If pokemon is just a dream, than what is real? Can dream become reality when reality isn’t perfect? Two meet in a world but not in the real…

Disclaimer: I don’t own pokémon. It belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic that I own and it’s mine!
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Wataru is Lance’s Japanese name.

Satoshi is Ash’s Japanese name.

Shonen-ai championshipping (Ash x Lance)

Title: Twilight Happenings

*Dedicated to Roxanne de Winter, since she sent me the bunny*

Chapter 1

His breath caught in his throat as Lance smiled at him. “You did well.”

“H-hai!”

Ash was almost shaking, overcome by nervous excitement. He had just won the Indigo Championships and now…

Well, the fourteen-year old’s dream had come true.

“Sit down, you look ready to collapse.”

Ash obediently found a chair and sat, as the Nurse Joy healed his pokemon. “I can’t believe it…”

“Well, you beat my Dragonite fair and square.” Golden eyes smiled at him.

“Hai!” Ash said, feeling his cheeks flame up as Lance leaned towards him, a bit too close? Was he going to-?

“BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!”

Satoshi groggily reached for the snooze button on his alarm clock. But the dream was gone. He could remember most of the details though. How odd.

The eighth grader sighed, before climbing out of bed, showering, and grabbing his private school uniform, flinging it on, before he went downstairs. His dad was passed out on the couch, a half-full beer can still clutched tightly in one hand.

He quietly made himself milk and instant oatmeal, grabbed a few dollars off the kitchen counter to pay for lunch, and slipped outside, book bag in hand.

What a strange dream…

Well, it was kind of nice. He had been having a recurring dream for maybe six months now, training strange creatures called ‘Pokemon’ and exploring a world that seemed much like his own, with a few changes.

Instead of a drunken father he had an affectionate mother. He traveled alone with his ‘pokemon’, different elemental creatures.

Pidgeot – that one was easy, he had always liked pigeons; so it would make sense for him to have a bird… albeit a giant one as a pet.

After all, it protected him, right? According to his dream book dreams represented hopes often. He would like to have someone to protect him, and why not a bird?

A female bird… well, he had owned a pet parakeet when he was little named Erika, a little white and yellow one.

So perhaps this ‘Pidgeot’ was Erika brought back to life in his dreams…

The same went for ‘Growlithe’. He had only owned a puppy for three weeks before it ran away. So it had been a stray he had picked up out of the trashcan, but it had been a good friend. A mottled, dirty puppy…

So why not let his friend come back in a dream? Growlithe striped red and black and white, and those colors were certainly common on dogs.

However, he had no idea where Vaporeon and Jolteon and Espeon had come from.

It didn’t matter; dreams didn’t have to make perfect sense. For that matter, he had absolutely no idea _why_ he had been attracted to that red-haired man.

He didn’t even _like_ boys, did he?

No!

Satoshi quit his musings as he walked into the gates of his school, two minutes before the bell rang.

He went to algebra class quietly and began doing the workbook problems his teacher told them to do.

Still, dreams were nice things to have, pretty little fantasies…

Maybe he wanted someone to protect him.

“Kairyuu, Hyper Beam!”

“Pikachu, Thunder!”

The two attacks hit… there was a beautiful display of white smoke and rainbow lights, and when it was over…

The victor was declared.

He won!

I can’t believe it, Lance thought, as he stared at the boy. He finally fulfilled his dream. I’m happy for him.

But… he’s so cute…

He waited until after the awards to make his move though. They were alone, the other Elite having gone off.

It was all right.

Right now, even Ash’s pokemon were gone, so it would not cost him anything if it failed, right?

He leaned forwards, noticing anticipation – was it, or shock, in Ash’s eyes? Could the boy have realized?

In any case, he ever so gently brushed Ash’s lips with his own.

“Lance…”

“Hai?”

“I-…”

“OW!”

Wataru snapped awake, noticing that he had fallen asleep on the computer again. Oh well, at least his English essay was mostly done. He quickly typed the last three sentences of his conclusion and submitted it to his teacher through www.Turnitin.com. A quick glance at the clock on his wall showed the time as two-fifty A.M.

Sighing, he stumbled across the floor to his bed, and promptly got under the covers before he fell asleep.

He was woken at six-thirty by the persistent alarm clock, but at least that night had been relatively dream-free.

After a morning shower, he pulled on a pair of jeans and his gray hooded sweatshirt, remembering to put in his contact lens.

They made his scary eyes – in his mother’s words – look brown. She hadn’t liked his normal hair either, but that was fine.

He just wanted to finish high school and get away.

With a sigh, the junior grabbed his backpack, threw in the calculator he unearthed from underneath the bed, along with his copy of The Scarlet Letter, before heading to school, grabbing a cereal bar on the way out.

End Chapter

Completed 7/15/04