Sí, yo tengo otra chapter para ti!

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 2

Up ahead, there was a town. There, they could sell some of the treasure they had been lugging around, if things turned out all right.

Lance scanned the entrance and stiffened.

“What is it?”

“I’m worried, Red. You don’t feel it?”

“Feel what?” He closed his eyes and tried to meditate, to center himself like his old mentor Oak had taught him to. There! A skitter of bright chrysanthemum on the edge of his vision.

Now what did that color stand for? Blue was shame and disgrace, black brought death, red for passion, green for growth…

Yellow was… stagnation?

That was not quite right either. Why couldn’t he think?

“Red?”

He looked up into golden eyes and almost wept in relief, even as Lance trickled something foul-tasting down his throat. It made him splutter for several moments, but his head cleared afterwards.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think someone cast a Confusion spell on you. You were acting oddly.” Lance said gently. “Luckily, I had a potion ready.”

“Thank you.” He said automatically. “So we should avoid that city?”

“It might be better that way.”

“But we need supplies, Lance. We’ve only got three day’s worth of rations left.”

“That’s true…” Lance hesitated. “Maybe if we disguised ourselves. Do you think that would help?”

“It might.” Red began digging through his backpack, before Lance pulled out something with a smile. “This might work.”

The dress was ivory white in color, studded with citrines and seed pearls, cut well and wreathed in lace. Red colored. “What did you have in mind?”

“We’ll pretend to be a lord and lady traveling en route to a city.”

“That would work,” Red said. After all, there were several gems and art objects scattered amongst their supplies. “But what about servants?”

“We were attacked by bandits?”

“That wouldn’t work. They’d run off with anything we had of value, don’t you think? Unless…”

“You have an idea?”

“Don’t hit me,” Red told her, “But don’t several large cities have schools for girls? Well, you could be en route to one, you still look young enough, and I could be your bodyguard!”

“Or, I could be someone about to get married off.” Lance grinned. “That’ll work. The rest of the entourage got attacked, but you managed to protect me.”

“Brilliant.” Red agreed. “Or we were traveling incognito.”

They dressed and then headed to the city gates. Ash cut a fine figure in the black velvet and cloth of gold vestments they’d stolen from a church several months black, and they were let in without so much as a second glance.

The city inside bustled with activity, but there was one odd sight. Several houses had large red skulls painted on the doors and were completely barred up. Red asked a woman sweeping her porch the question, and was swiftly answered.

“The plague is going through this town, sir. All those houses are those where it was found to have sprung. They will not be opened till five years hence.”

“Interesting.” Red replied. “For the information.” He dropped several gold coins into her trembling hand.

Even some of the large houses at the edge of the town were boarded up in a similar manner. The plague spared no one, it seemed.

They found a decent inn to stay at that night, and after they had locked the doors and Lance had performed a silencing spell, they got down to business.

“Did you see anything out of the ordinary?”

Red shook his head. “Just a general feeling of something rotten underneath this cheerful exterior.”

“So I’m not the only one who felt it…” Lance said thoughtfully. “Interesting…”

“I’m worried about this, Lance.”

“We should leave soon.”

“The innkeeper had horses…”

“Which wouldn’t be any good, Lance. I can’t ride, remember?”

Lance nodded absentmindedly as she poured him a glass of wine. “I understand.”

Red took a sip with a frown. “Are you sure it’s all right for me to be drinking this? We should be alert tonight.”

“It’s not alcohol, love. I dissolved Potion of Awakening in it.”

“Are you taking the same?”

Lance shook her head. “It’ll be easier to play bait if I don’t.”

“Be careful.” Red said, as he dug through his backpack and retrieved his Heart Amulet. He carefully placed it around Lance’s neck.

She smiled as she kissed him on the cheek. “You’ll have to fall asleep soon.” She whispered.

“I know.”

He had two more glasses of wine and than ‘fell asleep’. Lance changed into a nightgown and climbed beneath the covers, closing her eyes and allowing her body to rest. Within moments, she was fast asleep, the candle on the sideboard flickering for a few moments longer before melting down into a pool of wax.

Quiet reigned for several hours.

The window opened and a man with short black air stealthily entered, a hooded lantern in one hand. He prodded the obviously drunk guard with the toe of a steel boot before setting down his hooded lantern.

He carefully jerked on a rope tied to the windowsill, as his partners climbed over.

“Well, what do you see, Giovanni?” One whispered.

“Rich girl and her guard. Figures. We’ll have plenty of pickings, and perhaps a little fun too.” The man grinned. “They’re sleeping like the dead.”

“Just in case.” Another voice objected as a pouch full of sleeping dust was dug out and both woman and man were liberally sprinkled.

“What where you’re throwing that, Jessie!” A male voice hissed.

“Sorry.”

“You put my cat to sleep!”

“Quiet!” Giovanni hissed. “It may take a few minutes for the Sleep powder to kick in fully! We don’t want to wake them up just yet!”

“Sorry, boss.” One of the figures said, as she began rifling through the bags. “Nothing but gold coins in this one. They really are rich.”

James, meanwhile, had gripped the second bag and dumped its contents out. Several gray-colored balls rolled out, before exploding.

Two cats, a weasel, and a bat attacked the thieves.

Giovanni hurriedly drew his giant sword and dispatched the cat easily enough, Jessie got the second with her whip and James managed to dice the weasel with his daggers quickly, but the bat neither of them could hit, especially in the pitch black darkness that had descended when one of the cats had knocked over their lantern, shattering it into useless glass.

Giovanni covered his ears as high-pitched ringing began to register in his ears. “James, just grab the gold and go!” He hissed. His vision was starting to blur. There was a crash and than a scream – someone must have fallen out the window, and it was with difficulty that he managed to navigate the furniture and trade goods scattered over the floor and get to the rope. A second miracle was the fact that he made it down safely, without falling.

The three fled, Giovanni having thrown James on the back of the waiting horse and Jessie riding along with him. She had a nasty scratch on her face from a cat, but that was all. Back at their lair, they unpacked.

“Three hundred gold pieces. Not a bad haul.”

“Could have been a lot better.” Giovanni said dryly. “Did James break anything?”

“His arm, yes. And neither of us can fix it.”

Giovanni sighed. “We’ll wait on it then. He could use a few months of recuperation. He’s gotten worse, maybe some time spent training would help.”

“Maybe…”

End Chapter

Completed 12/24/05