"What do you mean I can't plug my 5W phone into your 30,000W train? THIS IS ENGLAND PAL! YOU CANT TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
I was doing welding this week, and got arc-eye. Not nice. Even worse when you have norovirus at the same time. Horrible... Bleh *internal organs fall out*
Unaware of Mac's peril just a few meters away, Latias playfully licked Latios' cheek. It was the final bit of proof for Latios. This Latias was 100% the real Latias.
Latios flew backwards and up, claws out and mouth open, but totally speechless. The movement rolled Bianca off his wing, and she woke with a snorting noise.
"What was that!?". She started to turn around and see where Latios had gone, but stopped when she caught a glimpse of Latias. A double take confirmed it.
"Latias!?"
Latias flew to her and did an affectionate rub on the cheek. "Yep! Me!"
Bianca responded by bringing her hand around and hugging Latias' head towards her neck. Latios was still coming to terms with the whole event.
Latias was actually here? Th-
'CLICK'
The sound wasn't every loud, but it didn't have to be for Latios. It was artificial, and sounded dangerous in his opinion. In an instant he'd locked onto it and was already in the process of eliminating it, lest it try and harm Bianca or the recently appeared Latias.
Lorenzo had heard Latios squealing behind the man he'd found stalking in the garden, but ignored it until the man was dealt with.
He'd gone in the garden with the intention of looking at Latios. But when he couldn't find Bianca anywhere in the house, he began to worry. Even if she was going out, she normally left a note. But the fact that she hadn't made a bad feeling creep down his neck. Bianca - though still somewhat childish - was mature about issues like that. The only reason that she'd not have left one is if she hadn't planned on leaving the grounds.
He'd taken a few logical steps, what with recent events, to reach the conclusion that team Rocket - or more accurately, her mother - had kidnapped her.
And so, he'd sneaked into the garden, taking the gun for protection in case they'd sent someone for him too. And he'd found whoever it was. He was wearing some kind of hoodie, but it looked odd, caked in some kind of dried liquid. As he'd got closer, Lorenzo saw that the hoodie was meant to be blue, but had at some point been immersed in a large amount of blood. Coupled with the fact he was in the hidden garden, it was enough evidence for him to say the man was part of Team Rocket or similar evil force.
Mac slowly turned around and faced Lorenzo, not really quite believing that he was still having a gun pointed at him. Lorenzo was completely out of his element, unsure what to do next.
Really, even pointing the gun at another human felt horrible. Then again, he had broken into the garden and was covered in blood.
"Wh...what?" Mac stuttered.
"You know what. Stay there, keep your hands where I can see them. And if you've put Latios in this state, I'm tempted to let him at you."
Lorenzo had decided to deal with Latios first, since the noise sounded completely bizzare. He sounded happy. Happy? Latios hadn't been happy in ages. Had the man drugged him? Keeping the gun facing at Mac, he had walked around him and looked towards the clearing.
Two things happened.
First, Lorenzo saw what was actually happening in the clearing. Latios was floating vertically, arms out, looking shocked at Bianca. It was really amazing considering that he hadn't even raised a wing for a week. Bianca was kneeling down, tears in her eyes, with Latias cooing in her arms. Lorenzo saw Latias, but by the time he realised what this actually meant, the other thing had happened.
The motion of Lorenzo moving around Mac had ever so slightly moved the safety switch on the shotgun. It was on, but a slight hand twitch on Lorenzo's part was enough to jog it out of position and into deadly.
It was this click that Latios heard.
Latios saw Lorenzo, and the gun, but his aura was more worried than violent or harmful. He quickly ignored him and looked at the only other human in his vision. It was a boy. Grubby looking, slouching and looking directly at Latias. Well, Latias wasn't his, whoever he was. If he was thinking of doing anything to her, he could forget it.
Latios accelerated further, tucked in his arms, and slammed into the unknown boy as hard as he could, stopping a moment after impact. The boy didn't, and flew through the air, carried on, before hitting a tree at an angle, slowing down as he pin-wheeled off it, and hitting another tree, which he mercifully hit edge-on. Instead of spinning off again, he reached a slouching stop at the foot of the tree, knocked out cold.
Silence. That Bianca soon broke.
"Who was that guy? Lorenzo, why have you got the shotgun?"
As Latios flew back to Latias and they started rubbing heads, Lorenzo asked his own questions, laying the shotgun down on the floor.
"How did Latias get here?"
"How would I know? One moment I was with Latios, the next, she just appeared. With that." Bianca pointed to the bag of skittles Latias had dropped on the ground.
While the humans talked, the dragons sounded silent. They weren't, but the sound was just inaudible to humans.
Latias was hovering two feet off the ground, obviously tired. Latios had flown back to her, having just hit Mac into the tree, and was rubbing his snout next to hers.
"It's okay, he's gone."
Latias wasn't listening to the words, his voice was enough to calm her. She was safe. Back with Latios. In the garden. Everything was fine. All she'd need now was a sleep, with Latios protecting her, and everything would be back to normal.
"Where did you go?"
Latias snapped back to what Latios was saying.
"I...I don't know. I'm so tired."
It was true, she was. Up until the moment Latios had arrived, she was buzzing to give him his gift. But now he was here, she just wanted to enjoy the moment. Looking at his wings, nice and big and blue. His voice, deep and attractive...
Latios was happy. He realised, happiness hadn't been a thing he'd had for weeks. Too long without Latias. He'd spent too long looking after her gift and not enough time actually finding her, or giving her the gift.
"Latias?"
"Yes?" Latias moved her snout away from him and looked him in the eyes.
He nodded at the fish that was still on the floor, still untouched.
"I got you a present?"
"That's for me?". Latias had already guessed that, but now she was finally with Latios and he was about to ask her what she thought she was going to ask him, coherent thought went out of the window.
"Yes. I got it for you before they took you."
"And kept it all this time?" Latias couldn't actually believe it. He DID care for her! He did feel the same!
"Yes. I knew you were coming back."
Latias was absorbed in his voice and almost missed her opportunity. Luckily, she snapped out of it just in time.
"I did too...I got you a present!" She nodded to the packet of skittles on the ground.
Latios looked at the red packet, surprised. Latias smiled back, he didn't expect that! While he inspected the packet, Latias looked at her own gift from him.
The smell of her present ended up to be too enticing and after the brief glance at Latios, she dove down and picked it up in her mouth, before flying back to Latios. The taste of its skin was amazing. And it was very tough skinned - if was what the flesh tasted like, well, the meat should taste more than amazing.
Latios did the same with his gift, even if he didn't quite know what it was. It looked like a normal bag of sweets from Alto Mare, but it was covered in all kinds of scents, and it was very brightly covered, exactly like the kind of berries he liked. Except, this was clearly man-made. Not that he was in a situation to be picky: Latias had been kidnapped, after all. There probably wasn't much chance for foraging. And anyway, she was perfect.
Latios watched as Latias started to eat the fish in mid-air, taking a bite, moving her head forward to catch it, and swallowing the rest of the bite, repeating the process for each mouthful. She was staring at him the whole time - not once did those orange eyes stop looking into Latios' red ones.
Latios ruffled his tail feathers again, hesitating, before jumping straight to the point.
"Latias...will you be my mate?"
Latias knew that was going to be the question. Knew it. Even had an answer prepared. Even then, the coos wouldn't come out for a few seconds, she was that surprised. After all, Latios did have several females practically clamouring around him. Absol and Gardevoir, to name a few. She also dropped the Relicanth on the floor in the process, not that she was focusing on that any more.
"Derg...Mehhner...Ahhn. YES! YES! I was going to ask you to be MY mate!"
Inside, Latios breathed a sigh of relief. There was nothing to worry about after all. Latias DID think he was attractive. She DID want to be his mate!
On the outside, both dragons simultaneously put their snouts back together and let out the closest thing they could do to laughs, a happy cheering noise that made Lorenzo and Bianca turn around.
"What was that?" Bianca turned all the way around to look into the clearing, to see Latios and Latias snout-to-snout in mid air. She could tell that both of them were happy by the angling of their wings and their voices. But Lorenzo went one step further in his analysis, keeping his voice hushed as he explained to Bianca.
"That's odd...hmmm...look at Latias. She's normally in a curved shape, but now, she's as straight as an arrow."
"So? She's just happy to have Latios back. And I am too!"
"Bianca dearest, look more into it. Have you ever seen them like that before? I think Latios has just asked Latias to be his mate, and she's accepted." His voice remained quiet, but the note of excitement was plain to hear.
"Er...okay...how do you know that? And why are we whispering?"
"We're whispering because any loud noises now could spook them quite badly and in this situation it could get a rather nasty response. Look at things from Latios' point of view. He was morbidly depressed, then a female turns up with a nice straight body, slightly bloodied from getting back to him but at the same time, a really shiny red coat. What would you do?"
"I'd make sure she knew I was interested. So Latias looks more rigid in order to show off to Latios?"
"Yes. And by the looks of them now, I'd say it's worked, wouldn't you?"
"Oh. That's so sweet! So that means?"
"It means we leave them alone for now. This isn't something that humans should interfere with. We can all hug Latias after Latios has finished giving her a cuddle. Anyway, we've got to solve the mystery of this guy." Lorenzo nodded at Mac who was still slumped at the base of a tree, knocked out. "Latios thought he was threatening. I think we should keep him here until he wakes up and we can ask a few questions. Well, not here. But somewhere where he can't escape."
Bianca frowned, not pleased with the way the old man was thinking. For Latios' and Latias' sake, she tried not to raise her voice.
"Are you really suggesting we tie him to a bed until he wakes up?"
Lorenzo looked downcast.
"Well, actually, we can't tie him to your or my bed, and we don't have a spare. There's a boat in my workshop that's heavy enough. It's not like we have a choice. If he escapes he could tell everyone about the twins. And we can't let that happen, not now..."
Bianca took another glance at the reunited duo. It was a tough decision, yes, but they couldn't let him out of the garden until they found out who he was. She nodded slowly, still not happy but otherwise stuck with what to do.
"I know, it's not nice. But we need answers. Now...err..."
Lorenzo glanced at Mac, assessing on how to move him.
"You grab his legs, I'll get his head. If he wakes up, I'll cover his mouth until we're far enough away from the lovebirds."
When Mac woke up, it was dark and cold. Very cold. And very, very dark. Almost like he was blind. But he didn't shout, even though he wanted to. Who knew what the darkness hid? One thing was sure, he could hear what sounded like waves on a beach, and although he couldn't feel anything at all other than the ground underneath, he could smell the scent of freshly cut wood.
Slowly, Mac moved his head and arm, intending to press the button on his watch that would light the digits and at least tell him the time. But when he reached for his watch, his fingers touched a rope, not a plastic watch strap.
This had Mac panicked, but he forced a level head and checked his hoodie pocket next. It was empty. Someone had taken his watch, phone, keys and wallet while he was out. Mugged? No. Muggers didn't tie people to...
What was he tied to?
He shuffled round and felt along the rope. It ended two feet away, on the edge of another wooden construction. Knotted to it, by the feel.
Mac desperately wanted light and as his eyes adjusted, he saw a crack of it, a horizontal line that was slightly brighter than the surrounding blackness. It was impossible to judge how far away it was. It was low down, so it was probably the light shining through the gap in a door.
Mac set about untying the knot around his wrist. But without light, it was next to impossible. It was wound around three times and finished with so many twists and turns, Mac couldn't even find the end of the rope.
With nothing else for it, he started on trying to untie the other knot, in the process knocking something with his foot. It made a sloshing noise.
Mac was already feeling for the shape of the container. It was large and had a handle on the side. Plastic. And it had liquid contents.
Mac sniffed it, but didn't smell of anything. Was it water? He was thirsty. Very.
He dipped his finger in and it was cold, then took it out and dabbed it on his tongue. Water, or some other flavourless chemical.
Mac took his chances and lifted the jug to his face, being careful not to spill water down himself. As much as he wanted to chug the whole jug, it was cold and he didn't fancy having cold damp clothes.
Thirst quenched, he started on the knot once again.
He'd just undone a second loop, when he heard a rattling noise. He stopped and glared at the source of the noise, looking into the darkness.
His optimistic side said it was someone coming to save him. His pessimistic side said it was something much more worse. Some sort of animal coming to finish him off.
If both sides had placed a bet, the optimistic one would have won, but only after a fight between the two involving various improvised weapons, some small arms fire and a NATO/UN resolution that elected an improvised leader for the initial transition period.
Because while it was someone coming to help him, the 'someone' was also an animal.
With a whoosh, the door to the workshop opened and Latias flew in, identifying and flying directly at Mac, also smothering him in the process. She was squealing the whole time, with no psychic translation.
"Mac! I'm so sorry! I was asleep with Latios and forgot all about you and then I found out Bianca had tied you up and now here I am so let's go. Wait, you're cold, let me warm you up!"
Thus she preceded to sit on Mac.
Mac was blinded by the sudden burst of light from the door, but had enough information to know that it was Latias, and that she was now apparently smothering him.
"Latias! I'm not an egg! Stop laying on me! Gerr off!"
Latias was too happy to do that though, and also concerned for how cold Mac was. He didn't have feathers or much fur aside from the hair on his head, and what clothes he had were so soaked from sweat that they made him even colder.
"Nope! Your my little egg!" She had to admit, It was kinda cool looking after him like this.
Mac didn't agree. The only thing that jutted out from under Latias was his head, and even then her neck almost blocked it.
"Latias! Off! And start answering questions! Where am I, what time is it and What am I doing here?"
Latias giggled as Mac writhed underneath her. It would be ace if he was a little baby Latias. Then she could keep his wings all warm and neat, and fetch him berries...
Except Mac wasn't a baby Latias. He was a human. And a very tall human at that.
"Latias! Answers?! Are we going to be OKAY?"
Latias stopped daydreaming and turned her neck around so her snout was almost tickling Mac's nose.
"I'm home! And it's your home too! Latios, Bianca and Lorenzo thought you were part of Team Rocket, so they put you in here until I woke up and told them you were a friend."
"I see. And Lorenzo is?"
"Bianca's granddad."
"And Bianca is your owner."
"NO! She looks after us, but she's not our owner. She's more like a sister."
"I see. And what time is it?"
"Winter almost."
"Time, Latias. Not season." Latias didn't really care what time it was. Most of the time, it didn't really matter. If you were tired, you slept, If you were hungry, you ate. There needn't be a set time for that kind of thing. A season was much more useful. Latias had noticed that certain berries only grew during certain seasons, her heat depended on the season and it got warmer and colder depending on what season it was. Seasons were a lot more useful than a time.
"Sorry. It's mid day, the day after we got back."
"Tomorrow!? I've slept for an entire day!?"
"You were very tired. I was. Besides, Latios hit you into a tree. You got enough water?"
"You mean, am I thirsty? I was, but I had a drink before you came in."
Latias let off a pleased noise, glad that Mac wasn't too offended that her brother had knocked him out.
"So, where are we? Exactly?"
"Lorenzo's workshop, where he makes the boats. Look!"
Mac strained his neck to see. With the door open, enough light was getting in for him to see his surroundings. His arm was tied to the figurehead in the shape of Latias, which in turn was attached to a long boat. Around that boat were a series of smaller floats, in various stages of completion. Mac couldn't see any way in which they were powered, but a few of them had harnesses attached. Did a human pull them?
Either way, Mac was glad that he'd ended up with a person who also liked building things. The workshop looked big enough to work in, but not too big as to be a handful. All old fashioned wood cutting tools were hung up on shadow boards, and there was also a white sheet on the floor around a float that Mac presumed was in the process of being painted.
"Bianca paints the floats that Lorenzo makes. Then they sell them to islanders. They're all unique and everything, and most of them have me on them!" Latias explained.
Mac gave up trying to physically lever Latias off himself and tried verbal persuasion again.
"Fantastic. Now I know that, could you please get off me so I can meet the rest of your family?"
"You won't get far while your tied to that boat."
"I was hoping you'd help me with that as well."
Knowing the game was up, Latias hovered back up off the ground and bit the rope midway between Mac and the boat. The moment he was free, he stood up. The action made bits of dried blood crack off his hoodie and fall to the floor. He winced. Most of that blood wasn't his own. Latias, meanwhile, was already out the door, and ushering Mac to follow with a series of coos.
"This way Mac!"
"Look at that!"
"That's my swing!"
"That's the soul dew. I'll show you that some other time. It's kinda complicated."
"Through here! Almost there!"
Latias hadn't bothered providing a psychic translation, so all Mac was aware of was that Latias wanted him to follow her.
Eventually, she led him out of the archway and up to the rear of the house, where he halted. Despite having spent the last 20 hours asleep, he was still tired, and at first Latias thought that was the issue. She coo'd encouragement.
"Bianca's just in here! She'll sort you out! You can sit down inside! She's kind!"
Mac wasn't worried about Bianca, or too tired to carry on. He was worried about Latios. He'd only met him for a few milliseconds, but is first impressions had really made an impact. Literally.
"Where's your brother? I don't want him hitting me again."
Latias flew back to Mac, switching back to psychic to help.
"He's not that bad, he just thought you were hurting me. He knows what happened now, though, and he wants to meet you anyway to say thanks. Anyway, he's gone hunting now. Come on!"
Mac stood still.
"I'll protect you. Promise!"
"Hmmm..." Mac didn't sound convinced, but followed Latias indoors after she'd nudged the door open with her snout.
The moment he stepped inside, he was confused. He'd entered a warm, medium sized kitchen, and stood on the opposite side of a center table, was Latias in her human form.
But that was impossible, because Latias in her dragon form was floating just in front of him. There was a silence for a second. Then Mac snapped his fingers.
"Oh, I get it! You can clone yourself!"
The real Latias shook her head and made a 'nope' sound.
"What? But...that's you," - He pointed at Bianca - "And you're you," - he pointed at Latias. "So there must be two of you!"
Bianca decided to speak up, as it looked like Mac was getting pretty distressed.
"No, there's not two of us. You've seen me before, remember?" This only served to puzzle Mac even more. He pointed an accusing finger at Bianca.
"YOU CAN TALK!?"
"Yes, I can talk. I am human, you know. My name's Bianca. Latias says your called Mac?"
Things finally clicked over with Mac. He remembered now, though he'd only seen her before tucked under Latios' wing before he'd knocked him out.
"Oh! Bianca! Latias' owner! Oh...errr...I'm Mac. Mac Simmons." The bumbling tone said, extending a hand out for Bianca to shake, like he was James Bond.
Bianca declined the handshake, but smiled as well as she could considering a blood stained teenager had just stumbled into her house and started accusing her of not being a human.
"Well, then. Mac. I'm sorry for tying you up in the workshop. By the time Latias had had a sleep and explained who you were to us, a day had passed! No hard feelings, I hope...you should probably get yourself cleaned up. So...we've got some old clothes that might fit you. Although I don't think I've ever seen someone so...tall...before."
She was right. The average Alto Mare citizen was around 5 foot 5 inches. Mac was a comparatively huge 6 foot 1 inch. She paused for a second.
"Anything's better than what you've got now, though. We should probably bin that hoodie. I'll get some clothes, you can take a shower. Then we can have a sit down when Lorenzo gets back and we can talk about what's going to happen next"
Mac nodded, but Latias had her own opinion to include.
"Mac's staying!" She flew up to him and nuzzled his shoulder.
Bianca nodded and Mac breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah he's staying. No doubt. But where? And what is he going to do? Be a trainer? Or a professor? We need to find some way to fit him in with this world, since he doesn't even have a birth certificate, if Latias has explained right. You come from a place that doesn't have Pokemon, right? I heard that right?"
Mac nodded.
"Latias was the first Pokemon I'd ever seen."
Bianca made an 'ummm' noise.
"Let's get you in that shower for now. Lorenzo should be home soon."
After showing Mac where the shower was, Bianca headed back downstairs and called Lorenzo, who had gone out for groceries. Latias had opted to guard the door of the shower.
"Gramps? Yeah? Good. You know I said Latias told us that guy was good? She was right. Or at least, he seems decent enough. He's just woke-" Lorenzo interrupted her and Bianca paused while he spoke.
"Yeah. Yeah. He still had those muddy clothes. How long until? You're five minutes away? Okay, cool. We'll play it by ear."
Five and a half minutes later, Lorenzo walked through the door, Cubone on shoulder. Latias was imminently down the stairs and yapping at his boots.
"MAC! HE'S GOOD! LET HIM STAY! Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssseeee e? We're friends! You tied him to a boat!"
Lorenzo smiled at Latias apparent affection.
"Yes, I know. It's all very exciting. Let's all just calm down a bit and-"
"HE'S STAYING! STAY STAY STAY STAY STAY!"
"LATIAS! Calm down!" Lorenzo said more firmly and Latias went abruptly silent. He started taking off his boots and explained the plan.
"Me and Bianca are going to have a chat with this Mac fella and get to know him just a little more and sort out where he's going to stay and that kind of thing. We'll be an hour, two max. Then you can play with him."
Lorenzo knew that was Latias really wanted, and she stopped yapping for good when he said she could play with him. She turned her attention to Cubone, and stretched her neck out for him to walk along, which he did, stopping at her midriff and sitting down.
Lorenzo started walking towards the lounge as Latias flew back up the stairs with Cubone on her back, presumably to wait for Mac. Bianca followed Lorenzo into the lounge.
The two stood, facing each other. Lorenzo spoke first.
"I have no idea what we're going to do". Bianca didn't find this reassuring.
"We'll do what we can. He can stay on the second floor for a bit? Right?"
"Yes, but Bianca, think long term...no one knows who he is, and I'd really like to hear where he's come from. Outside this region?"
Bianca shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
"No. Apparently he's from a completely separate world. They don't even have Pokemon there."
Lorenzo shook his head.
"No, not possible. Poor guy's probably got memory loss."
"But Latias-"
"We'll see what he has to say for himself first."
Since my online debut (For more info, youtube "Kinectemon") went so well, I'm setting up a blog. If I can concentrate long enough. SEED NEEP!