A/N: So, based on a lot of things, I've decided to try my hand at writing fan-fiction again. Anywho, this has been stuck in my head for a while now. So I decided to post it and see what happens.

Also, some of you may have noticed that this has come out again. That's because I decided to extend it, because let's face it, size does matter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. However, I have bought most of the games.

"Talking out loud."

"Telepathy."

'Thinking.'


'Here we are...' Ash thought to himself as he stood with his partner Pikachu atop a hill overlooking his hometown.

After a long trek, he and Pikachu had finally made it back home, after leaving Brock behind at the crossroads to travel back to Pewter City. Ash frowned a bit, thinking about how he had to say goodbye to Brock for the third time, he felt even more dejected because this time it seemed a lot more final. Brock was finally going after a true dream, one that had requirements and required him to stay in one place for a long period of time. While Ash was admittedly ecstatic for Brock, he couldn't help but wish that Brock could have kept traveling with him.

A slight shift from Pikachu on his shoulder brought Ash's attention back to the real world.

"There's Pallet Town," Ash said, looking at his partner. "Let's go, Pikachu."

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed before jumping off Ash's shoulder to run beside him to Pallet Town.

Ash grinned ran next to Pikachu's side to see who could get to Pallet Town first. It's a tradition they had started ever since returning home after the Indigo Plateau. However, internally he felt a little sad. Maybe it was from losing the Lily of the Valley Conference, or the thought of not being able to see Brock for a long time, or maybe even something else.

"Pi?" A voice sounded, alerting Ash to the fact that they had reached town, and Pikachu had beaten him. Again.

"Looks like you win again, huh buddy?" Ash said, grinning down at Pikachu as he tried to brush off the thoughts that kept buzzing in the back of his mind.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu proclaimed, looking smug before turning around to head into town.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief before following his starter. He started looking around absentmindedly, noticing how most people seemed to be out and about. Before long, they had both arrived home to see Mr. Mime out front sweeping the front steps. At the sight of them, Mr. Mime suddenly stopped and ran into the house. Glancing at each other in confusion, they hurried over to the door just in time to see Mr. Mime walking back with a note in his hand.

"Mr. Mime!" He blurted out, before pushing the note into Ash's hand.

"Um, ok..." Ash said, looking down at the note. "Thanks, Mr. Mime."

"Mime." Mr. Mime replied, smiling at Ash before returning outside to continue sweeping the steps.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked, climbing up onto Ash's shoulder in order to get a better look at the note.

"I dunno, let's find out," Ash looked down at the note and started to read aloud. "Dear Ash, first let me start by saying how proud I am of how for you got at the Lily of the Valley Conference. I made sure to watch every single one of your matches. You really did your best, Top 4 is your best yet. I'm sure you'll get even further next time." At this Ash just smiled slightly, glad his mother was so profoundly on his side no matter what. Though even with that, he kept thinking about how he should've been able to do better. Noticing there was a bit more to this letter, he decided to ignore those thoughts again and keep on reading. "I wish I could have been home to see you again, but something came up unexpectedly. Professor Oak got a call from his associate Professor Juniper over in the Unova region. He was kind enough to invite me along. I've always wanted to see the Unova region and luckily he recalled that fact. Since I had nothing else really going at home, I decided to go. I hope you don't mind. If you need to contact me, Tracey has the number for Professor Juniper's Lab. I hope you had a safe trip home. I left a lot of food in the fridge for you and Pikachu. I love you Ash, welcome home." At this Ash broke up a bit, suddenly realizing how desolate the house felt. A sudden pat on his cheek caused him to turn his head.

"Chu?" Pikachu asked, looking over at him in concern.

Ash swallowed roughly, clenching the note in his hand before smiling assuredly at his longtime friend. "No need to worry, Pikachu. I'm just, well, this is the first time we came home and mom wasn't here. It's a bit weird, isn't it?"

"Pi." Pikachu replied, his ears drooping slightly.

"It's ok, we can just call her up later, right?" Ash said, causing Pikachu to perk up and nod in agreement.

Ash looked back at the letter, noticing there was a bit more. A P.S. that mentioned making sure to change his underwear every day. He decided not to read that part aloud to Pikachu. Putting the note aside, he set the souvenirs he had bought in the Sinnoh region on a table before walking further into the house. Going into the kitchen, he opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of ketchup before tossing it to Pikachu. "Here you go buddy, enjoy." He grinned as Pikachu yanked the lid off and started to guzzle it down in joy then and there. Looking to see what else his mom had left him, he found a sandwich that seemed pretty appetizing and a can of soda.

"So, is there anything you want to do Pikachu?" He asked, looking down at his partner only to notice that Pikachu was too engrossed with the ketchup to notice anything else in the world. "I'm gonna guess eat and nothing else."

He put the sandwich in the microwave to heat up before looking out the window. Deciding the kitchen could do with a bit of fresh air, he opened the window and smiled as he saw a bunch of Pidgey flying overhead. Hearing the ding of the microwave, he took his sandwich before sitting down at the table, taking note that Pikachu was seemingly already halfway done with the ketchup bottle. "Really, Pikachu? Slow down a bit buddy, you don't want to get an upset stomach again."

Pikachu paused briefly in thought. A quick glare from Ash caused him to sigh before putting the bottle aside in agreement.

Ash smiled before reaching down to give Pikachu a quick pat on the head before reaching over to grab his sandwich. At least, he was until Mr. Mime angrily swatted his hand away.

"Ouch!" Ash complained, holding his hand to ease the sudden blow. "What did you do that for?!"

Mr. Mime glared at him before pointing to Ash's hands, then the sink. "Mime! Mr. Mime."

"Seriously?" Ash bemoaned before getting up to walk over the sink and start washing his hands. "If it's not mom, it's Mr. Mime. I just can't catch a break..." He mumbled to himself before turning around and showing his hands to Mr. Mime for inspection. "Can I eat now?"

"Mime!" Mr. Mime smiled at him before moving aside, letting Ash sit down before handing him a few napkins and coaster for his soda.

Ash rolled his eyes before smiling at Mr. Mimes thoughtfulness. "Thank you, Mr. Mime."

Mr. Mime patted his shoulder before walking out to do more housework.

"Pika..." Pikachu moaned from the floor.

Ash looked down before sweat dropping. "Not again." He groaned, seeing that Pikachu had taken advantage of Mr. Mime's distraction to hastily finish off the ketchup.

Ash checked over him for a moment and decided that Pikachu would be ok after a rest. He turned his attention back to his sandwich and made short work of it, leaving not even a crumb on his plate. Letting out a loud burn and sighing in contentment, he leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. Seeing that the room had gotten a bit darker since sitting down, he turned to look out the window to see the sun setting. After closing the window, Ash then carefully picked up Pikachu and his backpack before going upstairs to his room. Setting Pikachu gently on the bed, he then emptied his backpack, putting the badges and other items he had gotten on top of his chest before tossing the rest on his chair to sort through later.

"Mr. Mime?" Mr. Mime whispered, standing by the door.

Ash looked over before nodding, seeing that Mr. Mime had come to check if he was going to sleep. Mr. Mime then quietly shut the door before walking away. After a moment Ash decided to change his clothes and go brush his teeth, knowing that his mom had probably told Mr. Mime to check up on that and he did not want to be woken up later in the night to do it. As he brushed his teeth, his mind kept going over the past week. His time with Brock and Dawn, his travels, the places he went. Stopping to spit, he looked at his troubled reflection in the mirror in confusion.

'What's going on with me?' He thought to himself. After a few moments of idle thought he shook his head and quickly gargled before leaving the bathroom to return to his room and go to bed.


Several hours later, Ash opened his eyes in defeat. He inwardly groaned as he lay awake in his room at night. Again. Glancing over at Pikachu, who had snuggled up next to him at some point, he smiled in content at the sight of his sleeping partner before frowning and looking up at the ceiling. By this point he figured it'd be another one of those sleepless night. His thoughts kept circling the same thing over and over again, the emptiness in his chest.

Throughout most of his journey, deep down, he had been feeling a little empty inside. He never really gave it much thought before, figuring maybe it had to do with the fact that he was away from home. But now here he is, at home, in bed, and he still felt empty inside. And the feeling just wouldn't go away no matter what he did.

Slowly, he quietly made his was out of bed without disturbing Pikachu. As he walked towards the door, his eye caught the multitude of trophies, badges, and gifts he had gained during his many years as a Pokémon trainer. Some glinted in the moonlight, others seemingly inconspicuous. He made his way over to them and glanced over them fondly. He winced a little as he noticed his most recently acquired Sinnoh badges, recalling the final match he had at the Lily of the Valley Conference against Tobias and his legendaries; Darkrai and Latios.

'Latios...' Ash thought to himself as he looked at the top of the chest once more, searching for something in particular before his eyes zeroed on it towards the back, under the soothe bells he had won with Paul of all people.

Reaching out, he picked up a single piece of paper. Looking over it, he smiled as he leaned against the wall, letting the moonlight shine on it to get a better view. Out of all of his treasures, this was the only one that was handmade. But that wasn't the reason why it meant so much to him. Besides the incredible detail and besides the added reminder of his time there, it had been given to him by one of his most treasured friends.

As he gazed at the hand drawn picture of him and Pikachu, his thoughts went back to the moment he had received it. Back at the pier, on that bright and sunny day, as he left the city of Alto Mare. He blushed suddenly as he recalled the kiss that had happened at that same moment. To this day, he was sure his friends figured it was Bianca who had kissed him at the pier. But he knew better. The look in her eyes, the soft smile on her lips, and the feelings being around her elicited in him. It was Latias.

He thought back to when they first met, or at least, the first time he saw her in person. In that semi-secluded square by the watering fountain, he just knew there was something different about her the moment he saw her. He was about to ask her before she suddenly ran off, and got attacked… Thank Arceus Pikachu had noticed and they were able to save her. After that she disappeared again and he got distracted with Brock and Misty. He got lucky that they had decided to go to the museum and that he noticed her there, if he had not seen the girl again then, he would have most likely gone searching for her later.

Unfortunately, the girl had been the human Bianca. Luckily, Latias had decided to seek Ash out at the same time he was following the wrong girl, allowing them to run into each other again. Even though he was confused at the time, seeing the girl that had denied knowing him earlier with a haughty look on her face was now gazing and smiling at him from the bridge, he had no time to think about it before she quickly ran away. He recalled the exasperation he had felt, and the excitement. This time the girl stopped every so often, allowing him to catch up before running off again. It wasn't a game of hide and seek anymore, this time it was a game of tag.

He laughed out loud suddenly at the thought of playing tag with a legendary Pokémon. Though to be honest, it wasn't the strangest thing to have ever happened to him during his journey.

"Pi…?" A sleepy voice came over from his bed.

He glanced over and saw that his sudden loud laugh had apparently woken up Pikachu.

"Sorry buddy," he whispered, mindful of making sure to not wake Mr. Mime. "Just remembering something. You can go back to sleep."

Pikachu stared at Ash for a moment before noticing the paper in his hand. Nimbly jumping off of the bed, Pikachu walked over to his trainer to gaze at the picture. "Chu?" He asked, ears twitching as he admired the gift from Latias.

"Haha, yeah..." Ash murmured. "I couldn't help myself, once I saw this. It was a really beautiful city, wasn't it Pikachu?"

"Pi." Pikachu nodded in agreement.

Ash closed his eyes briefly before they suddenly shot open in shock. Pikachu glanced over at him as he felt his trainer's sudden excitement.

"Pika?" He asked.

Ash didn't answer, his hand going to his chest as his heart rate sped up. The emptiness, it had lessened a bit. Though what disappeared was replaced with a new feeling. Longing. He looked back at the picture before noticing Pikachu staring at him in concern. He smiled reassuringly before giving Pikachu a pat on the head.

"Hey Pikachu..." He started. "Have you ever wanted to go back to Alto Mare?"

Pikachu glanced at the picture again before looking back at Ash and gave a smile. "Pi pikachu!" He exclaimed.

"Shhhh!" Ash shushed him desperately, not moving for several moments to check Mr. Mime had heard. When Mr. Mime didn't come running in yelling while brandishing a broom as a sword, like last time, he sighed in relief.

"That was close…" He muttered as Pikachu sheepishly grinned at him. "Well then, if you're up for it too, let's go. Do you think we should call ahead or surprise Latias and the others?"

Pikachu looked down as he quietly thought for a few moments before replying. "Pika pi?"

Ash smiled; glad they were on the same page as usual. "Yeah, surprising them would be a lot more fun. Plus, maybe we can do the Tour de Alto Mare again. I'll need to bring some old friends along, I'm sure Totodile would love another go at the Tour." He thought quietly out loud.

Pikachu simply nodded at him before yawning.

"Hehe..." Ash sweat dropped. "Maybe we should talk about this in the morning?"

"Chu…" Pikachu murmured in agreement before Ash picked him up and carried him over the bed, bringing the paper with him and setting it on the night stand before getting back in the bed. The emptiness in his chest was even less now, though again the longing in him grew. However, he was still restless, though for a totally different reason this time.

"Right." Ash replied. "First thing in the morning then, we'll get everything ready and grab some friends to bring along."

"Chu." Pikachu sleepily replied, before turning over and immediately entering the realm of sleep.

Ash stared up at the ceiling again, thoughts of Alto Mare filling his head, as well as the legendary Pokémon he had met there. He wondered if she'd remember him, it had been 3 very long years after all. A lot had happened. He frowned internally at the thought.

'I really hope she remembers me,' He thought to himself. It was a stupid thought, he had to admit to himself. Yet he still couldn't help but worry. 'Well, I guess I'll find out soon.'

His eyelids slowly grew heavier as he contemplated his new destination, and the people there. Looking over at the drawing by his bed one more time, his last thoughts of the night centered around the red and white dragoness he had played with so long ago in the Secret Garden of Alto Mare.


OMAKE

Ash woke up to the sensation of falling. Blinking a few times, he noticed he actually was falling. Letting out a totally non-girlish scream of utter terror, he looked around to see what had happened. After a brief moment, he realized his body wasn't what it was supposed to be. It didn't look like a human body at all for that matter. Thinking hard, he realized that his body was that of a-

"Latios?" He asked out loud. His eyes widened, both at this realization that he was now a Pokémon and that he was getting a lot closer to the ground.

"Oh shit!" Ash yelled, willing his body to stop. Surprisingly it did. Ash let out a whoop of joy before letting out another non-girlish scream when his excitement caused his concentration to break. Luckily he was only a few feet from the ground at that point, so the impact didn't hurt his new dragon body at all.

Slowly floating up, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and moved forward to the lake. Looking down, he saw his reflection and confirmed what he thought earlier.

"I'm a fucking Latios." Ash gaped at his reflection in utter shock. Thinking about what to do next, he looked around to see if he could get any ideas. An idea hit him after a few minutes. 'Invisibility!' Ash looked back down at the water and thought really hard about being invisible. Slowly, parts of him became invisible until at least he couldn't see his body at all anymore. Ash grinned to himself.

'With this ability, I have to... no, I need to think... To better humanity... Or even...' Ash thought long and hard to himself before thinking, what would Brock do? "I need to go peep on someone." Ash then set out for Cerulean City.


A/N: Well I think this should be enough to get things going. I'm still thinking about how to proceed after this… But don't worry, you know, if you are worrying. I have something good planned, or I will. Soon. Also, please let me know what you think, thoughts and ideas and opinions are always appreciated.

That said, I hope you enjoyed this extended version. I also tweaked a few things here and there. All in all, I think this is shaping up better than I had hoped. I hope you think so too.

What do you think of the omake? I got the idea for it after reading Dragonfall by Storylover Vodhr- Dux Ducis. Though this Ash is a bit more... eh. By the way, I should recommend that fic, I've been hooked on lately. It's one of those huge stories. And he added a lot to the Lati as a species in it. Definitely a good read. Well anyway, until next time.