Pokémon Rivers of Asphodel

[FennecWitch]

Rivers of Asphodel:

Waking up in an unfamiliar body with no memories is hard enough on its own. It's even harder when the ones around you are so familiar you're sure you must have known them. And they can't remember their pasts, either.


Ensemble fic with a fair amount of POV switching. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon like world minus the mystery dungeons.


Major content warnings for body dysphoria and memory loss. More specific content warnings will be given at the beginning of each chapter.

Spoiler: Additional Art

Helioptile Chloe


Brionne Daphne


Espeon Theseus


Landmarks of Asphodel


Settlements of Asphodel

Chapter 1: Cross that Bridge and Start Anew

Chapter title is from the song "Shine Through" by The Stupendium.

CW: Blood, body dysphoria, memory loss

---

In a very shallow part of the ocean, the fish swam. It was almost at the shore, not that it knew what that meant. What it did understand was that the water was growing quite shallow, and it needed to get back to deeper waters. Although its light, pale emerald scales almost let it blend in with the seawater itself, it was still alone, separated from its school. So it started to turn around to make its way back out to sea. As the fish attempted this, it was intercepted by something it had failed to see.


The water around it surged as a sudden rush of movement occurred, and sharp teeth closed around its body as the fish was caught. It barely had time to process what had happened before it was dragged back to shore, the teeth still sunk into its scales.


Pulling herself onto the beach, Daphne briefly dropped the wild Remoraid onto the sand, before picking it up again near the tail and flinging it into a nearby mesh bag, filled with similarly-caught fish. The fish was a bit smaller than she would've liked, but, then she supposed she was lucky to have found a lone Remoraid this close to shore. She didn't have the time nor the desire to fight off a whole school of fish. And even if she did, there was no way she could carry that many back into town on her own. It would just be a waste of effort, unless she wanted to give the wild predators an easy snack. Besides, she needed one smaller catch today, anyway.


The Brionne turned back to the water, going far enough in that she could wash around her mouth. She had mostly gotten used to the sight of blood over the past few years, but she still grimaced as she saw the traces of the red liquid around her muzzle. It was a good thing her hair wasn't anywhere near thick enough to make it hard to get out. Most Pokémon also didn't like the sight of it, anyway, and she got enough strange looks as it was.


Once she was sufficiently clean enough to present herself to regular society, she went back to the shore and grabbed the bag full of fish. It wasn't a particularly large bag, only able to hold about five fish Pokémon at most. But then, she wasn't very large herself and it wouldn't be much good if she couldn't carry it. She slung the bag over her shoulder, taking care not to disturb the smooth grey stone attached to a cord tied around her neck, before heading to the path through the forest and back to town


She turned to look behind her. The sun was getting low in the sky, the land below starting to be bathed in twilight. Daphne cursed under her breath. She definitely didn't have enough time to get back before it grew completely dark. At least, not unless she skipped her detour, but that wasn't happening. Besides, maybe she'd get some leniency on the curfew? Winter had now officially begun and the days were shortening so it wasn't like she had as much time to get back as she would have in summer. All the same, she quickened her pace as much as she could while lugging a bag of fish behind her.


When she had almost reached the edge of the forest, she turned off the main path, heading into an uneven area of brush. There wasn't anything that could even generously be called a path. She moved around the thick plants on the ground in a practised route, until she reached a small cave.


Daphne could see fairly well in the dark, though by this point she couldn't make out more than vague shapes inside the cave. She stopped outside the entrance, setting down her bag.


"Lily?" Daphne called out, softly. "You there?"


"Oh, um, just a second!" came a voice in return, before a somewhat disheveled-looking Lillipup slowly emerged from the entrance.


She looked up at Daphne. "You've got food for me?"


"Of course," Daphne said, reaching into the bag with her mouth to grab the small Remoraid she had just caught and throwing it at the Lillipup's feet. "Just the one this time, though. Since winter's started it's going to be harder for me to get them. But I'll do what I can."


"Thanks," Lily replied, looking down at the fish, sniffing it cautiously. "I know you've said it's fine for you to give up fish like this, but…"


Daphne snorted. "Hey, better this than you stealing from me again. Least like this I can plan for it."


Lily's ears flattened against her head, her tail drooping. "I said I was sorry. I just… I needed food."


"I know, I know," Daphne said, sighing. "Besides, this one's small enough that I don't know if we'd even be able to sell it. You may as well take it."


"Right," Lily said, then looked up at the sky. "You'd better get back though, right? It's almost dark."


Daphne nodded. "Yeah, I should get going."


"Okay. Thanks again," the Lillipup replied, grabbing the Remoraid and starting to drag it into the cave.


"It's nothing," said Daphne, picking up her bag again. "If nothing comes up, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"


Lily nodded, her tail wagging slightly. "Okay!"


When she got back on the main path, Daphne moved forward, keeping her head down. It wouldn't be that bad if she missed dinner for one night, right? It wasn't like this was the first time it had happened, anyway. Maybe she should just have one of these fish now, since there was no way she was getting back to the guild before dinner ended.


She was almost out of the forest when her eyes happened to glance over at a flash of colour on the side of the path. She blinked, then slowly approached it.


It looked like some kind of reptile. It didn't look like they were wearing anything, so she might've just passed them off as a wild Pokémon. But she had a fairly good idea of the Pokémon that lived around here and this wasn't a species she recognised at all. As she got closer she realised that they weren't moving.


"Hey!" she called.


The Pokémon didn't move.


A wave of dread washed over her, and she opened her mouth, letting loose a stream of water. The Pokémon began to move slightly and Daphne felt a weight come off her shoulders. What would she even have done with a dead body in the woods? Probably report it to someone, right? But there was no guarantee they'd get there before any wild predators would. Not that that mattered, anyway, because this Pokémon wasn't dead.


Still, they hadn't opened their eyes yet. Daphne set down her bag and touched the lizard's back with a flipper. The Pokémon recoiled from her touch, letting out a strange noise as the frills on either side of their head flared out. Daphne hastily withdrew her flipper.


"Hey, you okay?" Daphne asked.


The lizard's frills began to retract as they shakily started to slowly open and close their eyes. The Pokémon left them half-open, and Daphne saw dazed blue irises looking back at her.


"You alright?" Daphne tried again. "What happened?"


The lizard just stared at Daphne, before opening their mouth. A shaky, croaky voice was what emerged. "Daphne?"


Daphne pushed herself back, eyes wide. "What?"


But the Pokémon didn't reply, their eyes having shut again. They were once again slumped on the side of the path. She couldn't see any obvious wounds so that was a good sign. It was probably a good idea to take them to a healer, though, just in case. But she couldn't just wait and hope they woke up. And it wasn't like she could carry both the Pokémon and her bag into town.


Daphne hesitated, then cursed under her breath.


"Don't go anywhere," she told the unconscious Pokémon.


They didn't respond.


Daphne picked up her bag and sniffed the unconscious Pokémon, before heading back into the forest. Moving as quickly as she could, she soon made it back to Lily's cave.


"Lily!" she called out.


There must have been more panic in her tone than she'd intended, because the Lillipup came running out of the dark cave fairly quickly, looking around wildly.


"What's wrong?" Lily asked, looking around frantically.


Daphne dropped the bag of fish outside the cave. "I need you to look after this until tomorrow. I found an injured Pokémon and I can't carry them and this bag."


Lily paused, then nodded. "Right. I can do that."


"Thanks," Daphne said, turning back towards the path. "Just don't eat it all."


Daphne was gone before she could hear the Lillipup's response.


The sun had almost completely set before she reached the unconscious lizard again. She could still see fairly well, but since she was much more confident in her sense of smell, she tracked down their scent, quickly finding them again.


Carefully, she grabbed the Pokémon, lifting them up before hesitating. They were almost as tall as she was and she wasn't entirely sure how to safely carry them. After a pause, she decided upon sprawling them over her shoulder, keeping the lizard there with one flipper while pulling herself forward with the other. They weren't heavy, far lighter than the fish she'd been carrying, but it was still awkward for Daphne to carry them.


She was on the path already, so the sun having set didn't matter too much as long as she kept moving forward. And, though it took her much longer than it would have if she was moving by herself, she made it to the intersection of the forest path and the main road.


Since she'd already missed her curfew, she decided to take a short break before she crossed the bridge into town. Idly fiddling with the stone around her neck with one hand, her mind lingered on what the lizard had said. Or at least, what she thought they'd said. She wondered if she'd just misheard the Pokémon. Even if she didn't remember meeting this Pokémon, she should have at least some vague sense of familiarity when seeing them, shouldn't she? At this point, though, she didn't exactly trust herself to be able to remember anything like that. Hopefully, when they woke up, this Pokémon could give her some answers.


The sound of approaching hoofsteps made her look up as a silhouette came into view in the distance, coming from the main road and heading towards the bridge. As they drew closer, Daphne realised that it was a Mudsdale, pulling a cart behind it.


She looked up at the thick woolen rug on the horse's back, with a logo on it that she thought she recognised as a delivery company's. Her eyes scanned down to the piece of fabric tied around one of the Mudsdale's front legs. She focused on the colour, which was definitely either red or green. She could count on one flipper the amount of times she'd seen a green tag, so it was probably red. Male, then.


"Hey!" Daphne called out as the large Pokémon approached.


The Mudsdale's head tilted down towards them, and his eyes quickly glanced down to Daphne's own tag, a solid blue band on her right flipper. "Well, hello there. Are you alright?"


"I am, but this Pokémon's hurt." Daphne gestured to the unconscious lizard still slung over her shoulder.


"I see…" the Mudsdale replied. "I'm assuming you're wanting a ride into town, then?"


"If that's alright," Daphne said, looking down. "Just to the Fishing Guild near the entrance to town."


"No trouble, no trouble at all," he responded. "I'm returning from a delivery anyway, so the cart's empty. Hop on in."


Daphne nodded, pulling herself up into the cart and setting the lizard down beside her.


"I'm Uma, by the way," the Mudsdale said, as he started to pull them forward onto the bridge.


"Brionne Daphne," she responded, trying to move herself into a more comfortable position.


"Pleasure to meet you. So, what happened to 'em?" Uma asked.


Daphne looked down at the unconscious Pokémon. "Don't know. I just found them passed out in the forest."


"Wonder what brings 'em here. Don't see many Helioptile in Feronia. Especially not in winter."


"Helioptile?" Daphne asked, tilting her head to the side.


"Yep," Uma said. "Basic and lightning type, from back home in Erimos, usually."


He paused. "Come to think of it, don't think I've seen many like you, either. Brionne, you said? You don't look like you're much suited for land. What brings you here?"


Daphne closed her eyes. "I live here."


Uma must have sensed the tinge of annoyance in her voice, because he went silent after that. Daphne spent the rest of the journey staring down at the river below.


Eventually they reached the town, and Uma stopped in front of a large limestone building on the main road.


"Well, here we are," Uma said, turning his head back to look at the Pokémon in his cart.


"You gonna be right carrying them?" he asked, seeing Daphne climbing down cautiously.


Daphne nodded, picking up the Helioptile again. "I'll be fine. Thanks for the ride."


"Alright, then. See you 'round," the Mudsdale said, starting to pull away.


Daphne nodded again, going up to the large wooden doors. She hesitated, glancing up at the night sky, before shaking her head. After a few attempts, she managed to grab the large brass door knocker with her one free flipper and knocked on the door.


A few minutes later, the doors were opened from the inside and Daphne entered, finding a Feraligatr waiting on the other side, his eyes boring directly down at her.


She froze, glancing up at him, before quickly looking to the side after he made direct eye contact with her. "Guildmaster Sobek! I didn't realise you were back today. Did you have a good Legend Day?"


Daphne could feel him staring down at her.


A deep, rumbling voice finally broke the silence. "Good evening, Daphne. I assume you have a very good reason for why you're back so long after curfew, seemingly without any work to show for today."


Daphne began fidgeting with her necklace again. "There is. I do have a reason."


"Do you now?" The Feraligatr narrowed his eyes. "Daphne, unless you've deluded yourself into thinking that Helioptile are fish, I don't see why you would possibly have brought one into my guild."


"They were injured. I found them passed out in the forest. I had to do something," she said, looking at the Pokémon on her shoulder.


"And yet," he said, his tone still neutral, "Instead of bringing this Pokémon to the hospital, you brought them here."


"The hospital's on the other side of town!" Daphne said, gritting her teeth. "Besides, Cetus can heal them, right?"


The guildmaster let out a long sigh. "Yes. You are fortunate enough that Cetus is still awake."


"Great!" Daphne said, starting to walk away. "I'll go take them to her, then."


"We're not finished here," he said sternly, and Daphne stopped in place, though she didn't turn to face him. "But it's past curfew. We'll discuss this tomorrow."


"Great," Daphne said again. "Tomorrow it is."


"Tomorrow morning," the Feraligatr stressed. "I want you in my office first thing after breakfast."


Daphne sighed. "Yep."


She moved to walk away again and took the lack of any further interruption to mean she was free to go. She made her way to the infirmary as quickly as she could while carrying the Helioptile. Fortunately, Cetus, or whichever healer before her had decided on the infirmary's location, had made sure it wasn't too far from the guild's entrance. Daphne soon reached it, making her way through the doorway.


Inside, she found a Corsola standing at a short desk, carefully reading through papers. As Daphne came into the room, the Corsola looked up, before hurriedly moving over to her.


"What happened?" she asked Daphne, as the Brionne lay the Helioptile down on one of the straw beds.


"No idea," Daphne responded. "Just found them passed out in the forest."


The Corsola took a deep breath. "Alright. Leave them with me for tonight. I'll do what I can."


"Thanks, Cetus," the Brionne responded, looking down. "I'll come check on them tomorrow morning."


"Yes. You look like you need to get some sleep," Cetus said, looking at Daphne with concern.


Daphne nodded. "I will. Thanks again."


"It's my job, Daphne," she replied with a sigh.


Daphne nodded, then turned around and headed to her room. She lay down on her bed and eventually managed to force herself to sleep.

---

When Chloe came to, she had a pounding headache, and her body was wrong.


The headache dulled a lot of the sensations of her body, but even still, she could tell that it was wrong. Still too exhausted to even consider opening her eyes, she tried to move an arm. And it didn't move the way she expected it to.


She tried the other arm. Same thing. She tried a leg. It moved wrong, too. So did her other leg. It didn't hurt to move them, they just… weren't moving the way she knew they should be. They were bending in the wrong spots, and at weird angles.


She tried just moving her fingers. But even that was wrong. They didn't spread the way she knew they did, and she couldn't even seem to get them to spread apart into five distinct fingers at all.


Her skin felt dry, too, and she was cold, as well. Her body was resting on top of some strange uneven texture, too. A texture that was almost familiar, but she couldn't immediately place it. And parts of her felt heavy in a way that she knew wasn't natural.


There was something very wrong with her body. And, though the headache made her not want to open her eyes, she knew she had to. Fears ran through her mind, racing, making her scared that something terrible had happened to her. The creeping feeling of dread inside her knew something wasn't right, and she knew she wouldn't be able to relax until she knew what.


So she opened her eyes.


They opened wrong.


Everything was bright. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to adjust to the brightness. She became aware that there was a bright light directly above her, casting everything around her in a warm glow. And she was facing up, directly at it.


She looked down, immediately needing to see her body. The way her head tilted wasn't quite right and her vision felt weird, off in a way she couldn't place. She cast those thoughts aside and focused, as she looked down at her body.


She didn't recognise it. In fact, for a moment, she wasn't sure it even was her body. It sure didn't look like she thought her body should look. It didn't even look like a human body.


She saw a mess of limbs and claws and scales, a horrifying, inhuman abomination of a body.


Yellow scales coated her torso, which continued from her neck with no separation. It extended out into two thin limbs that ended in black-scaled digits that were most definitely not fingers. As her gaze continued down, she saw what must have been legs, though they barely looked any different from her "arms", ending in the same black-scaled digits. She became distinctly aware of a dull ache below her, and realised she must be lying on a tail. And there were two bulky weights on either side of her head that were far too large and heavy to be ears.


She wanted to scream, but her mouth didn't move the way she needed it to. She wanted to cry, but tears didn't seem to be coming to whatever eyes she had now. She wanted to run, but she couldn't even move her mess of a form into a standing position, let alone try to walk.


She struggled uselessly, recklessly flailing her wrong limbs in whatever direction she could, as though it would do something. A strange, inhuman cry, left her mouth, an alien, animalistic screech. Not that it seemed to do any good. She was completely stuck, alone, in a terrifying foreign body.


After a few minutes, she heard a strange sound. Could it have been footsteps? Someone coming to help her, to free her! Or was that just her hope talking? She couldn't trust her own body, how was she supposed to trust her senses?


Her eyes slightly focused on the door to the room as a shape came in. She was in a room. She hadn't even processed that.


The shape seemed to be familiar too. It was pink and looked like coral. But it was moving?


Wait.


She knew what this was.


A word came to her. Sunnygo.


Was that what this was? It seemed right, but… No, wait. She should be using a different name. She should be using…


Corsola! That was it. This was a Corsola. Water-type Pokémon, from Johto.


So relieved in figuring this out, Chloe didn't even notice she'd stopped flailing her body, or that the Corsola had come over to her.


It gave a small smile. "I see you're awake. How are you feeling?"


Chloe froze. It had just… spoken to her. Pokémon couldn't speak. Or, they weren't supposed to be able to! She knew that this, too, was wrong.


But, when it spoke, had it even been speech? She'd heard a faint sound like scraping rocks, a sound that couldn't have been any kind of language she recognised. But, somehow, she understood it. That didn't make any sense. Noises didn't carry understandable meaning like that, not in the way words did. And the Corsola had not used words. But, she still understood.


A little shaken, she tried to reply, knowing her mouth wouldn't be able to make the right shapes to form words. "What's going on…?"


Now she had done it. She knew that what had come out of her mouth, what she had heard, was just a hissing noise. And yet… that hiss seemed to have communicated a sentence, words, tone, and all.


And an understandable sentence too, if the Corsola's next sentence, spoken in that same, scraping manner, was anything to go by. "You are in the medical center of the Ceres Fishing Guild. My name is Corsola Cetus, and I am the healer here. One of our apprentices found you unconscious on the side of the road last night, and brought you here to receive care."


Still a little dazed, Chloe was barely able to focus on the Corsola's words, and let out a questioning hiss. "How can I understand you?"


"What do you mean?" the Corsola asked, with speech communicating confusion and concern.


"I…" Chloe hesitated. "What's wrong with my body?"


The Corsola blinked. "My examination didn't suggest anything was wrong with your body. But, I'm never had to treat a Helioptile before, and I don't have any resources on hand that cover your species. Why, what feels wrong?"


"Helioptile?" Chloe asked. The word sounded familiar, but not overly so.


"Yes," the Corsola cautiously returned. "Your species."


"I'm not…" she replied, trying to put her frustration into words. "I'm not a Helioptile. I'm a human. This isn't my body!"


The Corsola moved back. "A… human?"


Even past her headache, Chloe was able to pick up on the sense of confusion tied to how the Corsola said the word "human", like it was unfamiliar to her. She didn't know what that meant, exactly, but it didn't seem like a good sign.


"Never mind," she said, with a small sigh. "Can you tell me about Helioptile? What sort of Pokémon are they?"


"You don't know?" the Corsola asked, surprised.


Out of habit, Chloe shook her head. The weights on either side bounced around uncomfortably, distracting her for a moment.


Fortunately, the gesture seemed to convey a negative, however, and the Corsola began. "Helioptile are very rare around here, so I don't know much. As far as I know they mostly live in the desert. But… they're lizards, so they're ectotherms, of course. Oh, sorry, if the heat lamp's set too cool or too warm, by the way. I wasn't sure what your preferred temperature range was, so I did slightly higher than our Guildmaster's preferred. I… believe Helioptile are lightning types, at least? I don't know much beyond that, sorry."


She was a lightning lizard… She assumed "lightning" meant electric type, unless she was wrong about what the types were, too. It almost seemed cool, like something out of a fantasy. She felt like she probably would've dreamed about becoming a Pokémon when she was a kid. It felt like the type of thing kids would dream about. Though… she couldn't actually remember what she did dream about as a kid.


And, as she thought more about it, she wasn't sure she could remember being a kid. Or… anything about herself at all. She couldn't remember what she looked like. Her friends, her family, her home: nothing. Just her name, and that she was a human.


She still knew what things were. Which she supposed meant she remembered them, but she couldn't remember how she knew them. She could list out the eighteen Pokémon types, and their strengths and weaknesses, but she didn't have a clue how she'd learned this.


And as she began to realise this, that growing sense of dread returned. And she began to shake.


The Corsola—Cetus, she remembered—noticed this, instantly alert. "What's wrong?"


"I… I don't remember. I can't remember anything," she blurted out, through wide eyes.


"Uh, shh… It's okay," the Corsola said, in a somewhat soothing tone. "Look, do you at least remember your name."


She nodded. "It's Chloe."


"Okay, Chloe," Cetus said. "Look, I'm going to get you sent over to the hospital in a few hours. They'll be able to take better care of you there, and they'll have psychics who can take a look at your mind. How's that sound?"


"Good…" Chloe said, a little calmer.


"Great," Cetus replied, face much calmer, smiling again. "I don't suppose you remember where you lost your tag, then?"


"Tag?" she asked.


The Corsola nodded, motioning to a faded blue band around one of her branches. "Something like this. Something you wear somewhere on your body to show you're not wild. The colour shows how you'd prefer to be addressed. Is 'she/her' fine with you?"


"Oh, uh… Yeah, that's fine," Chloe said.


"Good; I know where the spare blue tags are kept," Cetus responded with a small smile. "Let me go and get you one now. Would you like some breakfast?"


Chloe blinked. She wasn't sure she could even stomach the thought of breakfast now. Everything was still so disorienting and she just needed a minute to think. "I… I'm fine."


"Okay. I'll be back soon if you need anything," the Corsola responded. "Rest up, in the meantime."


Chloe nodded, and Cetus turned to go. As she was making her way out the door, Chloe gave a somewhat louder hiss. "Thank you."


The Corsola turned back, with the same small smile. "Of course."


She left the room, and Chloe closed her eyes, trying to let herself process everything. It was so much. She was a Pokémon, in a body she couldn't move, probably in an unfamiliar world with how Cetus didn't seem to know what a human was, and with no memories.


She didn't think she could ever get used to this strange way her body moved, how it felt. Sure, it might've been cool to be a Pokémon in theory, but it felt awful. Did she have to walk on four legs? How did that even work? If she was an electric type, did she have to worry about charge? How did she use attacks? What if she accidentally shocked someone? She wanted to run away, and not have to think about any of this.


And this strange new world. She was pretty sure that, wherever she was from, she hadn't heard of the places Cetus had mentioned. And she'd definitely never heard of this tag system. The term "healer" felt new, as well. There were nurses and doctors and stuff, but she was pretty sure there weren't just Pokémon working these types of jobs. Was this world only inhabited by Pokémon? That seemed strange.


Her memories were gone, too. She couldn't remember anything that had happened to her before this point. And for some reason, this gave her a deep sense of loss and sadness. Could you be sad for losing your memories, memories you don't even remember having, of things you don't remember doing, people you don't remember meeting? Who had she been? What had she done? Who did she care about? Had she lost someone important? The possibilities seemed almost scarier than the idea of knowing.


What had happened to her, though? Why was she a Pokémon? Why didn't she have any of her memories? Had she died, and this was her reincarnation? That didn't seem right, unless something had gone wrong. Did someone do this to her on purpose? Maybe she was a chosen hero sent here by a powerful deity to save this world of Pokémon. But that didn't seem likely. More likely, she was sent here to torment her with this awful, uncompromising body and her empty, useless mind.


Her head was still pounding. Cetus had distracted her from it, but it was back in full force. Forcing her eyes shut, Chloe tried to get to sleep. Maybe then she wouldn't have to think about any of this.

---

Here it is: the original Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (minus the Mystery Dungeons) fic I've been working on for a long while.

Feedback is appreciated, as is assistance on how to post stuff here. It's been a while since I've used a forum.

This will also be crossposted to FFN and AO3.

Feel free to follow this story on Tumblr: riversofasphodel.tumblr.com

Chapters should come out every two weeks.

 

[FennecWitch]

Chapter 2: Meeting in the Middle

Author's Note: Chapter title is from the song "I've Been Searching For You" from Centaurworld.

CW: Body dysphoria, memory loss

---

Did "meet me after breakfast" really mean anything, if she had no plans of having breakfast? Because if it didn't, then that meant it was a good excuse for her to avoid having to go to Sobek's office and be told that she wasn't doing enough to support the guild.

Which, she knew, anyway. It wasn't like she needed another reminder of that. When almost the entire rest of the guild was going out on boats and using nets to bring back huge swathes of fish at once every day, and she was going out and bringing back only a small bag of fish, it was easy to see who was being more of an asset.

So, really, there was no reason for her to go and see the guildmaster, if all he was going to say was something she already knew. It'd just be redundant! A waste of time, really. Time she could be using helping the guild by catching fish.

Which would be an idea that would be easier to keep in mind if she didn't talk to the guildmaster and have him remind her of what she needed to do. Which meant that it would probably be best if she didn't go down and have breakfast at all, no matter what other ideas her stomach seemed to have. Though, given that she hadn't gotten back until after dinner had finished last night and hadn't eaten much for lunch the previous day, the temptation was pretty strong.

But, if she wanted to avoid Sobek, she could just wait until after he would've finished breakfast. He always got up bright and early, at the crack of dawn, so he'd be eating breakfast pretty much as soon as it was ready. And he'd probably only be in there for like, an hour at most, before he had other stuff he needed to do. Stuff that was more important that trying to track her down. And since the time right now was…

Daphne looked out the window, straining her eyes to get a glimpse of the sun. She could see only a little bit of light, just peeking over the tops of the buildings at the edge of town.

Right. So, since sunrise had basically just started, and it was winter, breakfast should be ready in about half an hour at most. And, since she didn't feel like she was going to be able to get any more sleep, she only had to lie awake here hungry for…

About an hour and a half.

Totally doable.

She sighed, and rolled over to her side, squeezing her eyes shut.

---

After she finished breakfast, Daphne went to check on the Pokémon she'd brought back to the infirmary last night.

It was a better plan than dealing with Sobek, at least, and it wouldn't take long. Either they were fine and she could feel reassured, or they weren't and there was nothing more she could do about it.

So she made her way to the infirmary. She heard what sounded like two Pokémon talking as she approached it, which was a good sign. One of the Pokémon definitely sounded like Cetus, at least, and she thought she heard a lizard-like hiss, which would make sense, though she wasn't close enough to get a clear idea of what they were saying.

As she entered the room, Cetus turned over to look at her. She smiled, and turned back to the lizard, who now had a torn blue cloth tied around one of her front legs. "And here she is. This is the Pokémon who found you: Brionne Daphne."

The Helioptile's eyes widened a little, and she looked over at Daphne. Upon looking at Daphne, her eyes seemed to narrow again a little, in what Daphne thought might have been confusion. Or was it recognition?

"Oh, uh, hi. Thanks. And, um, nice to meet you? I'm Chloe." She spoke up, her voice coming out in a strange hiss, not like the speech of other reptilian Pokémon Daphne had heard before. Maybe they had met before…? That name sounded familiar.

"Nice to meet you, too," Daphne said, after a moment. "What happened to you? I mean, you don't look that strong, but the Pokémon in the forest aren't that tough."

The Helioptile looked down. "Oh, I, uh… I don't remember."

Hold on. "You don't remember how you got there?"

She shook her head. "No, I mean… I don't remember anything before I woke up here. Just my name and, uh…" She trailed off for a moment, before resuming. "Yeah, just my name."

Daphne felt her breath catch in her throat. "I… Right."

She felt Cetus' eyes on her, knowing the Corsola could see her freezing up. She heard the healer's questioning voice. "Daphne?"

Daphne shook herself in an effort to compose her thoughts. She looked down at Cetus. "Could you… Could I talk to her for a bit? Alone?"

Cetus' eyes narrowed slightly, but she nodded. "Not for long, though. Someone from the hospital should be here soon to take her there. And even besides that, she's been under a lot of stress, and needs rest."

Daphne blinked. "The hospital? Why's she going there? I didn't—"

"I can't walk," the Helioptile said, cutting her off. "My body doesn't move right."

"Right…" Daphne said.

Cetus made her way out of the room, turning to Daphne as she left. "Don't do anything to stress her out, okay?"

"I won't!" she replied. "I'll be fine."

The Corsola gave her a long look, then left the room. Leaving Daphne alone with the Helioptile.

Daphne turned to her. "So. You can't remember anything of your past?"

"Uh, yeah…" the lizard replied. "I can remember facts. I know things, but…"

"But everything else is gone. You can't remember your actual memories, and it feels like they're just out of reach," Daphne said, with a sigh.

Chloe blinked. "Yeah, actually. It's exactly like that. How did you…?"

"Because," Daphne began, closing her eyes, "I woke up a few years ago with no memories except my name. Just like you."

The Helioptile's eyes widened. "That… Wait, there is something else I remember, too. I'm not a Pokémon. I'm a human."

Daphne's eyes widened. "That… Humans aren't real. Like, they're not a thing that exists."

"What do you mean?" Chloe said, with an undercurrent of nervousness.

"I've never met anyone who's ever heard of anything called 'humans'," Daphne replied, her voice hard.

"Then how do you know what they are?" the Helioptile asked.

"When I found you," Daphne began, "the reason I brought you back with me, is because I thought I heard you say my name. Do you know me?"

Chloe was silent for a moment, her large blue eyes staring at Daphne. "I… I don't know. You seem… familiar, I guess?"

"What does that mean, though? Like, if we did know each other… I thought I'd just had an accident. That's why I couldn't remember anything, and why some of the things I knew were wrong. But…" Daphne trailed off, looking down.

"I don't know…"

The sound of something approaching the room caused both of them to look up, as Cetus came through the door, followed by an Oranguru wearing a red tag, and levitating a small stretcher beside him. "Sorry. Time to go."

No! She wouldn't have time to go to the hospital today, not when she absolutely needed to work. "I, uh, I'll see you later Chloe. Tomorrow morning."

Chloe's eyes briefly darted over to look at Daphne, before going back to focus on the Oranguru, who was much larger than Daphne, and even larger compared to Chloe. "Oh, uh… Alright."

"You should probably be getting to work regardless, shouldn't you, Daphne?" Cetus said, with a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah…" Daphne said. "I'll get going."

She turned to leave, making her way out of the door, before turning back for a moment. "Oh, uh, get well soon."

Chloe nodded. "Thanks."

Daphne nodded back, then left the room, mind still reeling.

---

Chloe decided that she didn't like levitation. Or telekinesis or whatever it was called. Or at least, she didn't like it being used to carry her. Or anything she was on.

She supposed she was just grateful that they weren't moving any faster through the town than they were. Sure, the stretcher she was being carried in felt fairly stable, but she still felt like it was about to tip over or fling her out at any moment.

It didn't help that something felt really weird with her eyesight. Everything felt like it was a weird colour. She almost wanted to say purple, but that wasn't right. Why had it gone weird like this? It hadn't been like this inside, had it? Or at least, it hadn't been this bad.

And the sun was beaming down, too. It was… Well, actually it felt nice. Nice and warm. Which was weird, because her body didn't actually seem like it was warm. If anything, it felt colder than it should be. But the sun was still nice and warm. So she couldn't complain too much, she supposed.

A faint breeze skimmed the air, carrying with it the scent of the sea. Chloe had been taken aback by the smell when she was first brought out of the building. It was so strong, and it felt so familiar, as well. She'd felt a faint pang of joy at the scent, and it had felt like she could almost reach out into her mind and touch some faint memory. But, when she tried to reach it, she found it was always just out of reach.

At least this short trip by stretcher through this town had been interesting. From what she could see past the stretcher, it was so strange. It felt so weird to just see Pokémon going about their business, like it was completely normal. Which, for them, she supposed, it was.

Flying-types flying through the sky, carrying bags; fighting-types lifting huge stacks of boxes through the streets; even some ghost types passing through walls, seemingly busy. She'd never seen such a big and diverse collection of Pokémon. It was incredible.

The sheer wonder and delight of seeing this all was almost enough to make her forget about her own situation. But a few of the passersby staring at her, clearly conscious in the stretcher, made her shrink back down into the stretcher. They were probably wondering why a seemingly healthy Pokémon was being moved in a stretcher. After all, it wasn't like she was actually injured, was it?

She stuck her head back down, hiding her face back down beneath the folds of the stretcher. It wasn't a big stretcher by any means, basically just a bit of cloth tied to two sticks of wood. But, as she'd soon realised, she wasn't very big herself, now. She was pretty sure Oranguru were usually meant to be shorter than the average person. And this Oranguru was at least three times taller than her. She was tiny now, in addition to everything else wrong with her body.

Honestly, she wasn't sure how the hospital was meant to help her. She doubted they were going to be able to give her back her old body.

Especially, she thought darkly, since I can't even remember what my old body looked like.

She didn't want to think about that. But, her mind didn't seem to be coming up with any distractions. So short of poking her head out of the stretcher again, which did seem somewhat tempting, she wasn't going to have much else to do for the next minutes. She could look at the ocean for a bit? She could see it fairly well past the buildings, and she felt like she liked the ocean.

But, no. She wanted to remember anything she could. And besides, maybe she'd be able to remember something that'd be useful for the Pokémon at the hospital?

Okay, what about height? How tall had she been? Obviously taller than she was now, given how short she felt, but that didn't seem to help. She concentrated as best she could, trying to remember if she ever had to look down on people, or look up to them, to make eye contact. Which one of those did she have to do? Was she tall or short?

Nothing.

Okay, then… Maybe, what was her hair like? What colour was it? How long had it been? Was it straight or curly? She tried to imagine how it would feel to run a hand through her hair. There was… something there. She could almost imagine how that would feel. So maybe, she'd done that before? Which meant her hair was probably at least long enough at some point for her to run her hands through it. And… it felt smooth, she thought. Straight hair. That sounded right.

Maybe she was just making things up, but… She wanted to hope she was working out things about her past. Sure, her hair might not be what she most wanted to know about, but… she didn't not want to know about it. It was still a part of her past. A part of her. And maybe, if she kept getting small things like this, it would help her work out the bigger things, too. She had to hope, at least.

Okay, what else? What colour had her hair been? It was long, so it must have gotten in her eyes sometimes. When she thought about brushing a hand in front of her face to move the hair from in front of her eyes, what colour were those strands? No, she couldn't get anything. What about eye colour? She concentrated on that for a moment, trying to think of a way to work out what colour her eyes had been, but… Nothing on that either.

She let out a small sigh. Okay, well… What kind of clothes did she like to wear? Immediately, the thought of formal clothes repelled her, gave her a stifling feeling. So, not suits and dresses and things, then. Shirts? No objections from her brain. Pants? That seemed fine. Skirts? There was some more instinctive rejection on that one, but it felt more like her legs being itchy? Not from skirts, from… from leggings worn with a skirt. Jackets seemed fine, though, if… Yeah, a sensation of heat. Wherever she'd lived, it must've been too hot to wear a jacket at some point recently. Did that make sense?

The stretcher came to an abrupt stop, and Chloe jolted, being snapped out of her thoughts. It seemed like they'd arrived, though the building they were outside didn't seem anything like what she'd imagined.

It was a big building, with multiple storeys, at least, but was hardly the huge pristine prestigious medical facility she'd expected. Instead, it was a simpler brick building, extending a decent bit back towards the ocean, but not hugely expansive in the way she'd imagined.

Instead of going in what looked like the main entrance, the Oranguru took her around the back of the building, to a door marked with some… Was that writing? If it was, it didn't look like any language she was familiar with. Huh, now that she thought about it, she definitely knew how to read and write multiple languages. Probably speak them both, too, if she had actually functioning vocal cords.

Focusing on the world around her again, she was carried into the building behind the Oranguru, and taken down a few corridors. They looked clean enough, though not the pristine white she'd expect from a hospital, instead having what looked like stone floors. It looked like the inside of an old building, in the same way that the interior of the other place she'd been in had.

No other Pokémon passed them in the corridors, and the room she was finally brought to was empty, too. It was fairly spacious and round, rather than square, with what looks like some crates stacked on one side. On the ground on the opposite edge of the room were some beds of straw, like the one she'd been on earlier in the infirmary. Laid on top of the straw seemed to be some small pieces of cloth, similar in appearance to the one used for the stretcher.

Small windows looked out to a nice view of the ocean, and were open, letting in a soft breeze, as well as some sunlight, beaming down onto the beds of straw. The room and the hospital seemed to be about the same temperature as it had been outside, which was nice.

The stretcher was moved over on top of one of these beds, and then Chloe felt it being slowly lowered down. It was a weird feeling, like she was falling, but very slowly. Which was exactly what was happening, now that she thought about it.

When the stretcher landed on the bed, the small glow surrounding it, a visual indicator of the psychic power that had been used to lift it, vanished.

"Wait here," the Oranguru spoke up in a deep grunt.

"Oh, uh, okay," she replied, with a nod. It wasn't like she was going to be able to go anywhere.

He left, and she lay there on the bed, looking out the window at the ocean. Ocean air was meant to be good for the body, right? She was pretty sure she'd at least heard about sick people going near the ocean to recover. Not that she was sick, but that was probably why this hospital was so near the ocean.

While looking at the ocean, she idly thought it looked nice to swim in. Huh. That was interesting. Did she like swimming? She guessed the idea of going swimming seemed fun. So she guessed she did. Not that she was really going to be able to like this. She doubted the strokes she knew would work the same in this body. And since she was an electric type, she might end up accidentally letting out a shock and electrocuting everyone else in the water.

Actually, that could still happen, couldn't it? She could just accidentally discharge some electricity in all directions and shock everyone around her. She felt a chill run up her spine at that thought. She didn't have the first idea how to control her new abilities. How would she even summon electricity from herself, let alone use a move?

She was almost tempted to try at that point, but knowing her luck, the doctor would walk in right as she managed to summon some and she'd shock them. Better to just leave it for now. There had to be someone who could teach her, didn't there? If it came down to that, at least. After all, there wasn't really a reason she had to learn to use it.

Hearing small footsteps approaching her, Chloe looked up, seeing a small furry grey Pokémon walking into the room. The Pokémon also had white hair and a red band around his left arm, in which he was carrying a small clipboard. In his right paw, he was holding what looked like a metal rod. Interestingly enough, he looked to be about the same size as she was now. Which is weird because she thought he was an evolved Pokémon? Maybe he was just small, though.

In saying that, she wasn't entirely sure, since his species wasn't that familiar to her. Not familiar enough for her to be able to remember the name, at least. She wanted to say it was a Pokémon from Unova or Galar? Something like that, she thought.

"Miss Chloe?" the Pokémon squeaked, placing the metal rod down on the ground.

She nodded, snapped out of her thoughts.

"My name is Cinccino Bennett. I'm one of the healers here. You can call me Healer Bennett if you like, or just Bennett," he said, walking over to her. Cinccino! That was it.

"Nice to meet you," she said with a small hiss. "I assume you know why I'm here."

He hesitated. "Not entirely. I am aware of some memory loss and lack of mobility, but beyond that I might need a helping hand."

She sighed. "There's not that much more to it. I can't remember anything before this morning. Besides my name, that is. And I can't move. Or, I don't know how to move. I…"

She hesitated, unsure how much to reveal, before proceeding. "It's like my body is completely foreign to me. I don't know how to move it, or how to use any of my abilities. And I had a headache, but that's mostly gone now."

"I see," the Cinccino responded, writing something down on the clipboard. "In that case, it sounds as though your problems are largely mental. Which I'm afraid I'm not qualified to really help you with. I can try and get in touch and see if we can get a mind healer sent over here, though, who should be able to help you more. How does that sound?"

"That sounds good," she said, a little disappointed. "How soon could they be here?"

"I'm not sure. Best case scenario, before the end of the day, assuming we get one who can teleport. Worst case scenario, no more than a few days."

"Okay," she replied, looking down.

"For now, though," the Cinccino said, "I'm going to give you a few Oran and Cheri Berries to eat."

"Oh! Because, uh, Oran Berries are good for general recovery, right? And Cheri Berries cure paralysis? Because… I can't move?" she said, thinking it over.

"You're fairly close," Bennett replied. "The Oran Berry is for general recovery, and should help with pain relief for the headache you mentioned. The Cheri Berries are to stimulate your body's lightning."

"They can do that?" she asked.

"That's how they cure paralysis. Generally, they stimulate a Pokémon's nervous system which causes them to regain movement in a body that is otherwise unable to move. In lightning types, this also helps to give you a small spark to restore your charge somewhat. Speaking of which…"

He looked over to her. "I'm assuming you don't know when you last discharged your lightning."

"Discharged?" she asked. "Like used a move?"

"Not quite, no," he replied. "If a lightning type builds up too much lightning in their system, they can become overcharged and end up with lightning leaking out of their body, bursting out at random. To avoid this, lightning types usually need to occasionally discharge all of their lightning to reset their charge. For a Pokémon of your size, I would say you should do this at least once a week."

Chloe blinked. "Oh. I didn't know that."

"Right. So, given that, I would like you to discharge your lightning here, just in case," the Cinccino said.

"I… don't know how," she said, looking down. "And I don't want to end up messing up and zapping you."

"Not to worry," he said, pointing a paw to the metal rod. "This is a lightning rod. All the lightning you discharge will be drawn to it and grounded. It's perfectly safe. And as for not knowing how to do it… It should be fairly instinctual. But, try this. Close your eyes, and focus on your aura. Yours should be predominantly lightning and basic types. Feel the lightning, focus on it, and draw it out."

"Okay," she said slowly. "I guess I can try it. This won't hurt, will it?"

He shook his head. "It won't. You'll probably be tired for the next few hours, but you should probably be resting, anyway."

She nodded. "Got it."

Chloe closed her eyes. Trying to find her lightning, she focused on her own body. She hadn't really wanted to, and still didn't. Because it wasn't really her body. Even thinking about it that way felt wrong. She shuddered, but continued trying to focus on it.

There was definitely something there. There was a small hum within her that she hadn't noticed before. She tried to focus on it, reach out and… There. Her eyes flashed open in time to see a small spark on the end of her claw disappear.

She blinked. "Did I do it? I don't feel any different."

"Almost," the Cinccino said with an encouraging smile. "You found your lightning, now just do that again and don't stop."

"Right. I think I can do that," she said with a nod.

She focused on the same energy inside her, and reached for the same hum, concentrating on it.

She felt it moving through her, reaching her finger, then leaving her body, and heard the crackling of electricity. She stopped from the shock of it all, but managed to keep going until the hum was very faint and she felt like she couldn't move any more energy out of her.

She opened her eyes. "I think I did it that time."

Bennett nodded. "You did indeed! Good work."

"How did it look? Was it fine?" she asked, curious.

"It didn't look as though you had too much charge in your body, but you're small, so it was better to be safe," he replied.

"So, how do I get charge back now? If it's all gone?"

He smiled. "Your body should naturally recover it. I wouldn't try using any moves for a few hours, but after that you should be fine until your next discharge."

"Okay." She let out a yawn unconsciously. "You were right. That was tiring…"

"Rest up for now. I'll go and get you those berries," he said, leaving the room.

Chloe nodded, and tried her best to move her body to get comfortable, closing her eyes to get some rest.

---

Author's Note: Not a good start for my upload schedule, especially since this chapter's been finished since November. Sorry about that. The next chapter will come out on schedule, though, so next week.

Hope you enjoyed!

 

[FennecWitch]

Chapter 3: My Personal Disaffection

Author's Note: Chapter title is from the song "Faust, Midas, and Myself" by Switchfoot.

CW: Memory loss, brief identity death

---

Chloe didn't end up getting some sleep. Or at least, if she did sleep, it wasn't for very long. She definitely had rested her body, though. She felt less tired now, though that might've just been her charge returning to her. Which was a weird thing for her to conceptualise, but… she supposed she'd have to get used to it. The berries had been nice though. Better than she'd expected them to taste.

It was getting well into the afternoon now, from what she could tell of the time by watching the sun cross her window, slowly going from one side to the other. Healer Bennett had shut the windows earlier, using some sort of portable stool to reach the latches. That hadn't stopped the sun from shining down on her, though, which had been nice. It was nice to just lie there in a sunbeam. If she closed her eyes, she could almost completely zone out and not think about her situation.

She wondered what Daphne was doing. Based on what the Brionne had quickly said when leaving, it didn't seem like she'd see her again until tomorrow at least. But, it seemed like they definitely had known each other at some point in their past. Was Daphne a human too? She hadn't really answered.

The place she'd been in when she woke up was called a Fishing Guild. And Cetus had said Daphne was one of the apprentices there. So did that mean Daphne worked as a fisher? Was she out fishing? Chloe tried to picture Daphne sitting on a pier, holding a fishing rod and laughed at the mental image.

A faint sound of what might have been wheels pulled her out of her thoughts. She'd heard footsteps outside her door a few times, which had presumably just been Pokémon going past on their way to see other patients. The wheels were a new sound though.

She looked over the door to her room. It wasn't like doors she'd ever really seen before. Rather than any kind of handle, it was completely smooth wood, and pushed open, able to open in both directions. She'd noticed how Healer Bennett had pushed it softly open last time he'd been in her room, then shut it behind him.

This time, it was covered with a glow indicating the use of psychic abilities, and slowly swung open as an Espeon walked in. Instead of a cloth tied around an arm or leg, his tag seemed to be a red bandanna tied neatly around his neck. There was what looked to be a name tag pinned to it, with a symbol displaying three coloured triangles and a red circle in the center next to some writing she couldn't read.

But the accessory that most drew her eyes was what had made the rolling sound she'd heard. His body was in some kind of harness, which was attached to some poles that went down to two wheels on the ground, on either side of his body. As he moved, she noticed that his hind legs didn't appear to be moving, hanging limp behind him, along with his tail.

"Helioptile Chloe?" he said, looking down at her.

She blinked, taking her eyes away from his back legs. "Oh, uh, yeah. That's me."

He tilted his head down. "Espeon Theseus. I'm the mind healer that was assigned to you."

"Nice to meet you," she said, with a small nod back.

She paused, looking at him. She didn't know why, but her mind kept wanting to focus on his hind legs, her eyes just staring at them with some kind of weird feeling of what could have been almost loss or regret. But that didn't make any sense.

"Sorry, um," she said, managing to look away, and staring at the floor, instead. "This might be rude, but… Can I ask what happened to your legs?"

"Ah." His eyes widened slightly. "There was… an accident. Years ago, now. I've adjusted to it, though."

"I see," she replied, looking back up at him, trying to gauge his expression, though he averted his eyes. "I'm sorry."

He let out a small hiss, expression unreadable. "It's fine. There was nothing you could have done."

Neither of them spoke, and silence filled the air. The Espeon closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes, while Chloe just sat there, watching him, concerned.

It wasn't long before he opened his eyes again. "Right, well. I'm here to help you with your mind. I understand you're experiencing amnesia?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," she said, with a nod. "And I can't move my body. I don't know how."

"Well, memory is a somewhat difficult thing to restore. I can try my best, but I make no guarantees. That is, of course, assuming you allow me to enter your mind," Theseus said.

"What does that entail?" Chloe asked.

"At this stage, a small mental probe to see if I can gauge the severity of your amnesia. Don't worry, it won't hurt," he said, his ears perking up a little.

"And what does that mean?" she said, looking up curiously.

"Well, your memories may be locked away, or they may be completely erased. If they are locked away, it will depend on the strength of the mental lock whether or not I am able to unlock them. Though based on what you have said, I believe the strength of the lock will be beyond my capabilities."

"Right," she said. "So if it is, we'd have to get a stronger psychic, then?"

"Very likely, yes," he replied with a nod.

"And, when you're in my brain, you're going to be able to see everything?" Chloe said, with some hesitation.

Theseus nodded again. "Though, given your total amnesia, that won't be much, I suspect. Some semantic memory at most. I will do my best to not intrude too much, however."

"Okay," she said. "And this just happens now? We don't need to book an appointment or anything? I don't have to fill out any, I don't know, paperwork, or anything?"

"That should be covered by the hospital," he said. "If you'd like, while I'm in there, I can attempt to temporarily strengthen your instincts to allow you to gain a better grasp on how to move your body. Regardless of your mind, there should at least be some instincts in there that know how to move your body."

"That would be nice, actually," Chloe said, with a nod. "Healer Bennett said I couldn't move because of a mental block, so if you could fix that it'd be nice. It's just going to work like that? Like you flip a switch and I can move? It seems almost too easy."

"Well…" he began, pausing for a moment. "It's not likely to be quite that simple. You may be a little overwhelmed and disorientated for a moment when I strengthen your instincts. As long as you regain your control over your mind, you should be fine. I will be right here with you, okay?"

"Okay…" she said, with a small sigh. "Sorry for asking so many questions, I just… I don't really know how this all works."

"That's perfectly understandable," Theseus replied, with an encouraging purr. "No more questions, then?"

She still had some reservations, like the fact that it seemed like he might find out that she was a human. But if humans didn't exist here, that wouldn't be too much of a big deal, would it? It should be fine. He might not even see it. And it'd be worth it if it let her move. And if there was even a small chance of her getting her memories back, she'd take it.

So Chloe shook her head. "I'm ready."

"Very well then," the Espeon said, moving over to her. "This will work better if we maintain physical contact."

She nodded, and he placed a paw on her body, closing his eyes. "Right. This may feel strange."

A psychic glow peeked out from behind his closed eyelids. Immediately, Chloe felt something in her mind. It was swirling around in her thoughts, moving around by her memories. She was almost scared to think in case it somehow interfered with the process.

And then the thing in her mind thought. It was almost like she'd thought the string of words herself, but she knew she hadn't. Theseus was speaking to her through her mind. Strangely, this didn't seem to disconcert her as much as she would have expected it to. It felt almost calming. The message itself faded quickly, Chloe too caught off-guard by the sensation to register the words.

It came again, and this time she got it. «Chloe, please stay calm. I would have put you to sleep for this, but I need you awake when I strengthen your instincts. Just relax your mind, and try not to think too hard.»

So she did so. She closed her eyes and did her best not to think about anything.

And another message came. «Okay, I was right. I unfortunately cannot unlock your memories. The psychic seal on them is far beyond my capabilities, as usual. Moving on to your instincts.»

She wanted to ponder on what he meant by that but continued to focus on clearing her mind.

She'd focused so much on clearing her mind, in fact, that when the instincts kicked in, it came as a complete rush.

Helioptile's eyes shot open, assessing the area. Where was she? There were walls all around her, trapping her. And there was something on top of her. What was it? Her eyes went wide. A dangerous beast had her in its claws.

She quickly wriggled out of its grasp and took a few quick steps back. As it opened its large eyes, she hissed at it, extending her frills to scare it away. Once it went away, she could focus on getting out of this strange place and find a tree to climb.

It opened its mouth, letting out a terrifying noise that she seemed to understand? "Oh dear. Chloe, your instincts are overpowering you. You need to take back control of your body."

Helioptile understood the speech of this creature, but didn't know what it was talking about. She focused on generating sparks along her frills, making a show of aggression in hopes of getting it to back off.

She looked around the area. The way out seemed to be between her and that creature. It looked like she was going to have to run past it. She began to cover her body in sparks, preparing to make a break for it.

It spoke again. "Chloe! Please don't attack me."

Helioptile let out a hiss and began to sprint on all fours at the way out, charging past the beast. Yes! She was almost free! She was doing it!

She'd almost reached the way out when she was stopped by a strange energy, which grabbed her body and stopped her from moving. It lifted her back over to where she had started. She struggled, but it didn't seem to do anything.

The beast moved over to her and she shook, trying to cover her body in sparks again before it ate her. It grabbed her again with its claws, and closed its eyes as she tried to muster some sparks.

A voice spoke inside her head. «Chloe! You need to control yourself. Fight these instincts.»

Control herself? Fight her instincts? What did—

Chloe blinked. What had she been doing?

"Theseus?" she asked. "Did it work?"

The Espeon opened his eyes. "It… did, yes. Try to move."

"Okay…" Chloe replied. She took a few cautious steps, and found that her back legs were moving along with it. "I can move!"

"Congratulations," Theseus replied dryly. "I'm afraid you lost control to your instincts for a moment there, but it should have faded by now. You should be all better, in that department, at least."

"Right, yeah," Chloe said, looking now. "I kind of remember. Thank you. I can't describe how much this means to me."

"Of course, Chloe," he said, his ears perked up. "I'm happy to help."

He paused, then continued. "Will that be all you need for now?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so?" she replied.

Theseus nodded. "Then I will take my leave for now."

He turned to leave the room, then quickly turned back to her. "Oh, and… You don't know how to read this writing system, do you?"

"No, I don't," she responded, looking up at him.

"Come by the library at some point within the next few days. I can help teach you. Please come alone."

And with that, he left the room. The rolling of wheels echoed down the hospital corridors, before disappearing entirely.

---

The entire day, Daphne couldn't stop thinking about Chloe. She tried to do her job, and mostly succeeded. Well, she caught three fish. Compared to the five from yesterday, minus the one she gave to Lily, that was pretty good, right?

She was even on pace to make it back before curfew. Not that she really wanted to see Sobek at dinner, but by the time she got there he probably wouldn't have enough time to lecture her. She didn't have enough time to make it over to the hospital, but she could stop in on Lily quick. The Lillipup probably deserved an explanation.

And a fish, too, probably. An explanation and a fish. Which would bring her down to an average of three a bag. That wasn't bad, was it? Fairly good work for two days. Well, given that it was winter so there weren't as many fish around. She thought that was pretty good, if you really thought about it.

She sighed, as she lugged the bag behind her through the forest. Who was she kidding? It was fine. The worst that would probably happen would be that she got another lecture. She could deal with that.

She turned off the main path, heading over to Lily's cave. It definitely felt safer in the day time. Or at least, she was more comfortable moving through the brush when she felt like she wasn't in a rush to get back. When she was rushing, she was way more likely to not look where she was going and potentially hurt herself. Not that that had happened. Much.

"Lily?" she called out, as she approached the cave. "You there?"

She heard a faint scramble of paws, before the Lillipup emerged. "Oh, um, hi Daphne. I have the bag for you, if you want? Um, I didn't eat any, don't worry."

Daphne nodded. "Right, yeah, that's why I'm here."

She paused, raising a flipper to her face. "Wait, no. I don't know how I'm gonna carry two bags. I was so distracted I didn't even think to bring the wagon."

Plus, she hadn't exactly been catching enough fish this week to warrant dragging a wagon behind her all the way to the beach.

"Oh," Lily replied, looking down. "So… Do you want me to keep it here again?"

"Maybe? You've been keeping it somewhere cold, right?"

"Yep!" the Lillipup replied. "Or, as cold as I can. I don't have anywhere specially made to be cold, but it gets pretty cold in this cave. Especially at night."

Lily looked down.

"Right," Daphne said, pausing for a moment. "Then, yeah, probably. I'll come and get them tomorrow."

"Got it," the other Pokémon replied, before tilting her head to the side. "Though, uh, why'd you need to leave them here? You just said something about an injured Pokémon? What happened?"

Daphne looked down. "Oh, right. So, when I was walking home, I found a Pokémon passed out on the side of the road, in the forest. She wasn't moving, but she was still breathing, and she didn't look wild, so I wanted to take her into town to get her some help."

"Oh!" Lily responded, her eyes widening. "Is she okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so? She woke up this morning and I spoke to her a bit. But the healer at the guild got the hospital to come and pick her up to make sure. I'm probably going there tomorrow to see how she's going," Daphne said, one flipper curled around the stone tied around her neck.

"That's good," the Lillipup said. "Do you know what happened to her?"

Daphne sighed. "That's the thing."

She took a deep breath. "Okay, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I don't know. I've been trying to work it out all day, and I have no idea what's actually going on. This Pokémon—her name's Chloe—she doesn't remember anything before she woke up in the guild."

Lily's ears perked up. "Just like, um, like what you said happened when you first woke up?"

"Yeah," she replied, with a nod. "And the weird part is, when I found her, I thought I heard her say my name. She doesn't remember saying it, and I only spoke to her for like five minutes or so, but… She feels familiar. It's weird."

"What… what type of Pokémon is she?" the Lillipup asked.

Daphne blinked. "Uh, Helioptile, apparently. Lighting/basic lizards. Why?"

Lily's ears flattened. "Oh, um, it's nothing. I just thought for a sec… Never mind."

"O-kay…" she replied, tilting her head to the side. "You sure it's nothing?"

"Yeah! It's fine," the other Pokémon replied. "Um, I meant to ask if I'd be able to have another fish today? If not, that's fine! I just… it's getting harder to find berries, with the winter and all."

Daphne sighed. "Go for it."

Lily looked back up. "Thanks. And, um, sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Daphne said. "I should probably be going now, though. I'll be back tomorrow. Probably around this time."

"Okay. See you then," the Lillipup said, looking down.

Daphne picked up the bag of fish and turned to go. Lily retreated back into the cave, with one final glance back at Daphne as she walked back through the brush.

---

The last thing Daphne wanted to see when entering the guild was, of course, exactly what greeted her.

Her eyes widened. "Guildmaster! Shouldn't you be doing some paperwork or something? You didn't have to wait out here just for me."

Sobek narrowed his eyes, staring down at her. "My office, now."

"You know, I would, but I should really put this away, first," Daphne said, and held up the bag of fish.

The Feraligatr reached out an arm, easily pulling the bag out of her grasp and hurling it into the corner of the room. "Daphne."

She sighed, looking down. "Okay, fine. Let's get this over with."

Sobek nodded, and she followed slowly behind him as they walked to his office.

The office wasn't a very large room. At least, not compared to a lot of the other rooms in the guild. It wasn't cramped for the Feraligatr or anything, but it wasn't as grand and expansive as rooms like the foyer or the mess hall. Daphne would almost have called it modest, if not for the amount of decorations placed around the room.

Fishing nets and weapons were hung all over the walls, almost completely covering them. Around the room were wooden models of ships, placed on seemingly whatever spare desks and tables Sobek could find. Each of them was hand-crafted, and intricately detailed. Looking over to his desk, she could see a half-finished model sitting in the middle of a mess of paperwork strewn all over it. The paper had even stretched to the floor, covering the wooden planks nearest to the desk. At the front of the desk was a polished golden nameplate reading "GUILDMASTER".

Sobek didn't seem to notice this as he walked behind his desk, sitting down on an uncomfortable-looking wooden chair. "Sit."

Daphne eyed the other chair, on her side of the desk. Its seat was only just below her eye-level and she really didn't want to relive her past attempts of trying to sit on it. "Yeah, I think I'm good."

"Fine," the Feraligatr responded, looking down at her from over the desk. "You know why you're here, don't you?"

She sighed. "Let's see, uh… missing curfew, not coming to your office this morning, not bringing anything back yesterday, my general productivity being very comparatively low, and just generally being a poor excuse for a guild member? That sound about right? I think this is the part where I apologise and promise not to do it again. That all you needed?"

He let out a low growl. "Daphne. Do you remember our discussion a few months ago?"

"Remind me," she replied.

He stared down at her with narrowed eyes. "The one where we agreed that, come winter, you would consider the idea of going out on a boat like the rest of the guild."

"Ah. That one."

"I'm sure you're aware it's now winter, Daphne?" he said, his tone tired.

"Mhm," she replied.

"We have a boat leaving after breakfast tomorrow morning. Just for the day," Sobek said, his voice growing strangely warm. "If you are serious about wanting to do your part, be on it."

Daphne looked down. "Ah, sorry. Bad time. I still gotta go get the bag of fish from yesterday that I, uh, left in the woods. And I want to make sure the injured Pokémon I brought back is okay."

"Cetus told me that the hospital is taking care of the Helioptile," he replied. "I'm sure she will be fine. And if you left a bag of fish in the woods, I will be very surprised if it was not devoured by wilds the second you sat it down."

"It's in, uh, a safe place. They won't have gotten to it," she said.

"How many fish are in the bag, Daphne?" he asked.

"Uh, three?" she said, forcing the words out of her mouth.

"So, you could go out on the boat and bring in tens of fish tomorrow, or you could go to the beach and bring back three."

"Sounds about right," she replied.

Sobek scratched at his face with a claw. "Daphne, I want you to seriously think about what I am about to say. I agreed to take you in because you said you were going to do your part. Your little solo excursions were meant to be a trial run, before you went on to the boats. It has been a year, Daphne."

"I don't do well with others," she said, wrapping a flipper around the stone around her neck.

"Then, I will remind you again, Daphne. I am not forcing you to stay here. No one is forcing you remain here in town. If you want to catch fish by yourself all day, you can do that. You can go and live in the wild, and catch fish to provide for yourself. You can even sell extras if you want, without needing to be part of my guild. So, answer me this:" he said, standing up, his gaze towering over her, "Why are you part of this guild, Brionne Daphne?"

Daphne looked down, saying nothing.

After a moment, Sobek sighed, and sat back down. "I will give you until the end of the week to give me an answer. Either you stay here and work with everyone else, or you leave the guild."

She nodded, not saying anything more, before turning and hurrying out of the room.

---

That evening, Healer Bennett came into Chloe's room. She began to stir, stretching her limbs as he placed down a small bag of berries.

Chloe let out a yawn, opening her eyes. "W-what's going on…?"

Healer Bennett smiled. "Don't worry, just bringing you some more berries. Go back to sleep; you can eat them when you wake up."

"Oh… Okay," she said, closing one eye.

He turned to leave, then quickly turned back. "Ah! I should let you know the good news, as well. The mind healer we called for you will be here tomorrow morning."

Chloe blinked, suddenly a little more awake. "He's coming back?"

Healer Bennett tilted his head to the side. "I'm sorry…? What do you mean?"

"Well, I didn't think he needed to do anything else after today," she said, looking up.

The Cinccino paused. "Chloe, we didn't have any mind healer come in today for you."

Chloe blinked again. "Then… Wait."

She shook her head. "But, there was an Espeon who came in. He fixed my problems. I can walk now! See."

She stood up, and took a few steps forward, moving around the room a little.

Healer Bennett took a deep breath. "Right. Okay. I don't know who that was, but that was not a registered mind healer. He was not authorised to be here."

Chloe paused. "Then, why was he here? Why did he fix my mind?"

"I don't know," the Cinccino responded. "I'll need to file a report about this. Can you describe him for me?"

"Um… He was an Espeon. He said his name was Theseus. His hind legs were paralysed and he was in this kind of wheelchair harness thing," she began. "His tag was a red bandanna. Oh, and there was a kind of name tag thing on it, too."

"I see…" Bennett replied. "I shall look into this. We'll keep your appointment with Healer Doreen tomorrow morning just in case he did anything, er, else to your mind. I should go and report this, though… Oh dear…"

And with that, he quickly made his way out of the room, leaving Chloe alone and confused.

---

Author's Note: As I post this, it is about to turn midnight in my timezone, so Happy New Year!