Viva Ash x Lance forever!
Disclaimer: If I owned pokemon, I’d have made MATO draw Championshipping into the storyline in the Pokemon Special series!
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Chapter 3
“You saved my life.” Ash said, a few days later after he had invited Lance to his house again.
“Well, I only did what any other trainer in the situation would have done. What of it? Do you think I’ll demand something in return?”
“Are you sure?” The twelve-year-old asked quietly. “I don’t think so. I think if it was someone else, they would have stolen my pokemon and items instead.”
“You don’t have any pokemon or items except the Mr. Mime that your mom uses to keep house. And why would you think that?”
“True, but…”
“Yes, Ash?”
“I… I was a trainer for three months before. I had a pokédex from Professor Oak and the cutest little Squirtle as my starter. But… but I fell into a rope trap Team Rocket set up, and they stole my pokemon… and all my supplies… now I’m too ashamed to go out again.”
“Oh? When was this?”
“When I was ten…”
“Luckily, Team Rocket aren’t ordinary trainers you’d meet normally...”
“I guess you wouldn’t understand since you’re from Johto, but here in Kanto, pokemon are like tools of war.”
“What?” Had things changed so much? Well, he’d been sleeping in the Whirl Islands for a long time, but-! Maybe things were different in Johto.
“I don’t like people very much… but I’m glad you’re my friend.”
“Well, thank you.”
“Mom said that it was too dangerous after that so I couldn’t leave home until I was fourteen.”
“That explains why you’re at school…”
“I know… er… I don’t mean to be mean, Lance, but most orphans don’t get to leave and go on their journeys either… it costs too much.”
“Center subscription, healing items, poke balls… I know. Even if you earn money to support yourself by battling other trainers, you still need at least three thousand to start off with…”
“And the Center subscription, and that’s like ten thousand a year…”
“Otherwise you go broke just using healing items…” Lance ignored the little voice in the back of his mind that said * or you could use your healing magic. *
He hadn’t healed in years. He didn’t want to risk accidentally hurting the pokemon.
But with the inflated prices, no wonder pokemon journeys were so expensive! And that would explain the stealing mentality of most trainers.
Case closed.
There was an awkward silence. Ash solved it by grabbing a plate of cookies lying on the counter. He handed the plate to Lane who took two, and grabbed three for him.
After that, the conversation shifted back to homework. Good save!
They finished with the numbers and letters and Delia served beef fried rice and broccoli in a dark sauce and egg drop soup for dinner, urging Lance to eat more, and then after dinner they watched T.V. on the couch together before Lance had to go back to the orphanage…
He rode home on his bike. It was black, with his name on the handlebars in blue. Not that the orphanage was really home, but he’d survive.
What one does for love…
“I feel sorry for him.”
“Why is that, dear?” His mother asked. “Well, the poor dear is an orphan…”
“I know…”
“Did he complain to you?”
“Oh! I don’t think Lance complains. It’s not really in his nature to. But he seems disappointed for some reason.”
“That’s perfectly understandable. If you’re not a pokemon trainer, you’re often looked down upon – unless you’re older, and then they know that you already had your days of glory, or on the road, and they don’t bother you. What is he planning to do by the way? He’s too young to get a job.”
“I don’t know…”
“You should invite him over more often, Ash. He could use a few good meals. He looks so drawn and peaked, poor child…”
“All right, mom.”
“Besides, your math and science grades have improved since he started helping you with homework.”
“Mom!”
“It’s true.”
Ash sulked slightly, but cheered up when his mom said that she had forgotten to serve the Boston cream pie in the oven for dessert, and it really was yummy!
Back at the orphanage, Lance climbed onto the small bed and closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep.
Self-hypnosis…
The sheets were gray, the beds were gray, the atmosphere was gray, and he kept his few possessions in a trunk under the bed, like all the other children.
He didn’t expect anything special.
In the morning he showered, changed into a clean outfit, put on his backpack, went to school… nothing out of the ordinary.
Love takes time, but I have plenty of time, and if this doesn’t work out, I suppose I can try again… in a few years, after I change my appearance or go to a different island… can’t be recognized, or people will start noticing I don’t age.
Love is all about experience after all!
And so school went on, and time went on, and he watched, as spring slid into summer, and summer was fun, as they raced through the woods and through the streams and swam and dove and ran and no one cared what they did…
Summer was also the time when they first – when he first started to show how he might care as more than a friend, how he carefully lowered the younger boy’s defenses one by one, but he didn’t take advantage. Oh no, not yet. Those things can’t be rushed after all. He didn’t bed children.
He remembered the elation on Ash’s face when they’d found a Butterfree caught in a web, trapped…. And so, he’d captured a pokemon, all by himself…
It wasn’t the same as the Squirtle he’d lost, of course not, but it helped him feel not as worthless…
So it was nice.
And then after that, he’d managed to capture a Rattata, and then a Pidgey… so he felt better.
And when he turned fourteen and mother let him go, he was glad that Lance was coming along, even if he wasn’t a trainer…
Who cared what everyone else thought? Lance was his friend!
End Chapter
Completed 8/2/05
Lance: So I’m already putting the moves on him?
Phantomness: Kind of
Ash: Oh well… it’s not like I’d notice
Hmm… off topic, but for some inexplicably reason, Master Rank Cool in Emerald was a lot easier than Hyper and Super rank! Bizarre… very bizarre…