Title: The Rocket’s Red Glare

Title: The Rocket’s Red Glare
Authors: Shadow/Phantomness and Neph Champion
Pairing: Championshipping (Lance x Red)
Fandom: Pokémon
Rating: R
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

Warnings: Fanon, Het, gender bending, attempted suicide, PWP

Bruno grunted in pleasure. He had finally done it! The deal was done, and now, the rest of the Elite Four were gone and he was Champion! He didn't care what happened to Lance and Lorelei now. Agatha had been unable to deal with the shock and collapsed from a heart attack, but the others were probably slaves. It was nothing to him...

Lance and Lorelei had glared at him as they were led out. Still, their stares could hardly hurt him.

Bruno poured himself another tumbler of brandy, gleeful.

Lance and Lorelei had been put in with the Johto Elite in a cell in Viridian city.

"If I ever get out of here, I'm going to kill the bastard." Lorelei hissed.

Lance nodded.

< Well, we always knew he hated us... > Will put in.

< Plus he tried to hit on me. > Karen frowned.

The others shivered in disgust.

Koga frowned. "I do not like this at all. Now, Team Rocket controls everything..."

Lance frowned and nodded.

< Leader...? > Karen looked at him.

Lance looked pensive. "We must let this be known to all the trainers that are still free..."

He looked from Lorelei to Karen to Will to Koga.

< Karen, you know how to disable Will's psychic dampeners. >

Karen nodded. < Yes, I can do that. I'm a Dark type after all. But what do you wish of us, Leader? >

< You and Will can get out of here. Don't worry about us. >

< But-. >

Lance's eyes glinted. < If worse comes to worse, I still have one trick up my sleeve. >

Koga nodded. He knew that they would be better able to tolerate whatever Team Rocket decided to do.

The Elite's heads all turned to the side when they heard something. "The heir sure is heavy. You need to go on a diet..." There was moan.

The door opened. Two members of Team Rocket were hoisting an unconscious Champion.

"Red?" Lance gasped.

She was unceremoniously thrown into the cell. The grunt snorted. "Your Father will set everything up..." He left.

Red blinked her eyes open. "Ow, my head..."

Lance gave a curt nod to Will and Karen, who faded out.

Then, Lorelei and Koga came forward. "Are you ok?"

She nodded. “Other then feeling like a Dragonite is tap dancing on my brain…” Red gave them a weak smile.

Worried, he pulled her into his arms.

Red leaned against him. She was in a lot of pain, despite what she'd just said.

Noticing this, Lance quietly began to heal her. There was some internal bleeding – it looked quite severe. He focused harder, but by the time Red was healed to the best of his ability, Lance looked ready to pass out.

And Red had passed out again...

By the time Giovanni came to take a look, he found two of his prisoners near death, two missing, and the other two all right. But there was still more that had to be done to make sure Red was in good health.

It took five days before Red was fully healed. His scientists had worked quite hard. As for Lance, they finally figured out that he was out due to energy loss.

Giovanni was very irritated. Why had Red been hurt so badly? Hadn’t he given his Grunts precise instructions not to damage his Heir?

Stupid, useless underlings!

Now, she was resting in the rooms he had set up for her. And as her birthday was fast approaching, he had a surprise to plan. But he would wait for her to recover first.

There had been several internal injuries that Lance had missed...

Lance woke up first, feeling fuzzy. How long had he been out for? He saw that he was in a hospital room.

* How did this happen? * He blinked. What was going on? He felt dizzy, as though he had been drugged...

A moan from a bed next to his caught his attention. Red!

The Champion hurt all over. She didn’t want to open her eyes at all.

Before they could make conversation, or even acknowledge each other’s existence, the nurse came in. She smiled. “Oh, you're awake.”

Red sat up. "W-what...?"

“Your father was very concerned.”

“I don't have a father.” Red looked confused. She'd never had any parents growing up. So what did the woman mean?

"Of course you do." The nurse checked up on Red, running a scanner over her. After ten minutes, she smiled. "Wonderful! You're fully healed."

* Why do I still feel pain then? * Red wondered.

The nurse turned to Lance. “And your energy levels are going up.”

Red looked at him, but the Dragon Master wouldn't meet her eyes.

Lance? What was he doing here? For that matter, where were they anyways? She blinked, trying to remember what had happened.

"We've been captured." Lance said shortly, as the nurse left. He still wouldn't meet her eyes.

Confused, she looked at him. Team Rocket had them? Then why were they being healed? It made no sense!

She shivered as the door opened.

Giovanni smiled when he walked in. “Hello, Red.”

Red's eyes narrowed, but she bit back a scathing reply. What did he want?

“I'm so glad to see you again, daughter.”

Lance blinked. Red was Giovanni's daughter?

Red was confused. She looked at Lance and saw he felt the same. She... didn't have a father... did she...?

Giovanni smiled.

Red's eyes filled with tears. "D-Daddy?" She remembered a man with dark hair, very vaguely. Still, she was in a lot of pain.

"I'll let you rest now." Giovanni said. He kissed her forehead and left the room.

Lance remained silent.

Red watched him leave. That had been weird.

The Leader of Team Rocket was her father? She was not sure how to respond to that! She had been fighting Team Rocket all her life!

It could not be true!

“L-Lance?”

The Elite trainer looked confused, still. Red could almost feel his emotions, they were that palpable. Was he okay?

Lance exhaled, slowly, trailing his fingertips down his chest.

She blinked. The pain suddenly got worse – much worse. Why?

Red curled into a fetal position. That was when she realized it. She was feeling his thoughts, too.

“S-Stop Lance, please stop... You're hurting me.”

Lance turned to her, surprised. "What?"

"You're hurting me, whatever it is you're doing to yourself... I can feel it..." There were tears in her eyes.

Shock registered in his golden eyes. "I..."

Red looked into them.

"I'm sorry..." He breathed. "I never meant to hurt you..."

"Just make it stop..."

Lance gave a curt nod. That was when Red screamed. The pain... what was he doing? This wasn’t stopping things! She watched in horror as Lance collapsed against the sheets, blood welling from his chest.

She gasped. Alarms began to sound.

Giovanni and several doctors came running.

“Sir!” One cried. "He's not breathing!"

"Get him breathing!" Giovanni commanded.

Red's breath was coming short and fast, but it was slowing.

One of the doctors paled, as they managed to get Lance up to the respirator and several other machines. "Sir... I think you should take a look at this."

He was holding a bloody sword.

Red gasped. "D-don't touch that!" She was finding it harder to breath.

Giovanni frowned. "What?"

Red staggered to her feet. "Damn..." Tears ran from her eyes as she reached for the Sacred Sword. Her reach fell just short. She fell to her knees, still straining for it.

Giovanni stared in disbelief. "Give it to her." He spoke shortly.

They picked it up with a tool and held it out to her. Red clutched it like a lifeline. It didn't help much.

She wasn't feeling pain, but there was a horrible dark emptiness all around...

She shivered. It was so cold...

Was this how Lance felt? Why? Why was it so cold?

Several hours later, the doctors finally managed to get Lance stabilized.

“Sir, we've done our best, but I doubt he'll wake again.”

There were tears in Red's eyes.

"Do you know what he did?" Giovanni asked Red. "He's missing all his organs there's nothing but empty space in there! And we know he didn't have any weapons..."

“It all goes into the creation of this Sword,” Red told him her voice quiet and shaky. * Oh Mew… *

"Why?" Giovanni asked.

Red just sobbed. * Lance... * "Why did you... I told you to make the pain go away... not kill yourself..."

She knelt down next to his bed. "I didn't want you to do it this way!"

Then she looked at the sword. Damn it! She'd rather have Lance! Eventually, she stood and walked over to where hers and Lance's pokemon were. What would she tell his dragons?

Slowly, Lance's eyes slid open. One of the doctors noticed, and beckoned Red over. They weren't golden any more though. They were red.

Red turned and stiffened. "Crystal..."

"Yes." Her voice was cold.

Why had Lance let her out?

“Why did he do this?”

“His love only hurts you.”

Red shook her head. “I would rather have Lance then this sword!”

"His love only hurts you." Crystal repeated.

Tears were flying from her eyes. Red shook her head again. "That's not true!"

"Would you rather have felt all his pain and despair?"

She walked to Crystal's bedside. "Anything is better then feeling empty!"

"You told him to stop the pain." Crystal shrugged. "It was the only way he could."

Red looked at her and shook her head, not believing. She did not want to believe it! It was too cruel!

The dark lady shrugged. "Well, believe what you will."

She was shaking badly as she clapped a hand to her mouth. Having Crystal was better then not having the other Guardian at all, right? And she knew somehow, that she would be able to learn to love the Dark Mistress...

Crystal slanted her gaze at her. "You seem resigned."

Red sat heavily. "Having you is better then not having..." Red looked away. "I'd rather have you then be alone!"

"I'm not like Lance." She said. "I don't love."

“I know, but its better then being alone!”

Crystal smirked. “So you say.”

Red looked away. She pulled a sheath out of the air.

By now, the others had wilted out of the room, not wanting to get caught in a catfight. There were dangerous things afoot…

Giovanni frowned. This did not bode well.

Who knew Lance had magic? It seemed to have something to do with pokemon, but he could only guess.

What to do…

Crystal watched as Red put the Sacred Sword away. Suddenly, she grabbed the girl's wrist and kissed her, hard.

Red was startled, but didn't fight the older girl.

< You'd rather it was him doing this, don't you? > Crystal roughly pushed her against the wall.

< Maybe, but you're better then nothing. I like it rough. >

Crystal just bit down on Red's throat and pressed her hips against the younger girl's.

< Given enough time, I could learn to love you just as much. >

< You are foolish, nay, more than that. This is madness. > She scoffed, but for a second, Red heard Lance's voice instead.

< Maybe. Is it wrong for me to want to love all the different parts of my Mate? >

Crystal paused.

< I. Don't. Care. >

Crystal snarled and kissed Red again, ripping her skirt and panties off and plunging two fingers into her body.

Red's eyes were determined as she looked up at Crystal.

Crystal began to move her fingers, her eyes angry.

Red wrapped her arms around Crystal's neck. She didn't mind, not even when Crystal manifested a strap-on of dark energy and broke her roughly.

She hadn't minded that at all...

Crystal paused, watching as Red licked her lips.

< Why don't you fight me? >

Red grinned up at her.

< I'm raping you! Don't you care? > The red-eyed girl demanded.

< It's not rape it the other participant wants it, Crystal! > Red shouted. < And I want this! You know what? You sound a lot like Lance! He's always asking me that! >

Red glanced up into the girl's eyes. < Lance, I know it's you in there. Please don't do this to us. >

Crystal slammed her into the wall harder. < Shut up! >

She just smiled. She could see a little... something in Crystal's eyes...

< You're wrong. > Crystal sneered.

Red just smiled. She knew Lance was in there somewhere...

Angrily, the Dark Mistress threw her down and entered her roughly, watching her bleed with vindictive satisfaction.

Red was calm throughout the whole ordeal. Besides, she was sure she could handle pretty much anything Crystal could throw at her...

Crystal finally had enough and stormed off, leaving Red alone.

Red grinned and shook her head. What was Crystal trying to prove?

“Aniki... I know you still love me... but I'll wait until you come back.” She grinned. “I know you're in there somewhere...”

Lance scowled. His brilliant plan was not working!

"What is wrong with her?" He muttered. "She's supposed to hate me by now..."

< Never, ever, hate you Aniki. >

Lance jumped. Shimatta... she could feel his emotions if he switched back...

< Why do you hide from me? I love you. > She murmured. < You've done nothing wrong. >

He spat. < Surely if nothing else you'll hate me for that. >

< I've never felt hate for that, Lance, only loneliness. > Her tone was very loving. < And I won’t deny that sometimes, I deserved that loneliness. >

< You told me to make the pain stop. So I did. Because I caused it! That damned bond... >

Red grinned. < And your healing bond saved my life. >

Lance hissed.

< So? We all have our limits. I've never had so many internal injuries before, have I? > Red wrapped her arms around him. < Lance-chan. >

Lance stiffened.

< Come back to me, please? >

He began to tremble.

Red leaned her head against his shoulder. < My Mate... >

Lance sighed. Lost, again...

< I’ll never stop chasing you. > Red purred. < Because you are mine, forever and ever, and I want to be yours. >

< I… >

< Shh. > she kissed him.

< Red… >

Lance slipped his tongue into her mouth. < What about Crystal? >

< What about her? I already said that I love you – all of you. Besides, it was fun! > She winked.

The Dragon Master just shook his head, bemused. What had he done to deserve love like this?

She hugged him tightly, before they broke the kiss.

< So… > She winked. < Now that you’re properly contrite, we can play, ne? >

Lance pinned her down and kissed her. < Yes. >

Red giggled, and no more was said.

End Fic

Completed 10/22/07

Red: Happy ending! ^^

Shoyko: *Drinking tea* Ah

Lance: *Yawns*

Phantomness: Fic complete! Woohoo!

Lance is a bit paranoid, ne? Um, he was really panicked. I’m not sure I can come up with a reasonable explanation for why so just think of this as a PWP and ignore the plot holes! Seriously, this needs editing or should be rewritten as a chapter fic but at the moment I don’t have the time… or the energy.