OWEN'S POV

The stairwell, much like the lobby, was covered in so much dust that I could barely see from my eyes watering. Additionally, it appeared so slippery that I might fall and break my neck if I tried to climb up it.

"There's gotta…achoo…be an elevator" I muttered, in a statement punctuated by a sneeze.

"I'm sorry, but there isn't," Theseus told me. "You'd better buck up, okay?"

I frowned. "Buck up?"

"It means," the Umbreon replied, "that you'll have to adjust to life in the guild hall. It's not a walk in the park by any means, and it's certainly no picnic. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't have picnics here, just that - ".

"I get it."

"The point is, Owen, it's tough down here. If you can't climb a few flights of stairs, how are you going to survive this?"

He's got a point.

Normally, climbing a staircase was easy for me. But normally, I only had two legs.

I made it up two flights, clearing my throat every few steps, and I was about to collapse on the landing from the effort. But then…

"There's one more, Owen. You're not there yet."

Oh, great, here we go again.

At the top of the third flight of stairs, Theseus led me down a hallway and to a door with the number 424 carved into it. "This is your room," the Umbreon said.

"It looks just like a hotel room" I remarked. And it did; what with the number on it and the key slot, I could have convinced myself that this was just a subterranean vacation.

But I knew better. We both did. A "vacation", after all, is supposed to be fun.

On the inside, the apartment was just like a room at a budget motel. Much like everything else in the guild hall, it was far from spotless, but I would have to take what I could get.

There were two twin-sized beds, one of which was currently occupied by a bipedal creature doing calisthenics.

"Dude, this isn't a gym," I muttered.

The creature turned toward me, and I saw that he was a fairly tall Pokémon with abundant fur around his chest, thinner fur on his wide hips, and two dreadlock-like blobs on either side of his head. I'd heard of this species before, but last time I checked, their fur wasn't supposed to be white.

"I've gotta stay sane somehow," the Lucario muttered.

"Dude, you're a Lucario!" I exclaimed. Such a badass species was a sight to behold, especially considering where I'd come from.

The Lucario narrowed his eyes. "Yes. I am. What's such a big deal about that?"

"I just think it's really cool" I muttered sheepishly. Plus I'm just looking for any pleasure I can get out of this situation, given who isn't with me right now.

"Well," the Lucario replied, "you'll be singing a different tune once you spend some time here. Tell me, Shinx, what is your name?"

"Uh…Owen" I responded. "Owen Tendai."

"That's not how names work down here" the Lucario stated. "It goes your given name, then your species name. You are Owen Shinx."

"Huh."

"My name is Cassius. Cassius Lucario. And I've been living here my whole life."

I could not tell how old Cassius was - if I had to guess, he may have been around eighteen, like me. The thought of spending eighteen years in this dingy room that you might find at an abandoned Motel 6 was less than pleasant.

When I didn't say anything else, Cassius spoke for me.

"I noticed that you seemed surprised when I mentioned the naming conventions here," he said. "Almost as though you're not used to them. Like you haven't encountered them before."

Oh boy. He's found out, hasn't he?

"The only question is this: Why wouldn't you be familiar with our culture? We're not allowed any contact with the surface, so I don't see how you would have come from the surface. And even then, you're a Pokémon. They don't live on the surface."

It was then that I knew where this conversation was going. I could not have predicted the twists and turns that it might take, but one thing was abundantly clear: Maybe not right now, but eventually I would need to tell Cassius the truth.

They say that in life, you can't trust anyone. If true, that's a pretty damning indictment of society. Maybe everyone truly does want to rule the world, as they say.

But there's another layer to it too: Even though you can't trust anybody, you have to trust somebody.

"Actually, that's the thing" I found myself saying, even before I really processed what it meant to be disclosing such information to Cassius. "I'm not."

One of Cassius's aura-sensing organs stood on end. "You're not what? From here?"

There was no going back now, only forward.

"I'm not from Ketchum," I told Cassius. "In fact, I'm not…I wasn't supposed to be a Shinx originally."

Why am I dancing around this so much? If I'm going to tell him, I should just tell him!

Cassius puffed out his chest, on which I noticed some letters inked out. I didn't mention that, though, because I grew instantly convinced that he was about to attack me.

"Hold up," the Lucario replied. "You weren't…but Shinx doesn't evolve from anything. You'd become a Luxio, then a Luxray."

"But I've never been either of those things. I'm a Shinx, but I wasn't before…".

Cassius sighed. "I feel like you're leading me on a wild Zangoose chase, Owen. Just tell me the truth if you're determined to."

"Okay then" I said. "I was a human before today. Somehow - don't ask me how - I ended up down here as a Shinx."

Cassius' mouth opened wide, and I caught a glimpse of his inner fangs. Just a touch from them would likely tear human flesh into ribbons.

"What - why are you so shocked by that?"

"Because that's never happened before" the Lucario all but gasped. "Pokémon evolve forms all the time, of course - it's a rite of passage. I was originally a Riolu at this place's nursery, but then I evolved into a Lucario early. They say that living in the guild hall, you have to grow up fast - I guess it was out of necessity that I evolved so soon."

"And?"

"The point is, Owen," Cassius continued, "I've never heard of a human turning into a Pokémon before. If what you're telling me is true - ".

"It is."

"Wait for me to finish, dammit. Anyway, this is a sign of something. Something big."

"Something good, I hope?"

Cassius shook his head feverishly. "Bad. Very bad. Like, potentially apocalyptic. You probably don't even want to know how bad it's going to be yet, but they warn us about things like this all the time."

"What do you mean?" I wondered aloud, dread creeping into every pore of my body.

"I mean," Cassius continued, "that you should keep this on the down-low. I don't even know that you should've told me about it."

"Well, sorry" I replied, not knowing what else to say, but also figuring that I had indeed made a blunder. A big one.

"I'm going to keep your secret," the Lucario said, "but just know that it's a secret you should keep too."

"Really?" I enquired, wondering if I truly wanted to know this. "What's so secret about it?"

"If the authorities find out, they aren't going to treat you well. I mean, they've already decided to cast you aside and make you live in the guild hall, so that's strike one in their view. But this is no game at all."

"Right."

Cassius' right eye glinted. "This conversation is over. I don't think you need to know any more about this."

It was one thing to hear such words from that hooded woman who'd interrogated me at the station. But to then hear it from someone who was supposed to be my friend…let's just say that it didn't feel good.

Still, questions remained in my mind, and I would not be satisfied until at least some of them were fielded.

"Hey, Cassius?" I enquired.

"What is it?" the Lucario responded in an exasperated tone. "I'm trying to focus here."

Quite frankly, Cassius didn't appear to be focusing on anything. This could have just been my perception, but it didn't seem like anything should be more important than talking to me.

"Never mind," I admitted. In the span of a few seconds, I realized that whatever I'd been about to tell Cassius should be kept a secret. After all, he had been far from receptive to the talk surrounding my transformation.

The Lucario gave me a dirty look, but he didn't say anything. For this I considered myself lucky.

I'm going to need to tread carefully around Cassius from here on out, I realized. And what's more, we're going to live together for quite a while. Or at least…wait, what did Sheriff Buckle say? That I'd get a spot in the city of Ketchum when one opened up? Something like that.

Until then, I'm stuck in this stuffy guild hall that stuffs up my nose.

Another sneeze formed in the back of my nose, and within seconds it grew impossible to resist. I sneezed so hard that Cassius put his paws over his ears.

"You're fucking kidding me, Owen" he snapped. "You can't sneeze a little more quietly than that?"

Before I could protest, the Lucario continued. "Look, we only have a few more minutes before the bell rings."

I gave him a quizzical look. "What bell? The school bell? Do you guys even go to school down here?"

"Well, we do," Cassius said. "But that's not what the bell is for. It's the church bell."

"They have a church down here?" I wondered aloud. "Who do they worship? Jesus Christ?"

Cassius frowned. "That name's pretty much taboo down here. You don't want to get caught worshiping him in Ketchum, not at all."

"I don't get it," I said. I mean, my family on the surface wasn't particularly religious, but lots of Americans were. There shouldn't have been much controversy about Jesus.

The Lucario sighed, lightly scratching one of his aura organs with the spike on the back of his right paw. He seemed to weigh the question carefully, balancing each answer he might give, before he eventually replied.

"Owen, some things just aren't important. You don't need to know them right now - anyway, you'll find out once the bell rings."

"Fair enough" I sighed, then sneezed about five more times.

Cassius shook his head, but he was interrupted by the sound of a church bell tolling. I could envision a giant brass bell clanking from side to side, hitting the walls and making that sound all New Englanders knew well.

"That means it's time for the service" Cassius stated grimly, standing up from his bed. "And we don't want to make the priest wait."

"Could you hold my hand on the way down?" I asked him.

The Lucario wrinkled his nose. "Why would you want me to do that?"

"Because I might fall on the stairs" I admitted sheepishly. "I'm not used to having four legs, you know."

"Absolutely not," Cassius muttered. "It's for your own good, you know. It's better to know how to climb down stairs on your own rather than keep the training wheels on, as it were."

"Well, thanks" I responded sarcastically. "That's not what I wanted to hear -".

"- but it's what you needed to hear," the Lucario stated.

I narrowed my eyes. "You don't need to put words in my mouth, Cassius. But yes, that's what I was going to say."

There was practically a stampede heading down the stairs. A veritable river of Pokémon, if you will, and I didn't even recognize all the species I saw. (Yes, when I, a Pokémon fanatic, couldn't have named every species I noticed, you know it was a crazy scene.)

I was as careful as I could be on the steps, but they were still quite slippery. And, for obvious reasons, I couldn't take my time as much as I would have liked on the descent.

"We go to a different church than the rest of the city" I heard someone (probably Cassius) say as I reached the lobby.

"Why is that?" I enquired.

"Because we're different from the others" a familiar voice stated.

I turned to find that the voice had indeed come from Theseus Umbreon. Exactly how he'd found me so quickly, I didn't ask.

"In what way are we different?" I asked Theseus. Based on the way the Umbreon had emphasized that word, it sounded like he was proud of his difference. (Not that I blamed him for that, but again, I wanted to know more.)

Either Theseus didn't hear me, or he didn't think it appropriate to respond there. In any case, the "river of Pokémon" followed a gravelly path to a building that looked rather like a classic New England meetinghouse, what with its basic architecture and tall spire in the front.

"Here we are," Theseus muttered. "It's time for our Sunday service."

I frowned. "How do you know what time of day it is? Where I'm from, services are usually in the morning."

I felt Cassius scratch me ever-so-slightly with one of his paw spikes. (He was purposely very light with his touch so as not to break the fur. It still hurt!)

"Right," I mumbled. "I shouldn't talk about it."

We filed into the meetinghouse, which appeared far grander on the interior than it was on the outside. The floors were made of wood, but there were stained-glass windows depicting a tall boy with black hair. There were no pews, so each Pokémon found his or her space on the floor.

"Why aren't there any pews?" I wondered aloud.

'Because we do things differently here' Cassius replied, but his voice sounded different from how it usually did. 'Don't question it.'

And then I understood: He was using his aura, that brilliant power all Lucario possessed, to speak to me. Most likely, this was done out of a desire not to be heard.

At the front of the sanctuary, there stood a lion-like Pokémon with a brilliant mane that nonetheless seemed bleached somehow. A Pyroar.

"Good afternoon, everyone" the Pyroar (whom I assumed was the priest) stated authoritatively. "It is now 4 PM, not that we'd know that in this land without sun. That means it is time for my sermon to begin."

'That's Father Labrador' Cassius whispered using aura. 'He's the one who preaches to the flock - and we outsiders are his flock.'

"Did all of you bring your copy of the Book of Catastrophes?" Father Labrador asked the congregation at large. "It isn't the end of the world if you did not, though it is preferred that as many of you as possible carry it with you."

'That makes my tattoo a bit ironic,' Cassius mentioned.

I frowned. "What?"

"In any case," Father Labrador continued, "those of you who did not bring your holy books to today's service may follow along with those who did. To those who do have copies now, please open to the Book of Ketchum, Chapter 8, Verse 16. And we will begin."

Theseus scooted to my side, thumbing open a thick tome that was labeled, fittingly, the Book of Catastrophes. Much like most things in this cursed land, it was covered in dust.

'Don't you dare sneeze', Cassius whispered. 'This is a sacred place, and it should not be defiled by such noises.'

"What if I can't…sniff…control it?" I retorted, but Father Labrador stepped in.

"No side conversations, please" the Pyroar commanded. "If you do not wish to obey the rules of this church, you may feel free to leave the service."

You know, that actually sounds pretty nice. But I have to resist the urge.

"Follow along with me, please" Father Labrador instructed us. I might not have found the Pyroar's voice particularly pleasant, but it seemed to have been magnified throughout the hall as though enhanced by magic. Then again, you know what they say about any sufficiently advanced technology.

'In the beginning, there was no hope, no light in the world. After the dinosaurs all went extinct, humanity was forced to rebuild from scratch.

'And then humans came into contact with another class of species. This class came from an island just off the east coast of Pangaea, and they were known as Pokémon.'

At that, Father Labrador looked up from his holy book. "Each and every one of us," he said, "belongs to this class. The east coast of Pangaea, of course, was close to the island nation humans call 'Japan', but that is the only time you will hear me speak the name of any human nation, for reasons that will soon become clear…".

With that, the priest cleared his throat and continued reading.

'For countless millennia, humans and Pokémon were able to coexist in harmony. The Pokémon were able to perform physical labors that humans could only dream of, and the humans were the beneficiaries of these labors. In return, the humans were more than happy to teach the Pokémon their way of life.

'Make no mistake; this was not a perfect marriage. Of course, there is arguably no such thing as a perfect marriage. However, the relationship between humans and Pokémon remained cordial for the vast majority of history.

'But then the humans became greedy. They began pleading for more, more, more, much like a child who wants an extra helping of dessert or more time doing whatever he or she enjoys. Humans would learn their lesson: Just because something is good doesn't mean more is better.'

Figuring that I knew where this was going, I heard Father Labrador pause for a swig of what I assumed was water. At least, I wanted to think it was water and not some alcoholic beverage.

'And so the humans became unsatisfied with what they already had. Not only did they attack other human tribes for nothing but the colors of their skin, but they even resorted to attacking the natural environment that had given them life. In return, they gave it hell.

'As the natural world was slowly but surely poisoned by human activity, Pokémon rose up against the destruction. Mass movements rose out of the grassroots, led by Pokémon and even some humans who defected from their species. One such movement was formed by Ash Ketchum.

'Ash Ketchum was born in Pallet Town, Ohio…'

"So Ash Ketchum existed!" I exclaimed, unable to resist blurting out a fact that would have positively delighted younger me. (And not even much younger - prior to yesterday I would have assumed that if the Pokémon story were factually accurate, I'd have died and gone to heaven.)

The reaction from the rest of the room was nearly instantaneous. There were many boos and hisses from others in the congregation, and I felt my stomach churn as I realized that they were directed at me.

I had disturbed the peace. And now they likely had it in for me. But why was it that they were so much louder than the sound they were trying to stop?

"That is your second strike, Shinx!" Father Labrador barked. "If you step out of line again, I will have you removed from the sanctuary!"

'...to Delia and Ray Ketchum. Quickly, he grew disillusioned with his fellow humans; it is sad that as soon as he learned how to walk and talk, he made this disillusionment known. As soon as he was old enough to hold a sign, he could be seen walking the picket lines. It is a shame that more humans were not like Ash Ketchum.'

"Now," Father Labrador continued, speaking to the congregation at large this time, "it is true that Ash Ketchum is revered here. Indeed, the city whose outskirts we inhabit is named after him, and some even call him Saint Ash.

"However, make no mistake: Ash Ketchum was by no means a perfect person. He had his flaws because, after all, he was only human. He suffered from some of the same trappings that all humans - and indeed some Pokémon - fall into. But that does not mean we cannot respect him, only that we must acknowledge he was fallible."

Right. Isn't that the point of Jesus Christ's story? But then again, I didn't grow up going to church weekly.

"Now, I will invite members of the congregation to provide interpretations of this text. Much like Ash Ketchum himself, the words written in the Book of Catastrophes are indeed imperfect. They must be analyzed through a modern lens as well, unlike many humans with their fundamentalism. Who would like to volunteer?"

Someone at the front of the audience, a Pokémon with tall ears, was the next to speak up.

"Yes, Alana Sylveon?" Father Labrador enquired.

"What this segment means in modern terms," the Pokémon identified as Alana stated, "is distinct from one of the many ways it can be interpreted. However, I think the lesson we can take away is that Ash Ketchum was quite courageous.

"After all, he stood up to the establishment. Humans were hell-bent on destroying every last bit of nature, everything that had sustained them for so long. It's exactly as the Book of Catastrophes states: The Earth gave humans life, and in return, humans allowed Earth to plunge into a hellscape. And ever since the time period known as the Industrial Revolution, it has only gotten worse on the surface."

"Very well-put, Alana," the Pyroar priest responded. "That is one interpretation of the chapter, and indeed a very detailed one. I'll now divide you into groups to discuss the piece, including any interpretations you may have that are different from those championed by Alana Sylveon."

We're dividing into groups? What is this, school?

Or better said, Sunday school? Oh boy, from what I've heard, Sunday school is hated for a reason!

What followed sure felt like one of my high school classes. The discussion was so painful (in more ways than one) that I couldn't be bothered to remember everything that was said.

One "highlight", if you could call it that, was Theseus remarking that humans had a lot to answer for, and that made me squirm. Does he know?

Probably not. If he did know, he wouldn't have thought to say something so careless. Then again, that's hardly a controversial opinion down here.

And I knew, without a doubt, why Cassius advised me to keep my former humanity behind firmly shut lips. Much like humans had made the surface of Earth hell, the other Pokémon within Earth would do the same if they learned that I came from the species they vilified so much.

Eventually, Father Labrador dismissed us from the service, and I let out a sigh of relief. No longer would I have to mask the fact that I'd once been human; at least, not until the next service.

As we left the church, I heard Cassius practically scream using aura: 'Where are you going, Owen?'

"What do you mean, where am I going?"

'It's a tradition here to go to a pub after the service! Aren't you going to join in on the fun?'

I groaned. That was hardly my idea of fun even as a human, not least because I wasn't old enough to drink in America and had little interest in doing so even then. Maybe they would expect me to drink, maybe they wouldn't.

Either way, I'd have to face the other Pokémon, potentially dozens of them, and lie. And if I didn't do so convincingly enough, I'd be in a heap of trouble.