It was all like a dream that you can't fully remember. You only remember parts of what happened in it, leaving some parts completely blurry, and most importantly, you have no recollection of why it all happened.
The events after Tamao had met up with Ho-oh were just like that. Now that she was standing at the magnet train station in Kanto, she felt like she would just have woken up from a very confusing dream, and noticed that she had sleepwalked quite a lot.
Back in route 212, she had, without even thinking after, grabbed her backpack, checked her items, and started walking west, towards the town Murkrow had flown into. Leafia and Glacia had followed her without a word; they both knew the meaning of the legendary pokemon appearing, and how significant it really was.
The three had soon reached the town Murkrow was vandalising, and caught the pokemon before he managed to cause any significant damage. All Tamao had to pay for were some pofin he had stolen, and the victim co-ordinators weren't that angry, they even gave her some pofin and some berries, so that Murkrow wouldn't need to steal.
After thanking them, Tamao had asked Leafia to watch for Murkrow, as she went to a warehouse and borrowed a bike. When she returned, Murkrow looked serious, obviously upon hearing the story from the other two, and went quietly to his pokeball, without making uproar.
Tamao had withdrawn Leafia and Glacia too, because neither of them would have the strength to run after a bike.
Without anything happening on the way, there weren't even any trainers around; Tamao had soon made her way to Mio city. There, she had headed straight to the port (after returning the bicycle to a local pokemon centre, from where it's be sent back to the warehouse), and bought a ferry ticket to Kanto. It was the place closest to Johto she could get from Sinnoh.
While riding the ferry, Tama had stayed on the deck, due to her easily getting seasick, and the wind making her feel slightly less sick. She had seen several other ferries, coming from Hoenn, Fiore, Orre and several other regions. "All ships sail to Kanto" went an old saying.
Most ferries were fast ships by now, so it only took the ferry six hours to reach Vermilion city. Without even stopping to think, Tama had walked to Saffron, flashed her long-unused rail ticket to the receptionist, and entered the magnet train platform, where she was currently waiting for the train. All this she had done automatically, concentrating solely on wha tshe did now, without letting nay thoughts drift into her head. Just like a sleepwalker. Or a robot.
It was now that the thoughts like "what am I doing?" and "this is crazy!" started drifting into her head. But before she managed to consider turning back, she saw the lights of the magnet train approaching, and the people in the platform started moving closer to the rail. Tamao sighed. There was no turning back now; she had already come this far, so she might as well go all the way to Johto. If nothing else, she'd at least see her sisters.
Tamao got on the train quietly, and went to sit down with heavy thoughts in her head.
What was going on? Why had Ho-oh flown all the way to Sinnoh, just to get one girl come after it? Why did Tamao have to go to Johto? Or had she probably just misunderstood, and put a lot of money into travelling to a place she really didn't want to go to, all for nothing?
Tamao sighed, as the train started up, and took off, literally flying on the rail, towards the region Tamao had thought she'd never return to. The closer the train got to Johto, the surer Tamao was she had just overreacted, and her meeting the legendary pokemon was just a coincidence. Or maybe she hadn't met it at all; she had just been hallucinating, seeing things due to her weird dream right prior to it.
" I wonder if it's possible to stop the train and jump off now?" Tamao wondered, not really seriously though.
Feeling sick, Tamao opened the window, and pushed her head slightly out of the window, feeling the wind gently slam into her face as the train moved forward with an amazing speed. The wind was quite warm, probably blowing from the west, right from where Johto was.
Tamao closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Before she knew it, she felt a change in the wind. It suddenly became piercingly cold, as if it would have been blowing from North, but it still blew from the same direction as before.
Confused, Tamao opened her eyes, but on the moment her eyes sharpened, they also started widening, and great surprise. Because right in front of her eyes, by the train, a slick, blue pokemon was running. White, ribbon-like objects were wavering among a purple cloud on the back of the pokemon, and its long, thin legs were taking harmonious steps, and it looked like it had to hold back, so it wouldn't run faster than the train.
" Suicune!" Tamao gasped, understanding the reason the wind became cold. Suicune, the north wind, was running along the train, and looking straight at her as it did.
Suicune howled at Tamao, not angrily, but rather in a calling tone, and seemed to nod its head slightly to her. Tamao just stared at the pokemon in disbelieving awe, and then looked west, and saw that Mt. Silver was already in sight. She turned back to the legendary pokemon, which had obviously come to escort her, and wanted to shout out her questions to it. She felt frustrated and uneager, she hated the whole situation.
Suicune just grinned, and started fastening its steps. There was nothing Tamao could do, as the beast easily passed the train, and soon disappeared into the forest the train was about to fly through. With a disappointed sigh, Tamao pulled her head back into the train, and closed the window. None of the other passengers had noticed the legendary pokemon running by the train, and Tamao had a feeling it was somehow arranged too. She snorted, and had to hold back tears of frustration.
She had no doubts anymore though. Meeting up with two legendary pokemon, especially ones with a so close bond (as the legends said), was not a coincidence, nor a hallucination. She had not misunderstood. Ho-oh, and Suicune at that, obviously wanted her to return to Johto.
It was as late as now that Tamao became scared. Why? Why did they want her in Johto? What did they want her to do? Even though she had heard tales of young trainers rescuing, well, the world, with the help of legendary pokemon, she doubted it was the case now. She was not a hero type, she did not have a goal she blindly aimed towards (which the trainers all seemed to have), and there was no way she could do anything for the good of anyone but herself, and maybe her pokemon.
The train started slowing down. Tamao looked through the window, and saw a busy platform, and a door leading out from it, with "Goldenrod city" written above it, with fancy, golden letters. The train had arrived to their destination without Tamao even noticing. Once again, she felt like she was going to cry.
Tamao's legs were shivering as she got up, and followed the other passengers to the doors of the train. She wanted to turn around, run away. Her heart longed back to Sinnoh. But she knew all that was out of the question. She had been brought to Johto for a reason, so before running away she wanted to at least know why.
Leaving the station wasn't that hard, taking that a very few people had ridden the same train with her. Just a few moments after getting out of the train, Tamao's eyes were filled with the shine of Goldenrod's buildings in the sunlight. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and it seemed that all the clouds had gone to Sinnoh, where it had been cloudy when Tamao left.
For a while, Tamao could just stand there in awe of actually being in Johto. Goldenrod hadn't changed much in five years; it had just gotten bigger and shinier, which did not surprise Tamao. Feeling odd, she took a wavering step, and started walking through the city. People were bumping into each other around her, but she felt like she would have been in her own bubble; no-one bumped into her. Every now and then she recognized a face she had passed before, slightly older now though, and she even got some gazes of disbelief from the people who recognized her; probably those who had visited the theatre when she was younger.
Even so, Tamao realized that being in Johto didn't feel that bad, after all. She didn't like it, it did slightly sicken her, but she could deal with it. The memories that happened to drift into her when walking in the city weren't as painful as she would have thought.
With a careful expression, Tamao fastened her steps, as she left the city, and started heading towards the National park. Her careful state of mind seemed to rub off on the trainers on the route; not one of them challenged her, even though she was an obvious trainer.
A bug catching contest was being held in the park, but Tamao quietly passed the contestants. A guard at the other end of the park recognized her, and greeted her, obviously thinking he was dreaming. Tamao smiled a fake smile at him, and greeted him back, leaving the poor man mesmerized. She was too mesmerized herself to start explaining.
And soon enough, after walking the foresty route for a while, it was right there in front of her eyes; Ecruteak city.
It had changed a little, the gym was different and the pokemon centre had moved. But you could still see the ruins of the Burned tower above the city, sided by the tall Tin tower. Tamao couldn't help but to sigh. It was a nostalgic moment. Tamao hated nostalgia, because it always meant sadness.
Night was falling on the city as Tamao walked the streets she had been running around with Umbreon when she was younger. Those were happy memories, followed up by sadness, but she could deal with it by now. To her surprise, Tamao even noticed that she was sort of happy to be there. She had missed her hometown, secretly in her mind.
The sun was setting at a good pace when Tamao reached the old Dance theatre, still in ruins. She knew that the ruins had been kept, and there was a new theatre somewhere. She hoped to find out where the new one was from the old place.
She had been right; there indeed was a sign informing where it was. It was apparently closed for today, but Tamao knew her sisters would let her in, once they'd realize it really was her.
When Tamao was little, she and her sister had actually lived in the dance theatre. The room that held the stage was just a little part of the theatre, and only took up the front of the building; behind it, there was plenty of room, and that was where the kimono girls lived. Tamao just had to assume the new theatre was built the same way, and she'd get in from the backdoor. If her sisters would have gotten a separate house this time… She'd be in trouble.
The new theatre was even fancier than the old one. It was built of dark wood (the Kimono girls were known for not worrying much; they apparently didn't fear that another accident would occur, if they'd be careful with fire), making it look old and stylish. There were wooden statues of the various forms of Eevee all around the building, with Leafia and Glacia included. The old theatre had lacked those two.
Tamao snorted at the way the new theatre had been made to resemble an upgraded version of the old one, and circled the building, ignoring the huge main doors in the front. The backdoor was hidden behind bushes, just like it had before, so that it wouldn't confuse the people coming from Olivine city. The kimono girls appreciated peace while they were preparing for a performance.
Tamao took a deep breath. She couldn't predict the reaction of her sisters at all, so she just decided to get on with the situation. She knocked on the door. Simply, but loudly.
The sound of running foot came from the inside, and some quieted down shouting reached Tamao's ears. After a while, the door opened slightly, and she could hear the voice of her youngest big sister, Sumomo.
" I'm sorry, but we're closed for today. Next time, please use the main d…" she started, glancing at Tamao quickly, but stopped at the moment she saw the person standing behind the door.
At first, Sumomo couldn't recognise her little sister after four years, but soon enough her mouth opened slightly in surprise, and a gasp, which sounded like a scream, rather, came out of her mouth.
" No way! You're joking," she shouted, as she slammed the door open, staring at Tamao.
Tamao noticed Sumomo was still wearing her kimono. She had always been the laziest one of them all, and didn't even bother changing out of her kimono before she went to bed. Tamao couldn't help but to smile a little.
She could hear her other sisters coming already, startled by Sumomo screaming. And soon enough, Tamao saw her other three older sisters standing behind Sumomo, all staring at her with expressions so surprised Tamao started wondering if there was something weird in her.
Sakura, one year older than Sumomo, was the first one able to speak. Or scream, rather.
" Tama?! It's really you, isn't it, Tama?!" she shouted, using the nickname she had used for Tamao's whole life. Tamao had never understood the point of taking off one letter from her name, but she was glad to hear it after such a long time.
Satsuki, the oldest sister, made a sharp breath, and her usually so harsh expression softened slightly as she looked at Tamao. Koume didn't seem to be able to move at all, and she was gripping on the sleeve of Sumomo's kimono very harshly.
Tamao had to hold back a laugh.
" Yes, it's really me," she said, and tried to smile naturally, failing quite miserably.
The events after that were a little blurry. After a dozen screams and "no ways" from her sisters, Tamao was taken in, where she was happily greeted by Sumomo's Vaporeon, Sakura's Espeon, Koume's Flareon and Satsuki's Jolteon, all of them as surprised to see her as her trainers had been.
She introduced Leafia to her sisters and their pokemon, watched as her sisters went wild about Glacia evolving, and even let Murkrow out of his pokeball. He behaved quite well, actually.
Then she was told to tell her sisters everything about her journey. Faithfully, Tamao told them everything that had happened to her, leaving out the meetings with Ho-oh and Suicune. She didn't know enough to tell about them. When asked why she had returned, Tamao lied that she simply had decided she had been away from her sisters long enough, and that it was about time she got a grip and came to see them.
After drinking tea with her sisters, them telling her how they all were, she was escorted to a room they had made for her, taking that it was already late in the night.
The room looked exactly like Tamao's room had looked like in the old theatre. Located downstairs, near the backdoor, and decorated with pokedolls identical to the ones she had had when she was little.
An almost full moon was gently shining from the window, and Tamao sat on the bed, still confused. Everything had gone really fast. For a while ago, she had still been in Sinnoh, and now she was sitting in the new Dance theatre of Ecruteak city, with Sumomo listening to her through the wall between their rooms.
Leafia and Glacia were thrilled though. They both jumped on her bed, and soon curled up, right next to each other. Tamao couldn't help but to smile at their cuteness. It was on times like these that no-one could be cynical or angry, not even her.
She had a little argue with Murkrow, though. Apparently, Murkrow really wanted to smash one of the statues, and the fact that Tamao said no annoyed him greatly. After some bickering, Tamao ended up chasing up the pokemon around the room. In the end, she managed to withdraw him before he flew through the window. Luckily.
Hoping her sisters hadn't minded the noise, Tamao changed into the clean pyjamas her sisters had given her (which felt great, after having just two pairs for the last three years), and went to bed. She stared at the roof, feeling awkward. The roof was perfectly identical to the one of her old room; it even had a crack in the same place, though this time it was obviously made in purpose.
" Why did they have to make everything exactly the way it was? Won't it bring back awkward memories to them…?" Tamao mumbled, not expecting an answer. As Leafia started snoring quietly, Tamao turned to her side, looking at the wall. The fact that it was identical to the wall of her old room too annoyed her greatly, so she just closed her eyes.
" I bet I'll have nightmares…" she thought, right before she fell into the world of her restless dreams.