"Ugh…" I say as I groggily awake from my slumber. "Why does my head hurt so much? It's like I was sleeping on hardwood flo-" That's when my vision clears and I notice this isn't my room.
The room is fairly simple. A twin-size bed with a black nightstand nearby; a light blue paint coating adorns this square room. Across from the foot of the bed is a hanging mirror.
I walk up to the mirror after collecting myself. My slightly-built body at five feet, four inches is the same as my facial features are. Slightly angular face, but there's still some baby fat present, fairly normal sized nose, not too big or too small, slight squint in the eyes, but nothing too noticeable and somewhat thick eyebrows that are obviously kempt.
"Hmm, it appears I haven't changed much." Then I remember the ring. "Wait up. Did my dream actually come true? I do remember dreaming about Pokémon, but there's no way this can be real. Dreams and reality are in two separate realms that don't correlate with each other."
As I continue to talk to myself, a young woman enters the room and screams, "Clara!"
I am scared witless. "Miss. Please. I don't know where I am or how I ended up here. I don't know what to do…" I plead with her until a large bird shows up behind her.
Standing at about three and a half feet tall, this is the largest bird I've ever seen. With large talons, red feathers slicked back across its head, a light brown wing color and short, cream-colored feathers covering the chest, it starts to come towards me. I then notice the long tail feathers which are either red or orange that compliments the red feathers on the head. Then the eyes, they show no fear; only pure determination to accomplish what must be done.
Terrified and hyperventilating, I start backing away from this beast. "Miss, I'm no intruder to your household. I just found myself in this room when I woke up. I'm just as confused as you are about this situation."
The woman, not buying any of it, starts to command her bird, "Clara, subdue him. Just, don't kill him."
The large bird nods in acknowledgement and starts to lift its wings, which are an impressive fifteen feet wing span, before I suddenly drop to my knees, hands behind my head.
"I give up. I don't know what's going on. I'm terrified and confused. Your bird can easily overpower me and I'm in position to fight back. Can you please accept my surrender?" I just took the coward's way out. What the hell's wrong with me?
Startled, the bird cocks its head back to its owner and from its beak came, "Pidgeotto?"
I face-palm right then and there.
She forgot her necklace, again. I've got a Pidgeotto who can't "talk" to me, a stranger who happens to be in my house, clearly just as confused as I am. It's got to be a Thursday. I've never really liked Thurs-
Hysterical laughter and jumbled phrases break my train of thought.
"It's...real! That ring… really did send...me to the...Pokémon world! And here...I thought it was just...some prank."
Bewilderment spread across my face as he says that. "Um, are you okay?" Still more hysterical laughter from the stranger.
If everything he's said is true, or at least partly true, he doesn't pose any threat at all. And what's he talking about the Pokémon world? There's only one world and it's this one.
"Clara, do you mind going back to put your necklace on and change form? This man doesn't pose any threat to us."
She nods and leaves the room
"Alright, I'll try and talk to him."
I start to calm down from my bout of hysteria as I notice the Pidgeotto leaving the room.
Am I no longer a threat, or is it going to get something more dangerous? Please, don't be a Charizard, I don't want to be cooked alive.
Still in my thoughts, playing out the scenario if a Charizard comes, the woman approaches me.
"Are you okay?" she asks in a concerned voice.
I quickly dart my head up and pleadingly with a hint of fear, "Please don't send a Charizard. I don't want to be cooked alive." My eyes are watering up as the thought of dying is present.
She starts to laugh, "Even if I had a Charizard, I'm not that mean to have a person cooked alive if they have no chance of defending themselves."
Okay, she doesn't have a Charizard and she doesn't have any intentions of killing me. I think I'm safe for the moment.
"Um, my name's Nate. I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble for you."
She regains her composure shortly after. "Nice to meet you, Nate. My name's Holly and do you mind telling me just how this situation came to be?"
Still slightly confused about her sudden change of tone, I quickly nod my head.
"Just follow me downstairs. I'll get some tea ready," Holly offers her hand to help me up, and I gladly accept. Though her hands are petite in size, she has a strong grip.
I follow behind her as we leave the room. She is roughly two inches taller than me with straight, auburn-colored hair down to her shoulders. Slim, but not anorexic, she has a healthy shine from her lightly bronzed tan. She looks like she is in her mid-twenties but with women, it's hard to tell.
Exiting the room, we enter a hallway that leads towards a staircase. On the walls are pictures of her family. In one photo, there are two middle-aged adults, most likely the parents, a young boy around the age of seven, and what seems to be a young Holly. She appears to be in her preteen years when the photo was taken. Then I notice a Pidgey on her shoulder and a Pikachu in the boy's arms, snuggled comfortably in his warm embrace.
We continue in silence, walking down the hallway to the staircase. She pauses for a second before turning to me, "I forgot to ask, what type of tea do you like?"
I love tea as much as I love sleep, and I LOVE sleep, "What do you have?"
"There's green tea, green tea with honey, ginseng, earl grey, pecha delight, dragon pearl, and one more, let me think..." she thinks about it as we start to go downstairs. "Ah! The last one is acai joy."
"So many choices! Uh, I'll just have the regular green tea, please."
"I think I'll have the same. Haven't had green tea in a while."
Heading towards the end of the staircase, she turns left into what seems to be the living room and a little further is the dining room and kitchen. We walk straight past the living room. It has a half circle couch with black leather upholstery and a forty inch flat screen TV hanging on the wall in front of it. It looks like no one has been using it for a while.
Is she the only one living here, Pidgeotto? It seems so quiet and lonely in here. By the way, where is that Pidgeotto?
We enter the dining room; I notice it was a square table made of wood. The corners are rounded and the table legs curved inwards only to come out a little bit. I take a seat that faces towards Holly as she enters the kitchen and starts preparing the tea.
"It'll take about five to seven minutes, okay?"
"The wait's fine for me. I'm more than grateful for you not killing me and offering me a drink, I'll be more than happy to wait for a little bit."
She turns towards me and gives me a grin. I had seen her face before but was in no mental state to get a clear look at her. She has an angular face like mine, but a bit more rounded. Large chestnut eyes that brim with life and a petite nose and mouth that tops off the whole thing.
Just then, a female figure enters the dining room. She has a fairly decent sized chest but with a baggy tee shirt on, it's hard to tell. Her hair is deep red in color, reaching down to the middle of her back. Red and orange tail feathers protrude from her back, telling me she isn't entirely human. Standing at about five foot three inches, she looks quite charming, even though she isn't completely human.
"Miss, I've returned like you asked." This person turns to me and gives a cold stare. Her eyes say, Don't try anything funny.
What did I ever do to her? This is the first time I've met her.
Holly greets this person, "Ah, Clara, this is our new guest." She points to me, "Clara, this is Nate. Nate, this is Clara."
I get up from my chair and walk towards her, saying, "Clara, nice to meet you," as I offer my hand to shake hers.
She looks at my hand warily, but takes it nonetheless. Though her handshake is not particularly strong, it is not too weak either. She's uncertain with the whole ordeal of her previous opponent being welcomed in her home.
"Hi," she says coldly, keeping her eyes on mine as if trying to read my inner thoughts. She releases her grip first, taking a step back, slightly pleased with herself as she sees no threat from me.
Holly overlooks our introduction and announces, "Tea is ready. Clara, would you like stay with us? Nate is going to tell his story."
Clara nods and takes the seat opposite of me as Holly sets the tea on the table. I grab my cup and taste it. It is definitely brewed with high-quality tea leaves.
"It's really good. Thank you so much," I normally say that out of habit if someone offers me something, but this time I really mean it. This tea is really good.
"You're welcome," she places her cup down. "Before you start, I'd like to apologize for sending Clara to attack you when we first met." She looks at Clara. "I thought you were some thief, or worse."
Confusion spread across my face as I said, "Are you telling me that this charming woman attacked me?" Clara looks up too and blushes a little, but returns back to her calm demeanor as I turn to her. "What attacked me was a bird, not a woman."
Holly cocks her head to the side, "Wait, you didn't know that Pokémon had humanoid forms alongside their normal appearance?"
"Um, no. I thought they only had their Pokémon forms only," I said, disbelief in my voice prevalent.
Holly turns to Clara, "Clara, do you mind?"
Clara pushes her chair back and leaves the table. She walks to the space between the living room and dining room as they aren't connected by a hallway. A white light engulfs her whole body as the clothes simply fall away from her. Just as soon as it starts, it ends. What is in front of us is the same Pidgeotto who I met earlier.
Astonishment spreads across my face as I see this, "Well, that changes everything."
"Boss, we've just received a signal from the device we sent through the Dimensional Warper. Though the chances were slim, it's back in our world."
I look up from my desk towards the messenger of good news, "Good. Now why don't we retrieve our little device, then?"
The messenger leaves, leaving me alone in my office. "Well Nate, I hope you don't regret your dream."