A Visit to Hoenn ch.3

The drive to the airport was long and quiet. Neither Ruby or his mother spoke. That fact that he was leaving for Hoenn just felt so real, now that the day was finally here.

His mother parked the car at the airport. Ruby stepped into the cool morning air, grabbing his bag out of the trunk.

"I'll walk you in" his mother said, holding his arm.

He smiled. "Okay. No crying" he teased.

"Don't tell me not what to do" she sighed.

He smiled. "You can do whatever you want then" he said as they walked inside.

"I know you're only going for a week, but I will miss you" his mom smiled sadly. "I shouldn't worry. You are an adult now after all."

Ruby smiled. "I'll be fine. I'm out of the house at least."

"I am proud of you." She pulled him into a tight hug. "I love you. You be good now."

"I will. Promise. I'll call you when I get there."

"Thank you."

He kissed her cheek. "Thanks for this. I mean... if you hadn't called dad that day" he shrugged. "Well, I'll see you when I get back."

"As long as you call, I'll be okay."

He smiled. "I promise." He walked to the check in line and stood behind a few other people.

This was it. This was the moment he never thought would happen. One, he was leaving the house, two, he was invited by his father to go to Hoenn and three, he would be catching an airplane, first class too, to get there.

He smiled broadly, waving goodbye to his mom for the last time as he made his way to the front of the line. After his suitcase had been checked in he walked through to the next area. He looked at his boarding pass and made his way to gate three.

The airport wasn't huge, but then again it served as the Kanto-Johto airport. It was big enough to have several flights out a day to all destinations, and plenty of arriving flights too.

Waiting for his flight was a lot more boring than he thought it would be. He shifted in his seat, looking at his watch again for the time. There was still well over an hour until boarding. He sighed and curled his legs up to his chest. Then he realised he hadn't grabbed his pokémon. He'd left their pokéballs on the kitchen counter. He groaned. So inconvenient. The was no way his mom could get home and bring them here in time. He leaned his forehead on his knees. "Damn" he murmured.

The hour passed really quickly. He was surprised, but he was also nervous. He boarded the plane. Several people were already sitting down. He looked at his seating number again, and quickly found his seat. He frowned at the man who was taking up the walking space between the seats with long legs. He would ask the man to move, but he appeared to be deep in sleep already, eye mask on and blanket pulled up to his chin, his mouth open slightly.

He sighed and carefully stepped over the mans legs. He relaxed into his chair and smiled. He had never been on a plane before, so the excitement was almost too much for him.

Soon enough the plane left after a handy safety speech from the flight crew. Ruby smiled to himself as he calmed down a little. So, it would be a two hour flight, weather seemed perfect. Good! That was some great reassurance from the captain!

He looked around the cabin. It seemed quiet. A lot of people seemed to be sleeping, or in the process of falling asleep. He gathered that they were people who flew often and thought it was boring.

He wondered, besides sleeping, what other people did on their flight. Two hours wasn't really a long time in the grand scheme of things, but sleeping didn't seen too productive, but then it was better than doing nothing, which he was currently doing.

An hour into the flight he really needed to use the bathroom. The only escape was past the long legged man. He frowned and stood up, and, as carefully as he could, made his way past him. He sighed in relief and made his way to the bathroom.

The way back wasn't as easy.

"We will be expecting some turbulence, please remain seated with seatbelts on."

Ruby almost panicked until he realised that none of the flight attendants were rushing him. He walked over to his seating row and went to step over the mans legs when the plane hit the turbulence and he tripped at the same time on his shoelace, falling sideways onto the sleeping mans lap.

"Whoa!" the man, now awake, gasped and sat up straight. He slipped the eye mask up and looked at Ruby, who was now blushing as red as his namesake.

"I am s-so sorry" Ruby stammered, quickly getting up and sitting in his seat and doing up the seatbelt.

The man actually chuckled. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Ruby nodded. He was glad the man wasn't angry at him, cause the man was actually quite attractive. He could feel his bush deepen. "I'm fine, thank you" he managed. "I am sorry for falling on you, the turbulence-"

"It's okay" the man smiled. "Don't worry about it. Please. My name is Steven" he held out his hand.

"Ruby" Ruby smiled, shaking his hand. Steven's hand was warm, calloused and bigger than his. Ruby's hands were, in his own mind, embarrassingly petite.

Steven smiled. "Are you from Johto?" he asked. "You don't speak with a Hoenn dialect."

"Yeah, Goldenrod. I'm from Johto." Why of all times can you not make sense! he internally berated himself.

Steven nodded. "Nice city. I spent a few days there last year. I was in Kanto this year."

"What for?" Ruby asked curiously, and also since Steven didn't mind talking to him.

Ruby had been to Kanto. He had caught the bullet train with Gold when they'd been together. They spent the day in Saffron. There was also a time where his mother had taken him to the Safari Zone when he was little to have a look at the Pokémon.

"I had a business conference, but I took a few days off around that to go caving. I'm a stone collector" he explained, smiling.

Ruby nodded. "That sounds interesting."

Ruby didn't know if he had picked the right words or not, because Steven started talking all about rocks and stones and caves. He started talking about different types of rocks, and where the best place to find them was. He also talked about his collection at home.

"One day" Steven smiled. "I would like to open a free of charge museum so I can display my stones and get other people interested in them."

Ruby, who had almost fallen asleep during Steven's eloquent speech on rocks, nodded. "That would be awesome Steven."

"I am glad you think so" he smiled. "So, what do you do?"

"Me? Nothing. Dropped out of Design School. I wanted to design clothes" he shrugged.

"Why did you drop out?"

"Personal reasons."

Steven nodded. "Sorry."

"That's okay. It was dumb of me to let it get to me. I wished... I wished I had just said no." He sighed.

Steven opened his bag and pulled out a business card. "I would like to see you again. How long are you in Hoenn for?"

Ruby blushed and took the card.

President Steven Stone

Devon Corporation, Rustboro, Hoenn

He had heard of the company somewhere, perhaps it was in a magazine or newspaper.

"A week. I'm in Hoenn for a week."

Steven nodded. "Well, I would like to think you'll have time to see me. Sorry for being so forward."

"No... not at all. Thank you... I hope I see you too."

"Where are you staying?"

"Littleroot. That's where my dads house is. He is a Gym Leader."

"You're father... who is it, may I ask?"

"Norman. He works at Petalburg."

Steven chuckled. "I should have known. My goodness, you do look like him."

"You know my dad?" He asked, looking back at the business card.

"I do. I was the Champion of the Elite Four for quite some time."

Ruby's eyes widened and his mouth dropped. He may have to take back that comment about the Elite Four being glorified Gym Leaders simply because Steven was handsome and seemed really kind.

Steven raised a brow, a smile appeared on the corners of his lips. "What are you thinking?"

"I am currently taking back all the shit I said about the Elite Four."

Steven chuckled. "You don't have to."

"Okay, maybe I won't then" he chuckled. He looked at Steven. "I am really glad I got this seat, you know."

Steven smiled. "I am glad you did too. I enjoy that you are the only person who hasn't sat next to me and, well, to put it frankly, annoyed me."

"Oh-"

"Don't worry, its usually people who recognize me as Steven Stone, the ex-Champion of Hoenn and people will try and talk to me about how to win against the Elite Four or ask me for a battle. I know its rude to tell them no, but... I don't battle... well, I should say, since I've been the President of Devon, I just don't have the time like I used to. Of course I will still battle friends of mine and the Elite Four too, just to keep my pokémon in shape, but..." he sighed. "Being President of Devon isn't all its cracked up to be."

Ruby nodded. "I guess it would be a lot of hard work."

He nodded. "Yeah, it is. But, this is what I was born to do, so I do the best I can."

Ruby frowned. It seemed a lot of hard work, but being born to take over a company seemed ridiculous.

Steven smiled. "So, do you still design clothes?"

"I don't just design clothes, I make them too" he smiled. "All the clothes I wear, I made" he added proudly.

Steven seemed impressed. "Hm... perhaps you could make me something. Could I ask that? I will pay you well."

"Of course." Ruby was so excited. Being the one to design and tailor make clothes for Steven Stone would be amazing! He seemed to be a ridiculously well-known person in Hoenn, that could help get Ruby's name out there as a serious designer. Maybe. Hopefully.

"I would like two suits, tailored however you would like, and whatever colour you would like. I could also like something more... sturdy, heavy duty or whatever. For when I go caving."

Ruby nodded. "Well, I do hope we can catch up soon, so I can get your measurements. Wait a second..." He reached into his backpack and pulled out the tape measure. "I can get them now."

Steven grinned. "Okay." Steven stood up.

Ruby grabbed a pen and started taking measurements, scribbling them down on his arm. "Well, looks like I have my first customer" he chuckled. He was not going to admit that he had previously made clothes for pokémon, including the lady down the road who'd commissioned him to make jackets for her zigzagoon more than once.

Steven smiled. "I am really happy that you mentioned that you designed clothing as I was looking to order more suits."

"I'm glad I mentioned it! I feel so inspired" Ruby admitted. "Thank you for the opportunity. Um... when did you want them by?"

Steven thought hard about it. He sighed, frowned and then looked back at Ruby. "Well, I would like to the the first suit before you leave, but if you can't, please let me know. Otherwise in the next month for the other two. My current suits are a little worse for wear, I have to admit."

"I'm sure they're not that bad" he offered, at the same time trying to figure out how he would sew the suit in a week without his trusty sewing machine.

"My favourite is. I had my secretary sew a patch over the elbow and some of the stitching around the shoulder..." he sighed. "I don't know why I like the suit so much, but its comfortable, and was one of my first suits ever."

Ruby nodded. "Do you think you could describe it to me. So I can get a feel for what your style is?"

"I can do one better. How about you come by mine tomorrow? I will pick you up from Littleroot?"

"Okay!" he agreed. "On one condition" he quickly added.

"Anything."

"I will need a sewing machine."

"I will buy you one."

Ruby's mouth dropped open. "A-are you sure? I mean-"

"Well, they do say invest in a nice suit, I suppose this is what they mean" he smiled.

Ruby smiled back. Gosh Steven was so charming.

The plane started is descent.

"Oh! It's Hoenn" Ruby gasped.

Steven chuckled. "That over there" he pointed over to the window. "That is Mossdeep. It's where I live."

"Whoa! What is that big building?"

"The Mossdeep Space Center."

"Oh. Cool."

The plane landed at New Mauville.

"New Mauville was going to be a development for a new City" Steven explained. But instead of travelling by boat to everywhere, they decided to turn New Mauville into an airport."

"Wow."

Steven stood up. "Well, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

Steven frowned. "Um, I thought I was picking you up-"

"Oh! The suit! Yep, I remember! I'm sorry, I forgot cause..." he shrugged. "Just landing is exciting." What was he going to tell his father? How was he going to tell him? He met Steven on the plane and just decided that he would hang out with the older man? Well, that was the truth, so he was sure it would be easier...

As they disembarked the plane, Steven touched Ruby's arm. "You are okay for tomorrow, right?" he confirmed.

Ruby nodded. "I think it should be fine."

"Norman is picking you up, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

"I will talk to him. We can sort something out."

"Okay" Ruby nodded. He wasn't sure how this would work out, but he hoped that it would.

They collected their bags and walked through to the exit.

"Ruby!"

"Dad?" He looked around and saw Norman over near a café. "Dad!" He grinned, rushing over.

"Hey!" Norman smiled, pulling Ruby into a hug. "I'm glad you came."

"Thank you for inviting me."

Norman looked up and saw Steven standing there. "Steven Stone, hello."

"Hi Norman. I must say you have a wonderful son. We have been talking on the plane and I was hoping it would be okay if we caught up tomorrow."

Ruby didn't think that would sit too well with his father. Steven was way too forward with that.

Norman frowned. He looked from Steven, to Ruby whose face bore a pleading smile. Norman had a strange feeling about this he didn't want to admit it, but there was something that seemed off. However, he pushed it from his mind and nodded. "I guess so, yeah."

"Thank you so, so much!" Ruby grinned, hugging his dad. He smiled at Steven. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I will come get you around nine."

Ruby nodded. "I'll see you then."

Steven walked outside where he released a bird pokémon. It swiftly vanished from sight.

Ruby looked at Norman. "Thank you."

He frowned. "What would you be doing with Steven?" he asked.

"I am making him clothes."

His frown depended. "Clothes, hm?"

"Don't you believe me?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. I do." He walked outside. "I'm having Winona pick us up. She wants to have a meeting with me."

"Winona?"

He nodded. "She is another Gym Leader."

Ruby nodded. "So, is like a Gym Leader meeting?"

Norman nodded. "Yes. I guess you could say its like an appraisal. She tells me how I'm going in the grand scheme of things."

Ruby nodded. "Okay."

Normal finally smiled again. "It's really great to see you again."

"Yeah, it is."

A sudden gust blew Ruby back a little. He shielded his eyes from the dust. "Wh-?" He gathered it must have been Winona. If she was giving them a lift back to Littleroot, he guessed she had bird type pokémon.

"Norman, hi" she said rather curtly. She looked at Ruby. "You must be his son, Ruby, isn't it?"

Ruby nodded.

She smiled. "Nice to meet you." She pet the Pokémon that she had flown in on, and released a second one. "Skarmory will take you both home."

Ruby looked at the pokémon. It looked just like the one Steven had flown away on. Skarmory, was it? He had never heard of that pokémon, but then he hadn't seen the pokémon Winona had flown in on either. He looked at the large blue pokémon seemingly surrounded by fluffy clouds.

"Well, lets get going, shall we?" Winona said. "The sooner we get your appraisal done, the sooner you can spend time with Ruby." She climbed. back on her pokémon.

Norman climbed onto Skarmory, pulling Ruby up to sit in front of him.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Ruby asked, his heart racing.

Norman chuckled. "Yes."

Ruby leaned back into Norman, feeling nervous. Would the two of them be too heavy for the steel bird? Would it be able to make the trip?

It flapped it wings, hastily taking off.

Ruby gasped, feeling the cold air rush over his body, through his clothes, a stark contrast to the humidity present at ground level.

It felt like it took no time at all to land back on the ground. Ruby felt lightheaded. That was when he realised this was how Steven intended to pick him up. He gasped. "No" he murmured.

Norman looked at him. "Are you okay?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah... Yeah..." He took his bag from Norman.

"Your room is upstairs" he smiled, opening the door to the house. "I'll show you around soon, but feel free to look around."

Ruby nodded. He dragged his bag up the stairs, feeling tired even though it wasn't possible for him to be jetlagged. There was hardly a difference in time zones.

He walked into the room and smiled. It was already set up. A bed, desk, chair and laptop. He looked at the clock, realising that the time wasn't set. He looked at his watch and set the clock. He smiled and put the clock back on the wall. "Perfect." He looked around the room at the rest of the room. It reminded him of his room back home. Perhaps his mother had based it off that...

He could hear Winona discussing with Norman about complaints she had about him, namely, the amount of challengers that failed to beat him and get the gym badge. He stepped onto the landing of the staircase, crouching down to listen.

His father sighed. "Do you expect me to just hand out the badge to unworthy opponents?"

She sighed. "No, it isn't like that."

"Well, what you trying to tell me? I am so confused. I believe that the point of being a gym leader is to truly test your opponents worth. I apologise that none of them can beat me, and the standards I have with training and battling pokémon."

Winona nodded. "I understand your point. But trainers have given up their dreams of being pokémon trainers after leaving your gym."

"May I say something?" Ruby asked, popping up from behind the stairwell.

Winona looked surprised.

Norman bit his lip.

Winona looked from Norman, back to Ruby. "Of course you can."

He walked down the stairs. "Thank you."

She nodded.

"My dad is right. The idea of a gym leader is to test the opponent. I know first hand. I wanted to try and get the badges from Johto, but I gave up for different reasons... but all of the gym leaders I did meet all showed me that the most important thing is to not give up and train until you can get better. No one is perfect, not one pokémon team or type is perfect, but you have to utilize the best parts of your pokémon to help you win. People who give up because they can't beat a leader, or my dad, or whoever, they don't deserve to complain. They are just taking the easy way out cause they are failures."

Norman smiled. "That's the Ruby I know."

Winona looked at Norman. "Well, your son is a lot like you. I'll give him that." She stood up. "Well, I just thought I'd followed up on the complaints, but I see that its already under control." She looked at Ruby. "It was nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

She looked at Norman. "I will see you later." She walked outside, releasing the blue cloud bird again.

Norman looked at Ruby. "I didn't think you'd have such an opinion.

Ruby shrugged. "I didn't either."

Norman chuckled. "Thank you."

Ruby looked at him. "For?"

"Agreeing with me."

Ruby shrugged. "I guess I have the same view as you."

"So, may I ask, why didn't you finish collecting gym badges?"

"Well, I didn't take really want to challenge the league, so that wasn't what I set out to do. It was more like, mom, I'm bored, be back later."

Norman chuckled. "Well, I don't mind what you want to do in regards to collecting badges or battling. How are your Pokémon anyway?"

"They are good. But I accidentally left them at home" he sighed.

"Well, if you would like a Pokemon while you're here, and of course to take back with you, my friend Professor Birch has Pokémon, he would be more than glad to arrange that."

"Yeah, I'll think about it."

Norman nodded. "No pressure, just because you already have pokémon. Anyway, Birch and his daughter will be coming over for dinner tonight. Is that okay?"

Ruby nodded. "Sure is."

"Great. I think you and Sapphire will get a long well."

Ruby nodded. He chewed his lip absent-mindedly.

"You okay? You want to talk about something?"

"Uh... are you trying to set me and Sapphire up?"

"I would like you two to be friends."

Ruby nodded. "Okay, it's just that..." he sighed. There was no way he could tell Norman. Or maybe he could tell him, what was the worst that could happen? Norman would send him home. That was it. Nothing serious. The truth is incredibly simple. "Dad I'm gay."

Norman didn't look mad or angry, he hardly seemed surprised at all. "I... I thought you might have been. I mean... there is nothing wrong with it of course, but the signs were there. Design school, changing subjects when I brought up Sapphire the other day on the phone... I'm sorry I assumed you were straight. I am. I hadn't seen you in ages-"

"Dad, you don't have to explain yourself, you're fine. Really."

Norman nodded and hugged Ruby. "You know I love you no matter what, right?"

"I know."

He smiled. "Well, thanks for being honest with me."

"I wanted to be. I was... worried you'd be angry with me. I thought you'd send me home."

Norman shook his head. "There is no way I'd send you off over that" he chuckled.

"Thanks dad."

"Do you really think I'm that heartless?"

"Well, no, I don't... I don't see you often enough to say something like that."

"I'm sorry I never made much of an effort."

"I didn't either" Ruby said, taking a seat. "I just…" he shrugged.

"You had your own things to do. I am glad we can see each other now."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, it's really good" he smiled. He felt so relaxed. More relaxed than he had in years. "I feel really happy" he admitted.

"Good. I am glad" Norman smiled.

"I just feel like… I wanted to come here and work everything out. I wanted to mend our relationship, spry out my own problems and… actually get out and seem the world. I guess mom mentioned that I am a shut in?" he asked, not wanting to make eye contact.

"She did. I didn't want to bring it up unless you did."

He nodded. "Just so dumb. Like… I wish I could re do my last several years." He shrugged. "Guess I just have to move forward."

Norman nodded. "I know… that I haven't been in your life that much, but if there is something you want to talk about, I'm here for you."

"I know dad. Thanks."

"I'll start on dinner."

Ruby nodded. "Did you want any help?"

"How about you go and have a look around town."

"Okay… you sure you didn't want help?"

"I'll be right. I know my way around the kitchen. Kind of" he joked, adding a small smile.

Ruby chuckled.

"Just come back in an hour or so. That is when Birch and Sapphire will be over."

"Okay." He walked back outside. The town was small, the total opposite of Goldenrod. He was excited to explore though, Hoenn felt like the total opposite of Johto.

AN: Whoa, such a long chapter, I kind of went on a bit of a rant I think, whew…

I have split this chapter in half cause its way longer than I thought it would be. It seems a little disjointed, sorry! U_U

I'm also working on said chapter, I haven't been well lately so it's probably gonna be a while. Sorry! (That's if anyone is still reading haha.)