Chapter 2: Awakening
Treasure Town was a lively town in the Pokémon world of the past. Many Pokémon were relaxing, chatting, or doing business. The sun shined brightly overhead, and a gentle breeze blew.
In the outskirts of the town, an electric, yellow mouse was nervously pacing back and forth in front of an oddly shaped tent. This Pokémon was a Pikachu, which had two red pouches on its cheeks, long ears with black tips at the end, and a lightning-bolt-shaped tail.
The tent belonged to Wigglytuff's Guild, and the Pikachu had been trying to enter it for several days now. But he was a coward, and always chickened out.
"No." He shook his head. "I'm not gonna chicken out this time." The Pikachu stepped onto the grating on the ground, when voices sprung up.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"
"The footprint belongs to Pikachu! The footprint belongs to Pikachu!"
"Yow!" The electric mouse quickly hopped off the grate. "That scares me every time!" He frantically glanced around. Then he calmed down and sighed.
"I just can't do it!" the Pikachu said, exasperated. From a small pouch, he took out a stone with a flat surface. Engraved on it was a strange pattern. Looking at it sadly, he said, "I thought my personal treasure would motivate me to do it today, but…" He put it away and turned to the stairs going down.
"I just can't do it… I'm such a coward…"
He walked back down the stairs he had come up, feeling discouraged.
As the Pikachu went out of sight, two figures peeked out from behind one of the totem poles in front of the tent.
"You see that guy? What a loser," the first figure said.
"That thing he has might be worth stealing," said the second.
After a nod to each other, the duo proceeded to follow their target.
The Pikachu soon arrived at the beach. Krabby, red crab-like Pokémon, were blowing bubbles into the air. The bubbles sparkled with color, shining in the setting sun. He stopped walking and glanced out at the scene.
"Wow," he breathed. "It's always so pretty here." The Pikachu smiled. "I always come here to the beach when I'm feeling down. It cheers me up every time."
When he looked to the left, something caught his eye. "Huh, what's that?" The Pikachu walked towards the blue lump on the beach.
As he came closer, he could see it was a Pokémon lying face-up. Its eyes were closed but its chest rose and fell steadily, indicating it was alive.
"Someone's passed out here!" the Pikachu cried. He began nudging the unconscious Pokémon. "Hey! Are you alright? What happened to you?!"
"Ugh…" the figure groaned, waking up.
"You're awake!" the Pikachu said. "I was getting really worried!"
"W-where am I?" the figure murmured. "What happened?"
"Hello, can you hear me, Riolu?" the voice from before spoke. Glancing over, the Pokémon saw a Pikachu looking at him, concern in his eyes.
Did he just call me Riolu?
"I'm not a Riolu," the mysterious figure said. "I'm a human."
The Pikachu was shocked to hear this. "A human? But…" He looked the Pokémon over. "...But you look like a normal Riolu to me!"
The Riolu glanced down at his hands, and gasped. His hands were no longer hands, but paws. Black and blue fur covered most of his body and floppy, ear‑like things hung to the side of his head. The black fur around his orange eyes made him look like he was wearing a mask.
"Oh, wow!" the figure cried. "I've been turned into a Riolu!"
How did this happen? And why can't I remember anything?
"Um, you're kinda weird," the Pikachu said. "Is this some sort of joke?"
The human‑turned‑Riolu quickly shook his head. "I'm not lying!"
"Okay, but can you tell me your name at least?" the Pikachu said.
The Riolu racked his limited memory for his name.
My name, my name… What was it… Steve? Definitely Steve.
"Steve," he finally replied. "My name is Steve."
The Pikachu smiled. "Well, my name's Andy." He glanced around before saying, "I think I can trust you. I'm sorry, there's just been many bad Pokémon popping up lately, and-"
Andy never got to finish his sentence. The two Pokémon who had been following him decided to ram into his back.
"Ow!"
Andy fell forward, and Steve hopped backward just in time. Something fell out of the Pikachu's pouch. Andy stood up and turned to his attackers.
"Hey!" he yelled. "What was that for?!"
Koffing, a purple ball spewing gas out of holes his body, answered, "Hehehe, can't figure it out?"
"H-huh?" Andy stammered, his anger turning into confusion.
"We're just messing with ya, chump." Zubat, a blue, eyeless bat, sneered.
The bluntness of Zubat's statement caught Andy off guard.
Zubat swooped in and grabbed the object on the sand in his feetless legs. "We'll be taking this."
"No! That's mine!" Andy was too stunned to do anything. He just watched as the two thieves made away with his personal treasure.
"Later, scaredy chicken," Koffing said to the Pikachu, floating towards a cave in the back.
"So long, suckers!" Zubat added as they disappeared into the cave.
"They… they stole my personal treasure…" Tears were welling up in Andy's eyes. "I-if I c-can't get it b-back…"
"Come on!" Steve cried, pulling Andy's arm. "Let's go after them!"
The two Pokémon ran to chase the two thieves who had disappeared into the cave.
The cave was actually quite well lit inside, as Steve and Andy discovered. Shallow water lay on the ground at their feet. Steve found out that fighting came naturally to him, as he knocked out several wild Pokémon that got in his way.
Andy noticed this. "Way to go, knocking out those Shellos, Steve. You're pretty good at fighting. Better than me anyway…"
The Riolu said nothing, and pressed on. It didn't take very long for the two Pokémon to reach the end of the cave, where the thieves were stuck at the dead end. They were facing the wall in the back, arguing with each other.
Andy walked forward and yelled, "Hey!"
Koffing and Zubat stopped their bickering when they saw who it was.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't our friend, the chicken," Zubat said.
Andy flinched at the insult. "Give me back my personal treasure! It means everything to me!"
"Whoa, ho, ho, is it really that valuable?" Koffing wondered.
"Maybe we oughta sell it for big money," Zubat said. "All the more reason not to give it back!"
"But… but…" Andy stammered.
Koffing grinned. "You want it? Why don't you come and get it?"
"Gladly!" Steve smacked his two fists together, and lashed out at Koffing. Dodging to the side, Koffing stuck his tongue out at the Riolu. Growling, Steve punched again, and this time it was a hit, right to the gas ball's face. Koffing fell to the floor with a thud.
At the same time, Andy was trying his best to tackle the Zubat. The bat kept flying around, taunting. "Can't hit me! heh-heh-heh!"
"Enough!" the Pikachu cried, and unleashed a bolt of electricity towards Zubat. It hit him and the bat shrieked in pain as he was being fried by the electricity. Zubat collapsed on the floor next to Koffing.
"Ow-ow-ow-ow," Koffing groaned. "They beat us up…"
"Yow!" Zubat yelped, hovering back up. "How we'd lose to a couple of wimps like them, anyway?"
Koffing floated back up as well. "I dunno!"
"Bah! Here's your stupid rock back!" Zubat tossed the rock back to its rightful owner. He and his partner in thievery flew out the tunnel.
"Don't forget, your victory was just a fluke!" Koffing shouted back to them as he left with Zubat.
Andy picked up his treasure and stared at it. "Wow, we really got it back…" He turned to the Riolu, who was grinning. "Thank you, Steve!"
When they got back outside, Andy thanked Steve again, who simply rubbed the back of his head, blushing.
"Aw, it was nothing…" Steve said sheepishly.
"It wasn't just 'nothing'," Andy insisted. "It was one of the bravest things I've ever seen in my entire life."
Steve just smiled, staring at the sand.
"Do you have anything to do now?" Andy asked.
Steve looked up at the question.
"I mean, you were a human transformed into a Pokémon and all…"
Steve glanced out at the sea, thinking.
"If not, well..." Andy took a deep breath. "Will you be willing to form an exploration team with me?"
Steve looked at the Pikachu again, intrigued.
"It's just that I've been wanting to join Wigglytuff's Guild for quite some time now," Andy said. "The idea of adventure, finding treasure, and discovering new lands, it just seems so cool. And one day, I happened to find this."
Andy pulled out the rock from his satchel and laid it out in the sand. Steve stared at the intricate pattern on the smooth side.
"It's really something, isn't it?" Andy asked. Steve nodded.
What a strange pattern… I've never seen anything like it before. Not that I'd remember if I ever saw one…
"I call this stone my Relic Fragment." Andy put the rock away and glanced up towards the town. "I wanna join Wigglytuff's Guild, but I'm too scared to…" The Pikachu looked at the Riolu in the eyes. "I want you to form an exploration team with me," he pleaded. "I would've been very scared to go in that cave alone, but now you're with me."
Steve eyes widened at the request.
Whoa, he's trying to recruit me outta the blue! What do I do? It's true I don't know what else to do, but maybe if I just go with him, I'll learn something about myself, and why I've been turned into a Pokémon. Alright.
"So, whaddya say?" Andy asked.
"Okay, I'll join," Steve replied.
"Really? Alright!" Andy proceeded to hop around in circles, laughing in joy. Then he stopped, calming down a little.
"First, we need to go to Wigglytuff's guild and sign up," he said. "I'm so excited!"
"Let's do it!" Steve cheered, and they raised their paws into the air together.
And that was how Steve the Riolu and Andy the Pikachu began their grand adventure.
