Beyond the Next Dawn

Today… is truly an amazing day…

Sun has overcome the dark clutch of night sky, and in its wake, dawn has broken once again, and hasn't overlooked us on our small cluster of islands in the warm South Seas. Ancient winds still blow in from the ocean. Ancient rivers still run cool and pristine, and some of the trees are still changing color and losing their leaves as they always have with each passing winter. The misty rise of the woodland fog, still faithful to its eternal promise, has once again blanketed the entire forest floor in its protection, and we are spared yet again, even if it is only for one last day of our tiny little lives. All is well. All is a blessing.

A cool breeze blew over Latios's body as his red eyes opened, awakening from sleep. The tip of his left wing twitched a bit in response to the faint gale. The psychic pokemon lifted his head up from out of the shallow water in the wellspring which he had been sleeping in and looked to his right where his sister, Latias, was still sleeping, a peaceful smile on her face. A light rushing sound came from the small waterfall behind the two eon pokemon that fed the spring its natural geothermally-heated water.

'Morning again,' thought Latios to himself as he yawned, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

Latios loved the sound of that waterfall. Something about it was innately soothing to him, calming his spirit in times of stress or danger, and it helped him sleep at night. His mother had a funny name for the waterfall. She always called it a "lullaby." Latias and Latios had been born in this pond 12 years ago, back when their parents were still alive, and the first thing they knew was to call the pond "Home."

Latios didn't remember much about his parents: only obscure memories from random experiences: his mother's gentle embrace and soft down as she held him and his sister close on cold nights before they gained their warm blood; his father's might and perseverance on the day that he fought off the Hydreigon that attacked mother while Latias was still an egg…

…but there was one memory of his parents that Latios remembered vividly. He would forever be reminded of it by the scar he bore underneath his left wing: an eternal reminder of his failure to save them that day.

A stirring in the water drew Latios's attention, and he turned his head to where his sister was. Latias was just beginning to awaken; Latios could tell this from her telepathic presence, which was starting to take its familiar shape inside of his mind. After a moment, the red eon pokemon's eyes opened, and her gaze focused on Latios, who lay in the heated water beside her.

'Good morning, brother,' thought Latias, her amber eyes gleaming in her usual cheerful expression.

'Good morning, Latias,' she heard her brother's voice reply in her mind. 'Did you sleep well?'

Latias yawned. 'I've had better nights,' she thought back. 'It was kind of cold, but nothing I couldn't handle. What about you?'

'I'm alright,' thought Latios as he stretched his own wings out, a bit sluggishly. 'My wings are a bit stiff though.'

Latias lifted her wings out of the pool and stretched hers out as well, yielding the same result. 'Mine too,' she replied.

'Maybe we should warm up by finding breakfast?' suggested Latios.

Latias nodded in agreement. 'Sounds good to me. In fact, let's be arbitrary and make this into a contest!'

'Huh?' Latios tipped his head in befuddlement.

'Whoever gets back here in one hour with the most berries wins.' Explained Latias. 'Ready, set,'

'Wait! I never agreed to-'

'Go!'

Before Latios registered what was going on, Latias launched herself out of the pond, drenching her brother in a wave of spring water as he tried to shield his face with his wings in defense. Latias immediately took flight, zooming into the shade of the woods, leaving the grass around the pond rustling behind her. Latios lay half-submerged in the pond for a moment in astonishment.

'Why does she do these things?' he asked himself, slowly shaking his head before he straightened himself out, bearing a determined expression.

'Oh, it's definitely on now!' and with that thought, Latios launched himself out of the pond, opening his wings and taking flight in the opposite direction that his sister went in. Unbeknownst to the two dragons, a glint of light momentarily reflected off of a glass lens situated in a tree overlooking the pond as the mechanism that held the lens zoomed out from its intent focus on where Latios and Latias were lying moments before. The camera's internal air jets powered on, and it hovered away from its perch silently.

Latios did have an advantage in this "contest," or at the very least he knew where to start. Even though berry trees were very scarce, he had seen an oran berry tree at the south foothill of Skull Mountain when he was flying over it the other day, and if he remembered correctly, it was now bearing fruit.

Neither Latios nor Latias were quite sure of what Skull Mountain actually was or how it came to be: all they did know about it was that it was a very peculiar and massive hill in the middle of the island that when viewed from very high up, had the appearance of a very large skull, as if some great monster had died in the ocean long ago and given its body back to the sea for trees and pokemon to live on and make use of.

Latios eventually rose above the major canopy of the jungle, and turned around in the air until he saw where the ground under the forest rose in the distance, signifying the start of a hill, and took off in that direction. The eon pokemon glided in through the canopy again, and scouted for familiar landmarks that he could use to find his way. Eventually, Latios came across a tree with three claw marks cut into it. He recognized the symbol as one that he had made a few days ago, and three claw marks meant that a berry tree was nearby.

Latios used different symbols for different meanings when he left them as landmarks, and each one made sense to him as he saw fit. Three claw marks meant food. His sister occasionally made mischievous attempts to change his designs and mislead him, but it was pretty easy to see through her tricks: Latias's claws were not as big as his, and her stray markings that she put on his were often haphazard and unorganized, so it was pretty easy to tell when she was trying to fool him.

The markings on this tree looked genuine however, and Latios decided to trust them, following where they pointed, until a he detected a distinctive sweet smell in the air, and looked up. Sure enough, ripe oran berries hung from the branches above. The eon pokemon flew to the top of the tree, and picked as many berries as he could carry, smirking to himself as he did so.

'One should never choose battles that they cannot win,' thought Latios as he effortlessly balanced the weight of the oran berries in his arms while still staying airborne. He couldn't wait to see the look on Latias's face.

A big-leafed bush near the entrance to the clearing rustled as Latios poked his head out from behind the fronds, surveying the scene. He spied his sister lying idly beside the spring. There was a considerable pile of mixed nuts and berries next to her, but what she could find in her forage paled pitifully in comparison to Latios's haul. The blue dragon proudly hovered into the clearing, displaying his clutch of berries flauntingly. Latias turned eagerly when she heard him approaching, but when she saw his hoard, she grimaced.

'Dang it! Dang it! Dang it!' she thought loudly as Latios smugly dumped his pile of berries into the breakfast pile. The blue pokemon turned to face his sister.

'Maybe you shouldn't be so hasty in your decisions,' he thought to her with a cool look. 'Especially when you think that you can actually beat me at something, Ha ha!'

Latias rolled her eyes. 'Oh Please, you got lucky, that's all. I'm still smarter and better than you and you know it,' she thought as she levitated into the air and began to fly in circles and spin around midair. 'See? I'm even dancing,' she thought as she did an aerial cartwheel. 'I'm dancing because I'm better than you, brother!' she teased. Latios shrugged and bit into one of his oran berries. For some reason, the berry tasted very sweet and satisfying, like he couldn't ask for anything better.

Eventually, Latias settled down, and she joined her brother at the breakfast pile. She selected a pecha berry and bit into it.

'So, while you were away overachieving, I was actually making something cool,' thought Latias as she cracked a walnut in her left claw.

'And what might that be?' asked Latios.

Latias picked up a nearby piece of bark, and displayed so her brother could see. 'Look at this.'

Latios leaned in to get a closer look at the piece of wood. Maybe he was missing something here… but it looked like nothing more than an ordinary piece of wood. The blue dragon tilted his head in perplexment. 'You… reinvented wood bark?' he asked.

'nooooooo,' replied Latias in exasperation, her ears flattening in dismay as she turned the bark over; a golden light emanated from the wood as she did so. 'Look!'

Latios could see it now: there were distinctive markings and symbols on the other side of the bark. If only she had flipped it over before! 'I… I see it now,' thought Latios. 'But what do they mean? What are these?'

Latias smiled sweetly. 'Portable thoughts! It gets so crowded up there in our highly-evolved psychic-type minds, wouldn't you agree? We're so busy processing what goes on around us that we often forget memories that we once remembered. Well, if we record our memories onto pieces of wood, the wood does the remembering for us! Isn't that neat?' she asked.

'Eh, it's cool I guess. Good idea,' replied Latios. He didn't want to break it to her that he already regularly used a very similar system. Latias was still growing, and it was best to let her feel like she had accomplished something remarkable. In a few minutes, the dragons were done eating, and they cooperatively tucked away their food supply in a hidden grove near the pond for later. When Latios finally covered up the grove, he saw Latias hovering idly behind him.

'So what game do you want to play today?' she asked.

'How about tag?' suggested Latios.

Latias's expression saddened. 'Aw, I don't like that game. You always win; you can fly faster and you're bigger than me. It wouldn't be fair. Can we do something else?'

Latios thought for a moment. 'Well… how about hide and seek?'

Latias's ears immediately perked up. 'Yes, let's play that one!'

Latios smiled. 'Hide and seek it is then. I get to be the hunter first though, and you have to be the prey.'

'Alright then, start counting to 200,' thought Latias as she hovered backwards a few paces and sealed her mind away from her brother so he couldn't read her thoughts or track her psychokinetically.

Latios closed his eyes, and started to count. 'One… two… three…'

…

They played for most of the rest of the day. While they did so, the sky turned spectacular shades of orange and blue and yellow, but soon… soon… their daylight had run out.

Latios looked over his shoulder, expecting to see his sister in mad pursuit of him, but instead she was hovering in place, fixating on the sky.

'Here we go again,' thought Latios to himself, shaking his head. Why was Latias so weird at times? The blue dragon halted midflight and hovered over next to her.

'What is it now?' he asked.

'It's doing that thing again, the sky,' she responded, never shifting her gaze. 'I don't like it when the sky does this.'

'We've already been over this, haven't we?' thought Latios. 'The old sun dies just as much as a new one gets born later. You'll never be without daylight for long. Plus, we'll be sleeping for most of the times that the sun is dead anyway, so… don't worry,' he added.

Latias floated for a moment, her head tucked beneath her wing in thought before she resumed her staring. 'I still don't like it though,' she thought. 'It did the same thing right before mother and father left us.'

Latios's eyes widened momentarily as he was taken aback into the painful memory, but then he regained his normal composure. 'Some things die, never to return, Lati. That's the way it is sometimes,' he thought to her.

Latias tucked her head down under her wing in thought again, and after a moment, came out of her musings once again with a resolution. 'Well… it's a stupid rule,' she thought with a smirk. 'Whoever came up with it should die themselves and never return…'

'I'm sure they have, Latias,' thought Latios. 'I'm sure they have...'

Latias faced toward the sunset again, her smile gradually fading back into a reflective expression as she gazed across the canopy's horizon. 'I don't know why exactly… but something else has been bothering me too; I've been ruminating more and more about it recently. Something that father told us a very long time ago.'

'Well, out with it,' thought Latios insistently.

Latias closed her eyes. 'I remember... on one of the nights during the warm season, he made us dream… that one day, this island was going to disappear, and when that day came, we would have to leave here for good and set out by ourselves, each of us on a journey to find a new home.' She opened her eyes again. 'Do you think it's true?'

Latios crossed his arms in thought. 'Well, we have technically left this particular island and flown to the outer isles before, but I think he meant something different,' he thought. 'He probably meant that we would eventually have to leave his and mother's protection… that or he meant that one day I would grow so sick of having an annoying little sister always bugging me that I would try to fly as far away from this place as possible!'

Latios meant for his thought to feel like a joke, but it came off a bit more harshly than he intended. Latias gave him a surprised look. He quickly grinned for comedic effect, and she seemed to be reassured.

'You need to work on your articulation of humor,' she thought critically. 'Dependence on body language is bad form for a psychic type.'

Latios shrugged. 'Perhaps I do. But as for leaving the island, I do not believe that we have to.'

'Really, are you sure?' asked Latias

'Well, do you want to?'

'No, not really.'

'Well fine then, we won't.'

Latias's momentary crisis resolved, the eon pokemon resumed their game and played some more into the sunset as the daylight became even more dead than when Latias was complaining about it. Soon, the dusky evening had set in, and the zephyrlings grew tired.

Latias gave up her chase after her brother as her wings began to fail her. Exhausted, she slowly drifted downward until she lightly landed in the thermal pond, drooping her wings beside herself to give them a rest. Latios smiled triumphantly down at her from the air above.

'Aw, tuckered out, little sister? I was barely getting started!' he teased.

Latias returned her brother's gaze with a defiant smile. 'You bet you were barely getting started… just as I was FINISHing the race back to the pond!' replied confidently.

Latios grew thoughtful for a moment. She did have a point. 'Huh, I guess you actually won this time. Damn you!' with that, Latios abruptly tucked in his wings and fell rapidly out of the air into the pond, creating a splash that drenched his sister. Latias recoiled, shutting her eyes tightly. After the wave went past her, she glared scoldingly at her brother.

'Why did you do that?' she asked.

Latios gave her a cool look. 'Think back to this morning just as you were taking off, and you may recall doing the very same thing to me as well.'

Latias looked up for a moment in ponderment before realization dawned on her and her ears drooped sheepishly. 'I guess you're justified then, heh,' she thought. The last of the sun vanished just then, and Latias and Latios were left alone, drifting in the faint afterglow of twilight which would soon die and give rise to night. The twins laid with their bodies submerged, but their heads laying on the pondside bank. It wasn't long before Latios felt Latias's conscience leave his field of awareness. She was asleep. The blue eon pokemon drifted for a while, his thoughts traveling from idea to idea. He went over the locations of various berry trees that he discovered in his commutes, and then his mind shifted to thoughts about strategies for perfecting his dragon claw ability.

Latios suddenly thought he heard voices, and opened his eyes briefly to find that there was no one there. All was calm and still. He had probably just imagined it. Whatever the voices were, they sounded hushed and secretive. It wasn't long before Latios too was sound asleep.