Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Renewal ❯ Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*

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

Warnings: Gender ambiguity

Chapter 5

 

Several days passed in relative silence. Red was still stunned from the loss of his pokémon, and Lance's presence was… odd. He had no idea what Shiroi was like, really, only that he tended injured pokemon all day and never said a word. But he had the Viridian Power - the same time of power as Yellow had…

Thinking of Yellow made him ache with failure, so he banished the thought and went outside to skip rocks. He was thus entertained when Shiroi came up with a pot. Red knew that he was getting water - he had seen him do it several times already. The pot was heavy looking, so Red offered to carry it.

Shiroi blinked, before he? She? Smiled and nodded. It was so much easier to think of Shiroi as a girl, because Red couldn't imagine a *boy* being a Healer…

All the Nurse Joys were female, after all, and he should help.

 

Shiroi made fish for dinner. Red liked fish, and they ate quietly while she spread herb unguent over an injured Rattata's back.

She was nice enough, he supposed, but he wasn't really sure what to do. He rather felt as though he was imposing on her…

What to do?

So he took to helping her out - he might not have pokemon any more, but she leant him her Gyarados and they went fishing together, dredging up edible seaweeds as well… she would thank him in a soft voice between patients. The amount of injured pokemon really was incredible, and they often told her they were fleeing this area, since Bruno's army was marching closer.

She shook her head, and said that this was her place now and she would not leave, and Bruno was a fool to think that pokemon would attack a Healer, brainwashed or not.

Red hoped that was true, but he had never seen even the most vicious wild pokemon attack her…

Shiroi really was a mystery, and one he was not intent on solving. He rather enjoyed living with her, where he did not have to worry about saving the world and everything else.

Maybe they were acting like a married couple, now that they were close?

 

The thought made him smile, and Gyarados smiled back. Lance's eyes sparkled in a secret smile as she poured fish soup for both of them, and Red sipped slowly, wondering. She was so strong, he'd seen her hold an Electabuzz down to give him surgery, and she hadn't flinched even when he had shocked her, unable to bear the pain.

She was…

What was she to him, besides as companion? They almost never spoke, but the silence said so much more…

He sighed, shaking his head to clear these troublesome thoughts away, before he began to eat with good appetite.

Dragons…

Something whispered in his mind, but he paid it little heed.

 

“He is a good worker, and good with pokemon… such a pity he failed.” Lance commented. Ptera smirked.

Are you thinking about mating him, Master?

Lance turned around to stare at the fossil dragon. “Not really.”

But you wouldn't mind, right?

“There are many worse choices. He is adorable…” Lance mused, before he shook his head. “Still, my feelings of are of no importance. I have a duty to perform and I am not leaving.”

What if Bruno does come?

“Then I will fight him.” Lance said. “And I would gladly die defying him - but only to save you from his machinations. I am not one to seek him out and attack him.”

That made sense…

“Besides, he thinks I'm dead.” Lance smiled crookedly. “So it will be quite a shock. Perchance he has eaten enough cholesterol to cause a heart attack.”

Ptera screeched with laughter. Perhaps…

 

“In any case, he relies only on strong pokémon to win. If I could manage to disable Agatha's control mechanism, that would help.”

I am sure Cerise is well guarded, Master.

“… Who said I was going to go?”

I take that you mean that you are sending Red? You trust him enough?

“Since our Champion is fond of playing hero, I will send him with Kairyuu and Gyarados. The rest of you shall stay safe with me.”

Ahh…

 

Red accepted his mission, fascinated, and felt warm. After all, if Shiroi trusted him enough to lend him her pokemon!

Well… then he wouldn't let her down.

 

Getting to Cerise Island was remarkably easy. Dragonite's eyes swept across the assembled pokemon protecting the matrix of badges there, and they parted like a river for him, for…

Brainwashed or not - dragons were still the most powerful.

And Bruno had never mentioned that Lance was dangerous, because he had not known he was alive.

 

Red carefully collected the badges, all eight of them, though he felt ill as he hovered over the volcano to get the Earth Badge, but it was all right, because he brought them back to Shiroi, who smiled, and together, they waited for the energy to run out and Bruno's army to fall.

And then she put him to sleep, and when he woke up, he knew without knowing that she had put the power of the badges inside of him, but at least this way it would be safe… and he would never use this power to hurt pokemon, never!

 

Bruno showed up three days later. Shiroi was already waiting for him, knives in hand. His army was much reduced, and though Yellow and Misty followed him with miserable looks on their faces, they did look a bit better than they had last time.

“Who are you? How dare you defy me?”

“You were hurting pokémon. That is unacceptable.” Shiroi said softly. Yellow tensed, frowning, as though she were trying to work something out, and Misty sighed.

She had seen too many failed battles to believe that this new person could beat Bruno. Red tensed, as Shiroi smiled - or seemed to, before in one swift motion, she threw off her robes, revealing her - no, him self in night-black with a flame-red jacket.

A long cloak billowed behind her as she smirked.

“Long time no see, Bruno.”

“L-Lance?” Bruno choked, and that was when the dragons exploded out of the ground - the air, the water… and into the fray.

Lance simply smirked as Red stared.

 

End Chapter

Completed 12/30/06

Lance: And the truth comes out

Phantomness: Hai~!