An hour and a half in, and Mac still hadn't finished, when Lorenzo walked in with Cubone on his shoulder. He'd barely finished the part where they'd broken out of the printing press.

Mac glanced at Lorenzo, and he nodded, realising what Mac was explaining and indicating him to carry on. Another hour and a half passed, but eventually Mac finished.

There was a silence as everyone absorbed the three hour story. Eventually, Bianca broke it.

"Well...that's some adventure..."

"Yeah" Mac sighed. "Let's never do that again..." He turned to look at Latias, only to find both dragons asleep, Latias tucked up under Latios' wing and Latios' head curled around her. Mac stopped and looked at them.

"Oh...that's so...?"

"Adorable?" Bianca suggested.

"Yeah. I was going to say cute, but I guess that'll work too." Bianca grinned back at him. But a few seconds later her face dropped.

"There's a few things that you missed from that story I think. A few things just don't add up, mind if I ask?"

Mac realised he was rumbled. He'd tried to avoid the parts where people had died, but it had led to some plot flaws and it looked like Bianca had picked up on them. He spoke with a dry mouth.

"Like? I'm really tired and-"

"You said there were seven policemen at the train station. You knocked out six, which is impressive. What happened to the last one?"

Mac thought fast.

"I knocked him out too, I just forgot to say."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You're lying. If you'd have knocked all of them out, you'd have said. You wouldn't just 'forget' something like that."

Lorenzo interrupted. "Now Bianca, don't be so harsh. I'm sure he's entitled to miss out a few details. It must have been a very rough day, after all. Mac?"

"Yeah. I just forgot is all."

But Bianca wouldn't let the case rest.

"But the pilot wouldn't just LET you jump out of his plane. I don't think you can even open the doors wh-"

"BIANCA!" Lorenzo finally lost his temper. "It sounds unlikely, but as long as it got Latias here, you don't need to complain. All will be discovered in its course."

While granddad and granddaughter stared each other down, Mac made the tactical decision to go to the bathroom and excused himself. Unfortunately, so did Bianca, claiming she'd use the other toilet. The moment they were out of the closed door, Bianca cornered Mac, which was a sight to see as he was taller by a head.

"Listen, MAC." she whispered, spitting out the word 'Mac' instead of saying it.

"Latias came back with blood on her snout. She'd have only got that by hunting land animals, and she NEVER goes hunting without Latios. How did that get there? Huh?"

Mac stuttered, but stuck to his story, keeping his arms at his side and generally being submissive.

"Oh, she just nicked my arm. Bit me by accident. My own fault, put my arm in the wrong place."

"Liar. Show me."

In hindsight, Mac realised he could have just said that Latias got desperate and hunted without Latios anyway, but it was too late to change his mind now. Mac rolled up his sleeve and revealed a gash in the skin. It wasn't too bad and he couldn't remember getting it, but it certainly looked deep. Bianca wasn't convinced.

"Latias didn't make this, and if she did, it wasn't by accident. She'd have made a puncture if it was an accident, not a gash. Anyway, there's not enough blood for this. So, let's try again. What. Did. She. Do?"

"She got home safely! That's all that matters, surely?"

Bianca sighed. At the end of the day, it was true. But at the same time, she was highly suspicious of Mac's story and the blood on Latias' snout. It just seemed awfully convenient that no one died in their quest to get back. Especially what Latias was in season and tracking down her mate, it wouldn't take much to provoke her. Bianca changed her approach, changing her voice and face to sound sweeter and more accepting.

"I'm sorry. It's just. Well...Latias doesn't have as many morals as we do. And if she was angry, well, there's no telling what she would've done. So I just want to know: did Latias injure anyone while you were trying to get back? I'm not going to hurt her, but I need to know."

Mac considered it. Bianca WAS her owner after all. She might as well know.

Mac sighed before speaking again.

"Yes. She did."

"Who? And how badly? Why?"

"She killed a policeman - who was about to shoot me - with a death ray thing..."

Bianca looked shocked but his tone told her there was more, so held out from exploding.

"She bit the co-pilot on the plane and he probably died with the amount of blood there was."

When Bianca spoke, her tone was like steel. Cold, hard and unforgiving. Cast iron. "What do you mean, 'probably'? How can you not know something important like that?"

Mac gulped. "Well...the pilot fell on her and it looked like he crushed her wing. So, she was, like, startled and she...she..."

The memories came back, but not the words to describe it. Dismembered? Ate? Tore apart? Consumed? Crunched?

Bianca stood as Mac ground to a halt. She felt sorry for him, she really did. And she felt horrible for treating him the way she was, backing him into the corner after the bad time he'd had as of late. But she needed to know. Not so much to punish Latias but to remind her about etiquette towards humans.

"She...she...er..."

"Killed?" Mac gulped it down and carried on before he broke down completely.

"The pilot...and...then...ate his leg. Then the plane exploded from a missile that the people chasing us fired." Mac looked downcast.

"Ah." Bianca wasn't really quite sure what else to say. Well, what else was there to say to someone who was practically responsible for the deaths of a hundred people?

"It's okay Mac. That wasn't really your fault, I'm sure. It's whoever was chasing you'd fault." She was trivialising it so badly, and it wasn't strictly true, but it'd do for now.

"It wasn't Latias' fault either though! She was just doing-"

"What she needed to do to survive. I know. I'm not going to yell at her, but..."

Mac didn't want Bianca to punish Latias. And he didn't want her to tell Lorenzo either. Mac didn't fancy the idea of having him find out he was technically a mass murderer. Bianca tried explaining her point further.

"Listen, Mac. Do you know the four 'F' thing?"

"No. Why? What's that got to do with Latias...killing someone?"

"The four F's are the four things that govern everything she does. It's the same for all animals. Anything she does can fit into those four categories."

Mac couldn't see where this was going.

"And they are?"

"Fighting, Feeding, Fleeing and Fuc-"

"Finding a mate." Mac quickly interrupted before Bianca continued.

"Right. So, I need to know WHY she did those things. Because it wasn't fleeing, and it wasn't finding a mate, unless she wanted to impress you. Which she didn't. So she either did it to fight, or to feed. And if it was to feed, it's probably a wise idea to tell her that humans are not food."

"I see. Not to sound ungrateful, but can we discuss this another time when my back isn't up against a wall? Tomorrow? Lorenzo's probably wondering why I'm spending so long on the toilet."

Bianca glared at him. "Okay. We'll talk about this later, but I'm not going to involve Granddad. Unless I have to."

She composed herself and walked back into the living room, stood in the doorway and looked at the situation. Cubone had come off Lorenzo's shoulder and ended up sleeping sideways on his lap. Lorenzo smiled when he saw Bianca notice.

"Look at the little fella. Daft as a Skitty!"

"Huh. Is he asleep then or?"

"Fast on. Poor guy, I wanna get up and go to my bed, but that'll wake him up."

Bianca sighed and walked over to Lorenzo, leaning over his lap and hitching Cubone by the shoulders.

"Guess I'll make myself the unpopular one..."

Cubone groggily opened an eye, but when he saw it was Bianca picking him up, he closed it again. She would take him somewhere just as warm and safe, he trusted her to it.

Bianca heaved Cubone's weight and cradled him like a baby.

"How did you carry this on your shoulder?! What does he weigh, thirty kilos?"

Lorenzo didn't get the sarcasm.

"Nope, ten. Almost average."

Bianca grunted again and turned to face the piano, where the sleeping dragons were. Well, Latias always said she wanted to look after some kids. Which presumably involved putting them to bed. Or nest. Whatever it was Latis actually did with their young.

Bianca shifted Cubone into one arm and lifted Latias' innermost wing with the other. She opened her eyes, but didn't do anything else. No one's aura was panicked. Everything was fine.

Latios noticed the movement too, and smelt Cubone and Bianca. No actual threats though, unless Bianca had a medicine tablet. Which it didn't smell like she did. He stayed alert but kept his eyes closed to maintain the illusion he was still asleep.

Slowly, Bianca lowered Cubone under Latias' wing. The moment he felt her feathers, he moved a paw around to lightly grab them. Bianca gently lowered the wing back down again and admired her handiwork.

Latios was on the outermost of the piano's edge. Latias was next, curled up in the opposite direction but protected by Latios' curved body. Cubone's skull just peeked out from under Latias' wing, but the rest of him was covered.

Bianca sniffed. It was so nice seeing them like that. Cubone didn't seem like he'd known his mother or his father, but this make-shift adopted family seemed perfect. Even if they were technically nurturing their pray.

Latias smiled. She could feel Cubone's itty bitty body squashed up against her side, underneath her wing, and if she closed her eyes, she could pretend they were little Latias' and Latios', cuddling down under her wing for protection. As it was, it felt nice knowing Cubone was there. Perhaps tomorrow she could show him some berries he might like. She made an involuntary cooing sound in her happiness.

At this point, Mac wandered in.

"So, what I mi...oh". Bianca hadn't realised, but Lorenzo had also joined her in looking at the family. Mac entered the room to see them gazing at the piano and holding each other's backs, using each other for support as well as enjoying the moment.

Mac felt like an intruder, all of a sudden. This wasn't his house. This wasn't his family. Why was he intruding on this private moment?

Bianca turned around and had a small tear in her eye.

"Oh! Mac. Stay quiet! Look at this! Don't make any loud noises!"

Mac was confused, but nodded anyway and tiptoed over next to Bianca. He saw what they were looking at and was humbled. Seeing the three Pokemon all happy like that made him almost forget what he'd been through to get to that point, just for this moment.

Bianca put an arm around him and drew him closer, as close as Lorenzo, and spoke in a hushed whisper.

"Thanks, Mac. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have got to see this." Mac didn't know how to respond, but Bianca hadn't finished anyway.

She turned towards Mac, went up on tiptoes, and planted a kiss on his cheek, before turning back to the piano, leaving Mac confused.

"Er...no problem, Bianca. I'm glad to be here too."

The three stood and looked a while longer before Mac moved Bianca's arm from behind him and stretched.

"Well, it's been nice today. I'm going to go to bed now, if that's okay?"

Lorenzo and Bianca nodded simultaneously, but this time Lorenzo spoke.

"Sure. Err...yeah. Tomorrow, we're going to see some baby Pokemon, you'll like that. Leaving here at ten. I'll do breakfast, but you don't have to have it if you'd prefer a lie-in. Just be ready to leave by ten."

Mac nodded. "Thanks, Lorenzo! Good night!" Mac made for the door but stopped when Lorenzo called him back. Mac peeked his head around the door.

"Mac, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"You don't have to call me Lorenzo, you're family. Gramps, dad, uncle... Anything's fine"

"Oh, okay. G'night Gramps!" Mac darted behind the door with a smile, and jogged up the flight of stairs and a ladder to his room, feeling happier than he had in a long time.

Downstairs, the two remaining humans were still chatting in hushed voices. Lorenzo sounded pleased.

"He's a good one. I like him. Not like Jay." Bianca glowered at him and he corrected himself.

"Sorry, forgot. No Jay. Seriously though, how old is Mac? 17? He's Perfect!"

"Well...that was so nice, though. You telling him he was family. He looked really pleased when he left."

"I thought he might. He hasn't had a good time as of late has he?"

Bianca shook her head. If only Lorenzo knew half of what he'd ACTUALLY been through. She still couldn't believe it herself.

"Anyway, I'm off to bed too, we've got puppies to see tomorrow! Good night!"

Lorenzo headed for the door too, but carried on speaking as he went through it, leaving Bianca alone in the room on his last words.

"Be nice to Mac. He's a good guy. But I'm watching you two..."

Behind closed eyes, Latios was listening in too. He didn't coo anything, but inside his head, the cogs were turning.

'Yeah. Me too, Bianca. I'm watching him VERY closely.'

The next day, Bianca woke in a good mood. Judging from the light through her curtains, the sun was shining. It was still cold, but at least it was sunny. She glanced at the clock: 8:30.

She pulled on a robe, slipped on some slippers, and headed downstairs to see what was stirring. It turned out the answer was nothing. Even Lorenzo was absent, still in cloud cuckoo land.

Bianca was impatient to get moving and see the little Absol babies. They were gonna be SO cute!

She wandered into the living room and looked at the piano. Sure enough, all three Pokemon were still sleeping peacefully.

How funny it would be - Bianca mused - if she could startle all three at one? True, there was a massive potential for injury. But their reactions would be priceless. It was therefore perfect that they were all sleeping on top of a very loud musical instrument. The Piano.

Bianca made her way to the front of the piano and glared at the keys. Mac had told her how to make a chord, and which pedal made it louder.

Bianca ducked, pressed a pedal with her foot and slammed her hands down on the keys, creating the loudest crash of notes ever. Even Mac on the second floor would have heard it, except it was replaced by something much louder.

With a yelp, all three Pokemon that were seconds ago happily sleeping flew up, and, in Latias' and Latios' case, hit the ceiling.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Latias snapped and flew close to Latios. Latios didn't so much yelp as just growl at the piano. Bianca was under it, cracking up laughing. Their reaction had been comic, to say the least.

"What's that? Bianca?" Latias sniffed the air and quickly located Bianca under the piano, trying to hold in her laughing. Latias stuck her head under the piano and licked Bianca's cheek by way of a hello.

"Hi Latias!" Bianca looked up at the red eon with a smile on her face. Latias cheered when Bianca gave her a quick scratch behind the ear.

"Are we going to see the Absol puppies today?" Latias asked, without a psychic translation.

"No, Lorenzo's making breakfast. But I reckon you'll have woken him up with that racket!"

As Bianca crawled out from under the piano, Latias nudged her elbow with her snout.

"I'm not the one making the noise! You surprised us!"

"No, I just said. If you want breakfast, pester Lorenzo."

Latias rolled her eyes and went back to Latios. They met snout to snout in mid air above Cubone and started chattering.

"Why'd she do that?" Latios asked, playfully licking the top of Latias' snout.

"Hehe! I don't know. She could have just tapped me..."

"Probably did it for the laughs. She certainly looks happy. Hi Cubone!"

Cubone had only just recovered from the sudden awakening, but received another surprise when Latios picked him up by the skull on his head.

The lift didn't last that long though, as Latios' sharp teeth lost their grip on the bone and Cubone was dropped back onto the piano.

"Hi Laaaaah!"

"Sorry Cubone. You okay?" Latios settled with curling his neck around to face him.

Cubone righted himself again with his tail and responded somewhat sourly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just love being woken up by two screaming dragons and then have the big one pick me up by the head. Really makes a good start to the day."

Latios flattened his ears out as Latias started nagging him in a playful manner as well.

"Yeah, Latios. Why'd you have to grab Cubone like that? Everyone knows you're meant to pick him up like this!"

Cubone realised too late what Latias was going to do, and turning to run away only exposed the area Latias was targeting.

With a yelp, Latias swooped down and grabbed Cubone by the scruff of his neck in her teeth. She too dropped him a second later as the rear section of the skull helmet clacked against her teeth. For the second time in under a minute, Cubone fell to the cushioned top of the piano.

Latias made a disappointed noise as Latios scoffed at her failed attempt. Cubone, meanwhile, had made it to the edge of the piano that Bianca had just popped her head over.

"Oh, Hello Cubone!" Without any further confirmation, Bianca got up and picked him up, plonking him on her shoulder like Lorenzo. Once he was balancing right - she realised - he wasn't that heavy.

"Come on, let's go and surprise Mac. Just in case those two didn't do it already." Bianca nodded at the eons, who were face to face and quietly chatting again. She got up and left the room.

"I'm going to go to the lake. Wanna swim with me?" Latias giggled at Latios.

"What do you think?" It was obviously a yes.

Mac could feel a light tickling on his nose, and subconsciously moved his hand to brush away the irritation. But a few seconds later, it returned.

Mac opened an eye from sleep and screamed. Looking back at him was some kind of miniature skeleton, with brown eyes hidden behind a skull.

The scream lasted about three seconds, then died out when Mac heard laughing.

He looked over the miniature thing and at the source of the laughter, which was Bianca, laid out on the floor and laughing hysterically. He waited patiently with a stern face for the giggles to die down. Bianca eventually calmed down, composed herself, looked at Mac again, and cracked up laughing again, squeezing out a few words between each laugh.

"You were all...and then...'AHHHHHH'". Mac had to admit, his reaction had been a bit over the top.

Mac turned around in his sleeping bag and patted Cubone on the skull helmet, prompting a cute semi-growl. Mac decided to apologise to him while Bianca recovered.

"Sorry, Cubone. I really didn't expect you! Did Bianca make you do that?"

The same semi-growl.

Mac looked at his temporary bedroom again.

The second floor of the house (third if you were counting the ground floor) used to be a place for storing things. There was an art studio as well, but seeing as you needed to climb a ladder to get to the floor, Bianca hardly used it. Mac was laid on the floor in a sleeping bag in said art studio, staring at a set of semi-opaque curtains covering a window facing the back of the house. It was light outside, and by the light he could see various art supplies scatted about the room - easels, rolls of canvas, paint tins...

"Sorry about that Mac! That was so funny! I mean, you just..." Bianca started laughing again, even as she stood up and offered Mac a hand up as well.

Mac slithered out of the bag. He was still wearing the borrowed clothes from the day before, and Bianca frowned.

"You're dressed?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Ugh...best if I don't carry on those lines. It's half eight, we're going to see Absol's puppies in an hour and a half!"

Mac brushed himself down to Bianca's distaste, as the two humans and one Pokemon walked out of the room and towards the ladder.

"Bianca...what exactly is an 'Absol puppy'?"

"An Absol is a Pokemon. The puppy is a newborn one."

"Oh. Okay then."

There was a break in their conversation while Bianca pulled the ladder down so they could go downstairs.

Latias dove headfirst into the lake, followed shortly after by Latios. They were competing to see who could make the smallest splash, and as always, Latias was winning. It wasn't really a fair competition, because Latios was heavier and bigger then his sister.

"THAT SPLASH WAS HUGE!" Latias communicated to her brother under the water. The communication was different in that it was more of a high pitched whining noise than a coo. It also wasn't typical Pokéspeak, so any other Pokémon that were listening in would be unable to figure out what was said. The speech was done entirely though closed lips, preventing water from entering while they were speaking.

"Yeah yeah...I'm bigger than you, what do you expect?"

"I could have seen that one a mile off!"

Latios was swimming just behind Latias, watching her tail fins wiggle up and down as she propelled herself through the water. Latios didn't have particularly big tail fins, and was reduced to just psychicly propelling himself.

"And? I could see YOU a mile away without the splash". Latios was referring to Latias' version of camouflage being a bright red down.

In response, Latias turned invisible. It was next to useless in stopping Latios from finding her because he could track her scent, or her aura. But it made a point.

"I can still see you!" Latios teased, before playfully swimming right up behind Latias and lightly biting her tail feathers. Latias squealed partly in surprise, partly in delight.

"Hey!"

"Nom! Tastey Latias!"

Latias giggled more and sped up. Soon they were racing through the canals of Alto Mare. Latios had a power advantage, but Latias was using her fins and wiggling her rear to gain an acceleration boost out of the corners.

"First one to catch breakfast!" Latios called, realising that he might not win the swimming race and changing the goalposts. And because Latias was hungry, she agreed and took a right turn onto a smaller but deeper canal. Pokemon didn't swim in the major canals because too many tourists tried catching them. So by switching to the smaller rivers, the chance of finding one increased.

Latias spotted a set of bright orange scales heading towards her, and intercepted it with her teeth, before coming to a dead stop and boasting to Latios.

"I caught one! I WIN! YOU'VE LOST!"

Latios shook his head as he eyed up the fish.

"Magikarp don't count. There's too many, you have to dodge them. Anything but Magikarp."

"You're just jealous you didn't get one!"

Latios shook his head and Latias knew he was right. Magikarp weren't great food. Certainly not for the first meal of the day.

Latias spat the fish out and after the initial momentum, it swam away with just four bite marks to show for it's encounter. Latios hummed as the pair watched it wiggle away.

"Latias, you know you're meant to shake it right? Or at least bite harder than that? What if it tried attacking back?"

"I know! But it's a Magikarp. All they do is splash."

"Still..."

"What's this?"

Mac prodded his breakfast cereal with his spoon. Bianca was happily eating hers, but something in Mac's expression made him seem reluctant.

"Raymons Flakes."

"No. They're Frosties."

"Frosties?"

"Yeah. Definitely."

Lorenzo chuckled, drinking a glass of orange juice and staring out of the kitchen window as the two teens nattered.

"Well, it says Raymons on the box. Your choice."

Mac took a spoonful and ate it cautiously.

"Yep. Frosties. I don't like Frosties". Mac didn't sound like he was complaining, he just sounded genuinely disappointed.

"Oh well. You can have some of Latias' dragon food if you want."

Mac looked up, somewhat interested. Lorenzo sighed but didn't turn away from the window. "Don't fall for it Mac, it's vile."

"Could it make me breathe fire?"

Lorenzo and Bianca spoke at the same time.

"No,"
"Yes,"

Lorenzo sighed and turned around.

"Don't fall for it, Mac. The dragons get their power from power they're born with, not from their food. Anyway, don't listen to her, It's disgusting."

Mac looked at Bianca.

"Bianca? Really?"

She just shrugged and went back to her own cereal. "Well, it was worth a try."