Arenoak is a region located somewhere up north. It consists of a large body of land surrounded by water, and features a variety of biomes of both cold and hot climates. The biggest landmark being a large pointed mountain right in the middle of everything; its most notable feature is the swirling pattern of blue that runs along from the bottom to the top. This region is home to many Pokemon of all sizes and shapes, all with their own hopes and dreams.
It is within this region that our story takes place.
This is a story about a soul searching adventure, and a happy ending worked hard for.
Darkness. No feeling either, like floating in the air.
Then a light appeared. Bright. Felt good to be near.
A voice called out, indistinct but with a calming tone. "You." It said, "...May I have your name if possible."
A pause.
"Row."
"...Is that so? Interesting." The voice seemed amused. "Can I ask some questions? I wish to know more about you."
"O-Ok."
"Would you consider yourself a people person?"
"Not really."
"Sweet, sour, or spicy?"
"Sweet."
"A friend eats the last slice of cake you wanted, what do you do?"
"Cry."
"You see a hand come out of a toilet and ask for paper, what do you do?"
"Accept its quest."
A slight chuckle comes from the voice. "Alright, just one more... What is your greatest strength?"
Another pause.
"I don't know."
The voice seemed... impressed. "That's fine." It hummed, "I think I understand now. You are going to do great things. Now, you must wake up. You won't completely remember this conversation, and I won't be talking with you for a while, maybe not. But you will remember this:"
The voice sounded a lot closer now.
"You are you."
Darkness again. But now there's a feeling of grass and dirt.
Oh.
After a slow roll onto the back, now there was light. And that light was illuminating the face of a Ralts. His eyes guarded from the sun via his green hair. He felt so... exhausted for some reason. The area around him was full of flowers and trees. Forest, clearly. The ground beneath felt warm from the sun which provided some comfort.
He tried to think, but his mind was blank. He tried to speak or call out, but not even a single breath came from his mouth.
And then, from out of his view came a voice.
"Hey!"
The sound of feet batting the ground crew quickly closer, before out of the side of his vision came the face of a Chespin. A big dumb smile was on his face. "What're you doing lying down like that?" He said.
The Ralts coughed, "I-"
The Chepsin extended an arm, "Come on, lemme help you up!"
The Ralts grabbed it, and was pulled up with such force it felt like he was gonna be tossed into the air. He stumbled a little, but recovered.
The Chespin leaned forwards, "You ok? Got anywhere you're supposed to be?"
"Uh..." The Ralts paused and stared at the ground. "...I don't know. I don't know anything actually..."
A gasp came from the grass-type, "Oh, you must have uh... amnesia! Do you at least know your name?"
"R-Row."
"Chester!" He extended an arm again, this type for a handshake. Row took it and shook lightly. Chester shook heavily.
"Alright if you're gonna not remember things, I gotta take you to my town! There's someone there who will know what to do!" Chester grinned. He certainly seemed quite excited.
Row meanwhile was less energetic. Though that could just be the exhaustion talking. He smiled, feeling more than safe with this Pokemon. Something about him just screamed innocence. Though that might also be the psychic-type talking. A lot of things are talking in his mind right now actually. He thought about his offer...
It was then he noticed the sack slung over the Chespin's shoulder. "What's in that?"
"Oh this?" Chester patted the sack, "Wood I got from the trees deeper in the forest. Gonna be roasting marshmallows later."
"Oh, that does sound nice." Row nodded, "Ok, I'll go with you. Lead the way."
Chester beamed, "Onwards!" He grabbed the Ralts' hand and walked forwards. A small dirt path lead out of the flowers and into the forest. Trees with thick brown trunks stood for miles, their leaves nearly blocking the sun. Yet everything was still decently lit, which helped a lot with navigating.
Chester looked at his escortee, seeing him looking quite nervous. "You doing ok?"
"Yeah." Row nodded, scratching his cheek with his free hand. "Can you... tell me about your town?"
"Weeeeelll..." Chester hummed, as if he was thinking of a good sales pitch for his hometown. "It's quiet, got some nice places to shop, and lots of friendly Pokemon!" The grass-type waved his free hand around, "I grew up there! Just me and my ma and pa!" He sighed, then slightly frowned before going right back to smiling. It was just that either, but Row could just sense a feeling of sadness come over him and persist. He didn't say anything either way.
...He could feel that emotion? That's new.
"You get any memories back yet?" Chester asked.
"No. Head still empty." Row brings a hand to his head. "There any doctors over there?"
"Yup! We got a good one who will get you fixed up!"
Row nods, getting a feeling of confidence from him.
Then the two stopped talking. Taking in the sights from the environment around them. For Chester it was the usual woods he grew to love. For Row it felt new to him. Maybe it was the amnesia talking but he wasn't sure.
But still... This was nice.
Many minutes later, the two finally reached the town. The entrance, one of two, was adorned with an archway made of wood. Paths of tiny stones laid out across the town, leading to all the facilities and the homes going north built around a hill.
Chester took Row straight to the town doctor. The office consisted of a stall with a backroom, and not much else. And out from the back came an audino wearing a small paper hat colored pink. She waved, a gentle expression on her face. Chester stopped in front of the stall, letting Row walk up and speak on his own. "U-Uh." Row stammered, not quite used to talking yet. "I need some help. I can't seem to remember anything about me."
The Audino nodded, "Yes yes, I understand." Her voice was as soft as the rest of her. She gestured to the backroom to direct the Ralts towards it.
"Alright, you get yourself checked up buddy, I'll be home getting all this stuff setup! It's the one covered in bandages."
"Wait wh-" But before Row could ask, Chester ran off.
With that, Row walked into the backroom.
Walls were white, as was the floor. Everything felt sterile. Bottles and equipment were lining the walls and counters, which were shockingly gray, but just light enough to look white. Row laid down on a bed, resting his head on the softest pillow ever. Or at least, it was better than dirt.
The Audino sat next to him on a stool. "Care to tell me your name first?" She asked.
"Row."
"Hello Row, my name is Ms. Carol. Now you say you've lost your memories? Or do you just not remember the last few days?"
"Nothing." He shakes his head. "No family. No home. Nothing. I just know my name and... uh..." Flashes of darkness and a light in the middle appeared in his head. "No, just my name."
"Mmm, sounds serious." She turns around and starts searching through the many counters she had. "I'm not a psychic-type, so I can't root around in your mind..." She paused and pulled out what looked like a metal helmet with some antennae with glowy orbs on the ends. "This , however, will serve that job just as well. Please be still." With slow, gentle precision, she put it on his head. Despite Row's head crest, it still fit.
She pressed a button on it, and it whirred to life. Row felt... strange. Relaxed? Clear? His mind was being swarmed with what felt like a warm comforting cloud. While it worked, Ms. Carol was looking at a tiny screen, looking stern. It was connected to the helmet by a cable, and was outputting some visuals of... nothing. Nothing but colors of White, black, and purple smoke. No memories. She tapped it, scrolled, even reset it for a second. Still, nothing was being displayed.
"This is... concerning." She said. "You don't have any memories. Or at least, nothing the machine can show. Whatever is going on in your mind is far beyond the capabilities of me or the device." She shook her head.
Row wasn't upset. Or concerned. And he didn't know why.
"Well, thanks for helping. How much do I-"
"For this visit? It's free dear." She said, turning off the helmet and taking it off his head. She then sweetened the deal by offering a lollipop. Row took it and stuck it in his mouth. Vanilla flavored.
With no real answers and a mouth full of candy, Row left.
Now he stood outside, in the middle of town. He looked around, spotting a couple of Pokemon. A Delibird was running the shop, and next to him was another Delibird running the bank. Looked metallic weirdly enough. A Donphan nearby seemed to serve as a personal carry service, and he didn't look too happy... Rough day maybe.
He sighed, swishing the candy around in his mouth. He then felt... strangely relaxed. Here he was, a pokemon with no past and only a name. He still couldn't understand why this was, or what happened to him. But then the voice from the darkness rang out in his mind: "You are you."
Who was that? What was that? More and more and more questions kept popping up in his head.
Then he saw a small smokey plume appear over the homes. Right, Chester. He did promise marshmallows...
At his bandaged up home, Chester had managed to create a fire in a handmade fire pit in his backyard. Lit up with talonflame feathers, he had set up some chairs and had a bag of marshmallows beside him. The sticks were clean skewers used also for meat, but he at least cleaned them beforehand. Now he just waited for that ralts fellow to arrive.
While he waited, he pulled out something from a small bag also beside him. A book, with a leather bound cover with the words "Fighting secrets" written on it. He opened it up to a bookmarked page, and began reading...
"A good defense is a good offense... is the words of a fool. To go all out on your attacks is to open yourself up for failure. Defense and offense should be blended together."
Chester smirked, and began to think...
He saw himself as a large, bold chesnaught. Shield adorned with spikes charging forwards. Behind him were those weaker: smaller pokemon who struggled to defend themselves. In front was a horde of bisharp, reading to fight. He marched forwards, his shield in front. The dark-steel pokemon ran at full speed, only to bounce off of him. Some even brought sacks of exploding seeds, and launched them at him at full force. He kept going, unaffected by the blasts. The Bisharp, getting progressively enraged, stabbed and clawed at him.
"Come!" He cried bravely, treating every blow as a minor inconvenience. "BREAK YOUR BLADES AGAINST ME!"
The chespin, back in reality, laughed.
"What's so funny?"
Row had finally arrived, still sucking on a now candyless stick of plastic.
"Nothing." Chester smirked, dropping his book back in the bag next to him. "So? How's the-"
"Nothing." Row shrugged, "Mind's blank. Apparently I don't have any memories."
The chepsin looked confused, ".How?"
Row took the plastic out of his mouth and tossed it to the fire, "...I don't know." He sighed, "I feel... fine with it for some reason." He took the seat next to the grass-type and sighed. "What am I going to do?"
Without missing a second, Chester answered.
"Stay with me!"
Row slowly turned his head over to him, "What?"
"I found you, took you here, and offered marshmallows! We're friends now! Right?"
The ralts just stared. But then he started getting that... feeling thing again. This time he could feel pure happiness from this chespin. Chester continued, "Come on, at least give it a while? Until we can think of something?"
This happiness was starting to affect Row, who stared to smile a big goofy smile. Maybe this was him being genuinely happy to have someone to call a friend. And Chester clearly felt the same.
"Chester." Row said, sounding somewhat serious yet still sporting that big smile, "How about this. I stay with you for a while, get to know you, and if I can truly call you my friend then I-"
"DEAL!" Chester leaned forwards and hugged the psychic-type tightly. Row hugged back.
Chester returned to his seat and pulled out the skewers and marshmallows, "Now come on, let's roast!"
He popped the bag open, and in trying to show off tossed a few in the air and poked through them with his iron skewer. He got about two while the rest fell onto the chair. "Eh? Cool trick right?"
Row blinked, then grabbed a skewer and shoved the fallen marshmallows on it. "See?"
Chester huffed, then chuckled.
The two pointed the metal marshmallow-covered rods over the fire.
"We..." Chester chuckled again, "We're gonna get along just fine. I can tell."
Row just smiled.