Suddenly, the stinging impact of something striking my face jolted me awake. Turned out Pikachu was whipping me with its tail in order to force me to get up.
"What was that for?!" I scream at Pikachu.
"Pika," Pikachu says. "Pika-pika, pikachu-pika. Pika, pikachu-pika?"
It occurred to me that this has happened twice. The last time Pikachu did that, it was before we rescued the girls and a trainer named Hop, who was friends with two other trainers, Victor and Gloria, from the clutches of Team Noir.
I think Pikachu was saying something along the lines of, "Sorry. But you were still asleep, and it's almost noon. Really, why do you keep waking up so late?" Although I could be wrong. Taking Pikachu's (potential) words into account, I looked out the window, and I could see it really was almost noon. I suddenly realized that nobody was in the room except for Pikachu and I. Ash, Robert, or even Wesley weren't there, which is why I couldn't understand Pikachu.
"P-Pikachu," I stammer. "D-Did everyone g-get...?"
"Pika," Pikachu reassures me. "Pikachu-pika. Pika-pi pikachu."
"Um, hold on. 'Relax, everyone's fine. Ash and everyone else are at the lobby...?' Is that right?" Unlike our Hybrimon friends, I honestly had no idea what Pikachu was saying. When they were nearby, I could outright hear certain Pokemon speak English (for some reason), but whenever they weren't, I had to guess what they were saying, which was exactly what I was doing. "You sure, little guy?"
"Pika! Pikachu!" Without another word, Pikachu went to the door. I thought it was telling me to come with it. I changed into my clothes and brushed my teeth, then got ready to leave the room. Pikachu jumped onto my shoulder as we went to the Pokemon Center's lobby. Ash and everyone else were gathered around a table, chatting. When I approached their table, they noticed me, and Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder.
"Hey, David!" Ash says. "Mornin'!"
"Good morning, guys," I say sheepishly. "Sorry I got up late. I think that's becoming a habit..."
"Sheesh," Liana says. "I think it is already!"
"Heh... Well, you could at least be a little gentler. I don't think slapping me in the face's such a good idea, Pikachu..."
"Yeah, I know," Pikachu says, and thank goodness I could understand it now, due to a Hybrimon's presence. "But I guess I didn't have much of a choice. You see, I tried every way I knew in order to wake you up, but I ended up resorting to slapping you with my tail."
My friends burst out laughing, and I couldn't help but chuckle a little. We ended up having small talk. Spending time with friends... I liked that a lot. No, I loved it. I don't think I've ever had friends before in the life I couldn't remember, back when I was in my world. But my world didn't matter to me anymore. This world was a whole lot better!
But the thought made me think on it a little more. If my world, as I thought, was some totally boring place, then why would I have the ability to cast magic? It was something I loved having at my disposal, but it made me worry a little, too. Another thing was that I had to hide the fact of being someone from another world from my friends. I didn't like that. If the truth got out, they might see me as a kind of alien and throw me out... Given that they've seen my abilities, I wouldn't be surprised if they had that reaction if I was exposed.
"Hey, David?" Liana says, tugging at my shirt's sleeve. "You're spacing out. Something wrong?"
"Huh?!" I blurt. "Oh! N-Nah. I'm totally fine. Heh... Yeah."
"Honestly, you're acting kind of suspiciously..." Oh no! She was onto me! I had to stop her somehow... Come on, David, think! What could I do to stop her from going any further than that...?
"Why would I be suspicious? After all, I'm a magic-user like nobody else. I couldn't get any more suspicious than that."
"Well, I think you have a point." Phew. That was close. Good job, me... Hopefully she wouldn't ask that again. After that close call, the crew and I decided to set out. But something stopped us, and not in the bad way. When we left the Pokemon Center, we saw none other than Professor Camphor.
"Ash! David!" She called out to us. "Hey there!"
"Professor Camphor! Hi!" Ash called back. There was no need for introductions, as our other friends were already familiar with her, but they never met her in person. When she asked us about our travels, we recapped everything that happened so far on our travels.
"So, now both of you got your Nature Badges, huh?" Camphor says. "Congrats!"
"Thanks," Ash and I say simultaneously.
"I wanna show you all something, too. Could you come with me?"
"Alright!" All of us reply. We all started following Camphor. She explained that she was taking us to the Kogeta Town Laboratory, one of the many Pokemon Laboratories in Terelm. Supposedly Camphor went to the one here at Kogeta Town when she went on her business trip, back when Ash and I were still at Grama. When we entered, she took us to her office.
"You see," She began, "My coworkers and I have been working to find out what's the cause behind that sudden surge of power throughout Terelm. David, you remember that I told you I thought it had something to do with you. Right?"
"Yeah," I say. I remember it like it was yesterday.
"It's just a hypothesis, but we think you're from another world." I gasped. She knew about that, too?! ...Wait, actually, she said it's just a hypothesis. So why am I freaking out about that? She wasn't there yet.
"In addition," She continued, "We've speculated that the surge of power is, in fact, your magical energy. Do you think that's right?" Let's see... If I play my cards right, I might be able to shift suspicion off of myself. What could I do...?
"Well... I can't say for sure. After all, I've lost my memories, so I can't really prove that I'm from another world, or if that surge of power was my magic. All I know is that I fell out of the sky in Grama for whatever reason, and I awakened to my powers there." It pained me to lie that I didn't know if I came from another world, because I really did know. But if it would stop my friends from pushing me away, it would all be worth it.
"There's something we'd like to confirm. We'd like to match the readings of the power surge with your magic. To do that, we must have a battle. Would you like that?" Now there was something I could find out for myself, too. Unlike where I'm from, I didn't know if I previously had powers before my arrival in this world. I enthusiastically agreed, and she guided us to an indoor battlefield.
"This room is equipped with devices that can read the energy signals from a Pokemon's attacks. I think it'll work with your magical power, too. Shall we, then?" Camphor was smiling, much to my surprise.
"YOU'RE gonna battle me?" I pointed at her. "I thought I was gonna battle Ash or someone else..."
"Is something wrong with that?"
"No, not really. Just a little surprised."
After that, Camphor and I took our positions on the battlefield. Of course, I stepped up, since I was basically obligated to contribute to Camphor's hypothesis. Camphor brought out a Poke Ball and sent out the Pokemon inside, which looked something like a black, quadrupedal stone golem, with orange crystals on its body.
"Gigalith," Rotom says. "The compressed Pokemon. A Rock type. Gigalith's attacks, using the compressed energy from its core, are powerful enough to destroy a mountain." Geez! A lot of the Pokemon I've encountered have abilities that would be equal to superhuman strength...! But this is a friendly battle, so I didn't need to feel so alarmed. I drew my sword, and pointed it at Gigalith.
"Ready?" Camphor asks me.
"Ready!" I reply. I decide to open up with a basic attack. But when my sword connects, Gigalith doesn't even flinch, and my sword bounces off of its rock-hard body. Rotom informed me that Gigalith is resistant to Normal-type moves, so I decide to use a spell instead. I try casting Frizzle. The spell does better damage, but otherwise it was just as useless as my normal attack. Turned out Gigalith was also resistant to Fire-type moves as well.
"Gigalith! Use Rock Slide!" Camphor commands.
Gigalith summons a bunch of rocks and hurls them at me. I get hit by them without having time to dodge. I'm pretty sure that move would take out a normal human, but I barely took any damage from that. I think that was a result of me battling. Perhaps it built up my endurance and stamina? That was pretty odd. Surely I couldn't have gotten so strong in a dozen or so battles.
But I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts that I don't even get a chance to avoid a Headbutt from Gigalith. If I was gonna win this, I'd need to exploit its weakness. Gigalith is a Rock-type, so my Frizzle and Woosh spells would be resisted. Crack would work normally. None of my spells would be super effective, so I had to improvise a new move. Suddenly I had an idea.
The battlefield around me was made of earth. And Gigalith is weak to Ground-type moves. I only hoped this would work... I plunged my sword into the ground and quickly pulled out a chunk of the earth, kind of the way you'd use a shovel to dig. I swing my sword to fling the dirty chunk at Gigalith, and it connects. A super-effective hit!
"What a move!" Ash gasps.
"I don't think a Pokemon knows a move like that!" Rotom notes.
"That's great and all," Camphor says. "But remember why you're here. We're getting samples from your magic, right?"
"Oh, yeah," I realized. "Right."
Considering that I've already given a sample of my Frizzle, I quickly cast Crack and Woosh in quick succession. Crack does some decent damage, but Woosh barely makes it flinch due to it being resistant to Flying-type moves. Camphor smirks as she prepares to counterattack.
"Now use Headbutt!"
Gigalith charges at me and hits me in the chest headfirst. I go flying and land hard. But I'm not down and out yet! I charge my power in order to cast Crack twice in a row. I keep up the momentum with a Frizzle. I know it wouldn't be very effective, but it was a pretty solid spell.
"Wow!" Camphor says in wonder. "You're pretty strong!"
"And that strength'll make me win!" I add. I charge at Gigalith for an attack. Camphor calls a Rock Slide, but I dodge the storm of rocks and hit it with a Falcon Slash. Then I rebound, and prepare to cast a spell.
"This is it! The spell that takes the fight!"
I snap my fingers in order to cast it... but it doesn't work. The spell fizzles out and dies. Did I seriously drain myself that quickly...? And just when I was about to take the match, too!
"I think that's good enough," Camphor says, clapping. "You did great, David. So did you, Gigalith. Return!" Camphor returns Gigalith to its Poke Ball. "That was a fantastic battle. Surely this will help us out a lot."
"Well, I'm glad to help out." But suddenly, someone rushes through the door, out of breath.
"Professor Camphor!" He says. "We've got an update on the surge of power!"
"Huh?!" Camphor gasps. "Take us to the analyzing room!"
After going to the "analyzing room," the guy who ran into the battle room, which, as Camphor explained, was his assistant, showed us footage of a camera on a computer. The computer showed Camphor and I having our battle. Camphor's assistant skipped ahead to when I was about to cast the spell. The apps showed... orange rings shrinking into my body?
"What is this?" I asked, totally bewildered.
"Those orange rings are your magic," Camphor explained. "It appeared to be flowing into you when you were going to use a spell, but couldn't."
"So... every time I learn a new spell, some of that stuff merges with me?"
"That should be the case."
"So what spell is it?" Ash asked. "Every single spell that you have is beyond awesome!"
"Uh..." I stutter. "For some reason, I don't know. I don't know until I cast it for the first time..."
"Why, though?"
"Dunno. Guess that's how it is."
"Well, David," Camphor says, turning to me, "Thanks for your time. We'll analyze the magic signals you gave in our battle right away. When we figure something out, you'll be the first to know."
The crew and I left the laboratory, waving Camphor goodbye. Robert looked at me.
"So..." He began. "Your magic's been lost?"
"I don't know for sure," I reply. "After all, I've lost my memories, and I can't figure out if I had magic powers to begin with."
"Well, maybe... But just in case, I think we should help you regain what you've lost."
"You mean training? But where can we do that?"
"I think I know the place."
The one in which David and Camphor have a battle in the name of science.
I'm sorry if this one's pretty late, but overall I've had a lack of motivation.