Still having a stressful week, but here's an update.

Thanks to my reviewers: splitheart1120, Sjir-sama, Starfire1407 and GreenPokeGuy.

Chapter Seventeen: A Swim

"WAKE UP!"

I grimaced as I heard Dawn yell at May and Leaf, who refused to stir from their afternoon nap. I glanced at the door of the cabin wondering how many other people had heard my… whatever, yell at her friends. This was still taking some getting used to. I let out a sigh and returned to reading through a notebook I had picked up. So far I'd just finished writing about Dawn and mine's wedding. I sketched a drawing of her dress, doodling details that I was almost ashamed to admit I noticed.

I heard the door of the cabin open and Dawn stepped back into the room, anger radiating off her as she stomped over to her bed and threw herself down on it. I didn't spare her a glance, too engrossed in my doodle to dare look up at her and lose the memory. There was a comfortable silence between us, just like when we would go up to the lake and hang out. I paused at this thought. At least I was comparing things to the memories I had at Rocket Academy rather than the other world which didn't exist anymore.

All my friends and everything I knew had disappeared. It felt weird as I let that information sink in finally. They were gone as I knew them. Oak was no longer a researcher, Ketchum was not a trainer and Hayden… I had no idea what he did anyway. At least I didn't have to put up with Ascot's ridiculous books any longer. Then again they had been burned into my brain because I had read them so often. Everything else was gone. Our house. My gym. Dawn's shop. They had never existed at all.

"Is something wrong?" I heard Dawn ask me, "You've gone awfully rigid."

"Nothing," I lied. I put the notebook I was doodling in on the side. I stood up and walked away from the desk so I could join Dawn on the bed. She snuggled into me the moment I was settled next to her.

"Were you thinking about your home?" she asked, "You looked sad."

"Yeah," I admitted, "I was thinking about my life. It's weird to think that everything's gone now."

"We're still here," she told me gently, stroking my chest with her fingers.

"Celeste isn't," I muttered.

"You knew Celeste?" Dawn asked, sitting up slowly. She stared at me wide eyed.

"She was your model," I told her, "You and Raven owned a shop and Celeste used to model your clothes."

"Oh," Dawn muttered. I smiled at her, patting her knee in a way that always seemed to re-assure her but in stead of shooting me a smile, she jumped. "Why did you do that?"

"Sorry," I said, withdrawing my hand from her knee, "Habit."

"No, no, it's fine," Dawn said, "No one's done that to me since before I went to the Academy. It's how my dad used to cheer me up."

"Oh," I said, "That's where it's from. You never told me that."

"Grr," Dawn growled. She jumped up from the bed and began pacing round the room. I watched her, my face blank. What had I done now? "It's so annoying. You exactly what to do to help me but when it comes to you, I have no idea."

"Calm down," I replied. I couldn't help the smirk that grew on my face. I patted the bed next to me. "I have had thirteen years of your mad ramblings to understand you and with an extra four on top of that from the Academy."

"It's not fair though," Dawn snapped, "I want to help you."

"Usually when you do that, something goes wrong," I moaned, "Then I have so much trouble trying to get you to smile again. Must be your troublesome nature."

"I know, I know, I'm troublesome," she blabbed in a mocking way.

"But you're my Troublesome," I told her, "You know how long I've held that title?"

"Far too long for your sanity, I bet," she giggled.

"You're right about that," I agreed. She skipped back to the bed and plopped down next to me.

"Do you miss her?" she asked.

"Miss who?" I replied, "You? Her? You're the same minus a few minor details, like a wedding band."

"Oh that's right," she said suddenly as if she was remembering something, "You owe me an engagement ring."

"Oh yeah," I sighed, "Here I go again. You would have thought I'd have learnt the last time."

"Jerk!" Dawn yelled.

The door of the cabin opened. I saw Leaf and May poke their heads into the room wondering what was going on. We glanced up at them probably seeming too innocent for their liking.

"Is something wrong?" Dawn asked eventually.

"Did we hear you right?" May snapped, "You're engaged?"

"Erm," Dawn muttered.

"Yes," I replied for her as she glanced over at me, "I asked her to marry me on our way to rescue you lot."

"Oh my Arcues!" Leaf screamed. I grimaced at the same time as Dawn did as Leaf's voice rang out throughout the room. Even after she closed her mouth there was a slight vibrate from her words. Next came a scamper of feet and the other three girls pushed into the room looking confused.

"What's going on?" Misty asked.

"Where's the fire?" Raven giggled when she noticed everything was alright.

"Dawn's getting married!" Leaf yelled, "They're getting married!"

"What?" Misty and Lyra snapped, shooting glares at the both of us.

"Since when?" Raven asked.

"Since the tunnel," Dawn replied weakly, "Paul asked me… And I said yes…"

There was a loud chorus of 'what' from all of the girls. Lyra stepped forwards, squaring up to me.

"I'll be on deck," I told her before she could tell me to get lost. I jumped off the bed and coolly walked of my room. The door slammed shut straight after I entered the corridor.

"Are you insane?" Lyra snapped. I chuckled darkly.

"That's what you said last time," I muttered before I made my way to the top deck.

I felt the ocean air hit my face and rustle my hair. How nice it felt to feel the freshness after so long. I leant against a rail, looking out across the vast ocean. How empty the world seemed suddenly, without any land in sight, it looked as thought there was only water. I glanced down the side of the ferry, seeing my reflection in the waves.

Just how was I going to defeat Wyre? Even with the girls' help I doubt it would be that easy. And we still had to grab the guys as well. Perhaps this wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

The ferry jerked suddenly, almost causing me to slip. I caught my footing in time to stop falling over the railing. I quickly turned round, hearing a loud crashing noise. What the hell was going on? When I heard the screams and shouts of people on the other side of the ferry, I ran to investigate.

Alongside the ship was a long, black submarine with the letter 'R' on the side of it in red paint. Great, we'd been found. That's all we needed right now, a fist fight with Team Rocket. Cursing I jumped over the banister and landed on the deck below. I began shooing people away from the scene, knowing full well Rocket was after us. I waited patiently for who ever it was to step out of the submarine. Eventually the door opened and out climbed fifteen grunts and their leader. It was Pegasus, Ascot's father.

"So here you are, Paul Shinji," he drawled as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Pegasus," I greeted back. I could feel something tugging at my lips, a smug smirk. I let it take over and soon I was staring at the Rocket boss with a condescending expression my face. He didn't seem to like it one bit.

"I almost didn't recognise you," Pegasus went on, "You look different somehow. Taller too. How did you manage it?"

"Ascot's dead," I stated bluntly, "Your son is gone. Done and dusted. How does that make you feel?"

Something flashed in his eyes, a strangled sort of pain. I had found a way into his head, now all I had to do was exploit it.

"I suppose you've lost a lot this week, right?" I went on, "Your nice cosy job. Your hundred percent no failure record. Oh and all respect you'll ever gain from Giovanni."

"Shut up," he snarled back at me. I ignored him.

"Well, how does it feel?" I prompted, "Bad? Sad? Hmm?"

"You little-" he snarled before he leapt off the submarine. He landed on the deck and raced towards me, his face set in a mad expression. If he got hold of now, he would kill me. His hands were raised to grab my collar but with a simple side step, he missed and almost ran into a deck chair. I caught his arm and managed to flip him onto his back with an impressive amount of strength and skill. He yelled out in pain.

"I bet the idea about getting all your worst enemies and bundling their children into a single academy where you would train them to be the best seems to be a very bad idea at the minute," I commented, trying to keep the banter alive. I smirked down at him as he tried to get to his feet. He glowered at me like he wanted to kill me, not that I could blame him. Suddenly his expression changed.

"You're not the Paul Shinji I saw at the academy," he stated. He was standing now, dusting off his uniform as if he'd never been decked. "You're different somehow. I never saw you as being the type to take orders, Shinji, but I never saw you as a cruel, scheming person either. So what happened?"

"Nothing happened," I replied, "Life. You know."

"I see," Pegasus said with a slow nod, "So where is your girlfriend? Miss Hikari."

"I want to ask you something," I said, "Why did you go looking for the legendaries?"

"I was told to," Pegasus replied slowly, "And when Giovanni gives you an order… No body is stupid enough to say no."

"Right," I said. For some reason I seemed to understand Pegasus now. I saw him as a bully but now I understood every one of his moves. He was scared. He was so scared that he would do anything to please Giovanni. It was going to be hard getting rid of Rocket.

Before I could say anything else, someone landed by my side but it wasn't Dawn. I glanced at the sea green haired girl with an air of surprise, wondering why she had so willingly come forwards.

"Raven," Pegasus greeted her coldly.

"Please," Raven said, "Take your submarine away now and leave us alone."

"Am I supposed to be scared?" Pegasus asked.

"Yes," Raven replied, sounding unconvincing even to me. I raised my hand, almost lazily, and shot a small burst of energy at the submarine. I managed to take out about five grunts, causing them to jump and fall into the sea. Pegasus' eyes widened and he took a step backwards.

"That's how you intimidate people, Raven," I told her.

"I wasn't trying to intimidate him," Raven snapped at me, "I was trying to warn him."

"Of what?" I asked.

I got my answer two seconds later as the submarine suddenly began to rise up on a huge wave. Dawn. What was she doing? I glanced round to see if I could find her but she must have been well hidden because I couldn't spot her anywhere. I glanced back at Pegasus, who seemed to be in awe of Dawn's powers but not worried.

"Now," he said simply. I wondered what he was going on about until I realised he must have been talking into a radio or something. Instantly the submarine launched a missile at the ship. The following explosion caused Raven and I to fall back against the steel wall of the ferry. The submarine instantly dropped back into the water.

"Let's go," Raven told me. We took off before Pegasus could spot us running away. This was far too dangerous to fight here since there were so many civilians on board without any where to run too. Plus we didn't know the extent of the damage to the ship.

Something in my concentration slipped as I happened to glance at a small boy who was just stood staring at me, his eyes wide in wonder. All that registered was the fact the boy had dark purple hair and bright blue eyes.

"Daddy?"

I stopped running so I could stare at the boy. He stared back at me.

"Dante," I breathed. His face creased up and he started to cry.

"Daddy, I'm scared," he wailed. I rushed towards him, calling his name as calmly as I could. I had just about put a hand on his shoulder when the boat rocked wildly. I slipped like Dante did and we both skidded across the now wet deck and slipped under the railing into the cold ocean.

As we plummeted down into the depths, I grabbed Dante and held him close into my body. We surfaced not soon after that and I made sure his head remained above the water.

"It's alright Dante," I told him, "I've got you."

He looked at me, his eyes red from the sea water and tears. Then he simply faded out of view. It took me a minute to realise what had just happened. One second I was holding my son, I was holding him, he was real, then he had faded away. He had slipped from my grasp. I felt paralysed as I realised I had failed to protect him once again.

"Paul?" I heard Raven yell as she ran to the railing I had slipped under. She looked worried and confused as to why I was suddenly in the ocean but she had no time to question. Another shudder from the ship had her falling over the railing and dropping into the water close to me. When she surfaced she coughed and spluttered, trying to clear her eyes of sea water before she opened them.

I swam over to her as she frolicked in the water grumpily.

"I hate you," she snapped at me, "You made me fall in."

"Come on," I replied, "Let's get back on board."

Raven nodded quickly. We turned in the water so we could swim back to the ship and get on board somehow. However, as I glanced upwards I saw Dawn staring down at me.

"Are you two alright?" she called.

"Watch your back!" I yelled back at her. She glanced behind her and let out a yelp. The next thing I knew she jumped over the railing and had landed on top of the water. She stood there for a few seconds regaining her composure before she walked over to us. Raven almost sank as she froze at the sight of Dawn walking on water.

"We need to get back up there," Dawn said.

"You think?" Raven snapped, "How come you can walk on water but we can't?"

"I am Suicune," Dawn laughed, "You would expect me to be able to walk on water."

I glanced up again as I saw the remaining four suddenly appear over the top of the railing. Lyra, Bandana and Carrot Top came crashing down into the water with a loud splash whereas Leaf gently floated down and hovered above the water.

"OK," she said, "I don't know how I did that but it beats getting wet any day."

"Everyone OK?" Dawn asked as the others resurfaced.

"We need to get out of here," Raven said. She pointed up at the ship at twenty or so grunts which were at the railings and pointing guns in our direction. Dawn took in a deep breath and before I could register what was going on, I was being swept away by a large, powerful wave. I came to realise, as my head remained above the water, that it was Dawn creating this wave.

I have no idea how long she kept this up for but soon we landed on a beach somewhere. Where ever we were, we were out of any immediate danger. I got to my feet, hating the fact my clothes were soaked through. Only Dawn was completely dry since Leaf kept being splashed by waves as she flew close to Dawn. I rung out my hair, trying to get as much water out of it as possible.

A shadow descended on me and before I could react, I felt the cold yet strong hand of Lyra whack me across the cheek. It stung immediately and gave me a crick in my neck as my head snapped to the side.

"You almost got us killed!" Lyra screamed at me, "You idiot! Your stupid antics almost cost everyone their lives!"

"Lyra, calm down," Carrot Top jumped in, stopping Lyra from slapping me again. My fingers brushed the place where she had hit me, the pain searing despite there not being any real damage. Wide eyed I looked around at the others. Leaf was sat legs crossed on the floor, sniffling loudly while knelt next to her, Bandana gaped at Lyra. Raven was rubbing her arms, stood awkwardly on the spot next to Dawn. Dawn's eyes were concentrating on the floor, avoiding my gaze at all costs.

Lyra fought herself free from Carrot Top's hands and jumped at me again, this time grabbing my collar and pushing me against a tree.

"Lyra no!" Raven gasped.

"What were you thinking? You almost sacrificed all of us for some little splash around in the sea!" Lyra bellowed, "I have no idea how we just escaped but I do know its all your fault!"

"Me?" I snapped back. With a sharp push, she flew backwards into Carrot Top. "Why the hell are you giving me grief? I thought I saw my son on that deck and I couldn't just leave him, could I? The whole reason why I came back was to save my son and what have I got for it? A bunch of teenage drama queens who are more concerned about their best friend getting married than of saving the world!"

The air rung momentarily after I stopped yelling. I had never felt so mad in my life even with the shouting I had just done, I felt as though I wasn't finished yet.

"You don't seem to realise that I am a father," I went on, snarling, "And I have to save my son whatever the cost to myself. I'm sorry you got caught up in it because of me but you don't understand I did it for my son!"

Leaf's cries stopped me continuing. She was sobbing into Bandan's shoulder loudly. The rest of them looked appalled, star struck suddenly as I let out all the anger from the past fourteen years out of my system. I let out a shaky sigh and ran a hand through my hair. Raven stepped backwards, probably expecting me to turn into a monster any second.

"Paul," Carrot Top muttered, "We're tired and scared-"

"To hell with that," I snapped at her. I let out a calming breath before I turned to Carrot Top. "I'm sorry. But I have things to do. I know he's in danger and he's scared and because I know that… I'm going to be a danger to all. I think it's better for us to split up here."

"No way," Raven squeaked. She cleared her throat before continuing. "We shouldn't split up. That's insane."

"Raven," Dawn said calmly. Everyone turned to look at her, surprised that she was so calm. Dawn's sapphire eyes burned into mine as she examined me. Finally she looked away. "Let's go. We need to find the boys and there's not a minute to lose."

"Dawn?" Bandana asked, concern edged in her voice.

"Paul has things to do," Dawn went on, "And he's right. We have different priorities."

"Well he shouldn't have," Lyra snapped, "For someone who claims to love you-"

"Lyra please," Dawn said, tears springing from her eyes, "I know… but he's not just my Paul. He's Dante's Paul too and Dante needs him more than I do right now."

"But we can't split up," Leaf wailed. Bandana hugged her closer, trying to comfort the teary girl. "It's like losing the boys all over again."

"We're getting them back," Dawn told Leaf, "But until then…"

She looked up at me, a frown on her face. I realised what she was doing. She was letting me go. She understood what I had to do for Dante, for my – no – our son. I nodded once to show her how grateful I was to her but she didn't seem to respond.

I decided to make my exit as quickly as possible, not wanting to drag this on too long so I departed with a casual turn on my heel and a few strides into the tree line.

"Dawn, you can't let him go," Bandana told her. I heard Dawn giggle.

"It's Paul," Dawn replied, "I wouldn't want him any other way. He works best on his own, you know."

"Dawn," Carrot Top sighed.

I kept my head down as I walked through the undergrowth of the forest, ignoring my conscience as best as I could. I shouldn't have yelled at them, I shouldn't have left them but I had done. Now I had to concentrate on getting my son back. And on the other hand, Dawn was right: I did work best on my own.

I paused slightly to glance up at the full moon in the sky.

"Dante, I'm coming for you," I muttered, "I promise."

So yeah, the poll will be open until Saturday so if you want to vote, do it. Hopefully I'll feel better next week.

Please leave a review.

RSx