Title: Illusion Dance
Plotbunny fic! Again! Well, who am I to deny them? I love portraying Lance as a protective, perhaps slightly snapped guardian…
Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon; it belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic written by me and thus it is mine. I wrote it and the ideas came from me, so don’t take it.
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks. There is a slight crossover/mentions of other anime series, which I do not own either.
Fic timeline: Probably spins off after CCA, Mirror my Reflection and Pokemon Special. Some references to triple guardianship prophecy.
Chapter 1
Sofu D looked at the pregnant woman, who had stumbled into his shop grief-ridden, her husband dead in the war, the army cracking down on deserters like her brother and father, who had been killed also, as the tears ran down her face like a waterfall. The woman was talking wildly, mentioning how she needed help.
“I run a pet shop, madame.” He told her plainly. “I do not see why you are here.”
Delia wiped her eyes. “You must help me. I cannot take care of a child on my own, and with no man…”
“You wish a pet for company then?”
“No.” Delia lowered her voice. “I have heard of a creature called a serebii, that can travel time, do you have one?”
“They are very rare, so I am unable to display them in the front. You may take a look, but the creature decides its owner.”
She followed the man – was he a man? Inside the shop, where they traversed a maze, quite difficult for the woman to keep up with, before they reached a screen. On the screen leaves in shades of brilliant green waited.
Sofu opened the door, and a tiny pixie peered up at the woman.
“Why, he’s so cute!” Delia gasped. Serebii smiled brightly, and fluttered over to the woman, landing on her shoulder.
“Interesting. This species is very picky.” Sofu mentioned. ‘Well, he seems to have taken a liking to you.”
“Then you’ll help me?”
“Certainly, he had chosen you as his owner.” The man replied, before they left the area to draw up a contract.
“There are three stipulations, quite simple ones.” Sofu D told her. “First, you must not show him to anyone. Second, feed him fresh spring water and cucumber slices every day, other fresh fruits and vegetables are also allowed. Thirdly, and most importantly, you must not force him to change time. If he allows you to, you may, but you cannot force him to. Otherwise, dire consequences could occur.”
They settled the price, which was not too extreme, she sold her grandfather’s house to get the money to pay for it, but all was well.
After they left, Serebii’s eyes glowed bluely, and time shifted.
Delia found herself in a new world, full of little creatures called pokemon, but the real importance was that her husband Frederick was alive and by her side, and her child was born just fine.
It didn’t matter that Frederick had gone into law, instead of being an insurance salesman. He still drew a steady income, and thus, he was satisfied. They played the game of husband and wife well, slept well together every night, and nothing was wrong. Everything was fine.
Delia was stunned, when she first appeared in the new world, but Serebii just laughed and waved off her thanks. He was a good pokemon, and she fed him daily, and kept him hidden from her husband. It wasn’t hard, Serebii was gone most of the day flying through the skies invisibly, but he would eat every morning the breakfast she laid out before Frederick woke up, and polish off the fruits and salad she left him every night. So the relationship worked out fine.
Unfortunately, Delia slipped up.
She hadn’t meant to! But Frederick had followed her when she left Serebii’s dinner out, and he had seen the little faerie swoop down.
That was when greed reared his ugly head.
“That’s a Serebii!” Frederick gasped. “It’ll make our fortune!” And before Delia could stop him, he threw a Master Ball at the pokemon.
Master ball never fails.
Delia tried to dissuade him, but Frederick sold the Serebii for five million dollars to a wealthy old man named Bernard Golden.
When the spirit escaped, his heart was filled with nothing but rocking anger and the consequences of a broken contract.
So of course he took revenge.
The child was not to blame; he left the barely three year old alone, and focused his fury on the parents.
Their deaths were not quite swift and merciless.
Serebii left Ash with another child, he was young but the glittering golden eyes spoke of the truth that faces could hide.
It would all work out.
And so, Ash grew up under the care of the pokemon and the Chosen of ice and water and dragon, the dark one.
The golden ring gleamed on his chest, a tiny circle with a pair of silver wings upswept from the side, in the center a dark blue star flashed at times. Two strands of red ribbon dangled downwards.
The pendant was so pretty.
Ash smiled.
“Lance-chan?”
“Hai.”
“Why do I have to go to school?” He asked. “I don’t like them.”
Lance frowned. “Its necessary.”
“For what? You teach me everything.” Ash said. To demonstrate, he recited a limerick, solved an arithmetic problem, demonstrated his teleportation skills, and played two bars on a poke flute.
Lance chuckled. “Well…”
“Well what?”
“I suppose your point is made.”
The eight-year old grinned, and hugged his guardian tightly. Lance smiled, placing a gentle kiss on the child’s lips. There was nothing sexual yet.
He could wait until the little one grew up.
Ash purred.
It felt nice… Lance-chan was so nice…
He was his sensei, but not only that. Lance was his everything. With no parents or other relations in the world, he clung to the older boy with everything he had.
He yawned.
Lance smiled and put the child to bed.
End Chapter
Completed 5/15/04, created 5/10/04