Latoshi

"No! I'm not going to throw in the towel, and I am not your sidekick who takes orders! I am done playing second fiddle to anyone else! I decide my own fate — no one else gets to decide that for me anymore; not Lazarus, and not you!"

- Latoshi to Antoshi, A Blond Ray of Sunshine, Part 5: Frozen Summer

Latoshi is one of the main protagonists of A Blond Ray of Sunshine — a Pokémon fan fiction series that takes place in a future timeline, almost one hundred years after the events of Pokémon Red and Blue. Making his debut in Sibling Rivalry, he is portrayed as a snarky, arrogant 13-year-old boy from the region of Johto. As the sole survivor of a mysterious, deadly explosion that wiped out an entire Johto town, Latoshi is taken to a military black site. He awakens in an isolated prison cell with no memories.

He begins to lose his sanity, until he's visited by a disembodied spirit named Lazarus. Lazarus teaches the boy to harness the energy of his spirit — his Ki — in order to slaughter people under Lazarus' ideal of 'cleansing' the world of evil. After Latoshi breaks free from, and destroys, the military site, he soon runs into his twin brother: Antoshi.

Latoshi soon realizes the error of his ways, while also uncovering Lazarus' true nature as a spirit parasite; stealing his spirit energy along with control of his physical body. After ridding himself of Lazarus, Latoshi eventually reconciles with his brother and his sister, Mitoshi. He regains his memories soon after, makes peace with the events that occurred, and meets his biological parents. He renounces the ideals and the hatred that Lazarus taught him, deciding to live with his siblings.

Conception and creation
Latoshi was conceived some time in mid-late 2002, through text role-playing in AOL chat rooms. Latoshi was originally portrayed as a snarky, sarcastic 13-year-old. If angered enough, he would unleash his 'Dark' power and become violent and bloodthirsty. This brutish, edgy personality carried over into the first take of fan fiction stories starring the character, which began in 2002. Latoshi was given no backstory, and no explanation as to why Antoshi was his long-lost brother. The first series lasted for six stories and one 'special,' spanning from 2002–2008.

When the series went through a reboot in 2009, Latoshi debuted in a new story, Brotherly Love. More focus was put on making a serious, coherent, ongoing storyline. Latoshi discovers and develops his powers through a new character, Lazarus, as opposed to simply always having them. The backgrounds of Antoshi and Latoshi are also explored further. The second series spanned five stories, with a sixth left unfinished, before being dropped in 2012.

The series went through another reboot in 2017 — its current incarnation — overhauling and expanding the story of 2009's Brotherly Love (now titled Sibling Rivalry), where Latoshi makes his debut, while keeping the core plot points intact.

Sibling Rivalry (2018)
Latoshi is the only known survivor of the destruction of Fern Town in Johto. The blast he creates to cause the town's end leaves him unconscious for several days. After awakening in a military prison cell, Latoshi realizes that he's lost all of his memories. Eventually, he gives in to mania from lack of human contact. He is greeted by a voice in his head, calling itself 'Lazarus.' Lazarus teaches Latoshi over how to harness, wield, and control his Ki. Latoshi eventually becomes strong enough to escape his prison, murdering several military police, and his captors, before destroying the entire black site.

Latoshi flees to nearby Goldenrod City. Guided by Lazarus' influence, and the lingering bitterness inside him, he believes that too many people — such as his former captors — are evil, and unworthy of living. He begins a campaign of killing these 'parasites' in order to bring out a 'perfect world.' Soon, he runs into Antoshi. The two are shocked to find that they appear almost physically identical, save for the colors of their hair. They get along for a brief time before Antoshi, with great suspicion about Latoshi's identity, presses him with questions regarding the destruction of the Johto town. Irritated, Latoshi lures Antoshi and Fireball into the Ilex Forest, where he reveals his plans for his ideal utopian world — by murdering everyone Latoshi deems to be evil. He invites Antoshi to join him. Antoshi is shocked by Latoshi's willingness to kill, and vehemently declines. A clash between the two young men with superpowers ensues.

Latoshi, who wields superior control over his own powers, emerges soundly victorious. He leaves Antoshi bloodied, brutally beaten, and nearly unconscious. Fireball is also left unconscious and badly injured. Lazarus insists that Latoshi kill Antoshi. Before he can finish Antoshi off, however, he has a last-second change of heart. Latoshi leaves Antoshi unconscious in the woods. After, Lazarus creates an excruciating noise in Latoshi's head. He warns the boy never to disobey his orders again.

Intervention (2018)
Latoshi continues to remain obedient toward Lazarus, continuing his training in secret, to become strong enough to defeat Antoshi again, along with anyone else in his way. However, the boy is more interested in regaining his memories, which start to come back to him in pieces. Lazarus becomes fed up with Latoshi's obsession over his past. He reveals to Latoshi that he is the reason for Latoshi's amnesia, by way of using his own powers to 'lock away' his memories. After this revelation, Lazarus locks more of his recent memories away, keeping the boy unwittingly loyal to him.

Lazarus instructs Latoshi to go on a killing spree in various prisons around Goldenrod City. Afterward, he walks along the beach, where he is found by his blond-haired rival. Antoshi tries once again to get Latoshi to stop his crusade, but Latoshi goads him into another fight. Due to his near-constant training, Antoshi gains a strong upper hand in their fight for some time. Lazarus eventually steps in, taking over control of Latoshi's body, to turn the tables. Antoshi outlasts Lazarus' time-limited control, violently beating down Latoshi as the sable-haired boy regains consciousness. Lazarus' manages to infect part of Antoshi's spirit, speaking to him, mesmerizing him. His aura becomes corrupted, just like Latoshi's, and prepares to finish off Latoshi for good.

Antoshi hears Fireball plead for him to stop, breaking the parasite's control, letting Latoshi go. The two boys share a moment of somber peace, before Lazarus forces Latoshi to flee. Exhausted, Latoshi is heartbroken that Lazarus treated him so poorly during the fight. He, again, shows his unwillingness to follow Lazarus any longer, forcing Lazarus to once again lock away his recent memories. The boy becomes almost robotic as a result, a shell of his former self.

Family Reunion (2019)
Latoshi, showing severe signs of an impending psychotic break, is forced by Lazarus to continue his training and step up his abilities to the next level in order to match Antoshi. After remaining seated and motionless for hours, Latoshi has enough of Lazarus' teaching methods. He snaps, going on a rampage in an abandoned area of Goldenrod City. He lays waste to multiple high-rise buildings, destroying a city block. Once he tires himself out, Lazarus takes control of the boy's body, forcing him to head back to seclusion. Lazarus realizes this is a result of the lingering hatred the boy holds towards Lazarus, and the parasite constantly blocking the boy's memories, leaving Latoshi confused. Lazarus decides to block the boy's memories no longer.

After awaking, settling down, and unaware of the destruction he'd wrought, Latoshi follows Lazarus' suggestion to go to Antoshi once more. Latoshi waits outside the cabin near Route 35 where Antoshi, Fireball, and Mitoshi — the sister he is unaware of — are staying. When Antoshi and Fireball leave, Latoshi knocks the girl out, kidnaps her, and leaves a note telling Antoshi to follow him to Mt. Mortar.

Once Antoshi and Fireball are there, Antoshi explains Mitoshi is their sister, but Latoshi believes it's a bluff and attempts to execute her. She is saved, faster than any of them realize, by Serenity. Infuriated, Latoshi attempts to fight Serenity, but is effortlessly defeated by her. After Antoshi declines to fight him again, Mitoshi steps up and fights in his stead despite having no fighting experience. She, too, defeats Latoshi, highlighting just how enfeebled he has become under Lazarus' 'tutelage.' The showdown is interrupted when a mysterious young man named Collin arrives, hovering over their heads. He reveals himself to be Serenity's brother, and the former host for Lazarus. Collin explains to Latoshi that he's wasting his time keeping Lazarus around, and that the parasite is only out for itself. Collin takes his leave, as does a confused and enraged Latoshi, and then the rest go their own way.

Seething with anger, Latoshi destroys part of the wooded area outside Route 35. Lazarus attempts to calm the boy down, explaining its actions, insisting it's only doing what's best for the boy. Latoshi indeed calms down, becoming unusually placid. The boy reflects on his life, his lost memories, his relationship with Antoshi and others, and where fate has led him since awaking in the military prison. Ultimately, Latoshi decides that Antoshi and the others are right — Lazarus is worthless. Lazarus shows its true colors, finally explaining to the boy that it planned to take over his body and exterminate all humans on the planet. Latoshi engages in an inner struggle, removing the spirit parasite from himself. Lazarus is enraged, telling the boy that he will return, and that Latoshi will never be free of him.

Latoshi awakens hours later, finding his Ki severely diminished. He leaves the forest and ends up wandering aimlessly through Goldenrod City. He soon finds a couple of men pointing a gun at another man inside an alley. Latoshi beats up the gunmen, chasing them off. The man introduces himself as Emilio, explaining that he was a Rocket, but was forced out after his bosses discovered he was skimming money from their profits. The man is ready to leave Goldenrod to be with his daughter, so Latoshi sticks with him to deliver him safely to the train station. Latoshi helps fend off further Rockets that show up, including Chad, the boss of former Rockets Matt and Jalyn. After they reach the station, Latoshi and Emilio say their farewells. To the boy's surprise, however, Serenity appears at the train station. She praises him for his deed, as well as ridding himself of Lazarus' spirit. She gently guides him to go and talk to his siblings, rejecting his belief that they hate him. She leaves him, allowing him to decide on his own terms what to do.

Days later, Latoshi is still in Goldenrod City. He encounters Collin. After calling Collin's bluff on his strength, Collin suddenly causes a nearby skyscraper to topple without Latoshi noticing him do anything. Latoshi is enraged, but Collin explains that his sister Serenity saved everyone inside the structure. She appears before Collin and Latoshi, the former of which offering hollow praise while the latter is in total shock at her abilities. She rebukes Collin for losing control of himself, to which Collin explains it was to show Latoshi that he indeed possesses great power. In doing so, she reveals to Latoshi that Collin is the culprit behind the destruction of Slateport City in Hoenn — an act which killed millions of people. Collin politely takes his leave, as does Serenity, leaving Latoshi alone once again.

Latoshi shows up at the cabin where his siblings are. They eagerly accept him, allowing him to stay in his own bedroom in the cabin. Latoshi sleeps for the better part of a few days, before startling the others with the revelation that he finally regained all of his memories. He finally knows he killed not only all of Fern Town, but also his adoptive parents. The next day, the three siblings and Fireball visit the remnants of Fern Town, which had been turned into a memorial park. Latoshi goes alone, finding his parents graves, deciding to speak to them. Having found closure, Latoshi rejoins the group, prompting Antoshi to seek closure of his own, getting answers from his own parents about his adoption.

Once the duo return to the cabin, Latoshi suggests that there's one set of parents left to speak to: Mitoshi's. They set out for Mitoshi's home in the suburbs outside Olivine City, where a neighbor informs them that her parents were in an automobile accident. Terrified, the siblings accept a ride from the neighbor, who takes them to the hospital. To the girl's relief, her mother is fine, and her father only received an injury to his leg. She introduces her brothers to them, much to the overwhelming shock and joy of her parents. The group sit down and allow their mother to explain the full circumstances behind their adoption. Antoshi and Latoshi share their stories as well, and all sides are relieved to finally be able to meet each other after thirteen years spent apart. The siblings eventually take their leave, and head back to the cabin.

Some time later, while the group are enjoying breakfast together, Antoshi notices a mysterious figure fly over their house, leaving what appear to be snowflakes behind.

Frozen Summer (2019)
As the group begin to learn to live together, a mysterious blizzard forms out of nowhere. The clouds consume most of the forest where their cabin is located, surrounding routes, as well as Goldenrod City. It continues to expand with no sign of slowing down. Antoshi, meanwhile, is forced to play peacekeeper between his two siblings as Latoshi and Mitoshi squabble with each other. An enraged Latoshi storms out of house to cool off, but soon rushes back home after finding a couple of nearly frozen Pichus that were passed out in the snow. Latoshi opts to stay with the two Electric-type Pokémon until they begin to show signs of recovery.

Having formed a strong enough bond with the Pichus, Latoshi and his siblings are able to communicate with them. The Pichus introduce themselves as Poka, a male, and Chika, a female. The pair explain that they believe the culprits of the blizzard to be a group of 'people who look like Pokémon' whom they encountered somewhere in the nearby forest. The sibling trio opt to head out together in the hopes of stopping the source of the blizzard, which has threatened the lives of those living in Goldenrod City while beginning to spread toward Ecruteak City as well.

Finding an oddly calm oasis of green within the forest, the siblings soon come across the first of the group responsible for the blizzard. A young man who possessed the black fur, golden rings, ears and tail of an Umbreon, calling himself 'Kage'. He feigns ignorance about the blizzard at first, but quickly tricks the siblings into falling under a hypnotic power. The three siblings endure realistic visions that torture them, with Latoshi believing that he has been locked up in the same military site as before. While Latoshi panics over being under the control of General Logan and his new partner, Lazarus, the trio help one another unlock the ability to communicate telepathically. With their new power, they deduce that they've been hypnotized somehow and work to fight to regain consciousness. Upon doing so, Kage uses another ability to create a shroud of darkness around them and render himself invisible. He strikes Antoshi, who soaks up the Umbreon-like young man's attacks without defending himself. After reading Kage's movements, Antoshi grabs him and renders him unconscious with a single strike to the neck.

Their next obstacle came in the form of a young woman, who also had the appearance of an Umbreon. She introduced herself as Celeste, and quickly found herself embroiled in a war of words with Latoshi, who was fired up and looking to strike back against the group that carelessly harmed Poka and Chika. The ensuing brawl between them was long and vicious, continuing to trade barbs as well as heavy blows. Antoshi is upset by the fact that Latoshi is letting his anger over what happened to the Pichus spur him into fighting. However, Antoshi is forced to watch from the sidelines after Latoshi warns him not to intervene. Latoshi eventually triumphs, leaving Celeste knocked out, but not without multiple serious injuries, including a broken arm.

They move on through a cloud of mist, into an area of the forest where a large, spiraling vortex is feeding its power into the clouds above. Antoshi deduces that the group's leader is within that vortex, and a young woman confirms his suspicion. She reveals herself as Myst, possessing the appearance of a Raichu. Antoshi attempts to reason with her, though like her friends she does not budge. Mitoshi opts to take her on, wanting to prove her worth as a fighter after weeks of training with her brothers. Antoshi soon realizes that Myst takes a similar, tactical approach to fighting as he does, and she quickly and easily gains the upper hand over the younger, inexperienced Mitoshi. However, Mitoshi is able to turn the tide of battle using her water form, rushing headlong into the stirring clouds above before raining down Ki-enhanced hailstones upon Myst and rendering her unconscious.

With everyone else out of the way, the sibling trio use their power in tandem to cause an explosion that rips apart the icy vortex. Where it stood was a young man who looked more human than his friends, though with the wings, tail, and feathery crest of an Articuno. When he awakes from his meditation, he is enraged at the trio. Once again unable to talk the group's leader into a peaceful resolution, Antoshi has no choice but to fight him. The blond-haired boy's speed overwhelms Ken as they fight midair, taking an early and decisive upper hand. Ken, like all of his friends, is enhanced with the power of the Pokémon he shared his appearance with. He uses his power over ice to freeze Antoshi solid, but he manages to break out of it. Antoshi creates a massive orb of Ki around Ken, trapping him in a maneuver he calls 'Red Giant', scorching Ken with his flaming energy before exploding violently. Seemingly victorious, Latoshi and Mitoshi come over to congratulate him.

Ken, feigning defeat, launches a large barrage of giant ice spikes at Antoshi. His siblings help him to fight them off, causing one to get deflected back and lodged into Ken's chest, mortally wounding him. Antoshi, wanting to prove that they were never enemies in the first place, uses an ability to heal using his Ki which he'd been learning from Serenity. Ken's gruesome injury is healed completely, leaving Antoshi sapped of energy. Ken and his friends finally relent, bringing the blizzard to a long-awaited end. Their group, now known as The Clique, is revealed to be old school friends of Serenity's, back when they used to look like ordinary humans. Ken leaves their story a mystery, and the two sides part on good terms.

The surrounding areas thaw out over the next several days, and life returns to normal for everyone. Antoshi helps his brother to become a fully fledged Pokémon Trainer when Latoshi asks the Pichus if they want to stay with him. They agree, and Latoshi 'catches' them in individual Poké Balls. During the night, however, a poster breezes by the sibling's cabin, advertising an upcoming carnival and its main attraction: the circus.

Powers and abilities
Latoshi is able to call upon his Ki as a source of energy to greatly enhance his speed, strength and defenses. Like Antoshi, he is able to communicate with Fireball, a Typhlosion, as well as fly. His Ki can be manipulated into a physical manifestation, which can then be used as a projectile weapon.

His powers are great enough to destroy the entirety of Fern Town and raze a military black site. He punched through the defenses of Antoshi, who was able to survive a ten-story fall with no injuries. He is swift enough to effortlessly dodge bullet fire. With the energy Lazarus stole from him, he is fast enough to keep up and even outpace Antoshi, who can move at hypersonic speeds.

As noted by Collin, Latoshi appears to excel greatly in power. This is hinted at when Latoshi's strength is too overwhelming for Antoshi to defend against in their first fight, and becomes something Antoshi actively avoids in their second fight. He has lifted up an abandoned high-rise building, even while his Ki was being drained by Lazarus, and his Shooting Stars attack against Celeste left her in a crater the size of a massive skyscraper.

Early on, he had limited experience fighting, as well as with using his Ki abilities. His skill depended heavily on Lazarus, who guided and taught him for some time, as well as giving him focus with his fighting ability. He has begun to overcome these limitations with subsequent training with his siblings, as well as in his battle against Celeste.

Reception and legacy
Latoshi has been called “dark”, and “[able to] talk the talk and walk the walk”. Early reviewers called into question whether 'Lazarus' is an actual being, some manifestation of Latoshi's psyche, or simply a result of schizophrenia.

Fanfiction Work

 * Sibling Rivalry (2018)
 * Intervention (2018)
 * Family Reunion (2019)
 * Frozen Summer (2019)