Bianca reached forward, and pressed the button to switch the shower off. Instantly, the water stopped raining on her, reduced to a small dribble that quickly stopped. She pulled the curtain back and stepped out of the shower, facepalming when she reached for a towel, realising the dilemma she had inadvertently got herself into.

With all the fuss with Latias, she'd forgotten to grab a towel from the cupboard in her room. And Lorenzo had taken the one from the bathroom out, probably to be washed, so there wasn't a spare. Which meant she was stuck, unable to get dry, and unable to fetch a towel to dry herself off with, unless she planned on making the risky naked run to her room, or shout for someone to get her one.

"GRAMPS!"

Silence.

"LORENZO! CAN YOU GET ME A TOWEL?"

Lorenzo was old and a bit deaf. Latias, on the other hand...

"LATIAS?!"

She had to have heard that. But there was no response. Bianca shouted one last time and waited thirty seconds..

"ANYBODY GETTING ME A TOWEL?!" No Avail.

Really though, if no-one was close enough to hear her shouting, the odds of anyone seeing her in the four meter sprint were small. Besides, she didn't hear anyone outside the door. It was probably safe.

Bianca padded barefoot to the door and unlocked it, before pausing for a second, then opening the door and belting for her room, arms covering her privates should anyone else be on the landing.

Up until that moment, Mac had been looking for a towel. He'd heard Bianca shouting, and he'd shouted back to ask where they were, but she hadn't answered. So he was left wandering around the house, looking for where the towels were. That was, until Bianca slammed the bathroom door that he was stood behind, right into his face, having seemingly exploded out of the bathroom.

"Ahhhh!"

"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Bianca yelled back, getting to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her.

Mac hadn't been looking anyway, too busy grabbing his stinging nose. It didn't appear to be bleeding, but it still hurt a hell of a lot. He shut the bathroom door and considered asking Bianca if she needed help, but odds are she'd now gotten a towel from wherever they were, or she'd still be shouting. Instead, he looked around the landing, eyes fixating on one room. Judging by the color coming out of it, the room was very bright blue, in contrast to the rest of the house which had a rather dull colour scheme.

He opened the door to the unexplored room and stepped in.

Instantly, he tripped over a beanie bag. The fall would have been painful, but for the fact that - aside from the area where the door opened - there didn't seem to be a square centimeter of the floor that WASN'T covered in beanbags. Weirdly surreal.

After he'd removed his face from the bag, he noticed the second odd thing about the room, the particularly funky wallpaper. It was blue, with rounded red triangles at varying angles. It looked like the triangle on Latias' chest, but with blue instead of red and red instead of blue. So, in other words, it was the triangle on Latios' chest.

The walls also had quite a lot of shelves attached to them, and on the shelves were all kinds of things. They were painted either red or blue, and the majority were red. Oddly, while the blue shelves only had stuffed dolls, the red ones held anything from a sweet wrapper, to rocks, to bouncy balls and even a gold-colored bracelet.

Mac wasn't quite sure why the room existed, but if he had to guess it's exact function, he'd say it was a room for Latias and Latios to sleep in. He didn't know why, but it just seemed like it would be. Still, it was interesting. He went over to a shelf and looked at the dolls.

There were all sorts of them, all different and none of them were human, or indeed any type of recognisable animal. Were they Pokemon? A few looked similar - a fox but with a fluffier tail, a black cat with a weird pattern on it, a weasel All of them had tiny little holes in the fabric. Punctures. Although they appeared random, Mac noticed an insignificant detail. The majority of the dolls had the majority of their punctures around the neck area.

Curious, Mac reached to pick up one that looked like a wolf.

"They don't like it if you touch their toys." A voice behind him suddenly said.

Mac turned and realised it was Bianca, stood in the doorway. Thankfully she was clothed, though Mac couldn't tell exactly how as most of her was covered with a long pink towelling robe that went down to just below her knees.

Mac hadn't actually gotten to touching the doll, and withdrew his hand as he turned to face Bianca full on.

"Oh. I take it 'they' is the two dragons?"

Bianca walked in nodding, also navigating the floor so she didn't trip on a beanbag like Mac had.

"Uh huh. If Latios finds your scent on them and you haven't been playing with them with him, he'll shun you for a few days."

"Well, we wouldn't want that, would we? Actually, I wouldn't. So...if the stuff on the blue shelf is Latios', thhheeeeen... is the stuff on the red shelves Latias'?"

"Yup."

Mac nodded. "I see."

Now she was closer, Mac could smell the scent of the shampoo she'd used. And was it him, or was she leaning towards him slightly? The thought didn't occupy him for too long, and he'd asked Bianca for clarification on a much simpler matter.

"Oh, right. Is this where Latios and Latias sleep then?"

A look of annoyance flashed across Bianca's face, but Mac was oblivious and waited for her response.

"Oh. Er...no. It's not their bedroom. They didn't sleep here last night, did they?" Bianca let a bit of annoyance creep into her tone as well.

"I wouldn't know. I was knocked out and tied to a boat, if you remember."

Bianca giggled at this. It was quite funny. They had tied him to a boat after all.

"Yeah. Funny for some. My back kills."

Bianca sensed an opportunity to get to know Mac a bit more. He was here, she might as well socialize. Who knew, he sounded an interesting enough person.

"Do you want a massage?"

"Do you know a chiropractor?"

Internally, Bianca facepalmed. He had to be kidding. No one was actually that clueless. She stayed silent and the moment quickly turned awkward.

"So what is this room then?"

Bianca looked around a bit before answering.

"It's just where the twins go if they want to fetch something to play with. Or have a short nap. Only a short one though, they always sleep outside during the night, unless it's really, really cold."

"Oh. Why does Latias have so many bits of rubbish on her shelf?"

Bianca shook her head the moment he said the word rubbish.

"Don't ever say that they're rubbish to her. She loves all these things, if you did she'd be really offended!"

"Bit sensitive isn't she?"

Bianca ignored his remark and carried on explaining.

"Latias is the female, so naturally she's the one who'll go out and try and find nice, pretty things. I'd imagine to decorate a nest or something."

"But that's just a sweet wrapper. There aren't even any sweets in it!"

"No, but look at it from her point of view. Look at the inside, it's all shiny with colors and everything. It'll probably still have the scent from whatever sugary thing was in it. Plus she likes noisy things, and that'll make an interesting scrunching noise when she bit it. If she was to build a nest out of it, Latios would be pleased with it."

"And that's another thing! Why do they pick stuff up with their mouths all the time? They've got hands!"

"Not hands, paws. Paws with claws on the end. Their claws are too sharp and aren't that good for picking stuff up with. Cutting, yes. Fishing, also yes. But picking up with, they're rubbish. And anyway, they're at their sides. They won't be able to see what they're picking up a lot of the time"

"So why does Latias always have her paws out, and Latios always has them in?"

"Arceus! I don't know! So many questions! Why don't you ask them yourself?"

"Because they scare me. They'd scare you too if they'd headbutted you into a tree."

Bianca giggled again. Somehow, the idea of Mac in pain was amusing.

"That was just Latios, and he's done worse. You should see his kills. Did Latias kill anything while you looked after her?"

The question was asked innocently enough, but it made Mac lock up and freeze.

He could still remember the sound of bone breaking. Human bone. Even though it was the same noise as a chicken bone, it had a completely different sound. One that made chills run through your spine, one that would make even a serial killer wince. Yes, Latias had killed something. Someone. How he'd managed to cope with it at the time, he didn't know, but now it was over and Bianca had mentioned it, it was coming back in a rapid series of bloodied images and twisted sounds. Mac shook his head and re-entered the real world. He'd never left it, really. That memory was in the same world, just a different time. The past.

"Oh. Yeah. She killed a mouse. Didn't show it off or anything though."

Bianca frowned at Mac, concerned with the length of time he took to answer the question. Something was up, and he wasn't telling her what.

"Right. A mouse. Was that it?"

This time, Mac answered immediately.

"Yes. She didn't kill anything else."

"Hmmm... Well, they'll probably be eating now, if you want to go and see what he's caught for his new mate." Bianca broke back into a smile and nudged Mac on the word 'mate', happy that Mac had managed to reunite the pair.

Mac hadn't really been listening, slipping back into the events of two days before. So he just nodded. "Yeah. That's a good idea."

Latias and Latios had torn the Sharpedo corpse open sufficiently that it was now officially a carcass, which they were enjoying feasting on. Latias more than Latios.

It wasn't outlandishly tasty, but it was still good, and unlike most fish, very plentiful. Perfect for when you were hungry. True, it was cold where they were eating, but once she'd got used to it, Latias realised it wasn't actually that bad. She tore away another small hunk of muscle from the side of the shark and chewed it down again, using her pinprick incisors to rip through the meat, before swallowing. Whereas Latias took a load of tiny bites, Latios preferred the opposite, taking large chunks and swallowing them after a minimum amount of chewing. More than once it led to a visible lump in his neck as the food went down. From time to time he aided this by moving his neck back so his head was pointing upwards, with gravity helping pull the food down. Latias didn't know why, but she liked it when he did this.

Behind her, at the kitchen window, Bianca and Mac watched them, talking to one another, but keeping their eyes on the two dragons at the same time. Bianca was explaining the feeding process to him.

"They have two or three meals a day, depending on how hungry they are and how much they catch. We always give them breakfast and dinner, and they can choose how they have it. If it's meat for dinner, we'll give it them uncooked, seeing as it's healthier for them. If they've not caught anything for themselves or they're still hungry, we also give them lunch."

"How much do they eat?"

"Well, look at what they've got there. That's double a typical sized catch for lunch or dinner. And they'll have at least two of that per day"

"Two of that animal?"

"It's a Pokemon okay? I know where ever you're from its an 'animal', but if you say that in public here, most people will think you're a bit weird. And no, they don't have this Pokemon very often. I think Latios has just got it to show off for Latias. But as well as this, they'll have quite a few smaller ones, and Latias will collect berries for the two of them to share."

"Awwww. That's a lot though. Aren't you worried about how much they kill?"

"Huh. So long as they don't leave a mess everywhere, I don't really have an objection. They eat the bones most of the time. And they're smart enough not to eat too much of one species, otherwise it'll die out on the island and they won't be able to eat it"

"That's clever!"

"They are. Terrible at maths, though. They don't understand numbers past twenty."

Outside, Latias continued to eat, though there wasn't much left. She'd eaten most of it, and made a point of eating the part right next to Latios, so her ears were rubbing next to his whenever possible.

Latios was enjoying his meal, simply put. It wasn't just the meat, though that was exceptionally tasty. Latias was what really made the meal, even if she hadn't actually collected any berries. Her scent was everywhere, and it made him feel calm and happy. Of course, the wound in his side still hurt, but there wasn't much else he or Bianca could do about it.

It had hurt quite a lot when he was getting the Sharpedo, not that he'd paid great attention to it. To quote a film that Bianca watched when she was small, "just keep swimming". Besides, it would fix itself.

He stopped briefly to move his head back an dislodge a chunk of liver that got stuck in his throat, which prompted a giggle from Latias.

"Why are you giggling? What's so funny?"

Latias lowered her head against the kill and blushed a response back.

"Oh. Nothing, you just looked really...funny...when you did that."

"Did what?"

"That thing you do when you take a really big bite. You know, like this."

Latias pulled off a fairly good imitation of what Latios did, before putting her head back against the kill.

"Oh! Do the noise! The noise!"

"What noise?"

"You know! The one you do in the morning? It sounds like you're growling?"

Latias wouldn't tell him, but that noise made her really excited. That noise, it was a noise that only a really good mate could make.

To his credit, he tried his best. But the cut in his side still hurt too much, and he stopped abruptly after about a second, wheezing out air.

"Nope. This cut down my side hurts still."

Latias lifted her head back up and looked at him, concerned.

"Let me look at it!"

Latios didn't resist as Latias flew round to Latios' side, where the cut was, as she started rubbing it with her forehead.

Behind the kitchen window, Bianca sighed. It was so nice seeing the two of them back together, even more now they were a couple. She planned on enjoying the moment, watching the eon duo look after each other, but Mac interrupted.

"So, they're brother and sister?"

Bianca sighed and explained, still facing the window with her head supported by her hands on the windowsill.

"Yes, they're siblings. And mates. Don't let that bother you though, they're just animals after all."

"Right...and mates means..."

"That they'll have baby Lati's flying around. And if they're anything like human babies, I hope I'm not alive to help Latias cope with them." That wasn't true. In fact, there was nothing more that Bianca wanted than to see a baby Latias and a baby Latios, and help Latias and Latios look after them. But since they were legendary, it was highly likely the eggs - when Latias laid them - wouldn't hatch for decades.

"Right. So what is Latias doing now?"

Bianca thought it was blatantly obvious what was going on.

"Seriously? She's loving him. He got hurt a bit back, so she's probably just cleaning the wound again."

Latias was indeed cleaning Latios' injury, taking tiny licks along the tear in his skin. The feathers had grown back over it, but the actual cut still remained, hidden by the white and blue pattern.

"That's nice!" Latios growled back at her, trying to put on the voice she'd requested. This time it worked better, and he curled his head around and lowered his wing, enclosing Latias' as she worked.

Latias was seriously enjoying this. She was surrounded on all sides by Latios' scent, he was doing the really attractive voice, and he was protecting her. At the same time, she was making little happy noises in-between licks, pulling away any bad things and dirt that could infect the wound. Not that she knew that. In her mind, she was helping Latios and it felt good.

"Are they going to sleep?" Mac yet again pestered Bianca.

"UGH! NO! It's barely 6 o'clock and they haven't even had all of their dinner. Besides, they'll probably come in for a drink or something before they go to sleep."

"Drink? What do dragons drink?"

"Latias likes sweet things, so cider. Latios just likes to copy Lorenzo, so beer."

Mac laughed.

"And I suppose they have it in little plastic bowls with Latias and Latios written on them too?" He'd said it in a joking manor, and was surprised when Bianca pulled out two red and blue bowls from under the sink, with the respective twin's name on.

"Yep. But they don't drink out of them. They can't drink from a bowl, they always mess it up. We give them their alcohol in a glass."

Mac just shook his head.

"I've arrived at the mad house..."

Eventually, Latias and Latios had both finished cuddling and finished their meal, and yowled to be let inside. Mac and Bianca were in the lounge at the time, with Mac trying to show off on the piano. Both of them heard the noise, but Mac was the first to open his mouth.

"What's that?"

"The dragons." Bianca replied abruptly, heading for the door as Mac got up from the piano stool and followed. "They want to be let in."

"Can't they open they door with their mouths?"

"Yeah, but let's face it, they're not going to. Besides, they're probably snouting."

Mac and Bianca both made it into the kitchen and she reached for the back door.

"Snouting?"

"Yeah. Like cuddling, only with their snouts. It's what I call it when they rub their snouts together."

"Oh..."

Mac didn't really have time to put another word in, as Bianca had opened the back door, letting Latias into the house.

With a great squealing noise, Latias flew right into Mac.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC!".

Mac let out a whoosh of air as Latias flew right into him. From her perspective it was playful. But her perspective was that of a dragon. In reality, Mac was lucky he didn't break a rib. As it was he was winded. Latias followed him right to the floor and started poking his stomach with her snout,

"Boop! Boop! Boop!"

Mac wanted to laugh at the situation, but there wasn't enough air in his lungs, so he settled on choking instead.

Latios looked on, somewhat annoyed. Latias was his mate, she shouldn't be showing this much affection to another male! In an attempted to draw attention back to himself, he did the same thing Latias was doing to Mac, to her.

He flew in-between the two, folding his wings back as much as possible, before jabbing Latias' underside, making her squeal with laughter and rotate round so she was floating belly up, claws out and trying to cover her stomach, even though they were way too small.

Latios flew back above her and started jabbing her stomach with his snout.

"Boop! Boop! Boop!"

The plan worked, and in seconds Latias was giggling back, hovering upside down a few feet above Mac, who was still winded on the floor.

Bianca saw the silliness and for a few seconds acted mature. In the end, temptation won out, and she grabbed a tea-towel from the side, throwing it at Latios. It landed directly over his head, covering his snout and eyes.

Latios smirked. He knew Bianca had thrown the towel on him, and it was a recurring joke that they were just giant birds. Latios decided to play along with it.

"It's dark. Must be night time."

Latias realised what he was going to do next, and moved out of the way, just in time. Bianca and Mac didn't know what he even said, and had no time to react as he pretended to go to sleep, which also involved stopping levitating.

Latias and Bianca watched as 80 kilos of dragon fell to the floor with a thud. Unluckily for Mac, his legs were directly underneath, and Latios fell directly on them, triangle on his chest hitting his thighs.

"Ooooof! Latios?! Why?!" Mac groaned.

"It's night time!" He replied, both outloud and psychicly.

Mac just groaned and tried moving his legs from under Latios. The majority of his weight had missed his legs, but they were still stuck. His hands, however were not, and he whipped the towel off Latios' head. The moment he did, Latios playfully butted him in the head. Mac didn't like it as much as Latios thought he would, he still had Sharpedo blood on his mouth.

"Daytime!"

With a cheer, Latios flew off Mac, before flying after Latias, back into the house through the kitchen doorway. Their squeals continued through the house.

Mac mumbled and rubbed his head as he sat up. Bianca just smirked.

"I thought Latios was meant to be sensible. You said, you said he was the sensible one."

Bianca walked around the center table and offered Mac a hand back up. He took it and pulled himself to his feet as Bianca explained.

"Well, he is. But they're both still playful little creatures. Not normally with strangers, though. I think he's started trusting you so quickly is because of Latias' heat."

Mac glanced around the kitchen and back out the doorway. It would appear the dragons had flown into the living room.

"I see. Latias' heat seems to be the blame for a lot of things."

"Well, it's the cause of a lot of problems."

"Right. They've had their snack, what do we do now?"

"Well. I guess we could all have a drink now? That is, if you'd like one?"

"Err...sure. Where's Lorenzo?"

"Oh, probably building a boat or something. He won't mind. What do you want?"

"Err...I dunno. What are you having?"

"Cider. Same as Latias. Latios will be having cider too, since Lorenzo won't like him having his beer without him."

"Well then, it'll be a cider for me too!" Mac grinned at Bianca, staying stood still since it wasn't immediately obvious where the cider nor the glasses were stored.

Bianca smiled back at Mac. "I'll get the drinks, you can go talk to the twins. I think they went into the lounge."

"Lounge? You mean living room?"

Bianca stepped back round the center table and replied with a cheeky smile, facing the cupboards.

"No, it's a lounge. And I don't care what you used to call it either."

Mac checked and walked away into the living room.

Latios and Latias, meanwhile, had decided on a different way to sit. Ordinarily, Latios would lay on the piano and Latias would sit upright on the sofa. But when Latios went to lie on the piano this time, Latias decided to join him, whining until he lifted his left wing for her to fly under. The moment she was there, she set about cuddling his side with her snout.

Latios didn't really dislike it, if anything, it was nice. He was protecting Latias with his wing, he could feel her against his side and it was really cute. The piano was making a creaking noise because of the extra weight, but it wasn't that bad.

Latios stopped looking at Latias and watched as the door to the room opened half way, and Mac's head peeked around the edge.

"Hi Mac!" The two dragons shouted in exact unison.

Latios had to admit, another male presence was nice. Especially one like Mac. Way too weedy to be a prospect mate, but at the same time, quite cool. And playful. Bianca always projected the impression that she was playing because you nagged her, but in the day that Latios had spent with Mac, he seemed to be doing it as much for his own enjoyment. Still, Latios decided to keep an eye on Bianca when she was in heat. He didn't want her getting too attached to him.

"Oh, you're in here! On the piano?" Mac questioned, walking over to the pair perched on the piano.

Mac hadn't actually spent more than an hour conscious in the house at the same time as the dragons, so it wasn't unusual that he was only learning of their favourite places to sit now.

"I suppose it's high up, eh? And nice and soft?" Mac reached forward and experimentally held his hand above Latios head, judging if he was safe to pet.

"Yeah, really soft! Not as soft as the beanbags upstairs!" Latias coo'd, as Latios kept his head still. Eventually Mac decided it was safe and lowered his hand onto Latios' head, just behind the eyes, before stroking an arms length down his neck.

"Really interesting feathers, aren't they? The size of a pigeons feathers, double sided, really shiny. Do you keep them clean yourself?"

Mac was completely guessing when he said that. But the dragons were sentient, and grooming is important to all animals, so it made sense for Latios to clean himself and not have Bianca do it.

"Yep! We keep clean by ourselves!" Latios dutifully responded as Latias became jealous of the attention Mac was dishing out and tried to get her own fair share, pushing her head in-between Mac's hand and Latios' neck.

"I clean him too! Especially his ears!" The tactic had succeeded and Mac was now petting Latias, patting her head and stroking her neck. Latios kept a weary eye on his mate as Mac did, although he didn't seem to be hurting her or trying to steal her off him.

As Mac stopped petting Latias, he found himself in an odd position. The problem was, Latias and Latios were both sentient, thinking animals, that could speak to him. And yet, they acted like very large dogs. Or cats. Especially like when Latias competed for attention when he'd started patting Latios.

Mac stayed stood where he was and looked at the both of them, thinking of a question to ask. Well, what did he want to know?

"You guys enjoy dinner? What was it? That your kill, Latios?"

Mac expected a psychic response, but Latios just made a positive sounding noise.

"Okay then...well..."

Mac patted Latios on the head a second time, then flopped down on the sofa next to the piano. He was exhausted. Even a solid days sleeping hadn't given him enough rest from the entire ordeal of getting Latias back. And today he hadn't been particularly active.

Bianca nudged the door open and entered the room carrying a tray of drinks and two white sweets. She set the tray down on the table in the center, before throwing one of the two mint-like objects at Latios, intending him to catch it in his mouth. "Blue one! Catch!"

Latios saw the mint heading towards him and opened his mouth for it to land in. But as it got closer, he realised that it didn't smell like a mint. Or any kind of sweet. It smelled chalky, and not tasty at all.

Latios shut his mouth and lowered his snout back down against the piano. The not-sweet bounced off and fell to the carpeted floor. Latios made an unimpressed snorting noise and spoke in Lati into the piano.

"Nice try Bianca. But that's a medicine tablet. You'll have to try harder than that to get me to swallow it."

Bianca cursed herself. They hadn't been out of medicine like she'd told Latias, they'd had just these two tablets left, which she'd hoped she could fool Latios into thinking were mints. She almost had him too, and once he'd taken the medicine, Latias was more likely to. But since Latios hadn't willingly taken the medicine, she decided to try plan B.

Latias watched in panic as Bianca grabbed the other tablet and ran towards Latios, arms out and screaming. If she was trying to intimidate him, she was going the right way about it, but it still wasn't having much of an effect.

Latios kept his head firmly against the piano as Bianca reached him and tried levering his snout up from the instrument. She stopped when he barred his teeth and started growling, much to Latias' relief. Latias didn't want to, but all her instincts were telling her she should stop Bianca from attacking her mate, which was essentially what she was doing.

Mac observed Bianca changing tactics, going down on her haunches and putting her eyes level with the blue eon.

"Now Latios, don't be silly. It's one tablet, it's not going to hurt."

"No."

"Stop sulking. You're going to have this one way or another. Have it or...I'm going to...not talk to you for a month." That was one she had used with mixed results before. Latios loved social interaction, even if he pretended not to. If she ignored him, he'd go mental after a few hours.

The hole in her plan was that Latios was now mates with Latias, meaning the requiem for someone to talk to was not as great.

"Whatever. You won't do it. I have Latias." Latios curled his neck around his partner to prove the point.

Bianca didn't understand the words, but his attitude was enough to get the gist.

"I'll do it! I can talk to Mac instead!"

Latios remained silent, tables turned as he hugged his mate closer, snout now pointing inwards towards Latias. Suddenly, he was the one ignoring Bianca.

"Fine then. I'll talk to Mac. Hi, Mac!" Mac played along.

"Hi Bianca!"

Latios didn't stir, lost in his own world that contained him and his mate only.

"So, Mac, do you go to the gym?" A random question, but one that Latios would surely comment on. He couldn't resist butting in on anything to do with manliness and masculinity. Anything to show off to Latias.

"Er...a gym?" Mac stuttered. They had those here too?

Latios responded this time, the urge to pass a smart remark too strong to contain.

"Yeah, Mac. A gym. Exercise gym. You know, where humans go to say who's the better male because they can't hunt things any more. Gym."

Bianca immediately pounced as Latias made a giggling noise at the smart aleck.

"I thought you weren't talking to us?"

As was inevitable, Latios turned quiet again.

"Right. Whatever. So, Mac, what do you think of Altomare so far?"

Mac took a sip of the drink Bianca had handed him and answered, deciding not to question the taste of the bizarre drink. Whatever flavour cider it was, it definitely wasn't any he recognized.

"Well, I've only been in this place awake for a few hours. Your house is big, four stories!"

"It has to be to fit those two in. Bulky wings and rubbish cornering!"

Latios heard the comment and Bianca knew it because she saw his ears twitch, the way they normally did when he knew he was being referenced. Other than that, though, he stayed unresponsive. Mac carried on.

"I haven't been outside yet, but from what I've seen, there's a lot of water."

"Yep. That's not what ALL the places in Hoenn are like, there's a mainland about 50 miles away. But on this island you really need either a boat or a Pokemon with surf to get around. There are walkways, but none from this house."

"Do Latias and Latios know surf?"

"Duh! Yes! But you can't use them, because someone would see them and try catching them."

"Right. Will anyone be planning on teaching me how to boat then? Or will I be stuck in the house?"

"Lorenzo should have a spare boat in his workshop. I guess you can use that. Tomorrow? We could go out and I could show you how to captain? Using a float like mine is less tiring, but you need to persuade a Pokemon to let them put a harness on them. Which I don't think you'd like doing."

Latias spoke up psychicly and vocally, but stayed where she was.

"Not tomorrow! We're going to Katie tomorrow! Absol has had pups! We're going to see them and I'm going to see if I can help her!"

Bianca blinked.

"Really!? How do you know that?"

"She called while you were in the shower."

"Oh. Okay then...change of plan, then. Tomorrow, we'll get Lorenzo to boat us to Katie's house. That should be fun. Then Mac can learn to boat in the afternoon. We can go out to eat in the evening."

Mac nodded, half wondering what exactly an Absol pup looked like, and half wondering how he was going to learn to captain a boat.

"But enough about here! You'll learn about it sooner or later...where do you come from, exactly?"

Mac sighed and leaned back. It was a good job they had a few hours spare.

And readers who want to know what happened with Mac, who he is and how he saved Latias, take a look at my story 'Home', since in this story I'm going to gloss o'er that for now and start the next chapter with our characters going to bed.

Also, who likes the tension I built up between Mac and Bianca? Are they friends? More than friends? Read on to find out. Also don't forget to review!

Final note, something big is about to happen in the online fiction world. Well, moderately big...