Astro.

Two Mornings Later.

"Ew...ewwww...ew! Riley! Something is slithering on my leg! Kill it!"

For the third time, Riley stooped down and plucked something off of Amber's leg.

"Ah, yes, the rarely seen clump of moss," He sighed. "Highly sought after among collectors. Quick! Someone find a Master Ball! We've only seen it a hundred times today, Arceus knows when the next sighting will be!"

I was really growing to like Riley's sense of humor. No sarcasm.

Two days after Dee won her first ribbon, we reached the Eterna Forest. And Amber proceeded to be incredibly lame, and jump at anything that moved.

It had taken me until then to finally recover from that backfired Force Palm. We decided to skip the in-between section of that story, because honestly, I had been really cranky and unpleasant for all involved. Not to mention tired.

After I finally recovered back to my full Azzy self, I noticed Riley was different. His aura was dark green, which I associated with caution. He took a second glance at everything, as if to make sure it was real.

"C'mon, you guys, let's explore!" I grabbed Riolu's hand, and ran ahead of the group. Dee's Snorunt, outside of his pokeball for once, toddled behind us.

"Hey-wait!" Amber called after us. The trainers had to run to keep up with us.

I dragged us all around the forest, laughing and poking my nose into everything. I dared Riolu to eat a few wild berries. It was fun.

"Gotcha!" Amber picked my up from behind, wrapoed her arms under mine. "God, you haven't been this upbeat in days!"

Riley laughed as Snorunt and Riolu returned to their trainers. "Yeah. Someone's in a cheery mood."

"Two day nap do you good, twerp?" Dee added.

Everything was light. Everything was fun, until Dee got stuck in a rope trap.

It all happened so fast. She stepped into a pile of leaves, and something snapped. A net popped out of the ground, and she was swept up into a tree. She yelled out an expletive that, frankly, I don't feel comfortable repeating due to the rating of this story.

We all jumped back. "Dee!" Three voices rang out at once.

Dee wriggled and struggled in the net. "Dammit! Dammit, who would set a damn trap in the woods?!"

"Hang on!" Riley called up to her. "Just, uh, stay calm." He turned to Amber. "Try to find the rope holding her up."

"Alright," Amber agreed. I followed her, and we circled the tree trunk, looking for the rope.

I found a thick, taut string leading to the net. "I got it!" I wrapped my paw around the string.

Riley ran over. He'd taken out a pocketknife. "Alright. Alright..."

"H-hang on! Don't just go cutting it!"

He didn't listen. Riley sawed at the string with his pocketknife, watching at the tiny fibers seperating. I was mesmerized by it.

"Riley, I said-Rii-iiiiiii-iiiley!"

Dee came tumbling down, falling out of the net, and landed on her back. Snorunt was, naturally, the first to run over.

"Trainer!" He squeaked.

"Dee-Dee!" Amber cried, running over. "God, are you okay?"

Dee groaned. "Peachy. Just...grand."

Riley held out a hand, and helped her up. "Where'd that net come from?" He wondered.

"Well, whoever set it is gonna die." Dee kicked the ruined trap with the toe of her boot. "Geeeeez...practically broke my back there, Riles."

For the longest time, that was the last trap we saw. Until we met the girl who set it, that is.

Flint.

Up on Route 207.

"Maaaaan...we always got the short end of the stick, you guys."

After Tess and Volkner each earned their Coal Badge, nothing went right.

Tess' ankle had healed by the time we left, so Nurse Joy gave us the okay. But, it was rough going, heading north from Oreburgh City.

Not to mention we got capture by some douches calling themselves "Galactic Grunts". They locked us in a big cage, until one of their leaders could come to decide what to do with us.

I shit you not, I couldn't make a better lie if I tried.

All because they recognized Volkner. Everybody and their mother can distinguish a member of the annoyingly prestigious Surge family.

Volkner sat against the thick bars of the cage, resting his head on his knees. "This is so stuuuuupiiiiiiid," He complained. "I swear to God."

Tess, sitting next to him, sighed. "It's not like it's your fault. I mean...you couldn't change your family."

Meanwhile, I paced around the cage. I couldn't sit still, like them. I felt personally outrage.

"Flint Stone will not be locked up like an animal," I muttered to myself. "We need a way out. Volkner, you're good with metal. Get us out."

"Think again, bro," Volkner corrected, voice muffled by his jeans. "I'm good with electric machines, not metal. I could put a toaster together better than get us out of here."

I groaned. "Great. We've got our Mozart post-deafening."

"Um, I'm sure it was Beethoven that was deaf."

"Shut up, Tess."

We had to sit there for another half hour or so, guarded by two of those retarded grunts. I was angry and injusticed, Volkner was wallowing in self-pity and hatred of his family, and Tess was trying to console our poor angsty buddy.

Then, a lady with done-up, purple hair came to us. She was wearing what looked like a space-suit, without a space helmet.

"You look like we'd find you if we went into outer space," I commented.

Tess kicked me so hard, I almost fell over. "Flint! Don't insult high-ranking criminal leaders!"

The lady laughed. "It's adorable how you think we want anything to do with you two." She snapped her fingers. "Grunts! Bring me the blond boy," She barked. "And only him."

Volkner raised his head from his knees. "Me?"

The two green-haired grunts nodded. "Yes, Commander Jupiter," They replied. One unlocked the cage and stood guard while the other came in and grabbed Volkner roughly by the arm.

"Get up!" He ordered, pulling. Volkner winced, and grunted in pain.

I had to restrain myself from punching that dick in the face. Volkner stood up peacefully.

"A simple 'please' would have worked well enough without damn near breaking my arm."

He nodded at me as he walked by, escorted out. I glanced nervously at Tess. She returned the look.

What do they want with him? She mouthed.

I shrugged. I don't know, I mouthed back.

The other grunt hit the bars of the cage. "Quiet down, you two!"

Volkner stood in front of Commander Jupiter, a perfect poker face on. He didn't slouch, either like he usually did; stood like there was a rod in his back.

Jupiter laughed at him. "Look at this brave little man," She cooed, stroking his cheek.

Volkner recoiled. "What do you want, lady? I have some friends I plan to meet in Eterna City."

"Ooh. Tough, like his father." She slowly circled him. He didn't let her out of his sight. "Word's spread around the region of who single-handedly renovated Sunyshore Gym himself. Team Galactic needs a tough, talented engineer, like-"

"Like me?" Volkner finished, arching an eyebrow. "No thank you. I think I preferred the cage to working with you, hag."

Jupiter was shocked by his response. "You would rather stay with these...thesenobodies?" She pointed at us.

I rattled the bars of the cage. "Hey! I ain't deaf!"

Volkner laughed. "They're my friends," He answered. "Flint may be pretty stupid at times, and Tess is pretty shy, but I'd never leave them. Especially for a group that kidnaps and traps kids in a cage."

Jupiter's lipglossed lips turned down. "Very well, kid," She admitted. "Let the other two out. Return their pokemon and belongings. Mister Surge, you've now made a very bad enemy in Team Galactic."

As Tess and I were released, Volkner laughed again.

"I don't care. You hear me? I don't give a Rattata's butt about you and your Team Galactic."