Auron Vale's heart stirred. He looked at Victini, puzzled.
"Victini, are you waiting for someone?"
Victini dipped his head, a little forlorn, then slowly settled into Auron's palm and lowered his gaze. He was thinking of those three again—one gentle, one warm, one lively and bright. The three of them had accompanied Victini through most of his waking hours outside his long sleeps.
The first time Victini was aware, the world was still a desolate wasteland.
That time, he drifted aimlessly across the world. His luck, however, wasn't bad. Within two days he ran into Mew, who was out playing. Mew brought him back to the Tree of Beginning. After a bout of frolicking, the two Pokémon fell asleep together.
He woke the second time when humans had just appeared. Back then there were only a few human outposts—tribes had yet to form.
He and Mew secretly observed one such outpost for a few days, but boredom soon set in, and Mew dragged him back to the nest to be a cuddle-buddy again.
That sleep lasted much longer. When he next awoke, human civilization had leapt ahead to the year 617 in Chinese history—Daye 13 of the Sui dynasty.
This time was different from the last: only Victini had woken. Mew was still breathing softly in slumber.
Victini glanced back at Mew, hesitated, then steadied himself and flew out.
He still wanted to explore this world. The previous two times, he hadn't gotten far before being hauled back to warm the bed. So this time he decided to go alone.
Victini flew and adventured, day by day.
On the road, he met carefree Latios and Latias and played with the brother and sister.
He also encountered kindly Ho-Oh and the cool, distant Marshadow. With Ho-Oh, he was pampered like a baby; clear, bell-like laughter drifted across the mountaintop every day. He saw Rayquaza in the skies as well—Rayquaza merely inclined its head to him and then departed.
He even got caught up in a fight between Cresselia, the guardian of pleasant dreams, and Darkrai, the master of nightmares. He didn't dare try to break it up; he could only stand off to the side, small and timid.
Fortunately, Darkrai noticed him in the end. The two Pokémon each took a moment to soothe him, then turned and left in opposite directions.
He once came to a certain cave, inside which slept a mighty ice dragon—Kyurem. He didn't dare disturb its rest and tiptoed back out.
He once entered a forest of deathly stillness; in the end, with Xerneas's help, he crept out of that blackened place, jumpy at every step.
He heard Meloetta's song, toured Diancie's mineral kingdom, and played in Manaphy's underwater realm.
He watched Zeraora train amid thunder and lightning, and he saw Keldeo practice Secret Sword.
At last, he reached the Dragon Kingdom, then in the throes of war.
He saw the cruelty and savagery of humankind. At the same time, he saw the displaced and the wandering, swept up by the chaos of war.
Drifting without aim, he came to know one of the most important people in his life: Lady Zhangsun—later to be Empress Zhangsun.
At the time, she was not yet an empress—merely a young wife whose husband had left for the battlefield shortly after their marriage.
Victini first saw her ladling porridge in the city to relieve the suffering of refugees.
She was the first human he had seen who was different from all the rest.
Curious, he followed her back home.
Over several days he learned that this kind-hearted woman gazed up at the moon every night, silently thinking of her husband.
One day, when Victini saw a tear slide from the corner of her eye, he couldn't hold back any longer.
He dispelled his invisibility and appeared before her.
He had meant to comfort her—only, upon seeing him, she merely started for a heartbeat and then said something Victini still remembers to this day:
"Are you hungry? I'll get you something to eat."
Without waiting for Victini to react, she brought out a plate of small round cakes. "I made these myself. Want to try one?"
Victini didn't even know what he was thinking at the time. As if guided by some unseen hand, he picked one up and took a bite.
His eyes lit up. In no time, he'd finished the entire plate.
Then, just as Auron would later do, she brought him a cup of water and helped him drink, one hand gently rubbing his back as she murmured, "Slowly, slowly. No rush—there's plenty more."
And so, Victini stayed in Empress Zhangsun's home, keeping her company day after day.
At night, when she missed her husband, he would cheer her up and draw her mind away from sorrow.
After some time, her husband returned.
Victini watched as a spirited young man burst into the house, calling at the top of his lungs, "Guanyinbi, Guanyinbi, I'm back!"
Inside, the lady's body trembled at the sound. She leapt to her feet, ran outside, and threw herself into her husband's arms.
The bond they revealed to him was a kind of feeling Victini had never witnessed before.
Invisible in the air, he watched curiously as they murmured to each other.
He had intended to slip away quietly once her husband returned, once she no longer pined at night.
But he stayed a moment longer without quite knowing why—and in that moment, Li Shimin's warmth reached him. Perhaps it was fate.
The lady introduced her new friend—Victini—to Li Shimin at once. She told him that on the nights she missed him, it was with Victini's companionship that she got through.
At this, Li Shimin rose solemnly and bowed to Victini. "Thank you for keeping my wife company. I am deeply grateful."
So Victini remained. He found that Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun shared the same qualities.
Both were gentle, both warm. With them, Victini passed a long, joyful stretch of time.
And whenever Li Shimin set out on campaign, Victini would lend him his power.
Thus it was that Li Shimin almost never lost a battle. Step by step, he rose to the most exalted seat under heaven.
Even after sitting on that seat, he did not change the way he treated those around him—or Victini.
Some time later, their youngest daughter, Li Mingda, was born. She was peculiar in one way: she wouldn't cry only when she was asleep or when she saw Victini. At any other time, she would fuss for a while.
As a result, during that period Victini was run off his feet acting as a sort of nanny.
Not until little Sizi—Li Mingda's childhood name as Princess of Jinyang—could run and talk did Victini finally lay down his nanny's burden.
Still, he played with Sizi every day. They ate together, they slept together.
Under Victini's influence, Sizi also developed a great fondness for the small round cakes Empress Zhangsun made.
And so it went, day by day—Victini by Sizi's side, and by Empress Zhangsun's.
Every day, laughter from Victini and Sizi would ring through the garden.
Empress Zhangsun's and Li Shimin's moods lifted with it.
But good days never last long…
Thanks to "Dragon Walker" for the tip—thank you for the support. ( )
(End of chapter)