Chapter 3, hai, hai!

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 3

 

            Lance made a mental note to obtain more tuna as he watched Red sleep after eating, the blue dragon that had been his little brother was now… um, how shall we put it, sleeping merrily with draconic snores.

            Luckily, Lance was somewhat more experienced than the average person in the care and feeding of dragon pokemon. Thus, Aerodactyl and his two Dragonair were currently fishing the nearby lake for more food. Oh, and the stream too.

            Still, he wasn’t used to people randomly turning into dragons. That was not normal! Even for a world where odd things happened – pokemon were definitely different from the animals that lived on other islands – this was still quite a bit past his area of expertise…

            How much of Red’s mind remained in the dragon? If they were lucky in this regard, perhaps all of it? On the flip side, in the worse case scenario, would none of it remain? Lugia forbid that be the cause…

            If it were, he might have to put the trainer out of his misery… or at least treat him like one of his pokémon.

 

            Meanwhile, Misty was searching through the Indigo League database for information on Lance’s brother.

            “Ah, here it is… apparently Lance adopted him two years ago…” The picture showed a boy with red eyes and dark hair tied in a ponytail. Interesting…

            He looked vaguely familiar…

            Nah, it must have been her imagination.

 

            Red was hungry. All that tuna had been good, but he was still hungry. Lance poured him a glass of milk. He had trouble trying to hold it with his claws though, so he resigned himself to lapping it up like a dog.

            He felt different.

            His telepathy didn’t work when he tried it, and Lance didn’t seem to understand his growling very well.

            He was still hungry.

            Lance was nice. Lance would protect him. Even though Lance had two legs, he was still Alpha. And he was a good Alpha. He protected the rest of them too. They were his pack after all.

            There were other dragons too, in his pack. They were also part of the pack. Dragonair, two of the pretty blue ones, Aerodactyl, with sharp teeth and sharp wings and gray skin, Dragonite, with yellow skin and a funny smile, and Gyarados, powerful jaws and dark blue skin.

            He liked his pack.

 

            Lance felt a sudden chill run down his spine, reminiscent of one of Lorelei’s ice voodoo dolls. He looked around, but his senses reported no immediate danger…

            Hmm…

            It was probably nothing then. With a smile, the Dragon Master went into the shower and let his pokemon watch Red.

            Red curled up next to Gyarados and promptly fell asleep. The water serpent looked vaguely amused, but decided to ask Master Lance about it later.

            When had he caught a new dragon?

 

            Lance came out of the shower to find a sleeping dragon curled up on his bed. With a sigh, he tried to figure out a solution. Fast.

            Perhaps Red would change back after a few days?

            Well, it was worth a wait. If not, he’d start looking up information. It was a genetic change, and unless Red had evolved, there must be a way….

            Lance did have some devolution spray after all…

            He’d save that for more dire measures later on. First, we try the primary solutions…. Then if those fail, secondary cures…

            Medicine is a stepwise process of increasing intensity in any case…

 

            Taking care of baby dragons is a difficult process, one that Lance had already gone through. Unfortunately, Red was very much a baby dragon.

            Lance was quite unhappy to discover that his friend and adopted little brother had completely *ruined* his cape. Ruined!
            Not a few tears – that he could fix up easily, he had a fair hand with the needle, but…. How did one fix shredded pieces of red and black fabric all over the floor?

            No. Lance could not deal with that.

            Oh, it was irrational, he knew, he could easily have another one custom made but that took time and he had a match in an hour and he’d wanted to look his best.

            So much for that…

 

            However, it was hard to get angry at such a kawaii dragon… although Red was cutesier as opposed to the elegant menace Lance preferred…

            But then again, this was not by choice.

            Still, it was irritating, yes, it was…. Ah, why can life not stay perfect?

            Perhaps it is because the world isn’t perfect.

 

            Still…

            Red felt slightly guilty, if there was any human part of him left. But he was happy too, bubbling up with joy…

            Why?

            Well, he was warm and full and with his pack. Why wouldn’t he be happy?

            Some animals did have a simpler view of life, but what of it? Aren’t simple pleasures some of the best ones?

 

            He was tired, so tired…

            “Lance? What’s wrong?”

            “Just lack of sleep.” The Dragon Master stifled a yawn.

            Lorelei looked at her cousin in concern. “Bad day?”

            “New baby dragon to take care of.”

            “Ahh…” She understood.

            Indeed, when one raised baby pokemon that did not have parents, or bought eggs from a Breeding Center, the trainer had to play the mother.

            This was the real reason why Breeders were so respected. What sane person could live on an average of two to three hours of sleep a night, the rest occupied with feeding, cleaning, comforting, and healing?

            Even Nurse Joys didn’t have it that bad, since their Chanseys could help take care of the problems later…

            They could sleep…

            But Chanseys were somehow fairly inept in the care of baby pokemon. No one knew the reason why, but….

            Blissey were too rare to find often.

            Ah, how life was strange…

            Lorelei did not pry farther, although she did wonder why Lance was minus his cape. Well, it wasn’t that important, but it was his signature feature. Odd of him not to wear it…

 

            She shook her head out of those contemplative thoughts. It was none of her business. Besides, she had her own three baby Seel to take care of, so… she was not much more awake than he, but both were awake enough to shut down the proposal to poison the Magikarp in Lake of Rage.

            How dare they… even worthless fish deserved to live in peace.

            Lance beat down the anger and locked it firmly behind a door. It wouldn’t do any good to get angry now…

            But oh, how it rankled…

 

End Chapter

Completed 10/1/05

Red: Grr

Phantomness: I’ll go hide now…

Lance: My cape!
Phantomness: *Hiding*