We are waiting secluded upstairs in a spacious room of a timber building where no one will bother us. Bugsy has provided it to us, only too eager to help out his Champion, especially after said Champion helped get a wounded Kurt back to the surface with his Dragonite and assisted with getting the injured Slowpoke to the Pokemon Centre. Apparently their tails will grow back but that's no excuse for the manner in which Proton removed them.

Our breakfast is spoiling on a cluttered table against the wall. No one is hungry.

Morty, Lance and Steven are next door with Kenji, separated from us by a heavy wall and door. I have mixed feelings about it, Kenji is in Team Rocket after all but he did save my life and he is young, I don't want him to be hurt. I do not think Morty would approve of any violence onto the man but I don't know if he'd stop it either.

There is a small bathroom next door and I contemplate making use of it but I don't see the point in washing if I don't have any clean clothes to change into. Bugsy has promised to sort that, stating happily that it would be the least he could do. I doubt he'll find much in the way of a suit and can't fathom how he'll get a fitted one without knowing my clothing sizes.

"Ellie, why don't you clean up?" I suggest gently as I look over to her.

She has stood rigid in the centre of the room since we arrived here, glancing every so often to the door to the room the others are in as if contemplating bursting through it. Her only movement has been to clench and unclench the ends of her scarf.

Ellie holds out her hands and stares down at them. Drying Slowpoke blood has stained them a brownish-red.

"The blood," she says quietly, "there was so much of it... Mmm..." She starts to whimper out a word. "Mom...me." She throws back her and screams.

I am frozen as Ellie's wail fills the air and the plates of cold food start to tremble in unison with her cries.

"MOMMY!" she screams out the word as tears start to streak down her face.

I open my mouth to yell as I see smoke escape from her fingertips followed by a frightening display of flames.

The centre door is flung open and I think for a moment that she has done it until Morty's head leans out. His violet eyes widen and he runs into the room.

"Ellie!" He grabs at her shoulders, unafraid of the yellow flames shooting out of her fingertips, and gives her a gentle shake.

I hear a yell of pain from the room next door and as I look over the door is slammed shut.

"Ellie deep breath now, come on," Morty urges. "Put your hands down."

Her hands drop to her sides and she clenches her fists. A yelp of pain escapes her as the fire is pushed into her palms and smoke continues to seep out of her hands. Is this how she has gotten her scars by burning herself?

I hear banging. Looker has gone to the central door and is thumping at it angrily. The room has become chaotic.

I focus on Ellie and hasten over to her and Morty though I'm not sure what I should say.

"Do you like art?" I blurt it out.

"Huh?" Ellie blinks at me in surprise. The watery grief in her gaze fills me with woe.

"Art? Do you draw? Paint?" It used to be how she'd calm down in her youth, drawings were a good way to focus her on something other than fear or psychic outbursts and a good distraction when she got upset.

"Um... I used to." She sniffs and rubs at her nose with her shirt sleeve. I see small tendrils of smoke still seeping out of her fingertips.

"What did you draw?"

"Me and Steven usually and our Pokemon and that beach I told you about, the one we can't find."

I nod along enthusiastically. "Yes, anything else?"

"These Pokemon that I don't know," she answers softly. "Steven says I must've seen them on t.v. or in a book, they're not native to Hoenn." She shakes her head in confusion. "I don't know."

A loud yell of pain draws our attention to the door. I hear the rattle of plates as Ellie's power creeps back in reaction to it.

There is a loud bang and smoke fills the air without warning. I begin to cough almost instantly and wonder in one frightened moment is Ellie has unleashed the fire. One hand rises up to my mouth to try and stifle my inhaling of it. I realise quickly that I can see and feel no flames. My free hand grabs Ellie's shoulder instinctively.

"Gengar go!" Morty wastes no time in calling out his Pokemon.

My eyes burn and for a moment I can only see the thick, wispy grey smoke that pollutes the room. I can hear coughing from next door, the smoke has gotten to them as well.

We have been ambushed.

I hear the central door opening and a mixture of voices as the smoke starts to dissipate.

"Big Pokemon, small spaces," Morty rasps out scornfully, "it's not good."
Seeing the towering shape of Lance's Dragonite stomping into the room I realise what Morty is referring to.

"Now, now," a mocking voice pipes up, "no need for the hostility, I was only trying to break the tension peacefully."

I rub away the water from my eyes and keep a firm hold of Ellie as I search the room for our latest arrival.

He stands to one side near the ajar door, arms folded with his face partially concealed by a crimson scarf. He looks around my age with a greyness at his roots to plague his dark crop of sable spikes but there is something childish in his mocking gaze and his attire is puzzling. He is taller than me and a lot more imposing with his tough stance and toned figure, definitely not a man who has spent any time in an office.

"Koga," Lance snaps as he charges into the room in the wake of his Dragonite. His hands are bare and on them I see a telling sheen of crimson dripping from his fingers. Was Steven's suggestion they not become like Team Rocket just for show then? A lie to placate Ellie?

"I called you for help, what are you doing throwing smoke bombs?"

The man reaches up to slide the scarf down from his face to rest at his neck, exposing a taunting grin to the Champion. "I sensed trouble, I thought it better to get everyone's attention first and then ask questions."

His gaze darts to the door and he brazenly steps past Lance and into the room, the long end of the scarf trailing in his wake. I look from it to Ellie, she is watching him mesmerised and clutching at the end of her own scarf tightly with one hand.

"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck," I hear Kenji laughing almost hysterically. "Well if it isn't the great ninja master."

"That laugh," Ellie says the words seriously. "That laugh!" She jerks free from me and runs to the room, shouldering past Lance as she does. "I know you! I know you!"

Curious, Morty, Lance and I all hasten into the room after her.

Looker is already there, crouched by the wounded Kenji and glowering up to Steven reproachfully. Steven hangs back near the window, his pallor almost grey as his mouth wrinkles from a straight line to a frown and then back repetitively.

I take Kenji in as Ellie flings herself down before him with an almost crazed stare. His face is exposed and dripping with blood, his nose is swollen, his jaw too and his right eye squints as it starts to form a bruise. His hat and mask are discarded carelessly to the floor while he remains with his hands cuffed behind him.

Ellie grabs at his shoulders and squeezes them. "I'm not crazy am I? I...you're that boy! You..." Tears are pouring down her cheeks anew and an odd humming noise takes up the air.

Steven glances over his shoulder in surprise and steps to one side as he sees the windowpane quivering.

"You...all those years ago...he had that laugh."
Kenji gives a heavy sigh before tilting his head up to Koga momentarily. "Shall we be out with it then? You've triggered it you know, damn ninja." He lowers his stare to Ellie and smiles though the gesture has him wincing in pain.

I realise I am tense and my heart is pounding against my chest rapidly in anticipation. What is going on?

"Yes," Kenji addresses Ellie almost mournfully, "I'm that boy, didn't give you my name back then did I? Neither did Koga here and you met him for less time. Quite hurtful, you see me what, three times now but you're only remembering with his appearance?"

"I...I can't help it, I have voids," Ellie answers quietly. "Team Rocket...they...you did things to me with Drowzee and Hypnos." She swallows hard and her breaths start escaping rapidly. "It's created gaps in my memory."

I wince as I feel a dull throbbing begin in my skull. I reach up to it instinctively and feel Morty's worried eyes dart in my direction.
"Hey, I didn't do any of that," though he is protesting, Kenji has taken on a surprisingly sympathetic tone. "I helped you. The moment I met you and learned what was happening to you, I helped."

Ellie sniffles and then nods. I feel the ache in my skull begin to recede as swiftly as it appeared.

"That's right, I...I was crying and you said I couldn't be having as bad a day as you." She tilts her head in puzzlement. "Something about getting shocked by a Pikachu but ten Pikachu wouldn't be as bad as your mother on any day ending in Y and then you laughed."

Kenji gives his familiar laugh at this and nods. "Yep, that's about right. Didn't make you laugh though, you just cried harder, poor kid, had to make me feel sorry for you. You with your bruises and your tears, all the age of you but all the age of me too, I was only nine but you put that guilt of me anyway."
"What is going on?" Lance interrupts rudely. "Koga?"

I look to the dragon trainer and see him facing the stoic, still smiling man for an explanation.

"I'm getting to it!" Kenji yells, drawing our attention back to him. "You are an impatient asshole ain't you? Lofty, high and mighty Champion, no time for the Grunts." He shakes his head. "Well I'm all you caught today, so sorry!"

"Kenji."

Kenji stills as Ellie presses a palm up to his right cheek lightly. I feel a surge of anger and bend down down to take a firm grasp upon the briefcase I had to leave with Bugsy for our trip to the well. I struggle to suppress the desire to swat Ellie's hand away from Kenji.

Kenji gives her another smile before turning his head to the right sharply and spitting up blood. "Damn it, nearly ten years on and you still have a way about you, grown out of the guilt tripping and into the charm."
I can feel my knuckles ache as I clench my free hand too tightly at the word 'charm', I do not like how Kenji says it.

"What happened? You helped me, didn't you?" Ellie queries.

Kenji nods. "Yep, suicidal perhaps but I did, course I was only nine like I said so I couldn't do it alone." He nods up to Koga. "I took a gamble trusting him, course he caught me trying to slip you out so I didn't have much choice. Do you remember none of it?"

Ellie shakes her head.

"Hmm. Well, I had a plan but you started it early, Troy wanted you to show your skills off to the boss, you got scared and you caused a fire in the house, Troy got burned. I got you out in the confusion but they were looking and Koga found us. Can't say why you chose to help, can you?" Kenji looks up to the ninja.

Koga shrugs but refrains from answering.

"Wait a minute," Steven speaks at last, confused and angry, "you're in Team Rocket?" He points at Koga accusingly. "You were a Gym Leader and you're in the Elite!"

The Elite? So he is like me in that sense then. Perhaps his odd dress sense is a Johto thing.

"He's our inside man," Lance answers with a cool calm. "He was in Team Rocket as a true member once but then he came offering to turn on them in exchange for a promotion." Lance turns to face the man. "Well ninja aren't trustworthy at the best of times but his intel has proved good over the years."
"You should be in jail!" Looker shouts indignantly at Koga. He turns his glower to Lance. "You've rewarded him for his crimes!"

Lance stands to the right of Kenji, bloodied hands by his side as he shows no guilt for his violence. "His service has saved more than he would rotting in jail," Lance dismisses the officer's outrage calmly, "and he makes for a formidable member of the Elite Four."

Looker shakes his head in disgust.

"Lance, what have you been doing?" Steven queries. He sounds distressed and when I look his way I see the alarm in his grey gaze.

"What I've had to," Lance answers in an abrupt manner. "I've two regions to mind, every time the Champion mantle is taken up in Kanto it's dropped again. You only had one region and you lost control Steven, you know the difficulties."

I whip my head round quickly to see Steven's expression to this accusation. Fear and anger flash across his face but he offers no response. What does Lance mean about Steven losing control? Is it why he is a former Champion? I wonder at life Ellie has lived with him and my gaze drops down to her again.

Ellie turns from Kenji and holds up the stained ends of her scarf to the ninja. "This is yours, isn't it?"

"It was once...perhaps," he answers with amusement.

"He took you off into the woods," Kenji explains. "I didn't see him until a few months later, he said you were safe but he wouldn't say who with."

"And why are you both here now?" Looker demands. "All these times we've kept running into you, why? Are you still working for Troy? Perhaps you regret what you did in saving her and now you want to repent for it."

I hear the jingle of metal as Kenji shakes his hands in annoyance. "I don't regret it," he snarls. "There is a lot I regret, years of shit I can't undo, probably more of it to come I'm sure, I can't get out of it but I don't regret helping you." He fixes his stare back onto Ellie. "I'm still doing it sure." He smiles again and shakes his head. "A few weeks ago Troy said he'd found you and I kept thinking of that little girl crying because her hands hurt. I knew I couldn't let him get you again. Course, I didn't realise he'd gone to Hoenn, that was a near miss. I've been doing my best to keep him off your scent since, haven't I? You and Rei check out the hotel Kenji, see if she's there, oops Rei's bumped his head, hyuck-hyuck-hyuck!" He throws back his head in his wild laughter.

"That Grunt in the hotel, you knocked him out?" I make it a question even though I realise it must be what happened.

"Yep." Kenji nods. "He thinks one of you surprised him, thank Arceus for that. Troy knew you were in Goldenrod somewhere, exhausting trying to keep his gaze elsewhere, the park was a close call too, I wasn't expecting you there or a Grunt to show up, just as well that idiot had no knowledge of you. Then Troy knew you'd left. Well I followed you, realised you were heading for here where Proton would be so I tried to get ahead. Sure you weren't on Proton's radar yet but it wouldn't take much, I hoped I'd have him gone before you arrived but I wasn't quick enough."
"I don't believe you!" Steven surprises me with the anger in his voice. He clenches his fists as he glowers down at the man with hate and hurt in his eyes. "You're in Team Rocket, you people are thugs! You almost killed my mother!"

Kenji flinches at the accusation. "Yeah," he says miserably, "we are the criminal gangsters of the Pokemon world. I ain't saying I'm good but I made a promise almost ten years ago that if Troy ever found the psychic again I would do everything I could to keep her safe from him."

"Why?" Ellie queries quietly.

Kenji offers her a smile again. "All that he did to you and you need to ask why? Taking you from your family, murdering them, hurting you and messing up your mind. You deserve only happiness after that."

Murdering them...do they think I'm dead too? Does Mia think it? Mia...Ellie why is she remembering Kenji and Koga but all this time spent with me and I don't come back to her mind?

There is a soft, nervous squeak from Kenji and a golden furred head emerges from his top, poking up under his chin.

"Is that a Shiny Rattata?" Morty marvels.

"Who did you steal that from then?" Lance demands.

"No one!" Kenji answers angrily.

Ellie extends a finger down to it and it gives her a lick. "Ratty," she murmurs with a small smile, "we've met." She looks up to Lance. "This is Kenji's Pokemon."

"Can't be that I'd get a Shiny on my own," Kenji huffs, "like I ain't heard all that before. Well I did! Ratty's my first, he and I go way back. Koga can vouch for it too, right?"
Koga nods obligingly when we all look his way. He's a quiet man, perhaps unwilling to incriminate himself anymore than Kenji has incriminated them. I share Steven's disgust that he should hold so high and privileged an office while being a criminal. He may well have turned spy but he did not start that way.

"What now then?" Morty queries wearily.

"You go to Olivine City with Koga," Lance instructs, "and get out of Johto."

Indignation sparks in Morty's violet gaze at this. He gestures to himself with one hand. "Me too?"

Lance cocks his head in Morty's direction and something passes between them, a gaze unseen by me. "If you think your services are rendered to Ellie fine, go back to Ecruteak, maybe you'll find your Legendary, maybe you won't and maybe Ellie will get control of her powers but the outburst during this past half hour suggests otherwise."

I see the anger in Morty's stare before he banishes it to turn a more sympathetic one to Ellie. "Well where do we go then? They know Hoenn is her home."

"Paldea," I make the correction without thinking.

"What?" Steven's suspicious stare is upon me.

"Go to Paldea?" Lance muses. "Well perhaps they wouldn't expect that."

"They've been there before," Looker speaks up, perhaps threatening to reveal the secret I just can't.

"They've been everywhere it seems," Lance dismisses his point, "doesn't mean they'd think Ellie would go there." He crouches down to Kenji and grabs him under the chin, jerking his head round to face Lance directly. "Would they go there, Grunt?"

Kenji squirms slightly in his grasp. "How would I know? I've never heard Troy mention it, never heard anyone mention it. He knows she was coming this way though, not much time for lingering here."

"Hmm. You'll head for Olivine City," Lance decides, "Koga will help if you run into anymore Rockets then it's up to you where you go Steven but I think Paldea is a good idea."

Lance looks over Kenji to Looker. "You can take charge of the Grunt, Officer..."

"Looker," he answers coldly.

"Right, throw him in a cell or whatever you want."

"No," Ellie pipes up, "please, he's helped me."
"He's still a criminal," Looker argues.

Ellie looks to Kenji with worry. "You put yourself in danger helping me."
"I know," he says happily.

"Well I'm not having you punished for it. Can't you leave Team Rocket?"

Kenji sighs. "No, I was born for it so I have to die for it, it's a little complicated." He glances up to Koga again. "Look, let me change out of this all too telling uniform and I'll see you to Olivine City with Koga, keep you safe until you're out of Johto. We've a headquarters in Johto, here's the hotspot, you'll be safer from it."

Steven groans. "Of course you're based here now," he grumbles sardonically, "of course. It used to be Kanto."

"That was when Giovanni stood charge," Lance murmurs.

"Yes, another Gym Leader," Looker points out accusingly. "How many do you have in their team?"

Lance frowns over at him. "You know I was up at Mahogany Town dealing with a poor Gyrados enraged by radio waves Team Rocket were sending out there. I almost had the Executive there but he slipped away. I do my best with them but they're like a cancer, you root out one tumour and up pops another. I daresay it's still Giovanni in charge somewhere, I got him out of the Gym once I knew, what did you lot do about it? No arrests that I know of, you did one feeble investigation of his Gym before turning it over to me and that was about it."

Morty claps his hands together and rubs his palms, interrupting another heated conversation. "So, Paldea then? Larry has great things to say about the coffee there."