Me: *bangs head on desk loudly* Oh. My. Arceus.

Gardevoir: Hey, you can't hurt yourself! That's my job!

Me: I can't believe it! This is the first time ever that I've been late with an update!

Gardevoir: Geez, calm down. It's not that big of a deal. So you've been busy? Who cares?!

Me: *pouting* Still...

Gardevoir: Hey! Cheer up! It's Thanksgiving!

Me: Oh ya! Happy Thanksgiving all! OOOH! And it's Green's birthday!

Gardevoir: See? Nobody's even going to notice that you updated late.

Me: Oh...*Bangs head on desk again*

Gardevoir: *sweatdrop* Oops. Disclaimer: Eon does not own Pokemon in any way.

Chapter Seven: Green

It was Charizard's loud rumble of a snore that woke me from my sleep, my eyes slowly prying open to see the dark green underside of his wing. When we'd stopped to camp last night, I'd brought him out, and he'd created a tent-like structure with his wings as we'd laid down to rest.

Morning sunlight was streaming in from a couple of gaps, and I shielded myself as one hit my unprepared face directly. It was then that I felt a weight on my stomach, and I rolled my eyes when I looked at what was there.

Of course, it was Blue, using me as a pillow as she slept. I shook my head and leaned on the ground again. Why am I not surprised? My guess was that she'd crawled under Charizard's wing sometime during the night from her make-shift Ditto shelter with Silver.

Looking out of one of the gaps, I saw a rustling from within Aero's wings and assumed that Red was also waking up. Or by some miracle Yellow. But of course that wasn't the case as the black-spiked boy stepped out from his Pokemon's dark cocoon and stretched his arms. Aero seemed to do the same and showed the blonde sleeping on the ground near his claws.

Charizard shifted and cut off my view of them, making me sigh and start to sit up. Blue only shifted position to stay comfortable, and I simply narrowed my eyes, picked up her head, and unceremoniously dropped it on the ground. Finally able to get off my back, I placed my arms behind me and stretched out my knees as she gave a small groan and slowly lifted her head to glare at me.

"Care to wake me up like a normal person?" She asked irritated.

"Don't use me as a pillow next time," I retorted, watching her cross her arms and smirk.

"Well, how can I help it?" She said smartly. "You're just so lax and fluffy when you're sleeping. It's hard not to when you lose all that tenseness and calm down for once." She twirled a piece of her hair and stuck her tongue out. "Then again, you seem to be getting soft nowadays even when you are awake."

I scoffed angrily and curled my wrist. The audacity! I trained with my Pokemon all day, every day. There was no way I was…fluffy.

She laughed at my expression. "It appears as though you disagree."

Huffing, I turned away and started to stand up. "Because it appears as though you're wrong. I'm neither flaccid nor…fluffy."

The girl fell to the ground laughing as the foreign word traveled from my brain and left my mouth with a strange taste. After a minute or two, she got back up face to face with me and wiped a tear from her eye as I sat back on my knees.

"You know what, you're right," she told me in mock agreement, lightly punching my arm. "I guess it's just your personality. But I guess you have been hanging around me a lot lately. I must be growing on you!"

I rolled my eyes and fully stood up, causing Charizard to lift his wing and reveal us to the world. "Dream on, pesky girl."

My Pokemon let out a heated yawn as Blue and I watched Silver emerge from the Ditto tent, look back at it, and shudder a little.

"Never make me do that again," he told Blue, his boots tromping on the grass as he walked over to us. "It felt like I was…in that Pokemon." He shuddered again. "Not a particularly pleasant thought."

"It's only Ditty," she laughed with a flick of her hand. "He would never eat you!"

The redhead crossed his arms. "So why didn't you sleep in it, too?"

Red suddenly appeared behind him and smirked with narrowed eyes. "I think what you should be asking is why did she sleep with Green?"

Silver caught onto what he was saying, and Blue's mouth dropped open as they started laughing.

"I-I was cold!" She said quickly, slapping the two to get them to stop. "And Charizard was warm. Opposites attract, right?"

Red and Silver were reduced to chuckles, and they turned to each other with a grin again. "Yes, they do."

Blue's eyes widened. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," the two shrugged innocently. Giving her a smile, they walked away to restart last night's campfire and wake up Black and White.

"Wait!" She protested after them. "That's my thing!"

"Well, hey," I told her. "Congratulations. Looks like you're rubbing off on people."

She scoffed at me and went to return her Ditto with an irritated stomp. Sighing at the girl, I looked up at the sky to find the sun still awhile away from noon.

It'd been about nine last night before we'd reached Celadon and decided to camp out instead of trying to find a safe hotel. Sure, sleeping in a bed beat lying on the ground, but as long as we were off the radar, I don't think any of us really minded.

Glancing around for Red, my eyes went to the softly breathing pile of feathers where the two Unova kids were sleeping under Black's Flying type Pokemon. Shaking my head slightly, I started towards Aero where I had a feeling he'd unconsciously detoured for.

As I'd thought, he was propping Yellow up against a tree, hoping to put her in a more comfortable position. Once he'd let go of her, he placed a hand on her forehead.

"Searching for a fever?" I asked, coming up beside him and pulling a stray leaf from his cap less head. Sleeping in a hat wasn't always so fun so his was currently lying on the ground next to Aero who had decided to go back to sleep.

He nodded. "I'm trying to see if any symptoms have started showing up. Anything's possible at this point."

I looked to his face at the strain in his voice and saw him staring at her blankly. Putting my hand on his shoulder, I did my best to reassure him. "She'll wake up. Don't worry."

He smiled faintly with a light huff. "You make it sound like it's easy." He gave the girl another look before sighing. "Why am I such an idiot?"

I raised an eyebrow slightly at him. "Come again?"

He closed his eyes and frowned. "I'm supposed to be strong, right?" He opened them and looked at me. "So how did I let this happen?"

My heart twisted a little, and my mouth hung down a moment as I tried to say something. How had I become the one in charge of encouragement between us? First Deoxys defeated the fighting spirit out of him, and now this. I glanced at the pain in his eyes and shook my head slightly. I'd known him for almost six years now, and I'd always been the serious one. Since when had he seemed to grow up?

"It's not your fault," I told him, trying to convince the boy that it was true. "So stop saying that it is."

"But it is!" He exclaimed, clenching his fist. "Arceus, if I hadn't just looked at was really happening the whole time, we might not be here!" He threw his arms up around at the forest. "We might not be camping out here on the run from a group of kidnappers!" His fingers flicked to the girl on the ground. "She might not be lying here, unable to wake up because I was too stupid to stop my own brother from doing it to her!"

"RED!" I grabbed his shoulders and cuffed him across the face. "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

His head snapped sideways at my slap, and he slowly turned back to me, a fresh blank expression on his face. After staring at me for a good minute, he let out a breath and smiled a bit. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

I cracked a slight grin and released my hold on him. "Maybe just a little."

He chuckled and nodded, bending down to finish checking on Yellow. "We should really find a place to stay today."

I leaned against one of the many trees surrounding our little camp-out clearing. "Probably. It's not the best idea to keep staying out here like this." I placed a hand under my chin. "We could stay at the Pokemon Center, but that would be best as a last resort. A more secluded place would be the better choice right now."

I looked over at Red to see that his eyes had widened, and he was gently holding Yellow's wrist as he completed his checkup. Watching him curiously, I saw both his hands slowly move to her wrist and apply a small pressure. A minute later, he froze completely.

"What is it?" I knelt down beside him, suddenly wary at the look of fear in his eyes.

"H-her pulse," he whispered. "I can barely feel it."

My own eyes widened, and I grabbed her other wrist, adopting a stance similar to his as I realized that he was right. It was as if her heart had slowed down to the point of barely beating enough to keep her body alive.

Red saw that I believed him and stood up quickly. "What does it mean?"

I did the same, her normal breathing creating a mass of confusion in my mind. "I-I'm not sure. It was probably nothing. We must have imagined it."

He nodded doubtfully but seemed to gradually let it go anyway.

I gave the girl another look before forcing myself to focus back on everyone else. "Come on. We need to go wake up Black and White."

I started walking toward the heap of feathers, and Red followed reluctantly, glancing over his back a few times until we stopped in front of the foreign bird-like Pokemon.

"I think it's about time we found out what this species is called," I decided, taking out my Pokedex from my bag. The screen flashed to life, and the reader instantly kicked in.

"Braviary, the Brave Bird Pokemon. They fight for their friends without any thought about danger to themselves. One can carry a car while flying."

Red craned his neck over my shoulder and whistled. "Pretty good stats. No wonder I had a hard time beating it yesterday."

Our voices seemed to have done the trick as something stirred from deep within the feathers. Red and I watched in surprise as two Eevees popped out, only their heads showing from the abyss.

"…I thought Black and White were in there," Red scratched his head.

"We are!" Two more faces appeared next to the Eevees, both of them belonging to a groggy brunette.

White yawned. "Is it morning already?"

Black did likewise, and his Braviary followed suit, revealing its massive head and stretching its powerful jaw.

I nodded. "Time to get up. We've got stuff to do today."

Ruefully, they climbed out of the small comfy space Braviary had made with its wings, the two Eevees jumping out with them.

"Um, whose are those?" Red asked, lightly pointing a finger at the pair.

The brunettes smiled, and each picked up an Eevee. After observing them for a moment, they laughed and switched Pokemon.

"This is Yin," Black chuckled, showing the timid Eevee in his arms. "And that is Yang."

"We just caught them yesterday!" White told us proudly.

"So that's the first Pokemon you've captured?" I questioned, recalling what she'd said when I asked her to battle.

"Mhm," she hummed and happily petted her Eevee's soft fur.

"Great choice!" Red approved enthusiastically. "Eevee's are very special Pokemon. I even had one myself."

"Really?!" Black's eyes widened in surprise as he nodded.

"Yeah!" Red took one of the Pokeballs from his belt and showed it to the younger boy who smiled widely at the Espeon he saw inside.

"Look, Yin!" He told his Eevee excitedly. "That's what you'll be like someday!"

"You've got to remember, Black," Red reminded him with a kind huff and closed eyes. "Eevee has seven different evolutions. Depending on how your journey goes, it might become something other than an Espeon."

"True," the chocolate-eyed boy admitted. "But we can try!"

Red chuckled, and I turned around to see that Silver and Blue had started up our campfire again. Beckoning to the others to follow, I walked over to where the last two were sitting on the ground counting out the last few things of food Mrs. Sage had given us before we left.

"Oran juice, pink Apricorns…Aha!" Blue bit her tongue as she dug her hand into the satchel the food was in and pulled out a package with a triumphant grin. "Hot dogs!"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "For breakfast?"

She shrugged. "Why not? Besides, we could all do with something warm in our stomachs."

I rolled my eyes at her but let the girl continue anyway. "Might as well eat them before they go bad."

She grinned and handed me the package, disappearing into the trees for a few minutes until coming back with six long sticks. Ripping the seal, she stuck a hot dog on each end and gathered everyone around the fire before handing each person their own stick.

"Breakfast time!" She cheered, blue eyes laughing as she placed her meal into the flames.

The rest of us watched curiously for a second before doing so ourselves. It wasn't long until the food was gone, and we threw our sticks into the fire with a satisfied appetite.

"So now what?" Black asked, leaning back on a tree and stroking the feathers of his Braviary who had come over to his side and set down to nap again.

"We find another place to stay," I said simply, and Red nodded in firm agreement.

"It's not safe to keep out in the woods like this," the black-haired trainer said with a look at his surroundings. "They could sneak up on us at any time."

"But where can we go?" White pondered, putting her hands in the air. "Celadon City was where Black and I went when we first arrived. There's one hotel in town, but they won't let us stay there because we have Pokemon. The only place we could check into would be the Pokemon Center." She smiled sadly. "That's out of the question, though, isn't it?"

Red nodded right away. "Totally. If we need to stay out here, then we probably could." He sighed. "I just wish there was some other place. Are you sure you checked all around town?"

She put a hand under her chin as she thought back to their first encounter with the city. "Well, after the Center, we saw the Game Corner and passed by the mall…"

Red scrunched his eyebrows. "The mall…the mall…" He closed his eyes as if remembering something until suddenly popping them back open with a smile. "I've got it!"

"What is it?" Blue asked with an excited curiosity.

"It might be a long shot, but for now, it's all I can think of," he said, almost to himself. Snapping his fingers determinedly, he got to his feet and walked over to Aero who'd been patiently waiting for us to figure out what we were going to do. Before he could climb on, I rushed after him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" I demanded, looking at him through narrowed eyes.

"I can't promise anything, but I think I know a place we can go," he told us all. "I'm going to see if it'll be possible."

"Well, I'm coming, too," I said firmly, walking over to Charizard and getting on his back. "It's not a good idea to go anywhere alone at the moment."

He nodded grimly, and Blue stood up, looking at us a bit annoyed. "What do you want us to do? Just wait here until you get back?"

Both Red and I smirked at her, and quickly got into the air, leaving her to throw a fit with the others. It was better that only the two of us went. It'd be easier to go unnoticed that way. When we stopped last night, our campsite had been in the forest just off the main road of Route 7 so it didn't take long to reach the city. I followed Red as he flew downtown and landed near the sparkling fountain that created a great tourist attraction for the mall. Returning my Pokemon after touching down, I turned to find him looking up at the many stores of the building.

"So why exactly did we come here?" I questioned him. We started for the front doors and entered the brightly lit lobby, dodging out of the way as a stream of enthusiastic shoppers rushed on by.

"There's someone here that may be able to help us," he said simply while weaving through the mass of moving citizens and jumping into a nearby elevator, pulling me in with him before I got swept away by the crowd.

"And who would that be?" The elevator began moving, and he shrugged a little uncertainly after hitting the third floor button.

"I'm not quite sure what her name was, but Yellow and I ran into her before the Reunion."

The floor number lights continued to flash, and I shook my head. "And you just think that this person's going to give—or even have—somewhere for us to hide out for a little while?"

The idiot must have missed the sarcasm in my voice for he only gave me a big smile and nodded. "Yep!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed as we came to a stop and stepped out of the opening doors. He lead the way past an electronic store directly opposite to an upstairs restaurant and massive dress store before stopping at the entrance to what appeared to be a little art shop. Ignoring the closed sign, he tried to open the door, but it stayed put.

"Man," he said disappointedly. "She's not here."

"You know, a closed sign usually means that the door's locked."

Red and I whipped around at the foreign voice to find a woman standing there with a hand on her hip. She was an elderly lady but still stood tall in a pair of faded jeans and a solid aqua blue T-shirt. Raising an eyebrow at us, she pushed past Red and me to the front door which she unlocked with a key from her pocket.

"Youngsters," she scoffed. "Can't even wait for the store to open before running in." Putting the key away, she took us inside the store where she headed behind the cash register to get ready for the day. "Now what can I help you two with?"

"We're looking for someone," I told her as she grabbed a plain brown apron from a shelf inside the counter and tied it around her waist.

Red shook his head. "No, it's her."

"What are you kids talking about?" She interrupted us in annoyance. Glancing at Red, her eyes clouded over a moment before widening a little. "Wait…aren't you the boy I did a portrait on a few weeks ago?"

Red smiled brightly, and she did the same back to him. "Well, it's great to see you again! I hope you excuse me for that sudden request." She scratched her head in embarrassment. "I tend to do things on random without thinking. Call it a result of obsessive abstract painting." Looking around us curiously, her eyes went back to Red. "Where's your girlfriend? I'd have thought she'd be with you."

Red's face instantly went crimson, and I had to hold back a laugh as he quickly waved his hands. Even the random storeowner thought they were dating!

"N-no! She's not my girlfriend!" He stammered with flustered motions.

"Oh!" She gave a nervous chuckle. "I guess that portrait was a bit uneasy for you two then, wasn't it? Ah, I've got to stop assuming things. But still, where is she?"

Red coughed a little and tried to make the rose leave his cheeks. "Actually, that's why we're here. We need a place to stay. Don't worry—it's nothing permanent! Just somewhere for us to recuperate before deciding on where to go next."

"Sure, sure!" She said happily, coming around the counter to us and flicking a hand. "No problem! Anyway, I think I owe after that portrait. Eheh…"

Red chuckled a bit uneasily, and she laughed at him. "Follow me."

The lady led us to the back of her store, opening a door that went into a very long warmly lit hallway. Taking us down the corridor, she came to a halt a while later at one of the many doors we had passed and unlocked it with a different key from her apron. Holding it open, she walked in after us as we entered a different department store, this one filled with multiple rooms each representing that of a house.

"This is my husband's home goods shop," the woman explained, taking us into the bedroom area where both walls were lined with king-sized beds. "It's got everything a normal house does and more. You're lucky he's out of town. The store would've been open to customers if he wasn't."

"I can't believe this," Red said, walking down the aisle before turning back with a smile. "It's perfect! I don't know how we can ever thank you!"

She smirked and raised a hand. "Whoa there. I believe there's something you forgot to do."

His smile faltered a little. "Eh?"

Her arms crossed. "There's a perfectly good Pokemon Center down the street, yet you're here asking me for a place to stay." She looked at me and narrowed her eyes. "What's going on?"

I turned to Red who had frozen mid-cheer. When I saw the helpless look in his eyes, I sighed and gazed back at the waiting lady.

"Where do I even begin…"

"A BED!"

Blue was already halfway in air when we stepped into the room. Black and White were in the kitchen section scoping out the area, and Silver and Red were with me watching Blue's delight, Yellow curled up in the latter's arms. The shopkeeper, whose name we had learned to be Kathy, was back at her own store seeing to the daily customers but had told us we were free to make ourselves at home. Once she'd heard our story, the woman hadn't wasted anytime shoving us out the door and ordering us to bring back the others.

Blue was about to land on the mattress's comfy surface when Silver jumped straight forward and snatched her out of the air, sending them both tumbling into the aisle.

"Ow, Silver!" Blue cried out as she sat up and clutched her head. "What was that for?"

The redhead helped her stand up and grabbed the end of her shirt. "We're still dirty. It's not polite to dirty other people's property."

Her face went blank, and she blinked a few times before sighing. "Fine. Listen to the good manners lessons I give you but not the hotwiring cars one."

He gave her a small smile, and she gave him a mock frown, swatting his hand away. Stopping suddenly, her eyebrows scrunched, and her grip tightened. She swiftly lifted his arm and narrowed her eyes at him when she saw the half inch of skin between the end of his jacket and glove.

"You're growing!" She commented happily, though her suspicious eyes were still present. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Silver tried to keep a straight face, but I could see the panic beginning to form. "I-I didn't want you to worry about it."

She chuckled evilly. "Uh-huh. Well, you know what this means."

The boy cringed as she put a fist in the air and grinned.

"Shopping spree!"

"Oh no," he said weakly as the girl started dragging his resistant form towards the door leading back to the art shop.

She paused and turned back as if remembering something. "I'll need someone to carry my bags." Her eyes scanned over the only two conscious people in the room. "Eenie, meenie, minie…Green!"

"What?!" I said incredulously. "Why do I have to? Red's perfectly capable of doing it."

The black-haired boy raised an eyebrow at me after setting Yellow down onto a bed, and I sighed angrily. "Fine. Let's get it over with."

Blue clapped happily and came back to latch onto my arm. Once she had Silver and me secured, she skipped us (or at least tried to) out of the housing store, down the hallway and through the art shop, and into the brightly lit floor of the mall.

"Time to get started!" She cheered. The brunette pulled us all over the floor, searching for just the right store. When she didn't find it, we took the elevator to all the other levels until she finally halted in front of one on the fifth.

"Here it is!" She let go of our arms and dashed for the front doors. "I always go clothes shopping at this place. Best designs ever!"

"Yay…" Silver and I muttered as we followed her in.

The store was mainly composed of one floor chocked full of different areas pertaining to different people. Children's, adults, toddlers…you get the idea. Blue skipped all of those sections however and headed straight for the teenager and young adults domain. Her white hat quickly disappeared as she dispersed herself among the racks of the guys' clothes.

"Come on!" Her voice came from within the deep maze. "You better get in here and start looking or else I'll be forced to choose for you!"

That made Silver's ears perk, and he quickly went in after her. I was content with staying out of there and waiting, listening to them bicker as they fought over what he should wear.

"I don't want anything new," he told her for the sixth time. "I'm perfectly okay with what I have now."

"For the love of Moltres, I am buying you something, and that's that!" I saw him get thrown back into the walkway where I was standing and sweatdrop. "If you won't help me, then just stand there like a statue with Green!"

Dusting his arms, the redhead came to my side and crossed his arms. "This has got to be the worst thing I've ever had to go through."

I huffed in agreement. "You and me both."

We heard her shuffling through the racks and humming to herself, settling down on some benches in the nearby shoe department when we realized that this might take a while. The minutes seemed to never end, and Silver was about to nod off when she finally emerged with a big happy grin.

"Here we go!" She had a pile of clothes in her arms which she dumped into Silver's, abruptly bringing him back to consciousness. "Try them on!"

He looked at the clothes uncertainly. "Blue, I don't—"

"Just go!" She demanded, pushing him towards a changing room. Before he could enter it, she put a finger up as a thought entered her mind and raced into the shelves of shoes behind me. Moments later, she came back with a red and black box.

"I saw these from across the room!" She said enthusiastically. "I think they'll go quite well!"

She shoved him completely into a stall before he could protest and promptly told him that she'd lock the door until he changed if she needed to. How she would do that, I had no idea. But Silver seemed to think she was serious and immediately obliged.

"Ah, this is so fun!" She exclaimed with a little hop. Turning to face the rest of the store, she put a finger beneath her chin. "Hm, I guess it's about time Gold and Crystal had an upgrade as well." She grabbed my wrist, and I let out a quick breath as she tore me from my seat. "Let's go look!"

It didn't take long for her to find another rack and start riffling through its contents. I stood behind her with crossed arms and sighed. "I thought we were just getting Silver something to wear."

"A little extra shopping never hurt anyone," she reasoned. "Besides, you could use a new outfit, too."

"Blue, I just got these recently," I told her irritated. "They're fine."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Lift your arms."

Rolling my eyes, I was quite surprised that when I did, a little of my stomach showed.

She smirked. "Told you so."

I put my arms down and grabbed the end of my shirt. "But it hasn't even been that long."

"That's what happens when you train yourself as much as you do," she said smartly, pulling a shirt off the rack before shaking her head and putting it back.

I returned her previous smirk. "So you don't think I'm soft?"

"Ah-ah," she waggled a finger, smiling at me. "I didn't say that. I said your personality was going soft. Thanks to me of course!"

I huffed but let it go, reeling back in surprise when she suddenly stuffed my arms with a pair of brown pants with big pockets on the front. "What is this?"

"No more purple pants for you," she said firmly. Her feet flew as she ran around to the other side where the shirts and jackets were hanging. "Since your eyes are that deep green color, you should be wearing more earthy colors."

I didn't even bother to argue, knowing she'd have it her way in the end anyhow. "As long it's easy to wear. I can't move around in those stupid skinny jeans."

She giggled from across the rack and took off two hangers from it. Coming back around to me, she added them to the pile in my arms. Her next stop was back at the shoe section where she wasted no time finding me a pair of black shoes.

"Now, go change!" She pushed me and everything I was carrying into a stall in the changing room away from Silver's and closed the door behind me.

Shaking my head, I quickly switched clothes and raised my eyebrows at my image in the mirror. Blue had picked out a dark gray, almost black, jacket with big pockets similar to the ones on the tan pants. I had on a white polo shirt beneath it, the collar sticking outside the jacket and visible right above the pants' belt. The shoes were the same color as the jacket, and I nodded in approval at myself. Everything fit perfectly, and she'd actually done a good job of choosing something that wouldn't make me look horrendous.

Changing clothes again, I opened the stall's door and walked out to where Blue, who had bought and changed into an identical outfit that wasn't dirty, was fawning over Silver who had finally come out in his new clothes.

They looked almost exactly the same as his other ones, but the designs on the jacket and pants were a little different and his boots had been switched out for a pair of black red-lined shoes. The outfit went with his new haircut more than the other had and did a better job of showing how defined his body had become. Apparently I wasn't the only one here who liked to train himself alongside his Pokemon.

"It's perfect!" Blue squealed happily, ruffling his fluffy red hair. "You look great! Go change back so we can get it!"

Silver, who looked like he actually enjoyed the outfit too, nodded and headed past me into the changing room again. Watching him go, she turned to me and tilted her head. "Did everything fit alright?"

"Actually, yeah," I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. "I-I like it."

She mock gasped and put a hand to her mouth. "Wait a minute. Did you just say that you liked one of my fashion choices?"

I glared at her. "Do you want me to wear it or not?"

She giggled to herself and picked up a bag that she'd placed at her feet. I saw the big white hat popping out of the top, figured who she had bought it for, and sighed.

"Crystal's not going to like it," I warned her with a point at the hat.

She puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms. "She will like it, she will wear it, and she will look adorable in it!"

I handed her my clothes and held my hands up in surrender. "Good luck with that."

Silver reappeared at that moment and did the same with his new clothes. Raising an eyebrow, she laughed and handed them right back to us. "You guys are supposed to hold the bags, right?"

She started for the front of the store, and Silver and I rolled our eyes at her. Up at the cash register, we set the yet-to-be purchased items on the counter, and I reached into my pocket for the wallet that had the cash that I knew would be paying for all this. However, right as I was pulling it out, the lady behind the counter was already printing out the receipt and handing it to a smiling Blue. Beckoning at us to get the bags, she led Silver and me out of the store to the food court where she made us change into our new outfits. When we came out, she smiled widely at me and suggested that we get some lunch.

At the food court, Silver went to one of the stands to get us something to eat while Blue and I found somewhere to sit. After we sat down, I set my elbow on the table and my chin in my hand, watching her sideways curiously.

"What?" She said next to me, a mix of wariness with her usual cheer.

I shook my head. "Just wondering why you paid at the store. Normally I'm the one to do that."

She laughed at the annoyance in my voice and flicked her hand. "I felt like doing something nice today. Besides, think of it as an early birthday present."

My eyes stayed narrowed. "Still, how did you know what my size was? Literally, everything you picked out for me was to proportion."

She smiled faintly and saw that my silver-backed green and yellow pendent was too long for the new white shirt and jacket and hung hidden beneath them. Standing up from her seat, she walked behind me, and I froze as she took the ends at the back of my neck and tightened it so that the pendent was showing above the edge of the white polo.

"I know lots of things," she said simply, taking her seat again and grinning.

I fought against the blush rising in my cheeks and looked down. "Well, thanks," I muttered.

She giggled and winked at me. "Like I said, happy birthday."

Me: I do hope you'll forgive me my readers. I hadn't meant to update so late. Anyway...HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREEN! YOU'RE MY FAVORITE BISHONIAN EVER!

Gardevoir: Uh...ya...Happy Birthday...woo

Me: You know what, I don't even have time to bicker about your lack of enthusiasm. It's time for me to go fight the crowd for some Black Friday shopping!

Gardevoir: *sigh* Oh my...Review and return guys! Happy Thanksgiving!