"What a long day..." Nikola breathed out as he dropped down on his hay bed in the corner of his house. A busy week, filled with rescues, assignments, and other guild-related events that had popped up in between, was just drawing to a close and he was ready to go to bed and worry about nothing but sleep. But he had a lot of things on his mind; ever since he had seemingly landed in the world of Pokémon that one extremely ominous day, he had been perpetually haunted by the blur of his past, and what mysteries it could contain. However, no matter how hard he tried, the picture remained hidden, out of focus. It was like a white void covered it all and wouldn't go away.

Nikola lied there, breathing tiredly through his thoughts, before getting back up to gaze at the setting sun. It was an amazingly beautiful sight. Out his one window, he could perfectly see the horizon and that big fireball in the sky, now a giant luminous semicircle. He sighed. With each passing sunset, the sinking feeling that he would never get his memories back grew stronger and stronger. The sun was now almost completely submerged in the horizon. Nikola yawned, finally heading to bed for the day.

As he settled in, a scream shattered the divine silence. Nikola sprung up, and rushed out of the house. Other Pokémon had run outside their houses to see what the problem was. Everyone looked all around to find where the scream came from. Before long, Eve the Butterfree flew as fast as she could from the hills outside town, panting with tears in her eyes the whole way down.

"There- there's someone over there... he's alive, bu- but, I don't know how much longer he has..." she choked through the tears and exertion.

Much commotion rose among the other Pokémon. "Again?" some asked rhetorically. The reason being that Nikola himself, just a few weeks ago, had been in the same predicament, unconscious and alone in the hills. He was brought over to town and cared for until he woke up, and went on to be a leader, joining the local guild and helping with rescues and various other assignments. He had grown to be quite well respected and liked in the community.

Nikola immediately got down to business. "Okay, Eve, where is he? Just lead the way."

Nikola and some of the others from town trailed after Eve to where the unconscious Pokémon was located. As the thick ferns and flora scratched at his legs, Nikola felt a strange sense of déjà vu wash through his senses. He shrugged it off, however. It had to be because this happened to him before.

"There he is," Eve stammered as they got to the scene. She flew over to the body lying in the tall grass. It was a Charmander, curled weakly in on itself, almost shielded from view by the tall grass.

Nikola's eyes grew wide as they scanned the weak body, but Eve was the first to gasp out, horrified, "His tail fire! It's almost gone!"

What could have happened? Nikola wondered, his gaze barely leaving the dying spark on the Charmander's tail. "We need to get him back to town. Tyree, can you carry him?" Nikola asked.

"Sure thing; if I did it for you, I can do it for him," Tyree replied.

"And I greatly thank you for that. I probably wouldn't be alive if there wasn't someone as strong as you around."

Tyree put the anonymous Charmander on his back with the help of Nikola and the others, and began trekking all the way back to town. Being an Ivysaur, this was no difficult task for him.

By the time they all got back to town, it was almost pitch black outside. Nikola volunteered his home, at least until the mysterious Charmander awoke, so he could care for the injured Pokemon. Tyree carried him over to Nikola's bed, and layed him down gently on it, carefully maneuvering the creature's tail so there was no chance it might go out in the night. Nikola opted to sleep on the floor, while the Charmander was on his bed.

When everyone settled back into their homes, the madness over with for the moment, Nikola curled on the floor with some blankets, and tried to finally go to sleep. He couldn't help but notice the similarities between the Charmander's condition and his appearance in the Pokémon world. He, too, had been weak beyond belief when he arrived. Thoughts silly with fatigue, Nikola couldn't help but wonder, could he and the Charmander be connected somehow? Could there be some kind of greater purpose in motion? Those thoughts slowly passed through his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

. . .

A blackness filled his vision. Though Nikola could clearly hear voices, they were dampened, and he couldn't make out what was said. Gradually, the sounds became marginally easier to register, but somehow, he still couldn't understand anything. It was as if everyone was speaking a different language. Then, the voices got louder. Small chatter roared into screams.

Suddenly, Nikola felt a shattering, acute pain spear his forehead, followed by even more shouting. He only understood one word after that, called with great fear:

"Nikola!