- Part 1 -

Brian panted holding tightly onto his Pidgeot as the large pokemon collapsed on the ledge of solid cloud. The trainer smiled at the relatively solid ground and patted his starter. "We made it, the Great Shell Storm. Rumored home of a Rayquaza," he said rolling off the bird and onto the fluffy material. The two of them looked outward, where winds and rain were whipping by at a fast pace that was only held at bay by outcroppings of the more solid clouds they were now resting on.

For a while the pair simply rested from the ordeal of reaching the core of the massive oceanic storm. Just to get to the storm they had needed to book passage on a ship going through the area, use their teammate's psychic precognition to find the best time to attempt the trip, and setup in advance three different plans to get back to land afterwards. "Thanks Pidgeot, take a break okay?" Brian said getting up stiffly to return the pokemon, who gave a whistle in acknowledgement.

Moving further from the edge Brian began to inspect his surroundings. "Right, well getting here was the main goal. Now what should we do?" he asked his Xatu as he released him so that the Psychic type could get a better look at the location now that they were shielded from the harsh weather.

Sir, this material is quite valuable. We could get some quality equipment with the profits from this, the bird pokemon transmitted to his mind, failing to keep images of greed out of the process.

"Yeah, we can try and take some of it back," Brian replied with a sigh, "but I'm more interested in what we can find here. Is there a chance we will see the Legendary?"

The pokemon scratched at the clouds beneath his feet for a moment while turning and spending a moment looking upwards in a variety of directions. The sun would help, he commented with a burst of annoyance at the thick clouds in all directions blocking quite a bit of the light of the day. Hmm, I think that there is a gap between us and the most dangerous creature here. If that's her then she's on another cloud. This was accompanied by an image of a gap between two clouds.

"Okay," the trainer responded noting how the avian's claws were working hard on the material, "Do you have any idea how to collect this stuff then?"

Should be simple enough, was the extent of the actual words in the Psychic's reply, but included in the projection was a vision of Brian's Aerodactyl using her powerful wings to sever a hunk of cloud.

"Alright, then we can have her handle that and store it for when we get back," he said getting ready to release the Rock type only to be interrupted by a short squawk.

Unfortunately this material does not seem to be one that can be transported that easily, Xatu replied with another vision, this one of all four of Brian's pokemon dragging a house sized block of cloud away from the storm.

This earned the bird a disappointed look. "Three things. One, Dodrio is not going to be much help with flying in this weather. Two, even if you and Aerodactyl tried to help we aren't getting that big a cloud through those winds safely. Finally, number three, we do not need to build a floating house just so we can travel and keep a bunch of extra stuff around at the same time."

The Psychic gave a huff at this reprimand sticking his beak in the air. It would not become a house. We would sell most of it and then build a storage shed. The Argument could pull it for us while we're on the ground. He then cautiously opened an eye and flinched slightly at his trainer's response to the nickname he used for the three headed pokemon. I suppose we would have to find a calmer section to get that much out. Give me a bit to analyze the future and I'll see what we can do.

"Alright, I'll trust you with that as long as you can do it while we walk. I want to see more of this place," Brian replied checking over his bag and starting to move further into the caves of solid cloud. Xatu huffed again at the idea before following along with casual flaps of his wings.

After around an hour of fairly calm exploration among the clouds Brian began to feel strange. It started with a prickling sensation along his arms that soon spread to the rest of his body. Sir? Xatu asked concerned as his arms began to change. The limbs grew a coat of brown avian feathers as they reshaped themselves into a pair of wings. The feathers continued down the limbs to coat his chest as it thinned slightly, and then extended up his neck replacing his hair with a similarly styled plume. His face pushed forward slightly as his lips and teeth melded together into a short beak. His legs also gained feathers traveling down to just before his ankles, where instead his skin changed to scales as his feet were changed into a pair of talons.

His clothing was also altered to some degree by the change, although the most notable aspect of this was the vanishing of his shoes and socks to leave his new talons resting on the clouds. The only other clearly visible change to the garments was the short sleeves of his shirt expanded in diameter while shrinking somewhat in length to allow for more movement of his new wings.

Stumbling slightly at the event Brian grabbed at a nearby wall of solid cloud with the feathered end of his left wing while his right one took hold of the strap to his pack. Blinking the trainer gave a wordless chirp of confusion before he was set upon by a terrified green and white bird.

"Brian, oh no. What's happening?" Xatu chirped with obvious worry. Sir, are you okay? he then sent at the transformed human.

"Xatu?" the trainer said in a higher pitch than his natural voice. He looked over his right wing, noting that the end of it was holding the strap in a way he had previously seen the Psychic type hold things. "What the?" he chirped, blinking at the sound of the non-human words.

"What do I tell him?" Xatu asked himself aloud. "How can you explain turning into a bird?" The soft sounds were just barely audible to his trainer.

"I'm a bird?" Brian said more loudly taking his wing from the strap to try an feel his face. While there was little feeling from the edges of the feathers that brushed against his new beak there also wasn't the expected sensation of the skin on his face being rubbed by the stiff quills.

"Did I send that?" the Psychic type asked louder looking at his trainer, and becoming confused when he got a nod in return.

"Yeah, I think-" Brian started only to be cut off.

"I know that I didn't send that question, sir," the pokemon said strongly. "If you heard that then you are understanding me." A shudder went through the green feathers as he confirmed the results.

The trainer looked with wide eyes at his pokemon, and then looked over his body again this time flexing his talons and opening and closing his beak. "Okay, okay. This is a full team problem," he finally replied.