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 2

The Dragon Master hated humans. He hated them because they were filthy and did not deserve to live, what with what they had done to the environment. However, he was now aware that using pokémon to destroy humanity would lead to severe devastation and he had no desire to force his precious dragons through such a state again.

Despite his new resolution, now the Forest was gone… Mother was gone, and he would never hear her voice again. He had tried so hard for her, tried to keep her safe, but he had failed, and now he brooded.

If he had he succeeded, would she still be safe? Perhaps…

He sighed as he glanced at the unconscious Champion on his floor, before hoisting him upwards and palming the entrance to the secret room open. He stripped the boy of his soaked clothing, wrapped him in the blankets, and let him sleep.

It was so… empty, now, without pokémon. With Viridian’s Power broken there was little he could do. It was quite shameful, how he could no more weave his spell-songs without a crutch, but what did it matter now?

There was really no point in living without his precious dragons.

He watched Red sleep, and wished that they had all died when Viridian burned. The power had burned them all, and he was surprised he had lived, but it had been so quick, a burst of fire and then nothingness in his mind.

It had frightened him.

Now, he was used to the silence.

Red was very surprised when he woke up stark naked and in a bed of all things, but seeing Lance curled up on the floor with two blankets helped his mood a bit, and he hoped that meant that since Lance had nicely let him use the bed the man hadn’t molested him in his sleep. Red slowly and carefully got out of bed, carefully keeping a blanket wrapped around his body, before he tried to figure out where he was. Oh yes, Whirl Islands…

He had come because he had wanted to stay away from people, but it looked like Lance had had the same idea.

What to do? It would be really rude to kick Lance out, and he didn’t feel too much from the man except a strange blankness.

Maybe… maybe it would be all right?

He shook Lance awake, wanting to ask him what was going on, and golden eyes blinked open. Lance slowly stood, smoothing out his clothing.

“Fancy seeing you here, Red.” The Dragon Master said dryly. Red braced himself, but there was no emotion behind the words.

Lance was empty, and Red found that really odd. Why would he be empty? Lance should feel – all people did!

But then, if Lance had also had Viridian’s power, perhaps it had broken that essential component of his personality when the Mother burned.

“I’m sorry for disturbing you.” Red told him honestly.

Lance shrugged. “I do not mind your presence.” He said quietly. “I was surprised to see you here though.”

Red peered at him, trying to gauge if he were lying or not, but saw nothing of the sort. He sighed.

“Lance… do you hate me?”

A head cocked to one side. “No.” Lance said quietly. “Why would I?”

The intent Red felt behind the words made him swallow convulsively. Lance didn’t hate Red, but he had no real thoughts towards him either. How could someone be so hollow? What had happened to him?

“But I destroyed your plans at Cerise… and Pikachu…”

“As long as you keep Pika away from me, I bear no ill will towards it either.” Lance replied promptly.

Red nodded. He could accept that. After all, he had intruded upon Lance’s sanctuary here. But… why were there no pokemon around?

Lance liked pokemon, didn’t he?

He wanted to ask, but it seemed personal, so he kept his mouth shut. Lance asked him if he was hungry then, and Red was, so Lance handed him a fishing rod and box with bait divided into several sections.

Red caught three Magikarp and threw them back, not wanting to eat pokemon. He had just fished up a Goldeen instead when Lance came out with a net. Red watched as the Dragon Master stripped down to his boxers and dove into the water, emerging two minutes later with a few clams. The process was repeated, until finally Lance stopped.

“Well? Any luck?”

“I-I can’t eat pokémon!” Red blurted out.

“You’re using the wrong bait.” Lance said curtly. “Use the white ones for regular fish. Most pokemon ignore them.”

“Oh.” Red said sheepishly. Sure enough, a few moments later he had caught three floppy fish. Aeroy happily disemboweled them for him, and he toasted them over a small fire that he made by having Vee focus Morning Sun onto a mirror held over a few logs. It was a lot different in an island environment, but Venus had gathered some driftwood outside while he was fishing so it was better than nothing.

The rest of the day passed in silence. The next day was pretty much the same, and the next. Red got better at fishing, though he wondered where Lance had gotten the equipment. It mattered little, though he was running out of it.

Lance didn’t talk, so sometimes, Red forgot he was there. Then he would catch the Dragon Master watching him, which was strange, since Lance seemed to be looking through him, but he didn’t yell, so that was good.

Admittedly, a diet of broiled fish and seaweed wasn’t the most appetizing thing around, but Red preferred it to braving the crowds on the streets and buying actual food in a Pokemon Mart or other store.

Who knew how quickly a gift had become a curse?

On the fourth day, Aeroy was injured while fighting off a wild Seel. Red had no idea how the pokemon had gotten here, since he was fairly sure Seel weren’t supposed to be in the Whirl Islands, but maybe it was migrating?

In any case, he’d panicked, because he hadn’t packed any Potions, which was probably a stupid thing to do, and he’d released Vee and told her to use Morning Sun on Aeroy to heal him.

“Stop.” Lance had said, and Red had frozen at the tone. The Dragon Master had walked over, boots clicking slightly against the floor.

He had placed his hands on Aerodactyl, and Red had stared in shock as a pale blue light coalesced around his fingertips, spreading over Aeroy’s injuries.

… How?

Aerodactyl crooned, quietly, and that was the first time Red saw Lance smile, before he collapsed.

End Chapter

Created 1/4/07

Completed 3/27/07

Gyah. This took forever to write… evidenced by the dates… *Hits Writer’s Block with tessen*

‘Hakai no Koto’ is Hyper Beam in Japanese. ^^ Destruction~!