A Second Chance

Chapter 1

Twigs and branches snapped beneath Yellow's soft, purple boots. She and Chuchu raced through Viridian Forest, happily chasing each other around trees and through bushes. They soon tired and stopped, and a wild pidgey Yellow had healed last week showed them a berry tree laden with luscious, sweet pecha berries. All of Yellow's pokemon joined in the picnic, as well as a number of wild pokemon.

"All right, everyone," announced Yellow once they had eaten their fill. "Let's get to training." Dody practiced drillpeck on a rock, while Omny and Kitty practiced swimming and flying, respectively. Chuchu used thundershock, and practiced accuracy by severing leaves from the branches of a nearby tree. Gravvy and Ratty both used attacks to shatter nearby rocks, and Yellow herself used her ability of mind reading to help her pokemon hone their techniques.

This was the eighth week she'd trained in the forest with her pokemon, after helping to rebuild Kanto from the Elite Four's armies. And this was the eighth week someone had been watching her.

Lance stepped carefully, using his dark cloak to camouflage himself against the verdant background of the Veridian Forest. The sixteen-year-old redhead had been thrown to his old home of Viridian Forest after Yellow and Pika's megavolt had destroyed Cerise Island. . . and his dream. In its place a new dream had formed. A dream that Yellow had placed there, a dream to help people, in addition to pokemon.

Yellow had reformed Lance, and he wanted to pay her back. But he just didn't know how. Every time she came to the woods to train, he wished he could show her how much she had changed him. Because he wanted to pay her back for everything she had done. And also. . . there was this strange feeling that he got when he was around her. It must have been her enthusiasm. Like a breath of fresh air. It was there even when she was battling him. But he knew that wasn't all.

Lance perched on a tree branch, wondering why he couldn't just go talk to her. Yellow had finally decided to take a break from training, so this would be the perfect opportunity to just go talk to her. But seeing as the last time they had talked, he had tried to kill her, Lance wasn't so sure this would be a good idea.

Chuchu started a game of tag, and Yellow joined her pokemon. Yellow was it, and she chased Dody to the edge of a grassy embankment. She ran full tilt toward her pokemon, laughing- unaware that the edge of the embankment was a sheer drop for over a hundred feet, followed by trees and hard, bone-breaking ground.

"Yellow!" cried Lance, but it was too late- the enigmatic blonde was falling. 'The Healer', falling to her death. Lance had just enough time to think about the irony of the situation before he was on the back of his Aerodactyl, plunging to her rescue.

Yellow screamed as she fell. She couldn't help it. She tried to think of some way out of the situation, a way to avoid her impeding death, but she couldn't. Eyes squeezed shut, it was over all too soon.

Yellow felt a tugging sensation, and rough claws sliding closed around her body. She felt herself being pulled out of her free-fall, spinning to lose momentum, then coming to rest on her back. She finally pried her eyes open, and found herself staring into the dark amber eyes of the most unlikely hero in Kanto. Lance was back.

"Lance?" she tried to say, but all that came out was a squeak.

"Are you all right?", he asked her.

This time she managed an answer. ". . . Yes." Kitty flew down with Chuchu on its back, and landed next to Yellow. Lance could sense the hostility coming from the two pokemon, and the rest of Yellow's pokemon, standing at the top of the cliff.

"It's all right- he saved my life", Yellow reassured. Just then, the sky rumbled and raindrops began spattering down all around them.

"Come on", said Lance, and Yellow followed him. He couldn't mean any harm if he had just saved her life, could he?

First, they flew up and retrieved Yellow's pokemon from the top of the cliff, then Lance led the way through the woods to an old house on the edge of Viridian Forest.

"I remember seeing this place as a kid", said Yellow," I walked past it this one time, then I got lost in the woods. . . That was when I met Red."

Lance glanced at her, then opened the door. "Welcome", he said," to my home."

Yellow stared around the abandoned space, wrapped in a fluffy towel to dry her soggy clothes and hair. At last, she couldn't prolong her curiosity any longer. "Why did you save me, Lance?"

"Someone once told me that pokemon and people could be friends." He responded," That was when I realized that some people were worth saving."

"Thank you."

The rain stopped, and Yellow left, heading home. But she couldn't stop thinking about Lance. . . he really had changed. And there was something about him, something she hadn't thought about before, something like. . . but no. That was just silly. He was just being kind, and here she was, thinking such things.

Yellow's door creaked as she opened it. Things had been a little lonely since she'd moved to her home at the edge of the forest. She stepped inside, and went to close the door, but stopped. For some reason, the pokemon in the forest were in turmoil. Yellow reached down, stretching out to brush a wild ratata's side as it fled to forest. She saw fire, smoke, destruction, and Lance.

"Has he changed, or not?!" she cried to herself, more confused than ever. Kitty flew her over the forest until she saw smoke, and her pokemon set her down next to a blazing forest fire.

"Watch out!" cried a voice, warning Yellow for the second time that day. Lance shoved her out of the way as a huge, burning tree crashed down just where she had been standing.

"You alright?" Lance questioned.

"Thanks to you", replied Yellow. "What happened here?"

"The lightning earlier lit a tree, and when the rain stopped, it was able to spread."

Yellow immediately felt bad for doubting him. "Go, Omny, Ratty, Dody, Gravvy!" she cried, bringing out her pokemon to help. Together, she and Lance and their pokemon fought back the fire until fire crews from Viridian City helped to wrap up the job.

Lance started back toward his home, marveling at the day's events. That was when he noticed it- the tree through his roof. It had gotten charred by the fire, and had fallen, smashing in his roof. The damage wasn't too bad, but it would take time to rebuild, and he wouldn't be able to stay there with a tree in the roof.

He remembered the direction Yellow had walked when she went home, so he followed that direction through the forest. Some of the wild pokemon helped him, and he soon came to a small cottage tucked into the woods. Bright, cheery flowers were planted around it, and pokemon toys were scattered all over the small, modest porch. This was certainly the place.

Yellow lay down on the couch and was asleep in an instant. It wasn't long, however, until she was awakened by a knock on her door.

"Yeah, coming", Yellow called sleepily, standing up. She opened the door, and there was Lance. Again.

"A tree broke through my roof", Lance began, "And I was wondering if I could stay here until it's fixed."

"Um, yeah, sure. Of course you can", Yellow said, surprised by the request for help, but not in a bad way.

"Thank you", said Lance, and for the first time in years, he smiled.