"Think of this logically! You'll draw attention and it will be a disaster!"

I ignore Looker's protests as I walk down the hotel lobby towards the exit. I'd run but I don't know where I'd be running to and I'm not used to running.

Looker grabs at my right arm with both hands and tugs on the sleeve in an effort to stop me. "They know this name, Ellie, if they hear you shouting it, it will draw attention to her."

"How common is the name Ellie?" I hate saying the name. It's not her name and I wonder again if Looker is right in what he tells me. It all sounds so implausible, how could she have gone from me all the way to Hoenn? Why did these Stone people not try to find her original family? Did they try? What if it's not her after all? Psychics are rare but they're not entirely uncommon. My hope sits tentatively on a girl's absent birth records.

"Well that's another argument, you yell Ellie and you get three Ellies staring back, draws all sorts of attention and spooks others, you must calm down and strategise!"

I halt and glance over to him. "This is a big city and if she is here it might not be for long. What was your plan when you invited me here?"

Looker stares back at me with a solemn gaze. "Larry," he addresses me calmly, "I was following Troy not her, I told you this. If she is here then he knows it."

I feel anger building up in me but it tempers off because I don't have the energy to let it boil up and rage. I can't even think where she might be. I tug the crinkled map of the city out of pocket and unfold it as I try to put logic to it. Did this former Champion Steven Stone bring her to Johto to hide because Team Rocket found her in Hoenn? Why come to Goldenrod City?

"Whitney." She knew I'd come here, would she know about a former Champion visiting from Hoenn? He would be trying to be incognito but so was I.

"I'm going to the Gym."

"We," Looker corrects with a stern stare, "although I don't see the connection."

I don't bother to explain it, I just start walking, escaping the hotel to a mild evening. My show of bravado lasts five minutes until Looker points out I'm going the wrong way.

"This way," he says, "it's a shortcut."

We head to the left, hurrying past a row of shops before turning right to an alleyway. It's a torturous ten minutes of walking past crowds of people and savoury scented stalls that remind me I skipped dinner. The city is full of lights and noise, it's chaotic and I doubt I'd spot the Ellie from the train even if she was in the crowds. She might not even be Ellie Stone and Ellie Stone might not be Mia. The familiar sensation of despair starts to suck at me, draining me more than my work ever could.

We arrive at the Gym and mercifully find the lights still on. I hurry up the steps to the entryway and enter through the glass door.

"Sorry sir, we're closing up here," a chirpy woman's voice advises me.

"We're on police business," Looker announces. I see him flash a badge at the baffled teenager. "Where's the Gym Leader?"

"Um in the battle area." She gestures ahead with a half-hearted raising of her right hand.

I nod and head on. A set of double doors leads me through to a room of pink, floral scents and a large number of hedges. I think Brassius would find it heavenly but I find it a little too busy for my liking.

"That was a super battle earlier Whitney!" I hear a female's voice cheer.

I frown up at the hedges as I walk by them and realise they form a maze. It makes me think of our Gym challenges back in Paldea, the unnecessary need to test someone before you even battle them. I hate the theatrics of it. Isn't the battle enough? Seems everyone needs a show these days.

"Wait Larry!" Looker calls as he follows after me. "We need to navigate this properly!"

"Whoever's out there we're closed!" I hear Whitney's chirpy voice call.

I sigh before answering reluctantly, "it's me...Larry."

"Even I didn't catch that and I'm beside you," Looker scorns me.

"It's Larry," I attempt to raise my voice. It's not something I can do well, I don't see the point especially when Hassel will drown me out no matter how loud I can get my voice. Screaming couldn't bring back my wife and yelling didn't conjure back Mia either. There is no point in yelling.

"Whitney, are you expecting visitors?" I hear the woman query. "We'll be late for dinner."

I frown as I end up at a dead end and bump into Looker as I step back. We turn around and now he is leading. Left. Right. Left. Another dead end with the statue of a grinning Clefairy mocking us with a sign reading 'Uh oh' in its hands.

"Who's out there?" Whitney calls out. "We are closed!"

"It's Larry!" I try to shout it this time.

"Gary?"

"LARRY!" Looker bellows out my name dramatically.

I stare at him in surprise but he doesn't even pause, he just keeps trying to navigate the maze.

I hear someone clapping and assume it's Whitney. "Oh Mr Larry! Oh I was hoping you'd visit! Where are you though?"

"Disastrous!" Looker exclaims as we meet with a Jigglypuff statue this time.

"Looking at a Jigglypuff!" I attempt to call out to Whitney again. I am beginning to wonder if I might meet my end starving in this horrid maze. My stomach is growling loudly and the sweet scent of the hedges is beginning to nauseate me. Whitney said she was a Normal trainer so why can't she be normal too? What's wrong with keeping a gym basic?

"Booking a wiggle?"

"JIGGLYPUFF!" Looker decides to be my voice again.

Whitney giggles. "Oh the Jiggypuff statue. Okay Mr Larry go left twice, right, left again then two rights and you'll be here in two shakes of a Flaaffy's tail!"

I hear her companion giggle at this.

"Such challenges we face," Looker remarks dramatically as he follows the directions.

My stomach continues to give low growls as we head through the hedges before reaching a wide centre point where the gym court stands.

"Wait you're not Larry," Whitney's voice calls out as Looker blunders ahead of me. She leans out past him and smiles as she sees me. "There you are Mr Larry!" She turns her attention to another young female and gestures in my direction with a smile. "This is the super special guest I was telling you about but remember it's a secret." She raises a finger to her mouth in a 'shush' gesture before turning back to me and winking.

I let out a sigh. "Whitney are there any other special guests in Goldenrod like me?"

Whitney's poker face is non-existent. She bows her head and presses the tips of two fingers together. "Um no, why do you think that?"

"I'm meant to meet them," I lie. "A former Champion of Hoenn," I venture, "but this city is so vast I'm not sure where they are."

Whitney glances up to me and I see suspicion crossing her face. "You didn't agree a meeting point?"

"There was a mix up in translation," Looker comments. "Larry is lost, let's not make him late too."

I nod along though it makes me appear like an idiotic tourist.

"We want to keep it low key," I continue the lie. "I'd appreciate your help Whitney."

She bobs her head in a nod and smiles. "Okay. Well I don't know what hotel they've picked but Morty asked when the National Park was open until so they've probably gone there."

"When is it open to?"

"Nine."

"Thanks Whitney."

"I know where it is," Looker assures me.

"One more thing," I address Whitney. "Is there a quick way out of here?"

Her eyes widen and her mouth trembles slightly like I've wounded her. "Don't you like my Clefairy maze?" Her question comes out in a woeful voice. I have wounded her.

"Sure but I'm in a hurry."

"It's very tricky," Looker praises, "very admirable Miss Whitney."

"Thank you. Um who are you again?"

"Larry's friend," he says happily, "call me Looker." Friend? I know he's saying it as a cover but it still sounds weird to me. I don't have friends, I have colleagues. Rika and Hassel might blur those boundaries but we are connected through work ultimately. I have filled my life with work, the most I socialise is at the restaurant and it's little more than rating the food. I don't have time for chitchat and Geeta frowns on it anyway. Socialising is a distraction from work and I've never wanted a distraction from work. Building bonds with people leads to personal questions, curiosities about one's past and I don't want to discuss that with anyone.

"There's a back door there," Whitney says as she points to a fire exit door over to the left.

"Many thanks," Looker offers up his gratitude.

I nod and head for the door. We have less than three hours before the park is due to close, what if they have visited and left already? It's a scant lead but my only lead right now.

Looker and I escape out the back of the Gym and he takes the lead.

We walk through early evening shoppers and diners to a main street where Looker hails down a cab. I'm grateful not to have to walk through crowds anymore and welcome the change of pace as we speed up the roads and head out of the city. Everyone seems care free, their working day is over for now and I can't fathom how they have the energy to do anything other than sleep and prepare for the next one. Sleep is something that often evades me. It's why I like and envy my Koamala for its ability to nod off so easily without a care in the world. Often I don't have time for sleep and when I do have the time I don't want it because there's always a risk of nightmares or worse. It's odd but I actually prefer the blurring horrors of bloodstains and flames that come to me over the dreams where we're together and happy again because the latter are far more painful to wake from.

"Here we are," the driver announces.

An arched sign between two lampposts advertises The National Park. I can see a few people entering and exiting with Pokemon by their side which gives me a little hope that maybe Ellie is here.

Looker pays the driver before I can even reach for my wallet and hurries out the door. I get out with my briefcase in hand and halt at the open walkway beneath the arch. I reach up to fix my cloud patterned tie, worried for just a moment that maybe I don't look presentable enough.

"Come on Larry," Looker urges as he glances back to me impatiently.

We head into a place of tranquil nature. It's hard to believe this place is so close to a bustling city although the careful manicuring of the bushes and trees is a tell that it is not a patch of wilderness and there are people to impress with its ornamental beauty. We follow a path framed by flowered bushes, lampposts, benches and towering trees boasting fruits. A couple of teens walking their Snubbull and Meowth pass us by, chattering happily as they look at their phones.

I glimpse Venomoth flying hastily between bushes and hear the soft, warning call of Hoothoots starting to wake up and ready themselves for supper.

The soft gurgle of water alerts me to the centre piece fountain and I realise the path has us circling it.

"Ew what a horrible Pokemon!" the indignant cry pulls my attention from the fountain. "You can't have that in here it will scare off the Bug Pokemon!"

"Why can't I? Batty is as entitled to enjoy here as anyone else and he ain't stinking up the place like your Vileplume!"

"My Vileplume is only giving off that stench because it's scared of your nasty Pokemon! Look at the way it's flying, it's scaring those Pidgey too!"

Looker and I round a corner to see the source of the commotion. I glimpse a night guard and his Growlithe approaching from the other side.

A young man in a hoodie stands on the grass at the edge of the path with his arms folded as he frowns over at a cross faced young woman who keeps wrinkling her nose, probably because of the wafts of stench erupting from the flower like head of the Vileplume beside her.

Hearing a rapid flapping noise, I look behind the man and see an excitable Golbat flying near a large tree. From the tree there is a loud, anxious cawing.

"Is everything alright here?" the officer quips.

"No officer! His Golbat is harassing those poor Pidgey and my Vileplume!" The woman is quick to point at the man in the hoodie in accusation.

I don't want to get any closer as the fumes from the Vileplume are irritating my nose but there is something about the young man that seems familiar. It's hard to tell as he's in the shade of a tree and not close enough to the lamps for me to distinguish his features.

"You're the harasser! My Batty and I are just trying to enjoy an evening stroll and you're interfering with it!"

"Your Golbat does seem to be annoying those Pidgey," the guard observes calmly.

"It's her squealin' that's done it!" The young man is quick to give his heated response. He shakes his head and grumbles, "prejudice against Golbats that's all it is. Wouldn't care if I had a Vulpix or some other stupid, fluffy Pokemon doing it would you?"

"Now sir," the guard attempts calm even as his Growlithe gives a low growl, "it was just an observation. Perhaps you call your Pokemon back and give it a few minutes to calm down or exercise it away from the trees?"

"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck," his laughter comes out as if he's being strangled while doing it and I realise it's Kenji from the store. "Maybe he needs to do his business near a tree, maybe he gets nervous without the cover!"

I glance to Looker and see him tensing as a frown cuts across his face. I can tell he wants to level some accusation at the man and hope he won't. We don't need this trouble.

"Sir, let's not make a scene," the guard says. Somehow I get the impression that this is the wrong thing for him to say as Kenji seems the type to do the opposite of what he's told out of some stubborn defiance.

Kenji waves his hands wildly in the air and his Golbat gives a low screech with the commotion. "Making a scene? I'm just trying to take my legless Pokemon for a walk in the park and give him a chance to do his business be that pissing or taxes!" He points over to the horrified woman with the Vileplume accusingly. "And this woman stopped to watch so maybe you do something about that perversion and maybe tell her to put her Pokemon away to calm down because it's stinking up the place!"

A soft giggle detracts from the tense scene. It comes from behind us and I glance over my shoulder instinctively to see the source.

It's Ellie.

She's still got her hair in a plait and is dressed smartly in a khaki ensemble with boots and a long, red scarf that seems out of place. I can't tell in this lighting what she really looks like, if she might resemble me or my late wife. If there is any possibility that she is Mia.

She is flanked by two men, the prematurely silver haired one from the train and another, taller with a wild crop of fair looking hair kept back from his face by a purple headband. He's wearing a scarf too but it suits him better than Ellie's suits hers, held together neatly with a gold pin.

There's a Haunter hovering beside him with a wide grin on its face.

I hear a yelp and look back to the woman instinctively. She's looking at the Haunter.

"What is going on here? Are there no restrictions at night?" she complains.

The guard sighs and I empathise. I welcome the distraction because I'm not ready to look back to Ellie. I wasn't expecting her to sneak up on me like this and I don't know what to do. What if Ellie is just Ellie and I've come here for nothing?

"Ma'am, can I escort you to the other side of the fountain?" the guard offers. "It's quieter there."

She shakes her head scornfully before producing a Poke Ball. In a beam of red light her Vileplume is recalled.

"No, my night is ruined!" She makes a humph sound as she turns back to Kenji. "That thing belongs in a cave!"

"So do you, you whiny troll!" Kenji snaps back.

The Golbat gives an odd trilling noise that sounds sad.

"Just ignore her Batty she's jealous all her Pokemon can do is smell like a fart!"

The woman mutters something under her breath before turning away from him and charging off. She pushes through Looker and I to storm back up the path.

"And I thought it would be peaceful here," one of the men murmurs from behind me.

I feel Looker elbow me before he leans into me in that odd, horribly personal manner of his. "That's S.S and E.S behind us," he whispers.

"What are you guys waiting on?" I hear Kenji grumble. He has stepped onto the path and is looking our way. "Wait a sec, ain't you that guy with the date to apologise too? Wait, he's not your date is he?"

I frown and Looker splutters.

"Help it's Team Rocket!" The yell sounds like the woman with the Vileplume.

Before I can react to what she says I hear a scream of alarm and my entire skull fills with pain. A gasp of shock escapes me and I reach up with my free hand to grasp at my temple as the scream continues and with it the searing agony that is pounding through my head.

"Ellie stop!"

"No, no, no, NO!" Ellie's voice screams out the word and my vision fills with red.

I am helpless, lost in a searing crimson of anger, terror and pain. My knees quiver and I sag forward as blood starts to run down my nose.

I'm going to pass out in a moment.