Everything felt numb. The barrage of blasts just kept coming, seeming to break away at him. Piece by piece... things seemed to drift away. Where am I? Where is mom... I can't let her see me like this... Wait, who is mom? Why don't I like her? Where was I, where have I been... who is that bird- the- TULUM!

He snapped out of his trance, and with it, the pain returned. His memories! That's what Teontall was trying to take! No. He wouldn't let that happen. He finally felt like he was going somewhere for once. Nothing was going to take this away from him. This must be his mind. If so, he needed to wake up NOW. He straightened out, bracing himself. Then with one final push, he gathered all the energy he could control around himself, and blasted it outwards. He felt his strength blast out with it... but the pain was gone. Opening his heavy eyelids, he saw the place had once again slipped into the comforting darkness. Teontall, once again a Phantump, was reeling back. Teontall spotted him, and growled.

Seeing Jack wasn't scared, he straightened out, and warned, "You won't last long. The world and more will be against you, and it will break you. And when it does, I will be here."

And then Jack's consciousness slipped out of the dark.

He blinked his eyes open. A familiar scene greeted him. He was on a pillow. He felt just as weary as before. Tulum leaned over him, concerned, but as Jack opened his eyes, she perked up.

Jack sat up, rubbing his head through the stump. "...How long was I out?"

Tulum gave him some space. "About a day. I was getting worried, but you're alright now. At least I got some rest too, it's a long flight from Ballonlea to here." She grabbed onto one of his branches and lifted herself on. "Oh, and the professor left you some tea. She's been keeping it warm." Tulum glanced over at a small cup nearby.

Jack drifted to the cup, slightly wobbly from the added imbalanced weight of Tulum. He peered into the cup, and was about to tilt it when he realized he couldn't really drink. He set it back down and sighed.

Tulum hopped off of him. "Aren't you going to have some? You still look really worn out"

"Well I can't exactly drink it, can I?" Jack leaned against the glass window.

"Oh, doesn't your like... plant parts need stuff?" She tilted her head sideways.

"I... don't know? Maybe?" He approached the cup again, and dipped one of his branches into it.

The effects were almost instant. He drank up the tea quickly, recovering from the dehydration he didn't even know he had. His strength flooded back to him, leaving him feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

"Wow... that felt good. Uh, thank you. I guess I haven't fully figured myself out yet." He looked at Tulum a little sheepishly.

"No problem. Considering you don't know how to drink, It's a miracle you're alive- well, you- uh..." she stumbled on her words for a second. "Anyways, I should go get the professor." She closed off the conversation quickly, flapping away.

The professor entered the room, glancing at Jack. "Ah, you're up." She pulled out a chair, and turned it to face him. "I don't think I've properly introduced myself. I'm Magnolia, the professor of this region. You seem to be doing a lot better now, so you won't have to stay much longer."

As the last of the sleepiness left Jack, it suddenly clicked that it was, in fact, the professor in front of him. This was his chance. With refreshed energy, he swiftly made a psychic link.

"Uh, Miss. There is something I would like to ask."

Magnolia looked at him with mild curiosity. "You know Psychic? That's interesting, I assumed you were wild."

Jack chuckled nervously. "Technically, I am. It's a long story though... and I still want to ask something, if you don't mind." He felt rude for bringing it back up again.

"Alright, go ahead. You can share more later."

Jack took a deep breath. "I want to participate in the gym challenge." He said firmly.

Magnolia raised an eyebrow at him, causing Jack to drop the confidence a bit. "Well uh- If that's alright with you, and-"

"Hold on a second." Magnolia interrupted. "Just how could that work? You're a wild Pokémon. You don't have any sort of ID."

Jack perked up upon realizing she didn't immediately shoot down his idea. "Actually, in my bag..." His words trailed off. "Where's my bag? Oh no no please- no not now-" He pushed himself off the counter, looking around for any signs of his stuff.

"You mean this is yours?" She opened a cabinet nearby and pulled out his backpack.

"YES! Yes that's mine."

Magnolia shrugged and set it by him. "I thought it was your trainer's, but seeing as you don't have one, I guess it's yours."

Jack tugged at the zipper a few times before he got it to open. Shifting though it, he pulled out his Pokédex and held it out to Magnolia. She took it, a bit confused, and opened it up in the ID section. After scanning it over, she held it out to him.

"So let me get this straight, that's you?" She pointed to the picture in the corner of the display.

Jack nodded fervently.

Magnolia sat in the chair. "So... you died? In the forest?"

Jack nodded again, a bit less enthusiastically this time.

She leaned back in the chair, rubbing her temples. "So it's true..." she muttered to herself.

"What?" Jack asked a bit nervously. Was someone looking for him? Was he going to be turned over to the-"

"The Pokédex entry." Magnolia stopped his train of thought. "Although the Pokédex entry theorizes that Phantump are the souls of children who died in the forest, it was just that. A theory. Most people just trust whatever the Pokédex says, however as a professor I know that there are many flaws in it. I thought this was one of them. There was no solid evidence for the the theory... until now." She stood up, beginning to pace around the small area. "This could be a massive breakthrough, a Ghost Pokémon that has retained the memories of its past life." She was talking more to herself at this point.

"So again uh- can I participate in the.. Gym challenge..." Jack meekly brought it up once again.

Magnolia focused her attention back on Jack. She looked him over carefully, then stared off, turning over the situation in her head. Finally, she gave her answer.

"No."

HI I'M NOT DEAD

Wow this is a pretty long chapter.

Sorry for not updating in so long ;-;

I've just has a lot going on, and wasn't motivated to write most of the time, and when I was I had other things I was writing. From now on, don't really expect quick updates. This will be an occasional thing for whenever I want to write. This doesn't mean that I am abandoning this, I definitely want to see where this story goes!

I also tweaked some things in the previous chapters, especially in the Teontall gun scene. I finally decided to plan out a few things beforehand for once, so I needed to have things actually fit what I have planned.

Anyways, I figured I'd respond to some reviews! If you have any questions, ask away. If you have anything that you'd like to see, I'd greatly appreciate if you told me! I might end up including it :)

Thorns97 (ch4)

(Sweet chapter! I'm not sure whether to be excited or what. The sudden chsnge in mindset was a little jarring, but regardless, I'll look forward to the next chapter!)

Thanks! You're right, it didn't come off the way I wanted to, so that's why I changed the scene. I hope the new one works better!

secret-werewolves (ch5)

(:O Le gasp

And I must admit, I'm a bit confused about Teontall. I assume he's the name and personification of the protagonist's new identity?

Either way, I can't wait for more :D)

Once again, thanks! Response is really what motivates me to keep writing. As for the rest, I'll give you a hint. Teontall is a completely separate entity from Jack.

And that's all for now! If you don't like me disappearing for long periods of time and want updates, maybe you could join the Discord! That's where I'm most active so I'll just post occasional updates there and hang out so y'all know I'm alive. (kACbGSJ)