The night went just like Tamao had predicted, at least the start of it. She did have nightmares. Well, just one actually, but it was bad enough to count as several ones.
On the moment Tamao's eyes shot open, she barely managed to hold back a scream. In the split second she woke up from the dream, she pushed her hands harshly on her mouth, and flew up into sitting on the corner of her bed. Even though the sound that came out couldn't even wake up the two pokemon sleeping in her bed, let alone her sisters, she could still feel the words
" Umbreon! Umbreon, no!"
in her freezing hands. It was not pleasant at all. In fact, it frustrated her even more than the unknowing of what she was getting herself into with those legendary pokemon.
The moon was still high on the sky, so it was still night, but since the clock on the wall wasn't working, Tamao could not even guess how long it'd take before morning would come.
Tamao sighed harshly, which caused Glacia, whom Tamao had noticed to be usually more aware of her surroundings than Leafia and Murkrow, wiggle her left ear, and a bothered expression rose on her face. Luckily, Leafia started snoring again just then, so Glacia's expression softened quickly, and she made a relieved sigh. Tama looked at her for a while, waiting, but she did not wake up. A relief, actually.
So, moving as quietly as she could, Tamao got out of bed, and soon changed out of her pyjamas. She knew quite well it'd take her hours to fall asleep, and she'd probably see another nightmare again, so she might as well take a walk. She just wanted to find something to do.
Moving slowly, in perfect stealth, she hoped her none of her sisters wouldn't be awake (Koume had always had a habit of sleepwalking, and thus waking up around the house in the middle of the night. Tamao had no idea whether she had gotten over it). Luckily, Tamao made it to the backdoor unnoticed.
The air outside was cold, but refreshing. The wind was blowing in from the south, from Route 37, but it still managed to warm the city just slightly.
" I should have put my jacket on… I forgot how cold the nights could be here," Tamao scolded herself. She did not bother to go get it, though.
The nighttime city was just like she had remembered; not a single light was on, except for in the gym, where a sage was probably doing some nightly training. A sage had once scared Tamao when she was desperately following the sleepwalking Koume around the nighttime city. Tamao chuckled at the memory, but quickly stopped, since her heart made an angry bounce, and started aching. Aching for someone she had lost long ago…
Annoyed, Tamao decided it was for the best if she did not hike around the city, because no matter where she'd go she'd be greeted by various memories that always brought Umbreon to her mind, which brought her pain.
So, as she was walking towards Route 37, she suddenly realized she saw a bright light from ahead, shining from the woods.
Without thinking much, Tamao approached the light, until it seemed to be just behind the bunch of trees in front of her. The leafs shook against each other, making a hissing sound, and for a moment Tamao thought there was an Arbok behind the tree.
Tamao reached towards the light, only to hear a displeased growl, and in the instant, a powerful pressure had pushed Tamao backwards, just a few metres, but in such a speed it seemed like she would have teleported. She saw thin rays of electric fly through the air by her, completely revealing the identity of the creature behind the trees.
" Raikou…?" Tamao asked, with a doubting voice. Just assuming there was a legendary pokemon behind the tree seemed so absurd that Tamao started wondering if she had become paranoid.
But as a tigerlike, huge beast with a purple cloud on its back jumped out from the woods as a response to her words, Tamao had no choice but to gasp out of frustration. Not paranoid; insane, rather.
Raikou looked at Tamao with eyes that looked somewhat insolent to her, and looked behind it. Much to Tamao's surprisement, it hissed, almost like a Meowth, and turned back to her.
" Do you want me to follow you?" Tamao asked simply, not wanting to avoid the point. She needed to know why the legendary pokemon kept appearing to her, and fast, before she'd completely lose her mind.
Raikou made a strange, surprisingly quiet, roar, and turned around to leave. And so, before Tamao could say anything, the pokemon had rushed off, leaving her standing there stupidly.
" I guess not," Tamao muttered, and turned around to return to the theatre, to avoid other possible faithful meetings with legendaries, when suddenly she heard another voice, this time, a human girl's, from the woods.
" But why do we have to follow it?" the voice half whispered, half whined.
The sentence was followed by some rustling in the forest, and the sounds made it very clear that there was someone, most likely more than one person, though, heading towards Tamao. She, or they, we're still out of sight though.
Then, another voice, this time a young man's, spoke in a strange, slightly whiny but fancy tone.
" My dear lady, isn't it obvious? It, obviously, has very close bonds to the one we have specifically been searching for ages, and therefore following it might lead us straight to our goal."
Tamao couldn't help but to feel slightly revolted by the way the last voice spoke (which made her ignore that fact that it sounded slightly familiar), and the content, but before she managed to make her getaway, two figures had already started appearing from the Route.
The other one, the person who had obviously spoken first, was a girl, likely to be around Tamao's age. She had a shoulder length, lightish blue hair, tied on slightly pointy pigtails. Her eye colour was impossible to make out of in the dark, but her eyes were rather big, making her look very naïve. She had a semi long, white jacket, apparently a black shirt under it (judging by her collar), and dirty yellow, almost brown long pants. On top of that, she looked somehow familiar; Tamao was sure she had met her somewhere.
Just one glance revealed the identity of the other person to Tamao. It'd take her more than another five years to forget the man in the purple suit, covered by a white cape, slicked light brown hair and a self-centred look on his face. It was Eusine, alright, the guy who had first told Tamao the legend of Suicune and the legendary beasts.
While Tamao quietly observed the two, they didn't seem to notice her at all while they almost crawled out of the forest. They looked dirty, like they would have been there for days.
" You said that last time too, and all good it did was giving my Noctowl some exercise while we circled the region, twice! Do you seriously think Raikou would be that stu- Oh?" the girl scolded Eusine angrily, ending her sentence as if she would have hit a wall. She had noticed Tamao.
Eusine seemed to notice the sudden stop of the lecture the girl was giving him, and he followed the surprised look of his companion, only to see the black haired girl on their way, looking at them. His eyes widened.
" You… wouldn't be… little Tamao?" he gasped in his usual, melodramatic tone, and Tamao realized it was too late for her to escape.
" I would," Tamao sighed out, closing her eyes.
Eusine let out a surprised shout, and the girl by him gasped in unison. It seemed that she knew who Tamao was, too. They had definitely met somewhere.
" Oh my! This is quite unexpected! I thought you stated you were never going to put your feet on the grounds of Johto again…?" Eusine gasped out, with his eyes narrowing eerily. Tamao knew what he was doing; and unfortunately, he was pulling it off without any problems.
" I guess I lied," she snorted, without even bothering to hide her feelings. She was annoyed.
Eusine smiled as eerily as ever, and walked right up to Tamao. He grabbed her face to his hand, and seemingly started examining it. Tamao didn't mind, because it kept him busy from trying to annoy her.
" My, my… You really have grown a lot! Five years have turned you into a real lady, I'd say," he muttered quite loudly, and quickly glanced at the girl behind him.
The girl had remained quiet so far, but an annoyed expression had grown to her face.
" Quit messing around! We've got work to do!" she shouted at Eusine, and walked angrily up to him, glaring furiously.
" I hope she isn't angry at me…" Tamao thought, and felt her fingers go stiff. Something told her she didn't want to anger this girl.
Her thoughts were answered right away, right after Eusine let go of her face, and looked down, like a sulking kid. The girl turned to look at her, with a polite smile on her face.
" It seems that we meet again. I doubt that you remember me though, it took me a few glances to recognize you, too." She told Tamao, looking straight into her eyes. She made a strange grin, giving Tamao a sudden flashback of a battle… A battle she had long since forgotten of, surprisingly, since it was the first battle she had lost after her Eevee had evolved. She had been amazed by the powerful trainer, who had simply grinned at the astonished kimono girl after the battle,
" I do… You're… Crystal, aren't you?" Tamao asked her, having to search her memories for a while before she found the name.
The girl, Crystal, smiled in a strange way. A smile that brought out happiness, but along with it, it exposed a sadness that seemed like it would have been hidden for a long time.
" I'm glad that you remember me. The battle I had with you was simply outstanding; I haven't had that much fun very many times after it," she chatted. Tamao wasn't sure if she had imagined it, but it seemed that she capitalized the last part of her sentence, and made a piercing glance at Eusine while saying it.
Whether or not it really happened, Eusine reacted. He snorted, and made a despising look at Crystal, but then turned back to Tamao, with a strange, flirting smile.
" Ignoring the fact that the lady shouldn't really be in Johto at all, what might you be doing outside so early in the morning?" Eusine asked, sounding like he really enjoyed his own voice.
" Oh, so I'm a lady now…?" Tamao muttered to herself, and was quite sure that Eusine didn't hear her, but Crystal chuckled slightly at her sentence, which caused a confused expression visit Eusine's face for a moment.
Tamao tried to smile to Crystal, but it didn't really turn out good. It looked more like she was thinking about something unpleasant. Ignoring that, she decided to speak truthfully. Eusine would get all annoying if he caught her of a lie.
" Oh, so it's morning already? Good to know, I couldn't tell," she sighed out again.
Eusine seemed to understand. He smiled somewhat gently. It didn't suit him at all; it just looked weird to Tamao.
" Old memories coming back, eh?" he mumbled quietly, making Crystal look somewhat awkward.
" I guess," Tamao said blankly.
The three were quiet for a while, until Eusine turned to Crystal. He spoke surprisingly straight, without making any confusing remarks.
" Since we have by now lost the track of Raikou, I suggest we quit for tonight."
" Fine. I'm tired, anyway. But I'm not sleeping outside, now that we're in Ecruteak." Crystal muttered, and looked at him with a somewhat bitter look.
" My, my. You shouldn't bother Morty this early in the morning. That man hardly gets any sleep due to the nighttimes' training, what if you happen to wake him up?" Eusine whined back at her, as if she was a child.
" I hardly get any sleep because of you, so there. He'll understand," Crystal nearly spitted out at Eusine, who managed to look insulted.
Tamao followed the bickering for a while, and then looked at Eusine.
" Still running after Suicune, are you?" she asked him, getting a snide look in return.
" And what makes the lady think I haven't caught the beast yet?" Eusine said moodily.
" I know you haven't," Tamao said simply, with a confident voice. Well, she did know for sure, after all.
Eusine chuckled fancily, and grabbed Crystal's shoulders.
" True. I'm still chasing after my dreams. Luckily, I've been assisted by this lovely lady for quite a while now," he said cheerfully.
Tamao couldn't help but to feel a little surprised. Even though the conversation had hinted towards it, the last time she had met her, Crystal had not seemed like a person who hunted specifically some pokemon. She had said herself that she'd leave the legendaries alone.
Crystal avoided Tamao's eyes, and blushed. She looked sheepishly to her side, which made Tamao realize that there was more to it than just going against her own words. Pushing sympathy away from her mind, Tamao just smiled politely.
" Well, better to start heading off. We'll just have to hope this is another of Morty's sleepless nights," Eusine told Crystal, and raised his hand to Tamao.
However, as he was about to turn to leave, he suddenly looked back at Tamao.
" Oh… Out of curiosity, how long has the lady been back?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested.
" A few hours at top. Arrived this evening," Tamao answered, wondering what Eusine wanted.
" Then, you have not greeted Morty yet, have you?"
That came as a surprise to Tamao. She looked at Eusine with wide eyes.
" You want me to come with you?" she asked with a voice so stunned, Eusine couldn't help but to laugh a little.
" Well, now that our paths have crossed, and you do not seem to have anything to do, why not go all the way together? Besides," he added eerily.
" I wish to see Morty's face when he sees you."
As Crystal snorted, seemingly still embarrassed, Tamao couldn't help but to laugh. It felt weird, after a long time.
" One of these days he's going to get you good, you know," she said, with a hint of cheerfulness in her voice.
Eusine smiled gently again, looking weird again, and didn't answer. He seemed awfully pleased though.
And soon enough, Tamao found herself standing in front of the now remodelled Ecruteak city gym, alongside with the still cheerful Eusine, and the still quiet Crystal. She felt odd, as Eusine reached for the locked door of the gym with a key.
" You stole that from Morty, didn't you?" Crystal suddenly spoke out, breaking the silence.
Once again, Eusine tried to look insulted.
" What makes the lady think he didn't give it to me?" he gasped, and Crystal shook her head.
" He might be crazy enough to be your friend, but he's not utterly insane, you know," she muttered, causing Eusine to laugh fancily again.
The door opened with a loud and long creek, even though it was obviously new. Tamao knew why though; Morty thought it was important to set the mood for the trainers about to challenge him. A Ghost-type gym needed ghostly features.
As the three stepped in, Tamao sidestepped and crouched by instinct. She noticed that Crystal did the same, but Eusine stayed up, looking at the two with a puzzled look, when suddenly understanding rose to his face. He tried to escape, but it was too late; a bucket of water had already fallen on his head, making his white cape glue to his purple suit, making it look light purple itself.
Crystal laughed.
" You sure have the memory of a Donphan; even Tamao, who hasn't been here for five years, remembered this, yet you come here all the time and always fall for it!" she chuckled hilariously.
Eusine tried to get his hair back into order, and spoke with an insulted voice.
" One cannot remember everything. My mind is currently occupied by things more significant than Morty's immature pranks," he spitted out, somewhat elegantically though. An ironical laugh responded from the darkness.
" I got the idea from you, remember?" the voice said, continued by the speaker stepping forth from the shadows.
Tamao examined Morty with her eyes, as she quietly started getting up. He looked pretty much the same as five years ago, just slightly, slightly taller and with a longer hair. He was still wearing his eternal blue clothes, but his hair was open at the moment.
Tamao's observing was interrupted by Morty smiling at her friendly. He made a welcoming gesture with his hand.
" I saw your coming. Welcome back," he said politely, but yet awfully nicely.
Tamao chuckled again at Eusine's stunned expression, and followed as a giving up understanding rose to his face.
" I should have seen it coming. I just didn't think this would be significant enough for 'The mystic seer of the future' to foresee," he mumbled. Crystal blushed again, and looked at the wall near her.
" There's more to it than you know," Morty mumbled so silently that Tamao could hear. She looked at him in surprise, and he gave her a meaningful glance, and then turned back to Eusine and Crystal.
While the three started chatting about the latest Suicune hunt and where they could sleep, Tamao stayed a little further away, thinking quietly on her own.
She had always known Morty's title (besides being the gym leader), 'The mystic seer of the future'. Ever since Tamao had been little; she had been told that Morty could foresee the future. However, when she had once asked him to tell her what she'd do tomorrow, he had just smiled ever so gently, and told her that he did not see such things.
A few years later, Tamao had found him lying sick on the ground. She had managed to help him back to the gym, where they had ended up talking about his gift again. Morty had explained her that he could only see the destinies of people, rather than the future. He could also sense the changes in destiny, and that was what had happened to him just now. Ones destiny changing was rare, and was never considered a good sign.
So, in other words, the fact that Morty had seen Tamao's return to Johto meant it was a part of her destiny. Even though this didn't surprise Tamao, it bothered her quite a lot.
" He probably knows of the legendaries too…" Tamao thought, and gazed at a picturing on the wall. The silhouette of Ho-oh.
" It seems that I have worried you." Tamao heard Morty's voice from beside her.
She turned to look at him, only to realize Eusine and Crystal had apparently already gone to bed. She was alone with Morty.
" No, I was confused already, before you said anything," Tamao told him in a low, sorrowful voice.
Mort placed his hand on her shoulder, and turned to look at the picturing of Ho-oh.
" Have you met yet?" he asked.
" Briefly," Tamao answered.
Morty glanced at her, but turned back again. It was silent for a while.
" Do you know what's going on?" Tamao finally broke the silence.
" Not really. I only saw that you would be greatly involved in events that will affect the destinies of many people," Morty sighed.
" You knew of Ho-oh," Tamao said suspiciously, and Morty turned to her.
" One of the few details I've seen, I mostly just see a blurry picture," he said, almost like he would be apologising.
Tamao sighed.
" I'll have to be brave?"
" Yes."
" I'll face dangerous situations?"
" Definitely."
" I'll be forced to face painful memories?"
" No doubt."
" The destiny of our world will be on the line?" Tamao asked, this time a little sarcastically.
Morty laughed sadly.
" Hopefully not," he said.
Tamao couldn't help but to feel slightly relieved, even though her destiny seemed quite unpleasant.
" But you can't tell me any details?" she asked, just to be sure.
" Just that the wheels of destiny will start moving very soon," Morty muttered in a low voice.
Tamao stared at him for a while.
" Stop trying to sound mysterious. This is not funny, you know," she said in an insulted tone.
Morty smiled sheepishly, but then turned serious.
" But you know what I meant, don't you?" he asked while looking Tamao into her eyes.
Tamao sighed deeply.
" I do."
The two just stood there in silence for a while. While thinking about destiny, the image of Crystal looking sheepishly away suddenly came to Tamao's mind.
" Um, Morty, can I ask you something…?" Tamao blurted out before she could stop herself.
Morty smiled.
" I thought for sure you'd hold it back," he said, and when Tamao gave him a sharp glare, he explained.
" No, I didn't foresee your question; I'm just good at guessing. And," he added, when Tamao's expression turned suspicious.
" I saw that you were slightly dazed by her in the doorway."
Tamao was satisfied with that answer. However, even she didn't know the form of her question, but Morty started talking without her asking.
" She's gone through some rough times since you last met her. You could say that she's a completely different person from the ten-year-old girl you battled five years ago. Yes, even her destiny." Morty sighed while Tamao looked at him meaningfully.
" When I first met her, I couldn't believe what I saw; despite being so young, her heart was strongly following a goal, directly linked to her destiny. And what a destiny it was! On the moment I laid my eyes on her, my mind was filled with images of Ho-oh, Suicune, Raikou, Entei and every possible legendary pokemon I could imagine. I saw her standing in her full glory, in her goal, shining brighter than anyone ever had," Eusine memorized, sounding awed by the memory.
Tamao looked at him silently. She didn't like the way the story was moving on.
Morty continued with a sad tone.
" Her destiny had already changed many other destinies for the better, and it was to do it several times again. She had already had a meeting with legends. She was fulfilling her destiny amazingly. But… five years ago, around the time of the fire, something changed."
Tamao shivered. The story made her feel more and more disgusted all of the time.
" Even though Crystal was just peacefully following her faith, doing nothing wrong, her path started suddenly… leading her to the wrong way, I could say. Her destiny started changing. No… It started disappearing. It became more and more empty all of the time. All I could do was watch horrified as her promised glory was slowly fading away, turning into nothingness. And, over one night, she had gained an empty destiny – nothing was to happen to her. Ever.
By then, she was already known as one of the most powerful trainers in Johto, but even she could feel the difference. All of a sudden, she withdrew herself from the ambitious battles she had been taking part into, and disappeared. The next time I met her, she had joined Eusine on his quest to capture Suicune."
Morty sighed once again. One, devastated sigh. Tamao was feeling sick, she didn't want to hear any more, it was all too painful. She didn't want to feel sorry for Crystal; sympathy was the worst thing you could give to a person.
Morty looked at her, probably guessing her thoughts, but continued anyway.
" Ever since, we obviously became closer, because Eusine likes visiting me, so he can take advantage of my gym or pull pranks on me." Morty chuckled sadly.
" Every time I met her, I tried to search her destiny, only to see the same nothingness. I wanted to find a reason for her destiny fading, since it clearly wasn't her own doing. I had never seen such a drastic change in destiny, not after…" he stopped, and seemed to get lost in his thoughts for a while, looking at the silhouette of Ho-oh.
Tamao stood by him in silence too. She was relieved that he had stopped; it was too much for her. She regretted that she had asked; her own destiny was enough of a worry to her, and she just had to start asking about others'. She had insulted Crystal's privacy, that was for sure.
Mort suddenly looked at her, and continued in a strange tone.
" Not long ago, around the time I saw you meeting with Ho-oh, her destiny changed again though."
Tamao looked up in surprise.
" The emptiness disappeared, but nothing has replaced it yet. It's like her destiny is covered in a fog. I know there is something, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot see it," Morty said in a troubled tone.
" Wh- what does that mean?" Tamao asked with a shocked, low voice.
" I don't know. It's never happened before," Mort answered, sounding somewhat shocked himself.
Once again, silence took over the room. Tamao felt ashamed. She shouldn't know any of this; it was Crystal's, and, well, sort of Morty's too, private issue that had nothing to do with her. It was just rude of her to ask something like this.
Morty spoke again.
" Listen, I'm telling you all this because I have a feeling it's the right thing to do. I can't explain why, but I just do. I would have told you it, even if you wouldn't have asked me."
" That's just rude!" Tamao snapped at him, emphasising with Crystal. She wouldn't like it if someone started telling her destiny around.
Morty shook his head.
" I'd appreciate if you wouldn't mention anything about this to Crystal. She does not know of her destiny, former or current. She just acknowledges fundamentally that something has changed, and that I know what it is."
" Why?" Tamao asked, hoping to get at least one answer to the several questions in her mind.
" I felt it was better if she wouldn't know. She's having it tough enough already."
After a while of silence, the two started talking about Tamao's journey in the wide world. There was nothing that could be said besides it, anymore.
The sun was rising when Tamao stepped out of the Gym, heading back to the dance theatre. Morty waved his hand at her.
" Come visit me again any time. Night or day," he chuckled.
Tamao smiled at him, genuinely.
" Oh, and be careful," he told her, with genuine concern.
" Don't worry about me; I'll survive, right?" Tamao rather told than asked him.
" I can't know for sure," Morty sighed playfully.
Tamao waved her hand at him, and after she'd turned to leave, the gym leader returned inside, with a sad look on his face.