The morning arrived once more with no visions that may have particularly been in wait for the former human. The usual disappointment resurfaced upon the realisation that he hadn’t dreamed anything.

He thought back to the last one, in which he saw something that he thought looked like a tree. He didn’t get very far into these thoughts before Pachuku roused from his own slumber, prodding over practically in an instant.

“Hey, morning, anything of note?”

He shook his head, forming grim lines on his face, “No, nothing. I was saved from bringing us any knowledge,” he joked in an exasperated, mocking tone. “Wonder if they just ditched me.”

“Aww, don’t think like that…” Pachuku asserted, not feeling the same disappointment. “You’ll see another one soon, I’m sure of it.”

“I suppose…”

He hovered on that for a while as Pachuku bounded off to get food. He was somewhat surprised at times at the amount Pachuku had hoarded, but not too much, given that he was a squirrel, and it only made sense given what logic would dictate from that.

As he ate, he wondered more about that tree, and decided to voice this to Pachuku. “You know of any particularly big trees?”

“That’s a pretty vague question when I’m on the shorter end of Pokemon, and therefore all trees are unnaturally big,” Pachuku teased, laughing a little after he’d finished saying that. “But why? Did you see any?”

“Well, you remember how I told you that the last one I remember had this particularly large tree in it? I just wondered if you’d know anything of what that might mean.”

“I haven’t a clue. But we could ask Didra; if she’s willing to listen, of course.”

“Yeah, there’s always that to be wary of; isn’t there…” Sanvu murmured with a hint of knowing, the kind that Pachuku caught with a wink.

“Yeah, I guess there’s no harm in it. But she’d know better than I would, and that’s saying something.”

---

When they had gotten to Mindscape, Didra was there to greet them in the usual hallway. They had asked her, they as well divulged the dreams, but their answer wasn’t quite anywhere near what any one of them supposed would come from her.

“No, I’m not aware of any particularly big trees, but you say you’ve been having dreams? With voices in them?”

Sanvu nodded, sheepishly looking at Pachuku. She clasped her hands together.

“That fits in nicely with what I was to have you two do today. I’d like you to come with me, please.”

She walked past them, as they followed her to the room with various boxes that was left of the entrance. As they walked, Sanvu began to feel an odd pins-and-needles-esque sensation near the base of his tail, just below the leaf. After a while, he looked at Pachuku, whose cheeks were sparking, but was looking straight ahead until Sanvu’s turned toward him.

“You alright?”

“Are… you doing that?” Sanvu asked. Pachuku looked confused.

“Doing… what? Electric generation? Nothing weird. Unless you’re feeling weird?”

“N-Never mind.” Sanvu lied, still feeling the sensation. Pachuku’s face wasn’t anywhere near his tail, so whatever it was it wasn’t him.

Inside the room, besides the usual tables and counters, were a bunch of notes and drawings, alongside a board with various scribbles scattered about. Sanvu and Pachuku, at their height, could only really see large sheets and the board, while the scribbles looked something akin to a child’s sketch in quality. Both of them sat down on cushions, Sanvu’s pinpricking dying down.

“So, I’m no artist, so ignore my crude interpretations here…” Didra self-deprecated, before adopting a more serious expression. “The reason I brought you here is something I hope I don’t mean you harm by, but it does concern our little situation going on, so I’d like to inform you of what I mean by this.”

She gestured about with a hand, as she resumed “So, about your team, I’m not disbanding you, but I’ve been hearing a lot from the other teams how you’re not in on the loop, so I’ll fill you in. Mindscape in particular has a reputation to uphold within and outside of Mentage Town. Currently, most Pokemon expect us to solve the problem regarding the Amnesiacs. You following?”

Both nodded. “Good, now, the reason I decided to bring you two in is primarily because I sensed that you were telling the truth regarding your own predicament of losing your memory, Sanvu, despite that you are a human, and that you exhibit no energy reminiscent of typical Amnesiacs.”

She gestured to a particular doodle on the board that looked like a number. “Pokemon feel more at ease when teams are comprised of more than one Pokemon, obviously, since a team cannot consist of one Pokemon, even if it has multiple attributed souls or parts of in a singular body, in the cases of some species. This is why you couldn’t join on your own, Pachuku, and I had you searching for an Amnesiac prior to joining.”

Pachuku at this turned his nose up. Sanvu noticed this, but didn’t comment.

“You have done splendid work for Mindscape and I see no need to be rid of you. But I would like to settle a few matters before we continue working. Sanvu, I would hope you’re aware that humans are not entirely a foreign concept to Pokemon, yes?”

Sanvu nodded, and reciprocated what Pachuku had told him, which prompted her to nod.

“Yes, well there are actually several known legends, primarily, today; we’ll be discussing the one you know about, among two others.”

She gestured to a drawing on the nearby board of what looked like some kind of odd fox with rabbit-like ears. “The first of what we affectionately call the Heroes of Legend is the tale of the falling meteor. They formed a Rescue Team, known as Team Friends, on the Air Continent, north-east of our Water-Continent, to stop the occurrence of an abnormal rate of natural disasters, from abnormal heatwaves, to frigid winds occurring at the wrong time, or earthquakes at peculiar places and times, by calling on Rayquaza to destroy the falling star that was causing all of this. This human in particular turned into an Eevee, and she’s known these days as “Vula. She was partnered with a Mudkip, known as “Moody,” I believe.””

Next, she pointed to a drawing of what looked like a monkey with something either resembling a leaf or flames coming out of its rear. “The second tale is that of the planet’s paralysis, stopped by an Exploration Team on the Grass Continent, Team Wish, south-east of our current location. All of time was going to run amok if this situation wasn’t stopped, resulting in the absence of sunlight and movement of any kind of the planet. It was required for this team to stop this by challenging Dialga himself before he succumbed to the corruption of time within himself. This human turned into a Chimchar, and she’s known these days as “Amber.” She was partnered with a Piplup, known simply as “Pip.””

As Sanvu drank this in, he didn’t like where this was going. These were such vast tales, where only a human and a singular partner dealt with such world-ending catastrophes. He was beginning to suspect something quite dire in regards to this particular conversation, especially of what he suspected that she suspected of him.

“Hey, that one looks like Oshee,” he interrupted, as she pointed towards it.

“Well, yes, because both are Oshawott. This last one is the individual who defeated the Bittercold, though his name isn’t quite as well known yet, apparently it’s a bit hard to remember, and this was determined to have happened very recently. Pokemon in the Mist Continent, north-west of here, were losing hope, and this was the sole human out of an unspecified number to destroy the Bittercold, the manifestation of that lost hope into a form that would destroy the world if not stopped. They formed the Believers, both the human and an Axew who went by the name of “Axel.””

She stared right at Sanvu, who couldn’t help but shy away, “So, I bring these up because while it may be that you’re in fact, not here to deal with anything in particular at all, Pokemon outside of Mindscape will be in particular, interested that teams, whether comprised of a human or not, are investigating such a crisis as this one, even if it won’t be you doing the solving by yourself.”

“What makes you so sure though?” Pachuku prodded, eyes reduced to a squint. “You can’t be implying we won’t be doing anything.”

“I apologise for my poor phrasing. These humans, they all formed teams to help solve the particular problem affecting the world at that time, while the humans solely receive simple credit for leading the team, it was, primarily, a team effort in all cases to solve the problem at hand that plagued our world.”

Sanvu shared in Pachuku’s distaste for a moment. “So it just looks good to have a team solving the problem even if we don’t do anything?”

“Precisely. The only reason I’m suggesting that you two might not solve the problem is that we can’t be sure who will find what and when. It’s hardly sensible to send an unprepared team into the middle of a dungeon when it’s about to collapse, or to hand you the entire burden of the situation on your shoulders and leave nobody else any work. I wanted to provide some context, especially some that would make sense to Sanvu’s current… circumstances.”

Both of them shared a look in regards to the collapsing dungeon part, but Sanvu couldn’t really find it in himself to disagree. “So what does this mean for us, now?”

“Basically, in regards to your dreams, I’m not so sure we should use anything from them as premonitions yet until we can be sure they’re being specific to the situation. When these humans had premonitions, they were not very direct either; the situation in each of their cases was but something that occurred in reality. So I would take this context in mind when you’re thinking about coming to me or us with them. I do hope that makes a certain amount of sense to you.”

Both nodded, and Sanvu once again felt some kind of static jolt in his tail that made him wince, again looking at Pachuku who wasn’t doing anything in particular for a second. If Didra noticed, she didn’t say anything in particular about it, closing her eyes as she continued talking.

“So, today, I’ll be having the two of you doing something different today, since I have all of the other teams out researching things related to dungeon energy. So, if you can take out your map, if you would.”

Pachuku brought out the hexagonal gadget, eventually turning it on to reveal a small map around them on the small screen.

“So, I would like you to proceed northwest of here, near where the dungeon is on the large beach, and I would like you to investigate something.” She brought out some kind of odd device that looked like a small device that had some kind of light on it. It resembled something that looked like a brick, and definitely leagues more advanced than what this world’s devices should look like, Sanvu thought.

“This can detect dungeon energy. I’ve received word that a new dungeon appears to be forming northwest of here, and I would like to confirm that to be the case. This little light,” she pointed to a small squarish hole near the rim, “can send information about new dungeons to your badges. Since Stony Enclose collapsed, it’s likely more dungeons will form to close us in, and so I would like to investigate them and see if we can find out anything about our predicament.”

“Do we go in?” Pachuku wondered, and she immediately shook her head.

“No, try to stay out of a dungeon for the time being. If it forms on top of you, you will likely be trapped within the dungeon confines. I wouldn’t like to know what happens there either,” she scorned, her eyes looking away as if worried. Both wore pensive looks in response.

“Yes, so do not try to go in even if it is already formed. Your job is to note if there is a new one, and then come back. That is all; do not make this any harder than it has to be,” Didra stressed, which prompted them to stand, departing for their mission for the day, including the strange device that Didra provided them upon leaving.

---

 Sand was hard enough to deal with when all you had to worry about was moving on its own; moving while dealing with not only the elements, but unknown distractions, however, was even more difficult. Neither had brought many preparations, as they weren’t expected to be going into a dungeon, and were to try and stay away from any energy at all. Sanvu had idly wondered if she had noticed his odd sensations, but just hadn’t commented on them.

As he walked, the feeling only sometimes came up erratically. It was difficult to pinpoint a pattern, but it was always the same location on his body exactly the same time, and it was as if he’d slept on it the wrong way, but then it would phase back to feeling completely normal. This often lead to him stumbling or leaning forward while flinching, often making it look like he tripped on nothing at all. Pachuku had wondered throughout the trip if something was wrong, but Sanvu would brush this off.

Pachuku himself seemed to be almost constantly sparking out of his cheeks, and Sanvu had wondered whether his cheeks would be causing the jolts once it had become one stumble too many along their trip.

“Huh? You think it’s me who’s doing that to you?”

“…Yes. It’s always the same spot, and you’re like, constantly alight.”

“That sounds… super precise. That wouldn’t be me,” Pachuku remarked, trying to think by holding a paw to his mouth. “Maybe you’re about to use a new move soon, if it’s near your tail, that would make a load of sense, actually.”

“You… think so?”

“Yeah. Good thing we’re taking it easy today. Clearly Didra could probably tell you weren’t feeling right,” Pachuku motioned with his paw.

“I wouldn’t know if she knew.”

“I have a hunch that she did. Psychic s like her would especially know, especially because of her general empathetic…stuff,” Pachuku supposed, waving his paws about.

So through the sand they went; talking about random things all the while. Some comments were divulged about the fact that all of this could’ve been underwater, and wondering what that might’ve looked like entertained them enough to almost distract Sanvu from the twitches.

But as they walked, Sanvu mulled over what he’d been told regarding the three legends, mind jumping to the conclusion of expectation given his particular situation being eerily similar to theirs. Besides the occasional wince, it was all he could do as they traversed the landscape. Eventually, he made his thoughts public, as he stumbled on something interesting as he was wondering about those particular legends.

“So, do you know what humans are supposed to look like?” he asked Pachuku, who seemed nonethewiser.

“What do you mean?”

“Earlier, when she talked about humans, all of them were a kind of Pokemon. But it seems like you don’t know what humans… look like, right? It has me curious how much you actually know… about us,” he pointed out.

“Well, we don’t know that much to be fair. Humans seem to understand the Unown language, among various other things, but no human has come here who wasn’t turned into a Pokemon at some point, at least, to my knowledge. So what humans look like? I wouldn’t know.”

“Well, Didra looks kind of like one. Maybe a tall human woman, wearing some kind of dress, would be how I would describe her. Her hands don’t match… too few fingers.” He waggled his own short green hand at this description.

Pachuku nodded. “Yeah, now that you mention it, I did recall hearing that Machop was said to be very human-like, in terms of its hands. Maybe humans look like that? I think that’s what might’ve been said somewhere.”

“Machop? Gonna have to remind me of that one.”

“I’ll show you when we get back, I might have something to show you, maybe you can help clarify,” As he finished, his cheeks zipped, and Sanvu winced again, almost tripping over in the sand.

“Really not making a good case for it not being you,” Sanvu grunted sarcastically, Pachuku helping him stand up, after rubbing the zip out of his own face.

“Look, I’d actually have to focus to be doing something to you, and you’re resistant to my attacks, so I swear it isn’t me-” Pachuku stammered, oblivious, while Sanvu only lightly smiled.

“I know, I know, was trying to lighten the mood.”

“Oh-oh! Don’t mind me then, haha…” Pachuku’s tail swished lightly, though he made sure to keep it away from Sanvu’s body as it stood.

Eventually, they didn’t need technology to notice that what they were looking for was up ahead.

As the sand in its various shades met a slope leading into a grassy hill, the two small Pokemon could observe multiple wisps of mist floating around what could be recognised as trees. They twisted and twirled enough to look more like individual vines than a forest, almost resembling something from an art piece rather than reality.

It had brought them to a stop, what with Didra’s concerns amidst the uncomfortable connotations ringing in their heads.

Pachuku dug around in the bag, fishing for the small brick, and indeed, the small light in the brick was shining, as were their badges. No question what it was at this point, that was definitely the dungeon.

“So, is that it?” Sanvu supposed, peering closer at what he could make out of the trees. “No, like, investigations or anything?”

“We were told not to go in, so clearly not.”

“I didn’t mean us, I just mean in general. Nobody’s going to go in there?” Sanvu figured.

“Maybe we’ll be going in there at a later date. Not a good idea given we’re not exactly in the best shape today.” As if to accentuate that, crackles sounded from his cheeks; they were beginning to become fond of these areas, Sanvu mused, as the former human felt yet another jolt from his own body.

“Yeah, can’t argue there.”

It wasn’t long before they decided to turn back as the mist reached out to the sand. Luckily, they were no longer in range by the time this had started to occur.

---

Upon finishing their report to Didra, she nodded, lines forming on her face as she focused.

“Yes, okay, I’ll look into this immediately. I’ll have to investigate how to tackle this problem. Rest assured the dungeons will not trap us, because all of us will work as a team to get to the bottom of this,” she exacted, as Notey hopped forward with their monetary reward. “It would do you well to prepare, and get some well-needed rest. That will do,” she finished.

Pachuku and Sanvu had gone shopping for some items that mostly included seeds and berries, before returning back home to the small comfortable abode of Pachuku’s home. It was barely late afternoon by the time they were settled in, the sun beginning to make its way down the sky.

As Sanvu sat down, the pinpricking in his tail had slightly abated, but he couldn’t tell if he was noticing it more because he was giving it more attention, or if it really had begun to subside. As if the world heard his plea, Pachuku brought out of a small cabinet what resembled a book of some kind, which happened to be quite thick in size.

“I got this from… uhh… somewhere, it shouldn’t elude me like this, why is that… anyway, I used this to help understand Pokemon type immunities, and such, since I’d be going in dungeons and all anyways,” Pachuku explained, as he shuffled through the pages with his paws. “So, this is what Machop looks like, and its evolved form, Machoke,” he said, pointing to a page depicting the humanoid Pokemon. A third with four arms was also present on the page, and as Sanvu got closer to the table for a look, he noticed how close they were to humans, but also noticed the oddities that distinguished them.

“Hmm, not quite…” Sanvu noticed. “It’s close… but that’s like… someone that’s super fit, that one,” he pointed to the Machoke, which Pachuku made sure to verify.

“The face isn’t entirely right either, but, it’s really close. Maybe if you thinned out the limbs a bit? If it was somewhere inbetween those two, maybe that’d be a proper human look.”

“Hmm, weird. You remember all that?” Pachuku asked, prompting Sanvu to nod.

“Yeah. I don’t remember what I looked like, at least, not properly, I have a vague recollection, but seeing this… it matches with what I think a human should look like, barring the whole… purple skin and the massive muscles and such.”

“I think I have another one that might match your description, hang on a sec,” Pachuku said, going to pick another, this one much smaller than the prior book.

“So if you had these before, why not show me?” Sanvu wondered, as Pachuku scrolled through the pages.

“Cause of this,” Pachuku held it up, revealing that bits and pieces of the pages appeared to have words missing, as if taken out of the page. “I didn’t wanna make you worry about it, cause it kinda plays into the whole memory thing; words have just been… snatched right outta the page,” the squirrel shivered before turning it around and continuing. “Plus… for some reason, I forgot I even had it, slightly? It’s been so long since I used this book I forgot how useful it would’ve been,” he mused, reaching a page near the middle before showing it to Sanvu again.

On the page was a depiction of some kind of snowflake in the corner, and on the page was some sort of an artist’s depiction of a human, or at least, the figure of one; the face appeared absent, save for the nose. Sanvu felt it a little eerie that such a depiction was almost perfectly clear and concise as to what a human looked like.

“So… you did know… what is this?” he motioned to the snowflake.

“I wasn’t entirely sure if that figure was a Pokemon or not, but I suspected as such that it could’ve been human. This is where I found out about the Bittercold,” his paw pointed towards the snowflake in the corner of the page. “It’s little more than some weird souvenir I picked up from somewhere, but since it had one of the human legends, I just had to keep it.”

“Yeah… this one’s it… except it doesn’t have a face, which is weird.”

“I swear it had one…” Pachuku figured, scrutinising the upside-down human as best he could. “Oh well, there’s that mystery solved.”

“But, if you have this, then that means someone else could know about humans too, right? I mean, someone drew this.”

“More than likely a Smeargle’s interpretation, but who knows how they got it,” Pachuku mused, as he picked the books back up and put them away. “I just have to wonder how specific words went missing, and I hope it’s not this Amnesiac stuff.”

Sanvu could only grunt in agreement as they continued to live through the evening. Only by the start of the night did Pachuku’s crackling cheeks cease, and Sanvu’s own tail stopped, even as he lay straight on his belly as opposed to curling up like he usually did in an attempt to prevent it.

He didn’t get much time to feel relief over it though, given his own pull into the darkness of the dreams that waited to suck him in.