Title: Heart of a Champion
Author: Mexman1993
Rating: R
Edited by: Shadow/Phantomness
Disclaimer: Neither of us owns pokemon. The Pokemon
franchise belongs to Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics, just to
name a few companies. This is a work of fan appreciation, no profit is being
made and no copyright infringement is intended.
Warnings: Shonen-ai
Notes: “” are
used for thoughts
Heart of a Champion – Chapter 1
The heat was absolutely overwhelming. Despite it being practically freezing outside, Red felt like he had just been taken out of an oven when he woke up suddenly in the middle of the night.
At first he thought it was simply his mind playing tricks on him. But when his hand accidentally found its way to his forehead and brushed against it, it was evident that this was no case of disproportioned temperature.
Red was sick and there could no longer be any doubt on the matter.
Despite an aching body and a throbbing head, Red promptly forced himself from his bed onto to find himself collapsing on the floor in sheer pain. He let out a muffled groan as he clutched his stomach as if it was going to explode.
Yes, most definitely this was not your common everyday illness.
Slowly, with the support of a nearby desk, Red was able to rise from the floor. He kept one hand on his stomach as it continued to send out jolts of pain throughout his abdomen. He closed one eye in sheer agony as he desperately jiggled around with the knob of his bedroom door.
“I’ve got to get help.” Was all he could think about as he wobbled helplessly into the unforgiving darkness of the hall way.
Lance woke up from his peaceful slumber rather startled. He felt something was wrong, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on that actually was.
He began contemplating returning to sleep, disregarding his gut, when he began to hear a strange noise coming form the hallway. If he didn’t know any better he could have said that it sounded like a child crying, or at least releasing a whimper of some sort.
He decided that he should investigate further. Again, for all knew, which honestly wasn’t much; it could have been a burglar who had broken into the Plateau.
Dressed only in a pair of black silk pajamas, he quickly rushed out into the dark hallway. Being the kind of master he was, he quickly adjusted to the low resolution before him and what he saw when he turned in the direction of the sound was truly startling.
“Red!” he exclaimed loudly when he saw the young boy wobbling down the hall, struggling to stay up, clearly in severe pain. He dashed over to Red’s side as, one by one; the other members of the Elite Four began to poke their heads out of their bedrooms simply out of curiosity.
When they saw what kind of situation they were dealing with through, they promptly exited their rooms out of concern for their youngest member.
“Red! Red! Are you okay?” exclaimed Lance once he had reached Red who was clutching onto his stomach now with both hands, as well as struggling to keep his knees from buckling on him.
Red released a large quantity of tears and sobs signifying that his pain had worsened. He would normally not allow such a thing to happen, but what he was feeling was simply unbearable.
“No!” he replied to Lance with a shaky voice.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” asked Lance as he tried to place his hands on Red’s shoulders. Red buckled though, preventing this from happening.
“It’s… (Hic) It’s my stomach,” Red managed to say between sobs. “It hurts really bad.” He finished in a high tone as another sharp pain overtook him. The members of elite four stood, oblivious to anything they could do for poor Red who was obviously in much pain.
Surely surprising to all of them though was exactly how painful that last jolt had been for Red as his sobbing ceased and he began to fall to the floor, collapsing into Lance’s arms instead just in time.
“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Agatha.
“Red!” exclaimed Bruno and Lorelei in unison.
Lance stared down upon Red as he lay unconscious in his arms. It was truly heartbreaking to see him in such a state.
“Lance, what should we do?” Agatha asked, concerned.
Lance took one last look at Red before answering, “I’m going to fly Red to the nearest hospital.” He said as he cradled Red in his arms. “You three stay and watch over the Plateau while I’m gone.” Lance then dashed towards the nearest exit of the Plateau, Red in arms.
He was surprised at how light he was. But then again he always did look so feeble and needy whenever he wasn’t battling. He made it past Bruno and Agatha but Lorelei stopped him.
She placed a light jacket over him and whispered, “Be careful Lance, take good care of Red.” Before leaving Lance to release Dragonite and take off.
The nearest hospital was in
For instance, what if Lance were to lose Red along the way? He would be at fault for his death and he simply could not live with that. In fact, he would not live with that. If Red was to go, he would have to choice but to go too.
When he arrived at the hospital Lance practically broke down the glass doors trying to rush Red in. The only person present in the lobby area at that time of night was a nurse receptionist who looked startled at Lance’s barging in.
“Nurse, I have an emergency. This boy is very sick and I need a doctor to look at him as soon as possible.” said Lance breathless.
The nurse shook her head and got right to work. She picked up a phone on her work station and called into it, “Ruba, Dr. Ruba! Urgencies! You are needed at the front desk!” She then came around and retrieved a stretcher on which Lance could place Red, who no longer seemed to be responding to the change in light.
Suddenly a tall, pudgy woman in a white suit appeared from beyond the doors of the inner part of the hospital and rushed out to where Red and the nurse were located.
“What do we have?” she asked as she began to examine Red.
“Not sure.” The nurse answered. “The gentleman over there brought this boy in saying that he was suffering from an undisclosed illness.”
“Sir?” said the doctor directing her question to Lance.
“Yes?” he answered.
“Exactly what is wrong with this boy?”
“I'm not quite sure myself. He said he was suffering from pain in his stomach when he collapsed and that's when I brought him here.”
The doctor nodded as she began to feel up Red's body again checking several specific functions as she mumbled inaudible medical jargon to the nurse beside her. Lance simply stood now, feeling the same helplessness his colleagues had felt back at the Indigo Plateau.
He just stared at Red and practically yelled in protest when the nurse and doctor began to wheel the unconscious boy away.
“Hey wait!” He exclaimed as he began to follow them to the inside of the hospital. He was suddenly halted by another nurse who seemed to appear of nowhere.
“I'm sorry, sir, but you can't go back there.” She said.
“But I...” Lance began.
“I'm sorry sir, but this boy needs special care and at this time you would only interfere. We'll bring you news on his condition as it becomes available to us.”
After processing what the nurse had told him, Lance receded into one of the lobby chairs in defeat at not being able to be with Red in his time of need. If something were to happen to Red, his Red, he simply wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
He only hoped that that wouldn't end up being the case as he began his patient wait for news on the boy that had so suddenly become the keepsake of his heart and mind.
Completed 3/19/2008
This is reposted with the author’s permission.