Chapter One: Awake and Alive
Memory is a tricky thing, always leaving when you need it, and always there when you don't.
I woke up, staring at the morning sky. Clouds high in the sky, bird Pokemon that I had never seen before were flying. It was a beautiful day to be alive. I was on my back, staring up through the forest canopy. It was beautiful.
Time was passing slowly, and I just layed there. I had no idea of how I got here, or who I was or where I was. It was all a blur. Colors faded in and out, sounds clashed together, but I couldn't remember a thing.
Long story short, I got fucked up somewhere.
"Come on, Jovi!" I heard a voice shout. "Give me a hand. We need to get this data back to the Lab."
"Just a minute, big brother. Jovi wants to know if this guy is okay," said another voice. I looked up, and saw a little girl, roughly seven or eight years old. She had blue hair, and a white shirt. "Are you okay?" she asked me.
"Um...yeah, I guess." Her older brother walked over, inspecting me.
"Who are you?" He asked, then he noticed the bloodstains on my head. "What happened? Do you need medical help?" He was talking very slowly, as if I was dumb.
I smiled sheepishly. " I don't know, I don't remember," I admitted. "I don't remember anything about me."
"Amnesia? Believe it or not, Professor Krane gets that a lot out here," He said. "Most of the time it's just drunks who fall around and hit their faces, but Krane can help," the boy said. He was roughly my age, with a brighter red hair than mine. "Do you remember anything at all?"
I strained my brain to remember. "All I remember is a name, and it's not mine."
"Who's is it?"
"I think it was some girl I knew. I think her name was Maddison."
The kid held his hand out to help me up. "I'm David," he said, as I took his hand, and he helped me up. "If you want, when we get back to the Lab, I'll pull up some of the social media sites and look for any girls named Maddison."
I gave a sheepish grin. "Sounds kinda stalkerish, but sure."
David walked over to his scooter, and grabbed the handlebars, and the three of us started walking.
"Do you remember your name?" David asked after a few minutes of silence.
I shook my head. "Not really. All that I remember is just blurs of color, and sound."
David nodded. "Professor Krane helped a few other people with problems like this," he said. "I think he could help you."
"Great," I replied.
"Oh, and the Sinnoh League Champion is at the Lab," David added. "She was supposed to be helping me and Jovi collect data."
I paused for a minute. "It sounds familiar."
"What does?" David asked, stopping in his tracks.
"The Sinnoh League Champion, I think I knew who it was, or who it used to be." My mind struggled to access some long lost memory, but it was soon lost once more.
David continued walking, pushing the scooter along. "Perhaps you'll recognize her when you see her."
"Her name wouldn't be Maddison, would it?" I asked, slightly hopeful.
"Nope." David turned to face me. "Her name is Dawn...something. Ring any bells?"
I bit my lip, trying to force something to come back to me. "It does sound familar, but kinda in the back of my head," I explained. "Like I knew who she was, but didn't really care."
David shrugged. "It's a start at least." He thought for a minute. "Check you pockets for anything," he suggested. "Jovi, take the data back to the lab, and tell Krane that there's someone who needs help with their memory."
"Okay, big brother," the little kid replied. "Can Jovi take the scooter?" I rolled my eyes, since I found it highly annoying when people reffered to themselves in the third person.
"I suppose, just be careful and don't crash into the wall again," David answered, and watched as his sister hopped on and drove off.
In the meantime, I was digging through my pockets, searching for anything that could help me remember who I was. I did find some objects so far; a scrap of folded paper, three empty Pokeballs, and a picture.
I stared down at the picture in my hand, David looking over my shoulder. In the photograph, A younger me stood, smug smile on my face, wearing a cleaner version of what I had on now, a blue jacket, with gray jeans. And I had a bag over my shoulder in the picture, which I no longer had.
The picture form of me was surrounded by five Pokemon, species I couldn't name for the life of me. The first was a large dog like Pokemon, and next to it was a grass snake, and next to that was a water monkey, and next to that was a fire creature.
"A Herdier, Servine, Panpour, and Darumaka," David said, naming off the Pokemon species. "Judging from that, I'd think that you came from Unova."
I thought for a moment. "Where am I now?"
"Orre. Probably the least popular reigon in the world."
Hoping that the folded piece of paper would bring some light, some clue, a name, a number, anything into the mystery, I unfolded it, seeing a few lines of words.
A great love is lot like a good memory. When it's there, and you know it's there, but it's just out of your reach, it can be all you think about. Then you can focus on it and try to force it, but the more you do, the more you seem to push it away. But, if you're patient and you hold still, well maybe, just maybe, it'll come to you.
I furrowed my eyebrows as I read it again. And again. "What does it say?" David asked, and I handed it to him.
He read it. "That's pretty deep," he commented. "Perhaps it's right. Maybe you should just hold still and let it come back to you."
Releasing a deep breath, I had to think. "That's probably the best choice, but I really want to know who I am," I answered. "My parents are probably worried sick right now."
David snapped his fingers. "That's it! If you're parents were worried, they'd go to the police and file a missing person report."
"I think you have something there," I agreed. "But what if I was out on a journey, and they wouldn't have a reason to file a report since they wouldn't know I was missing?"
"Crap," he muttered, realizing that I was right. "We'll look anyway, and then...we'll go from there."
Stuffing the Pokeballs into my pocket, I took a final look at the picture. "That bag," I noticed. "That might be the key. We need to find it." I turned around to head back to where I woke up, but David stopped me.
"Krane will get some people out here tomorrow to look for it," he assured me. "But in the meantime, you need a place to stay for the night."
I sighed. "Fine, but make sure you have a ton of root beer."
"Trust us, we have plenty."
The Pokemon Lab was a giant white two story building, with a bigass Pokeball on top. A set of stairs led up to the sidewalk, and David's scooter was smashed into the bottom step, leaving a dent in the front.
"Jovi," he muttered with the slightest hint of rage.
"In all fairness," I interjected, "You did say not to crash into the wall."
David shot me a look. "Perhaps we should check the smartass website," he said sarcastically. "I'm sure you'd be on it."
"Now isn't the time to bicker," I told him as I tapped my head. "We have much work to do."
The interior of the lab was rather tidy and organized. A girl was asleep at the reception desk, and there were two rooms on either side of an elevator. "Krane's office is on the second floor," David explained, walking into the lift. I followed, and we went up in silence.
The doors slid open, allowing us access to the second floor. "First door to the right," David informed me. "Just in case you ever get lost."
"I doubt I'd get lost in here," I said, as we walked into the office. There was a desk close to the wall, and book cases behind it. A man in a lab coat sat at the desk, reading over something on his computer. He had brown hair, slightly messy and frizzy, probably from a long period of work. He had glasses sitting in one hand, and was rubbing his eyes with the other.
"Professer Krane?" David asked, cautiously stepping into the room.
The man looked up, and put his glasses on. "Ah, David, It's about time you got here," Krane said. "It's almost time for your training simulation." He picked up a disk from the desk, and handed it to David. "That's the newest simulation. So far, only a Salamence and a Metagross have been programed into it, but I'll add more once all the bugs are worked out."
"I suppose you want me to get straight to it." David spun the disk around his finger, and headed for the door.
"Hey David! Wait for me!" a girl shouted as she ran into the room. She was roughly my age, in her midteens, with dazzling blue eyes, long navy blue hair that went down half her back. She was wearing a light red jacket with blue short shorts. "You might need some help."
Krane adjusted his glasses. "Miss Hikari," he addressed the girl. "I am confident in David's abilities as a Trainer. He has learned quite a bit from you, and I believe that he is able to fight for himself now."
"Oh," she said, seeming disappointed. She and I locked eyes, and stood there looking at each other. I felt my heart rate increase, and my palms became slightly sweaty. I broke the stare by glancing back over at David, who was still spinning the disk around his finger.
The girl pointed at me. "What about him?" she asked. "Does he need any help with training?"
Krane shrugged at the same time I did. "I don't know, he lost his memory, or so I heard," Krane replied.
"Oh." She instantly smiled and walked over, holding her hand out to me. "I'm Dawn Hikari, and I'll be your personal trainer for a little while."
"Dawn, as in the Sinnoh League Champion Dawn?" I asked, shaking her hand.
Her smiled wided. "The one and only," she answered, pointing at the Sinnoh Champion Badge pinned to her jacket collar. It was the size of a quarter, and had a Pokeball design with the outline of the Sinnoh reigon on it.
"I've heard a little bit about you that I can remember," I said, being honest. All I knew of her was what David had told me. It was barely registering that we had stopped shaking hands, but now we were holding hands.
"Well," David said after a second. "You two have fun. I'm going to train."
Dawn began pulling me along with her as she ran after David. "Come on! Let's watch his battle and I'll point out everything he does wrong!"
"Like I have a choice," I muttered, struggling to keep my balance as I was pulled along. Oddly, this seemed vaguely familiar.
