NOW UPDATED: I've made a key plot chage here, by adding a new intelligent character. That should make it interesting. He is also important in chapter 13-14.

This chapter was originally posted the day after the first. Whilst I have since posted considerably faster than that (three chapters in a weekend, sheesh.) I was still new. I really should practice what I preach to Ash.

Patience Ganon, Patience.

The same warning and disclaimers apply as in Chapter 1, namely, I don't own pokemon, but I do own the character Ganon.

Anyway, enjoy...Hopefully

Lateral Ganon

# # # Chapter specific notes # # #

Words in Italics are Ganon's thoughts, and cannot be heard by anyone else.

Chapter 2: Going With the Flow.

Brock and Ganon went down to the café at the end of the bridge they were stood on, and waited for Ash and Misty to turn up. After all, they did say they would meet up there after the race. They had sat down at a table and were looking absently through the menu. Neither of them were hungry, but there was a sign that said no loitering. Twice a waiter had come down, and twice Ganon had been forced to buy cheap watered down Coca Colas. He grimaced as the foul broth reached his mouth. It tasted like old washing up water.

Sneasel has leapt off of Ganon's back and was skulking around under the tables, looking for things to eat or steal. She really wanted to sink her claws into a nice fish from the kitchens. She adored fish, and let nothing stand between her and it.

Brock saw Misty and a lean boy rushing up to them from the waters edge. She seemed very happy, but considering she had just won, it was no surprise. She was carrying a glass medallion the size of her face. They were both dripping wet, and Ganon scowled as some of the water from her hair dripped into it, just adding to the dubious mixture. He subtly moved the glass under the table, and tipped it onto the floor. When the froth had flowed away, he noticed the floor tile was now considerably cleaner. His eyebrows dissapeared into his hair in amazement.

"Hey Brock! Where's Ash?" Misty asked looking around. She wanted to rub Ash's nose in the fact that she had won. She really enjoyed a good gloat. She suddenly spotted Ganon and recognised him instantly. She had seen him (or she thought she had) before whilst racing.

"YOU!!! Why did you turn around before during the race?! You nearly made me crash into you! You tried to sabotage my race!" She yelled at him, pulling him up by the lapels and shaking him. Ganon didn't try to force her away, and laughed at her gently. He was not surprised by her sudden outrage, considering she was always overshadowed by her sisters, she would do anything to win. Almost. Brock just watched in shock, because when Misty gets in a rage, it's a primal instinct to run in the opposite direction very fast. Laughing at her was just a sure-fire way to end up upside down in a dustbin. She glowered at him and was about to throw him whe he answered.

"Then I suppose you didn't notice that Ash had just crashed into the wall behind you, and needed help."

Misty blanched. She hadn't noticed that Ash was in trouble, she was too focused on the race. She'd presumed that by the fact that he overtook her at very high speed that he'd been keeping up with them and put on a sprint on the home stretch. She released her hold on his lapels, smoothing the material nervously. Misty just mumbled under her breath,

"I didn't notice…"

"Well there's no shame in it, it was a very fierce competition, and you needed to keep your wits about you otherwise you wouldn't have won so spectacularly. Oh, where are my manners, my name is Ganon. And you must be the lady Misty. An honour to meet you."

He took her hand and bent down low to kiss it, and she flushed heavily. Not many boys actually took her seriously. She closed her eyes as she awaited a moment she had dreamed of. However a commotion in the café behind them caught his attention. He looked sidewards to see an array of cutlery flying through the air. Misty scowled as it had ruined the moment.

"Get your thieving claws out of my kitchen you little beast!" The chef shouted from the kitchen entrance.

Ganon saw his Sneasel running out of the shop carrying a big fish with a bite taken out of it.

"Ah, naturally. Wait here please, my Sneasel has got herself in trouble again." Ganon said as he walked into the café. "If you don't mind, I think it would be better not to chase her like that."

"What? Is that your Sneasel?" the rather large chef rounded on him with a cleaver in hand.

"Yes it is, and I would hope that you had the manners not to assault my Pokemon. But obviously, you are incapable of that. You still haven't answered the question."

"He's terrorized my kitchen staff…"

"Answer the question."

"Broken into my kitchen…"

"Sir you are trying my patience…"

"He has contaminated my entire food supply…"

Ganon strode over to the chef in long measured strides, before standing directly before him, his hands behind his back, and locked eyes with the chef. A cold fury emanated from their depths; blood red eyes penetrating straight through him as Ganon towered over him. The eyes said one thing. Don't annoy me.

"My Sneasel is a dark type, in case you hadn't noticed. Therefore she does not see the need to be bound by your laws. As for terrorizing your staff, get some new people which aren't terrified by an oversized mouse. It's pathetic. Judging by the quality here, or rather lack of it, they will be finding rodents everywhere. Now answer the question."

The chef looked at his feet shuffling uncomfortably and mumbled something under his breath.

"Sorry, I didn't understand that, I don't speak mumble."

Ganon grabbed the man by the shoulder, steering his face to look at him. There was something in Ganon's eyes, a faint ghost of something powerful was emanating from them. The chef suddenly thought he realised something. He now found himself beleiving that this boy was a member of higher management for the café. He shook himself profusely apologizing for his state of address.

"I'm so sorry I acted like that sir. It's the wife and kids sir, they believe that they are more important than the buisness. How crazy!"

Ganon scowled at him. He didn't like the idea that anything could be more important than family. He knew that more than most. That was disgusting. The chef took no notice.

"As for the fish, please take it as a sample of the exquisite culinary masterpieces." The chef said, smiling broadly at him. Ganon just smiled knowingly at him. He looked over to a sink that had a distinct brown tint, and a rusty pan sticking out of it. There was something grotesque floating in it, for which no words were horrible enough to describe.

The Colas are washing up water you dolt. Or more like griming up water.

Ganon looked to his Sneasel, who was now staring at him with reverence and awe. Being a Dark type, Sneasel would never be able to use the power that Ganon had just exhibited. He smiled down at her gently and left the café with her following behind, greedily ravaging her new fish.

Ash Ketchum had just arrived from his unscheduled diversion when Ganon reappeared from the café. He was also still dripping wet, so clearly he either had to swim some parts to avoid the crowds, or Totodile was still hyperactive from the race… probably the latter as he would have dried off by now from the long walk.

He was shocked to see Ganon with Brock and Misty, mostly because he wasn't expecting to meet his rescuer/helper, but also because he looked somewhat bizarre with a Sneasel ravaging a huge fish following behind him.

"Are you the…" Ash started to ask him, but Ganon cut him short. It seemed to be becoming a habit.

"No Ash, I only helped in your rescue in the race. Someone else saved you from crashing through the window."

"Who are you anyway?" Ash asked him. He wasn't going to start bringing a random stranger along with him. Ganon smiled and gestured to Brock.

"This boy is called Ganon. He says he's a conserver, trainer and breeder. He is also a master, but the press doesn't follow him because he went into the line of Pokemon research."

"He's a Master?!" Ash cried out, open mouthed with shock. He was finally meeting a real pokemon master. "How many pokemon have you seen?"

Ganon smirked and pulled out an exceptionally ornate Pokedex. He opened it, and showed it to Ash. As he read the total entry count his mouth dropped open, and he panted loudly in absolute amazement, as though the Pokedex was electrocuting him. On the Pokemon register, was at least 450 pokemon.

"I've been told theres only 384 Pokemon." Ash asked him. Ganon grinned smugly, and pulled a pokeball from his belt. He tossed it expertly into the air with a series of flourishes, and it landed in the courtyard. A Riolu leapt out of the ball, and brandished it's fists expertly. It raised it's arms in front of it, and held a fighting stance in front of the assembled group, smiling at them mysteriously. They also noticed it wore a black sash across it's chest, which was decorated with gold embroidery. Sneasel ducked behind Ganon's head as she saw it appear. It was Ganon's only Pokemon that could beat her in a fight. It nearly did the first time when he'd used her to catch it, but now that he'd trained it considerably, it could beat her in one hit. Dark pokemon were weak against pokemon and attacks of the fighting type.

"Awww! It's so cute!" Misty squealed when she saw it. The Riolu looked at Ganon quizzically, before he nodded to it. The Riolu smirked smugly in the same way as Ganon. He was going to enjoy this.

"Hold still Misty. If you move, it will hurt." Ganon told her as the Riolu flowed through a series of poses, jumping kicks, roundhouse punches and jabs all around Misty's form. None of the hits connected, but she could feel the air around her in turmoil at the small pokemon's flurries. Suddenly, she felt a weight on her shoulder, and a small blue arm was poking over her left shoulder, holding a blue tulip. She looked up at the pokemon, and smiled nervously, before accepting the flower. The pokemon jumped of her shoulder an landed on Ganon's about three metres away. The Sneasel cowered lower behind him as it glared at her.

"He's never given anyone a flower before. He must like you." Ganon said as he picked the Riolu off his shoulder, stroking it as he put him on the floor. It purred gently, and began to glow white.

"Whoa! Ash! Get you're Pokedex out, and you've got two brand new entries! He's evolving!" He called to him. Ash didn't waste a single second, and focused the scanner on the pokemon in front of him. He could see it growing, keeping pretty much exactly the same shape with the exception it's body was becoming more toned and agile. The energy surrounding it dissipitated and stood there was a Lucario. It looked a lot stronger, with steel knuckle-dusters growing from the back of it's hands, and a patch of fur on it's torso which resembled a judo vest. It looked very well suited to combat. Ganon looked around to see that quite a few people had stopped to watch the event, and had all joined together in a round of applause.

He smiled and bowed theatrically, rolling his arm as he bent down to the floor with it. He watched for a while as the Lucario performed some more acts with his martial arts, enjoying the crowds attention. He really was a show off. He even including a brief series of acrobatics where it appeared as though it never even touched the ground, flowing through the air so fluidly it was like quicksilver. Even Ganon was impressed now. Usually only a few pokemon were capable of Levitation, the two that immediately came to mind where the sole reason why he was here. He knew that Lucario wasn't actually levitating, but he still had to admit the illusion was perfect. The Lucario stopped jumping around, and stood next to Ganon, doing the same theatrical bow. Some members of the crowd laughed, and applauded all the harder. Ganon perked up suddenly as he noticed a redheaded girl in the crowd, but then realised it wasn't who he thought it was. He noticed that the Lucario had taken Ash's hat, and was walking around the ring of people with it. He smirked as almost everyone put some coins init. Ganon whistled as he saw the Lucario return with the hat brimful of money.

"Come on Lucario, you know we don't need charity!" Ganon said smirking at him. He knew that it could understand his speech perfectly, and was not surprised when he smiled back. He opened a small pouch on a sash the Lucario was wearing, and put the coins in it. "Well, back to buisness... how can I convince you that I'm a Master?" he said smirking at Ash, offering him his hat back. They all laughed. Ganon returned the Lucario, and Sneasel let out a relieved sigh. She sat on the floor, and started mucnhing on the fish again.

Misty decided to change the topic. She could see that Ash was bursting with questions for their new friend, but if they stopped now, they wouldn't get anything done.

"Hey guys, this is Ross, last years champion. He's a gondolier and has offered to give us a tour of Altomare if we…"

Ross stopped her there though when he noticed that the Sneasel was eating the fish.

"Ganon, you do know where your Sneasel got that fish from don't you?"

"Yeah, he got it at the café behind us. Why? Is it as dubious as their Cola?"

"Yes actually. That restaurant is not known for its hygiene, the food is typically at least a week out of date."

Sneasel practically turned green and spat out the bit of fish it was chewing and hurled the rest of the fish at the chef. The chef looked up at them, wiping fish guts off himself with a murderous expression on his face, before he noticed Ganon. He quickly smiled and waved at Ganon. He ignored the chef.

"We'd be delighted to go on your tour, Ross." Misty said

"And you can come too Ganon." Ash said, grabbing Ganon's hand a little too enthusiastically. Brock and Misty winced at his sudden motion, hoping that he didn't scare Ganon away. They were shocked when he smiled back at them.

"An enthusiastic trainer aren't you! Sure I'll come with you."

He'd been desperate to learn how to become a Master from the very best. And judging from the performance, this was the best of the best.

Ross showed them around Altomare, pointing out features such as a great chapel, and a series of ancestral homes of renowned families. Ash listened intently to all of this, for all the world a typical tourist. Ganon had told him that patience was a virtue, and that he'd help him whenever the need arose. Ash relaxed as Ross passed quickly over an area of shorefront terraces which had an abundance of attractive girls. Brock definitely picked up on this, but Misty was too entranced by Ross's Latin charms to cuff him around the ear.

Ganon had been trailing his fingers in the water beside the boat when something bit him, and he pulled a Remoraid out of the water with his bare hands, much to the amazement of Misty. Remoraids were feisty creatures that were hard enough to pull out with a rod. He intricately measured and recorded it on his device, before throwing it back overboard. A Pelipper swooped in and snatched it out of the water, much to the disappointment of everyone. Ganon sighed as he deleted the record.

Sneasel was lounging on the front of the boat with Pikachu and Togepi, apparently asleep with a NeverMeltIce on her forehead to banish the heat of the day, whilst Lucario was sitting on the front edge of the passenger section, listening avidly to Ross, swinging it's legs. Ganon wasn't really particularly interested in the history of Altomare; it was too painful for him.

They soon paddled close to the museum, when Ross pointed out the symbols on Misty's new Medallion. She held it up to the light to watch the light refracting through the glass.

"It's really nice! They sort of look like Pokemon." Misty said delighted. But suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, there they are again, on top of those pillars."

Even Ganon woke up to look at what she was pointing at. There were two exquisitely chiselled stone pillars, ornately decorated with ancient icons and mystical symbols, but nestled on top amidst rolling waves of stone, were two granite effigies of Latios and Latias. Lucario's face instantly turned serious and he stared at Ganon. Their gazes locked before they looked back at the statues.

Well. A lot of new questions asked here. Who is this mysterious girl that Ganon was looking for? She'll reappear much later. The actual girl that is, not the random one that he saw just now. What is Ganon's mysterious power? Re-readers will already know, but it's a nice expansion of the first sighting of it last chapter.

UPDATED: This chapter was my second shortest, so this one was well overdue for a revamp. It's now currently my third longest. Hopefully the addition of Rilou/ Lucario will be a nice touch. At least it adds a bit more depth to the character. I think the presence of Lucario will change things a bit now, being a fighting/steel type. But it means I'll have to rewrite the ending, I've still got two weeks, so I can do it.