He didn't know exactly how or when it happened. He was lounging on my bed, enjoying some nice… books… the nature of which will not be mentioned. He had nothing to do - no friends who he could hang out with, no one to call that he was particularly close to, no non-fitness games he was particularly interested in playing, no books he wanted to read- scratch that last one.
The point is, he was busy pumping his time and pleasure away when he felt… dizzy? Like something was in his head, but not quite. It was searching around for something, found it… and then left.
That peculiar feeling left in a rush of hormones, as he paid attention to the… book. Within twenty or so seconds, he had forgotten all about it, and continued reading his totally innocent book.
Funny sensations aside, he felt nothing - and for a long time after that, things went on as normal.
Do you know what lava - no, magma - feels like? I promise you, it's not what you think it feels like.
"Hot?"
When first touched, magma is a lot like water - nice and cool. Then your senses catch up to you, tell you no, it's very, very hot, you thank them, and then start shrieking like a maniac.
"Did you really think of all this when you were burning alive?"
Then, because the magma starts cooling, it starts hardening. After flowing like water, it then starts sticking to you like caramel and gum, then taffy. It cools down, thankfully, but still is mind-numbingly painful.
"Are you even listening to me?"
You probably won't die from contact with magma or lava, not unless it's exceptionally hot or stays on you for a very, very long time. In other words, get it off of you quickly and you'll be pretty much alright with a quick hospital stay (unless you're very old - then it's more in the air).
I didn't know this, which led to a very… painful experience.
"Can you get to the part when you fell into the volcano already?"
I believe I said "Argh," or "Grargh," or the incredibly eloquent "Ow,", and sort of fumbled around trying to get the solidifying rock off of me before I was buried alive.
I don't exactly know how, but I was put into a… volcano. An active volcano. Obviously, I survived, but it wasn't a good feeling
"So you don't even remember how you fell into the volcano?"
I was put in - I didn't fall in. I'd remember something like that.
"Even though you can't even remember how your mouth works?"
The Amaura said nothing since he couldn't speak out loud and instead continued dictating using the thought-broadcasting band.
Anyway, I panicked, but found that I couldn't move-
"Because you've forgotten how to move-"
"Fik, enough! We'll never get through this if you don't let her speak!"
Her? I'm a guy!
Fik snorted "See, she doesn't even remember her own gender!"
"Fik…"
"Mom, why don't you just read her memories?!"
His mother looked unimpressed. "You know just as well as I do that tampering with original memories is forbidden, and that if I read her memories, I'll run the risk of accidents!"
"You've never done it on purpose before!"
His mother just looked disappointed.
"Fine!" Fik sat down. "Can he at least get to the point? I want to see if the Fun Fount will have the newest issue of-"
"Fik, I will not rush her so that you can go read your blasted comics!" She turned back to the Amura girl. "Please continue, dear,"
I'm not a dear - I'm a guy!
"I'm sorry. Please continue, sir."
Better. Anyway, I couldn't move, but I was screaming. I couldn't move a muscle, just like now, so there was nothing I could do to help myself. Then, strangely, things went… cold.
Fik's mother nodded. "That was you releasing your ice."
But I can't release ice...
Fik groaned, only to find his mouth quickly closed by his mother's psychic powers.
… I think.
The broadcasted voice was now much more unsure.
Well, wherever the cold thing came from, it helped me a lot. Things still hurt, but not as much as they did before. A lot of rock solidified around me, stopping more lava from attaching to me. And then… it happened.
"The eruption?" Fik's mother guessed.
Yeah - I was blasted sky-high… I think. I don't know, I was inside a giant rock at the time.
"Then you fell to the ground, and the rock cracked?"
Yeah… how am I still alive?
"Well, as a Rock-type, simple impacts are easier for you to withstand. You aren't particularly defensive, but your shell absorbed most of your impact." Fik's mother raised a concerned look at him. "Then, I assume, you waited until Fik found you while playing near the volcano—which you shouldn't do, young man!"
Fik rolled his eyes. A couple of bullies had hidden Helt's dad's Defend Globe at the foot of the volcano when Helt tried to impress them with it. Helt was in a panic when Fik crossed him and agreed to get it for him. One small trip, a white lie to his mother, and a strange Amaura who couldn't move later, here they were.
Anyway, why can't I walk? Why was I in a volcano?
Fik's mother sighed. "I wish I knew why you couldn't walk - I've scanned your body and your nervous system is fine - though, for some reason, the nerves controlling your voluntary muscles are inactive. You don't remember why you were in a volcano, dear?"
No, the last thing I remember was jerking- uh, reading a book. In bed. With no lights on. The Amaura's face flushed. And then I wake up in a volcano and start hallucinating everyone looking like Pokémon!
There was a small lapse in his mother's telekinesis, and Fik broke free. "Hallucinating?! Do I not look like an Elgyem?!"
Well, you look like one - but yeah, I'm hallucinating, since Pokémon AREN'T real!
Fik looked at his mother and mouthed 'she's crazy' at his mother. When Fik's mother said nothing, only looking at Fik with a disappointed look, Fik turned to the Amaura."Then what are you, if you aren't an Amaura?" Fik accused. The Amaura would call herself a plant or a berry or something, and then Fik would show her her stubby legs and long neck - and then she would have to accept that she was a Pokémon, like everyone else does!
I'm a human, and you are too! I'm just hallucinating you guys as Pokémon - this will all wear off eventually!
"A… human?" Was that a Pokémon Fik wasn't aware of? His mother looked equally puzzled. "Is that from your imagination or something?"
NO! I'm a human. A HUMAN! The thought-broadcasting band was now screaming at them. Why aren't you listening? Am I in a dream or something where Pokémon exist? Why can't I wake up? I'm not a Pokémon, Pokémon don't exist!
"Dear-"
I'm a guy! A GUY!
"Sir, could I please take a look inside your head?" Fik's mother asked.
Fik stared at her and asked, "I thought we weren't supposed to do that?"
"Not with real memories, but fake ones are alright to read and tamper with freely." She looked at the Amaura. "So?"
I don't have any fake memories - that's not even possible! Humans exist, Pokémon don't, and-
Then Fik's mother lost her temper. "I'm going to get in so much trouble, but…" Her lights flashed - she was looking into the Amaura's mind. The Amaura's mental struggles ceased as she too was drawn into her own memories.
They were like that for a minute - and as the seconds ticked by, Fik's nervousness grew. His mother never took this long - non-traumatic memories were compressed into vague sensations in a person's mind. Finding it should take little to no effort - so why was it taking so long?!
Then his mother retreated with a gasp. "Oh… oh my…" She checked her body, to make sure it was still there. "Oh… oh… it was only a memory… oh, thank Arceus..."
"Mom?" Fik slowly asked.
Fik's mother slowly turned to look at him, before looking back at the Amaura. "Excuse us, miss, while we go outside to speak."
I told you, I'm not a girl!
Instead of responding or interrupting, Fik's mother dragged him out of the room, out of earshot of the Amaura.
"What just happened?!" She shook, tears falling from her large green eyes. The sight alone put Fik into a panic.
Then, slowly, his mother drew herself to a resemblance of calm. Still, she shook as she spoke. "That… some… monster… altered her entire memory of the past, prior to the eruption you found her from. She only remembers Pokémon as something you would read in a comic or in a fanciful story-"
"But she's an Amaura - she's a Pokémon! Why would she think that Pokémon aren't real?!" The whole thing seemed so silly. "And what kind of a world doesn't have Pokémon? That… that doesn't make any sense! Who does she think made the world and life?"
Fik's mother's eyes were shadowed. "She remembers plants and bugs and things like that, but all Pokémon were seen… in her memories… as fictional. She remembers a world with humans - think of something like a cross between an Oranguru and a Gardevoir… actually." She pointed a light at Fik, and Fik allowed the memory to flow into his head.
Then, he threw up. "What… what is that thing?! It… what's with its fur? It's long and only on the top of its head?! And… and those fingers! And why was its butt curved like that?!"
"A monstrous creature - a devious product of her attacker's imagination," his mother pronounced with a sense of finality.
"Attacker?"
"She has memories of a life that isn't hers, of existing as a nonexistent creature, of living twenty years when she could have only experienced ten by her body's age, of being a… human… male, when she is clearly a female, of experiencing hormones that her body can't produce, of being born not through an egg but a completely disgusting process…" His mother pursed her lips. "No one - not even the craziest Pokémon alive - could have these false memories naturally. They were implanted by someone…"
"Who?"
"Someone who wanted to break her sanity and watch it destroy itself further - to change her entire life so that it contradicted all of reality." Fik's mother sighed. "So, Fik, we have to help her recover her lost and warped memories."
"How?"
"Hopefully, if she re-experiences life as a Pokémon, she'll be able to recover the right memories, and will eventually throw out these warped ones as she should. Until then, we'll suppress her memories of being a… human. I'll have to alter her 'common knowledge' so that she won't ever remember humans." She looked at Fik. "I'll need you to hold her down while I do so, alright sweetie?"
"Hold her down?"
"She'll try to fight back once she realizes I'm suppressing her false memories - she'll think we're removing her actual memories. She doesn't have memories of being an Amaura, so she won't be able to fight back very well, or even move a single muscle since she's lost all of her muscle memory - but she can use basic ice powers, since she relearned them in the volcano, so I'll you to block those so I'm not hurt while I'm altering her memories."
"I… I've never battled before, mom," Fik said. "I know I said that I've been in a lot of fights, but that isn't true!"
Fik's mother shook her head. "I know you can do this. Just use your telekinesis to block all of her ice attacks." She floated down so that she was at eye level with him. "I know it'll be scary - the first battle is always the worst. But you'll have to do it for her sake."
Fik was silent for a few seconds. Then…
"Okay." He took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
His mother nodded. "Blocking the memories will be a simple task, as I'm just covering everything before a certain point. But it'll take a while to get rid of her implanted notion of humans and what's 'normal' - I'll need at least five minutes. Can you hold down for that long?"
Fik nodded.
Fik's mother gazed at him. "Fik… I've never been as proud of you as I am now." She smiled. "Let's do this."
Opening the door with telekinesis, they looked at the Amaura again. This time, she wasn't blaring loudly using the thought-broadcasting band. Instead, she was looking at them warily.
I heard everything, she broadcasted lowly, and Fik tensed. You guys weren't as quiet as you thought you were. You guys are going to try and destroy my memories. The temperature dipped, and small ice crystals started forming in the air. Powder Snow - she was using it automatically in her distress.
Fik's mother raised her multicolored lights. "Are you ready, Fik?"
Fik nodded, raising his own lights. "As I'll ever be."
The Powder Snow shot forward, but then they stopped in place, Fik grimaced, the snow sapping the energy from his mind, but held firm.
More snow formed, shooting toward his mother. Fik stopped it again.
Stop it! Stop it! The Amaura started shouting in her mind, as the temperature of the room dipped further in her panic. I don't want to lose my memories! My name is… my name is…
She had forgotten her false name - mother had blocked all of her past memories! Now to block that implanted 'common sense' she had, toward the existence of humans.
Let… let go… please… More ice crystals formed and tried to shoot forward, but were weak. They were now easier to stop.
I… I lived in the United States… I… there were over forty presidents in the… Constitution… no… I… Colombus… sailed the… seas… ?
Complete gibberish - gibberish that she was forgetting, as her eyes grew foggier and foggier.
No… I… no…
Then her mental broadcaster went silent. The temperature of the room crawled to normal.
Finally, Fik's mother lowered her eyes and sat in one of the chairs. The Amaura, too, had fallen asleep where she had previously laid.
"It… it took a while… but it's done. Her memories of 'humans', gone. Memories of being a 'human', gone. Memories of everything that doesn't exist… gone." She groaned. "Her assailant… he's a mad genius. Within the world, everything was self-consistent, more than any fake memories I've ever seen. The laws of physics were constant, and math was sound. I've kept everything that isn't false, like what she knows of Pokémon, which is mostly true, and her knowledge of science… she'll be able to recover now…"
She then collapsed and laid there for a few minutes.
Then she got back up, her eyes bloodshot from tears.
"Now what?" Fik asked.
"I'll have to send her to Ghesti City for physical rehabilitation. She won't be able to harm herself, so it'll be safe. They'll be able to help her recover her lost muscle memory and hopefully guide her back to her home, where she'll be able to recover her lost memories."
"And now?"
Fik's mother slowly floated to the network node and dialed in a number. "Excuse me, is this the line for Ghesti City Hospital?" She heard their answer, then explained the situation to them. A couple of minutes later, a Gardevoir came in, searched her mind, then took the Amaura away.
Before the Gardevoir teleported back, she looked at Fik. "Don't worry young man, we'll take excellent care of this young Amaura." Then she teleported away.
Fik's mother sighed. "If you want to go to Fun Fount, go ahead." She tossed him some Poke. "Enjoy yourself - but be back before seven."
"I will," he promised.
Fik never heard of the Amaura ever again.