Hiya! *Smiles* Episode 136! Things are really heating up now! What’s Ash going to do now?

Disclaimer: Come on, you know I don’t own pokemon. *Sobs* Destiny is mine though!

Notes: <> indicates telepathy, ** indicates thoughts, italics indicates translated pokemon speech.

Giselle is part of TR and evil!

Aragorn the Ranger – well… I needed to consolidate Ash’s enemies… *shrugs*

Xaero – um… *sweatdrops* I do not get your review

Ranma – its ok. ^-^

Digifan1 – I think Pika-chan hath no shame…

SS2 Megami-sama – ah… I hate Oak! *smiles* Well… its easy to register for ff.net really.

Incomplete13 – the plot will develop, I promise

Link Masters – ah! Someone noticed! *Beams* I actually didn’t think of that, but you’re right! Ash does change his aura in Dragons’ Love.

Jarzard – heh……….

Air Sylph – thanx!

The Pokemon Reader – Don’t be so impatient! I usually explain everything in due time…

DrigerVulcan46 – more than one method, mind you. >.<

Mallory Cartwright – hey… *waves* Well, I’ve been insanely sick. Lack of sleep + flu does not equal a good mood for writing. Definitely not. And my network has been on and off, but… hopefully it will get better… of course, that’s just a dream.

Episode 136: Dragon’s deception? Lance vs. Drake!

“A person’s aura is unique.” Sabrina explained. “Right now, yours is white for your star magic.”

“Is that why my Ash cards are white?”

“Precisely.”

“Mine is blue.”
“Is that why your ‘Crystal cards’ are blue?”

“Yes.” Lance said, rolling her eyes.

Luna sighed. * Pika-chan, you need to train your Chosen better! *

Pika-chan’s eyes narrowed as she picked up on the thought. *What? I resent that very much! *

Ash sighed as he picked up the sparks flying between Pika-chan and Luna. *Looks like I’ll have to ask Crystal… *

Sabrina yawned. “Well, if she’s explaining, I’ll just revert back to my false form.” She blurred and Skymew reappeared.

Skymew helped herself to Ash’s ice cream sandwich while she watched them talk, occasionally blinking.

Lance’s eyes twinkled. “Have you done magic ceremonies before?”

“Just the one to recreate the Onyx Seal when we fought Bob.” Ash said. “Other than that, no.”

“At least you have some experience. This is kind of different. We’re going to try and alter your aura as little as possible, because otherwise you’d have to change your cards again.”

Ash moaned as he thought of how much time, energy, and magic that would take.

“Your main magic type is starlight.” Lance continued. “Now, what do you think is your secondary type?”
“Probably electric or flying.” Ash said, after a few seconds.

“Right. You control those other two elements in the triple guardianship.” Lance said, nodding. “Very well.”

“Great! So what do I do?”
“Let’s try using flying type.” Lance said. “For the ceremony, you will need nothing except a pouch of stardust and three feathers from three different flying pokemon.”

“Well, I have Pidgey, and Zapdos, but Butterfree and Skymew don’t have feathers…”
“I’ll give you one of Articuno’s.”

‘Thanks, Crystal!”
Ash requested a feather from each of his pokemon, and they gladly allotted one each. Then, Ash took the three feathers.

“Great, what’s next?”

“Next, dip each feather in the pouch of stardust.”

Ash took the little pouch from Lance and liberally dipped each feather inside, coating them with the sparkly white dust.

“Now what?”

“Now…” Lance said. “Don’t move.” She separated his hair into three strands and braided a feather into each strand. Then, she picked up the remaining dust and dumped it over him.

Ash’s nose itched, but he repressed the urge to sneeze.

Finally, Lance picked up the Ice Guardian Wand. “Water to create magic power anew!”

The wand flashed brightly, twice. When it cleared, the feathers had vanished, but Ash was back to his normal self, save with three streaks in his hair... one blue streak, one yellow streak, and one white streak.

“Now Giselle has never seen you as ‘Ash’ before, right? Only as ‘Red’?”

‘Right.” Ash affirmed. “But she knows my name.”

“That’s good.” Lance put the wand away and gulped down a potion. “Then we should head to Pumello Island.”

“So you can compete against Drake? Isn’t that rushing a bit?”

Pika-chan and Luna had finally stopped their glaring contest.

“No, we need as much power on our side as possible.” Pika-chan said.

“This is necessary.” Luna added.

“Okay…”

“Let’s fly, this time. It’s quicker and we’ll attract less attention.” Luna suggested.

“Aerodactyl, I choose you!” Lance said. The fossil dragon popped out and roared, as Lance climbed onto its back.

Ash’s eyes flashed white once, and the Pidgeot card appeared in front of him as a bird. * It’s too risky to use the wings now… *

The two nodded to each other and took off, guardians silent for once, because the situation was serious.

The receptionist was surprised when two trainers flew into the hall on their flying pokemon.

“Are you here to challenge the Supreme Gym Leader?”

“Yes.’ Lance said.

“First, I have to see your badges…”
Ash looked nervous. Lance smiled and pulled four badges out of a little black box on her poke belt.

The badges glinted as the receptionist scanned each one with her scanner.

“They’re all legit.” She said. “Very well.” Lance’s picture appeared on the computer screen along with the badges.

Ash stared at Lance, who winked at him. < Did I not tell you I already had the badges? >
< Yes… >
< Well, what do you think I do in my free time? The Indigo League only meets for its championship rounds once a year. >
< I didn’t think of that. >

The two chatted for a while, and then Lance left to get ready.

“What are you going to use?”

“Hmm… Tempest, Darkstar, Aerodactyl, Gyrados…” Lance stopped. “I’d rather not let anyone see Dragonite yet. So for my last two slots I’ll use Charmander and Articuno.”

“Good luck. You’ll need it.” Pika-chan said.

“No she won’t! Lance, kick his butt!” Luna said.

Ash blinked.

Lance flashed a ‘V’ for victory. “I will!”

“Today, we bring you a special fruit cup challenge!” The announcer blared. “All the way from Blackthorn City, Johto, our challenger, Crystal!”

“And our defending champion, Supreme Gym Leader and Dragonite trainer extraordinaire, Drake the Great!”

There was much cheering.

“Win for me, Crystal!” Ash shouted from the stands. Pika-chan and Luna were sitting next to him, cheering and waving little blue flags.

< I will. > Lance said in telepathy, causing Ash to look up and smile. < Okay! >

“Now, the two will shake hands!”

Lance smiled and shook Drake’s hand gently, not letting a flicker of her anger or annoyance show through her actions.

“It’s an honor to share the field with you, sir.” She said politely, even though she was still feeling angry with Drake. Of course, he didn’t know who she really was…

“Welcome to the Orange League, Crystal.” Drake said, smiling at the young girl.

The two parted and went to opposite side of the arena.

“The field changes after three of the Champion’s pokemon have fainted.” The announcer said. “This field is a barren landscape of rocks with a pool of water in the middle!”

“I’ll start off with this little guy.” Drake said. “Ditto, go!”

Lance pulled a poke ball off her belt. “Gyrados, you’re up!”

The crowd oohed and aahed as the water dragon appeared in the ring.

“Okay, Ditto, use Transform!”
Lance snapped her fingers and Gyrados immediately dived into the water.

The ditto blinked in confusion, but transformed into a Gyrados.

“Okay, ditto, fire a hyper beam into the water!”

Lance didn’t say anything, but her eyes flashed blue once. A few seconds later, Gyrados jumped out of the water, apparently having taken no damage from the Hyper Beam. The crowd stared in shock.

Ditto immediately began recharging.

Gyrados crackled with electricity and it released a Thunder attack, frying Ditto into oblivion.

“No way!” The announcer said. “Crystal’s Gyrados has just taken Ditto down with one attack, and it is still at full health!”

Drake smiled. “Now it’s getting interesting. You did well, Ditto. Return. Electabuzz, go!”

“Drake has chosen to use a pokemon with an elemental advantage! Will Crystal keep Gyrados out?”
“Gyrados, return.” Lance said. < You did wonderfully. > “Darkstar, you’re up!”
The male dragonair roared and appeared in the ring. A spray of mist surrounded it, dissappitating.

“Electabuzz, Thunderpunch!”
“Cancel it out with Zap Cannon.” Lance said. The two attacks hit and absorbed each other, culminating in an explosion.

When the dust cleared, both were down. However, Electabuzz managed to stand again.

Ash dropped his French fries. < Crystal?! >

< Darkstar’s fine. But it would attract too much attention if he were still standing. That Electabuzz is pretty powerful. >
< Oh… >

“Return.” Lance said. “Okay, Aerodactyl, you’re up!”
By now, Drake was suspecting that something was up. * I only know one person who has an Aerodactyl… but I can’t just accuse her? of being Lance… I guess I’ll just have to continue this battle. *

“Electabuzz, use Light Screen!”

Aerodactyl quickly lowered Electabuzz’s defense with a Screech, before using a devastating Rock Slide.

Electabuzz dropped like a rock.

Drake clenched his teeth. * Definitely. There’s only one person who I know has an Aerodactyl that knows Rock Slide. But what is Lance doing here? And that disguise is really convincing… *

However, any questions he might have had were forestalled when the area was suddenly cloaked in smoke.

“Prepare for trouble!”

“We don’t have time for this! Just grab the kid and let’s go!”

“Aerodactyl, use Whirlwind!” Lance called. When the mist cleared, it revealed Giselle and her partner Mitchell taking off with… Drake.

Ash sweatdropped. * Well, I can’t use magic publicly… *

Aerodactyl flew up and quickly slashed through the net with its razor-sharp wings, freeing a startled Drake.

Then, it fired off a Hyper Beam, sending Team Rocket blasting off again.

Drake dropped back to the ground. “Okay, let’s continue this match.” He said. “Even though I’d like an explanation later, Lance.”
Lance smirked. “So you figured it out?”

“Yes. But the announcers haven’t. So I’ll fight with everything I have.”

Lance smiled. “’Kay!”

They headed back to their sides of the stadium.

End Episode 136!

Yahoo! A Lance-centered episode! Are there any Lance fans out there?

Anyways, please review!
Flames will be used to forge a Nuriko card!

Please, I’m a very busy person and sick right now, so por favor lay off on the bugging for updates? At the most it only takes 5 days for this fic…