I will not let you die, you plotbunny! *Phantomness goes Frankenstein on the poor plotbunny and hooks it up to every piece of medical equipment she can think of*

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 4

Red had to take several deep breaths to calm his poor nerves. “You’re saying that LUGIA is your father?”

“Well, you needn’t act so shocked about it.” Lance sounded miffed. “What did you expect? Normal pokemon can’t take human form.”

“Is that why you’re trying to destroy people? Because you’re not human?” Red asked carefully. In a way, it made sense…

“No, that’s not it. You never heard my reasoning, did you?”

“I didn’t have time to listen. I was trying to stay alive.”

Lance nodded. “Well, in any case… tis nothing important.”

“Well, I’m bored.” Red shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind listening to you. I’ve already heard all their speeches.”

Lance laughed lightly. “It must have been Lorelei and Agatha… ah, Bruno was always too optimistic.”

Something about that made Red pause. “Are you related to them as well?”

“Lorelei’s my cousin.”

“I see…”

“She’s Articuno’s.”

That caught Red’s attention. He blinked, before shaking his head. “Next you’ll be telling me that Agatha’s a ghost…”

“Well, she is a ghost type, a Ghost Master…”

“That’s so weird…”

“Why?”

“I mean… well… what about Bruno?”

“He’s normal enough, if that was what you were asking…he’s pure human, unless you count three or four generations back. Then there’s a bit of the Hitmonlee type in there…”

“I never knew humans and pokemon could interbreed…”

“Well, now you know. Maybe one of your parents…” Lance said speculatively. Red colored as he looked down, but it did give him some food for thought…

His red eyes were a point of unnatural … attributes…

“I… I can’t be part pokemon!” Red protested.

“Why not?”

“It just doesn’t make any sense!”

“I’ll leave you to your speculations.” Lance got up to leave, but stopped. “I suppose it won’t hurt to share my dreams. All I want is a world where pokemon can live happily without human interference. That was the goal I had that was why we Elites attacked the cities and used Cerise Island as a badge energy amplifier.”

“I see.” Red said, though he wasn’t quite sure yet.

It was kind of an admirable dream, from a crazy point of view, but if Lance was a pokemon, then pokemon … did pokemon want to rule the world? Impossible!
People took care of the pokemon they trained, didn’t they?

He was a friend to his pokemon, he knew that much for sure, and Green and Blue – even though she wanted money, were also good trainers whose pokemon loved and respected them. But were all the trainers kind to their pokemon? Team Rocket was certainly not, what with their experiments and creation of Mewtwo…

This thread of thought certainly bore thinking about…

“How do you feel?”

“Hmm?” Red blinked, wondering why Lance had popped out of nowhere and offered him apple cider. It certainly wasn’t normal behavior…

His vision once again began to blur but this time, the images were coming into sharper clarity. He bolted awake as Lance tsked.

“You’re going to freeze to death out here, Red. It’s a rainy night.” Only then did Red notice that Lance was holding an umbrella over them and it was indeed, pouring buckets. His long-sleeved black shirt and pants were sopping wet.

“How on earth could you fall asleep in this weather without noticing it?”

Red sneezed pitifully, prompting Lance to teleport him back to their ‘house’. He shoved the younger trainer into the bathroom, and headed off to the kitchen.

Red woke to find Lance waiting for him with hot buttered toast layered with blackberry jelly and a mug of hot cocoa. Not quite the same, but it was real this time. He sneezed a few more times and then applied himself to the food. It was then that he realized where the sandwiches and such he found daily were springing.

“You can cook?”

“Of a sort, yes.” Lance smiled. “Why?”

“So you’ve been making breakfast and lunch for me?”

“Most definitely.”

“Wow, thanks!”

“I could hardly leave you to starve.” Lance said dryly. “It is a most cruel form of punishment.” With that, he headed for the door, but Red stopped him.

“Wait! Even if you are a pokémon, it’s horrible weather out there! You can stay the night here with me. I won’t mind.”

Lance looked at him oddly.

Red blinked.

“Well, thank you.” Lance finally said. “I’ll take the room next to yours, shall I?”

There were several rooms, nothing very fancifully furnished but the beds and clothing were of very fine silk. Perhaps it was because silk was natural…

He told Lance goodnight and went back to his meal.

He yawned as he shifted, before curling up underneath the covers, wings carefully tucked down and tail curled around his claws. Red was going to have a rather nasty surprise in the morning if he came in here…

There were so many things the boy did not know…

“Have you…ever betrayed someone?”

Red blinked. “That’s a strange question.”

Lance nodded as he carefully cut his pancakes, and Red winced uncomfortably. The strawberry syrup piled over them reminded him of blood.

Ugh! He was getting too morbid…

“No, I don’t think so.” He thought back upon his life. “Er… um, I guess that following you here could kind of count as a betrayal, but they hurt me first?”

“Who?”

“The public of course. I suppose they just like to martyr Pokemon Champions and you know, important people. I heard from a passing Wingull that they gave my position to Green.”

“Why not? He was the runner-up.”

“I know, but I feel so … I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Jealous?” Lance hazarded a guess as he took a bite.

Red nodded. “Something like that. Here I’ve spent my time trying to protect a chain of islands, a region that isn’t even mine, and they don’t care.”

“I daresay you got good publicity for defeating Team Rocket...”

“Yes, but no one ever talks of Cerise.”

Lance stiffened and Red coughed. “I didn’t mean that, but we did win, didn’t we?”

“In the most general sense, you defeated the Elite Four. I’m surprised the press never commented.”

“I think Yellow wanted to keep it secret.”

“Hmm…”

“Never mind.” Red said quickly, biting into a pancake dripping with maple syrup. There were more important things to consider now.

And if Lance really was a dragon…

He shouldn’t make him too mad!

End Chapter

Completed 1/3/06