Okay, I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that the time-traveling duck from before has decided to launch a full-scale invasion of Earth after our last encounter. Because of this, my updating schedule will be completely out of whack while I try to fend off this attack. The good news is that I've managed to recruit a group of land sharks to help me in my fight so at least we won't be enslaved by a group of evil duck overlords.

In all seriousness though, I really am sorry for the snail-paced updates. I'm trying my best to speed things up but it seems like something just keeps popping up every time I promise to do so. My schedule will probably return to normal by next month so please bear with my irregular updates until then.

Sadly, I didn't have time to finish the next chapter of the main story so I decided to post this side-story instead. I've had a few of these intermissions planned out so I figured this was a good time to slip one in and also explain my situation. We'll return to the main story with the next update so no need to worry about having to deal with an entire season of filler either. Hopefully this chapter will manage to at least get a small laugh out of you while I try to take down the duck army of doom. Now then, onwards to victory!

Intermission 1: Blue's Clues

It was just after sunset as Lance continued shuffling through the stack of papers piled across his desk. It had been a rather quiet day at the Indigo Plateau so the resident Champion had decided to finally get started on the mountain of forms that the Association had sent over for approval. As expected, the task was a mind-numbingly dull ordeal as most of the forms dealt with mundane subject matters such as the tax rate on Repels and the legal definition of "organic Tauros meat." After vetoing the third paper asking for the deportation of all trainers with six Magikarps in their party, Lance could not help but hope for something, anything, to happen so that he could take his mind off the paperwork for a few minutes. Much to his surprise, his wish seemed to come true as the door to his office suddenly opened. However, his joy was quickly turned into massive disappointment as a familiar yet unwelcome person entered the room.

"Yo, wassup Lance?" Blue said with a wave as he strutted into the room. "Still sporting that ridiculous cape of yours I see. Honestly, when are you going to realize that you look like a rejected comic book hero in that getup?"

Lance did not even bother to justify this with a response as he returned his focus onto his paperwork. Blue did not seem to mind the fact that he was being ignored as he began inspecting Lance's office.

"Ho man. You actually have a copy of The Arcanine, the Jynx, and the Wardrobe? I gotta admit, I never took you for a fantasy buff."

"What are you doing here?" Lance finally asked with an exasperated sigh. "Don't you have a gym that you're supposed to be running?"

Blue just gave a casual shrug as he sat down on the chair opposite of Lance's desk. "I was having a rather slow day so I decided to close shop early and get some fresh air for once."

"Then why on earth did you come all the way over here then?" Lance asked as he looked up from his papers. "Victory Road is hardly a casual hiking course and I highly doubt you came here just to say hello."

"Yeah… about that," Blue began in an overly-innocent tone. Lance immediately knew what Blue was planning to say thanks to past experiences but he was too tired at the moment to bother cutting him off. With a resigned sigh, Lance waved his hand for Blue to continue. "I was wondering if you've changed your mind since last time and would, oh I don't know… hand over the position of Champion to me?"

"You already are a Champion," Lance said in a tired voice. "You're registered into the Hall of Fame and everything."

"You know what I mean," Blue said as he rolled his eyes. "I want to be the resident Champion for the Kanto region again. I know you don't like the job anyways so why can't you just hand over the position to me?"

"I'm just filling in for the actual Champion," Lance intoned as he vetoed yet another Magikarp trainer form. "Besides, I don't have the authority to hand over this job. If you really want to get your old position back, go and defeat Red. That should get the Pokémon Association to reconsider your eligibility."

Blue gave a derisive snort at the mention of his old rival. "Right. Let me just go and find a guy that's been missing for over three years despite all the people looking for him and somehow get him to agree to battle with me. That sounds completely reasonable."

"Your sarcasm is duly noted," Lance replied. "In all seriousness though, why exactly do you even want this job? Asides from the slightly higher pay, it's practically the same thing as being a Gym Leader."

"Are you kidding? It's literally the one job in the world that tells everyone that you're superior to them in every way! I mean, what could be better than being worshipped and praised by everyone around you?"

"Not having to deal with all this paperwork would be nice," Lance muttered. Blue did not seem to hear this as he continued to prattle on for nearly ten whole minutes. After Blue's speech finally came to an end, the room returned to its original peaceful state as the only sound that could be heard was Lance's pen as he continued to silently work through his forms. Growing bored, Blue reached over and grabbed one of the nearby papers.

"Tax rates on Pokéballs imported from Johto," Blue read aloud as he glossed over the sheet. "That sounds… fun."

"You have no idea," Lance said with a sigh. "Nearly half of these forms have to deal with trade relations between Kanto and Johto. Honestly, I don't know why the Association still hasn't set up a separate department for matters dealing with Johto yet."

"Why not just hand these over to the Johto Champion?" Blue asked with a shrug. "That seems like an easy way to skip out on all this."

"I would if there actually were a resident Johto Champion to hand these over to." Seeing the confused look on Blue's face, Lance elaborated. "Johto doesn't have their own Elite Four so they share it with ours. In fact, there have only been two recent trainers from Johto who even qualified for the title of Champion."

Hearing this, Blue's eyes began to shine as he quickly went over the implications this statement held. However, Lance immediately noticed Blue's reaction and swiftly continued.

"That doesn't mean you can be the reigning Champion for the Johto region," Lance said causing Blue to visibly slump down in disappointment. "You have to be a resident of the region if you're going to hold the official office position of Champion there. Besides, if the Association finally does set up a separate league for Johto, the two trainers I mentioned before are the most likely candidates for being the resident Champions."

Blue stayed silent for a moment after having his hopes crushed but quickly recovered as he spoke up once again.

"By the way… are the two Champions you mentioned a loud-mouthed boy wearing a hat and a blue-haired girl?"

Lance was mildly surprised by this question as he looked up to answer. "Yes, actually. Their names were Ethan and Kris if I recall correctly. Have you met them before?"

Blue's face immediately darkened as if he had suddenly remembered a rather unpleasant memory. "Met them? Those two nutjobs practically obliterated my gym!"

"Well, that's not too uncommon," Lance brushed off. "I mean, there's a reason why the Association adds a monthly repair bonus to every Gym Leader's salary. It's kind of expected for your gym to face some collateral damage during every battle."

Blue shook his head as if Lance was completely missing the point. After getting a half-exasperated, half-curious look from the dragon master, Blue explained.

"I don't know what their deal was but those two brats nearly killed me during each of their battles. It almost felt like they had some kind of… obligation to beat me even if that meant demolishing everything around them. And let me tell you, they very nearly did. In fact, the girl seemed fully prepared to blow up half the city if I hadn't yielded at the last second. Seriously, I've never faced anyone so crazily intent on crushing me since that idiot Red three years ago."

Lance seemed genuinely interested in what Blue was saying for once as he listened to all this in silence. Having fought the two Johto Champions himself with no real consequence, Lance was intrigued by the two's reportedly drastic change in behavior towards Blue.

"Hmm… Did you happen to somehow offend them before the battle started?" Lance asked. It was a rather basic question but Lance decided to ask anyways considering Blue's tendency to be rude to just about everyone he met.

"Not unless you count my introduction as some kind of new-age insult," Blue replied with a snort.

"And what exactly did you say in your introduction?"

"Just your typical greeting and such." When Lance raised an eyebrow at this, Blue hesitantly continued. "…and I might have added in something about how I was the greatest trainer ever and that I should have been Champion since Red was just a third-rate wannabe who only won against me through sheer luck."

Lance was sure that Blue was leaving out a few important details but decided it was not worth the trouble to interrogate him any further. Instead, Lance decided to shift the discussion onto the Johto Champions themselves.

"Was there anything particularly strange about the two trainers?" Lance asked. "If they're using some kind of unknown power to continue causing the amount of destruction you claimed, then I'm going to have to report this to the Association for further investigation."

Blue was just about to blurt out that the two Champions were clearly unhinged psychopaths but quickly stopped himself. As much as he wanted to get back at the pair for humiliating him, he was all too aware that the Association would drag him into their investigation as a witness if Lance reported all this. And the last thing he wanted was to be involved with anything concerning the two monsters again. With all this in mind, Blue decided to simply gloss over the threat that Ethan and Kris clearly posed to the rest of the world.

"Meh. I highly doubt that you need to bring in the Association for this," Blue passed off with a nonchalant shrug. "The two might have gone a bit overboard against me but I highly doubt they pose a threat to society. I mean not unless being a massive annoyance counts as one. Seriously, that boy just wouldn't stop talking about being the ultimate trainer during the entire battle. I nearly went crazy trying to tune him out during the fight."

Much to Blue's relief, Lance actually seemed to buy all this as he simply responded with a nod. However, it seemed he was not fully satisfied with Blue's answer yet as he asked one final question. "What about the girl, Kris? Was there anything off about her?"

Blue hesitated for a second as he went over the terrifying encounter he had with Kris. As much as he wanted to pretend that she had just been a normal trainer, there was no way anyone could forget the bone-chilling aura that had emanated from her at all times. To Blue, it had felt as if Kris had been the physical manifestation of all the world's greatest nightmares. Just the memory of their encounter was enough to send a shiver down Blue's spine. However, he managed to hide his fear from Lance as he calmly answered back.

"She was… a quiet one. She didn't really talk much during our meeting so it was kinda hard to learn anything about her. I mean, the most telling thing about her was the determined look in her eyes that bordered on downright scary. I'm guessing her goal was something along the lines of becoming the strongest trainer ever seeing as how she seemed extremely focused during the entire battle."

Lance could not figure out whether to wince or smile at this as he could relate to dealing with someone like this. His cousin Clair was also well-known for chasing after her dream of becoming the ultimate trainer with excessive determination and force. Having been involved in one too many incidents where Clair had gone overboard during her battles, Lance felt that he could understand why Blue was complaining about the carnage he had faced. Of course, Lance had no way of knowing that Blue was hiding the complete truth from him and that the destruction Kris brought upon Viridian City was far beyond anything Clair could have done.

Deciding that there was no need for any drastic actions, Lance finally decided to put an end to their unscheduled meeting.

"Well, it's getting late and I still need to get through these papers. I'll keep an eye out for Kris and Ethan but it doesn't seem like I need to file a case against them. Besides, the last thing I want is to start an international crisis by starting an unwarranted investigation on Johto's Champions."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that now would we?" Blue said with a nervous laugh. Thankfully Lance did not seem to notice that as he was more focused on getting his "guest" out of his office.

"Now then, why don't you head back to your gym so that I can get back to work?"

"Alright, alright. I know when I'm not wanted," Blue said overdramatically as he got up from his chair. "Besides, I still need to do a bit of shopping before I head back. Apparently Daisy needs some Arbok venom and Chansey liver from the market here."

"Umm… what exactly is she planning to do with those two things?" Lance asked rather worriedly.

"She's probably getting ready for the annual hot pot celebration," Blue said with a slight shudder. "Word of advice, stay far away from Pallet Town for the next few months. There might be a slight chance that everyone there will transform into mutated zombies during that time."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Alright then, I'm off," Blue said as he finally reached the door. "Oh, and don't forget to convince the Pokémon Association to give me your position. I'm sure everyone will benefit from that. Smell ya later!"

After waiting a few seconds following Blue's departure, Lance let out a large sigh.

"Somehow, I don't think handing you my job will benefit anyone," Lance muttered to himself as he got up from his desk. Deciding to give his tired mind a brief rest, Lance walked over to the window and stared up into the darkened sky.

Maybe Red had the right idea to run away from all this, Lance thought as he stared longingly at the wide-open space in front of him. In fact, I wish I could be in his position right now. Just freely exploring the world with no paperwork or annoying former Champions bugging you. Yeah, that would be nice.

Lance's thoughts were cut short as he suddenly spotted something in the night sky. Although he could barely make it out from this distance, Lance immediately recognized the light signal featuring the silhouette of a large Zubat. With a sigh, Lance turned away from the window.

I guess my vacation will have to wait, Lance thought as he walked over and pulled back the copy of The Arcanine, the Jynx, and the Wardrobe. This immediately caused a section of his bookshelf to slide open and reveal a hidden elevator. As he walked towards the lift, Lance pulled out a blue and purple mask from somewhere underneath his cape and put it on.

"After all," Lance said aloud as he completed his transformation and descended into his hidden lair. "This region needs me."