"Speech"
"Poke-Speech" (Whenever Latias is alone with Ash she forgets to use telepathy)
'Aura'
"Telepathy" (When specified or in the presence of a group)
'thoughts'
Latias woke up with a start. She sat up, looked around and wondered why she was in Bianca's guest room and uncloaked. Then the depressing events of last night hit her like a freight train. She remembered Latios' brave sacrifice. Latias felt tears swell up. She was about to break down again when she noticed a soft snoring. Latias looked down at the other end of the bed and saw Ash sleeping at her... well... fins? She didn't know what to call them as Latios had only begun to teach her about Lati's anatomy. In other words, he had slept with her the entire night! She eeped out in surprise at the thought. Sure she had a crush on him, but this was too far, too fast.
Ash stirred at the noise and sat up. "Good morning Latias." He mumbled while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"G-good morning Ash," Latias stuttered out with generous amounts of blush lighting her face with a bright pink, not unlike the color of her reddish-pink feathers. "Did you sleep well?"
Ash sighed. "Not really. I kept dreaming about Latios and...and how it's all m-my fault that h-he died…a-and," He broke down, big, heart-wrenching sobs escaped him. Latias could not bear seeing the one she loved in pain like this. Latias scooted closer and wrapped her arms around him.
"It'll be alright," she comforted him.
"If only I hadn't come to the garden."
"Ash Ketchum! I never want to hear you say things like that again." Latias exclaimed grabbing Ash's attention. "If you had never come to the garden, I would have never fallen in lo- eep!"
"What was that Latias?" He asked
"Nothing!" Latias quickly said, blushing. Before Ash could pry any further the door swung open and Bianca, Brock, Pikachu, and Misty rushed in.
"Ash! You're awake!" Misty happily exclaimed. "Are you okay, are you hurt? Why are you so close to Latias, and why is she blushing?" Misty fired off with a hint of accusation in her voice at the last question.
Ash gulped when Misty asked why he and Latias were so close. He knew that Misty wouldn't give up until she knew the reason, or just brandish her magical mallet; Ash decided to tell her.
"I was sleeping and Latias came to check on me. She said something and started blushing." Ash explained, wondering why. "And how do you know that Latias is blushing? I can hardly tell because of her feathers."
"What exactly did she say to you?"
"I don't know. I was just about to ask her when you barged in here," said Ash.
"Umm...I said...that I-" Latias started to stammer out, afraid that she would have to tell her secret, when Ash's stomach growled, interrupting her. 'Saved by the bell. Thank Arceus!'
Everyone in the room started to laugh at the perfect timing of Ash's trademark tension diffusior.
"Can we eat breakfast please?" Ash pleaded. (A/N: Thank goodness for Ash being out for two days huh?)
"Actually Ash, it's dinner time." Misty deadpanned. "It's six o'clock."*
"But I'm in the mood for waffles."
-(Line Break/Time Skip)-
After Dinner
"Thanks Brock," rang through the house.
"Who knew that you could have breakfast for dinner?" Said a very stuffed Lorenzo. (A/N: I have it all the time) The quadruple helping of waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, and hash browns that was made was gone in a matter of minutes due to a hungry latias and a hungry snorlax…or Ash, whichever you prefer.
"Man that dinner was good, but it tired me out. I'm going to bed," said Bianca.
"You know what, that sounds like a good idea. Goodnight." Misty yawned out. With that one by one the rest of the gang went steeply to bed except for Latias, Ash, and Pikachu (who was determined to stay up with Ash).
"So what do you want to do?" Asked a bored Latias.
"Whatever we do it has to be quiet." Replied Ash. "Is there anything on the television?"
"Only romantic soap operas this late at night." Latias informed him, from what sounded like experience. "I guess it's better than nothing, but we could watch some of you want to."
"Why not." Ash said grabbing a random remote from the couch beside him and hitting the power button. Suddenly both the TV and the DVD player turned on and started playing Latias' hatchling videos. (A/N: We all have them! Don't deny it! Imagine your baby videos with an adorable, big-eyed, chibi Latias in them as you. Also embarrassing.) "Daww!" Ash exclaimed at seeing the adorable, big-eyed, chibi baby Latias, much to her dismay.
"TURN THAT VIDEO OFF NOW ASH!" Latias yelled trying frantically, and failing, to grab the remote from Ash.
"HEY! We're trying to get some shut eye here!" A very ticked off Misty yelled from upstairs.
"Well if everyone wasn't awake they are now." Deadpanned Latias.
-(Line Break/Time Skip)-
The Next Morning
Bianca rubbed her sleepy eyes as she came down the stairs. Blinking away the crust caused by sleep she saw Ash and Latias asleep on the sofa cuddling with a blanket over them and Pikachu curled up on the recliner. Bianca slowly crept back upstairs to grab her sketchbook to draw this precious moment, and slightly for blackmail purposes. It would have gone on without a hitch had Brock not tripped going down the stairs and tumbled into Bianca.
"Sorry Bianca. Couldn't see where I was going." Brock apoligized.
"Shhh! We shouldn't wake them," Bianca said, pointing to Ash and Latias. Brock went down the rest of the way, somehow, and started making an actual breakfast for everyone while Bianca went upstairs to wake everyone back up and grab her sketchbook.
They came up with a plan for the day once everyone who was awake had finished breakfast.
"I need to go to the store to pick up more supplies for dinner tonight. We are going to have a king's feast!" Said Brock. "Who will come with me?"
"I'll be okay with being a pack mule for today." Lorenzo volunteered. "I may be old but I'm still strong from my days as a pro wrestler. I can also save all the girls on the island from you."
"Dang!"
"I want to go fishing near the ocean with my new lures," Misty exclaimed with an excited squeal. (She had bought a new pack of lures while Ash and Latias were out of it)
"Let's go then," said Bianca. "All of the good fishing spots will be taken if we don't get there soon." Then Bianca wrote a note to let the sleepers know where they were. After they left for their activities Ash and Latias woke up.
"Wha? Oh, good morning Latias." Yawned Ash.
*Yawn* "Good morning." Replied Latias.
"Where is everyone?" Asked Ash.
"Looks like they went out," Latias said picking up the note. 'This means we have the whole day to spend together.'
"So what do you want to do?"
"Whatever you want to…. um how are we talking normally and understanding one another?" Latias realized.
Ash blinked. "Um, it might have been when Latios gave me some of his power. Cool! Now I can understand Pikachu, but don't tell him, I want it to be a surprise. And I know the perfect way to get him into a situation where it will 'shock' him, pardon the pun." Ash leaned over to Latias and whispered the plan to her.
"Alright! Let's do it!" Latias was practically bouncing up and down with excitement.
"Shhh! We don't want to wake Pikachu up." With that Ash and Latias crept out the door and out onto the streets of Altomare. (A/N: Latias is cloaked of course)
-(Time Skip/Line Break)-
After some pointless timewasting…. (about sunset)
"So what now?" Asked a bored Ash.
"We haven't been to the garden yet. Why not go there?" Latias suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Ash said. They walked side by side all the way to the enchanted wall and passed right through, appearing on the other side. Blinking, Ash looked around at the secret garden. His eyes glanced over to the swing where Latias showed him her true form, and the pavement right next to the pool where he face planted right after. (A/N: Went to watch that scene again! I couldn't stop laughing) There was also the Soul Dew pond, where the Soul Dew kept all of the water flowing in Altomare. Ash would have kept reminiscing but there was a 'come on' from Latias.
"Hey, it's almost sunset. Want to watch it from my favourite spot?" Asked Latias with a light blush adorning her face.
"Sounds fun," replied Ash. Then with Latias' new strength she picked Ash up and placed him on her back. They flew to the top of the tallest tree in the garden and Ash was set down gently on a sturdy branch with Latias floating next to him, both facing the setting sun.
"Sure is beautiful," commented Ash
"Latios and I used to come up here every night to watch the sun go down and the moon rise. Then he would tell me to go to bed while he did one last patrol around the garden." Latias said with the beginning of tears forming in her eyes. Ash looked over and saw her start to cry. He wrapped his arms around her neck and laid his head on her chest.
'What is this feeling? I've felt this before, but only around Latias. Could this be...love?' Ash thought 'Mom told me about love right before I left on my journey, is this it? It must be! How do I tell her though? What if she dosen't feel the same way? What if…'
"A...Ash?" He heard the timid voice of Latias, breaking him away from his thoughts. "I don't know how to say what I'm feeling right now other than the truth. Ever since I saw you in the water chariot race I saw something special in you. When Latios took a wrong turn with Totodile down that canal, you didn't get mad at your pokemon, you forgave them. I think that's where it started. Next when you saved me from those Team Rocket agents my feelings only grew. When we were playing here it was the happiest I had been in a long time. I was depressed because Latios would not let me leave Alto Mare. Then when Latios was captured I came to you knowing that you would help. A… And I...I'm sorry, I'm rambling on. What I want to say is that… Ash… I love you."
Ash looked up into her beautiful amber eyes with amazement. "I know that I can't hope to match your reasons, but I can match the way I feel about you. Latias, I love you too." Ash confessed.
"You really mean it?" Latias asked hopefully.
"Yes."
With that simple word Ash leaned in and kissed Latias on the cheek. Latias blushed heavily but leaned into the contact. Ash slowly pulled away, to her disappointment.
"Y...You missed." Latias stammered out. She moved in close but this time kissed his lips instead of his cheek. Ash jumped a little in surprise, but accepted the kiss. Neither of them knew how long they sat there, but by the time they were done the sun had long set.
Everyone say it with me. 3… 2… 1… Awwwww! They are finally together. Thank goodness! I promised that I will upload this by Valentine's and I did. HA! Take that procrastination!
Anyway I'll keep working on the next chapter of A Misfit Riolu and hopefully upload it by St. Patrick's. Also upload dates will be random until the end of the normal school year. I have a lot of work in store for me, so I will upload when I can.
Anyway (wow I start a lot of paragraphes with anyway) see you in the next chapter!
-DBCVX
