-Dewpoint-

As Latios began to approach the body of water he passed over the small village of Dewpoint, of which Lake Dewpoint was aptly named for it's proximity.

A few minutes walking distance south of the lake there was a circular area of forest that had been cleared of trees, providing a fair-sized open area. Within this clearing stood twenty-two homes of crude and simple design, made mostly from wood gathered during the clear-cutting. Despite the simplicity, every building was fully functional, sturdy and did its job. Anyone who would like to move in to the village would be free to do so, although every resident was in charge of the construction of their own home. As a result, all gave their best effort in putting as much home into their house as they could, and there wasn't one person who didn't find at least some pride in their handiwork. The buildings weren't only for residence either. Dewpoint was a thriving community complete some of the essentials of society such as a town hall, a market, a library and a clinic to name a few.

Normally this would be a rather unremarkable sight, Latios himself was from Hoenn and had spent a good portion of his life living there. During that time, he had seen fully developed urban centres that would have easily dwarfed the small settlement of Dewpoint, it was almost pathetic in comparison. A few years ago when he saw the miniscule collection of homes for the first time, it looked pitiful to him.

That is, until he remembered there were no humans in Epyhlei. Suddenly the village seemed a lot more extraordinary.

In all the time he had spent in the Hoenn region he had never seen anything like this, nor had he imagined that such a thing could even be possible. Every wild Pokémon that he had seen up until then, him included, had been living off instinct and generally was only looking out for itself. Eat. Drink. Sleep. Reproduce. There wasn't much socializing between Pokémon of different species. While friendships did happen, they were uncommon. At the end of the day the survival of you and your species was what mattered most.

And yet here stood almost two dozen homes built by a diverse community of Pokémon that had somehow brought itself together. Latios was dumbfounded when he first saw it. Still, he was glad to see these Pokémon becoming more civilized. Working together as a whole to get by instead of individually, he thought of it as a step in the right direction.

As he passed overhead he noticed that the roofs of many houses had sustained some visible damage, probably as a result of the storm last night. Boards were broken or missing, holes had been torn, and the like. Many of the townsfolk were outside and hard at work trying to patch up their homes. Latios slowed down so that he could survey what was going on as he passed overhead. He looked to one house and saw a Pidgeotto on the roof, positioning a board with its beak. Flying Pokémon had it easy, the roof was just a short flight from the ground for them.

The bird caught sight of him and lifted a wing, giving a friendly wave to Latios as he flew by. When most Pokémon saw him they either stared in awe, ducked for cover or did both, but after passing by the town almost every morning as part of his daily commute the Pokémon here were quite accustomed to the sight. Latios untucked one of his arms and returned the gesture.

Latios passed by another house that he recalled belonging to the town merchant, this one having taken a fair bit more damage than the others. There was a gaping hole in the roof about a metre wide, in addition to the usual few missing boards. In the front of the house was a Kecleon attempting to maneuver a very crudely made wooden ladder against the wall. There was an untouched stack of about a dozen wooden boards laying on the ground nearby, the Kecleon had probably just gotten around to starting his repairs.

Once the ladder was balanced against the house, the Kecleon began climbing with an uneasy look on his face. He had gotten about a third of the way to the roof when the step he was keeping his foot on snapped in half, causing the Kecleon to fall to the ground with a muffled thud, landing on his back. He got up after laying there for a moment and promptly surveyed the damage, letting out a groan as he realized that the ladder was now in no usable condition.

Latios figured that the poor fellow would likely benefit from some extra help, and changed course to fly over to the house. He came to a stop as he neared the Kecleon and hovered a few feet above the ground, untucking his arms in the process. The Kecleon saw him and promptly put on a more cheery expression, Latios unsure whether he was genuinely happy to see him or just trying to be polite.

"Ah, Latios! What brings you to my shop?" the Kecleon greeted him.

Latios had only begun to open his mouth to speak before he was cut off.

"Here to see my wares no doubt! You must be heading over to the lake for some food. Listen, I've got these fine Magikarp inside, just caught this morning! You won't find fresher! Saves you the trouble of having to go out an-"

"That's fine, thank you," Latios interrupted, worried that if he didn't he would never hear the end of it.

Kecleon was a typical salesperson. Latios had to give him credit though, he was a pretty good salesperson. Within moments of seeing him, Kecleon immediately knew what Latios would want, and knew just how to word it to get his attention. Still, Latios didn't have anything of value to trade for the fish, so he had no choice but to decline. Besides, he enjoyed the thrill of hunting his prey himself and the satisfaction that came with knowing that you've earned your meal, anything else was almost cheating. Still, he could smell it from outside, and it only served to heighten his hunger.

"Actually, I thought I might stop by and lend a hand, the storm seems to have put quite the dent in your roof." Latios lifted an arm, gesturing to the top of the building.

"Oh, um...yes. Yes I actually could use some help. Seeing as my ladder broke I don't really have any way of getting up there. Could you help me get that stack of boards up to the roof?" Kecleon pointed to the pile nearby.

Latios gave a nod in agreement, and turned his attention to the stack laying nearby. He focused on the boards, using his psychic ability to gradually lift them off the ground and up towards the roof in one mass. Once above the roof, he slowly lowered them until they made contact, at which point he released his psychic hold on them. The boards were in the same neat stack as previously, albeit now on top of the house. They weren't extraordinarily heavy, and the whole process took only mild effort on Latios' part.

He looked back to Kecleon, who was staring at him with his mouth hanging slightly open.

"I...I didn't know you could do that..." he said with disbelief.

Latios chuckled in response. The reactions of others when he suddenly made objects move of their own accord were always priceless.

"Hah! You wouldn't be the first to say that. Telekinesis, yeah I can do that."

Kecleon gave a puzzled expression for a few seconds, then got back on topic.

"Well, thanks for that, I appreciate it. The problem now is how I get myself up there, with the ladder broke. Wait a minute, I think I have some extr-H-HEY! What are you doing!?"

Before he could object, Latios had lifted Kecleon off the ground with his psychic and was now also taking him up to the roof. Once there, he gently laid him down next to the pile he had brought there earlier. Apart from his first outburst Kecleon had remained silent and had froze completely as Latios manipulated him, worried that if he moved it would somehow result in him plummeting to the ground.

Kecleon lay there for a moment, and steadily got up once convinced Latios had released his hold on him. Now on his feet, he let out a subtle sigh of relief.

"You could've told me you were gonna do that, you know!" Kecleon said with a tone of disapproval.

Latios meanwhile, had been smirking the whole time and continued to do so as he spoke.

"I could have, but would you have agreed? Besides, you're on the roof now aren't you?"

Kecleon eased up a bit, noting that no real harm had been done. He figured Latios wouldn't have picked him up in the first place if there was any real danger in it.

"I...um...heh...you got a point there. Hold on, how am I supposed to get down?"

"The same way you got up, of course! How long will the repair take?"

"Hmm...half an hour maybe? Give or take a few minutes, why?"

Latios hadn't forgotten why he came by the town in the first place, he was still in need of water and something to eat.

"I'm off to the lake, be back for you later, okay?"

Kecleon immediately knew Latios' motives, and responded as such.

"Hey, you know that Magikarp I mentioned earlier? Take it, it's on the house, as a token of my gratitude! You'll find half a dozen on the table inside, I trust you won't take more than the one."

"Really? Well I..." The offer took him by surprise, and he was unsure how to react. He considered objecting, but in the time he had spent here the smell had really started to get to him.

He looked down from where he was hovering, through the hole in the roof. Said table was clearly visible, with a row of Magikarp laid out on top. Still raw, just the way he liked them. The temptation was too much.

"You sure you want me to have it?"

"It's all yours! Go ahead, take it!"

After a short pause, and exchanging glances between the Magikarp and Kecleon's gleeful expression, Latios made up his mind.

"Well, thanks! I really am hungry, this is perfect, thank you."

He used his psychic to lift the fish off the table and up through the hole in the roof, at the same time trying to justify his decision by convincing himself that accepting the gift would have been the courteous thing to do. Once it was lifted out of the house, Latios dropped the Magikarp on the ground nearby and got to work, pausing for a moment to take in the scent one last time before beginning to tear off bite-sized chunks to eat. Kecleon wasn't kidding when he said it was fresh, Latios could barely tell that it had been laying out of the water for hours. Having not eaten for quite some time Latios thought the taste was very fulfilling, for a Magikarp at least, and as such he had finished his meal in about half a minute.

Latios flew back up above the roof, and saw that Kecleon had already begun the process of replacing the damaged boards with the ones he had brought over earlier.

"Thanks again, that was really great. Be back in half an hour or so, okay?"

"My pleasure, and yes, half an hour." Kecleon responded without shifting focus from the work he was doing, determined to finish the job as fast as he could. "Have a good one then."

Latios said a final "Bye," before resuming his original flight path, in the direction of the lake. He flew barely above tree level and thus was too low to see the water, but having flown the route so many times in the past he was positive that this was the right direction.

As he neared the lake, Latios reflected on the experience. Interactions like these were the reason he stayed in Epyhlei and rarely considered returning to Hoenn, for some reason you just didn't see Pokémon acting this way there. That, and Latios disliked the humans residing all over the region. He had even heard of several groups that were interested in the capture of Pokémon, particularly rare ones. This was worrying enough, but after word had gotten to him that one such group had caused the death of another Latios in a nearby region he had decided it was best to leave, for his own safety.

Also, humans generally didn't react well to him. Maybe it was something to do with him being a legendary, but out of the fifteen people he had decided to show himself to, nine had told their own Pokémon to attack him, four ran away screaming, and another downright fainted upon seeing him. In all of these situations, he had decided it was best to go invisible and leave before the situation got worse. The last person reacted a bit better, though. Unlike the others she acted friendly towards him, even trying to make some conversation. Even after all these years, Latios could still remember that day...

Before he could finish his thoughts, the treeline abruptly ended and Latios was now flying above a deep blue stretch of water. Lake Dewpoint, finally.

Without hesitation, Latios dipped down towards the surface and entered the water like a dart, barely making a splash. Moving through liquid took much greater effort than through air and he was slowed down considerably as soon as he made the plunge, though he could probably still outswim anything in the lake.

The cool water felt great, it was every bit as refreshing as he had hoped and Latios took a moment to simply enjoy the feeling of it flowing past him. Once that was done, he made sure to slow down before opening his mouth to take a drink. He had tried to drink while swimming at full speed once, and the water had rushed into his mouth so fast he almost choked. After satisfying his thirst, he flew up towards the surface and exited the water, stopping to hover a few feet above its surface.

It couldn't have been more than five minutes, and Latios was considering what to do with the other twenty-five he had to kill. The Magikarp he had earlier was good, but there was definitely room for more. He thought about catching another one, but then decided that having some variety in his food would probably be better. Berries were always easy enough to find, and it wouldn't take him long to find a few growing somewhere among the trees nearby.

He set off back towards the forest, and began his search as he entered the treeline. He looked around for any sort of fruit among the various shrubbery, and in less than a minute had found what he was looking for. There was a plant growing about a dozen round and blue berries that he immediately recognized as being the oran variety. He hovered close to the plant and picked one off, gripping it between his claws, and took a bite out of it. It had a mix of a bunch of different tastes, all thrown together into something unique. It was difficult to describe other than just plain good. A few bites later and Latios had finished the berry, and picked another one.

Right before he was going to take a bite, he caught a trace of movement behind him. It was very faint, but he now noticed that there was another aura nearby, and that it just gone from moving to stopped. This wasn't at all unusual, as he was bound to come across another Pokémon in the forest sooner or later. Latios paid no mind to it and continued eating.

The entity started to shift again, but this time much more slowly. It seemed to be moving closer, as its aura was gradually getting stronger. Whatever it was, it had to have seen him already, as it appeared to be cautiously approaching him. Latios took another bite out of the berry.

He heard leaves rustle somewhere behind him, and at the same time the entity halted its movement. Latios stopped eating again, and involuntarily pricked his ears up when he heard the sound. He was close enough to sense through the entity's aura that it was quickly becoming distressed. By its reaction it obviously didn't want him to notice it, and had probably brushed by a tree or shrub by accident and made the noise.

He turned his head to where he though it was, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. It must be hiding behind a tree or something. Now Latios himself was starting to get a little worried, it seemed as though this thing was trying to sneak up on him. He turned his head back and resumed eating, trying to act as if he hadn't noticed anything unusual. Sure enough, after a couple seconds the aura began shifting even closer.

He thought for a moment that it may be another Pokémon from the town, but quickly rejected the idea. They would have said some sort of greeting by now, and wouldn't have panicked when they thought he might have noticed them.

As the distance closed Latios was able to deduct that it was likely a psychic type, judging by the aura's strength. This was backed up by the fact that it wasn't moving along the ground, but was hovering a few feet above at around his height. It was now only a few metres behind him, and Latios figured enough was enough. He was going to attack it before it could do the same to him, and ask questions later. It probably thought it had the element of surprise, but this advantage actually belonged to Latios and he would be the one to put it to use.

Latios dropped his half-eaten berry and in one fluid motion spun around and accelerated into the threat as fast as he was able to, his opponent letting out a high-pitched yelp as he tackled it against a nearby tree. At the same time he kept his arm fixed firmly against where he expected its neck to be in order to pin it and prevent it from escaping.

It all happened so fast that Latios didn't have the time to observe what his opponent was until he had finished his maneuver and had it against the tree, but when he realized what it was he immediately regretted his decision.

It was almost as if he was looking into a mirror, except for the colour and the facial expression. He was face-to-face with a stunned and terror-stricken Latias.

And now you start to see the Mystery Dungeon influence! Look out for more similarities in the future. Don't forget to review, it's nice to hear what you think and I won't know what I should improve on unless you tell me!