A singularity.
A point so confined and dense you can never see it with the naked eye. Darkness, no, nothingness surrounds this area for trillions of non-existent light years.
A pair of eyes stares into the abyss.
A message directed to a chosen onlooker. His eyes watch in horror as his mind conjures information so innumerable that he can only watch.
A great, overwhelming presence. Flashes of different pokémon the onlooker has never seen.
A Zoroark. A Sylveon. A Leafeon. An Absol.
"You are the world's second chance, and yet you are the world. The world is your second chance, and yet you are the chance. Arise."
A powerful, yet soothing voice calls to him.
A bright light.
A chance.
The light above Verity Planes never seemed to falter, and the pokémon below it did not take it for granted. Due to the perfect weather, guilds of all kinds would gather for festivals and celebrations, and things so far have always gone without a hitch.
One of the villages had quite a peculiar situation, however, and it all arose from one pokémon lying unconscious at the center of the fields. An unusually large Lucario was sprawled on the grass, his body tattered and damaged with old scars.
"Hello..?" A concerned Gallade was the first to kneel next to the jackal and nudge the dull part of his blade into his side. "Are you alright, sir?"
A gentle approach, but it was clear that the Lucario would not wake up with such a soft attempt. After a wide stretch, the Gallade looked at the possibilities.
"This guy is huge." He muttered, admitting his first hurdle aloud. By just looking at him, he knew that moving him alone would be impossible, so trying to wake the Lucario up would be his best bet.
Luckily, his worries would soon be replaced the moment he craned his head down to realize the Lucario had been staring at him the whole time. Almost startled, the Gallade flinched at the sight—but kept his composure.
"Hello? Are you alright? You've been here for hours." The Gallade watched with a brow raised. "I'm Kade, and you?"
The Lucario didn't say anything. Instead, he turned away to analyze his surroundings. A blue sky with bright rays, lush but flat grass, but more importantly...
"You are in Arceus' eye, currently. You picked a nice place, as you're in what we call the pupil." Kade took a few steps away from the jackal before sitting cross-legged on the grass.
"Arceus' eye..?" The Lucario echoed.
Only now did he just realize a crucial detail in the atmosphere; a faint, glossy texture lining the skies above him. It was glass, and it looked as if it stretched for miles across the planes.
"Hydra." He turned his head to look at his paw. "I only know my name."
Kade didn't know how to process that. "Do you mean..? You don't know where you are?"
"No," Hydra answered flatly, he had yet to give any satisfying answer to the Gallade. "Is the sky made of glass?"
"You must have amnesia or something." Kade placed his blade to his chin in curiosity. "There is no way you are in the Verity Planes without the knowledge of Arceus' eye."
Hydra finally craned his head to stare blankly at the Gallade. He didn't have much emotion to display other than confusion, but even then the jackal seemed more soulless than he intended to be.
"Maybe..." Hydra frowned before tearing his gaze from the other fighting type to glare at the bright sky. "I do not remember much else. I know my name and the basic cognitive abilities required to survive."
"Can you move?" Kade tilted his head, earning a slight glare from the jackal. "Not in a forceful way, it's just...you can speak and think clearly, but can you walk?"
Humoring the idea, Hydra lunged his arms forward to gather momentum and sat up on the grass. Seeing as he got off to a good start, the jackal attempted to lift himself off his haunches and onto his feet. This would prove successful for a mere five seconds before the Lucario wobbled onto his knees.
Kade—to the best of his abilities—rushed forward and leaned himself under Hydra's arm to provide him support. Much to the Gallade's surprise, Hydra gracefully took his help and managed to get back on his two feet.
"Standing is difficult," Hydra muttered with a low growl. "I'm not sure what happened to me."
"Well, no one is in the Verity Planes to just visit, so you must live in one of the guilds. I can tell you everything about this when you're not so...unconscious and barely able to stand." Kade offered, his eyes attempting to make contact with the jackal's.
Hydra didn't offer much of a productive response, and before he knew it, he was being escorted out of the eye. However, taking the exit let him get a closer look at the sky; he was in an unfathomably large dome of glass. Even with his amnesia, Hydra felt something like this could not have been made by pokémon. He would have to ask about it later.
"You must be very confused." A Rillaboom playfully scoffed as he adjusted the jackal's weight distribution. With Kade and the aforementioned Rillaboom, Hydra was assisted out of the eye before any further issues could occur.
It didn't take very long for them to seat the Lucario on a nearby bench before further interrogating him—albeit a lot more friendly than any other form of questioning.
"You mentioned you only remember your name," Kade uttered as he absentmindedly adjusted the fabrics lining the side of his arm. "Can you try to remember who you are?"
Hydra's gaze never left the ground, and he was hesitant to even indulge in this process at all. They didn't blame him, though; forgetting everything you knew didn't sound too pleasant.
"I am fit," Hydra noted bluntly after taking a puzzled look at his body.
He wasn't lying, the jackal was physically bulkier than normal. Kade let out a small chuckle and shook his head in amusement.
"Yeah, I can tell that. Are you a defender? Does that word ring a bell?" Kade crossed his arms before blankly staring at the wilderness miles away from them. "You gotta be in one of these guilds' forces."
A shrug, that's about all they would get from him.
"You've gotta have a mark somewhere if you're a defender." The Rillaboom accompanying Kade leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at the Lucario. "But you're big and fluffy, I'm not gonna be able to see a thing."
Deciding to humor them once again, Hydra stood on his own and sprawled his arms out to their maximum span. Kade was the first to walk over and rake the end of his blade across the slightly flatter patches of fur before pausing.
"Wait..." Kade narrowed his eyes and picked at the tan fur under the jackal's side. "I see a symbol here."
"What is it?" The grass type next to him hurriedly questioned, his demeanor clearly showing his haste to leave.
"U-Uhm...the Ghan guild." The Gallade stammered, backing away from the Lucario to raise a brow at him. "You're not too far, there are many signs that lead you to it."
Hydra tore his gaze away from the two to space out facing the distant trees. With his expression showing no intent of following their instructions, Kade insisted. "It might help you get your memories back...if you return home."
After a long sigh, the jackal wordlessly turned away and paced toward the nearest sign. Hydra took one last look at the eye—a large dome of glass...who could have put that there? It couldn't have been Arceus.
"That guy has the eyes of someone who's only been alive for a few minutes." Kade frowned.
"Our job is done, now let's go. We still have to prepare for the festival." The Rillaboom nudged the Gallade's shoulder before turning away. "You seemed scared when you saw his mark."
"It was...different. I could tell it was a Ghanin symbol, but it's like..."
"What is it?"
"It was like someone had stitched it together."
"WELCOME!" A shrill voice rang throughout what felt like a mile from where it had occurred.
The poor recipient of the startling was a gruff Arcanine who had just so happened to walk through the door of a bakery without any worries.
"Pixie." Ignus sternly uttered, acting as if he hadn't just leaped out of his own skin half a second ago. "I told you to stop doing that or we'll go bankrupt."
Pixie, a Sylveon, was dangling upside down from the ceiling by her ribbons and continued to smile gleefully. "But we rarely get customers anymore..! I was just excited to see one!"
"I'm not a customer, dear, it's my bakery," Ignus muttered lowly and walked past the Sylveon to disappear into the kitchen. "You're going to scare everyone away if you do that."
It was clear from their interactions that not only did they work in the same bakery, but that Ignus was Pixie's father. Even so, the Sylveon insisted on her methods.
"But I have to do my best to g—oh, wait! Here comes another!" Pixie hastily rushed to pull herself up by the ribbons wrapped around a ceiling prop, carefully watching as the silhouette grew closer to the door.
The shadow would get bigger...and bigger. Okay, what in Arceus' name was about to come through that door? By now, the entire glass pane was completely obscured.
When a bell chime indicated that the door had opened, Pixie immediately loosened her grip and dropped down to face the customer. Her ribbons stopped her mid-air, but the Sylveon soon realized that she had fallen too low, as all she could see was a bundle of tan fur.
Pixie sheepishly craned her head up to see the unamused look of a Lucario. Funny, she was used to getting that welcoming bit perfect every time. Not only did she not startle the customer—optional—but she also underestimated his height.
"Welcome to the Comet Bakery! How can I help you?" She moved on fast, and by the time Hydra could blink she was already propped up against a podium with a menu in-paw.
He stared at her blankly for a few seconds before realizing he had to interact. "Do you have...anything to eat?"
"Of course~!" Pixie nearly shot out of her place before wrapping a ribbon around the Lucario's wrist to guide him toward a booth. Hydra was too busy realizing that the Sylveon looked somewhat familiar to complain. "Have a seat and look at our very extensive menu options!"
Hydra could barely fit in the seat she offered him, but nonetheless, he made it work. After focusing on the menu she had given him, he read what many options he had.
Cupcakes, cupcakes...more cupcakes? Finally, the smaller section stated items like biscuits, macarons, poke-puffs, and too many things to note internally. Not wanting to overthink it, Hydra pointed a paw at a random place on the menu.
"Ahh, the oran-sitrus blend muffin! My favorite choice!" A complete lie, but she had to. "I'll fetch that right away for you, sir!"
Then she was gone like the wind.
Only now did Hydra have a chance to settle down and take in the atmosphere. Inside the heavily decorated bakery was a pleasant smell of bread and sweets, nothing unlikely for such an establishment. The only thing that caught him off guard was the lack of pokémon inside; he was the only one present in the room.
A distant whirring sound brought him back to his alert state. With his aura he could see further through the walls—there were only two pokémon working in the kitchen.
After sensing the presence of another pokémon entering the building, Hydra didn't bother to look. The bells chimed as the door swung open, revealing an old Flareon and an autumn-colored Leafeon. While the fire eeveelution seemed tame and practically exhausted, the far younger grass eeveelution seemed ecstatic to be here.
"Are you sure you don't want anything, Dad?" The Leafeon chimed in with a small leap. "They're so good, though!"
Hydra felt like his eye deceived him...was that Leafeon burnt? Even though his leafy ends were orange and red, he could still clearly see crisp edges charred on him.
"Auburn, I've made my decision." The Flareon sternly replied and nudged his son forward once the Arcanine made his way to the counter. "Go on, get whatever you wish."
Not wanting to make any unnecessary assumptions, the jackal kept to himself and watched as the young Leafeon made his order. Yet another familiar pokémon...a Sylveon and a Leafeon so far.
Once Ignus nodded and trudged into the kitchen, he would soon be replaced with a joyful Sylveon marching her way through the door.
"Hi, Auburn! Hi, Aagor!" Pixie sang while balancing a rather large plate on her ribbon-like feelers.
Both of the eeveelution's eyes trailed the fairy type until she had reached the designated table. "There! A big oran-sitrus muffin for a big man!"
Aagor's breath hitched as he noticed who Pixie had just served. He doubted himself for a moment, but there was also no denying the familiar feeling the Lucario gave him.
Hydra silently watched the muffin that was handed to him. He lifted it to his maw and took a generous bite—basically half the pastry due to the size of his mouth.
"How is it?" Pixie leaned closer, clearly expecting a positive answer as she had always heard.
"It's...okay..." The jackal muttered lowly after swallowing.
You could hear a glass shatter inside the Sylveon's brain from that response. "W-Wha..? Just okay?"
"Mhm," Hydra answered flatly. "Is there something wrong?"
"N-Not at all!" Pixie chuckled lightly and backed away. "Okay is better than bad!"
"Don't worry, you have the best cupcakes in all of Verity Planes!" Auburn cheered from the other side of the bakery.
"Indeed! It seems I have to work on my muffins, though..." The Sylveon shook her head and marched behind the counter. "I will return with your order, Auburn!"
Then there was silence. Things weren't too awkward because the only people inside the building were numerous tables away from each other, but soon that would change.
When Hydra turned his head away from gazing absentmindedly at the windows he would see a Flareon, more specifically, Aagor.
"Pardon me, but may I sit here?" Aagor motioned toward the booth seat across from the jackal. Hydra raised a brow but still nodded in affirmation. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but I think I know who you are."
Now he was interested. Hydra felt his head instinctively lean forward at his statement. "You do?"
"You are different somehow, but I feel like you have the exact same eyes and fur tone as him. Perhaps you're related to him?" Aagor inquired with a tilt of his head.
"What's his name?" Hydra turned away to ask, fully knowing he would not remember the name.
"Hydra," Aagor stated.
The Lucario felt a pit grow in his stomach. He should be excited that the Flareon knows him, but why does this make him feel dread?
Aagor noticed the jackal's ears pin back before he stifled the urge to leap across the table in shock. "W-Wait, there's no chance, right? You're Hydra?"
Hydra weighed if he should even answer or not, but the idea of getting his memories back would prove a lot more tempting than abstaining. "Yes."
"Arceus above..." Aagor shook his head in awe. "I-I mean for starters, I haven't seen you in a year! Do you know how hard it was to explain to everyone that their general had disappeared?"
"General?" Hydra echoed.
"Yes..?" The Flareon was taken aback by his tone. "Either you're not Hydra or...you don't remember the most important role of your life."
"I...don't remember anything about myself." The Lucario frowned. He had a lot more to say about where he woke up but decided it'd be too much to bring up. "I have amnesia."
"What?" Aagor's tone damped down to a small whisper. "Really..? How do I believe that?"
"I have no way to prove it, but I do have a mark from this guild. That's the only reason I found this village." Hydra leaned back into the booth to heave a long sigh. "I am lost and confused."
The Flareon paused. Many questions could have been asked, especially considering the Lucario looked far dissimilar compared to when he had last seen him—changes noticeable enough to recognize even after a year of not seeing him.
Instead, he took a more gentle approach—he is a father, after all.
"Do you...want to know you were?" Aagor offered with a patient gaze.
Hydra didn't hesitate to nod before watching the Flareon adjust himself in the booth.
"Hydra was quite the noble person. After we found you stranded, the village decided to take you in at a young age. I'm quite old, so I've basically seen you grow up here..." Aagor turned away to sigh. He spoke about Hydra like he was dead, pretending like the jackal wasn't in front of him. "Then you started helping around with the chores, and all of a sudden, you were a defender. By the grace of Arceus, you grew so big and strong that you became the toughest defender there was."
"Is that why there is a mark on my side?"
"Yes, every defender is required to wear the guild symbol on them at all times, to identify each other it's necessary." Aagor nodded. "After a while of good results, I promoted you to general defender, which is the highest rank achievable. It's sad, really, many people miss you."
Hydra couldn't think straight. The information made sense, but why did it make him sad? Could he just not pretend that he was back and everything went back to normal? No, there was clearly something different about him.
"What's...different about me?"
"I can hardly recognize you, Hydra. You're bigger—somehow more than you already were—and you're all battered up with scars. I can tell you're more reserved, but that also might be the effect of your amnesia. Overall you look like a completely different person, and if it weren't for your eyes and darker fur...I wouldn't be able to tell." The Flareon stared at him solemnly. "What happened to you, jackal?"
A great question, probably one Hydra had been asking himself the whole time. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, he wanted to feel like what it felt like to be happy. None of those things could happen though, as if a force was preventing him. He kept the same face the whole time.
"Dad?" Auburn had walked up near the end of their conversation, and it was clear that he had just stuffed his face full of a red cupcake. "Who's this guy?"
Aagor turned to smile at his son with what looked like a brand-new idea. "Auburn, I'd like you to meet Hydra."
"Hiya, Hydra..!" Auburn didn't hesitate to wave a paw at the jackal. Hydra found himself waving back, albeit a little weaker. "He a friend?"
"You could say that, but actually, he could use your help!" Aagor leaped off the booth to place a gentle paw on the top of the Leafeon's head. "I have to talk to Ignus about something, do you think you could show Hydra around the village?"
"Of course!" Auburn gleefully accepted, turning to the jackal with a wide grin. "You ready? Hope you can keep up, 'cause I move fast!"
Hydra suppressed the urge to mutter his frustrations but decided it'd be better to humor the kid.
"Just make sure to no—" Aagor's words didn't matter the moment Auburn sprinted across the bakery and out the door.
"Classic Auburn~!" Pixie chimed in with a small giggle. "You should run after him before he gets impatient waiting for you."
The Lucario sighed and trudged his way toward the door.
"And Hydra..." Aagor called, causing the jackal to turn to him.
The Flareon's expression was dead serious and unwavering. "Do not let him get hurt."
This time, Hydra answered out loud. "Understood."
"Hurry up, Slowpoke!" Auburn exclaimed the moment he witnessed Hydra slowly walk out of the door. "Welcome to Ghan!"
"Quite the welcome." Hydra scoffed lightly in amusement.
Outside was a lot more populated than he had realized, and the jackal earned a few odd looks due to his appearance.
The Leafeon grinned and flicked his tail to whatever he was motioning to. "Over there is the bakery we were in, clearly. The best one in all of the planes. Next to it is where we all get our produce and groceries from."
"Convenient." The jackal chimed in, deciding it was better to show he was listening with a few filler words.
"Yup! This section of the village is more for visitors; it has shops, hostels, restaurants, basically anything you could think of!" Auburn declared, the pep in his step growing with each option he listed.
"And that?" Hydra aimed his paw toward a distant building. "The lack of windows seemed odd."
"Oh, that's the lab. A lot of research goes on there, obviously...I don't know much about it though, you have to be really good to get access to that place." Auburn hummed lightly. "Oh! We also are home to the biggest arena in all of Verity Planes, which means that a lot of fighting tournaments happen right here in Ghan!"
"Interesting." Hydra nodded and followed along.
By now, the two had reached a less populated area of the village. Hydra could see a road that eventually led to many rows of brick housing, the structure and integrity of such buildings were impressively sound.
"Oh, that's where everyone lives. All the houses are paid for by the leaders, so living here is actually affordable." Auburn turned to the jackal with a small smirk. "I'm guessing you don't live here, right?"
Hydra debated whether he should answer. "Not sure." Okay, maybe it was better to just lie.
"What do you mean you're not sure?" Auburn inquired.
"It's complicated." The Lucario didn't bother explaining. "I can't really describe what happened."
For a second there, Auburn wondered why his father even took an interest in this canine. He took one last look at the area they were in; any further and they'd reach the stadium, which was way too populated for a small tour.
The Leafeon raised a brow before chuckling in amusement. He turned the other way and playfully whipped his tail against the Lucario's leg. "C'mon, let's head back."
After a small nod of affirmation, Hydra quickly followed. Now that they were no longer walking against the crowd, returning to the bakery would most likely prove to be easier.
While he still had the amnesia affecting him, the Lucario couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia for the area around him. He could not correlate a single memory to where he stood, but he still felt like he had spent his life here—even if he did not recall such a thing.
Following without many words, Hydra couldn't help but stare down at the Leafeon. His body looked normal, but his eyes once again locked onto the crispy ends of his leaves. "Why are you burnt..?"
"Damn, you almost broke the record! That's about thirty minutes until you asked the question, that's about five minutes too short!" Auburn feigned frustration before smiling up at the Lucario following him.
"What..?" Hydra was taken aback by the sudden enthusiasm. "Do you get asked that a lot?"
"Yup! It's still a complicated story too, but I always answer that it's my fault." Auburn hummed.
"And the real answer?" The Lucario pried.
The Leafeon turned to gaze at him with an unsure look. After a few seconds of eye contact, Auburn hesitantly turned away before shaking his head. "That it's my fault."
Hydra decided not to question him any further. Being able to read emotions through aura unfortunately meant that the Lucario could easily tell whenever there were any hidden feelings the other pokémon weren't showing, and it wasn't any different here.
Eventually, they would return to the bakery, this time at a faster pace now that the two were walking in silence. Though there was the sound of many pokémon bustling and having conversations throughout, there was still enough space for the calming sounds of wind passing.
"What about your scars?" Auburn decided it was his turn to ask.
"I'm not sure...I don't remember getting them." Hydra admitted, and it was believable considering they were all too spread and scarce along his body. A thin one across his chest, a rather deep one on his right arm, and very small scratches on his face—though he didn't know about those ones.
Auburn hadn't entered just yet, instead, he turned to face Hydra with a neutral expression. "There's something up with you and you're not telling me. I'm not some child you know, I can handle it."
Hydra held a hesitant look, his mind returning to his situation. There must have been a good reason why Aagor withheld this information from Auburn, otherwise he would have immediately mentioned something as important as his amnesia. The Leafeon's continuous staring got to him, however.
"I'm not someone I used to be long ago." Hydra started. "I used to live here, had a whole life and whatnot. However, I disappeared for a year and have returned with amnesia. I'm just trying to remember who I was."
There wasn't much of a response from the Leafeon. Auburn stared at him with a sympathetic gaze before turning away and nudging the bakery door open. The bell chime practically snapped the two out of their thoughts.
"How was it?" Aagor, now standing with Ignus, turned to smile at his son.
"He saw most things, the other side of the village would have been too crowded." Auburn paced through the tables to stand next to the Flareon.
"Aww, but it's so nice over there," Pixie revealed her presence once she returned to the main lobby with a cupcake in her ribbons. "I gotta show it to you sometime, Hydra."
"Maybe when we're not barely making ends meet," Ignus uttered lowly.
Pixie seemed to visibly sink at his words—something about hearing of their financial state somewhat upset her.
"What were you two talking about?" Auburn tilted his head at the two fire types.
"Ah, just a situation happening in Dalarin." Aagor placed a thoughtful paw against his chin. "Someone there is going around challenging people to unfair duels at night."
"Unfair duels?" Hydra raised a brow.
"Well, they pick nighttime for a reason...my guess is that it's a ghost-type pokémon, seeing as how many reports witnessed them fade away from thin air. There are a few anomalies between them, like different body types being reported each time, but most of the information is consistent. However, there's only so much you can get as many of them state they lost the fight very quickly." Ignus said with a tone of conclusion.
Hydra stared at the Arcanine with a puzzled look before Pixie found herself speaking up. "My Dad is a former defender, so he's good at making theories for things like this!"
"You flatter me." Ignus playfully scoffed.
"Either way." Aagor cleared his throat and leaped off the chair he was sitting in. He walked closer to Hydra and craned his head up to stare at him. "Hydra, I want you to go over there and check it out."
"Me?" The Lucario completely forgot about his old role. "Am I not incapable of doing this due to my condition?"
"I'd say you're perfectly capable." Aagor shrugged before sitting on his haunches. "You function perfectly, perhaps all you need is a little warm-up?"
"Maybe he can spar with me!" Auburn offered, the fire in his eyes potent enough to burn the already crisp leaves on him.
The Flareon seemed hesitant at first until Ignus chimed in with a laugh. "Oh to be young again...I'm sure it would help the guy, though."
"Right...so your job is to head over to Dalarin and...spar with Auburn, I suppose. But be careful, you hurt him and I will make you remember it." Aagor glared at the jackal, clearly not caring about the size difference between them.
"Understood." Hydra heaved a small sigh, mentally readying himself for the journey ahead. He traveled to Ghan all by himself, how bad could another village be? Perhaps this one could be what helps him remember better.
"You should check out a Battle Dance tournament when you get there, those are so pretty!" Pixie chirped.
"A what battle?" Hydra butchered.
"I'll explain it on the way there!" Auburn stated before making his famous dash out of the door once again.
"Great..." Hydra huffed lightly and turned to follow him.
"Get used to it, he does that a lot." Aagor grinned at the jackal.
Now to take a path towards a new area. With his amnesia continuing, Hydra wondered what he was even doing here in the first place. He had more things to do here, and leaving immediately seemed worrying—even if it was temporary.
Though the sound of a new location did strike him as interesting, so he followed along with a sense of purpose.
To Dalarin.