Amber.

Two Mornings Later.

The night we reached Hearthome City waz the night before my birthday. So, reasonably, our first full day in Hearthome, September 17th, was my birthday.

Wow. It had been almost a month since we had left home in Twinleaf.

Contrary to what Astro may have implied in the previous chapter, I was not jealous of how Riley had hit it off with Cynthia. I thought she was a nice enough girl, if not a little overconfident.

Cynthia left our group the night we reached the city, anyway, so we didn't expect to see her again for a while.

The morning of my birthday, I woke up hearing Dee and Riley talking.

"...Just make sure they're not chocolate, you know Astro's ruined chocolate for her. And sprinkles. Amb loves sprinkles. And don't forget sodas!"

"Are you sure you gave me enough?"

"I counted the money twice."

"Can I get a milkshake while we're out? Please?" Astro sounded like a little kid.

Dee sighed loudly. "Riley, can you buy little brother here a frickin' milkshake?"

"No problem, Astro. Is that all, mein füerer?"

"Yes. Now, go, go, before she wakes up!"

Riley and Astro left the room, and Dee went and sat on her bed. She turned the TV on. I pretended to be asleep for a few more minutes.

I turned over on my side, groaning, pretending to be only half-awake.

"Uuungh," I groaned. "Where's Astro and Riley?"

Dee turned the TV down. "Good morning to you, too," She laughed. "You just missed them. Riley went out to get some stuff, and Astro tagged along. Heard it's somebody's thirteenth birthday, but I wonder whose?"

I sat up and laughed at the thinly veiled lie. "You don't have to lay it on, Dee. Even your brand of sarcasm can get old."

We watched stupid cartoons on TV for a few hours, the kind our little brothers would watch, still in our pajamas. Riley and Astro took...a long time to come back.

Around eleven, we decided to go out for lunch without them. I got in the shower so I could look nice for my birthday lunch.

While I was conditioning my hair, Dee stuck her head in the bathroom door and told me, "Hey, Tess just got here. Flint and Volkner're gonna go find Riley, so it'll just be us girls."

"Alright." I rinsed the conditioner out of my hair, and washed my face with the bar of generic soap. I didn't want to start breaking out on my birthday.

Washed and fully dressed in jeans and a rose tanktop, I left the bathroom. Tess was sitting on Dee's bed, and they were playing cards.

Tess perked up when I came out. "Happy birthday, Amb!" She grinned.

"Thanks." I grinned back, and took my hairbrush from the nightstand so I could brush out any tangles. Then I blowdried my hair.

"Three kings." Dee put down three cards on the pile between them. "Jesus, Amber, we going to go eat or watch you do your hair?"

"Shut up." I turned around, to watch them play.

Tess pursed her lips, focusing on the cards her sister had put down. Dee tapped her fingers against her knee.

"It's aces, Tessie," She reminded her impatiently. "Come on."

Tess glared at Dee. "Bull crap!" She called Dee out. "You don't have three kings."

Dee raised her eyebrows, whistling. "Damn." She turned the cards over. An ace, a three, and a five.

Tess laughed. "Take 'em."

Tess was...almost an entirely different person from the girl we'd left town with. She was almost...confident when she spoke. Notice the "almost".

I let them finish their game before we left. Tess and I waited for Dee to grab her camo jacket, and we were off.

Riley.

In Amity Square.

"You're gonna get pokemon diabetes if you don't stop it with the chocolate addiction."

Astro slurped loudly on his milkshake. "You see all the shits I don't give floatin' in the air, Volkner?"

Flint and Volkner met us in Amity Square, the huge pokemon park in Hearthome City. Flint had a Buneary with him, that he said he'd caught in Eterna Forest.

I groaned, taking Astro's empty plastic cup. "You're spoiled, Astro."

"Thank you." He sounded so smug about it.

Flint snickered, and Volkner elbowed him.

We walked around the park, trying to kill time. We were gonna meet the girls at our Pokemon Center room at six, but we would actually be there at five, to set up for what Dee had planned.

"Riley, have you gotten to the gym here yet?" Flint asked.

I shook my head. "No...we only got here last night. Don't tell me you guys already have."

"Not yet," Volkner answered.

"I asked, 'cause it's closed," Flint told me. "Some kinda tournament this week at the contest dome. We saw a couple flyers; a tag-team thing, I think."

Astro nodded. "I heard about it when we were at the bakery, Riley," He told me. "How come you didn't?"

What was this, Grill Riley Day? "I'm surprised you heard anything over your obnoxious milkshake slurping. Azzy."

Volkner snickered. "Nice," He commended me. "Anyway, that sound like something you'd be interested in?"

"'Cause we already signed up," Flint added.

I shrugged again. "I dunno. Wouldn't I need a partner for a tag-team tournament?"

"Uh-uh. Random draw for partners."

"Hell no," I responded instantly. "I don't do strangers. Er, I mean, I don't work with people I don't know."

Astro folded his arms behind his head. "I'll bet if we found Cynthia, you'd do it if she asked you to."

I nearly went into spontanious cardiac arrest. "What did you just say?"

"Who's Cynthia?" Flint cackled.

Volkner grinned. "You're blushing, Riley."

"Cynthia's this girl he saved from some Galactic sleazeball," Astro told them. "Real cute moment. A helpless little blonde, saved by the dashing badboy of the story."

Flint doubled over laughing from Astro's description. I nearly kicked both those little assholes in the shin.

"She wasn't helpless!" I defended myself. "And-what? I'm not a 'bad boy'. You're full of it."

"But I'm not wrong," Astro pointed out.

Volkner had a hand over his mouth, laughing. At least one of them had a sense of poise or dignity.

"Aww. Wittle Wiley's got a cwush."

"I will friggin' end you, Surge. Let's go get lunch before I beat someone's head in."

Sometimes, Astro's mouth was just a little too big for comfort.