Disclaimer: Look to Nintendo or Shogakukan comics of pokemon is what you desire. I own the story and my own characters, things like that.
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics for pokemon speaking.
Might as well put up all of it…
Chapter 11: Ending
It was a month later. And Gary was one of the few who still had pokemon.
Some trainers carped about the fact, others were relieved they didn’t have to train the creatures. Many new industries collapsed.
One such was the poke ball industry. With so few pokemon around, there was really no need for capture items.
Potions still went strong, as battling pokemon required many potions.
Devon and Silph merged and lay off a good percentage of their workforce to save money. Cutbacks and ferreting later, the unemployed were grumbling.
Gary was extremely worried that one day he would wake up and discover his pokemon were missing, but it never happened.
Lance turned in her resignation a few days later.
“Why?” Gary asked pleadingly.
“Because, I have no purpose. Nobody gets past Will and Lorelei.” Lance replied. “And with hardly any pokemon here, what’s the point?”
It was valid, true. But…
“You can’t go.” Gary pleaded. “I love you.”
“Love?” Lance turned slanted eyes on him. “Gary, just because you want me to sleep with you does not constitute the fact that you love me.’
Gary colored at the blatant accusation.
“I don’t do flings.’ Lance continued. “And I won’t betray the trust of the one I am bound to.”
Gary could have sworn he saw the faint sparkle of a ring on her finger before she slipped her black gloves on.
“Do you have a better reason for me to stay here, Gary?”
Gary was silent as he digested the information. It was not agreeable, but truth was not beauty always.
He had to shake his head in defeat.
She nodded and placed the papers on his desk, and then effectively walked out of his life.
A strange chill filled the air the next day, and when the sun came out, it shone on a desolate world.
Crying could be heard throughout the streets as people lamented the loss of their prized fighters and breeders.
A few pokemon centers remained open, but many were closed, the Chanseys having been stolen at the same time as the others.
Team Rocket, a news anchor suggested, but when the rocket bases were investigated there were no pokemon there either.
He saw them walking in the park together, with another girl. She had pale blue hair streaked in shadows.
Ash looked blissfully happy, and he felt jealous, but his friend had love and he himself did not.
Still, there was something jealous and undeniably dark hiding in that relationship. Lance kept her eyes open for anyone who even thought of flirting with Ash, he observed when a junior trainer began babbling to him and invited him to dinner.
Lance’s eyes literally blazed fire, if looks could kill that was one prime example. As it turned out, the junior trainer found herself on fire with a glaring Dragonair towering over.
Gary shuddered. Perhaps going near them was not a good idea. But the other girl was cute…
“I’m so glad it’s finished.” Lance told Ash. “The realm is back to normal.”
Ash grinned and chirped happily. Claire glanced over at them in slight puzzlement. “So every time pokemon escape, you seal them back in?”
Lance nodded. “If we didn’t, the angels would kill a new one every hundred years or so. We can’t have that.”
“True…” Claire mused. She knew that in terms of power, she was vastly weaker than both of them, but at the moment, it wasn’t a pressing problem.
Going back to the angelic world was not exactly a happy thought, so she shoved it into the back of her head. Not likely, in any case. Besides, she couldn’t. Her wings already showed streaks of black, and soon they would be entirely dark.
Dratini purred from her shoulders, and Claire squeezed the little pokemon affectionately. Kawaii… why did the Counsel think the poor elemental creatures were dark and so doom them to eternal darkness?
She would never understand. At least she didn’t need to feed yet.
As she watched, Ash sighted prey and his golden eyes narrowed a fraction. Lance gave a nearly invisible nod as he trotted towards the man of his choosing.
The scientist looked up in surprise. “What do you want?”
Ash smiled. His clothes changed with a thought, and that always came in handy. At the moment, he wore dark blue, jacket and pants like a trainer might, and a dark brown backpack.
Popping open the backpack, he showed the man a heap of poke balls.
“I’m in the business of selling pokemon. I know your supplies are nearly exhausted. So, I just stopped by to see if you were interested.” Ash said, voice dizzying like brandy or some other alcoholic substance.
The scientist looked around warily. “Are you affiliated with Team Rocket?”
“Oh, by no means… I work alone.” Ash said, as he proffered a poke ball for inspection.
Checking through the clear top, the man nearly choked when he saw that it contained a rare Charizard. “I…see…” He stammered. “Excellent quality.”
“I have more at my office.’ Ash said, indicating a tall skyscraper. “Third floor, would you like to see more and maybe we can work out an arrangement?”
“Certainly!” The man gasped. It wasn’t as if he would find something like this in the future. Wordlessly, he followed the young man up the stairs and into the office, where sure enough, shelves of poke balls stood.
As he moved to examine them, the last thing he felt was a sharp pain in his neck.
Ash dropped the limp man on the ground, he would wake up the next morning feeling hung over, but that was it.
Lance gave him a casual wave from where she was peeling an orange into sections and chewing them one by one. “Excellent work. He couldn’t even tell between illusion and reality.”
“True.” Ash replied, and then they turned to mist and both escaped.
The next day, Professor Elm found himself on a park bench with a horrible headache. But, when he checked his pockets he found that a check for sixty thousand dollars had been written and given away, and lying next to him were four poke balls containing a Meganium, Feraligatr, Typhlosion, and Charizard, all female and breed able.
He thanked his lucky stars and quickly went back to New Bark Town. Wouldn’t Ivy be jealous! Next time he saw the young man again; he would have to get his business name and address.
End Chapter
Started 12/30/03, finished 1/4/04