Hey peoples!

Yay, SilverUmbra's got a new challenge out, so I thought I'd try it before CRT testing this week (and 10,000 BC, and Super Smash Brothers: Brawl, hurr) takes away my writing time, beats it to the ground, and spits on it.

...anyway, enjoy.

-o-

Title: Inside Out

Pairing: LugiaxHo-oh

Rating: K

Side Genre(s): Humor

Music Inspiration: "Inside Out" - Yellowcard

-o-

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any songs used in here.

-ooo-

“Court is adjourned.”

The Legendaries that sat upon the jury seats within the council room of the Hall of Legends sighed in relief, watching Arceus walk down from the judge pedestal, which, alongside his earlier comment, signaled that the long meeting between the harmonizers of natural balance was finally over. The God Pokemon seemed tired himself, although his gold eyes lit up again when the Underworld gateway guardian, Giratina, made her way over to him and nuzzled him affectionately.

As the Legendaries broke off, some leaving through the colossal entrance doors to return to Earth and continue their duties, while others stayed behind to spend free time chatting with friends, Lugia, the dragon of the sea, yawned from his seat among the jury. His scarlet eyes were halfway shut due to exhaustion, which was all from the fact that the meeting that day was longer than usual. Who knew one could get so tired just by sitting and listening to an elongated speech about suggestions for new earthly rules?

He eventually got up, however, stretching out his fingered wings, shaking his head and popping away the stress from his neck. He then turned to eye Zapdos approaching him, whose serious expression, which was normal for the grumpy thunder hawk, was strong, although it turned into a happy one when the said Legendary wrapped his spiky wing around Lugia.

“A bunch of us Legendaries are taking a break for the day,” the thunder hawk explained to the dragon of the sea, narrowed eyes reflecting implications of arrogance. “We’re all going to go spend some quality time together.” He slapped his wing on Lugia’s back in a friendly manner. “So, how about it, great dragon of the sea? You want to come along?”

Lugia, who was usually the partying type when he wasn’t forced to be serious on a daily basis, grinned as well, and was about to nod his head when his eyes happened to trail over to the side and catch sight of the rainbow firebird, Ho-oh, sitting in the corner. Immediately the dragon’s grin fell, and his curious eyes reflected slight compassion, as well as curiosity on why his counterpart had broken off from the crowd.

“Could you excuse me for a second?” Lugia turned to ask Zapdos, who quirked his eyebrow before nodding slightly. The dragon of the sea slowly made his way over to the firebird, who barely turned her head to eye him since she was somewhat preoccupied with the high ceiling above.

Eventually she faced him, her gold beak displaying a small frown, although her eyes reflected curiosity as Lugia folded in his wings. “Hey, Lugia,” she then greeted in a monotonic tone.

“Don’t you want to come hang with the other Legendaries?” Lugia asked, eyebrow raised. “We’re all getting together to have a fun night out.”

Ho-oh shrugged, turning her head away. “Eh, I’m not much of the partying type.” She returned her eyes to her counterpart, a forced smile placing itself on her beak. “You go have fun.”

Lugia frowned, although he expected such a thing, as his counterpart had never been the lively type. Half the time other Legendaries who asked her to come spend time with them she would turn down, saying that she rather go home than enjoy the night with friends. Of course, even with the countless of times she had turned down Lugia whenever he asked her to come ‘hang’ with him and the other Legendaries, she would retort with the same excuse, and Lugia would just go without her nonetheless. It wasn’t until now did he feel sympathy for her ‘left out’ status, despite that she didn’t show symptoms of being discouraged by it.

A whistle turned Lugia’s attention away from his counterpart and towards Zapdos, who was waiting by the door, gesturing for him to show some sign if he was going to join the party or not. The dragon of the sea lowered his eyes in the act of pondering, and after shooting a soft look towards his counterpart, thinking over his earlier thoughts once again, he nodded to himself before shaking his head ‘no’ to Zapdos. The thunder hawk portrayed a frown of bewilderment, although after seeing the soft smile that graced Lugia’s face, he shrugged it off and left through the entrance doors to join the other Legendaries.

Ho-oh, who had been watching this silently, cocked her head slightly before turning her confused eyes to her counterpart. “Why didn’t you go?”

The dragon of the sea kept his eyes on the entrance doors for five more seconds, slowly turning his head towards his counterpart afterwards, his small smile still present. He then suddenly reached forward and grasped the firebird’s wing in his own, tugging slightly until she was pulled to her talons. All in the while of this she was even more bewildered than before.

“Come on,” he then muttered softly, leading her towards the door. “You and I are going to spend some counterpart-counterpart time together.” At the sight of her beak ready to open up and retort, he added, “I’m going to get that lively side out of you one way or another. You can’t make up an excuse this time.” He smirked.

Surprisingly, Ho-oh couldn’t help but smile herself, although she hid this in a veil of silence as Lugia pushed her out the door.

-ooo-

Ho-oh widened her eyes when the view of the vast, purring ocean came into reach, the overhead sun’s rays painting it gold every now and then, causing the waves to shine beautifully as they pulled up from their aqua prisons and crashed back down in harsh rushes. Lugia, who was flying right beside her, turned to examine her amazed expression, and smiled to himself when he noticed that she seemed mesmerized by the beauty of the sea around the three islands of Fire, Ice, and Lightning – the home of the Legendary birds Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres. Since the said bird trio was out partying with the other Legendaries, however, the islands were deserted, leaving only the ocean’s overlapping waves to diminish the silence upon them.

“See?” Lugia inquired, convincing Ho-oh to shake away from her trance and turn to gaze at him. “Isn’t this a lot more fun than just staying at home?”

Ho-oh frowned, as if considering it, and because of this Lugia hesitated to think of a way to take her mind off of it…

…by suddenly launching forward like a rocket, heading straight towards the water, although he pulled up right before he crashed into its surface. Such a thing left Ho-oh stunned, and she quirked her eyebrow when Lugia turned his head in the midst of it, yelling out, “Bet you can’t catch me!”

The firebird’s frown remained strong, despite that a look of determination sailed across her narrowed eyes as she folded in her wings and followed her counterpart’s lead. Lugia emitted a laugh as he caressed the surface of the ocean with his wing, turning his head slightly to spot Ho-oh catching up to him, her determined expression strong. The dragon of the sea only boosted his speed, the waves below seeming to dance slightly to his swift movements. Ho-oh growled in frustration before taking off after him just as fast.

Eventually Lugia turned up, his course set on the colossal clouds above, in which Ho-oh quickly veered up to follow him. He turned his head to eye her with amused eyes, a smirk gracing his snout, and he suddenly dive-bombed downward so that he was heading straight towards his counterpart. Ho-oh widened her eyes upon realizing this, and struggled to turn and avoid him.

However, she was too slow, and Lugia collided with her, wrapping his wings around her, forcing her to be locked within his strong grasp. Ho-oh couldn’t do anything but watch the ocean gain closer, and then slide out of view when Lugia turned up, the rushes of morning wind brushing their faces as the dragon of the sea led his counterpart through the air. She didn’t squirm out of his hold, and instead remained calm, somewhat enjoying the sensations of passing breezes, and being in Lugia’s wings. It was then when she did something that seemed oxymoronic for her.

She laughed.

Her powerful voice came out as a giggle of both excitement and happiness, Lugia grinning to himself as he then released his counterpart, who flapped her wings and soared into the air, turning to meet the dragon’s eyes. Her laugh had dissipated, although its aftermath – a soft smile – covered her beak.

She then moved closer to Lugia, and only to mutter softly, “Tag; you’re it.”

And with that she zoomed off, laughing once again in joy as Lugia displayed a bewildered expression before smirking and shooting after her.

-ooo-

As the day grew to a close, the sunset, which turned the waves of the ocean into gold, sizzling arrays, changed the sky into a deep blue and light purple. Lugia and Ho-oh watched it all from their perches on Lightning Island, becoming hypnotized by the beauty that was taking place among the atmosphere as the day passed away. Lugia couldn’t help but shoot a soft glance towards his counterpart, who turned to meet his gaze.

“Thanks, Lugia,” Ho-oh murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, “I had a lot of fun today.”

The dragon of the sea shrugged, his smirk returning. “I told you I would bring your lively side out of you.” He chuckled as a new thought came to him. “Of course, by the way you usually act when people ask you to come spend time with them, I practically turned you inside out.”

Ho-oh chuckled slightly, agreeing heavily with the statement, while mentally scowling herself for never taking the wild side of life. As she turned to eye the side of Lugia’s face, she couldn’t help but smile, although she turned away when Lugia slid his eyes over to her.

“You want to do this again tomorrow?”

The firebird met Lugia’s gaze as the question escaped his snout, remaining eventless as she pondered on it. She eventually smiled again, however. “Yeah…I would like that.”

Lugia grinned in a childish manner. “It’s a date then.”

And as the dragon of the sea moved closer to wrap his wing around his counterpart, the said firebird did something else that seemed oxymoronic for her.

She blushed.

-ooo-

That was fun.

So, what do you think?