- Ash -

The reversal of Lugia's change had been only moments ago, but nobody had done much more than recover from the brief alteration of the major Legendary. Alexa wasn't sure how to react to Lugia of all pokemon being so upset with actually being changed, or how the Legendary had not expected it to work and yet it had.

"Okay, it's been long enough that I really hope it was Silver at this point," the ocean Legendary then added with another sigh.

"What has been long enough?" William asked, and Alexa flinched.

"Lugia lost something," she answered uneasily. "He's got a bit more volcano and a bit less deep ocean right now."

"Kind of says a lot that you can tell that," Ho-Oh said to her and then turned to his brother. "You don't think grandfather will make you switch entirely do you?"

"He's been suggesting it," Lugia sighed. "Bigger worry is who got the Beast from me for the moment. Worst case-"

"Lugia, why am I a Lugia?" a somewhat familiar older male voice called out from higher in the building.

"I nearly crashed from suddenly having someone bigger than me on my back," another less familiar voice added and a small collection of pokemon came down the stairs. The somewhat smaller Lugia was obvious with his almost blue main feather color, a darker blue belly, and that deep ocean feeling that the older Lugia had lost. On his back was a very well known Pikachu, that looked exasperated. Then there was the Champion's Charizard right next to him. "What in the world was that?" the Fire/Flying pokemon questioned harshly.

"Sorry, Ash, Charizard. I didn't think it would work," Lugia apologized. "I didn't think it would be this kind of surprise today."

"I would be more upset if Ash shouldn't have said 'why am I a Lugia this time' instead," Pikachu joked tiredly with emphasis on 'this time'.

"It has happened before?" Ho-Oh questioned with a squawk. "Why didn't you tell us it happened before!"

"Oh no, now Ash Ketchum is here," William lamented quietly and tried to hide at the edge of the room.

"It was a dream. Admittedly a shared dream, but I wasn't really a Lugia," Ash answered with a wide wing movement. "I can tell because these are a lot different while I'm awake."

"While falling, because he was on my back, while we were flying, and then he turned into something bigger than me!" Ash's Charizard added then paused as he took in the room. "What the heck is that?" The Champion's pokemon pointed at Alexa's Starter, who was still Fire/Water typed and notably aquatic.

"My name, if you want to get technical, is Charles Larch. Given the alternative is confusion I will just have to put up with it," Charles replied with a smug smile. "As for what I am, that is simply a Char that likes the Water type. It is really rather nice."

"Ash, there are scary Legendary pokemon here," his Charizard replied after a moment of thought.

"Uh, hello, Champion Ketchum. I'm Alexa Larch," Alexa managed now that she had the attention of the younger Lugia. "I guess I didn't expect to meet with you..." she trailed off because that really was all she needed to say.

"This is why I wish I was as unknown as the cartoon version," Ash said with a smile. "Are you also a human turned into a Legendary?"

"I might actually be a Legendary who is human by default," she tried first. "Um, I can become a variety of technically-human pokemon. It is a bit complicated."

"Ash, someone just told us they were complicated, while you are a Lugia," Pikachu said with a confused look directed at Alexa. "Is this going to be another Absol bothering year?"

"Well there is at least one I want to bother right now," Ash joked. "It is nice to meet you, Alexa, but I really want to know how long I'll be like this? Because understanding the Wendrago Champion I'm meeting with later a bit better does help, but I'd rather deal with the Rocket problem they have as a human."

"'Rocket problem'?" Lugia questioned unhappily, and Alexa agreed with that sentiment. Her father's Porygon had strong opinions on the former villainous team, and that was on top of the typical Kanto dislike of them. "It isn't another Mewtwo issue is it? I'm still concerned with how the first one went for you."

"Nah, they just raided the main bases of these 'Team Upload' guys that used to be Rockets and need me to take the leader back to Kanto for them," Ash said with a shake of his head. "There are a few left that didn't get caught, but a four Badge trainer has been handling it so far, so it can't be that bad. I doubt they need a local Champion, let alone me."

Alexa let out a breath that technically wasn't needed for her current Spectslurry form. Then paused as she took in all of Lugia's question. "Wait the Mewtwo movie was real?" she asked loudly.

"Me being one of the trainers who was at Mewtwo's island for that mess is true. The details were a bit different, but he was really firm about being accurate," Ash answered. "This is the problem with getting a cartoon made about you, everyone knows enough to be worried about you for weird reasons." The transformed Champion sighed. "So, before we get into all of that again, can I get an answer about the Lugia thing?"

"It might technically be my fault there," Alexa admitted slowly. "Lugia wanted to try the Fire type but didn't think it would actually work, and it seems to have broken something?"

"I have been stuck with the Rocket stuff most of this year so far," Ash said in response. "Can somebody maybe explain what kind of Legendary you are? I think I'm missing something big here."

Alexa frowned as she worked out how to explain quickly.

William found the presence of the famous Champion turned into a pokemon to somehow not be the most notable thing about this meeting. Somehow, in some way, that title went to the two Charizards in the room. Ash Ketchum famously had a powerful example of the species, and seeing that pokemon in the flesh definitely showed the difference between the two.

Ash's Charizard looked and felt like he could crush William's entire team without any help. The winged reptile pokemon even had the more common grumpy and battle loving look that William had never entirely seen on Alexa's Charizard.

However, the Champion's Charizard did not have the slight feeling of presence that William now realized he had been mistaking for that raw strength this entire time. Charles Larch had not seemed to have that physical presence, but now with a typical Charizard in front of him to compare with, William could tell that Charles felt like the other Legendary pokemon in the room. In fact it told him that all of Alexa's team had that feeling in a way that drove home how needed this meeting was.

"William, please tell me 'Charles' doesn't have more of a pressure than the Champion's Zard," Chesnaught requested while holding onto Wooper to keep the little pokemon from going too close. "Because I know Alexa's team is strong, but they all have-"

"Yeah," he cut her off as he tried to keep track of that team's explanation of their powers. "I was just thinking that too."

"This is far from the first time we've felt that," Goodra pointed out seriously. "I'm quite concerned about that fact now."

"I don't have it, right?" Flaaffy questioned quietly, with a hardened shell to the magma-sheep's fleece that meant the Electric/Fire type was worried.

"No, I've never felt that from you," William was relieved to say.

"Okay, that sounds like a neat thing, but why did that make me a Lugia?" Ash questioned as the explanation finished. "And how quickly can you change me back?"

"My brother is linked to Shamouti, but we are going through some management changes there right now, so it is a bit unstable who is in charge of what," Ho-Oh started to explain, and William spotted Alexa moving back to try and stay out of it now. "You apparently were close enough to being in line for that responsibility, while Lugia got shifted to the Fire island because of the type change. We are trying to replace grandfather Moltres at the moment."

"Okay, I'm going to the Flameheart Glacier later this week, and I kind of don't want to be able to say I'm also a Legendary to those Legendary-Champions," Ash admitted. "So, can we give it back to Lugia? Maybe have me use this 'Contagion' stuff?"

"I don't want you stuck with an island instead, so Alexa probably can't help," Lugia immediately replied to that suggestion. "But we really should solve this quickly, before gramps decides you work for the job and I have to take Fire."

"That was not an 'I know how to fix this'," Chesnaught pointed out quietly. "That is not an 'I know how to fix this' at all."

"Lugia, that sounds like I will still be a Lugia for the meeting," Ash complained, but was then interrupted by a burst of flames suddenly appearing in front of the older Lugia.

"Ash, I am sorry to spring this on you so quickly," the flames said in an old voice. "Your cousins made a mess and I won't be able to handle the island for a bit. I know we don't have a permanent option yet, but I need you to take over for me for now." Lugia cringed and started to speak. "I know that makes you need to fill your slot too, but honestly that's why we get Champions. Yours has even already used the reset once, so he definitely qualities as a Chosen Successor."

"What about the types?" Lugia asked quickly, but clearly just to say something against this while he could.

"There is this new Gym Leader hopeful or something, has a tree last name and can change pokemon types. Should be nearby, try and get her to help," the Moltres answered immediately and clearly distracted by something else. "Listen, I need to get back to this. Don't worry it will just be a couple of weeks, a month at most." The flames then extinguished suddenly.

"So, he called you 'Ash'," William had to point out to the natural Lugia.

"We are from a large family of mostly the same few species," Ho-Oh sighed while Champion Ketchum stared blankly at where the fire had been. "Articuno is 'Dust', I'm 'Soot', and Lugia ended up with 'Ash'. Before you ask, Ash Ketchum, yes the original 'prophecy' was in fact about my brother."

"The pun there ended up annoying when I got older," Lugia sighed. "Yes, we are both named 'Ash', and yes, I did know this was a risk from you doing that particular 'Chosen One' thing. Sorry for this."

"I'm going to have to sit around at Shamouti, aren't I?" Ash Ketchum asked with a sigh, and Pikachu laughed at the whole situation. "You do know that one thing the cartoon got right about me is I like to travel a lot, right?"

"And I'm probably going to end up a mini-volcano the whole time," Lugia agreed with a nod at Alexa. "You might as well change me like that again now."

"You will need to work on your heat output," Herman pointed out a bit strongly. "It can take a bit to work out, and this building is sort of made out of wood."

"This is the fireproof one," Ho-Oh complained. "We both earned our names growing up here. A bit of lava should be fine."

"Chesnaught, did that just happen?" William asked a bit tiredly as Lugia was once again turned into white rock and notably hot lava.

"Which part, William? Because there was a lot just now," his Starter complained.

"So, I guess you are a Legendary pokemon too at the moment?" Alexa asked the Champion a short time after the second transformation of Lugia into a Magma Contagion form. Herman was helping with the heat that had all but chased them to a higher floor, and most of their teams were now put away.

"Champions can be Legendary pokemon too," Ash said to her easily. "It usually is just a case of being a Champion first like what is happening to me right now if that is what you're asking. With how strong you are to change Lugia like that you probably won't get another League after this one. I know it sucks, but that's how it works out sometimes."

"Yeah, I guess I didn't want to travel as much as the cartoon you," Alexa admitted. "I'm mostly worried about not getting a chance to finish this League."

"Honestly I try not to think about the cartoon me often. Did Lugia say that I met him once? Because that was a really weird time," the younger Lugia said distantly. "How do you react to a version of yourself that saved Arceus of all pokemon? Especially when you just thought that was an over the top thing people made you do in a cartoon."

"You are a Lugia right now," Pikachu pointed out. "I don't think that would have happened to him."

"Yeah, but only because he'd probably be some more important Legendary," Ash argued with a wide wing movement that sent a bit of a wind across the room. "Oops."

"You're in charge of something that could destroy the world right now," Alexa felt she should point out to the Champion. "I know there are a couple who do more than that, but being another of those pokemon usually doesn't have the same responsibility as the original."

"She's got you there, Ash," Pikachu laughed.

"So, I have a question," Chesnaught suddenly cut in, which made William look uneasy with the focus that drew to them. "How do you end up a Starter when you get ball sick?"

"Ha, oh now we have to tell that story," Ash's Charizard laughed. "Go on, explain the mess you made for that other Ash against Brock."

"Admittedly, I don't think we told the other Ash that I'm not a Starter. That's the answer by the way, I'm not Ash's Starter pokemon," Pikachu answered.

"I kind of started with Bulbasaur, but we didn't really work together well," Ash admitted nervously. "The thing is that whole 'caught the Pikachu eating the Lab wires' thing still happened. It is just the first thing grandpa Oak had me do for him. Gary had to take care of a Spearow that plugged up one of the roof vents, and I'm not sure what the others had to do."

"Damian ended up just having me light a pile of leaves on fire. Although honestly, I've always thought he just did that for fun," Ash's Charizard added.

"So I started with my Bulbasaur, but the cartoon was made after the two of us decided to not really work together all the time," Ash added. "Which made it sound like a good idea to just make Pikachu my Starter."

"But then we ended up with a makeshift Soak attack to get the cartoon past Brock's Gym Battle," Pikachu sighed. "Not to mention a lot of other Ground type fights that went a lot differently. I'm kind of glad that the other me didn't ask too many questions about those."

"I think we could probably teach you Soak if you wanted," Alexa's Charizard suggested. "It isn't that hard to work out."

"No thank you," Pikachu said dully. "Any other questions about the show?"

Alexa considered for a moment, slumping down a bit. "So, I'm currently Ghost typed myself," she started and both Ash and Pikachu tensed. "The Lavender Town episode, was that based on something that really happened to somebody?"

"We technically did not die in Lavender Town," Ash answered slowly. "That is as far as I can say."

"I try not to think about that one, and Bulbasaur hates talking about it," Pikachu grumbled. "Pick a better question."

"Yeah, sorry, I just was hoping for some reassurance on the Ghost type thing," Alexa admitted. "Dad seems right about it being just a change, and not technically related to dying, but it is hard to keep that in mind when you really think about it."

"The local Gym is Ghost typed," Charles pointed out, and Alexa's Starter looked thoughtful about that. "And Ghosts are said to make more Ghosts a lot of the time."

"Please pick a better question," Pikachu requested. "How about the Venustoise? That was a Ghost type messing with us, can we talk about that instead?"

"I think I could pull off Venustoise with the right stuff," Charles said thoughtfully, which made Ash's Charizard stare at her Starter with complete horror. "I think the shell would be the hard part. Maybe start off with Regirock Candy, then see how that reacts to the Clearwater Geode?"

"We are going to be working on a new Grass type method," Bellossom added. "I might be able to pull off something flower themed."

"It might end up pretty close," Alexa agreed. "Probably would be easier to start with a Blastoise though."

"I take it back, we can talk about the time we were crushed by a light thing instead," Pikachu cut in quickly. "I think I'd rather talk about how I almost ended up a Rotom then hear how to turn Charizard into an actual Venustoise."

"Why would you even think of that!" Ash's Charizard declared before Alexa could touch on Pikachu's comment.

"Because it sort of turned out that I'm just a Legendary that started as a Char," Charles suggested. "Either that, or a Char that really likes the Water type, so a mix with Grass doesn't sound too bad. Probably mostly to mess with you though."

"If I tried to fight you I'd end up Water typed for a bit wouldn't I?" Ash's Charizard suspiciously questioned.

"Yes," her own said with a wide smile. "Yes, I would in fact make you entirely Water typed for the duration."

"Um, maybe we can not do that?" Ash suggested, putting a wing between the two Chars.

"Yeah, I'd rather not face off against a Champion," Alexa agreed with a suppressed laugh. It was honestly a funny exchange to her at the moment, but she wasn't sure if that was just being a Ghost type causing problems.

"So, to help change topics off that," William cut in before Alexa could actually laugh. "How did you get two Gym Leaders to go on your Run with you? That always confused me."

"Well, I really did wreck Misty's bike," Ash admitted nervously. "It was less electricity and more a bad try at Razor Leaf. She wasn't actually the Cerulean Leader yet, but she was getting more Gym pokemon for when she officially started the next year. The show left out a lot of those that were caught while we traveled, and had that me fight her instead of her sister."

"Brock was on the other end. I think one of his little brothers was planning on taking over, but they ended up switching with his dad that year instead because of how the timing worked out," Pikachu said thoughtfully. "It was more of a change in job, but Ash was still his last match as an official Gym Leader."

"I think the thing that didn't get said was how they kind of decided to go with me because Professor Oak is my grandpa too," Ash admitted. "I asked if that could be left out of the show, and I didn't ask if the other me was related to him at all."

"I think I get that," Alexa admitted. "That's why I don't really want everyone to know I'm a Legendary pokemon too." She considered that and forced an end to her current change in order to be human again. "But I guess you have to let the League know now."

Ash chirped sadly with a nod of his head, and Alexa paused for a moment. "Ash, do you know how to speak human like that?" she then asked, and got back confused chirping from the young Lugia.

Alexa decided to switch to Lobasalt given what they needed to do about that. Vespikiln would possibly work to handle the heat as well, but she felt it would be a good idea to have some comparison for Lugia to see.

"Okay, alright, Suicune go to the electronics shop in Goldenrod and pick us up one of those little translators," Lugia said when confronted with the new problem. "I don't know if I can teach Psychic communication before Ash needs it, and he's going to need it even if he does put Champion stuff on hold. Being the Shamouti Lugia does require a bit of talking to humans, and that part has gotten a bit more common since the Incident."

"I can suggest a place to get a band to hold it, but you are a bit big to fit in Goldenrod yourself," Alexa's Starter offered. "I'd offer my own for this League stuff, but given what apparently happened to my Clearwater Geode the band is possibly a bit more than just a translator for other pokemon."

"Do you mean it is your geode, or Your Clearwater Geode?" Ho-Oh asked seriously. "Because those things have a lot of metaphysical weight behind them. Getting one attuned specifically to you is another big deal thing, even for a Legendary."

"It is the second one, father," Suicune specified. "And I'm afraid I will probably need to turn back to make the purchase."

"I can handle that," Bellossom said, currently Fire/Electric typed to handle the heat of the room. "Alexa, how does Lugia look to you?"

Alexa was personally looking over the material of Lugia's altered body. The rocky part was strange, not really Rock typed at all despite the appearance. "I think he might still be both Psychic and Flying typed," she mentioned while she looked. "Still with a primary Fire. Either all three or just Fire/Psychic. I'm not sure if you want to have a scan done now that this is going to be more obvious. The rocky part is Psychic typed from the feel, but he still has a lot of Flying in him."

"Might as well at this point," Lugia allowed as he poked the molten lava part of his body. "I think I need the expert opinion on this more than discretion at this point. Honestly, we might as well get the League here now to handle both of our situations at this point."

"I can probably make it so the League doesn't publish anything about Alexa until the tournament is over," Ash admitted from a good distance away, where the heat from the various Fire types wasn't quite a strong. "Being able to help with this... Okay, I can't really call what happened 'help', but it sounds like this would have happened anyway and you are helping now."

"Given I really, honestly, in no way thought it would actually work on me, I'd say even if we didn't do it now I'd probably have had Alexa try it as a joke after gramps called," Lugia admitted with a frown at the way his wing-fingers were moving, the shell of rock was strangely bendable.

"Your old primary turned secondary instead of being replaced," Alexa read off the Pokedex. "Fire/Psychic is the order. Ability scan doesn't seem to be working right, I think it is catching the island thing and getting confused. Identification is saying Lugia still though."

"I, didn't know a Pokedex could tell the island thing," Ash said uneasily.

"Alexa has a high end one," William responded. "I think it is made to go into more detail to get abilities that aren't known yet."

"It is. That was kind of required for this sort of testing," Alexa said, although the fact that a normal Pokedex didn't have that sort of thing was honestly news to her. "It does take a bit for a new one, and some practical tests too. I just don't have a baseline here and 'control over the heat of the earth' sounds more like a Legendary island of Fire thing."

"Okay, alright. Alexa, you might want to ask your father how that worked beforehand," Ho-Oh nervously noted. "Because that sounds a bit too specific in some worrying ways."

"Probably doesn't sound good that some of the text has been Unown shaped?" her Charizard asked with a flinch. "Because I have noted a bit more Unown text in some of the results." Another thing Alexa had not really thought was unusual, but also recalled with a bit of worry that it didn't actually start happening until after the scan from the creatures in the Ruins of Alph. It had not seemed important, and that had been close to the inspection of that Unown text marked tablet which had felt like the more likely reason.

"My Pokedex has Unown stuff sometimes too," Ash said a bit unhappily. "That doesn't really mean anything does it?" Everyone looked at the Lugia, Ash included, and then they decided not to comment on the topic any more. "Anyway, do you think we should bring the Gym Leader here to help with the League stuff?"

"Do you have someone else you should talk to instead?" Lugia asked a bit like a dad.

"No, I'm kind of on my own a lot with the Champion but not League Champion thing," Ash admitted. "I've got a number I call to get updates, and a mobile phone somewhere in my stuff that people call me on, but usually I just end up asking Lance what is going on."

"Phones kind of aren't an option at the moment," Pikachu pointed out. "Might as well get a Gym Leader."

[Author's Note]
I realized after looking at DSS again that we have not had enough canon pokemon form changes to really fit in my overall setting, and that I did not actually have a better point in time to meet with Ash Ketchum.

I'm sorry about this one being a bit late. I've been heavily distracted by Cassette Beasts, a game that frankly if you are still reading this story you will probably enjoy.