- Accessibility Issues -
After a bit of morning pokemon training Alexa arrived at the base of the Bell Tower for a second time. It had been most of a week since she had last been at the Legendaries' tower, and it still felt odd to just be allowed to show up. "Are you sure this is a solid plan?" Suicune questioned. "My uncle can't normally fit into buildings, and if Champion Ketchum is around instead he isn't much smaller."
"That's kind of the point," Alexa pointed out. "Particularly for the Champion." A specification that was needed because they were both apparently named 'Ash'. Although there was a chance that the older Lugia could go all the way in a League to increase the confusion by making both of them Champions too. "He's got places like that he needs to go anyway, so if he's still here we can at least let him know I'm looking into it too."
"I will admit it is hard to get around when you are smaller too," William agreed thoughtfully. "Breaking illusions is actually really easy when you are a Zorua, and human sized stuff is hard to work with when you can suddenly end up much smaller and only with paws."
"I think it is a separate issue, given that Ketchum still can't fit into buildings," Suicune repeated. "Humans like to do things inside, and the Bell Tower was specially made just so larger pokemon could fit inside."
"They can at least open doors easily without help," Alexa pointed out about her current biggest problem. "I practically need my pokemon out right now to get in and out of the Center."
Ash Ketchum then opened the door, and paused to look at their small group. "Did I miss something else?" the Champion asked, the question repeated afterwards by the translator attached to his pack. "Because I recognize William but the alligator pokemon is new."
"Hello again, I'm Alexa. This is a new form for me," she answered. Pikachu peaked out from behind the Lugia's head and gave her a very dark look. Looking up at that reminded Alexa that she was the current Legendary issue for the Champion. Although having to look up at everyone was the issue at hand. "Actually I was hoping to ask you or, um, the other Lugia named Ash, if you would be able to help me go around and see what sorts of things larger pokemon would have trouble with if they were trainers. This new form isn't as suited for human stuff as the others."
"I'd say this is the strangest thing yet, but that seems like tempting fate to have something even weirder show up," Pikachu complained.
"I'm worse than the cartoon version of you?" Alexa had to ask, honestly a bit hurt by that.
"Pikachu," Ash chastised, but the Electric type did not look any less annoyed.
"You're in the running," Pikachu added with an unapologetic huff. "Look, my trainer is substituting for a Legendary because of this. You're now another pokemon entirely! What am I supposed to think?"
"Maybe be tactful enough not to say it to her face?" the older Lugia commented from behind Champion Ketchum. "It is generally the safer thing to do with Legendaries. You are perhaps lucky she seems sad more than angry with you, as she has some rather noteworthy options for retribution."
That did not help at all, but Alexa could understand why Lugia said it. If she was more angry than upset it was at least possible for her to turn Pikachu into something because he made her mad. She just wasn't the type to change someone else just because she was mad at them. "I'm not that sort of Legendary, but I'm not as sure about the rest of my team," she hedged. The others followed her lead, but they were their own people and a bit defensive of her due to the fact that she was their trainer.
The Electric type flinched at those statements and vanished back behind the bulk of the Champion, while the altered volcanic Lugia emerged from the structure. "So-" the older Lugia started but cut off as soon as he spotted Alexa. "Okay, alright. Those are your creation."
"Technically Bellossom made this one's stuff," Alexa specified uneasily with that reaction.
"So why are you here? Is it about my brother's new kids?" Lugia very deliberately changed topics. His questions surprisingly caused Suicune to start to giggle.
"'New kids'?" William questioned with a confused glance at Suicune. "Who exactly?"
Her Charizard emerged from his pokeball at that, and drew even more attention as her Starter was still a collection of wet silverware. "As someone whose been dealing with name side effects of it, I can answer that," he complained. "Pokemon on your team are technically speaking adopted as part of your family by some legal interpretations. That's why I'm 'Charles Larch' instead of," Her Starter sighed heavily before he continued, "'Charles Zard'. Typically it is more of a 'sibling' kind of adoption, but I can sort of see why it would be 'kid' in this case."
"Somehow, Pikachu is exactly what I expected from a brother," Ash Ketchum noted, and got a bit of a shock for it. That set off Suicune in outright laughing.
"That is definitely brotherly behavior in my experience," the Legendary Beast managed to get out between laughs. "Raikou has done that when he's annoyed as long as he's been a Raikou."
"She's been far too enthusiastic about it," Lugia noted with a frown at his Water type niece. "I just said it as a small joke, but I'm a bit worried that everyone else is taking it really seriously. Bayleef is really mad at me for it."
"My little sister just needs to adapt to how I've decided to handle that part," Suicune said as she stopped laughing. "Although I will admit another unique Eeveelution result is a bit of a surprise." The Legendary grew more somber. "With any luck they will all stay perfectly mundane pokemon otherwise, like I didn't get to."
"Well, I was a bit curious about that," Alexa admitted carefully given the topic seemed to be a complicated thing for the pokemon involved. "But I'm actually here about how the League wants to get ready for more trainers that are openly pokemon."
"So, do you want my brother to reveal himself? Because that was another of my suggestions, but again, I was joking for all of those. I did not mean any of them seriously," Lugia specified while he looked directly at Suicune.
"I had not actually brought that one up," Suicune replied before Alexa could clarify. "Because I am less convinced of the actual plan to deal with that and did not want to give more plausible alternatives."
"I'm having some issues so far with this form being a bit big and not very human shaped," Alexa cut in before that could get them off topic again. "And I was thinking about how some pokemon are even bigger. So I was hoping I could ask you or Champion Ketchum to help me go around town and find where there would be problems with that sort of thing?"
"You mean like how we got laughed at by a Wendrago for this whole mess because Ash couldn't fit in the door anymore?" Pikachu questioned. "Because I would like someone else to help deal with that next time, and it is sounding more and more like there will be a lot of 'next times' before this is fixed."
"Apparently the Moltres that took over a city hasn't actually left to take over a city yet," Champion Ketchum said with a bit of confusion. "But we already have pokemon from the city showing up places, so it is a mess of time travel stuff and I'm probably going to still be in charge of Shamouti for the next year, maybe two."
"Given we learned the name of Alexa's latest form due to time travel that honestly isn't much of a surprise," Charizard sighed. "So, is that a yes or no for helping?"
"Well, given it is for the League and I'm going to have to do it anyway I can at least see what you find too," the Champion answered with a shrug. "I do need to get more practice with using the translator too. I've been talking too fast for it."
"Alright, then I want to get started with a bit of shopping for stuff to help with this form," Alexa declared happily. "Have you picked up stuff for yourself as a Lugia yet?"
Ash Ketchum did not answer immediately. "You, you were going to get supplies for yourself too, right?" William questioned after a moment passed with no answer. "Because you have feathers now, and they are a lot different than hair or fur. Not to mention your new size or... Sorry, I'm just remembering my evolution and just dealing with my mane took weeks to figure out. Compared to what I've seen Alexa doing that wasn't much and I needed to change everything about how I handled my fur."
"I've justified the purchase of a kit to work with any kind of pokemon," Alexa said a bit proudly with a look at Charizard.
"Okay, I'll admit we probably needed the over the top kit this League, but the rest of the stuff was still going too far for the start of things," her Starter conceded.
"I might need a bit of help to figure out how to use that kind of stuff on myself," the younger Lugia admitted.
The door to the local Pokemart was technically wide enough for both Alexa and Champion Ketchum to fit through, if not at the same time, and it was clearly set up for Suicune and her siblings to shop there. Unfortunately while the shelves and isles were wide enough for a Legendary Beast they were too close together for even the smaller Lugia size of the Champion to actually go inside. That meant the local staff had to deal with Pikachu looking for things and then taking them to the doorway where Ash could actually read them.
Alexa would probably have found it funny if she wasn't too busy shuffling around a store that she could just barely fit inside, and occasionally standing up to actually look at what was available in places other than the bottom shelf.
"Yikes, sorry," the forth person so far apologized for nearly stepping on her due to not looking down enough to spot her.
"It's fine," Alexa lied and stood up again to work out what isle she had ended up in. "I'm getting used to it," she added a bit more truthfully, and glanced at Pikachu. The Electric type had a very frustrated look directed at an entire display of different feather care products, some of which were as big as the yellow rodent pokemon. "Can you point me to the specialty waters?"
"Um, they're over in that section," the young man said uneasily, "but I don't think you're going to fit. Those rows are a bit closer together."
Alexa sighed and thanked him for the warning. She still shuffled over to see for herself, and then let out Bellossom for help. That wasn't technically any better than Pikachu for reading the products, but since Alexa was after Grass type care goods it helped more in practice. Especially with how often Alexa had her team help suggest and review things even before she could just understand their speech.
"You know, the worst part is I don't really have traveling companions anymore," Champion Ketchum noted after eventually just having William help get the stuff. "The cartoon me got a bunch more, but as a Champion it has basically just been me and my team. That works when I can fit places, but right now I sort of can't."
"I take back anything I said about this being a bad idea," Pikachu added. "That was a mess and I am not learning human just to do better 'next time'."
"Reading hopefully takes too long to learn to actually be worth it for you," William tried to reassure the Electric type. "I don't think this will last years, right?"
The Lugia and Pikachu pair both drooped at the suggestion, and Alexa decided they should probably try somewhere else as a distraction. "So is there anything else you planned on doing?" she questioned.
"I need to set up time for a training area," the Champion said tiredly. "I have to meet with a few Johto trainers for League stuff later in the week, and after this I definitely think I need to set that up now to see if I fit there."
"I can show you two where that is," William pointed out, but he did not look hopeful at all. "Although, it probably isn't going to work out."
That became very clear when they arrived at a building so small Alexa was fairly sure it had started off as a shed of some kind. Charizard couldn't have easily fit through the door, at least if he was solid at the moment, let alone Alexa or the Lugia with them. In fact Ash was almost larger than the building itself.
William opened the door, and it became clear it was even worse than it looked from the outside, as the cramped room was so filled with file cabinets and a desk full of papers and equipment that some humans would have a hard time fitting inside the area for customers.
"Hello, welcome to the Ecruteak training field registration center," the girl behind the counter grumbled tiredly. Then looked up at them and saw the issue. "Let me get the folding desk."
"Why is this place so small?" Alexa had to ask. It could not have been built for this job.
"There was a fire at the old office," the girl replied with annoyance after having to look down to actually see Alexa was there at all. "Not the famous fire, this was only a couple of years ago. We got moved to this place 'temporarily' and then never got the funding from the League to actually rebuild." The girl then emerged with a small folding table and a couple of notebooks. "I'm honestly about ready to just remodel the place so trainers go to a window instead of trying to fit someone else inside."
Ash Ketchum seemed a bit happy about not being recognized, and while it was a problem to be fixed it also was something that was already set to be handled. It didn't take long for them to find a date, and Alexa had fun with the reaction of the girl when the Champion finally gave his name.
"I'll make sure you get something done," Ash declared. "After all, that is the kind of thing I'm looking out for today anyway."
"I can't believe I complained about the League to a Champion," the girl grumbled. "You're all set for next week, stop back here if anything changes."
"So, what next?" Pikachu asked, but was half cut off by a grumble from his trainer's stomach. "Food?" the Electric type dryly suggested.
Alexa wasn't that hungry, the training time and most of this excursion had been outside in the sun and she was learning how Grass types could do quite a bit with just sunlight, but that didn't mean she couldn't have something with the rest of the group that lacked photosynthesis.
"We do have more training for the Gym to get to at some point today," William pointed out. "But lunch first sounds good."
"I was hoping to spend a few days seeing where we actually needed to end up, and maybe use this form in other towns too to check what they're like," Alexa did admit about their other plans. "Not to mention pointing out the problem so others can look into it more later."
"I know a good cafe in town," Ash said thoughtfully, and Pikachu seemed to know where he meant.
"Ah, are you paying this time?" Suicune asked quickly, and apparently had been to the place with the Champion again.
"I think you're a pokemon that can pay for herself," Pikachu complained as they set off. "Especially with your tastes."
"It is my hometown, of course the local place knows my preferences," Suicune bantered back.
They soon arrived at a good sized old styled food location, and it quickly became clear that this place was much more prepared for pokemon to arrive on their own than other places. There were servers and spaces outside so that Alexa and Ash didn't have to try and fit in the building itself. She even was given a place to sit that actually worked with her bulky and low to the ground body while still being part of the conversation, and the cafe was prepared enough to let all three of the trainers sit with their entire teams.
Which led to Ash's team looking at her collection of heavily altered teammates. The Champion was apparently traveling light with just his Pikachu, Charizard, Pidgeot, and Squirtle. The famous pokemon were just staring at Alexa's team while they waited for the food. Her Charizard was still water and silverware, both Herman and Kingler were clockwork for their own Ghost types, Bellossom was back to the lizard version of Grass/Electric, and Rhydon was training with Poison/Grass for the current Gym instead of a Ghost type option.
"So, just to be clear, which one is the Charizard that scared you?" Squirtle asked Ash's Charizard.
"I don't even want to guess," the more typical Fire/Flying pokemon complained. "Maybe the purple goo plant?"
"No? I don't look like a sort-of-trainer do I, Alexa?" Rhydon asked with quite a bit of worry.
"Hey! What does that mean?" Charles asked in response.
"I don't think they knew Charizard is a trainer," Alexa said and then pointed at Rhydon. "That's my Rhydon." Ash's team blinked with some confusion as she switched to pointing at her Starter. "This collection of wet silverware is my Charizard."
"Okay, so what I'm hearing is Ash got off easy with meeting you?" Pidgeot questioned. "Because Charizard only mentioned becoming a Venustoise, and floating silverware is a bit more extreme."
"Technically the other Ash ended up more changed," Suicune pointed out. "My uncle is a bit of a volcano pokemon at the moment."
"It turned out that the 'prophecy' was originally about the Lugia we saved," Ash's Charizard complained and explained to the confused members of his team. "Because of course he's also named 'Ash'."
"Well, it is nice to meet you," Squirtle said to them now. "Which one is the other trainer? Herman or Alexa I would guess from the names?"
"I'm the trainer," Alexa specified while Herman sputtered a bit at the idea. "My team and I just do a bit of shapeshifting to change types."
"Uh, you have a different number of legs than the last time I saw you," Pikachu pointed out.
"Yes? I have lots of options for how many arms and legs I have," Alexa responded with a bit of confusion. It wasn't like that was the largest change she went though, let alone the rest of her team.
"I was trying to say you change too much, but I don't think you actually understand what I mean," Pikachu complained, but was cut off from more by the food's arrival.
Alexa, Bellossom, and Rhydon all got some trays of water instead of conventional drinks, and Alexa needed a bit of help with that since it was the first time she had used such things. It was something to stick her claws into more than to drink out of, which felt sort of odd but did seem to work after Bellossom suggested it. Actually it was rather nice, and worked well with the partially dirt based meal that Alexa had decided to try just to see what the more unusual Grass typed food could be like.
"Okay, I have no idea how your diet works between all these changes," William sighed at that display. "Does it at least work out?"
"It should be fine for her, even if she immediately changes back to being human," Suicune said with an amused glance to where Ash Ketchum was getting a chance to try one of the older Ash's favorite dishes from the cafe, which also said a lot about who had eaten here before. "Although you would be surprised what human looking people can manage to eat. I once met a man who could just eat metal due to some sort of pokemon ancestry."
"I have metal forms," Alexa considered aloud. "I wonder what different metals taste like." Although she wasn't entirely sure she could actually describe what her current meal tasted like to another human, so she probably would not be able to put it in words if she did find out.
"I think I lost some of their silverware in me," her Starter grumbled. "Although it is odd they gave me some in the first place. Didn't think I needed it for what I ordered."
"That was part of the meal," Golurk rumbled. "Mistaken for Steel typed. Common event."
"I sort of tasted something with them," Charles admitted with a sigh that was mostly clinking. "Are there a lot of food places that handle pokemon customers like this one?"
"It is fairly common, at least where I eat out," Suicune admitted. "Trainers usually like eating with their entire teams, and it is a nice way to handle things to at least try and ask the pokemon."
"I've seen that quite often," William agreed. "Chesnaught has ordered for herself quite often."
"After someone else read the menu to me," Chesnaught pointed out a bit unhappily. However, Alexa was at least happy to hear that some places were already prepared for this kind of issue.
[Author's Note]
Guess who didn't double check the timing of that whole "Moltres goes to another world" thing I referenced from DSS before putting it into TCJ? Anyway, it isn't like the Ecruteak arc isn't already full of time travel issues, what's one more really going to do.