To the following:
TopazDragon: Plus, as I've mentioned, I has plan. :3 And yes, quite a turning point, but I have plenty more in store for them. Some good, some great, some evil... Lance hasn't learned the hormone part yet, either XD The tricky part that I must also be sure to follow is darling Misty's side.
Violet Shadow Kurayami: Thank you, I'm happy you like it so much, and welcome aboard.
Pokemongirl29: I can't help it, I like sweet, protective guys and Lance strikes me as the type. X3 The idea is more or less to literally rip out from underneath them both the power or security they had, throw them together, and watch them learn to depend on each other, among other choice things. Despite being the opposite gender, I find it easier to write for guys. 8/ But I like trying Misty, one because it's important to develop them both, and two, I just like Misty. Primarily, it is going to be from Lance's pov, but there will be plenty of Misty's pov to balance it out. As for the cautering- I'll admit, the inspiration was from an episode of an anime called Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, where a character named Roy Mustang (my favorite, incidentally) closed up his and another guy's wounds up via fire then soldiered on to protect the main protagonist's brother and his dearest lieutenant (is a shameless shipper of RoyRiza too). Also, I have watched Boon Dock Saints, and I happen to love it dearly. C:
realperson909: Thank you, glad to see you like it so much. C:
japaneserockergirl: some of us writers were practically born to write painful stuff. I am not one of them, but cautery isn't hard to depict; the definition itself is pretty nasty. it's not pretty, I hear. Haven't actually found good photos for reference of the result of its use, but as I mentioned at the bottom of the chapter, it's an emergency only procedure that's frowned upon by most med professionals, but hey, when emergencies knock on the door and you're stuck without med help, not much to do without. Besides, I have a things up my sleeve. the OOC warning thing is more or less to alert/apologize to/let aware those out there that would see them as out of character or out of character considering the situations they're in. Also to sate the crazies out there. Other than that, pretty much space-occupying.
anime-guardianangel: Beforehand, I was a straight forward MistynBrock-MistynGary girl, with a little of MistyAsh triangles on the side. And yet here we are. lol.
zeldachic459: and I LOVE LOVE LOVE your review, girl, and very touched by your fanart! Glad to see you loving it so much!
Crystal-Rock: Thank you, I really appreciate your review, and thank you for the assurance. It helps. As for the rambling and review, don't worry about it! If you feel the need to ramble in a review, go on ahead! I like to hear my readers' thoughts. C: Also, as for the name of the pairing... I looked and looked and eventually found out it's called Rageshipping, and I'm assuming it's because they met at Lake of Rage, but honestly? I don't approve of the name, and it took me forever to even find it. If it were up to me, I'd call it something more appropriate or cool like WaterDragonship (because of the types they specialize in) or Kingdraship (the pokemon that, awesomely, has both types and Misty has the prevolution of anyway) I'd actually like to do more with Lance and Misty, like a few oneshots or short fics with them, to enhance publicity of the pairing, and also, just cus I love em. But I'm feeling I'll hold off on that thought so I won't get distracted.
I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M ALWAYS UP SO LATE OH WAIT YEAH I DO STUPID BOYFRIEND AND HIS MMO GAMES IMMA KILL HIM WITH THIS BAG OF CHIPS THAT I'M EATING OM-NOM-SCHNOM-SCHNARFM-NOM
Uhm, I have issues?
I'm going to go ahead and apologize for any OOCness. It happens to the best of us.
Short chapter is short.
For an eternity the only sound Lance had been able to even attempt to comprehend was that of his own voice. For Misty's sake, he had tried his best to hinder the screams that ripped out of his lungs, to help keep her from losing another battle in the war against self-loathing for the procedure, though from what he could tell on his part, it was a futile failure. He could say somewhat numbly he had bitten down a few particular nasty sounding ones down from escaping his throat successfully, which would probably explain now why his tongue stung terribly and mouth tasted like blood, but for the most part he was sure he had been educationally vocal of just what his body thought of the feeling of scorching-hot metal.
During the treatment, he was so stricken blind and helpless with pain burning his entire being that he couldn't begin to compare it to any other time of pain he had felt. Now that the cauterizing was done, he could in fact list at least two instances, and neither were pretty, and it only served to remind the places of his body relevant to the instances how bad it hurt, making ghostly flickers of pain mix with the lingering flare of pain in the now cauterized wound.
It was fire itself, upon contact burning sensitive nerves, skin, and blood that sent infernos of agony through his spine and blinded and deafened his mind to everything else but the pain. It didn't matter how fast Misty tried to finish her treatment, it still felt like forever.
Now that all was over, and coaxing his mind out of its numb state after several minutes of laying dumb in the sand, Misty was wrapping up the cleaned, scabbed wound with strips of cloth. Lance would be doing it himself, but the aquatic trainer would not be denied her chance at making him feel even a fraction better after the eternity of scorching pain. Before she had begun wrapping though, she had washed over clean water and with delicate, cautious care patted it dry, and what formerly was torn up flesh was a hot-surfaced collection of tough, hard, and thick black and red scabs closing off the wound from the outside, on the right side of his abdomen, just a little lower than his chest.
Another scar to add to his collection.
"You have a lot of scars." Misty quietly commented while wrapping the cloth around. For convenience purposes, Lance had discarded the ripped black shirt prior to the cauterization and fought off the forces of embarrassment and shame before he was fighting off the forces of agony. Now, he was paying dearly for it.
He hated his scars. Some were the price of a particular tough training or taming with his dragons, and some were the results for hunting down Rockets and various other evil-doers and a few were testament to his darker, reckless, ruthless youth. Each varied in size, depth, and story. Plus, they were vile things, ugly defects of pale white or pink in his skin that stood out in contrast to the lingering hue of tan in his flesh that had come about from all that time he had spent a (read correctly as: two and a half) year(s) ago in Hoenn with that whole Kyogre-Groudon-Team-Aqua-Magma fiasco.
"Not that that's a bad thing!" she hastily added upon the darkening of his eyes. "My dad used to say scars build character. Whenever me or my sisters would come in with a scraped knee or something he'd tell us that and only give us band-aids, no neosporin or anything. Mom would yell at him if it was really bad." she said, tying off the cloth.
His lips barely flickered upward, but he was appreciative of her quick little tale from her past. Frowning in thought, he then pointed to one scar, a long but thin white mark that crossed over the left plain of his chest and managed to touch his abdomen muscles. It was a few inches from the fresh cauterized scab, and had a few triangular spikes branching out, but nothing else was remarkable about it.
"Fifty two."
"Huh?"
"It took fifty two stitches for it to close, and a couple weeks before they could be removed." he explained, noticing the slight wince as she listened.
"How did it happen?"
"I was careless once." he began, "I was going through Viridian Forest, one of its vast branches anyway, and I got snared into a battle with a Poacher. He was hunting some poor pokemon to sell to get some quick cash, and I foiled his attempts a few times more than I should have. And then, on the last night I was in Viridian, he was about to catch, I think a Nidoqueen," Lance paused, straining for the images of the memory, "yeah, and once again I helped it free from his net. In return for meddling, his Scyther landed a preemptive Slash attack before Dragonair could interfere."
Misty cringed, probably imagining what it might have looked like during the event, how much it bled, and hurt, what it looked like being stitched up. "And then?"
"And then, Dragonair whooped him, we made our escape to a hospital, and got the scolding of my life from Agatha and Clair."
"You got scolded? Like a kid?"
He nodded, finding that small smile in her lips and the incredulous amusement in her voice sort of endearing.
"Can't say I didn't deserve it." he sad with a shrug, which made him flinch in pain slightly, "Clair was on my tail about going off without telling her or our Elder, and Agatha was hissing a fit over my lack of care in regards to my surroundings and how pathetic it was for an Elite Four-candidate to get injured in such a careless manner and blah blah this, not strong that..."
"You weren't in the Elite Four yet?"
"Nope." he quipped, "Just your normal, dragon-specializing trainer..." he paused, "...with an outstanding battling record, apparently. Hence why I was a candidate."
Misty giggled, and Lance found he liked the sound. He wondered what a real laugh would sound like, "Normal, indeed."
He shrugged, smiling. "Yes... it was a long time ago, though."
She folded her arms atop her knees and listened, though she was careful with her bandaged arm, "Could...would you tell me more?"
He sent her a funny look, surprised in the innocent interest in her expression. Her eyes, gentle and open, widely graced his figure, watching his body language and waiting while partially hidden by her arms was a patient, hopeful smile on her lips. Cute, he supposed, and considering all they had gone through so far, she deserved to know more about him, Lance supposed.
Offhandedly, he hoped she would be just as willing to let him get to know her, too.
"I suppose...but would...uhm..."
"What?"
"Would you do the same? Uhm...you know," he paused to shyly cup the back of his head with his palm, scratching at the hairs on the back of his neck, "tell me more of yourself, too?"
She smiled, "Of course! Can't have one of us remaining the mystery now, can we? Although, I don't think any of my stuff will be half as interesting as yours..."
Lance chuckled, "Try me."
-o00o-
"...and then, after mumbling something about hydrogen and oxygen and stuff, Tracey yelled for us to get down, and their cages exploded from our combined attacks! Not even a second later Moltres and Zapdos start tossing back and forth streams of fire and lightning!" she said, animated with wild hand gestures, and such lively expressions it was like watching her relive them.
She went on, about the destructive duel between three titans, the heart-breaking cry of Lugia as it fought back for the fate of the world, the reckless, but impressive feats of one boy to set everything right. And when it was his turn to tell something about his life, he felt like anything he could have said would be severely lacking.
Maybe that fiasco in Hoenn, with Kyogre and Groudon, he supposed.
But first, he would have to beat himself up mentally.
Because pride would not allow him to admit it was the combined lack of a Togepi nestled in her arms like a baby, and the accompanying League-dubbed Trouble-Magnet Ash Ketchum that caused his inability to recognize her.
Her, Misty, the fiery girl who many years ago blatantly ignored his orders and tried to save the raging Red Gyarados that was long since under his command and care.
Good Arceus, she had changed since then.
Because whether he wants to admit it or not, Lance has nothing on Misty when you compare the amount of Legendaries each has seen. XD Seriously, he's seen Kyogre and Groudon. Whoo. Misty's seen every Kanto (Mew, Mewtwo, Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno) and Johto (minus Raikou and I think Ho-oh) Legendary (Suicune, Entei, Unown, Lugiax3, Celebi) and the Eon Duo (Latios/Latias). Just TRY to compare, Lance-y boy.
Also, because I'm persistent and nerdy, I managed to find the second of the two Red Gyarados episodes (but strangely not the first? Ah well, no worries.).
Lance, could you be ANY taller? My GOD there was like a foot and a half difference between you and BROCK. CHRIST, man. Make me glad I'm putting massive time spanning between the fic taking place and the RGyarados episodes, boy. SHEESH.
If you like this, review. Fave's are nice... but reviews are better. Short reviews, long reviews, rambling reviews, big fat llama reviews, any reviews!
If no like, review and tell me so.
If not, I'll just continue anyway. Whenever I get around to it. C:
-KO13
...as an offhand note, who else watches Legend of Korra? Thundercats? FullMetal Alchemist/FMA: Brotherhood?
