Chapter 2!

Disclaimer: Trust me, if *I* owned pokemon, there would be more darkness and angst in it… and less of Misty and Brock, those annoying gits. And Anime Lance would be manga Lance. In fact, I might as well make Pokemon Special an Anime…

Notes: italics for pokemon talking, ** for thoughts, <> for telepathy

Chapter 2

Two months had passed since the disastrous attacks on Cerise Island. There was nothing left but memories, and one other thing….

You have to tell Yellow!

“Pika, it’s not that bad…”

Yes it is!

Red sighed. So his wrists and ankles were slightly weaker because that was where Lorelei’s ice cuffs had been locked, but he could still walk with no problem…

And besides, it weren’t as if he was going to put himself in that dangerous situation again…

That had been a fight they’d had almost a month ago, and Pikachu had run off to find Yellow. Why?

“Charmander! Flamethrower!”

“You can’t beat my Nidorino!”

“Want to bet? Now…”

The little lizard hopped on top of the Nidorino and then breathed a Flamethrower straight down its throat as it opened its mouth to do a Bite attack.

Charbroiled from the inside. Perfect…

Lance recalled Charmander with a flick of her wrist and prepared to walk on.

“Woah! That was very cool! You must be a pretty good trainer!”

Hmm…prey sighted, Lance thought with a smile as she turned around with a frown. “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes, I’m talking to you.” Red grinned. “I’m Red from Pallet. You are…?” He stuck out his hand.
“Catelyn, from Blackthorn.” She shook his hand.

“Wicked. You’re from Johto?”

Lance nodded.

“Yatta! That is cool! So tell me, is Charmander your starter? How long have you been a trainer for?”

Noticing the absence of an annoying yellow rodent, Lance grinned. “I’m a second year trainer, got six badges…”

“Awesome.”

“Thank you.”

“So,” Red said, as they walked down the street together. “What type of pokemon do you train?”

Lance gave a small half-smile. “Dragon pokemon.”

“Wow! How cool! Well, what do you have besides Charmander?”

“I have a ground-type called Larvitar, rather cute actually.”

“I see….”

“I’ve heard of you,” Lance said. “You’re the Ninth Kanto League Champion aren’t you? Red from Pallet Town?”

“Right now, yes.” Red grinned. “And I’m thinking about becoming the new Viridian Gym Leader.”

“A noble goal, certainly.” Lance smiled. “I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful gym leader.”

Red blushed. “Er…”

“Shh, it’s all right. Sleep now.”

“…?”

Lance’s eyes glowed once and Red fell into sleep, although he knew not why…

The Dragon Master caught the Champion as he fell and smiled to herself.

< Do not worry. I will not hurt you. It will not hurt a bit, although emotionally, it may well shatter you… >

Red woke up a few minutes later, to find Catelyn bending over him with a wet strawberry handkerchief. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. You just fainted.” She looked at him worriedly. “Are you all right? Do you need me to get you anything?”

His throat felt pretty parched. Maybe it was dehydration coupled with the heat. “Um… some water would be nice.”

She pulled a carton of Fresh Water out of her backpack and tossed it at him.

“Thanks!”

“No problem, Red, none at all…”

He wasn’t listening as he gulped down the drink, grinning. “Ah, that hit the spot.”

Such a child he still was, but he was only thirteen. She had to remember that important fact.

You don’t want to hurt them while they’re still too young…

It hurts too much, but one good point is that at a young age, they still trust you. And if they trust you, you can play the hero – or heroine, for that matter, until the time comes when he can accept the truth.

Oh, he’ll hate me for it, but what of that?

He’ll understand why later.

Red finished the Fresh Water and thanked the girl again. “So what were we talking about?”

“Pokemon, I believe.” She giggled.

“Oh yes. Did you want to have a battle?”

“But you’re Champion!”

“So? I still take challenges from normal people.”

There it was! The first inklings of pride and a self of – not self-righteousness, not like the little blonde brat, but…

Confidence. Competence. A touch of arrogance and pride, since he’d gotten to his position through hard work, and…

Anger. A faint coil of anger… that she could work with!

And what of the ‘higher than thou’ attitude? Well, he wasn’t exuding it in a noxious cloud of fumes like she had, and a touch of pride never hurt anyone.

After all, you had a right to be proud, didn’t you?

Of course…

“Then I guess I can battle you, but I only have two pokemon…”

That could be a problem, Red reflected, but he shrugged. “Two on two then. Shall we? I’ll pick first. Poli, I choose you!”

Red’s faithful Poliwrath – his first pokemon – took the field.

Lance smiled. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad after all, but bother her pokemon were weak to water, even with… special abilities, which she wasn’t going to show off anyway.

“Larvitar! I choose you!”

Red looked at the pokemon. Ground-type? “Poli, Water Gun!” He felt sorry for her…

She would have told her darling to use Hyper Beam, but that might give her identity away, so…

“Sandstorm!”

Larvitar vanished into a cloud of swirling dust and grit. Poliwrath stumbled around blindly, not sure where to aim.

This would make the battle a bit more interesting! Red grinned. “Poliwrath, use Ice Beam!” * She’s okay… *

Part of the sandstorm froze solid and abruptly dropped to the ground. The rest continued to buffet the frog.

Poliwrath let out a Hydro Pump…

Larvitar was hiding underground and was not affected, so she came up in a Dig Attack – only to see Poliwrath vanish thanks to Double Team.

Not bad, not bad at all…

“Poliwrath, use Mega Punch!”

Not so fast, Lance grinned. Larvitar’s mouth widened and she clamped down with Crunch. Poliwrath’s gloved hand was quite damaged.

However, this gave Poliwrath the ability – and time necessary – to bloat Larvitar with a water gun on the inside.

Larvitar fainted!

“You did pretty well,” Red said. “What’s your next pokemon?”

“Charmander…”

“Oh,” Red said. “Well, if you want to forfeit…”

“I’ll give it a try.” Lance vowed.

“All right, Catelyn, but I won’t go easy on you!”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”

Poliwrath didn’t have time to retaliate before Dragon Rage slammed him into a nearby tree. What with the damage he’d taken from Larvitar, it was enough.

Red grinned. * She’s good… *

Then he’d use – not Venus, but maybe… Aeroy!

Aerodactyl soared out…

Charmander’s eyes met Aerodactyl’s with Attract…

And Aerodactyl rolled over and refused to fight.

“What the?”

“It’s a move called Attract.” Lance said, as she recalled Charmander. “It makes the enemy pokemon of the opposite gender fall in love so they most likely will not attack.”

“Wow, that’s cool…” * I bet Blue would use it if she had it. *

“Isn’t it?” Lance half-smiled.

Meanwhile, from behind a bush…

“Who is that girl?” Yellow seethed.

Pikachu shrugged.

Yellow frowned. Well, maybe she was too shy to tell Red her gender, but that was no reason for someone else to waltz in!

Grr…

She had to do something! But what?

Pikachu was no help…

Perhaps if there was a way she could make Red see she was more than just a pal? But no, he still thought she was a boy, and that was a problem!

Maybe it was tie to come clean…

End Chapter

Completed 9/7/05

Lance: Yellow strikes again!

Red: Phantomness really despises her…

Phantomness: Apologies if Red was OOC in this.