Chapter 22: An Evolution

Tomorrow… I'd… marry Lance.

I was at my gym because I was a raw nerve at this point and needed the distraction. Honestly, Lance and I hadn't had to do much. The league had handled invites, the venue, the decorations, the food, and our cake. Blue had finished our suits over a month ago. I'd just had to write my vows and get Lance's ring, and I'd done both several weeks ago.

Clair and Blue had both forced the tradition of sleeping apart the night before upon us. That didn't stop Lance from hanging around my gym, though. He'd asked me about three times so far why the hell I was going to work, but I'd just brushed him off.

"It's not too bad," Mike offered casually. He'd survived his own wedding barely a month ago, so I guess I could trust him. He'd been comforting me the past two weeks in preparation.

I was a bit excited because he was supposed to be going to Lance's and my wedding, and he was supposed to bring his wife I'd literally never seen. It'd been a joke between us about me not believing she actually excited. He'd invited me to his wedding, and I hadn't been able to make it when I'd gotten a cold.

I glance up as a challenger wandered in, orienting themselves as they stepped into my dim gym. Lance was on the field training his Aerodactyl against my Feraligatr but returned his pokemon at noticing the challenger. "Here for a battle?" Mike asked casually.

The challenger nodded and approached us. He looked to be in his early 20's, likely not much younger than me. I stood up and headed out to the field where Lance was while Mike scanned the challenger's trainer card. Technology was great.

"Let me fight him," Lance stated eagerly.

I scoffed at him. "You don't even like to battle." Lance never battled anyway. The last few times I'd seen him battle, he'd just been training me. I hadn't seen him actually fight since he'd beat the tar out of Gold. It happened occasionally with him being the champion and all, but it wasn't Lance's favorite thing to do.

"Come on," he complained. "I'll just use one pokemon."

I sighed in dismay. Whatever. I wasn't one to stop Lance from doing what he wanted. He was more stubborn than me. I just shrugged and headed back towards Mike, Lance following me.

"Silver is the gym leader," Mike offered, shrugging. "He can add whatever pre-requisite he wants. Fighting the champion of the pokemon league might be a bit in bad taste, though…"

"It's fine," Lance dismissed, reaching towards me. I thought he was going to grab my ass, but instead he stole one of my pokemon, strutting away. I sent him a reproachful look. "Alright challenger. Silver is busy, so you can face me first. One on six, come at me."

He sent out Twister. I rose up like a arbok. One on six?!

"Relax, I just want to show off how cool I am," Lance called over to me, clearly trying to pacify me. I trusted him with my pokemon, but damn was he grating that line! Lance would and definitely could battle, but he wasn't that into it truthfully. He didn't like to see pokemon hurt if they didn't have to be. However, unlike Yellow, he did like to see them grow and become stronger.

I watched in horror as Lance commanded my dragonair against a full team of six. This trainer wasn't a weak one. He seemed almost annoyed Lance was fooling around with him.

"Hyper beam," Lance offered, and Mike watched in amazement as the attack danced around the room.

"Lance has some abilities beyond a normal trainer," I offered, watching the battle in amazement, too. "He has a particular affinity for dragons and dragon like pokemon, and he can even control other trainer's dragons because he's so powerful. He can also raise the strength of the pokemon he commands with his energy and direct their attacks like hyper beam. He can also heal and understand the thoughts of pokemon."

"Holy fucking shit," Mike uttered in dismay, looking at me in horror. "He's human?!"

I shrugged. "Mostly." Most knew about his ability to bend a hyper beam, but not his other abilities. He even got exhausted after healing pokemon like Yellow, but he was better at hiding his exhaustion and not passing out on the spot.

But Lance was powerful. He wasn't invincible, but with me at his side I felt we were unstoppable.

"Lance trained you, didn't he?" Mike asked.

I nodded. "Yes. He used me as an agent to take out Team Rocket in Johto. I trained under him for a long time. You'll probably see a few of my techniques in his fighting. Lance doesn't battle much himself, though. He's more a pokemon league organizer than the champion." People were always complaining he never battled, too. It wasn't that they questioned his strength, they just wanted the carnage. The public league matches he'd had had been rerun so many times most knew them by heart.

"I see terrifying, savage, overwhelming power," Mike laughed as Twister unleashed a dragon rage attack at the opposing trainer's claydol, all the while dodging a lickitung attacking him. He'd already taken out the opposing trainer's jumpluff and grumpig. Twister's opponent was clearly a well-traveled trainer.

Mike whistled. "You still raised that dragon."

I nodded, amazed to watch Twister twist and turn through the air with such speed and power. He'd gotten huge as he got older, he was easily 20 feet long, the size of Gyarados but thinner. I'd always been a bit gentler and more hesitant with him, because I'd taken care of him as a tiny dratini… but clearly that wasn't so necessary. I discovered he wasn't really my weakest pokemon by any stretch of the imagination.

He felled the last member of the challenger's team, a sharpedo, and my eyes went wide as he started to glow. No way. No fucking way.

I looked at Lance in horror, and he looked just as horrified.

I stared in dismay at the dragonite now before me, his shimmering scales a deep green like he was scaled in emeralds. The insides of his wings were a familiar magenta. "You evolved my pokemon?" I pretty much shrieked. Oh, I was pissed!

"I didn't mean to! Silver, Silver come on, Silver, deep breaths. Oh shit. Silver, you can have one of my dragonairs, right? You can have them all. Silver!"

"I've been training him forever! You can't have this!"

Twister was probably rolling his eyes as Lance broke out in a full run out of the gym, and I chased him. Lance was stronger but I was quicker! I easily caught up and threw my weight at his back, tackling him to the ground. "Your punishment is tickling," I hissed.

An inhumane punishment, but my anger had blinded me. I'd wanted to evolve my pokemon I'd raised from an egg!

I had Lance yelling for mercy in the grass outside my gym. It was difficult keeping him pinned, but I managed, my hands shoved up his shirt and tickling his sides.

When my rage had finally sated, Lance was gasping for breath. "Demon," he accused.

"Yeah, well." I felt bad, but only a little. The damage wasn't permanent—probably. There would only be a bit of mental scaring.

We both dusted ourselves off and walked back into the gym trying to look dignified. Granted, that wasn't hard to do. We were both pretty cool. Mike just rolled his eyes as I excitedly ran up to my new dragonite. I couldn't resist actually just hugging the pokemon, as uncharacteristic as it was. I felt like I was about to burst. We'd been training with evolution in mind for months. "Congratulations, regardless of your trainer during that battle. I guess you're a force to be reckoned with," I complimented my new pokemon.

Twister cried out happily, thumping his new massive tail. Holy shit, a dragonite! This was amazing!

"Looks like we're going to have to do a little dragonite on dragonite training on our honeymoon, huh?"

Twister was smaller than Lance's dragonite, but not by much.

"I'll accept that loss," the challenger chuckled with a shrug. "That was pretty amazing. I just saw a shiny dragonair evolve into a shiny dragonite, too."

"You sure? I really don't mind battling. Lance is… I don't think he's exactly a fair opponent," I offered with a shrug.

"Yeah, well, I knew that famous dragonair belonged to you and look at it now. I'm good. I think I'll see you after I train a bit more," he chuckled, taking his leave.

Well, that had certainly been a fun afternoon. Lance treated Mike and me both to lunch and the two launched into a debate over the latest season of soccer showing on TV. I just rolled my eyes. I was into anime more than sports.

Lance paused and smirked, holding out a piece of sweet potato tempura towards me. I huffed and bit into the offered treat, stealing a piece for myself. He was just flirting with me.

Granted, we were getting married tomorrow so… My stomach flip flopped again. I hoped he thought I looked nice… I wasn't exactly a blushing bride, but I wanted to be attractive for him. I'd been debating about leaving my hair short or long for the wedding, but I'd gone with long. I sighed softly… he'd probably look amazing…

"Silver?"

I glanced up in surprise and found Lance and Mike both smirking at me. "Leave me alone," I complained, flushing and averting my gaze.

"I can't get it out of my head either. All I want to do is wake up with you in my arms tomorrow, and apparently I don't get to do that."

"You two are being traditional?" Mike asked curiously.

"Not by choice," I offered. I was staying with Blue and Lance was staying with Clair. We weren't even allowed in our own homes!

After our wedding tomorrow, we were catching a boat to Kalos for a four-day cruise. Mostly it was so we could just relax together a few days before we reached Kalos and went to go get into whatever bullshit we were sure to get ourselves into.

Lance and I stayed together as long as we could until Blue and Clair dragged up apart that afternoon, and I instantly felt my nerves intensify.

I sighed softly as I clung to Honchcrow's foot, watching the ground pass by underneath me. The wedding started at two in the afternoon tomorrow, and Lance and I were scheduled to leave the festivities by 9, but officially around 8:00 to give us a buffer. I had been kidnapped to give us about 24 hours until I saw Lance again… The next time I saw him, he'd be waiting to head to the altar with me…

"So," Blue stated happily, "Think you'll sleep a wink tonight?"

"Not at all," I laughed nervously. In a strange bed without Lance? No way.

The whole evening stretched on forever, and I was truthfully half in a daze. Green and Blue were both just smirking at each other, and I was a bit thankful they seemed closer. Hopefully they'd talked. I ended up stepping out into the cool fall night and heading towards the Lake of Rage just to walk a bit and get some fresh air.

I smiled slightly at the soft footsteps that fell in beside me. So, she still was in the habit of walking quietly herself. "So," she stated softly, "your almost husband is on the other side of those mountains."

"Uh-huh," I acknowledged softly.

"Nervous?"

"Yeah… of course…" I knew it should be more exciting, but it was terrifying.

"It'll fly by, I promise."

I nodded, and sighed, just walking in silence with the girl I considered family. There really wasn't much to say, and she knew how to read me like a book, so she didn't bother with small talk.

Hopefully everything went well tomorrow… I kept hoping that as I gazed up at the unfamiliar ceiling, honestly just missing Lance. I usually slept up against him, often tangled together with him by the time I woke up. Weavile was snoring at least. I rolled my eyes at my first pokemon and sighed, rolling over again.

I managed to fall asleep at some point, because I woke up to Blue shaking me awake. The room was already lit with natural sunlight, and I glanced around to familiarize myself about where the hell I was for a moment.

"I was just going to let you wake up on your own, but it's 9am," she chuckled. "So, time to get up."

Green poked his head into the room, giving me a casual wave. "Yo. Guessing you didn't fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning, insomniac."

Honestly, I was most definitely not an insomniac. I slept too much if anything. I sighed as both left, probably giving me a moment to orient myself. Heck, I was going to get married to Lance today! I instantly flushed. Whoa.

"Eat," Blue demanded of me as soon as I stepped into the kitchen.

"Eat," Green demanded right along with her. "I know you don't want to, but you'll regret it."

I sighed in dismay, accepting the coffee and triangular onigiri Blue handed me. Honestly, out of anything, rice seemed about one of the easier things to eat then. I was sensing wisdom of past experiences were at play.

Then I left them to shower, receiving a threat that I had better not cut myself shaving. I just rolled my eyes and sighed. I spent a bit of extra time making sure I washed and conditioned my hair thoroughly and scrubbed every inch of my body as best as I could. It was weird not uh, having a certain shower attachment that could be used to help…clean and prep for anal. It was honestly just habit. I shaved after my shower, making sure I hadn't missed a single hair.

Obviously, Lance and I were the main event of the day, but there would be a ton of important individuals there as well. I had a feeling I'd be dealing with a lot of people. The battlefield would be open, too. Lance and I hadn't wanted to battle each other as was often tradition at trainer weddings, but that didn't mean others wouldn't be battling.

I pulled on a pair of olive cargo pants, a black undershirt, and a cream overshirt. I was going to be changing anyway, so I didn't bother with anything fancy. Blue hummed happily and immediately dragged me to her room as I emerged. She forced me down and happily started brushing product through my hair and blow-drying it after.

I just tolerated it. She really did know what she was doing though. My hair felt like silk when she was done with me. We left for the league together and slipped in the back, the way Lance typically took in.

Time was flying by rapidly I was surprised to discover, it already being one in the afternoon. Yellow, Red, and Crystal joined Blue and I in the quarters the league had set up for us to get ready in. We all had lunch together, but I couldn't stomach much at that point.

"Gold actually came," Crystal offered, and I was surprised to say the least.

Blue just nodded, not looking surprised. "He'd be a jackass for not coming," she replied.

I hadn't been sure if I was supposed to even give Gold an invite, but Lance had told me it was only polite. He'd been confident Gold would come.

"Red, you and Yellow are next, by the way. Your deadline is next year to have a wedding date set," Blue stated, thankfully changing the subject.

The two of them flushed, and I found it a bit funny. They were a cute couple. I didn't see any need to rush them, they both seemed happy.

Blue set to shooing everyone out soon enough, though. "Alright, time to get ready. Lance is going to be waiting for you."

That he was. Honestly, I just felt a bit dazed. I sighed softly and stripped as was expected. Blue really hadn't cut any corners on my suit. I actually really loved it. My slacks were black with a golden outside seam down my legs, and my suit top was more uniform in style, trimmed in gold as well. It wasn't tucked in though, and the bottom of the jack was long and jagged, more like an untucked shirt with the bottom golden buttons undone. Red cloth rested on my hip, too, making it clear the outfit was inspired by my first pokemon. My gloves were also white this time, trimmed in gold and resembling my pokemon's claws with no thumb or pinkie fingers. I slipped on black and gold dress shoes and bit of cologne, and that was it.

I averted my eyes, a bit embarrassed as I saw myself in the mirror.

"You look amazing," Blue chuckled happily as she brushed out my hair. She had also changed into a beautiful dress.

I did, but it was still a bit embarrassing. The uniform style made me look even taller, and the contrast of my red hair made it look all the more amazing. I looked a mix of incredibly handsome and dangerous.

"Well, everything is up to you and Lance, now. Ready?"

I absently brushed my finger over the wedding band in my pocket and nodded. I headed to the doors that were currently closed, and Blue headed inside to go meet Green through a side door.

I flushed when the music started, and the doors opened. And suddenly there was Lance, waiting to walk with me up to the alter. He looked… of course amazing. His uniform was white and contrast to my black, and I flushed at the realization.

His shoes were black like mine, but his slacks were white with gold trim. He wore a black fitted undershirt with a high collar, white trim on the opening seam, the buttons not visible. Over that he had a long white coat with red and black trim. Completing his outfit was a white caped clock, the underside red, and the shoulders trimmed black. He looked incredible. It completely, and totally suited him. Blue was amazing. I almost didn't feel worthy taking his hand.

He still offered me his hand regardless, and I noticed he also had matching white gloves. I took his hand without hesitation, and we headed up to the alter together to say our vows. Honestly, getting to slip the smooth, heavy silver band onto his finger was… amazing. I just hesitated for a moment, gazing at the symbol of our union. Even apart, complete strangers would know our hearts were promised to another.

I wasn't even aware of the crowd or the official, just Lance. Then I got to kiss him in front of hundreds of people, sealing my promise to stay by his side until one or both of our lives may end, through sickness and health, through the good and bad… I'd meant every word of my vow to him. He'd been in my life for 14 years, and there was no way I could have known he'd be my spouse one day. Yes, I'd always found him to easy to turn to, to trust, but my father had also tried to kill him at one point. Regardless, my father had later trusted him to look after me many times. Through the good and bad, I was so happy, and I'd give our relationship everything I had.

We left the ceremony together hand in hand to our friends, family, and total strangers cheering and clapping. I let out a shallow breath when I finally had a second to talk to my now husband.

"You look amazing," I uttered immediately.

He grinned and kissed me, his arms wrapping around me. "You as well, Silver. Did you sleep last night?"

"Eventually," I offered, wrapping my arms around him and nuzzling into his neck. "You?"

"Also eventually," he answered, and we shared another kiss. We were safe in the reception hall for now, but the guests were coming.

We had to pull away from each other as they flooded the reception hall, greeting and thanking people. It was exhausting, but unfortunately our duty. I froze as Gold stepped in with Crystal, and he smiled faintly, offering his congratulations. I just nodded in surprise, and Lance chuckled in amusement at me. "It's okay Silver, you two are supposed to be friends."

I just nodded blankly. I guessed so. I would have gone to his wedding and been genuinely happy for him, too. Huh. Maybe we really could be friends again one day.

Lance and I shared a first dance embarrassingly enough after the league officials had announced the various gym leaders, champions, and other important people from the various regions. There were so many powerful trainers present. The battle fields were going to be packed and downright dangerous.

Lance and I had been practicing dancing together, and honestly, it was fun dancing with him. We switched the gendered roles back and forth for fun and to give it our own style. Blue happily grabbed me for the second dance though, and other couples happily took to the floor once the first dance was over.

"So, everything flying by?"

I just nodded. I hadn't believed her, but here we were, about to take photos, then eat and then cut the cake, the last events.

"Don't worry, the part I remember most from my wedding was just after the fact, winding down with Green. Are you at least having fun?"

I had slipped a ring into Lance's finger, a symbol of our love and commitment for any stranger to see. I was absolutely having fun. I just shyly averted my gaze, deciding not to voice that sadism.

As Blue let me go, I was surprised when an older woman asked for a dance from me. It felt rude not to accept, and honestly, I was a bit cowed by the sheer aura of power coming from her.

"Sorry to keep you from your husband," she teased lightly in English, winking. "I just heard you two were going to be visiting Kalos for your honeymoon. Let me know if I can do anything for either of you."

I was trying to be tactful, but I had no idea who the beautiful woman was. It must have shown on my face because she laughed lightly.

"I apologize, I'm so used to everyone knowing who I am. My name is Diantha, I'm Kalos's champion. I'd love to battle against you and your magnificent uniquely colored pokemon one day."

Ah! Now that I knew who she was, conversation wasn't so one sided, and she was smitten when I responded in French. She gave me a few tips on places to visit, and some romantic areas, too… After I managed to escape, I found Lance with the champion of Sinnoh and her garchomp. The two were, unsurprisingly, discussing dragons. "There's a lot of champions here," I noted, looking around the room in surprise.

Lance just waved his hand dismissively. "They show up for stuff like this. Come on, the photographers are about to hang us, and after is the food," he stated, and Blue waved us over towards her. A few photos didn't take long thankfully, and no one seemed to notice us missing. After, Lance lead me to the head table. "I'm sure you've managed to eat about as much as I have today."

Being at Lance's side was calming me right down, and suddenly the massive room full of people wasn't so loud and difficult to deal with. It was tradition sharing a meal with family and friends as a newlywed couple… And the league had gone all out. Honestly, the food was amazing. It was the most I'd managed to eat all day. Lance absently traced the ring on my left hand under the table and I just flushed.

The band was simple and silver, a matching dragon engraved into the metal much like Lance's. Technically I was an honorary member of the dragon clan through marriage now…

I jolted in surprise at the sound of forks tapping glass filling the room. Lance laughed in dismay, and I finally recalled it was a demand to kiss as I'd learned at Blue's wedding. I flushed as Lance boldly kissed me, and I swear it was the most amusing form of PDA I'd ever engaged in.

The last tradition of the evening was cutting the cake together, and embarrassingly enough, feeding each other a bite. It was clearly photo worthy when Lance decided to cause me death by embarrassment when he licked my fingers clean. Thank Arceus I'd taken two glasses of champagne by that point. We'd both been a bit nervous and stressed before the wedding, and we hadn't had sex in nearly two weeks… His warm wet tongue on my fingers had been a bit much.

Being the introverts we were, we were set free not long after. My favorite part of the evening was the cold autumn night air ripping through my hair, Lance at my side as we flew across the region on the back of his aerodactyl.

I'd been told not to stress about wedding night sex, and that we'd probably both be too exhausted. Truthfully, we pretty much ripped each other's clothes off the second we reached our cabin for the night…


AN: Go Twister! Shiny dragonite is hideous, hahah. I tried to go more for "emerald" than that awful green.