Special Jewels for Life

A/N: Magical Christmas to everyone! And also, it's Silver's birthday today so congratulations to him as well. And just as a side comment, to me Blue is the boy and Green is the girl. Just for you to know. Enjoy!

Chapter I: Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday.

December 24th. It was a combined birthday and Christmas party. There were people, presents, music… Things that he despised. And tried to avoid as possible.

The red-haired teenager was leaning to the wall and trying to blend into the tapestry. It was a lost cause, though, especially as Green was there.

"Silver! There you are!" the girl's voice pierced even the overly-loud music. Very reluctant-looking Blue was dragged along, despite his muttered objections. All Silver could hear was 'Pesky Girl' and 'Mew help me'.

"So, are you having fun?" Green asked Silver, holding tightly on Blue's arm as the boy tried to escape.

No. "Yeah, sure", he said, his hands deep in his pockets. As much as he loved – as a sister, of course – the brown-haired girl standing in front of him and now babbling away, today he'd go with Blue's opinion: pesky. Silver's idea of a fun birthday was slightly different that Green's. First up, there wouldn't be the whole goddamn region invited, if he'd be in charge. Didn't people want to celebrate Christmas in their homes, with their families?

Oh, but Green had taken care of that too. Since Red's place was so big, it wasn't a problem at all to invite the families as well. Go figure.

"…But go get some food or drinks over there. And try to be more sociable! Have you even said hi to those Sinnoh trainers?"

Right. Correction: not just the region, there were people from Hoenn and Sinnoh too. Dex Holders, parents, professors, champions, Gym leaders… Apparently everybody had way too much free time.

"Okay, I'll just…" he muttered and motioned at some direction. Green looked delighted. "Great! Okay, Blue, come on, there's Professor Rowan! Let's check if he's doing alright!"

Blue's eyes begged for mercy. Silver felt all the sympathy for the boy; he knew that what came to organizing and hosting parties, Green could be a monster.

Now he had to find another place to hide. He wondered if there was any way to sneak out of the cramped room unnoticed, but he hardly doubted it. He had tried it already – a glance at the clock – exactly 13 minutes before. How slow could that clock get?

He had no interest in going to the foods and drinks, but because the other choices nearby were the ever-so-charming Gold hitting on some women Silver didn't recognize and the arguing Hoenn couple, the almost-deserted food table seemed like a peaceful harbour on that raging sea of partying people.

There was only that weird boy wearing a beret, eating as fast as he could. What's wrong with these kids nowadays?

After a while of observing the endless munching and chewing, Silver was almost sure that anything could happen around the boy without him taking notice. At least as long as the food kept on coming.

But hey, that suited Silver perfectly. He had noticed that the sparkling silver and red table cloth was so long that nobody would notice him under the table. Yay, a good place to hide, finally.

After a final glace at the food boy and the rest of the room, the teenager raised the cloth a little and slipped underneath it.

Although his feet didn't have enough space, and he hardly saw anything in the darkness, it was much more comfortable down there. At least he was alone.

Except that he wasn't.

Right next to him, there was someone lying on the floor and breathing heavily. Cursing the lousy visibility, he peered at the figure.

"Crys?" he whispered.

"Mhhff", the figure said and moved a little. Yes, it had to be Crystal; he recognized the pointy pigtails even in the darkness. Strange, he hadn't seen her at the party.

Suddenly the girl jumped and sat up. She looked around hastily. "Silver? Is that you?"

"Yeah. What're you doing down here?" the boy said in a low tone.

"Well I – I must've fallen asleep", she whispered, trying to smoothen her messy hair. "Sorry for not greeting you or anything. I wanted to, but I just had an amazing headache, and all that hassle out there doesn't quite help… so I kind of crawled here, and... I'm sorry."

He couldn't care less about being greeted of not. "It's okay."

The girl looked at him curiously. "Umm… how about you? Why are you here?"

"Hiding." Silver sighed. "From the crazy party people. Mostly Green."

"Oh, right! Merry Christmas… and happy birthday, Silver. I almost forgot."

Great, here we go again. "Thanks", he muttered halfheartedly.

"Although Green said it's okay since I helped with the preparations, I still feel a bit bad for not having a present…" she said embarrassed. "But I've been so busy with the research. And that's why I also was so late tonight."

"I don't want any presents." It came out a bit harsher than he had meant, but at least the message got through. "Oh", the girl said, and an awkward silence fell between them.

Silver thought about things to say but came up with none.

Now that he thought about it, she did seem a little more tired nowadays. He wondered what kind of things Prof. Oak made her do at the lab. He quickly shook away the images of exhausted Crys polishing the floor and carrying endless piles of research documents, and the laughing evil professor watching aside. She was probably just burying herself under the work again. He knew that the girl could sometimes be even too responsible.

"Why?"

Silver looked at the girl. "Huh?"

"The presents", she said. "Why don't you want presents?"

I'm not telling you. "'Cause they're pointless, birthdays and giving presents. I mean, why give somebody something they don't really need anyway? It's just… pointless." He noted that his voice was defiant. Who was he trying to convince?

But it was true. For example, the others had given him things like pokéballs (as if he'd need to catch more pokémon; his team was already perfect), some hair gel (thanks, Gold) and bright red mittens (well… he didn't like the color).

"Well, yeah, I – I understand." Silver knew she didn't. She obviously just didn't want to argue. Maybe it was the headache. "I guess you could say th…"

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Crap.

Green raised the table cloth and glared at the red-haired boy. "We've been looking for you!" Only then she noticed Crystal, who had a very startled look on her face. The brunette's eyes lit up. "Oooh, Crys! I was beginning to think that you won't show up at all!" She offered her hand and pulled the younger girl out of the hiding place. "Come, come – I have an endless list of people I want to introduce to you!"

Silver and apparently-forgotten Blue watched as Green dragged confused Crystal away to meet somebody at the other side of the room. The two boys looked at each other.

"Wanna join?" Silver asked from under the table, pointing the floor next to him.

Blue glanced around gloomily. "You bet."

…

A couple of days later, Crystal was walking on the peaceful streets of Pallet Town. Professor had surprisingly insisted that she'd take the day off, saying that she was spending too much time working.

Who, she? More like too little, if they asked her.

But they didn't, and that was the reason for her having an entire day without anything to do.

"Oh, what to do, what to do, what to do…"

After a while of aimless walking she noticed a small bookstore. Yes, good. She hadn't had any time to read in ages. Maybe she'd find something interesting there. Already happier because she had something to do, she went in.

But the next problem is, she thought, wandering in between the shelves offering everything from romance novels to cooking books, that I never seem to find anything I'd like to read…

"Ugh, why is this so hard? Come on, just pick…" This was awful.

Okay, just take one and buy it, stupid. She stopped before one shelf and closed her eyes. At random, then… Her hand ran over the smooth and slippery backs of the books. Then it stopped and grabbed one.

She felt that the book she had chosen was quite thin and a bit smaller than the ones around it. She pulled it out of the row and opened her eyes.

"Special Jewels for life..?"

She examined the book with curiosity. Apparently, it wasn't a novel, but it had to do. She had decided to buy whatever she picked. While walking towards the cash desk, she read the cover text.

"Wow, this is…" An image of a red-haired head swam into her mind. Yes, it was perfect for him.

The girl knew that Silver had said he didn't want any presents, but this was just too suitable.

She stepped to the cashier. "Hi. By the way, do you have any wrapping paper?"