Chapter 34 – Aftermath

The region slowly got back to the way things were before Team Annihilation Reborn came and took over. People and Pokemon once controlled all returned to normal. After Shiny Latias had died up on that rooftop, all controlled suddenly fell unconscious, they were finally free, although the number of the controlled were pretty high, I'm not sure of the exact numbers Shiny Latias had captured and controlled to do her bidding. But now no one else in the world would ever be controlled by her ever again. We would look back at this moment as if it were all a long nightmare we hope to forget, but how could anyone forget all of that?

Who was to blame for this evil? What monster could do such a thing? Me along with those who really knew who did had done this was Shiny Latias, the mastermind and leader of Team Annihilation Reborn. But the media and most of the people across the region and beyond had only known one 'leader', and that was Latias, the most evil Pokemon who ever lived.

They called her… terrible things, things that were untrue, those who knew her knew she was, what kind of Pokemon Latias was; a friend for most and a mother to one. No matter what was said, they didn't want to hear, they had already set it in stone that Latias was the true leader, the mastermind behind it all and no one else was involved.

I don't know how, but people did eventually find me, yelled and screamed at me and those defending me, another target for them to be angry at when the one they wanted to yell, and shout at, perhaps more was already dead. No matter what I or anyone else had told them, they never believed, and they never listened to anything we tried to tell them, how much evidence we showed them, the people who knew her all said she would never do the things they all claimed she did. They had already painted Latias as the leader of Team Annihilation Reborn, and they always will.

Team Annihilation Reborn and all of its members who weren't being controlled were arrested and imprisoned for what they had done. Mostly scientists and of course Petrov imprisoned, sentenced to life behind bars for killing many citizens across the region. He did multiple times try to get away with it by claiming he was being controlled by Shiny Latias, but we all knew he was lying, trying to escape his crimes.

Team Annihilation Reborn thankfully never returned to the Unova region or any other regions. Of course there were copycat teams trying to become a newer version of them, but they never lasted as long as Team Annihilation did, a month or two before they were shut down and the region was back to normal.

I awoke in a hospital bed slightly dazed and completely covered in bandages from the battle I had with Shiny Latias. I was confused as to why I was there and where I was, then the memories flooded my mind of the battle with Team Annihilation Reborn, Espeon and Latias' deaths, all of that seemed as if all of it was all a dream, but it wasn't. All of that had happened and I survived it, only with even more scars on my body.

Devon, Lisa and Brent entered the room soon after, and not long after I was told what had happened, to Team Annihilation Reborn, the controlled, the outcome of the battle. Team Annihilation Reborn was no more, defeated, gone for good while we cleaned up what was left to carry on living.

"We're relieved to see that you are okay, bud. We're really sorry about Espeon and Latias…" Brent said sadly as he and Lisa walked over next to my bed.

"I… um, how did that battle go?" I asked, not knowing where to begin to talk about Espeon and Latias or wanting to get into it, not right now, so I changed the subject. "When we split up in the stairwell, me and Espeon made our way up while you two stayed to fight the soldiers, how did it go?"

"We took a beating…" Lisa placed some flowers by the foot of my bed beside the many gifts and 'get well soon' cards. "Although we fought hard and gave it our all, we didn't last long."

"But we didn't go down without taking out a good amount first before being overwhelmed."

"Glad you guys made it." I smiled. "And your Pokemon, are they okay?"

"Yeah, all of 'em are down in the center getting all patched up as we speak. Should be all out by tomorrow night at the latest." Brent smiled, but then his smile faltered upon seeing a photo frame on the bedside table. It was a photo of me, Latias, Espeon, Sakura, Isaac and their Pokemon we took together before leaving Nuvema Town in search of Team Doom. "Gonna miss those guys. Espeon… I didn't like her at first, the constant teasing and attitude, but after getting to know her she was alright…"

"They will never be forgotten. People and Pokemon like them, it's impossible to forget them." Lisa sighed, picking up the photo frame to get a better look at it. "It's finally over." Lisa was right, it was over, and never again would I ever have to fight.

People wanted to talk to me, mostly the media and executives of The Savior's all wanting either a report from me or to congratulate me on my efforts on defeating their old enemy for good. All were kept away from me, I needed my rest, I needed to heal up so I could get out of there and away from it all, I was done with them. Lisa and Brent left my room to go and check up on their Pokemon, and to fight off the press trying to fight their way inside. They would stay in the region for a while, not wanting to go back to their home regions just yet. I was sure The Savior's of their regions wanted to speak to them for leaving against orders.

Hours had passed and I was alone to my thoughts… kind of empty thoughts really, I didn't know what to think about other than think back to the battle with Shiny Latias. I could've turned on the TV, but there wasn't anything on. I knew most channels were all talking about what had happened on Reversal Mountain, how Team Annihilation Reborn was no more, celebrating the heroes for defeating the largest threat to the region for a long time, celebrating the death of Latias believing her to be the mastermind behind it all. Turning on that TV would've been a bad idea, I didn't want to risk turning it on and seeing something horrible about Latias. I would've asked for something to read, but the only reading material they had were up to date magazines and newspapers all with something about Team Annihilation Reborn and Latias. I did want to enter the Dark Place to meditate or to actually do something, but I feared if I actually used it my mind would force me to see Latias' final moments, or Espeon's. It wouldn't be the first time when entering the Dark Place I would see a terrible memory, and I was still in pain for me to fully concentrate. So I was pretty much alone in my room with nothing but my thoughts.

I spent most of my time in that bed resting, wanting to get out of there faster and go home. And then the door of the room opened up, "Zack?" I looked at the open door and saw Aqua walk inside and up to my bed. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner."

"That's alright. How are you? I heard about how you helped Ren and my Pokemon during the battle, it must've been pretty rough over there…"

"I managed. Sure it was pretty chaotic and scary, but I managed." She sighed and held my paw with hers. "Are you okay, Zack?"

"Entire body covered in even more scars, I'll live. But my mind is… it's terrible. I keep thinking of them, of Espeon how she bled out like that, and Latias… " I closed my eye, my head quickly filled with the memory of Latias before she died. "It all happened so fast…"

"Zack..." She held me close. "I'm so sorry this happened." I wrapped my arm around her in silence for a while. It had been a tough month; I could only imagine at that moment what I would go through the next and perhaps more. From the corner of my eye, I saw something peek their head from behind the door and hide behind it again once they realized I had noticed them.

Aqua looked back at the door briefly, then turned to me and said. "There are two Pokemon out there who would love to meet their father if you want to see them." I realized what two Pokemon Aqua meant. Behind the door were my son and daughter; Light and Kairi.

"I… I would like to see them." I said, unaware how exhausted I was still, but I fought it off as much as I could wanting to see them and to hold them for the first time.

Aqua lightly smiled and turned to the door. "You can come in now you two." And almost instantly the door opened up and two young Oshawott's entered, Light entered first, a slight tuft of fur stuck up at the top of his head very similar to that of a Dewott, and Kairi with almost the same pink ribbon Aqua wears behind her right ear followed closely behind her brother.

Aqua helped the two up on top of the bed so they could look at me closer. "Dad." Kairi smiled, moving in first and touched my arm with her little paws. I stroked her head and picked her up. Light walked up to me and smiled as I picked him up with my other arm.

They smiled at me, I held them close looking down at my son and daughter in their eyes and smiled back. "Light, Kairi, I have dreamed about this day for so long, to hold you both in my arms for the first time." There was no monitor between us that time, and that time was real.

My son and daughter asked me about my adventures, asked about the places I had been to before, all about the sights, the strange and exciting Pokemon I have met. I would think back to my past adventures with my friends and would answer honestly about them, the battles I had fought, the exciting places I had been in my life, how I once travelled throughout time. They had asked me about my scars, wanting to know how I got each one; I told them that I got my scars in many battles, most while searching for Latias. I never mentioned Shiny Latias to them, saying that she was the one who scratched my left eye out. Talking about her after the battle brought up terrible memories. So when asked about it, all I told them about my eye was a made up story on how I fell off a tall building and into a river, and that would usually lead into me telling them about how I met Aqua soon after.

I couldn't get up and out of bed to play with them like they wanted me to, but instead they told me all about the sights they had seen after leaving the safe zone for the first time since they hatched out of their eggs, amazed at the cities, the towns they had seen along the way to Castelia City, and the Pokemon they had never seen before. We talked most of the time we spent; life inside the safe zone, what kinds of food they ate, TV they watched, but mostly they wanted to hear all about my time outside the safe zone, and the excitement on discovering they had an older sister, wanting to know all about Midnight and why we never mentioned her. I told them I never knew about Midnight until we found her inside the lab where she was being kept prisoner, and we helped her escape from that place to live a better life outside. Midnight had entered the room soon after and joined in on the fun, mostly playing with her brother and sister, and asking if I was okay, if all of this was finally over, I assured her that it was.

My cheeks hurt a lot that day because of how much I smiled, moderately reducing my recovery time and prolonging my stay at the hospital. But watching them play, watching them smile and telling me all about the exciting things they wanted to do once we leave this place made staying there, it was worth it.

Aqua asked me sometime after I had left the hospital if I wanted to know what her vision was of the future, a vision she tried to warn me about but my Savior's device used to communicate with her had broke, it was a warning about what would happen to Espeon and Latias, how I could've done something about it. the things she told me, medical items nearby I could've taken on the fortieth floor to help Espeon with her wound, to keep her alive long enough for medical help to arrive. And as for Latias, I had used all of my healing items on Espeon to keep her alive, so before Shiny Latias had fatally stabbed her sister with her Dragon Claw, I was supposed to throw my scalchop at Shiny Latias' paw allowing Latias time to use her own move to finish her off…

I don't know if I wanted to know that, knowing I could've saved them, that there was a chance for both Espeon and Latias to be catching the same ride as me with the others back home to Nuvema Town. Maybe I was curious of what my options were… maybe it would've been for the best if I didn't know my options.

Only me and several others knew about what was in Castelia City a month after the final battle with Shiny Latias, inside the morgue the bodies of Latias, Shiny Latias, and Espeon were being kept. Maia wanted to see them, the faces of her daughters she hadn't seen since they had escaped the lab. As she looked upon the faces of the deceased, she silently placed a paw on both of their heads, stroking them.

"I had longed to see them again after all these years, wishing every night that they were safe, that they were happy. I wanted to hold them, to tell them I had missed them so much… and that I always loved them." Maia turned to me and wiped a tear from her eyes. "I don't hate Shiny Latias. I still remember her as the shy one, the one who would always cuddle up beside me when we slept. Latias was always the one wanting to move around. Her father tried his best to keep hold of her, but she always insisted on moving around as much as she could in that little cell of ours. I wish things had been different for Shiny Latias… Thank you Zack, thank you for being there for Latias." She placed her paw on my shoulder before she left the room to go and check on Midnight. The death of her mother was heart breaking for her; it was heart breaking for all of us.

I walked to where Espeon was being kept on the other side of the room and stared down at her lifeless body, her eyes now shut. I placed a paw on her shoulder and silently nodded, thanking her for everything she did.

I walked to the table Latias' lifeless body was on, and used a chair to get a look at her. I had no thought or any words, I felt empty. I sighed and stroked Latias' long neck; hurt how she would never see our hometown or Midnight again. I stopped stroking her neck and moved my paw over to her paw and held it with mine. I'm not sure how long I was there for until I got up and left, but I stayed with her, and I remembered times when we had fun, when we were young, a life before Shiny Latias came.

Cremation was decided upon for all of them. Maia would take Shiny Latias' ashes so she could spread them where she and her mate first met in the Hoenn region, near the largest mountain I think. She would stay there for a few days before coming back to us to be with her granddaughter. Espeon and Latias' ashes would be given to me in jars. I didn't spread them; I took them with me, not knowing what to do with the ashes.

Nuvema Town – My Home

Days had passed since I left the hospital, almost a month after the battle with Shiny Latias, the death of Espeon and Latias, I didn't know what to do. I felt defeated; I felt as though I had lost, that everything was for nothing.

Returning home after five years I thought Shiny Latias and Team Annihilation Reborn might've set it on fire or had destroyed it while I was away fighting them, but to my surprise it still stood untouched. Nothing had been changed inside or out since I left after five years. My sister Yuri and my dad Henry both returned from the hospital, both suffering from the harsh treatments Annihilation had given them all those years. Henry would never walk again and had to use a wheelchair to move around, waking up most nights in pain. Yuri didn't speak much, breaking down into tears whenever something reminded her of Team Annihilation Reborn. With help from friends and others, they slowly found a way to get back on the path to live a normal life again. All of us together suffered from them, it was hard, it was a long time until we felt we could move on.

I walked around the town, passing by some old buildings and places I had been to, each bringing up a memory or two about Latias. I was with Midnight, wanting to know all about the hometown me and Latias lived in, places we went to hang out, the best places to go for food, a place of interest. Places of interest for me were either the Pokemon Laboratory, home I guess since we did have an apple tree in the back yard and it was Latias' favorite places to watch the clouds, and also the hill Latias and I hung out when we were young after school.

On the hill at the edge of town I sat beside the tree and looked up at the sky while Midnight inspected each flower she saw by sniffing each one. I looked down at the town below the hill, watching from a distance as lights in buildings turned on, watching as people closed their buildings down as the day had almost come to an end.

Sadly, I sat there and thought of the past when Latias and I were together, thinking of how things could've been if she were still there alive and well. My heart hurt when I remembered her smile, then memories of her face before she died suddenly popped in my mind.

I felt the sunlight warm my face up. I opened my eye and looked up at the sunset. I watched it for a little while in silence, slowly taking in that beautiful sight, and then I felt myself smiling. I remembered the happy moments me and Latias shared up on that hill. I felt happy knowing the world was once again safe from harm, that Midnight could live a happy life, and so would I. I would never have to fight ever again.

To be continued…

Trivia:

Originally written without anyone saying anything, it was pretty much Zack narrating the entire chapter about what happened after the battle with Team Annihilation Reborn, who survived, and how zack returned to Nuvema town with everyone else but Latias.