Interlude 04: Lance Entry # 1

(Takes Place during Chapters 19-20)

Lance Wataru leaned back as he overlooked files that concerned Team Rocket, a frown on his face while the TV was on showing the News. The Elite Four Member had a bad feeling about all of this, a pile of paperwork left unattended on his desk.

To think that Team Rocket turned out to be still be dangerous considering how they went to ground many years ago, but that was neither here or there due to the concerning rise of incidents that they are involved in, the Viridian City Pokemon Center being the first of many.

Just what were their goals this time? What does Giovanni have planned? He knew the man disappeared after the kidnapping of his son six years ago but as far as he knew his missing son had nothing to do with their goals.

If only he could get in contact with Red but he was currently MIA, has been for the last few years with only a small letter every now and then that confirmed he was still alive, the last one came from the Unova Region but that was a good few months ago.

"Xew?" Speaking of the Unova Region, Lance allowed a small smile as a short bipedal, grayish Pokemon with pale tusks coming out of its mouth and red eyes propped itself on his desk.

"Don't worry it's just work." Lance said making a note to thank Red for sending him Axew.

He's been wanting to head to the Unova Region for the last few years to catch one, but his status as the Leader of the Elite Four has kept him from doing so, he has no idea how Red knew he wanted to get one but the young man did it for the Dragon Master.

Turning the page of the file, another one caught Lance's attention.

It wasn't of Team Rocket but of someone who was involved in the incident at Mt. Moon.

Ash Ketchum.

Once he got the name he looked into who this boy was and imagine his surprise when his suspicions were confirmed about this being Red's son. In truth he shouldn't have been surprised as he was told by Red ten years ago that he was going to be a father along with Green being one. But he never expected the boy to involve himself with Team Rocket.

So digging a little further, he found out that Ash was responsible for stopping the Rocket Admins in Viridian as well showing that he most likely had a target on his back, so Lance sent one of the Elite Four Trainees to shadow Ash and his group.

So far Nyx-who had a look of mischief when he gave her the job-reported that no Team Rocket members ambushed them but the boy seemed to be a trouble magnet even without the now Criminal Organization involved.

Still it also showed Lance that the boy was pretty talented in being a trainer and that piqued his interest. Enough to where he used his Elite Four Status to see his Gym Battles.

Only three but they were enough to impress him.

Using a Metapod like that against Brock in only his second week as a trainer. That fight against Misty at the Cerulean Gym showing off this Counter-Shield along with his Pidgeotto blowing the Staryu out of the water.

But the one that impressed him the most was against Surge.

Surge was known very well for being brutal against trainers but he never used his Electivire on anyone unless he deemed them worthy enough to face it, it might not be as powerful as it used to be but that Pokemon was still near Elite Level with enough power to take on Loreli, but its stamina was weak because of its age. He usually uses a Voltorb as his fourth Pokemon so seeing him use Electivire against Ash was a huge surprise to the Dragon Master.

But that aside Ash managed to win with very unique strategies like Pikachu going through the wall with Brick Break and Dig, Bulbasaur eating his Energy Ball-Lance never saw that one before, Pidgeotto using Steel Wing and a the field to disperse electricity and win against Jolteon, while the Raticate lost it did quite the amount of damage against Electivire and kept away from the electric attacks before being hit and it took two from Electivire to knock her out.

Ash was definitely a trainer to keep an eye on if he actually makes it to the Indigo League and depending on his performance, Lance might speak with him about being an Elite Four Trainee as while he still had a long way to go the amount of progress he has made in three months was nothing short of amazing.

In fact he was wondering how Ash would do against him, not that he would use his real Elite Team, he might use Axew as he was still training her along with his Gabite, Goomy and Vibrava.

They could use the experience that weren't with his other Dragons and it wouldn't be too tough for this Trainer, but for now he'll wait on that front and see if he would continue to improve.

Hearing his Xtransceiver going off, Lance answered it to show Green Oak on it. "Green it's been a while, how goes the Viridian Gym?" He asked the young man with some respect in his eyes.

Green was a challenger that managed to defeat him on his first year as a trainer many years ago, although he didn't keep it long because of Red following a few hours later, it was a pretty low point for Lance as he felt that it was embarrassing to lose twice like that against ten year olds, but over the years he mellowed out a bit and now respected the two who only grew stronger since.

The only reason he was still Champion was because Red gave up the title after a year or two and Green decided he didn't want it, instead taking over the Viridian Gym after Giovanni was outed as the sole leader of Team Rocket. While he hated that it gave him a reason to keep getting stronger to make sure that if he ever faced Red in a battle again he would beat him.

"Not many challengers are making their way to me as usual." Green said as he was the only Gym Leader that didn't use a preferred type, he typically used the team he fought in the Indigo League with a few changes every now and then.

While he does hold back to at least give challengers a chance he remains to be the most difficult Kanto Gym Leader because of this fact.

"But that's not what I'm calling about." Green said showing Lance that this might take awhile. "It's about Team Rocket."

That made Lance narrow his eyes. "What did you find out?"

"They have a hideout in Pewter City, the Museum, I plan to raid it when their guard is down, I'll call Brock and let him know I might need his help-."

"Brock is currently travelling, Flint is back in control of the Gym." Lance explained surprising Green.

"Huh, well it's about damn time." Green muttered to himself. "Alright then I'll let Flint know when I get back."

"Get back from where?" Lance asked curiously wondering what Green was up to.

"Dad called and told me my son was going to be on the ST. Anne, I'm going to go talk with him," Green explained to Lance who frowned in thought. "Plus I managed to get some info that Team Rocket might have something planned for that ship."

"Do you need some backup just in case?" Lance asked as the ST. Anne was a huge ship and who knows how many Rockets will be on there if they do have something planned. "I could get Loreli, Will or Agatha to help."

"No need I can take care of myself, besides aren't Agatha and Loreli retiring this year?" Green asked as Agatha was pretty damn old and Loreli wanted to take care of some personal issues on the Sevii Isles. "No need to worry them if they're retiring."

Lance took that into consideration as they did plan to announce that Elite Four Trainees Will and Karen along with the current Fuchsia Gym Leader Koga would take over. It would be the first change in their ranks in many years and would no doubt cause quite the stir among the Kanto and Johto Public.

In truth he was hoping they would wrap up the mess with Team Rocket long before they do announce it.

"Fine, I trust you'll be able to handle yourself if it comes to it," Lance said knowing how Green was. "However if you do need any help I'm only a call away."

Green chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind." He said hanging up.

As he did that, Lance placed the Xtransceiver down and looked lost in thought.

That just made more questions than answers, but he didn't doubt Green's words and knew that Team Rocket would make an attempt on the ship, hard not to see that as it would be crawling with Trainers from around the world so there would be countless rare Pokemon.

A day later, Lance received a call from Nyx letting him know something interesting. It seems that Ash and his friends would be on that boat as well so he gave Nyx the order to be on that ship along with them.

Once the ship makes it to Celadon however he was going to send Nyx to Lavender Town where the Ghosts in Pokemon Tower were acting up, so he figured she would be able to find out what was wrong pretty easily.

So far no Team Rocket members were seen when she was near the ship and boarded it, but Lance felt it would be better to keep everyone on guard.

Looking up, Lance sighed as the pile of paperwork seemed to have doubled since the other day and knew he might be here all day finishing it. "Maybe this is why Red left after being Champion for a year." He muttered to himself as he began to work on it.

To Be Continued…

This is my way of saying that the next Pokemon Chapter will be coming out soon-I'm still working on it and it's also more world building with it being told from Lance's point of view this time.

Not only did this confirm that Red is indeed Ash's father but it showed that Green is currently the Viridian Gym Leader-imagine Austin's surprise when he finds that out am I right?

Anyways I'm not going to keep you all here any longer than I have to so here's me answering the Reviews.

Bael92: Giovanni's plans will be revealed over time but I'm happy you enjoyed that chapter, hopefully Lance's proved just as good despite being a bit shorter.

Lightsbane1905: Thanks, it was a lot of fun to type.

Guest6: Maybe? I don't really know sorry and I'm guessing you're the next Guest as I've seen a bit of the Disk Wars but not too much and sorry but I won't be doing that type of story, while it does sound interesting I don't really know too much about DxD to give it a try-I tried with my other attempt and it got nowhere.

Galeforte: Let's just say that Team Rocket has quite the history in this particular world, one that would be explained much later. I'm not saying anything about anything else as I don't want to give anything away-sorry.

Matt: You'll see.

Nightmaster000: Thanks, it was fun to dedicate a chapter to the Rocket Trio. Giovanni knowing Yellow will be explained at a much later date. As for Red and Ash I decided to hell with it and confirm it in this Interlude. Also hope you liked the mention of Nyx in this chapter.

The Richmaster: Yeah, it was nice coming up with the organizational structure for Team Rocket. 1) Their new Pokemon will be shown soon I can promise that. 1.1) It would've felt weird if they didn't have ranks considering they wear different uniforms from the Grunts. 2) Haha yeah they might be on the same team but they sure as hell don't like each other that much. 3) I'm not saying a word. 4) Early on. 4.1) I actually didn't think about that. 4.2) Nope-I didn't hear about that rumor. 5) Haha I think this chapter answered that question.

Alright this is Spidey Signing Out!