Title: Sealed Deal
Summary: Gold is challenged to a dare by Crystal; he has to become Professor Elm's assistant along with Crystal to see who is the most hardworking of the two. Gold, of course, doesn't back down. But his reputation would be ruined if he loses; not just in the dare game but also in real life. If he loses, he'll have to leak all the info about Pokemon breeding that he knows, also jeopardizing his worklife. So begins the deal between the two.
Author's Note: Hi, there, everyone. Thanks for clicking on this and giving it a try. :D It means a lot; especially if you leave a review. There will be more chapters coming up, but ONLY if there're reviews. I mean, I've got to know who's reading it and who isn't, right? Review, and you'll get yourself and update. Enjoy!
Truth be told, it was hard to find a young person his age in a laboratory – Especially when said person is a young pretty lady who should be out in the open air instead of this stuffy lab of Professor Elm's.
Gold, who was clad in a janitor's uniform, sloshed water in the pail with him about and started mopping the floor noisily.
It was six o' clock in the morning, and no one was up and about in the room except the pretty lady in the lab coat. Gold guessed that she must work here as a helper of the Professor or something. As he mopped the floor, whistling, he made his way purposefully to her. Gold saw her tense up as he got closer. Up close, he could see star-shaped earrings visible, clashing with her dark hair.
Just as he was close enough to look at the colour of the bands used to tie up her neat pigtails; she whipped around and smiled at him.
"Can I help you with something?" She asked politely. Gold was expecting maybe a love struck look upon her face when she set eyes on him, like how he felt when he saw her beautiful face – Instead, her yes twitched in irritation even if her smile was sending him a different message. Gold grinned cheekily, liking this unpredictable beauty sitting in front of him already.
To think that he came here to check out the lab under disguise – the place where he had been offered a job – but to score a pretty damsel like her too. Luck seemed to love him at the moment.
"Well, I was just wonderin' why a pretty lady like you would be stuck in this stuffy ol' lab early in the mornin'?" Gold asked innocently, trying to look casual, like being a janitor was what he had been taught to be – Not an expert on Pokemon breeding who had turned countless job offerings down but decided to take on Professor Elm after a bit of… research and spying.
"I work here as Professor Elm's assistant. I haven't seen you around here before. Did you just start work today?" The girl returned to the stack of papers she was writing on, which looked like important documents. "You could say that. It depends," Gold replied, mopping the same spot over and over just to talk to her.
"On what?" She asked absent-mindedly. Gold could tell she wasn't really listening. He smirked. She fell for it. "On a pretty lady like you workin' with the Professor. I guess I don't mind tacklin' the job if I've got a hot girl as company," Gold said, waiting for her reaction. He expected a blush, and possibly a love confession – But all he got was her slamming her pen down. "If that's all you care about, then maybe you should get your facts straight about what a job really means before even hoping to apply for a job!" She said angrily.
Gold's grin widened. When she was angry, her cheeks coloured and her eyes flashed; a beauty, if he ever saw one. She looked strict, too, the way her pigtails were neatly tied and the firm frown on her face. The way she stood radiated an aura of intellect and discipline. Clearly, her ideologies and theories were the ones that got her into the field, not just her looks.
Gold liked her already.
"What's your name?" He blurted out, sounding desperate without meaning to. For just a moment, he saw her looking taken aback. But it was soon replaced with suspicion. "There's no reason why you should know," She retorted, before turning back to her paperwork. Still undeterred, Gold tried again. "C'mon, it's not like I'll blackmail your or anythin'. Who does that?" Though Gold already knew who could – Senior Blue was always a tricky one.
"I know someone who could and probably would," She replied to his surprise. Gold was about to try asking her again, when he heard the door to the lab open. He tensed. They were both in the back room, and it would take some time before said person would reach here. If it wasn't the Professor himself, Gold would be safe.
"Good morning, Crystal! The research we did was absolutely –"Yeah, it was Professor Elm alright. Gold's future boss, if he decided to take the job he was offered. Cursing mentally, Gold spotted the open window. It could be big enough to fit him… The sound of footsteps coming closer made his mind up.
"I gotta go! I'm hopin' to see ya again sometime!" Gold waved at Crystal, who stared at him, confused. He rushed towards the mirror and slipped through easily, even for his tall height. He pulled the mop and pail along and made a ran for it. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" The girl he assumed was 'Crystal' called after him in alarm. But he was already gone. "Crystal? Who were you yelling at?" Elm had hurried into the room, a stack of filed balanced in his arms.
"…There was a janitor…"
It was already 10 o'clock in the morning, and Crystal was still mulling over the maniacal janitor who jumped through the window. She didn't bother explaining it to Professor Elm. She didn't want him to think the work was taking a toll on her, and also, Crystal had a feeling that the janitor didn't want Elm to know he had been there. Who was he? Even as she brooded over the nameless man with the laughing eyes, she still continued to print out sentence after sentence in her neat handwriting.
"Ah, Crystal! I almost forgot," Professor Elm looked up at her from his computer.
"Did you see a young man up and about this morning? I offered him a job as he's very skilled in Pokémon breeding – People claim he's an expert breeder, hatcher, and naturally good with Pokémon. I offered him a job here, and I didn't expect him to accept. But he says he'll think about it. He told me he'll drop by early this morning to check out the lab, but I forgot to mention you'd be there," Elm said sheepishly.
Since all she saw was a crazy, unknown janitor, Crystal shook her head. Somehow, this problem reeked of suspicion. "So has he confirmed about taking the job?" She asked, still immersed in her work. "Well… He's been headhunted and offered jobs many times; but he refuses nearly always. He won't explain why, and we can only assume. I heard he's a carefree young man – quite the opposite with the likes of you," Elm chuckled amicably.
Crystal tensed, her heart beating and mind in a whirl.
Carefree, young, the opposite of her… "What's his name?" She asked, forcing herself to sound casual. "Oh, did I forget to mention that? His name's Gold, and he's from around here, you know," Elm replied, before turning back to the computer screen. The image of the janitor's golden irises from beneath his messy hair filled her mind. Crystal was sure she had hit the nail on the head; that this Gold was the janitor.
She wouldn't tell the Professor, Crystal thought determinedly. Since he's from around here, I'll search for him myself later. I'll ask him why he had been disguising himself. "Professor Elm? Do you think you can give me the address of Gold's house? The man you mentioned earlier?" Professor Elm nodded.
"Sure, but why? Any particular reason?" He asked. Crystal smiled innocently. "I just have a feeling that I might have met him before, that's all," She replied.
"So you managed to pull it off?" Blue asked, folding her arms and looking somewhat proud. Her brother – though not related by blood – sighed. Gold nodded, grinning. They were gathered in his house's garden. Blue had dropped by, and managed to convince Silver to come along.
"Yup! The Professor didn't catch me in the end, and I got away. But I think I might take up the job… I heard Professor Elm's a good guy, and well, I've got my reasons, y'know?" Gold said. "So what happened to the girl?" Blue's eyes gleamed when she mentioned Crystal. Gold didn't know why, but she had a sly and foxy grin whenever she brought the girl into the conversation.
"She works at the lab. I think her name's Crystal," Gold began hesitantly.
"Yes, and she decided to get to the bottom of this problem by confronting the 'janitor' who's also the expert breeder 'Gold' himself!" A new voice joined the trio. All of them looked at Crystal when she arrived. She was glaring at Gold, and was too focused to notice the other two near him. Gold's mouth fell open.
"I'm not falling for any kind of trick that easily," Crystal said angrily, folding her arms. Silver rolled his eyes and rubbed his face with one hand. Blue's grin widened into something similar to a Sharpedo's. "Crystal! It's nice seeing you here," When she heard Blue's familiar voice, she turned to her in shock. "S-senior Blue! And Silver? What are you two doing with this – with this liar?" Crystal asked, looking horrified.
"Whoa, Superseriousgal! I wasn't really lyin' back then," Gold said, raising his hands up defensively. "I'm not a liar. I just thought I'd check out the lab without anyone knowin' it was me. I knew I should've worn that moustache you gave me," Gold complained to Blue, who giggled. "Besides… How do you know Superseriousgal, Senior Blue? Ya didn't tell me about her, which is shame. I'd have liked meetin' a pretty lady like her aeons ago," Gold smirked.
"Stop calling me that!" Crystal clenched her fists.
"Crystal, this is Gold. Gold; Crystal. Gold, I've known Crystal since the day Professor Elm took her on. Green introduced her to Silver and I when both Elm and her visited Kanto. And Crystal… I've known Gold for quite a long time, ever since he became friends with Silver," Blue introduced.
"Acquaintances," Silver corrected. "…Okay," Crystal said unsurely, looking flabbergasted. "B-but… Why did you pull a stunt like that? Why go through all that just to avoid anyone knowing it's you? I heard you were born here, in NewBark Town, so why put on a disguise? Besides, you ran away when Professor Elm came in," Crystal pointed out.
"If you really want to know – It's kinda complicated," Gold began. Blue looked at them both, satisfaction and apparently enjoyment clear in her eyes. "Senior Blue dared me to go under disguise and not get caught by anyone; just check out the lab at the same time as pretendin' to be a worker there. I thought bein' a janitor would suit me best, so I did just that. 'Course, I called Professor Elm first. He didn't say anyone would be there," Gold said, scratching his head awkwardly.
"And about the runnin' away from the Professor thing… Senior Blue told me to avoid anyone's recognition – Since Elm already knows how I look like, I knew I'd fail the dare. But since we didn't know each other, it was okay to talk to you. SO see, it was all innocent, really. No problem at all," Gold shrugged at Crystal. He didn't realize he was fuelling her anger with every sentence.
"So you did all that… Just for a dare? What's so important about this dare?" She threw up her hands in the air, yelling. Gold shrank back, while Silver smacked his face. "You know… um… manly pride?" He answered. "ARGH! You put me through all this trouble; trying to track you down and demand an explanation – I thought you had something up your sleeve, and since you mentioned blackmail! You're so – so STUPID!" Crystal cried out.
This time, Gold's easy grin faded a little and he rose up, towering over her just by a few centimetres. Even so, her intimidation and anger far surpassed his.
"I'm not stupid!" He denied, looking childishly defiant. "Oh, really? Only stupid idiotic people would waste their time doing something like that when you could've had some work done! To think that you even tried to chat me up before! Let me tell you this; NO GIRL would want to date a person like YOU, who fritters time away like a KID," Crystal jabbed a finger into Gold's chest.
"It was just for fun! Loosen up, Superseriousgal! Haven't you ever heard the word 'fun'? I do know how to work, and I'll be able to work as hard as ANYONE," Gold replied. Crystal's eyes gleamed. "Fine, then. You say you can work harder than anyone, right? Well, I challenge you to a dare. Unless you're too LAZY to take it on," She said. His eyes flashed momentarily. "Go on, then! I'll take on any dare, any place, any time," Gold said.
"I dare you to take on the job with Professor Elm. Work as his assistant, and we'll see who's the most hardworking between the two of us," Crystal proposed. Blue watched this exchange with interest. "Who will be the judge?" She asked cheerfully. Crystal didn't take her eyes off Gold. "Silver," She announced, making the redhead shake his head. Both of them ignored Silver's futile attempts of disagreeing.
"Okay, whatever you say, Superseriousgal. But there'll be a prize for the winner, won't there?" Gold asked. "Yes, the winner can have whatever he or she wants," Crystal said grudgingly. "Okay, then – If I win, you'll hafta admit I'm the best and then go on a date with me," Gold said with a smirk. Crystal ground her teeth in frustration. "And if I win; you'll have to share all your breeding tactics and secrets with the lab," Crystal didn't know why, but he clenched his jaw and looked like he wanted to refuse at this point.
"But, Superseriousgal! That'll jeopardize my reputation. No one's gonna want me to work with 'em once I give all the info in," Gold argued. "Then you'll just have to win then, won't you?" Crystal asked condescendingly. Gold hated to admit it, but his ego was being challenged here. He remained silent but looked sulky.
"We've got ourselves a deal,"
And that's the end of CHAPTER ONE! Read and review, and I'll update. Thanks for reading!