Chapter 1 – The Girl in the Desert

Her mind was at a rest. A soothing wind that drew small grains of sand tickled her nose gently as she drifted in the middle of the world of dreams and the world of reality. Deep steady breaths were taken but they felt so dry. Home wasn't dry she thought. Home had a clean and watery air filled with scents of the wildlife around it, the giant lakes and rivers that crossed over each other and then met a short flying trip down the mountains towards the big open ocean. Home where she and her Papa lived. This air was not the same as that air at home.

The dry air was warm, almost too warm for laying and taking a longer nap in it. It was starting to become harder and harder for her to stay in her dreams. She liked dreaming, it made some adventures that she otherwise were not allowed to do possible. Those adventures and journeys her Papa had forbidden her to do. She was never allowed to fly near or even close to the towns and villages of humans. They were dangerous he had said… greedy humans that catches you and make you do as whatever they command you to do. She was scared of the tales, yet she was curious of them of what she had been able to see. Yes, she had seen humans before no doubt, humans that had played with their Pokémon and they had in return jumped around in joy. For that she was confused of what to think of humans.

The dry air was now waking her up for real this time and she slowly opened her blurry eyes to the world around her.

Sand.

Lots of Sand.

Was she at the beach? No, then it would smell saltwater and she's be able to hear the waves of the ocean rolling in. So where was she?

Sleepy yellow eyes scanned the area around her. All she could see on the ground was sand. Such a big beach was her to her. It was like it stretched itself from horizon to horizon. Yet there were no sign of any water anywhere. Confused she tilted her head slightly to the left. She couldn't remember even falling asleep in a place like this one and she was sure that she wasn't dreaming it up, it felt real.

Shaking off a bunch of sand that had been blown on top of her by the winds she lowered her wings in a swift motion to push herself up into levitating a couple of meters above the ground. The sky was a royal blue colour with the sun giving out an almost unbearable heat along the enormous beach and not a single cloud could be seen. This started to turn her nervous; she was used to live close to water for all her life so this situation put her into a bit of a nervous wreck as her Papa sometimes called her. She was a Latias. A Latias lives near water. Not here. Not in a dry wasteland-like beach without an ocean by it. This felt all wrong. This was… very far from home.

Latias let herself ascend a few meters more to scan a larger area of this scary beach. Though there really wasn't much more to see than sand; for her that was almost worse that is there really were any other living creatures nearby, since then she might feel a little bit less alone. She didn't like being all alone. Alone was unsettling. It made you to hallucinate to see and hear things that weren't really there. It had happened to her once and she did not want it to happen like that again. She had panicked greatly back then but she had been found by her Papa shortly after. Papa had explained how her imagination had taken over and played tricks on her. She had later learned to control that state with practice but that didn't stop her from disliking being completely alone.

Latias lifted her head up and gave out a shrill call for her Papa in case he was nearby. Papa could hear her from fairy long distances and she was sure that if he was here on this beach he would hear her.

There was no reply though. The beach remained silent aside from the wind blowing across what Latias noted now as small hills of sand all over the big beach. She let out a deep sigh in frustration and felt that it was no use staying at this place any longer and set course to the west as she studied the sun's position. She travelled at a great speed for over three long hours of seeing nothing more than sand mockingly greeting her. When she got home she was sure to stay away from any of the beaches for a while since this seemingly endless beach started to annoy her with the taunting of her never reaching either grass or water.

Suddenly something got caught in her line of sight for off in the distance. She couldn't identify it from this bit gap between her and it but she was just glad that she had found something other than sand and hills of sand… and occasionally bigger hills of sand. But this was definitely not made out of that stupid small kind of stones and now when she was getting closer quite fast she noticed that it was moving in the same direction that she was heading, although in a lot slower pace.

It wasn't until she had come about 30 meters away that she noticed what the creature really was. It was a human, a small human with a cloth covering its entire body from the sun. It seemed to freeze up as Latias had frozen solid herself in her place about 20 meters away from it. As a quick reflex trained in by her Papa had activated she turned invisible for any eyes that turned her way. She became overly cautious. It was after all a human. She didn't want to take too dangerous risks with them. The tales ringing warning bells at the back of her mind.

The human seemed to have a… Pokémon that Latias could not identify. That was strange, her Papa had taught her almost every single Pokémon there were… at least what her Papa knew about and Papa knew a lot. The strange creature, what she thought was a Pokémon, on the human's shoulder somehow reminded her of a pancham… or maybe a spinda in weird colours… but yet none of those two really fitted completely with its looks. No she was sure this one wasn't a pancham or a spinda but something else. What it was, she had no idea.

The human seemed tense and so did the other creature as well as they had turned around just as Latias had managed to hide herself from view ´with her downs folded in a way to reflect the light and in turn make her invisible. Latias was quite sure this human was female as she took in her stature. The human had put herself into a defensive stance with her eyes trained in Latias' general direction.

Latias remained still, hoping for the human to drop its guard and continue walking. That might help her find a way out of this stupid beach. However, the human girl didn't drop her stance for a long time. Latias could only stare dumbly at the human and also the black and white pancham-lookalike creature that were trying to find her position. She didn't dare to move as that might give away her position, even if she still remained invisible.

"Who's there!?"

Latias felt herself flinch slightly at the tone of the human as it confirmed that it knew she was there, yet unable to see her. To Latias' dismay she saw the human girl snap her eyes directly at her when her small flinch occurred. Latias' heart felt like it was jumping up in her throat. She didn't know how to respond. Should she respond? She had never tried making a full contact with any human before. Her Papa was going to be furious and fuss about her ignoring her safety for sure after this but for some reason it felt like it would be better to show herself than remain invisible. She adjusted her downs and reverted back into being fully visible again. Maybe… just maybe the human would give her a hint on how to exit this beach.

The human was completely still with widened eyes for a few moments and Latias could feel herself become uneasy. Maybe she should try greeting it? That might me polite and the human might relax… right? Humans were complicated. It was hard to figure out their motives. Stupid confusing tales. Latias inhaled a small breath and then tried to greet the human respectfully with her voice. Even if the humans might not understand her correct words I may still work.

/"Hello?"/

The human didn't answer right away. But Latias did notice it shifted in its stance a little bit. She was starting to to lower her guard but her eyes were firmly set on Latias, though this time even more widened.

"D-d-dragon? You're… a dragon."

Latias perked up at that strange statement. Yes she was part dragon type along with being a psychic type. Dual typing her Papa had said. But the way the human had said it made Latias furrow in thought. Did this human not know what a Latias was? Maybe not. Not all humans knew every Pokémon in existence. Therefore she felt like she might be even further away from home than she first thought.

The human suddenly started to make weird gestures with bowing up and down. She seemed almost nervous with her frantic gestures. Latias could not do anything but stare at the human girl's movement as she also noticed that the human was actually apologizing for some odd reason. Latias gave out a questioning sound from her throat to try to figure out if the human was alright while tilting her head to the side in wonder. The human looked up in a sort of relief and to Latias' confusion took her hood that covered her face off and started to introduce herself.

"It's such an honor to meet you, oh Dragon. I am May of the Chang clan of the country of Xing and this is my friend Xiao-Mei. We are on our way through the desert in hope to arrive at the country of Amestris in hope to find a means to immortality." The human girl spoke with what Latias felt like a respectful tone. Latias studied the human now called May and her… friend Xiao-Mei. May had long black hair tied up in two buns at both sides of her head and from them emerged six braids far down, three from each bun. Her dark eyes showed a tint of exhaustion yet remained open no matter what. To show some polite manners back to the human Latias nodded her head in confirmation and gave a small smile. This human seemed alright in her opinion so far. Nice and polite as a Bellossom would greet someone. There were no signs of trying to catch her and with her being the only human around with a pancham-lookalike she felt quite safe to say she could escape if the situation came to that. But she doubted May would really try anything like that. But one word in particular caught Latias' attention from what May had said.

Desert.

She had heard of the word before from a vibrava that had told her about where he originally came from, which were the word desert had come up. Latias was slightly stunned but now relieved that she now knew where she was wasn't called a beach but a desert. So she could stop calling it an endless beach. The thought made her happy as beaches would be more comfortable to deal with now when she didn't have to compare them to this non-beach anymore. As for the clan, Xing and quest for immortality she was confused. They didn't make much sense at all. She decided it was okay to move closer to the human this time.

She didn't know how to introduce herself in the same matter ad this May had since she couldn't speak any human languages yet she had the ability to understand it as clear as the day, so she settled with showing off some trust to this human by being at an arm's reach. May made no violent movements as she levitated closer, she did however seem more nervous now even after she had made her introduction earlier. The human girl had a thoughtful look on her face but Latias declared it wasn't meant to be out of fear, anger or distrust. Just curiosity. Something she herself was filled with.

A human hand moved up in a slow and careful motion to Latias' head. Latias tensed at the contact but relaxed as May softly pat her and moved her hand towards the blue triangle marking on her chest.

"I thought I'd never see the day that I would be able to meet a real dragon in flesh and blood…. You even have the very pulse of the dragon that we practice to learn from since we were born, the very essence of the dragon's pulse that is used for Alkahestry. Your flow of chi is very pure, untouched and powerful. I… I have only heard stories about dragons before and about their direct contact with the dragon's pulse in the ground… but I didn't know it was like you were the pulse itself." May let herself mumble in awe as she stroke Latias' marking. Latias was even more confused but felt like this human was a lot different from what she had heard. Like this human was full aware of how the world moved in its state of energy that flowed through it. She recognized a bit of what May was saying. The Dragon Pulse… it was a move her Papa had taught her as a mean of defense if something would go horribly wrong. She was not allowed to use it unless it was necessary.

Latias felt herself sneeze as the sand was blowing up in her nose again and the May put down her hand and gave a small giggle. Xiao-Mei jumped from her place on May's shoulder onto Latias' back which got Latias to twist her head in her direction to study the not-pancham more carefully. It didn't speak like regular Pokémon tended to do and she Latias felt a little bit amused when she noticed Xiao-Mei as she was making squeaks in a determined tone as she almost was challenging her into a battle. Latias could feel the little creature being slightly annoyed at her for getting this close to her human so quickly and answered with a soft cooing sound and backed away to let the little creature's wishes across. May seemed to laugh at her friend's behavior and stepped forward to pick her up from Latias' back.

"We are on our way to Amestris to the west… and we still have a long way to go before we get there and out water bottle is soon empty so we really need to hurry. I am so sorry to say that we'll need to go now. But it was a great honor to meet you Dragon." May bowed and gave an apologetic look before waving and turning around to walk in the direction she had been heading before stopping at Latias' arrival.

Latias tilted her head in thought. She kept herself still for a moment until she cooed out to the human to wait for her. May turned around and stared back at her. Latias had lowered herself from levitating and nodded her head to her back for the human girl to climb on. May and Xiao-Mei stared silently for a minute until Latias motioned again for her and her panda to jump on. After many bows and arguments from the human girl she finally relented and let Latias carry her and Xiao-Mei. This was a better idea for both of them after all as Latias thought it would help them both, her getting out of this stupid land of sand-hills called the desert and for May to get to her destination. May seemed to know a way out of and Latias could get them out quickly as long she had a guide to help her.

It was a good thing May was small and light for a human, though Latias didn't really know how heavy humans were… but knew they were normally bigger than May, otherwise this would been quite difficult to pull off. Latias was happy for this chance of finally meeting a human though. One that didn't match Papa's tales made her even more curious about this weird not-home place.

Now she just needed to find a way home.

A/N: I kind of rewrote everything...

I didn't like how I had started or carrying on the plot from the very first try of this story so I did some major changes to it. Out with a human girl turning into a Latias and ends up in Amestris and in with a real Latias from the Pokémon world getting thrown in for epic reasons… HERPADERP. No worries though. I think it is better this way and besides, one crappy chapter for this was kind of worth it. I finally got into a work-slow that works for me :D

And I think I can handle writing in this way better now. Yeeey

So prologue done. Hopefully I'll be able to start writing the chapters a little bit longer than this prologue. I has a quite solid plan for this story :D idosfjhdosifhjsoidfhj

If you find any weird grammar… aside from Latias' thinking process which is meant to be 'off', yell at me!

Reviews are highly welcome c: