As the trio left the riverbanks, the two pokemon were outside of their poke balls. To most people, it was odd to see pokemon traveling with their trainer without being in a poke ball, so the trio got odd looks from them.

'Haven't they seen pokemon traveling with their trainers before?' Ridge wondered. 'It's not like it's anything new to them.' He suspected that he was being given odd looks because of the fact that he had two of the same pokemon. When he neared Salle's former home, he couldn't take it no more.

"Why is everybody looking at me oddly?!" he shouted, drawing even more attention than he wanted.

"You might wanna take a look at your face in the mirror to find out, bud," suggested a bystander. Wanting to get rid of the strange looks, he quickly rushed inside of the foolishly unlocked house to the bathroom. The two following Floatzels brushed him aside for the moment to look at the home.

"At least it doesn't seem like a high-class place…" Allie commented. "But it looks so big. Why's it so big?"

"I don't know. I think my mom is just a little claustrophobic. I think it's good," responded Salle. At the moment, Rachel, Salle's mom, had just walked into the main room to see the two pokemon in the room.

"Whoa…Did I leave the door unlocked again? I've really gotta stop doing that," she muttered to herself. Before she could say something else, Ridge walked in with traces of orange fur still on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me I had fur on my face?" questioned an embarrassed Ridge to Salle.

"I didn't notice it," replied Salle and Allie at the same time, who were clearly lying, hiding grins. Unfortunately, to Salle's mother, what they said sounded like parts of their species names were being said.

"Umm, Ridge, do they belong to you? Why do you have two of the same pokemon?" she asked. Then she remembered that her son was turned into a Floatzel and quickly added, "Wait a minute…Could one of them be Salle?" At the mention of his name, Salle walked up to his mother and tried to explain that he was her son, but to no avail as she couldn't understand him.

"Umm, Rachel, he was saying he's your transformed son. Don't you remember?" Ridge translated. After this, he began to leave the room, but was stopped by her voice.

"…Since when can you understand pokemon?" she asked."I think it was when I first saw Salle in his current form. I somehow got the ability to understand him when I saw him. Maybe it was a memory thing…?" Ridge replied. When she found out about this, she decided to ask Salle a few questions, using Ridge as a translator.

"Who is your friend standing next to you?"

"Her name is Allie, and I love her," Ridge translated, surprising Rachel.

"Do you two belong to Ridge?"

"He caught us, so yes, we do." was the response. She looked a bit surprised again, but she continued with one last question.

"What…are you going to do next?" She seemed a little fearful when she asked the question, since she might not see him again for quite some time, if at all.

"We're going to help get back Ridge's memory of me so we can be true friends again!" Ridge happily translated.

"…Well, I guess there's no stopping you. You're a true friend, you know that Salle?…Anyways, the three of you can stay here if you want to," she offered.

'Wow, his mom is really nice. She's just like him.' Allie thought.

The trio decided to go upstairs to think about where they should go next. It was now getting late in the afternoon, and soon it'd be dusk.

"Wow, Salle….your room is pretty wide! Why's that?' Allie asked.

"My mom likes the space. It saves her from her claustrophobia," Salle explained.

"Ahem!" Ridge cleared his throat for attention. "So you two, where do you think we should go next?" Ridge asked them.

"Solaceon Town seems like a good place to start. I need to be taken to that Ninetales, remember?" Salle suggested.

"I don't think that's a good place to start," replied Ridge. Suddenly, Salle had a sneaky idea.

"What is my mother's favorite thing to do?" he asked, catching Ridge off guard.

"Umm…is it…watching tv?" he answered unsurely.

"No it's not. Exactly why we should go to Solaceon Town first, besides, we might encounter one of the Ninetales with a fragment of your memory," Salle said.

"Or we might find trainers who want to battle us," Allie added unsurely.

"Well, it shouldn't be anything we can't handle. We'll just go there on the forest route anyway. We have each other. I'm confident we'll pull through," stated a reassuring Salle, kissing Allie in the process.

"When you put it that way,…okay, we'll go," Ridge said, once again getting tackled to the ground and licked by the two pokemon, to his slight disgust.

"Alright, alright. Get off me please," he pleaded to the two Floatzels, who promptly got off him. "Why don't we leave right now? But first, I should take you two to the Pokemon Center, since you both look like you wore yourselves out coming here," he suggested. To this both pokemon nodded.

"Hello, nurse. Would you please take care of my two pokemon? They prefer not to be in their poke balls." Ridge requested. True to his word, he did not put his pokemon in their poke balls because they hated that feeling.

"That's weird, but I'll take care of them. You can wait in the waiting room," she answered.1 hour hater…

"I wonder why it's taking so long…" muttered a sleepy Ridge, who had shopped for food to take on the way. Finally, he heard the announcement that his pokemon were ready.

"What took so long?" he asked the nurse impatiently.

"I'm sorry, we were having a few technical difficulties and it took a while to fix them," she replied. "Oh" was his response, yet he didn't seem to believe that machines were the problem. As the trio left the center, it was beginning to get dark.

"I don't think technical difficulties were the problem there. Do you know why it took so long?" Ridge asked. Salle was about to respond when he spoke again. "Never mind. That's not important to me right now. Let's just try to get to Solaceon town quickly."

On the way, the trio defeated some of the trainers and wild pokemon that challenged them to battles. Ridge had to get used to the idea of battling but got the hang of it quickly. He was amazed at how strong Salle was and how quick Allie was. There was even a wild Floatzel that tried to take Allie away, but Salle furiously sent him flying.

'Wow…Salle and Allie together are unstoppable…' Ridge thought in awe. They had only made it one-third of the way before it got dark.

"I think we should set up camp here," Ridge suggested, the two pokemon nodding in agreement. They decided to set up near a pond. Allie had begun to get scared of the forest and held onto Salle for relief.

"Fortunately, I bought a tent while I went shopping. We can sleep in it for the night," Ridge explained. He took it out and set it up quickly enough that it only took him two minutes to set it up.

"Wow, that was quick," Allie commented.

"Well, I'm going to take a quick walk around. You two should get settled in," Ridge said, the two pokemon nodding to let him go. He needed a moment to think to himself.

'This could be a little difficult. What if I don't find the other Ninetales? Could I still get my memory back?' Ridge thought worriedly. Just then, a rock had hit him hard on the head, causing him to fall to the ground and a little blood to rush out.

'Where did that rock come from?' he wondered, dazed as he got up. But that jolt to his head caused him to have a memory of him spying on Salle's mother with Salle.

"Hey, what's your mom doing?" Ridge asked. For his age, he was a child at heart and acted like one often.

"Oh, she's doing her favorite thing--sewing. My mom likes to make clothes for other people or pokemon," Salle explained.

"Well, that sounds weird to me, but if it's what she likes to do, I can't say anything," Ridge replied. But suddenly, they were caught spying by a gaze directed towards them.

"What are you two doing? Were you spying on me?" she asked from her chair.

"N-no we…well, yes we were spying on you," Ridge admitted. "But you looked like you were doing something cool, and it caught my eye. I'm sorry," he added.

"Well, it's ok as long as you don't do that again. If you want, I can show you everything I've sewn over the years," Salle's mom said, accepting the apology.

When he was brought back to the present, he felt more confident because he knew the answer to Salle's question again. What he didn't know was the fact that the rock was thrown by one of the Ninetales that found a fragment of his memory. It was payback for the insults to its mother that it still hadn't gotten over. Ridge quickly rushed back to camp to treat his head injury.

"Hey, Ridge. What was taking you? We were beginning to worry. And why do you have that big gash on your forehead?" Allie asked in a panic. As she was getting scared, she hugged Salle to the point of almost squeezing him, but he kissed her to calm her down.

"I had gotten hit by some flying rock, and I remember the answer to your question now, Salle!" Ridge exclaimed. He had set up a lantern before it got too dark, which it was. "You asked me what your mom's favorite thing was, right? Well the answer was sewing!"

Salle began to beam. "I think one of the Ninetales threw it at you as payback, and to help you. But this means you only need to remember two more things about me before you remember me for good!" he exclaimed. "But for now, I think we should eat before we sleep."

"I knew someone would say that, so I brought some food just in case. But I could only buy some jerky and a bag full of Magost berries," he stated. Fortunately, it was all edible, so they ate heartily. After that, they slept using the two sleeping bags Ridge had bought. Ridge slept in his own while Salle and Allie slept in the other one, hugging each other tightly.

'Tomorrow, I might actually remember everything…' Ridge thought.

As he began to drift off, he encountered the same Ninetales from before.

'What are you doing here?' he asked.

'I see that you've found the Floatzel you need. But I am here to offer you a choice.' she responded. By the way she said that, he knew it would mean a life change. 'I know there is a way to get your memory back without having to find fragments of it along the way. But it means that you must be transformed into a pokemon to fully remember your friend right away,' she stated. 'I'll let you think about it for a moment.'

Ridge began to carefully consider what could happen from this. His friend had been transformed to save his life, and he would've done the same. But he wasn't ready to abandon his old life yet. Finally, he made his decision.

"I've decided…that I'll stay human. I want to be with my friends in human form…even if it means I have control over them. I don't want to take the easy way out of getting my memories back. I'd rather search high and low for them than transform," Ridge stated then quickly added, "Not that there's anything wrong with being a pokemon, but I'd rather not be one, if you don't mind."

"Very well then. Your choice to stay human might make your journey a bit difficult, however. You only have to remember two things about your friend, but finding the last memory could be difficult. I don't think my child would give it to you easily," she explained, almost sadly. "Something might have to happen to you. I'm not sure what he'll do to you, but be careful. To find him, you must go to Celestic Town."

"…I'm willing to take that risk," he responded. "Just be careful," she responded in a worried tone. Perhaps she had become fond of his new resolve. With that, the conversation ended, returning Ridge to reality.

The two pokemon were looking at Ridge, wondering what was taking him so long to wake up. All of a sudden, Ridge slowly woke up, as if returning to the realm of the living. At this, the two Floatzels embraced him tightly, as if they would have never seen him again.

"Alright, alright, It's okay, I'm awake," Ridge moaned from the pressure Salle and Allie were giving him. "I appreciate this, but would you two get off of me?" he pleaded. Both pokemon obeyed willingly, not wanting to injure him any further.

'Now I have a lot of orange and white fur all over me, oh well,' Ridge thought to himself. "Salle, I wonder if that's from your new…change."

"I think so. Well, where should we go next?" asked Salle.