I’m a pretty good trainer and breeder, but when it gets to Pokemon Contests, I seem to only win Cute and Cool! Phantomness sighs… I’m not meant to be a coordinator…
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
Chapter 5
It’s too dark.
Ash shivered in his sleeping bag. They were inside the tent but there was howling coming from outside and he was scared!
There were lots of wild pokemon around, and it was dangerous to camp out, but he didn’t have too many Center slots and you lost some for hospitalization and stuff…
The fire had gone out hours ago, and now they were in the chill, pre-dawn state….
He sneezed.
Lance slept, his eyes closed, slow breathing…. He was cuddling a stuffed Dratini, which Ash found kind of cute – he carried a stuffed Pikachu and Charmander himself, after all, but he was cold! Getting up, he unzipped his sleeping bag and put on another layer. Yes, that sweatshirt would do nicely….
Once safely clothed and warmer, Ash lay down again and tried to fall asleep. However, the howls outside continued, breaking his reverie. He sighed.
Maybe he could ask Butterfree to put him to sleep with Sleep Powder? That might work… he palmed the poke ball and gently pressed the release button.
Butterfree appeared with a yawn. Master?
“Can you use Sleep Powder on me? I need to sleep.”
Certainly. She said, a few bright spores landing on Ash’s face. Immediately, his eyes closed and he began to snore softly.
Butterfree smiled and went back to sleep.
Lance woke up earlier of course, around six A.m. – he didn’t need that much sleep, dragon blood and all that…. So he went outside to see what the commotion was, and he wasn’t too happy to find out that a pack of Poochyna had surrounded their campsite. That was not a good thing. The fact that they were in the process of making more Poochyna didn’t help either.
Lance closed his eyes, found an empty rock to sit on, closed his eyes, and meditated, managing to cancel out the roars and barks and other… noises coming from the area around him.
This was not fun…
He’d live though…
Ash woke up around nine, and b then, the Poochyna had scattered, luckily. Yes, it was very lucky. All in all, he was just glad that the barking from last night was no longer present. Poochyna were night – nocturnal, after all.
“Good morning Lance!”
“Morning.” Lance said. “There’s hot water if you want instant oatmeal or ramen.”
“Okay!”
Lance didn’t cook much. Lance didn’t cook much because he didn’t like fire. It reminded him too much of what had happened. Sure, he hadn’t died in the blaze, but he still felt leery around it.
Plus, the dragons hadn’t… removed the implications.
He wore long-sleeved black because his body was covered with horrible pink burns – he’d been staked and flamed, how could he not have scars? He supposed that he should be grateful that it hadn’t scarred his face too badly, but that was all.
They didn’t mean anything now, the burns didn’t really hurt – time had dulled his nerves so he didn’t feel the pain, a few hundred years could do that, but it wasn’t as if he wanted anyone to see either…
Calm. Breathe…
“Lance?”
Ash wasn’t normally perceptive, but he had frozen in place for a few moments. “Oh. It’s nothing. Just thinking.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine.”
It’s so easy to lie to him. He doesn’t realize that people can lie, I think. He’s so damnably innocent it doesn’t seem right. He’s still a child, despite his age, and I hate myself for wanting him.
But I do.
I suppose that means I’ve fallen in love, doesn’t it? How odd. If you try hard enough, it will become reality….
That’s that then…
Ash frowned. Lance seemed depressed. Maybe it was because he didn’t have any pokemon! The trainer deflated slightly. That was probably it…
And here he was dragging Lance all over the place and showing off! Now he felt quite guilty…
Ash sniffled slightly, not wanting to make anyone unhappy. That caught Lance’s attention.
“What’s wrong?”
“A-are you angry with me because I dragged you out here with me on my journey?”
“Of course not!”
“But you don’t have ay pokemon…”
“There are more important things in life than pokemon.” Oh, it sounded wrong when it came out, but…. He went on, “Life is more important than pokemon.”
“Hmm?”
“You’ll understand in time.”
“I wish you’d give me a straight answer.”
“Do you?”
He brushed his lips over
Ash’s, watching the boy’s surprised look, and hid a smile.
There was…
That was…
Ash gulped. That had felt… kind of nice. Was this what Lance meant?
“Are you… in love with me?”
“I think so.”
“I don’t know what to say…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll give you time to consider if you feel the same way.” A smile.
Ash colored and looked down…
And he felt lost, because what do you do when your best friend says that he thinks he’s in love with you? What do you do then, when you’re still a child yourself? Do you run away? Do you question it?
Ash settled for hugging Lance and not bothering to say anything.
It wasn’t the best solution, but it worked…
He wouldn’t think about it until later.
End Chapter
Completed 8/4/05
Ash: Well, no angst yet
Kairo: Shoyko will be happy
Phantomness: *yawns*