Whee! Third chapter!
Disclaimer: I wish I owned a lot of anime series. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri and Shogakukan Comics, while Angelic Layer belongs to CLAMP and Kodansha. This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic written by me and I own it!

Chapter 3

 

            “Remember,” The announcer blared. “You can only lose one match in the entire tournament before you are eliminated! Let the battle began!”

            Layer platforms had been set up all over the school, and Ash approached an empty one and waited.

            Lance looked confidently back up at him, golden eyes bright. Ash smiled, glad the headgear allowed him to communicate with the angel.

            Even if Lance couldn’t talk, he was still good company. Ash remembered many childhood days when he and his angel had gone swimming and camping and tree-climbing together.

            It was nice having company, no matter what. Plus, Gary was quite busy nowadays, always with Sabrina.

            He sighed a little. But he didn’t’ want a girlfriend. Most girls at his school were giggly and only liked people who were rich and cute.

            He wasn’t either.

            If only Lance was human, maybe he’d have another friend, a new best friend… as if sensing his worry, the angel walked to the edge of the layer and put a tiny hand on Ash’s arm.

            “Don’t worry, Lance, I’ll be fine.” Ash reassured the angel, giving him a hug. “Now let’s get ready for our match.”

            The angel nodded – he gave the commands almost instinctively, without thinking about them, which was invaluable in battle – and crossed his arms, waiting.

 

            “So, a little newbie has decided to challenge me.” A voice sneered. Ash paled. * Oh no… I didn’t think… *

            Spike, the school bully, leered across the arena, showing yellow teeth. “Well kid, get ready to get eliminated!”

            Ash took deep breaths, trying to calm down, as the judge walked up and began the match.

            Spike’s angel was an Aggron type, huge and bulky and strong.

 

            “Aggron! Tackle!” Spike yelled, as the angel – it was huge almost twice and more Lance’s size, was that even legal? Attacked.

            Lance quickly moved out of the way, having higher speed. This continued for a few minutes, as the agile angel avoided the clumsy strikes.

            “Heh.” Spike smirked. “At least you’re not wholly pathetic. This might actually be fun. Iron Tail!”

            Ash’s eyes widened as Aggron’s body changed and it’s tail lengthened, covering nearly the whole layer, before it swung towards Lance in a whip-like fashion, sending the doll flying.

            His monitor beeped, showing that Lance had lost 1/4 health from that move. * I can’t risk it… *

 

            Aggron swung its tail again, but this time, Ash was prepared, so he had Lance avoid the strike by quickly flattening onto the ground as the whip sailed overhead.

            “Not good enough kid.” Spike grunted, as Aggron used another Iron Tail faster than Ash thought was possible and sent Lance crashing into the top of the arena.

            “Lance!”

            “One more hit should do it.”

            Ash closed his eyes, and hoped for the best. * Lance… use the move we just learned… *

            As Aggron leaped close – how could something made of heavy metal jump that high – Lance’s eyes shot open and he grabbed the tail swiftly, before blue lightning crackled along his body and traveled down Aggron’s, turning into what looked like fluid energy.

            * DRAGON RAGE! *

           

            Aggron’s tail tangled its owner inside of it, as the pokemon crashed to the ground, still inside the cyclone.

            Ash breathed out a sigh of relief. “Now, use Hurricane…”

            Lance nodded and began spinning in midair, the heat generated by the earlier attack still present combined with the icy cold temperature now seeping out of the angel’s body, and forming into a miniature natural phenomena inside the arena.

            “Incredible.’ The judge noted, watching with plenty of interest as the final attack took Aggron out.

            It’s tail retracted and the pokemon’s body bulked out again, as it was returned to ‘default’ form.

 

            Ash quickly ran over and picked Lance up. “I’m sorry, Lance, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.” He checked the doll for damage, but luckily found none. The armor had been good protection.

            “Winner! Satoshi!” The judge said.

            Spike growled. “Well, next time buddy boy, I won’t go so easy on you.”

            Ash did not respond as he smiled. “Come on, Lance, you did great! Let’s go get some lunch.”

            Placing the doll in the clear carrying case he had specially designed, Ash put the backpack on and went to the cafeteria, where he got a burger and fries and ate lunch with Lance at a table.

            “Hi, Ash!”

 

            Ash waved to Gary and Sabrina. “How did you two do?”

            “Well, Gary hasn’t competed yet, but I’ve won two battles with Kadabra.” Sabrina grinned. “One was a Haunter, but it was way too slow.”

            “You almost lost the other one.”

            “Oh, don’t rub it in, Gary.” Sabrina scowled. “You’re right. Fighting another Kadabra was quite challenging.”

            “Wow!”

            “And you?”

 

            “Well, I’ve only fought one, but I won.” Ash said, smiling at Lance.

            “Hey, that’s cool.” Gary grinned. “But wait til Nidoking and I get on the field. Or, in the Layer, as proper.”

            Sabrina chuckled. “Don’t swell your head too much, Gary.”

            “Hey!”

            “Fair’s fair, you tease me, I tease you.”

            Gary scowled himself, but smiled as he took a sip from his chocolate milkshake. “Good luck to you.”

            “You too.”

            “Pfft. I don’t need luck.”

            “Gary!” Sabrina whacked him lightly. “I hope you get your butt kicked soon, because otherwise, your head will be floating away on air.”

            Ash closed his eyes briefly as they argued. It was kind of cute how they fought. Too bad his parents fought for real.

 

**************Flashback Mode*************************************

           

            He was twelve, yet he still hid under the bed as Delia screamed at Jacques from the videophone.

            It wasn’t nice at all!

            He hugged Lance to his chest, wishing the doll were real so it could protect him. But that was just a dream.

            Lance was always nice in the Layer though.

            He wasn’t just a doll! His dad was so mean! Mewtwo had lost a battle, so Jacques had replaced him with Mewthree.

            It was all over the news.

            Ash didn’t care about his dad; he had walked out of his life and the wound still stung, but not much.

            Ash simply blocked him out.

 

            But…

            Poor Mewtwo. He had had a few years of faithful battling, and then out in the trash and the cold. No, that wasn’t true…

            They had auctioned off his parts to enthusiastic angel-builders. Horrible!

            Poor Mewtwo.

            He didn’t even get to rest in peace.

            Ash didn’t care about money.

            He didn’t care about his dad anymore.

            All he wanted was peace. Was that too much to ask?

 

******************End Flashback**********************************

End Chapter

Completed 6/7/04

So I have writer’s block, but at least something is being written.

 

Lance: … I’m a doll?

Ash: How will this be championshipping?

Phantomness: I have my ways.

Lance: >.< ; Bad feeling…

Ash: It can’t be too bad. Maybe she’ll put the dream realm into play?

Phantomness: Maybe… *takes a lollipop from Kairo*

Kairo: *flinging lollipops at anonymous flamers* SHINE!