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First, there was nothing.
Then, faded and muffled, she heard voices and saw the outlines of people. She couldn’t properly see them or hear them. Who are they? What are they saying?
Things shifted. She heard the strong but muffled sound of wind and rain. There was loud yelling.
And then silence once more.
So very slowly, as if something weakly crawled across the ground, she began to feel things. She felt her body, her muscles twitching a little. Became aware of her breathing. She smelled grass and dirt. She heard things; the faint sound of a gentle breeze rustling some leaves of a tree nearby. The distant chirping of a bird.
Then her eyes began to open. It took a while for them to adjust to the sudden brightness of the midday sun. As her eyes focused, they confirmed what she already knew.
She was in the middle of a forest. Laying on some grass. Trees surrounded her.
Her body felt…off.
She began to rise, pushing herself off the ground, and she looked down at her…claws? She stared at them for a minute, and then turned her head to look over herself.
She wasn’t a person. She was a pokemon.
Her mind raced with many thoughts, all forming together into pure confusion.
She’s not a pokemon, she’s a human, isn’t she? She remembers being human. She knows what pokemon she is as well, a jangmo-o. Not just a normal one either, but a shiny one.
I’m…I’m a human, aren’t I?
She tried to think back. Tried to remember. But her mind was muddled. Faint silhouettes of people appeared in her mind, faint and unclear voices tied to them. She…couldn’t remember.
Who were these people? Friends? Family? The memories of them felt just out of reach. But trying hard to remember them was just making her head hurt.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. Whether or not she can remember those people didn’t matter right now. How is she a pokemon now? But trying to remember where she was before she woke up…that was also gone.
Her memories were practically completely gone.
“Whoa! Hello there!”
She jumped, her heart pounding hard in her chest as she looked up, seeing a buneary appeared behind some bushes nearby and walked up to her.
The bunny looked over her curiously. “Don’t think I’ve seen you around before. Where did you come from?”
This pokemon is talking to her. She can understand.
…Of course, because I’m a pokemon too.
“I,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “I don’t know.”
The buneary looked puzzled, tilting her head and raising a paw to her chin. “Oh dear, did you hit your head on something? What’s your name?”
Name…I have a name. That I remember.
“I’m Dianne.” She looked at the bunny with a nod.
“Dianne,” the buneary repeated under her breath. Then she smiled. “Nice to meet you! I’m Lulu. I live in a town not far from here, we can go there and get you some help. Not to be mean at all, but you don’t look well.”
Right. I need to do something and not just sit here.
Slowly, the jangmo-o rose on her feet, a bit shaky and uneven, her legs trembling a little.
This was…very odd.
“Whoa,” Lulu muttered, stepping over besides Dianne. She carefully put her paws on her, helping steady her. “Yeah, I think you need help. Can you walk?”
Dianne took a deep breath, trying to focus. She had to adjust to this body. It was so different and foreign, in every way. “I think so,” she mumbled. “But some help would be nice.”
The buneary giggled. “No problem, you can lean on me! Let’s go, one step at a time! It’s not too far from here.”
The shiny nodded, and slowly began to step forward. Moving one leg at a time, she started to figure out how these legs worked and got into a rhythm.
Lulu walked besides her, keeping her paws hovering around her in case she began to wobble or fall over.
As they walked, Dianne thought about everything. Maybe her memories would come back over time. It would be nice to at least remember how she got here. Why was she here? There were so many questions she had, and no one she could honestly ask these questions to.
She glanced sideways at Lulu. The buneary was still smiling, but focused on making sure the jangmo-o was walking well.
…Why did something feel a little off about her?
This is the first pokemon she’s met here and talked to. Maybe she’s overthinking things.
After a few minutes, Dianne could walk a little better on her own, and they reached the town Lulu mentioned. She stopped at the edge of the trees, looking out at the scenery in front of her.
So many pokemon. She could barely keep track of which ones she saw. They were all walking, running, flying, floating. All over. She could hear them talking, having normal pleasant conversations with each other. Some smaller pokemon ran out from a building, all of them giggling as they rounded the corner of another building. Bird pokemon and others flew around in the sky above. The buildings were a mix. Some homes, a couple stores, the biggest building was in the middle of town, and had banners hanging by the front doors and one at the very top.
Dianne felt…overwhelmed. Her stomach twisted a little at the sight of all these pokemon. She suddenly did not want to be here.
“Ah, we got lucky,” Lulu spoke up next to her, and she waved a paw up. “Aqua!”
The jangmo-o flinched at her yell, and she looked around to see a vaporeon had paused in her walk and looked over. The vaporeon then walked over, smiling at them. “Hello, Lulu! And who’s this?”
“This is Dianne, I just found her right outside of town.” The buneary explained. “Can you take a look at her? She doesn’t seem well.”
Aqua then frowned, looking worried. “Oh my. Of course, follow me, right this way.” She turned and walked away, heading towards the building she was originally walking to.
Dianne hesitated before taking the first step into town to follow. All the sights and sounds and smells were still overwhelming. She hoped going into a place would help a little bit, and if she was going to be looked at, that was also a plus.
Lulu walked alongside her, still making sure she didn’t fall over. Dianne glanced around, noticing the other pokemon nearby had seen her. They looked confused and curious, but of course they would be. She’s someone new.
The two stepped into the building and the door closed. There was still sound from outside, but it was a bit more muffled now. A little less overwhelming.
The shiny looked around, realized this was something like a hospital. There were several beds (well, they were piles of hay and blankets technically) lined up in this large room, and several containers around (boxes and barrels). There was another pokemon in here resting on one of the beds, a jolteon. He was curled up and his eyes closed, a large bandage placed on his back.
Aqua stepped over to an open bed, nodding at it. “Here, you can lie down and take a rest.”
Dianne walked over to the bed, raising a foot to lightly touch over the blanket on it. Soft. She slowly climbed onto the bed, with Lulu next to her ready to catch her if needed, and then adjusted her legs until she was lying down on it comfortably.
“There we go,” Lulu muttered, finally lowering her arms and taking a step back.
The jangmo-o sighed, already feeling a little better. This bed was a lot more comfortable than it first looked.
“So,” the vaporeon looked over her. “Lulu said she found you just outside of town. I don’t think we’ve seen you around here. Where are you from?”
Dianne was quiet for a minute. She tried to think back to when she first woke up. See if there was ANYTHING before that. But it was still blank. She shook her head. “I don’t know,” she mumbled, looking up at Aqua. “I don’t remember.”
Both pokemon looked startled.
She was about to speak more, but she spotted something behind them. The jolteon laying nearby had opened his eyes and he was looking at her. But once he noticed he was spotted, he closed his eyes again.
“You don’t remember?” Aqua asked.
Deal with that later, I guess.
Dianne looked at her and nodded. “I only remember my name, and-” she paused. “And that’s it.”
How would pokemon react if I just tell them I’m really a human? Do they know what humans are? Maybe wait on that piece of information.
“Oh, you poor thing,” the buneary muttered, her paws raised in front of her face and she looked so concerned.
…Was she?
Aqua hummed, tilting her head. “May I examine you? I want to check for any injuries or signs of anything else.”
Dianne didn’t like the idea of others touching her, but this was different. She nodded. “Go ahead.”
The vaporeon stepped closer, lifting a paw and poking around at random parts of her body, gently turning her head left and right to take a better look. She asked Dianne to lift her front legs, move her tail, flex her claws.
“Do you feel any sort of pain or soreness anywhere?” Aqua asked.
“My head hurts a little, but not in that way,” Dianne muttered. “In terms of actual pain, I don’t feel anything.”
The vaporeon hummed again, taking a step back.
“So?” Lulu looked at her curiously.
“Well, honestly, Dianne is in pretty perfect health.” Aqua shrugged. “I don’t see or feel any signs of anything on you. And jangmo-o usually have pretty strong heads. I don’t personally believe your memory loss is tied to any head injury, but I wouldn’t totally rule it out.”
Dianne sighed. She wished the exam gave some form of an answer, but there was nothing.
“Since she’s new in town, then she has nowhere to go,” Lulu spoke up, looking over at Dianne. “And I have a feeling you don’t have any money.”
The shiny shook her head.
“Now hold on, Lulu,” Aqua raised a paw in front of her. “Before you go and do that, I’m going to make a suggestion. Let’s have Dianne stay here for one night, just in case.”
The buneary groaned loudly, frowning. “Seriously? But you just said she’s in perfect health!”
“But I want to keep her here just in case,” the vaporeon explained. “If something comes up overnight, at least she’ll already be here and we can help her right away. Ok?”
Lulu sighed, making a show of rolling her whole head along with her eyes, but then she nodded. “Ok, ok.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The buneary left afterwards, and she did mention she’d be back in the morning to check on Dianne.Now with all of that done and Lulu gone, this place felt a bit quieter. Dianne sighed heavily, laying her head down on the bed.With things a bit settled down…it just reminded her that nothing has been solved.Why am I here? Why did I turn into a pokemon? Why can’t I remember anything besides the fact I’m a human? I guess I have no choice but to go along with it.“Rai, how are you feeling now?”The jangmo-o looked over at the vaporeon, who walked over to where the jolteon was laying and spoke to him.The jolteon opened his eyes and lifted his head up, arching his back a little. “Not too bad, just a little sore now.”“Good, now you know what I’m going to say,” Aqua sighed. “I suggest that you keep resting here. But you’re just going back to the guild anyway, aren’t you?”“Of course,” Rai shifted and slowly stood up. “There’s jobs to do.”“That doesn’t mean YOU have to take those jobs,” the vaporeon muttered, shaking her head. “You work way too much. It’s not healthy.”“I don’t care.”Dianne looked at him more carefully. Rai’s face was very stoic. She could see there were several scars over his body. He gets injured often, it seems. Doing some jobs? What jobs end up making you look like that?“I know,” Aqua sighed again. “You never listen to me. But I’ll keep saying it anyway. Be careful out there.”The vaporeon walked away, heading to the back of the room to enter another room nearby.Rai watched her for a moment before stepping off the bed. He reached over and picked up something next to the bed with his mouth. A dark green scarf with some sort of badge on it and a bag. He glanced over himself and then sighed through his nose.The jolteon then walked, heading to the front door. He stopped in front of the jangmo-o’s bed and looked at her.Dianne lifted her head up and stared back at him.He looked…curious? It was hard to tell.After a quiet minute, he looked away, walking to the front door and leaving.…Weird.The sound of someone else walking up to Dianne snapped her out of it, and she looked to see Aqua walking up and putting a simple plate down in front of her, with some oran berries on it.“I forgot to ask if you were hungry.” The vaporeon explained.The shiny stared at the berries for a moment. Now that she thought about it…she is hungry. “I am, actually. Thank you.” She reached over and bit into one, carefully moving her jaw in order to eat it.Eating without hands was going to be interesting to learn.“You’re welcome,” Aqua nodded and turned to walk away.Dianne quickly swallowed. “Can I ask you some questions?”“Oh,” the vaporeon turned back to face her and sat down. “Of course. I’m assuming since you don’t seem to remember anything, you have a lot of questions. I’ll do my best to explain what I can.”“Yes, thank you,” the jangmo-o adjusted her body a little. There were SO many questions. “What’s this place called exactly?”“You mean this building? It’s a clinic. A place for sick and injured pokemon to come in and get treated.”A clinic. That made sense. That’s why Dianne got the feeling of a hospital when she walked in.“Can you tell me more about Lulu? She’s the one that found me and brought me here. I’m also curious about that jolteon that just left.” Dianne reached over and grabbed another berry.Aqua hummed, and then she smiled. “Everyone knows Lulu. She’s the nicest, sweetest, most positive pokemon in the entire town. She’s friends with everyone, and makes sure to give everyone a smile every day.”The shiny slowly chewed. How interesting. That sounded exhausting.“Speaking of her, when she comes back, I know for a fact she’ll offer for you to stay at her place.” The vaporeon nodded a couple times. “She lives in a small house, but there is an extra room that you could use.”Dianne swallowed. Oh. Great. But do I really have any other option? If there’s something like a hotel here, I don’t have any money to rent a room. It’s better than sleeping out in the open, I guess.“I see,” the jangmo-o mumbled. “I guess I could, if she really does offer and doesn’t mind.”“I believe she told me a few days ago she was thinking about joining the guild,” Aqua mumbled, raising a paw to her chin. “She said she wanted to make more friends and help pokemon, but she was a little worried.”“The guild?” Dianne tilted her head. She briefly remembered Aqua mentioning that when talking to Rai.“Ah, right,” the vaporeon lowered her paw. “That giant building you definitely saw out there is the guild. A rescue organization dedicated to help pokemon in need, especially those that get trapped in dungeons.”Dianne reached to grab another berry, but then stopped and stared at her. “Dungeons?”“Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t even know what those are,” Aqua shook her head. “That’s what we call them. There’s areas out there in the world that are consumed by dungeons. A mysterious place where you can easily get lost and turned around after taking two steps. No one seems to know when or why they appeared; they’ve been a part of our lives for a long time. Some dungeons end up expanding and taking over a large area. There’s some in the ocean as well. They are scary places you don’t want to get caught in.”Dianne shuddered. “Can you avoid them? How do you know if you’re near one? What do they look like?”“At a distance, they don’t stand out.” Aqua raised a paw and held it out. “But once you get close enough, there’s this…aura around them. You can maybe faintly see it, but you can definitely feel it. They’re easy enough to avoid if you know about them. But there are some areas where the only way to get somewhere is through a dungeon. It’s possible to emerge on the other side of them, but it’s not always that easy.”The jangmo-o grabbed another berry and chewed it, thinking carefully. Nothing about this sounded familiar. Did these dungeons not appear around humans? It seemed special to this world. She swallowed and looked at her. “Besides getting lost in them, how else are they dangerous?”Aqua hesitated. “There’s pokemon in there, but they’re…different from us. Much more wild, and very territorial. There’s almost no reasoning with them. No one remembers where they came from either. So you’re very likely to be attacked by one of them if you enter a dungeon.”Dianne frowned. Getting lost very easily is one thing, but you also have to defend yourself? She thought back to Rai, seeing all the scars on him. “So,” she mumbled, putting the pieces together. “The guild is a rescue group that goes out into these dungeons to save other pokemon that get lost in them?”“Yes.” Aqua nodded. “Anyone that wants to join receives training. Not just how to defend yourself, but how to make it easier to navigate dungeons. They’re very strange and change constantly, but I’ve heard there’s some tricks to it. You CAN walk through them and emerge on the other side of them if you know how. Oh, and pokemon are never allowed to go inside on their own. There’s teams that sign up at the guilds, at least two pokemon are needed in order to apply.”That made enough sense. Someone there to watch your back.“Well, almost never,” the vaporeon muttered. “Rai is a special case.”“What do you mean?”Aqua hesitated, her tail flicking around to wrap around her legs and she looked down at the floor. “I’m…I can’t say too much on it,” she mumbled. “And I highly suggest not asking Rai face to face. Just…know that he used to be part of a team, but no longer. But he refuses to team up with anyone new. And he takes on jobs constantly; he ends up coming here more times than anyone else at the guild. He even refuses to stay for too long, as you probably saw.”Dianne looked over at the last berry on the plate. That’s what the whole conversation earlier was about. If this is a case where his previous team member died in some way…then his behavior made sense.That still didn’t explain why he stared at her before he left.She leaned over and picked up the last berry, eating it. After swallowing, she looked at the vaporeon. “Thanks for answering my questions.”Aqua looked up at her, blinking. “Oh, of course. I’m sure that’s a lot of information to take in at once, I apologize.”“No, it’s fine, I’m the one who asked.” Dianne sighed. “But I think I’ll rest for now.”“Of course,” the vaporeon stood up. “I’ll be just in the other room over here, let me know if you need anything.” She picked up the plate off the floor, turning and walking away.“Thanks,” the shiny adjusted herself a little and laid her head back down on the bed.Once Aqua was out of the room, it was very quiet. Dianne took a deep breath and closed her eyes.Dungeons, huh? How interesting.This world is so different. Even though I don’t remember much of anything. Did I even have friends or family? I don’t remember them. Will I ever find out why I’m here? What happened to me? There has to be a reason. I refuse to believe this is some mistake.But I’m not even sure about mentioning the fact I’m a human. How am I supposed to get answers?…This is too much, my head hurts. I need sleep.Dianne slowly fell asleep. She faintly had a dream. She could hear voices around her, but couldn’t figure out what they were saying. They sounded worried. But she couldn’t see anything. Just hear the muffled sound of others talking. Then it faded away.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Dianne woke up later in the evening just in time to eat some more food and she walked around the clinic a couple times as Aqua watched. After being satisfied that Dianne seemed fine, they both settled down for the night.The jangmo-o was slowly adjusting to her new body. It was very different. But like everything else, she had no choice but to get used to it.There was no light inside the building, but Dianne could spot faint light coming from outside. Seemed to be from torches that were attached to the buildings. She could also see that the moon was bright tonight, with a beam coming in through a window nearby.As she lay there in the bed, she faintly heard something outside. Dianne looked over to the front door, seeing it open slowly and just enough for a head to poke in.It was Lulu.The buneary noticed her and smiled, fully stepping inside and closing the door quietly.“It’s late, Lulu,” Dianne mumbled.“I know, I know, but I couldn’t wait for morning!” Lulu whispered in an excited tone. She went over, looking over the shiny curiously. “How are you feeling?”“Not bad. Aqua said if I sleep well enough tonight, I’m free to leave in the morning.” The jangmo-o sighed.“Great!” The bunny hopped a little. “Have you…remembered anything yet?”Dianne hesitated. She wanted to tell at least ONE pokemon. But who? Maybe she can decide later. “No,” she muttered, shaking her head.Lulu sighed, her ear flopping over. “I’m sorry, maybe you need more time.”“Maybe,” the shiny adjusted her front legs a little. “Hey, I was wondering about something actually.”Lulu’s ear quickly perked back up.“Aqua was explaining some things to me, like about dungeons and the guild.” Dianne tilted her head. “She mentioned that you said something about joining. Was that true? Are you serious about it?”“Oh,” the buneary softly clapped her paws together, nodding a few times. “Yes! I might not look it, but I have been training myself. I want to help out! The dungeons around this area can get pretty dangerous. So I want to do what I can to help those in need!”Dianne stared at her. While what she was saying was fine, there was something…off. The shiny realized that she’s only felt this with Lulu. Aqua seemed perfectly normal, and Rai was a little weird, but that was different. Lulu just constantly felt a little off in some manner. But she couldn’t figure out what it was exactly.“She said something about needing to apply with a team,” Dianne muttered. “Do you have a partner?”Lulu frowned for the first time, and she sighed. “No,” she muttered a bit bitterly. “I’ve asked around with a lot of my friends, but they’re not interested. And anyone that would be is already in the guild.”“You can’t just join a team already established?”The buneary shook her head. “I mean, I could if I really wanted to, but! I want my own team. I want a good partner.” She gasped, her eyes lighting up. “What if-”“No.” Dianne cut her off.Lulu frowned again, looking confused. “What? Why not?”“Aren’t dungeons dangerous?” The jangmo-o lifted a foot, pointing at her. “You said you did training, but those places are pretty dangerous. I just woke up here Lulu, you think I’m going to throw myself into such an area right away?”Lulu looked more confused, and then she frowned. She put her paws behind her back, nervously kicking the floor with one foot, and she leaned her head down but looked up towards Dianne with a real pitiful and sad look. “I know we just met Dianne, but I do believe you’d be a good partner.”Dianne flinched. What…was this feeling? A weird sensation creeped over her. Like some type of aura was coming from the buneary. She almost felt inclined to give in.Almost.The shiny narrowed her eyes. “I said no.”For just a moment, the buneary looked frustrated, but it quickly went away. She sighed loudly, dramatically rolling her head back and then looked at her again. “Ok, well, can you at least think about it? Maybe you’ll change your mind later!”The jangmo-o rolled her eyes. “Fine.”“Oh, that reminds me,” Lulu smiled. “If you’re being let go from here in the morning, why not stay with me? I have an extra room you can use! I’d be happy to let you stay with me, it wouldn’t be a problem at all.”Dianne looked away at the floor nearby. This one was harder to deny. She highly doubted the pokemon around here would be so cruel to just leave her outside to fend for herself if she had no money. But how many houses around here actually had the free space already? Lulu already helped her out by bringing her into town and to immediately get looked at.And the shiny already denied her once now. To deny her again would be a little cruel.As much as the buneary made her a little uneasy…her options at this moment were limited.Dianne sighed loudly, looking back over at her. “Alright. I feel bad for saying no to teaming up with you, so…I’ll accept your extra room then.”Lulu smiled widely, and hopped a little in excitement. “Yes! Great! Alright, then I’ll see you in the morning! Good night!” She waved and went out the door before Dianne could respond.The jangmo-o stared at the door. She was really hoping she didn’t just make a mistake.Might’ve accepted that too soon.~~~~~The next morning, after waking up and eating some more berries for breakfast, Dianne was standing in the middle of the clinic with Aqua when Lulu came in.“Ah, of course you come bright and early to pick up your new roommate.” Aqua laughed a little.Dianne wanted to gag and also sigh in defeat. She had told Aqua about Lulu’s visit last night.“Of course!” The buneary stopped nearby, smiling at both of them. “Good morning! So, is Dianne all set to leave?”The vaporeon nodded, motioning with a flick of her tail over the jangmo-o. “Yes, she’s all good to go. And remember Dianne, if something comes up, you come back here, ok?”“Yes ma’am,” The shiny mumbled. “Thank you for taking care of me.”“You’re welcome. You two get along!”Lulu giggled, turning and heading back over to the door. “Of course!”Dianne hesitated. She really was regretting agreeing so easily last night. She sighed and walked over, following the buneary outside.Once they were both outside, the shiny looked around. Plenty of pokemon were already up and going about their day. It was still overwhelming, but not as bad as before.“Oh, how about a tour of the town?” Lulu hopped in front of her and did a little twirl on one foot. “There’s shops, and the guild, and the cafes, and-”“Lulu.”The buneary stopped, looking at her.Dianne looked back at her. “I appreciate the gesture, but…I don’t want to. Can we please just go to your house so I can settle in?”Lulu frowned, looking confused again. “Well…I guess it is still a lot, you just appeared yesterday. Maybe-”“You two.”Both pokemon flinched, looking behind Lulu to see a jolteon standing by them. Rai, the same one that was in the clinic.He narrowed his eyes at them. “The guildmaster wants to talk to you two. A new face shows up in town, he’ll want to meet them.”“O-oh,” the buneary muttered, her paws rubbing together nervously. “That makes sense. Does it have to be right now?”Rai scoffed. “Yes. Now come on, don’t waste my time.” He turned and walked towards the large building.Dianne went to follow, and Lulu stuck close to her.“Are you sure you want to go?” The bunny whispered. “I thought you wanted to settle in first.”“I do,” the jangmo-o whispered back. “But it’d be rude to make the guildmaster wait, right?”“True,” Lulu huffed. “He’s nice, I’ve met him a couple times. This probably won’t take too long.”The two pokemon followed the jolteon into the large building, and Dianne took a moment to look around the lobby. Many pokemon were walking about and talking with each other. She noticed they all had scarves or some type of cloth attached to them with a badge on it. There were three large maps on one of the walls, with some writing on it in different places. There were a couple large boards on another wall, where most of the pokemon were gathered. Many papers were posted on these boards, and the pokemon took turns grabbing a paper for themselves.Rai headed straight to a hallway nearby, the two pokemon following along. Lulu looked like she’s been in here before, not really seeming surprised by their surroundings.The hallway was mostly empty except for a couple closed doors they passed by until they reached the end where there was a large set of doors.Rai lifted a paw, lightly scratching at it. After a moment, the doors opened and swung inward and he stepped inside. Dianne and Lulu hesitated before following.The jangmo-o looked around the room. A few old banners were hung along one of the walls, with different colors on them. There was another large old map on the opposite wall, with marks on it. At the back of the room, there was a banner, similar to the ones she saw outside hanging by the front door and at the very top.Right in front of that banner stood a torterra. The tree on his back looked well kept, and he peered over at them curiously.“I brought the ones you requested,” Rai spoke up nearby, nodding at the torterra. “May I leave now?”There was a sigh behind them, and Dianne looked back to see a typhlosion standing by the doors. She didn’t notice him at first, he must’ve opened them to let them in.…Wait, what kind of typhlosion is he? There was some kind of ring of dark fur around his neck like a collar, and his ears drooped. There were also extra markings along his neck, between his head and that collar.She doesn’t remember seeing this kind before.“Yes, thank you, Rai,” the typhlosion waved towards the open door. “Go ahead.”“Thank you,” the jolteon stepped back and left the room, the typhlosion closing the door behind him.Lulu took a moment to take a deep breath, and then she stood a bit taller and smiled brightly. “Good morning guildmaster Gora! It’s a lovely morning, isn’t it?”The torterra smiled a little, giving her a small nod. “Good morning, Lulu. I’m sure you know why I asked you to come here.”“Yeah,” the buneary sighed. “It crossed my mind, but then I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see her.”“So,” the typhlosion circled around them, stopping to stand by the torterra. He looked over the jangmo-o curiously, and a little suspiciously. “Who are you?”Dianne figured out why she was brought here. She relaxed a little and bowed her head towards them. “Hello. My name is Dianne. Lulu found me in the forest outside of town. To be perfectly honest, I do not know where I came from. I woke up with no memories besides my name. There’s nothing else.”The two larger pokemon looked startled. It was a similar reaction to Lulu and Aqua back at the clinic.They looked at each other quietly for a moment before looking back at her. “I see,” the torterra mumbled. “It’s lucky for you to have appeared near our town, and for you to be found by Lulu. We’ll do what we can to help you out. I’m sure Lulu and Aqua have been doing well with that so far.”“Yes sir,” Dianne straightened up. “They’ve both been very nice to me and been explaining things to me.”“I assume that Lulu has also offered her house to you.” The typhlosion chuckled.“As a matter of fact, Dusan, I have!” Lulu nodded seriously.“Thought so,” the typhlosion laughed, looking over at the jangmo-o and gesturing over to the buneary. “You’ll learn pretty quickly that Lulu is friends with everyone here. You have a question about anyone, you ask her.”The bunny stood a bit taller, still smiling. She was proud of that comment.Dianne got that feeling again. So even these two, what she assumes are the highest level of authority figures in the town, know of Lulu and how friendly she is?…That rubbed her the wrong way. Why did that feel wrong?“Yes, sir,” the shiny mumbled.“Well, if you ever need anything, you’re free to ask us.” Gora nodded. “I hope you enjoy staying here. You’re free to go.”Lulu bowed her head low, her ear flopping over. “Thank you guildmaster Gora! Dusan!”Dianne bowed her head as well. “Yes, thank you sirs.”The typhlosion walked back over to the doors, opening them up. “Have a good day, you two.”The two smaller pokemon walked over and left the room.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

After the two small pokemon left, Dusan closed the doors. He looked back at Gora.The torterra sighed heavily, adjusting his legs to lay down. “So that’s why Rai made that request,” he muttered.The typhlosion walked over, stopping to stand by him. “Yes, he never asks us for anything. I thought when he asked us to talk to the newcomer, that he thought maybe she was a thief or something. I didn’t expect this.”“Me neither.” Gora hummed thoughtfully, looking up at him. “How long has it been?”Dusan crossed his arms, lowering his head and closing his eyes tightly. “Um,” he mumbled, opening his eyes after a moment. “A little over three years.”“Three years,” the guildmaster repeated, sighing. “Feels much longer, and yet also just yesterday those two came in here.”Dusan nodded, and they were both quiet for a minute.“Well, we’ll keep our eye on her then,” Gora mumbled. “I’d hate for the same thing to happen. Our whole town would be even more devastated if something like that happened to Lulu.”The typhlosion nodded again, looking over at the open window nearby. He could hear the distant sounds of the town pokemon going about their morning as normal.~~~~~Lulu took Dianne to the part of town where all the homes were. It was a little quieter over here; it seems like most of the action happens around the guild and shops in the other area. Made sense.All of these homes were different shapes and sizes, and some had underground sections. They were all made to fit whatever species lives there.Families of different species went by, and Dianne noticed every single one waved or said good morning to Lulu. Of course, the buneary replied to each one.“Good morning, Lulu!”“Ah, morning Chip! Have a good one!”“Hi Lulu!”“Morning! Be careful out there today, and good luck!”“Hey Lulu, can you play with me?”“Ah, I can’t right now, but I will later, I promise!”She really does know everyone in town. And everyone in town loves her. She smiles and waves and greets every pokemon they pass by. Everyone smiles back, they’re all happy to see her.…There’s nothing outright wrong with that. So why did it bother Dianne so much and give her an uneasy feeling?They finally reached Lulu’s house, smaller than the rest, but did look just big enough for two pokemon their size. Lulu opened the door and stepped inside, doing a couple hops and she spun around on one foot with her arms out, stopping when she was facing Dianne and grinning.“Welcome to my home! It’s a little small, I know, but still space for the both of us!”The shiny looked around. The room they were in now looked to be the biggest, with a stump in the back and a couple smaller pieces of wood next to it. A table and chairs. There were two doorways on her left, seeming to lead to two small bedrooms. She had to admit it; it was nice.“Nice,” Dianne mumbled with a small nod.Lulu giggled, hopping a little in place. She walked over by the two doorways, pointing at one and then the other. “This one is my room, so you can have this one!”Dianne walked over, glancing over at the first room closest to the front door that was Lulu’s. And then she stopped in front of the other room meant for her, looking inside.There was a bed in here (again, pile of hay and a blanket), and a container off to the side. There was a small window on the far wall with some wood grates on it. Simple, but it was what she wanted. A bed and a roof over her head.“It’s not much, I know,” the buneary sighed, clapping her paws together. “But you can make it your own!”“It’s fine,” the jangmo-o looked at her. “All I really want is a bed and a roof over my head. This will do just fine.”Lulu looked confused by that but quickly moved on, smiling again. “Right! So uh, I gotta go, but you’re free to stay here and settle in. The pokemon around here are really friendly, so if you need something, feel free to ask them!” She pointed back behind them. “There’s a porygon that lives just next door, it doesn’t really leave the house too much, so your first best bet is there.”Dianne looked at where she was pointing and then back at her. “Wait, a porygon?”“Yeah,” the buneary tilted her head a little. “Why, is there something wrong?”Porygon…those are man made. Dianne knows this. How is there something like a porygon living in this world? She really did have questions for it.The shiny shook her head. “No, I was just surprised. I didn’t expect a porygon to be living here.”“Ah,” Lulu nodded. “I heard that they’re really rare, you don’t hear about them too often.”Really rare, huh? Makes sense, if they have the same origin.“Well,” the bunny clapped her paws together again. “There’s food if you need it, the water is just outside in the back, and you can ask around if you need anything! I’ll be back later!”Lulu hopped backwards a couple times before going to the front door and stepping back outside.Dianne sighed. Just watching that buneary move and talk nonstop made HER feel tired. She looked around the home once more before stepping into her room and climbing onto the bed to settle down.She thought back to everything. From waking up here to the pokemon she’s met so far. The fact there was a porygon here was very interesting to her. Maybe it has some answers?But she’ll step outside a little later. She needed some time alone and in the quiet of this small home first.~~~~~Lulu came back home a couple hours later; Dianne heard the door open and close. The buneary appeared in her doorway as she peeked in and she smiled, stepping into the room.“Alright, done for now,” she sighed, stopping nearby. “How are you feeling?”“I’m alright,” Dianne nodded. “Can I ask you some questions?”“Sure!” Lulu sat down on the floor, looking at her expectantly.“How long have you been living here? Is your family here or somewhere else?”“Ah,” the bunny leaned back a little, rubbing the back of her head with a paw. “My family lives in a small village. Same continent, but I traveled pretty far before settling down here.” She moved her paw to rub her chin in thought. “That was…two years ago? Almost two years, I think.”Interesting. And in that time, she became quite popular.“Why did you leave your family?”Lulu flinched, and then she shrugged. “The village was too small for me. I love my family and all, but I needed to leave. Go on a little adventure, maybe join a guild.”“And in those two years, you never found someone to team up with you? I find that hard to believe.” Dianne mumbled.“Wha-” the buneary looked at her, looking hurt. “Are you calling me a liar?”“Not really,” Dianne shook her head. “More that I’ve seen how big this town is. There’s so many pokemon living here. Not once in those two years could you find someone willing to join up with you?”“Oh,” Lulu muttered, and she shrugged again. “Well, it’s the truth! Everyone either already has joined the guild with their own team, or they’re not interested in joining the guild period. I guess I’ve had bad luck!” She laughed.No wonder she seemed so desperate to then ask someone she just met. Two years of poking and prodding other pokemon and getting no results. And she already said she didn’t want to join a team that was already established, she wanted her own.“Seems like it,” the shiny mumbled. “Do you regret leaving your home?”“Oh, not at all!” The buneary waved a paw dismissively. “This town is great, I have no real complaints. Everyone is so nice, and I do what I can to help out and keep them all smiling!”Dianne stared at her. “Why?”Lulu blinked. “Why what?”“Why go through that effort? It sounds exhausting.” The jangmo-o continued staring at her. “Sure, it’s nice to do nice things for others, but I can tell. You’re putting a LOT of work into being friends with everyone. Being friendly to every single pokemon you see. Doesn’t that tire you out at all? Do you ever actually relax?”Lulu stared back at her, and Dianne saw something. A flicker of…fear? Fear of what? Of her? Or something else?The buneary then went back to her usual self. She laughed and waved her paw again. “W-well, yeah, sometimes it’s tiring, sure,” she mumbled, almost tripping over her words. “But it’s worth it! Just seeing their happy faces makes it worthwhile!”Dianne narrowed her eyes a little. That…was just a lie.She wasn’t just feeling things that weren’t there. There really was something about Lulu that was bothering her. But she still didn’t have a clear answer as to what it was.But she was confident now. There was more to this buneary.Lulu cleared her throat, standing up. “A-anyway, I just wanted to check in and make sure you were ok,” she patted over the fluff on her lower half as if dusting herself off. “I’m stepping back out and I’ll be back later!”She was smiling, but she was refusing to make eye contact. The buneary turned and left the room, the front door opening and closing soon after.Dianne snorted. There definitely was something off about her. But getting more answers as to what was going to be hard.~~~~~Dianne finally stepped outside close to noon and looked around. Even though there were plenty of pokemon around this morning, there were far less pokemon around now. She spotted a rampardos and a miltank nearby, and there was a blissey walking along a path with a bunch of baby pokemon trailing behind her.Maybe it was something like the older pokemon were off doing work while the children were being watched. There were a lot of pokemon at the guild, come to think of it. Maybe a lot of the parents work there.She looked around more, spotting the porygon neighbor.The porygon floated around its home, looking over the plants growing around the small building. Watching it move was…interesting. The movements were not fluid, like something organic. It was very snappy, shifting from one position to another, and she heard low beeping noises coming from it.This was definitely something man made.Dianne took one more look at her surroundings before taking the first step towards this pokemon.

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The jangmo-o walked towards the porygon, stopping a few feet away.“Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you.” She greeted.The porygon stopped, quickly turning around to look at her. It floated a bit closer, it’s head tilting from side to side. “Greetings,” it spoke, but there was no mouth on it. The voice simply came from it’s body, and it reminded Dianne of something like a speaker box.“My name is Dianne, I’m new in town. I’m living with Lulu, so we’re neighbors.” The shiny explained.The porygon beeped, looking towards Lulu’s home and back at her. “Lulu, the buneary.” It beeped a couple more times, a low noise coming from it. “Dianne, nice to meet you. I am called Dex.”“It’s nice to meet you, Dex.” The jangmo-o nodded.“Scans show you are a jangmo-o. And a shiny.” Dex continued, a whirring sound coming from it.Interesting. It’s still acting like a computer with a system. Taking in the new information and storing it.“Lulu told me I could ask you for help if I need it.”Dex whirled, it’s body spinning a couple times as it’s head stayed in place. “Yes, I can offer my assistance if needed. Do you have a question?”Dianne looked around once more, making sure they were alone. She looked back at it. “Where did you come from?”The porygon beeped a couple times, the eyes blinking. “I came from…the desert continent. The desert continent is…956 miles north from this location.”“The desert?” The shiny frowned.Dex beeped again. “Yes. Several of my kind woke up in the desert. We decided to scatter across this world and gather data. We…remember we were sent here. But we do not remember by who. But we still gather data as we find it.”That was more what she was looking for. “You don’t remember who sent you here? You all just woke up one day in the desert?”“Correct,” Dex hummed. “We only recall our mission to gather data. We do not remember who it is for.”“How long have you all been here?”The porygon whirled, it’s head tilting from side to side. “We have been here…twenty years and four months. I have lived in this town for…ten years and six months.”Twenty years? That was a lot longer than Dianne figured. “Have you seen the others since you all separated? Can you talk to them at all?”“I have not seen the others since we departed in separate directions.” Dex beeped. “And I have no form of communication with them. I have tried for some time now; I know it is possible, but there is a missing element. I do not know if such a device exists here. I have been researching as I gather data. Nothing has come up yet as a solution to this problem.”She had a feeling what could be missing. They probably could talk to one another if actual computers existed here. But could one exist in this world? If not, they would have to physically travel in order to see each other again.Dianne looked over it curiously. “Do you miss them?”The porygon noticeably flinched, an odd sound coming from it and the eyes flashed red for a moment. “I…” Dex hovered a bit lower to the ground. “I…miss them,” the voice sounded lower than before. “Pokemon here are nice. They treat me well. But they don’t…understand. They are different from me. I am different from them. That makes things…difficult at times.”The shiny frowned. She didn’t expect this level of emotion. But even if they are man made and made to be like a computer; that didn’t seem to matter. This was a living being in front of her.“I understand,” she mumbled. “I’m different from them too.”Dex beeped, looking at her. There was a humming sound for a few seconds. “I do not understand. Scans show you are a pokemon. What do you mean?”Dianne hesitated. Was this a good idea? But it might help out the both of them, honestly. “Actually,” she whispered. “I remember being a human.”The porygon stared at her. There was a whirring sound coming from it. “Human.” It beeped. “Like Neil.”“Huh?”Dex whirred again, hovering a bit higher in the air. “Neil. A shinx. Not seen for…three years and five months. Disappeared. Missing. Registered partner of Rai, a jolteon. Gold rank. Moving up to the platinum rank, will happen quite soon.”Dianne stared at it. “...What?”“Rai needs more points to-”“Not that!” The shiny shook her head a few times. “Before that! There was someone else that said that?”The porygon nodded. “Neil. He was like you. He approached me and asked questions. Like you. He also told me he was once human. Like you.” Dex beeped. “I only disclose that information when needed. He asked me to keep it a secret. I felt it was appropriate to tell you. Please do not spread this information.”Dianne’s mind was racing. There was another human that was brought here? And where is he now? Missing? What happened? He was Rai’s partner? Is that…why Rai is how he is? Is that why he stared at her in the clinic? Did he know that his partner was a human? Did he also lose his memory?There were so many questions.She just processed what Dex said and she nodded. “Of course, I won’t go telling anyone else. It’s a secret. And I want you to do the same for me, ok?”Dex beeped and nodded. “Confirmed. Secret.”Dianne sighed. Of course this interaction ended up giving her more questions. “Do you,” she mumbled, looking up at it. “Do you remember humans? At all?”The porygon hummed. “Unable to confirm. Term is familiar. But I am unable to recall any faces or names of a singular human. Data lost. Corrupted memory.”So it’s aware of humans in general, but the memory of them is foggy. Just like Dianne. She knows she’s a human. But outside of that fact and her name, she can’t remember anything important. Any sort of friends or family.“Well,” Dianne sighed again. “Thank you. I’ll visit you again some other time. I…need some rest.”Dex nodded. “Very well. Nice to meet you, Dianne. Have a good day.” It beeped and turned around, floating back over to it’s home and looking over the plants again.The jangmo-o watched it for a moment before looking around and heading back into Lulu’s house.This…was a lot to process.~~~~~Dianne settled on her bed in her room, thinking over what the porygon said. Somehow, some humans managed to send a bunch of them over here. As an experiment? To see if it’s possible? And they were maybe programmed to gather as much information as possible. That’s why they split up.But how? How did they all get here? And even for them, their memories were erased. Despite being man made pokemon and somehow sent here by humans, that still happened to them.…Was she like that as well? They sent some porygon into this world twenty years ago. Would they go and do that with humans at some point?It made her stomach twist thinking about it, but it felt like something that could happen.She wished she could meet this “Neil”. Ask him questions and see if he was the same way as she is right now. She wanted to go ask Rai questions, but…if Neil went missing three years ago, that doesn’t seem like something Rai would easily want to talk about.The jangmo-o sighed heavily, shifting in her bed and leaning over to bang her head down on the floor.Just more questions. But no answers.Dianne heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. She lifted her head up, looking over at the doorway.Lulu peeked in, smiling, and came into the room. “Hey! Have you eaten yet?”Oh, right. It’s noon. She completely forgot about eating. The shiny shook her head.The buneary gasped, quickly stepping out of the room. There were some sounds coming from the other room, and then she came back in, carrying a plate with some berries on it.“You need to eat, you know,” Lulu muttered, putting the plate down in front of her.“Sorry, I lost track of time.” Dianne adjusted herself on the bed. “Thank you,” she leaned over and grabbed a berry, eating it.Lulu nodded, taking a step back. “Still feeling alright? Have you stepped outside at all?”The jangmo-o swallowed, thinking over her answer. “I feel fine. I did step out earlier. That porygon was out there, so I said hello to it.”The buneary gasped, clapping her paws together. “Oh, great! It’s a bit weird in how it talks, but it’s really nice. I heard Dex is good friends with the guildmaster.”Dianne grabbed another berry and ate it. Interesting. Dex must know a good amount about the guild then, it did mention something about ranks.“It is nice,” she mumbled.Lulu nodded, and then she started fidgeting a little. “Do you…think maybe once you’re done, we can step out together? It’d be a good idea for you to get a tour of the town, don’t you think?”Dianne frowned. “Well…you’re not wrong. You can’t always be around to guide me. It’d be nice to be able to actually walk around on my own.”“Exactly!” The buneary hopped a little. “There’s the guild and the clinic, you already know those. But there’s some shops, the storage next to the guild, the bank, and a couple cafes!”That felt like a lot. But sooner or later, she’ll have to get used to it and be able to navigate all on her own. Completely relying on Lulu just…didn’t feel like a good idea.The jangmo-o sighed. “Ok. Just take me around and point out these places. And then we’re coming back home. I can honestly only handle so much.”Lulu nodded a few times. “Sure thing! We can do that, no problem!”

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Of course, Dianne should’ve expected this. She forgot for a moment what seems to happen when Lulu is out and about.As they walked into the main area of town, many if not all of the pokemon they walked by greeted the buneary. She waved and greeted every single one back.The jangmo-o also noticed the looks she was getting from these pokemon. They were curious about her, but they seemed hesitant to actually approach her.Dianne couldn’t blame them. She probably had obvious signs that she wasn’t interested in talking with any of them. Just being around Lulu was exhausting her socially.Another reason to be able to walk around on her own. So she didn’t have to deal with this.Lulu stopped at one point, pointing out the different buildings around here. “That’s the main cafe right there! Where most of the guild pokemon end up going to. The food there is really good! It’s owned by a decidueye, and she can be a little stern and harsh, but she’s a good pokemon! Her partner is a milotic that has a little pond in the back. The town calls her the ‘water therapist’; she’s very easy to talk to, so many pokemon go to her to talk about their problems.”Dianne looked over at the cafe. The door opened and a couple nidokings came out, and she spotted more pokemon inside sitting around tables. It looked busy. She was curious about the milotic.The buneary pointed to the place next to it. “And you see that little spot in between the guild and the cafe? It’s a place for storage for the guild members. The meowstic in charge of it keeps everything VERY organized for all the teams. The teams have bags to carry into dungeons, but the rooms in the guild are just for sleeping. It was easier to have the items separated in this way, from what I heard.”The shiny watched as a houndoom walked up to the place and a meowstic appeared at the counter, and then her ears unfolded. One of the many lines of drawers and containers behind her then opened up psychically, and some small items were brought out and placed on the counter. How interesting.“And those are the shops!” Lulu pointed to a couple buildings nearby, on the other side of the guild. “There’s a berry and seed field that takes up a big area on the other side of town over there. They grow different kinds of berries and seeds and then sell them! That other shop has other kinds of items. Orbs and the like. I’ve never used an orb myself, so I don’t really understand how they work.” She added with a small frown and then shrugged.Dianne watched the shops. A few pokemon gathered around the front of both of them, and she spotted a flapple and appletun standing or hovering behind the counters. “They’re similar,” she mumbled.“Oh!” The bunny nodded a couple times. “That’s right, they’re brothers! They help each other run the two different stores, though one specializes with the berries and seeds, and the other with orbs and such.”Made sense, it was a whole family business.Dianne noticed another building besides the shops, with a midnight lycanroc standing by the front. It wasn’t as open as the other shops; the counter was only a short distance away from the building itself. The place also looked to be made with a much stronger stone compared to the rest. “What’s that?”“Ah, right, almost forgot!” Lulu hopped around a little and pointed. “That’s the bank! Pokemon are free to keep their own money, but you can also store some at the bank for safekeeping!”How interesting. These pokemon…they really have their own society and systems in place. She didn’t realize just how far it goes. All of these places were faintly familiar. She remembers going to stores. Seeing a bank. Seeing a cafe. And yet it was the more important memories that were lost to her.“And of course the clinic,” Lulu spoke, waving a paw towards the final building near the edge of town. “That’s all the important places!”The shiny sighed. Getting a look at these places and knowing what they were for did help her feel a little less overwhelmed being in this area.“Alright, thank you,” Dianne mumbled, looking at her.Lulu smiled and nodded a couple times. “No problem. Oh, I guess I should mention one more thing.” She crossed her arms, tilting her head and her ear partly flopping over. “I do some work over at the cafe sometimes. That’s how I’ve been getting money since I moved here. But if I worked at the guild, then I could get paid doing jobs.”…That brings up a good point. Dianne realized she should also try working somewhere to get money for herself. But the thought of working somewhere at a cafe, with all those pokemon…that didn’t sound great.“Let me guess,” the jangmo-o muttered. “There’s potentially more money you can get from the guild doing jobs, but it comes with the price of being more dangerous.”The buneary nodded seriously. “Yes! And I mean, that’s nice and all, but that’s not the main reason why I want to work for the guild.”“You want to help other pokemon.”Lulu grinned. “Yes!”Dianne sighed, looking away towards the guild. The banners flapped in the breeze, some pokemon were going in and out of the building. Bird pokemon flew into windows from above.…Doing jobs meant going into dungeons. Which meant fighting and defending yourself. Working at the cafe meant constantly talking with other pokemon and being around others all day.Honestly…working for the guild was sounding better now.“I,” the jangmo-o mumbled, looking back at the buneary. “I want to start working as well. I need to start doing something and not sitting in one spot all day.”Lulu blinked, and then nodded in understanding. “Well, if you want to, then I don’t see why not. Where would you want to work? You don’t HAVE to pick a cafe, you can also help out at one of the stores. They hire help from time to time to help with customers or keeping stock organized.”…That was basically the same as the cafe in Dianne’s mind. Being around other pokemon on a semi constant basis.Still…she didn’t want to just pick the guild right now.Dianne shook her head. “I don’t know yet. I need to think about it. Now that I’ve seen these places, I have a very basic idea of how they work. So I’ll think about it.”The buneary frowned and sighed. “Yeah, that makes sense. You don’t have to pick right this second! Think it over and let me know what you decide, I can help!” She smiled again. “I know all the owners well enough, so I can put in a good word for you!”Of course she does. She’s friends with everyone.“Sure,” the shiny mumbled, taking a step back. “Can we go back home now?”“Ah, right, let’s go!” Lulu hopped a couple times before going back the way they came, Dianne following behind her.~~~~~Back home, Dianne settled back down on her bed in her room. Lulu was in the front room, and she could hear her humming and cleaning around.Honestly, as much as Dianne needed time to just sit around in an area more quiet to feel relaxed, she knew sooner or later she’d have to do something else.Processing everything will take time. But she will get bored of sitting around and doing nothing. She needed something to do. And getting a job was a good enough answer. She’d step out of the house and start getting her own money in.She really didn’t want to completely rely on Lulu. Not just because she finds the buneary a little strange, but it also just didn’t feel right to her period. Being so dependent on someone else felt wrong. She wanted to be able to handle herself.Being alone always felt better.Dianne flinched at her own thought. Did she…really think that? Is that the kind of person she is? Does she want to be alone that badly?She couldn’t fully deny it. So far, she’s felt uncomfortable being around so many other pokemon. Only when she’s around one or two could she feel relaxed. Was she this much of an introvert as a human? She couldn’t really remember.But the idea of working for the guild sounded more appealing than one of the cafes or stores. She’d have to learn how to fight and defend herself, but she still rather do that than deal with any sort of customers.…Really, it is that bad, isn’t it?“HELP!”A shout cut into her thoughts sharply. Dianne got up and went to her doorway, looking out and seeing Lulu quickly go to the front door and open it, looking outside.“Hey, hey!” The buneary called out, stepping outside.The jangmo-o followed, seeing Lulu go up to a litleo and rattata. The kids looked scared. They got close to Lulu, the rattata huddling up against her while the litleo stood in front of her.“H-he’s in the dungeon!” The small lion began saying, his voice stuttering out of fear.“Who?” Lulu asked, gently petting one paw over the rattata shaking beside her.“Star!” The litleo shouted. “I know, we’re not supposed to play so far that way, but we got a little turned around and then Star disappeared, and he got trapped in the dungeon!”The buneary looked shocked, glancing over in a direction. Dianne followed her gaze, looking out towards the forest beyond the town.“You guys are in so much trouble for such a thing,” Lulu mumbled, shaking her head. “But later! Go to the guild and let them know! Now!”The litleo flinched, hesitating before he quickly ran off, heading towards the guild.The rattata whimpered and sniffled, and Lulu spoke gently to him as she petted him over his head and back. “There, there, they’ll find him.”Dianne stared out into the forest.A breeze went by. It felt like it was pulling her towards the trees. As the leaves rustled, she thought she heard a faint whispering.…Something was calling out to her from the forest.“Dianne?”She heard Lulu call for her, but she didn’t answer. She kept staring at the line of trees. Then she quickly turned and ran towards the forest.“Dianne!” The buneary shouted after her. “Where are you going??”The jangmo-o ran past the other homes, reaching the edge of town and running straight into the forest.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Dianne kept running, and then she finally slowed down once she noticed something ahead. The air…something was wrong with it.The trees in front of her looked normal at a glance, but the very space around them was shifting ever so slightly. Like a mirage of some sort. But there was also a feeling in the pit of her stomach.Some type of instinct was kicking in. Telling her to turn around and leave. Don’t go near this. Something foreboding was in front of her, and she needed to leave.And yet…the other feeling stayed. She thought the whispering she heard before was louder now. Calling to her. Beckoning her to step in.“Dianne!!”The jangmo-o jumped, fully snapping out of it. She was panting, and her chest hurt a little. She…was just running, how did she not notice she was out of breath until right now?She turned, seeing Lulu run up to her and stop by her, and she was panting.The buneary recovered enough and looked at her, waving her arms up in a dramatic gesture. “What’s wrong with you?? Why did you take off like that? And-” she flinched, looking up at the space in front of them and taking a step back. “W-what are you doing standing in front of a dungeon??”Dianne looked back towards the area in front of her. So, this is a dungeon. At a glance and from a distance, it didn’t look too different from the rest of the forest. And yet, standing here…she felt it. The very aura of this area felt off.“There’s a kid in there, isn’t there?” The shiny mumbled.“Y-yeah, but,” Lulu slowly stepped up to stand beside her. “Someone from the guild can come and rescue him! You’re not equipped to handle a dungeon. Do you even know how to fight?”…That’s true. She just woke up in this new body. She hasn’t done anything in it besides walk, sleep and eat.There was no logic to her coming here. So why-Lulu suddenly screamed, and Dianne felt the buneary quickly grab onto her.The jangmo-o’s vision became blurry, and she felt her body being picked up and tossed. She landed on the ground, with the buneary still holding onto her.Dianne winced, blinking a few times as her vision cleared. She slowly stood up and looked around. They were still in the forest, but…things changed. The trees were closer together, and there were large bushes acting as walls all around them. The very air felt thick, and there was a thick fog obscuring the area beyond here in all directions.Lulu winced next to her, standing up and looking around, her eyes widening. “Oh no,” she whispered.“What just happened?” Dianne looked at her.The bunny held her arms close to her, her ear curling down. She looked all around, and she was scared. “W-we’re in the dungeon,” she mumbled. “We were standing too close and we got pulled in.”Dianne looked at their surroundings again. So…this is a dungeon. It was so quiet, not even the sound of the wind was in here. It was still bright like it was the middle of the day, but that barely gave any comfort.Lulu groaned, stomping a foot down. “Now WE need to be rescued!” She glared at Dianne, annoyed. “What were you thinking?”The jangmo-o looked down at the ground. She honestly didn’t have an excuse. She just ran on some type of instinct. But why? She didn’t understand it herself.She took a deep breath, looking back up at her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, honest. But we’re here now and we have to deal with it.”The buneary still looked annoyed, but she sighed and shook her head. “Yeah, I guess so.”“Maybe we can make the guild’s job a little easier and find that kid.” Dianne suggested. “So they can rescue all three of us at once.”Lulu frowned, and then she nodded. “Ok. He’s probably more scared than us.”“Right.” Dianne looked around. The walls the bushes made had one opening in front of them. “Let’s go, and keep close. Let’s not get separated.”Lulu nodded, now looking more serious and determined.The jangmo-o slowly stepped forward, walking further into the dungeon and the buneary kept close beside her.“Do you know what species Star is?” Dianne asked, carefully walking forward and keeping her eyes open for anything.“Um, a starly,” Lulu mumbled, doing her best to keep close.Cute. Star the starly.Another thought occurred to her. “Did you just leave that rattata by himself?”The buneary scoffed. “Of course not. Dex came outside and agreed to watch him until someone else came for him.”Ah. Truly a helpful computer.They continued walking in silence, looking all around them at all times. Dianne noticed the dungeon would shift. The wall she just saw would open up into a pathway. And the opposite would happen, where a pathway would suddenly be blocked off by a wall.It made no sense whatsoever. Simply taking two steps forward caused changes. No wonder these dungeons were so dangerous.There was rustling in a bush nearby, and something sprayed out towards them.Dianne quickly jumped backwards, shoving Lulu out of the way as well. The buneary fell over, but quickly recovered, getting on her feet and looking up.A sticky web was now on the ground where they were just standing. A silcoon jumped out of the bushes, and it hissed at them. The eyes were faintly glowing, and Dianne knew right away this was a wild pokemon, not one that could be reasoned with.The silcoon jumped towards her, and the jangmo-o jumped backwards again to avoid its attack.Then Lulu shouted, quickly running over and giving the pokemon a firm kick, sending it flying over a nearby wall. The silcoon screeched as it flew through the air and they could hear the “thud” as it landed.Dianne stared at where she last saw it before it disappeared over the wall and then looked at Lulu. “Uh, thanks,” she muttered.The buneary blinked, looking over at her and she smiled. “No problem! And hey, you’re pretty quick. That’ll help you out a lot in here.”Made enough sense. Speed could be more important than raw power in a place like this.“Right,” the jangmo-o nodded. “Let’s keep going.”~~~~~They had been walking around for several minutes. How long exactly, Dianne wasn’t sure. Her best guess was about twenty minutes. But she had a feeling that the fog around here also made it hard to tell how much time had passed. The sun was still up, but they couldn’t see the exact position of it.They only ran into one other wild pokemon, a butterfree that flew by them but didn’t notice them. The two of them decided to just sneak around it and not get into a fight if they didn’t have to.Dianne rounded another corner, an open room appearing in front of her. She gasped quietly as she spotted something.A starly was huddled up in the back center of the room, a couple loose leaves and twigs on him. His wings were raised, covering his head and he was shaking.There was another butterfree and a charjabug by him, leering down at him and they cried out in anger in his direction.Lulu stopped next to her, seeing the same sight and looking shocked. Then she looked at Dianne.The shiny wasn’t sure just how much the buneary had trained honestly, but they couldn’t sit by and do nothing. She gave Lulu a serious look and nodded.Lulu swallowed, and nodded back at her, just as serious.Dianne steadied herself, and then quickly ran into the room, Lulu running in as well. The buneary reached the charjabug first, hitting it with her whole body and knocking it aside, away from the child. The jangmo-o headed for the butterfree, seeing it turn a little in reaction to the charjabug being attacked. Dianne then jumped up, lowering her head and colliding with the butterfly.The butterfree cried out, and was knocked down to the ground. Dianne landed, a little sloppily, but regained her balance. That hit didn’t hurt her own head at all. She stepped over, standing in front of the starly and facing their opponents.The charjabug rolled around and stood up, hovering back into the air and crying out in anger, charging right at Lulu. The buneary hopped to the side, dodging it, and then turned, smacking the bug with her coiled up ear and sending it flying in the other direction. It landed and rolled, a weak sound coming from it and then it passed out.Dianne looked over the butterfree. It was still awake, but didn’t get up yet. She glanced back at the starly behind her, seeing him look up at her with wide eyes.“Are you ok?” She asked.The small bird stared at her, and then his eyes widened even further in fear.Dianne turned, seeing the butterfree had flown up, glaring down at her and it screeched as it’s mouth began to glow green. In these two seconds, Dianne thought about jumping away, but the starly would get hit instead. So she turned, covering the small bird with her body and her head facing the bug pokemon.Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lulu start charging towards the butterfree, but then there was something else. Just a quick flash of something from the opening where they came from.A loud sound of electricity then went off, bright flashes of lightning briefly blinded her, and she heard the butterfree screech in pain.Dianne blinked, realizing there was a jolteon here. He had jumped up and bit into the butterfree’s neck, and the electricity was coming from him.He landed, turning and tossing the butterfree aside. It landed harshly and only moved a little bit before passing out.Dianne stared at him. Rai had just come in out of nowhere.The jolteon panted, glaring over at the downed bug before looking around the room and glaring at Dianne and Lulu. “What is wrong with the two of you?”Lulu was also staring at him in shock, but then she recovered, pointing over at Dianne. “Hey, she’s the one that ran off! I tried to stop her, but then we both got pulled in!”The jangmo-o rolled her eyes, straightening up. “Wow, thanks. But yes, what she said was true. You want to yell at anyone, yell at me.”Rai glared at her quietly for a moment and then he snorted. “Whatever. You actually found the kid and handled yourselves not too badly. Non guild pokemon usually have a harder time in these places.”Dianne was about to speak again when she felt something against her side. She looked over to see the young starly huddled up against her and she could feel him shaking. “T-thank you,” he mumbled.Rai sighed and stepped over. “Alright, everyone gather around, we’re getting out.”Lulu hopped over, carefully picking up the starly and putting a paw on Dianne. The shiny was confused by this, and then saw Rai step closer and he raised a paw, tapping the badge on his scarf. It began to glow, and a bright flash came from it, causing her to shut her eyes.She felt a weird sensation, like her stomach doing a flip, and then she opened her eyes again and looked around. They were in the forest, but the actual normal forest and not the dungeon.Rai stepped away from them, looking around carefully and then looked over all of them. “Think you can take him back home just fine? I’ll walk with you back to town, but then I’m going straight to the guild to report this.”Dianne hoped she didn’t just get herself and Lulu into trouble, but if she did, she didn’t mind taking full responsibility.“Sure thing, we can do that,” the buneary spoke up, still holding the starly in her arms.“Then let’s go.” The jolteon took another quick look around them before walking away, heading back to town and the other two pokemon following.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The starly’s parents were very happy to see their child again, and while he was a little dirty, he wasn’t too injured. They took him to the clinic just in case anyway.It was late afternoon into early evening once Dianne and Lulu stepped back inside the buneary’s home and were able to take a breath.For just a moment.Lulu hopped over, right in front of Dianne. “That was cool!”The jangmo-o flinched, leaning her head back and taking a step back. “What?”“I mean, yeah,” Lulu rolled her eyes. “That was super irresponsible of us to even go anywhere NEAR a dungeon. But!” She perked up again, both her ears now standing up. “Honestly, that wasn’t horrible! We did pretty good! Neither of us got hurt, and we got to Star before he could get seriously hurt!”Dianne relaxed a little. “You have a good point,” she mumbled. “That could’ve ended badly for all of us.”“Maybe some of it was luck, but still!” The buneary sighed, one of her ears going back to curling up on her head. She fidgeted with her paws a bit nervously. “I know you said no before, and I don’t blame you for saying no at the time. But…to be honest, Dianne, I REALLY do think we would do well at the guild.”The shiny had a hard time coming up with an argument against it. Sure, they didn’t fight other pokemon too much in there, but…they didn’t handle it too badly? For having no experience? Both in terms of the two of them working together, but also for Dianne alone. That was the first time she had an actual battle of some kind.…And she was thinking about it before. Maybe signing up for the guild after all.Dianne sighed deeply. “I..do agree with you on that, Lulu. With some proper training and practice, maybe we really can do well.”Lulu’s eyes widened, and she looked excited. “You mean-”TAPTAPTAP!A loud tapping on the front door caused them both to jump. Dianne stepped aside to allow Lulu to step over and open the door. A pikipek hovered there, and she chirped.“Lulu and Dianne! The guildmaster requests to see you two, as soon as possible!”The two pokemon looked at each other a bit nervously. Dianne did wonder if they would get in trouble. But she already decided to take full responsibility, since it was her fault to begin with. She stepped forward, holding her head high.“Understood, we’ll go immediately.”The pikipek chirped and nodded, quickly turning and flying away.Lulu sighed. “I mean, it’s not technically a crime of any kind to step into a dungeon, pokemon do it by accident all the time.” She mumbled, fidgeting with her paws again. “But this is different.”“Right, so let’s go.” Dianne stepped outside and Lulu hesitated a moment before following.~~~~~The two made their way to the guild, Dianne following the same path going straight to the guild master’s office.Lulu stepped up and raised a paw, knocking on the door.After a moment, the doors opened and the two stepped inside.There was the torterra again, in the same spot as before, watching them. Nearby, Rai was here as well. He watched them for a moment and then looked away at the floor nearby. Dianne had the feeling he didn’t want to be here.After they stopped in the middle of the room, she heard the doors closing behind them, and the typhlosion circled around them to stand by the guildmaster.“So,” Gora spoke up, raising his head a little. “Rai just told us an interesting story. You two went into a dungeon, without any preparation or training?”Lulu shrank next to her, she was really nervous. The shiny took a breath and took a step forward, bowing her head towards him.“Yes. And it’s all my fault, guildmaster. I do not know what happened. Something came over me and I ran out to the dungeon. Lulu tried to stop me. But we got too close to it and we were pulled in. I don’t have any real reason or excuse for my actions.”She glanced up to see his reaction. The torterra squinted his eyes a little, and then he and the typhlosion looked at each other for a long moment.Dusan then spoke up, looking back over at her. “That is certainly strange, but we hope that this won’t happen again. Dungeons are too dangerous for normal pokemon to just wander into. That’s why we are a rescue guild; to save those that stumble into dungeons.”Dianne nodded. “It won’t happen again, I promise.”“Good. Now that that’s out of the way,” Gora mumbled. “We can see by looking at you two, and from Rai’s report, you two handled yourselves surprisingly well.”The jangmo-o glanced over at the jolteon. He was still looking away at the floor and now he looked irritated.“You only just arrived in town, Dianne,” the typhlosion huffed with a laugh. “Memories or not, I’ll be honest. You’d be a good fit here.”Dianne looked at him, blinking in surprise. “Excuse me?”“You might’ve gone into the dungeon completely unprepared and that was really irresponsible of you,” Dusan waved an arm. “However, you took full responsibility for that mistake. And more than that, you handled yourself just fine enough in there. On top of that, you found the young one and protected him long enough for an actual guild member to get there. The job would’ve been a lot harder for Rai otherwise.”“Dungeons have strange auras,” the guildmaster explained. “I’m sure you noticed. It’s very easy to lose yourself and lose your way inside one. Most pokemon just keep wandering and end up going in circles, or they find a corner and sit in it, too scared to wander around.”She didn’t think about that. Yes, she noticed how the dungeon felt compared to outside of it, but she didn’t realize it was more common to just be too scared to move. Or just walk in circles. It did make sense though.“Ah,” Lulu then finally spoke up, doing a little hop. “That’s right! Dianne was quick to think that we should find Star! So it’d be easier for the guild to find and rescue all three of us!” She frowned a little, her paws fidgeting in front of her. “I was really scared right away. I have been in a dungeon before, but I had help and that was a while ago. But Dianne honestly kept a cool head from the moment we were pulled in.”Dianne felt a touch embarrassed by this praise from Lulu. Even if it was simply the truth.Gora and Dusan looked at each other again, both of them nodding and looking back at them.“Well,” the torterra sighed. “How about this then? Dianne, Lulu, how about you two join the guild?”Lulu gasped, both her ears perking up.Dianne just stared at them. “Seriously? Even though I just wandered into a dungeon for no good reason?”Dusan laughed. “Yes! Honestly, we believe you both would make for a good team here. You don’t have to decide right this moment. You can choose to think it over.”The shiny looked down at the floor. Well, she was already considering maybe working for the guild. And if the guildmaster himself is asking…why not?Dianne looked over at Lulu, seeing her look back at her. The buneary looked like she could barely contain herself, she was holding her paws together in front of her, looking at the jangmo-o with hopeful eyes.Well, this is also what Lulu wanted in the beginning.The shiny sighed. “Guess we’re teaming up after all,” she mumbled.The bunny gasped, now fully smiling.Dianne looked back at the guildmaster and nodded. “Yes sir, we’ll accept your offer.”“Yes!!” Lulu shouted, hopping high in the air. When she landed, she wrapped her arms around Dianne in a hug. Dianne stumbled a little, the hug getting her off balance.“Ow, ok, easy,” the jangmo-o mumbled with a wince.Gora chuckled at the sight. “Great! Thank you for accepting.”The typhlosion stepped over to a large container nearby and started digging through it.Rai stood up. “I’ll be leaving now, I have things to do.” He mumbled, nodding over at the guildmaster.The torterra nodded back at him. “Thank you for your help and your report, Rai.”Dianne watched as the jolteon left, at one point he glanced in her direction. He looked…sad? Rai kept going, opening one of the doors and stepping out.Dusan then walked over to them, placing some items down in front of them. “Here, you’ll need these.”Lulu finally let go of Dianne, looking over the items. Dianne steadied herself and looked over them as well. There were a pair of dark green scarves, with a badge attached to each one. There were also a pair of bags.“Inside the bags are two copies of the latest map of this continent.” The typhlosion explained. “Keep those in your bags at all times to keep track of where you are and where you’re going. Use the bag to carry any berries, seeds, orbs, or any other items that are useful for going through dungeons. We’ll inform storage to make a space for you, so you can put your extra items there.”“Your badge is your most important item there,” Gora explained. “It is imbued with a psychic energy that can teleport yourself and others around you outside of a dungeon. While you CAN escape a dungeon by going through it, doing rescue work means you’re in there to save a pokemon. It’s easier and faster to use your badge to get them out once you find them and secure them.”So that’s what happened earlier. When Rai used his badge, it teleported them out. Made sense to have something like that, especially with rescue work.Lulu reached over, grabbing a bag and putting it over her head to hang over a shoulder. Dianne then noticed the bags were specifically designed to fit their body types. Hers was more like a saddlebag while Lulu’s was more simple. The jangmo-o adjusted her bag with her claws, before leaning her head down to put the straps over her head and shook her body a bit until it was in place. The scales on her back rattled a little with the movement.“Ah, let’s try this,” the buneary mumbled, reaching over to Dianne and adjusting her bag a little. Now it sat directly on her back with the straps adjusted to go around her torso and her neck.Dianne turned, looking back over herself and walking in a small circle to test it. That did feel better, actually. She looked at Lulu and nodded. “Thanks, that’s better.”Lulu grinned, and then she grabbed one of the scarves, stepping over to put it around Dianne’s neck. The jangmo-o sat still until she was done. She couldn’t quite look down at it well, but it felt snug on her without being too restricting or in the way.The buneary stepped back, looking over her. She smiled widely, clapping her paws together.Dianne felt embarrassed again, her tail curling inward a little.“It’s a little late to really start training,” Dusan muttered, rubbing his chin with a paw. “So you two go home and rest up for the night and be back here in the morning.”Lulu grabbed the other scarf, putting it on herself and she nodded. “Yes sir!”“Also, use the time to think of a name for your team so you can be properly registered,” Gora said. “You two are dismissed.”