Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Pairing: Hopefully Championshipping (Ash x Lance), although whether shonen-ai or het is up for grabs…
Chapter 8
He’s falling apart.
“Is he?” Lance asked, as he served Ash’s Charizard some pokemon treats.
The dragon huffed.
Of course!
“I don’t really see how that concerns me, despite his superiority…”
I’m worried about him. Misty wasn’t good for him.
“Wasn’t? Don’t you mean isn’t?” Lance shrugged. “Ah, she’ll probably come back from the conference with a new boyfriend and beg for a divorce, he’ll give it to her, and the pattern will repeat itself…”
Charizard huffed again. Well… I thought you might be interested.
“Why?”
You are
Misty’s older sister…
“Half-sister,” Lance corrected, “And I’m neither a girl nor related to Misty right now. Father died for this form after all…”
Still…
“I’m not desperate enough to steal her husband.”
Well, I thought, after everything at the…
“You’re saying he was the one I slept with at the party?”
Charizard flushed.
Lance put down his coffee. “Well, it could be worse. I suppose I’m glad it wasn’t Koga after all… or Falkner… or Bruno…”
You don’t seem excited at all.
“It was just casual sex. There’s nothing in it. Despite everything, I don’t do casual sex. We were both drunk, and it’s the ring’s fault.”
I don’t see…
“Never mind.”
Charizard commenced hitting on Lance’s Aerodactyl, and that ended the conversation for now…
“He sent you here with these?” Ash blinked.
Yes.
He’s under the impression you can’t take care of yourself.
Ash flushed. “He’s right.” He took the takeout coupons from Charizard, slightly red in the face, and then looked to see if there was more paperwork.
There wasn’t, luckily…
Ash took the basket, checking what else was in it. He found a thermos of chocolate milk – cool, luckily, and a box of baked blueberry and cinnamon scones – from Karen and Will. He didn’t think Lance could cook; he was just making the deliveries for the rest of the Elite...
Breakfast next morning! Yay!
“Thank Lance for me if I don’t see him.” Ash said. He drank some of the milk and then brushed his teeth and hit the bed.
Charizard yawned. Humans and human pokemon were so complicated… ah well; it was none of his business! He finished eating and went to bed as well.
But if Master Lance married Master Ash… wouldn’t that make them both feel better? Surely Master Lance was lonely without a mate…
But until Master Ash dissolved his contract with Misty…
Charizard went back to sleep, deciding to quit debating it.
You seem tired.
“I’m fine, dears.” Lance smiled. “Now, why don’t you go outside and hunt?”
Without another word, all the dragons took off.
The Dragon Master and last Elite flicked his computer on, checked the news, found nothing of interest, closed the browser, and shut the computer down.
A hidden button pressed swung all the bookshelves in his room reverse. Instead of books, now there lay weapons, magic items, glinting…
He picked up the dragon blades and began to dance…
“Wow!”
Lance froze. He turned and saw the Champion silhouetted in the doorway. “Champion-sama.”
Some part of him rankled, but he kept his cool. It would do no good to tear Ash’s throat out for what had happened between them, and he’d been… busy in either case.
It wasn’t that bad. It was just flesh on flesh and a few moments of pitiful ecstasy, nothing compared to the sweeping sense of power and majesty he reveled in normally... Nothing useful, nothing that would hurt his life, nothing that would affect his life…
“That’s… wow! That was brilliant!” Ash clapped. “How did you – is this some kind of dancing?”
“Yes,” He lied, knowing that there were weapon dances in several cultures.
“Wicked! I wish I could take lessons.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You want to take dancing lessons?”
“Er… well, not like ballet, but what you were doing looked really cool!”
“I’ve had twenty years of practice.”
Ash blinked. “You’ve been doing this ever since you were a baby?”
“Heavens, no. Just ever since I was five.”
That meant Lance was only five years older… Ash stopped. He’d been sure Lance was… a girl, but that was a dream, right?
Lance couldn’t be a girl! Either that or he was really, really good at hiding it…
No, he didn’t think so…
“Ash…”
“Hmm?”
“You’re spacing out, Champion-sama.”
The boy jerked. “Why do you keep calling me that? I do have a name, you know!” Or did Lance not want to use his name for some reason.
“You are of a higher rank than I and entitled to such.”
“What?”
Lance didn’t bother to elaborate, letting Ash figure it out. It took piteously little time… a testament to the strength of his mental capability, or perhaps lack thereof.
We can’t all be geniuses.
“Lance… I feel… odd….”
“Really.” The Dragon Master commented dryly. That was all he got out before Ash pitched to the ground in a dead faint.
All right! Perhaps he was being serious!
What on earth was going on? Why did the boy stay around and hit on him badly? With a sigh, Lance deposited Ash on his bed and went to get an ice pack.
They would have a long talk about this. Later.
End Chapter
Completed 8/9/05
Ash doesn’t love Misty. Misty doesn’t love Ash either, but she was using him, if it wasn’t clear enough…