The sound of Ellie's crying cuts through me as we head up the stony shore. So often she has been happy, our bright spark in spite of the troubles we have faced on our journey about Johto and I don't know how to manage with her upset. I gaze across the grim, grey dampness and see her grasping tightly at Steven's shoulders as she wails hard against his chest as if somehow he might undo what has happened.

Steven is staring out to the ocean blankly, he has one arm about Ellie but his grasp is loose and I don't think he's taking her in anymore. His right eye has started to bruise and blood stains his cheek and chin while his sleeve is in tatters exposing wounded flesh beneath it.

Seeing Steven's injuries make me conscious of my own. Adrenaline and shock had pushed them back but now the pain and tiredness creep in. My face is throbbing from Troy's punch and my neck is definitely bruising from his attempt to strangle me.

The sandy side of the beach is chaotic with survivors. Behind us the noise of rescue boats, screaming, police sirens and the loud, frantic splashing of water Pokemon being sent out to serve on rescue missions fills the air. I expect Steven and Ellie drifted there as we did but came here to evade people. It is a possibility that more than Team Rocket noticed it was Ellie's cries that brought Lugia upon us.

Team Rocket are nowhere to be seen. It is a mercy but also a disappointment and a tad suspicious. Did they head up shore or are they perhaps amongst the other survivors in disguise? Looker wanted to check for them but Koga's Golbat alerted him to the presence of Ellie and Steven on the stones.

Catching movement near Ellie out of the corner of my eye, I turn to the right and see Morty approaching behind Steven. He has a heavy, woollen blanket in hand and a tall, slim young woman walking beside him with a concerned look upon her fair face.

Morty crouches down and wraps the blanket about Steven and Ellie before turning our way as he stands upright again. I see the suspicion growing in his violet gaze as he takes in Koga.

"Is that...Koga?" Morty's female companion quips in awe. Her voice is barely audible over Ellie's frantic crying.

Our shoes crunch loudly over the stones and twice I almost slip over their smooth, sea soaked forms.

"The real one apparently," Looker explains, with enough doubt in his voice to keep the suspicion in Morty's eyes.

Morty turns his stare upon me and I sigh. "He got all of our Poke Balls back and he saved me," I admit. "I don't know what he's meant to be like though."

"Who would've thought being low key would become a crime," Koga mutters sarcastically.

Morty looks at him with surprise. "All of our Poke Balls?" he marvels. "Then...they're not gone."
I cock my head in Koga's direction as he nods. "Yes, happy to return them but I'm not exactly sure whose is whose."

Morty hurries over to him with excitement. "Mine all have a small M carved into the steel clasp, makes it a little easier."

Koga hunts through the folds of his black jacket and produces a large quantity of Poke Balls cradled in his hands.

Morty lifts them and inspects them, taking back four with a look of delight. He calls them all out in one go bringing forth his Gengar, a Gastly and two Haunter.

"Glad to see you're all okay guys!"

Ellie's sobbing has stopped. I look down to her immediately and see her rubbing snot onto her soaked sleeve. She fixes her teary stare up to me and is silent.

I wonder immediately if Ellie heard my confession to Troy.

"You're alive," she says hoarsely.

Ellie shrugs off the blanket, fumbles free from Steven and her shoes scrape loudly on the stones as she stands. She stumbles forward to Looker, Koga and I. Her eyes are wide and confused and I can tell that it's all too much for her. Blood starts to trickle down her nostrils and her mouth trembles.

I reach out to her instinctively, pulling her into a hug against me. Too many times now I have almost lost her.

Ellie starts to cry anew. "Who are you?" she chokes out between sobs. "I don't understand! Nothing ever makes sense! Every...every...everything's got black parts vvv...voids and yy...you...you!" She shakes her head in frustration and I squeeze her gently as I sense a scream coming. "Koga wasn't Koga, I...I can't even trust my own mind! Should I know you too? I don't remember things right!"

"Ellie," Koga speaks up calmly, "do not blame yourself for Petrel's ruse, I hate to pay him a compliment but he is good at disguises."

She gives a loud sniff and pulls her head back from me to look to the ninja. "How do I know?" she queries quietly. "What if it was him I met back then? Maybe I didn't escape, maybe they've always known...I don't know, there are too many blanks!"

"Now," he chides her gently, "what sense does it make that they would just let you go, hmm? Besides, Troy isn't that clever, don't credit him with wits. I helped you out back then, you and Kenji, two helpless kids, I had to." He glances to Steven who remains stoic on the stones and nods. "I found him and Lance and made sure they found you. I see you still have my scarf after all these years."

Ellie glances down to the crimson garment that hangs heavy from her with damp. "You said to keep me warm."
"And get you found," Koga says.

Ellie nods to the scarf.

"Ellie, Troy did a lot to you. I was there, I know. He had his Pokemon invading your mind, it caused a lot of trauma and since you are psychic, when you tried to block it out, you really did block it out. You weren't called Ellie when you came to us, seeing your mother die the way she did, it was too much for you and you blocked out everything of your life before Troy got his hands on you."

I feel Koga's gaze fix upon me. I realise he is giving me a chance to confess now.

"You didn't recognise me when we met," I say softly. "At first I wondered if it was you so I said nothing but then, I didn't know how to confess. I was afraid of your reaction, that you would hate me because I wasn't there when it happened because I took so long to find you because..." I shake my head.

"Who are you then?" This angry demand comes from Steven who has stood up at last. He stands behind Ellie, hands clenched and a scowl upon his wounded face. I realise he has mild burn marks showing through holes in his shirt, probably from the electric Pokemon's attack. It is a wonder he is standing.

"I'm your father," I give the answer to Ellie. "I named you Mia, my little me."

Ellie sucks in a deep breath. It is followed quickly by another and another until they become frantic.

Morty hurries forward and grips her shoulders. "It's okay Ellie," he says gently, "just breathe naturally."

Ellie starts to gasp and I see her quivering as her skins pales to the point of her veins being on prominent display.

"Ttt...the-the-the fire, fire is bad, my puppy, my mommy. MY MOMMY!"

I see stars and find myself falling back into the darkness with the invisible force of power that slams into me.

"Who missed daddy? You did, oh yes you did, good boy! I missed you Officer Pawly!"

The pounding on all sides of my skull lets me know that I am not dreaming. Unfortunately, I really am hearing Looker cooing at his Pokemon like he's become demented.

I open my eyes and regret it instantly as the glow of a ceiling light has my skull screaming anew with pain. A groan escapes me and it must come out louder than intended for Looker falls silent instantly.

"Don't move," I hear a woman's voice order. Her voice is soft but there is a sternness to it.

I wonder briefly if I am being threatened until a damp compress is pressed up against my brow.

"Okay," she commands, " sit up very slowly, I have some tablets here for you for your pain."

I obey. Even this minimal movement has stabs of agony shooting up my body and I regret it. I want to remain still and silent in the hopes of the pain fading.

"Here you go." The woman presses two tablets into my hand. "I've got a glass of water here too."
I lift the tablets to my mouth and welcome the glass into my hand. The water and tablets go down painfully as my throat is tender.

"You keep doing that blacking out a lot," Looker pipes up, "it's a wonder you haven't been concussed. Er, you aren't concussed are you Larry? That would be disastrous. Maybe you're tired all the time, is it insomnia? Wait, I mean, do you have that then you're overtired?"

Overtired, yes that's the word for it, overworked and overtired, perpetually exhausted like some kind of worn out Rookidee instead of the early rising Fletchling.

The woman reaches behind me and then eases me back to prop up against a cushion with the damp cloth remaining against my brow.

"There we go."
I take her in at last. She is the woman from the beach, softly spoken with a light touch and yet in her blue gaze I see a steely resolve, there is a toughness underneath her slight appearance.

"I'm Jasmine," she introduces, "Gym Leader here."

"What happened?"

I remember Ellie screaming on the beach. Did I make her scream?

"You and Ellie fainted," Looker explains.

"Is she alright?"

Jasmine's face becomes tainted with worry. "She's downstairs, I have her resting by the fire, I think she took a bit of a chill. I had to call the doctor out for you, her, and her brother. The injuries on him, he got electrocuted you know!"

"I want to see her." I sit upright and the damp cloth tumbles to my lap.

"You're in no fit state," Jasmine attempts to caution me but her voice is too gentle.

"Take me to her," I insist.

Jasmine glances over her shoulder to Looker.

"He has survived worse than stairs," Looker says cheerfully.

The Growlithe gives an excitable yip as it runs about his legs before nuzzling up to him. Looker bends down to cradle its face in his hands before he turns my way.

"I shall assist of course," he offers.

I swing my legs round from the bed I have been lying on and stand. My vision swims and I fall back to the bed instantly.

"See, please be careful," Jasmine begs. She lifts the cloth and hands it back to me.

I raise the cloth to my burning brow as Looker extends a hand down to me.

I accept Looker's hand and stand as he pulls. With one hand holding the cloth to my brow, I am forced to permit Looker to lead me by the hand to the stairs.

We occupy a modest bedroom. There is a single bed, a couple of chairs and not much else. It's all wooden and pleasant enough to look at.

Jasmine leads the way to the staircase in the middle of the room and we head down. We bypass one floor with a walkway that acts as a corridor and as a balcony to the ground floor. On the ground floor we enter a large living area of wooden floors and walls with a large fireplace acting as its centrepiece. The main lights are off and only one lamp resting on a cabinet by the couch facing the fire is on.

Although my brow is warm the fire is a welcome vision. I realise I am out of my soaked suit and wearing some oversized, plain, blue, cotton pyjamas.

I see Ellie lying on the couch, eyes closed and her face drawn tight as if in pain while she shivers repetitively beneath a large, thick blanket. At her feet her Farfetch'd rests uneasily, it opens its eyes and gives us a wary stare as we approach.

"Where are the others?" I query.

"Mr Stone is in my bed," Jasmine explains. I see her cheeks darken with this confession. "He um...has Morty there. Mr Koga went to town for supplies, he said he knows of some herbs that might help Ellie. I tried to get her to take some soup but she wouldn't."

"Mommy," I hear Ellie babble, "mommy no, no, no."

I pull free from Looker and hasten over to her. I crouch down, pausing as I see stars again, before reaching out to stroke her dark hair gently. "Mia," I murmur, "I am so sorry."

"Who are you to her?" Jasmine asks.

I look over to her in surprise and realise it is an innocent question. "Her father, Larry."

"He's a Gym Leader and an Elite Four member in Paldea," Looker brags for me.

Jasmine glances to him and back to me with an impressed stare. "Well, it's good for her that you are her father. You probably have some way of dealing with her nightmares, right? Maybe a fairytale or a song."

I think back to those years ago when Ellie started showing psychic signs and her nightmares would grow worse with them. What did I do then? Was it me or her mother who dealt with her nightly troubles?

I take a seat on the arm of the couch and stare down at her.

"Remember the beach Mia? That perfect day with you, me and your mother? We built a sand castle for the Buizel, you had this story about how they would give you pearls in exchange and we would be rich and..." I pause as the rest of it comes to me with a wave of guilt. "And I wouldn't have to work anymore," I conclude sadly. "You always wanted to go back there but I couldn't find the time. I am sorry about that, I'm sorry about a lot of things."

"Something lighter Larry, perhaps?" Looker suggests warmly. "That is, for the moment, yes?"

I nod as I realise he is right. My wallowing and guilty confessions will not soothe any nightmares for Ellie.

I can't sing. I lack the skill and I don't remember any songs. I can hear Mia's mothers docile tones in my head but I can't recall the words she sung to Mia, just the warmth of her tranquil voice and the sweetness of the songs.

"Once upon a time, a very lonely man went out into the dark world and he found a light," I murmur to her gently. "A light that warmed him up and made him smile even on the most miserable of days. He thought everything was perfect then, that it couldn't get better but he was wrong. He thought good things could only come from the light but never him and he was wrong about that too because one day, with the light, he made someone. This wonderful, colourful, bright, beautiful someone. He worried this someone wouldn't have any of him in it and feared that they would, confusing but it's how his mind worked. The day this someone arrived he saw himself in her. She seemed like everything he wasn't, warm, happy and full of love like the light and yet she was so like him, she was his little me – Mia. When he saw her for the first time and she smiled he knew he would never be lonely again with her and his light. He knew everything he would do would be for them and their happiness because when they were happy he was too."

I see Ellie twitch at my words, she mumbles something but I can't hear it. Her quivering has stilled though so I take that as encouragement to keep going.

"He assumed she would want to grow up like her mother, the light, full of wonder, someone magical and different but she didn't. She followed after him in his footsteps," I smile, "sometimes in his shoes, even though they were too big on her little feet and she kept falling over in them. He always figured what he did was dull and that his choices were boring until she made them too. When she drew pictures of him with his Pokemon and said she wanted Normal Pokemon too he was proud of what he did for the first time. Then he realised she was like her mother that way, full of wonder but for him, glowing but out of pride of her father because she thought he was amazing, something he could never understand. She and her mother, both such special people and him, so plain, so mundane, why did they like him? Why would she choose to be like him?"

I reach down to squeeze Ellie's hand as she gives another tremble. "You always wanted a fairytale at night Mia," I recall, "and I'd say the same thing to you, that you and your mother were my fairytale. This magical thing that shouldn't be real and I know it became a nightmare but I've found you again, after all these years, so maybe there's still something to the fairytale."

"Papa." She opens her bleary eyes and they roll about unfocused for the moment. "Can we go home to mommy?"

Her words cut me to the core. I have no answer and luckily I don't have to give one as she shuts her eyes again. I wanted to give her a fairytale but I've just started another nightmare.