Yellow became more and more frantic as she searched for a way out of the cramped space she was in. She felt like she was running out of air, but it was probably the closeness of the walls speaking. 

Yellow noticed herself getting dizzy. She couldn't have run out of oxygen that fast, could she have? All she knew was that she could no longer stand. She fell into a wall, and slid down it to the floor. 

She knew she must have been hallucinating when Lorelei opened a section of the wall. A muk stood beside her, using a powerful poison powder on Yellow. She was too tired to stay awake. . . everything was just fading away. 

"Lance. . . " gasped out Yellow as darkness swam before her eyes, ". . . Help. . "

Lorelei laughed. "No one can help you now, child." But Yellow had already passed out. 

Lance tied Agatha's hands behind her back before leading her out of the mausoleum. The old woman couldn't stop cackling to herself, which might have been creepy if she weren't tied up. 

Lance figured the best thing to do would be to take her back to Blackthorn City. The secret training area behind the gym, the Dragon Den, had a suitable prison. It hadn't been used for years, but he figured that it should still be in good condition. 

Dragonite carried Agatha in its claws, and Lance rode on its back. When they reached Blackthorn, Clair asked what had happened to Yellow. Lance couldn't respond. The pain in his eyes was enough to tell Clair what she wanted to know, however. 

Once Agatha was secured, Clair made Lance sit down to dinner. He didn't take a single bite, however, and shrugged off all the questions Clair tried to ask about the day's events. 

"Lance", she tried again, "What happened to Yellow?"

"They took her", he responded, the first thing he'd said since returning to Blackthorn City. 

"We'll find her", Clair reassured him, placing a hand comfortingly on top of his hand. Lance let it sit there for a moment, then pulled his hand out from under his cousin's. He then stood up and left abruptly. 

"I really need to work on this whole comforting thing", Clair muttered to herself. 

Yellow awoke to find herself in a barren room. "Oh good", came a voice. "You're awake. I was beginning to think you'd died on me. My guests have been doing that a lot lately."

Turning on her side, Yellow saw a strange figure wearing a white mask. The Masked Man. Blue had talked about him sometimes. 

"What guests?" Yellow demanded, then burst into a fit of coughing. 

"That would be the poison leaving your system. My new accomplices may lack finesse, but their methods get the job done." 

"What guests!?" Yellow screamed. He'd better not have hurt her friends. 

"You may have known them. . . " the Masked Man said vaguely. 

Yellow shook her head, not wanting to believe it. Her friends. . . they couldn't be dead! Maybe he was bluffing, just trying to get to her. That must have been it. But the uncertainty was still there, gnawing at her. 

"Now", said the Masked Man, "Either you tell me where Lance is, or I can make you tell me."

Dragonite's back felt strangely empty without Yellow sitting behind Lance. Almost as empty as Lance's heart was now that Yellow was gone. He frowned, wondering what the sudden stinging sensation in his eyes was from. Then it hit him. 

Lance was doing something he hadn't done since he was seven years old. Lance was crying. 

He brushed back the tears savagely. Lance didn't have time to mope, he had to find Yellow. Agatha was turning out to be even less help then he had hoped, so now he was going back to Lavender Town to search through the computers in the mausoleum. 

That was when he realized something. He already had all the pieces necessary to find Yellow. The Masked Children. . . The Masked Man. . . and the names he'd seen. Karen, Will, and Silver. 

"Dragonite", announced Lance, "We're turning around. It's time to go find a boy named Silver." 

Silver was worried. Blue had sent him a message that Red had been kidnapped, so he had told her he'd hurry over to Pallet Town. But when he'd gotten there, no one had been around. Red's house was a mess, and there was evidence of a battle all around his house, but nobody had been there. 

He had spent the night on Red's couch, and the next day, Gold and Crystal showed up. Not soon after, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald all came. They had found Yellow's, Blue's, and Green's houses all empty as well. Even the professor was gone. 

At first, they had all just waited. When nobody showed up,however, Silver decided to take matters into his own hands. He realized that the only person who would want to kidnap all of these people would have to be Lance, of the Elite Four. 

Blue had told him about Lance. Lance was a powerful dragon master who Yellow had defeated a few months ago. No one had seen or heard from him since. Perhaps he'd been planning this for a while now, plotting his revenge. 

The only family he seemed to have was the Blackthorn City gym leader, Clair. So Silver decided to travel to Blackthorn to get some answers. 

Looking back, perhaps it wasn't the best of ideas. It was, however, the only way Silver could think of for finding Lance. 

After travelling to Blackthorn, Silver entered the gym. Clair said hello, and Silver asked if she knew where Lance was.

"Are you Silver?" Came a quiet voice from behind Silver. He spun around- and found Lance. 

"What did you do to Blue and the others?" Silver demanded.

"I'm asking the questions here."

"I think you should answer me first."

"Dragonite, hyper beam."

"Yes, okay! I'm Silver", Silver said quickly, watching the energy build in Dragonite's mouth. Dragonite closed its mouth, and Lance continued questioning Silver.

"Where is the Masked Man?"

Horror flashed in the boy's eyes. "I'm not going back there. Blue and I escaped years ago, and I'm never going back."

"You are if you want to save your friends."

So sorry it took so long for me to finally get this published! High school has kept me pretty busy. Please comment, follow, like, whatever. And tell me what you think of Lance. Creepy? Cute? Caring? Dastardly?