Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The night before Mai leaves for the Ecruteak City, she performs atop a pagoda. It is autumn, the surrounding trees resplendent in red and gold. There’s no music save the faint chimes of a bell, and all around her lays the landscape of a crumbling metropolis. It is only when she catches sight of Mother, watching her amidst an otherwise faceless audience, that she realizes she is merely dreaming. Mother has been dead for years.

Mai stops. "Mother?" The knowledge that nothing is real does not lessen a ten-year-old’s curiosity toward the woman who exists only in photographs.

Mother smiles, a cold smile that contains too many shades of meanings to discern.

"Why are you dancing, Mai?" she asks.

The explanation comes to Mai naturally, though she has not stopped to think of a reason until then. "I’m going to the Kimono Dance Theater," she says. "I’m one of five girls selected this year."

“You must be careful,” Mother says sharply.

Mai stares, having expected Mother to be proud. She is frozen in place as Mother steps close and cups her cheeks. Up close, her resemblance to the woman in Mai’s pictures fades. Her face is too pale, her lips are too red, and her eyes are an empty lifeless black. Her hands are very, very cold.

Mai wakes up shivering, remembering little of the dream aside from the feel of her mother’s breath against her ear and the words she would later recall with different eyes.

"Stay too long in Ecruteak City," Mother had whispered, "and you will end up dancing with ghosts."

A city that even now bears the marks of its history. Mai reads the sign as she enters Ecruteak City and finds that it is an apt description.

Through the car window, she stares in amazement at the people strolling about in kimonos, the streets lined with machiya, and the town squares populated by trees and fountains. The Dance Theater is more of the same. Located a few miles north of the pokémon center, it boasts a collection of traditional buildings that sprawl over a hundred acres of manicured green. On her first night, as she watches the stars in the courtyard of her dormitory, Mai could almost imagine that she has arrived in a different era.

The next morning, the magic of Ecruteak fades somewhat as Mai sets out to explore the city in earnest. Here and there, she catches glimpses that give away the city’s modern identity. Like the handful of skyscrapers that tower over shrines, or the newly constructed stores displaying sleek products from Devon and Silph. There are also the tourists and pokémon trainers, who look and dress in a distinctly different style from the native townspeople.

Keiko, one of Mai’s new classmates, serves as tour guide. Her family has lived in the city for many generations. The other girls, like Mai, come from elsewhere. Chiyo is from New Bark Town, Akina is from Cianwood City, and Hana is from Cherrygrove City. None of them has been to Ecruteak before. Over their first breakfast together in the communal cafeteria, they resolved to take full advantage of the week before the start of classes.

Fortunately for them, their arrival coincides with the Obon Festival, one of Ecruteak’s most famous events that draws many from all over the world. A giant carnival is set up in the middle of the city, complete with themed rides and food stands. Music blares over loudspeakers. Now and then, different groups of young women dressed in yukata would encourage everyone to start dancing to a modernized and abridged version of the Bon Odori.

The weather cannot be better. It’s a warm summer day, not as sweltering hot as it could sometimes get in the more metropolitan Goldenrod City. After a ride on the famous Gyarados Roller Coaster, another on the Empoleon Water Slide, and a third on the Ponyta Go Around, Mai sits down on a bench with Keiko. As she licks her newly purchased watmel berry-flavored popsicle, she cannot stop stealing glances at the other girl. There’s something about her that is different, possibly the allure of having been raised and trained in a Kimono Girl culture. She has an air of tranquility, in addition to a manner that suggests that she understands what most others cannot.

"This place is pretty amazing," Mai says, timidly starting a conversation. Keiko turns to her and cocks her head. "I mean, we have our own Obon celebrations too, but it isn’t as impressive."

Her hometown lacks the atmosphere present in Ecruteak, though she isn’t sure how to describe it.

"It’s pretty cool," Keiko agrees. "My family comes every year and I never get tired of it."

The two girls watch as another group of girls succeeds in getting the crowd to start an impromptu dance. Much laughter ensues as everyone tries to find enough space in the crowd to form concentric circles.

"Now this , I do get tired of, they are terrible!" Keiko says. "From second-rate dance schools, most probably. Sometimes I wish that the Kimono Girls would perform more, but they are really picky about their engagements, because most of the shows they get invited to would be demeaning to their status." She shakes her head. "That sadly means most of our tourists end up getting the wrong idea about what traditional dance actually looks like."

Mai scrutinizes the dancers before her more carefully, but having only trained in ballet, she could only tell that the dance looks quite similar to the Bon Odori in Goldenrod City. She turns back to Keiko.

"Have you seen the Kimono Girls perform in person then?"

Keiko nods proudly. "Of course! My old dance school is a little sister school to the Dance Theater. We perform in some of the same shows. Occasionally some of the top dancers would even come and instruct us, and of course the headmistress would come herself every once in a while to scout future recruits, like me."

"Wow!" Mai is impressed. "I wish I could see the Kimono Girls dance in person too."

"But you will, obviously," cuts in a different voice. Hana, Chiyo, and Akina have joined them. "We are Kimono Girl trainees now," Hana continues, "so I expect we will see the Kimono Girls all the time once classes start."

"Actually, you will see them dance today," Keiko says. "The Elder always makes sure that they perform during the Obon Festival. There will be a big stage set up here after lunch."

Mai brightens. "I can’t wait!"

They have lunch in a nearby restaurant run by friends of Keiko’s family. Over rice, miso soup, and grilled magikarp, Keiko tells them more about the Kimono Girls. There are generally five to seven full-fledged Kimono Girls, she explains, but the exact number is not fixed and changes from generation to generation. Only the very top dancers in each incoming year can even be considered to become a Kimono Girl. Once selected, they will keep their positions until they retire.

To Hana’s visible disappointment, she also mentions that Kimono Girls do not spend all their time at the Dance Theater. Instead they travel very often to other cities and regions for performances and media appearances. Outside the public eye, the Kimono Girls are very private. They never give interviews and few are privileged to know them personally.

Not all of these are new to Mai, who has watched the Kimono Girls dance on television multiple times and learned about them through newspapers and magazines. Nevertheless, some of Keiko’s anecdotes of her own interactions with them arouse new curiosity, so she can hardly wait to see the dancers perform in person.

When the girls return to the carnival, they see that some of the rides have been cleared to make room for a large wooden stage, its curtains closed, surrounded by rows of chairs. There’s already a huge crowd waiting and many people are standing. Strangely, despite having arrived rather late, the girls find many chairs in the front conveniently empty. Following Keiko’s lead, they sit down.

Once the seats are more or less filled, an old man dressed in a dark blue kimono walks onto the stage. Keiko explains in a whisper that he is Sage Masa, one of the aides to the Elder.

"I thank all of you for coming," he says in a loud voice, without using a microphone. "My introduction to you will be quite short. As you all know, Ecruteak City is known for its beauty, and I daresay there will be nothing that embodies the notion of beauty more than the dancing of our top dancers. Please, let us welcome our Kimono Girls!"

Loud applause ensues. The curtains slowly rise, revealing seven slim figures each dressed in a different colored kimono, holding an umbrella in a corresponding color. They are greeted by more applause, screams, and even catcalls from the bolder audience members. The purple-clad young woman in the center raises her hands and, almost immediately, everyone falls quiet.

Soft shamisen music begins playing in the background, soon accompanied by the sound of a flute and the beating of a drum. Then the dance commences.

Every moment that the Kimono Girls make is delicate and deliberate. Mai feels chills down her back. She knows enough about traditional dance to know that it is very nuanced. The smallest of gestures can tell a whole story on its own, whether it is the curl of a finger or the tilt of an arm. Though their style of dancing is introverted, with little eye contact with the audience, the Kimono Girls nevertheless draw everyone into their story. In this dance, they seem to portray young women searching for someone across a large river, a love story perhaps. The music grows more sorrowful as the dance speeds up, until all that could be seen of the dancers are the blur of their kimonos and umbrellas.

They look like a rainbow, Mai thinks, a rainbow that bridges the river so the lovers can meet. And indeed, there’s sudden joy in the music and the dancers’ movements become gentler, almost flirty. The umbrellas twirl merrily and each Kimono Girl seems to be engaged in her own dance with a partner, though she remains perfectly in sync with the others. Mai is again reminded of a rainbow, though this time the rainbow just seems to represent the joy of seeing the sun again after a large rainstorm.

The last notes of the song play, and both music and dancers come to a stop. There’s a brief moment of silence, and then, a huge roar of applause. Even the pokémon, who have not stirred throughout the performance, join in their owners’ cheering with their own cries of approval. The Kimono Girls bow gracefully and decline an encore. Afterwards, they retreat to the back of the stage, allowing the curtains to fall, hiding them from view once more. Mai brings her hands to her face and is surprised to find they are wet with tears.

The imageries evoked by the dance persists for hours, as does the feeling of wonder.

On the last night of the Obon Festival, the girls sit at the edge of Poliwag Pond to wait for the Daimonji. The last ray of the sun fades and shadows fall. The night is cool and a scent of the earlier rain lingers in the air. Curls of smoke rise in the distance; the natives are burning one last round of incense for ancestors and their pokémon.

When it has become almost completely dark, bonfires are lit in the distance in predetermined patterns, emblazoning fiery pictograms into the night sky and the distant silhouettes of surrounding mountains. Down below, people begin standing up, handing paper lanterns to the poliwag and poliwhirl by the edge of the pond. The lanterns are then placed in the water, their flames providing a nice contrast to the reflections of the bonfire.

Mai gets up to get a better look, watching as the lanterns glide smoothly into a connecting river and pass out of sight, soon to be replaced by more. She gives a soft sigh. Perhaps it is the knowledge that spirits abound tonight; she can almost sense the presence of Ecruteak ancestors, haunting the world they had once inhabited.

Hey there.

Mai glances up to stare directly at a haunter. She is startled, though not frightened. Wild pokémon in the National Park sometimes talk to humans. Why not the wild ghost pokémon in Ecruteak City?

"Hello," she says.

Welcome back! the haunter says, its face splitting into a big grin. We missed you.

Automatically Mai starts to say, "I missed you too," but she stops herself. She has never seen the haunter before. "I don’t think we’ve met before," she says. "I just arrived in Ecruteak City."

I made no mistake, the haunter replies. I know who you are. But your friends are watching us and I must go. You know where we are. The Burned Tower.

He disappears, just as Keiko comes. She looks around curiously. "I didn’t know wild ghosts talk to humans," she says, her sentence clearly a question even without the inflection.

"I wasn’t talking to one," Mai lies. "It – it was just making faces at me and then it left."

"Then –" Keiko stops herself, too tactful to press on.

Mai is relatively quiet for the rest of the night, trying and failing to understand the encounter with the haunter. It had been so sure that it knew her, and yet she was equally sure that it was wrong. By the time she gets up to leave with everyone else, however, she is outwardly her normal self again, having resolved to put the incident out of her mind.

Indeed, back in her bed, Mai has no trouble falling asleep, nor does she dream.

Chapter Text

On the first day of classes, Mai wakes up early, feeling both nervous and excited. She could barely eat during breakfast, nor can the other first years. They watch with wide eyes as the older girls enter the cafeteria. It’s the first time that they meet the upper class students, who had been on vacation until the night before.

The Dance Theater divides its dancers into seven different grades, from which three different classes are formed. The first years comprise the junior class, the second through fourth years the intermediate class, and the fourth through seventh years the senior class. Mai would later learn that the students attend classes and share dormitories with members of the same grade, but they perform dances with members of the same class.

The girls in the intermediate class do not look much older than the girls in junior class, though they conduct themselves with much more assurance and maturity. The girls in senior class, however, resemble fledgling Kimono Girls, both in their slender statures and their graceful movements. It is from this class that future Kimono Girls will be selected, staying at the Theater to serve as alternates until the current generation of dancers retire.

The Kimono Girls, who technically form their own class, are nowhere to be seen. According to Keiko, they have their own cafeteria and dance facilities at the Theater. Thus they associate with the other classes only when the headmistress deems it necessary. This morning is one of those exceptions. After breakfast has been served, the door to the cafeteria opens. Everyone turns to watch the young woman who enters.

Mai immediately recognizes her as one of the Kimono dancers from the carnival. As she had during the dance, she’s wearing a purple kimono. It’s a beautiful kimono, depicting a mountain during sunrise, the dark purple at the bottom of the robes giving way to more reddish shades at the top. Today, instead of carrying an umbrella, she’s accompanied by an espeon, who looks every bit as proud and arrogant as his mistress.

"That’s the lead dancer, Naomi," Keiko says. "And her espeon, Prince."

Naomi sweeps in, responding to the bows presented to her by the other classes with curt nods. She comes to a stop before the first years’ table, where everyone, except for Keiko, is too awed to move. Mai stares, a piece of half-chewed pickle still in her mouth. Naomi is very pretty, her oval face exquisitely made up. She feels as if she’s in the presence of a goddess.

In a fluid motion, she sets down a stack of laminated cards next to the porridge bowl in the center of the table.

"Hello," she says. "My name is Naomi, the leader of the Kimono Girls. You may address me as ’big sister.’ Here are your schedule cards. The headmistress will be expecting you in her office before your first class, so I suggest that you finish up as soon as you should not be late. Be sure to address her as ’madame.’ Welcome to the Kimono Dance Theater."

Without waiting for a response, she leaves to talk to the other tables. Her visits are similarly brief and before long she leaves, as subtly dramatic as she had come.

Still absorbing what has just transpired, the girls at the first year table are silent until Chiyo says, "Wow."

The spell cast by Naomi is broken. Keiko, the quickest to recover, laughs and begins passing around the schedule cards. Hana and Akina look as if they have just awoken from a hypnotic sleep. Mai suddenly remembers that she has yet to swallow the pickle in her mouth. She swallows and bends over her schedule card, somewhat amused to see that it’s rendered in a traditional scroll style, though typewritten.

9.00 – 10.00: History, Unsho Sato

10.00 – 11.00: Battle Theory, Hotaka Morioka

11.00 – 12.00: Music, Yoneko Yamamoto

12.00 – 13.00: Lunch

13.00 – 14.30: Literature, Kazuko Nakamura

14.30 – 17.00: Dance, Tamao Takahashi

17.00 – 18.00: Community

18.00 – 19.00: Dinner

An accompanying map of the Dance Theater campus neatly marks the location of each classroom, as well as the main buildings on campus. There’s no time to pore too deeply over the schedule card, however. Akina remarks that it’s already a quarter past eight, causing a general scramble at the table. Somehow, the girls manage to leave the cafeteria without making too much of a mess.

After a few false starts due to their collective inability to read the old-style map and the strange landscape of the Theater, the five members of junior class find themselves standing outside the door to the headmistress’s office.

Tamao Takahashi, it reads on the plaque mounted on the wooden door. Mai has met the headmistress only once, during her audition. The stage had been dimly lit then, so she did not catch a good view of the woman’s face. But everyone in the dance world knows that Tamao is a legend. She had been a famous Kimono Girl in her prime, the descendant of a long line of Kimono Girls. In fact, her mother had been headmistress when she attended the Theater. After retirement, she went abroad to teach, picking up her title as "Madame Tamao," before returning to take over the management of the Dance Theater.

Hana knocks. The door opens. "Come in please," Tamao says quietly.

The girls shuffle inside. The headmistress’s office is simply decorated, with a desk, two chairs, and a few framed pictures on the walls. There’s no carpet, only bare wooden floor. An umbreon sits on the windowsill, looking out at the lake behind the building. It does not acknowledge the newcomers.

Tamao closes the door. She is a tall woman dressed in a dark red kimono, her hair pulled back into a severe bun. Once she must have been beautiful, and even in her late thirties she retains her striking features. Her eyes scan over each of the girls’ faces carefully before she addresses them.

"Welcome to the Dance Theater. I am Tamao Takahashi, your headmistress and dance instructor. It is an honor for me to meet all of you. You have proven yourselves without doubt to possess the most talent this year and I am quite sure that you will all become fine dancers in your own right."

Her tone is soft, but very firm. Mai recognizes that she will be a strict teacher.

"As you may have seen from your schedule cards, your lessons at the Dance Theater will be a departure from the lessons you had received in the past," Tamao continues. "The dance medium of a Kimono Girl is quite different from other dance mediums. One cannot fully interpret a dance without being solidly schooled in its context, which is why the bulk of your classes are geared toward culture. Furthermore, music in our dances is quite minimal, serving only as accompaniment. Therefore you will be schooled in music as well so that you could understand the nuances behind every note. Finally, ceremonial battles are at the heart of the Kimono Girl culture, and hence you will be expected to be proficient in pokémon battling.

"I will tell you right now that the dance training will be very rigorous. You will start by learning the very basics of traditional dance. To fully master every technique I teach you, you will be expected to devote hours to practice every day, on top of your lessons and homework. I will track your progress very carefully and will not hesitate to tell you if you are underperforming. That said, your training will be very rewarding."

She smiles for the first time.

"As Keiko can tell you, the Dance Theater puts on a yearly spring dance festival, open to the residents of Ecruteak City. For the first year dancers, this festival is a great opportunity to showcase your dance abilities and everything you have learned thus far. By tradition, we will enact the story of the Burned Tower. One of you will be selected to be Ho-oh, the guardian of the skies, and the rest of you will portray the three legendary beasts. It is a dance that all the townspeople look forward to and I expect all of you to train very hard."

The girls look at each other uncertainly. She has named four roles, yet there are five first year dancers. Has she miscounted?

Tamao reads their minds correctly. "I did not make a mistake. There will be only four first year dancers by the time of the spring dance festival. I will see you in the afternoon," she says, opening the door. The girls start shuffling out. "Oh, and Mai Poplar. If I may have a quick word with you please."

Heart pounding, Mai watches the others leave, though she avoids their looks of curiosity and sympathy. She feels a sense of foreboding, especially in light of the spring dance announcement. She couldn’t have displeased Tamao already. She could not be the fifth dancer.

"What is it, Madame?" she asks, when they are alone.

"Just a stray question of little importance, though I’d appreciate if you could indulge my curiosity," Tamao says. "You are not originally from Johto, are you?"

"No," she replies hesitantly. "I was born in Unova."

"Oh?" The headmistress narrows her eyes in suspicion. "Then why have you come here?"

"I was adopted," Mai says. It is the truth, if not the entire answer.

Tamao’s expression softens somewhat. "I’m sorry to hear that."

Green and dark eyes meet. Mai looks away first and shrugs. Her adoption has never been a secret. It comes up from time to time, usually when strangers casually ask why she looks nothing like her parents. To her, it is no big deal. There’s a clear distinction between the living and the dead. Mother and Father exist only in pictures. Mom is her mom and Dad is her dad.

"You better run along to class now," Tamao says, with a tone of finality. "You would not want to be late to Teacher Sato’s class. He will not forget the affront."

Fortunately, Mai arrives in history class before the vengeful Teacher Sato. The other girls are all too eager to learn about what happened.

"I don’t know," Mai says honestly, not having had much time to digest what happened. She retells the conversation as best as she could without disclosing her family background. Before anyone could postulate, Teacher Sato comes in, and they are forced to return to their desks.

"I bet it’s nothing," Keiko says comfortingly, while the teacher is writing his name on the board. "Madame is probably just double-checking that you actually are a Johto resident. Only girls who live in Johto could apply to the Dance Theater. She didn’t single you out because she doesn’t like you, otherwise you wouldn’t be here in the first place. Don’t worry about it."

But Mai, remembering Tamao’s dark piercing eyes, isn’t convinced.

The rest of the day goes by smoothly. Indeed, the rest of the week goes by smoothly. Tamao never again referred to the conversation she had with Mai and did not treat her any differently in dance class. In fact, she praised Mai’s extension a few times in dance class. As Tamao has proven to be stingy with compliments, her words never fail to leave the girl with a warm glow.

So far, it’s a decent start to her semester, as far as classes go. In music, they are learning to play the shamisen, an instrument not wholly unlike the electric guitars that some Goldenrod DJs play on television. In literature, they are studying poetry, including a collection of poems written by Tamao Takahashi in her girlhood. History class is rather interesting. Somehow – and Mai is still trying to put her finger on how – Teacher Sato could render the most exciting of legends dull, and Chiyo is the only person in the grade to stay awake throughout the duration of class.

As much as Mai enjoys those classes, albeit for different reasons, she could already see her limits as far as her academic talents are concerned. She will never create masterpieces on three strings, like her shamisen teacher, nor will she compose stunning poems. Battle theory, at least, is more familiar territory. Memorizing pokémon type matchups and names of common pokémon is not so hard when she spent her childhood, like most of her neighborhood friends, play-fighting with stuffed pokémon or unfortunate wild rattata. Of course, her true forte, as she has always known, lies in dance. The simplest movements in dance give her a sense of joy and freedom that no other subject could awaken.

There are no classes on Saturday or Sunday. After breakfast and two hours of morning dance practice, the girls are lounging around in their courtyard garden when Keiko suggests visiting the Burned Tower. "We are going to perform our spring dance to its legend!" Keiko says. "Trust me, you will want to see it for yourself rather than learn about it from Teacher Sato."

"I’d rather go shopping!" Chiyo says. "One of the girls in the intermediate class told me she got the cutest stuffed pokédoll from a street vendor downtown."

Hana and Akina agree. "Besides," Akina adds, "isn’t the Burned Tower supposed to be haunted?"

Mai sits up, reminded of the haunter’s request from the night of the Daimonji. "I will come with you, Keiko!" she blurts out, lest her friend caves in and goes shopping as well.

The Burned Tower is located in the northwest corner of Ecruteak City. It sits on a small hill, nestled within a small forest where half the trees seem to be evergreen and half the trees have begun turning yellow. Mai has only seen pictures of the Burned Tower in books and finds that it looks even less impressive in person. It might have once looked grand, since it was the mirror image of the famed Bell Tower, before a great fire had rendered it unrecognizable. Only one story remains, the other stories having collapsed with the roof. A scent of smoke permeates the area.

Before they can go inside, they come across the three travelers. On first glance, they look no different from the other travelers who come to Ecruteak City. There are two boys and a girl, all in their late teens, wearing large backpacks, and sporting pokéball belts. One of the boys has a bright orange cap and the other has a sunburned nose. The girl has very large and pale eyes. They are talking animatedly to each other, not noticing Mai or Keiko at first.

"No, Simon, this is the Burned Tower," Pale Eyes is saying to one of the boys. "We want the Bell Tower. There’s a difference. I know we shouldn’t have followed you!"

Sunburned Nose is tapping his touch screen guidebook irritably. "Well, it doesn’t matter either way, Jackie. Haven’t you read the guidebook at all? Only a very special few will be admitted into the Bell Tower."

" We would be admitted," Jackie retorts. "We have the Rain –"

"Hello," Orange Cap interrupts, noticing the girls. He shoots Jackie a warning glare.

"Oh, hello there," she says, unabashed. "I think you will be able to tell us. We are a bit lost and my companions are wholly unhelpful. Where could we find the Bell Tower?"

Mai looks at Keiko, who points. "The gateway is on the other side of town, to the east."

"As I thought," Jackie says smugly. "And where might we find the – oh, what is it called, Simon?"

"Let me see," Orange Cap says, leaning over Sunburned Nose’s shoulder. "Ah yes, the Kimono Dance Theater."

Mai and Keiko exchange a startled look. "Well, it’s that way," Keiko says, pointing a different direction now. "If you head toward the pokémon center along Main Street, you will pass by the entrance on your left."

"Great, thanks." Without consulting her companions again, Jackie turns and walks away in exaggerated strides. A few seconds later, Tim and Simon follow, muttering to each other.

"That’s weird," Mai remarks, after they are out of earshot. "I wonder why they want to come to the Dance Theater." Or the Bell Tower, she supposes, but the latter location does not register in her mind as strongly.

"We are a landmark of Ecruteak City, after all, why wouldn’t they?" Keiko says proudly. "C’mon, let’s go inside. I want to show you around!"

Mai agrees and proceeds to forget all about the three travelers until they reappear at the Kimono Dance Theater.

Chapter Text

In Mai’s opinion, the Burned Tower is a cauterized wound on an otherwise beautiful historical city. The ground floor is rather dim, illuminated only by light filtering through the cracks in the walls. There are holes in the floorboards, through which the cellar could be seen, and the pillars that had once proudly bordered the upper floors are horribly charred.

Its atmosphere matches the grimness of its appearance. Compared with the other Ecruteak City attractions, the tourists are much sparser here. The only other people here are two giggling girls taking pictures of each other in a corner, a couple holding hands as they gaze at one of the pillars, and a small tour group in the back.

The girls stop when they reach the center of the floor. Keiko is expecting some sort of response and Mai tries to find something nice to say. She finally settles for an honest, "This place is interesting."

It’s all the confirmation that her friend needs. "Yeah, isn’t this place amazing? I’ve been here on field trips many times for class, whenever we learn about the Great Fire."

"The Great Fire?" repeats Mai. "You mean the fire that burned this place down?"

Keiko nods. "It’s such an amazing story. Nobody knows for sure how the fire started, though most people say there was a big storm and a lightning bolt struck the tower. Once the fire got going, it was too strong for anyone to put out." She speaks as if reciting from a textbook. "Three pokémon perished. Then this beautiful, magnificent bird flew out from the Bell Tower and brought them back to life, and they were endowed with the essence of lightning, fire, and rain."

"It must’ve been quite a sight," Mai says, recreating the scene in her mind’s eye, of the destruction and then the resurrection. There’s something about pokémon legends that captures her imagination. She runs a finger gently down one of the pillars. The burn marks are old. "The fire must have happened a long time ago."

"Almost two hundred years ago."

"Has anyone ever considered renovating this place?" Keiko raises her eyebrows questioningly. "You know, restore it to what it used to look like, or build a new building altogether. We did that in Goldenrod City. Our radio tower was built on top of an old tower."

Keiko frowns. "I heard the city council actually considered renovating the Tower in the past, but the Elder was very adamantly against it."

"Why?"

"Well, the Elder is right, you know." Keiko looks serious. "It’s a bad idea to go against the will of nature. Besides, it’s a historical monument in Ecruteak and we are all very fond of it."

They head to the back of the room and come to a stop beside a crumbling staircase that leads downstairs. At least, it led downstairs at one point. Now the stairs look as if they would collapse under the weight of a feather.

"What’s in the cellar?" Mai asks.

"Just a lot of ghost pokémon, apparently," Keiko says.

Mai remembers the haunter. "Ghosts?"

"Yup. They usually don’t come out during daytime, though. My older brother did say that if you come here at night, you could see all the ghosts and hear them tell stories of their past."

"Has anyone tried it?" Mai says dubiously.

"Big brother said he did, but he was probably just saying it. We could go downstairs and check it out. Do you want to? The stairs aren’t as fragile as they look," she adds, interpreting Mai’s expression correctly. "I mean, they used to be, and then someone tried going downstairs and broke his neck."

Someone broke his neck! Mai backs away.

"Relax," Keiko says, giggling. "We reconstructed it. It just looks old, but it’s just to go along with the look of the building."

Mai does not feel reassured, feeling that Keiko’s explanation lacks logic. Why could they renovate the stairs, and not the Tower? Keiko, in order to prove her point, gingerly steps on the stairs. It holds her weight and does not even sway. "See?" she says. "It’s safe. Want to see the cellar?"

The cellar looks no different from the ground floor. There’s a big rectangular crater in the center, alongside a few sets of staircase cut into stone that no longer lead anywhere. Much of the cellar is also blocked by fallen debris and boulders, so there really is not much space to move around.

"Did you know that the cellar is cut into the hill?" Mai didn’t. "Well, I heard a lot of beautiful artwork used to be stored down here, and treasures from the olden days, because the cellar makes a good storage space," Keiko says, as they walk around, carefully not to trip over stray stones and sticks. "And you see that crater? My grandmother said that a couple of decades ago, this mystic came here and claimed that Suicune was living there."

"In the crater? Was it really?"

"Who knows? Our gym leader went downstairs to explore with him, but they didn’t find anything. So the guy left and nobody ever heard from him again." Keiko grins. "This sort of thing happens here all the time. You know, people come and claim that there’s some legendary pokémon hiding out in Ecruteak."

"Oh…do you believe them?"

Keiko shrugs. "Why not? Legendaries must be somewhere, right? And if legendaries would come to any city, wouldn’t they come to Ecruteak?"

Mai has to agree. Ecruteak has an aura that makes it the perfect sanctuary for legends.

"Besides," Keiko says, "it’s not just people who come from outside the city. People who live here see them too! Some of the older people will tell you stories of when they saw these pokémon. It’s all quite interesting. I bet no other city has this many legendary sightings!"

Mai smiles, though she doubts the veracity of these claims.

They stay in the cellar for a few more minutes, Keiko chattering on the whole time. Mai’s attention wanders. The haunter from Bon Odori is nowhere to be seen. Indeed, there’s no ghost pokémon anywhere to be seen. She thinks over the haunter’s implied request again. Is she supposed to come at night, the way Keiko’s brother supposedly saw ghosts? The Dance Theater’s curfew aside, Mai isn’t sure she’d be comfortable spending nighttime in this building, and she isn’t one to be easily spooked.

Keiko concludes the tour of the cellar after another anecdote. They go upstairs and head out into the sunlight. Mai checks her watch. It’s a bit past noon.

"Hey!" Keiko says. "Let’s get lunch at my favorite sushi place. They have the weirdest ice cream flavors!"

Mai perks up, having craved real, unhealthy sugar ever since she tired of the cafeteria’s ascetic menu. Not to mention her stomach is growling for food.

"Count me in!"

Keiko’s sushi restaurant is located in a part of Ecruteak City that could readily be described as a maze of alleys. Mai doubts that she can find her way around even with the help of a map and is thankful that she has Keiko as a guide.

The place is small and the seating quite limited. There’s already a long line of people waiting outside. Mai begins to suggest that they look for another place, since they passed a few other sushi restaurants on their way, when Keiko bypasses the line altogether, ignoring the indignant shouts of those less bold.

Mai stands outside in bemusement until Keiko pokes her head back out. "Aren’t you coming?"

"Keiko, we are supposed to wait in line!"

" We don’t. C’mon, I got a table for us already."

Dumbly, Mai follows Keiko inside, where a waiter leads them to the back of the restaurant. A small table has been set with place settings for two people. Lanterns line the wall. The waiter bows as they sit, disappears behind a curtain, and reappears with two cups of tea and two menus, all within the span of a minute.

Distracted by the menu, Mai decides not to ask Keiko about their luck and peruses the possible rolls instead. Everything looks delicious and she’s grateful that her parents had given her a generous allowance for her use in Ecruteak City. She has already spent quite a lot of money on food after just two weeks of being here, even though Ecruteak food prices are nowhere as high as those in Goldenrod.

Service is prompt, for a crowded restaurant manned by two visible waiters and hidden chefs, and food tastes as good as they look. The rice and seaweed are seasoned just enough to bring out the fresh taste of seafood. Once they finish all the rolls, it’s time for dessert. Keiko has not been exaggerating about the weird flavors. Some of them don’t even seem edible, like autumn leaves, kimono dance, or Elder’s favorite apple.

Because they are indecisive, Mai and Keiko end up ordering quite a selection of ice cream. Then Keiko excuses herself to use the restroom, leaving Mai to admire the multicolored scoops of dairy and sugar when they arrive.

"Wow, those look amazing!" comments a girl from a nearby table, who seems to be on a date with the boy sitting across from her. "What did you order?"

"Almost everything on the menu," Mai says.

"Really?" the girl says, looking down at her own menu dubiously. "I only see vanilla, chocolate, red bean, and green tea. Hey Steve," she says, turning to her boyfriend. "Maybe you could try asking for a different menu?"

"Mmm, these look delicious," Keiko says, returning. "What’s wrong, Mai?"

Mai explains the conversation she had with the neighboring girl, whose boyfriend is now trying to explain to the waiter that they would like more flavors.

"Oh, that," Keiko says, digging into the autumn leaf ice cream merrily. "It’s no use asking, really. Most people in the restaurant don’t have access to the extra flavors."

Mai tries to digest this with her dessert. "So there are two types of menus?"

"Yeah, for two types of people, insiders and outsiders," Keiko says. "Insiders get special treatment. Outsiders don’t. We are insiders, of course."

Understanding dawns on Mai, accompanied by a rush of warmth. It’s nice being considered an insider. Whether this practice is fair or not doesn’t really occur to her.

"So how do people know if they are insiders or outsiders?" she asks with interest, different scenarios running through her head. When Keiko looks puzzled, she tries to explain. "Like what if you are an insider at one restaurant and not an insider at another? How do you know if you’ll get special treatment at the place you go to?"

Keiko’s staring at her as if she’s crazy. "That doesn’t happen in Ecruteak City. You are either an insider or you are an outsider. It doesn’t change from place to place."

"Yeah, but how do you know what you are in the first place?" Mai presses on.

Keiko gives an exaggerated sigh. "You just are ," she says, and changes the topic entirely.

The travelers arrive at the Kimono Dance Theater on an afternoon, the Monday after Autumnal Equinox. Momoko, Tamao’s secretary, comes looking for her during first year dance class. She looks surprisingly uncomfortable for someone with a reputation for being cool and collected. Her interruption does not please the headmistress.

"Momoko, what is the meaning of this?" she demands.

"I am very, very sorry to interrupt." Momoko sounds out of breath. "Your presence is requested at the office. Immediately."

Tamao raises her eyebrows. "My class ends in five minutes. Surely this can wait."

Momoko wrings her hands, obviously unwilling to discuss the matter in front of an audience. When Tamao does not budge, however, she sighs. "I’m afraid not. The Elder is here."

Mai raises her head in time to see a look of alarm pass over Tamao’s face. "In that case, class will be dismissed early today," she tells her students, without missing a beat. "Please finish the last exercise on your own."

With that, she leaves. It’s a testament to her authority that the girls actually stay to finish the stretching exercise before they head to the locker room to change and discuss the strange turn of events. As it turns out, without further information, there’s not much to discuss. Even Keiko concedes that however unusual, it’s not impossible for the Ecruteak Elder to leave his abode in the Bell Tower. Being such a powerful figure, who is to stop him from visiting anyone he wants? Furthermore, if the Elder were to visit anyone in Ecruteak City, Tamao is certainly one of the more logical choices.

While Chiyo and Hana, the most opinionated of the five, engage in a heated debate anyway, Mai has a vague recollection of having heard the Elder, the Bell Tower, and the Dance Theater discussed in the same context, though she does not place a finger on it until dinnertime. The cafeteria is noticeably rowdier than usual. Apparently the entire Theater has heard about the Elder’s visit, even though it’s something that is unlikely to be advertised by either Tamao or Momoko. Many theories are thrown around, mostly for entertainment. Surely the Elder is not planning to join the Theater as a trainee, nor is he professing his undying passion for Tamao.

Eventually, they learn that Rikuyo, a round-faced girl of the intermediate class, had been waiting outside Tamao’s office for an appointment when the Elder arrived. "And," she announces, delivering her punch line triumphantly, "he was not alone."

The crowd is not easily impressed at first. "So what?" challenges Sachi, the girl who had proposed the undying passion theory. "The Elder probably brought one of the Sages. Big deal."

Rikuyo glares at Sachi. "No, there were people in addition to the Sage," she says, seeming just short of stomping her foot for emphasis. "They were pokémon trainers."

"How do you know they are trainers?"

" Because," she says dramatically. "I mean, they carry pokéballs, they have those gigantic backpacks that can carry everything, and they have awful, awful fashion sense. In what world is it a good idea to wear an orange cap with a bright green sweater?"

Mai yelps as Keiko seizes her arm in excitement. Too intimidated by the older girls to join in the gossip, they keep silent until they are heading back to their dormitory. "That must be them!" Keiko says. "From the Burned Tower."

"What are you talking about?" Akina says. "You mean Rikuyo isn’t just making those people up?"

"No…not this time anyway. Mai and I ran into them that day when we visited the Burned Tower. They wanted to visit the Bell Tower but then asked us for directions to the Theater also. Right?"

She turns to Mai for confirmation and Mai nods.

"So mystery solved, I guess," Hana says, sounding a little disappointed. "They probably wanted to discuss something with the Elder and Madame, so they all came here."

"I think it’s much more complicated than that, Hana," Chiyo says. "What could they possibly discuss that is so important that the Elder has to personally come here? He could’ve asked Madame to go there. Besides, I don’t know if you pay attention in history class, but the Elder of Ecruteak City never receives just any visitors."

"So you’re saying those three people pulled some strings to trick the Elder into talking with them, but then he’s happy to bring them to Madame," Hana says, rolling her eyes. "Right, totally makes sense."

"Whatever it is," Akina breaks in, lest Chiyo and Hana get into another heated disagreement, "we will probably never find out. So let’s just drop this topic."

Akina turns out to be the farthest from the truth.

Chapter Text

By daybreak, the news has become public knowledge. Mai wakes up to find Hana and Chiyo in front of their dormitory’s public computer, reconciled and logged onto the Ecruteak Daily Digest website. In answer to Mai’s baffled look, they point to the article on screen.

For a headliner, it’s quite short and leaves much to imagination. It has been announced that Timothy Dragonweed, of Eterna City has been approved by the Ecruteak Elder of the Bell Tower and Tamao Takahashi of the Kimono Dance Theater to participate in the Rainbow Reckoning. His challenge begins on Sunday with a battle against Morty, the Ecruteak Gym Leader.

Two pictures are displayed side-by-side: one of Orange Cap grinning against the backdrop of a snow-capped mountain, the other of Morty standing outside his gym.

In history class, Teacher Sato finds himself vainly trying to teach the history of kimono dance to a group of girls more interested in the present than the past. Finally, he sets down the chalk with a deep sigh. "Since you are set on not paying attention to my carefully prepared lesson," he says, "I will expect a five-page essay on the history of kimono dancing tomorrow, to be graded as an exam. Class is dismissed."

The girls quiet immediately and look at each other. This is the second time that class has been dismissed in two days, though this time they also have the distasteful prospect of writing an essay exam. Then Chiyo, who’s the teacher’s undisputed favorite, bravely comes to the rescue.

"We apologize for our impertinence, Teacher Sato," she says sweetly. "We are just wondering…in light of what will be happening on Sunday, which you must know a lot about, perhaps you could tell us more about the Rainbow Reckoning, because you know, it isn’t, um, unrelated to kimono dancing."

The girls hold their breath. Her reasoning is a bit of a stretch, but their history teacher gives another deep sigh and, to their surprise and relief, nods.

"All right, there is no point in wasting precious class time if I can impart my knowledge. And indeed, as Chiyo has cleverly guessed, I am quite a scholar in the Rainbow Reckoning, second to none in the field. What would you like to know?"

"Well," Chiyo says, glancing at the other girls for inspiration, "what is the Rainbow Reckoning?"

"Ah, well, the Rainbow Reckoning is a ceremony unique to Ecruteak City." Mai turns to Keiko, who shoots the teacher a look of bemusement. "No, you will not have heard of it, Keiko. The last Rainbow Reckoning occurred twenty years ago. None of you had yet been born. I, of course, was already a famous published scholar, specially invited to be an observer and historian to the event."

He smiles in self-satisfaction, as if recalling a treasured memory, and strokes his whiskers. Then he remembers that he has an audience of five girls to whom he must lecture.

"Now, to understand the Rainbow Reckoning, we must delve deeply into Ecruteak City’s history. This city, as you should have learned from my lessons, is a mystical city, blessed with close ties to the legends. A long time ago, we constructed two towers in our city. The golden Brass Tower, now known as the Burned Tower, to honor the sea guardian Lugia, and the silver Tin Tower, now known as the Bell Tower, to honor the sky guardian Ho-oh.

"There was, as you learned two weeks ago, the Great Fire, which destroyed the Brass Tower. Lugia, whose home was destroyed, flew away to the Whirl Islands, never to return. Ho-oh, deprived of its companion, flew away as well, but not before resurrecting the three pokémon now known to us as the three legendary beasts. Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. They roam the land far and wide, and few trainers who perceive them could deny their glory. Yes, indeed, the power of lightning, of fire, and of rain, such grace and sheer power in one body…incidentally, they were the topic of my thesis in my doctoral program when I studied at Celadon. Since then, I have written many books on them, given conferences on them far and wide. Perhaps I have even seen them in my travels, for I am worthy of their notice. Now, where am I."

Mai catches Chiyo’s eye and they grin at each other. As is usually the case with Teacher Sato’s lectures, he gets carried away by a tangential train of thought. And as is usually the case, Teacher Sato manages to find his way back to his original point.

"Ah yes, Ho-oh. Well, as you should also know from my lectures, Ho-oh leaves too, though for a different reason than Lugia. It retains its roost in Ecruteak City, to which it comes back from time to time. Meanwhile, it wanders all over Johto in search of a pure-hearted trainer, a trainer it deems worthy of itself. It is said that once it has found such a trainer, it will let loose a feather for the trainer to find, a feather that has been named the Rainbow Wing for its beautiful color. And yes, it is from the Rainbow Wing that the name of the Rainbow Reckoning is derived."

Teacher Sato picks up his thermos and takes a sip of his tea. He is clearly getting into his lecture and so too, for a change, are his students.

"As heretofore mentioned, I was a witness of the Rainbow Reckoning that took place twenty years ago. It always begins with a trainer who comes to the Elder bearing the Rainbow Wing. A common misconception is that the trainer gains admittance to Ho-oh immediately. Not so! The Rainbow Wing merely means that the trainer is a candidate, whose worth must be tested before he can ascend to the top of the Bell Tower to wait for Ho-oh. Thus, the trainer must go through tests in three different areas. First, the test of the Ecruteak gym leader, to assess his skill. Second, the test of the Kimono Girls, to assess his soul. Third and last, the test of the Ecruteak Elder, to assess his strength. Only when he succeeds in all three tests can he be allowed to climb the Bell Tower, a trial in and of itself, to battle Ho-oh."

He smiles. "It was quite exhilarating, twenty years ago, to see the young challenger battle his way through the three tests. Yes, that young challenger was very talented, and though not determined enough, for he never made it to Ho-oh. Nonetheless, his adventure lives on, immortalized in my book, The Legend of the Rainbow . It was a best-seller then, mind you, four thousand copies sold in one day, though the Elder requested that its publication be limited to the Ecruteak academic circle, lest our secrets be leaked to others. And I agreed, you see, without hesitation, for I understood my duty to the Elder, to my fellow Ecruteak dwellers, and to Ho-oh! There is no question that had I been younger, I , Unsho Sato, could have gone through the Rainbow Reckoning. Yet I am old and wise, and instead I shall have the rare privilege of witnessing the Rainbow Reckoning a second time."

His voice trails off and he sips his tea again, seemingly lost in his own world. Mai checks her watch. Yes, it is almost the end of class. Now if class could just end before –

"Ah yes!" Teacher Sato surveys his class. "Do not forget! Five-page essay exam due tomorrow. Class is hereby dismissed."

"Chiyo made a good try, in any case," Keiko says, sneezing as she releases a cloud of dust from an old book.

"It was good to hear about the Rainbow Reckoning," Mai agrees. "But I would still rather not write the essay at all."

They are sitting inside the library after dance practice. Chiyo, Hana, and Akina have already gone back, each with her own selection of books, to finish their essays in the dormitory. Mai had considered doing the same, but she knows that she would never have the willpower to do anything but sleep if she were back in her room. Already she’s so tired from two hours of dancing that she is practically asleep. Keiko is the only one who is taking the assignment in stride, the teachers having been equally strict in her old dance school.

Mai glances down at her essay, with only one and a half pages written, not all of which is necessarily legible or coherent. The history of kimono dancing, considered by many scholars to be a sacred art of sorts, started a long, really long time ago, for young women to express their connection with nature and pokémon, and became very popular for its grace and beauty. The practitioners of the dance believe that the ambiance of the dance can reflect much about the environment and endow the dancers with superhuman powers!

The essay goes on, riddled with similar exaggerations, and eventually ends with, And really, nobody is sure what happened, but somehow kimono dance survives only in Ecruteak City, the tradition passed on between generations and generations of Kimono Girls, but I’m not sure why I care because I’m so tired.

She gives her head a slight shake – did she really write those last few words? – and stands up. The fluorescent lighting in the study room is not helping. "I need to take a walk," she tells Keiko.

Keiko gets up too. "I will come with. I’m just about done but I can’t think of a good conclusion. Should I –" She stops at the murderous look that Mai shoots her.

It’s very quiet in the library, for they are the only ones left. The students of the Dance Theater usually do not study there on weekday nights, as it’s situated far away from the dormitory cluster and the dance studios, in an area of campus that’s not very well-lit. Combined with the fact that it’s surrounded by a thicket of trees, it could be the perfect setting for a horror movie. The girls of the Dance Theater think so as well and urban legends surrounding the library are passed down from class to class. Teachers are generally good about assigning research assignments over the weekends. Unsho Sato, on the other hand, can be quite unreasonable when he feels that his ego has been dealt a blow.

The building itself looks incongruously modern, having been renovated since Tamao took over as headmistress. The windows are large and the doors are made of glass. There are four floors, the study rooms located in the basement. Mai has figured out since her first visit to the library that there’s no real catalogue system in the library. The only pattern she could discern is that the books on the higher floors tend to be older and dustier than the books on the lower floors.

They come to a rest in the main lobby, decorated as a montage to past Kimono Girls. Names of former dancers are inscribed in plaques mounted on the walls, nestled in a sea of newspaper clippings, past performance programs, and many photographs and paintings. In the past, Mai has never examined them too closely. For some reason she cannot quite explain, there is something grotesque about capturing the dynamic Kimono dancers in frozen media.

Tonight, she takes a closer look at the dance programs, focusing on the ones from Tamao’s generation. The headmistress was radiantly beautiful as a young woman. In many pictures she was front and center, evidently and unsurprisingly the lead dancer back in her day. Mai notices something.

"Keiko, why –" she begins, but Keiko shushes her.

"Listen."

At first Mai hears nothing, and then, the sound of leaves being crunched and two girls talking. "I tell you, I can’t do it," one girl is saying. Mai and Keiko look out of one of the windows. Two figures attired in kimono are passing. The speaker is dressed in purple and her companion is dressed in yellow. They are heading out of the woods.

"Stop being so dramatic, Naomi," says the other girl, whom Mai recognizes to be Tooka, another Kimono Girl. "We can’t back out now."

"I did not agree. I never agreed to do this ."

"Yes, you did!" Tooka sounds exasperated. "If you do not recall, I certainly do. We all remember. The final decision had to be approved by you."

"Perhaps that was the case then. Now it doesn’t feel right." Their voices are now fading, becoming indistinct. "I just have a bad feeling…"

The night quiets once more. Keiko turns away while Mai continues to stare into the darkness, almost spacing out until she sees disembodied glowing rings. She leaps back, remembering horror stories told by upperclasswomen, and almost crashes into Keiko. But they merely turn out to be the rings of an umbreon, who fixes her with a wrathful look before its sinewy body dissolves into the night.

"You okay?" Keiko says. "What was that about?"

"Nothing…I thought – never mind."

"Weird, isn’t it?" says her friend, starting to head back toward the staircase. "I didn’t realize they are around. The Kimono Girls, I mean. I thought they were supposed to be doing a radio show in Goldenrod. That’s what it said on the campus calendar."

"Maybe they didn’t leave yet."

"More like Madame summoned them back…I wonder if it’s related to the Rainbow Reckoning…"

Mai shrugs, yawning. Recalling her unfinished essay, she finds that Naomi and Tooka no longer seem all that interesting and, to be honest, neither does the Rainbow Reckoning or anything else. "Let’s go back," she says. "I have three-and-a-half more pages before bedtime. And if you mention your essay one more time, I may have to murder you."

Keiko laughs. "Fair point," she says. "Both of us should be alive on Sunday, that’s for sure."

Chapter Text

On Sunday afternoon, people arrive at the Ecruteak City Gym in droves, as they had done for the Obon Festival carnival and the Daimonji. Most of them seem to be natives, though there are a number of tourists and pokémon trainers.

The gym is built in a traditional style, a rectangular building consisting of one story, quite different from Whitney’s clefairy-shaped gym. There are three rooms: a small reception room, a small backroom, and a center room where everyone is currently awaiting the battle. Most of the floor space in the center room is taken up by a battle arena in the center, surrounded by seats for the spectators. Tamao and the Ecruteak Elder are sitting in the row right by the arena, accompanied by Momoko and the three Sages. The Kimono Girls are seated a few rows ahead of her and her other schoolmates are scattered about the room. 

Mai squints to get a better look of the Elder, who’s somewhat of a mystical figure. Supposedly he directs the city’s spiritual life and has the deference of all the temples. In person, however, he looks disappointingly normal and could pass for a kindly grandfather.

"Don’t you ever go see gym battles?" Keiko asks, when Mai expresses her amazement at the packed arena.

"Sure, a couple of times." Mai had always gone with her hometown best friend Jake, pokémon master aspirant. But there’s a difference she cannot quite explain. Goldenrod is so much more populated, and Whitney is as popular a gym leader as she had been in girlhood, and yet she has never commanded this level of attention. "I meant…are there more people than usual? You know, because of the Rainbow Reckoning."

"Well, usually the outsiders don’t show up," Keiko says, after a moment’s consideration. "Gym battles are just a big thing around here."

"You people are weird," Chiyo remarks, expressing exactly what Mai is thinking.

The lights begin to dim and the gym’s resident ghost pokémon appear, flitting in and out of the crowd with mischievous grins.

Once the room is completely dark, spotlights focus on the arena. From the shadows, two trainers emerge. Tim is still wearing an orange cap, probably to Rikuyo’s chagrin, and Morty has his hands in his pocket, his posture relaxed and confident. A third person, the referee, joins them and announces, "This match will take place between Timothy Dragonweed of Eterna City and the Ecruteak City gym leader, Morty!"

There’s polite applause for Tim and a far more enthusiastic one for Morty. "The match will be three-on-three. The gym leader may not switch pokémon. Please select your first pokémon!"

With everyone else, Mai leans forward. Tim bends his head in thought before he selects a pokéball clipped to his belt. "I choose you!" he shouts.

A large bipedal pokémon bursts out in a flash of red light, greeting everyone with a big roar. A swirl of sand forms around him. Mai does not recognize the pokémon, though she listens to a nearby pokédex. Tyranitar, a rock and dark dual-type pokémon. It is extremely strong and its body cannot be harmed by any sort of attack. It has an insolent nature and is eager to challenge enemies.

So it is a dark type. Good choice against ghosts, she thinks, remembering lectures from battle theory.

Morty hesitates momentarily before selecting his own pokémon. "Go, Gengar!"

A large purple ghost materializes in front of the tyranitar. It has a large clown-like smile and red eyes. Mai recognizes this pokémon from the Goldenrod Department Store doll aisle. Nearby, the other ghosts give excited shouts, if the sounds they make could be considered shouts at all.

"Morty’s not kidding around," says Keiko. "That’s his strongest pokémon!"

"Could be a good thing or a bad thing," says Akina.

The referee receives a curt nod from the gym leader. "The challenger has chosen tyranitar and the gym leader has chosen gengar. The challenger shall have the first move. Let the battle begin!"

"Crunch," Tim says calmly.

"Dodge, and then use focus blast!" Morty counters.

The tyranitar rushes at the gengar, teeth bared. The gengar steps out of the way, the tyranitar barely managing to graze its side, before it forms a ball of energy in its hands and hurls it at tyranitar. The tyranitar roars and, turning to its side, it deflects the ball with a strong sweep of its tail. The gengar, looking surprised, is then buffeted by the raging sandstorm. It stumbles backwards, eyes closing momentarily in pain.

Like his pokémon, Morty takes a visible step backwards. Mai cannot tell what is running through his head. She could, on the other hand, tell that the tyranitar is very strong. It barely looks hurt, though the focus blast attack has technically made contact.

"Hypnosis!" Morty shouts.

Gengar’s eyes begin to glow. Watching them, Mai feels somewhat sleepy herself. The tyranitar, however, turns away and paws the ground restlessly.

"Good, Tyranitar. Time to use stone edge!"

Tyranitar bows its head and curls its arms around its body. Its body glows to store energy. Soon two concentric circles of rocks appear, spinning around it until they break orbit with their sheer speed and fly toward Gengar. The ghost pokémon, losing concentration in its hypnosis attack, levitates into the air and tries to dodge the rocks, though a few of them make direct contact. Mai watches with perverse fascination as some of the rocks go right through the gengar and others bounce off its intangible body.

Gengar falls to the ground, panting heavily. Tim crosses his arms. "Finish it off. Now use crunch again."

"Use substitute and get out of the way!"

Too late. While the gengar is struggling to create a substitute, Tyranitar has already reached its side. There is a shriek – no, maybe a ripple of pain – from the gengar as the tyranitar’s teeth sink into its body. Then the gengar is still.

"Gengar is unable to battle," the referee says. "The challenger has three pokémon left. The gym leader has two pokémon left."

"Good work, Tyranitar," Tim says. His pokémon retreats to his trainer’s side of the arena.

Morty recalls the gengar and nods.

The audience is silent with palpable tension, especially the ghost spectators. Feeling cold, Mai scoots closer to Keiko. Meanwhile, the gym leader, saying nothing, selects a second pokéball.

The second ghost pokémon looks smaller and thinner than Gengar. It has very strange eyes, which look as if it has gemstones stuck in its eye sockets. Sableye, a ghost and dark dual-type pokémon, the nearby pokédex says. Sableye dwells in the darkness of caves. It has sharp claws, which it uses to dig up gemstones to nourish itself.

Well, that explains the eyes, Mai thinks. The sableye takes a few steps forward. Tim gestures for the gym leader to start the battle.

"Confuse ray!"

A beam of light emits from the gemstone-like eyes of the sableye and hits the tyranitar squarely on its head. It stills for a moment and then, as if possessed, begins scratching at its face and body. Many in the audience gasp and Mai recoils, though thankfully the scene does not last long. Tyranitar is recalled.

"You can finish the job!" Tim says, throwing out another pokéball.

The new pokémon he sends out is also bipedal, with single claws for hands and a weirdly shaped head. Garchomp, a dragon and ground dual-type pokémon. Its body is covered in fine scales that reduce drag, allowing it to fly at sonic speed.

Mai reviews battle theory. Dragon and ground has no immediate type advantage, although the dragon type’s sheer power could overwhelm the ghost.

Morty shakes his head, looking like he’s clearing his head of a bad thought. His posture no longer looks relaxed.

"Confuse ray again!" he says.

"It’s not going to work a second time." Tim sounds annoyed. "Garchomp, let’s make quick work of this. Dragon rush!"

"Detect!"

The garchomp throws itself against the sableye, who dodges it nimbly without taking damage. The dragon pokémon crashes heavily onto the arena, sending shock waves reverberating throughout the room.

Tim orders another dragon rush, to which Morty counters with an order for shadow ball.

Mai’s jaw drops as the garchomp launches itself again at the sableye, his body slicing through the shadow ball attack as if it were of no consequence, and hits the sableye squarely in the stomach. The ghost pokémon tumbles backwards and struggles to its feet, only to be met with a dragon claw attack in the face.

"Shadow sneak!"

"Dodge it, and dragon claw again!"

The garchomp roars as the shadow sneak attack nears. Then it’s surrounded by sand, creating a veil and deflecting the attack. The sand veil disappears and Garchomp emerges, apparently unscathed, to launch another dragon claw in Sableye’s face. The ghost pokémon falls. This time, it does not stir.

"Sableye is unable to battle. The score is now three to one, in the challenger’s favor!"

The audience is uneasy and the ghosts are restless. The temperature drops even further.

There’s a noticeably long pause as Morty selects his final pokémon. He remains silent as he tosses the ball into the air, releasing a large, chunky ghost pokémon that always reminds Mai of a genie. No need for a pokedex this time. She recognizes it as a dusknoir from a broadcast of the Grand Festival a few months ago.

"Mean look."

The arena darkens and hundreds of purple eyes appear. The garchomp regards them and turns back to the dusknoir.

"I see," Tim says, in the aftermath of the attack. "A suicide attempt." Morty shrugs one shoulder. "We will see. Outrage!"

The garchomp dives at dusknoir, claws and teeth flashing. The dusknoir doesn’t move as quickly as the gengar and the sableye, but it’s sturdier. Through a mixture of dodging and shielding, it outlasts the garchomp, whose stamina gives out eventually. It sinks to its knees, panting.

Morty seizes this chance. "Curse!"

Mai feels a sense of foreboding for the poor dragon, especially when she hears the murmurs of excitement from the ghosts.

The garchomp cries in pain as dark energy sears through it. It tries to rise to its feet, but Dusknoir treats it with a shadow punch attack that sends it reeling.

Mai looks at her friends for explanation, but they all look transfixed. The sandstorm almost makes it difficult to see exactly what is going on.

"Garchomp, get out of the way. Go back into your sand veil and attack Dusknoir from there!"

The garchomp retreats back into the heart of the sandstorm. Dusknoir does not follow. The garchomp sends a few fire blast attacks at the dusknoir and the dusknoir returns with a few shadow balls, but those attacks either dissipate without reaching their targets, or cancel each other out. It appears to be a stalemate.

"Earthquake!" Tim shouts. "Try earthquake!"

The whole room begins to shake. The dusknoir falls to the ground, but doesn’t faint. The earthquake attack subsides and the audience sighs in collective relief.

Then there’s a thump and the referee says, sounding relieved, "Garchomp is unable to battle. The challenger has two pokémon left and the gym leader has one."

What happened? Mai wonders wildly. How did Garchomp faint just like that? Was it too tired?

There’s no time to ask the question. Tim recalls Garchomp and sends Tyranitar out again. The pokémon no longer seems confused and is rearing for revenge as much as his trainer is.

"Crunch, let’s go!"

Tyranitar charges at Dusknoir, who does not dodge and whose trainer does not order any counterattack. The curse attack and the ensuing stalemate have evidently exhausted both trainer and pokémon.

Emboldened, Tim orders a stone edge and then a thunderbolt attack. The dusknoir gamely takes on those attacks without offering any resistance. Mai realizes that Dusknoir couldn’t have done very much to Tyranitar, anyway, but this defeatist attitude is surprising. Even Whitney always fights her battles with spirit to the last second, even when she is outmatched and openly crying.

The end comes mercifully soon. Morty recalls his pokémon.

"Dusknoir is unable to battle!” announces the referee. “The challenger wins the battle."

Light comes back on. Someone starts clapping and after a while everyone else has joined in. Tim shakes Morty’s hand and is presented with the Fog Badge, which he carelessly sticks in his pocket. Clearly getting the Fog Badge is not his main objective.

Tamao and the Elder join the party to congratulate Tim. Morty says a few last words, nods when Tamao and the Elder respond, and leaves the arena with the referee. His face is devoid of emotion, as is his face.

"What happened there, by the way?" Mai asks Keiko as the first year girls prepare to leave. "Why did Garchomp faint when the dusknoir didn’t do anything to it?"

"It used curse," Hana says. "Garchomp’s energy was sapped out slowly until it faints."

"What? Really?" Their class has never covered such an attack.

Keiko nods. "Yeah, first Dusknoir had to trap Garchomp, and then it used curse. It gave up a lot of its own energy in order to make sure that Garchomp goes down first."

"Seemed like Morty knew he couldn’t win anyway, and just wanted to take down one of Tim’s pokémon," Hana agrees. "Notice how he just gave up after Garchomp was gone. Dumb strategy."

"Hana, Morty needed to take down at least one of Tim’s pokémon," Keiko says, frowning. "It will look very bad otherwise."

"Gym leaders lose all the time," Hana points out.

Keiko shakes her head, looking distracted. "Not the Ecruteak Gym Leader, not like this."

Discussing the battle, Keiko and Hana draw ahead.

"Oh."

Recognizing the voice, Mai jerks her head to see Naomi standing by the door, her eyes fixed on the arena. However, nothing looks amiss. Tim is talking to Tamao while the Elder and his friends look on. Then Tooka lays a hand on Naomi’s shoulder and she nods. Mai looks away hurriedly before Naomi could notice her watching, and the crowd sweeps her out of the gym into the afternoon sun.

Chapter Text

Mai has a weird dream the Monday following the gym battle. Timothy Dragonweed is on stage with the Kimono Girls, vainly trying to keep up as they perform a complex dance. Their graceful movements only serve to underlie his remarkable lack of composure.

"No, no, no," an unseen Tamao keeps repeating. "That is no way to pass the second test! There is no soul in your dance!"

She wakes up feeling ridiculous. Evidently a dance-off is not part of the Rainbow Reckoning.

Monday proves to be the start of a busy week. An article is published in the Ecruteak Digest , briefly outlining the challenge and mentioning its outcome. On Tuesday, Teacher Sato passes back the essay tests due last Wednesday. As expected, only Keiko and Chiyo achieve decent grades, though Mai is relieved to have passed at all. She glances through the teacher’s comments, stops at "tolerably researched but weakly presented," and stuffs it back in her bag with a shrug. So what if she got a few details wrong.

On Thursday, Tamao begins teaching them the choreography for the spring dance. As she had mentioned on the first day of school, there are four roles. For now, the first years will only be learning Ho-oh’s solo dance, which Tamao will also use for the lead dancer audition in the winter. Mai is exhilarated. All the dance techniques that she had striven to perfect are coming together, and the experience of practicing on an actual dance stage leaves her awake at night with excitement.

Finally, on Friday afternoon, Keiko finds Mai with a letter in hand. Her grandmother has invited her to tea and would be happy to have Mai along as well.

Keiko’s grandmother, Kyoko, lives a few streets away from Ecruteak City’s western gates. They take the bus to a completely residential neighborhood where the houses are uniform, a striking change from downtown. Mai and Keiko are careful not to get their wooden sandals wet as they make their way through the unpaved streets, full of puddles from last night’s rain.

"Are the people here, um, different from the people downtown?" Mai asks. She doesn’t want to say "poorer" and offend Keiko.

"Yeah, they are," Keiko replies, not offended at all. "Some of Ecruteak’s oldest, most prominent families live here. Downtown is too loud and noisy. Hello, Grandma."

Kyoko, a petite woman with white hair and dark eyes, is already waiting outside. After greeting Mai briefly, she ushers them in. Her house is tiny and filled with things collected and kept over her many years, though it’s very neatly kept. As she makes tea in the cramped kitchen, her movements are so elegant and assured that Mai wonders aloud whether she’d been a Kimono Girl in the past, trained in the arts of the tea ceremony.

"Not at all," Kyoko replies, looking amused. "I was unfortunately too short and stout to be a Kimono dancer. No headmistress would have admitted me." She hands a teacup to each of the girls, then produces a box of teacakes. "I have, however, seen many generations of Kimono Girls come and go."

She wraps her weathered hands around her teacup, her gaze suddenly far away. Then she gives her head a little shake and turns to Mai.

"How do you like Ecruteak City so far, Mai? Where are you from originally?"

"Goldenrod City. I like Ecruteak a lot though," she hastens to add. "I cannot imagine being a Kimono Girl anywhere else."

Kyoko nods in appreciation. "Yes, there’s something quite magical about Ecruteak, isn’t there? Traditional dance simply cannot feel the same anywhere else. You come to Ecruteak City and you can feel that this place, more than anywhere else, is a home for legends."

Mai notes with some amusement that grandmother and granddaughter sound similarly proud when they speak of their hometown.

"I told Mai that you told me that people used to come here claiming they would find legendary pokémon here," Keiko says. "Isn’t that right, Grandma?"

The old woman turns to her granddaughter with surprise. "Why, they still do. Have you not been aware that there is a Rainbow Reckoning in progress?"

Keiko and Mai exchange a smile. How can they not, when the entire Dance Theater is bursting with anticipation to see the test of the Kimono Girls!

"You must have seen the Rainbow Reckoning once or twice, then," Keiko asks, sipping her tea now that it’s cool enough to drink.

Kyoko raises an eyebrow. "Once or twice? Far more than that! I would say the number is around twenty."

Keiko chokes. "Twenty?" she sputters. "But I thought it occurs only once every twenty years."

Her grandmother rolls her eyes. "You have been talking to Unsho Sato, haven’t you?" she says. "He dramatizes everything for his own ego. The Rainbow Reckoning originated two hundred years ago, and since then it has occurred quite a number of times. For a few decades, it occurred on an average of once every two years."

"Once every two years!"

"Yes, once every two years." Kyoko looks amused. "Ho-oh molts more than once every twenty years, child. In my day, many, many trainers would come, claiming that they have found the Rainbow Wing, and hence the destined partner to Ho-oh. Of course, most of them were either frauds or extremely weak, so the Elder would weed them out right away. Those who are judged worthy of taking on the challenge would stay in Ecruteak City to train for the Rainbow Reckoning."

Mai tries to digest the information. Learning that the ancient ceremony is not so ancient and not so rare is off-putting. "Did any of them ever make it to Ho-oh?"

"No, as a matter of fact." Kyoko smiles at the looks on the girls’ faces. "You must remember that not everyone even passes all three tests. In fact, four out of ten challengers never go past the first test. Most of the trainers underestimate the Ecruteak City Gym Leader, not realizing that he is bound by honor to use his strongest team, and not pokémon reserved for gym challenges. And then, of the six who do pass the first test, perhaps two will pass the second test, if that."

"How do the Kimono Girls test the challenger?"

"Why, battle of course," replies Keiko’s grandmother, looking surprised that it could be otherwise. "Do not be fooled by the Kimono Girls’ beautiful and delicate appearance. They are trained to be capable pokémon trainers as well, perhaps equal to or even exceeding the gym leader in skill. Ceremonial battles, after all, are at the heart of the Kimono Girl culture." She eyes the girls. "If you stay at the Theater long enough, you, too, will start training pokémon quite as rigorously as anyone taking the League challenge."

Mai thinks of Naomi’s Prince and feels a flicker of excitement. She would love to own an eevee.

"What happens at the third test, then?" Keiko asks. "Does the Elder also battle?"

"No. The three Sages battle in his stead, though this battle is usually not open to the public. Afterwards, the challenger gains entrance to the Bell Tower and it’s a trial in itself to ascend to the top. The nine stories of the Bell Tower are said to be full of dead ends, traps, and wild pokémon eager for prey. It takes much determination and skill to climb to the top. In my time, two challengers were admitted to the Bell Tower but, to the best of my knowledge, neither of them made it to the top."

"That’s disappointing," Keiko says. "You pass all the tests and never even see Ho-oh! What a waste of time."

"What happened to them?" Mai wants to know.

Kyoko shrugs. "Once they fail, their fates are of no consequence to us." Mai shivers. "I suppose they leave the city and return to their own journeys."

The three sip their tea in companionable silence before Kyoko speaks again.

"I must say that every time a challenger fails, it causes much disappointment to the people of Ecruteak, because it means that we, along with Ho-oh, are waiting for the hero to bring him back. In fact, after the last Reckoning, the Elder and the Dance Theater headmistress decided to become even stricter in selecting candidates. That is why there hasn’t been a Rainbow Reckoning until now, and that is mostly why the entire city is so excited. The young man this time is very talented, I hear." She turns questioningly to Mai and Keiko.

"He is," affirms Keiko. "He defeated Morty pretty easily and he has really strong pokémon. I think he has a really good chance of making it."

"Perhaps, but only time will tell." Kyoko seems about to say more, and instead she chooses to contemplate her tea. "Well now, we have talked enough of the Rainbow Reckoning. I would like to hear more about your dance training. How are your classes coming along? Your parents tell me that you’ve been working quite hard, Keiko."

"Classes are pretty good, with a few exceptions," Keiko says, and Mai grins, knowing that she’s referring to history. "We are learning the spring dance right now."

"How nice. I always look forward to that. It is one of my favorite pastimes to watch the new dancers and guess which ones will persevere to become full-fledged Kimono Girls."

"Weird thing though. Madame said that only four of us will be dancing though," Keiko says. "What happens to the fifth one?"

"Dance training is very rigorous. It is not unheard of for girls to leave midway through the year. In fact, that has been the norm since Tamao took over."

Mai blinks. "They just – leave?"

"They are under no contract to stay. None of the dancers are, unless they are Kimono Girls. In their cases, they are obligated to stay until the headmistress grooms the next generation of Kimono Girls. It is a responsibility and an honor expected of the profession, and it is not an unreasonable request. The career of a Kimono Girl spans only three to five years and the experience sets up any dancer for life."

Mai remembers something. "I was looking at programs performed by past Kimono Girls. When we were at the library," she adds to Keiko, who looks momentarily confused. "In Tamao’s generation, um, they seemed to have performed Dance of the Camellias a lot?"

That isn’t what she meant to say, but she finds the words hard to compose together.

Kyoko inclines her head. "A beautiful dance, perhaps the most famous dance from that era. Yes, I remember it well." She looks at Mai, knowing that is not the extent of her question.

"Well, I was looking at who the dancers were, in addition to Madame, and there was a girl named Sumomo." Mai falters. It may be her imagination that Kyoko’s lips thin slightly. However, the old woman gestures for her to continue. "She was actually the lead dancer in all the earlier performances. But she’s not in any of the later programs at all and there is only someone named Komomo." She meets Kyoko’s eyes. "What happened to Sumomo?"

"She left. She did the very thing I told you a Kimono Girl cannot do – she broke her obligation as a Kimono dancer. We do not mention her in this city."

Mai and Keiko look at each other. "Why did she leave?"

Kyoko stands up. "Really, I do not know," she says in a tone that makes it clear that she’s lying. "It is possibly better this way so we never know to what extent she has shamed our proud tradition." She fixes her eyes on Mai, even though Keiko had asked the last question. "Is there any particular reason for your interest in her?"

Mai meets her eyes squarely. "No," she says, matching Kyoko’s careful tone. "No reason. I was just curious."

Her answer appeases the old woman, who refills her teacup and hands her another teacake.

Chapter Text

On their way back to the Kimono Dance Theater from her grandmother’s house, Keiko suddenly grabs Mai’s arm and bodily drags her to the other side of the street, narrowly missing two bicyclists whizzing by.

"Don’t look, and walk faster!" she commands, but of course, Mai turns her head before her friend can stop her.

Across the street, where they had been, is an elderly couple, who either missed what had happened or has chosen to ignore it. They seem like nice, respectable people, no different from the other elderly couples walking around the quaint neighborhood. Nevertheless, Mai notices a mother pushing a stroller and a young boy walking his growlithe veer out of the way as they come closer. Surely that’s no coincidence.

The old woman turns, her green eyes stark against a pale, wrinkled face. Keiko grabs Mai’s arm again and they resume walking.

"Keiko, what was that all about?" Mai cannot help asking.

She could see that Keiko is choosing her words carefully. "They are disgraced, even worse than outsiders. They are not welcome in the city."

Mai’s chest twinges as she remembers the look of resignation on the old woman’s face. How horrible it must be to be ostracized in their own hometown.

"Why are they disgraced? What did they do?"

"They just are. You will learn who they are soon enough and avoid them too."

"O-okay."

Mai isn’t sure if that is a good thing.

Autumn has now chased away summer completely and the weather becomes chilly. Mai often feels restless, despite school keeping her busy. There’s always a stack of homework every night, and then there’s dance. The choreography for the spring dance is difficult and Tamao is exacting in her quest for perfection. Practices are often so grueling that Mai wakes up with sore muscles every morning.

Nonetheless, she makes the most of her few hours of free time by going into Ecruteak City on weekends, sometimes with Keiko or the other girls, and sometimes by herself. She visits the Bell Tower for the first time that autumn and it immediately becomes her favorite landmark in Ecruteak. The antithesis of the Burned Tower, it’s well-preserved, as breathtaking in the present as it’d been in the past. It’s so tall that it seems to touch the sky from where she stands, its silver roof tiles barely discernible.

Mai, who is allowed on the Bellchime Trail due to being a Kimono Girl trainee, loves looking at the Tower up close. Sometimes, a gust of wind would blow colored leaves across her path to the sound of distant wind chimes. They elicit a sense of déjà vu, though she could not explain why.

One day, Mai is seized by a determination to see the Burned Tower, which she has not visited since that first time with Keiko. It’s unchanged, though its silhouette looks darker and more imposing under the backdrop of dusk. There are only two others in the tower, most likely tourists as they are snapping pictures of each other and gushing over the "intricate details" on the blackened pillars. Mai throws them a glance as she passes on her way to the staircase to the cellar. 

Keiko’s brother’s supposed claim has been in the back of her mind, as is the strange conversation at the Daimonji that she still cannot decipher. The sun is beginning to set. The ghosts should be roaming soon.

Mai takes a deep breath and descends the stairs. The cellar is quiet save the occasional sound of the wooden ceiling creaking under the tourists’ feet.

"Haunter?" she calls, feeling foolish. Something moves and she spins around, heart pounding, but it is only a koffing, hurrying out of the way.

She stands still for a moment, then walks toward the crater in the center. Maybe it’s all the talk of legendaries in Ecruteak City. She almost expects to see one of the three legendary beasts there.

It is disappointingly empty. 

The room grows progressively darker as the afternoon gives way to evening. Eventually, her courage fails her, so she climbs the stairs and heads outside.

Jackie is standing there, though Mai doesn’t recognize her at first because she is wearing sunshades. As soon as she removes them, however, her pale eyes give her identity away.

She turns to Mai slowly, tearing her eyes away from the Burned Tower. Her frown becomes the beginning of a smile. "Oh hello,” she says. “I remember you ."

"Hello," Mai says.

Jackie comes closer. "Yes, that’s right. We asked you and your friend for directions that other day, didn’t we? Here at the Burned Tower, what a coincidence." She holds out her hand. "We’ve never properly met. What is your name?"

"I am Mai."

"Pretty name, very quaint! I’m Jackie. You probably remember my friends Simon and Tim."

Mai nods. It would be hard for anyone in Ecruteak City not to remember Tim.

"So what were you up to just now? Are you catching pokémon in the Burned Tower? You look about the right age to be a pokémon trainer."

"I’m not. I train at the Dance Theater."

Jackie’s smile fades. "The Kimono Dance Theater?" When Mai nods, she presses on. "You are not one of the Kimono Girls, are you?"

"No…not yet," Mai says, just a bit defensively. "I’m a trainee."

"I see." Jackie bites her bottom lip. Mai could tell from her expression that she is waging an internal debate. "Say,” she says, coming to an impromptu decision, “do you want to come and grab coffee with me?"

Mai stares at the older girl. "Excuse me?"

"It’s my treat."

Mai is shaking her head even before she says, "I’m sorry, I can’t get back to the Theater too late. I still have dance practice tonight."

"It won’t take long," Jackie says pleadingly. "We can go somewhere by the Theater. I have some questions."

"I don’t think I have the answers," Mai says, quite honestly.

"But perhaps you share some of my questions, and you can help me."

Just the words to pique a ten-year-old girl’s interest. Alarm bells are sounding in Mai’s head, but she cannot help saying, "Help you…how?"

"I would rather not talk about it here. I know a small café not too far away from the Kimono Theater. I promise, I just want to talk and it won’t take too long."

"The Kimono Dance Theater," corrects Mai. She studies Jackie, who seems sincere and not - at least, not outwardly – dangerous. "All right."

Jackie’s café belongs to a chain that originated in Sinnoh. As such, its décor is decidedly modern, a stark contrast with the small wooden buildings that line the rest of the street. Jackie makes a face as they approach the door and see the crowd through the floor-length windows.

"If there are no seats, we can go somewhere else," she says, opening the door and waving over a waitress. "Hi there. A table for two, please."

"We don’t –" the waitress begins, and then her eyes fall on Mai and the insignia on her school uniform. "Please follow me."

Jackie doesn’t detect the subtle change in the waitress’s demeanor, but Mai does. When they sit down at a leather booth in the back of the room, the older girl remarks, "Pretty good luck, huh? There are tons more people waiting who got there before us. Maybe they are part of a larger group."

Mai shrugs and opens up the menu. The items look similar to a typical café in Goldenrod City. She orders a hot chocolate and, at Jackie’s request, a salad. The cafeteria is likely to be closed by the time she gets back and, really, who turns down free food?

After Jackie has put their orders to the waitress, she turns to Mai. "Thanks for coming. I know I was extremely vague back at the Burned Tower and you had no cause to trust me."

She still doesn’t. "What did you want to talk about?"

Jackie looks down at the checkered tablecloth. "I am worried about Tim."

"Why?"

"I don’t like the Rainbow Reckoning business." Jackie glances up at the waitress arriving with their orders. She pushes across a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a bowl of salad, before reaching for her own coffee and sandwich. "I don’t like the Rainbow Reckoning business," she repeats, as if Mai had not heard the first time.

"Why? Tim did very well against Morty."

"That’s kind of the problem, though. It sets up an expectation. For him, I mean. He’s pretty arrogant and he’s already talking about capturing Ho-oh."

Mai still does not see what is wrong so she picks out a marshmallow from her hot chocolate and chews it.

"I mean, Ho-oh is a legendary. Capturing it? Having a complete ritual built around capturing it? That’s completely nuts ."

Mai considers. No, it’s not that crazy of an idea, at least not in Ecruteak City. "I think Tim will be fine," she says, but Jackie isn’t listening.

"You know, when we came to Johto, we didn’t expect this to happen. We came to Johto once before, a couple of years ago, and got most of the badges. So we figured, let’s get the rest of the badges and try out our luck in the Johto League or something. And then the Kimono Girls start appearing everywhere ."

"Well, they are pretty popular in Johto. They do a lot of high-profile shows in most big cities."

"I don’t mean appearing like that . I mean appearing like…they are almost stalking us. Or Tim, rather. I can’t even figure out when it started. But then every once in a while, in the oddest places, we would run into a Kimono Girl, who would say really mysterious things to Tim and ask him to do them a favor. Like, oh, my flower fell in the river, please retrieve it. Or, I lost my wallet in the Underground. Could you find it? And I was always like, that’s what Office Jenny is for!"

Mai blinks at Jackie, bemused by the venom in her tone. She still doesn’t quite see the connection between the Kimono Girls and Tim’s arrival in Ecruteak. Nor does she see how she can be of any help.

"How did you get the Rainbow Wing?" she asks, when Jackie stops talking to grab a few bites of her sandwich.

"One of the Kimono Girls – I think the one who’s always in purple? – she gave it to him, apparently," Jackie says, her mouth full of salami. She rolls her eyes to show her opinion of Naomi.

"That’s when you came here?"

"Yup." Jackie swallows. "Tim got way too excited so he insisted that Simon and I come with him to Ecruteak. Then the boys sucked at directions and we ended up at the Burned Tower, where we saw you, and after we got directions they dragged me to the Bell Tower. The rest, well, you know the story."

Mai frowns into her salad. But you had been excited, she thinks, remembering that afternoon outside the Burned Tower. Jackie’s male companions had been impatient to go to the Bell Tower, to be sure, but she had been equally eager. Hadn’t Jackie been the one to ask directions in the first place? Why the sudden change in attitude?

Jackie is watching her carefully. "You didn’t know any of this, did you?"

Mai shakes her head. "The Kimono Girls don’t share their business with the rest of us."

"How do you like the headmistress?" Jackie says, changing tack.

"I like her."

"And nothing…you’ve never seen anything weird going on at the Theater?"

"No," Mai says. "Nothing weird."

Aside from the overheard conversation between Naomi and Tooka, which Jackie is shedding some light upon, or the programs where Sumomo’s name is replaced.

"Oh." Jackie looks disappointed.

"I’m sorry," Mai says hesitantly. "I don’t think I really helped you. I’m just a first year at the Theater."

"That’s all right." The older girl sighs. "It’s actually a relief to just talk about it with someone, you know? This city gives me the creeps. Sometimes I’d be sitting in the pokémon center and get so worried, like something doesn’t feel right." She looks Mai in the eye. "Could I make a request of you? It’s nothing major and you don’t have to do it, but I would greatly appreciate it."

"What is it?"

"If…if anything happens, will you let me know?"

Mai shivers. The older girl’s anxiety is rubbing off on her. "What kind of things?"

"I can’t really explain. Just…whatever is out of the ordinary. Please."

"Okay," Mai says, still not understanding. She senses that the other girl doesn’t actually expect her to keep the promise, and indeed she doesn’t plan to.

Jackie gives her a small smile. "Thanks. You can always find me at the pokémon center. I mean, if you ever need anything, drop me a line or something."

"Yeah, sure."

Jackie asks for the check, pays, and stands up. Mai does too. "Thank you for dinner," she says.

"No, thank you," Jackie says. "I wish I could explain but…with the second test coming up…I just have a bad feeling." She turns away.

That makes two of you.

Chapter Text

Autumn leaves crunch under her sandals as she arrives at the designated meeting spot, each crack of fallen leaves shattering the silence of the Kimono Dance Theater.

From behind the tree, he steps out.

"You came," says Naomi.

"Prince delivered the message to my gengar this morning." The gym leader exhales. "Should we go somewhere more private? I do not wish to be overheard."

She laughs, a bitter sound. "The Theater is full of her eyes and ears. Our whereabouts hardly matter. Besides, I don’t have much to say except that I’m sorry.” There’s a pause. "Rather belated, I know. I’m sorry."

"Don’t be. I tried my best, but it is to be expected."

"Now I am afraid. Tomorrow…"

"You are not thinking of backing out." His voice is sharp.

"You didn’t tell me how hard it would be!" she retorts. "But no, it is much too late to back out. You did, after all, warn me."

"Then you understand what you must do."

"Yes, I must be strong," she says with a sigh, and in a quieter tone, "I cannot give up."

"Be strong and don’t lose heart. I must go now." His tone gentles. "Get some rest, tomorrow will be long."

The leaves crunch again, and soon they’re both gone.

Mai steps out of the dance studio, heart pounding. Having returned to the Theater late due to her meeting with Jackie, she spent the past four hours making up for the lost time and the gained calories. She did not expect to run into Naomi on her way home nor overhear the conversation between her and Morty.

Back in her bed, she tries to put the puzzle pieces together. First there are the people. Tim. Jackie. Simon. Naomi. Morty. Sumomo. Tamao. The Elder. Then there are the traditions. The Rainbow Reckoning. The invisible class division. In some strange way they are all connected, except no matter what she does, the pieces do not fit.

Sleep does not come easily.

The sky is overcast on the day of the second test. There’s less fanfare, as it’s held on Kimono Dance Theater grounds and Tamao refuses to allow the general public to disturb the tranquility of her school. Instead, only the Elder, the three Sages, and a select number of respected townspeople will be watching the battle, along with the students at the Dance Theater and a small television crew, who will broadcast the battle afterwards.

A large makeshift battle arena is set up outdoors, surrounded by wooden benches, on a large field that the Dance Theater students often pass on their way to the academic quadrangle. All throughout breakfast, the cafeteria is abuzz with excited chatter over what is sure to be an exciting match. If some of the girls had been cynical about Tim’s abilities prior to the first test, few have the same qualms after his handy defeat of Morty. On the other hand, some of the senior girls are quick to point out that the Kimono Girls are no pushovers either.

Mai, remembering Kyoko’s words, believes them.

A light drizzle greets everyone as they gather around the arena and make themselves comfortable on the benches. Tamao steps to the front. Her quiet voice is amplified by the microphone.

"Welcome to the Kimono Dance Theater, and to the second test of the Rainbow Reckoning. I will explain the format of the match, because it will be different from the format of the gym battle. The challenger must defeat six Kimono Girls in a six-on-six double battle. If he runs out of pokémon at any point in the battle, his Reckoning ends here."

An excited murmur passes through the crowd. A six-on-six double battle sounds way more exciting than a three-on-three single battle.

"Since, as you know, we have seven Kimono Girls," Tamao continues, "the challenger must, prior to the start of the match, select one of them to not participate in the Reckoning. He must then challenge the remaining Kimono Girls in ascending order of their seniority. Now, let us welcome the challenger, Timothy Dragonweed of Eterna City!"

Tim steps up beside Tamao to polite applause. Mai notes that Jackie and Simon are not granted special permission to watch him battle.

"And now, will the Kimono Girls step up." The crowd cheers again as the seven Kimono Girls, who have been waiting demurely by the sidelines for Tamao’s instructions, step forward. Each releases her pokémon to sighs of appreciation.

Tim studies the seven eevee evolutions for a few minutes, wavers between three, and then walks toward Tamao to convey his decision privately.

Tamao nods. "Nanami," she says, addressing the girl in a dark blue kimono, "you may join your friends on the bench."

Nanami bows to Tamao and then gracefully makes her way to the bench where all the senior girls are sitting. Her vaporeon jumps onto her lap. Neither trainer nor pokémon seems disappointed.

The rest of the Kimono Girls, aside from the two who are about to battle, step off the arena and sit down. Mayu and Aya remain, taking position at one end of the arena while Tim walks over to the other side. His swagger exudes confidence, perhaps the effect of being in the presence of so many girls.

"Let the battle begin," Tamao announces, before joining the Elder and the Sages.

Aya’s flareon and Mayu’s umbreon step up in front of their trainers. Tim regards them thoughtfully before he selects two pokéballs from his belt. Two bursts of red light later, Mai sees Tim has selected his tyranitar and a multi-armed humanoid pokémon that she recognizes from her pokémon dictionary as a machamp, a fighting type.

A controlled sandstorm starts brewing with the activation of the tyranitar’s ability, lowering visibility. The flareon and the umbreon step back, careful not to get buffeted by the sand. Their trainers look at each other and nod, agreeing on a strategy. It’s clear that they have been trained in such battle formats before.

"Flareon, use sunny day!"

"Umbreon, use confuse ray on Tyranitar!"

The flareon’s dark eyes glow. To Mai’s surprise, the sandstorm begins to dissipate, until the field is clear once more. Up above, the slight drizzle that has plagued most of the morning disappears as well, replaced by a bright blue sky.

Tim crosses his arms. "Okay. Tyranitar, use earthquake. Machamp, use cross chop, let’s go!"

The ground is trembling under the force of Tyranitar’s earthquake. Flareon flattens its body against the grass and Machamp also lowers its body to keep balance. Umbreon’s eyes glow and send the same beam of light as Morty’s sableye had during the gym battle. Tyranitar pauses its attack and looks around in confusion. Machamp takes advantage of Umbreon’s concentration and delivers a powerful cross chop attack, sending Umbreon flying backwards.

Mayu bends down, looking worried, as her umbreon lies in a heap, but the pokémon struggles to its feet. "Good work." She exchanges a glance with Aya. "Use protect."

"Use toxic on Machamp," Aya says.

Tim hesitates, finding his opponents’ strategies unfamiliar. "In that case, snap yourself out of it and earthquake again, Tyranitar, and Machamp, try to get a cross chop in before Flareon uses toxic!"

The tyranitar, still looking puzzled, stomps the ground, sending a tremor through the field. Flareon falls to its feet, though not before sending a spray of purple liquid at Machamp, who had been rushing forward with its arms raised for a cross chop attack. Machamp falters momentarily, giving Aya the opportunity to yell, "Quick attack!"

Flareon and Machamp collide. The machamp loses its footing but manages to land a direct attack. The fire type crumples to the ground and doesn’t move.

Without another word, Aya recalls her pokémon and steps off. Yukiko takes her place, her glaceon taking the place of the fallen flareon. The transition is brief and almost seamless. Yukiko orders an attack right away.

"Water pulse!"

Tim immediately shouts for Tyranitar to get out of the way, but to his surprise, the water pulse attack is aimed at Machamp. The fighting type shakes its head to get rid of the water, eyes looking unfocused, as if it’s confused. Umbreon follows up Glaceon’s attack with an iron tail to the machamp’s head, who roars from the physical pain and the poison slowly sapping his strength.

Looking conflicted, Tim makes a decision. "All right, return," he says, recalling Machamp. Yukiko and Mayu exchange a smile.

"Smart strategy," comments Keiko.

"Yeah," Hana agrees. "Both Glaceon and Umbreon are weak to fighting moves."

Stony-faced, Tim selects another pokémon. "Go, Arcanine!"

The large wolf-like pokémon appears, which makes the two eevee evolutions look small and delicate in comparison. At its trainer’s order, it unleashes a powerful flamethrower attack. Umbreon jumps to get the full brunt of the attack, while Glaceon barely manages to get out of the way.

"Use stone edge! Arcanine, use flamethrower again."

"Ice beam," says Yukiko, looking unruffled, while Mayu says, "Dark pulse!"

The eevee evolutions’ attacks crisscross in midair, the glaceon’s attack heading for Tyranitar while the umbreon’s attack aims for Arcanine. Half of Tyranitar’s side crusts over with ice, forcing it to launch its stone edge attack before it has fully charged. Arcanine’s flamethrower quickly joins in. Once more, Umbreon jumps in front to take the full brunt of the attack. When the smoke clears, it is obvious that Mayu’s umbreon is very worn out.

"Wish," says Mayu, after a pause.

"Finish off the tyranitar with another ice beam," says Yukiko.

"Close combat that umbreon, Machamp, and Tyranitar, let’s try stone edge again."

With a mighty swipe of its paw, the arcanine sends umbreon flying into the air before it could gather enough energy for a wish attack. It lays in the grass, unmoving and soon recalled. Meanwhile, the glaceon sends another powerful beam of ice at the tyranitar, enough to send it stumbling backwards without launching another stone edge. When Tyranitar tries to get back up, it is met in the face with a water pulse attack.

Tyranitar falls back down, immobile this time. Tim recalls it, looking annoyed. Sitting among the spectators, Mai is impressed. The Kimono Girls have managed to take down a pokémon that Morty had not been able to take down with his powerful ghosts. She glances up at the sky. The sun summoned by Flareon has faded.

Yukiko squeezes Mayu’s shoulder as she steps off the arena, replaced by Kamiko and her leafeon.

"Rotten luck that the Kimono Girls have to battle in order," comments Chiyo. "That’s the second time a Kimono Girl walks right into a type disadvantage."

"That’s true," Mai says. Yukiko had to face a tyranitar and a machamp with an ice type, and now Kamiko is facing an arcanine with her grass type.

Taking advantage of the type mismatch, Tim sends out a lucario, yet another fighting type, but with a steel subtype to take advantage of its resistance to Leafeon’s attacks. "All right Lucario, use aura sphere on Glaceon, and Arcanine, fire blast that leafeon!"

Like her fellow dancers, Kamiko looks unconcerned. "Swords dance. "Stay out of the way for now.

"Block Arcanine’s attack for Leafeon," Yukiko says, "and use mirror coat!"

Shock registers on Tim’s face as the glaceon leaps in front of the leafeon, shielding it from the incoming attacks as the fallen umbreon had similarly shielded it. Its body glowing, the ice pokémon lets out a yell as the attacks land. Mai smells scorching flesh and shudders. And then, with another yell of effort, the glaceon sends the attacks rebounding toward their originators. Lucario steps out of the way in time, while Arcanine, who’s slower, sinks to its knees.

Meanwhile, Leafeon has been charging its body up so that the leaf on top of its head glows and lengthens. It launches a powerful leaf blade attack right on Arcanine’s head. The fire pokémon roars in pain and crumples to the grass. Almost before it has fallen limp, Tim is recalling it and tossing out another pokéball. Mai recognizes the aggressive eyes and the snakelike body; it’s a gyarados.

"Aqua tail that glaceon!" Tim almost snaps. "And Lucario, close combat."

The gyarados lashes the glaceon with its tail. There’s little struggle from the ice pokémon, who looks exhausted from the earlier mirror coat. It’s recalled while Lucario and Leafeon clash in the air, the leafeon using another leaf blade attack and the lucario landing multiple punches on the smaller pokémon. Panting, both pokémon recover after falling into the grass, the leafeon pawing the ground while the lucario gives a cry.

Yukiko leaves. Tooka, smiling, steps onto the arena with her jolteon. Finally, Mai thinks, luck has somewhat turned their way. There’s no way a gyarados can stand up to an electric attack from a jolteon.

Indeed, it does not. Although Tim tries to order an earthquake attack, Tooka’s jolteon is too quick. It hops into the air and lands on the gyarados’ back, proceeding to use such a powerful thunderbolt attack that many in the audience shield their eyes from the bright flashes. Once more there is the smell of scorched flesh. When the smoke clears, Tim is recalling his gyarados. He is biting his lip and his countenance has none of the cockiness that he displayed at the gym battle.

He sends out his garchomp. "Earthquake, Garchomp, and Lucario, use close combat again!"

To Mai’s surprise, Tooka doesn’t bother ordering her jolteon to dodge the earthquake. Instead, she nods at Kamiko before saying, "Thunder wave Lucario."

"And Leafeon, finish off Lucario with another leaf blade."

It almost feels like a routine now. Jolteon sends a shock of paralyzing electricity at Lucario just as the ground shakes. Both Lucario and Jolteon reel from the force of the attack. Both Garchomp and Leafeon take advantage of the distraction. Garchomp finishes off Jolteon with a dragon claw, while Leafeon defeats Lucario with a final leaf blade in the pokémon’s face.

There’s palpable tension in the air. Tooka recalls her jolteon and leaves. Tim sends out his other remaining pokémon, the poisoned machamp. Meanwhile, Mai and her friends turn to look at Naomi, who stands up very slowly. Again, Mai cannot help remarking on the unnatural pallor of the young woman. Recalling the overheard conversation, she feels a wave of apprehension on her behalf.

On the other hand, Naomi looks very determined. Prince leaps off the bench as well and joins her on the grass to face Tim alongside Kamiko.

"Leaf blade," says Kamiko. Her leafeon makes up for its lack of attack variety in its mastery of the leaf blade attack, which lands critical hits frequently.

"Reflect," says Naomi.

Tim snorts. "Brick break, Machamp, and Garchomp, use outrage!"

The espeon concocts a wall of light, but the machamp shatters it with a well-aimed punch. Fortunately, Prince gets out of the way before receiving too much damage. Naomi’s hand clench and unclench, the only sign of unease that any of the Kimono Girls has shown so far.

"Psychic!" she says, and the machamp yells in agony as its body is twisted by purple energy emanating from espeon. It falls, trembling. Its body looks very sweaty and has an unhealthy hue. Evidently its rest in the pokéball has not cured him of the poison left by Flareon’s toxic.

Meanwhile, the garchomp seems to have gone completely nuts. It charges at Leafeon as if it wants to tear the poor grass pokémon apart. The leafeon is agile and manages to hold off the garchomp for a while, landing a few well-placed leaf blades in the meantime. However, being tired, its attention falters. With a cry of triumph, the garchomp sends it flying with a last swipe of its claws and aims a fire blast attack in the air.

Leafeon hits the ground hard. Kamiko recalls her pokémon and joins the other Kimono Girls on the bench.

It’s shaping up to be a close match. Tim has two pokémon left, but one is severely weakened, the other exhausted from an outrage attack, while Naomi’s Prince is relatively fresh. Mai holds her breath as Naomi considers her next move. There’s a good chance that the Kimono Girls will win. Surely finishing off Machamp, possibly with another psychic attack, will be quite easy, not to mention Garchomp is not resistant to the espeon’s attacks. She watches Naomi’s face as her eyes light up.

"Prince –" she begins triumphantly.

All eyes turn to her when she suddenly stops. Then there is a collective gasp.

Naomi has fainted.

Chapter Text

In shocked silence, everyone surveys the fallen body of Naomi, lying in a crumpled heap with no trace of her typical elegance. The scene is almost surreal, like a rehearsed moment from a dance.

Then the murmurs begin, voicing Mai’s own questions. What happened? Is she okay? Is she dead? Did the pokémon attack her too?

Tim, his mouth slightly open, looks torn between helping his opponent and disrupting what had been a pokémon battle. He takes a tentative step toward Naomi, but stumbles back in shock. A pokémon has materialized in front of him, hissing menacingly. Then it disappears and reappears in front of Naomi to sniff her face, more out of curiosity than kindness.

"Thank you very much, Kaguya," says Tamao in her cold, clear voice. She has risen from her seat. "That will be enough."

Her umbreon glances up and meets her trainer’s eyes, as if considering her command, before stepping away from the fallen Kimono Girl with calculated grace.

Tamao turns. "Nanami. Tooka."

The two girls immediately rush forward to kneel by Naomi’s side. Nanami cradles her head on her lap while Tooka feels her forehead. They both look concerned, except it occurs to Mai that neither bothered to move until Tamao has spoken. Even Prince has remained still, though now he has joined his mistress’s side and starts licking her face.

Naomi stirs and opens her eyes. "What happened?" she asks, struggling to sit up.

"Careful," Tooka says, supporting her with her arm. "Are you feeling okay?"

Naomi touches her hand to her head and nods. Then her eyes widen and she seeks out Tamao, who’s still standing and watching the scene silently.

"Madame!" she calls, a hint of desperation in her voice. "The battle – did I –"

Tamao smiles, though her eyes are cold and dark. "You forfeited the battle by fainting, so Timothy Dragonweed is the winner. Congratulations."

She had spoken loudly enough for the benefit of the television camera, which is still rolling.

Her words take a moment to register with Tim, who nods slowly. He recalls his pokémon silently, displaying no triumph or excitement, and looks at the audience. A weak wave of applause greets him. Meanwhile, upon hearing the announcement that Tim had won, Naomi’s face crumples.

Mai stares at her hands, feeling uncomfortable.

"Momoko, if you please," Tamao says.

Her secretary jumps to her feet. "The second test has concluded," she says, eyeing the television crew pointedly. "Please allow me to show you the way out."

Everyone recognizes the cue to leave. The Elder and the three Sages leave first, after shaking Tim’s hand. The townspeople and the television crew follow. Then the girls of the Kimono Dance Theater get up, though they move slowly and throw looks of curiosity at the arena the entire time.

Mai, careful to lag behind, turns back for a last look just before she passes out of earshot. Naomi is looking imploringly at Tamao. "Madame, please, I –"

"Not here," Tamao says.

As Naomi falls silent, Mai breaks into a run to catch her friends.

On Monday, the first year girls arrive at dance class to find Momoko waiting on the practice stage instead of Tamao.

"I am sorry," she says, before any of them could ask. "Madame has some business to take care of and therefore cannot come to class. She asks me to tell you to keep practicing your choreography, as she will be back on Tuesday to check your progress. Please return to your dormitory."

Behind her, in the shadowed backdrop of the stage, Kaguya is pacing, her blue rings glowing. When she notices the students watching, she narrows her glowing golden eyes and flashes her teeth. The girls need no further convincing.

"What do you think that was about?" Chiyo asks, once they are back in their dormitory. She flops onto her bed on her stomach and rests her chin on her hands.

"I’m sure it has something to do with what happened yesterday," Keiko says. "Otherwise it’s too much of a coincidence."

Mai reaches for her pillow. "You mean that Naomi fainted? Or that Tim won?"

She receives a shrug in response. "Either, both, I don’t know."

"Do you think Naomi is in trouble?" Hana says. "Madame looked really mad at her yesterday."

"Yeah, she did," Chiyo says. "Then again, can you blame her? You know what I heard?" The other girls lean closer. "I heard rumors that Madame was going to fire her!"

"No way, Naomi getting fired?" Akina’s eyes are round. "She’s the lead dancer!"

"Well, what she did yesterday was pretty embarrassing! What a dumb way to lose a battle she totally could’ve won."

"By fainting, right? Yeah, what was that about?"

"Who knows, but it’s been broadcast all over Ecruteak. It’s really bad publicity for our Theater!"

Mai hugs her pillow close. The battle yesterday felt dreamlike and she had not been sure that it had truly happened until she saw it mentioned in the Ecruteak Daily Digest. Like the other articles, it was short. The second test of the Rainbow Reckoning was administered yesterday. Timothy Dragonweed won the six-on-six double battle, after the final battler took ill on the battlefield. According to a statement released by the Kimono Dance Theater, the dancer is recovering well. Mr. Dragonweed will take the third test this coming spring.

She turns her attention back to the other girls, who are now speculating who among the current alternates might become Naomi’s replacement. The idea is chilling. How the mighty has fallen. She remembers Naomi of old, who danced so beautifully at the Obon Festival, who greeted them so arrogantly on the first day of class. Then she remembers the pale Naomi she had seen at the Ecruteak Gym, whose conversation she had overheard in the library, the frightened yet determined Naomi who spoke with Morty the night before the second test.

One thing is for sure: Naomi did not intend to lose the battle. So why did she faint at precisely the right moment?

Mai taps her cheek thoughtfully and lets out a quiet sigh. She wishes she could talk to the other girls about her own theories, but she’s not quite ready to share her ideas just yet.

To the disappointment of the Kimono dancer alternates, rumors remain rumors. Tamao makes no move to replace Naomi. A week after the second test, Naomi and the other Kimono Girls depart for a dance festival in Hoenn. Classes go on as usual. Things, to all appearances, return to normal in the Kimono Dance Theater.

It’s the middle of December. The first snowfall of the season comes and takes the city by surprise with its bitterness. Mai falls asleep listening to the shrieks of the wind and wakes up to find the Dance Theater submerged under almost two feet of snow. Everything is so white that the reflection of sunlight is almost blinding.

By custom, the Kimono Dance Theater closes for two weeks to observe the winter holidays. Keiko invites Mai to stay over at her house, but Mai declines. While she enjoys Keiko’s company and isn’t particularly homesick, she feels almost desperate to get back to the normalcy of Goldenrod City.

Therefore, on the afternoon before school closes for the year, Mai is on the express train that runs between Ecruteak and Goldenrod, watching the landscape of Ecruteak recede. The entire city looks like a postcard, a mixture of white from the recent snow, and red and green from the holiday decorations. Then the train rounds the bend, leaving only trees and mountains to be seen.

Mai sleeps for most of the uneventful ride, waking up hours later when the train pulls up in front of the Goldenrod Terminal Station. An electronic voice announces over the loudspeaker, "Final stop, Goldenrod City."

She grabs her bag and takes the escalator to the lobby. Though many people are waiting, she picks out her mom immediately because of her height.

"Mom!"

"Hey sweetie, welcome back!" Mom says, giving Mai a hug. Mai hugs her back eagerly, breathing in the familiar scent of her mother’s cologne. "How has everything been?"

"I missed you," says Mai, finding that to be very true. She has to remind herself that she’s a big girl to stop herself from bursting into happy tears.

"We missed you too! You don’t write Daddy and me nearly often enough, we can’t wait to hear everything."

Mai follows Mom out of the lobby and into the garage. She looks around to drink in the sight of the skyscrapers and traffic lights and neon signs like a tourist. Nobody is walking around in a kimono and all of the trees are bare, as they should be in the winter.

The car turns onto the highway. Kate Greenmount, née Poplar, looks the same as always, with her lopsided dimples, tall nose, and pale blue eyes, the only part of her that gives away her blood relation to Mai’s biological father. She turns on the radio to the news station, thinks better of it, and changes to her favorite music station.

Mom peppers her with questions about school and she answers as best as she can. Classes are great, with the possible exception of history. Dance is amazing and they are training for the spring dance. The girls are very friendly and she’s especially good friends with Keiko, who’s from Ecruteak City. To her relief, Mom doesn’t mention the Rainbow Reckoning; she doesn’t quite know what to say on the topic.

"And how are you and Daddy doing?" she asks. 

"Pretty much the same as usual, on my end." Mom works in the Daycare Center just a few miles south of the city. "There are a few expecting female pokémon, so we’ve been monitoring them to make sure that the eggs won’t run into any issues. As for Daddy, he could give you the whole spiel himself when he gets back." She grins. "They are doing something pretty top secret in Devon, that’s all I could divine. He’s been staying late at work with all the other research professors. I’m going to go out on a limb and say they are trying to capture some of the pokégears’ market share."

Mai laughs. That has been a running joke in the family for ages.

"By the way, Jake left you a message. Apparently he’s back in Goldenrod City. Maybe challenging Whitney for his next badge?"

"That’s great, I can’t wait to catch up with him."

Mai couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the ride. It’s so good to be home.

Dinner is a festive affair. Her parents prepare her favorite food, gloriously and shamelessly rich in sugar and fat and calories. Madame Tamao would probably have a fit if she knows how her student is eating during the holidays, though Mai shoves her guilt to the back of her mind as she merrily digs into the food.

Dad brings up the Rainbow Reckoning over dessert. "You wrote about a young man who wants to capture Ho-oh," he says, exchanging a grin with Mom that clearly indicates his opinion on the matter. "How’s that going?"

Mai grins herself. In the brightly lit kitchen, the very idea of the Rainbow Reckoning seems a bit preposterous. "Well, there are three tests. Tim – that’s the challenger – already passed two."

"Impressive," Mom says. "So when’s the final test?"

"In the spring, I think. He’s battling the Elder right after the spring dance, and then he gets to ascend the Bell Tower."

Talk then turns to the spring dance. Mai feels both excited and apprehensive to learn that her parents would be coming up to Ecruteak to see the spring dance. She resolves to train even harder to make sure she lands the role of Ho-oh, to prove to her parents that she has a future in dance.

She also pushes the nagging voice that reminds her of Tamao’s prediction: one of the five girls will not be here in the spring, and she’s the only girl Tamao has ever singled out for a conversation. No, she can’t lose because it has begun. If she practices enough, she’s just as qualified as anyone else to become a Kimono Girl.

As she’s helping Mom clear away the dishes after dinner, she remembers something. "Hey Mom?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Have I ever been to Ecruteak before I was accepted to the Theater? You know, after we moved to Goldenrod, have we ever gone to Ecruteak?"

Mom frowns, considering. "No, I don’t think so. We might’ve passed by Ecruteak on our way to Olivine a couple of times, but we definitely never went there. That’s why it’d be nice to go sightseeing when we come to visit you." She pauses as she gathers up the cutleries. "Why do you ask?"

"A haunter recognized me," Mai says, wondering whether Mom would believe her. "Or it thinks it did. It was during my first week in Ecruteak City. It told me that it missed me and welcomed me back. It also told me to go find it in the Burned Tower."

Mom frowns. "Did you?" She doesn’t sound alarmed.

"I did, but I didn’t find the haunter. I figured it must be mistaken but I was still curious."

Mom looks at the wall thoughtfully. "The haunter is mistaken," she agrees. "It might have mistaken you for someone else. I’ve taken care of many ghost pokémon at the daycare. The thing about them is that the passage of time means very little to them. They don’t always understand that the humans and the non-ghost pokémon they meet don’t live forever. Sometimes, if someone in their past made a strong impression, they might try to rediscover that someone, even if the original person is no longer alive."

Mai blinks at Mom, digesting the information. "Are you saying that the haunter thinks I’m a reincarnation of someone it once knew?"

Mom laughs. "Not at all. I’m not sure whether ghost pokémon can understand the concept of reincarnation. I’m just saying you probably reminded the haunter of someone." She winks at Mai, clearly no longer taking the encounter seriously. "Any guesses?"

Mai laughs too as she brings the rest of the dishes into the kitchen. "I’ll have to get back to you on that."

In actuality, however, she thinks she does.

Chapter Text

Mai and Jake have been best friends since they first met in the playground halfway between their buildings. They got into a fight in the sandbox because Mai knocked over Jake’s sand castle and settled their disagreement with a pokédoll battle. Neither could truly remember who won, though Mai believed that it was her stuffed buneary while Jake insisted that it was his stuffed turtwig. Whoever the victor was, they spent the rest of the afternoon planning out their joint pokémon journey to become champions and ended the day as friends.

They make plans to meet in the same playground a few days after Mai’s return to Goldenrod. She spots him waiting on the bench from far away. In all appearance, Jake looks little changed since the days of their childhood. Still short and bespectacled, though more tanned and lean since the last time she saw him.

"Hey," she says, sitting down beside him. "How are you?"

"Hey Mai, good to see you." Jake talks more confidently now, whereas he had been rather timid as a school boy. Constantly challenging and being challenged by other trainers probably have that effect. "You look different."

"I do?" Mai has been wondering whether she has changed and whether it’s a good thing. Going to dance school doesn’t seem to be a life changing experience, not like going on a pokémon journey.

"Kind of." Jake scratches his head. "You walk differently, I guess."

Oh, that. Mai almost laughs. Jake would walk differently too if he had to wear a kimono and wood sandals every day for three months. "Well, you look different too. How’s pokémon training?"

His eyes light up. "It’s amazing! I already got two badges and four pokémon. I’m actually going to challenge Whitney next week!"

"Wow, nice! Tell me about your journey! Where have you gone so far?"

"Well, you know how I started. I got my cyndaquil from Nurse Joy, and then I went to Violet City and got the Zephyr Badge. I lost the first time, but then I caught my own pidgey and won the second time. Then I went south to Azalea Town and got the Hive Badge. My quilava made that a really easy battle." He blushes suddenly. "I probably would’ve gotten back to Goldenrod faster, but I got lost in the Ilex Forest."

"You did?" Mai giggles.

"I wasn’t the only one," Jake says defensively. "Apparently people get lost in the forest all the time. I actually heard a Kimono Girl got lost a few months ago. Do you know about that?"

Mai stops smiling. "No."

"Well, yeah, apparently some trainer had to go rescue her or something. Weird, huh?"

She makes a face. Weird doesn’t even begin to describe it. She decides to change the subject. "Let me see your pokémon!"

Jake grins, not minding the abrupt subject change, and takes the four balls from his belt. He releases a quilava, a pidgeotto, a wooper, and a mareep. All of them greet Mai politely, at their trainers’ request, and then sidle close to Jake. Clearly, after a few months of companionship, trainer and pokémon already share a tight bond.

Mai tries to imagine her friend, weaving his way through Johto with a growing party of pokémon, and feels twinges of jealousy. Once, they had agreed to go on this journey together. Not for the first time, she questions whether she made the right choice to become a dancer instead.

"Oh, and I got this for you," Jake says, reaching into his battered pack to retrieve a strange object. "I got it in Violet City and figured you might like it."

"Thanks! What is it?" Mai turns it over in her hands. It looks like a headband, except instead of having fabric stretched over the frame, it has feathers instead.

"There was a festival celebrating flying pokémon in Violet City," explains Jake. "They were giving these out, so I got one for you because only girls wear those things, not boys."

Mai puts it on, feeling both pleased that her friend thought of her and foolish. "I like it, thanks," she says, not entirely honestly. "Er, whose feathers are on the headband?"

"I’m not sure, maybe pidgey and spearow? I think someone mentioned swablu too." No feather from Ho-oh, Mai thinks with some amusement. "Anyway," says Jake, watching as his quilava and pidgeotto settle in the sandbox, "how is your dance school?"

"It’s okay. You know, I have normal classes and then dance classes, kind of like what I was doing here. There is a spring dance and I’m auditioning for the lead dancer part."

"Yeah? You will get it for sure!"

"Hopefully." Jake’s words, like her parents’, fail to reassure her. "Everyone in my year is really talented. What’s even scarier is that not all the girls who enter the school can stay to become the top dancers."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one thing, the headmistress basically told us that one of us will drop out of school by spring." Mai gives an involuntary shudder.

Jake is silent for a while. "Well, suppose you don’t become a top dancer. What would you do?"

The thought does not help. Mai hasn’t allowed herself to consider that train of thought before, but of course, it could happen. In fact, it will happen to most of the girls at the Kimono Dance Theater. She imagines herself leaving, before being finished with her training, and clenches her fists. No, she could not allow that to happen. She won’t think about it.

"I don’t know," she says lightly, not meeting Jake’s eyes. "What are you going to do if you don’t become a pokémon master?"

"I thought about that," Jake says. "There are actually lots of things I could do, once I get a few more badges. Right now I’m debating between being a gym trainer and being a police officer."

Mai blinks before her mouth quirks upwards. "You, being an Officer Jenny? I think you have to be born into the family or something."

Jake blushes. "No, not the same thing! More like secret agents."

"That sounds like something from a movie," she says skeptically. "Are you sure that’s a real job?"

"Sure is!" Jake exclaims. "And they are way better police officers than Officer Jenny and have way more powerful Pokémon than growlithe and arcanine. The only reason that nobody has really heard of them is because they work undercover and investigate really secretive things. It’s also really hard to become an agent. I’m going to need to train really hard!"

Mai crosses her arms over her chest. "Well, you know what, Kimono Girls are also really great trainers. I saw them battle and they’re just as good as any gym leader, maybe even better, and they train eevee evolutions. That’s a way more awesome career than a secret agent."

"Right," says her friend, clearly not meaning it.

The two glare at each other for a few minutes before they burst out laughing. It’s as if they are young children again, arguing about who will be the better Pokémon trainer.

"What are you up to for the rest of the day?" Mai asks. "Training for your battle against Whitney?"

"Nah. I’ve been training the past couple of days and need a break. Do you have anything in mind?"

"Well…" She glances at him. "I have a little quest that you can help me with. I’m going to the library to do some research and could use your help."

"Library?" Jake wrinkles his nose. "I don’t know about that. What are you researching on?"

Mai sighs. "It’s going to be a bit of a long story. You can stop me if it gets boring."

As concisely as possible, she explains what she knows about the Rainbow Reckoning. She tells Jake about Tim and his two friends, the two battles he won so far, as well as some of the strange happenings that she witnessed at the Kimono Dance Theater. By the time she finishes, Jake’s eyes are wide as saucers.

"Now that," he says, "sounds like something from a movie."

"It isn’t though," Mai says. "I’m actually not making any of this up. That’s why I want to find out more about it. Teacher Sato — that’s my history teacher — told us the background behind the Rainbow Reckoning, and Keiko’s grandmother sort of talked about it too, but there’s definitely way more to it than that. I want to see if we could find out more about it."

Jake shrugs as he starts recalling his pokémon. "Sounds interesting, I’m game."

The Goldenrod Library, unlike most buildings in Goldenrod, is an unassuming three-storied building tucked between a large hotel and a bustling supermarket. Fortunately, as it’s the middle of winter break and a lovely day, the two friends have no trouble securing seats in the computer lab. It doesn’t take Jake long before he’s catching up on the current Rainbow Reckoning by reading the Ecruteak Daily Digest online.

"Sounds impressive," he says. "What kind of pokémon does this Timothy have?"

"Pretty strong ones," Mai says, trying to remember. "You know, lucario, garchomp, gyarados." She shrugs. "But let’s focus here. Maybe we could find out what happened to the trainers who went through the Reckoning in the past? The last one happened twenty years ago."

Jake frowns as he navigates through the archives. "There isn’t much. All the articles on this website are so short and they don’t archive articles from more than thirty years ago. Here, the last trainer was someone named Dorian, no last name listed, from Castelia City. Apparently he made it all the way past the three tests, but didn’t end up ascending the tower. So what’s the deal with ascending the tower again?"

Mind wandering with the new information, Mai gives a start when her friend pokes her to get her attention.

"Oh, the challenger goes up the Bell Tower — that’s the tower where Ho-oh used to live — and then if he makes it all the way up there he gets to battle Ho-oh."

"And what happens if he wins? Does he get a big trophy?"

"No, he gets to capture Ho-oh ."

Jake blinks. "Does something strike you as being a little fishy about this?" he asks, leaning back in his chair and glancing away from the computer screen.

Mai cocks her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, so you basically have this big ceremony organized around capturing Ho-oh, right? But it also seems like the identity of Ecruteak is pretty tied to Ho-oh. You know, you have all these legends and rituals, and a lot of them are related to the legendary pokémon. So why would they want Ho-oh to be captured?"

Mai thinks for a moment. "Maybe they just want someone who impresses Ho-oh enough to come back. And anyway, Ho-oh is a legendary. Maybe he is too strong to be actually captured."

"Legendary pokémon are still pokémon, at the end of the day. Besides, some people have master balls. If I have a master ball and see Ho-oh, you bet I’ll be able to capture it."

She sighs. "Okay, what do you think then?"

Jake shrugs. "I think you guys don’t actually want Ho-oh to be captured, and all of this Rainbow Reckoning business is just a publicity stunt, maybe for your dance school."

Mai considers her friend’s logic. It isn’t adding up for her. "I don’t know about that…"

"It makes sense to me. Why else would the Kimono Girls get involved in all the battles? They’re supposed to be dancers. And that’s probably why the Naomi girl was acting so weird, she’s probably worried that she’d do really badly and then embarrass the Theater, and it kind of sounds like she did."

"That seems really elaborate," Mai says slowly. "To come up with a whole ceremony just to promote dance?"

"This doesn’t sound all that impressive, no offense. I mean, I pass through small villages on my way to cities and sometimes they have weird traditions, like walking on your hands on Tuesdays or dancing with miltank to make better ice cream. This sounds more of the same. A lot of traditions are just meaningless, but you get caught up in it because you lived there forever."

Mai finds the logic unsettling, even though she has to admit that there is something about Ecruteak City that can ensnare someone in its mysteries, though she stays quiet. Meanwhile, Jake starts looking at the other articles related to Ecruteak City. After all, his next challenge, after defeating Whitney, would be Morty of Ecruteak City.

No, there has to be more to the Rainbow Reckoning than a publicity stunt. Mai remembers Naomi and Morty, Jackie’s concern, and Kaguya’s glowing eyes. There’s definitely more at stake than the reputation of the Kimono Dance Theater, and whatever it is must be related to Ho-oh. She turns back to her own computer and starts to search for Ho-oh-related mythology, when her friend breaks the silence.

"Hey Mai?" Jake’s voice sounds weird.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know someone named Sumomo?"

Mai’s head jerks up. "What did you say?"

"Sumomo Poplar," Jake says. "Is she related to you?"

"Let me see," Mai says, leaning over to peer at his screen. Jake is no longer on the Ecruteak Daily Digest website, but the website of an Ecruteak City magazine, the Ecruteak Gazette , that apparently did a feature a couple of years ago on the Kimono Girls. She holds her breath as she takes in the title.

The ten most famous Kimono Girls

Mai scans down the list, past the familiar names she studied in history books or watched on television, before she finds the entry she is searching for, the entry that she has read many times in the past.

Eight: Sumomo Poplar, née Sasaki

Sumomo is most famous for her leading role in the Dance of the Camellias, a dance whose beauty and difficulty have never since been surpassed. Indeed, with her raw talent, she would have ranked much higher on this list had she not done the unforgivable: she deserted her duty to the Kimono Dance Theater to run away with a pokémon trainer from Unova. She took nothing with her, not even her beloved vaporeon, and severed all contact with her friends and family. To this day, her name is not mentioned in Ecruteak City, tarnishing what would have been a fine legacy.

Mai looks up after she is done. Jake is looking at her questioningly. It takes her a while to collect her bearings and a bit more to find her voice.

"Yeah, I know her," she says eventually. "That’s my biological mother."

Later, in her own room, Mai takes out the photograph album containing the only pictures she has of her mother. Her biological father, having been Mom’s brother, can be found in far more photographs. Mother, however, seemed to have been camera-shy. There was her, radiantly happy on her wedding day, dressed in a green kimono. And there was her again, resting her elbows on the handles of a baby carriage as she faced the camera with a slight smile.

Mai stops at her favorite picture of Mother, a studio shot taken shortly after her arrival in Unova. Her mother looks so young and beautiful, dressed in a kimono boasting a sea of camellias against a background of navy blue. She has seen the kimono many times, neatly folded in one of Mom’s trunks, and has seen the kimono in the pictures displayed in the library of the Kimono Dance Theater. She has always known that Mother was a dancer, but she never knew that Mother was a Kimono dancer until she saw her name in the yellowed dance programs on the wall, never knew that Mother was disgraced until she had tea with Kyoko and searched Mother’s name online for the first time.

She clenches her hand into a fist and tucks it against her cheek. Her mother had come to Unova with her father, bringing nothing but the kimono she was wearing, so the family lore goes. Mai has never believed it until then, dismissing it as Mom’s attempt to dramatize the lives of her late brother and sister-in-law. But more and more, she realizes it to be true. Her mother, who could have been the most famous Kimono Girl in the history of the Theater, left everything — her family, her friends, her career — to run away with her father. She didn’t even care enough to pack any of her belongings.

Why did she do it?

Mai stares into Sumomo Poplar’s green eyes and falls deeply into thought.

Chapter Text

Winter break seems to have scarcely begun before Mai finds herself being driven back to the Goldenrod City train station. By then, Jake has earned his Plain Badge and moved on to new challenges, promising to visit when he’s ready to challenge Morty. Even though Mai is becoming bored at home, and even though she misses her friends at the Theater, she watches the familiar skyscrapers pass by with wistfulness. Part of her isn’t ready to step back into the intrigue that is Ecruteak City.

At the station, she nestles in Mom’s arms as they hug goodbye. "I’ll miss you and Daddy."

"Daddy and I will be visiting you in just a few weeks," Mom reminds her. "We’ll be there before you know it! And then you can show us how beautiful you are in your spring dance."

Mai sighs and nods. Then with one last wave, she picks up her bag and joins the other travelers to board the train for Ecruteak City.

The trip back is as uneventful as the trip from Ecruteak City, and she emerges from the station almost as disoriented as she felt on her first day. In a sharp contrast to the vibrancy of Goldenrod City, nothing has seemingly changed in Ecruteak.

It turns out that Mai’s wrong on that front. Keiko is only too eager to fill her in on the happenings the minute Mai settles back into her dorm. Since the other girls have yet to return, she’s her friend’s only audience.

"Guess what?" Keiko says, practically bouncing with excitement. She doesn’t bother waiting for Mai’s guess. "Naomi is put on probation!"

Mai shoves the last of her clothes into the dresser and climbs onto her bed. "What’s probation?" she asks, figuring it’s probably another arbitrary Ecruteak rule that she has yet to learn.

"It’s just a polite way of saying she’ll be stripped of her Kimono Girl status soon," Keiko explains. "Basically Naomi is supposed to file her resignation letter once her replacement is trained. Madame is too nice to fire anyone outright."

"Maybe Naomi wants to resign herself?" Mai suggests, thinking of Sumomo.

"Of course not. Nobody in her right mind would resign from the Kimono Dance Theater. No, Madame definitely asked her to."

Mai isn’t entirely surprised. "Is it related to the ceremonial battle?"

"Well, that’s the other thing." Keiko leans in and grins. "It’s because of an affair."

Mai drops the pillow that she is holding. "An affair ?" she repeats. "Are you sure?"

Keiko grins. "Crazy, right?"

"With who ?"

"Morty."

Now Mai herself almost falls out of her bed. "Morty?"

Other than the fact that Morty is the gym leader, he must be at least twice Naomi’s age. She cannot quite wrap her mind around this possible union. "Where are you hearing this from?"

"Everyone in Ecruteak knows," Keiko says. "All the insiders, anyway. Naomi has been meeting Morty secretly, sometimes at the gym, sometimes even here. At first nobody knew but of course then people started noticing. Eventually Tooka reported Naomi and Madame was just furious . Kimono Girls aren’t supposed to allow their personal lives to interfere with their dancing,"

Mai flinches on Naomi’s behalf.

"Anyway," continues Keiko, "it’s been obvious that something is wrong. Naomi has been losing focus for months. Madame warned Naomi to give her second chances, but she didn’t listen. So finally, after Naomi ignored Madame’s final warning, and after everyone found out she broke the Theater rules, she was put on probation."

Mai blinks. Recalling the meeting she overheard before the second test, she’s certain that Naomi and Morty were meeting for reasons far more serious than a love affair. However, she chooses to keep this to herself and remarks instead, "That’s crazy."

"Right? I can’t believe this happened at the Theater. Between the Rainbow Reckoning and Naomi, I think our first year is almost too exciting."

You have no idea.

Mai retrieves her pillow and flops back on her bed. She would rather not worry about any of the drama going on in Ecruteak City, and for now she would stop worrying about what happened to her mother. Instead, she thinks of her spring dance and renews her determination to become Ho-oh.

Once school begins, Mai settles easily back into the rhythm of school. Now that the first years have learned the complete spring dance, both dance classes and practices consist solely of perfecting the choreography. The audition for the role of Ho-oh will take place in February, and naturally all the first years are determined to win the role.

Mai, especially, is determined to become Ho-oh. For one thing, it will justify years of training and dreams. For another, it will mean that she would not be the girl who departs the Theater in the spring, for surely the lead dancer cannot be asked to leave. Therefore she spends all of her waking hours practicing the dance, when she’s not eating or studying for other classes. The practice is so consuming that even at night, when she closes her eyes, she can hear the music and envision herself dancing.

The day of the audition arrives on a snowy day. All first year classes are canceled. The girls meet on the dance stage, where Tamao has held their dance classes since they began learning Ho-oh’s choreography, and glance at each other nervously.

Tamao speaks. "The day has come to show me what you have learned," she says, eyeing each of them in turn before she moves to the center of the stage, Kaguya close at her heels. "As I have told you on the first day, one of you will be Ho-oh in our spring dance and one of you will no longer be here. Today I shall learn the answers to both questions."

Mai tenses and she exchanges a wary look with Keiko. Can first years be asked to resign?

"Now let us not waste any more time. I will now watch each of you dance Ho-oh’s dance and select the best candidate to lead the spring dance. I have already selected the order in which you will audition. If you are not dancing, please exit the stage at this time. Keiko, if you would please remain behind."

Keiko pales and swallows. Mai squeezes her hand quickly before she follows the others off the stage. The stage darkens and a single spotlight focuses on Keiko, who walks to the center and bows to Tamao. As the soft shamisen and flute music starts playing, she starts to dance.

Mai grips the armrests of her chair tightly. She wants her friend to do well, yet at the same time, she’d be lying to say that she wants her friend to be the best dancer. Of all her classmates, Keiko has the best fundamentals and a natural affinity to the music of Kimono dancing, having after all been trained in the Theater’s sister school. While Mai isn’t quite sure how her own dance abilities compare to Keiko’s, she’s aware that Keiko will be her toughest competitor. Both for the role of Ho-oh, and for all the dances beyond.

Keiko’s dancing is indeed beautiful, catching all the subtle nuances of the music and overlooking not even the most trivial movement in the choreography. When she finishes, the lights flicker back on and Tamao nods in approval. Then she scans the audience.

"Akina, if you would please step on stage."

"I’m glad that’s over," Keiko whispers to Mai, as Akina gets up.

"You were really good," Mai says, feeling her own nervousness mounting.

Akina also dances well, although her movements are less fluid than Keiko’s. At the climax of the dance, she looks less like a flying bird than an airplane veered off course. She’s shaking her head as she rejoins the others in the audience, wearing the same solemn expression as Tamao.

"Definitely not me," she says with a sigh.

Chiyo is next. Her dancing is assured and crisp until she reaches the end and misses part of the ending choreography, so that she finishes a few excruciating seconds before the music. She’s blinking back tears when she exits the stage and Akina quickly moves to comfort her.

Hana, however, fares the worst. While she starts off well, she stumbles in the middle and is never able to recover her timing for the remainder of the dance. The dancing and the music clash, and Mai winces at the frown on Tamao’s face. When Hana rejoins the others, she looks even more upset than Chiyo, although she expresses it by scowling instead of crying.

Mai gulps. She’s the last dancer. Has Tamao been calling them in the order of perceived ability? Of the four girls who have gone so far, Keiko is clearly the strongest and Hana is clearly the weakest.

"Mai, whenever you are ready, please step on stage."

Her legs like jelly, Mai manages to make her way on the dance stage and takes a few calming breaths before the lights dim and the spotlight finds her. She can do this; she must do this. When the music begins playing, she almost misses the first cue before muscle memory takes over, and she assumes the role of Ho-oh before consciously registering what she’s doing.

Dancing for Mai has always come naturally, and she finds the quiet and subtle nature of Kimono dancing especially so. For her, dancing is much more than the choreography. It’s the story of the dance that really thrills her, the emotion captured in every glance, the intent behind every movement. And indeed, as the music reaches the climax, she transforms into Ho-oh and imagines herself stretching giant rainbow-colored wings to fly over the burning Brass Tower and revive the beasts within, turning them into legends.

When the dance comes to a close, she stands for a moment in the spotlight, eyes closed, and basking in the silence. Was this how Sumomo feels every time she performs the Dance of Camellias? This feeling of utter exhaustion mixed with satisfaction?

The lights return, and she opens her eyes to find Tamao staring very intently at her, expression inscrutable.

Eventually Tamao smiles and Mai thinks she hears the headmistress say, "But of course."

Kaguya bows her head, golden eyes narrowed.

Once all the first years are back on stage, Tamao says, "Thank you all for an hour of beautiful dancing. We shall re-congregate here after lunch."

Her gaze rests on Mai before she turns away.

Of course, the girls could talk about little else over lunch.

"It’s definitely you or Keiko," Akina tells Mai. "You are the only two who didn’t mess up."

Hana grimaces and  digs savagely into her seaweed salad. "Let’s not remind ourselves, okay? I don’t know what happened. I’ve never messed up so badly before. I hope Madame isn’t going to fire me after this."

Chiyo flinches. "You don’t think she’s going to announce the lead dancer and the dancer who leaves?"

"Well, isn’t that what she was implying?" Hana says.

"If that’s the case, whoever’s leaving will be in good company with Naomi," says Keiko, drawing a few appreciative laughs even though she’s clearly joking.

Mai focuses on her rice bowl and stays quiet, still digesting Tamao and Kaguya’s reactions. She doesn’t feel comfortable speculating the headmistress’s decision. Personally she feels she’s done a better job of portraying Ho-oh than Keiko, but Keiko has a better grasp of the style of Kimono dance.

Tension is running high when the girls return to the stage to await Tamao’s decision. The headmistress is standing in the same place as she did an hour ago, as if she did not leave at all for her own lunch. After the girls have resumed their positions, she turns to them and smiles.

"If anyone is wondering," she says without preamble, "I will not be announcing the name of the departing dancer. She will know who she is, if not now, then soon enough. I will now announce the lead dancer. While it is based mainly on this morning’s audition, I have also monitored your progress very closely to select the dancer whom, I believe, embodies Ho-oh’s spirit the most. This is a talented group and the choice was very difficult to make."

She scans the room with a slight smile. Mai gulps. It is her, it has to be her. She has been the best dancer in the class and her grades reflect the fact. She straightens.

"And Ho-oh," says Tamao, with a smile, "will be Keiko."

Mai does not know how she survives the rest of dance class. Somehow she finds the strength to hug and congratulate Keiko, and manages to wear a smile as the girls start to work on the formation of the spring dance. She tries to focus on Suicune’s role, although her eyes keep straying to the other side of the stage, where Tamao is correcting Keiko’s poses. While she knows that Akina, Chiyo, and Hana are similarly disappointed, she also feels that they have not been in the running.

Not to mention, Suicune’s dance is difficult. More technically demanding than Ho-oh’s role even. What’s the point? Mai wants to demand. What’s the point of mastering the choreography when I’ll be overshadowed no matter what I do?

When dance class mercifully ends, Mai is the first to head into the locker room to change. Unfortunately Keiko catches her before she leaves.

"I’m sorry we couldn’t have two Ho-oh," her friend says earnestly. "I think you would’ve been a great Ho-oh."

"You will be even better," Mai says unconvincingly.

"Are you going back to the dorms? I’ll be ready in just a minute. Let’s head back together."

Mai glances behind her to see Akina and Hana approaching in the distance. "Actually, I have a quick errand to run," she lies quickly. "I need to – I need to get a book from the library. But I’ll see you at dinner. Congrats again!"

She slips away before Keiko could protest. Once she’s sure that she is out of sight, she starts running.

Wooden sandals aren’t made for running and tears sting her eyes, blurring her vision. Every once in a while, Mai would stumble, though she doesn’t stop as disappointment and humiliation chase after her. Tamao’s message is clear. She isn’t good enough, no matter how hard she tries. For all she knows, she may be the dancer who’s supposed to leave. Jake’s words echo in her head in a relentless mantra: suppose you don’t become a top dancer, what will you do?

Indeed, what will she do? She couldn’t quit the Theater, she just couldn’t. Not now, not after she has already invested so much in the endeavor, not after her parents have sacrificed so much. She came so close to achieving her dreams, so close to assuming Ho-oh’s resplendent costume, that to do anything else would be but a pale imitation in comparison. But is she to become yet another trainee who languishes forever in anonymity, whose dreams and hopes are crushed under the feet of better dancers?

At some point Mai has started crying, and as she nears the woods surrounding the library, she stops to wipe her eyes, lest she runs into anyone she knows. Fortunately it’s close to dinner time and there are very few trainees around at this time. Mai takes a few steadying breaths and mentally prepares herself to head to the cafeteria. It might be hard facing her friends’ sympathy, but she needs food before the place closes.

Then something streaks past her and she jumps, only able to catch a glimpse of blue before that something disappears from sight.

Heart pounding, Mai calls, "Hello?"

No answer. She glances around and steps closer to the woods. Is she imagining things, or is there a smudge of bright color among the trees? And are those footsteps she hears, fading away in the distance?

Mai shudders, having always found this area creepy. If she hadn't been so upset, she probably would have turned and left by this point, but today she allows her curiosity to distract her from her disappointment.

Mai edges even closer to the woods, except there is nothing to be seen. She steps over a bush and opens her mouth to call again, but the word dies in her throat as she starts screaming.

She does not imagine the smudge of color. It comes from an all-too-familiar purple kimono. She is looking straight at the pale, cold face of Naomi, and Naomi is dead.

Chapter Text

The night seems to last forever. First there are the nearby trainees who hear her screams, and then there is Madame Tamao and some of the other teachers, and finally the arrival of the police. Mai is taken to the headmistress’s office for what feels like hours of questioning by Officer Jenny.

Did you see anything? Did you hear anything? What were you doing there? She shakes her head. The only thing she saw, and only thing she could still see, is Naomi’s face, which will surely haunt her dreams.

Eventually, Tamao, who’s been present the entire time, cuts in. "Office Jenny, I think Mai has told us all she knows. As she will still be expected to attend classes tomorrow, I would be very grateful if she could be allowed to return to her dormitory."

Office Jenny glances up from her pad, where she’s been jotting down Mai’s answers, mostly variations of, I have no idea. "Yes, I agree." She nods at Mai. "Thank you for your time, Miss Poplar. Headmistress, it looks like my team is done here as well, but we may need to return tomorrow for more information."

Tamao nods. "That is to be expected. Do keep me in the loop of your investigation. I shall help in any way I can, as shall my students and staff."

"Will do," Officer Jenny says.

She stands up and, with one last nod to Tamao and Mai, exits the office, her growlithe at her heels. Once she is gone, Tamao turns to Mai, who tenses. Tamao is far sharper than Officer Jenny, and Mai isn’t sure that she’s in any state of mind to go through another round of questioning.

To her surprise, the headmistress gives her a disarmingly kind smile. "I’m sure enough has happened for you today, Mai. On behalf of the Theater, I apologize."

"I’m all right," Mai replies, wondering if Tamao is referring to more than just Naomi’s death.

"As I told Officer Jenny, I think you should go to bed. However, before you do so, I would like to remind you that there will undoubtedly be rumors floating around the Theater, and those who are curious will come to you for details. I am sure that you will know better than to dispense lies. Naomi, as no doubt the police investigation will find, committed suicide. It is the only graceful ending for a dancer who had disgraced herself and the Theater."

A shiver runs down Mai’s spine as she digests Tamao’s words. Maybe she’s becoming overly paranoid, but she detects the hint of a threat.

"Right," she says, although the headmistress has already turned away.

"Good night, I will see you tomorrow."

Mai returns to her dorm in a daze. By then, news of Naomi’s death has traveled throughout the Kimono Dance Theater, and somehow its connection to Mai has also been leaked. Her fellow first years meet her eagerly with a wave of what happened?

"Is it true that Naomi is dead?"

"Is it true that Naomi was murdered ?"

"Did you see the murderer? How did you escape?"

Mai flops down on her bed and yawns. "I’m really tired," she says, and she’s not really stretching the truth. "Can we talk about it tomorrow?"

Hana and Chiyo frown, while Akina opens her mouth to argue, but Keiko comes to Mai’s rescue. "It’s late anyway. Let’s all go to bed."

She gives Mai a small smile, which Mai does not return. The loss of Ho-oh’s role is still sore.

Long after the other girls have fallen sleep, she lies awake, her mind churning despite her body’s utter exhaustion. She knows, without a doubt, that Naomi was murdered. She also knows that Tamao knows that Naomi was murdered. There had been something on the older woman’s face that gave her away, an expression that was halfway between satisfaction and regret.

Mai shivers and hugs her comforter closer to herself, disliking where this train of thought is taking her. If she thinks that Tamao had something to do with Naomi’s murder, and if she had inadvertently happened upon Naomi before Tamao could cover up her tracks, could she be next? And if so, who could save her? Her parents and most of her close friends are far away. Even Keiko, who is technically her best friend at the Theater, would not help her if it endangers her own dance career.

If anything happens, will you let me know? You can always find me at the pokémon center…

Mai bites her lip. Jackie isn’t the first person she would want to go to for help, and she has no clear idea of how the older girl could help her, but Jackie might well be the only person who might be able to help her, the only person who might even want to believe the truth.

Her weekend plans determined, Mai closes her eyes and prays to all the pokémon deities she could name that she would live that long.

The pokémon center is bustling with activity on Saturday morning. Mai tries to smooth down her windblown hair, feeling conspicuous in her kimono among the sea of trainers in casual apparel and their noisy pokémon.

When she reaches the counter, Nurse Joy gives her a smile in recognition; she might not know Mai specifically, but even Kimono Dance Theater trainees command respect throughout Ecruteak City.

"Hello there, how may I help you?"

"I’m here to see someone who’s staying here."

"Of course. What’s her name?"

"Jackie," Mai says, realizing in that moment that she doesn’t know the other girl’s last name. Has Jackie ever told her?

Nurse Joy gives her a puzzled look. "I can try looking up the first name," she says slowly, "but I’m afraid I’ll pull up more than one Jackie…"

"She’s the one who –"

Mai is starting to say, the one who travels with Timothy Dragonweed , before she stops herself abruptly and a chill runs down her spine. She’s being careless. Surely word would travel that a Kimono Girl trainee is meeting with the friend of Timothy Dragonweed, and after what happened to Naomi….

Fortunately, a boy runs up then and slams five pokéballs to the counter, and while Nurse Joy turns to Chansey in distraction, Mai slips back into the crowd. After wandering the lobby for a few more minutes and taking a peek at the canteen, where breakfast is being served, she decides that it’s time for a change of plans. She could call it a day and pretend that nothing has happened. On the other hand…

Mai clenches her fists in determination. There’s one other person who may be able to help her.

The winter sun is shining brightly as Mai makes her way to the Ecruteak gym, which thankfully is not far away from the pokémon center. She is so focused on practicing the words in her head that she almost does not notice that there is a long line outside the gym and the front doors are tightly shut.

"It’s so annoying," a girl is telling a fellow trainer. "Why isn’t the gym leader here yet? I made the appointment a month in advance and I really need this badge. Otherwise I’m going to have to go to Mahogany or Olivine for the next one, and I might not make it to this year’s League."

Mai frowns after she glances over a nearby trainer’s shoulder to see his watch. It’s past eleven and the gym should have been open hours ago. She bites her lip, wondering if she should go back and try the pokémon center again. Just then, the front doors open a crack and a middle-aged woman exits, holding a clipboard.

"Hi everyone. I’m Ayame, the receptionist for Morty’s gym. I’m sorry to inform you that the gym will be closed for a few months, as Morty has to attend to business out of town." She holds out the clipboard. "If you would like to be on the waiting list, please sign up here. We will inform you once Morty returns."

Most of the trainers are shaking their heads or exchanging looks of exasperation, and very few of them actually go up to Ayame to put their names down.

"Why can’t you just put our numbers in a computer system or take our phone numbers?" the girl Mai overhead demands.

"I’m sorry, that’s the way this gym operates. Taking down everyone’s phone number will be quite unwieldy."

"But I made an appointment."

"I’m sorry," repeats Ayame. "All formerly made appointments are canceled and will need to be rescheduled."

The girl narrows her eyes. Mai decides to leave before she causes a scene, when she notices that Jackie is standing some distance away, as if she’s been observing the gym for some time.

"Hello there," Jackie says as Mai approaches her. "What are you doing here?"

Mai hesitates briefly. "I was looking for Morty," she says eventually. She might as well be honest from the start. "But it looks like he’s gone."

"Yeah, probably can’t blame him. I mean, his girlfriend committed suicide, right? Something must’ve been going on between the two of them."

"Right…" Mai blinks at the older girl, not entirely sure whether she’s being serious. "Well, I was also looking for you. I need to talk to you."

Jackie takes in Mai’s serious expression. "Okay," she says. "Let’s go back to my room at the pokémon center. Both Simon and Tim are out so we should have plenty of privacy."

An hour later, Mai and Jackie are both sitting on the floor of her room in the pokémon center, Mai kneeling and Jackie cross-legged. Mai has just finished recounting the events of the night when she discovered Naomi, leaving out the dance audition that led her to the woods.

Jackie lets out an audible exhale. "So you’re telling me that Naomi didn’t actually commit suicide, despite what the Ecruteak Daily Digest says, and despite Officer Jenny saying specifically that all evidence turned up from her investigation corroborates the suicide theory. Plus Tamao has a suicide letter from Naomi."

Mai nods uncertainly. To her relief, Jackie nods as well.

"I believe you. Then the question would be, why would the headmistress of the Kimono Dance Theater murder her own star dancer and expose herself to a potential scandal?"

"Naomi was meeting Morty," Mai says slowly. "I don’t think she likes the idea of the Rainbow Reckoning."

Jackie takes on a very strange expression. "Why would Naomi be against the Rainbow Reckoning? She’s one of the Kimono Girls who convinced Tim to do it."

"But she also could’ve ended Tim’s challenge if she didn’t faint during the second test," Mai points out.

Jackie frowns at the implied insult to her friend. "Fine. Then she probably discovered something she didn’t like about the Reckoning process, something that Morty probably told her. Very conveniently, Morty is also gone, and I won’t be surprised if a new gym leader replaces him by the time the gym reopens."

"But Morty has been the gym leader for a long time," Mai says, remembering the crowd that came to watch the first test. "He’s very popular."

"He might be popular, but he’s not the one holding the power in Ecruteak City." Jackie turns to face her. "Haven’t you noticed? It’s really the Elder and you guys running the whole place. All these meaningless ceremonies and dances. All the insiders and outsiders nonsense. Everything here revolves around you, even though all that you stand for –" She stops herself. "I’m sorry."

Mai swallows. The girl she is talking to seems very different from the bubbly and slightly airheaded girl she met a few months earlier, and she’s hurt by the insult to her chosen career. She gets up.

"It’s okay, but I should get going. I’ve been gone from the Theater long enough and I don’t want anyone to notice."

"Hang on," Jackie says. "You’ve come to me with all this information. How should I help you?"

Mai blinks, caught off-guard. Make sure that I don’t also get murdered by my headmistress? "You told me to come to you if anything weird happens."

It may be her imagination, but Jackie looks somewhat uncomfortable. "I did say that, but probably not for the reason you think," she says with a sigh. "I am going to investigate this with Simon though, maybe try to track down Morty and figure out what’s going on. I will try to keep in touch with you so you know what’s going on, although that might not be the best idea after what happened to Naomi. The whole atmosphere in Ecruteak these days…"

"Thank you anyway."

"Are you headed back to the Theater now? I can walk you part of the way."

Mai shrugs, a noncommittal response. "Pretty soon," she says, although now that she is feeling a rush of adrenaline, she has an additional destination in mind. "I will be all right on my own, thanks."

Mai has only been in the neighborhood once and the specific roads are fuzzy in her mind. She circles back and forth a few times before she finally locates the correct house. Flat-roofed and squat, it blends into all the other houses on the streets, distinguished only by the family name on the rusty mailbox.

The girl takes a deep breath before she knocks on the door. She knocks three times before she hears the sound of approaching footsteps. Then the door opens and she is staring at the face of the old woman she once saw on the streets. The woman blinks her bright green eyes as she registers her visitor.

"Ah," she says, completely unsurprised. "It is you. Welcome."

Mai steps inside. "Hello, Grandmother."

Chapter Text

The house that Mai enters is eerily familiar. While its structure is not dissimilar to that of Keiko’s grandmother’s house, it boasts an additional air of understated elegance. Furniture is minimal and adornments are few, and the whole place is cloaked in an air of oppression.

The old lady leads her inside wordlessly. Mai clenches and unclenches her hands.

"It would be most impolite of me to invite you in and not offer you some tea," Grandmother says at last, right before Mai attempts to say something herself. "Why don’t you make yourself comfortable in the meantime?"

Her tone is even and expressionless, lacking Kyoko’s warmth when addressing her granddaughter.

"Right," Mai says, swallowing nervously, even though without waiting for her response, Grandmother had already disappeared into the kitchen.

She looks around slowly, comparing the place where her mother had grown up with the place she had imagined. She first notices some framed photographs on a wooden shelf. Moving closer, she picks one up carefully. It seems to depict her grandparents’ wedding day. Grandmother looks radiant in her flower-printed kimono and the resemblance between her and her daughter is even more apparent.

Mai turns to examine the others. There are a few more pictures of her grandparents, some of their friends and relatives, and finally some simply depicting beautiful Ecruteak landscapes. She finds herself frowning when she realizes that her mother isn’t in any of the pictures.

As she steps away from the shelf, she feels something warm press against her hand. She jumps and looks down to find a vaporeon beside her.

She took nothing with her, not even her beloved vaporeon.

Mai bends down and, when the vaporeon doesn’t move away, reaches out to stroke her. Her fingers sink into the soft, smooth fur. The pokémon sidles closer and nuzzles her, seemingly enjoying the contact. Her breath is warm and wet, reminding Mai of growlithe puppies at Mom’s day care. She wonders suddenly if Grandmother ever pets her.

The vaporeon nudges her hand and purrs, and Mai realizes that the pokémon wants her to follow her.

They pad quietly through the hallway and stop in front of a closed door. Mai could already guess that this must have been Sumomo’s childhood bedroom. She hesitates, feeling that she’d be intruding, so it is the vaporeon who pushes open the unlocked door. To Mai’s surprise, they are not greeted by a cloud of dust. The room has been recently cleaned. The wooden floors are bright and the bed is neatly made.

There is, however, a complete lack of evidence that her mother had ever lived there. The room is as bare as the rest of the house. There are a few books on the bookshelves, but they are generic textbooks. There are a few wooden trinkets on the bedside table, one of which Mai picks up to examine. She had hoped to find other things. Photographs, definitely. Newspaper clippings of her mother dancing, perhaps.

"Ah, so you have met Camellia."

Mai jumps and almost drops the wooden bird she is holding. Grandmother is standing at the doorway, holding a tea tray. She starts to explain that she didn’t mean to explore the house on her own, though she decides that the vaporeon at her side is explanation enough.

"Yes," she says instead. "Camellia, she’s Sumomo’s vaporeon, isn’t she?"

"She certainly is," says Grandmother, setting down the tea tray on the table. "Through and through, I should say. Of course, it’s really a shame. Her mistress abandoned her, and she will never be able to perform with the other pokémon on stage again."

"That is a shame," Mai agrees, because Camellia looks every bit as graceful as Kaguya and Prince.

"It is funny," Grandmother says, "how a daughter of mine could so thoroughly disgrace herself as well as everything and everyone she is supposed to care about. Tea?"

Disgraced, even worse than outsiders. They are not welcome in the city.

"Thank you," Mai says, accepting the teacup. She takes a sip, keenly aware of the other woman’s watch.

"You have Sumomo’s eyes, our eyes. It was the first thing I noticed about you, when I passed you on the streets months ago. Your friend was careful to divert your path, of course, but I knew right away who you were. Unfortunately, the rest of you look very much like Dorian."

A less discerning girl could not have missed the look of disgust that crossed her face at the mention of Mai’s father.

"You knew about me then? I mean, that my mother had me." If she’s doing her math correctly, then her parents did not have her until ten years after they left Ecruteak.

"Why, of course."

"I never knew about you," Mai says hesitantly.

"Which is as it should be," Grandmother says. "Technically speaking, you do not belong to our family. Sumomo had long been disowned by the time you were born."

Mai bites her lip.

"So, child. What is your name?"

"Mai."

"A fitting name. Dance . Yes, Sumomo always was meant to be a dancer, and what a dancer she was. The most talented Kimono Girl that the Theater has ever seen. Her father and I had been so proud, once upon a time. She was such a beautiful dancer, still unsurpassed."

"Dance of the Camellias."

"Indeed. The iconic dance. Nothing has or ever will come close to matching its sheer beauty. It was choreographed specifically to showcase Sumomo’s best talents." Grandmother stirs the tea leaves pensively. "It is impossible to separate dance from Sumomo’s identity. I think it is just as well that not too long after she stopped being a dancer, she met her end."

Mai flinches. Grandmother notices.

"You think me cruel, no doubt. I don’t deny it. Yet your mother is the cruelest one of all. She simply disappeared one night and took none of her belongings save the kimono she was wearing. She did not even bother saying goodbye and left only a letter. It is as if all the years we had spent together meant nothing, as if she wanted a clean break with her past life.”

Grandmother cradles her cup and turns, letting the ambient light illuminate her well-defined profile. Her tone is emotionless. “The worst part is that she could not have picked a worse day to leave. She was supposed to lead a dance at an important Ecruteak ritual. She turned her back not only on her family, but on her duty to the city."

"That’s why I came," Mai says softly. The vaporeon now curled up on her lap rekindles some of her courage. "I want to know why she left."

"The answer is quite simple," Grandmother replies. "She left because she met Dorian. He fooled her into thinking that she would have a better life with him in Unova."

Something about the answer seems off, but Mai cannot place it.

"How the mighty has fallen," Grandmother says, replacing the teacup on the tray. "Once, your grandfather and I are revered members of the city. Now we are less than nothing, and we will never be able to hold our heads high in the city again, for raising such a disobedient daughter."

"You never left the city?"

"We never left the city, no, and we never could. We are bound to the city in a way that you may never understand."

Mai chews her bottom lip. "How…did my parents meet?"

The old lady smiles slightly. "I think you already know the answer. How else can the path of a Kimono Girl cross that of a foreign trainer? Your father was a fool. He participated in the Rainbow Reckoning, believing that someone of his caliber could challenge Ho-oh."

"But he did pass the three tests, didn’t he?" Mai remembers Teacher Sato’s lecture and the article in the library. "He just didn’t make it to Ho-oh."

"He never even tried. The same day that your mother was due to perform, he was supposed to ascend the tower. Even had he not taken my daughter from me, I would still have despised him, for his complete disregard for our traditions. Do you understand now?"

Mutely, Mai nods.

"I think that it is time for you to return to your training," says Grandmother with finality. "One would hope that you take your career more seriously than either of your parents had. One would also imagine that Tamao would not be pleased to find that you have visited me. Tamao had always been jealous of Sumomo’s talent, the poor girl. I can always see it on her face…can see it in her eyes still. Strange how things come full circle…"

Grandmother is momentarily lost in her own thoughts. Mai gets up from her kneeling position, dislodging Camellia in the process. "Well, thank you for the tea. I enjoyed –" She starts to say, I enjoyed meeting you, but that doesn’t ring true. The vaporeon watching her with understanding, mournful eyes is the only one she enjoyed meeting.

"I enjoyed the tea," she says instead.

"Of course. Before you go, there is something that may be of value to you." Grandmother leaves and returns with a padded brown envelope. "I never bothered reading Sumomo’s last letter, and I don’t plan to. You can have it and do with it as you will."

Mai accepts the envelope. "Thank you."

In response, Grandmother starts toward the front door. As they reach the hallway, Mai spies a second pair of shoes. "Is Grandfather here? I would – I would like to say goodbye."

Grandmother turns around and eyes her for a long moment, her hand resting on the doorknob. "No," she says eventually. "No, I’m afraid that you will not meet him today."

Or, perhaps, ever.

Mai nods, knowing that Grandmother had seen her noticing the shoes. She thinks she sees pity in the old lady’s eyes; pity and an unyielding coldness.

"That’s too bad then," she says, knowing that this will be her last visit to her grandparents’ house. "Goodbye, Grandmother. Goodbye, Camellia."

Grandmother opens the door and, as soon as Mai has slipped on her shoes and stepped outside, shuts it gently yet firmly behind her.

"Where have you been all day?" Keiko demands, when she spots Mai in the cafeteria. "Did you go out to town?"

"Yeah, I just needed to get away from the Theater for a few hours," Mai says, because it isn’t very far from the truth. "How was your day?"

"Dance practice, homework, the usual." Keiko is careful not to mention the spring dance in Mai’s presence.

Mai hums. Keiko slides closer.

"Have you heard the latest? The third test is scheduled for next week. The battles won’t be open to the public, because the Sages don’t want to attract a big crowd, but if Tim succeeds he can ascend the Bell Tower right away. Isn’t that exciting?"

Mai is saved from replying when the other first year girls join them. She manages to gossip and laugh with everyone, even though she cannot stop thinking about the parents she has never known. The mother who left behind a heartbroken vaporeon and a disgraced family, and the father who betrayed an entire city. She thinks about her grandmother, who hurt Mai with her cold indifference, yet piqued her curiosity with her mother’s letter.

Then she thinks about Madame Tamao, who had hated Sumomo and who, Mai is realizing, had long known that she was Sumomo’s daughter.

That night, after the other girls have gone to sleep, Mai creeps out of bed and opens her mother’s envelope. The paper is yellow with age and tears under her trembling fingers. What falls out is not a letter, but a note and an old-fashioned, cloth-bound diary. The note is short and undated. Mother, there are no words to explain what I have done, even though I know I have done the right thing . This is the only answer that I can offer. I am sorry. Sumomo.

Is it her imagination, or does the note smell faintly of camellias?

Mai folds the note carefully and tucks it inside her pillowcase. Then she opens the diary. It is not a long read. The rest of the night is sleepless. When she rises on Sunday morning, she has come to a decision.

There are two stops she needs to make, two conversations she needs to have.

Naomi and Morty had not succeeded. It is her turn.

Chapter Text

Selected excerpts from Sumomo’s diary

July 15.

Our first performance of Dance of the Camellias. I am absolutely thrilled that I get to be lead dancer. Headmistress has been promising me that forever but it’s not easy to displace her own daughter, especially someone like Tamao who’s extremely talented herself and extremely headstrong.

Since the very beginning, I have loved this dance. Everything about it sings to me in a way no other dance has ever done and will ever do. The kimono I am wearing, the camellias in my hair, each and every twirl and movement, each and every note of the music. It’s all just so beautiful.

Tonight is extra special. He is there. Dorian. Yes, the trainer we chose for the Rainbow Reckoning! He was in the crowd, watching us, watching me . I did not look at him during the dance, of course, I was too focused on dancing, but when we were taking a bow, he met my eyes and oh, he is so dreamy. I still remember how we met. I was twirling in Goldenrod Tunnel and he was watching me, his eyes all crinkled.

Well, I should really stop writing before I embarrass myself more. But tonight was – no, is simply amazing.

July 20.

I ran into Dorian today. I was buying new flowers in my favorite boutique when he came in. He saw me immediately and we had a little talk before I had to go. My mind is too jumbled up to remember what we said. I know we talked about the first test, because he’s taking that on Saturday. And then he mentioned that he saw me dancing a few days ago. That is what he said – he saw me dancing, not us .

"I saw you in the crowd too," I admitted shyly.

"I made sure to get a front row seat so you could see me," he told me.

I must’ve been blushing then, because my cheeks felt hot. I didn’t say anything. Then we just talked about our backgrounds. I told him that my family had lived in Ecruteak City for centuries. We – the Sasaki clan – used to be noblemen back in the day. I am the first Kimono Girl to come from my family.

He told me that he is from a place called Unova, but he hasn’t been back there in years since he started on his pokémon journey. He must be pretty good too, because he’s gone to Leagues in quite a few regions, which means he has a lot of badges. He doesn’t train as actively now. In fact he’s studying to be a professor, like his late father, and he was doing fieldwork when we gave him the Rainbow Wing.

We walked all the way back to the gates of the Dance Theater before we parted. I promised him I will try to sit near the front during his gym battle. Headmistress and the Elder alone can sit in the front row.

July 26.

So, that was the first test. It was pretty fast, one-zero. Dorian actually beat Morty before, when he was participating in the Johto League a few years back, before I became a Kimono Girl. But Morty used very strong pokémon this time and it hadn’t been clearly who was going to win at first. Dorian was actually down to his last pokémon while Morty had two pokémon left, and then he sent out a three-headed dragon from Unova that obliterated Morty’s ghosts.

He grinned at me after Morty’s last pokémon fainted. My heart definitely started fluttering, because he has such a nice grin. Now I will have to battle him in the autumn, after both he and we train a bit more. I am going to aim to take down at least one of his pokémon with my Camellia – yes, I have indeed finally decided to give my darling vaporeon a nickname. Now Tamao can no longer claim that her Kaguya is special.

August 15.

Tamao said something worrying today. Or rather, she did something worrying. Now, I probably should not have been talking to her in the first place. I know she is nursing a resentment that I got to be lead dancer this season, and I was getting the rave reviews that she never got. (I don’t mean to boast, but I am a far better dancer than she will ever be. Headmistress told me so privately, and I swore never to repeat her words before Tamao.)

Back to the story: we were getting ready for dance practice when I made some offhand remark about Ho-oh. I think I said, "Wouldn’t it be cool to see Ho-oh?"

"You mean, like in the legends?" Sakura said. "Yeah, that’d be cool."

Tamao snorted. "And why would Ho-oh show itself to the likes of you?"

"Well, for the Rainbow Reckoning," I said. "Don’t we dance at the top of Bell Tower to summon Ho-oh?"

Tamao then put on this really disturbing smile on her face. I recognized it from childhood. It’s her I-know-something-you-don’t-but-will-hurt-you smile. And I should’ve known better than to say, "What’s with that smile?" Except of course, I did, because I could never allow Tamao to have the last word.

"I just think you are a little naïve, that’s all. We aren’t dancing to summon Ho-oh."

Now I’m wondering what she means. What are we doing with this dance we are starting to practice?

September 25.

I ran into Morty on my way to my parents’ house. In general Kimono Girls and gym leaders do not cross paths, but I stopped because I sensed that he wanted to talk to me.

What he said was kind of disturbing, and I will try to reproduce every word here. First he said, "You are fond of the new challenger." He did not allow me time to protest – everyone knows that Kimono Girls mustn’t fall in love. "I need to warn you about something."

I said, "Warn me about what?"

He seemed very conflicted. Then he said, "Try not to lose the second test, because if you do, you will lose more than just the battle."

I wonder what he means by that. What else would I lose? My dignity as a Kimono Girl, perhaps? If I lose, but fight an honorable battle, Headmistress will understand. Nobody can condemn me.

October 10.

The night before the second test.

I had a nightmare. I dreamed that we were dancing at the top of the Bell Tower and Dorian was watching me. Then Ho-oh appeared and incinerated him.

I woke up sweating. I’m glad I didn’t scream and wake anyone up.

October 11.

The second test is over. Five-on-five. Our five pokémon against five of his pokémon. I went last. The other girls did a reasonable job. He had two pokémon left when he faced me. Camellia took down his three-headed dragon and then he sent out a breloom. Even though Camellia tried to ice beam the breloom, it put her to sleep first and then giga drained a couple of times for the victory.

Camellia is fine. She’s now sleeping on my lap as I write.

I don’t know why I am feeling so uneasy. I am not unhappy that I lost, but I am unhappy that he won. It doesn’t help that Morty was in the crowd and gave me a pitying look.

October 15.

I ran into Dorian at the flower shop and congratulated him on his win. "You didn’t look happy," he said, and I lied that I was just worried about Camellia.

I was tempted to tell him about Morty, but I knew I would be violating one of the many unspoken rules in Ecruteak City.

November 3.

Tamao does not like Dorian. That is for sure. Today Koume mentioned the third test and just like that, Tamao started ranting about how arrogant Dorian must be to think that he could challenge Ho-oh and capture him. "It’s been around for hundreds of years, why would some no-name trainer from a no-name region be its captor?"

She was looking at me directly. Sometimes I think either she or her umbreon could read minds.

None of us knew what to say. For us, the Rainbow Reckoning was sort of fun, like watching a tradition you’ve always heard about actually taking place. The idea of anyone, not just Dorian, capturing Ho-oh does sound ludicrous, though. And combined with Tamao’s earlier comment about not actually summoning Ho-oh, well, I am very uneasy.

December 20.

I met Dorian again at the flower shop. I’m starting to wonder whether it has stopped being a coincidence. I wished him a happy holiday, because he would be leaving to train in the mountains near Mahogany Town for a while for the third test. The date hasn’t been fixed yet. The Elder likes to give challengers ample time to prepare but Dorian is so strong that he would just like to get the tests over with and catch Ho-oh.

I asked him what he was going to do with a captured Ho-oh and he laughed. "I don’t actually think any manmade pokéball can catch a legend. Just seeing it would give me the closure to my career that I need."

His answer made me feel better.

And oh, he had such straight, white teeth.

January 25.

Dorian is back in the city. Guess where we ran into each other. He bought me a ragecandybar. When I told him that I wasn’t supposed to eat sweets, he just laughed and told me that I would look beautiful anyway.

I floated for the rest of today on these words. Nobody has ever told me that I am beautiful, not in that way. Nobody has ever told me that I am beautiful beyond my role in a dance.

February 8.

The flower shop is our regular meeting spot, or is becoming one. It is not intentional on my part, we need fresh camellias every time we dance.

I wonder whether it is intentional on his.

I don’t want to say that I’m falling in love. That sounds like something people say in movies, not in Ecruteak City. But I like that he is always around for a small chat and there to walk me back to the Theater after.

February 17.

The flower shop owner told me today that Dorian hangs around the place every day. I’m fortunate that she is a senile old woman. It’s becoming clear that it’s his way of finding me.

February 24.

I went to the flower shop today, even though we won’t be performing our dance for a week. He was there, of course. We did not go back to the Theater right away and instead went to a little park. Spring is coming and we could already see the beginning of buds on the trees. We were talking about his upcoming test, joking about his training, and then he kissed me. I don’t think I’m the first girl he kissed, but that’s all right. It felt so nice that we did it a few more times.

After I got back to the Dance Theater, I practiced our dance for hours and hours without tiring.

March 1.

Tamao caught us kissing and she was furious . I told her that it is not against the rules and Koume dated someone briefly when we toured in Kanto last year, but it did not help. It occurred to me for the first time that she hated Dorian because she liked him and he chose me. And maybe she just hated me because Headmistress preferred me to her as well.

It’s so strange to think about that the Dance Theater, the site of the most beautiful dancing in Johto, is not free from the type of jealousy that beleaguers most women. I’m not sure what to do. Do I apologize? For what? Is she so naïve to think that everything just falls into my lap, and there is no work involved?

March 2.

Tamao came to talk to me today. At first I thought we could reconcile, but now I realize that there is no hope. She was there to give me an answer that I did not want.

"You wanted to know what happens on top of the Bell Tower, don’t you?" she said, with a horrible, horrible grin. "What happens when we dance the summoning dance? Well, I will tell you. The dance is no summoning dance at all. It is the dance of the sacrifice."

I think at the moment I still thought she was joking, so I repeated, "Sacrifice?"

"Human sacrifice," she said, and her eyes were freaking me out. "Your precious Dorian will die . The Ecruteak Elder will sacrifice him to Ho-oh’s shrine. That is the true legend of the Rainbow Reckoning. Sacrifice enough trainers of worth, and Ho-oh will be persuaded to come back."

She was serious. I was so horrified that I couldn’t speak until she laughed and started to leave the room.

"Hey Tamao." She stopped. "If Dorian had picked you, would you have been so happy to let him die?"

She did not answer.

March 5.

I ran the idea of him being offered up as sacrifice by Dorian today. He just laughed and asked if I were joking. "I have six high-leveled pokémon. I’d like to see how anyone could kill me!"

There was no telling what was going to happen during his ascent of the Bell Tower, an arduous task in itself. Wild pokémon abound in the tower, along with traps and other manipulations.

Besides, Tamao was not joking.

March 8.

My parents do not sympathize with Tamao or Dorian, but they find it strange that I would take such an interest in a stranger. Perhaps they suspect that my feelings for Dorian run much deeper than indifference, perhaps not. In any case, Mother told me not to be a fool and stop thinking about the Rainbow Reckoning and focus on dancing.

March 12.

Headmistress said the same thing – that I should stop being a fool and focus on what matters, which is dancing – except she subsequently confirmed what Tamao said.

Human sacrifice. Even now my mind refuses to accept the possibility. I have lived in Ecruteak my whole life. Why was I never aware of this?

Now I understand Morty’s warning.

March 21.

The third test. I didn’t go. He won. Of course he won.

He doesn’t know and I am bound by honor to not tell him the fate that awaits.

I am a coward.

March 23.

I have to save him. In the past, if I needed something done and put my mind to it, I always succeeded. I cannot give up, not when a human life is involved.

March 24.

A possible method of saving Dorian is coming to me. Now the question remains – can I do it?

March 25.

No, of course I can’t do it. It means throwing everything I have ever known away – my family, my friends, my dancing. My home . It means that I will never show my face in Ecruteak City again. I’m crazy to even consider it. I’m crazy to fall for some hotheaded trainer from Unova who wants to capture Ho-oh.

March 26.

It’s strange. I dreamed of our daughter last night. Her name is Mai and she is a dancer like me. She doesn't even exist and yet I already love her. It reminds me of a dream I had when I was younger, where I was married to someone I loved and had children I love. I wake up smiling and then I stare up at the ceiling for a long time afterwards.

This future is there, if I have the courage to go for it.

March 28.

I have quit. I’m no longer a Kimono Girl. Headmistress is absolutely furious when I told her.

"Why are you quitting now, when you are on the cusp of your glory?" she shouted. "I cared for you more than I cared for my own daughter! You could be legendary, truly legendary. Why are you throwing your future away for a boy who does not deserve it?"

"He doesn’t deserve to die!" I said.

"He chose this path. He is the fool who thinks he could challenge and capture Ho-oh. He could have backed off at any point and he chose not to."

No, that wasn’t true. We goaded and persuaded him at every step, gave him promises of eternal glory that would have turned anyone’s head. I know nothing about pokémon training, but for most people it’s not glamorous, and the Rainbow Reckoning gives Dorian the recognition he seeks so desperately.

"Besides," Headmistress said, "he does not love you. He cares nothing for you. You are just one girl of many that he meets on his pokémon journey, and you will certainly not be the last. He is not worth your sacrifice."

I could not stay in the room longer. I had to leave before he changed my mind! I had been so certain before I went into her office.

I am back in my dorm of five years now. The other girls don’t know, though Tamao and Satsuki may have an inkling. They tried to come talk to me but I locked my door. I am not sure what to feel. Sad, definitely. Years of training, of pain and dreams and happiness, down the drain. But also, I am relieved. I did not know all the things that I was responsible for when I first started training. I did not know that one day, I will send a man to his death.

And more than that, I almost feel a weight lift off my shoulders, as if the rules that bind the insiders of Ecruteak City no longer apply to me.

And now I am determined. I must save Dorian.

April 1st.

My mind is set. Dorian ascends the Tower tomorrow. If I don’t do anything, he will die. Tamao has told me as much. What could I do, though? Tell him what is going to happen, I suppose, and explain why he cannot stay in Ecruteak City any longer. Will he believe me? Me, who is throwing everything away to save him?

I suppose that doesn’t matter. What is done has been done. I will have done my duty. I will leave Ecruteak City myself, perhaps Johto entirely. Right now I have a bus ticket for Goldenrod City. There is nothing that I need, nothing else that I can take. I must not arouse suspicion.

I am no fool, of course. My betrayal will catch up with me. I have betrayed the sisterhood of the Kimono Dance Theater and death is impending.

But until then, I shall be free from Ecruteak City.

Until then, I shall live.

Chapter Text

Mai hurries to the pokémon center as quickly as her wooden sandals would allow. It’s so early on this Sunday morning that patches of orange and red linger in the gray sky from the recent sunrise. Yet the street is already filling up with people. Has Ecruteak City always awakened this early? Is it her imagination, or are all the citizens out and about watching her?

She passes the flower shop, for the first time paying attention to its ornate façade. Here, her parents had courted. Here, her mother had fallen in love and sealed her own fate.

The pokémon center feels almost like an oasis with its eclectic mix of trainers from all around the world. Mai would have never expected to be so relieved to be surrounded by outsiders, who regard her indifferently as if she were just another one of Ecruteak’s many attractions.

It feels like Goldenrod City. Home.

She waits in the lobby, hopping from foot to foot while Nurse Joy makes the room call. When Jackie comes to meet her, she leads the younger girl upstairs without any pleasantries.

"You’ve come at the right time."

Simon and Tim are in Jackie’s room this time, conversing in low urgent tones. They look up as the newcomers enter.

"This is Mai," Jackie says by way of introduction.

Both men nod, neither looking surprised. Then again, their friend had in all likelihood shared Mai’s prior intel and identity.

"And you already know who we are," Tim says with a small grin.

Up close, he’s different from the cocky trainer that the young Kimono trainees have come to know and admire. His face is much more serious and focused, and the orange cap is tossed carelessly in the corner of the room, revealing his short, dark hair.

Simon gestures to the floor, where Jackie has already taken a seat. A map of Ecruteak is spread before them, with photographs clipped to key landmarks. Morty at the Gym, Naomi and Tamao at the Theater, certain shopkeepers at well-known restaurants, and a blurry photo of the Elder at the Bell Tower. Notes in messy cursives are scribbled all along the margins.

As Mai sits down on her heels, he explains, "We’ve been trying to make sense of everything that’s been happening. There’s a very obvious connection between the Kimono Theater and the Bell Tower, especially given what you’ve told Jackie, but the question is why and how everything is connected to the Rainbow Reckoning."

"We’re also trying to figure out a best plan of action for the Test of Strength. The Elder is supposed to be a stronger ghost trainer than Morty, and now he’s already seen our best pokémon in action so we can’t just brute force our way to victory."

"You shouldn’t continue," Mai blurts out. "That’s what I’m here to tell you. You shouldn’t continue the Reckoning anymore."

Tim blinks. "Why? We have a few other strong dark and fairy types in rotation. It will take some strategizing, but the Elder has a very orthodox battling style, and with enough preparation I can definitely get past him."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Mai feels pride for the father she’s never known, the trainer from Unova who had passed all three tests without pooling pokémon with his friends. But she reminds herself that now isn’t the right time to reflect upon the past.

"It’s not the test itself. It’s what happens after you ascend the Tower. They don’t actually want you to capture Ho-oh. It’s a trap."

Jackie narrows her eyes. "So what happens instead?"

The words feel incredulous to hear, even to her own ears, but she forges ahead. "Human sacrifice. I - I don’t know much more than that, but the Reckoning is just a ritual to sacrifice trainers to bring Ho-oh back."

The room is silent as Tim, Simon, and Jackie digest Mai’s words. Then Jackie grabs a crumpled notebook peeking from beneath the map and starts flipping through it.

"It’s crazy, but it is a possible explanation for everything we’ve learned. Putting aside Dorian Poplar, who forfeited after passing the third test...the previous winners of the Rainbow Reckoning have all disappeared. Granted, there aren’t many of them, and records are quite spotty back in the day, but it is odd that we don’t know what happened to any of them. Some say they met Ho-oh and flew off with them, and others say that they perished as they tried to ascend the Bell Tower."

"Human sacrifice would certainly leave no remains," Tim says grimly. "Plus trainers already disappear all the time, and nobody is going to question the Elder if he gives a reasonable excuse."

Simon shakes his head. "Gracious. We expected something messed up when Annabel gave us this assignment, but not this messed up."

"The whole business with Morty disappearing after he tried to reach out -" Jackie presses her knuckle against her forehead. "That must’ve been why the murdered dancer kept trying to talk to Tim, it isn’t because she developed a crush on you; she and Morty were trying to save you."

Tim rakes a hand through his hair and turns to Mai. "How do you know all of this?"

She considers her response. She doesn’t want to divulge the existence of her mother’s diary, in case they grow curious and ask to see it. Even though she has only just received it, it already feels like a secret shared between her and the late Sumomo.

"My mother was a dancer involved in the last Reckoning," she says eventually. "I learned it from her only recently. But I thought you needed to know."

The three trainers exchange meaningful looks. The wordless conversation continues until Simon gives an emphatic nod.

"Okay, since you’ve told us so much, we need to be honest with you about something too." He fishes a badge case out of his pocket and opens it. Instead of gym badges, there’s a shiny police badge nestled in the velvet. "We are not trainers. We are actually undercover investigators with the International Police."

International Police. Mai pales, remembering Jake’s career aspiration. Not Officer Jenny. More like secret agents. So they do exist.

"Our unit has actually been trying to investigate the Rainbow Reckoning for quite some time," Jackie says. There’s no trace of the airheaded girl now. "Well, actually the city in general. Partly to understand the history of Ecruteak City, and whether there’s any truth to the legends that Ho-oh will return. There are certain implications. But partly because there have always been strange deaths and disappearances in the city connected with certain ceremonies, and we weren’t sure at first if everything’s just a front for the Goldenrod mafia to establish a foothold in western Johto."

Mai’s head is spinning. This is more than what she expected, a bigger mystery than she wanted to solve. Why did she think that she could be a heroine like her mother or Naomi?

"But it’s clearly not Team Rocket or any of its subsidiaries. There’s something going on that’s unique to this city."

Tim nods. "We’ve done many investigations, but Ecruteak is the strangest city we’ve happened upon so far. It’s extremely tight-lipped about its traditions and secrets, so much so that we’re certain that city leadership is enforcing silence. There’s an insider vs. outsider system, and only insiders know who other insiders are. Takahashi Tamao is almost certainly one of the ringleaders, as are the Elders."

"Morty, we thought, was cracking under the pressure of what he is enabling. But previous attempts to reach him and get him to talk have failed." Jackie lets out a sigh. "Not to mention, Ecruteak is very good at kicking visitors out after a set amount of time. The Joy at the pokémon center actually keeps tabs on every visiting trainer to make sure nobody stays past two weeks at a time."

"That’s why we decided that we would participate in the Reckoning," Simon concludes, rubbing his nose, still sunburned after the long winter. "Gives us an excuse to hang about the city longer, and a direct line to study what is going on with the whole ceremony and Bell Tower. Even then, Jackie found bugs in our room the first night. The Joy and her chansey bug every room every day when they do cleaning, so we have to do a sweep every time we go outside."

"Anyway, even after all of that..." Tim groans. "This is not the answer we expected. Johto outlawed living sacrifices centuries ago."

Mai’s knees are starting to hurt from kneeling for so long. "What are you going to do?"

"We need to discuss this with headquarters, since our original plan is probably not going to work." Jackie stands. "Mai, you should go back to the Theater right now and be very careful. Tamao has probably already been keeping tabs on you. We will send agents to protect you, but they can’t get inside the Theater. After what happened to Naomi, you cannot give them any opportunities to hurt you."

Mai gets up, relieved to straighten her legs. "Right," she says, even though she knows on a subconscious level that nothing will protect her within the bounds of the Theater.

"And Mai?" Jackie says as she opens the door.

"Yeah?"

The older girl’s face is pale and determined. "Thank you. We will take it from here. We may need you as a witness in the future, but until then, don’t come looking for us again."

"Mai, I’ve been looking for you."

Newly returned from her morning excursion, Mai looks up from her breakfast congee, surprised that the Kimono Girl knows her name. Keiko and Chiyo, who have been chatting nearby, stop to watch.

"Madame Tamao wants to see you," Nanami says, handing her a note. It is empty. "Immediately, if that is possible."

Mai’s heart pounds. Of course Tamao knows. The Theater is full of her eyes and ears. It is just as well, since she has been planning to pay the headmistress a visit anyway. She grips her spoon tightly.

"Mai?" The older girl is studying her curiously. "Madame doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Should I show you the way?"

"N-no, I know the way. Thank you, big sister."

Mai has never been to Tamao’s office before. It is located in a quiet building near the eastern wall, some distance away from the dormitories and class buildings. The office door is ajar.

"Come in," Tamao calls, before Mai could knock. "And please close the door behind you."

Mai does as she is told, but she lingers near the door rather than taking a seat. Tamao’s dark eyes flicker dangerously, though she doesn’t direct her student to sit.

"It’s a nice Sunday, isn’t it?" she says conversationally, leaning back in her chair. "How was your trip to the pokémon center?"

Mai squeezes her hands into fists and doesn’t answer.

"If it would assuage your guilt in betraying us in any way, I knew who they were from the very beginning. The International Police have been poking around our business long enough that we have learned their tricks. We know more about these agents than they know about us. Isn’t that ironic? I’m actually amused to see what they will do next."

"I told them everything! Now they can be prepared."

"Prepared?" Tamao laughs. "You can’t be prepared against our legend, our tradition. The gears have been set into motion since Naomi first handed them the Rainbow Wing. It is far too late."

"They are not alone. They - they will tell their team!"

"Nothing they tell their team will change anything," Tamao says calmly. "Do you really think that the police will descend upon the Dance Theater and arrest me for murder? Arrest the Elder? There will be riots and the Elite Four will be involved. Karen, incidentally, is a dear friend of mine. The claims about the Reckoning are outlandish on their own, and to accuse the headmistress without a shred of proof..."

Mai wants to wipe the smugness off the older woman’s beautiful face. "I - I have the proof."

"Sumomo’s diary?" Tamao snorts when Mai flinches. How did she know? "Would I allow it to exist and fall into your hands if it poses a legitimate threat? I thought that you might want a sentimental token from your mother, that is all."

"I can be a witness." She’s grasping at straws now, trying to remember how investigations worked in Jake’s favorite crime shows. "Or...there must be others, other dancers, who know the truth. Who can back me up."

"Yes, of course. Every Kimono Girl knows or learns the truth eventually. Tooka knows. Nanami knows. Mayu knows. Along with many of their predecessors." Tamao smiles, folding her hands together. "Do you think any of them would step forward to help you?"

No, of course not. Tooka had sold out Naomi, even though they’d grown up together like sisters. She wouldn’t bat an eyelash to help Mai. Not even Keiko, her best friend at the Theater, would help, were she to learn the truth. Keiko is too proud of her insider status, of the secret menus, of the reverence for her hometown.

"All I need to do is tell everyone that you are an insubordinate student who had trouble adjusting to the regimented training, and wanted to take revenge by soiling my name before I expelled you." She leans forward. "Tell me, Mai. Would they believe you, or would they believe me?"

The answer is clear.

"The city protects its own. Surely you know that, having seen what happened to your grandparents. If you are not an insider, then you mean nothing to the city at all. If you betray the city to strangers, you can never stay at the Theater. It will be the end of your dancing career, here or elsewhere."

End of her dancing career, here or elsewhere . That, for some reason, hurts Mai more than anything else, more than her realization of her helplessness to help Jackie and her friends. She remembers the shock on that fall day when Tamao predicted that only four first years would remain by the time of the spring dance.

"You knew, from the beginning, that I would be the one to leave."

Tamao’s lips curve upwards. "Funny you should say that," she says, gesturing to a folder by the side of her desk. "I was just closing out Akina’s files in light of her resignation.

Mai’s mouth opens soundlessly.

"Her parents are worried about Naomi’s murder, it would seem, but really she could not have lasted past her second year with her poor fundamentals. I knew that it would be either her or Hana who would not last past the spring. Auditions really aren’t what they used to be."

The room suddenly feels so cold, even though it’s a warm spring day outside.

"You are different, Mai. You are the most talented dancer to have come to the Theater in recent memory." A meaningful pause. "Since your mother."

Anger surges. "You’ve always hated my mother,” Mai snaps. “You’ve hated me because I’m her daughter. That’s why you picked Keiko to be Ho-oh."

"I picked you to be Suicune. No other dance in the first year curriculum demands the same level of difficulty that is required to play the spirit of the North Wind." Tamao chuckles. "It is funny that, after all this time, everyone still believes that Ho-oh is the lead role for the first year dance. It goes to show that optics overshadow everything else. You forget that Suicune is woven into the fabric of Ecruteak just as much as the pokémon who created it."

Mai is shaking her head. No, this can’t be the truth. She thought she had all the puzzle pieces in place, and now it feels as if she had been solving the wrong puzzle all along.

"Do you think I’m lying to you, Mai? Was Naomi Ho-oh in her first year? Was Kokoro? Was your mother?"

Mai wants to scream yes, of course Tamao is lying, she has been lying from the very beginning. And yet...as she thinks through the preceding generations of Kimono Girls, as she searches her memories to remember the girls in aged yearbooks and programs, it’s indeed the case that the lead Kimono dancers have almost always been the girls who played the role of Suicune in their first year, the girls who had the understated elegance to contrast the flashiness of the Ho-oh dancers.

Her anger is dissipating, replaced gradually by confusion.

"I am not your enemy, Mai. I want to invest in your career." The headmistress gets up from her seat, making sure to keep her eyes locked on her student the entire time. "Yes, I hated your mother, but that was long ago. Your mother could not dance to her full potential, but you still could."

Tamao walks closer, each step slow and deliberate. Mai flattens herself against the door, swallowing nervously. The resemblance between the headmistress and her predatory umbreon has never been so apt.

"I can even make an exception for you," she continues. "You can train your mother’s vaporeon, no need to start from scratch with a fresh eevee. Breeders nowadays aren’t what they used to be. Camellia is the only pokémon who has ever defeated Kaguya, did you know?"

She’s so close now that the scent of her Kalosian perfume, usually subtle, is overpowering.

"Why sacrifice everything you have to save a bunch of strangers who are simply using your innocence to disrespect our city? Legends are told and traditions are passed down for a reason. Who is to say that Ho-oh does not want to return home to its rightful perch, once we have proven our piety?"

Mai closes her eyes, unable to sustain the eye contact any longer. She’s sure she will always have Tamao’s lipsticked smile imprinted on her mind.

"You haven’t lost everything. All you need to do...is stay silent." The voice falls to a whisper. "Think about it."

Something is pressed into her hand. And then she is gently shoved out of the office.

Mai opens her eyes gingerly and looks down at her hand. It is holding a rainbow-colored feather.

Chapter Text

The Kimono Girls are dancing to the accompaniment of bell chimes, their every moment precise and graceful. The girl in the center is especially beautiful, and as the chimes come to a stop, she holds up the glowing clear bell in the air.

Mai, who becomes aware that she’s one of the dancers, stares as the lead dancer slowly turns around. There is no mistaking the haughty eyes and the purple kimono. She is staring into the face of Naomi.

It is another one of those dreams, Mai thinks wildly, stepping backwards. Her sandal catches on the edge of the pagoda roof and she falls backwards until a cold hand catches her.

Naomi has disappeared, replaced by Sumomo, glaring at her daughter with a look of admonishment.

"You’ve stayed too long in Ecruteak City, Mai," she whispers. "I warned you."

"I’ve come to see you," Mai says, as her mother’s face morphs into that of a haunter. The pagoda has dissolved and she is standing in the Burned Tower.

"No," the haunter says, shaking his head in disappointment. He floats away. "You’re not her...you’re not her..."

And then the fire engulfs her.

Mai awakens with a jolt, breathing heavily. She scrambles to turn on her bedside light. As her childhood bedroom in Goldenrod City comes into focus, she rests her forehead against her knees.

She has been having nightmares nonstop since her return home from her first year at the Dance Theater. Often she dreams of Mother and the other Kimono Girls, so tonight’s dream is typical. Sometimes she dreams of Father, Morty, and the Elder engaging in pokémon battles that end up consuming the city.

The worst, however, is when she dreams of Tim, Simon, and Jackie.

Remembering, it takes quite a while before Mai is calm enough to fall back asleep.

It happened the day after Akina’s departure was announced. A first year’s departure barely made a ripple among the upperclasswomen and the initial shock faded quickly even among the other first year girls. After all, departures towards the end of the semester were more or less expected for first and second years, and it was a relief to learn that someone else left.

Mai was settling into her seat at the breakfast table when Rikuyo, whom the first year girls now recognized as the Theater gossip, came over.

"Did you guys hear?"

"What now?" Chiyo said, yawning. "Did someone from your class decide to leave too?"

"No, the pokémon center caught fire last night." Mai dropped her chopsticks, but nobody noticed. "It started in one of the guest rooms and spread to a few others really quickly before the firefighters arrived." Rikuyo leaned in more closely. "A few people died."

Hana groaned. "We’re eating. Can we talk about this after breakfast?"

"Who died?" Mai said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

Rikuyo grinned triumphantly. " This is the really juicy part. You know the Rainbow Reckoning challenger? Timothy something? He was staying in one of those rooms with his friends. I heard that it was too late for all of them, by the time the fire could finally be put out."

Chiyo was pale. "Are they dead ?"

"Yeah, I hear Officer Jenny is trying to contact their families right now."

Sachi was waving Rikuyo back to their table, so she left. Mai shuddered; it was creepy how much Rikuyo enjoyed the news, when all she could think about was the three trainers who had listened so intently to her just a few days ago.

We know more about these agents than they know about us, isn’t that ironic?

A glum silence descended upon the table. Then with a sigh, Keiko broke it.

"That’s a real bummer," she said, turning back to her porridge. "I guess we won’t get to see how the Reckoning ends."

That wasn’t the end of the matter for Mai.

That afternoon, after her final class of the day, she was summoned to Tamao’s office for the second time in less than a week. Nanami almost looked sympathetic as she chaperoned Mai to the office and waited outside to stand guard.

Tamao was not alone this time. A woman with light purple hair and dressed in a gray trench coat was sitting across from her. She had turned even before Nanami knocked on the door to announce their arrival.

"My name is Anabel, International Police Chief. I’d like to ask you a few questions, if I may."

Mai avoided looking at Tamao as she sank into her seat.

"As you may already know, three members of my team have - had been living in Ecruteak City for the past six months, preparing for the Rainbow Reckoning. You probably know them as Timothy, Simon, and Jackie. I am here to investigate their deaths, because I do not believe that the fire at the pokémon center was an accident."

Mai privately did not believe that either, but she said nothing.

"I understand that they were in contact with you before their deaths, so I would like to learn more about your relationship. Why were you corresponding with them, and what information were you exchanging?" She glanced briefly at Tamao. "I assure you that you can speak freely in my presence without repercussions."

Jackie had told her that she would be needed as a witness in the future. But surely not like this, not posthumously.

"They asked my friends and me for directions once," Mai began. "And then we ran into each other a few times around town. Jackie asked me to tell her if anything weird happens."

"And did anything weird happen?"

Mai stared down at her wooden sandals. She thought at first of Sumomo’s diary, of the real story behind her parents’ marriage and death. Then her mind wandered to Camellia’s forlorn silhouette in her grandparents’ house, and the articles describing her mother’s talent.

She could feel Tamao’s eyes boring into her head.

"I am usually not allowed to leave the Theater," she heard herself say. "I’m afraid that...I don’t see anything."

Anabel was staring at her in an odd way, as if she were probing through her thoughts. Mai looked away nervously, in time to see Kaguya leap onto Tamao’s desk and start hissing at the police chief.

"I don’t appreciate you trying to read my student’s mind," Tamao said. "I also believe that she has told you everything she knows. You have far exceeded the five minutes I allotted you. Please allow Mai to return to her usual activities."

"Of course, I have learned all I need here. Thank you both for your time. It is time for me to go."

Anabel stood up and started for the door.

"I’m sorry," Mai said. "About...what happened to your team. They seemed nice."

Anabel turned, but she was looking at Tamao. "This isn’t over," she said quietly, before she showed herself out.

A week later, Mai learned that she had earned a scholarship for her second year at the Dance Theater, an honor even bigger than being selected as Ho-oh for the first year spring dance.

It was her turn to be congratulated. And yet, as Mai met Keiko’s envious eyes, she could not muster a shred of pleasure.

As usual, the sunlight streaming through her windows does a great job of fading away memories of last night’s dream. Seated at her desk, Mai fiddles with the headband that Jake has given her to carefully attach the rainbow-colored feather. She wondered once whether the feather once belonged to a Reckoning challenger, but wasn’t ready to pursue that train of thought.

It’d taken a long time to accept the fact that the deaths of Tim, Simon, and Jackie weren't her fault. It’d taken even longer for her to stop feeling guilty over not helping Anabel. But she was just one person, one first year dancer whom nobody would miss. Naomi and Morty already tried and failed to fight back from their esteemed positions. Eleven-year-old Mai couldn’t win against Ecruteak City.

Yet.

The business card from Anabel is now tucked in her mother’s diary, locked in her desk. It will bide its time, as will she, for the day when the cracks in Ecruteak’s facade become once more apparent. Until then, she will become the best dancer that the Kimono Dance Theater will have ever produced. She will become a legend in her own right.

Mai puts the headband on her head and admires her reflection.