Hidden Intentions
"Crystal, get down here! Gold wants somthing from you again!"
I sighed as Green called my name, knowing I had no choice in the manner. If I disobeyed his calling, it would only provoke Gold into running past him and into my room to shout his news, whatever it was. Placing a blue-ink pen on my clipboard telling all about the Kalos region Pokemon (most of the stuff relying on what X and Y told me via phone), I walked out the door and down the set of stairs to see Green and Gold standing there.
Gold grinned at me, tipping his hat up and slinging his pool cue over his shoulder (seriously, is he glued to that thing?), and he skipped past Green to grab my hand. His golden eyes gleamed deviously and something told me that whatever he was about to say would be the end of me. "Crys?" he asked softly.
I raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Gold?"
"Do you have any plans tomorrow?"
Well, that was a bit unexpected. Somehow, I'd thought he'd make a perverted comment or do some cheesy sort of act like pull a boquet of roses and say "be my valentine" or whatnot (even though it's clearly July). So, when I was faced with this odd question, it took me a few seconds to realize what he had even said before I responded. "I just have to clean up the lab. Why?"
Green snorted from the doorway and walked away, muttering something about idiots and brainless people. I didn't take offense from that, assuming he was talking about his girlfriend, Blue (yeah, you heard me right, Blue is Green's girlfriend). Gold seemed oblivious to his senior's actions and instead shifted his attention to a nearby wall.
"T-That's good," was it just me or...was he stuttering? "Hey, do you wanna come over to my house afterwards at about nine P.M?"
"Why?"
"To, y'know, hang out. I'm inviting the other DexHolders too," he added, looking at my face as I put on a no-nonsense type of face, "if that makes you more comfortable."
For a few brief moments, I thought about it. I didn't really have plans for Thursday besides that one little dusting project in the basement, but spending a night with Gold could prove to be...unnerving. Last time I went to his house (which was to pick up a Mystic Water for Blue), his mother started going on and on about how we were going to be such a nice couple and then had asked when we were going to get married. Needless to say, that was a very uncomfortable experience that I never wanted to go through again.
Then, I remembered the last of Gold's sentence and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, wait, since when did you care if I was comfortable or not?"
Gold looked at me startled. "I said that?"
"Of course, idiot. What do you think you said?"
Green slid back into the room, growling something that sounded like, "He's going to-" but Gold slapped a hand on the brunette's mouth before he could utter anything else. Narrowing name-sake eyes, he leaned forward and whispered something into the boy's ears quietly out of my hearing range. Curious as to what they were talking about, I stepped forward but Gold quickly cut off his conversation and walked over to the door. He turned to me and raised a hand. "Think about my offer, alright, Crystal?"
Crystal? Since when in the name of Arceus did he start to call me that! I reached out to catch his sleeve and ask him about why he wanted me over at his house, but he was already out of reach by the time I snapped back to reality, standing a few feet away. He threw a Pokeball and released Explotaro, who he then climbed upon. Turning to me, he waved his hand. "See ya later!"
And he took off, leaving me confused and puzzled. However, a slight shuffling noise from Green reminded me that he might know what, exactly, Gold was hiding. "Hey, Green?" I turned to see him inching away and rose an eyebrow.
He stiffened at my words. "Yeah?" he asked.
"What exactly is Gold planning this time around?"
Green gave me a long look, his emerald eyes staring into my own light blue ones as if searching for something. With a sigh, he jammed his hands into his jean pockets and turned his back on me. "Nothing unusual. Just come to his house tommorrow with the rest of us and you'll understand," he walked away and into the other room.
I frowned; that wasn't much of an answer to begin with. Still, I went up to my study room and switched from my lab clothes and into my normal outfit, deciding to ask Silver. Knowing the red-haired boy, he'd probably be able to give me the answers I needed since he was like Gold's best friend. I exited the lab and grabbed a Pokeball.
"Tupeon, lend me a hand!" I called, releasing my Xatu.
She chirped in a friendly manner upon touching air and hovered over me, digging her claws into my shirt as she took off. I glanced up after realizing I had forgotten to tell her where to go. "Silver's house, please."
"Xatu!" the bird cawed, taking off.
00oo00
I arrived at Silver's house about fifteen minutes later. It was strange knowing that Silver lived here, even if I already knew that he was the new gym leader of Mahagony Town. His house was quite normal for his surroundings: just a brown house with a darker brown roof and a white porch. In fact, it was so normal for a gym leader that I was kind of shocked. I mean, gym leaders earn like 10,000 Pokedollars a month, right? So after about a year of working for the League, I would've thought Silver would upgrade to some sort of mansion. But then again, he probably desired nothing more than a normal life after what he's been through...
Still, I walked over to the house and rang the doorbell, humming along with the chant it gave before I felt something sharp prick my neck. W-What is that? I asked silently, glancing down to see a Sneasel curled around me with its claws above a blood vessel that could easily end my life if sliced. Tupeon squawked in outrage but didn't do anything to try and save me in case the Sneasel tried anything.
The door slammed open and I recognized Silver in the doorway, wearing his same attire as always. His Honchkrow was by his side, red eyes narrowing at the sight of me. The bird puffed his chest out and turned to Silver, cawing. The boy groaned, staring at my face for a brief second before rubbing a hand through his hair. "Crystal, is that you?"
"Yes, it is," I replied a bit softly, glaring at the Sneasel around my neck. "And would you please tell your Pokemon to get off of me now?"
"Sorry, Silvia usually attacks anyone who tries to approach me. She's kind of my guard dog, if you will," he snapped his fingers and the ice-type hopped onto his shoulders.
"Silvia? Since when did you start naming your Pokemon, Silver?"
He smacked his face. "Blame Lyra. She's rubbed off on me too much."
As if on cue, a brown-haired girl wearing a pink, frilly dress popped her head out from the door frame, giggling. "Hi, Crystal. How ya doing?" Silvia cooed at the sight of the girl and jumped over and onto Lyra's head.
"Fine," I replied, turning to Silver. "But I've got a question to ask both of you."
"If it's anything about Gold, we can't say," he sighed and Lyra looked away as if to avoid my gaze.
"What, why not?" I narrowed my eyes.
"It's...complicated. Just come over to his house tommorrow at nine and you'll soon see what that idiot wants," he walked inside his house, yawning loudly.
Lyra gave me a sheepish grin. "I'd say what, but it's kind of...confidential, believe me."
She shut the door on me before I could ask anymore of her, and I mentally banged my head on a wall. First Gold, then Green, and now Silver and Lyra! Just what was everyone hiding from me? Maybe Red and Yellow can tell me, I thought to myself as I directed Tupeon to the skies again.
00oo00
This time, the flight took a little more than about two hours since I was going from Johto to Kanto. Around this time, the sun was high in the sky so I'd guess it was about noon. Anyways, as I arrived in Pallet Town at the entrance to Route One, I noticed that two figures directly below me who were exactly the two I was looking for.
"Red! Yellow!" I shouted to them, waving.
Both flinched, leaned close to each other, and rushed off before I could say anything. Landing on the ground, I narrowed my eyes and went after the one I saw last: Red. However, just as I found him in one of the alleyways of Pallet Town, he was boarding Aero with something in his hands. Grinning sheepishly at me, he took off without saying anything.
That left...Yellow. However, as I turned my head to look for her, I noticed that she was in the sky with Kitty just barely holding her up. She looked away once before cupping her hands over her mouth and shouting, "I'm sorry!" The girl flew away quickly after that, pursuing Red and leaving me dazed.
"Are all the DexHolders against me?" I muttered to myself and Tupeon cawed softly.
"Crystal, darling! It's so good to see you here!"
With a shock, I recognized Blue's voice as she dashed over to me, grabbing my hands and smirking. "Hey, have you seen Red? I've been looking for him quite a bit but I can't seem to find him," the girl pouted, touching her lips as she frowned.
"Actually, he just left," I jabbed a thumb in the direction of where Red had gone and Blue sighed.
"Too bad, I was hoping to give him the food he ordered," she held up a white grocery bag in her hands full of fruit, vegetables, and junk food.
"What's that for?" I asked her, hoping she would give me some sort of clue to my problem.
Blue blinked. "I honestly don't know," she admitted sheepishly. "Red never told me."
Well, there goes any hopes for her. I leaned against a wall and softly banged my head against it. Blue giggled loudly before throwing a Pokeball and unleashing a Pokemon that I assumed was Blasty.
"Well, I'll be going now. Nice seeing ya though!"
Annnnnnnd, she was gone. Great, she wasn't of help either. Just what, exactly, was this thing that was going on at Gold's house? And how come I'm the only one who doesn't know what's going on (besides Blue, but she still seems involved). I mean, why am I the only one left in the dark about stuff like this?
Sighing, I thought about my options. I could A. go over to Gold's house (which I was really tempted to do, at this point in time) or B. contact the remaining DexHolders for any info on what the hell Gold and the others were plotting. Naturally, I picked plan B.
Flipping my PokeGear opened, I dialed Ruby's number and placed it to my ear in hope for a response.
"This is Ruby," a voice groaned from the other side before a shout, "SAPPHIRE, GET AWAY FROM MIMI NOW!"
I winced at his loud voice. "It's me, Crystal. Look, I've got a-"
The line went dead immediately and I tried recalling him but my phone couldn't seem to reconnect with his again. His phone must be dead, I decided. Huffing, I entered another set of numbers into my phone and then hit send.
With a couple of hums, the phone rang and picked up, and the voice of a girl was heard. "Hello, my name is Platina."
"Platina," I sighed with relief. She was exactly who I was hoping for. Even though I barely knew her (I just had kept her from suffering from Gold's perverted comments when she came to visit Red), she was probably the type of person to help anyone out. "Look, have you heard anything about what Gold is-"
"I-I am sorry senior Crystal," Platina interrupted me swiftly. "It looks like Dia and Pearl are calling my name now so I must go."
She hung up on me and I began to suspect that everyone was involved in this whole thing. I called yet another number, this time of Black. The phone picked up just one second after it began to ring.
A voice sounding a lot like a robot spoke through the speakers. "I'm sorry but the person you are trying to reach has his or her phone either turned off, out of service, or out of range. Check back in thirty minutes."
"Dammit!" I shouted in frustration, banging my head on the wall. Why was it so hard just to find out what Gold was up to? Ugh, it irritated me to no end.
There was still one person to call though. Reluctantly, I typed in the number for Y's Pokegear and the girl picked up seconds later. "Yes, this's Y."
I held back a snicker. "It's me, Crystal. Listen-"
"Oh, Crystal!" the girl squealed delightfully. "Do you want more notes on Talonflame? Or perhaps more of those moves that Gardevoir can learn here?"
"No, I just want-"
"Oooh! Ooooh! Or do you need me to get X to help you on the studies of Gogoats transporting humans? I can easily send you a PDF of-"
Arceus, this was why I hated dealing with Y. Despite my admiration for her love of studying Pokemon and becoming a researcher, she was an annoying chatterbox who somehow was on the same level as Gold when it came to annoying me. "Listen, Y, I just want to ask you a simply question."
"About Pokemon?" the girl asked me.
"No, it's about Gold. Do you know what he's planning tommorrow?"
Y remained silent for a few seconds and then X's voice was heard after those few moments. "No, we don't know anything about what Gold is doing," the boy replied coldly before hanging up on me.
Great, just great. Now I'm out of clues. I could ask Sapphire, Pearl, Dia, and Black for answers but from the way the others responded to my question, I figured that was just going to be a time-wasting route to take. Letting another another sigh (I've been doing that a lot today, if you haven't noticed already), I told Tupeon to take me back to Professor Elm's lab so I could finish up my notes.
00oo00oo
Hours later, about ten thirty P.M, I was in my house in Violet City sitting atop my bed with Megapeon at my side. Her golden eyes were gleaming as her antennae swished back and forth, almost as if she was excited about something. She was gazing out the window as if waiting for something.
"Megapeon," I called to her and her antennae drooped. "What are you so excited about?"
"Megu," she murmured, getting up from her spot on my bed and walking over to the window. "Ganium!" Green vines emerged from her neck to coil around me and drag me over to the glass structure.
A bit surprised, I glanced out the window and saw a Mantine floating beside it, a letter in its mouth. Scrambling backwards hastily, Megapeon rolled her eyes and lifted the window with one vine while grabbing the letter with the other. She handed it to me and then chirped amiably to the dual-typed Pokemon, smiling before shutting the window. The Mantine disappeared a short time later.
"What's this?" I asked my Pokemon, unfolding the letter to see writing scribbled onto it. Gold's handwriting, to be exact. I could recognize the messy words anywhere.
Scanning over it, I read the contents:
Dear Crys,
It seems like some girl's been naughty and been going around my back to scarf down some information. Luckily it seems that my pact with everyone has been kept so far. Anyways, if you really wanna know about what's gonna happen tomorrow, come over to my house tomorrow at nine 'o clock and you'll see what, exactly, I was planning for you.
Your faithful friend and husband,
Gold
I was half tempted to order Arkapeon to burn the contents of this letter, a bit furious at the word husband that was a bit bigger than it should've been compared to the other words on the page. Gritting my teeth, I tossed it onto my little desk with my computer and fell onto my bed. Megapeon walked over to me and took my marshmellow cap off of my head, carefully placing it on my hat rack with my other hats and hair accessories.
"I guess we'll have to go to Gold's house tomorrow after all," I grumbled into my pillow before snapping off my light in my room with a flick of my hand. "Good night, Megapeon."
"Megu."
oo00oo00
The next day went by pretty quick, surprisingly. Cleaning up the basement of Elm's lab took up a majority of my time, seeing what with the cobwebs and dust that had overly accumulated over time.
Now, I was in my study room scribbling random notes from PDF's Y had sent me from her PokeGear. The files she sent me were really detailed, and I admired the fact that she had spent so much of her time working on these notes for me. After all, no other DexHolder really cares for studying besides Green, Y, and me.
Speaking of Green though...my senior had grown unusually silent, occasionally grumbling only when something seemed to be frustrating him. His door to his study room seemed to be locked almost all of the day of my shift, but his voice was still easily carried so that both Professor Elm and me could hear his mutterings.
In fact, as I sat with pen in hand, I could hear him speaking in a slightly louder voice that reached my ears even as I sat a couple rooms away. He was clearly pissed off now, as could be easily told by the tone he used. "BLUE, GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY COMPUTER NOW!"
Professor Elm shuffled into my room and sweat-dropped. "Another visit from his girlfriend?" he asked.
"Yep," I confirmed as Blue's voice chirped from inside the room. Ever since Blue had become Green's girlfriend, the spiky-haired brunette seemed to raise his voice a lot louder than how he used to.
"Aw, but Greenie, I thought you loved me! Can't my boyfriend at least allow me to delete his oh-so-important files?"
"What kind of boyfriend would allow that?" Green snarled in response. "Not a sensible one, that's what!"
"You're so mean," a sniffle was heard and the shuffling of papers. "And that's why I'm stealing these really, really, important notes!"
"Blue, get back here!"
"You gotta catch me first!"
I heard the sounds of Pokemon growling and swiftly assumed that the two had taken the chase into the air. Rolling my eyes, I glanced at a nearby clock and saw that it was eight fifty-five. My eyes widened immediately. How in the name of Mew did time go by so fast? I cursed myself and turned to Professor Elm. "Hey, I hate to ask this, but can I leave now? I mean, if it's okay with you after the whole thing that happened yesterday?"
The man adjusted his glasses in surprise. "Of course, Crystal. Your always such a hard-worker that it's kind of startling that you haven't asked for a couple of breaks sooner."
I nodded at him. "Thanks, Professor Elm."
He grinned. "Anytime. Now hurry, you don't want to miss that invitation that that Gold kid gave you, right?"
I reached for my stuff and paused midway. "How'd you know that?"
"I'm an eavesdropper," he admitted sheepishly before closing my door.
"That's nice to know," I frowned and grabbed my stuff, shedding off my lab coat before going out my door and down the stairs.
Opening the door, I nearly fell back in shock as Gold stood there with a goofy grin on his face, the light from the lab pouring over him in the dark. He raised an eyebrow at my startled expression and signaled to someone outside with a clap of his hands.
Next thing I knew, I was on top of Explotaro as Gold settled in front of me, his goggles now placed over his face. "Did you get my letter?" he asked.
"What letter?" I retorted. "The one with you being an idiot in it?"
He chuckled before turning to his partner. "Alright, we're ready to go now, Explotaro."
"W-Wait, where are you taking me?" I called to him, frantically wrapping my hands around his waist as Explotaro took off at a speed that made me feel like I was going to fall off.
"Getting a bit touchy-feely, are we?" he replied deviously as he noticed my arms.
"S-Shut up!" I replied with a hint of a blush on my face. It's official. I hate Gold.
Grass brushed by my face and the limbs of trees reached out to scratch my face. Growling in annoyance, I randomly swatted away the different things that tried to irritate me, but failing epically. Things kept slamming into my face and I could feel all my features begin to go numb. I heard a snicker and glared at Gold. "What?" I demanded fiercely.
"And that's why you wear goggles, Super Serious Gal," his head leaned backwards so that his golden eyes were looking into mine.
"Oh, well that's nice to know since I just got randomly kidnapped by you," I replied sarcastically. "Seriously, how much time did you give me to prepare? Zero, that's what."
He frowned and scratched his head. "Jeez, you must not have much fate in me," the boy sighed and leaned forward again, only to twist his body around to hand her something. "Here ya go, some Gold-crafted goggles."
I looked at him in surprise, half expecting them to dangle them in front of me as some sort of prank, but his gaze was serious. So, I took the goggles without much resistance and placed them over my eyes, appreciating the fact that at least my eyes were safe from being gouged out by a random tree limb. Gold sighed in relief and patted Explotaro's side, making both him go faster and me tighten my grip more.
A few minutes later and we arrived at Gold's house, which was as big as a mansion. How Gold and his mother could afford such a thing, I guess i'll never know. But, the more important thing was the fact that all the lights seemed to be turned on, with shadows dancing on the first floor. Gold slid me off Explotaro and led me inside his house.
Upon entering, I noticed just by walking in that all the other DexHolders were already here. The Kanto four were lounging upon a couch, chattering excitedly while Silver and Lyra sat together on the floor, Silver looking bored while Lyra began to spam something that seemed to be unintelligible to my ears. X and Y were sitting on beanbags (it was hard to see X on the beanbags without snickering, I must admit, because seeing such a cold DexHolder on an item mostly owner by kids was hilarious), and they seemed to be deep into a conversation. Black and White were exchanging Pokeballs while Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire talked to the Sinnoh trio, probably explaining about their heroics in the Battle Frontier.
Gold jumped forward and grinned wildly. "Hey, everybody, Crystal's here!"
They all looked at me and smiled (or, in the cases of Green, Silver, and X, frowned) cheerfully, getting out of their seats to greet her.
"Glad to see ya made it," Sapphire waved a hand.
"We were getting tired of waiting," Blue said with a pout.
Green snorted at his girlfriend. "She just really wants the main event to happen already."
"Shh, you can't tell her yet!" Emerald and Ruby hissed in unison, and the emerald-eyed gym leader shook his head.
I was about to ask them what they meant when Red and Yellow popped into view, grinning sheepishly with both Pika and Chuchu on their shoulders. "We're happy you're finally here," they said.
"It is good to see you again, senior," Platina bowed to me in her normal formal way. "I am deeply sorry if I offended you by hanging up on you, but Gold said it was absolutely necessary for you not to know anything."
"Did he now?" I glared at Gold but he only tipped his cap up to give me a sly smirk.
"We were waiting forever though!" Lyra interrupted, now dressed in a pink long-sleeved t-shirt and some blue jeans.
"She means, 'I've been sitting here annoying Silver forever and I want someone else to torture'," Silver growled from beside the pig-tailed girl, catching her wrist and dragging her to the door that led to Gold's backyard. "Sorry to waste your time."
"Not at-" I began to say before a certain chatterbox popped up from nowhere.
"Oh, this's going to be so romantic!" Y cooed, her arm linked to X's. "Right, X?"
The brown-haired boy sighed. "Sure it is."
"That's the spirit!" Y exclaimed before heading towards where had Silver had disappeared. The Kanto, Sinnoh, and Hoenn groups followed after her. "We're gonna leave now. Is that alright, Gold?"
He nodded and gave them a thumbs-up sign. "See ya there!"
Y giggled and disappeared through the door.
That left...Black and White. The Unova pair approached me sheepishly before locking hands with eachother. That was weird, last time I checked, they weren't this close. Usually, they were all nervous about being around each other due to the little gossip that Blue had spread about them being soul mates and all. But I guess they got over their little denial thing now, so that was good for them. Though, I do admit I was a bit jealous at how close the two were.
"Don't worry, Crystal," Black interrupted my thoughts. "Gold knows what he's doing."
Totally unexpected coming from him, and not exactly what I was thinking about but...it was nice to know I guess. White laughed loudly before turning to the black-haired boy beside me. "Hey, hey, we should go to the picnic now! Gold, can we all go and start the fireworks now?"
Fireworks? Woah, now that was something new. I turned to Gold to answers, but the boy was completely avoiding my gaze as he turned to White. "Of course," he took my hand and began rushing towards his backyard entrance. "But you better hurry up or you'll miss the fireworks!"
Gold rushed through the doorway with me and we entered into some sort of clearing with a huge fire and a whole bunch of colorful things that oddly reminded me of rockets. Explotaro and the rest of Gold's team were standing by the items, grinning cheerfully upon seeing me. Around them stood the rest of my senior's and junior's Pokemon as well as my own which I realized then that Gold must've stolen and released just before we entered his house. All of the DexHolders were gathered around the fire sitting on logs with a huge blanket spread on a group of five logs, piled high with food. The moon shining overhead lit the surrounding area and showed the individual shapes of everything shown.
"Pretty nice, eh?" Gold whistled from beside me before leading me over to a log in the front row and nodding to his Typlosion. "Light 'em up, boy."
"Sion!" Explotaro huffed in response.
The Pokemon leaned underneath a rocket decorated entirely in pink (which was what I assumed Lyra was squealing about), and blew a few embers on some sort of string that I couldn't really see clear enough.
With a sizzling sound, the rocket shot some sort of ball of light into the air that formed the face of a Mew. Pink and blue sparks danced briefly in the sky before turning into green ones, revealing the shape of a Bulbasaur. Then, the shape changed into a Charmander, then a Squirtle, before quickly transforming into the different Johto starters.
I stared in awe at the different shapes that sparked across the midnight black sky. As I gasped in awe at a Meganium strutting in the stars, I felt a hand squeeze mine and I glanced at Gold to see him also looking up in amazement. He looked at me and smiled before pulling me into a somewhat hug with one hand wrapped around my waist. I didn't resist and instead rested my head on his shoulder as we watched the fireworks spread across the skies. Some of my seniors and juniors watched with wide-eyes at the fireworks, cheering loudly, while others watched in amusement, clearly enjoying themselves even if they wouldn't admit it out loud.
"Crys?" Gold whispered.
"Yeah?"
He smiled. "Happy fourth of July."
I raised an eyebrow as another firework flashed. "What's so special about the fourth of July?"
"I don't know," the boy sighed. "But for some reason I thought it'd be fun to do something special for today. I'm sorry I kept it a secret from you, but I wanted to surprise you."
For an instant, I was stunned. Since when did Gold ever become so considerate and secretive? Did he have some sort of hidden intention that I wasn't aware of?
"W-Well, thank you, for the fireworks and all this. For bringing everyone here together."
He looked at her in surprise before grinning again. "You flatter me."
"Don't push your luck," I warned and the boy ruffled my hair playfully in response.
"Ah, lighten up for once," he chirped before lifting up my chin so that my eyes looked into his. "You know, if you really want to thank me, you should give me a kiss."
I hesitated for a moment before smiling. "Fine, but just this once."
"Really?" now it was his turn to be stunned.
"Yep. Now hurry up before I regret it."
"Fine."
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine.
Seconds later, we broke away and he hugged me with a playful smirk on his face. Totally off-guard, I tensed for a moment before hugging him back.
"Happy fourth of July to us both."
-End-
How was that for a one-shot? It took me five hours to complete -headdesk-. Anyways, I suck at writing in this type of point of view so if you spot any errors tell me and I'll try to fix them.
And, yay, happy fourth of July to everyone! We have fireworks going off around my house and let me tell you but they're pretty fireworks. Wish everyone could come and see them where I live but sadly that can't happen...(oh well).
How's everyone else doing on this day?
