"… I'm sorry, but… who are you? What's going on? And where am I?"

Neither one had said or moved since the boy named Ash proposed his question. The young woman couldn't believe what she was witnessing now, but she had to stay calm for her sake and for Ash's. Lowering her hands away from her mouth and back upon her lap, she took a deep breath and prepared to give a short and sufficient explanation for her amnesiac guest.

"To answer your questions in order, my name is Anabel," she began. "As to what's going on, I found you and Pikachu out cold near my little cottage just a while ago. I originally feared the worst upon discovering you in my backward, but it turned out that you were still alive. You two were out for a few days. And where we are right now, we're in Tohjo Falls of the Kanto region."

"I see," Ash accepted calmly, giving her another inquiring look. "How do you know me? And who is Pikachu?"

"Years ago, you challenged me in the Battle Tower and won after your second try," Anabel explained. "As for Pikachu, he's been your best friend since you started your Pokémon journey… And it looks like he's about to wake up as well."

As if on cue, the little yellow creature that was asleep by Ash's head was stirring awake. His ears twitched involuntarily, sensing the current surroundings. His eyes fluttered opened after a big yawn, catching two humans in his line of sight as the first thing. One was a young boy with dark cyan hair, brown eyes, and small peculiar zigzag facial markings on his cheeks. The other was an older girl with lilac hair that was reaching down her shoulders with matching lilac eyes.

"Pii!" Pikachu grunted, shifting into a defensive position.

"Pikachu, wait!" Anabel called out, sensing uneasiness from the little Pokémon. "We're all friends here."

"… Pika?" Pikachu mumbled, not dropping his weary stance.

She continued to look him in the eye, not attempting to hide any form of deception or threat in her lilac eyes. This girl appeared to be sincere and somehow was able to understand him, which would be helpful. He didn't know where he was or who that boy next to her was supposed to be. Was he her brother? Mate? Or maybe just a friend? Regardless, he seemed to be just as trustworthy as the girl if not a bit naïve.

"You can trust us, Pikachu," Anabel assured, kneeling down to where the Mouse Pokémon was to maintain eye level. She started to pet him without caution, much to Pikachu's comfort. He visibly relaxed under her touch. "We're here to help."

"You seem to know how Pokémon feel, Anabel," Ash commented.

"It's just a unique gift I had since I was a little girl," Anabel explained as she continued petting Pikachu. "Last time I told you about this, you and Pikachu were the best of friends. You don't need to be an empath to see how obvious your bond was."

"Hmm, best friends with a Pokémon," Ash mused, also kneeling down to Pikachu's level. "I'd like that, especially if we were friends before. Do you want to give it a try, Pikachu? We don't have much else to do."

Anabel pulled her hand away to allow Pikachu to answer the presented question. He looked up at the boy with an inquiring look. As far as he would consider, he would normally avoid humans, but with his own memory loss at hand, he really did not have much of a choice. Moreover, he had more than a reason to actually trust these two humans in helping him out. And seeing as the boy was also suffering from memory loss, there must be some logical explanation to what had happened to them.

And so…

"Pika Pika-chu!" Pikachu affirmed, immediately leaping up on Ash's left shoulder.

The interaction seemed to have triggered a reaction from Ash as he suddenly clasped onto his head in pain before falling onto the sofa in front of him. His breathing was rather shallow and he struggled to control the involuntary spasms. Out of panic from the situation, Pikachu leapt back to his original spot on the sofa while Anabel quickly got to her feet.

"Ash, what's wrong?" Anabel asked.

"… Argh… M-My head," Ash groaned, beginning to breathe easier after a few seconds had passed. "… It felt like some weird headache."

"I wonder… … did that help you remember anything?"

"Uh… … Ugh… … No."

"Well, it was worth a shot."

The Salon Maiden had thought that the familiar physical contact with Pikachu would've triggered some of Ash's lost memories. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but it would help their case a lot more if he had some memories to start out with. After all, there was one very important thing she needed to let him know about. And Ash was about to give her that opportunity at explaining it.

"… Hey, Anabel?" Ash began, sitting into a more comfortable position. "You mentioned that you were worried when you thought we weren't alive when you found us. Do you know what could have happened to us?"

"The truth is… no one in this world thinks you're alive now, Ash," Anabel admitted hesitantly, prompting the predicted expressions of shock from the boy and Pikachu. She needed to continue before either one started asking questions. "You were considered dead since you went missing five years ago. You couldn't be found anywhere. I thought I found your lost body earlier today, but to my surprise, you and Pikachu are still alive. I don't know what happened to you two since then, but based from the photos the public showed when you were pronounced dead, you looked exactly the same as those photos."

*Beat*

"… We're… dead?!" Ash repeated, accompanied by an equally outraged Pikachu. "D-Does this mean we're…?"

"You're not on the 'other side', if that's what you're thinking," Anabel reassured. "You're still among the living. As a matter of fact, the last place you were reported alive before going missing was somewhere in the Kalos region. Like I said, you couldn't be found anywhere after getting into some great accident, so you were pronounced dead."

"The Kalos region?" Ash repeated curiously.

"Pii-ka," Pikachu mumbled, just as confused as his alleged best friend.

"I'd imagine you were traveling through the Kalos region to compete in its Pokémon League," Anabel surmised, eyes lighting up with inspiration. "That's it! That's our main clue right now."

"Clue for what?" Ash asked.

"We're going to retrace your steps in Kalos and figure out what happened to you and Pikachu," Anabel explained. "I should've asked, but do you have any Pokémon on you right now? Search your belt or pockets for something."

"Okay."

Ash carried out her request and found some Poké Balls hanging on his belt. He opened them up, but nothing came out of any of them, much to Anabel's disappointment. It seemed that Pikachu was the only one with him. He then searched his pockets and uncovered a slim red device hiding in his back pocket.

"That must be your Pokédex," Anabel deduced upon close inspection. "Not only does to analyze and record the information of Pokémon you meet, but it also serves as your official Trainer ID."

"That's pretty cool," Ash commented, fiddling with the device until the interface opened up.

The Pokédex revealed various options for Ash to explore. Upon touching certain things on its advanced holographic interface, the Pokédex revealed the Pokémon he had encountered in the Kalos region, which Pokémon had been under his ownership, and even his own personal information.

"According to this, I am 'Ash of Pallet Town' in the Kanto region," Ash read aloud of the presented information. He then pulled out a rather thin case that was cool to the touch with his other hand. "I wonder if this case has something to do with what I was doing before."

Opening the case up, he discovered one row of four uniquely designed Badges while the row below it had three Badges. There were seven of them in total. Ash looked more closely, wondering where they came from while Anabel began gathering her thoughts on the matter.

"Those must be your Badges from the Kalos region," Anabel spoke up. "I don't recognize them anywhere else and they definitely have that special quality Pokémon League Badges would have, so they must be."

"I guess your story really checks out, Anabel," Ash confirmed as he put away the Badge case. "I really was in Kalos after all. That means I need to go back there for answers then."

"Before you do, let's go to Pallet Town first," Anabel suggested. "I'm sure your family and other Pokémon miss you, and it'd probably do them good to see you alive."

"True, but it probably wouldn't help that I can't remember any of them right now," Ash brought up. "And if it really has been five years since I was claimed dead or disappeared, then who knows what kind of an effect I'll have by showing up out of nowhere."

"Good point," Anabel considered as an afterthought. "Well, I know that Professor Oak also lives in Pallet Town, and I'm pretty sure that the Pokémon you've caught from your journey should probably still be there. It'd be helpful to take at least one reliable Pokémon with you aside from Pikachu that'll help you through."

"I suppose it couldn't hurt, and it might help me remember something," Ash mumbled thoughtfully. "Alright, I've decided. I'll do it!"

"Wonderful, Ash."

"But what are you going to do now, Anabel?"

"What do you mean? I'm going with you, of course."

"You sure that's okay with you? You've already done a lot for us as it is…"

"You still don't have your full memory back and I can't live with myself if something happens to you," Anabel admitted, turning away as a mild blush illuminated upon her face. "It was already bad you were gone five years ago. We don't need you to be gone for good this time."

"You're right," Ash sighed. "I don't even know where Pallet Town is. And that's supposed to be my home or something. How embarrassing…"

"It's no trouble at all," Anabel assured with a smile. "I just need to let my 'boss' know that I'll be unable to attend to my regular duties in the Battle Tower. I've accumulated a lot of vacation days anyway, so I doubt he'll have any objections about me going to Pallet Town and to Kalos."

"Kalos too? You're really being sweet on us, Anabel," Ash chuckled. "I'm really glad you were the one to find us. And I'm sure Pikachu agrees as well."

"Pi-ka, Pikapi," Pikachu answered affirmatively.

"Then it's settled," Anabel concluded eagerly. "Allow me to make arrangements with my boss and we should be able to leave by tomorrow morning for a fresh start."

"Great idea," Ash added resolutely before exchanging gazes with Pikachu. "We'll figure out who we really are in no time, Pikachu."

"Pika-chu!" Pikachu agreed.

"There's still a bit of time until eventide shines about Tohjo Falls," Anabel indicated. "You're welcome to get some fresh air, but don't wander too far. Remember your condition."

"Thanks, Anabel," Ash said, gesturing to Pikachu to climb back on his shoulder.

The amnesiac boy admittedly enjoyed that sensation. Pikachu was willing to oblige as he had done so before they went outside. Anabel saw them off with a fond smile before realizing her current task at hand. She didn't doubt that Scott wouldn't deny her request, but she should approach this situation as tactfully as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was make him think that she was hiding secrets from the Battle Frontier. But with Ash turning up five years later near her own backyard since was announced missing before being declared dead was too significant to simply pass off. He and Pikachu needed help, and with no one else knowing about this except for her, she was obligated to help her friend and secret crush figure out these mysteries.

Anabel never considered that this was going to be the start of a new, interesting adventure outside the Battle Tower.

I've decided to have a total of nine arcs, this prologue arc included. They'll be composed of four chapters each, following the formatting of Super Paper Mario (more or less anyway). And as for Pikachu not being as rebellious or distrusting as in first episode, he lost his memories, not his character development, simply put. After all, he did suffer amnesia for an episode in the Advanced Generation period (A Scare to Remember, I believe; a title like this is kind of easy to remember) and was friendly towards everyone, including Meowth, who was intentionally leading him astray.

Well, since I've already started this story, I can't just leave it behind now. I'll bear this responsibility along with another ongoing story.

Anyway, I also saw that incredible Lumiose Gym battle Ash had with Clemont. I could tell much effort was put into it, from the general strategies right down to the animation. Thought I ought to share it.

Please review!

L-ater!