After the two Pokemon had gotten them out of that blasted forest, it had only felt like a couple of minutes before Piers and Raihan gained their first inkling to their new environment. Irritatingly long grass had transitioned into smoother defined paths, the trees spreading out and making room for some more clearly artificial structures. A well with a vine serving as rope for the bucket, what Raihan pieced together was supposed to be a watchtower with no attendant. The thing looked decrepit, as though it had fallen out of use long ago.

Ninetales had been chattering some nonsense that Piers had barely been able to string together before the topics started shifting at such a rate, he wondered if the old fox even knew how to catch his breath. Behind him, Flaaffy was polishing his new trophy of a claw he had received after beating up a feral Raticate with its own fists. The sneaky thing had tried to steal their berries, yet Piers had felt a tiny twang of pity seeing it run off as its snapped off nail pattered the ground.

His friend once again riding on his shell, Raihan peered at the sign as they stepped into the settlement. 'Vulpine Village', it said with a little scribbled smiling Eevee next to it that he couldn't tell whether it was done by a child or just a Pokemon with terrible drawing skills. However considering he no longer had hands or fingers, he surely could not do better. At the very least he could tell what it was, even if it brought him flashbacks of the arguments back home whether Eevee was a fox like Nickit or a dog like Yamper or even something completely bizarre like that Poochyena they beat up earlier. Looking away to see a scurrying Vulpix chasing after a Nickit, what a coincidence, he took a look at Ninetales in front of him then Flaaffy behind them, flashing a toothy grin. Maybe all his smiles from now on could be described as toothy when he lacked lips. "I didn't know Flaaffy were foxes!"

"Shaddup," Flaaffy grumbled, eyes glued to the claw as he wriggled the last bit of dirt out of it. "Think someone'll buy that this is a Sneasel claw?"

"It looks nothing like a Sneasel's claw," Piers murmured as he glanced at it, hearing Ninetales chuckle.

"You're not planning to con some poor sucker again are you, Fluffs? You can't be a master explorer with a criminal record, you know!"

The way they spoke about exploring, it sounded more than just a hobby, a professional job. But that wasn't the only question in Piers' mind as Flaaffy spluttered and snapped. "It's not like I'm going to get caught, and stop calling me that in public!"

"These two sound like an old married couple," Raihan piped up to Piers as he heard the conversation between the two 'explorers' turn childish. The amount of times Ninetales was now purposely calling Flaaffy that nickname reminded him of whenever Leon got plastered and started teasing them about the 'good old days'. Once again he found himself wondering, however his voice shushed as he vocalised it. "Do you think Lee got turned into a Pokemon like us?"

The Zigzagoon looked to the playing Vulpix and Nickit, seeing Ninetales stop to wave at them. They halted as they saw him then scampered over, Vulpix chirping as Nickit's movement turned skittish upon seeing the two former humans. "Old man, you're back! Mum's been waiting for you!"

"Did you find the lost item, Grandfather?" Nickit asked, voice quiet as his wary gaze set on the strangers.

Ninetales nodded proudly, patting the fur of his collar. "Of course I did, what do you take me for?"

"Actually I found it, your grandpa was too busy hiding from a Surskit," Flaaffy deadpanned, prompting the old fire fox to yelp.

"I wasn't hiding from it, thank you! I was assessing the danger of the situation!" Ninetales' eyes darted to his escortees and he let out a shaky breath. "Never mind that, is the doctor in or has she gone looking for berries again?"

Vulpix pointed to the distant crowd of huts and various other house-like structures. "Yeah Blissey's out, she has big brother's friend watching the clinic for her again! Did you rescue these two from the mystery dungeon, Mr Mayor?"

Raihan and Piers exchanged gazes. "'Mr Mayor'?" Raihan repeated as Piers furrowed his brow.

"What's a 'mystery dungeon'?"

Flaaffy shook his head, digging a pecha berry out of his bag and handing it to Nickit. "Ask your brother for my usual, please. I'll be right there after we've taken these two to the clinic."

"Of course Mr Flaaffy," Nickit whispered, gripping the stem with his mouth before turning away. "Come on Vulpix, let's go."

"Right!" Vulpix waved cheerfully at Piers and Raihan as she followed her friend. "Have fun at the Doctors, strangers!"

Piers had so many questions that they were starting to give him a migraine. But he'd save them for now, he had no idea what they should be doing. "I don't think anyone's ever had fun at the Doctors before."

The clinic was not far away at all, but it felt like ages as they followed their guides, Piers' mind whirling as he finally gave Raihan's back a rest and zigzagged next to him. Ninetales were known for their mystical powers and could even deliver curses. Would this old fox know of such a thing that could turn a human into a Pokemon? He was wary of bringing it up when he couldn't see a single human in sight, this very village clearly adapted for the quadrupedal Pokemon that strolled past them.

If he told the truth, would they laugh? Would they lash out at them? He shook off that possibility. They had to find their way home, how long had it been since they were gone? Was Marnie ringing his phone non-stop, leaving it buzzing away wherever it had ended up? Was Leon stuck in the same predicament, wandering as a Pokemon all alone?

"Hey, you." Flaaffy's words finally got through to him and Piers realised they were in front of a modest structure, the words 'Clinic' scribbled on a plank of wood above the door. Next to them was a sign with what looked like opening hours. "We're here. Will you need help signing the admissions' book?" He looked at Raihan, seeing him grin sheepishly. "I can certainly tell your friend will struggle."

Glancing at his paws, Piers realised he had no idea how to even hold a pen like this. If they were stuck like this for a while, he'd have to learn how to write again. "Do you mind?"

Ninetales hummed as he gently knocked the door. "Fluffs wouldn't go out his way to ask something if it bothered him."

Flaaffy let out a quiet growl, clearly flustered. "You're making me sound like an asshole, stop it. I can't wait to evolve, so you can stop calling me that stupid name."

"That just means I'll need to find a new name for you," Ninetales hummed, turning to their guests. "So, what did you guys call yourselves again? Pierce and Rider?"

"It's Piers, he's Raihan." Piers idly stretched as he heard footsteps followed by a quiet thud. Were they okay in there? "We can spell them out if you need, we just can't… Yeah. Do none of you around here have names?"

Flaaffy shrugged. "We mostly go by species, we're the only Flaaffy and Ninetales around here so we don't tend to have issues." He glanced at the sign. "Some of the younger folk use nicknames though as well, thank Arceus for that too when we had six Eevee at once." He let out a quiet sigh. "All but two are evolved now so we don't have to deal with mistaken identity anymore, thankfully… Eevee, are you going to let us in or not?" he suddenly snapped, prompting the former humans to jump as a squeak sounded behind the door and Ninetales laughed.

"S-Sorry, give me a moment!" The handle shook a bit before they heard a click and the door finally opened, the four of them greeted by a Pokemon a tiny bit smaller than Piers that he initially struggled to recognise as an Eevee. However he could see the struggle to let them in, the fox had a ear-flapped winter hat pulled over their eyes, flattening their ears against their face like a lop-rabbit's. "I'm sorry, I had a bit of an accident…"

Raihan started sniggering as Flaaffy sighed and crouched down to the normal type's level, pulling the hat up out of their eyes. "Eevee, we've been through this. Wait until someone can help you put this on, alright?" The Eevee glanced at the strangers then yelped as Flaaffy pushed their ears through the tiny slits in their cap, twitching as they poked through. "Can you get the book for us? We found these two in Labyrinth Forest."

Eevee nodded, vision no longer obscured by the hat, and scurried over to the distant table as Ninetales chuckled. "Don't mind Eevee, he's still an apprentice. He's a perfectly good nurse, as long as he can see. So, what are we admitting you under?"

Piers tilted his head. "'Admitting us under'? What do you mean?"

"He means what are you getting treated for, so they know what to use." Flaaffy narrowed his eyes, looking at the Zigzagoon. "I noticed you kind of struggle to walk, is that a problem you've always had?"

He had no idea how to answer that, but his paws still felt a little tender. Trying to consciously stop himself from zigzagging and slamming into everything was oddly exhausting. "I think I might have injured my feet whilst we were wandering in there." He mumbled quietly. "We still have no idea how we got there though, last night we were at home but we woke up out there."

Their helpers exchanged glances. "You mentioned that, maybe you got spirited by a ghost Pokemon," Ninetales murmured as Eevee dropped the book in front of them. "Thanks, kiddo. Hey Eevee, have you ever seen a black and white Zigzagoon before?"

Eevee peered at Piers then shook his head, flipping the pages to a blank page before scribbling on the date line. It said Tuesday. His and Raihan's jaws dropped. "Nope, Espeon told me about them but I've never seen one. Where did you come-"

"Wait, it's Tuesday?!" Raihan squawked. "But it was Saturday yesterday! No way we've been asleep for two straight days!"

"We must have been drugged," Piers grumbled. "That seems to be the only explanation. But we couldn't have been asleep in that forest for two days, we would have been attacked, right?"

Flaaffy nodded, taking the pen from Eevee and scribbling their names. Looking at the spelling, it was clearly an educated guess. "Right, there's no way you were just dropped in there all that time. Something weird's going on with you two. Hey Eevee, what were you going to ask him?"

"I was going to ask the Zigzagoon where he came from," Eevee whispered, blinking slowly. "Sounds like you have your work cut out for you… How far from here do you live?"

"We have no idea, we're from Galar and never even knew this place existed," Piers mumbled.

"Galar?" Ninetales echoed. "I have never heard of that, which continent is that on? Air? Mist?"

Raihan shot Piers a panicked look. "Continents? Where the crap are we?"

"Calm down," he whisper-shouted, despite the rising anxiety. He swallowed hard and dropped it. "It's near Kalos, any idea where that is? The humans there have bloody weird accents."

Eevee piped up a little louder, tail wagging in concerned confusion. "Humans? I thought you said humans were extinct, Ninetales!"

As if life was a cartoon, everything crashed to a halt for the two former humans. Tension filled their bodies, Piers' throat felt as though it was going to cave in, processing those words. His eyes observed that Raihan now resembled a statue, stature rigid and mouth agape. How was he supposed to process this - How screwed were they - "You fucking what, mate?!"

"Watch your language around the child," Ninetales scolded in a half-whisper, prompting the startled 'child' in question to cry back.

"I'm not a child, I'm nearly an adult!"

Could have fooled us, Piers would have responded, however his panicked mind zigzagged through the situation. They had ended up as Pokemon, they were Arceus knows where, and now they find out that humans were apparently extinct. What on Earth happened to them? What did they do to piss off Arceus so badly? "Hold on, none of this is making sense! What do you mean humans are extinct? We've been asleep for two days! Before then, we were with our human friends! Are you pulling our legs? What-"

Flaaffy struck him with a very much needed slap. Fortunately for Piers, it was not a Wake-Up Slap, otherwise he would have been laying on the floor unconscious. "Calm down, you're getting emotional. Don't yell at the child." He ignored Eevee glaring at him as best as an Eevee could glare. It was far too cute to be intimidating. "Let's get a run down here." He looked at Raihan, judging him to be presently more calm. In truth, Raihan was struggling to understand how to react himself. "So, you two come from this place called Galar. This 'Galar' is next to another land called Kalos, where you claim humans live. Is Galar inhabited by humans too?"

Raihan dumbly nodded before shaking the shock off. "We were with a human friend of ours before we fell asleep. We have no idea where this place is, but we've never heard of Vulpine Village for sure." He looked at Piers, furrowing his brow. "We have no idea what happened to Leon either… I wonder if he's looking for us back home, or if he got sent here either."

"A human wandering around our continent would cause quite the shock," Ninetales mused. "Truth betold, we don't actually know for a fact if humans are indeed extinct or if they went into hiding. But no one has seen a human in quite a long time. They were believed to be a fairytale when I was a little boy." He shook his head. "Though there have been a few instances of humans turning into Pokemon in the past."

Piers, Raihan and Eevee stared at him. "Really, Ninetales?"

In response to Eevee's curious cry, Flaaffy crossed his arms and nodded. "I've heard of them too. I believe there were four reports, all four of which became heroes with their partners. One of them was believed to have come from a dead future, but the other three were sent from other worlds. That's… If you believe those stories. Some Pokemon have an easier time believing than others."

"Maybe that happened to us," Raihan mumbled to Piers. His friend was silent, in thought. "If Lee was sent here too, would he have become a Pokemon?"

"Perhaps, though I'm not sure what about travelling here apparently makes humans become Pokemon," Ninetales responded with a crooked smile. "You two should rest here. You'll keep an eye on them, won't you Eevee?"

Eevee nodded, taking the patient book in his mouth and hopping onto a chair to pop it on the table. "Of course! Do you two have work?"

"Fluffs' got to return to the guild, I've got a lost item to give to Espeon," Ninetales waved his paw dismissively. "I'll be back to check on you two in the morning, alright?"

"Thanks for bringing us here!" Raihan chirped, Piers just responding with a nod. His brain felt like a broken record player right now.

Flaaffy followed Ninetales out of the clinic and the door slammed close. Raihan looked at Eevee, then at Piers. "So… Guess we're sleeping here tonight. Hey Eevee, are there beds here?"

The capped fox Pokemon nodded, pointing at a far door. "Through there, you might need to jump to reach the handle though."

They heard a quiet bang and turned to see a few Oran berries drop through a letter flap. Piers scurried over and counted them. "I think these are ours, I forgot Flaaffy had them in his bag."

"Let's chow down before we sleep then!" Raihan looked at the apprentice. "Do you want to have some too, Eevee? The doctor's on a berry run, isn't she?"

Eevee gazed at the berries then gave a timid sounding laugh, jumping off the chair. "If you don't mind!"