Hey, what's up? I'm back with another chapter.

...This is the point where I'd say something witty or clever, but I'm all out of ideas. So, um... enjoy...?

Chapter 3: Awakening

The gentle trickle of water woke Jay from his endless slumber. He was incredibly weak; he could barely move his muscles or even open his eyelids. A slight pain near the top of his skull throbbed, sending a wave of pain through his head.

His mind was foggy and his thoughts unclear. He could barely remember the events that led up to the present. Questions flooded his mind: where was he? How did he get here? What happened that had knocked him out for so long?

The more he pondered these questions, the more his head hurt. He decided to relax, stop thinking, let the cool water wash over him…

Water…?

Panic filled his mind as memories flooded back. The river! He was still in the river! Still floating away from Aunt Edith and Uncle Lenny… He had to find help! Had to do something… had to go…

He tried to lift his hand above the water. He had to swim… there had to be some way to survive… he tried lifting his eyelids to see, but when he did, the cool water stung his eyes, forcing him to close them again…

His thoughts became muddled again. He couldn't breathe… he couldn't breathe… he had to find help. He tried crying out, but his words were distorted by the stream… he could feel himself slipping away…

No… please, no…

XxX

"There it is, Guildmaster! The Totodile!"

Aria rushed forward to the clump of reeds and began to desperately push them aside to reveal the body of the Totodile. Flygon watched idly with a worried look on her brow.

Aria grabbed handfuls of reeds and pushed them into the water. She almost choked with happiness when she saw that the Totodile was still waiting there, unconscious in its bed of water and reeds.

She put a hand over its heart and was relieved to find it still pumping life. Its chest rose and fell, and it was unaffected by the water that was flowing over its nose.

Flygon fluttered over and examined the Totodile. She put a clawed hand on its forehead and gently opened its eyelid, occasionally murmuring something to herself.

She ran a hand over its head, and the Totodile suddenly winced, stirring in its sleep. It waved a hand and murmured something, but it didn't seem to wake.

"It's bruised… Perhaps a concussion…" Flygon murmured to herself.

"Is it going to be okay?" Aria asked, her voice laced with worry.

Flygon picked up the body, placing a hand over its heart. The Totodile coughed in its sleep and shuddered as it was pulled out of the water. She felt its forehead once more, and after a few tense moments, she nodded.

"He'll be okay… but he'll need some help. He was hit pretty hard on the head, and if he was sitting in the stream the whole day, surely he'll be a bit disoriented. We'll take him in for a while, look after him until he's feeling better," Flygon stated.

Aria felt an unexplained flush of relief. Even though she had no idea who this mystery Totodile was, she was glad that he was going to be okay.

Maybe it's just my explorer spirit… I'm always used to helping complete strangers…

Instead of showing her happiness, Aria remained static, not wanting to look unprofessional in front of the Guildmaster. She asked a simple question but otherwise remained silent: "How do you know it's a boy?"

"I could hear him talk in his sleep… Something about Aunt Eloise and Uncle Luke…" Flygon replied. She shook her head. "But no matter. We should get back to the guild. It's getting late, and he'll need help."

Flygon flapped her mighty wings and flew up a few feet, shaking off some water that had gotten on her skin. She carried the unconscious Totodile in her arms.

Aria hopped out of the river and was surprised that the sun was starting to set. The sky was starting to turn red and purple, and several stars started winking to life. The day had just flown by—one minute, she was eating breakfast, the next, she was battling Arcanine, the next, she was assisting the Guildmaster rescuing the Totodile…

"Oh, and one more thing, Aria?" the Guildmaster said.

Aria perked up and looked at Flygon, who was observing her with a faint smile on her face. "Thank you for alerting me of this, young one. You have a brave heart with kindness to spare… you are a great explorer."

Aria smiled, feeling her heart flutter at this compliment. Although the Guildmaster was very kind, she had incredibly high expectations, and she was rather hard to please. If she had earned the Guildmaster's respect…

"Thank you, Guildmaster," Aria said, bowing respectfully.

"Now, let's go back to the guild. I'm kind of worried about leaving Krokorok in charge while I'm gone, and I just hope the whole place hasn't blown up," Flygon said mischievously.

Aria snorted in laughter. "Yeah. Leave him alone for a while, and who knows what'll happen?"

The two began their journey downhill to the guild, the unconscious Totodile in Flygon's arms. Neither of them knew what great adventures would await them when the Totodile finally awoke.

XxX

"A Totodile?"

"I've never seen one around here before!"
"Does it bite?"

"Where did you find it?"

"Can I poke it?"

The blur of voices gently brought Jay out of his sleep once more. He still felt very weak; indeed, it felt like he was nothing more than a ragdoll hanging limply in someone's arms.

He couldn't open his eyes, but a rush of information flooded through his other senses. His skin felt warm, but not unpleasantly so—it felt like he was wrapped in a warm towel. Many voices entered his ears, but he could barely distinguish the words. None of the voices sounded familiar.

A strange, unfamiliar smell wafted into his nostrils. It smelled like a scented candle or burning incenses. It was a warm scent that reminded Jay of home. He began to relax, the scent making his eyelids droop.

His eyes suddenly shot open with a gasp. Even though the atmosphere smelled so sweet, it wasn't home… He was somewhere else. Somewhere foreign.

Questions swam in his mind like panicked little fish. Where was he? How had he gotten there? Was he safe? Did they fish him out of the river? Aunt Emma and Uncle Logan… Were they okay? Or was he dead? Were they grieving over him?

"He's awake!"

"Watch out, Guildmaster!"

"He might bite you!"

"Can I poke him?"

"QUIET!"

The harshness of the voice made him squeeze his eyes shut and squirm in place. He realized that he was being held by someone—his feet weren't touching the ground… but who was holding him?

The voices quieted down with the scream. Jay's head, which had been pulsing with pain, suddenly stopped pounding. He tried to wiggle out of the hands of the stranger, but he was still too weak…

"I don't want anyone speaking until we get him safely to bed. If anyone makes a peep or tries to touch him, you'll go a week without supper! Do I make myself clear?!" the voice demanded.

Jay's heart raced. The speaker sounded so fierce… he didn't want to see who she was… he wanted to get out of here, run away from the screaming voice, do something…

Nobody dared speak a word; apparently the threat of no dinner was a very real possibility. He could feel his captor's arms tighten, as if to detain him… He moaned in defeat, wanting nothing more than to be with Aunt Ezra and Uncle Lyle…

He felt himself being set down on some soft grass. His panic had made him almost numb to the outside world, so when he opened his eyes, he didn't believe anything was true.

The only light came from a flickering torch; everything else was dark. It looked like he was in some sort of underground room, with a mud roof and hard dirt walls. He felt like he was lying down on a bed of straw and soft grass, and a soft woven quilt had been placed over his body.

Urgh… What… happened…? Jay thought groggily.

Suddenly, two faces towered over his, and Jay almost lost himself.

They weren't in the least bit human. One face had a long nose, sharp teeth, tan skin, and dark black stripes. Its eyes glowed black like the midnight sky. It was very crocodilian in design.

The other looked like a dragon, or possibly a dragonfly. It had a green face, large wings, red lenses over its eyes, and two arms that ended in clawed fingers. Despite the rather menacing appearance, both of them looked rather concerned.

Jay screamed, fear coursing through his body. "AAAAAAAAAH! M-monsters! Ge-get away! Get away!" He leapt off the pile of straw and raced to the other side of the room, pushing himself against the wall. His heart was pounding, and a sudden image of the crocodile eating him flashed through his mind. His eyes widened in fear and his lip trembled.

The dragon creature looked to him, looking confused and concerned. "We aren't monsters!"

The fact that it could speak surprised Jay. The fact that the dragon was a female surprised him even more; he had expected the dragon to have a rough, masculine voice.

"We're not gonna hurt you, little guy…"

The crocodile's voice was what he had expected for the dragon: he had a deep tone that reminded Jay of sandpaper. His voice made chills run down his spine, and his massive yellow teeth made him even more afraid.

The dragon flapped her wings, flying forward to Jay. He wanted to melt into the ground and disappear, go away from the madness of the whole situation. But he couldn't do anything but tremble in fear and squeeze his eyes shut as the dragon approached him…

"You know, you're acting awfully weird for a Totodile," the dragon said.

Jay opened up one eye and looked at the dragon, who was a few feet in front of him. She looked awfully confused at his fear, and Jay couldn't help but think there was something seriously wrong with him.

He was confused as well. What did she just call me? A "Totodile"? Is that some kind of nickname for me? Jay spoke up despite his fear and confusion.

"What's a Totodile?"

The dragon looked at the crocodile and murmured a few words. Jay couldn't catch her words, but judging by the furtive glances down at him, his suspicions grew that there was something different.

Argh… This is a weird dream… I wake up and find lots of weird creatures staring at me like I'm some sort of freak…

But it felt too real to be a dream… He had never been able to smell scents in his dreams, and the colors were too bright, too vivid to be just a figment of his imagination. This was reality.

Jay's stomach lurched. Was there really something wrong with him? The dragon and crocodile seemed to be talking about him like there was… What if he was growing a third arm?

Jay glanced down at his arms and was relieved to find he still had two… but then he realized that there was indeed something wrong with his arms.

They were a light sky blue with exactly four fingers at the end. His fingers looked more like claws—they were pointed at the end like talons.

Panic rose up in his chest. Looking down, he found that his entire body was blue. He was also much shorter—his pudgy legs barely brought him two feet off the ground. His chest had a stripe of tan zigzagging through his blue belly.

He gasped, and when he opened up his mouth, he realized his face had been elongated into a snout. He could still feel his teeth, but they had been filed into sharp points. He even had a tail: although it was very small, he could still feel it.

"Oh… Oh no…!"

He gasped, breathing quick breaths as he grabbed his head. "No no no no no no no… Please, please no…" His eyes crossed and he turned around in a circle as if chasing his tail. Panic had taken over his body and mind, turning him into a hyperventilating mess.

"A-are you okay?" the dragon asked.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

He curled his body up into a tiny ball and squeezed his eyes shut, desperately hoping to wake from the terrible nightmare he was stuck in. He trembled and was surprised to find tears squeezing out of his eyes. Where were his parents? Where were Aunt Edith and Uncle Lloyd? Where was his previous life?

No… no… please, please let this all be a dream… I'm just dreaming… I'll wake up and be able to watch TV all day… this is just a dream… just… a… dream…

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he jerked away. "No! Get away from me!" he screamed as he uncurled from his ball.

Jay looked up to find that the dragon was hovering in front of him. Her eyes were wide with concern, but Jay was still too terrified to talk to her.

"G-get away—Flygon!"

Flygon?

He didn't even know where the word had come from. It had just… popped into his mind.

He looked at the large tan crocodile, and suddenly, he had a name for him too: Krokorok.

Jay began to hyperventilate again. "No… This is crazy! I don't even know who you are! How do I know your names?" he gasped.

"It's basic Pokémon instinct. Nobody knows why, but we somehow are able to instinctively recognize other species," Flygon explained.

"Wait. Pokey-what?" Jay asked. Despite his lingering anxiety, he was still very confused as to what was going on.

Is that what I am? A Pokémon?

Flygon turned to Krokorok and began to converse in hushed tones. Jay caught the word "amnesia", and he began to think that he had found the reason why he was so confused.

It was a strange case. Jay somewhat knew what had happened—he remembered something about nearly drowning in a river, and he remembered his aunt and uncle… but he couldn't remember their names—was it Aunt Elsa and Uncle Lyon, or Aunt Elvira and Uncle Leon? He couldn't remember anyone—just disjointed events.

Jay moaned, slinking down to the floor. Things couldn't get any worse. He was a big mouthed alligator stuck in a world of monsters and he had been yanked away from his previous life. Although he could barely remember what he was like before, he thought that anything would be better than this.

Flygon and Krokorok turned to the defeated Totodile. Flygon asked him a question, so simple but so complicated. "We believe you may have contracted amnesia… There was a pretty large lump on your head, so perhaps you suffered some brain damage—"

"Brain damage?! Ugh… Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse…" Jay murmured.

"Do you remember anything that happened before we found you?" Flygon asked soothingly.

The river. His aunt and uncle. His former life. His life as a human, not as a crocodile. They all seemed so distant, so alien… would he ever be able to return to the real world? The human world?

Jay sighed. His memories were so distant, and if there was a way to become a human again, that was surely a ways off as well. I may as well work with these guys… After all, surely things can't get any worse…

"I just have a few memories… really scattered memories. But by far the most prominent memory… I was a human at one point," Jay said cautiously.

Krokorok looked shocked. He opened his mouth and looked like he was about to say something, but before he could, Flygon interrupted him.

"A human, you say?" she asked.

She didn't look surprised as Krokorok was; she was more curious than shocked. Her brow creased and she gave Jay a strange look as if beckoning for him to continue.

"Yeah… I remember my name, too. It's Jay, by the way," Jay added.

Flygon continued to examine him with increasing interest—or worry. Krokorok whispered something to her, but the dragon murmured something back and shooed him away with a wave of her arm. Krokorok nodded and hastily shuffled out of the room.

"Hmm…" Flygon mused.

"What?" Jay asked hopefully. "Do you have an idea as to why I became a Pokémon?"

"No… not quite," Flygon replied with a smile. "But I think I know of a way to find out more about your past and your transformation," she added.

"What is it?" Jay asked, nearly biting his lip in anticipation… but then he remembered his teeth were as sharp as nails. He ended up accidentally biting the inside of his cheek instead.

"There's a young Skitty here by the name of Aria. She's been desperately looking for a partner to form an exploration team with her, and now that you've shown up, I think you'll be the perfect fit!" Flygon said.

Jay groaned, the happy bubble inside him puncturing instantly. Even though he didn't know what the heck an "exploration team" was, he didn't like the sound of it at all.

When did my life become so terrible?

XxX

I wanted to make Jay's personality kind of like a dopey kid: he doesn't want to do anything other than sit around and be lazy. And now he's going to be part of an exploration team, where being lazy is being a bad explorer.

This is going to be interesting.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't forget to review!