Chapter 5: Contented Heart
Next day, Snowpoint City, 8 am…
Platinum slowly got off of her Altaria. Once her boots were planted firmly on the iced snow, she stretched her tired body and put a hand over her mouth as she let out a long yawn. Thanks to her excitement for this trip, she hadn't been able to get a good night's rest and had only managed to get an hour or two of sleep. And having to travel from Sandgem all the way to Snowpoint at early in the morning after the lack of sleep was enough to make her feel quite tired already.
She felt a pair of soft, cottony wings wrapping around her and saw her Altaria embracing her with its wings. She smiled and gave it a gentle pat.
"Thank you for all your help," she said warmly. "You may have your much deserved rest now."
She returned her Altaria into its Pokéball and took a deep breath. Snowpoint City in the middle of the summer didn't seem that much different compared to normal. There was still quite a bit of snow everywhere, though not reaching nearly as high as in the other seasons. It wasn't snowing, and since the temperature was above freezing point, it wasn't going to snow any time soon either. However, the temperatures at nighttime still dropped below freezing. So the snow that slowly melted during the day froze over at night, which effectively covered the entire surface with a thin layer of ice that hid the soft snow underneath.
Platinum looked down at the iced snow below her. She lifted a boot out of the hole she made in the ice and stepped elsewhere. For a brief moment, the ice seemed to withstand her weight and she was able to rest her foot. But as she put more force in order to take a step, the ice broke underneath and her boot fell into the pile of soft snow.
She looked around her for a bit before heading towards the Gym, purposely lifting her feet high above the ice before each step, so that she created perfect footstep marks on the iced snow. She had to be careful, too, as the jagged edges of the ice near the breaking points were quite sharp, as she had found out the hard way that one time a few years back.
Diamond would be arriving in an hour or so, and together, they would take the ice breaker ferry to the Battle Zone. In normal circumstances, Platinum would've waited for Diamond at her mansion and then flew to Snowpoint City together. But today, she wanted to meet up with Candice to show her how her Glaceon was coming along, and spend some time chatting. She had already told Diamond about this last night, so he would not be stopping by her mansion and instead, head straight for Snowpoint City.
…
Platinum leaned against the wall of the Pokémon Center, while watching her Glaceon and Ninetales playing in the snow. Candice had suggested in letting her Ice type Pokémon get some playtime in snowy or icy environments, which wasn't possible outside of Snowpoint City in non-winter seasons. So since she was in Snowpoint right now, Platinum figured that she could let her Pokémon have some fun while waiting for Diamond to arrive.
Platinum rubbed her arms a bit. It was starting to get cold, just standing in one place without moving, surrounded by snow. Since the Resort Area was quite hot in this time of year, the heiress hadn't bothered to bring a coat. A mistake in hindsight, since she would be stopping at Snowpoint for a bit.
Fortunately, Diamond arrived pretty soon on his Skarmory, carrying a big backpack that was probably full of stuff that he would need for this trip. Platinum waved at him as he approached, and pushed off against the wall to greet him up close.
"Good morning, Diamond," she said cheerfully once he landed.
"Good morning, Lady," Diamond greeted her happily as well. "Were you waiting for long?"
"It was peaceful and very refreshing, so I do not mind." She returned her Pokémon back into their Pokéballs and smiled. "But I am very excited to get going!"
"Yeah, me too!"
"So what shall we do when we arrive at the villa?" Platinum asked as she began to walk towards the harbor with him.
"We'll unpack what we brought, and then go shop for groceries. We'll need ingredients to make our lunch and dinner! You haven't ever gone grocery shopping before, have you?"
Platinum shook her head. "No, I have not. I am very eager to experience it, and the joy of creating my own meals."
"Oh, it's great. Nothing feels quite as nice as enjoying a delicious meal that you created yourself!"
Platinum giggled in excitement at the thought and bounced up and down a little. "Oh, I cannot wait!"
…
A few hours later, Resort Area, 12 pm…
…
Platinum unlocked the door to her villa and stepped inside. The large villa was mostly empty as usual, ensuring that the occupants had plenty of room. She had ensured to purchase all the necessary furniture and accessories to make it seem more homely, and so that any guest would be able to enjoy the visit.
"I had ordered some maids to clean this place," she said as she observed the spotless decorations. "It appears that they have done their job quite thoroughly."
Diamond let out a low whistle at all the furniture and decorations seemingly sparkling with sheen. "It sure does."
"Please make yourself at home, Diamond," Platinum said as she locked the front door.
Diamond walked around the villa's first floor, looking for a possible place to put all his stuff and where he'd be sleeping for the night. The living room had a large television mounted on the wall next to the fireplace and a set of very comfortable looking couches in front of it, so camping there wasn't an option since they'd be using that television and couch later on. Behind one of the couches was a section of a wall that served as a leaning point for the couch and also as a support pillar for the second floor. And behind that wall was empty space that served as a really wide hallway leading from the front door to the back door, so that would be ideal for the camping spot. Unless someone was in a real hurry to use the swimming pool in the back and made a beeline towards it from the front door, his sleeping bag and backpack wouldn't be obstructing anyone.
While Diamond set up in the spot he picked, Platinum wandered around as well, thinking of future visits with other Dex Holders. She had always wanted to come here with White, Y, and Moon, sort of like a girl's night, but so far hadn't had the opportunity. Maybe in the fall? White and Y probably wouldn't appreciate the harsher Sinnoh winters, so fall seemed like the best choice.
Platinum wandered towards the large grand piano in the corner of the living room. She had bought it on an impulse for decoration purposes. She didn't know how to play it with any amount of proficiency, so it had been simply sitting there the whole time. Maybe one day someone very proficient would be able to play it and give it justice. … Come to think of it, she didn't know anyone who could play it well. Surely someone among the Dex Holders is proficient?
"Okay, all set," Diamond declared, having explored the kitchen area after setting up. "I looked at the refrigerator to see what was in it and there is nothing, so let's go shopping! And that way, we can make lunch immediately!"
…
Platinum looked around the large grocery store in awe while following Diamond pretty closely as to not get lost. There were so many people here, it reminded her of her time in the mall in Jubilife City. Except instead of Pearl, she was with Diamond. And being close to her friend greatly comforted her among all these strangers in such a close proximity.
Diamond parked the shopping cart next to the fresh meat counter and picked up a few packs after careful examination. He then went over towards the fresh produce section to pick up a lot of fruits and vegetables. Platinum examined the array of produce on display, focusing on all the items that she had never seen before.
"This is what spinach looks like before being prepared? Interesting," she muttered as she stared at the surprisingly large vegetable.
"Yeah. And preparing those things take a lot of time," Diamond said. He moved away from the produce section and picked up some large radish. "Okay, with these, we can make some delicious soup for lunch and dinner. … Probably dinner, given how long it takes."
"What will we be making for lunch?" Platinum asked, starting to get quite hungry as she stared at a pack of strawberries on the produce counter.
"I'm thinking some nice homemade burgers," Diamond said, checking over the stuff in the cart. He then saw what Platinum was looking at and smiled. "Oh, that's right. How could I forget." He examined the packs of strawberries and picked the best ones. "Your dessert, Lady!"
Platinum smiled brightly and clasped her hands together. "Thank you!"
"So today's lunch would be homemade burgers. Today's dinner would be a beef radish soup, with a strawberry pie for dessert."
"Sounds wonderful!"
The two Dex Holders finished the grocery shopping after making a few more stops at various aisles. There was quite a lot of stuff in the cart, but given Diamond, it made sense. Platinum paid for the groceries and stared at the sheer number of shopping bags, wondering how they would even take all these back to the villa. But outside the store, Diamond sent out his Torterra and began to hang the grocery bags on its branches on the back until there were only a couple left. Diamond took the heavier bag for himself while Platinum took the lighter one.
"Are you hungry, Lady?" Diamond asked on the way back to the villa.
"Yes. I am quite famished," Platinum answered.
"Yeah. Me too. Fortunately, lunch won't take long. Especially if we make it together."
Upon arriving back at the villa, the two Dex Holders spent a few minutes storing the groceries in the refrigerator, except those that wasn't supposed to be stored there, or were going to be used immediately. Afterwards, the two took turns to wash their hands in the washroom before preparing lunch.
By the time Platinum came back out of the washroom after tying her hair into a ponytail and thoroughly washing her hands, Diamond had put a large pot on top of the stove and had the necessary ingredients piled up in the sink for rinsing.
"I am ready to assist, Diamond," Platinum said as she jogged up to him.
"Okay. I'll be slicing the onions for lunch preparation. Lady, can you rinse the radish, please?"
"Certainly!"
"Let me know when you're done."
Platinum rushed over towards the sink and saw the big radish with quite a lot of dirt stuck on its side. Since radish was a root vegetable, that made sense. She turned on the sink water and began to rinse the vegetable in cold water that seemed a bit too cold. She had to turn on the hot water a bit when her hands started to move slowly from being chilled too much.
She soon finished rinsing the radish and looked over at Diamond to receive the next set of instructions. And much to her surprise, she could see tears welling in his eyes, and his eyes were quite red as well.
"Diamond? Are you okay?" Platinum asked quickly.
Diamond blinked and frowned, as if he was trying to suppress his emotions. "I was just thinking about what happened in the latest episode of my favorite show," he said, his voice shaking. He saw her tilting her head in confusion and gave her a bright smile. "I'm just kidding. This tends to happen when you cut onions."
"Ah, I see. You had me concerned for a moment." She let out a short sigh and smiled at him. "I am ready for the next step."
"Okay. I'll now handle cutting the radish. Because of its weight and how hard it is, it's quite dangerous for the inexperienced. So can you finish up cutting the onions?"
"Certainly."
Platinum swapped places with Diamond to let him handle the radish and she proceeded to pick up where he left off with the onions. She took extra precaution to avoid hurting herself while slicing the slippery onions, while doing her best to match the sizes of the slices. As she did so, she could feel her eyes beginning to sting quite badly as the chemicals released by the sliced onions affected her.
"Lady? Are you okay?" Diamond asked, matching the same worried tone as hers from before.
Platinum quickly caught on and let out a sob. "I was reminiscing the final scene in the latest Pokéstar Studios drama episode. It was very heart wrenching…" She let out a shuddering sigh and smiled once more. "… My eyes are stinging quite so. I would like to wipe them, but I must wait until this is finished."
"Yeah. If you rub your eyes while you got some onion sap on your fingers, it'll hurt a hundred times more. Let me know if it gets to be too much and I'll see what I can do to help."
Diamond cut the radish into small bite-sized pieces and set them aside while he lightly cooked the beef chunks in the large pot. Once the beef was cooked enough, he put the radish chunks in and began to stir.
"D – Diamond, I need help," Platinum said abruptly from behind.
Diamond quickly turned to face her and could see that she had stopped all motion and had her eyes clenched shut. "What's wrong?"
"My eyes hurt too much. I really need to wash them," Platinum said, squirming on her feet.
"Okay. Hold on." Diamond quickly turned on the sink and guided Platinum towards it so that she could wash her hands first. He took off her glasses for her, allowing her to finally rinse her eyes and stop the stinging. "Are you okay?" he asked, offering her a paper towel.
Platinum took the towel and dabbed at her eyes. "Yes… thank you so much for your help." She blinked a few times and put her glasses back on. "Cooking with onions is quite irritating, is it not?"
Diamond smiled at the pun and nodded. "Yep. It sure is. But since onions are a necessity in so many dishes, it's important! Oh, and now that you've finished with the onions, can you rinse the tomatoes and slice them as well?"
"Certainly." She glanced at the large pot and sniffed at the air. "Mmm, it smells delicious! But… is that not supposed to be our dinner?"
"Yeah. But it'll need to boil for at least half an hour, but the longer it boils, the better the soup tastes, so we'll leave it for a few hours and enjoy it later."
"Ah, I see."
"Speaking of which…" Diamond stirred the contents in the pot again and poured a large bowl full of water. "There. Now we can let it boil for a while. And now I'll get started on the burgers!"
…
An hour later, the two Dex Holders finished with their delightfully delicious lunch. Platinum sighed contently as she leaned back against her chair. Despite not using a grill, Diamond had still cooked the meat to perfection. The onion slices were roasted perfectly as well, so that they retained their taste and texture without leaving any of the after taste. And combined with melted cheddar and fresh lettuce and tomatoes and the desired condiments, the burger tasted so good that the heiress had gotten another half of a burger after finishing her first. In the time it took her to enjoy one and a half burgers, Diamond had finished up four and a half, thus finishing all six that were made.
"The burgers were absolutely perfect, Diamond," Platinum said happily.
"Thank you, Lady. And see? It tastes better if you make it yourself!"
"Yes. And this has already been quite the fun experience. I am looking forward to making more delicious food together!"
"Do you have plans for any activities for today?" Diamond asked.
"No. I had intended to spend the first day doing what you wanted to do. Do you have any plans?"
"Let's watch some of the movies I brought," Diamond suggested.
"Are they all from your…"
"No, no. I brought a wide variety!"
"Splendid! Then please set up the movies. I shall clean the dishes and prepare some fruits."
By the time Platinum returned, carrying a large plate filled with assorted fruits, Diamond had figured out how to connect the media player to the giant television and had paused a second into the movie, waiting for her to return. And once the heiress sat next to him on the comfortable couch, he resumed the video.
Platinum picked up a tasty looking strawberry and bit into it as she watched, wondering what type of movie this was. She didn't particularly have any preference, but was leaning slightly towards a romantic type, like the drama that White had introduced to her. Turned out, this film was more of a generic action type, which was fine too.
Once the movie ended, the two Dex Holders took turns watching videos from the internet, with Diamond showing her various hilarious comedy acts and stories, while Platinum showed him a variety of amazing scientific discoveries. And eventually, it became time for dinner.
"The rice is almost done," Diamond said after glancing at the rice cooker. "And the soup is perfectly ready. So by the time I get some more side dishes done, we'll be able to eat."
"Wonderful," Platinum said happily. She was about to say something when her Pokédex suddenly began to resonate in that familiar chime that she hadn't heard in a long time. "The morning sound…" she mumbled as she went to retrieve her Pokédex from her bag. "Wait, that means…"
Diamond stood frozen in the kitchen as he knew exactly what this meant. And now the question was why. 'Pearl… what the hell?'
The doorbell chimed and Platinum excitedly ran to open the door. And sure enough, Pearl was standing in the doorway, waiting.
"Pearl! Welcome!" Platinum greeted with a big smile. "This is a pleasant surprise!"
"Hi, Miss Lady! Good to see you again!" Pearl said with an embarrassed smile.
"Hey, Pearl," Diamond said with an edge in his voice as he walked over as well. "What brings you all the way out here?"
Pearl clenched his jaws a bit but kept his happy expression since Platinum was looking right at him and would notice if his expression changed too much. "My good old dad forgot some important documents for the Battle Tower so I had to come by to deliver it. And I figured, since I came all the way over here, I stop by to see what my two friends were up to."
"It is so good to see you," Platinum said as she stepped aside. "Please, come in. We were just about to have dinner. Please join us."
Pearl glanced at Diamond to see his expression, but stepped inside anyways. "Thank you, Miss Lady. I'd love to."
"You sure brought a lot of stuff with you for just a delivery," Diamond noted, looking at the large backpack on Pearl's back, as if he was also carrying his sleeping bag case and a lot of spare clothes.
"I had intended to stay at the Battle Tower for a few days," Pearl explained.
"Oh, if that is the case, why not stay here with us?" Platinum asked, unaware of how much she was hurting Diamond.
"I'd really like that. Thank you, Miss Lady," Pearl said before Diamond could interject.
"Wonderful! This will be so much fun!"
Diamond didn't say anything and simply turned away, heading back towards the kitchen. With a long sigh, he began the final dinner preparations for three now, while Platinum gave Pearl the tour of the villa.
"I believe Diamond intends to sleep down here," Platinum said, seeing the boy's sleeping bag on the floor. "I suppose it is my fault that we do not have guest rooms in the villa yet. I shall see to it that we have several constructed for next time."
"I guess I'll be sleeping down here too," Pearl said, setting his stuff on the floor. 'And I'll have a lot of stuff to discuss with Dia tonight…'
"Now that you are here, we have to think of an activity after dinner," Platinum said. "If I recall… summer nights are the perfect time for a horror movie."
"Oh no, no," Pearl said quickly. "No need for that."
"Why not?"
"Because you are immune to horror, we are not," he said. "It's not fun if we aren't all suffering together."
Platinum gave him a sly grin. "But that is what makes it fun for me."
"Nope. That's not happening. Sorry, Miss Lady. Instead, let's try watching some fun stuff."
"Oh, very well. But come, let us enjoy the wonderful dinner!"
…
Few hours later…
…
"Will you two be okay sleeping down here?" Platinum asked, tilting her head as Diamond and Pearl entered their sleeping bags on the floor.
"Yeah. No worries, Miss Lady," Pearl said with a smile. "It's your villa, after all, so you should obviously get the bedroom."
"We'll be okay, Lady," Diamond said as well.
Platinum nodded and smiled at her two friends. "Okay then. Good night, you two."
"Good night."
Platinum waved at her two friends and headed upstairs towards the bedroom. The moment she was out of hearing range, Diamond sat up and faced Pearl.
"So… what are you doing here?" he asked, his tone dead serious.
"Enjoying some time with friends. What do you think?" Pearl retorted.
"Don't you remember our agreement?"
"I can ask you the same thing," Pearl said, sitting up as well.
"You're the one interfering here," Diamond said, narrowing his eyes. "This was supposed to be a private vacation for two, and here you are, an uninvited guest who's sticking around."
"You took Miss Lady out here so that you could stay alone with her for a whole week. It can't be any clearer that you're trying to deny my turn with her," Pearl argued.
"I've been planning this for months now, way before you had a crush on her. I only had to wait because the Lady had been very busy and so couldn't spare the time. Not to mention, we've been doing this kind of thing for a few years now, where we go together somewhere for several days at a time, usually me just accompanying her to another region. So I'm just doing what I have been doing since before, and you are interfering."
"Well that's too bad. You're not going to have her all to yourself for a whole week. You had her alone for the day, so your turn is over."
Diamond clenched his teeth. "… So that's how it's going to be, huh?"
…
Meanwhile, Platinum closed the bedroom door behind her and walked towards her bed while humming happily. She took out her neatly folded nightgown and set it aside. But as she was closing her bag, she spotted something that made her open it wide again. She stared at it in her bag for a few seconds before making her decision. After ensuring that the door was closed and the curtains were down, she proceeded to take off all of her clothes. She then pulled out the red bikini that Y had bought for her (without her consent) and began to put it on, as she wanted to see how she'd even look in such a thing before maybe being forced to use it tomorrow.
The bottom part was pretty straight forward, but the top… did she really have to tie the straps behind her back? That was such a hassle… And she even had to tie the straps behind her neck too? And these string-straps were so thin and… upon coming in contact with water, the knots she made would be much easier to come apart… Maybe she'd tie the straps into an X-shape and knot everything together? … But then taking the thing off would be a giant hassle…
Platinum finally finished tying all the straps and looked at her reflection in the full length mirror, turning this way and that. Ehhh… was the bikini really… necessary? She might as well be just wearing her undergarments at this rate. At least those don't have the risk of coming undone… And she had brought her previously used swimsuit for this occasion as well, so it wasn't like she didn't have any options. But her precious junior had bought the bikini for her. Could she really just ignore her like this?
Platinum sighed and took out a coin from her bag, the leftover change from the purchase at the market earlier. She never really did this kind of thing before, but apparently people often left these kinds of things to chance, judged by tossing of a coin. Come to think of it, the Pokétch also had such a function, which she didn't bother installing since she didn't see the point. She held the shiny golden coin in between her fingers and glanced at both faces.
"Heads, bikini. Tails, swimsuit," she muttered as she positioned the coin in her hand. After a few seconds, she flicked the coin upwards, with enough force to make it almost touch the ceiling. She let the coin fall to the floor so that she didn't have any say in the judgment. Otherwise, she would end up using the 'slot machine' ability and snatch the coin at a specific moment to get what she wanted, which introduced bias. So she simply let the coin fall to decide for her. The coin hit the floor with a clatter and began to spin on its side… and suddenly came to a halt, standing on its side. "… What?" The heiress crouched to examine what just happened, and noticed that the coin was half buried into the floor. Apparently, there was a tiny gap between the wooden tiles where the grout had deteriorated. And miraculously, the coin had slotted itself right in that gap while spinning around on the floor, and so the result was neither heads nor tails. "… Huh. Interesting," Platinum muttered with a frown, crossing her arms. "… Now what?"
… It appeared that the coin had failed to decide for her. She'd have to make the decision herself, and probably right before stepping into the pool. With a long sigh, Platinum proceeded to take off the bikini after wrestling with the knots behind her back and fully dressed herself in her nightgown.
But before she slipped into the blankets, she suddenly felt the urge to check up on her friends to see how they were doing in their sleeping bags on the floor. She didn't know why the thought hadn't crossed her mind before, that her villa didn't have guest rooms. And because she failed to remember and accommodate accordingly, her two friends were now forced to sleep on the floor. She made a mental note to order construction of several guest rooms when she returned to Sandgem, so that she could come back here with her seniors and juniors without having anyone sleep on the floor.
Platinum quietly opened the door and tiptoed towards the stairs. She paused before going downstairs to see if she could hear their snoring. But to her surprise, she could hear… arguing. … Were they practicing or discussing a comedy act? Given what Pearl usually did in those acts, him arguing would make sense. But no. Platinum could hear Diamond's voice as well. And he was arguing back. … And he never argued back. This was serious.
The two boys were keeping their voices down so Platinum couldn't understand what they were saying. … What was going on? … Should she intervene? Or was this none of her business? She pressed her hands over her heart, suddenly feeling as if something terrible was happening, but unsure what. All she knew was that hearing her two friends fighting was hurting her deeply.
'I do not want my friends to fight,' she thought as she hesitated on what to do. 'But I do not wish to intervene in something that does not involve me. I do not wish to eavesdrop on my friends either, so there is no way for me to know what is happening right now… What should I do?' As she remained hesitant, the argument downstairs seemed to have ceased, as both sides stopped talking at the same time. Did they realize that she was there? Or did the argument simply end? 'It does not sound as if their argument will escalate any further. … I should not involve myself tonight and let this settle for now. … I will have to ask them about this tomorrow. … I hope that it is nothing serious…'