Whee!

Lance: *whacks phantomness with a fan* Why are you writing another fic?

Phantomness: I feel like it. *Whacks Lance with kitchen rapier from fan* So help me, muse!

Lance: You cut my hair… *Looks at short ends*

Phantomness; *Runs off frantically, pursued by a fuming Dragon Master* HELP!!!!!

Timeline: a few days

Chapter 6: Fly

He bit into the juicy tomato and turkey sandwich, relishing the taste.

Ah… bliss… food…

Life was good.

Ash hadn’t really bothered checking on Misty and Brock, after all, they could better concentrate on their dreams without him.

He didn’t want to hold them back.

They weren’t holding him back, anymore. Truth be told, he wasted a lot of time when he wandered around.

That was why Lance-chan taught him now.

Lance-chan… he had missed calling her that until his memory of their card capture days came back.

And then slowly, a few others had drifted back in. Not all memories were sweet, but they all had a purpose.

He had to learn from past mistakes after all.

Lance-chan was still a great cook!

Some things remained constant. She was just one of them. He wished he were constant too, but for some reason, he was more prone to falling.

She was older and stronger and kept better control of her emotions, but he didn’t begrudge her anything.

After all, they were both Chosen.

Lance-chan always took good care of him.

A crash sounded outside the cabin.

Then, the sounds of a scuffle were heard.

Ash ignored them. Lance-chan would take care of any unwanted visitors.

Looking outside, he saw a short, masked person in a hooded dark green robe fighting her. Lance wasn’t even breathing hard.

Icicle shards rained around her, shattering and destroying.

Yes…

In a few seconds, the battle was finished.

Lance calmly unmasked the person, revealing a bald man.

“So tell me, exactly what were you trying to gain by defeating me?”

“As the best scholar of the sacred arts, I deserve a position in the prophecy!”

“Idiot, killing the Chosen only destroys the world and sets the stage to the next rebirth.” Lance taunted.

“And who said you were the best?”

“No one competes with me in my Chosen field,” He said, puffing out his chest.

“Yes… that’s because most people don’t choose to studying the composition of the earth in hopes of finding a way to harness its magic.’

“But I did!”

“Quite badly, you sacrificed a cavern of innocent Diglett. Seventy-eight lives precisely, you know? What you think is new is only a branch of blood magic, that had not been used yet.”

The man growled, as the ground reared up around him, but it was only a small area.

“The earth has been bent to your will, but only to a very small extent.” Lance added. “She hates it too, and will break free soon.”

“Shut up!”

A few rocks went flying, as Lance calmly ignored them. “Dragonbreath…”

A paralyzed gnome was dumped off the mountain into a river, where the pokemon paid him back.

And so it was the end of another idiot.

“Kakkoii, Lance-chan!” Ash clapped.

“He was only a small distraction, so I doubt that’s our mission this lifetime.” Lance told him.

“Won’t it just be to stabilize the balance?”

“Maybe, but we usually don’t know ahead of time.”

Ash nodded, smoothing down the black robe, trimmed with crimson and gold thread. It was comfortable, even though he had only started wearing robes a few weeks ago.

It felt nice, and warm…

Lance was warm too. Sweet as honey and sugar syrup, pure and glittery like freshly fallen snow, perfect.

Lance hadn’t kissed him yet, but the memories were colorful enough.

Ash vowed not to press her into a wall this time. He would be nice and patient also, and wait.

He didn’t want to hurt her by accident.

Why did he always hurt those he loved most?
Well, at least his Mom and Oak were happy together. Although why she married the buffoon and not Giovanni was up for grabs.

Anything could go. When the cards were shuffled for a new story, they did not all fall the same way every time. Variety is the spice of life after all!

“Lance-chan?”
“Hmm?”

“Can we go flying today? I already finished the amplified swords dance.”

“Well, I suppose a rest once in a while won’t hurt. Certainly.”

“Yay!” Ash hugged Lance tightly, and she smiled at him gently.

How did he manage to stay so innocent? Well, it was different. “Shall we begin now?”

Ash nodded brightly, his wings – still white this time – spreading out.

The two joined hands and soared up into the sky together.

Ash wasn’t afraid of being left behind, when she flew over the rainbow and to another place.

They would be together forever and ever…

That was why you have souls and hearts and you link together, like two halves.

True, Charlotte was Chosen too, but Ash didn’t love her the same way.

She was his sister, but that was different.

If she died, he might cry. If Lance died, he would die. Maybe not immediately, but the shock would slowly eat away at him, until his life ebbed away.

That was why Chosen stayed young. They usually died before they got too old due to the stressful lifestyle, or…

It was the freeze effect.

End Chapter