A Whole New Journey

Chapter 3

What A Baby

"Well, looks like you owe me five-hundred Pokédollars now" Blue snickered deviously as he looked down at his failed, exhausted friend.

"What?! How did it get to be five-hundred? It hasn't even been a minute since I lost the darn bet!"

Blue casually shrugged his shoulders. "Interest rates, buddy. You know how bad the economy is and junk.

Red groaned and plopped down on his bed exhausted with Ches. "Fine, you'll get your money right after I get some rest. You have no idea what it took for me to get here, let alone even board the stinking boat."

Blue tilted his head and looked at him inquisitively. "What do you mean?" he asked as his curiosity rose. He lay back on his bed and called out Fennekin to relax with him.

"Didn't you see those sailors out by the docks?"

Blue chuckled a little bit, giving Red a weird look. "Well, there's a truckload of sailors around here, I mean it IS the docks of Vermillion City after all."

Red groaned at his friend's smart aleck remark and tried to shoot him a cold, serious look but wound up laughing instead. "Well, I guess what I meant to say is that the sailors down near the entrance to the docks checking everyone's tickets."

Blue looked at him funny again. "You know, I've been here for quite a while,"

"Don't rub it in."

"And I haven't seen a single sailor checking the tickets."

Red quickly sat up and looked at Blue with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yeah, don't you know? Sailors don't have the authority to check tickets." Blue said.

Red sat there, blankly staring at Blue albeit, but thinking. "Why would those sailors try to keep me from getting on then?"

Blue shrugged his shoulders and stood up. "Beats me. Maybe they just wanted to have some fun?"

"But they made me battle them."

Blue walked towards the door and opened it, walking out into the hallway. He stopped and turned back around. "Well if you ask me, sounds like someone didn't want you to get on this boat… Anyway, I'm gonna go explore a little bit, maybe go chick hunting. Don't wait up for me. Oh and watch Fennekin for me, would ya?" Blue winked at him and shut the door.

Red and Ches turned their attention to the sleeping fox over on Blue's bed; her ear twitched as she stretched, sprawling out her little legs on the bed and relaxed.

"Well, I hope you two don't mind but I'm gonna go get a shower. I smell like physical activity mixed with a Stunky. You two play nice now." Red hopped up and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him and turned the shower on.

Fennekin rose her head up and looked around the room. She saw Ches sleeping on Red's bed and carefully started at him for a second. With a very mischievous look on her face, she quietly hopped off the bed and tiptoed over to Red's backpack.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Ches said as he looked over the foot of the bed and saw Fennekin next to Red's bag.

Fennekin giggled. "Oh come on, I'm hungry."

Ches sighed. "You know you shouldn't go into papa's bag. Like that…"

"Papa?" Fennekin looked up at him funny. "That kid isn't your dad, Chespin."

"Hey, my name's Ches, not Chespin! And yeah he is! He's the first thing I saw when I when I came out of my Poké Ball!"

"Oh yeah, that's right. You just hatched not too long ago. I guess you never saw any living creature until Red… So that's probably why you think he's your daddy… Hey, that makes you a baby!"

Ches tilted his head awkwardly in confusion. "I don't understand a single word you're saying."

Fennekin dove into Red's backpack and came back out seconds later with a bag of fruit snacks in her mouth.

"Oh man, papa's gonna be real mad at you for that."

Fennekin chuckled and used Confusion to rip the bag open. "You're such a baby."

Ches took another look at the delicious fruit snacks and his little tail started wagging. "Hey, I want one!"

Fennekin looked him right in the eye as she used Confusion to throw fruit snacks into her mouth. "Aw, baby want a fruit snack?"

"Gimme! Gimme!"

"Gimme gimme never gets!" Fennekin teased and laughed as she threw a few more fruit snacks into her mouth. As the last few were about to go in, Ches launched a Bullet Seed attack, knocking them onto the floor on the other side of the room. He quickly ran over and devoured them all.

"Wow, what a baby." Fennekin pouted.

Suddenly, a different and unusual smell wafted into the room. It was an odor they had never smelt before that reeked of extravagant perfume and Oran berries with a tiny hint of Cheri berries. The two turned to the doorway and saw an unidentified boy standing there with the most confused look on his face ever. He was sort of tall and very skinny with a black and red short-sleeved jacket and a yellow backpack. His eyes were ruby red and his hair was very neatly combed over into a bowl cut. Behind him followed a small, but cheerful electric-type Pokémon with big, red ears and red paws.

"Uh…" the boy uttered awkwardly as he looked at Ches and Fennekin. "Well this is totally awkward… I think I have the wrong room…"

Red suddenly walked out of the bathroom with only a bath towel around his waist and gasped in delight when he saw the boy standing in the room. "Ruby!" Red cried cheerfully as he threw his arms around his old friend.

Ruby awkwardly wrapped his arms around Red's bare back, rubbing it slightly and trying not to whimper out of nervousness. "Oh, umm. Red, hi!"

Red pulled away with a big smile on his face. "Wow, it's been so long since I've seen you! Here, let me put some clothes on. I'll only be a second!"

He retired to the bathroom, leaving Ruby alone with the Pokémon. Ruby scratched his head awkwardly, not knowing what to do. He walked over to Blue's bed and politely sat down. Eventually, Red came back out of the bathroom and sat back down on his bed with Ches and Fennekin.

"Well Ruby, what brings you to this boat?"

Ruby looked over at him, trying not to stare into his eyes, completely avoiding eye contact and looking at his chest. "Oh, well umm… Professor Birch signed me and Sapphire up for this weird Pokémon League in the Tokai Region. It's called-"

"- the Coop League!" Red finished his sentence. "Professor Oak signed me and Blue up for it too!"

"Yeah, well I really wish he didn't sign me up with Sapphire!" Ruby groaned as he fell back on Blue's bed.

Red looked over at him sort of shocked. "What do you mean? I thought you really liked Sapphire…"

"Yeah, well things got complicated!"

"Complicated? Like how?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Come on, try me." Red smiled.

Ruby sat up and looked down at the bed sheets. "Well, after the Battle Frontier craziness, I just started having these thoughts… Different thoughts… Weird thoughts! I started thinking about what it would be like to be with-"

Suddenly Blue rudely barged in, scaring Ruby's Pokémon into his arms.

"There, there, it's okay Plusle." Red comforted his Pokémon.

"Guess who I just found on the deck!?" He yelled happily as he brought in a woman on his arms.

"Err… Who are you?" Red asked.

"Oh come on, as many times as I've scammed you and you borrowed my Blasty, you seriously can't remember me?"