Some stories flow easier than others. Others are like pulling teeth. *Coughs* CCA

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

Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon; it belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. Um… this is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic, and since it is written by me its mine by copyright law, k? Don’t archive it without asking.

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

Timeline: 1.5 weeks later

Chapter 8: Need not to know

Marina woke up from a nightmare, but then smiled as she saw Misty and her pokemon were safe.

However, something seemed… off.

She looked around and spotted Lance and Ash in their own sleeping bags not far away. Just then, the moon peeked out from behind a cloud.

That was when Lance’s eyes opened and he stood up, and they weren’t the normal brown color anymore.

They were pure silver, almost white.

Come to me… A voice hummed, seductively, low in range, as Lance drifted towards the water’s edge.

Come to me, dragon’s child…

It’s time to come home now…

Marina snapped out of her shock as he slipped into the water without a splash.

“Oh my god!”

Almost in a panic, the woman ran to the water’s edge, trying to catch a glimpse of the child, when she felt a hand on her arm.

Ash stood there, with a smile on his face.

“Ash! Your brother! He-!”

“He’ll be fine.” Ash said in a half-dreamy tone.

Marina snapped her head back to face him again, finding to her horror that Ash’s eyes had gone the opposite end of the spectrum, almost like pools of black smoke.

“Aniki’s just going home…” Ash said. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him. Forget us.”

He smiled another eerily brilliant smile at her, and then dissolved into sparkles of mist and vanished also.

Marina passed out.

The next morning, when she was woken via a Wingull perched on her nose, reality hit with a sledgehammer.

How could that have happened? What was going on? And how could she explain to Bruno?

How?

So many questions, and none of them had ready answers.

Reality had suddenly cracked like the mirror it was.

What was real?

Subdued, she and Misty went home. There was no more to be said. She told Bruno the truth word for word, and he accepted it.

They had been perfectly normal children, but now everything was changed.

What was truth?

No one could really tell.

So time passed.

9 years later… (Ash is 15, Lance is 19, and Misty is 17)

It was snowing. Hard.

It was really snowing hard.

Misty stared outside her window.

Her water-types were playing in it.

That wasn’t the point though. She was lonely.

She even missed… them.

Not that she would admit it to anyone, though. But it had been nice to have semi friend-slash-acquaintance-people around.

For as short as it had lasted…

Marina said that they probably weren’t fully human. Bruno had laughed, shaking his head.

Pokemon and humans did not interbreed, everyone knew that!

Still, if not human, then what?

Faeries? No way.

Ghosts? They were perfectly solid.

Genies? That’s a real laugh.

No, Misty was convinced that they were human through and through, somehow both had been hypnotized to their deaths.

Maybe they were mermaids!
Misty choked, imagining the mermaid imagery and then bursting into laughter. No, that wouldn’t work at all.

Two they were, just two that had died. That was all.

Brock had moved out two years ago, when he married Agatha’s niece Sabrina.

They actually clicked.

Bruno had been pleased, then suggested she settle down as well. But Misty had no interest in the three boys that lived nearby.

Joe was in love with another girl named Giselle, Basil was too busy reading all day, and Jason… he was just annoying.

What a pain.

Still, Marina kept urging her to marry one of them.

It was for the good of the human race after all.

But all she wanted to do was to become a great water trainer!
Her dream got closer with every day she trained, why couldn’t her parents just accept that?

They were so odd.

Whirl Islands

Lugia watched placidly as Ash and Lance battled.

The cards flashed and pokemon appeared, energy levels rising and lightning crackling through the air.

Lance completed the Dragon Dance, watching as Ash quickly used Recover to heal. Those cuts had stung!
The twin blades glittered in his hands like rain.

Soon, he cut them off, before they dealt any more damage. < It’s been almost four hours, you two. Take a break, Chosen. >

< Honto Ni? >

< Lugia wouldn’t lie to you. > Lance reprimanded Ash lightly.

Ash beamed as his armor vanished in a shower of sparkles, along with his staff. * I know that. *

Lance did the same, and the two cuddled, Lance toying with Ash’s long hair idly, as Ash just smiled.

< So kawaii… >

Precious pretty little one… I’ll protect you forever. I’ve taken care of you for so long, of course you love me.

Only me.

You are mine, Beloved.

You know I’m the only one you need, and I’ll stay with you as long as eternity lasts.

We’ll sleep together in the sleep of death when the time is done.

Lugia smiled, also.

Happy Chosen were always much better.

End Chapter

Created 4/15/04, completed 4/20/04