Thunder sighed. "No, Daniel, Spike isn't going to Kindergarten with you."

"But . . . but why?" he insisted. The poor 5-year-old was not going to get a happy ending in this story if it kept up like this.

"Spike has to go to a school for people like him. You get to go to Kindergarten because all the big boys and girls like you are special and need a cool place to hang." She tried to add a little humor to get him to lighten up. "You get to make friends, learn new things -"

"Like about butterflies?" he cut in. Daniel loved butterflies more than anything else in the entire world - even Spike.

"- Yes, like butterflies . . . and you even get nap time! How awesome is that?"

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah . . . ! I wanna go to Kindergarten! No Spike!" He jumped up and down excitedly, his Spider Man back pack swinging around. Daniel also adored anything that had the word 'spider' in it . . . for whatever reason . . .

"Alright then, go get 'em, tiger!"

"I'm not a tiger. Spike's a tiger," he corrected. She sighed.

"I know. Just go have fun, little dude." She watched him run into the crowd that huddled outside the Elementary school and smiled gently. She climbed back into her car - a shiny new SUV that everyone had worked extra hard for, even Daniel - and glanced back. He turned around in the middle of the tight bunch of kids and waved enthusiastically. She waved back, and she sensed that the others did, too. The car rumbled, ready to drive like the wind.

"Alright, guys, ready for High School?" She looked in the mirror reflecting her two best friends' faces, River and Amaya, and they nodded. "'Kay . . . let's go!" She blasted the radio and off they sped to the school, her theme song blasting in her ears.

I came to dance, dance, dance, dance, I hit the floor cause that's my plans, plans, plans, plans. I'm wearin' all my favorite brands, brands, brands, brands; make room for both my hands, hands, hands hands . . . yeah, yeah . . .

Thunder plodded around the building with River and Amaya at her shoulders and Spike and Misty close behind. All the other students looked so frantic to get to their lockers and go, but she took her time to help find her friends' classes. Holding her binder tight she did her best not to get confused in all the chaos. The bell rung and the hallways suddenly emptied. She took her time for she knew her teacher would go easy on her for being a new student.

Cause it goes on and on and on, and it goes on and on and on, yeah . . .

River scanned the room. Huh, no sign of the teacher, he thought. He'd carefully planned what would happen if she'd come in; if he heard the door click, he'd silently click off his DS and fit it back in his pocket not to be seen. He knew his plan was fool-proof, so he pulled out the shiny blue console and flipped it open. Haha, die, Picnicker Julia! His fingers flew to use Perish Song -

"River! What the heck do you think you're doing?" Thunder whispered in a harsh voice. He looked up to meet eyes with her harsh glare.

"I'm . . . battling?" he mumbled.

"Look, I don't care if you're almost to New Bark Town, just about to catch a shiny, or finding Arceus! Put that Goddamn thing away!" He knew when Thunder cussed, she meant business. "You're going to get caught! You can hear the clicking of the buttons a mile away!"

"Arright . . . " He tucked his DS carefully back in his pocket for another time. Believe me, Picnicker Julia, it's not over yet! We have yet to finish this!

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, singin' ay-oh, gotta let go. I wanna celebrate and live my life, singin' ay-oh, baby, let's go . . .