SR is on thin ice, though the metaphorical ice is still a hell of a lot thicker than SA's. But unlike SA, SR's metaphorical ice is getting a little thicker and… alright, screw the metaphor. SR's possible cancellation was on the news during the last SR update. However, last chapter showed hope and promise. Depending how this one goes, I may decide a) scrap SR entirely (probably not going to happen), b) continue as if the whole cancellation warning didn't happen at all, or c) scrap all of the DHC plans and go with a more… classical SR approach (as in, chapters in the likes of SR #001~003), which is what I'm testing right now. However, if option "c)" is selected as the course of action, the "3 Paths torture" chapters will mention the cancelled DHC events, as they are on the same continuity. The new satisfaction rate will tell you that while SR is at risk of being cancelled, it's nowhere near as bad as SA.

And now that I've begun incorporating Generation V stuff into SE/SA/SR, I might as well put secondary homes for Black and White.

Dex Holder locations in SR (updates in italics):
Red, Blue: Pallet Town (house).
Green: Viridian City (Gym).
Yellow, Silver: Viridian City (house).
Gold: New Bark Town (big f*cking house).
Crystal: Violet City (house).
Ruby: Goldenrod City (house).
Sapphire: Azalea Town (house).
Emerald: Violet City (Earl's Academy).
Diamond, Pearl: Saffron City (apartment).
Platinum: Cerulean City (apartment).
Black, White: Cherrygrove City (apartment).

Category: SR.

Chapter 10: Appointments

Cerulean City, 12 pm…

Blue sat on a chair inside the Pokémon Center, waiting for her fellow female Dex Holders to gather for a… lunch. Yes, lunch. Surely there was nothing wrong with the first female Dex Holders treating her friends and juniors a nice lunch, now was there?

As Blue contemplated on the plans for the day, the doors to the Pokémon Center opened and Platinum entered. The heiress saw her senior and after a polite bow, quickly ran up to her.

"Hi, Platinum," Blue said cheerfully after a friendly wave.

"Hello, senior Blue. How are you today?"

"Oh, I'm doing great," Blue replied with an oddly devious look. "What about you?"

"I am doing well, senior. Thank you for asking." Platinum took a brief look around the Pokémon Center. "Where are the others?"

"They haven't arrived yet. But they're coming."

Platinum sat down on a chair to the side of her senior's. "Um… senior Blue, if I may ask… why are you buying lunch for us today?"

Blue looked over at her with a slightly surprised expression. "Huh? Why do you ask?"

"It is not anyone's birthday to my recollection," the heiress started. "And you have only invited the female Dex Holders. I was merely wondering whether you have an ulterior motive."

Blue narrowed her eyes and glared at Platinum. "Can't I treat my juniors with a nice lunch? And are you suspecting your senior of plotting something diabolical?" She kept her glare so that her junior may stop asking. The heiress was clever. She had already noticed something odd about the sudden invitation. Blue knew that she was going to have to be careful…

"N – No, of course not," Platinum quickly replied, rather surprised by the upset look on her senior's face. "I am terribly sorry if I offended you."

"Good. Now let's just wait until the others arrive," Blue said as she lightened her expression. She internally sighed in relief and glanced at her watch. The others had better arrive within 20 minutes…

10 minutes later…

Yellow quickly entered the Pokémon Center. She arrived last because she had accidentally overslept. Seeing all of the other female Dex Holders waiting for her inside, she gave them an apologetic bow before joining them.

"Great, now that everyone's here," Blue said as she looked at the others. "Let's get going. We don't have much time. The appoi-er… reservation is at 12:30."

The 6 female Dex Holders left the Pokémon Center and headed towards the pre-selected restaurant.

"Blue, why are you doing this?" Crystal asked abruptly. "I've known you for years and I've never seen you buy lunch for anyone except Silver."

'Crys, not you too!' "I'm just trying to treat my juniors to lunch! What's so wrong with that?"

Crystal looked even more suspicious. "Then… why wait 6 years to buy me lunch?"

"Well, I didn't think about it back then!" Blue exclaimed. "I had enough stuff to worry about!" She sighed as she quickly thought of a retaliation, or at least some countermeasures to prevent any more suspicious questions. "Alright, Crys. If you don't want me buying lunch that much, … why don't you pay for today?"

"No thanks. You made the reservations, after all."

"Alright. In that case, no more questions about my motif!" Blue yelled as she came to a stop in front of a building. "Because we're here!"

Before the others could look up and see what building it was, Blue forcefully pushed them all inside. White saw just enough though…

"A general hospital?" she asked. "What are we doing here?"

The other female Dex Holders froze and turned to look at Blue. The oldest girl gave them a sinister grin.

"Ah, Crys, Platinum, you two are very clever. You noticed that I was planning something before I put it in motion. Yellow, Sapphire, I didn't expect any suspicion from you two, so that's fine. And White, you just don't know me enough."

Sapphire looked a little scared. "What are we doing here?"

"You are all here because of a… Dex Holder health plan Professor Oak started a few days ago. We can't have the heroes who save the world during every crisis be affected by various health concerns, now can we? So we are all here to get a checkup. Dental clinic first, then a blood test. That'll be all for today."

"So no lunch?" Sapphire asked. "But I'm starving here…"

"Don't worry about that," Blue said. "I'm a woman of my words. I am going to treat you all a very nice lunch, but after we're done here."

The other female Dex Holders looked at each other in misery, as if the other had a solution. Soon, they were all forced towards the dental clinic on the northern side of the building. Upon entering the clinic, Blue sent out her Ditto to guard the door so that no one tried to escape.

"Oh, I forgot to mention," White started with a faked laugh. "I'm already in the BW Agency health plan! So I don't need to do this!"

"Oh, yes you do," Blue said. "I've done some research. Your company does have a health plan, but not a dental plan. The Dex Holder health plan covers everything. So you still have no way out here. Nice try though."

Sapphire glanced at White and growled through clenched teeth. "What, were you planning on leaving us here while you escape free?"

"In these kinds of situations, it's every woman for herself, you know," White replied. "It was worth a try… I hate going to the dentist!"

"There is nothing you can do that'll get you out of this place prematurely," Blue said with a laugh.

"It's bad enough that Ruby forces me to go to a dentist every now and then," Sapphire grumbled. She perked up as a thought occurred. "Wait… Ruby!" She quickly ran up to Blue and clasped her hands together. "Ruby just called and said that he needed help with a Salamence problem! I need to go right now!"

Blue shook her head. "Nice try, Sapphire. You don't even have a Pokégear. How can Ruby call you?"

"Damn…" Sapphire grumbled as she backed away.

Platinum tried next. She put on some fake tears and got on her knees in front of Blue. "Senior Blue, my father contacted me and said that he is very ill. I need to go to him as soon as possible."

Blue still shook her head. "You can go to him once we're done."

The heiress wiped away the fake tears and joined Sapphire and White in waiting for the inevitable. Crystal tried next, with something… different.

"You bitch!" she yelled at her senior, surprising every Dex Holder present. "You drag me all the way here from a very important research project just so you could trick me?! If having a Pokédex means I'm stuck with you, then I don't want it!"

"How dare you?!" Blue yelled back. "I should drag you outside and kick your…" she trailed off upon realizing something. "Oh wait a second, I see what you're trying to do here." She chuckled and patted her junior on the shoulder. "Nice try, Crys. You almost had me!"

"So even that didn't work?" Crystal muttered. She bowed to her senior apologetically. "I'm really sorry, Blue. I didn't mean any of those and I take them all back."

"Don't worry about it. I know you didn't mean anything. You were only trying to escape the inevitable." Blue looked over at Yellow, who was staring blankly at the floor. "What about you, Yellow? Do you want to try something?"

"Um…" Yellow stammered as she thought. "… Red wants me with him?"

Before Blue could reply to her friend's horrible escape attempt, a nurse walked closer. "We're ready for one of you."

"Great," Blue said with a devious smile. "I'd go first, but I already did all this a few days ago when the Dex Holder health plan first started. So Yellow, why don't you go first?"

Yellow gulped in nervousness and slowly followed the nurse. As she did so, she could hear the terrifying whir of dental tools and various sounds made by metal scraping against teeth. Blue grinned from behind as she watched her terrified friend. She remembered the horrible experience from a few days ago, which was why she was dragging the other female Dex Holders into this mess. If she was going to suffer all these dental nightmares, so should everyone else.

Before long, Yellow's scream echoed from ahead and all the girls except Blue started to tremble. The devious Dex Holder grinned and decided that she needed to scare the others one more time. She got her Ditto to Transform into something…

White pressed her hands against her ears so that she wouldn't hear the terrible whir and scream. But suddenly, there was a loud whir right beside her ear and she quickly jumped backwards. She could see her senior holding a fake set of teeth (Ditto) and a dental drill (also Ditto), smiling as if she was having a wonderful time. Sadistic monster…

"Imagine," Blue started. "A drill like this, whirring like crazy, drilling your teeth deep inside your mouth, and you can feel the strong vibrations in your brain!" Blue got her Ditto to transform into a large needle. "And what's more? Sometimes, the doctors may stab your gums with a huge needle like this one so that you don't feel any pain. But you know what? They don't work that well, because they don't inject enough!"

"Blue, stop scaring us!" Sapphire yelled out.

"Y – Yes! Please stop!" Platinum added.

"You're a monster, you know that?" Crystal grumbled out.

Blue got her Ditto to transform into two dental drills and with one whirring in either hand, walked up to Crystal. She then moved the two drills close to the girl's ears and laughed as she trembled in terror with her eyes clenched shut. Just then, a nurse came close, announcing that another Dex Holder must go and face the terror.

"Crys," Blue said with a grin. "You're up!"

Once Crystal was dragged away by the nurse, Sapphire jumped to her feet. "I'm next! I'm next! I have to get out of here!"

She quickly made a run for the exit, but Blue's Ditto was already there, formed into a giant spider web. Sapphire soon got entangled on the Ditto and struggled to get free. But then, those damned dental drills started to form everywhere and started to whir, really loud. She could feel the terrible vibrations everywhere… She tried to scream, but Blue clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Sapphire, you're making a scene in public," Blue warned with a temporarily stern look. "And it's hilarious!"

20 minutes later, Yellow came back, her face pale from terror. With a grin, Blue patted Sapphire on the back, indicating that it was her turn now. As the nurse dragged Sapphire away, White sighed in relief while Platinum shuddered in fear.

"I'm last! Good thing I'm the 15th Dex Holder!" White exclaimed rather happily. "Though in cases like this, it could be better to go first…"

"I – I am next? Oh no…" Platinum muttered in terror.

But when Crystal came back (in the same terrified expression as Yellow) along with the dreaded nurse, Blue patted White on the back.

"You're up."

"Wh – What?!" the president exclaimed. "B – But… I'm last!"

"Who said we were going by Dex Holder order?" Blue asked with a sinister smile. "We're going by age. You're older than Platinum."

Platinum sighed in relief as White was dragged away. Blue sat beside her and patted her on the shoulder.

"Senior… is going to the dentist… always this frightening?" Platinum asked.

"Yes it is," Blue replied. "Trust me. If I wasn't here with you, this would've been a lot scarier." A blatant lie, of course.

Another twenty minutes later, Sapphire returned in the same manner as her predecessors. Platinum gathered her courage and followed the nurse on her own will, unlike the others who were dragged away.

Another twenty minutes later, Blue dragged everyone towards the second half of the appointments she made that day.

"Blue… where are we going now?" Yellow asked.

"Why do you sound so tired?" Blue asked back. "It's only been an hour!"

"That hour felt like a year to us," White muttered.

"Well this part, you don't have to worry!" Blue said cheerfully. "You're all going to do a little blood test!"

"What?" Crystal muttered, her face turning ghastly pale.

Blue's Ditto Transformed into a huge needle. "This time, this big needle is going to into your arm! And we're at the right place!"

The 6 Dex Holders followed the nurse to a room in which a doctor waited. The doctor soon presented them the 5 (huge) needles that were going to be used to withdraw the blood of the 5 victims.

"Any volunteers?" the doctor asked.

Obviously, no Dex Holder spoke up.

"This time… Crys, you're up first," Blue said.

Crystal clenched her teeth but decided to embrace her fate. The four others sighed in relief, but still appeared very tense, as they had no idea what order Blue was choosing. The doctor prepared a needle and Crystal clenched her eyes shut.

"Relax," the doctor said nicely. "This'll be a lot easier if you're not tense." He then stabbed the needle into the vein in Crystal's arm. "And don't move. If you do move, the needle may hit the bone and that'll be excruciating."

Crystal froze up in terror. She groaned as the needle started to suck in her blood. Even Blue looked away from the scene. Soon, the doctor finished with Crystal and called for the next 'volunteer'. Crystal leaned against the wall and let out a shuddering sigh.

"I knew I should've just stayed home today…"

"Next… Sapphire!"

"What order are you going by this time?" White asked.

Blue grinned. "Height. Which means, you're next."

The president sighed. "You know… I heard from the others that you were… evil, but I didn't think you were this evil!"

"Well, if there are more future Dex Holders, you can do to them what I'm doing to you!"

"No… that's bad for my company's reputation," White said as she shook her head.

The doctor prepared the needle for Sapphire, but the girl was thrashing around a bit too much. As a result, the other 5 Dex Holders had to forcefully hold her down so that the needle could enter the vein and withdraw the blood without too much problems.

"You know, this is taking too much time," Blue said after Sapphire was done. "I'm getting really hungry too. So let's speed this up." Blue took one of the unused needles and looked at White. "White, let's do this. The doctor can cover Yellow and Platinum."

"Wh – What? Why me?" the president stammered out.

"Because you're the new girl."

"You call that a reason?"

Blue took a ball of cotton and with a disinfectant, cleaned the area around her junior's arm. "Now remember. Don't move."

"H – Have you done this before?" White asked nervously.

"Yep," Blue replied as she aimed with the needle.

"When?"

Blue stabbed the needle into White's arm. The president gasped in pain at the sudden entry. "Just now." She looked at the needle's point of entry and noticed something. "Oops. I missed the vein. I'll try again…"

"Hey! Ow! Ow!"

Blue tried again anyways and this time, hit the vein. She began drawing the blood when the doctor noticed what she was doing.

"I think the needle went in a bit too deep," he said upon observing the needle. "And that's way more blood than we need."

White put a hand over her face and groaned. Blue saw her expression and grinned.

"Hey White, relax," she said. "The needle won't come out because you're tense. If I try to pull it out, the needle might break and be stuck in your arm."

White looked really scared and forced herself to loosen up. Blue laughed and pulled the needle out. The president took a clean ball of cotton and pressed it against the two holes in her skin.

"Can we go eat now?" Sapphire asked.

"Yep. Let's go!"

The 6 Dex Holders soon left the general hospital and headed towards a restaurant. While Blue appeared perfectly normal, the others appeared absolutely exhausted.

"Tell me," Crystal said to Blue. "Is Gold going to have to go through this?"

"Of course. Every Dex Holder has to," Blue replied. "So… why don't you all force another Dex Holder through this? So far, Red, Green, and I have already done a checkup. So apart from all of you, there are… Gold, Silver, Ruby, Emerald, Dia, Pearl, and Black left."

"I'll get Gold…" Crystal muttered.

"I'll take Ruby. I bet that sissy would faint at the sight of a needle," Sapphire said as she clenched a hand into a fist.

"I suppose I shall take Diamond. Though I do not wish to do so, for his health, I will."

"Well… Black needs to be in some health plan, I guess," White muttered.

"Alright then. In that case, I'll get Silver, Emerald, and Pearl," Blue said. "And we'll be doing this twice a year!"

The other Dex Holders groaned, but nodded. There was no way out… but on the plus side, at least they were going to remain perfectly healthy…

Next up (non-DHC):
The heiress of a television company in Sinnoh demands ownership of Platinum's Pokédex! The two heiresses wage war on each other for the right to become/remain a Dex Holder. But of course, Platinum won't be alone in the fight.

Post Ending:

Blue walked towards a café in Viridian City, under the thought of getting herself a nice iced coffee. But as she passed a certain tree, Sapphire dropped from the branches above and grabbed the Kanto girl's arms.

"Hey, what the?!" Blue yelled out.

Crystal, Platinum, and White appeared out of their hiding places and grabbed onto their senior's limb. They all wanted revenge… except Yellow, because she was very nice.

"Hi Blue, how are you doing?" Crystal asked with a sinister grin.

"F – Fine?"

"Good. We're taking you to a general hospital," White said.

"Why?"

"Because you're donating blood!" Sapphire said from behind.

Platinum gave her senior an evil smile. Blue noticed that her junior's eyes were very scary that day… "Do not worry, senior Blue," Platinum started. "If you do not struggle, the donation will be quick and painless…"