Nathan Cole (Resident)
Nathan's Apartment, Hickory Street

It arrived in a nondescript package. Two syringes, one to turn him into a Cinccino for the next ten days, and the other to change him back when his investigation was done and he had done his part of the research study for Bill. The only thing Bill warned about in the instructions he included was Nathan needed to add a few drops of blood to the reversal serum before using the Cinccino syringe. That would program the reversal serum to work with his DNA structure to change him back when he was ready. Not doing that would have given him a lot to think about as he would be spending the rest of his life as a fuzzy gray and white chinchilla Pokémon because he had nothing to change himself back with.

After shopping for what he needed, he now had enough food and supplies for both himself and Kano for the ten-day period. He was also mindful of what the living situation would be like. Many of the essential things he needed were placed on the ground instead of being stored up high on shelves and in upper-level cabinets. Things that couldn't be moved, like the bathroom sink, had to have some way of getting up there, so he had bought a few small step ladders and placed them where he knew he would need them to get that accessibility. He also tied some string around the door handle when he was ready to leave. The only thing he would need to remember to have on him was his apartment key. He decided once he got into his Cinccino form, he could wear it like a necklace, but keep it hidden in the fuzzy white scarf he would have around his neck to avoid suspicion.

After following Bill's instructions and inserting a few drops of blood into the vial for the reversal serum, he put it in the cabinet below the bathroom sink. It was definitely something he couldn't afford to have get stolen or become lost.

Lastly, he planned on using his laptop to type his research reports out to Bill. He wouldn't be able to speak with him and writing might be challenging when he would have to work with paws instead of hands. After going through the papers that came with the package, Bill had some research feedback he was hoping to collect on a daily basis for all ten days, including getting the answers to such questions like:

  • How are you feeling today? Are you experiencing any illnesses or aches?
  • How are your senses reacting? Do you have any differences in the way you can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch?
  • How are your mental facilities performing? Are you feeling any behavioral differences, having trouble recalling human memories, or have you noticed other unexplainable changes in cognitive abilities, such as clumsiness, forgetfulness, or mood changes?
  • Are you able to make use of all your appendages, such as wagging your tail, flapping your wings, etc.? Do they feel like they're functioning at full capacity?
  • How is your speaking ability? Are you able to converse with other Pokémon? Are you able to articulate English words in your Pokémon form?
  • Are you able to perform the moves as the Pokémon you have become? If so, do they have the same potency as a natural Pokémon (if it can be measured)?


And there were at least a dozen other questions that did a deep dive into the outcome of how well the serum was performing. Without a doubt, Nathan could see Bill had prepared this questionnaire for what he was hoping would be a whole series of study participants, but he could tell he didn't get the willing volunteers after all.

All the while, Kano was watching Nathan curiously as he was preparing all this. At the current time, it might have seemed strange, but it was going to make sense in a few minutes. Nathan then took the transformation serum, injected it into the vein in his arm, and then pressed the plunger down to get the serum into his bloodstream.

He was caught off guard at how quickly the serum worked. In mere moments, he found himself rapidly shrinking, bones suddenly reforming with disturbing popping and crunching sounds, and gray and white fur coating him from head to toe. He instantly found his shirt and pants becoming rapidly oversized and as a result, they were ripped in a few places because of the rapid transformation. The change in his eyes and ears caused him to go blind and deaf for just a flicker of a moment before his hearing and vision returned with the new Cinccino ears and eyes had now had.

Suddenly not having knees caused Nathan to stumble and land on his now gray-furred chest and even the white fur from the soft scarf around his neck landed a bit in his mouth. By the time he used his new paws to push himself up off the linoleum floor, he felt the long fluff strands wrap around his back and stream out from along his sides.

After getting back to his feet, he took a look around with his new eyes, suddenly seeing everything in his apartment from below and only from about a foot and a half from the ground.

It all suddenly felt so foreign and familiar at the same time.

"What did you DO!?" he heard a voice call out to him.

Nathan, still getting used to his Cinccino form, turned to look at Kano, who he figured would have really liked to know just what was going on. The strange thing he realized was while as a Pokémon, the ability to talk and communicate with them felt like natural instinct. But it wasn't just that, either. There were other natural instincts and tendencies that he suddenly felt influencing his thinking as well.

"It's only for a few days," Nathan told Kano, trying to keep himself thinking straight. "I need to find out why there are Pokémon going rogue. The only way I could do that was talk to them, and the only way to do that was do this."

For a moment, Kano wanted to interject to say that he could have helped with that so Nathan wouldn't have to go to this extreme, but then he realized why it wouldn't work. There was no real way to communicate beyond body language and Kano realized Nathan needed something far more than just that.

"I see," Kano nodded, looking a little ashamed he just didn't know how to speak English. But before long, he tried to crack a shy smile. "You look really good though! Almost looks and feels like you're my brother or something."

"It does, doesn't it?" Nathan couldn't help but agree.

But at the same time, he couldn't deny how cozy his new form felt. As he tried walking around, he couldn't get over how big his ears had gotten as well. And looking at himself in the mirror was surreal to him.

"I could, well, guide you if you'd like," Kano offered, feeling strange about offering this kind of help to what used to be his human companion. "Might be helpful since it sounds like these rogue Pokémon will be dangerous."

"That would definitely be a big help," Nathan agreed with him. "Some of it feels like it's coming naturally, but I can't be entirely sure."

It would be the first time any human to Pokémon companionship had this kind of interaction, but to Nathan, it felt like it would be a valuable experience. And if he was going to confront these rogues, not only did he need to look and talk like a Cinccino to try and get his questions answered, but he sure needed to know how to maneuver, behave, and perhaps even fight like one too if the situation suddenly became dire.