#altoshipping

Pikachu sniggered. “Pika kachuu!”

“Then… we need to rescue Victini, right?” Ash asked. “I promised that I’d help Victini go and visit the world outside Eindoak, and I’m going to keep my promise!”

“I think that’s a fine idea!” Cilan said. “Though I have to ask – how exactly are you going to put together the recipe? There may be a few missing ingredients.”

“...huh?” Ash said, confused.

Iris looked annoyed. “I think he’s asking how we can get up there,” she said. “Though I’m not certain.”

“You don’t just need to get up there,” Juanita said. “There’s a terrible problem – the Dragon Force is going to ravage the land, running wild and out of control, and to stop that you need to stop Damon and release Victini. But Damon’s got Reshiram, so the only way you can stop him is with Zekrom.”

Ash nodded.

“So… where’s Zekrom?” he asked.

“In the castle dungeons,” Juanita replied, then pointed. “Which are… up there, attached to the rest of the castle. Which is now in the air.”

“Then I guess there isn’t a choice,” Ash declared. “We need to get up there to get hold of Reshiram – Latias, I need your help!”

“...what?” Iris asked.

Latias destealthed in a flash of blue.

“What?” Iris repeated, more hysterically. “Latias – how – how long has she been there?”

“Uh…” Ash began, frowning, as Latias waved. “So I guess that would be… and… yeah, about three years?”

Pikachu took one look at Iris’s new expression, and fell off Ash’s shoulder with an overwhelming fit of the hysterical giggles.

Latias giggled as well, then Iris shook her head and rounded on Ash.

“What the hell?” she demanded, perhaps not unreasonably. “How did – but – three years!? How have I not heard about this before? You’ve got a Latias! And I pay attention to legendary dragon sightings!”

“Pika-chuu, kachu pikapi kaa!” Pikachu called, from the floor, and Ash nodded.

“Yeah, Pikachu has a point,” he said. “How come you didn’t recognize that time he battled a Latios?”

“I… shut up,” Iris said, in the tones of someone who’d just made a connection. “But what I’m getting at is that I’m pretty sure I’d have seen it if someone had a Latias, because I did see about that guy with a Latios!”

“But Latias is invisible most of the time,” Ash said. “So how could you have seen?”

Iris just kind of stared at Ash for a long moment.

“...I can’t tell if you’re being funny or not,” she groaned. “And… I really don’t know which I’d rather… I just… gah!”

“Um,” Juanita said. “How much longer is this going to take?”

“And how come you didn’t tell me?” Iris added. “You know I’m a Dragon specialist in training, you should have known I’d be interested in that!”

“I told you about Zekrom and you didn’t believe me,” Ash defended himself, quite reasonably if you asked him. “And that was the most recent one so I stopped there, I didn’t mention that time I rode Giratina or the time that Dialga sent me and my friends back in time or the time we stopped Dialga and Palkia from fighting or the time when I helped rescue Rayquaza from an army of crazy robots-”

He stopped.

“...hey, Pikachu?” he checked. “Is Lugia a dragon? I’m not really sure but there was that giant blast of energy and I guess that could qualify…”

“Lugia isn’t a dragon,” Cilan provided. “His flavour is a fine blend of Psychic and Flying! Though I have to say, Ash, you’re quite a good fit for all sorts of types, as we’ve seen.”

“But-” Iris protested, then stopped and took several deep breaths.

“...Ash,” she said, as calmly as she could. “Is Latias on your team?”

“Kind of?” Ash answered. “It’s complicated.”

“And she’s been with you for all that time?” Iris went on. “Three years, you said? Since well before you arrived in Unova?”

“Yeah!” Ash confirmed.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” Iris asked.

Ash shrugged.

“Because I heard you shouldn’t kiss and tell?” he replied.

Latias giggled.

Iris took a few seconds to process that, then the ground began to shake as the corrupted Dragon Force burst forth.

“Ti-a-as!” Latias squeaked, casting an illusion of herself as a Latias holding a sign between her paws.

“Oh, yeah, the catastrophe!” Ash said, remembering. “Latias, how many people can you take up there?”

Latias held up both paws, raising two claws on one and one on the other.

“I’ve got a Golurk to take me up there,” Juanita provided.

“Right!” Ash decided. “Then let’s go and get that Zekrom, and save Victini!”

He swung up onto Latias’s back, and she offered her paws to both Iris and Cilan to hang on to.

“So… how many people have you actually told about Latias?” Cilan asked, curiously, once Iris and Zekrom had managed to beat up Damon’s Reshiram and once Victini had been freed.

“A few people, before I heard about the kiss and tell thing, but they didn’t really believe me anyway,” Ash replied, shrugging.

He was leaning back against Latias, who was tired but happy with the whole situation, and Victini was snoozing next to Pikachu as they decompressed after the whole sequence of events.

Iris was still off zooming around on Zekrom and having a wonderful time.

Ash shrugged. “I guess there’s something about saying that I have an invisible legendary dragon Pokémon as a girlfriend that’s just… hard for people to believe. Not sure why, it’s not like it’s weirder than the idea of Brock having a girlfriend.”

Cilan chuckled, tasting dinner to see if the risotto was ready just yet.