The consciousness came to me slowly, as it always does. I kept my eyes closed, holding onto the fleeting remains of a dream before it could completely slip away from me. Where do the dreams go when they are gone? The same place where they come from, I suppose. Though, in this world, this might very well be a pragmatic question rather than a philosophical one. I opened my eyes slowly, going over the half-remembered dream before giving up on it. The more I thought about it, the less sense it made. Weird how it never seems strange while you're dreaming. But then again, does the real life make sense right now? I let my body shake and vibrate a bit before setting down. I was sitting on top a ceiling wooden beam in the guild's mess hall. After gathering my bearings, I turned my gaze downwards, examining the crowd below.

Up here I was perfectly visible yet completely unseen. I looked idly over the rows of benches and tables of the dining room. Quite a few of the guild members preferred the classic human furniture, even when their newfound anatomy would benefit from something more fitting. A quadruped body would surely find it more comfortable to have your food on the same level as your body, but I suppose there's some perceived indignity in consuming your food like an animal. Or perhaps there is safety in the familiar. When you find yourself in a new place, the mind wants to cling to something you already know. Maybe one would value the comfort of their mind over the comfort for their body. Isn't that the point of the guild in the first place? Something familiar and comfortable. Thinking about that made me realise that my body is resting atop a hard wooden beam. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, nothing is really uncomfortable for me, but I shifted around a bit.

But then again... aren't humans animals? In a biological sense, at least. I suppose if we accept that, we're always eating like animals. Then again, that classification is as arbitrary as any other. There's no magic boundary that separates species A from species B; it's simply what we agreed on, a form of social contract. One might disagree with that definition, for pragmatic or for emotional reasons, but it's just a semantic disagreement. What would we classify ourselves now? What would you call eating like that? I made an attempt to shake my head, ending up simply wiggling my whole body, chasing the thoughts away and focusing on the reality. I have only one method of eating food, so it doesn't make much difference to me.

Through a small window, I made my way outside, to the roof, to catch the last rays of the evening sun. It was quite enjoyable like this. I closed my eyes and let the soft warmth fill my body. How many other Pokemon were doing this exact thing right now? Perhaps as I am basking in the evening sun, another Solosis is doing the same in the morning sun on the other side of the planet. My breathing was slow and steady as I allowed the sunlight and warmth to fill my body. Other kinds of Pokemon could say the same thing when talking about standing in the sun, but in my situation it was more literal. I hovered above the roof, letting my gel absorb the sunlight.

From my somewhat unique perspective, I had a chance to experience the sun in two entirely different ways. How many other ways are there to feel this? I wonder what this would feel like to a Grass type, and what this would feel like to an Ice type. Perhaps, despite our connection to the sun, we would still be separated by our perception and our capabilities. I would usually consider my own experiences "normal", and think of others in terms of how they differ from me, but what even is normal to me right now? Is it the way I'd experience the sun as a human, or is it the way I am experiencing it right now?

Finally ready to begin my day, or night, I suppose, I returned back inside and made my way to grab some sustenance, not caring much about what I'm taking. I balanced the tray carefully on top of my head, or, rather, my body, and turned to the rest of the room, scanning it for a good place. The hall was slowly filling up, and I picked a quiet spot from where I could continue watching the room, and started making my way there. Some Pokemon around me were grouping up with their teams, and some were on their own. It's funny how from an outside perspective, you might see the whole guild as one unit, but come inside and you'll see smaller groups. And from the outside of a group it might be tempting to lump all members together, but, of course, in the same way they are all individual people. And you could look even deeper at one person - both a physical body made of individual components working together and a mind filled with different interests and desires; after all, nobody is truly single-minded.

I pushed the tray onto a table and hopped on top of it, pushing my body into the plate and allowing the food to enter my gel through the membrane. A mix of berries, partially squeezed by my weight, and chopped up fruits began floating within me. I moved one of the apple slices in front of my eyes, letting it slowly rotate, examining it as my gel slowly digested it. Watching it always fascinated me, but was generally less appreciated by those around me. I wonder if I can subsist entirely on apples. "Hey." Once I ate more apples than my body weight, would I also be considered an apple? Or would I be more than the sum of my parts? "I've seen you go to this spot a lot." Or is this also simply a question of classification? I suppose simply eating that many apples would not be enough, but what if every part of me was fully replaced with digested apples over time? "You're Amo, right?" Would I be me, or would I be apple-me? Aren't there apple Pokemon-

I blinked, belatedly realising someone's saying my name, and shifted my focus to a Pokemon sitting near to me. If I were to describe her, I could say that she was covered with a cloth rag, crudely shaped and painted to resemble a Pikachu, with two small holes at the belly, through which you could see something dark hiding underneath the rag, or I could simply say she was a Mimikyu. That is the function of the language, after all, to make communication between us easier. Once I say Mimikyu, I only need to note something unusual - which, in this case, was the fact that she kept the bottom of her rag slightly raised, looking at me from below it. Her tray of food sat on the table in front of her, next to mine.

"Yes." I replied telepathically "I am called that." It's not my real name, of course. Just something I needed to give others to call me. I suppose I could have given them nothing, and let them call me Solosis, but that felt too detached. And my real name felt too personal. But a name of my own choosing felt just right. Because there is more to a name than just something you use to let others distinguish between you and the others, isn't there? We wouldn't have cared so much about names otherwise. It's a part of your identity. Some people have different names for different circumstances, just like how we act differently in different groups of people. But pokemon treat names differently. A lot of then don't have individual names at all...

Mimikyu extended her shadowy arm for a moment, then seemingly realised I can't reciprocate the gesture and retreated it back under her cloak. "I'm Lint."

I made a vague bobble that could be interpreted as a nod. This gesture seemed human. Is her name also a nickname then? I guess it could also be a human name. I've never heard of it, but it could be. It would be some nominative determinism to be named Lint and turned into a Mimikyu...

She grabbed an apple slice from the tray in front of her and brought it under her rag, making chewing noises, before looking back to me.

"I've been around for about two weeks. You know. Adjusting to..." She gestured to herself. "...this." That's only a week after I arrived at the guild. Adjusting was surprisingly easy for me. Having no limbs took some time getting used to, but having psychic powers to replace them was a pretty sweet deal. Not the worst end of the stick, I can think of a few guild members that got off worse. I have no trouble moving around and picking things up, at least. And one day I'll have arms... Come to think of it, until I met other humans, I didn't realise how easily my abilities came to me. I needed telekinesis to move around, so not learning how to do it wasn't an option, but still, I picked up on it almost immediately without help. I wonder what would I do if I hadn't? Would I be rolling around, or would I lie still where I was until someone found me?

"How about you?" She asked me and used the moment to grab more food, pulling it under her cloak. I pondered the question for a moment.

"A bit longer. About the same." She must have expected me to talk for longer, and a silence hung between us while she was chewing and I was thinking back to how I joined. Following the initial confusion I didn't have much trouble out there. I wandered around, subsisting mostly from whatever I gathered by myself. After I heard rumours of a human guild, a mix of boredom and curiosity drove me to investigate. It's been a mixed bag so far. It's nice not having to worry about where I'm going to sleep and what I'm going to eat. The actual company was not quite as desirable. The guild had less-than-stellar reputation, and I could see why.

Lint finished her apple and turned to me slightly, letting the head of her disguise hang to the side. "How do you like being in the guild so far? Pretty hectic place, isn't it?" She grabbed another fruit from her plate then turned back to stare at me through the eyeholes in her cloth.

"It's okay, I guess?" This answer earned me a poke on my membrane with a shadowy finger, making me wobble a bit in my gel. I mean, it is okay. There's some upsides and there's some downsides. It could have been a better experience. But the upsides were worth the downsides to me for now. Life is a series of compromises. You won't get everything you want all the time. Nothing's going to be perfect for you.

She sighed and leaned away from me, seemingly not getting what she wanted. "Well, I've been here for two weeks," - she repeated herself - "I woke up on a beach not far from here. Already had this thing on." She made a vague gesture under her cloak that seemed like an attempt to shrug. "Anyway, when I got to the town and started the whole 'I'm a human' song and dance, the locals immediately pointed me to the guild. I guess they must be pretty used to it by now. Did the whole interview with that guildmaster whatshisname. He barely asked me any questions, really. I feel like he'd already made the decision when I entered and was just asking out of formality. Got me a room." She waved her claw in the air. "And I'm just saying, the lack of vetting is really apparent."

"Lliam." I replied idly.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Lliam. Well, Lliam should do a better job." She wobbled her disguise's head. "How did you get in? What did he ask you?"

"Uh, normal stuff." I turned towards her to face her. "Asked me if I'm a human, my name. What I can do for the guild. Seemed..." I paused for a moment, searching for the right word. "Invested?"

She was already halfway through another apple, briefly turning to me again. "Anyway, you know what annoys me?" She tapped her cloak. "Everyone expects me to have this on at all times. I mean, look around. The entire guild can walk around in just a scarf, or nothing at all, but if I try to take this thing off, everyone starts losing their minds."

"That's..." I stopped there, mulling over. My first instinct was to be weirded out by this suggestion, but... is she wrong? There are ghosts in the guild and nobody's asking them to wrap themselves like a mummy. Mimikyu comes with a cloak, is that what makes it different? Where does the cloak come from, anyway? What happens if a Mimikyu loses the cloak? Does a Cubone work in the same way? I wonder if there's any in the guild? I haven't seen any... maybe I should ask if I see any of them in town. Would that be a strange thing to ask?

Lint continued to speak, returning to her food and not paying much attention to my response. "Apparently a lot of them believe that if you look under Mimikyu's cloak, you'll die. Buddy, there'd be a lot less annoying people around me if that was true."

"Fewer."

"What?" She turned back to me.

"Fewer. People are countable."

She gave me a look before continuing to speak. "And that's not even the stupidest thing I heard." She wobbled her rag's head, imitating a head shake. "You know that Togetic? The one that lives in the storage room? Wanna know what he thinks is going to happen if I take off my cloak?" She adjusted her voice to a mocking tone and put on a fake stutter. "Y-y-y-you're going t-t-to c-c-c-curse the g-guild! With ba-ba-bad luck!"

"I don't think he lives there." The level of stutter as displayed by Lint seemed excessive compared to reality. I only interacted with that Togetic briefly, when I needed to get something from storage. He didn't seem interested in small talk, and neither was I.

"Eh, he might as well be. Do you ever see him anywhere else?"

I slowly looked her up and down as she grabbed an orange and sliced it in half before shuffling both halves under her cloak. "I don't have a habit of tracking other people's daily activities."

She looked back to me while chewing on her orange noisily before continuing to speak without ever putting the peels away. "I'm just saying it's unfair to me. Hell, look at you for an example. You're literally transparent and you're wearing nothing. Completely naked. Did anyone ever complain to you about it?"

"No."

"See, so why-" She brought both of her claws out, making a wide gesture before I interrupted her.

"No, I get you. I can imagine it." I took a moment to collect my thoughts. "I guess your cloak is reminding them that clothes exist. Imagine a furry critter without any clothes, now imagine it wearing underwear. The second version feels more naked even though it has more clothes. Or maybe they're just weirded out by it. Would it be weird if we had a Cubone running around without a skull?" I paused again, before adding, "Plus, they're dicks. But I don't get why it bothers you so much. Do you hate wearing a cloak? Or you're just being contrarian?"

By the time I finished speaking, she settled back down on the bench and was in the process of consuming another orange, this time without even slicing it open first. She seemed thoughtful for a moment. Although maybe it's just my interpretation. It's not like I can see her face. Maybe I'm just projecting my thoughts onto her. How would I know what she's thinking of? Maybe what she's actually thinking is "this orange is nice".

Finally, she leaned away from the table and patted her disguise's head. "People keep looking at this when talking to me instead of where my face is."

"Maybe you should use one of those shirts that says 'my eyes are up here' as your disguise. In reverse."

She perked up and laughed, which sounded a lot like a dog dying of lung cancer. "Oh, I have one of those." She thought for a moment and continued: "Well, had. I guess." She tapped her body with her claws. "I think it only drew more attention, though."

I made a vague wobble in response.

"I wonder if this would have been any different if I just ditched this thing before getting here. They wouldn't even know what I was."

"Wouldn't they ask you then?"

She raised her claws to the sides of her body. "I'd just say I'm some kind of a ghost but I'm not sure? That's what I look like, anyway."

This piqued my interest. "How do you know that?"

"There's a mirror in the storeroom." She scoffed. "Why do you think the egg boy was freaking out at me?"

"Ah. I see. Yeah, I saw it." I guess it was a popular attraction for the new arrivals. I spent some time examining myself after showing up as well. That was the first time I could see myself clearly. It turns out that seeing your own reflection in the water isn't as easy. Or maybe I got unlucky with weather conditions or something like that... "What do you look like?"

I swear I could see glint in her eyes when I spoke that. She lifted herself up and moved towards me, almost prompting me to slide away. "I mean, do you want to see-"

"I'll pass." I didn't feel like being responsible for a panic outbreak in the middle of the mess hall.

She leaned back again, crossing her arms. "Boring."

I finally moved off the table and plopped down onto the bench while she returned to the fruits still on her plate. The next couple minutes passed in silence only interrupted by Lint's chewing, leaving me to my thoughts. I wonder how different it'd really be if she did that. It'd also be different if she was a different Pokemon. Even though she'd be the exact same person, she'd be treated differently. I had a hunch that she'd find a reason to be annoyed anyway... I wonder how differently I'd have been seen if I was something else. Being a Solosis seemed to not elicit any strong responses, for the most part, but I was aware, and mostly against my will, about some of the gripes various people had with an arbitrary selection of Pokemon. None of us chose what we got turned into, though at times it felt like there are some patterns. A nurse is an Audino... pure coincidence? Was there some deeper reason for what I was turned into? Was there one for Lint?

"Right, so. I've been looking for someone to make a team with," Mimikyu spoke up suddenly, turning in my direction. Aren't we all looking for something? Not unless you're fully content with everything you have. Can such a state even be achieved in a lifetime? What would life be like if you found everything you were looking for? Would you simply stay where you are and cease to be?

"And I've seen you mostly go out at night, just like me." I suppose that's true. I'm not bothered by heat and cold, or by darkness and light. But night is a quieter time. Most people prefer daytime. Do I prefer night because I want to avoid people? Or is it because it makes me feel more in demand? Is a work more valuable if fewer people are willing to do it? How do you determine a work's worth, anyway?

"Would you like to make a team with me?" Would... I... Huh?..

I focused my attention on Lint once again, studying her. For some reason I didn't see this question coming. I wonder if other teams here formed this way. Maybe it's not far from how the guild was formed. Surely at some point one human Pokemon must have walked up to another and said, 'Would you like to make a guild with me?' Give up a small piece of individuality to be more than the sum of your individual selves. People must find it worth it. Otherwise we wouldn't have so many groups. I looked back at the Mimikyu expecting my answer. With some Pokemon it can be hard to tell what emotion they're experiencing. Some have very unusual faces. Some don't have faces. And some hide their faces behind a cover. But even when you can see a face, you never really know what is going on in someone else's head.

The anticipation hung in the air between us. I allowed it to linger for a moment longer. Existing in this strange state of uncertainty, where the situation could go one way or the other. How many choices do we make every day? How many of them are meaningful? Is this one of them? You don't know that until you make it. You can only make a reasonable guess. But just like the inside of someone else's head, the future is mired in the fog of mystery. I lifted my eyes, meeting Lint's gaze, preparing to make the most important decision of this day.

"Sure."

Amo: Solosis, human, male. A contemplative deep thinker that can go on an internal tangent while examining something mundane. Asking him what he's thinking about will usually get you a complete non-sequitur. Amo can get distracted, but he's no fool; when his attention is on something, he can be quite perceptive. Generally likes his Pokemon shape, though he's somewhat frustrated by his inability to properly taste food; he was a bit of a gourmand as a human. Aside from that, he doesn't suffer from his lack of limbs, having psychic abilities to make up for them. He still wants to evolve into a Reuniclus to have arms one day. He likes how well he can handle cold and heat. He has a tendency to be on his own, though he's not anti-social and enjoys company of other Pokemon, as a listener. When he speaks, he usually uses as few words as possible. He dislikes bullying, and tends to frown on Lint's pranks. Although he can genuinely fail to notice people next to him, he sometimes pretends to be in deep thought to ignore someone he finds annoying. Amo remembers that a person has slighted him well after both of them forget what the slight was about, although he will rarely act on it. Amo handles pressure well and can be focused in a tense situation. In a battle, Amo prefers to keep his distance and blast using his psychic abilities.
Moves: Psychic, Protect, ?

Lint: Mimikyu, human, female. An agent of chaos. Would go out of her way to break a rule just because it exists, even if it'd inconvenience her. Lint is fickle and easily changes her mind. Will mess with others if given an opportunity, but generally doesn't go out of her way to do so; she doesn't hold grudges. She intentionally opts to not wear a ribbon or something similar because she finds it funny when people think she's a boy, something that mildly annoys Amo. Doesn't like to wear her disguise, and only does it because of how much commotion it would cause otherwise. Has no strong feelings about her new body aside from that. The sun is unpleasant for her, so she prefers to be active at night. Quite sociable and quick to make friends, provided the other person can match her energy. Lint is very much not a secretive person, and will happily tell someone she doesn't like them to their face. She has little respect for others' personal space. In a battle, Lint prefers to use her agility to get close and strike with her claws. She's a clever and dirty fighter. She's the one responsible for the item bag.
Moves: Shadow Sneak, Shadow Claw, ?

Their team, Noctilux, mostly handles whatever jobs strike their fancy on that particular night. As a team they're unremarkable but reliable, especially by guild standards. Amo usually needs to be prodded by Lint for the two to do something, but he's the one who picks the direction - if Lint wants to do a job, Amo will pick which job it'll be.