The final part of the crossover Intermission is here! … So that final battle will have to wait, along with any and all possible terrible, terrible occurrences, whatever they may be. And the results of the catastrophic confession attempt of Diamond will also have to wait. Interesting to note that there were no negative comments about Platinum's actions last chapter.

For those who noted, I do realize that Storc mentioned releasing Darkrai in DPPt arc. But given how SA's final battle plan was set prior to Platinum's name even being revealed and I didn't bother updating it with a different Pokémon, the Darkrai will remain in Storc's possession. And yes, SA #032: Priority Shift was rushed through, and it's excessively short. But there's a reason for that (to be explained in SA #033). The reason may be viewed as evil or cruel.

Intermission Part 4: Return to Sender

Somewhere in Johto, September 16…

"Damn it, this is taking forever. Yo, other dimension dude, how long does it normally take for those Team Rocket guys to find you?"

"I don't know. I never keep track between their appearances. They're never there when you look for them, for sure."

"… If you two stop shouting out our intentions, perhaps we'd accomplish our goal much faster."

Gold, Crystal, and Satoshi were mindlessly searching throughout various routes of Johto, trying to find any trace of the Team Rocket trio that had been blasted by Satoshi's brilliant move. And so far, they had absolutely no luck. With Crystal in the lead, Satoshi trailing behind, and with all of their flight-capable Pokémon searching from the skies, the group (Gold and Crystal, mostly) trudged onwards, hoping that they'd find the damn Rocket trio before they lose their minds.

Crystal glanced backwards and slowed down enough so that she'd be able to talk to Gold. "So, Gold. Sapphire's birthday is coming up. Are you getting her anything?"

Gold simply blinked. "It's her birthday coming up? Huh. I didn't know. But should I get her anything? Seeing how she literally kicked my ass, I don't think she particularly deserves a gift."

"Gold, you're her senior. Act like it."

"Well, what are you getting her, then?"

"I'm thinking of a romance novel. She'll like it. She may act all tough and such on the outside, but there are a few things she can't hide. It'll be hard finding a book typed entirely in a way that she can read, though. But maybe if she likes that book so much, she'll get into reading more and more books. I'm sure Platinum would like that a lot."

Gold shrugged. "Sure, why not. I'll just give her 4000 PKD or something."

"Considering how Platinum gave Red 200 000 PKD for his birthday, your gift would look like crap. Besides, she'd probably give Sapphire a lot of money too, if anything."

Gold shrugged again. "Well, I could just get her a bunch of berries or something, but what kind of gift is that? So I'll turn those berries into money. I'll give her enough money to buy 400 berries."

Crystal sighed and shook her head. "I guess I'll just hope that you'll do better for my birthday next year."

Gold grinned. "Oh, you know I'll do better." He glanced backwards and spotted Satoshi still following with a blank look. "By the way, there's something I need to discuss with that guy in private. Do you mind leaving us alone for a bit?"

"Sure," Crystal replied without much thought. She called down her Xatu and got it ready to lift her up. "Call me when you're done with your discussion."

Once Crystal left with her Xatu, Gold looked over at Satoshi and signaled him closer. "Okay, now that Super Serious Gal is gone, there's something I need to ask you, man to boy."

…

Meanwhile, in Hoenn, Ruby crossed his arms as he watched Sapphire get fired up for their battle. Haruka just watched from beside Ruby. Ruby had his Swampert out and Sapphire had her Blaziken.

"Are you ready for this?" Sapphire asked.

Ruby sighed. "Why are you really doing this? While I was stronger than you at battling, over the years you constantly trained while I didn't, so you're probably stronger than me now. But you know that a Pokémon battle is not all about brute strength. You may be stronger than me, but I'm still better than you. So… why battle? You're just going to lose."

Sapphire's eyes twitched as she clenched her fists. "This is more than just a battle! This is about everything I had to go through! Oh, you think you can tell me what to do? You think you can tell me what to wear? You think that you're better than me? Well, you better get ready. You will bow to me when this is over! Here I go!"

"So… this is what, payback?" Ruby muttered. "Don't you think you can settle thi- Whoa!"

Sapphire had charged straight at Ruby and pounced on him before giving her Blaziken any orders. The Blaziken simply watched as its trainer proceeded to maul Ruby. The Swampert watched as well, wondering if it should risk itself to save its trainer. Normally, yes. But if it meant going against Sapphire… The two Pokémon glanced at each other and shrugged, wondering if this was actually going to become a Pokémon battle.

Haruka watched Sapphire maul Ruby without directly striking him. "… Okay, I guess this is like a marital fight in which I shouldn't get involved."

Sapphire stood up and glared at Ruby's Swampert. "You! Mud Bomb over there!" she yelled as she pointed a few meters away."

The Swampert nodded obediently and did as ordered. Sapphire dragged the dazed Ruby towards the created puddle of mud. Before Ruby knew what was happening, Sapphire buried him in the puddle of mud. She wiped her hands afterwards and turned her attention to Haruka.

"Now that the sissy is out of the way, let's battle. You and me, come on!"

"Um… no."

"I promise I'll go easy on you!"

"Still, no."

Sapphire clenched her teeth. "Come on, don't be a siss-"

"Muddy Water!"

Sapphire turned around at the sudden sound of Ruby's voice and immediately got engulfed by a mix of mud and water. Sapphire's Blaziken turned to glare at Ruby's Swampert for using the Muddy Water. Without warning, the Blaziken smacked the Swampert on the back of the head. The Swampert simply shrugged, indicating that it had no choice in this matter.

Sapphire jumped back to her feet and wiped the mud off of her face. She took one step towards Ruby and got another face full of mud. She steadily rotated her head a little and loosened the shoulder muscles.

"Oh, it's a mud-ball fight you want, eh?" She reached down and gathered a giant bomb of mud (and rocks). "You're on!"

Haruka watched Ruby and Sapphire fight and argue again. They bickered like children and really fought each other at times, but never did any permanent damage on each other. Or any serious damage, for that matter. She proceeded to sit down on the nearest patch of mud-free grass and just watch the mud-ball fight. So this was a lover's quarrel, huh?

…

Meanwhile…

…

"So, you've spent a long time with various girls in your travels, huh?" Gold asked as he sat down on a large fallen log.

Satoshi sat on a large rock a meter or so away from the log. "Yeah, so?"

"And you don't feel anything about any of them?"

"Feel what?"

Gold thought for a second before he shook his head. "Never mind. I'll be a little blunt." He cleared his throat and after making sure Crystal wasn't anywhere in sight, he rested his arms against his knees and looked at Satoshi with a serious expression. "Now. Let's start with senior Blue. Do you notice anything about her? Anything that catches your attention?"

Satoshi thought for a second. A feat that Gold found surprising… "She has big…"

'Well, son of a bitch!' Gold muttered in his head.'He CAN see th-'

"Strong Pokémon? That Blastoise looked really powerful. Beyond that, I don't know."

'… Guess not.' Gold let out a short sigh. But it was far from over. "Okay then… Super Serious Gal. What about her?" Again, he took a brief scan of the surroundings to make sure the girl in question wasn't remotely nearby.

"She can kick a Pokéball pretty hard. A Pokémon capture professional, huh?"

"No, I don't mean her occupation or Pokémon. I'm talking about the girl herself," Gold clarified. "Have you ever… looked at her?"

Satoshi appeared quite confused. "Well, obviously I saw her, but I don't know what you mean."

"What about Wildchild Girl?"

"Sharp teeth."

"Proto-Gal?"

"Scary eyes."

"That's the first thi-… … … Bossy Gal?"

"Big and long hair."

"… Senior Yellow?"

"Long hair. And kind of short."

'Yes, because you're so tall… You're almost as short as Proto-Gal, for crying out loud…' "You don't think any of them are pretty or cute?" Gold asked in disbelief.

"I don't know. Haruka and Hikari constantly call themselves cute and pretty, but I really don't know."

'Oh, you stupid son of a…' "… Okay then, let's try the ones you traveled with," Gold said with a sigh. "What's her name… Hikari. Have you ever noticed how short her skirt is?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Have you ever seen up it?" Gold asked, being more and more blunt to get through the tough 'defenses' in the form of sheer stupidity/blindness. "For example… did she ever trip while walking in front of you, and you had a clear view?"

"… No, should I have?" Satoshi asked, still unclear as to what Gold was asking. "If she trips, I'll just help her back up."

"When she's in that cheerleading outfit and starts… performing, do you ever look at her?"

"No, because I'm trying to win a Gym Battle."

Gold slightly shook his head. "Moving on! What's her name… Haruka. Have you ever… looked at her when she's swimming with you, or in a hot spring?"

"Of course I see her when I talk to her, but I don't know what you're asking," Satoshi answered. "Though I always wondered why Haruka wanted me to see her in those times."

"And you never felt anything unusual?"

"No. This whole series of questions kind of remind me of what Haruka asked me a long time ago."

'… Bloody hell…' "Okay. Picture Haruka in your head."

"Okay."

"Now, don't you think, when compared to other girls, she has big…" Gold said, prompting Satoshi to finish his sentence.

"… Ego? Dreams?"

"No, big boo…" Gold prompted again.

"… Boots? That's Hikari. I thought we were talking about Haruka."

"No, you stupid bastard!" Gold yelled. He even used his hands to demonstrate what he was referring to. "She has big b-" However, he was unable to finish explaining, as a sudden sharp pain burst from the back of his head, forcing him to topple over. "Ow! What the hell?!" He looked backwards and spotted Crystal with her hands on her hips, absolutely fuming. Her face was completely red from embarrassment.

"Gold!" she screamed. "Is that what you had to discuss with him?!"

"It was very important!"

"Why you dir-"

"It didn't work though!" Gold said as he got back up. "This kid's as blind as Proto-Gal. Even worse, actually. It's like… the result of the magnitude of Proto-Gal's and senior Red's blindness and obliviousness multiplied together, if that makes any sense. It's as frustrating as talking while facing a huge, tall wall that's just an inch away from your face."

Crystal's anger dissipated and a look of disbelief appeared on her face. "… Seriously?"

"This idiot doesn't even notice anything about you!"

"What?" She looked over at Satoshi, who still appeared confused. "You don't think I look attra… Wait, forget I said anything."

Gold grinned. He put an arm around Crystal's shoulder, much to her surprise. She quickly looked away while her cheeks flushed. "So you know that you're attractive, huh? And I guess no one ever said it to you except me?"

"Shut it, Gold…"

"Aw, come on, Super Serious Gal," Gold teased, practically whispering in her ear. "I know you like it."

Without warning, Crystal slammed her right heel into Gold's shin, forcing him to back off. "Anyways! We have some important business to take care of. That Team Rocket group isn't going to capture itself. We'll lure them out!" She looked over at Satoshi, who still had a blank expression on his face. "You! Have your Pikachu on your shoulder and just walk in a straight line. Don't look back and just walk straight. We'll do the rest."

…

Meanwhile, in Sinnoh, Diamond returned after talking to and comforting Hikari. Platinum remained standing where she was, looking down at the ground, lost in deep thought. She only looked up when Diamond's feet came into her sight.

Diamond didn't say anything. He simply looked into her eyes, waiting for her to say something. Platinum let out a sigh.

"Diamond… I apologize for how I acted. Will you forgive me?"

Diamond didn't smile or change his expression. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Lady. As such, I'm not the one who can forgive you. Lady, … sis is a guest in this dimension. I image you don't treat guests to your mansion like this. She won't be staying here forever, and we probably won't get to see her ever again after she returns home. It's only fair we treat her warmly."

Platinum looked down in shame again and slowly nodded. "I know… I will go and apologize personally." She started to look up at him again, but immediately stopped, as if she was afraid to look at him. "… Do you… hate me for how I acted?"

Diamond hesitated a little. "I admit I was disappointed. But I don't hate you. I'll never hate you. I was disappointed because it appeared that you still treat us all like some commoners. I really thought you changed." He examined her expression and smiled warmly. "If you're worried that I might treat you differently, you don't have to worry. I'm still your friend, Lady. I always will be."

The heiress looked up just a little and gave him a faint smile. "… Thank you."

Soon, Platinum went over to apologize to her lookalike. She had to suck up her pride for this. But at least this Hikari seemed nice enough to not make a big deal about this…

…

3 days later…

…

All the "guests" and the Dex Holders gathered in the ShadowNet building as the portal generator neared completion. To help with the reconstruction, a ShadowNet scientist was temporarily recruited. The moment the generator was properly fixed, his imprisonment duration would be greatly reduced.

The ShadowNet scientist pressed a button and the portal generator powered up. He checked over the coordinates and nodded to the Dex Holders.

"Alright, so the device is set," Green said. "Now to check if the coordinates are correct." He proceeded to drag one of the captured Rocket trio and shoved the top half of his body through the portal for a few seconds before pulling him back. "Well?"

"It seemed like our dimension," the Rocket member replied.

"Good."

Green simply tossed the Rocket member through the portal. The other Dex Holders did the same for the remaining two. Once the Rocket members were taken care of, Haruka stepped towards the portal. She looked over at Ruby and Sapphire.

"It was nice to meet you," she said. "I think this has been a good experience." She extended a hand and Ruby shook it. Sapphire thought for a second before shaking her hand as well. "Good bye, Ruby and Sapphire. Maybe we can meet again someday."

Ruby nodded. "Well, good bye, uh… sis."

Haruka waved at everyone else before stepping through the portal. Once she was gone, Hikari moved up.

"I don't want to sound repetitive," she said as she looked over at Diamond. "But it was great to meet you, Dia. I hope we can meet again. You two, Lady Platinum."

The two Sinnoh Dex Holders nodded and shook hands with the guest. Hikari waved at everyone else with both hands and after a short bow, walked through the portal.

Takeshi came up next. He immediately faced Blue, who narrowed her eyes and shook her head. Silver cleared his throat, indicating that he was right there. Green simply shoved Takeshi through the portal, leaving only one guest still in the dimension.

"Alright kid, time for you to go home," Gold said as he crossed his arms.

Satoshi looked around at all the Dex Holders. "I don't want to go home," he said. "I want to stay here and train with you. You guys are all so strong… I want to become much stronger!"

"Go home," Green said as he stepped in front of Satoshi. "Your friends and family would want you in their dimension."

Satoshi glanced at the portal. "… Well yeah, but… can't I train with you guys just a little?"

Green let out a sigh. "Tell you what. If you go home, I'll follow you and train you there. How's that?"

Satoshi beamed in joy. "Really? Awesome! Thanks a lot! Okay, I'll see you there!"

With an excited jump, he ran through the portal. Green calmly headed over towards the command prompt of the portal generator and simply shut down the portal.

"Idiot…" he muttered as he watched the portal fade away. He then turned to face the other Dex Holders. "All right, people. Break's over. ShadowNet's still out there. They may have been severely weakened, but they're not completely gone. So our job's not over. So let's get to it!"

As the Dex Holders filed out of the ShadowNet building's armory, Crystal glanced at the portal generator. Admittedly, it was an interesting few days with the guests. But more importantly, it interested her to think of all the possible technological improvements some of the lab equipment back in Pallet Town could use from the portal generator. She took a few steps towards the portal generator to get a last look at the active command prompt. The portal may have been closed, but the prompt was still active, waiting for commands. Crystal studied some of the codes visible, in case they could turn out to be useful. But something caught her eye…

She simply stared at the command prompt of the inter-dimensional portal device. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that the destination coordinates for Haruka, Hikari, and Takeshi were different than the ones for Satoshi. Was it possible that Satoshi went into a completely different dimension all alone? Did a Dex Holder secretly change the coordinates while no one was looking?

Nah.

Crystal shook her head and followed the other Dex Holders out. She trusted them. Unless the machine changed on its own, there was no way that a Dex Holder would pull off a 'prank' like that…

…

Meanwhile, … somewhere…

…

Satoshi looked up at the dark sky and spotted 6 large figures attacking each other. Upon closer look, he recognized them as Legendary Pokémon. Three he knew. Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. The other three weren't familiar. They were Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem, but he wouldn't know.

The fighting continued. A missed meteor from Dialga's Draco Meteor crashed into the ground close enough to almost knock Satoshi off his feet. He glanced around, worried about his friends for a second. He soon realized that he was all alone. Haruka and Hikari weren't in his sight range.

After regaining balance, he looked up at the 6 Legendary Dragons. "HEY! STOP FIGHTING!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The 6 Legendary Dragons paid absolutely no attention to him. So Satoshi moved on to his next plan. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

The Thunderbolt hit all 6 Dragons, but did no damage. The 6 Legendary Dragons stopped fighting and all glared down at the interference.

"Stop fighting! You'll only destroy each other, you idiots!" Satoshi yelled again, realizing that he was now the center of attention.

The 6 Dragons glanced at each other before moving to deal with the interference…

Oh yes, once again, SA-Intermission series' character fates are unrelated to that of the actual SA. Note that Blue and Gold are still alive. And White too. And Generation V of the anime will not have happened for SA-Intermission, which is why the idiot doesn't recognize the Unova Dragons.

What Could Have Been:

"So Gold, I noticed that you referred to him as "kid" even though he's older than you," Crystal commented.

"Well, he sure doesn't act like it," Gold replied. "Maybe he's cursed with eternal youth or something."

"Other than watching everyone else die, why would eternal youth be a curse?" Crystal asked.

"Well… you know. Eternal youth. Body doesn't change, so body doesn't grow, so brains don't change, so you never learn anything, and you never notice anything about the opposite gender because your body doesn't change, ever."

"Ouch. That's just… horrible."

Thanks to horrible planning for this intermission series, several ideas for the crossover got lost. Had the series been longer than 4 chapters, these would have been explored, but sadly (or thankfully), there isn't enough space. So, I will list the "Lost Moments" below. And I mean a literal "list".

Lost Moments:

- Sapphire and Haruka force Ruby to buy them lunch. Platinum arrives just in time to save him from bankruptcy

- Sapphire and Platinum meet to discuss their similar situations, namely having their crush/loved one 'stolen' by their lookalikes who both happen to be the boys' older 'sisters' from the different dimension

- Platinum declares war against Hikari, challenging her to a Contest battle, regular battle, speed quiz, and others, and wins every time

- Gold attempts to get Satoshi to have a relationship with either Haruka or Hikari, with both plans failing, but succeeding in making the boy make an ass of himself

- Satoshi attempts retribution by beating a random Dex Holder in battle but loses his first battle to White

- Satoshi attempts to make up for his losses by beating the Dex Holders in a double battle, but get thrashed by Ruby and Sapphire when he teamed up with Haruka, by Gold and Crystal when teamed up with Takeshi, and by Diamond and Platinum when teamed up with Hikari