The following one-shot was a piece cut out of Special Adventures. In SA, Platinum asked Crystal whether she can teach her how to catch stuff. Before the Hoenn trio arrived, I was going to have Crystal (and Gold) teach Platinum how to catch Pokémon, but… I cut that part out in an effort to quicken the pace. And, seeing how the cut out piece matches with a request, it has come back in Special Events. Modified, of course.

Primary: Gold & Crystal.

Capturing Dinner:

Route 1, Kanto…

Crystal nervously stood in front of the other 12 Dex Holders, not sure how to proceed. Platinum had asked her to teach her (and the other two Sinnoh Dex Holders) how to catch Pokémon. Then Professor Oak suggested that all of the others join in on the lessons as well. As a result, Crystal had to teach her seniors how to catch Pokémon when she had no doubt that they were perfectly fine on their own.

With a nervous gulp, the Johto girl taped targets onto trees. She was going to test the aim of every Dex Holder and maybe she'll get ideas on how to proceed from there.

First up, Red gave a decent throw which hit the target dead on. Green simply tossed the Pokéball backwards at a target and also hit it right in the middle. Blue did the same as Red. Crystal groaned. As expected, the three Kanto Dex Holders needed no assistance. They all looked bored… When Yellow gave a throw, Crystal noticed that she had missed the target.

'Good… Now I can at least help with something,' the Johto girl thought to herself. Then again, Yellow never really cared about Pokémon capturing to begin with. Crystal imagined that Yellow would just befriend a Pokémon she wanted to the point where the Pokémon willingly captured itself.

Next, Gold gave a Pokéball a throw. He hit the target, but near the edge.

"Well… I'm still a little rusty on the throwing department," he said.

He pulled out his billiard cue, and with another Pokéball, took aim. He glanced around, looking for potential ricochet points. Being the show-off, he didn't aim at the target. He aimed at another tree farther away and took the shot. The ball shot towards the tree, bounced off a thick branch, bounced off another branch, and hit the roots of another tree. The ball then hit a rock before hitting the target in the center.

Platinum and a few of the other Dex Holders clapped at the feat. Gold grinned and bowed to them like the showman that he was. Crystal shook her head.

Next, Silver gave a boring yet time-efficient throw at the target. Having hit the center, he turned away to let the others take a shot. Ruby gave a careless toss. Sapphire pitched a Pokéball with all her strength, cracking the target tree in the process.

"… Don't throw too hard," Crystal said. "I mean… you don't want to throw that hard when you're trying to catch a Pokémon, do you?"

Sapphire rubbed the back of her neck with a laugh. "Oops… well… I guess not."

Next, Emerald gave the Pokéball a kick, just like he learned from Crystal. The ball hit the target in the center, but his Platform Shoe came off during the kick.

"Ah, stupid-ass things!" he yelled as he tracked the object flying through the air. Gold and Sapphire laughed from behind and Crystal smiled. "Freaking shoe store guy…" He stretched his Magic Hand Extensors to maximum length and hopped towards the Platform Shoe.

Next up, the Sinnoh trio gave their tries. Crystal noted that the three needed the most help. Platinum's throw lacked power, Pearl's lacked accuracy, and Diamond's lacked both. The heiress looked at her senior with an ashamed look at having barely hit the target.

"Don't feel too bad," Crystal said. "Um… try different methods of capturing," she suggested after a moment of thought. She received confused looks from her juniors. "What I mean is… … Ah, I'll just show you."

Crystal tossed a Pokéball into the air and delivered a jumping kick, sending the Pokéball flying towards the target. The Sinnoh trio clapped and marveled at the shot. Crystal approached the non-Sinnoh Dex Holders.

"Why don't you all practice hitting multiple targets? Sometimes, you're in a situation where you have to catch a lot more than one Pokémon at a time," she suggested. She pointed at a roughly circular opening in the forest, where the surrounding trees had targets taped onto them.

The non-Sinnoh Dex Holders shrugged and went over to the circular clearing. The Kanto Dex Holders decided to help the Hoenn Dex Holders better control the ultimate moves instead of 'practicing' Pokémon capture.

Crystal then went over to the Sinnoh Dex Holders so that she could teach them how to properly throw/kick Pokéballs into targets.

A few minutes later, Gold left the target-circle and watched Crystal from behind, wondering when the whole teaching stuff was going to end. He watched with amusement as Pearl attempted a Pokéball kick and ended up kicking the ball into Crystal's face.

Bored again, the goggled boy sat down on the grass and tried to balance a Pokéball on the tip of his billiard cue. A few minutes later, Crystal began teaching the Sinnoh trio about catching multiple Pokémon at a time. As a demonstration, she placed around 10 Pokéballs in a circle around her and with a low sweep, kicked all of them into targets set up around.

Gold wondered how many Pokéballs Crystal could kick in a circle like that. His pondering was cut short as he watched as Platinum attempted to do that maneuver. Unfortunately for him, he was a little too far away for a good view. Had he been closer, he could've seen her (around her skirt, to be a little more specific) a little better. Then again, if he was close enough, Crystal would've kicked his ass for trying to enjoy the view. With a sigh, Gold resumed his focus on trying to balance a Pokéball on the tip of his billiard cue.

After half an hour, Crystal sat beside him. She told the Sinnoh trio to go and practice so that she could rest a little.

"Bored, huh?" she asked the goggled boy after a sigh.

"Yep. Along with all the others," Gold replied. "Right now, our seniors are trying to help the Hoenn guys to properly control the ultimate moves."

"Well… at least that's a little more exciting than this," Crystal muttered.

"Hey Crys, do you want to bet on something? You know, help pass the time," Gold suggested.

Crystal looked at him. "Bet on what, and what kind of bet?" she asked.

Gold thought for a few seconds. "How about… how long we can keep a Pokéball off the ground without using our hands. You know, keep it bouncing in the air."

"Why bother? You know I'm going to win," Crystal said with a smile.

Gold's eye twitched. "… Yeah. If you win, I'll buy you dinner. If I win, then you buy me dinner. How's that?"

"That sounds like something Blue would say to Green," Crystal said.

"Well… it's a little different," Gold said. "I mean, most of the time, all bets made between them are buying senior Blue dinner vs. leaving senior Green alone."

"I guess that's different. So you're basically trying to ask me on a dinner date," Crystal said.

"More or less," Gold replied. "Well?"

Crystal smirked. "If that's how you intend on getting girls to go out with you, then you might need lessons. I mean, how many girls would fall for the 'let's make a dinner-bet because we're bored' line?"

Gold grinned. "Let's find out, Crys." He took out his Pokégear and pretended to cycle through a bunch of numbers. "If you don't want to take the offer, then I'll just have to find someone else…" As expected, Crystal seemed to be on alert now. "Let's see… nah, this one's ugly compared to the others… this one's too dumb… this one's too damn freaky…" Gold pretended to search through a massive list. "Ah, here we go. The prettiest of them all!"

Crystal snatched the Pokégear away from him. "Alright, fine! I'll take the offer!"

"I thought you would. You should take my offers as soon as you can, Crys," Gold said with a grin. "After all, I know over 50 girls in New Bark Town alone who would just die for a chance to have dinner with me."

Crystal scowled at him as she tossed the Pokégear into the goggled boy's face. "But what guarantees do I have that you won't run away and leave me to pay for everything?"

"Assuming you win? Well… come on, Crys. When did I ever do that?"

"Last week, maybe?" Crystal said, crossing her arms. "Going to the washroom, huh?" Gold rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "And a few weeks before that. You conveniently forgot your wallet…"

"I… uh…"

"What guarantee do I have that you won't be dragged away by a friend of yours and make me pay for everything?"

"Okay, fine. If I ditch you and make you pay for the dinner again, then you can kick me as hard as you can the next time you see me," Gold said. "But… not down there."

"And how do I know that you won't leave the region?"

"Look, Crys, I only ditched you five times," Gold said with a frustrated sigh. "And we had dinner dates around 20 times now. Can't you trust me?"

Crystal sighed. "Sorry, Gold. I guess I should trust you this time." She took the Pokéball that was resting on the tip of Gold's billiard cue and tossed it into the air. "Keeping the ball bouncing without it touching the ground, huh?"

Gold tried first. With his billiard cue, he kept the Pokéball in the air for some 10 seconds before he purposely let the ball hit the ground. Crystal received the Pokéball next, and kicked it into the air. She wondered why Gold purposely let it hit the ground. Perhaps he just wanted to buy her dinner? Or could it be that he was planning on ditching her again?

7 seconds later, as Crystal tracked the descending Pokéball, Platinum's excited shout disrupted her focus. The Johto girl glanced back to see what the commotion was about (the heiress had successfully kicked 4 Pokéballs into 4 targets in a circle around her), and in the split-second it took her to remember the ongoing bet, the ball hit the ground.

"Well, that's that, then," Gold said from beside. "You're going to buy me dinner today. I was really going to buy you dinner, but seeing how you lost the bet…"

To his surprise, Crystal smiled. "A loss is a loss. It's 4 pm right now, so I'll see you in front of my house in 3 hours, alright? I'm just going to finish helping the Sinnoh trio before I go home and get ready."

Gold found it odd that Crystal wasn't upset at all. He found it very odd that she was cheerful about it. He suspected something, but quickly dismissed the thought. Crystal never tricked anyone, ever.

3 hours later, Violet City…

Gold waited outside Crystal's house, wondering how he could take advantage of the current situation. Since the Johto girl was going to buy him dinner, perhaps he would order a lot of food. Or simply go to a really expensive restaurant…

But to his surprise, when Crystal came out a few minutes later, she took him to the most expensive restaurant in the city. Thinking that she was basically digging her own grave, Gold ordered as much as he could… 6 courses. Crystal too, ordered two separate courses.

Crystal calculated the cost of the dinner in her head. She estimated that the dinner would cost around 40 000 PKD. She tried her best to keep a straight face as she ate. She didn't want Gold to suspect her of anything…

An hour later, when Gold finished eating (Crystal finished half an hour ago), Crystal made her move. While trying to move the empty dishes into a stack (so the waiters could move them easily), she 'accidentally' hit her cup and poured water on herself.

"Oh, darn," she muttered. "I'll be right back, Gold. Don't go anywhere," she said as she rose to go to the washroom.

Crystal quickly headed towards the washroom, and when Gold wasn't looking, headed to the exit instead. The cashier saw her trying to leave, and seeing Gold still sitting at the table, naturally assumed that he would be paying and let her leave.

Upon exiting the restaurant, Crystal sat on a nearby bench and waited. Around 20 minutes later, she heard exactly what she wanted to hear: Gold screaming from the restaurant.

"OH, THAT'S JUST CHILDISH, SUPER SERIOUS GAL!"

Crystal started to laugh as she slowly walked back home. "Sorry, Gold. But you know what they say about payback…"

Added after SE #024: The Set Up II…

What Could Have Been:

Gold pretended to search through a massive list, and soon found Crystal's number. "Ah, here we go. The prettiest of them all!"

Crystal snatched the Pokégear away from him, as she didn't know who the goggled boy was referring to. But while she snatched the Pokégear, Gold had accidentally hit the 'call' button.

'Oops… uh oh…' Gold thought, realizing what was going to happen. 'This is going to be very awkward…'

"Alright, fine! I'll take the offer!" Crystal yelled. To her surprise, her Pokégear started to ring. Confused, she reached into her bag and found her Pokégear, and noticed that it was Gold who was calling her. Then everything fell into place. "… You were referring to me?" she asked.

"Well… uh…"

Crystal started to laugh. "Wow… just wow. I never thought you would say that! Isn't that a little too… mushy for you?"

"… Shut up…" Gold grumbled out. He desperately thought of a way out. "It was an accident, okay? I wasn't trying to call you, I was trying to find someone else, and… I probably shouldn't have said that…" he finished as he noticed the deadly glare Crystal was giving him.

The Johto girl scowled at him and tossed the Pokégear into his face. "I'll ignore that part," she said through clenched teeth. She took a deep breath and tried to change the topic. "Anyways, what guarantees do I have that you won't run away and leave me to pay for everything?"