- Route to Johto -
Kanto Route 27 was not a typical Route. It was a rough coastline between two regions, which meant you needed a well trained Water type to carry you across, and that meant quite a few Badges in your case. As a result it was almost only traveled by trainers who had gone through at least one League already, simply because there was little use in making the trip before you were done with your current League and little ability for your pokemon to make it before you started on your first one.
It currently was filled with a number of trainers that knew what a Charizard looked like, trainers that knew what a Feraligatr looked like, and trainers from both of those groups that had no idea what the pokemon Alexa was riding was. It was understandable really, as her Charizard was currently a Water/Steel typed pokemon that only barely resembled a normal one. His body was a uniform silvery blue color all over and, while it currently was in the same shape as his more typical Fire/Water form, in reality it had turned out that going through the complicated sequence of Clearwater Geode, then their mystical Soak variant, with some Mercury Contagion to top it off resulted in her Starter melting entirely into a massive quantity of flowing metal. Which was actually a relatively common end result of that final substance, similar to how the Toxin Contagion it was derived from could easily result in a shift towards a form that was at least partially Muk-like.
It wasn't quite the same as the one time she had switched Surf pokemon with her friend/rival Josh for a river crossing. Vaporeon had been much less solid in the water, and far less bulky. Alexa could even tell that Charizard had expanded the size of his back to give a more stable platform. They had checked with the Viridian Gym if they needed to have Charizard tested for ability to handle being the pokemon she surfed on, and while the assistant had looked really confused due to Charizard being Fire/Flying at the time he had informed the two of them that the only hard requirement was for the trainer to be signed off on the skill with an appropriate pokemon on their team. It was mostly up to the trainer at that point, although it was recommended to have a League official give at least a basic harness and rider course to a given pokemon. He specifically noted that Surf was close enough to Fly in practice that Charizard's prior experience should be enough.
Her Starter's head rose from the water and their pace slowed. He then caught her eye, and deliberately looked at the various spots of flat land present on small islands or the shoreline. She agreed that they needed to find another spot to rest. They still needed to get back on "League Pace" as the trainer school she had gone to called it. Eight hours for sleep a day, because sleep was important and unless you had an emergency there was plenty of time to get that much. Three one hour meal times set aside, a break-fast for when you woke up, a midday meal to break up travel, and a larger meal at the end of the day when you could set up a proper camp, which you gave at least another hour. Before and after the midday meal you were advised to spend 2 to 3 hours traveling, and the remainder of the day either training your team in one spot or going through cleaning and care efforts for them.
"I've been looking. The best sites so far have been packed," she admitted. It made some sense, as this was the best route between the two regions and the Johto League was about to start, but it was still an annoyance. "We might need to wait to stop until we're at the waterfall the guide book mentioned." Charizard chuffed at the idea of a longer than planned trip, and picked up their pace a bit.
They reached the larger partially wooded peninsula at the entrance to the cave that housed the falls fairly easily. It cut the shoreline route entirely in a way that made it a clearly greater risk to go out towards the ocean farther instead of just crossing the short stretch of land. Alexa could see an abandoned building that looked only a few years old on the best shoreline that might have been an inn at one point. Charizard simply flowed onto the shore, and Alexa had to laugh as she found herself slowly lifted up by her Starter as he reformed only after he traveled across a good amount of ground as a fairly flat puddle.
"Unknown Water/Steel typed pokemon," a mechanical voice said from nearby, and turned out to be another trainer's Pokedex. "Ability is Liquid Metal, greatly increases damage resistance when hit. Form resembles Charizard, but typing does not match and other pokemon with Liquid Metal Ability have shown mimicry capacity."
"Okay, so, where did you find that pokemon?" the older guy asked with raised eyebrows. "Because I'm heading to my fourth region, and I thought I had updated this with every pokemon on this side of the planet."
"Well, he is actually a Charizard," Alexa jokingly informed him, which in turn made Charizard laugh. "Hi, I'm Alexa Larch. My father is a Professor who researches ways pokemon change their types. My team has been having a bit of fun with trying out other types between Leagues."
The older trainer blinked, turned to look at Charizard, blinked again, and then turned back to her. "He's Water/Steel typed," the trainer replied a bit dully. "And liquid. That is a bit more than just 'changed his type'." The trainer, who still had not introduced himself, then started to enter data into his Pokedex. "Is this something that can work on humans too? Give people types or something?"
That pair of questions made both Alexa and her Starter pause, but Alexa had been anticipating it enough to have a response. She got her bag off her shoulder, and removed the Nightmare Fragment from it and placed that item over her shoulders instead. She felt her skin shift and her nails sharpen, something she had missed the first time, but worked out what had happened when Charizard had tested the Psychic type on a day she had been stressed out. "Well, this one can at least," she said aloud. "We found out it at least makes me immune to Psychic types like a Dark type."
"Huh, are those easy to get?" the trainer asked thoughtfully, then finally seemed to realize he had not introduced himself. "Oh, sorry, my name is William. I'm originally from Kalos, and went to Unova after that. My last region was Kanto, although I had some issues with registration over here."
Alexa was fairly sure he thought that told her something specific about himself, but if it was she wasn't able to work out what. "Not really, they are supposed to be made when a Darkrai is around a disaster. I'm still surprised that dad let me take this," she admitted instead of an attempt to ask about the hidden meaning. "It will probably help against Psychic types when we face them, but I think I like the effect the most out of my team," she added before she really considered how true the statement was.
"Hmm, I still might want to consider if I can show one off," William said with a thankful nod. "Well, in any case I wish you luck with the Johto League."
"You too," Alexa agreed as William started off towards the other shoreline across the peninsula. "Huh, any idea what he meant there?" she then asked Charizard.
Her starter looked a bit upset about something, but visibly shook it off and rumbled thoughtfully at her. For a moment it looked to her like he had something to tell her about the other trainer, but then he shook his head and pointed at the structure questioningly.
The building looked in fairly good condition despite the spider webs and scratched paint that said it had not been cared for in some time. Alexa guessed that it had been two years at most that it had been abandoned. "Looks like someone tried to start up an inn a while ago," she noted and they both moved closer to inspect it more clearly. They were able to find a lightly populated camp area behind the building, and another pair of Kanto locals on their way back from a vacation had asked about it at New Bark Town.
About four years before someone had built the small inn thinking that a smaller building would work as a tourist stop now that there were better transport options for trainers. Unfortunately there were still far more trainers who were passing by then visitors to the falls. As a result it filled up very quickly and then other travelers had to just continue to camp in the adjacent site that many had for decades. Unfortunately for the owners those travelers did not come into the inn to eat as the owners had hoped, or buy from the small shop they tried to run. They had been forced to close down about a year ago due to the cost to run being too hard to manage.
"Is your weird Charizard up for a battle?" another trainer asked after that story had been told, but before Alexa had finished setting up her camp.
Alexa joined her Starter in an unimpressed look at the other girl, who had the good sense to quietly apologize. Charizard shook his head, clearly not up for it after the longer than planned sea trip. "He's a bit tired out, but the rest of my team should be ready," she informed the trainer. "How about my Rhydon?"
The other girl smirked at that, and there was enough room to handle at least a one on one battle nearby. They took a moment to work out what the bet would be, about 500 each because they both didn't have a firm idea how good the other's team actually was, and it was still before the two Leagues which mattered because the other trainer was going the other way. One pokemon each, no items, and it ended when a pokemon was declared out by their trainer or the third trainer who agreed to referee called the match.
"Go Slowbro!" her opponent declared, and sent out a pink aquatic reptilian pokemon with a large spiral shelled pokemon latched onto their tail. The Water/Psychic type pokemon blinked and looked at the battlefield, and then sighed.
"Come on out Rhydon," Alexa happily said, and let out her metal and topiary pokemon.
The entire camp quieted down instantly, and Alexa's opponent sighed. "I probably should have known someone with a Water typed Charizard probably didn't have a regular Rhydon," the other girl complained. "Slowbro, try Psychic!"
"Razor Leaf!" Alexa ordered in response, and she saw Rhydon easily take the distorted air wave of energy that was a bit delayed. Then her pokemon sent a good sized barrage of leaves at their opponent, most of which hit but it was clear to Alexa that Bellossom would have hit harder. "Follow it up with Vine Whip."
Rhydon liked that move a lot more, and Slowbro dodged quite quickly as three dirt spotted vines erupted out of the ground much closer. That movement wasn't quite enough to get out of the attack's range, but Alexa's smile was definitely more to keep up the appearance of certainty than genuine now. Rhydon was good enough for this fight, but it was clear her former Ground/Rock type was not up to League level combat like this yet.
Slowbro took the hit worse than Alexa had expected. The pink pokemon was knocked down entirely by the glancing blow. "I know when we're beaten," the Water/Psychic type's trainer admitted with a bit of a smile. "I think I like the mystery of this whole thing too much to ask how it happened."
Alexa collected her winnings and went back to her camp site to let the rest of her team out, and she watched with interest as a few more trainers decided that because the area had already been torn up a bit it was a great time to get some matches done. That was fairly common, and helped keep too many trainers at the site from just watching her unusual team. It was a nice reminder of what the Journey was like, and what her team needed to work on now that they were going to mostly fight again.