LG, back from the dead. Okay, I wasn't really dead (duh), I just had a lot of University work, and some... distractions per se. I've mainly chosen to update this one since someone DARED to accuse me of abandoning it (Gives a very pointed glare laced with plenty of evil and a side order of malice).

Lateral Ganon

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

'Italics bounded in quote marks are Loki's telepathy.'

Regular Italics are telepathy in Lani and Moxis

Don't expect too many saints in the story this time.

Chapter 2: Runs in the Family

Back in the Secret Garden, Loki was swimming about lazily in a large fountain, whilst Lani was hidden up in a tree, watching various bird and bug Pokemon flitter by through the canopy.

It's not fair… she thought absently, spotting a pair of Pidgey preening each other in a distant tree.

'You're still depressed?' Loki's familiar voice chimed back up. Lani scowled, not particular fond of her brother recently since he was technically the cause of her unhappiness.

Butt out.

'Oh come on… you can't hide it… You're still upset that I'm spending more time with Bianca than with you.'

Lani, glanced upwards, gazing at the clear skies above that seemed to be the polar opposite of the anger within her. Whilst she had been disappointed by his attraction to Bianca, it wasn't for the reasons that would have been expected. What his relationship had revealed to her was her own loneliness. She couldn't honestly say she had any experience of that kind of love before, but she had seen several human romance movies with Bianca, although then the thought of finding someone of her own had never even crossed her mind until recently. Hormones, Bianca had called it when she confided in her, and they would soon pass. However, that was months ago, and the longing had only intensified since then.

But then again, she smiled to herself as she remembered maybe an hour or so before, that cute dark-haired stranger she met during the race. Sure, he may not have been classically handsome like those in Bianca's movies, but still… that brief moment of eye contact had been more revealing than he could have anticipated. She could already tell that he was caring and compassionate to his Pokemon just from the Pikachu perched on his shoulder, but that wasn't what had surprised her. In his eyes, she had seen a loneliness and longing for someone. She purred to herself as she imagined that maybe, she was the one he was looking for, even if he had absolutely no clue he was searching.

Now… she thought, being very careful to keep it shielded from her brother, How to get a chance to go look for him.

Alex took a sip from a glass of soda he'd ordered from the riverside café they'd decided to meet at, and pulled up his case onto the glass-topped table. Brock peeked over the steel-lined rim as he opened it, intrigued by the collection of technology. A pair of screens were built into the lid, whilst various objects were foam packed in the lower half. Most of them looked fairly standard, but there was one object that piqued his interest as Alex pulled out some cables.

"What is that?" Brock asked, pointing to something that looked like a black Pokeball with a bulge on the end. Alex looked where he was pointing, and smirked at him.

"Very keen aren't you." He said, gently easing the ball from the foam along with a helical rotor from underneath. A wide lens on the front of the camera twitched into focus, and the whole array looked like a strange kind of beetle as it rested on four spindly legs.

"This is a CamBug. The guys at work gave me this one as a reward for doing a really good job."

"I've never seen a camera like that before." Brock said, looking sceptically at the robot "I don't remember hearing who you worked for."

Alex sighed in exasperation, and made a big fuss over hooking the camcorder he'd recorded the race with into the screens. As the data streamed across, he pulled out a pokeball from his belt, and released a Blaziken. The Pokemon stretched itself, but remained silent. Alex turned around in his chair.

"Sarah, can you make sure that no-one disturbs us?" He asked. The Blaziken smiled, and turned around watching the crowds. She saw a girl in a red wetsuit approaching, and tapped Alex's shoulder. He spun around again, and beamed at the approaching girl the Pokemon was pointing out.

"Hiya Laura." He said, "I've got something I want to show you both… err… where's Ganon?" He asked. A boy behind Laura in grunted in affirmation, rubbing his head vigorously with a very large towel. Alex cringed.

"I thought only siblings could be embarrassing." He said. Ganon pulled the towel off his head, which now looked like he was wearing a silver hedgehog.

"You're not too distant a relative to be exempt." He replied.

Laura sniggered, and pulled up a seat next to Alex. Ganon joined her, and looked over at Brock.

"Hi. Would I be right in assuming you've befriended my cousin?" He asked, earning a scathing look from Alex.

"Excuse me; you make it sound like I'm a wild animal." Alex groaned. Ganon punched his arm playfully.

"You know I'm kidding."

Laura looked over at Brock, inclining her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry, they're like this all the time."

"Oh I'm not too surprised by it. Ash used to start out like that when we'd just started our adventure. Then Misty would try dragging him down to earth and the fights would start." Brock said, scratching the back of his head where, in fact, Misty's hammer had left its mark only a few hours ago when he'd tried flirting literally the second they got off the boat. He glanced over Laura's shoulder, smiling as he spotted Ash wandering lost around the crowd, trying to find the café. Raising his arm, he waved broadly, catching the attention of half the crowd.

"Hey Ash!" Brock shouted over, immediately causing Ganon to dive under the table, and Alex to duck behind his screens, "We're over here."

Ash immediately headed over towards them, pausing a slight distance away as he spotted Ganon cowering under the table.

"Hey Brock, what's he-" Ash was silenced as Laura pressed a finger to her lips, and beckoned him back to the table. As Ash sat down, she pointed subtly at a large gaggle of girls that were looking in their direction. Alex and Brock both tensed up, recognising the TackleGlomp Brigade, only relaxing as they began walking away, although the message was lost on Ash.

"What have they got to do with him hiding under the table?" He asked. Laura rolled her eyes, and tapped Ganon with her foot to tell him he could come back up.

"They're the nutters in his fan-club. All those girls want to replace me as his girlfriend."

"But none of them would even have a chance." The newly emerged Ganon added. Laura blushed, shuffling shyly.

"Oh I don't know…" She said coyly, "What about your precious Wolfie?"

Ganon frowned, glancing around all the rooftops quickly for some reason, before lowering his face to hers.

"Laura… she can get by fine without me, as can I get by without her. But I could not live without you, and that's what makes the difference."

"And I wouldn't want to be anywhere without you either." Laura purred back happily, nuzzling her lover affectionately. Alex mimicked retching.

"Now's the time to look away. They do a lot of this soppy romantic stuff." He said, a bored tone creeping into his voice as he rewound his footage again. Sarah glanced over her shoulder, whining sadly at her trainer. Alex heard the whine, and smiled softly at her.

"Don't worry, I'm not that heartless." He whispered softly to her, "Just for them."

This seemed to lift the Blaziken's spirits, and she growled happily. She turned back around, resuming her role of shooing away unwanted visitors. She glared menacingly at a girl with orange hair staring at her, eyes narrowing as she approached the table she was guarding. Misty frowned at the Pokemon blocking her way, trying to sidestep around it, only to have the Pokemon mirror the attempt to get past. In frustration, she tried to shove past the Blaziken, but if she would learn nothing else that day, it was that you should never annoy a fighting type. Particularly a fighting type considerably bigger than yourself.

Within seconds, Misty found her neck clutched in the talons of the giant bird, her feet dangling nearly a foot above the ground. She tried to scream, but the claw wrapped around her throat was too tight for her to make little more that a gurgle, although this was enough for Brock to hear the commotion.

"Rude girl, you really should say please. Sarah, resentfully that Miltank needs to breath. You can put her down." Alex said, sipping from his coffee nonchalantly. The Blaziken gave Misty a final look over, and slowly put her down, glaring at her constantly in a manner that definitely said 'You push me, I rip you open'. Sitting down quickly, as far from the Blaziken as allowed, she narrowed her eyes at Alex.
"Your bird is mental." She muttered darkly. Sarah's cuffs flared warningly, whilst Alex simply had another sip from his coffee.

"She's simply doing her job." He answered matter-of-factly, giving her a pointed glare, "Had you been polite rather than a stuck up little bitch, you wouldn't have been injured."

Ash and Brock gawped at Alex. No-one ever argued with Misty, and certainly never called her a stuck up bitch to her face. The heat from Misty's face could be felt from the adjacent tables as her rage was quickly building, her hand straying towards the handle of her mallet.

"No-one insults me you worm." She hissed at him. Alex snorted into his coffee, smirking in disbelief.

"Misty. The youngest of the Cerulean Water Sisters, and a leader of a gym which offers no challenge. And you're above anyone… How?"

"Shut your face!" She yelled at him, keeping an eye on the Blaziken, which had taken to giving her a new look saying 'go on, hit him. I dare you. See how long you live.'

"Hey guys, calm down." Ash interjected, holding his hands between them, "We're here on a break right?"

Alex closed his eyes and nodded appreciatively, looking back down at his screens, "I'm fine with that if Miss Ego is finished." But he couldn't resist one final jab at her, "It is Miss right?"

Misty would have answered, but another fierce growl from Sarah silenced her. Instead, she simply nodded. Immediately, she felt her back being soaked through as something threw water at her, splashes over her shoulders landing in her cola. Behind her, the Lucario was on all fours, choosing now to shake the rest of the water out of his fur. Once it stopped, it gave her a slight bow.

Sorry about that, I didn't expect you to be in range. He said apologetically, walking over to steal a seat besides Ganon. The Marill bounced up onto Laura's lap, who immediately began grooming it softly. Misty smiled over at Laura, watching her grooming the mouse.

"So you like water Pokemon too?" She asked

"Well I don't specialise in them, but since we arrived in Altomare it's been useful to have types that can carry you over the canals."

Whilst those two were locked in conversation, Ganon motioned to Moxis to swap places so he could be next to Alex. Giving Alex a quick nudge, he leant closer to the screens.

"You said you saw something." He whispered

Alex nodded, and dimmed the screens marginally, flicking through the video.

"As you expected, nothing visible. But you'll like the thermals." He muttered back. The second screen switched to hues of reds and blues, accentuating the riders and the Pokemon in the final stretch. Setting the scene to loop a 10 second section, Alex folded his arms triumphantly. Above Ash's Totodile, the Latias was clearly pulling it along, and then the Latios flew in to drag it off the course. Ganon's face slowly crept into a grin, and he nodded.

"You found them." He whispered again, fingering two pokeballs on his belt, one red, and one blue. Both empty, but not for long.

"Why is she pulling him along the correct path though?" He asked himself "They pull cheaters off the course and disqualify them… She's cheating, and he needs to come in to drag them off."

"Well she is female." Alex whispered back.

"What are you trying to suggest?"

"Girls have needs… More so amongst Pokemon."

"She's a legendary. She could have any choice she wanted."

"And if she's chosen a human?" Alex muttered quietly, subconsciously taking one of Sarah's hands in his. She purred quietly, but kept her guard as requested. Ganon stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Lani couldn't believe her luck when she found that Loki's attention had been… diverted… by Bianca coming into the garden, and making the most of it, she'd immediately sneaked out alone through the underwater passageway into the city's canal system. She surfaced in one of the back-alleys, invisible, taking care not to cause too many ripples, although the chances of anyone seeing her were low; she always used this spot to enter the city as a human. Alighting gently on the deserted bridge, she took another look to make sure no-one was looking, before transforming into a mimic of Bianca. Whilst technically she could choose any form, Bianca's was the one she was most familiar with, having grown up alongside her. After a little adjustment of the clothes she'd generated, she crossed the bridge into a more populated street, blending in with the crowds immediately.

It always felt like a game she was playing when she was masquerading as a human amongst them, as though she was playing a vast game of hide and seek. On some of the more boring days in the past, she even wished that someone would actually discover her just for a new opportunity for a game. But that wouldn't do today; she was a girl on a mission.

Unluckily for her, she wasn't the only one. Sitting atop a sign for an ice cream parlour, a CamBug was perched, its lens focussed in her direction. This one wasn't Alex's. Instead, it was broadcasting to a boat docked several miles away at the other side of the city, feeding the screens for two thieves from Team Rocket by the names of Annie and Oakley. Oakley, the more intelligent of the two gave a callous grin as she looked at the screen, watching the solitary blue figure amongst the hoard of yellows.

"Bingo. Well that's one of them. Let's go pay out new friend a visit shall we?"

Annie, who'd taken more interest in her make-up than the work at hand, snapped her compact shut, similarly smirking at the readout. Within seconds, the outboard was propelling them down the canals towards the south of the city. Towards Lani.

In the middle of the main canal, two Gondolas were being propelled side by side, one carrying Ash, Misty and Brock, and the other carrying Ganon, Laura, Alex, Moxis, Sarah, and Alex's box of gizmos. Understandably, that boat was about 6 inches lower in the water, much to the disdain of the hired gondolier. In Ash's boat, Ross was giving the hoard a guided tour of Altomare. It had to be said, the architecture of the city was amazing, considering it was originally built by refugees from the mainland as essentially a stronghold from the law. They soon paddled close to the museum, when Ross pointed out the symbols on Misty's new Medallion awarded to her by the competition judges. She held it up to the light to watch the light refracting through the glass.

"It's really nice! They sort of look like Pokemon." Misty said delighted. But suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, there they are again, on top of those pillars."

Rather than look at the pillars, Ganon's attention was distracted by a quite urgent elbowing from Alex. The former hissed at the interruption, but listened nonetheless as his cousin tapped at a small screen attached to his wrist.

"Something's interfering with the signals." Alex whispered quietly.

Slowing to a stop, Oakley swore violently at the computer screen, earning reprimanding looks from some nearby tourists. After sparing them a second to give them a two finger salute, she began typing various commands into the computer. After several failures, she resorted to the age old tradition of slapping it. Annie, having taken the opportunity to take her makeup back out again, gave it barely a glance, but Oakley still took the trouble to inform her.

"Something's interfering with the signals."

Gaining no discernable reply from Annie, she frowned.

"We've lost the Eon."

Annie's lipstick slipped in her fingers, streaking a line across her cheek. She gave Oakley a livid look.

"Hey, you're the brains between us, just fix it." She said, trying to remove the smudge from her cheek with her fingernails. Oakley tossed her a bottle of makeup remover from the cup holder, and she caught it deftly.

Lani was beginning to slightly regret her choice of timing. With the festival having been so recent, all the tourist spots were full to bursting with couples. If she had a penny for every couple she'd caught kissing, she'd be a very rich Pokemon now. Whilst each kiss made her heart ache from jealousy, they also strengthened her resolve to find him. It never occurred to her that he could very easily reject her.

A little too speaky for my tastes, but when people are just sat at a table, there's not much else to add.