WHERE THE HELL DID SERENA COME FROM?!
NO SERIOUSLY. I AM CONFUSED LIKE WHAT IS GOING ON?
Anyway, for my fellow Kingdrashippers (LancexMisty) out there. Slight past LanceLorelei and past-onesided AshMisty, mentions AshSerena.
Please feel free to leave me a review at the end of the oneshot. Enjoy!
Lance has dreams. They aren't much, he thinks, and he's sure the media would get a kick out of them if they knew, and in fact Clair would. She'd get that smirk and give him that scoffing sound and probably say some smart, snarky line about domesticity.
He dreams of being a teacher, one day. Blackthorn has its main gym for the adults, but he'd really like to have a sort of pre-gym for the little ones, teach the kids about being trainers, about living with Pokemon, and taking care of them.
He likes kids, and maybe through teaching he can ensure that the world would one day have one more person who will stand up against the bad guys, one kid at a time.
-o00o-
Somewhere along the line he meets a meddling kid with his Pikachu and two accompanying friends. The kid has a real heart of gold with a burning passion that Lance knows will change the world; but he's held up high and strong to do so by the sensible young man who keeps his head when it's dangerous, and by the smart young woman who notices the finer details and the bigger picture.
The red Gyarados becomes his first student as he painstakingly teaches his new friend about peace, about joy and brave children and friendship, about helping and saving others who are bullied or used or abused by men like Team Rocket.
His dream of teaching doesn't immediately cross his mind for a while, but when it does, it is a little more solid, more tangible.
-o00o-
A year later Lance meets up with Ash again, sans Misty. He's happy to see the meddlesome kid and his new/old friends, but he's a little disappointed that Misty wasn't with him. He'd have liked to have had more than a measly five minutes to actually sit down and enjoy being a socializing, normal trainer with them but, sigh, duty calls.
Maxie and Archie still have charges to face, regardless of their change of hearts. It only hurts worse, being on the receiving end of Maxie's hurt, betrayed glances, but he's only a Champion. Even he isn't above the law, and he can do nothing for his estranged uncle. So Lance watches Maxie and Archie put behind bars, and gets a call to return to the League building, again.
He returns in a flurry to face a series of challengers who got lucky. At the end of the day, he realizes he's got a new dream, although maybe it's less of a dream and more of a passing want.
Lance wouldn't mind having a few days to himself to be, well, not Lance.
-o00o-
He finally gets tired of his and Lorelei's off-and-on relationship, and by relationship, he means a lot of one-night stands and a lot of frustrated training sessions later to work off steam. He tries for a calm, stoic approach, but they end up screaming at each other before she slams the door on him and he punches through a few walls once he's home. They are officially over. Permanently.
Lance knows Clair hates it when he does it, but he can't help his brooding. He never pretended to like the off-and-on state of affairs he and Lorelei had been in, but when they were on, he'd been… well, happy. The life of a Champion, and side-line hero, was a hard, lonely one and while Lance was good at being a loner, he was a social creature too. He liked human contact, human conversation, and he most definitely liked being a lover, short and weird as it had been.
He dreams still, of being a teacher to some kids in Blackthorn, and of a peaceful world he doesn't have to save… but he now also dreams of curing that innate loneliness in him. He dreams now, of holding hands, blushing faces, and taking a girl home to the clan.
-o00o-
Lance wears out the brooding routine and frustrated training sessions and finds himself pulled into a quick vacation of sorts with Koga and Janine to go see a friend of their clan who helped Koga and Aya some odd years ago with Team Rocket. He expects to meet some old, battle-battered warrior, or a former ninja. Even a doctor, or something else of the like.
He does not expect to meet up with a beautifully grown up Misty, fresh from the underwater ballet show with water still dripping from her arms and hair. The hair extensions for her Mermaid act are gone, and while they were a nice touch the short-cut of her real hair is more fitting. And somehow, she is nothing short of breathtaking.
He, Koga, and Janine stay a few days in Cerulean, and it turns out Misty's done her own fair share of being a hero, if her own collection of stories from hanging around with Ash tell him anything. She and Janine get along swimmingly, to Koga's pleasure, and she and Lance get along swimmingly, to Lance's own pleasure.
He knows, however, that she holds a torch for Ash, and to be honest, Lance still holds one for Lorelei. He hates to admit it, but he misses her, misses when they were being together. But… his new friendship with Misty is sweet, and warm, and comforting.
There's no denying, however, that he's dreaming now of healing and overcoming all the heartbreak and pain he's carrying over Lorelei; dreaming he won't be blind enough to let the real deal pass him by again.
-o00o-
It's a bit of a surprise when, out of the blue, Misty calls him up and asks if they could go for a coffee. She needs a friend with her, and Brock's busy with his pokedoctor studies to be much help, but Lance is conveniently free to be her crying shoulder when she needs to vent about her failed crush on Ash.
Turns out Ash had a childhood friend in Kalos, and he and Serena are hitting it off better than fireworks at a parade. Figures, all that waiting for nothing.
About two weeks later, he's taken by surprise by another offered outing; this time, to the movies.
Then next week to the opening of some museum. Then a road-side show with a man and his Exeggutor. Then a poke-corral race.
He is not ashamed of Misty calling the shots; it's a load off his back, to hand over the reigns for once and let her lead where their friendship takes them. She always seemed like she'd be one to take charge whenever she could get over her own shyness. He's just not prepared when on one particularly enjoyable evening at a fair, walking around in non-Champion and non-gym leader clothes and holding cotton candy and chocolate covered fruit on sticks, he's suddenly grabbed by the collar, pulled down, and smooched.
It's awkward for a first kiss, with their teeth tapping at each other briefly, and noses smashed together, but it doesn't stop his brain from short circuiting at the realization that Sweet mercy, he's being kissed by Misty. Once he catches back up with reality, Lance slants his face a little more to the left, presses back, moves with her lips, and then he can hear angels singing straight to his heart and he can taste cotton candy on her lips.
Lance is not ashamed, either, that after some awkward, adorable confessions (blushing included) there were more kisses exchanged atop the ferris wheel, and when he escorted her home. He was also definitely not ashamed to find himself dreaming of more of Misty's kisses.
-o00o-
His dreams are comprised of Misty as of late. He still wants to be normal, still wants to teach kids at a pre-gym, still wants world peace; he just dreams of a few more things now.
He dreams of possessions and clothes mixed together in shared rooms. Of feminine smiling and laughter to come home to, of orange tresses dripping water from impromptu baths or dips in the pools. He dreams of all the times he and Misty fights and the fights they will have, because let's face it, she's a spitfire with a knack for confrontation and he's easily snapped and as stubborn as she is. He dreams of making up though, and making love, and when they do tangle together under the sheets in throaty moans and desperate gasps of the other's name on their lips for the first time, it's far more amazing, more mind-blowing, and earth-shattering than any of his dreams could conjure. It only gets better.
-o00o-
Lance dreams of being normal again. Days seem to drag on longer and longer, and challengers coming in bigger droves it feels like. Villains and crooks are rising up with more and more plans to hurt people and pokemon, and some days he's not even sure what's real.
He's so damn tired of being on top. Pride won't let him throw a fight though, and it's saying something about him that he won't let go of the title until he finds a trainer who will uphold the honor and justice that a Champion carries, someone who is just as good a person as they are a trainer.
Arceus does he dream about that. He dreams of letting the title go with no regret, with the pure certainty that the new Champion would lead the regions as he did, better than he did. Because then he really could follow through with the rest of his dreams; being normal, being a teacher, being a real and honest man to Misty, because she deserves that, and deserves more than just another boy or man to waste her life waiting for. He desperately hopes she knows that, knows that she deserves more than just waiting, because he's got a ring in his pocket to match her eyes begging to have a mate.
-o00o-
She says yes.
-o00o-
His eyes settle and Lance no longer dreams; he doesn't need to dream, he realized, staring down with the utmost amazement and wonder and love at the little carmine-red haired, aqua-blue eyed squalling baby in Misty's arms while their hands clasp together. He doesn't need them anymore, doesn't need anything anymore so long as he has his wife and the small spitfire baby girl that's purely theirs.
Extra:
Misty and an energetic two-year old Chrissa are waiting for him when he comes calmly strolling across the empty stadium, smiling at them and taking them all home where they can safely celebrate by themselves while the regions go berserk over the new starstruck Champion Ritchie.
Apparently I'm awesome at oneshots, and this crack-ship that was supposed to be made for fun suddenly turned into a thing. I suck at coming up with names. Okay so I came up with Chrissa by altering Chryssa, a short form of Chrysanthos, greek for "golden flower". I used it because Misty's family has a tendency to name their girls after flowers, and gold has always been a fixation for dragons so there. I have a bit of a fond spot of Ritchie, dorky as he is. Anyway, feel free to leave a review with me!
-KO13