This chapter wraps up the plot of Pokemon Heroes and opens into a new one. Not much else to say here.
Enjoy!
Disclaimers: I own nothing except my OC's; Damian, Cain, and Bastian.
Damian was confronting Lorenzo at the base of the Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare. Lorenzo seemed anxious, constantly stealing glances back at the machine.
"I don't remember being contacted by Silph Co… Are you sure that our offices gave you permission to investigate the Museum?" The elder asked Damian. The younger man crossed his arms and nodded.
"Yes, our company's President has assured our team that your curator allowed us to come and examine the Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare. We may even activate it if necessary. You have no reason for concern, as we are examining it for the sake of world-wide advances. It's a beautiful piece of engineering, it'd be a shame not to put it to use where it's really needed."
"But activating the machine requires the use of the Soul Dew, and taking it out of the water would destroy our city anyways- why would anyone give you permission to do this?" Lorenzo continued to glance back at the DMA in concern.
"Does it matter? We have the authority to perform our study, and it is completely safe. Besides, if you try to interrupt..." An unsettling smile came onto Damian's face. "I might have to alert national forces to what a dangerous weapon you have at your disposal."
Lorenzo was a bit intimidated by the man's aggressiveness in getting access to the machine.
"Are you blackmailing me? Of course we wouldn't use the machine, not that we, er…" Lorenzo stammered.
"Not that you what? Cannot power it? I am aware that most of the populace on this island firmly believes that the "defense" mechanism can only be activated by a Latios and Soul Dew. Yet other regions have disregarded this weapon as a threat, because they don't believe that those exist. But I can clearly see that they do, and the machine is quite capable of something past defending."
Lorenzo swore in his head. He's noticed the Soul Dew as well…
"Yes, well… we still have no intentions on using it for destruction. Besides, the mechanism is broken now, so you don't have to confiscate it," Lorenzo replied, impatient. "Please let it be. Now, I really must leave…"
Damian shook his head.
"That won't be a problem. We may be able to fix it, and if you allow us to do so, I won't have to use force to finish my study. But I suppose that you still hold belief that the Soul Dew is also responsible for keeping water in the city." Damian sighed. Sure, the Dew is a real artifact that powers a machine, but how could it magically control the earth's currents and tides? Build a dam or something. "...And I can see that there is something you'd like to attend to." Damian turned to leave. "I will return tomorrow to begin my business."
Lorenzo sighed heavily once the man had walked out the front doors. He might look handsome and charming to the younger folk, but clearly had no concern for the sake of Altomare. But that didn't matter at the moment; he had to get the Soul Dew back to the Guardians' Garden now. It had been out of the pool for too long, and could die at any moment.
"Latios, are you strong enough to return the Soul Dew now?" Lorenzo asked.
"Yes." He slowly levitated up off the floor, albeit unsteadily, and flew up to the DMA and pulled out a tiny orb from a socket in the DMA. It was the size of a baseball and had a very smooth surface, like glass.
"Something looks wrong with it; it's lost its luster…"
Latias flew up beside him to look at the Dew alongside her brother.
"You're right… Dad… Will it still bring water to the city?" She asked aloud telepathically.
"Perhaps, but we should still return it to its fountain. The longer it's out of the waters, the smaller the chances of survival it has," Lorenzo answered. Latias' eyes looked saddened from the possibility of losing the city, as well as her last connection to her father. She and Latios immediately vanished from sight and flew right out the shattered windows.
Lorenzo, Bianca and Ash were left in the museum. Up until now, Ash and Bianca had been sitting with Latias and Latios as they enjoyed their reunion. They had listened silently but intently to Damian and Lorenzo's exchange.
"Well, I should probably stay here and give a cover-up story to the officials," The elder told them. Sure enough, flashing lights and alarms could finally be heard out in the plaza. "Bianca, Ash, you should probably leave through the back passages, I don't hear the sirens back there yet. I don't want them investigating you, and we can't have them finding out anything about Latias and Latios' location."
The two teens nodded, and Bianca told Ash to follow her out an exit in the back.
Lorenzo coughed some more, thinking up an alibi to keep the officers from looking for Latios and Latias. Then there was that whole "research" mess that the science people added to this crisis...
. . .
Bianca and Ash walked out a door onto a balcony high off the ground, being sure to close the door behind them. Ash looked to the left and could see a small forest of trees behind the museum, and knew that that's where Latias and Latios' Garden must be. Now that the Kabutops and Aerodactyl seemed to have vanished along with the bars from the lockdown, it was much calmer night, save for the sirens and lights of the confused police officers trying to make their way to whoever had taken control of the DMA.
"There's a stairway down here that will lead to the Pokécenter… that's where you're staying, right?" Bianca asked Ash.
"Yeah. I remember this place… it's where I mistook you for Latias and chased you down that way," he laughed a bit and looked down on the city, trying to see if he could track the route that she and Bianca had (unwittingly) led him through. It was hard to believe it was less than half a day ago that that happened.
Bianca smiled too, then spoke to Ash again.
"Thanks for helping free us and Latios, by the way. It's really fortunate that Latias met you yesterday, or nobody might have come to stop those thieves."
"Well, Latias and I didn't help too much. Those men were the ones who finally broke the cage holding Latios," Ash admitted.
"I don't trust them," Bianca scowled. "That older man had a gun, and was arguing with grandpa. Something seemed sick about him. And now that they've seen Latias and Latios, they might try and look for their Garden…"
Ash thought about the brown haired young man he met. He looked kind enough, and Ash could tell that he had a bond with his Pokémon. Ash knew that kind of thing. But if they had been armed, then that meant they would have aimed to kill in some situation… Ash couldn't think about this for long before his ever-hungry stomach took over his thoughts. Eventually Bianca led Ash back to the Pokécenters (which he never would have found by himself) and they parted ways for the night.
. . .
Two sleek dragons emerged out of thin air in a heavily wooded park. Hundreds of small Pokémon were sleeping in the branches, on the ground, or for the nocturnal ones, flying overhead. Many of them stirred as they saw the legendary Pokémon fly past, but disregarded it and quickly fell asleep again.
A fountain was placed at the far end of the garden, with standing water in the basin, but no water was falling from it. It must have stopped within a few hours. At the bottom of the basin was a small, circular pedestal. Latios held the Soul Dew in both of his arms, unable to grasp it with only three claws in one paw. The Dew was dark and looked to have some fell cloud inside, but it glowed a bit where it touched Latios' body. He gently placed it in the fountain, which caused some water to dribble weakly from the top, but nothing else happened. The Dew remained dark and tarnished.
"What's wrong with it, brother?" The smaller, red dragon asked, concern in her voice.
"Although Dad's Soul Dew has to be taken to the Defense Mechanism to activate it, removing it from the pool also corrupts it, and the soul inside starts to die," Her older brother replied.
"That doesn't sound like a very 'protective' machine if it kills the Soul Dew," Latias huffed. "So, is there anything we can do to fix it?"
Latios was silent, looking into the pool at the little dull orb within.
"…Brother?"
"Dad's soul is what keeps the flow of water coming to this island. But now it's been mostly drained by the machine, and can't recover, let alone keep the water here. But if it had a new soul to power-"
"WHAT!" Latias suddenly squealed loudly, "Brother, if you even think for a second that I'm going to let you sacrifice yourself like dad did, then… then…" Latias was beginning to panic, her concern for her brother rising. "I just got you back, even those few hours were painful, thinking that I might never see you again... don't leave me alone. Lorenzo and Bianca and Ash will help me find a way to fix it!"
The concerned dragon hugged her big brother, a few tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Latios moved his gaze from the Soul Dew and smiled at his sister.
"If I don't sacrifice myself, Alto Mare will continue to slowly die. You say that if I did, then you'd be all alone. That's not true. Bianca and Lorenzo will still be here to look out for you, and Ash too."
Latias just blushed, her white down turning almost as red as her wings.
"Do you see?" Latios continued. "I'm giving my life up so you can live out your life in happiness her… and you won't be alone"
"…I barely know him… oh, just wait a few days so we can find another way, can't you? Alto Mare can wait that long."
"…Alright. Let's get some sleep."
"Okay… good night, brother," Latias said, reluctantly rising up into the brush of a nearby tree, half expecting him to begin creating a Soul Dew out of himself as soon as she pulled away. Latios just turned away and flew to another tree, looking for a branch to sleep on.
"Sweet dreams, Latias."
. . .
Deep underground somewhere, thousands of fathoms below sea level, an underwater fissure gaped, occasionally releasing some bubbles from air pockets. Water currents above began to slow and change direction, being forced down into the abyss. More and more bubbles rose out of the fissure, followed by small clouds of sulfur…
Well, that was probably confusing. This chapter really sets the groundwork for later, so the next chapter or two will clarify what each individual is aiming to do if it isn't clear enough here. Still, I hope it was a worthwhile read!
Please review- Criticism will help me become a better writer so I can make my stories more pleasurable (tolerable?) to read and write!