Hi, this is the sequel to my one-shot Your Secret Admirer, but this one will hopefully be a lot longer and more in depth. This will be my first big contribution to Pokemon, and I hope it will be received well. Also, my knowledge about future events in the anime is very minimal, so I apologize in advance for any continuity errors. I guess you could call it an AU if you wanted, or just think of it as your average fanfiction.

Disclaimer: Nintendo and the Pokemon company own all regular characters. Any new Pokemon or techniques are copyright of myself.

Oh, and m46ik,b6, Shedinja is NOT the Ghost King, he's just a servant. The King's true identity is a secret to all, even his own minions. And Mermaid Ninja, how can the Soul Dew restore everything if Shedinja broke it?

…

The dream started as it always did.

Latias was a vision in white, wearing a beautiful bridal gown custom-made for her Pokemon form as she floated up the makeshift aisle formed in the Alto Mare city museum. The dress was a lovely piece, done with sequins, lace, and pearls, with colorful streamers hanging off of her wings and shimmering ribbons wrapped around her arms and neck. Many women wept in jealousy at the beautiful dress. The dressmakers had nearly gone blind from the sheer amount of work needed to make the dress, but not a one of them regretted it, finding it to be the most beautiful piece of art they had ever made.

The seats arranged on both sides of the aisle were crammed full of human and Pokemon citizens of the city in the back, and closer to the front were filled with close friends and family of the bride and groom. Her brother Latios was present, along with an older dragon that could only be her mother Latias sr., whom nobody knew a thing about. Even the great legendary Pokemon were there, sitting in the front row! Latias could not help blushing and feeling a hint of pride at this. Of course they had come, she was a legendary just like them, wasn't she? They owed her the pleasure of coming to her wedding. Even so, she did feel a tiny bit humbled that all of them, from the bickering elemental birds to the elusive and mysterious Mew and Celebi, had decided to come. She would still have been satisfied if only Ho-oh and Lugia or the three mystic dogs had come, but every legendary in Kanto and Johto had seen fit to come. This truly was an event of momentous proportions that would have consequences that would change the world as everyone knew it.

Latios sr. led her up the aisle, over the fossilized Aerodactyl and Kabutops that were covered by the red carpet, and into the chamber containing the DMA, which had been painted white and decorated with rosettes and streamers to keep it from looking so foreboding at this special occasion. At the makeshift altar at the foot of the special weapon were Lorenzo, who would serve as the priest, Bianca, who would be Latias' Best Girl, a squinty-eyed man who served as the Best Man, and of course Ash. Her darling Ash. He looked stunning in his tuxedo (albeit a bit uncomfortable) and Latias could not help but laugh when she saw he was still wearing his lucky hat for this special occasion, and Pikachu was resting on his shoulder as usual. Latias reached the altar, Lorenzo read the rites and she and Ash kissed, sealing their relation as husband and wife.

At least, that was how it was supposed to go.

This time, the wedding was different. It was still in the museum, she was still wearing her dress, and the majority guests were still the same citizens of Alto Mare, but a few things seemed a little off about this ceremony.

First of all, there were several Ghost Pokemon laughing gaily and floating about. Latias didn't mind, all were welcome to this occasion, and the ghosts were clearly causing no harm, just enjoying themselves.

Second, Latios sr. was not leading her up the aisle. In his place was a very tall being she had never seen before, mostly white in color. He looked fearsome and dangerous, but she couldn't help but feel comfortable at his side, and did not mind his presence much.

The third thing was that Ash was sitting in the aisle close to the front, next to Pikachu, the squinty-eyed one, a whole bunch of other Pokemon, and a girl with red hair. Ash stood up and waved to her, but the girl grabbed him by the ear and pulled him back down. Latias blinked in confusion. If Ash was marrying her, why was he sitting with the guests?

The figure at her side tugged her arm, and they kept going. Her confusion deepened when she saw that her mother and brother were nowhere to be seen, and a few new faces were sitting among the legendaries. Who were these strangers? They looked vaguely familiar, but Latias was certain she had not seen them in any of the fairy tales Lorenzo's father had read to her when she was just a little dragon, barely hatched from the egg.

She looked towards the altar, wondering who her groom was, and her vision was filled by a pair of huge glowing eyes.

…

Latias gasped and woke up, sweating and panting for breath. She looked around in confusion, seeing that she was not in her nest in the garden but instead lying on a cliff overlooking the sea, before she remembered the events of the last few days. Her memories sobered her, and she lay her head on the ground, tears seeping from her eyes as images of the burning city and the corpse of Bianca ran through her mind.

Almost a week ago, after several hours of recovering from shock and crying her eyes out, she had realized she needed to do something. She did not want the ghosts to return for her and drag her to the court of their phantasmal lord, and since she knew none of her special attacks save the ability to tackle (which is no good against Ghosts anyway) she would be ill-prepared to fight them. The first thing that came to mind was to find Ash, certain that he could protect her. She knew that he was currently in the Hoenn region thanks to numerous looks on the Pokemon League trainer database online, so she knew that he had recently won a badge in Fortree City and was heading to the Petalburg Gym to get another one. He had been supposed to get the one at Petalburg first, but he got hopelessly lost and wound up in Fortree instead. She was all ready to fly into his arms in Hoenn, before she was struck with a dismal thought. The Ghost King said he was watching her, and if she went to Ash he would know for sure he was the one she loved and would kill him immediately. In the back of her mind she wondered why the King did not already know Ash's identity if he truly had been watching her for as long as his letter seemed to indicate, but decided not to fret too much over small miracles and just do what she could to prevent the King from knowing her lover's name.

So, she puzzled over what to do next. She could not stay near the waterlogged ruins of Alto Mare, and she could not go to Hoenn. Where could she go, then?

She figured she needed someplace that was safe, but also somewhere that she could find information about the Ghost King. That way she could understand and avoid him for the rest of her life, or maybe even get help to destroy him, since she was sure she could not do it herself. And then she thought of Professor Oak. He was one of the world's foremost experts on Pokemon, had his own TV show and appeared on numerous talk shows both radio and televised, had numerous fanbases online, not to mention his own line of action figures, T-shirts, and autographed Pokeballs. Surely if anyone knew anything about the ruler of the ghost Pokemon, he would! And it would probably be safe there too, because according to information given on an interview for the popular talk show Hardball, he possessed one of the world's finest security systems, designed to protect his laboratory environs and all the rare Pokemon within. It was a bit of a stretch to assume that the security system was ghost-proof as well, but Latias didn't think it was too big a gamble. After all, the Professor himself had boasted that he had purchased the system from the high-tech land of Silica, and no other technology in Kanto or Johto could match that produced by that desolate region. Therefore it was to Professor Oak's in Pallet Town she was heading. The irony that this small hamlet also happened to be Ash's hometown did not escape her.

She looked out to the horizon and saw the sun was just starting to rise. Looked like she had woken up just in time, then. She had had the same dream, which was a mutation of her usual fanciful Ash dreams, for the last few nights, whenever she managed to catch a little sleep during her long flight to Pallet. The dream puzzled her, because it seemed just odd enough to smack of a premonition. Who had been the figure taking Latios Sr.'s place as Father of the Bride? Who had those new legendaries been? And did those great eyes belong to the Ghost King? Of the last one, Latias was almost certain. Did this dream mean that she would end up marrying the Ghost King after all? She tried to recall how she felt in the dream as the memory of it started to fade away in the growing light of day. She had not been scared at all, she had felt…happy. Did that signify she might indeed fall in love with the monster that had destroyed her home? She shook her head, denying it with every fiber of her being. She would never marry the King of the Ghosts. Never.

She grabbed some berries from a nearby bush and stuffed them into her mouth. The juicy spheres did little to dissuade the growing hunger in her stomach, but the sweet taste made her feel a little better. Maybe she could get something more filling to eat in Pallet Town. She looked around, checking for ghosts. She lacked the special vision to see invisible Pokemon that was possessed by Hoothoot and Noctowl, or by the Scopes invented by the Silph and Devon Corporations, but she felt she had to look anyway, just to be safe. As always, she saw nothing, but she was sure they were out there somewhere.

Finishing her meager breakfast, she rose into the air and continued flying eastward. She had traveled swiftly across the seaside length of Johto, and from the maps Lorenzo's father had made her memorize when she was younger she knew she was only a few hours' flight from Pallet Town.

And when she got there…

Well, she'd see what she could do. And she hoped with all her soul that the professor could protect her from the clutches of the Ghost King.

So she continued flying towards an uncertain future, haunted by the ghosts shadowing her and the horror of the past.

…

That's it for this chapter. This chapter and the next couple may be a little slow, but I'm trying to warm up and establish a few things. Afterwards, I can assure you things will get very stressful for our little dragon. Please review.