This story is a response to SilverUmbras challenge for LatiosxLugia stories, and I can understand why she likes it so much at the minute. This was actually surprising fun to write, even if it starts a little slow/boring. That's just me. All my stories do that.
Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon (obviously otherwise Altoshipping would be canon), but I do own my OCs, and the region of Kraith.
# # # Story Specific Notes # # #
None (for once).
All Rivers Lead To The Sea:
The steady trickling of the river spring splashed over the rocks, pooling into a small pond before working its way down the mountainside to form the mighty Segon. Trees lined the edge of the clearing the millennia of water had worn away from the granite giant, forming a small oasis on the side of the peak. Isolated from intruders by perilous crags that littered Mount Astant, it was an ideal hideaway from anyone wishing to conceal themselves from the world. A Latios slept quietly in the shelter of one of the larger trees present, snoring gently. A Noctowl hooted quietly as it approached the spring, landing near the edge of the pool. It cocked its head, looking at itself in the crystal mirror, before taking a drink from it. It cooed noisily as it gulped down the water, and the Latios cracked open an eyelid lazily.
"Some of us are trying to sleep here. So if you'd quiet down now…" He whispered over to it. The Noctowl turned its head and looked at him, before taking a quieter gulp of water. The Latios closed his eyes again, sighing to himself. He'd never let it show, but he was lonely. For as long as he could remember, he'd wanted a Latias to love. The only time he ever had a brief glimmer of a reprieve was when he saw a red shape flying towards the mountain. He'd recognised it immediately as a Latias, and intended to fly out to meet her. However, the second he was about to move, the Rayquaza flew down from the skies and tore the beautiful girl to shreds in seconds. The event had haunted his nightmares ever since, and he'd lost count of the times he'd woken up clawing at the branch in front of him in an effort to save her.
He opened his eyes again and watched as the Noctowl flew out of sight, before hovering down to the pool himself. He ran a claw-tip over the surface, ripples spreading over the pool, before he flew down and rinsed himself in it. He hovered back above his glade, shaking himself dry, and looked over the landscape. With the exception of the rest of the mountain behind him, the rest of the terrain sloped away from him, revealing the rest of the Kraithan countryside. He sighed again as he looked at the spot where the Latias had lost her life, moving his gaze away before his body could succumb to the tears that were fighting to be shed. His focus landed on the dark strip of blue to the far south, almost indistinguishable from the night sky. The open ocean.
"I've seen that look before." A male voice said from next to him. He flipped around in the air to see the Noctowl that had been drinking earlier from his spring perched on a pinnacle of rock, "You're pining over someone."
The Latios looked back over at the ocean, shaking his head stubbornly.
"I don't pine for anything or anyone." He said arrogantly. The Noctowl clicked its beak reproachfully.
"Suit yourself." He said, flying off. The Latios took one last look at the ocean, before flying back down to his spring. He settled back down in his tree, and watched his spring for a while, the trickling water lulling him back to sleep.
He was woken again by the sound of crackling, and his stinging nose. He opened his eyes blearily, but all he could see were shades of orange and red. He yawned as the sudden warmth made him feel drowsy, and settled back down on the tree limb again as though there wasn't a problem. He only noticed something was amiss when a tongue of flame licked up and burnt his wing. He immediately became wide-awake, and looked around hurriedly to find his entire sanctuary in flames. Three men in black uniforms were stood in the centre of the clearing, one armed with a flame-thrower which he was using to torch the shrubbery. All of them had a red R emblazoned on their chest. The Latios screamed as the next tree along toppled over from the inferno, a cascade of sparks spinning through his own tree, and he took flight.
The Rocket's heard the screech, and spun around to face him, the other two pointing ice cannons at him. Both immediately started firing at him, streams of hail blitzing the sky. He squawked loudly in protest as the tiny particles felt like searing needles to his skin. His flight path dropped, out of the way of the hail, but into the path of the Rockets. One of them was sent sprawling by a wing, but the other, being more opportunistic, managed to grab hold of his wing and hurl himself onto the Latios's back. He grinned in triumph at the stunt, pulling out a Pokeball. The Latios tried rolling to shake the agent off, but he didn't know this rocket was an accomplished Ponyta handler before turning to a life of crime. The Rocket gave a cowboy shout, before hitting the Latios in the back of the neck with the Pokeball. He smirked as the Latios was sucked into the ball.
The victory was short-lived however, as he realised that he was now high in the air again with nothing to support him. He screamed as he fell into the pool below, the Pokeball flying free of his hand and floating on the surface. The device broke open immediately, and the Latios lurched forwards as it escaped. The grunt who had the flamethrower growled, and grabbed a spherical object from his belt, pressed his hand against it, and hurled it at the Eon, totally ignorant of what he had actually just thrown.
The grenade exploded as it hit the Eon's wing, breaking it and sending him plummeting into the far end of the spring pool, concussed on impact. The current grabbed hold of the unconscious Eon, dragging it away from the spring, and along the river. The Rocket that fell in the water clambered out, and stood in front of the one that threw the grenade.
"You know that was stupid don't you." He said, wringing the water out of his hat.
"I didn't know! It felt like a pokeball!" He argued. The wet rocket grabbed the idiot by the lapels, and flung him into the pool headfirst.
The Latios floated along the current, attracting the attention of various water Pokemon along the way. Most just raised an eyebrow or equivalent, as it passed them by, whilst others pushed it away as it snagged on rocks near their habitats. None of them even dared trying to eat it.
Nearly three hours later, it entered the Segon Estuary, before being pulled out by a rip tide into uncharted waters. The further it went from the shore, the weaker the current keeping it at the surface became, until it eventually stopped completely. He floated there for a few seconds, before he gradually began to sink, first the wings, until finally the very tip of his blue nose had been swallowed by the waves.
Deeper and deeper he sank through the murky depths, watched intently by the only Pokemon left to brave these depths. Gracefully, she drifted towards the Eon, smothering him in two giant wings. Then with a few swishes from her tail, they were gone. Not a trace that either of them had been there, just a few bubbles spiralling towards the surface.
Against all his expectations, the Eon woke up. He lifted his head slightly, before sighing and letting it drop to the floor again, his eyes closed as he took deep breaths from the cold air. When he finally felt enough energy to open his eyes again, he glanced up cautiously. He was underwater, no doubt about that, but he was breathing. Directly above and just forwards of where he was lying, he could see the lip of the roof of a cave.
"I was wondering when you'd wake up." A female voice said from in front of him. He arched his neck forwards to try and see over his large body, but couldn't see past at who was addressing him. For some reason, he really wanted to see who that voice belonged to, mysterious and tantalising to him. She gave a fluty laugh, and moved across to one side so he could see past. The second he saw the Lugia, he was speechless. He'd never seen wings that sleek, nor a body so streamlined. Pretty much everything he'd seen in that Latias so long ago was mirrored perfectly here. He simply couldn't explain it, but just looking at her made him feel giddy. The Lugia tilted her head to one side, making her look even cuter.
"No." He said suddenly. He wouldn't let this baseless attraction cloud his judgement. She may have helped him out in a tough spot, but that was all. Just a nice polite thank-you and be off. No need for anything to get out of hand… well… claw. He lifted himself up off the ground, hovering lopsided because of the loss of stability from his broken wing. The Lugia looked at him questioningly as he began backing away slowly towards the edge of the bubble.
"Well… erm… thanks for saving my life… but… I've got to go." He noticed a sad look in her eyes, and faltered, "Oh god…"
"You took a nasty injury to your wing." She said softly, "As you've noticed, you can't fly with that."
"It's just a scratch." He said stubbornly. She looked at him sceptically, and touched the burn area. He screeched, and pulled the wing back.
"As you can see, more than just a scratch. You'll have to stay here so I can fix it up."
He huffed in annoyance, turning to face the ocean and crossing his arms. To be honest, he was intrigued by her, but he didn't like being out of control like this. As far as he was concerned, his precious glade was still burning, and saving it was his priority. His state of health didn't matter in comparison. The girl moved towards the back of the cave, nudging open a crate of berries she'd taken from a sunken cargo ship. She pawed through the contents, shifting them aside looking for a Rawst berry. She tried to grasp the fruit between two 'fingers' on the end of her wing, but the round fruit gave her next to no grip. She furrowed her brow at it, as her only remaining resort could make things very awkward between them.
The Latios looked around as he felt her wingtip tap him on the shoulder, and stared. She was holding the tiny berry in her teeth, watching him. He hovered limply to stand in front of her, and hesitated, watching the berry. She narrowed her eyes accusingly at him at his lack of response, the discomfort of the situation growing with every second. He looked back up at her face again, before leaning forwards to take the berry with his own mouth. He made an effort not to get any closer than he absolutely needed, hoping to steer clear of any embarrassing situations, but regardless, his top lip grazed hers as he grabbed it. Her eyes widened in shock, dropping the berry, and he retreated with it quickly as though nothing had happened. He had also felt the almost-kiss, but he was considerably better at hiding it. He munched the berry noisily, and swallowed it, shaking his head from the bitter aftertaste that left him inclined to retch. She was still looking at him with a funny look in her eye.
"You could have taken that with your claws you know…" She said quietly, an unnoticeably faint pink colour suffusing through her cheeks. The Eon looked down at the floor hurriedly. The idea never even crossed his mind. More problematic was that he didn't have a suitable counter against it. He turned around quickly, looking out into the open ocean, hoping to change the topic.
"How long do I have to wait before I can go?" He asked her calmly. She looked at the back of his head, alarmed by his desire to leave so quickly.
"Why do you want to leave so badly?" She asked him remorsefully. He looked around at her, widening one eye in confusion.
"I'm a Guardian of Water. I protect a mountain spring that feeds the Segon River."
"Is it lonely?" She asked him quietly. He grimaced, and looked back out to the ocean to escape her gaze.
"No… never…" He lied unconvincingly. She sighed in disbelief.
"I don't think you're being honest with me." She said, wandering back to the interior of the cave. He stared at her incredulously, extremely annoyed at her powers of deduction.
"What would you know about-" He stopped suddenly as she suddenly took wing and flew into the further chambers of the cave, sobbing consistently. The sudden emptiness of the cave dawned on him as she left, causing him to realise how heartless he was about to be. This girl knew everything about being alone, even more than he did. At least he had visitors to the spring occasionally he could talk to once in a while, but that was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Even that one glimmer of hope was more than she'd ever got. There was nothing down here to attract a visitor to her, leaving her permanently alone. She must have been overjoyed when she finally found someone, even if they were unconscious. And now he'd just gone and told her he wanted to leave. He'd always dreaded that one day, those feelings of guilt would creep back into his life, haunting him like they did when he couldn't save the Latias.
He moved into the back of the cave, looking through the gap into the depths of the cavern. Luminescent fungi grew on the walls, giving it a pallid blue glow, whilst stalactites clung to the ceiling over a pool of brine below. He flew over it, following the sound of sobbing echoing through the grotto, leading deeper into the cave system. He turned a corner into what he presumed to be the last chamber, his eyes widening as he noticed the cave was lined with white crystal. Years of seawater seeping through the rock had left deposits of salt, turning the hollow into a crystal palace. She was perched on the floor at the opposite side of the room, heaving great sobs periodically. He flew over, slowly down as he approached, before landing to one side of her, the mat of salt crunching under his weight. She looked at him with puffy red eyes, a terrible mess of what she'd been at the cave entrance. He winced, and put an arm around her slender neck.
"You said you were leaving." She muttered quietly. He shushed her quiet, holding her gaze.
"I shouldn't have been so blunt about the being alone thing." He said. She gave a half-hearted laugh.
"And I thought you were supposed to be a proud and arrogant species." She said. He screwed up his face, but didn't let it annoy him. They both knew she was just winding him up.
"It's just… It felt wrong… just…"
"Flying off to look after a spring."
"Abandoning you." He finished. She tried to look away in embarrassment, but was halted as he brought his other claw up to her face, stroking the cheek gently. She looked into his red eyes, resting her head against his claw dreamily.
"Now you really aren't acting like the rest of your species. A Latios would never be so open." She cooed. He smiled gently at her.
"Well I know for a fact only the girl I love is watching, so I don't have to pretend anymore." He said, nuzzling her face. She smiled gently at him, before pulling her head back.
"You really mean it?" She asked him. He gave her a confused look.
"Well why else would I do this without a Rawst Berry?" He said, tilting his head to one side and taking her mouth with his. She made a surprised little squeak at first, before realising what he was doing and enjoying the moment.
Well, for the first time I've actually taken up a challenge, I don't think I've made too big a mess of it. I was tempted to have him leave her at the 'how long to wait' bit, and hearing her song of lament whenever he looked back at the ocean from his spring. But... whilst that would have been a little shorter, it might have been a little too tragic for her.