SE hasn't really been updated in a while. That was because the SA cancellation warning, 'classical' SR approach, and the new SL took my attention. And because of those, although SE may be updated right now, who knows when the next update will be…
Anyways, the second chapter of the second Gold & Crystal burst is here! For clarification, SE #034: Solar Eclipse – Gold/Crystal was still 1 chapter.
Primary: Gold & Crystal.
Triumph:
"For the last time, go away, Gold."
Gold tried to object as Crystal pushed him out of the research room in Professor Oak's laboratory. The girl slammed the door shut, leaving the goggled boy standing alone in front of the cold wooden door.
Gold looked at the calendar on the wall and began to count. "And… today hits failed attempt number 99… 99 days of asking Crys out, and 99 failures."
On his way out of the lab, Gold ran into Emerald, who was working on a different research project.
"Again?" the Hoenn Dex Holder asked.
"Again," the Johto Dex Holder answered with a sigh. "Do you think she'll ever agree?"
"I don't know. But I think Crystal would be happy if she went out with you, assuming she can trust you. Why don't you try again tomorrow?" Emerald suggested. "Maybe attempt #100 will be successful."
"Alright then, I'll try again tomorrow," Gold said. "If Super Serious Gal says no again, then… I'll just try the next day, and the next, and the next, until she finally says yes."
Once his senior left, Emerald went into the main research room to talk to Crystal. She gave him a warm smile as he entered, quite the different reaction than with Gold.
"Are you done with your research?" she asked nicely.
"Not yet," Emerald replied. "But… Gold came again, huh?"
Crystal sighed. "Yes. When will he take no for an answer?"
"He won't. I think the better question is… why don't you just say yes?"
Crystal looked at him with a questioning look. "Why should I say yes? I don't really like him. And him keep coming is not going to change that at all. If anything, if he keeps trying, I'll hate him more and more."
"But he did come 99 times so far," Emerald argued. "Doesn't that mean he really likes you? He wouldn't have done so if he was just trying to bother you. Can't you tell he's being sincere by his persistence?"
"Persistence?" the Johto Dex Holder retorted. "More like stubbornness."
"You know he's going to come again tomorrow. Maybe you can tell him exactly how much you hate him. That way, he'll stop coming and you'll be left alone, which is what you want."
Crystal appeared a little… sad. "Yes… what I want…" 'Is that really what I want? I'll have to think about that later today…'
Next day, Gold came for the 100th time as predicted. Upon arriving at the lab, he immediately went into the main research room to ask Crystal out once again. The moment he found her and she saw him, she roughly pushed him out of the room.
"For the last time, Gold," she yelled angrily. "Go away! I don't like you! I hate you!"
Crystal slammed the door shut and Gold found himself staring at the cold wooden door for the 100th time. With a sigh, he turned away and approached Emerald, who was looking in his direction.
"Well, that went well," Gold mumbled silently.
"I can see that," Emerald answered.
"So Crys hates me, huh?"
"I think she said that just so that you'll stop coming and asking her out," Emerald said. "Maybe you should try something different."
"Like what?"
Emerald whispered his plan and after a minute, Gold nodded. He left shortly after and Emerald returned to work. From inside the main research room, Crystal sighed as she wondered whether she made the right move. She figured that Gold would return the next day, but something told her that she went a little too far.
Next day, Crystal waited for Gold to barge in again so that she may apologize for being so harsh. But this time, he didn't show up. Crystal looked at her watch and noticed that it was 1 pm. Gold always barged in between 12 and 12:30. Crystal shook her head and got back to work. She figured that Gold would come back the next day.
But she was wrong. Gold didn't come back the next day, or the next. She waited for him for a whole month, but he didn't show up. He wasn't present in any of the Dex Holder meetings/hangouts either. Crystal called him during those meetings/hangouts, but he didn't answer. She initially wasn't going to go look for him in New Bark Town because that would mean that Gold has won the battle. But after another month of complete silence, she couldn't take it anymore. During one of her workless days, she went over to New Bark Town so she could find out what Gold was up to.
But before heading towards Gold's big house, Crystal decided to go to the nearest café first. She needed some time to think of what she was going to say. The moment she entered the café, she saw something rather shocking. Gold was sitting across a table from a cute looking girl, staring absent-mindedly into his glass of iced tea while the girl rambled on about something.
Crystal approached the two with the intention of scolding Gold for missing out on Dex Holder meetings due to a date.
"Gold, is this why you weren't answering any of my calls?" she asked the moment she arrived at their table.
Gold looked very surprised to see her there, and so did the girl sitting across the table from him. The girl looked back and forth between the two Dex Holders.
"Did… did you have another girlfriend?" she asked Gold with a hurt expression.
"What? No, no, no!" Gold said desperately. "This isn't what you think!"
"That's what they all say when they're caught cheating!" the girl yelled as she rose to her feet.
"No, no, no! Please! You're all that matters to me!" Gold pleaded.
"Really? What's my name then?" the girl asked as she crossed her arms.
Gold simply looked at her with a blank expression. "… Christina?"
The girl rolled her eyes and began to storm away. "Good bye, Gold."
"Wait! It's Christie, isn't it?!" Gold yelled desperately.
The girl turned to look at him from the exit. "My name is Sophia, you jerk!"
Gold blinked a few times before he returned to his seat. "That was way off my guess…" He sighed and turned his attention to Crystal, who had been watching the exchange amusedly. "Why'd you come here, Super Serious Gal? Why'd you ruin my date like that?"
"Sorry, Gold," Crystal said as she sat on the empty seat where Gold's date had been sitting a few seconds ago. "I just came to-"
Gold shook his head and rose to his feet. "Whatever, Crys. You said you hated me. Well, I'm sorry for bothering you all this time, alright? You told me to go away for 100 days straight, so I'm staying away from you. What more do you want?"
"No, that's not what I-" Crystal tried to say, but Gold simply started to walk away. "Gold, wait!"
But Gold left without another glance and Crystal quickly followed. She kept trying to talk to him but he pretended as if she didn't exist entirely. Before long, Gold arrived at his house and entered. He slammed the door shut before Crystal could enter and locked it from the inside.
"Gold, come on!" Crystal yelled as she knocked on the door. "I'm really sorry! Can't we just talk about this?" But there was no response from Gold and Crystal groaned. "Oh… I really hurt him…"
Crystal knocked on the door again, and again, and again, hoping that Gold would open the door for her. But he didn't, and after 10 minutes of continuous knocking, Crystal headed home. She just felt terrible…
The next day, Crystal arrived at Professor Oak's laboratory with a sullen expression, having failed to contact Gold yet again. She had never been to work that depressed before…
But inside the lab, she found the goggled boy talking to Emerald. Upon seeing her, Gold quickly fell silent. He rose to his feet and headed towards the exit. Crystal quickly stopped him.
"Gold, please. Let's talk about this," she begged.
"What's there to talk about?" Gold retorted. "You told me to go away, so I'm staying away from you. It's pretty simple, isn't it?"
Crystal glanced at Emerald for help, but the Hoenn Dex Holder simply shrugged. Crystal bit her lip as she prepared herself to tell Gold what she decided the previous night.
"Listen Gold… about the dates you've been offering… I'm willing to give them a try."
But to her surprise, Gold's reaction was still cold. "It's too late for that, don't you think? You had 100 days to accept the offer and here you are, over 60 days late."
The goggled boy tried to get to the exit but Crystal grabbed onto his arm. "Please, Gold," she begged. 'I never thought I'd be the one begging…' "Would you please go out with me?"
Gold let out a deep sigh. "If it means that much to you, then fine. I'll give it a try."
"Thank you, Gold," Crystal said after a sigh of relief. She then hugged him, relieved that she was given a chance to set everything straight.
During the hug, Gold grinned. He silently gave Emerald a high five and a thumbs-up afterwards. When Crystal pulled back from the hug, Gold quickly put on the same dead expression he had in front of the girl recently.
"I'll see you at 6 pm then?" Crystal asked.
"Fine, whatever," Gold said dismissively. He then exited the lab and shut the door. He walked around the corner of the lab and once he was sure that no one could see, he performed a short dance of celebration. 'Oh, the plan is going without a hitch! And Crys, you won't regret tonight, I promise.'
12 hours later, 8 pm…
Crystal slowly walked home while holding Gold's hand. She couldn't really believe it, but… the night was rather enjoyable. She really had a great time, and she felt… happy to be with Gold. She'll never admit that part, though…
"You know, Gold," she started once she arrived in front of her house. "I really had fun tonight."
"Yeah, me too," Gold said.
"And I'm really sorry for hurting your feelings," Crystal said.
"It's okay. I'm feeling much better now."
"Anyways, I really had a good time and…" Crystal appeared extremely nervous and even embarrassed. "I… um… wouldn't mind doing this again."
"Alright then… How about tomorrow at same time as today?" Gold offered.
Crystal smiled. "I'd like that. It's a date."
The girl turned to open the door to her house. But before she could enter, Gold spoke. "You know Crys… I really do love you."
Crystal started to blush. She turned to look at him sheepishly. "Y – Yes, I realized… And… um… I – I didn't realize this earlier, but… I… I love you too."
Gold suddenly leaned over and gave her a quick kiss to the lips. Crystal looked stunned and her face turned completely red. But she soon smiled and kissed back.
"So I'll see you tomorrow then," Gold said once the second kiss ended.
Crystal nodded. "Yes. I'll be waiting." She then entered her house and let out a long content sigh. 'I guess I should've accepted his offer a lot sooner. Going out with him isn't as bad as I thought.'
On his way back to New Bark Town, Gold kept laughing at the success of the plan. He called Emerald to give him his credit.
"Odd Boy, my friend," he started with a hearty laugh. "You are a genius! I owe you one!"
"So the plan worked completely?" Emerald asked.
"Yeah. Tonight was great! We-"
"Ah, I don't need to hear the details."
"Well, thanks anyways."
"Don't mention it. But now that you owe me one," the Hoenn Dex Holder said deviously. "I'd like a favor to cash in."
"Huh?"
"You see, that sissy Ruby's birthday's coming up soon, and I want this particular birthday to be… memorable, but in a bad way. I want you to join me in sabotaging his birthday and embarrassing the hell out of him and Sapphire. What do you say? It's going to be fun!"
Gold grinned. "You're on."
The final piece of the Gold & Crystal burst is up next. Feel free to make any request. Don't expect them all to be complied, but I'll be considering them. Check the 'mechanics' category on my profile as it will list the benefits of being a faithful reviewer (3, quite possibly 4 in SE).
Post Ending:
One week later…
"Hey Crys, want to go get lunch?" Gold asked as he barged into the main research room yet again.
Crystal sighed and turned to glare at him. "Gold… I just found out from Emerald that I went out with you last week because I fell for your plan. So you were just pretending to be hurt and used my kind, generous sympathy against me."
"… Odd Boy told you that?" Gold asked, sensing dread and impending doom.
"You jerk!" Crystal screamed at him. In that instant, Blue appeared in the doorway in order to ask something but seeing her junior infuriated, the Kanto girl silently backed away. Crystal continued screaming at Gold. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Do you know how miserable you made me feel for the two months you stayed away from me?!"
"Uh… I love you?" Gold said in an attempt to calm Crystal.
Crystal rolled her eyes and shoved Gold out of the research room. "Go away Gold. I hate you!" she yelled as she slammed the door shut.
"Not again…" Gold muttered with a groan. "Why did Odd Boy tell her?"
"From what I saw, he was interrogated, actually," Blue said from behind. "He didn't really have a choice."
"Great… regardless of why he told her, he did tell her and now Crys hates me again…" Gold said with a sigh.
Blue flashed him one of her 'trademark' devious grins. "Maybe I could be of some assistance…"