(WARNING: There will be character deaths/Pokemon deaths further on, if this is something you do not wish to read then please do not continue on.)

Pokemon Summit

Chapter one

The Arcanine that had been found was sent to the nearest Pokémon Centre and carefully monitored for any further erratic behaviour. Nurse Joy had told them that neither she, nor any of the other Doctors knew what was wrong with it, but it was showing the same symptoms as the others and inevitably, just like the other Pokémon found, those symptoms would lead to death.

The Elite Four watched from the meeting room, the big screen showed not only the worried face of Nurse Joy as she explained the latest bite marks and odd symbols the Arcanine had tried to scratch into himself, but also the Pokémon.

The once glorious mane was matted and there were large clumps missing. Arcanine was skinny, you could see its ribs and no matter how much or what kind of food was given to the poor Pokémon, it would be found the next morning vomited up.

The scratches were deep and some had been stitched up but then re-opened by Arcanine, some of them had become infected and were starting to ooze. The scratches, thought once just to be a form of mental self-harm, were now more than that. The closest anyone could compare them to were some kind of ancient runes, all unrecognisable.

The worst were the eyes. The blank, unseeing eyes. It was as though there was nothing left inside the poor Pokémon but an urge to get these symbols displayed somewhere.

They had sedated the poor creature for now, but it wouldn't be too long before the Pokémon awoke and would no doubt start the scratching again.

Nurse Joy looked as devastated as Lance felt as she relayed the latest information, or lack thereof that they had. "I'm sorry Master Lance, but we still have no idea as to what could be causing this kind of behaviour."

The Dragon Master did his best to curb his frustration on the matter entirely, but found that he couldn't help digging his nails into the large table in front of him.

"Thank you for the update Nurse Joy," Agatha interjected as gently and soothingly as she could in the current situation. She knew the lack of progress was getting to Lance, he was a 'do-er' - a man of action, he liked to get things done. However, there were certain processes and systems that had to be used by the Elite Four in the name of the Indigo Plateau in times like this; they were slow and cautious – not good for a man like Lance.

Lorelei and Bruno also murmured their thanks while Nurse Joy bowed her head in recognition, Lance gave a swift jerk of his head to show his appreciation and the video link was severed.

There were a few moments of silence before Lance pushed back from his chair and gave a loud roar of frustration while banging his fists on the table. He took deep breaths in and out trying to calm himself down, the rest of the group was quiet and let him get out his aggravation and rage.

"It has been," Lance began in a shaky voice, "four months and no change." His head was bowed as he spoke, he didn't want them to see the censure in his eyes although there was no doubt they knew what he felt. "Four months of countless, senseless death with no immediate respite or potential treatment for these afflicted Pokémon."

"Lance-" Lorelei tried to interject but was cut off.

"I will not stand around any more and let it continue!" Lance said loudly as though daring someone to argue.

"And what do you suppose we do? Send in our own Pokémon in to suffer the same fate?" Lorelei spat back with a glare for the Dragon Master.

"No, I propose I send myself in!"

There was another silence, this time it was shock that kept the other members of the Kanto Elite Four from speaking.

Satisfied, Lance finally sat down and waited for the inevitable backlash.

"We cannot permit that Lance," Agatha spoke up again after a spell.

Lance scoffed loudly and turned to look at her, "I don't need your permission-"

"As the Champion you are permitted certain-"

"-I am through sitting around like a bunch of stuck-up-"

"-leniencies, but let me be rightly understood!" Lance broke off at Agatha's terse tone. It wasn't often that the woman raised her voice, so when she did it was rare that anyone would interrupt her.

"You are not going," Agatha spoke each word harshly, "I refuse-" she continued and raised an eyebrow at Lance who had opened his mouth only to shut it again, "to send our Champion to a place from which none of our messengers have come back and from where Pokémon have come back completely out of their minds."

Lance clenched his jaw and turned to look away from Agatha's hard gaze, "then what do you suggest?" He returned almost petulantly and looked around at the group, "the first suggestion, 'waiting and seeing what will happen' was a complete bust, shock horror."

"It's better than running head-first into something we know nothing about," Bruno finally spoke up, Lance did his best not to roll his eyes. "If we had done that, then all of us could have lost our Pokémon and then where would we be? We could hardly call ourselves the Elite then."

"And what if one of us had come back with information, vital information that we may need?" Lance argued back, "we are the Elite Four for a reason – we and our Pokémon are stronger than your average messenger."

"The rules state-"

Lance groaned loudly, "hang the bloody rules – they're as old as anything made by bitter old men who never wanted to do anything but sit on their own power."

"Be that as it may Lance," Agatha couldn't help the amusement in her voice at Lance's accurate description of the first Elite Four, "they are there for a reason, and you as Champion should adhere to them most of all."

Lance couldn't help but curse bitterly, being Champion did have its perks but as always those perks also came with rules and regulations, two things Lance had never been fond of. "Well then what?" Lance threw up a hand and brought back down on the wooden armrest of his chair just as carelessly, "I can't send my Pokémon or myself out to investigate and-"

Lance stopped as the screen blinked suddenly and a beeping sound came through the speakers indicating someone wished to speak with them. "It's from the front gate," Agatha murmured, "it's coming in as urgent," she added, surprised.

Lance touched the buttons on the desk in front of him, almost immediately one of the guards faces popped up, his voice was shaky and his face pale. "F-forgive me Masters," his greeting bow was hardly that, he could barely bend over properly he was shaking so much.

"Not at all," Agatha spoke up, "please tell us what has happened." The rest of the Elite Four exchanged glances while the guard nodded as best he could and tried to control himself. "I think…it's best if you are shown…I…we…" the stuttering guard was replaced with the pavement outside the Indigo Plateau.

The video link had been transferred to a hand-held camera and someone was narrating what had happened while walking down past the gateway, "none of the guards saw what happened, it was a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of a deal. One minute nothing was there and the next…" Lance sat further up in his chair as the walking slowed down and the rest of the Elite Four leaned forward to get a better look at what was so urgent.

"Please be warned," the narrator's voice came again, "it's quite graphic." Slowly the camera panned up, small trails of red came into view - blood. It had yet to dry and was slowly making its way towards to camera holder's feet. The first thing that came into view was a naked male torso, Lorelei let out a small cry and averted her face as the torso was revealed to have no right arm, just a gaping hole.

The camera panned over the body and Lance felt himself go rigid, as it turned out there were no arms or legs on the entire torso, just four gaping holes where the limbs should have been. Agatha let out a gasp, the eyes were gone from the head and the tongue was missing.

"Wait!" Lance spoke up quickly as the camera left the body, "go back to it."

"Lance, please! "Lorelei let out a plea, her face was still averted and she was extremely pale.

"Don't look then, but – stop! There." The camera was fixated on the chest and carved into the flesh was a symbol, a familiar looking rune.

"That's-?!" Agatha stood up and pointed to the screen, her shock was evident.

Lance's face was grim as he turned off the video call without a word and Lorelei let out a sob of relief. "It's exactly the same as what is on the Arcanine." Lance finished Agatha's sentence and the older woman slumped back into her chair, speechless.

"Not only that, he was one of our messengers." Lance's head shot up as did Agatha's to stare at Bruno, the quiet martial artist was staring hard at the wooden table and not meeting anyone's eyes, "I recognized the face, or what was left of it."

The only sound in the room for a while was Lorelei's intake of breath as she tried to control herself not to cry; Lance and Bruno were staring at the table while Agatha was sitting upright in her chair, her face extremely pale.

"Aren't you glad you listened to us now?" Lorelei spoke up finally, her voice was tight with emotion and Lance didn't even bother to answer her jab.

When he spoke it was more towards Agatha, trying to garner her permission more than anyone else's, "something has to be done, what is happening to the Pokémon is bad enough, but that…defilement of a human body." Lance swallowed hard, still trying to take in all that he had just seen. He turned in his seat to face Agatha more clearly; she was still pale and seemed to not be altogether there. "Agatha, please let me go. We - I cannot keep sitting here and do nothing."

Lorelei and Bruno both turned their attentions to Agatha, the older woman stared at the room walls for a while before finally giving her answer, "we wait-"

"WE CANNOT KEEP WAITING!" Lance finally exploded loudly; he stood up from his chair and walked around the wooden desk. He pointed to the screen, "did you not see what was just on the screen?" He looked around wildly at Lorelei, Bruno and Agatha, "what if it happens again? What if it never stops?"

He let that sink in for a few moments before walking back around to the front of the table and placed both hands on it to lean, "what if it starts happening to Pokémon?" He finally asked, "could you bear seeing that on your screen? When you were one of four that maybe could have done something about it?"

He clenched his right hand into a fist and took a moment before standing up straight to look at Agatha, "we need a plan and right now we don't have time to waste, I don't want to disrespect any of you but as of now I'm through playing the game. None of you can stop me from going." Lance's ultimatum rang through the room; he was still staring directly at Agatha who still hadn't made any acknowledgement to his words.

Lorelei was looking worriedly at both Agatha and Lance; Bruno had quietly stood during Lance's speech, as if getting ready to stop Lance at Agatha's command.

Finally, Agatha let out a loud sigh and shook her head gently. She turned her head up to look at Lance and suddenly she looked so much older to him, he found he didn't like it. "We wait-"

"Agatha!"

"-for the replies."

Lance closed his mouth abruptly and the three all turned to look at Agatha who was starting to rise out of her seat, "none of us have any idea what we are dealing with, none of the Professors have come back with anything concrete and our messengers have come back mutilated. Our Pokémon are becoming or being turned mentally unstable and none of us have any clues as to the cause, nor how to stop it. I think we are all well out of our depth."

Agatha turned her steely gaze upon Lance, "we need to prepare. Lance was right - we need answers, we need a plan and I don't think we can do this by ourselves. Elite we may be however, there are many out there who have seen and done a lot more than we have." She raised an eyebrow at Lance who nodded briefly.

"What are you saying Agatha?" Lorelei asked and her concern was palpable.

The older woman took a deep breath, "I am saying we need to prepare for a Summit."

"There hasn't been a Summit in over a century." Lorelei finally managed to gasp out.

"Your point?" Lance asked belligerently while rolling his eyes and turning away from the group.

"My point," Lorelei returned heatedly also standing up, "is that is it really necessary to go that far? In the time since the Elite Four's inception there have only been two Summit's, the last one happening before any of us were even born! How can we be sure that this calls for such an event?"

"Because we have no other alternative, "Agatha returned. "Our first choice did not work," Lance snorted which Agatha chose to ignore, "and we cannot risk sending out more precious lives with nothing to show for it. If you have any other ideas please say them, I did not come upon this decision lightly."

Lorelei didn't say anything in reply and Agatha nodded shortly, "so then, what say you Master Bruno?"

"Yes." Bruno spoke without hesitation.

Agatha nodded, "you already all know my answer – yes, what say you Master Lorelei?"

Bruno turned to look at her and Lance turned his head into profile so that he could gauge her reaction. For a Summit to happen, all of the Elite Four had to agree, if one did not then the Summit would not take place and another alternative would have to be found. Agatha was confident that Lance would agree to the Summit, if nothing else it called for more action and more ideas – something that was desperately needed and he responded well to.

To Agatha, Lorelei was the wild card, the unknown. By the sound of it she didn't want to have a Summit; the rareness of such an event meant that in only the direst of circumstances were they held, owning up to that and not being able to fix a problem was something none of them, as the Elite Four, wanted to own up to.

Lorelei's 'yes' was quiet, but not hesitant and Agatha sent her a smile to show her appreciation. She turned her attention to Lance who had turned his head back and now all the three could see was his back.

"What say you, Master Lance?"

He could feel their stares on his back, his arms were crossed and he clenched his fists into the fabric of his long-sleeved shirt. A part of him wanted to say no and take the risk, take the chance that he alone could figure it out and then they wouldn't have to involve anyone else to get potentially hurt. He knew it was foolish, but the idea of a Summit was so extreme... Agatha bringing it up meant that she was scared. It meant that she didn't know what to do, their options were not extensive and she didn't want him to end up like that messenger.

He turned to his thoughts back to the Arcanine he had seen earlier and then imagined his Pokémon suffering the same fate, looking it from that perspective made the decision easy.

He didn't bother turning around in the end, "yes."

Agatha took in a deep breath; the atmosphere around them seemed to feel more charged with their unanimous decision, "you all know what to do."

Bruno and Lorelei nodded, Agatha looked at Lance who was still standing with his back to them, "make it in a month's time," Agatha continued, "it should be long enough for the letters to get where they need to and for those to make the journey here. Lorelei and I will see to the accommodation here in the Plateau. Bruno, you make sure Victory Road is still cut off at the other end. I don't want anyone coming through there."

Lorelei and Bruno both nodded and headed off to their respective chambers to prepare their summoning letters. After they had left Agatha walked over to Lance and touched his arm gently, "I know it's not what you wanted and I understand that time is of the essence-"

"I won't go." Lance interrupted quietly; he touched the hand on his arm gently before disentangling himself and heading to the exit.

A few hours later Lance stood on the battlements of the Indigo Plateau looking towards Victory Road, if it wasn't for the letter in his hand and to an extent the promise he made to Agatha, he may have just released his Dragonite and flew over there himself.

Victory Road was a challenge in and of itself, it was a victory just getting through the damn thing let alone challenging many trainers after that and then the Elite Four. Very few managed to conquer all of that, the Elite Four and Lance were some on a very short list that had managed to make it to the finals and win, then following that beat a member of the Elite to take their place.

Lance could only think of two that had beaten him, he didn't know where one had gone – if he was even still alive. His summons had been sent earlier with the Pidgeot that was kept at the Plateau. The other Lance held the summons for in his hand, it was probably the most important letter that was to be sent out and as such he would only entrust it to his fastest Dragonite. It needed to reach him.

He reached a hand down to his Pokéball strapped to his waist and tapped twice, almost immediately his Dragonite popped out of the ball. The Pokémon did a couple of lazy circles in the air to stretch itself out before turning her full attention on Lance.

Lance held out the letter and holder, "this is important. I need you to take this to Ash Ketchum and it needs to get there as fast as possible and without fail."

Dragonite took the letter gently from Lance and stared at it for a few moments before looking back at her Master, Lance shook the holder gently to encourage his Pokémon to get on with things. "Please, I need you to do this for me. I know it's nothing I've ever asked of you before, but-"

Lance broke off as the holder was taken from his hands, he watched as the letter was placed in the holder which was then strapped around his Pokémon. "Thank you, you remember Ash?"

Lance smiled gently as his Pokémon gave him a disgruntled look, "I know you don't like losing, but he did earn it. Maybe we have become too lax with our training." Lance added that last bit slyly and was rewarded with a small slap to the face by Dragonite's tail as she zoomed off in to the sunset.

Lance watched his Pokémon go fondly, he knew Dragonite would do what he had asked to the very best of her ability, but the feeling of not having his Pokémon close to him was something that didn't sit too well with him.

More than anything, Lance hoped that Ash would answer his summons. Technically he should have been answering Ash's, but Ash had never wanted to be Champion. Staying in one place wasn't his forte.

Lance slowly made his way down the battlements to get back inside the Plateau; all there was left to do now was to wait.

~end chapter one~

It's been a while since I have planned to write anything this 'substantial'. And by that I mean chaptered – not sure currently on the length.

I thought I would just throw this one up here and see what kind of response it got.

This story has been rummaging around upstairs for a long while and right now I am quite excited about it. I have a basic body in mind – and there is still a little bit of research I need to do.

As you can see – yes Lance is Champion of Kanto region, which is debatable really. I know he is considered that in the Johto version of the games, but as for the Kanto games you end up fighting Gary/Red/Your Rival, for the title.

Suspend disbelief a little yes?

As for timeline – I'm going to pretend that this latest region (Unova) doesn't exist. Sorry for all who enjoy the characters and Pokémon from there, but there are just too many for my poor brain to keep up with. So basically expect most of the mains from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh regions – Plus a few characters thrown in that I really like and may or may not play a big role in this. Or at least have a side-story of their own.

Ages – everyone is older, legal, etc. There will come a smidge of past that will need to catch up with the present in terms of where everyone as at – there are a few non-subtle hints in here referencing that.

So finally, any questions, comments or concerns – please don't hesitate to ask via review or PM. I would like to know what you all think.