Chapter VII: Is this it?
0952 Hours GMT +1
Clenched eyes, mouth yawning. I try and sit up in the small, single bed. No luck. I open my eyes only to see Latias curled up at the end of my bed, purring away, and lying on my feet. I smiled as I watched her slowly rise and fall in unison with her quiet breathing. She seemed to be smiling also. I turned to see how Josh as doing. Let me just say it wasn't quite the same. He was sprawled out on the bed, stomach down, face to the side and drooling onto his pillow.
"He must have been tired. He never usually does that." I thought to myself.
I turned back to look at Latias again. She was all curled up in a ball purring softly to herself. Cute. Trying not to disturb her, I smoothly, brought my legs round to the side of the bed and sat up, she only twitched a little. Smiling, I slowly, climbed out of bed only to be greeted by Pryce violently shoving the door open waking Josh up and causing Latias to Squeal and cling onto me. After painfully prying her claws off my back I could see Pryce was sorry.
"What time is it?" I asked still half asleep,
"Almost ten o'clock in the morning." Pryce replied, "Sorry for the rude awakening, I'm used to waking up recruits." He continued, trying to explain his reasons.
"Don't worry, it's fine. Any particular reason for coming in?" I asked,
Latias sort of scowled a Pryce as I was talking to him. Probably for waking her.
"Not really I'm afraid. Nothing more than being forgetful." He replied,
"Hmm. Fair enough." I said as I yawned, "Can I just ask one thing?" I quizzed,
"Fire away." Pryce said before he left the room,
"How did you know we were in that building?" I asked,
"...You'll have to ask Lieutenant Surge about that one..." Pryce replied meekly.
With that he turned around, walked out and shut the door.
"Well, looks like we're awake for the rest of the day." I laughed,
Latias just held onto my arm and slumped her head onto my shoulder in disapproval.
"Awww. Don't be too down about it Latias. We can have breakfast back home then play for the rest of the day. How's that sound?" I asked as though I was speaking to a young child,
Latias' head rose off my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. She game a small smile before laying her head back down.
"She's started getting really close to you recently." Josh said whilst rubbing the sleep out of his eyes,
"Well that's not a problem is it?" I asked,
"Not really, as long as you don't go snogging her when I'm around." Josh replied,
Latias lifted her head back off my shoulder to glare at Josh, but, was far too tired to bother doing anything. Just to be defiant I turned to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Josh simply turned away.
"God streuth." Josh sighed,
Latias began to blush and started rubbing her head against my face.
"Let's just go..." Josh sighed again,
Twenty Minutes Later...
-We walked down a large corridor filled with photos of soldiers, war heroes and legends. Well in my mind at least. Latias was holding my hand and just seemed to be trying to get a scent of something interesting and Josh was walking next to us with his hands in his pockets humming 'Year 3000'. We came to a door which said 'Officers Quarters'. I knocked on the door to see if Lieutenant Surge was in there.
"Surge. You in there? I need to ask you something." I shouted,
The door promptly unlocked and opened to reveal Surge wearing his trademark combats and sunglasses.
"What is it little man?" He asked,
"It's important. It's about you and Pryce." I replied.
"I think I can see where this is going. Come in and have a seat." Surge said as he moved out the way.
We sat down on a couch-like chair and Surge sat opposite.
"What is it you wanted to ask then?" He quizzed,
"Well I was just curious as to why you two came and helped us, and, why you even knew we were there in the first place." I said laying the whole thing on the metaphorical table.
"Well we came because you needed help." Surge replied half-openly.
"But how did you know we were there? It's not like anyone else really knew what had happened considering it was at night, in the woods, in the middle of nowhere." I continued,
"Hmmm. I'm incredibly reluctant to let this slip." The Lieutenant said,
"Please do. It's important we know." I suggested,
"Before I say anything, you have to promise that you will not under any circumstances shout, scream or curl up into a ball and weep." Surge said,
"Errm, sure...I think." I muttered,
"Right. Well we've been keeping a close eye on you, you see. You're important. You share a great bond with your Latias. Far stronger than that of any trainer. That's why we believe that SPAS wanted to capture her." The officer continued,
"But why would they want to experiment on her? What could they possibly need from her? Or even put in her?" I asked,
"That we don't know I'm afraid. We know just as much as you do so far and we intend to look further into it. There has to be logic behind, even a mad mans, projects." Lieutenant Surge replied,
The thought of the word project made me feel sick. To think that the happy ball of fur next to me is simply a scientists project, only to be experimented on without reason.
"Look, don't go worrying about it. The thing is you're safe, she's safe. Let's just keep it at that." Surge suggested.
I looked up and nodded at him in acknowledgment. We got up and went to leave the room.
"Oh one more thing. Can we get a lift home?" I asked,
Surge just laughed,
"Sure! Get on the chopper and I'll get Pryce to fly you out back to England!" Surge smiled,
"Thanks." I said returning a smile.
I opened the door to find Pryce stumble backwards.
"Err...I'll meet you in a minute." He stuttered before entering Surge's room.
"Odd." I thought,
"He seemed a little...shocked." Josh said as we continued down the corridor.
"Why didn't you tell them?"
"They don't have to know. It doesn't concern them."
"It one-hundred percent concerns them! She was kidnapped and tested on for God knows what reason only to be rescu-"
"It doesn't concern you either! It would only mean worse things for the future. Leave me to sort out this...mess. Just focus on getting them back safely."
"Yes, Sir..."
15 minutes later
"Honestly, I can't wait to get back home to familiar surroundings." I smiled,
"One thing. You promised Latias breakfast, and I really do hate to remind you but, your family still knows nothing about her." Josh replied,
"I'm sure I can sneak something out for her." I said whilst listening to Latias' growling stomach.
Just then Pryce climbed into the seating bay on the helicopter and sat in the pilot's seat.
"Okay then. We all set?" Pryce asked,
"Yep. " I replied, "All ready to go!"
"Good, good. Please keep all arms, legs and draconic lovers in the chopper at all times, and remember, have a safe flight." Pryce said jokingly.
The four-and-a-half-tonne piece of tempered steel and armaments lifted off the ground in a swift plume of dust from the ground. We tilted forward and headed towards my home, in whatever direction that was.
"Last night was quite a night for you guys then huh?" Pryce asked,
"That's one way of putting it, yes." I replied,
"Not to annoy you or anything but we've vowed keep a much closer eye on you three so we can prevent SPAS from getting what they want." Pryce said in a way that seemed comforting,
"Let's just hope they haven't already." I said quietly.
A long while passed as we flew through the cool sea breezes, above animals that took on the elements and across land that didn't look anything like...well...Earth.
"Are we even on Earth?" I thought to myself, "Surely we have to be. I mean...Kanto is a real place in Japan. Then again Johto isn't. Surely not..."
"You look deep in thought." Josh said, "What you thinking about?" He asked,
"About where we are." I replied,
"Kanto. Lieutenant Surge even said so." Josh continued,
"I know that. But haven't you thought about where exactly? I mean it's not like the Kanto in Japan is anything like this." I suggested,
Josh made a thoughtful face. Something quite rare.
"It made me think. Are we even on Earth?" I asked rhetorically whilst looking out the window to see a school of Goldeen leaping in and out of the water below,
"Hmmm. Now you mention it I haven't really given it any thought. From everything we've seen, we've, never had anything close to what's here." Josh replied,
I just sat back into my seat, careful not to knock Latias, and thought about how we may have gotten to this 'other Earth'. There's no way we could have simply been taken to an extremely remote place in the Ocean to a place that no one knows about, regardless of how big the expanse of water is. It's physically impossible for that to happen right? But then again, how impossible, would it be to be taken to a completely different expanse of land and sea? Really, how is, any of what's happened recently possible?
Latias stirred slightly in her sleep.
"Any ideas where we are Pryce?" I asked,
"Yeah. We're flying over the Soudai Ocean, just east of Hoenn." Pryce replied,
"Soudai Ocean? We're definitely not on 'Earth'." I mumbled, "Does Soudai actually mean anything or..." I asked expectantly,
"It means grand in Japanese. Named so by the man who first sailed it years ago." Pryce continued,
"Who might that of been? I'm guessing he was Japanese as well then." I asked trying to pass the time,
"His name was Ichigo Hanruko. He named it Soudai due to the fact that 'grand' possessions were transported around on that Ocean soon after his journey." Pryce said,
I nodded with a smile just to let him know I acknowledged what he has said, however, deep down I couldn't shake the feeling that, for some reason or another, this wouldn't be our only trip here. We'd be coming back very soon. Pushing the thought to the back of my mind I proceeded to stroke Latias' ears to which she promptly purred at. My attention was so focused on stroking Latias that I seemed to lose track of all sense of time and orientation. I looked up to see where we were only to find that we were flying over the forest that we were camping at.
"What the..." I contested with myself, "How the hell did we get here so fast and without us knowing?" I thought to myself.
I turned to Josh to ask if he noticed anything, but strangely enough, he was fast asleep in his chair.
"Honest to God, that kid, has started falling asleep in the strangest of places." I muttered,
"Alright then. I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you guys here." Pryce said as he turned around,
"Why's that? Couldn't you get us closer to home?" I asked, not wanting to sound pushy,
"Afraid not. You can't tell me that you wouldn't think anything if a helicopter landed down the road and let two kids off right?" Pryce laughed,
I could see his point. Especially with our furry friend here.
"Alright then. I guess this is goodbye then, 'ey Lucas?" Pryce waved as we got off the helicopter,
"I wouldn't bet on it." I whispered,
Pryce face turned thoughtful for a moment, before, closing the hatch and sitting back down in the cockpit.
I sighed a breath of relief.
"I can't believe the things that've happened in the past few days. It's been so...sudden." I stated,
"Life's like that. It springs things on us when we least expect them to." Josh said chipping in,
"What? And send a psycho organisation to hunt us down and kidnap us?" I asked rhetorically,
"Well...Life sucks." Josh said.
We both laughed at his remark but Latias only seemed interested in getting home. She was tugging at my arm, whining.
"She must be hungry." I said, "Let's go and get something to eat then. You want to come back to mine Josh?" I asked,
"Nah I have to go home or else my parents will start to freak out." Josh said,
"Your parents freaking out? You've got a better chance of me sprouting wings!" I laughed,
"We don't know how long we've been gone for. I'm sure that me not contacting them for a few days will get them worried. I dread to think about yours." Josh said,
"Crap. I didn't think about mine. Let's go then or else we'll be even later." I suggested,
We started on our way back home to where this story first introduced itself. Before any of this even happened. But believe me when I say this. Things have only just begun.