Woohoo! Chapter 3!

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 3

It takes a few months before Red realizes that he’s a lot more comfortable around Lance than he is with any girl. So far, there’s been eight of them, nothing has gotten farther than a kiss, he’s dumped six of them and been dumped twice, and he’s getting sick of it. He passes it off as friendship, but starts to notice little things.

“Not going out to dinner tonight?” Lance asked, looking up from his report.

Red shook his head. “No.”

“Red, it’s not healthy for you to be doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“The whirlwind dating.” Lance frowned as Red looked away. “Red. Look at me.”

Something in his voice caught Red’s attention, and he sulkily lifted his head to meet Lance’s gaze.

Lance sighed, golden eyes warm and strangely sad. “I’m worried about you, Red. That’s all.”

Red nodded, but he was still unhappy.

Susan said he didn’t kiss as well as her old boyfriend had, and promptly dumped him. She had not been much of a catch anyway, only up to Thunder Badge, but he had been getting desperate.

Lance was right. This was no way to live.

Should he drift in apathy until something happened then? Or should he just concentrate on his pokémon and not on romance?

That might be better, so he went down to the stadium to practice running with Arcanine and Rapidash. Exercise always helped lift his spirits.

Lance watched, as he put the finishing touches on dinner. He liked showing off his culinary skills, and though Red never commented, he often caught the other trainer’s eyes on him.

He smirked as he stirred the soup stock, watching the cuttlefish balls bob merrily in the soup. Bruno came in, yawning and stretching.

“Good workout?” The Dragon Master questioned.

“The best! I do miss being out in the mountains though.”

“Yes, sometimes the Plateau does feel like a prison.” Tasted, added salt, and continued to stir.

Bruno grabbed an apple and banana from the fruit bowl and went outside, munching loudly.

“Well, I’m surprised to see you here.” Lorelei said. Considering how much time Red had spent girl chasing the past few weeks, he had been seriously slacking in the training department.

Red grinned. “Up for a practice match?”

“Sure.” She nodded. “Full set?”

“Let’s.”

He remembered when he had defeated her the first time – he’d used Arcanine and Jolteon, but those two were his highest-leveled pokemon and now it was time to train some of the lower leveled ones, such as the Rapidash he had picked up a few weeks ago.

Rapidash appeared in a flash of red light, giving a triumphant whinny. Lorelei put down Jynx’s poke ball and released Cloyster instead, with an order for Ice Beam.

Rapidash countered with a Flamethrower that boiled the Ice Beam into steam, and as Cloyster began firing spikes, nimbly avoided them, before trying to smash Cloyster’s shell with a Stomp move.

Cloyster’s shell held fast as he withdrew, trapping Rapidash’s hoof. The horse tried to pull free, kicking viciously, but the shell refused to open.

Red grinned. “Overheat!”

As the temperature inside Cloyster’s shell began to boil, Lorelei recalled her pokémon with a smile.

“Good tactic, Red.”

“Thanks!”

“All right! Lapras, Hydro Pump!”

Rapidash was not fast enough to dodge, and took the hit, washed away. She stood shakily, but the HP she was left with was rapidly dropping.

Red sprayed her with a Max Potion, before frowning. How to defeat Lapras when he was at a clear type disadvantage? He could not use the trick he had used on Cloyster with this new pokémon…

Perhaps he could try to trap her at least?

“Rapidash, Fire Spin!”

“Lapras, Sing!”

Even as Rapidash wove a cocoon of conflagration around Cloyster, the drowsy tone of her voice lulled her to sleep.

Red winced as Rapidash slipped into slumber, snoring loudly.

Perhaps he should have taught her Snore?

Satisfied that her foe was gone, Lapras hastily summoned up a Blizzard to finish the fire horse off once and for all. Frost began to gather on Rapidash’s body, putting out her natural flames.

Red recalled her, sensing that even using Full Restore at this point could become a wasted effort.

He palmed his next poke ball, and threw Magmar forwards.

“Gotten quite a few new pokémon since I faced you last, it seems.” Lorelei quipped. Lapras shivered slightly at the intense heat radiating from the Magmar.

“Only a few.” Red grinned impishly. “Magmar, Fire Punch!”

“Lapras, Surf!”

Magmar leapt into the air, executing a perfect triple somersault and avoiding the waters, as he landed squarely on Lapras’s shell and slugged a flaming fist in her face.

Lapras blinked, stunned, and Magmar used this advantage to quickly Fire Blast her. The flames surrounded him as well, but he had no fear of burning.

“Oh, Bravo!” Lorelei said, as she recalled Lapras. “That was wonderful.”

Red was about to continue, when they heard the bell ring. It seemed that dinner was ready.

They healed their pokémon quickly, and went to join the rest of the Elite.

End Fic

Completed 9/17/06

Red: Why haven’t I figured out that Lance likes me yet?

Phantomness: I can stretch the fic out longer if you don’t

Lance: Ahh…