It had been a very very long day for Nova. After disembarking the S.S. Anne in Vermillion City, she had made her way north to Saffron City. She approached the fighting dojo she sailed all the way from Kalos to work at, and became very upset with something the gym didn’t appear to have. She stepped inside and found one of the trainers that worked there. She asked him, “Excuse me, why don’t you have an official Pokémon League banner up?”

He wore a gi and a black belt. He looked at Nova and said, “Oh that, we’re not affiliated with them anymore.”

“What!?!?” Nova replied.

He continued, “Yeah, some Psychic chick came into town a few days ago and out competed us. Now she’s the official gym in Saffron City.” He foolishly believed Nova would appreciate his closing remark. He joked, “Women, am I right?”

Nova cringed at this comment. She knew how she looked with her broad shoulders and athletic figure. She knew he couldn’t know he was actually saying that comment to a woman. She decided to walk out.

She had no idea what to do at this point. She said to herself, “If the gym isn’t official, my pay grade will be way lower.” She really needed that money. Recent changes to her life required a lot of money. She took out her phone and considered making a very embarrassing phone call. She decided the risks of that outweighed the benefits. At this point, she really just needed to sleep and think out her next step.

She decided to go west to Celadon City to stay at the Celadon Hotel. It gave off the feeling of attainable luxury common with most hotels. The floors had a salmon and orange tile design. The walls were bronze painted. The girl who stood in its entrance pulled up her hood and tried adjusting her hair. She pulled two tendrils of hair in front of her ears.

She approached the reception desk. “HeLLo—“ Nova paused. She wasn’t used to trying to make her voice sound feminine, but knew that presenting the way she did and having a masculine voice wasn’t going to do her any favors. She began again, doing her best to pitch up her voice and avoid cracking, “Do you have any rooms available?” She now said in a slightly strained but feminine pitch.

The receptionist was an elderly lady with her gray hair in a large bun and a dark pink dress. On her dress was a name tag that read Bea. She did not make any expression that Nova deemed was her being found out. She hardly looked like she thought twice as she grabbed the room key. “You can have room 113, dearie.” Bea said softly.

“Thank you.” Nova replied. She reached in her hood pocket and pulled out her wallet. When she pulled out her credit card she realized she had a very big secret on it. Embossed upon it was [DEADNAME]. She still had to pay for the room and didn’t have nearly enough cash. She tentatively put the card face down on the desk.

Bea picked up the card and, much to Nova’s chagrin, flipped it and saw the name. Nova cringed, knowing her deadname was on that card. Luckily, Bea didn’t show any look of disgust as Nova feared. While she rang up Nova’s card she simply asked “Who can I put this room under?”

Nova was relieved to once again be given a choice in her name. “Nova.” She said with relief. Her tone has dropped slightly but she was comfortable.

Bea moved from her desk and ushered Nova up the stairs. “Right this way Miss Nova.” She said with sincerity.

When Nova entered her room she immediately threw herself onto the bed. She thought sarcastically to herself, “You expertly escaped that one Nova.” She could think of only one way to relieve her stress. She dug her face firmly into her pillow and screamed. Unfortunately, this only made more obvious the strain she was putting on her throat trying to appear feminine. She flopped over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. “Maybe coming to Kanto was a mistake.” she supposed.

Then she thought back to who she was before the S.S. Anne. She was a rough and tumble black belt. She held in so much anger over not being able to live her life the way she wanted, and she just let it out on her opponents and pretty much anyone else she interacted with. More significantly, she thought she was a man. She countered her initial argument, “That was no way to live.” She knew her moment of self discovery was good, even if she didn’t prepare for it on this trip.

Unfortunately, The initial voice of doubt came back with a vengeance “At least we had money back then, now we’re just a sad lonely freak. We can’t go back to mom like this.”

Nova sat for a long time trying to find some reason that this voice of doubt was wrong. Luckily, she heard a knock on her door. The knocker spoke out, “Room Service.” Nova was confused as she did not order room service. Nevertheless, she did the polite thing and opened the door. On the other side stood Bea from the front desk with a tea set on a push cart.

Nova spoke up, “Hi, I think you might have the wrong room, I didn’t pa--”

Bea cut her off saying, “Oh nonsense dearie, I can see you’re stressed so I will give you your tea free of charge.” With that she pushed her way into the room.

Nova was shocked. Her life up to this point rarely led to people pitying her and giving her free tea. She sat down on her bed in front of the tray. Much to her surprise, Bea took a chair and pulled it up next to the cart.

As Bea began pouring two cups of tea she added, “There is a small caveat to my offer. You have to tell me what is bothering you and listen to my advice.” She now wore the smug smile elders wear when they know they have gotten a young person into a situation where they are uncomfortable.

Nova paused. She didn’t know how much to tell this lady. She feared for a moment that if her secret was found out she might be kicked out of the hotel.

Bea read the pause and correctly assumed Nova’s fears. She assuaged them saying, “I know about how you are living your life. I have a granddaughter who is much the same.” The immediate sigh of relief and easing of Nova’s posture told the old lady that she was incredibly correct in her assumption. She had to do all she could to contain a cackle.

Nova took a small sip of her tea. It was far too hot so she put it down to cool. She decided she should talk more as she waited. “Your granddaughter is… like me?” she asked “She… used to be a boy?” Nova was unsure if Bea really knew what she was talking about and wanted to clarify.

Bea spoke back quite quickly, “She doesn’t like to think of it like that.” The swiftness of the response had come from practice from making the same mistake a few times. She continued, “She was always a girl, we just didn’t know it until she got older. Judging by your tone there, I think you know what she means by that.”

Nova hung her head down and shamefully said, “Yeah.” She earnestly wanted to learn more from this granddaughter. She had known that there were others like her, but this was her first chance to meet one. “Can I talk to her? I have so many questions.” Nova perked up and asked.

After taking a long sip of her still steaming tea, Bea replied, “She won’t be in tonight. She works as a maid here, but she is off today and tomorrow.”

Nova looked glum so Bea decided to change the subject. “What brings you to Kanto?”

Nova’s glum expression did not change as she replied, “I’m a trainer. I was supposed to work at the fighting gym in Saffron City, but that got shut down.” Nova clutched her knees as that was all that could keep her from crying over her sad situation. Fighting off tears she said, “I don’t have any idea what I am doing now.”

Bea spoke up, “I think I have just the thing for you.” As she rummaged around the bottom shelf of the cart, Nova finally started her tea, now that it had cooled down. It did help ease her stress and stave off her tears. Eventually Bea popped back up holding a green business card. As she handed it to Nova to inspect, she explained the contents, “You should go to the Celadon City gym. Erika is a great leader. A cute girl like yourself would fit right in there.”

Nova blushed at this comment. It was only the second time someone had called her a cute girl.

Bea paused and thought for a moment before adding, “I do hope you have a grass type though.”

Nova was in luck. She said, “I didn’t travel with them, but I have a few from Kalos. I’ll stop by the Pokémon center and pick them up off the PC.” She put down her tea and yawned. “I should probably get some rest if I’m going to do that all tomorrow. Thank you for the tea ma’am.” Nova smiled as she wished goodnight to the old woman.

Bea took her cart away and returned her guest's goodnight saying, “Good luck Miss Nova.”

Nova laid her aching body down. She was exhausted from her stressful day. She closed her eyes hoping tomorrow would be different.

Unfortunately, terrible images awaited her behind those eyes. In sleep she was taken back to a rather traumatic moment of her childhood that she now saw very differently. Her family once took a vacation to Wyndon in the Galar region. They stayed at the Rose of the Rondelands hotel. Perhaps the sensation of once again being in a hotel spurred this memory into her dreams.

Her family was on its way to eat at a café. That’s when she saw this beautiful girl in a simple shirt dress across the street. She had messy shoulder length brown hair. This girl was being pushed out of a residential home. She couldn’t have been much older than 15. The pusher revealed herself as a much older woman with chest length brown hair in waves. She took a drag of a cigarette, something that was a frequent occurrence based on the wrinkles on her face. The woman yelled out, “No son of mine is goin’ to parade around ‘ere like some bird. Either take off that ridiculous thing or get out.”

The girl answered back, “But mum, this is who I am! I can’t be anyone else!” She sounded on the verge of tears.

Her mother responded coldly, “Then I guess you’ll be yourself in the gutters.” The door closed swiftly and locked.

The girl paused for a moment, putting her hand flat against the door, before running off.

Nova’s parents did the polite thing and avoided staring at the family drama. Nova could not. As her mother pulled her along by the hand, Nova was transfixed by the scene in front of her. She didn’t know why yet, but she felt a great kinship with this girl. This moment would convince her to keep any feelings of femininity buried deep from anyone else, especially parents.

This would not be the last time the trans girls’ paths crossed. While eating at the café, she could see another scene. This time it was around the boutique. The trans girl stood, her dress slightly stained from some form of liquid, in front of a door to the boutique. Inside stood three very fashionable women. They must have worked at the boutique.

The trans girl pleaded, “Please, I just need a job and a place to sta--”

She was interrupted. One of the women spoke up, “Oi, das dat bloke from ‘round the ‘otel, innit!”

One of the others responded, “Sure is. 'e prolly just wants to get in to steal our clothes or feel us up. What a pervert.”

The final one yelled out before shutting the door, “Go back the gutters, trash!”

A young Nova sat across from this scene and started to blink her eyes to cry.

An adult Nova woke up in her bed in the Celadon Hotel. Everything had changed from her dream, but there were still tears running down her cheeks.