Ficcy!

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

Summary: No one ever climbs the hill beyond Pallet… but one brave boy is about to find out the reason why.

Title: In the End

Author: Shadow/Phantomness

Rating: PG

Warnings: AU, het, later implied violence and insanity

Chapter 1

 

            Red panted slightly as he climbed up the hill. No one knew why this was called the Haunted Hill anymore, as the legend or myth or ghost story had long since passed, but no one could deny the curious ambience there…

            Perhaps it was simply because wild Ghost-type pokémon gathered there. Perhaps not… still, Indigo had dared him in front of the other children, and called him a sissy, so now, up he climbed. He had three day’s worth of food in his backpack, and at his belt were two poke balls containing his pokémon.

            Would they be any protection against the unknown? He did not know…

            Tentacruel and Pidgeotto shifted nervously in their poke balls. They could feel the change in atmosphere as well as their Master could, but if he wanted to come here, they would not abandon him…

            A sharp snap sounded and Red glanced around frantically, before realizing that he had stepped on a stick and it had cracked, producing the sound. Laughing a little at his nerves, he shook his head.

            He was getting much too paranoid.

            He continued hiking up the mountain, hoping that he had brought enough food. If not there was that clump of berry bushes next to the stream that looked all right.

            He drank, feeling no ill effects, and then started a small fire, heating a can of chicken noodle soup over the fire, glad he had remembered his matches.

           

            As the sun set, he set up his sleeping bag and tent, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

            The next morning, he continued walking up, despite the mist clinging near the top. It was very wet, and he started wishing he had packed his rain gear, but after a few hours, the mist faded away as the sun rose to its zenith.

            It was actually quite pretty up here, though he noticed something. There was a startling lack of pokémon here.

            Maybe the hill really was cursed…

            Still, he bravely set his teeth and continued to climb. He let Pidgeotto out to keep him company, and she flew about twenty yards in front of him, scanning for danger.

            There was none.

            There were no wild pokémon here. He even took out the pokédex he had ‘borrowed’ from a cousin out to scan, but… no. Nothing.

            Bizarre…

 

            A footstep sounded behind him, making him yelp in shock and fall backwards onto his behind. He mentally berated Pidgeotto for not warning him about potential danger, and then blinked.

            The other was a girl, about his age, with red hair that fell to mid-back. She was wearing a white sailor top and matching blue skirt, and around her waist was a poke belt with five ultra balls on it.

            “Ah… hello?

            “Hi.” She said with a smile. “What are you doing here?”

            Red blushed. “Um… I … well, it’s pretty stupid really, but this hill is supposed to be haunted, and so I was dared to come up here.”

            The girl laughed. “It’s not haunted, silly. I’ve lived here all my life. There’s nothing here to scare you… except maybe the lack of pokémon.”

            “Oh… so what’s your name? I’m Red.”

            She held out her hand. “Lance.”

            They shook, and he was surprised to notice that she felt… cool. Odd. Felt nice though, and he quickly blushed and dropped her hand when he realized what he was doing.

            Lance smiled. “You know, there’s a reason why there aren’t any pokémon here.”

            “Really?”

            “Follow me, and I’ll show you.”

            He saw no reason to distrust her, so he did. They did not walk far before they reached a small cottage. It looked quite cute, although inside there were only three rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Still, it felt… homely. Logs crackled merrily in an old-fashioned fireplace and on a small black cast-iron stove, something was bubbling.

            She pressed a hand against a painting of a Dragonair on the wall, and suddenly, the stove sank down into the wall. A small trapdoor was revealed. Prying it up, she mentioned for Red to follow.

            Down they climbed, several rungs of a steel ladder, before he looked around and gasped. Instead of a cave like he had expected, the floors were shiny steel. All along the walls, various machines beeped and whirred, and inset between them, were tubes of pink swirling gel full of… pokémon.

            He gaped.

 

            Lance nodded. “You didn’t know?”

            “Didn’t know what?”

            “What are they teaching in the schools now?” She sighed. “Pokémon are not native species. About two hundred years ago, a scientist by the name of Kuroda Ayami created the first pokémon – incidentally, it was a Rattata.”

            Red blinked, mouth forming an ‘O’ in surprise.

 

            Lance nodded. “After that, work came easier. Of course, not all species of pokémon are man-made, but most were. They swiftly wiped out the other species of animals that had come before them, and then… now they are the dominant life form.”

            “But pokémon aren’t bad.”

            “I didn’t say they were.”

            “… So is that why no pokémon come here?”

            “No wild pokémon come here.” Lance corrected. “You see, in this lab, there are still pokémon that have not seen the outside world. The wild pokémon stay away, because they are afraid of what they do not know, and since there are no pokémon here, no one wants to come here. Why would they?”

            “I guess that makes sense.” Red said hesitantly. “But how do you know all of this?”

            “… I read Kuroda-san’s diary, of course.” Lance pointed to a large, red-leather bound book with yellowed pages. It was about the size of an encyclopedia Britannica. “She entreated whoever found this lab to stay here and take of the pokémon. That’s why I’m here.”

            … That was really cool, Red thought. He said as much, and Lance smiled.

            “It does get a bit lonely up here, unfortunately. But I’m used to it. I’m glad to have met you though. But I have to ask you not to tell people about the pokémon here.”

            Red nodded. That made perfect sense. Still… if she was lonely…

            He had no home to go to, not really. His house in Pallet was just a house, and if his missing parents did not show up soon, it would probably be sold. He swallowed.

            “Um… if it isn’t too much to impose… could I stay here with you?’

            Lance blinked. “Sure…”

            It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

           

End Chapter

Completed 7/21/06

Taking a stab at het.

Admittedly, Jeffrey’s Japanese-English Online dictionary hasn’t classified all the names in its dictionary yet, but all the ones that were classified for ‘Wataru’ were female! *Gasp* Wonder what that says about Lance… though all the ones for ‘Satoshi’ were male. Hmm… does that mean I should write het? ^^

Lance: You’re making me wear a dress?
Phantomness: Why not?
Red: *Glomps Lance*

Phantomness: *Waggles eyebrows* or you could just be a boy who cross-dresses…