Chapter 6: Insecurities

1 day before the deadline

Green had invited Crystal to his gym, even though there wasn't any gym challenge appointments. Crystal had seemed happy about the idea though, so he went with it.

All their pokemon were out of their pokeballs - Green's pokemon were busy training, while Crystal's pokemon were intrigued by their rigorous training sessions and tried to emulate the training themselves. They were doing terribly though, and Green had to come over to guide them to train the proper way. Crystal smiled at the sight before her, a lone trainer trying to handle 16 pokemon at the same time. Eventually though, Crystal joined in the training, running laps together with her pokemon to give them additional support.

A few hours later, everyone was exhausted by the training, but satisfied nonetheless.

"Want to battle?" Green asked casually. "I can go easy on you if you want."

Crystal turned to look at Green, as she gave some thought to the proposition. "Aren't you a little too full of yourself, Mr Viridian Gym Leader?"

"Says the one who had been kicked out of the Dexholders' tournament in the first round?" Green smirked.

"Hey!" she complained. "I just don't train my pokemon for battles."

"So are you up for it?"

Slightly indignant, Crystal huffed, making Green smile at her antics. "Ok, why not. It could be fun, though the last time I actually battled was at the Dexholders' tournament heh," she said sheepishly. She turned to her team gathered around her, "What do you guys think?"

There was a collective roar, as Crystal's team did a pokemon cheer, to signify that they are up for the battle. Crystal laughed at the wave of positive energy. "Looks like you got yourself a battle," she grinned.

...

"Phew," panted Crystal. "Great job everyone! It's been a long time since we trained and battled so hard huh?" she praised her pokemon. As expected, she had lost to Green, but it had been a fun battle.

Green eyed Crystal as she showered praises on her pokemon. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Charizard giving him an expectant yet reproachful look. Turning to face Charizard straight in the eye, he said indifferently, "Don't even think about it."

Charizard huffed out a short trail of fire in response, which was unfortunately seen by Crystal. "Green!" she chided, "you need to treat your pokemon with more care!" Crystal strode over to Charizard, and patted him on his belly, since she couldn't reach much higher than that. "You ought to praise your pokemon sometimes too you know, they've been working soon hard for you. Isn't that right, Charizard?"

With what sounded like a laugh, the Charizard nodded in agreement, his eyes gleaming with triumph and laughter. Around him, the rest of Green's pokemon jostled around Crystal, each hoping to gain some of Crystal's affection. Green could only stare wide-mouth at the scene. When did they learn to rebel like that, he wondered.

Unwilling to take this any second longer, Green stomped forward and to everyone's surprise, started to pat/rub/hug his pokemon. "What?" he defended. "I just don't praise them often because I don't want it to get into their head." His pokemon doesn't mind though, now all jostling around him instead, each trying to nuzzle him in their own way.

Crystal chuckled. "Are you jealous that your pokemon were coming to me for some affection?"

"No, I was not." Green replied with a straight-face, though the slight pink in his cheeks hinted otherwise.

"You are so cute," Crystal laughed, before stopping abruptly when she realised what she just said.

Green froze, his heart skipping a beat as blood rushed to his face. He gaped blankly at Crystal, blinking to process what he had just heard.

"I mean, er, you ought to shower your pokemon with more affection," Crystal amended somewhat lamely, her face flushing with embarrassment. "Um, why I don't I help to groom your pokemon?" she asked, trying to change the topic.

"Sure," he managed.

...

Green watched curiously as Crystal carefully groomed his pokemon. She had with her a small arsenal of grooming products, not as extensive as the set that Ruby would carry around, but sufficient enough to groom them decently.

"Since when did you start to have an interest in pokemon grooming?" he asked.

Green watched as the familiar red creeped up to her face again. "Daisy was the one who taught me at first, on the occasions she visit the labs. I had been intrigued by it so I asked Ruby to teach me a little bit about pokemon grooming," she admitted.

Green run his hand through Golduck's feathers, which felt sleek under his touch. Scizor was gleaming under the artificial light of the gym, and even Charizard's cream belly looked lighter than he was used to. There is a low chatter amongst the pokemon. Though he did not understand any word of it, Green could tell that his pokemon really liked the grooming sessions from Crystal.

"You are quite good at this," Green complimented.

Crystal gave a small nod. "I'm sure Ruby can do a better job than me. But at least the pokemon like it. There, all done," she simpered as the last pokemon (Alakazam) is groomed.

"Thanks, I think they might like it enough to want to do it again," Green said.

"Well, then seemed like I'll just need to come by again when that happens," she smiles.

Green nods, giving a smile back in return. He felt blessed, and also warm and fuzzy inside him. I want to remember this image of her smile in my head, he told himself.

Unfortunately, the door to the gym chose the moment after to open, and both trainers turned to look at the newcomer.

"Crystal," Gold said, "Can we talk please?"

Green stood up instinctively, putting himself between Gold and Crystal. Crystal merely looked at Gold, her expression unreadable.

"I tried to look for you at your house, but you weren't there. So I thought you might be here. Seems like I was right," Gold explained. "Was I intruding on something?" he asked, eyebrows slightly raised at Green's defensive stance.

"No, it's fine," Crystal said. She walked past Green towards Gold, placing herself squarely in front of Gold. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Let's go outside," Gold said, casting a glance at Green, who was looking at them.

"No," Crystal replied firmly, "You can say anything you want to say here."

Gold let out an exasperated sound. "Look, can you tell me what the heck is going on with you? First you lashed at me twice, you stopped working when you have never taken a leave and now you spend all your time with Green? I've been trying for years to get you to skip a day of work. How did Green even get you to skip an entire week of work?"

"That I believe, is none your business," Crystal said steadily, annoyed that Gold is picking on Green. "I do what I want to do, and I don't think I need to report that to you."

"Ok fine," Gold shot back, feeling his temper rise as he got more annoyed by the second. This girl is impossible. "Then can you at least tell me why you are get so mad each time we touch on the topic of boyfriends?"

"Maybe instead of asking me, you should asked yourself what you did or said," Crystal responded, glaring at him. "Do you have any idea how often you make thoughtless comments?"

"If I know do you think I would be stuck here having this conversations with you?!" Gold exclaimed exasperatedly.

Crystal huffed. "I do not wish to talk about this. This conversation is over," as she turned around and walk away from Gold.

"Crystal," Gold began, reaching out to grab Crystal's hand.

Next thing he knew it, Green was holding to his outstretched hands instead, blocking him from reaching out to Crystal. He blinked, and then gave a sigh. "Look Green, I respect you as a senior and all, but this is between Crystal and I so please stay out of this."

"Anything that got to do with Crystal has to do with me." Green stated.

Both Crystal and Gold blinked at Green in surprise, though Gold recovered earlier. "Ok this is just getting ridiculous. Next thing I know you are going to tell me that you are Crystal's boyfriend. Can we stop with all this nonsense and just settle the problem?"

"Crystal is my girlfriend," Green informed, a cold aura seeping out from the death glare he is giving Gold. "It may not seem like much to you, but you said some hurtful things to Crystal. Please leave my gym before you hurt her further."

Gold looked from Crystal to Green, trying to process the information and deciding if he should take Green's words for it. "I-" he began.

"Leave now," Green interrupted, "Or I will get Scizor to escort you out."

"I just want an explanation."

Green gazed steely at Gold. "You will get one, but not today."

Gold matched his gaze. "Can I trust you for that?"

"Yes."

Gold cast one last glance at Crystal, who stood mutely watching the two boys' exchange. "I'll leave first then," before heading out of the door.

...

"You alright?" Green asked once Gold had left the gym.

Crystal nods mutely, not meeting Green's gaze. "Thanks," she murmured. "You didn't have to do that."

"No, but I want to," Green responded.

Crystal lifted her head to meet Green's gaze, and Green had the sudden realisation of how small she looks when her shoulders droop. On impulse, he closed the gap between them and embraced her in a hug, silently praying that he can protect her. "I can tell him about it if you want. You don't have to do it yourself," Green offered. He heard Crystal uttered a indistinguishable sound, and felt the movement of her head. "You can let it out if you want, don't have to hold it back," Green added.

Just like that, Crystal stopped holding back her tears, letting them run freely down her cheeks and wetting Green's shirt. She gripped onto Green tightly as she cried, while Green tried to comfort her by rubbing her back. "It's alright," he soothed, "I'm here for you."

It took a while for Crystal to stop crying, as she continued to lean onto Green. Once he was sure Crystal had stopped crying, he gently pushed her away from his embrace and took a good look at her. Her eyes were puffy and red, tear streaks still staining her cheeks. Lifting his hands, he awkwardly tried to wipe her remaining tears away, though it didn't seem to be working. Instead he smeared her tears all across her face, earning a small shaky laugh from Crystal.

Giving up, Green pull Crystal close again and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Do you want to go home now?" he asked. Crystal looked dazedly at him, thinking through the question for a little bit, before nodding.

As if on cue, Crystal's pokemons approached her, all attempting to nuzzle her to give her some comfort. She absentmindedly patted her pokemon, before returning them all to their pokeball and attaching them to her belt. Green took her hand. "Shall we go?" he asked.

...

Green returned to his gym a couple of hours later, slightly exhausted. He looked around his gym, his pokemon napping peacefully after their grooming session with Crystal. He made up his mind. I need to do something to set this right.

Notes:

Why 16 pokemon? Crystal has six of her on hand, while Green has ten of them both on hand and in the gym: Scizor, Machamp, Charizard, Porygon2, Golduck, Ninetales, Pidgeot, Exeggcutor, Alakazam, Arcanine. Rhyperior is not included in this counting because it seems like it is permanently given to Silver in canon.

The Dexholder tournament mentioned is of course the one conducted at the end of the Emerald arc in the Battle Dome. Crystal mentioned afterwards that she had been kicked out of the tournament by Blue right at the first round.

I had a hard time deciding if Golduck's skin should be covered with furs or feathers. I settled for feathers in the end because it's supposed to be based on a duck and ducks being birds have feathers.

You know how mangas/tv/fairytales always show the guy wiping off the girl's tears away? That doesn't work, because the hand is not a sponge that can soak up all the tears on a person's face. I know, because my boyfriend tried to do that once. So it is actually quite awkward to have to do that, though I will admit that the gesture itself is rather romantic.

I seem to be making Crystal smile A LOT. It just seems like the right thing to do each time.

A/N:

Sorry for the long wait for an update! Been really busy the past couple of weeks with assignments in school so I didn't really have time to post this. I have yet to finish the next chapter (about halfway done), but I thought I should post this already because it's been so long! Hopefully I will be able to work my way around the scaffolding I placed for the story in the next chapter.

As you can tell from the deadline counter, the next chapter marks the finale of the story! Or part of the finale, because I am thinking of splitting it into two chapter. Just felt it would be more appropriate because there are two parts to the chapter, and the first has a little bit of cliffhanger. Gold will be coming back again next chapter so that everything can be resolved properly!

I'm playing with Crystal's sense of insecurity here, which has been established in the last chapter. Crystal may seems annoying here in refusing to answer Gold's questions outright, but I feel that if you have insecurities because of a certain person, you are not likely to be pouring out those insecurities even when you are in a heightened emotional state (in this case, escalating into an argument). I am making Crystal cry here, because Gold added on to her already present insecurities by hinting that it is ridiculous for Crystal and Green to be together. Which is made all the more stark when Crystal is starting to have feelings for Green. I guess you could say that she feels she isn't deserving of Green over here. Poor Gold though, trying so desperately to resolve the matter but going about the wrong way doing it. He does strikes me as the kind of person doing that.

Ok that's all for the long author notes. Thank you for reading this to the end if you did (: Also, I skipped the battle scene here because it would have made the chapter long-winded, but if you are interested in it, I can give the battle scene a try and post it as like an additional chapter or something. If I do, then that would be my first attempt so don't expect a fantastic one as well... Not too confident because they are not my strongest points but I am willing to give it a try if you like to see it. Just let me know in the reviews!

I can't tell when the next update will be, because I really ought to study for my exams now (final lap of the semester!). Honestly, I'm losing the drive to do a lot of things even though the ideas just keep floating around my head and that I still want to do them. In any case, the latest date that I will update would be early December, so heads up on that. Have a nice day!