Haunting Dreams
-Prologue-
Summary:What were they? Throughout her entire life she remembers having these dreams. Great creatures battling one another would always feature in them. Who were they? Humanity had forgotten over the years. The truth buried in rubble. But it was slowly coming out. Bit by bit the truth was making its way back. She wanted to know. Even if it meant travelling the world to do so.
Once upon a time there was complete nothingness.
There was just the void, and the void was endless.
But then, there was an egg.
An egg which against all odds formed within the void.
And from that egg new life formed.
The void became nonexistent, for in its place the world as we know it was created.
"Mirai…Mirai, darling it's getting late. You shouldn't be out," a woman's voice called out. Searching for her daughter, who once again snuck out while she wasn't looking.
"No need to worry Yume. We both know how Mirai is. As long as she stays within the forest she'll be fine," a man said as he putt an arm around his wife.
"She's four Nazo," Yume said in a warning tone, seeing how calm her husband was.
Which was true.
For a parent whose four year old was missing…at dusk, in a forest, Nazo was very calm.
Because the man wasn't worried for one, simple, reason:
His daughter, Mirai, was odd.
This wasn't the first time he returned home to a frantic Yume and a missing kid. Mirai had been doing this constantly since last year, and, while the first couple of times she went missing Nazo thought his heart stopped beating, each time they found her, unharmed, playing in the forest he learned to accept it as one of his daughter's quirks.
However each time they found her, she would never be alone. Because little Mirai always had at least one pokemon around keeping her safe.
They were not Nazo or Yume's pokemon, or anyone's for that matter. All of them were wild pokemon found in the surrounding area.
Nazo will be the first to admit that he found this phenomenon perplexing.
As a ranger it was his duty to protect the wild pokemon, should anything happen, or to help wandering trainers that were either lost or in trouble.
Therefore Nazo could safely say that he had seen quite a bit throughout his life.
Nevertheless the man had never seen wild pokemon take so quickly to a human. Or, more precisely, he had never seen so many do so.
One, two, or three pokemon he could understand. Just a couple of really friendly pokemon.
But Nazo swore —and his colleagues can attest to this fact— that every single pokemon around Sunyshore City was his daughter's friend.
The girl had an uncanny ability to make even the most unruly pokemon trust her. And in return for their trust, she cared, in whatever way she could, for them back.
Mirai loved pokemon.
It was just a fact of life. Like the sky is blue, or that you need water in order to survive.
And because of this phenomenon Nazo never as worried as Yume tended to do.
Even now, Yume was still shouting Mirai's name while he was just patiently following Houndoom, —who by now was an expert Mirai tracker— as he guided them through the darkening forest.
After a while Nazo became aware of his tense muscles, but a bark from his pokemon, and all of his tense muscles immediately relaxed.
Arriving besides the dark pokemon Nazo couldn't help but roll his eyes while his wife sighed at the scene before them.
Underneath a big oak tree, their daughter was fast asleep, using a Luxio and a plant cloak Burmy as her pillows.
Hearing them approach, the Luxio opened an eye,giving a threatening growl —immediately silenced by Houndoom—.
Ah, did he forget to mention? The pokemon Mirai befriended tended to be on the overprotective side of the personality spectrum.
The adults waited patiently for the two pokemon to talk it out, till, eventually the Burmy woke up and looked around.
Looked at Mirai and then finally at the Luxio, before it made its way up the tree, resuming its slumber.
The electric pokemon also gently removed itself from Mirai, paying attention so as to not jar
the girl. It was then, that Nazo noticed the bandage on his left hid leg and realised that Mirai must have tried to treat its injury.
"She takes after you," Yume said softly, also looking at Luxio's bandaged hid leg, a gentle look in her eyes. Nazo couldn't help the grin and wink he gave his wife in replay, pride practically pouring out off him.
He went to collect his sleeping daughter, the Luxio never taking his eyes off him, before making his way back home.
Mirai was waiting on the beach for her friend, playing with the Luxio at her side. Enjoying the feel pf his short fur between her finders.
The two have been together for more than a year now. Ever since young girl found him injured in the forest and tried to help him.
Mirai's parents told her that they found him protecting her as she slept, needing some coercing from Houndoom before the pokemon allowed Nazo to approach. However instead off staying behind the Luxio followed them home, refusing to leave.
Eventually Nazo gave in to his daughter's demands and the electric pokemon became an official member of their family.
To differentiate him from the other Luxios around, Mirai named him Mamoru, because he always took care and protected her. It almost seemed like the electric pokemon upped his protectiveness after she named him and told him what it meant because he became glued to her side.
(Much to her mother's relief as it made her breathe a little more easily when the girl went out exploring.)
"He's late," she pouted, sitting in the sand with her knees close to her chest and the sun landing on the exposed pale skin.
"Lux," the pokemon replayed, leaning his head in her had as Mirai began scratching behind his ears.
'He,' referring to her friend of course.
He was a boy, two years older and the son of their town's gym leader. Not that Mirai cared one way or another. All she cared about was the fact that he was her only —human— friend, that was close enough to her age.
It wasn't that she was an unfriendly child or overly shy, Mirai simply preferred reading a book most of the time, —now that she finally knew how to do so— rather than play with the other kids. The time she wasn't reading would usually be spent in the forest otherwise, playing with the pokemon.
Therefore most kids stopped trying to hang out with her.
Except one, her friend Denzi.
They actually meet in the forest. He was looking for electric type pokemons while she was under a tree with Mamoru, reading a story out loud for her pokemon.
Denzi wasn't an avid reader, however he was very knowledgeable about pokemon, admitting that his favourite type were the electric ones and asked her about Mamoru.
"Did you wait long?" the voice of the very person she was talking about interrupted her musings.
"No, though you are a slowpoke," the six year old said, smiling up at the blond boy.
"Pika!" the exclamation came from the equally yellow pokemon on his shoulder. Clearly the Pikachu agreed with her assessment of his trainer.
"Like you are one to talk. You just leaver earlier," he joked, holding out his hand for Mirai to take and helping her off the sand.
Before she had a chance to thank him, Denzi's hand shoot up and tapped her forehead.
"You're it," he said before running away.
When Mirai turned seven she was allowed to 'officially' accompany her father on Ranger duty. Nazo would take time as they ventured through his patrolling area to teach Mirai how to find edible food and water in the forest, how to find shelter, how to tell if a pokemon had claimed an area as its own and even how to track pokemon.
His daughter was a quick learner and everyone at the station joked that she will soon be a better ranger than him. A more sensitive person might find that upsetting, Nazo just puffed out his chest in pride, earning more chuckles from his colleagues. Because he had no doubt that she would make a fantastic Ranger should she choose that lifestyle.
Nazo was happy watching his daughter enjoy herself in the forest whenever she accompanied him. Her laughs would fill him with joy, and he noted that Mirai truly sparkled in the forest.
'No, it isn't the forest that makes her shine so much, it's the pokemon,' he realised one day as she skipped towards a nest of Starly, climbed up the tree before Nazo could say anything and proceeded to coo at the little birds. Nazo was prepared to take her away and warn her to be more careful in the future pokemon can be rather aggressive if they think someone is threatening their young.
However before he could do that a large Staraptor landed on the branch next to the nest and Nazo would be lying if his hear didn't stop beating for a second. In the end, much to his surprise and then the surprise of his colleagues, the Staraptor ignored her till it finished feeding the younger pokemon. When it finally turned to acknowledge his daughter, —who Nazo really didn't know could climb trees so well and fast— instead of being aggressive it gently nuzzled Mirai's cheek with its own, before seemingly engaging in a conversation with the seven year old after she feed it a poffin, that Yume baked that morning.
Nazo shook his head at the memory, turning to his right to look at his daughter singing off key with a group of Kricketune, grey eyes alight with joy and cheeks red from all the singing she had been doing.
Just before turning eight,Mirai was forced to part with her friend. As he along with his best friend Ōba turned ten and were about to depart on their pokemon trainer journey.
They both dreamed of becoming great pokemon trainers one day and Ōba wanted to be part of the elite four when he was older.
Although being sad that she wouldn't bee seeing them for who knows how long, Mirai went to see them off with a smile, Luxio at her side. She wasn't as close to Ōba as she was with Denzo but the orange haired boy was often around the blonde so she spent quite a bit of time with him as well.
"Hurry up and turn ten too squirt," he said good-naturally, a hand ruffling her blue locks.
"Oy, stop it Ōba," Denzi said, upon seeing Mirai's annoyed look.
The girl, once she had her hair looking like it wasn't a nesting ground for wondering pokemon, gave each boy a hug.
"Look whose hogging her now," Ōba joked receiving a punch in the shoulder from Denzi before they departed after a final goodbye.
Yume and Nazo were behind as they also came to wish the boys good luck. They were their daughter's only friends and have popped into their home or Yumi's bakery often enough for the adults to grow fond of them as well.
They were slightly worried that Mirai might revert back into her shell now that they were done. While she was not a social butterfly, not even close to one, she did engage in conversation more often. Mirai never really was one of the children who enjoyed playing with others and preferred the company of pokemon over that of humans any day.
It made the two worried that she would grow segregated from her age group and prevent her from actively learning how to interact with others that weren't at least three times her age. Denise and Ōba were as a result a bit of a blessing in the pare't book. As they didn't mind their daughter's slightly asocial tendencies, but would put their foot down when she was being downright unsociable and dragged her out to play with the other children in the city.
"Mah, mah, Mirai will be fine," Nazo told his wife as he watched their girl wave off the boys.
Yume wasn't sure who he was trying to convince her or himself.
A/N: Why am I writing another story? I don't know. However lets move on to the disclaimer: "I don't own Pokemon, I do own my OC and her parents. I just inserted them into this confusing world."