*Notice: This chapter contains some adult themes*

Maya paced around the cave, the storm still raging outside, the silence in the air suffocating her every thought. Lance's Dragonite stood guard at the entrance, peering over the torrential rains that had enveloped the entire island.

She approached the mouth of the cave beside Dragonite, her eyes casting down toward the tornado that they had disappeared into. There was nothing to be seen of them; just the whipping grey howl of the winds and the falling of the rains.

Maya couldn't stand this; the waiting, the uncertainty. She felt completely helpless.

Her eyes fell again on Lance's ace as it stood nobly by the dripping entrance of the cave. She had seen many sides of this dragon; the fierce and ferocious battler, the glowing graceful dancer... the royal pilot, one of the only witnesses to her and Lance's little secret.

It looked upon her softly, a cool reassurance in its eyes. She tried to smile, but it came out lined with a worrying grimace.

She thought back to everything Lance had said about this ritual. He had spoken of it with such seriousness in his voice; as if it was personal. I guess to a Dragon Master, Maya wondered, a Dragon in pain is personal.

And she couldn't help but feel so mournful for the Dragonite down in that storm. How dreadful... to go a whole year without the one you love, after spending such a long time facing the world alone to begin with. And then to believe that they are coming for you, but then they just don't show up.

A BOOMING call of thunder detonated above her; the storms were getting worse.

She turned to pace back deeper toward the rear wall of the cave, remembering Lance's words. He had said it was just in their nature, to part in this way all year long... but Maya couldn't really understand it.

FLASH!

Spotting the blinding light out of the corner of her eye, Maya whipped around to the entrance of the cave and hustled to meet the flash. Finally, she thought, they were back!

Oh no.

From out of the bright curtain of light, Kadabra appeared just outside the entrance of the cave, its body soaked and heavy from the rain. Hooked around its shoulders slumped Lance, drenched and unable to walk, his face twisting in pain, his hand gripping to his side in agony.

Maya raced up to them, her eyes now falling upon the blood.

Please, no, she thought... It was pouring out fast from a sweeping wound across the side of the Dragon Master's ribcage, three ripping shreds of thick red lesions fresh from the Dragon's Claw.

A caustic rash of purple-maroon stretched across the bridge of his nose. Kadabra's face too was lined with the purple mark, in the sickening color of a Grimer's slimy skin.

His silver eyes squeezed closed with the pain, unable to speak as Maya and Dragonite hurried to his aid, propping him up on either side and escorting him inside the safety of the cave.

Maya was terrified, but she sprang into action: She laid out a clean blanket from her bag near the back wall where the sand seemed the most dry, motioning for Kadabra & Dragonite to limp him over. They carefully guided his body down over the blanket, his teeth grinding together with the sting at the bend of his hips, his breathing rapid and unsteady. He leaned his shoulders back against the slanted wall of the cave, the bracing cold of the rock sending a cooling new relief to his bones.

He looked down to his own hands, soaked red with his blood, shaking a bit with adrenaline and shock. He then peered over to Maya, who was quickly pulling things out of her first aid kit: fresh rags, bandages, antiseptic.

She rushed back over to him and knelt down to the floor beside him, a thick white rag wrapped over her hand. And without a word she braced onto him, pressing the rag firmly into his wound.

He lurched backward and moaned with the pain, but Maya pressed into him hard.

"We need pressure," Maya whispered, "We need to stop the bleeding."

Their eyes finally met; her scared cerulean blues falling deeply into his steely grey stare. His breath was still jagged, wincing with every gasp; but it began to steady beneath her gaze.

She finally got a clean look at him; he was soaked to the bone with rainwater, from his dripping garnet mane of hair down to the tail end of his cape. His face was burned blush from the whipping wind & sand, his brows still furrowing with the sting. She couldn't inspect the wound quite yet, but she could see that the attack had torn right through his thick black jacket, three enormous shredded slashes frayed up and soaked with his blood. She settled her body on the floor beside him, holding her arm firm in the press.

His eyes found hers again. He tried to speak, but could only shake out gasping, serrated breaths. She inspected the violet rash across his nose with great worry; it was growing darker by the minute.

"Dabra..." Kadabra hushed out, it's claw pulling at Maya's jacket. She turned to find her partner, now falling to its knees, its breathing just as unsteady and jagged as Lance's. It too was infected with the rash in the same purple shade, stretching across the bridge of its golden nose in a signal of deep, brutal poisoning.

"You're poisoned," her whisper trembled, her free hand now reaching to comfort the arm of her partner, "Both of you, how did you get poisoned?"

Her eyes flashed with an idea. Her one hand still welded to Lance's wound, she swiftly reached over back into her bag, digging for something.

Her hands finally pulled out to reveal: the pokepuffs, that she had brought as simple snack for Kadabra. They were made with Pecha berries, she thought, which could cure this poison.

She offered one to Kadabra, who quickly gobbled it up. Not ten seconds later, the rash subtly began to fade from its golden fur, the poison quickly filtering from its blood.

"There you go buddy," she hushed, "You'll feel all better soon."

She then grabbed another pokepuff and scooted herself closer to Lance, whose breath was still heavy and slow, his eyes growing groggy now, fighting off the overwhelming urge for sleep that was now surging through his bones.

"Lance," she whispered, "Look at me, Lance."

The sound of his name, from her lips... His silver eyes peered up to her again, his body fighting hard against the siren call for sleep; against the undeniable instinct to let just himself rest.

"Eat this," her whisper commanded, holding the puff to his mouth, "Please, you need to eat it."

She gently placed the little cure into his mouth, pushing it past his lips. No, he thought, he hated the taste, he hated being awake, he just wanted to sleep...

Her free hand gently grasped around to stroke his hair, tilting his head back up,

"Lance, please...Stay with me..."

There it was again, he thought. My name, in her voice... such a beautiful sound. He held the memory of it closely, feeling it steep deeply into his bones with a tiny, new awakening.

"Stay with me, Lance..."

He began to chew.

He swallowed.

The feeling of relief; she sat there still, holding him close, the rag still pressing hard to his side, praying for this cure to just kick in.

Slowly, subtly, the rash began to fade from his face. His breathing began to even out the slightest bit, as the fatigue in his eyes began to fall away. His vision cleared; he peered up to her again.

She... had saved him.

She smiled; she was just so happy that they had made it out of the storm at all. His eyes began to shine under her in reverence; in deep, everlasting thanks.

But then a distant look crossed over him.

"I wasn't able to get through to it," he whispered to her in shame, "I tried my best."

She looked him over softly; even in mortal danger, the dragon was his biggest worry. Such a sweet man.

"It's okay," Maya hushed back, fighting the break in her voice, "It's okay."

She swallowed hard, fighting back the lump of adrenaline in her throat as Kadabra approached them again softly.

"Are you all right, buddy?" She asked her ace, it's wet fur still wild and dark. It nodded confidently, before holding its little claw out to both of them.

Inside its claw was a small, metal box, a silver antenna sticking out from the top. Maya took it in her free hand slowly, inspecting it carefully.

"Did you find this out there, Kadabra?" She asked, bringing it closer to her eyes. It was unmarked and rusty looking, worn from what looked like months of falling rain. Maya passed it over to Lance, who inspected it carefully.

His eyes narrowed with a thought; perhaps they had found a clue.

"It looks like a transmitter of some kind," he said slowly, flipping it over to the bottom. He handed it back to Kadabra. "Put it with my gear, we'll take it to the lab."

Kadabra nodded, turning to float away with the box in its claw.

"and Kadabra," Lance called out again. It turned back to face him, his voice now lined with a proud honesty. "Thank you."

It nodded wisely.

"Dabra."

Maya knelt a bit closer now, slowly, carefully lifting the rag up from his wounds. It was still bleeding, but not nearly as viciously as before.

"It's looking better," Maya whispered "but we have to clean it before it gets infected." She reached to her opposite side for the antiseptic, Lance adjusting his position with a wince against the wall.

Her eyes fell over his torn jacket.

"I need get this off of you," she said, "I can't get to it like this."

He nodded slowly, his breathing nearly back to normal. Their eyes met again for an instant, before she peered back down to the side-lined zipper of the jacket.

She scooted a bit closer to his lap, her delicate hands reaching for the high collar of the coat, grazing just below his neck. Her fingers found the zipper; she slowly, carefully pulled it down, its metal teeth parting smoothly. Reaching the bottom, her hands hovering just above his beltline, she separated the sides of the coat, peeling them apart and tucking them back behind his torso.

Beneath the coat she found another layer, a black and tightly-stretching, fleece-lined shirt. This had also torn with the Dragon's claws, its identical tears matching the holes in the jacket.

She carefully lifted the shirt, folding it up high over his chest. Her eyes found the gruesome wound first; it was much bigger than the tears in the jacket had lead on, three thick, arching lacerations, angry and swollen red where they wrapped around his ribs. She winced at the thought; a Dragonite's claw of this size, tearing into him.

As she cleaned around the cuts, wiping away the sand before shaking up the can of antiseptic, she tried not to look at the shame of his bare midriff, but it proved impossible; it was rippling with thick columns of muscle, a perfect pack of gripping, flexing abdominals trailing down from his chest in great mountainous curves all the way south to his beltline. They were not just lean; they were broad and wide, sculpted evenly around to the hardened lines of his obliques, which flexed with his every breath.

Maya swallowed hard; a perfect, powerful, commanding body.

She twisted the cap off the can & closed in on the wound.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "This may sting a little."

PSSSSST.

He let out another soft moan with the sting, shutting his eyes to endure it. His body curled forward out of instinct, but Maya did not pull away; she braced her other hand against his stomach to hold him still, fearful that his motions may tear at the still-clotting lesions.

Her hand; it pressed against the muscles of his stomach so gently. They were as hard as sculpted marble; as solid as the stone walls of this cave.

She quickly pulled away.

She then reached for the large clean pad of gauze, unfolding it to fit over the full wound. She lined it up, before pressing it gently into the slashes, now unrolling the large reel of bandages with her other hand.

She scooted herself even closer now, reaching around Lance's ribcage to start the first layer of the bandage. Around and around she wrapped, drawing closer to his chest with each layer as she passed the shrinking roll of cloth to her opposite hand behind his back.

Her hair; it smelled so sweet, he thought. Up close, he could really see the richness in its color; a Viridian Forest brown, an identical shade to Kadabra's armored shoulders.

He peered over to the meditative pokémon where it floated near the mouth of the cave, gazing out to the rains as they continued to fall. It had done very well on this mission, despite the danger.

"Was Kadabra your first pokémon?" He asked slowly. Maya smiled at the question.

"Yes," she began softly, her hands still busy with the gentle wrap, "My very first catch."

He nodded with the thought.

"How did you two meet?" His eyes fell down over her curiously now, her hands smoothing out the folds in the bandage as she started the next layer.

"Well," she thought aloud, "It's kind of a long story."

His eyes grew even more interested now. Maya smiled again, thinking back to that fateful day so long ago.

Her expression softened with the memory.

"When I was a girl," she began, "I was very shy. Painfully shy. Didn't have many friends. So shy that when I got my pokémon license, I was too embarrassed to go to the local Professor to ask for a partner to start out with," She grinned at the memory, "I didn't want to do it that way, anyway. I wanted to catch one myself."

He smiled at this too, a half-smile, fighting the wince of the tightening bandage. She continued to layer on the roll, now covering over the top half of his abdominals.

"I was 12, almost 13," she continued, "My Mom took me to my Aunt's house, she lived just north of Cerulean, in the Valley. It was such a beautiful day, so, I wandered away from the house into the woods, to find the creek. But on the way home, I got seriously lost. I don't know what happened, I just got so turned around and didn't recognize anything around me."

Lance pictured this with concern; little Maya, lost and alone in the woods.

"And soon," she went on, "It started to get dark. And that's when I got scared. I had only been to the creek once before, so I had no clue where I was. At one point I was just ready to accept the fact that I would never see my parents or my Aunt ever again."

"Poor little Maya." Lance said aloud with the thought. Maya chuckled.

"But then," she went on, "When I was at my lowest point, ready to just give up and start my new life in the forest... an Abra appeared. Just blinked into existence, right in front of me. So, I tried to tell it that I was lost and that I needed to get home, but at this point I was crying and really freaking out, so it probably didn't make much sense." She chuckled with the thought again. Her first impression on her ace was not her proudest moment.

"But, in a flash," she continued, "Abra teleported me out of the forest. It landed us at the end of the Cerulean bike path, less than a 5 minute walk from my Aunts. I thanked Abra over and over, and then it followed me back to the house. But the second I got to the driveway, it disappeared. I told my Mom what happened, but she didn't believe me. She thought I was just making up excuses to stay out late."

Her hands continued to wrap the bandage around; it was nearing the end of its line.

"But I couldn't stop thinking about it. We stayed overnight at my Aunts, and the very next day, I went back into the forest. But this time, I brought a pokeball. I looked for hours and hours, but couldn't find Abra anywhere. But then I realized... Abra only showed up after I got lost. So, I decided to get lost again. I picked a random direction, and just started running, as fast as I could, right through the trees, until I didn't recognize anything again. But even after that, it wasn't showing up."

She glanced back to peer over to her Kadabra now, approaching her favorite part of the story. It was floating peacefully now in lotus position, still gazing out to the wilderness of the rains.

"And then," Maya continued, glancing down to Lance's eyes, working through the last few layers of the bandage, "It started to get dark. And again, I started to get scared. Because now I really didn't know how to get home. I started to think that maybe Abra just... didn't like me; so it wasn't gonna come to my rescue again. I felt so stupid for going back in after it at all."

Reaching the end of the bandage, Maya flatted the final piece over his side, gently running her fingers over it now to feel how taught she had made it. Below her fingertips she could still feel the hardened core of his muscles. Their eyes met again.

"And that's when I saw the flash," Maya hushed out, smiling with the thought. "Abra had come back for me. It wasn't about being lost... it had sensed how scared I was. I thanked it again for helping me before, and said, 'I wanna be your partner. I wanna be your friend.' When I held out the pokeball, it practically jumped inside." She glanced over again to her old friend, "And we've been inseparable ever since."

Lance smiled; a genuine, sweet smile.

"It came back for you. That's very sweet," he said thoughtfully, "I can tell you two trust each other a lot. Kadabra was incredibly brave when we went out there together. You've trained it very well."

Maya grinned at his words.

"Thank you." She replied, "Kadabra changed my life. I had to learn really quickly that it could sense my thoughts, so there was no real point of being shy about them anymore. It really helped me come out of my shell. And taught me how important it is to be honest."

Her eyes inspected the bandage again, now fully wrapped over his stomach.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, "You have a bit of bruising, I'm worried you may have broken a rib."

She reached to tuck his fleece-lined shirt back down, covering over the bandages carefully.

"I think I'm okay," He said, his jacket folding back over to the front. His cape was beginning to dry now. His steely eyes cast up to her in an earnest glow.

"Thank you," his voice hushed lower, "for everything. I don't know what I would have done, if you hadn't been with me today, Maya."

Maya smiled again, a bit of heat rising to her cheeks now. My pleasure, she thought to herself.

They both peered out to the mouth of the cave again, the flashing tornado still raging on below in the sandy valley. His voice fell solemn once again.

"I just wish there was more we could do to help."

That poor Dragonite...

Maya thought back to their poisoned faces; she didn't know a Dragonite could learn any poison-type moves.

"How did you guys get poisoned?" Maya asked slowly. Lance shook his head.

"I'm not really sure," Lance replied, thinking back to the vicious beast in the storm. "It wasn't from the attack. The Dragonite was badly poisoned, too. I think it must have been something in the storm itself."

They listened to the winds outside, howling a bit louder than before. That poor thing, Maya thought. Lost, poisoned, and heartbroken.

An apprehensive look crossed over Maya now. She was almost too afraid to ask.

"What you said before," she began softly, a new seriousness in her voice, "About Dragonite only meeting up once a year. Why... do they do that? Why don't they just stay together?"

The cold, somber look fell over Lance again. His silver eyes found hers once more, holding on to her gaze for a few heavy seconds before looking back over to the cold fall of the rains.

"It's just what nature tells them to do," Lance hushed out, "My Clan sees it as a very honorable thing. Dragonite are usually the kings of their own valleys. They're heroes to the smaller pokémon, guardians to the weak. Their duty is to the region where they were raised, to serve as protectors. And some say that they just thrive alone."

Maya nodded at this, her eyes falling to the floor.

"But," he added, "I can't tell you how rare it is. For two wild dragons to even get along in the first place. And they know it as well as we do... how unlikely it is. To find... the one."

The words hung over them, cutting through the sound of the rain, the howling of the winds curling through the valley down below with the endless storm.

But Mayas sharp little whisper rang above it all:

"Why would they walk away from that?"

Lance looked up at her in silence. He took in a deep sigh.

"No one knows for sure, really," he continued, "But they might see these... dances, as a distraction from their duties. There's no honor in one of them abandoning their responsibilities as a protector for... companionship."

Maya glanced down to the floor. How sad, she thought.

A new, cold seriousness washed over the blue aura of her gaze. She peered back down to him, softly.

Her voice fell quiet.

"Am I," she whispered, "...a distraction?"

His eyes turned to lock onto her, a solemn, yet beckoning expression falling over him.

I have to tell her sooner or later, he thought to himself.

Her healing, cerulean eyes; they looked so sad. So hesitant.

And so very, very beautiful.

No, he thought. This talk doesn't have to happen today.

I'm going to let myself enjoy this.

Why can't we just enjoy this?

He reached his hand up slowly, gently clasping around the edges of her face. For a moment he just held it there, the most beautiful treasure on the island, this wondrous girl who had swooped in from the depths of the Vermilion forest... This girl, who had challenged him; whose kiss had blessed him with both a trembling spark of fire & a steadfast strength; whose very touch had healed him tonight; whose watchful eyes inspired him to be a better man.

This girl, who he couldn't stop staring at.

Who he couldn't stop thinking about.

"You," he began, his voice falling to a whisper, his hand trailing softly down the edges of her cheek, "are an inspiration."

Her eyes lit up with his words. She lifted her own hand up, clasping it overtop of his own as it held to her face. Her little fingers squeezed, her cerulean eyes closing for just a moment as she felt the warmth of his caress, before matching down to his gaze yet again.

Her chest began to ache with this tender little touch, the pressure mounting again now as she listened to the winds outside picking up speed. The rain grew heavier; the storm drew closer.

She suddenly couldn't stand it; this little space between them. The more she thought about it, the worse the ache became, coiling out over her breasts, wrenching in the bones of her ribs, breathing it in deep now. She remembered when her hands had grazed against the hardened muscle of his body, the body she had delicately wrapped up like a gift.

Their eyes were still locked, those steely silver arrows darting right up to her in a beckoning call...

She couldn't take it any longer!

She crashed down onto his lips, meeting them in a deep, passionate kiss.

Yes, he thought, don't stop; he kissed her back, the hand still up at her face now pulling her in, reeling her closer.

This little taste of her, it wasn't enough; He opened his mouth and teased her with his tongue, as she let it pass through into her without an ounce of hesitation.

His hand left her face and began traveling down, caressing over the curves of her neck, her petite little shoulder, squeezing at her arm before moving to her ribs. He grasped on hard, sharp nails almost digging in, feeling the roar of the storm outside rage on as he used this grip to pull her in closer.

Her hands yearned to explore too, and they had only one place in mind to run to: his rippling stomach, his clenching pack of abs now hidden beneath the shirt & the cover of the bandage. She could still feel how positively rock-hard they were beneath all the layers.

She broke the kiss for an instant and slowly climbed to straddle overtop of his lap, very careful to avoid his newly wrapped wound.

And this was a view she would never forget; looking down upon the Dragon Master, mounted upon him, his dark, steely eyes looking up to her in reverence.

He watched as both of her hands slowly reached down now, hovering over his chest, before freezing in hesitation.

Her blues begged the question; his silvers said, yes.

Slowly, gently, carefully... she lowered her hands to place them on his chest, grazing south, feeling for the top row of his rock-like abs, slowly walking her fingers between them. Yes, she thought; to touch these disciplined muscles; to feel the strength that he had so strictly trained into them.

He growled softly at her touch; As much as he wanted to, he couldn't lean in to meet her, the pain in his fresh dragon slashes were just too intense; so she leaned in to taste his kiss again.

This bliss, she thought; let it never end.

Her hips arched up the slightest bit,

she could feel him...

But he suddenly GRABBED at her arms; in urgency. He broke from the kiss.

Maya froze. She suddenly pulled away to sit up straight, looking down over the Dragon Master now as he squeezed tightly to her forearms.

His ribs, she thought, did I hurt him?

He was breathing through his teeth now, heavy through the motions. He tried to relax, but the thoughts of her body consumed him; her tight little hips, her sugarmaple hair falling in his face... the darkened fabric of their clothes, a thin black line between them.

And as badly as he wanted to,

it was a line he dared not cross.

Maya attempted to read him through the panting breaths, his face painted with something peculiar...

Not with pain. Not with regret.

It was... fear.

BA-BOOOOOOOOOM!

A rolling CRASH of thunder BLASTED above the cave, making them both jump in place. Maya removed herself from him, and they both turned to peer back to the mouth of the cave.

The bells and whistles of the weather equipment began ringing and calling and beeping; that wasn't normal, Lance thought. The winds outside suddenly grew even louder, a great shake overtaking the cave.

"What's happening?" Maya asked, now rising to her feet to approach the cacophony of beeping machines on the other side of their hideout. Lance tried to stand, but could only brace against the wall. He peered outside again, noting the new vigor of the whipping winds.

"The storm. I think it's moving." Using the wall of the cave as a guide, he limped over toward his layout of instruments, wincing as he knelt down to examine them one after the other. They were all reading off the charts. He picked up a radar-looking device, bringing it close to his face. "Yes. All the storms and currents have shifted toward us very slightly, at the same time. How strange, they've been parked in these exact coordinates for weeks."

"Did we do something?" Maya asked over the howling winds, "Maybe Dragonite is trying to get off the island?"

Lance peered outside again; the wall of the dragon's ripping tornado was getting closer to them now, edging over to their side of the valley. If they didn't evacuate soon, the entire cave would be forced to endure the fury of the eye-wall crashing upon them.

His eyes then spotted the little silver box that Kadabra had found out in the storm, what he had once thought was a transmitter of some kind.

But then it dawned on him-

"Dragonite!" He called to his ace, who stomped in a few steps from the entrance of the cave.

Lance quickly tossed the silver box over to the dragon's direction, where it thudded onto the soft sandy floor.

"Destroy it." Lance commanded.

With a little nod, Dragonite lifted its enormous clawed foot up, before STOMPING down hard onto the box, demolishing it instantly into a crushed pile of broken metal and ripped little cables.

Maya's watched on curiously.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"It's not a transmitter," Lance said assertively, "It's a receiver. It must be receiving some kind of radio waves from somewhere, some kind of signal that's generating the storms out here. We moved the box barely half a mile and it shifted all the storms on the island toward us."

Just as he finished his sentence, something new fell over the cave:

Silence. The storms were stopping!

They approached the exit of the cave and gazed out over the island. The clouds and some drizzle were still here, still accumulated above in a charcoal lot in the sky where the signal had sent them; but with the box now broken, the tornados were all dying away.

"Look!" Maya pointed out to where the Dragonite's tornado had been rampaging. The electric walls of the twister finally dissipated into thin air, the storm finally ending. Just as the last twirl of wind spun out into the Seafoam sky, an orange little rocket shot upward into the clouds. It was Dragonite; its mind now clear, its anger faded.

Lance watched on as the dragon rose further into the sky & arced over toward the open water, beginning its journey home.

He let out a deep, relieved sigh. It was no longer in pain.

And as they stood there together, watching the remnants of the storm wash away with the dying currents, Maya's hand softly slipped into his own.

Lance squeezed her hand tight; although they had endured it, this storm would surely not be their last.

. . . . .

Thank you all for reading! Here is a teaser for this upcoming Friday's new chapter, entitled: "Threats and Promises" -

Slowly approaching the cliffside view, their eyes then fell upon an even more gorgeous sight: stretched out before them was the entirety of the rolling mountainside, miles and miles of holy old trees; the most precious emerald jewels in all of Johto. The rocky cliffs below followed to the next level of waterfalls down to the narrow Blackthorn river, where it snaked through the valley like a newly hatched Dratini, winding and hallowed and blue.

Lance's eyes soaked in everything; his heavy shoulders squaring now with the memory.

"Not long after my first visit here with the Clan," He began softly, "My Grandfather invited us to witness the Dragon Dance Ritual. It's a sacred ceremony, where the Dragonair of the mountain come together right here at this cliff, and teach themselves Dragon Dance."