"Sooo...uhh...you gonna lay there and stare at me?" The Shinx asked.

With a grunt, i rolled out from underneath the feline and stood up, though I felt a little wobbly and woozy. I looked around to get my bearings, but nothing at all looked remotely familiar. There was nothing around but some rocks and a couple gnarled, old trees that were mostly bare with just a few leaves left. I had done a full three hundred sixty degree turn before something dawned on me: the Shinx was the one that spoke to me. That couldn't have been right, but since I had just looked all the way around, there was no other way it could be.

"Uhh...You're acting kinda weird there buddy." The Shinx said, effectively snapping out of my stupor.

"Kaloi" I said, not looking at the Pokémon. Something about the Flash Pokémon unnerved me.

"Huh?"

"My name. It's Kaloi."

"Oh! It's nice to meet you Kaloi! I'm Magnalu!" That introduction caught my attention. I somehow knew that name. I was sure of it. But it was the same sort of knowing that I had for my own name. Something was definitely off, but I couldn't place it. Well, aside from the obvious that was. I mean, here I am - a human - talking to a Shinx of all things. "Y'know, it isn't too often that we see Cyndaquil around here. In fact the only Ty-"

"Wait a second," I interrupted. "Cyndaquil?"

"Yeeeeeaaaah? Isn't that what you are? Or are you trying to say that you're some sorta runt Quilava?"

"Neither. I'm human."

That admission seemed to startle Magnalu as he suddenly backpedaled and hid behind a small boulder. "Human!?" B-But all I see is a C-Cyndaquil! If this is a joke then you're a meanie!"

Shame burns through my body as I look at the ground. Apparently humans are a bad thing here wherever I am. Being a Cyndaquil, or rather a Pokémon in general makes a lot of sense though as I don't think I would be able to understand Pokémon as a human. Just what the heck is going on?

A prodding at my side rips me from my thoughts. "You must of been messing with me. You're definitely a Cyndaquil." Magnalu said with a frown before sighing and pushing me along a path. I eventually started moving along it of my own accord and we came to a small creek. "There ya go. Take a look if you don't believe your ears."

I looked into the river and gasped. Sure enough, my reflection revealed that I was a Cyndaquil. "What happened to me? Why am I a Cyndaquil?" I thought coherently before they started running wild with theories as to what had happened. But then I stopped and sat down, still staring at my reflection in the river. Nothing was coming back to me. I couldn't find any memories for anything before I woke up here aside from my name, Magnalu's name, and the fact that used to be human.

"I don't even know what's going on anymore." I said, finally. "I'm...I'm just so confused."

"You must have some sort of amnesia then. It would make sense considering I found you conked out there on the plains."

"Is there anywhere I can go to get my bearings?"

"I'm glad you asked! Buuuut I gotta ask my partners first. I'll call them over, though you might want to cover your eyes." Magnalu then backed off and started rummaging in a satchel that I hadn't noticed before. He pulled out some sort of sphere that had a shimmery glow around it. I was about to ask what he was going to do, but he let out a small, but rather cute roar that honestly should've been classified more as a growl before lift the sphere in both forepaws and smashing it against the ground. A brilliant, blinding light coursed through the area, dazzling me while simultaneously revealing our position to anyone watching. I groaned and flopped onto my side as spots and stars danced across my vision.

"Sorry about that, but I did warn you." Magnalu said as he padded back over to me and gently patted my side. His ear twitched as fast footsteps approached. I got back onto my feet and looked in one of the directions that the sound of feet were coming from, shifting nervously. Though I couldn't remember how I acted as a human, I actually felt rather timid. Out of three different directions came three different Pokémon: a Grovyle, a Riolu, and a Rockruff.

"Magnalu, are you all right?" The Rockruff barked, shooting a glare at me. If first impressions are anything to go by, that Pokémon and I are not going to be friends anytime soon. I simply tucked myself behind Magnalu before shooting the Rockruff a glare of my own, of course that was before practically jumping out of my skin in fright when a paw poked my back, causing me to yelp and spin around rapidly to come face to face with the Riolu. The pup giggled at my reaction before tackle-glomping me right into the dirt, thankfully taking care that I didn't fall into the water.

"And who might you be?" The Riolu questioned cheerfully. I get the feeling that he's gonna be fun to play with considering the energy that he just exudes, though that sort of personality has to wear on everyone in tense situations. It wasn't long before the Riolu was removed from my person by the Grovyle and I was allowed to stand again.

"My apologies for that. But let's let Magnalu answer one question at a time first." The Grovyle said calmly, patting the Riolu gently before setting him down.

Magnalu bounced in place for a moment before launching into his story.

"So after we split here last time, I ran down my path and took down a couple of Normal and Dark Rattata that tried to get in my way. That eventually came to a dead end though, so I turned around and slowly worked my way back here, hoping for some sign of that Fire-Type Buneary that was sighted. Unfortunately on that front I came up empty, sorry about that. But anyways, I came back here and this little guy -(Little?! You're not so big yourself there kitty!)-was passed out on the ground over to the right of here.

"Naturally, I woke him up to make sure that he was okay. I found out his name and everything! He apparently has some pretty bad memory issues though because he thought that he was a human instead of a Cyndaquil. Freaked me out pretty good for sure until I realized that he was joking."

The Grovyle ran his claws down his face with a sigh. Apparently between the Riolu and Magnalu, his patience was very tested. Though I still felt the glare of the Rockruff on me, I stepped up. "My name is Kaloi - Kaloi Neurengard Catalaya. Uhh….Alloy for short." I gulped, trying to swallow my nervousness. "What Magnalu says is true. I don't remember a single iota of my past; however, I at least remember my name and the fact that I used to be human. Though why I changed to a Cyndaquil, I couldn't tell you."

"Human, huh?" The Rockruff growled, stalking toward me with fangs bared. "I knew there was a reason I didn't like you."

"Quartz, that's enough!" The Grovyle snapped.

"But Night-!" The Rockruff began to retort.

"ENOUGH! What we see before us is a lone, lost, Cyndaquil with no memory and therefore no ability to defend himself. As a Exploration Team, we are duty-bound to help him, regardless of what his past may or may not have been. I'm not about to have my team's good reputation that Derritus and I have put good, hard work into raising to our Bronze Rank squashed by feelings based on unfounded premises." Silence ruled over the clearing, save for the babbling of the brook next to them. That is, until the Grovyle turned back to me with a small smile that I'm sure was more meant to calm me, though born of exasperation as it was. "I apologize for Quartz' behavior, Kaloi. He's just overly protective of our small Team. My name is Nightshade, though most just refer to me simply as 'Night.' The Rockruff there is, of course, Quartz, and the Riolu that tackled you there is Derritus, or Derry if you would prefer. He mainly mauls with affection. And then you've already met Magnalu, he's easy to figure out since you've already seen what he's like."

"I-It's great to meet-" I started to say before I was interrupted by Magnalu, who jumped into the space between me and Night.

"Oh that's right! I almost forgot why I called you guys over!" He yowled, eyes wide in disbelief at himself, or at least that's what it seemed like at the moment. For all I knew it happened all the time. "Alloy has no place to stay and was wondering if he could stay with us until he gets back on his feet!"

Night nodded at this and pulled a sphere out of his own satchel. Surprised, I looked each of them over and saw that they all had a similar bag. I must be really unobservant to miss such a blatantly obvious piece of equipment upon them. Of course, I could still be in shock over this whole thing...yeah, let's go with that. I may be timid, but I'm not about to show any unnecessary signs of weakness if I don't have to.

"This, to explain to Kaloi, is an Escape Orb. Exploration Teams like ourselves use them to leave the various Mystery Dungeons when we no longer wish to continue exploring them, if we find a piece of treasure we don't want to risk losing in the dungeon, or if we're in danger and need to flee for our own safety." Night explained spinning the Orb in his palm. "Stay close to one of us so you get teleported out as well, seeing as how you don't have an Exploration Badge or your own Escape Orb."

With a firm nod of affirmation, I stepped next to Magnalu, noting that we were the same height as I placed my paw on his side. That earned me a friendly grin as Night raised the Orb high above his head, the mysterious glow around it suddenly spiraling outward before dispelling. A dizzying feeling came over me right before I felt a jerking feeling in my sinuses and the landscape suddenly shifted. Gone away were the creek, rocks, and sparse trees. Now in front of me is a well-kept building with a cobblestone path leading to it. Flowers bloomed on each side of the entrance and hedges that were about five feet tall grew around the perimeter of the property. The building itself looked like praying hands, but when I looked close, I saw that it was actually a Treecko paw and a Riolu paw coming together in a bond of friendship. The whole of it was built into the base of a cliff with a small waterfall pouring into a small waterwheel, which turned and emptied into the building. Out of the left side, water flowed out of a channel where it went and eventually met back with its source.

"Holy crap..." I breathed, taken aback by the sight.

"Beautiful place we have, isn't it?" Magnalu purred.

"Well, let's not keep our guest out here! Let's go!" Derry exclaimed, rocketing forward. "Besides, he still has to meet the last member of our team!"

Night chuckled before beckoning everyone to follow him as he also made his way to the entrance. "Derry's right. Let's go home."

I let everyone else go a few paces ahead before following, a frown on my face despite the peaceful feeling that I had. "Home..." I muttered to myself, trying to go back into my mind to find something to place the feeling with, only to find nothing but blackness.