(My apologies to those who found the beginning less than satisfactory. I hope this chapter is a marked improvement. Thanks for reading.)
Sleeping Arrangements
Blue's disappointment; Pearl worries about his fortune; Platina's shows how spoilt she is; Crys dreads her decline; Sapphire starts a commotion; Red admires Black; sleeping arrangements are determined
"It's a huge ship," Ruby gazed in awe, not at its size per se, but the fact that it belonged to a sole proprietor.
"Ugh…smells horrible, though. More like 'huge shit', if you ask me," Gold joked. Platina glared at him.
"That's 'cause you're standing right in front of the sewage tank, numbskull!" Sapphire grabbed her senior's wrist, with no more respect than he deserved. "C'mon, let's go. You're slowing down everyone."
"'Huge shit'?" Blue said, overhearing Gold. "I think that describes our fortunes," he said to Red. "Total waste of time. I could've gotten a one-liner like this on my daily horoscope or something."
"Yeah…who'd pay P6580 a head for some vague phrase like this? 'You will find a new focus in life.' 'Anger is more powerful than any pokémon attack.'" Admittedly, a lot of things made Red—among the most senior of the Dex holders—feel jaded. But this took the cake.
"Your fortune isn't even a fortune," Blue noted, "just some weird moral lesson. It's a piece of shit." He tossed his fortune with the envelope into the icy Snowpoint water. "Look at how bummed everyone looks. I can't help but think everyone else got crappy fortunes," he said as he watched the piece paper get wet and slowly sink below the surface.
"Perhaps…but Gold seems pretty cheery. What d'you think he got?"
"I don't really care, Red. You ask him if you want."
Red didn't approach the Johto trainer. After some hesitation, he followed Blue's example and tossed his fortune into the sea as well. He remembered when he always did the opposite of Blue, back when they were rivals. As if he had to be different to Blue in every possible way. But truly, they weren't that different. Then, they weren't identical twins either. He wanted to call out Poli to salvage the fortune for him, but then realized he couldn't see his fortune in the water anymore. The light was too dim, he reasoned. Red regretted throwing his fortune away.
"What's the matter with Platina?" Blue asked Red. "She looks…worried."
"Platina? I don't see her." Red squinted his eyes.
"She's like, 10 yards in front of you," Blue scoffed, thinking it was a joke to get back at him for…one thing or another.
"Platina? It looked like Sapphire," Red said. It was all a blur in the dim evening light.
"Sebastian, something's not right," Platina ran up to the loyal butler, who was standing at the entrance to the ship.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THE BIG YACHT'S IN DRY DOCK!?" She screamed, like a petulant child. Everyone within 100 yards could hear her.
Everyone stared as Platina walked back to the crowd she was entertaining. They seemed to desire an explanation for her temper, rather than what exactly made Platina so angry. "The big 20-room yacht that I had planned on using is unfortunately detained in dry dock for repainting. So we have to make use of this…drab little 6-room yacht. On the positive side, this yacht is newer. Father originally purchased it for a research venture in the Sevii Islands."
"Only 6 rooms?" Some people mumbled.
"What're we gonna do? I'm sure as hell not gonna sleep on top of Pearl here!" Dia complained, although with a humorous note. He was trying to cheer Pearl up, who was standing beside him, with his eyes mysteriously downcast.
"Don't worry. Each room can accommodate three persons; there shan't be a problem with lack of beds," Platina assured.
"But there're only six rooms, and fifteen people," Sapphire looked as if she'd struck genius. She was an excellent battler, but when it came to math, she was beyond rescue. "How're we gonna split it up?"
"Let's leave such matters in abeyance for now," Platina interjected. "It's almost dark, and I don't think the ship will be allowed to stay in port for much longer. Let's board."
"It's 5pm, Pearl. Isn't it sleepy time?" Diamond teased. "Pearl? Pearl? You okay?" It wasn't like Pearl to not lead a conversation; he was too masculine for that. The fact he was sleepy was the only explanation for why he was so quiet. But even an early-riser like Pearl had pulled all-nighters, and he didn't get sleepy so early in the evening.
"You wanna hear my fortune, Pearl?" Dia said. "It says I'll be running down a long path, against the wind. Maybe it's talking about my journey and my personal struggles with my feelings against tangible progress. Or…it's talking about me running to the toilet after I eat a whole bunch of refried beans…?" He cracked a joke.
Pearl didn't laugh. "Don't even tell me about those stupid fortunes," Pearl grumbled, pushing Dia's piece of paper away.
"Pearl? Why're you so quiet? Maybe you Chahiko to give you words to repeat!" Dia managed to coax a little laugh from the blond trainer.
"HA! You laughed just now, didn't you? See, you're not so gloomy after all!" Dia remembered when Pearl used to say that to Platina every time she laughed. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Pearl with the rock-solid willpower was the one who should be picking up the pieces and helping Dia, who was often in pieces himself because he was the bastion of emotion.
Platina led everyone to the door of the yacht. "Everyone's here, Sebastian. We can leave now." Diamond continued watching Pearl's mortified expression as they stepped inside.
"Pearl, you haven't said anything since we read our fortunes. Is there something wrong? You look as if you've seen a ghost." Diamond kept asking as they walked onboard.
"Sure, I have seen a ghost, Dia—mine! Erm…I…look." Pearl hadn't stopped clutching the fateful document in his hand ever since he read it. Diamond took Pearl's fortune and read it.
"It says I'm gonna die, Diamond. I'm gonna die. I can't believe it, I'm gonna die!" Pearl didn't cry very easily. Diamond rarely found himself trying to wipe the tears from Pearl's face; usually it was the other way round. For a moment Diamond felt angry at Platina. If only she knew her little childish impulse to "learn" about fortune tellers would cause her friend to be in so much pain.
Platina couldn't care less about Pearl, so it seemed. She was still busy arguing with the others on the sleeping arrangements on the "drab" six-room yacht. Everyone had congregated in the great room, "a pathetic four-walled excuse for a room", to quote Platina.
An oversized fur rug concealed the white marble and gold leaf floor, as if it was too modest to show its luster. The portholes were carefully disguised with silk, foil-backed light-blocking curtains. Everyone had a space to sit on the soft L-shaped leather sectional, surrounded by a solid mahogany coffee table, polished with lacquer until the ceiling light's reflection on the table surface blinded your eyes.
But the Dex holders' awe quickly faded as their tired, weary bodies longed for the room arrangements to be settled so they could at last rest.
"What about a random drawing?" Red suggested. "It's the most fair way."
"But speaking for myself, I won't sleep with no guys!" Sapphire objected. "Papa will scold me!"
"Please Sapphire! We're not kids anymore," Emerald protested.
"How about we do a random drawing, but segregate it by gender?" Sapphire said.
"That seems reasonable," Crystal nodded. Guys were jerks. The only people who would ever want to sleep with them were other guys. And their pokémon.
"Well, I'd much rather room with a girl," Ruby said with surprising audacity. "They're much cleaner. Except for Sapphire." She scowled at him.
Case in point, Crystal thought to herself.
"Well, I'm in favor of mixed rooms, I don't know what you're talking about." Gold started ogling the female members of the group.
"How would you like Crystal to show you how she kicks balls, huh?" Emerald referred to Crys's talent in pokémon capturing.
Crys sunk into her seat on the sofa. What had she turned into? As much as she adored Emerald standing up for her, sometimes she wished she could shut him up so she could force herself to stand on her own two feet and learn to walk, again.
That was the problem. Over the years, Crys had felt her confidence fading, and with every passing day felt like she needed to hide behind the desk at Prof Oak's lab more and more to feel secure about herself. Perhaps it started after she failed to capture Arceus.
At the Sinjoh Ruins, she didn't think that she would have made it out alive if Gold and Silver hadn't battled so valiantly. Gold had to stop her from running to Silver like a hopeless little damsel in distress, and she remembered a time when she was the one stopping and restraining little rambunctious Gold. And the only thing that was great about her that day was her outfit, the one that she refused to let Gold compliment her for. Her stupid little outfit that she didn't even like, and only wore because her mother forced her too. She couldn't be remembered for just a cute outfit. She refused to be basic like that. Yet that was what she was becoming.
"Ugh, I don't want girls in my room. I'm for Crys' suggestion," Black said. A few weeks of camping outdoors with boss was more than enough. Did you know that White snores like an exploud? And that tent walls can be completely see-through?
"I agree with Ruby. I don't want it segregated by gender." Yellow quietly objected, with surprising conviction. For her, gender was irrelevant. After all, she lived for several years as a boy, and frankly, she didn't mind it at all. It wouldn't make much of a difference to her if she really was a boy, or whether she had male or female or non-human company.
To Yellow, friendship transcended all boundaries: gender, species, kinship. She considered the uncle who raised her to be more of a father than her biological father ever was. She cared for her Chuchu as she would care for her child. The affection Yellow had for Red when she was a "boy" wasn't that different from the way she felt about him now.
"White, what's wrong? You seem disappointed." Green observed the Unova trainer, thinking that she was thinking the same thing that she was thinking.
"I dunno," White began. "I just thought this would be a more…exciting vacation, y'know what I mean? Why don't we pair the rooms based on the people we like the most?"
Green giggled with familiarity. She never realized how much she and White had in common. Then again, how could they not be alike? They were both aspiring entrepreneurs at one point. And they both loved to see love unravel before their eyes…and their hidden cameras. And, best of all, they giggled in a similar way.
"What if some people think we like a certain person, but that's not the case!?" Ruby protested. Silver, Crys, and Yellow nodded in agreement with him.
"What're you saying Ruby!?" Sapphire blurted out. She wasn't one to hold back on her feelings, no matter how trivial they seemed. "I thought you loved me!?"
A commotion arose among the younger Dex holders, with Green taking video clips of the live entertainment. Red facepalmed himself. He wondered how this whole dysfunctional group ever became united. He remembered when Pokedex holder reunions were just a quiet dinner with five or six people, from one or two regions. During his time, no one became a Pokedex holder for the social connections and fame. They did it because they loved training and battling and being with pokémon, with fame as a positive side effect.
Now since Red and Blue and Green and Yellow became so famous, everyone wanted to be a Pokedex holder. Filthy rich children with "connections" like Platina, prissy businesswomen like White, beauty-obsessed coordinators like Ruby, hardcore purist battlers like Emerald. He listened to the pointless little arguments. Since when did elite pokémon trainers ever become the subjects of a morbid soap opera?
Black was probably the only young Pokedex holder that Red respected. Although he was outspoken at times, Black, like Red, didn't participate in this little gossip-driven argument. The Unova trainer sat quietly on the now empty sofa (almost everyone had stood up in anger/frustration), looking at his pokémon through his Pokeballs, making sure they weren't paralyzed from boredom.
Red saw Black as a younger version of him, though perhaps louder and better-prepared. They both had won the Pokémon League, though Black had prepared for his moment for almost a decade. And now that he had achieved his goal with only a few hitches along the way, Black wondered what there was left, what dream he could fill his brain with except his fast-expiring, already-accomplished dream of winning the Pokémon League.
After conquering the League, everything seemed so easy for Black, and the Unova trainer treated life as such. He was almost too slick. That was the only thing Red didn't like about Black.
"HEY! Everyone, stop!" Crystal silenced the argument. She turned towards Platina, signaling for her to say the last word.
"It's my ship," Platina asserted quite cockily. "I shall decide the arrangements. And I say that the rooms shall be randomly drawn, regardless of gender. Are we agreed?"
The Dex holders looked at each other. Black secretly looked at White. Gold smirked at Crystal. Crystal ignored Gold. Silver moved his eyes furtively towards Crystal. Ruby and Sapphire looked at each other. Pearl and Diamond looked at the same girl. Platina regretted having to make a decision between the two. Yellow just blushed.
Everyone nodded, Red nodding more strongly than the others. Cut-out slips of paper were carefully labeled with names and placed face down on the solid mahogany table in the living area. Using a ruler, Platina drew seven boxes with a silver dry erase marker on the polished surface of the table.
"Very well then," Platina said. "Now, everyone take a slip of paper, and move it to a box, such that they are evenly distributed."
"What's this larger box here?" Sapphire pointed to the drawing on the table.
"That signifies the owner's suite, room 2, which has two bedrooms, and is slightly larger. It would only be fair to say that three people must occupy that room. The other five rooms are identical: there is one double bed and a convertible sofa bed. Are we ready?"
"Here we go…" only Gold dared to say a word as the slips of paper were turned over.
Platina read out the arrangements.
"Room 1: Gold…and Emerald." The two acquaintances examined each other.
"Room 2 (owner's suite): Ruby…myself (Platina)…and White." Platina glanced at her companions. At least they'll be clean, she thought to herself.
"Room 3: Yellow…Red…and Green." Green bit her lip, trying to hide her excitement.
"Room 4: Silver…and Crystal." Silver's eyes widened.
"Room 5: Sapphire…Blue…and Black." Black nodded at the fortuitous pairing. A gym leader…and someone who's conquered all the gyms, just like me!
"Room 6: Diamond…and Pearl." The two old friends nodded at each other with familiarity.
"A light dinner is being prepared as we speak. It's 6 in the evening right now. Why don't we return to the dining area at about…shall we say, 9 o'clock?" Platina waited for the nod of approval. "Good, that's settled then. I'll inform Sebastian."
(As always, I welcome your comments and criticism. Thank you for your support!)
