Author's Notes: Ten years later, as Loveon casually went through her documents and was looking at the old crap she wrote years ago, she found the file for this chapter and remembered, "Oh, shit, I forgot to post it. Oh noes."
Annnnyways. Thanks to Mitsy-chan and Midori12 for suggesting story names. I figured since you both used the word "seclusion" in your suggestions, I should just go with that. Thanks!
And I realize how ridiculous capitalizing Pokemon names and things like that seems. But the day any form of canon for the series doesn't capitalize something, I'll change it.
Happy freaking Valentine's day for whoever the hell celebrates it. I have no one to give valentines to except for my family. Please excuse me while I go eat birthday cake and think of meaningless things like why my toenails turn blue after I take a shower.
Just ignore me now.
Chapter One
As soon as the boat came up to a wooden pier, Red found an elderly man standing there, waiting for them. Dressed in a black suit, with an odd looking moustache. As soon as the boat came to a stop and the last of the group, Diamond, was off the boat, he bowed.
"Professor Samuel Oak and his guests, correct? I am the butler for this manor. My name is Sebastian."
Ah, damn it! Red should've bet money…! Why were all butlers named Sebastian? But then again, if Red had decided to bet money, he'd probably end up losing in the end… Red wished he had his own butler at home. And he could make sure that his butler grew a moustache and spoke with an accent. It didn't matter what accent. Just an accent in general.
What was it with Red and his obsession with butlers…?
A pain in his side brought Red's attention back to the real world. He looked to his side to find Green staring at him. "Huh? What?"
"We're introducing ourselves," Green answered.
Red looked back at everyone else and found that they were all staring at him. Man, had he been doing something weird while he was thinking about butlers? Had he been talking aloud or something?
"Ah, right, sorry. My name's Red."
"Very well," Sebastian said. "If you'll all follow me, I shall bring you to the manor."
Sebastian started walking away, leaving the large group of people to follow after him. Red still couldn't believe that there was a butler named Sebastian here. He even introduced him as the "butler of this manor". Red was just waiting for Sebastian to display his combat skills, and then he'd be Sebastian the combat butler…
They walked up a paved path, climbing up some small flights of stairs at some points, passing through the grove of trees and bushes with brightly colored flowers and berries. Man, this place was already looking nice. Almost too nice for Red to stay there. He hadn't even seen the manor up close yet and Red was considering sleeping on the beach because he wasn't sure if he was worthy to sleep there.
Was Red worthy? Was he, Red of Pallet Town, champion of the ninth Pokémon League tournament, worthy of staying at a fancy manor?
Blue leaned over to Green and whispered, "What's it with Red?"
"I don't know."
Red suddenly had an idea. Like a light bulb went off in his head or something. He unhooked the small, red and white balls from his belt and tossed them in the air, letting out his Pokémon; Poli, Pika, Saur, Gyara, Lax, and Aero. At the sound of the Pokémon being released from their Poké Balls, everyone stopped walking and turned around to see what was going on.
"Oh?" Sebastian didn't look surprised, but his voice sounded like it was. "You are a Pokémon trainer?"
"Yeah…?"
Sebastian started to nod then, almost to himself. "Ah, yes, I see. As expected of the professor's guests…"
"Actually, that's a good idea!" Gold said. The black-haired boy took out his own Poké Balls and sent out his Pokémon over by Red's. Much to Red's surprise, the others followed, sending out their Pokémon as well. Within a minute or so, there were more that thirty Pokémon standing there. Red couldn't help but stare at the other Pokémon in awe. There was just something about seeing other people's Pokémon, who looked so strong, right in front of him…
It made him want to battle.
One of the girls turned to Sebastian, her dark hair pulled back into two, low hanging pigtails. "Oh, is it okay for our Pokémon to stay with us inside the building?"
"Certainly so. Now, let us continue."
It seemed as if they were almost already there, as it was only a short walk before the building finally came into view. Red's jaw fell open as he stared at the manor. No, this wasn't a manor. A manor was an understatement. This place was more like a mansion.
The building was mostly a reddish brown (or was it a brownish red?), standing at least three stories high and who knew how long. Windows were everywhere, and Red didn't particularly feel like counting all of them. The path they'd been walking down led right up to the front doors of the manor. No, no, it was a mansion, that was definitely it, were they even using the term manor correctly?
That was it. Red didn't deserve to stay in this place. He turned around to head back to the boat only to have Green grab his arm and turn him back around.
"Please wait while I go to fetch my master," Sebastian said with a bow. He headed up to the front doors and was about to open it when one of the doors swung open and nearly knocked him backwards. Somebody stifled a laugh then.
"Hello there, Samuel!" A man stepped outside, waving at the professor. He wasn't nearly as old at Professor Oak himself, but he was still old by Red's standards. For someone who owned and lived in a fancy looking place like this, he was dressed rather casually. Which reminded Red, how did this guy know Professor Oak anyways? Was the professor his senior or something?
"And these are your guests, correct?" the man continued, looking over the group and the Pokémon behind them. "It's very nice to meet you all! My name's Stephen."
One by one, they all introduced themselves to Stephen. Red made sure to actually be focusing on the conversation this time and introduced himself before Green elbowed him in the side today. Man, he was going to have bruises in the morning from all that elbowing. Red heard the Pokémon apparently trying to introduce themselves to Stephen as well, and had to make sure that Pika didn't try to shake hands with Stephen. Though the "shocking while I shake your hand" thing seemed to be something reserved just for Red.
Stephen seemed to notice that someone was standing behind the door and peeked around it to see Sebastian standing there. "Huh? What're you doing over there, Sebastian?"
"I… was checking the foliage, sir."
Again, there was that stifled laughter. Red glanced around and found Crystal covering Gold's mouth, so he'd clearly been the one who was about to laugh.
"Well, come on in and pick out your rooms!" Stephen stepped back inside, motioning for everyone else to follow him. "Oh, but one of the room's already been taken by another guest."
"Another guest?" Red asked. "What's that supposed to mean?" He felt a pain in his side as someone - probably Green - elbowed him in the side. Yep, he was definitely going to end up bruised tomorrow morning.
"You didn't know? There's another kid, probably around your age, who's staying here. I think her name's Hazuki? She's a trainer, too."
Red wanted to ask why he didn't know there was another person staying here, but the mention of this person being a trainer caught his attention. Maybe he could find her and ask her to battle. He hadn't had too many good battles recently that weren't with his friends…
Sometimes Red wondered if he was addicted to battles and butlers.
Red tried to go over the mansion's layout as he sat on a bed covered with a red blanket and his own bag. Let's see… as soon as they entered the mansion, there was that large room that had a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, along with couches and a table. There was a single staircase up to the second floor that branched off into two staircases that still led to the same area. Er… had he turned down the first hallway on the left? Yeah, that was it. The hallway had headed down forwards and to the right, but the one going to the north was a dead end.
He and Gold had started looking through all the bedrooms there. They were all stocked with beds and dressers, which made Red realize that he seriously didn't understand rich people. Red picked a room that seemed smaller than the rest and decided to share it with Green, seeing as how it had two beds there. Red could hear the girls downstairs, which just went to prove that they were all loud.
Oh, yeah. There was also another girl there, too. A maid named, uh, what was it? Sharon or something like that. But it seemed like that girl and Sebastian were the only people working there at the moment. Did that mean that Sharon had to make all the beds in all of these rooms? That would've been awful. Maybe Red shouldn't stay here. That'd be too rude. He didn't deserve to stay in a mansion, though he certainly hadn't turned down the offers years ago when he'd stayed at Misty's mansion. Oh, yeah, she had maids, too…
Blue's shout from downstairs interrupted Red's extremely important thoughts. "HEYYYY, YOU GUYS! WE'RE GOING SWIMMING!"
"…And I'm deaf," Red said.
Green sighed. "What a pesky girl…"
Red was a teenage boy. Thus, he had urges. Red had no idea what those urges were or if he was using the term correctly, but that was his excuse for staring at the girls in their swimsuits alongside Gold. Though while Red was keeping quiet while doing so, Gold was the one whistling whenever one of them passed by.
"…Huh? Where's the straw-hat girl?" Gold asked.
Red quickly looked around the beach, at everyone playing in the water alongside their Pokémon. "Oh, you're right. I don't see her anywhere…"
"I'm right here."
The two of them spun around to see Yellow standing there alongside an older girl with black hair. Now, Red wasn't sure why he was so excited to see Yellow. It wasn't because he wanted to see her in a swimsuit, no way, it's not like he liked her or something like that, that was crazy, Red didn't like people, he liked combat butlers and maids and what the hell was he thinking of?
Yellow stood there, her straw hat still on her head, wearing a jacket and swimming trunks. That was definitely not what Red was expecting. What was he expecting anyways?
"What're you wearing?"
Yellow's eyes darted to the ground. "It's my swimsuit."
No, no, no! This wasn't right, this wasn't what Red wanted to see! This was something a guy would wear! Why was Yellow opting to hide her gender right now, of all times? Just about everyone minus that Sinnoh trio knew that Yellow was a girl! Why, why, why?
"Who's that?" Gold asking, eyeing the girl who stood next to Yellow.
"Oh, this is that other girl that Mr. Stephen mentioned was staying here," Yellow answered. "I kinda got lost on my way back here, but she came and helped me out."
The girl, Hazuki, smiled. "Nice to meet you!" Red was startled by the accent in her voice, though he couldn't quite place what it was. In any case, this was that trainer that Stephen mentioned! What kind of Pokémon did she have, was she a good trainer, was she just starting to become a trainer, what was she? Red wanted to know.
No, wait. That could wait for later. For now, they were supposed to be playing in the water, and even though Red was completely disappointed about what Yellow was wearing, he grabbed her hand and hurried out to the ocean.
Meanwhile, Gold had turned to where Crystal was walking towards her Pokémon. "Hey, Crys!"
She turned around, looking slightly annoyed. "What is it?"
"DAT ASS."
He should've known that Crystal was capable of kicking a sandal with enough force to knock the breath out of him.
"…And they say that no one ever found the trainer who disappeared from existence along with all of their Pokémon," Blue finished.
Once night had fallen, and after they'd ate dinner prepared by Sebastian (who would've known that he was also a chef?), they'd gathered back in that main room of the mansion, the one with that chandelier hanging above them. They turned out all the lights, but lit a couple of candles, and started to tell scary stories. Or at least things that were supposed to be scary. Honestly, Red wasn't scared of the story Blue had just told. Though Bill, Yellow, and Diamond seemed scared shitless.
"I still think my story starring Red was better…" Gold grumbled. Red felt like agreeing with him, if only because Gold had managed to come up with a story about Red getting obsessed with Yellow and hurting people who got in his way.
"Ahaha, that was such a scary story!" Hazuki exclaimed. Red had confirmed his suspicion that Hazuki couldn't speak English. Though he had no idea what language she actually spoke. Really, he still wanted to know what kind of Pokémon she had. He already knew that she must've been some kind of accomplished trainer since she had about seven or eight badges. Really, the only reason Red was so interested in her was because she was a trainer. If Stephen hadn't mentioned that, Red wouldn't have paid too much attention to her.
"D-do you think it's actually true?" Diamond asked. He had what had once been a rice ball in his hands, but apparently he was so scared that he'd crushed it in his hands. In fact, he didn't seem to even be noticing the food anymore.
"There's no way something stupid like that's true!" Emerald said.
"Are you sure about that?" Blue asked. "I heard it was true. How about we ask Bill? You must've known about a trainer whose Pokémon all disappeared from the PC storage system, right? Right?"
Green sighed. "What a pesky girl…" he grumbled, not noticing Silver's glare.
Professor Oak abruptly stood up. "Well, I think we should all get going to bed." Red wasn't exactly tired right then, but he hadn't the feeling that the professor wasn't suggesting it to them and was more telling them to do it. Everyone seemed to notice the same thing, as they all started to stand up and head off to their rooms. Red felt like he was five years old again, where his mother would tell him to get to bed despite how badly he wanted to watch the outcome of a battle on TV.
"Well, good night, then," Red said to Yellow.
She nodded. "Good night."
They both stood there, neither heading off to their bedrooms.
"Er… see you tomorrow, then," Red said.
"Oh, right. Um. See you tomorrow." Yellow nodded again and decided to leave first, turning and running down the hall to catch up with the other girls. Red realized then that the other guys had headed upstairs already. Wait, how long had he and Yellow stood there after they said good night?
Nevertheless, Red sprinted up the stairs two at a time to catch up with the slowest of the group, Diamond. All the boys had decided to sleep up on the second floor, while the girls stayed downstairs. Though Red hadn't spotted Professor Oak or Bill, so they might be downstairs, too. Okay, so the male Pokédex holders were staying upstairs. Red was already losing track of who was here and who wasn't.
He was already thinking of what they could do tomorrow as he lay down in bed. Said thoughts were still flying through his head as Red fell fast asleep.
The next morning, it was raining heavily. Actually, it was more like a downpour. Red had been hoping to maybe explore the island some more, and rain didn't really bother him, but he didn't want to go outside in this current rain. He might actually end up getting lost because of it.
Since Red was feeling particularly childish today, he suggested that they play hide and seek, which he actually wanted to do as soon as they'd entered the mansion. Much to his surprise, most of them agreed, and with Stephen's permission to hide wherever they'd like, the game started.
Red wasn't quite sure how long he was hiding in the shower of one of the building's bathrooms, but it felt like a long time. And it was boring, so he ended up falling asleep while sitting in the corner of the shower. When he woke up and found that no one had found him, he decided to leave his hiding spot and go downstairs to find everyone stacking cards up. And Red's own Pokémon were assisting with this card castle building.
"Oh, hi, Red," Blue greeted him. "Where'd you go? I didn't notice that you'd left."
"I was hiding," Red answered. "You know, since we were playing hide and seek."
"Oh, we stopped that hours ago," Blue said. "Come on and help us build a card castle."
Red decided to go and help them out, forgetting that he was actually a bit angry that they hadn't realized that he was gone.
And that was how the rest of their day passed. They all went to bed with the rain still tapping against the windows. Red silently hoped that it would stop raining by tomorrow, though he did want to start up on that card castle again. It'd fallen down multiple times, and on the tallest that they'd gotten the castle, Diamond, who Red had started to call Dia, had sneezed and knocked it down.
Red wasn't quite sure of what he dreamt that night, but he was awoken by a scream. Red's eyes flew open and he bolted upright, his chest heaving as he struggled to remember what the hell he'd been dreaming about that scared him into waking up.
But something else caught his attention. Green stood there at the door, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest. Now, Green may have showed very little facial expressions outside of annoyance and occasional anger, but Red could tell that something was bothering him.
"That was Daisy," Green said. "Emerald… he's dead."
Red: Emerald? Who's that again?
I'm sorry. I'm a mood killer. Not like there was much of a mood for this shit anyways. I need to go read Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." I just keep forgetting to go look for it when I go to the bookstore.
So we've got the butler named Sebastian, the maid Sharon or something like that, the old-but-not-as-old-as-Oak guy Stephen, and the probably Japanese girl Hazuki. As you can see, I put lots of thought into their names. That was sarcasm.
