A New Chance For Adventure

by ArcyAnderson

Sequel to A New Chance At Life. Finishing the Johto region while traveling with two Legendary Pokémon, Latias and Latios, was certainly a joyous experience for Ash. With that region behind him, Ash has now set his sights on a new tournament: The Hoenn League. A journey that promises new challenges, new friends and rivals to be met, and a powerful evil ready to rise…

12. Friends Are Like Family

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Telepathy"

Author Notes: 12! 12! 12! Ugh, this chapter took forever to write for some reason… this chapter had a lot of difficulty to it. Plus, school, work and Pokémon Y are a horrible time-killing combination. If you guys want to battle me on Pokémon Y, I'll post my Friend code and info on my DeviantArt page soon.

I'd like to deeply thank two of my beta readers, Ri2 and Shakari, for their massive and extensive help with this chapter. Without them it wouldn't be posted anytime soon. Thanks a lot, guys!

After this embarrassing situation, the next chapter should come out a lot sooner. Also, get ready. Very emotional chapter ahead!

Chapter 12 – Friends Are Like Family

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Night had already fallen on the Petalburg Woods and a dark silence had filled the forest, barely illuminated by the moonlight. Inside one of the rooms of the Pokémon center, the legendary dragon twins were currently resting. "How are you feeling, Latias?" Latios asked his sister softly. She was lying on the upper bed of one of the bunk beds in the room Ash and his friends had decided to stay in for the night. The slightly older Eon Dragon was hovering a couple feet above the bunk bed, his bright red eyes focused on his red sibling.

Latias let out a very soft and gentle sigh, having awakened an hour ago after the antidote Nurse Joy had administered to her had taken full effect and completely nullified the effects of the drugs Rico had injected her with during the battle earlier that day. "I'm still tired… and I have a bit of a headache, but I think I'm fine… it's nothing I can't handle," the red and white dragoness responded slowly, pausing slightly every few words as she expressed her feelings. She closed her eyes gradually while keeping her head rested on the pillow. "It's nothing you need to worry too much over, brother," she added kindly.

Latios smiled lovingly and leaned down to gently nuzzle his sister's neck. "Well, I always worry for you," he told her, trailing upwards along her neck with his nuzzling and, when he reached her head, gave her cheek a kiss. "I always have, from when we were kids all the way to the present."

Latias let out a soft purr and leaned into her brother's comforting touch. "I know you do, but I'm not the same little girl from Alto Mare anymore. I've grown since leaving," she protested, her voice cheered and not hiding her delight at the attention her sibling was giving her.

Latios chuckled slightly at her claim, shaking his head once. "Well, I've had a big part in raising you so I know that, and while I admit you've grown, you still have a long way to go. You can still be childish and spoiled at times," he remarked, still keeping his head pressed to her. "And often need guidance."

Latias pouted cutely. "That's not fair, you always have the upper hand in our arguing," she complained.

"I'm only telling the truth," the blue Eon Dragon replied as he rubbed the length of her slender neck once more. "I'm just glad that you're fine, along with everyone else. We got through this ordeal together as a team."

Latias looked down, feeling saddened. "We're all okay except Larvitar," she commented sullenly.

Latios frowned sadly, as he couldn't deny that as much as he wanted. Larvitar had woken up several hours ago, much earlier than Latias, and was still in a very shaky emotional state despite everyone's best efforts to lift his spirits. "I hope our little tales make him feel better and sate his and everyone else's curiosity," Latios mumbled softly. Soon after Latias had awakened from her forcefully induced sleep, he had asked her about what Larvitar had asked him to do, showing everyone bits of their past as orphans at Alto Mare, and how some of their lifelong friends had been there for them to help the two dragons grow up. He knew that meant telling everyone of some of the Legendaries they knew outside of Ho-Oh, something that left Latios with doubts as they had always decided to be secretive about the matter. To his surprise, Latias had agreed a lot more readily than he had expected her to. With her agreement in mind, he had begun to work harder on planning what he would show to them. "I'm just still unsure of telling them," Latios added after a long period of contemplative silence. "I mean, it's something we rarely tell anyone. Seriously, the only humans who ever knew about the other legendaries have long since passed away."

"Latios, they're our friends and we should trust them," she chided him, voice tender. "I know we've never enjoyed talking about our past due to how complicated it sometimes got, but we are mostly over it now… I think. Our friends trust us deeply. Ash, Brock, Bianca and all of their Pokémon, they've all shown us nothing but kindness and compassion ever since we've met them. I'm sure we can trust them with these bits of our past," Latias insisted as she kept herself laid down on the bed, but kept her gaze looking up to her brother's face. "Plus, think of our Legendary Pokémon friends. They would want our new friends to know of them."

"I guess so…" Latios conceded, still looking slightly unsure about the topic, but it was clear Latias' positive explanation had reassured him greatly.

"Plus, Larvitar really feels he can connect with us because we understand his feelings and his fears. It'll do him good to know about how we handled the same situation he has right now," Latias affirmed, smiling gently. "By knowing how we dealt with it, he can find ways to deal with it too. Friends are family. He needs to learn that, and it's our duty to teach him." The Eon Dragoness sounded determined.

"He's very eager to hear it," Latios agreed. "I've seen how he's been since he woke up. I hope this cheers him up from the big disappointment he took today about his mother not being in Rico's possession. I don't like to see him so down," he added sadly.

Latias nodded. "I don't like to see him like that either, that's why we're doing this," she said. "Also, everyone else is really interested in this in general, so it'll be a good bonding moment as a group. Ash is especially fascinated with the topic." She smiled at the thought of the boy.

Latios smirked at her. "Oh, of course you're eager to tell Ash, you want to get points in your favor about your crush on him," he teased, leaning down slightly and nudging her face to put emphasis on the tease. The effect on the dragoness was instantaneous. Latias' cheeks began to blush a bright red as she let out a squeal of embarrassment. Her eyes glowed as she grabbed a pillow psychically, smacked Latios' face away with it, and then hid her face under it. Latios stifled a laugh at her reaction.

"Don't tell him anything!" Latias yelled embarrassedly, her shrill voice muffled between the bed and the pillow.

"I won't tell him anything. That's why I teased you while we're alone." Latios leaned down, his face close to the pillow. "I won't spoil anything," he promised gently, but his voice still kept traces of the amusement he felt at his sister's embarrassment. "Plus, it's very amusing to poke fun at you." He grinned.

"Thank you," Latias said sarcastically while rolling her eyes, not that Latios could see it due to the pillow covering her head.

"Well, if you think I should tell him-" Latios started.

"No!" Latias shouted, hurling the pillow at him psychically.

Latios easily caught it with his own mental powers and put it back down on the bed. "Thought so," he said, smirking.

Latias glared up at him. Latios smiled at her lovingly. Latias' glare rapidly faded into a gentle smile of her own. "I love you, Latios," she stated, her voice not hiding her adoration for her brother.

"I love you too, sister," Latios answered with equal fondness as he hovered down and pressed himself to Latias, hugging her with his arms as he rubbed his head against her own in an affectionate nuzzle.

Latias let out a soft exhalation, enjoying the moment with her sibling. "When are the others coming back?" Latias questioned, gazing at her brother through half-lidded, relaxed eyes.

Latios' eyes glowed dimly as he did a small psychic scan of the rest of the Pokémon Center and the surrounding areas in mere instants. "Pidgeot and Pikachu are still nearby in the forest, and everyone else is apparently waiting for dinner. I guess they should be back in an hour or two," Latios responded. "What about you? Are you hungry? I can get you something to eat," the larger dragon offered.

"No, I'm not. I feel nauseated just thinking of food right now," Latias answered, grimacing slightly. Her body still felt funny after being sedated by Rico earlier that day.

Latios frowned, not liking the sound of that, but he knew there was nothing he could do but wait until she felt better on her own. "Alright," he said simply.

"Do you know which stories you'll show them?" Latias inquired, completely changing the subject. She tilted her head slightly in curiosity. "There are so many happy memories and sad ones too."

"Yeah, I do know," Latios replied. "I've spent most of the day thinking about it, and I feel I have a very good idea as to what I'm going to show them. It should be the best moments that will help us get the point across."

"That's nice," Latias said, smiling. She was looking forward to seeing what Latios' decisions were. "Need any help with it?" she offered.

"Yeah," Latios replied, humming with a thoughtful expression. "First, I want you to think of the same moments that I have in mind, and then we'll try to correlate them to make sure my memory of them is accurate. I'll also need your version of them so I can make small edits to the memories to make them, uh, third person view? I think that's what it's called," Latios continued, pausing to look at her.

"Yes, it's called third person view," Latias confirmed to him, amused that he didn't know right away. "But, what do you mean exactly with making it in third person view? It's a memory, not television."

"It'd be very awkward if I show them the memories from my perspective and sight. If you let me see your sight and memories, I should be able to compare the two and construct a third person view of it. Kinda like how television shows are displayed, get it?" Latios explained. "It'd be less confusing and easier for everyone else to see."

"Oh, yeah, that's a good point. So we'll be making our life a television show, then?" Latias laughed at the idea. "Anyway, that's a good decision, Latios. It'll definitely make the memories better."

"Plus, I can also fill any memory gaps I might have. It's good we psychics have a very accurate memory, so between the two of us we're bound to cover them perfectly," Latios commented. "So, let's start. I want to be done by the time everyone returns from dinner."

"Alright," Latias acknowledged, eyes glowing as she connected her mind to her brother's and together, both began to construct an accurate retelling of their memories.

Sometime afterwards, during which the twins had been working on constructing their memory scenes as best they could, Ash and his friends finished their dinner and were heading back to the room. "How much do you know of their past?" Ash asked, gazing at Bianca.

Bianca gave Ash a blank stare. "Ash, before we met you, I had no way to talk to Latios or Latias. There was a Pokéspeech barrier. The most we could do was write text notes. And when they finally got telepathy so we could freely talk, they left with you. So, I haven't gotten the chance to talk to them about their past in detail. Well, at least the past that is older than my own memories."

"Oh," Ash mumbled, disappointed. "Good point, I guess," he conceded.

"I'm curious as to how it feels to be over one hundred years old and psychic. I don't have nearly as much age as them and I have trouble remembering all of my past," Pikachu commented. "I wonder how it feels. Sad I'll never know. I guess it sucks being a mortal."

"I can't remember what we ate yesterday…" Ash muttered sadly, making everyone laugh slightly.

After some more walking along the hallway, they reached their room and made their way inside. After exchanging warm greetings with the two dragons, Ash, Bianca and Brock slowly settled in the room after entering, taking a seat on the floor with their legs crossed while facing the bed in which Latias was resting on. Ash grabbed two of his Pokéballs and released Phanpy and Larvitar. Two bright flashes of white light briefly dazzled the room as the two infants were released. "Hi, Daddy!" Phanpy greeted energetically, hopping over to his surrogate father and nuzzling his side.

Ash smiled and petted the small Ground-type's head. "Hi to you too, Phanpy," he said in response to the child. The Pallet Town trainer then looked up at Larvitar. "Feeling better?" he asked, concerned for the emotional state of his second surrogate son.

Larvitar let out a soft, disappointed sigh. "I… think so…" he said uncertainly. The big barrage of despairing emotions that accompanied the knowledge that his mother wasn't with Rico had disappeared, now leaving only an empty disappointment in the boy's heart.

Ash frowned and reached out with his arm, gently running his hand over Larvitar's head, being careful to round the Pokémon's rectangular horn-like protrusion. Larvitar let out a small moan of content at the attention and walked over to Ash, pressing to his side. "We all love you, Larvitar, and you know that," Ash said with a kind smile.

Brock nodded. "Whatever Latias and Latios have cooked up for us is still done specifically for you, Larvitar."

"So enjoy it," Bianca added, although she too was extremely eager to see what the twins were about to show them. She wondered how much about them and their past she didn't know.

"Have fun, kiddo." Pikachu smiled, and then glanced at Latios. "Don't mess up," the electric-type told the psychic dragon. Latios rolled his eyes and didn't answer.

Larvitar nodded slightly, gratified by the support everyone was showing him as he gazed at Ash and then at the group all around him. Latias smiled and finally levitated off the bed she had been resting on to float beside her larger sibling. They both nodded at each other to signal the beginning as their eyes began to glow. "So let's begin before it gets any later, we need our sleep after all," Latias announced, her voice surprisingly formal. "Please don't interrupt and reserve your questions until we're done."

"This happened when we were a lot younger than today, when we were around half of our current age. About sixty years ago," Latios explained. "I had fallen badly ill, and without her help… things might have turned grim for me…" With everyone's attention on them, they began to project their memories into the minds of the entire group gathered around them.

…

Slowly, the scene began forming in their minds as clearly as if they were the ones living it. It was as if the secret garden of Alto Mare had come to life all around them instead of only being displayed in their minds. Within moments, they felt like their consciousness and focus were being completely sucked into the imaginative scene projected into their minds by the two Eon Dragons. The secret garden looked as gorgeous as ever in the memory, but, it also looked very different than all of them remembered it as being the last time they had been there. The trees were definitely smaller, and there were fewer cement walkways and ornaments dotted around the place, the water canals seemed to occupy more space and upon closer inspection, it also seemed as if many species of plants were also different. It was clear that sixty years ago, the garden was much different than it was in the present.

On the base of one of the largest trees, Latios was resting in the cool shade provided by the vegetation above him. Unlike the Latios everyone knew in the present, the one in the memory looked very small, easily less than half the size of the present form of the dragon. His wings looked a bit thicker and rounder with blunter tips and edges, and his face looked softer and gentler while his long neck seemed a bit shorter, giving him a rather adorable appearance. Besides him was Latias, who looked even smaller than him, and her even softer features had a very infantile look to them, overall making the cute dragoness look even much more so at such a young age.

Latias let out a playful, childish whine. "Come on, Latios, let's play! It's already past midday and you're still being lazy. What's wrong with you? You've been like this for two whole days!" Latias urged him, shaking his side energetically.

Latios flinched slightly at the contact and mustered up his strength to answer, doing his best to attempt to sound like he was fine. "I have… uh, I think I have a bit of a headache…" he paused to resist the urge to cough. "I'll get up soon… sorry, you can play around in the meantime," Latios answered, his voice weak, even if the ill dragon tried to make it appear as strong as he could.

The child Latias stared at him in confusion and frustration. "You said that yesterday… and the day before yesterday… and you didn't get up all day long! I wanna play! I'm bored!" she protested, completely oblivious to the fact that Latios was hiding something, much to the relief of the blue dragon.

Latios winced, both at the pain that was wracking his body and at the fact that he was annoying his sister. 'I'm starting to run out of excuses… I can't let her realize I'm sick…' he thought to himself, his mind racing to find a new excuse to hide his poor condition from his sister. He disliked upsetting her.

Latias blinked, tilting her head. "Is something wrong?" she asked her brother, her tone suspicious.

Latios shook his head rapidly, even if it only served to further aggravate his painful headache. "Don't worry, I'm fine!" he lied. "Just… not a good day in general," he answered, doing his best to hide the obvious problem.

Latias frowned, disappointed. "But-" she started, but was cut off by something erupting out of the nearest water canal in a large upward blast of water.

The Pokémon that exited the water canal landed gracefully on her four paws besides it, the grass and bushes lining the inland waterway rippling due to the windy gale that seemed to suddenly pick up with the being's entry. The plants glistened under the sunlight from the moisture that rapidly gathered on it, carried by the watery breeze that accompanied the large blue Pokémon's appearance, her large purple mane and elegant ribbon-like tails flowing neatly at her sides with the wind as the blue crystal-like hexagonal formation on her forehead shone brightly under the sun. "Hello, Latias and Latios," she greeted with a calm, breezy voice that seemed to resonate like a crystal-clear spring.

"Sui!" Latias cried in delight, rapidly racing to the Legendary Pokémon's side.

Suicune smiled as the tiny Latias tackled her chest, nuzzling her. "Hello, Latias, it's good to see you too," she said kindly, lowering her head to press it against the back of the tiny Latias. "How have you been, dear?" Suicune inquired.

"Booooooooooooooored!" Latias answered, drawing out her response dramatically. "Latios is being lazy and he doesn't wanna play!" she whined.

Suicune shook her head slightly. "It's not that he doesn't want to play, honey. He's just…" she paused, looking at Latios, who was rapidly shaking his head in distress. Getting the idea, Suicune glanced down at Latias. "He's just not in a playing mood, I think," she lied, agreeing to follow Latios' plea this one time.

Latias pouted. "Awwww," she said in discontent. Suddenly she paused, and glanced at Latios and then at Suicune, a bright idea forming in her head. "Sooo…" she began, clapping her claws together in hope. "Now that we're all here, we can play! He'll get in a better mood faster if it's three of us! The more the merrier!" she squealed excitedly, doing happy loops in the air around Suicune.

Suicune made her way towards Latios, smiling softly at Latias' excited antics. "Well, I need to 'convince' Latios first," she told the dragoness.

Latias huffed in annoyance, glaring at Latios half-playfully. "He's being more boring than usual," she commented.

"I'll play with you in the meantime, Latias," Suicune announced, making Latias squeal in delight. She glanced at the water in the canal, her eyes and crest glowing brightly as she did so. Slowly, a quadrupedal figure began to rise out of the water, gradually taking the shape of Suicune's elegant body. After a few instants, the figure seemed to solidify and began to gain coloration exactly the same as the Legendary it was based on. Once the formation was complete, the water-made Substitute, which looked perfectly identical to Suicune, walked silently across the grass. "How about we play a game of tag?" Suicune suggested, and as she spoke, her water-substitute rapidly dashed away.

"Yes!" Latias nodded happily in delight, and rapidly rocketed after the water imitation, intent on catching it.

"There, that takes care of her," Suicune said, slowly walking towards the downed and ill Latios. "I'll be sure to keep her away from us with my Substitute," she informed him.

Finally, now that Latias was gone, Latios released the coughs he was desperately holding back. He coughed several times very harshly, blood dribbling down the side of his mouth after he was done. "Th-thanks," he spoke, his voice barely audible. A couple of tears slipped past his cheeks from the pain and gravity of his condition.

"You don't need to hide it from her, you know," Suicune chided gently, her voice tender. "You don't have to pretend like you're fine when in reality you're terrible." She shook her head a couple of times in disappointment.

Latios looked down, ashamed. He felt worse when he saw the blood that stained the grass in front of him, blood he had just coughed up. "I… d-don't want… h-her to… see me… like this…" he answered hoarsely, taking long pauses to catch his breath. "I'm her big… brother… I'm supposed to be strong and…" he paused, coughing harshly a couple times. His eyes filled with even more tears. "I don't… want her to… see me weak…"

Suicune let out a soft sigh, lying down in front of Latios at a distance so that her head was just above him and her front paws were at his sides. Gently, she used one of her paws to lift his head so he was looking at her face. "There's no shame in being ill, Latios. Hiding it from her is just going to hurt you more and speed up your deterioration. She's not going to think you're weak just because you're sick. Your sister deserves the truth," she said soothingly. Latios looked into her ruby-red eyes, his own dark-red eyes tearful. "I think that you're very brave and strong, but also very foolish, for trying to hide it from her so she doesn't worry for you, or see you as 'weak' or anything like that. It says a lot about how strong and determined you are as a brother. But the truth is that she'll never think of you as weak. You're her big brother. You're her hero, the one she looks up to the most in life. No matter what condition you're in, she'll think of you as the best." Suicune paused to let the ill dragon absorb those words and think them over, and once she felt enough time had passed she made her final statement. "I'm going to tell her."

Latios gasped, shaking his head in protest. "N-no!" he yelled, but that immediately made him wince as his sore throat was filled with a wave of pain.

Suicune nodded once, leaning down to softly nuzzle Latios' cheek. "Hiding it from her won't do you, or her, any good. But don't worry. I'll be here for the entire duration of your recovery period. Trust that none of us will think lowly of you for a lapse of weakness. We all have them." She gave his cheek and neck a gentle, comforting lick.

The infant Eon Dragon let out a small squeal as Suicune's rough tongue tickled him slightly, but afterwards he glanced downwards, feeling saddened but thoughtful. "Okay…" Latios murmured after a very long pause.

"That's the spirit!" Suicune cheered, making Latios jump in surprise slightly. She leaned down and nuzzled the comparatively very tiny dragon again. "You're my brave little dragon."

Latios smiled at her, pressing into the warm, comforting nuzzle of the water Legendary. "Th-thanks…" he said in gratitude, a light blush on his face. He then coughed harshly again. "Ugh… Will I… be… okay?" he asked, fearing for his wellbeing.

Suicune gazed down at him, her gaze evaluating. "Untreated? No, you wouldn't have lasted long with your tender age. Thankfully, I was warned of your situation soon enough and will be able to cure you. Yesterday I stopped by quickly to see what was wrong, and left to get the needed remedies, which I now have with me."

Latios looked at her, puzzled. "Who… who warned you?" he asked. Suicune gazed at the stone pedestal that held the Soul Dew, needing no words to get her answer across. "Oh…" Latios whispered, not sure how to respond to that.

Suicune's dual white ribbon-like tails slowly began to reach into her mane and with amazing dexterity pulled out a very large pouch made out of woven leaves. "The illness you have can be cured with natural extracts from certain plants, but it'll take you several weeks to recover. I'll stay here until then and make sure you take your treatment on time. And of course, tend to all your needs."

Latios nodded, smiling up at her. "Th-thanks a lot, Suicune…You're the best." He coughed again, making Suicune frown slightly.

"You don't need to thank me, Latios," the Aurora Pokémon answered, her gaze focused on him. "I'm always available to take care of you and your sister," Suicune added gently, returning the smile. Her tails again showed amazing dexterity by rapidly untying the large leaf-woven pouch, revealing several smaller pouches, all made of leaves, inside it. "You'll be feeling much better soon." Suicune leaned down, and pressed her muzzle to Latios' check, giving it a tender kiss.

Latios closed his eyes, pressing to the contact of the water-legendary. He made no moves to object or resist and let her apply the needed natural treatments on him.

…

"And that's it," Latios announced, suddenly cutting off the memory. Latios and Latias retreated from everyone's minds. All of their friends slowly opened their eyes, slowly processing the information that had been projected into their minds by the two psychic Eon Dragons.

"Wow, is that the same Suicune I met back at that forest in Johto?" Ash asked curiously, bringing his hand to rest contemplatively across his chin as he thought back to that occasion. "You know, the one forest that Celebi tried to kill us all in as an evil twig monster thing?" he added, shuddering at the memory of the monstrous mess of trees towering over him while charging a Hyper Beam that would have surely killed him had Suicune not saved him and Sam.

Latios chuckled, picking up Ash's thoughts. "Yes, that's the same Suicune."

"She's really nice, isn't she? She saved us, and well, she was really impressive in that scene you showed us." Brock nodded once. "I wish I had the ability to talk to Pokémon like Ash. It'd be a really good experience to talk to her."

"To be fair, I didn't talk to her either," Ash commented. "No Pokéspeech back then."

"To be fair, I didn't meet her at all," Bianca said sarcastically. Ash and Brock sweatdropped, but didn't say anything as they knew she was right.

"She's… pretty," Larvitar remarked slowly, a bit hesitant. "I… liked the way she talked to you two and the way she showed she really cares a lot." He paused and looked at Latios. "Is she a really close friend?"

Latios nodded. "Yes. Suicune is a very close friend of us. Not the closest, but she's high up there. She visits us almost as often as Ho-Oh herself. She's always been a very trustworthy friend that Latias and I have never doubted."

"Wow, really?" Bianca asked curiously, greatly surprised. She hadn't heard anything about a Suicune near Alto Mare, ever. "Do you know the other two beasts? Raikou and Entei, I believe they're called. I've heard the Legends have them as a trio of sorts."

"Yeah, she has," Latias answered Bianca's initial question. "And yes, we know all of them. They've all paid their visits. Entei the least, as he has it the hardest getting to Alto Mare." She giggled, recalling the silly ways Entei sometimes had to use to get to the water city of Alto Mare. "Raikou and Suicune had it easier, so they visited us the most."

"As a member of one of Ho-Oh's two groups of Legendary Beasts, she was often tasked with watching over us, along with the other five," Latios explained. "They didn't do it exactly because Ho-Oh ordered them to do so. They were all more than happy to help us without being asked the instant Ho-Oh took interest in us. Though Ho-Oh did make sure they were informed whenever she would be unavailable so they could take turns in their visits," the blue Eon Dragon continued.

"Wait, wait, hold on," Brock interrupted, holding his hands up at the dragon. "Ho-Oh has more than three legendary beasts? I thought the legends surrounding her and the beasts said she only created three out of that burning tower in Ecruteak City," Brock continued, very confused. "I remember Morty talking about it."

"Yeah, I remember that too, and he seemed really fixated that he was right, seeing as he denied us seeing Ho-Oh at first," Pikachu remarked.

Latias laughed in amusement. "Human folklore is often wrong about us Legendaries. You have no idea how many times my brother has had to subtly correct them at Alto Mare because they got stuff about us wrong." She stifled a harder laugh, as many fun memories came to her mind. "Or they outright made up entirely stupid stuff about us. Though, Latios definitely knows more about Legendary Pokémon culture and history than I do, seeing as he always listened to Ho-Oh's boring lectures."

Latios also struggled to not burst out laughing while nodding in agreement to Latias' initial comment. "There was a time about fifty years ago that Alto Mare's population got the odd idea that we died every year, and we picked humans to mate with before our deaths so we could create the next set of annual guardians," Latios told them. "It led to large fights over trying to prove who was worthy of parenting the new guardian god and becoming immortal in the process or something like that. It was chaotic, and rather… stupid."

"… How would they become immortal if the guardians are supposed to be yearly?" Bianca asked skeptically while narrowing her eyes at the dragon.

"There's a reason I said it's stupid and illogical," Latios stated flatly.

"And that's not even the worst of it," Latias mumbled drily, grimacing at the memories. Everyone stared at them, not entirely sure they wanted to know. "We can spend hours talking about it, but it's pointless. So let's go back to the original topic."

"Living over one hundred years really seems to give one lots of interesting stories to tell," Brock said, chuckling at their folklore chit-chat. Ash just stared, trying to picture what they had said, but it was clear he was still more focused on the fresh memories of the twins' first tale.

"Yes, it does. Anyway, like Latias said, back to the original topic," Latios started before anyone could make any further questions about something he wasn't eager to talk about. "I'm not entirely sure what the origins of Ho-Oh's first legendary beasts are. I don't think I ever got around to asking that… but, the first ones she's had… for pretty much forever, they've sorta always been there with her from the start or something like that. They've definitely existed way longer than Ecruteak City itself. I don't know how to explain that one, sorry. I think that's the best way I can put it. They could be almost as old as Ho-Oh herself." Latios hummed, gathering his thoughts about it.

"Who are the second ones, then?" Bianca asked curiously. She had to admit she was surprised that the twins got visits from other Legendary Pokémon, especially such a high number of them.

"The second ones are those that she created more recently, a bit more than a century and a half ago, from the burning tower that Morty mentioned at Ecruteak city. It's actually very easy to tell them apart from the 'originals,' if you'd like to call them that. The new ones are different in color. Kinda like Ash's Noctowl, it's what humans call 'shiny' Pokémon. Not sure where they got that silly term from, but that's the best way to describe them," Latios explained. "But I won't mention more of them, because I have a story about them as well. You'll meet them there."

Everyone nodded, acknowledging the dragon's explanation. Latias glanced at Larvitar and glided downwards to him, as the rock-type had been quiet while watching everyone talk about the legendary beasts. "What did you think about that tale?" she asked, a soft smile tracing her lips. "As our friend, Suicune did a great job in caring for Latios in his time of illness. Almost like any parent would."

Larvitar nodded once, his gaze a bit lost as he treasured the memory, and started imagining Ash or the twins doing something similar for him. "How long did it take Uncle Latios to get better?" the rock-type infant asked curiously.

"About a month," Latios answered flatly, not sounding the least bit ecstatic. "It was annoyingly painful. And be it in person or via water substitutes, Suicune was there every single minute."

"Did you get that sick any other time?" Pikachu questioned. "And what was the exact disease you got sick with to begin with?"

Latios shook his head. "Nope, I didn't." He grimaced. "And that's a good thing because that was easily the worst month I've had. As for which disease, I have no idea. If Suicune called it by name, I wasn't paying attention. I don't remember exactly."

"Well, Suicune made that month livable," Latias remarked. "And that goes for both of us, as she kept me from being bored." She paused and once again redirected her attention to the infant rock-type. "See Larvitar, Suicune's a good friend, and she did an amazing job at taking care of us when Latios was sick. If you got ill, you can be sure that we'd take care of you like Suicune did to us."

Larvitar smiled at his friends, and nodded once. "Thanks for showing me that, I liked it a lot." He gazed around at everyone he considered his friends. When his gaze reached Phanpy, the ground-type playfully nuzzled him.

"You're welcome, Larvitar," Latios replied kindly. "So, ready for the next scene?" Everyone nodded, closing their eyes and relaxing. "This one was over one hundred years ago, when Latias and I were still babies. Don't squeal at how adorable we were." He chuckled at his own words. "It was also the hardest one to make up, as our memories of this were hard to construct, so it's a bit short. Also, this one has a Legend I'm sure most of you will recognize very well." His eyes began to glow, and soon Latias' followed.

…

Unlike the first memory, in which they were greeted by a calm and sunny day shining over Alto Mare, this time it was completely different. The midnight sky was eerily dark, murky with black clouds and blurry thanks to the strong rain and striking winds that accompanied the powerful storm that marred the city. Occasionally the sky lit up with bright flashes of lightning streaking across the sky, an ominous thunder booming across the landscape immediately afterwards.

The next thing that surprised everyone watching the memory was the sight of the city itself. Like Latios had mentioned, the time presented to them was over one hundred years in the past. As such, the city was vastly different than the one everyone remembered from the present time. It was a lot smaller in expanse by a very large margin, and save for several buildings in the center of the city, nearly all of the rest didn't rise higher than the first floor. Most of the canals were lined with sand and dirt instead of concrete. The many areas of the city were connected with wooden bridges instead of stone. All the boats that lined the canals were wooden gondolas of antique design that were not very different than the ones Lorenzo built. The town looked like a ghost town at the moment as everyone was taking shelter from the powerful rainstorm.

When the memory finally focused on the garden, everyone could see that it was also very different. It did not have any large trees yet, most of them were still small trees in development. Only a few trees of significant size were present, especially near the pedestal that held the Soul Dew.

In a small hollow underneath the largest tree in the entire garden were two infant dragon twins. They were small, very small. Even the large Latios they knew and loved was all but a small infant, tender and innocent. They looked very cute, their necks and wings seeming a lot shorter than the proportions they had in the present time, especially the wings, which while still looking rigid did not look quite as solid as the ones on their grown-up counterparts. Their faces reflected the youthful, playful innocence of babies.

However, their adorable looks didn't help their current situation as both were in clear distress. Being mere infants, the thunderstorm currently striking Alto Mare was too much of an overwhelming experience for them. The fact that they were dragons with such sharp natural senses played badly against them, as every thunderclap sounded like a piercing blast to their sensitive ears, and every lightning strike was a terrifyingly ominous flare of illumination that only highlighted the harsh reality of the thunderstorm. Even the sounds of the rain battering against the water in the canals, the sand and grass of the garden, and the wood and stone of the surrounding structures created a continuous clatter that seemed to be never-endingly agonizing. And to make matter worse, it was cold. The storm brought in a very cold temperature with it. Thankfully, they weren't wet, as the tree's leaves and the hollow shielded them from the water, sparing them from an even colder experience.

Latias screamed in fright and dug deeper into the hollow at a particularly loud and powerful boom of thunder. She wept in fear, hidden under the protection of her brother and the tree they were hidden inside of, absolutely terrified. However, the young Latios was not faring any better than she was. Still being an infant, the baby Eon was also scared by the overwhelming barrage of attacks against their senses that the storm generated. He too was crying, equally panicked by the situation they were trapped in. There was nothing the two baby dragons could do other than cuddle against each other, hoping their mutual presence would help them overcome the terrifying nature of the thunderstorm. However, that seemed nearly impossible.

Fortunately, before anything could get any worse for the two distressed infants, a light appeared in the sky, a gentle red light that steadily grew larger and larger, splitting the darkness of the clouds. The light rapidly took the shape of a gigantic avian Pokémon with a colorful plumage of red, white, green and gold. Ho-Oh rapidly descended upon the garden and landed softly in the center of the hidden haven, her talons barely making any noise when she landed. She seemed to adopt an anxious and worried expression when she heard the distinct crying sounds of the two toddlers. "Latias? Latios?" she called out in a loud tone of voice to catch their attention, but made sure her voice was still as soothing and tender as possible.

The weeping was cut short for a few instants. Several long seconds passed, as both dragons slowly registered the voice, and then two squeals echoed, followed by a pair of rapid blurs, one red and one blue, crashing into Ho-Oh's soft, warm, white chest. The two dragons cried harder, pressing themselves to the comforting company of the massive fire legendary. "Shhh, stop crying my darlings, I'm here," Ho-Oh whispered tenderly, lowering her head and using her beak to nuzzle the two children.

Ho-Oh roosted herself, gently seating in the middle of the garden as comfortably as she could, and began to accommodate the two dragons in a comfy position between her chest and a wing she had left folded over her breast. The feathers on her back began to slowly radiate a veil of heat which extended all around her, rapidly evaporating any rain before it could touch her or the dragons currently pressing to her chest. She made sure that the searing temperatures emanating from her back to keep the rain away didn't reach the two dragons. Instead, she let her chest and wing feathers radiate a soft, cozy warmness to provide the babies with a nice 'bed' to sleep on.

"Where are those blasted human caretakers?! They should be here with you two right now! Or have taken you to their home!" She sounded angry, exceedingly so. The twins looked up at her with round and teary eyes, not really answering her. Glancing down at the two frightened baby dragon curled under her wing, Ho-Oh then turned her face forward, glaring out into the dark, murky night. "I'll be sure to have… a talk with those humans later. And they had better have a damned good excuse to have left you out here alone on a night like this. If it turns out that they were just scared of getting a bit wet…" she growled, as her eyes seemed to burn with a flaming intensity.

Before Ho-Oh could finish, however, a flash of lightning split the sky, causing the infant twins to squeak in fear as the subsequent boom of thunder filled the air, the baby dragons pressing closer to Ho-Oh's breast for comfort. The twin's fear seemed to snap Ho-Oh out of her dark thoughts, as the phoenix-like Legend brought her face around close to the twins. "Shh, shh, it's okay, my dears. I'm here, I won't let anything hurt you," she said comfortingly, gently caressing the two with her beak. Almost immediately, the infant dragons calmed down.

"I'm sorry for taking so long, my dears. As soon as I learned hurricane was headed to Alto Mare I tried to get it broken up, but the needed Legendary wasn't nearby. So instead, I got here as fast as I could. I apologize for it," Ho-Oh said as she looked down at them, her eyes reflecting warm affection. The two infants looked up at her, love and trust in their eyes, and then nuzzled her chest, knowing that she'd do her best to protect them.

Ho-Oh looked around her, and slowly, the wind surrounding them began to circle the garden. Being a Legendary Pokémon charged with being a great Guardian of the sky, Ho-Oh possessed a naturally high and adept control of the wind and its similar elements. As Ho-Oh saw a lighting strike appear in the sky far away, she activated her powers and rapidly created a large, thin barrier all around the sacred garden of still wind that almost seemed frozen on the spot. The booming, explosive sound of the thunder never came. With the air solidified and held still by Ho-Oh's powers, the sound was unable to get through, leaving it echoing outside the shield bubble while keeping a tranquil silence inside.

Latias and Latios seemed to detect her action, as both pressed tighter against the great Legendary's chest. "Go to sleep, my darlings," she said gently, her voice soothing and loving. Ho-Oh took a few deep breaths as she prepared herself, and then began to sing. A loving and blissful sound filled the air bubble she had created, completely drowning out any leftover sounds the storm raging outside created. Ho-Oh's singing voice was pure heaven for the two infants. Their fear was completely gone and replaced with a peaceful and serene aura of love projected by the fire Legendary. As the perfect notes of Ho-Oh's ethereal, beautiful and soothing voice began to take effect on the baby twins, they began to swiftly fall asleep…

…And as the twins fell asleep, so did the memory begin to fade into darkness…

…

Bianca cooed, opening her eyes. "Ooooh, you two were totally adorable as hatchlings! I'm definitely drawing that sometime soon. How old exactly were you guys in that memory?" she asked, glancing at each of the two dragons and still imagining them as hatchlings.

Latias giggled at Bianca's reaction, though she was expecting it. "I can't remember exactly, but we were babies. That was over a century ago."

Larvitar smiled, his eyes still closed in bliss. "Ho-Oh's voice is..." he blushed slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed at how touched he felt by the tunes that seemed to still play in his mind."Very pretty…" he said after a pause. "It was so lovely."

Latios smiled back at the child and nodded. "Yes, Ho-Oh's voice is very pretty when she sings. And she sang a lot when we were little. She stopped singing as much when we grew up."

Pikachu smirked at Latios. "So, you were afraid of storms?" His voice was teasing.

"I was a baby!" Latios argued. "And we were alone!" Latios crossed his arms in annoyance. "So, it's perfectly excusable." He glared at Pikachu, making the electric-type chuckle.

"Is she the one that visited the most?" Larvitar questioned, tilting his head. "She seemed very nice to you two and very caring."

"Nope, she's not the one with the biggest number of visits in terms of raw numbers. That's the Legendary we're saving our last story for. But Ho-Oh does have the second highest number of visits and I'm pretty sure that if she had the means that the Legendary I just mentioned has, she'd definitely visit a lot more. Anyway, Ho-Oh's visits were for a lot of reasons, from taking care of us, to helping us in anything we needed, to having fun. A lot of her visits also included her teaching us stuff. And also, her visits were long. Many times she decided to stay for several days." Latios laughed. "So, her visits were always nice, relaxing, and educational if you paid attention." At that he shot his sister a very pointed look.

"Ho-Oh's educational visits were booooooooooooooooooooring," Latias whined loudly, drawing her voice out spectacularly. "The other times I do admit she was always awesome. At least when she wasn't giving lectures."

"It wasn't boring!" Latios snapped indignantly. "Everything she taught me was very interesting! She even talked about how the DMA was created and how it worked! She also spoke about many other Pokémon, regions and their histories, and also taught me about many other very awesome things!" Latios shot back at her, and then looked at the group. "She also taught me a lot about other Legendaries, though never personal stuff. She said that those weren't her stories to tell, that'd we'd learn about them when we met them."

Latias giggled in amusement, but conceded her brother the point. "Suuuuuure." Latias had always greatly enjoyed how much passion Latios put into his arguments when it came to defending Ho-Oh.

Larvitar looked at both of them, glancing between them and seeing the clear joy in their attitudes and voices at talking about Ho-Oh. "She is a very important friend for you two, isn't she?" he asked softly, relishing in the knowledge that he finally learned about one of the twin's best friends and family.

Latios nodded instantly. "Yes, she was. She visited a lot and often helped take care of us if she was in the area. She's easily one of the most important friends we've ever had. Latias and I would both be in much worse shape if it wasn't for her."

"You've always shown you know a lot Uncle Latios. All of that was taught by Ho-Oh?" Larvitar wondered curiously.

"Yep." Latios nodded in confirmation. "Ho-Oh is a very good teacher, if you would listen to her and pay attention." He glanced briefly at Latias. The red Eon Dragoness stuck her tongue out at him.

"You could say that she is for you, what Ash is for me?" The Larvitar's voice had been barely a soft whisper as he leaned into his surrogate parent's side. Ash wordlessly placed a hand on the rock-type, rubbing his side.

"Yeah, that's a sort of correct statement. They play different roles, but I think they can be similar from your perspective," Latios answered.

Larvitar smiled gently, enjoying the memory even more than the first one. "Thanks a lot for what you've shown us, Uncle Latios and Auntie Latias. I didn't know you two had friends like that. They helped you out so much…"

"You have the same valuable thing Larvitar," Ash reminded him. "You always do."

"Yep, all of us," Pikachu added. "Friendship is magic."

Larvitar hummed, nodding once, as Phanpy pressed to his side. "Will we meet any of them?" he asked.

Latias beamed at Larvitar and flew over towards him, picking him up and cuddling him close. "Hopefully we'll meet a lot of them while we're traveling, more than just the few me and Latios already know. We only met a handful at Alto Mare. As for the ones we know, I'm pretty sure we'll see them all eventually," she replied softly, her telepathic voice leaving a loving, soothing feeling in the child's mind.

Larvitar cuddled back against her, smiling. "Are you telling us about all of them right now?" he inquired, curious.

Latias planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "Nope, we'll only be telling you about a couple of them for now," the dragoness told him. She winked at him. "We gotta keep some friends a secret. You all might meet them eventually."

Larvitar pouted. "Aw."

"I feel a bit left out that I didn't see any of them…" Bianca commented, gazing down with a thoughtful stare. "You have so many friends other than me and I didn't even have any clue about it. I'm very surprised."

"Well, to be fair, as I've stated before, the older we got the more we were capable of defending ourselves and surviving on our own. As such, their visits for protection and help were required less and less, creating larger time gaps between their visits, leaving only recreational and friendly visits. During our time as babies and young children, the amount of visits shared by all our main caretaking Legendaries was really high. But you weren't even born by then. In the last decade or two, the number has declined a lot," Latios explained. "And that's when you've known us."

Bianca nodded, accepting the explanation. "I guess that's a good point."

"So, what's the next story? I really like them," Larvitar interrupted impatiently, extremely pulled into the stories. Latias could feel through her empathy his great emotional interest in this, and most importantly, she could feel his emotional state slowly settling down.

"Well, remember the 'shiny' legendary beasts we mentioned earlier? The ones Ho-Oh created about one hundred and fifty years ago from the burning tower of Ecruteak City?" Latias questioned everyone, glancing around.

"Yeah, I do," Ash answered. Larvitar, Phanpy and Pikachu nodded.

"Yes, what about them?" Brock asked. "Oh, they're next?"

"Yes, our next story is about them, and it was a very important point in both my own and Latias' lives," Latios announced. His eyes began to glow, and soon Latias' followed, as everyone was once again sucked into the memories of the two wondrous psychic dragons…

…

Rapidly, the scene began to form in their minds, and like the previous two times, they were drawn to the Secret Garden of Alto Mare. Unlike the previous two memories, in which the two dragons had been youngsters, the image of the two dragons presented to them was definitely older. In both size and appearance, they were very close to what Ash and his friends remembered the day they saw them for the first time at Alto Mare. However, the instant the memory materialized in their minds, they were assaulted with a barrage of angry emotions and the sounds of two angry dragons arguing.

Latias glared angrily at her brother, desolation radiating off of her and her eyes filled with tears. "I hate you!" screeched the young dragoness. "Why can't you just let me have this one thing!?" she questioned defiantly. "They weren't going to hurt me! They were nice!"

"They're humans, Latias! With a few very rare exceptions, they cannot be trusted!" Latios insisted, snapping at her.

"We can trust Lorenzo!" Latias countered, her voice a shrieking cry of anger.

"He's a rare exception, we've known him since he was born," Latios answered, narrowing his eyes.

"Aside from Lorenzo, the second I try making new friends, no, you say that's too much of a risk! How is that fair!? Just because you see everyone as being our enemies or being evil doesn't mean they all are!" The glare she sent her brother wasn't as effective because of the wetness of her eyes, but it still was like a Sucker Punch to the gut. "That's you being paranoid! I'm an empath! I would have stayed away from them if I felt they weren't good people!"

"Even if they're 'good people' that doesn't mean we should just go around showing ourselves to whoever walks near us!" Latios snarled. "What if they revealed the garden? Exposed our secrets!?"

"They would have realized it was a secret for a reason! They wouldn't have told anyone! Heck, Latios, I've seen them around Alto Mare since they were toddlers, do you really think they would have done anything to risk the Guardian of Alto Mare who was willing to reveal herself to them and just wanted to be friends!?"

"Yes. Yes, they would have," Latios said firmly. "Maybe they wouldn't mean to, but humans are stupid and have a problem with loose lips and greed. I'm surprised Lorenzo hasn't screwed us over even by accident, to be honest."

The red dragoness clenched her eyes shut and grabbed her ears with her claws, shaking her head. "You're awful! No wonder you have no friends at all! You can't bother to trust anybody, and hate that I can! I never want to see you again!" she shrieked, before diving into the water and racing away, the fresh water in the canal hiding her streaming tears.

"Ugh...that...that stupid...Gah! Just… why do girls have to be so dumb and annoying and… everything!?" Latios asked angrily to no one in particular, eyes flashing as an outburst of uncontrolled psychic power surged from him, causing some of the smaller trees and saplings around him to shatter and the water to ripple ominously.

"I hope that doesn't include me," a familiar voice said from behind him.

"Or me," said another familiar voice, which was rougher than the first one.

"Well, I can agree with you at times," a third, decidedly more masculine, voice added. Two feminine growls echoed, and the third voice chuckled in amusement.

Startled, Latios turned to see his friends, the 'shiny' legendary beast trio of Levina the Raikou, Krysta the Suicune, and Blayze the Entei. All of them stood taller and were clearly larger than Latios by a big margin, and were of different colorations than their older counterparts. "O-oh! Um...h-hi, you guys. I, uh, didn't notice you there," Latios said nervously, playing with his claws tensely.

"Clearly," Levina drawled, rolling her eyes.

"Obviously you didn't," Krysta added, glaring at him. "What was that all about?" she asked.

"It seemed like family problems, apparently?" Blayze guessed, glancing at his two sisters and then back at Latios. He then looked at the water which Latias had disappeared into and then turned to look at the youngest of the three beasts, Krysta. "Go and check on Latias, Krysta. We'll stay here with Latios." The Suicune nodded and dashed towards the pond, taking a mighty leap into the water and seamlessly melding with it and vanishing.

The largest of the three beasts walked towards the young Eon Dragon after Krysta had left them, and brushed against the dragon's side comfortingly. "So, would you like to explain what just happened? I don't think I've ever seen Latias that upset before, and certainly never at you in particular," Blayze asked. His tone was curious, not accusing the dragon of anything, yet.

Latios sighed sadly, taking comfort in the shiny Entei's words and presence. "Sibling spat, I guess?" he answered, not really having any better way to describe it.

Levina followed after her brother, and brushed against Latios's other side soothingly, pressing the young dragon between the two's larger bodies in what could be seen as a double hug. "That seemed like more than a spat over what to have for supper, or who sleeps where," Levina said drily.

Latios glared at her. "It's serious!" he snapped back.

Levina laughed throatily. "You're the one who called it a spat, instead of actually explaining what happened."

Latios blinked and then smacked his face into Levina's side when he realized she was right. "She's been trying to befriend too many humans lately and has been too revealing of herself. She got angry when I tried to forbid her from doing that," the dragon explained, his eyes closed and his face still buried against the female Raikou's side.

"You forbid her from making friends?" Blayze gazed at him, eyes almost disappointed. "You do realize she should be allowed to have friends outside of you, right? No child should grow up being forbidden from having friends with those they wish to."

"It was for our safety! I did specify about it. Just about humans. She can have as many Pokémon friends as she wants!" Latios snapped back, rolling his eyes.

"You two live in the middle of a human city you're guardians of. Humans are the most predominant beings in the area. It's natural she'd want some of them as friends. Not all humans are untrustworthy, Latios. She should be allowed to make friends with humans. She's a better judge of character than you are, so she'd know fairly well if a human can be trusted or not," Levina said, her rough voice sounding gentler than usual. She lowered her neck to the Latios and then let her rough feline tongue rasp over his ear once, making the dragon tilt his head and squeal at the affection and the ticklish sensation. "Empaths make extremely good trust detectors, as what they feel goes down to the soul. Sure, she can be untrained and young, but her feelings and heart are true. While you can outwardly fake emotions, it's nearly impossible to actually make yourself feel something you don't." The Raikou pressed her head to Latios' back.

Latios paused slightly, lifting his neck out of the female Raikou's side before floating back a bit, out of the press of the two larger yet gentle beasts. "I don't think I can trust her judgment, even if she's an empath or whatever. Humans aren't generally nice, and their gossip spreads fast. I don't want her around many of them." He narrowed his eyes. "It's too dangerous."

"Didn't Ho-Oh teach you about empathic abilities?" The saber-tooth feline questioned pointedly. "Haven't your own experiences proven Latias' judgment of others well enough? I don't recall a single time where Latias' trusted someone who actually turned out to be not that nice, but I do have memories of her being rather distant and unhappy with some friends you made that turned out to actually be dangerous. Humans may be gossips, but Latias would be able to sense those who are more likely to share her secret, and those who would keep it. She'd be good at sensing those trustworthy enough to make friends with, unlike you," Levina said, her voice firm and unyielding, without a single ounce of doubt in it.

Latios crossed his arms and looked away, grunting. He knew she was right in every single aspect, but was too stubborn to admit it. "Better safe than sorry. And Ho-Oh did tell me the concepts of empathy were hard to grasp for someone not an empath," he replied obstinately.

"So it's better to make your sister cry, make her feel like her brother doesn't trust her, than allow her to make friends with humans who are trustworthy? And all that is because you are too nervous around humans as a general species?" Blayze's words were cutting and sharp, making Latios wince, made worse by the memory of Latias' tears and her voice screaming she hated him still crystal clear in the young Latios's mind. "And let's not forget, you guys aren't helpless hatchlings anymore. Even if you do gather the wrong attention, you have places you can hide. I'm sure Ho-Oh has trained you in stealth. No one can accidentally find their way into the garden. And most of Alto Mare would get extremely angry if they felt their Guardians were in danger, anyways. Hiding behind a large crowd can help."

Latios frowned sadly, rapidly running out of excuses or counters to the two shiny legendary beasts' words and arguments. "Trying to make dozens of human friend at a time is not healthy. There can't be that many trustworthy ones." He paused. "Can there be?"

"And was she really trying to make 'dozens' or was she only trying to befriend a couple and your anger and distrust just multiplied the number in your head?" Blayze questioned, gazing at the Latios sharply.

"I'm pretty sure there were a lot!" Latios snapped uncertainly, starting to doubt himself and the strength behind his arguments and anger.

"While a large number isn't good, that I can agree with, you should trust her more. Allow her to make human friends, but instead of demanding anything of her, tell her that you'd wish she'd keep it to a small amount or that she'd follow safety precautions." The shiny Entei's tone was sensible as he continued on. "Little sisters can make life rather difficult, if you're being unreasonable about things."

"Krysta..." Levina chuckled.

"Not just Krysta, Levina." Blayze added, making Levina bump into his side playfully. There was clear affection as Blayze looked at his sister, before turning back to Latios. "Yes, you want to take care of yourself and your sister, I can understand that and feel proud that you're so conscious and watchful for the wellbeing of both of you. But that doesn't mean you can't be reasonable with her. And it doesn't mean you know everything or can take over Latias' personal life. Like you said yourself, it's hard for non-empaths to understand the knowledge empaths can gain naturally. But Latias has never gone wrong before trusting her empathic abilities. Trust your sister, Latios, like she's been willing to trust you her entire life."

Latios sighed and looked down, drawing his gaze away from the two beasts while remaining silent and thoughtful. They were completely right and he knew it, he was left with no option but to accept his mistakes.

Elsewhere, in a hidden alley in the city…

Latias sobbed into the deep blue mane of the shiny Suicune. "Why can't he just believe in me for once!?" she wailed, her crying slightly muffled by the Suicune's mane.

Krysta smiled softly at Latias as she sat down. She used her two tails to gently grab Latias and hold her up while she swung her head forward, making her mane come around and extend along her front legs. She lowered Latias onto it and then wrapped her front legs around her in a hug, pressing her large head to the crying dragoness. "Shhhh, Latias..." Krysta said softly, nuzzling Latias comfortingly. "I know that what your brother said and tried to do wasn't very nice, but you have to try and reason with him. Tell him he's wrong and make your point."

"He's impossible to reason with. He's too Grumpig-headed. Only thinks his way is right, unless some adult tells him otherwise. He never listens to me! He just gives orders and expects to be obeyed!" Latias yelled angrily.

Krysta nodded. "I know he can be like that. Blayze used to be like that when I was younger. Sometimes, it caused us to clash a lot. However, instead of screaming at him, you should try to reach an understanding with him. He's your brother and you love him as much as he loves you, it shouldn't take long to get through to him," she said, smiling gently at the Eon Dragoness.

"I've tried reasoning with him before, and it never works!" Latias shouted at her, moving away and throwing her claws up in the air. "I've tried so many different things, and he would never listen to me! Only say he was right and I was wrong and I have to listen to him and blah… blah… blah!"

Krysta frowned, nodding once. She gently pulled Latias back to her mane and legs with her white, ribbon-like tails and then gently used them to clean her tears away. After she was done, she began to speak again. "He was scared for you. He's terrified that you could get hurt by trusting the wrong people." Once she was done speaking, the shiny Suicune began to nuzzle the dragoness' neck, before meeting her eyes with a soft gaze and a comforting smile. "He's being the 'stupid, overprotective, big brother' a lot of brothers can become when they feel the little sister they adore is in danger."

"But they wouldn't have hurt me! I could feel that they wouldn't! And Latios wouldn't listen to me when I told him I could feel they were trustworthy," Latias whined sadly.

Krysta cuddled up with Latias more. "Sometimes it's hard for non-empaths to understand the knowledge empaths can get from their abilities. Maybe, if we talk with Latios again now, after he's had some clarity slammed into his head by my siblings, he'll listen to you."

"He's never listened to me before," Latias said unhappily. "I understand he's smarter and knows more than me, but that doesn't give him a right to not care for my opinion…"

Krysta nodded in agreement. "It doesn't. Well, I'm sure that now it's different. Blayze and Levina have done a lot of talking with him." Krysta smiled at Latias once more. "Talking focused on how he should trust you more. And now, maybe from now on he will listen. He seems kinda depressed now that he's realized how mean he was being. He seems willing to listen and understand now, and hopefully in the future as well."

Latias blinked. "How do you know? You're here…" she said, confused.

"All three of us share a very special bond. The others have been showing me what was going on through it," Krysta answered. The shiny Suicune grinned mischievously and winked to the Eon Dragoness. "And if he doesn't listen in the future, just slap him upside the head and tell him what an idiot he's being. Be stubborn, be strong, and don't back down. Show him you've grown, and that you're able to make decisions for yourself now. That you don't always need him to do everything and judge if everything is safe."

Latias couldn't help but smile and giggle slightly at the idea of smacking Latios. "Do you… do you think he'll really listen now?" She asked softly, anger having drained out and her tears stopped as quickly as they had come. She'd never been one for holding grudges.

Krysta nuzzled and cuddled with her again. "I'm positive. And trust me, being stubborn and occasional smacks? They do wonders! It worked great for Blayze and Levina. Especially Blayze, he's the bossiest one and I have a type advantage over him." This time the little red dragoness wasn't able to hold back her laugh.

A couple of hours passed by the time Krysta and Latias finally came back to the garden, having spent them hanging out and catching up with each other. Latios had been concerned and wanted to go find his sister for several moments, but Levina and Blayze had both convinced him that going and searching for her, being once again overprotective when it was that protectiveness that caused a fight in the first place, would not be a smart thing to do.

"Latias..." Latios said softly as he flew towards her, his eyes seeking her out and seeing the dried tear stains on her cheeks. It hurt horribly, knowing he was the cause of those tears. Racing forward, he enveloped her in a hug and pressed his head against the base of her neck. "I'm sorry. I... I shouldn't have been so judgmental. I should have given you a chance."

Latias swallowed and looked at him. Her arms were down at her sides instead of coming up to wrap around him. "You should have. Latios, you hurt me. You didn't trust me. When I have trusted you… Always."

"I know. I know. And I'm sorry about it. I'll do my best to trust your opinions and decisions more, Latias. Let you make your own decisions without interfering so often. You should..." the dragon sighed, not quite believing what he was about to say, but then continued softly. "You should make those human friends, if it makes you happy. But, just, please don't bring them into the garden. If something goes bad, I want the garden to remain completely hidden so we can hide here."

"The people I befriend wouldn't betray us," Latias insisted, frowning at her older brother.

"Latias... please? I know you trust those humans, and I won't stop you from befriending them, but please just allow us to keep the garden a safe, secret place?" Latios asked, smiling softly. He gazed at the Soul Dew. "This is our personal safe haven, to be a secret only for us."

Latias gazed at the Soul Dew, and then met his eyes as he too came to gaze at her, stubborn gold meeting sad red, and then nodded slowly. Her arms finally came up to wrap around him and hug him back. "Okay... I'll keep the garden secret if that makes you feel better."

Latios nodded. "Thanks, Latias. I love you."

"I love you too, Latios," she replied, enjoying that everything was resolved at last.

Several meters away, Krysta, Levina and Blayze watched the sibling's reconciliation with soft smiles on their faces. Their work was done.

"So, wanna play?" Latias suddenly asked, grinning at the startled Latios. "You have to entertain me now for being mean!" she added.

Latios blinked, and chuckled. "Okay," he answered, knowing playing and having fun would be a great way to put the argument behind them. Latias then glanced at the beasts, inviting them to play. None of the three could say no to Latias' angelic face.

Everything slowly became dark and blurry…

…

"Aww, that was sweet," Pikachu said as everyone's minds drifted away from the memory and back to the present.

"Wait, they have names?" Bianca asked, confused. "Why was the shiny Suicune called 'Krysta' instead of Suicune like the previous one?"

"To be honest, I don't entirely know the full truth. But like I said, these beasts are more recent in history. The Suicune you saw earlier has always existed with Ho-Oh as her trio member or something like that. I assume Krysta, Levina and Blayze got their names so that, in Krysta's case, there weren't two Suicune known as 'Suicune' because that'd be very confusing. They have a distinction now," Latios answered her, smiling. "Plus, they're pretty names."

"Okay," Bianca replied, acknowledging his answer.

"It's hard to believe the two of you could have ever had an argument that big...you always seem so close and together," Brock commented, rather surprised by the events he had just witnessed.

"Well, even the best of friends can have bad arguments," Bianca said, glancing at him. "Though, I'm still surprised by this… yet again." She pouted in disappointment. "Just how much have I missed about Latias and Latios due to the annoying language barrier?"

"Lots," Latias said simply, making Bianca frown. Latias smiled at her sympathetically. "Don't worry, you won't miss anymore from now on."

"That was a big fight," Pikachu said, glancing between both twins. "Shocking."

Latios sighed, and looked at his claws before shrugging. "When you spend every moment of your entire life with someone, tensions can get high. You rarely get a chance to just get away and get all the reasons for fighting out."

"I can't imagine something like that...Phanpy and I never argue," Larvitar commented, glancing at Phanpy.

"Does that mean there's something wrong with us!?" Phanpy gasped. "Should we be arguing? Quick, Larvitar, let's find something to argue about!" he yelled.

"I can't think of anything," said the worried Larvitar.

"Think harder!" Phanpy shrieked, freaked out.

Pikachu facepalmed. "Guys, there's nothing wrong with you."

Latias smiled at them. "It's different when you're little kids. And when you haven't had decades of time added up together." She giggled at the confused faces the two kids sent her way.

"Just how long was your childhood, anyway?" Pikachu asked. "Your aging is confusing. You're still kids yet are older than all our ages put together."

"Well... we're still going through it. We're not yet adults or older teenagers. We could be considered older children or preadolescents. Doing the math, if Latias and I were to scale down our rate of growth and age to that of a human's, from what Ho-Oh's told me I'd calculate that we're around... twelve or thirteen?" Latios glanced at his sister for confirmation. "I definitely need to ask Ho-Oh this, I'm unsure. Legendary aging is complicated."

Latias hummed, trying to do the same calculations Latios did and then shook her head. "I have no idea. The way we age is soooo complicated, especially next to other Legendary Pokémon."

Latios grimaced. "I agree... too complicated. For example, remember Silver? The Lugia kid you guys met in Whirl Islands? For some reason, he ages a lot slower than us. If we put his age equivalent to a human's, he'd be around three and a half or four years old. But he's, in actual years, over three thousand." He paused, frowning. "Uh, or was it thirty thousand? I forgot. He is a god... Not sure about us."

Ash's eyes bulged in shock. "Thirty...thirty thousand..."

"Really!? That little Lugia toddler?" Brock questioned in shock. "But he was so adorable! And innocent, and cute… he can't be that old… That's older than human history, even!"

"I can't even count that high!" Phanpy squeaked.

Pikachu smiled. "Don't worry, Ash can't either." He grinned when Ash glared at him angrily.

"I was as surprised as you were," Latios said telepathically. "I've met him and both his parents. Latias hasn't, though. It happened when I needed a really bad hurricane that was gonna hit Alto Mare stopped, so I ventured out of Alto Mare to seek help and they gladly helped me once I ran into them. Silver's awesome. I've seen them a couple times since then." Latios chuckled. "Anyway, we went badly off-topic with this. But yes, despite our apparently perfect relationship, Latias and I have had our occasional problems."

Latias nodded and glanced at Latios with a mischievous shine in her eyes. "Like the time Latios lost his favorite stuffed Pokémon plush and blamed it on me."

There was an awkward pause at that, and then everyone laughed raucously. "Latias!" Latios screeched in horror. "Don't bring that up!"

"You had a favorite stuffed Pokémon?" Pikachu asked, wiping a tear off with a paw. "That's priceless. I've got perfect teasing material for the next month now."

Latios blushed in embarrassment. "It was when I was a kid. Mew made it..." he admitted in defeat.

Larvitar blinked in confusion. "What's a stuffed Pokémon?" He glanced at Latias and Latios for answer.

"A stuffed Pokémon, or plush, is basically a soft, cute, cuddly toy modeled after a Pokémon," Latias answered. Her eyes glowed as she put the image of a random series of popular stuffed Pokémon in Larvitar's mind.

"Ah, cute," Larvitar said, nodding. "I want one!"

Ash sweatdropped, but then paused when he finally realized something the dragon had said. "Wait, Mew made it? You know Mew!?" Ash asked, shocked. "Like… Mew? The Mew?"

"Uh, yeah," Latios answered, laughing slightly at his reaction. "She's one of our best friends. In fact, our next story is about her."

"Her? Mew's a she?" Ash questioned, blinking in confusion.

"Uh, I think it was painfully obvious by how her and Mewtwo's argument went," Brock said drily. "But I'm not surprised you didn't know."

"Hey, if you know Mew, do you know Mewtwo as well?" Ash inquired, thinking back to the psychic clone he was friends with.

"Uh, no. I only know of him due to what you've told us and a couple mind peeks I did on you," Latios answered. "But we know Mew very well."

Latias nodded. "But instead of telling, why don't we show you?" Her eyes began to glow.

"Wait," Larvitar interrupted them, making the two dragons glance at him. "I have an important question."

"Oh, what is it?" Latios asked, his attention completely focused on Larvitar.

The rock-type smirked. "What Pokémon and color was Uncle Latios' stuffed Pokémon?"

Latios blushed in embarrassment. "That's a secret."

"It was a pink Ho-Oh," Latias announced, making an image of it in everyone's minds.

"Hey!" Latios snapped, blushing furiously as everyone burst into laughter. "Anyway!" he roared, making everyone fall quiet, though it was clear he was still the center of the joke. "The next scene is very important, because it's similar to what Larvitar faced today. Basically, we had the same crisis Larvitar is having now several decades ago, and Mew helped us through it. Enjoy it. And quit thinking of my plush!" His eyes glowed, and Latias had to follow afterwards, stifling giggles of amusement.

…

Their minds rapidly focused on the new scene that the dragon twins were projecting to them. Like the previous three scenes, this one began at the Secret Garden of Alto Mare, and once again, the two dragons looked older, but still not quite as big as the present versions of them.

Latias and Latios seemed to be relaxing under the shade of a tree, quietly leaning against each other. Latias looked down and frowned. "Brother?" she asked at last, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. However, her normally bright and cheerful tone came out very depressed and saddened.

Latios blinked and tilted his head, wondering what was wrong with her. It wasn't normal for her to just speak like that randomly. "Yes, Latias?" he replied.

"Earlier today I was going through the city park, and saw many families of humans. Mothers and fathers taking their children with them to have fun, enjoying a picnic, watching Pokémon, playing and doing other kinds of fun stuff…" Latias began, turning to look at him. She paused and sighed in depression. "Why can't we have a family like them?" She questioned. "We've seen lots of families over the years, both humans and Pokémon. And it's always our duty to protect and guard the city, but what did we do to not deserve a family like everyone else?"

Latios sighed, looking down unhappily. He too had always wondered that and he had always disliked it when this topic was brought up, both because it was very painful to talk about and because he didn't have any answer to it. "I don't know, Latias. We've talked about this before. It's been like this since as long as I can remember. I can't say why because I don't know."

"It's not fair!" Latias cried out, startling Latios at her outburst.

The blue Eon Dragon paused, gathering his thoughts. "No, it's not. But..." He frowned. "It's not like we can do much about it. We're powerless against this."

"But why can't we have a family, too?" Latias questioned miserably. "We never did anything wrong… Our father has been dead ever since we were born, and we don't have a clue about our mother… or anyone else."

"I don't know, Latias," Latios answered, having always disliked how utterly answerless this topic left him every single time. He shook his head. He did not want to say 'I don't know' again, but he was sure that he'd have to say it again soon, much to his aggravation. "Latias, you're asking me things I can't answer. I'm not all-knowing, and I'm in the same position as you."

Latias sniffed, closing her eyes and trying to hold back a tear. "Not… fair…" she said slowly, depressed. "I haven't done anything that made me deserve not having parents…"

Latios gently wrapped his arms around her, resting his large wing over her and pulling her in a close, comforting hug. "Sadly, we just… have to live with it." The large Eon Dragon held his crying sibling lovingly and comfortingly, but he too looked weary, his mood very down and negatively touched by the subject. "At least we have each other."

"I know we do, but still, you can't blame me for wanting more…" Latias replied softly, her voice low.

Before Latios could answer, both were startled by a rather loud popping sound followed by a bright pink flash as a small and adorable kitten-like Pokémon with a long tail that ended with a bulbous tip, large feet, and a round head with a short snout and two pointy ears teleported in. "Hey guys!" Mew greeted cheerfully, bursting with love and energy like she always did. "I had lots of nice ideas today! And I was thinking that we could also-" she paused when she saw that Latias was crying softly, and that Latios himself looked sad over something while trying to comfort Latias and immediately flew over to them. "Seems I teleported in on a cloudy day," she commented, even though it was brightly sunny. "Hey, what's going on? What happened? Why are you crying, Sunshine?"

Latios blinked, still surprised by the Mew's appearance. But then, she tended to always teleport in without any kind of warning and at the most random of times. "Hi Mew..." he greeted politely, a bit disheartened due to the topic Latias had brought up, but he did find the psychic legend's arrival very convenient, as she was bound to know answers he didn't, and most importantly, deal with Latias' depression in his place.

Mew looked at Latios, seeing that Latias wasn't giving any useful answers. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"It's not fair," Latias whispered, anguished. Latios winced at her tone.

Mew blinked once, not understanding what the problem was. She glanced at Latios just as he was opening his mouth to speak. "May I?" she asked. Latios closed his mouth and nodded slightly. Mew's eyes glowed, rapidly reading the last few minutes that had gone by on Latios' mind. She made sure to leave his privacy intact, just checking what she needed to see. Mew sighed when she caught on to the subject. "Oh, Sunshine," she said while frowning. Mew's eyes glowed yet again, this time enveloping her body in a soft pinkish glow. Using her ability to transform and her mastery of life and genetics, she altered her physical appearance and self. She remained exactly identical in looks, but her size had changed rapidly, growing from barely more than one foot tall to at least nine feet tall, tail not included, in mere seconds. Without a moment's pause, she levitated on her back as her very long tail, now thicker than even the twins' necks and effortlessly more than ten feet long, scooped Latias up and dropped her on her chest.

Latias squeaked lightly in surprised at the pink Legendary's sudden action, but definitely appreciated being enveloped in the soft warmness of her body. At their current sizes, Latias fit perfectly in Mew's chest. The Dragoness' tail ended at Mew's hip, while her head rested on Mew's chin. Mew gently kissed Latias' forehead, her head now much larger than Latias'. "You have family, Sunshine. We may not be family by blood, but you have family. You've always had it."

"But we have no mommy and no daddy," Latias said through her soft, quiet crying. Latios looked at them sadly, completely exhausted of things to answer Latias with. He certainly hoped the New Species Pokémon could resolve it.

"No, you don't. I know that and I'm very sorry for it," Mew answered, sparing the Soul Dew a soft, pained glance. "But family doesn't end with parents." The pink Pokémon gently nuzzled the red dragoness as her paws began to gently massage Latias' neck comfortingly. "You have family, though. I consider you like my family. All six legendary beasts see you like family. Ho-Oh sees you like family. We may not be family by blood, but we all love you so much. We all just want to do our best to take care of you and help you. So, in real truth and practice you do have family, us."

Latias looked at Mew, her eyes reddened slightly from the light tears, and a sob or two escaping her. "…" she tried to answer, but she couldn't find words to answer with.

"But then why do you guys always leave us alone in here?" Latios questioned, crossing his arms. "And you always strongly rejected our petitions to abandon the city for some time. It's very peaceful. I don't know why it needs guardians to begin with."

"Because we can't stay here as long as we wish, Latios. We see you as often as we can and we always try to be here whenever you need help," Mew answered. "We have tasks just like you two have your own duties as well. Guarding Alto Mare and the Soul Dew has been your task, and we have our own tasks to take care of too. We can't always be here all the time like we wish." She smiled. "But we still make sure that there are plentiful visits from all of us."

Latios frowned at her answer, but like he always did, he accepted it. He knew protecting Alto Mare and the Soul Dew was his lifelong burden. And if Ho-Oh and everyone else tasked him to do it, he'd follow through with it. He didn't want to let his father down.

"I want a mother... and a father... like everyone else does," Latias whispered sadly. Latios flew towards Latias and gently nuzzled her, he too was in a sensible mood, but he knew the one taking it the worst was Latias. He always hated seeing her sad or crying.

It took Mew a fraction of a second to increase her size yet again, surprising Latios by enveloping him too in a hug. "My cuties, not everyone is lucky to have a mother and a father. There are a lot of others out there who only have one parent, as well as many who have none at all like you. As much as I wish every child could be raised by two loving parents, the world doesn't work that way. But... just because your parents aren't here doesn't mean you're not loved, doesn't mean you're alone. You have a lot of others who love you, who would die if that's what it'd take to protect you, who want to do everything in their power to help you guys live happily," Mew said tenderly, giving the two a loving grin.

Latias stared at Mew, touched. "We… really do?" she said slowly. Latios stared at Mew silently.

Mew nodded. "Yes, of course you do. I love you. Ho-Oh loves you. Krysta, Suicune, Entei, Blayze, Levina, and Raikou all love you… We'd tear a continent in half if it was needed to protect you two."

Latias sighed. "Well, they're our friends... not our family…" the red Eon Dragoness objected, though her hollow words lacked strength or determination.

Mew smiled affectionately. "True friends, like us… Are like family. We may not be family by blood, but that doesn't mean we're not family. Family doesn't end with blood, Latias. In fact, there are many who consider emotional family a lot closer than blood family. There are instances in which your blood family is the one that brings you harm," Mew explained gently. "I would hope every family is perfect and full of love, but alas, that's not how things are."

Latias cuddled into Mew's chest and arms, appreciating the pink Pokémon's words. "Thanks, Mew… it's just... it's been so hard living here... no parents... I've sometimes found myself thinking of how it could have been, if our father hadn't died and our mother... whatever happened to her, had been with us." Latias let out a weary sigh.

Mew gave them a very weak smile. "Oh, Sunshine, you have no clue how many of us wish this could have been different. How we wish you could have grown up with your parents. But we can't change the past. We can't change what happened. Time should never be altered, for it can bring dangerous consequences. We can only cope with what fate brings us. We can only do our hardest to be here for you." She shook her head. "I'd do anything to give you something better than this. But there are limitations to what even I can do." Mew smiled at Latias, her eyes glowing as she showered Latias with pure love and affection, magnified by Latias' empathy. Latias cuddled into Mew's chest, enjoying the powerful love such a mighty goddess could provide her with. It almost filled that void of parental love she lacked.

Latios lowered his gaze. "What happened? Was it that evil trainer thing that happened many decades ago?" he asked while Latias cuddled into Mew's chest.

Mew nodded. "Yes. It was. However, there's more to that tale than Alto Mare history can tell you. I'm sorry but I can't exactly tell it to you right now. However, I promise that one day you will know everything that happened and the whole truth will be revealed." She smiled tenderly. "All you need to know… is that your father is a hero, and fought with every single bit of strength his body and soul had to save you two. He loves you two dearly."

Latios nodded once. "I never doubted my father," he said softly.

"Mew..." Latias whispered, interrupting Latios and Mew. "Will you and everyone else keep being our family?"

Mew smiled at Latias, kissing her forehead again. "Nothing would ever make us stop, Sunshine."

"Why does she get a cute nickname and I don't?" Latios asked abruptly.

Mew giggled. "I want perfect nicknames. I haven't found the perfect one for you yet, you're difficult. But I will soon," she answered. Latios wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "I know Latias is as bright and lovely as sunlight, that's why she's my Sunshine." Mew grinned. "Feeling better, both of you?"

Latios and Latias nodded a few times. "Thanks, Mew," Latias replied, reflecting Mew's grin with a lovely smile of her own.

Mew suddenly began to glow pink and reverted back to her original diminutive size in an instant, making both Eon Dragons have to rapidly activate their levitation so they didn't fall to the grass. "I guess I'll have to save my games for tomorrow," Mew said, pouting cutely.

With everything solved, the scene faded into obscurity…

…

"That memory is rather special, both because of who was in it and what it meant. As Latios said before we brought it up, we went through something similar to what Larvitar is going through right now… a period of self-doubt and all that. And Mew rapidly pushed that away with her love," Latias explained. "That's why it was the last and final one."

"That's lovely," Larvitar said slowly. He glanced at Latias and Latios, eyes filled with affection and tears. "This was my favorite scene. It… it's true… you're all my family, even if not by blood…" Larvitar looked down. "Thanks…"

Latios smiled, and picked Larvitar up in his arms with small assistance of his mental powers, hugging him. "We'll do our best to raise and care for you in every way we can," he promised. "And, we're still going to get your mother back one day. I still have that intention."

"Thank you…" Larvitar replied slowly, pressing to Latios' chest. Latios gently set Larvitar down in Ash's lap after the embrace, but was careful to psychically support most of the infant's big weight.

"Wait, so, is she really the same Mew I met at Mewtwo's island place?" Ash asked, wanting to be certain.

"Ash, she's the only Mew in existence. She's completely unique, so yes, she was that Mew," Latios answered.

Brock hummed. "Her voice is very pretty, like a cute melody. It sounded adorable in pure Pokéspeech, but actually translated into words that I can understand, it sounded amazing," he commented dreamily.

"That was adorable, she helped you two through a small existential crisis," Bianca remarked. "She's cute, too."

"She seemed extremely close to you two, as you trusted her with something so intimate," Pikachu commented. "I'm surprised she was so serious. She seemed all fun and games last time we saw her."

"Oh, don't mistake it. She was serious that instance, but she really is all fun and games. I love her for that, she always has fun stuff to do, I think she's more hyperactive than even Latias at her wildest kid times," Latios commentedtelepathically.

"Well, yeah, we always had a very special bond with her," Latias spoke out, smiling softly. "She's extremely important to us in many ways."

"So you said she visited as much as Ho-Oh did?" Brock asked curiously. "I forgot. I assume that after Ho-Oh, she'd be the one with the most visits."

Latios let out a small laugh. "You're wrong on the order. The Legendary Pokémon that visited us the most through our development at Alto Mare wasn't Ho-Oh, it was Mew." He paused. "Not because Ho-Oh didn't care though!" he added quickly in Ho-Oh's defense. "It's just that Mew has it much easier. After all, she could just teleport to the garden from anywhere while Ho-Oh had to do the more tedious task of actually flying there and sneaking into the garden without being seen by the city. Mew could just be there instantly and directly, no matter where she was previously. So, in terms of raw number of visits, Mew has a big lead over everyone. Plus, she's always given a lot of attention to us."

Latias grinned at the last part of Latios' explanation. "And she's very fun. Pretty much every game we ever knew and played was taught to us by her."

"Wow..." Larvitar murmured quietly in surprise. "That sounds really big..."

"Yeah," Latias answered, nodding in agreement.

"Both Ho-Oh and Mew are the most important Legendaries in terms of family importance for us," Latios announced, glancing at Larvitar. "They both had a big responsibility on them to help Latias and me through our times as orphans," the Eon Dragon explained. "Ho-Oh did it in a more dedicated and serious manner, of course."

Latias nodded in agreement, continuing from where Latios had ended. "Ho-Oh focused a lot on more 'formal' things," Latias began. "Like teaching us-"

"Me, you mean. You didn't pay attention at all," Latios interrupted, smirking teasingly at Latias.

Latias glared at him. "Fine, teaching Latios about all kinds of stuff. She did occasionally play with us or do recreational things, but that's where Mew took the prize. While she rarely sat down to talk to us and teach us about stuff, she was generally more interested in having fun with us and entertaining us."

Larvitar nodded. "They're that important, huh?"

Latios smiled. "Easily. We owe them a lot in terms of our survival from when we were children. As I said earlier, as Latias and I grew up, their visits became less often, but during our first fifty years. Ho-Oh, Mew, and all six beasts together made sure we were okay. They visited us very often. There wasn't a single week in which there wasn't a visit from them. And some of those visits could last days, especially Ho-Oh's."

"Mew is very interesting," Larvitar commented. "They way she talked to you... the way she immediately started trying to solve your problems... do you two think... she might be your actual mother? She seemed to speak like one."

Latios frowned. "To be honest, I don't know. I'd think that if she was our mother, she'd tell us about it. Unless she had a good reason or something like that, but I don't know... it seems too Farfetch'd. Mew's very hard to figure out sometimes," the blue dragon responded.

"Mew did some odd stuff there... I didn't know that she could make herself bigger," Ash spoke up, adding yet another question to the twins.

"She looked... weird... so big," Pikachu remarked. "Quite funny actually."

Latias giggled in amusement. "And that's not even scratching the surface of all the stuff she can do," the dragoness said.

Latios nodded in agreement. "Mew's got all sorts of crazy powers. Seriously, it's like her powers are infinite. She can surprise us with new powers every day, literally."

"Oh? Like what?" Brock asked, interested. "When she fought Mewtwo at New Island... all she did was... giggle, play around, and use psychic powers in varying ways... that doesn't seem like a very impressive arsenal."

"... I could talk all day and I wouldn't finish telling you all I've seen her do," Latios said flatly. "It comes with being such an important deity I guess."

"An important deity?" Bianca asked, curious. "What does that entail?"

Latios took a deep breath, thinking about the pink Legendary. "I once asked Mew what she was exactly, after one of the many times we saw her incredible powers. She said she was something like 'the mother of all life' and that all life came from her. I don't know the specifics of what that means... but she's said that she has in her body the DNA of every single Pokémon there is, has ever been, and ever will be. She can actually transform herself into anything. She can also edit the genetics and body composition of anything, transform any living being into something completely different... and also alter herself to anything she desires. She's like a master of life. As you saw, she made herself bigger, and she can do much more than that to herself or to others. Mew is really something else." Latios smiled. "And there are many things she hasn't told me. Hopefully one day she can explain to me in bigger detail just what she is and what she can do. Or if we run into her, you guys might actually see it with your own eyes."

"Whoa..." Everyone said, slowly processing that.

"She didn't do anything like that at New Island..." Brock remarked. "I wonder why?"

"Beats me, she has a weird mindset, she's very hard to figure out," Latios answered.

"Does she have telepathy?" Brock asked.

"Yeah, that's basic for any psychic," Latios answered. "Even if it took us a while to learn it."

"Huh, then why didn't she use it with us back then?" Ash asked. "It'd have been cool to talk to her!"

"She probably did it to be more mysterious and cuter for you guys," Latios answered flatly. "She does that a lot."

"Anyway," Latias began, glancing down at Larvitar, and then shifted her gaze towards everyone else. "That's all we had to share, guys. It's late, we should go to bed. I hope it was to your liking, and that you enjoyed learning more from us."

"I definitely had fun. It was awesome. I kinda want to see Mew, Ho-Oh and Suicune again, and meet those shiny guys too," Ash commented, smiling joyously.

"I'd just like to meet any of them," Bianca said, humming at the thought of meeting more legendaries than just the two she was friends with.

Brock chuckled. "With our luck, that won't take long."

"Typically, yeah," Pikachu said. "And hopefully that will be in a setting that's not them trying to kill us," he added grimly, shuddering. Brock nodded in agreement once Latias had quick-translated that into the breeder's mind.

Brock and Bianca stood up, heading towards their respective beds. Ash did the same, with Larvitar held in his arms, and walked towards his own bed. "Tonight, you'll sleep with us," Ash announced to his surrogate son as Pikachu and Phanpy hopped onto their trainer's bed. "Gonna be a little crowded, but we'll make it."

Larvitar smiled and nodded happily. He twisted slightly in Ash's arms, glancing at Latios and Latias as they settled themselves on their own bed. "Uncle Latios, Aunt Latias, thanks a lot…" he said, voice filled with appreciation.

"No problem, kiddo," Latios answered. "I'm pleased with myself that knowing more of our time as orphans and the difficulties and challenges we faced helped you realize you have a great family. But still, my promise stands." Determination filled the blue dragon's eyes. "I will get your mother back."

Larvitar nodded. "Can I ask one last favor?" he requested.

"Sure, anything within my power," Latios replied, wondering what else the Larvitar desired.

"Can you play Ho-Oh's song again? I'd like to fall asleep to that, pretty please?" Larvitar pleaded, grinning slightly.

Latios stared at him for a couple seconds before nodding. "Sure, that's an odd request, but I'll do it. Good night."

As the lights turned off and everyone settled down for a good night's rest, Latios began to play in everyone's minds the lullabies and songs that Ho-Oh often sang to him and Latias, and with the lovely melodies filling everyone's minds, no one took long to fall asleep.

---

Author Notes: And here it is, finished. I hope you all enjoyed the friendships the twins have had. And yes, the shiny beasts that I've named Levina, Blayze and Krysta are the ones that appear in Movie 13 (Zoroark movie). I hope you enjoyed how I integrated them to the story of Ho-Oh in Johto.

Sheeze, too much crying and comforting in this chapter, I feel bad for writing Latias and Latios crying so much and being sad. :/ Their lives certainly have a lot of depressing hardships.

Anyway, all the Legends mentioned in the chapter will make recurring appearances, so it's not the last time we'll see them, not by a long shot! So, which story was your favorite? Like I said, it was an emotional chapter.

Next chapter will be very action-y, though. We'll get a whooping three Pokémon captures! Until next time!