Eccentricity

Steven/Brendan (Ruby)

Ishishipping/Tensaishipping

Written by Sharpened Moonlight

Rated NC-17

Pokémon is copyright Nintendo and TV Tokyo. Okay? Okay.

Episode 01: Miscommunication

"Yeah, so I'll -kshhhhhhhhhhhh- after you get the -ksssssshhhhhhhhh- since you said it's -kssssssssshhhhhhhh- right?"

"Steven, I can't understand a-"

"What? You're -ksshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh- break up on me. -Ksshhhhhhh- to speak up!"

"That's why I told you not to call me! I said I'd call you once I got my Pokénav fixed. It's kinda hard to talk with a broken Pokénav."

"You're still not -kssssshhhhhh- clearly. It's -ksssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh- static interference or something."

"Steven! This is pointless! I'm gonna just hang up on you. I'll call you back soon once it's fixed."

"-Ksssshhhhh- still not able to -kssssshhhhhhhhhhh- I'm sorry, but -ksshhhhhhhhhh- I'm gonna have to hang up. -Kshhhhhh- can't understand a thing. -Kssshhhhhhh- Call me soon."

Brendan sighed tiredly as he clicked the red "Call End" button on his Pokénav, leaving the screen illuminated with a smiling picture of Steven Stone with the time 0:01:34 flashing underneath showing the time he had just wasted trying to reason with the odd man. Placing the Pokénav back into his pocket, he continued walking through Rustboro City. He was on his way to the Devon Corporation to get his Pokénav fixed. It hadn't been working properly for weeks. Reception had gone out the window, call quality was shoddy, and often messages and calls were received days, weeks, and on one occasion months after their initial send date, making mobile communication fairly difficult and frustrating. Devon had several stores spread throughout Hoenn for easy access, but somehow Mr. Stone, the Devon Corporation head executive, had found out and wanted Brendan to make a personal visit to their headquarters in Rustboro City. Brendon assumed that the information leak resided with Steven, Mr. Stone's quirky son, who was an eccentric loudmouth. Both of the Stone men were stubborn and energetic people, and Brendan knew that arguing with them was pointless. So he agreed to stop by the Rustboro Devon Corporation building to get his Pokénav fixed. The boy didn't really mind, as it was near Verdanturf Town, where Brendan could easily enter some Pokémon Contests.

Making his way to the Devon Corporation, Brendan thought about his faulty Pokénav. Steven knew it had been acting up. Brendan had even told Steven that he was going to Rustboro today. The older man had been ecstatic and said he was nearby and would pick Brendan up afterwards. And true to his word, Steven had called beforehand to set up arrangements. Which would be fine, had he not called a Pokénav he knew had been broken to try to converse with Brendan on. Brendan sighed and shook his head in disbelief. Leave it to Steven Stone to do something so good-intentioned and be completely ignorant of the simple problem of communicating with a broken mobile device. Steven was a very intelligent man. His name was known throughout Hoenn and most likely in surrounding regions as well for being a scientific genius and a master Pokémon trainer. And yet the man didn't remember that a call to a broken Pokénav would most likely end poorly. Because that was the other part of Steven, a part blatantly obvious to anyone around him, yet a characteristic often overlooked by the casual onlooker. Steven was…quirky, to put it one way. Occasionally oblivious, eccentric, and often too wrapped up in his thoughts to see facts right in front of his nose, interacting with Steven could easily turn into a difficult and migraine-inducing ordeal. It was this part of Steven that the general public didn't notice as much, mainly due to the fact that not everyone spends copious amounts of time with the gray-haired goof. Unfortunately for Brendan, he often managed to bear the brunt of Steven's…eccentricity.

Brendan arrived in the courtyard of the impressive Devon Corporation, which towered over much of the surrounding area, dwarfing most of the buildings by at least two stories, and the nearby houses by a good ten stories. The dark gray building was surrounded by sandy yellow stones, with designs in the pavement made of other colored stones and brick. Walking through sliding doors into the main lobby, Brendan was hit with a wave of cool air conditioned atmosphere.

"Can I help you, sir?" a woman behind a counter asked in Brendan's general direction.

"Yeah, my Pokénav's been acting odd lately" Brendan said, strolling to the counter and handing the pleasant young woman his Pokénav. "The messaging system hasn't been acting right and it's near impossible to make calls."

"Alright, let me see this for a second," the girl replied, beginning to handle the phone.

"One second" quickly turned into "a few minutes", which soon became "a while", and eventually morphed into "please have a seat over there, this will take some time". Brendan sat down in a comfortable leather chair nearby and began flipping through a recent issue of Hoenn Contest Challenger he had found on a nearby end table. He began skimming random articles and looking at various pictures of Pokémon in breathtaking contest prowess, soon becoming completely engaged into his reading material.

"Ohohoho!" Boomed a loud laugh that seemed to reverberate throughout the large room, making Brendan look up from his magazine. "Brendan, lad! It's good to see you again!"

The boy put the Challenger down as he stood up to greet Mr. Stone, who had come down to the lobby to greet Brendan.

"A…pleasure to see you too, sir." Brendan said, firmly shaking the president's hand.

"And what brings you here, Brendan?" the president asked, laughing heartily.

"Oh, you know." Brendan replied. "Just in the area. Doing stuff. Y'know, broken Pokénav."

"Ah, that's right! I do remember you saying something about that to me on the phone. Well, why don't you come back up to my office for some tea and to chat?"

"Oh, uh, I don't know. They're working on my Pokénav now, you see."

"Don't worry, my boy! I'll have one of them page the office when it's done!"

And without one more word, Brendan was quickly whisked into the private elevator that the stocky man came down in, and was on his way up to the president's office.

Normally, an average customer wouldn't be brought up to the president of the Devon Corporation's office just to chat while his Pokénav was being fixed, especially not a young boy. The scene most likely surprised a few disgruntled onlookers who were waiting for service of their own. But Brendan wasn't Devon's average customer. A long while ago when Brendan first came into Rustboro as a new trainer, he saved a member of the Devon Corporation from Team Aqua two separate times. Later he was roped into delivering a message to Dewford, going to Slateport, and testing out some new Devon merchandise, including the new Pokénav model, the same one that he was now having trouble with, two years ago when Devon still did things like that. Nowadays the company had grown so large that it would be very rare to have an experience like Brendan had the chance to have. Because of this, sometimes he would get random calls from the president for favors. Some of the stuff was detailed and honestly somewhat tiresome, but he was always paid handsomely and it was nothing he wasn't capable of doing. Plus, his first trip to Dewford under the request of Mr. Stone was how he managed to meet Steven, who was now the topic of conversation as the Devon president chatted with Brendan over tea and coffee in his top floor office, overlooking the city of Rustboro. It was a breathtaking view; with the citizens so far down that they seemed like bugs. In the distance was a view of fields, ocean, and caves, dotted with trees, buildings, and roadways. But right now the focus was on the inside of the room, both observers having seen the view multiple times before.

"So, how's he doing, lad?" Mr. Stone asked, referring to his son, Steven.

"Oh, he's alright." Brendan responded. Mr. Stone usually asked about Steven whenever they talked. It seemed like he must not communicate with his son that often. This puzzled Brendan, as the two men never seemed to have any poor feelings from what Brendan could tell when he saw them interact. Brendan assumed it was less of a clash of personalities and more of just two people that easily became absorbed in their own endeavors and therefore forget to communicate, and as such grew used to limited contact. Steven often disappeared for days whenever he got a new lead for a rare stone or archeological endeavor. And Mr. Stone could hardly keep a conversation going for five minutes before divulging into long rants about his company's new products. One of the few exceptions to these short conversations was ones about his son.

"Actually, I haven't seen him for a few weeks myself," Brendan added. "I think he's been on an underwater expedition near Mossdeep or something. He wanted to come by after I got my Pokénav fixed though, he said."

"Ah, yes. I think he was looking for an orb of some sort there." Mr. Stone said, referring to Steven's Mossdeep excavation. That was one other thing the Stone men shared other than their eccentricity, they both had a deep love for geology. But whereas Mr. Stone had built a company to do many things, including exploring the region, Steven preferred small personal projects usually done solo.

"An orb?" Brendan asked. Normally Brendan was kept in the dark from the details of Steven's explorations. Not due to massive secrecy or misunderstandings, but mainly because before Brendan could get much information out of Steven, he was already discussing his next idea. The lack of communication irritated Brendan, but he had grown used to it. And honestly a lot of the stuff was too detailed and scientific for a young boy like him to understand.

"Yes, I believe it had to do with Groudon, he told me."

"Groudon?"

"Yes, the boy mentioned something about Groudon and how this was a vital key to understanding the legendary Pokémon, but had to quickly leave me for something."

"I see." This worried Brendan. Team Magma was usually seen whenever something Groudon-related came up. Luckily, Steven somehow managed to completely avoid both Team Magma and Team Aqua whenever trouble struck, though not often intentionally. Steven just had a lot of luck on top of his genius and eccentricity. This time would probably end up just like the others with minor finds and uneventful journeys. Hopefully.

With that, Mr. Stone's phone began to ring, causing Brendan to return from his thoughts. The older man picked up the receiver, said a few words to the person on the other end, and hung up.

"Brendan, your Pokénav is repaired." Mr. Stone said. "It's waiting downstairs for you."

"Ah. Thank you," Brendan got up from his seat and bowed.

"Thank you again for visiting me, Brendan, my boy. Please send Steven my regards."

Outside, Brendan fiddled with the controls on his new Pokénav. Devon had ended up replacing the Pokénav altogether with a new model, a much more high tech and expensive one. Brendan had tried to pay for the difference in models, but the clerk refused, saying that Mr. Stone insisted that it be free for Devon's best customer. Knowing very well that there was no use arguing and deciding to take the deal offered to him, Brendan grabbed his new Pokénav, thanked the lady, and left. Back on the street, Brendan examined the new model. It was clearly fancier, and for one thing actually worked, which was his original goal of coming to Rustboro, so the boy deemed the day successful.

Flipping through his contacts that the lady had put on from his old Pokénav's data card, he pulled up Steven's number and dialed it. He waited as it rang, but eventually the Pokénav went to voicemail. Confused, Brendan closed the Pokénav, reopened it, and tried again, but with the same outcome. Maybe he was in an area where he had no reception. Or maybe it was off. Thinking back, he remembered Steven was supposed to be at a laboratory outside of Fortree before he came over. So Brendan called that number.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end was an unfamiliar male voice.

"Uh, y-yes." Brendan stammered, thinking of what to say. "Is Steven there? He said he'd come pick me up soon."

"Who's this?"

"Brendan, his…close friend."

"Ah! Brendan! Hey! Yeah, man, Steven said he was going to pick you up, but then he heard of a new project. I believe he left about fifteen minutes ago for it. Sorry."

"Uh…that's okay." Brendan said, trying to keep things as short as possible. "Thanks. Tell him I said hi, if you see him."

With a click, Brendan ended the call and stared at his Pokénav angrily. Typical Steven. Changing plans and leaving without telling him. Just for the hell of it, Brendan dialed Steven's number again. This time there was an answer.

"Hello?"

"Steven! Don't just leave without telling me like that! I haven't seen you in weeks, and now you-"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa. Stop."

"Stop? Why should I? You can't even spend time with me and you-"

"Because this isn't Steven."

"…what?"

"It's me again. From Fortree. He must've left his Pokénav here. I recognized your number from your other call so I picked up. Sorry."

Brendan mashed the End Call button and stared at his Pokénav.

"GOD DAMN IT STEVEN."

End of Episode 1: Miscommunication

A/N: I've been wanting to write an Ishishipping/Tensaishipping story for a while now.

But I actually am not proud of this chapter.

In fact, I don't like it.

At all.

I liked where it was going, but meh.

I kinda just put it out to force myself to write more, and write better.

So yeah.

Sorry.

Unlike Iridescent Wings, this story will be more episodic than a central plot, for the most part.

Look forward to it!

...maybe?

Not sure, personally I hate what I just wrote.

*Sits in corner of shame*