Ok; so I'm sorry for uploading something that's more than 4000 words... a bit of a put-off, I know. I have just wanted to write something like this for practically years... This is my narrative of the scenes of Pokémon Heroes - from when Annie and Oakley get to talk after Oakley goes on her little power-trip (XD) till just before the epilogue (where Ash and co. get the shock of their lives). So, no kissing scene included in this one, sorry! Hope you still enjoy!
Yes, I will admit, I did Altoship a little in this. I just love that ship; it's great... :D and what's so good is that it's canon! So I haven't just come up with some random pairing... this one is certified and even used by the official guys! XD
On a side note; this movie (especially the scene when Latios says goodbye to Latias) still makes me cry buckets. ' I thought I was over it by now... but nope. I'm pretty sure it's the music that does it... gets watery-eyed It's just a very, very beautiful score.
Annie smiled and shrugged in acceptance of the new situation. Turning away, she suddenly remembered her partner in crime's predicament, and looked up. "Oh!" She ran up to the Defence Mechanism and deftly leapt up its metal base, kneeling down towards the still sphere of the control panel.
"Hey Oakley, the party's over. Come on, wake up!" Rubbing her friend's shoulder not-too-gently, Annie watched as Oakley stirred, her limp form draped over the open panel, and waited for her to recover.
Oakley sighed loudly. "What... happened?" she asked hoarsely after raising her torso slightly and meeting the gaze of her partner, a worried look on her face.
"Well, I think you got a little in over your head." Annie quipped, a sympathetic smile on her face, then was interrupted by down below.
"ASH!" Misty cried, and the two looked down at 'that kid' and his two friends, now running towards him and the rest of the group. "Ash!" Brock shouted, then Misty continued with, "Are you guys alright?"
Ignoring them, Annie raised an admonitory finger to Oakley. "I think I'll hold onto that jewel from now on. How does that sound?" she said cheekily.
Oakley shrugged noncommittally. "Mmh." she grunted, uncaring of what happened to both jewel and DMA now. The whole setup had been nothing but faulty – no matter that they had even powered it up with the Latios. Why else would the machine have gone crazy?
"I think we should get out of here." Annie continued with the same smile on her face, standing to go and get the Soul Dew.
Oakley frowned, resting her head in her palm. "Uh-huh." she said, pretty sure that Annie hadn't even heard her in excitement that she would finally own the jewel independently.
Annie ran over the metal frame in excitement, then looked down at where the Soul Dew was, suspended in a little metal contraption, and exclaimed, "Hey, Oakley! What happened to it? It's all black and weird looking! Check it out!"
Lorenzo had been standing over Ash, Bianca and Pikachu as they each tended to the battered Latios as best they could. Now, as the excited chatter caught his attention from up above, he growled in surprise and looked up to where the Soul Dew rested, noting at once that it had been irretrievably tainted by the abused power-trip of Oakley, only then realising that Annie's hand still stretched towards it inexorably...
"Don't touch that!" he roared, wondering how anybody could possibly be so stupid.
"Hm?" Annie murmured as she at one rested her fingertips on the Soul Dew and looked down to the old man. But Lorenzo had no time to explain. As soon as it came into contact with her fingers the Soul Dew shone with brown light and then blazed beams of yellow. Annie screamed, unable to take her hand off until she was blown away by the power, crash landing straight into Oakley's form and sending the two of them tumbling into the middle of the control seat.
The crystal shattered in a blaze of blue and purple, and instantly the DMA was alive with electricity sparking from the base to the very top. Annie only had time to wail in surprise and horror once she'd recovered, before the sphere swung shut and the two of them were sent on the same thrill ride Oakley had already experienced once. The two of them screeched as the DMA once again moved into action, swinging the closed control panel around and around in the air.
The giant metal barriers – the same ones which had enclosed the DMA the very first time Ash had spotted the real girl responsible for Latias' human form – appeared once more and encircled it again, croaking in protest.
The eight – Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu, Lorenzo and Bianca, Latias and Latios all watched, (the humans stunned, the Pokémon merely curious) as power blazed around them in eerie zigzags of white-pink lightning. "What's happening?" Bianca cried, taking a step back.
"The prophecy was true!" Lorenzo said, looking at the big metal behemoth – and perhaps its passengers too – angrily. "The Soul Dew is dying! It's been out of the pool for much too long!" He grimaced, and hunched his form even more still. "All the water is leaving!"
A few replied with "Oh!", a few with "Huh!", but none missed the gravity of the situation. From that distance, none could see that in actual fact, the Soul Dew had actually shattered with Annie's touch. The prophecy had been read wrongly. Alto Mare was, for the moment, without a Soul Dew at all. Without the constant spiritual protection of the Latios that had brought it here, the water was leaving just as quickly as it had been delivered, and both the present Latios and Latias could do nothing but sense that just outside, waters were already streaming away through the canals and towards the horizon, as if banished.
The other, less successful members of Team Rocket – James, Jessie and Meowth – were just clambering over another parapet in their desperate bid to escape the now-fully-enclosed city, when the rushing sound from below halted them completely. "Look at dat!" Meowth said, wide-eyed and wide-mouthed at the furious passage of the water just before them.
And Aerodactyl roared in triumph as it circled through the air, unblinking yellow eyes seeing all. Nevermore would it be again sentenced to a slow, painful death under cold, black waters. Now it, and Kabutops, would once again reign, and rain terror down on people and Pokémon alike.
Most of the gondolas which hadn't been tied up securely soon floated away out of the city. Yet the water was receding so quickly, soon the ones remaining merely rested on the sandy beds of the canals. The larger boats merely leaned over dangerously as the water level dropped, now looking very out of place on dry land.
The team rushed out of the museum and towards the canals, where they could do nothing but stare, horrified expressions on their faces. "Pika!" Pikachu gasped, both from the exertion running and also the barren nature of the now dry canals. All breathed audibly as one with the sight. "It's... all gone," Ash said disbelievingly.
"But I'm afraid it's coming back." This time, Lorenzo had the prophecy unerringly correct, and the ill omen was all the more chilling with the eerie calls of the Lati duo behind him. But nobody else understood.
"What do you mean?" Misty asked, deathly afraid. She received no human answer, just more calls from Latias to Latios and back again as they looked at each other, seeming to come to a decision.
Latios swooped and rose towards the museum's roof tip, through the air, followed quickly by his sister.
"Pika!" Pikachu warned, and Ash took his attention off the barren canals to notice Latias had left his side. "Huh?" He watched as they reached the bell tower and began circling the statue of the sun placed at its peak, still calling to each other in their high-pitched, musical voices.
Latios was the first to break circling. He braked in the air to the left of the tower and focused his attention towards the sea. Latias paused to the right, looking earnestly at him, then in the same direction.
All watched and listened, the starkness of the rocks bordered the city of water and the mournful cries of Lati sending chills down their spines.
Latios called again, then faltered, his eyes shut in pain as he hovered, bending his head a little and cried out. Latias heard the hurt in his voice and turned towards him, worriedly calling out to him. Recovering a little, Latios opened his eyes again and called out reassuringly to his little sister. "Do not worry!" He didn't meet her gaze, rather, turned his attention back to the ocean.
Latias in relief smiled at him, then, when noticing he was not looking, did the same, the relieved look now lost in complete seriousness.
The Pokémon heard the rumble before any of the humans did; but none missed the sudden blur on the horizon which rose... and rose... its crest white-grey in the powerful moonlight, the powerful swell black-blue and terrifying. A monstrous tidal wave, high enough to engulf the entire city, drowning everything in the process.
Nobody could hide the horror in their voices or faces as each breathed out audibly at the sight. Lorenzo watched with hardened eyes and gritted teeth, holding Bianca's shaking hands in his own strong work-hardened ones. "Just as predicted," he said, barely able to hide the tremor in his voice. "It's coming!"
Hearing this, Bianca whimpered and began sobbing against his chest, her eyes shut in grief.
The tidal wave roared across the dry sea bed, engulfing an entire dilapidated stone cathedral situated on a nearby small island and spitting the stone fragments out with the force of its power. Steadily it continued on towards defenceless, unaware Alto Mare.
"Latiiiouu!" Latios cried resolutely, looking faithfully at his sister, and the two made eye contact. A single moment passed, yet they said all they needed to say in this look, and then they charged, their screams echoing behind them.
"Latias!" Ash cried, allowing himself a little bit of hope for their lives in the immense block of worry he had for her. Could she and Latios possibly save them? Bianca forgot her fear and looked out to where the Lati's forms dwindled into mere shapes of blue and red, and wailed, "Latios!"
"Pikachuuu!" Pikachu screeched, hoping that in both their hearts, they heard him cry out, "You can do it!"
Onward they soared, increasing speed, rushing to face the immense wall of water which dwarfed their forms into insignificance. Latios' eyes glowed with a sudden white power, and soon his whole body shone with incandescence. At his side, Latias flew, ever with him, and soon also power beamed from her body. The two beacons of hope flying towards the tidal wave gleamed with even more power, and in synchrony became one, the light focusing into a perfect sphere of blue and white.
It collided with the tidal wave, in comparison tiny, and was practically lost to sight, but then emerged as the sphere burst forth, growing all the while. The light from it was practically blinding, its power, at least to the humans, was mysterious and unknown – the wall of the tidal wave was halted with an invisible force inside the sphere and lost all its destructive capabilities as it rippled with the force of the light.
The next island the water hit was practically untouched, the trees growing on the surface merely buffeted slightly by the force of the spray as it hit the wall of the island.
All watched with similar worried expressions on their faces as the sphere of light hung above the water now slowly rushing in towards the main island. It looked like... they had succeeded! Or were they being too quick in coming to this conclusion?
Latias was floating in a perfect world of light and Aura. She opened her eyes into the blue-tinged brilliance, then called curiously and softly for her brother, looking around her for him. "Latios?"
She froze. Before her, suspended in midair as she was in the light, was Latios, her brother! Right before her, how could she have not noticed beforehand? But... he was different. "Oh!" she said in surprise.
His form was now slightly transparent – the outline between him and the other light was practically unnoticeable. But it was not merely invisibility, the kind they used to use when roaming the canals of Alto Mare, and with a start, Latias realised a lot of things all at once.
"This is your sacrifice?" she asked, not really expecting an answer, spoken or otherwise. I mustn't believe this is real. I know he'll come back, I just need to believe it enough. I... I believed it when he said to me we could do it if we tried together! Now, all we need to do is try again, just as hard!
She felt her eyes begin to glimmer with tears. In reply, Latios leaned down slightly and extended a shimmering right hand, which Latias stared at stupidly for a while before looking to him for confirmation. He gave none, so she looked down again and impulsively brought her left hand up to meet his. She heard a pleasant tinkling sound at the contact, and could feel his claws, but only just. It felt like he was going to fade away at any second now.
Hope disappeared, and she couldn't help showing her upset. "You're leaving me..." she said sadly, staring into his impassive face, feeling through all the sadness and guilt and upset that she was even feeling very, very betrayed.
But Latios made no mention of it, merely inclined his head in a nod, shutting his eyes into the nod and then opening them with a cry of reassurance, the tinge of a smile meeting his mouth.
And his hand left hers. She held onto his claws for as long as she could before it became to much and she released him, forever.
Her arm still reaching out in desperate grief, she watched him ascend, his form beginning to glow brighter than ever before, the brilliance of his soul-form gathering strength then expanding outwards, blue light pushing her away from him, towards the earth she so desperately wanted to forgo just for a few more minutes with her beloved sibling... but soon he was lost to her, and her to him, in the blue light.
And Latios rose... forever onwards and upwards...
The light shimmered and without warning reshaped into a vertical column of light which thinned and intensified; stretching from the ocean's waves to the everlasting skies above, where it was lost to sight by the cloud cover.
The humans watched in awe as it remained, a silent testimony... then suddenly disintegrated into nothingness, the light disappearing into the air, leaving no sign of its Pokémon creators.
"Where are they?" Bianca said, the whole group staring, wide mouthed, into the air. Misty was the first to look down again at the ocean bed to see the tide coming in at a much peaceful state than it had been before. "Hey look," she said weakly. "the water."
The water rushed back into the canals, bringing in with it the marooned gondolas. A few pavements were at once engulfed but the water soon flowed back into the canals again. The Team Rocket trio had finally escaped the last of the blocked archways and sat, exhausted, at its base.
"I could kill for a hot bath right now..." Jessie groaned, and the three of them sighed in agreement, sagging against the support. Then, the water rushed in, and, panicking, they picked themselves up and fled screaming, but to no avail.
After being caught by a powerful wave as it rushed along across both canal and pavement, the three spluttered to the surface of the quick current as it carried them back into the city.
"Ugh!" Jessie spluttered. "This is not what I had in mind!"
"Mayday! Mayday!" Meowth screeched, waving a paw in the air.
The three of them knew this was the moment. "Team Rocket's blasting-bubble-brbl-bb..." but were unfortunately halted for the second time in Alto Mare as the water's current carried them underneath the waves...
The barriers themselves simultaneously began to undo themselves, folding up and disappearing just as inexorably as they'd come into the walls and pavements of the city. Kabutops paused on a bridge above the water, scythes outstretched into the air, and disintegrated into a mass of blue sparkles which twinkled and flew away into the air, causing an early riser to look twice.
Another human in the opposite part of the city opened a door to the small verandah and paused in astonishment as the large grey Aerodactyl flapped its way through the small watery streets and similarly glowed blue, leaving a trail of azure sparking motes into the air. Both blue spirits flowed back into their respective floor-tiles, the small holes where the fossils had once been, once more filling.
And above them...
"You had to go for world domination. It wasn't enough that we had the most beautiful and valuable jewel in the entire universe. You had to be a control freak."
Below the two, Ariados and Espeon waited patiently as their masters bickered. "Ari." Ariados rasped dryly. Humans...
Espeon agreed with a high yelp.
The humans continued. "Hey! Don't knock it till you've tried it!" Oakley insisted. "Do you have any idea what it's like to have that kind of control over everything?"
"Too bad you didn't have control over yourself!" Annie retorted.
Oakley just scoffed at that. "Like you did!"
With the metal visor just open a fraction into the outside world, allowing them a bit of air, Annie leant towards her friend with an indignant expression. "Oakley, what are you talking about?"
"Ah, the Soul Dew? You tried to pick it up, remember?" Oakley shouted, glaring at her partner.
With a guilty expression, Annie backed off, a hand raised in defence. "Oh yeah..." she laughed, then changed the subject quickly. "Well, anyway, we should probably go home now, right?"
"I'dlove to." Oakley snarled, and if on cue, the metal visor swung shut, completely and utterly closing them in.
When Annie's voice came again, it was laced with fear. "Uh-oh," she said quickly. "this is a problem!"
"No kidding." said Oakley, thoroughly sick of her by now.
"No, I mean, I'm not too good with closed spaces!" Annie said, her voice getting higher with each word.
But Oakley was having nothing of this and felt no sympathy. "You're not too good with closing your mouth, either..."
The sun rose upon a different world than the one before. The water was a beautiful cerulean blue, and the dawn colours of the sky entranced the travellers as they flowed gently along across the still ocean in one of Lorenzo's gondolas.
A lone voice permeated through the silence of the early morning. "Latias!" Misty cried, and was soon echoed by Brock and Ash. "Latios!"
Latias? Latias! Latioooos! Latiaaaas? Latioos?
The calling went on for a few minutes, before Pikachu, at the front of the gondola, peered out and spotted something. "Pika!" he warned with surprise, then shouted. "Pikapi!"
"Huh?" Ash said, leaning over the side of the gondola.
All of them looked across the water, and Brock was the first to recognise the still shapes as Pokémon. "Oh!" he said. A solemn Mantine, faithfully carrying a limp, unconscious Latias towards them, flanked on either side by worried Chinchou.
"It's Latias." Ash said. He watched as the three Pokémon drew closer to the boat, and was the first to reach down and bring Latias' considerable weight onboard. Bianca reached over from the other side to give him a hand. With her help they soon had Latias supported on the gondola, and the three other Pokémon departed without a word.
"Latias?" Ash said softly, looking closely at her, hoping. "Can you hear me, Latias?"
Lorenzo put down his oar and joined the group, huddled round her form.
A slow coo... Latias shifted in his arms and slowly her eyes opened to him. She called sweetly and sadly, and Ash held her tight in relief. "Latias!"
"Hey, Latias?" Bianca asked gently, and as soon as Latias looked up at the sound of her best friend's voice, Bianca took her into her arms. "Where's... Latios?"
Latias cried out sadly, looking into Bianca's eyes, then looked towards the clouds, mewing again, strongly this time, as if to say, "There.".
Bianca looked to that direction, and to the silence of the clouds amidst the blue sky just after dawn. It was so quiet here. Everyone followed her actions and cast their attentions to where Latias had said to.
"So..." Bianca said, "that light is Latios?"
The image of the night before, when the two had been lost to them in the pure cylinder of light, stretching as far as their eyes could see, all occurred to them. Ash could feel himself getting emotional at the thought that Latios was really, truly gone... could his spirit really be living on in the light they were seeing right now?
Lorenzo sighed and sat back down, looking every bit a tired old man. "Like his father, Latios gave his life to save the city." he explained to them.
Ash's mind was whirling. No. he said inside himself. No, that can't be. They didn't bring the water like Latios' father, they stopped it from destroying everything! That can't have...
Latias called sadly again, and shut her eyes in grief, seeking Bianca's comforting hug. The humans looked down in sadness and respect. Ash tried to clear his throat from the horrible lump seemingly embedded in there, but he knew it was inevitable. "Latios!" he cried, in denial and sadness and exhaustion from last night, and felt his eyes start to overflow.
Latias, in her own grief, felt his own cry, and called to him, her eyes opening and in his direction. The human cares so much; indeed they all do. Is it possible to... try, just try, one last time? I can still feel him, just feel him... Latios!
She blinked, and suddenly her eyes blazed white-blue, the pupils and iris' contracting as the sight-sharing power shone.
Ash felt his body, it was the same, but something about this was now different... he cleared his throat again and slowly opened his eyes to a whole new world. "Huh?" he exclaimed, and they flew open in wonder. "Oh!"
The group stood in surprise, and in wonderment at their situation. Sight sharing this was... but then, where was Latios? Was this really what he was also seeing, right now? They all stared into the centre of this blue sphere they were enclosed in, noticing the light was emanating from the perfect centre. And around them was flowing patterns of light and darker shades. But it was only Lorenzo who identified the surface around them as the same as the Soul Dew...
"Hey, this is..." Brock started.
"Sight sharing." Ash finished, and Bianca nodded at them, pleased. "That's right." she said.
Ash looked upwards, knowing there was no way he could see Latios, but hoping the motion would be considered as polite. "Latios, is this what you're seeing?" he said. Can he hear me? I hope so... "Show us..."
The Soul Dew and the humans inside ascended... through the fluffy, white of high clouds, and soon emerged to view the... the earth! The entire world, in its entirety was now in their sights as they floated in the darkness of space amidst the blue power of the Soul Dew.
Awed at the beautiful sight, the humans could only stare as Latias continued linking to her brother. They continued drawing away from the earth and soon could see the inky blackness of space and the countless stars in it.
"The earth is so pretty..." Misty said hesitatingly, hoping her words wouldn't break any connections. "So blue..."
Just as the earth was practically lost to them as they soared through space away from it, it faded entirely, and all around them was black – no more stars. The light in the centre sparked out and engulfed them in light and soon condensed once more to fly away from them, but then slowly lower before them.
Instinct told Bianca to hold out her hands where they were held, clasped to her body. The light drew down into them and soon formed into a perfect sphere once more, losing most of its radiance so the outer shell could be seen. The same land-form patterns roamed its surface... the same as the last jewel before it had shattered... the same as the one which they had been inside... the Soul Dew!
Bianca realised things had come full circle. This was Latios' last link to earth. "Latios?" Ash asked hoarsely, staring at the Soul Dew.
"Piika..." Pikachu whimpered, sadness in his eyes.
And the contact was lost...
They emerged from the blackness to find themselves standing upon mid-air just an inch above the gondola's hull. Bianca hardly felt herself descend as she stared in wonder. Brock, who was only very new to the experience, practically fell over before he recovered and cleared his throat in embarrassment.
Latias cried, her voice rippling with unspoken sadness. Bianca took one more look at the Soul Dew in her hands and hugged it to her, a sad smile on her face. Seeing Latias ignored by her human friend, Ash held out an arm and clasped her neck gently and protectively. She responded by crying again and leaning into his warm embrace.
So kind... she thought as she relaxed against him, eyes closed in sadness and yet, relief. He is... just so kind... like my brother was...
Back in the Secret Garden, an hour later, the group stood before the Soul Dew fountain. As it was his right, Lorenzo was the one to put the new one in where the old one had stayed for years, and just like the old one, it clinked into place immediately.
Bubbles began rising once more from the fountain, it was like the water was once again alive. Soon the water was streaming again through the holes – without the Soul Dew there, it had slowed to a mere trickle.
"It's perfect!" Misty said, a smile on her face. "Just like the old one!"
"Yeah," Ash agreed, in surprise.
"We now have a new Guardian of Alto Mare." Lorenzo explained.
It had been years since Bianca had tried talking to the Latios Soul Dew. Now, her courage returned. "Thank you for saving our town, Latios." she said firmly, and respectfully. "Please, stay with us forever."I know you can hear us, I believe it.
And the waters streamed forth with brand new vigour from the fountain...
Latios' spirit was still with them, till the end; in the everlasting waters of the canals, in the clear, clear air moving through the endless streets, in the sound of the bells as they tolled slowly in their towers, remembering many memories, and in the warm light from the sky as it fell upon the rooftops and stained glass windows... and his spirit was everlastingly comforted in the knowledge that his beloved sister would not be alone for very much longer...