Disclaimer: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is in no way mine, it belongs to the creative genius that is Eric Idle and the rest of the Pythons!

Bailey looked astonished. "Lance? The Lance? Lance as in the Elite Four Lance?"

"Yes," Elliot said, almost impatiently. "My big brother. Well half-brother." He added somewhat flippantly. "Now shush, I need to listen."

He accepted the phone call and pressed the handset to his ear. We all immediately quietened. I kept my ears particularly strained to make out what Elliot was saying.

"Hey, Lance? Is something the matter?" There was a pause, Elliot's face knotting in confusion the longer it went on. "Uhh… Goldenrod City, actually." another pause, this one considerably shorter. "Sienna's here to see her father in Goldenrod." A brief pause. "I told you when we left, it's not my fault you weren't listening." A brief pause, Elliot letting out a haughty sigh in the process. "Her dad got released, and opened a dojo in Goldenrod. He's asked her to get four gym badges and then she's gonna battle him. I told you this." Another brief pause. "I sent you a text message, do you evercheck your phone." Elliot held the phone away from his ear for a second and I could hear Lance's angered voice at the other end. "Why do you want to know anyway?" A long pause. "Oh right, I see." Another brief pause. "Oh, really?" another pause. "Are you serious? Well okay… umm, where do you want to meet us?" A brief pause. "Sienna, me, Nikki, Jasmine, Scott and Bailey." Another pause. "Bailey." Another pause. "Bailey!" A short pause. "No, not Baileys you idiot! That's a liqueur! He's from the dojo Cal runs."

Bailey was looking considerably uncomfortable at being talked about. I did however have to stifle a laugh at the thought of Lance confusing Bailey's name with the Irish cream liqueur.

"Right, so where do you want us to meet you? The city centre? Dinner? Sounds good. Okay, see you in a few." Another pause. "Yes, bye Lance."

He clicked off the call, looking a little weary. "That was Lance." He said needlessly.

"I got that." I said with a short laugh.

"He's such a scatterbrain," Elliot said with a sigh, replacing the phone in his pocket. "I phoned him and texted him to explain everything to him but he still acts like this is the first he's heard of it."

Before I could ask something else, Bailey butted in. "Elliot, was that really Lance from the Elite Four."

Elliot blinked. "Yeah."

"Is he reallyyour brother?"

"Yeah," Elliot said lightly. "Well, half-brother. We don't have the same mother. So I'm not related to Clair or any of the Dragon clan."

Bailey didn't seem to care. "That's amazing!" he gushed. "I had no idea! You do actually look quite like him now that I think about it!"

"Great." Elliot said through fiercely gritted teeth.

"Anyway!" I interrupted, before anything could escalate. "What does Lance want?"

"Oh yeah," Elliot had his proverbial light-bulb moment. "Well, do you remember when I went to Lance's at last New Year's and we ended up going to Blackthorn to see Clair and the Dragon Elder?"

"Yeah…" I said warily, wondering where this was going.

"Well, Lance's grandfather gave him a baby Dratini to look after cos it had been orphaned by its mother. Lance had to look after it until it was strong enough to go back into the wild. Well he says now the baby Dratini isstrong enough, so he's heading up to Blackthorn to release him back to the Dragon's Den. He got in touch to ask if I wanted to come with, but when he heard we're all in Johto he decided to come meet up with us for dinner. I mean, if that's okay?"

Bailey looked like he was about to faint. There was a funny look on Scott's face too. Even Jasmine and Nikki looked a little intimidated. I couldn't blame them. To them, Lance was still the elusive, mysterious, intensely powerful member of the Kanto and Johto Elite Four. To me he was the big brother of my boyfriend, who actually harboured a bit of a soft, sweet side, who came to visit me in the hospital, told Elliot I was too good for him, liked a casual drink, and was a bit of a scatterbrain at times. Just like any big brother really. Fair enough, that didn't negate the fact that Lance was still pretty much all business, and was one of the most intimidating men I'd ever met. He just seemed to radiate brilliance and strength and majesty, someone you definitely didn't want to mess around with. Albeit though, I still had something of a soft spot for him.

"So, it's okay, right?" Elliot asked again.

"Well I haven't got a problem with it," I grinned. "I haven't seen Lance since last year. It'll be good. Dinner's on him, right?"

Elliot looked a little taken aback. "I'd… assume so?"

"Awesome," I beamed. "It's settled then."

Elliot grinned happily.

"So, when's he going to be here?"

"A few hours. He said to meet us in the centre of town."

"So, what are we gonna do in the meantime?" I consulted everyone around me for a bright idea, but all I got in return were five identical blank stares. I sighed, and cast a glance off at the familiar red roof of a nearby Pokemon centre. I was steadily starting to grow weary of their identical interiors. We seemed to spend so much of our lives inside one. "Okay… so I guess it's the Pokemon Centre, huh?"

We spent the next couple of hours chilling out at the Pokemon centre. Scott took off as soon as we got to the Pokemon centre to sit at one of the computers, Elliot disappeared to phone his mother, Nikki and Jasmine went off to the Pokemon mart to pick up supplies, and that left Bailey and me alone. Nervously, I took a seat next to him on the regulation Pokemon centre sofa. We sat in silence for a while. It wasn't like I didn't have anything to say to him, but whenever I got brave enough to contemplate saying something, my words seemed to evaporate right in front of me. Instead, I compromised by snapping the top off a lemonade can and gulping down as much as I could.

And then, out of nowhere, he suddenly announced "I'm going to phone Cal."

I almost spat out the lemonade I was drinking. My words got stuck in my throat and I could only cast him a, no doubt, horrified look. He seemed to understand and hastily tried to remedy the situation, his sentences all crashing into each other. "Well, I won a badge after all! And so did you! And Leafy evolved too, so I'm sure Cal would love to hear about it." He paused, to catch his breath and then cast me a wounded look. "You don't mind… do you, Sienna?"

I groaned inwardly. Bailey looked like a sad Growlithe. The guilt came in waves and I eventually managed to croak out "Yeah. Sure. Go for it."

Bailey paused once again as he took out his phone. "Or… maybe you'd like to do it? He's your father after all."

"Uhh…" I faltered. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Bailey…"

"Oh, come on, Sienna," He appealed. "I'm sure your dad would much rather hear all this from you than me,"

"Don't bet on it," I insisted weakly, but I knew I was beaten. I had been well and truly been blackmailed without even knowing what had happened.

With that, Bailey gave me the number and before I knew what was happening, I was nervously phoning my father. He answered on the first ring. "Hello, Free Spirits dojo, how can I help you?"

"Dad?" I blurted out foolishly.

"Who is this?"

I gave a start. "It's Sienna!"

"Oh, Sienna!" he sounded embarrassed. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to phone. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine." I said, somewhat stiffly. "I won the Plain Badge earlier. From Whitney."

"You did?"

"Yeah. So did Bailey."

"Amazing. We— well done…" he stammered.

"Uhh, thanks. Uhh, listen… I think…" in an instant, my bravado left me and I chickened out. "I think Bailey wants to talk to you." I blurted out and shoved the phone in Bailey's direction. For some reason I couldn't stand to hear his voice.

As I pulled myself together and calmed myself down, Bailey wittered on in the background. I found myself listening in as he gushed on about winning his first gym badge, how Leafy, his Chikorita, evolved, how nervous he was about the next badge, what amazing trainers we all were and various other things. Eventually, after what seemed like an age, Bailey, rather sheepishly, returned my phone to me.

"Thanks," I said, stowing my phone away. We proceeded to sit in silence for a while. I started bouncing my knees up and down, privately wishing the others would hurry up and get back. As I glanced at Bailey, a thought suddenly struck me. "Hey, Bailey?" I ventured.

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to ask, how come you have a Chikorita? I thought they were only for new rookies?"

Bailey smiled. "Cal sorted it all out for me. He contacted Professor Elm and managed to convince him to send up a set of three Johto starters for the top students at the dojo."

"Wow," I said admirably. I hated to admit it, but that was pretty impressive. Not many people I knew could convince a renowned Pokemon Professor to send up three official Johto starters for free. Dad certainly knew his stuff, I had to give him that.

I suddenly became aware that Bailey was still talking and I quickly tuned back in. "See, I got the Chikorita, and two other girls got the Totodile and Cyndaquil. They left the dojo a long time ago though. It was thanks to Chikorita that I managed to catch the other Pokemon I have too."

"Which are?" I found myself asking.

I expected him to withdraw into himself and refuse to tell me, but surprisingly, a grin flashed across his face. "Don't tell the others, okay?" he smiled, starting to count them off on his fingers. "I've got a Corsola, Zubat and a Misdreaveus."

I was a bit taken aback. He owned mostly Johto Pokemon, which was understandable, but I had never expected him to own a Misdreaveus. The malevolent Ghost type just didn't seem to fit Bailey's personality. Nevertheless, I nodded. "Interesting combination,"

He smiled. "I hope I can be as good of a trainer as everyone else here. I mean everyone is so talented. Elliot and Scott especially… and you girls too!" he added hastily seeing my face drop. "You're talented in different ways! Nikki has her contests, your Pokemon are totally awesome and Jasmine…" he faltered for a moment, looking a little uncomfortable. "Jasmine is just amazing too."

I was about to open my mouth to say something when Jasmine herself suddenly burst through the Pokemon centre door. Nikki was following her looking more than a little uncomfortable to be carrying bags of supplies all by herself. I quickly rushed to her side to assist her, taking some of the heavier bags from her.

"Guys! Guys!" Jasmine's excited voice cut through us. "Look what I caught!" she cried, producing and throwing a Pokeball down onto the ground without a moment's hesitation.

"Hera! Heracross!"

In a fit of fear, I dropped all of the supplies I was holding and sped away from the giant bug Pokemon. Nikki cried out in protest as all the supplies hit the floor, but for once, I didn't care. "Jasmine… where the hell did you get that thing?"

"What?" she protested, looked pained. "I think it's cute! Besides, I needed some new Pokemon on my team after all!"

"But why did it have to be a Bug type?" I squealed as the thing turned its beady eyes on me in a manner I didn't trust at all.

"Cos it's awesome." Jasmine deadpanned.

I was about to open my mouth to protest further, when all of a sudden, the Pokemon centre doors swung open once again and Elliot suddenly darted through. "Hey guys! Listen, we're gonna be meeting Lance in like five minutes! We need to hurry up!" He then stopped as he laid his eyes on the Heracross. "Oh, nice Heracross! Whose it is?"

"Mine," Jasmine said proudly.

"Nice one," Elliot grinned. "Now come on. Grab Scott and let's go!"

Jasmine recalled the offending Heracross and disappeared outside with the others, while I let out a long tortured sigh. "Bug types. Of all the types in the world, it had to be a Bug type!"

We arrived just as Lance appeared in the city centre. I had wholly expected him to be flying in on his Dragonite and dressed completely in his Elite Four gear, but he was dressed casually in jeans and a shirt and there was no sign of his trusted Dragonite anywhere.

"Lance!" I called out, running up to him.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as I juddered to a halt. "Hello Sienna,"

"It's good to see you again,"

"And you," he replied courteously. Elliot was standing nearby, looking hopeful. Lance smirked. "You're still dating my brother? You're too good for him, you know."

"Funny," I grinned, hooking my hand in Elliot's. "I always thought he was too good for me."

"Good answer," Lance said with a swift nod. He then turned his attention on to the other four members of our party. I could see him visibly trying to remember their names. After a slightly too-long pause, he ventured "Jasmine, Nikki, yes?"

The two girls squeaked a reply. "Yes!"

Lance nodded. "It's good to meet face to face again under better circumstances."

I found myself smiling. Lance had only ever met Jasmine and Nikki once and that was when I was still in hospital. But I suppose no-one had been that interested in making pleasantries back then…

Lance then turned his attention on to Scott. "Scott, I presume?"

Scott nodded, not looking at all intimidated. I mentally cringed. Lance was practically taking his life in his hands trying to initiate a conversation with the fourteen year old…

"I heard you were supposed to be challenging the Kanto League last year. I also heard good things about you… but I was disappointed to hear you chose not to take part. Can I ask why?"

I cringed again, waiting for Scott to tell Lance to push off and mind his own business or something to that extent.

"I chose not to enter because I didn't feel I was ready yet, Sir."

I stopped. Was that really just Scott speaking? Polite, calm, respectful, even calling him "sir?" I must have stared at the boy for a full five minutes, jaw gaping open until Elliot elbowed me in the ribs.

"And why not?"

Scott's shoulders twitched in the most minute of shrugs. "I wasn't ready. My Pokemon and I weren't working together properly. I had lost in the Hoenn league because of that, and I knew that I hadn't grown up enough to even hope of winning in the Kanto league."

Lance nodded his approval while we all stared on in astonishment. "Good man." He said swiftly. "It takes a lot of courage to admit you're not ready for something. I admire that in a trainer."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Don't call me "sir". It's Lance."

"Thank you, Lance."

Lance smiled before turning to Bailey who almost fell backwards in his fright as Lance's eyes fell on him. "And this is Bailey, yes? You were a former student of Sienna's father, yes?"

"Yes…" Bailey squeaked.

Lance's eyes hardened. "You picked the wrong man to train under, my boy. I am aware that Cal Volbeda certainly seemed to change after the events that unfolded two years ago. I assume you understand everything that happened and you still choose to follow him?"

"With— with all due respect, uh, sir." Bailey murmured. "I am aware of what Cal did back then… and I am aware that he was wrong to do it. But… Cal… he gave me the opportunity to become what I always wanted to be. He gave me the chance to be a Pokemon trainer, just like he's giving all the kids at the dojo the chance too! So I can't… I can't exactly forget that…"

Lance nodded. "I see. Well, I admire your honesty and loyalties. Those are also good traits of a trainer. I can only assume that your master taught you well."

"He did, Sir."

"Lance." Lance corrected him. "Now, perhaps we should go for dinner now. I'm rather hungry, aren't you all?"

We were all a little surprised by the abrupt end to the conversation, but the tiniest hint of a smile adorning Lance's face seemed to give everyone courage. I grinned, and a resounding "yes" echoed throughout our strange little party. Lance smirked, turned on his heel importantly and began to lead us through the busy Goldenrod streets.

Let me start with the positives.

Dinner started off well. Lance had picked a nice bar, posh and polished, but not completely intimidating for us to eat in. The seven of us had a gorgeous two course meal, paid in its entirety by Lance, despite all of our efforts to give him money for it. Lance told us many stories of his time in the Elite Four, from his fledging initiation, to his time as Champion. He alsotold some funny stories about his childhood, and one particularly hilarious tale about a drinking competition between himself and his younger brother on Elliot's birthday.

"I would have won too," Elliot said with a sigh.

"No, you wouldn't." Lance said with a good-natured smile. "You were a newly turned eighteen-year-old who'd never held a drink in his life. There's no way you could have bested me."

"Yeah, but I distinctly remember you passed out before I did." Elliot shot back in defence. "Besides, I can handle my drink better now!"

Lance smiled. "You really think so?"

"I do."

"Care to make that a bet?" Lance said with a smile.

Elliot replied with a definite yes.

I threw my head in my hands at this point.

Now, for the negatives…

Half an hour later, everything seemed to have descended into chaos. Elliot and Lance were already well into their drinking. Jasmine, the only other person of drinking age in our group, was sipping at a vodka and orange with no obvious effect. Bailey, Nikki and I were standing around a collection of soft drinks, praying we wouldn't be noticed as being underage. Scott had already escaped while he had the chance. I found myself wishing I had run off too. Things were starting to get intense.

Lance was the first one to get a little too tipsy for his own good. After chugging his fifth beer in a row, he turned around to look at me. It was like he was seeing me for the first time. "Hey!" he cheered suddenly, in manner so unlike Lance I almost fell off my chair. "There she is!" he slurred. "My future sister-in-law!"

Before I could even open my mouth, Elliot had stepped in. "Hey! Don't you go saying that, Lance! She… we're not married yet, you know!" he then turned to me. "Hey, Sienna…" now he looked like he was going to burst into tears. I found myself backing away as his face zoomed in uncomfortably close to mine. "I love you so much, you know?"

"Oh God…" I cringed.

"Will…will… ya marry me, Sienna? I swear we can make it good, I promise!"

"Ask me again when you're sober," I said primly, taking another sip of juice.

"Heh, you just got turned down my man." Lance clapped his brother fiercely on the shoulder, accidentally making him headbutt the table. "I think this little lady knows what she wants, huh, dontcha Sienna?"

"Yes, Lance, I do." My attempts to pacify him weren't doing me, or Elliot, much good.

Elliot lifted his head from the table, a painful red mark spreading across his forehead. His lip was quivering dangerously. "She won't marry me!" he wailed.

"Yet!" I remedied hastily, feeling a blush invade my head. From nearby, I swore I could hear Jasmine and Nikki giggling.

"I can't live if my girl doesn't want to be with me!" Elliot wailed, grabbing his brother by the neck and shaking him slightly. "It's all your fault Lance! You… You…" he paused, looking helpless before seizing him tighter and roaring "YOU KILLED US ALL!"

"Elliot, be quiet!" I hissed, mortified.

"Nuuuu!" He protested, shaking his head vehemently. "Not until you marry me!"

Lance had descended into fits of girly giggles at the other end of the table. I had no idea what he was laughing at, but his attempts to reach out to his glass were proving fruitless. He was practically grasping at midair in an attempt to catch his glass.

"Elliot," I warned him as his voice got gradually louder and louder. "Shush!"

"Nope! Not till ya marry me!"

"Elliot…"

"Marry me…?" he asked me sweetly.

"No, Elliot…"

"Marry me…"

"I said—"

"MARRY ME!" he suddenly shrieked.

"Okay, fine, fine, fine!" I leaned in close towards the table, feeling a fierce blush invade my face. Jasmine was spluttering with badly concealed laughter and Nikki was repeatedly muttering "Oh my God" in an embarrassed way. "Do you take me to be your wife?"

"You bet your fine ass I do."

"Okaay…" I was seriously trying to keep a lid on my patience. Pandering to drunk people was not high on my 'favourites list'. "And I take you for my husband. So, yada, yada, yada, love and devotion, etcetera, etcetera, you may kiss the bride."

Elliot lunged to kiss me and missed, his lips barely even grazing mine and then smacked his face into the table once again. At this, Lance went past the giggling stage and was now honking like a goose. He also then proceeded to spill a good deal of his drink down himself.

I groaned. "Elliot, you and that brother of yours are going to be a mess in the morning."

"I'm married now…" he slurred in reply, his voice muffled by the wood of the table.

"Good for you…" I sighed, collapsing my head in my hands to conceal my blush.

He raised his head from the table, another large red welt slowly forming on his forehead. "I'm a married man! Married men have to drink! DRINK!"

"No!" I insisted, catching him as he attempted to stagger back to the bar. "I think you've had enough."

"Enough? Enough is never enough for a drinking competition!" Lance slurred, taking the last dregs of his own beer and then slamming his empty glass into the table for good measure.

"Laaaaance, big brotherrrrr! My new wife won't let me drink!"

"Well little brother, there's a cure for that…" Lance slung his arm around his brother's shoulder. "You know, when some things in life are bad… and they really make you mad…"

I recognised those words immediately. One of Elliot's favourite songs and practically a motto he lived by. He loved it that much he tried to have it as his ringtone on his phone before I secretly changed it. "Oh please God, not this again…"

Lance continued nonetheless. "You know cos other things can make you swear and curse."

"When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble! Give a whistle!" Forget singing, Elliot was practically bellowing out the words. His attempts at the whistle just emerged in a wet raspberry.

"And this'll help things turn out for the best! Aaaaaand…"

"Oh God, kill me now."

"ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE!" the entire bar seemed to bellow back before bursting into song like a scene from a cheesy musical, while the bemused bar staff looked on.

"I'm leaving," I said, standing up and grabbing my coat as Elliot, Lance and a great deal of other heavily drunk customers started belting out the iconic Monty Python tune. "Over-affection and fake marriages I can deal with, Monty Python theme songs I cannot…"

"Sienna? Where ya going?" I heard Elliot shout after me as I stalked out of the bar.

"In search of the Holy Grail," I quipped back. Elliot seemed to take this as a perfectly reasonable answer and continued to belt out the song.

The song by the way, seemed to echo all the way across the mainly deserted Goldenrod streets and followed me like a stubborn bad smell right up to the Pokemon centre doors.

"If life seems jolly rotten

There's something you've forgotten!

And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing!

When you're feeling in the dumps

Don't be silly chumps

Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing!

And! Always look on the bright side of life…"

Author's Note

Ahh, I finally updated. Updates will be slow for a while until I get rid of all this backlog of uni work I need to do.

This chapter was fun to write, but yes, this chapter and the next one don't have much to add to the plot apart from to showcase Lance and Elliot drunk. Haha! Fun Fact: the entire of Elliot and Lance's actions I based on REAL-LIFE escapades with my friends when alcohol was involved :P

Yeah, so as I said, this chapter and next aren't really too plot heavy, just kind of filler that I did for fun and a bit of a light-hearted feel, but afterwards, Sienna and the others challenge Bugsy!

Thanks to my reviewers, splashstorm, Sniper Mudkip, ArchXDeath, TwewyReaperGirl, eeveelutionluvr, Manser77, Brave Soul RMS, WarriorSwift, Zoeten, anon, Aeroga and May and Dawn are the best :)

Apologies for the fact the italics screwed up. I didn't even notice until Zoeten pointed it out.

Thank you everyone for your patience :)