Chapter 1 — Awakening

Warm, sweet winds carrying the bright scents of late spring made their way lazily over the continent of Marnica, a gentle reminder of the long days yet to come. Accompanying the winds, the bright sun rose lazily in the east, setting the Pokémon of the land on their day.

As the bright rays first began hitting Marnica's east coast, a lone Fennekin sat above a tall cliff overlooking the ocean, the tall grass gently swaying in the wind. Her stomach growled; despite the forest around her providing plentiful twigs and branches, both delicacies to a Fennekin, she longed for a true meal. Wincing, she attempted to block the sharp pains in her stomach out of her mind. Surely she did not have much further to go to find a town, correct? Pokéopolis was supposed to be just beyond the forest, although that had certainly proven itself easier said than done. Gingerly, she shifted her weight to avoid keeping too much pressure on the scrapes and bruises on her back legs from yesterday's attempt through the forest. Or were those wounds from the day before? Regardless, they still stung.

"Maybe there's another way around," she mumbled to herself. With a deep breath, she stood up tall and puffed her chest out ever so slightly. "I'm sure there is! I just...haven't found it yet, is all...yeah, that's it! There's always another way around something!" Just as she turned to move onward, a sharp barb flying right at her appeared in the corner of her eye, causing her to quickly and clumsily fall to the ground to avoid it. As it sailed over her head she flopped to the side, locking eyes with an Ekans that was glaring at her maliciously. It had launched a Poison Sting at her! "I'm just trying to pass through the forest!" she cried out. "I'm not trying to hurt any of you!"

"Invaders aren't welcome in our forest!" it yelled back before launching another Poison Sting. A quick roll sent the barb right into the ground where she had previously been laying, and Fennekin rolled again, this time using the momentum to get on her feet and begin sprinting as fast as she could. She saw no more barbs coming her way, but for minutes she continued running, hoping to put as much distance between her and the Ekans as she could.

After what felt like hours but was surely only a few minutes, Fennekin slowed down and looked behind her. Nothing. Relieved, her legs collapsed and brought her to the ground before panting heavily. Maybe she could've defeated that Ekans, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to risk it. Some of the Pokémon in the Misty Woods could be powerful, and she had been defeated by an Ekans a few times before.

Although it took her as much strength as she could muster, she shakily got to her feet and began walking. Maybe there was another path on the other side of the forest that she could go through without running into any other Pokémon? She hadn't checked there, so it was worth trying.

Now that she had time to get her bearings however, a yellow blob near the cliff stood out to her. It was moving ever so slightly like it was breathing, so it was definitely a Pokémon. She had never seen a Pokémon that looked quite that yellow inside the forest, so hopefully it wasn't going to attack her? If it did attack her maybe she could fight back or run again, and if not, it could help her through the forest! It was worth the risk, she decided.

As she slowly crept closer and closer as to not startle it, the yellow blob became more and more clear. It was a Pikachu, which she was sure she had never seen before in the forest. Maybe it was another Pokémon just trying to make its way through and got knocked out, just like her! When she got even closer, she broke out into a full-out sprint because the Pikachu was hanging over the cliff! While Fennekin was not the strongest Pokémon, she grabbed its foot and began pulling as hard as she could, slowly sliding the Pikachu across the ground.

"Aah!" it cried out, causing her to lose her footing and slip onto her back. When it saw her, it sat up and sighed deeply. "It's just a Fennekin," it moaned.

"Are you okay?" she asked. As she did, the Pikachu jumped in astonishment, causing her to instinctively run forward and grab its foot again to keep it from falling off the edge. "Why don't you come away from the cliff?" she suggested.

"You can talk?" he asked as he twisted his foot away from her paws and scooted away from the edge of the cliff.

"Of course I can talk," she replied confusedly. "Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"I've never met a Pokémon that can talk," he replied. "Not to humans, at least. Seems like they can always talk to each other."

Fennekin looked him up and down with confusion plastered all over her face, and the Pikachu could have sworn he even saw some unease in her eyes. "You're a human?" she asked softly. "I've never met a human, sure, but you look just like a Pikachu."

The Pikachu stared straight at Fennekin, then to himself. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. "Are you sure you used to be a human?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Just that, though. Well, and my name. But I don't remember anything else, I don't even know how I know I'm a human."

"You remember your name?" she asks.

"Yeah," he nodded. "My name's Ethan. Do you have a name?"

"I'm Fennekin," she smiled slightly, but with no lack of warmth. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

Ethan sat there for a few moments, just staring at his yellow body. "I don't know. I don't remember anything before you waking me up."

"Do you know anything about Pokéopolis?" she asked.

"No, I've never even heard of it. What is it?"

"It's the city near here, and if there's anybody who can help you, they'll be there." Silently, Fennekin turned her head to look back at the edge of the forest. "But to get there, you have to pass through Misty Forest. I've been trying to get through, but I haven't been able to yet."

"Why can't you get through?" Ethan asked as he shakily stood up and took a few wobbly steps. "Do you keep getting lost?"

Fennekin shook her head, then stood up and walked next to him. "It's a Mystery Dungeon."

"Mystery Dungeon?" he echoed. "It looks like a forest, not a dungeon."

"You haven't heard of Mystery Dungeons?" she asked in shock. "Everybody's been talking about them! They're strange places where the layout constantly changes, and the Pokémon in there have gotten really territorial and attack anybody they see! It's making a lot of Pokémon scared to leave their homes, and the ones that do run into so many problems that exploration teams are struggling to take care of all their requests!"

"Is there a way around?"

"We can try and go through it together!" Fennekin beamed. "I haven't been able to find a way around yet, but with two of us, we should be able to get through with no problem! We'll be in Pokéopolis in no time!"

"Go through? As in, have to battle Pokémon, and find our way through the forest?"

"We'll probably have to battle while in there," she confirmed. "We can try to sneak around any Pokémon we find, but I don't think we'll be able to get all the way through without getting into a battle. I've been able to get a little bit through, but without somebody else I'm just not strong enough. Now that there's two of us though, we'll be able to support each other and get through!"

"I don't even know if I have moves," he sheepishly admitted. "I don't know if I've battled before, either. Humans don't battle, do they?"

"All Pokémon have moves! And even if you can't remember them, you can just do basic attacks! They're great for when you don't need all the power a move has, or when you want to save your energy. I'm sure that you'll remember all of your moves, though!"

"I can try," Ethan responded in an unsteady tone. "I guess I could at least keep watch for you, right? I'm sure Pokémon are everywhere in there."

"I'd like that," she responded, a small smile not lacking for warmth on her face. "With two of us, we can watch each other's backs and keep each other safe. Are you feeling well enough to go in the forest?"

"I feel good." Ethan stood up, then stretched his neck to the sides. "I think? I don't know how a Pikachu is supposed to feel, but I think I'm fine."

"You look okay to me," Fennekin giggled. "Now come on, if we leave now, maybe we can get to Pokéopolis before sunset!"