Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire (CoroCoro Comic)

(Japanese: ポケットモンスター・ルビー・サファイア Pokémon Ruby ・ Sapphire) is a one-shot Pokémon manga created by Oouchi Suigun. It is based on the introduction of Pokémon Ruby, spanning from the player moving into Littleroot Town and traversing Petalburg Woods. This manga was published in the December 2002 issue of CoroCoro Comics supplement. It has not been republished as a standalone piece, making it among the more obscure Pokemon manga.
==Summary==
The story begins with Ruby and his mother traveling in a moving truck. Ruby has fallen asleep but promptly wakes up once they reach Littleroot Town. He is pleased to see that the new house is a two-story, rushing into his room on the second floor. He shouts happily out the window, scaring the Machoke that are still moving furniture in. He heads out for a walk and find the laboratory of Professor Birch. He tries to leave a message but is instead greeted by Sapphire, who introduces herself as the daughter of Professor Birch. Suddenly, they both hear Professor Birch screaming for help. He is attacked by a wild Poochyena and asks Ruby and Sapphire to help by calling out a Pokémon. Ruby chooses a Poké Ball which contains Mudkip. It immediately fights off the Poochyena with a water gun. With Poochyena weakened, Sapphire throws another Poké Ball and captures it. Professor Birch lets Ruby keep the Mudkip as a gift while Sapphire asks if Ruby would like to have a battle with her. Sapphire sends out her Torchic while Ruby's Mudkip tries to run away from battle. Despite the type disadvantage, Torchic gains the upper hand by burning the grass Mudkip hid in. Mudkip eventually retaliates with water gun and tackle, narrowly defeating Torchic. Back at the lab, Sapphire opines that Ruby got a lucky start as Professor Birch asks Ruby to show Mudkip to his father Norman.
Ruby takes Mudkip to Norman in Petalburg City. Norman is horrified at the sight of Mudkip, admonishing Ruby for not taking good care of it and disqualifying him as a trainer. Norman angrily remarks that they need to go to a Pokémon Center to heal up Mudkip. Ruby is heartbroken as he sits along a lakeside, thinking about what has just happened. Norman takes Mudkip to Ruby and to his surprise, Mudkip immediately runs up to Ruby. Norman admits he doesn't know everything about Pokémon but he can tell that Mudkip and Ruby share a good bond with one another. Norman then cheerfully advises Ruby to gather experience by battling several trainers and Pokémon in the woods before having a battle with him in the gym. Ruby, encouraged by this, happily agrees and sets off into the woods with Mudkip.
As Ruby and Mudkip travel in the woods, a scientist from the Devon Corporation jumps out in front of them. He is being chased by Team Magma and tells Ruby about their plans to revive Groudon.
A grunt from Team Magma appears and challenges the scientist to a battle. Ruby defends the scientist so the grunt battles him instead. The grunt sends out a Shroomish, which resists Mudkip's water gun and proceeds to use stun spore against Mudkip. Mudkip is exhausted but ultimately wins by using mud slap to confuse Shroomish, and tackle to finish it off. The grunt runs off with his Shroomish as Ruby heals up Mudkip's injuries from battle. Ruby proudly declares that his adventure has begun and he will become a Champion. Ruby and Mudkip race out of the woods as the scientist from Devon tries catching up to them.
==Characters==
===Humans===
*
*
*Ruby's Mom
*Professor Birch
*Norman
*Devon Scientist
*
===Pokemon===
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* (Movers)
* (Fantasy)
*
==Trivia==
* As with other CoroCoro comic supplements of the 2000's, the entire manga was printed in a blue monochrome.
* Ruby is drawn with white hair, visible below his headband when viewed from the back in some panels.
* The protagonists Ruby and Sapphire share names with their respective Pokémon Adventures counterparts rather than their game counterparts.
**Also, Sapphire as the rival has the first partner Pokémon weak to Ruby's as the player when it is the other way around in the games.
* The in-game mother from Generation III is shown, having a completely different design from her other manga and anime equivalents.
* Since a is first encountered in Petalburg Woods, the story is based on that of Pokemon Ruby.
* The Team Magma grunt uses Shroomish, a Pokémon. This is different from the games where Team Magma grunts use , , or instead.
==External Links==
* Oouchi Suigun's list of works (Japanese language)
Category:Manga