To know who you are, you must first know who you've been.
If you don't know how've you been then first you must decide.
If you can't decide, go out and see for yourself.
✮.✯*✮.✯*🌟*✯.✮*✯.✮

Star Struck: Chapter 3
Thomas led the way silently, his hands in his pockets with an emotionless face. Every now and then, he glanced back at me. Concern showed obvious in his crimson red eyes. If that's how he felt, he didn't say anything to me as we walked along the small tree filled route until what appeared to be a ranch came into view. Small brown goat Pokémon with leafy green coats ran around happily. They had root like horns adorning their lopsided pear-shaped heads, which they used to playfully headbutt each other. Others pranced around on their orange hooves, kicking up dirt and grass as they went.

Thomas stopped at a small house and turned to me.
"I just need to pick something up if you don't mind," he spoke calmly as he opened the door and walked in. I followed slightly behind him, not really sure what else to do.

A man walked over when he saw us enter. His pale blue hair was obviously greying, but seemed to make his green eyes stand out a little more.
"May I help you young people? Ah Thomas, long time no see." he exclaimed in a merry voice when he recognised my traveling companion.

"It has been a while, I'm here to pick up Amy's Skiddo if you don't mind." Thomas spoke quickly when mentioning his friends name.

"Oh, yes, I know which one you mean. Quite a jolly one he is. Come with me," he beamed and ushered us out of his house. The man lead us into the fields where the goat Pokemon (I'm assuming are Skiddo) were.

One ran up to Thomas and happily released baa noises, rubbing its head against Thomas's leg. Thomas reached down and patted the Skiddo's head.
"Hey Buddy, ready to go back to Amy?" he smiled.

The Skiddo nodded and Thomas pulled out a Pokéball and sucked the Skiddo inside.

"Thanks Jim," the older boy turned toward the man. "I'm on my way to see Amy now and she asked me to grab Buddy on the way." The man-- Jim-- smiled.
"Give my best to Amy and rest of you. Say hi to my daughter for me, will you? She hasn't visited since she left with the lot of you."

Rest of you? Left with the lot of you? Thomas was on his own when I'd met him, so I assumed he traveled that way, but it seems he did not.

Thomas nodded and glanced at me with a worried look.

What did I do?

"Well, let's go Shimmer. I have a friend waiting for her Skiddo."

I nodded and Thomas started leading the way again. After a few minutes traveling in silence I decided to ask my question.
"Thomas, what did he mean by 'the rest of you'? Are you in some sort of group?"

He winced at the question. "I'm not really allowed to tell outsiders."
When he said that, he slapped his hand over his mouth, "I mean... people who aren't in our group..." he added hurriedly.

"What?"

~Ce ceon!~ Shiver said, glaring at Thomas.

Thomas stared at Shiver for a moment. "Where did you get this Glaceon?"

I shrugged. "Not sure. Does it matter?"

Should I tell Thomas about my missing memories? He could help.

"Not really. Just curious..." he said, not taking his eyes off of Shiver. My Glaceon matched his look with a slight glare before tossing her head. I nodded while Thomas shook his head.
"We should get going." he stated.

Our short walk to Coumarine City was spent in almost absolute silence. I took the time to search through my own mind, trying to find anything that would help me discover who I really was, but I couldn't find anything. We left the forest eventually, revealing a large city by the water. Ocean waves lapped gracefully along the wharf, to which a few Pokémon clung to the bottom. Rainbow boats bobbed like toys in a bath, their crisp white sails catching the wind allowing them to easily be moved along the breeze of the currents. 

Even though the ocean appeared calm, it somehow struck something in me that made me fear it. Maybe something from my past, but I'm not sure. I had woken up on a beach. Had something involving the water cause my memory loss? The possibilities were endless.

"This is where I leave you, Shimmer." Thomas informed as he turned to face me with slight reluctance. "I need to meet up with my friends now."

"Oh..." I mumbled, feeling slightly shocked. I hadn't expected to be left on my own so soon. "Can't I travel with you and your friends?"

Thomas shook his head.

Suddenly I began to feel light headed, I hugged myself tightly as a breathless feeling washed over me. Everything began to spin and become out of focus as I panted for air, clutching my beating head. I stumbled slightly as I shook my head to try and clear it, succeeding in only making it worse. My knees buckled and I collapsed into Thomas's arms.

"Shimmer?" his voice came out slurred and distant.

Then, everything turned black.

---

Beep... beep... beep...

"What's wrong with her? Will she be alright?"

"She should be fine after a few days of rest, but she's severely underweight and undernourished. How long have you been traveling with her?"

"About an hour. Why?"

Beep... beep... beep...

"This girl looks like she hasn't eaten properly in weeks, maybe months."

"I had no idea. Why wouldn't she tell me that?"

"That bump to her head put a small fracture in her skull. It's not fatal and should heal by itself, but the impact could have quite possibly caused amnesia for her."

Beep... beep... beep...

Where am I?

I opened my eyes slowly and winced at the bright light. I had a mask over my face, covering my mouth and nose. The clear, rubbery plastic fogged up with every breath I let go of. My pale blue eyes slowly made their way around the room and noticed Thomas talking to a pink haired lady. Neither seemed to notice I was awake.

"I had no idea. She didn't say anything about amnesia." Thomas explained to the pink haired person.

"So, is she your friend?" the pink hair person asked. Thomas shrugged in response.
"She just kinda crashed into me and I offered to show her the way here. Then, she just fainted when I told her I needed to meet up with my friends. She did panic a little when I told I'd be leaving her though..."

I noticed Shiver curled up at the edge of my bed. She seemed to be asleep and was breathing softly, her chest rising and falling with each even breath she took in and let go.

"So, she doesn't travel with you?"

"No. I was just showing her the way to town."

"Well, I'm going to have to call child services for now until we can have someone claim her. Hopefully we can get her into a foster house for a few days until then."

Thomas frowned, "Why?"

"It wouldn't be safe for her to travel on her own and this may be a possible abduction case. She does have the right symptoms of most abduction cases I've heard of: underweight, she had a lot of scratches and bruises, dehydration, the list goes on. She needs to be monitored until we can get out what really happened from her."

I slowly sat up, feeling a thumping at the back of my mind as I did so, like someone knocking on a door to my skull. The pink haired lady turned to me and smiled.
"Ah, hello Shimmer. I'm Nurse Joy. How are you feeling?" she asked happily. I pulled off the clear mask, taking a moment to think.
"I'm feeling a little tired and hungry, but I'm... a bit confused." my voice was soft, slightly uneven, catching sight of a needle in my wrist.

"Here, let me get you a bite to eat. I have a few questions I want to ask you after." she chirped before noticing my inspection of the cord that followed from my wrist. "Don't touch that, Sweetie. It's just giving you some extra nutrition to make you stronger."

Thomas came and sat by my bed, giving me a worried look as Nurse Joy left. "Is it true? You have amnesia?"

"If that means I can't remember anything, then yes." I replied quietly as I looked down at my hands, gently prodding at the needle in my arm curiously.

Thomas was quiet for a moment. He seemed unsure about something. After a small silence, he pulled something from his pocket. He handed it to me, hope in his eyes.
"Does this mean anything to you?"
I examined it carefully.

It was a black and red serpent like dragon entwined with a pink serpent like pixie. Their tails were curled around each other and the top of their bodies pulled back before dipping back in. It looked like a heart when their noses touched. The dragons' red and black wings were raised and so were the pixies flower petal-like pink ones. The whole thing was skilfully made from crystal with amazing detail.

I slowly shook my head. "It's beautiful, but I can't say I know it from anywhere. I might of... at some point." I spoke quietly as I handed it back to Thomas. He looked disappointed as he accepted it from my hand.
"Yeah, I just got my hopes up. I thought that-"

"I might be the friend you were talking about? The one you said I looked like?" I questioned.

"Yeah... but she's gone." he revealed, looking back at his charm.

"What happened to her?"

"No one knows; she just vanished. She looked just like you, but with silver eyes." He explained as he inspected my face once again. "Her name was Yu-" he caught himself. "Alice," he bit his lip. "Her name was Alice."

"That's nice," I nodded with a smile. "I hope you find her."

Thomas shook his head and curled his fingers over his charm. "Everyone of us think she's gone, everyone but me. I know she's still out there."

"How?"

Thomas must have realised what he just said out loud because he looked surprised. "We were close; she had no one until I found her. I took her under my wing and helped her join our group."

I smiled a little and looked at my hands. "I wonder if I was that close to anyone before."

Thomas put his hand over mine. "You'll remember some day. I'm sure of it."

I shook my head. "They're gonna take me away aren't they?" I asked, looking the way Nurse Joy had gone.

Thomas looked as well, but shook his head. "No, cause I'm taking you with me."

"What? I thought you said-" Thomas shook his head.
"That was then. This is now; and now I want to help you. Grab your Glaceon and follow me."

I nodded and pulled the needle out of my wrist. It hurt a little, but not much, just a pin prick. I gently shook Shiver awake and she looked at me boredly. ~Ce?~

"Come on." I gestured for her to follow.

She yawned but nodded and stood up lazily. I looked over at Thomas, who was standing by the opened window. I walked over to him and he jumped out, calling for me to follow. I looked after him to see he'd made the two story drop and was holding his arms out to me.
"Come on. I'll catch you." he assured me.
I pulled Shiver into my arms and hesitantly swung my legs over the windowsill, looking down nervously. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes, now hurry!" Thomas urged impatiently.

I closed my eyes and pushed off from the window sill. There was a second of feeling the rushing wind ripple through my hair, the feeling of falling. I held down my dress with one hand and clung to Shiver with the other one. My grip on the Ice-type tightened, and just when I thought I was going to crash, I felt two strong arms wrap around me, holding me tightly to their chest.

I opened my eyes and looked up at Thomas who was smirking at me. "Told you I'd catch you."

"Be quiet." I blushed as he sat me down gently.

I started feeling a little dizzy again and I put one on my small hands on Thomas's shoulder to help myself keep balanced. The red eyed trainer looked worried as he raised his hands to help support me. He placed the back of his hand on my forehead for a second, mumbling something under his breath.
"Come here." he said gently, gesturing me forward.

He picked me up and held me carefully in his arms, one arm around my back while the other carried me from under my knees. "I'm taking you to my place before I meet up with my friends. Amy may be able to help you out."

I nodded and looked up at him. "Who's Amy?" I asked confused.

"She's my friend, only a little older then me."

"Is she apart of your group?" Thomas shook his head.
"I'll explain later. Just rest for now."

"One more thing," I spoke quickly, feeling my consciousness slipping.

"What is it?"

"Why are you helping me?"

Thomas was quiet, "You feel special to me. I feel something in you that reminds me of Alice. I think she would want me to protect you, so that's what I'm going to do, whether she really is gone or not."

I smiled a little and snuggled into his arms feeling safe and warm. I held Shiver closer to me as she fell back asleep, me following soon after.

.•*.•*.•*.•*🌟*•.*•.*•.*•.
Word count- 2352

YAY I UPDATED!!! What do you guys think of this so far? Next chapter with have Amy. More characters! Anyway, please vote and comment, means a lot but please understand that I have dyslexia so my spelling and grammar aren't that good I write for fun not to have a bunch of grammar nazis biting my behind.