Ahogar is the Spanish verb ‘To Drown’

Disclaimer: Did I ever say I owned pokemon? Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me! Do not take my work!

Shoyko: Another fic?

Phantomness: I’m trying to get inspiration

Kairo: Ignore her, please; she’s high on pain medication again…

Title: Ahogar

Summary: Girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, some misunderstanding happens, and then they kiss and make up because eternal declarations of love will solve anything, right? Not quite…

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics for pokemon talking.

Warning: Alternate Universe

Chapter 1

“Wind and water do not mix! You know that as well as I, Ashura! If your father knew about this!”

Golden eyes fringed by black bangs snapped to face golden fringed by crimson. “Lance, you’re being too overprotective. And Father’s been dead for years. He won’t care what I’m doing.”

“Say what you will, my lord, but…” Lance said no more as he spotted the ‘I’m not listening’ look splattered on Ash’s face. * Never mind. * The child was his liege, and yet… so irresponsible.

Turning, he made a curt bow, the dark blue – almost black of his robes and armor glistening slightly in the noonday sun.

Ash shrugged. * It’s nothing, plus he’ll cool down in a few hours. I might as well take advantage of this. Closing his eyes, he willed his black robes and armor, symbol of the royal house of Shadow away, and then headed to the seashore.

Yesterday, he had spotted the loveliest mermaid with glossy chestnut hair and a sleek white tail. He couldn’t wait to see her again.

Besides, he could play a peasant just fine. No worries. Checking his reflection one last time in the mirror, he left.

Giselle floated to the surface of the water, smiling as she spotted a handsome boy. “Hi!”

“Hi.” Ash affected shyness, but not all of it was fake, as he hated most people. Giselle grinned and splashed him.

“Hey!” Several rivulets of water dripped from his face and jacket, giving him the appearance of a drowned cat.

“Catch me if you can, slowpoke!”

Ash kicked off his boots and socks and took off his jacket, jumping into the seawater after her. “You’re on!” Warm ocean water embraced him as he took off. Ah, the seas were so nice and warm…

He was about fifty feet out when he realized that the current had caught him. Giselle was on a rock several yards away, laughing.

“Help!”

Giselle dragged Ash onto the outcropping of rock next to her, still laughing. “What kind of an idiot are you?”

‘A cute one?” Ash asked.

That prompted Giselle into a fresh burst of laughter. She had to admit he was pretty cute though, for a male non-merman.

Humans had their own uses, though few.

“So, want to be friends?”

“Friends?” Giselle tasted the word. ‘Sure, why not?”

“Great! I’m Red!” He wasn’t going to tell her his real name. After all, there was supposed to be war going on between the Shadow Kingdom and the Waterflower Kingdom, although the mermaid might be from the Aquarius Kingdom that also inhabited the oceans.

Still, 50/50 wasn’t always a good odd to have, especially if his life was in balance.

Red was close enough, it was his nickname.

“Hi Red, I’m Giselle.”

The two of them sat on that rock chatting for a bit, but then the sun started to go down. Ash was about to head home when he realized that he couldn’t swim back against the current, and if he used his wings Giselle would realize he was heir to the Shadow Kingdom. What to do?

Giselle noticed his dilemma. “Oh, don’t worry, Red. I’ll drag you back partway. And so she did. Ash thanked her, waved goodbye, and headed back to his castle.

Lance was waiting with dry clothes, a towel, the bath ready, and dinner on a tray. “Welcome back.”

“Arigato, Lance.”

“It’s nothing.”

Surprised that Lance wasn’t inquiring about his whereabouts, something in Ash’s mind clicked. Maybe… maybe Lance had realized that he wasn’t a child anymore? He was fourteen after all!

That must be it!

He enjoyed dinner, fresh bread, a roast pheasant with garlic and herbs, yum, and went to bed, where he dreamed pleasant dreams.

In his room, Lance pulled out his magic mirror.

“Sun Kingdom, Charlotte speaking. May I help you? If this is someone proposing marriage, prepare to die.”

Lance laughed. The amazon queen was quite interesting. The amazons lived in simple tents, perhaps fifty or one hundred females on a small desert island, but they defended it proudly. After all, it was their home.

“Lance, Keeper of Shadow Kingdom here.”

“Ah, hi! What do you want?”

“Have your spies reported any unusual activity in the Waterflower Kingdom?”

“Sorry, no.” Charlotte said apologetically. “We thought they were planning a major attack, and they were, but it turned out to be against the Aquarius Kingdom.”

“Well, that’s good. The more resources they waste there, the better for us.”

“Indeed.”

Lance cut communications after a bit more small talk. Well, he had to keep an eye out for things, as Ash certainly wasn’t interested!
Besides, their castle was practically empty. They had hired guards all over the place, true, but Ash’s parents had both been killed by the plague six years back, along with most of the human population. The pokemon population was a different story. As it were, besides him and Ash and the guards, they kept two housekeeper-slash-maids, a groom to take care of the horses, another keeper for the dogs, another for the falcons, and that was about it.

Indeed, the shadow pokemon had only increased upon the death of humanity. So much the better!

His shadow dragons curled up around the room, lazily contemplating life. Ash’s own pokemon, his shadow Umbreon and Espeon, were nowhere to be seen.

Ah well.

The situation hadn’t turned bad yet. He’d let Ash have a friend, and until it started to hurt, he wouldn’t interfere.

He didn’t want to hurt the heir after all…

End Chapter

Completed 9/19/04

Lance: I see…

Phantomness: I’m going to try not to plagiarize myself. Really.