I don't know why, but in this section of my mental incarnation, smell featured predominantly. Perhaps someone stank a bit the ward I was in was in. Anyway...
Sorry about the late update, I had a meeting with the chancellor George Osborne, who would say an awful lot to explain an awful little, but wouldn't detail why I have to pay tax to pay the government, even though I'm too young to decide which government I want to vote for. As a result I had to adhere to some security regs which meant posting was limited, as well as spend forever getting ready for the cameras (I was on the news. Whoever can identify me wins an internet). This chapter was ready a week ago.
During the publication block, I got more reviews:
M Rating - Hmmm... Like I said, my employer reads this. So I might outsource some of the iffy bits to another author. Rest assured though, the sequal to this WILL have some form of lemon or M rating, even if I wasn't the one who wrote that particular bit.
French - Indeed he does. I got my French-student sister to make me that one. Even I have no idea how correct it was or even what it says. As for Latias finding out... well... I'm not saying anything... Wish what you want for now :)
Urgh... My head... It's all... Bubbly? Bouncy? Bright?
None of those words seem to explain what exactly seems to be wrong with my head. A single word isnt going to cut it.. It's like... It's like a hitmonlee has done a few rounds sparring with my brain. Or Latias has hit me with a Hyper Beam...
I suddenly get a really, REALLY bad feeling. Like my gut is being stood on. Why? What happened? Why does my head hurt so bad? Why am I hungry all of a sudden? and Where am I anyway?
Well, the questions aren't going to answer themselves, and perhaps opening my eyes will at least help solve at least one of them. Like where I am. I open them...
And instantly close them again, the bright light from some unknown source stabbing into my retina. But the brief glance at the world outside the back of my eyelids at least confirms where I am.
My head appears to be resting on the coffee table in the living room. The rest of my body, therefore, is resting on the carpet, which still explains next to nothing about how I got here. Perhaps Latias will know.
The moment I think that, I get the wrenching feeling in my gut again, like it knows something I don't. Which is getting increasingly worrying.
Eventually, I decide that I need to find out what happened, and open my eyes to the blinding light. Okay, maybe not fully open them, but squint. Through one eye. Briefly. Okay, here goes.
The light is still incredibly bright, but it's not as bad as last time. I can see more, certainly. For starters, the piano, except someone's put away the drinks glasses... that we had there... last... night...
The penny drops, and it's a pretty heavy penny. I recall the exact events of last night, which were... unscrupulous to say the least. Did I actually say that to Latias? Did she understand me? By the look on her face, I'd say so. And dancing the Macarena? What was I thinking?
Of course, I WASN'T thinking. That's why I did it.
There's no sign of Bianca, or Latias, or Lorenzo. I think the biggest priority is finding them now. And apologizing to Latias. Definitely What I said... that was just... wrong. I hope it won't affect her decision when I ask her to be my mate at Lorenzo's party this afternoon... Wait! It's LORENZOS PARTY THIS AFTERNOON?!
"Bianca! Lorenzo? Anyone? Anyone home?" I shout. What's the point in getting up and looking if they'll find me easier than me having to fly around the entire house? But there's no response.
"HELLO!? BIANCA!? LATIAS!? LORENZO!?" I shout louder, a bit of worry creeping into my voice. What if something got to them while I wasn't there to guard them? Is that why no-one is responding? Oh Archeus!
I can't lie here and do nothing. I need to act! First things first, what time is it? It's normally about 8, when I wake up, so Bianca might still be asleep. But this isn't the case, because when I turn my head to look at the clock on the mantelpiece, it's 11 o'clock. ELEVEN!
I really have over-slept. But let's see... I can still smell toast in the room, but it's source was removed a few hours ago. So someone has had breakfast, in this room, and managed not to wake me, which is saying something since I'm naturally a light sleeper. I must have really been out cold, I never ignore the smell of food. But the breakfast must answer at least where Lorenzo is: Of course! He'll have gotten up and left for one of his final days working at the museum.
And then there's the party this afternoon. So Bianca and Latias are most likely in the garden, prepping that. Which is really where I should be too, in that case.
I hear the padding of fur on carpet near the door and rotate my entire body round, to face the door. I don't want to have to start flying yet and by the scent I can tell that the padding is coming from a friend. Specifically, a small, brown, Normal type friend.
As I rotate towards the door, Cubone walks in, dragging the ever-present bone behind him. He looks at me laid out on the table and to his credit doesn't even blink. He does, however he does rub the sleep out of one of his eyes with the hand that isn't holding the bone. It looks really cute when he does that...
"Hi Latios" he says in a tone which blatantly says 'I'm still sleepy'. "Your shouting woke me up. Where's Bianca?"
Aww, the little guy wants to see Bianca. He's really taken a liking to her, I can't help but think.
"I don't know, she might be in the garden. Want a lift?". I'm going anyway, it's not a major inconvenience for him to ride on my back. Quite the opposite, I'll enjoy it. Once I remove myself from the table, that is.
"Sure... Are you okay?" He asks, pointing out the fact that I'm struggling to rotate around so my stomach is facing the floor. Right now I'm sideways with my wings folded back, and while I could just levitate up and then turn, I'd prefer to at least start the day the right way up. I'm putting quite a lot of effort on my wing in an effort to flip myself, so I'm grunting when I respond to Cubone's question.
"Could be better. Last night didn't EXACTLY go as planned..."
Cubone pulls a face, not that I can tell what kind of face it is with the skull covering it. I do however detect some sarcasm when he speaks as I triumphantly right myself. "Really? I thought your natural place to sleep was the coffee table..."
"Shut it you, do you want a lift or not?"
"Sorry..."
"Whatever. Hop on."
He waddles over and does one of his surprisingly high jumps onto my back. My head is still on the coffee table, so even though I've just started to lift off, my head doesn't really leave the ground until I'm almost ready to fly.
I slowly set off around the table and through the door, My wings not quite squashing Cubone as I fold them back to get through. Then the little guy chimes up with an unexpected question that makes me hesitate.
"What's this about you and a Gardevoir anyway?" he asks as we go through the kitchen door. How does he even know about that? Either way, I don't blame him for making conversation, but it's a terrible question given the events of last night. I dodge around the point.
"Yeah, one was threatening Lorenzo so Latias headbutted her"
"Yeah. But why was she after Lorenzo? Don't tell me you weren't somehow involved..." He says, and when he says 'involved' he adds a certain time which implies something a lot more... Interesting...
"I wasn't. Who said it was a she?"
"I don't believe that for one second. Anyway, you called it a her. So?"
Acheus he's persistent! I suppose the truth won't hurt him though...
"She wanted to be my mate, but I said No, so she was kinda an-"
"WHAT?!" The incredulity in his voice is almost comic, even though the topic is serious. "You said No to a Gardevoir? That's just... Mad. Crazy... You do understand how the whol-"
"Well, I'm legendary and she's just... Normal. Imagine how awkward that would be"
"Yeah, but still... You pointed her in my direction though?"
"Oh yeah, of course. What with your manly essence and all..."
I tease him as I fly though the open back door, where I'm presented with some good news: The moment I'm over the threshold, I can still smell the strong odor of the fish, Latias' present, so nothing has taken it overnight. When I look, though, one of the top tiles has moved slightly, and I can detect Latias' scent on the corner of it, so she must have tried moving it at some point but either given up or been stopped.
The other bit of good news is that if Latias has tried moving the tile, it means that at least she is outside. So Bianca probably is too.
I fly over to correct the tile and to his credit, Cubone doesn't comment. Although his aura feels like it's smirking. One nudge with my snout and the tile is covering the entire fish again, guarding it from any other Pokemon.
I accelerate to a moderate pace and fly into the archway to the secret garden, thinking of what I'm going to do when I see Latias. Apologize for my behaviour last night? Rational, but difficult because it'll bring up what happened. Perhaps, if I pretend it never happened, she'll ignore it. If she's in her heat like Bianca suggested last night, she may have even taken it as a compliment: after all, she spends of time trying to look and smell nice, and the only reason she'd have is to attract a mate. So my comment could almost be seen as natural animal reaction, and not offensive at all. Really, it's just natural.
Actually, judging from the look on her face that is still vivid in my memory, that certainly isn't the case. Latias may have picked up the human 'feminist' attitudes, as I believe they may be called.
"You saving that fish for yourself?" Cubone asks.
"No, why? Do you want it?". I'm not going to give it him, but if he thinks it smells nice too, odds are Latias has got the perfect gift.
"Well, not if it's already taken."
"Well then it is. You'll see why though soon enough, don't worry"
I'm fairly sure he'll have added up the hints I've been dropping by now, but he just stays silent on the mate issue.
"Right... Was it difficult to catch?" He asks.
Hmm... Difficult? Nope. Time consuming? Yep. Considering the meat you get, it's only really good if someone else is expanding energy to catch it. Otherwise it's a waste of time, because in the length of time it took to catch that Relincanth, I could have caught a two Sharpedo, which are bigger and probably more nutritious.
"Not really. But it's not really a common thing, so it took a while to find. Why?"
"Nothing. Its just... I don't see how you can do that..."
"Do what?"
"Well, you know. Hunt stuff. Surely it's a bit off-putting having it wiggle about and stuff before you eat it?"
To be honest, that's never disturbed me so much as been a nuicence. It must be some kind of association thing: You don't see it as a pokemon anymore, It's just 'pray' or 'target'.
"Not really, No. But you eat meat, right? Wild meat?" I make a good point.
"Yeah, but it's not stuff l've caught myself. It was all scavenged stuff from other pokemon's kills..."
That's both logical and depressing. Of course, he's lower on the food chain, so he can't go and hunt. But at the same time, meat is life. You need meat to live. Some Pokemon can be solely herbivores, but the majority need some kind of protein from meat. So Cubone will eat berries, but also require meat to properly digest them. But as he can't hunt, the only remaining option is for him to scavenge other kills. At the same time, never being able to claim the kill your eating as yours? That's just depressing.
"It's not difficult you know, if you want me to teach y-"
"Thanks, but no. Its scraps and canned food in the foreseeable for me."
"Oh. Well... If you ever want anything catching for you..." There's not really much more I can say to such a defeatist response, so I just stay silent.
I've reached the end of the archway and am flying over the barrier between the balcony-like platform and the main pond, when a familiar smell catches my nose. It's vaguely familiar, but I can't place it...
Whatever it is, it reminds me of a threat. Cubone picks up on my raised feathers and all the other signs that I'm on edge.
"What's up? Aren't they here?"
I slow down and explain in a hushed voice. I can't remember exactly how it's a threat, but if it's still here, I know I don't want it finding me. "Quiet! I can smell something... I don't know what it is, but the last time I had that scent, something bad happened. It's faint though. So it might not be here..."
Cubone lays down on my back, which is somewhat useful in that he's causing less wind resistance and I can set off faster. It'll also be harder to spot him.
I go along the treetops, looking down for the source of the scent. But it's slowly being overpowered by the smell of Latias and Bianca. Not saying they stink or anything, but every animal has a distinctive smell and after living years with those two I can smell them a mile off. Same for Latias with me and Bianca. Bianca's sense of smell isn't good enough to say the same. Though if your trying to locate Latias, the best policy is probably to follow the trail of overturned furniture that she'll often leave in her clumsy wake.
As I reach the clearing with Latias and Bianca, the smell is totally overpowered and I can't trace it at all. It's funny I can't remember what it came from. Something tells me it was really familiar too...
There's not much else I can do as to the scent. I can't say what it's from or provide a reason I think it's threatening other than instinct, so I suppose the best I can do to prevent the threat from getting to either of the females is to be around them all the time, ready to step in if something tries to get to them.
I do a corkscrew round and down towards the clearing, where it looks like Bianca is setting up the tables that I took out yesterday. Most people wouldn't advise leaving tables or food out overnight, but the food is in plastic which pretty much every pokemon knows not to try and eat. Plus if we left it inside, Lorenzo would know we were stocking for something and his surprise would be ruined.
"BIANCA! HI! I'M AWAKE!" I shout down at her, but she just ignores me. As does Latias. I know their ignoring me because I'm definitely within even Bianca's hearing range, and Latias ears prick up at the sound of my voice. They just don't respond. Something tells me it's got something to do with my behaviour last night. I complete the last spiral and try giving them good news.
"Hello? I'VE GOT CUBONE". Still nothing. I must really be in trouble.
I corkscrew all the way down to Bianca's knee height and just next to her, whereupon he jumps off, shouting for Bianca. Rather irritably, the moment he's off my back, Bianca acknowledges his existence.
"Hi Cubone! Good sleep?"
He nods. "Better than Latios by the sound of it...". Cheeky so and so.
Right, affection it is. I fly up to her side at her stomach height and rub my snout against her side, just under her arm. The picture of affection. Plus my feathers are that soft, you can't help but be happy when you're touching them. Hopefully.
She sighs and puts out a tub of butter that she was arranging on the table. The moment she turns around, I know I'm getting a lecture.
But I'm surprised when instead of standing with her hands on her hips, she kneels down so her face is right infront of mine. Like, her nose millimeters from my snout, and he eyes locked right into mine. That's not how people normally tell me off.
Without warning, she grasps my head in her hands. And starts speaking very intently.
"Listen, you scared us all last night. First you go into something that looked like a fit, then you started speaking 'gobbledygook', according to Latias." - Something tells me Latias wasn't telling the whole truth about what I said to Bianca. She heard me, no doubt. - "Then... the farce with the light. I don't know why you did it and I'm not going to ask, but when you hit the floor, then, were... laid out on that table... Not moving... We were all worried. For you. That you might be hurt. And I don't want that ever happening."
There's a tear in her eye and this leads me to believe she might be upset - although with humans you never know. Some cry when they're happy.
"I'm sorry Bianca." Is the only thing I can think of saying. Of course, 'saying' isn't enough since she can't understand, but she lets go of my head. She looks like she needs a hug.
She suddenly casts her arms wide and her voice changes to be much brighter. "Come here you!", and she throws her arms around me.
Before I know it, Latias has joined in too, flying to my side and drawing her arms so she can put them on top of Bianca's and around me. Cubone ops to grab ahold of my right tail fin with one hand. Aww.
So here I am surrounded by two emotional females, and a small scavenger pokemon. Me, a legendary. I can't think but that the whole situation be horribly embarrassing if anyone were watching. But the fact is, I don't care. Yes, one of them may be a human - which certain legendaries like Groudon mutually detest - and the other may be a petty normal type, but at the end of the day, I'm not ashamed to be with them, anymore than I'd be ashamed of being with my own family. Its comforting to know that if I was in trouble or hurt, or injured , they'd be there. We're a family. It's just a family with many different species.
The hug goes stale after a bit and they all break up. Bianca shakes her head and then claps her hands. It doesn't quite get Latias' attention, so she has to do a tounge click before she can continue.
"Right then...". Bianca pauses to think.
"Me and Cubone will set out the food, because - no offense you two - but we wouldn't have any food left if I let you do it. Besides, you two can put the banner up on those two trees", she directs, pointing out that banner that we'd left outside and the two trees she wants it hanging from.
"Aww" Latias coos, hovering above the treats Bianca was setting out on the table. As I said, they're wrapped in plastic and mostly airtight, but a few of them are not fully sealed and the smell can get out, which is just taunting. Especially since it's the fish that I can smell the most. Latias is hovering over the particular package I can smell, taking deep breaths in through her snout, as close as possible, getting as much of the nice taste that she can. Bianca pulls at her wing.
"Come on, away! I don't know why you're going for it now, you can have as much as you like in a few hours" Bianca sees her fly back with a grin and rewords her last sentence.
"As much as you like AFTER we've had ours"
"Awww!"
"Go on, put that banner up. Shoo!" She waves her hand backwards and forwards in front of Latias face, and if it was anyone else I'm sure the hand would be in Latias' mouth, no longer be attached to the arm. But because it's Bianca, Latias just squints and moves backwards to avoid being hit by the flapping limb.
"Okay then..." Latias turns to me and speaks, her snout close to mine. "We might as well put up this banner then. You grab one end, I'll grab the other, and we'll tie it around a branch.".
Something tells me this task is going to be easier said than done. But I still don't think I'm in a position to argue with her.
"Sure".
We both fly to our respective corner of the banner, which hasn't moved in the two days since we made it. Lorenzo does go into the garden, but not very often into the trees, not without us. He says it makes him nervous. So the banner has remained undiscovered and unmoved. All we need to do is raise it.
I hover over the corner and fold my arms out, ready to pick up the canvas with my claws, which may tear a hole in it if I do it the wrong way. Actually, If I poke a hole in it, I won't need to tie it and all I'll need to do is slide it over a branch, through the hole. This would be easier than tying it because my claws are too small to do any complicated knots. The same goes for Latias.
"Latias, I've got a better way we can do this!" I shout her over. But because it's impossible for her to do the simple thing, she flies in a circle a few times before actually flying towards me. She stops a foot short of the edge of the banner, head three feet off the ground like me. I tell her my idea.
"So if we cut it and put a hole in the corner" - I accompany this with hand gestures - " then we can just slide a branch through the hole and let it rest on that"
Latias' face doesn't change from 'thinking'.
"I guess that could work. Lets try" And she flies back to her corner, arms folded out, ready to cut the material.
I select the 1st claw on my left arm to do this. It's the one I always use for remedial cutting. With a quick jab, the banner now has a hole in its top right corner, about 5 centimeters from the edge and 15 from the picture, not very big but it'll get bigger when I impale a branch through it.
I hear Latias shout. "Ready?"
"Ready!" I yip back, carefully grabbing a hold of the edge of the banner with my claws.
I was expecting a countdown, but Latias goes ahead and flies directly upwards. I react quickly though, and the banner doesn't tear as I race to catch up with Latias' level. With a bit of adjusting, we make the treeline with none too much effort, and the banner still in one piece.
While I almost immediately find a suitable branch and slide the ready-made hole onto it, Latias struggles. I release the end and the banner droops a bit, but if anything it makes it look even more fitting to the party vibe. Latias is still struggling with her end though, and I'm in two minds about helping her. On one hand, I don't want her to bring up last night. On the other hand, she obviously needs help.
At this rate, though, We'll be here for a few more decades before she gets her end of the banner sorted. I'll have to help.
I fly over to her, and can see the look of intense concentration on her face.
"Here, let me help you with that" I tell her as I psychic the material out of her hand and fly a tad higher than she was in search of a better branch. She follows, an inquisitive look on her face. While I'm looking for a suitable spot to hang the banner, she asks me a question.
"Latios?"
"Yes?"
"What's your favorite place? Like, if you could be anywhere now, where would it be?"
What an unprompted question... And yet, I can see why she's done it. Because the first thing that pops into my head is 'laid down, next to you', even if it is ridiculously cheesy. If she was reading my mind for the true answer, it was there for her to read though. But I don't want to say it out loud for fear of sounding too soppy (or lustral, depending on what kind of animal you think I am). But now I'm thinking.
The garden is nice, adapted for dragons and overall a good place. But it's old, I've lived here forever and it's getting stale. The mainland, now that was new, and exciting. Almost too new, so new it was frightening. And it felt like it was missing something, which I suspect was a companion to enjoy it with.
Ultimately, I want to be wherever my mate is, and never leave their side. But If I could take Latias with me, the one place I'd like to be, is space.
For starters, there's the view. The earth with all its blues and then the black of space with the horizon a shade of... well... I can only imagine. But up there... You'd see all of life and everything in it on one sphere, a marble for you to gaze at.
I mean, yeah, there's pictures on TV and stuff, but something tells me that they just aren't... real... There's so much more to it than that, I'm sure. Me and her would both love it, just us and the other, and nothing else to concern ourselves with unless we wanted it...
"Well?"
A word from her snaps me back to reality.
"Space. Up there" - I flick my head upwards so she gets the picture.
"Right..." she yips, and I can't tell if she was reading my thoughts or not. I could read her's, of course, and find out how she thinks about me, but that's not my style and besides, she's much more sensitive. She'd be able to detect me snooping around her thoughts in microseconds.
I eventually find a branch and hook the banner on, and we fly backwards (which is nit as easy as it sounds) in unison to inspect it in-situ.
I'm being honest when I say it looks fantastic. The slight droop is unintentionally artistic, the pictures on either end are fantastic and the lettering looks... Well okay it's not perfect, but what do you expect from a dumb human and a Pokemon with no opposable thumbs?
Latias almost immediately wheels round and jets to Bianca, and I follow her with my eyes, moving my head as she flies past.
She arrives next to Bianca and squeals in her ear.
"BIANCALOOKATTHIS ITS THE BANNERNISNTITAMAZING AND I THINK YOURPICTURESLOO"
Bianca puts her fingers in her ears to block the shrill noise, and shouts to be heard. "ALRIGHT JUST CALM DOWN"
Latias folds her arms so they're bent and her claws meet in front of her triangle, the apology appearance. "Sorry..."
Bianca removes her index digits from her acoustic passages and leans forward to give Latias a ruffle on the head, also scratching her ears in the process. Latias makes a quaint and satisfied coo, and Bianca smiles.
"I take it from all that cawing you've got the banner up then?"
"Uh-hu"
Bianca starts to turn around, but a buzzing noise in her pocket interrupts, and she pulls out a phone like object, holding it up to her face.
I recognize what the device is. Because the front door is so far away, we'd never hear the doorbell if it rang. So Lorenzo's got this thing which is like a doorbell which will ring in your pocket too, and it's got a phone and everything so you can talk to the person at the front door without actually going there. Bianca always picks it up before she goes into the garden.
"Who is it?"
"Is that Bianca?" a jolly voice asks back, and even though it's a bit distorted by the phone we can all tell who it is. It's Tony! With the cake!
"Oh Hi Tony! Hang on, I'll get someone to bring you through..." - She covers the phone-like-thing with one hand.
"You two, just go and pick up - NOT literally pick him up - but lead him through to here please?"
Latias enthusiastically answers for the both of us. "SURE! But first..."
She casts a sideways glance at me, and I briefly wonder what that implies... Oh wait... I know... As expected, shes bent her neck so its behind my back, and is now lightly biting my wing. "TIG!" She squeals, and barrel rolls towards the house, weaving her way through trees until she's out of sight.
"Good luck with that" is the only advice Cubone offers as I sigh and fly for after her.
This was partly inspired by the day after Dave tried to get a date with the coat rack. Except he woke up minus an ear lobe. Don't ask.
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