Ahhh...-dies- So sorry I didn't update on Friday. I was feeling lazy and I went to Busch Gardens on Saturday, so I couldn't update then...and I spent most of the day in my room, drawing and watching cartoons, so I was also feeling lazy then XD

But here is the spiffy update! Ooo...there's one more slice of Oreo Pie left...-drools-

Chapter Thirty-Nine

A month later...

"Ahhh! Lindsey, can you find me another saddle pad?" Mom ran in and out of the tack room in a frenzy. "OH GOD! WHERE'S THE SHOW-SHINE?!?!"

"MOM!" I cried, grabbing her arm. "Chill out. Your wrist is still hurting you! The other show pads are on the top shelf to the right. The Show-Shine is already in the trailer."

Mom let a breath. "Okay, okay," she sighed. "Oh man...I wonder why I'm so nervous about this show, other than the fact that it's Blaze's first..."

"Don't worry about it," I assured, going into the trailer and checking the tack trunk to make sure Mom wasn't forgetting anything. In her state of mind, she'd probably forget the saddle. Or worse, Blaze.

"I'm so glad you graduated last week," she said, twisting her short hair into a bun—or something that resembled a bun, anyway—it was pretty hard to do anything with her lack of hair. "I probably would've made a dent in the trailer smacking my head into it by now."

"Yeah..."

"How come you didn't go to the graduation dance? I went when they had mine, and I had a really great time..."

I looked up, a little bewildered at the sudden softness in her voice and realized Mom was doing something I had never seen her do: she was blushing.

I hid a laugh. "Uh, Mom?"

She jumped as if I had startled her out of some fantasy. "Oh...yeah?"

"We have room in the truck for Steve and Ivy, right? They said they wanted to come."

"Yes, of course."

Good thing she agreed, because Ivy and Steve were already here, and they were nice enough to be helping Dad repair a fence. When Ivy saw me looking over at them, she gestured for me to come over.

"Uh, I'll be right back Mom," I said. "You should be preparing Blaze for the long ride over there."

"Yeah..."

I left Mom wandering in a daze and went over to my friends.

"So there's room?" Ivy asked as soon as I reached them.

"Yup."

Steve grinned. "Cool. We've never really been to any of these shows, now that we think about it...so this'll be fun."

"Only because Lindsey doesn't think she wants to be a show jumper," Dad smiled.

"Hey!" I cried. "I know I don't. For one thing, it's just...not my thing, and second, do you honestly think Joker could handle being trapped in a trailer going from show to show?"

"I guess not," Dad admitted.

"Speaking of which," Ivy piped up, handing Steve a hammer. "Where is this show, anyway?"

I lowered my eyes. "Near Ecruteak City."

Of course luck would have it that the one show I was actually going to with Mom—only because she might need help with stuff jumping three-foot-six fences on a Rapidash only a month after a serious car accident—had to be near the city with the Den.

Ivy and Steve both raised their eyebrows, and our sudden silence caused Dad to look up from his repairs and give us a funny look. "You have something against Ecruteak City?"

"N...no," I answered, unconsciously reaching up to my neck to feel for the chain with the key around my neck.

Dad's eyes widened when he saw me do this, which made me fury my brow. Did he know about the Den?

"Dad..."

"SHAAAAAAANE!" Mom's voice called from the other side of the barn. "Can you help me load Blaze?"

"Coming!" Dad called back, and I thought I detected a small sigh of relief in his answer. What did that mean?

"So," Ivy said once we were alone. "Don't you think you should tell your parents what you found? I mean...you're going to Ecruteak. No better time than the present."

"Don't turn all philosophical on me," I grunted.

"Am I ever anything else?" she winked.

I flopped my arms over the fence. "It's such a huge thing to talk to them about though...and I don't really want to involve Mom, of all people, right now. I mean, look at her." I gestured to where she was loading Blaze into the trailer with a huge grin. "She absolutely loves her Rapidashes, and her job working with them...she's never mentioned Dragon Pokemon once. It's like she had no room for anything else in her brain...and anyway, this is her first show on Blaze. She needs to concen---"

I broke off when I saw Dad leading a very-pissed-off-looking Joker towards the trailer. Jo, of course, was fighting every step of the way, as he does when anyone but me handles him.

"Heyheyhey!" I cried, leaping over the fences, Darrell-style, and rushing up to my Ponyta. "Uh, Dad? What are you doing?"

"Oh, Diana didn't tell you?" He gave Mom a Look.

"Eh?" Mom came out the side door of the trailer.

"Joker?"

"Oh, that." She waved her hand.

"Please don't tell me you entered me in any classes or anything..."

"No, of course not!" she laughed. I frowned. That was what she said when I was seven, and she entered me in a show and Joker nearly killed me trying to run through all the fences. "This is Blaze's first show, and it's always good if there's something familiar to him on the show grounds. A trailer buddy, really. Joker was looking kind of bored, so I'm bringing him."

"You could've had the decency to ask me first," I grumbled.

"I thought I did." Mom frowned. "Ah, well. It's okay, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sure...better let me load him though," I added, taking the lead rope from Dad, who was already breaking a sweat.

"Good idea," he winked.

After a few minutes of his stubbornness, Joker loaded and while Mom was busy making sure she didn't forget anything, I went back to my friends.

"What was that all about?" Ivy asked, starting to pack up some of the repair tools she and Steve were using to fix the fence.

"Mom wants to bring Joker so Blaze feels more at home." I wrinkled my nose in disgust. The fact that she thought she could take off with my Ponyta made me sick.

...Literally. Just in time, I ran for some bushes and upchucked what was probably my whole breakfast into them.

Steve and Ivy were at my side in a flash. "What's wrong?" Steve asked, with a look of concern. Well, no wonder. I hoped the remains of what I had eaten that morning could be used as fertilizer, because man, those bushes wouldn't need tending to for a month.

"I...it's nothing!" I stuttered, using a clammy hand to push back some hair. "Really. Must've been something I ate."

Ivy frowned when I looked up at her. "You've been acting really weird lately," she said. "Remember, during the graduation ceremony, you weren't feeling well then either? And then..."

I wanted to puke again at the memory. I had been so feverish and dizzy, I nearly fell off the stage when they had called up my name. I knocked down a microphone stand in order to steady myself, and it had tipped over, bashing someone in the head so hard they had a lump when their name was called.

"Yeah," I said hoarsely. "But---"

"And just a few days ago," Steve started it, looking worried now. "You thought you had a bought of the stomach flu. Think it came back?"

I slowly stood up, ignoring the fact that my hands were trembling. "I don't know. I'm gonna go in the house to take something for it, though. The last thing I want to do is get sick in the truck---it's the only vehicle we've got right now!"

"Good idea," Ivy grinned. "Uh...Steve, can you put that stuff we were using back?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why? Don't want me to force dainty little you to work?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Very funny. I'm—ah—just going to walk Lindsey in the house and make sure she's okay."

I gave a weak laugh. "Geez Ivy, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

"Like I said—be back in a few, Steve!" she waved, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the back door.

"I'm not a Growlithe, Ivy."

"I know, I'm sorry—I just wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" I went to the closest bathroom, the downstairs one, and started rummaging around in the medicine cabinet.

"Steve."

I jerked so hard the boxes of medicines and whatnot lining the shelves fell to the floor. I froze for a second, but then started to pick them up. "Uh...what about him?"

"You still haven't talked to him, have you?"

I sighed, slowly standing up and staring at the boxes that still lined the floor. How did Ivy find out about what had happened between Steve and I? Well...she was our best friend, and she was probably going to find out sometime. I wondered how she'd figured it out.

"No," I answered. "I just...I don't know. No time is ever going to feel like the right time."

Ivy bent down and picked up exactly what I had been looking for; a pill for an upset stomach. I popped open the container and poured two out into my hand.

"Well," she said, taking the bottle from me. "The sooner the better. You've already waited too long."

I raised my eyebrows. "How long have you known about our little—ah--affair?"

"About two days later."

"EHH?!"

"Don't forget, I walked in on you guys, so I pretty much knew what was going on," she smirked. "Steve called me later and confirmed it. He was nutsy-cuckoo, I swear. I kind of had a feeling he had developed...er...more-than-friend feelings for you while you were in Hoenn, but I never imagine I'd walk in on you guys while he was confessing!"

My hands tightened into fists. "Actually, I'm glad you did," I whispered. "If you hadn't...I don't know what would've happened."

Ivy's face lost her smirk. "Wha...what?"

I stared down at the floor some more. "I thought he was crazy, but...Ivy, I've never seen him look at me the way he did that day. Ever."

We were both silent for a few seconds, but luckily Ivy realized she had probably said enough. "Let's get out of here before I get any more philosophical," she laughed.

I looked and smiled. "You know, that could come in handy sometime!"

"Ow," I complained, examining the scrape that had just formed on my skin. Somehow, the door to the tack room had jammed into my hand, and I now had a faint cut on it. Despite the fact it wasn't bleeding, it still hurt.

I was sucking on it as I walked to the truck, where Steve and Ivy were waiting. Steve laughed lightly. "Your hand taste good or something?"

"Har, har." I pulled my hand from my lips. "No—I scraped it closing the tack room door." I rolled my eyes. "I'm becoming such a klutz."

"Join the club," Steve smiled.

"Well, we all know you're a klutz."

"Not about that!" He sighed and held out his hand. "Stupid me got scraped up, too, from working on the fence."

"Yeah, same here," Ivy laughed softly, holding up her hand. "Geez, we really are three of a kind, aren't we?"

"Together in mind and wounds," Steve said so seriously, Ivy and I doubled over laughing.

Smiling, he rolled his eyes and opened the passenger back door to the truck, seeing how Mom and Dad were coming over. Ivy climbed in first, and then I after her. "The one time I try to be remotely serious..." he pretended to sigh, getting in after me and slamming the door.

"Don't scare us like that again," Ivy said. "You being serious is, well...just not right."

"It's downright scary," I agreed. "You should leave the seriousness to Ivy." I looked over at her and winked. "She's way better at it."

"Yeah, yeah."

After another few minutes, Mom and Dad finally climbed into the truck. "Who's bright idea was it to bring Joker?" Mom was muttering.

"Yours," Dad grinned. Mom smacked his arm in reply.

"So are we finally going?" I asked, leaning forward to the front of the car. "Dad, you did hitch the trailer all the way this time, right?"

"Of course—what do you think I am, inexperienced at hitching trailers to trucks or something?"

"Well, if that incident before Mom's show a few months ago was any indication, then yes," I grinned.

"Hey!" Dad cried while driving off the property. "It was a busy morning. So what if I drove off thinking the trailer was hitched?"

"You left Hades behind," Mom muttered. "I swore that was the last time you were going to drive."

"You thought wrong, woman," Dad winked at Mom, but I noticed he checked the rearview mirror making sure the trailer was hitched to the truck, and secretly snickered at that.

"Hey Dad, blast some music," I said after awhile.

"Sure." He flipped on the radio, and a fast-paced j-pop song blasted out.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeah!" I cried happily, starting to sing with the words. Steve pretended to go deaf, but after awhile, the three of us were singing together like it was karaoke night at the local sports bar and grill.

"Ugggh," Ivy quietly moaned to me as we got out of the truck. "How come the bus ride here didn't seem to take anywhere near as long?"

"I have no idea," I whispered back, "But I'm surprised too. I mean, we weren't surrounded by sweaty trainers this time."

"Unless you count Steve," she coughed.

"He's not a Pokemon trainer!"

"No, but he was really sweaty. Did that boy put on his deodorant this morning, or not?"

"Ew!" I shrieked. "Ivy, you're horrible!"

"I could've told you that," Steve joked, suddenly popping up out of nowhere.

"YAAAAH!" I cried, jumping about a foot in the air. "Geez. Warn us, please, when you come out of nowhere."

"Will do."

"Lindsey!" Mom called from inside the trailer. We had finally made it to the show grounds, and Dad had already unloaded Blaze and put him in one of the temporary stalls. "Can you unload Joker?"

"Coming!" I ran off to get my Ponyta out of the trailer. Jo was not a happy camper, let me tell you. You think he'd want out of the trailer after being cooped up in it for so long, but it was a few minutes before I got him to budge.

"You loser," I muttered before turning him out in a small paddock. I went back to the trailer to close the side door, but was stopped when a lavender blur shot out. My eyes widened, immediately realizing what it was.

"Kit!" I cried, rushing over to pick up my Espeon. "How on earth did you get in there?"

"Essssspeon essspeoooon essspeon, peon."

"Uh...right. Well, whatever. You're here now, might as well stay." Hearing these words, Kit scrambled out of my arms and onto my head, resting comfortably. Well, at least he was.

"Hey, where'd Kitsune come from?" Ivy asked once I made my way back over to her and Steve.

"He appeared out of nowhere from the trailer," I shrugged. "Ah, well. He can keep Joker company while Mom's riding Blaze...hey Mom!" I suddenly called. She was grooming Blaze, even though she had just given him a thorough brushing last night and early this morning.

"What?" she asked between strokes.

"We're going to go find a good place to sit, okay? We'll see you when you're out on the field. We're probably going to walk it once they give us the okay."

"Alright. Hey, where'd Kitsune come from?"

"Apparently he was in the trailer."

"...Mmm..." She was lost again in la-la land as she moved the currycomb she was using over Blaze's back, and he nickered in appreciation.

"Well...see ya then."

Steve, Ivy, and I made our way towards the stadium where the competition was being held. Luckily, the bleachers weren't too full yet, and the three of us were able to get seats close to the field. I didn't bother saving a seat for Dad since I knew he was going to be behind the scenes, as usual, helping Mom with last-minute stuff.

I shuffled through the program I had gotten from someone handing them out, and saw Mom's name near the top of the list of riders. It just then occurred to me that she was probably pretty well-known in the horse Pokemon world—I mean, she wasn't exactly a household name, but I was betting she was the talk of this show.

A fluttering sensation suddenly made its way into my stomach, causing me to jump a little in surprise. Bad move. The upset stomach-pills didn't seem to be doing their job so well...

I shot up, causing an angry Kit to tumble off of my head and Teleport away, probably to Joker, prepared to run to the nearest bathroom to once again puke my guts out, but I immediately froze at the sight of someone a few rows in front of us. That dark hair, the black clothes—and when he turned his head to look at something, I knew it was him.

What was Darrell doing here?

AAACK! Bedtime. -falls asleep- But first...

Adriel-- Nah, no Pokemon battle. ;) Haven't you figured it out, I'm horrible at battle scenes :P

Karania-- -continues- XD

opaltiger-- Gaack, I'm becoming a bad updating-on-time...er. X.X Bleh. My computer hates me, too. It ate my Cheetoes. -sob-

Hakura-- Ehh, I think I meant the rain thing. o.O Heh, that's what I did during school...think of funkadelic things like that...bwahaha. Now I have something to do in my Government and Economics class next year ;D

ZeroChan-- :P It's Other Reason, believe me. I don't even know if he knew the eyeliner was in there. O.o Heck, are we even really sure that he took it?! AHHH! I DON'T KNOW! ME BRAINS!!...and this is Lindsey's parental units we're talking about. All they have on their minds are the Rapidashes...no room for nothing else. ;D Sounds kinda like me...
HAWAII! I hate you. :P Oh well, I hope you at least smashed a coconut for me. Or something Hawaiian-like. O.o

Robin Ryan-- You should update Anna and Danny Phantom kicks ass you should watch it and drool at that halfa and fill in that hole and burn that wire and drink water instead of Pepsi and don't stick the cats in a laundry basket and cheer because Vanessa Carlton RULES and it's okay to be not sane and I'm updating now aren't I and you should post your original writings on fictionpress.com and I don't know why Darrell would want the bag even though I'm the writer and lookie there I got the review and am updating though kind of late and this huge run-on sentence is quite amusing and I am now ending this reviewer reply.

-falls over- So tired...meeehhh..

Oh yes, I have updated my bio thingymabob! VIEW IT! XD I mean...if you want. ;)
-cheers- So close to two-hundred reviews! I can't believe it! O.O That last slice of Oreo Pie to the person to give me the big 2-0-0! -huge grin-

But to get that pie, you must review. -wink wink-