Amber Ryann

Riley Ryann-Elmore (Step-Brother)

Riku Akihiko (Son)

Anna Akihiko (Daughter)

Kaito Akihiko (Husband)

Yuujiro Akihiko (Father-in-Law)

Akane Akihiko (Mother-in-Law)

## History

Amber Lynn Ryann was born on October 14, 1997 to Karen and Bill Ryann. From the beginning, it was an uphill battle for Amber. The doctors misread Karen's ultrasound and informed them that they were having a boy. After Amber was born, her father instantly became disinterested in her and shunned her ever since. This lead to Karen being a "single married parent." Karen tried to love Amber but the fatigue and stress of being alone in raising her, despite being married, ended up causing Karen to despise her very own daughter.

Things got worse for Amber when it was discovered that she had a melanocyte defect. This caused her to have skin that was paler than average as well as no hair color. Having naturally white hair posed an issue for Amber as she entered elementary school. She was bullied by other kids, particularly one by the name of Jay Arlington. Amber suffered both mental and physical trauma as a result of her bulling which included having a rock thrown at her head and constant beat downs by Jay and his friends. This caused Amber to mentally snap and attack Jay as well as a nearby teacher, thus getting her expelled during 5th grade.

After moving to a new school district, and thus forcing her father to switch jobs, Amber's parents wanted nothing to do with her. On the day of her 18th birthday, they gave her the gift of all of the money they had saved up for college on top of an eviction notice. By this time, Amber had fallen in love with a video game called Blaze Auras. Taking her PC with her to a cheap apartment that she found, she dedicated her time to playing the game. Her childhood left her with crippling social anxiety; however, becoming good at Blaze Auras and respected for her skills filled a void of acceptance deep within her.

Blaze Auras held their first-annual Legacy of Champions tournament. With her funds quickly depleting, she decided to enter the tournament where she made it to the final round. There, she ended up facing a character by the name of Versaithe in a long, drawn-out match. After employing a bit of trickery, Amber ended up besting Versaithe, becoming Blaze Auras' first-ever world champion. She acquired a substantial amount of money from her tournament winnings but realized that it wouldn't last forever.

Amber searched for a job and was lucky enough to find an ad for a store called Things N' Stuff that was about a block away from her apartment. She applied and was hired by Sebastian Carmichael. Sebastian ended up becoming Amber's first friend and, because as such, he often gave her special treatment and did whatever he could to help her out in her times of need. Amber took advantage of that by working the night shift and, sometimes, spending her night at the store while still on the clock.

During this time, Amber's popularity in the Blaze Auras community skyrocketed. It caught the attention of a virtual unknown by the name of Khaine that had been tearing through the ranks of the game. One day, Khaine would clash with Amber's Dragonfly and he sounded handed her a defeat... something she hasn't experienced in a while. Thinking that someone just got lucky, the two faced each other over and over again with Khaine besting her each and every time. A rivalry between the two of them developed and before Amber knew it, Khaine had overtaken her as the #1 player on the Blaze Auras leaderboards.

A year had passed and the second-annual Legacy of Champions Tournament was coming up. Things N' Stuff was a barren wasteland so Amber reluctantly asked Sebastian to sponsor her for the tournament. Should she win, she could use her popularity to help bring traffic to the store. Sebastian agreed; however, things got complicated when Khaine was going to be competing in the tournament as well. As fate would have it, Dragonfly and Khaine met in the finals where Khaine bested her, taking the championship. After the match, Amber discovers that Khaine's true identity is Kaito Akihiko... a customer that frequents Things N' Stuff. While at the tournament, Amber also meets another player by the name of Lynn Aichner who looks to extend a hand of friendship to Amber. Lynn ends up talking with Kaito about Amber's anxiety. This causes Kaito to feel remorse for saying from derogatory things to her online. He decides to make it up by advertising the store in Amber's place, thus bringing traffic to it.

Despite his kind gesture, Kaito is still cold and calloused. He has a hard time trusting people so any attempt to apologize to Amber ends up backfiring. Eventually, Kaito finally puts his online persona aside and properly apologizes to her. During the BlazeCON Invitational Tournament, Kaito goes as far as to help Amber defeat her newest rival, the psychopathic Kaiza Shirazou. After his loss, Kaiza loses his mind and wishes to inflict mental and physical harm on Amber. After weeks of stalking and threats, Kaiza makes his move. Kaito does his best to formulate a plan to protect Amber; however, Kaiza outsmarts them and attempts to stab Amber with a knife at Things N' Stuff. Kaito pushes Amber out of the way and ends up being the one getting stabbed. Kaiza is then tackled by Sebastian and is later arrested.

Amber spends eight weeks in the hospital at Kaito's bedside, blaming herself for this situation the entire time. After everything they had been through, she would never believe that her biggest rival would become a friend that was capable of laying down his own life for her. Kaito eventually recovers and it is at that moment Amber begins to realize just how much Kaito has come to mean to her. After Kaito becomes strong enough to return to normal life, his father Yuujiro Akihiko, returns from a business trip. He notes that he is heading back and Kaito gets the idea to go with him and to bring Amber along for the ride. Amber is nervous about it all but decides that she needs to learn to get over her anxiety and decides to take the trip. By this time, Kaito explains everything to Amber about why he was cold towards her in the beginning. The two realize that they are very similar. Kaito recognized that as well and on their trip he pulls a bold move and asks Amber to be his girlfriend... to which she says yes.

After their return, news of their relationship spreads throughout their friends. Sebastian hears the news and instantly regrets things as he also had romantic interests with Amber. Sebastian; however, decided they would just work better as friends and had regretting that decision ever since. It ate away at Sebastian until he started to ignore Kaito. Having flashbacks of his past, Kaito stormed over to Sebastian's house and ended up in a fist fight with him. After hammering out their differences, they make amends; however, the true test to Kaito and Amber's relationship came with the death of their friend Takumi Karume.

Takumi's death caused Kaito to fall into deep depression. He moved out from his parent's apartment and told nobody where he was going, including Amber. In fact, Kaito went so far as to break up with her. Amber didn't understand why and her crippling anxiety returned in a full and total relapse. Once Amber learns of Takumi's death, she is overcome with sorrow but undertands why Kaito acted the way he did. She didn't want to let Kaito suffer alone and hunts him down, eventually confronting him. Because as such, Kaito has a mental breakdown and apologizes to Amber. Amber knows that Kaito can't be left alone to his own devices anymore and asks him to move in with her. At this point, Amber and Kaito are introduced to Rebekah Gallagher, Kaito's temporary neighbor. After Amber and Yuujiro help Kaito move into Amber's apartment, Rebekah swears that she isn't going to give up on tracking the two of them down.

Now that they are living together, Daniel McDevitt, the Game Director for Nickname Studios, recognizes Amber and Kaito's skills and status within the Blaze Auras community and offers them a partnership deal. He wants the two of them to stream the game and, in turn, Nickname Studios will sponsor and promote them. This leads to Amber and Kaito being 'fired' and 'rehired' by Things N' Stuff as General Managers. Despite their new titles, their new official careers are that of streamers. Amber and Kaito end up successful in their new careers but things don't sit right with Kaito as more and more events begin to happen within Nickname Studios.

The company ends up getting bought out by Active Vision Software and they completely ruin the game. With their careers in jeopardy, they look to find a way to transition to a brand-new game. During this time, Amber and Kaito's relationship deepen and Amber ends up becoming pregnant. Taking full responsibility, Kaito proposes to Amber and she accepts. After Blaze Auras shuts down for good, Amber and Kaito become streamers for an MMORPG called Sanctuary: Rise of Heroes by an independent company called Envisioned Domain. They end up forming a guild with Sebastian Carmichael, Rebekah Gallagher, Riley Elmore, and Jessi Hammons. The game ends up becoming successful.

10 years later, Amber and Kaito are married with two children: Riku Akihiko and Anna Akihiko. The guild has long-since been disbanded and Kaito works as a freelance graphic designer while Amber is a stay-at-home mom.

## Appearance

Amber wears light blue jeans with a light purple belt, a black hoodie that is usually unzipped and open as well as a white t-shirt with a Friendship Grenade logo on it. Her original hair colors were green on the right side with magenta streaks and blue on the left side with yellow streaks. In Vol. 3, Amber changed her hair colors to Purple on the right side with orange streaks and blue on the left side with green streaks.

## Personality

Amber's personality is very extroverted and outgoing when behind the keyboard but out in the real world she suffers from crippling social anxiety so she is very timid and shy. Later on in the series, she becomes more normalized and even bit daring.