It transpired that moving the sleeping Jasper into his own bed had not been their smartest move. Granted, he hadn't stirred until about two in the morning, but Morty and Rose had not spent all of those hours sleeping... They were also feeling a combination of guilty and worried, for Jasper had awoken screaming and crying from a nightmare, and had not managed to fall asleep again for over an hour, nestled between the exhausted Morty and Rose in their bed, the main light switched on.
"Poor little thing," Rose whispered sadly as she gently brushed the golden hair back from Jasper's sleeping face.
Morty himself had a very pained expression in his violet eyes. He could not help but be reminded of that period, before Jasper was born, when Rose herself had been severely troubled by nightmares…
"Do you think we should still go to the Tin Tower tomorrow?" Rose asked. She wasn't sure what Jasper was going to feel up to; it had been a very traumatic night for him.
"I was wondering that," Morty mused, "but maybe Uncle Perrin'll have some advice? Believe it or not, he knows a thing or two about children – my parents always used to seek his advice when I was little and…well…y'know…"
Rose did know. Morty had spent much of his childhood being very unwell, plagued by the visions that his clairvoyance forced him to suffer. It had been his Uncle Perrin, the Sage of the Tin Tower, who had helped him through the difficult times. Rose frowned slightly as she surveyed her sleeping son. It had never really crossed her mind before, how horribly difficult it must have been for Isadora and Hector, seeing their only son suffer and knowing there was nothing they could do about it. At least Jasper wasn't actually ill, at least, unlike his father, he hadn't been born to be an integral part in what most believed to be a far-fetched legend. A cold shiver ran down Rose's spine at the mere thought of it.
"You're right – it wouldn't hurt to get his advice."
-o-
"Well night terrors are, as I'm sure you know, fairly common in children of Jasper's age," Perrin told them as he stroked at his white beard. They were sat in the bare basement kitchen of the Tin Tower where the Sages prepared their three, humble daily meals.
Morty and Rose both nodded in silence, waiting to hear more.
"What was his nightmare about, do you know?"
Morty shook his head this time, frowning slightly.
"I-I'm not sure," he said quietly, as the three adults watched the child playing on the rug with one of Perrin's Eevees, "the thing is, he started to come into our bed every night, back in July, because he didn't like being alone in his room."
"Indeed?" the old Sage asked in apparent interest.
"Yes," Rose agreed, "it got to the point where it became easier to just put him down in our bed - at least that way his sleep wasn't broken…"
"I'm assuming your sleep was though?" Perrin asked, his dark eyes twinkling.
Morty rolled his eyes in agreement, but he too was smiling.
"Jasper?" Perrin called, "come here a moment, dear boy."
Jasper stood up and surveyed his great-great uncle through large, cat-shaped brown eyes – just like his mother's.
"Yes, Uncle Perrin?"
The boy giggled as the Eevee followed him and began to lick at his bare knee in earnest.
"Tell me," the Sage began kindly, "why is it that you don't like sleeping in your own bedroom?"
Jasper frowned, and opened his mouth to answer, before closing it again, and looking very confused. Morty and Rose held themselves unnaturally still as they listened. They had never managed to get it out of him.
"I just…I always feel like there's something in there," he mumbled, knowing he must sound like a baby.
"Well I'm sure there're many things in that lovely room of yours!" Perrin smiled, "do you still have the little wooden table and chair that I gave you for Christmas?"
Jasper nodded and his brown eyes lit up, "Yes I have! I do all my drawing on there – don't I Ma?"
"You certainly do," Rose smiled. She was slightly in awe of the older man's skill in getting the child to talk so freely.
"And can you tell me what else you have in your room Jasper? It's been a very long time since I visited your house, hasn't it?"
Jasper happily began to tick off all of the toys and other things that he had in his bedroom, the three adults watching him curiously.
"Why, Jasper!" Perrin said with an air of great surprise when the child finally finished, "with such lovely things in your bedroom, why don't you want to sleep in there?"
The child quietened again, nibbling as his lower lip as he considered the question.
"When the light turns off and…and when I'm all alone I feel like…like there's something bad watching me."
Morty and Rose clasped hands tightly underneath the scrubbed wooden table. They had had no idea…
Perrin nodded slowly, and Jasper became suddenly desperate to prove himself.
"But I know there's nothing there really," he said earnestly, "because I get up and turn on the light and everything is always the same. I even check under the bed, but nothing's there ever."
Rose felt her heart break. He tried so hard to be brave.
"That's a very grown up thing to do," Perrin told the child seriously, "but I don't understand Jasper…when you realise nothing's there, why do you go into mummy and daddy's room?"
"Because I still have the funny feeling, even though I've seen that nothing is there," Jasper replied with innocent logic.
"What is the funny feeling?" Perrin asked lightly, as if it were of no real importance.
"Like…" Jasper attempted to explain with gestures from his little hands, but he couldn't seem to manage it.
"Is the funny feeling in your tummy? In your head?"
"In my tummy," the child confirmed with a single nod.
Morty smiled to himself; Jasper seemed so grown up, having this serious conversation with his Uncle Perrin.
"And so, when you go to your mummy and daddy's bed…?"
"The funny feeling goes," the child confirmed, "that's why I like sleeping there," he said quietly.
-o-
"He's certainly a very bright little thing," Perrin mused.
He, Morty, and Rose were watching the child from the small kitchen window; he was out in the vegetable garden, curiously watching another of the Sages plant potatoes.
"What do you mean?" Morty asked.
"He's bright…clever. That much is obvious; the way he manages his fear is, in actual fact, most mature…and his imagination must be extremely heightened if he is still able to feel fear once he has convinced himself there is physically nothing sinister in his bedroom…"
"But what can we do?" Rose asked earnestly.
Perrin smiled at her. Although it was clear that her concern was reserved for her son alone, the dark circles under both her and Morty's eyes, and their unusually pale complexions, told Perrin that they, too, were suffering.
"I don't think the problem is a great one," Perrin told them, although he could not quite meet their eyes as he said this, "I rather believe that Jasper should have company at night – there is no need to have him getting worked up over sleeping alone…"
"I suppose we could take it in turns to sleep with him in our bed?" Morty suggested, "and the other could sleep in his bed?"
But Perrin was already shaking his head.
"No my dear boy," he said; although Morty was now married with his own child, Perrin still thought of him as the little violet-eyed child troubled by visions, "you two need your own space in that department." He tactfully continued to stare out of the window, allowing the young couple to get over their blushes.
"Then…what?" Rose asked, frowning.
"I was thinking more along the lines of Pokémon companionship."
Morty and Rose blinked in surprise.
"That could be an idea…" Morty said slowly, astounded that they hadn't thought of it themselves.
"Raichu might," Rose mused, "although considering what happened…"
"Jasper and Raichu had a…falling out of sorts not long ago," Morty informed Perrin, who had raised a questioning eyebrow at Rose's statement. The Sage nodded slowly to himself, but said nothing more on the subject.
"I was actually thinking along the lines of an Eevee."
"An Eevee?" Rose and Morty repeated together.
"Yes, we've just had a few hatchlings, and this year we seem to have more Eevees than qualified Kimono Girls…I was always going to let Jasper have one when he turned ten, but maybe now would be a more appropriate time?"
Morty and Rose considered this.
"It's very generous of you, Perrin," Rose said graciously, "but Morty and I have many more Pokémon between us and –"
"Do you have any objection to Jasper having a Pokémon of his own at this age?" Perrin interrupted; the child was only five after all.
"No not at all!" Rose exclaimed, "I just didn't want you to feel as though you had to."
"It would be my pleasure," Perrin smiled.
The smile dropped from the Sage's face as he turned away from Morty and Rose. Eevees were considered to be full of light, full of positive energy; it was after all a Jolteon, a Flareon, and a Vaporeon that Ho-Oh had chosen to resurrect from the great fire all those centuries ago. Perrin sincerely hoped that he was growing paranoid in his old age…there was probably nothing wrong with the child…but it wouldn't hurt to give Jasper such a companion, one that could perhaps act as a shield against the horrors he felt at night, be they a figment of his imagination or…not.
-o-
"Goodnight my little love," Rose smiled as she closed Jasper's bedroom door.
"Night Ma," the child returned sleepily, as Eevee, who curled up next to him, also gave a tired 'cheep'. It had been this simple for almost a month now; Perrin had been right.
Still smiling to herself, Rose made her way downstairs to the living room, where Morty handed her a fresh cup of tea.
"I still can't believe it," she sighed happily as she curled up closer to her husband, "all it took was his own little Pokémon to sleep with him…and he's fine!"
Morty smiled back at her and kissed her forehead.
"He seems happier generally too, don't you think?" he asked.
"Yeah – he does. You know," Rose began, before taking a sip of tea, "I was actually growing sort of paranoid before…"
"Paranoid?"
"Yeah…stupid I know, but he's such a…such a spirited, serious little thing, at times…I couldn't help but worry that he was like…well…that he was like you were."
"Clairvoyant?"
"Something like that," Rose conceded, "I don't know, he just seems different to other children somehow."
Morty nodded.
"Dad says he still doesn't play with them much at school…"
"He's too interested in Eevee now though," Rose mused, "I know if I'd had my own Pokémon at that age, Tripp wouldn't have had a look-in," she laughed.
"True," Morty agreed, "it was different for me, I had Eusine and Callisto around all the time at home – so I didn't really bother with friends in school either."
Inspiration struck Rose at this statement.
"Hey!" she said, grabbing Morty's arm, "Clair and Lance!"
"What about them?" Morty asked, bemused.
"We've not seen them in years, and the twins are about Jasper's age!"
"Yeah they are," Morty answered thoughtfully, "they must be…six months younger than him?"
"Aren't their birthdays in August?"
"Exactly a week after mine," Morty said, "so…the eighteenth?"
"Let's do it! We can make a visit to Blackthorn for their birthdays, and hopefully Jasper'll get on with them!" Rose grinned excitedly. It had been a very long time since she had seen her cousins, and she found, to her surprise, that she really had missed Clair and Lance.
-o-
Late July was a very important time of year in Ecruteak City, for it marked the beginning of the three day long Festival of Firelight – the dedication to Ho-Oh, the legendary Pokémon of the skies. The whole city was bustling; Kimono Girls were perfecting the dances that they were to perform, flame cakes were being churned out by the dozen in every bakery in town; every street was abundant with red, yellow, and orange crepe paper streamers – a tribute to the flames that the mighty Ho-Oh used to resurrect those it considered worthy. All in all, the whole of Ecruteak City was buzzing, and no expense had been spared. Morty, too, could feel his excitement growing. He remembered how, every year as a child, Hector had taken him to the opening of the festival, to watch the three enormous floats, representing the legendary Pokémon of the sky, the sea, and the darkness, as they made their way through the city streets before coming to rest at the Burnt Tower. This was the considered sacred place where, so many centuries ago, Ho-Oh had resurrected the Jolteon, Flareon, and Vaporeon that were trapped there in the Great Fire, and elevated them into the three legendary beasts: Raikou, Entei, and Suicune.
Morty had dinner with Rose and Jasper as usual, and as soon as they had finished, he stood up, his eager excitement almost childlike in nature.
"Come on Jas," he grinned, as he wiped his hands on his jeans in anticipation, "daddy's taking you somewhere special this evening."
The child gazed up at him with curious brown eyes, "But it's nearly bedtime? Aren't I staying with Grandma and Grandpa tonight?"
The sky outside had turned a dusky purple, and the first stars were visible as tiny silver pinpricks.
"Well, I did have a little surprise for you, a surprise that meant you can stay up late, way past bedtime…but are you too tired?" Morty asked the little boy in mock concern, flashing a wink to Rose who had to try hard to stifle her laugh.
"No, no!" Jasper exclaimed, almost knocking over his chair in his haste to join his father.
"Excellent," Morty said, now feigning relief as he ruffled his son's dark blond hair, "now run upstairs and grab your rucksack – and your jumper! – I don't think it's very warm tonight."
Jasper raced up the stairs as though he had wings on his feet, and Morty and Rose laughed.
-o-
"So where are we going?" the five year-old asked as he grasped his father's hand tightly, his cheeks pink with excitement.
"You'll see," Morty laughed easily, "Grandpa used to take me here when I was a little boy."
Morty smiled to himself as Jasper blinked in wonder, trying to get his head around a time when Grandpa Hector had been just a daddy, and when his own daddy had been as little as he was.
It only took them a few minutes to walk into town, Jasper growing more and more excited, and his questions growing more incessant as his bright brown eyes took in the wonder all around him. He was never usually out on the streets at this time, and it was so busy! Many people, like himself and Morty, were walking through the streets, stopping at stalls to buy toffee apples and flame cakes, shouting out to their friends that they recognised on the way. There was another stall, where sat a lady, painting flames with glittering paint onto the faces of bright-eyed children, and hundreds and hundreds of fire balloons were lighting up the dusky evening sky, causing the stars to appear dim in comparison to their warm, glowing light. Jasper's little face was transported, and Morty felt his heart expand in such a manner that he felt rather choked for a moment, watching his son's reaction to all of this splendour and excitement for the very first time.
"Daddy look!" Jasper exclaimed, pointing: somewhere in the distance, somebody was flying a Ho-Oh shaped kite, and fireworks in all colours of the rainbow were being set off on the opposite bank of the river.
"Just wait Jas," Morty said, unable to keep from grinning - the excitement was infectious, "wait until you see what's coming."
The town square was already filled with spectators; Morty and Jasper stood around the edges of the square along with many other hundreds of men, women, children, and Pokémon, all waiting with baited breath for the procession to begin in the large, open space in the centre. The air was alive with chatter, dancing lights, and the delicious smells of the many treats that wafted enticingly from the many brightly coloured food stands.
Suddenly, the noise from the crowd died down as a man, wearing a rainbow-striped cloak, complete with a rainbow feather headdress, stepped into the empty space surrounded by the eager crowd of Ecruteak's citizens.
"Ladies, gentlemen, children, and Pokémon!" he boomed from the small microphone mouthpiece attached to his headdress, "the time has come…" the speaker paused dramatically, allowing the last voices in the excitable crowd to die down. Morty lifted Jasper into his arms so he could see over the heads of the people in front of him.
The speaker began to move freely through the open space that was the town square, tinkling and jingling as he went, and Jasper realised that he had tiny silver bells attached to his shoes.
"The night is warm and clear, and in the winds, I hear something…"
The crowd was now expectantly silent, and sure enough, through a cleverly engineered sound system, the town square was filled with the gentle, tinkling sound of a wind-chime.
"It is the sound of a Bell…a most beautiful, delicate Bell…and this sound can only mean one thing…"
"Ho-Oh!", "He means Ho-Oh!" many children screamed from the crowds.
Morty saw Jasper mouth the name himself; his brown eyes were so wide that Morty could see the lights of the fire lanterns reflected in them.
"HO-OH!" the rainbow-clad speaker exclaimed, "Legendary Guardian of the Skies! We call upon you! Come down to us from the heavens that you reside in, bless us with your Firelight! Keep us safe! Keep us warm, and never let us know the touch of Chaos…"
The awed crowd was once again silent, and Morty felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The sound of the wind-chime-like bell intensified, and from a corner of the square came seven Kimono Girls, each dressed in a different colour of the rainbow. They took their positions, standing as still and as silently as statues, waiting for their signal, every eye in the crowd upon them. The music changed; the haunting melody of a shamisen started up – and the Kimono Girls began their dance. Their movements were precise, fluid, and deliberate, and the crowd watched, slack-jawed as the seven dancers began to lead the procession slowly through the square, towards the Burnt Tower on the opposite side of the city, dancing and turning gracefully the whole way. From another corner of the square, behind the town hall, came the main body of the procession. Three floats, gigantic in size, towering above the crowd, made their slow, impressive way into the square, following the lead of the Kimono Girls, who continued to move rhythmically to the slow, steady beat of the shamisen.
The first float was mainly white, and the enormous creature depicted was Lugia; the Guardian of the Sea. The model was comprised of whitish silver silk, purple streamers rippling from it, depicting the smooth, streamlined shape of the legendary Pokémon that slept beneath the waves. The model's mouth opened and closed in time to the beat, and its amethyst coloured eyes seemed strangely alive in the flickering, shimmering light from the fires that burnt merrily throughout the square. Jasper's mouth hung open as the float passed, towering twenty feet above him, and completely obscuring the crowd on the opposite side of the square.
"Lugia…" the rainbow speaker whispered, the sound nonetheless carrying throughout the crowd, "the Guardian of the Sea…sleeping now, only to awaken to calm the storms caused by the ceaseless rivalry of its minions…Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres…"
A second float came some fifty metres behind the first. Another creature was represented here in masses of glossy black material, pulled tight around the frame of the model so that its hideous shape was highlighted: a monstrous, spiny Dragon with a long, snarling snout. Foot long fangs had been replicated in what looked to be silver foil; its clawed hands and tail looked menacingly sharp, and its immense, bright golden eyes, with eerie, vertical pupils, were a splash of golden glitter.
The crowd hissed, as was tradition, and the model Dragon opened its jaws wide, its tail swinging from side to side. The hissing grew in intensity, for the rainbow speaker, too, was hissing into his mouthpiece.
"Chaos…the Beast of the Darkness, ruler of fear, of anger, of jealousy and greed…he knows no mercy…shun his temptations, and instead let your heart be filled with Firelight…"
Morty's fists were clenched as he forced himself to stare up at the representation of that foul creature. Surprisingly, the depiction was very accurate, considering very little was documented on the legendary beast. Morty allowed himself a grim smile, however, for he knew that there was no reason to fear this particular Pokémon any longer.
Jasper's brown eyes had widened, and his pupils contracted in fear as he stared up at the hideous Dragon, visibly shuddering as its forked tongue fell lazily from the model's leering mouth. He could not seem to tear his eyes away from the creature's own eyes…golden, evil…deadly. The funny feeling in his tummy, the one he had not felt in over a month, was returning - stronger than ever before, and, all of a sudden the child felt very sick. Covering his eyes with his small hands, he buried his face into Morty's shoulder, breathing heavily and unevenly.
Morty stroked his son's hair, "Don't be scared Jasper," he whispered, "it's not real…it can't hurt you…and look what's coming!"
Despite his terror, Morty's tone aroused Jasper's interest and, sure enough, fifty metres behind the dreadful black float came a third: bigger and brighter than the two before it. The great model of the Firelight Pokémon was made of rich red velvet, the ends of its tremendous wings smothered in a rainbow of glitter – an attempt to recreate the rainbow facets that supposedly shimmered from them as Ho-Oh flew. Its great plume was a mass of orange and golden feathers, also bedazzled with glitter, and its chest and underbelly a shock of the purest white. Its long, dangerously sharp golden beak was open, and its majestic head roved over the crowd, controlled from within the model by the highly skilled puppet masters.
Morty smiled as he once again glanced at his son, but his smile turned to a frown at the expression on the child's face. Jasper appeared to be looking straight at the great model of Ho-Oh, but he didn't seem to be truly seeing it; his eyes were haunted, and his little face deathly pale.
-o-
Father and son were jostled by the crowd that moved in haste to follow the procession. But Jasper didn't appear to notice. Unless Morty was mistaken, his son was actually trembling slightly. Moving with difficulty against the sea of bodies that were determinedly moving in the opposite direction towards the Burnt Tower, Morty carried Jasper off to the side. A few citizens smiled indulgently at the sight of their Gym Leader with his little son, but Morty took no notice of them.
"Hey," he said gently, trying to get Jasper to look at him properly, "hey Jas, what's the matter?"
Jasper blinked once, before slowly dragging his brown eyes to meet his father's violet ones. He still did not speak, however.
"There's no need to be frightened of the floats," Morty said gently, "you know they're not real."
"I know the floats aren't real," Jasper whispered as he cuddled closer to his father, "but they are…aren't they?"
Morty knew that he was referring to the legendary Pokémon that the floats depicted.
"Yes," he conceded, "they are real, but that doesn't mean you have anything to fear from them."
"B-but the big black Dragon…Chaos -" Jasper stopped abruptly. He could not begin to explain how that particular float had made him feel; how looking up into the golden, glittery eyes had awakened feelings of terror and darkness inside of him, feelings that even now he could not seem to eradicate.
It was an effort for Morty to keep his face impassive. He couldn't blame his son, really, for being afraid of the legendary Dragon: a force of complete evil, intent on causing fear, pain, and misery.
"You have absolutely no reason to be afraid of Chaos," Morty repeated, smiling genuinely now at Jasper, for he knew it to be true.
"But all of the stories say that Ho-Oh and…C-Chaos are going to fight, a-and that Chaos is going to try and take over the world…" Jasper's eyes, if possible, widened even further.
"Well then, let me tell you a secret," Morty said, as he carried his son further away from the chattering, milling crowd, and whispered directly into his ear, "not many people know that this big fight between Ho-Oh and Chaos has already happened."
"It has?" Jasper asked, turning to stare at Morty, his small mouth a perfect 'o' of surprise.
"Yes," Morty continued, "and Ho-Oh won; he defeated Chaos. So, my little chap, you have absolutely nothing to fear from that ugly, great Dragon…" he said as he tickled Jasper's ribs, causing him to shriek with laughter, "he was defeated a long time ago."
The man smiled as he saw the worry lines fade from the child's small face. Jasper's lips curved into an answering smile as he considered his father's words, and he lay his golden head against Morty's chest, content once again.