"...poisoned..."

"...lost a lot of blood..."

"...trying our best..."

"...he's moving, I think..."

As I drifted in and out of consciousness, I could vaguely hear such discussions from the dark, fuzzy shapes standing over me. Often times I could vaguely make out Rye or one of the other Pokémon I'd met among the voices, though I usually fell unconscious again before I could actually make them out.

When I finally came to, the first thing that I noticed was that my throbbing chest appeared to have been tightly wrapped in gauze. I could still tell that it had been torn into, as was evident by the red staining the gauze, though it didn't feel as bad as it should have been. I mean, I was still alive, so I guess that should have been obvious. Allowing my eyes to adjust, I took a look at my surroundings. I was lying on an uncomfortably lumpy straw bed in a small room with a single window, twilight and the faint sound of talking seeping in. The only Pokémon in the room was Rye, who was sitting next to my little bed seemingly deep in thought.

"Sha?" I cried out weakly. Rye jumped slightly, snapping out of his contemplation. His slight panic was quickly replaced with relief once he noticed where the sound had come from.

"Oh! Uh... h-hey, uh, Beck. Good to see you're awake..."

With some difficulty, I managed to sit up as Rye sat down next to me.

"You were out for three days, we were starting to get worried. Uh, th-those bites were pretty deep, Ms. Audino said you're lucky to be alive..."

'Three days? Lucky to be alive? What?'

Rye, seemingly noticing my distress at the news, shifted in his seat.

"D-don't worry! M-Ms. Audino can help, you just need a few Heal Pulses, some Pechas, and a couple more days of rest, then..."

His enthusiasm wilted like a dying plant, for lack of a better word.

"...th-then we can send you back home..."

As he hung his head, a thought occurred to me. Rye didn't even know I didn't have a home. At least, not that I knew of. On that note, he didn't know of my being human... how would he respond to that? He had been so enthusiastic about me just being able to understand him, so what should I expect? Would he be excited? Upset? Angry? Before I could ponder on this, Rye looked up at me, sadness in his yellow eyes.

"Do you miss your family, Beck? A-are they smart like you?" he questioned.

A moment of silence hung in the air. The Treecko watched me, confused at my reluctance to answer.

"...is your family...?"

"Sh-shaah!" I cried out in frustration, pointing my tiny arms to my head in an 'I don't know' gesture. Thankfully, Rye seemed to understand this, at least.

"...uh, do you remember them?"

'Finally, we're getting somewhere.' I shook my head no as Rye's eyes widened.

"Do you remember... anything?"

Another shake no. Rye seemed to sink back into thought, now silently muttering to himself.

Another moment of silence passed as this continued, only to be interrupted by a large pink Pokémon walking in. The Audino seemed to light up at the sight of me.

"Ah, you're awake!" she exclaimed, approaching me with one of the feelers on her ears in hand. "I apologize for the suddenness of all this. You're in the infirmary of Arcanine's Guild in Impetus Town. Don't worry, it's not too far from Quinite Forest, we should be able to get you home once you're healed."

As I watched, unsure of what quite was happening, she pressed it against my chest. After keeping it there for a few seconds, she withdrew it, seemingly satisfied with whatever she had gotten from that, and turned to Rye.

"His heart rate and breathing are normal. The poison seems to have mostly worn off, and I expect that aside from the odd scar, he'll make a full recovery in the next week or so. Of course, there's the damage to his lungs from his near drowning, though he's a Water-type, I expect he'll shake it off. Are there any other anomalies I might not have picked up on?" Ms. Audino asked, picking up a pen and a piece of paper from a nearby table.

Rye swallowed, apparently nervous over having to play doctor for me.

"W-well, from what I've gathered, he doesn't remember anything from before I found him. Maybe he hit his head, that river was pretty rocky."

Ms. Audino cocked her head, still writing. "Amnesia, huh? Nothing we haven't dealt with before, all you need is a good Psychic and some patience."

With that, she placed her pen down and started towards the door.

"Right, I'll go and tell your teammates that they don't have a fatality on their paws. I advise you stay with him as much as you can, seeing as you're the one who impressed on him. He needs someone he can trust to heal properly," she told Rye. As she walked out, she stopped, seemingly having remembered something.

"Oh, and Guildmaster Arcanine says he's interested in seeing you two in the coming days," she said. Rye let out a small 'eep!' as I felt him tense up beside me.

"You're not in trouble, he simply wishes to talk to the two of you. I mean, it's not every day you find a feral that can understand speech right away, is it?" Ms. Audino added with a small smile before turning to leave. As the sound of footsteps grew fainter, Rye, his eyes wider than ever, crumpled next to me, this time only muttering one easily discernible phrase.

"Oh, dear Arceus."

The world outside the hospital room's window had gone dark and quiet since Ms. Audino's visit. Rye was spread out on a bed that had been provided while I stared at the ceiling. For the first time since waking up by the river, I had time to think.

'Is there anyone that can help me? Are there any human cities near here? Do humans even exist in this world? Will I ever be able to remember my past? Will Rye still accept me if he finds out I'm human? What about Team Apex? What would Pike do? Who was that voice? Will I ever hear it again? What does it want from me?'

Such questions bounced around my mind until a voice cut into my contemplation.

"Hey, Beck. You awake?" Rye asked.

I shifted to face in his direction, wincing as my chest wound screamed in protest.

"I, uh... erm..."

He shifted in his bed, clearly tongue-tied.

"...t-thanks for saving me back there. Any longer and I... uh, you know. Guess we're, uh, equal now, huh? I... agh..."

Rye buried his face into his makeshift pillow, his hands on his head.

"Shaah..." I cried reassuringly. I reached to lay my paw on him, though found myself unable to. Finding Rye's eye on me, I found myself turning hot with embarrassment as well.

'Curse my stubby arms!'

Even through my limitations, Rye seemed to understand what I was going for, as I could make out a small smile coming from his mostly covered face. Another moment of silence passed before he spoke up.

"Beck? Since you can't remember where you came from, I was wondering... uh..."

I heard the Treecko shift.

"...you want to stay with me?" Rye asked quietly.

'...do I really have any other choice?'

So far, Rye was the only Pokémon I even really knew here, and judging from what I've seen, even if I did decide to run off on him, the world would probably be less than kind to a "feral" like me. The answer was obvious.

"Sha," I affirmed, giving a nod. Seeing this, Rye's face lit up.

"R-really? I... o-okay, alright..."

Rye steadied his breathing, giving a small laugh.

"I guess that makes us, uh, f-friends, right?"

I couldn't help but grin at the notion, giving another quick nod. I didn't know what I was like as a human, but I could assume I would have taken having someone by my side for granted. Here, having lost everything from my memory to my species, it felt good having something as simple as a friend.

"Hey, I have an idea. Since you're gonna be staying with me, I-I'm thinking I could try to teach you how to talk!" Rye piped.

"Sha?" I responded.

"Well, I mean, since you're understanding what I'm saying right now, you can't be too far off from it, right?" he reasoned.

He did have a point there, I must say.

I gave Rye another "Shaa!" and a nod. I couldn't tell if he was excited or nervous, but his smile at my response was enough to satisfy. As we noticed the chirps of Kricketots outside, though, our enthusiasm faltered as we realized just how late it was. After a moment, Rye straightened up.

"...uh, w-we can start tomorrow, I guess!"

With that, we quickly drifted off into sleep, hopeful and eager for whatever laid ahead.