Got delayed with a lot of things so a late post today! Now we are in the present in the story and we are visiting an old friend. From here, we will move forward and the next chapter you'll be with the main character: Layla. Any questions feel free to message me!
Present Day 2009 - Pokemon League
"Lance, you have to eat breakfast," Karen says, crossing her arms in the kitchen of his League apartment. "You can't just skip meals around tournament time."
"No?" he raises a brow, half joking, half serious.
She rounds the table and pushes him down into a chair. Her Houndoom pushes the chair the rest of the way in, growling when he tries to rise from it. "You're eating before dashing off to work."
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbles, tugging at his cape. She slides the plate of pancakes and bacon at him. "Thanks."
He pokes at the food, his eyes glancing up to see her watching him with an expectant look on her face. Annoyance flares up in him, knowing she won't leave until he does as she says, and so he starts eating. The food is good, he just doesn't have much of an appetite most days, usually opting to eat out somewhere rather than cooking at home. A quality Karen has come to notice and bug him about.
It comes from a place of caring and so he can't be too angry with her about it.
"You're welcome," she nods after he takes a bite. She sits across the table and pulls out a notepad and pen. "So, registration for the tournament ends tonight. The rooms at the center in Silver Town have all been taken. This marks the third year of that happening."
"That's good," he replies between bites. "How are the Gym Leaders."
The first year he was surprised so many trainers had decided to participate, and even more nervous that he was going to lose the championship battle and disappoint... A lot of people. It went well and so did the next year, still to his surprise, this year, however, he feels grateful.
All her hard work is paying off.
"They've all turned in their paperwork, the latter half have put in their vacation requests as new trainers start out in a week or so."
"Okay, I'll do those first today."
"There are new trainer licenses that need your approval too."
"Is that it for today?"
"Elites have a meeting tonight at six."
He sighs. "What about?"
"The usual," she shrugs. "Training regiments, I think Koga wants to challenge Bruno to a match and maybe I'll challenge you for fun."
He chuckles. "If you think it'll be fun."
"Seriously, though, be there."
He nods, as much of an answer she'll get the morning of a busy day.
The tournament starts tomorrow. By the end of the week, there could be a new champion in town. Lance's third year and he's already prepared a speech for both a loss and win, though a loss has yet to happen. Last year, no one got past his Elites both during the tournament and for the month after. It was a strange feeling, he and Karen battled twice to ensure he still had it and even Blue came up to battle him.
Today, though, Lance considers forfeiting his place. He's kept it for Serena, something to keep her name in the goodness she deserves, but is he even doing it right? He wonders if she would be proud to see how the regions are after she left. If he loses, he could go find her and take it all back, everything he said that night...
It still burns him to think about it no matter how many days pass.
"She doesn't hate you," Karen speaks up, it's clear to see the look on his face has turned grim.
"I haven't heard from her since that night," he sighs. "Clair says she's having the time of her life in Sinnoh."
"You believe her?" Karen raises a brow. "I bet she's lying."
"Even about the men?"
Karen laughs. "Especially about the men. Serena never seemed like the type to be... well, like you were."
It's true and Lance hates himself for easily believing his cousins lies as if he doesn't know Serena herself.
And maybe he doesn't, and that's why she left.
"You're spiraling," she muses in a neutral tone. "Keep doing this and you'll devolve."
He grunts, annoyed at her words because it's the truth. He's gone down many dark pathways poring over that night. Gotten himself into some trouble along the way, trouble she and Will pulled him out of.
He's ashamed to think about it.
"Whatever. I just wish she'd reply to my emails."
"She spent her whole life between you and Clair, you can't blame her for wanting space," Karen reasons. "Plus, if she's in Sinnoh she's probably in the mountains with no computer or signal on her gear."
"Yeah, yeah," he waves it off, finishing his meal. It feels like a hard lump in his stomach. "Let's go."
Lance's work days consist mostly of meetings until it gets to be tournament time. It's time for new trainers applying for their licenses, and coordinators getting their passes. Though the latter is dealt with more through the Contest Association, a newer branch of the Pokemon Association.
Hoenn introduced the new type of competition a couple years ago and now it's gripping the rest of the world tight. Many regions have scrambled to get together contest halls as trainer's applied for passes. Lance remembers the rush to get a new curriculum in for contests as well. Research and experts that have been preparing for the debut for years had come together to release resources for aspiring trainers. It was a rush, but thankfully it's done.
Lance has no interest in them, however, he appreciates the skill required to create such beautiful displays of power.
In his office, he approves the vacations of the latter four gym leaders in both regions as their schedules will be clear as the tournament starts. Trainers starting in Kanto or Johto, must finish that league's 8 gyms. After the tournament they're welcome to travel to the next region's gyms and battle their respective gyms in whatever order.
Most trainers take this option with 63%, overall, taking the challenge. Some have scheduled a battle with the Elite Four after that and very few have made it to Lance.
None have won.
He keeps hopeful, however, that he'll get defeated and a new champion will reign. Looking at the licenses in front of him he wonders if it will be one of these new trainers, a year down the line a different person than they are now. Will they be the ones to set him free? It makes his stomach turn with an uneasy feeling to think about it.
What would he say to her? Could he even find her?
Training under Aaron, Lance wonders if she could avoid him for as long as she wanted. He's been groomed to hide from a young age due to his family's legacy. It wouldn't surprise Lance if he passed on some tricks to her.
He forces himself to the present when Houndoom nudges his chair with her body. He signs the documents and packs them into their envelopes to get sent back to Pallet and New Bark Town. Karen takes the mail and disappears to do just that while Lance busies himself with his email.
His mind slips into a buzz as his day goes by, responding to each email and prepping future meetings. By the time it's six, he finds himself in the Elite meeting room looking out the window at the range of mountains making up Mt. Silver. Its peak hides in the clouds gathered in a thick layer in the sky. He thinks of that boy Red from two years ago and the rumor of him leaving Kanto to train at the mountain's peak.
Why don't you go follow Red... he tenses at the echo of his words haunting him still.
"Oh, Lance!" Will greets, bursting into the room with his usual grin.
Despite his painful memory making him ache, he manages to turn and smile at the psychic type user. Over the years, he's grown fond of Will and his peppy attitude, seeing him as something of a younger brother. Something he never thought would happen in a million years until he realized Will uses his peppyness as a coping mechanism.
There's more to him than he wants people to see and he does it well.
"Hi, Will," he smiles in greeting. "Ready for the meeting?"
"Of course."
The other three enter and get settled in while Lance starts off with an update on the trainers registered for this year's tournament. It's going to be a tense time as the trainer that wins the tournament can challenge the elites, and they'll be followed by the rest of the trainers two weeks following the winner's last match. As usual, they don't seem fazed by the news, and Lance feels confident in the team Serena put together, his team.
They're by no means a perfect happy family, but they're reliable.
Karen's word rings true as Koga challenges Bruno for after everything's said and done with the tournament. A good way to sharpen their skills and see if the order can switch. Koga's been aiming high since getting his promotion, though he knows the man wouldn't take the champion job as it'll take too much time away from his daughter. Bruno is more go with the flow, than the others more focused on his own goals and strength.
Will requests time for a vacation while Bruno wants to train in the Sevii islands after his match with Koga. Lance tries not to glance at Karen as she remains silent during their requests, she's been sticking around so much lately and he doesn't want to dwell on the fact it's to take care of him.
He approves their time off and the meeting adjourns after that.
By 7:30pm, Lance heads to the G-men HQ down below the league to check on his father. He still feels in awe of the League building even after two years of it being built. While Serena had some say in the design, it still feels like her brain-child, and therefore, he has to take good care of it.
Normally, he stops by well before 6pm, but today's meetings got too long. Another reason for his visit is his father usually stops by at some point after lunch to check in and he didn't today. Some part of him wonders if that means trouble is ahead or, as the lesser part says, he forgot.
The entryway to the G-men offices looks like a spaceship entrance. Bright lights, white walls with gleaming, silver metal lines running along the hallway. The front desk is a half moon shape, flanked by security guards leaning over the desk chatting with the two staff members at the desk.
He scans his badge at the front desk, nodding to the staff before ducking into the main room. The hum of the computers and hardware welcomes him, the scene still out of a spaceship.
The bottom floor holds most of the desks for computer techs, including Clyde the head tech, with their monitors humming peacefully. The wall facing him holds several monitors, some asleep while others show a map of Johto and Kanto. Along the sides of the room, lofted above them, sit offices of higher ranked agents. His father being the Director, Lance climbs a stairway to see his office at the end of the second floor.
"Hey, son," Wesley greets with a smile. "Did you have a good day?"
Lance shrugs. "It was work. What about you?"
"Things are going smooth as we transition to tournament time," his father yawns, leaning back in his chair. "The uptick in the usual crimes caught some police departments off guard, but nothing major."
The door starts to open and Lance steps aside, his gazing averting quickly when he sees it's Aaron, Serena's father. His arms cross and he backs to the side of the room closest to the far edge of Wesley's desk. Shame and regret churning in his stomach as he feels Aaron's eyes on him.
The dark haired man grimaces at Lance's insistence to stay out of sight and out of mind with him. There's no bad blood between them at all, he's long since gotten over his daughter's departure, especially as it's been two years and she has been happy on her own. This distance between them is good, it's what they needed no matter how miserable the champion seems now.
That's just the consequences of Lance's actions and there's nothing Aaron can, or will, do to ease them from what he's already done.
"Hello, Lance," he greets the boy with a nod. "Checking in on your old man?"
"Yeah, just seeing what trouble there's been today," he responds with a polite nod. "Nothing new, or anything that needs investigating?"
Wesley catches the difference in demeanor and feels bad for his son, the shame he must feel even after all this time. However, he knows it's simply a consequence of his own actions. He's grown since the start of his Champion career, considerably even, but he still has a ways to go.
"Nothing yet," he answers his son. "Go home and rest."
Lance makes a noncommittal sound. "Okay. Night, guys."
Once the door shuts behind him, Wesley turns to Aaron as the latter sits down in front of his desk. They look tired, but much less stressed than they were as mere agents of the G-men. Now they have more freedoms, and more control on the agents and their jurisdiction around the two regions. Since the ousting of their past bosses, they've had a better time looking into Team Rocket and everything they covered up for the villainous team.
"He'll come around," Wesley breaks the momentary silence. "He just feels bad still."
"I swear I'm not guilting him when you're not looking," Aaron laughs with his best friend. "That boy... He's like a son to me and I see why I'm lucky to have a daughter."
"Yeah. Serena's my daughter too, and Clair even if she hates Lance's guts," Wesley jokes along with him. "I'm pretty sure we raised them all right, but I can't be confident."
Aaron groans running his hands over his hair. "Did we do this to them? Are we bad parents?"
"Kaida says, we prepared them for what the world would throw their way. What happens after that, is all on them," Wesley provides in a soothing tone. There's a short pause before he takes a breath. "Where is she?"
"She called just a few weeks ago from Sinnoh," Aaron smiles. "She sounds happy. So far, it's been a dead end, but she isn't giving up yet."
"That's our girl," he smiles. "Will she ever talk to Lance?"
Aaron shrugs. "She was devastated by what he said, but she's on her own out there. I think she's really enjoying this time for herself, and can you blame her?"
Wesley couldn't. Not really.
Serena had been given life's most sour lemons and she made lemonade, as Elijah said years ago. For her being out on her own, no Lance or Clair to mediate, no meetings to attend or work to do: he couldn't be more elated to hear she's happy. To see her flourishing from her own knowledge and experience.
Even among her happiness, she's still working towards the answer to what her Uncle did to her and that commands his respect. She's a force to be reckoned with and the pride that swells in his chest at the thought must pale in comparison to Aaron's. And she must be strong to face her Uncle and find the cause of this curse he's given her.
A curse she'll never escape as long as she is alive.
While he doesn't approve of what Lance did, it's what the two needed to grow up, regardless of the pain Lance is in. Not all of life's lessons are gentle, he hates to see his son in pain, but nothing Wesley can do can mend his broken heart.
"No, I can't," he sighs, turning back to his computer. "I really can't."
With Lance, he makes his way towards the front entrance and lets Ryu out of his ball. The April air is cool as a breeze filters through, offering him a whiff of the flowers to bloom and freshly cut grass. Moonlight illuminates Mt. Silver to the West, and its mountain ranges curling around to the North and East.
He can see the hints of snow at their peaks and shudders at the thought of winter up there. Winters in northern Johto and Kanto are harsh enough, but near the peak of a mountain? He couldn't even imagine.
Ryu croons at his trainer, nudging his back with his wing. "Brao?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Lance sighs, reaching up to pat his Pokémon's cheek. "Want to take the long way home?"
The resounding cry gives Lance his answer, the dragon tamer grins at his pokemon, his best friend, and hops on his back. There are moments he feels like he's drowning in failure, Ryu's constant happiness at his trainer's efforts, are a lifesaver, keeping Lance afloat.