I'm sorry? I truly am sorry for it nearly taking a month for me to publish this chapter. I started writing it shortly after the last one, but then simply had to take a break, and it kept going on. I managed to get it together, though I feel like my writing throughout hasn't been consistent. So, as usual enjoy and review if you like!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

'Do you think this is a good idea?' Latias asked, floating on one side of her personal area, Ash standing on the other side, Pikachu in front of him. After lunch they had returned to the garden, once again earning some looks from the other Lati, but far less than the first time. Having transformed back, Reshiram was sitting down and watching everything unfold right before her. 'No, I won't change my mind now. This is what I wanted. I'm ready!'

"You heard her, Pikachu. Quick Attack!" Ash called to his starter, already dashing forward at an incredible speed. Holding back was no option, no matter how inexperienced Latias was in a setting like this. What she lacked in experience was made up by her strength, which was very high compared to many Pokemon. The prospect of having Latias by his side was something he looked forward to, only having to hope that she wanted to leave the garden to go with him. Shaking his head, Ash saw Pikachu evade to the side as a Dragon Pulse soared past him. Returning to his original path, there was the perfect opening. "Iron Tail!"

Flipping in the air, Latias waited until the last moment until she flew backwards. Pikachu's tail slamming in the ground, getting stuck. Now was her chance! 'Take this!' Focusing her psychic energy, Pikachu soon found himself face to face with a small blob of blue and purple, Psyshock. Pushing the attack away, Latias knew that there was no way for Pikachu to dodge, not with close he was, and how his tail was stuck in the ground. A grunt was the only sound coming from Pikachu, the proximity and force behind the attack flinging him backwards. Landing on the ground, he quickly recovered and didn't look worse for wear than he had before the attack. 'How was that?'

"Not bad at all, but not good enough! Pikachu, use Electro Ball!" Ash shouted, Pikachu doing a flip as it quickly gathered the needed electricity on her tail, forming it into a ball and throwing it at her opponent. Not reacting fast enough, the attack struck Latias directly in the head, a light yelp escaping her. Even though she was a dragon and took less damage from electricity, it still hurt. "Now, go for another Quick Attack while she's recovering!"

Trying to shake off the pain, Latias soon found Pikachu rapidly closing in on her. Deciding on her approach, Latias pulled back a little, mimicking Pikachu. She wasn't a physical fighter by any means, but that didn't mean she wasn't able to pack a punch beyond her psychic powers. Colliding with the small Pokemon, she didn't find herself on the end of any pain this time, instead Pikachu was knocked backwards by the attack, her weight increasing the strength behind the attack by quite a bit. 'Are you ready for more?' She shouldn't be this confident, seeing that Ash most likely wasn't giving it his all, but still. Only getting a grin in response, Latias was given no time as Pikachu sent another Electro Ball her way. This time though she was able to dodge it, countering with her own Psyshock. Being highly agile, Pikachu had no problem dodging her attack. She really didn't want to damage the garden, but if she actually wanted to win she most likely had to. 'Draco Meteor!'

"Draco Meteor? Aw shit," Ash should have known that she could know that move. Every Dragon-type could learn it, and why wouldn't a legendary know it? There was nothing he could do to stop the attack, so he could only watch as Latias shot the orb of draconic towards the sky. The attack in itself was always a sight for the eye, opposite to the terror it was for any Pokemon being targeted by it. Soon, meteors were falling from the sky, striking into the ground relentlessly. "Use them as stepping stones, Pikachu!"

'Huh?' Trying to figure what Pikachu was harder than she thought, watching him jump on the falling meteors, moving closer to her while also going higher and higher. Where as she outside its range, Latias watched Reshiram take a few steps backward, her dress, which looked eerily familiar to her true form, and cyan ponytail moving because of all shockwaves being created by each meteor. Pikachu kept climbing higher, soon finding himself at the top. What exactly was Ash planning to do? Pikachu was too far away to use any physical attacks, and his electrical attacks would barely do anything that range.

"Volt Tacke!" Ash shouted, both dragons staring him in disbelief. He didn't win battles through playing it safe. He won through his ability to come up with ideas in the heat of battle, using any tool available to him. If Draco Meteor was one of them, so be it. "GO!"

Staring with big eyes, Latias was frozen as she saw Pikachu jumped from the highest meteor still in the air, electricity sparkling around him as he fell, and his speed increased at a rapid pace. She knew that she should move away, unless she wanted to endure a lot of pain, though she simply couldn't. It didn't take long before her entire body felt pain, barely able to contain a scream. She had never felt such immense pain, and was unable to keep herself afloat, falling to the ground. She could hear Ash's voice say something, clearly being worried about her, Pikachu carefully patting her head. 'That hurt.'

"I would hope so, else Pikachu would take a big hit to her pride," Ash said jokingly, joining Pikachu, patting her head lightly. She knew though that this was a terrible performance, and it was far away from making her usable in a battle by Ash. She would need to train really hard if she wanted to battle by his side, and maybe even score him a win. "You did well though, especially for your first real battle. Next time I'll guide you instead, alright?"

'That wasn't terrible, you know? For someone who never has battled like this that was quite good,' Reshiram praised Latias, helping her back up before the bruised dragon transformed into her human form, there being no signs on of the battle that had just taken place. 'I was surprised you actually managed yourself for a while there. I'll help you get stronger.'

"Enough talk about that," Ash said, ruffling Reshiram's teal ponytail, getting an annoyed huff in response, her dress fluttering through the movement. Moving over to the big tree, which thankfully had stayed unharmed during the ordeal, they sat down next to each other, leaning against the trunk. Sitting there, with the sun shining, under the shadow of the tree, Ash couldn't have been more content than he was currently. About to close his eyes and just relax, he spotted two Latias approaching them, a Latios and a Latias. "Hey, who're they?"

Following the gaze of her soon to be trainer, she hoped, Latias saw who Ash was talking about. She was actually to see them, and she could introduce them to Ash at the same time. Hopefully Reshiram wouldn't scare them away. 'They're family, I guess you could call them,'

She explained, seeing Ash's features harden. Maybe that wasn't the best way of describing it to him. 'We're not related by any means. I simply took them under my wing after they appeared. They are parentless like me, and they needed someone to guide them.'

"Oh," Ash didn't know what to say. The moment Latias had said family he had tensed up. It simply hadn't sat well with him that she could have been together with someone. He knew that he shouldn't be that possessive, but he couldn't help himself. It didn't take long for the two Latis to reach them, both going for Latias first, saying something he couldn't understand. Glancing at Reshiram, he could see her smiling, obviously understanding whatever was said between the three. Looking at the new Latias, she was the smallest of the three, being smaller than the Latios, which was obvious, but also smaller than his Latias. Hey Latias, are you going to introduce us?"

Before Latias could say anything, the smaller Latias was already rapidly speaking. 'So you're that human she has been admiring!' That was certainly news to Ash, although good ones at that. 'She has told us so much about the savior of Alto Mare and her savior!'

'Be quiet, Lily,' the Latios spoke, his voice having a deeper tone to it, not only coming from him being a Latios. He clearly was calmer, his words coming out slower compared to his companion. 'I'm sorry about. My sister tends to get a little too excited sometimes.'

Siblings? That would explain why Latias had taken them under her wing. Putting on a smile, Ash remembered that Pokemon had names, though many stopped using them if they were caught by a trainer. He could only wonder what Latias' name was. "There's nothing to apologize for. I wasn't very different from her when I was younger, and you shouldn't hinder her from enjoying herself," Ash responded grinning, looking at Latias as he said those words. Looking back to Latias, one question came to the front of his mind. "How exactly did you end up under Latias' care? It's not like every Lati here has a relation with her like you do, right?"

'We never really knew our parents, so we have been taking care of ourselves and living alone for most of our lives,' The younger Latias, now Lily, told him at a very fast pace. Her brother looked like he wanted to say something, but he never got the chance. 'Eventually we found our way here with the help of some other Latis who made this their home, and then we met her! Now that I think about it, you never told us why you took us under your wing!'

With four pair of eyes focused on her, Latias blushed a little at all the attention she got, looking away from them. To her surprise, and enjoyment, Ash pulled her into his lap, her instincts kicking in to keep herself afloat. It only took her a second to stop resisting as she found her head now resting in Ash's lap, the rest of her body lying on the ground next to him.

'Well, I saw myself and my brother in you. We didn't really have any parents either, instead having Lorenzo and later Bianca take care of us. You deserved to have someone take care of you, so I took it upon myself to do it,' Latias told all of them, wearing a smile the entire time. She vividly remembered finding them, huddled together in a corner of the garden, with Leo always being on the lookout. She had carefully approached them, Leo glaring at her in an attempt to keep her away, but she wouldn't let herself be stopped. 'Leo absolutely tried to keep me away from Lily, but he knew that wouldn't be able to do anything if I wanted to harm them. What exactly about me did scare you? I wasn't showing any bad intentions at all.'

A light grow escaped Leo, followed by a chuckle from Ash. 'Do you have something to say?' Leo asked, glaring at Ash. It didn't really have any effect on him other than increasing his amusement at the situation. 'I was young, alright? It had been too long since we had any sort of contact with other Latis, and could I know who you were? At least you told me eventually.'

Ash had no problem imagining Latias act as a sort of parent to those two. He had only known Latios for a short time, but he was pretty sure that he and Leo were pretty similar. Latias and Lily were identical, even though Latias still sometimes acted like the younger Latias. The thought of Latias being a parent made his heart beat at an incredible speed. He could see Reshiram grinning at him. How he hated that she could feel his emotions so easily and understand them. He could do the same if he really tried, never succeeding with her shielding her emotions so well when she didn't want him to feel them. "So, you're a family now? I sometimes wonder what having a family like this would be like," Ash wasn't sure if he just was seeing things, or if Reshiram's grin turned into a genuine smile. He returned his attention back to Latias, and like before he wasn't sure if he was just seeing things. The way he said it couldn't have been more obvious, and hopefully it had hit home. Which it most likely had if Latias' blush was anything to go by. "That's a long way off though."

'I hope you do. Everyone deserves to be able to create a family of their own,' Latias replied, ignoring that Leo's eyes were narrowing as Ash had spoken. She wasn't sure what to think of Ash's words. He didn't have to mean anything with them. But what if he did? Going with the first option, Latias told herself that he hadn't meant anything with them. 'Is anyone of you up for a round of hide and seek? I haven't played that in such a long time.'

'Oh, I'm all for it!' Lily shouted, flying around in a circle around Latias in excitement. She soon started nudging everyone so they could get started with the game. It wasn't particularly hard for her to get Latias to move, neither did Reshiram who took it a bit slower though. Ash and Pikachu didn't much convincing either, and only her brother refused to budge for quite some time. Eventually he gave in as well. 'So, who will seek first?'

Ash didn't want to think badly of Latias in any way, but before now she hadn't been like she had been all those years ago. Sure, she was happy, smiled and laughed a lot. She had lost her playfulness though, something instead now being present in Lily. A simple game of hide and seek seemingly changed that. If he would look at the two Latias present he probably couldn't see a difference besides size. "I'll go first. And Pikachu, you'll have hide with someone." Ash offered willingly, closing his eyes as he began counting. Soon he reached the end of his countdown, his eyes opening very fast. "Better be ready, because I'm coming!"

Having heard Ash's call, Latias stopped moving, trying to be as silent as possible as she lay atop one of the many branches belonging to the large tree. With Pikachu not at Ash's side, she had told him to come with her, now sitting on her back as they were hiding. She had decided on her hiding spot based on two facts. It shouldn't be too obvious, neither should it be impossible to find her. 'Do you think Ash will find us up here, Pikachu?' They wouldn't be seen unless you actually looked. A simple glance wouldn't do to find them. She could have looked for a better spot, but there was no fun if you were impossible to find. Thankfully she could talk without being heard, while Pikachu was able to keep his voice low enough to not be detected by Ash. She wondered where the others were hiding. Reshiram would be as limited as any human would be, her Pokemon form not helping her in her task. Leo and Lily probably didn't have any problems either. Below her, the sound of steps alerted her, drawing her attention to Ash walking toward the tree. Then she felt the itch in her throat. 'Uh-oh. Pikachu, you better hide somewhere else. I can't hold in the sneeze that's coming.'

Ash knew that Latias, and the other Lati had a clear advantage when it came to hiding, seeing how they simply fly somewhere high up and hide. What didn't keep them hidden very well though was a sneeze, coming from above him. Looking up, Ash thought he could spot something red among the many leaves and branches of the tree they had rested under not too long ago. To his knowledge, nothing red belonged in a tree at this time of the year. "Hey Latias, you can come down from there!" After some rustling, Latias slowly came down, a look of disappointment on her face, Pikachu on her back. Of course Pikachu would hide with her. He had expected her to go with Reshiram, seeing how they had been in each other's company for a long time. "Let's go looking for the others, shall we?"

'It's so unfair playing against you!' Lily complained with a pout, resting next to her brother in the sun. She had found the perfect hiding place, but everything had to be ruined by the Pikachu finding her. What originally was a simple game of hide and seek had turned into a game tag. Not wanting to accept her defeat, Lily had chosen to run, which lead to her, Ash, Pikachu and Latias being the only ones exhausted. 'I'm too tired for another round.'

"And who's fault is that?" Ash asked, Latias' head resting in his lap after being the one who had caught up to Lily. Not that he did mind that they were exhausted, especially if it lead to something like this. Reshiram had found a spot next to him while Pikachu had joined her. He hadn't have had this much fun in a long time. Sure, battling was what he enjoyed the most, but really having fun like this was a rare occasion for him. Also, there still had been no sign from the others, already multiple hours since they split up. At that moment a Glaceon came running at them, followed by three familiar faces. "There you are! What have you been doing this entire time? Telling us that would you leave wasn't an option, was it?"

"It didn't hurt anyone, right?" Bianca asked innocently wearing a grin. By the looks of it, everything had worked out perfectly, if the sight in front of her was any indication. The only reason she had urged the others to leave with her was to get Ash and Latias closer, at least so they had a good starting point from where she could continue pushing them in the right direction. Maybe she wouldn't have to do that. "Well, I was showing May and Brock around the city. We actually found that there will be a competition for trainers starting later today while we were at it. Maybe that's something for you, Ash."

"A competition you say? That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I should most likely participate there to make sure I don't lose my edge," Ash responded. He really hoped there would be some strong trainers for him to battle there. There would be no point if they weren't experienced enough to keep up with him. "Is there anything special about it?"

Brock shook his head. "Not what we could understand. You have to sign up early though, so I would recommend doing it now. Unless you plan on being late," Brock explained, laughing as Ash groaned. Too many experiences with being late taught Ash a valuable lesson, but Brock didn't hesitate to remind him every now and then. From what he had seen as they were walking around the area where the tournament was to be held, he had seen multiple trainers have their Pokemon outside, and they looked like anything but weak. He had entertained the thought about participating himself, deciding against it in the end though. He wasn't going to take a shot at becoming the Kanto Champion, so Ash would need every opportunity to battle he could get. "I think the tournament starts in an hour or so, and you were required to be signed up and there half an hour before it starts. Seeing how we're going to cheer you on we might as well go with you now."

"Do you want to come along?" Ash asked, the question directed at Lily and Leo. Where as Leo only shook his head, Lily looked rather sad at the prospect of not leaving the garden. If Latias could leave, why couldn't they leave? Then it hit him. They were most likely to young to be able to transform, or lacked the ability to stay in that form for a longer period of time, like Latias and Reshiram could. "You can't transform, right? I'm sorry to hear that."

'It's nothing to worry about. We'll be able to do that eventually,' Leo spoke, gesturing towards the garden exit. Smiling, Ash turned around, heading for the exit. Making sure everyone was following, he saw Latias transform into her human form. Leaving last, Ash shot a glance over his shoulder. 'You better win this with everything she has told us about her savior.'

Stretching out his arm, Ash held up his thumb as he walked through the wall. Nodding at his friends, he trailed behind them as Pikachu walked by his side. They walked in silence, the only sound coming from ahead of them where Brock was telling the others something. It didn't take them long to reach a bigger square, a battlefield set up in the middle of it and a plethora of trainers surrounding it. Waving through the trainers, they soon found the booth where every trainer could sign up. Getting the girl's attention who manned the booth, Ash shot her a smile. "I would like to sign up for the tournament," The girl handed him a paper he needed to fill out. Name, how many Pokemon he had with him and so on. Looking through the paper again to make sure he hadn't missed anything he handed it back, getting a quick 'thank you' from the girl. "Are there any special rules or something I should know?"

"The tournament format is king of the hill," Ash had to grin as she said those words. He had taken part in a few of those, and they were some of the most fun battles he had had. Every battle was a 1 vs 1 and whoever stood on the battle victorious by the end of the tournament had won. "Whoever is the 'king' can challenge anyone he wants, or wait for someone to challenge him. There's a time limit on each battle, only going up to three minutes. The tournament only lasts one hour. Whoever stands last will get a sum of 1000 g."

"Alright, thanks," Ash replied, leaving the booth behind as he returned to the others. Explaining how everything would work, surprise was what everyone felt. "I won't battle until the end. Whoever is left at the end is most likely the strongest trainer here, and what would I get by beating trainers who won't at least challenge me? And unless you would sign up I would have no guarantee that there are a multitude of strong trainers."

A few hours had passed and one trainer had managed to keep his spot atop the hill for a very long time now. This was his chance. No one had stepped up to the challenge yet, and unless the 'king' would pick someone there would be no battle. "Hey, I'll take you on!" Ash called, all the attention on him as he walked up the steps to the battlefield. His opponent was around his age, maybe a few years older. He was wearing mostly black and grey clothes, with something looking like a blue scarf around his neck, also having black hair like he did. Standing next to him was his Charizard, looking very much like his own Charizard, the major difference being that his opponent's Charizard was wearing a Mega Stone around its neck, but it hadn't been used throughout the entire time. "You're up for it, right?"

"Hmpf, you seem confident enough. Alright, we will battle. Don't expect me to go easy on though," It didn't take them long to find their positions, his Charizard walking forward as Pikachu left Ash's shoulder and readied herself for a fight. "A Pikachu? If you think you can win against my Charizard be my guest. That won't happen though. I hope you're ready, because here we go! Charizard, Flamethrower!"

"Pikachu, dodge it and use Electro Ball!" Ash quickly reacted, already thinking of ways to use Pikachu speed to his advantage. His own Charizard was most likely his strongest Pokemon. He was bulky, he possessed more strength than nearly any of his Pokemon and he was still fast enough to keep up with anyone besides the fastest Pokemon out there. Obviously he had also studied the flaws, among them being his size. He was an easy target for faster Pokemon and attacks, while not able to handle extremely high speed well, which both Pikachu and Sceptile had while also backing it up with a lot of power. Plus, Pikachu had the type advantage on Charizard, something he couldn't rely on though. Having dodged the incoming Flamethrower, Pikachu flung the ball at her flying opponent who simply batted it away with a Dragon Claw. "If that's how it will be then take this. Iron Tail!"

Charizard, who had been airborne, started to descend preparing another Dragon Claw to meet Pikachu's Iron Tail. Expecting an easy hit, the black haired trainer was surprised to see his Charizard struggle against the Iron Tail. "Shove that Pikachu away and then go with Steel Wing!" The trainer he was facing wasn't even looking worried as his Charizard managed to push the Pikachu back towards the ground, already in free fall. Instead, he radiated a confidence very few trainers possessed. Watching Charizard close the gap, his eyes widened as Charizard stop mid-air because a Thunderbolt struck him right before he could get in a clean hit. Thankfully he recovered rather fast, giving him another opportunity. "Wing Attack!"

Ash knew there nothing to be done as Pikachu was hit by Charizard's Wing Attack, but that didn't mean he would simply wait. Glancing to the side, he could see that already a minute had passed. "Pikachu, use Electro Ball again and then Quick Attack!" Still in air, Pikachu managed to spin in order increase the momentum behind her attack before she landed on the ground. Hitting once again, and with Charizard approaching the ground, it didn't take Pikachu a lot of effort to reach him. Rapidly increasing her speed, she jumped in order to reach him. Not reacting fast enough, Pikachu got in a clean hit, pushing Charizard back a little. "What was that about it won't happen? Thunderbolt!"

"Charizard, Flamethrower!" This wasn't going how it was supposed to go. None of the others trainers had really been able to match him blow for blow. This trainer though was simply keeping up with him as if it was nothing. He itched to have Charizard Mega Evolve, but that wouldn't be particularly fair to his opponent. Just as Charizard was about to open his maw to release the fire gathered inside the Thunderbolt hit him, stopping him from attacking. To say that he was annoyed was an understatement. "Enough of this! Charizard, Blast Burn!"

The timer was down to one minute. "Volt Tackle!" Multiple times throughout this battle, Pikachu had managed to get in an attack while Charizard had been charging up his, resulting in somewhat of a lead. Before people had been watching with some interest, but now everyone's attention was completely on the battle, it being the highlight of the entire tournament. Watching as Pikachu was sprinting towards Charizard, who was in the air, Ash soon found himself holding his breath as Pikachu kept increasing her speed. "Now!"

He knew that it would be a close call, the Blast Burn not fully charged up yet. The Pikachu was already in the air, rapidly approaching Charizard. "Prepare yourself," He ordered, knowing that there was a big risk with this attack. The safer option would be to tell Charizard to dodge, but that would simply prolong the battle. He didn't like hurting his Pokemon, though there wasn't any option really left. Charizard had needed too long to charge up his attack, and now the Pikachu was nearly right in front of him. "Fire!"

The collision between the incoming Blast Burn and Pikachu forced everyone to cover themselves in order to avoid the brunt of the shockwave coming down on them. With smoke blocking any vision, it was only waiting that was possible until the smoke cleared. Not long after that, Pikachu was falling out of the cloud, making sure she would land on her legs as a bruised Charizard followed. Both Pokemon managed to reach the ground, not looking particularly steady on their legs as they stared at each other. Then the timer hit zero.

"Pikachu!" Ash called, rushing to the side of his starter and crouching down in order to make sure she was alright. He could see that his opponent was doing the same, eventually recalling his Charizard though. Scooping her up in his arms, he held her close to his chest as he looked her over. Finding nothing to be wrong, except the usual after a battle, Ash looked up as he saw his opponent approach him, clipping his pokeball to his belt. "You know, I wonder how this would have gone had there been no timer or this been a full 6 on 6 battle."

"We won't find out. I do admit that I underestimated you and your Pikachu," He replies, holding out his hand. Waiting for his to take it, he watched as the trainer carefully placed Pikachu on his shoulder. He had definitely underestimated this trainer, and if they would ever meet again, he wouldn't do the same mistake. As his opponent shook his hand, a weak smile graced his lips. He looked forward to another meeting. "I hope we will meet again."

Following the trainer with his gaze, Ash soon lost him all among all the other trainers surrounding them, all excitedly discussing the battle that had just taken place. Making sure Pikachu was steady on his shoulder, he weaved through the masses as he tried to find his friends among them. Soon he spotted Bianca's beret sticking out, which meant that everyone else would also be there. Approaching them, he noticed that Latias had gone missing. "Hey guys," Ash greeted his friends, all turning in his direction smiling. The majority of what they said was praise, Bianca being the most impressed of them, only having seen Pokemon battles on tv. Looking around, there was still no sign on Latias, the others not seeming to really care though. They continued talking a little, about his opponent among things, but eventually he had to ask. "Does anyone of you know where Latias went?"

'I'm right here,' Came Latias' voice, two hands covering his eyes. A soft giggle accompanied the hands. There was really no point in what Latias was doing, but he decided to humor her nontheless. Where as he could have simply removed her hands, he let her keep them over his eyes, not sure if she was planning anything. 'Aren't you going to say something?'

'If you two lovebirds are done I would like to move on,' Reshiram interrupted anything he was about to say his cheeks getting warmer. Latias quickly removed her hands, turning away as he was about to look at her. Liking someone in such a way was more frustrating than he thought was possible. Even worse was that he still wasn't a step closer to telling her. Sure, he had tried to show her it without being too obvious, but he wasn't even sure if she had even taken notice of it. 'Also, it has far too long since my last meal. Don't you think so too, little one~? Do you know of a place where we can eat, Bianca?'

"Well, there's a great place, but it would take us around half an hour to get there," Bianca responded, looking at her watch. It was around five now and they would be there shortly after five. By the time they would be done it would be far into the evening already. She just had to hope that they had a table for six. "Are you guys okay with that too?"

A growl from Ash's stomach aided them in their decision. "Let's go!"

"You're still up?" Brock asked, walking out on the balcony that connected to their room. Like on the day they decided to go to Altomare, he had found his friend staring at the sky with Pikachu at his side. He had through pure coincidence woken up, and noticed the empty sleeping bag belong to Ash. He simply let it pass, and instead headed to quell his thirst. As he returned there had still been no sign of Ash, so he had looked out at the balcony, spotting him standing there. "What are you thinking about this time? Do you need another talk?"

He didn't even bother to turn around as Brock spoke, a smile tugging at his lips. Always trust Brock to take care of you in any way possible. "I came here because my heart told me so. And now that I'm hear I don't even know how to actually approach the problem," Ash said, staring at the many stars that could be seen. He had been as direct as possible with his intention without directly spelling it out, but he didn't even know if Latias had understood the meaning behind his actions. "I've tried my best. Does it even work though?"

Brock couldn't help but laugh. It was interesting to see Ash for once not take the direct approach, though he could understand why he didn't. The topic of love wasn't the easiest to breach. "I think you should return to what you do best. Take the challenge head on," Brock suggested. He had tried multiple times, personally never succeeding. What Ash felt was love, and not fleeting affection. "Maybe not go to her and confess, but something more obvious."

"I-" Ash started, stopping before he said anything. Brock was right, he had too take a more direct approach. And he would start tomorrow with it. He would show Latias that he cared for her, and wanted to spend more time with her. Maybe not an outright confession, unless she showed signs of her own, and he felt bold enough. "Right as always, Brock."

"What would you do without me?" Came the reply, a chuckling accompanying it.

"I'm not sure. What would I without you? Maybe try and use your tactics to woo girls?" Ash countered, now laughing, though keeping somewhat low. He didn't want to wake Dawn.

"Oh god, please don't. Just because I haven't succeed doesn't mean you need to fail either." And with that they head back inside, not saying anything else as they returned to their sleeping bags.

I still dislike the first battle scene. Now, I'm sure most of you can guess who Ash battled later on in the chapter. Decided to not call him by name, as Ash didn't know it either. You can also guess where next chapter will be going, I hope. Hopefully I won't need a month to finish it. Also, I suppose this is as good of a time as any to thank all of you who have read, review, followed and favorited this story so far. Thank you. I'll see you next time!