As Amber and the crew walked into Pewter City, Amber couldn't help but smile; she was finally going to get her first badge. Nothing was going to stop her!

Except…

"Amber, I'm hungry!" Celia whimpered as she clutched her stomach, which growled for the umpteenth time. Chris' stomach growled, too, but he kept quiet. Amber looked down as hers grumbled as well. She sighed. "Alright, fine…where's the closest restaurant or food place or whatever?"

Celia looked at the map and frowned. "There's a bunch of places nearby…"

Amber looked back at her. "Alright, just pick a random one and we'll go. But, first, I want to get to the Pokemon Center."

"Why's that?" Chris asked her. "Meowth didn't get hurt much after that last run-in with those crooks."

Amber shook her head. "No, it's not that. Well, mostly not that." She looked up at the clouds rolling past. "I forgot to call my folks back in Pallet Town after I – we arrived in Viridian City. They must be worried sick by now."

Chris nodded understandingly, and they headed towards the Pokemon Center not too far away. When they got there, Amber quickly put Meowth and Trapinch with Nurse Joy and ran to the phone and entered her number. After a few seconds, she could hear her mother's voice say, "Hello? Tigereye residence, Mrs. Tigereye speaking!"

Amber smiled and said cheerfully, "Hey, Mom! Sorry I'm late calling."

She heard a gasp, and the visual came up. Her mother was standing in the kitchen, apron on, and making something for dinner. Amber could imagine the smell of her homemade stew, bubbling in the pot with potatoes and carrots and beef…

"Oh, honey, how are you?" Her mother's face was filled with worry. "Are you okay? Why did it take you so long? Did you have any problems on the way? Where are you?"

Amber held up her hands. "Whoa, slow down, Mom! One question at a time!" She smiled at her. "Okay, I went down the grass near Pallet, but when I got to Viridian City I was asked to deliver something to Prof. Oak. I ran back, but on the way I…ran into some Pokemon. I hurried and returned it, and on my way back to Viridian I met someone." She motioned for Chris to walk over, and he reluctantly came into view of the phone.

"Well, hello!" Her mother smiled at Chris as she stirred the pot on the stove. "You must be Amber's new friend!"

Chris nodded, and Amber said, "His name's Chris Birch, Mom. He's the son of another researcher, kind of like…" Her fists clenched slightly as she said the name, "Gary."

"That's wonderful, honey! You seem to be doing well!"

"Yep, and then we went into Viridian Forest and met Celia there!" Amber decided not to tell Mom about the stuff in between, like the criminals, the Spearow, and the sprained ankle. Celia squeezed in between Amber and Chris and waved. "Hello, Mrs. Tigereye! How are you?"

Amber's mother smiled at her. "Oh, I'm fine, dear. How about you?" She laughed. "Your mother's worried sick about you!"

Celia giggled. "Yes, I'm fine!"

Amber's mother smiled, then turned around as Amber's father came into view. Amber grinned and waved quickly. "Hey, Dad! What's up?"

Her father smiled (everyone's full of smiles!) for a moment and said, "Nothing; I've just gotten off of my shift at work." Then he looked at Celia and Chris (mostly Chris) and asked, "Who's the young man beside you? I don't believe that's Ash or anyone else I know."

"He's Chris Birch, dearie," Amber's mother explained. "His father's one of the professors in Johto."

Her father nodded, and Chris said, "He sent me here to learn about Pokemon."

Both her father and mother nodded and asked, "How are your Pokemon?" Amber smiled and laughed at their parental ESP. "Meowth's fine, and I have a new addition in my team, too! They're resting right now."

Her father smiled as he asked her, "Is this what you dreamed it would be like?"

Amber stood there for a moment, thinking about the journey to Viridian, the turn back, the rush back to Viridian, the forest; Chris, Celia, Gary, Meowth, Trapinch, Jessie and James. It had all seemed out of her control. So many things could have gone wrong in all of those situations.

A grin slowly crept onto her face. "Nope! It's even better!"

"It's good to hear that, sweetie!" Her mother beamed at her proudly. Then, they heard a beeping sound, and her mother said, "I'm sorry, honey, but I have to go; me and Celia's mother are having a picnic and this stew's on the menu."

Amber nodded, her mouth watering at the thought of Mom's stew. She still had some stew leftover in her backpack, but it's nothing compared to stew fresh from the pot. Her mother picked up the pot with oven mitts and hurried off.

As the door shut behind her, Amber's father sighed. "I thought she'd never leave!" He grinned at the kids. "With all of her babble of the picnic and you and adventures, I couldn't hear myself think!"

Amber laughed. "I know how you feel. You're lucky you don't come with Mom on shopping trips."

"I hear that!"

"So, how's work? I've heard you're about to be promoted."

Her father half shrugged, half shook his head. "It's the same old same old; still have Nurse Joy with us, the same job, same old crazy daughter who tries to follow me to work everyday!" He covered his mouth and faked a gasp, although they could tell he was smiling. "Oh, wait! She's gone! I finally have some peace!"

"Dad!" Amber scolded him, although she was smiling. "I'm not that bad!"

"I beg to differ," he said, his eyes twinkling. He winked at Chris. "You'd better watch out for her, Chris! She can be a wild Ponyta at times, and Celia might not be able to keep her tame."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks, Dad; nice way to assure my friends to stay with me. You're a real help."

"No problem, Amber. Well, I'm afraid I have to go. I've got an errand I have to do for a friend of mine." He waved at them. "Gotta go! Bye!"

"Bye!" Amber waved, and the screen blanked out as the connection was cut. She shook her head and sighed. "Those two…I'm afraid of what they're gonna do next, and I'm not even there!"

Celia giggled. "Aww, Amber, don't worry! They're just trying to act all crazy so you won't see how much they miss you."

Amber rolled her eyes. "No, they're not acting, Celia; you obviously haven't seen them on poker night."

Celia's eyes widened. "My parents have a poker night, too!"

Amber laughed and winked at her. "Well, just imagine your parents tenfold, and they might be as bad as mine!" She turned around and walked over to the chairs, chuckling to herself. As she walked past the counter, Nurse Joy came over and announced, "Miss Tigereye, your Pokemon are healed!" She handed her a tray with the Poke Balls. Amber thanked her, but as she twirled around to walk out the nurse stopped her and asked, "Your Pokemon…do you know what they are?"

Amber stared at her for a moment. "Meowth's as normal as they come, and –" She slapped her forehead. "Oh, you mean Trapinch!" She cast an uneasy glance back at Chris and Celia. "Well, you see…"

As she explained the events of the past days to Nurse Joy, she watched her expressions change from curious to shock to puzzlement to awe. When she finished, the nurse exclaimed, "Oh my! You've had quite the number of adventures, haven't you?"

Amber chuckled nervously. "Tell me about it…"

Nurse Joy smiled and said, "You know, you remind me of a fellow that came in before!" Her eyes seemed to focus on something far away, as if she was watching it happen again behind them. Amber caught herself about to turn and look around. "He had the strangest outfit on and carried some even stranger Pokemon with him. He didn't seem to belong here, and he said he was lost."

Amber smirked. "Well, I'm not lost! I never get –" With a glance at the looks on Chris and Celia's faces, Amber quickly recovered, "I mean, I bet he was a complete weirdo! I wonder what type of Pokemon he had."

Celia sighed as Chris shook his head, but before Amber could give them a tongue-lashing, Joy asked, "Can you please make some room for the other trainers?" The trio quickly moved aside so a few trainers could walk up to the desk. Amber turned towards the front door and, with another growling of her stomach, grinned and shouted, "Let's get some food!" She ran out of the Pokemon Center, and Celia and Chris ran after her shouting, "Wait for us, Amber!" Amber just laughed as she sprinted down the street towards the smell of something somewhat familiar…

Stew!

Meanwhile, watching them…

As the girl's face appeared on the screen, the man in the chair eyed her closely. He turned to another screen where a shrouded figure stood watching. "Is this the one?"

"Yes," the figure answered shortly, "She has possession of one of our subjects and has already turned a project to one of the professors. If she finds out about the plan, she could ruin everything."

The man turned his seat again to watch the young girl run into one of the restaurants on the street, followed by two other kids. He sneered as his mind began to form nasty plots to get rid of those pests. "Don't worry; I'm sure a little girl won't be any trouble for you, right?"

The figure chuckled darkly and said in his rough voice, "No, of course not, boss. I can handle it."

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Interesting…what will happen next? Well, I haven't written it yet, so you shouldn't start asking me…-.- yeah, uhh…bye!

Ja ne!