Come on, do you really think I'd send Lance off to die like that? Actually, considering my dark writing style in the past… its possible…

SS2 Megami-sama – yes, I'm sure she will! ^_^

Aragorn the Ranger – it's the way the prophecy works. I like Charlotte, but sometimes she has to be sacrificed.

John Eon – ok

Ranma – thank you! *smiles*

Xaero – Well, Misty will not come out of this unscathed, but neither will the good side…

Takuya – hai!

Caspian Raider – did I mention the prophecy was very important? Reading CCA and Dragon's Love might help.

Firehedgehog – really? *Sparkly eyes* Thanks!

Millenium mutant – of course I know Lance is a guy. But! If you look at my author lookup I support the hypothesis that Lance is a girl, and for that reason Lance is a girl in almost all of my ficcies. For a list of reasons to support this, its in chapter 17 of Dragon's Love I think. Missingno is used both in CCA and some other fics as a demon pokemon, but you're right, I did get it from the glitch in Red/Blue.

Luccamajere26 – let's see. Charlotte is the Fire Guardian mentioned in the prophecy and also related to Ash in some other yet un-posted fics. Kind of like an older sister. As for Lance being a girl, I like writing it that way better… besides, with ff.net cracking down on shonen-ai, I'd rather not risk getting my account locked again and possibly getting deleted. *Glares at ff.net*

Zhen Lin – Hehehehe

The Pokemon Reader – I'll try. *Kicks writer's block*

Air Sylph – ok! ^_^

Part 5

            Ash, however, was not a guardian for nothing. He closed his eyes and formed a ring with his fingers, as a wave of white energy enveloped him. * Teleport Ring… *

            He reappeared next to Lance.

            They were in a dark, rocky chamber. From the shadows came a hissing sound.

            "Ash?! Why did you come?" Lance hissed.

            "I can't let you face Missingno alone… I don't want you to die too!"

            "All right…but if there's any danger, I want you to leave."

            There was a flash, and then Missingno appeared. The pokemon still resembled Misty, but there were black tentacles coming out from its back, and its eyes were glowing red. On its body were some burns and slashes, from the damage that Charlotte had done before.

            "Hahahaha! You are fools to think you might destroy me! DARKNESS BLAST!" A huge blast of black light flew at the two guardians, and they jumped in opposite directions. Ash willed his golden wings into existence and landed. He was dressed in his golden armor, white feathers in his hair, white tail feathers, white feathers covering his thighs, his legs replaced by bird's talons.

            "I am Destiny." Ash said, as if to himself. * And it is my duty to destroy the shadow creatures. But I'm pure light right now, and my shadow power still sleeps… also, this is my weakest form… *

            "Blizzard." Lance said calmly, as she flung the ice attack at Misty.

            "Thunderbolt!" Ash said, powering up. * How dare she? *

            "DUPLICATION OF HIDDEN SHADOWS!"

            The two blasts of energy abruptly turned dark and flung themselves back at the guardians in double. Ash froze.

            Lance quickly dived in front of him, bringing up her wings as a shield. Unfortunately, the attack was so strong that her ice-blue wings were completely destroyed. Also, she still had the dark ice Misty had injected into her system earlier, and it was now activated once again, sapping her energy. The fire energy had only been able to stall it temporarily.

            "Lance-chan!" Ash said, staring at her in horror. "Your wings!"

            Lance closed her eyes and brought her hands up as she formed her Ice Blade. "Ash. Be careful. She will try to manipulate you." With that, she used her wind power to fling herself at Misty, ice blade glinting fiercely. Misty barely managed to bring up her own blade of dark energy in time.

            Ash watched nervously as they battled. He couldn't use his own attacks, because they were going so fast that he might hit Lance by mistake. Lance winced as she felt blood dripping down her back from the fragments of the feathers that remained. Her magic energy was slowly waning, and she could feel herself getting weaker. Misty noticed this as well.

            "You are a fool to think you might defeat me." Misty said, before she swung her sword around in an arc.

            Lance quickly teleported out of the way. Ash! Use the Thunder Devastation!

            But! Ash protested. You'll get hurt!

            You have to fight her, Ash! Otherwise, this world will be overtaken by darkness! I can only hold her off for so long!

            As Lance said that, she powered up a Hyper Beam and flung it at Misty.

            Misty dissappitated it, before she flung a wave of black ice shards at them.

            Lance quickly brought up her Dragon Shield, but the ice just blazed right through it. She gasped as she felt the blades bite into her flesh. Ash! You have to use the Thunder Devastation now!

            But!

            Ash, your personal feelings cannot interfere with your duty as a guardian! It does not matter if both Fire and Ice are sacrificed, as long as the darkness is destroyed! You have to do it! That's the way the prophecy works!

            I! Ash began to cry softly, as he brought his hands up. A pale yellow glow surrounded them. But I love-.

            He was cut off when a scorching blaze of black fire sent him flying. However, a shield of water quickly cancelled out most of the attack.

            Ash stared at Lance, who was crouched down on the ground, breathing heavily. She was practically trembling with fatigue. But she had still used her magic to save him. Even though she had lost her wings…

            Lance stared at Ash through bleary eyes. Ash… you have to defeat her… I'm giving you my magic…I can't hold on any longer… but you have to defeat her!

            There was a bright flash of blue light. Ash gasped as he felt energy flooding into his body. At the same time, Lance simply vanished.

            I-I!

            Misty laughed. "So, Ashy-boy, looks like you're still a loser after all. Oh well. I'll enjoy taking your magic, you're the only one left anyways."

            She fired a beam of black light at him. Ash suddenly glowed with white light and deflected it.

            "Oh? Fighting back in earnest now? That just makes it more amusing! SURF!"

            "Thunder Beam!" Ash said, throwing a high-powered electric beam towards her. But she still continued attacking.

            Ash barely managed to dodge her strikes. * I'm at a total disadvantage here, and she knows it. I need time to charge up my Thunder Devastation, but I can't do it if she's attacking me! *

            Misty cackled. "So it ends!" She said. "DARKNESS ERUPTION!"

            Ash quickly brought up his Thunder Shield, but it didn't seem to stop the beam at all. He closed his eyes and braced himself for impact, but nothing happened. Startled, Ash opened his eyes.

            He saw Charlotte and Lance's spirits in front of him, protectively. As he stared, scenes flashed through his head.

            *FLASHBACK MODE*

            "Heaven's Glow!"
            "Foolish!" Missingno said, simply brushing the attack off. "DARKNESS BEAM!"

            Charlotte brought up her Fire Shield, but the beam just ripped through it, crashing into her body. She writhed in pain as the darkness began devouring her.

            "Now you die, foolish pokemon."

            And with that, Missingno stabbed her through the heart.

            "Fools. You are the weakest of the guardians, and not even in your final form. How can you hope to defeat me?"

            "Well…. It was worth… a try…so the other two…could live…"

            *FLASHBACK MODE*

            "Dragon's Fury!"

            "Flames of Rage!"

            "Thunder Devastation!"

            The three attacks combined into a blazing inferno, blasting apart the being of darkness known as MQ8.

            "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

            The three tired guardians slumped down, and looked at each other.

            "We did it…"

            "Yes…" And with that, a pale soothing light spread over the land, healing it.

            *FLASHBACK MODE*

            "Ash! You have to kill her! You're the only one who can! She's resistant to both our powers!"

            "Can't you see? Allowing her to live will destroy this world!"

            "But I love her!"
            The shadow being laughed. "I have won!" With that, two ribbons of darkness wrapped around the fire and ice guardians, and they shrieked before they were consumed by darkness.

            "Now…" She said, turning to the terrified lightning guardian. "You die."

            *END FLASHBACK MODE*

            Ash opened his eyes and began powering up for his Thunder Devastation attack. Noticing this, Misty immediately flung another darkness beam at him.

            "Heaven's Fury!"

            "Dragon Rage!"
            The two attacks blew into Misty, but it only made her angrier.

            Ash! Hurry!

            Ash nodded and brought his hands up. He closed his eyes. * This is the way it was meant to be. I have to fulfill my destiny. *

            "TIME INVOCATION!"

            The combined power of the three guardians, which Ash now had, formed into a glowing ball of white light that enveloped Missingno in its brilliance. Missingno screamed, as it disintegrated into nothingness.

            Ash collapsed to the ground. He had won, but it had cost more than he had wanted. It had cost him love and friendship. As he cried silently, his wings changed into silver fins, his golden eyes to a sea green, his armor to flowing white robes. And from the silver light, came two figures.

            Ash opened his eyes to see Lance holding him.

            "Lance-chan…"
            "Shh…" Lance whispered, before she kissed him. Ash stared at himself, finally understanding.

            "Destiny destroys, but Hope restores."

            "Yes." Charlotte said. She was fully restored, dressed in red with her fiery wings fanned out behind her. But as Ash looked at Lance, he was startled to see that her wings were no longer the ice-blue feathers, but made out of steel, dragon's wings, not the wings of a legendary bird.

            Lance caught his gaze. "Even the healing cannot restore what darkness has destroyed."
            "But the prophecy…"

            "Ice defeats darkness, yet darkness is her soul." Lance quoted. "Did you ever think about that part?"

            "No… but it's my fault that your wings are gone!"

            "It was meant to be, Ash, Serebii foretold it when the prophecy was written."

            "Demo…"

            "Don't worry. These will carry over to my second form, the Dragon Master. So there is a benefit."

            Ash sniffled, but Lance wrapped her arms around him and sang him to sleep, her voice a low, hypnotic chant. It's not your fault, you know that Missingno deceives, and Thunder's child is at risk because of his naiveté.

            Charlotte sighed. "Well, at least it's over."

            "Until the guardians are called upon again."

            A pale healing light spread over the land, destroying the darkness that remained. And the moon shone over two sleeping figures.

The end…

Review! This explains why Lance has steel dragon's wings in my other fanfics…

I suppose this comes prior to CCA.