CHAPTER THREE: My Personal Disaffection

Chloe didn’t end up getting some sleep. Or at least, if she did sleep, it wasn’t for very long. She definitely had rested her body, though. She felt less tired now, though that might’ve just been her charge returning to her. Which was a weird thing for her to conceptualise, but… she supposed she’d have to get used to it. The berries had been nice though. Better than she’d expected them to taste.

It was getting well into the afternoon now, from what she could tell of the time by watching the sun cross her window, slowly going from one side to the other. Healer Bennett had shut the windows earlier, using some sort of portable stool to reach the latches. That hadn’t stopped the sun from shining down on her, though, which had been nice. It was nice to just lie there in a sunbeam. If she closed her eyes, she could almost completely zone out and not think about her situation.

She wondered what Daphne was doing. Based on what the Brionne had quickly said when leaving, it didn’t seem like she’d see her again until tomorrow at least. But, it seemed like they definitely had known each other at some point in their past. Was Daphne a human too? She hadn’t really answered.

The place she’d been in when she woke up was called a Fishing Guild. And Cetus had said Daphne was one of the apprentices there. So did that mean Daphne worked as a fisher? Was she out fishing? Chloe tried to picture Daphne sitting on a pier, holding a fishing rod and laughed at the mental image.

A faint sound of what might have been wheels pulled her out of her thoughts. She’d heard footsteps outside her door a few times, which had presumably just been Pokémon going past on their way to see other patients. The wheels were a new sound though.

She looked over the door to her room. It wasn’t like doors she’d ever really seen before. Rather than any kind of handle, it was completely smooth wood, and pushed open, able to open in both directions. She’d noticed how Healer Bennett had pushed it softly open last time he’d been in her room, then shut it behind him.

This time, it was covered with a glow indicating the use of psychic abilities, and slowly swung open as an Espeon walked in. Instead of a cloth tied around an arm or leg, his tag seemed to be a red bandanna tied neatly around his neck. There was what looked to be a name tag pinned to it, with a symbol displaying three coloured triangles and a red circle in the center next to some writing she couldn’t read.

But the accessory that most drew her eyes was what had made the rolling sound she’d heard. His body was in some kind of harness, which was attached to some poles that went down to two wheels on the ground, on either side of his body. As he moved, she noticed that his hind legs didn’t appear to be moving, hanging limp behind him, along with his tail.

“Helioptile Chloe?” he said, looking down at her.

She blinked, taking her eyes away from his back legs. “Oh, uh, yeah. That’s me.”

He tilted his head down. “Espeon Theseus. I’m the mind healer that was assigned to you.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said, with a small nod back.

She paused, looking at him. She didn’t know why, but her mind kept wanting to focus on his hind legs, her eyes just staring at them with some kind of weird feeling of what could have been almost loss or regret. But that didn’t make any sense.

“Sorry, um,” she said, managing to look away, and staring at the floor, instead. “This might be rude, but… Can I ask what happened to your legs?”

“Ah.” His eyes widened slightly. “There was… an accident. Years ago, now. I’ve adjusted to it, though.”

“I see,” she replied, looking back up at him, trying to gauge his expression, though he averted his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

He let out a small hiss, expression unreadable. “It’s fine. There was nothing you could have done.”

Neither of them spoke, and silence filled the air. The Espeon closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes, while Chloe just sat there, watching him, concerned.

It wasn’t long before he opened his eyes again. “Right, well. I’m here to help you with your mind. I understand you’re experiencing amnesia?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” she said, with a nod. “And I can’t move my body. I don’t know how.”

“Well, memory is a somewhat difficult thing to restore. I can try my best, but I make no guarantees. That is, of course, assuming you allow me to enter your mind,” Theseus said.

“What does that entail?” Chloe asked.

“At this stage, a small mental probe to see if I can gauge the severity of your amnesia. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt,” he said, his ears perking up a little.

“And what does that mean?” she said, looking up curiously.

“Well, your memories may be locked away, or they may be completely erased. If they are locked away, it will depend on the strength of the mental lock whether or not I am able to unlock them. Though based on what you have said, I believe the strength of the lock will be beyond my capabilities.”

“Right,” she said. “So if it is, we’d have to get a stronger psychic, then?”

“Very likely, yes,” he replied with a nod.

“And, when you’re in my brain, you’re going to be able to see everything?” Chloe said, with some hesitation.

Theseus nodded again. “Though, given your total amnesia, that won’t be much, I suspect. Some semantic memory at most. I will do my best to not intrude too much, however.”

“Okay,” she said. “And this just happens now? We don’t need to book an appointment or anything? I don’t have to fill out any, I don’t know, paperwork, or anything?”

“That should be covered by the hospital,” he said. “If you’d like, while I’m in there, I can attempt to temporarily strengthen your instincts to allow you to gain a better grasp on how to move your body. Regardless of your mind, there should at least be some instincts in there that know how to move your body.”

“That would be nice, actually,” Chloe said, with a nod. “Healer Bennett said I couldn’t move because of a mental block, so if you could fix that it’d be nice. It’s just going to work like that? Like you flip a switch and I can move? It seems almost too easy.”

“Well…” he began, pausing for a moment. “It’s not likely to be quite that simple. You may be a little overwhelmed and disorientated for a moment when I strengthen your instincts. As long as you regain your control over your mind, you should be fine. I will be right here with you, okay?”

“Okay…” she said, with a small sigh. “Sorry for asking so many questions, I just… I don’t really know how this all works.”

“That’s perfectly understandable,” Theseus replied, with an encouraging purr. “No more questions, then?”

She still had some reservations, like the fact that it seemed like he might find out that she was a human. But if humans didn’t exist here, that wouldn’t be too much of a big deal, would it? It should be fine. He might not even see it. And it’d be worth it if it let her move. And if there was even a small chance of her getting her memories back, she’d take it.

So Chloe shook her head. “I’m ready.”

“Very well then,” the Espeon said, moving over to her. “This will work better if we maintain physical contact.”

She nodded, and he placed a paw on her body, closing his eyes. “Right. This may feel strange.”

A psychic glow peeked out from behind his closed eyelids. Immediately, Chloe felt something in her mind. It was swirling around in her thoughts, moving around by her memories. She was almost scared to think in case it somehow interfered with the process.

And then the thing in her mind thought. It was almost like she’d thought the string of words herself, but she knew she hadn’t. Theseus was speaking to her through her mind. Strangely, this didn’t seem to disconcert her as much as she would have expected it to. It felt almost calming. The message itself faded quickly, Chloe too caught off-guard by the sensation to register the words.

It came again, and this time she got it. «Chloe, please stay calm. I would have put you to sleep for this, but I need you awake when I strengthen your instincts. Just relax your mind, and try not to think too hard.»

So she did so. She closed her eyes and did her best not to think about anything.

And another message came. «Okay, I was right. I unfortunately cannot unlock your memories. The psychic seal on them is far beyond my capabilities, as usual. Moving on to your instincts.»

She wanted to ponder on what he meant by that but continued to focus on clearing her mind.

She’d focused so much on clearing her mind, in fact, that when the instincts kicked in, it came as a complete rush.

Helioptile’s eyes shot open, assessing the area. Where was she? There were walls all around her, trapping her. And there was something on top of her. What was it? Her eyes went wide. A dangerous beast had her in its claws.

She quickly wriggled out of its grasp and took a few quick steps back. As it opened its large eyes, she hissed at it, extending her frills to scare it away. Once it went away, she could focus on getting out of this strange place and find a tree to climb.

It opened its mouth, letting out a terrifying noise that she seemed to understand? “Oh dear. Chloe, your instincts are overpowering you. You need to take back control of your body.”

Helioptile understood the speech of this creature, but didn’t know what it was talking about. She focused on generating sparks along her frills, making a show of aggression in hopes of getting it to back off.

She looked around the area. The way out seemed to be between her and that creature. It looked like she was going to have to run past it. She began to cover her body in sparks, preparing to make a break for it.

It spoke again. “Chloe! Please don’t attack me.”

Helioptile let out a hiss and began to sprint on all fours at the way out, charging past the beast. Yes! She was almost free! She was doing it!

She’d almost reached the way out when she was stopped by a strange energy, which grabbed her body and stopped her from moving. It lifted her back over to where she had started. She struggled, but it didn’t seem to do anything.

The beast moved over to her and she shook, trying to cover her body in sparks again before it ate her. It grabbed her again with its claws, and closed its eyes as she tried to muster some sparks.

A voice spoke inside her head. «Chloe! You need to control yourself. Fight these instincts.»

Control herself? Fight her instincts? What did—

Chloe blinked. What had she been doing?

“Theseus?” she asked. “Did it work?”

The Espeon opened his eyes. “It… did, yes. Try to move.”

“Okay…” Chloe replied. She took a few cautious steps, and found that her back legs were moving along with it. “I can move!”

“Congratulations,” Theseus replied dryly. “I’m afraid you lost control to your instincts for a moment there, but it should have faded by now. You should be all better, in that department, at least.”

“Right, yeah,” Chloe said, looking now. “I kind of remember. Thank you. I can’t describe how much this means to me.”

“Of course, Chloe,” he said, his ears perked up. “I’m happy to help.”

He paused, then continued. “Will that be all you need for now?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so?” she replied.

Theseus nodded. “Then I will take my leave for now.”

He turned to leave the room, then quickly turned back to her. “Oh, and… You don’t know how to read this writing system, do you?”

“No, I don’t,” she responded, looking up at him.

“Come by the library at some point within the next few days. I can help teach you. Please come alone.”

And with that, he left the room. The rolling of wheels echoed down the hospital corridors, before disappearing entirely.

The entire day, Daphne couldn’t stop thinking about Chloe. She tried to do her job, and mostly succeeded. Well, she caught three fish. Compared to the five from yesterday, minus the one she gave to Lily, that was pretty good, right?

She was even on pace to make it back before curfew. Not that she really wanted to see Sobek at dinner, but by the time she got there he probably wouldn’t have enough time to lecture her. She didn’t have enough time to make it over to the hospital, but she could stop in on Lily quick. The Lillipup probably deserved an explanation.

And a fish, too, probably. An explanation and a fish. Which would bring her down to an average of three a bag. That wasn’t bad, was it? Fairly good work for two days. Well, given that it was winter so there weren’t as many fish around. She thought that was pretty good, if you really thought about it.

She sighed, as she lugged the bag behind her through the forest. Who was she kidding? It was fine. The worst that would probably happen would be that she got another lecture. She could deal with that.

She turned off the main path, heading over to Lily’s cave. It definitely felt safer in the day time. Or at least, she was more comfortable moving through the brush when she felt like she wasn’t in a rush to get back. When she was rushing, she was way more likely to not look where she was going and potentially hurt herself. Not that that had happened. Much.

“Lily?” she called out, as she approached the cave. “You there?”

She heard a faint scramble of paws, before the Lillipup emerged. “Oh, um, hi Daphne. I have the bag for you, if you want? Um, I didn’t eat any, don’t worry.”

Daphne nodded. “Right, yeah, that’s why I’m here.”

She paused, raising a flipper to her face. “Wait, no. I don’t know how I’m gonna carry two bags. I was so distracted I didn’t even think to bring the wagon.”

Plus, she hadn’t exactly been catching enough fish this week to warrant dragging a wagon behind her all the way to the beach.

“Oh,” Lily replied, looking down. “So… Do you want me to keep it here again?”

“Maybe? You’ve been keeping it somewhere cold, right?”

“Yep!” the Lillipup replied. “Or, as cold as I can. I don’t have anywhere specially made to be cold, but it gets pretty cold in this cave. Especially at night.”

Lily looked down.

“Right,” Daphne said, pausing for a moment. “Then, yeah, probably. I’ll come and get them tomorrow.”

“Got it,” the other Pokémon replied, before tilting her head to the side. “Though, uh, why’d you need to leave them here? You just said something about an injured Pokémon? What happened?”

Daphne looked down. “Oh, right. So, when I was walking home, I found a Pokémon passed out on the side of the road, in the forest. She wasn’t moving, but she was still breathing, and she didn’t look wild, so I wanted to take her into town to get her some help.”

“Oh!” Lily responded, her eyes widening. “Is she okay?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so? She woke up this morning and I spoke to her a bit. But the healer at the guild got the hospital to come and pick her up to make sure. I’m probably going there tomorrow to see how she’s going,” Daphne said, one flipper curled around the stone tied around her neck.

“That’s good,” the Lillipup said. “Do you know what happened to her?”

Daphne sighed. “That’s the thing.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I don’t know. I’ve been trying to work it out all day, and I have no idea what’s actually going on. This Pokémon—her name’s Chloe—she doesn’t remember anything before she woke up in the guild.”

Lily’s ears perked up. “Just like, um, like what you said happened when you first woke up?”

“Yeah,” she replied, with a nod. “And the weird part is, when I found her, I thought I heard her say my name. She doesn’t remember saying it, and I only spoke to her for like five minutes or so, but… She feels familiar. It’s weird.”

“What… what type of Pokémon is she?” the Lillipup asked.

Daphne blinked. “Uh, Helioptile, apparently. Lighting/basic lizards. Why?”

Lily’s ears flattened. “Oh, um, it’s nothing. I just thought for a sec… Never mind.”

“O-kay…” she replied, tilting her head to the side. “You sure it’s nothing?”

“Yeah! It’s fine,” the other Pokémon replied. “Um, I meant to ask if I’d be able to have another fish today? If not, that’s fine! I just… it’s getting harder to find berries, with the winter and all.”

Daphne sighed. “Go for it.”

Lily looked back up. “Thanks. And, um, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Daphne said. “I should probably be going now, though. I’ll be back tomorrow. Probably around this time.”

“Okay. See you then,” the Lillipup said, looking down.

Daphne picked up the bag of fish and turned to go. Lily retreated back into the cave, with one final glance back at Daphne as she walked back through the brush.

The last thing Daphne wanted to see when entering the guild was, of course, exactly what greeted her.

Her eyes widened. “Guildmaster! Shouldn’t you be doing some paperwork or something? You didn’t have to wait out here just for me.”

Sobek narrowed his eyes, staring down at her. “My office, now.”

“You know, I would, but I should really put this away, first,” Daphne said, and held up the bag of fish.

The Feraligatr reached out an arm, easily pulling the bag out of her grasp and hurling it into the corner of the room. “Daphne.”

She sighed, looking down. “Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.”

Sobek nodded, and she followed slowly behind him as they walked to his office.

The office wasn’t a very large room. At least, not compared to a lot of the other rooms in the guild. It wasn’t cramped for the Feraligatr or anything, but it wasn’t as grand and expansive as rooms like the foyer or the mess hall. Daphne would almost have called it modest, if not for the amount of decorations placed around the room.

Fishing nets and weapons were hung all over the walls, almost completely covering them. Around the room were wooden models of ships, placed on seemingly whatever spare desks and tables Sobek could find. Each of them was hand-crafted, and intricately detailed. Looking over to his desk, she could see a half-finished model sitting in the middle of a mess of paperwork strewn all over it. The paper had even stretched to the floor, covering the wooden planks nearest to the desk. At the front of the desk was a polished golden nameplate reading “GUILDMASTER”.

Sobek didn’t seem to notice this as he walked behind his desk, sitting down on an uncomfortable-looking wooden chair. “Sit.”

Daphne eyed the other chair, on her side of the desk. Its seat was only just below her eye-level and she really didn’t want to relive her past attempts of trying to sit on it. “Yeah, I think I’m good.”

“Fine,” the Feraligatr responded, looking down at her from over the desk. “You know why you’re here, don’t you?”

She sighed. “Let’s see, uh… missing curfew, not coming to your office this morning, not bringing anything back yesterday, my general productivity being very comparatively low, and just generally being a poor excuse for a guild member? That sound about right? I think this is the part where I apologise and promise not to do it again. That all you needed?”

He let out a low growl. “Daphne. Do you remember our discussion a few months ago?”

“Remind me,” she replied.

He stared down at her with narrowed eyes. “The one where we agreed that, come winter, you would consider the idea of going out on a boat like the rest of the guild.”

“Ah. That one.”

“I’m sure you’re aware it’s now winter, Daphne?” he said, his tone tired.

“Mhm,” she replied.

“We have a boat leaving after breakfast tomorrow morning. Just for the day,” Sobek said, his voice growing strangely warm. “If you are serious about wanting to do your part, be on it.”

Daphne looked down. “Ah, sorry. Bad time. I still gotta go get the bag of fish from yesterday that I, uh, left in the woods. And I want to make sure the injured Pokémon I brought back is okay.”

“Cetus told me that the hospital is taking care of the Helioptile,” he replied. “I’m sure she will be fine. And if you left a bag of fish in the woods, I will be very surprised if it was not devoured by wilds the second you sat it down.”

“It’s in, uh, a safe place. They won’t have gotten to it,” she said.

“How many fish are in the bag, Daphne?” he asked.

“Uh, three?” she said, forcing the words out of her mouth.

“So, you could go out on the boat and bring in tens of fish tomorrow, or you could go to the beach and bring back three.”

“Sounds about right,” she replied.

Sobek scratched at his face with a claw. “Daphne, I want you to seriously think about what I am about to say. I agreed to take you in because you said you were going to do your part. Your little solo excursions were meant to be a trial run, before you went on to the boats. It has been a year, Daphne.”

“I don’t do well with others,” she said, wrapping a flipper around the stone around her neck.

“Then, I will remind you again, Daphne. I am not forcing you to stay here. No one is forcing you remain here in town. If you want to catch fish by yourself all day, you can do that. You can go and live in the wild, and catch fish to provide for yourself. You can even sell extras if you want, without needing to be part of my guild. So, answer me this:” he said, standing up, his gaze towering over her, “Why are you part of this guild, Brionne Daphne?”

Daphne looked down, saying nothing.

After a moment, Sobek sighed, and sat back down. “I will give you until the end of the week to give me an answer. Either you stay here and work with everyone else, or you leave the guild.”

She nodded, not saying anything more, before turning and hurrying out of the room.

That evening, Healer Bennett came into Chloe’s room. She began to stir, stretching her limbs as he placed down a small bag of berries.

Chloe let out a yawn, opening her eyes. “W-what’s going on…?”

Healer Bennett smiled. “Don’t worry, just bringing you some more berries. Go back to sleep; you can eat them when you wake up.”

“Oh… Okay,” she said, closing one eye.

He turned to leave, then quickly turned back. “Ah! I should let you know the good news, as well. The mind healer we called for you will be here tomorrow morning.”

Chloe blinked, suddenly a little more awake. “He’s coming back?”

Healer Bennett tilted his head to the side. “I’m sorry…? What do you mean?”

“Well, I didn’t think he needed to do anything else after today,” she said, looking up.

The Cinccino paused. “Chloe, we didn’t have any mind healer come in today for you.”

Chloe blinked again. “Then… Wait.”

She shook her head. “But, there was an Espeon who came in. He fixed my problems. I can walk now! See.”

She stood up, and took a few steps forward, moving around the room a little.

Healer Bennett took a deep breath. “Right. Okay. I don’t know who that was, but that was not a registered mind healer. He was not authorised to be here.”

Chloe paused. “Then, why was he here? Why did he fix my mind?”

“I don’t know,” the Cinccino responded. “I’ll need to file a report about this. Can you describe him for me?”

“Um… He was an Espeon. He said his name was Theseus. His hind legs were paralysed and he was in this kind of wheelchair harness thing,” she began. “His tag was a red bandanna. Oh, and there was a kind of name tag thing on it, too.”

“I see…” Bennett replied. “I shall look into this. We’ll keep your appointment with Healer Doreen tomorrow morning just in case he did anything, er, else to your mind. I should go and report this, though… Oh dear…”

And with that, he quickly made his way out of the room, leaving Chloe alone and confused.