Can I say that sometimes, irony can be a horrible, horrible force? ^^

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 4

Red looked around for signs of pokemon, as he checked his pokédex. They were getting close to Cerulean City, or so he assumed, though they had gotten out of Mount Moon by means of a rather different route. Most people did not blast their way out with a Gyarados. He hoped they had not damaged the pokemon habitat too much.

When he asked Lance that, a peculiar expression had crossed the older boy’s face, but he had refused to talk about it, and Red had decided not to press too much.

Lance was almost like a feral pokemon. Yes, a wild pokemon that had just been caught, shy and aggressive…

It was lucky that Red was good at gaining the trust of pokemon, even ones that had been previously abused or experimented on.

He was currently working on an Eevee that Gym Leader Erika of Celadon had requested he capture.

Bill the researcher had flown in to help. Lance stayed silent, and indeed, as soon he had seen Bill approaching on his Farfetch’d, he had made a flying leap into the bushes and nothing Red had said had made him come out. Red finally told him that he would meet him tonight after things were settled.

Bill and Red began setting up a scanning system to find the Eevee. Bill had his handy-dandy handheld pokemon type scanner, and as Eevee was rumored to be a fire type, whenever it showed up on the scanner, they would know it was there.

Red reached into his pocket and prepared a poke ball containing the cute little Sandshrew he had caught recently.

As the Eevee jumped up above him, he released Sandshrew, only to gape in surprise as the Eevee spat out a stream of water and nearly drowned the poor pokemon. Was Eevee a water-type then? He shrugged and released Bulbasaur, as razor leaves shot towards the Eevee, but this time, they were engulfed in flames!

Was there a dual fire/water type?

In that case…

Swapping Bulbasaur for Poliwrath, he attempted to restrain the Eevee, only to stare in shock as Poliwrath was fried to a blackened crisp.

“What’s going on here?” He demanded.

“I think I understand.” Bill said slowly. “I thought my elemental detector was malfunctioning, but this pokemon is somehow a Fire, a Water, and an Electric type!”

Red gaped at Bill for a second, before he recalled Poliwrath. “Well, how are we going to stop it then?”

“I’m not sure…”

Lance peeked out of the bushes, watching the Eevee. He could sense fear and terror emanating from it. He was also quite surprised that Red hadn’t already keeled over from all the angst.

Perhaps he had restrictive empathy. In any case…

He watched as the Eevee tackled Red to the ground and went for his throat. Red tried to release his pokemon, but really, his first priority was getting the animal off him!

Something in the back of Lance’s mind sparked in brilliant light. He was not going to let that pokemon hurt Red! He burst out of the bushes, riding on his Hakuryuu. Hakuryuu reared up and spat a Hyper Beam straight at the Eevee.

The Eevee was understandably startled and went flying several feet across the park. It crashed into a boulder and lay still.

Red got up, feeling a bit woozy, and tossed a poke ball at the Eevee, capturing it. He promptly sank to his knees, exhausted and bleeding from the throat.

Lance rushed to his side, placing his fingers against Red’s body as he reached for Viridian’s power. It sparked blue in his eyes and on his fingertips. Ever so slowly, the blue glow closed up the teeth marks and Red found himself able to breath normally.

“You can get off me now, Lance. I’m fine.”

Lance frowned, but nodded. Meanwhile, Bill blinked.

“Who’s your new friend, Red?”

“Oh, this is Lance.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Bill stuck out his hand. Lance shrugged and took it, making a polite bow.

“He doesn’t talk,” Red explained hastily before Bill could ask any uncomfortable questions. “What should we do now?”

“Well, you’ve caught the Eevee, haven’t you?”

“There’s something wrong. Pokemon should not be able to transform like that. That Eevee is not a Ditto, is it?”

No. Your pokédex clearly indicates that it is an Eevee. Lance wrote.

Bill scratched his head. “I just remembered something.” He flipped his laptop open and entered a password. Four files popped up on screen.

They contained pictures of Eevee and it’s three stone evolutions – Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon…

“But… that’s what Eevee looked like earlier.” Red pointed to Vaporeon and Flareon.

Perhaps Eevee can transform between its three states? Lance asked.

Bill nodded, reading the note. “It would make sense, but how?”

Red took a closer look at the poke ball, frowning when he saw a microchip embedded in the Eevee’s ear. “What about that?”

Lance frowned. It certainly looks suspicious.

“I could ask my colleagues about its significance.” Bill said, as he connected to the wireless Internet prevalent around the entire Kanto region, and began writing emails.

“Lance, um…”

Lance turned to look at Red, quirked an eyebrow. Red lowered his voice and leaned over to whisper.

“Can you use your powers to heal Eevee?”

He could, but he would be revealing them – what was he thinking? Bill had already seen, and made no comment. He seemed trustworthy enough, and he was in charge of the pokemon transport system all over Kanto. Surely, he could be trusted…

He held his hands over Eevee’s poke ball, watched pale blue surround it, and as he concentrated, caught flashes of the pokemon’s life….

He shuddered and almost dropped it, but the healing had to finish.

Red took the poke ball from him as soon as he finished, sensing his fear. He could hardly help the shudders that wracked his frame; it was difficult to dispel them!

“What did you see, Lance? It must have been awful…”

He did not speak, but Red did not either, and only clipped Eevee onto his poke belt and held out his arms.

Warmth.

Lance snuggled into Red’s lap, and Red awkwardly patted his hair. * Just think of him as a pokemon… *

Though it was ‘wrong’, it did not mean it did not work.

Bill finished writing his emails and yawned, rubbing his eyes. “Well, at least we caught the Eevee.” He looked over at Red and Lance and hid a smile.

Well, he’d never known Red was into boys. Pity he was just a kid… not that Bill didn’t already have a special friend somewhere else.

Looking never hurt, and Lance was fast asleep, Dragonair curled protectively around both of them. It looked quite comfortable. Bill packed up his things and went to buy some drinks. When he returned, they had woken up – well, he had gotten into a lengthy discussion with the department store salesman over the price of Evolution stones – and were preparing dinner.

It seemed like confronting Erika would have to wait until tomorrow.

End Chapter

Completed 6/5/06

Yes, Red is working on Lance’s social skills, though he doesn’t know it. And yeah, Bill’s not surprised that Lance can’t talk. Pokemon Professors and researchers all are kind of odd, in any case… so not talking is not that weird, right? And I like PokeSpecial! Bill.