Something like lighting cracked through the air; a bolt of light through the darkness that briefly illuminated their otherworldly surroundings.
"Whoa! Are... Are you alright?"
Another crack of lightning. The two held each others' hands tightly.
"No! Don't let go partner; we're almost there!"
. . .
"Just a little bit further... Come on! We're almost there!"
Their grip became strained.
"I-I can't... Hold on..!"
Another flash of light.
"...No, look out!"
The two were finally separated with a wordless cry, a great slash cutting through the source of one of the voices. Everything seemed to break apart and scatter; the other voice calling out for their friend one last before they too had dissipated into the ether.
Now both voices were gone, and all that remained was the storm of the sea, deep and furious.
Everything around him seemed vague and indistinct; fading in and out of focus.
'Where... Where am I?'
No answer to his thoughts was given. He felt detached from his body; separated from everything.
'I can't... Drifting off...'
No matter how he clung to his perceptions, the darkness of sleep was swift to embrace him. He sunk into its welcoming depths, falling ever deeper.
Torches burned brightly against the evening sun, casting a bright shade of vermilion about the surrounding structures. The sky had been painted a deep shade of wide-ranging hues; from the brightest of salmon at the horizon to the coolest blues overhead. The storm that had raged so furiously only hours earlier had largely dissipated, leaving only a scattered canopy of clouds that caught the morning light and glowed with an ethereal quality.
A lone Pokémon approached the entrance to the structure, his gait belying a rather nervous disposition. Though far from an intimidating sight, it was the implications behind entering the renowned guild that weighed heavily on his mind; leaving the Pokémon to pace back and forth the recessed gate in the ground before its closed entrance.
". . ."
He stalled before it, inwardly wondering if it might just be for the best to turn back and forget about this dream of his... No, he could do it. he couldn't let fear and uncertainty hold him back them anymore; wouldn't stand by and watch his dreams go by. He COULD do this, he were brave enough to do this. No more wimping out! Gathering his courage, the Pokémon stepped into the grate in the ground, holding his breath as—
"POKÉMON DETECTED! POKÉMON DETECTED!"
A booming voice bellowed out of nowhere, making the Pokémon yelp in flustered shock as he leaped back off the grate; his heartbeat hammering away in his chest.
No, it was no good. He couldn't do it after all; the facade of his earlier bravado already long gone. He just weren't brave enough. Not even taking his personal treasure with them had been enough to inspire them; the necklace he wore now only feeling like the weight that it was.
he were such a coward; easily frightened and excitable. Maybe it would be for the best... If he just gave up...
The Pokémon slowly turned around and trotted off, head bowed low as he continued to think and brood aloud. Behind him, a pair of Pokémon watched him from around a nearby tree; each sporting a matching grin at the feckless Pokémon's mumbled mention of 'treasure'...
The setting sun had cast a golden pallor over the glassy blues of the sea, the blend of the two colours making the waves glint and shine like diamonds. Krabbys scattered about the sandy beach and along the coastal ridges blew bubbles all about the air; a clear sign that the weather had calmed from its prior storm. Everyone knew that they only ever came out when the weather was nice, after all. So it was no surprise that coming to the beach on the outskirts of town was many a Pokémon's favorite thing to do, at least if they ever needed to be cheered up or calmed down. That was what he thought to himself at least, after such a miserable attempt to join Wigglytuff's guild. The sole Pokémon sighed out drearily as he looked over the waves; the scattered bubbles in the wind reflecting the low light of the sun off the waves as the visage of his reflection rippled back at them.
Though he might have tried to hide it, his reflection showed just how defeated he must have looked to anyone else; eyes drooping lowly and sad. Other Pokémon had always told him how unsettling their eyes were; he knew they were too vivid, and that was made only worse by his tendency to stare widely at things for an age.
A low groan caught his attention, snapping the Pokémon out of their reverie. Turning to the source of the noise he blinked, seeing something in the sands a fair ways in the distance. Approaching the distant shape he slowly approached it, wondering what on Earth could possibly have—wait; was that a person over there? Hurriedly running towards the figure, the Pokémon's surprise quickly gave way to concern as he realized that the other person had collapsed unto the sand; their body drenched with water all over.
"H-hey; are you OK? Can you hear me?" The raw fright in their voice earned another quiet groan from the half-drowned figure, who seemed to rouse at the noise. But as the figure began to stir so too did they begin coughing; a heaving in their chest carrying a mouthful of salty water and bile that was quickly washed away by the tides. Still retching and coughing, the collapsed person rose unsteadily, first to their knees and then their legs as they opened their eyes, squinting through sensitive eyes up at the Pokémon that hovered over them concernedly.
"You're awake, oh thank goodness! I thought that you were..." The Pokémon's voice trailed off uncertainly, or perhaps the half-conscious person has simply tuned him out. Where was he? On a beach? And why did his head hurt so much?
"Y-you weren't moving, you see, so I was really worried for a minute there. How did you wind up unconscious all the way out here?"
Unconscious? He had been unconscious? The Pokémon kept talking even as he silently blinked at him, his words spilling out with a youthful fervor.
"...O-oh um, my name is Riolu! Glad to meet you, I don't think I've seen your face around here. Who might you be?" The Pokémon, Riolu evidentially, introduced himself with a good-natured smile. Opening his mouth to reply, the washed-up person opened his mouth to answer but...
"I... I don't know," They stuttered out, almost as surprised with the words coming out of their own mouth as Riolu was. Of course he knew who he was; he was... Why couldn't he remember who he was?
"I-I can't remember much else. Even my body feels strange to me..." Riolu seemed caught somewhere between surprise and concern at that; his bright red eyes widening as he made a small jump of shock.
"Wait, you don't remember? And you say your body feels off? You look just like a normal Treecko to me!" He replied, looking at them as if utterly befuddled. The washed-up person looked just as confused as him though, as he looked down at himself as if for the first time ever (which to him now, it might as well have been). Apparently horrified by what he saw, the rather startled Pokémon ran over to the edge of the sand of the beach, looking at his reflection in the water as if disbelieving what he saw in it too.
'It's... It's true..! I've turned into a Treecko..?!' Evidentially the other Pokémon could tell what he was thinking too, though now a small amount of skepticism seemed to colour his eyes.
"You're... Acting a little strange... Are you trying to pull my leg or something?" Riolu asked, leaving the Grass type emphatically shaking his head in the negatory.
"No, I'm not! I don't know what happened to me, but I know that I'm not a Treecko!" He insisted, a deep uncertainty welling up within him. It wasn't that he could remember anything otherwise, or even that his body felt all too different from what he imagined it should, but somewhere, the Treecko could just tell that it was... Wrong.
Still Riolu looked somewhat unconvinced by his passionate denial. "You're telling me the truth?" he asked, a tense moment passing as the Grass type didn't so much as flinch. Eventually the other Pokémon seemed to relax, offering a small smile. "...OK. Well, you don't seem to be a bad Pokémon at least..." he trailed off, before awkwardly fidgeting a bit. "...Sorry for doubting you, more and more bad Pokémon have been turning up lately, and most of them are aggressive too. Things have gotten a bit lawless..."
Then, as if on cue, a purple shape bumped right into Riolu from behind; sending him off his feet and knocking what looked like a stone pendant he wore around his neck free. On closer inspection said purple shapes were in fact a pair of Pokémon, a Zubat and a Koffing from the looks of them.
"Well, I do beg your pardon there." Koffing puffed out with a chortle.
Riolu picked himself off the sand and whirled around angrily to face the two. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!"
"Heh-heh-heh!" Zubat laughed. "Can't figure it out?" We wanted to mess with you! Can't face up to us, can you?! That's yours, isn't it?" he said, turning to the fallen stone.
"That's…!"
"Sorry, kiddo. We'll be taking that!" Zubat chittered out gleefully as he swooped down to scoop up the pendant.
The Treecko looked on in a mixture of shock and disgust. Were these Pokémon really so brazen as to think that they could not only attack someone else, but steal from them too?
"Whoa-ho-ho! Not even gonna make a move to get it back? What's the matter? Too scared? I didn't expect that you'd be such a big coward!" Koffing chuckled as Riolu shrank back in fear, obviously intimidated by the both of them. Koffing merely turned to his partner and crime and puffed in a self-satisfied manner. "Come on, let's get out of here."
With that, the two thieves promptly made their exist and scuttled off to a nearby entrance of what looked like a damp, sandy cave. Too late the Grass type tried to shout after them to stop, but the pair of thieves paid no mind to either him or Riolu as they each shared a boisterous laugh.
"That was my personal treasure!" Riolu cried desperately. "It means everything to me! P-please! You have to help me get it back!"
He stared at the other Pokémon awkwardly. He had just awoken on a beach with next to no memories of anything, suddenly in the body of a Treecko, and was already expected act like some sort of hero. Intellectually, he knew that he had far more pressing matters to attend to, like finding out who even he was. But the way Riolu was looking at him; his triangular ears pressed down against his head, his big, red eyes stared up at him, shining with unshed tears and an almost childlike innocence... He just couldn't say no.
"Stay behind me; we're going to go and get this 'personal treasure' of yours," The Treecko promised and stomped over to the cave, a now rather much more hopeful and determined Riolu following behind him.
