Come on, you don’t think I’d be so cruel as to end the series with that episode, do you?

 

Disclaimer: No, Shadow does not own pokemon. *Pulls out a guillotine* and if you try to sue me…

 

Notes: <> indicates telepathy, ** indicates thoughts, italics indicates pokemon speech in English vernacular.

 

Episode 8: The harsh reality of ice

 

            Red froze.

            “Ash! Get out of the way!” Misty shouted.

            Inside Red’s head, memories of the last time he had been frozen solid replayed in his head, immobilizing him. Pika was going through the same emotional distress, as a blast of ice heading towards you at around 60 Mph could do that…

            “ASH!” Mrs. Ketchum shouted. * NOOOOOO! *

 

            Suddenly, Red felt someone scooping him up and the rush of wind against his body. When he dared open his eyes again, he saw Lance holding him. From Lance’s back grew a pair of beautiful silver wings.

            Jessie looked frustrated. “Fine! I’ll just have to try again!” She and James immediately began firing blasts of ice everywhere.

            “Dragonite, go! Fire Blast!” Lance said, throwing out his dragon pokemon. “Aerodactyl, Hyper Beam!”

            The two pokemon flew off to attack.

            “Are you all right, Red?” Lance asked.

           

            “Doushite, Lance?” Red asked. “Doushite?”

            (Translation: Why?)

            Lance stared at Red with his frosty blue eyes. “You saved my life. I’m repaying a debt. I owe you.”
           

****************Flashback Mode******************************************

                       

            Red stared at the unconscious blonde teenager who had been washed up on the beach near Pallet town. “Come on, Pika! We need to get him to the hospital!”

            Pika frowned. But that’s Lance!
            “So?” Red asked. “We can’t just leave him here to die!” He managed to get Lance into a sitting position, before he started using the Healing power.

            After a few minutes, Lance opened his eyes. “Where am I?”

            “Near Pallet town.” Red said helpfully. “Are you okay? You don’t’ look too well…”

            Lance sighed. “I’ll be fine. Wait. You used Healing power from the Viridian forest on me, right?”

            “Yes.” Red said.

            “That means… I’m older than you, and Yellow is younger, so you were the child born with the emphatic power during the time between us.”

            “Yes.” Red said.

            Pika’s ears perked up. * What? I never knew! *

            “You hid it very well.”

            “I had to.” Red said. He looked down. “The power comes at a very heavy price…”

            “Thank you.” Lance said, trying to get up, but failing, since his legs weren’t working properly yet.

            “Don’t.” Red said. “You’ll just hurt yourself. Here, you can stay at my house until you recover.”
            “PIKA?!” Pika asked.

            Lance looked equally shocked. “But I’m your enemy!”

            “No, you’re not. Not more than Bruno was.” Red said. “I think you were the only one who was fighting for the sake of his own pokemon. Bruno was nice, but he’s not soul bonded like you are.”
            “Yellow couldn’t understand that.” Lance stated, a bit offhandedly.

            “I know.” Red said. He shook his head. “She’s too worried about right and wrong and trying not to hurt anyone… she’s too naïve.”

            “Well, I suppose since I have nowhere to go, I’ll accept your offer.” Lance said.

            “Okay!” Red said. He had Gyrados carry Lance back to his house. There, he took care of the dragon master for four weeks before Lance left to train on his own.

            “Bye, Lance!” Red said, waving.

            Lance gave Red a small wave before he and Aerodactyl took off.

 

**************End Flashback**********************************************

 

            Red snapped out of memory lane and turned his attention to the chaos that was brewing. “Charmander, go! Use Flamethrower!”

            His Charmander nodded, came out, and began negating some of the ice blasts.

            “Darn!” Jessie cursed. “We’re running out of ice!”

            “What do we do?” James asked.

            “I suggest we retreat.” Meowth said. He was silenced by a fan.

            “Team Rocket never gives up! Don’t worry, I had a backup plan.” Jessie pulled out a bag of sleep powder and opened it.

            “There! That should do it!”

 

            “Ash! Watch out!” Misty said, before the sleep powder put her to sleep.

            Red vaulted out of the way. “Butterfree, Whirlwind!” Butterfree nodded and created a wind tornado that sucked up all the sleep powder.

            “Dragonair, use Rain Dance!” Lance said from beside him. His two Dragonair quickly created a rainstorm, which rendered all the sleep powder useless.

            “Now. Thunderbolt!” Lance finished. The two Dragonair whipped out with electric energy.

            “Pika, do Thunderbolt too!” Ash said. The combined electric force threw Team Rocket out of the area.

            “Looks like Team Rocket’s blasting off again!”

 

            Richie stared in awe. * Wow… * He looked around, and saw that Ash and Lance seemed to be discussing something. Deciding that maybe discretion was the better part of valor, he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

            Red looked around and saw that almost everyone was asleep. “Lance?”
            “Yes?” Lance asked, as he recalled his pokemon.

            “Um… Charmander’s asleep…”

            Lance smiled and took Charmander from Ash. His eyes turned silver as he applied his specialized healing magic to Charmander.

            “Thank you.” Red said.

            Lance nodded solemnly and got ready to leave. “See you around, Red.”
            “You too, Lance.” Red said, waving. Then, Lance took off on Aerodactyl’s back again.

            Red sighed and touched his heart. * Lance… you don’t know yet, do you? I think I love you… but why? Is it just because of our shared power… no, but then I’d love Yellow. She did protect Pika for me, but she’s like a child, she’s still a child… she’s only about six or seven, too young to understand… what’s wrong with me? *

 

            About an hour later…

 

            Everyone had finally woken up.

            The referee cleared his throat. “Well, I suppose we can get on with the match.”

            Both Red and Richie looked a bit filled with despair. Red closed his eyes and felt the magic flowing through his body, before he sighed.

            “Very well. Let’s begin.”

           

            “And this is the match of the year, folks! Both trainers only have one pokemon left!” The announcer blared. The first two matches had been ties, Zippo versus Pidgeotto, and Leon versus Venomoth. Now, it was down to the last match.

           

            “Ash, you must have a secret weapon.” Richie called.

            Red smiled. “Well, what if I do?”

            “I do too.” Richie said, with a smile. “Why don’t we both use ours?”

            “Very well.” Ash said, closing the small video screen. “Star, I choose you!” An Eevee popped out and landed on the smoothly packed dirt.

            “Rhydon, I choose you!” Richie said. * Ash’s secret weapon is an Eevee? I’m sorry Ash, but you’re going to lose! *

            From his pocket, Red removed the three legendary evolution stones. He got ready to use them…

            “Rhydon, Horn Drill!”

            Star leapt out of the way easily. In that instant, Red flashed the water stone and Star turned into Vaporeon.

            “This is amazing!” The announcer blared. “Ash has chosen to evolve his Eevee! But can that win him the match?”

            “Star, quick! Hydro Pump!” Red said in mingled desperation and anxiety. Could Star hold the Vaporeon form for the whole battle? Star nodded and fired the water attack at Rhydon, slamming into it.

            “Oh no! Rhydon!” Richie cried.

            Star managed to pose for a few seconds, before she began tingling. Red quickly recalled her back into her poke ball.

            “Rhydon is unable to battle! Bout and match to Ketchum and Vaporeon!” The referee said.

            The stadium went wild.

            Red smiled as he and Pika did high-fives. * Only two more matches to the championship. * He thought.

            Pika smiled. You were awesome, Star!

            Thanks, Pikachu!

            Red smiled as his friends and ‘family’ congratulated him.

 

End Episode 8! Kawaii! *Smiles* Ooh, unrequited Championshipping from Ash’s POV is always good! *Smirks*

 

Go ahead and flame me, read Dragon’s Love first though…