Amber.

"Dee!" I shrieked. "Was that your fault?"

"Ehh...you could say so. I caught myself an Eevee, though, so no harm, no foul?"

She gave me a brief relay of the battle that wrecked the generator. Then, I told her about us being trapped in the closet. I put the Pokegear on speaker, so Riley could hear.

"That Eevee sounds like a real scrapper," Riley commented. "Perfect for you, Dee."

Dee groaned. "Shut up, Riley. Anyway, I'm going to run back to Floraroma and get somebody who can fix the power. You say you two are trapped in there?"

"Yeah," I answered. "But, if the door won't open for us, why would it for you?"

"This room's got a window. I'm sure I can jam it open. Keep it PG in there, you two, okay?"

Riley laughly dryly. "Nice one. You manage to think of it on your own?"

No answer. She hung up. I sighed, putting my Pokegear in my backpack.

We were in for, at least, another three hours in there, based on how long it had taken to walk to the Windworks in the first place. And it was already five.

I groaned. "Great, we're still stuck. Nice going, Dee."

"Hey, don't blame her." Riley had turned his flashlight off, to conserve the batteries, but I heard him crack his knuckles. "Wasn't that Eevee part of it, too?"

"Still," I answered. I sighed. "I suppose we're just going to have to get used to this bullcrap."

"Yeah."

For a while, we didn't talk. We just sat against the wall, staring into the darkness. It was starting to get to me; I felt really sleepy.

I heard Riley yawn before I did. "Gaaah...what time is it? Amber?"

I checked on my Pokegear. "Wow...seven." We hadn't spoken a word for almost two hours.

Riley groaned. "God...we wasted our whole day. If it weren't for that damn Eevee, we could have been on our way to Eterna City!"

I nodded to the dark. "Yeah." My head dipped.

Another, shorter period of silence before Riley asked, "Hey, Amber? Are you sleepy?"

I yawned. "Yeah. It's the dark...plus it's pretty hot in here. Are you still wearing your jacket?"

"I hear you. But, it's not really hot in here..why don't you just lean on me, and take a nap?"

I shrugged. "Aren't you sleepy?" I asked.

Riley laughed. "I can wait for Dee and her little cavalry. Come on, I'm offering you a nap and a human pillow."

I hesitated, but I laid my head on Riley's shoulder. The fabric of his pullover was surprisingly comfortable. I drifted right off to sleep...

Astro.

"This is some bull, Riolu. The hell are we supposed to even do? How're we gonna get out?"

"I don't know. But, trainer'll find a way, right? Trainer always thinks of something."

I sat on the ground, chuckling. "Riley? Hm. I dunno about all that, now." We had been pacing the halls of the Valley Windworks for hours.

Having all of that free space to pace around made me uncomfortable. I grew up in a two-story house, and spent most of my life on Amber's couch; call me the worst pokemon ever, but so much sealed space made me feel trapped.

I would have preferred being in Riley and Amber's closet.

We spent the night exploring the empty halls, until Riolu finally fell asleep around what must have been three in the morning. I dragged him to the lobby, and set up a little bed out of empty boxes. Then, I curled up myself next to him in his little bed.

Gah, I thought irritatedly. I hate this. This is so stupid. I should have never run away with Amber. I should've stayed and played with Max and Mitchie.

Almost defiantly, Riolu snored in his sleep. I lifted my head, and confirmed that he was okay.

"Heh," I chuckled to myself. "I guess leaving Twinleaf wasn't too bad..."

I curled up in a tight ball on the hard, steel floor, tucking my tail underneath me for a little bit of cushion. That's how I fell asleep.

Volkner.

In Oreburgh City.

Tess placed two cards facedown on our pile. "Two fours."

I looked over the cards in my hand. I had two fours, one six, one five, and an eight...

"Bull crap," I challenged her. The way her eyebrows twitched gave it away. I flipped the cards cards she'd just placed.

A six of clubs and a two of diamonds. I grinned. "Happy birthday."

Tess flushed in indignation. "Damn you, Volkner!"

It was about two in the morning. Nurse Joy had finally released Tess from the trainer infirmary of the Pokemon Center(you wouldn't believe how many kids slipped on those damn rocks), and Tess was due to battle the Oreburgh gym leader the next morning, a hulking man named Byron.

Naturally, she couldn't sleep, so I stayed up with her. Flint had passed out before I even pulled the cards out.

"How are you going to battle Byron tomorrow?" I asked as she placed the stack in her hand. "I mean, all you've got is Sneasal and that Machop you caught. Machop could do fine, but Sneasal has no chance against that Onix, let alone Shieldon." I placed my five down. "One five."

Tess shrugged. "I dunno. How did you?" She plucked three cards from her monster hand. "Three sixes."

Now I shrugged. "Well, Pikachu's static paralyzed Shieldon easy enough, and a few Iron Tails was enough to take out Onix. Instant Coal Badge." I sacrificed one of my fours. "But, he may have gone easy on me for being a gym leader's son. You wouldn't get it like that. One seven."

"Yeah..." Tess placed two cards down. "Two sevens."

We played a few more turns, until I placed down my six. I held my empty hands up in victory.

"Checkmate," I laughed triumphantly.

Tess growled. "You cheat!" She flipped my card over, but it had actually been a six turn. I laughed again.

"Wanna go again, sore loser?" I asked. "Or play something else, like blackjack? 'Cause I can count cards."

Tess rolled her eyes. She looked a lot like Dee when she did that.

"Alright, cityboy, but I get to deal the cards. You're not the only gambler here."

AOF: You don't understand how great the cardgame of Bullshit is. I have seen friendships get torn apart by that game. XD