Across the Seas: Prelude

Conscious

Voices. He heard voices. From very far away, it seemed like. He couldn't hear what they were saying. He struggled to try and move, to wake up. But then, suddenly, that voice was right next to him.

"Calm down, you're ok!" He stopped moving. For a second, he wondered what had just happened, and so he looked to the person standing over him. Or, pokemon? Was he dreaming?

"Uh, you're a-" he couldn't say anything else. The person he was looking at was a Braixen. The long tufts of hair from the ears were braided, and the stick seemed to be holding together a ponytail. He looked down to take a glance at the tail, which had a bit of paint staining the hairs of their fur, and yet it looked neatly brushed. "A Braixen?" They seemed quite excited by that response.

"Yes. I'm a Braixen. And you are?" The question stunned him. How did they NOT know who he was? He was... Was... He couldn't remember. Suddenly, when he thought of what his name was, it had escaped his thoughts. Or, was it simply never there? He tried to remember where he was, taking a look at his surroundings. He was in a small little bed, woven together with fibers, leaves, and cotton to pad it. The room he was in looked more like a cave than anything else. His eyes fell to the collection of books and souvenirs he couldn't identify. His head moved enough that he felt a flare of pain go down his spine, and reached back with his good arm. Just then, he realized something. He was in bandages for one, and one of his arms was in a cast. His body looked scorched like he'd been burnt, but more importantly, his body was covered in no clothes, but instead, orange scales. And his hands, they looked more like a dinosaurs hand, with only a few fingers on the hand he could look at properly. Then his hand fell to his eyes. One was covered in bandages.

"What happened to me?" The Braixen's face suddenly looked gloomy.

"There was a fight, between Tapu Koko and Tapu Lele. You got caught in the crossfire and took a lot of injuries. I brought you here as soon as I could and fixed you as best as I could." He shook his head.

"No, I mean, why am I like this?" The Braixen tilted her ears.

"I mean, it's best to keep the wounds covered, you don't want-" he shook his head more furiously this time.

"No! I mean, this body, it's not mine!" Now the Braixen had her paws grab his shoulders.

"Don't move too much, you'll hurt yourself. You've only just woken up for the first time." He didn't listen to her. What was going on? And why couldn't he remember anything? Everything he thought he knew, his family, his home, his friends, they were all gone. The moment his brain tried to conjure up some memory for him to remember, it was gone the instant he looked.

"I can't remember anything." He pulled his head towards his legs, his tail he'd only just realized he had curled in with his body. The Braixen let out a loud sigh, and let go.

"My name's Sharli. Do you at least remember your own name?" He tried to look, but it too was gone. Had he been hurt that badly that he'd suffered amnesia?

"I can't remember that either," he said, turning his head away from Sharli.

"Then, let's think of something to call you. Just calling you a Charmander would be challenging for me." She disappeared into another room. For a moment, he enjoyed the silence, until she came back. "This book might have a name somewhere. How do you feel about Charm?" Before he could give an answer, to which he wanted to tell her to just call him whatever, she immediately turned the page, shook her head, and spoke before him. "No, definitely not that. The way you look, you're hardly charming." He couldn't help but feel offended, but said nothing. "Here's one, how about Andy?"

"Andy," he responded back with. Somehow, the name stuck to him, and he felt a bit more at ease. Maybe it was a sign? "I like that." The Braixen closed the book, and set it down on a rock outcropping.