And… another chapter

Disclaimer: If I owned pokemon, would I be writing fanfic?

Warnings: Angst, Darkfic, shonen-ai championshipping (Ash x Lance), insanity,

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Chapter 3

“So what’s going on?” Ash asked, as he seated himself comfortably on a bed. Lorelei was fussing over Lance, although Sabrina said that the hypnosis spell was just temporary.

Now that they had all four Elite, they could release the Ultimate. Sure, that would wipe out the pokemon, but in a few hundred years, they would return…

By then, the humans would have become the dominant society again.

“Hmm?”

Brock cleared his throat. “Ash. In Houen, the government is still human, right?”

Ash blinked and nodded.

“Well here, the pokemon have taken over. Kurt is creating a new type of pokemon capture device, similar to the poke ball – expect that these will allow the pokemon within to escape the effects of the virus that will be released when the Ultimate is used.”

“But… I’m so confused… why are you trying to kill pokemon?” Ash asked. He was still as naïve as ever, his time in Houen had garnered him a powerful team and many new pokemon, but not much in the way of practical knowledge. He had wandered all over the region and the surrounding islands, capturing, battling, and training, just like in the old days. Unfortunately, these days were no longer here.

“Because the pokemon are ruling the world. That’s just wrong.” Brock sighed. He should have known it wouldn’t be easy to explain.

“They treat humans like slaves.” Misty added.

Ash blinked. “Okay…”

“Your mom, for example…” Misty twisted the knife into Ash’s gut. “She’s working for Mr. Mime now.”

“Mimey?!”

“Yes. You see, now things have completely changed…”

Ash shuddered at that thought. He hadn’t liked that Mr. Mime at all… now what should he do? Oh no! he had to help his mom!

Perfect… Sabrina smiled inwardly. That would work perfectly.

Lance’s eyes opened a few minutes later.

“You all right, Lance?” Lorelei asked.

She was unnerved when Lance smiled creepily. “Underneath the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me…” He hummed.

Lorelei jumped. * Uh-oh… *

Sabrina must have misjudged the amount of power put inside.

“You’re weak.” Lance said.

“Huh?” Lorelei blinked.

Lance was smiling. “Dark. Dragon. Ice. The three most powerful elements! But dark beats dragon, and dragon beats ice. So I’m stronger than you are.”

“Y-yes…” Where was this leading?

“Then you should listen to me.” Lance crossed his arms with the finality of a child’s accusation.

“Er… Lance, are you all right?”

Lance ignored Lorelei as he shook his head. “No! It’s too dark here! I don’t like the dark! It’s light, and the light is dark! Let me out!”

Lorelei gaped, before chasing after the Dragon Master as he took off at a dead run. What was going on?

Agatha peeked out of the room where she was keeping a close eye on Kurt’s progress. Her ghost pokemon were checking the prototype poke balls for any leaks. They didn’t want their own pokemon to die.

Selfish? Oh yes.

“Was that…”

“Lance?” Kurt looked up. “I believe so.”

Misty and Brock and Sabrina all looked up as the door opened. Lance shot in, spotted Ash, and immediately latched onto him like a lifeline.

“?” Ash blinked.

“Pretty pretty shadows, no light here…” Lance purred, nuzzling Ash. Ash blinked. Then he blinked again.

“…” Brock blinked.

< Wait… what is going on? > Sabrina demanded.

Lorelei came in panting a few minutes later. “Oh good. You found him.”

< Lorelei, what is wrong with him? He seems… >

“Insane? Yes. I think you miscalculated the amount of power necessary to break down his mental shields. He obviously didn’t have strong ones to begin with.”

Sabrina cursed inwardly. Oh, this was not good…

Ash twitched. “Can you let go of me now?”

“No! Mine!” Lance cried. “Mine… mine, by dark and dragon and ice, mine, you shall not take him!”

His eyes suddenly blazed blood red. Ash cried out in surprise as what looked like a dragon tattoo appeared on his forehead. “What is going on here?!”

What else were they not telling him?

“Lance, get a grip of yourself.” Lorelei said. “Let. Go.”

“No! Mine, you can’t take him!” Lance shrieked. “By the dragon’s blood willingly shed-.”

He suddenly slumped over before he could finish the sentence.

Agatha recalled her Gengar with a grim expression. “It is worse than I feared.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lance had absolutely no mental shields up. That is why it was so easy to ‘subdue’ him back in Whirl Islands. The problem was, when Sabrina put power in him to break them…”

“There weren’t any to break.”

“Exactly, and now… well… we’ll just see how he adjusts.”

The bracelets Lance wore pulsed with unnatural golden light. A voice suddenly began to speak.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM!?”

Ash flinched, being the closest. He gently pried Lance’s hands off his body and shuddered. This was scary!

Sabrina frowned. * This is-! *

“Do you recognize the voice?” Kurt asked.

Bruno shook his head.

“Foolish humans. I am Lugia. This child is mine. Those bracelets he wears are life support apparatus. I can disable them at any time, and I believe I shall do so now. Return him to my side or he will die.”

“You’re bluffing.” Agatha said.

In response, the jewelry glowed… and Lance stopped breathing. He was starting to turn blue when they glowed again.

“I am completely serious,” The pokemon demanded. “So… do we have an agreement?”

“No!” Sabrina snapped. “There is too much at stake here!”

“Then you are his murderers…”

“Wait! Please wait!”

Lugia paused, seeing through Lance’s eyes, although he was unconscious. Interesting boy. Hm. He had pokemon, but he didn’t’ glow like the rebellion, so… ah… he was from Houen.

Intriguing.

No, now he recognized him. “Chosen One.”

“Yes…” Ash said. “Please don’t’ kill him? It’s not his fault, really! I think he was kidnapped or something, but you can’t just go around killing people like that!”

The legendary snorted. “Brave words. However, you have done me a service once. Very well! A life for a life…Three days, humans, and if he is not returned to me before then…”

The communications abruptly cut short with a beeping noise.

Lance came to several hours later. Looking around, he immediately met amber eyes. Ash smiled hesitantly.

“Are you all right?”

“They hurt you.” Lance replied.

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“They’ll kill you…” Lance pounced, and Ash could barely contain his voice – a squeak still was heard – as they fell to the ground. “You can’t trust them”

“Lance, what are you talking about? What happened to you? They’re the Elite Four and gym leaders, of course you can trust them…”

“Stupid light. Light kills. Poor, poor pokemon, they will kill them all, and then…”

“Lance, shh, it’s all right, we won’t kill all the pokemon…”

“No! can’t kill! Father will – father…”

Lance suddenly went into hysterical sobbing while Ash stared at him in disbelief. He was going to go stir crazy here! He wanted to go back to Houen now!

But misty and the others had begged for his help.

What could he do?

“Shadow.’ Lance said, staring at Ash.

“?” Lance had abruptly stopped crying, and was now studying Ash with an unnerving gaze.

“What?”

“Shadow. Kill light. Hide light. Don’t let light hurt them! Please!”

“Lance, it’s all right! I won’t hurt you!”

“Not you, them. Killing light. Bad, bad light… I will protect you.” Lance gathered Ash in his arms, smiling. “Dragon protection, yes, protect you from them… can’t let them hurt us…”

Ash stared in surprise as what looked like a pale blue shield surrounded them both. Lance nodded, satisfied.

“Safe now…”

End Chapter

Completed 3/11/05

Lance: *throttling the authoress* Exactly what did you do to me?

Phantomness: *turning purple* “What do you think? I’m doing insanity like I warned!’

Ash: *sighs*