Yay! I’m actually writing a series! *Cheers*

DISCLAIMER: pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws. Do not take my work.

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks. But I don’t think there are pokemon in this fic, at least not yet.

Time Jump – 6 months later

Chapter 5

Meanwhile, Blaine had finally located Giovanni’s widow. To his horror, she was now married to the King. Cerulean Invader Overlord…

Traitor! What a faithless woman! Also, to betray her countrymen and marry one not of their nation!
He would have to kill her and her unborn child then. What a pity… he’d lose this bet no doubt. No… maybe not.

Giovanni might have children born out of wedlock. It certainly would fit…

He had to remember the eyes.

Giovanni might not have been an exceptional warrior. However, he carried in his blood a very valuable trait. The golden eyes…

They were good eyes, if you could activate their power. It made night vision possible, as well as seeing through things.

It was passed on from parent to child.

Golden eyes were rare. He would find them. First though…

The next morning, Catherine was dead. However, great was the King’s surprise when he realized that a son was born. Death by childbirth and no one noticed? How?

The baby boy wailed, his large golden eyes bright.

Blaine had also noticed the birth with surprise. Giovanni’s child indeed, then! He would wait until it grew up, and then train it to fulfill his bet.

He wouldn’t lose…

Ash was fairly adept with the spear now, much to Agatha’s delight, and Koga was glad he had finally learned the entire exercise, all seventeen steps. He moved on to a harder one.

The trident was still problematic, but he worked hard.

Lance had no complaints. Bob, on the other hand, was full of complaints, as were Bruno and Surge.

Four teachers had succeeded, and three were failing…

Obviously, not all the Seven Stars were equally gifted in this area.

Bruno sighed. Screw armed combat. He might as well teach Ash how to do simple punches and kicks… The boy could not fail _that_, could he? And so it went. This new regimen worked out much better.

He felt better himself, too.

It was about this time that Bruno met another young man named Brock. He found him rather intriguing, so in his free time he took on Brock as his real protégé.

Surge gave up whip fighting and taught Ash horseback riding. That worked out better as well.

Bob wasn’t sure what to do.

He couldn’t very well teach Ash how to become a butcher! That had been his profession before he became a Star of Johto.

Hmm… what to do?

Ash and Lance sat outside, watching the stars.

“Lance?”

“What is it?”

“Why are you all teaching me?”

Lance coughed. * I shouldn’t tell him… it’s not exactly ‘honorable’ though it’s for our own pride… *

“Well, I want to.”

“I know, but… Lance, is it wrong if I don’t like Teacher Bob?” He didn’t bother to use the formalities with Lance, since they were closer in age.

Lance was fifteen.

“Bob lacks skill in the teaching area. It is not a skill all possess.” Lance rebuked quietly.

Ash frowned. “I know.”

“Now, do you see that star over there? It never fails to shine and will always guide you home safely…”

The reason they were out here was for stargazing and studying purposes.

Ash had a nasty habit of getting lost. Surge had snapped at him and chased him off, and he had been lost for two days afterwards.

Then, it had happened again with Koga. Koga hadn’t meant to lose his temper, but he had being going to strike Ash and the boy had fled.

Agatha had commanded Lance to teach Ash how to read stars and other positions to get home, so Lance did.

Lance wasn’t much of a fighter. He was more of a scholarly thief, in Agatha’s words. His sleight of hand was exceptional, though.

“Now, do you see those four stars over there that form a box?”

Ash nodded.

“That’s your east point. Look over there now.”

“It’s a dolphin!”

“Yes. That’s the west point.”

Hopefully, now he’d be able to orient himself if lost…

Aya dodged Ash’s swings, sighing. “You’re still too weak.”

“I’m sorry, teacher Aya.”

“You’re a child, and you are not yet strong enough. The trident is too heavy a weapon for you to wield… but you are doing your best, right?”

“Hai!”

“That’s all I want. Remember, you have to work hard, otherwise your other teachers get worried.”

Ash nodded morosely. But he liked his new horseback riding lessons…

“Don’t grip the reins like that.” Surge instructed.

Ash let go.

“No, no. If you don’t touch them either, you may fall off the horse. Now nudge him gently in the side with your heels.”

The horse began to walk slowly, plodding.

“You’re sitting like a sack of rice. Raise your body and the horse will automatically walk smoother.”

Ash tried, but after nine minutes his leg muscles gave out.

“… I suppose that’s good enough for today.” Surge was learning to lower his expectations.

They all were.

Ash got off carefully, and then he followed Surge back to the reed-thatched stable, where he began mucking out a stall.

Afterwards, he took a bath, before he had teacher Bob again. He didn’t like Bob… he’d spent the last two days standing horse stance because Bob didn’t want to teach him…

End Chapter

Completed 8/26/04