Chapter 2!

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me. Don’t take my work.

Notes: <> for telepath, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks. I’ll jump tenses, but whenever it’s ‘I’ talking in this chapter, it’s Lance.

 

Chapter 2 – this job’s not all that it’s cracked up to be

 

            It could have been worse.

            Lance glanced down at himself. Instead of the black and red he normally wore, his new outfit was… green. A dark, iridescent green colored armor that fell to his knees that made his hair look more crimson than ever and his golden eyes gleam. No, that wasn’t it.

            His eyes looked… washed out now.

            Odd.

            That wasn’t the worst part though. The worst part had to be the wings… And the tail. Yes. That was it.

            Butterfly wings. Shimmery pink and blue mottled butterflies wings grew from his shoulders. Two long tails of pink followed and fell to his feet.

            Yes, it could have been worse, but Lance couldn’t imagine just how much worse at the moment, except for having a pink outfit.

            Mew clapped her hands gleefully, Dragonair shrugged, Umbreon stifled a snort, and Regice didn’t even respond.

            “Well, what am I now?”

            “You brought death to others in your lifetime, so you’ll bring life to others in your death. Fitting, ne?” Mew giggled.

            “You mean…” Lance suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

            “Yes! You’ll bring the spirits of baby pokemon to their eggs!”

            Thank goodness. He’d been afraid that it’d been human babies…

            Umbreon caught his look and laughed. “We’re not that stupid, Lance. We know that if we told you to bring human children into the world, you’d kill them even if you lost your soul. You hate them that much, ne?”

            Lance did not respond, and as the first spirit landed in his hands, he flew off to take the baby pidgey to her parents.

 

            Within days, he had settled in to his new ‘job’, and really, it wasn’t that bad, there were a few pokemon born every day, and the rest of the time was his own…so he observed pokemon, watched Claire mourn for him but move on, good for her! Watched his grandfather attempt to train a new successor to their clan’s legacy, since he didn’t think Claire fitting…

            But then…

            Then… ah yes; one day it all changed.

 

            “Lorelei!”

            “Lance?!”

            Both of them stared at the other. Lance resisted the urge to laugh. His new wings might be ridiculous, but so were Lorelei’s! She looked like a chicken, all yellow and brown and white feathers… and a red comb on her head.

            Lorelei glared back. “How did you wind up here?”

            “I’m dead.”
            “Hn. I am too… so, why didn’t anyone warn me about the change to attire once we agreed to work for the four judges?”

            “No idea.”

            “Me neither…” Lorelei suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Lance, spit it out.”

            “Nani?”

            “I know you want to ask how I ended up dead.”

            “Well, not really, but if you really want to explain, the I’ll listen…”

            Lorelei sighed. “They caught us.”

 

            I don’t register for a few moments. “What?!”

            “They caught us, Lance.” She’s crying now. “We all escaped Cerise Island, but somehow, they found us. Agatha went first – they tried to take her away, but her ghosts got there first – they took her soul away to keep it safe, so that all was left was an empty husk for the police to lock up…”

            Agatha had been Lorelei’s mother, so he could well understand how she felt.

            “Bruno – well, Bruno was never on our side, since we brainwashed him, but he was an accomplice, so they simply locked him up, and as for me…”

            “Yes?”

            “You were already dead, we knew that – your pokemon… they were crying by the volcano, all of them, and… they were dying, but…”

 

            NONONONONONONONONONO!

            His pokemon were not dead, couldn’t be, they hadn’t fallen into the volcano like he had how could they die-! Electric only did ¼ damage, and even adding fire, water, grass, and the four base elements from the other trainers’ pokemon!

            Unless the legendaries had chose to destroy them?

            Why?!

            Stop.

            He unclenched his fists and looked Lorelei in the face. That was past! Heck, he had forgotten his dragons in the busy rush of bringing new life! He could deal with this. Later. For now…

            Breathe.

            Lorelei sighed. “Gomen ne, I know it hasn’t been that long…”

            “I don’t need your pity, Lorelei, I’m dead. So tell me… how did you die?”

            Lorelei smiled wryly. “Ice.”

            “What?”

 

            “They sent Articuno to hunt me down. I’m one of her chosen ice masters… and she couldn’t resist since they had caught her with a master ball.”

            “… They?”

            “Yellow.” She spat the word like a curse. “Green. Blue.”

            “I see.” Yet, something was missing… “What about Red?”

            Lorelei laughed. “You noticed too? He didn’t go with them. Odd, isn’t it?”

            “Yes… very…”

            “He was the one Agatha and I tried to recruit, you know.”

            “I remember.”

            “He should hate me most of all… but he didn’t.”

            “I wonder why?”

            “So do I…”

 

            “Then what happened?”

            Lorelei laughed harshly. “They had Zapdos too. Fried all my ice pokemon, I had no time to do anything…”

            “Then?”

            “Well, what can I say? Even though it was Agatha controlling all the attacking pokemon, they needed a scapegoat, and I was conveniently close…”

            He caught the point.

            “It wasn’t pretty.” Lorelei said.

            “Mine wasn’t pretty either.”

            “You know, there’s another reason why I’m here.”

            Lance raised an eyebrow.

            “I’m taking your job.”

 

End Chapter

Completed 2/10/05

Lance: Nani?!

Shoyko: Oh, darkfic again I see…

Kairo: *yawns*

Phantomness: What? You didn’t think parts of this chapter were humorous? *Sniffle*