"He's coming round now."

"Oh good, he missed dinner that's probably what did it."

The voices mix together in my head and I wince as I feel a pang there. It's like I'm in a fog but I don't know how to navigate out of it.

"Take it easy," an unfamiliar man's voice instructs, "you're a little foggy." Did he read my mind?

"What happened?" I demand.

"We had a Rocket Grunt trying to steal Pokemon in the park," I hear Looker's voice explain.

I open my eyes and see his face staring back down at me along with the face of the younger, blond male from the park. The stranger offers me a sympathetic smile.

"You seemed to get the brunt of Ellie's psychic outburst," he attempts to explain.

"Where's Mia?"

"Mia?" The blond echoes back the name to me in confusion.

"Er she wasn't there, perhaps he's confused from the passing out," Looker murmurs. I see him exchange a look with the blond. Looker offers him up a calm smile but it doesn't work as the blond looks back to me with suspicion. His eyes fix upon me and I take in their unusual violet hue and feel an odd tremble of energy as they study me. I recall the energy my late wife's stare buzzed with, no matter her moods that hum of power was always in her stare. It makes me wonder if this man is a psychic too.

"Where are we?" I try to sit up and my vision waters and reddens at the edges with the movement. I catch the stench of blood and reach up my hand to my nostrils. My fingertips come away with crumbs of dried blood as a hand pushes gently on my chest, urging me back down.

"Yeah, let's not try that for a while," the blond suggests. "At least not until we get some food in you. Ellie's away to get you something to eat as an apology so I hope you like it."

Ellie. I remember a girl with a plait screaming in the park. Ellie Stone. "Is she alone?" I demand worriedly.

The blond gives a small smile and shakes his head. "No, her brother's with her. I'm Morty by the way, Ecruteak City's Gym Leader."

I remember vaguely seeing Ecruteak City on the map of Johto but that's all I remember about it.

"What happened?" I wonder at Morty's willingness to introduce himself to me and wonder what Looker has told him.

"Exactly as I said," Morty answers calmly, "Ellie had a psychic outburst and you caught it." He seems freeing with his information about Ellie being a psychic and it only makes my suspicion grow. Looker said the Stone family were attacked because the daughter was psychic and then they ran, shouldn't Ellie's powers be kept a secret as much as possible?

"What about Team Rocket?"

"That was one Grunt," Looker explains, "the guards arrested him. Unfortunately, it meant that Kenji was able to get away before I could question him. I am most certain he was involved in that Department Store theft."

"So Ellie's safe?" I still hate saying the name, maybe she isn't Mia but until I can confirm that, she is to me and I don't want to use another name for her.

Morty nods. "For now but we'll have to move quickly. You have our thanks for the use of your room to lay low."
"My room?" I glance over to Looker who appears a little embarrassed as he rubs at the back of his neck and gives an awkward smile.

It's a little difficult to tell lying down but what I can see of the wall and ceiling do look vaguely familiar.

"It seemed sensible to go somewhere they ordinarily wouldn't," Looker says.

I reach up to push back my hair from my face and feel the tangle it's become. "What's he told you?" I query as I turn my attention back to Morty.

Morty gives me a wide smile and taps the right side of his nose with one finger. "Why don't we hear what you have to tell me first?"

I can feel a frown tugging on my mouth but it tightens the skin at my brow where a headache is forming so I have to cease the gesture and opt for a neutral expression. Is Morty trying to see if my story matches Looker's? I glance up to the police officer and speculate that it won't but I don't really care.

"Start with an introduction," Morty suggests.

"I'm Larry."

Morty lets out a mocking snort, folds his arms and shakes his head. "Is that it?"

I glance again from him to Looker. Looker's expression is calm, no warning or hinting glances for me. I'm still not sure of his goal in this, he was following Troy not Ellie so his interest is in Team Rocket, saving Ellie sounds like it might be a bonus. Has he told Morty everything then? I think back to how we located Morty and the others and realise that maybe another told Morty about me.

"Did Whitney tell you about me?" I query calmly.

Morty's smile returns and he nods. "Yeah, she's very proud you chose her city to visit. I only went to find out when the park stayed open to for Ellie and she's telling me all about this awesome Elite Four member all the way from Paldea who specialises in Normal Pokemon. Then it's all about how that proves how great Normal Pokemon are." Morty shrugs and lets his arms drop back down by his sides. "I've never had anything against Normal Pokemon they just aren't my speciality."

"She must've described Larry quite well for you to recognise him," Looker observes.

I don't bother pointing out that Whitney probably mentioned my name, which I just told Morty so it's not like the blond had to do much recognising.

Morty glances over to him and then back down to me. I'm starting to feel like I'm being interrogated and part of me wants to sit up but this is the first in a long time that I've had an excuse to rest so I remain as I am.

"Old guy in a suit with a briefcase." Apparently Whitney did offer up a description of me then.

My head throbs as the frown returns and tugs at the skin about my brow. "I'm not that old."

"To Whitney anyone over thirty is old," Morty answers cheerfully. "She said you're a Gym Leader too, that's a little confusing, don't you let that go when you move up in the League?"

"Not if you're me."

"Uh huh. So why have you come all the way from Paldea to here? Don't say it was to meet Whitney, Normal Type or not I don't think you two would have that much to talk about."

Now is the time to take a gamble, something I have never been good at. I'm a play it safe and keeps things normal man, no change is good, risk is bad. I wonder where Ellie and her brother could be with the dinner as my stomach growls and I speculate that I'm not going to see either of them if Morty doesn't judge me safe enough.

"Team Rocket are after Ellie and they've got a lead on her, we wanted to warn you and help keep her safe." It's the truth even if I have omitted a few things.

"You don't know Ellie."

"I know what Team Rocket can do to psychics." I keep out the specifics of this as I look for Morty's reaction. Am I right in thinking he is a psychic too? Does he know about why Team Rocket are after Ellie? Does he know this false mother in Hoenn was badly injured trying to protect her?

I decide it's time for me to ask some questions. "Do you know Ellie, Morty?"

Annoyance flickers through his violet stare and I catch a flash of something else there, a bright spark of electric lilac illuminates his irises briefly and I feel an odd prickling across my skin for a second.

"Only for a few weeks," Morty confesses.

"Do you know the danger she's in?"

Morty nods. "That's why I'm with her. Our Champion Lance was good enough to recommend me to Steven-" Morty pauses and bows his head briefly. I push myself up slightly and see he is clenching his fists. I wonder if perhaps it is the way of a Champion to dictate their wishes upon their subordinates as Morty speaks of his Champion with the same biting tone so many back home refer to Geeta with.

Morty tilts his head up slightly to reveal the shade of a bitter smile. "Lance knew when I met her that I wouldn't turn her away," he says quietly. "She's vulnerable and she's scared, all that talent but she has no clue how to contain it or use it."

Morty's head snaps up and his gaze is back on me instantly. "You know something about that, don't you? Why else would you ask? Why have you come all this way to give a warning? How did you even know, all the way in Paldea, that she was getting followed here in Johto?"

"They were in Paldea once," I answer softly. "I wouldn't see it repeated."

"Hmm."

Morty pulls back from me at long last and I push myself up into a sitting position. As I swing my legs round the couch I am on, dizziness crosses me again. My stomach rumbles and I find myself slumping slightly over my lap.

I hear a door opening quickly and feet running in.

"I'm not waiting any longer Steven he's dizzy again!"

Ellie.

Heat wafts up against my face and I hear a rattle as a tray is shoved onto my lap. I blink down at in confusion as I try to take in what's going on. I see some kind of limp looking sandwich beside an overwatered bowl of noodles and a cup of steaming tea.

"They didn't have much left and I didn't know what to get you," Ellie babbles.

I glance up to her at last. She has the gentle, pale grey eyes that I remember but there is no recognition in them for me only concern. The innocence of youth has faded and the child engraved in my memory vanishes in an instant as I study her face. It's too painful trying to seek out the traces of familiarity. My gaze drops down to the hands that used to always slip into mine. I glimpse a painful looking pattern of scarring on them before she yanks them from the tray and shields them behind her back.

I realise I am alarming her with my staring and my silence.

"Thank you," I say the words softly to the tray.

"You're welcome," she answers cheerfully. "Um...I'm sorry I hurt you in the park, I didn't mean to do that," she adds awkwardly.

I glance up to her again and see the worry and fear Mia had that day she burned the curtains. I am filled with a fresh guilt for causing it in her twice now.

"It's okay," I reassure her.

She frowns and shakes her head causing her plait to swing out with the movement.

"So what's the story then? You came to warn us about Team Rocket?"

I look up at the query and over to the man who followed Ellie in. He stands close to her, arms folded as he surveys me with a guarded stare. He is smartly dressed with a hint of wealth to his attire in his crimson cravat and the steel cuffs on his dark jacket. I feel a little underdressed and am conscious that my suit is over-wrinkled with wear.

"He came all the way from Paldea," Morty answers calmly, "because he knows something of Team Rocket and psychics. His briefcase looks business but it's deeper than that, it's not a work trip for him unlike this guy."

I see Morty jerk his thumb in Looker's direction. Looker is unconcerned, his dark stare scrutinises Ellie, ignoring Morty's gesture.

I realise with a start that my briefcase isn't with me and I search the room quickly for it. I spot it resting against a wall with a curious bird Pokemon inspecting it. The Pokemon starts to prod at it with an item I realise is in fact a leek.

"There's nothing in it for Pokemon," I murmur.

"Huh?" Ellie glances over her shoulder to the briefcase. "Quackles stop that!"

"Quackles?" Looker queries the name before I can.

The smart dressed man, who I am assuming to be Steven Stone, gives a soft sigh. "She was only about ten when she named him."

Ten. Four years gone to me by then. Is this bird Pokemon her first? How did she come by it? Was there a fleeting memory of me and my Starly when she chose it?

"What is it?"

Ellie heads over to it, bends down and scoops it up. She turns and round and carries it back to me with a smile.

I feel a twitch at the corner of my mouth and realise with surprise that it is an attempt at a smile. The Pokemon is a brown feathered heap of unimpressed, managing to make a scowl with its yellow beak, helped along by its prominent, dark brow.

"This is Quackles, he's a Farfetch'd," Ellie informs me cheerfully.

"A Normal, Flying type," Steven says as if it's a complaint, "that doesn't even evolve and is not native Hoenn."

"He's just fine the way he is," Ellie answers brightly.

I want to grab her in a hug and never let go, it really is Mia. All these years passed and yet I can see that she is my daughter still.

My stomach gives a loud grumble letting everyone know it will no longer be denied. Embarrassed, I direct my stare to the tray and start eating the sandwich. It's soaked with vinegar, the meat is thin and the salad too sparse but I am loving every bite anyway because she brought it to me. A hundred questions rush through me but I stay silent as I eat. I am scared of frightening or upsetting her and I have no clue how to even explain who I am to her. I thought somehow that she would just know upon seeing me but she seems to show no indication of it. Has she forgotten her first six years of life? Perhaps the trauma of what happened has made her suppress it all?

"So you're with the International Police," I hear Steven address Looker in an icy calm, "and you've been tracking Team Rocket who you believe are following us."
"Yes."

"And you want to help us what, evade them?"

"Well that would be a proposal of a temporary solution. The goal is to arrest them for their crimes, yes, and see justice brought. It is Troy who I have been following-"

"What?" Ellie's voice comes out almost in a yelp. "He's here?"

"Ellie don't panic," Steven's words come out kind but firm as if they are an order rather than advice.

I look up to see him hurry over to her. He embraces her in a loose hug. "He's not in the hotel," he reassures her.

"How does he keep finding me?" she gasps out fearfully. "First mom, Steven you'll be hurt next just like I said!"

In time to Ellie's shout the dinner set on my tray and a few lamps begin to rattle. I watch numbly as the watery substance the noodles are drowning in splashes out over the tray.

I hear the Farfetch'd complain loudly with several quacks.

"Ellie I promised I would take care of you and I always will," Steven answers firmly.

I look up at Steven's words, they sound like a solemn vow. How has he become so bonded to her? How did she travel all the way from Paldea to Hoenn and fall in with this Stone family? The questions are jumbling up in my mind and merging with one another like yolks whisked in a bowl.

"Steady Ellie," Morty pipes up. I glance his way and see him looking apprehensive. He turns his attention to Ellie and raises two fingers to press against the purple band at his brow. "No one is in danger right now, you are safe." He states the words calmly but there is a firmness to them too.

I am curious about this Gym Leader, am I right in thinking him a psychic too and is he using his powers right now?

I hear Ellie give a soft sigh and the cutlery settles once more.

"Don't they call you The Mystic Seer of the Future?"

I turn my attention to Looker and wonder who his question is for. He remains calm, apparently unruffled by shaking lamps or the upset his mentioning of this Troy has caused. I recall the photograph he sent me of a man with scars upon his face, the man who took Mia and who, ten years on, is still trying to ruin her life. I have come here knowing so little of him or his organisation, one with a reach that has spread out to Paldea and to Hoenn, stretching across the oceans in a determination to get Mia. I know from that that he will not stop until either he has her again or he is permanently stopped. That is not a thought I can deal with right now.

Morty gives a dismissive snort. "Sure but it's never clear and that's the irony in my handing out the Fog Badge. What are you wondering? If I saw either of you? If I can see these Team Rocket people?"

Morty shakes his head and I see in him the same tiredness that often plagues me. I can sympathise with him serving in a role that always seems to demand more.

"It doesn't work like that," Morty explains. "I can see what others cannot but there's always more I'm missing." He gestures to Mia and Steven with one hand. "The day they arrived I knew something would happen, I had a headache, my Ghost Pokemon were restless and I kept glimpses of two people and I could hear the chiming of bells and I would see the sun casting long shadows for just a moment."

"What does any of that mean?" Looker pries.

Morty folds his arms and his blond eyebrows furrow slightly. "It meant Steven and Ellie arriving at the Bellchime Trail at sunset," he answers with a detection of smugness to his voice.

"And what glimpses did you get of us then?" Looker continues his interrogation. I wonder why he didn't do it while I was unconscious or if Morty was the one doing all the interrogating then.

Morty gives a small smile. "It wasn't me who got the glimpses."

"Pain," I hear Ellie pipe up quietly. "All this red pain and this horrible emptiness. I was scared I'd done it." I feel her eyes upon me and I look over to her. My regret is instant. "I get voids sometimes because I can't control the psychic powers." She squeezes the Farfetch'd bundled in her arms causing it to flap its wings in protest. She releases her grasp and it jumps down with an annoyed squawk. "I didn't know what it meant when I felt it in you, I thought maybe I'd done it in the park but it's an old void isn't it?"

I nod numbly. Is that why we've been brought into their trust then? Did Ellie mistake me for a psychic? By Arceus what an irony that should be. Not for the first time I wish I had been taken in her mother's place. Her mother would be able to handle this better, she would have already confessed her identity now instead of staying silent like me.

Ellie steps away from Steven at last, she pushes back her dark hair and paces across the room, heading towards the bathroom door until something catches her eye.

"A Girafig."

I look up to the oversized plush I left abandoned against the wall what feels like an age ago. My gift for her when we were united again.

She glances over her shoulder to us and I see her eyes are watering. "I...I really liked them once I think but I don't remember why."

I discard the tray to the side of the sofa and stand, ready to confess. I want to blurt out to that she loved Girafigs because they were both psychic and normal, just like her.

There is a metallic clatter as the air vent is forced inwards and falls to the floor. A huge, purple serpent emerges from the vent in a rapid movement and heads for Ellie.