Yay! Plotbunny is still alive! ^^
Disclaimer/Notes: Please see earlier chapter. This will be het championshipping (Ash x Lance)
Chapter 3
When the allotted preparation time was up, Lance walked into the Colosseum. This was the most straightforward way to get to the bottom of the mess, so…
It was odd, but Orre had almost no contact with any of the other regions, so he doubted anyone would recognize him. In any case, the goggles hid his eyes and most of his face quite nicely…
He’d need them – the Colosseum floor was packed dirt and dust. Lance had no desire to go blind when the battle started…
The first trainer approached, and the battle began…
Geodude. Sandshrew. Check. Next trainer?
Cacnea. Machop. Yes, that was easy… he was using his weaker pokemon, they needed experience in any case, and after all, using his dragons would be showing off too much… not that he didn’t mind beating evil team members with them…
Now though, he was not trying to attract undue attention. So instead of his dear dragons, he had out on the field a Slowbro and a Dugtrio. Nothing especially fancy…
He could have been any visiting trainer…
Dugtrio’s Fissure took out the Linoone while Slowbro body slammed the Natu. Easy. How many rounds were left? Two? Oh, only one…
Barboach and Meowth. Interesting combination… Dugtrio dove underground, Slowbro used Water Gun on Meowth, Meowth’s HP bar dropped to almost nil, but it retaliated with payday….
Barboach used Mud Sport… why on earth was it doing that? His pokemon didn’t know any electric moves…
Dig finished off Meowth, Psychic on Barboach… done!
He was given $3000 cash, and then asked to compete again at a later date. Outside, he met Ashline.
“Well? Which one was it?”
“There…there were two… the Natu and the Meowth…”
“Oh? There were two dark pokemon? Well, what do you propose we do about it?”
“I don’t know how to turn shadow pokemon back…”
“Well, neither do I…”
“We can’t just leave them though! Shadow pokemon are evil! They attack trainers! We can’t let that happen!”
Lance sighed. * Why do I always get myself into these messes? I’m too nice… * “If we had…” He froze.
Two more Snagem members had just walked out of the Colosseum!
“Lance! It is you!”
“So, enjoying a break after what you did to our hideout?” The second snarled.
“What?” Ashline asked.
“Give us back the Snag Machine you stole!”
Lance blinked in confusion, but as the grunts released a Poochyna and a Dustox, decided that they could chat later.
“Pikachu, Butterfree, go!”
Ashline had sent out her own pokemon… “Pikachu, use Thunder on Dustox! Butterfree, Sleep Powder!”
Dustox went sizzling as Pikachu fried it. Butterfree put Poochyna to sleep and then tackled it a few times…
Both pokemon were taken out.
“Grr… you asked for it!”
“Meowth, Natu, go!”
“Those are the shadow pokemon!” Ashline gasped, as she hid behind Lance. Lance quickly released his Gyarados – instinct, really, and watched as Gyarados wrapped them both despite the fact that it was not a normal attack for its species.
Lance watched as the two grunts fled, leaving their pokemon behind. That was odd. “Well, now what?”
“I… I have an idea.” Ashline said, as she walked forwards and reached out a hand – then yelped as the Meowth sank its teeth into her hand.
Lance sighed. “They’re like wild pokemon, only worse, you idiot… weren’t you the one who told me they were vicious and would turn on trainers – attack humans without warning? I’ll take care of it. Gyarados, knock them out.”
The water serpent increased the pressure and both pokemon passed out. Lance paused for a second, and then removed a blue armlet with scrolled red designs from his backpack, slipping it onto his right arm as he took out two poke balls.
The poke balls began to glow with black light, and as he dropped them on the Meowth and Natu, they were caught.
Ash gaped.
“I’ll explain later,” Lance said quietly. “Now let me look at your hand.”
“O-okay…”
She extended it cautiously. Lance winced.
“Poison… I don’t know why a Meowth knows poison attacks, but that’s for later… here, this will sting.”
Ashline yelped as Lance injected her with an Antidote. Then, he put antiseptic pink goo over her hand and bandaged the bite marks.
Still, the pain was fading fairly quickly…
Ash smiled in relief. Then, she fell asleep immediately.
Lance laughed as he carried her to his hoverbike and put her in the side compartment. “I don’t tell my secrets for everyone to hear, Ash dear, and unfortunately, I don’t know you well enough to trust you…”
His eyes blurred slightly as he cloaked the Snag Machine he had stolen from Team Snagem in shadows… there, now no one would see it on his arm…
Perfect.
< Are you going to erase her memories? >
“I think so, Slowbro… Amnesia…”
< Which ones? >
“I did save her life, and I promised to help her find her Drowzee… so we’ll keep those. She can see Shadow pokemon though, that is a problem…”
“Because, you see, my dear,” Lance directed a look at the unconscious girl, “I’m only here to observe the shadow pokemon and see if I can apply it back home… oh, I care not if they hurt people… but thank you dearly for your help – I can’t see them, but now that I know… I’ll learn how to.”
Humanity deserves it.
Once I have deciphered the secret, I’ll leave – Orre’s not my region, after all. What care I what happens here?
End Chapter
Completed 7/10/05
Lance: Ah…
Phantomness: No one really thought Lance was being nice to Ashline just for the heck of it, right? Right?
Ash: …