Hellow, this is Shadow! (If you somehow remember me from a couple of years back, then hellow again!) This is a pilot chapter of my story plan containing roughly 27 chapters, including the prologue and epilogue. In this AU, the Ouran world is just an anime for the PokeSpe guys, but it heavily influences them throughout this story. Constructive criticism is appreciated, and if the reception is good, I'll keep posting more chapters...! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters mentioned nor the anime mentioned in this story.
Prologue:
Gold Tries Something New!
Waiting patiently on a train ride home is not an easy task for teenagers with short attention spans. But today, it was even more unbearable than usual for a certain young man who was anxious to get home.
With mischievous golden eyes and chaotic black hair that held most people's attentions at the large black bang that protruded from his head, he had a certain charm that sparked annoyance in most people. He was an average height for a male 2nd-year high schooler, and wore his school's customary black school uniform with a white button-up shirt underneath. Since he was out of school for the day and was no longer being forced to feel the constriction of the black fabric, his jacket rested in the crook of his left elbow, and his white sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His left hand had a firm grasp of his bag, and his right hand rhythmically tapped his dark, red leather seat to a catchy tune that had been on repeat in his head all day.
The train began to slow, and came to a lurching stop. The anxious young man, who is of course none other than Gold Taiyokai was already standing before the train had come to a complete stop, and eagerly rushed out as the doors squeaked open.
Exiting the train, Gold zig-zagged through the crowd of people, his mind too preoccupied to pay much attention to his surroundings, and he ignored the exclamations of shock by the people he darted past in his hurried manner.
Clutching his bag tightly in his right hand, he decided to wait until midnight to start his homework- as always. However, instead of playing video games or surfing the internet as he usually did beforehand, he had different plans today.
Something he would never had considered doing before.
Turning the last corner before the street to his house, Gold waited until he caught sight of the familiar red roof before bursting into a sprint, keeping his speed until he slammed into the fence gate with a dull thud, and then opened it with a deft turn of the lock. Click!
Used to this odd routine, two purple ears perked up from the lush vegetable garden within the fence to the signaling noise of its friend's return. As Gold neared the front door of his house, Aitaro shot up into the air and landed on the boy's shoulder to greet him with a grin.
"Sup, Aitaro? How was your day?" Gold said, grinning in return as he hastily headed into the house, slamming the door shut behind him. The aipom responded with a happy, "Aii!", swishing his purple tail in the air.
Kicking his shoes off by the door, the black haired boy quickly made his way to the kitchen where his mother was preparing dinner, the family Pokemon crowded around her and trying to help her cook. Gold snagged the bowl of strawberries she'd prepared for his snack as he passed through, making a bee-line for the stairs.
Halfway up the flight of stairs, his mother's pleasant voice made him halt in his tracks.
"Gold, dear, why in such a hurry? Did you get rejected by a girl again?" Sometimes, her seemingly pure, sweet voice can pierce so harshly…, Gold thought, nearly falling over.
"Mom, why would I get rejected? But no, I haven't asked anyone out! I just wanna go look something up." He replied, recovering immediately.
"Not like it hasn't happened before, you know... Finish your homework first!" She called as he reached his room, tossing his bag and jacket carelessly onto his bed and placing the bowl of strawberries on his desk.
"Sure, whatever you say!" He called back, clipping the last of his words off by shutting the door.
Finally, he was home... It was time to find out what the hell Blue and Crystal had been talking about earlier that day. Eager to shed some light on his ignorance, the impulsive boy plopped down onto his desk chair and swiveled to face his computer, booting it up right away.
As he jiggled the mouse back and forth impatiently for the screen to load, Aitaro, who was still on the boy's shoulders, climbed on top of Gold's explosive black hair and leaned his head forward to look his friend in the eyes with a stern expression. Aitaro gave a small growl.
"C'mon, I'm just going to check it real quickly, and then I'll go straight to finishing my homework!" Gold assured the purple monkey, trying to look around his head at the computer screen.
Aitaro gave him a look that said, Liar, and didn't budge.
Gold groaned, and picked the persistent monkey off of his head, and placed him on the ground. He then turned back to the screen and began typing in his password. Clicking 'enter', Gold was surprised to see a message pop up on his screen instead of his account. It read as so:
"Honey, I resent the password so that you'd finish your homework this time instead of slacking off until midnight to start it. As soon as you finish, Aitaro will give you the password. Work hard, dear! –Mom"
"Dammit, she's good!" Gold cursed, hitting his fists on his desk. Aitaro snickered from on his bed behind him, holding out Gold's bag with his tail and waving it at the boy. Thoroughly annoyed, he stood up from his chair and made his way over to Aitaro, swiping his bag from the amused normal type with a glare.
Glaring at Aitaro for a few moments more, Gold finally broke eye contact and stomped back over to his desk and began to unload his bag.
"When I finish this crap, there better not be any more monkey business from you!" The golden eyed boy threatened, turning his back just as Aitaro began to tauntingly dance a jig.
…
A good thirty minutes later, Gold had finished his daily homework, devoured the contents of the strawberry bowl (with some help from Aitaro, whom he can never stay mad at for long), and had finally gotten the aipom to interpret the password to him. Double-clicking on the internet immediately, he reached into his pocket to pull out the paper that Blue had written on.
Inscribed in a blue ink and handwriting that somehow produced the word 'flirty' by itself, was a small message that read:
1. Go to an anime site~
2. Find "Ouran High School Host Club"
3. Watch it!
~Blue
A deep sense of forbidding crept within Gold, and sent shivers down his spine. To trust this girl was a 50/50. She could either be very helpful, or… well, Gold didn't want to think about it. Reliving that embarrassing experience was not something he wanted to do right now.
What he DID want to do was figure out what the hell this anime was. "Ouran Host School Host Club"…? He hadn't ever heard of it before, sticking mainly to shounens and only watching a few shoujos, but from what he had picked up, it was deep into shoujo territory.
No one can know he's watching this.
Just like that time he tried watching "My Little Ponyta: Friendship is Magic" when he'd heard so much fuss about it.
Never again.
No one must know.
…As he began to navigate to his favorite anime site, he secretly hoped that whatever he was about to watch didn't make him want to strangle any ponytas and rapidashes that he happened to see for the next couple of weeks. Arceus, that unplanned encounter with the Ponyta Club at the local park right after that was a nightmare for the black-haired teenage boy. Explaining his weird actions to his best friend was no easy feat, either. Almost nothing can fool those cold, hard, silver eyes… But somehow, Gold got away without having to explain the truth.
Once at the homepage, Gold immediately spotted the search bar and pounded away at the keyboard, quickly typing in the title of the oddly named anime due to his familiarity with his computer. He was on the machine every single day, so his typing skills were fairly decent.
Clicking 'Enter', his results popped up almost instantly. Not even bothering to read the link's description, he clicked it and then the link to the first episode following it. As the video began to load, he thought back to what had happened that day to lead him to this point…
A certain blue-eyed, third-year flirt was intruding upon class 2-A once again, pestering one of her closest friends, Crystal, who happened to sit two desks in front of Gold (she sat in front of him for the first week, but she quickly realized how horrible of an idea that was and promptly asked to be moved). Dead from a late night of procrastination, Gold's face was buried in his black schoolbag on his desk, not wanting to be there. However, since the girls were talking close by, how could he not listen in?
"Sooooo~? Didya finish it yet? You had a whole weekend!" Blue said, twirling one of Crystal's pens in her hand as the studious girl set up her desk materials for the day.
The pigtailed girl sighed, snatching the pen from her friend while responding, "Yes, Blue, it was alright. But I really didn't find it that interesting. I am not really a fan of animated shows and films."
"Aww, but you liked Ouran…! I thought you'd like this!" Blue whined, swiping another pen to twirl. Gold's listening intensified as he heard the change in tone of Crystal's response.
"W-well, Ouran is different," she stuttered, lowering her voice noticeably, "…although completely fictional, the idea was interesting and quirky, and the guys were- well, I guess attract-"
"Hellooo, what are you ladies talking about?" a suddenly bright-eyed Gold appeared, cutting an agitated Crystal off.
Blue's eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Ohoho, it seems as if we have summoned a curious Gold, Crys-Crys." She sang, amused at Crystal's mood change as the impulsive boy appeared.
"Nothing that concerns you, Gold." Crystal twitched with annoyance, which only gave Gold more energy.
"I do believe I heard the Super Serious Gal talking about someone being… attractive. It was me, right? Don't worry; I already know that." Gold flicked his hair in dramatic imitation of the stereotypical popular kids.
Crystal's face reddened with rage and embarrassment.
"I was most certainly NOT talking about you! I was talking about much… cooler, actual gentlemen, who are better than you when they aren't even real!" Crystal retorted, clutching an eraser tightly. If it was a pencil, Gold knew that it would already have been broken. That thought merely made him smirk.
"Oh, then who were you talking about, if not me?" Gold asked, leaning on her desk and getting closer to her face. As he thought, this got to her even more, and the girl snapped.
"About this shoujo, okay?!" Crystal blurted.
"Tut-tut, Crys-Crys," Blue waggled her finger, "That doesn't do the show justice."
Gold turned his attention to Blue, which Crystal still took offense to.
"Well if she won't tell me, then can't you just say what it is, Thief Chick?" Gold could feel Silver glaring daggers into the back of his head, but he ignored as usual.
A flash of some sort of evil lit up Blue's eyes, and she snatched a piece of scratch paper from her skirt pocket. Using Crystal's blue pen that she stole, she scribbled down instructions, and handed the paper to Gold.
"Just follow this when you get home this evening, and you'll understand~!" Blue laughed, but was cut off by the bell. Gold folded the piece of paper, and he and Blue were shooed hastily away by a thoroughly annoyed Crystal before class began.
Gold shook his memory away, returning to the computer screen. The video had successfully loaded, and all he had to do was click the play button to finally be enlightened on what would make Crystal actually like an animated show.
He didn't hesitate for a moment. As the anime started, Gold had a hunch that it may very well spark a big idea- and it wasn't long before his gears of mischief began to turn. In no time, without even watching the second episode, Gold began to thoroughly plot for the first time in his life.
"I think things are about to get interesting around here, Aitaro." Gold said with a grin.
The purple monkey rolled his eyes, already feeling sorry for whoever was going to be involved in his friend's scheme this time...