- Heated Training -

The two Charmeleons scampered across the open area, locked in combat. The slightly smaller one sent a quick slash at the other, who twisted out of the way while dragging their own flaming tail over their opponent's side.

A quick scramble to get away from each other followed, with the smaller one resuming the fight first with a blast of orange flames that the other one simply allowed to splash over their scales. The just barely larger reptile then pounced forward in a single motion to give a powerful glowing slash to the other one, who was entirely surprised by the distance this maneuver covered, and was clearly on the back foot as they took the hit strongly.

The now disadvantaged pokemon then tried to disengage again to get some range, but this attempt was countered by a blast of powerful purple flames from the other Fire type. This sent him tumbling to the ground, where he lay for a moment panting.

"We have a long way to go for you," Jane commented while cautiously approaching her opponent and newest teammate, earning a groan from the lifelong pokemon.

"How can you possibly know how to do all of that?" Pyre asked, cautiously accepting his new trainer's extended claw to help him up.

"What do you mean? I'm a trainer, it's my job to know how pokemon fight," the transformed human said somewhat confused.

"Not quite like that it isn't. It's your job to know to get pokemon to fight effectively, along with a whole mess of other stuff about how to instruct and take care of pokemon in a wide variety of situations," Quagsire cut in from the edge of the training field. She had volunteered her team to help the transformed trainer for the day. "But that sounds more like what I have to deal with, which is all the trainer stuff, plus keeping myself in fighting shape on top."

"You mean my brother isn't being lazy because he doesn't figure out the moves himself too?" Jane asked uncertainly. "That's the main reason I wanted to learn Dragon Breath myself. Well, that and being able to breath fire properly." She shifted uneasily. "I might have actually hoped that it would end up still being possible when I turned back into a human."

"'A human'," the amphibian noted dryly. "You really do think like a pokemon right now. Can you tell how long that's been happening?" Pyre shifted uneasily at the topic.

"How long?" Jane repeated a bit uncertainly. "Um." She very briefly glanced at the other Charmeleon. "It might have started with the nightmares." Her tail drooped, while Pyre looked down in embarrassment. "They felt so real, and I'd forget that I didn't have a tail when morning came. Things were usually fine after a day or two, although the worst of them lasted almost a week."

"A week?" the other Fire type squeaked. "You were having problems with being human for a week?"

"It was after the nightmare where I didn't get picked," she bluntly told him. "I ended up nearly burning myself at least a half dozen times, kept stumbling because I didn't have a tail for balance, and a bunch of other things that I thought were just being sad about missing out on the chance for you to be my Starter." Actually explaining seemed to make her realize just how bad it had been, and by the end sparks were coming out of her mouth and her tailflame was burning high.

Pyre on the other hand deflated more and more, his own tailflame contracting and sputtering, as it went on. "It was only supposed to be bad dreams," he said faintly, as he unsteadily staggered away from the angry pokemon. "It, it was only supposed to be a couple of bad dreams, not. Not that!" he continued actually falling over from how horrified he was at the idea, although he also seemed rather tired out from the earlier battle.

"Um," Jane responded, anger totally eliminated by the extreme reaction. "It was a week of forgetting I wasn't a Char. I only really had two or three more nightmares after that one." She scratched the area under the back of her horn uncertainly. "I don't even dislike being a human," she admitted, then paused thoughtfully. "Actually I'm starting to want to not be a fire hazard for a bit now. It's been nice to have the tailflame, but keeping it away from stuff is starting to be a bit of a pain. I'm hoping that if I do turn back I keep the breath at least, but I guess I'd like being back like that for a while."

"I'd say she's somewhere between Shawn and me, perhaps closer to Shawn," Grant noted from where he was sitting, having simply quietly watched the entire endeavor. The rest of their team was currently in their pokeballs, or in the case of the LAS working with TyranoGazimon on the review of corrupted pokemon. "She wants the advantages of being a pokemon, but she can actually stand being human."

"I wouldn't put it like that, being human is fine you know," the female Fire type countered with a huff of flames.

"Actually I quite thoroughly disliked it. Wouldn't go back for anything short of saving my teammates from disaster," the Armaldo chirped.

"I really don't want to see what kind of disaster makes you turning into a human again helpful," Quagsire complained. "Still, nice to know for sure this isn't yet another person permanently becoming something else."

"But I haven't decided yet," Jane said with a whine. "I kind of want to be human again, but I don't really want to go back to being that forever either."

"I thought we were already planning for that?" the other pokemon trainer asked. "I know we've asked Alpha 45 to double check the stuff Janice's mom considered when she first came here for something that would let you go back and forth."

"I can be both?" the lizard trainer asked with a bit of wonder. "That was an option?" she questioned again scrambling over to the amphibian pokemon.

Pyre did not seem to find this idea as comforting, and was still looking a bit afraid of the results of his own actions. "You really do want that?" he asked quietly at the sudden change in her mood. "I really made it so you want to do that?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Jane replied, sounding a mix of unhappy with the origin of the idea, and yet still excited about the end results. "It might make being a trainer a bit harder, but I'd rather try both than just go with being human and spend a lot more time wishing I was a Charizard."

"You do not even know how happy I am to hear that you're going to keep being a trainer," Quagsire said with a happy sigh. "I'm still mad at Grant for making me our team's just because he finally got to turn into a pokemon. I just thought I was going to be a Starter pokemon, although I did end up mostly in charge before that anyway."

"What do you mean?" Pyre asked frowning at the entire idea. "I thought that's what Starters were supposed to do, be the one who leads the others when the trainer can't, or is too busy."

"Is that what made you want to be a Starter pokemon?" Jane asked lashing her tail curiously. The way he had reacted causing her to carefully inspect the other Charmeleon.

"Well, I really wanted to see the world and meet interesting people," he replied easily, then sighed. "Although I ended up in my pokeball a lot more than I expected, and it turns out that most wild pokemon are..." he trailed off, clearly unsure if he wanted to be entirely honest.

"Unintelligent," Quagsire supplied easily. "Most wild pokemon don't really know enough to hold a good conversation, and don't have the time for a lot of larger thoughts. They can learn things well enough, but without some civilization around to give them more free time there isn't enough opportunity."

"Yeah," the smaller Fire type agreed reluctantly. "Anyway, I wanted to do that mostly, but I also wanted to help out the other pokemon on the team with their own training." He looked up at the sky thoughtfully, and then Jane proceeded to giggle at this answer to her question. "What?" he asked her with a huff of his own.

"You almost sound like you want to be human," she replied clearly trying to control her laughter. "It actually explains everything. You try and stand like one." She demonstrated by straightening her body and lifting her head, both mimicking the other Charmeleon and also wiggling her limbs a bit to show where the squared shoulders and placement of the legs and hands were trying to look more like a human. After making her point she dropped back into a more forward leaning and looser stance that better fit her current shape. "And more importantly," she said before surging forward. "You use this far too much," she continued as she moved, tapping his head with a claw easily at the word 'this'. "Thinking everything through makes you slower."

The other pokemon flinched aside, scrambling in a way that Quagsire and Grant actually could compare to a human more than a reptile now that they were looking. "What do you mean, 'want to be human'? I'm a Charmeleon," he huffed again. "Why would I want to be anything else? We're one of the most well liked Starter pokemon," he added pridefully, puffing out his chest, but looking a bit awkward with how his body shape did not seem to quite fit with the way he was trying to position himself.

"Did I try and look like an Armaldo as much as he's trying to look like a human?" Grant asked his trainer, raising a claw in front of his face and speaking quietly.

This question made the amphibian pokemon pause and consider the idea for a short period of time, while Jane started laughing again having heard the statement. Pyre had also managed to hear, but looked more shaken by the casual tone of the inquiry than upset over the implications. "I think you actually might have," the Water/Ground type complained.

"You're serious," Pyre said horrified. "You seriously think I'm acting like I wanted to be human." He turned to Jane, who was looking surprisingly smug about this. "Why would I even want to do that?"

"Did most of the pokemon where you grew up act in movies?" she asked, with a tone that said she had an idea what was going on.

"Uh, well. Yeah," he admitted, embarrassed about something. "It was kind of hard to tell who was actually a real pokemon or not actually. I'm still not sure if Flare Step was a human first or not."

"She was, but currently she's moved to being a pokemon full time," Grant noted. "Also she's Janice's aunt, that's the Lucario who prefers being human of our group."

"Alright," the lifelong Char said slowly, clearly even more uncomfortable with the concept of changing form long term now that it was suggested he wanted to do so too. "So I guess I grew up with pokemon that I couldn't really tell if they were pokemon or not." He the frowned thoughtfully, his tailflame dimming slightly. "And all the pokemon I've met since I started traveling do act a lot differently."

"Meanwhile, because of somebody, I know what being a normal Charmander who wants to be a Starter is like," Jane said with false cheer. "I might actually think more like a normal pokemon than you do. After all, you didn't even mention wanting good fights or getting stronger."

"Well, that stuff is just what you're supposed to do, right?" Pyre asked evasively.

"You don't like fighting?" Grant asked dully. "You thought you wanted to be a Starter pokemon, and you don't like fighting?"

"It's not that," he replied defensively. "Fighting is fine, I just like all the other stuff a lot more."

Quagsire had her face buried in her hands at this statement. "Are you sure you don't want the Magmar back?" she mumbled to Jane around the limbs. "Because that sounds like a more resigned version of what Tyranomon says to us."

"If Magmar isn't happy with the other trainer I'll help find somewhere else for him," Jane replied sadly, her own mood taken down by how Pyre had responded to her criticism. "But I'm fairly sure he doesn't trust me at all anymore, and I don't know how to fix that. I'm hoping that the two of them like each other." She shook her head and drooped her tail, the flame sputtering slightly. "And I think we need to talk about this, because I don't want to force you to fight if you don't like doing it." She sighed heavily. "I hope Jim's at least having a good interview."


Jim nervously looked over the small area outside the studio's offices that they had decided to setup as a transport area. He had arrived just before a Zoroark and two of the Lucario from the other world, or at least it was supposed to be two Lucario. The currently Greninja shaped trainer was among many present awkwardly dealing with the fact that some of that world's inhabitants turned into humans during the trip to this one. From what he'd overheard so far about six of the eleven pokemon making the trip had been changed in such a way, which was honestly rather annoying with the context of his current condition.

"I really do get why Janice was so annoyed now," he commented quietly, not wanting to look too upset with his own change given the context.

"Heh, my niece has it a bit easier than you'd think," Effects, as everyone seemed to actually call the local Zoroark, said with a shake of his head. "My kind naturally try and make themselves look like humans, which unfortunately means that anything we've tried to actually physically turn me back has either not worked, or just put another kind of illusion over me for a while."

"It is somewhat possible to produce a transformation in our kind," the newly arrived Dark type noted. "However, it is indeed far more difficult than it would be in others, and should our form be natural to ourselves it tends to reassert itself rather strongly." She then looked at the few pieces of set work that were visible from their location. "I'm looking forward to seeing how you've used our capabilities with this work."

"So, is this one the guy here for the interview?" a Krookodile asked looking at the latest former Lucario. "Carl, stop sighing," the reptilian pokemon then said to the Aggron standing next to him.

"It's the Greninja, sir," the Steel/Rock type rumbled. "The one whose sister was going to be training Pyre?"

"Carl?" Jim asked a bit uneasily at how few humans were preset, and how many of them should have been newly arrived pokemon. "Are you normally a human or a pokemon?" he cautiously asked.

"My original trainer was a bit odd with his naming scheme, and I've never actually had any acting roles as a human," the pokemon admitted. "Heading to your house to see if our kid would work with your sister was about the only time I've had to be one."

"You're Pyre's dad," Jim said faintly. "That was both of you seeing how my dad acted."

At this point another flash marked the arrival of Shinespark herself, who walked over to the small group with an annoyed expression. "Why are you Shadow Eyes right now?" she asked the Krookodile. "More importantly, how are you a pokemon right now?" the mage asked more strongly. "Because I've already been dealing with a magical mess, and I don't want to have come back to another."

"The damn artifact we got loaned," the Krookodile replied testily. "Tried to pull off the scene and ended up like this midway through because of it. Apparently even pretending to steal it counts to set it off, and from what the museum folks say it causes 'the last spell you were hit with' to happen to you."

"It was found at the end of a corridor with a rather nasty poison curse at the entrance," Carl rumbled unhappily. "So I'm just glad it seems to be a case of its makers cutting corners on their protections."

"Keep the kid away from it then," she complained at the responses. "He already has enough problems to deal with."

"Given he's already shown up as a pokemon I would think so," the Ground/Dark typed pokemon said with a huff. "Alright kid, let's see if you have what it takes."


"We should be able to clear things out with your medicine fairly soon," Colin told the Team Lead happily, all of his stuff packed up and ready to travel. "I should also be able to make weekly updates on the Stonescale's progress."

"That makes one out of your group," Janice complained slightly. "What are your initial impressions?"

"Very smart with mineral extraction, but it doesn't look like they will be combat viable without a lot of prep work," the guard admitted. "I'd say you need someone working with them before you give out any more."

"Honestly? All things considered only yourself and Jane are still in the running," the Team Lead admitted. "Jim has already given his back, as it doesn't really fit him and he's possibly ending his run early, and Albert is working in house, and we were already willing to give Alpha 45 some if she needed them. So with how things are going it might end up with just you out of the group that actually does this test properly for us."

"Oh, that's actually a bit disappointing, but I guess they are a bit difficult to work with right now, and it is hard to know if you have time for that kind of thing when you're on your first League run," Colin said sympathetically.

"For how rushed this trial was it technically ended up better than I expected," Janice sighed. "Which given half of you ended up pokemon says more about how doomed I thought it would be than anything." She nodded at him. "It looks like things are all set for you though. Have a safe trip."

"You're already leaving?" Jane asked walking in at the front of the group that had gone outside. The Charmeleon looking at the other Stonescale trial trainer with clear surprise.

"Technically the only reason you are still around is that we have the skills to support the other problems that turned up around you," the Team Lead noted. "If not for that delay I'd say this would have happened even sooner for both of you."

"It was nice meeting you, and I hope that being a part time pokemon works out for you," Colin said to her and then simply left.

Janice shook her head at the calm tone he had for that statement. "That was the only one of you who has even come close to dealing with the actual issue we brought you in for," she sighed. "Are you going to have time for training yours with the rest of your issues, or are you going to end up giving it back like your brother?"

"Jim gave his Stonescale back?" the Fire type asked confused. "Oh, he's probably got the job, hasn't he?" she then asked with a huff of flames, clearly disappointed with the possibility.

"It was looking likely," the Team Lead confirmed. "My uncle did some basic things with him before they left, and even if he doesn't, he said he didn't think he would be able to handle the Stonescale's needs."

"Um, Stonescales?" Pyre asked, flinching a bit at the translation device repeating his question. "What are Stonescales?" he asked more loudly, looking a bit happier at being able to properly ask.

"It's kind of a long story," Janice replied cautiously. "Weren't you all going to spend the day training to see if the trade would work out?"

"Judging from how Quagsire isn't angry I'm guessing they didn't decide he'd be the new trainer now," Gazimon noted idly.

"Pyre thinks like a human," Jane said uncertainly. "I probably went too far saying he wants to be one, but I'm not really sure he wants to be part of a team in a combat role."

The Troubleshooters present, specifically Janice, Gazimon, A-0, and Metagross, looked over the other Charmeleon carefully at this statement. "What exactly is the issue?" the Porygon-2 asked with some exasperation.

Janice, who had just recently seen how her aunt and uncle moved compared to other pokemon, simply sighed at the concept. "So he needs a lot of training to be combat ready instead of just using what they do in films?" she asked.

"Apparently liking all the parts of being a Starter that aren't fighting better than fighting is a problem," Pyre complained. "I'm still a strong pokemon, I can manage."

"If you didn't have to fight at all would you be happier?" A-0 asked, having now caught what the issue was from the way Quagsire and Grant looked after that argument.

"Um, maybe?" the other pokemon replied unsure. "But I'm on a team. Unless people just take along pokemon that don't fight I can't see that happening." He sighed heavily. "Being left in the ball for two Gyms would have been horrible."

"'Maybe' is actually a bit worse for wanting to fight than getting a pokeball was for your current trainer wanting to be human," Janice cautioned the pokemon. "However, this is the first League run for both of you. Learning what you do and don't want is a big part of that." She paused for a moment, clearly considering things. "I personally didn't like what it took anywhere near enough to go on one, either as a trainer or a Starter, over getting more education. I'm doing a bit of training now with Shawn's help, but overall I'm not that interested."

"Both were options considered?" Metagross asked their partner.

"Honestly, I was if anything more interested in trying to be a Starter than a trainer. Riolu are fairly rare here, so it would have been prestigious," the human noted. "But in the end I just didn't like being a pokemon enough for even that."

The two Charmeleons blinked at this confession. "I know exactly what you mean," Jane said with a tone somewhere between wonder and horror. "You're talking about something that should sound weird, but I understand what you are saying perfectly." She looked quite shaken by her comprehension. "I don't feel the same, but I understand it."

"I think I get the 'prestigious' part," Pyre nervously admitted. "But, I don't really want to be an actor or anything like that. I like everything other than the fighting part, so I'm willing to put up with doing it if I can keep going with that."


Jim was fairly sure it had gone well. He had been working on this goal for his entire trip, with his original goal to be training a team of pokemon to be effective actors themselves. His father's connections with electronics suppliers had given him access to a few simple video cameras, although most had been cheap or fragile. The family had seen every film they could get a video of, with the older Felsic male having gone so far as to get a full theater setup for the purpose. Such things were good memories of time spent with his father, but not good enough to fully outweigh the bad ones.

So far he'd been able to preform fairly solidly, and the few times they'd asked to see his pokemon had received notable praise. Now he simply had a happy red and black scaled reptile leading him to another set with a wide smile. "I think at minimum we can sign you on as a trainer for the staff," Shadow Eyes, as the Krookodile's pokemon form was called, said happily. "How about a bit of a break? We've been working on a ninja film for a while, and keep trying to get this scene right." He turned his head to indicate the building. "Let's have you run through the role, since you fit the theme right now. Should be fun." The joking tone make it clear that there was some reason to find the idea amusing, and made it clear that this was an extra thing to try just for fun.

This was clearly the case from how the people on the set seemed a mixture of amused and unhappy with their current goals, and how the set itself seemed only partially assembled and prepared. Jim was handed a basic script for the role, and a Shiftry gladly gave him a basic, but obviously deliberately simplified overview of it. Notably the speech of the human leader of the villainous group was not detailed, except for a brief segment of how it ended so that he could properly respond in time with the appropriate actions.

It was apparently a fairly simple plot of secret agent vs madman with a force of ninjas, with this being the part where the big plan for the villain was revealed. Jim basically just had to stand at the back of the room looking menacingly at the lead actor while that happened.

Everyone got to their places easily enough, and strangely most of them seemed to be rather deliberately preparing for whatever happened next. Jim ended up sliding into the proper location a little bit, the movement part of the small oddities that were needed to get his stance right in the Greninja form he currently had.

Then the dialogue started, with the tied up agent asking for the plan dramatically, and then the villain of the piece starting on not just a plan, but a full on rant. Jim reacted automatically to the fervorous tone of the speech, falling into the "company is over don't make dad look bad" mindset common to when his father had friends over without really thinking about it.

The villain's actor actually really seemed to get into the role, and as a result it took a moment for the Water/Dark type to realize this was a movie set. He then started to shift slightly at the appropriate times, noting idly that the rant was actually a bit more sane than his own father tended to be.

The crew outside of the camera's shot were looking at him curiously, while also laughing a bit at the sillier elements of the speech. He made sure to continue keeping his face steady in appearance, and prepared for the rant to end at any point. His father had a tendency to seemingly randomly stop for one reason or another.

Finally, the noted lines occurred, and Jim easily moved forward while somewhat carefully making a blade of water to fit the intent of the order that prompted the action.

"You're hired," the Krookodile interrupted the attempt. "You're hired yesterday. Wait, how long have you been transformed? We can backdate things to then."

"He kept a straight face," the Shiftry said dully. "He got through the whole thing with a straight face." Jim frowned at this, noting that the other Dark type had in fact been unable to do the same during the rant.

"I was sure we were going to have to find a pokemon being reformed from some villain to get someone that could manage this one," the actor playing the secret agent noted.

Jim sighed at this statement, realizing what the issue was. "I guess dad was worse than I thought," he complained idly. "What exactly is happening now?"

"You have the role," Shadow Eyes said bluntly. "Finding someone who can both pull off the look, and make it through that rant, is the big thing that had held this film off for nearly a year now." He looked seriously at the young trainer. "We will need to finish the paperwork and fill you in on the rest of the film, and get the sets cleaned up, and re-shoot a couple of things that were attempted before, but this is it."

"I thought I would only be getting extra roles or stuff like that for a while?" the young trainer asked concerned by the sudden offer.

"Training a pokemon or finding a current actor that turns into the right pokemon will take a lot longer than getting you up to speed," the reptile pokemon noted. "Honestly, we were about to cut the rant itself with all the hassle that it was causing, but the writer insisted that it be left in as is or he'd leave the film."


"So, how accurate was that little confession?" Gazimon asked after Quagsire left with the two reassured Fire types to train some more.

"Partially, I never really went anywhere with either path," Janice said easily. "Being a trainer means a lot of traveling around, and as soon as mom got it through my head that I'd certainly have issues getting the medicine on the road I lost all interest. If I was going to be a trainer I wanted to be a human one, not a part time pokemon."

"Which you didn't really want Jane to hear," A-0 noted. "Because it really does look like she wants to be a pokemon some of the time."

"Right, the other side honestly was 'more interested' in that I actually got as far as the tests to make sure you have the right knowledge and condition for being a starter," the Team Lead said with a shake of her head.

"Let me guess, you didn't pass?" Gazimon asked in a tone that might have been trying to be sympathetic.

"Ha, being good enough to be a Starter isn't hard. No, I got through a rundown of just what all the stuff a Starter has to do and decided I didn't want to even try to put up with it," Janice laughed. "Which means that if he made it past that part already and has managed for this long, then I think he's definitely up for going the full way even if he isn't fond of fighting."