Once again, I found myself staring down my greatest fear, the one thing that intimidated me to the point of petrification. What was this terrifying beast? A monster that could kill me in seconds? A dangerous cliff blocking my path forward? Or maybe it's, oh, I don't know, something just a little more threatening than a tent modeled after a famous explorer?

How I wish that were the case. I wish I had the pride my species was known for, the courage to face any obstacle without hesitation. But no, I had to be the Piplup who was too intimidated by a tent to ask for formal training. I came to Treasure Town to get stronger, to become a better leader, yet I can't bring myself to enter the famous guild led by a friendly, pink puffball of a pokemon. Pathetic. I've come all this way, and all I have to show for it is a strange stone with an even stranger pattern on it. I thought holding on to this stone would give me the courage I so desperately lacked. If I can't enter the guild I might as well just go home, or at least back to Sharkpedo Bluff…

Giving up, I turned around and descended the stairs leading to the crossroads. After a moment of deliberation, I continued south to Treasure Beach. The beach is a beautiful place, and the water is always calm. Ever since I made my way to Treasure Town, I've used the beach as a place to relax and recoup what little confidence I had. As per usual, the beach did not disappoint. A beautiful sunset, glimmering on the gentle waves rolling in from the ocean and reflected in the bubbles the local Krabby like to blow. I was so caught up in the scenery that I almost missed the small hint of green by Beach Cave, a strange sight against the red rocks and yellow sand. Deciding to investigate, I approached it slowly until I recognized the figure as a pokemon.

"Oh my Arceus, are you okay?" I couldn't believe it; someone had washed up in the sand! A Chikorita, seeming battered by the ocean's waves and unconscious on the beach. Wait, that doesn't make any sense. What would a Chikorita be doing in the ocean? I pushed the thought aside and shook the pokemon awake.

"Hey, are you okay, wake up! Come on, wake up!" I heard an unfamiliar voice urgently calling to me. With some effort, I managed to rouse myself only to find that my head felt unusually heavy. When I attempted to raise one arm to it I found that it was injured and hurt to move. When I discovered that I couldn't move my other arm I knew something was very wrong. "Oh good, you're awake. That's a relief." Turning toward the voice, I was surprised to see a Piplup standing over me. It didn't seem to be any bigger than average, it was as if I had gotten smaller. As my mind raced for an explanation, it came up blank. Not only could I not explain what happened, but I couldn't remember anything.

"Uhg… What happened?" I asked more to myself than to the Piplup. Struggling to stand up, I noticed that my sense of balance felt different from normal.

The Piplup looked at me, concerned. "That was going to be my question. I found you washed up on the beach and was kind of hoping you would have an explanation for what a Chikorita was doing in the ocean."

"What does a Chikorita…" suddenly I realized what was going on. "Wait, WHAT! Why am I a Chikorita? I know I used to be human, how could I be a pokemon? How did this happen? Why-"

"Hey, calm down! Your freak out is starting to freak me out, and I have no idea what you are saying. So why don't you calm yourself and prove that you're not completely insane by telling me if you have a name?" Piplup's reaction reminded me that shouting questions at an ocean was both getting me nowhere and making me look crazy.

"Um, my name? Right, well, it's uh…" as I struggled to recall my name a single memory surfaced in my mind. There was a thunderstorm, and I was struggling to keep myself above the ocean's waves. Then something struck my head, someone shouted what I can only assume to be my name, I fell under the waves, and then… nothing. Just a bright, golden light. That shout, what was it? After a few seconds the name finally came to me. "My name is Brandon."

Piplup seemed skeptical of my response. "Took you quite a while to remember your name, and it is a strange name too. You're not pulling some kind of trick on me, are you?"

I suppose I can't blame him for thinking something like that. I have been acting strange, but what's this about my name being weird? "I'm not trying to trick you. It's just, well, I don't remember much of anything. Nothing from my past, or why I was in the ocean, or even who I am. The only things I remember are my name and that I used to be a human." Piplup seemed to be confused by my explanation. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"Well… I don't know. What's a human?"

So that was it. He didn't know what a human was. "I'm not really sure how to describe it, so let's just say 'not a pokemon' for now, okay?"

"Not a pokemon?" Piplup seemed hesitant to accept that. "Okay, but you are definitely a Chikorita now…" I must have appeared disheartened at that because his attitude suddenly shifted, "Sorry, it's just that a lot of bad pokemon have appeared recently. Things have grown somewhat lawless."

Just as Piplup finished talking, we were enveloped in a cloud of poisonous gas. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I did know one thing: it hurt. A sharp reminder that I now had to deal with type matchups, more specifically the Grass type's five weaknesses. With some effort, I peered through the poison to see a Zubat steal something from around Piplup's neck. "I got it, Koffing! That stone the wimp was carrying!" the Zubat said as he flew off with his prize.

"Hey, what are you doing? That's my personal treasure!" Piplup exclaimed. By now the poison had started to dissipate, and I could clearly see our assailants.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Not going to make a move to get it back? You're an even bigger coward than we thought," the Koffing remarked, "We saw you pacing around with this stone and thought it might fetch a good price, and now you say that it's treasure? All the more reason to not give it back."

"Hold on, you attacked us to steal a rock? What kind of sense does that make? And what makes you think we're just going to let you take it?" I asked, realizing too late that there was no reasoning with criminals like this, especially in the condition I'm in.

The thieves knew this too and proceeded to threaten me. "Do you realize the position you're in, Chikorita? You're no match for us, so cut your losses and leave that wimp to defend himself," the Zubat said, flying uncomfortably close. I instinctively tried to back away only for my injured leg to stop me. "That's what I thought," Zubat said, noticing my fear. "But in case you get any ideas… Leech Life!" A small needle shot from Zubat's mouth and struck my side. To my surprise the attack didn't hurt but left me feeling exhausted instead. A moment later I saw Zubat and Koffing flee into a nearby cave. Giving up my little tough-guy act, I collapsed in the sand… again.

Piplup was noticeably shaken by what had just happened but tried to help me anyway. "Are you okay? Grass types are not very good at taking those kinds of attacks. I know you were trying to help, but there wasn't much you could do against those two."

"I'll be fine," I responded, "I don't think their attacks injured me too badly, and besides, I couldn't just do nothing. What did they steal, anyway?"

"My Relic Fragment. Just some cool-looking stone I found a while back. It doesn't really have any value, so they'll probably just abandon it when they realized they can't sell it," Piplup answered. "There isn't much point in going after it right now."

"But didn't you call it your personal treasure? I think we should go after them." I didn't expect anyone to give up on something like that so easily.

"Like I said, they won't be able to sell it, and you're too injured to fight anyway. I'll wait for those two to abandon the Relic Fragment, right now we need to get you to a healer. I think I know a place that will help, can you walk?" Piplup's question reminded me that I still didn't know the extent of my injuries. Still, I had one bad leg and three good ones, so walking shouldn't be too hard, right?

"I think I can walk, as long as it's not too far. Where are we going?" I winced slightly as I tried to stand up. I hope this injury isn't too bad, because I would rather not sit around doing nothing when I could be looking for an explanation for my lost memory.

"There is a guild nearby. I've never been inside, but explorers often get injured on explorations. Even if they don't have their own healer, they'll know where we can find one." With that, Piplup helped me up and led me to the guild.