Completely missed the ETA from last chapter, but the mass update of all of S-EARLY is here! … Archiving would be a nightmare. But that's beside the point. Enjoy!

Note: S-EARL's Age Relations (Edition III) is confirmed to be inaccurate. However, S-EARL will continue using it due to their progress. SY and onwards will use the 4-Generations-accurate Edition IV.

Something came up that I should probably clarify. I really hope everyone reads the blocks of bolded text above/below each chapter. Quite often, those blocks of text have important information. Such as new story creation (such as SY, as mentioned in that block last chapter, hence S-EARL is updated to S-EARLY), response to a minor review-question/comment (like this one), possible cancellation and its progress (see below), and others.

Cancellation progress/thought is at 0%. Which means, no, I'm not cancelling SL. This is NOT a cancellation alert or a premature warning. But if I was going to cancel this story, the news/alert will appear here. The fact that 10 faithful reviewers have been revoked in the past three chapters is annoying, but nothing that warrants a cancellation alert. Unless it keeps going. Then we have a problem. But no major problems yet.

Segment: Ruby & Sapphire.

Chapter 15: Unova Tour

April 22, Nuvema Town, Unova, 12:00 pm…

Sapphire sat on a chair balanced precariously on its two hind legs while keeping her feet up on the table. She was very bored at the moment since nothing was really happening. Black went to find his friend, Ruby was sitting in a corner thinking of dastardly evil outfit plans for Black while White sat silently by the table, preparing herself for what she had to do.

Having nothing better to do, Sapphire looked over at White and examined her outfit. Ruby would have some comments about the clothing style. But Sapphire didn't, since she didn't give a damn. But she did have some inquiries regarding some pieces.

"So…" she started. White snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at her. "… Is that a skirt, or shorts?"

"Oh. It's… a mix between the two. I think it's cute, don't you?"

"I don't know," Sapphire answered truthfully. "I don't see how that word applies to non-living things."

"That's because you're an uncultured barbarian," came Ruby's remark from behind.

"Shut it!" Sapphire snapped back abruptly. "Anyways… What about that pink ribbon thing? What the hell is that thing?"

White blushed in embarrassment and looked away. "That's… um…"

"Sapphire," came Ruby's voice again. "It's not polite to talk about someone's undergarments when you've just met."

Sapphire turned to look at Ruby. "Someone's what? Did I hear that right?"

"Could we please talk about something else?" White suggested rather quickly.

Sapphire thought for a few seconds before turning to look at her junior. "So… you and Black, huh? How long have you known each other?"

"A couple of years now," White replied. "How long have you known Ruby?"

Sapphire glanced back at Ruby, who was jotting down ideas for a new outfit. "Eh… 10 years now? We met when we were like… 6, so yeah." She looked back at White with a teasing smile on her face. "So… do you like Black?"

White started to blush and timidly looked away. "Well… um… That's…"

The Hoenn girl let out a laugh. "Ha, so you do like him! Does he like you back, or did he conveniently forget about that?"

"I wonder where you could possibly be going with this," came Ruby's sarcastic remark.

"Shut it!" Sapphire snapped again.

"C – Could we talk about something else?" White suggested again.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?!"

"Um… d – do you really think this whole Gym challenge is going to help me?"

Sapphire shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Winning a series of battles against well known people like the Gym Leaders can give you a nice boost to confidence and self-esteem. Unless you get destroyed. Then it does the exact opposite."

Ruby let out a sigh. "You're not being helpful, Sapphire."

Sapphire looked at White's expression and noticed that she looked incredibly nervous. It appeared that she was trying to think of an alternative, as if she was even afraid to try the Gym challenges.

"Oops. I mean… um…" The Hoenn girl scratched her head as she thought of something to say. "… You'll do fine!"

Ruby rolled his eyes and walked over towards White. He sat beside her and gave her a pat to the back. "Don't worry about it. We'll help you in this challenge. And this senseless barbarian can even train you between Gym Battles."

"Yeah!" Sapphire said cheerfully. "… Wait, what? Ruby, you bastard!"

"… Could you two please not argue once every 5 seconds?" White asked. "But thank you. I really appreciate your help." She looked over at Sapphire with an embarrassed look on her face. "Um… could you… not tell Black about…"

"Oh. Yeah, sure. No problem. I'll tell no one."

A few minutes of awkward silence later, Black returned with his friend.

"Miss President, Cheren's here and he agreed to have a battle with you," the boy yelled as he barged through the door.

Ruby and Sapphire stood up to meet the Unova trainer. Once the basic introductions have passed, the group headed out to Black's backyard where the practice Gym Battle would occur.

White nervously stood on her side of the battlefield, carefully eyeing her surroundings. Black's friend, named Cheren, stood on the opposite side. Sapphire sat down on the grass next to the battlefield, where she'll have a good view of the battle. Black was about to do the same when Ruby stopped him.

"Black, while White has her practice battle, I will make you unrecognizable, as agreed," Ruby said.

"What? I'm not going to watch Miss President?" Black asked.

"Huh? Black's not going to support me?" White asked at the same time.

"Relax, she'll be fine," Ruby said to Black. He then turned his attention to White. "Relax, you'll do fine!"

"She's not deaf, you idiot," Sapphire commented.

"Quiet, you."

Sapphire rolled her eyes as Ruby dragged Black back into the house. Thanks to him, White appeared even more nervous now. She probably felt alone now, without Black's support. But the battle commenced anyways.

The battle started with White sending out her green banana-like Pokémon and Cheren sending out his peacock-like Pokémon. Sapphire had no clue what those Pokémon were, but based on the color and appearance, she could tell that White had the type disadvantage. And it appeared that Cheren was determined to try his best in this battle.

White appeared to be panicking. Her Pokémon was taking many hits and looked on the verge of losing. Sapphire wanted to suggest something, but decided against it, as White needed to overcome the challenge herself. But in her time of need, the Unova Dex Holder pulled through with a well placed Leaf Storm that got boosted by Overgrow.

Cheren swapped his Pokémon to a big dog Pokémon. White swapped hers out for a small, floating green blob thing. The dog charged forward for a Take Down. The green blob thing stopped it with Psychic and threw it far away.

The battle continued for a few minutes. Sapphire soon lost interest. With so many Pokémon she never even heard of, using attacks that she never knew existed (what was the difference between Leaf Tornado and Leaf Storm?), the battle was understandably difficult to fully follow. But eventually, White's green banana-like Pokémon hit another strong Leaf Storm boosted by Overgrow to knock out Cheren's dog Pokémon, thus winning the battle.

Cheren returned his Pokémon and began to applaud. "Congratulations, White. You won!"

White blinked a few times. "I… I won? … I won!" She ran over to her Pokémon and embraced it. "We won, Amanda! We won!"

Sapphire clapped her hands a few times to congratulate her junior. "See? I told you you'd do fine! Feel better about yourself now?"

White looked over at her senior. "A little, yes. Thank you for the support."

"I'm sure Black would be glad to know that you won," Sapphire said. She then turned to look back at the house. "Speaking of which, I wonder what Ruby's doing to him…"

Within a minute, White, Sapphire, and Cheren sat by the dinner table, waiting for Ruby and Black to return from wherever they went.

"I'm not going out there like this! This is crazy!" came Black's voice from behind a door.

"Stop your whining! These clothes look perfect!" came Ruby's reply.

"What? I look stupid!"

"Nonsense! You look fabulous!"

"If people see me like this…"

"The whole point of this was so that people won't recognize you. And I've done my job spectacularly! Now go out there and show it off!"

"N – No, I think I'd rather-"

"Out you go!"

The door burst open and Black fell out from the room. The boy hesitantly got back to his feet and faced the 'crowd' sitting by the dinner table. Sapphire burst into laughter. Cheren started to chuckle, and White giggled uncontrollably, trying and failing to contain her laughter.

Black was now wearing a blue jacket with short sleeves and high collar, loose fitting gray shorts and rather tight blue striped black pants/leggings/thing that didn't quite reach his socks. If he was wearing socks, anyways. And his hair was all over the place, clearly sticking out of his hat/cap thing that appeared like an accountant's hat.

"And there you go! A brand new Black!" Ruby said as he stepped out of the room.

"He looks ridiculous!" Sapphire laughed out. "… No offense."

Ruby shook his head. "That is an offense," he said to Sapphire. "I put a lot of effort into those clothes!"

"Oh, sure," Black muttered. "She calls me ridiculous and you're the one who's insulted…" He looked over at White. "Miss President, what do you think?"

White forced herself to calm down and looked at her friend from head to toe. Sapphire and Ruby watched her expression, trying to gauge her reaction.

"I'm sorry Black, but you look… really different," White blurted out. She put her hands to her mouth to stop herself from laughing, but lost the fight and burst into a fit of laughter.

"How is your hair standing up like that?" Cheren asked.

Ruby pulled out a can from his bag. "By using something I borrowed from and forgot to return to a fellow Hoenn Dex Holder the last time we met! Hair gel!"

…

Meanwhile, Earl's Academy, Violet City, Johto…

…

"Damn it, where is it?!"

"Emerald, what happened to your hair?"

Emerald looked back and spotted Crystal looking over at him with an amused look on her face. The boy quickly turned away in embarrassment.

"I lost my spare can of hair gel!" he blurted out. "It's gone! And I need it!"

"I think you look cute right now," Crystal said.

Emerald groaned. "More the reason for me to find it!"

"Did someone take it by accident?" the Johto Dex Holder suggested.

"No, the last time I saw it…" Emerald trailed off, having thought of something. "Wait… that sissy Ruby wanted to borrow it a few weeks back for his sissy contest. He must've kept it! That bastard!"

"Emerald! Watch your language! I told you to not use any bad language in front of the orphans!"

"But… I am an orphan! From this very orphanage!" Emerald argued as he turned to face his senior.

"Act like one then! You've been hanging around with Gold too much!" Crystal scolded with her hands at her hips.

"Not nearly as much as you!" Emerald argued back.

Crystal didn't immediately reply and Emerald mentally celebrated a victory. It's not every day where he beat her in an argument. And he cherished each moment. Crystal shook her head. She was officially giving up and accepting defeat. Such a precious, golden moment.

"… But speaking of which, there's something I need you and the… hell raiser orphans to do," she said slowly. "Something that shames me a little, but must be done…"

…

Back in Nuvema Town, Unova…

…

"Emerald's not going to be happy about you using up his hair gel," Sapphire said.

Ruby shrugged. "What is he going to do? Find us all the way out here? Besides, he doesn't need it." He patted Black on the back. "Now then. What are we going to do next?"

"I think the first thing you should do is come up with pseudonyms," Cheren said as he looked at both Black and White. "You don't want to call each other by names that people might recognize."

"Good point," Ruby muttered. "Fake names… fake names… Okay, why not use names of existing people? Like Red and Blue?"

"You are not going to use Red's name!" Sapphire yelled. "That name is off limits! Why not Green and Blue?"

Ruby glanced at Black. "No, he doesn't look like a Green. He'll need to be cold and heartless for that."

"Gold and Crystal, then?" Sapphire suggested.

Ruby glanced at White. "No, she doesn't look nearly as serious to look like a Crystal."

Sapphire grinned. "I'm telling on you the next time we see them."

Ruby glared at her, who happily ignored him. "… Don't you dare."

The Hoenn girl let out a sigh. "… We are so damn uncreative, using names of people we know as pseudonyms."

Ruby snapped his fingers. "I got it! See, this is what separates me, the smart civilized person, from you, a complete barbarian. Black and White, you two will now be known as Nate and Rosa. What do you think?"

Black shrugged. White appeared to think for a few moments before nodding.

"I think that'll work," she replied. "Rosa… I'll take it."

"So can we start touring around Unova yet, or what?!" Sapphire yelled out abruptly. "Let's do it! Come on!"

Ruby and Black looked at White, as if they were asking for her permission. The girl glanced at the others for a few seconds before hesitantly nodding.

And thus, the new journey around Unova had finally begun. The four Dex Holders left Nuvema Town with their aerial transport Pokémon in order to make as much progress in the tour/journey as fast as possible.

By 2 pm, the four Dex Holders arrived in Accumula Town, where they had a brief lunch stop. Ruby and Sapphire took this time to get acquainted with their juniors' Pokémon while Black and White took their time to get used to their pseudonyms.

At 3 pm, they arrived in Striaton City, where White had her first official Gym Battle. It was going to be a Triple Battle, so Ruby and Sapphire had to fill in the empty slots. Black could not participate so that the three Gym Leaders couldn't recognize the strategy or Pokémon that Black used during his official challenge. Ruby and Sapphire took supportive roles in the battle so that White could do most of the work. She managed to win the battle in the end without Ruby and Sapphire doing much.

By 4 pm, the four Dex Holders stopped at Nacrene City. Since Lenora had officially retired from Gym Leader work, White didn't challenge the Gym in the city. Instead, the four Dex Holders visited the Nacrene Museum. Surprisingly, Sapphire liked the experience. It was really easy to forget that she is the daughter of a famous professor.

The group headed towards Pinwheel Forest, at Sapphire's suggestion. Ruby, White, and Black soon lost Sapphire in the forest, as the girl opted to explore the forest in the non-conventional method of swinging on tree vines. They only managed to catch up with her because she chose to stop moving and fired a 'signal flare' into the air using her Blaziken's Flamethrower… which almost started a forest fire. Oops.

After the 'tour' through Pinwheel Forest, the four Dex Holders approached the famous Sky Arrow Bridge… which they promptly skipped using their aerial transport Pokémon. So much for the super famous bridge…

Castelia City… finding the Gym itself was much harder than the actual Gym Battle, as White noticed. Burgh had changed the Gym's layout from bee-themed to spider-themed and kept his artwork littered around here and there in the final area. While White battled Burgh, Ruby and Sapphire examined the artwork. This proved… devastating for Burgh.

Sapphire stared at a particular piece of art. Some kind of painting with various colors jumbled up all over the place. It was as if someone just spilled a bunch of ink on a canvas. If this was an intentional piece of art, Sapphire hadn't a clue as to what it was supposed to be.

"What the hell is this?" she muttered out loud, loud enough for Burgh to hear. "Is this what you call art? Is that what those so-called artists draw all day long? This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen!"

Her comments were apparently harmful enough to knock Burgh down to the ground. White took advantage of his distraction and beat his Pokémon down. She then returned her Pokémon and after celebrating her victory with her friends, left the Gym, with Burgh still down on the ground. Sapphire didn't realize that he was 'napping' because of her comments.

Sapphire stretched her limbs as she left the spider's nest of a Gym. "So, Rosa. What do you suggest we do here? It's a big city. There's bound to be something good somewhere, right?"

White nodded. "There are, but… to be honest, I don't know the exact layouts of this city. It's way too big and there are too many people here." She took a glance left and right. "But there is a nice, calm place where we can go. It's called Café Sonata. It's really nice."

"Then lead the way," Ruby said from behind. "I could really use a nice classy place."

"Can we eat dinner there?" Black asked. "It's getting kind of late, and I'm getting hungry."

"Sure," White answered. "I've been there once, and they served food there."

With White in the lead, the four Dex Holders headed towards central Castelia so that they could find the right alleyway. It was getting quite dark (7:30 pm), especially in the alleyways due to the shadows cast by the tall buildings. And in every major city at night, in the alleyways, there were bound to be troubles.

White gasped in shock when three burly men popped out of the shadows in the tight alleyway and surrounded her. She froze when one of them approached her abruptly with a knife in hand.

"You there, give me your wallet!"

"The rest of you!" the other two men said to the other Dex Holders. "Stay back if you want to live!"

Sapphire didn't seem remotely fazed. "Hey, Rosa! Are we there yet? I'm getting hungry!"

White didn't say anything as she kept her hands up. The knife was quite close to her throat, which no doubt greatly limited her options.

Ruby tapped Sapphire on the shoulder and cleared his throat. "Perhaps this is a moment where you should save your junior."

"Huh? Oh right. Hold on." Sapphire stretched her arms. "Alright, Rosa. I'm coming."

"I said stay back!" one of the muggers yelled.

Sapphire yelled back even louder. "Didn't you hear me?! GET OUT OF THE WAY! I'm hungry!"

She charged forward and punched the two muggers in their faces with both of her fists. She then pushed both of them face first into the brick walls forming the alley before dashing over to White. She grabbed her by the shirt and forcefully yanked her backwards, effectively throwing the girl backwards into Ruby and Black, knocking them down to the ground. Afterwards, Sapphire sidestepped to dodge the incoming knife and punched the last remaining mugger in the nose.

Once all three muggers were knocked unconscious, Sapphire shoved the bodies into the nearest trash dump and approached White, who was sitting on the ground, with Black holding her hand. As Sapphire came closer, she could see that White was still technically sitting on Ruby.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked White.

White still looked quite shocked, but managed to nod. Black gently helped her rise to her feet, finally allowing Ruby to get back up. The Hoenn Dex Holder grunted in disgust and wiped away the dirt on his shirt and pants.

"Alright then. Let's keep going towards that café thing," Sapphire said.

"How… how did you do that?" White asked. "You took on three guys, all much bigger than you, one even holding a knife. All by yourself, barehanded, and you still beat them all down easily. How did you do that?"

"That's why she's a barbarian," Ruby said from behind. "Give her a cudgel and she'll fear no enemy. Not that she does to start with. Well, maybe except for one."

Sapphire scowled at him but let it slide. "I do a lot of sparring with my Pokémon. And lots of heavy lifting, I guess. You should give it a try too! I'll let Chaka spar with you if you want."

White quickly shook her head. "That's quite alright. I'm sure your Pokémon would kill me if I tried." She then politely bowed to her senior. "Thank you so much for saving me."

"It's all in the day's work of a senior."

Black and White are using pseudonyms, in their BW2 attire, with their BW2 character names. How freaking uncreative. Well, at least it spares me the effort of thinking of new names that are going to be strictly temporary!

And now, every Dex Holder has made an appearance. Length of said appearance is another issue altogether, but eh, whatever. And Black has changed attire to BW2, just like White.

Ah, screw it. I'll just say it every other chapter. Vote now for the next chapter's segment. The tally shouldn't be too hard, as there are only 6 eligible for the vote thing. If you were a faithful reviewer at one point, and yet your vote doesn't appear in the start of the next chapter, then you were one of the 10+ people who had been revoked in the past three chapters.