Chapter 3: Oblivious Heart

Next day, Sandgem Town, 11:55 am…

Pearl checked his Pokétch for the time again. Platinum had wanted to meet him at her place at noon. So Pearl had come to Sandgem Town half an hour early and had waited (impatiently) until he had 5 minutes left. Ordinarily, he would've tried to go see her immediately, but he figured that Platinum might be occupied with something if he visited her too early. And he didn't want to interrupt her with anything.

Now that there were just 5 minutes left, Pearl left the small store that he was randomly wandering through and headed towards the massive Berlitz Mansion. The guards at the front gate welcomed him, as they had been notified ahead of time by Platinum.

Pearl adjusted his walking speed and waited a brief moment in the front door until the time read 12:00 exactly. He knocked on the door and a maid opened it and let him in. Pearl stepped in and glanced around. Platinum wasn't here yet, so he chose to stand around and wait.

Meanwhile, Platinum looked at the time and realizing that it was almost time for Pearl to arrive, proceeded to head towards the front door to greet him. Her Pokégear suddenly chimed as it received a message, halting her in her steps. She took out her device and saw a message from Diamond.

"Lady, are you free any time this week?"

Platinum mentally considered her schedule, and sent him her response.

"I will be occupied for the next two days, but after that, I am permitted to a vacation of two weeks."

She leaned against the wall and stared into her Pokégear, waiting for Diamond's response.

"In that case, when you're available, would you like to go on a trip?"

"Oh? I am certainly interested. Where do you have in mind?"

"How about to your villa in the Resort Area? I think it would be really fun if we spent a few days there together."

"That sounds wonderful and fun. I will certainly make arrangements and send a few maids and servants over."

"Actually, I was thinking that it would be a lot more fun if it was just the two of us. That way we can go shopping together for supplies and make our own food together. What do you think?"

Platinum's lips parted open slightly as she considered a trip to her villa in Resort Area with Diamond, and spending several days with him. Just the two of them in the large villa, procuring and making their own food? … That certainly sounded very fun… Come to think of it, she hadn't really been to her villa much, so it definitely warranted a visit. There was also a private pool in the backyard, which would be useful in the hot weather. She smiled happily and sent Diamond her response.

"That sounds really fun. Thank you so much for the offer. I will make sure that I am available for this trip, and I will make arrangements for the ship that will carry us to the Battle Zone."

Platinum soon put her Pokégear away and after a sigh of content, headed towards the front door. She soon arrived at the walkway overlooking the front entrance and was surprised to see Pearl already there, waiting for her. Platinum smiled brightly and waved at him before glancing at the clock. It was exactly noon.

"Ah, quite punctual!" she remarked as she walked down the set of stairs towards him. "Thank you for coming, Pearl."

Pearl waved at her as well and returned her smile. "I got to Sandgem half an hour ago, but I didn't know if you were busy, so I couldn't come early. So the next best thing is to arrive on the dot. How are you, Miss Lady?"

"I am doing very well, thank you for asking," Platinum said as she stood in front of him. "How are you, Pearl?"

"Likewise." He looked into her pretty eyes and her beautifully bright expression and felt a blush creeping up to his face. He looked away a bit and feigned a cough to try to calm down. "So… uh… are you ready?"

"Yes! I have been looking forward to it. Please, follow me."

Platinum began to lead Pearl towards the small ballroom deep within the mansion. Pearl felt his heart racing at the thought of basically having a private dance with Platinum, and he felt the urge to rush there to get it started as fast as possible. He couldn't show his excitement like that, though, so he had to match Platinum's walking speed. And she knew where this ballroom was, while he didn't. He had to suppress his haste here…

"I thought about how I'm going to be able to teach you how to dance," he said, trying to engage in a conversation so that his mind could focus and not let his imagination run amok.

"As I have said, I wish to learn how to dance in order to try out White's Pokémon Musical and the Hoenn Pokémon Contests," Platinum began. "Those two events require the trainer to be synchronized with their Pokémon in movement, and according to White and senior Ruby, matching our movements to the provided background music is important. Thus I have requested them to send me some background music songs that are used in the Musical and the Contests so we can practice using those. However, I would like to become familiar with dancing first, so I would like you to guide me. I will synchronize my movements with my Pokémon after I am familiar."

Pearl gulped nervously as he thought about dancing with her while holding her hands. "I hope I do a good job," he said with an embarrassed chuckle.

Platinum giggled a bit. "Do not worry, Pearl. I am sure you will do great." She soon stopped walking and opened a set of large doors. "Here we are."

Pearl let out a low whistle at the size of the ballroom. Then again, he supposed that this ballroom was for a lot of distinguished guests in some Berlitz Mansion event, so it was designed to hold quite a few people and not feel crowded. He was sure that if he spoke loud enough, there will be a distinguishable echo.

"This place is… quite big," he said, looking around the fancy ballroom.

"Yes. I do realize that this place is quite big for just two of us, but it cannot be helped this time." She stopped in front of another door and opened it. "This is the men's changing room, and you will find a wide variety of clothes to choose from in the selection room connected to the changing room. I will go into the women's changing room to wear an appropriate dress for this. Please take your time."

Pearl nodded and watched as Platinum headed into the women's changing room. He took a series of breaths to calm down and went to see just how many clothes options he had to choose from.

And he found out pretty quickly that he had far too many choices than he was comfortable with, as the clothes selection room seemed to be bigger than most clothing shops. Granted, a lot of the options didn't fit him, as all the available sizes were gathered here.

For a while, Pearl simply stood overwhelmed. He eventually managed to snap out and actively looked through the clothes. He honestly didn't have a preference for style or color, so in the end, he opted to wear a matching set of suit that best resembled the set he wore during Platinum's first Contest in Hearthome City all those years ago.

He went into the changing room to try on the suit and glanced at his reflection in the mirror. … Looking good? … He honestly didn't really know. The suit looked very nice, sure, but… … Hmm… Ehn, he'd let Platinum decide.

Pearl stepped out into the ballroom and went to sit by the one table that was not stacked on top of one another. It seemed that Platinum had ordered the servants to leave just one table and two chairs ready for her and Pearl.

He put his hands on the table and let out an explosive sigh. This anxiety was going to drive him insane. … If the men's clothes selection room was that damn big and fancy, then just how gigantic and downright elegant was the women's clothes selection? … Platinum was already beautiful, attractive, and downright gorgeous on her own. If she showed up wearing an extra fancy dress for this dance…

He began to tap his hands on the table lightly, to help his hastiness. … And Platinum was taking a lot of time, which wasn't helping his anxiety.

His hands started to feel ice cold. Maybe it was partly because this ballroom had a strong air conditioning unit. He breathed into his hands to warm them up and resumed tapping on the table.

After what seemed like hours, Platinum finally stepped out of the changing room. Pearl almost jumped from his seat when the door opened, and his mouth fell open in awe.

Platinum had tied her hair into a ponytail with a white ribbon. She had opted to wear a stunningly elegant, beautiful white silk sleeveless dress and matching white evening gloves that reached past her elbows. She had also applied make up, it seems, as her naturally long eyelashes were accentuated and her lips were shining pinkish red from the lipstick and gloss.

As she approached, he noticed that her dress seemed to be sparkling, as light reflected off of particular surfaces at different angles. … And her dress neckline was noticeably lower than her usual clothes, but not too low either. The neckline was just low enough to make her look absolutely captivating, and exposed just enough of her…

"I am sorry to keep you waiting," Platinum said, her cheeks slightly red, as if embarrassed. "Oh, you look wonderfully handsome," she said, looking at her friend up and down. She recognized the suit's resemblance and smiled. "Wonderful suit choice, I must say."

Pearl snapped out of his stun and coughed. "Y – You look gorgeous, Miss Lady," he stammered out, swallowing hard. "You… you look beautiful… in that… … N – Not that you're not… uh…" He forced himself to stop, as he felt that he was tripping over his own words, and was probably making an ass of himself.

Platinum noticeably blushed and put a hand on top of her fully exposed collarbones. "Thank you, Pearl." She glanced down and twisted her body just slightly and looked at her dress flowing from the movement. "I must admit, this is the first time I wear this dress. I have not custom ordered a personal dress for myself as I never had the reason or the occasion. And as I found out, the last one I have customized to suit me perfectly no longer fit me comfortably."

"I – I'm sure that one would still fit you," Pearl said quickly, afraid that she might ask him whether he thought she had gained weight. He knew that he would not know how to react properly and probably blurt out something dumb without thinking about it out of panic, and he wanted to avoid that.

"No. It is difficult to breathe in that dress," Platinum answered, unaware of his torment. She put a hand over her chest and took a deep breath. "I am not experiencing such an issue in this one."

Pearl's breath got caught in his throat as he realized what she had meant… or at least alluded to. His eyes briefly flickered down but he stopped himself very quickly. No. He had just realized what kind of torture awaited him today. Platinum's expression told him that she was completely unaware of what he was going through right now, and was just embarrassed for wearing a super fancy dress in front of her friend, as opposed to casual clothes as usual. And if he was going to dance with her, alone, for hours…

Platinum walked towards the wall where a built-in audio system was accessible. She put in a memory storage device and navigated around with the controls. Soon, an exciting music began to play from the speakers attached to the walls of the ballroom. She listened to the Musical song provided by White and looked over at Pearl expectantly. He quickly got the hint and extended a hand towards her, palm-up.

"W – Well then… let's get started?" he asked. He noticed that his hand was shaking and tried to keep it steady.

Platinum smiled and placed her hand softly on top of his. "Yes. Let us begin. Please lead."

…

After a few hours of practicing dancing through a mix of Musical and Contest music, the two Dex Holders decided to take a break. The Musical songs were fast paced and exciting, while the Contest ones were more elegant and almost classical. Of course, that was probably because of the person who had selected those songs. White originally intended the Musical to be enjoyable and entertaining to all sorts of people, so would've opted for an exciting track to catch attention quickly. And Ruby naturally would've picked songs that would be heard in the Beauty category of the Contests, so something elegant and classical.

Still, the variety of song types allowed Pearl to dance with Platinum in various tempos, matching his motions with the beats of the songs while Platinum mimicked his movements. She was rusty at first, but she learned very quickly and was now matching his movements perfectly. She was clearly enjoying herself as well, as her motions changed from timid to confident.

And now that the last Musical song had finished, the two Dex Holders were going to take a break and then Platinum would select a different batch of songs that were sent by Ruby and White and the dancing lessons… er… sessions would resume. Pearl didn't know if this was really a lesson, since Platinum learned too quickly for this to really be a long lesson. At this point, they were basically dancing together for enjoyment.

Pearl let out a breath and sat down on a chair next to the table. Platinum paused the audio system and sat down on the other chair by the table as well, and wiped away the perspiration on her forehead. The two Dex Holders soon made eye contact and smiled. Platinum put a hand over her mouth and giggled innocently. Pearl felt his cheeks warming up significantly and averted his gaze, so that Platinum wouldn't catch on to his blush.

Platinum lowered her hand and looked at Pearl intently, as if studying him. Pearl gulped and held his breath, wondering why she was looking at him like so. Whatever was bothering her, she seemed to have made a decision rather quickly.

The heiress slowly rose to her feet and walked over towards him. Pearl looked at her just as she suddenly leaned towards him, with her arms slowly wrapping around his neck. Pearl almost jumped in surprise, and a fierce blush crept up to his cheeks which he narrowly forced down.

Was Platinum giving him a hug? Or… was she going to kiss him?!

Pearl gulped as Platinum's face came dangerously close to his, her soft red lips mere inches away. He quickly raised his arms, ready to wrap them around her waist. His heart began to race. This was his moment. The moment he had been waiting for… dreaming for, really. And he was going to make the most of it!

… But Pearl quickly realized that something was off. For one, Platinum was focusing on something past his face, and most importantly, she was not embracing him. Pearl now noticed that the heiress was simply fixing the collar of his suit, which had been bent and messed up during the dance.

Pearl mentally groaned and lowered his arms, feeling as if he had just been teased. He stifled his disappointment, berating himself for getting way too excited without warrant. … Maybe one day. … But today was not that day. And at the same time, he felt tremendous relief that he had not over-acted. If he had put an arm around her waist or kissed her soft lips… Boy, would that have been unbearably awkward.

He blinked and noticed just how painfully close Platinum was. Her full, soft red lips were hovering mere centimeters away from his eyes, as if taunting him. The undoubtedly strawberry flavored lipstick and the gloss the heiress had applied made her lips seemingly sparkle in the room's lighting, making them look so tempting. Pearl had never felt the desire for strawberries as strong as right now. The sweet strawberry scented perfume didn't help. If anything, it made his desires stronger. Her lips gently parted as she focused on fixing the collar, making it much harder for Pearl to resist the temptation.

He blinked again and realized that he had to look away. It'd be very weird if Platinum noticed that he was staring at her lips. He looked up, and saw the girl's beautiful yet sometimes scary eyes. Due to the angle, her eyes seemed to sparkle in the room's lights as well, and the sparkles were even seemingly magnified by her glasses.

For a moment, Pearl found himself staring into her deep, pretty eyes. Her deep yet bright eyes seemed to give an indicator of her intellect and wisdom, offering just a hint of her seemingly endless knowledge base. He could stare into her eyes all day, but knew that he had to look away. This was too dangerous. He was staring right into her eyes from mere inches away. She'd definitely notice if he was staring at her eyes for too long, and that would be very awkward.

Pearl looked down and away from her bright pretty eyes. And quickly realized that this was the worst possible decision. For this dance, Platinum had opted to wear a beautiful silky white dress, with a neckline low enough to expose just enough cleavage to make her look genuinely sexy and absolutely captivating without looking trashy. The previous dance was fast paced enough to make her perspire, and now here she was, leaning over towards him so that she could fix his collar, inadvertently exposing much more of her breasts to him.

Pearl felt his breath get caught in his throat and he simply stared, momentarily too surprised to react. From afar, he hadn't noticed. But up this close, he realized that the silky white dress failed to conceal everything since it was so thin. Through the material, Pearl could see a faint but unmistakable outline of Platinum's white bra. Pearl gulped as he saw Platinum's soft, moist breasts gently shaking as the girl's arms moved. … This tease was torture.

He had to look away, now. He could not imagine how Platinum would react if she noticed that he had been staring at her breasts. And he did not want to find out. She might blame herself for inadvertently putting him in this position and failing to notice it sooner. She could also become very embarrassed and things would become quite awkward between them. … Or she could get her Ninetales to flash-freeze him out of embarrassment and anger. He didn't want her blaming herself for something that wasn't her fault. He did not want things to ever be awkward between them, and he certainly did not want to become a popsicle.

Pearl quickly looked over to the left now, away from the girl entirely. … And much to his chagrin, there was a large mirror on the wall, and he could see the reflection of his current situation. … Even the mirror was teasing him. A mirror. Was nothing sacred anymore?

He now had one direction left. He couldn't look up diagonally, since that could give Platinum the impression that he was annoyed or impatient. He couldn't look down diagonally, since that made him seem rather embarrassed or even ashamed. So he stared at the only safe direction, which was right. And there, he could see a blank, horribly boring wall.

Pearl let out a sigh of relief. He had never felt this good to look at an empty wall. His options were to either stare at Platinum's perfectly soft sparkling red lips, her deep beautiful eyes, her exposed breasts, a mirror reflecting this entire situation back at him as if laughing at him, or a blank wall. … He chose the wall. Good old wall. No one would judge him for staring at a wall.

Occasionally, Platinum's delicate fingers covered in her soft silky evening gloves would brush past his skin while fixing the collar, which tingled his nerves. … Oh, this could not possibly be finished quickly enough.

After a grand total of 12 seconds that seemed like an hour, Platinum finished fixing the collar. She stood up straight and clasped her hands, happy to know that she had corrected the visible flaw in a striking suit.

She smiled at Pearl, but quickly noticed the unusual expression on his face.

"Oh? Pearl, is something wrong?" she asked sweetly. "You appear to be rather flustered."

Pearl cleared his throat, using this time to quickly calm himself down. "Uh… no. I'm fine. Just… that last dance took more out of me than I thought."

Platinum deemed the reason to be acceptable, and did not question further. "Ah, I see. Well, then, shall we continue?"

Pearl let out a quick sigh, and rose to his feet. "Yeah. Let's do it." 'Miss Lady… you're killing me! … And I'm okay with that…'

…

Another few hours later, the two Dex Holders stopped dancing for the day, as dinner time was approaching. Pearl sat down on the chair again and took a moment to catch his breath while Platinum stopped the audio system. She wiped away the perspiration on her forehead again and sat on her chair again. This time, Pearl felt around his suit collar and found out that nothing was messed up. He briefly wondered if he should mess it up on purpose, but… Platinum might not bother fixing the collar this time, since he would be changing back to his normal clothes.

"Oh, Pearl, would you like to stay for dinner?" Platinum asked sweetly.

Pearl wanted to do that so badly. But unfortunately, since his father was going to be returning to the Battle Tower tomorrow, he was going to have a family dinner back at home that he should not be missing out.

"I'd love to, but unfortunately, I have dinner plans with my family," Pearl said apologetically.

Platinum nodded. "I understand. It is very important too, after all." She glanced at the clock on the ballroom wall and rose to her feet. "I suppose we should change back into our normal clothes."

The two Dex Holders went into their separate changing rooms and changed back into their normal clothes. Pearl came back out first, and Platinum came out a couple of minutes later. She still had her make up on as she didn't have the time to wipe them off.

"So… should we do this again soon?" Pearl asked as the two Dex Holders headed towards the main entrance of the mansion.

"Absolutely. I had so much fun today," Platinum answered with a smile. "But unfortunately, I will be unavailable for the next week or so."

"Oh. Anything interesting coming up?" Pearl asked again, trying to see if Diamond was going to be taking his "turn" now.

Platinum didn't catch on but nodded. "Yes. Tomorrow, I will be assisting Moon with her research, which will require us to travel to Eterna Forest. The day after, White and Y are set to visit for a day before they head to Kanto. And after that, I will be going to the Resort Area with Diamond for a few days."

Pearl was surprised to hear the last one. … Diamond was taking Platinum away somewhere for a few days? That… wasn't fair! Diamond was hogging Platinum all to himself, denying Pearl any opportunities to spend time with her! While the agreement was to not interfere or sabotage with each other, but Diamond physically preventing Pearl from getting close to Platinum for a few days was definitely a sabotage! How was it fair competition if Diamond denied Pearl his chances?

Pearl clenched his teeth and thought about his possible course of action. … If Diamond took Platinum away to the Resort Area, then Pearl would need an excuse to be in the Battle Zone in order to visit them. … He would have to visit his father in the Battle Tower, then. That way he'd have an excuse to be in that corner of Sinnoh…

"Wow, that sounds cool," he said, feigning a bright tone. "Have fun, Miss Lady."

"Thank you, Pearl," Platinum said happily, failing to catch the faint hint of frustration in his voice. "I hope to be available when I return home from the Resort Area. I hope to see you then."

'I'll see you before that,' Pearl thought to himself. "Sure! I'll be waiting."

The two soon reached the entrance and Pearl stepped out while Platinum stayed in the doorway.

"Thank you so much for today, Pearl. I really had fun," Platinum said with a happy smile. "I hope we can do this again after I return."

Pearl nodded. "I had a lot of fun today too. You're really good at dancing, Miss Lady. Next time, we'll try some more fun types of dances."

"I look forward to it."

Pearl briefly considered if he should try telling her his feelings for her. Or even just hinting a bit more about them. But given how Platinum hadn't caught on still, he doubted that she would recognize the hints. Furthermore, this wasn't the proper chance for a confession. He would have to aim for a better opportunity, whenever that would be. Instead, he simply waved at her goodbye and she waved back. And with that, Pearl headed back home to Twinleaf Town.

…

Later that night…

…

Pearl finally got to his bed to sleep for the night. It was earlier than normal for him to be sleeping, but today had been quite eventful and tiring.

He lied down and stretched his arms and legs wide and closed his eyes. And almost immediately, he felt as if his body disappeared and he drifted off into sleep.

"Are you ready, Pearl?" came a sweet familiar voice from behind.

Pearl opened his eyes and found himself in the ballroom of the Berlitz Mansion again. He turned around and saw Platinum smiling at him while wearing her elegant dress again.

"Huh?"

Platinum walked towards him and quickly snatched his hands. "The dance!" she said, jumping in excitement. "I am so eager to begin!"

Pearl gulped as Platinum was right in front of him, jumping up and down. His eyes looked down and saw the… er… motion caused by her jumping up and down. Platinum didn't catch on and the Musical song began playing.

And before long, Pearl found himself dancing along with Platinum once more. But maybe it was because he was so tired, he was sloppy. He kept messing up his steps and stumbled frequently. As a result, he inevitably slipped on the surprisingly slippery floor and fell backwards, pulling Platinum down with him.

Platinum fell on top of him hard, but he only felt a soft impact. She began to giggle happily while Pearl looked up to see if she was okay. Much to his surprise, he could see that she was basically lying face down on top of him, her breasts being pushed up by his body, while her dress neckline had been lowered some more thanks to the angle.

And this time, Platinum did notice him staring at her exposed breasts. She stopped giggling and looked at him seriously.

"Pearl," she began in a calm tone. "I see you staring."

Pearl gulped and looked up at her beautiful yet scary eyes. He tried to say something to explain, but Platinum pinched his mouth shut with her delicate fingers. She slightly wagged a finger in front of him while a mischievous grin formed on her soft red lips. And without warning, she suddenly leaned closer towards him and moved her lips towards his for a-

Pearl jumped awake and sat up quick, panting for air. He put a hand over his mouth and felt all around him, and only felt his blankets and mattress. … It was all a dream.

He let out a long groan as he dropped back onto his pillow. … All a dream. … Damn it. Even in the dream, he couldn't tell Platinum how he felt. And even in the dream, he was denied the taste of her soft red lips. … Someday, perhaps. … But not today, or in this dream.

Pearl sighed and closed his eyes to try to sleep again. … But all he could see was the Platinum from his dreams up close. Her full soft red lips, and her exposed breasts being pushed up by his body…

Pearl's eyes snapped open and the image disappeared. After a sigh, he closed his eyes to sleep again, and the image came right back. He slowly sat back up and put his hands on his temples. … He was not going to be able to sleep at this rate. With a groan, he glanced at the clock. It was 11 pm. … This was going to be one long night…

Poor Pearl. Hehe. I tried to torture him as much as possible without actually damaging him in the slightest. Hope it wasn't too extreme!