Please plotbunny, don’t die!

Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon, okay? It belongs to Nintendo. This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanwork by Shadow/phantomness. Me.

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics in case a pokemon talks.

Red = Ash

Warnings: Angst, darkfic, mentions of abuse, violence, death, insanity

Mew Amulet Part II: Healing

Chapter 3: Cierto

Red watched Lance warily. Sure, Lance wasn’t hurting him, but… still!

The Chosen prowled, somewhat like a jungle predator.

Red was very, very happy that he had never tried to catch Lugia.

His amulet sensed his distress and flooded him with soothing energy. Do not worry, my Chosen.

Red took another deep breath. He should be leaving tonight, anyway.

That was a relief.

And yet, he felt appalled for the other Chosen. Lance was better than him, he knew that in a fight he would lose. And Lance really cared for his pokemon if nothing else, he saw how he… it wasn’t love, but… felt affection to the dragons. The dragons reflected true love back. So Lance couldn’t be evil!
It wouldn’t make sense.

If Lance was insane, like Zapdos had described, then… was that what happened when you got power? No!
He hadn’t turned out like that.

But then, he hadn’t been broken into pieces and re-forged into a sword of vengeance either. That was a good thing.

Maybe, maybe, Lance was still alive in there?

Poor Lance…

What? Where did that thought come from? Red cut it off. But he still felt sorry, Lance was so powerful and yet, he seemed empty.

Red… admired him, in a way. That unerring confidence…the skill… the elegance… yes, it was agility and power and grace… only the dance was one of death. But he would never catch up.

Would he have given himself to get that kind of power? Ash wasn’t sure, he hoped not, but sometimes, he felt a flash of dark joy at the idea.

Red sighed.

I think I feel sorry for Lance, I respect him, and I fear him, and I pity him, even though I doubt he wants it. does he even remember what pity is anymore? What about love?

I think… if I were mew’s Chosen, I’d break too.

I want to help… somehow… but how?

I remember, when Lance was just… Lance. He won the championships while I was on my journey, I cheered for him then.

Do I still feel the same way now? Probably not, I still respect him but… why… why would they destroy his life?

Do I… care enough?

His amulet was right, he was kind-hearted, but that wasn’t a bad thing.

How could the mews have broken someone like that?

Not the mews, the amulet.

< Why, though, why? If he didn’t want the power… >

You forget, Red. Many species are only concerned with power. They want to build the best Chosen. It does not matter how.

< Horrible. > Ash said, one word summing up his thoughts.

Indeed. And they have no price to pay .There is no one who will demand vengeance. Do you think he can, in this state?

< No! >
So the mews might break another one in the future.

Red shook his head. * It’s still not fair… *

But why do you care about him, a voice whispered. He’s just another Chosen, right?

Right…

Don’t think about it, the mind advised. You’ll get yourself tangled up in stuff you don’t want.

B-but…

Why do you care? Why do you care? Why do you care? Hmm? The voices, those evil voices, taunting and pulling at him.

I-I don’t know…

Then don’t care, baka!

Red snapped back to reality when Lance asked him if he was all right.

“H-hai! I’m fine.”

Lance turned back to the magic he was performing, as the coils of colors snaked around in dizzying patterns.

Magic… it is so pretty.

I’m the best, you know. I’m the most powerful of all the Chosen.

Everyone knows it.

I have my own power, dragon and psychic, psychic… Mew might have broken me, but the magic is all mine now, and I can defeat you easily, ne? You know it don’t you? You fear me? Good. You deserve it.

You’re the one that broke me, after all. But don’t worry, I fixed myself, see? And I have Lugia now, he’s my Chosen pokemon and the one I really wanted.

So it will be all right.

A flicker of hope shone in those eyes for a second, before fading.

NONONONONONONONONONO!

Lance flicked off the little voice and concentrated, before a black ice statue stood in front of him.

Claire…

He didn’t really miss her.

Well, his sister could take care of herself.

Lance flicked his fingers and the statue superimposed itself on the wall. * There we go… now she can stay here with me too… *

He smiled.

Sweet… magic was sweet too…

Red was very relieved when Zapdos took him home that night.

He could ponder Lance later, when he was far away.

That seemed like the best course of action!

And the voices would leave him alone too.

Two months later…

“More?” Lance asked almost innocently, seeing the team rocket agents flooding the caves. There could have been fifty of them, but it was no matter. “Oh, you shouldn’t have.”

He smiled cutely. “Let’s play a game…”

As the area filled with pokemon, his dragons charged into the fray. Bullets went flying, but were all deflected by invisible psychic shields. Lance formed a web of psychic threads in his fingers, and then pulled one causally.

A man screamed, his body torn apart in a spray of red.

Lance yanked another thread.

This time, a leader went down.

Lance tossed the web into the air before a handy Hyper Beam from Aerodactyl destroyed it completely.

A sea of blood awaited, the caves changing colors.

“Pity.” Lance said. “That’s all of them.”

Austin hid behind a boulder, trembling.

“He isn’t human!”

“Shh!” His partner Jennifer warned. “We don’t want his attention on us.”

“You think we should scrap the plan to find Lugia?”

“We can’t do that, the boss’ll kill us!”

“But if we stay here, he will!”

Their voices carried, as Lance turned around, blood lust flicking back to the forefront of his eyes.

He purred. “Well, what have we here?”

“Go! Golem!” Austin shouted, as he and Jennifer ran for the exit. They did not get very far…

Dragonair and Hakuryuu both pounced, the twins capturing one.

Wrap attack…

Lance watched as the Golem fell through the floor into the sea below. There would be no survival there.

He smiled brightly.

“Did you two take care of them?”

Of course they had, there was still red on their scales. Lance tsked, as he healed his pokemon from the few minor wounds they had received, and then gave all of them a thorough grooming.

Pretty ones…

I’ll protect you too, my precious.

He didn’t care there were only five of them, they were the best.

The most powerful, just like him.

Maybe, a part of him cried.

Maybe…

But he didn’t want to see. So he kept his bloody eyes closed to that truth, because it didn’t work.

Pain… yes, there had been pain, but now he flew past that.

It was the only way to fly. You locked everything you didn’t need up and then you flew with what was left.

Power.

End Chapter!
completed 4/10/04

Don’t agree with my thinking? Please tell that to ‘Beloved’, the book I’ve been reading where this particular thought train comes from.

*whistles innocently*