Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Title: The Three Musketeers

Author: Shadow/Phantomness

Rating: PG-13

Summary: I’ve blatantly ripped off another one of Dumas’s works, but since the Count of Monte Cristo was fun to write… *shrug* Sorry Dumas!

Warnings: Shonen-ai, OOCness, possibly loss of original plot

Pairings: Championshipping (Lance x Red), others including, though not all reciprocal, Masukudoshipping (Will x Karen), Soulshipping (Morty x Sabrina), (Karate King x Sabrina), (Whitney x Giovanni), and some other pairings in the past, including Eliteshipping (Lance x Lorelei)…

Chapter 1

Riding to Paris to join the King’s garrison there…

Sensing the lure of romance and amour in the air…

The dash I’ll cut in Paris will set their hearts afire…

What mocking tongues, could quench a heart burning so brightly, for chivalry valor and endless renown…

(Riding to Paris opening song, Three Musketeers Musical)

Red looked at the horse. It looked right back at him. The butter-yellow color of its skin was dull, stretched over visible ribs. He sighed as the nag continued on its slow, plodding journey towards Indigo Plateau, the heart of the Kanto Region.

Soon, he stopped by an inn. He was almost there… now all he had to do was to take a rest, and tomorrow, he and Pikachu would be in Paris!

Pikachu might be an odd name for a horse to some, but it was no matter. Yawning, he checked the angle of the sky and decided to stop for lunch.

The innkeeper bustled out straight away, seeing a young man in his late teens astride one of the ugliest and oddest horses he had ever seen. With a low bow, he greeted the young man, noting the rich crimson of his doublet and the sword at his hip. Better not to offend him.

“Welcome young master! What can I get you?”

“A glass of Anjou and roast chicken please.” Red said pleasantly, sitting down. The innkeeper bustled off to get the food as he smiled contentedly to himself.

He patted his purse to make sure that the letter of introduction his father had written to Monsieur Lugia, the Captain of the Musketeers, was still there. It was, along with the remains of his money.

The food arrived soon, and he availed himself to the meal. He paid the innkeeper and was about to set off, when he noticed two persons speaking along the road. There was a beautiful woman leaning out of a carriage, and a man with dark brown hair and a shrewd look about him, in bottle-green velvet.

“Remember, these papers must get to Houen.” The man was saying in a soft voice. The woman nodded and then leaned close to him. Red watched as she kissed him on the cheek and then her carriage sped off.

What a beautiful woman…

As he snapped back to himself, he heard the man in green say something insulting about his horse. He narrowed his eyes.

“Excuse me, but did you just insult my horse?”

“What if I did?”

“I just wanted to make sure.” Red said pleasantly, before he slid the first few inches of his sword out. “After all, the one who insults the horse insults the master.”

“Ah, I’ve no time to play with a child like you.” The man said. “I must be in Indigo before the day is out. Fare thee well, young firebrand!” With that, he moved, and in a motion so quick Red lost sight of it, slid his sword between the young man’s ribs with a smile.

Red felt pain only after the incident. He slowly slid to his knees before he fell forwards and passed out.

“Oh no! He’s killed my guest!” The innkeeper screeched. He would have said more, but one of the other guests walked over. He knelt down besides the fallen man and checked his signs.

“Do not worry. He is alive, though his injury shall pain him greatly, no doubt.” The new arrival said dryly. He tossed a few coins on the counter to cover his bill, and left without another word.

Red managed to moan out a few words, which both strangers caught, something about ‘Lugia’ and ‘Protégé’. The one in green frowned, and then waited until Red’s doublet had been removed. While no one was watching, he stealthily extracted the letter with nimble fingers.

This young man knows Lugia… was he sent after me? True, he looks innocent enough, but one never knows….

His movement did not go wholly unnoticed, but the other stranger frowned slightly, his golden eyes dark. He watched as the other man called for his horse and took off, riding quickly.

If Green were heading to Indigo, he’d best inform Lugia-sama… he whistled and his horse whinnied in response. The stableman who had been holding it nodded, and the rider leapt on, before he was also off.

Somehow, the innkeeper wondered. The two noblemen who had just left had… something dangerous about them…

Well, it was not in his nature to pry.

Now, if his guest weren’t dead, he’d need a doctor. The innkeeper summoned the nearest one, who treated him and shook his head, glad that he was a young man and would recover quickly.

Red spent two weeks bedridden, unconscious for most of it. When he finally awoke, he was sore and furiously angry, but what was he to do?

The innkeeper demanded payment, and he reached for his purse to pay, but as he opened it, he gasped.

His letter was gone!

He furiously reached for his sword, but the innkeeper held up his hands placating, with muttered apologies. Red angrily handed him the money and paced.

How had it vanished? True, he had been unaware of his surroundings, but what kind of man would stoop so low as to rob…

Hmm…

There had been two strangers, he remembered. One who had hurt him, the other had seemed honorable enough. It must be the former.

He growled. How was he to make his fortune at court without that vital letter?

The contents of the letter had been quite important. Before Red had left home, his father had given him the letter, written to Monsieur Lugia, who his father knew personally, when they had been children. Now though, he was just another applicant who wanted to join the King’s musketeers…

Well, he’d make do with what he had. He couldn’t just ride home again after all this time. His Father would be ashamed.

He sighed, and headed off to Indigo. If this was fate, so be it.

That didn’t mean fate couldn’t be an absolute bitch sometimes.

End Chapter

Completed 3/22/06

No prizes for guessing the second stranger’s identity

I cast Red as D’Artagnan, Green as Rochefort, Lance as Athos, Brock as Porthos, Will as Aramis, Karen as a Lady (Maybe Will’s girlfriend), Oak as the Cardinal, and as for the others, I’m not sure yet. ^^