"Agh-! Ngh…!"

Something didn't feel… quite right.

Two black eyes fluttered open, the tan and white feathers of the body they belonged to ruffled up in surprise and alarm. They scanned the area, trying to get a grip- darkened skies, trees spread out in every direction, not a single sign of any sentient life form to be found. This terrain was nothing familiar, and somehow everything seemed quite a bit… bigger, as if the ground was closer than it should have been and the foliage stretched taller than usual.

"H-hello…?"

She could've sworn someone had been there mere seconds ago, speaking to her. She didn't know who, or what they wanted, or… anything, really.

"I-is someone there…?"

Crack!

The sound startled her.

"H-hm?!"

More frantic scanning, her feathers ruffling up again and her feet skittering. The little Rowlet turned in a circle, eyeing her surroundings for the source. She couldn't tell what it was, but if it was a limb breaking underfoot or a branch snapping, the creature behind it must've been huge, yet she couldn't see a thing.

Crack! Crackle!

A frightened chirp came from her beak, the smallish creature stumbling about in panic. However, the little black eyes locked on something: a bright glow coming from behind a nearby tree, as if someone with a lantern had been hiding there the entire time and had only just slinked into view. She eyed it cautiously.

"H-hello?"

It wasn't a lantern.

Something akin to a hand stuck out, followed by something that seemed to imitate a human body, albeit made of a bunch of wires tied together in strategic places. A spiked, glowing 'head' sat atop its tall form, seeming to look down on her. And look down on her it did, for the strange creature was easily at least two and a half meters tall.

Crack!

Its body surged with sparks of electrical energy, causing the air around it to crackle. She could feel her feathers stand up just from being close to it.

… She didn't like being close to it.

Whatever this creature was, she didn't like any of it. If it was trying to be human, it was failing miserably, and only succeeded in looking like a twisted imitation. The electricity crackling along its form certainly didn't bode well, either.

"There you are!" a robotic, slightly metallic voice exclaimed.

There was no one else present, thus it had to be the strange creature talking to her, yet she couldn't discern how. It had no mouth; it didn't even possess a face. Its voice certainly wasn't ringing a bell, for it sounded like none she recognized.

She'd seen enough. With a terrified squawk, the little Rowlet turned around and bolted as fast as her tiny feet would run. She didn't care where she headed as long as she got away from that… that thing pretending to be a human.

"Hey! Wait!" the creature exclaimed again.

Skittering away along the forest floor, she turned her head backwards to look at it. One of its wired appendages- akin to a leg, perhaps- stretched out and planted on the ground, then the other, the creature apparently giving chase. Its long stride dwarfed hers with ease, and one of its crackling 'arms' reached out towards her.

"NO!" she screeched, petrified, giving her wings a flap.

Her feet left the ground, and she picked up speed, evading the wired fingers that went for her and the trees in her way. Her wings let her outpace the wired beast, shortly leaving it running haplessly after her with wild, swinging strides.

She looked back once more, and she had put several meters between it and herself. She wasn't sure just how her tiny form was working, but she didn't have time to care. All that mattered was getting away from the crackling creature.

The trees gave way to an opening, and she went for it, bursting out of them and into the open air. There wasn't much else present, just what appeared to be a lake below that gave way to a larger sea, several cliff sides surrounding the water that were covered in more trees. In seconds, she noticed something else: there was no ground below her.

"Hey!" the creature called. "Stop!"

The little bird did no such thing, yet it shortly became apparent the creature wasn't content to just run after her, for she felt something unpleasant course through her body: an electric jolt.

A pained screech came from her as her body seized, her appendages refusing to listen to her. The ground began getting closer rather quickly.

Her vision blurred over. Yet, for one last check, she turned her head backwards again, and noticed the black mass of cables standing at the edge of the forested cliff. It looked down at her, sparks coursing over its body, just staring. Its hands were poised up in what she might have guessed as surprise, or perhaps aggression. She couldn't tell what its gestures meant, but at least it wasn't chasing her.

Its figure and the forest got smaller and smaller, blurring together, all much faster than she would have liked. Try as she might, her wings wouldn't listen…

Thud. Her vision went black.

"Hey! Hey, are you alright?!"

Another voice. One that was… much more energetic. And natural-sounding.

"Mmm… a-ah… ngh…"

"Hey! You're alive!"

"H-hmmm…?"

Two black eyes fluttered open and immediately were greeted with the sight of another set peering down- yellow in color, belonging to a light blue head with two small bubbles around the nose… It was a Froakie.

"And awake!" the Froakie exclaimed exuberantly, a huge grin stretching over his face. "Goodness, was I worried! You were just laid out on the sand here, not moving at all!"

Her eyes opened wide, and she was on her feet, her company hopping about her. She studied him.

"Y-you… can talk…?"

He giggled. "Of course I can, silly! You're talking to me right now, aren't you~?"

One of his hands reached out and patted one of her wings as he laughed, to which the Rowlet let out another startled cry and scuttled back. However, the Froakie was beaming.

"Arceus above, you're soft and fluffy!" he exclaimed. "Is the rest of you like that?! Can I see?!"

"NO!" was the perturbed answer, the feathers in question ruffling up. "W-who are you?! Where am I?! And what… what was that?!"

Her head began scanning the area again, then glanced up at the cliff. There was no wired beast to be seen, nothing else of any interest among the surroundings that consisted mostly of sand, rocks, and water… though still something didn't feel right.

The Froakie before her was quite a bit bigger than it should have been. Yet, the forest up above seemed quite a bit bigger, though she knew that simple greenery was not supposed to dwarf her… And she remembered her steps covering quite a bit more ground… Steps, not flaps…

She quickly hopped over to the water's edge, and let out a distressed squawk just as fast.

"What is THIS?!" she cried, frantically flapping her wings and wiggling her feet, "Why am I a Rowlet?!"

Her company hopped closer and giggled, watching her display. "Why are you worried? Are you not supposed to be~?"

"NO!" was the unhappy answer, "I… I'm a human! I'm…!"

The feathered one burst into tears and buried her face in her wings. The Froakie instantly became concerned and edged closer to her, again placing a hand on her. She didn't even seem to notice.

"Oh, you think you're a human?" he mused, then glancing up, "Sheesh, you must've hit your head pretty hard…"

"I-it's true!" she exclaimed, looking out through her feathers, "I'm a human! A human female, my name is Astrid, and… and…! O-oh, Arceus above, I can't remember anything!"

Her company perked up. "Well, nice to meet ya, Astrid! I'm Arashi.~"

"A-Arashi…?"

"Yup!"

Back to crying she went, her company still grinning haplessly. "Oh, Arashi, this is terrible!"

He giggled, giving her a pat again. "Oh, I'm sure it is! You must've had a nasty fall, and now your mind is all messed up!"

"N-no!" she exclaimed again, peeking over her wings, "I-I mean, y-yes, but no!"

Arashi tilted his head to the side, still patting her wing. "Yes but no~? What happened, Astrid~?"

Astrid shook her head a bit. "I d-don't remember much, just… I guess I was having this weird dream, where this disembodied voice was asking me a bunch of questions, and… and then I was up there in the forest, and th-this… this thing came at me…"

"Thing? What thing?"

She lowered her wings some more, though her gaze was locked on the ground. "Th-this tall glowing creature with a body made of wires… Y-you know what wires are, r-right…?"

"Those things you can tie other things together with and such? Yup!"

"W-well, its body was made of those, and it looked sorta like a human but not at all like a human, didn't even have a face but just this glowing spiked ball where its head should've been, a-and… and its body was sparking with electricity like a lightning storm, then it started talking to me and chasing me, a-and… And then it hit me with a bolt and knocked me out and I ended up down here!"

Arashi studied her intently, still wearing a countenance of excited intrigue. "Wow, really?! Sheesh! I've never heard of a Pokémon like that!" then, pausing for a second, "Er, it was a Pokémon, right?"

Astrid fluffed her feathers out a bit, dusting herself off with her wings and shyly looking at Arashi. "I-I don't know; I've n-never seen anything quite like that, really…"

Another chuckle, Arashi's hand going to her wing again. "Well, I haven't seen anything like that, either.~ And I've lived here my whole life, so it's probably safe to say that whatever it was is gone now, or else it would probably be down here if it really wanted you,"

A sigh came from her beak, her feathers deflating. "Alright, well, if you live here, then where am I? C-can you tell me that?"

A beaming grin. "You're on Tranquil Beach, an outlier of Tranquil Town!"

"T-Tranquil Town…?"

"Yup! There's not a lot of action here, except for a few incidents lately of other Pokémon just… going crazy, but it's a pretty nice place,"

A bit of alarm crept into Astrid's expression. "G-going crazy…?"

"Yeah! Just a few days ago, a Rhydon came roaring up to the town's perimeter and tried to start a big fight, and once he got calmed down, he claimed to not remember much about what happened.~ Good thing my mom was in town; her Water Shuriken put a stop to the issues real quick, aha!"

Up her feathers went again, the little bird eyeing her company uneasily. "R-really…?"

"Yeah! Isn't it wild?!" Arashi was still chattering away, not at all bothered. "And, well, in the general area surrounding us, there were a few rumored sightings of the wanted criminal Salem, but-!"

"WHAT?!" Astrid cut him off, "'Wanted criminal?!'"

"Yeah! She's this real shady figure- a Fennekin, I think she was… or maybe she had evolved…? Ah well, the sightings keep changing so no one knows for sure, aha!"

Astrid's feet skittered a few steps backwards. This Froakie was crazy; he had to be. She didn't like this, she didn't like this at all.

"A-Arceus above, what have I gotten into here…" she whimpered, looking down at the ground. "Why is this happening… and why me?!"

Arashi's eyes drooped a little and he hopped to her side again, the little bird still eyeing him. "Awww, you really are in a bad spot, aren't you?" the aquatic one cooed gently.

Shyly, she nodded. "I don't remember anything important except my name and that I'm not supposed to be a Pokémon… I don't know how I got here, who was talking to me, what that abomination in the forest was, nothing…"

Her eyes started watering again, to which Arashi gave her wing another pat. "Well, hey, if you're so lost and upset, why don't you stay with me for a while? My house is right around the corner on the beach, and if that weird creature shows back up, my mom and dad will take care of it! Besides, if you got knocked out, you could probably use a nice place to rest,"

She gave him a timid look, still a bit unsure of the Pokémon in front of her. "B-but… you just met me. I just fell off a cliff on the beach and you're alright with taking me in…?

He laughed. "Of course! Should I be afraid of you, Astrid~?"

She quickly shook her head. "N-no…"

"Then c'mon! We'll take care of ya,"

She thought for a moment. She wasn't sure what to make of this new creature that seemed as bubbly in personality as the bubbles around his neck, but even so… there wasn't much choice. Being left alone in this strange new world seemed an even worse option than putting her trust in a complete stranger, and with the encounter of earlier… No, she wasn't going to chance it.

"A-alright," she answered mildly.

Arashi let out a cry of glee, throwing both arms around her in a hug, to which the Rowlet let out a startled squawk and ruffled up her feathers.

"YES! I have a friiieeeeeend nooooow~" the Froakie sang excitedly.

"H-hey! Don't you think that's a little much for someone you just met?!"

He let go. "Nope!"

In any case, Arashi set to hopping down the beach, still beaming with glee. Astrid brushed herself off, still in utter disbelief that she was going along with the status quo, but nonetheless she haplessly skittered away after him.

Meanwhile, however…

A certain someone else's gaze was fixed on a less-than-wonderful sight. On the beach, a Rowlet and a Froakie strolled along the coastline, one of them appearing to be much more chipper than the other.

'Tranquil Beach,' the locals called it. It was anything but. The moment the Rowlet took a dive over the edge, the terrain had become a problem. There was but one pathway down the steep rock faces, and having to run through the sprawling expanse of trees and to the forest's edge to find it in the first place took far too much time for one unfamiliar with the vicinity.

Then, on finally finding a way down to her, there she was- awake, fully functioning, and with someone else.

Running out to them- absolutely not. Too much visibility.

Attacking them- absolutely not. Only Arceus knew who else might show up.

"Agh! This is terrible!" it protested to no one in particular, giving them one last glance and darting back up the rock-carved pathway, quickly out of sight.