Last chapter? Maybe

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 7

Ash wasn’t sure what he expected. He’d come hoping to well, just to see if Lance was all right, and then things went all strange with glowing lights and the next thing he sees, everything has shifted, and unless Lance was a damned good actor, Wataru-sensei, the nice, polite teacher that Amy always talks about, is gone.

No, it’s Lance and he knows it is, though how he got his memories back Ash has no clue in Aruba. But who cares?

“Lance.”

He wasn’t sure what he expected to happen, maybe a friendly wave, maybe a kiss, but what he didn’t expect was for Lance to look angry, almost evil, like he was back in the war again, and for those blazing golden orbs to fix on his in a way that made his skin crawl.

“Ketchum-san,” That voice purrs, as Lance rises out of his bed and holy shit his clothes are melting, changing into something different, like armor, and he’s growing wings out of his back, and the lady and Lance’s father have just gotten out of the way and are sure not interfering, “Do you know what you have just done?”

“You got your memories back?” He squeaks out.

“Wrong.” And before he knows what’s happening, he’s pinned up against the wall, and he feels Lance’s lips on his and it’s like the first time they kissed, almost an accident, in Houen when they were running high on adrenaline but the world was saved again… and he wants more but that’s when Lance pulls away and turns to the weird black-haired woman with the spectacles.

“Sha-san.”

She gives a mockingly ironical salute, and snaps her fingers, and there’s a whooshing sound as something black and wrinkly falls off of Lance’s body in pieces but that’s impossible!

“Should have remembered, but I didn’t have that memory. Only you do.” She says, and he laughs.

“You made a damn good psychiatrist, Charlotte. You should go into that field sometime when you’re not too busy.”

She laughs, and then he turns to his father.

Ash watches as Lance gives a sad little smile and his lips aren’t moving, but his father suddenly nods and instead of a tall man with white hair and blue eyes the wall explodes outwards and that’s Lugia, the legendary pokemon, just floating there!

Ash doesn’t know if he should laugh of cry if he’s fallen into some odd alternate reality or not, but…

But it makes sense.

Both Lance and Lugia vanished.

If Lugia is Lance’s father… that explains his dragon affinity.

But why did Lance disappear, and why did he forget?

He glares at the lady, and to his surprise she glares right back. Puts her hand on her hip and then pulls a flaming sword with a bronze hilt out of midair and motions him away from Lance.

Does she think he’s going to hurt Lance?

Apparently she does, because Lugia gives a deep growl and it looks like he’s preparing a Hyper Beam.

What is going on here?

And Lance just sighs, and taps him on the nose, and says it’s better if he just forgets the whole ordeal, and he sees some kind of weird blue energy gathering around Lance’s hands and he doesn’t know what to do but he doesn’t want to forget...!

And time seems to freeze.

“You don’t want to forget?” Lance demands, and his face is an angry mask of rage and pain. “After what you put me through, you think you can make demands? You think you can go back to being all happy now that I’m back to normal? What, are you going to keep me as a lover on the side or something? You’re bloody married to MISTY for Lugia’s sake!”

Lugia (who is still in the room) coughs, but doesn’t comment.

Ash feels that that Hyper Beam is still charging which is a very bad thing.

“I can do it,” Charlotte offers, and before he can react, she’s behind him and he can feel the heat from her sword on his neck, but Lance shakes his head.

“Give me the Scales.”

She pulls out a pair of pretty scales – black and gold – and hands them to Lance, and he looks at them, watching a blue ball and a red ball and a yellow ball, each bobbing on a separate plate, and then it tips.

And he smiles.

“You lose.”

That’s all Ash really understands, because then the three people in the room nod to each other and they disappear, and all he’s left with is a feeling of agony.

And he knows, for certain, that this time, he won’t see Lance.

Ever. Again.

And he screams and he cries, but no one is listening, and so he walks home.

And the next morning, when he wakes up, he doesn’t remember anything. He eats breakfast and goes off to work, but…

Something about Amy having a teacher named Mogi-sensei is just. Not. Right.

And in the Dream Realm, two guardians sit on the grass, and try to forget. The pills are gone. The wards are gone. The seals are gone.

Ash is gone.

Charlotte turns to Lance, and offers him a sympathetic smile.

He sighs, and wishes that this didn’t have to happen.

Lugia sleeps nearby, keeping watch over his precious child.

And somewhere on earth, a man wakes up crying, but doesn’t know why.

Don’t look at the stars in the sky. Please.

END FIC

Completed 3/6/06

Okay! A little bit of explanation on the star stuff! Ash’s final guardian form, the Master of Hidden Shadows, has eyes that look like miniature galaxies. They're black with swirling stars. That’s what Lance is thinking of.

And yay! An ocean of angst! Like? Hate? Tell me~! No happy ending this time!

See, I could have made Ash and Lance run away together, but then I’d be promoting adultery, and I ain’t that type of authoress, most of the time. Night~! *Looks at watch* Holy…! I have class in 2 hours. Better get some sleep!