Finally! After 5 years of lurking I have decided to upload my very own story! And what better way to open up my very first story with possibly the cutest ship ever? Altoshipping! In case you didn't know, altoshipping is putting Ash and Latias in a romantic relationship. If you're offended with that kind of material, please turn away now. If not, enjoy ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon! If I did, Latias would've gone with Ash on his journey and won the silver conference for him.

''Latias!'' Speech

'Latias!' Thoughts

'Latias!' Telepathy

The sun was shining brightly on the beautiful city of Alto Mare. Canals shimmered, reflecting the sunlight on the various gondolas and boats that were passing by. Tourists and locals alike were enjoying the view, chatting amiably while others relaxed, cooling off in the shades. A slight breeze completed the picture, giving the city an aura of peace.

Among them was a young teen, happily strolling through the various roads. She had brown hair, wore a white skirt and a green blouse. The content smile on her face indicated that the heat was not bothering her at all. In fact, it looked like she enjoyed it. she picked up her pace, all the while getting closer and closer to her destination.

Finally, she reached the square and looked up at the massive museum she was heading towards. The girl couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement as she picked up the pace again. That was until she accidentally bumped into someone who was not too pleased with her actions.

''Oi, can't you look where you're going, missy?'' the man in question snapped at her angrily, his accent clear in his voice. The man's ice cream that he was enjoying had fallen to the ground below, only the cone silently remained in his hand. She gave him an apologetic smile and resumed her run to the musuem.

''I'm not done with you yet, kiddo!'' he screamed after her. The girl however, didn't seem to hear him anymore.

''Kids these days, can't even say a simple sorry before rushing off again. No respect at all,'' the man muttered.

Looking at his quickly melting ice cream on the ground, and the retracting form of the girl in the distance, he gave a low growl. He was supposed to stay on the square, and with good reasons.

Firstly, from what he'd heard, last time she was spotted was exactly where he was right now; on this very square. This was his best shot in maybe finding her. Secondly, catching her would be even more trouble, so he needed to be focused, but this girl that bumped into him just now desperately needed to be taught some manners in his opinion as well.

So, with his mind made up, he released a single pokeball in the air, and his only pokemon—a Froslass to be exact—appeared before him. The Froslass gave a happy cry and twirled in the air, relieved to be out of her pokeball again.

''Keep an eye out around the place; I have something else to take care of,'' he told her matter of factly.

The Froslass gave a happy nod, before disappearing into thin air. She knew what her master meant with keeping an eye out around the place, and she was not about to disappoint him. Meanwhile, the man silently followed the girl towards the museum.

To claim that the museum of Alto Mare was big, was an understatement. It was huge! Pillars rose at every corner to give the building structure, stained glass windows decorated with the finest art Alto Mare had to offer could be seen high in the walls, filtering light inside the building, and to top it all off, every room showed a different piece of the past about the city.

It was like taking a trip down the history of Alto Mare; from the old tales of the Latis bringing water to the city, until recent events of Annie and Oakley activating the DMA and wreaking havoc.

This is where we find a lone paintress staring out of one of the many windows. The girl sighed, trying her hardest to get inspiration for her next piece of art. The creative inspiration however, wouldn't come no matter how hard she tried.

Looking out over the square in boredom, she perked one of her eyebrows when she saw a girl who looked exactly like her bump into a man, before hastily resuming her run.

'Latias?' she thought questionably. The girl—who was actually a Latias in disguise and the only guardian left of Alto Mare—looked almost erratic with the way how she was approaching the museum.

''what's gotten into you?'' the young paintress spoke silently to herself, wondering what was going on.

Her concern for the young dragoness turned into mild confusion when Latias had entered the museum, and was coming her way fast with a huge smile on her face.

'Bianca!' she practically screamed in her mind. The young girl—known as Bianca—gave her an even more confused look.

''Latias? What's goi—whhaa.'' Bianca couldn't end her sentence as Latias leapt at her and brought them both tumbling down.

''What is wrong with you, Latias?'' Bianca asked her best friend bewildered, who was still grinning from ear to ear.

'I'm sorry, Bianca, but something amazing happened, I just had to get here as quickly as possible and tell you all about it.'

''Is this about Ash again?'' the young paintress accused the legendary. Bianca gave Latias a smug grin when she saw her eyes widening at the suggestion.

'NO!' the dragoness immediately denied. She puffed up her cheeks in embarrassment at the young artist, who began to laugh at her reaction.

After the incident with Annie and Oakley two years ago, things had started to change drastically for the young psychic dragon. Now that her brother was gone, who had so heroically saved the city from certain destruction, she was the only one left who could guard Alto Mare.

Not wanting to be an useless guardian who was incapable of protecting the city of waters, she took up on the advice from the young boy who had helped her protect her hometown at that time. This boy's name was Ash Ketchum, a pokemon trainer who wanted to be the very best, like no one ever was.

So what was his advice you might ask? He'd told her to train, simple as that. Latias had never trained before, it wasn't necessary. She had always relied on her brother to save her when trouble might arise, with the lingering thought that something bad was never going to happen to her anyway.

Instead of taking up her responsibilities, she rather had fun and play all day. The dragoness had been so naive at that time. Now, things were different though. Nearly two years of training had taught her quite a lot. She even developed telepathy! Granted, it only worked with people she was close with, but it was a start.

With the passing of her brother, things also changed in the secret garden. Gone were the happy days were she could play tag with Latios without a care in the world. It was often very quiet around the place as a result. when Latias would return from patrolling the city, she usually felt very lonely. Bianca couldn't always be there for her and Lorenzo had a busy job as well.

She secretly hoped Ash would come back for a visit. She often talked about him with Bianca, beaming at her friend how proud Ash would be at her progress. Of course, life went on and two years passed. It was at this particulary afternoon however, that Latias decided to watch some TV when she'd seen him.

'There he was, Bianca! At the Lily of the valley island, battling another trainer with a Dusknoir,' she gushed happily.

'It looked like he was about to lose; this trainer used a Trick Room set with his Dusknoir, but in the end Ash pulled through!'

Lately, Latias had started to watch pokemon battles to gain more experience around the subject. Bianca cared little about pokemon battling though, and had no experience on the subject whatsoever.

So, whenever she would have to listen to one of the young dragoness' rants, she would just bob her head up and down, agreeing with her as she often had know idea what she was talking about. This time however, was different, and she showed her enthusiasm.

''That's so cool,'' Bianca responded excitedly, genuinely happy for the young pokemon trainer.

''but,'' she added, ''didn't you just say this wasn't about Ash?''

The legendary's smile turned into a frown as Bianca gave her another smug grin.

'Get out of here.'

Latias gave her a friendly push while Bianca blew a raspberry.

''Kidding, so did he win the tournament?''

'third round, he needs to win three more battles before he wins the tournament, then he gets a chance to battle the elite four and ultimately the champion.'

Bianca smiled at the young legendary while she continued to rant about how Ash was going to beat the tournament and become the champion. Meanwhile, a shadowy figure was hiding behind a wall not to far from their location, silently listening to their conversation.

''I can't believe my ears! They're having a conversation, yet that brat that bumped into me doesn't say a word. Moreover, the paintress called her Latias,'' the man mused to himself in disbelief. Was this girl really...? The gears in the man's head starting whirling and his smile turned into a wicked grin.

''I think I've just struck gold.''

The man chuckled to himself, preparing to leave until—

''Fros!'' The man's ice and ghost type suddenly appeared before him, scaring him to death.

''Froslass, you idiot, didn't I tell you not to scare me like that?'' the man's anger got the better of him while the Froslass hugged him happily, oblivious to what she did wrong.

Before the man realized his mistake, it was already too late. Latias and Bianca had heard the shouting and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.

'That's the same man that I bumped into at the square!'

Bianca looked at her friend, worrying for her safety. If this man knew of Latias' identity, things might become troublesome, regardless if he had ill intent or not. Seeing as she called Latias by her real name a couple of times, chances were high he knew. she berated herself mentally for her carelesness.

Latias clearly sensed her friend's uneasiness. Putting a hand on her shoulder, the young legendary gave her a smile.

'Don't worry, I'll be alright. Don't beat yourself up over it,' she reassured the young paintress, focusing her attention on the man afterwards.

''Crap,'' the man swore as he went over his possibilities in this situation. He was ill prepared to take on a legendary, and it wouldn't be long for Latias to figure out his true intentions. he needed time and a plan to succeed if he wanted to catch her. So in a fight or flight situation like this, the man chose the latter.

'This might be low, but it's the only chance I got.'

''Froslass, shadow ball the girl with the beret!''

She happily obliged, shooting the dark orb at Bianca who shrieked and put her hands in front of her body to protect herself out of reflex. The orb exploded, smoke filled the room and the man saw his chance to escape. He ran as fast as he could, navigating his way through the smoke, before stubbing his toe along the way.

''Aah, Arceus, why does this always happen to me?!'' the man cursed angrily.

The smoke detectors went off soon after, and the sprinkler system effectively got rid of the smoke. When the smoke cleared, Latias floated before Bianca in all her glory, the red and white dragoness putting up a protect just in time to defend Bianca against the shadow ball. Both the man and the Froslass were gone, and Latias gave an angry snarl.

'That scumbag had the guts to attack Bianca like that, if I ever see his face again...' she thought bitterly before attending to her best friend.

Luckily, Bianca wasn't hurt. Quickly transforming back to her human disguise, she helped her back up. Bianca was still quivering however, and it took a couple of minutes to get the shakes out of her feet. It was then that Lorenzo arrived at the scene, looking at the two girls and the black spot on the floor.

''What on earth happened here?'' he asked, stunned. After an explanation from both girls, he nodded, understanding the situation. He would inform officer Jenny immediately about this man, right after he'd erased some camera footage.

''It's getting late, officer Jenny has been informed, and she's having officers everywhere on the look out in the city for this man. Should he show up again, he would be busted in no time. Why don't you two get home and get some rest? I'll handle the rest.''

Lorenzo's suggestion was met with a tired nod from the legendary, Bianca however, walked up to Lorenzo first.

''Granddad? After what happened today, are we still going with the original plan?'' Bianca whispered in Lorenzo's ear, referring to the big surprise they had planned for Latias.

Lorenzo put a hand on his chin, contemplating his thoughts and looking at the disguised legendary. Even with this man still running loose, they couldn't cancel the surprise now.

''Absolutely! Nothing would make her more happier than this, especially after what has happened today. Besides, she would go through with it even if we decide to cancel it now,'' he whispered back.

Bianca nodded at that fact. She looked at her best friend who practically saved her life today, like a true guardian would. She gave her granddad a kiss on the cheek before walking home with the disguised legendary, contemplating what would've happened if Latias didn't take up on Ash' advice.

'I guess I should thank you too, Ash Ketchum,' she thought, looking at the stars and walking on one of the roads right next to the canals in relative silence. After bidding Latias a goodnight, the young artist slumped in her bed, finally getting some rest before the busy day tomorrow.

One man wasn't sleeping yet though. Using his scuba diving gear, he got through the police's patrols rather easily, effectively following the disguised legendary. He hadn't seen his Froslass after the museum disaster yet, but being the little prankster that she was, he wasn't the least worried about her.

'This is almost too easy, I only have to follow her to know where she hides in the night. Then, I can think of a good strategy to capture her. Surprise is my friend.'

He could already picture it in his mind, he would finally face him for what he had done, and then he would—

''Froslass!'' his pokemon exclaimed joyously, suddenly appearing before him again, interrupting his thinking.

How she could breathe underwater, he would never know. He could not though and sucked in a mouth full of water. Coughing on reflex, he quickly swam to the surface to breathe in oxygen.

Froslass actually looked concerned at her trainer when he kept on coughing, but finally after a minute or three, he had his lungs cleared out, and gave his pokemon a death glare.

However, when he looked around, he saw that Latias was nowhere to be found. She completely disappeared in the process he was 'drowning'. A vein started throbbing on his forehead, and he sucked in a big breath of air, before releasing it again.

'No big deal, I still know where the little artist lives, now I just need a plan,' he thought, effectively calming himself down.

Calling his pokemon back, who was hugging him teary eyed at what she'd done, he looked at the ball containing her.

'You cause me so much trouble,' he thought angrily, looking at the pokeball with disdain. 'But,' he softened his voice, 'you're the only one who really cares about me.' He held the pokemon close to him as he walked back to his home, thinking of a plan of action to get Latias. He'd show him what pain meant.

The next morning Bianca woke up earlier than usual. She and her granddad had a lot to prepare. After she'd dinner with Lorenzo, they got to work. About an hour later the whole room was decorated.

Balloons filled the room, streamers adorned the walls, and there was a big banner saying 'Happy birthday' in front of the door. A big whipped cream cake lied on top of the table, complete with candles and little edible Latias heads.

''You think she likes it?'' Bianca asked her granddad, who gave an affirmative nod.

''Why don't you get her here, then I'll go get our presents.''

Bianca nodded excitedly, already imagining the surprise on Latias' face. Hurriedly, she went to the secret garden and woke up her dragon friend.

'What's this surprise you got for me?'

Latias was almost giddy with the way how Bianca woke her up this morning. Always the one for surprises, she let her best friend lead her out of the secret garden, completely blindfolded and all.

''You've just have to wait and see, and no peeking using your psychic powers either,'' Bianca told her sternly.

Latias pouted, of course she could've easily read Bianca's mind to know what this was all about, but that would ruin the fun. Being the obedient legendary she was, she nodded her head.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached their destination.

'Can I put this blindfold off already? It's beginning to itch,' Latias complained, feeling uncomfortable wearing one for too long.

''You may on three okay? One, two, three! Happy birthday!''

Latias' reaction couldn't have been more priceless. The stunned legendary looked all around the decorated room. Taking notice of the big banner and the cake on the table, she gave a happy squeal before giving them both a hug.

'How did you guys know?' she asked amazed. They never celebrated her birthday before, it wasn't common at all to celebrate a pokemon's birthday.

''Did you really think we would forget? We had this planned out weeks ago, and after what happened yesterday, the timing couldn't have been more perfect,'' Lorenzo explained to the happy dragoness.

'But why now? It's so sudden.'

''We got a good reason for that,'' retorted the young artist.

''But,'' Lorenzo added, ''that will be explained after a slice of cake, now who wants some?''

After they'd eaten the cake they all sat down on the couch, the young dragoness getting more impatient as the minutes passed. She wanted her presents now! Finally, Lorenzo spoke up.

''Did you like your surprise, Latias?''

She nodded her head eagerly. She almost looked like a child. Lorenzo chuckled at her enthusiasm.

''Then you're going to like your presents even more, Bianca?''

Bianca nodded and produced a small wrapped up gift. She handed it over to the psychic dragon type who began shaking the contents.

''Now before you open it up, this was actually an idea of an old friend of ours,'' Lorenzo explained.

Latias looked quizzically at the older man. He quickly explained further.

''He called me about a month ago, asking how we were doing. We talked about what happened two years prior too.''

Now Latias started to get interested, was he really talking about...?

Lorenzo went on. ''We also talked about you, and how grateful you were, how much you wanted to see him again.''

Latias' breath quickened, her heart rate went up as she processed the information given to her.

'You guys didn't,' she whispered, not believing her ears.

''Yes, Brock told me he would be competing in the Lily of the valley tourney in three weeks.''

At this information, Latias's eyes went wide, there was no way this was happening right now.

''So, why not come over and watch Ash compete if she wants to see him again? he suggested to me.''

The young dragoness' smile couldn't get any bigger as she finally unwrapped her present: two tickets all inclusive to the Lily of the valley tournament.

'You guys are the best friends ever! Thank you, thank you, thank you!' she exclaimed, overjoyed at the prospect of going to the tourney, and to finally see Ash again.

'But wait, there are only two tickets,' she noticed, looking at Lorenzo questionably.

Lorenzo nodded. ''Someone has to look out for the secret garden while you're gone, besides, I'm too old to leave this city anyway. Yup, I'm not going anywhere. You should go with Bianca, maybe it will give her the inspiration she needs as well.''

The dragoness understood, giggling to herself like a maddragon.

''You should thank Brock when you see him too, after all, it was his suggestion,'' Lorenzo added.

Latias responded by hopping up and down, nodding her head like crazy. Bianca smiled, happy for her friend. She walked up to her granddad to whisper in his ear.

''What if Ash wouldn't have made it that far in the tournament?'' she asked him.

''It was Brocks intuition that said otherwise; even if he somehow didn't make it that far, she would've still been able to see him,'' Her granddad reasoned, to which Bianca agreed.

''Latias, I have also a present for you, but it's in my room. Would you come with me please?''

Getting the attention of the young dragoness, who wiped the stupid grin off her face, she beamed at Bianca before following her best friend upstairs.

A while later they came back downstairs, Latias happy with the present she got from Bianca. They looked at Lorenzo who stood at the frontdoor, bagpacks ready.

''Well? What are you guys waiting for? Plane leaves in two hours. You better hurry or else you're going to be late.''

They both shook their heads at the antics of the old man. Giving him both a hug and running out the door like two schoolgirls, they were on their way.

''I think I saw him go through here,'' he heard his pursuers yell. Just then a dozen officers ran past him while he hid behind a container. The man sighed internally. What he thought would be an easy walk back home after his failure turned into a complete manhunt. Growlithe and Pidgeotto alike were deployed to track him down. If it wasn't for the fact he knew all the streets forwards and backwards, and the help of his ice and ghost type he would've been toast by now.

''Why can't I ever catch a break? It's like Arceus is mocking me.''

Ever since that fatefull day, he'd been a miserable sack of bones. Someone who didn't belong in this world, didn't know what to do with his life anymore. He'd left his home place to live in Alto Mare, to get away and start over, but his past always came back to haunt him, like an ugly scar that wouldn't stay closed. It made him feel alive, gave him strenght to carry on and yet he hated it. He hated it with all his guts.

Looking at his left, he saw the last thing he thought he would see: the lassie with the Latias in her disguised form, heading straight for the small airport.

''Maybe I spoke to soon.''

''Fros!'' his pokemon agreed. Resisting the urge to scream at her for seemingly appearing out of nowhere again, he instead focused his attention at the two girls.

''Looks like they're going on a vacation,'' the man muttered to no one in particular.

''Well, I think it's time to give gramps a little visit of our own, wouldn't you agree?''

He cackled maniacally, already formulating a plan in his brain. This time, he would not fail!

Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know in a review, writers love reviews! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

-Syrup-Waffle.