Ruby (Adventures)

Ruby (Japanese: ルビー Ruby) is the eighth main character of the manga series Pokémon Adventures. As a counterpart to Sapphire, Ruby has a great passion for Pokémon Contests. While he's an excellent battler, he only fights when necessary and when no one's looking. He believes that Pokémon battles are barbaric, and get his Pokémon dirty—something that he hates.

His first Pokémon were Skitty, Poochyena, and Ralts, all given by his father Norman; his "starter" Pokémon was a Mudkip which he received from Professor Birch.

Ruby has admitted to have a crush on his rival Sapphire.

Personality

Ruby's extremely good at sewing and knitting. He makes clothes for all his Pokémon to wear, and even made Sapphire the clothes she wears for much of her adventures. He is shortsighted and wears contacts to correct his eyes as he is too vain to wear glasses. His other hobby is photography. He has a photo album of all of his Pokémon's biggest moments - such as evolutions or contest victories. He's not shy about showing it off, either. He's always lying to Sapphire about not being powerful enough, but then, his secret is revealed when he tries to save Sapphire from the Grumpig stampede.

Ruby can be quite shallow at times, putting too much emphasis on outward appearances. He even once kicked Mimi out of his party for not being beautiful enough. Recently, however, Mimi returned to Ruby and, after being mocked by Archie for being weak and ugly, Ruby declared that Mimi had inner beauty and it evolved into a Milotic.

Character history

Past

Ruby was born in Goldenrod City, Johto. His father was Norman, who was an aspiring gym leader. He met Sapphire once, and the young Ruby and Sapphire had a lot of fun with each other, until their fun was interrupted by a Salamence. Acting quickly, Ruby was able to knock it out with his Pokémon, but got his forehead split open in the process. It was his fault that his father failed the Gym Leader Test because the Salamence broke into Rayquaza's containment area and set it free. At that time, Rayquaza was being held by the Pokémon Association near the place he and Sapphire were playing. Sapphire ran away crying, and later came to realize she ruined Ruby's dignity, and vowed to become stronger. Ruby, on the other hand, realized he had been too brutal, and promised to suppress his strength in battle.

Ruby & Sapphire arc

On his eleventh birthday, Ruby and his mother moved to Littleroot Town, Hoenn. Ruby was displeased with this decision as he preferred Johto's modern cities over Hoenn's rural countryside. After getting to the small town, Ruby ran away as he didn't want to face his father, who didn't approve of Ruby's hobby of Pokémon Contests. Just as he left the town, he met Professor Birch, who was attacked by two Mightyena. Ruby refused to battle, stating his reason was because he didn't want his Pokémon dirty. Instead, he asked the two dark types to join him on his quest to conquer the contests of Hoenn. However, they started to chase him. Ruby still didn't fear him and instead picked up Birch's nearby Pokédex and used it to learn about Mightyena.

Amazed by the fact that the Mightyena were evolved, he sent out his Nana, a Poochyena, and showed off her elegant moves against the stronger Pokémon. However, the attacks did no damage and Ruby and Birch were forced to run from the wild Pokémon. Due to the Running Shoes that had been given to him by his parents for his birthday, Ruby got ahead of Birch and fell off a cliff and was knocked unconscious. Fortunately, a mysterious Pokémon caught him and brought him into its cave.

Ruby was soon awakened by the lick of Nana. Upon waking up, he received a call on Professor Birch's Poké Gear from the researcher himself. Ruby explained where he was and Birch introduced himself formally. During the conversation, Ruby realized that Birch was a friend of his father but the man didn't know that the boy had ran away yet.

The Pokémon the noticed that Ruby was awake and spoke to him. Shocked, Ruby backed up in fear and Nana attacked it. The Pokémon then revealed itself to be a human girl. She attacked Nana with her Torchic. In order to help the boy, Birch told him to take out the Template:Type2 Pokémon Mudkip out of his bag. Ruby was disappointed by the lack of coolness and beauty in the Pokémon, but stated that it could be in a tough contest. Ruby refused to battle, which angered the girl. It was at that point that Birch realized that it was his daughter Sapphire that Ruby was fighting. As Birch explained this to Ruby, the reception between the two was lost. Moments later, the two children were attacked by a Seviper.

Ruby still refused to fight, forcing Sapphire to defeat the Tail Snake Pokémon all by herself. After this the two got into an argument over their interests, which made Sapphire ask Ruby to take a bet. The two would go on a journey and see who would reach their goals in 80 days. Ruby agreed and then Sapphire fainted from the damage that she received from the battle with the Mightyena. Realizing the girl was hurt, Ruby helped her and left her some new clothes. Before he left, the Seviper awakened, but Ruby released a mysterious light from a Poké Ball and the Seviper fell to the floor.

After leaving the cave, Ruby came to a bridge, where he showed his new Mudkip how to perform in a contest. When he had the Water type try for itself, they were attacked by a Dustox. He and his party ran away and Ruby noticed that he had accidentally forgotten to give back Birch's Pokédex. The machine then scanned the Bug type and Ruby learned that it was incredibly powerful. However, Mudkip saved them with his Water Gun and Ruby nicknamed it Zuzu. He then set off yet again.

The next day, Ruby arrived in Petalburg City. He headed through the city carefully so that he wouldn't be found by his father. However, he came across a sickly boy named Wally, who had been attacked by a Nuzleaf while trying to catch a Pokémon. After receiving a complement from the other boy, Ruby quickly offered to try and catch a Pokémon for him. However, Ruby learned that his dad was coming to help Wally do the task!

Upon seeing his father come, Ruby grabbed Wally and jumped into a nearby bush. Wally, however, came out and asked Norman if he would help him catch a Pokémon but the gym leader said that he wouldn't because Wally was too ill to journey with one. Although his father nearly caught him, Ruby was able to stay hidden, but when he came out of hiding he found Wally unconscious on the ground.

Ruby took the sick boy home and that night the two left home and Ruby promised to let Wally use his Ruru in order to catch a Pokémon. The two found a Kecleon, which Wally was determined to catch. Although Wally failed to catch it many times, Ruby stuck by him and was given a PokéNav as thanks. After Wally caught Kecleon, the area they were in was struck by an earthquake and Ruby fell into the sea. Thankfully though, he was saved by Mr. Briney, who took him to Dewford Island.

After arriving on Dewford, he once again met up with Sapphire and went into the Granite Cave in order to find the powerful, yet beautiful Water type Pokémon Milotic. However, he instead found a bunch of Mawile. He, however, was saved by Steven Stone. During the battle with the Mawile, Ruby's Nana and Coco evolved. After the battle, Ruby left the Island by riding Sapphire's Walo. One night, they stopped at the Abandoned Ship on Route 109. There, Ruby and Sapphire teamed up with a Plusle and a Minun to fight Team Magma. After this fight, the two trainers left the Electric types behind.

Soon, Ruby was let off Walo at Slateport City. There, his Zuzu evolved into Marshtomp, which attracted the notice of the Hoenn Pokémon Fan Club Chairman, who took Ruby to the Contest Hall, where they made Poké Blocks with Captain Stern before being taken away by Team Magma, who was targeting Stern. Ruby fought against Mack in the S.S. Kaien 1 in order to free the Chairman and Stern.

After winning, he drifted away from Slateport and landed on Route 118, where he caught a Feebas before being attacked by a Zangoose and a Seviper. Ruby and the Swimmer that he had befriended escaped into the Weather Institute, where Ruby was found by Norman.

The father and son had a showdown between the two, which resulted in Ruby falling off the Weather Institute but was saved by Norman, who gave Ruby permission to participate in contests. Overjoyed, Ruby headed off with Maryann and Tyler, a pair of interviewers who had witnessed the battle between Ruby and his father, to Verdanturf Town. There, he participated in, and won, all of the normal rank contests. After inning he spotted Wally in the crowd and chased after him, only to find out it was not Wally, but his cousin Wanda.

Soon, Ruby, Tyler and Maryann heard of a riot caused by Whismur. They went to the Rusturf Tunnel to investigate and fought against Team Magma's Marge. After a long battle, Ruby and his two new comrades headed towards Fallarbor Town.

Upon arriving in the small, Ruby immediately entered the Tough, Cool, Cute and Smart categories of the Super Rank contests. However, he was too late to enter the Beauty category and was forced to watch. During the Beauty category, he fell in love with Wallace's performance and, afterward, asked the older man to be his master. Although Wallace originally, he changed his mind after witnessing Ruby battle. The two then headed for Fortree City, where Wallace was to meet up with the other gym leaders.

After arriving in the city, Ruby meet up with Sapphire again and battled against a group of Grumpig, during witch Sapphire realized that Ruby wasn't as weak as he claimed to be. This lead to the biggest argument between the two and Sapphire telling Ruby that she never anted to see him again.

Due to this argument, Ruby ran from Fortree and went to the flooded Slateport City and participating in all the Hyper Rank contests. He won all of them too, but lost to Wallace in the beauty category, which lead to Ruby telling Mimi that she was ugly after which Mimi ran away from Ruby, who cried himself unconscious.

When he awoke, he was feeling bad about what he had done when he saw Sapphire on TV, along with her new Relicanth, which he recognized as the Pokémon that Mr. Briney said could dive deep into the sea. Realizing that he was the only one who knew this, Ruby left the first aid station and saved a blind boy's Magikarp that he had initially thought was Mimi. The boy then made Ruby realize that he should help out in the crisis that was happening in Hoenn and Ruby then sent a letter to Wallace stating that he would fight against the Ancient Pokémon.

Wallace drove Ruby in his air car to Sapphire's location. He then explained to everyone that Relicanth could take him and Sapphire to the Seafloor Cavern. They then dived under the sea together, their goal to defeat Maxie and Archie.

At the bottom of the sea, the young pair squared off against Maxie and Archie but were horribly defeated. They were then taken to Mirage Island, where the trained and learned that they had absorbed the Blue and Red Orbs.

Just before leaving Mirage Island. Sapphire told a shocked Ruby that she liked him. Before Ruby could respond, they had to leave and he didn't get to tell that he felt the same way until they reached Sootopolis City, where he pushed Sapphire away in order to protect her. Ruby then left with Marge in order to fight against Maxie, Archie and the Ancient Pokémon Groudon and Kyogre.

After Marge's death, Ruby reunited with Mimi, who then evolved into a Milotic. Sapphire then came to the battle field and the two rivals charged up Plusle and Minun and finally defeated Archie and Maxie. Ruby then used Celebi to restore peace.

The next day was the eightieth day of the bet and Ruby had succeed in his goal of getting all of the ribbons in Hoenn. He then ran off into the sunset with Sapphire to Littleroot Town, where a party was awaiting them.

Emerald arc

Almost a year later, Ruby, along with Sapphire, was sent to the Battle Frontier by Professor Birch to help out the third Pokédex holder Emerald in his quest to save Jirachi from Guile Hideout. They first met up with the boy at the Battle Dome but it soon became clear that he resented them. So, in order to get to know Emerald, the two entered the Battle Dome tournament. Ruby fought Emerald in the semi-finals but lost. He did however help Emerald's Sceptile regain its memories of its past with Professor Birch. He and Sapphire where then kicked out of the Battle Dome by Emerald.

Outside, the two ran into Palace Maven Spenser, who recognized Sapphire as a person who had held the Blue Orb. Ruby found this odd and recorded this encounter with the power of the Memory Lighter that he had been given from Marge. After Guile Hideout captured Jirachi, Ruby and Sapphire teamed up with Noland and Emerald and challenged the Battle Tower as a four man team.

On the top floor, the team found Anabel brainwashed and under the control of Guile Hideout. With the use of Latios and Latias shared sight ability, Spenser informed the trio of Pokédex Holders that Guile had touched the Blue Orb, forcing Guile to reveal his true identity as Archie. After Archie summoned the Great Sea Beast to flood the Battle Frontier, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald where joined by Crystal and Gold, who revealed that Ruby and Sapphire needed Jirachi to revive their senior Pokédex Holders Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Silver, who had all been petrified by a beam that was meant for Deoxys at the end of the FireRed and LeafGreen arc.

After Emerald was able to awaken the older Pokédex Holders from their petrification, Ruby used Zuzu's newly learned Hydro Cannon attack to destroy the sea beast. After the battle was over, Ruby participated in a tournament between all ten Pokédex Holders, which he, at some point, lost.

Pokémon

This listing is for Ruby's Pokémon as of the most recent chapter.

On hand

Status unknown

Released

Backpack

Ruby using his running shoes

Besides necessities, Ruby also has a "Makeup Box" and "Sewing Box" in his backpack, for his contest appearances. Ruby has a pair of Running Shoes made by the Devon Corporation. He received them from his father for his eleventh birthday. They're extremely powerful and useful, and propel Ruby along the ground with bursts of compressed air.

Ruby's eyes are myopic, and he has a pair of glasses to correct this. He's usually too vain to wear them, though.

Trivia

• Ruby is the first main character whose starter Pokémon has a type advantage over that of his rival (his Mudkip vs Sapphire's Torchic). This is, of course, possibly due to both Ruby and Sapphire being based on in-game player characters, one of which ends up as the rival, depending on the player's choice of gender.
• Ruby's birthday is July 2nd.
  • A ruby is the birthstone for those born in July.
• Ruby's blood type is O.
• All of Ruby's Pokémon mirror his gender, with the exception of Zuzu, Plusle, and Celebi, the latter being a genderless species. The same goes for Sapphire (with the exception of a genderless Pokémon), with only her starter and electric rodent the same gender as her.
• Ruby's only Pokémon that hasn't fully evolved is Ruru, with the others either being fully evolved or don't evolve at all.
• All of Ruby's Pokémon had the first two letters of their names being repeated.

In other languages

Related pages

• Timeline of Ruby and Sapphire's 80-day challenge

External links

• Netkun on Ruby (Japanese)

Ruby's Pokémon
On hand:	Nana	Kiki	Rara	Mumu	Feefee	Fofo
Released:	Celebi	Plusle
Befriended:	Latios	Diancie	Rayquaza
Temporary:	Lorry

This article is part of Project Manga, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series of Pokémon manga.