O_O I'm getting reviews! And good ones! YAHOOO! I'm a happy. . .well, I'm not sure what. Hey Hanni B, I see you keep reviewing. . .dat gooooooood ^_^ I'm sorry the key doesn't open your sister's diary, but it's a. . .key? Hmmmm. . .

And if I were a Nurse Joy, I'd sure be irritable! Being a googlalintillioniplet. . .that would drive me insane.

Uh, so anyway, here's. . .

~Chapter Eight~

~*~*~ So, April does go to the next town-Azalea Town-and earns a Hive Badge, once again only using Mystic. She doesn't even have the urge to capture more Pokemon-she feels her and Mystic belong together, that they are the perfect team.

They both head over to Goldenrod City and earn yet another badge. In both of these badges, she sees an image that feels oddly familiar, yet distant. April and Mystic are now in Ecruteak City. It is almost three years later.

~*~*~

I sighed happily. "Oh Mystic, we're finally in Ecruteak City!" I exclaimed.

"Draaatini, Draaaa!" Mystic cried happily.

I grinned. "It's taken us quite awhile to get here, hasn't it?"

"Draaa," Mystic agreed.

I carried my wonderful Dratini to the Pokemon Center. I didn't care I was extremely off track and should have been at the Johto League by now. I didn't care it had taken me nearly three years to get three badges. I didn't even care I hadn't seen Danny for three years since I battled him when I was eleven. I was just so happy-I was turning fourteen the very next day!

I skipped inside the Pokemon Center and nearly killed myself skipping over the freshly washed tile floor. Nurse Joy gave me an odd look, but I just took Mystic over to her.

"Please, can you heal my Dratini?" I asked.

"Sure," Joy answered. She picked Mystic off of her desk and took her into a different room.

I sat down on a ratty green chair. I inserted the cell phone card of my watch, and carefully dialed my home phone number.

"Oh, please be there," I whispered.

Suddenly, I heard a click and a voice say, "Hello?"

"Yes!" I thought. Then I cleared my throat. "Hello, mom?"

"April!!!" Mom exclaimed. "Oh I-I mean-wow-"

"Mom, Mom, calm down," I laughed.

"It's so nice to hear your voice," she said. "How have you been?"

"Well," I began. I was beginning to wonder why I had called in the first place-to tell her how long it had taken just to get a few badges?

"I got some badges," I finished.

"Oh," Mom answered. She didn't sound happy. In fact she sounded a bit- angry.

"Mom?" I asked.

"Oh honey, how many badges?" Mom interrupted.

"Don't laugh, but three," I confessed.

I could tell Mom was trying not to laugh, because her voice shook when she asked, "How is Mystic doing?"

"She's great," I said. "Mystic's doing fine. She won all three of my gym battles-not that she had much of a choice! " "You haven't captured any other Pokemon?" Mom asked excitedly.

I frowned before I answered her, even though she couldn't see me. That was weird-I thought she'd be happy I won some badges, and angry I didn't capture a single Pokemon in three years.

"Mothers," I thought, and rolled my eyes.

"April?" Mom asked.

"Oh, I'm still here," I said.

"Good. Did you ever get that key your father left you?"

"Yes. . .wait, how did you know about that?!" I exclaimed. I was practically jumping out of my seat-people were staring at me.

"Sweetie, I-" Mom started. "I-I just did," she finished.

Of course I didn't believe her answer, but there was nothing I could do about it because just then, Nurse Joy called for me to get Mystic.

"Mom, I have to go," I said.

"Oh, all right," she answered sadly. "I love you, April. Happy birthday."

I grinned. "Thanks. I love you too," I answered before shutting off my phone.

I ran up to the desk and Mystic slithered onto my shoulders. She was getting very, very long-she was nearly as tall as I was!

"Thanks Nurse Joy," I said. I was ready to step out of the Pokemon Center, when I heard Joy call, "Danny, your Pokemon are ready!"

I swiveled around on my heel. My eyes darted around. I saw a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing black get up.

My mouth dropped open. I could swear my heart stopped. I knew-I just KNEW- that this was the Danny I had met three years ago.

I ran over to him. "Danny!" I cried. "It's me, April! Remember?"

Danny looked at me and blinked. His eyes widened when he saw Mystic. "April?" he managed to squawk out.

I grinned and nodded happily.

"Wow! I don't believe it!" he exclaimed. "I-just can't believe it!" He ran up to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

"Umm. . ." I trailed off.

Danny must have realized what he was doing, because then he let go. "Uh-so, how have you been?" he asked nervously.

I sighed. "Not too good. I only have three badges. " "Me too!" Danny cried. "That's weird."

"Yeah," I agreed.

We both paused, not knowing what to say to each other. I felt strange-there was a little tickly feeling crawling up my spine.

"Hey, do you want to battle?" Danny asked, suddenly interrupting my thoughts. He looked nervous.

I smiled. "Sure."

We walked outside. I think Danny tried to link arms with me, but Mystic slid off of my arms just then and hopped through the door, so I had to chase after her.

When we were outside, Danny stood across from me. He pulled out a Pokeball. "I hope this one isn't too tough for you," he laughed. He threw the red and white ball. "Go Dragonair!" he cried.

The ball opened. A bright white light lit up the air. A shape appeared-it was long and lean, with graceful little white wings coming from its head. When the light dimmed, it let out a cry. "Draaaaaagonaaaair!"

My mouth dropped open like the idiot I was. I felt so stupid looking at this new creature-but-what WAS it?

Danny laughed at my reaction. "I guess you've never seen a Dragonair before," he said, patting his Pokemon on the head.

"What-wha-what-" I sputtered.

Danny looked at me with a confused look on his face. "A Dragonair? When a Dratini evolves?"

I giggled to cover up for being confused. I still didn't know what he was talking about-Mystic was going to evolve one day? I thought a Dratini was a single Pokemon!

"Are you ready to start the battle?" Danny asked.

"Oh, yeah," I said, feeling really stupid. "Go Mystic," I said to my Dratini.

"Draaaaa," she answered as she slithered her long body in front of Dragonair.

Mystic took one look at Danny's magnificent Pokemon and started hopping up and down. She looked very excited, but then she sniffed the blue Pokemon and calmed down. She didn't even seem interested in battling it.

"Come on Mystic," I pleaded . "Uh, Dragonair, use your Dragon Rage," Danny half-heartedly commanded.

"Ummm." I stalled. "Use your Ice Beam!"

Dragonair drew its head back and let out a stream of blue smoke. Mystic drew her head back and let out a beam of ice. The two beams collided.

Smoke stung my eyes, and it felt extremely cold. I was sure it was the effect of the beams. I pushed my long hair behind my ears and waved my hands around, trying to rid the smoke.

A few seconds later, it cleared up. Both dragon Pokemon were standing-well, kind of-unscathed. Dragonair looked a little sleepy, but fine.

"Weird. . ." Danny commented. "Oh, well. Thunderbolt!" he finished.

Dragonair leapt up out of its curled position and began to prepare for a Thunderbolt . "I don't know what to do," I murmured to myself. I grabbed my dad's key, which I still had after three years. "Dad, help me!" I cried.

Suddenly, I knew what to do. I just KNEW. I was confident I could win this battle, and that Mystic would give me her very best.

I looked at her. She also seemed confident, stronger than before.

I waited until the right moment. When the Thunderbolt was just close enough. . . "Twister!" I cried.

Mystic whirled her head around, her eyes glowing green. A large tornado appeared in front of the Thunderbolt, and sucked its energy into the raging twister. Then it spun towards Dragonair, shocking it and twisting it at the same time.

"No!" Danny cried.

When the green tornado disappeared, Dragonair looked close to fainting. Its head was drooped low, and its eyes were closed. The little blue half-circle on its neck glowed.

Danny pulled out a Pokeball. "Return, Dragonair," he said rather sadly.

"What-" I began.

Danny held up his hand. "Dragonair was hurting, I could tell, and I didn't want to hurt him any longer."

"Oh, all right," I smiled. "As long as you weren't just forfeiting." I joked.

Danny laughed. Then he looked at the road behind him. "Well, I guess I'd better get going," he said.

"Yeah, me too," I said in the same sad tone.

But neither of us moved.

Danny slowly walked up to be. He hugged me again. I could feel his face so close to mine. He closed his eyes and pressed his soft, soft lips to mine.

I wrapped my arms around Danny's neck and started to close my eyes, enjoying this moment.

Out of the corner of my closing eyelid, I saw Mystic glow.