So! Here we are starting another story I really shouldn't. Oh well, shit happens. This story is unique because I used to pick the Pokémon characters out of the National Dex, minus Legendaries of course. I couldn't very well have the main character be Deoxys or Jirachi... Seriously, that's the first two that the number generator chose! Super weird… Anyway! I hope you all enjoy and read to your heart's content.
Ah, damn. Why does everything ache? I came to my senses slowly, grimacing at the pain that followed the sense of smell. Every part of my body ached, like I'd been rolled down a hill in a barrel. God damn, did I get mugged? I tried to drag up memories, any memories of what could have happened, but nothing came forward. Must have been one hell of a night if I blacked out like this. But the deeper I searched, the more scared I became. Not one memory came up, nothing from childhood, nor any of my more recent life.
My eyes flashed open when I realized that I had none left. I quickly closed them again in a hiss of pain, the sunlight too bright for my corneas to handle. I curled up and tried to orient myself. Facts first. One; I was lying outside somewhere. Two; I could not remember anything… at all. Three; I didn't know where I was or who I was and I had no idea how I got there. The situation was looking more and more depressing by the second. Rather than let myself wallow in self-pity, I decided to do something.
Slowly, I opened my eyes again so I could at least take in my surroundings. From what I could see, I was smack dab in the middle of a thick forest. There were no trees in the immediate area, the grove I was lying in, allowing the sun to warm my back. No matter how hard I concentrated, no memories popped up to tell me if I knew this place or not. I was frustrated and scared. For all I knew, I'd been kidnapped and dumped in the forest to die!
Fed up with just lying there, I attempted to crawl to my feet. But when I brought my hand in front of my face to push myself up, I froze in shock. To my core, I knew this was wrong and these claws were not mine. Every nerve in my body screamed, "WRONG!" But why was it wrong? Why did my core reject these claws? I flipped them over and studied them, watching the sunlight glint off their smooth, red surface. My gaze wandered up my arms to my torso, absorbing the grey fur and thick plume of black on my chest. I ran my claws over my head, discovering two pointed ears and an extremely thick mane of black tipped, red fur.
This is not your body, my mind screamed.
But what was my body?! I cried mentally.
Human
The word ghosted through my thoughts, barely giving me enough time to recognize it before it was sucked back into the vacuum of my memories. Human, that's what I was, not this wolf thing. I puzzled over the picture in my head. The same rough shape as the body I possessed now, but there was less fur and a no snout, just a small nose. How could I have gone from one to the other?
A sharp crack made me jump, snapping me out of my answerless thoughts. Something broke a twig, or a branch, something close. Stunned as I was from my realization before, I was frozen in my spot, only having enough sense to whip my head towards the sound. Butterflies filled my stomach, bringing nausea with them. At first nothing happened, making me think I was just a little high strung. Then the bushes rustled as something emerged from them.
It was a fox, a nine-tailed fox with cream colored fur and small paws that didn't look large enough to hold his weight. He was grumbling to himself and looking behind his fan of tails. He sighed deeply, catching his breath in his throat with a look of confusion. He sniffed the air, swiveling his head to look straight at me. We stared at each other for a good minute and a half before he coughed, sending up a plume of fire. My heart was pounding so hard I nearly thought it would tear out of my chest. This was a fire-breathing fox and it was staring at me as if I was the weirdest thing there… which I probably was for all I knew.
"Buizel!" he called behind him, not taking his eyes off me. Hearing his voice startled me worse than when he appeared. Feeling my muscles unlock, I did the first thing that came to my mind and ran. "Hey wait!" I didn't stop to see what he wanted, I just ran like there was a stampede behind me. I could hear him curse before loping after me. He kept shouting for me to wait, but I was scared witless and wanted to be somewhere where I could gather my thoughts.
It was strange running in a body that wasn't mine. Everything moved the way I wanted it too, and I had sharp reflexes that kept me from smashing into any trees… but the smells and sounds were so intense. Everything assaulted my nose and clamored in my ears. The leaves I brushed away and the branches I whipped by were like gunshots. The berries and flowers flew by in a never ending attack of smells.
I could hear the fox steadily gaining ground on me, probably more familiar with the landscape than I was. Plus he didn't have to shove branches out of his way, just jump over a few bushes. Seeing that I was screwed if I just kept running, I did the opposite and stopped. The nearest tree looked climbable, so that's what I did, I climbed it. My claws sunk into the bark as easily as a knife through frosting, carrying me to the closest branch in seconds. The leaves around me created the perfect shadow to conceal myself in, lending their darkness to me for the time being. The butterfly feeling in my stomach had only gotten stronger, making me feel like I was going to be sick.
The rustle of leaves alerted me to the fox, crashing into the area without any regard for the plants he was trampling. I held my breath and wished for him to keep going. But I must have jinxed myself because he stopped right under my tree, sniffing the air like a bloodhound. He paced back and forth like he was waiting for something. It couldn't be me, because I was not coming down as long as he was waiting there.
"Nyyyyne!" a tinny voice shouted, making me start and grip the branch tighter. The fox just grinned and set himself at the base of my tree. "I swear Nyne, this is the last time I partner up with you!"
The bushes rustled as a small, orange weasel pushed through them. He had a large yellow collar, blue fins on his elbows and a forked tail that nervously spun in circles. He looked really irritated as he glared at the fox.
"Shh!" the fox shushed the weasel's whining, pointedly looking up into my tree, his gaze brushing past me just barely. The weasel huffed, obviously offended.
"I will not 'shh'! You left me behind! You think everyone can ghost around the trees like you can, but let me tell yo-" The fox slapped a paw over the weasel's mouth and shushed him again.
"If you would kindly shut up and let me explain," he hissed, "I could tell you a perfectly good reason why I ran ahead." The weasel sighed against the fox's paw and peeled it off his mouth.
"Fine, this had better be good." The fox grinned from ear to ear and whispered something too quiet for me to hear. The weasel's eyes nearly bulged out of his head and he looked like he wanted to say something, but the fox stopped him with a shake of his head and another pointed look up. The weasel looked up with him, but his eyes glided right past me.
"You'd better not be lying to me Nyne," the weasel threatened. The fox chuckled quietly before answering.
"Trust me. Have I ever lied to you?" The weasel did not look amused.
"Yes. Several times, in fact. Once about my own mother." The fox sighed in dramatic hurt.
"Given. But have I ever lied to you about something like this?" The weasel shook his head slowly, much to the delight of the fox.
"Well then, where is it?" the weasel asked.
"Just watch," the fox said, sending shivers up my spine, before he turned his face up towards where I was. "You don't have to hide from us. I promise on my own mother's grave that we just want to talk. Honestly and truly." The weasel snorted.
"Your mom ain't dead, Nyne," the weasel mumbled. The fox shot a glare at the weasel that could melt stone. I made no move to come down. Instead, I sank my claws a little deeper into the wood. The fox smiled crookedly and mumbled, "Gotcha."
Taking a deep breath, the fox blew out three little, blue fireballs that seemed to dance upward. I thought, What kind of fire is blue? It was almost mesmerizing, until I realized they were aimed straight at me. Panicking, I ripped my claws out of the tree branch and tried to backpedal away from the flames. Of course, being in a tree and all, my foot landed on empty air and I plummeted to the ground, straight into a bush.
I was lucky that the bush and my fur cushioned my fall, but it made no difference to my already aching muscles. I groaned and tried to climb out of the bush, only to get my head yanked backwards when I stood up. My mane of fur had gotten tangled in the branches of the bush. I tried to pull it out, but the tearing of hairs just brought tears to my eyes.
"I can't believe you were telling the truth, Nyne." I whipped my head around and saw the fox grinning triumphantly and the weasel gawking at me like I was a freak show.
"Told ya so," the fox quipped oh so cleverly. "You know, you can stop flickering like that. I'm getting a headache." What did he mean by that? I wondered silently.
"Hell dude, you probably scared it to death chasing it like that," the weasel said. "I know that if I were it, I'd be scared shitless."
"I have a name!" I snapped, tired of being called 'it'. My voice sounded rougher than I thought it would, but at least it was still feminine. The two of them jumped at my yell and the fox started laughing while the weasel blushed.
"Oh? And that would be…?" I opened my mouth to answer the fox, but nothing came out but a squeak. A name, I had to have a name! But the more I tried to think about it, the worse my headache got. It was like my own brain didn't want me to know.
"Graaaaah!" I yelled and held my head in my claws as I sank to the ground. I stopped searching for my name just to stop the pounding pain inside my skull. This was all just too much. First I didn't know where I was, then I didn't know what I was, now I didn't know who I was. So I did the logical thing; I started to cry. It was pitiful, pathetic even, I know. One of them made an uncomfortable noise and shifted from foot to foot.
"Hey, are you all right?" I looked up from my claws just enough to recognize the fox's face.
"No, I'm not all right," I answered through my hiccupping sobs. "I don't know where I am, I have you chasing me, pushing me out of trees and I can't even remember my own name. I'm tired, I ache and I can't even remember why!" I broke down again and just sat there, sobbing in front of a couple strangers. I was pathetic.
A tugging on my fur ceased my sobbing when I turned to look why. The fox was gently easing the strands of crimson fur out of the branches little by little. The weasel still didn't look comfortable, but he sat in front of me anyway.
"You know, you don't have to take this on by yourself," he said. "Nyne and I can help you. Actually, that's kind of our job."
"To help lost amnesiacs?" The fox laughed lightly.
"No, just anyone in need… and you look like you need help." He smiled kindly and offered a paw to help me up. I was unsure of whether or not to take it. On one hand, they were absolute strangers that could be serial killers for all I knew. On the other… what did I have to lose? I didn't even have memories to treasure. The weasel noticed my hesitation.
"Look, the least we could do is get you back to town. If you don't want anything to do with us after that, then you can go whichever way you want. Deal?" I felt my face lift out of the frown I was wearing as I grabbed his paw and let him pull me up. It was funny, once I was standing, because he was nearly three feet smaller than me.
"Okay," I agreed.
"Done!" the fox said happily, apparently done pulling all my fur out of the bush. He pranced to stand in front of me. He was nearly as short of the weasel, maybe a foot or so taller. "Well then, Nameless, I'm Nyne and my partner-for-the-day here is Buizel. It's nice to meet you." He smiled warmly, maybe a bit too intensely, but at least he wasn't shooting fireballs at me. I tried again to remember a name, but nothing but a headache came.
"Nice to meet you too. I guess I'm nobody." Nyne frowned and tapped his paw on the ground. Maybe it was an old habit.
"Well, we certainly can't call you 'nobody'. We'll just have to give you a name until you remember yours."
"How about Slash?" Buizel asked quickly.
"You realize I'm a girl, right?" Buizel looked hurt that I shot him down so quickly.
"Excuse me for trying!" I'd offended him. He must be a tetchy kind of guy.
"Luna?" Nyne tried; another no.
"Red?"
"No."
"Beatrice?"
"Seriously?" Nyne scoffed at my rejection.
"Kiva?"
"No."
"Jinx?"
"No."
"Kalley?"
"Nu."
"Gale?"
"Nyet."
"Verity?"
"Non."
"Tryss?"
"Nein."
"What?" Nyne's confused face made me giggle like a kid. Buizel laughed with me, though I'm pretty sure he didn't get why it was funny.
"Weirdos. What about Sindri?" I turned the name over in my head, testing it on my tongue before nodding.
"I like it. Sindri it is." Nyne smiled victoriously and stuck his tongue out at Buizel. I had not realized it had become a competition in that short span of time. "So what now?"
"Well, now that you at least have a name, we need to help you get your memory back. It's not like we've got anything better to do." Nyne seemed so ready to help and sincere about it. Something inside me told me not to trust him so readily, but I ignored that feeling.
"Did you forget we have to get back to the guild tonight?" Nyne's face fell in realization.
"Fine. Hey, maybe Sirius will know how to help Sindri!" Buizel thought about it, rubbing the fur that stood up on the back of his head.
"Maybe, but let's just get back to town first."
"Who's Sirius?" Nyne smiled happily, like he just solved my problem.
"He's our Guild Master. You'll like him, don't worry." Buizel took the lead, heading back the way we came from. Though he was the smallest in our little ragtag group, he seemed the most level-headed. Nyne chattered away, talking about everything from birds to his past adventures. It seems he was part of a guild that specialized in exploring new places and helping others.
Buizel sighed every once in a while, correcting Nyne's stories where he embellished them. It was adorable the way they bickered back and forth about little details: whether Nyne used Will-o-Wisp to distract an angry Ryhorn, or he used Ember. Whether Buizel got knocked back three feet or two and whether Nyne actually saved that one Starly or he just made it up.
"So were you exploring these woods today?" I asked. Nyne shook his head in the negative.
"We were finding a few lost things for Forretress. He keeps dropping his bag out here, so he wanted us to find a few of his orbs and TM's. I was actually trying to find the way back when I stumbled into you."
"You scared the crap out of me, I hope you know that." Nyne chuckled, lighting up the air with a few puffs of flame.
"Well I'm sorry, but no one's seen a Zoroark in a long time. I thought I was hallucinating at first." A Zoroark? Is that what I've become?
"A what?" Nyne looked at me like I've lost my mind. Buizel stopped leading and looked at me in the same way.
"A Zoroark… you don't even know your own species' name?" Buizel asked, his eyes running up and down my face.
"Well… maybe I'm not supposed to be a Zoroark!" I snipped back, self-conscious about his accusatory question. "Maybe I'm supposed to be human!" Both Buizel and Nyne stared at me with blank expressions. I felt the need to elaborate. "It's the one thing I know, I remember. I'm not a Zoroark, I'm a human. I don't know why- or even how –this could happen, but it has."
"Holy shit, Sindri. When you have a problem, you don't half-ass it, you do?" I felt a little grateful that Nyne didn't make a big deal out of it, but Buizel didn't feel the same.
"Problem? Problem?! I'd say this counts as a big fucking problem, Nyne!" He shouted. "Humans don't just turn into Pokémon!" Nyne just brushed past Buizel. He looked back at us as if to ask if we were coming or not. I hurried after him and Buizel did, though he wasn't happy about it.
"Look Buizel, we can't do anything about it right now. As I see it, the least we could do is ask Sirius if he knows anything and go from there. If we don't hurry we'll miss dinner." Buizel didn't seem like he could have argued with Nyne, so he just followed instead.
"I'm sorry Buizel," I apologized quietly. I didn't know why I was saying that, but I didn't want them to fight because of me. Buizel dragged a paw over his face in a tired gesture.
"It's fine. I'm just tired and hungry. I get grumpy when I'm hungry or tired." He smiled haltingly to tell me it was okay. I returned his gesture just as warily, still concerned about being a burden. It wasn't long until the woods thinned and we found a path to follow.
Nyne, apparently knowing the trail, led us down it confidently. Another few moments passed before the woods stopped altogether. None of us felt like talking, admiring the sunset or commenting on the faint stars. We just kept trekking down the dirt road. It was almost eerie the way nothing passed us or came near. I had started to think this part of the world was abandoned. When a signpost appeared at a crossroad, Nyne turned to the right. I tried to read the words on the wooden arrows, but either my vision was going bad in the weak light, or the letters were footprints of various animals.
Buizel pulled me away from the sign and after Nyne. I felt like a child being led like that, but I didn't let go of Buizel's paw. The thought of meeting more Pokémon made me nervous. What if they didn't like me? What if they weren't as nice as Nyne and Buizel? What if they wanted to know who I was? I tried to stop the flood of worries. Overthinking this was just going to make me sick.
The path started to get surrounded by trees again, though these were weeping willows instead of the broad trees of the other woods. I liked these drowsy trees, the way they offered cascading branches and emerald slivers of leaves. Buizel stopped short and I nearly walked right over him. Turning around, I was stunned by the edifice in front of me.
It was a palace, a palace made of amorphous, speckled, black and white stones. The whole thing looked a little eerie in the early light of the moon. Pennants on top of the outer walls slumped without any wind to display them. A light passed back and forth on top of the wall.
"Hey! Wisp!" Nyne shouted. "We're home!" The light turned around quickly and peeked out from one of the stone valleys made by the shape of the wall.
"Good to know. You missed dinner by the way," the light answered. "You'll have to wheedle something out of Sandslash. Grovyle will let Sirius know you're back, so don't worry about reporting to the Guild Master until tomorrow morning."
"Thanks man!" Nyne called before striding through the large, iron gate. The pointed ends to the gate did not make me feel comfortable passing under it, but I wasn't going to get left outside. The inside was a large reception room, decorated with torches and bright rugs. The room split off in three directions, one to the front, one to the left and one to the right. Nyne turned left and led us down the left hallway. It was lit brightly with more torches, one stuck into the wall every few feet.
"Nyne," I prodded at one of his tails. "You didn't tell that person about me." Nyne nodded.
"No, I didn't. But if Wisp didn't notice you, then it's his fault. He's supposed to know how to do sentry duty." Buizel rolled his eyes next to me.
"Nyne, you can be such a dunce sometimes. I'm going to bed, see you tomorrow." Buizel waved at us as he took an offshoot hall to somewhere else.
"Bye," I called after him, feeling a little more scared now that I only had Nyne by my side.
"Come on, Sindri, we're gonna go see if Sandslash has anything left." I followed Nyne the same direction we were going in the first place. Soon, smells filled the air. Smells of food that made my stomach rumble like thunder. Nyne laughed at my blushing and picked up his pace.
The hall ended in a large, wooden door. I guessed it blocked off the kitchen, seeing as we were looking for exactly that. Nyne stopped in front of it and paused when he put a paw on it.
"Sindri, why don't you wait here? I'll get us some grub and we can go eat it in my room." Nyne darted through the door before I could say anything, so I settled for waiting. I didn't want to sit down, because the way my muscles ached, I knew I wouldn't be getting back up for a while. So to fill the time, I studied one of the tapestries on the wall.
It showed two rivers, one a dark blue and the other a lighter shade. Between the two waters were two groups, one defined by orange and the other by violet. I wasn't sure if they were fighting or just two different peoples. I tried to get a closer look, but Nyne came back out of the kitchen with a pouch slung around his neck.
"Thanks Sandslash! You're a life saver!" I heard a nasally voice laugh and thump something down.
"You owe me a favor now Nyne!" it said before the door closed. Nyne turned back to me with a big smile on his face and puffed out his chest.
"Shall we go then?" I smiled at his playing and nodded. Nyne led the way back down the hall, taking a left when the first one showed up. After three tapestries, one painting and a right turn, Nyne threw open a door to a room. "Welcome to Casa de Nueve. Make yourself at home."
The room was sparsely furnished with two dressers, two straw beds not very far from each other and one large rug. I sat on the bed that looked unoccupied, sighing when my muscles all relaxed. Nyne sat on his bed and opened the sack on the floor. It was full of berries of every shape and size.
"Sandslash didn't have any warm food, so we have to settle for berries tonight," Nyne explained. I grabbed the closest one, a small, pink one that was shaped like a heart. It was very sweet, bursting with juice. I had to stop it from running down my chin, much to the amusement of Nyne.
Once we ate all the berries we could stand, Nyne told me I could have the bed for the night. I thanked him and was glad he didn't want to switch. I couldn't have if he wanted to. I was so tired that I couldn't rack up the will to move anymore.
"We'll talk to Sirius in the morning," he told me, yawning widely. "He'll probably know what we can do." I yawned after him and grunted in reply, already drifting off to sleep.