Whee!
Disclaimer/Notes: See an earlier chapter

I think this is post-Lagrimas as well. There may be CCA references and Dragon’s Love too, as par expectations.

Chapter 4

Ash groomed his new Flygon, quite amazed that he had managed to capture it in the first place. It had taken the combined efforts of his other four pokemon to pull it off… and even then it had been difficult!

Flygon arched his wings and stretched.

In either case, it had been a quick victory against Surge, Rock Tomb slowed down his already slow raichu, Dragonbreath paralyzed it farther, and it couldn’t really fight in Sandstorm, now, could it?
< I think you did well. >

< Arigato, Lance-chan. > Ash said beaming.

Lance hid a smile. * Perfect, isn’t it? Yes… and I won’t break my own work of course… *

Flygon yawned, and took a nap.

“How are you feeling, little one?”

< Fine! > Ash chirped happily.

< That’s good… > Lance sent back.

< Lance-chan, you’ll protect me forever, right? >

< I will, but only if you want me to. >

< Of course I want you to. > Ash refuted, as he hugged Lance. The trainer smirked, holding the child in his arms.

Yes…

He had made his choice…

Lance ran his fingers through Ash’s hair. * You chose me, not them… so I’ll teach you to wield the power when it comes, and we’ll fly away together at the end of time. It’ll be so pretty… *

Ash purred.

Lance stopped, slightly intrigued. * Purring? What? *

That was when the pink cat ears popped out of Ash’s head.

Ash blinked. “Nani?!”

He immediately reached up, felt them, and fainted.

Lance’s eye twitched. * All right, chalk that up on strange events for today… * He idly noticed Ash had the tail too.

This had better not be one of Charlotte’s pranks…

Actually, wasn’t she still asleep?

Lance idly turned on his blue compact mirror communication device/evil channeling means, and took a quick peek. The fire guardian still slept, yes, but…

My, what interesting dreams you have.

She was obsessed though, a slightly insane matchmaker at times but overall a reliable ally, except near water.

Oh well.

She would sleep for a long time, having to heal from dark magic takes the longest if you are a light-type to begin with.

Lance hardly felt darkness, and Ash was shadow so he was fine. Ah well, things always worked out.

He idly stroked Ash’s new ears, and waited for the child to wake up.

A simple enough spell, it would wear off, he was already unraveling the magic but we might as well have a little fun.

When Ash woke up, he found Lance leaning over him.

< Ash? Are you all right? >

< Lance-chan? What happened? I had this strange dream… > Ash trailed off. He put his hands on his head again.

< What happened?! >

< Looks like a spell, I did my best to counter and it will wear off tomorrow. >

Ash breathed a sigh of relief. * Thank goodness… *

< Arigato, Lance-chan. >

< I’d do anything for you, you know. > Lance said, but Ash didn’t catch the implications of the tone.

< I know. >

< Well then, you can’t go to Cerulean looking like this. What would the gym leader think? >

Actually, he knew what those three giggling ‘water ballet’ idiots would think only too well, but Ash didn’t have to know.

What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. After all, you don’t want to break innocence too early…

Ash paled. < I suppose… >

< Do you want to go exploring then? >

< Honto Ni? But… >

< You don’t have to train all the time, Ash. >

< Hai! >

Lance watched as Ash collected his pokemon, and then he teleported them both to the desired locale.

Perfect.

They spent a fun day spelunking in the caves, and Ash found the ears rather helpful in orienting himself.

He didn’t get lost!
So maybe it wasn’t so bad…

He was still happy it only lasted 1 day though.

Being stuck with cat ears permanently was no fun!

He picked up a small shiny black pebble. He used to collect rocks, when he was little. Now, he didn’t as much.

Still, it had been lots of fun. Lance had taken him to the beach a few times, different beaches all over the islands, and they had collected shells and played in the water together.

Lance-chan was so shy at times! It was kind of cute. But Ash still loved him just the same.

He put the pebble in his pocket and made a mental note to add it to his collection when he got home. It would be nice rearranging all the rocks.

“Still collecting, Ash?”

“Hai!” Ash said, as Pikachu zapped a Zubat that ventured too close. Ugh, it had fangs out too…

Why did they attack now?

He thought Zubats slept during the day. They went out and sucked blood at night, usually from wild pokemon, like mosquitoes.

A few types ate fruits or fish instead. But then again, Zubats weren’t all identical, luckily. Change was a nice thing.

< We’re not being too noisy are we? >

< No, why? >

< Then what’s going on with the zubats? >

Lance frowned. * Well, he’s perceptive at least… its small things that start to show unnatural nature. *

< I’m not sure… > Lance said. < It might have something to do with the factory runoff. After all, Vermillion Oil does have a plant near this cave. >

< Oh… >

Or the lights, Ash thought, why couldn’t humans and pokemon live together peacefully? People were always trying to control them… well, he was a trainer too, but he was a friend with his pokemon!

End Chapter

Completed 5/21/04, created 5/20/04