Another morning has arrived in Hoenn and sunlight is starting to pour into the little cave deep in the woods of Route 101. Sapphire groggily wakes up from her long rest as her little Torchic hops around her happily. The girl stretches out herself and discovers that the wounds on her back have all subsided. She notices a pile of fancy clothes nearby, and opens the letter on top to read yet another mockery message from her new rival, Ruby. The boy once again made fun of her barbarian behaviours and remarked that he has made her some civilized attire to wear. Sapphire immediately fumes with fury, but just as quickly starts to blush as she realizes the boy must have measured her size in someway after she fainted.

On his way to Oldale Town, a high-spirited Ruby takes in a deep breath of the countryside's fresh air as Nana, Coco and Ruru joyfully gather around him. The boy turns to take a look at his new team member, Mudkip, and starts to frown. The water Pokémon has been given to him by Prof. Birch, and yet he still haven't figured out a contest department that the little mud fish could possibly specialize in. Ruby's Poochyena, Nana, has been trained to take care of the coolness category, his Skitty, Coco, in cuteness, and his Ralts, Ruru, in smartness. Looking at his three well-groomed Pokémon and then at the silly Mudkip which always seem to have a running nose, the boy decides to demonstrate to the little Pokémon skills that it should learn to acquire if it were to excel in Pokémon contests.

Flipping out a microphone from his bagpack, Ruby gives his introductory speech as Coco hops onto the bridge in front and begins to strut with its tail swinging back and forth. It then rolls on it back and hugs its tail to finish the act. Ruby tells Mudkip to give it a try, but the little Pokémon doesn't seem to catch the essence of showing off and keeps looking sillier and sillier. The boy gets upset and says contest Pokémons have to move with the grace of swaying leaves. He tries to illustrate it by brushing on the leaves from the tree behind, but immediately screams in horror as he realizes he has grabbed onto the wings of an angry Dustox instead.

Back in Norman's flat in Littleroot Town, Ruby's mom is devastated to know that her son has run away from home. Prof. Birch seems annoyed at Ruby's erratic behaviour as well, and Sapphire explains that the boy took away the Pokédex and left behind everything else. Ruby's mom calls her husband at the Petalburg Gym, and Birch cuts in to help explain the situation when she starts to lose the words. Norman, however, is far too angry to listen after hearing the news, and crushes the receiver with his hand before the professor could finish.

Meanwhile, Ruby is still running for his life from the angry Dustox. The Pokédex in his pocket begins to beep and the boy realizes he has accidentally taken Prof. Birch's high-tech Pokémon record device with him. The poison moth all of a sudden speeds in front of Nana, Coco and Ruru, and releases a powder from its wings to knock out the three Pokémon. Ruby learns from the Pokédex that it is the poison dust that could render a pro wrestler sick, and quickly recalls his Pokémons. Just then, Mudkip catches up and the boy is annoyed and at the same time surprised that the little mud fish's slow feet gave it the chance to escape Dustox's poison shower. The poison moth begins to double team and Ruby hurriedly grabs Mudkip. He narrowly avoids a psybeam and jumps under the bridge for shelter. Yet the Dustox seems to be able to detect his hiding place every time and keeps firing powerful psybeams. Ruby reads from the Pokédex that the wild Pokémon's antennae are doing all the sensing and thinks hard on a plan to get out of the situation.

Mudkip closes its eyes and the fin on its head begins to sway left and right. All of a sudden, it leaps off Ruby's arms and knocks out the Dustox with a water gun in one shot. Amazed, Ruby wonders how Mudkip knew the position of its foe and once again, the Pokédex alerts him of the fact that Mudkips emit radar from the fin on their heads to detect the environment. Ruby realizes the Pokédex is one handy tool he will need to survive in Hoenn's wild Pokémon kingdom, and is thankful that he unknowingly took it with him. The boy turns to Mudkip and begins to look at it with a new fondness. He decides to call it Zuzu since it constantly makes a similar sound with its running nose. Although he still couldn't think of an appropriate contest category to train it in, he knows that with its talents would turn up some day. With Mudkip clinging onto his shoulder, Ruby activates the motor in his running shoes and heads towards the next city.

At the same time, back in Littleroot Town, Sapphire is about to set out on her own journey. Reluctantly pulling on the clothes Ruby made her, the girl calls out to her father, and the professor is shocked to see his daughter dressed up in proper clothing. Birch realizes his young lady is about to embark on her own adventure, and gives her his best wishes. Sapphire tells him to take care of himself and calls out to her Torchic, Chaka, and Aron, Ronono. She leaps out from the balcony of the room, and begins to swing her way through the woods with the help of the low hanging vines of the giant trees. Birch wishes his daughter good luck one last time as he watches her disappear into vast jungle outside...

Countdown to our heroes' rival showdown: 79 days!

Thanks To Coronis For Writing this for us