Chapter Two:
Lost Touch

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way, shape, or form. The only "ownership" I can claim are the personalities and my interpretation of how Pokémon look in a more realistic light, but other than that...yeah, I don't own anything on them. XD I do, however, own my original characters and writings, unless otherwise stated. In an exceptional case, a few special OCs belong to their respective owners, I'm merely borrowing them for the story that's to unfold. I'll point them out when their time to show up comes. :3

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You don't say much
You don't say any more than you have to
Have you lost touch
With the ones you adore and sought after, yeah
And you don't know why
-"Some Kind of Home" by Thriving Ivory

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It was nearly dusk by the time everything was completed. Disappointment lingered like a bad taste in her mouth. It was enough to make her need to get out of the pokémon lab, the first time since she'd first set eyes on the place. It was heavy and oppressing, a prison she needed to escape, even if only for a short while. She didn't have anywhere else to go, even in spite of the offer from Ms. Joan to place her in a more comfortable, semi-permanent halfway house until she could either be identified or helped back onto her feet.

The offer had been tempting, but at the same time…

Well…suffice to say, it was declined, regardless of the good intentions. After the police had left with polite nods, terse instructions and a genuine goodwill with the physician, the air seemed to grow tight and heavy as the minutes ticked by. She managed to wheedle an excuse to finally wander New Bark Town, although it wasn't to completely and pointlessly shuffle about streets. She was, after all, giving her services to the professor in exchange for room and board.

The closest he had to a task in town for her was shopping to restock the lab's supplies. That seemed easy enough.

Lupin spent most of her time outside getting the lay of the land. The town, in spite of its small size, was a central hub for traveling trainers making their way to and from Kanto. There was a small pokémon clinic with the simplest of necessities. There was a pokémon department store next door with all the needed accessories and supplies a trainer would need or want in order to continue to the next town over. Several other businesses catered to other pokémon services, such as grooming or treats, although Lupin was looking for more human-based services at this point.

Or, well…human-ish services, in her case.

She found the food mart after passing the clinic a second time, satisfied that she could pinpoint where to go if she needed something other than food.

But why would I need to know where everything is? I don't plan on going anywhere else.

The thought suddenly struck her odd almost as soon as it came to her. She paused mid-step, staring blankly at the aisle wall, hand dropping to her side.

Why would I stay here?

The juxtaposition of the situation felt like she had abruptly hit a brick wall at full speed running. Why would she stay? Why should she go? If someone is looking for her, wouldn't it benefit staying? But what if they weren't? What if someone knew her but didn't know she was missing? Finding them while figuring out who she was should be priority, shouldn't it?

Now she was wishing she had shown the pictures in her wallet to the police. Perhaps they could have done a multiple search: for her identity, and perhaps the identity of the others. More questions, even fewer answers. She sighed heavily, plucking the box of noodles off the shelf before her and tossed it into the basket. She lingered in the store, slowly going through the list before making it to the checkout counter. She glanced at the list the professor had given her, tucked it in her pocket and plucked an additional task list that Phillip had passed along to her from her pocket.

She read through the list, which was rather short, sweet, and to the point. Turning on her heel, she double-backed to the pokémon supply mart. Should've done this before hitting the food mart, she thought, although as she slipped in through the door when she arrived, realized it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier. Although, to be fair, it'd look even less crowded if pokémon didn't litter the aisles alongside their trainers.

She gave pause a three-headed, dusty-brown bird poking its head over one of the aisles. It watched her and two other people in different places with beady eyes. Lupin mock sneered at the head facing her and it puffed its feathers up, clacking its beak indignantly with a squawk. She snickered and headed for the counter, where one of the workers ushered her forward when his customer finished up.

She handed the list over, mentioning she was coming from Professor Elm's lab. Immediately, recognition lit up his face and he waved a hand to her.

"Of course, it's that time again. Every two weeks, Professor Elm has us order items in bulk for his research pokémon. Are you a new intern?"

"Intern? Oh. Oh, um…I guess you could call me that. I kinda just…showed up one day."

It was somewhat true, to a point. He leaned forward on the counter, smiling at her.

"You passing through town and looking for work? Is that all it is?"

"Not really. I just…needed a place to stay, so I'm doing some chores around the lab and getting some knowledge about the…here. Johto. I'm working it out with the professor right now. Um…about that order. Do I need to pay now or…?"

He sighed, pushing away from the counter, running his hand through his thick hair. "Payments are made upon delivery, which will be in a few days." He paused, lips quirking again. "I'm guessing if I was straightforward and honest about asking you out, you'd say no, wouldn't you?"

Lupin had to focus on keeping her ears from rustling beneath her hat. They were tempted to pin against her head, possibly skew her hat's position over her head. She cleared her throat and shook her head instead. "Sorry, I'm not really—no. No, I'm not. Interested, that is."

Another smile, this one accompanied by a good-natured shrug and a wink. "Can't say I didn't try. Say hi to Professor Elm and Phillip for me. We'll have your goods delivered in a few days for those hungry pokémon."

She took her leave after that, toting with her all the groceries she'd bought. They seemed to weigh nothing at all, although her thoughts were another story altogether. The trip into town had done some good in distracting her, but now she had no town to occupy her attention. Her idle mind kept retreating back to the empty results that had taken place after the physician and her Gardevoir had tried pushing past the mental block in her head. No matter the pushing, prodding, or coaxing inducted by the Gardevoir yielded any positive results. It was a solid blackness, Laila had finally determined, one that she couldn't intrude on or it might risk harming Lupin further.

"It's up to you to either overcome it or…adapt around it. It will depend on how deep the trauma you suffered has gone. There isn't much else I can do except offer my condolences and to wish you good luck in that endeavor." Laila had remarked with a bowed head and closed eye. She sounded so sincere and genuine, but it didn't make Lupin feel any better.

It had left the physician disappointed and remorseful with the lack of results. It left Lupin feeling hollow, lost and full of resentment toward whatever forces in the world had decided to do this to her.

A sudden squeal of pain and something lumpy writhing under her boot alerted her back to her surroundings. A sharp pain in her ankle triggered a knee jerk reaction to kick out at whatever had sunk into her flesh. The pain was sharp but brief and she stumbled backwards with a yelp that quickly grew into a snarl. She felt her tail puffing up beneath her coat, and her ears flared against her skull, shifting her hat crookedly. She searched the ground with a venomous glare, ready to sic her contempt on whatever had decided to attack her.

An insult and a curse had lined itself up against the backs of her teeth, loud and abrasive and aimed to hurt as much as her foot was ready to crush down on the offender. But, everything was swallowed back down and lodged itself in her throat, choking her for a split second.

"What—what?! You—! You're supposed to be up at the lab!"

Curled up on the side of the road and eyeing her with cold, yellow eyes was the professor's Totodile. His back was slightly arched, making the crimson back plates flare and seem like they were spiking higher than normal, the tips of his front paws balancing his upper body to a near-upright position. His nostrils flared and the blue of his scales glinted in the dying sunlight, giving it a rather startling and dramatic effect. They weren't incredibly shiny, but neither were they a dull matte colour.

"And you were supposed to be outside with us this afternoon. It's rude to establish a routine and then up and leave like that. Oh, what do you have? Can I see, let me see. I've been waiting out here for over an hour, I'm starved! I missed dinner."

Then with a single push, the Totodile was up on his thick hind legs, shuffling forward with surprising agility toward the bags dangling in Lupin's hands. He sniffled loudly and nearly snapped one apart with his crooked, sharp teeth if she hadn't lifted them out of his reach at the last second. His forearms wriggled in front of him, pawing at the empty air and up towards the bags.

"What in the hell were you waiting for me for? What if a car ran you over, or somebody decided to-to—"

"To what? Battle me? I can take anyone on and anything they throw at me," he snorted indignantly and clacking his jaws together. She glowered, not entirely believing she was having this conversation. I'm insane. I hit my head and I've gone insane. I inhaled too much water, killed my brain, now I'm hearing voices that aren't possibly real coming out of the mouths of these—these things!

He was clawing at her pant leg now, trying to clamber up her to reach the bags and on top of that, was making squeaking whines. "C'mon, gimme! I'm hungry!"

She sighed, half in aggravation, half in defeat. "We'll be back at the lab in ten minutes if we start walking now. Come on."

"I'm too hungry to move. I might starve before then. Carry me!" He gave her that crooked crocodile grin, eyelids lowering to give her a leering expression, rolling onto his side.

She scowled again. "You lazy reptile. I don't have time for this. My hands are full."

"Please?"

"You should've thought about that before you wandered out here." She paused, raising a brow at the blue-scaled reptile. "And I thought you could handle anything."

"Hunger is my one weakness. The cons of being cold blooded. Slow metabolism." He snorted sharply, rolling back onto all fours. "Please carry me? It's getting cold. I don't move as well in the cold."

She watched him with narrowed eyes, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "Manners. That's a start." She sighed and kneeled, lowering her shoulder closer toward him. "Climb on. I really don't want to put all this down. And no, you can't have anything until we get to the lab. I'll make you something before bed."

"Fair enough, I suppose. Maybe I'll put in a good word to the professor for you when we get back to the lab." He remarked with another pointed sniff as he shuffled forward and hauled himself onto her shoulders. She winced at his sharp claws, but straightened up without a word of complaint and lurched forward back down the way she had been going.

"He doesn't seem to understand you."

"Not in words, no." He replied against her cheek. She tilted her head just enough to find one large yellow eye staring back at her. "But you do. Not many people can understand pokémon like you do. Some can, or so I've heard, but you're the first I've come across who can. It's uncommon."

The Totodile paused long enough to let out a sharp breath through his nostrils. "But you're not like most people. You don't smell human."

She didn't say anything and put her gaze back on the road. A soft rattling sound sounded off on her shoulder. Is he…laughing?

"I'm not going to tell. Although the other two are scared of you." She felt a hard mouth poke at her neck. "You don't smell like any pokémon I've encountered before. What are you exactly? And why're you posing as a human?"

"I'm…not a pokémon," she replied vaguely. "But I'm not…human either. It's…complicated."

"Did you forget what you were?" He sounded rather curious and a bit…sympathetic. It surprised her and some of her mild resentment to his earlier behavior melted away.

"Kind of."

"Well, you did inhale a lot water from the lake. I was the one who pulled you out. I didn't even need any help."

She could practically feel him swelling with pride on her shoulder. He'd puffed himself up by balancing against her shoulder on his front legs. His back legs clung to the back of her shirt while his tail—which was surprisingly prehensile and she didn't think it possible in a reptile—curled across her shoulders for counterbalance. He must've looked all sorts of proud, she mused, and it did bring a faint grin to her lips. Arrogant and cheeky little guy. He was young, though. Childish, in some ways. But the professor did say that a Totodile was the juvenile stage for a Feraligatr, whatever that was.

"I didn't smell any blood. You didn't hit your head, I don't think. So why did you forget? There was a human doctor there earlier today, right? She was helping you."

"It's…she said it's complicated. I could have amnesia from…any number of things. Psychological shock or physical trauma. I could remember everything soon or…remember nothing, ever again. I'd never know who I am again. Not…not unless I meet someone who knew me and can help."

"So why don't you?"

"It's complicated," she replied.

"What's so complicated about finding someone you know? Can't you smell your nest-mates? Just go sniff them out and have them help you."

"It doesn't work like that—this world is…it's pretty big. And I…wouldn't know where to start. Or who to look for. I just…have faces in pictures. No names. No addresses."

"Sounds like a personal problem."

She stopped in her tracks and snarled. She wished she could drop the burdens in her hands to pluck the little pokémon off her shoulder and make him walk the rest of the way. "Okay, look you scaly little brat. Here's the thing: I'm not staying at the lab, I do intend to go on my merry way and you'll never have to see me again. So until then, I want you to zip it and leave me be to figure things out. Starting now."

Her outburst, while she would admit she could have handled it better, seemed to have the desired effect. For a few minutes, up until the pokémon lab was in sight, the Totodile was silent, save for his raspy breathing. When they reached the door and she opened them to enter, only then did he speak. "I was only asking because I'm intrigued by you not being pokémon or human. I wasn't impressed. Don't mix the two up."

Tension coiled in his little body a split second before he leapt from her shoulder and landed inside the doorway with all the grace of a cat. Once more, she was dumbstruck, the immediate impression of 'should be impossible' stamping itself at the forefront of her thoughts. The water pokémon glanced back at her with those bright yellow eyes and snorted.

"If you're looking to leave soon, let me know. I might just go with you, since the other two are too scared to come near you except around mealtime. But I'm only offering because I know the professor would worry, since you don't seem to have any pokémon of your own. Could be dangerous out there without any. Human or not."

His rattling laughter echoed into the confines of the lab as he waddled inside, leaving Lupin with the groceries still in hand.

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"He did what?"

Phillip Armstrong stared at her, rather incredulous as he peeled away some of the groceries from her hands to place on the counter. His mouth was gaping as he whipped his head to look over his shoulder, as though expecting to see the offender of his searching gaze.

"Yeah, I guess Totodile decided to try and follow me, maybe? I found him less than a mile down the road, though. He seemed rather…miffed."

He raised a dark eyebrow at her, lips pursing as he turned back toward the groceries.

"That's unusual. None of the pokémon have ever done that before. In fact, they've all been acting a little strange lately, ever since you arrived."

"I'm an anomaly in their routine. I'm also a new face. They're probably still getting used to me," she responded automatically, thinking back on Totodile's words. They're afraid of me, that's why. I don't smell right to them.

"Maybe. It takes some pokémon longer than others to adjust to new faces. Although Totodile seems to be taking a liking to you." He smiled, as though that was the greatest thing in the world to notice. Lupin avoided his gaze, busying herself with stocking the fridge with the colder items.

"I don't think he's taking much of a shine to me. He bit my ankle the minute he saw me before squealing at me like he was cursin' me out."

The smile dropped and a dumbstruck expression painted his face now.

"…huh."

"Yeah. Might wanna rethink your statement," she remarked back, stuffing in a gallon of milk into the fridge before tossing the white plastic bag onto the counter. She turned back to the counter to pull out the various meat packages to stuff into the freezer. She omitted the part where she did step on him, but even if she hadn't, she doubted the blue-scaled reptile would have been any less rude.

"Well, regardless, I'll have to let the professor know. He was very worried when he couldn't find Totodile after they were let out this afternoon. I'm glad he's all right, though."

She hummed back, a noncommittal response. It wasn't that she didn't agree. She was still stinging from his sharp little words, and it made her skin crawl with how uncomfortable she felt in it. She wasn't a whole person, not with how empty her head was.

Stupid reptile. Just ignore him, he's a rude little fucker, she finally settled for with a scowl as she finished with one of the last bags. Listening to whatever he had to say wasn't going to fix her situation. That much was for sure.

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