I didn't wake up to Loudred's impossibly loud voice like I expected. I woke up to a stream of sunlight shining on my face. I reveled in the warmth with my eyes shut for a moment before peaking them open. I glanced at the bed next to mine. He was awake, and deeply engrossed in a comically large book. Even when I rustled around in my bed, he didn't look up. I climbed to my feet. My ribs still ached a little bit, but it was barely anything compared to yesterday.
"Yo." I poked my head in front of his line of sight. He scrambled back, dropping the open book, then scrambling to close it.
"E-Emilia! You're awake!" What a suspicious reaction. I peered at the cover of the book. It looked to be an encyclopedia of sorts.
"Studying? I never thought you to be the type." He scoffed and moved to put the book back on the shelf.
"I'll have you know that I did quite well in school. I graduated salutatorian!" School, huh? I was never one for a strong education. Of course, I did attend up to high school, but I had to drop out in freshman year for family reasons. So no, I wasn't the smartest cookie in the box. Although, if he attended school, how old was he? I kinda had been assuming that he was my age, but I didn't really know.
"What kinda school did you go to?" He looked at me curiously.
"The same type of school that all Pokemon go to. Twelve years of education and battle training at an institution." I didn't really like school, but battle training did sound kind of interesting. There's no way we would get battle training in human school…
"You get battle training at school?" He nodded.
"Yeah. We learn things like strategy and how to use moves effectively in addition to the basic stuff like math, history, science, and whatever." So even Pokemon had to learn those insufferable subjects.
"That's so cool! Well, not the math and stuff. Hey, can you teach me how to battle? I wanna learn how to use cool moves instead of just biting and tackling people." He looked surprised.
"I… guess? I don't really know Eevee's moves, but I could probably help you manifest some of them."
"Yes!" I tackled him in a hug, clearly forgetting about my rib injury. "Ow…" He gently rolled me off and dusted himself off.
"Idiot… don't do those kinda things when you're injured." He scolded.
"Aww, but you know I can't help it! I wanna learn some cool moves, then I can really be a Pokemon!"
"To be fair, a lot of Pokemon go their entire lives without formally learning moves." Well, that was different. "A lot of Pokemon just rely on their natural physical abilities to get them through life, or do work that doesn't require using moves." I thought about that. It's true, having moves wouldn't really be necessary for most work required to run a society. Not that it wouldn't help. I briefly wondered if they had factories and industrial stuff here, but realized I was getting off track.
"Well as a rescuer, I have a duty to learn these things." He looked like he didn't fully believe me. "It's true!"
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, since you're up now, we should probably get our job assignment from Chatot." A chill ran through me. It felt like I missed school all over again.
"We missed the morning briefing?"
"Yeah. Chatot decided that we could both use some more rest. He said he'd give us work when we woke up, though." I nodded. We left the room and headed towards the basement of the guild, where Chatot was waiting outside the Guildmaster's room.
"Ah, you two! Emilia, it is good to see you awake. It was quite impressive that you managed to defeat the criminal Drowzee." I nodded in response to his compliments. It really wasn't anything impressive. "Alex, go over to Diglett and Loudred by the sentry hole." He looked confused.
"Just me?"
"Emilia too, but the guildmaster wants to talk to her for a moment. Run along now!" Alex shot back a concerned look over his shoulder before joining Loudred and Diglett standing towards the other corner of the room. I got an anxious kind of feeling in my chest. What did the Guildmaster want to talk to me about? "Come inside." Chatot went ahead of me and brushed aside the door to the Guildmaster's office. I tentatively entered behind him. Wigglytuff wasn't facing us when we entered. In fact, he wasn't even moving at all. As I thought, was he angry? Did I do something wrong? My anxiety reached its peak, when all the sudden he whipped around with a big grin on his face.
"Friend! So glad to see you recovered! Friend, friend~" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. "I heard what you accomplished on Mt. Bristle. Very impressive! So brave! Truly, the qualities we look for in a rescue team!" I dipped my head in acknowledgment.
"Thank you, Guildmaster."
"Hurry along now Chatot, I know you have much work to be done." Chatot nodded once and exited the room. I had to admit, it made me afraid to be alone in the room with the Guildmaster. He stopped his little dance that he was doing with a perfect apple and set it down on the ground. He took one, two, three big steps towards me. Wasn't he too close? My anxiety returned in double. I reflexively took a step back, but I was already backed up against the door. When he spoke, his voice lost all pretense of false cheeriness. "I expected more from you, friend. Please, put more value on your life." A chill ran down my spine. How did he know? He must've seen the panicked look in my eyes, because he sighed and took a few steps back. He dropped the serious expression for a frown. "I apologize. Perhaps I came off a little bit too stern." My shoulders deflated a little. I was honestly in shock - I had never seen Wigglytuff act this seriously. Yet, every word he said was truthful. He saw right through me. How much did he know? It creeped me out.
"I-I'm sorry." He shook his head solemnly.
"It's not me you need to be apologizing to, friend. It's your partner." My hesitance last night came back to me, overwhelming me with guilt. He was right - I did have to apologize to Alex.
"How do I apologize?"
"That's something you will have to find out for yourself. Well, if it were me," he grinned and picked up his perfect apple, returning to a cheery tone, "a perfect apple would cheer me right up! Why don't you find out what he likes? I'm sure it will be you two closer~" The way his tone flipped immediately from serious to cheery kinda freaked me out to be honest. Still though, his advice was sound. I never knew Wigglytuff to be so capable of giving good advice. He always seems so spaced out. I hadn't actually learned much about Alex since I got here. I reminded myself that him - and everyone else here - were all individuals, with pasts, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and everything else. These were no longer creatures of a two dimensional game that didn't exist beyond the screen. "You should go now. I'm sure your friend is waiting for you. Friends, friends~" I nodded and turned to leave. Right before I left, I turned back.
"Wigglytuff?" He looked up from his apple with a, "hm?" "Thank you for looking after me." He grinned widely.
"That's what friends do, right?" I smiled briefly, then left the room. Indeed, it was what friends do. How long had it been since I had friends…? Now outside, I saw that Alex was chatting with Diglett and Loudred by the sentry hole. When he saw me coming, he turned to me.
"What did the Guildmaster have to tell you?" I waved him off.
"No big deal. Just updating me on some guild stuff and congratulating me on my recovery," I fibbed. I wasn't about to spill the entire contents of our extremely sensitive conversation here. He nodded. "So, what are we doing?"
"SENTRY DUTY!" Ugh. I felt like I immediately got a headache listening to Loudred speak.
"So? What do we have to do?" I silently prayed that Diglett would be the one explaining it, even though I essentially knew how it worked. My wishes were granted.
"You two will go down into the tunnels underneath the sentry gate outside the guild. When a Pokemon steps on the grate, all you have to do is report it to the other, and then they will report it up to us. Then, we can let them in." I shared a glance with Alex. Seemed simple enough.
"GET ON DOWN THERE YOU TWO!" Didn't have to tell me twice… I started climbing down the ladder into the moist tunnels underneath the guild. Let me tell you, not pleasant. Alex climbed down after me.
"Do you want me to do the identification?" I hesitated. Would it be giving away too much if I said I wanted to do it? Sooner or later, I would probably have to come clean about having memory… so maybe it would be best to ease into it.
"I'll do it. Maybe I'll remember? I am familiar with most Pokemon, at least." He seemed unsure, but nodded anyway. I took my spot underneath the grate, and he stood at the bottom of the ladder. After a couple of minutes, the first visitor stepped on the grate. Thick, round shaped paw, two claws jutting out… Tropius? I called to Alex: "The Pokemon is Tropius! I think…" Alex called up to Loudred and Diglett at the top. A few moments later, Alex grinned at me with a thumbs up. I got it right! I was always good at this in the games. A couple of hours passed by with me calling out the Pokemon, and Alex reporting it to the top. Finally, Alex shouted to me, "visiting hours are over! We can go up now!" I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a little bit too uncomfortable in the moist underground. I didn't want my precious fur to get too dirty. I climbed through the tunnel and up the ladder (with some difficulty.) Waiting at the top were Chatot, Loudred, Diglett, and of course, Alex. Alex looked surprised. Was it because I, the amnesiac, got all the Pokemon identified correctly? Maybe I was too early to pull something like this… Chatot interrupted my thoughts by noisily flipping through some papers.
"You two…-" my heart stopped, "did excellently! Absolutely perfect! It's rare that we see such perfection in identifying Pokemon here! You deserve to be rewarded abundantly!" I looked at Alex with a grin. Apparently the heavy praise from Chatot was enough to override his suspicion, because he looked absolutely thrilled. "Your rewards will be sent to your storage. Well done you two!" He flapped his wings excitedly, and headed off somewhere.
"WOW, YOU TWO! YOU MUST HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE WITH POKEMON." Quite the opposite, actually. I just nervously chuckled in response.
"Good job you two! Feel free to take up sentry duty on any day that you aren't going out on a mission. We'd be glad to have you." Diglett's praise somehow felt more meaningful than Loudred's. I thanked him, and promised him that we would take him up on that offer sometime. Soon, they too left, leaving just me and Alex. He looked like he was about to ask me something, but I cut him off.
"Hey, we still have time before dinner, do you wanna go on a walk? I'd like to look around this area more."
"Sure, but where do you want to go?"
"Just around, there has to be places I haven't seen, right? I only have been to the beach and the market." He looked pensive for a moment before an invisible light bulb lit up.
"Actually, there is some place I've been meaning to take you. Let's go!" He beckoned me to the ladder and started climbing. At the top, he led me down the path towards the beach I first woke up on.
"The beach? I've been here before, you know." He just shook his head. The slope that led down towards the beach actually branched off, diverging into another path parallel to the beach path that went upwards. Rocks stuck out everywhere on the path. Clearly it was not well traversed like the one leading down to the beach was. The rocks poked at my feet, but it didn't bother me for some reason. Is this how dogs felt? I shivered at the thought of being compared to a dog. He led me further up and up, until the ground below us looked distant. The terrain started evening out, and he led me down a strip of land that was pointed towards the ocean. Oh, was this… Sharpedo's Bluff? At the spot where the land faced the ocean, a lone suspicious bush stood smack dab in the center. I ignored the bush for the meantime and approached the edge, getting as far as I possibly could and peering over the cliff. "Wow…" From this height, I could barely see the small waves rippling on the ocean's surface. Winged Pokemon flew over the water skimming the surface. But what was possibly most stunning was the beautiful sun that was beginning to sink beneath the horizon. The water reflected the gorgeous orange and purple hues of the sky. It almost brought me to tears. I turned back towards Alex. He planted his hands on his hips with a smug smile.
"Like it? This is my secret place." I turned back to once more peer into the sunset.
"Like it…? I love it! I… haven't seen many things, but this has to be the most beautiful thing I've seen yet."
"Yeah? Wait till you see this!" He pushed the bush aside in one hefty sweep. As I expected, a tunnel led downwards into the edge of the cliff. It reminded me of the guild in that sense. He beckoned me to follow and went down the stairs. The wall of the cliff opened up like jaws towards the ocean. Teeth-like rocks lined the bottom and top of the opening, hence the name, Sharpedo's Bluff. The sun fit perfectly in the middle, almost like the cliff was trying to bite the sun. On the ground was a bed very similar to the ones we had in the guild.
"What is this place?"
"This was my home before I moved into the guild. I had to stay somewhere, right?" I nodded. It did seem to be a comfortable home, even if it didn't seem very windproof. I nudged my paw towards one of the teeth-rocks.
"How do you think it got like this?" He shrugged.
"Dunno. Maybe some Pokemon carved this opening at some point? It was abandoned completely when I found it." I rubbed my paw against the unnatural smoothness of the teeth. It did seem a little bit too perfect to be naturally forming. I peered over once again at the steep drop towards the ocean. Surely I would die if I fell from this height. My stomach dropped. I realized this was the best time to apologize to Alex. I couldn't do anything special for him… but I would eventually. I would figure it out.
"Alex. Sit." He looked a little confused, but sat when I gave him a serious look. I took a deep breath. "I… have to apologize."
"For?"
"To be honest, ever since I've gotten here, I've… I haven't really been taking things seriously. I guess it was so unbelievable that I could be in this situation that I somehow didn't accept it." He listened intently. "So, even when I was almost killed like that, I was honestly unbothered. It didn't feel real to me. Like I couldn't die. I was treating my life like it was expendable." He opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head to cut him off. "And I didn't realize how much I hurt you because of that. And you looked so tired, and so upset, and I just-" my voice cracked. Tears began to leak from my eyes. "I just didn't care! I'm sorry! I'm so so so so so so sorry!" Having hiccuped through my speech, I collapsed on the ground in sobs. Alex wrapped his arms around me. I nuzzled into his shoulder, feeling his fur moisten with my tears.
"I forgive you. Just promise me you'll be more careful next time?" I nodded into his shoulder, my sobs rendering me unable to speak. I sat there sobbing until the tears dried out. I pulled away with a shaky breath. My legs were still shaking. He had tears in his eyes too, but I could tell he was holding back for my sake. Was he always this considerate? I think so. I took another breath and let out a weird chuckle.
"Sorry. Probably not what you expected when you brought me here, but I had to get that off my chest." He shook his head.
"It's okay. I brought you here to feel better, so I guess it worked out perfectly!"
"Make me feel better…?" He rubbed his head.
"Yeah. Lucarios have the ability to sense auras, which give away people's emotions. I don't have that yet, but my intuition told me that something wasn't right." That's right… I had forgotten. Does that mean when he evolves, he would be able to tell that I'm lying about losing my memories? Well, I was planning on telling him sometime soon anyway.
"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask, what should I evolve into?" He stared at me.
"Huh?"
"What should I evolve into?" He looked at me strangely.
"Most Eevee don't… subconsciously choose. We were taught in school that Eevees tend to feel a calling towards a particular evolution, and seek out only that one." That was different. I tried to imagine my different evolutions to see if I felt a pull towards any one, but I didn't feel anything.
"I don't feel anything like that, though. Maybe because I used to be a human?" He nodded thoughtfully. "So… what should I be?"
"Even if you ask me that, I don't think that's the kind of decision I can make for you…" I lightly punched him with my paw.
"Don't be such a stick in the mud. Maybe you'd prefer the dark and cool Umbreon? Or maybe, you'd prefer the gorgeous Sylveon? Or maybe…"
"Ugh, shut up, idiot!" He turned away from me, but I caught a hint of a blush on the side of his face. "No matter what you evolve into, you're still going to be an idiot, so do whatever you want." He started up the stairs out of the cliff.
"Who're you calling an idiot!" I chased him up the stairs. "I'll have you know, I'm sure that I was the smartest student in my class when I was a human. Probably waaay smarter than you!" I, of course, was not the smartest student in my class by a longshot. I was okay at math, though.
"Uh uh, there's no way someone like you could be the top of the class." He stuck his tongue out at me and kicked the bush back over the hole.
"Oh yeah? Give me a problem, I'll definitely be able to solve it." It was beginning to get dark now that the sun had set. He started back down the path we came.
"What's the integral from zero to one of xdx?" Integral? What? I shouldn't have dropped out of high school…
"That's not fair! You know I lost my memories."
"Yeah right. You probably just never learned it." I pouted all the way down the path, to which he laughed at. This was nice. A light feeling filled my chest for the first time since I'd gotten here. I hadn't solved all my problems… but I was getting there. I had all the time in the world to get it right this time, and a partner to do it with. By the time we reached the guild, it was dinner. At first, all the buzz was about our apprehension of Drowzee, and how I got injured, but it quickly died out. Everyone was more interested in eating, anyway. I could appreciate that. By the time I got to my room though, I was exhausted. My talk with Wigglytuff felt like forever ago. "Tired? We're back to normal missions tomorrow, so we'd better head to bed early." Almost the second I hit my bed, I was out like a light.
I woke up to the grossly familiar feeling of panic. I whipped my head around, seeing Alex sleeping peacefully next to me. I sighed, letting the tension flow out of my body. Another nightmare, I guess. I guess I should try to get more sleep-
"RISE AND SHINE! IT'S TIME FOR THE MORNING CHEER!" ...Or not. I groaned. Not a pleasant start to my morning. Alex rose, clearly as unhappy as I was about being woken up.
"...'Morning." He rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes and stretched. "Shall we go?"
"...and three! Smiles go for miles! Get to work everyone!" The crowd dispersed, leaving me and Alex.
"What should we do today?" I asked.
"I dunno, I was thinking of picking a job off of the regular board. Forgive me for not readily choosing another outlaw bounty." Honestly, I was relieved too.
"Oh, you two! Come here for a second?" Chattot called out to us. We shared a brief look before walking over to him. "I have a special mission for you two." He unfolded a map with his wings, and pointed to an area to the north circled in red. "There's been reports of a suspicious waterfall in this area. We want you two to investigate the area and report your findings back to the guild. I imagine this will take more than one day to arrive, so please do find lodgings for the night." Alex squinted at the map. It looked pretty far… I couldn't say I was thrilled about having to walk that distance, but it was exciting to explore a new area. Even though I did have an idea about what might be behind that waterfall…
"This area… isn't this right next to Dewdrop Town?!" Dewdrop Town? If I remembered correctly, isn't that where Alex's parents were?
"Oh? Are you familiar with Dewdrop Town? Yes, the waterfall is a little bit west." Alex turned to me with a wide grin.
"My parents live there! We can stay with them for the night, and then investigate the waterfall the next day!" Chatot folded the map with one deft movement.
"Excellent. Then, that settles that. Hand me your map for a second, I'll mark the area." Alex took out our map from his bag and handed it to Chatot. He circled the area with a red marker and handed it back. "We look forward to your return! Should you be successful, I expect you will receive quite the reward…" He winked at us, and then disappeared off somewhere.
"Isn't this great Emilia! It's been awhile since I've visited my parents, and I can introduce you to them too! It'll be such a surprise…" He rubbed his paws together, lost in his own schemes. I should be excited to meet his parents, but why? Why did I feel so apprehensive? They obviously weren't like my own, from what Alex has told me, so I shouldn't feel like this. I put on a smile anyway.
"I guess I'll finally get all the embarrassing deets on you… heehee." That struck him out of his stupor.
"N-No! You know what, maybe we can find a hotel or something…" I gave him a mischievous grin.
"But didn't you want to see your dear parents? I'm sure they would love to see you, since it's been so long, too…" I could almost see the sparks flying in his brain as he struggled with his conflicting feelings.
"Mmm, fine! But I'm definitely telling them to not tell you anything." I laughed.
"Do we have everything we need?"
"Yeah. We won't run into any hostile Pokemon on the way to Dewdrop Town, and we can restock there. I'd like to show you around the market there, anyway. It's much bigger than Treasure Town's." Finally, something I could look forward to.
"Then let's go! What are we waiting for?" I scrambled up the ladder.
"W-Wait!" As soon as I hit the top, I broke into a run. I remembered that the way to Dewdrop Town was through the market, so I took off in a sprint through it. I ducked and weaved through the crowds, feeling the wind through my fur. Despite my apprehensions, I was going to try my best to enjoy this. No, I was going to enjoy it. No questions about it. At the end of the market, I stopped my sprint. Alex came after me, panting. "Y...You idiot! Why would you sprint like that?" He said between breaths.
"I couldn't help it! This is my first time leaving Treasure Town! I wanna make lots and lots of memories to replace my missing ones." He sighed in exasperation, but I saw a small smile on his face.
"Then I guess we have no choice but to start walking."
"Yaay!"
…
"Are we… almost there yet?" The toll of walking for hours put a dent in my excitement. The path to Dewdrop Town wasn't particularly exciting. In fact, it was nothing but plains for miles and miles. We hadn't even seen any Pokemon on the way. In the distance though, I could see a couple of houses, which probably meant we were getting close.
"Yeah, actually. That's my house." He pointed at one of the houses in the far distance. I was surprised how unfazed he looked, even after walking for hours. I might be better in short sprints, but when it came to pure endurance, I couldn't beat him. I squinted to try to see the house he was pointing at better. As we got closer, I could see some of the finer details. The house had a plain, white exterior with two floors. From this angle, I couldn't see the back entirely, but it looked like there was a fenced area behind the house. Further in the distance, I could see a bustling hub that looked like it could be the market. Even from a distance, I could tell it was impressive. Now that we were close, I started feeling nervous again. My heart hammered insistently in my chest. It didn't help that I was already tired physically from walking. When we walked up the orderly dirt path leading to the front door, it felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. Finally, we were at the front door. "Ready? They aren't expecting us, so they might not be home, but we'll see." He looked excited. I took a deep breath. Who was I to betray his excitement? Luckily, my pale fur can't possibly pale any more.