Please bunny, don't die on me

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Shogakukan Comics and Nintendo. Long live Shogakukan comics!

Notes: ()for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics for pokemon talking. If Lance is talking to Red, it may also be in ().

Warnings: Het Championshipping, one-sided Red/Yellow

Timeline: 10 days later

Chapter 2: Getting to know you

"Dragonite! Use Hyper Beam!"

Red's Dragonite nodded happily as he threw all six Nidoran into the air, fainted. Elsewhere, Dragonair and her baby Dratini were soaking in the pond along with Gyarados.

Gyara was protecting his child protectively.

Needless to say, any possible threats were quickly deterred, while Aerodactyl scanned the sky for danger in the form of other trainers.

"Hey." A voice he didn't recognize said. "Looks like you've trained your pokemon well."

"Oh," Red looked up, seeing a girl with dark blue hair in a ponytail jump down from a Dragonite's back. "Thanks."

"I'm Clair from Blackthorn City." She introduced herself as they shook hands.

'You're a dragon trainer?" He asked with interest.

"Yes." Clair said brightly. "I'm almost the best. I'm the eighth gym leader in the Johto League, too."

"Awesome," He grinned.

From behind his eyes, Lance peered out, noting with interest that her cousin seemed healthy and happy. * I'm glad for her. *

"Yes." Claire paused, before lowering her voice. "There's a confidential question I need to ask you."

Red nodded, and they moved a few paces away, into a bush, where hopefully Yellow would not attack him.

Still, one never knew with little girls.

"My cousin's pokemon returned to my home months ago, alone… and … I'm worried about her." Clair said truthfully.

"Your cousin is missing?" Ash looked confused. "But why are you asking me?"

"Because," She sighed. "You are the Champion, and a strong trainer. I was wondering if she might have challenged you."

That was a very valid point. "I see."

"You wouldn't happen to have met her? Her name is Lance, and she has dark red hair and golden eyes. She uses dragon pokemon, like me." Clair finished. "And she looks like a boy since she has no cleavage…"

Red shook his head, not having ever fought anyone like that. "I'm sorry, but no. I don't remember."

It was the unvarnished truth.

Blaine had mentioned something long ago, on Cerise Island. Something to the events of 'that bird is Lance's secret weapon', but that was it.

And they had defeated the bird, Pika and all the others.

He had never even seen Lance.

He paused as he heard Aeroy cry out a warning. The sound of a thundershock made him wince. Chu must be trying to impress Pika again.

And if Chu was there, Yellow would be too.

"We need to get out of here."

She looked at him strangely. "What?"

"Um, I have crazy fangirls!" Red said, hoping that was a good enough explanation.

Clair nodded sympathetically in understanding. "There are junior trainers that chase you around, huh?"

"Do you have to deal with it too?" He asked.

She sighed. "Unfortunately, yes! I had to kick one of them in the face before he quit ambushing me in my Gym."

He chuckled, feeling better. Misery loved company, after all. "Well, let's go."

Aeroy and Dragonite swooped down and picked up their trainers reflexively, before they flew off. The rest of Ash's pokemon vanished into their poke balls.

Lucky…

Yellow frowned. "Come back, Red!" She and Chu ran after the two trainers.

"Follow me." Clair said, lowering her voice. Red shrugged, having nothing to lose. They flew for a bit, over a mountain range even, before they swooped through a waterfall cave.

In the back was a Shrine, and a building that served as a house with a built in Pokemon Center.

"Wow."

"This is Dragon's Den." Clair said. Several dragon pokemon greeted her and her companion. "I live here instead of in the city."

"I see…" Red said. She had a lot of privacy. "So, um…"

"I like your necklace." The Blackthorn Gym Leader said, closing down his train of thought.

"Oh, this? I just got it." He said, fingers going up to touch the crystal instinctively. "It's pretty."

She nodded.

Suddenly, Red stiffened, eyes lolling into the back of his head. A white glow surrounded him, and when it cleared, Clair was startled to be looking into Lance's eyes.

"Lance! You're back! What happened to you?" She asked, stunned at her older cousin's strange appearance.

"Long story," Lance said, sighing. "But the summary is that I was killed in the course of battle. Lugia liked my views and chained my spirit to this world using that necklace you saw Red wearing. He wants me to do something in the future to save the planet. I have no idea why he picked me, since all I wanted to do was destroy humanity, but..."

"I see…" Clair said, after much thought.

She hugged all her pokemon as they flew to her happily, with exclamations and queries. Soon, everything was finally concluded and settled.

"Too bad you can't stay here." Her cousin said.

"Yes. I thought it strange that Red is the one with the necklace, since he fought against the Elite Four." Lance nodded. "But if that's the way things are, I can wait."

"You can't possess him indeterminately?"

"No. The most is a few hours. I'm still new at this spirit thing." She shivered. "Besides, it's kind of weird. I mean, this is a male body…"

"That would make sense." Clair gave her older cousin one last hug, and then watched as she faded back into the necklace and Red reappeared, rubbing his head.

"Ow… how long was I out?"

"Only a little," She lied, feeling slightly guilty.

"Oh, I see." He said. Then he blushed. "I'm sorry to bother you."

"It's nothing! I enjoyed our little talk and your visit." The girl said. "Maybe we can meet again some other time?"

"Maybe," The Champion agreed. Without further ado, he left the cave and then flew back home.

End Chapter!

Completed 3/20/04

Edited 5/9/09

I kept misspelling Clair's name too, the first time around. *Dork*