Alright, I had a suggestion for Mattecat's "A Ship of Fools", but then I realized I suddenly wanted to write something for it, so here I am giving this ship a try – Manaphy/Kyogre, which has yet to get an official name (and don't you all go and name it now, because I've already submitted for it! So there!). It seems really cute, right? Now, I was debating doing some sort of AU thing, and I thought of something awesome (well, in my opinion, it is) that I wanted to try. Just keep reading if you get confused. (Suddenly, I imagined Fall Out Boy's "Dance, Dance" as a themesong for this, with an anime intro and everything….)

In fact, I've been thinking that this may just be a prologue of sorts, because this makes an interesting story idea.

Quick Key:

The Dragon referred to keeping the skies clear is Rayquaza, the "bane of the full moon" is Darkrai (you know, since his powers are strongest during the new moon?), the Sea Queen is Kyogre, Manaphy is a mage trying to become a watermage, uncivilized Pokemon are called monsters because they attack without warning or reason at times, there are humans but they're only mentioned in this, firemages are normally Fire-Types as watermages are normally Water-Types (but that's not always the case), and to keep everything simpler, the huge Legendaries can have a smaller anthro form if they so wish, as do some other Pokemon.

Note: I may be gone for a little bit, or all summer. I'm sorry for the inconvenience that this may cause, but real life gets in the way and I can't get around it for the first time ever. D: Sorry!

Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, I wouldn't be here. I would be off in South America, avoiding the rest of the world, and eating Vienna Sausages. :3 Mmmm....

My Prince

On a secluded island a little ways off of the mainland, a clan was gathering in a clearing at the center for an important event. Standing in a ring were figures in long, flowing blue robes with bowed heads hidden under hoods, and at the center stood the only creature that could be fully seen. The full moon lay her light down on them like a heavenly blanket, warding away any users of black magic like a protective veil of beauty. They knew that the great Dragon was in their favor tonight, for no clouds dare find their way to pass over them in the sky.

The figure in the center stood barely above the ground for his legs were so short, but he still stood tall and proud as he held the staff in his arms with determination. His (blue) body was soft and dotted with yellow spots – two each above his eyes and one under the red gem on his chest. Two long antennae sat on his head with little spheres at the end, and his arms were fingerless like flippers. Nevertheless, one gripped the staff firmly, as it was important for the clan. His blue eyes were ringed with yellow as well as sweat.

He raised the staff into the air so that it was perfectly vertical, and it seemed to command the world around them into silence.

The summoning ritual had begun.

As he felt like all eyes were on him, he gulped before his steely resolve returned and he pursed his lips in concentration. Mumbling incantations to himself as his eyes slid closed, his hand glowed blue and the staff began to throb with power, as if a creature had awakened inside of it. He let it go to concentrate on his words, but the staff was now levitating in the air as pulses of blue rings shot out of it to form almost a sphere around the center. The figures standing around him all raised their heads and chanted to the sky, words meaningless to all but those who were meant to hear them, and the wind began to pick up while the temperature plunged to near freezing point. As their words all joined together into an excited hum, they rose from their mouths and left them silent as they echoed and were carried by the winds.

They could now only hope that their words would reach the right person.

Knowing how dangerous this was, the young mage in the center gulped again as his eagerness and excitement was drained away with his magic. Feeling helpless, he wrapped his arms around himself and looked around at the hooded creatures, hoping that if bad went to worse they could all at least escape. If their pleas were caught by a malicious creature, such as the bane of the full moon, they had no magic left to protect themselves, and it would be up to Fate to whether or not they would survive. Catching his sister in the crowd of robed figures by her short figure compared to the rest, he tried to absorb the sight of her calm posture and reassure himself about this ritual. How else would he be accepted as a watermage if he didn't get the Sea Queen's approval?

Looking up to the sky in prayer, Manaphy could only hope the Dragon would keep the moon from being concealed – without its light, the Sea Queen would not appear, and it would give the monsters a chance to ambush them while they were powerless. It had taken all of their magic to do the ritual, which was why they only attempted this on the night of the full moon, when all but black magic was at its strongest and when one was safest to be out at night. If this didn't work tonight, they would have to wait until the next full moon, which was time they did not have – a watermage was needed now to keep the firemages from destroying their territory. They were getting stronger and stronger each and every day, so the situation was soon to turn to violence and death – unless they could cancel them out with water.

Suddenly, the wind had returned in a flurry, and Manaphy had to cover his eyes to keep debris from flying into them as suddenly they were bombarded by the reply to their message: icy cold spray from the distant seas. When he could open them safely, he grinned with delight and pride; he had successfully pulled the ritual off! The Sea Queen was coming now! He was now prepared to be questioned by her to see if he was ready to be the watermage of his clan.

After a moment of complete silence, there was a distant crashing through the trees that quickly became louder, and the others scrambled frantically to get out of the way of the massive wall of water that forced its way into the clearing. As it got to the center, though, it plumed up into a massive tower before marvelously stopping in its tracks in front of Manaphy and creating a throne of water that did not waver or break as a creature was revealed from under a veil of frothy foam.

With golden eyes peering from the throne, the Sea Queen was beautiful in all of her royal glory: a sleek body that could slip beneath the waves without creating a ripple; with sapphire skin along her back and sides that was traced by ruby lines on her fins that created an interesting pattern; her front covered with white skin that glowed in the moonlight; and ribbons that flowed from her tail and strangely tickled the air without wind. She sat among the waves relaxed yet poised, regal and yet peaceful as her eyelids were halfway over her eyes to let her gaze comfortably at Manaphy. He gulped, face growing red with anxiety and nervousness now that he stood before her, and he went to follow his comrades who had all bowed before her in awe.

"No," her commanding voice rolled over him like waves, and he found that he immediately stood back up at her order without thought. She smiled softly at this motion, causing him to flush even further, and she motioned a fin as she told him calmly, "Come here, young mage."

He walked forward as the water lowered her until she nearly touched the ground, and he looked up at her much easier now as she crossed her legs and cleared her throat. "Well," she started, "it's time for your test. Are you ready, mage?"

He nodded his head, a lump in his throat keeping him from speaking, and after watching his expression for a few seconds she nodded in acknowledgement and started the assessment.

"You are asking the Queen of the Sea, Kyogre," she pointed at herself for added visual effect, "to lend you the power to manipulate the waters of the world – to trust you and your ability to control, yet respect, the magic of the streams and oceans and rain. The power of ripping whirlpools and raging rivers will be in your hands, and you think you are wise enough to use them. Is this correct?"

Finally finding his voice, he coughed before telling her firmly, "I am." He kept his face serious and was glad he had no knees to knock together in fear, for although she was beautiful she was also a bit intimidating – but he wouldn't let that stop him from becoming a watermage for his people.

She eyed him with interest as she went on. "You will be the first in a long time to do this, and you will become the Prince of the Sea if you do so. You will have the burden of protecting and harboring the power of the oceans, and the rivers and streams in the land will be under you care. Anything that harms them and their creatures will also harm you."

Although he mentally winced at the thought of what pain he might have to go through, he nodded with determination, telling her, "I'll do whatever it takes." And he meant it – his people were in trouble, and he would do everything in his power to keep them out of harm's way.

Eyeing him with respect and pity, her voice lowered to a sad tone. "If you can't control this power, though, one day you will be consumed by the very waves you command, and your body will be lost to the sea forever." Tears began to form in her eyes, as if remembering the last poor person who had been overpowered by the magic, and she had to close them and wipe them away as he watched in sympathy and compassion. He even found his own eyes watering, but he quickly blinked them away as he kept his attentive gaze on her.

"I understand, but I must go on." He waved an arm to the other figures behind him, including his sister who had lowered her hood to gaze at him in awe (which was against the rules, but no one was stopping her), and told Kyogre, "If I can't be strong enough to save and protect my people, then we will all perish at the hands of the firemages that come our way."

She, however, wisely shook her head and informed him, "Young mage, not all firemages are terrible. Although you may feel it in your heart, they are just misguided people trying to feed themselves." She waved a fin at him to think sensibly. "As a watermage, you will learn to deal with these situations in a way that will bring balance to all, without violence." As he bitterly mulled over the idea of the firemages just acting out of desperation, she nodded to the staff and said, "Just because you wield a staff doesn't mean you will always get to smack down any opposition to your people."

"Yes, Sea Queen," he mumbled with a bow of his head, the sour feeling of retribution disappearing as he became calmer and more clearheaded.

"Oh," she giggled, shocking him as she hid her smile behind a fin, "don't call me that! It makes me feel old." She waved his surprise away and instructed, "If anything, call me Kyogre, since you're going to be calling me that while preparing magic, anyways."

His spirits rose with joy, and he murmured softly, "Does that mean…?" His eyes twinkled merrily as she nodded, and he raised his arms into the air and shouted, "Praise the gods! I did it!"

"You mean "praise Kyogre"," she commented slyly, causing him to blush before she leaned forward and placed her fin on his head. "Now, take the power of water and become a watermage of your people."

He would have replied in words if he hadn't been distracted by the sudden sensation of magic being transferred into his small body. He was suddenly surrounded with pounding and swirling water, being swept away by the tide as he flailed uselessly between the waves that threatened to bowl him over. He felt as if a waterfall was over him and being forced into him, and he had a fear of exploding for a moment before suddenly his eyes snapped open and realized that he had been standing there the entire time. Kyogre was still before him, and he was shocked when she leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. As his face grew warm with embarrassment and shyness, she winked at him slyly and whispered, "May the waters of the world guide your people to a peaceful existence."

Then, she looked up to the sky and gave a chilling cry, and the throne became a geyser and sent her shooting up to the stars. As she rose higher and higher at an alarming rate, she grew and changed from the form she had chosen to meet them in, until she had become a magnificent whale framed by the moon above. Giving one last cry, the water suddenly dropped from beneath her, and she flew far away from them in the distance behind the trees until they heard the telltale splash that signaled she had nosedived into the ocean safely. Manaphy watched this all in silence and contemplation, his face still a bit red, but then he was interrupted by an excited voice.

"Wow, Manaphy! That creature was glorious!"

He turned to his sister as she ran awkwardly up to him, and he finally scolded her, "You should have kept your hood up! You know that you're supposed to be hidden if you're not speaking to –"

"But her voice was so beautiful!" She stunned him into silence as she sighed and mumbled, "I don't know what she was saying to you, but when she spoke I knew I had to listen closer. I just wish I had been in the center…." The others around her gave her disapproving looks that she promptly ignored as she sighed dreamily.

Manaphy sighed, guilty because the clan's rules didn't allow women to do anything with magic. "I'm sorry, Phione…I would have let you meet her, too, if I could…but –"

"It's not your fault," she smiled, "and I understand. I'll just make sure to help you in a different way!" She waddled over to the staff that now stood by itself on the ground and wrenched it from its spot to give to him, all the time having a look of concentration on her face. Magic would have helped her where her body lacked, if she had been allowed to practice it with the other mages.

Just then, one of the others walked up to them and pulled his hood down, revealing a stern Golduck who stared at the staff intently with squinted eyes. "Manaphy," he grunted, his voice raspy with age, "did you make it?" Although him and Phione could hear the Sea Queen's voice and words clearly, the rest were strangely kept in the dark as all they heard was the mystifying humming of magic in the air.

The newly declared watermage proudly stood before him, nodding his head and saying, "Yep! Watch!" He held the staff over to his sister and concentrated, the milky pearl at the top barely touching the top of her head as he mumbled in the ancient language, "Kyogre, my beautiful Queen, please let me use your power to show my clan that I am now the Prince of the Sea." The pearl mysteriously turned blue as he closed his eyes, and the staff began to glow with power he had never felt before.

Suddenly, a geyser burst from the ground beneath her, and she yelped as she was thrown into the air before being juggled by the water as the clan members' jaws all dropped in unison. Manaphy smiled happily and let the staff drop, causing the geyser to slowly die down until the hole in the ground that barely trickled was all that was left of it. Phione was unharmed but elated, giggling happily and telling her brother, "Again, again!" She was stopped by the Golduck's glare, however, and she bowed her head in humility as she was supposed to. The new watermage pursed his lips at the sight, but he could do nothing about it.

"Yet…." The mysterious voice of the Sea Queen in his mind sent shivers up his spine, exciting him at the thought of changing such a thing as well as lifting his spirits at the thought of Kyogre being with him at all times. "Just be patient, my Prince…."

"Alright!" He turned around and raised the staff, shouting, "Let's go back home and make sure the firemages don't destroy our people!" As the clan cheered around him and followed him to the woods around the clearing, the Golduck gave a scowl at the young Pokemon leading his clan away. Shaking his head, he roughly grabbed Phione's arm and dragged her along, earning a squeak from her as they disappeared into the trees.

But, although the watermage's antennae were glowing at the tips with magic, the gem on Phione's chest strangely shined a dark blue as well….

Lots of dragon-y love (and cookies!),
~DL ('Dragon Lover')