Two people were with him, battling.

"Whoa! Who-wh-whoa...! Are... are you OK?!" This was a friend.

Another voice was there, its owner keeping a tight grip on Kage. "No! Don't let go! Just a little longer... Come on! Hang on!"

"N-n-no! I can't... hold on...!" The friend had him now but was having a difficult time holding on with the other fighting to get him back.

He knew what the other would do. He held his friend close to his chest, shielding him with his body. It was too late for the other to back away.

There was no memory of pain.

Only falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Awareness struck when Kage tasted salt water. A strong wave pushed him to the surface, and he realized where he was. The sea around him tossed him carelessly as a fierce storm raged on. His hands paddled furiously as he looked about, searching for land. A strike of lightening lit up a rocky cliff to his left, gouged with hollows that looked like a face. With a tired whimper, he desperately swam towards the rocks, but another wave crashed over his head, dragging him under. He let out a strangled cry when he surfaced, but his call for help was drowned out by the deafening sounds of thunder and water. The boy sobbed as he spent all his strength. He simply could not do it. Kage closed his eyes, overcome with the urge to sleep and hope that the end would be painless.

Quiet persisted, and he thought himself quite dead, but the sound of gentle water on sand proved him wrong.

"Urrgh..."

His body was exhausted, but he was surprised to not feel any pain. In fact, he felt comfortable warm sand below him. With great effort, Kage forced his eyes to open. The sky was blue and bright with the blazing sun, almost too bright for his liking. Turning his head slightly gave him a view of the sea that almost drowned him. Thankfully, the seas were calm with the passing of the storm, and the sun glistened on the surface.

"Where... Where am I?"

The minimal activity proved too much as his eyes drifted shut again.

"... I can't... Drifting off..."

A small orange Pokemon paced nervously at the front gate of the famous Wigglytuff's Guild. He had been there for over an hour, pacing and muttering encouragement to himself. Sometimes he approached the grid, and sometimes he backed up into the road leading to town. The whole time, he clutched something small and grey in his hands which he would periodically squeeze in his hands before returning it to his shoulder bag and then grabbing it again. The young boy was beside himself trying to solve his internal battle. At last, Chimchar took a deep breath forced himself to act.

"No. I refuse to be paralyzed any longer!" He spoke in a courageously loud tone in hopes of convincing himself, "No more wimping out. I have to be brave today!"

He look down at the wooden grid, hoping that A) he would not fall right through it, and B) he would not jump or scream in an embarrassing way. Finally, he stepped forward. The moment his feet hit the wooden poles, two voices began to shout up at him.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon Detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Chimchar's! The footprint is Chimchar's!"

He screamed and jumped back at the same time. Sweating and breathing hard, he scampered backwards, falling down into the dirt. "That shocked me! Whew..." The disappointment set in once he realized his failure. "I can't... I can't push myself to go in after all. I said to myself that this is the day, but..." He placed the object in his hands on the ground, a rock inscribed with a strange pattern. "I thought that holding on to my personal treasure would inspire me... But I just can't do it. I'm such a coward. This is so discouraging."

He glanced at the guild a final time before picking up his treasure and turning away. His dream of joining the guild grew farther away everyday. Each time he tried to even approach the establishment, he seemed to get less courage. Chimchar had never been brave, not even once. He had been named Chimchar the Timid for a reason. The name was meant to encourage him to better himself, to overcome his challenges and become someone strong and worthy of respect. Unfortunately, Chimchar was terrible at battling his cowardice. Though he still challenged it relentlessly, he never once succeeded. With his head hung low, he walked the dirt path south, intent on going to the beach. It was sunset, and the view there was basically the only thing he had to look forward to.

As soon as the Fire type was out of hearing range, two snickering figures emerged from their hiding place in the bushes nearby. The first was a Zubat, who batted his wings furiously to stay balanced as he laughed. The other was a Koffing that was in similar condition.

The Koffing recovered first and addressed his companion, "Hey, Zubat. Did you get a load of that?!"

"You bet I did, Koffing," the bat replied as his laughter finally died out.

The bigger of the two wore an expression the fused mischief and malice. "That little wimp was pacing around... had something good, right?"

"That wimp had something, that's for sure," Zubat commented, not particularly impressed but not wanted to disagree with his stronger teammate, "It looked like some kind of treasure."

Koffing gave him an expecting glance, "Do we go after it?"

"We do," he put simply. If it was more than just a rock, they better get it.

"Wow! What an impressive sight!"

Chimchar arrived just in time to see the Krabby start blowing bubbles. The bubbles captured the setting sun's light, causing them to glitter like gems above the ocean's waves. It was perfect. The Pokemon sat and watched for a while, enjoying the one thing in his life that he could count on to always go right. The simple things in life were often the best and most deserving of appreciation. As usual, he stared out at the waves while sitting in the sand and began to muse aloud.

"This is where I always end up when I'm feeling sorry for myself. But it makes me feel good to be here, like always," he added the last part with a bit of bitterness. He shooed the thought away and popped a bubbled the flew past his nose. "Coming here cheers me up."

His eyes followed a particularly large bubble floating off to the other side of the beach when he caught sight of something blueish-purple lying in the sand. From a distance, he could not tell what it was. Feeling both cautious and concerned, Chimchar walked over towards the object. Halfway across the beach, he could clearly see that it was actually a Pokemon, still as stone.

His fur stood on end as he shrieked, "Waah! Someone dumped a body of the beach!" Chimchar was about to abandon the beach for good when the mass twitched and groaned. The signs of life brought him back, and he almost tripped as he went over to the creature's side and called out to them, "What happened?! Are you OK?"

Up close, Chimchar could identify the creature as a male Haunter, and a special one at that. It was smaller than other Haunter, about his own size, and his body had a bluish tint to it rather than just the normal purple. Why would a Ghost type be at the beach during the day? It must have been in a fight... Or it could have been rejected for looking different. He watched as the ghost slowly began to wake, ready to run or assist. The Haunter's eyes finally fluttered open, and its hands pushed it off of the ground. It did not float, but remained in a sitting position. He stared at Chimchar blankly, as if never having seen anything like him before.

He did not seem dangerous, so Chimchar put his best foot forward. "Great! You're awake! You weren't moving. You really had me worried there! How did you wind up unconscious out here?" The ghost did not respond, but continued to look at him in surprise. "Anyway, I'm Chimchar the Timid, but since there aren't any other Chimchar around here, you can just call me Chimchar. Glad to meet you! So who might you be? I don't think I've seen your face around here. I'd remember meeting a Shiny Pokemon!"

"Of... course not..." The ghost moaned in confusion while trying and failing to get up. Attempts to fly ended in the Haunter falling back into the sand. "I'm not from this place... and I'm not a Pokemon. Don't you know a human when you see one? We don't look anything like Pokemon."

The Fire type could only gape in disbelief. "Huh? You say you're a human? You look just like a Haunter to me!"

"Wha-? What are yooaaaAAAAAAAAH!" He had looked down at his hands and noticed that, not only were his fingers blue and sharp, some digits were missing. So were his arms. And his legs. And pretty much everything else. "What happened to me?! Where are my arms?! Where is the rest of my body?!" Another attempt to float sent him face first into the sand. He groaned miserably into the ground, "Ooooh I'm just a head... A ghost head..."

This guy must be crazy, Chimchar thought to himself. But he seems genuinely confused and upset. "Um... well... What's your name? What do you call yourself?"

"My name?" The Haunter looked confused for a moment, as though unsure of the answer. "Oh, that's right. My name is Kage. I think... I think it means shadow."

Chimchar nodded slowly, "Kage? That's a strange name, but I guess a name meaning shadow is fitting. Do you remember what happened for you to end up unconscious here?"

"I-" Kage frowned and focused on the ground. His black pupils darted around as if his memories could be found lying on the sand. He gasped and met the Fire type's gaze again with a look of horror, "No... No! I can't remember. I can't remember anything! I know my name and what I looked like, but I don't remember anything else! I don't know where I am or why I'm here! ... I'm lost..."

Chimchar relaxed a bit before responding, "Sorry that I doubted you. You don't seem to be a bad Pokemon. More and more bad Pokemon have been turning up lately, you see? Everything's gotten wild for some reason."

As the last words left his mouth, Chimchar noticed Kage glaring over his shoulder. Just as he turned, a Zubat dove right at him, knocking him back into the ghost on the sand. The Haunter grunted at being shoved but made no move to get up. Kage studied the two figures now laughing next to them. He looked at them, and information seemed to pop into his mind. Two Poison types. Clearly trouble-makers.

"Well I do beg your pardon!" The Koffing's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Chimchar quickly picked himself up and allowed his temper to flare. "What did you do that for?!"

"We wanted to mess with you," the Zubat cackled, "Can't face up to us, can you?"

The Fire type took a step back. "Huh?"

"That's yours, isn't it?" Koffing was staring at some sort of rock on the ground.

Chimchar's body stiffened, "Hey! That's-!"

The Zubat dove into the sand and grabbed it with his feet before tossing it to his companion, who balanced it on his head, out of reach. "Sorry, kiddo! We'll take that!"

"Whoa-ho-ho! Not gonna make a move to get it back?" Koffing taunted, "What's the matter? Too scared? I didn't expect you to be such a big coward!" Chimchar did nothing has the Poison type turned and headed towards a nearby cave. "Come on, let's go."

Zubat fluttered after him, still giggling all the way. "See you around, chicken! Heh-heh-heh!"

Chimchar stood there in disbelief, his heart breaking. Two thugs had just stolen his personal treasure from him, and now they were somewhere in a dungeon. Hot tears were forming in his eyes when a hand nudged his back. The exhausted Haunter was still lying in the sand, now wearing a determined expression. He said nothing and pointed to the cave.

"B-but what should I do? I can't fight them," he tried to argue, "But that's my personal treasure... If I ever lost that..." He watched the ghost shake his head. Finally, Chimchar understood. He was giving up too easily. "No! There's no time to waste! I need to get it back! Do you... have the strength to help me?"

The Haunter fixed him with a different kind of gaze, one that stared right into his soul. Chimchar froze as he felt himself being judged. Kage was calculating. What exactly he was thinking, Chimchar did not know. In that moment, time did not seem to exist, only the two of them, a Pokemon in need of help and a human-turned-Pokemon that was judging if he was worthy of that help. That was when the Fire type realized that Kage was absolutely telling the truth. Something about him was other-worldly and foreign. He knew of no Pokemon who could see through him in such a way, and he was terrified of what he must see in such a cowardly Pokemon.

Kage suddenly relaxed and offered a clawed hand. "Help me up, please."

Beach Cave

"Okay, getting through a dungeon should be easy with two of us!" Chimchar explained as they wandered through the caves, "All we have to do is reach the stairs and maybe collect helpful items along the way. We have to watch out for enemies, too. Pokemon in dungeons don't like others in their territory."

Kage nodded but said nothing. He was finally flying, but Chimchar had to pull him along while he was getting used to the sensation of levitating and flying. He was a bit concerned about the ghost, who seemed more interested in looking at the blue rock walls than listening. Occasionally, he would tug on the chimp's hand to get him to go in a different direction... which strangely enough directed them towards items or the stairs.

"Wow! You're a natural at this," Chimchar complimented, "How do you know which way to go?"

Kage stared ahead blankly. "Just a feeling I get. I know where I need to go."

They were almost through the dungeon when they were approached by their first enemy, an angry Shellos. The little blue creature charged at them from the darkness of a passage, ready to punish the intruders. Chimchar let go of Kage and prepared to fight.

"It's time to battle, Kage! What moves do you know?"

"What are moves?"

"Great..." The Shellos butted him with its head, causing him to stumble and retaliate with a Scratch attack. "Forget moves then! Just attack! Do anything!"

Kage managed to fly close to their opponent as he prepared his first attack. The Shellos noticed this and turned around to tackle him. The Haunter reared back a fist in an attempt to punch the attacker. His fist was then engulfed in flames as it connected with the slug's jaw. Shellos was knocked back into the rock wall, where it wisely chose to stay.

"Whoa! That was Fire Punch!" Chimchar gaped at such a powerful move, "That was amazing!"

Kage looked down at his hands again, now absent of fire. "I don't know how I did it, though. It just happened."

"That's how moves work," his companion explained, "Just do what comes naturally, and you'll be okay. That was a great first battle! Those thieves won't know what hit them!"

Beach Cave Pit

An hour had passed since they entered the dungeon, and the two had finally breached the pit of the cave. Zubat and Koffing were dawdling at the other end, looking for a way out and realizing that the cave ended there. Chimchar felt nervousness set in, but the now freely moving ghost at his side gave him another encouraging nudge. Having someone with him made him feel braver. So brave, in fact, that he stomped right up to the crooks to demand his treasure back.

"Uh... Hey!"

The two turned around. Koffing looked surprised to see them, but he quickly hid it with a smirk. "Well, well... If it isn't our old friend, the big chicken."

The insult made him take a step back, but Chimchar did not allow himself to give up. "Give me...Give me back what you stole from me! That's my personal treasure! It means everything to me!"

"Treasure, you say?" Zubat repeated with obvious interest. "So this thing is valuable, right?"

Koffing was quite pleased to hear this. "It could be worth more than we'd hoped for. We ought to try selling it. It might get a good price. Whoa-ho-ho! All the more reason not to give it back!"

Kage flew forward, fists up and ready to strike. Zubat began to laugh again as Chimchar followed suit. "If you want it back that badly... Come and ge-!"

Kage sent him flying back with a Fire Punch. The bat crumpled and twitched in pain on the floor. Koffing gasped in shock at how quickly Zubat was put out of commission. The distraction gave Chimchar the perfect opportunity to land a Scratch attack on him. The Poison type retaliated with a Tackle attack that sent the chimp back a few steps, but he would immediately hounded by Kage while Chimchar recovered. It did not take long before Koffing ran out of energy to fight and hit the sand next to his defeated companion.

"Ugh... We got roughed up," Zubat admitted miserably as he took flight again.

After a moment, Koffing dragged himself up as well. "B-blast it... How'd we get wiped out by wimps like them?"

"Bah! Just take it, then! It's not worth the effort!" Zubat dove behind a rock, retrieved Chimchar's treasure, and dropped it in front of him.

For the sake of his pride, Koffing had to shout them down a final time before retreat. "Don't think you're so awesome. Your victory was a fluke! You only won, chicken, because of your buddy over there!"

"Yeah, you just remember that!" Zubat spat the threat out as the two took off behind them.

Once they were gone, Chimchar could not contain himself any longer. He darted forward to reclaim his treasure. "Oh! My Relic Fragment! I actually managed to get it back!" Kage made a small coughing sound, making him aware of what he just said. "B-but it's because you were there to help me, Kage. Thanks, Kage!"

The sun had almost fully set when they got back to the beach. Kage was dragging himself along, still exhausted from his previous forgotten ordeal and now even more so after a battle. Chimchar, however, seemed to be pumped with more energy than before. The Haunter was happy for him and glad that he had decided to help out, but his mind was now cast to the future. What am I going to do now? I have nothing to go on. I need rest, but I don't have anywhere to go. Chimchar is a bit impulsive and bouncy for my tastes, but he seems like the type of person that would help others. Maybe he'll make an offer?

"Really, thank you!" The chimp reiterated for the hundredth time.

I only helped because I happened to be there and the fact that he seems nice, Kage thought to himself. He chose to nod politely. "You're welcome. What is that thing anyway?"

"I call it a Relic Fragment," he explained while placing it in front of him. "You see, I've always liked legends and lore... You know, tales of the past, hidden troves full of treasure and strange relics... uncharted territories veiled in darkness... and new lands just waiting to be discovered! All the gold and history! Wouldn't it be amazing to make historic discoveries?"

Kage chuckled warmly, a smooth and comforting sound, "That's pretty ambitious, but I like that sound of that."

"I'm glad you think so!" Chimchar was beaming at his reaction, "I've always dreamed of things like that. So one day, I happened to find my Relic Fragment. Sure, it looks like junk, but take a closer look... See? See that strange pattern on it?"

Kage looked at the fragment carefully. It was difficult to describe, given that he had little to nothing to compare it to. It almost reminded him of a flower, yet it clearly was not meant to represent that. He was sure he had never seen anything like it, but for obvious reasons, he knew that he could be wrong.

Chimchar gazed down at the pattern with a fond expression. "This pattern must have some meaning to it. The Relic Fragment must be the key to legendary places! At least that's the feeling I get."

"It looks old," the Haunter offered, "Maybe it will open some ancient ruins for you one day."

Chimchar quickly agreed, "I sure hope so! That's why I want to join an exploration team. I want to solve the mystery of my Relic Fragment!" His smile vanished as he nervously rubbed his arm. "Earlier, I tried joining an exploration team as an apprentice... but... I chickened out."

"I didn't see a chicken in the cave today," the ghost encouraged, "You should try again. You have some nice dreams, and I think you should go for it."

He smiled again, now maintaining a thoughtful expression. "What about you, Kage? What are you going to do now? You lost your memory and transformed into a Pokemon... Do you have anywhere to go and stay after this?"

"If I had somewhere to go, I wouldn't know it," Kage replied, trying not to sound too hopeful, "I really need to find somewhere to rest, though."

The Fire type was beaming again, taking a few steps closer. "Then can I ask a big favor? Would you join me to make an exploration team? I think you and I would make a good team, Kage. When we fought side-by-side, I felt stronger. So, how about it? Come on, please?"

Kage flew back a pace or two, understandably surprised and shocked. I'm getting recruited out of the blue! I don't even know what an exploration team is! He was honestly a little miffed that Chimchar practically had him backed into a corner. Kage had no other options here. He had no home, no family or friends, and no idea what he was doing out here. Not to mention the fact that he was worn out and ready to sleep wherever he landed. In his current state, "no" was not an option. I guess it wouldn't hurt to to team up with Chimchar for now. Just for a while. Just until I figure out who or what I am. He's not that bad of a guy, anyway. I could definitely be stuck with someone worse. He might even try to help me. Though it sounds more like he wants me to help him...

"Alright, I'm in," the ghost stated simply.

The chimp looked ready to scream. "Yeah? Really?!"

"Er... Yes. Let's do this team-thing."

Chimchar practically tackled him in an awkward hug. Kage had to hold onto him so he did not phase through his body. "Yahoo! Thanks! We're going to make a great combination!" He let go and adopted a serious tone, "First, let's go to Wigglytuff's place and sign up as apprentices. That's where we train to become a proper team. The training might be rough... But let's give it our best, Kage!"

He cheered and pumped his fist in the sky, a move that Kage awkwardly imitated. He ran back to the dirt road, calling for Kage to follow him. The Haunter flew after him, no where near as enthusiastic and wondering what he has gotten himself into.