After my walk and talk with Joyce, we returned to the Infirmary to get my backpack, before she handed me a book regarding the care of Pokémon and introduced me to a staffer. Josh, the staffer, guided me to the residence-part of the League, where I was given a room to rest. Nothing fancy, just a room, with a small bathroom, a bed, desk and a single chair. There wasn’t even much of a view, the steep slope up the mountain blocking most of it.

A part of me wanted to simply curl up on the bed, close my eyes and try shutting out the entire world but I was still wired. Instead, I grabbed my notes from earlier and the book, settling in to read. It was something to do, something to keep my mind busy and I had to learn it anyway. The earlier statement that Prince Charming might be taken from me, was a sharp wake-up call, a reminder that I had a responsibility there.

The textbook was incredibly well-written, capturing my attention to the point that I was wholly absorbed, until a knock at my door broke my trance, hours later. Standing, I needed to stretch a little to get my muscles moving and opened the door, to see Cynthia again.

“Good afternoon, Dani.” She greeted me, a friendly smile on her face. “I wanted to talk to you about your options and what next steps you could take.”

“Good afternoon. Thanks for all your help and come in.” I stepped back, letting her into the room. In that motion, I also realised that I was still wearing her coat, the weight acting as a bit of a security-blanket.

“First, could you show me the Pokédex in your backpack? I noticed it during the night and I want to make sure of something.” she asked. Not certain of the significance, I handed it to her and she flipped it open, pressing a few buttons to check something, before opening a clasp at the back, peering into the innards.

Nodding her head, looking somewhat pleased, she closed everything back up and handed it to me, a grin on her face.

“Thank you, that just about confirms my idea regarding you.” she said, not elaborating.

“Care to share?” I prodded, gesturing for her to take the chair, while seating myself on the bed. She studied me for a moment, and once more, I felt the weight of her judgement, not as heavy as it had been when Renata had measured me up and down, but there was some pressure there.

“Yes, I believe you should know. It might even help with your memories, or at least give you a frame to reference what you remember.” she replied, before sitting down.

“I believe, and so far, the evidence seems to back my belief, that you were taken by the Renegade Lord of the Distortion World, plucked from where and whence you came and put into the Distortion World. The reasons they might have for it, I can’t even begin to guess, but given that there were traces of the Lords of Space and Time where I discovered you, I’ll hazard a guess that they rescued you from that place. A stay in the Distortion World, divorced from space and time, would account for your damaged memory and for the high values of p-Energy in your system.” she explained, and I nodded along, not quite sure if I understood her correctly, but the words seemed to jiggle something in my memory. Nothing concrete, but the titles resonated with something in me.

“The ‘dex you just showed me, it is almost three-hundred years old, one of the original models, made during the time of Professor Poké. If you like, I can ask Lucian to replace either the whole thing, or at least the innards with a modern version, but it’s up to you. But it gives us a rough estimate from whence you came, namely roughly two-hundred and eighty-years in the past. From where you are is more difficult, a couple of Champion-Grade trainers who worked with Professor Poké spread their work across the world, causing more people to take up the mantle of Professor in their honour, to further the work done.” Again, I could only nod, not certain how else to respond. I simply didn’t know if those impossible memories were true and given that they became more and more foggy, I wondered if they had been a dream all along. A figment of my imagination, to cope with something my brain was not equipped to understand in the first place?

“There are still a lot of unresolved questions, but really, I don’t think you can answer any of them. Not at this time, maybe never.” Cynthia added, but I was barely listening at this point.

Was I a butterfly, dreaming to be a person, or was I a person, dreaming to be a butterfly?

I felt a tear trickle down my cheek, followed by another one, as I tried to make sense of the reality around me. It was just… too much.

“Sadly, I don’t think there is a way to get you back to where or whence you came from. The powers involved are so far beyond what humans can control, it’s not even funny. The Lords of Space and Time, as well as the Renegade Lord are legends, if not for a few, somewhat substantiated sightings, I would have called them myths. I’m afraid you are stuck in the now and travel will have to be done the old-fashioned way. Which brings me to the other thing we need to talk about.” A few more tears trickled down my cheeks and I closed my eyes, once again visualising the flame of my partner, the fires that kept me warm. One after the other, I fed the boiling emotions into the flame, letting them burn up so I could remain calm and focus on the next steps. Those were important.

Opening my eyes, I wiped off my tears, before giving Cynthia a nod, so she’d hopefully continue.

“Judging by the things you told me before, your apparent age and the level of your partner, I’d guess that you had not been far into your journey, which brings up the question, do you want to continue that journey?” she asked, and without really thinking about it, I nodded.

“Yes, I’ll need to continue forward.” I replied, noticing that I had reflexively grabbed Charm’s Pokéball. She studied me once again, before nodding.

“If that’s the case, I’ll go over the things you would be told by your Guardian, before setting out. Simply because you might have forgotten some of those things and others have most certainly changed since your time.” she offered, a warm smile on her face.

“Thank you. I feel so…” I paused, not quite certain how I could finish the sentence. Instead, I simply shook my head, not even trying. There were so many things I didn’t know and to make sense of my feelings, let alone the foggy memories in my head, would take a long time. Some of them were clear, starkly so, but there was little rhyme or reason to them. A lecture on some calculus was right there, to the point that I was almost certain I could repeat it verbatim, but important things, like where I was from, or the names of my parents, were just missing.

“Let’s go over things, starting from the foundation, namely the connection with your partner, or partners. The Pokémon that accompany you, that keep you safe out there. Tell me, why do you think a Pokémon follows the commands of a human?” she asked, stumping me. It wasn’t something I had really thought about. Prince Charming was just there and he followed my commands, even those I didn’t say out loud. But why did he do so? Where was the connection coming from?

When I shook my head, she simply continued, with her explanation, thus answering her own question.

“Pokémon have an evolutionary need to become stronger. I won’t go into the whole procreation thing, as fascinating as it is, but in the wild, strength has a massive impact on who gets to breed, with stronger evolutions having the obvious advantage. By joining together with humans, a Pokémon gains someone who supports them, without taking away the energy unleashed in battle, allowing them to reach a much higher level, than they could in the wild. They also get someone who takes care of them when weak, who feeds them and plans for them. Planning is something a lot of Pokémon have trouble with, even those who are otherwise incredibly intelligent. Why that is, is difficult to determine, Pokémon Psychology is a much researched field and our knowledge is rather lacking. They simply think differently from us and an additional problem is that there are differences in thought between the types and even between species. But suffice to say, almost all Pokémon work with their trainers to get stronger. I’m assuming it’ll be the same for your Prince Charming.” she explained, leaving me a little stunned.

“So I need to send him into battle, let him get hurt?” I asked, my voice a little timid. I didn’t want my friend to get hurt.

“It is part of their growth. A Pokémon can sustain their energy-levels with the right diet, but if they want to grow, they need to take in the energy of another, unleashed in a battle. It is simply the way of things. Would you want to be starved, simply because your guardian is afraid that you might choke on something while you eat? To the point that they try to sustain you with nothing but a liquid diet?” Hearing her comparison, I could only shake my head. I didn’t want to stunt Prince Charming’s growth, I wanted him to grow strong and be proud.

“Now, the brutal truth is, your partner will get hurt at times. If not, neither of you is trying and that, too, will stunt his growth. Challenge leads to growth, but challenge always comes with risk. It will be on you, to gauge the risks, to guide the growth and keep your partner safe. That is YOUR responsibility and it will be your responsibility for every other Pokémon you decide to catch.” As she explained, she radiated intensity and I took her words to heart. If I wanted to let my partner grow, I had to walk the line between keeping him safe and coddling him. Neither was good and I had to balance that knife’s edge.

“You know what, why don’t we turn the whole thing into a practical lesson?” she suggested, causing me to be taken aback a little, the sudden change in tempo giving me whiplash.

“I would be grateful.” I accepted, hoping that the lesson would help me remember.

“Great.” she grinned, pulling out a Pokéball from the bandolier she was wearing and suddenly, the rubber-duck like Porygon-Z was floating in the room with us.

“Zee, Let’s go, Teleport us to the scenic-spot near Route 2-03” she ordered, leaving me startled. I barely got up from the bed, when we both were enveloped in white light and the world blinked, the warm air around us vanishing and being replaced by the crisp air of early spring.