Lance/Manga/PA/History/Y

Lance debuts in Vermilion City before the start of the Vermilion City Surfing Competition. He took control of the that was to be offered as a prize to the winner. He then attacked Vermilion City and destroyed it, saying he was looking for something. When Yellow came after him he tried to capture Pika to please Agatha and Lorelei but once Pikachu learned he too failed. Before the battle could continue, he mysteriously disappeared.

He next appeared on Cerise Island battling Blaine and Yellow. When Blaine released, Blaine and Yellow were able to gain the upper hand against Lance's Aerodactyl and his two Dragonair. However, due to Blaine's link with Mewtwo they could only battle together for about three minutes and with time running out Blaine decided to target Lance's Poké Balls so he couldn't call out any other Pokémon and would have to battle with his weakened Pokémon that were already out. He succeeded in destroying the balls only for Blaine to be knocked unconscious due to Mewtwo's time out being too long. Lance then chuckled to himself, revealing that he had called his Pokémon out of their balls before the battle even began.

During Lance's battle with Yellow both of them were equally matched, Lance luring the battle out onto the top of Cerise Island, a volcano. Lance then once again gained the upper hand by having his Gyarados and Dragonair make green, red, and blue bubbles so they could not be detected in sunlight. Just when it seemed when Yellow was about to lose, arrived and helped subdue Lance, using his  to create a sandstorm to make the bubbles visible. But this capturing only proved to be part of his plan, as he needed Giovanni's Badge since it was the last Badge he needed for the Badge Energy Amplifier to summon, so he lured Giovanni to the middle of the island so the Earth Badge would be automatically ripped from him and the Amplifier would automatically activate, summoning Lugia. Lance wanted Lugia to help accomplish his goals, but Yellow's Pokémon were able to drive Lugia away once they evolved and Yellow was able to channel their power into Pika's Megavolt. This interested Lance, as he wanted to find out who Lugia's real owner was. It wasn't often that he lost control of dragon-like Pokémon.