Episode 78! Lance-chan shows up! *Jumps up and down happily*

Disclaimer: Have I ever mentioned owning pokemon? But Destiny and everything else is mine…

Notes: <> indicates telepathy, ** indicates thought, italics indicates translated pokemon speech, Hehehe… Lance = Crystal

Timeline: 4 days after last Episode

Ranma – of course, of course! ^_^

Digifan1 – thank you!

Guy Shani – no, I don’t think Sabrina will die… but she may disappear… that’s the way it is in the CCS arc

Shadow’s Light – I’d do that, but Lance would win… besides, Sabrina doesn’t like Ash.

Hell Flame Vulpix – you do know who crystal is, right? I hope…

Episode 80: Soul badge ahead! Snake in the grass!

“Can I go with you?” Lance asked, turning on the puppy-dog eyes. Ash winced as he felt his resolve melting away.

“Well… your arm’s still hurt.”
“I’ll be fine.” Lance promised. “I won’t get into any trouble!”
“You’d better not.” Pika-chan muttered.

Teresa was a bit miffed at the thought of someone else joining the party, but what could she do? So she bit her tongue and tried not to be jealous.

“You can ride Rapidash with me, I guess.” Ash said.

Lance smiled and glomped onto Ash, ignoring Teresa’s icy glare. Rapidash took off for Fuchsia City.

Meanwhile…

“Well, it’s getting exciting.” Eriol said, smiling. “The tester now makes her move.”

“Lance is a girl? I thought he was a guy! And Ash definitely thinks that the shadowed figure is a guy.”

“Well, Moltres and Articuno are female, and Zapdos is male. Charlotte and Lance have to be female, and Ash has to be male. That’s the way the balance works.”

“Oh. I’ll never get this Triple Guardianship stuff.”

“Don’t worry, you get used to it…”

“Hmm…”

Back to the pokemon universe…

“Are we lost?” Teresa asked.

“I hope not.” Pika-chan said, looking around.

“Um, I hate to interrupt, but there is a mansion up ahead.” Lance said in a small voice, pointing to a large building.

“Oh! Okay!” Ash said. * Is that the gym? * He looked at Crystal a bit suspiciously, but she gave him an innocent look in return.

“Guess it is!” Teresa said. “That means, new costume!”

Ash fell off Rapidash. “Teresa!”

“What?” She asked innocently.

“This is so not my day…”

A few minutes, the group entered the building. Ash wore a dark purple cloak over a black long-sleeved shirt and black silk pants. On his arms were purple and gold gauntlets, and there was a purple headband in his hair, with two trailing ribbons.

Ash sighed.

“Okay, here goes…”

When Aya came out, she didn’t quite expect a costumed thirteen-year old at the door, accompanied by a girl (his girlfriend?) and a photographer.

“I would like to challenge you for a Soul badge.” Ash said politely. Aya blinked.

“Okay, but I’m not the gym leader. But I’ll fight you anyways.” Aya answered politely. “Venonat, go!”

Ash smiled. “Okay, I choose you, Rapidash!”

Rapidash appeared and smiled happily.

“Venonat, use Stun Spore!”

“Incinerate them with a Fire Spin!” Rapidash nodded and flamed the spores into bits of ash.

“Venonat, use Solarbeam!”

“It has to charge first! Rapidash, use Flamethrower!” Venonat was lightly toasted by the flame attack and fell over, crispy black.

Aya sighed and recalled her fallen pokemon. “Okay, you’re not bad.” Just then, Koga appeared in a cloud of smoke.

“So you are my challenger?”

Ash nodded.

“Interesting. Let us battle, then.” Koga said. “For the Soul badge is what you desire, is it not?”

Ash nodded.

“Venomoth, go!”

Ash closed his eyes. < Rapidash, can you do this? >

Rapidash nodded.

< Okay, then use Ember! >

A stream of flames headed for the Venomoth, who dodged.

“Double Team.” Koga said. Venomoth nodded and the room filled with copies of itself.

“Hang in there, Rapidash. Destroy the rest of the copies with Fire Spin!” Most of the fake Venomoths vanished, but a few remained.

“Mega Drain!”

Ash narrowed his eyes. * He’s using a grass attack against a fire type. Why? Oh well, it’s his loss. *

“Fury Attack!” A bunch of sharp spikes came out of Rapidash’s horn and lodged themselves in Venomoth’s wings, so it couldn’t’ fly anymore.

“Now use Stomp!”
A squashed Venomoth was quickly recalled.

“Not bad.” Koga said, as he handed Ash the Soul badge. “You have skill indeed.” Ash smiled and inclined his head politely.

“Way to go, Ash!” Lance cheered.

Teresa shot her another dirty look. * What is it with her? She just waltzes in here and now she’s trying to steal Ash away from me! *

Lance smiled to herself.

They were walking away from Koga’s mansion when Lance silently activated another card. * Let’s see what Ash does to fight this one… *

“It’s a giant rat!” Teresa said.

Ash looked up and saw a towering Rattata. “Where did that come from?”

Teresa grabbed Scarlet. “Scarlet! Did you call this?”

Scarlet shook his head. < No, I did not. Someone else did. This brand of magic is new to me. >

Lance fixed a puzzled look on her face. “What’s wrong?” She asked.

Ash sweatdropped. * Aside from the towering Rattata… *

“Oh well. I can always use Amnesia later… Release!”

Ash grabbed his staff and faced the Rattata. “Ekans!”
The poison snake pokemon appeared and charged the giant Rattata. An all-out battle ensued.

“Ekans, poison sting!”

The Rattata dodged most of the pins, before retaliating with Bite. Ekans writhed in pain as its sensitive tail was chewed on.

“No use.” Ash said grimly. “What do I do now?” Ekans vanished in a flash of white light.

“Fighting-type pokemon.” Lance whispered.

“Oh! Okay. Hitmonlee!” The fighting type pokemon materialized in another flash of white light. It charged the Rattata angrily.

The Rattata shrieked as Hitmonlee’s foot came into contact with it. Then, it vanished in a flash of blue. But it reappeared a second later, stronger than ever.

“Primeape!” Ash said, sending out a second pokemon card. Primeape reared up and began punching along with hitmonlee’s kicks. Soon the Rattata finally collapsed.

It turned blue and streaked off into the distance. This time, it did not return.

“Darn.” Ash said. * I wish I knew who was behind these attacks… *

Ash turned to Crystal. * How do I explain this? *

Then, he remembered that Crystal had magic in her blood as well. “Crystal? Do you know what’s going on?”

“You’re the card master.” Lance said, letting a touch of awe into her voice.

Pika-chan nodded. “Now, don’t tell anyone, do you understand?”

Lance nodded and looked down. * If only they knew… but they don’t. I’ll hide my powers for as long as I have to. *

Pika-chan went into lecture mode. After fifteen minutes, she stopped.

“If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”

Lance went all teary-eyed.

Ash sighed. “It’s okay, Crystal, she doesn’t really mean it. Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Lance nodded fervently.

Pika-chan looked satisfied. * Sometimes you just have to threaten them. *

Nobody noticed the brief flash of silver in Crystal’s blue eyes. * If only they knew… *

And so, the group continued on. Teresa continued to glare. Ash was oblivious to everything. Pika-chan ate. And Lance smiled to herself.

End Episode 80! Wow, I’m so tired… but it’s worth it, I hope. Anyways, Flames will be used to create Storm, to destroy Nelvana’s stuff in a horrific weather blast. *Laughs sinisterly and leaves*