Happy Fourth of July, yo!

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 9

Red woke up to find that they were alone. However, as they ate a quick breakfast of trail rations he heard what sounded like a helicopter approaching.

“Do you think we should hide?”

Lance shook her head. “It would not be wise to.”

Red nodded, and soon, they saw Professor Oak and two other unfamiliar men in lab coats, followed by Yellow, get out of the plane.

Lance’s eyes narrowed, but Red laid a restraining hand on her arm.

“Oh, Red! Here you are.” Oak said, not bothering to mention that the pokédex had a tracking function and he had known where Red was all the past few months. “So tell me, who’s your lady friend?”

Lance narrowed her eyes until they were slits and swept a bow. “I am Catelyn, of Blackthorn City.”

“Hmm.” Oak said noncommittally. “So tell me, have you noticed anything strange going on here?”

“No.” Red replied promptly. He had no qualms about lying. It was to protect Lance, after all.

The other two Professors, who introduced themselves as Birch and Elm, began looking around. However, they found nothing but wild water and flying-type pokémon.

Yellow scowled. She was jealous.

Pika blinked. There was something strange about that human girl…

There was a touch of familiarity and yet… she didn’t seem human at all!

Was she a pokemon in disguise, perhaps?

Yellow caught that thought. “Say, Catelyn…”

Lance turned and fixed the Pikachu with a cold glare, before turning to smile at Yellow. “Yes?”

“My Pikachu thinks there’s something strange about you… are you hiding something?”

Lance resisted the urge to twitch, but felt power gathering in her fingertips. “That is a rather impolite question.”

Red looked aghast. Things were about to take a downward turn. “Yellow…”

“Who are you, really, Catelyn?” Yellow pressed. “What are you?”

Lance moved.

She was so quick that Red didn’t see her, and even Pikachu barely traced her movements. Her form shifted, blurring into an enraged blue titan of ice and snow, as the resulting Blizzard attack froze all three men solid.

She shifted back, seeing that Pikachu was hissing sparks. Red put a gloved hand on her arm and winced at the sheer cold emanating from her body.

“Leave.” Lance said. “You’re not wanted here.”

“You are a pokemon!” Yellow declared, somewhat inanely.

“Yes. And no one else has to know.” Red cut in. “Yellow, if you tell them, they’ll take her away and experiment on her!”

“But if she’s a pokemon, you should capture her yourself!”

“She isn’t some pet!” Red yelled.

“She’s only a pokémon, not a human!”

“Don’t talk about Lance like that!” Red snarled.

Yellow’s eyes widened. “…Lance?”

Lance did not whether to kiss or kill Red at that moment. Certainly, she was finding his somewhat public declaration of love quite interesting – and she appreciated it, but he had just blurted out her name. Though by the way Red’s eyes were flickering back and fourth between her, Yellow, and Pika, the wheels in his mind must be turning rapidly.

She decided to react before Red put his foot in his mouth again. She held out a hand and more ice glittered upon her fingertips. “Sheer Cold.”

Pikachu fainted.

Both Red and Yellow gaped. Lance smirked.

“I’ve been in most of the islands, Red. You pick up a few things or two. Pity I did not have access to this move at Cerise. It would have been so much more convenient…”

Yellow gaped like a fish for a moment, before she healed Pika with her Viridian Power. “You’ll pay for that!”

“Oh, come off it. I didn’t even throw ice shards at Red’s Pika. All I did was knock it out quickly and cleanly. You’re the one who wants to stuff me into a poke ball so you can have Red all to yourself. As if he’d want a scrawny little girl like you.”

“Scrawny!?” Yellow yelled.

“…Girl?” Red blinked.

“You’re really dense sometimes.” Lance said, watching as Yellow released her pokemon. She shrugged and her dragons rose from the waters around the Island.

She rather enjoyed Yellow’s stupefied expression as she shouted out commands. Instantly, the water around the Island began to boil with furious storms, and with the advent of her twin Dragonair, they were triumphantly victorious. Yellow looked crushed.

Lance hugged each of her dragons happily, and healed them all as Red awkwardly patted Yellow on the shoulder.

“It’s not that I don’t like you as a friend, but I do love Lance, and she’s not just a pokemon, Yellow. Do you understand?”

“No! She’s a freak!”

Lance twitched. “Freak? What does that make you with your powers of the Forest, hmm? What would Mother think if she heard you say that?”

Lance smirked as Yellow paled, just as an anguished cry echoed through both of their minds. Lance bore it well with nary a twitch, but Yellow jumped into the air, looking panicked, and flailed around in midair for a few moments before she fell heavily.

Oh, and it was a heavy fall, for the Mother watched her children, and she could be awfully terrifying. Nature was not a passive force, it was active, and if you disobeyed her, then she would take her gift away.

Lance felt Mother rumble in her mind, but it was with a pleased sound. She was soothing her, reassuring her that no, she was not angry. Yellow, on the other hand, was probably dealing with a screaming fit inside her head.

The trainer was turning paler and paler until finally, she toppled forwards in a dead faint. Lance snapped her fingers and pillars of ice rose around Yellow, sealing her in a solid block six feet thick.

Lance turned to Red. “Let’s go. Nothing short of Moltres flame will melt them out of there, as long as I live.”

“It’s cruel, but I think they deserve it.” Red said slowly. “What about Yellow?”

Feral eyes met his. “Don’t worry. She won’t tell a soul…”

She’ll be mad before this is all out, went unsaid.

Red felt a brief stab of pity for Yellow, but it was quickly quashed. “She deserved it.” After all, she was abusing power that no normal human had, and then attacking another for holding the same. What a little hypocrite!

“But… what she said.” Lance sounded uncharacteristically unsure. “I’m not human, Red. And…”

“Do you think I care?” Red shrugged as he recalled a fainted pikachu – his Pika – to its ball. He’d have to put Pika through some programming at a Pokemon Center, but it would be worth it. “I don’t care what you are!”

“Even if I’m a boy?”

That caught his attention. Red flushed. “You can switch?”

“At will, yes.”

That would be… interesting. “No.”

“Good.”

“But honestly, Lance,” Red said, trying to ignore the placement of her hand, “It’s really all right. I love you because you’re you. I don’t care how strange everyone else thinks you are. I don’t care if you’re half-human or less.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Lance grinned, and kissed him as they were swept up in the white glow of teleport.

And they lived happily ever after

End Chapter

Completed 7/4/06

Hah! FLUFF! ^^ FIC END!