Oi. Sorry I didn't update yesterday. . .we went out to dinner and I stuffed myself with pizza. Oooooo yeah ~.^

Hmm. . .I got REVIEWS! Hooray! Must. . .reply. . .

Melani—I hope your brain starts working too. ;D Chloe and Luke, yeah, like ewwwwww. . .

Zero_Chan—Rainy weather is gooood. Go Lurk! ^_^;; Muhahaha.

Karania Avalon—You're talking more! ^.^ Yay!

Rose—Mmmm, feedback! –drool- Well, at least you got some candy ;D Yeah I imagine it would be rather hard to trick-or-treat on a train. . .

Hanni-- -runs- YOU'RE NOT DEAD!!! Oi. . .I sorta know what you mean. Sometimes Pokemon just bugs me and other time I love it ;D Junior year does=Evil. Bwahaha. You better come back or I shall be forced to steal your lunch money. . .muhahaha.

Luccamajere26—Awww. . .I'm not the only one who likes the cute scenes ;D Yay cuteness! Hopefully more of those will be coming up. . .

Oh yeah! Cool thing! Lindsey and Steve were recently featured in Melani's fic, 'Melani: Flareon Tamer' !!! YEEHAW! ^_^

Okay, I'll shut up now. Plus, I still need to shower since. . .well, I smell like horse. Not that that's really a bad thing. ^.^;;

~Chapter Eight~

Two years later. . .

~*~

"Hey Mom!" I cried, kicking off my shoes and shrugging my backpack off. "I'm home!"

Mom poked her head out of the kitchen, the phone clutched to her ear. She looked oddly happy.

"What?" she said into the phone. "Yes. . .yes. . .oh, thank you! Yes, thank you. No, I don't know how long." Pause. "Yes. Yes, I know. Okay. Thank you very much!"

"What was that all about?" I asked, opening the fridge and rummaging around for something to eat before I went out to ride Joker.

"Oh. . .nothing." Mom absentmindedly patted my head and walked out the side door to the Pokemon.

Kitsune suddenly scampered into the kitchen, running around in circles at my feet.

"Hmm, what's going on with Mom, big boy?" I laughed, picking him up. "Do you know?"

"Eeeevee," Kitsune said, cocking his head. He jumped from my grasp and somehow settled on my shoulder.

"You dork," I laughed. "C'mon, let's go outside. You can come with Jo and I on our daily trail ride today."

"Eee!" Kit squealed. I swear he smiled, and I did too.

When I got outside, Mom was having what looked like a Very Serious Conversation with Dad, yet they both looked pretty happy. When Mom saw me getting Joker's halter, she and Dad ran over to me.

"Lindsey, hold off on riding for a second," Mom smiled. "We have something to tell you."

"What?" I asked, not having any idea what was coming. What was making them so happy? Were we getting another Ponyta or Rapidash? But that was hardly something to be so excited about. . .we were constantly switching Rapidashes with the Professors.

"Lindsey, dear, we're. . ." Dad trailed off.

Mom looked at him, then back at me. "Lindsey, we're moving!"

~*~

I couldn't understand why Mom wanted me to come out of my room. Surely she could see that if I stayed in there, no one could make me leave.

Mom pounded on my door and spoke from the other side. "Lindsey, stop being so childish. We're only moving to the Hoenn region. It's not like you'll never be back in Johto again!"

'So what,' I thought. I could care less where we were, as long as Steve and Ivy were there.

. . .But it's not like they were moving with me. I didn't want to leave my life. It was perfect. Why did Mom want to destroy that?

"Please come out of there, Lindsey!" Mom cried. "You're going to have to, anyway. I don't see what the problem is. We're moving all the Pokemon with us, so you'll still have Joker and Kitsune!"

"Yeah, well, what about the rest of my life?!" I yelled back. "There's more to my life than the Pokemon! WHAT ABOUT IVY AND STEVE?!"

"You can call them!"

"It's not the same!"

"Lindsey! Open this door!"

Kitsune was not enjoying the yelling, and buried his head in my lap. I knew he knew I loved him and cared about him, so he didn't take it personally when I said there was more to my life than the Pokemon. There is, but Jo and Kit are huge parts of my life.

"FINE!" I yelled, stomping across my room and flinging the door open. Mom's fist was raised, like she was going to knock again, but she dropped it. I stomped back over to my bed and plopped myself on it, and Kitsune snuggled into my lap again.

Mom sat down next to me. "Lindsey, why are you so upset about this?" she asked.

"Hmm, let me think," I said sarcastically. "I'm thirteen, smack in the middle of my life; my best friends live nearby and I practically break out in hives if I don't see them everyday; and everything was going great." I looked at Mom. "Why do you want to move? Isn't Johto good enough?"

"Of course," Mom said. "I grew up here, in this house. This will always be my home."

"Then why are we leaving it?" I snarled.

Mom paused, looking around my room, and sighed. "Sometimes change is a good thing," she finally said. "Plus, like I said, we're bringing all the Pokemon with us. We found a huge lot of land in Slateport City, which is right near the beach. Plus, we're not going to sell the house, we're renting it out---so one day, we are going to return."

I sighed, thinking this over. "That doesn't change the fact that I'm leaving Steve and Ivy." I grabbed a pillow and buried my face into it. "They're my best friends. We've been together. . .well, forever. How do you expect me to leave them?"

Mom stroked my hair. "If they really are your best friends, you'll never really leave them. You won't forget them, and they won't forget you. Plus, we do have something called a videophone." I looked up, and Mom was smiling.

I gave a weak smile back. "I. . .guess. I guess that's true."

Mom's smile got a little bigger. "That's my girl," she said. "I'm sorry this is such short notice, but we're leaving in about a month and half. . .the person who's renting out the land isn't really holding out."

I frowned and buried my face in the pillow again. "Oh, great!" my muffled voice complained. "Just great!"

"Tell you what," Mom said, stroking my hair again. "I'll get Professor Oak to transport another Ponyta over here so you, Steve, and Ivy can go on a nice long trail ride together and you can tell them then."

Tears started to spill from my eyes. How could Mom be so calm about this? How could she even think of ruining my life and dragging me to. . .Slateport or whatever it was. So what if it had a beach? If someplace didn't have Steve or Ivy, I didn't want to go.

"Whatever," I mumbled, but Mom had already left---to call Professor Oak, I guess.

I whipped the pillow off my face and leaned back so my hair cascaded down the side of my bed, and thought.

We were moving. I, Lindsey Tamer, was going to leave the house I had lived in all thirteen years of my life and my best friends who I have known practically all my life.

Oh, man. Steve and Ivy. . .how was I supposed to tell them this? 'Oh, yeah, my best friends in the world. . .I'm leaving you!'

Steve was starting to get popular and get a bunch of girlfriends, so maybe he wasn't going to be so heartbroken over it. No, it wouldn't be very 'ladies-man' like of him. But Ivy---she was my soul sister. . .how could I leave her?

Johto. . .how could I leave it?

~*~*~

-sob- Hoenn is eeeeeeevil. Yeah, it made me look an hour for an Absol before I realized I was on the wrong route! Stupid Sapphire :P

Well. . .you know what to do! That's right—review! It's the SMART thing to do (and you're all smart, right? ~.^)