Chapter 3: Icy Escape
I pulled out my jacket from the closet and put it on, over a thick wool sweater. I put on a pair of ski pants and put on a pair of earmuffs. I looked out the window at the thick coating of snow and wondered if I needed to wait for a little while before I could go outside. I stuffed an expandable herb collecting bag into my pocket.
The sooner I got the herbs the sooner Latias can leave, and the sooner Latios can get out of his illness. I picked up a tall pair of boots from my closet and walked out of my room and sat down on the stairs.
I tied my shoe laces and stood up to stretched. It's been at least a month since the last time I walked around outside, due to the constant snow storms. I walked towards the door and Latias followed me.
"Stop," I said, putting a hand up to stop her. "If another person saw you, they would try to catch you and there would be an army of paparazzi at my house."
She moved back a little looking as if she understood.
"Alright I'll see you in a few..." I started to say.
Her eyes glowed lightly for a few seconds and a ball of light surrounded her.
I covered my eyes with my arms, squinting in the light. After a few seconds the warm light that had engulfed the room disappeared allowing me to stop covering my eyes. In Latias' place stood a young teenager. From her knitted grey hat flowed long auburn hair, perfectly straight as if it was cut just yesterday. Her eyes were golden and showed a sign of intelligence but were hidden behind a bright naive smile. She wore a pair of expensive looking designer jeans with a thin jacket. A pair of tall brown boots reached up the sides of her jeans.
"What about your injuries?" I asked, trying to get her to stay in.
She shrugged at me and smiled.
"Alright at least let me lend you a jacket." I said, walking back upstairs still dumbfounded by the sudden transformation.
I opened the door to my and searched for a slightly smaller jacket. I looked at a black jacket that I wore a year ago and thought about it for a few seconds. Satisfied with my own decision, I slung it over my shoulder and jogged down the stairs to hand it to her.
I walked over to her and showed her the jacket.
She looked at it and frowned for a second, then, taking it out of my arm, she smelled it lightly. With nothing else to say she put it on.
"Let's get going. Eevee!" I shouted, getting her attention. "Want to come with us?"
She appeared from the kitchen and yawned. Then she walked back to, probably, her crib.
"Alright let's get going then." I said, facing a different wall to turn off the lights. I opened the door and the snow poured in, nearly pushing me off my feet.
"Wow!" I said, jumping back to avoid getting buried by the snow.
The snow reached up to my thighs, and seemed to continue in the distance forever without a single dent in the snow.
"I suppose that means wait," I said, trying to close the door.
Latias grabbed my arm and pushed me back behind her.
I could hear Latias breathe in quietly and then she held her breath. After a few seconds she released it all at once, making a sound a high-pitched in-human sound.
She threw her hands up in front of her and looked down at the snow. Suddenly there was a powerful gale that pulsed through me and quickly left. I looked past Latias' shoulder and saw that the snow before her was blown away, revealing a large patch of wet land.
"Dragon breath," I muttered in silent awe.
Latias continued forward, stepping onto the grassy wet land. She looked around perplexed by the scenery.
I stepped outside and stretched lightly, feeling pain run up both of my arms.
"Latias!" I said, grabbing her attention. "Our destination is up there!"
I pointed at the top of a snowcapped hill. She followed my finger with her eyes and looked at the top of the mountain.
I jumped into the snow and pushed forward with force toward the peak. I could feel snow welcoming itself into my feet, wetting my socks. I pushed some snow back with my hands, trying my best to swim through. Then my foot hit something hard and I lost balance. I threw my hands up behind me trying to get a grip on something.
Finding nothing the white snow rose up to my face and collided with me. Suffocating in the snow I pushed back up and got onto my feet, my face cold with snow.
Latias chuckled behind me, laughing at my fall.
I patted the snow off my jacket and continued forward. I could hear Latias walking behind me, stepping in my trails.
************************************************** ****************************
About 30 minutes later…
"This is the peak," I announced, throwing my hands up. The sun started to sink among the rug of snowcapped trees.
I fell to my knees, tired from pushing through the snow. My legs were numb and my toes felt crowded in the hard wet snow, inside my boots.
I stood back up, and looked behind me to see Latias nearly slipping on the trail I left behind for her.
"Alright," I said, stretching again. "The Herbs are most likely buried underneath all of this snow."
I fell down to my knees and patted the snow away softly, and found grass.
Latias watched me work away vigorously, slowly pushing the snow away.
"Found one!" I said, uprooting it and bringing it to Latias for her to see.
The herb looked like a cross between a clover and grass, but with a light green tintThe stem looked more like a piece of grass and from the stem leaves shaped like a clover sprouted.
She studied it and smelled it lightly. I pulled out the portable bag from my pocket and unfolded, creating something as big as a small sack pack. I softly put the herb in the bag and dropped it to the ground.
Then Latias grabbed me by my arm and slowly raised me up. She pushed me back behind her again and put her hands in front of her.
"No!" I shouted, getting in front of her before she could breathe in.
She stared at me with a light frown.
"You might destroy the herbs by doing so. They're quite fragile," I added, watching her put her hands down.
I knelt down again and started to push through the snow with my hands, pushing the snow away like if I were an archaeologist, delicately patting away sand from the fossil. Eventually taking my gloves off, I carefully pulled more snow away from ground, finding more herbs to up-root.
It was probably another thirty minutes before I looked back. Latias had worked twice as fast, and suddenly it seemed that there were a good amount of herbs in the bag.
"That's good enough!" I said, standing back up and stretching my back. I picked up the bag and looked inside to be sure that all the herbs inside were correct, in which they were. I carefully swung the bag over my shoulder and stretched my back. I could feel the bruises on my arm as the strings of the bag tightened around my wrists.
Latias lifted her head at me and I smiled at her, softly. She stood up and we both followed my trail back down to my house.
We were at my house in a matter of minutes, and I had already decided to spend the night turning the herbs into usable medicines. As I approached my house, a man in a large jacket stood in front of my house. A black hood was pulled over his face to cover his identity while he sat beside the door. An oversized Houndoom sat beside him, asleep on the dry Earth.
I stopped and crept down quietly moving towards the backdoor, away from the two beings. Snow rose up to my nose as I quietly moved in the same path. Latias feeling my sudden change in tension, knelt down with me.
I stood up to look over the snow path that we hid in. The Pokemon and his trainer undisturbed. I motioned with my hand for Latias to follow me and we quietly continued down the same path.
I looked up before continuing down the same trail I made.
I pointed towards the right at the backdoor of my house. From this range we were probably barely out of ear shot of the Houndoom. I took a careful step into the snow, and looked back again. The Houndoom stayed asleep. I walked forward carefully, each step feeling tenser than the last. Latias stayed behind me, carefully walking into my footsteps. We were minutes away from the backdoor, but as we got closer, the higher the chances of the Houndoom hearing us.
Halfway crept I jumped off the trail into a new spot of snow. I could feel the snow rise up my pants as I landed.
I bit down a light whimper and looked the other way at the Houndoom. Not a single reaction.
I was now at my house, all I needed to do was jump about a couple more times, without making too much noise. Tension rose in my body as the chances of me getting back home were slim. What if I told Latias to runoff, I pondered to myself, if that were to happen the Houndoom would eventually catch her scent.
I looked around again and jumped into another patch of snow, ice crackling beneath me, just two more.
Behind me I could hear Latias jumping into my tracks.
Here I go, I thought to myself.
"Hey, you!" shouted a man behind me.
Caught… I thought to myself.
I turned around and jumped out of the snow into another patch of snow.
The man and Houndoom glared at me and Latias as we got closer.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Have you seen this red and white dragon creature that resembles a Latias around here?" asked the man as we got closer. The man wore a large red jacket and shiny black ski pants. He had a small brown mustache and wore a gold piercing in his ear.
"No, sir." I answered, calmly.
"Who's that?" asked the man, pointing at Latias.
"Her, she's just a person that needed advice on where to find these herbs." I lied, opening the bag of herbs to show him. "I'm going to have to take them home and boil them to make some actual medicine."
"I see…" said the man. His Houndoom came closer and took a quick whiff from the bag. He turned his head at the harsh smell and came closer to smell me. I lightly patted him with a cold hand and he licked it.
"Houndoom seems to like you," he said, watching the houndoom's tail swing from side to side. "He doesn't generally like people, even me."
I shrugged and patted the Houndoom, moving the gloves from his temple to his nose.
The Houndoom walked over to Latias and immediately started to growl.
"Seems she doesn't like your friend," said the man, his eyes squinting with suspicion.
"Must be the smell of the herbs on her." I started to explain. "After all she was the one who was doing most of the work. Either that or, maybe the smell of the herb is stuck on his nose, after all I just touched his nose by accident."
"Maybe so." He said, watching Houndoom growl at Latias. I could hear Latias uncomfortably shift her feet.
"I must ask you," Said the man, looking back at Latias. "How did you make that hole in front of your house, I mean it didn't even harm the grass."
My body pulsed with nervousness. How was I going to hide the fact that it had to be a certain legendary Pokemon used a move called Dragon Breath?
"Nice, right? I taught my Eevee Trump Card, anyway how do you know where I live?" I asked, suspiciously. Please get off the topic I begged in the back of my mind.
"Oh, the fact that, people say that only one person lives up here and there's only one person that ever comes up hear." Said the man, eyeing Latias.
"Is that so, strange every now and then a couple people come up here." I said walking towards my house. "Either way I must get going, pleasure to meat to you."
I quickly walked off with Latias following behind me.
"You too," muttered the man going his way.
Once I got back home, and closed the door, I peered out the window.
"Latias," I called.
I could hear Latias walk closer from behind me.
"I think that person is working with my mother, otherwise why else would he have calmly waited by my house?"
I turned around to find Latias nodding slowly, agreeing with what I have to say.
"I don't know what is exactly going on. However they tried to harm you so that means that it's best to keep you out of whoever's hands. You should leave right after I finish making the medicine." I said, with a sigh.
With the bag of herbs still in my hand, I walked over to the kitchen and poured water from the faucet into a pot. Then I moved the pot of water onto the stove and turned it on. I grabbed a knife and a cutting board from a cubby by the sink.
I dropped the bag of herbs onto the table and opened it up. I pulled out a handful of herbs and started to hack off their roots with the knife.
Eevee watched me from the floor as I paid her no attention. As I hacked off the last root from the group of herbs I could hear the water start to boil.
I could feel Latias' light stare on my back as I took off my jacket and hung it off the back of my chair.
About an Hour Later…
I had finished packing the last herb into a small plastic bag.
"Latias," I called into the other room.
She walked into the kitchen and looked at me.
"Just feed this to your brother and he should be alright." I said, handing her the plastic bag.
Not really knowing what to say to her, I smiled at her.
"You should get going as early as possible," I said, kind of sad that she had to leave. "Well it was nice having you over and your welcome back here. Hope your brother gets better."
Back to boring life of studying, I thought to myself. The past week may have been painful but it was sort of 'interesting' I guess I could describe it. Perhaps this is what 'fun' is called, certainly it was entertaining.
I looked at the clock which read 9:00PM. I'd hate to throw her out this late at night; she may be flying for hours after all to get back home.
"It's late, want to stay here for tonight? I suppose whoever's after you isn't going to come back up here during this time." I said, looking out the window at the dark sky. I hope this was the better of the two decisions.
Latias nodded and sat down on the couch.
"Guess I'll go ahead and cook dinner." I said, going back to the kitchen.
************************************************** ***********************************
About two hours later…
I stayed up drinking warm tea, as I generally do on cold loan nights. There was not a sound in the house except for my light slurping and Eevee's soft snoring from her crib. Darkness surrounded me except for the kiss of the moonlight against my face.
Tranquility, I thought to myself.
Then I remembered, what was with my mother? Was she a criminal? If not why would she strike at Latias. To add to it, what if she was the one who hired that guy from earlier?
I slurped from my tea again, steam bellowing lightly from the smooth brown surface.
What if the group of wizard looking characters were some other people, asking my mom for help or something. I mean after all she is a powerful gym leader and she owns her own fighting-type dojo. I suppose it would go quite far to make you appear very powerful.
Suddenly there was a cool breeze in the air.
Had I opened a window earlier, I asked myself, getting up. I walked over to the living room and found the shadow of a man near the couch where Latias slept. A window was open behind him, the blinds raised letting more light into the house.
I crouched down and quietly moved toward him, as an Arbok would to a Serviper. The man held a dark spike shaped object in his hand and he quietly moved it closer to the Latias.
"AAHHH!" I screamed, jumping onto him. I ceased his right hand, that was holding the spike and tackled him down to the ground.
Latias' head jerked up in shock and stared into the dark. I could hear Eevee footsteps come closer as I squeezed the intruders right wrist, trying to disarm him.
"Houndoom!" shouted the intruder.
I could see a reflection of red light on the open window. I squeezed harder trying to force the man's grip to release.
Then from the window a spiked of ball of fire lit the room. In the seconds of light I could see the intruder's face, the man from earlier. Latias' eyes contorted with surprise as she stared at me and the intruder. Eevee, who tried to get to the right of me two help disarm the opponent.
Then suddenly the wall behind us was lit up by a large explosion of fire, imploding before spreading out amonst the walls like red vines. I jumped off the man and yelled," To my room!"
The man still slightly dazed from getting tackled tried to stand back up.
"Eevee , Return!" I shouted. Eevee tackled the man to the floor and ran up the stairs.
Latias flew over all of us, now in her dragon form, and went up the stairs. I kicked the man in the ribs lightly and ran up the stairs to my room.
I slammed the door shut behind me as I could hear from downstairs," Houndoom get through that window!"
I pulled open my closet and pulled out my snowboard.
"Hold this, and make sure that door stays closed," I commanded Latias.
She leaned against the door with all her weight and grabbed onto my snowboard. I pulled out my jacket and looked around, was I forgetting anything?
I quickly ran to the dresser as I pulled on a coat and grabbed my goggles, of course I couldn't leave without them.
"Latias, leave," I said, pointing toward the window. "This is your only chance and don't forget about the medicine on the dresser."
She grabbed the medicine off of my dresser, and pried open the window. She passed me my snowboard and lightly bowed with her head. She jumped out into the night sky and flew away.
"By-by and be safe," I muttered sadly and pulled on a pair of boots.
The door suddenly jolted and cracked where the door was attached to the hinges.
I wrapped my arm around her stomach and jumped out the window onto the icy roof. I closed the window and jumped down into the snow covered ground.
"Ow," I muttered, my legs popping as I landed.
"Eev?" asked Eevee sympathetically.
"I'm all right," I said, putting the snowboard, and Eevee, down. I started to attach the snowboard to my boots.
"Wait," shouted the man from the window.
Without a single look back I stood up and slid away on my snowboard. I could feel Eevee jump onto the back of the skateboard and balance herself.
"Houndoom, Fire Blast!" shouted the man from the window.
I looked back and saw a large ball of flame. I covered my face with my arms and closed my eyes as lost I balance. I could feel myself colliding with a wall of cold snow behind me. But wait I didn't feel any pain…
I opened my eyes and saw Latias floating before me, her hands spread out. Before her was land cleared of the snow.
"La… Latias?" I quietly muttered, starring at her.
She turned her head around and smiled at me, the medicine bag still in her hand.
She winked and turned around to grab me by my jacket with both of her hands.
"Aah!" I lightly screamed, as she started to lift me up. Behind her I could see Eevee jump onto her back.
"Latias?" I said still surprised.
She looked down at me and smiled.
The night sky behind her turned into a blur of stars, wind blowing my hood over my head.
"Thank you…" I finally managed to say, unsure of what else I could say.
She closed her eyes and flew blindly for a few seconds. Her eyes opened but they were shinning like before. The same blue sphere formed around us.
The scene changed and Latias was flying besides us, chased by the strange creature that kept scarring me.
Was that supposed to mean that she was chased more than once?
"Latias, were you chased by it more than once?" I called up.
Still in her trance, Latias nodded.
"Does that mean you can't travel by air?" I asked.
She nodded, and I cringed at the thought of being chased down by that thing. Then one crazy thought formed in mind.
"Need help?" I asked, cringing at the words that left my mouth. I didn't want such a harsh journey but the thought of being guilty about it forced me to want to her help her.
She nodded and closed her eyes, the blue sphere shattering. Her eyes opened again as she slowly lost altitude and floated towards the ground.
"Latias, if you're going to land, then land close to, but not in, the town. I think I know a place where we can stay for a few seconds and plan things out." I said, feeling the wind run up my jacket and pajama pants.
Damius' Note:
I don't know if you guys noticed but for some strange reason the size of the text is strange, it's bigger than the second half of the story. The reason why it's bigger is because I wrote part of it at school and well that's what you get from trying to write on an outdated version of Microsoft Word. Anyhow, if there is anyway I could change this please PM and I'll try to do it...
I have an idea to start another Fanfiction, about an absol and his trainer. Everybody hates them but the two of them make the most powerful duo team ever. I'm probably going to release the first chapter this month however before that the Latias and Latios chapter comes first.
Please review so I know how I'm doing. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and till next time Setsuna Damius Signing out...
