"Happy birthday, Tulip!" The twenty-year-old bumped the door with her hip to open it, given that her hands were presently occupied with holding a birthday cake with six lit candles on top of it.

Daisy Oak stepped into Tulip's pink bedroom with a bright smile on her face, but that quickly melted away when she saw that no one was in the room.

She set the cake down on Tulip's tidy desk and felt a draft, which led her gaze over to the open window. The window was wide open and the slight breeze was blowing in, carrying her white curtains with it.

Daisy gazed out the window. "Tulip..."

And the last thing she did before leaving the room was blow out the candles herself.

_____________________________

Tulip Oak had always been a very independent person, even for a recently-turned six-year-old. Most people found her rude and opinionated upon meeting the little girl for the first time, but the truth was that she was just a girl who knew what she wanted and would do whatever it took to get it. She wasn't a spoiled brat, she was just...lonely.

Tulip didn't have many friends. In fact, aside from her grandpa and two siblings, the only friend she had was Leaf, who she didn't get to see very often. At school, Tulip was a bit of a social outcast, since everyone thought that she was---well...a bit crazy. She didn't mind the loneliness so much, however. She typically did not enjoy the company of those people anyways.

Today, April 18th, was Tulip's birthday. But not just any birthday, her sixth birthday. She was six years old today, and she could honestly care less. What's the point? What's the point in celebrating this useless day when she had no one but Daisy to celebrate with her? She loved Daisy, of course, but Tulip got tired of the same thing every year.

Every year grandpa Oak had to stay at the lab for some sort of research, and Green had to run his Pokemon Gym, leaving Daisy to be the only one that was free to celebrate Tulip's birthday with her. Daisy had really been the only mom Tulip had ever known, since their mother died during childbirth when having Tulip. She had kicked their father out of the house when pregnant with Tulip after finding out he had been cheating on her for several months. Now all that was left of the little girl's family was Daisy, grandpa, and...Green.

She hardly ever saw Green. And when she did, she mostly annoyed him and was a thorn in his side. Tulip knew it. She knew that Green didn't like her very much. She figured their age difference of twelve years had something to do with it, but still... It didn't make the rejection hurt any less.

Green didn't make it a priority to visit home very often. Honestly, he was a workaholic, as Leaf liked to call him. He was constantly a his Gym or training his team, a bit obsessed with his career honestly (and defeating Red of course, now that he was champion). But, because of that, he never spent much time with his little sister. Even if it was her birthday.

Tulip Oak sat atop of a small, grassy cliff that overlooked the ocean at the furthest end towards the south half of Pallet Town. She hung her legs over the edge, only about six feet away from touching the water. She let the wind breeze through her bright blonde-orange pigtails, closing her eyes delicately. She sighed deeply, picturing a cake with lit candles being blown out.

"I wish big brother was here..."

_____________________________

Daisy picked up the phone and started to call her brother, angrily pressing the receiver to her ear.

Click!

"Yo, Daisy. What's up?"

"What's up?" Daisy bitterly repeated what Green had said. "What do you MEAN what's up?!"

"Whoa, whoa. Where'd this come from? Calm down, will you?"

A vein bulged from Daisy's forehead as she angrily stomped her foot on the ground. "It is your sister's birthday, and you're not even here! You didn't even bother to get her a present!"

Green quickly got on the defensive. "Hey, I at least signed the card!"

Daisy narrowed her eyes at the birthday card she was currently holding within her fingers. "Only because I walked to Viridian City myself and forced you to!" She gritted her teeth and grew angrier when she saw the part of the card Green had filled out. "And all you did was sign your name at the bottom!"

Green sighed on the other end of the line. "What do you want me to do, Daisy? It's only her sixth birthday. She'll have plenty more---"

"GREEN!" Daisy shouted, interrupting him. "Stop that! Don't even say that! Don't you understand how important you are to our sister?!"

"...what do you mean?" Green quickly rebooted his brain, very confused about what Daisy had said.

Daisy set down the birthday card from the both of them and picked up Tulip's birthday wish list instead. "I'm holding her present wish list right now, and there's only one thing on it." Daisy firmly pressed the phone close to her ear, glaring out the window. "Do you know what it says, Green?"

"...no." Green awkwardly coughed, not sure what to say to his sister presently trying to guilt-trip him.

"All I want for my birthday is for big brother to come home." Daisy read the words aloud, and it simply just broke her heart to see how lonely her sister was.

Green paused, not sure what to say. Yeah, she was trying to make him feel guilty, and as much as he hated to admit it, it was working. "...does it really say that?"

"Of course it says that!" Daisy spat at him, still furious. Her anger slowly began to ebb away when she pictured Tulip's crushed look when she had to tell her that Green wasn't coming home for her birthday, and she suddenly decided she wasn't going to let that happen. Not again. "Green, come home. Right now."

"What!?" Green shouted with alarm. "But Daisy---"

"NO BUTS!" Daisy screamed at him, losing her temper. "You are coming home right now mister and you are going to spend the entire day with her, and that's that!" Daisy angrily stomped her foot on the hardwood floor again. "Is that clear?!"

Green nervously gulped. "...Yes ma'am."

_____________________________

Green jammed the key into the Gym's front door, locking it up for the day. He somberly trudged away from his favorite place to be and made his way for his apartment in Viridian City. It only took five minutes to get her there, and Green immediately went straight for his bedroom and started looking around.

"What should I even bring...?" He stared dumbly at the various things in the room, trying to figure it out. He then plucked five of his Pokeballs off of his belt and set them on his nightstand. "Well, I guess I really don't need anyone but Pidgeot for today..."

His mind couldn't help but wander over to the obvious question: could he get out of it?

...

No. With Daisy as pissed as she is right now, there's no way he could get out of this alive.

It's not like he hated Tulip, she just wasn't his favorite person to be with. She was twelve ears younger, annoying, and she totally wrecked his cool-guy image whenever they were seen together! When he first met Leaf a few years back, he had Tulip with him, and Tulipd blatantly asked if he was in love with Leaf and stalking her like the creep she knew he was! Of course this made Leaf burst into a fit of giggles and they had been best friends ever since, but still. So not cool. And then there was the time Green was trying to work up the nerve to ask Leaf to their high school prom, and Tulip had told Leaf she shouldn't go with him because he's a loser. And then---

Well, Green didn't even want to remember that. It was too horrible. Too traumatizing.

Okay, so she mostly just embarrassed him in front of Leaf every time he tried to impress her.

...but still. So not cool, especially since he actually liked Leaf and hadn't been able to tell her yet.

Green changed into more casual attire: black pants and a green shirt, and he slipped on a jacket lined with beige fur. After getting dressed, he grabbed his phone off the charger and headed straight for the door.

"I'm so going to regret this..."

_____________________________

Green walked into Pallet Town and soon found Daisy waiting for him at the front. "Hey." He quietly nodded to her, stepping up to his older sister. "Where is she?"

"Where do you think?" Daisy simply asked the rhetorical question, then turned to walk away. "She's in your spot." She smiled devilishly at Green over her shoulder. "I better not see either of you home again until tonight."

Green exhaled sharply, overwhelmed with disappointment. "That long...?" Although his question went unanswered, since Daisy had simply left him standing there and went back home.

Grumbling incoherent things to himself, Green jammed his fists into his jacket pockets and began trudging towards the south end of town.

He knew exactly where she was when Daisy said she was in his spot. Back when Green still lived in Pallet Town, he'd often go stand on this tiny cliff that overlooked the ocean every time Red kicked his ass in a Pokemon Battle. Before he left on his journey, he had actually taken Tulip there to explain he was leaving and to say goodbye. Although, Green didn't know that since he left Tulip had visited that spot every day and spent hours just looking out at the ocean.

When a sulking little girl with bright blonde-orange pigtails came into view, Green took a deep breath, bracing himself for what was about to happen.

"Hey."

The little girl flinched tremendously at Green's voice, and her whole body tensed up. Tulip Oak whipped her whole body around, and tears were nearly brought to her eyes when she saw Green standing there before her. "B-big b-brother!"

Green tore his head away from her and stared at the ground, not one for emotions really. "Well don't just sit there staring, we don't have all day. Let's go already."

Tulip violently nodded her head, then leapt up from the ground. Green simply let out an 'oof!' when Tulip tackled him into a big hug, and he tried to hide his annoyance. He wasn't angry or bitter, just...bored. It was that kind of annoyance when you felt impatient and bored.

Tulip blinked up at Green with her big bright eyes. "Where are we going?"

Green shrugged, still keeping his fists in his pockets. "Dunno. Wherever you want, I guess."

Green gulped when a sinister grin creeped its way up on his sister's face, and Tulip let go of him and immediately pointed to the ground. "Kneel."

"What?" Green asked incredulously, just staring at her.

"I said kneel!" Tulip grinned, pointing at the ground in front of her.

Green sighed, dropping his head. He then fell to the ground on one knee, reluctantly kneeling before the tiny girl.

Tulip stiffened her arm to act as a sword, and she place it on Green's shoulder. "I dub thee my slave for the day!"

Green's eyes widened in horror. "Oh god..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY HENRY!!!!!! I LOVE YOUR STUPID SHIT FACE!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE THE BEST POPTART SISTER/SON A GIRL CAN ASK FOR!!!!

I came up with this just for you months in advance :3 I hope you liked it ^-^

Story dedicated to SilentCopper on her birthday: April 18th. Except wattpad glitched and wouldn't let me publish stuff until today >:( gah...

Here's the one-shot! I hope you liked it, Copper!!!

~S. E. Daniels