*Guess what? :D I got a beta! PokemonDaniel123 from deviantArt. :3 Go check out her art! ;) She has a cool SpecialShipping doushinji that she's working on... Oh, I drew a Franticshipping drawing. If you're interested, I'm iluvshadowclaw on dA. It's called 'Wild Beauty.'*

Chapter 9

Hypnosis-induced dreams usually weren't so bad. In fact, they weren't much worse or better than normal dreams, and Sapphire's current dream was fairly pleasant.

Her dream took place at a not burnt, undamaged festival ground, where she was laughing and enjoying a nice big bag of bright blue cotton candy, hand in hand with Ruby as they explored the celebration. Sampling different dishes from around Hoenn, like the famous Lavaridge cookies or the luxurious (and expensive) seafood from Lilycove, previewing the Contest Hall, which suited Ruby's taste entirely ("Beautiful!"), and the Battle Arena, which Sapphire approved of ("My Pokemon can definitely win with that much space!"), nothing was out of place. It could only be described as joyous and perfect, the picturesque way of how their trip to Lilycove was supposed to go.

And then, she felt his hand suddenly ripped from hers, and as she tried to pull him back, her fingers closed on emptiness. Looking up, she saw Ruby, unconscious, his expression frightened, being lifted into the air by a Gengar's Psychic, and instantly, her heart filled with dread. The Gengar stood on the back of a mighty Salamence, piloted by none other than... Rei.

He had a calm, almost kind smile on his face, but she could sense the contempt and his silent gloating at having rendered her completely helpless while her most important person was being snatched away before her very eyes. The sun shone brightly on his hair, turning the pale silvery-blond a soft gold, ringing his head like an angel's halo, but Sapphire knew better. The young man's handsomely-cut features and grins were the work of the devil, sent from hell, most definitely not from the gates of heaven.

She reached for the Pokemon at her belt to realize some were missing, and the others all fainted, unable to battle. At the same moment where she looked around desperately for something, anything that could help her predicament, the world around her burst into flames, making her the center of a blossoming, fiery orange flower, the heat blurring the image of the flying Salamence, now leaving the scene, taking Ruby with it.

No, she thought, feeling the heat beat around her like ferocious, scalding winds, the smoke clogging her lungs, keeping her from screaming her despair. Coughing, she fell to her knees, closing her eyes, unable to bear the stinging smoke that was hurting her eyes to no end, struggling to breathe. Why did this have ta happen?

"Sapphire," called a voice, coming from the sky. It rang loud and clear, summoning her, starting to banish the nightmare around her. "Sapphire... Wake up!"

"Hmm?" Sapphire blinked, trying to focus on the people in front of her, blobs of pale skin and gray soot-covered clothes. The lights above her swirled in circles, bright white spots that hurt her eyes, and all she wanted to do was close her eyes again, but she couldn't, because she was afraid of the terrible, heartbreaking scenes that replayed relentlessly behind her closed lids.

She knew what she hoped for was impossible, the chances of that faint wish long vanished, that the question would be pointless, only crush her further. But to even have something to hope for, to cling to that one last chance, was essential, because she had never felt more helpless.

"Sapphire…" said a girl's voice, and Sapphire's azure eyes caught the sight of blonde hair and worried brown orbs staring at her with an overly concerned frown. "Are you okay? We… were afraid you'd never wake up. It's been almost two days since we found you unconscious in the hospital."

"Ru-Ru-" hacked Sapphire, suddenly aware of the aching dryness in her throat, the burning thirst that suddenly racked her body. She coughed, and tried to summon moisture into her mouth, but it was as dry as a desert. She heard a glass plop down on a small table beside her, and saw Emerald withdraw his hand. Water had never looked so enticing.

Yellow could easily guess what Sapphire wanted to know, just from the first syllable. What else would she want anyways? She wished she had a better answer to give, that the still ongoing search was bringing success, that Crystal had managed to track down the scent of the Salamence. But the one thing Yellow refused to do was lie.

"We can't find him. Him or that… man." Yellow hung her head in depression, watching Sapphire lay her arm over her face, seeing small rivulets of tears start to fall gently down to the cotton sheets of the bed. "I'm so sorry. Everyone else is still out searching for Ruby. It's only Emerald and I here."

"I know his name now," said Sapphire quietly, thirst quenched by the cool water she'd poured down her throat, words barely audible. "And I saw his face. He said ta call him Rei." She remembered his smile, the cruel flicker in his eyes, and the malice behind his benign words. "And that he will be da king of a new world."

Yellow and Emerald said something in a low voices that Sapphire couldn't really make out, too tired pay attention. Yellow scribbled something down on a piece of paper, and handed it to her Pikachu, Chuchu, and the electric mouse scrambled out of the room in a hurry. "Green left his Pidgeot here to deliver messages. I'm having Chuchu give the name to Pidgeot," she explained, looking at Sapphire's curiosity. "They're looking all over Hoenn for Ruby, but there's a lot of ground to cover."

And we can't even be sure Ruby's still in Hoenn… finished Sapphire silently. Her impression of Rei was that he wasn't the kind of person who could be found unless he wanted to be found. And even if he was… Flashbacks of her brief battle with him rose to the surface of her mind, the sheer power of his Pokemon, the ease in which they defeated her Pokemon, without batting an eye, swatting her aside like an annoying bug Pokemon. Even Red, the strongest among them, would have an extremely difficult time facing Rei.

But what she feared most of all was what Rei could be doing to Ruby. What could Ruby possibly do to help him control Groudon and Kyogre? The last time, five years ago, he had stopped the two legendary Pokemon with the Blue and Red Orb, and his father piloting Rayquaza behind him, but if Rei wanted to have him try and pull off that kind of stunt without any protection… Ruby would be dead in a heartbeat.

"I won't hurt him any more than what is necessary…" What counted as necessary? The very thought chilled her to the bone and made her wish even more, made her wish so much that this was just a nightmare, not reality. A dream, not the life she had to live.

Ruby… Just be okay, thought Sapphire, closing her eyes and feeling more tears spill, Emerald and Yellow looking at her with sympathy. If nothing else, just be okay….

Ruby was aware of wind whipping his hair and clothes, beating him awake as he groggily sat up, looking at the giant blue sky surrounding him. He blinked a couple times, trying to figure out if he was still dreaming, before he saw the head of the Salamence in front of him. He backed away quickly in shock, his hand slipping and his feet finding nothing to hold on to as he fell-

"That was a close one there," commented Rei conversationally, standing next to his Gengar, which easily saved Ruby from what would have been a very unpleasant death. "Fear not, my friend. Salamence won't hurt you."

"Who are you?" asked Ruby warily, looking at with scrutiny. "Where's Sapphire?"

"Oh, her?" asked Rei, raising an eyebrow. With his cloak off, and standing in the bright sunlight, he looked the same age as Red or Green, shadows no longer darkening his pale face. "She got left behind at Lilycove. I didn't need her for this."

"What did you do to her?" demanded Ruby, sensing the danger before him, like prey before a predator.

"Don't worry, I didn't harm her," replied Rei, pausing on the 'her.' "Though, due to the circumstances, I did have to take out quite a couple of her Pokemon. She's either still sleeping or just woke up. Nothing permanent."

Ruby looked again at the Gengar, the Salamence, and from his blurry memory, recalled the white-edged feverish images of a Pokemon battle, the Salamence and the Gengar completely dominating the flow of the fight, and the black-hooded man just watching as his Pokemon quickly obliterated their opponents… "It was you, wasn't it? Who was fighting Sapphire?" he asked viciously, feeling strangely protective of Sapphire, the girl who had been protecting him.

Rei looked at him in surprise, and then laughed, not unpleasant, but not happy either. "I thought you were too caught up in your little fever to notice me come in," answered Rei, amused, as if Ruby were a funny program on TV. "Looks like you're sharper than I gave you credit for… I sincerely hope you'll survive the ritual. It'd be a shame to kill someone with such potential as yours."

"I sincerely hope you'll survive…" Ruby felt chills through his bones, scared of this strange man, with a burning desire that was a cross between the need to escape, intense curiosity, and the weirdest… a twisted admiration.

"Don't worry- you'll probably live through it. It's nothing too bad really- I just need to create another Red and Blue Orb so I can control the two legendary Pokemon. I'm pretty sure you remember controlling Groudon and Kyogre, right? What would you say to meeting them again?" teased Rei, his voice reminding Ruby of a snicker.

"Groudon… Kyogre…" murmured Ruby, trying to summon the two Pokemon from his memory, and to his surprise, he was able to conjure two colored blobs, which was better than nothing. One was a blood-red crimson, with inky streaks of black painted across its back. The other was blue, with white and a trace of red, with two wings. "Legendary Pokemon?"

Rei looked at him as if he were starting to regret saying Ruby had great potential. "Good god, are you dense? The kings of the earth and sea, who warred five years ago, who you controlled and stopped?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," retorted Ruby, wondering if that was the right thing to say. His instinct told him revealing his weakness, that he couldn't remember anything, that he hardly even knew who he was, would be much more danger than it was worth. "But if you try to hurt me, I'll use my Poke-"

"Your Pokemon? These pathetic things?" Rei held out four Pokeballs, containing Nana, Coco, Popo, and Ruru. "This Kirlia isn't even evolved. Even if I did let you have these Pokemon back, Gengar alone could take them all of."

Ruby gritted his teeth, knowing his last available defense had been stripped from him. He felt a bit of guilt that he felt only the tiniest bit of worry for the Pokemon in his enemy's hands, seeing they were his Pokemon, but he hardly felt a bond with them. Nana, the only one he'd used in his fight with Emerald, he felt slightly attached to, but it didn't go much further than happiness that he'd won a battle with that particular Pokemon. It could have been any Pokemon for all he cared at the moment. But without them, he was completely vulnerable.

"How about we try and see?" snarled Ruby, a challenging look in his bright crimson eyes. "If you're so confident, it shouldn't be too hard, should it?"

"While we're almost a mile up in the air?" replied Rei, looking even more amused than before, as if Ruby were a little child making ludicrous suggestions. "Your poor little weaklings might fall off my Salamence's back, and perhaps Gengar won't be in the mood to save them. If you really want to suffer defeat though, if you'll wait fifteen minutes or so, we'll land at my island."

"Your island?" repeated Ruby dubiously, starting to wonder if this man was some sort of mentally disturbed millionaire. "How the heck did you get an island?"

"My Pokemon created it of course." Rei snapped one of several Ultra Balls off of his belt, and Ruby found himself staring into the face of the very red blob he'd been envisioning moments before.

So this is the Pokemon he's talking about… It looks so powerful, even though it's so small in the Pokeball, thought Ruby, shivering at the coldness in its intense golden stare, feeling the strength simply emanating from its very presence. But I still don't remember anything about it. Did I really control this Pokemon before?

The Groudon roared, and though it couldn't be heard through the Pokeball, Ruby shivered as Rei looked on with a smirk. "I knew you'd recognize it. There's no point in playing dumb with me, you know. There's no way someone would forget something so life-changing." Ignoring Ruby's silence, Rei continued, as if Ruby weren't even there. "Nifty Pokemon this is. Immensely powerful, capable of creating land, and bringing drought by simply coming out of its Pokeball- but imagine if I had full control of it in battle, to command it as its master. It refuses to do anymore than defend itself or listen only when I threaten it with all my other Pokemon, but with you, Groudon and Kyogre will bow to my commands without question."

Ruby remembered the burning sun that had beat down on him, that had caused the fairground to erupt in flames and make it spread uncontrollably, the very air feeling as if it were on fire. The way all the clouds had suddenly disappeared, evaporated, he realized, leaving them with no shade at all to hide from the heat. The heat had even weakened even the most powerful water-type moves to the point where they had diminished to nothing more than weak little droplets, hardly enough to take on a fire of such great size.

"I can see by your eyes you've figured out that the fire was completely my doing, even though you probably can't remember the conversation I had with your friends because of your sudden fever. I only had to release Groudon a little ways outside of Lilycove, and the instant someone used fire, even the lighting of a cigarette, it'd erupt into flames. Shame this Castform had to use Rain Dance and well, dampen, my plans," said Rei almost jokingly, as if killing people and setting fire to a whole city was just a casual, everyday activity. "But no matter. It was better for me to battle in the rain than the sun, even though the fact that a nice Fire Blast would have taught that insolent blond boy a lesson."

Ruby still didn't speak a word, but inside, his mind was screaming that he had to flee, despite the fact that he was trapped in the sky.

"Why so quiet, boy?" inquired Rei suddenly, bending down so he could peer at Ruby eye-to-eye. It was all Ruby could do not to jump back at the chill in those swirling grey eyes. "I'm not going to kill you unless you go out of your way to disobey me- and I can't kill you until you've fulfilled you purpose anyways. And besides- I like to hear the fear of others."

Holding his tongue, Ruby stared in defiance, partly because he didn't want to give this man what he wanted, and partly because he had no idea what to say. The man was already having a conversation with himself, and there wasn't much Ruby could do about that.

"How boring," sighed Rei, turning to the dark purple ghost Pokemon beside him with a slight grin on his face. "Gengar, how about you loosen up his tongue for me? I want to hear what he's thinking. Don't worry, it won't hurt," he told Ruby, "at least, not physically."

Instantly, Ruby tried to close off his mind, though it just filled his mind with more terror as he felt something like a sharp claw dig into his head, prying open his mind and spilling out all of what he knew- which was quite little. His strange protectiveness of Sapphire, which felt embedded in him, instinctual almost, the way he could battle, despite the fact everyone around him said he hated battling, and the one and only thing he had been trying to hide from the man, he couldn't remember a thing at all.

"How… interesting," said Rei, a very wide smirk on his face, eyes closed, calmly absorbing all the information streaming coursing through his Gengar. "When I had Kyogre make that storm to test its abilities, I would have never guessed you'd be caught up in it. And without your memory, this'll make it everything a lot more entertaining. Does it hurt?" The Gengar's palms opened wider, its smirk growing bigger, looking exactly like its master.

Suddenly the pain doubled, and in the back of his mind, Ruby remembered his concussion, which so conveniently decided to start hurting him at the same moment Rei decided to push his attack further. He bit his lip and drew blood, the rusty tang coating his tongue, but he simply did not want to give this man the pleasure of hearing him cry out his pain. He couldn't scream, despite the fact he wanted to.

"Calling me 'this man' is so repetitive," commented Rei, still listening in on all of Ruby's thoughts with a smile. "Call me Rei, a name that will bring fear and respect throughout the entire world in a matter of weeks, with your help." His eyes gleamed sharply, like a cat's, and Ruby grimaced.

"Th-there's no way I'd help you," stuttered Ruby, gritting his teeth and hissing out his words. He opened his mouth to say more, but there was another stab, like a knife thrust, and he just barely missed biting down on his tongue as the agony continued.

"It won't be very hard to convince you. Gengar's been practicing- if you'd retained your lifetime's worth of memory, it'd be impossible. But with only a few days- it should take barely a minute for Gengar to wipe your mind clear again. You'll be a clean slate, a nice, untouched surface for me to write all over." There was a flash in his eyes, a hungry eagerness to test out his brand-new technique. "Gengar… do it."

Ruby opened his mouth in a protest, and attempted to scramble away, despite the painful ringing in his head and the fact that there was nowhere to scramble away, but his limbs were lead, and he felt white wash over him like a wave, and the crimson eyes of Gengar flooded his vision. Everything he had seen, felt, and heard in the past four days was fading away, even his name, which floated away last, like a balloon becoming lost in the sky.

Rei stared at his still form, still smiling, elated with what the future would hold. He was a master of manipulation, if he put his mind to it. And with nothing to hold onto, the once-again helpless Ruby would have to turn to him, and he would be entirely under Rei's control, almost like a Pokemon.

Soon, thought Rei, his island coming into sight. Soon, I'll have control over the entire world…

*Review Reply Time! :D

lolatron5000: Sorry... TT-TT I like the Sinnoh Trio too, but, if I brought them in, I would have brought in a whole crap load of complicated stuff about time and space and I have too much to focus on with all of Hoenn's natural disasters. ): Because if I involved Sinnoh... I'm pretty sure Rei would like to get his hands on Palkia and Dialga as well... And I'd like to focus more on Ruby and Sapphire and Hoenn anyways. I'm sorry that I haven't read your story yet. :/ I had midterms this week, a volleyball tournament yesterday, and a huge desire to draw fanart... I'll do it now. :3

ruby-loverr: Unfortunately, your prediction has yet to come true. XD Thanks for the encouragement! :3 It really cheered me up. Thanks for the review!

As usual, please review, and see you all next week! ;)*