Okay, here I am, here I am. Sorry that I didn't update sooner Melani. .
.eh. . .-cough cough- ^_^;;
Okay, so after this there are. . .three chapters left -sob sob- ;_; . . .BUT I am currently writing the THIRD Tamer installment. . .so YAY to that!
Gack, school starts on Monday. . .noooooooo. Well, actually I guess I don't mind. . .I can see my homies again. Yeah, I could've called them during the summer but I don't like the phone. Why do you think I write fanfics? ^_^;
Okay, so anyway, here is the neeeeew chapter. You may now read it!
HEY ROSE! ^_^ (don't ask. Unless, of course, you're Rose).
~Chapter Twenty-Three~
One year later. . .
~*~*~
"Diana. . ." someone whispered, shaking me. I blinked my eyes open and saw Mom standing over me. She smiled.
"Hey sleepyhead, you better get up. Everyone's going to start coming in about two hours."
I stared at the ceiling for a minute before sitting up, my eyes wide. "Two hours?!" I glanced at the clock. It was noon. "How could you let me sleep this late, Mom?" I wailed.
Mom laughed. "Well, it IS your eighteenth birthday so you should sleep as late as you want. And I've taken care of most things for your party today."
I smiled. "Thanks." But then I sighed deeply. Mom gave me a worried look.
"Oh, it's just Princess," I said softly before she could ask. "She's about three weeks past her due date. I'm so worried the foal's dead or something."
Mom shook her head. "Nurse Joy's been giving her checkups, right?"
I nodded.
"And Danielle and Joy said everything's fine, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well then, I don't see the problem. This is nature, and weird stuff happens in nature all the time," Mom said, a little too seriously.
I laughed, but the serious look on Mom's face didn't leave. She finally told me to get dressed, and left the room.
I shrugged as I pulled on a pair of jeans and this nice black shirt with a shimmery blue design on it and hurried down the stairs.
The living room was completely transformed. Tables were set up in the back and already lined with bowls of chips, pretzels, and other snacks. A huge stereo was in one corner, and a karaoke machine in the other. Old Christmas lights blinked on and off.
"Mom!" I cried, jogging into the kitchen. "Everything's perfect! How did you get this set up so fast?"
Mom laughed, putting something the oven. "Well, Danny helped me. He had to go to. . .to Ecruteak." She stuttered at the city name, but took a deep breath. "He had to go to Ecruteak for some things, and he helped me set up before he left."
I looked at Mom carefully. She hadn't seemed like herself in the past few days. She went pale at every mention of my eighteenth birthday, her personality was changing---even the way she WALKED had changed---it seemed like she would glide more smoothly over the surfaces.
"Oh," I finally said. "Well, hopefully he'll be here later. . ."
"Yeah," Mom said shortly, and sat down at the table, staring at the wall.
I decided to leave her alone. "I'm going to ask Mrs. Mavens if she'll watch Princess today, okay?"
Mom nodded, but seemed to barely acknowledge me. I stared at her again before leaving for next door.
Was it me, or were Mom's bright green eyes becoming more blue?
~*~*~
"Diana, don't be silly. Of course I'll keep an eye on Princess!" Danielle smiled. "I was planning to, anyway."
"And you'll call me if she shows any signs of foaling?" I bit my lip.
Shane, who was standing next to me, gave my arm a squeeze. "Yes, she will," he smiled. "Don't worry about it. Mom's an expert at this stuff."
"Well. . .okay," I smiled back. I noticed Danielle raise her eyebrows at Shane out of the corner of my eye. Shane just smiled wider and nodded slightly.
"Well!" Danielle clapped. "Isn't your party starting soon, Diana? You two better get over there."
I nodded. "Come on Sha---"
"Oh wait a minute," Danielle cried. "I just remembered, I have a present for you. . .eighteenth birthdays only come once in a lifetime. . .let me just remember where I put it. . ."
Mrs. Mavens began her hunt for my gift. Shane and I just stood where we were. He put an arm around my shoulder, and I leaned against him.
"So you're finally going to be a grown-up," he teased.
"Yeah," I smiled. "But it's weird. Mom keeps asking me what I want to do."
"Do? I thought you were going to show jump as a career."
I shrugged. "I want to, but I know Mom wants me to go back to the Den. She keeps---"
I stopped abruptly when Danielle burst into the room, holding a flat package wrapped in shiny paper.
"Found it under a saddle in my room!" she laughed, handing the gift to me. "Of all the places for me to hide something. . .open it!"
I smiled. "Thank you so much," I said, tearing off the paper.
Finally, it was all off, and I nearly cried looking at what I held in front of me.
It was a photographed, framed in a rich, dark wooden frame. The picture, though, was what got to me.
On the left was Shane and I, young and (at least for him) obnoxious, holding the lead ropes to Princess (it looked as if it was when I first bought her) and Red Spot when he was a Ponyta. Shane and I looked quite angry to be in the same picture.
On the right were, once again, Shane and I, but we looked happier. One of his arms was around me, the other was around the evolved Red Spot. I was holding the lead rope to Princess the Rapidash, and that picture must have been taken recently, because it looked as if she was in foal.
What amazed me though, was that all of this was in one picture!
"How. . .?" I trailed off, speechless.
"I scanned in the pictures and used a computer program to bring them together," Danielle explained. "I thought it would be nice for you to have nearly ten years of memories in one picture." She smiled.
I stared at the picture for a few more seconds before wrapping Danielle in a big hug.
"Thank you," I whispered, a tear escaping my eye. "This means so much to me, I can't tell you."
"I'm glad you like it." She smiled wider. "Now shoo. You have a party to get to. Don't worry about Princess, I'll keep my eye on her."
I smiled. "Thanks."
"No problem dear. Now scoot! What are you waiting for?" She pushed us out of the kitchen. Shane and I laughed the whole way to my house.
~*~*~
People were already crowding in the living room by the time Shane and I got back---friends of Mom's, maybe one friend of Shane's, but mostly my friends from school. I said hello to all of them, that I was glad they could come, but finally I saw---
"ALLIE! JULIE!" I cried. They were talking with one of Mom's friends---Mo, I think---but stopped the conversation and screamed when they saw me. We had a big group hug for about a minute.
"AHHH!" I screamed with happiness when we broke apart. "I can't believe this! You're both here! Oh my gosh, I'm so glad to see you!"
We all babbled on and on---I could tell everyone was looking at us strangely, but I didn't really care.
"I can't believe you're finally eighteen," Allison sniggered. "About time! Poor Diana, always the youngest out of all of us."
I laughed. "Yeah, yeah, you'll see who's going to be laughing when you both turn eighty and I'm still in my seventies, 'as wild as a youngster,'" I said, imitating a old person's voice.
Allison and Julie looked to the side and finally noticed Shane, who had been standing away from us, looking a little bewildered. He was holding the picture Danielle had given me.
"Ooooh yeah, I want to show you guys something," I said, taking the picture from Shane. I held it up for my two best friends to see.
"Oh, wow!" they cried.
"That's awesome," Julie smiled. "Who gave it to you?" She eyeballed Shane.
"Mrs. Mavens," I grinned. "She used a computer to put them together. Almost ten years of memories in one picture," I quoted. I looked at the picture again. "I'm going to put this up in my room. I'll be right back."
"Okay," Allison answered.
I trudged upstairs, finally entering my room. I looked around for a spot to put this picture, and finally saw an empty spot on my nightstand. I stood the frame up and smiled. Something rolled out from behind another picture--- it was Mystical's Pokeball.
I immediately stopped smiling. I picked up the Pokeball and sat on my bed, just staring at it, remembering a talk my mother and I had had a few days ago. . .
~*~
"So is Julie coming?" Mom asked.
"Yup," I answered. "She managed to convince the teacher to let her go on summer break just a few days early, since she finished all of her exams."
Mom nodded absentmindedly. "Honey, I need to talk to you."
I suddenly felt nervous. "Okay. . ."
We went in the living room. Mom sat on one chair, and I sprawled out on the couch.
"It's almost your eighteenth birthday. . ." she started.
I grinned. "I know. I'm so excited!"
Mom gave a faint smile. "Yeah, I can tell. Anyway. . .we have to talk about. . .the Den."
I frowned. "Why? Anthony hasn't come back or anything, has he?"
Mom winced. "No, no. . .but. . .well. . ." She looked up at me. "I want you to go and live in the Den, and soon."
My mouth dropped open. "Mom!" I cried. "Don't you remember? You said I could be a show jumper, that I didn't have to go anywhere NEAR that Den unless I wanted to."
"Yes. . .but Princess is going to deliver her foal soon, right? And then you won't have a Rapidash." Mom sounded a little smug.
I was practically screaming now. "I DON'T CARE! DANIELLE WANTS ME TO SHOW PASS FOR HER! I AM GOING TO SPEND MY LIFE WITH RAPIDASHES AND PONYTAS, NOT SCALY OLD SLITHERY THINGS, AND I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE NEAR THAT DEN!"
I stomped angrily to my room and slammed the door.
~*~
I put the Pokeball down and stared. After I had yelled like that, Mom had talked to me through the door, but I turned up my stereo and made it clear I didn't want to talk about the Den. After I had calmed down, she let it go, but still tried to work Dragons and the Den into practically every conversation.
It wasn't that I didn't like Dragon Pokemon. Far from it. I loved Mystical. And I did have the intention of going back to the Den. . .just not right away. I was barely eighteen. What was the big rush?
I shook my head and sighed, going back down the stairs and returning to my party. I found Allison and Julie, who were talking to Shane. They had huge grins on their faces.
"And then---" Shane was saying.
"Diana!" Julie squeaked. Shane spun around and looked surprised to see me for a second, but then smiled.
"Hey, birthday girl," he teased. "What took you?"
"Oh, I just had to find the perfect place for the picture," I said. Which was sort of true. "You know how messy my room is. . ."
Allison snorted. "You still haven't solved that problem?"
"No!" I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Girls, girls, girls," Shane sighed, shaking his head.
We all laughed, and got into the party.
~*~*~
After about two hours of what Mom said was 'socially dancing' (meaning dancing and talking at the same time), the cake was finally brought out. It was this HUGE chocolate monstrosity, and it made me wonder if Mom really did make it herself like she said she had.
"Happy birthday dear Diana!" everyone sang. "Happy birthday to you!"
I blew out the nineteen candles---eighteen and one for luck---without making a wish. As far as I was concerned, all my wishes were coming true.
Mom and I cut piece of cake for everyone, and they all scattered around the room again. Julie and Allison went to the other side of the room for some reason, saying that they wanted to finish their conversation with Mo. So Shane and I went to a deserted corner of the room, eating the cake.
"Mmmm," I said. "If Mom really did make this, it's really good."
"I think my mom helped her," Shane smiled, shoving a forkful in his mouth. "Iweinimproslbilifyeorbobbadeitheflelf."
"Swallow, please," I laughed.
Shane swallowed. "I'd find it impossible if your mom made it herself."
I laughed again, finishing the cake. Someone whizzed by and took our empty plates---another one of Mom's friends, I think. Soon, Shane and I were alone again.
Shane shoved his hands in his pockets, biting his lip. "Diana?" he finally asked.
"Yeah?"
"Well. . .I. . .um. . .oh, never mind."
He kept shifty from foot to foot, his eyes darting around the room. I heard people laughing, people talking, music, and the distant sound of the phone ringing in the kitchen. Someone picked it up---probably Mom.
After a few more seconds, Shane spoke up again. "Diana?"
"This sounds familiar," I chuckled. "What?"
"I was wondering. . ."
"DIANA!" someone yelled across the room. I recognized the voice as Mom's. She shoved through a sea of people and made her way to me.
"Diana!" she cried again. "You have to get next door right away. Danielle said Princess has gone into labor!"
~*~*~
EEEEE! Cliffhanger! Oh, I love these things.
Well, of course I do, since I know what's happening next ~_^ If you want to know. . .REVIEW!
Okay, so after this there are. . .three chapters left -sob sob- ;_; . . .BUT I am currently writing the THIRD Tamer installment. . .so YAY to that!
Gack, school starts on Monday. . .noooooooo. Well, actually I guess I don't mind. . .I can see my homies again. Yeah, I could've called them during the summer but I don't like the phone. Why do you think I write fanfics? ^_^;
Okay, so anyway, here is the neeeeew chapter. You may now read it!
HEY ROSE! ^_^ (don't ask. Unless, of course, you're Rose).
~Chapter Twenty-Three~
One year later. . .
~*~*~
"Diana. . ." someone whispered, shaking me. I blinked my eyes open and saw Mom standing over me. She smiled.
"Hey sleepyhead, you better get up. Everyone's going to start coming in about two hours."
I stared at the ceiling for a minute before sitting up, my eyes wide. "Two hours?!" I glanced at the clock. It was noon. "How could you let me sleep this late, Mom?" I wailed.
Mom laughed. "Well, it IS your eighteenth birthday so you should sleep as late as you want. And I've taken care of most things for your party today."
I smiled. "Thanks." But then I sighed deeply. Mom gave me a worried look.
"Oh, it's just Princess," I said softly before she could ask. "She's about three weeks past her due date. I'm so worried the foal's dead or something."
Mom shook her head. "Nurse Joy's been giving her checkups, right?"
I nodded.
"And Danielle and Joy said everything's fine, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well then, I don't see the problem. This is nature, and weird stuff happens in nature all the time," Mom said, a little too seriously.
I laughed, but the serious look on Mom's face didn't leave. She finally told me to get dressed, and left the room.
I shrugged as I pulled on a pair of jeans and this nice black shirt with a shimmery blue design on it and hurried down the stairs.
The living room was completely transformed. Tables were set up in the back and already lined with bowls of chips, pretzels, and other snacks. A huge stereo was in one corner, and a karaoke machine in the other. Old Christmas lights blinked on and off.
"Mom!" I cried, jogging into the kitchen. "Everything's perfect! How did you get this set up so fast?"
Mom laughed, putting something the oven. "Well, Danny helped me. He had to go to. . .to Ecruteak." She stuttered at the city name, but took a deep breath. "He had to go to Ecruteak for some things, and he helped me set up before he left."
I looked at Mom carefully. She hadn't seemed like herself in the past few days. She went pale at every mention of my eighteenth birthday, her personality was changing---even the way she WALKED had changed---it seemed like she would glide more smoothly over the surfaces.
"Oh," I finally said. "Well, hopefully he'll be here later. . ."
"Yeah," Mom said shortly, and sat down at the table, staring at the wall.
I decided to leave her alone. "I'm going to ask Mrs. Mavens if she'll watch Princess today, okay?"
Mom nodded, but seemed to barely acknowledge me. I stared at her again before leaving for next door.
Was it me, or were Mom's bright green eyes becoming more blue?
~*~*~
"Diana, don't be silly. Of course I'll keep an eye on Princess!" Danielle smiled. "I was planning to, anyway."
"And you'll call me if she shows any signs of foaling?" I bit my lip.
Shane, who was standing next to me, gave my arm a squeeze. "Yes, she will," he smiled. "Don't worry about it. Mom's an expert at this stuff."
"Well. . .okay," I smiled back. I noticed Danielle raise her eyebrows at Shane out of the corner of my eye. Shane just smiled wider and nodded slightly.
"Well!" Danielle clapped. "Isn't your party starting soon, Diana? You two better get over there."
I nodded. "Come on Sha---"
"Oh wait a minute," Danielle cried. "I just remembered, I have a present for you. . .eighteenth birthdays only come once in a lifetime. . .let me just remember where I put it. . ."
Mrs. Mavens began her hunt for my gift. Shane and I just stood where we were. He put an arm around my shoulder, and I leaned against him.
"So you're finally going to be a grown-up," he teased.
"Yeah," I smiled. "But it's weird. Mom keeps asking me what I want to do."
"Do? I thought you were going to show jump as a career."
I shrugged. "I want to, but I know Mom wants me to go back to the Den. She keeps---"
I stopped abruptly when Danielle burst into the room, holding a flat package wrapped in shiny paper.
"Found it under a saddle in my room!" she laughed, handing the gift to me. "Of all the places for me to hide something. . .open it!"
I smiled. "Thank you so much," I said, tearing off the paper.
Finally, it was all off, and I nearly cried looking at what I held in front of me.
It was a photographed, framed in a rich, dark wooden frame. The picture, though, was what got to me.
On the left was Shane and I, young and (at least for him) obnoxious, holding the lead ropes to Princess (it looked as if it was when I first bought her) and Red Spot when he was a Ponyta. Shane and I looked quite angry to be in the same picture.
On the right were, once again, Shane and I, but we looked happier. One of his arms was around me, the other was around the evolved Red Spot. I was holding the lead rope to Princess the Rapidash, and that picture must have been taken recently, because it looked as if she was in foal.
What amazed me though, was that all of this was in one picture!
"How. . .?" I trailed off, speechless.
"I scanned in the pictures and used a computer program to bring them together," Danielle explained. "I thought it would be nice for you to have nearly ten years of memories in one picture." She smiled.
I stared at the picture for a few more seconds before wrapping Danielle in a big hug.
"Thank you," I whispered, a tear escaping my eye. "This means so much to me, I can't tell you."
"I'm glad you like it." She smiled wider. "Now shoo. You have a party to get to. Don't worry about Princess, I'll keep my eye on her."
I smiled. "Thanks."
"No problem dear. Now scoot! What are you waiting for?" She pushed us out of the kitchen. Shane and I laughed the whole way to my house.
~*~*~
People were already crowding in the living room by the time Shane and I got back---friends of Mom's, maybe one friend of Shane's, but mostly my friends from school. I said hello to all of them, that I was glad they could come, but finally I saw---
"ALLIE! JULIE!" I cried. They were talking with one of Mom's friends---Mo, I think---but stopped the conversation and screamed when they saw me. We had a big group hug for about a minute.
"AHHH!" I screamed with happiness when we broke apart. "I can't believe this! You're both here! Oh my gosh, I'm so glad to see you!"
We all babbled on and on---I could tell everyone was looking at us strangely, but I didn't really care.
"I can't believe you're finally eighteen," Allison sniggered. "About time! Poor Diana, always the youngest out of all of us."
I laughed. "Yeah, yeah, you'll see who's going to be laughing when you both turn eighty and I'm still in my seventies, 'as wild as a youngster,'" I said, imitating a old person's voice.
Allison and Julie looked to the side and finally noticed Shane, who had been standing away from us, looking a little bewildered. He was holding the picture Danielle had given me.
"Ooooh yeah, I want to show you guys something," I said, taking the picture from Shane. I held it up for my two best friends to see.
"Oh, wow!" they cried.
"That's awesome," Julie smiled. "Who gave it to you?" She eyeballed Shane.
"Mrs. Mavens," I grinned. "She used a computer to put them together. Almost ten years of memories in one picture," I quoted. I looked at the picture again. "I'm going to put this up in my room. I'll be right back."
"Okay," Allison answered.
I trudged upstairs, finally entering my room. I looked around for a spot to put this picture, and finally saw an empty spot on my nightstand. I stood the frame up and smiled. Something rolled out from behind another picture--- it was Mystical's Pokeball.
I immediately stopped smiling. I picked up the Pokeball and sat on my bed, just staring at it, remembering a talk my mother and I had had a few days ago. . .
~*~
"So is Julie coming?" Mom asked.
"Yup," I answered. "She managed to convince the teacher to let her go on summer break just a few days early, since she finished all of her exams."
Mom nodded absentmindedly. "Honey, I need to talk to you."
I suddenly felt nervous. "Okay. . ."
We went in the living room. Mom sat on one chair, and I sprawled out on the couch.
"It's almost your eighteenth birthday. . ." she started.
I grinned. "I know. I'm so excited!"
Mom gave a faint smile. "Yeah, I can tell. Anyway. . .we have to talk about. . .the Den."
I frowned. "Why? Anthony hasn't come back or anything, has he?"
Mom winced. "No, no. . .but. . .well. . ." She looked up at me. "I want you to go and live in the Den, and soon."
My mouth dropped open. "Mom!" I cried. "Don't you remember? You said I could be a show jumper, that I didn't have to go anywhere NEAR that Den unless I wanted to."
"Yes. . .but Princess is going to deliver her foal soon, right? And then you won't have a Rapidash." Mom sounded a little smug.
I was practically screaming now. "I DON'T CARE! DANIELLE WANTS ME TO SHOW PASS FOR HER! I AM GOING TO SPEND MY LIFE WITH RAPIDASHES AND PONYTAS, NOT SCALY OLD SLITHERY THINGS, AND I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE NEAR THAT DEN!"
I stomped angrily to my room and slammed the door.
~*~
I put the Pokeball down and stared. After I had yelled like that, Mom had talked to me through the door, but I turned up my stereo and made it clear I didn't want to talk about the Den. After I had calmed down, she let it go, but still tried to work Dragons and the Den into practically every conversation.
It wasn't that I didn't like Dragon Pokemon. Far from it. I loved Mystical. And I did have the intention of going back to the Den. . .just not right away. I was barely eighteen. What was the big rush?
I shook my head and sighed, going back down the stairs and returning to my party. I found Allison and Julie, who were talking to Shane. They had huge grins on their faces.
"And then---" Shane was saying.
"Diana!" Julie squeaked. Shane spun around and looked surprised to see me for a second, but then smiled.
"Hey, birthday girl," he teased. "What took you?"
"Oh, I just had to find the perfect place for the picture," I said. Which was sort of true. "You know how messy my room is. . ."
Allison snorted. "You still haven't solved that problem?"
"No!" I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Girls, girls, girls," Shane sighed, shaking his head.
We all laughed, and got into the party.
~*~*~
After about two hours of what Mom said was 'socially dancing' (meaning dancing and talking at the same time), the cake was finally brought out. It was this HUGE chocolate monstrosity, and it made me wonder if Mom really did make it herself like she said she had.
"Happy birthday dear Diana!" everyone sang. "Happy birthday to you!"
I blew out the nineteen candles---eighteen and one for luck---without making a wish. As far as I was concerned, all my wishes were coming true.
Mom and I cut piece of cake for everyone, and they all scattered around the room again. Julie and Allison went to the other side of the room for some reason, saying that they wanted to finish their conversation with Mo. So Shane and I went to a deserted corner of the room, eating the cake.
"Mmmm," I said. "If Mom really did make this, it's really good."
"I think my mom helped her," Shane smiled, shoving a forkful in his mouth. "Iweinimproslbilifyeorbobbadeitheflelf."
"Swallow, please," I laughed.
Shane swallowed. "I'd find it impossible if your mom made it herself."
I laughed again, finishing the cake. Someone whizzed by and took our empty plates---another one of Mom's friends, I think. Soon, Shane and I were alone again.
Shane shoved his hands in his pockets, biting his lip. "Diana?" he finally asked.
"Yeah?"
"Well. . .I. . .um. . .oh, never mind."
He kept shifty from foot to foot, his eyes darting around the room. I heard people laughing, people talking, music, and the distant sound of the phone ringing in the kitchen. Someone picked it up---probably Mom.
After a few more seconds, Shane spoke up again. "Diana?"
"This sounds familiar," I chuckled. "What?"
"I was wondering. . ."
"DIANA!" someone yelled across the room. I recognized the voice as Mom's. She shoved through a sea of people and made her way to me.
"Diana!" she cried again. "You have to get next door right away. Danielle said Princess has gone into labor!"
~*~*~
EEEEE! Cliffhanger! Oh, I love these things.
Well, of course I do, since I know what's happening next ~_^ If you want to know. . .REVIEW!