In the Black World—
Latios lay on the ground in pain, staring at Ash with fierce eyes.
Latias patted her brother worriedly, seeming to ask if he was okay.
Ash raised his hands in a gesture of peace, explaining that he had no ill intentions.
Pikachu was also dancing and chattering an explanation.
Latios's angry expression slowly subsided.
He glanced at Ash suspiciously, then called out a few times to his sister beside him.
Latias responded with similar cries, and then Latios wore a confused and embarrassed look.
"Uh oh oh"
I'm sorry, I wrongly blamed you. I thought you were an intruder in the garden, but I didn't expect you to be the one my sister likes…
Ash: "I'm not a big brother, can you not be so ambiguous in your words? What do you mean I am the person your sister likes? What does your sister like about me?"
"Pikapi~ Pikachu!"
As expected of you, Ash. You have easily accomplished what Brock couldn't do. From now on, you shall be given the title of 'Lady-killer'!
Ash: ???
When I type these three question marks, it means I think you have a problem! What is a 'lady-killer'? Latias is a female Pokémon, not a woman! What are you trying to do here?
Fortunately, Sabrina and Misty weren't here. Even if they were, they couldn't understand what Pikachu was saying.
Otherwise… no matter how good-tempered those two girls were, they'd still be angry now!
"Ahem, um… Latias, is there anything about me that attracts you? The one who secretly watched me some time ago must have been you, right?"
Latias nodded with a cheerful smile, then hummed again.
After Ash heard the translation, he looked at himself in confusion…
Latias said he exuded a scent that attracted her, but… there was no special scent on him?
Is it the Aura? How is that possible… If I were in my original Lugia form, it's plausible this child was attracted by my immense Psychic power. But I'm in my Dark form now, and my attributes have been converted to Dark and Dragon. It's good this kid doesn't dislike me, but how could she be attracted? Psychic and Dark are sworn enemies.
To be precise, Psychic-types hate Dark-types very much, but Dark-types don't hate Psychic-types that much. After all, Dark isn't immune to Psychic damage…
So what Aura said was right. If he were still his original Psychic/Flying self, it might be a little attractive to Latias. But in this form… if Latias truly sensed him, it'd be fine if she didn't run away! Still attracted? Not a chance!
Think about it carefully… besides Dark Lugia, he also had Little Silver and the Silver Wing.
Could it be they created a favorable impression on Latias?
"Uh-huh!!"
After Latias saw her brother was okay, she transformed back into a human girl, then pushed Ash toward a swing.
Helpless, Ash could only play with this immature little one for a while.
He'd ask questions while playing…
While Ash was playing with Latias, Pikachu was also playing with his uncle… no, with Latios.
He was riding on Latios's back, flying all around the garden, truly feeling the sensation of a jet!
Time passed. Half an hour later,
Ash and Latias were no longer on the swings; instead, the former was riding the latter as they wandered the entire garden.
Ash had already asked Latias a lot of questions.
He also understood why Latias hadn't fought back when attacked by the two women.
It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she couldn't.
This Latias was very young. Although she had latent power, she didn't know how to use it at all. At most, she could only use some basic moves. Any move involving Psychic power or anything stronger was impossible for her, let alone her exclusive move, Mist Ball.
Therefore, when facing the two women chasing her, her instinct told her they were dangerous. Based on the strength she could currently exert… she indeed couldn't defeat those two women, and might not even be able to escape them!
The one who could dodge Pikachu's Thunder Shock was no pushover.
In addition, Ash asked many times what it was about him that attracted Latias. He even took out the Silver Wing to show her, but Latias shook her head, saying it had nothing to do with the Wing. Although the Wing was also attractive to her, what attracted her most was Ash himself.
This might be what Kanon calls love at first sight! There are often such plots in the novels Kanon reads!
These were Latias's original words, as translated by Aura.
Ash didn't know who Kanon was, but he knew… this must be the culprit who led Latias astray!
What love at first sight! Is 'love at first sight' used this way? Hm… It doesn't seem impossible, but people can't… at least they shouldn't…
...
[Melody: Kanon, what weird things do you usually read?]
[Kanon: Weird or something… that's so rude! Just some normal novels! I don't read books about forbidden love between humans and Pokémon! Just ordinary romance novels!]
[Serena: Eh… is that so?]
[Kanon: Of course!! Every girl wants to have a happy, sweet romance, right?]
[Caitlin: By the way… Ash in the Black World should have turned the tide and saved Altomare in the end, right? Then little girls like you would fall for this kind of prince who comes to save you on a ray of light, right?]
[Korrina: You? Who else but Kanon?]
[Lillie: That's a lot of people! If someone like that appeared before me, I'd be moved too~]
[Cynthia: What about you, Serena?~]
[Serena: I've never had such fantasies about a king… or a prince or anything like that!]
[Lorelei: Is that so~? When Ash appeared before you and reached out his hand, didn't you think he looked like the prince who came to save you?]
[Serena: …A little bit, just a little bit!]
Serena, who was usually very frank, started acting tsundere here, which made many people shake their heads. To deal with an emotional idiot like Ash, she should just be direct. Being roundabout would just make her end up a loser!
...
In the Black World—
After playing, Ash and Latias lay on the lawn, looking at the sunlight filtering through the lush forest, resting leisurely.
Then, a figure walked up to Ash—above Ash's head, to be precise.
Ash looked up subconsciously, then asked with some confusion,
"What's wrong, Latias? Is something wrong?"
Just now, Latias was lying on the lawn resting. Why did she suddenly stand up?
And when did she put on a white hat? She also held a small drawing board in her hand.
"Who are you? Why are you here? Latias… can you explain this to me?"
The girl suddenly spoke, startling Ash.
Latias had proven before that even in human form, she couldn't speak with a human voice—only hums and ahs. So for a girl who looked exactly like Latias to suddenly use a human voice, of course Ash was startled.
However, after the surprise, Ash realized—it wasn't that she and Latias looked exactly alike, but that Latias had transformed to look like her!
Thinking this, Ash looked beside him.
Sure enough, Latias, who looked exactly like the girl, was still lying next to him. But hearing the girl's voice, Latias, who had her eyes closed in meditation, opened them and showed a joyful expression.
Immediately after, her body returned to its original form—a jet-like Pokémon lying on its back!
"Woo~~ oooh!!"
Kanon, you're back! This is the new friend I made. His name is Ash!
This was the result of Ash's translation through Aura power. To Kanon's ears, it was just a cry of unknown meaning, but looking at Latias's demeanor, Kanon probably guessed something.
At the same time, Ash also rolled over and sat up, looking at Kanon curiously alongside Pikachu.
This girl was the 'Kanon' Latias mentioned… Aside from the hat and the drawing board in her hand, she looked exactly like Latias's human form. If not for detecting her with Aura power, even he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
"Are you the friend Latias brought? What is your name, please?..."
"I'm Ash from Pallet Town. I'm currently traveling with the goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. I came to Altomare because..."
Then Ash explained why he came to Altomare and how he ended up in this place.
"...Someone wants to capture Latias?"
Kanon's expression turned serious when she heard Ash's story. The first thing she thought was that someone was targeting Latias.
She believed she had never offended anyone, let alone seen any thieves or the like.
No matter how she thought about it, the target of those two women should be Latias. But… how did they discover Latias? Normal people shouldn't be able to tell the difference between her and Latias, right?
After thinking for a moment, Kanon suppressed this doubt.
"It's okay. Now that Ash has driven away the two thieves, Latias should be safe. After all, this place isn't something just anyone can find."
"Well, yes. But Latias should be more careful going out in the future. Also… Latias needs to learn to control some of her power to protect herself!"
She had the power of an Elite Four-level Pokémon but no way to use it.
Not only was this a waste of resources, but it also provided no guarantee for Latias's own safety.
So...
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