Entirely Unexpected – the Misadventures of Team Clash
an excerpt

After the sun had set, both Zorel and Asten lay awake in their beds for several moments while waiting for sleep to take them. He didn’t know about her, but he had been thinking about her predicament for the rest of the day. It was just so…odd, that her entire memory was like this, and just remembering her own name had been a chore. Why had this happened? How had her memory been lost? Surely her entire life hadn’t been spent like this? How had she managed without her memory? What had she done? What could she remember, if anything? Did she know where she came from? Who her family was? The Drowzee’s mind was still flooded with unanswered questions that practically begged to be asked, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night unless he asked. But this time, he would do it gently and with delicacy.

“Asten?” he asked quietly, in case she was already asleep.

“Yes?” came the reply from the mantis, the colours from the sunset outside playing on her shiny armour so that it danced red and gold in the dying light.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, I will understand, but I just wish to know…how much do you remember? What can you piece together?”

The Scyther did not reply. Zorel waited, hoping she would say something, but she remained silent. He understood if she didn’t want to talk, that was perfectly all right with him; she was probably tired anyway, or just didn’t want to share something so private with a near stranger. What she remembered was her business, it was private, and though he was curious, he respected her personal space. Zorel wanted to be a good host, and a good Pokémon, especially to one who had been so shaken. Perhaps he would ask another day. It was alright.

“Zorel?”

The sound of her voice startled him. He had expected that she had gone to sleep. “Y-yes?”

“I do not think that I am a Scyther.” A pause.

“I think…I think I am a human.”