Riley.
"Rio...Riolu! Astro! Where are you guys?!"
I saw Lee and Mark's three beaten pokemon outside of the cavern, and I knew we were too late. My legs wobbled and I tripped and fell in the snow, on my face.
The girls and I, we had been behind Mark the whole time when he chased after Saturn with Riolu, but he was just so much taller than we were...he disappeared so fast, we had to follow his footprints just not to get lost.
"Riley!" Amber passed right by me, but Dee grabbed me from under the armpit and tried to pull me up. "Come on, Riles, get up, you goof..."
I scrambled back up to my feet, and looked around. No Lee, no Mark, but their pokemon were there...
More importantly, Lee's backpack and laptop case were just on the ground. And Lee had been the one to take Astro...
"Lee!" Amber cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, her voice cracking. "Lee! Mark! Astro!"
Her voice echoed in the mountainside. Shift got up from laying on the ground, ambling over to me. I kneeled, stroking her head.
"What's wrong, Shift?" I asked. "Where's Lee? Or Astro?"
Amber and Dee watched as I tried talking with Shift.
The Umbreon let out a high-pitched whine, nudging my hand towards the cave with her cold nose.
"L...Lee?" I asked. My heart lurched; why would he be in there?
Shift then pointed her nose at Amber, whining again. "Umbree!" She pointed towards the sky.
Fallon and Blaziken, sitting nearby, sighed dejectedly.
"Astro!" Amber squealed unhappily. "No! A-Azzy! Did he...?"
With a choked breath, Shift nodded. "Umm!" She felt positively guilty.
Amber clapped her hands to her mouth. I gasped a sharp breath between clenched teeth. If Astro got taken, then Riolu...
"We...we can get them back..." I stammered, trying to think of how. "We...they can't be too far away...maybe-"
"Riley, don't be an idiot!" Amber screeched at me. "We weren't fast enough to stop them from taking Astro, and just look how they beat Lee and Mark's pokemon! How in the HELL could we take Astro back?!"
Dee was shocked by Amber's outburst. "Amb!"
"Don't yell at me!" I barked back at Amber. "Goddammit, Amber, do you honestly think your Riolu is the one I'm worried about?! Mine was the one to bait the temperamental bastard! This is the second time Team Galactic has screwed me over, I don't givea shit about Astro right now!"
What I did, yelling so harshly at Amber, it was awful. God, I was a loathesome little teenager. Amber looked at me like I was a squished bug on her shoe.
"You son of a bitch, Riley-!" She actually raised a fist, and came at me. Dee met her halfway, grabbing Amber by the arms.
"Amb, get a hold of yourself! Both of you, stop fighting!" Dee growled at Amber. "Do you honestly think Astro would take this shit from you?!"
"All of you, knock it the hell off!"
Mark's voice brought us back to earth. He was walking out of the cave, hands tucked in the pockets of his jacket, a disapproving look in his hard, green eyes.
Seeing his trainer, Blaziken stood up. "Blaziken, blaze!"
Amber tore her glare away from me. "Mark!" She wailed. "Saturn, he...he took Astro..." She let out a shuddering sob, and finally started crying. My heart lurched as Dee took Amber into her arms and let her cry on her shoulder.
"Christ, I could hear you babies screaming halfway into the mountain..." Mark grumbled. "Riley, you were trying to work out a way to rescue them, weren't you?"
I'd never felt like more of a piece of shit before then. My Riolu was gone off to God knows where, Astro was right with him, Lee was nowhere to be seen...
And I know Amber's tears were at least partly my fault.
Volkner.
Later, Further North.
I've seen a lot of strange things in my lifetime(even Flint's first girlfriend), but seeing a boy and a few scattered grown men riding a horde of Golbat and one Crobat is still in the top ten.
They hadn't been flying low enough for us to see from the ground that they were Team Galactic. Flint looked up, laughing.
"Look, that kid's crazy!" We didn't know the half of it.
Tess stayed silent a second, staring at the snowy sky with sort of a dreamy, faraway smile on her face.
I glanced at her. "Tess...?" She barely seemed to hear me.
After a moment, Tess pulled out her Pokegear. "I wonder if I have a signal out here..." She murmured.
Flint and I watched her. "What're you doing?" We asked in unison.
Tess looked through her contacts, tapping the fourth name. She held the dialing device to her ear.
With a flip of her hair and a dorky grin, Tess told us happily, "Dee and I both love snow like this!"
It was a bit before Dee finally answered. Tess giggled.
"Dee, sis, are you out of the mountain yet?" She asked. "Look at all this snow outside! We haven't seen this since we were ki-!"
Something cut her off. Tess' expression slowly fell. "Wait, sl-slow down. Excuse me, she tried to-she almost killed him? What did he say?"
I caught Flint's eyes; we both knew something was up. Flint tugged at the sleeve of her turtleneck.
"Um, Tess?" He tried to get her attention. "What's going on? Who tried to do what?"
The questions were ignored. Tess listened to her sister, who was now raving so loudly, I could faintly hear her voice.
Tess loudly gasped. "Oh, God, no! Astro and Riolu?! They've got to be so upset!"
"What about them?!" I demanded. God, this was getting to be irritated.
Sad, Tess pouted. "I'm so sorry all that happened, Dee...I wish I could be there for Amber. You guys make sure you get to Snowpoint City, me and the boys will help you think of something. Yeah. Yeah, love you, too. Bye, sis."
Tess folded her Pokegear in half, sighing. She bit her lower lip, looking truly upset.
"Tess! What's the matter?" Flint asked almost immediately. He hated her to be upset.
I nodded. "Yeah...did something ha-?"
"Astro and Riolu were...st-stolen by Team Galactic...oh God, you guys, my sister says Amber and Riley were screaming at each other, and I think Riley was being really mean to Amber..."
In a shaken gesture, Tess clutched her Pokegear to her heart. Poor thing hated when others were fighting.
Truthfully, I couldn't imagine it. First Astro letting himself be kidnapped, let alone Riolu, but Riley or Amber losing their tempers like Tess claimed...hell, Amber herself rarely ever even got mad.
[Um...thank you, Volkner?]
[You guys are starting to portray Amber and I as love-struck pacifists.]
I calls 'em as I sees 'em, Riley, and you really could be a pansy sometimes.
Dee.
Earlier.
"You're screwing with us! You can't be saying there's nothing we can do?!"
Mark glared at me. He had just tried talking Riley out of chasing down Saturn.
"Dee, don't put words in people's mouths," He ordered firmly. "No, that is not what I sa-"
"But you could've done something, Mark!" Riley accused.
The ginger shifted his eyes to Riley, indignant and flustered. "What?" He asked. "No, you don't under...you're not-"
"You could've sent out Gardevoir!" Riley continued. "Instead of going after Lee, you could have done something!"
Nobody was following that train of thought. "Riley, you're shouting again. Just stop, listen to me, think about what just-!"
"No, I won't listen! My Riolu just got stolen!" Riley's voice was so high, it cracked. "Both Riolu, and Astro! You don't know...this is the second time this has happened to me, and Daddy is not just gonna swoop in and save him this time!"
A rough chill went up my spine when Riley yelled that. Especially at Mark, who scared each of us at least a little. I'd forgotten about Riley telling us Team Galactic had stolen Riolu before...
Everything fell silent, and Riley's statement echoed through the snowy wilderness. Then he let out a loud sob, and covered his mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie.
I saw the sun reflect off of tear streaks running down his face, and not new ones. I can't recall seeing Riley cry before then. Riley sank to his knees in the snow, crying into his sleeve. Shift, bless her heart, tried to lick the tears away.
I'm sure all three of us didn't know what to do. We didn't know where Saturn was, what he wanted with Astro, we didn't know where Lee was or what he was doing, and on top of that, two of the calmer people I knew was both hysteric and crying.
Mark ran to Riley, kneeling next to him and putting his hands on his shoulders.
"Riley," He called to him. "Riley, listen. Riley, look at me, Riley!"
Reluctantly, Riley looked up at Mark, his face red and splotchy.
"I never told you three that nothing can be done; Dee was the one to put words in my mouth. I just can't think that far. Me and Lee, we're gonna help you three find Astro and Riolu, understand? Just...please, calm down. Amber, you, too. Both of you, take a deep breath. Lee promised to meet us out here soon, just be patient. I promise it's gonna be okay, bud, dry your eyes already."
Both Amber and Riley sniffled, and he wiped his nose grossly on the sleeve of his hoodie.
"*sniiiff* Wh-what's Lee doing?" Amber asked, in a small voice.
Mark looked at her, and stood up. He lightly tugged at Riley's hood, and I read the words "pick up your head" from his lips. Riley did as told, wiping his nose again.
Answering Amber's question, Mark flippantly told her, "I don't know what exactly he thinks he's doing, but it's probably somethin' stupid."
After saying that, he laughed and flashed a smile at us. Not a sarcastic smirk or a sadist grin, but a real, genuine smile. I could see in his eyes, despite the sick burns he gave and his horrible attitude, Marcus Lowe was a pretty chill, kind guy. Almost lived up to his titke of "son of a Nurse Joy".
Amber almost laughed a little, but Riley stood rigid without an expression, like Mark had stuck a pole in his spine. His head still hung down in angry shame.
That moment only lasted a few seconds. What started as a deep rumbling came from inside the cave, then I heard a far-off crashing noise.
Mark's smile dropped immediately. His eyes consticted until his pupils were like little pinpoints.
"...No, shit..." He murmured. "Lee, shit!"
Mark turned tail and ran back into the cave. We followed behind him, Riley fumbling to get out his Town Map for light.