"Welcome back Arthur, did you have a nice dream?", he found Gary amongst the people smiling at him.

"What happened?", he asked confused. His memories still a bit fuzzy.

"You were knocked out, that's what happened after that last punch. We were just about to call the doctor when you woke up. That Nevarrez brat surely had a grudge against you ..."", Gary's voice went grim at the end.

"Rico that idiot! The next time I see him I will make him beg you for forgiveness, don't worry Arthur!", Zoe assured him angrily.

"Where is he? Where did he go?"

"When he had realized his mistake he disappeared from our sight! What a coward!", this incident had definitely worsened Rico's image in Zoe's mind by a lot,

"I am so sorry! I shouldn't have let two of you start this match at all. I should have known better!", remorse showing on her face.

"It's ok, it was inevitable. I couldn't have let him get away with that just like that even if you stepped in between us. In the end I lost because I was just too weak."

"No, you were quite good actually for a beginner. He just overdid it! Seriously! He made you fly over the ring with a single hit! Doesn't he know how to hold back?!"

"How is that even possible?", in Arthur's mind even if Rico was above average in terms of strength or technique it should be simply impossible for a child the same age as him to have so much raw power! Did he take drugs?!

"Yeah! That's crazy! My dad could do that easily but I would never have imagined for him to ...-"

"Miss Zoe, I think there are more important things to do right now. I will take Arthur here with me just in case something happens, is that ok?"

"Ah you are right! Arthur please go back to rest! You shouldn't do any strenuous activities anymore ok?"

"Don't worry, I will bring your husband back in the best shape possible! Hahaha!", Gary joked lightly.

"What?!"

"What?!", both Arthur and Zoe were speechless for a moment but Zoe got especially flustered.

Gary took the moment and left the main hall with Arthur in tow:

"Quite a nice friend you have there, how did you two got to know each other?"

"She had been my classmate during primary scho-", Arthur stood still for a moment, his expression frozen still.

He suddenly realized that ... he remembered her again!

She had been his classmate during the primary courses of the Pokemon Trainer Academy! They were very good friends and she helped him during his time of crisis when his father had died. But what was important was that he genuinely remembered her and the time he spent with her again!

"Is something the matter Arthur?", Gary noticed his strange behaviour and asked concerned. He was afraid this could be the prelude to an after-collapse now.

"No, it's, it's fine I think, I just remembered some ..." but his last words got stuck in his throat.

All of a sudden his vision swam and he felt a head-ache nearing!

"Groaaaan.", he held his head in his hands and pressed against it but it only eased for a bit.

"What's wrong Arthur!", Gary shouted but Arthur didn't hear anything at all!

Visions flew through his mind, he saw a room full of Pokemon figures, then he stood in front of a heavily wounded person! That person turned into light and that light went into a watch!

The he saw that same person fight against another warrior clad in blue armor! Sharp light prevented him from seeing more and a loud voice echoed in his head:

"Wake up Atiqo! You have to wake up!"

And then it stopped.

"Huh, huh, huh ...", he was crouching on his knees while breathing heavily. The pain vanished as quickly as it came. Sweat trickled down his forehead and he felt incredibly exhausted.

He remembered now more than before. And he also remembered the dream he had had during his time when he was unconscious.

"Hey, Arthur are you sure you are ok? Should I take you to the hospital?", Gary asked worried.

"No, no it's gone again. I am fine already, I just feel quite hungry!", he didn't want to go back to the hospital. This would cause just another pile of problems on his full plate.

"Hahaha, no problem, let's go to Umami King! It will be my treat!"

....

The crowd from before had dispersed already. Zoe was still there cleaning some stuff.

"Zoe! What happened here!", a rough deep voice called out to her.

"Dad!", Zoe was surprised to find her father here suddenly. He was usually busy training his disciples or giving guidance to other members.

"Don't lie to me, you know I can see it", he responded unusually cold. Something must have triggered him.

"Ehh, it was ... I ...", at first she wanted to bring out a small excuse but seeing that her father was in a serious mood she told him the truth about what had happened during the match.

"What?! That little bastard did what?!", Zoe flinched back, a bit frightened. Did she do something unforgivable?

"I am sorry dad, I know I shouldn't have allowed to ...", the regret she had felt rose up again and she was near crying now.

Her father realized his blunder:

"Ahh, sweety, it's not your fault. It's that stupid child's fault! How was his name again? That Nevarrez boy? Rico! How dare he use powers he has no control over! All within my dojo! Does he think he can, he can come and go as he pleases and get away with this?! Not under my watch!", it felt like her father was close to bursting out!

"Dad, did something happen? Did he do something?", she didn't know what her father was talking about.

"This, ehh. I can't tell you. Not now at least. But he will face consequences for this! One way or another! How is that other boy, Arthur right?", he faintly remembered his daughter's former classmate and neighbour. He spent most of his time at the dojo and his wife took care of the household, so he didn't have much contact with him.

"He is good, I think. He was just unconscious for a some time."

"Lucky boy, this could have turned much worse for him otherwise. Now to you ...", he looked back to Zoe,

"It seems like I have been lacking behind in our father-daughter relationship which caused you too lack in certain areas where experience and education are necessary! Let's do some training exercise together first, shall we?", he revealed a smile that wasn't a smile.

Zoe shuddered already but accepted her punishment without complaining.

....

In the restaurant, Arthur and Gary were still waiting for their order to get cooked.

"So, would it be ok for you to tell me now about what really happened there back then?", Gary asked expectantly.

Arthur of course knew what he was referring to. The incident and the visions still caused question marks in Arthur's mind to pop up. What was he supposed to say to Gary? That he was questioning himself, his identity? This whole word and his sanity? Maybe he was still stuck in a dream and he just didn't realize it yet. So he only gave him a vague answer:

"You know, since that accident in the Viridian Forest, I have kind of lost my grasp on my memories. But when Rico had hit me and I went down, I got them back, partially. I think. I am still not sure what really happened there."

"How was it even possible to punch me that far away? Isn't that defying the laws of physics somehow? And before he struck my arms, I saw some weird whirl gathering in his hand, do you know what that was?", the dispiarity between Rico's size and his punching power still created great confusion in his mind.

"What?! Did you say whirl?"

"Hm, yeah, that's how it looked to me as far as I remember. Maybe a vortex. It's weird right?"

No, no, hahah, that's not it. Nothing to be surprised about actually, a lot of things are possible in this great world you wouldn't dare to imagine, ever. It's just that I wouldn't have thought that that Nevarrez brat had already started learning the foundations of 'Infinity Force'. You picked the wrong opponent Arthur, bad luck I guess hahaha!", he said casually.

Arthur immediately noticed something familiar and strange when he heard Gary's response.

"Gary, what is Infinity Force? ", he asked him confused. This was the second time already that he heard about this term. The first time had been in the hospital when he received the PokeDex and checked up the information inside. Yet it didn't provide him with any clear details and rejected him with 'Information classfied! Access denied!' when he asked for more. And now it appeared again in a completely different context.

Gary suddenly realized his slip of the tongue but there was no way to take back his words now:

"I ... I am not sure if I can tell you this right now. It's kinda classified and only Pokémon trainers and trainees should have access to this sort of information. How important is it to you, or how urgently do you need to know?", Gary asked hesitatingly back.

"It's very urgent!", Arthur answered faithfully and decisively. It had to with his has past and lost memories. If he was somehow able to regain them he would try anything possible to achieve this.

Gary pondered for a short while but seeing Arthur's determined gaze he quickly let go of his worries:

"Ok, ok I get it haha. If you want to know I will tell you. You would enter the Trainer Academy anyway right? So it's just a matter of time until you learned more about this stuff. And rules are meant to be broken so who cares, haha, but just don't go around spreading what I am about to tell you ok? Promise me!", he said with a serious expression.

"I promise!", Arthur said while nodding vigorously.

"Glad to hear that, haha. I might come into troubles otherwise but I trust you Arthur. Well regarding your issue, if you weren't a human being I would love to dissect your brain!"

Arthur's face froze for a moment when he heard that.

"Hahahahahah! Just a joke, just kidding, haha! Well your brain is indeed really interesting I have to say.

First off Infinity Force, do you want the long or short version?"

"Ehh, I don't know?", he really didn't know.

"Well, hmm, I don't want to hold a lecture here so let's make this short. In a nutshell, you could say that human beings are capable to more than meets the eye.

Have you never wondered how it was possible for us humans to survive amongst these monsters known as Pokemon? Fire spewing, electro shocking, poison breathing wild beasts, how did we manage to come out unscathed and thrive till now?

As cute as they look nowadays, back in pre-historic times our ancestors were constantly struggling for resources and had to always keep up their guards in case of sudden ambushes by Pokemon. Pokemon have thick hides, scales or skins as well as sturdy physiques, always ready for battles but we humans were so fragile in comparison."

"Isn't that the reason why we formed pacts with Pokemon? To protect ourselves?", Arthur remembered Blue's words.

"Yes, that's what is mostly speculated to be the case, but it's also only a part of the truth.

Humans were in constant danger and you can't always rely on external help to get you out of a situation. And that's where Infinity Force comes into play. It's our own special way to summon forth unimaginable strength in times of need and danger.

Most researchers agree that its origin lies in Infinity Energy and its influences on us humans. Pokemon are also able to harness this source of energy which resulted in their different developments of characteristic abilities-"

"Are you saying that we are Pokemon?! And what is this Infinity Energy? It's like I am hearing it everywhere I go but I can't find any explanations for it.", Arthur asked confused.

"No, no, no! Well, I don't know, but probably not. I belive at least that humans and Pokemon should have different origins. As for you other question, that's a whole other topic we could spent hours on talking about. Just accept it as a very powerful source that exists everywhere and that we humans ... might have access to for now.

What's important is that Infinity Force as the name implies has deep ties with Infinity Energy. Something very intangible and hard to research into which is why I am very careful with my wording.

People in history related the core of us humans with different body part like the navel, the heart and the brain.

And it's generally recognised that the brain is this very core region. The place where all decisions are being made and all information and memories we gather are being stored.

It's interesting I think how your memory loss which should be connected to a neurological issue seems to show relations with the field of Infinity Energy!

I can't say what is going on with you without any further tests but I would speculate that somehow that punch of Rico that was clearly reinforced with Infinity Force resulted in a resonance with your deep subconsciousness!

As a consequence your subconsiousness seems to have influenced your consciousness for some unknown reasons and provoked your deep memories to resurface! This is huge Arthur! You can't imagine how valuable your brain would be for research purposes hahaha! This could even lead to the discovery of a completely new organ related to Infinity Energy!"

Arthur didn't know if he should take that as a compliment and just smiled wryly.

"So, you are saying that his punch made me recover my memories?"

"Yes, basically that's it."

"Is there a way to do the same without me getting hit?"

"You shouldn't think about doing something reckless okay? Neither me or anyone else who knows about Infinity Force would even think of doing any kind of experiments in this direction.

Let me make this clear Arthur! You were incredibly lucky to not end up as an idiot after that punch!

I am not sure who taught that foolish boy about Infinity Force but there is a reason for why it is being held back from the general population.

They know enough to take care of their daily lives like not forming pacts with Pokemon too quickly or not having too many Pokemon out at once. But the secrets of Infinity Force are so immensely dangerous that it would be a risk and gamble to freely distribute them amongst people! And no government would be willing to go that far!

Pokemon trainees only learn of the fundamentals of Infinity Force and in their later years they all need to sign confidentiality agreements so that it is ensured no important information leak out!

People from the outside might hear about weird breathing exercises and physique training manuals for health conditioning but they wouldn't understand or grasp the truth beneath that layer!

If that inexperienced boy had hit you with that punch on your head, someone who isn't trained in the ways of Infinity Force ... well, let's say we wouldn't be able to have this discussion right now if that had been the case!

Seriously! I think I will have a talk with the dojo master. We can't let reckless fools run around and keep endangering the safety of the people!"

"Is it really that dangerous?", Arthur couldn't imagine that a simple punch could cause such serious injuries.

"You saw it, right? That vortex he had in his hands, which he was gathering and concentrating energy with. I could have easily defended myself against it but you? If his output had been too high, it could really have blown off your head in the worst case. You see what I am getting at?"

"Blowing off my head?!", he asked astonished and a bit frightened. He only recognised now, how close he had been to death again. They were practically acquaintances already!

"Yes, that's it! It's invisible and still deadly! You see now why it would be too dangerous if too many people learned about this. Especially the wrong people like criminals."

"But, I could see it very clearly and you too -"

"No, actually I couldn't.", Gary interrupted him and scratched his head in embarrassment,

"I sensed it to be specific but I didn't see it like you. I would need to stand much closer to him and also concentrate a lot more."

"Then how come I could see that?", Arthur wondered. If even a fullfledged trainer wasn't capable to do so then how should he?

"That's the thing. That's why I was so surprised before when you mentioned the vortex so vividly. People who aren't trained in Infinity Force really shouldn't be aware of any movements of these energies. It's much too taxing and consumes a lot of mental stamina if you can't control it appropriately. I assume that it's a latent talent you unconsciously activated. Your energy perception must be really high ...", just when he was about to continue explaining, a loud wild rumble sounded out from Arthur's stomach,

"Grhhhhohhhuhh!"

Arthur felt a strong wave of exhaustion and weakness washing over him. His face became increasingly red and he had to apologize.

Shortly after the food was delivered:

"Right on time, hahah! Let's get down to the real business, haha, we can still talk afterwards."

.....