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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Homesick

Chapter 1

Amnesia

Haylee crawled out into the surf and slipped under the surface. Today had been a disaster. In reality, it hadn't been too bad. They had completed their mission after all, if only barely. It wasn't even that difficult: go to the third subfloor of Echo Cave and retrieve the client's Persim Looplet; the sort of thing that was hardly even worth posting a request over. Yet, even easy missions can have unexpected hiccups, and when Crino had been counting on her, Haylee had run away, like she always did when things started looking rough. Add to that the fact that it was her fault they were even fighting that Geodude in the first place… At least Crino had been understanding, like he always was. Which of course, only made Haylee feel more guilty.

The Wimpod's brooding was interrupted when she came across a figure laying motionless on the sandy bottom. Hurrying over, she discovered it was an Inkay. Haylee nervously began poking it with her antennae. "Um…h-hello? A-are you okay? Please wake up!" Its eyes slowly opened.

"Where am I?" it said with a groan. It clicked its beak a few times. "And why does my mouth feel funny? Actually, why does everything feel funny?" The Inkay raised one of its catch tentacles to its face and stared at it in horror. "That's definitely not my arm!"

"Please, you've got to calm down!" Haylee pleaded. The Inkay was flailing about, stirring up sand.

"Calm down?! How am I supposed to—wait. Sand doesn't move like that! Help! I'm drowning!" The Inkay began flailing even more.

"You're not drowning! Just stop for a minute and breathe!" Haylee shouted.

"That's the point! I can't—oh wait." The Inkay stopped struggling and settled back on the bottom. "Uhhh, I guess if I'm some sort of squid-thing that would make sense. But who's talking?" the Inkay looked around in confusion, its gaze passing right over Haylee several times without seeming to notice her.

"Hi." Haylee said, waving an antenna. "I'm Haylee."

The Inkay stared for a bit. "David." It finally said. "And what are you supposed to be? For that matter, what am I supposed to be?"

"I'm a Wimpod and you're an Inkay." Haylee said somewhat haltingly. Wait, if he didn't know that, did that mean… "Say, David? Where are you from?"

"Ooookayyy, whatever those are supposed to be." said David. "As for where I'm from…I can't remember! I can't remember anything!" David said in a panic. "Wait, that's not true. I-I remember my name. I remember…a bunch of random facts. I clearly remember what a squid is. Oh! And I remember that I'm not supposed to be this 'Inkay' thing! I'm-" David paused for a second. "I'm supposed to be…a human." he finished, looking like he was on the verge of tears. For all Haylee knew, he actually was crying.

David took a moment to think about what was going on. There were a few possible explanations. The most obvious was of course, that he was dreaming and none of this was real. He quickly discarded that idea. Everything was too vivid: he could actually feel the water around him. He felt the gentle flow of the current, the way it flowed in and out of his body in a way that was similar to, but eerily different from the breathing he was used to. There was also the fact that he was questioning his circumstances in the first place. You didn't question things in dreams.

Another possibility was that he was hallucinating. It would certainly explain the talking crustacean in front of him. But he found this explanation similarly unlikely. Despite the gaping holes in his memory and his current emotion state, he was thinking surprisingly clearly. Actually, that raised an interesting point. How am I thinking so clearly right now? Just a couple moments ago I thought I was drowning even though I'd clearly been breathing fine for some time. Then his thoughts turned back to his surroundings, his weird, new body, and his missing memories, and the feeling of calm introspection crumbled. He was pretty sure he broke into tears, but it was hard to be sure. "Haylee, what happened to me?"

"I-I don't know. Look, you're clearly having a rough time; why don't you come with me and spend the night at our team base? I'm sure Crino won't mind. Once he gets back, we can talk about what to do from there."

Following a stranger home seemed like a bad idea. Haylee hadn't actually done anything threatening so far, but there was still something about her that made him uneasy. Maybe it was just the fact that she was a giant talking isopod, but it went deeper than that. Almost as if some primal instinct was warning him about her. Still, he had no idea where he was, and following an inviting stranger who had been nothing but helpful so far seemed like a better idea than spending the night out here. "I…alright." David replied dejectedly. He tried to move his tentacles around to swim, but only succeeded in kicking up sand.

"Okay. It's in Actinia Village, this way." said Haylee, pointing further out to sea with an antenna and scuttling off. "Oh, and as for getting around, don't struggle so much. Just do what your body tells you to." David stopped for a moment, still plopped on the sand. He expected to feel some sort of instinct telling him how to move his tentacles, but instead felt the impression to simply will his body in the direction he wanted it to go. To his surprise, it worked, and he was soon drifting off after the isopod.

David wasn't sure what he was expecting from an undersea village, but if he had been expecting anything, he probably would've been close. Nearly everything was made of stone, with no wood or metal in sight. A few buildings looked like they were made of coral, or maybe they were simply built into existing colonies. Elevation-wise, the village was all over the place, with some structures resting on the seafloor, and others on top of ledges. Some buildings had nothing in front of them, with their main entrance leading right out into thin…water? Strange, colorful sea creatures were all over the place. Some swimming, some scuttling along the bottom, some simply talking. Most of them looked like fish, but a few bore resemblance to other creatures. David spotted jellyfish, sea stars that looked like they were more crystalline than organic, turtles, sea serpents, and an orange mustelid of some sort with an inflatable ring around its neck. There was even a creature that appeared to be a disembodied purple head with a pair of hands at its sides. Most of them were wearing or carrying something of some sort; ribbons, bows, bandanas, bags—all waterproof of course. That suggested they were intelligent. David simply floated there for a moment, taking everything in. The village wasn't crowded by any means, and there weren't actually that many of the strange creatures, but the sheer variety was stunning.

"David, are you coming?" called Haylee. Shaking his head, which now amounted to most his body, David followed the crustacean into a small building situated on the sandy bottom.

"So, uh, guess this world is inhabited by a bunch of sea creatures?" asked David. "Is there anyone on land?"

"Most communities are on land, actually." replied Haylee. "But yeah, a lot of Maju are aquatic, so there are underwater settlements here and there."

"Maju?"

"The sort of creatures you, I, and everyone else around here are. It means 'magical beast'." said Haylee.

"Magical...beast? What are you guys all like, mythical creatures or something?"

Haylee thought for a second. "I don't know if I'd say that. But yeah, we have some unusual abilities. All Maju, even the weakest ones have some sort of elemental properties. For instance, I have the Water and Bug elements."

"There's a Bug element? Seriously? I guess I'm Water too; what else am I, the Mollusk element?"

"You actually aren't Water element." said Haylee, chittering slightly with what David assumed was a chuckle. "I think you're Psychic and Dark. You've actually been moving around using telekinesis."

"I'm a freakin' squid…but I'm not affiliated with water?" David said.

"Nope. I'm not even sure if you can learn any Water attacks. But lucky for you you can at least breathe water."

"Yeah." David paused for a bit. "Lucky me. Guess that means I'm stuck down here."

"What do you mean? You'll survive out of water just fine." Haylee reassured him. "All Maju can breathe air, some of 'em just can't move around on land. But since you can float, you'll be fine."

David seemed to take some comfort from this. "That's good at least. Anyway, you said this was your team base right? And we're waiting for someone named Cryo or something?"

"Oh, you mean Crino. Yeah, he should be back before too long. And yeah, this is where we live. We're Team Benthic."

David took a look around the small home. It was all one room, and there didn't seem to be much in the way of decoration. As with the exterior of the buildings in Actinia Village, there was no wood to be found, which made sense since it would've rotted. Most of the floor was made of smooth stone, though there was a patch of sand off in one corner. There were a couple of stone tables, but otherwise no furniture. David supposed an isopod like Haylee wouldn't have much use for anything like that, but it left him wondering what kind of creature this Crino person was. "So what is it you guys do?" He asked.

"We're a rescue team." said an unfamiliar voice. David turned toward the entrance, suddenly realizing there was no door. He assumed the figure standing in the doorway was Crino. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. The figure stood on what looked like some sort of four-legged stand. A long, segmented stalk extended out of its base, topped but what could maybe be called a head if you stretched the definition a bit. The "head" had a deep hole in it ringed by a series of tentacles. The only thing that could be seen inside the hole was a pair of yellow eyes. There was a deep blue scarf wrapped around its…head thing. There was a badge shaped like a simple winged circle pinned to the scarf, as well as a symbol that looked like a piece of coral. There was also a bag with a strap tightly bound to the creature's head region. David suddenly realized Haylee was wearing a bandana on her back with the same coloration, badge, and design as the newcomer's.

The creature moved forward, using the legs on its base as actual legs. "I'm Crino. Who are you?" it asked in a friendly tone, which seemed very out of place when it abruptly lashed out with a tentacle and smacked David on the top of the head.

David expected it to hurt, but it didn't. It still surprised him though, and he reflexively covered the top of his head with his catch tentacles. "Ow!" he said more out of reflex than actual pain. "What was that for?!"

"It was just a greeting." Crino said, sounding surprised. "Haylee who is this?"

"O-oh, right! This is David. I found him lying in the sand on my way back here. He uh…he's having some memory troubles."

"Oh." Said Crino sympathetically. "That must be some pretty extensive memory loss. Is there anything you do remember?"

"A bit." said David, looking at the ground. "I remember my name. A bunch of odd factoids here and there. And the fact that I'm human."

"You're what now? I think I might've heard that word before, but I don't remember what it means. Haylee, do you know?" Crino asked, turning to her.

"Oh…um, it's probably something I read about. I, uh, I think they're some sort of creature that isn't a Maju."

"Huh" Crino turned back to David. "So you're an Inkay that isn't a Maju? Do you not have moves or anything?"

"I'm not an Inkay, and I have no idea what you mean by moves. I'm certainly not gonna be able to dance in this stupid body if that's what you're asking." said David, clearly frustrated. "Do you mean to tell me there are no humans in this world? But there have to be; how else would Haylee have heard of them?"

"Not as far as I know." replied Crino. "Haylee, do you happen to remember what kind of book you found out about humans in?"

"N-no, I'm afraid not." said Haylee, looking at the ground. "Sorry."

David growled in frustration.

"It's alright, David, we'll figure it out." Crino reassured him.

"I don't want to figure it out, I want to go home and get my body back."

"And the first step toward doing that is figuring out how you got here. At least, that's a good place to start." said Crino. "Why don't you stay here tonight, and tomorrow we can start trying to figure this out. He looked at the ceiling for moment. "Actually, I have an idea: why don't you join Team Benthic?"

"What? Why?" asked David. "I'm trying to get home, not rescue babies trapped in burning buildings. Or, I guess it would be crumbling buildings down here. Whatever, the point still stands."

"Rescue work involves traveling around a fair bit, and meeting lots of Maju from all over. It'll give you more people to talk to. Maybe some of 'em have heard of humans or even have an idea of how you got here? Plus, you get paid, and until you get home, you'll need to make a living somehow." answered Crino.

That was true. David had no intention of living on the streets, especially in such an unfamiliar place. Still, something seemed off. "Why are you so eager to get me on the team?" he said suspiciously.

Crino rubbed the back of his head with a tentacle. "Well, truth be told, we've been thinking about getting a third member for a while now." he said sheepishly "And you seemed like you could use some help."

Of course, thought David. "So you take advantage of someone with no other options and rope him into doing dangerous work for you?"

"What?" said Crino, his tentacles flaring out. "No! Nothing like that! I just figured you could use a source of income, and I was in a position to offer you one! You don't have to join us if you don't want to. Besides, I'm serious about this maybe being a way to figure out what happened to you."

David thought about it for a bit before sighing. He probably wouldn't find another job offer this easily. The possibility of getting some answers was also tempting. "Fine. But I'm only on the team until I have a better lead."

"Fair enough. And with that, welcome to Team Benthic!" He and Haylee posed dramatically, or at least as dramatically as their bizarre anatomy would allow.

David just sighed. "Oh boy. I can't get home soon enough.