The sensation of falling began to form in his gut. It was difficult to breathe. Attempting to open his eyes, he was greeted by pure black darkness. He tried to flail his limbs, to reach out for something, but he could not move. After around a minute he heard something break the horrible silence. It was a song. A song unfamiliar to him. Perhaps it was a voice trying to guide him?

Stability replaced the falling sensation. Now he realized that his eyes were still closed. As he opened them, a bright blinding light filled the black void. Gasping, he jumped up, bumping into someone who must have been looking down at him. The pain of the collision brought him back to the ground.

"Ow!" A voice said (presumably coming from the one he had just bumped into). They paused. "Oh, I must've startled you. My mistake. Who are you? Are you okay?"

His eyes began to adjust to the light, and he saw an eevee standing above his laying body looking down at him. "Where... Where am I?" He shook his head a bit and stood up. His legs felt weak. He looked at his body. He was covered in blue and black fur. A shinx. He couldn't remember if he was always that way.

"Wow, you must've had a rough night." The eevee backed up a bit as he stood. "You're in the Center City, obviously."

"Center city?" Looking around he saw an unfamiliar city made up primarily of tents, small houses and markets. There were pokemon all around, some wearing different colored bandannas around their necks, some carrying around very similar bags.

"This is worse than I thought. Do you remember your name? Where you came from?"

"My name is... Paru." Even after thinking for a minute he could not remember where he was from.

"Well that's a start. You seem to have serious amnesia, though. I'll try to help you out to the best of my ability. You were just laying here unconscious for a pretty long time. No one seemed to notice, though... Anyway, I'm Carina. You should head to Zenobia's place, she can probably help with amnesia. I think."

Paru cocked his head slightly. "You think?"

"I mean, probably. She's most likely in the building with the green cross on it. Can't miss it." Carina turned and started to walk away.

"Wait," he said, following her. "You're not coming with me?"

"Oh, I'll meet you there, I have something I have to take care of first." She continued walking.

"Let me go with you."

"But you need help with your memory."

"That can wait, can't it?"

"You're awfully calm about losing your memory..." Carina looked at him, somewhat concerned. "You sure you're fine?"

"I'll be alright. I'll remember everything in time, anyway."

"If you say so."

The two walked down one of four dirt roads leaving the city. As they continued, there was taller grass surrounding the road and more trees around. Eventually the area around the road became a thick forest brimming with green life. As Paru surveyed the area he noticed that there were some small houses for smaller pokemon deeper in the forest. He had never seen anything like the forest, and it fascinated him.

His eyes fell upon Carina. She was significantly smaller than him, her being an eevee and all. Her fur was a bit darker than any eevee he had recalled seeing, but he could have been mistaken with his limited memory. However, the fur on the end of her tail and around her neck was almost white, and he was almost certain other eevee's had darker fur than that. Maybe it was the lighting that made her colors seem different.

The sun was almost directly above them, so it must have been somewhat early. Possibly the beginning of the afternoon. It was a bit cold, although it wasn't freezing, so he assumed it was spring since the trees' leaves were mostly green.

"You know," Carina said, Paru moving his attention back to her, "I've never seen a shinx like you."

"What do you mean?" Paru asked.

"You have more fur than any I've seen. And you've got these little black marks on the tips of the fur on your head. It's a little odd."

"Odd? Is that bad?"

"No, just different."

"Oh, okay..." Now he was sure that he was a shinx, but still didn't know exactly what he looked like, as he hadn't seen any reflective surfaces yet. He wondered how the 'black marks' made him look.

The pair had been walking for what seemed like a bit over half an hour when they came to a large building with two pawniards guarding the entrance. There were a few small buildings around it, and a small marketplace. As Paru scanned his surroundings he noticed small groups of pokemon wearing the same colored bandannas around their necks. They all had similar bags, like the ones he had seen in the city.

"What's up with the bandannas and bags?" he asked Carina.

"Most of them are in exploration teams," she explained. "Some of them have clothing for protection though, like a pecha scarf to protect against poison. The bags are given to explorers once they join or create a team." She laughed. "You really did lose your memory, didn't you? Poor guy."

They approached the large building, and the pawniards stopped them. "Who is this?" They both spoke at the same time, not quite in sync, but pretty close. Paru assumed they were talking about him.

"This is Paru, he's a..." Carina paused, thinking for a second. "He's an acquaintance of mine, and he wanted to help me out with some work today."

"Okay. But no funny business!" The pawniards opened the doors letting Paru and Carina through. Inside, there was a large room with even more pokemon from exploration teams inside. Some of them gave Paru looks as he entered, but most didn't even notice him next to Carina.

"A shinx in the east?" He heard a gligar say from the other end of the room. "Now that's something!" Paru wasn't sure how he felt about that remark.

He followed Carina to a hallway coming from the right side of the room they first entered. They stopped at a door.

"You know what," she said, "you should stay right here. I'll be done in ten minutes or so, then we can go to Zenobia and do something about your memory loss."

"Why can't I help you with whatever you're doing?" Paru asked.

"Just... I don't think my friends will think bringing you here was the best idea. Can you just stay out here please?"

"Okay, okay. Sorry." He sat down where he was as Carina opened the door and closed it behind her.

He was left with his own thoughts as she went to do what she came for.