I will not let this bunny die!
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic written by me.

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

Chapter 2

“He wouldn’t kill anyone!”

Misty sighed. “Ash, Ash. Please.” Ever since he had seen that news article two days earlier, he had gone into hysterics; claiming that Lance would never, ever, do that. No, he wouldn’t!

The kid had to calm down. Somehow.

When Brock asked him why, Ash said that was because they were brothers.

How odd.

Was this unbelievable or what?

“You and Lance are brothers?” Misty demanded incredulously.

“Hai, he’s four years older than me.” The thirteen-year old nodded.

“Then why don’t you just ask him?”

“I can’t.”

“Oh?” Misty leaned closer. “Why not?”

“Because.” *dramatic pause* “I don’t have his phone number.”

Both gym leaders fell over.

Brock picked himself up. “_You_ are related to _Lance_?”

“Why?”

“Well…”

Ash frowned. “You don’t’ even know the real me, so don’t get started.” Pikachu started to say something, but Ash shook his head.

“Don’t.”

He closed his eyes. “Aniki will tell me if anything goes wrong though… I shouldn’t worry, he can take care of himself…”

And he would say no more.

The parents arrived.

Lance was waiting, calmly, as they began shouting and cursing and screaming. He was almost _too_ calm; at least that was Bruno’s reaction.

In any case, the Dragon Master was silent during the whole long spiel.

“Are you finished yet?”

“HOW DARE YOU!”

The police were there, and Bruno looked worried. Surely Lance wouldn’t resort to more violence?

“You want to know why I killed him? Very well. He was abusing his pokemon. Simple as that.”

“BASTARD!”

Lance closed his eyes, and actually ignored the rest of the meeting.

He didn’t even protest when they cuffed him and led him away.

Bruno shivered.

What happened to him? When did everything change?

And… who is he really?

< Chosen? >

< Father. >

Apparently they don’t put Elite Four – no matter how tainted – in the same cells as regular prisoners.

It wouldn’t be so bad, only…

He longed to tear the dirty metal off his wrists, let them see his full power before he destroyed them in heaven’s blaze of glory.

But he had to be patient. Patience was a virtue, after all, and dragons liked that.

< Did they injure you? > There was wrath under that voice, an ocean waiting to be unleashed if the word was said.

< Not really. > Lance shrugged. < I guess they don’t want me to look pathetic on the news. The only problem is the cuffs, they’re cutting off the circulation and I’m bleeding… but don’t worry. >

Lugia nodded. < Take care. >

< They’ll be the ones in trouble, father. >

And from his wrists, the red continued to drip.

Officer Jack was not a bad person.

However, he had the misfortune of being on duty that night when the stars fell. No, that sounded too dramatic.

It was more like a hyper child with an uber-powerful pikachu…

“Lance!”

The Dragon Master looked amused as Ash and his Pidgeot crashed through the roof. “Nice seeing you too.”

“Ow.” Ash muttered, rubbing his head. “I came to rescue you!”

“I appreciate your gesture, but don’t worry. Father will take care of everything.” Lance said. “You’d better run though.”

Sure enough, alarm bells blared and sirens rang.

“Good as you may be, you probably don’t want to take on the entire armed force at once, do you?”
Ash shook his head, and gave Lance a quick kiss, surprising the trainer. “I’ll see you later then. Take care of yourself, aniki.”

Lance smirked. “I’ll be fine. You should take care of yourself too.”

Ash nodded, before he and Pidgeot beat a path out as quickly as possible. Lance hummed, finishing the shadow spell.

He would be invisible until he was a good four or five miles away.

How could he be so careless? At least the security cameras hadn’t caught the incident…

The policemen burst in, expecting a fight. Instead, all they saw was Lance sitting quietly, staring at nothing.

It was then they noticed the steady pool of blood that had formed.

“Shimatta! No one noticed he was bleeding? Those cuffs are too tight! The public will pity him if they see him like this!”

Lance’s eyes continued to linger on the wall, hazy and unfocused. A few minutes later, while they were busy replacing the cuffs, he slumped over and fainted.

“Kuso! He’s lost so much blood he’s unconscious! Whose idea was it to use those handcuffs anyways? He’s not even protesting!”

“It could be a trap!”

“You idiot, he’s been knocked out!”

While the policemen squabbled, the Dragon Master slept on.

End Chapter

Completed 6/18/04