Chapter 2: A stranger to this world
As the first ray of sunlight came through the window, Latenna was still laying down on her straw bed contemplating the previous day. The mission they set out to do, their improvised rescue, and how it resulted in herself needing rescue as well. They had failed their first real mission, that much she knew. Would they be allowed to try again, or would they be put on D rank missions again?
"Finally awake, huh?"
The voice snapped Latenna out of her thoughts, now noticing her fathers large frame in the doorway. Having fainted shortly after getting picked up in the desert, she didn't know how to face him with her failure.
"Not satisfied with the outcome of yesterdays mission I see?" Came from the Rhydon, as he sat down beside her. A small shake of the Arons head was the only answer he got.
"Then you might be surprised to hear that Chief Treck har officially declared your mission a success." He said, with a hint of pride in his voice. "You and Dart are officially a C rank team now."
This would finally break his daughters silence.
"What… How?"
"Your rescue mission was indeed risky, but in the end you saved that Pokemons life. Besides, Dart did arrive at HQ with the item your original mission requested."
"Arrived with his teammate lost in the sandstorm, just barely in time to be rescued by you… How could the Chief possibly accept that?" The still confused Aron asked.
"You are not giving your teammate the credit he deserves, Missy." The Rhydon said sternly. "He arrived in town long before the sandstorm hit you. In fact, he ran faster than a boy his age could ever be expected to run, and collapsed right after he told me where you were. The reason for your late rescue, was because I decided to watch from a distance for a while before interfering."
This revelation came as a complete shock for Latenna. Dart was not at fault for her late rescue, it was just her father testing her.
"Dart is more important for you than might like to admit. His efforts were a large part of you getting a pass." her father continued "In fact, he has already come to check on you today, but I sent him away to talk with you in private. We all know he lacks both in patience and attention span, and has a lot to learn from your more composed and focused mind. But yesterday we saw a taste of what the boy is capable of when he puts all of his focus into a task."
"So, you're saying that I have to teach him how to focus on a task?" Latenna asked cautiously.
"Yes, but more importantly, you have a lot to learn from him as well." Her father said, voice still dead serious. "Right before I intervened, you gave up. Dart would never have done such a thing. He as a determination to never give up, even when he only has a fools hope of succeeding. When you're acting on logic alone, a situation may seem hopeless. Me and my team has seen our share of such situations, but I'm still here today. You know why?"
Latenna shook her head, now fully focused on her father.
"Because when a fools hope was all that was left, we had the courage to act on it."
The young Aron did not know what to say. Thought there was definitely room for improvement, her father definitely seemed to be proud of what she considered a complete failure, and had given her even more to think about.
"Father… thank you" She finally said.
"Any time dear." He said as he got up, this time with a gentle voice. "By the way, you might want to get Dart and see how the Pokemon you risked your mission for is faring."
It finally dawned on her how long she had been lying there. Finally getting up, she decided to head to work, thinking she would meet up with her partner there. This expectation was immediately shattered when she got out the door, as she saw Dart waiting for her as he normally does. Two hours later than usual.
Southern Badlands
Surrounded by a great mountain range in the north, and a desert dungeon in the south, the Southern Badlands are mostly isolated from the rest of the continent. Though a few settlements exists, inhabited by Pokemon who have managed to make this harsh landscape their home.
'Ahh, my head!' Thought the Trapinch.
Though he had finally returned to a semi-conscious state, now he really just wished to pass out again. Though probably capable of opening his eyes, he kept them shut hoping he would fall asleep again and get rid of this infernal headache. Maybe he would even continue the dream he had. The details slipped when he regained consciousness, but he remembered and out-of-the-body experience he didn't think his mind was even capable of producing. This did not work. As horrible as he felt, he was not the least bit tired. And as such, he decided to try opening his eyes.
To his surprise, a white creature was looking at him, standing uncomfortably close. Before his mind was able to comprehend what was happening, it flew of, shouting something about him being awake. With his mind not quite able to process the fact that the creature had just talked, he tried orienting himself. His bed seemed to be a simple pile of straws, one of many strewn across the rooms stone floor. The walls seemed to be primarily made of dried clay, with small windows close to the roof, and there was a desk and some cabinets in the corner. Nothing in this room felt familiar, nor did he remember where he fell asleep. Now awake, but as disoriented as ever, he decided to try getting up. He tried linting his head, but it felt heavy, and lying on his stomach didn't give give it much room to move.
"This headache really is killing me." he thought.
Blaming his weird feeling head on his poor condition, he tried moving his limbs. This time, he didn't feel much at all. Like only stumps were left on all of them.
"How could all my limbs fall asleep?" he asked himslef, still trying to make sense of his condition.
It was then the door opened again, and four creatures entered the room. One seemed to be the white, flying one from earlier, the next a black canine. The third one was a small light gray one, which seemed to shine in the light coming through the windows. And finally, the fourth one was a white and green humanoid, towering over the other three. It seemed like the canine was about to dart over to him, but was grabbed and held back by the humanoid one.
"Do not disturb my patients, or you will be waiting outside!" He scolded the dog.
"Sorry…" the dog apologized, lowering his ears.
The fact that all of these creatures spoke finally caught up to him. Now convinced that he was still dreaming, he watched the humanoid and the white flier approach him.
"Now, let's find out what we're working with here." the humanoid started, with a voice that sounded male "How did you end up unconscious in the desert? I did not find any sign of external injuries on you, nor were you starving or dehydrated."
Surprised at the sudden interrogation, he tried to answer, but his mouth did not behave right at all. But after some trial and error, he managed to mutter out an answer.
"I don't… know…"
The humanoids eyes narrowed. Now, upon closer inspection, the creatures lower arms seemed to have a bladed edge. As it reached for him, he felt terrified, hoping he would wake up from this weird dream. As the creature touched him, a pink light started emerging from his hand. And after the light faded, it withdrew its hand.
Suddenly, he could feel his headache fading. In fact, every pain in his body suddenly dissipated. But as he tried moving again, even if the pain was gone, everything still felt wrong. His limbs were still way too short. His head large and clumsy, and his mouth wide and stiff.
"Now, lets step back a bit then." The humanoid said. "My name is Augustyn. I am a medic, and run this infirmary. This is my assistant Tressa"
He gestured towards the white flying creature, before finally gesturing towards the last two.
"And this is Latenna and Dart, the junior rangers who found you and brought you here."
All of them raised a hand (or front leg for Latenna and Dart) and waved.
"Now, with introductions in order." Augustyn continued. "Could you please tell us your name?"
"My name?" he thought. He could answer that. "My name is…"
Once again, his mind drew a blank. No matter how hard he thought, he could not remember the answer. The frustration was quite visible in Augustyns eyes, but it remained calm and composed.
"Amnesia. You must've had a run-in with a spiteful psychic." Augustyn stated. "In order to help you, I will need to take a look in your mind. On my honor as a medic and a psychic, I will not share anything I find unless you agree to it. Do you accept this?"
Still not having accepted this as reality, he simply gave a small nod. Augustyn closed his eyes, as it reached for him once again. It sat still for about 10 seconds, before opening his eyes wide, this time not able to keep his composure at all.
"Tell me… What is your species?" he asked slowly.
Everyone gave the medic a confused look. After all, that much should've been obvious just by looking at him. Or perhaps these creatures had never seen a human before.
"I'm human of course."
But as he said that, the confused look on every creature in the room turned to one of shock. And this time it was not directed at the medic asking the question. They were all looking at him. Augustyn was the first to regain his composure and went over to his desk. The other three creatures in the room started murmuring among themselves. He couldn't hear a lot, but got something about myths, and if his claim to be human was the truth. Then the medic came back with a mirror in his hands.
"I suppose there is no easy way to tell you this, but…" he said with uncertainty in his voice, before showing his patient the mirror.
What he saw in that mirror was unexpected, but made sense in the worst ways possible. Instead of his own human self, he saw a bug like creature, with a round body, four short legs, and a massive jaw. Finally, the notion of this all being a dream cracked. He simply froze, desperately trying to make sense of the situation. Stuck in an unknown place, in an unknown body, and unable to even remember his own name.
'Help him settle in.'
That was all Augustyn said as he left them all with the nervous wreck of a Pokemon on the bed. Even if this was so important that he had to immediately inform the chief, he could've had one one of them do it, instead of leaving three novices, two of which with no medical training, to help the Trapinch who obviously wasn't in his right mind. What was he thinking?
"Latenna?"
The soft voice snapped Latenna out of her fuming thoughts.
"Are you alright?" Tressa asked?
"Yes, I'm fine." she answered "But how are we supposed to help here. Why couldn't the psychic with actual medical experience help the patient, and one of us help the patient, and one of us go tell the chief?"
Tressa seemed like she was trying to come up with an answer.
"I honestly don't know. But after six months of training under him, I know he did this for a reason." She finally answered. "Clearly none of us have any idea what to do, but that it seems like he wont let that stop him."
Tressa motioned towards Dart, who was already standing beside the patients bed with a wagging tail.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" He asked while keeping his head closer than most mon would be comfortable with. But the Trapinch didn't even react.
"Is it true that humans are real?" Dart then asked.
This question finally got a reaction out of the stunned mon. All the pieces finally fell into place for him, even if they painted a bleak picture.
"So, there are no humans around that could help me?" he asked, mostly to confirm his suspicions.
The three others in the room looked at each other as they all shook their heads. All of them were relieved to finally make some progress, Dart very much more visibly so.
"How do humans look? What powers do you have? Do you evolve? Is it true that you can…"
A less than gentle nudge from the side put a stop to Darts flood of questions. As friendly as he was, Latenna decided that overwhelming the poor mon would not be the smartest thing to do at the moment.
"Sorry about that Mr. Trapinch." Latenna said "Take all the time you need."
"No worries." he answered "What was it you just called me anyway?"
The question took Latenna back a bit. Did humans use different species names or something?
"It's the name of your species. Or… the one you have turned into." she corrected.
"Do you want us make you a nickname?" Dart interjected, wagging his tail.
Latenna was about to nudge Dart again, but then she saw the thoughtful look in the eyes of the Trapinch. The idea may not have been so bad after all. Whenever feral 'woke up', their rescuers generally had to name them as well, and this situation wasn't very different.
"A nickname certainly sounds better than 'mr. Trapping'" he finally answered. "And without knowing my true name, that is probably our best option."
"Oh what about Snapjaw, or Ironfang, or…"
"Something less ridiculous please." the Trapinch interrupted.
Dart countinued to make suggestions to the Trapinch, none of them really catching his fancy. Not that anyone could blame him, as the suggestions never got any better. Latenna tried to get help from Tressa, who made her intention of not getting involved in the naming clear. So in the end, she had to come up with something.
"I have a suggestion" she announced.
Dart finally stopped. With everyone in the room focused at her, she countinued.
"We are naming a ground type, with no memories, and as the humble beginnings of a respected creature." she started explaining. "Essentially as close to a blank slate a mon can be."
The Trapinch gave her a confused look, that told Latenna to cut her explanation short. If species were beyond his, typing and evolution would likely be as well.
"Anyway… my suggestion is to call you Slate." She finished.
Once again, the thoughtful look filled his eyes, before he spoke up.
"I don't understand much of your reasoning but…" he paused "I think I like it. From now on, you can call me Slate."