It all started a long, long time ago. I cannot clearly remember how long, since I have lived in this world from its very early days, the days it was still searching for itself.
Me and a fellow comrade of faith and power, known as Lugia to many, had met on our search of a peaceful place to stay. Unlike many of our likes, we were both interested in living alongside with the human, just like the ones we watched over did. Just a few centuries ago it had been unthinkable that human and pokemon could understand each other, but by now, they had already become close, so close nothing could rip them apart. I was harbouring a wish in my heart. A wish that maybe we with power wouldn't only need on each other much longer; maybe, if we'd give the human, too, our protection, they would reward us with their respect. Maybe, a bond could be born too.
The others had laughed at us, but Lugia and I were eager to try it. The human hardly knew of our existence; after all, only a few of them had managed to see us. Because we were just a rumour around them, there was no way they could have proven us their sincerity. The first step was to be made from our side, and they were the ones to respond. That was something we had understood by now.
We found a beautiful town the humans had built for themselves in an area in the west, quite north there. The people there seemed to be one of the people living most harmoniously with pokemon. They had named the area "Ecruteak", and were building various buildings there. It all seemed very nice.
The human were surprised when they saw us. Some of them had heard of us, some of them had never even imagined there might be beings like we were. Their pokemon, instead, knew us by appearance, as every pokemon did. They respected us due to our powers, naturally, even though we had done nothing to them to gain their respect. I wanted to change that; I wanted to earn their respect.
Lugia, and me, we soon chose the human beings who seemed reliable, and I engulfed them in the flames that would not hurt them, the flames that gave them the ability to understand us. Those people soon gained the title of "sages" around the people of that town. When we asked them if we could have a place to stay, they insisted to build us a tower each, because to them, we were something sacred, and deserved magnificent shrines.
That bothered me, but Lugia suggested that we just go with it. There would be plenty of time to earn their friendship later, let them think too highly of us for a while. I did not quite agree with him, but did as he said. I could not come up with any way to decline without hurting the feelings of the excited human.
And not too long from that, not for us at least, but since the human did not live long, it might have been long to them, we had high, magnificent towers. We rested at the top of those towers. However, I felt lonely, with only the few sages visiting me to give me gifts. It felt awkward.
I asked the sages to bring people to me, so I could answer their questions and help them with their worries, and every day life. They were confused, but did as I told. After a while, some started coming to me, but they were nervous, they were scared, they did not know what to say. I still tried my best. Whatever they told me, I answered through the sages. I do not know if I ever helped anyone, but I certainly hope that the burning eyes they had once they left me were a sign of enlightenment, of new gained knowledge.
I decided I would be patient, that I would give them time. And amazingly, it really was the best thing to do. Slowly but surely, people started coming to me for help. I was glad to help them, and they started trusting me in a way I had hoped for, the way I had dreamed of so many years. I was happy.
However, as the time went by, something changed in the human. Most of them were still the same, but strange feelings, thoughts and actions started taking place in their hearts. It was not visible to them, but Lugia and I could sense it. We feared it, not for our safety, but for the ones around them who did not have shadow over them.
One day it all happened. Lugia told me that a person, a man more corrupted than I had ever seen, had come to him. He had asked if he'd become his pokemon, his tool so he could first take this village, and then make the whole world like he wanted it.
Of course, Lugia declined that absurd, ridiculous offer. We were no tools, and neither were the pokemon the man already owned. So, what Lugia then did probably lead into what were to happen. He freed the pokemon of that man, and forced him out of the tower. He left the three poor things into the tower, and flew off to find them a safe place to stay.
The day seemed peaceful after that. Oddly peaceful, and if the stars in the sky would have been visible, they probably would have screamed their warning tome and those who could read them. But the sun was bright in the sky, and I could not foresee the tragedy ahead.
I believe I was just resting quietly, when the feeling of fear reached me. I could hear the screams of the people in the town, and I could feel their horror. But that was not the only thing; I could also feel the presence of my element, fire.
I turned my head, and saw what caused the horror and despair. The tower by mine, the one the human called Brass Tower, the home of my friend Lugia, was engulfed in flames.
For a while I could only stare, I could not understand. However, when I saw the man who Lugia had showed me, the man who had come to see him. He was standing by the tower with a satisfied grimace on his face. And in his hand, there was a torch, a violently flaming torch.
I could understand what was happening now, but I could not stop it. The flames had engulfed the tower, and wouldn't listen to me, even if I told them to stop. They were living highly, dancing happily in the tower.
I was scared at first, but then I remembered that Lugia was not there. He had flown off.
But before I could feel relief, I heard a scream that no-one else near the tower could hear. I could hear that scream full of horror, echoing in the flames in the tower.
That was when I understood completely. The tower was not empty; the pokemon Lugia had saved from the man were still inside.
As the echo of their screams filled my head, I knew there was not much time left. I raised my wings, and took off, right through the ceiling of my tower. As I flew towards the Brass Tower, I could hear the gasps of the people underneath me. It had been a while since I had left my tower.
I had to fly in through the ceiling again. Smoke rose from the hole I made, but I did not care about it. Fire could not harm me.
I soon found the three. They had stayed together, but it seemed that there was no hope for them. The flames were surrounding them, wounding even the one who had grown into its element. The three were siblings, I believe, but they had all gone to separate paths in evolution. One was of lightning, one was of water, and the last of fire. In the past, they had all been alike.
I understood that there was only one thing I could do. Since the flames had already started absorbing their lives, there was no way to stop it. The only thing I could do was granting them a new life, which would change them forever.
I hesitated, but as I looked at their eyes, I saw that it was what the wanted. Not one of them wished to die that night.
So I did something no-one had ever done before; I engulfed them in my flames, the flames that instead of absorbing their lives, granted them power. That kind of power was too huge for their bodies to carry, so it changed them, it made them stronger, so they could stand it, so they could control it.
The three gained power, speed, everything; a new life.
That night, I let the three of them escape to the woods. Lugia had seen the smoke, and it did not take him long to appear. As the people tried to put down the fire, we realized that some of them were not helping, but sabotaging the work of the others. Of course, that one man could not have done it alone.
That made us understand that as it was now, we could not live with the human. Lugia had found a place to live in some islands nearby, and flew there. I myself had to take care of the tree I had rescued.
So, that night, we both left that town, with the people thinking we would never return. We were not going to return either, but we also knew that destiny did not care of what we wanted.
I flew to the forest, and faced the survivors of the fire. They were scared, but they did not regret what had happened. I told them everything would be all right; I would help them.
Another period of short time went by, as I helped the three understand their abilities. However, it seemed that it was hard for them to live near the human and pokemon they had once known, as they thought they were dead. The pain increased every day, so I made suggestion to them.
I could not return them to what they had been, but I could give them time to think it over, in a deep slumber. To my surprise, that was what they wanted. It seems that at that moment, life was so painful for them; they just wanted to escape, yet live on. I saw nothing wrong in that; they would have the rest of eternity to be brave.
So I took them to the remains of the burned tower that night. There, I lead them to an underground room the sages had once used as their home. I let them fall sleep, and turned their body into stone. They would have a long time to clear their thoughts and hearts, until a pure hearted human would come and awaken them from their sleep. That was what we had decided.
This time, a lot of time passed without anything happened. Even to me, it felt like ages. I spent my life hiding, just like I had before the incident. The others had not scolded Lugia and me they had understood. I believe that they too secretly understood the longing that had, no, that still burned in our hearts. However, neither of us was dreaming of one day fulfilling that dream anymore. We had been proven wrong. Even though some human might have accepted us in the way we wanted, there were still ones like that man. Along pokemon too.
So I hid. I hid for generations. I saw several lives born and dying. But nothing special happened, not until I heard a call from the burned tower.
It was a dark night, not nearly as noisy as days were. I was merely flying near the town where we had once lived that had now become a beautiful city. I remember seeing a young human girl enter the tower. Blue hair. That was all I could remember at first.
As I was turning to leave, I heard a familiar call. I turned to look, and what did I see! One of the three pokemon I had rescued years and years ago in the fire, whom the others had given the name Suicune, was running through the woods near that town, following me. And right behind him, were the other two, Entei and Raikou, respectively.
I was overjoyed to see them, especially as happy as they seemed to be. They were running freely after me, seeming to enjoy the speed and the freedom. That was when I knew for sure that I had made the right decision generations ago.
Some more time passed, but not much at all. Maybe just a few sunsets and rises, I am not sure, since my all attention was on Suicune, Entei and Raikou. They were getting used to their freedom and abilities again, and everything seemed to be well. The three had developed an interest to the girl, the pure hearted human, who had freed them. Especially Suicune.
They all met her several times, Entei and Raikou even had battles with her. Suicune did not, though. He believed that she was above it. His respect for that girl was high, and apparently, hers to him was too. She never even tried to capture him, as ones like her, ones they call pokemon trainers, usually did.
Like that, time passed. I was slowly starting to think that I did not need to fulfil the dream I had in my heart; I gained friendship and admiration from the three I had rescued from that fire. And that was more than enough for me.
But even in that happiness, I could not help but to return to that city from time to time. Even with the painful memories, I was still attached to it. So, I would fly over that city every once in a while, just to see how the descendants of the ones who had turned to me with their problems were doing.
On one of those nights, I noticed something was wrong in the instant I approached the city. It was not quiet. It was noisy; the whole city was filled with noises of despair and fear, horror. I was shocked to see smoke rising from the city, just like long ago.
Even though I did not try to hide myself, no-one noticed me. The people were all concentrated in trying to put out the flames on a building. However, total chaos was reigning there; the people could not work right.
I circled around the city a few times, struggling to decide whether I should help them or not. If there was no-one hurt, then…
But that was when I heard a cry, once again, echoing in the fire. A cry of a desperate voice. But this voice was different from the ones I had heard before. I didn't know what it was, but I knew something was different now.
Even so, I flew to the burning building, and entered it. Not one person outside seemed to notice. Of course, even if they would have looked, I would have managed to camouflage myself with the flames, but I didn't need to. Like said, nobody saw me.
Inside, I immediately found the one who had cried. A black pokemon, usually called Umbreon, trying to protect a small girl from the flames with his last strength. The girl seemed to be losing her consciousness. She had probably inhaled a lot of smoke, even though she still seemed unharmed by the flames. The Umbreon, however… He would not last for long.
The Umbreon looked at me with a meaningful gaze, and I understood what he wanted.
I took charge of the flames, as much as I could, and told them to move aside. Once that happened, the Umbreon started gently pushing the girl to the other side.
As she crossed the place of the flames, I did everything I could to keep the flames from burning her. Once she was over, I let the flames go.
The Umbreon looked terrible. His fur was burned and dirty, his eyes were dim and his breathing seemed to be painful. But he was still alive, and I knew what I had to do.
Just like once before, I started giving him power, juts a little, so he could survive. When no-one was looking, I exited the building with him on my back, and took him to the burned remains of the tower where Lugia had once lived. Suicune, Entei and Raikou were there already; they had sensed my thoughts.
Not long after that, I started giving the weak pokemon more and more power, granting his survival, but also slowly turning him into a much more powerful being. For days and days we would just be still there, I processing the change, he changing, and the others watching, worried.
However, as I was changing him, probably on the fifth circling of the moon after I had found him, his eyes suddenly shot open. His heart started pounding faster, faster and faster. As I tried to calm him, he suddenly jumped up, still incomplete, and rushed away from the building before any of us could do anything to stop him.
For a while, we were all awed. Then, I told Suicune, the fastest one of the tree, to follow the poor pokemon. He set off instantly, and we went right behind with the others.
For that full night, and six more, barely resting on days, we roamed through the whole region in the west. He would run, searching, and we would follow. Eventually he stopped, as if lost. He had not found what he was looking for, I knew.
He had used up a lot of the power he hardly controlled during that time. And once we tried to talk to him, he would just fade away in front of our eyes, like he would have never been there. We understood that it really had been too late for him.
Everything went as it had before the incident for three years. Three years, and nothing bothered us. No disasters, no deaths significant to us. I sometimes felt a little anxious because of the Umbreon, but I always shook that feeling off before it fully took over me.
Three years later, we were confronted by the guardian of the nearby forest. She told us, that there was a strange black smoke, or mist, surrounding that faithful town. She had never seen anything like it, and was not sure if it was safe for her to enter.
I told her to leave it to us. I knew that there was only one thing it could possibly be.
Despite my words, I told Suicune and the rest to stay behind. I did not want to expose them to any danger.
Yes, I went alone. Alone, I flew once again to that faithful city, to confront the Umbreon I thought had died.
The poor being was there. Surrounded by a smoky mist, that shady, fragile being. He was still desperately searching. I could feel guilt in his heart, for the first time. I had not understood him at all so far; now I could feel it clearly.
The howls he made were of pure guilt, the painful memories that leaked into my mind due to his uncompleted form were all caused by guilt. Coloured in guilt, lead by guilt, made by guilt. This being felt so guilty, it made me believe I was the one guilty for it. It was amazing, terrible.
When he saw me, his shining, yellow eyes were full of desperate hope. He hoped I might know where she was; I saw it now clearly in my head; the images of that young, pure girl kept flowing into my head. Once I looked into the Umbreons eyes, I learned to know this girl. Soon, she was like an old friend to me. I knew her voice, the touch of her skin. I saw her hair flying with the wind when let free, I heard her talk in her sleep, I saw her smile. I felt sad, I felt guilty. I understood that he had to find her.
But I also knew that letting the two meet was not an option. The girl had left long ago; she could be anywhere in the world right now. The Umbreon had changed too much, he possessed too much power to face his guilt, or he might end up hurting her by accident. And I didn't even want to imagine what would happen if he hurt her.
I flew to him, and spoke to him, with calm words, but could not hold back the sadness in my voice. I had learned it through Suicune, Entei and Raikou; once one became like us, he could not keep his memories. The three had not realized it, but they had been on peek of breakdown by the time I had turned them to stone. Even I had not known it then; I had learned it with the wisdom I gained after that. They were lucky to be able to keep their memories without suffering from them, and that was just because so many of those distant memories were painful.
I told him he could be free of his guilt; he could break away from the reason to search for that girl. Since once he would come with me, he would completely break free from his old life. The images, feelings and sounds of that girl would completely disappear from his heart, and he'd be free. Besides life, I offered him freedom.
But he did not like it. What I said upset him, and instead of answering me, or following me, he howled and attacked me. I could dodge him easily, and push him back, but he was enraged, as if I would have threatened the life of that girl haunting his mind.
The mist seemed to increase, and I could feel the anxiousness in the sleeping people of the city growing. I could feel nightmares, memoirs of the worst days of their lives, filling their heads. It was his doing, and it could have been on purpose, I was not sure.
That was when Suicune appeared from the woods. He attacked the Umbreon wildly, tackling him with all his might. The fragile being seemed to vanish for a moment, but the mist gathered again to grant him a new form. He howled again, and tried to attack back, but fell before he managed to do anything. He was weak, weakened by wasting his energy, and from Suicunes attack.
The being made one furious glare at us, and vanished, with the mist fading away too. In a moment, everything was peaceful, the citizens dreaming sweet dreams like they had. Like nothing would have happened.
Several dawns flew through since that. A time that short had never felt so long to me. Every night, the Umbreon would appear near the city, and try to fight us when we came near. He was furious, felt guilty, and desperate.
But he also started becoming somewhat stronger, as the anxious feelings grew in him. He also became bolder, and soon he started walking the city too, and not just near it. He would go to the burned building and search them. He would search the places I had seen in his memories. He became braver; more eager to find what he was looking for.
And on the night he actually approached a human sleeping in her room, in a building identical to the one that had burned down, we understood that we had no choice anymore; he was becoming more and more dangerous. We had to find a way to rescue him.
But we understood that that was beyond our power. Since the only one who could rescue him was the one he was searching for; that girl in his memories.
It took us only three dawns to find her. The prince of the sea himself lent us a hand; and soon found her in a land far away in the north.
We did not know what he could do, so we decided that first, we had to get her here. We'd somehow have to make the two meet, yet not expose the girl to any danger, or our chances of saving him would be doomed. And once the girl would understand the situation, then we would know what we could do. What could be done.
-----
Ho-oh turned his head to Tamao as he stopped talking. His eyes were hazy, after remembering things so painful, even from so long ago. The girl he had talked about, the girl whose hair had once flown with the wind, stood there right in front of him with eyes full of pain. She was taller than in the memories he had gained from that Umbreon, her expression was more mature. Her voice was fuller, more experienced, and yet more modest. Her hair was cut shorter, and was standing still on her shoulders.
But it could still have flown with the wind.