~Chapter Seventeen~
It's now been three years. April is about to turn eighteen. She is still living happily in the den with Danny and all of her dragon Pokemon.
~*~*~
"Mystiiiiiiiic!" I chanted happily. I grinned and looked all around for my Pokemon.
Suddenly, she jumped out of the water and appeared in front of me. I thought she looked a bit tired, but maybe because this was the first time I had seen her all morning. She had probably been swimming all night.
I knelt down to her level. "Do you know what today is?" I whispered in her ear.
Mystic snorted and nodded. She coiled herself up and stayed absolutely still. "Of course. It's your birthday," her voice said in my head.
"Yes!" I cried. "I turn eighteen today!"
"Has your mom or Morgan called?" Mystic questioned.
"No and no," I answered. "I don't know if I even want to talk to them. . ."
"Apriiiiiil. . ." Mystic scolded.
"Well, I should spend my eighteenth birthday with my boyfriend!" I said in a voice a little louder than a whisper, because Cielo had just let Danny into the den. He was carrying something behind his back with a smug grin on his face.
"April," he said. "Go in your room, and don't come out until Mystic comes in, okay?"
"Sure," I smiled like I didn't know what was going on. Of course. This was just like Danny. He was going to decorate the den like he had for my last few birthdays and have all of the dragons as my guests at a birthday party.
I walked into my room and shut the door. I flung myself across my bed and pulled my diary out from under my pillow--the hiding place I had kept it all of these years.
~*~
"Dear Diary, I can't belive I actually turn eighteen today. EIGHTEEN! I wonder if I'll stay in the Den the rest of my life like Dad did-or, what I guess Dad did."
~*~
I gasped and stopped writing, and stared at the words written on the page, and realized something.
I never did read Dad's whole journal.
I never found out how he found the den.
I didn't know anything of why he kept this den a secret.
"Omigosh!" I yelped. I jumped up and started looking through the closet near my bed that had become filled with junk through the years. That journal had to be here SOMEWHERE, it just had to. . .
"Ah-ha!" I cried. I found the leather book half-covered in dust on a small shelf in the closet. I blew the dust off and decided to read the entire journal.
I had to find out the whole story of what my dad had been keeping from me.
I took a deep breath and tried to open the journal, but it wouldn't budge. Then I remembered the ring was the key. I slipped it off my finger and into the lock, muttering to myself as how I never knew exactly how Danny found the ring.
I finally got the journal open. The pages were yellowing and were a bit crumbly, so I carefully turned them and read.
~*~
"September 30 1974 I can't believe that stupid Anthony! I know we've been rivals since forever, but he's gone too far this time. That stupid person says he's going to capture more Pokemon than me. Ha! We'll see about that! I'm going to capture more Pokemon than anyone ever, and become the best trainer in the universe.
Maybe I can even get an Eevee to give to Serena-she's the girl I really like! She doesn't even look at me, though. She stares at Brian in Pokemon School all day long. Grrr, that Brian.
Well, I don't think Brian will be able to get an Eevee when I start my Pokemon journey and capture more Pokemon than Brian or Anthony!"
~*~
I smiled as I read this, remembering how surprised I was when I read it four years ago. I skipped ahead to the third entry, since I had also read the second one:
~*~
"October 5, 1974 I can't believe it. This is so STRANGE. Well, I think it is. Serena just thinks it's sad, and SO sad that's she actually crying on my shoulder with her eyes closed.
Anyway, I guess I should explain what happened. I was running through the Viridian Forest, chasing a Pichu that I wanted to capture, when Serena ran into me. I mean, literally RAN INTO me. She was crying, so of course I asked her what was wrong. She told me she had been traveling with Brian when he fell into a river trying to capture a Krabby. Unfortunately for him, the Krabby's mother Kingler found Brian and. . .um. . .well I don't even like writing about this kind of stuff.
But Serena was crying because now Brian's dead, and of course she's crying because she had a huge crush on Brian. But now I can't help thinking that maybe now he's dead, I'll have a chance to tell Serena how I feel, but of course I can't make a move until she feels a little better about Brian. But she said she wants to travel with me now, so maybe I won't have to wait as long as I think."
~*~
"Woah," I whispered. Someone had DIED on a Pokemon journey? That was weird.
I thought at first maybe Dad had killed Brian in order to try and make Mom like him, but then I shook my head. Journals were a place to write your secrets. If Dad had done something like that, he would have written about it. I turned to the middle of the journal:
~*~
"March 12, 1981 Whew, today has been hard. Ceilo won't pay attention to me at all-I guess it's the nerves of being a father to Viento. She's just like her name, always flying gracefully in the wind-well, when she actually gets out of the den and she's not taking care of the egg. Viento's egg is, well, cute. I know, how on earth can an egg be cute, but it IS. If the Dratini is hatched in good health, I think I'll call it Mystic."
~*~
My eyes opened wide. Was this MY Mystic? Had Dad somehow known that I would nickname my Dratini Mystic, or was the Mystic he was talking about even my Mystic?
Just then, my door flew open and Mystic jumped in.
"Everything's ready?" I asked with a little less excitement than I had been feeling before.
Mystic curled herself into a ball and sat completely still. "Not quite," her voice said to me. "But I want to show you something. I think you're ready."
"Ready for what?" I asked, but Mystic was already hopping towards my door and gesturing her head for me to follow. She quickly slithered up to Rio so I couldn't stop to see what Danny was doing, and spoke to him in dragon language. Rio gave a surprised look and opened the door.
Mystic went inside first, and I followed. It was pitch black.
"Uh, Mystic?" I asked. Suddenly, there was a bright glow. I squinted and saw Dawn coming into the room with that ball in her mouth. It was making the light.
Dawn nudged my leg with her nose, indicating me to pick up to object. I took it and held it up. The crystal inside was glowing brighter than ever. I wondered what made that light.
"Draaaaaaaa, draa, dragonair, nair," Mystic cried. In the dim light surrounding her, I could see Mystic sitting near a podium-like thing with a glass case on top.
"Should I put this-uh, thing-in there?" I asked.
Mystic nodded.
I carefully opened the case and gingerly put the crystal ball inside. When I closed the glass case, the light shone extremely bright for a second, and then the room was fully lit.
I grinned, and was about to look around the room, when the light dimmed, and the room was pitch black again.
"What the-" I started. But I shut up when I heard Mystic's voice in my head. I couldn't see her since the room was so dark, but I imagined her sitting frozen with fear.
"What happened?" her voice cried. "That wasn't supposed to happen. That crystal is supposed to shine forever!"
"Draaa, dratini dra dra."
"WHAT?! But how could it be? That-" She must have started moving again, because her voice cut off.
What on earth is going on? I thought. What was Mystic talking about?
"Mystic?" I called out.
I felt her tail wrap around my wrist. I was startled at first, but then I realized she was leading me out. Dawn was hopping near my foot (I kept tripping over her tail).
When we finally got out into the main part of the den, I was panting. Mystic's eyes were wide open, and Dawn just hopped into the pool.
I looked up and saw streamers all over the walls of the den. The rosebushes looked especially bright and bloomed, and Cielo was wearing a wreath of roses on his head.
"Danny?" I called.
Something in the pool made a splash, and when the water dropped back into the pool, Danny was swimming along with most of the Dragonairs and Dratinis.
"Surprise!" he cried, along with the cries of the dragons.
I jumped in, well, surprise, but Mystic, who was sitting next to me, didn't even flinch. Her eyes were still wide open in-fear? Surprise?
Danny swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out. I ran to him and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you," I said.
"You haven't seen anything yet," he replied as we let go of each other. He grinned and ran to a table that had been set up near Ceilo. He gestured for me and Mystic and the other dragons to come over. I ran over towards him, and the dragons hopped out of the pool, but Mystic stayed where she was.
I glanced at her before I looked at what Danny had put on the table. She still didn't move. Cries from the Dratinis forced me to look away.
On the table was a huge cake decorated like a Dratini, a Dragonair, and a Dragonite all standing together. A number '18' was iced above the three figures.
"Wow!" I cried. "This is amazing!"
Danny smiled in response and put a single candle in the middle of the eighteen. He lit it with a match and began to sing.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear April! Happy birthday to you!"
The dragons chanted along with the song. I listened for Mystic's voice, but I couldn't hear it. I looked over my shoulder, and she was STILL in the same position. I was about to run over to her when Danny said, "Make a wish!"
I turned back to my cake and closed my eyes. I decided to make a wish that I knew would never come true . I wish I could see Dad again, I thought. Then I took a breath and blew out the candle.
Danny clapped and the dragons cheered. There was still no response from Mystic, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I ran from the table, past the pool, and to Mystic.
"Mystic, what is it?!" I cried. "What's wrong?"
Mystic finally shook herself out of her trance. She looked at me and back at the spot she was staring at. "The statue. . ." she whispered.
I looked at whatever she was looking at. "What statue?" I replied. "That statue! The one of the 'ugly guy'?"
"Oh yeah, that one," I said. "What about it?"
"It's gone!"
"What?!" I cried. But then I relaxed. "So what? It WAS an ugly statue."
Mystic sighed. "That was a statue of Anthony, Chris's enemy who always tried to steal your mother from him. And Anthony put it there to remind Chris that he had something Anthony wanted, and he would take it when he was ready to get Serena back."
I gasped and immediately looked at the watch that was still on my wrist after all these years. I pushed down the cell phone card and dialed my home number.
"Hello?" mom's voice asked.
"Mom!" I yelped.
"April!" she cried. "Happy birthday! How nice to finally hear from you."
"Mom," I started. "Get out of the house right now."
She chuckled. "What a greeting to give your mother."
"Mom, I'm serious. Anthony is on the loose."
At first I thought she had hung up the phone because I heard nothing. Then I heard a croaking sound.
"Are. . .you. . .sure?" she whispered.
"Yes," I said. "The statue is gone." I wasn't sure how much mom knew about this, but I said that just in case she knew what I was talking about.
"Oh my God," she whispered, so I figured she knew what I was talking about. "April, I'm going to go. Don't call or try to contact me, and don't worry about me either. I'll avoid him. I love you."
"I love you too, Mom," I said. "Be careful."
"Bye honey," she said before hanging up.
I looked over at Danny and the dragons. They were staring at me with confused looks on their faces. I sat down at the edge of the pool. Danny and the dragons walked and slithered over to me, and I told them the whole ugly story.
When I was finished, tears were running down my cheeks. Mystic was on my lap trying to comfort me, and the rest of the dragons surrounded me. Danny had put his arm over my shoulder.
"April, your mom will be fine," he said. "Anthony won't get her. She won't let him."
I didn't say anything, but buried my face deeper in his shoulder.
"Well, your mom said not to worry so you shouldn't," he concluded. I looked up at him, and he smiled.
"Do you want to open your gifts?"
"Gifts?" I smiled back. "Sure."
Danny brought me a pile of brightly wrapped packages and set them beside me.
"These are all from your friends," he said. "Nurse Joy gave them to me."
I took the first package and looked at the tag. It was from Morgan.
"Mo. . ." I smiled, and tore open the package. Inside was a jewelry box filled with more jewelry she had made herself.
"These are beautiful!" I exclaimed, holding up a pair of blue earrings.
Danny smiled in agreement.
I opened up the rest of my gifts. I was so happy my friends hadn't forgotten me. After all, I hadn't kept in touch with most of them.
I stood up and gathered the wrapping paper to throw away.
"Hey wait, I didn't give you my gift," Danny cried. I dropped the wrapping paper and he stood up next to me. He handed me a long box covered in silver paper.
I slowly opened it. The paper revealed a white box, and I opened it. Inside was a beautiful rose-it wasn't red, but a sort of goldish-red color with hints of amber.
"It's beautiful," I said. I lifted up the rose and brought it to my face to sniff it, but something was glinting inside of it. I reached inside and took out a silver ring that was in the shape of a Dragonair, and coming out of its mouth was a diamond.
I stared at the ring and smiled. "I love it, Danny," I said. "Thank you so much."
Danny took my hand and stared at the floor. He took a deep breath. "April," he whispered so low I could barely hear him. "That's an engagement ring."
"It's a-what?"
Danny looked up and right into my eyes. "April, will you marry me?" he asked.
It's now been three years. April is about to turn eighteen. She is still living happily in the den with Danny and all of her dragon Pokemon.
~*~*~
"Mystiiiiiiiic!" I chanted happily. I grinned and looked all around for my Pokemon.
Suddenly, she jumped out of the water and appeared in front of me. I thought she looked a bit tired, but maybe because this was the first time I had seen her all morning. She had probably been swimming all night.
I knelt down to her level. "Do you know what today is?" I whispered in her ear.
Mystic snorted and nodded. She coiled herself up and stayed absolutely still. "Of course. It's your birthday," her voice said in my head.
"Yes!" I cried. "I turn eighteen today!"
"Has your mom or Morgan called?" Mystic questioned.
"No and no," I answered. "I don't know if I even want to talk to them. . ."
"Apriiiiiil. . ." Mystic scolded.
"Well, I should spend my eighteenth birthday with my boyfriend!" I said in a voice a little louder than a whisper, because Cielo had just let Danny into the den. He was carrying something behind his back with a smug grin on his face.
"April," he said. "Go in your room, and don't come out until Mystic comes in, okay?"
"Sure," I smiled like I didn't know what was going on. Of course. This was just like Danny. He was going to decorate the den like he had for my last few birthdays and have all of the dragons as my guests at a birthday party.
I walked into my room and shut the door. I flung myself across my bed and pulled my diary out from under my pillow--the hiding place I had kept it all of these years.
~*~
"Dear Diary, I can't belive I actually turn eighteen today. EIGHTEEN! I wonder if I'll stay in the Den the rest of my life like Dad did-or, what I guess Dad did."
~*~
I gasped and stopped writing, and stared at the words written on the page, and realized something.
I never did read Dad's whole journal.
I never found out how he found the den.
I didn't know anything of why he kept this den a secret.
"Omigosh!" I yelped. I jumped up and started looking through the closet near my bed that had become filled with junk through the years. That journal had to be here SOMEWHERE, it just had to. . .
"Ah-ha!" I cried. I found the leather book half-covered in dust on a small shelf in the closet. I blew the dust off and decided to read the entire journal.
I had to find out the whole story of what my dad had been keeping from me.
I took a deep breath and tried to open the journal, but it wouldn't budge. Then I remembered the ring was the key. I slipped it off my finger and into the lock, muttering to myself as how I never knew exactly how Danny found the ring.
I finally got the journal open. The pages were yellowing and were a bit crumbly, so I carefully turned them and read.
~*~
"September 30 1974 I can't believe that stupid Anthony! I know we've been rivals since forever, but he's gone too far this time. That stupid person says he's going to capture more Pokemon than me. Ha! We'll see about that! I'm going to capture more Pokemon than anyone ever, and become the best trainer in the universe.
Maybe I can even get an Eevee to give to Serena-she's the girl I really like! She doesn't even look at me, though. She stares at Brian in Pokemon School all day long. Grrr, that Brian.
Well, I don't think Brian will be able to get an Eevee when I start my Pokemon journey and capture more Pokemon than Brian or Anthony!"
~*~
I smiled as I read this, remembering how surprised I was when I read it four years ago. I skipped ahead to the third entry, since I had also read the second one:
~*~
"October 5, 1974 I can't believe it. This is so STRANGE. Well, I think it is. Serena just thinks it's sad, and SO sad that's she actually crying on my shoulder with her eyes closed.
Anyway, I guess I should explain what happened. I was running through the Viridian Forest, chasing a Pichu that I wanted to capture, when Serena ran into me. I mean, literally RAN INTO me. She was crying, so of course I asked her what was wrong. She told me she had been traveling with Brian when he fell into a river trying to capture a Krabby. Unfortunately for him, the Krabby's mother Kingler found Brian and. . .um. . .well I don't even like writing about this kind of stuff.
But Serena was crying because now Brian's dead, and of course she's crying because she had a huge crush on Brian. But now I can't help thinking that maybe now he's dead, I'll have a chance to tell Serena how I feel, but of course I can't make a move until she feels a little better about Brian. But she said she wants to travel with me now, so maybe I won't have to wait as long as I think."
~*~
"Woah," I whispered. Someone had DIED on a Pokemon journey? That was weird.
I thought at first maybe Dad had killed Brian in order to try and make Mom like him, but then I shook my head. Journals were a place to write your secrets. If Dad had done something like that, he would have written about it. I turned to the middle of the journal:
~*~
"March 12, 1981 Whew, today has been hard. Ceilo won't pay attention to me at all-I guess it's the nerves of being a father to Viento. She's just like her name, always flying gracefully in the wind-well, when she actually gets out of the den and she's not taking care of the egg. Viento's egg is, well, cute. I know, how on earth can an egg be cute, but it IS. If the Dratini is hatched in good health, I think I'll call it Mystic."
~*~
My eyes opened wide. Was this MY Mystic? Had Dad somehow known that I would nickname my Dratini Mystic, or was the Mystic he was talking about even my Mystic?
Just then, my door flew open and Mystic jumped in.
"Everything's ready?" I asked with a little less excitement than I had been feeling before.
Mystic curled herself into a ball and sat completely still. "Not quite," her voice said to me. "But I want to show you something. I think you're ready."
"Ready for what?" I asked, but Mystic was already hopping towards my door and gesturing her head for me to follow. She quickly slithered up to Rio so I couldn't stop to see what Danny was doing, and spoke to him in dragon language. Rio gave a surprised look and opened the door.
Mystic went inside first, and I followed. It was pitch black.
"Uh, Mystic?" I asked. Suddenly, there was a bright glow. I squinted and saw Dawn coming into the room with that ball in her mouth. It was making the light.
Dawn nudged my leg with her nose, indicating me to pick up to object. I took it and held it up. The crystal inside was glowing brighter than ever. I wondered what made that light.
"Draaaaaaaa, draa, dragonair, nair," Mystic cried. In the dim light surrounding her, I could see Mystic sitting near a podium-like thing with a glass case on top.
"Should I put this-uh, thing-in there?" I asked.
Mystic nodded.
I carefully opened the case and gingerly put the crystal ball inside. When I closed the glass case, the light shone extremely bright for a second, and then the room was fully lit.
I grinned, and was about to look around the room, when the light dimmed, and the room was pitch black again.
"What the-" I started. But I shut up when I heard Mystic's voice in my head. I couldn't see her since the room was so dark, but I imagined her sitting frozen with fear.
"What happened?" her voice cried. "That wasn't supposed to happen. That crystal is supposed to shine forever!"
"Draaa, dratini dra dra."
"WHAT?! But how could it be? That-" She must have started moving again, because her voice cut off.
What on earth is going on? I thought. What was Mystic talking about?
"Mystic?" I called out.
I felt her tail wrap around my wrist. I was startled at first, but then I realized she was leading me out. Dawn was hopping near my foot (I kept tripping over her tail).
When we finally got out into the main part of the den, I was panting. Mystic's eyes were wide open, and Dawn just hopped into the pool.
I looked up and saw streamers all over the walls of the den. The rosebushes looked especially bright and bloomed, and Cielo was wearing a wreath of roses on his head.
"Danny?" I called.
Something in the pool made a splash, and when the water dropped back into the pool, Danny was swimming along with most of the Dragonairs and Dratinis.
"Surprise!" he cried, along with the cries of the dragons.
I jumped in, well, surprise, but Mystic, who was sitting next to me, didn't even flinch. Her eyes were still wide open in-fear? Surprise?
Danny swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out. I ran to him and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you," I said.
"You haven't seen anything yet," he replied as we let go of each other. He grinned and ran to a table that had been set up near Ceilo. He gestured for me and Mystic and the other dragons to come over. I ran over towards him, and the dragons hopped out of the pool, but Mystic stayed where she was.
I glanced at her before I looked at what Danny had put on the table. She still didn't move. Cries from the Dratinis forced me to look away.
On the table was a huge cake decorated like a Dratini, a Dragonair, and a Dragonite all standing together. A number '18' was iced above the three figures.
"Wow!" I cried. "This is amazing!"
Danny smiled in response and put a single candle in the middle of the eighteen. He lit it with a match and began to sing.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear April! Happy birthday to you!"
The dragons chanted along with the song. I listened for Mystic's voice, but I couldn't hear it. I looked over my shoulder, and she was STILL in the same position. I was about to run over to her when Danny said, "Make a wish!"
I turned back to my cake and closed my eyes. I decided to make a wish that I knew would never come true . I wish I could see Dad again, I thought. Then I took a breath and blew out the candle.
Danny clapped and the dragons cheered. There was still no response from Mystic, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I ran from the table, past the pool, and to Mystic.
"Mystic, what is it?!" I cried. "What's wrong?"
Mystic finally shook herself out of her trance. She looked at me and back at the spot she was staring at. "The statue. . ." she whispered.
I looked at whatever she was looking at. "What statue?" I replied. "That statue! The one of the 'ugly guy'?"
"Oh yeah, that one," I said. "What about it?"
"It's gone!"
"What?!" I cried. But then I relaxed. "So what? It WAS an ugly statue."
Mystic sighed. "That was a statue of Anthony, Chris's enemy who always tried to steal your mother from him. And Anthony put it there to remind Chris that he had something Anthony wanted, and he would take it when he was ready to get Serena back."
I gasped and immediately looked at the watch that was still on my wrist after all these years. I pushed down the cell phone card and dialed my home number.
"Hello?" mom's voice asked.
"Mom!" I yelped.
"April!" she cried. "Happy birthday! How nice to finally hear from you."
"Mom," I started. "Get out of the house right now."
She chuckled. "What a greeting to give your mother."
"Mom, I'm serious. Anthony is on the loose."
At first I thought she had hung up the phone because I heard nothing. Then I heard a croaking sound.
"Are. . .you. . .sure?" she whispered.
"Yes," I said. "The statue is gone." I wasn't sure how much mom knew about this, but I said that just in case she knew what I was talking about.
"Oh my God," she whispered, so I figured she knew what I was talking about. "April, I'm going to go. Don't call or try to contact me, and don't worry about me either. I'll avoid him. I love you."
"I love you too, Mom," I said. "Be careful."
"Bye honey," she said before hanging up.
I looked over at Danny and the dragons. They were staring at me with confused looks on their faces. I sat down at the edge of the pool. Danny and the dragons walked and slithered over to me, and I told them the whole ugly story.
When I was finished, tears were running down my cheeks. Mystic was on my lap trying to comfort me, and the rest of the dragons surrounded me. Danny had put his arm over my shoulder.
"April, your mom will be fine," he said. "Anthony won't get her. She won't let him."
I didn't say anything, but buried my face deeper in his shoulder.
"Well, your mom said not to worry so you shouldn't," he concluded. I looked up at him, and he smiled.
"Do you want to open your gifts?"
"Gifts?" I smiled back. "Sure."
Danny brought me a pile of brightly wrapped packages and set them beside me.
"These are all from your friends," he said. "Nurse Joy gave them to me."
I took the first package and looked at the tag. It was from Morgan.
"Mo. . ." I smiled, and tore open the package. Inside was a jewelry box filled with more jewelry she had made herself.
"These are beautiful!" I exclaimed, holding up a pair of blue earrings.
Danny smiled in agreement.
I opened up the rest of my gifts. I was so happy my friends hadn't forgotten me. After all, I hadn't kept in touch with most of them.
I stood up and gathered the wrapping paper to throw away.
"Hey wait, I didn't give you my gift," Danny cried. I dropped the wrapping paper and he stood up next to me. He handed me a long box covered in silver paper.
I slowly opened it. The paper revealed a white box, and I opened it. Inside was a beautiful rose-it wasn't red, but a sort of goldish-red color with hints of amber.
"It's beautiful," I said. I lifted up the rose and brought it to my face to sniff it, but something was glinting inside of it. I reached inside and took out a silver ring that was in the shape of a Dragonair, and coming out of its mouth was a diamond.
I stared at the ring and smiled. "I love it, Danny," I said. "Thank you so much."
Danny took my hand and stared at the floor. He took a deep breath. "April," he whispered so low I could barely hear him. "That's an engagement ring."
"It's a-what?"
Danny looked up and right into my eyes. "April, will you marry me?" he asked.