This is one long plotbunny, but please don’t die!

Lance: I hate you

Phantomness: I know. But! I am *Championshipping no Miko!* see?

Lance: *buries face in hands*

Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon, ok? IT belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics and a host of other affluent companies. All I have is my fanfic, which I make no cash off of. No copyright infringement is intended.

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, we shall have italics if a pokemon talks

Chapter 5: Playful Spirit

It was hailing when they arrived in Blackthorn.

Lance stopped in front of the gym, entered, and found Claire training her Dragonairs and Kingdra.

“Lance!”

“Hello, little sister.” Lance smiled. “Since Indigo Plateau’s been vaporized, I’ll be staying here.”

“That’s great!” Claire said enthusiastically. “Who’s your friend?”

“Ashura ‘Red’ Satoshi, current Kanto Champion.”

“Cool.” Claire shook hands with Ash. “I’m Claire Dragyn, Blackthorn City gym leader.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Claire.” Ash said politely.

Claire nodded absentmindedly. “Well, the guest rooms are upstairs, one of the ones with white doors.”

“Thank you very much for your hospitality.”

“It’s nothing.”

After Ash had left, Claire turned to Lance, with a question burning in her eyes.

“Is he the one?”
Lance shook his head. “Of course not, Claire.”

“You wouldn’t just bring a friend over to visit, onii-san.”

“Maybe.” Lance told her. “But he’s only a friend, at the most, he’d be my younger brother who I want to protect.’

“I see.”

Claire did see, now did Ash see this?

He shouldn’t chase in impossible dream. There was always danger in that.

Death waited too, for his turn on the roulette wheel of life.

Spin, please.

And for goodness’s sake, do not land in illusion!

Ash adjusted.

It was kind of peaceful living at ‘home’ again. He visited his mom, just to let her know he was okay, but kept out of sight. The Elite Four was in danger.

The government, the police force… no progress had been made on the capture of the terrorists.

To the horror of the bureaucrats, some of the radical religious groups supported them. Pokemon were creatures of evil!
God save us all then; if war is about to erupt.

The Cerulean Gym went up in flames days later.

Again, there was no note, no warning, obviously no sign of possible attack. If this pattern continued, the gym and League system would be utterly ruined!

What if that was the goal?

President Matthew Crowne was afraid. Pokemon was the gyroscope that stabilized their society.

If it fell, would not chaos and anarchy descend? They wanted a peaceful society, for crying out loud! The battles siphoned off aggression.

That was the main purpose of the pokemon system. It could not be removed. It had been implanted forty-three years ago, and had worked wonderfully.

It had to stay.

Ash yawned.

He put a piece of chocolate on the scale, watched it tip, and then ate the chocolate. Yum. He knew it was supposed to be a chemistry experiment, but wasting chocolate?
In any case, he knew the calculations already.

So it would be fine.

If only Lance would pay attention to him.

Ash still felt bad over the Mewtwo incident.

The resentment had bled away by now.

He felt sorry for Lance, but it only made his respect for the other trainer grow all the more.

That was the way things were.

If only…

If only he would be proud of me too… I bet he still sees me as a child, right?

Well, I don’t want to be looked down on again.

I will find out a way to get stronger!

I know my power is getting better, and my pokemon are stronger now… is that enough? Hopefully.

That’s all.

I want to get better!

Ash watched his pokemon do training exercises outside.

Lance’s dragons were flying around, training on their own.

“They’re doing quite well.”

“H-hai!” Ash said, surprised at Lance’s compliment as the trainer materialized next to him. * Wow. *

“You seem bored.”

“W-well… there are no challengers.” He stammered.

Kindness reflected back in those golden eyes. “Then how about if I help you with something.”

“Honto ni?”

“Hai. I’ll teach you some basic attack patterns to look for.”

“Gomen nasai, Lance-kun!”
“No problem.”

And the training went on.

It was very helpful, learning to see how simple paw and claw placement and slight shifts in stance could indicate what attack was used next. Even temperature was a judge at times.

Of course, very smart pokemon could disguise their body language, but most couldn’t.

So it was very useful.

Ash felt better about himself, too. At least Lance saw him worthy of time, wasn’t that something?

Yes…

And soon, you’ll learn to want me too. He promised.

He would shine like a star and attract the darkness, as that was the way he wanted it to be.

End Chapter!
Complete 4/13/04, started 4/5/04