*Did you miss me? :3 XD I'm back, with another chapter of Memories Lost. ^^ Aren't you glad? Last chapter, we hit fifty reviews, people! That's right, 50! (and we got to 52!) That calls for a celebration. XD What should I do... I know. :3 I'll make a little review poll at the end.*

Chapter 16

Sapphire knew there had to be a way out. Rei wanted a challenge-why else would he leave her alive? He wanted her to break out of the seemingly inpenetrable tower, to follow him, to attempt to stop him. He wanted to crush her in a brilliant showdown of strength- it was glaringly obvious. That was his personality.

And... she had to do it. For herself, her pride, her need to fight, to save the world from Rei. For Ruby... Her heart felt broken, its beats disjointed, though Sapphire knew there was no real physical problem. It was like there was a hole, a wide gaping hole that threatened to encompass her, fill her with this haunting, chilling emptiness, this depthless sorrow.

She had thought Ruby was still like he had been when she had last seen him. Shy, curious, a little scared off all the commotion around him, clueless, but trusting. Trusting of her. At least knowing that she cared, that she meant no harm, that she was there to protect him, help him. She saw it in his eyes.

This Ruby, this one. She stifled a sob. How could anyone do this? To turn a person into their living puppet, an empty, mindless machine, an obeying, loyal slave?
The Ruby she loved- he wasn't there anymore.

She could easily see Rei twisting the boy she loved into a tool of evil, a weapon to destroy them. He knew as well as her that they wouldn't harm Ruby, even if he was under Rei's command. He was their friend, brother, family, her one and only love. Sapphire, at least, knew she'd let Ruby himself kill her before she'd harm a single hair on his head. What a perfect piece for Rei's sick and twisted game.

Don't cry, Sapphire, she told herself, wiping away the flowing tears. You have to do something. Ruby can't be saved if you stay in this room and cry your heart out.

"Toro!" she cried, letting out her trusty fire-type starter. The Blaziken narrowed its eyes- it already knew what to do.

Its pale yellow and scarlet feathered leg kicked out at the window with ferocious strength and speed, even blazing with red-hot fire. Sapphire expected the window to burst into a thousand small pieces, a million tiny shards of shattered glass, blasted apart from the heat and impact. Instead, it stayed an inpenetrable wall, not even cracked from the powerful kick. However, she noted, it shimmered. Like... she paused, thinking. She knew what that was.

"Rei must have put up Light Screens and Reflects to reinforce the glass! Powerful ones too," she murmured, a small smile coming to her face, determination and confidence returning to her jewel blue eyes. "I wonder if he realized I'd figure out the trick so quickly?" Energy restored, she imitated the Pokemon move as she commanded, "Toro, use Brick Break!"

Almost mirroring its trainer, Toro smashed the dual screens in one swift chop, breaking through all the Reflects and Light Screens, turning them into sparkling showers of broken light. With a quick follow-up kick, the window exploded outwards, the sound of breaking glass like a beautiful song to Sapphire's ears. It was the sound of new hope.

She perched on the sill, looking down towards the sand, faltering for a second in her confidence. How high up was she again? She quickly shook away the doubts. If she got up, she could easily get down. "Let's jump, Toro!"

She and her loyal Blaziken leaped simultaneously, free falling for what felt like several minutes. Sapphire felt the air rushing up around her face, buffeting her, whipping her hair into a giant mess that Ruby would have given her a long scolding for if he hadn't been caught up in this giant mess.

I'll do anything to get that Ruby back, she resolved, landing like a cat, gracefully, almost with elegance, the sand around her puffing up in a transulucent cream colored cloud of dust. She remembered that Ruby, her fashion-obsessed, strange, funny, obnoxious, rude, detestable (yet so lovable), kind, thoughtful Ruby. Anything!

"Pilo!" she called loudly, hearing bird Pokemon in the forest caw and fleeing their trees at the volume of her scream. When she didn't hear the familiar roar of her Tropius, she took a deep-breath, slightly worried, and gave a high-pitched, earsplitting whistle.

Within seconds, the leafy dinosaur-like Pokemon had burst out of the surrounding foliage, eyes dull from exhaustion. However, it knew that its trainer needed him to fly- Pilo was Sapphire's only way off the island. She had left Walo and Relo in the deep, previously calm seas surrounding Lilycove.

Sapphire stroked its neck, frowning apologetically as she stared at it with sympathy. She was exhausted, and she had only been sitting on her Pokemon's back. "I'm sorry, Pilo, but we have to stop Rei." With a leap, she bounded up onto its back, carefully making sure not to pin down its wings with her legs.

It was then that she realized Rei hadn't actually said where he was planning to go. Once again, his parting words rang in her head. "Good bye, Sapphire. I hope you keep this game entertaining for me."

If I were him, not that I would ever do what he's doing, she started thinking, closing her eyes and concentrating hard. I would attack where I'd make the most impact, the most trouble, the most chaos. One of the biggest cities in Hoenn. Either Lilycove or Slateport. That would really send a message out to the world.

Visions of the cities she had visited and loved so much destroyed, flooded, incinerated by fire flooded her vision, and shuddered. She realized that this wasn't just a fight to retrieve Ruby- this was a fight to save Hoenn, no, the whole world from the threat known as Rei. With the power he possessed, he could easily take on the Dex Holders alone and win.

But there's something we've got and he doesn't. We're a team, and we're supporting each other. He has no one but himself to depend on, she told herself, trying to will herself to believe something like teamwork could give them a victory. I need to get back to everyone else.

"I've decided, Pilo, fly to Lilycove!" she commanded, grabbing the Tropius's neck tightly as it soared easily into the air despite its own natural bulk and her added weight, noting as she rose that the barrier of wind and rain and scorching sun had disappeared.

Rei brought the two powerful legendaries with him. Her heart lurched. She remembered Twinleaf Town after Kyogre had risen from the sea- flooded, houses damaged or destroyed, plant growth stunted, people and Pokemon drowned. They were far from the only place affected- several of the other cities in Hoenn were plagued by huge thunderstorms and spent month after month restoring buildings, returning to normal life. Combined with Groudon, who had sucked the earth free of moisture, of life, the two were a deadly combo without even being controlled by someone with a 'destroy' mindset.

Hoenn was about to be struck by its second major disaster in five years, she thought with dread, shivering with fear. Last time, she knew she had the power to win, and everyone was prepared. They had some warning. They had a plan.

I don't... she thought dully, sinking deep into the curve behind Pilo's long neck, completely unfocused at the endless sky and sea surrounding her. No plan, no strategy, no nothing. What are we supposed to do?

She felt drowsy, the result of having been awake for hours under unimaginable stress. Guilt at the thought of resting when her tired Pokemon, Pilo, wasn't able to made her resist the black wave of sleep, furiously trying to keep her eyes open. It was simply a battle she couldn't win.

She awoke a few hours later to the scent of acrid smoke carried on the whipping winds of a thunderstorm. A small raindrop hit her on the shoulder, only a drizzle, which soon multiplied to a downpour. It didn't take her long to snap completely out of her tired stupor, and she looked wildly around her.

Below her was the raging sea, the waves clashing with one another, furiously climbing higher and higher. Like a tsunami, without even an earthquake. Kyogre, she thought dully. Rei was already here- of course he was. His Salamence was at least twice as fast as Pilo, and less tired as well.

Turning, she saw the shore, the burning sun, the same burning light that had set a drought to half of Hoenn so long ago. Groudon had begun its rampage. The beaches were lit ablaze, umbrellas and beach chairs, and even... people. She shook her head, clearing her mind of the cruelty unfolding in front of her mind. She couldn't save them. She could only do one thing.

Rei... Our battle begins now!

"The weather seemed to appear very strange around here," said Blue, pointing to a part of the map where it had apparently been sunny and thunderstorming at the same time an hour ago. "The island's barely in reach of Hoenn region though- it's right between here and Johto."

"Oy, he better not get it in his head to attack my home!" shouted an enraged Gold, hiding his fear of having Rei so close to his region. His region. Knowing what he could do to a friend, no, a family member's region was bad enough. "Otherwise, he'll have to go through me!"

"It's good that we found it so quick," said Yellow, positive as always, though her bright brown eyes betrayed her fear. Not only was the prospect of the upcoming fight daunting, but right now, Red was fighting Rayquaza, and the thought of him getting hurt made her cringe. What if he was-? She wouldn't think that. She had to remain positive.

She wasn't as good as battling as everyone else. It seemed to flow naturally out of them, like she was able to heal and read the minds of Pokemon. She wasn't a trainer- she was a healer and the one who cheered everyone else up when times were down. When the moment arose, she could fight, but for now, she did what she did best. Keeping smiles on everyone's faces.

"It'd take us forever to get there though- between us three, we only have three flying Pokemon. Well, four if you count Blasty. But none of them are notably fast or great at endurance," Blue pointed out, disappointed at her results. She knew where the enemy was, but... what did that do her? They should have all went to find Rayquaza and catch it.

I'm the one who thought this would be a good idea, she thought with a sigh. After all, Silver was the one who remembered at about Rayquaxa first. She remembered his excitement, well, as excited as Silver would allow himself to be, as he pointed out their only chance. The legendary dragon, Rayquaza!

"Is it all going well for you guys?" asked a scientist, adjusting his glasses as he watched the Pokedex holders. "Have you found what you're looking for?"

"Yes," said Blue, rising from her seat, putting a troublesome lock of brown hair behind her ears. "We're done- you can have your computer back."

"Thanks," the man answered, returning to his work as Blue motioned for Gold and Yellow to leave with her.

"That's it? Seriously?" asked Gold in disbelief. "We spent about ten minutes in there!" His golden eyes were wide and questioning, filled with impatience. "I wanted more excitement! I bet Silver and Crys are doing way cooler things!"

"Stop treating this like it's some sort of game, Gold!" snapped Blue, finally weary of the rude, obnoxious boy's endless snarky comments. "It's not. Sapphire and Ruby are in danger, and we are too. You think Silver and Crystal went over to find Rayquaza to have fun?"

"That's not what I meant!" retracted Gold, taking a step back, holding his hands up in the universal "chill out for a second" gesture. "I'm as worried as you are! I just wanted to be doing something important! My best friends are out on the frontlines! And what am I doing? Nothing."

"I thought we could do more, okay?" replied Blue, pushing the exit door open with much more force than necessary. It slammed into the wall with a hard thud. "And Silver made the groups, not me!"

Gold was about to open his mouth to reply, but Yellow intervened. Time to play yet another role. The peacemaker.

"What good is it if we fight among ourselves?" she asked, looking almost a little ridiculous with her little angry, commanding expression, because she still looked like she was only a little kid at age 16. "We know where his hideout is- if we need to, we could attack there, couldn't we? No information gained is useless!"

The fighting pair was silent for a couple seconds, and the only sounds were the sea breeze, smelling of salt and water, brushing among the trees, and the ocean itself, with its calm, constant waves, almost soothing to the ear. Blue resisted the growing urge to hit Blue and looked out towards the sky, where she saw what looked a distant bird Pokemon flying closer and closer to Mossdeep. At first she thought it was a Wingull, but it was too big to be one. And it was far, far out in the sea.

If only Sapphire were here, she thought despairingly, wondering why the hell she'd decided to leave her binoculars in Kanto. She would be able to tell us what that is.

"Whatcha looking at?" asked Gold warily, curious but cautious. "I don't see anything!"

"That thing. I don't think it's a Wingull... Do you think it might be..." A Salamence? she finished silently. It better not be. We're not ready yet!

"It might," answered Gold curtly, filling in the blank as well. He tensed, piercing metallic yellow eyes fixed on the flying figure like a hawk.

"I'm not sure... It could just be nerves," said Yellow optimistically, swallowing down her panic. If Rei was coming already, there was only the three of them to stop his rampage.

Calm down, her Pokemon thought encouragingly, sending soothing waves of relaxation through her body. We will fight as hard as we possibly can!

"I'm calling Silver, just in case," said Blue, pulling out her Pokegear and speed dialing the boy. "Better safe than sorry."

"Good idea," replied Gold, sounding as if the argument moments before had never happened. It was amazing what fear and anticipation could do to people.

"Silver, I think Rei's already here," said Blue without introduction, looking up, where it was now obvious that the flying Pokemon was a Salamence. "We're going to head back to the mainland now. Have you captured Rayquaza yet?" A pause. "You have, good. Head back to Lilycove immediately. Meet you there." Unless Rei sees us and decides he's finally sick of us...

"Gold, I'm going to tie Jiggly to Mantaro," she said to the spiky-haired boy. "There's not enough room for two, right?"

"Mantaro can fly down on the ocean, and Yellow's Pi-chan can fly low too. If Rei turns around or looks down, we're not going to catch his eye. A giant flying pink puff? Well..." Gold trailed off, sighing. "That's pretty hard to ignore."

"So what should I do?" she asked. "Can I ride on top of Mantaro?"

"You can try. Emerald's Mantine is bigger, so it can carry a lot of weight, but Mantaro is pretty small. He might not be able to fly all that way, and end up..." Gold paused, inspiration brightening up his sharp yellow eyes. "That's it! Get your Turtly to Surf you over!"

"That's not fast enough!" she protested, feeling the urgent press of time against them.

"You don't have enough water to fly, but how about to propel yourself? Like, he could be a motorboat or something!" said Gold excitedly. "We don't have another way, Blue. Do you want to Hoenn or not?"

She nodded, running down to the beach without a further word. Yellow and Gold chased after her.

"B-Blue! Wait up!" cried Yellow, trying her best to catch up with her short legs, holding her hat to her head as the wind threatened to blow it away.

"Turtly, Hydro Cannon powered Surf!" said Blue, releasing her Blastoise onto the water, and jumping onto its large brown shell. It adjusted its cannons, turning them so they almost made it look as if the Blastoise were wearing a jetpack. "Full speed ahead!"

"Pi-chan!"

"Mantaro!"

Gold and Yellow were doing their best to catch up, but Gold been quite accurate when he said 'motorboat.' Blue and her starter shot off like some sort of rocket, blasting a mist of water all over them.

Since we're on the ocean, there's infinite water to power Turtly's Surf! thought Blue, confident that she could keep pace with the Salamence overhead. But what am I going to do when I catch up to him? Give him a time out?

Turtly then flung what felt like a bucketful of water onto her face, which Blue presumed to mean, Cool down. Calm down.

There was only one option really, and that was to fight when they reached shore, maybe even before that. It'd probably only be a few more minutes. Mossdeep was pretty close to Lilycove. She closed her azure eyes, taking a deep breath of fresh ocean air. Getting knocked off Turtly by a sudden violent, raging wave, hearing Gold and Yellow scream her name as she landed in the raging sea, the clouds above her turning dark. Rain poured torrentially, and she felt as if she were going to drown.

There was a dark shape with glowing red lines spread across its giant body, luminous yellow eyes like beacons in the sudden dark. It roared before diving into the water and Blue screamed a silent scream as the ocean closed around her.

Save me, she thought, unable to feel out Turtly, salt stinging her eyes like fire. The cold seeped down to her bone, her clothes wetly hanging to her skin, weighting her down. Save me, anyone.

*Okay, here are the options. There's two.

a. A Q&A with Rei (there's probably not many spoilers for this. ^^ If there are, I'll put in a warning or something. Ask him whatever you want! Just warning you- it's not my fault if you get killed. :3 XD)

b. Free Spoiler (you must have an account because I will be PMing you the answer to your question. But, I'm so much into this as the Q&A because spoilers just kind of ruin it sometimes, you know?)

But it's your choice! Next chapter, I'll announce which one we're gonna do. ;)

Review Reply Time!

Mystic: I think you're doing both. :3 Maybe. XD I over-think things a lot too. AKA sits in room for 6 hours contemplating the 50,000 complicated reasons a character did something instead of just accepting the one simple reason.

Light-Sakura: I LOVE CASSANDRA CLARE'S WORKS. DRACO TRILOGY, THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS, THE INFERNAL DEVICES, EVERYTHING. The sixth book to MI doesn't come out until MARCH of STINKING 2014! I'm so pissed! D: That's such a long wait for such a good book! ARgh! But you should read it anyways. YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED. Any company that doesn't appreciate Ruby's beauty doesn't deserve him. :3 He's ours! XD I wish they'd release more chapters of Platinum and release HG/SS though...

blazelight790: I have maniacal smiles on my face when I draw a character smiling maniacally. :X It's really weird- I take on the expression and pose of what I draw. XD (random fact of the day.) Ruby? Okay? *laughs* You have a lot to learn, my friend. :3

: Let me guess. You're a Will fan, aren't you? Because I'm Team Jem, and I freaking loved the ending of Clockwork Prince. :3 Oh, and it's fine if you call me Aeyra-chan. ^^ (though if you're using 'chan', then just call me 'Aya-chan.' A lot of people do.) I write this story at approximately 11PM-2AM in the morning. :X That's why sometimes there are really weird mistakes in it. That, and auto-correct on the iTouch. I type in Swampert and it gives me some random word that starts with 's'. It's pretty annoying.

Kimiko Heroux: My jealousy meter is jumping off the scale. I STILL HAVE MORE THAN TWO WEEKS OF SCHOOL LEFT! I HAVE THREE! Looks like Rei better be scared. XD (though you might want to watch out for that Gallade of his- it has very sharp mental blades. :X) Sapphire doesn't need someone to save her. SHE'S AWESOME ENOUGH TO SAVE HERSELF. XD

Don't remember to vote, people! Just tell me Q&A or Spoilers! (for spoilers, you need a account. For Q&A, I'll either write it or draw it (probably a mixture of both) and post it on here and dA. ^^ See you next week!*