Pokémon: The Original Shipping (RedxBlue)

Lv 15: Barriers

I found Red leaning against the railing near the back of the boat. He seemed to be alone, simply gazing at the stars in the night sky and their glimmering reflection on the surface of the water. Hesitantly, I wondered whether or not it was a good idea to approach him.

I'm not sure why I was so nervous and scared to though, why anything having to do with Red made me feel this way really. I'd never been like this before in my life. No matter how tough of an obstacle or opponent was, I never backed out of a challenge.

So what is it about Red that makes me feel so weak and vulnerable?

"Blue?" Red looked back and noticed me, giving me no chance to second guess myself and runaway. "That was fast. Did you already beat that swimmer guy in battle?"

"Yeah." I answered, clearing my throat and joining him, now that I didn't really have much of a choice. "He wasn't much of a challenge."

"I really wouldn't have expected him to be." Red replied, looking back off into the distance. "Thanks, by the way."

"Thanks? Thanks for what?"

"For getting that guy to leave me alone." Red smirking back at me, purposefully making me feel awkward inside. "You definitely came just in time to my rescue."

"Oh please," I found myself replying back a bit angrily, "you could have easily gotten him to leave you alone if you wanted to."

"Wait, so are you jealous that I didn't?"

"NO!" Now I sounded way to defensive.

He laughed, to make matters worse, just before taking a short pause for me to cool down and get a better hold of myself.

"Well either way, thank you."

"Uh... no problem." Damn it! Why am I blushing? "Anytime... I guess."

For a brief moment there, I thought I could actually gather enough courage to talk to Red like he was just another regular guy, but I had failed. Every time I opened my mouth, I sounded more and more like a pathetic twerp myself. Luckily for me, Red didn't seem to notice much, or at least pretended not to for my sake. Peaking over at him, he just stood quietly with a calming smile on his face.

"Blue! Look!"

"Huh?" I snapped out of confusion, for a moment, and looked down at the water to see what Red was hollering about.

At first, I didn't really see much, but then a faint glow began to emerge from the water. There were suddenly hundreds of beacons of light all around the boat, slowly growing with great intensity. Once I really got a good look at the odd spectacle, it didn't take me long to realize where it was coming from. The water was swarming with Tentacool. There were hundreds of them that could be seen gently swimming close to the surface of the water. The light that was being emitted came from the red spots on their jelly-like bodies.

"Whoa! They must using Barrier under the water." I explained.

"It's beautiful." Red replied, staring directly at me, catching me off guard. He noticed and chuckled. "You wouldn't expect to see such a wonderful thing from a Pokémon most people consider annoying and hate so much. I knew these waters were abundant with Tentacool, but I've never seen so many in one spot, and I've never seen them do something like this."

"They must have gathered here to mate and breed," I explained, beginning to get a bit nervous brining up the subject. "They must also feel threatened by the boat rushing past so close to them. That's why they're using Barrier to protect themselves."

Red looked back at the water in astonishment, and then back at me in amazement. "Gee, you really know your stuff, don't you?"

"Well, my grandfather is an expert on the matter, and I am trying to follow in his footsteps, to some extent."

"Is that why you're leaving?"

The way Red asked that, with the hint of sadness in his voice, managed to hit me in the gut a bit.

"I'm not sure why I'm leaving..." I said without thinking about it first. Already I could see what was coming, and I wasn't prepared to deal with it just yet.

"Blue,"Red rested his hand on mine, "can we talk about what happened between usearlier?"