Metamorphosis (Pokémon Watties 2017)

Prelude: Part 3

Slowly, Isa opened his eyes. He was expecting the darkness of the forest from before, but it was instead the familiar light from the various colors of glass-stained windows that were in the chapel of Effervescent Village. He slowly pulled himself up from the bed he was laying on, looking around to see a girl standing near one of the windows in the chapel.

"Hello?" His voice came out much weaker than he had hoped for, but was still enough to cause the girl to turn around. Her face was similar to Ayana's, although slightly older.

"You've finally woken up!"

"Miss Rika?" The girl nodded to the name, confirming that she had been Ayana's older sister. Her sister was training to soon take over the roles of being Effervescent Village's head Saint, and was also mentoring Ayana. "How long was I asleep?"

"Let's see..." Rika started counting out loud, trying to come to a conclusion. "The village rest day was about four days ago, and we found you late at night that day. So no longer than four days, but no shorter than three. You've been moving around a little bit since then, but it was all just little things. So many people thought you wouldn't make it."

"Is Sandshrew okay?" As if on cue, taps starting echoing across the room as the small Pokemon leapt onto Isa's bed, nudging him on the side.

"Shrewww!" Isa smiled, rubbing a hand against Sandshrew's head.

"Aww, it's nice to see you too."

Rika smiled at the interaction. "Oh, that little one was the one who let us know something was wrong in the first place. It came scurrying back to the village and starting calling out for help until some of the people followed along. Your father was actually one of the first to follow after recognizing that it was your partner. He's been at the chapel nearly the whole time you've been here. We had to send him home at one point because he was getting in the way of the healing some of the more experienced Saints were doing."

Isa laughed a little. "Can you go get him?"

"Of course. It shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, and I'll bring something back for you to eat as well."

"Okay. Thank you!" Isa waved to Rika as she started to leave the room, but then quickly remembered something. "Wait, did you see Ayana?"

"What?"

"Ayana? Did anyone see her when they found me?"

Rika looked at him, slightly confused. "Ayana? I'm sorry, but I don't know who that is."

---

"As if getting all that attention from the elders in the village was enough, now you're got an imaginary friend to boot?"

"Come on, Isa. We're way too old for that!" There was a light slap on the back to follow up the comment.

"She's not fake!"

The teasing had gone on for weeks ever since some of the other village boys had caught Isa crying to himself over losing Ayana. This instance was no different, two of the boys that were around his age now had him cornered, their Pokemon by their sides. It didn't help that Isa hadn't known their names; he had never really payed attention to the kids in the village besides Ayana.

She's real. Just keep saying that. Don't let them get to you.

"Maybe something happened in those woods that made you go crazy in the head."

"I've heard lots of stories about strange psychic type Pokemon who live in those woods, maybe they did something to you."

"I'm fine." Isa shrugged off the comments, holding Sandshrew tight to his chest.