A Second Chance

Chapter 16

So. I started writing that one short story. It's called Raindrops, and it is AWESOME. Just saying. Anyway, please read it. I did write it for you guys, after all. That's cuz I love all of you! You're all just so great. I can hear you all judging me. . . 'blytz, you are sooo high on candy and lack of sleep and god knows what else. Just update already!' Okay, jeez! Why so bossy, people? I'm going, I'm going. Btw, comments/ likes/ views are my crack. Please make me high :)

Yellow was leaning against the wall between rounds, waiting for Lance. The semi- finals were next, and Lance would be in the second match, against Blue. 

"Are you lonely?" someone asked. Yellow whirled around to find herself facing a stranger. He wasn't one of the competitors, and she'd never seen him before. 

"Who are you?" she asked. 

"It doesn't matter", he replied. 

Yellow, sensing trouble, started backing away slowly, desperate to get away from this weird stranger. 

"Where are you going?" he asked, grasping her wrist, "We need to talk, Yellow."

"How do you know my name? Let go!" Yellow cried. 

"You're coming with me", he said, completely disregarding her frantic questions. 

"Let go of me!" she cried, yanking uselessly at his grip. 

"Hey!" called a voice. "You heard her! Let her go!"

Yellow turned to see Lance. He tackled the strange man, causing him to release his grasp on Yellow. She wanted to help Lance, but wasn't sure what she could do, so she started yelling for help. 

Unfortunately, the only help that came was in the form of some strange people wearing white shirts with red 'R's on them, and they weren't there to help Lance and Yellow. They were there to help the man from before. 

"Who are you?" Yellow demanded as he reached for her again. The others were keeping Lance busy. 

"My name is Proton. As one of the three remaining executives, I represent Team Rocket."

"Why are you here?" Yellow cried, backing up rapidly. 

"For you. We need revenge on Red, and assurance that he won't come after us once we've officially reformed. Since Red is obviously too difficult to take down on an even field, we'll offer him a trade; the life of his friend versus his own freedom. He'll have to come with us."

Yellow ran into the wall and realized that she was defenseless. Her pokemon were with Blue right now, as she'd wanted to be alone and not accidentally share her thoughts while she was meeting Lance. 

I have to help Lance, she thought. But I need to warn Red, too. And if I don't get away from Proton soon, I'll be the one needing saving! 

"We can do this the hard way or the easy way, Yellow. What will it be?" Proton said. He was closing in, casually throwing a pokeball into the air and catching it again. 

"I'm never going with you", Yellow growled. 

"There's that spunk you're so famous for. It can't help you now, though."

Yellow glared at him, desperately searching for a way out of her predicament. 

Suddenly, Dragonite was there. It picked Yellow up, hovering over the heads of the Team Rocket members. Yellow remembered Red telling her about Team Rocket now. He had disbanded them a while ago, shortly after they all fought Lance. Apparently, they had decided to reform. Big mistake. 

"There's too many of them. I've only got Dragonite with me, so I won't be able to take them all on", Lance said from Dragonite's back. "We'll have to pull out."

"We need to warn the others, too", Yellow said.

"Right. Hold on tight!" 

Dragonite flew at breakneck speeds through the hallways into the main stadium, where the next match was being set up. Once Lance and Yellow had explained the predicament they were in, the arena was evacuated, and Officer Jenny dispatched security to search for Team Rocket. 

After retrieving their pokemon, Lance and Yellow joined the search, but Team Rocket had disappeared by this point. Once the commotion had settled down completely, it was almost sunset, but the match was still scheduled for that day. 

"Good luck!" Yellow told Lance as he prepared to face Blue. "I know you can do it."

He pulled her against him, holding her tightly before replying. "Thank you", he said simply. 

"The final match up of the day is gym leader Blue against Lance of the Elite Four!" the announcer said animatedly. 'This battle is sure to have some real heat, as each of the competitors are highly skilled trainers."

The first pokemon out were Blue's Charizard against Lance's Salamence. Charizard managed to win, but it was close. Lance brought out Dragonite early, and was able to take down half of Blue's team before Dragonite finally fainted. 

Next came Lance's Dragonair (one of them), and Blue's Scizor. Dragonair fainted, and was replaced with Aerodactyl, who took down Scizor before fainting in its battle against Rhyperior. 

The battle was now two on two, but Rhyperior was able to take down one of Lance's remaining pokemon, making the battle a little more even. Lance's final pokemon was Gyarados, one of the strongest pokemon he had. Yellow had noticed Lance getting more and more dejected as the previous opponents all went by so quickly, but in this battle, he was almost smiling. 

Lance started actually having fun. He ordered Gyarados to use aqua tail to send back Rhyperior's rock slide. A hydro pump took the huge rock type down, and Blue's final pokemon, Arcanine, was next. 

"You ready for this, Arcanine? Let's give it everything we've got", Blue asked it. It growled in response, preparing for a heated battle. 

"Come on, Gyarados. Show them your true power!" urged Lance, to which his pokemon responded heartily. 

"Fire blast!"

"Hydro pump!"

The two trainers commanded simultaneously. The attacks clashed, and produced a huge cloud of steam which obscured the battlefield for a few tense moments. In that time, Gyarados was able to wrap itself around Arcanine, incapacitating the powerful fire-type. 

As the steam cleared, Blue ordered Arcanine to use thunder fang, and it was able to wriggle out of the paralyzed water serpent's grasp after that. Things weren't looking good for Lance, but he had Gyarados use dragon dance to increase its attack, then use aqua tail to trip Arcanine. 

Another aqua tail finished the battle, and the stadium was silent for the span of a few seconds. All at once, the shocked and awed crowd started cheering. Lance looked around, realizing that they were cheering for him. His gaze met Yellow's, and she ran toward him, racing across the battle field to throw herself into his arms. 

He embraced her happily, and she was grinning when they pulled apart a little. 

"I knew you could do it", she stated confidently. 

"Thank you. Without your support, I wouldn't even be here", Lance said. 

"You're welcome", she said. The two of them kissed, right there in front of everyone, and Yellow was too caught up in it to be embarrassed at all the people watching them until the crowd's collective 'Aaaaw' reached her ears. Even then, she still managed to ignore them all.