"We're here!" Skid turned and stood proudly in front of... a hole?

"It's... it looks..." I stammered.

"It's better on the inside," said Vine, brushing past me. "Go on, have a look!"

I walked forward, ducking to enter the hole after Vine, and was immediately greeted with a strong earthy smell. After about 10 seconds of walking, we approached a door.

Skid started to shake his head, eventually dislodging what appeared to be a wooden key from the tuft of hair between his ears. It dropped to the ground, where he picked it up in his mouth and fit it into a slot on the door.

A turn and click later, Skid was opening the door and fitting the key back into his tuft. "Welcome, Xylus, to my humble abode."

Whoa.

I may have had amnesia, but I somehow knew by Pokemon standards, this place was decked. Out. Baskets full of delicious-looking berries, a hot spring in a far corner, and plenty of cushions to relax on.

This seems like everything a Pokemon could ever want, I thought.

It was then that I noticed someone in the middle of the huge room, dozing on one of the cushions. It appeared to be another Snivy, but it looked a bit different than Vine. Its coloration was entirely different!

"Who's that?" I asked.

"That's my sister, Ivy. She lives here with us, too," answered Vine. "Hey, wake up, sleepyhead, we have a guest." He prodded her a bit, but she just rolled over, murmuring in her sleep.

"Let her rest, Vine. It's already pretty late," Skid suggested. "She can meet Xylus tomorrow. Speaking of which..." Skid pointed at me with a paw. "You need rest yourself."

The pain in my head chose that moment to make itself known once more. "Yeah, I guess you're right," I groaned. "I would like to ask some questions before I sleep, though. I'd like to know a bit about this place I've crash-landed in."

"Ask away," said Vine. "It would certainly benefit you to know a bit about our world before you start officially living in it."

"Alright, cool. First off, I know that I'm now in this Pokemon world for whatever reason, but where exactly in the world are we?" I inquired.

"Well, we found you in Groovy Pecha Forest," Skid replied. "My home here is right in the middle of it. It doesn't have an official name, but I like to call it Skid Manor."

"Groovy Pecha Forest? That's kind of a weird name."

"Well, the forest is popular for the abundance of Pecha berries growing there."

"And the Groovy part is just kind of... there? Also, what even are Pecha berries?"

"To be honest, all of us here found it weird, too. We were never able to find out why it was named that way, but we all just got used to it and carried on with our lives."

"I can answer about the berries for you," Vine added. "They're berries that are known for curing poison. As for how they taste, many would say they'd rather stay poisoned."

"Noted."

"Anyways," Skid continued, "There's also a town nearby named Honeywood. Lots of bad Pokemon pass through there these days, but it's the only place around to get food that isn't berries and decent supplies, so we still visit every now and then."

"That's another thing. What's this about bad Pokemon I keep hearing? I think one of you mentioned it back at the crater, too."

"We think it started about a year ago," said Vine. "We don't know any cause, but Pokemon, seemingly just about everywhere, Pokemon have gotten... greedier. More deceptive, devious. Really just nastier in general. It hasn't happened to everyone, obviously. Otherwise, we wouldn't have cared that you were there. We would've been disappointed at the lack of actual meteor and gone home."

"Thank you for that, by the way," I interrupted. "I doubt I would have ever gotten up without your prodding."

"You're quite welcome. If anything, it's just nice to have another nice Pokemon around. Well, seemingly nice. We don't really know you just yet." Vine narrowed his eyes at me. "But yeah, that's the gist of it. You can almost feel the negativity in the air."

"Alright, I think I know enough for now. I'm exhausted and I doubt I'd be able to take in any more information," I admitted.

"Alright. Get some sleep. We can try and figure out why you're here tomorrow," said Skid, yawning. "I think we're all pretty tired, actually."

I watched as he curled up on one of the cushions, and Vine did the same.

"Good night," they said, almost simultaneously.

"Good night."

I flopped backward onto my own cushion, and finally got the sleep I'd been needing.

If only I hadn't dreamed.