AN: Despite what I said last year, I'm apparently doing another one of these. Hope you enjoy it.
Sapphire takes Crystal by the wrist into the living room where several voices shout, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!". For a moment, Crystal can only stare - at Red and Green, at Blue and Silver, at Gold and Emerald, at Opal and Willis.
She smiles brightly, a few tears breaking loose that she wipes from her eyes. "Thank you." It is a cliche, but she cannot think of anything else to tell them.
The gift-giving follows. They present her with two vouchers for the National Train, which makes her gasp. A three-week trip through Kanto, Johto, Orre, Kalos, and Unova, stopping in each region for four days. Enough time to visit Galar on the third stop and Alola on the fifth.
"This is too much, guys," Crystal manages to say eventually, even as she would kill for this trip. They all simply smile, some like Gold laughing.
The party turns into pleasant conversation over dinner, like how things are going with them. Gold's Daycare is enjoying good business this month, Sapphire has gotten fewer challengers recently, Emerald has as many as usual, Crystal's lab has recently reintroduced a few Bayleef to the wild.
The afternoon fades into the evening while they talk. The guests gradually leave - Yellow first, then Silver, then Red and Blue, then Green.
Forty-five, Crystal thinks at one point. She feels ancient just thinking that number. Thousands of memories come flooding back, of family holidays, of difficult battles in her youth, of spending time with all her friends or just relaxing.
The day has passed as she expected and hoped - a leisurely breakfast with her family, a walk with Arcanine to her lab, a new intern to liven up the daily grind at the research center, and a wonderful party.
Crystal cannot sleep that night. She knows her life cannot get any better, so anxiety over how she might lose it keeps her awake. Seeing the sunrise doesn't comfort her.