***AUTHORESS NOTES***

I hope you all know that I'm updating this for your sakes.

Yes, my full attention is no longer to this story. It shares it with
it's sequel, which me and Twisted Alyx have finished planning about 70%.

I'm trying to finish this within the next week. So bare with me.

Also, just to let you know ahead of time, this fic is REALLY serious
compared to the next one. I was dying of laughter planning the next one.

And, if you see my page on fanfiction.net littered with Harry Potter
stories, fear not!! That annoying, whiny brat's friends, enemies and
acquaintances (namely, Fred, George, Ron, Draco and Oliver Wood) have
become my greatest love. ^^

Also, the battle scene isn't shown, but I do mention it a bit, because
the chapter is mostly focused on going through Victory Road and Jenn and
Nathan.

Here's the long-awaited part 42.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 42: Going through Victory Road


     "Arg!" I screamed as yet another Hariyama mysteriously appeared in
front of me. Nathan and Sam both suppressed laughs, while Vicky and Zach
were not so successful. 

     "Not funny," I muttered. "Those things are friggin scary."

     "Scary or not, you're in Victory Road," Nathan reminded me. "Big,
scary Pokemon ARE going to jump out at you."

     I sighed. "And we're only halfway through this!"

     "Exactly," intervened Zach. "So you're going to have to deal."

     "Hey, let's battle!" called out a person behind me. I spun around.
He was revealed to be about 5'6", with spiky brown hair and brown eyes.
Cute, very cute. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nathan glaring at
him from the corner of my eye, and sighed. Some things were never going
to change. Nathan would ALWAYS be protective of me, and loath any remote
competition from the start.

     I DID battle the cute boy, wounding half of my Pokemon in the
process, but I wasn't so much focused on the battle as the glint in my
boyfriend's eyes. Honestly, if you asked me to give you details about
the battle, I couldn't have done it.

      I carelessly shoved the money in my purse, and as Vicky, Zach and
Sam walked along at a normal pace, chattering cheerily and laughing, I
purposely slowed down to walk along side Nathan.

     "Hi," I greeted him. He grunted in response. Uh-oh. This wasn't
going to be good.

     "What's wrong?" I questioned, knowing fully well what the answer
would be.

     "Nothing," he said curtly and I rolled my eyes and sighed.

     "Nathan, if we're going to go out, we have to talk. If you're not
going to communicate with me, than I don't see the point in being
together."

     "Okay, okay, fine, fine," he groaned exasperatedly. "I'm sorry. I
thought I saw you eyeing that trainer guy that you battled, whatever his
name was."

     I wanted to smack my head on something hard, but I resisted the
temptation of the many rocks and boulders nearby. "I don't know his name
either. Why would I check him out?"

     "Because knowing your taste in guys, you probably think he's cute,"
he pointed out. Holy crap, this boy knew me well.

     "So what if I did? Thinking something and doing something about it
are two entirely different things. Just because I think he's cute
doesn't mean I'll be making out with him in the bathrooms."

     Nathan sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry."

     I gave him a hug. "I am, too."

     "It's just," he continued. "I'm scared."

     I gave him a puzzled look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

     "It's just... I wonder if we're doing this going out thing right."

     I froze. I didn't like the way this conversation was going AT ALL.
It sounded like we were about to break up. "Why would you wonder that?"
I asked more shrilly than I intended to.

     "I feel more of a friend than a boyfriend to you, and I feel like
you feel the same way," he explained. I started growing angrier. The
talk was getting worse by the second.

     "If I felt that way, than why would I have said yes to going out
with you?" I snapped.

     "Because you didn't want to hurt my feelings," Nathan said
matter-of-factly and I swear, I justed wanted to strangle him.

     "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" I cried and I suppose
that's what it took to get Sam, Vicky and Zach to look back.

     "This can't be good," muttered Vicky under her breath and Zach
nodded curtly.

     "Well, it's probably true!" yelled Nathan and I felt something drop
onto the poorly paved path. Oh, yeah, must've been either my heart or my
stomach.

     "You know what, Nathan? You are a PSYCHO. A paranoid psycho. You
know what? You're sounding like a less physical version of Taylor right
now!" The words just slipped out of my mouth, simply because it's what I
felt. Taylor was exactly of who he was reminding me of.

    "Well, maybe Taylor had his own best interests at heart, with all
the glances you think I don't see towards other guys!" Nathan screamed.

     From a few feet ahead of me, Vicky bit her lip. "I hope they don't
break up," she whispered to Sam. Sam was too focused on the scene that
was in front of him.

     "Nathan, I am a teenage girl, not a nun! I will occasionally glance
at guys. That doesn't mean I'm going to sleep with them or something, it
means that I think they are good-looking. It's not like you don't look
at other girls, and I don't get too upset."

     "Of course you're not a nun, you're a friggin whore!" He screamed
the last word so loudly that it echoed. I bit my lip to keep from saying
something worse and stormed over to the trio.

     "Let's hurry up and go, I don't want to get there very late," I
said as calmly as I could muster. I tried to pretend like nothing was
happening.

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*


     "We're here!" called Zach. "I can't believe it. Are you nervous,
Jenn?" I nodded distractedly, my senses more focused on the fragrant
beauty of Evergrande City.

      Flowers were in bloom everywhere, and a nice variety of them at
that. There was a spray of lilies by one cabin, a bit of tulips by
another, even a few petunias by the main building and they were all in
different colors: a shot of orange, a glimpse of pink, an array of red.
It all looked so elegant, and I didn't ever want to leave.

     "We should go get a cabin," Sam said quietly and so we walked a
little bit to the main building, which was a check-in, Pokemon Center
(with no rooming), Pokemon Mart and arena entrance for the challengers.

     "Excuse me, can you tell me where I can get a cabin?" I asked one
friendly Nurse Joy. She smiled brightly.

     "You can actually get them when you fill out your registration,"
she informed me. "Have you done that yet?"

     "No, actually I haven't," I said. She handed me a few forms and I
sat down where my friends were waiting.

     Name. That one was easy enough. Jenifer Frost. I scribbled it down
with the blue ballpoint pen and continued onto the next question.

     Age and birthday. I grinned broadly. I wrote the number 14 down
next to the age slot and filled in my birthday on the other. April 30,
1991.

     The next question down. List of your Pokemon (no nicknames please,
just official names). The first one I wrote down was Blaziken, my
beloved starter. The second listed was Plusle, then came Pelipper,
Absol, Golem and Kadabra.

     The rest of the things were official, like social security number
(like I would tell you that!) and forms of identification and such. As I
turned the forms into the young nurse, I yawned and looked at the clock.
11: 46. 

     Yikes, it was getting late. I glanced over at my friends (and
boyfriend that I was currently not speaking to). Vicky was starting to
droop, her eyelids looked like they were nearly sealed shut. Zach was
napping in the chair where he sat, Nathan was possibly asleep (I
couldn't tell, he had his head in his hands and was facing to the
ground) and Sam was yawning.

     I tapped Zach, Nathan and Vicky on the shoulder. "Okay, guys, I
have the key. Let's get going and go get some sleep."

     "Don't you have to be up early?" Vicky asked tiredly.

     "No, thank God my battle doesn't start until three," I responded as
happily as I could fake.

     "In the morning?!" exclaimed Zach, wide-eyed.

     I chuckled a bit. "No, of course not. In the afternoon," I told him
as we headed out the doors and onto the perfectly paved path.

     It was still all breathtaking in the moonlight, possibly even more
than it had been in the sun. If we had been on better terms, Nathan and
I probably would've enjoyed walking out her, but we were tense and rigid
to each other. We only spoke to each other when we needed to.

     As I turned the key in the lock, I marvelled at how we had gotten
so far. Months ago, this wouldn't even be possible. And now... I was
here.