Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Lights shining in the distant night.

How many stars falling must there be?

Somewhere, on an unnamed beach, a Riolu washes ashore. He has nothing to himself besides a translucent scarf inexplicably around his neck. It refuses to pry itself off of him, no matter how many times the slow and inbounding waves nudge. He does not even have his own name.

Somewhere, on an unnamed beach, a Brionne rides in the back of a wheelbarrow drawn by a Mudsdale. However she may frame it, the Brionne is simply taking one last trip to see the ocean before she sets off for a grand journey, one she is far too uncertain to take in full. The Mudsdale sighs—it’s just another ordinary day for her.

Somewhere, on an unnamed beach, just behind a large rock, an Eevee awakens. Knowing not of their own name, he tries to get used to his bearings. He was a human, once. That’s all he can remember. And he can recognize himself, too. But he shouldn’t be this way. Seeking answers, he sets off in a direction away from the rest of the crew. His story will be told. I will not be telling it.

Let’s snap our fingers. It’s time for the hero of my story to wake up.

Where… where am I…?

Slowly, some kind of awareness returned to my body. I could feel the sand beneath my chest, the cool waters lapping at my feet. My neck felt warm—was something wrapped around it?

Unmistakably, I must be on the beach. But… how did I even get here?

It was a challenge to piece together what memories I had, or rather, what memories would come back to me. In scattered flashes I saw cities, parks, buildings, roads. People—that is, humans—that is, what are they? I must be one, and yet… it feels so alien to me. I reached for them, tried to grasp them in my hands, but they all felt so far away. I tried to search for thoughts closer to myself—family, friends, a name—but like fish in water, they evaded me, and I couldn’t hold my breath forever.

I wasn’t convinced of myself. It felt like, if I opened my eyes, I’d wake from one dream into another. There was only one mental aftertaste from my dive—not a sight, but a feeling.

I… don’t want to remember.

I opened my eyes.

The first thing I felt, I really felt—pain. It wasn’t a wound or some kind of bleeding, and thank God for that, but it was certainly a light bruising all over, as if I’d been roughed up before collapsing. What the heck happened? I tried to push myself off the ground and, fighting both gravity and the throbbing hurt of my body, I managed to sit upright and awkwardly shuffle myself against a nearby rock, the setting sun gently streaming across the waves and into my right eye. I looked down at myself. Black paws for feet, blue paws for hands. Clearly not what I’m meant to have. But it isn’t totally strange to me. The name of what I was slowly rose to the surface of my consciousness.

Riolu.

Hey, isn’t that a Pokémon?

Somehow, I didn’t panic. Perhaps I was just tired, or, in retrospect, I might’ve just been more fine with it than I thought. I brushed my paw against myself. My fur was short, though unkempt with sand, and some hard steel-like bumps knuckled my fists. On either sides of my head were things I thought were ears, but as I felt them in my paw, they were more like locks of hair. They were sensitive, but seemed to respond to a sense I was unfamiliar with and wholly in-tune to. I shut my eyes and tried to focus on it. It was like a second pair of eyes more attuned to my tranquilities, more vested in my emotions. Instead of the warm sun and calm waters of the shore, I felt a ‘passivity’. Instead of myself, I saw an unstable white light flickering from my core. And in the distance, two more lights, unbridled by the obstacles between us: a fiery orange, and a withstanding green.

Then came the ear-splitting headache.

“Ack—ugh…!”

It ripped through me like a missile, and was just as metaphysically loud. Before it could stay for long enough for me to hate it, however, I heard a gentle chime soothe it away. When I looked down, I saw a scarf bundled around my neck, iridescently rainbow and mellifluously light. Odd. That wasn’t there before, was it?

Still, the headache remained, only less so. My paws reached for my head as I groaned, trying to massage the throbbing ache away, hissing air between my teeth. I tried to distract myself with whatever sensation there was. The water rolling in. The wind in my fur. The footsteps approaching.

…the footsteps approaching?

“Hello?” called out a voice. Young. Female. Spritely, but floaty.

“Not too loud, Artemis,” whispered a gritter, older female voice, with a hint of a Southern drawl. Whatever the South is, considering I can’t recall a thing about it.

As they came into view, I closed my eyes on instinct. Now the gentle lights of my second sight were more vivid, and somehow I could tell what species they were too: a Brionne and a Mudsdale.

"Hello...?” I said weakly, trying to power through the ache. Only now did I notice that I sounded way younger, as far as I could tell through my parched throat.

“Oh Arceus, are you alright?” the Brionne—Artemis, was it?—said. She ran her fins over my bruises. “We’re Team Moonsong. We heard there were thieves here and came to help.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t…” I don’t remember. I grit my teeth and pulled my legs to my torso as another wave of pain came in.

“He’s puckered out, Artemis,” the Mudsdale neighed. She lowered her head to level her gaze with mine. “Tell you what. Let’s bring you back to my cart. You just wait there while me and Artie here check out the Mystery Dungeon. Y’allright with that?”

“Maybe we should hold off on the Mystery Dungeon until tomorrow,” Artemis said. “We’d be damned to try and fight something that beat up a Fighting-type this badly.”

“That’s fair.” The horse nodded. “Alright. Let’s just getcha back in one piece and figure out what to do with ya tomorrow. You good with that?”

I gave a slow and careful nod and let the Brionne lift me to my feet. My stance was wobbly, but I could walk, or at the very least sort of hobble. The Brionne seemed to float beside me as if it were in water, and the Mudsdale followed behind.

“So hey, what’s your name, Riolu?” Artemis asked.

“It’s…” I closed my eyes one more time and pressed into the depths of my mind. “…I can’t remember…”

“Do you at least know where you are?”

“No…”

The Brionne turned to the Mudsdale with a sorry look in her eyes. “Zinny, what about the thieves? Should we take him to Shellstay first?”

“We can come back for them another time,” Zinny said. “For now, let’s take them to Freya.”

Artemis turned back to me. “You just hang in there, alright? You’ve got a really pretty scarf.”

“Thanks…” I moaned.

It took only a few minutes before I could finally balance on both legs, and Artemis realized that when I started drifting away from her and walking on my own. I was still bent over, anticipating the aches, but they dulled as I faded into the sounds.

“You sure you can handle your own, kid?” Zinny neighed.

I smiled. It was the strongest thing I could muster right now. “Yeah.”

“That’s the spirit!” Artemis cried, throwing a curled fin into the air triumphantly. “C’mon, let’s hurry over to Shellstay Town! We got ourselves a Riolu!”

I threw her a confused look. “You got a what?”

“Don’t mind that!”

“Hey, what do you mean—”

“Onwards!”

~ ~ ~

Somewhere, a Delphox woke from their quiet rest. They rubbed their eyes open and let their hands fall onto the thick book on their curled lap with a heavy thud. They looked down. It glimmered in the descending moonlight and glimmered blue in return.

“Oh, Meloetta…” they began to sing, “…the stars are bright tonight. Wherefore shall they disappear?”

“Because the brightest star has come down here,” a different voice responds, peeking through the door. The Ribombee’s wings buzzed quietly, the sound keeping to itself, coy under the gaze of the vixen. “Good evening, Demeter. Good to know you’ve woken up on time.”

“You mean fifty minutes early.” The Delphox’s voice was gentle as she yawned, sliding off the large arch of the windowsill and floating across the floorboards. “How very punctual of you, Calum.” Demeter looked in the mirror. She had much to put on, but first and always first came the smile. “Has Artemis come back yet?”

“Not yet, but Verlan’s spotted them returning. They should be here by the time the crowd starts forming.”

“Good,” Demeter noted, combing her fur. “She won’t want to miss this.”

“They are returning with someone new.”

“Oh?”

“A Riolu.” Calum steeled his expression. “With a color-changing scarf.”

The Delphox paused and turned to Calum, wide-eyed. “Could it be…?”

“It may be so,” the Ribombee confirmed, arms crossed, “but we’ll have to verify it for ourselves. And only after Freya is done with them. The Riolu appeared to be injured.”

“But it’s just like the Song mentioned, nay?”

Demeter pulled out a constellated thick-cover book with a soft blue glow and a detailed inscription of a twelve-pointed star, then flipped through it. As she did, lines seemed to reach from the spine to the edges of each empty page, and dots and strokes would populate the spaces on or between them. Occasionally, a word or two would appear in Unownic, but for the most part it was full of these patterns that stretched from end to end. Demeter kept flipping—she’d learned to read this before, a long time ago. She finally stopped on a page close to the end, right before all the blank pages came in. She traced a finger over the Unownic lyrics beneath each note and sang.

“Stars fall to the shore, wash up on the beach… chosen by the sky to be out of reach…

Flickering white light, body made to fight, close your eyes and see…”

Her fingers slid off to the end of the line. Instead of a next page, there was only a trailing smudge.

“Is the Song still incomplete?” Calum asked, hovering over. He bit his hand at the sight. “Arceus, this is vexing.”

“Vexing indeed,” Demeter sighed, closing the book. “Meloetta still refuses to tell us whether or not we take part in the prophecy. Did Verlan say anything else?”

The Ribombee stroked his chin in thought. “He did mention that there was another soul on the beach, but that Noivern refused to get any closer to figure out what it was. Only that it woke up before the Riolu did, and that it ran off in a different direction to chase after… something.”

“That must be the hero prophecy then. But is the Riolu really ours?”

“Should I send out a team to figure out who’s who?”

“Bah, no.” Demeter’s voice took on a chipper tone as she waved it off, pulling her stick out from her fur-sleeve. “We have more pressing matters at hand. And to that extent…” She stood with her arms outstretched in front of the window, letting the moonlight trace her form. “How do I look? Good? Need more brushing? I’m especially sensitive about the tail.”

Calum smiled. “You look fine, darling.” He quickly swooped behind her and began to usher her out the door. “Now go on and get! Everyone’s already falling in place!”

“Alright, alright!” Demeter chuckled. “Let’s give that Riolu a warm welcome to Seliocko.”

~ ~ ~

“So what’s a Riolu like you doing here in Seylo?”

Although I heard the Brionne’s question, I didn’t focus on rummaging up a half-decent answer when I was so busy trying to take in my surroundings. The cart was small, being nothing more than a wooden carriage with nothing overhead to block out the view of the stars as the sun fell asleep. But the colors were lovely, even if it had neither the ever-present Northern Star nor the bow-drawn Orion. Sinking into my scarf and its now-muted glow, I laid in one corner, and Artemis on the other, right next to a Brionne-sized brown leather—wait no, that’s wool—satchel.

“I really don’t remember much,” I answered, heart sinking. “Just that I used to be human, but…”

Artemis tilted her head. “Human?”

“You don’t know what a human is?”

“Of course I know what a Human is, but… it’s a bold claim! Give me a moment, I have something that can verify you’re telling me the truth.”

Artemis reached for the satchel and pulled out what appeared to be a large notebook with a cover almost as glittery and luminescent as the night sky and began to flip through its pages. In each one seemed to be hand-copied sheet music stretching across each page, with text surrounding the notes in a language that looked only very vaguely like the Latin alphabet. The Brionne carefully flipped through each one, her eyes scanning the transcriptions with particular determination.

“I don’t think I have it.” She let out a sigh. “I’ll have to copy it from Demeter when we get back. But—you can’t just say you’re a Human and get me all excited!”

“When we get back, the performance will be starting,” Zinny chimed in.

Artemis immediately stood on her flippers, wide-eyed. “Already!? I thought it was in another hour!”

“You slept in by an hour, Artie,” Zinny laughed. “That damned Leafeon always has the best brews on tap.”

“What performance?” I asked.

“Ah, I haven’t introduced you to my Team!” Artemis cleared her throat. “I’m Artemis, that’s Zinnea, and we’re Team Moonsong! We’re a new team from the Caravan, and have come to spread the Songbook all across Seliocko!” She spun, creating a bubble beneath herself, and posed with a flipper head high. Lights shone from overhead. Wait. Are those spotlights? Where the heck did they come from?

“Caravan? Seliocko?” I half-attentively muttered out loud, trying to commit the names to memory. One term in specific piqued my interest. “The Songbook…?”

“Oh Arceus, you really did lose your memories…!” Artemis’ shock melted into a smug grin as she floated from her bubble-ball to my side, throwing a long flipper over my shoulder. “Not to worry, for I, rising star Artemis, has your back!” She squealed, shuffling towards Zinny—perhaps Zinnea would be more appropriate…?—with sparkling eyes. “I finally get to use all of my practice, Zinny! All of it! I can’t believe it—I never thought this day would come!”

I slid away from the corner and courteously pulled my legs to my torso as Artemis maneuvered gracefully to the opposite end of the cart. My paws brought themselves together in enchantment. “Do I say something or…?”

“Ah, no no! Let me just prepare my...” She blew a couple more bubbles and pulled out the contents of the satchel meticulously as she murmured material in her business. “Okay, okay. Are you ready?”

“Yyyyes.”

Artemis smiled, cleared her throat, then faded into character. The skirt-like folds on her body flattened, then bloomed. And then she sang.

Can you bring to heel the sword that cuts the northern lights?

It was difficult to describe how awestruck I was when the first few notes came out. They swelled in dynamism and were pristinely light as they reached the higher pitches while warm and resonant in the lower tones. The scarf around my neck began to glow again with this light and minty green that paired nicely with the oncoming night, but without being too bright as to scrub the stars out of the sky.

Guide away the sunrise to a once upon a time

It was unlike anything I’d heard before. And I loved it.

Close your eyes and help the song I sing to fill your air
Open your heart gently, show me how to take you there

She looked at me. It was a different gaze, echoing someone much older. The bubble she blew flew into the air, and inside of it formed a small scene. She blew another, and then another, until the sky was full of them.

“Once upon a time,” she began, “there was a little singer. Her hair was full of melodies, and when she walked, you could hear a symphony. And when she opened her mouth, there were lyrics no Pokémon had ever heard before. She called herself Meloetta, and she loved being who she was.”

“And she was?” The words slipped from my mouth in eager curiosity.

“Music.”

A bubble nearly the size of me fell into my lap, and the Brionne approached, letting her fins drift over the surface. The scene inside began to wisp and change. The silhouette of what seemed like a cartoonish little girl began to take form, and the song continued.

Quiet from the morning to right after the sun sets
Basking in the moonlight, her song would never end
She was not alone in her endeavors to forget
Among the gleaming starlight, unbeknownst, a distant friend

The girl in the bubble walked to the edge of a cliff and began to sing. Hearing this, a star fell from the sky and came to her side. But she could not see the star, for when she sang, she closed her eyes, and let herself fade into the music. The crescent on the star’s chest opened into an eye.

No prophecies, no legacies, no legends, myths, and tales
The company of music was all needed to prevail
The singer and the star met on a small and mundane night
But it was all that mattered, and it was all that was bright

And so she wished…

All of a sudden, the bubbles in the sky began to glow as the iridescent notebook began to flip its pages on its own, and Artemis was lifted into the air by pure magic.

Let there be laughter and laughter forever
Let there be music wherever there could
Let there be love threading all us together
Let there be hope, for now and for good
Let there be hope, for now and for good.

The melody in the air dissipated, and only did I realize that there were instruments playing from somewhere I couldn’t pinpoint. Perhaps this, too, was part of the performance. The Brionne slowly came down, and the bubbles popped until the one in my lap remained.

“On that day, the star, Jirachi, granted Meloetta’s wish, spreading her songs throughout Seliocko and bringing hope and joy to all Pokémon within. But Meloetta herself was never to be found. The Caravan performs her songs in her stead, hoping to compile all of the songs we’ve lost from her into one, and then to spread them across the lands ourselves.”

Artemis reached for the bubble in my lap. I opened my arms and let it float from me to her. As she passed her fins over the image, it changed one last time.

“Some believe that by compiling all the songs in a single Songbook, the one left by Meloetta on the cliff that day, we will bring her back. Some believe that she is with Jirachi now, following the thousand-year sleep cycle. Most don’t really care. She isn’t Arceus, nor is she a well-known Pokémon god. And we certainly don’t view her as one! But… it’s hard to pretend like what she’s left behind isn’t magical.”

Artemis swiped her hand over the bubble one last time, popping it gently. Its misted water gently glittered my fur. We both stared at each other for a while, enchanted smiles on our faces. The scarf around my neck began to fade in hue.

“…oh. O-oh, right!” Artemis quickly bowed. “Um, fin. Finished. That’s the performance. I-I don’t know how to end it. We usually do a group bow. So… what did you think?”

“That was amazing!” I gasped. “I—I don’t—how did—what is—who is—uh.” Maybe trying to let all my thoughts race to my mouth right after letting go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding was a bad idea. “I have. So many questions.”

“Ask away!” Artemis gleefully threw up her fins.

“Uh… God, where to begin…?” I thought to myself. “So you guys are like, a traveling troupe?”

“Kind of!”

“How many of there are you?”

“Ooh, there’s a lot of us! But there are primarily seven Interpreters, including me.”

“Does everyone sing?”

“Not everyone, but most!”

I turned behind me and leaned over the wagon. “Miss Zinnea, can you sing?”

“Not now, buddy,” she sighed, as tired as she was amused. “And don’t you ever call me Miss. It’s just Zinnea. I ain’t that old.”

I slumped back down with a comical pout. “Do you guys have a leader?”

“If you asked any of us? No. Everyone holds equal value in contributing to the Songbook.” The Brionne then stroked her chin. Which was just the smooth underside of her head, really. “But since we’re a Guild, we do have a Guildmaster, and that’d be Guildmaster Demeter, a Delphox. And she’s a pretty good pick, I guess…”

“You guess?” Zinnea faux-scoffed. “Everybody knows how much y’look up ta her. You even called yourself Artemi—”

“Sh-sh-shh-hey!” Artemis pathetically hissed. “A-Anyways! Demeter’s one of the best Interpreters of the Songbook we know. Her image is inextricably tied to the Caravan as a whole.” Her eyes wandered off as her fins clasped together. If I focused, I’d be able to see the glittery sheen of a spotlight reflecting off of them. “She’s amazing… oh, and she’ll be performing soon as we get back! You have to come watch!” I’d hope it wasn’t unkind to describe her enthusiasm as blaringly radioactive.

“I’m sure I can watch from the window of wherever the doctor’s is.” I sheepishly scratched the back of my head. I couldn’t deny that I was excited about the prospect. “So what kind of genres do you guys sing?”

“Genres?”

“Er, styles.”

“Oh, it can be anything, really! As long as it comes from the Songbook.”

“The Songbook?”

“Oh, right!” She pulled the iridescent notebook out again. “This is the Songbook! Or, well, my transcription of it at least.” She opened it as wide as she could and turned it to me, slowly flipping through the pages. “The songs say that the way each song is notated is based on Meloetta’s hair, and the lyrics used to be written in an unknown language related to Humans, but nowadays it’s in Unownic.” A smug look crept across her face. “Of course, deciphering the actual melody is the difficult part. That’s where you turn to Pokémon like me, whom can read these notes in what we call Meloettic! So please, gaze upon my months of research!”

I snickered. Meloettic, huh? Isn’t it just sheet music? I wasn’t sure why I could remember that, but it clicked into place much faster than my other memories. I viewed the lingering page. The Unownic felt kind of like English, but different—still, some of the shapes were similar, like if someone just replaced normal human letters with other symbols. The Meloettic on the other hand... It’s… all just notes…! I reached out tentatively and brushed my hand over the treble clef.

“See something you like?” Artemis quipped. “O-Oh, right. You can’t read it. But—hmm.”

I closed my eyes and captured my stream of thought. It was like skipping a rock across the boundless ocean of my memories. I opened my eyes. I could hum this melody.

I could hum this melody.

So, do, la, fa, mi, do, re
So, do, la, ti, do, re, do.

My scarf pulsed with a shocking blue before fading. When I looked back up at Artemis, her jaw dropped.

“H-How…?” She was awestruck. “How did you get it already?”

“I, um…” How carefully must I pick my words around her? “I’ve seen it before, I guess.”

She dug her intense stare into me for a moment too long, then set down the notebook and flipped to the beginning. “Here. Sing this.” It was eight notes ascending the bar. I looked down at it, then up at her. I couldn’t make out what she was feeling.

“Oh, um… alright.” I cleared my throat. I still couldn’t get used to how childlike my voice was. “It’s… do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.”

“You know it.” The words escaped her in a gasp of realization. “You know the notes. You can—you can read the notes!?” Oh. She’s… excited. She’s very, very excited. “So wait. W-When you said you were a Human, it must be true! You’re a Human! You can read the notes!”

“I—yeah, I guess I can?” I was mostly at a loss for words as the Brionne began to bounce around the wagon, rocking it side to side.

“Can you read the Unownic, too!?”

“Uh—I don’t recognize it, but I might be able to?” I took another cursory glance at it. “It really just does look like the Latin alphabet.”

“Pipe down there, Artie,” Zinnea quickly called out. “Though, it took me by surprise too, Riolu. Where did you learn to read those notes? Is it something Humans can do?”

“Not everyone.” I leaned back against the wagon, scooching towards the corner as to keep still aboard all of Artemis’s excitement. “I think I got special education for it.”

“So then Meloetta must’ve existed in your world too, eh?”

“No, we didn’t have a Meloetta. We called this type of thing sheet music.”

“Well ain’t that just borin’!” The Mudsdale let out a one-note laugh. “But if yer already this good at readin’ Meloettic, then you’d be a perfect fit for our team!”

“Yeah!” The Brionne yipped, finally slowing down. “Oh Arceus, this has been a wonderful encounter! Do you have any more questions? Concerns? Curiosities? Wait. I’ve been rude. You haven’t even introduced yourself!”

In her excitement, she grabbed both my hands and clasped them together before nudging herself ever closer, prompting me to squeal an ow! as she stepped over one of my bruises.

“A-Ah, I’m sorry! I got carried away!”

“I-It’s fine…” I hissed air through my teeth. Whatever pain should’ve been there was dulled when I woke up; this was the most I was feeling it, and it hurt. “How close are we to Shellstay?”

Zinnea smiled. “If ya still got the energy to look up, you’ll find it’s to our left.”

I slid myself over to the wagon’s exit, dangling my legs from the edge, and leaned from the walls of the cart. “Whoa.”

Coming into view was something between a quaint village and a small town. The paved dirt path transitioned smoothly into a brick road as a straight way towards the center of the town lined up in my peripheral. Every building neatly set themselves in a grid, all orbiting a large campfire in the circular plaza center. Strewn across the rooftops and balconies were lights, some clearly lamps and some mystical fires, all of which gave Shellstay a warm but colorful glow. All about were various Pokémon, some of which I could recognize, and some of which I couldn’t. Some foreign instinct begged me to close my eyes and use that second sight of mine again, but I had to resist—if I had that bad of a headache with nobody around, I would not even try to start with a whole town.

The most notable sight, of course, was the Pokémon gathering slowly around the plaza. As Zinnea trotted towards the center, we were basked in the sound of busybodies moving alongside us. I tried my best to stand up, with Artemis swooping right under my arm to support my view. Across the sea of townsfolk was an unlit campfire, and several other Pokémon were throwing cut logs of firewood into the center. No, not throwing—it looked like they were assembling an effigy, a sort of spherical spiraling nest, but it was clear it was to be burned. All of the Pokémon were guessing, speculating, making comments whispered and loud.

“We’re in Shellstay,” Artemis finally sighed out, relaxation cooling her tone. “Come on, we need to get you to Freya before the crowd gets all too big to move in.”

“Right.” I slowly disembarked from the wagon and stretched, then let Artemis guide me through the crowd. She took the longer tail of my scarf, while I gripped onto the fabric that hooked around my neck. “So, who’s Freya?”

“She’s a Comfey. Do you remember what that is?”

“Sorry, no clue.” Okay, but first three guesses—some kind of tissue box, a living pillow, or a really soft cute animal.

“She’s kind of like a ring of flowers,” Artemis recalled, “and the town’s healer. I’m not sure how well she can deal with your amnesia—she’s not a Psychic-type after all—but she can at least help with your bruising.”

“I see.” Foiled again! “Is everyone for the, uh… performance?”

“Yep!”

“Will I be able to see it from the hospital?”

“Hospital?”

“The… wherever Comfey is.”

“Oh, the healer’s bay! You… might? It’s got a big view of the center, but it is pretty far back.” Disappointment briefly colored her tone.

“At least I’ll be able to hear you guys!” I tried to make sure my smile could be heard.

“I mean, you’ll be able to see Demeter’s magic! It’s so…” She flapped her fins around, trying to catch an explanation from the air. “…like, big.”

I snickered. “If it leaves you at a loss for words, I’m sure it’ll leave me at one, too.”

“Smooth,” Artemis cooed smugly, “but you’ll have to do a little better than that.”

The crowd began to taper out as we escaped to a building in the back. It was a little more than a clay dome with some delicately ornamented windows and a roof made of intertwined leaves. A large flower crown adorned the top, and more flowerbeds made up the perimeter. A clean green plus symbol was drawn on a hanging sign above the door. I looked around—all the other facilities seemed to be shaped like the Pokémon that were in them. But that’s really a Pokémon?

Now that I think about it, that divine sense I got of what a Pokémon was isn’t here. I looked down at my scarf. It seemed to have become more reflective. Was it changing material?

“Come on,” Artemis beckoned, pushing the door open. “And wipe your feet at the carpet.”

“Carpet? Oh—” I didn’t realize it at first, but there was a welcome mat with what I assumed was Welcome written on it. Whatever script it was, it certainly wasn’t English—I mean, Unownic. I gently padded my feet on it, making sure not to pressure any of the bruises around my knees, then followed her inside.

As the door swung open, I was greeted by the gentle glitter of a door chime, and a warm pink light. The interior was very white with the occasional pink, and exotic flowers peppered the corners and dull centers in lavish bouquets. A Pokémon who was quite literally a floating flower crown turned up from the front desk. “Oh, hello Artemis! And who’s this fellow? He’s quite beaten up!” The Comfey, Freya, hovered over to me, bringing her eyes closer to my form. “Whoever must’ve beaten up a Riolu must be pretty villainous.”

“Is it that bad?” I asked sheepishly. Now that I was in a room this small, I could finally realize the quietness of my own voice. I cleared my own throat—clearly I needed it.

The Comfey floated to a small stool in front of a flat bed with a thin blanket spread over it. “Come sit, I’ll inspect your wounds.” She lightly jingled the way a bell-collar would.

I sat across her with my paws on my laps and let her do her work. It certainly felt unusual to have had my wounds inspected by a Comfey—it sort of felt like someone was running a palm leaf over me. Like those alternative medicine places back in… where again? What am I talking about?

That was the other thing that bothered me about my memories. When I wouldn’t think about them, they’d float up to the surface, and the second I try to make sense of it, it would scurry away. Maybe a second pair of eyes and hands would be able to hold them for longer, let me see myself in the reflection of the endless waters of my memory just a bit clearer. I needed, what did Artemis say again? A Psychic-type?

“All done,” Freya whispered. My eyes snapped open; apparently they started drooping as I got lost in thought. Still, it felt much quicker than normal. “Good news, you’ll be fine. Although you’re bruised, you haven’t broken or ruptured anything. And your aura seems stable enough, but I’m sure you can check that for yourself.”

“Aura?”

Freya shot me a confused look. “You’re a Riolu. You can’t read aura?”

I thought back to when I closed my eyes and saw colors. “I, um… I tried once. But then I got a headache.”

“That’s odd.” Freya sank in contemplation. “Riolus like you are normally supposed to be very in-tune with it normally, and otherwise you’d have trained up for it.”

“Could the amnesia have an effect?” Artemis popped up. Earlier, her head was buried in her transcript of the Songbook. Right, her performance later!

“Amnesia?”

Oh, right! I didn’t mention it. “Artemis and Zinnea found me washed up on a beach earlier today. I can’t properly recall anything from before then.”

The Comfey let out a somber hum. “I’d assume it might have an effect, but aura is very instinctual to the Riolu line. It should be baked into you, not something you have to learn.” Freya shook her head. “But unfortunately, I’m no Psychic-type, and no aura reader. I won’t be able to help you about this. Your best bet is finding a Lucario, but Lucario tribes are reclusive, and the mountains they live in are far and harsh.”

“I see.” I drew a long breath and let it out. “So how are we dealing with the bruises?”

The Comfey picked their smile back up. “Oh, that’s easy! I’ll set up a hot bath with a couple Oran Berries for you. Relax in it for an hour, and then dry off. You’ll come out good as new!”

Artemis pouted. “I wish I could sit in that bath right now!”

“Oh, you can always come back after!” A devious look flashed across Comfey’s face. “So… break a leg~”

“Sweet Kyogre…” The Brionne sighed. “I’d at least not want Rio to miss the performance. Could you set the bath up upstairs?”

“Cashing in your favor already?” the Comfey grinned. Artemis simply crossed her fins and shot the flower-crown an unamused look. “Haha, no worries, it’s fine! I won’t put it on your tab for now. Also…” She turned to me instead. “You’re named Rio?”

I scratched my head. “I forgot my name too…”

“By Xerneas!” Freya gasped. “I’ll have to put some other herbs in your bath, then. Jog your memory alongside your body. Wait here, I’ll prepare the upstairs rooms.” She went—sort of flew—up the stairs, and then it was just me and Artemis.

I turned to the Brionne. She was buried in her transcript again, trying to commit the melodies to memory. I scooted over and sat on the arm of the armchair she was on, my arm over the backrest so I could lean over her, making sure not to block the light.

“That for the performance?”

“A-Ah! Hey!” Artemis flipped the page down. “No spoilers!”

“I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to read the sheet music,” I remarked. “Not like I can form the whole song in my head.”

“N-No, it’s still a spoiler,” Artemis stuttered out. “It’s not an exact transcript. I… modified it. For me.”

“Oh.”

“But even then, I’m having a hard time trying to commit some of these to memory.” She looked between me and the notebook before slowly turning up the page for me to see. “Specifically, this duet part.”

“Ooh, who are you singing this with?” I took a closer look, my head overshadowing the corner of the page. Once again, my instincts didn’t fail me—where I lost in aura, I gained in my knowledge of sheet music. …that actually sounds like a pretty bad tradeoff. I tried to hum the melody lines to myself. The lead came easy, but the secondary voice seemed to jump around it awkwardly in an attempt to harmonize. I squinted.

“It’s supposed to be with Demeter, so I made sure the lead line was suited to her voice,” Artemis said. “But to harmonize with it, I made this unbelievably difficult harmony line.”

“Have you ever tried modifying it to be a little more workable?”

“I thought about it, but this line is the best way to show off Demeter’s voice.” A sad look draped her face. “It’s just… I don’t have the vocal dexterity to pull this one off.”

I tilted my head. “I don’t think you should be writing duet lines just to show off one person.”

Artemis frowned at her work. “I just feel like it’d be a waste not to! She’s the best singer in the troupe.”

“Well…” I smiled back, hoping to counteract her dejected slump. “It’s not really a duet if it feels like just one person is singing, eh?”

“…that’s true.” The Brionne sighed. “But I don’t know how I would change it. It’s certainly a bit too late now—the performance is going to start soon.”

“Yeah. It’s in ten minutes or so, isn’t it?”

“Yep. Duet happens in the second act, right after the intermission.”

“…how long is the first act?”

“Like, an hour and a half.”

“And the intermission?”

“About twenty minutes.”

“That’s totally enough time!” I exclaimed. “Ideally you’d have an hour, but I’m pretty sure there were some pop songs I listened to that I could nab in the first listen!”

“Even if it was, how would I modify it? I have ten minutes before curtain call!” We both glanced at the clock. “Nine!”

“Then let’s get to work. Can you sing the hard lines for me? Take Demeter’s place.”

“O-Oh! Well!” We flipped to a section of the page and got to work.

“See, so this line here is…”

…

I propped myself up on the windowsill. If there was one good thing about the upstairs rooms, it was that the windows were low enough so that I could kick back in the bucket baths and still be able to see the performance. The lights were dim, the candles further back in the room, usurped by the strength of the moonlight. And it was only moonlight—the rest of the Shellstay, especially the buildings closest to the plaza, had dimmed their lights too, if not snuffed them outright. The Pokémon that emitted natural light seemed to forcefully temper their own flames. I couldn’t identify which, but I certainly saw a floating chandelier try to keep out of everyone’s faces, and an orange lizard with a flaming tail curling it down and around his leg to keep out of sight.

Isn’t that a Charmander? No aura reading this time, just a curious guess at the name. It felt so familiar to me, like there was no way I wouldn’t have known it.

My thoughts quickly drifted back to the oncoming performance. It was… unique, to say the least. There was a makeshift wooden platform acting as a stage, with curtains all around in such a way that the actors could appear and disappear from wherever, whenever they wanted. On the ground, bright crystals projected light into the skies and towards the back of the stage curtains, not unlike spotlights would. How does that work, anyway? I’ll have to ask Artemis when it’s over.

Speaking of Artemis… “I hope she’ll be okay.” The revisions we worked out were way better progress than we thought we’d get, but I couldn’t help but notice that she was even more jittery walking out the door than when she was knee-deep in her own transcript. With a few quick swipes over the page with the pencil on Freya’s desk—how does she even hold that thing?—we managed to create a duet that was more subdued, but gave equal opportunities to both leads in making the song work. And as I hummed the melody to myself, I realized something fun.

“Hey, Artemis, isn’t this Beauty and the Beast?”

“You remembered?”

“No, I think it was a human thing, too.”

“…are you sure Meloetta isn’t in your world?”

“As positive as I can be.”

I leaned back into the water, letting the steam lift my limbs. I’m not as panicked as I thought. Guess the Oran bath is working. I let one of the bright blue berries in the water bob into my paw. What even is an Oran berry? As it got caught between my paws, I sort of spun it in front of me. It was like a blue orange. A blue orange.

Pfft. Wouldn’t that be, like, green?

The only thing left to look at now was myself. A couple routine inspections from the Comfey gave me the anatomical terms to work with. My hands—paws—fists (all acceptable terms), my hair-things—aura feelers, actually. Canine, anatomically, my mouth was a muzzle, and I bore a snout, but not much in the way of a sense of smell; it was meant to be only ‘a little more sensitive than most’, whatever that meant. And the steel bumps on the back of my paws were meant to evolve into spikes.

“Do you think I could, um, whittle them down when I evolve?”

“Your spikes? Whatever for?”

“They seem like they could hurt people…”

“Well, you are a Fighting-type. It’s what you do.”

“I’m not really much into fighting.”

“Well, you’d be a very strange Riolu for feeling that way!”

I held my hand up against the moonlight as if I were running its river through the gaps in my paws and watched as the scarf still around my neck started to drift up one of its loose tails to meet mine, glowing the ever-so-lightest of greens. For something that was meant to keep me warm, it sure felt nonexistent around my neck as I soaked in the bath. At some point, I was going to forget it was there. What was it even on me for? And why was it always that, when my mind drifted to it, I suddenly lost curiosity in it?

It felt just like that time I tried to remember bits of my past. The songs came to me, and some of the imagery of my time as a human, but that voice in my head was the one I remembered most. The one that held me back and said: You don’t want to remember.

What happened?

Why don’t I want to remember?

“Hey, uh, scarfy,” I mindlessly called out. “Can you get off my neck? I wanna wash it.”

No response.

I sighed. “Might as well…” I tried to push my paw between the scarf and my neck, dragging the water inside, only to find it was already gone. “What?”

I sat up and looked at the surface of the water to find it there, same as ever, and unusually dry. I reached for it and felt its strikingly pellucid cloth.

“How…?” I slumped back into the water and tried to rinse again, only to find its weight suddenly vanish as my paw traced my collarbone. Or whatever that bone was anatomically. I huffed. Okay, so, I’m being trolled by some four-dimensional winterwear. Great.

At least my bones didn’t ache as obnoxiously.

“Ladies and gentle-mon!” A voice rang from the window. “Gather ye round! For the spell of the moon is upon us, and the Song of the Moon is soon to begin!”

The hush of the crowd swelled from excited whispers into a single chant. “Delphox! Delphox! Delphox! Delphox!”

And the crowd went silent as, with a click, the lights went black.

And from the darkness a voice emerged, then three, then six.

Lights shining in the distant night
How many stars falling must there be?
I see somewhere in the distant dark
Everybody’s here

We rise to the eternal war
Summon the song of eternal peace
The universe is coming home
To me!

The lights came on, six white spotlights pointing downwards at six different Pokémon. My aura feelers began to buzz. Were they fixed now? The crowd was replaced with small faint white lights, and the Pokémon on stage were all multicolored. Somehow, I knew what they were: a Brionne, a Furfrou, a Leavanny, a Incineroar, a Ogerpon, and a Gallade. All regal, all blooming with personality from the very get-go. I saw them as well-decorated flowers.

And in the middle of everything, a single Delphox stood. The one they called Demeter. Her voice was as clear as the surface of the most divine oceans, and her tone sharpened against every blade of grass that bent to listen. Her aura was like a bouquet in a glass vase, one that was impossible to miss and demanded attention from the vastness of time and space. Everything seemed to lose focus as she alone sang the next line.

The universe is coming home
to me.

The stars brightened as the world dimmed. Silence was slowly overtaken by music. The ambience of the world was pinned to the rhythm of the night. Right now, in everyone’s eyes, even mine, there was nothing beyond the pillar of light that stood at the spotlights and ended in the depths of the vespertine sky. The old great exit wound of a distant galaxy spilled across the sky, a hue of peaches and whites that seemed so akin to the Milky Way.

Something in my heart knew it belonged here.

Something in my stupid, dreaming heart.