Somewhere, in some forest, a Mareep woke up from a deep sleep. It was a powerful, replenishing sleep. It was the kind of sleep where you lay down, close your eyes, and then you immediately open them again only to realize that 8 hours have passed since the last time your eyes were open.
The Mareep opened her eyes, slowly. Bright sunlight shined down into her eyes from in between the great branches of the trees above her. She blinked a few times. Then a few more. Getting assaulted by the bright noon sun after emerging from a slumber that a caveman in a block of ice would be jealous of was not a pleasant sensation for the Mareep. She scrunched her eyes tight, grimaced, then forced herself to open her eyes, and keep them open.
She was certainly in a forest, but the Mareep had no idea where she was, what she was doing, or how she got here. The Mareep decided it was time to get up and explore whatever this place was. Maybe she could find someone to help her. She tried to push herself off of the ground with her hands in order to stand on her two feet.
It was right in that moment that the Mareep realized that she did not in fact possess two hands and two legs. As she fell over, tumbling back down to the ground after her failed attempt to stand up, it dawned on her that she was not bipedal, but indeed a quadrupedal, sheep-like creature. This came as quite a shock to the Mareep, because she knew that she was not in fact a Mareep, but a human.
What a twist.
The Mareep stood up for real this time, swaying and shifting slightly as she accommodated to the sensation of having four legs. She held up one of her front legs and examined it. A stubby blue sheep leg met her gaze.
"Huh. That's not normal." she said, speaking as nonchalantly as someone who's been body-swapped possibly could.
"What the hell happened to me?" she asked to nobody in particular.
The Mareep slowly spun around in a circle to get a complete view of her surroundings. Yup. She was certainly in a forest. Those were trees alright. And that stuff below the trees? Grass, probably.
The Mareep decided that her best chance to figure out what was going on would be to try to find civilization. So, she picked a direction and started walking through the forest.
For someone who woke up in a location they do not know, in a body that they know is not their normal body, the Mareep was holding up pretty well. She was having a rather pleasant walk through this sun-soaked forest, and she only had a couple extremely crippling bouts of existential dread so far.
The Mareep did her best to stave off aforementioned bouts of dread by thinking about her plight from a logical perspective: what phenomena could have caused her transformation? Based on the types of trees, what countries could she be in? Can she find which way the sun is traveling in order to parse East and West?
Unfortunately, the answers to her questions were "No idea", "I don't recognize any of these trees", and "There are two suns. Why are there two suns?"
The dread was not staved off for long.
Still, the little Mareep did her best to not let it bother her. She was alive, and that's all that really mattered. She buckled down and continued to trek through the forest.
After about 15 minutes of aimless wandering, the Mareep saw smoke in the sky, fluttering high above the treetops.
Perfect.
Where there's smoke, there's likely people, and then the Mareep can figure out where she is and why she's a Mareep. She sped up her pace now that her goal was within sight.
It only took a few more minutes for her to find the source of the smoke. The little sheep was standing on the edge of a clearing in the woods, with charred grass and burn marks littered throughout the clearing. In the center of the scorched glade was a bonfire. The bonfire was a massive inferno, the flames of which were climbing higher than the surrounding trees, flicking up into the blue sky. The Mareep could just barely make out heaps of loose papers in the center of the fire, quickly being consumed by the inferno. The papers had writing on them, but she was too far away to read it.
The Mareep came to a decision: whatever writing was on those papers could give her information on what was going on. She started running towards the fire in an effort to read something before it all burned away.
As soon as she got close to the fire, a voice rang out over the glade.
"I would stay away from that, if I were you."
The Mareep froze in her tracks and looked around, confused. "Who said that? W-what's going on here?" she squeaked.
From off to the left of the glade, a creature swung out from a branch high up on a tree, and landed directly in front of the Mareep. It was an imposing creature, with its monkey-like features and flames radiating off the top of its head. A more educated Pokémon would recognize it as an Infernape.
The Infernape was poised low to the ground, ready to strike.
The Mareep was not ready to strike. She freaked out.
"Holy SHIT what are you!?" She screamed, while leaping backwards.
The Infernape's posture shifted a little. That was not the response he was expecting. It was a little insulting, honestly. He tried his best to not let it shake him. The Mareep was afraid of him, after all. That was the reaction he wanted, right?
"You can call me Infernape." the creature coldly replied. "But that doesn't matter. You need to leave, miss. Head back to Belleview. Pretend you never saw this."
The Mareep was certainly still terrified, but plans were starting to spin inside her brain. This guy can talk. And he knows things. Maybe she can procure some information from him before she's forced out of the glade.
She tried to sound as meek and harmless as possible when she spoke her next words.
"Oh, yes, of course! I'm so sorry to have gotten in your way! I just can't remember where Belleview is. Could you show me the way?"
Infernape nodded, and loosened his stance just a little bit. "Just got lost, huh? All you Belleview folks got no sense of direction, I swear. It's just past the hill up that way, miss." Infernape pointed over his shoulder, gesturing to a gentle hill directly behind him. "And take care when going down the switch, yeah? Stay on the trail and you'll be fine. Now off you go."
The Mareep replied, "Thank you sir! I'm so sorry that I got in your way. I'll head back to Bellewatch right now." She started slowly walking past Infernape, towards the hill he pointed out.
As she walked, the Mareep had an idea.
It was a stupid, ill-advised idea, but it was an idea.
She was going to try to sneak a look at the still-burning papers while she walked by. If she was sneaky enough, maybe Infernape wouldn't notice.
She walked closer to the edge of the flame, and gazed in. She was able to see some writing on a paper that was only partially engulfed. This was her chance. What secrets did these pages hold that warranted destruction?
Unfortunately, the Mareep very quickly realized that the writing was in a language she had never seen before: the letters almost looked like animal footprints.
Damn it. That was pointless.
Even more unfortunately, she was not as sneaky as she thought she was.
"Hold on a second there, miss."
The voice of Infernape boomed out over the glade, striking terror into the Mareep's heart. She could bring herself to do nothing but obey the command, stopping in her tracks and turning to face the creature.
"You had me fooled there for a bit, I admit. Your whole act of bein' lost in the woods was mighty convincing. But then, you got the name of Belleview- the town you're supposedly from- wrong. Called it Bellewatch. And then, you try to take a peek at those papers after I warned you against it.
"Truth be told, I never thought Bisharp was smart enough for espionage. Never imagined him to send spies for us. I always thought cooking our books was overkill. He'd never care about finding these papers. But you just proved me wrong. You're one of Bisharp's goons, aren't ya?"
Infernape put all fours onto the ground and crouched with bent limbs, like a compressed spring ready to jump forward. His eyes pierced into those of the Mareep.
"You'll be coming with me, miss."
Now, this Mareep would like to think that she is a logical person. She prides herself on her ability to rationally dissect a situation to determine the best possible outcome. She's not one to make split-second decisions without thinking it through first. She would admit that she doesn't make the right choice 100% of the time, but she always does her best to analyze every facet of a situation in order to make informed choices.
With all that being said, one can only be so logical when an otherworldly fire monkey with a southern accent accuses you of espionage. So, she did the only thing she could think of doing.
She ran.
Without a word, she turned around and started bounding up the hill, moving as fast as her stubby sheep legs could take her. Infernape easily started to gain on her, effortlessly galloping through the glade with his long limbs. The Mareep was moving as fast as she could. Infernape was moving faster.
The Mareep was almost up the hill now. Belleview was supposed to be on the other side of this hill, right? She might be able to make it. She put all her effort into moving her tiny body as fast as possible.
Behind her, Infernape was starting to slow down. Instead of keeping pace, he started to shout at the Mareep.
"Miss, stop! You need to stop right now!" He pleaded, to no avail. The Mareep kept running. There was no way Infernape could catch her at this point. She was at the top of the hill now.
It did not take long for her to realize why Infernape commanded her to stop. As she crested the hill and kept running, the Mareep realized that there was no more ground for her to run on.
She had just run off of a cliff.
Fuck.
To her right, she saw the path Infernape was talking about. The path snaked back and forth as it descended the cliff, so that anyone taking the trail could avoid the fate she just subjected herself to.
This was the "switch" Infernape mentioned, she realized. Too bad she didn't listen.
She was in free fall now. She looked behind her as the top of the cliff ascended out of view. Infernape might have shouted something at her from up above, but she couldn't hear it. The wind whistled around her frail little body as she plummeted closer and closer to the ocean awaiting her below.
Oh, hey, the ocean.
That's new.
For what it's worth, it looked very pretty. It held a bright blue color, with the shimmer of the midday sun reflecting off of its surface, giving the illusion of a sparkling sea. It was almost pretty enough to distract her from the thought that she would be joining that ocean soon. Violently.
The thought occurred to the Mareep that perhaps this was all a dream. She would hit the water, then wake up back in her extraordinarily normal human body. It was the only logical explanation for this insanity, after all.
She never recalled ever dreaming before, though.
The sea was close now. She was about to collide. Nothing to do now but wait, the Mareep supposed.
Suddenly, a shape darted across the rocks below.
It hopped from rock to rock as quickly as possible, trying to close in on the spot of ocean where the Mareep was going to land. When it landed on the closest possible outcrop, it stopped moving and looked up, watching and waiting for the Mareep.
She was feet away from the water now.
The figure leaped at the Mareep with impressive distance. The trajectory was dead on. Its arms clamped onto the Mareep's wool, holding it close in a vice grip.
As soon as the Mareep was secured, a huge wave rose out of the sea, swallowing both of them up into the water.
The two of them safely descended to the ocean's surface as the wave crashed down, reducing to nothing.
The Mareep was now floating in the ocean, still being held by the unknown figure. She was panting heavily. So was the other guy, whoever they were.
The Mareep was going to say something, but couldn't. She needed another minute to catch her breath.
Still panting, the other person swam over to shore and placed the Mareep down on solid ground. They climbed up as well, sprawling themselves out on the sunny rock.
Eventually, the Mareep managed to push out a sentence.
"You, hah , you... You saved my life." She stared straight forward at the spot of ocean that would have claimed her.
The other figure laid on their back, staring straight up.
"I... I saved your life." he stammered.
The Mareep turned to look at her savior.
"You saved my life!" She shouted.
Her rescuer, who looked something like an orange weasel with a yellow collar, had a look of shock in his eyes when he turned to face her.
"I saved your life! Holy shit, I saved your life! Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, I think so. You saved my life!"
"Yeah, I saved your life! Oh sweet Arceus, that was close."
They stayed there in silence for another minute, letting the adrenaline leave their bodies.
Finally, the Mareep turned to her rescuer and spoke:
"Hey, thank you. That was incredible. I don't think I would still be alive if you hadn't done that. I definitely owe you one."
The weasel-thing held a sheepish grin and placed a hand on the back of his neck.
"Oh, geez", he said, "that's nice of you to say. You're very welcome, miss… uh… sorry, what's your name? I'm Buizel."
He stuck out an orange paw, offering a hand shake.
Her name. Her name. The Mareep had to think for a second. What was her name? It dawned on her that there was a lot she did not remember. A lot she could not remember. That bothered her immensely. She had an inkling that she used to pride herself on her photographic memory, back when she was a human. Now, she can't remember anything. She can't even remember what she looked like.
It was like returning to your childhood home, a place that you know inside and out, and finding that it has been completely abandoned. Rooms full of life, filled with objects and knowledge, were now empty boxes. The Mareep flew through these empty boxes in her mind, trying to find any detail about herself that she could remember.
There it was.
Like words written in the wet cement of her home, her name remained. It was there, in the back corner of her mind, waiting to be remembered.
The Buizel stood in uncomfortable silence as he waited for the Mareep to respond to his question. It's been at least thirty seconds now. Her eyes were closed. Did she fall asleep? Did she not hear his question? Would it be rude to repeat hims-
"Lyra. My name is Lyra."
Oh shit, there we go.
"Oh, we're gonna use our forenames, huh? Fair enough! In that case, call me Seph!"
Lyra placed her front hoof into Seph's hand and shook. He had a very exuberant hand shake.
"A pleasure to meet you, Seph. Now, uh, this might sound a little strange, but where exactly are we? I'm worried I might have some sort of amnesia. I can't seem to recall how I got here."
Seph's face took on a worried look as he spoke. "Amnesia? Do you think you forgot things?"
"I know I forgot things. A lot of things. I can't remember what I was doing before I woke up here. I don't know where 'here' is. I can't remember what country I'm from, or what city. I can't remember what my job is. I can't remember the names of any of my family members. I can't even remember my surname."
Tears began to form in Lyra's eyes as she finished speaking. Seph did not notice.
Seph jumped up from where he was sitting. His eyes were practically glowing as he bounced up and down. "Oh, oh! I can answer some of those questions! Er- well, two of them. That's a good start though!"
Seph cleared his throat, as if he was about to begin a practiced monologue.
"'Here' is Perrin Island, specifically its Western coast. Perrin is one of the larger islands in the Southeast sea. It's got two notable towns: Belleview and Alkai. We're right next to Belleview, so that could be where you're from.
"As for your surname, it's Mareep! I met a few Pokémon that looked like you before, and I remembered the name."
Seph was beaming. He had just solved two of Lyra's burning questions! Clearly, her amnesia was well on its way to being cured.
Lyra wasn't as psyched as he was.
"I don't know if that's right, Seph. I don't think I'm from here. I think I'm- do you know what a human is?"
Seph shook his head. He looked honestly disappointed he hadn't solved any of his new friend's problems.
"Nope. Never heard of that before. Is it a type of Pokémon?"
"No."
Well, wait a second.
"Maybe? Maybe. That's not important: it's a species, just like you're that species and I'm currently whatever this colorful sheep thing is-"
"A Mareep!"
"Right, I'm a Mareep. Well, I look like one right now, but I know that before I woke up here I was a human. And where I'm from, Buizels and Mareeps and Pokémon don't exist. It's just humans."
"Whoa. That's wild."
"Yeah, I suppose it is."
"So then is your actual surname Human?"
"That's.. Not how we do surnames where I'm from. I can't remember what mine is. Just call me Lyra."
"Cool!" Seph's optimism seemed to refuse to waver.
Suddenly, Seph had a plan. It was a pretty good plan, he reckoned.
"Hey, Lyra," he said, "What are you going to do now that you're safe? What's your plan?"
Lyra told the truth. "I.. haven't thought that far ahead yet. In the short term, I guess I'll need food and water, but besides that I should try to figure out how I can head back to where I came from. I should probably get started on that sooner than later. Thank you for all your help, Seph."
Lyra stood up as she spoke, clearly getting ready to leave.
"Wait, Lyra! Before you go I have a, er, proposal for you."
"Oh? I'm listening. Don't have much better to do right now, anyways."
"So, you're looking for answers to what happened to you, right?"
"Right."
"I think I know a place where you might find some answers. Have you ever heard of Zoroark's Guild?"
Seph waited for Lyra to respond before remembering her memory situation.
"Right, amnesia, sorry.
"Zoroark is the leader of an Exploration Guild. Exploration Guilds are groups of Pokémon whose job is to save Pokémon in danger, take down criminals, and, most of all, uncover the secrets of our world!"
Seph pumped his fist into the air on that last point, to accentuate how cool he thought it was.
"They're all about exploring the unexplored and bringing buried secrets to light. They have a HUGE collection of info that they found during their expeditions. If anybody could tell you what happened to you, it would totally be them."
Lyra was relieved. Finally, she had some good news.
"That's perfect, Seph! I'll go visit them right now. Where is their guild?"
Seph winced. Time for the bad news.
"Well," he began, "that's the problem. Zoroark is infamous for keeping the location of her guild a secret. Only her guild members know where the guild is and how to enter. It's like a test for potential recruits; they have to prove themselves by finding the guild before they'll even be considered for recruitment.
"I've been searching for the guild for almost a week now, and I've got nothing so far. I'm so close, though. I can feel it! It's somewhere on Perrin Island, for sure. If we work together, I guarantee that we could find it in no time!"
"Work together? You want to find the guild too?" Lyra asked.
"Yeah! It's my dream to join Zoroark's Guild. Imagine how fascinating it must be, to explore the farthest reaches of the world. That's my dream job right there, Lyra. I want to spend my entire life charting the uncharted corners of our realm, finding buried secrets that can help Pokémon all over the Sea of Mirrors. Maybe I could even find where humans are from if I look hard enough!
"So, we'll work together to find the guild so that you can go home, and I can join up! Are you with me?"
When Seph spoke about the guild, there was incredible passion in his voice. He spoke with an optimistic determination: he won't try to join Zoroark's guild, he will join. Lyra could tell that this was, undeniably, his dream. It was not her place to get in between someone and their dream.
Besides, Lyra decided, this guild was her only lead so far. It couldn't hurt to work with Seph to figure out where she needed to go.
Lyra responded to Seph's question. "Alright, I'm with you. Let's go find this guild!"
"Yes! Let's do it!" Seph's enthusiasm was infectious, in a way. "Our first stop is Belleview! We'll get lunch there, and I'll tell you everything I know about the guild."
Seph giddily ran across the rocky shore, motioning for Lyra to follow him.
"Come on, Lyra! Adventure awaits!"
It was hard to do anything but follow a Pokémon that had that much determination. Lyra began to run after him.
"Hey, slow down! I'm still not used to running on four feet!"
The two of them took off, eager for whatever adventure awaited them in Belleview.
