And… finally, after a hiatus, another chapter! Sometimes writing is really like pulling teeth!

Phantomness throttles the Plotbunny… “Work! Why won’t you work?”

Lance: *sweatdrop*

Note: Red Kitcham (who is crushing on Lance/his younger brother for a couple years) is Ash Ketchum’s counterpart from another dimension…

This fic will be championshipping (Red x Lance) and DragonFangshipping (Ash x Clair). Both ships created by me.

Chapter 7

Vermillion City was… yellow. It was also swarming with Rockets.

“Hey kid! Hand over your pokemon right now!”

“Never!” Ash cried. “Pikachu!”

“Then we’ll take them!”

“Kairyuu, Hyper Beam!”

The four rockets plowed through a wall with a sickening crunch. Lance jumped down from his Dragonite, turning to Ash.

“That was careless of you.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

Hm? That was odd. The eyes that met his were not vibrant crimson but brown. He cursed inwardly. This wasn’t Red!

“You’re Ash Ketchum from Pallet.”

“Y-yes! You’ve heard of me?”

“Unfortunately.” Lance sighed. “Forget what you saw.” He nudged Dragonite as he flew off to find Red.

Ash stared. * Who was that? * Little pink hearts began to shimmer around his head as he watched.

Kakkoii…

“Lance!”

“Found you.” Lance said. “So, hiding out in Cerulean Cave?”

“Hai!” Red grinned. “Look.” He held out the pokedex.

“You’ve also caught a Venomoth and a Magneton. Impressive…”

“I know! Magneton was so hard! But I used Poisonpowder and leech seed to beat it!” He grinned, as his new Bulbasaur blushed.

She was so cute…

“Well, great work then!”

Meanwhile…

“I’m here to see the Dragon Master.”

Clair smiled at the young man who looked so much like Red they could have been twins. Well, he was shorter, his hair was messier, and his eyes were brown not red, but… even their clothing choices were similar.
“Sorry, my brother’s not here. You’ll have to talk to me instead.”

“You’re a dragon master?” Ash asked. “That’s so cool!” He jumped off his Pidgeotto and grinned.

“Yes, I’m Clair of Blackthorn.”

“Ash Ketchum from Pallet. I’m just a beginning trainer, really.” Pikachu and Butterfree waved.

“Your pokemon seem to be happy and healthy.” Clair said. “Why don’t we have a soda and chat? It’s nice to meet a new face.”

“Sure!” Ash grinned happily.

They situated themselves under a small pink plastic umbrella at a nearby fast food chain restaurant. Ash’s’ eyes were happy as he slurped his double chocolate malt. Clair was nursing an ice cream soda as she watched Ash.

“So, tell me about yourself.”

“Well…” Ash blushed. “I’m twelve years old, from Pallet Town. My starter pokemon was a pikachu, because I woke up late for the test.”

“Interesting.” Clair smiled. “Well, mine was Horsea.”

“Really!?”

“Yes. Our clan trains pokemon as part of a family tradition. Dragon pokemon only, of course. Still, we start at age five…”

“That is so cool…”

Clair smiled. “So tell me more about you?”

Ash grinned. “Okay! Well… I was born in Pallet… and the first time I saw a pokemon, it was a Poliwag…”

At Cerulean City…

“Venomoth, I choose you!”

Deborah backed away from the boy she and her partner Edward were facing. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea…”

“Ah, shut up. Chicken!” Edward said. “I’ll fight him then! You steal his pokemon after the battle’s over! I choose you, Machop!”

“Psychic!” Red grinned, the attack blasting the machop into oblivion within a wing-beat as he flicked his wrist, releasing another pokemon. “Magneton! Thunderwave!”

Yes, his time in Cerulean Cave had been quite valuable. He had netted several high level pokemon there on pure luck.

With a grin, he watched as the two trainers – actually Team Rocket members in disguise – were incapacitated. Then he dialed Officer Jenny on his pokedex.

“Hello, Cerulean City police station.”

“Officer Jenny?”

“Who’s this calling?”

“I’m Red from Cerulean City.” He smiled. “I have just discovered two Team Rocket agents and disabled them.”

“Say no more. I’ll be right there.” Jenny replied.

The Officer showed up five minutes later, with her Growlithe partner. “Well, well.. these two aren’t very high up, but any help is appreciated…”

Red grinned. “No problem, Officer.”

“You do realize that under Team Rocket’s own salvage laws you are allowed to take a pokemon from each of them?”

“Oh?” Red’s eyes glittered. “I’ll see what they have.”

Deborah fought off the Thunderwave long enough to curse him for a few seconds, but shut up upon seeing the police.

Red nodded. “I’ll take these two.” He held up two poke balls.

“You can’t!” Edward yelled. “That’s my favorite pokemon!”

“Excuse me, but you were the one who first attempted to steal from me.”

“Grr…”

“So, thank you very much officer.”

“No problem, Red.” She noted that the boy had no criminal record, and was a beginning trainer. Well, he was off to a good start then.

Red walked on happily, his new Swablu and Qwilfish in hand. More water pokemon! Now to Vermillion…. But it was a pretty far walk…

He grinned as he released his Venomoth again. She gave him a curious look.

“Could you fly me to Vermillion?”

The moth nodded, Red was rather light… she waited as he climbed on her back and then they took off…

End Chapter

Completed 3/25/05

Started 3/21/05

Man, this chapter was hard to write…

Lance: Oh?

Clair: I’m being paired up?

Phantomness: Hai! Now I can have 2 pairings I like in the same fic!

Red: So I’m Ash from another dimension, and I like Lance.

Ash: And I’m from the normal pokeverse…

Phantomness: Yep!