Wai! Another chapter

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me. Do not steal my writing.

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

Chapter 2

The guard grudgingly let them through – Lance wasn’t sure why he was so cranky, but upon reflection that standing out in the weather twenty-four seven guarding a cave was not good for anyone, relented and did not allow Dragonite to blast him.

They entered the damp caverns silently. A large body of water stretched before them. An underground lake then…

“Surf… Hakuryuu…”

The two of them climbed onto the back of Lance’s Dragonair as they quickly cut through the chilling water, reaching a small island. Lance recalled his Dragonair while Ash fought off a wild Golbat that was eyeing them.

Then, he captured Golbat, which was transferred to Bill’s PC.

A ladder led down into deeper caverns… Ash shivered, but bravely climbed down, followed by the Dragon Master. They landed on a soft clump of moist dirt. Lance winced inwardly; his dry cleaning bill would be hell when he returned to the plateau…

“This is the right way, right Lance?” Ash peered around.

“I do not know. It is too dark to see anything.”

“Raichu, could you use flash please?”

All of a sudden, the cavern was thrown into blinding light. Several wild pokemon, startled, attacked the two trainers. However, Raichu let out a Thunder attack, which fried the Dodrio and Venomoth, and Ash added those to his collection as well. Two golbats were left lying there as well…

“There’s got to be a quicker way to find Mewtwo then… Jynx, I choose you!”

Lorelei’s Jynx looked at Ash suspiciously, but decided to obey for now.

“Jynx, do you sense any other psychic presences in these caves? We’re looking for Mewtwo.”

Jynx closed her eyes, humming…. A few minutes later, she nodded, having sensed a presence. Ash and Lance followed her, until they reached another body of water. Then, they surfed across.

On a small island were two Kadabra involved in some sort of interesting activity that left Ash blushing as he finally realized what they were doing.

“No, not Kadabras…”

Jynx harrumphed, and tried again. This time, they followed her to another island, where a sleeping pokemon awaited.

“Is that it?”

“I think so.” Ash took out his Master Ball, took careful aim, and tossed. The ball rocked back and forth as the pokemon inside furiously struggled to escape, but in the end, it was caught.

Checking his pokédex as the psychic cat was transferred, Ash suddenly frowned. “What the?”

“It’s not Mewtwo?”
“No… it says…” Ash paled. “Mew?”

“Mew? That’s still a legendary…”

“But if that was mew, that means Mewtwo is still out there!”

< You have realized that too late, foolish humans… >

Lance released Dragonite just as a psychic blast collided with the dragon pokemon. Luckily, Dragonite’s armor-like skin protected it rather well…

“Thunderwave!”

Ash looked terrified as he hid behind Lance. He wasn’t a coward, but this pokemon was scaring him!
Lightning covered the cat, and it growled, speed cut by a fourth. It used Recover to heal any damage, and then Swift shot out, hitting Lance?

The trainer fell to his knees, breathing hard. That had hurt… “Hakuryuu! Help Kairyuu!”

His twin Dragonair shot out of the water in whence they had hidden themselves, followed by his Gyarados, Hyper Beams slamming into Mewtwo. Caught slightly off guard, one managed to make it past before Mewtwo erected a barrier of psychic energy.

< Not bad, for a lowly human. But you cannot win. Psychic! >

Ash cringed as Lance was hit with another attack. * I’d better help… * “Articuno! Zapdos! Moltres! Attack!”

Having to face three legendary birds and three dragons was not much fun for Mewtwo, but he tried his best. Articuno and Moltres accidentally knocked each other out in the frenzy, while Zapdos knocked out Gyarados easily, with its 4x weakness to electricity, poor dragon…

Dragonite used Body Slam, hitting Mewtwo…. One Dragonair caught the falling legendaries… The other Dragonair breathed out a bubblebeam attack, before Zapdos used Thunder…

A wet cat was much more susceptible to electric attacks.

Dragonite followed up with Hyper Beam and Zapdos with Thunder, and finally, Mewtwo was down…

Ash hastily threw a poke ball, amazed when it worked. Then, he turned to Lance and released Alakazam.

“We need a hospital, quick!”

“Don’t bother…”

“Nani?” Ash turned to Lance with a frown. “You’re hurt – of course we need to see a doctor!”

“I can’t…” If I went, they’d find out my secret…

Dragonite nodded, as Lance recalled his dragonairs and his fallen Gyarados. Two tears dropped from the dragon’s eyes, landing on Lance’s chest, before the pokémon was recalled as well.

Ash watched in awe as Lance stood up, injury-free. “Dragon’s tears can heal almost all wounds, you see…” * But I won’t tell you they can thwart death as well… that’s information I’d rather keep to myself… *

Silence reigned for a few moments before Ash spoke.

“I…I guess you’re right. I was overreacting.” Ash cast his eyes downwards. “I’m still a kid, after all.”

Just a stupid kid… if Lance hadn’t been here, I’d be a spot on the wall. I am glad he wanted to come with me. It’s nice to be protected.

Why am I thinking this? I just met him?

Lance finally broke the silence.

“You know, when I told Oak you were only a kid, I didn’t mean you were a bad trainer. You’re Champion, after all.” Lance said, as they flew back to the Plateau on Dragonite. Alakazam didn’t quite feel like making another teleport. Besides, flying would give them a chance to talk.

“I see…”

“You beat me and the rest of the Elite after all…”

Ash nodded, feeling a little bit better. However, he was also curious. * Why doesn’t Lance want to go to a hospital? *

That bode thinking on…

“Ice cream?”

They had already arrived at the Plateau, and a plump woman was selling ice creams out front.

“Oh… yes please?” Ash grinned. * He’s not too bad. *

“All right, what flavor?” Lance asked, taking out his wallet.

“Chocolate!”

“Two double fudge ice creams.” Lance said, handing over 5 pokeyen. The woman nodded, smiling as she gave them their food.

The ice cream effectively took Ash’s mind off Lance’s hospital evasion – the injuries probably hadn’t been bad at all, Lance had just been surprised and fallen over! In any case, they returned to the Plateau to report to Oak that the mission was complete.

End Chapter

Completed 4/21/05