Nova the Pidgey was a graceful flier. Taking to the sky, she could pierce through the air like a needle to fabric. She was swift, cunning, and capable of so much more than she gave herself credit for.
She had to remind herself of this every day.
It wasn't easy, running a tailoring business on her own at such a young age, her grandmother having retired less than a year ago. The wisened pidgeot taught her everything she knew, and they both hoped that would be enough.
Nova made plenty of poké to pay the bills, and the results spoke for themselves every time the customers complimented her on her work. Even the guild members were pleased, one treecko saying the defense scarf she made was essential in a rescue mission he did with his team.
Still, the kindness wasn't enough for the insecurity. For no matter how good it was on any given day, no matter how high she flew, it only took one mistake, something so small, to send her crashing back down to the surface. A sharp stick of the needle to the edge of the beak, a misaligned stitch in a cold weather hat noticed far too late, wings that could not, would never, stop shaking.
In times of anxiety, she would always remember the letters her mother used to write, the ones from before the last goodbye. They told a young Nova everything that needed to be done to make the world right. It wasn't enough, her mother would note. It was never enough. Kindness was fleeting, quality had to be maintained at all times.
You are no more than what you produce.
Nova knew she had a problem, an emptiness that needed to be filled, and the worst part of it all was that she knew exactly what needed to be done to make it better. Problem was, it was nothing close to what she wanted. It would only hurt to get there. So in time, Nova grew to believe there was only one answer that could make everyone in her life happy, and that was to join the guild.
Guild members, guild teams, are guaranteed companionship, she reasoned. This was something that could never be taken away. In the guild, there would always be something to do, whether that be rescues, arrests, deliveries, or even good, long battles in the mess halls. There was so much to be done, there wouldn't even be time enough to think, and she knew it was the thinking that would be her downfall.
Oh, what would her mom have said if she found out her daughter was joining the guild? Her dad? Well, she had a notion of what he'd vomit up, that drunken farfetch'd…
Her grandmother told her never to let go of her tailoring work, but that being in the guild could be a good change of pace until she was ready to settle down. After passing the test, acquiring a new ceremonial pearl of wisdom for the Sylvian Town Center, a change of pace is exactly what she got.
Now standing in Jay's bedroom doorway, her left wing throbbing in pain from a crash she couldn't remember, she watched on in awe as the human looked back at her, neither of them unable to fully comprehend this situation.
As a prospective guild member, it was only right to reach out to someone in need. Jay's screaming was nothing if not a cry for help. For a few strange minutes after Nova got off her sleeping bag and approached the door, he refused to open up, acting as though everything was perfectly fine.
"What's going on in there?" she'd asked.
"It's okay," Jay answered, the shudder plain in his voice. "I just saw… a spider."
Nova stood dumbfounded on the floor. Looking up at the large door she could never hope to open on her own, she repeated with a raised eye, "A spider?"
"Yeah, a big, terrible spider."
"No, I mean, I don't know what a spider is."
"It's a scary bug."
"Do you have something against bug-types?"
There was a five second pause before Jay said, "I think I was just surprised."
Nova rolled her eyes. "Dude, why you lying to me?"
Along with a deep sigh, Nova heard the delicate steps as Jay approached the doorway. As the knob turned, there was another pause, a hesitance. Jay was getting himself ready. What exactly for, the pidgey could only imagine.
Now the human sat half-naked on his bed, patches of hair along his sides, a yellow gemstone in his chest, eyes sunstorm red, and his left ear crooked against his skull. Nova had to admit, while she'd only known Jay for a day, he was certainly starting to look different than what she remembered, and he was a far cry from the humans on the television shows.
In fact, he was starting to look… familiar.
Familiar. That was a good word for it.
Frightened was another.
She crossed the threshold into Jay's room, observing the contrast between the sparse conditions of the main area of the apartment compared to his own personal living space.
To the right of the room was his bed, which had five pillows on it, two of them tiny throw pillows with floral patterns on them, three of them for actual sleeping. His bed was soft and welcoming, and its navy blue sheets made it far more appealing than Nova's old, orange sleeping bag.
Like his wooden bedframe, his dresser to the left was some kind of artisan antique, maybe a family piece. Nova had to admit, if there was ever time, she was interested in studying these wide arrays of human clothing for her own tailoring work.
The mirror above the dresser was clean, with stickers of names of individuals and groups Nova knew nothing about stuck to its surface. Then there was the record player on top of the dresser, a modern remake with attachments that allowed the user to convert all vinyl to digital files. It was funny, but back home Nova knew a friend of a friend with something similar. At least humans and pokémon had a love of music in common.
Toward the back of the room was a desk, clearly a cheap, precarious piece picked up from a cheap, practical store. It had all manner of workbooks and drawing implements scattered about its surface, including markers, pencils, erasers and even crayons. A digital tablet and its short cord sat off to the side.
So taken in by the scene was she, Nova nearly forgot why she walked in the room in the first place. That is, she did until she saw Jay outlined by the navy blue curtain covering his window, the human looking down at her with wide eyes, eyes that seemed bigger than she remembered.
Was he still changing? That couldn't have been good. No, no, it was dreadful.
She fluttered up onto his bed, tilted her head so her eyes could take in every part of him she might have missed. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, but then she remembered she wasn't exactly the best judge for this sort of thing.
The young man was on the verge of tears. His stuttered, "Wha- what is- what is happ- happening t-t-to m-me?" as he shook and clenched his fists was enough to make her start shaking as well.
So that's what they became, a trembling pidgey and a changing human, both unable to find the right words as something so terribly wrong in every fathomable way unfolded right before them.
The only words Nova could find, however simple, were, "I don't know what this is. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She held her head low, but Jay rested a hand on her side.
At least they had each other.
"Why should we believe you?"
There was Roger now, standing in the doorway in his t-shirt and sweatpants, looking so much worse for wear than either of them. He was drenched in sweat, hunched over as he leaned against the doorframe for support. A gemstone just like the one on Jay's chest sat square in the middle of his forehead. It sparkled along with his sharp breaths.
Through sharpened teeth, Roger huffed at Nova, "You twisted vermin. You're transforming us!"
No way. Did he really blame her?
She wanted to yell, scream at him so bad for talking to her like that, but she kept her voice low, settling for reason in the face of accusation. "Why, no, how would I do that?" she asked, stepping aside from Jay, but still staying on the comfy bed. "I just sew capes and beat up idiots. Do you really think I could do something like this?"
He went to answer, but pain stopped him. He slid down to the floor, catching his breath.
"Roger…" Jay whispered, still petrified on his bed.
Nova watched as the two humans looked at each other, their lines of sight following along every curve of their collective beings. They were in awe of one another.
Taking away his gaze, Roger said with closed eyes, "We don't know what you pokémon are actually capable of."
Nova shook her head. She pleaded, "If you don't know, why yell at me?"
Roger's eyes opened, dark brown turning amber in mere moments. He genuinely seemed to consider those words. He stared ahead and asked in his softest voice, "Is it just a coincidence that when a pokémon shows up in my apartment, that I start looking like one?"
"Like a… what?" Jay asked back, his voice catching in his throat, a dreadful full understanding of the situation coming over him.
Nova mouthed the word 'pokémon' to herself. She couldn't just accept this. There was no way!
"I'm becoming one of them," Jay whispered, looking down at himself, running his hands along his sides. "I have to be. That's the only thing that makes sense."
Roger nodded to his roommate. He tried to stand, gripping the doorframe, but he had no strength left in him.
Nova's beak hung open. She finally sat down on the bed, taking in every piece of information she could. Maybe humans could turn into pokémon. Maybe there was something to those weird video games…
The name caught up to her. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. Could it be? No way, there was no way. There was absolutely no way. The singular lack of a way in this instance was clear. If there was a way, then that way itself had no way. The sheer deficit of ways in this entire instance could create a No Way Singularity capable of capturing every other way that ever had been or could be, such was the 'no wayness' of the matter.
Of course, she had to consider it.
Loathe as she was to get off the soft and snuggly sheets, Nova fluttered back down to the floor and presented to the humans the jewelry around her ankle. As awkward as the angle was, raising her leg like this, it had to be done.
"Do you think it might have something to do with it?" she asked, the piece rattling against her ankle.
That's when it occurred to her, surprised as she was from the realization, that she didn't actually remember putting the pearl of wisdom around her ankle to begin with. Funny. She supposed she was so distracted by everything else that had happened, the thought only just now rushed into her.
She set back her widened eyes and looked to the boys. It seemed they were too busy regarding the pearl as she displayed it for them to notice her evolving expression. This regarding soon became a pondering, and that pondering settled into a silent reverence that was enough to make Nova uncomfortable as a pair of hanging jaws were cast in Nova's general direction.
The moment she sat back down, letting the pearl rest against her feathers, it stopped.
Roger and Jay were staring at each other again, silently looking for any answers between them.
Were there any?
