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*

I do not own Three Musketeers either, but Dumas is DEAD and can’t sue me. Thank goodness. I’m afraid he might.

Chapter 3

As he raced out the door, Red bumped into someone. There was a cry of pain, and that caused him to stop. He saw Lance, was it? get up slowly, his left hand clutching his wounded right arm protectively.

“I’m sorry, but I’m in a hurry.” Red said, preparing to rush off again.

“You’re in a hurry.” Lance’s voice came out even frostier than Lugia’s had been previously. “Well, if you think that because you saw Lugia-sama berate us earlier like children, it gives you the right to be uncivil as well, you’re quite mistaken. You’re not Monsieur Lugia.”

Red bristled, his hot-blooded temper springing to the forefront of his mind. “What did you say?” Never mind that dueling in Indigo was FORBIDDEN.

Lance smirked. “Well, well… how about meeting me in front of the Imperial Gardens at eight tomorrow morning? I’m sure I’ll be able to teach you a lesson in manners then, my young friend.”

“I’ll have a thing or two of my own to show you,” Red retorted. “I’ll see you there.” With that, he ran off again.

He hadn’t gotten much farther when he ran into another obstacle, and this time, he was the one who fell over, the stuffing knocked out of him.

“Do you make it a habit to run into people or something?” Brock’s voice startled him out of his trance, and he hurriedly tried to get up. As he did, he had the misfortune to become entangled in the other man’s cloak, and found his nose pressed up against a belt of…leather?

Alas, Brock was vainglorious, and having been unable to procure an entire golden belt, had chosen to have half in order to better show off his magnificent physique. That explained why he kept coughing and refused to take off his cloak.

“I’m sorry.”

“Save your apologies for later. You know the Imperial Gardens?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“Tomorrow morning then!”

“I should be honored.” Red grinned, though inwardly, he was wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

“Shall we say eight?”

“I’m afraid that nine would be better.”

“Well, whatever you say. Nine then.”

With that, Brock turned his back on Red, but couldn’t resist a parting shot. “Maybe I’ll cut some eyes into that head of yours!”

“I may lack eyes like yours, but I see more than I let on!” Red retorted, knowing that he had gotten the last laugh.

Brock blinked, but frowned. What had Red meant?

Surely….

Red frowned as he got outside and looked around frantically. No, the man was gone, definitely. It was like he had just faded into thin air.

Red sighed as he sat down on the edge of a fountain and watched the water sparkle in graceful arcs, realizing how foolish he’d been.

He’d just arrived in Paris and was now engaged in two duels! Heck, he’d probably die tomorrow! His fencing wasn’t that good…

Well, at least if he died, it would be… fair. He’d seen Indigo Plateau after all, what every country boy from Pallet wanted. Still…

“I’m an idiot sometimes. Why, the noble Lance was wounded, he had a broken arm, and that’s exactly where I hit him! I hope I didn’t break anything…. And as for Brock, well, he deserved it, but still…”

He didn’t want to make a city full of enemies here!

He ought to act more like William. Will might dress in a strange manner but he was very soft spoken. Ah, speak of the devil! There he was!

As he approached Will and the two men he was talking to, Red noticed a handkerchief underneath Will’s foot. Finding that somewhat odd, he bent down and began to try and extricate it.

Will didn’t seem to appreciate this, as he adamantly refused to move his foot and carried on his conversation quietly.

Finally, after much tugging, Red yanked the handkerchief out. It flew into the air and one of the other men grabbed it. It was dainty cambric, embroidered with a coronet and golden thread.

“Ha! Discreet William! Well, well… and you say Madame Karen doesn’t favor you when she’s kind enough to lend you her handkerchiefs?”

Will smiled pleasantly, but shot Red a glare that indicated he had just acquired a deadly enemy.

“As a matter of fact, my dear friend, who am I to say that this handkerchief is mine?” And with that, Will drew another from his pocket, also of cambric, but bearing only the owner’s monogram.

One of the Guards that William had been talking with frowned slightly, not the least taken in with this display, “Now Will, I’m a good friend of the Noir family, and I daresay that Monsieur Noir will not be pleased that his wife’s things are being handed around like trophies.”

“Actually,” Red put in timidly, “I’m not sure that handkerchief is Monsieur Will’s. I simply assumed it was so.”

Will did not respond to Red’s question.

“Oh, since you’re such an intimate friend of the family, perhaps closer than I, who am I to say that the handkerchief did not come from your pocket?”

The Guard flushed, while another laughed.

“He’s got you there, Silver!”

“Well, what do you perceive we should do, Will?” Silver smirked. “We can’t both keep it, and one of us has to be lying.”

“How about we cut it in half?”

“Bravo! Spoken like Solomon the wise.” With that, they promptly split the handkerchief and the two Guards walked off, laughing and chatting.

Red looked uncomfortable, and after the Guards had left, attempted to apologize.

Will shot him a glare. “Even someone from a country province like Pallet should know that the streets of Indigo Plateau are not paved with lace. Because of your uncouth actions, a lady’s honor has been compromised.”

“Because of both our actions, you mean?”

“Both our actions?”

“Why were you so clumsy as to drop that handkerchief?”

“You needn’t have pointed it out like that! A gallant man would not have. And I did not drop it.”

“Then you’re twice a liar, sir, because I saw it drop from your pocket!” Red fumed. “Draw your sword!”

“Not here, you idiot! We’re right in front of Monsieur Chuck’s palace and it’s crawling with the Cardinal’s creatures. Meet me in front of Monsieur Lugia’s abode at ten tomorrow morning and I’ll take you to a place where we can settle our differences.”

“Very well.”

With that said, Red finally hurried home, or at least to the tent he had pitched. He sighed. What was he to do?

“What a day… and tomorrow promises to be even better… but I’m not worried about death, not really.”

He just wished he could have found a girlfriend first.

With those thoughts, he drifted off to sleep.

End Chapter

Completed 3/22/06

Whee… ^^