New poll on profile. Another survey. What is your gender? Because I want to know if the gender ratio of my readers is evenly distributed, or leaned towards one side.

So, 20% chance of SL being updated in mid-January. Well… obviously, that did not happen. Another 4 month gap between updates, and I really don't want that to continue. So for a while, I'll focus in SL. But I don't want to update too quickly, as that would leave quite a few readers behind.

But I'll just say this. Priority: end SL, therefore ending all of S-EARLY. I don't know how long this will take, though. Even just have 3 more chapters per segments gets SL to chapter 40. So… we'll see.

Segment: Ruby & Sapphire.

Chapter 25: Reversion

April 24, Goldenrod City, Johto, 3:30 pm…

Sapphire kept walking. She just… kept walking. So many thoughts were bouncing around in her head, and she felt quite dizzy.

Ruby had a girlfriend already? But he had never mentioned it, ever. And yet, here was Emily now, and Ruby's expression told her that he knew who this girl was. Sapphire felt so betrayed…

Tears kept welling in her eyes. Sapphire rubbed them as she kept walking. Her head told her that something else was going on, and that she should talk to Ruby. But her heart was still hurting from the sudden betrayal. She needed time. She needed time alone, and far away from Ruby to sort out her thoughts.

Sapphire soon sent out her Tropius and hopped on. Destination? Nowhere in particular. Just far away from Ruby. That guy could get his own ride.

For a little while, Sapphire headed north. She soon found a tall tower seemingly in the middle of a forest, and decided to land on its roof. She had no way of knowing that it was the Tin Tower, where landing on it may lead to fiery repercussions. She only chose it because it was the optimal place to land. That way, she would be left completely alone while she gathered her thoughts, and the amazing view of Johto would definitely calm her down significantly.

Sapphire returned her Tropius and sat on the edge of the roof. She looked straight ahead and saw as far as Goldenrod City. For a brief moment, she didn't think about anything and just enjoyed the fresh air and the sights. But eventually, her thoughts wandered towards Ruby and Emily.

It was definitely strange. Sapphire had spent pretty much all day every day with Ruby for the past several years. And she never got the impression that Ruby had another girlfriend. He never avoided the subject about what he did in Johto, and it sounded as if he had nothing to hide. Sapphire was certain that she knew Ruby so well that she could read his thoughts based on expression alone. And right now, she felt that Ruby was just as shocked about this as she was.

Which meant he probably forgot about Emily for all these years. And even if he did remember, he had no reason to mention her, because there would be nothing to gain from it. He wasn't going to restart the relationship or anything. He lived in Hoenn now. She lived in Johto. They haven't seen each other in many years. There would be nothing to restart.

Sapphire crossed her arms and thought. Ruby had the tendency to keep her in the dark about cataclysmic incidents. And that was because he cared for her and didn't want her in danger. Meaning, there was no way that Ruby would do anything to hurt her feelings. Occasional jokes aside, he always showed care for her. There was no way that he would still have feelings for this Emily and hid it from her all these years.

And this Emily too. She said that she used to date Ruby. Used to. And though that kiss on the cheek was quite annoying to think about, Sapphire was sure that there was nothing going on between her and Ruby. Or at least, not anymore. Otherwise, Emily would've done a lot more than a quick kiss on the cheek. That sort of thing didn't mean love. Sapphire could do it to Emerald and have it not mean anything beyond friendship (not that she would, as it would anger both of them).

Sapphire let out a long sigh of relief. She was over 90% certain that she was just overreacting. All she had to do was talk to Ruby and listen to his explanations. And given how she had walked out on him and abandoned him in Goldenrod, he would probably be much nicer to her too.

But there was one issue. Namely, herself. This… was another close call, in her view. While she spent so much time with Ruby, overall, she felt that there was minimal progress in her relationship with him. And yet, more and more rivals appeared as time passed. First Lisia, then a pack of his followers in Hoenn, and now Emily. And based on what Sapphire could see, Ruby was nice to them. That gave her constant fear that one day, Ruby would like them more than her. Right now, he definitely seemed to like her more, but… how long until that changed?

Sapphire had thought about this a few times in the past. What was it that allowed the other girls to get closer to Ruby in the span of a few days than Sapphire herself did in a year? Thinking about that narrowed the answer down to the difference between herself and the other girls. Sapphire briefly thought about the other notable girls that Ruby had encountered.

Lisia. She was definitely… lively and enthusiastic. In that regard, she wasn't that much different than Sapphire. A notable difference was that Lisia obviously focused on Contests. So that was a factor.

The various followers in Hoenn. Like Lisia, they were focused on Contests, and they were quite enthusiastic as well. Sapphire was there when Ruby was visited by a dozen Contest rookies. She saw each one, and they weren't all that much different than Lisia.

Emily. Based on that short encounter, Sapphire figured that she wasn't too lively. After all, if Sapphire ran into Red all of a sudden, she would've been much more active.

White. Though she was a junior Dex Holder, Ruby seemed to have gotten quite friendly with her very quickly. Was that because White was crestfallen when they first met and Ruby was kind enough to get her to feel better? Or was it because there was something about White had made Ruby like her much more?

Sapphire's thoughts moved on to herself. Was there something wrong with her? … Well… yes, in comparison with the other girls, but was that the issue? Was she just too aggressive? Lisia, the Contest rookies, Emily, and White were all… gentle. That was the only difference that did not contradict.

What else could be the issue? Sapphire knew that she wasn't ugly. She had never looked into a mirror after that Salamence incident, but based on what she could overhear, she was deemed quite attractive. Every time there was a group of challengers in the Fortree City Gym and she was there visiting, she would overhear whispers about how she looked attractive.

And that was another thing. Ruby had female Contest rookies visiting him and trying to get close to him. But Sapphire did not have anyone trying to get close to her. Why? If she was attractive and was respected so much for all that she had done, surely, there would be a line of guys trying to get close to her. Something warded them off. And it was probably what made Ruby become friendly to the other girls.

Sapphire sighed again. It was her aggressive nature. Her liveliness and enthusiasm sometimes got exaggerated into aggression, and that was the problem. She wasn't… girly in terms of behavior or language. So if she changed all that, then maybe Ruby would get much closer to her much faster. It wouldn't be too hard. Sapphire had seen plenty of girly girls to know what to do.

She focused on her memories now. How did Blue act when they first meet? What about Yellow or Crystal? What about Lisia or the other girls? How did White act when she was regaining her confidence?

'Okay… I can do this.' Sapphire proceeded to rise to her feet but stopped. She was about to jump up to her feet. A sign of aggression, perhaps. So she purposely slowed down and gently rose to her feet. She sent out her Tropius once more. And instead of hopping on or running towards it, she slowly walked over and climbed on. "Let's get out of here," she said calmly. "Let's try… Kanto. I hear there's a Department Store somewhere there, so let's look for that."

The Tropius slowly lifted off and headed towards Kanto. Sapphire thought about her plan. In order to act more… girly, she had to gather more information. To do that, she had to observe the behaviors and languages of the other girls. The time she had spent with White was a big hint, but it definitely wasn't enough. Sapphire had gathered enough information from observing wild Pokémon to know that a limited sample size didn't give accurate information. So she needed to observe more girls. And the best place for that? Either Goldenrod Department Store, or the one in Kanto. Since Ruby was still probably stuck in Goldenrod, the one in Kanto was more ideal. Sapphire didn't want to see Ruby until she had perfected in being girly. And from there, hopefully everything would work out well.

…

Ruby waited until another revolution finished and quickly scanned where Sapphire had been. He couldn't see her anymore, and instead, saw a small dot flying away. He soon realized that it was Sapphire's Tropius, and that the girl had left the city.

'Oh, no… She's going to kill me later…' With a sigh, he proceeded to free himself from Emily's embrace. "Uh… listen. I'm glad to see you too after so many years, but I should get going now."

"Huh? Oh, right." Emily released Ruby and gave him an awkward smile. "Sorry. It's just been so long, and I missed you, you know?" She took a brief glance around. "Hey, where'd your friend go?"

"That's… why I need to get going," Ruby said, scanning the skies where Sapphire's Tropius was last seen.

"Oh, is she your girlfriend?" Emily asked. "If so, then I'll need to explain things to her."

"Explain what?"

"That I'm not trying to take you away from her," Emily answered. "While it's true that we used to date, but that was years ago, and we were kids. You can't take that too seriously. After you moved away, I moved on, and it looks like you did too. I'm not trying to restart anything here. I'm just happy to see an old friend again."

"… Oh. Okay. That's certainly a relief," Ruby muttered with a sigh. "But if Sapphire has the wrong ideas, then… well… … She lives next door to me. If she's super mad at me, I'm just doomed."

"Who is she, anyways?"

Ruby blinked a few times, as he recalled his childhood days. Chronologically, Sapphire came first, then the Salamence incident, then Emily, then Hoenn and Sapphire again.

"It's… a long story, but basically, she's my first friend. Then a certain incident happened and we didn't see each other for a long while, and when I moved to Hoenn, we… met again." He cleared his throat as he provided an additional comment. "She's not my girlfriend, by the way."

Emily didn't look convinced. "Right. Well, she seemed to have a different opinion. And she must be pretty mad to have left you alone here. Do you have any idea where she went?"

Ruby took a glance into the distance. "She went north, so she didn't go home. She probably went somewhere to calm down first. After that, I don't know."

"Can you call her to let her know what's actually happening?"

"She doesn't carry anything like a Pokégear."

"So is there nothing you can do?"

Ruby took out his Pokégear. "I do have an old friend I can call. Let's see if he's feeling cooperative today."

…

Violet City…

…

Emerald checked over the equipment. He had his orders. Sort of. For the past two days, he had led the self-proclaimed hell raiser orphans to scout out the enemy: a fan girl of Gold's. Crystal didn't provide too many details, but Emerald didn't really care. If this fan girl was causing Crystal trouble, then he already had enough reason to target her.

Of course, he wasn't going to cause any serious damage. Just a minor stink carpet bomb over this fan girl's house. Or stink mortar bombing from afar.

The hell raisers have done their part. They covertly stalked the fan girl in question and tracked her to her house. Now it was up to Emerald to send her a message: leave Crystal alone.

Emerald's Pokégear started to vibrate, and he answered while still looking over through the inventory of goods provided by the recovered prank kit.

"Hello?"

"Emerald! How are you doing, friend?" came Ruby's voice from the other side.

"Huh?" Emerald blinked once and his friend's voice registered in his mind. "You! Return my hair gel!" he yelled out abruptly, suddenly recalling his last encounter with him.

"I'm really sorry, but I used up that whole can."

"What?! How could you use that whole can?! That's a whole month worth of hair gel!"

"Come now, friend! You must embrace your true appearance!" Ruby said with a laugh. "I believe both Crystal and Sapphire said you were cute with your hair down."

Emerald simply growled for a short while, suddenly getting the urge to shove a stink bomb in his friend's shirt. "… What do you want?"

"I need your help with something important," Ruby said with a stern voice. "It's related to Sapphire."

"… Good bye," Emerald said as he proceeded to hang up. But Ruby hastily stopped him.

"Please, man!"

Emerald sighed and moved the Pokégear close again. "Why do you need me?"

"Alright, listen. Sapphire and I came to Johto, and in Goldenrod City, I met my old girlfriend."

Emerald realized what had happened and what was about to happen. "… Good bye," he said again.

"Please, dude! I need help! It's a matter of life or death!" Emerald sighed again. Ruby kept begging. "Man… dude… man… Please, man. Friend?"

Emerald rolled his eyes and answered once more. "Why are you talking like that?"

"I just thought I'd get a better response if I talked a little bit like Gold," Ruby answered. "But if it has no effect in convincing you to help me, I shall return to my old charming style."

"… I'm going to hang up now," Emerald declared.

"No, no, no, wait! Okay, I'll explain everything," Ruby said hastily. "I met my old girlfriend, and she hugged and kissed me on the cheek. But it was only because we haven't seen each other in years. Sapphire doesn't realize that, and she flew off on her own. There's no way that she'd listen to me now. But she'd listen to you, right? So please. Find her, and talk to her. Explain things for me, or convince her to talk to me."

"Why am I getting involved in this lover's quarrel?" Emerald muttered.

"Because you're our friend!"

"And how exactly am I supposed to find her? She doesn't carry any electronic device on her with the exception of the Pokédex. So I can't call her. She has her Tropius, so she can fly anywhere. I can't do that. So what am I supposed to do?"

"Use your friends Latias and Latios!" Ruby suggested. "Use the Eon Flute they gave you."

"Are you crazy? I'm not going to use the Eon Flute for something like this!"

"Come on, Rald! They gave you that flute so you can call them whenever you need them! And you need them now!"

"Ah, whatever."

Emerald rolled his eyes and hung up. He shoved his Pokégear back in his pocket and examined the inventory of stuff again. But he couldn't concentrate anymore. Although he hated showing it or saying it, but Ruby and Sapphire were… his closest friends. And though he hated getting caught between their arguments, if anything bad happened to them, he would feel horrible as well. They were meant to be together, so if they split up, he would feel terrible too.

"Ah, damn it," he said with a sigh. "This sissy and barbarian are going to owe me so much for this…"

He packed his belongings and took out the Eon Flute. He stared at the prank kit in front of him and shrugged. He needed aerial transport to carpet bomb the target's house with stink bombs anyways.

He put the flute up to his mouth and slowly played a tune. He was given 3 specific tunes. One would call both Latias and Latios. One would just call Latias, and the other would call just Latios. Emerald had only taught Ruby the tune that would call both of them, as he would only lend the Eon Flute to someone under emergency situations, where both of them would be necessary.

But right now, Emerald was playing the tune to call Latias. Latias was more… playful, and would definitely agree to something like this. Latios would not.

Within a few minutes, a small figure suddenly appeared in front of him, deactivating its invisibility.

\ \Hi, Rald!\ \ Latias said through telepathy with a smile and a wave. \ \Why did you call me?\ \

Emerald put the Eon Flute away and cleared his throat. "Well… there's a… little task where I need your help. And then I'll need your help in finding Sapphire."

\ \Oh. Sure thing, Rald!\ \

Latias lowered itself and Emerald carefully climbed on. After ensuring that he had everything, he gave Latias the signal to go and the Eon Pokémon flew up high.

\ \What's that awful smell, Rald?\ \ Latias asked as it flew to where Emerald was pointing.

Emerald took out a few stink bombs from the prank kit. Or rather, the Li'l Bastard General Mischief Kit. "This… is the task," he said. "I need you to fly over a specific house and then… bombs away!"

\ \That's awful. Why would you do that?\ \

"It sends a message without doing any permanent harm."

\ \I don't know, Rald. That just seems awful. I don't want to do that…\ \

"Did Latios warn you to not do anything… mischievous?"

\ \Yes. If brother finds out about this…\ \

Emerald put the prank kit away. "Alright, alright. In that case, let's just go find Sapphire. I'll find a way to carry out my task tomorrow."

\ \Any idea where she might be?\ \

"Ruby said that she was with him in Goldenrod City before she flew off on her Tropius, so… let's begin looking. Tropius isn't native in Johto or Kanto, so if you see one, that's Sapphire's."

\ \No problem. Hang on, Rald. We're going to find Sapphire in record time!\ \

So, here's the thing with SL. It's the story which most people complain about (and quite a few just stopped reading entirely). And yet, it's the story in which the most amount of people demand an update. So the best thing would be to… speed up the updates. That way, SL ends faster (so it's not dragged out), and those who want updates get what they want.

And another thing. It seemed that quite a lot of people wanted evil things happening for the Ruby & Sapphire segment. That is not going to happen. Practically, SL has no space for such shenanigans, and realistically, the bond between Ruby and Sapphire is unbreakable. As a result, only a minor incident occurs. Like Sapphire changing her behavior to see how that works. If this requires further explanation, it will be on my Tumblr.

Next up: … Let's go back to the Kanto segment, and the end of Blue's rampancy cycle.