Chapter 3

After a bit of debating inside her head, Muddy decided against telling Spark. She was already wondering whether she would regret telling Cloudbearer and Lupe; Lupe especially.

With a shake of her head, Muddy only said, "Like I said, you wouldn't believe me."

She hardly believed it herself, the idea of all this being some strange dream was still floating around inside her head, part of her hoping it was true.

Spark shot Muddy a skeptical look, almost as if to say 'I know you're hiding something important' before turning away, to look at the door.

Underneath the cloth, bright orange light spilled through, signaling sunset. Lupe and Cloudbearer hadn't come back, making Muddy wonder if they had retired for the night. By the looks of it, Nurse Chansey was about to tell Spark to leave, too.

"Perhaps you should go, it's getting dark. I'm sure Nurse Chansey is about to kick you out too," Muddy said quietly, almost as if she read Spark's mind.

"Yeah, you're right," the minum sighed, "Hopefully I'll be able to evade Lupe tomorrow. I don't know why I agreed to helping him."

Muddy watched as Spark disappeared through the cloth, out into the waning day. Shooting a nervous look at nothing in particular, she attempted to go back to the middle of the hay known as her temporary bed.

Now that the shock had faded, it was much harder to move about, although she couldn't remember much about walking when she was human, her body did, making her want to walk on two legs. It was also hard to move all four legs in unison, making the four steps to the middle wobble, like an infant.

Collapsing onto the bed, Muddy rolled onto her side, finding it more comfortable then laying on her feet, and stared at the wall. Looking at the rough, clay walls, she tried to tell herself that when she closed her eyes and opened them again, she'd be human again, with all her memories in tact.

Even as she said this, though, a part of her new that this was all very real.

(._.")

Lupe walked side by side with Cloudbearer, who had surprisingly not pecked his head off after he had blurted out that Muddy was a human. Despite the fact he didn't believe it, he still thought that was one of the few things that needed to be left unspoken.

Thinking back on it, he was sure the only reason he had escaped Cloudbearer's wrath was by quickly making his best confused face and tekking the Island Locator Team that he had said 'crew man' instead of 'human'. They didn't sound exactly the same, but it was close enough on all of their standards.

The two walked in silence down the old, dirt path leading towards the edge of town. Pokemon were closing up shop, the lights they had lit being snuffed out as they retreated to the back of their home. In the background was a splash of orange and yellow representing the sunset, a few bird pokemon flying into the forest were they live.

The scene reminded Lupe of something, "Shouldn't you being flying back to your house in the woods?"

Following the dirt road past the town was a short distance of fields that led to the forest. A majority of the trees there held an overwhelming amount of berries, making it the home of most bird, including Cloudbearer.

"Depends, are you going to do anything else idiotic today?" Cloudbearer asked pointedly.

"Idiotic? Everything I do is pure genius," the Eevee grinned slightly, "But, yeah. For some reason today made me really tired. I guess it's because so much happened today."

"If you actually manage to become a Locator Team you're going to be dead in a few days," Cloudbearer muttered.

Lupe's eyes shined. "I can't wait! Even if it IS with mudkip who claims to be human is in my team, this is going to be awesome!"

The image of the small mudkip flashed through Cloudbearer's mind. The fact that she was found washed up against the rocks was strange, making want to believe what she claimed, that she had mysteriously turned human, especially with how she had stood on her legs earlier, awkwardly, as if she had never been on four legs before.

Spreading his wings, Cloudbearer said, "Good luck. We'll all be placing bets on when you'll quit at the crew man's tree." With that he flapped his wings and started to fly away with an angry Lupe yelling after him he wouldn't quit for anything, before turning back and heading home.

(._.")

The sun was high in the sky by the time Lupe had determinedly found Spark and dragged her back to the clinic to retrieve Muddy. Atop his head, right below his eyes, were a pair of goggles.

Spark had shot him one look, before rolling her eyes. She had worn them once, and the way they managed to scratch her skin despite her fur had irritated her. Lupe could look the part, but there was no way she was about to.

Heading inside the old clinic, Muddy stood by Nurse Chansey, who was inspecting her for any remaining scratches, while Muddy ate an apple.

Spark couldn't help but notice the awkwardness in the stance, the way she stood, feet strangely placed, the way she ducked her head, as if she was used to slightly longer neck.

"Are you ready Muddy?" Lupe beamed at Muddy as she looked up. They fixated on the goggles he wore, and she probably would have raised an eyebrow if she had one.

"Yeah, let me just finish eating my apple," she replied, taking another bite.

Nurse Chansey stepped back, satisfied. "Good, yesterday didn't leave you too damaged. I presume that you losing conscience was from something along the lines of shock.

Lupe and Muddy both exchanged a glance at that, one wondering if the other believed her, and the other starting to become just a little less skeptical about all this.

With one last bite, Muddy thanked Chansey, and headed towards the duo, ready to become a Locator Team.

A/N: What do you mean it's been six months since I updated? It's only been six days /shot. Sorry about that, you're allowed to go off on me about that. (Plus I didn't really like this chapter)