Within Me

Chapter 2: Beau

The Hoppip’s voice is long gone now as Beau catches his breath, sitting in the grass on the side of the road. “Follow the Path” echoes through his mind as he looks out at the open field with the winding road leading to Treasure Town. That sounded familiar to him as well. Though… not familiar enough to clear some of his memory.

He finishes his impromptu break, standing up, and putting himself on the path towards town once more. He puts a paw forward to run again but halts himself. Why should he run? The Hoppip will wait for them, won’t they? He takes another look around the pristine scenery. His voice regurgitating his thoughts in his head.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” He says to himself; before putting his paw back to the dirt and walking down the path. He takes in the open air for the first time, gone are the sweet smells of the forest, and now are the salty smells of the ocean mixing with the fresh scent of wild onion and berries.
He walks at a brisk pace, each step more confident than the last. He’s getting used to this walking thing, and what a rush the running was. He didn’t think that he’d be good at the whole, running on four legs thing, but he let his mind take over, and he flew…

Not for real of course, he’s an Espeon, not a bird; or a bird-like Pokémon. But wow, did it feel amazing.

He continues down the path, this whole situation is actually frightening, his mind screams at him that this whole situation is wrong. But there’s an ember, hidden away that refuses to be extinguished, telling him to at least see where this goes. That it could be possible to enjoy a situation like this and make the most of it.

Beau knew this ember well; it was something that stuck within him even in the darkest of times. Reflecting on this little ember refreshed some of his mind.

He was always a man, er… ‘mon, of routine. Get up, do… something, do another something, do something else, and then go to bed. It was like this for a massive chunk of his human life, he couldn’t remember the exact details of this routine, but he did know it had something to do with that abrasive sound that he expected to hear when we woke up.

He also remembered that he hated it. He despised the routine, every day the same thing, repeatedly, but the comfort it provided never extinguished the small ember of hope that things would get better. The routine was a necessary evil to get him to where he needed to be.

While the uncertainty of his current situation was frightening to him, he felt that ember burning brighter than it ever has. He pauses his walk, the entrance to Treasure Town in front of him. Stands and shops manned by other Pokémon lining the road. He can see a large cliff north the main junction, he thinks he can see windows in the cliffside… Maybe it’s some kind of Inn? The thought of investigating crosses his mind, but he brushes it away since he hasn’t even stepped paw into town yet.

He continues his walk down the path, at least to see if he can find Hoppip somewhere in the hustle and bustle of the small village.
As he pushes forward, he sees some other Pokémon run past him, they’re all wearing some kind of colored bandana, with a pin on it. He didn’t get a good look at the pins, but he was more surprised that there’s a way to manufacture something so intricate in this world. He scans the crowd trying to see if his pink friend is anywhere nearby.

He spots a Krabby, A Totodile, there’s a Spoink, and he sees two Kecleon running a stand, talking to another two Pokémon he doesn’t recognize.
He’s surprised himself already that he remembers the names of these creatures, he was never one to play Pokémon, he tries to recollect the most recent Pokémon game in his mind… The vision coming to him, unlocking yet another memory from his subconscious.

He remembers sitting in a bed, one that was much larger than he would’ve ever needed, he vaguely remembers the reasoning behind the bed, despite it being big enough to fill his whole room, it was a hand-me-down from a family member who didn’t need it anymore, and the prospect of sleeping sprawled out without his limbs dangling off the sides was enough of a positive for him have such a massive mattress in his room. He continues his memory, he remembers being ill, he also remembers that it was a special set of days, but why he doesn’t remember.

This is the most vivid memory he’s got so far, he’s gotta dig deeper. What else about the room could he remember?
The walls, he could remember the walls, they were a pale gray, white trim lines the floor, the window positioned more towards the ceiling, though the ground was promptly right beneath it, he was somewhat underground… Snow lined the bottom of the window, and covered the ground with a blinding white that made it hard to look at… A hazy black rectangle sit atop a piece of furniture with drawers, though he doesn’t understand it’s purpose.
He looks around in his vision, seeing his human arms holding onto an object, a black book-like device though he was holding it vertically, strange bumps on either side, and where pages would be, were images.

A human, standing in a tropical environment, people walking around… with Pokémon.

This was Pokémon to him, it was all coming back, he knew it was a game, but what kind slipped his mind until now. He was holding a videogame console, and on the console, was Pokémon.

He’s pulled from his memory, taking him back to the reality he was currently occupying. He wasn’t done looking! Why can’t he go back? He can learn more about himself! He tries to go back into the minor vision he had, to dig for more clues about his previous life, but it’s as if that section was closed off to him, he remembers what he saw, but he can’t go back to investigate more.

Maybe that’s for the best, he can look around town more for the Hoppip, maybe they know someone who could at least point him in the right direction and get him to some kind of smart Pokémon who knows about his predicament.

As he walks forward, he looks to the side, seeing an Eevee and a Chimchar run down a path heading towards the beach.
He instinctively tilts his head.

“A beach?” he thought, “I should go there lat-“

His thoughts stopped as he bumps into someone; he stumbles back, his ears pinning back once more, a move they do all on their own he’s come to understand.

“Oh, I’m sorry uh-“ he says, readying himself to mitigate any confrontation he’s about to have, when he looks at who he ran into. Though, as soon as he looks at the Pokémon he so rudely bothered, he can’t help but feel like they’ve met before.

The creature in front of him is the same height as him, if not a tad shorter. Its fur is a dark blueish green, the lower half of its face a cream color, that same cream dipping down onto their chest, while the rest of their body remains the same shade as the top half of their head. Beau also notices that the Munchlax is carrying a small satchel.

He recognizes this Pokémon, a little more than the other ones. It’s a Munchlax.

“It’s fine.” The Munchlax responds, a high baritone, yet nasally voice coming from it’s mouth its eyes don’t quite open all the way, though Beau’s not focused on that. It’s the Munchlax’s voice… something’s extremely familiar about it.

The Munchlax gives him a look of confusion, as he’s trying to remember something as well. Beau’s the first to break the silence.

“Do… do I know you?” he asks.

The Munchlax shakes its head, snapping itself out of the trance they both shared.

“No, I don’t think so.”

There’s that voice again, he swears he knows that voice from somewhere; he needs to pry more.

“You have a nickname?”

The Munchlax pauses, as if he’s never heard the question before, Beau can imagine the cogs turning in his head.

“Oh, you mean a name.” The Munchlax responds, his tone of voice shifting ever so slightly up with the first half of the sentence.

“I’m called Mako.”

Beau feels like someone just punched him in the face. That name breaks open another massive memory, pulling him back into his mind.

He’s sitting in the passenger seat of a car, wait… he knows what a car is! He looks out the window seeing the large stone pathways he saw in his memory earlier today.

Those are roads.

He can’t help but laugh to himself; small memories, but nothing too huge, until a voice catches his attention.

“Stop making fun of the song.”

It’s the voice the Munchlax had, he turns to see where the voice came from, being met with another human, their face obscured by the same haze that covered his own when he tried to remember himself. He looks to the back of the car, that gray haze bleeding into nothing behind his seat.

“Sorry Mako…” Beau instinctively replies, “I was thinking about something else.”

Beau can’t hear the music that’s being played, instead the speakers produce a static sound that he can only interpret as another reminder that his memory isn’t complete.

“It’s fine dude, I just hope you’ll at least enjoy the song.” Mako’s human visage replies.

Beau replies instinctively again, “Course man, what’re best friends for?”

Beau is pulled out of his head again, face to face with Mako, the Munchlax.

The two of them stare at one another again, the confusion fading into a more joyous feeling.

“Holy shi-“ Beau goes to say, but is immediately cut off by the Munchlax grabbing him, squeezing his arms around his neck in a hug; holy hell he’s strong.

Mako realizes what he’s doing, dropping beau onto the ground, where he gasps for air.

“S-sorry dude… I got carried away, that’s… that’s really you, isn’t it Beau?” he says, staring down at the wheezing Espeon.

“Y-yeah, it’s me…” Beau replies, between gasps, before composing himself.

“You… you saw that too, right?” He asks mako.

“The vision? Yeah, I did. That’s… that’s how I knew it was you!” Mako replies, a grin on his face.

Beau lets his emotions get the better of him as he bounces up and down, catching himself a case of the Espeon zoomies.

“I can’t believe this! You’re… you’re here! I’m not alone!” He laughs out loud, before catching himself, feeling like eyes from all around town are on the both of them.

“How did you get here?” Beau leans in to make their conversation more private.

“I woke up here, maybe… a day ago?” Mako responds. “I don’t remember a thing either; actually, scratch that. I remember snippets of… before, but when I saw you, I remembered… you from before.”

“Sitting in a car, right?” Beau questions.

“Yeah, exactly.” Mako replies, “You said we were-“

Beau cuts him off.

“Best friends.”

Mako nods.

“We must’ve remembered the same thing.”

The two of them both take a synchronous sigh, Beau finally found someone he could actually trust, and even more, someone he’s got history with. To what extent, he doesn’t really know, but his gut, and his instincts, tell him that they go back. Far.

“What have you been doing?” Beau asks.

“I’ve been around.” Mako replies. “I was here yesterday, the people up there…” he points to the dwellings on the cliffside.

“They let me stay a night since they found me wandering outside of something called a… “Mystery dungeon”?” Mako uses his claws as quotations, before shrugging.

“I tried explaining to them my situation, and they said they just blew it off like they didn’t even hear me. I wasn’t planning on sticking around anyways, so now I was deciding where to go, and now I’ve bumped into you.”
Beau nods.

“Well, I just got here, should we try to trek together? Maybe we can find some answers that way?”

“Works for me.” Mako responds. “I don’t know where to go though.”

“Neither do I.” Beau replies, “Maybe we can ask for directions, look for another town?”

“Sounds good.” Mako nods in agreement. “Though, should we get something to eat first? I’m kinda hungry.”

“Sure.” Beau says, walking past him, and down the road towards the main junction of town.

The two, now reunited, start walking down the road to the line of shops.

“So, what do you know about this place?” Beau asks, glancing at the stands lining the road.

“I know a little, can’t say I know a lot more than you though.” Mako replies, as he walks, pointing to one of the stands manned by a ghost.

“I know that’s a bank.” He continues.

He turns around, pointing to a hole in the ground back at the junction where they met.

“That’s a café, underground, I think? I haven’t been in there.” He says.

He turns back around, pointing to the stand manned by two Kecleon.

“That’s where we’re going.”

Beau follows Mako to the stand where’s he’s greeted by the green Kecleon.

“Welcome back friend! It is very good to see you again!” The green lizard laughs out loud.

“I hear you found yourself a place to stay, does this mean we’ll be seeing more of you?”

Mako shakes his head.

“No, I’m not going to be staying long, though I am grateful for finding a place to sleep.”

The Kecleon shrugs, before continuing the conversation.

“I’m surprised, this place could use someone with your strength.”

Beau steps into the conversation.

“Strength?” he asks.

Mako turns to him.

“Oh yeah, in exchange for letting me stay in their clubhouse I had to help these two move some stuff.”

Mako turns his attention back to the Kecleon.

“Anyways, I was wondering if I could buy some of those apples I helped move yesterday.”

The Kecleon nods, placing two large apples on the table.

“Certainly! That it?” they ask.

“Yeah, that’ll do it.” Mako responds, handing him a gold coin from the satchel he’s been carrying around.

“There you go.” Mako says, placing the coin on the table.

Kecleon takes the coin, producing another apple, placing a third on the table. This causes Mako to pause, as he questions the sudden appearance of another apple.

“I’m only buying two.” He says.

“And I’m giving you three, friend.” The Kecleon says with a smile. “We both know that two apples won’t completely satiate that hunger of yours, And I never got to reward you for your hard work!”

Mako pauses, before reaching into his satchel again; The Kecleon stops him.

“Don’t bother. All transactions are final.” He says with a wink to beau, though he’s not quite sure if the Kecleon winked, or just twitched its weird eye at him.

“…Thanks.” Mako says, taking the three apples, putting them into his satchel.

Mako and Beau both bid goodbye to the strange shopkeeper and start working their way back to the middle of town. It’s an awkward silence between the two as they walk down the path.

“Strange guy.” Beau looks at his friend, breaking the ice.

“Yeah, everyone here is… weird.” Mako responds, grabbing an apple from the satchel, taking a large bite into it, the inside a pure off-white color, with no core or seeds that beau can notice.

“So… where to now?” Beau asks.

“I was actually going to ask you that.” Mako replies, taking another bite of the apple, all but finishing it.

“I have no idea, I thought we were going to ask for directions of some kind.” Beau says, looking at one of the signs. Hoping they can find a phrase or name that seems familiar.

The two stop giving the post their full attention, but as they look at the arrows pointing in multiple directions they notice that neither of them can actually read the text chiseled into the wood.

“I can’t read this.” Mako says.

“Me neither.” Beau responds, a tinge of disappointment in his voice.

The two look at the signs, hoping if they focus hard enough, they’ll be able to read what the signs say, though they have no luck. Their concentration is broken when a familiar voice breaks through their silence.

“You made it!” the cheery, feminine voice registers in Beau’s head.
Beau turns around to come face to face with the Hoppip again, as they land on the ground daintily in front of them.

“Oh hey Hoppip.” Beau says, causing Mako to face the strange new Pokémon.

“You know them?” Mako asks.

“He sure does!” The Hoppip answers for Beau, taking over the conversation.

“I found him in the woods, alone and by himself! I was gonna bring him here, but then we got separated.” The Hoppip’s expression changes to a quick frown, but then back to it’s normal cheery smile.

“Gotcha.” Mako replies, Beau can tell from his expression that this character is just a little too sweet for his Munchlax pal.

“What’re you guys up to?” The Hoppip asks the two of them.

“Turns out we know each other.” Beau says, gesturing to Mako with his head. “We’re gonna travel together, but we can’t read the signs.”
The Hoppip tilts it’s head, or rather it’s whole body in confusion.

“You can’t read? But everyone knows how.” It questions.

Beau needs to think on his feet again, he still doesn’t know what’ll happen if their situation is brought to light, but he feels like if he does let out a little bit of information, he could test the waters out a bit.

“We know how to read… Just not this writing.” He says.

“What do you know how to read?” The Hoppip presses on.

Beau looks around for a way to visualize his own language, he can understand the Hoppip fine, but how does he explain English writing to a Pokémon?
He could write it.

He looks around, finding a stick on the ground. He walks over to the stick picking it up with his mouth. He grimaces at the taste of the dirty bark; he feels like an idiot. But he toughs it out as he talks with his mouth full.

“We ca-ahn read this-th…” He slurs his words as he writes out a very crude, “Hello” into the dirt path.

The Hoppip stares at the crude drawing as beau spits the stick back out onto the grass. Both Beau and Mako watch as the Hoppip studies the word on the ground, before it seems they’ve came to an epiphany.

“I’ve seen this before!” The Hoppip exclaims, Mako taking precautionary measures by rubbing Beau’s writing out incase of any would be onlookers.

“You have?” Mako asks.

“Yeah! I saw writing that was extremely similar to this in Capim Town! Those Pokémon would be able to help you!” The Hoppip bounces in excitement at the prospect of a budding adventure.

“Really?” Beau asks. “I’ve never heard of Capim Town.”

“It’s a awesome place! I was there just yesterday before I ran into you!” The Hoppip turns her attention to Beau.

“There’s a building there that has that exact type of writing on it. It’s a Guild!”

“Huh… interesting.” Beau responds.

“That’s what the Pokémon in the cliffside called it.” Mako adds, looking back up to the cliffs.

“How do we get there?” Beau continues.

The Hoppip pauses, thinking for a moment. Before opening their satchel and handing the two of them a map.

“Here, Look at my map!”

The two lean down and look at the map, it’s a small chunk of their current location, but they can see two larger, distinct markings on it.

The Hoppip points to the town farther north.

“That’s Capim Town!” They explain. “It’s a huge city near the shoreline, and inside Capim town is a place called “The Clover Guild”. All their signs have that type of writing on it. Maybe they’d be able to help you guys!”

Beau and Mako exchange looks. This is a solid lead; if they want to figure out anything about what’s going on, besides what they see, they should make their way there.

“It’s settled then?” Beau asks Mako.

“Yeah.” Mako replies.

Beau turns to Hoppip.

“How do we get to Capim Town?”