Phantomness waves!

Yay! Another chapter!

Disclaimer/Notes: See earlier chapter

Chapter 17

“So what?”

“Shh.” Lance said. He held up the dragon amulet he wore, as it glittered brightly, the flames parting. A blue shield surrounded them both.

Lance took Ash’s hand as they walked through the flames.

Yes, that was one trap past…

Suddenly, sharp pink shuriken shot out of the walls, converging on them. Ash gasped as Lance grabbed him ‘round the waist and started teleporting around, avoiding them. He blushed bright crimson.

“A-ano, Lance, I can teleport…”

“I know, but I’m not teleporting.”

“Nani?!”

“I’m using agility.” Lance said, as they appeared outside the area, where pink darts were still whizzing around.

< What? But you’re so fast, I though… >

< That is the point. > Lance sent dryly. < Come on, now, we must be careful… >

Ash flinched. < H-hai… >

He felt so weak sometimes… but Lance was really, really cool! Besides, Lance was holding him! Yay!

Ash blushed as he thought about that. * Ack! Bad thoughts! He’s older than you are! Don’t think about him that way! Brain, stop that train of thought right now! *

Mercifully, his brain did shut up after he told it that.

It was snowing… inside of a cave?

Ash rubbed his eyes. Nothing. It must have been an illusion of the senses. “Um… Lance? You can put me down now.”

“Right.” The Dragon Master said absentmindedly. Ash blushed.

“Aren’t I heavy?”

“No, not at all. Trust me, when you have to carry around dragon pokemon, you grow used to it.”

“Oh…”

< So what’s next? >

< Who knows? I’d assume more traps. >

< Yes… that would make sense… >

Lance nodded as he and Ash ventured deeper into the collapsed caverns. They finally reached an area they had to crawl through.

“I’m smaller, so I’ll go first.” Ash said.

“Go ahead.” Lance saw nothing wrong with it as Ash began crawling through the rubble on his hands and knees. He was suddenly very grateful that his pants were made out of sturdy material, and he was wearing gloves.

There was sharp stuff in that rubble!

Lance concentrated, dragonscale armor replacing his clothes, as he climbed in after Ash. They were doing well, but after two hours, still had not found an exit.

Ash as getting tired, plus he was sore! “Can we take a break?”

“Sure.”

With a relieved sigh, Ash sat down. The tunnel had widened slightly, not enough to stand up in yet, but still much better than crawling…

“Wai~!”

Lance blinked. “What?”

“Your armor! It’s so pretty and sparkly and-!” Lance rolled his eyes. Dragonscale armor was black, black like night and death and his normal clothing, not the brilliant silver adornments he wore when he was showing off, or the flashy red of bloodshed. Still, it was nice enough.

Good protection.

Lugia made an amused snort in the back of Lance’s mind.

“Yes, it’s dragonscale armor. Specially made for dragon masters.”

“Cool.” Ash grinned. “So… are we any closer to the wand of the water guardian?”

Lance’s dragon pendant lit up in reply.

“It says we’re within three miles of it.” Lance interpreted the glow, it was less strident this time.

“Okay!’

How could the boy be depressed one moment and bouncing the next? That was too incredible. Maybe it was a mask.

The mask was a smile, but behind the smile, he wasn’t always smiling… it was cold, sometimes, and dark…

But he would keep smiling.

“Do you-?”

“Ash, if you’re going to ask me about what happened last year, drop it please.”

“But you were really hurt!”

“But I’m healed now and fine.”

“Okay…”

They continued walking on, until they reached a wall of mirrors. Ash stared into one, surprised to see… him?

Yes, it was, but this one was frowning.

Why do you keep smiling, Red? It doesn’t help anyone…

“Hmm?”

Don’t hide your feelings any longer. It’ll only hurt you in the end…

“What?” Ash stepped closer to the mirror. What was going on?

Lance whipped around, just in time to see Ash disappear into a mirror. < Bloody hell! > With a snarl, a Hyper Beam attack blasted the offending glass trap to fragments.

Ash tumbled out, bruised but otherwise fine.

“It was a trap! What were you doing?”

“The mirror was talking to me…”

Lance sweatdropped. * Sometimes I wonder if he thinks at all… * “It’s a trap, Ash. They aren’t real. Come on.”

Ash shamefacedly followed… as they walked deeper in… and now, they were up against… Articuno?

No, it wasn’t real… he knew Articuno wasn’t here. Articuno was off in the Orange Islands where she belonged.

It had to be a decoy.

Lance ignored it as well, and they walked in deeper. Gravel crunched under their boots. It was getting hot though, which was odd, since Seafoam had glaciers inside, sometimes.

What was going on?

Lance stopped so abruptly that Ash nearly ran into him. “What-?”

Then he saw it.

End Chapter

Completed 2/24/05

Is my grammar check broken or something? ‘Cause I swear it is…

Ash: MS Word = evil