Episode Two: The Rules of the Game!
Once the two teens had helped Crystal carry a total of five four-panel screens up the stairs—which here means 'carried them up the stairs while Crystal drank a glass of lemonade'—the teens decided to sit down at the oaken dinner table and go down a list of rules for the household. After all, a constitution had to be written before a great nation could be formed, correct?
"Well," Crystal scooted closer to the head of the table as Silver shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not enjoying the glares the end of the table was shooting him. "We all have to agree on a few rules for this to work out. Otherwise, we'll be at each other's throats by the end of the week."
"That's a good idea, Crystal." Lyra shot Ethan a glare to silence his growling, making the boy hesitantly lower himself into his seat and resort to holding his chin up with his fist instead. "We all have to have boundaries in this. After all, every type of challenge has its rules."
Silver suddenly coughed into his elbow, a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'not-if-it's-a-battle-royal-it-doesn't'.
Lyra shot him a glare as she heard his snide remark loud and clear.
Crystal just rolled her eyes and continued with her plan. "Since we're all living in this home, we will all pay the rent. We'll have an equal responsibility in this, so twenty-five percent is the amount I'll expect to see contributed at the beginning of each month."
Ethan and Silver cringed as they realized that they hadn't exactly expected to be held financially responsible in this deal. They just assumed that there was a strict 'don't kill each other' rule and left it at that.
"Next on the list," Crystal turned to Lyra and glared. "Is that there will be no leaving the house after nine o'clock in the evening."
"What?!" Lyra's hands slammed into the table as she leapt to her feet. "What kind of tyranny is this?! A curfew?!" Silver raised an eyebrow in interest as he found his rival's protests suddenly making this interesting.
"Yes," Crystal shot Lyra a harsh look of disapproval at this outburst. "There will be a curfew in place for all of us, including myself. It's best if we all stay inside after dark."
Lyra flopped back into her chair and flung her hands into the air. "Why is it so important to be inside after dark?! We all have Pokémon, don't we?!"
The bluenette shot the young Champion a harsh glare of 'you-quit-your-whining' quality before continuing, "Ethan has told me all about your signature nocturnal training and I have to agree with him and say that it's far too dangerous." Silver simply put his hands behind his head and grinned as the brunette shot her long-time friend of utter fury. Ethan slowly slid down in his chair with an apologetic grin as Crystal went on, "For now on, you and everyone else in this household will be required to return here after nine P.M. Anyone who neglects to do so will be under full lock-down for twenty-four hours."
"But—" Lyra began to protest before she was silenced by Crystal's harsh blue eyes yet again. The young brunette let out a huff and slumped into her seat, folding her arms and glaring in silent defiance.
"Also," Crystal moved right on to the next subject with a wave of dismissal. She then turned towards the redhead to her right—who just so happened to be enjoying his rival's shutdown—and glared at him as well. "There will be no attacking your fellow roommates."
Silver slowly turned his attention to his left and scowled at the bluenette. "Who said I would attack anyone, anyway?!"
Crystal jabbed the air towards the grumpy brunette with a frown. "Lyra's personal experience with you, sourpuss. You've shoved her, stripped her, pushed her, trapped her under a reeking jacket, tripped her..." A smug grin overtook her face as the two rivals' faces filled with horror. "Need I go on, Silver?"
The red-haired teen turned away with a grumble and tried to ignore the heat in his cheeks. Lyra on the other hand just continued to gape at her rival and silently wonder how Crystal had managed to gather so much dirt on the redhead on such sort notice.
"And finally," Crystal slowly turned her head to the hiding Ethan and raised an eyebrow. "We all must contribute to the maintaining of this house. I will not share a home with slobs, got it?"
"Got it." The collective agreement rang out with three different tones, one of them obviously strained with embarrassment.
The blue-haired teen nodded with a grin. "Then it's settled! We all agree to the terms, so now all we have to do is sign the contract!"
Three heads snapped back to the head of the table with confusion. "Sign the contract?!"
Crystal nodded and snapped her fingers. Suddenly, a strong Feraligatr lumbered out into the room from the hallway carrying a sheet of paper in his sharp claws. The group watched as Crystal gently took the paper, pulled out a pen and placed the large document on the table. "We all must sign here on this bottom line, first and last names please. Therefore, none of you can say down the road that you were just bluffing about doing your fair share."
Crystal quickly readied her pen and signed her name in beautiful cursive. "I, Crystal Heart hereby agree to these terms and place myself at the first line with confidence that my fellow roommates shall hereby follow the terms we have discussed and be model roommates in the Crown Jewels Estate."
"...Crown Jewels Estate?" Silver deadpanned at the name of the house as the others just exchanged odd looks.
Crystal nodded and pointed to each seated person in turn. "Gold is an expensive metal commonly used in jewelery, Soul is something you put into a work that means a lot to you, Crystals are used in fine furniture and jewelry and finally, Silver is used in fine furnishings and jewelry as well. Therefore, all of these things could be found in a royal crown or any region's royal gems. It's as simple as that."
The three exchanged looks that looked as if they had deemed Crystal insane before Lyra frowned at the teen. "...That's the best you could do for my name?"
Crystal shrugged. "It was short notice."
"Well," Ethan rose from his seat and slowly made his way to the document, giving the Feraligatr a pat on the head as he reached Crystal's side. He held out his hand for the pen for a moment and Crystal gladly handed it over. With a deep breath, Ethan turned towards the paper and signed his name in his best hand.
"I, Ethan Gold, do hereby agree to the terms set by Crystal Heart."
He then held the pen out towards the brunette beside him with a raised eyebrow, prompting her to take her turn and sign. With a eyeroll, the young Champion snatched the pen and took the spot next to Ethan in order to write in her best cursive—which had frankly improved greatly with the many years of being a Champion and having to sign autographs and paperwork.
"I, Lyra Soul, do hereby agree to the terms Crystal Heart has provided and do hereby agree to follow them to the best of my ability."
Crystal gave the smart-mouthed girl a playful glare before the group turned their attention to the last member of the gang. Silver looked nervously between them for a moment before letting out a groan and motioning for Lyra to hand him the pen. Lyra smirked as she tossed him the writing utensil and watched as Silver rose to his feet and went to sign the paper. With a deep breath beforehand, Silver signed his name in a surprisingly neat hand of cursive, something that the others had no idea that he had possessed.
"I, Silver, do hereby agree to these terms and—"
"Hold up," The others flinched as Crystal called out for the boy to stop. They slowly turned to find Crystal glaring at the lack of a last name. "Silver needs to sign his full name, not just his first name."
"...I don't have one." Silver quickly turned away as worry filled the two New Bark Town-hailing teens' eyes. Crystal rose an eyebrow before frowning at the cowlick on Silver's head.
"Of course you do, everyone is born with one. You have to have one, Silver. It's just impossible for you to not have one."
Silver slowly turned back towards Crystal with a distant look of cold pain and clouded remembrance. "Not if you purposely rejected yours."
Lyra slowly placed a hand on his shoulder as Ethan motioned for Crystal to drop the subject. A suddenly flash of minute understanding crossed her face before she nodded and held out her hand for the pen. Silver looked towards his brunette rival and plopped the metal pen in her hand with closed eyes, the boy fighting to prevent himself from thinking too long about that day.
Crystal slowly stashed the writing utensil in her coat pocket once again and gently took the document off the table. With a final look to make sure everything was in order, she walked into the kitchen. The others watched on in fascination as Crystal picked up a Pokéball-shaped fridge magnet and stuck the document on the stainless steel surface with a small smile. Once it was firmly secured, she turned towards the kitchen and grinned.
"Congratulations and welcome to the Crown Jewels Estate."
Author's Note: (Sorry about the American reference, guys. Been studying U.S History again and it of course proved to be an example for this meeting between our Johto heroes.)
And it seems we now have ourselves basic guidelines for this situation! Crystal isn't going to let three more heads move in without first signing over some rights and regulations. Yes, Feraligatr is hers. This is the only change due to the reliance on HeartGoldHeadcanon!Silver and Lyra. As you'll see later, Lyra chose an anxious Chikorita, whom then made Silver choose a serious Cyndaquil. Ethan has all of Gold's team minus Explotaro. He uses Marill as his starter as to separate the two.