On the jet-fighter issues: Most of the missiles are virtual - they don't exist on the airplane, but the pilot has the option to command them, I. E. He can press a button and it will launch from a remote location, guided by the pilot. I was going to explain that in-story, but it was a bit of a thing to shoe-horn in there. MACM is a very generic term that does exist but isn't a specific missile. I left it specific because I forgot the name of the napalm bomb.

M-Rating: Technically, anything involving a description of dismemberment will classify a story as 'M', no matter how breif.

I'm now working in the uberman sleep schedule. 20 minutes sleep every 3 hours, no sleep longer than half an hour. Hence the tired theme that you'll probably notice in the next few chapters.

"How much longer?" Latias asked Mac, getting seriously concerned for her health. Her stomach was empty. She wasn't running out of energy, she was out of it entirely. Whatever reserves she was running on, they too would run out soon.

Mac wasn't any better. He'd been flying on Latias' back for two hours. His phone battery was almost dead. And the guilt of the previous day's activities hung on him like a physical weight.

Because they were travelling across the equator and east, they had gone through the night alarmingly fast. It was now day, though Mac wasn't sure what day. His phone said the time was one in the morning, not adjusted to the new time zones.

"Mac? Mac?"

"Just...give me a sec..."

Mac fumbled for the GPS. His hands were cold, too cold to operate the device accurately. After an hour of breathing diluted oxygen, he couldn't think straight. And was prone to being distracted.

During the night he hadn't thought about it, but in the bright of day he replayed the bright flash of light of the second explosion, the giant hole in the back of the plane with bodies hanging out, the blood all over the cockpit, the crunch of bone as Latias tore the limb from the pilot...all his fault.

"Wait...Latias. I'm..." Mac had already forgotten what he was doing.

"Where ARE we Mac?"

"Yeah...I know." He tried for a second time, tapping the GPS icon. This time the touch registered.

The phone loaded a map and Mac had to rub his eyes to read it. They were so dry from flying without a windshield, but a few glances later confirmed it.

The arrow that was them was less than three miles to the black box that said NORTH KOREA (BMQ).

"Latias! We're almost there! Three miles!"

Latias didn't celebrate. It was three miles more than she wanted. And why couldn't she see any land? It would just be her luck that Mac had taken them to a place that was entirely sea.

Three miles passed in silence. Still no land in sight. Almost nothing changed except for a bizzare wall of cloud that they'd flown straight through, which was probably just the result of some weird air current. On the other side, the scenery was the same. No cloud. No land. Just sea below them.

"Mac? Where can I land?"

Mac's phone failed to provide an answer. The moment they'd entered the black box, the GPS signal had failed. He was relying on Latias' internal compass alone.

Latias had had it. If they went another mile with nowhere to land, she was going to tip Mac off her. He was a good person, but his weight was almost too much to carry now she was this tired.

In the distance, she heard a screeching noise. Was she imagining it? Must be. There was nothing to see. Nothing new below them. In front of them, nothing. There was a small speck of blackness on the horizon. Really could just be an illusion. Yeah. Her brain was so starved of food, she was seeing black dots in her vision.

She blinked, but the dot didn't move. She looked right, and the dot appeared to go left. Staying in the same place relative to her body, not her sight. So it was real.

The screeching noise again. It was louder now. Closer. Latias could identify it as more of a roar. And was there some poke speak intonations in it?

Mac heard too.

"Latias? What was that? You hear it too?"

Latias' eyes widened as she realised what - or who - it could be. It wasn't Latios, no. She'd hoped, but it was blatantly not him. Way too big, way too loud.

"HERE! I'M LATIAS! OVER HERE! LATIAS! HELLO?"

Latias started shouting. It was a custom that you shouted your own name when you met someone, and if it was who she thought it was, it would definitely be an advantage that he knew who she was.

The dot started getting bigger. The way it was moving made it look like a very quick snake, slithering through the air towards her. It got close enough for Latias to make out, which was close enough for Mac to see the dot.

"Look Latias! In the sky! What is it?"

Latias didn't answer. Mac would know soon enough. She continued shouting.

"HERE! I'M LATIAS! TIRED! HUNGRY! FRIEND!"

The shape got bigger, and Mac made out what it was. Who it was.

Rayquaza.

With a roar, the giant green half-lizard came to a stop, a meter short of Latias' snout. The roar meant something, but only Latias understood it.

"Little girl lost? Latias?"

Mac was petrified. One moment, there was clear sky. Then this giant green thing with giant teeth in its giant mouth was directly in front of him, the mouth easily as big as Mac standing up. As for how long it was, that would have to be measured in miles. This thing could swallow him and he'd never touch the sides. Along its body were what looked like barbed plates of armour. As for the roar: Deafening. His ears rang so hard that he barely heard Latias' response.

"Yes! I'm Latias! Not lost, Kidnapped. We're back in the world of pokemon?" Latias replied with a giggly voice, finally glad to have another member of the animal kingdom to talk to. And a male one at that.

This time, when Rayquaza spoke, he did it mostly in the ultrasonic range with his mouth closed, so Mac couldn't hear the communication even if he had understood it.

"Ah. Yes. Nice to see you in the flesh! Did you like your visit to the rest of earth?"

"No. Everyone was scary. Except this guy. His name is Mac"

"Mac..." Rayquaza growled, also moving closer to him. Mac still had his head bunched up into Latias' feathers.

"Is this what males are like now?"

"He's just scared. He's never seen pokemon before." her voice, while giggly, sounded accusing. Like Rayquaza was somehow responsible.

He moved his head back and closer to Latias' snout so she could hear better.

"What?"

"Don't play with me. Why have I never heard of countries before? Why didn't we know about these other places that didn't have pokemon in? Our maps never showed the rest of the world! Why are we called Korea?"

"Ahh...that's complicated."

"Try me."

"You look tired. Want a restore?"

"I'm more hungry."

"Well sorry. There's a sea down there if you want to hunt."

"Humans drown. I can't hunt with him on my back". She moved her head to indicate Mac, who was peeking up at Rayquaza with one eye. Another glance sent him hugging Latias' feathers again.

"Yeah. They do..."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Are you going to tell me why pokemon don't exist outside our place. And why does no one come in or out of our place?"

"Ugh. Okay. Ready? It's a bit long?"

"Get on with it."

"Watch yourself. A weak young female, shouldn't really be bossing me around."

Latias flew back a foot. She was for Latios, and while he probably wasn't serious, she didn't put the threat past him. Males. All the same.

"Sorry. Right. So, a few hundred years ago, pokemon existed here. Just like they do today. Because the climate was mostly okay, we never really strayed out, and all was good blah blah blah. But at this time, a few centuries ago, humans came in to our place. And we learnt something."

Latias flew back in, interested. "Yes?"

"Humans, about one in ten, carried a virus, and although it was the same virus, it was made up ever so slightly different for each human. These days they call it Pokérus. With a few humans, we were fine. Pokérus in itself is not inherently lethal. But more and more came to see us, because we never left this place of ours. Eventually, so many pokemon were getting so many different strains of Pokérus, they began to die. And that only got worse as more humans arrived and more Pokérus strains entered."

"Oh..."

"To stop us dying out altogether, we had no choice but to stop humans coming in altogether. And when I say 'we', I mean the legendaries. Groudon, Kyogre, Lugia - your kind-of cousin uncle - Arceus, the three birds...those legendaries are the ones who decided to put a plan in action. Groudon put impassable mountains between here and the other countries, Kyogre made dangerous and unchartable seas, and Lugia... Well I'll be honest, he didn't do much. You guys weren't involved in this by the way."

"Huh."

"Anyway, humans couldn't get in for a few centuries and all was good. Then they invented air flight, and I decided to help, by destroying anything that flew over the impassible mountains or uncharitable waters. The humans got the picture that we didn't want them here, and blamed someone else for why everything that they sent decided to mysteriously explode. I think they call them Korea. Or China, I'm not sure."

"Mac did say that. He says 500 years ago that everything coming in and out of here just stopped."

"That'll be it then. Yep, about 500 years ago."

"So how come I've only heard of this now?"

"Well, one, you only hatched, what, two hundred years ago?"

Latias nodded her head.

"And two, could you imagine what would happen if we told people inside here that there was something outside? Or the people outside, something in? Humans are stupid, but there are billions of them. And they'd stop at nothing to get in. Or out. Simply because they were curious."

There was a silence.

"Can Mac stay?"

Rayquaza made a humming noise.

"I can't see why not, really. It's really just one extra type of pokerus, we can put up with that. But not what's in his bag. I don't want him telling any of the rest of his species about here. It's our last safe haven. He's helped you across the world, so he's kind at heart, but all the same..."

Latias could hardly argue with that condition. She turned around to Mac and psychiced him.

"Mac! We're almost home! This is my friend! He's a friend! He says you can stay, but only if you get rid of the bag!"

Despite most of his life being contained in the bag, he sat up and glided it off his shoulders with no more promoting.

"I see. And the giant green lizard said this?"

"His name is Rayquaza."

"Are all pokemon like him?"

"No. We're a lot smaller. Now are you going to throw the bag away or not?"

Mac shrugged his shoulder and let go of the bag. It tumbled off Latias' neck and fell towards the sea below. "Okay then." Mac didn't really care what he gave up any more. He was already responsible for the deaths of so many people, and it looked like a giant gecko was going to eat him too. The bag could contain a thousand gold bars and Mac couldn't have cared.

Rayquaza looked back at Latias.

"Don't humans normally hate having blood on them?"

Latias' snout was matted with blood, but other than that, she was fine. Mac's clothes, on the other hand, we're soaked with it. Most of it was from in the cockpit when Latias had effectively mauled the pilots, but parts of it were his own.

Latias turned back to look. Mac's hoodie - once an attractive shade of Latios blue - was now a brown smudge.

"We've been through a lot to get here. It's a shame, I liked that shade of blue."

Rayquaza picked up the longing in her voice and decided to tease her for a bit.

"Awww..someone longing for their mate?"

"And? I'll be with him soon, right?"

"Sooner than you think. Speaking of Latios, I saw him a week ago. He was flying around like a mad thing."

"Looking for me?"

"I can only guess. But he looked pretty panicked."

Latias' heart fluttered. He had been looking for her! He did care!

"Is he at home? In Alto Mare?"

"I haven't seen him around lately since that, so I guess so. What's the deal with you guys, why's it taking so long? I was honestly expecting to see little Latis zipping around and trying to hyper beam me by now. What's the hold up?"

"Hey! It's my choice when to have children! Anyway, you don't know what it's like living with humans. They don't like inter-family relationships."

"Pah. Living with humans...Latias, You're not human. You can have offspring whenever you like, with whoever you like."

"Why do you even care? You never even turn up anyway. You'd be the worst uncle ever. This is the first time I've ever even seen you!"

"Would the worst uncle ever do this?"

Latias' vision flickered for a second, a sweeping bar of light passed from the top to the bottom of it, then resumed. Nothing seemed to have changed except the wind was now blowing in a different direction.

"I don't get it. What did you do?"

"You were more than 200 miles from your little garden. I've just teleported you half a mile west of Alto Mare. You're welcome."

Latias sniffed the air. They were quite low down, so there was the unmistakable smell of Alto Mare lingering in the air, carried on the breeze. Fish...buildings...humans...

"NO WAY!" Latias screeched and flew in a circle, reared up against Rayquaza and rubbed her snout against his flat, intimidating face. It prompted a deep noise inside his throat that might have been a chuckle.

"No problem, anything for a pretty little girl."

Latias was already starting to fly away, head rapidly looking between Rayquazza and the East, where she knew home was.

"Don't try anything! I'll tell Latios!"

"Make sure you do! Next time I see you I want you to be teaching some offspring how to fly!"

Latias was too far away though, tracking the smell of the town. It hadn't changed a bit. Her fatigue was still there, just dented by the smell of home.

"Latias? What just happened there?"

In her rush, she'd almost forgotten completely about Mac.

"Oh, him. He's scary. But cool I guess. Sorry for the quick answer, but look Mac! My home!"

In a few seconds, the town came into sight. They were approaching from the pier side, and Latias suddenly halted with half a mile to go.

"Ohhhhhhh!"

"What?"

"Loads of people. I can't fly you over without them seeing you."

"Latias, let's be honest, in the great scheme of things that have happened to me today, being spotted flying over an island will not be the most bizzare. You're tired, let's just get you to your..." Mac realised he didn't know where Latias slept. Nest? Cave? House? She took advantage of the fact and nipped back at him out loud.

"Mate!"

Mac was caught off guard.

"Yeah...mate... So you can rest, and then we'll deal with any accusations later."

Latias didn't really need to be told twice. She turned her feathers around so at least she was invisible, then set off towards the garden, so low to the ground that they'd skim across the rooftops. While it meant that no one on the ground would see them for long enough due to the narrow streets, it also meant Mac didn't have time to see the place he'd be living in, before they'd landed in the garden. Latias lowered herself to the ground in a clearing, allowing Mac to jump off, before flying to the nearest tree and chewing down leaves as fast as she could.

Latias didn't care what kind of leaves they were. She was hungry, and wanted to meet Latios while her stomach wasn't trying to kill her with pain.

Mac watched with a smile as Latias stripped almost every leaf from the tree. She looked happy. He'd thought he'd seen her happy at least once or twice while they were in England, but nothing like that compared to this. Her body looked less rigid, and she was posed in a constant curve while she ate, not eating the leaves in any order but just randomly, flying one from tree to the next. In about a minute, she'd eaten two trees worth. Not enough to fill her, but enough to not be painfully hungry.

Satisfied, she locked onto Latios' scent. She was surprised that he hadn't come to welcome her, since he smelt near, but perhaps he was sleeping. They were meant to be nocturnal, after all.

Perhaps it would be her turn to suprise him.

Mac watched as Latias paused infront of a tree, and then flew away, ducking and weaving inbetween the other trees. Mac was suddenly alone.

"Latias? Hello?"

No response. Did she sense a threat? Perhaps she wanted him to follow?

He set off in the same direction she flew off in. After about fifty meters, he reached another, smaller clearing. And didn't expect what he saw there.

In the clearing was a sobering sight.

The first thing he saw was a blue version of a bigger Latias. It was curved around, and it's wings were folded over something. It's eyes - which Mac could just about see - were closed, but was that a tear running down one eye?

The dragon was muddy. And there was a lot of blood on it. Whatever it had done to get in that state, it must have done a lot of bad things. Mac looked at himself and drew parallels immediately. A chocked crying noise made him stop and look back at the blue dragon.

Even worse, tucked in under the wing, Mac saw a girl. It was Latias, in her human form. She too was crying, but more openly. There was a beret on the floor which had clearly fallen off her head, and if Mac had been in a better emotional state, he'd have realised Latias didn't own a beret.

But he wasn't. He was wrecked. Worn out, self pitying, and above all, evil. He'd caused the deaths of hundreds to get here, and when he did, people were crying. Animals were crying. Why?

Mac fell backwards. Didn't stop himself, just fell. There was soft undergrowth behind him, but even so, his head hurt when he hit it. Not that he cared.

All was still bar the noise of the leaves on the trees. Then Mac heard a breathing sound and tried to recompose himself. It was blatantly Latias, and it sounded like she was sniffing the ground, getting closer to him. Closer. Closer. Then.

"Mac?". The coo sounded awed as Latias' face filled Mac's vision. Mac didn't even flinch.

"Latias? Weren't you with your 'mate'? Under his wing?"

"No, that's my owner. She's asleep. Poor her, crying in her sleep. They look so sweet, right? I want to wake Latios, but I don't have a gift for him. I can't find one."

"Gift?". The word escaped Mac for a second.

"Yeah. I want him to be my mate. I need a gift."

"You know him better than me."

"I can't hunt anything, I'm meant to get him something fruity or pretty, like the female should. Besides, it's got to be something new and exciting. Look, on the floor, he'd got me something. But I can't find anything new or exciting here. I need something to swap with him."

Mac thought for a second, and even sat up, but nothing came to mind. Only the rustle of the trees and the jangle of his hoodie pocket when he sat up.

The jangle of his...

Mac reached into his pocket and pulled out a red packet. He'd purchased it on the train...last year? Yesterday? Today? So much had happened, but it was only today. Yesterday if you counted the time difference. Just.

Latias saw it and snatched the bag of skittles out of his hand with her mouth.

"Thanks Mac! He'll love this!"

Mac wasn't sure he would, but was beyond caring. As Latias flew to her partner on the grass, Mac decided he might as well stand up to watch their reunion. He did so, pulling himself up with the aid of a tree, and leaning on it once he was up. It was about all he could do.

When he did, he saw Latias floating above her partner, a foot above and parralel to him, leaning down with her snout.

"Latios? Latios?"

Latias nudged her brothers snout. But instead of opening an eye, he just made a desperate - but quiet - wailing noise. Why? He had missed her? Yes. But now she was here!

She dropped the sweet packet that was in her mouth at the side, and tried again.

"Latios! It's really me! Latias! I'm back! Hello!?" The coo wasn't excited, it was soft. Caring.

She laid down opposite her brother and started rubbing her snout along the end of his, making her scent as strong as possible, all the time making gentle cooing noises. It sounded like the noise that could only be generated by a mother telling its children that everything was just fine.

Latios twitched his ear. He could swear he heard Latias. Cooing to him. How he had missed that voice...it was so...wonderful.

And now, he could smell her scent. Stronger because she was in heat. It was too perfect to be real, and Latias chocked back a howl as he realised his brain must be playing tricks. Latias wasn't going to come back. Even if she was, she wasn't going to be his mate. He had failed to find her. He didn't deserve her.

But...it was a very good trick if it was. There was something...actually rubbing his snout. It sounded like Latias. It had Latias' scent. And only Latias could be that soft.

He opened his eyes and saw two identical orange eyes look back.

"Latias?!"

Mac saw the moment and grinned. Latios looked completely taken aback, like what he was seeing wasn't real. But it was. Mac had done it, he realised. The pair were reunited. Mac was looking forward to the moment where they'd exchange gifts, but reality brought him back to the moment, as an old, unsure voice spoke behind him, quietly, barely audible over the sound of the shotgun being ratcheted.

"I want you to turn around, nice and easy, and put your hands where I can see them."

BONUS HAIKU (I call it, "People are blurs"):

People are blurs. Until they get hit by a train. Then they are a smears.

Guess who had a grim commute home one day.