Re-Orient

My head-

My head is killing me.

I lie there for a moment, regretting life choices that I don’t remember leading up to this migraine.

But a sense of urgency puts the pain on the backburner. Nothing in particular impresses haste on its own…

But little things. Small inconsistencies that become larger the more I process them.

My skin is damp. A gentle breeze rustles the grass, nothing you’d find in the Rescue base or a Dungeon. The flowery scent that’s always so calming is washed out by the-

Wait.

Grass?

Wet grass? Not a straw bed?

My skin is damp, but my fur?

I can feel light behind my eyelids, more than I could sleep under.

I’m stretched out on my back, but I can feel earth beneath my paws.

Something strikes my face and I flinch violently, and suddenly my limbs are all wrongThat’s not supposed to bend that way-

There’s no pain.

Calm down. Take a deep breath, and open your eyes…

Deep grey stares down on us, amidst pillars of sunlight that barely escape the towering clouds. The beginnings of a storm, and I can taste muddy fields on the wind… it’ll be on top of us in no time.

I bring a paw in front of my face, cringing at half-familiar joints and terribly uncanny weight distribution.

I blink up at it, uncomprehending.

It’s… a hand.

A hand, like you’d see on a Machop, only skin instead of scale.

What-

Another something hits my face, and I shudder as it rolls down, leaving a trail. A raindrop.

I wipe it clumsily from my cheek-

Skin-?

No, focus.

“Chikorice,” I call quietly. She’s barely a foot from me by the scent, but all I hear in return are slow, quiet breaths. Asleep.

I roll awkwardly onto my stomach, scrunching up my eyes against blades of grass, and prop myself up with my front legs.

Arms. They’re arms.

I’m bipedal?

Well then, surely I can stand on twos.

---

It takes a while and I’m not certain how I do it in the end, but I manage to bring myself to stand on my hind legs.

Finally, with the advantage of height, I take the chance to glance at our surroundings.

We’re nowhere I recognise. The mountains to the north are all the wrong shape. The forest due west is a different mix of trees than most of those we know, and its surroundings are too different to be any of the rest.

Shaking my head, I draw my thoughts closer.

I keep my knees bent as I stumble towards Chikorice. It doesn’t feel natural to walk like this, but there’s something of an instinct that kicks in if I don’t think too hard about it, and it’s manageable if I keep a low centre of gravity.

For the first time since I woke up, I get a good look at Chikorice, and- my heart stills for a beat.

She’s so much smaller now. Curled up and snoozing peacefully, she looks like she doesn’t have a care in the world. But in the middle of a dewy field, with rain on the horizon, it only makes sense that she’d sleep more soundly than me.

I smile despite myself.

After a glance confirms that we aren’t missing anything – our bag didn’t come with us, nor our badges, I settle down next to her.

“Come on,” I murmur, gathering her into my arms with difficulty – as small as she seemed at first glance, I’m not that much bigger than I used to be. “Lets get to shelter.”

Chikorice stirs in my arms as we set of unsteadily towards the trees, but she doesn’t wake. That’s probably for the best. If I look as different as I feel right now, that might make for a rude awakening.

The thought pulls a huff of laughter from my lungs, but it does little to curb the unpleasant feeling stirring in my chest.

We make it to the forest and I drop to slump against the nearest trunk, scraping up my lower back when I inevitably lose my balance halfway down.

And then the sky breaks open.

The canopy looks like it’ll keep the water off of us for a long while, so I turn my attention to Chikorice, still fast asleep in my embrace.

She looks cold. I tighten my hold to keep the warmth in.

Maybe I could use Heal Bell to try and wake her? I’m sure she’d appreciate something familiar, because this area isn’t, and I’m certain that my face isn’t, either.

It’s worth a shot.

I try to chime, but… it doesn’t feel right. Like my connection to it has been muddied, somehow.

Before I can try again, Chikorice yawns cutely and rolls over in my lap. Did it work after all, then? I can’t quite tell…

“What happened..? Chikorice asks in a sleepy mumble cracking open an eye. She lets out a little ‘eep!’ and jumps out of my lap when she lays sight on me, then peers more closely.

“Jamie, is that you?” she ventures after a long silence. I nod silently, not trusting my own voice to sound the same – or to work, for that matter. “You look a little different… did you evolve?”

The question startles a laugh out of me, and before I know it we’re both giggling, maybe a little hysterically.

But failing that… what am I?

“Are you a Human?” Chikorice asks suddenly. “Is that what a Human looks like?”

I blink, thrown. I… did use to be one of those. It makes a certain amount of sense.

I frown down at my paws- hands. I don’t know what a Human looks like, exactly, but I know I had trouble adapting to having four legs when I first became an Eevee.

“I don’t know,” I finally say. “It makes as much sense as anything.”

My gaze drifts to my body. Something covers it that isn’t fur, but Eevee-brown fabric. Some kind of clothing? The top half is a thin, simple material that’s a little baggy on me, but the bottom half is thicker, softer and fits much better.

I preferred the fur.

A gust blows, and a violent shiver racks through me. My nose begins to run.

I really preferred the fur.

---

“It’s hazy, how we got here,” Chikorice says after a quiet while, filled only with the drum of the pouring rain. “Jamie, what’s your fourth move?”

Glad for the distraction, I try to call up the Dark type in my jaw, but… nothing. Then, ignoring the spike of panic that something went wrong I can’t use moves- I search for the hum in my throat instead.

It’s there, even fainter than usual but still buzzing gently, and I let out the breath I’ve been holding. I often switch out my fourth move depending on the Dungeon, but Hyper Voice is my default. It’s the best-case scenario for a completely unknown area, and the fact that there’s anything there at all is no small relief.

I check my other moves, just to be sure – the rhythmic pulse of Helping Hand, the dependable thrum of Tackle, and Heal Bell’s silent chimes. All there.

But all barely an echo of what they once were.

I use Heal Bell, and a weak ringing blows through the air.

Chikorice frowns at me, confused. “Jamie, what-?”

“That’s as loud as I can make it,” I say grimly. She hisses and her leaf flashes sickly yellow, then fades to a dull blue as the implications sink in. Did becoming this- a Human, for all that we know- did it leech my strength?

“How about you?” I ask, almost pleading. We need some good news.

She concentrates for a moment, then squirms in place, before settling back into my lap and curling up with a sigh. I pull her into a four-limbed hug. To keep us warm.

“It’s like I’m back to when we met,” she bemoans. “I still have all my usual moves-“ so that’s Energy Ball, Ancient Power, Natural Gift and Giga Drain, “-but they’re a lot weaker than I’m comfortable with.”

We’re catastrophically weakened. We don’t know if I can ever recover my strength, now that I’m now longer an Eevee. We don’t have our bag, which means no items, no berries, and no Natural Gift. We don’t have our badges, which means Dungeons are suddenly far more dangerous to us. We don’t even have a proper lay of the land.

“Looks like Team Synergy’s out of commission for a while, huh?” Chikorice forlornly echoes my thoughts.

“Yeah,” I agree softly, leaning back against the dampening tree trunk. “I guess so.”

We sit in comfortable silence, listening to the heavy patter of droplets on leaves. There’s something calming about watching the world turn without us.

Melancholy.

---

The downpour continues.

It’s been long enough now that our stomachs are beginning to rumble, but the rain isn’t letting up at all. Worse, the trees can’t hold that much water, so we’re beginning to get wet despite the canopy over our heads.

Chikorice has a nice, waxy leaf to keep the worst of it off of her, but the same can’t be said for myself.

A cold droplet snakes its way down the skin of my arm and I shake it off, shivering horribly. “We need proper shelter,” I grit out.

I want my fur back.

Chikorice opens her mouth with a smile, but her expression takes on a worried edge as she takes in my state, and she seems to think better of what she might have said.

“Is this too much?” She asks quietly instead.

“No. A little.” I shake my head to clear it, and the force sends my soaked fringe across my forehead. “A lot,” I correct, repressing a shudder as a gust of wind leaves my face uncomfortably cool and my lips chapped. Chikorice shivers in reaction. “Sorry.”

I close my eyes and envision our team base. I breathe the warmth of my core outwards into my limbs. We’re curled up on our beds, warmth reflecting off the straw as the storm rages on outside, the comforting flicker of candles our only other company…

Chikorice stands up and trots off, and I can almost hear the creaking of floorboards under her footsteps. She’s checking the map for our next destination. We’re starting from scratch again, so first we’ll need to gather some basics… Escape Orbs can wait, what we really need are Revivers so we’ll be going to-

I snap back to reality as my eyelids light up crimson and a burst of warm air washes over me. There’s a sigh of relief and it’s a moment before I realise it’s my own. There’s only so much your imagination can do to help you endure the elements, after all.

It’s a while before I finally feel myself enough to open my eyes. Chikorice, patient as always, cheerfully waves a red Berry at me; Cheri, my mind supplies. Natural Gift: Fire. Useful against Bug Biters. The familiar knowledge helps ground me.

I take one final deep breath and heave myself up and away from the tree trunk. The trees alone aren’t enough; we need to build a more effective shelter before the forest floor becomes too wet to work with.

The wood is easy enough to obtain. We tear some from the lower branches of the nearby trees where they’ll be driest, and the rest we scavenge from the forest floor. Chikorice drains some of them of moisture and sets them aside, but the rest need to be nice and supple to use in our shelter.

The stones come next, and are just as simply procured. I send the beat of Helping Hand through the air, and Chikorice uses her strengthened Ancient Power to tear large hunks of limestone from the earth.

With some effort, the evenly-sized rocks form the rounded wall of our little shelter, and the branches work nicely as a roof once Chikorice has tied them up with one of her older, more damaged vines.

Then we make some final touches – soft dirt packed into the crevasses to trap heat in, and a layer of grass dried out with Giga Drain to serve as bedding.

And to top it all off, a roaring campfire outside. Bliss.

---

By the time I hang up my clothes to dry and we’re ready to settle down for the night, the forest is pitch-dark but for the glow of the fire, and silent besides its crackle.

I sigh in satisfaction as we nestle together inside. There’s little fur on my body to keep me warm without clothing, but the cramped space of the shelter is a blessing in disguise; my closeness with Chikorice, along with the warmth captured by the bedding and walls, are enough to keep us both wonderfully cozy.

“You know,” Chikorice says apropos of nothing much, “even though we’re stuck somewhere completely unfamiliar, there’s something about this that feels… nice. Don’t you think?”

I chuckle, trying to subtly adjust my position so that my arm doesn’t fall asleep. Her snort of laughter tells me I’m not doing a very good job, so I give up and just roll in place until I’m lying on my back – shuddering again at the sensation of my joints shifting in uncanny ways- and place her on my bare stomach. “Well, besides how I look now… It’s the kind of thing you always want to do as a kid, isn’t it? Go camping and sleep under the stars?”

Chikorice nods in contemplation. “There’s never really a reason to do that as an adult. We already have a home to go back to. And when we’re not there, we’re in a Mystery Dungeon so it’s too dangerous to camp out.”

She’s right… the only time we would ever make a camp is when we’re journeying between continents, and even then there are usually guilds that would trip over themselves to have the renowned Team Synergy as guests. We haven’t camped, really camped in… it must have been several years now.

She stretches languidly along my front – no use worrying about personal space in these conditions, not if we don’t want cramps come tomorrow – and we take a moment to bask in each other’s body heat.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

The insides of my eyelids are illuminated a vivid red for just an instant.

1, 2, 3, I automatically count. On 12, the thunder finally rolls in, rumbling through us both.

“Not close enough to worry about,” I murmur, and Chikorice hums quietly in agreement. We’re under a forest canopy anyway, about as safe as we can get in a lightning storm.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

“You’ve been taking this well,” she comments. I raise an eyebrow, not that she can see it “I know how you’re looking at me, but you’ve been as calm as you can, given everything that’s happened. It’s alright to be overwhelmed, but you’re still taking this in stride. I really admire that.”

“You’re the one who’s been taking it in stride,” I counter. My lip twitches up, unbidden. “I must look like a total stranger, but here you are cuddling with me and, well, comforting me. Thank you.”

She laughs, propping herself up with her front legs to better look at me in the diffuse firelight. “You don’t actually look all that different, you know. You’ve got the same eyes, the same colors, even your expressions are the same… I meant it when I asked if you evolved. You look nice.”

I can’t help but break into a smile at that, and a warm feeling spreads through my chest that has nothing to do with our little shelter.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

There’s a lot we still need to think about…

But that’s for tomorrow’s Team Synergy.