Stella felt a hand gently nudging her. "Hey, wake up..."
"Mmmmpff," Stella groaned in response. "Just wake me up later grandma… I've still got like five more minutes..."
Stella rolled over and slowly opened her eyes, expecting to see her grandmother's face, but instead saw a familiar quilava in her place.
"Morning," Cress greeted happily.
"Whaaa!" With widened eyes, Stella yelped and suddenly scrambled backwards in shock, tripping over her own legs and crashing upside-down into the wall behind her. "Ow..."
Stella was once again an eevee in an unfamiliar place, talking to a pokémon. Though upside down, Stella quickly glanced at her surroundings; the two were in a small unassuming bedroom decorated in what seemed to be a traditional-looking Johto aesthetic. The floors, walls, and ceiling were made of light spruce wood with red-wood accented pillars embedded in each corner of the room. The entrance to the room was covered by a beige-colored paper bamboo screen door with simple geometric designs on it. The bed Stella had slept on was made of thick brown and yellow thatch, though now it was scattered across the floor due to Stella's scrambling. An open box with fresh thatch peeking out of it could be seen nearby; presumably, thatch could be taken from it to make the beds. High above the box, there was a small glassless window letting in some morning sunlight.
An upturned Stella then regarded Cress silently with a confused expression, trying to figure out what she should even say.
"Are you okay?" Cress asked after a few moments of silence.
"Yeah... sorry." Stella replied hesitantly as she rolled back onto her feet. "You just surprised me, that's all..." Stella's voice trailed off as she began to contemplate her situation; turns out that waking up to a talking pokémon and becoming a pokémon is just as confusing the second time as it is the first, especially when it happens without warning.
Gathering her thoughts, Stella remembered that she had travelled to Collis Village with Cress and Talia the last time she had been in this world. She had now presumably woken up in the village, though Stella couldn't be certain because her memory was a bit hazy; she couldn't remember what had happened between arriving in the village and falling asleep. Why was she here again? Stella had heard of recurring dreams, but everything seemed too consistent to be a dream. Perhaps her initial assumption that she had been and was still currently dreaming was wrong? Why was any of this even happening? She had too many questions and it was starting to give her a headache.
"You look like you have a lot on your mind," Cress noticed.
Stella was dragged out of her trance. "Huh?"
"You're just staring into nothing without saying anything. You probably have a lot of questions right now, about where you are and what's going on. Am I right?"
Stella gave a slow detached nod. Did he know something?
"Righty then, that's what I came to wake you up for actually. I know it's a bit sudden, but can you follow me?"
With nowhere else to go and eager to learn more about her situation, Stella decided to trust Cress and follow him.
The two walked out of the room and into a hallway. The rest of the building had a similar aesthetic to the bedroom with the walls being made of light spruce wood and red accents present in some of the minor decor elements. There were a few other paper doors along the length of the corridor, with wooden plaques numbering each one. Stella and Cress just walked out of room seven.
After Stella followed Cress, who happened to be walking on all fours, for a bit down the stretch of hallway, she asked, "Where are we going?"
Cress turned and replied, "We're going to see Madam Dravé in her chambers here at the town hall. She's the village elder, though I suppose she doubles as a mayor too. We did some reading last night and learned some things about your clingy scarf."
"So we're in the town hall, huh. And the scarf too?" Stella glanced down at her neck where her scarf was hanging. She'd almost forgotten about it.
Once the two finished walking down the hall, they climbed up a set of stairs. Stella tried to mimic Cress as they climbed the stairs since she wasn't particularly experienced walking up steps as a quadrupedal pokémon.
Once they had reached the top of the stairway, the two were welcomed with a hearty greeting, "Hey Cress and Stella!" The voice belonged to a Braviary that had just walked around the corner. "Where are you two off to?"
"His voice seems familiar. Wait… he knows my name?"
"Madam Dravé wanted to speak to Stella since they weren't able to get properly introduced last night." Cress replied.
"Ah cool cool. I'm headed off to sentry duty this morning. Think you'd be open to spar against later? Battling you is fun as heck!"
"Yeah, sure!" Cress replied. "I don't have any official duties for a while, so I'd be down."
"Aight' mate. I'm actually going to be late if I don't rush, so I'll catch up more later. Let me know later what time you want to spar, and nice meeting you last night Stella!"
"See you Elges!" Cress replied as the Braviary opted to glide down the stairs instead of walking, disappearing past them.
"Elges is his name? He has sentry duty? That voice sounds familiar. And he's met me before…"
A shock-like feeling passed through Stella's body as she suddenly remembered the events of last night.
Stella recalled how Cress, Talia, and herself approached the path that led into the village before being addressed by Elges, who was on guard duty. After a short conversation and introducing herself to him, Stella and the others went inside the village, straight to the town hall where they would spend the night in its dorms. Stella then remembered falling asleep there.
Her missing memory was back just like that, but why was there even a gap in the first place? This wasn't the first time this had happened either, as she originally couldn't remember the events that lead up to her being knocked out last time.
"Hey, are you okay? Cress asked from a bit farther down the hall. "You're gonna get left behind like that."
Stella blinked quickly a few times as she was jolted out of her memory. "Yeah sorry," Stella replied as she walked over to him. "Just lost in thought again."
"Look, no worries," Cress replied as the two continued down the hall. "I promise Madam Dravé will answer your questions, she's quite knowledgeable about these sorts of things. She's pretty relaxed too, so you shouldn't be nervous about talking to her either."
Taking those comments in mind, Stella continued to follow Cress until they reached a big door. The door was made of a slightly darker variant of the spruce wood used in the rest of the building, and bordering it, was a red accented frame. As Cress slowly pulled open the door, he said, "She's probably meditating, so we should be quiet when going in."
Stella nodded as the both of them slowly made their way into the room.
The chamber was about triple the size of the room Stella woke up in before. It was mostly dark with only a few slits of light filtering through the thin windows, illuminating numerous specks of wood dust floating in the air. From what Stella could see, it was fitted to be some sort of study with bookshelves adorning some of the walls and a desk for studying in the corner. As she entered, she was caressed by the subtle and calming smell of lax incense, which came from a burner by the center of the room. Next to the incense burner, a large and visibly old altaria was seated on top of a pile of pillows in a relaxed stance; they had their head tucked into their cotton-enveloped wings, which they wrapped around themselves like a cocoon.
"Madam Dravé?" Cress asked at what seemed like a whisper.
After a moment of silence, Cress spoke again, except a bit louder this time. "Erm... Madam Dravé?"
The altaria poked their head out of their wings and glanced at Cress and Stella for a moment.
"Oh gracious me, my apologies. I didn't hear you two come in. I was quite focused on my meditation!" The altaria then rose, stretching her wings outwards and her legs up and down. "Welcome to my study you two! I'm sure Cress has told you Stella, but I've called you here to discuss your strange circumstances. Particularly about the scarf that is stuck to you. Though first do either of you want any water? Are you hungry at all?"
"Uh, no thanks I'm good." Stella replied.
"I'm good too." Cress replied.
"Ah excellent!" She exclaimed. "Though I will say…" Her voice trailed off as she craned her neck forwards to get a better look at Stella. "It's rather dark in here isn't it." She then turned to her left towards the windows and let out a huge gust of wind by flapping her wings. All of the windows on the wall flung open thanks to the flurry of wind, scattering some loose papers on the floor, and letting light flood into the room. "Ah goodness, that's much better. Darkness is excellent for relaxing, but not so much for seeing."
"Ah... yeah..." Stella hesitantly replied, surprised at how much force the old altaria could put out.
"Hmmm. Now that I can see you properly, I believe that is the harmony scarf you are wearing there."
"We were right then!" Cress exclaimed.
"The harmony scarf?" Stella looked at Cress, then down at the dark and light green zigzagged scarf wrapped around her neck. "What do you guys know about it?" Stella asked, eager for answers.
"Allow me." With her beak, the altaria pulled out a thick book from her side and placed it in front of her. "Could you come here for a moment so I may show you?"
Stella started walking towards Madam Dravé, who seemed to be watching Stella very intently; as Stella approached Madam Dravé, she noticed this. "Something wrong?" Stella asked.
"Just a pondering of mine... Cress, could you leave me and Stella for a bit? It might be more comfortable for Stella if just she and I were to talk."
Before Cress could begin to respond, Stella said, "Actually... I'm okay with Cress staying." She didn't know why, but despite barely knowing him, Cress was the closest thing Stella had to a friend in this world. Cress did help her in the cave and seemed to be friendly, so Stella didn't mind. Plus having someone who was at least somewhat familiar near her put her at ease. "Doesn't bother me."
Madam Dravé chuckled, "Fair enough then. If you aren't bothered, then fine by me. This may actually make things more convenient."
Stella turned to look at Cress and gave him a small nod as a sort of affirmation. Cress tilted his head and raised a brow, giving a confused look for a split moment, but then understood, giving a nod back.
"Stella," Madam Dravé called, bringing her back to attention. "To explain the implications and importance of the scarf you wear, the harmony scarf, I'd like for you to understand some history related to it." The altaria craned their neck down and flipped through some pages of the book with their beak until they reached a page with foreign text and an illustration of Rayquaza firing a beam at a meteor in the sky. "Particularly, the story of the Dyads of Legend."
"The duo of pokémon who saved the world multiple times over." Cress stated. "I've heard a passing story or two, but never heard all of the details. Just enough that I know about the scarf."
"Indeed," the altaria replied, "the Dyads of Legend were a duo of pokémon who reincarnated various times throughout the past few centuries in order to prevent certain calamities from destroying the planet. I recommend you two sit down for a bit, this may take a moment."
After nodding in response, both Stella and Cress sat down.
"The earliest known dyad was the Dyad of Sky; they traveled to the clouds and appeased the legendary Rayquaza to stop a star from falling into the planet." She gestured to the picture of Rayquaza firing a hyper beam into the falling ball of fire.
Madam Dravé flipped to the next page where there was an illustration of a floating green clockwork gear with ornate designs surrounding it. A drawing of Dialga presided over the gear.
"The next dyad was the Dyad of Time; they traveled through time and prevented the temporal paralysis of the planet by returning artifacts known as the time gears to their rightful location at the peak of Temporal Tower in the hidden land where Dialga."
Stella listened quietly, intent on figuring out more about her situation, but was starting to get impatient. "Sorry," Stella interrupted, "This all sounds pretty interesting, and I don't mean to be rude, but what does this have to do with the scarf that's stuck to me?"
"You'll see," Madam Dravé replied.
She flipped to the next page where there was an illustration of a giant palace made of ice. In the center, there was a red core surrounded by ice crystals.
"The next dyad was the Dyad of Hope who destroyed an entity known as the Bittercold. It would be a predecessor to the next threat to this planet, Dark Matter."
Madam Dravé flipped to the next page where there were various illustrations. There was a drawing of a giant tree in space, a red core surrounded by what looked like black cage, and two intertwined scarves bearing the same design on the scarf Stella wore.
"That's..." Stella began, "that's the scarf that I'm wearing!"
"Mmmm hmmm," Madam Dravé confirmed, "it appears to be the same one. Though you bear one, there were actually two in the legends. The harmony scarves, or as some call them, the dyadian artifacts, were a tool of sorts used by the Dyad of Life to combat an entity known as Dark Matter, a being that attempted to destroy the planet by sending the earth into the sun. The scarves linked the Dyad together, gave them protection against Dark Matter's anomalous effects and supernatural powers to combat the being."
"What kind of power?" Cress asked.
"We're not exactly certain. The only information we have is from secondhand accounts of pokémon who wrote down these events as they witnessed them. Due to a lack of information and certain inconsistencies, we can't be certain of the species of pokémon, their names, or even whether the ones written here are all of the Dyads that have ever existed throughout time. We are certain though that the harmony scarves gave the Dyad the power to evolve in a strange manner. Not just regular evolution, nor the effects we see from awakening mind you, but the scarves were apparently capable of making a pokémon like bulbasaur evolve directly into an ivysaur, completely skipping over the middle stage."
"Woah, that's... weird," Cress replied.
"Indeed it is."
"Wait..." Stella said as the importance of the scarf she wore sunk in, "So you're telling me that the scarf stuck to me right now is some magical scarf that was used by a legendary duo of pokémon to stop some supernatural entity from destroying the planet?"
"Very likely yes," she simply said, closing the book with her beak.
"Huh… that's... honestly a bit hard to believe." Stella replied. Was she really wearing some sort of legendary artifact?
"Truly?" Madam Dravé asked. "As hard to believe as that scarf stuck around your neck?"
Stella looked down at the scarf, remembering the pair of scissors that it had sliced in half. "I… guess you have a point there but..."
Madam Dravé chuckled. "Typically I wouldn't expect someone so young to be so skeptical. Though I suppose as a human, it'd make more sense that you'd be more doubtful."
"Yeah, I mea-" Stella realized what the altaria just said. "Uh… What?"
Madam Dravé chuckled again. "You are a human, are you not?" she asked with a tilt of her head. "Or at least, you used to be one; before you were transformed into a pokémon. Am I wrong?"
A shiver went down Stella's spine. "How did she know?" Stella thought as she looked at the altaria, trying to understand her intentions. Stella wasn't particularly experienced with discerning pokémon facial expressions, but she could tell that Madam Dravé was trying to ask a genuine question; the altaria's head was tilted slightly, as if she were waiting for a response. "Um..." Having been caught off guard, Stella was uncertain how to respond at first. "Yeah... but... how?" She replied hesitantly.
Cress took in a sharp breath out of surprise. Stella quickly glanced at him. Did he know too?
"Several small things," the altaria said. "Cress, perhaps you may be better suited to explain here."
"Oh uh..." Cress replied. "Sure, there was a bunch of weird stuff about you, like the scarf that was stuck to your neck, the way you behaved; I mean, you seemed surprised and amazed about every little thing!
"Hey, couldn't I enjoy the view around here?" Stella jokingly replied.
Madam Dravé chuckled. "She does have a point Cress. I think it'd be better if you started from the beginning with what Talia told you, wasn't it her who suggested the theory Stella was a human?"
"Oh, right right. So Talia told me she saw..." Cress recounted how Talia had found a rainbow crystal in the cavern with a scarf trapped inside before finding Stella's unconscious body there. "So basically," Cress continued, "the giant crystal disappears and is replaced with your unconscious body wearing what is apparently the same scarf."
Stella took the new information about the crystal in mind. Did she come from that crystal?
"Apparently by chance she already knew about the story of the Dyad of Hope, the harmony scarf, and what it looked like. Talia happens to be a history buff, so she's just kinda like that. But anyways, with your weird behavior and you wearing the harmony scarf-"
"Sorry if I missed it," Stella interjected, "but what does me wearing this scarf have to do with me being human?"
"Apologies, I forgot to mention," Madam Dravé said, "but one of the pokémon in each Dyad was always a human turned into a pokémon. With you wearing that scarf, it's likely that you are a human."
"Okay, that makes more sense why you'd think I'm a human then. Weirdly specific that there's a human that turns into a pokémon, but okay."
"Additionally," she continued, "though I hate to be rude, your gait just a moment ago was similar to that of a toddler who had just learned to walk; you seem uneasy on your paws. A new body must be hard to adjust to, no?"
"Well uh..."
"Also you did just admit to being human." Cress added.
"Okay yeah, I can't deny that."
Madam Dravé chuckled. "No, I suppose not. I should clarify though, I'm saying this now because I wish for you to feel comfortable here."
"Huh?" Stella replied, obviously having been made uncomfortable after having been exposed as a former human.
"I don't wish for you to spend time holding in being a human as a secret. It's better to remove such an encumberment now rather than have you worry for a while longer. I wish for us to have an open dialogue, so I may assist you better."
"To help me?" Stella asked.
"Yes. I imagine it must be confusing for you to be whisked away to another world and put into a new body with no guidance or reason as to why. So I'm here to provide any help or information to make the experience less jarring for you. It's my job as the village elder to make all visitors feel comfortable."
"I… see… wow, that makes sense then... thanks actually."
Stella was surprised at how kind the pokémon in this world were. Cress caught her when she fell and gave her food back in the cave. She hadn't talked to Talia much yet, but she didn't seem bad from what she saw so far. Madam Dravé seemed to want to help Stella and clear things up for her. Even that braviary Elges she met earlier seemed good-natured.
Stella then thought about everything she was told so far. Even though the explanation she was given shed some light on the nature of her scarf, she felt like there were a few things that she was missing, like why did the harmony scarf refuse to be untied from her neck? And was it really bringing her to this other world? Cress and Madam Dravé seemed to believe that Stella was part of some legendary duo because she was a human-turned-pokémon wearing an ancient artifact. But from what Stella knew, she didn't think that she was some special human from a Dyad.
"You guys..." Stella started, "you guys think I'm the human from the story about the Dyads?"
"That's what we assume," Madam Dravé replied.
"Right, well… Since you guys are helping me and being open with me about what you know, I think I should explain something. I'm a human, but I don't think I'm the human from the legends of the Dyads."
"What do you mean?" Cress asked.
"Well you see..." Stella described her experiences with the scarf during the past few days. Everything from the scarf attacking her when she found it, to having woken up back in her world after waking up in this one. Madam Dravé listened intently with closed eyes while Cress listened with curious ears. "... and that's it really." Stella said, finishing her story. "I don't think I'm part of any sort of legendary duo sent here to save the world. I just happened to stumble onto this scarf, it got stuck to me, and now it's just been sorta bringing me here. At least, I think it's the scarf that's been bringing me back here. It's all just a weird coincidence though."
"Hmmmm," Madam Dravé thought out loud, evaluating what she has heard. "That may be true Stella, but the fact that you bear this scarf and were a human being are each quite significant on their own. It's not a common occurrence for a human to come to our world in the form of a pokémon."
"True, I guess you have a point. It's not normal as far as I know for anyone from my world to turn into a pokémon. Though there were rumors about this guy named Bill who supposedly turned himself into a pokémon, but that's just an urban legend." Stella looked around the room for a moment. "I'll be real with you here, this is literally the weirdest thing that ever happened to me. I mean just being here and being a pokémon..." Stella turned to Cress. "I mean, I've never talked to a pokémon before and now here I am, talking to a pokémon. It's honestly... really cool."
"Same here actually!" Cress responded. "I've never talked to a human before, or at least someone who was a human, so for me this is a once in a lifetime experience!"
Madam Dravé chuckled. "I suppose this is a first for everyone then. You may not be a half of the Dyad, sent here to save us from a disaster, which is frankly a relief. Though there are still some mysteries behind the circumstances of you being here; however, I believe those mysteries will become solved in time. You say you've gone back and forth between both of our worlds multiple times already?"
"Yes..." Stella replied with a tinge of uncertainty in her voice. "I'm not sure exactly how or what triggers it, but I think it happens whenever I fall asleep. The three times I've swapped worlds I either fell asleep or got knocked out. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I guess we'll see later."
"If that's the case, if you can travel back to your world, perhaps then it would be a good idea for you to investigate the harmony scarf in your world while you are there. I know this area quite well and yet I knew nothing about the cave you were found in. You said you accidentally stumbled upon the scarf in your world so I would hope that you can find more success there."
"Right," Stella said, "was thinking the same thing."
"Excellent then! I believe for the time being while you are here, it would be prudent for you to have a guide… Cress?"
"Yes?" Cress asked.
"You and Talia have finished most of your survey work in the area and aren't due to return to the guild for several days, is that right?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Then perhaps could you and Talia act as her guide for a few days? Show Stella around the village, teach her about our world, and answer any questions she might have? If she is to be here for a while, it would help her greatly to have someone acclimate her."
Cress's eyes lit up at the idea. "Wait, really? For real?"
"Yes, I already had the idea in mind since we started talking. Stella already seems comfortable with you, seeing as you and Talia were the ones who found her. Additionally, I would like to keep the number of pokémon who know Stella is formerly a human to a minimum, preferably only to you two and Talia. Is that okay with you Stella?"
"Sure!" Stella exclaimed before turning to Cress "I think it'd be great to have you two as guides! But I don't understand why we need to keep that I'm a human a secret. Like, I'm not too down to share that I'm human because that's a bit of an awkward conversation, not that anyone would believe me anyways though. Is there any reason for that?"
Madam Dravé gave a tired sigh. "I'm afraid of other pokémon getting the wrong idea and spreading rumors," Madam Dravé responded. "In the past, whenever a human came to our world, a disaster would come thereafter because that human would be a part of the Dyad that would save us from that disaster. Though few pokémon know about the legend of the Dyads, if rumors spread about you being a human, then those few may spread the rumor that a disaster of some sort may occur. Other pokémon with bad intentions may want to mess with you and cause trouble too as a result of you being human." Madam Dravé shook her head. "You have to understand that you being transformed into a pokémon in our world has some precedent to it."
"Right, that makes sense," Stella replied. "I was planning on keeping my mouth shut on that, so works out anyways."
"Oh, so that's why you wanted me and Talia to be quiet about it last night." Cress said.
"Indeed," Madam Dravé responded. "Regardless, only us four know so it's nothing to stress over. I simply wish to avoid confusion." Madam Dravé paused for a moment, looking deep in thought. "But I digress. Anyways, we can allow Stella to sleep in room seven for the duration of her stay here, just next door to you and Talia. So you can bring her back here once night comes. I'd also like to see you two in the morning to ensure everything is going well. Talia too."
"Sure," Cress replied, "I'll try and bring her next time!"
"Excellent! Otherwise, I believe I have nothing else to say. I'll be looking into your curious scarf more today if possible. Cress, perhaps now you could give Stella a tour of the village? I wish to return to my meditation."
"Oh yeah, sure thing!"
After saying their goodbyes, Cress and Stella returned to the hallway, gently closing the door behind them, and leaving Madam Dravé to return to her meditation.
As soon as the door closed, Cress showed his excitement by pacing in place, stip-stepping between his legs. "Oh man, this is going to be so cool! I mean heck, I not only get to talk to a human, but also be a guide! I wanna learn so much about humans!" Cress then spun around in a circle as small puffs of fire flared up from his back. "But first I wanna show you the town plaza, the village is pretty small and quiet so we might not see anyone, but there are a few cool pokémon that we can meet that usually pass through there." Cress's eyes lit up as he got another idea. "Ooo! Or maybe I should show you the view above the berry farms, you can see the whole valley below! Maybe they might even have a few fruits they can give away since I'm guessing you're probably hungry by now..." Cress's voice trailed off as he turned to Stella, and noticed that she was staring into nothing with a pout on her face.
"Hey, you okay?" Cress asked.
Stella tensed up as she was brought back to reality. "Sorry. I don't know... I'm just… It's just that…" Stella lifted one of her front paws a little so she could see it. She then quickly glanced around the room before turning to Cress who had his head tilted and wore a concerned expression. She never expected in her entire life that she'd be head-level with a quilava, nor be talking to one, nor be an eevee.
Stella sighed. "I held it together in there so I could hear what I needed to hear, but it's just that it's a lot, you know? Becoming a pokémon, being told all this stuff about how I'm wearing some legendary scarf..." Her voice trailed off before she continued again. "It's just not normal for me. I mean, I thought this was all a dream at first..."
"Hey," Cress started, "I can't say I know exactly how you feel. But I do know that I'd probably also feel super out of place if I was turned into a human and was in this whole new world for no rhyme or reason."
Stella snickered at the idea of a pokémon turning into a human. It was a silly comment from him, but Stella appreciated his attempt to cheer her up.
"But," he continued, "that's why I'm here, okay? I'll help you with anything you want to know or need. Just say the word!"
Now with a slight smile on her face after Cress's words of comfort, Stella looked at him. He had this sort of glowing infectious smile that made you want to smile too. "Thanks," Stella said, " I really appreciate it."
"No problemo! Shall we head out then?" Cress asked as he started to walk ahead.
"I have a question actually."
Cress turned around.
"You can make fire out of your back, right?"
"Yeah…?" Cress questioned.
"Can I see?" Stella asked, "I've never actually seen a quilava in person before."
Cress's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah sure! Though you might wanna step back a little."
Stella took a few steps back. As soon as she did though, Cress tensed his legs as his back flared up, sending a jet of fire upwards about twice as tall as he was long.
"Woah..." Stella muttered as she stared into the flames, taking in the orange glow as she felt the heat emanating from them.
Cress maintained the fire for a few seconds before he let it die out. "Pretty cool, eh?"
Amazed by the feat, Stella took a moment before responding, "Wow, didn't know the fire on your back could go so high."
"Most of us like to show off by showing how strong our fire is. It's sort of a quilava pride thing." Cress then closed his eyes so he could focus. "But I like showing off my finesse."
Stella had a confused expression on her face until Cress showed her what he meant. "And left… And right... And left… And right." With great skill and control, Cress demonstrated that he could individually control each of the heat vents on his back. Choosing only the left back one, or the right back one, or only the front one on his head. He allowed the heat on each vent to flare up and flare down gently, further demonstrating his control.
"Okay, that's pretty cool," Stella replied, "I didn't know a quilava could have that much control over the heat vents on their back."
"Yeppers! And not just any quilava can do that!" he exclaimed proudly as he opened his eyes. "I'd say there are very few quilava who can do that well, if at all."
"I wouldn't know, but it does seem like it takes a lot of focus." Stella said.
"It sure does! Though there is also this one other thing that I've been practicing lately that I'm pretty sure no quilava has ever done before."
Stella raised a brow as Cress closed his eyes again. "So you know how we make fire by using flammable gas?"
"I didn't."
"Well now you know. But anyways, we eject that stuff through our back and set it on fire. It's somewhat connected to our lungs, so if I apply enough air pressure in my body in the right way while I'm venting it out..." Cress then stuck a paw into his mouth, trying to blow out air forcefully while his paw blocked the air. Then Cress gently started flaring up the fire on his back. As he did so, Stella heard the gentle yet rising sound of a whistle.
"Wait. No… no way!" Stella exclaimed as she finally realized what was happening.
As the flame on Cress's back got larger, the whistling sound got even louder. Cress then flared up different sections of his back, creating a few different whistling sounds whose volumes each changed as each flame rose up and flared down.
Suddenly, his flames died down, he took his paw out of his mouth, slumped onto the floor on his belly and started breathing heavily. "It's… hah… hah… pretty hard to… hah… do." He spoke only briefly between breaths. "I'm still figuring… hah.. it out."
Cress took a few moments to breathe as Stella replied.
"That was INCREDIBLE!" Stella exclaimed. "How did you do that? Actually though, are you okay?"
After a few breaths, Cress stood up and replied, "Thanks, I'm fine now. Just need to hold my breath for a while. Making the gas whistle through my vents. It's all in the finesse to make it work though."
Stella gave out a hearty laugh. "Man, that's awesome! I've never seen anything like that before."
Cress looked just behind Stella with a smile. Curious, Stella followed his eyes to a spot behind her, where her tail was wagging. "Huh, my tail is wagging? I guess it is something a pokémon would do when they're happy." Stella tried turning around more to get a better look at her tail, but instead clumsily tripped over her own legs, falling to the floor with a THUD. "HAHAHA!" Stella let out a burst of laughter followed by a snort or two as she laid on the floor. "Guess I'm still a bit clumsy, tripping over my own legs like that."
"Heh, don't sweat it," Cress said with a smile as Stella stood up again, "I'm sure you'll get used to walking the more you do it. Speaking of, shouldn't I be showing you around?"
"...and this is the town plaza!" Cress exclaimed as they reached a crossroads.
As Stella took in a deep breath of the cool mountain air, she looked around. The center of the town plaza consisted of a relatively large and flat multi-colored cobblestone circle; most of the stones embedded in the ground were variants of gray, but there were a few pale blue and pale red colored stones mixed in. It also had a few buildings surrounding it including a Kecleon shop, a storage center, and a few other useful facilities. It also served as a crossroads for the village, splitting off into three directions. The path Stella and Cress came from was a series of stone steps that crawled up the mountain slope towards the higher level of the village which bore the berry farm, town hall, and other important buildings. Another path went off to their right, down the mountainside to a few other homes and buildings. The last path to their left retreated underneath the cover of the trees to a few homes and the entrance of the village.
Cress explained that most of the buildings in the village were built taking into consideration the sloped mountainous terrain. Some of the buildings on slightly flatter terrain were elevated above the ground using thick wooden supports, this kept them firmly attached to the ground while also keeping them level with gravity. However, some buildings on steeper surfaces were built inside the mountainside itself. These ones would usually have windows that were flush with the surface of the earth and small alcoves that lead to their entrance door.
Additionally, most of the buildings were built using local materials like greyish stone from the mountain rock and light spruce wood from the forest trees you could find surrounding the village.
Despite these similarities however, most of the buildings have distinctive shapes and design choices to fit their purpose. For example, some homes for smaller pokémon would usually have a smaller door designed for their size, whereas other homes suited for flying pokémon could have both a ground entrance and a ceiling entrance. This way, they could not only walk in and out, but also fly in and out. However in some other cases, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to how pokémon designed their buildings. Strange shapes jutting out of their structures at weird angles, a tree growing from the roof, a rugged hole in the side of a house that Stella wasn't sure was a proper entrance until she saw a larion casually walk out of it, or other seemingly impractical design choices like these were common. Though these aesthetic picks didn't make the buildings look ugly; for Stella, the organically shaped and unorthodox structures were a refreshing change from the urban rectangle-shaped brick and concrete buildings she was used to.
Cress gave a quick run down of the buildings and the services they provide to Stella. "...and the Kecleon shop over there is where you can buy a variety of supplies if you're ever out on a trip. I think that covers everything around here."
"Wow," Stella replied, "it all seems really convenient. I was wondering though, how big is Collis village? I haven't seen too many pokémon while we were walking around."
"Oh, I think about fifty pokémon live here in the village. It's not too big, so it's pretty cozy around here." Cress then seemed to squint his eyes as he looked towards the path that led into the treeline. "Hey, is that..."
Stella turned to where Cress was looking. Under the forest trees, she saw Talia sitting on the steps of a home, surrounded by a few smaller pokémon who seemed to be listening intently to her.
"Oh hey, isn't that Talia?" Stella asked.
"Sure is," Cress replied. "You guys didn't really get acquainted yesterday, so we should head over and say hi! Especially since she's also going to be your second guide around here."
As they approached, Cress and Stella could hear Talia telling a story to the small group of children that surrounded her. She made various exaggerated expressions to accompany some parts of the story. "...and so the thieves ran from the kecleon in terror. Eventually, when survey teams reached the shop to help the kecleon, they found the thieves at the bottom of a ten meter deep hole, unconscious and deeply bruised."
Each of the children chimed in with surprised comments, "Woah..." "Scary!" "Amazing..." "That can't be true!" "Kecleon can do all that?"
"And that's why nobody even thinks about stealing from kecleon shops. Anyone who has ever tried was promptly defeated with a hyper beam to the face." Talia made a whooshing motion and sound with her arms and mouth to get her point across to the children.
"Woaaaahhhh..." the children spoke in unison.
Talia then looked past the children where she noticed Cress and Stella watching her. Talia seemed a bit embarrassed, knowing Cress and Stella saw her acting for the children. "Oh… Hey Cress, Stella. Didn't see you there."
The children turned around to see who had arrived. "Cress!" "It's Mr. Cress!" "Who's that eevee?" "Oh wow it's Cress!" The children made various comments as a small fennekin, a karrablast, a rockruff, a teddiursa, and a venipede proceeded to surround Cress, hounding him for attention. To Stella, they sounded like they couldn't have been over six or seven years old.
Cress addressed the children as he stood up on his hind legs, trying to not get overwhelmed by them, "Hey, it's good to see you all again."
"Mr. Cress?" The Fennekin asked. "I've been working on my fire like you taught me! Can I show you?"
"Sure thing, you can show me!"
The other children turned to the fennekin as they quickly separated from the group. The fennekin then took a deep breath before blowing out a small flame.
The children replied with awe at the fire technique, "Woah, that's cool!" "Awesome..." "I'm hungry" " I wish I could breathe fire."
"Great going Tally! If you keep working at it like that, I'm sure you'll evolve soon!"
The fennekin's eyes lit up at the comment, "you think so? Then I'll work every day to become stronger! I've always wanted to have hands."
As Stella watched the group of children continue to hound Cress with questions, a teddiursa from the group walked over to Stella. "Excuse me ma'am, are you an eevee?" The teddiursa asked.
"Uhhh, I guess yeah. I am." Stella replied.
"Can I pet your fur?"
"Uhhh..." Stella was surprised at the child's bluntness. Stella turned to Talia for assistance, but her anxious glance was returned with a soft smile and a shrug.
"Pleaaaaaaaase ma'am." Stella turned back to the small Teddiursa. "I've never seen an eevee before and I heard their fur is really really soft."
"Sure, I guess. Why not, right?"
"Yay!" The teddiursa walked closer to Stella where he started to feel through Stella's mane. "Wow, it really is super soft! Your fur is much softer than mine! It's very floofy."
"Oh uh… thank you." Stella replied, unsure how to take the unusual compliment.
One by one, the children hounding Cress noticed Stella. They then began to surround Stella and ask her various questions.
"Hey, can I feel your fur too?"
"Oh uh, sure."
"Is it true that you can evolve into like ten different pokémon?"
"It's about that amount I think."
"Where do you come from? Are you visiting?"
"Well uh..."
"Wow, your fur really is soft."
When Talia noticed Stella was starting to get uncomfortable, she decided to interfere. "Children, could you please Stella alone for a bit? She's new around here and needs some time and space to adjust."
"Aw man..." "Okay..." "But I didn't get to pet Ms. Stella's fur." "That's fine I guess..." They all replied glumly.
"Oh mom is here!" The venipede suddenly exclaimed.
Stella turned around to see what they meant. "Woah!" She exclaimed. Stella was surprised to see an enormous scolipede towering above her; She didn't hear the giant scolipede arrive behind her due to the children distracting her. The scolipede was at least eight times taller than her! She kept forgetting how small she was as an eevee compared to when she was a human.
"Hi Mrs. Petra!" "Wow Vellis, your mom is so cool!"
The scolipede turned to Talia, "Thanks for taking care of the children for me. I hope they weren't too much trouble."
"It's no problem." Talia said, "They're all very well-mannered."
"That's excellent Talia." The scolipede then lowered themselves so that the children could climb onto her. She had a ladder and a small sitting platform attached to her back so she could comfortably lift and carry the small pokémon. "C'mon children, I'm taking you back home."
"Yay, scolipede bus!" one of the children exclaimed as they all climbed onto Petra's back. As soon as the last child climbed on, Petra lifted her head and noticed Stella. "Oh, you must be the eevee that Cress and Talia brought here last night. I bid you welcome to our humble village, I do hope the children didn't give you too many problems."
"Oh… uh," Stella hesitantly replied to the enormous pokémon before her. "Not too much really. They're just a bit energetic, that's all."
"Good good. I have to take the children home now, so I must be going, but I do hope that we can talk more later. Say goodbye everyone!"
"Goodbye!" "Bye Cress, I'll work on my fire so it's even bigger next time!" "Anyone got any snacks?" "Can I feel your fur next time Stella?" "Bye Cress, Talia, and Stella!" The children spoke in a mix of excitement as Petra carried them through the plaza and down the stone steps.
"Well, that was something," Cress said as Petra crawled out of view.
"It sure was," Stella replied.
"They're a bunch of ankle biters aren't they," Talia said as she walked over to her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "So what brings you two here? I presume the meeting with Madam Dravé went well this morning."
"So you see..." Stella and Cress took turns going over the discussion they had earlier in the morning with Madam Dravé. Everything from Stella being a human to how Talia and Cress are meant to be her guides.
"Hmm, so that's the situation then." Talia thought out loud. "It was just a hunch of mine that you were a human, but I didn't expect to be spot on. I don't want to speak about it too much here in public though, we wouldn't want this to catch wind. It's a small town, rumors spread fast."
"Right," Stella responded, "Madam Dravé talked to us about that too." Just then, Stella's stomach let out a low grumble. Grrrrrrrr. "Wow, didn't know I was that hungry."
As if on cue, Cress's stomach began to grumble too. Grrrrrrr. "Me too! I guess it's because we didn't eat anything this morning."
"Truly?" Talia asked with a raised brow. "You forgot to bring Stella and yourself food to eat? So much for being a responsible guide." She teased.
"Well hey!" Cress exclaimed "We weren't that hungry before."
"Definitely," Stella said, "I kinda lost track of my stomach too. Makes sense that I'd be hungry though, I don't think I've eaten since yesterday."
Talia looked surprised at Stella's comment. "Well then, we'd better get ourselves some food, I'm also hungry myself. Now let's see... We could get some stuff from Kecleon's or our stash..." Talia paused for a moment in thought. "Or perhaps instead we could go straight to the berry farms. We still have a favor from ol' Zanza, I'm sure he'd let us have some of his fresh harvest if we asked."
After being graciously offered some berries by Zanza the zangoose, the three sat at a small table, munching on their berries.
"Man, is all your food this amazing?" Stella asked as she started on a second bowl of food. Despite initially struggling to eat the food without hands, she eventually learned how to grab each berry in between her paws and hold them up to her mouth so she could eat them.
"Sure is," the zangoose responded. "When you get 'em fresh, they taste nearly as good as a flambéed 'tater pie."
"I have no clue what that is, but it also sounds amazing." Stella replied as she reached half-way through the second bowl. "Thanks for all the food!"
"Haha no prob kiddo, eat your fill. Though I gotta be thankin' you two Cress and Talia for helping me out the other day. I bet findin' me an x-eye seed in a nearby dungeon wasn't easy. A psychic-type friend wanted one and I wanted to give one as a present. He says it lets him see into higher dimensions or sumthin' like that for his meditation. I don't get all that psychic mumbo jumbo, but if he's happy then I'm happy."
"Don't concern yourself Zanza," Talia replied, "we're tasked with low-level surveying all the dungeons around the village for training anyways. It wasn't far out of our way."
"Well good then, glad it wasn't a hassle." Zanza the zangoose then stood up. "Imma head out to the fields for some more harvestin'. If y'all need anything, gimme a holler!"
"Okay, thank you Zanza!" Stella said.
As Zanza walked off down into the fields below, the trio continued to eat. They were sitting at a table that overlooked the whole berry farm and the mountain valley farther below. The berry farm was terraced with stone brick so that the crops could grow on flat ground despite the sloped, mountainous terrain. Pecha, oran, cheri, and many other common berry types and other crops could be seen scattered among the different steps of the terraced farm. As they watched the setting afternoon sun, the clouds in the valley far below slowly shifted to a golden caramel-esque hue.
Stella had a thought, prompting her to ask Cress and Talia a question. "So this survey work... Is it like your job or something?"
Cress's eyes lit up, "Oh yeah, we're currently a mystery dungeon survey team in training. We go into mystery dungeons to complete jobs, take notes on common structural layouts, record the type of pseudomon that appear, and the types of items you can find inside."
"Uhhh… What? What's a mystery dungeon?"
Cress and Talia took a brief moment to explain the nature of mystery dungeons to Stella. Strange anomalous maze-like areas with layouts that change after every night passes. They can take the form of various structures including caves, forests, swamps, even temple ruins. Inside, there are various dangers including traps and pseudomon.
"So..." Stella asked, "what are these 'pseudomon'?"
"Well," Talia began, "they're entities that look like pokémon and move like pokémon."
"And they can use moves and fight like normal pokémon." Cress interjected.
"Exactly," Talia said, "but somehow these creatures are made by the dungeon itself. They spawn by emerging from the walls and floors of the dungeon, any solid surface really. They're extremely aggressive, setting their sights on attacking any and all pokémon they see. Once you defeat them, they shatter into a sort of rocky powder and remerge with the dungeon terrain."
Stella was taken aback at their explanation of mystery dungeons. "What the hell… Why even go inside in the first place if they're that dangerous?"
"We're paid to go into these dungeons and perform various tasks." Talia replied, "Usually we'll have requests from pokémon who need help. Perhaps they need an item or are stuck inside and need a rescue. As a survey team though, we also have the job of documenting and logging the general structure of the mystery dungeons."
"But how can you do that if their layout keeps changing?" Stella asked.
"We just document the type of pseudomon, dungeon size, items we find inside, and other details that stay consistent every time the dungeon shifts. It's important to do this since dungeons can spontaneously appear and disappear in unpopulated areas, so we need to keep track of them. Though most dungeons are stable and can stick around for many years."
"There's also the loot," Cress added.
"True true," Talia said, "most dungeons are capable of making food, clothing, tools, mostly random junk. Some dungeons however we can use to farm certain types of resources that can't be obtained very easily outside of a dungeon, so we mark down which dungeons commonly produce a lot of a certain rare food or other item."
"Wow, sounds like you two do a lot of travelling then." Stella said
"Yeah, we definitely do," Cress replied, "but honestly we're still pretty new to this stuff. We've maybe gone through like fifteen or twenty dungeons so far, whereas most teams have gone through at least hundreds. But I think we have a good dynamic going on so far. I'm pretty good at fighting off most kinds of pseudomon, but Talia is an absolute expert on all mystery dungeon related stuff. Identifying items, how to use them, qualities of different dungeons, etcetera."
Talia gave a soft smile in response to her partner's comment, "That's what a lot of studying gets you. I'm not much for fighting, but in a dungeon you're forced to, especially in cases when you're surrounded by pseudomon on all sides."
Cress let out a small laugh, "Oh, are you talking about that one dungeon where we got surrounded in the middle of a four-way crossroads? Where we had to use the blast seed? Man that stuff's spicy."
Talia and Cress continued to talk to Stella, telling her about their dungeon adventures, and answering any other questions she had until the sun started to set.
"We'll be in the room next door if you need anything, okay?" Talia said.
"Ok, night then." Stella replied.
"Good night." Talia entered her room and slid close the bamboo door.
Stella was back in the town hall dorms with Cress and Talia, where they would be sleeping for the night.
Stella entered her room and awkwardly closed the screen door with her paw. Moonlight gently made its way into her room from a small window high up, illuminating the mess that was her thatch bed. Thatch was still scattered around the room from her confusion earlier in the morning. "I guess I have to sleep like a pokémon too, no normal human beds around here," Stella thought to herself. She then looked around at the scattered pieces of thatch, "The thatch's gotta be better than sleeping on the floor, right?"
Stella began to nudge all of the pieces of thatch together in a pile that somewhat resembled what her original bed looked like. "Close enough." Stella then climbed onto the small pile and nestled herself in. "Huh, surprisingly comfortable."
Stella took some time to think about everything that she experienced today. It was a lot to process, becoming a pokémon again, a town full of talking pokémon, mystery dungeons, then there was the matter of the scarf she wore, the harmony scarf.
She held the scarf up to the moonlight with a paw. Supposedly it had some sort of special powers and originally belonged to a duo of legendary heroes. "Those tales about the Dyads, saving the world multiple times, defying the legends themselves, fighting to the finish to save the world, defeating a grant crystal creature, or preventing the earth from falling into the sun. Those stories seemed too surreal to be real." No. Stella realized that they had to be real; after all, she was wearing the harmony scarf, the artifact used by the Dyad of Life. Though the only special thing Stella could see about the scarf was how clingy it was. "Why me? And aren't there supposed to be two of you…?" It was then that Stella realized. "I started travelling between both worlds ever since I started wearing this scarf, so it has to be causing this. Then maybe my human body is wearing one scarf, and my eevee body is wearing the other scarf? So by wearing both scarves, somehow my human and pokémon bodies are linked?"
Stella was glad to have at least a somewhat solid theory to explain what was happening to her, it somewhat put her at ease. "But then where did this eevee body come from then? Did it just materialize out of nowhere? Maybe it came from that crystal Talia and Cress found before." She was still filled with questions, but had no immediate way to answer them. "I guess I can learn more about all this tomorrow. There's just so much with no way to answer it all now. My head's all jumbled up." But what was going to happen tomorrow? Stella wasn't entirely certain that she'd wake back up in her world, in her human body. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I just hope that this magic scarf is consistent with the way it works."
Pushing her worries aside, Stella curled up in her bed, and tried to fall asleep. But as she drifted off to sleep, she didn't immediately wake up back in her world. Instead, Stella had a rather strange dream.
Imagine for a moment a vast endless space, filled with countless specks of starlight in all directions; a backdrop of nebulous rainbow-colored mist.
Stella found herself suspended in the midst of it all as an incorporeal entity; she was simply another speck of light, floating amongst the cosmos. Yet, as she floated in this seemingly uninhabited space, she suddenly heard a voice.
"Do you wish to change?"
Stella couldn't speak to reply.
"Change?" She thought, "Change what?"
The voice was soft and gentle. It spoke in a matter-of-factly fashion, yet there seemed to be great consideration and empathy in it's words.
"It is the wish of all living things to change. To change themselves, to change others, to change the world around them; it is in our nature to change. If life were to not change, life would be nothing more than spontaneous arrangements of matter, floating through the universe at its whim. What makes life truly special, is its will to change.
"The will to change? Where am I? Who... or what are you?"
"I wonder though, as the new wielder of the dyadian artifact, how will you change? How will you change yourself? How will you change the world around you? Will you be subject to the ebb and flow of the universe, or is your will strong enough to make your own change; to create your own destiny? This world is filled with the potential to bring about the greatest triumphs, but make no mistake, the path you tread down is also filled with adversity and hardship. I can only hope that even in your lowest moments that your resolve stays true, for the dyadian artifact's strength comes from only the strength of your will and determination alone. Perhaps you can find your true purpose, the essence of the very thing that drives you, and indeed, all of us to live. Maybe then you can command its true power, for there is no truer determination than that which comes from understanding one's own purpose. I ask that you let it grow with you, for it will change with you and let you see the truth of reality itself so you may defy it, seize the future, and create the ultimate change."
"Ultimate… change?" Stella thought as her consciousness faded into darkness.
