Started the power generation project. AHHHHH! THE NUMBERS, MASON! WHAT DO THEY MEAN?!

"So then, Mac. I'm Lorenzo, this is Bianca..."

The three humans were sat in the lounge, Bianca and Lorenzo on one sofa, Mac on the other. The air was similar to that of a job interview, but it was obvious all three weren't really sure what to do.

"I've met Bianca." Mac nodded, trying to look intelligent. He actually looked like he was the defendant being asked to confirm his name.

"Yes, you have. So, Mac...er..." Lorenzo stalled for a second, before resuming with a less official-sounding voice.

"I'll be honest, I have no idea what happened, or who you are, or where you're from, or how you managed to find Latias. Why don't you fill us in on those details and we'll work from there? Seems like a plan?"

Mac nodded and started.

"Okay... Let's see..."

Another pause while he got his facts together.

"My full name is Marc Simmons. That's Marc with a 'c', not a 'k'. Everyone calls me Mac though. I'm from England, in a town called Sheffield. Er...I'm seventeen? Two and a bit weeks ago, I was nearly run over by an articulated lorry. You've seen them right?"

Bianca and Lorenzo both nodded. Alto Mare may not have cars, but they'd seen lorries on TV.

"Right. So it was a big 18 wheeler thing. Really long story short, I broke into where it went, and when I got there I snuck around a bit, turns out it was actually a military base. When I got inside, I found Latias and we escaped."

"Escaped? Why'd you escape, couldn't you just leave?" Lorenzo asked to show he was listening.

"Not really. People were shooting at us, they didn't want Latias to leave her cage. It was an escape."

Bianca looked shocked "She was in a cage? That's horrible!"

"I know, which is why I was helping her escape. Anyway, they started looking for us all around the country, so we had to leave. And Latias took us both here."

Lorenzo did a small nodding motion.

"Okay. It's obviously a longer story than that, but that'll do for now. So what's this about not having Pokemon then? Last time I checked, England had Pokemon. Every city does. Why didn't you catch Latias?"

Mac leant back.

"Well, firstly, England is a country, So I think we're on about two seperate England's here. Do you have a map of the world?"

"Not with me, No. But if you say it's a country...carry on."

"Okay. Where I'm from, we don't have anything like Latias. We've got animals, like dogs and cats and rabbits, but nothing that can fly without flapping its wings, or send thoughts to people."

"We have animals here too. Cats and dogs are rare though. You have to go to a zoo to see them."

To Mac that made sense. The Pokemon, with their powerful attacks, would easily be able to be predator to the bog-standard animal.

"Okay. Well, where I am, those animals are common, but Pokemon don't exist. Not in zoos, not anywhere."

"Why didn't you catch Latias then?"

"She asked me this too and she had to explain it to me. I don't know how to 'catch' her. Anyway, she's not mine to catch."

"She's a wild Pokemon, it's fair game."

"Well she said that she's friends with you. And anyway, I don't know how to."

Lorenzo smiled. Mac seemed a decent person, and he prioritised getting Latias back to her friends over his own agenda. Still...

Lorenzo took out a small red and white ball from his pocket, and pressed the button on the front. The pokeball expanded.

"Can you tell me what this is?"

Mac's eyes widened.

"Not really...it was cool how it got bigger when you pressed that button though. Can I have a look at it?" Mac reached a hand forwards.

Lorenzo passed the ball to him for closer inspection. It was an empty pokeball, and there wasn't any harm in giving it Mac.

"Just keep it away from the Pokemon."

Mac turned the ball over in his hand and tried crushing it back to its normal size, but the ball stayed put.

"Is it one of Latias' toys?"

"No. Latias and Latios aren't allowed anywhere near them. Cubone probably wouldn't be too pleased if you went near him holding it either."

Lorenzo gestured for Mac to give the ball back and he did, asking a question as the ball changed hands.

"Why?"

Bianca took over the role of explaining without any prompt.

"Well, you know how we asked why you didn't catch her?"

Mac nodded.

"The ball allows trainers - that's people who want to train Pokemon - to catch them. Once they're registered to your Pokedex, you can throw the ball at a Pokemon and it'll 'catch' it. Once it's caught it's stored inside the ball until you call it out again. And by stored, I mean it's physically put in the ball."

"But Latias wouldn't fit inside that ball! Are there bigger ones?"

Bianca blinked. She was born into the idea that Pokemon would just 'fit' in a Pokeball. The notion of it being smaller wasn't something she'd considered.

"Er...there are different kinds? You've got the net ball, and the master ball, and the dive ball...but you don't need to worry about that. Just don't let the ball go near a Pokemon if you haven't already captured it or you're prepared for a fight."

"But how does something like Latias fit in a ball that small?"

"Science, Mac. I don't know. They just do."

Lorenzo could see Bianca turning irritable and reigned the conversation back in.

"The point I'm getting to, Mac, is that we're happy to let you stay here, but you need to do something. I was thinking you could train to be a professor, but you don't even know about Pokeballs. You'd struggle to be a trainer now, since you're seven years behind everyone else."

"Can't I just get a normal job?"

"What do you mean by normal?"

"You know. Like, an engineer? Designer? Systems administrator? Shop keeper? Anything normal?"

"Here, it's normal to be a trainer. Bianca is, technically. But she hasn't touched her Pokedex in a year."

Bianca nodded, and Lorenzo looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of what to do with Mac.

"I tell you what. There's an opening at the place I work. It's an easy job, don't need to know your Pokemon, a bit physical, but you don't have to do much. The pay is low, but it's better than sitting around all day."

Mac considered. "Well, what does Bianca do?"

"She paints. But I doubt you're that artistic, and besides, it's a bit late to build up a portfolio."

"Fair enough. What's this job at the station then?" Mac had been assuming it was a weather station, not a TV station.

"They call it 'Lighting Engineer'. All you have to do is go up a ladder and point a light around from time to time."

"Right then. I guess I'm doing that."

"Good. I'll sign you on on Monday."

Mac thought he'd have to go through an interview or something, so he was surprised that Lorenzo could get him a job so soon.

"Wow...thanks!"

Lorenzo smiled. "You're welcome!"

They sat there in silence for a minute, Mac in particular as he absorbed what had just happened. The complete strangers who were friends with two dragons had housed him, given him a job and some temporary clothes, all within the first day of meeting him. He didn't even know them. It was time he asked some questions.

"This is all good and everything, but how did Latias end up in my country to start with? She can't have flown all that distance by herself."

Lorenzo gave a wise nod.

"Fair question. And the answer is, we're not 100% sure. All we know is that Team Rocket abducted her and took her away in a helicopter while they poisoned Latios. That was just about a fortnight ago."

"Oh. Who are Team Rocket?"

"You really aren't from round here, are you?"

"No. Who are they?"

"Team Rocket... They're bad, put simply. They've always got a reason to try and steal Pokemon, especially rare or powerful ones. They hardly ever say why, but when they do, it's not very watertight. There's always an alert on the news telling people to watch out for them. Their symbol is a red capital R on a white background."

That last bit echoed in Mac's head.

'Red R on a white background.' Mac could see it. It was the same logo that was adorning the lorry that nearly ran him over. The guards security passes. Latias' cage...

"But, that would mean that my government, and this Team Rocket thingy are linked". He received blank stares and apologised.

"Sorry...it's just, this is all just so...overwhelming...to think..."

He stopped talking for a few minutes as Lorenzo and Bianca stared at him.

"Is this real? You're not kidding, right?"

Bianca shook her head as Lorenzo grinned even more.

"Nope, this is real. You've been through a lot to get Latias back to us, and since money isn't a problem for us, we're happy for you to stay with us. Really, it's our pleasure!"

Mac still couldn't believe it.

"And Latias and Latios? They're your friends?"

"Well, duh. We wouldn't feed them and let them in the house if they weren't. Actually...speaking of those two..." Bianca whispered in Lorenzo's ear. He listened, then moved away and gave her a knowing look. Bianca got up off the sofa, excited, then ran out of the room.

Mac cast a raised eyebrow at Lorenzo. Lorenzo tapped his nose in response. To say nothing had been said, the conversation certainly said a lot.

A minute later, Bianca walked in the room, followed by Latios. It was evident he thought he was being brought in to play, and he jumped around in the air around Bianca. Lorenzo just leaned back and watched as Bianca faced Mac, Latios calming down for a second.

"Now, Mac. You know Latios, right?"

Mac winced. He did know Latios. It would be hard to forget the thing that had hit him a few meters.

"We've met. Briefly."

Bianca smiled.

"We know, and he's sorry." Bianca glanced at Latios, who had started to make a dive for her beret. "Look, he even wants to play now!"

Mac flinched as Latios bit the beret and flew far enough away to be just out of Bianca's reach. He also didn't know where this demonstration was going.

As Bianca tried out-staring Latios, she carried on talking to Mac.

"Do you know what type they are? Latios and Latias are both dragon type, and a bit psychic."

At the end of the sentence, Bianca lunged for the head wear, but Latios just moved his head to the side and Bianca missed.

"Well, I can see why. He saw that coming..."

Bianca made the tongue clicking noise and pointed to the ground in front of her. Latios flew further away, reluctant to carry out the instruction. Bianca did it again, this time adding English.

"Latios! Heel!"

He gave out and flew back to her, making a disgruntled noise. Something told him Bianca was only bossing him around to make a point to Mac.

Bianca took the beret off him with one hand and gave him a rub behind the ears with the other, which lightened his mood somewhat. It was nice, after all.

"Right. So, what I'm thinking is, since you've got the dynamic duo already clamouring around you, why don't you do a bit of dragon training on the side?"

Mac's response was to look petrified.

"No. No way. No They may look tame to you, but he's really scary. Latias isn't that bad, but still..."

"Hmm... What if I showed you this?" Without further ado, Bianca leaned forward and tickled Latios' mouth. He opened it reflexively and Bianca put her hand between the rows of razor sharp teeth, smiling at Mac as Latios felt confused. Why was Bianca putting her hand in his mouth? That was just weird. He made a confused noise.

"You see, Mac. They're harmless once you get to know them. He wouldn't hurt you at all". She spared Latios further embarrassment and removed her hand, wiping it on his down. Latios snapped at her hand twice playfully as she did, but ended up butting her side and cooing happily.

Mac didn't look convinced. "Perhaps later. It'll be better if I just settle down for now. Keep a low profile, you know?"

Bianca shrugged and pushed Latios away from her as he made another go for the beret. He coo'd as she pushed him.

"Come on! I want to give it Latias! She'll love it! It's all soft and cool!"

Bianca responded by ushering him out of the door. "No, no. Come on. Go and find Latias, we'll be talking for just a bit longer". The door closed with a thud.

On the other side of the door Latios groaned, irritated with Bianca closing the door on him. She just wanted more time with Mac, and her scent made it a dead give away what she thought of him. Speaking of female scent, he could smell Latias behind him, and Cubone. Before he could react, she had nuzzled up against his arm, Cubone on her back and making a disgruntled noise. Latios just laughed.

"Aww, you're just jealous because you don't have a mate. Try evolving."

Cubone shrugged off his advice. "Hey! We can't all be perfect like you."

Latios was about to bring up that at least he didn't reject/ignore everything that came his way, but that wasn't exactly true. He'd passed off a Gardevoir and Absol for Latias. He ignored that for now and nuzzled Latias.

"Bianca's trying to get Mac to be a dragon trainer. And she's getting a bit too attached to him". It was more of a concerned mumble.

Latias took the news in the opposite perspective.

"Cool! Attached? What, like a mate? Perhaps Bianca can have a mate too! An we could play with the little humans! A dragon trainer? He can play with us?"

"I think he'd do that anyway. And that's not good, Bianca shouldn't have a mate yet!"

"I think she should. She smells okay to me"

"She's smelt like that for a year now. Anyway, Mac wouldn't be a good mate. He looks weedy. And he doesn't know anything"

Latias knew it wasn't strictly true, Mac knew a lot of things. It's just a lot of them were useless things no one would ever, ever, need to know. She focused on the dragon trainer bit instead.

"It be cool having a trainer though. A proper one, not like Bianca. She's not that fun when she's training."

Cubone watched as the conversation went backwards and forwards and the two eons exchanged cuddles. It was nice, but also saddening in a way. The pair were certainly happy. Latias certainly would enjoy having Latios as a mate and having his...offspring? Would they be pups, or chicks? Well, they would fly, and would come out of eggs, so it would be chicks. Then again, they weren't technically birds...so it wouldn't be chicks as such...

On the other hand, Cubone hadn't seen another female Cubone or Marowak for years. He wanted a mate, but one of his own species, and there didn't appear to be any of those left on Alto Mare...

Latias picked up on his mood and looked at him, twisting her neck so she was looking at him upside down. He giggled in an effort to appear happier, but his aura stayed the same.

"Are you okay, Cubone?"

Cubone sniffed. "Yeah, fine. You guys just look so happy!"

Latias knew there was more too it than that, Cubone was sad, not glad. But he didn't look like he wanted to talk about it, so she just grinned and went back to Latios.

"Why don't we play outside while we wait for Mac?"

Latios shook his head.

"It's getting cold outside. You stay in here, I'll catch supper."

Underneath her feathers, Latias blushed. Latios didn't need to catch supper, but he was going to anyway. It also meant that she could go and have a nap in the bath. Which just left Cubone, on his own.

Latias cheered and nuzzled Latios one more time, before he set off out of the kitchen. Cubone tugged on Latias' ear and cleared up the issue of leaving him.

"I want to sit with Lorenzo! And Mac!"

Latias smiled and went for the lounge door, turning the handle with her snout and shouting as it flew open in front of her.

"TACTICAL CUBONE!"

Cubone had shifted to her back, unaware of what she was going to do. Latias flew halfway through the door, and then stopped, pushing her rear up and flipping Cubone across the room in a precisely aimed catapult. He landed on the cushion next to Lorenzo, upside down and laughing. Lorenzo glanced at Cubone, glanced at Latias, then looked back at Cubone against the arm of the sofa. Without a hint of alarm, Lorenzo picked Cubone up, turned him the right way up and sat him on the chair normally.

Mac was sat almost shell shocked. He hadn't actually seen Cubone before, and the thing appeared to be wearing a skull on its head.

"Bianca? What is that?"

There was a shriek of Lati-laughter as Latias flew up she stairs, and Bianca picked Cubone up and held him out to Mac.

"His name's Cubone. He's a Cubone. Wanna hold him?"

Mac did not want to hold the grotesque creature. It was wearing the insides of a dead animal on its head. And it's femur on its right paw. But the thing was holding its arms out and looked passive, so Mac agreed.

"Err... Okay then?"

Mac reached for the Pokemon, but Bianca opted to place him on his lap instead, Cubone facing Mac's chest. The moment he was down, Cubone poked Mac's stomach with the bone out of curiosity. Mac was tensed from Bianca putting Cubone down, so the bone met the ring of muscle and stopped, a feat with Cubone found admirable.

"Hi Mac! You're tall. Really tall!"

Mac had to admit, It sounded cute. Plus Bianca was wearing a hopeful look.

"Aww, that's cute. Does he understand English?"

What Mac really wanted to know was why it was wearing a skull on its head. The skull was clean and didn't appear to have any soft tissue on it, but all the same... No, best not to ask. Perhaps it was religious...

"Yep, he can understand English. Most Pokemon can, to a degree"

"Oh, Cool. Hello Cubone!" Mac waved his hand too, making it clear he wanted Cubone to copy, which he did, waving the bone back at Mac.

"So, is this Latias' baby then?"

He didn't think that it was. It was brown and had fur, Latias was red with feathers. But you never knew. It was a conversation point, at least.

Cubone and Bianca both shook their heads.

"No, he's two different types. He's a ground and fighting type, Latias is dragon and psychic."

"Oh! Latias told me about how types work! Wait, sooooo...Cubone can do ground and fighting type attacks!"

"Yep!" She was going to say more, but Cubone looked like he was about to do some kind of attack, and she changed her tone so he'd listen.

"Cubone! No! Not inside! You can show Mac later. I'd imagine he's still quite tired."

Cubone twisted what facial features were visible so he looked put down and Bianca immediately felt the need to apologise.

"Oh, no no no! It's not that you're not impressive, but you're so powerful you'd wreck the room doing that!"

Cubone made a pleased noise before padding Mac's lap and sitting back down on it again. It was silent again as mac looked back down on Cubone.

Eventually, he looked back up, impatient to get going.

"Oh, okay... So, err... not to sound impatient, but where will I be sleeping?"

Lorenzo took this one.

"Well, we haven't got a spare bedroom just yet, but we don't use the second floor much. I think we've got a few spare sleeping bags as well. You can sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor until we get something more permanent sorted?"

It wasn't like Mac had any other options.

"That's fine. What else do we need to sort out?"

"You in a rush?"

"No, its just that...I'd really like a nap or something."

Lorenzo smiled and stood up.

"I thought you might. Are you sure you're not hungry or anything?"

"Nope. I just want a rest for now, if that's okay?"

"No problem. Follow me. Cubone! Let mac get up!"

With a sigh, Cubone jumped off Mac's lap and onto the sofa, and Mac stood up to follow Lorenzo, closing the door after himself. The two chatted as they made their way up the stairs.

"So, what do you think?" Lorenzo asked, his tone sounding hopeful.

Mac didn't know exactly what he was on about.

"Er...about what?"

"About Latias and Latios?"

"Oh...Latias is pretty cool. Is she this hyperactive all the time?"

"Pretty much. Latios?"

"Scary. Although when he was with Bianca just now he looked really tame."

"He is, to the people he wants to be. I think he'll like you, though."

"Hmm..."

Lorenzo pointed out each room on the first floor to Mac as they walked to a panel in the roof.

"This one's Bianca's room, that one's mine. There's the bathroom and the toilet. That room there is the dragons'. And up here..."

Lorenzo used a pole propped up against a wall to nudge the panel in the roof. It activated some kind of mechanism, and it swung down, bringing a ladder with it.

"Is the second floor... We never got stairs put in, perhaps we should now...anyway, follow me"

Lorenzo climbed up the ladder and flicked a switch on the side of it, making a light on the second floor switch on. To mac, it seemed like a trap, but he followed anyway. It wasn't like there were any other options.

When he got there, Lorenzo was rummaging in a cupboard. Mac watched as he pulled out two bags. One looked like it contained a sleeping bag, and the other had a ground mat sticking out of it.

Lorenzo took the bags and looked around the open-plan landing they were in. It was exactly the same as the landing on the floor below, and after a moments hesitation, he went for the room that was above Bianca's.

"Ahhh...yes. This is the art studio. Bianca doesn't use it much anymore, but there's plenty of room."

Lorenzo flipped on a light and Mac looked around. The room WAS sizeable, but quite a lot of the floor space was covered with easels and other art equipment, most of which had a tiny layer of dust on them. For some bizarre reason, Mac suddenly panicked that he hadn't got his antihistamine tablets.

"It's fine for now." Mac smiled as Lorenzo passed him the bags. "All I want is a short nap, then I'll be ready for whatever else we need to do."

Lorenzo smiled back.

"No problem. Give us a shout if you need anything."

"Thanks!"

Lorenzo left and pulled the door closed behind himself. The room sounded oddly quiet after the initial thunk of the door.

Mac took out the roll mat and sleeping bag, crawled inside, and in under a second, was fast asleep, a smile on his face. No matter where he was now, he was glad he could call it home.

Fin

AAAAAAAND THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Happy ending , right? Lol nope! Mac still has to come to terms with the world of Pokemon, and what about Latias and Latios? Think they're going to have an entirely normal relationship? LOL NOPE! Wasn't Absol going to have some pups at some point as well? As for Bianca and Mac? Did you really think I was going to leave it there? No?

Try the sequel to this, "Day to Day", Available on my profile now: "So Moving, I suffered from motion sickness!", "Poor Mac!", "I like the usage of pathetic fallacy in chapter 5 in order to make Absol's plight seem more distressing and therefore further associate the reader with the virtues of life!"
(No award to the person who guesses which of the above reviews was written by an English Literature student)

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
If you're wondering what Latias' journey was like and what (or should we say, who) she saw at Team Rocket, the prequel to this, if you like, check out 'Entrapment' by 'Aura Spirit'. Find him in the reviews!

See you on the other side,
Richard L.J Sowden,
AKA The Moderator.