Wheeeeeeee I'm finally updating! Ha ha, well I could've anytime last week
but I was toooo busy doing. . . NOTHING! YAY!
Well, on Saturday I had a horse show. I got second place (LAST, really, since only one other person was in both of my classes) twice. It was really fun going over the cavalettis (little wooden bar thingys that are supposed to train a horse to jump). At the last three, the horse I was riding, Gus, was trotting and instead of stepping over them like he was supposed to, he FLEW over them! It was soooo fun. ^_^
Okay, enough about me, here is the chapter. I am almost done writing this fic, but I am really, really, really, really stuck. I have writer's block so bad _ Hmmm. . .perhaps a third 'Cure For Writer's Block' story is in order ~_^
Okay, okay, here's the chapter. And Hanni, you must be some kind of mind reader ~_^ Why? you may ask. Well. . .you'll see. Muhahahaha
Oh, and edit (geez, the ONE thing I forget): Yes, Diana would be 14 by now.
~Chapter Eighteen~
After Princess was safe in her stall, I ran home and straight up to my room. I flung myself on my bed and grabbed a pillow.
"I wonder where I got these crybaby genes," I sobbed to myself. Probably Mom.
I was sick of this, sick of crying all the time, sick of wondering what to say to Shane, sick of avoiding him for two years.
I clutched the pillow harder and caught sight of the Pokeball containing Mystical on my dresser. I got up and opened the Pokeball.
Mystical cheered when she discovered she was free. "Dra, Dra, Dratiniiiiii!" she cried, doing some little flips in the air.
I giggled and bent down to stroke her head. I felt really bad for ignoring her most of the time, and spending every moment with Princess. The thing was, she remind me of Shane's you-know-what, and the fact that I would have to go back to the Den, someday. Even if I was dead set, something drew me to thinking about the Den.
"Dra, Dra Dra," she said.
"Sorry, I don't have Mom's telepathy power," I apologized.
"Dra," Mystical pouted. She jumped on my bed and curled up. Her eyes slowly closed as she started to sleep.
"Don't you sleep in that Pokeball?" I muttered, but smiled. I let her sleep there as I wiped whatever tears were left in my eyes and ran downstairs to ask Mom if I could get a dress for the dance.
~*~*~
"How about this one?," Mom suggested. "Nah, it's too short. . .oooh, how about this one?"
"No," I said. "I don't like neon green in a dress."
It was the next day, and Mom and I had taken a trip to Burdoffs, the local department store. Actually, it was practically the ONLY department store, but it still had nice things.
Except for that neon green dress.
Mom sighed, putting the dress back on the rack. "You're so picky."
"Well, so are you!" I laughed. "Whenever I like one you say it's 'too short' or 'too sexy for my age'."
Mom raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.
"I'm going to look in the back of the store," I told her. "Maybe they have something hidden away just for me."
Mom waved her hand, indicating I could go. "Good luck," she chuckled.
Even though Burdoffs is only local, it's still pretty big, so it took me quite awhile to get to the back of the store, where a whole wall of racks with different dresses lined up.
I started flipping through them. "No. . .no. . .no. . .no. . ." I rejected. Would I EVER find a decent dress?
I went to another rack and went through them. "No. . .no. . .no. . .ooooh," I stopped. I held out all of the reject dresses on the rack and stared at the one before me.
It appeared to be strapless, but there was a strap starting in the middle of the top of the dress that would go around someone's neck. The dress was a long, dark blue, shimmery color.
The color reminded me of a Dragonair.
"Oh Mom!" I called. I didn't want to look for her. I couldn't take my eyes off of this dress.
She didn't come, so I called for her again. A few minutes later, she appeared beside me. "What is it, honey?" she asked.
"I think I found the perfect dress," I answered.
Mom laid her eyes on the dress and smiled. I knew that color would bring back so many memories for her, as it did me.
Only mine weren't such good memories.
Mom checked the price. "Hmm, not too expensive," she said, taking it off the rack. "Go try it on," she said, handing the dress to me.
I took it ever so gently and went to the fitting rooms. It took me a minute to get the strap on, but once I did, I gasped at my reflection.
I almost expected a Dragonair to appear next to me, to tell me what I should do. To tell me to be a Dragon Tamer.
But of course nothing like that happened, and I shook my head and stepped out of my dressing room to show Mom how the dress looked on me.
"It fits perfectly," I smiled, twirling around in it. The bottom billowed out slightly, making the dress even more heavenly.
"Then we'll get it," Mom smiled back.
I changed back into my other clothes and neatly put the dress on the hanger. The clerk rang it up, and the dress was mine.
I couldn't wait to go to the dance.
~*~*~
The minute we got home, I hung the dress up in my closet and called Allie and Julie. We had another one of our three-way phone conversations.
"Guess what!" I squealed.
"What?" Allison and Julie asked.
"I finally got a dress for that dance!" I exclaimed.
"That's great!" Julie cried.
"Awesome," Allison answered in approval. "What does it look like?"
I sighed happily. "It's so gorgeous, I think I should just wait and surprise you."
"Oooh man!" Julie whined. "At least tell us the color!"
"Okay, okay," I gave in. "It's blue."
"Light or dark?" Allie asked.
"Not telling," I grinned.
"Dianaaaaaaaaaa!" Julie whined.
"Sorry, you're going to have to wait," I laughed. "At least you know for sure I'll be at the dance. I mean, where else am I going to wear that dress?"
"It would sure look nice while you're riding Princess," Allison teased.
"Yeah, like I could jump while wearing that thing," I giggled. "Anyway, I gotta go and model it for dad now. He hasn't seen it."
"Okay, see you at the dance next week!" Julie and Allison chorused.
"Bye!"
~*~*~
I spun around and walked up and down in a line a few times. "So, isn't it gorgeous?" I asked Dad.
He smiled. "It's beautiful, honey."
I grinned. "I still can't believe I'm going to be wearing this for the GRADUATION dance. I mean. . .GRADUATION!"
Dad laughed. "Is it really that exciting?"
I nodded happily. "No more school. . .no more waking up early. . .no more homework on stuff we've already learned. . .it's great!"
Dad chuckled. "At least I never had to go through any of that."
"Huh?" I cocked my head.
"I only went to the local elementary school for about three years before I left to become a trainer," Dad explained. "I wanted to be a Pokemon Master. But then. . ." he trailed off.
I knew what happened. He met Mom and lived in the Den.
The Den, the Den, that stupid Den. Where Shane gave me that stupid kiss and left me feeling so. . .confused.
Even now. Was he going to go to the dance and see me in this dress?
"Anyway," he said, "You should put that dress back. You don't want it getting dirty."
I rolled my eyes. "With my luck I'll spill something on it five minutes before I have to leave. I'm going to ride Princess once I get out of this thing, okay?"
"Sure," Dad smiled. "Have fun."
~*~*~
Once I had changed out of the dress and into my breeches and boots, I went over to Princess. She seemed to smile when she saw me.
"I've got a surprise for you," I murmured as I rubbed her nose. I pulled something out of my chest pocket and held it out to Princess. She sniffed it and whinnied.
I had brought over Mystical so the two could play together. I knew Princess missed Mystical, but I had used training as an excuse so I wouldn't have to look at the Dratini that reminded me of so much. But I was sick of depriving Princess of being with her friend.
I opened her stall and she cantered out, scenting the air. I threw the Pokeball, and with a flash of light, Mystical was free too.
"Make sure she doesn't get loose," I called out to Princess and she and Mystical chased each other. "Have fun!"
Princess neighed, and Mystical answered back with a happy, "Draaaaaaaa!"
"Diana?" someone called. I spun around. It was Danielle, looking at Princess and Mystical strangely.
"Oh, hi," I said. "That's Mystical," I said, jerking my thumb back.
"A. . .Dratini?" she asked, still confused.
"Yeah," I said. "It's the Dratini I. . .uh. . . .found in this lake in Ecruteak. . ." I stuttered.
Which was sort of true.
"Oh. . ." Danielle said. She just raised her eyebrows. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Shane's out looking for something to wear to that big dance-"
"Shane's going to the dance?" I asked, my throat tightening up.
"Yeah. He begged until I gave in. Anyway, since he's out and Princess is with. . .um. . .Mystical, I was wondering if you could turn out Red Spot and then exercise Pass. He'd love to go over some jumps."
I grinned. I had never ridden Passion Fire, and he looked like an amazing Rapidash. "Okay," I said.
"Great. I'll tack him up for you while you turn out Spot. He's not used to anyone but me tacking him up and I don't want him to fly into a rage."
"Is he safe to ride or jump?" I asked, a little worried.
"Yes, he's really good in the arena. . .it's tacking up he has a problem with," Danielle answered. "So don't worry."
"Okay," I smiled, running off to get Red Spot's halter and lead rope so I could turn him out.
While I was leading the Rapidash stallion to the same field where Princess, Mystical, and several other Ponyta and Rapidash mares and geldings were, I thought about Shane's decision to go to the dance. I wondered why he was going---because I was? Or did he just want to do something normal like everyone else?
I shook my head and unclipped the halter so Red Spot could run free. He trotted over to Princess and nuzzled her back. She snorted and began a game of Tag with him and Mystical.
I smiled and jogged back to the barn where Danielle was just finishing fastening the bridle on Pass. He didn't look too happy about being tacked up, but once I put on a helmet and grabbed the reins from Danielle, he seemed to brighten up a little.
"Have fun kids," Danielle laughed as I mounted Pass and walked him towards the jumping arena.
"Oh, we will," I laughed.
I had never jumped on another Pokemon besides Princess, so I was a little scared---but not too much. Danielle said he was obedient, so it wasn't like he was going to gallop me out of the arena.
I warmed him up first by trotting, then cantering around the arena. When a little of his energy was gone and he seemed more relaxed, I guided him to a fence. He flew over it.
"Wow!" I called to Danielle, who was mucking out a stall. She looked up and grinned. "He's amazing!" I cried. "Are you going to keep him?"
"We'll see," she shrugged, and went back to mucking out the stall. I jumped Pass a couple more times, then decided to spy on Princess and Mystical to see how they were doing.
I looked out to the field they were in. A group of Ponytas were together, and sets of Rapidashes were chasing each other, rolling on the dirt, or relaxing. I saw Princess, Red Spot, and Mystical all together. Mystical had somehow gotten on Princess's back and was resting. Red Spot was nudging Princess's muzzle and she snorted in his face. I giggled.
"Silly girl," I murmured, turning around Pass so we could jump another fence. Once again, he flew over it.
I repeated this a few more times until I heard footsteps. I spun Pass around and saw Shane with a shopping bag in one hand and the other resting on the arena fence.
I stared at him for a few seconds. His eyes seemed to bore into mine, and I couldn't look away until Pass gave a playful buck. I cleared my throat and led him out of the arena.
As I brought him over to Danielle so she could untack him, I wondered what was going to happen at the dance. Was Shane going to spy on me like he has been doing? Or was he going to leave me alone?
I was a little scared, but I couldn't wait to find out.
~*~*~
There's a nice loooooooong chapter for all of you. Before I added in all of my mumbo-jumbo, I think it was 2027 werds long. W00t w00t who's cool now?!?!
Well. . .ME, if you leave a review -cough cough-
Well, on Saturday I had a horse show. I got second place (LAST, really, since only one other person was in both of my classes) twice. It was really fun going over the cavalettis (little wooden bar thingys that are supposed to train a horse to jump). At the last three, the horse I was riding, Gus, was trotting and instead of stepping over them like he was supposed to, he FLEW over them! It was soooo fun. ^_^
Okay, enough about me, here is the chapter. I am almost done writing this fic, but I am really, really, really, really stuck. I have writer's block so bad _ Hmmm. . .perhaps a third 'Cure For Writer's Block' story is in order ~_^
Okay, okay, here's the chapter. And Hanni, you must be some kind of mind reader ~_^ Why? you may ask. Well. . .you'll see. Muhahahaha
Oh, and edit (geez, the ONE thing I forget): Yes, Diana would be 14 by now.
~Chapter Eighteen~
After Princess was safe in her stall, I ran home and straight up to my room. I flung myself on my bed and grabbed a pillow.
"I wonder where I got these crybaby genes," I sobbed to myself. Probably Mom.
I was sick of this, sick of crying all the time, sick of wondering what to say to Shane, sick of avoiding him for two years.
I clutched the pillow harder and caught sight of the Pokeball containing Mystical on my dresser. I got up and opened the Pokeball.
Mystical cheered when she discovered she was free. "Dra, Dra, Dratiniiiiii!" she cried, doing some little flips in the air.
I giggled and bent down to stroke her head. I felt really bad for ignoring her most of the time, and spending every moment with Princess. The thing was, she remind me of Shane's you-know-what, and the fact that I would have to go back to the Den, someday. Even if I was dead set, something drew me to thinking about the Den.
"Dra, Dra Dra," she said.
"Sorry, I don't have Mom's telepathy power," I apologized.
"Dra," Mystical pouted. She jumped on my bed and curled up. Her eyes slowly closed as she started to sleep.
"Don't you sleep in that Pokeball?" I muttered, but smiled. I let her sleep there as I wiped whatever tears were left in my eyes and ran downstairs to ask Mom if I could get a dress for the dance.
~*~*~
"How about this one?," Mom suggested. "Nah, it's too short. . .oooh, how about this one?"
"No," I said. "I don't like neon green in a dress."
It was the next day, and Mom and I had taken a trip to Burdoffs, the local department store. Actually, it was practically the ONLY department store, but it still had nice things.
Except for that neon green dress.
Mom sighed, putting the dress back on the rack. "You're so picky."
"Well, so are you!" I laughed. "Whenever I like one you say it's 'too short' or 'too sexy for my age'."
Mom raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.
"I'm going to look in the back of the store," I told her. "Maybe they have something hidden away just for me."
Mom waved her hand, indicating I could go. "Good luck," she chuckled.
Even though Burdoffs is only local, it's still pretty big, so it took me quite awhile to get to the back of the store, where a whole wall of racks with different dresses lined up.
I started flipping through them. "No. . .no. . .no. . .no. . ." I rejected. Would I EVER find a decent dress?
I went to another rack and went through them. "No. . .no. . .no. . .ooooh," I stopped. I held out all of the reject dresses on the rack and stared at the one before me.
It appeared to be strapless, but there was a strap starting in the middle of the top of the dress that would go around someone's neck. The dress was a long, dark blue, shimmery color.
The color reminded me of a Dragonair.
"Oh Mom!" I called. I didn't want to look for her. I couldn't take my eyes off of this dress.
She didn't come, so I called for her again. A few minutes later, she appeared beside me. "What is it, honey?" she asked.
"I think I found the perfect dress," I answered.
Mom laid her eyes on the dress and smiled. I knew that color would bring back so many memories for her, as it did me.
Only mine weren't such good memories.
Mom checked the price. "Hmm, not too expensive," she said, taking it off the rack. "Go try it on," she said, handing the dress to me.
I took it ever so gently and went to the fitting rooms. It took me a minute to get the strap on, but once I did, I gasped at my reflection.
I almost expected a Dragonair to appear next to me, to tell me what I should do. To tell me to be a Dragon Tamer.
But of course nothing like that happened, and I shook my head and stepped out of my dressing room to show Mom how the dress looked on me.
"It fits perfectly," I smiled, twirling around in it. The bottom billowed out slightly, making the dress even more heavenly.
"Then we'll get it," Mom smiled back.
I changed back into my other clothes and neatly put the dress on the hanger. The clerk rang it up, and the dress was mine.
I couldn't wait to go to the dance.
~*~*~
The minute we got home, I hung the dress up in my closet and called Allie and Julie. We had another one of our three-way phone conversations.
"Guess what!" I squealed.
"What?" Allison and Julie asked.
"I finally got a dress for that dance!" I exclaimed.
"That's great!" Julie cried.
"Awesome," Allison answered in approval. "What does it look like?"
I sighed happily. "It's so gorgeous, I think I should just wait and surprise you."
"Oooh man!" Julie whined. "At least tell us the color!"
"Okay, okay," I gave in. "It's blue."
"Light or dark?" Allie asked.
"Not telling," I grinned.
"Dianaaaaaaaaaa!" Julie whined.
"Sorry, you're going to have to wait," I laughed. "At least you know for sure I'll be at the dance. I mean, where else am I going to wear that dress?"
"It would sure look nice while you're riding Princess," Allison teased.
"Yeah, like I could jump while wearing that thing," I giggled. "Anyway, I gotta go and model it for dad now. He hasn't seen it."
"Okay, see you at the dance next week!" Julie and Allison chorused.
"Bye!"
~*~*~
I spun around and walked up and down in a line a few times. "So, isn't it gorgeous?" I asked Dad.
He smiled. "It's beautiful, honey."
I grinned. "I still can't believe I'm going to be wearing this for the GRADUATION dance. I mean. . .GRADUATION!"
Dad laughed. "Is it really that exciting?"
I nodded happily. "No more school. . .no more waking up early. . .no more homework on stuff we've already learned. . .it's great!"
Dad chuckled. "At least I never had to go through any of that."
"Huh?" I cocked my head.
"I only went to the local elementary school for about three years before I left to become a trainer," Dad explained. "I wanted to be a Pokemon Master. But then. . ." he trailed off.
I knew what happened. He met Mom and lived in the Den.
The Den, the Den, that stupid Den. Where Shane gave me that stupid kiss and left me feeling so. . .confused.
Even now. Was he going to go to the dance and see me in this dress?
"Anyway," he said, "You should put that dress back. You don't want it getting dirty."
I rolled my eyes. "With my luck I'll spill something on it five minutes before I have to leave. I'm going to ride Princess once I get out of this thing, okay?"
"Sure," Dad smiled. "Have fun."
~*~*~
Once I had changed out of the dress and into my breeches and boots, I went over to Princess. She seemed to smile when she saw me.
"I've got a surprise for you," I murmured as I rubbed her nose. I pulled something out of my chest pocket and held it out to Princess. She sniffed it and whinnied.
I had brought over Mystical so the two could play together. I knew Princess missed Mystical, but I had used training as an excuse so I wouldn't have to look at the Dratini that reminded me of so much. But I was sick of depriving Princess of being with her friend.
I opened her stall and she cantered out, scenting the air. I threw the Pokeball, and with a flash of light, Mystical was free too.
"Make sure she doesn't get loose," I called out to Princess and she and Mystical chased each other. "Have fun!"
Princess neighed, and Mystical answered back with a happy, "Draaaaaaaa!"
"Diana?" someone called. I spun around. It was Danielle, looking at Princess and Mystical strangely.
"Oh, hi," I said. "That's Mystical," I said, jerking my thumb back.
"A. . .Dratini?" she asked, still confused.
"Yeah," I said. "It's the Dratini I. . .uh. . . .found in this lake in Ecruteak. . ." I stuttered.
Which was sort of true.
"Oh. . ." Danielle said. She just raised her eyebrows. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Shane's out looking for something to wear to that big dance-"
"Shane's going to the dance?" I asked, my throat tightening up.
"Yeah. He begged until I gave in. Anyway, since he's out and Princess is with. . .um. . .Mystical, I was wondering if you could turn out Red Spot and then exercise Pass. He'd love to go over some jumps."
I grinned. I had never ridden Passion Fire, and he looked like an amazing Rapidash. "Okay," I said.
"Great. I'll tack him up for you while you turn out Spot. He's not used to anyone but me tacking him up and I don't want him to fly into a rage."
"Is he safe to ride or jump?" I asked, a little worried.
"Yes, he's really good in the arena. . .it's tacking up he has a problem with," Danielle answered. "So don't worry."
"Okay," I smiled, running off to get Red Spot's halter and lead rope so I could turn him out.
While I was leading the Rapidash stallion to the same field where Princess, Mystical, and several other Ponyta and Rapidash mares and geldings were, I thought about Shane's decision to go to the dance. I wondered why he was going---because I was? Or did he just want to do something normal like everyone else?
I shook my head and unclipped the halter so Red Spot could run free. He trotted over to Princess and nuzzled her back. She snorted and began a game of Tag with him and Mystical.
I smiled and jogged back to the barn where Danielle was just finishing fastening the bridle on Pass. He didn't look too happy about being tacked up, but once I put on a helmet and grabbed the reins from Danielle, he seemed to brighten up a little.
"Have fun kids," Danielle laughed as I mounted Pass and walked him towards the jumping arena.
"Oh, we will," I laughed.
I had never jumped on another Pokemon besides Princess, so I was a little scared---but not too much. Danielle said he was obedient, so it wasn't like he was going to gallop me out of the arena.
I warmed him up first by trotting, then cantering around the arena. When a little of his energy was gone and he seemed more relaxed, I guided him to a fence. He flew over it.
"Wow!" I called to Danielle, who was mucking out a stall. She looked up and grinned. "He's amazing!" I cried. "Are you going to keep him?"
"We'll see," she shrugged, and went back to mucking out the stall. I jumped Pass a couple more times, then decided to spy on Princess and Mystical to see how they were doing.
I looked out to the field they were in. A group of Ponytas were together, and sets of Rapidashes were chasing each other, rolling on the dirt, or relaxing. I saw Princess, Red Spot, and Mystical all together. Mystical had somehow gotten on Princess's back and was resting. Red Spot was nudging Princess's muzzle and she snorted in his face. I giggled.
"Silly girl," I murmured, turning around Pass so we could jump another fence. Once again, he flew over it.
I repeated this a few more times until I heard footsteps. I spun Pass around and saw Shane with a shopping bag in one hand and the other resting on the arena fence.
I stared at him for a few seconds. His eyes seemed to bore into mine, and I couldn't look away until Pass gave a playful buck. I cleared my throat and led him out of the arena.
As I brought him over to Danielle so she could untack him, I wondered what was going to happen at the dance. Was Shane going to spy on me like he has been doing? Or was he going to leave me alone?
I was a little scared, but I couldn't wait to find out.
~*~*~
There's a nice loooooooong chapter for all of you. Before I added in all of my mumbo-jumbo, I think it was 2027 werds long. W00t w00t who's cool now?!?!
Well. . .ME, if you leave a review -cough cough-