Author's note: I don't own Pokémon.
Pokémon: Lost Memories
Chapter 1: The Boy without memories
He woke up and looked right into a clear blue sky. No clouds. But his expression changed into a confused one. He jumped on his feet and looked panicked around.
Where am I? And WHO am I? Oh god! I have lost my memory!
Because of the many trees, he assumed that he was in a clearing of a forest.
Oh great! He thought and then felt the weight on his back.
He realized that it was a backpack. He dropped it and opened it to see what was in it. He put out clothes, a map, a bicycle, a little purse with 3000 Poké Dollar in it, a tent, a sleeping bag and a single Poké Ball.
Wow. Was I a traveler? Or a Pokémon Trainer? He wondered.
He put everything back into the backpack except the purse and the Poké ball, which he put in his pockets.
There was a little pond on the right so he went to it to see his reflection. He had blond short hair and emerald-like green eyes. He was 5 feet and 7 inches tall and wore a sleeveless black shirt and blue jeans. He looked around one last time and saw a blue cap lying near the spot where he was lying minutes ago. He picked it up and put it on. On it was a symbol. A Poké Ball, half black and the other half white.
Well, I think it's time to go. Wherever I am. He thought and instantly remembered the map.
He took it out of his backpack and looked at it. On the top right corner of the map was the name of the region he was in. Hoenn. "Well. Hoenn. That sounds quite familiar. Maybe I was here before. Oh. Of course I was! How else would I end up sleeping in a forest. But why am I here? I don't have any Pokémon with me. Only a Ball. Maybe I wanted to catch one and hurt my head badly. Yeah, something like that must have happened." He said to himself.
He saw that the map had two buttons at the side. As he pushed one, the Hoenn-map changed into a map of the forest. The map was a high-tech one, which showed a little arrow so the user knew where he was as well as a little box with the name of the route, forest, cave or city the user was at. But the box didn't show any letters. The forest had no name.
Maybe this forest isn't that important to get a name. Or usually nobody goes through it. He thought.
He took the route to the nearest village. Littleroot town. It was east of his current position.
He walked for hours through the woods, trying to not get lost on the way. As he walked he didn't notice the little black creature lying on the path and almost stumbled across it. It was lying motionless and the young teen realized that something was wrong with the creature. He knew the name of the creature somehow.
"Zorua." He said.
The Eevee-like creature didn't respond.
"Listen little guy. I'm catching you with this Poké Ball but as soon as you are healed I will release you. Okay?"
No answer.
He pulled out his Poké Ball and gently touched the Zorua with it. The Ball opened itself and sucked the Zorua in. It moved in his hand three times from left to right. A sound played and the teen knew he had captured it. He looked on the map to make sure he was facing the right direction and started to run as fast as he could.
It was getting dark as he arrived at Littleroot Town. He was exhausted. And to his shock the town had no Poké Center. He asked a teen where the next was.
"It's right in the next city. Just follow the path to the north. You can't miss it." Answered the teen.
"Thanks" The teen with the Zorua said.
He rushed to the next City, Oldale Town, and avoided as much grass as he could. Luckily no wild Pokémon attacked him. He almost broke through the glass door of the Poké Center.
"HELP! THIS POKÉMON IS INJURED BADLY!" He screamed exhausted.
He waited patiently for the nurse to heal the Zorua. A door behind the counter opened and Nurse Joy came out of the room behind it.
"There you are! You have to be either the worst Trainer I've ever seen or you are one of those who almost kill their Pokémon in hard trainings! I don't know if I should give it back to you! Maybe I should call the police and let them arrest you for Pokémon abuse!"
The teen spoken to realized that the nurse was really mad at him. But he saved the Zorua. He just caught it so that he could bring it easier to a Poké Center.
"H-hey wait a second! It's not my Pokémon! It-" He tried to explain but the nurse interrupted.
"Of course it is! You gave me the Poké Ball!"
"Listen to me!" He said. He was getting angry as well. He didn't do anything wrong. "It's not my Pokémon! I found it badly injured in the woods around here. I had a Poké Ball with me and caught it to bring it to the nearest Poké Center. This one. I have lost my memory. I don't know why I was in the woods. All I know is that what happened after I woke up. So don't try to punish me for something I didn't do!"
It worked. The nurse's expression changed from angry to relieved. "Ahh. That's good. Thank you for helping the Zorua. You know, I saw some bad guys today. They almost killed their Pokémon. I just thought you are another member of their group." She explained.
"No. I don't think so."
"It must be bad to lose all your memories. All the friends you probably had will recognize you but you won't recognize them. How sad. Do you remember at least your name? Or do you have a Trainer Card?" She asked then.
"No. Nothing. Maybe I should call myself John Doe." He chuckled.
"Hmm. Let me thing about a name. Why not Chris? You look like one." She smiled. It seemed to amuse her.
"Hmm. Actually that is a good name. Yeah. From now on until I find out who I am, I will call myself Chris."
"Okay. I think the Zorua is healed now. You should stay here for the night. And tomorrow you head back to Littleroot Town to meet Professor Birch. He will give you a new Trainer Card. Even if you aren't a Trainer you should have one. Especially since you have lost your memory." She advised him.
She went into the room behind the counter and came back with the Zorua out of his Ball.
"Hey, little one. You gave me quite a shock out there in the woods. You all right now?" Chris asked the Zorua.
"Zoru!" It barked happily.
"Well it's time now. I will release you as promised. Nurse Joy can I have the Poké Ball, please?"
She was confused but gave him the small red and white ball.
"How do I release a Pokémon? I can't remember." He asked.
"To release a Pokémon normally you have to go to the PC in the corner over there, start the Storage System Program, put your Pokémon in a box and then choose the option to release it. But you need at least two Pokémon to do that. One must stay in your team. League rules." She pointed to a PC in the right Corner of the Poké Center and explained him how to release one of his team.
"Oh. So I can't release Zorua? Well I have 3000 Poké Dollar with me. That should be enough to buy a Poké Ball. Tomorrow after I met Prof. Birch I will catch another Pokémon and will release 'ya. Okay?" Chris spoke to Zorua.
It responded with a nod and yawned. Chris fell tired as well. Nurse Joy showed him the bed room. There were many beds in this room. He chose one and fell immediately asleep.
No Pokémon showed up on the way back to Littleroot Town. Chris was happy. The Zorua was running along with him. Both of them didn't like the idea of Zorua being in the tiny Ball. And soon they were standing in front of Prof. Birch's lab. Littleroot Town had only 5 buildings. All of them were houses except the lab. And only one seemed to be uninhabited. The lab was the biggest of all the buildings. Chris gulped and stepped in.
The Inside of the lab was just like a normal lab. Machines were everywhere and sheets of paper were lying around the lab. A man with short brown hair and a brown beard walked over to Chris.
"You must be Chris, the one Nurse Joy from Oldale City sent to meet me. Right?" The man said.
"Uh. Yeah. I'm Chris." Chris replied.
"Well, sorry I can't do anything to give you back your memories but I have this for you." The man spoke again and handed Chris a little card made of plastic. It was a Trainer Card. His name, Chris of course, was written on it as well as some additional information and a picture of him.
Then did Nurse Joy take a photo of me? He asked himself.
But he was glad that he had now an identity.
"Okay. Now you are able to do whatever you want. Except illegal things but I doubt you would do that." The man continued.
The man had a warm charisma. Chris liked that.
"So are you Professor Birch?" Chris wanted to know.
"What? Have I forgotten to introduce myself? Geez. That happens sometimes. Well, yes I'm Professor Birch. And you know what? I'll give you a Pokédex and a Pokémon as well. Isn't that great?"
Chris was stunned. He knew the Professor just for some seconds and he already offered him a Pokédex and a starter. But he didn't want a starter.
"Uh. I would like to have a Pokédex. I don't know if I should start a Trainer's career. I need another Pokémon to release this Zorua but after that I would like to travel around to find out who I am. I don't want to go from City to City to fight against other Trainer and their Pokémon or the Gym Leader. I will catch another Pokémon in the wilds. The one you want to give me should be given to a real Trainer. Not me." Chris explained.
"Okay. I don't really understand that. You can do both things. You can travel around, search for your memories as well as fight against other Trainer and Gym Leader. But well, here. Take the Pokédex and these five Poké Balls. That should be enough to catch a Pokémon. I have the feeling that you could come out great but if you don't want nobody is forcing you." Birch said and handed Chris the Pokédex and the six Poké Balls.
"Thanks. I hope we will meet again." Chris said as he stepped out of the lab.
He immediately started the Pokédex to search for the entry of Zorua. But strangely there was no entry.
"Maybe Zoruas don't live here in Hoenn." He said then to Zorua.
"Zooo." Was all it said. It seemed to be thoughtful.
They went for some minutes through the tall grass to attract some wild Pokémon. A wild Poochyena showed up and was ready to fight. It was a dark-type. The same type Zoruas was. Chris started his Pokédex to see the health of both Pokémon as well as their level, attack moves of Zorua and the gender. Both were male. Zorua was already level 10 while the Poochyena was just level 5.
"Okay Zorua. You must help me. Without you I can't catch the Poochyena. Attack it with Pursuit." He ordered.
He knew that Pursuit is a dark-type move. That meant that the damage was halved. The Poochyena was almost knocked out by the strength of the attack. It countered with a normal Tackle attack. Zorua yawned about it and dodged it easily. It was Chris' chance. He took out one of the five Poké Balls from Prof. Birch and threw it at the Poochyena. It was to weak to break out of the Ball. It was caught.
"Yes! Good work Zorua." Chris said happily. He had caught another Pokémon.
He was in front of the PC and had the Storage System Program loaded. He held the Ball of Zorua in his hands.
"It's time. You should be free. You deserve a better Trainer than me or no one at all. Go! Have fun and please, never forget me okay?"
He was sad. He really liked the black little fox. He decided to really say good-bye to it and opened Zoruas Ball. But strangely the Poochyena, which he had caught earlier, came out of it.
"Pooch." It said.
"Oh. Must be the wrong Ball. But I was sure I had Zorua at the first spot. Weird." He mumbled to himself and reached for the other Ball and opened it too. But now there were two Poochyenas in front of him.
"Pooch."Said the second one.
It was like a complete copy. Both said the same thing as he took them out of their Balls and looked at him with the same glance. "Am I insane?"He asked himself.
Nurse Joy saw it and came to him. "No. You're not insane. You don't know about Zoruas special ability, do you? Zoruas can disguise themselves as a complete copy of people or Pokémon they saw. If you have one in a Poké Ball, the ball will turn into a copy of the Ball of the Pokémon that Zorua is disguising itself as, too. To me it seemed that your Zorua don't want to go. It disguises itself as your Poochyena, so that you can't tell which one is the real one. With this little strategy, your Zorua is sure that you can't tell which one is which and don't release one at all." She explained.
"Hmm. So you really want to come with me? I promise if you stop disguising yourself as a Poochyena, I will take you with me." Chris said.
The first Poochyena nodded and turned back into the black fox. Chris was glad. He had two Pokémon. And he wanted now to become a Trainer. He looked back to his first fight against the Poochyena he now had and was excited how a life of a Trainer would be. He went to the market and bought a Badge case. He would fight against every Gym Leader of the region and then against the Elite 4 to become a Champion.
Author's note: Well, is it good or bad? You can write me a PM if you don't want to review. And I should also thank you if you read the chapter. I'm German and it's the first time that I actually publish an English story :P.
I'll try to publish a chapter per week. See you next time^^