Where AM I? What happened to me? Why is it dark?

Far off questions that rebound about my brain after I wake up. I didn't even realise I was asleep, the last thing I remeber was eating some fish at Lorenzo's party.

Wait a minute...

I can't see anything. I can't hear anything. I can't smell anything. I'm definitely awake, but all my senses aren't responding. I've got some feel of touch, though, I can feel a weight on my back, and it's going across to my wings.

So that must mean I'm lying on my back and wings. Not a good place to be. My underside must be completely exposed. Anything could attack it.

I stay dead still, not wanting to attract attention until I know my surroundings. I don't want to try and break out of being held captive - which is a possibility - if I don't know where I'm going. Though finding any more out will be impossible with all my senses not working.

I feel a light touch on the outward facing, blue part, of my right claw, the shielding. My arm is still tucked into my side, though, and I still don't want to move anyway. If it's a threat, the best thing I can do is play dead, since I can't really attack if I can't see.

The light touch becomes firmer, and I can make out the contours of a human hand resting on it. Like there's someone pushing, no, leaning, against my arm. The hand has four fingers and one thumb, with the fingers curling around. It is too small to be male, so it must be a female humans hand. And if it is, it's exactly the same size as Bianca's. And the same smoothness.

It's most likely Bianca then, but I can't see or smell her, which is becoming worrying as my eyes are open and there doesn't appear to be anything blocking my snout. Not that I'd be able to see it.

But if it is Bianca, she's now tugging on my claw like she wants me to withdraw it from my side. Perhaps she's going to take me somewhere?

I withdraw my arm and let it go slack in her hand. She moves it around and faces it upwards, and I suddenly know what she's going to do.

Bianca's great grandma taught me this. It's called 'blind sign language', and she showed every family member how to do it, since her husband was going deaf and blind. And Bianca is using it now.

Does that mean I'm deaf and blind too now?

I try to avoid the panic that this thourght causes and concentrate on what Bianca is signing out on my hand. It's done by drawing out the letters of the words, and I wait as she 'writes' out an entire sentence on my arm, letter by letter, abbreviated to make the message as short as possible.

"You're in the pokemon centre. Hospital"

The pokemon centre? How did I get here? What happened? At least I'm safe.
Bianca carries on.

"I'll get joy, take blindfold off"

Blindfold? I'm wearing a blindfold. Okay, that must be why I can't see. And she's getting nurse Joy to come and take it off. But why can't I smell? Or hear?

I wait for her to write that out, but she's let go of my arm and it's just flopping on the same surface I'm lying on. I daren't move it in case she wants to speak again and I accidentally swipe her. But nothing happens.

After about a minute, my claw gets picked up again, and from the hand I can tell it's Bianca. She writes on my claw.

"Stay Still". Well it's not like I'm in a position to disagree.

After a bit more waiting, I feel something - or someone - moving around the bottom of my head. Like they're scratching the closest thing I have to a chin. Bianca lets go of my claw and I'm worried she's going to go away again, but then I feel her lean her body against mine, like she's leaning across to look at me face-to-face.

I feel something start to slide off my head, sliding over my ears and off my mouth. I didn't even realise it was there until it started being taken off.

The next sense to return is my smell. What hits me immediately is the lack of one. Normally there's always lots of interesting background smell, but I can only smell three specific things here. A really strong chemical smell, Bianca and one other person, whom I don't know. But where's Latias? Why can't I smell her?!

I can also hear a beeping sound now.

Beep... Beep... beep beep... Beep... Beep... Beep... beep beep...

It's looping over and over again, and it kind of reminds me of when humans are in hospital on TV and they've got a thing that says how fast their heart is beating. I'm in a hospital now, according to Bianca. So am I attached to one?

The final question is answered when whatever it was that was attached to my head - I think the word would be muzzle - is fully removed and I can finally see.

It's very bright, so I have to squint. But yes, this looks like a hospital like on the TV. Except, shouldn't I have other patients next to me? Or there be other patients around? I can't see Latias either? WHERE IS SHE?!

I'm in a perfectly square room, and there's only me, Bianca off to my right, and the person who removed the muzzle, probably nurse Joy, behind me.

The room is absolutely white, not a speck of dirt anywhere. Above me, there's an elaborate light fitting with 8 bright lights shining directly onto me. The beeping noise is coming from a screen that's on a platform, and on the wall I'm facing now, there's also lots of other medical stuff, none of which looks familiar. Except... Is that a knife? Scalpel?

Have they opened me up? Have they cut into me while I was asleep? Is that why my throat is so dry, because they've cut me open and drained away all my liquid?

I start to try and move, to look at Bianca and ask her all theise questions. But I can't. The only thing I can move is my head, up and down and left and right. The rest of me feels like I've been strapped down. Why am I being confined?

"I'm sorry about the muzzle, Latios." Bianca starts talking and I stop struggling. Perhaps she'll tell me what's actually going on.

"They couldn't put you in a pokeball, but they wanted you to be secure, so they had to do it. They were quite scared of you, I'll be honest". She's not telling me who 'they' are. But they're scared of me too, so we're kind of on the even.

A new voice appears behind me, nurse Joy's. So that's probably who 'they' are.

"Is he okay?"

Well, my throat is killing me.

"Thirsty!" I coo at Bianca, but my throats so dry it just comes out as a quiet, feeble, dry sounding noise.

"He sounds dehydrated. I'll get some water" Nurse Joy replies, and I can hear her walk over to the other side of the room and start doing stuff.

"Thanks" Bianca says, her sad mood obscuring how thankful she actually is.

After a pause, she starts talking again.

"I know this looks all scary and everything, but the nurses say you'll be fine. They've given you medicine and that kind of thing, but not any operations or anything"

I know an 'operation' is what they call cutting people open, so I'm glad I've not had one. But then... Why am I here? In this room operations are done in? Am I about to be asked a question that I won't like to answer?

"They've kept you in here though because you got spotted coming in, and now everyone's after you". Bianca was already tearing up as she said that last bit, and she finally gives up, collapsing her head into her hands and sobbing openly, upset that all the years she's spent hiding me and Latias are now in vein.

I can't do much while tied down, and my mouth is too dry to try and verbally console her. But I take the arm I folded out and rest it on where I think her knee is.

"Thanks" she sobs out.

I'm not really suprised that I've been found out. It was only a matter of time, really. And it doesn't even matter, actually, because I had a plan all along. We can just pretend that whatever sighting it was, was actually just a ditto with a talent for copying pokemon from pictures. And that must mean that Latias is safe too, probably in the room next to this one. Yeah. And they didn't want to put us in the same room because they were worried we might escape. That's it. All the same, it would be nice to see her. Or even catch her scent...

Nurse Joy wheels over a trolley with some machine on it and a tube coming out of it. She hands it to Bianca, who raises her hand and takes it.

"Could you put this in his mouth for me? They prefer their owners to do this kind of thing if they're awake"

Bianca looks at the tube, stands up and looks at me, eyes locking into mine.

"This is your water, Latios. I need to put it in your mouth. Open up?"

I open my mouth and she very delicately feeds about 7cm of the tube in, before manipulating my jaw so I'm lightly biting on it, keeping it in my mouth. She looks at nurse Joy, who is now holding a gray box that looks like a pedal.

Nurse Joy is looking at me, unsure of how to actually talk to me. I get this a lot, like when Bianca's friends first tried talking to me.

"Err... Latios? This switches the water on and off. I need to put it somewhere where you can press it. Is under your wing okay?"

I try moving my left wing and it does, but only very little. It's definately strapped down.

Nurse Joy sees this and loosens whatever is is that was stopping me.

"Better?"

I nod my head, and then raise my left wing so she can put the pedal under it. She does, being very careful not to actually touch my wing, and then stands back up again.

"Okay, Latios. You can put your wing down now"

I comply, pushing the pedal and expecting water, but nothing happens.

Nurse Joy pushes a button on the thing she wheeled over, and a quiet hum fills the room.

"If you want to drink, lift your wing up and the tube will give you water. Okay?"

I try it out the second she finishes explaining, looking her in the eye the entire time.

I slowly lift my wing and water begins to come out of the tube, filling my mouth. The more I lift my wing off the pedal, the faster the water goes. Rest my wing on it, and it stops.

I swallow down the water that I'd just filled my mouth with, and instantly my throat feels better.

"That's good! Thank you, Nurse Joy!" I coo at her, sounding somewhat like my normal voice now, with the tube just distorting my speach a bit.

She looks at Bianca and she translates. "He was saying 'thanks'. And thank you too"

Nurse Joy smiles. "That's what I'm here for!". She then takes a few steps out of my vision, but stays in the room. That's fine by me.

Bianca starts talking again.

"Lorenzo should be here any minute. Of course, the moment people saw you, the media jumped on it, but Lorenzo got dibbs and he's the only person who's actually got film of you."

That's actually quite cool, and I reflect it in my expression.

"I know right? His first broadcast and it's already got a feature of you. I'd show you the rough cut on my phone, but they're banned in here. Probably a good idea."

"Oh" I manage to sigh, before my throat feels dry again and I raise my wing to take in some more water.

Nurse Joy pipes up.

"Bianca, do you look after him the most then?"

I'm drinking, so I don't mind her butting in. Besides, she's just being nice.

"Well, yeah..." is her sheepish reply. Nurse Joy responds with admiration in her voice.

"That's no mean feat! And you're so young! They respect you a lot, I can tell! Hmmm... They must eat a lot"

"Well, yeah. I actually only feed them twice a day, sometimes three. But err.. I DO let them catch their own food as well?" Bianca replies and I realise why her voice sounds strained at the end.

Nurse Joy spends her entire day fixing pokemon up, so the last thing she'll want to hear is that I go out and kill them.

Nurse Joy doesn't shout or even scold her though.

"That's good! I don't say that to most people, but he must be very high maintenance and the pokemart stuff just won't have the things in that he needs"

I've finished my drink, but it'd be nice if I wasn't fully on my back. Actually, I'd be nice if I wasn't restrained. And I'm awake now, so can't I go and see Latias?

I move my wings and back around so Bianca looks at me.

"Oh no, you're staying where you are. We can't have you loose around the hospital, and besides, you can't fly without your psychic anyway."

Nurse Joy mumbles in astonishment as I fume over my situation.

"You even restrain him too... Wow... "

Yeah she restrains me. Too much. Although she has a point. I can't seem to fly or do anything psychic. I try reading Bianca's aura, but it's like my psychic muscle has stopped working.

"WHY CANT I FLY? BIANCA? BIANCA!? WHY?" I shout it as I begin to panic. If I can't use psychic, then I'm essentially useless. I can't move around or anything, and Latias will never be my mate if I can't even move, and...

Bianca rests her arm on my wing to calm me down, and it works. To an extent. And by extent, I mean I stop shouting.

"Calm... Calm down. You're fine. Cool. Listen. You're okay. But to get all the poison out of you we had to give you some really powerful medicine. It's shaken you up really badly, but your psychic will come back. It's a temporary side effect... Nurse Joy?"

Nurse Joy appears to have run across to the other side of the room by the sound of her voice. Clearly my outburst scared her.

"Oh.. Er.. Yes... Latios? You'll be fine. Now you're awake, I'd say your psychic will return within the hour. Two at the most"

I guess that's okay.

"I'm sorry for shouting." I apologise to both females and... Wait... Poison?

"Poison. Poison?" I ask Bianca, but she doesn't understand.

"No, not just yet. There's a test though that can check if your psychic works so if-"

I don't normally interrupt Bianca, but I think now is an acceptable time. If poison is involved, I NEED to know that Latias is okay.

"Bianca?! POISON? WHAT POISON? IS LATIAS OKAY?"

It's at this moment that the door behind Bianca clicks open and Lorenzo walks in.

"Latios! You're awake!"

Yeah, whoopee.

"Lorenzo. Poison. Explain." I've found that humans are more likely to interpret one-word sentences. But Lorenzo doesn't get it either.

"Yes I know, glad to see you too!"

This is hopeless. And if they won't tell me about Latias, or take me to her I'm going to find my own way to her. Wiggling across the floor if I have to.

I try to actively fight the things that are holding me down, but it doesn't work. Nurse Joy yet again backs away and Lorenzo leans forward to try and give me a scratch behind the ears, presumably to calm me down. Well I'm not being calmed down. Not unless they free me or wheel me in to Latias.

I dodge his hand and hiss at him.

I've only hissed at him three times. Once because he was hurting Latias, once because he was hurting me and another time because I'd just flown into a wall and I was angry with everything because of it. Needless to say, I don't hiss often. But when I do this time, a look of sadness flashes across Lorenzo's face.

I know why. It's because he's spent all his time and effort looking after me and even though he's only trying to do that now, I'm being nasty. I feel sorry for him, I really do, but I NEED to know Latias is safe.

Even though nurse Joy is backed up against the wall terrified, Lorenzo still speaks to me in a calm manner.

"Hey, look. There's no need for that. Listen. Latios. This is going to sound a bit odd, but... Do you know who brought you here? Because it wasn't me. Or Bianca. I'm too old, and Bianca's too weak."

I stop fighting the straps that I can now feel are holding me down. It's a good point, after all, if a bit of an odd question. I tilt my head too to show interest. He said it like he knows the answer.

"It was the gardevoir you and Latias attacked when she went near me. She used all her psychic energy lifting you here. And then when she fainted, Bianca had to lift you with the help of one of her friends, called Amy? You remeber her?"

Indeed I do, though I can't really care. What good is knowing how I got here going to do when I want to know how Latias is... Hang on...

I'm the only one who can lift Latias, she's too heavy for humans. She's lighter than me, yes, but if green was fainted after lifting me then humans would have had to carry her across town, which is almost impossible.

"How did Latias get here?" I ask him, half growling. The growl isn't intended, but I'm so hyped up it works its way in there without me meaning to. It always does if I'm not sure about where Latias is, or I'm worried about her. Like I am now. Because if I couldn't have taken her, and neither could anyone else, then it must mean she isn't here. And if she isn't here... Where is she?

"There was a reason I asked you if you knew. It's because, no matter what happens, you will always have friends and family to help you and for you to protect. Even if you attack and hiss at us, we'll always be there for you"

I have a feeling I'm going to receive some very bad news, but I hold back my anger and just do the deepest, meanest growl I can. It doesn't phase Lorenzo though.

"So now I'm going to ask you the big one, but keep in mind what I've just said. Do you even remeber why you're here?"

No. I can't. The thing I remeber me last doing was tucking into some really tasty fish. I shake my head. Still growling. If Latias is in danger... Well...

"I'm going to say one word, you'll remeber, but promise you'll stay calm. Remeber what I said about always having friends here."

In this situation, I can't promise anything. I stare at him, neither nodding or shaking. Just a low growl. He's going to have to tell me sooner or later, and in his interests, if it's bad news, it better be while I'm tied down.

He takes a breath in and holds it, considering what to say. Then he says it.

"Cassedy"

Cassedy... That was the name of the woman... Who...

BIANCA'S MOTHER! What she changed her name to! The one who was with team Rocket with Jay's dad, and said she poisoned the fish, which is why I'm here, because I ate all the fish, and Latias didn't get any because I ate it all, and... And...

My mind blocks what happens next from me, but after a few moments of concentration, the scene returns in vivid color.

"Well, loosers, we'd take both your pokemon, but our ride home only has room for one ... And you'll do nicely".
Then raises the gun. Latias goes low on the floor of the cage and growls. Cassedy points the gun at her. Then pulls the trigger.

Cassedy shot Latias.

"With me! NOW!" Nurse Joy shouted over to Bianca and Lorenzo, pointing to a door directly behind the operating table, out of Latios' view.

On the table, Latios was growling, hissing and spitting, beyond reason and fueled by pure rage, desperately trying to break free from the restraints. Judging by the noise they were making, he was winning.

Bianca made it through the door first, but Lorenzo was taking forever. It wasn't fair on the old man, he'd only said what the doctor told him to. It wasn't fair on Latios, all he wanted was a mate. It wasn't fair on the artist girl, she just wanted to enjoy time with her legendary family. Nothing was fair, nurse Joy reflected as she held the door open for Lorenzo. Who eventually made it.

The moment Lorenzo was over the threshold, nurse Joy jumped through too and slammed the door shut, before pressing a red button on the wall where the door was mounted.

With a reassuring mechanical 'thunk', the door slammed shut and locked.

The room they were in was small, with two doors opposite each other. The one they just came through had warning labels on it and at the moment was lit red all the way around, and looked sturdy. The other was a lot more boring, with just a sign reminding people to wash their hands after being in the operating theatre.

Other than the doors, a sink and a few chairs, the room was empty, not a desk or any kind of work surface. Bianca glanced at a sign which identified the room as "Operation Observation and Control", but failed to see a way to observe or control the operating theater in the practically empty room.

That observation was just a distraction, of course, for the fact that one of her best friends was missing and the other one had seemingly gone in to a barbaric rage. If she lost her nerve now, she'd never get it back.

Shaking with adrenaline, Nurse Joy turned to face a worried Bianca and an out of breath Lorenzo.

"Right. You two. I need the whole truth from now on. I didn't ask before, because I didn't want to intrude, but anything I ask now, I NEED to know. In this room, we're on our own."

Bianca nodded as Lorenzo doubled over to catch his breath. Other than the sound of Lorenzo hyperventilating, the room was quiet, cut off from the roaring dragon by 2 inch thick steel.

"Right. First, you. Bianca." Bianca stared the Nurse in the eyes.

"Did Latios ever show any attraction to you?". Joy said it with hope in her voice.

"No. I mean, yeah we were friends. But nothing intimate, No."

"Right. Are you sure? Did he ever give you gifts or anything?"

Bianca knew what Nurse Joy was talking about, and immidiatly set the record.

"No, he reserved that kind of thing for Latias. Smelly, shiny stuff. And food. That all went to Latias. Well, 19 out of 20 times"

"Great". The sentiment was entirely sarcastic. "If he saw you as a mate you could talk to him and calm him down, but since he didn't, it'll only make him angry now..." She mulled to herself, before speaking up again, with renewed optimism. Optimism being relative here, in the same why a man being hit by a truck would be considered an optimist for saying 'Look, I've still got one arm left! It's not all bad!'

"Latios and Latias. What was their relationship? We know they're brother as sister, but what about mates?"

Bianca shook her head.

"No. Well, if they were, they didn't show off about it or anything. They must have been deliberately hiding it if they were."

"Well, they can be very sneaky" prompted nurse Joy, trying to at least get something useful from the teenager. The man didn't appear to be in any state to help. At least if he was going to have a heart attack, he was in the right place to do it.

Bianca decided to elaborate.

"Well, they weren't mating. We'd know that. But over the last few days Latios had started getting very... Err... How do I say this? Attentative? Protective? Of her."

Nurse Joy knew what Bianca meant. It was typical of every male. They'd show off in an attempt to win a mate, and be really protective the rest of the time, refusing to let their prospect get hurt.

"Was Latias in heat when..."

"Yes. Definately. She was doing the things that she does; constantly grooming Him - or anything really-, being really affectionate... That kind of thing"

"Well, you know her better than me. But this makes things difficult..."

Bianca didn't want to ask, but I she had to. Nurse Joy had already turned around and was looking at an apparently blank wall, searching for something on it.

"Why?"

Nurse Joy found the hidden button and pressed it, responding to Bianca's question as various tables and monitors started to fold out of the wall, previously disguised as parts of the wall.

"Well, if Latios considered Latias as a mate, in his mind, she is his already. It's a protective thing. So he'll already be ready to kill to protect her. But as she was in heat, her pheromones will have driven him crazy. Not CRAZY crazy, but really, really dedicated to her. Odds are he'll stop at nothing to find her now."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

One final panel of the wall was sliding open, and nurse Joy turned to look at Bianca.

"Not if you're in his way."

Joy turned back and looked through the newly retracted panel, as did Bianca.

The panel was set into the same wall as the door, and was constructed from 2.5 inches of Lead-Laced Acrylic-Polyvynalchloronate composite. It was virtually unbreakable, radiation proof and could survive pressure differences of up to two thousand times the weight of a waillord. To Bianca, it didn't seem enough.

Behind the glass, she could see the operating theater, or more accurately, Latios tied to the table in the operating theater.

In between them escaping and the panel revealing him, he'd freed the wing that was operating the machine that was giving him water, and using it, had managed to fling the water machine into the wall. The machine wasn't so much wrecked as it was non-existant. Latios had thrown it so hard that it'd broken into tens of thousands of parts, most of them smaller than a fingernail.

Nurse Joy was speaking into a microphone that was snaking out of the console underneath the window.

"CODE 2, CODE 2, ALL STAFF. EVACUATE TRANS ROUTE FROM OP A1 TO SKYLAND A AND OPEN. REPEAT, EVACUATE DIRECT ROUTE FROM OP A1 TO SKYLAND A, AND OPEN SKYLAND A. PRIORITY 2, EXECUTION DEADLINE 20 SECONDS MARK."

Nurse Joy stopped speaking and started pressing buttons on the console, making a series of alarms ring out. In the room, the light switched from a pure white, to a dark red. She explained to Bianca as well, she was his owner after all. It must be killing her to see him like this.

"Stay here, don't go anywhere. I'm moving everyone out of his way, because when he does break out, he'll destroy everything if there's not a clear path outside. He won't like being indoors, so he'll take the shortest route to the outside. Which is up."

A few more button presses, and all but one light in the operating theater went out. The light was a single red one that barely illuminated the table, but it let nurse Joy know what was going on.

"I've switched off the lights so the moment we open the path to the roof, which will be lit, he'll take that."

Bianca had to admit, nurse Joy was smarter than she thourght. Much smarter.

But intelligence wasn't going to help them against raw power.

With a snapping noise, the belts holding down Latios' midsection snapped, the sound of rending metal inaudible to the isolated observers, but painfully loud to Latios, the noise only aggrevating him more.

Nurse Joy cursed under her breath as the final strap around the dragon's right wing tore, releasing him.

"His psychic doesn't work yet though, right?"

Nurse Joy snapped under the pressure and shouted back at Bianca.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK?". She waved her hand manically at the window, which provided an accurate answer.

Latios had indeed got his psychic back, and had started to fly in circles around the operating room, getting faster and faster. By the look of his mouth, he was growling, and his eyes were twisted, intensity focused on the circle he was flying in.

"I NEED THAT ROUTE CLEARED NOW!" Nurse Joy yelled into her microphone, before loosing her patience for the second time at the lack of a response.

In frustration and fear for her own safety she pushed another button on the console.

In the operation theater, Latios noticed a red light above the door he could see while he was laid down, and briefly thourght it was Latias. It was just a normal light though, with some English over the top.

He looked away and continued to fly around the room, faster and faster. His plan was simple. Fly so fast that he broke the speed of sound, which would hopefully break something and allow him out to find Latias. Failing that, he would hyper beam the roof until it melted, then fly out of that. Judging by his heat-vision, the roof was made of steel and lead. But even steel has a melting point.

In the control room, the Nurse pressed three more buttons at the same time.

One opened the door out of the operating theater One switched off the lights in the corridor outside. And the final one opened the skyland - the nickname for a big hole in the roof that allowed them to lower large pokemon in and directly onto the hospital, ready to be operated on.

Mercifully, the now-dark corridor was clear, and in the middle of it, a beam of light being cast from above was beginning to widen. The skyland was opening.

Just as he was about to reach the speed of sound, Latios noticed the beam of light on the floor in the corridor. Judging by the brightness and the color, it could only be sunlight.

He completed another loop, then accelerated towards the light and into the corridor, also breaking the sound barrier in the process. With a bang, every window on the east side of the pokemon centre blew open and shattered, as the enraged dragon shot down the main hallway faster then a bullet. Only the observation window stayed intact.

Latios reached the shaft of light and looked up.

It appeared that the roof was splitting apart above him, probably by some mechanical thing. Whatever was doing it, it was a way out into the open world. Without another hesitation, he took it. He didn't care how long it took him, how far he would have to go. He was going to find Latias. Find her or die trying.

Yeah, guess who was depressed with society and it's segregation of minorities at the time of writing?

And sorry, An7! But an authors gotta do what an authors gotta do, which is, in this instance, introduce a dramatic and seemingly irreversible event that the protagonist is capable of preventing, but unable to, thereby causing emotional trauma, whereby said protagonist can take many options, from slaying everything in its path, to collapsing in a puddle of saline on the floor. It worked for the hunger games. Trust me. Cast your bets on what you think I've done, in the reviews. Until Sunday (GMT), PEACE!