Hey peoples!

Well, here's my first Legendary-shipping oneshot for this oneshot collection. I had fun with this one. :D

Anyway, the information of it is displayed below (it's going to be like this at the beginning of every oneshot posted in here).

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Title: Late and Early

Pairing: ZapdosxArticuno

Rating: K

Side Genre(s): Humor

Music Inspiration: None

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Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

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“I…I think I love you…”

Articuno’s voice was nervous, yet firm, and filled with determination to confess her affection towards the thunder hawk that stood impatiently in front of her, his red eyes narrowed into piercing proportions. He displayed no change of emotion, as his serious expression reflected across his whole countenance, dragging an unimpressed frown to rest upon his long beak.

Articuno, however, was more scared than ever, and she had no trouble showing such a tense state through the uneasy smile that had placed itself across her own beak. It was obvious she was waiting for Zapdos’ reply, although he implied no possession of thought towards the matter, as his frown only deepened, silence dominating him. It was almost as if he was annoyed by the unexpected confession.

His head suddenly turned the other way, his spiky wings flapping once before folding at his sides. He then closed his eyes, which gained an angry tone from his furrowed brows, before snorting in a vile tone, “How weak of you.” His red eyes flashed open, repugnance leaking from their piercing hue. Articuno backed away, a hurt expression instantly replacing her nervous one, as Zapdos began again. “How could you allow such a worthless emotion as love to deluge your mind? I expected better from you, counterpart.”

The ice Legendary was near tears, surprised by the thunder hawk’s harsh words, and saddened by his vicious reply to her confession, which had taken her mere months to simply admit. “Why…?” was all she could muster herself to say between bottled tears. Zapdos turned to look at her, his snarling expression showing no compassion or regret for the words he had said.

“Our jobs as Legendaries are to protect the world,” he sneered, “not fall in love with each other.”

And with that he released his wings, trampled over to the entrance of Articuno’s cavern, and flew off into the clear, cloudless sky, leaving his ice bird counterpart alone and with a chance to let her tears fall in privacy. It wasn’t long after that before he landed on the rocky grounds of his own island, disappearing into the darkness of his cavern haven.

Meanwhile, Articuno soon emerged from her icy home, her scarlet eyes sailing across the frost-covered floor of Ice Island, which crept up the area’s rocky walls and gave the island the impression of being completely made of ice. Such beauty as the sun’s rays reflecting off the frost’s crystalline surface didn’t amaze Articuno, as her saddened expression remained strong, her dimmed eyes peering emotionlessly at the large chunk of land that sat eventless across the ocean waves – Lightning Island. Fire Island, the home of her fire counterpart, Moltres, could be seen a few miles across the ocean as well.

Ironically, the said phoenix soon landed beside Articuno, folding her blazing wings after a long flight against her sides as her bodily infernos blew gently (but oxymoronically not melting the ice under her talons) in the calm winds. With excited eyes Moltres turned to her ice counterpart, who didn’t seem affected by her arrival and instead kept her pale eyes onto the view of Lightning Island.

“So, did you tell him your feelings?” Moltres’ giddy voice questioned eagerly, seeing as how she had been the one that had suggested for Articuno to confess her feelings to their thunder counterpart. A large, cheesy grin formed across her needle-shaped beak, and her ruby eyes gained a keen hue.

Articuno shuddered, as if any implications of Zapdos hurt her tremendously like a fatal wound. “He doesn’t love me back…”

Moltres frowned instantly at the zombie-like tone that had poured from her counterpart’s beak, and such actions signified the truth of the spoken conclusion quite clearly – so much that she didn’t need to question her false. A sigh escaped her slightly-gaped beak, as her eyes narrowed with their own tones of disappointment, and it wasn’t long before she muttered, “I guess I should’ve expected such a thing…”

Articuno turned her eyes towards her, curious, yet still depressed.

“Well,” Moltres began, “Zapdos has always been the antisocial type, always picking his duties over the things he cares about. That’s just how he is, and that’s probably why he rejected you.”

Articuno emitted her own sigh. “But I love him,” she moaned out. “I don’t know why – I just do, and the worst part is is that no matter what I do I can’t ever get him to smile.”

“The day he smiles is the day hell freezes over.”

“Har har.”

Articuno’s face refrained from showing signs of amusement towards Moltres’ sarcasm, and the phoenix only shrugged in response, although she eventually stated, “You can always get him a present for…something.”

“…a present?”

Moltres nodded. “Yeah, for like – I don’t know – Valentine’s Day.”

“But Valentine’s Day has passed already…”

“So?” Moltres replied in a debatable tone. “It can just be a late gift, and why not? It might not convince him to love you, but it’ll show that you love him, and – who knows – it might bring a grin to that grump’s beak. I mean, seriously; he needs it; he’s going to give himself an ulcer from frowning so much.”

Articuno chuckled, and Moltres smiled, happy that she was able to bring her counterpart into laughter again. Eventually, though, the phoenix waved goodbye with her flaming wing before taking off into the sky, course set on her own home island. Articuno watched her, her words circulating through her mind as she eyed the trails of obedient flames that followed her counterpart, causing a long stream of red to mark her prior path amongst the sky’s blue background.

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Zapdos, whose red eyes were narrowed with obvious annoyance, paced back and forth around the eerie cavern that served as his haven upon his island. With his wings folded neatly at his sides, his talons scratched against the rough dirt, proving his impatience and the cloud of mystery that surrounded its origin.

When the sudden stomping sound of feet dropping from a high altitude emitted through the air, Zapdos snapped his head towards the entrance to his cave, keeping a poker face as his counterpart, Articuno, slowly made her way in. He sighed through his nostrils, his eyes locked onto her, and she showed her nervousness of confronting him by shuddering her feathers every now and then.

“What do you want?” he snarled, although it carried a quiet tone that was abnormal for him. Articuno, who had been expecting this, only puffed out her chest feathers, pushing her intimidation to the side as she approached him. Then, with a sway of her head, Zapdos noticed that there was a rope dangling from her mouth, which ran behind her and was no doubly wrapped around something. With a quirked eyebrow he remained silent, somewhat envious to learn the identity of the rope’s support.

Producing a sigh as if in deep pondering, Articuno tugged on the rope, which pulled in a large object from behind her, the sun’s rays that were reflecting off of it disappearing as it advanced into the darkness of Zapdos’ cavern. With a closer look as she tugged it towards him silently, Zapdos cocked his head at what it was…

…an ice sculpture?

Indeed, that’s what it was, and as he peered closer at it he noticed it was a sculpture of him fluttering his wings out like some sort of strong guardian, and the professional detail that lay upon it made the figure seem real. Zapdos was amazed, nonetheless, and showed his interest of the frozen model of himself by walking around it so he could inspect it from all sides.

“I made it for you…” Articuno muttered, her tone soft with lingering sadness that managed to earn a concerned, yet bewildered look from Zapdos. “I love you…a lot, so despite that you don’t want to return my feelings it’s the least I can do. I had to rush it over here before the sun melted it, though.”

“What’s the occasion?” he simply asked, tone lacking feeling.

Articuno shifted weight between her shoulders. “Um…Valentine’s Day…”

“But that passed a while ago.”

“Well, then, happy late Valentine’s Day…” she muttered in reply.

For once in the loner bird’s entire life, Zapdos appeared speechless, amazed by Articuno’s generosity, and the elegance that surrounded the ice sculpture, which displayed his characteristics amongst its cold surface better than he could himself. Articuno, however, didn’t take this to be a surprising sign, and instead bowed her head as if expecting that he was going to lash out at her like he usually would.

All of a sudden, he started to chuckle happily…

Articuno snapped her head up, eyeing her counterpart instantly as his face contorted into that of humorous one, his beak smiling as echoes of laughter escaped from it. Such a reaction was the only one she hadn’t been expecting.

She was nearly pushed back, however, when he rushed forward and wrapped her in his wings, pulling her into a full embrace that left a blush on her feathery cheeks. Now she was definitely surprised, which was why she was hesitant to return the loving gesture.

“What if I were to tell you,” he then whispered in her ear, his tone not angry or annoyed, but instead soft with friendliness, “that what I told you in your cave wasn’t the truth, and that I actually love you with all my heart?”

Articuno’s eyes widened, but a smile eventually grew on her beak as her feelings escaped from their feared state and was given back their loving passion. She still carried a bewildered frown, however, which expressed itself when she asked, “You…tricked me? But why – what’s the occasion?”

He chuckled again before allowing his beak to slide across her cheek in an affectionate manner (the Pokemon equivalent to a human’s kiss on the cheek), his voice following in a soft whisper.

“Happy early April Fool’s Day.”

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Yeah, I know, that seemed rushed.

Anyway, I'm going to start replying to reviews again, because I kind of feel antisocial on this website...

Expect the next oneshot whenever I think of one...

Well, apart from that, see you next time!