should be one of the first to know. We're supposed to share and experience things together. Friends are supposed to feel joy together and experience the same sorrows so we can support each other. You always shared your joys with me and Pearl. So please, tell me your sorrows and I'll help you as best as I can."
Platinum still didn't say anything, but she seemed to be trying to decide on something. Diamond could feel that she was getting close to telling him her problems so he pressed on a little more.
"You know I really care about you. It really hurts me to see you like this. So please. Tell me what's wrong. Please…"
Platinum finally turned to look over at Diamond. She could see tears falling from his eyes and finally made her decision. She didn't want him miserable and she could tell that he was currently, and it was because of her. She carefully reached over and wiped away his tears with her delicate hands.
"… Okay, Diamond…" she said at last. Her voice was awfully quiet and a little hoarse, as if she had lost her voice from crying. "… I will tell you…"
Diamond quickly wiped away the rest of his tears and looked at Platinum with relief. He gently grabbed her hands to get her to relax a little more. "Thank you, Lady. I'm all ears as always."
There was a few seconds of silence before Platinum took a deep, shuddering breath. "The truth is… my father…" she trailed off, as it was quite painful for her to continue. She appeared as if she was going to burst into tears again, but held it down and continued. "M – My father… disowned me…"
"… What?"
Platinum pulled her hands away from Diamond and rubbed her eyes. "He… said horrible things to me…"
"That's impossible," Diamond said. "He loves you very much. How could he disown you?"
Platinum started to sob as unpleasant memories filled her mind. But since she already started to talk, she might as well finish.
"H – He said that… the Unown virus had spread to Veilstone City through the eastern exit of Solaceon Ruins and that it was spreading all around Sinnoh. It may have been an exaggeration, but the truth is, all of Sinnoh is at risk of the virus spreading. And he said that he knows the Dex Holders are responsible for making the virus go rampant. A – And because I am one of the Dex Holders, he said that I brought immeasurable damage to our family name…" She started to cry again and Diamond put his arms around her to comfort her. "H – He said I… tarnished the name of Berlitz. He called me an embarrassment… a failure. I – I was a disappointment, a disgrace, and a shame to the family…"
The ex-heiress broke down into tears and sobbed uncontrollably. Diamond gently embraced her and rubbed her on the back. She buried her face into his shoulder and cried, and he was afraid that she'd cry for another hour. But this time, she seemed to be trying to control herself compared to the previous time when she simply cried her heart out.
"It's okay, Lady," Diamond said, even though he knew that it wasn't.
He knew Platinum very well. The girl had always put family honor above all else and strived to make her family proud. He could only imagine her devastation upon being disowned and being told all those hurtful words. She clearly wasn't coping with it all too well, given how she tried to stab herself not too long ago.
Whether the man she spoke to was indeed her father or someone else merely pretending, Platinum wouldn't have been able to differentiate them. She was probably way too devastated for her Uxie-approved knowledge and intellect to detect anything strange. At any rate, the results were clear. Platinum was beyond devastated, and she needed his company.
"Please do not call me that," she whimpered out.
"Okay, then…" Diamond racked his brain to find something suitable that he could call her. Of course he knew her name, but he never called her by her name before, so it was going to feel quite weird. "Er… uh… Platinum," he started. 'Wow, that felt weird.' "Everything's going to be okay."
"How? How is this going to be okay?" Platinum asked. Her voice contained a significant amount of frustration at Diamond seemingly not understanding the situation but also hope. She instinctively trusted him and held onto some unconscious belief that Diamond would make everything okay.
"Though I may not know your father as much as you do," Diamond said. "I think I know him enough to know that he would never say anything harsh to you. I think there's some… context missing here, so to speak. It's possible that he was either forced to say those things to you, or… it wasn't really him you were talking to."
Silence filled the room once again as Platinum reluctantly thought over her picture phone conversation with her father. She soon shook her head in despair. "No… it was definitely my father I talked to. He did not sound forced and looked natural. And there is no way anything bad could have happened to him…"
"Everything is going to be okay. I promise you," Diamond said nicely.
Platinum looked into his eyes for a few seconds before she nodded slowly. She decided to trust her close friend, as he had never really let her down before.
"Diamond, please promise me that you will not tell anyone else of this," she said quietly. "I do not wish to worry them any more than I already have."
"Okay. But only if you promise me that you won't try to kill yourself. I understand that you won't want to live ashamed, but I'm telling you that it'll be worse if you do kill yourself. Trust me. You are not a disgrace to anyone." 'And if you were to die… I don't know what I'd do.'
The ex-heiress slowly nodded. She forced a slight smile as her friend hugged her. She buried her face into his shoulder and soon calmed down.
"Thank you, Diamond," she mumbled quietly. "You really are a good friend…"
"Don't you feel a little better now that you've told someone?"
"… Yes. A little."
Diamond gently rubbed her on the back again. He briefly contemplated in whether he should try his third attempt at a confession, but decided against it. The ex-heiress was currently in distress. This was not the appropriate time to confess. As such, he simply kept his mouth shut and hoped that she would pick up the subtle hints. Probably not though, as she was unbelievably dense in this sense. For now, he'd enjoy the fact that he was hugging the girl he loved so much.
But… a certain Dex Holder decided to ruin the mood yet again. A static erupted from his headset which he had laid down on the table near Platinum's bed. He wanted to ignore it, but Platinum looked over at it. Her mission-priority was a lot higher than romance, apparently. Damn.
Diamond sighed and took his headset. He pressed the receive button and held it so that Platinum could hear as well.
"Is anybody there?" came White's voice. The Unova Dex Holder sounded a little panicked. "Hello?"
Diamond was about to reply when Green's voice came from the headset as well.
"I'm listening. What is it?"
"I… I think we've found the main HQ of ShadowNet here," the president answered. "And there are too many enemies here! Black and I can't handle them all on our own, and we're trapped in the building. Please, help!"
"Alright. Help is on the way," Green said.
"Please hurry! We c- Ah!" White shrieked before the connection suddenly dropped with a loud static, as if the Unova Dex Holder's headset was destroyed.
"There goes another headset," came Green's voice. "Red, Yellow, and Pearl, get over to Route 43 and help out Black and White."
"Green, what are you going to do?" came Yellow's voice.
"I hate to be bogged down by research all the time, but I have no choice. Platinum's RLS system requires more work, and the infected girl White brought over isn't going to cure herself. I'll have to run some tests to find a cure for that infection that we can use."
The headset soon went quiet and Platinum looked over at Diamond. "… You should go and help our juniors," she said quietly.
Diamond shook his head as he put the headset back on the table. "No. You're more important to me than anything," he said truthfully. "I won't leave to fight ShadowNet if it means you'll be left all alone like this."
Platinum let out a faint smile. "… Thank you…"
Dex Holder KIA/MIA list: None.
Black and White are not on the list because they're not dead or missing. Their fates aren't unknown either. They're just trapped in the ShadowNet building and require assistance.
Did anyone notice the super subtle hint in the previous chapter regarding the actual phone call between Platinum and her father? The hint: Platinum stopped being referred to as "the heiress" once that phone call ended.
What Could Have Been:
Conditions:
Sapphire is killed by the spike
(1 of 2)
"R – Ruby…" Sapphire gasped out. "Am… am I… going to die?"
Ruby frantically shook his head. "N – No! Of course not! You're going to be just fine, I promise you that!"
Sapphire managed a faint smile and closed her eyes. "L – Liar…"
Ruby rubbed her hands with trembling hands. "You're going to be just fine… I – I know it!" But Sapphire didn't respond and the faint grip she had on his hands was gone. "S – Sapphire? Sapphire?"
With violently trembling hands, he checked her pulse. He couldn't stop the tears streaming down his cheeks when his fingers registered nothing. Sapphire was gone…
…
(2 of 2)
…
"R – Ruby…" Sapphire gasped out. "Am… am I… going to die?"
Ruby simply stared at her. He couldn't believe it but had no choice but to admit it. He could tell that Sapphire herself knew the answer to her question. He couldn't lie to her in her last moments…
"Y – Yes…" he said as more tears fell from his eyes. He firmly held her good hand. "Yes…"
Sapphire managed a faint smile and closed her eyes. "I knew it… Th – Thank you… for… e – every…thing…"
"Sapphire? Sapphire?" Ruby called desperately as he rubbed her hand. He received no response and the faint grip Sapphire had on his hands was gone. He checked her pulse with violently trembling hands. More tears streamed down his cheeks when his fingers registered nothing. Sapphire was gone…
…
(Ending to both)
…
Ruby let go of Sapphire's hand and began to tremble. Not from desperation, fear, or panic, but from pure anger. He could feel the solidified Unown energy over his face starting to change. It was… vanishing. It started to glow bright until it suddenly dissipated. But Ruby didn't give a damn about it. He looked over at the ShadowNet grunt who killed Sapphire. The grunt was charging forward while firing his weapon until it depleted.
One of the spikes flew straight towards Ruby's head. He looked at it and simply grabbed it right before it touched him. Just then, something happened. The dissipated Unown energy formed again, but all over his body. Numerous chunks of solidified energy appeared out of thin air and fell into place all around his body, creating what appeared to be full body armor.
Ruby didn't care. He crushed the spike and it crumbled apart in his hand. The ShadowNet grunt started to flee, frightened by the sudden change. The Unown energy created some sort of a thin helmet over Ruby's face, leaving no skin visible. His eyes were covered by what appeared to be lenses of some sort that glowed red, just like the glowing pattern of the Red Orb that was all over his arms at the moment.
The Hoenn Dex Holder violently yanked out a spike that was still stuck in Sapphire's body. He then stood up and charged straight towards the fleeing ShadowNet grunt. He caught up to him in a blink of an eye, thanks to his Running Shoes. Ruby tackled him down to the ground and held him down with one hand.
"You," he growled out, his voice vibrating through his Unown energy 'armor', and sounding rather magnified. "You killed Sapphire!"
The ShadowNet grunt looked terrified as he stared into the Hoenn Dex Holder's glowing red 'eyes'. "This… this is… stage 4?"
Ruby was about to stab the grunt with the spike that had killed Sapphire when a familiar voice suddenly stopped him.
"Ruby! Stop!"
The enraged Dex Holder glanced back and saw Wallace and Wally running over. The two temporarily stopped to examine Sapphire's body and Ruby's new appearance before continuing to run.
"No matter what happened, you shouldn't kill him," Wally said. "Permanent imprisonment would be better."
Ruby glared at him, forcing him to back off. He then focused his attention on the ShadowNet grunt he was pinning to the ground.
"You have shed her blood, and for that you will DIE!"
He raised the bloodied spike above his head and prepared to stab and kill.
"Stop!" Wallace tried again.
Ruby ignored his master and struck down with the spike as hard as he could manage…
