Eons Of Hope ending

Chapter Seven: Competition

The night came and went and the morning followed.  It was the day of the contest, and judging by the sun’s location Latnious guessed that they had slept in.
“C’mon guys!” He said loudly to wake everyone up. “We slept in!”
“You could have let us continue to sleep…” Laties replied groggily, still laying on the ground.
But Latias was up and fully awake. “We gotta see if Tyler wins the competition!” She insisted.
“He didn’t even say when it started.” Latios said, pushing himself from the dirt and brushing off a few clinging leaves.
“Which is why we need to get going to make sure we don’t miss it!” Latias countered, dragging Laties off the ground.
“Alright, I’m up!” Laties protested as Latias was about ready to rip his arm from its socket.
“Then let’s get going.” Latnious said, stifling a chuckle and, invisible, headed for the town.
They reached the town square with relative ease.  It appeared as if they were right on time for the final round.  In the middle near the fountain was a large platform, roped off from the large crowd.  A small panel of three judges sat before the platform, which bore four Trainers.  It was no surprise that Tyler and Jason were among the final four, and the their left was the person the four Eons guessed was Justin.  However they didn’t know who the last person was.
Even from nearly one hundred and fifty feet in the air the four could still clearly hear the MC.  “And now help me give a big round of applause to our four finalists!  Justin, last year’s champion, Jason and Tyler, the stunning duo and finally our newcomer, Max!”
They heard the rather large crowd cheer and yell for the final four competitors.  The cacophony lasted for over a minute, and when things quieted down the MC spoke again. “And now for the final round, Justin!”
Justin stepped forward with his Ninetails, who performed some admittedly decent pyrotechnics and stepped back into the line.  Latnious noticed the dirty look that passed between Jason and Justin.
“And next is Jason!” The MC announced.  Jason stepped forward and with what looked like a Duskull performed some trick with Will O’ Wisp.  The crowd seemed to really like it, and Jason stepped back as the MC called Tyler forward.  Tyler had his Lapras out, and Latnious beckoned the others to get in for a closer look.  They flew in, undetected, until they were just about fifty feet above the platform.
Tyler was now commanding Lapras to shoot a fountain of water into the air, but then switched tactics and had it use Ice Beam to freeze the water in place.  The end result was a breathtaking ice sculpture that awed the crowd and the officials.  Even the MC was speechless for a moment as Tyler waved and returned to his location.
“Umm…wonderful job Tyler!” The MC said haltingly as he continued to stare at the sculpture as a few people moved it from the stage.  “That’ll be hard to top.  And finally, Max!”  Max took center stage with his Roserade and performed some trick with Petal Dance.  The crowd cheered, but it was only half-heartedly after the stunning creation Tyler had left behind.
“And that’s it for this year’s competition!” The MC announced. “And the final verdict judges?”  He waited, and then became very exited. “Ladies and gentlemen we have a new champion, Tyler!”
The crowd nearly lost it with all the excitement.  Justin became livid, and just as he was about to leave the stage Latnious called out, “You’re not done on that stage today boy!”
Everyone stopped what they were doing, looking around to see who had called out.  Justin froze, not knowing who had said that.  He tried staying calm and in control, but it was evident that he was a bit spooked. “Who said that?” He challenged. “Show yourself!”
“As you wish.” Latnious revealed himself not twenty feet in front of the ex-champion.
Justin jumped, but quickly regained his composure and continued his arrogant attitude.  “And what do you mean by that?”
“I hear that you’ve been giving my buddy over there grief in past years.” Latnious replied casually.  Justin’s nerve began to fail him; either because he was facing a Pokemon he had never seen or heard of before, or because of the fact that the Pokemon was speaking perfect verbal English.
“Yeah?  So what?” Justin was starting to lose his cool, but he wasn’t about to show that to Tyler and Jason, who grinned, knowing what was about to happen.
“Well then I challenge you and your Ninetails to a face-off of powers!” Latnious announced, and the crowd went absolutely wild.
Justin was starting to get a little scared, and it was showing.  But he knew that he couldn’t back down now and risk losing face in front of the whole town.  “Then I accept!”  Tyler, Jason and Max knew that they should leave the stage at that point, so without wasting a moment they recalled their Pokemon and headed towards the judges.  Meanwhile the crowd continued to cheer and yell for more fun.
“Then take your place and show me what you got!” Latnious said.  Justin and Ninetails took place, center stage, and Justin had Ninetails use Flamethrower while spinning around in a circle, creating a hemisphere of flame.  Then Ninetails jumped and the flames burst outwards before quickly dissipating.  The crowd cheered at the decent performance.
But Latnious was hardly impressed. “That all?” He jeered.
“What do you mean?” Justin said. “That was my best solo trick!”
“Hah!” Latnious said. “I’ll show everyone what a true performance should look like!”  He took his place where Justin had been, and created eight small panels of multicolored light in an octagonal shape some twenty feet off the ground, each one being roughly fifteen feet away.
“So you can make little panels of light.  Big deal.” Justin was obviously impressed, but he was trying his hardest not to let it show.
“You wanna see a big deal?” Latnious replied, and the crowd cheered even louder.  Latnious concentrated, and fired eight Light Bullets, one at each panel.  They soundlessly struck, but they created a large ripple of light, awing the crowd.  But just as the ripples began to fade, Latnious made the eight panels a continual ring around himself and spun it around, creating a shimmering halo above the stage.  Then he craftily made three long, thin beams of light interweave through the halo, and just as the crowd was reaching a bursting point for more, Latnious created another sphere, but this one drained all light, creating a black void.  He shot the sphere through the halo and directed it to follow the inside of the halo in the opposite direction that the halo and the beams were moving.  And as a final touch he made his body glow brightly, lighting up the stage in a way that maximized the effects of the tricks.
Latnious glanced over at Justin, whose lower jaw was about to fall off because it was hanging so low.
Everyone cheered louder than Latnious thought possible, making a din so loud he thought he might go deaf.  He then allowed the spectacle to dissipate, which created another final wondrous effect.
The MC suddenly felt a surge of courage and jumped onto the stage and said, “Well I think that deserves a place in the record books!  Let’s give another round of applause for…” He paused, only then realizing that the gold Eon had yet to introduce himself.
“I am Latnious!  Master of the visual light and darkness!” Latnious declared in a powerful projection.  If he had had any more skill with his powers he would have shot light rockets into the sky for fireworks.
“Well, Latnious that was the impressive performance I’ve ever seen!” The MC said.
“Thank you.” Latnious replied. “And I hope the rest of you enjoyed it!”
The statement was greeted by a tidal wave of cheering. “I guess they loved it!” The MC observed.
Then Latnious rounded on Justin.  “Just to show that you’re not all that just for winning a competition eh?” He said telepathically to the Trainer.  Justin then lost all courage he might have had at being directed telepathically by the odd Pokemon and fled, his Ninetails not too far behind.
Later that day, once all the festivities were over Latnious found Tyler by the river.
Tyler jumped when he noticed the gold Eon hovering only a few feet away.  “Nice performance.” Latnious said.
“It was your idea that allowed me to win.” Tyler replied modestly. “Thank you.  And you did an excellent job of showing up Justin.  I’ve never seen anything like that!”
“Then it may surprise you to think that I nearly came up with that whole trick on the fly.”
“No way!” Tyler was amazed.
“Yup.  I had planned very little of what I actually did.” Latnious said.
“Unbelievable.” Tyler shook his head. “So now what will you do?”
“Not sure.” Latnious replied. “My friends and I are probably going to head out and roam the world.”
“Well good luck to you and your travels.” Tyler said, and Latnious flew off.
He found his friend by the berry patch.  “So now what?” He asked.
“Let’s go see the world!” Latias suggested energetically.
“You guys have any objections?” Laties and Latios didn’t, so they flew up above the tree tops, chose a direction, and flew off.

Chapter Eight: Operation Dimension

The four friends and been exploring the Gyron region for nearly a week when they came upon a large city.  Unlike Lyon, this community had several tall skyscrapers as well as a large cluster of smaller high-rises around them.
Latnious spotted a sign on the highway below them and dove in for a closer look.  He saw what he needed to see and flew back up to his friends.  He pointed to the city and said, “That’s Mayton City.  Apparently it’s the largest in the region.”
“Wanna check it out?” Laties asked.
“Why not?” Latios said. “We got nothing better to do.”
The four cloaked themselves and flew towards the cluster of towers.  It reminded Latnious of a smaller version of his old home state’s capital Denver.  They reached downtown in a matter of minutes and flew to the top of the tallest tower, which Latnious guessed was over thirty floors high.  The view from the center of this city was fantastic; off in one direction they could barely see the end of the mountains they had been traveling through, and the other direction they could make out the ocean.
“Hey, what’s that?” Latias asked, pointing to something off in the distance.  It looked like a large farm, the biggest one any of them had seen.
“Let’s go find out.” Laties suggested, and they flew off once more.
It did indeed look like a giant farm complex on the outskirts of the city.  But something was odd about it.
“Hey, there’s nobody here.” Latnious said.  For a large farm it was eerily quiet, and there were no odors typical of any kind of farm Latnious was familiar with.  He tried hard to find any presence, but he felt nothing.
“Either it’s abandoned, or whomever owns this place wants everyone to think that it is.” Latios concluded.
“Well let’s find out.” Laties said, flying right into the heart of the complex.
“Well this place is still active.” Latnious said. “Those generators over there are still working.” The other three listened hard, and soon they head the rumbling of the electric motors through the thick steel walls.
Laties spotted a sign and flew over to read it.  “There’s something fishy going on here guys.”
The other three flew over to read the sign.  It was a directory.  Some of the labels included the generators, experimentation lab, database building, and project structure.
“Well these are odd labels for just a farm.” Latias said.
Latnious followed where the last one had pointed to; it led to the largest structure on the property, a giant metal barn with no windows, only a set of doors on one side.  Latnious stared at the building, wondering what could be inside that would be that massive, when the doors opened up and two fully grown men stepped outside.  Latnious looked at the odd uniforms that they were wearing, and what caught his attention were two things.  One was the iconic red ‘R’ on the front, and the second were the things strapped to their backs.
“Oh gawd…” Latnious dashed back to his friends. “We need to leave…now!”
“Why?” Latios asked.
“I’ll explain later, but we need, to, leave!” Latnious insisted, and without further argument the four fled the scene.
They stopped in the woods about half a mile away from the complex.  All three Eons could feel the dread and worry radiating from Latnious.  “What’s wrong?” Laties asked.
“That complex belongs to Team Rocket.” Latnious explained.  It was apparent that all three knew what Team Rocket was about, so Latnious continued. “And this isn’t an ordinary criminal base, at least not on this world.”
“What do you mean?” Latios asked.
“They have guns.” Latnious said. “And in case you don’t know what those are, imagine something being able to fire a deadly metal object at someone at nearly five-hundred miles per hour.”
Latnious’ words scared the other three.  “What are they doing here?” Latias asked, frightened.  Latios put an arm around her to offer some comfort.
“The only way to find out is to corner one of them off-guard and get some information.” Latnious replied.  “But whatever it is they are obviously doing something highly illegal, and need to be stopped.”
“And you are suggesting that we do that?” Latios said, growing slightly aggressive.  “If these guns as you call them are that terrible, then why are you suggesting that we put our lives in jeopardy like that?”
Latnious saw the perfectly good logic, but he was ready. “Because, we need to keep them from potentially doing harm to hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people, especially the ones living in that city.  How would you feel if they ended up doing, say exterminating that city when you know that you could have prevented it?”  His words struck home.
Latios looked blankly at Latnious before giving a sigh. “Alright, we’ll try and derail their efforts.”
“Good, now stay here.” Latnious cloaked himself again and shot off for the base, leaving the other three in the dark.  He returned half an hour later with a package.  Latnious dumped his load on the ground, and the worker tried to crawl away.  But Latnious trapped him in a sphere of light.  “Now then, be a good little scientist and tell me what is going on at that base.” He commanded.
“I am not authorized to give out that kind of information!” The scientist protested.
“Wrong.” Latnious made the sphere smaller.  “Now then, unless you want to be crushed you will tell me what I want to know.”
The scientist remained silent for a moment, and Latnious made the sphere even smaller.  “Alright, alright!” The scientist squealed as claustrophobia overcame him.  “We’re trying to make a vortex into the Reverse World to capture Giratina!”
A pit formed in all four Eon’s gut.  Latnious had no feelings for Giratina, but he knew what might happen if their plans worked.  “Is it working yet?” Latnious demanded.
“It works!” The scientist cried. “But we’re not sure how to get people from the Reverse World back here yet!  Now please let me go!”
“I’ll let you go.” Latnious said. “But you will run in that direction and never look back, nor will you return to that base.” Latnious pointed off, away from the base.  He lowered the sphere and the scientist scrambled to his feet and dashed off from sight.
Latnious was shaking.  He hated having to be cruel, but he knew that he had to play it their way if he wanted to get information from them.
“Are you alright?” Latias asked, concerned.
“Yeah.” Latnious’ voice was slightly shaky. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“We need to do something about this.” Laties said.
“No duh…” Latnious muttered. “Then here’s what we need to do.  Latios, Latias, can you find a way to shut down the generators?”
“We can certainly try.” Latios replied.
“Then we, Laties, will see if there’s a way inside that large building.” Latnious said.
“Alright man.” Laties said, and the four took off.
Once they reached the base undetected, Latios and Latias split off and headed for the generator building while Latnious and Laties made a beeline for the large structure housing the ‘project’ which Latnious guess was the portal.
They watched the two doors for some time, and every now and again a lone soldier or a pair would leave or enter the building.  All the while Latnious was forming a plan of attack, and he was liking it.
“So here’s what I’m going to do.” He said to Laties. “I’m going to create a barrier on the outside of those doors so that nobody can leave or enter.  Then we are going to blow a hole right above those doors and cause as much destruction as we can.”
Laties grinned. “I like that.  But what about their weapons?”
“I’ll make a shield of light so that we will not be harmed.”
“Good thinking.  Well, let’s get to it.”
Right as Latnious created the barrier, causing some alarm from a lone soldier some two hundred feet away, there was a large explosion coming from the generator building.
“I guess they shut the power off.” Laties stated.
After a moment Latios and Latias regrouped with them and together they aimed their most powerful attacks at a point above the barricaded doors.  The resulting explosion rocked the structure, as well as leaving a gaping hole the size of a small house.  The four flew inside as Latnious created a shield of light that completely surrounded them.  Fortunately he was able to make it so that they could leave the shield, or attack from the inside, but things couldn’t enter the shield from the outside.
Many stunned soldiers began to fire their machine guns at the Eons, but the shield stopped the bullets cold.  Meanwhile, the four friends were causing much chaos with their assault on the interior.  On the far side of the building was a massive metal ring, which was the vortex itself.
“Yeah, got one!” Laties celebrated as a soldier fell to the ground.
“Man how many of these guys are there?” Latios observed as he knocked one from his perch on a balcony.
“I don’t know.” Latnious said as the bullets continued to be deflected. “But we have to keep fighting.”
Soldiers kept pouring in from the outside, as Latnious had failed to notice the secondary set of doors on the other end of the structure.  He glanced around for a distraction, and his eyes alighted upon a support beam across the rafters.  He saw where the beam was being held in place, and fired two disc-like light shards at them, slicing them in half.  The beam fell to earth with a great crash, crushing several soldiers.
Latnious repeated the tactic on several more rafters, creating even more chaos among the soldiers.  On the final beam, Latnious failed to notice that the vortex was directly beneath it until it was too late.  The beam fell and collided with the machine, severely damaging it, as well as causing it to malfunction.  It became active.
“Oh SNAP!” Latnious cried as the electrical surges wrecked the machine from the inside.  However Latnious discovered another weakness at this point; the overloaded active vortex was emitting pulse waves that penetrated through the shield and gave Latnious a massive headache, causing him to lose concentration.
Meanwhile the vortex had begun to pull things into its depths, from unfortunate soldiers to other debris not secured to the ground.  Latnious knew that they were in danger, so he blasted a large hole in the roof and yelled, “We have to get out of here!”  The pained look on his face convinced them not to argue.
At the sight of the uncontrolled portal the soldiers began to flee.  The pull was getting stronger, making it hard for the four from getting sucked into the depths.  But the pulses were getting worse, and suddenly the shield began to waver, and then it vanished.
“Aww…crud!” Latnious tried his best to put the shield back up.  He felt the tug of the vortex starting to pull them in. He glanced at the others, who were having a hard time keeping away from the vortex’ pull.  But as he glanced at Latios he heard a painful cry, and the blue dragon’s left wing had a hole in it.
“NOO!” Latnious saw the trapped soldier who had fired the shot, and put the man out of his misery with a bullet of his own.
But it was too late for Latios.  The impact and sudden pain from the wound caused him to succumb to the grasp of the portal, and he fell through it with one final cry of anguish.
“LATIOS!” Latias cried, and tried to go after him but Laties grabbed her wing and kept her from the same fate.  The pulses were getting stronger and more frequent.  Latnious had a sinking feeling about what was going to happen; Latios had caused the vortex to malfunction even more and the machine began to emit a loud whine.  Latnious concentrated with all his mind power one last time and managed to throw up another shield just before the machine exploded.
The entire base was destroyed.  Every building had been raised.  All that remained was rubble.  Latnious finally let the shield down and collapsed into the dirt, exhausted both from the fight and from the splitting headache the pulses had caused.  But now he was mourning, once again, the loss of his friend.  But he wasn’t alone.  Beside him, Latias was completely lost in the depths of her sorrow.  Laties was deeply saddened, but not as much as the other two.  He thought it tactful to let his friends mourn together for awhile.
And there they remained for hours.  Latnious and Latias let the tears flow.  As the sun set Latnious began to put himself back together.  ‘Darn it…’ He felt solely responsible for the loss of Latios.  He caused the beam to fall onto the vortex; it was his weakness that allowed that soldier to get one shot at Latios; and worse yet, it was his determination to stop Team Rocket’s plans here that caused the whole mess in the first place.  Latnious hovered off the ground where he had been lying.  He looked over at Latias, who was a picture of sorrow and depression on the ground.  He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him, the remnants of tears still in her golden eyes.
“C’mon.” Latnious said to her, softly. “We shouldn’t be here.”
She sniffed, and said, “Why?  Why him?”  Her voice, so filled with sorrow, made Latnious want to cry all over again.
“I don’t know.” Latnious said. “But staying here won’t help him.”
Latias slowly got off the ground, and then embraced Latnious as a few more tears fell from her face.  Latnious hugged her back.
“We were going to spend the rest of our lives together…” She whined, and sniffed again.
“I know it sounds cruel of me to say this, but the world hasn’t ended.” Latnious told her. “You still have me, and Laties.”  He looked at Laties, who was inspecting a jagged piece of steel. “You are coming with us, right?”
Laties looked over at the pair and sighed. “What better things do I have to do?”
“Then let’s get going.” Latnious said, and the three took off into the evening sky.

Chapter Nine: Time Lapse

Three weeks have passed since the disaster at Mayton City.  The trio of Eons have spent their time just aimlessly wandering the countryside, but it wasn’t the same without Latios by their side.  In that short time period Latnious felt himself growing a stronger friendship with Latias, being the only one who could really comfort her.  It seemed to be working both ways, because one morning Latnious woke to find Latias right up against his flank.  Every now and then the red Eon would find herself revisiting memories of Latios, and each time would bring fresh tears, and each time Latnious was there to make her feel better, which made him feel good because he was able to help.
As time wore on the trio became less conversational, with Laties being the only real figure to start a lasting conversation.  At first Latnious and Latias were resentful that Laties could just shrug off Latios’ demise like that, until he reminded them that he used to have two Latios as friends until he left them to see the world.
By unspoken word they avoided Mayton City whenever they wandered too close to it, usually making a huge circular detour around it or sometimes even heading the opposite direction.  Eventually they ended up by the ocean, and since it was getting late they decided that they were just going to camp on the beach for the night.
“It’s so peaceful out here.” Latias said quietly.
“You know I was born by the beach.” Latnious said.
“Really?” Latias replied. “That’s so cool.”
“Yeah.” Latnious said. “Big city too.  I showed you remember?”
Latias thought back, and said, “Oh yeah…I remember that now.”
“Yeah.  But I lived most of my life in that room by those mountains.  I think this is the first time I’ve actually been by the ocean in over fifteen years.”
“Wow…that’s a long time.” Latias said as they both stared into the gorgeous sunset.
“Can anyone say…romance much?” Laties jeered from their camp.
Latnious was instantly ticked, and shot a Light Bullet at Laties, who barely dodged with a “Hey!”
“Why’d you have to go and ruin the moment?” Latnious shot back, highly peeved.
“Sorry.” The silver Eon said. “It was just too iconic for me to pass up.”
Latnious shot a disgusted look Laties’ way and turned to Latias, who to his surprise was smiling.
“What?” He asked.
“I think you like me.” She stated.
“Of course I do.” Latnious replied. “How could I not after everything we’ve been through?”
“I think you missed my point.” She said.  Latnious caught on and blushed.  Maybe he did like Latias a bit more than as just a friend.  But he felt awkward about it, after all he wasn’t always a Pokemon.
Latnious still had those dreams where he was visited by the original Latnious.  That night he had a rather ominous dream.  Once again, he was Martin the human in the endless white void, confronted by the golden Eon.
“So, any news for me this time?” Martin asked.
“You seem to be quite attached to Latias.” Latnious observed.
Martin rolled his eyes. “I just feel bad because it seems like if it wasn’t for me, Latios would still be around.”
“Latios may have been sucked through that vortex, but that doesn’t mean he’s dead simply because he overloaded the machine, causing it to explode.”
That statement hit Martin like a brick wall.  “Wait…so you’re saying that Latios may still be alive?”
“If the machine worked like it was intended, Latios should have been sent somewhere in the Reverse World, but the bullet wound won’t make things easy.”
“So, should I tell the others?”
“If you want to ruin this new relationship with Latias.”
Martin was faced with a thorny problem.  He could tell Laties and Latias, and risk losing the newly developed friendship with Latias over even a false hope, or he could withhold the information and enjoy the relationship.  But that would be selfish to not say anything, however it might just cause more pain to say something.
“The choice is yours.” Latnious said.  “And one last thing…your journey has only begun.”
“Oh ok…wait WHAT?” Martin didn’t believe it, but the dream ended and Martin was Latnious again.  He woke, only to find himself staring right into Latias’ golden eyes.
“Bad dream?” She asked.
‘Alright…I gotta say something.’ Latnious decided.  He got up and said, “I had another conversation with the original Latnious.”
“And?” Latias was instantly curious.
“Brace yourself…he says that Latios may still be alive.”
For a moment it seemed as if Latias was unable to register that statement, but when she did she became ecstatic.
“He’s still alive?  Oh my gawsh!”  She hugged Latnious then.
“Take it easy, you’re crushing me!” Latnious said, and she let go. “We don’t know if he’s alive or not, but if he is then he should be somewhere in the reverse world seriously injured.  If he survived the blast then the gun wound may still be fatal.”  He hated sounding morbid, and he hated it even more when the large happy joyous smile vanished from Latias’ face.  “But there’s still a hope!” Latnious said quickly.
“Yeah…” She sounded highly disappointed. “Giratina won’t like that though…”
“No.” Latnious admitted. “I don’t think that monster would appreciate company like him.  But he told me something else.”  Latias was all-ears again. “My journey is far from over.”
“So what does that mean for us?” Latias asked as Laties woke up.
“I’m not sure…but I know at least my time won’t be for a long while yet.”
“Well that’s something to hope for.”
“I don’t know about you guys but I’m going for a morning dip.” Laties announced as he made for the ocean.
“In saltwater?” Latnious replied, skeptical. “That won’t do you much good.”
“I don’t care.” Laties dove headfirst into the ocean.
“Man it’s like he doesn’t listen at all.” Latnious said.
“Agreed.” Latias replied as both stared at the spot where Laties dove in.

All throughout the day Latnious couldn’t help but keep thinking about what he had been told, that his journey was far from over.  He kept thinking about what might happen to him in the future if this was just the beginning; thoughts that he would rather have kept unimagined ran through his mind as images of worse battle scenes with even more depressing outcomes appeared in his mind.
‘If this is just the beginning…then my road is long, and I need to prepare for it.’ Latnious concluded as he looked over at Latias. ‘I don’t know what I would do if I lost her at this point; she’s my last real link to my past on Earth other than my memories and those dreams where I become…me.  No, I will not lose her now, nor Laties.  Even if I must fight to my last drop of strength.  And someday…someday we might actually find a nice place to live and settle down without having to fear what’s around the corner.  But until then I must be on my guard at all times.
‘Who can say what the future holds…I guess only time will tell…’