So after bidding farewell to Kinso, and making their return to the Cerulean Gym, Ruby and Sakura went straight to the pool and commenced their battle, with Tracey acting as referee, and the Sensational Sisters watching from the stands. The first round ended in Ruby's favour, with her Starmie managing to defeat Sakura's Beautifly, while Sakura managed to win the second, using a Vulpix to take down Dewgong. Now they were onto the decider round, with Ruby opting to go with the newly evolved Golduck, and Sakura using her loyal Espeon.

"Go for it, Golduck!" cried Ruby, as Golduck leapt towards its opponent.

"Espeon, tackle!" commanded Sakura, and the lilac-furred Pokémon flew forwards and impacted with Golduck in mid-leap, sending the platypus-like Pokémon flying backwards. Luckily, Golduck managed to recover quickly, and it landed gracefully on one of the boards floating on top of the pool water.

"That was a really strong move, Sakura," complimented Ruby. "But not quite strong enough. Use your hyper beam attack, Golduck!"

Golduck fired an intense beam of energy from the red gem set in its forehead, but Espeon managed to dodge the attack and dive into the pool, swimming gracefully underwater.

"Whoa! Espeon can really swim, and it's not even a water-type Pokémon!" breathed Ruby in awe, before Espeon burst from the water and fired off a swift attack. Mirroring the tactics of its opponent, Golduck managed to leap clear and dive into the water, avoiding getting itself hit by the star-shaped rays.

"Great, Golduck!" called Ruby, as Golduck leapt out of the water and back onto the board. "Now use confusion!"

Using its psychic abilities, Golduck telekinetically grabbed hold of Espeon and send it flying towards the wall. However, Espeon was able to bounce itself off the wall and back towards the pool, managing to gracefully dodge a series of water gun attacks from Golduck.

"Espeon, keep dodging! Now use tackle!" instructed Sakura.

Again, Espeon knocked Golduck onto one of the floating platforms, and before the formidable Water-Pokémon had a chance to get back to its feet, Sakura suddenly cried:

"Espeon, use psybeam!"

Espeon fired a dazzling ray from the gem on its forehead, which struck Golduck at point blank range, knocking it out and sending it tumbling backwards into the water with a big splash!

"Oh, poor Golduck!" cried Ruby, as the unconscious Golduck floated on the water's surface.

"Golduck is down for the count!" proclaimed Tracey. "Match over! The winner of this battle is Sakura!"

"All right! We did it, Espeon, we did it!" cheered Sakura, as she and Espeon danced happily on the spot.

"Gosh, she's good," remarked Violet.

"She certainly is," agreed Lily, as they all headed over to join Ruby, who had fished the dazed Golduck out of the pool.

"Is Golduck okay, Ruby?" asked Sakura, hoping that the Water-Pokémon had not been too badly hurt.

"Don't worry, it's fine," said Ruby reassuringly, as Golduck came to. "Right, Golduck?"

Golduck gave a positive quack and raised its thumb up to confirm that it was okay.

"That's the best battle I've seen in a long time," said Tracey. "You really are good, Ruby."

"You know it! I am a gym leader after all," grinned Ruby, as she held out a Cascade Badge for Sakura. "Congratulations, Sakura. Now you've got one more badge for your collection. This is the one I made at Kinso's place."

"Hey, thanks. This badge really means a lot to me," said Sakura as she gratefully took the badge, before taking another from her pocket. "And you can keep the one I made. You're the best, Ruby."

"Wow, that's sweet," said Ruby as she happily accepted the badge. She could really see now why Sakura and Misty got along so well.

A short while later, Ruby and her family had all gathered outside the gym to bid farewell to Sakura and Tracey.

"Take care, Ruby. I'm going with Tracey to meet Professor Oak," said Sakura.

"Yeah, it'll be fun," said Tracey positively. "Sakura's always wanted to meet him, so I figured I'd introduce her."

"That sounds a marvellous idea," said Ruby. "Do please say hello to him and Delia from me please."

"Sure thing," smiled Sakura. "And next time Misty calls, tell her I said hi."

"And I will. And I'll be sure to tell her just what a great battler you are too," said Ruby with a small chuckle.

"Oh, and be sure to drop by again, Tracey," said Daisy sweetly. "I'd love for you to come around for dinner sometime."

"Uh, sure thing," said Tracey, a little taken aback.

"Hmm, do I detect a hint of romance in the air?" thought Ruby to herself, having noticed the keen way Daisy seemed to keep looking at Tracey, ever since the two of them first met.

"Bye, Ruby. Thanks a lot," said Sakura, as she waved farewell to her new friends.

"Sure! Have fun. You too, Espeon," smiled Ruby, as she and her daughters waved goodbye to Tracey and Sakura, as the two of them set off for Pallet Town.


Far away in the Hoenn Region, Ash Ketchum and his friends had been chilling out at the Pokémon Centre in Mauville City, when they all noticed that Misty had disappeared over to one of the public computer terminals.

"Hey Misty, whatcha doing?" asked Ash, as he, Brock, May and Max came over to join their young red-headed friend.

"The way you keep going to a computer every-time we visit a Pokémon Centre, people will start thinking you're a computer geek!" added Max teasingly.

"I'm just checking my emails," replied Misty, as she logged into her email account, with Togetic hovering next to her. "I want to make sure that Mom's doing okay at the gym back home."

"Misty, I'm sure your Mom's doing just fine," said Brock reassuringly. "You don't have to keep fretting about her, now that she's back with your sisters."

"I know, but her last message said she was going to try and teach Psyduck of all Pokémon how to swim!" muttered Misty. "That daft duck has driven me crazy over the years, and I want to make sure he's not doing the same thing to poor Mom."

As Misty said this, the main page of her emails appeared on the screen, and she was delighted to see that a new message had arrived.

"Hey, listen to this!" grinned Misty as she read the message. "Sakura was visiting the gym and challenged Mom to a battle for a badge!"

"Hey, that sounds great!" said Ash, with a supporting cry from Pikachu. "So how did that go?"

"Well, it seems that they had a bit of problem due to Daisy failing to stock up badges. How typical of her! So Mom went to get some more, and along the way..."

Misty's words abruptly trailed off and her eyes widened in utter bewilderment as she read the next part of the message. "Huh? Huh?! HUH?!"

"What? What is it?" asked May, thinking something awful must have happened.

Misty could not bring herself to speak, so Brock leaned over and read the rest of the message. "Wow! It seems that Ruby's not only convinced Psyduck to swim, but she's also managed to get it to evolve into a Golduck!"

"That's so cool!" said Max enthusiastically. "A Golduck is a really great Pokémon to have."

Misty's face had turned white with shock and she slumped back in the computer chair in a daze. "I don't believe it. I just don't believe it! I spent five years trying to teach Psyduck how to swim, with no success, and yet Mom not only manages to do it in just two weeks, she also got Psyduck to evolve as well?! That is so not fair!"

"What's the big deal, Misty?" asked Ash. "I'd have thought you'd be glad that your Mom's had such a great success."

"I am!" snapped Misty. "I just can't believe she succeeded where I failed! It makes me feel utterly useless. Oh, now I'm getting a Psyduck-style headache!"

"Cheer up, Misty," said Brock soothingly. "You have to remember that Ruby is older and a more experienced trainer than you and your sisters are. She probably just knew a few additional techniques that helped."

"That's true," sighed Misty, calming down a bit and giving a weary smile. "And believe me, I am proud of Mom's progress with Golduck. It's just annoying because I know that my sisters will never let me hear the end of this when I next speak to them! Oh, why do these things always happen to me?"


Later that evening at the Cerulean Gym, Ruby sat thoughtfully by the side of the swimming pool, gently dipping her toes in the water, as Golduck stood by her side, and Konga stuck his giant head out of the water.

"Well, you guys, I guess I've finally proved to myself that I'm still a good gym leader," Ruby beamed at her Pokémon friends. "And I'm going to keep working to be the best gym leader I can be."

Konga and Golduck both gave cries of support and agreement, and Ruby thought about the set of badges she had earned in Rifure Village, and how she now felt truly ready to face all the challenges that awaited her as the official leader of the Cerulean Gym.


Four months later...

In the heart of a quiet little village was a small coffee shop. Inside the shop, the humble owner of the establishment was busy brewing up some fresh coffee and polishing some cutlery, when the front door opened and he was surprised to see two figures in big black coats and shades coming over to him.

"We'd like an everything sundae," said the first figure, a woman with golden hair.

"With extra everything," added her companion, a man with short green hair.

"One everything sundae, with extra everything. Coming up. Have a seat if you like ," replied the coffee shop owner, who was not as innocent and friendly as he appeared and behaved.

The two unusually attired customers took a seat at a table, and the waiter soon delivered a delicious looking sundae to their table. Once he had gone, the two customers each took a spoon and began to dig into the sundae, searching carefully until they found what had been hidden inside the desert: a miniaturised voice recorder, which they lifted out with one of the spoons. Quickly checking to make sure no-one was watching them, the two figures activated the recorder, and the voice of their nefarious employer spoke to them.

"Good afternoon, Cassidy and Biff," greeted the voice of Doctor Namba, one of the leading scientists of Team Rocket.

"It's Cassidy and Butch!" corrected Butch irritably, to which Cassidy quickly told him to 'shush!'

"Your next mission is to apprehend the Rendezvous Pokémon, Luvdisc," continued Namba, as a hologram of a heart-shaped Pokémon was projected before the two Team Rocket members. "We're going to reverse its power in order to eliminate love from the world forever. I've been informed that it can be found at the Cerulean City Gym."

"Sounds familiar," mused Butch upon hearing the name of the target city.

"The mother of that loser girl Misty is the gym leader there," Cassidy reminded her partner in crime.

"Of course, miss goody-two-shoes with the oversized Feraligatr," said Butch resentfully, as he recalled the humiliating confrontation with Ruby in Pallet Town. "We're gonna take care of her!"

"Get moving. I want you in Cerulean City by morning. That is all," commanded Namba, before the message finished and the small recorder self-destructed in a puff of smoke.

"A plan to remove love from the world," said Cassidy eagerly.

"You gotta love it!" laughed Butch wickedly, as the two of them set off to commence their latest evil mission...