Another chapter!! Come back, you plotbunnies!

Disclaimer: Phantomness does not own pokemon. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me.

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Chapter 11

The year of training had finally passed. Now, Ash was ready to begin doing missions full time.

It wasn’t hard.

As long as he did not have to see, everything was fine… and the truth was, he really didn’t see. After all, he would fade in with a Faint Attack, Thief what was necessary, and then teleport….

So no, he never had to see.

“You’re back.” Lance greeted him. Ash smiled as he flopped down on his bed with a tired sigh.

‘Yes, I’m home…”

“Was it hard?”

“Honestly, not really.” Ash confessed. “I had to steal a Charizard.”

“What would father want with a simple Charizard?”

“Now that’s the secret.” The rocket grinned. “Apparently, it’s an extremely powerful female Charizard – there’s Moltres ancestry in it only about two generations back. The trainer was using it to collect Charmander and their evolutions from every trainer that passed by. She had an entire valley full of the fire dragons!”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “So…”

Ash beamed. “I’ve got them here.”

“You brought an entire valley of Charizard here?”

“Well, they followed the one I had captured, so yep!”

Lance sweatdropped. “I see…” At least Giovanni would be pleased…

“Speaking of which, I think father wants to see you.” Ash smiled. Lance shrugged, as he stood. He wore a simple black team rocket uniform like any grunt, but woe upon the foolish one whom mistook his identity!

“Yes, father?”

“We have received rumors of a group calling themselves the Elite Triad…”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “I see.”

“Yes… they are claiming to have the power to control Lugia.”

That caught Lance’s attention. “But Lugia is…!”

“I know. Be careful, Lance. You have enough DNA in you to be mistaken…”

“I understand.”

Giovanni dismissed Lance after that disturbing conversation. Lance returned to the room he shared with Ash, frowning deeply. This was not good…

He had no desire to wind up mind-controlled simply because of his DNA…

Well, it was not as if he didn’t appreciate it – Lugia knew that he was glad for his special powers, but…

He was no one’s pawn.

“Ready?”

“Ready.” Agatha confirmed. She and Lorelei had managed to acquire seven of the eight badges of Johto and Kanto. Now, their machine was ready…

Bruno sat dumbly on a rock few paces away, watching them with a detached expression as he absentmindedly rubbed his wrists.

Lance suddenly tensed, eyes going a weird shade of orange as he stood up slowly and began walking outside. Luckily, Ash noticed.

“Aniki! What are you doing?”

“Cerise…” Lance murmured in a whisper as he continued. Ash gaped. Oh no…

Someone had to be controlling him!
Fine then. He made a mental apology before he smacked Lance as hard as he could. A broken blood vessel blossomed across the trainer’s cheek, before he grabbed Ash’s arm in a punishing grip and glared.

“Let me go…”

“No.” Ash said firmly.

Lance twisted Ash’s arm into a rather painful hold. “I’ll break your arm.”

“Catelyn, Crystal, one of you take over!” Ash yelled, as his eyes began to glow with Leer, freezing Lance in his tracks temporarily.

Orange bled to blood red as Lance quickly released Ash’s arm. “Sorry about that.” A slightly higher, almost feminine voice said. “Catelyn was having a hard time distracting him, so I couldn’t make my move yet.”

“Ah, it’s fine, Crystal.”

“What’s going on? Is it…?”

“Yes, it’s that Ghost Master again, trying to get into our mind.” Crystal sighed. “Luckily, I’m a dark-type, so I’m the most resistant. I guess you won’t be seeing Lance for a few days for that reason.”

“You’re being awfully calm.” Ash remarked. The only other time he had seen Crystal was when Lance had discovered a fishing company selling Dratini as *food*. The change in eye color was possibly the only indication. Crystal had been furious, and the entire plant had been razed with flames and shadow to the ground.

“I have to be.” She shrugged. “Besides, Catelyn’s been teaching me to reign in my temper.”

“I see…”

He wasn’t altogether sure how Lance’s split personalities worked, but Catelyn was more of a childish mindset with ice powers, although she was also kinder, and Crystal was a assassin, mostly… born for destruction…

Why were they both girls?

Maybe it had something to do with Articuno and Suicune having been female… ah, it was too much trouble to think about.

He’d live.

“So… um, Crystal, what do you want to do?”

It was odd, really, seeing this stranger in Lance’s body. Crystal shrugged as she? He? Eh, too much trouble to decide turned back to her book.

“Well, I’m tracking the signal on Cerise Island and trying to get rid of it if that helps.” She muttered. “At least then we won’t have to deal with being controlled.”

“Oh, I see…” Ash blinked. It was *weird*.

“Are you angry with us?”

“Eh… no, of course not!” Ash protested. “It wasn’t your fault! I mean, you know, you can’t help your genetics!”

“… Point taken.” Crystal said, before her eyes closed again. “There we go…”

On Cerise Island, the badge energy amplifier suddenly shattered into a million pieces. Agatha cursed. How had this happened?

Crystal groaned. That had taken a lot out of her… she began to fade back into their shared psyche and Lance’s eyes changed now to a blue shade.

“Hi Ash!” A cheerful, perky voice spoke. Catelyn.

“Hello Catelyn.” Ash smiled. She was the closest to his age, being a year younger – technically, he wasn’t sure how the split personalities had developed but it wasn’t his business to pry. “Lance is still resting?”

“Yep, still asleep.” Catelyn grinned. “I don’t think he wants to wake up. More time for me to play then.”

“…” Ash blinked.

“So,” Catelyn said, as she flopped down on the bed, leafing through the manual Crystal had left, “Want to play cards?”

“Sure.” He’d never get used to this… Ash grabbed a deck of cards and dealt, as they began gin rummy…

End Chapter

Completed 5/16/05

Lance is a male, although his split personalities are female, therefore they shall be noted as ‘she’. The only change is posture and eye color, and maybe his hair color, when they take over.