Ruby and Sapphire holler in shock as soon as they see each other, and Briney asks Ruby if he knows the girl. Sapphire quickly introduces herself, and says she is the rival of Ruby. She explains that she is on a journey to conquer all eight badges in Hoenn, and gives a sarcastic giggle when she says that Ruby is at the same time working to win all Pokémon contests. She tells the old man about their 80-day pact of rivalry, and Ruby suddenly notices Sapphire is wearing the clothes he made her. He grins that she is finally joining the civilized community, and Sapphire gets upset. She proudly shows her Stone Badge and asks if Ruby has earned any contests ribbons so far. Ruby blushes with embarrassment, and snaps back that he hasn't come across any towns that hold contests yet. The two continue to bicker at each other as Briney looks on, confused. The two then decide it's no use arguing, and turn their backs on each other.

Ruby politely thanks Briney for the ride, then turns around to walk into Dewford alongside Sapphire. Sapphire scoffs at Ruby for following her, and Ruby shoots back that she is the one following him. Later, the two arrive in front of the Granite Cave and see two separate tunnels. After another slight bickering, Ruby takes the one on the left and Sapphire starts climbing up the one on the right, with both Chaka and Zuzu running out of breath chasing their trainers.

In the left tunnel of the Granite Cave, Ruby pulls out the Encyclopedia of Hoenn Water Pokémon given to him by Mr. Briney. He recalls the old man introducing to him Hoenn's most exotic and rare water Pokémon, Milotic, and once again dreams about winning all beauty contests with the elegant water serpent. Although the habitat of Milotic is unknown, Ruby has decided to search all water areas until he finds one. He releases Nana, Coco and Zuzu, and orders them to start searching for traces of water in the cave. They soon arrive at an underground lake, and Ruby remarks that such a beautiful place should house equally beautiful Pokémon. A swarm of Zubats and Golbats suddenly fly out from a cave, followed by a pack of Geodudes and Gravellers rumbling through the tunnel, and Ruby immediately gets disheartened at the sight of the ugly Pokémon. He then hears a stir from behind, and turns around to find a group of Mawiles staring up at him with innocent eyes.

Ruby kneels down and compliments on their cuteness, but then the Mawile standing in front spins its back towards the boy and gaps its jaws wide. Nana quickly jumps in to save its trainer and gets clamped between the steel jaws. Ruby tries to reach out for the little Poochyena, but the other Mawiles start attacking him as well. Just as the jaws are about to close in on him, Steven appears out of nowhere to scoop him up to a small cliff above. Ruby thanks him for helping out, and Steven remarks that Mawiles often trick their prey with their cute faces, then attack them with their steel jaws which are actually horns that have transformed. Nana suddenly begins to glow, and Ruby watches in shock. Coco accidentally touches a stone on Steven's belt with its tail, and starts glowing as well.

Steven tells Ruby that his two Pokémon are about to evolve, and says he could lend their help to take care of the gang of Mawiles. He introduces himself to Ruby, and the boy watches with bewilderment as Coco dashes out towards Nana while still glowing...

Thanks To Coronis For Writing this for us