Hiro's mind drifted through a murky cloud. He whimpered from the sparks of pain that dug into his flesh, winced at muddled voices surrounding him in all directions, and struggled against the suffocating binding of the tight restraints holding him in place. Each moment of respite lasted longer than the last before a deep sleep was permitted to him.
A while later, Hiro began to stir, groaning softly as his mind stitched itself back together. He snapped his eyes open and blinked slowly at the oak wood ceiling above. A trill escaped through the whirring in his throat, followed by a languid yawn and the popping of his claw joints.
Where was he? Hiro sniffed at the air, noticing a faint cocktail of herbs and berries permeating around him. The smell reminded him of an infirmary. He flicked his ears like a tuning rod. The cacophony of the forest floor was gone, replaced by a cozy silence that helped ease his nerves.
He pawed at his stomach and felt a dull pain beneath the bandages wrapped around his trunk. Someone had saved his life, but who? Hiro thought back to his encounter with the Beheeyem, though doing so made his stomach lurch. That unfortunate event aside, everything else that came after was too foggy for him to make out in detail.
Hiro cast a surveying glance over the dimly lit room. Light trickled in from a small window, kindling a shimmer over the two empty beds next to him, both tucked in flaps of bedsheets around corners. He turned his eyes to the door standing at the far end of the room, then at the other sitting ajar on the left corner. Their rough woody frames would make for perfect scratching pos— Hiro immediately squashed that thought and shook his head. He squeezed his eyes shut to gather his bearings and opened them again at the doors, wondering which would lead him outside?
A stool sitting between two medical cabinets caught his gaze. It was wholly unremarkable, aside from the still and lifeless plush doll hiding quietly beneath its shade. He quirked a brow as he studied the doll from a distance; it had a big round head and two hole cutouts on its chest. Maybe it was kept around to comfort younger patients? It could be that a child forgot it there during a previous visit too.
Hiro's stomach growled, and he remembered he hadn't eaten for… He blinked. How long had he been unconscious for exactly?
"Hungry…?" asked a wispy, feminine voice.
The unexpected voice made Hiro jump. He peeked over his bed and found the 'still and lifeless' doll slide out from under the stool and slowly tug towards him. The doll's large head flopped to each side with every motion as if strings guided her body.
She paused in front of his bed when her head drooped forward—long dangly ears draping her face and all—and evoked a faint hiss. The doll threw her large head back, and Hiro could swear something blinked at him through the holes in her chest. Why were her eyes down there? He pinned his ears back and dug his claws bit by bit into the straw mattress, his mind running in circles just from trying to comprehend what he was even looking at. He didn't even notice the pair of dark velvety tendrils snaking up from below, until they poked his cheek.
Hiro mewled in fright, clasped his paws over his mouth, and quickly crawled back to the other end of his bed. Half his mind rang with alarm bells and the other remained flushed with embarrassment at the sound that just escaped his throat.
The tendrils flinched and retracted back down the bed. "Loud…" she said with an irritated hiss.
"U-uh, I'm sorry…" Hiro quickly blurted out. He prodded his claws together as he reluctantly inched back near her on the other bedside. Sure, something about her felt off and creepy, but he hadn't met anyone else he could communicate with till now. He gulped and asked, "Um. Hey, do you know where we are?"
"In village," she replied with indifference. Then she nonchalantly crawled up his bed, like a magnet sliding up a wall. Hiro remained seated in place, not daring to check beneath those rags to see if she had legs, or tentacles instead… and who knew how many she'd have?
Hiro couldn't help but wonder why she dressed herself up in a mascot costume in the first place, though he figured she had her reasons. Even stranger was that he couldn't tell what kind of Pokemon she was underneath. Just as he'd figured by the pond, maybe he needed to see a Pokémon's actual face to know what they were at a glance.
"What are you?" Hiro asked tensely, hoping the question wouldn't be seen as rude.
"Mimikyu… No. Mebh," She hissed, tapping her wooden paddle-shaped tail against the bed frame.
"N-no… I meant… are you a pokemon?"
"I am Mebh."
"Ummm…" Hiro raised a paw and then lowered it with a sigh. "Never mind." It didn't feel like he could get much more than that out of her.
"My name's Hiro." He rasped his claws together and flicked his ears nervously. "Nice to meet you?"
"Hiro…" Mebh hissed faintly as she withdrew her tendril.
And then… she just stared at him quietly without another word. Hiro waited patiently to see if she'd say anything, like asking him how he ended up in the infirmary, where he was from, or even tell him a bit about herself. Instead, she slithered a tendril towards him. Hiro couldn't help but tense up slightly when she started prodding at his bandages. She seemed oddly curious about the white fabric, appraising it from every angle on his body.
"Why are you…? Wait a minute." Hiro suddenly leaned towards her, his forehead gem catching some of the light from the window as he asked, "Are you the one who saved me?"
"No," Mebh replied, pulling away with a quiet hiss before pushing his face back with the flat side of her tendril. "Atlas did."
"Who's—"
"For you," Mebh said, cutting him off with a sphere that felt cold against his chest.
Hiro blinked at her in confusion, and trailed his eyes down to find a fruit of some kind in his claws. Did she want him to eat it? The thought alone caused his stomach to rumble with a growl, and his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. To his relief, Mebh showed no reaction to him. Not that he could tell even if she was smiling smugly under her costume.
"Thanks," Hiro whispered in appreciation.
Orange pearls of liquid seeped from the dark-skinned berry as he grazed a claw against it. A hunch told him he'd seen the fruit somewhere before, but he couldn't remember for sure. He'd later learn it was called an Oran berry. It did look harmless enough, so he brought the berry to his mouth and licked the juice off the skin. An explosion of flavor engulfed his taste buds. The overwhelming sweet and sour taste captivated him so much his feather fluttered like a butterfly.
"What in the world is this?!" Hiro gasped as his mouth drooled. "It's so good!"
Any table manners he might've known went out the window as his fangs tore into the berry, each bite showering his mouth with a punch of warm flavors.
"You… strange."
Mebh's voice pulled Hiro back to reality, making him pause in the middle of licking berry juices off his claws. He hurriedly wiped his mouth with flushed cheeks. "Sorry about that… Um. Do you… have more?" Hiro asked while fanning his tail feathers up and down.
Mebh answered him with a low hiss and shifted herself to the side. A second berry appeared seemingly out of nowhere, which she promptly handed over to him. Hiro decided not to question what he just saw and quietly gobbled down his berry.
"Atlas. Doctor. Here soon," Mebh said as she straightened her drooped head.
That name again. Just as Hiro cocked his head and opened his mouth to ask her who they were, one of the doors sprung open with a loud creak.
Mebh hissed irritably and vaulted off the bed, landing a few feet away on the ground.
"Huh? Where are you—" Before Hiro could finish his sentence, Mebh zipped her tendrils to the open window, flew out, and made herself scarce from the room.
Hiro stared dumbly at where Mebh had been just a second ago. He turned his face when a small click from across the room made the dull orb hanging down the ceiling spark to life. A gentle blue glow illuminated the infirmary, allowing Hiro to glean a better look at the person that just arrived.
A Pokemon he'd never seen before walked in, pinching his long greying whiskers with a wide yawn. The rattle of a strap of tools jostled back and forth with his long sleeves. The figure looked clearly exhausted, if the dark corners in his eyes were anything for Hiro to go by.
The Pokemon cast a wide glance around the room. His eyes fell on Hiro and he smiled. "Sneasel, thank Lugia you're finally awake." He raised a brow at the empty spot beneath the stool holding the bowl-filled tray.
"Oh, the other one left on her own?" He turned to the bed and met Hiro staring back at him like a mute. "Call me Mienshao, I'm the one who fixed you up."
"Oh." Hiro nodded and trailed his eyes to his bedsheets, tapping idly at his chest gem.
Mienshao walked to the other side of the room and hung his tool strap on a rack. He rummaged through a nearby cabinet next to a colorful assortment of glass bottles to fetch a pair of familiar looking Oran berries. However, he paused when he approached Hiro with them and noticed the hints of orange and blue coating the Sneasel's claws. "So, you've already helped yourself to some Orans while I was away, have you?"
"Sorry…" Hiro promptly tucked his claws behind his back and made himself look small. "I got them from Mebh."
Mienshao scratched his chin and nodded slowly like he'd heard a remarkable tale.
"That… one? How curious. She barely moved an inch since you got here; at this point I thought it was her hibernation at the start of spring. I didn't think she'd do my job for me while I was away," Mienshao chuckled with a wave of his paw and returned the berries to a nearby tray. "So, how are you feeling right now, Sneasel?"
"I feel-" Hiro stared down at his body, and for once he noticed how exceptionally normal he was feeling. His lips parted in amazement when he didn't even feel the slightest ache when he pawed at his bandaged hip. "What was in those berries?"
"You say that as if you've never seen an Oran before in your life. Surely it's not that rare up north."
"Huh? Well…" Hiro didn't have an inkling of an idea where up north even was.
"Let me help you get those off now…" Mienshao insisted. The Fighting-type approached Hiro and untied the knot holding the bandages together. Hiro sat still as two rolls of fabric unwound around him.
"There we go. Nice and easy," Mienshao said as he took the lump of fabric and disposed of it in an empty bin.
Hiro brushed his paws against his matted fur and stretched his limbs till they gave a satisfying pop. That felt good. A clap from Mienshao's paws got his attention. "Alright, that will be all now, Sneasel. You're free to go," Mienshao said, returning to a desk where he sat and pulled a quill out of an inkwell.
Hiro slid down the edge of the bed and just looked idly in several random directions. He raised a paw and pressed his ears to his head. "Which way should I go? I don't know this place… at all."
Mienshao sighed and half rolled his eyes. "The Pokémon who brought you here is just outside. Ampharos, with a red cape. You can't possibly miss him."
Hiro nodded and made his way to the sturdy wooden door. Standing face to face with it made it hard to keep his eager and itching claws tucked to his side from raking a door he had no money to pay for.
"Is something wrong, Sneasel?" Mienshao asked from his desk.
Hiro frantically shook his head and slapped his cheeks. "N-no, I'm fine. I was just… leaving."
He squeezed his eyes shut, clenched his paws and pushed his way out without looking back.
Hiro shielded his eyes and let them adjust to the warm light washing in from the end of the corridor. He made it out of the infirmary and a gentle cold breeze greeted his face. He couldn't help but gasp in awe at the sight around him. To anyone else, it would have been little more than a humble small village, but to him it was the most mesmerizing thing he'd ever seen. There were wooden huts and houses carved into the mossy cliffside, cut in half by a waterfall. He'd counted about twelve houses when a ball zipped past ahead to the other side of a bridge, and chasing it were two small pokemon he identified as a Mienfoo and Mudkip.
"Enjoying the view?" asked a yellow pokemon on a cedar bench. A rouge red cape embroidered with a pair of thunderbolts crossed over one another hung around his back, concealing some of the black bands around his neck. The Ampharos' deep black eyes burned with the sagely air of one wise with years of experience, and the strength of one who'd fought a great many battles. His presence alone left Hiro awestruck until he noticed Mebh perched next to him. From the way the Mimikyu stared back, she'd probably noticed him first.
Hiro's eyes brightened up when he saw her, then he furrowed them and took a moment to think. If she was with the other pokemon, then that probably meant… "Are you Atlas?"
"Yes, indeed! It is none other than I," Atlas replied, his voice firm and resolute. "You must be Hiro, I assume?"
"Uh, yeah," he answered, straightening his back.
"I'm pleased to see you're in good health. You'd been left quite the worse for wear by the time we arrived." Atlas smiled reassuringly. "Fret not, we made sure those hooligans scampered like rattled scuttle of Wimpod."
"Wimp… what? O-oh, you mean those Beheeyem." Hiro tensed up as he replayed the encounter in his mind. The empty eyes and loud beeps still made him feel uneasy. "Um, thank you very much for saving me! If you hadn't showed up when you did…"
"Don't mention it, lad. It's only natural to help a mon in need." Atlas chuckled and leaned his arm over his knee. "Please, have a seat. There are a few things I'd like to ask you."
He flashed a friendly smile when Hiro hesitated to take the offer.
"Don't worry, it won't be an interrogation of any sort," Atlas insisted. "A few details regarding your attackers will suffice."
That seemed fair enough. Hiro approached the two and dug his claws on the edge of the bench to vault himself over, forgetting for a moment how light his new body was. The sudden movement almost toppled him back down as soon as he got onto the bench, but Atlas was quicker to hold him back in place. Hiro muttered a quiet thanks and seated himself properly. Atlas nodded, then flashed a curious glint in his eyes as he dug a notebook and a pen out from under his cape.
"Hey, are you some kind of cop?" Hiro wondered.
Atlas flicked an ear and cast him a confused glance. "A cop?"
Hiro raised his left paw to answer, but the answer to the question danced across the grooves of his brain like an acrobat, elusive and beyond the edge of realization. He lowered his paw slowly, grimacing at the wooden planks below. "Never mind… what were those questions you had again?"
"Right." Atlas flipped the notebook open and began his questioning. "To start off, can you tell me why you were being attacked by the Beheeyem?"
Hiro fell into deep thought. The more the memory replayed in his mind, the more things just didn't add up. It grew obvious that the Beheeyem hadn't approached him at random; there must have been a motive.
"I don't really… know." Hiro shook his head, holding his arm as he lowered his gaze even further, ear flicking every time Atlas' pen scratched against parchment. "I woke up in the middle of nowhere, walked around for a bit to figure out where I even was, then they showed up out of nowhere trying to kill me." He twiddled his claws anxiously and glanced at Atlas. "You showed up not soon after, I think."
"In the middle of nowhere? Open Pass isn't the middle of nowhere." Atlas said, his pen pausing mid-scribe.
"Open Pass?" Hiro fanned his tail feathers and quirked a brow.
"The Mystery Dungeon we found you in." Atlas clarified, earning a slow nod from Hiro. "Open Pass is a low risk dungeon. For the most part you'll only encounter harmless and docile wildeners roaming its grounds, and there's very little distortion to worry about as you pass through them, which makes it ideal as a shortcut to Coral Coast."
Atlas flipped a page on his notebook and continued. "Open pass being a low risk dungeon makes it ideal for outlaws to use as a hideout," he explained. "Though of course, prolonged stays in dungeons isn't something I'd recommend anyone do."
"Is that so…" Hiro muttered distantly.
The strange terms mostly flew over his head, much to his annoyance. If only the generosity of the person who flung him to the Pokemon world included giving him all the rudimentary knowledge about the world. Hiro leaned forward, rested his chin on his palm and lightly tapped on his cheek. Not knowing what else to say, he voiced the first question on his mind.
"How did you guys know I was in trouble anyway?"
"You can thank her for that." Atlas remarked. He gestured to Mebh with his pen, who had herself occupied watching a flock of starly chirping on a tree up ahead while the Mudkip and Mienfoo from before leapt up and threw pebbles at them from below.
"We were on our way to Coral Coast when Mebh wandered off on her own and led me to the scene."
Hiro glanced at Mebh with surprise. Then suspicion gradually caused him to grimace, because he now wondered how Mebh knew to go and find him. Perhaps she heard him screaming, or she had a good sense for danger.
"Did you leave any belongings in the dungeon?" Atlas asked, tapping the blunt side of the pen on the notebook. "As I mentioned earlier, you were in a bad shape and we had to bring you here quickly. We didn't have time to search." Atlas glanced at Hiro top to bottom and hummed. "From the way we found you, one could've mistaken you for a wildener. If you had anything on you, we could return there now to search for whatever you dropped. Mind you, we can't do anything about your food items, but everything else should still be mostly intact somewhere in there."
"But I didn't have anything on me… I…" Hiro clenched his teeth, a sinking feeling rising in his gut. Try as he might, the thick fog in his mind still remained… "I actually don't remember much of anything from before I woke up."
Atlas widened his eyes and stopped writing midsentence.
"You have amnesia? Hmmm… I'd cite those Beheeyem as the cause, but memory alteration is a delicate process. Would they have gotten the chance…? No, that's unlikely." Atlas propped his back against the wall behind them and frowned slightly. "Besides, a dark type like you should have some resistance to mental tampering of that sort."
"What could those mon possibly have wanted to do with an empty-handed Sneasel?" Atlas brought a fin to his chin and narrowed his eyes. Gears turned in his head as he considered possibilities. "What can you remember? Even the smallest of hints could prove vital for our investigation."
"I…" Hiro pursed his lips. He could spill his secrets to Atlas and tell him all about how he was actually a human from another world. But just as he started thinking that, doubt seeped into Hiro's mind like an inkblot on a white canvas.
What even was a human in the first place? A vaguely bipedal figure formed in his mind, but that did little to ease his worries. From the little that came to him, it could've just been a distorted image of a Sneasel or a different Pokemon. How was he so sure that he hadn't been a Sneasel all his life and he had just now come down with a case of madness on top of memory loss? His mind was so troubled by the possibility that he didn't notice the frost gathering on his claw tips till Atlas patted him on the shoulder.
"Lad, are you alright?" Atlas asked, his voice soft with concern.
Hiro flinched and quickly scraped the gathering ice on his claws off against the bench. He watched the ice melt gradually, though he didn't have the mind to marvel at it.
"I'm sorry. I really don't know…" He said, lowering his gaze again with a deep sigh.
"It's okay. Anyone in your position would feel disoriented as well." Atlas patted him again on the back. He slipped his pen and notebook back under his cape before drawing a deep breath. "I have a colleague in Lively Town. She's a specialist of the mind and may be able to help you restore your lost memories."
Hiro's ears propped up in surprise. "There are people here who can do that?"
"People?" Atlas muttered to himself, finding the word strange and unfamiliar. "Yes… she's a Hatterene." He paused to gauge Hiro's reaction. The fact that he got none piqued his interest, but he continued. "You needn't worry, though. I assure you, she's a very friendly mon for her kind. If you come with us, I can get you an appointment with her."
Hiro's eyes brightened up, but then he shrank back and looked away. "Why are you helping me? I'm just a stranger you happened to save…" Hiro asked. What even was in it for Atlas? He wondered this while scratching at his arm with cold trembling claws.
"Call it a whim if you'd like." Atlas beamed a reassuring smile. "Like I said before, it's only natural to help a mon in need," Atlas said, then slid off the bench. "Besides, your memories might tell us more about those Beheeyem."
Hiro flashed a faint smile back at Atlas. "If I remember anything, you'll be the first to hear it."
"Here, wear this for now until we find something better for you later." Atlas lent him a piece of clothing that looked like it had seen a lot of use. It didn't seem to smell bad when Hiro sniffed it, so he wore it around his neck like a scarf.
"Thanks," Hiro said, adjusting the scarf till it nestled comfortably.
"Let's go…" Mebh hissed, already on the path up ahead. She stared upwards after the clouds cleared, affixed by the velvety blue sky.
Hiro walked up beside her, his lips curling in a narrow smile. His mind's worries were surely still there, but the new company he'd made helped ease him through them. He recalled the voice he'd heard before.
'You must find me'
He tugged at his scarf and grimaced. As soon as he got his memories sorted out and found a place to settle, he'd seek that person out. Who else would give him all the answers his heart sought?
Three somber figures climbed up a rocky hill at the edge of the forest, their footsteps leaving no sound–for rather than walking, they hovered. The middle Beheeyem lagged a few steps behind the others, and they often had to wait for them to catch up. A still healing burn scar marked the edge of their shoulder. Soon, they arrived at the mouth of a secluded cave where a dark tunnel welcomed them within.
Not far inside, A Nuzleaf sat at alone with a sleeping guest in the dark cave. He tugged at the leaf growing from his head till it nearly snapped, then he'd release it, and repeat the process. The sting from it helped him stay calm. All the while, he kept glancing at the entrance as he tapped his foot with a scowl. At last the Beheeyem hovered into view, and the sight of them made him slam a fist against the rock he was sitting on.
"What is the meaning of this?! All you had to do was stick to our plan, yet you left me standing out there all evening." Nuzleaf stomped towards them. The Grass-type paused briefly, his eye twitching when he noticed they were missing somemon. The Beheeyem flinched from his gaze, and quickly spoke.
"We failed to procure the human," The leftward Beheeyem said, coming forward.
"An interloper got in the way," the middle one added, reaching for its wound.
"It is not for any incompetence on our part," the rightward one finished, hovering down slightly with a whirr. All three spoke in the same tone of voice down to the pitch.
Nuzleaf furrowed his brows, dark purplish wisps drifting from his fist. His glare made them fear he'd maul them any second. "Tell me everything that happened, and then maybe I can decide if you three are good for anything or not."
The Beheeyem nodded their heads in unison. They told Nuzleaf how they'd watched a Sneasel pop into existence through a storm of light before their very eyes, and how they'd stalked him until they were sure it was the human they'd been tasked to find. Nuzleaf placed his hand on his hip, his face stuck in a scowl while he listened up until they reached the part about why they really failed.
His face blanched when Atlas' name was dropped, biting hard on his lip till it bled. This was bad. He'd hoped to keep his mission under The Expedition Society's radar.
"We only escaped because the Ampharos was too busy tending to the injured human to chase us after our teleport," The Beheeyem said, finishing their tale.
"How could you three-" he waved his hand and grumbled under his breath, "-of all Pokemon on this planet to be involved, it had to be him?!" Nuzleaf raised a hand to the leaf on his head, but stopped short of it. He'd surely snap the already abused stalk, and it'd take days for the leaf to regrow. So, he chose to mutter profanities under his breath instead.
"Should we continue pursuing the human?" middle Beheeyem asked, eyes glowing dimly. "Ampharos is likely to take the human back to Lively Town. If we intercept them on the way—"
"Absolutely not," Nuzleaf said, immediately snuffing the Beheeyem's plan out. "Your faces have already been seen by the head of The Expedition Society himself. Just get any ideas to deceive him out of your minds. You'll be fried to ashes if he so much as catches a glimpse of you again." Nuzleaf bit his thumb in frustration. "If we're lucky, there won't be wanted posters of your faces across half the continent by the weekend."
"Then, we should leave the human be?" The rightward beheeyem asked, hovering back up.
"Is that wise?" the one on the left asked.
Nuzleaf opened his mouth to speak, but clenched his fist and brushed his other hand over his face.
"This will be tough, but…" Nuzleaf looked over his shoulder at the only other mon in the group asleep: A large green bird Pokemon with long red and black tipped white wings—A Xatu they'd so kindly encouraged to work with them. He muttered what sounded like gibberish to himself, then a smirk crept to his lips as small bits of a plan began to take shape in his head. "Here's what you three should do…"
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this chapter. All and any reviews, faves or follows will be highly appreciated. I'll see you all again on the next update :D.
Check out the story on AO3 and ThousandRoadsForums for additional story related artworks under the usernames Adam_Hu and Adamhuarts respectively.