The other Legendary could tell that one of their own was inside this particular vessel, but to most people, Youhei was just another freak. His hands were always cold and his breath always came out in mist. Even in the hottest summer, Youhei was wrapped for the heaviest winter, never breaking a sweat.

It hadn’t always been like this. Youhei was born a normal and healthy child in Lavaridge after his serious, ruin-hunting father fell in love with the lady of the PokeMart. After settling down, they sought to make their promise to travel to the exciting land of Unova a reality. After saving as much money as they could, they started packing again and made a journey for two adults and one four-year-old child. Though it made them poorer, they were at least wealthy with emotion and love.

“They say you shouldn’t leave town at night.”

“Why is that?”

“There’s a monster out there.”

It was in Lacunosa when their lives changed without notice, and with the truth never fully coming out.

It was a pretty night and the cool air was pleasant for the perfect summer. They went to see the mysterious giant hole, laughed at it (“It’s just a big hole!”), kissed under the stars, and left. They had brought something out of that crater. Kyurem, who had fled away from the conflicts of the world, had crawled back into the crater where it had lived for thousands of years in dormancy until his capture by the selfish humans. It was not out of desire, but out of instinct. It had remained there quietly until it had peeked one eye open and found the child Youhei staring at the bottom of the pond. A child who would have no recollection of this wonderful childhood was as empty as it. Though he smiled and cried today, he would be different once he grew up with a mind on his own. Neither complete with truth nor ideal…yet, this emptiness was different. It was pure, as though he didn’t need either of them. Innocence, it was called, though Kyurem never learned of the name. It had been like a calling then. Kyurem made the boy his vessel, but rather than to consume or assimilate with the human soul – for neither of them possessed truth nor ideal, but two different kind of emptiness – Kyurem latched onto it like a parasite.

Youhei suffered in his childhood because of the presence of Kyurem. His body changed from the inside and the outside. His parents did not have the knowledge to deal with the changes nor with the money to offer to experts. Even when they became desperate, they feared the ultimate result of what could have brought the monster they created. When rumors that they had involved Youhei in genetic engineering began to terrorize them, the family fled away to hide in the cold provinces of Snowpoint, where Youhei’s affliction was not so noticeable.

Youhei never got used to the cold. He hated it. But at least he had a more normal childhood in Snowpoint and even began to train Pokemon. Often, they joked about how he would raise an army of Ice Pokemon and be the best in that Type. Youhei intended to stick with his Fire Pokemon. He had no memories of his hometown, but he loved hearing the stories there. He loved imagining the heat of the sun on his skin and the hot water bubbling in the hot springs. One time, he asked his parents if they could come back, to Lavaridge. Maybe it would be so hot that all the ice in Youhei would melt. He saw the strain in his parents’ smiles when they laughed and told him how great of an idea it was.

And then it came abruptly for Youhei. His father asked him to pack all his belongings. “Everything,” he emphasized. His mother saw them go. Nothing was exchanged. They left Sinnoh and arrived in Lyeant. Traveling, he thought. They had pictures when they traveled to Unova, back when Youhei was too young to remember. They stayed in Irisia where the aunt he never met nor heard of lived. One early morning, where the sun was barely up, the birds woke him up. Something then in his grogginess drew him to look outside the window. A car outside the house was about to drive off and Youhei saw his father leave in it. That was the last time he saw his father.

He wasn’t four years old anymore. He was ten, perhaps the earliest age when he would remember any of his childhood. This time, he did not forget.

He spent the next four years trapped in the little city on the sea. His mutation had still been kept a secret from the top and Kyurem had not changed his mind on its current living arrangement...for now.