A week later, we were resting up in Ecruteak City. It was a cool afternoon. The breeze nipped at my skin, but the sun kept me warm. If Johto's weather was anything like Kanto's, that meant the warmer seasons were just around the corner.

I was lounging around outside of the theater, waiting for Akemi to finish up getting ready. I never understood why people needed more than a few minutes to get ready. I was able to throw on clothes, brush my hair and teeth, and get out the door efficiently.

However, I took a bit longer to get ready today. We were supposedly going somewhere special. I had even left my Pokémon at home, save for Entei and Charizard. I never left without my partner, and Akemi had told me to bring Entei. Mewtwo had insisted that he tag along too, but I refused. The Psychic-type had let himself out anyway, zooming out the window before I even had the chance to recall him. Just so long as he didn't get caught, I couldn't care less about what he did. He had been acting weirder than normal since the Ruins.

Akemi, however, was definitely more of the norm than I was. She had been in her and her sister's apartment for almost thirty minutes at this point. In that time, I had walked through the theater's main lobby and partially into the seats. I had even wandered backstage looking for her.

A simple janitor had just laughed it off when I asked where she was. "Those girls always take forever to get ready," he'd said.

It was worth the wait. She walked out of the double door entrance with a ruby kimono on. Her hair was done up in an elegant bun with ornate decorations hanging down from them. The jewels seemed to drip into her earrings which in turn flowed into her necklace. She smiled and looked away from me. I noticed that her makeup was natural looking, and not the stark white the girls usually wore while in their ceremonial robes.

She sheepishly twirled. "Well, how do I look?"

"Stunning," I said in a sub-whisper voice. "I mean, it looks good," I said, louder now.

"Thanks." She blushed. "Ready to go see what's so special?"

"Yeah, of course."

Today, the plan was to go see the famous Burned Tower. It was the death and then rebirth place of Entei, Raikou, and Suicune. They had once been three Eevee evolutions before getting trapped in the blazing building. Then Ho-Oh had raised them from the ashes, reborn as three fierce legendary creatures. At least, that was what Akemi and Asami told me.

Being that they were both kimono girls—women that showed compassion toward Pokémon and also a strong will in confrontation—I trusted their word on the myth. The group was treated as a legend of sorts here. Everyone knew they were real, but mythical qualities surrounded them that some people thought to be false. I was beginning to buy into the idea that they were connected to god Pokémon somehow too. How else did Asami know the exact moment to show herself at the Ruins of Alph?

We walked up the steps to the burnt building. The structure was still solid despite the petrified wood. I tried to shake one of the columns, but it stood resolutely at my attempts. When I pulled my hand away, I noticed charred pieces of wood sticking to my palm. I dusted them off onto my pants before recoiling slightly at the action. I was wearing my nice jeans, so I shook my hand in the air instead. Luckily, all the dirt flung away from my blouse.

Other tourists were there too. Some looked like they were native to Johto as well, and they proved my hypothesis correct when they bowed slightly to Akemi as we passed. Other tourists, obviously from places like Unova or Kalos, looked at the native tourists like they were insane. Nonetheless, the foreigners bowed awkwardly in understanding reverence. Akemi smiled and politely bowed her head at each individual as we passed.

We moved silently through the opening into the Burned Tower. The roof was sliced open in a jagged pattern. It allowed natural light to sprinkle into the room. The pattern the light made the aura of the place feel sacred. It highlighted statues in just a way that made them feel alive. The pit was walled off, but I could still rush up to the edge and lean over. The three statues in the center looked identical to what I had fought with only a week ago.

"Can we go down there?" I asked Akemi. The blocked off part threw a wrench into our plan.

"Sure, I can get us down the steps." She turned to the security guard watching the steps. "Can my friend and I please get closer to the statues?"

"Anything for one of the Sisters." The guard removed the velvet rope that blocked the opening then sidestepped to allow passage for us.

We marched single file down the steps. Our footsteps echoed on the stone, and I soon noticed the tourists we had passed earlier were gathering around to watch what we were doing. I hope this didn't scare them too much.

I let Entei out of its ball next to the sculpture. The Pokémon roared, and sure enough, the crowd jumped away from the railing. Some ran from the building completely, but most stayed behind to watch the show.

Entei circled its statue, occasionally stopping to sniff it. It roared mightily into the air. After finishing its howl, it kept its head tilted back. Watching. Waiting.

A thundering roar sounded from above our heads. We followed Entei's eyes upward and saw Raikou standing on the roof. He peered down at us, only letting his head inside the building. Entei roared in response, rearing his head down before looking up again. Raikou must have understood that to mean the coast was clear, as it jumped down next to its sibling now.

I couldn't help but tense up at the presence of the Electric-type. I put my fingers to my neck, but nothing was there. My skin prickled too at the idea of something being amiss. I felt something on my shoulder and turned my head to see Akemi's hand resting there gently. She smiled softly, and I felt reassured. Her mere presence was enough to snap me back to the present.

She moved forward now with a Poké Ball in hand. Her one sandaled foot shuffled the loose dirt away as her booted one shoveled it to the side. The Beasts were distracted by each other, rubbing their faces against the others' neck and fur. They...purred? I pulled open my Pokédex and made a note of the fact that Entei and Raikou could purr. I added an additional comment to Suicune's entry saying, "Can possibly purr."

We hadn't been able to track down Suicune, but surprisingly, Raikou had stayed near to Ecruteak City. The thunderstorms hadn't let up for almost the entire week we had been here. The Tin Tower got struck too often for it to be a coincidence.

Finally, Raikou snapped its attention to Akemi. She was practically touching it now. She made the final push forward with her free hand, reaching out to touch its mane. Raikou flinched away and snarled. Akemi recoiled at first but continued to push forward. Lightning cracked above our heads.

"Akemi," I warned.

"Shhh," she said. I couldn't tell if she was talking to me or Raikou. "It's alright. You're safe now."

The Electric-type still growled, but it had tucked its large fangs back into its mouth. It moved forward slightly. I would have missed the motion had I blinked. The two were connected now; head to hand, hand to head. Akemi stroked Raikou's mane. The Beast kept its eyes open and on Akemi, but they lulled closed every so often.

"You're home now," she whispered.

Raikou began to purr again. In response to the scene, Entei padded over to me. It pressed its head into my arm. I curled it around to the top of its head and began to stroke its mane. Entei purred too.

Above head, a camera flashed. Raikou snapped from its peaceful state. The building echoed with its roar. Dark clouds began to gather in the skies above. Lightning zipped through the towering wonders of nature. My skin began to tingle again, and I looked over to Raikou. Its eyes were flickering dangerously with energy as a low growl escaped its lips.

Entei stepped in front of me. It lowered its head at the other Raikou as it let out a fierce roar. The tourists above head screamed and began to flee the building. I noticed the security guard sprint away too.

Just when I thought a battle would erupt between the two, a singular voice smothered the bloodlust. "Enough!" Akemi shouted.

Entei straightened up, but Raikou didn't. The Electric-type was set back on its haunches with electricity crackling off of its purple mane. It held its tail straight up in the air.

In a blur of red, Akemi swished around in a circle. The Beast disappeared into red energy and the Poké Ball fell into the dust. Not even one shake passed before it sprang out. It returned to its original position and growled a final warning. Without a second to lose, it pounced at Akemi.

"Raiu!" she screamed as she was swept off her feet.

"No!" I screamed. I watched with wide eyes as Raikou leaped through the air.

My heart skipped a few beats as I watched Akemi disappear under a flurry of yellow and black fur. I gasped in a breath at a sharp pain I felt in my throat. I brought a hand up to feel for something, but my hand was clear when I brought it away again.

Seconds later, and the Beast still had done nothing to Akemi. It just looked down at her with sad eyes. I didn't even realize that it could express emotion like that. I made another quick note in the Pokédex. I knew normal, non-legendary species could express emotion. For some reason, legendaries always stuck out in my mind as creatures that couldn't feel emotions. I really needed to erase that stereotype after Mewtwo and Entei.

Akemi yelped, stirring me out of my daze. Entei jumped next to me as well. Her cry was quickly followed up by laughter. I rushed over to her, confused as to what was going on from my bad angle. I crouched down next to the pile-up and listened to her comforting Raikou. It was licking her face with a pink tongue.

"Oh, Raiu," she laughed. She was petting the Pokémon now as he continued to lick her. "She always wrote about how much she loved and missed you ran off."

Raikou purred and nuzzled her with its enormous head. He gently stepped off of her and even helped her up to her feet when it realized she was hurt.

"May I?" Akemi asked, displaying another Poké Ball tucked up her sleeve.

Raikou bowed its head as Akemi tossed the ball. The catch happened quickly, the ball not even shaking more than once. A whole stream of stars flew out instead of just a few at the top.

"I was taught growing up that if you get a critical catch, it means the Pokémon wants to be with you. I'm thankful that Raiu is home now." She looked over to me. "Come on, I have a place I want to show you. But first, we gotta go back to my house so I can ditch the jewelry."

___

"Do you have a favorite Eevee?" Akemi asked.

"Not really, they're all useful in their own ways."

"I like Jolteon the most. I think that's part of why Raikou picked me. I was wondering if Flareon was your favorite," she ventured a guess.

"Oh, no," I said. "Well, maybe it is. I do really like Fire-types," I admitted.

"I can see that in you. You're strong like they are, with a fierce attitude to match."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" I asked. My smile betrayed my true feelings.

"Nothing, nothing at all," she said with a coy smile. We continued our stroll. "Another reason I like Jolteon is because of my many times great grandmother."

"Was she the one you mentioned to Raikou?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"What did she do?"

"She was one of the first Kimono Girls," Akemi began. "Her Pokémon was one of the ones burnt at the original Tin Tower. Raikou was..."

"Her Jolteon," I said, remembering the legend. A Vaporeon, a Flareon, and a Jolteon were all burned alive. Ho-Oh had brought the Pokémon back as a reward for the girls' faithfulness.

"Exactly. The Kimono Girls had always worshiped Ho-Oh, but that event only helped solidify their faith. We wear these robes to honor our mothers of the past." She swished the loose sleeves of her kimono. "The colors are supposed to be what Ho-Oh looks like. I can't speak for that though since I've never seen it. Hopefully, I will soon," she said as we came to a stop. We stood in the shadow of a looming structure. The architecture screamed of ancient Johto. The Tin Tower.

"Wow, it's beautiful," I gasped. The afternoon sun sprung off of the metallic roofs. Its warm rays highlighted the decorations carved into the red poles that made up the corners of the structure. The pole we stood next to depicted a woman with a Jolteon at her feet. She was outfitted with a kimono.

"It is," Akemi agreed. "This is one of my favorite places in town. You should see it when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. It's breathtaking." She then looked over at me, and I half-expected her to say something else.

When she didn't, I spoke. "Yeah, I can imagine."

We walked into the tower, Akemi obviously leading the way. We walked in silence up the steps to the top of the tower. The creaking stairs provided the only break in the awkward silence that had blossomed. Did I say something wrong? I couldn't help but wonder to myself.

It was a long hike up, but well worth it when I saw the view from the top. If the cherry blossoms were breathtaking, then I had no words to describe what I saw. Johto spread out beneath us in rolling hills and gentle plains. The Burned Tower stood next to us at half the height, and beyond it, I could see a thick of trees just barely shielding the National Park from our view. Goldenrod touched the sky in the distance beyond the Park, proving its might among the other cities of the region. To the left, mountains rose to counter it. "What you can do, we can do better," they taunted at the city.

My heart ached a little as I remembered that home was just on the other side.

"This is incredible!" I turned to look at Akemi. She was sitting in the very center of the roof. I jogged up the last few steps to sit next to her. As I got closer, I noticed the large rainbow feather she twirled in her fingers. "Is that the feather from the Ruins?"

She nodded.

"Where did you get it?" I meant to ask her about it a while ago, but it had slipped my mind in the rush the past week had been. From learning about every legend in Johto to the two of us spending a lot of time walking around the city together, I forgot to bring it up.

"There's one last legend I wanted to save for when we got up here." She looked at me now, meeting my eyes for the first time since we started the climb up the tower. "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to say, alright?"

"Alright," I agreed. Usually, she was so carefree, her sudden change in tone was enough to convince me of how serious this was.

When she started talking, she didn't tear her eyes away from the feather in her lap. "I was always a bit of a different kid in school. I never wanted to sit still and focus. I wanted to be out there, catching Pokémon, not learning about them from books in jargon I didn't understand. It made me an easy target for bullies. So, instead of letting them get to me, I just started keeping to myself. I was pretty lonely; my only friends were the other Kimono Girls. But, they were all my sister's age or my mom's age, so they didn't count.

"Middle school comes around and I start interacting with people again, specifically with a new girl who just moved from Hoenn. Her parents wanted to escape the island after tensions started to rise between Hoenn and Unova again. Nothing came of that political spat, of course, but I don't blame them for wanting to leave just in case. Her name was Jenny, and we bonded quickly. I liked Jenny, she was friendly to me and everyone else. She provided me with an easy way into a good friend group. Now, middle school was when people started thinking too much about boys. Girls my age fawned over any celebrity that looked even remotely cute. I was an oddity."

She paused, taking a shaking breath. "How so?" I asked.

"Well, one time, some of us girls were swooning over Falkner. And yeah, I can see why. He's not bad looking. I personally wasn't as much of a fan, so I thought it would be good to bring up my crush." She paused, wiping her eyes.

"I, uh, thought it was good to bring up that fact that I thought Jasmine was cute. They all went silent when I said that; I was a monster to them for reasons I didn't understand at the time." Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she looked up at me. "I asked Jenny if she agreed, and the bitch turned on me. She started calling me horrible names, and the other girls accused me of being her friend because I was attracted to her. I mean, they weren't wrong, I was! How stupid of me to crush on my best friend. I quickly became known as 'queer' or f..." She wiped her eyes. "I can't even say it."

"It's okay, you don't have to," I said.

"Thanks," she sobbed.

She stood up quickly and began to pace. I stayed where I was. She circled around the square rooftop to the back where ornate decorations rose up. I turned to watch her, concerned where she was going with this. She twirled the feather in one hand while drying her tears with the other. Her once beautiful makeup smeared across her face.

"After a few months of being alone again, I just couldn't take it," she began again with a shaky voice. "This was always my favorite spot to come cry. The view was lovely, but it would always remind me of how alone I was. One day, I couldn't take it and..." She gasped in a breath, swallowing hard before continuing. "One day, I decided I would end it all. I was going to jump off into the garden below."

"Oh, Akemi, I'm sorry," I said between her sniffles. The pain I felt for her overcame my inability to be comforting. I got to my feet and went to embrace her in a hug. Her body shook with each sniffle. "What happened from there?"

"Obviously, I didn't jump," she said. She freed herself from my arms and held out the feather to me. "This is why. It's one of Ho-Oh's feathers. I knew I didn't have anything to fear from being the odd one out ever again. Wanna know why?" I nodded.

"The legend says that two beings, one with a heart of gold and one with a soul of silver, will bond over the feather of the two gods. One will be gifted with a rainbow feather from Ho-Oh, and the other will be gifted a silver feather from Lugia. I know that someday, the boy with Lugia's feather will show himself to me.

"I went back to the kids at school to show it off to them. They all knew the legend, so everyone accepted me again and moved on from calling me awful names. Jenny apologized too before her family moved back to Hoenn. I started showing a good understanding of biology and other natural sciences. Eventually, Professor Elm drafted me to help catch Pokémon. I thought maybe Ethan would be the one with the feather, but he never found it. I asked him about it a lot. So much that he would begin every phone call to me saying he didn't find it yet." She laughed. "That boy was a nice guy, but I would want it to be him. Plus, I..." she trailed off, peeling her eyes from me.

"I'm sorry that all of that happened, but what are you trying to say?" I asked. My heart fluttered at the implications.

She shook her head, and my heart sank for some reason. I didn't quite comprehend why I felt like that in the first place. "Ah, it's nothing. I just trust you enough after journeying with you for a little while now. We've become good friends over the past few months. Don't you think so?"

"Yeah, I agree."

"Anyway, that's all I have. If you ever feel like talking about your past, let me know. I'm all ears," she offered.

Part of me ached to tell her about my mother, but I knew it was better left for another day. No one, not even Professor Oak, knew the full extent of my feelings regarding my parents. My growling stomach dragged me out of my memories.

Based on Akemi's snort, she had also heard it. "I'm hungry too. Let's go get lunch at this café I know. You'll love it."

She pulled me to my feet and we jogged back down the tower. I was much less out of breath upon arrival at the bottom than I had been upon arrival at the top. A swift gust of wind met us as we opened the double doors at the bottom. I closed my eyes and shield my face against the wind as I pushed the door open. After the gust subsided, I opened my eyes. Immediately, something caught my attention on the ground. My heart began to race again as my mind realized what it was.

It was not quite what I expected it to look like. The sun caught it just right, causing it to glow with a bright display. The individual strands looked like they were cut from a rich woman's jewelry. The stem was sturdy and thick, I noticed, as I picked it up. The jewelry-like barbs were soft.

"Akemi," I said softly.

She turned to face me. "What is it?" she asked. Her jaw went slack, and she almost looked like she would cry again. "Oh my goodness." She looked into my eyes with a new expression. One that I couldn't pinpoint.

"Is this it?" I asked, bewildered. "Is this Lugia's feather?"

She nodded and moved over to embrace me in a tight hug. "Over the past few weeks, I was beginning to hope that it would be you."