Chapter Text
The girl first woke up two years ago in a field of grass just outside Rustboro City with an Eevee by her side.
Her long dark purple-tinted hair was pooled around her, messy, not unlike the dark gray dress, tied with a white ribbon, she wore. Her pale gray stockings as well as her pale skin in general were stained with mud, while her blue eyes were fuzzy and unclear.
The Eevee sat before her, its head tilted curiously as it waved its tail. “Vui.”
“Who... are you?” The girl weakly extended her hand, but it fell into the grass. “Who... am I?”
Then everything went dark.
***
“Are you okay? Miss!”
The girl woke up again in a bed. A woman with bright pink hair and a nurse’s outfit sat beside the bed. “Ah, you’re awake. Are you alright?”
The girl’s eyes fluttered open and shut. “Who... am I?”
“You don’t remember anything?” the woman asked curiously, her voice tinged with worry. “Oh dear. This Eevee brought you here. I’m not a specialist in healing humans, so I couldn’t do much other than treat your wounds. Is this Eevee yours?”
The Eevee from before sat on the windowsill, staring at The girl. “Vui.”
“...no. I don’t think so. I don’t know who I am,” the girl replied. She wasn’t sure, exactly. After all, she remembered nothing.
“Hm.” The nurse looked down, before giving the girl a bright smile. “I’m sure you’ll remember soon. If the Eevee likes you so much, I believe you must be a Pokemon trainer. I’m Nurse Joy, the nurse for Pokemon.”
For several minutes, or perhaps hours after that, Nurse Joy told the girl all about Pokemon trainers, and Pokemon coordinators, and the Pokemon of Hoenn, and everything in between. The girl was... intrigued. Intrigued was the word. She remembered nothing, and she knew nothing. So this was all strange and new to her.
“That’s... interesting,” she said. “But who am I?”
“I’m not sure about that either,” Nurse Joy admitted. “I don’t know that much about people’s health. But this Eevee seems attached to you. Maybe you could keep it?”
The Eevee blinked. Then, as if understanding what Joy said, it jumped down to the floor and trotted over to The girl. Joy smiled at the sight. “It likes you. Are you going to keep it?”
The girl blinked. “It’s... it’s a she.”
Joy would have noticed eventually, but the Eevee was oddly distant and unfriendly to most people. “You seem to know a lot about Pokemon. Most people can’t tell that quickly. Would you like a Pokeball?”
“Maybe.” The girl ruffled the Eevee’s fur as it curled up on her lap. “A... Pokeball. What does it do?”
Nurse Joy couldn’t help but chuckle at how little the girl knew. She really remembered nothing at all. “I’d love to keep explaining, but I have to attend to some of the Trainers who’re here to have their Pokemon healed. I’ll come back later.”
Despite that, the girl followed Nurse Joy around for the rest of the day. She received several strange looks. It’s not everyday a girl with an Eevee and a perfect deadpan follows their resident Pokemon nurse around, saying nothing. At least her clothes weren’t dirty anymore. For the day, the girl wore a spare outfit lying around the back of the center while her clothes were sent to be washed.
Joy did wonder why, but she didn’t question it. Instead, she let the girl watch the Pokemon who came to the Center to get healed.
She was intrigued. Not interested, just intrigued.
“Can you still not remember anything? Not even your name?” Nurse Joy asked at the end of the day. The girl sat back in the room with the bed, her Eevee in her lap. She hesitated, then shook her head.
“I see,” Joy said. “Then why don’t you give yourself a name? I can lend you some supplies if you want, and you can look around the village.”
“I like the ring of... Lethe.” The girl had no particular opinion, just her instincts. So she didn’t ‘like’ the name, but it sounded the closest to herself. Something was still off, but it’s the best she’s got. “And... I suppose I’ll look around the village. I don’t have... much of a choice.”
“Very well, Lethe.” The name was unusual, but it did sound nice. Nurse Joy walked to the next room and returned with a small white satchel filled with pokeballs, potions, and some food and water, as well as Lethe’s original clothes, now freshly washed. “I put a map of Rustboro city in there, too. If you want a map of Hoenn, you can find some downstairs.”
“Thank you.” Lethe nodded, accepting the satchel. It suited the color of the ribbon around her waist, so she tied it there.
“Ah, and...” Nurse Joy took one Pokeball out of the satchel and handed it to Lethe. “If you touch the Eevee with this Pokeball, it will become your Pokemon. Does that sound good?”
Lethe took the spherical device, looking it up and down, then turning to look at the Eevee. “What do you think?”
The Eevee let out a cry. As if understanding, Lethe knelt down and offered the device to the Pokemon. Taking a few steps forward, the Eevee tapped its nose against the center of it. “She says she likes that idea. And she said her name is Lucina.”
Nurse Joy didn’t quite understand how the girl understood what the Eevee said. She probably just translated the general feeling of it and then gave it a name. But... it was nice to see the girl with no memory get along so well with a Pokemon. “That’s great, Lethe. Pokemon centers also serve as a place for trainers and travellers to stay, so you’re free to come back at any point.”
Pocketing Lucina’s Pokeball, the girl nodded. “Thank you for offering.”
The dark haired girl with no memory walked out of the Pokemon center.