Graduations and Secrets

Kate's POV

I woke up to the sound of a blow-dryer. I looked into the bathroom and saw Keith in his pajama pants and smirking at me while I brushed my teeth.

"Morning, sleepyhead," I growled my response.

"You know today's graduation right?" I looked at him with surprise and a mouth full of toothpaste foam.

"Lucky for you, I decided to get up early so the blow-dryer would get you up on time." I rolled my eyes.

After that, I shoved him out of the bathroom so I could get a shower. When I got out, I saw that he was dressed in jeans and a dark blue dress shirt with a tie rolled up to his elbows.

I was in dressed in boot cut jeans, a light blue button up shirt rolled up to my elbows, and my hair was in a half up- half down tied off with a thick, blue ribbon. I looked over at him after he tied my ribbon, "Keith… I'm ready to tell you."

He looked at me with confusion, then he recalled, "You sure? You don't have to tell me of you don't want to."

"No, I have to since I might not see you for a couple of years, and besides," I looked over at the clock, "We still have 4 hours until graduation starts."

W both sat on my bed; I drew in a deep breath, "Keith, when I was 7 years old, Dad took me to the doctor for a checkup because my ear was feeling funny. When the doctor examined my ear and took some test, he told my dad that he found something, but he didn't know what and to check with a doctor in Fall City to find out what it was. We went to the Fall City doctor where he told my dad some elaborate disease name and that it was basically a tumor in my inner ear that had to be removed or else it would turn into a brain tumor. We had the operation, but one of the surgeons whacked my eardrum with a scalpel, eliminating 90% of my hearing from my right ear. I had to where a big bulky hearing aid before they gave me a normal hearing aid to help me. About 2 weeks after that, Egg Donor came by and demanded that I was to be turned over to her. Naturally, my father refused and told her to leave immediately. She barged up to my room where I was napping and rudely woke me up with all her shouting. My father came in shortly after and demanded that she left that instant. They argued some more until she shoved me off the bed and demanded me to pack my things. Well, my head and left ear hit the nightstand really hard and I started crying. Since that happened, I couldn't hear them shouting at each other, my father picked me up and forced her out of the house and filed a restraining order against her."

Keith moved over to me and gave me a hug, "Why didn't the doctor give you another hearing aid?"

I looked at him and smiled through my tears, "I only lost 40% in my left ear, so the doc thought that the hearing aid would compensate for that loss. But the tumor's making an appearance again and that'll take the rest of my hearing."

Keith gave me another hug, "I'm so sorry this all happened to you."

"Its fine, Keith, I don't mind going all deaf, there could be worse things that could happen. Plus, that experience made me a whole lot stronger. C'mon, we don't want to be late for graduation, do we?"

We both went to Ryth's room to pick her up, when we found her sobbing.

"What's wrong, Rythmi?" My guard went up by 100%.

"I'm just sad that this may be the last time we see each other again!" At this point, her sobs were even louder than before.

Keith and I both drew her into hug, "Hon, you know we all may not be stationed together, but I'll bet that at least 2 of us will stay together. Plus, we can always write or voicemail each other. This isn't the end of us; this is a whole new beginning, Ryth!"

She dried her tears, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, shall we go; we wouldn't want to be late to our own ceremony now would we?"

We all laughed as we descended down the steps for the last time. The ceremony kicked off without a hitch, although poor Isaac's speech was far too long for everyone's liking. After that, Ms. April announced the class candidate for her own class. I was sure it was going to be Keith or Ryth until I heard, "This year's class candidate is… Kate O'Malley!"

Oh crap, I thought. I didn't even think about planning a speech. I walked up to the stage, only realizing then that Elita, Spenser, Dad, and Jamie were there. I was about to start my speech when all of the sudden, there was an explosion from the basement.

KABOOM! I was thrown of the stage from the sheer force of it, Mr. Kincaid went down to check it out; but came up minute later squalling like a scalded Glameow.

Shortly after he reappeared, two Tangrowth seemed to want to make an exhibition. Keith helped me up and we faced the two Tangrowth while Rythmi called out the attacks they were going to use.

As we captured the Pokémon, I received the bad side of a Vine Whip on my calf. I involuntarily called out in pain, yet kept on fighting. After ten grueling minutes of capture, it was complete. Mr. Lamont congratulated us while everybody cheered.

Then Mr. Lamont gave his speech, "Even though today is the day you set off in this world, I would each of you to take one last assignment from me. Please don't forget to smile. As each year rolls by, I always receive some visits from former students. They say the most wonderful lesson they had was the one I gave to them and the one I'm giving to you. Please don't forget to smile and may your ambition and drive shine as bright as the fabled gems of the past! And now, it is my absolute honor to deem you graduates of the Ranger School!"

At the end, we all hooped and hollered. Ryth, Keith, and I snuck out to Ascension Square. We all took a deep breath and opened our assignment envelopes.

Rythmi gasped, "I got Ringtown Fiore! Now I can watch over Lunick, Solana, and Spenser!" I hugged her hard.

Keith opened his and whooped, "I got Summerland/Windtown!" Sometimes Fiore didn't have enough Rangers for each base so they "share" Rangers between bases.

I opened mine, and with a heavy heart, said, "I got Vientown, Almia."

Rythmi looked like she was about to cry, don't get me wrong, so was I, but I had to stay strong.

"Don't worry about me, guys. I'll be fine, y'all will have each other and we'll voicemail each other as often as we can!" A few tears slipped out of my eyes, but nobody judged me.

We went back inside to grab our luggage that they placed by the entrance. Elita offered to take Keith with her to Windtown while Spenser offered to take Rythmi to Ringtown. We had one last group hug before I saw them disappear into the sky.

Dad and Jamie walked me to Vientown; they wanted to see the base where I was working and to visit Crawford. The walk there was mostly silent except for Jamie's constant chattering. Arceus was she adorable.

When we got to the base, I was tackled with hugs. Luana kept pinching my cheeks and cooing how I was now an adorkable rookie, and then she moved on to my sister, who loved the attention. Crawford tried to give me a formal welcome, but stopped halfway through and started to mess with my ponytail. Barlow gave me my new Ranger uniform, which were 2 sizes too big. Elaine made the necessary alterations while my dad talked to Barlow about any hotels or inns in the area in case he wanted to visit.

After a couple of hours, Dad and Jamie had to get back and I saw Elita outside with her Skarmory. I went outside with them and hugged Elita goodbye.

"You prove them wrong! Show them a deaf girl can be a Ranger! Be the hero that your heart wants to be .If people shoot you down, just get right back up again. I love you, hon; and I'll always be proud of you." With her signs embedded in my mind, she took off into atmosphere.

I walked back inside where Barlow gave the formal introductions. I introduced myself and showed them my name-sign (A.N. a name-sign is a sign that usually a deaf person has that describes a certain behavior (like laughing) or an activity they do (like swim, dance, etc.) It is huge for a hearing person to have a name-sign because it shows that they are accepted by deaf culture. Plus, only deaf people can give name-signs after you earn them). My name-sign is a K in the horse-riding sign.

Barlow and Crawford tried to figure out which nickname they should use for me; Rider or Alley Cat. After a heated debate, they decided that my nickname will be Rider. I smiled; I liked that better than Alley Cat because I thought that only Keith and Ryth should call me Alley Cat. Barlow allowed me to go to the room and unpack. Elaine came with me as she was my room mate.

I unpacked my duffel back and placed the scrapbook on the desk and the metal bracelet on my left wrist (I used my right for capturing). Elaine saw the scrapbook, "Can I see it?"

"Sure, what's mine is yours, minus the bracelet. Wait, you know sign?!" I was surprised that she Elaine knew sign.

"Yeah, I know a little; my cousin is hard of hearing so she taught me a little." She looked over at the clock, "Man, I'm bushed; I'm going to hit the hay and so should you."

I nodded and crawled under the covers as she turned off the lights; maybe this won't be so bad after all.

A.N. Hey guys! Man, this was a long chapter to type! And just a reminder, I won't be updating until Fri. or the weekends because finals are coming up and I want to focus on that so I can pass. I love y'all and don't forget to review! Keith, take us out!

Keith: scubagirl13 doesn't own Pokémon or the character except for Jamie and the other OCs