From this point on, I will post Miscellaneous Information of the Single Chapter (humorously abbreviated to MISC) on top of various chapters. MISC is where I post miscellaneous information, such as Dex Holder ages, nicknaming schemes, and…
MISC: My Ideals on Swearing and Censoring (also abbreviated to MISC). When the tone is serious, there will be no censors. But when the tone is light or humorous, there will be various methods of censoring. The methods include regular censors (f*ck), cut-off (fu-), and extending (example below). And that ends the MISC that contains MISC.
The 'tomorrow' of Ski Trip, and the second one-shot of the Diamond & Platinum burst. Despite the title, this is NOT tragic.Caution: it may feel a little rushed in the beginning.
Primary: Diamond & Platinum.
The Horror:
Diamond woke up from his sleep when Pearl suddenly hollered in his ear.
"Wake up! It's 10 am already!" the hasty Dex Holder yelled. "Get ready, and come downstairs in 10 minutes or I'll fine you 10 million PKD!"
9 minutes later…
Diamond slowly walked downstairs, where all the other Dex Holders were waiting. Pearl seemed to be tired of waiting, the other Dex Holders weren't paying attention to him, and Platinum was looking at him with a smile. She waved at him and he sheepishly returned the wave.
"Alright, now that everyone is here," Blue started. "We'll be heading to Snowpoint City. But first, we'll draw tickets."
"Draw what?" Gold asked.
"They're movie tickets. We're all going to watch a movie in the new theatre of Snowpoint City. I'll randomly draw the pre-paid movie tickets and I'll distribute to you guys."
"Why not just let us watch whatever movie we want?" Gold asked.
"Because these were the only tickets left. Everything else is sold out, apparently. And as for why you can't just pick a movie from a list is because… well, because. Anyways, first up," Blue said, reaching for her bag. "You, Ruby."
Ruby walked towards Blue and reached into her bag where a bunch of tickets were piled. After a few seconds, he drew a ticket (without looking, of course).
"Huh. A ticket for that new 3D movie…" Ruby said, examining the ticket.
"Okay. Ruby and Sapphire are watching that 3D movie," Blue said, digging through the bag to find the same ticket and giving it to Sapphire. "Next up, Yellow."
Ruby dropped his ticket. "Wait, Sapphire and I are watching the same movie?"
"Yes. NEXT!"
Sapphire blinked, confusion evident in her visible eye. She had never seen a movie before, let alone a 3D one… She took her ticket and looked at it thoroughly, trying to get a hint of what to expect from the small object.
Yellow drew a ticket, and as she had hoped, she would watch that movie with Red. Next, Blue drew a ticket for herself and Green, but Green had already escaped, upon realizing what would happen. It was painfully obvious what Blue was trying to do, and everyone knew it. The odd thing was that… no one minded. Except Red, however, who didn't suspect anything. Next up, Diamond approached Blue for his movie ticket.
"So I'll watch whatever movie with the Lady?" he whispered.
Blue nodded. Sighing in relief, he drew his movie ticket, and froze upon seeing what movie he had to watch. It was the movie that was known to be the scariest horror movie ever made… He couldn't let Platinum watch such a movie… but he couldn't lose the opportunity to watch a movie alone with her either. He approached Platinum and showed her what movie they were watching.
Since the heiress had never watched a movie (or seen commercials for one either), she had no clue what to expect.
"Well, Super Serious Gal, it looks like we're up next," Gold said to Crystal. He stretched and approached Blue. "Alright… let's see what movie we'll get…"
He drew the ticket (only two left… one for him and the same one for Crystal), and upon looking at it, his face turned pale and he dropped to his knees. Blue took the last ticket and dropped in onto his hands as well.
"No, no, no! Please!" he begged to Blue. "Anything but this!"
Blue simply shrugged. "Once you draw a ticket, you're sticking with it."
Gold let out a long scream.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
'Looks like he got a horror movie too,' Diamond thought.
Crystal approached Gold and took her ticket. "Hey, nice! This is for that new romantic movie! It got really good reviews and ratings! I can't wait!"
Gold looked up at the sky (well, ceiling), and placing his hands on his temples, let out another long scream.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"
"Alright then. Pearl, Emerald, and Silver, you three choose what movie you'd want to watch from these three tickets," Blue said with a smile, digging into her pocket and withdrawing three different tickets. "You're lucky that your girlfriend isn't here," she whispered to Silver right afterwards.
"Yeah… I know," he replied after a sigh of relief.
"Alright then, everyone! Let's go to Snowpoint!" Blue said, opening the door. "But first…" she left the lodge and stood outside. "Green! I have your movie ticket! GET BACK HERE!"
Ruby looked at Sapphire for a second before he left the lodge as well. Sapphire stumbled after him. Though she was pretending to be perfectly fine, it was getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that she had one eye (no depth perception). Ruby also noticed that she was stumbling every now and then, such as accidentally kicking something instead of walking over it. Since it was his fault that she hurt her eye to begin with, he did his absolute best not to anger her in any way.
As Sapphire left the lodge, she accidentally hit her foot on the corner of the door, having guessed incorrectly the distance between the door and her toes.
"Ow! … Stupid door…" she grumbled silently as she hopped towards Ruby.
Crystal grabbed Gold by the wrist and with a bright smile, started to drag him out of the lodge while he was still screaming. She limped slightly from that skiing accident, but she got much better.
"Gold, shut up already," she said once she managed to drag him through the doorway.
"-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
"Breathe too, Gold."
After taking a few deep breaths, Gold turned to face Silver who was laughing. "Silver, if you are really my friend, then relieve me of this misery and KILL ME!"
"It can't be that bad, can it?" Red asked, following.
"I've seen it already," Silver said as he sped past Gold. "Someone forced me to watch it."
"Ah, your new girlfriend? How was it?" Gold asked, hoping for an answer that would alleviate his misery.
"Best two hours of…" Silver started, after a deep sigh. "… Sleep I had in a long time."
"The movie is two hours long?" the goggled boy asked, surprised and horrified.
"No," Silver replied. "I tried my absolute best to stay awake, but… after an hour, I just couldn't help it."
"THREE hours long? SH-"
"Gold! Stop swearing in front of Platinum!" Crystal yelled, smacking the goggled boy in the back of his head.
Luckily, the heiress was not listening, as she was busy talking to Diamond.
"Diamond, do you know what the movie is about?" she asked curiously.
Diamond struggled inside. He knew that the movie was supposedly the scariest film made, and that it is probably best that Platinum does not watch the movie. But if he told her what he knew, that it was possible that she would not watch the movie (since all the other movies were sold out, it was either watch the horror movie or don't watch at all. And he really wanted to watch a movie with her). But if he doesn't tell her, then it would be considered as him lying to her. Maybe if he didn't tell her the complete truth…
'No… I promised that I wouldn't lie to her…' "Well… I heard that it's the scariest movie made to date," he replied rather quietly. "It's a horror movie."
"A horror movie?" Platinum asked. "I have read some horror novels, but they were not scary at all. Perhaps the movies are more frightening?"
"Wait… you want to watch it?"
"Yes. It is my first time, and I would prefer to experience what the movies are like."
"Lady, I really don't think that you should watch this movie," Diamond said with a worried tone.
"Everything is about experience, Diamond. It would be a shame if I miss the opportunity to experience the movie theatres. Then once I know what these horror movies are like, I can decide if I dislike them or not."
An hour later, the Dex Holders arrived in Snowpoint Theatre and scattered to watch their movies.
"Here," Ruby said as he handed Sapphire the 3D glasses.
Sapphire looked at him curiously. "What is that for?"
"You need to see through these to make the movie 3D," Ruby explained. He put his 3D glasses on and looked at Sapphire. "See? Like thi…" he trailed off upon looking at Sapphire's eyes… well, her visible eye, at least. 'Oh… right… she can only see through one eye… … crap.'
Sapphire crossed her arms and glared at Ruby. "What, are you mocking me because I can only see through one eye? Let me remind you that it was your fault!"
"How was I supposed to know that you'd chase me like that?" Ruby yelled back, officially making a scene in the middle of the theatre.
"If you weren't being such a big jerk, I wouldn't have!"
"Look, I'm sorry, alright? But it was supposed to be a prank! You were supposed to just laugh it off!"
"You know how much I hate the cold! Why would you pull a prank like that?"
While Ruby and Sapphire bickered, Crystal dragged Gold towards their designated theatre, avoiding eye contact with the Hoenn Dex Holders. It was bad enough that Gold kept complaining; Crystal didn't want to deal with the bickering duo as well.
An hour later…
Ruby kept glancing back and forth between the movie screen and Sapphire. He chose to sit close to the screen due to vision problems (near-sighted), and Sapphire chose to sit with him. Though she had been grumbling for quite some time, she had stopped once she started to get a headache. She was sitting too close to the screen for her comfort and because she could only see through one eye, the 3D movie was rather… difficult to enjoy. She was supporting her head with one arm with her visible eye closed. With the other hand, she kept touching the area around her injured eye.
"Hey, Sapphire?" Ruby whispered.
"What?" she said in a tired tone.
"Come, we're leaving."
"What? The movie's not over yet."
"I don't care. I'm going to take you to the hospital."
"I thought I told you yesterday that I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital."
"Yeah. It was stupid of me to believe that. It's clearly bothering you, and I definitely think that a doctor should take a look. Come on."
Sapphire sighed. "Fine. Whatever," she said, rising to her feet. In truth, she was worried about her eye as well.
Meanwhile…
Crystal sat with an embarrassed look on her face while many people in the theatre stared in her direction. Well, they were staring at Gold who was sitting next to her. He had been sleeping for about half an hour now (and the movie started 40 minutes ago), and though he was quiet for quite some time, he was now snoring. Very, very loud. So much that Crystal couldn't hear the movie.
She suddenly elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ow, fu-"
Crystal elbowed him again, harder. "Can't you just sit there and be quiet?" she whispered angrily.
"Clearly, I can't, Super Serious Gal," Gold replied after a yawn. "Just wake me up when this boring thing's over."
Meanwhile…
Diamond sat frozen in his seat with his eyes glued to the movie screen. Though his eyes were on the screen, he wasn't watching the movie. His entire focus was on his right arm, which Platinum was essentially hugging. The heiress had buried her face into Diamond's shoulder, trying to avoid looking at the terrifying scenes of the horror movie.
When the half-deteriorated skeleton dropped from the ceiling, Diamond felt his arm go numb from Platinum squeezing it too hard. He took his eyes off the screen for a second to look at the heiress. She had a terrified expression on her face, and he realized that while he was happy that she was so close to him, she was suffering quite a bit from the movie. Or as someone would put it, he was tainting her crystal clear heart.
"Uh… Lady? Are you okay?" he asked quietly. The heiress shook her head. "Maybe it's best for you if we stop watching this. Come on, let's get out of here."
Platinum followed without a word as he led her out of the theatre. He took her outside of the building, hoping that the calm atmosphere and cold air would calm her down. Before too long, she seemed to have gotten over the shock of seeing all those horrifying scenes.
"I – I am sorry, Diamond… you warned me about the horror movies, but I had to see it for myself. And because of me, you are not watching the movie either."
"No, it's fine. I didn't like the movie either."
The heiress closed her eyes for a split second before she opened them. "When I close my eyes, I – I can still see the scenes from the movie…"
"That's… not good," Diamond said in a worried tone. "Well, come with me then. We have to make you forget those scenes, or you won't be able to sleep for a while. So the first thing we should do is… get lunch, I suppose. I'm starting to get hungry."
The heiress forced a smile. "Diamond, you are always hungry. But if you say that this will help me forget those scenes, then I believe you."
A few hours later…
Diamond and Platinum waited outside the theatre, talking about what they would do once they returned home. Before long, Ruby and Sapphire approached them, having returned from the hospital.
"Seniors Ruby and Sapphire? Were you not watching the movie?" Platinum asked.
"No, I was worried about her eye, so I took her to the hospital," Ruby replied, glancing at Sapphire.
"How is your eye, senior?" the heiress asked Sapphire. "I recall the wound being quite deep."
"Well, the guys say that the eye isn't hurt. They say that I can remove the bandages tomorrow. Looks like your medical thing worked really well. Thanks, Platinum."
"But you still need to take things easy until you fully recover," Ruby warned. "Such as… using this," he said, holding a walking staff. "This'll help you walk. That way, you won't stub your toes or kick things when you walk."
Sapphire took the staff and while pretending to examine it, struck Ruby's leg with it. "Again, it was your damn fault that this happened to me."
Platinum looked back and forth between Ruby and Sapphire as they started to bicker again. As she watched with interest, the door opened from behind and Gold and Crystal came out. The goggled boy let out a long yawn and stretched while Crystal was dabbing at her eye with a tissue.
"That movie was-" Crystal started after a sniff.
"Boring as fu-" Gold attempted to finish when Crystal elbowed him in the ribs again. "Ow. I swear, Super Serious Gal, one of these days, I'm going to have a fractured rib."
"Gold. Stop. Swearing!" Crystal yelled. "Platinum's right here!"
"Yeah, yeah…"
"Anyways, it was one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen," Crystal said to Platinum. "You would've liked it very much. How was your movie?"
Platinum shuddered. "It… it was terrifying."
Crystal looked confused. "What movie did you watch?" she asked. The heiress showed her the ticket. "Oh… ouch. Yeah, it probably wasn't the best idea for you to watch that."
Before long, the other Dex Holders exited the theatre and together, headed back towards the lodge. On the way, Diamond noticed how Platinum still seemed to be under the effect of the horror movie. During lunch, she had a dark expression on her face, and every time someone snapped her out of her thoughts, she jumped in surprise with a frightened expression. Feeling guilty, Diamond quickly approached her and tried his best to comfort her. She seemed to appreciate his continued concern, as her expression visibly lightened.
Gold, seeing this, went up to Emerald and tapped him on the shoulder. He then pointed at Platinum and gave a slight nod. The shorter boy grinned and ran past Platinum, preparing something. Gold approached Silver and began to talk, to appear innocent from all that was about to happen.
"So… did Soul yell at you or give you a hard time for falling asleep during the movie?"
"Diamond, though you have helped significantly, I still see scenes of the movie when I close my eyes… It is rather frightening…" Platinum said in a slightly scared tone.
"The only thing you need is time. Eventually these scenes will not be scary anymore, and you'll be able to forget about them."
"I certainly hope so…"
Suddenly, as she entered the shadow cast by a large tree, a body dropped from the branches and stopped right in front of the heiress's face. The body let out a terrible moan as it hung upside down.
Platinum shrieked and quickly buried her face into Diamond's shoulder. Diamond once again froze in place as the heiress started to cry. After a few seconds he snapped out of his infatuation and embraced her and tried to soothe her. Emerald (the body) dropped onto the ground and upon seeing his junior cry, simply stood there, not knowing what to do. Crystal, who was talking to Blue about the movie she watched, quickly ran towards Platinum.
"Emerald! What's wrong with you?" she yelled as she tried to calm the heiress. Then, realizing that Emerald probably wouldn't have thought of the prank himself, Crystal turned to glare at Gold. As expected, he was avoiding eye contact and was faking innocence. "GOLD!"
"What?" the goggled boy said, faking confusion. Crystal stomped towards him and dragged him towards Platinum by his ear. "Ow, ow, ow! What's wrong with you?"
"You just had to make Platinum cry!"
"What do you mean? Did you not see me having a conversation with Silver? Why do you always assume it's me?"
"Because it always is you!"
Diamond stood with his feet planted on the ground, gently patting the heiress's back. As she slowly started to calm down, he led her towards the lodge while the other Dex Holders stayed behind, watching amusedly as the two troublemakers were being punished (buried in the snow for 10 minutes).
Later that night…
Platinum looked up from her novel when the door opened. Diamond had left a few minutes ago so that he could go to sleep. The heiress chose to stay up a little later (and finish the chapter of her novel). From the open door, Ruby came inside, carrying Sapphire. From the severe fatigue from the day, she had fallen asleep and Ruby had come to put her on the bed.
"Good night, Platinum. I'll see you in the morning," he said on his way out.
The heiress looked at her sleeping senior and did her best to tuck her in properly. Afterwards, in order to ensure that Sapphire sleeps well, the heiress put the heater on max and shut off the lights. She then entered her sleeping bag on the couch (where she slept while her injured senior slept on the bed) and tried to sleep.
3 hours later…
Diamond woke up when he felt his Pokégear vibrate (had it on silent for the night). He slowly climbed out of his sleeping bag and crawled towards the table where his Pokégear was. He could see Pearl still sleeping (and snoring) on the bed (Diamond had lost the game of Rock-Papers-Scissors that day).
"Hello?" he answered sleepily and quietly.
"D – Diamond? Were you sleeping?" came Platinum's voice quietly.
"Uh… I was a few seconds ago," Diamond answered truthfully. "What's wrong?"
"I… I cannot sleep…"
"Oh… uh…" Diamond thought for a second, wondering what he could do to help.
Platinum thought for a second on what she should say.
"… Platinum? Are you still awake?" came Sapphire's sleepy voice.
"Yes, senior… I apologize for waking you up."
"Why don't you go over to Dia? I'm sure he'll be glad if you do," Sapphire said after a long yawn. "That is the second phase of your plan, right?"
The heiress thought for a few seconds. She hoped that Diamond didn't hear that. "Diamond? Would it be too troublesome if I go to you?"
"Huh? Oh, no, it won't be a problem at all," Diamond replied.
"Thank you, Diamond."
Diamond hung up his Pokégear and rose to his feet. He walked towards the bed and shook Pearl awake.
"Pearl, the Lady's coming here. So… uh… scoot."
"You can't be serious…" Pearl grumbled, sitting up. "You're kicking me out? In the middle of the night?"
"Well… yes. Go share a room with someone else for the rest of tonight."
Continuously grumbling, Pearl got off the bed and with his sleeping bag, opened the door. He could see the heiress standing outside, looking around rather fearfully.
"Enjoy the bed, Miss Lady," the hasty Dex Holder grumbled out. "I kept it warm for you, apparently."
"I am so sorry, Pearl," the heiress said. "If there is anything I-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Pearl waved her off and knocked on the door closest to his original room.
Platinum entered Diamond's room where he was waiting for her. The heiress pretended to be frightened as she quickly approached him. While the horror movie was scary, she wasn't as scared as she was pretending to be. This was all just an act so that she could be with Diamond for the night. The heiress had told her plan to Sapphire, so that she knew about the alarm that will ring in the middle of the night, which was how the heiress woke up.
She wanted to spend time with him alone so that she may finally find out how he feels for her and tell him how she feels. She was too embarrassed to say it in front of all her seniors during the day, so she had been looking for an opportunity.
Diamond led her onto the bed and tucked her in. He stood by her and asked if she felt alright.
"I do not think that I can sleep," the heiress replied.
Diamond thought for a second before he sat on the bed next to her. Platinum leaned towards him and he put an arm around her.
"There. Is that better?"
"Yes. This is much better. Thank you."
"I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."
Platinum let out a long satisfied sigh. She slowly sat up and looked at Diamond.
"Diamond, I must ask you something."
"Huh? What is it?"
"Do you… like me?" she asked, deeply blushing. She was sure glad that the lights were off.
"Uh… W – W – Why do you ask?" Diamond stammered, also blushing. He too, was glad that the lights were off.
"I do not know. I just had a feeling," the heiress replied. She held her breath and waited for the answer, her heart racing.
"Uh… W – Well, to be c – completely truthful," Diamond started nervously. "Uh… P – Please don't think of me a – any differently. I – I… loved you since I first saw you," he whispered at the end.
Diamond shut his eyes, half-expecting something bad. Maybe she'll get angry? If so, why did she ask? Maybe she liked someone else and was just checking? Maybe-
Suddenly, he felt her lips touch his, and his eyes snapped open. After the kiss that took like a millisecond, the heiress leaned on his arm and let out a satisfied sigh again.
"Thank you Diamond. I have always loved you as well."
Sighing in relief, Diamond put an arm around her once again and closed his eyes. He was sure glad that he watched that horror movie with her…
Meanwhile…
Pearl knocked on the door once again. This time, the door quickly opened and a billiard cue shot straight towards him, stopping mere centimeters away from his stomach.
"Oh. I was expecting someone else," came Gold's voice from inside the room. The billiard cue was raised so that the tip was now on the same elevation as Pearl's face. "Why are you here, and who sent you?"
"Uh… Miss Lady came over and Dia kicked me out of the room, so I need to sleep somewhere else. Can I share the room with you? For tonight only?" Pearl asked, looking back and forth between the near-indestructible billiard cue and the silhouette of Gold (still in his room, with the lights off).
"Hands above your head and spin around," Gold instructed. "Now, back away."
Pearl did as told, and Gold stepped out. He scanned the floor around them and soon withdrew his billiard cue.
"Okay. I was afraid that Super Serious Gal sent someone to retaliate what I did to her a couple of nights ago. Come on in. I'll take the bed, and you can sleep in the corner of the room."
Pearl sighed. It was at least better than sleeping in the halls…
Few minutes later…
Diamond checked on Platinum. The heiress was fast asleep, still leaning onto him. Diamond carefully got off the bed so that Platinum may sleep comfortably. After looking at her sleeping form for a few more seconds, he kissed her goodnight and returned to his sleeping bag.
It really was a good idea to watch that horror movie with her after all. Now, if the Berlitz family would approve, he would take Platinum on a date or something…
Next up: the last of the Diamond & Platinum burst.