- Violet City -
Alexa considered the start of her new wardrobe the next morning as she thought about how she wanted to go into the city that day. She still needed a couple of outfits for her Lobasalt form, but Mephagic was covered and she had a new belt/harness combination for her gear that should work for all three of her current forms. Toxin proof and fire proof at the same time apparently translated into heat treated plastic coatings and rubbery parts for those things. Mostly because unlike fabric it was harder to get sludge trapped inside of them.
It also led to the discovery that Alexa would also merge with any of the clothes that didn't fit with her human form when she changed back, and the related awkward moment of having changed outfits and shapes at the same time. In theory it made it easier to keep clothed in all of her forms, but in practice it made Alexa very nervous about keeping all of the options she had clean or accidentally losing track of something more important than clothes. The good news was that pokeballs were tied to their owners, and would not get caught in that kind of change, but the bad news was they didn't know what else could get caught.
With that information the plan had changed to just some accessories that fit all four, and then specific outfits for each of the wildly different body plans and needs instead of trying for stuff that would fit more than one. So she had a few a bit too smooth and rubbery outfits specifically for her frog form, and nothing for the other two yet. "So, do I go out in the tight outfit that should probably only be worn while swimming, or go around today without understanding you guys?" she asked her team.
"You've managed the second for all of Kanto," Bellossom pointed out. "Also that would mean less chance that you poison random people by accident, or worse."
"We have enough Toxin Contagion you can just switch back and forth," Charizard offered smugly. "Show off our Legendary shapeshifter of a trainer."
Alexa ribbited at the thought, the joke being was that it was a bad idea, but it also was strangely tempting. The idea of just switching whenever like he did instead of worrying about how people would take a given form.
"Alexa, do not take that idea seriously," Kingler said cautiously at the sound. "I think that can wait until after we set off some news stories at a minimum."
"I dunno, it might be interesting to see," Bellossom sarcastically said in a way that clearly meant agreement. "Seriously, just be human for a while. Don't take after your Starter on this thing."
"Crap, I didn't consider that aspect," Charizard said with much less amusement as Alexa felt herself pale at the implication. It was well known that trainers and their Starters tended to act like each other in the cases where they got along properly, and while in most cases it was thought to be the Starter taking after their trainer there were cases where the trainer enjoyed the same habits as their first pokemon.
"That's a pretty good argument why I should think more on the idea before I really consider it," Alexa agreed with her pokemon with a sigh. "I guess I'll just hold off until I try to get some clothes for my Lobasalt form later." Further discussion was interrupted by a knock on the door of the private room they had been allowed to use in the Pokemon Center for the night. Alexa considered her shape for the moment, and decided that anyone looking for her would already know about her Mephagic shape. "Come in."
William opened the door, and sighed at the sight of her. "Please do not just travel around town as a pokemon again today," he requested. "Because I am going to travel with you, and my heart cannot take the stress of being around an openly non-human trainer just yet."
"That is kind of what the rest of us have been trying to say," Rhydon agreed. "Although Charizard briefly made things worse. Alexa almost decided to just switch from one to another whenever she wanted."
"No. You are not doing that," William declared a bit faintly with a pale face on his illusion. "I wouldn't survive it." He then paused and looked at Rhydon more closely. "What pokemon are you?"
"He's a Rhydon who drank some Crystal Syrup," Kingler dryly answered. "And is keeping himself a topiary by using our other stuff on top of that."
"Something 'Crystal' turns a Ground/Rock type into a Grass type?" the other pokemon-trainer asked disbelievingly.
"Powerful Grass typed medicine that is so Grass typed it makes you into one if you weren't beforehand," Bellossom explained. "Really valuable, but we apparently made it a lot easier to make so everyone says it is alright for him to use it like that."
"Okay," William said slowly. "So why is it called 'crystal' then?"
Alexa nodded at the question. "That depends on what source you ask. The place we got ours from says that it is because of the crystal clear color properly made Crystal Syrup has. The technical articles I've read say it is because it was developed from a method of making healing crystals originally, but the medical articles call it 'Crystal Grade Healing Syrup'," she explained to the other trainer. "Which of those is the real story I'm not sure."
"All three sound like they could be right at the same time honestly," Charizard noted and then turned towards William. "So you are traveling with us now? Because with how our trainer has been thinking lately you might have to deal with an openly pokemon trainer."
Alexa considered that thought as William paused to think about his answer. She really was considering transforming all the time. If you had asked her about that idea back when she first started testing things she would have probably stopped even trying things, and if the Ice typed Frozen Flame had worked on her back when they were working on the other one it would have definitely set her against changing herself. Now, however, she had months of her team showing how they were interested in the idea, of her Starter joking around with different forms. Alexa had taken weeks to actually change herself after learning it was an option, and only one thing she had tried wasn't also something she could reverse herself.
"I know, but she's going to do it with or without me, and I'd rather be next to her when I explain that I don't like to show off my pokemon form instead of halfway across the region," William answered with another sigh. "I want to get used to the idea, because where I grew up showing that you weren't human was always a mistake. It is embarrassing to be in our natural form."
Alexa considered that thought, and her own thoughts since Dark Pass. "Are you human?" she asked, and frowned as she couldn't really think of a better way to word it offhand. "I mean, do you think of yourself as being human?"
"Why would you ask that?" William carefully questioned. "I'm not human."
"But do you try to be one?" Charizard asked with a nervous look at Alexa that she understood meant he had caught one implication of her question. That she wasn't entirely sure she thought so anymore. "If you could simply be one would you?"
William's illusion broke, and the fox pokemon looked at all six of them carefully. "I am still a pokemon," he slowly explained. "We live as if we are human, but we are still something else. It is important to us, but I think I know why you are asking now. I am a pokemon, even if I spend most of my time as if I was a human."
Alexa didn't reply to that with what she was thinking, but she did ribbit at the idea that she wasn't as confident about how she felt about herself.
The city was full of options on what to start with. There was a large trainer school that should have some advanced classes for trainers with loose energy to deal with the side effects, Falkner's Gym, a number of shops, the nearby Ruins of Alph if they wanted to make a full day trip, and the Sprout Tower on the far side of the town's lake across a pair of large bridges.
William's Starter was a large sort of humanoid Grass/Fighting type pokemon covered in green, tan, and white plates of spiked armor called Chesnaught, and as they walked to that last option the Spiny Armor pokemon cheerfully discussed how nice such a Grass type focused structure would be to visit with Alexa's two currently Grass typed pokemon. It was honestly familiar to wish that she could understand what the pokemon were saying to each other, although it did make it harder to stay human herself.
"They aren't saying anything really interesting, and you at least can ask later," William noted, and apparently he could tell what Alexa was thinking. "You are not actually the first trainer I've traveled with, and being a translator can get annoying at times." He then blinked and groaned. "Which is a reason to let you just turn into a pokemon too so I don't have to. Well that didn't take long." Chesnaught laughed, clearly at her trainer's lament.
Rhydon responded with a joke of some kind, and reshaped close to a Mephagic real quick which told Alexa that it was to compare her own actions to William's. Bellossom laughed at that, but Chesnaught looked confused. "You haven't explained me to your team yet," Alexa noticed a bit nervously. "Is that going to be a problem?" Her pokemon were apparently going to try and explain now.
"Possibly, but at least they are used to a pokemon being a trainer," William admitted, and then stopped walking suddenly. "Well that's a bad sign."
The tower had a crane next to it and a large amount of scaffolding around the left side. There were worker humans and pokemon, and a number of grim faced sages turning away the trainers that had crossed the bridge before them. Alexa's group continued to approach, but she didn't need to look at her pokemon to see that this was a disappointment. "What happened?" she asked the closest sage to the bridge when they reached the old man.
"We typically take advantage of the lower tourist count to shut down between Leagues to inspect and repair the tower," the sage replied in a tone that said he had explained this many times before. "However, this year we discovered a serious issue with some of the major supports. The efforts to repair the tower have taken much longer than we hoped, and while we apologize for the inconvenience we cannot allow anyone into the structure at this time. If you wish we can add you to the list of trainers who we will be informing when the repairs are complete."
"That would be good," Alexa managed to say and glanced at her pokemon. Bellossom looked particularly mad about this, but Rhydon just looked sadly at her and motioned to his pokeball. She returned him easily, and Bellossom turned towards William and let out a long series of chirps that her Grass/Electric type didn't bother to try and say in a way where Alexa could work it out.
"She says that she has been getting your Rhydon excited about this place since you decided to go to Johto," William translated with a sigh. "I admittedly just heard about it when we got to town, so Chesnaught isn't that broken up." He nodded at his Starter, who looked more annoyed than upset and also asked to be returned.
"We really are sorry for this," the sage repeated as he got out a small notepad filled with contact information. "When the issue was first discovered we were given a much shorter timeline, but there were additional complications discovered only after the work began. It should be finished before the end of this League." The old man huffed with a bit of annoyance. "Although I personally hope it is much sooner than later." Alexa got out her trainer card to get her contact number signed up without really thinking about it, and as a result got to see the sage rapidly looked between the card and her a couple of times. "So, have you just registered as a trainer with your human disguise, or did you accidentally get your card switched with this frog trainer's?"
"I handed you the card for my Mephagic form, didn't I," Alexa said rather than asked and with a great deal of embarrassment actually looked at her cards this time to make sure to get the human one.
"Honestly that's easier to mess up than you would think," William admitted to her as the sage compared her two cards critically. "I still sometimes get mine mixed up after I need a Pokemon Center checkup that needs my pokemon information."
Chesnaught stared at the three cards this other trainer that had convinced William to travel with her had for her other forms. "William, none of these are the same creature, let alone human," she dully informed her trainer. They were currently at the edge of a field that they had been told was alright to use for light training back on the other side of the bridges from the Sprout Tower. Alexa Larch was doing an impressive job of speaking with and understanding the exaggerated replies of both of her Grass types.
"I've seen her as all three of those personally," her trainer replied, and even three years later it was still unbelievable that her trainer could just understand her outright. During her education on how to be a Starter she had heard that after time a good trainer would understand you to a degree, like what Alexa was doing now, and while there were the very rare humans that could actually understand pokemon she had been clearly informed that those who already could would likely have pokemon they already wanted as their Starter long before they were of League age. Being trained by another pokemon had not even been considered as an option.
"I'm a bit surprised she doesn't have one for the Grass type given she has two of them," Chesnaught admitted with a shake of her head and a glance over to the currently human looking other trainer. "They didn't look like the Starter of someone with a tree name. She should have a proper one."
"Her team can do it too," William complained with a sigh. "Remember the strange Charizard I mentioned?"
"The liquid one that wasn't even Fire typed?" she asked very cautiously. The idea of the most famous Fire type in all of Kanto as a Water type of all things still sounded just as insane as these cards all being one person.
"I've seen him as a Fire/Water type too, and watched him turn back into just a normal Charizard," William confirmed.
"Do you mean a Fire/Flying Charizard, or a Normal typed Charizard, because this conversation is strange enough that both might be options," Chesnaught admitted uneasily, but she did not really want to hear it wasn't the first option.
William closed his eyes. "Alexa, is it possible for Charizard to become Normal type?" he asked with clear reluctance.
"Well, we haven't tested that one with him, but Heracross has used that in order to stop being a Bug type," the other trainer cheerfully explained. "Although admittedly he mostly uses Mercury Contagion to be a Fighting/Steel type."
"What the hell did you sign us up for this time, William?" Chesnaught questioned disbelievingly as Alexa let out a rodent pokemon that looked more like a Lucario than the large beetle pokemon they had faced before to demonstrate. Then the other trainer was called back by her Grass types who seemed to think Heracross could help with their translations.
"An interesting League that I want to see from ground zero," her trainer sighed quietly and in a half growl that the currently human other trainer likely could not understand. "Besides, we owe her a bit for the Water Gym."
"I'd have preferred it if you had given me more than a few minutes to know that I would be a pure Water type for that one," she complained with a sigh. "These pokemon do it to themselves?"
The one they called 'Rhydon' apparently decided another demonstration was in order given the metal of his core turned into dirt, and then Alexa had him grab onto something in an edge pouch on her bag. "Rhydon has decided to try and keep learning to carry passengers when he flies again," the currently human trainer 'explained'. Chesnaught simply stared at the both of them to try and work out if that statement made actual sense.
"So, is there a reason you didn't just use a Fly HM?" William asked slowly, and her trainer did not sound any more certain of the situation than she was.
"Ugh, I'd rather not. Bad experience with one," Alexa immediately responded, but both of the other trainer's pokemon turned in confusion at the response.
"Alexa, I've never even seen you consider using a TM," the Bellossom complained, and made a complex series of motions that might have actually gotten the message across. "When exactly did you have a problem with an HM?" Chesnaught blinked at how a pokemon who had apparently not seen one used could still recognize the term.
"Yeah, I don't think I've even seen one before. Kingler complains about it sometimes," Rhydon admitted with a look at his trainer, but seemed to feel his comment was to complex to mime to Alexa. "She says they would help speed up getting good moves."
"They would, but that's not my issue here," Bellossom agreed with their not present teammate and continued to glare at the shapeshifter trainer.
Alexa met Bellossom's glare, and sighed at the need to tell the story now. William probably had some of the things, and just thinking about it had already brought back the sensation she had mostly ignored for over two years. "It happened before I became a trainer," she admitted with a thought to how her father had usually needed to run into an actual lab safety problem before he solved it. "Dad was working on how types impact move compatibility, and got a few recalled TMs and HMs for their compatibility sensors." There had been a whole pile, and he had let her look over the electronics in them after school one Friday.
"He didn't just buy a normal scanner for that sort of thing?" William questioned as she paused to reflect.
"He wanted some initial data to see if it was even worth looking at before he spent all the money a full featured one would cost," she replied and turned to the pokemon-trainer. Her father had in fact never purchased one because the information wasn't that valuable to him. "Unfortunately it turned out that the Fly HM was specifically recalled because it only used the scanner to give an 'incompatible' result." She tried to poke the knot of energy with her newfound knowledge of how to use typed energy, and while it actually partially worked she could feel the bit where the energy failed to activate it due to an incompatible form. "If it had been a TM it wouldn't have been as bad, those only last weeks at most, but HMs are made to teach moves you get certified on. I still have the pattern, and I was told it would probably be a few years from now that it finally goes away."
Both William and his Chesnaught looked at her with shock, and a glance to her team showed Bellossom and Rhydon looked a lot less happy about the truth. "TMs can work on humans, normal humans that don't have types?" William asked, and Alexa laughed at the question.
It wasn't an amused laugh. "We found that out the hard way," she confirmed. "Having the pattern for a move you can't use is uncomfortable, that's the whole reason those sensors exist in the first place. With how my team only has the Flying type sometimes I don't want to put them through that." Even if she could get over her personal dislike of the devices.
Bellossom asked something with a thoughtful chirp, but before she could turn to see what William translated. "She's asking how different it is from moves you can't use in other forms."
Alexa paused to consider that idea. A well used move wore a groove in your energy, it would dissipate with time and disuse, but it made it easier to use while you had it. Battle trained moves got like that, and most trainers tried to limit how many their pokemon had in that condition due to the time investment for each. Trainer school had recommended four moves at that level per pokemon. It wasn't the same as the artificially made pattern of a TM, and the final move a pokemon learned from the TM often had a different shape, but there should be enough similarity for it to cause the same issue.
Alexa poked the Fly HM's effect again, and realized that not only was it somewhat similar to her knowledge of Ember and the other moves she had actually used before yet couldn't right now, but it also didn't sting as much as before. "It- Hmm, maybe it wasn't just the Bug type that made the trip as a Vespikiln easier," she considered aloud.
Rhydon rustled something that sounded like agreement with Bellossom's point, and Alexa was fairly sure she didn't need the exact wording. Despite that she still wanted to change now to discuss it better and contrast the sensations herself. Her pokemon had not used a TM or HM with these changes, and she had one that she might just be able to use in one of them now.
"Alexa, are you going to find some new way to unnerve me every single day I'm with you?" William questioned, and Chesnaught sent him a smug look. "Because I made it three Leagues without anything close to this strange, and yet I don't think there is a day I've been around you that hasn't upset my entire understanding of the world."
Alexa had been a bit worried that the Crystal Syrup would wear off before Rhydon became a bird made of cloud and a bush, complete with wooden beak and talons. Unfortunately she had forgotten how an hour was a bit longer to spend sitting around when you weren't focused on pure research.
"So, are you a human?" Chesnaught asked her directly as they rushed to make her appointment at the clothing store.
"Probably not," Alexa said distractedly as she discovered first hand that being a Lobasalt was not a good plan with how rushed they were for this. "Can this wait I'm trying not to drip lava on the road?"
"You can just change back," Rhydon suggested as he flapped along to get at least a bit of practice.
"We set it up that she would arrive in this form," William complained as he took the role of 'obviously rushed trainer'. "I didn't realize it would be this early in the afternoon."
"We weren't exactly planning on trying to train," Bellossom noted from Rhydon's back with Alexa's bag. "The Sprout Tower shouldn't have taken that long."
Alexa wasn't sure about that, but they were close enough to the shop that Alexa needed to figure out how to slow down while causing minimal damage. She was more massive as a Lobasalt, and she only had the ground to slow her down. She had not had time to work out if Acid Armor would be an option for this form, but she knew enough about shifting her limbs to change her usually flat feet into something with a bit more grip. She could feel it scrape the pavement a bit, but it did mean she was able to stop at the door.
"Assistant Larch?" the store owner asked her with a bit of unease. "Is this your next form?"
"Yes," Alexa said, not really winded because that required lungs and the associated biology, but still a sort of tired. "Sorry we're late."
"It isn't a problem. Our next appointment has canceled due to the Sprout Tower being closed," the owner replied with a sigh. "They decided to leave the city earlier and won't be around for it, so we have plenty of time." Alexa was once again glad that this form was not expressive to show how upset that simple statement made her given how they had just rushed here.
"I've been told by Nurse Joy to ask about fireproof and Acid Armor compatible clothes for this one," Alexa explained as her group was led into the building again. Rhydon took her bag and returned Bellossom to clear some space, but Chesnaught apparently wanted to discuss things while they went over options and remained out. It took a very short time to work out that her body like this simply wasn't made for most clothes, and anything would basically end up being some kind of cloak or robe draped over her body simply due to its shape.
"So, now that we're waiting on cape fashion," Chesnaught said during a break for the staff to work out which materials they had were the proper kind of fireproof while also being able to handle being submerged in water. "Are you actually a human, or are you something else that just thought it was one?"
"Chesnaught," William criticized his Starter.
"I want to know if she is really what she claimed she was," the Grass/Fighting type grumbled before he could continue. "I don't want you getting wrong information from some Legendary that's trying to fake things."
"Just because I'm the only Lobasalt doesn't mean I'm the only one of all my forms," Alexa answered as she considered how detailed she should get with the other pokemon. "They are all what happens when a human gets changed by rare substances that can make them into pokemon. Well, at least they are sort of rare, part of the issue is that most humans don't get changed by most substances. I think more would work on you than on my human form."
"So, these are just different shapes humans can take, they aren't normal pokemon you change into?" Chesnaught questioned, and Alexa bobbed her body in a nod. "In that case I'd personally say those forms are all still humans, just weird looking ones," Chesnaught complained with a huff then frowned deeply.
Alexa considered that idea, and could agree that it wasn't wrong. It didn't entirely fit what she thought herself, but it did help solve the unease she had been feeling about wanting to use the forms. If she technically didn't really stop being the same general creature then it would be just like what her pokemon were doing.
"Why did you specify 'human form'?" Chesnaught then asked slowly as one of the store employees came out to re-measure Alexa's upper body again. "Shouldn't this stuff just work or not work?"
"Heracross has been hit by the move kind of Chitin Powder to be a Bug type again, but he didn't end up the same Bug type he was before," Rhydon answered for her as she quickly agreed to try and expand and contract her body a bit for the measurement. "I could probably try out the Rock type again. Maybe get Rock/Grass or Grass/Rock instead of Ground/Rock."
"We do have some Regirock Candy with us," Alexa thoughtfully agreed. He had at times missed that type, and they had a good record of him staying Grass typed. "Although it might still be more restrictive. Rock is kind of the reason you didn't like the Fire/Grass option you have now." The worker left with the information they needed.
"Oh no, this is actually real," Chesnaught breathed out. "William, I am done for today." The other pokemon-trainer returned his Starter.
"Hate to say it, but I kind of felt that way after we worked on Chitin Powder," Rhydon attempted to comfort William. "I actually had a nightmare about how that 'wears off' for normal pokemon." There was a loud rustle as he shuddered. "You do not want to know what that is."
"Probably not, but I doubt your team isn't going to tell me eventually," William countered with a hand over his face. "Possibly even show me, hopefully not firsthand."