What had happened to me? I thought, my heart beating fast. Why couldn't I remember anything?... I looked around me as though in a daze… I knew I must look strange with this weird collar thing on. That was the least of my concerns…My biggest concern was the fact that I felt like I should know more than I did…it was strange….I felt like it was my fault I couldn't remember anything… but what was it that I couldn't remember? I scratched my head. It was strange…but it seemed the harder I thought about it, the more distant it became…I turned my focus to the girl. That girl…I didn't even know her name…but she seemed to know me… I didn't see her as a threat, in fact she had saved me with her Abbey…and frankly I felt lost at the moment. I turned and ran in pursuit of her.

"Hey! Wait a second!" I called out to her, raising my arm. I felt pain though and cringed back in surprise. I had forgotten, that guy Anthony hadn't been soft on me… the girl turned her head and looked at me with a calm expression. She had what I took to be pokéballs and handed them to a nurse with pink hair. She chatted with the nurse and then she turned around and walked over in my direction. She took something out of a small pouch and handed it to me. It was blue and kinda big. I stared blankly at it. "What is this?" I asked stupidly.

"Oh right, you wouldn't remember, it's an oran berry. Use it, it'll help your stamina." She offered it to me. I took it without hesitation and ate it. It tasted good! I realized I was starving. IT also healed me! It must be some sort of medical berry or something!

"We'll eat at a café after we're done here. Your pokémon are in for check up, you don't remember but you saved Charmander from drowning." She was saying conversationally. That made me want to remember even more and I tried to but without any success.

"Don't think too hard on it… your memories aren't permamently gone." She told me, and I supposed it was compensation.

I didn't know why I was being so calm about all this, but I felt like I had been with her long enough to know she wasn't a threat. I shook my head. I still couldn't remember her name.

"It's Alu." She said smiling and I gasped.

"H-how'd you do that?" I asked incredulously.

"I already told you… stuff and I can." She simply deflected and then she grinned. "I bet you're craving some Ramen right about now huh?"

I hadn't realized it, but when she said that, my stomach seemed to growl louder. I patted my stomach, "I may not remember anything…but I think my stomach remembers ramen…" I said.

"Great, let's go then while our pokémon are being rested. You can take Bulbasaur and Squirtle with you, since Charmander needs rest." She said and I followed her as she exited the center.

We came to a small ramen shop and the ramen smells made my mouth water. We ordered and while we were waiting, Alu was shaking the remote to my weird collar. "There has got to be a release button or something..." she muttered.

"That guy, he could still have the key to this…" I theorized. She shook her head.

"Nope, I know he doesn't because I was looking for one when I provoked him into punching me. No, the key has to do with this remote…a scanner perhaps?" she was talking to me and to the remote. I just watched her with curiosity. This girl knew me before I lost my memories; I wondered what I was like. Since she could read my mind…and apparently get into it, I thought maybe she could tell me a bit about myself?

She was inspecting the remote so I patiently waited. After a few minutes our ramen arrived and my main focus turned to food. We said thanks for this meal and dug in. While I was slurping up the noodles; she began to speak.

"Well…who you were and who you are now is pretty much same." She said.

"And what does that mean?" I asked, swallowing my mouthful of delicious noodles.

"It means, you are who you are." She said smiling. I began slurping my noodles again, I had no idea how to respond to that. All I knew is that I didn't know who I was really… I felt lost and …empty…

"It's going to be ok Minato." She said gently. I looked at her. She looked back a little surprised.

"Sparky…you usually said you called me Sparky." I said. She nodded.

"Or Minato, or Mina-chan. Sparky is your favorite nickname to be called though," she said, grinning.

Was it? I had feeling saying otherwise but didn't remark. She laughed a little, thumping me hard on the back so that I coughed up the broth I was drinking at the bottom of the bowl. She snickered and ordered another bowl for me and her. I was fine with that but…I didn't think I'd ever get used to this weird girl…

"Yep, you haven't changed a bit." She commented, giggling.

I sighed for no apparent reason; I wondered if that was a compliment or not.

"Oh!" I heard her exclaim happily. I was startled by her sudden outburst and almost choked on my noodles. She was waving the remote and showed me that there was small dial.

"Like… a locker combination." I said surprised. She nodded.

"Yep. SO the good news is that we found your key…bad news is I don't know the combination…" she said brightly.

"Can't you just read his mind or something?" I asked her. She shook her head. Great. Let's make this difficult, I thought groaning. She hopped off her seat after paying the bill. "Ya coming or not?" she called back to me.

"Ah. Yeah!" I called back, and with one last slurp I followed her out into the city.

Me and Bulbasaur were training the next morning against Alu and her Jet. She was preparing me for my match against Volkner. When I had asked her previously how come I was such an old challenger, she had merely said this was a new region because the region I came from was the Katon Region which was far away. I asked her when I could return home to that region, and she had said, after I'd completed my quest here. Since she didn't strike me as untrustworthy, I figured that that would explain why I was here; after all there were many regions on this earth.

Bulbasaur unleashed its Vinewhip and Jet dodged it nimbly. Alu seemed very confident, but I was too. I called out, "Use sleep powder!" and Bulbasaur followed my command perfectly. Jet sneezed but managed to dodge the attack. Jet was her starter so of course he'd be her strongest pokémon. "Alright! Use tackle!" I commanded.

"Bulba!"

"Jet! Go! Use water gun!" she called out. Grass and water collided and Jet was knocked backwards. Grass was an advantage over water, and since I was up against Volkner and his electric type, I knew that grass would be my best bet. Charmander was still recovering. Whatever had happened yesterday with that guy had injured Charmander more than Alu had first thought and I had wanted it to get good rest. Although, there was one problem I had….

Out flashed a little electric type. "Piiiiiichuuuuuuu!" it declared. I groaned. Alu had filled me in on how I had saved this Pichu a few times and how it had come with us on adventures as a sort of accident that was meant to happen. I frankly didn't feel like it liked me much… true enough, it shocked me . Alu and Jet were laughing but after yesterday's electrical shocks from the collar it just proved to hurt more. I groaned. That led to another problem… the collar I had on my neck could be undone with a locker combo…but neither of us knew it so for now it was a temporary accessory…

Pichu didn't seem to care at all for my well being. I didn't particularly care that it was a rare species, all I cared about was getting a rubber collar for it.

"Jet return!" I heard Alu call, "alright, I choose you…Electrup!" out flashed the small puppy pokémon. It was an orange color, with yellow tipped ears that looked like mini thunder bolts and on its fur it had actual thunderbolt fur on all four legs. It's back was orange with a thunderbolt running down its back and then the tip of the thunderbolt being the tail. It was small, maybe about as big as Jet, Alu's Squirtle. I opened up my pokédex and expected it to appear but only an unknown symbol popped up in the shape of a question mark.

"Alu…this pokémon isn't registered!" I said baffled. Alu grinned, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Course not, it's ultra rare. We met through chance and circumstance." She merely replied airily.

I wanted to ask if she wanted to trade the hellish Pichu for the seemingly well tempered electric puppy; I didn't like rats anyways.

Alu snorted, "It's an electric mouse, I told you it's not a rat."

Pichu glared at me and I groaned. I hadn't wanted it to know that I thought it was a rat accidentally again.

I didn't like vermin in general.

The Pichu's ears twitched and it shocked me again. I wondered if Alu wasn't the only one who could read my mind. Alu only grinned at me. That's right! I couldn't forget…I had training I was in the middle of. Bulbasaur was my best bet against an electric type…especially since I was doing one on one with the gym leader.

Bulbasaur got into battle stance and the match continued. Pichu sat on the sidelines with Jet who had woken up and had zapped itself out of the pokéball it had been in.

"GO use Vinewhip!" I called out.

"Go Ellé! Use thunder ball! " she called out. Both pokémon let loose their battle cries and vines collided with the electrically charged ball. Bulbasaur tried to swat the electric attack but instead it shocked Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur struggled to stand but the attacks from her Cynder and then Jet had already weakened it… We hadn't actually beaten Cynder but Alu had withdrew it because we were going to and she just didn't want to admit that I was gonna win. I was still brooding about that… I sighed. Bulbasaur had done its best, I knew that but I still felt a little discouraged. I must have been zoning out because a second later I felt something cold tap against my hand. I looked and realized it was a bottle of water, being held out by Alu who was grinning.

"That was a good match, Bulbasaur's stamina has surely gotten stronger no doubt. We'll resume training after your break." She said.

I protested, "I need to get stronger now so that I'll be ready to beat this guy." She shook her head.

"Strength and preparation are great, but you also need to balance it out with plenty of rest" she seemed to lecture me.

I felt silly be lectured by a 14 year old girl but didn't say anything. She winked at me.

"Did I say I was fourteen? I'm actually fifteen." She said, giggling.

I actually didn't remember her telling me she was 14… I had just guessed.

I protested a bit more but finally found myself stuck, and looking around bored in the city. Bulbasaur was with Charmander, so the only two pokémon with me were Pichu and Squirtle. I wondered what to do with myself. When I wasn't training I had a lot of time to think… and yesterday just wouldn't leave my mind. I walked slowly down the sidewalk, as Anthony's face loomed in my mind. I remembered him telling me about how I had tremendous power, and that he wanted to show me as a prize to the boss. He thought I was a pokémon… but I didn't think I was… but what if I was a pokémon? … Maybe Alu knew me…because I was one of her pokémon turned human!...it seemed far fetched… but it seemed to make some sense to me at least.

I put my hands in my pockets and continued to walk. Why were my memories even sealed in the first place? I knew that there was no way I didn't have memories of a past…I obviously had a childhood… that's why I was questioning why I didn't have any recollection of anything before yesterday….I sighed. I looked up at the sky, at the clouds and wondered, was anyone else looking up there and asking the sky unanswerable questions as well?

The clouds moved across the sky, and her blue eyes watched them calmly as they did. She tucked a loose strand of her red hair behind her ear. An older woman called out to her, "Ah, Missy, I'm glad to see that you're finally awake, thanks so much for helping us out with our garden lately..…Are you hungry?"

The young woman shook her head, smiling. "No, I'm just looking." She said, turning her gaze back up to the sky. The woman sat on the bench next to her.

"The clouds are nice aren't they?" the older woman commented.

The younger woman gazed up at them. "Yes, I sometimes wonder if someone I know is looking up at these very same clouds right now…" she said softly. The older woman patted her on the arm comfortingly.

"I don't know the whole story..but I'm sure that wherever he is, he is safe. You two will meet again, I'm sure of it." she said supportively.

The woman smiled at the older woman.

"Thanks, Mrs. Ketchum." She said softly. Mrs. Ketchum smiled.

"You know, in the few weeks you've been awake, I've been calling you Missy, but…may I ask what your real name is?" Mrs. Ketchum asked politely; curiously.

The younger woman gazed up at the sky, "Kushina…Kushina Uzamaki."