Chapter 2:

Curiosity and Vulpixes- ?

An interesting place this is. It's a river, full of giddy Magikarp and maybe a Goldeen or two. All I currently know about my location is that I am in a thick forest, next to a river. Why I'm here? I don't know. Where is here? I also don't know, but I will find out. Why can I not remember a thing? It's a shame, now my chances of survival until the age of fifteen is extremely minimal.

Don't they say you should always be optimistic, no matter what happens? Always look on the bright side of things and never the one which stays dark. That is a hard rule to follow, especially when you are on an unknown landscape, in an unknown place, for an unknown reason, with amnesia. Well, I guess I should try looking on the bright side of things, even though right now it feels like the side of the moon not facing the sun. I guess those Magikarp.. Um… Optimism is a hard thing. But hey, maybe this is how I've been all my life, and I just got a little conk on the head. And maybe someday I'll regain my memory, find my den, go fishing… Or something.

I'm getting curious. Maybe I could take a walk around, get my bearings, set up a new den, and try to figure out why I'm here. What if someone… Brought me here? Made me forget everything and threw me into the wilderness. But why would someone do this? All theses 'w' words. Why, what, where, when? And also how, but that doesn't have a 'w'. Ooh, also who could be added onto that list.

It starts to rain.

"Ugh," I say drearily to myself, "Wet would be a good 'w' word too, I guess. Might as well try to find some shelter." I try to keep my tail up, but it is a very tough situation I am in.

"Ah!" I gasp, seeing a hollow in the ground. "Perfect for a temporary camp. I should probably get some berries, but it's completely dark out."

I pause, taking a second to fully sense my surroundings.

I quickly spot some berries and bring them back to the makeshift den.

I take some of the berries and eat them. I decide to lay down a bit.

It wasn't me waking up that made me stand up- I wasn't even asleep. But I saw something in the back of the den.

"Hm…" I say, as I realize that the den stretches deeper into the darkness. There seems to be a faint light in the dark, as well.

I venture into the darkness of the cave, but I accidentally step on something.

Suddenly the whole room lights up and I know what is in the darkness-Vulpixes. So many, there seemed to be a horde of them. And they didn't look very friendly either.

"Out!" one of the elder Vulpixes hisses. But I'm not looking at the Vulpix horde-I'm staring at the suddenly illuminated walls.

"Wow!" I say. "How did you do that? Is it body radiation? What if you figured out a way to turn light on just by moving in a certain area! You really are amazing! Can you please, please, please, show me how you did that! It's absolutely memorizing! It's a miracle! If the whole world knew this-" I pause. "Does the outer world know about this?"

"Out!" They hiss again, as if that was the only word the knew.

I pause, before I say, "Before I go, can I ask a few questions?"

In the background I see a Ninetales, looking around as if considering his options.

"Yes," the Ninetales finally says, "You may. But I must tell you one thing-I am not free to answer some questions."

There are so many questions going through my mind, I cannot figure out which one to say first, but I just end up blurting everything out at once.

"Where am I? Why am I here? Did someone send me here, and if so, who? How far are we away from civilization? Are there any Pokémon around here that are especially agressive? What year is it? What 's the date? Where's my home? Where are my parents? Is there anywhere I can stay in this den? What's the landscape around here like? Why can I not remember anything? If lots of time has past, have there been any new inventions or discoveries?"

By now I am out of breath. All the vulpixes are staring at me, making me feel uncomfortable.

The Ninetales, after pausing, says, "Cursed one! Leave! Never come back! Leave this place! Go far, far north, into the mountains, away! And never show your cursed self back here EVER AGAIN!"

I am taken by surprise, but the seriousness in the Ninetale's face made me leave instantly.

I shiver from the cold. It was almost midnight, I assume, and I had left my berries in the den.I should probably sleep outside. I don't want to come across another group of wild Pokémon. There seems to be nowhere to go, so decide just to lay down on the grass.

The grass is actually pretty soft, I thought to myself. Comfortable as anything. A bit open, but comfortable. It is a bit hard to sleep, for all the questions were going through my head, with the addition of some new ones. I closed my eyes and thought.

How am I cursed? Why wasn't he allowed to say too much? There are mountains nearby? How did they make those lights automatically turn on? Is there a ruler of these parts? What time of year is it? What if I get attacked by wild Pokémon while sleeping? Why am I here?

Suddenly I'm on a mountain. I'm near the top, making it very cold, very white, and very hard to see. I see flocks of Wingulls flying by and in the distance a beach. I assume this is the place I found myself in earlier.

The snow starts getting heavier.

I hear a voice. It was hard to distinguish where it was coming from, for the howling of the wind was obnoxiously loud at that point. Looking around, I finally saw a shape on the mountaintop through the heavy snow.

It now felt like a never-ending blizzard.

It is getting colder, and I decide to end my curiosity and travel up to the top of the mountain. There is a voice ringing through my head that sounded like 'Rael oo eh mowhins'.

I keep climbing.

I get closer to the shape, close enough to see that it was a fellow Pokémon on the top of the cliff. I tried to call out to it, but no sound came from my mouth. The Pokémon wouldn't have been able to hear me over the wind, anyways, I thought.

I'm close to the top now.

I can see the Pokémon more clearly-It's an Eevee, so white with snow that it looks like a shiny Pokémon. The voice was getting easier to understand the closer I got to the Eevee. "Trael hoo te mownins," the mysterious voice says again. "A bit closer," I said to myself, "Then I'll be able to understand the words."

I am even higher now.

I can barely breathe, I'm so high. But the Eevee is higher, so I treck on. "If I get any closer, my breaths will be as loud as the wind," I mutter to myself. I can't wait to get onto the top of the mountain, collapse onto the ground, and have a talk with the Eevee about why I'm here.

Finally I had reached the top.

What is weird is that the voices have stopped. And the wind stops howling. Finally I can speak. "H-hello?" I ask, "Who are you?" Suddenly the Eevee turns and screeches, "TRAVEL TO THE MOUNTAINS"

Suddenly I realize that the mountain was made not of rock and snow, but ice. Under my feet a crack forms. The Eevee suddenly jumps off the mountain of ice, leaving me alone.

The whole mountain shatters. All around me I see bits of ice falling. The ground got bigger,and bigger, and bigger, and…

Suddenly I wake up, drenched with sweat. I could still hear the voice ringing in my head, "Travel to the mountains."