- Sprout Tower -

Alexa wasn't sure how she ended up carrying a Kimono Girl all the way to Violet City, but she blamed herself for causing problems with the officials in Ecruteak. Her flight certification was done before she realized just how many details of the Fly HM had stuck with her.

"You're really good at that from starting off human," Hanako said as they touched down. "When did you use an HM?"

"I'll ask the same thing," another Vespikiln with much larger wings questioned, which told Alexa that Falkner had either changed again, or possibly not turned back at all. "I haven't resorted to that yet, but carrying someone like this is hard enough it probably needs it."

"A while ago, it was a surprise I could remember how after all this time," Alexa grumbled as Charizard and William set down. Suicune's human form on her Starter's back and William on his own.

"Alexa, I know this is the first place you came to after becoming a pokemon," Falkner pointed out.

"The HM thing? Because apparently that is before she even became a trainer," Charizard commented, to Alexa's minor annoyance. "I'm impressed with how well it stuck, also a little intimidated."

"It's made me more wary of the things," William agreed. "I didn't manage to get any myself. Being able to use illusions to get past obstacles made that easy to avoid, and I didn't really need the moves at that price." He demonstrated by shifting illusion from an avian shape back to his typical human one. "Although I thought you were turning back for Gym battles?"

"You caught me during my break, although I can guess why. With Sprout Tower open again the town is a bit too busy for fair battle schedules at the moment," Falkner explained. "I'm closed for a week or two until the crowd thins out more, except for stuff planned in advance and major VIPs. Those I'm just going to handle as a pokemon, which means I need some battle practice."

"Um, so you guys seem to know who this is, but I've only seen one Bug type like him before, and that was this morning when Alexa turned into one," Hanako pointed out. "Who are you exactly?"

"That's Leader Falkner," Alexa explained with some embarrassment. "I really hope he doesn't like being a Vespikiln as much as your Floreon likes being a Floreon."

"I'm still looking for a less Bug typed alternative actually," Falkner said with a laugh. "This is a fine way to fly myself, but I'd really prefer some feathers to chitin. Scales if I can't get them, and fur as a last resort."

Charizard laughed at that joke, and Alexa had to nod as well. "Yeah, I don't think it is the best for travel with someone to carry," she agreed with a sigh and absentmindedly removed her current change with a burst of Fire typed energy.

There was a moment where Charizard started to comment before they all realized that Leader Falkner had jumped at the rapid change back to human form. "How did you do that?" the remaining Vespikiln questioned curiously.

"Special technique, our team has worked it out but aren't sure about using it on anyone else yet," Charizard quickly covered for her. "It was nice to work out to be able to use the longer changes more easily."

"A special technique that works on the Vespikiln change?" Falkner asked in a tone that both tried to be casual but also told Alexa that it was enough to work out the Legendary part of things. "That sounds a bit too tricky for me to try and figure out," he attempted to recover. "Seems like you have had an interesting League so far, and that's on top of where it started. You're still holding onto the title of the most interesting trainer I've seen this year."

"I don't think I can disagree with that," Alexa managed to laugh. "Is it busy at Sprout Tower?"

"They're restricted to tour groups and a small number of individuals looking around right now," the Gym Leader explained. "You were here earlier so you should be able to get a good slot, but personally I'd recommend going around midday. There aren't any lunch time tour groups and if you can get one of the individual slots that would be less troublesome."

"Um, I kind of will have most of my team, and that doesn't sound 'individual'," she had to admit.

"You can come with me," Hanako suggested drawing everyone's attention. "I actually have an appointment for a private tour that I set up last year. It's kind of funny how the delay made it so Espeon was able to become Floreon before we could make it."

"I hope they have a good layout for this," Alexa said, once more a Florabedtor, to her team as they all considered who would be Grass typed for this a few minutes later. "I'd like to be able to see it all."

"I can't choose," Bellossom lamented as a lizard, but with a glare at her Jade. "Why did I get two Grass type forms, now I can't choose." Rhydon simply laughed at that in his now typical Grass/Steel form.

"Just go with lizard," Kingler suggested. "And let the rest of us try this out. It isn't like we all will have a problem with this one," the crab pokemon directed at Charizard

"I'm going with bat again," Herman agreed with a flap of the wings he currently had. "I think I want to try for my own Fly certification. Probably not with an HM, but it does sound nice to have."

"I'm still considering that too," Rhydon admitted with a nod. "But the timing for it is too rough for me. I might wait until after this League so I don't need to worry as much about that."

"... is it bad that I'm considering Florabedtor now too?" Hanako questioned from the side of the group. "It just seems like the right thing if everyone else is trying to be Grass typed." Alexa wasn't sure how much of the conversation the Kimono Girl had actually followed.

"Please tell her 'no'," Floreon requested. "Hanako being a pokemon too is still something that worries me, and I know this can be a permanent thing firsthand."

"It isn't bad, but your pokemon thinks it is a bad idea," Alexa informed the human of the group with a glance to the very flowery and once more pokemon form of Suicune. The Legendary Beast had ended up staying on the thinner side when exposed to the Contagion version instead of the move one they had tested first. The result this time was a more complete change in coat to a nice green, with the pokemon's mane turned into a large fluffy mass of yellow flower petals, with smaller yellow and blue flowers spread across the rest of her. Suicune's mask had also changed into what looked like gnarled wood, possibly roots, and her tails fused into a single large vine.

"Which isn't outright telling you we won't let you try, but," Charizard specified with a shrug instead of words to say the rest. They wouldn't stop Hanako from trying, but it would be something that made her pokemon uncomfortable.

"I'm not that interested," Hanako admitted with a laugh. "I just feel out of place here right now. Everyone else is talking about being a Grass type and I know it is an option for everyone."

"It most certainly is not an option for William!" Chesnaught declared strongly. "He isn't using any Contagions, and I don't want to see any other options there either."

"My Starter does not want me to even consider it either," William translated with a sigh. "Although I think Bellossom is going to be the one to use the Jade for a Grass type, so there aren't really other Grass typed options for me to use instead of the Contagion," he added to Chesnaught.

"Yeah, no we aren't seeing what you look like made out of nectar, and I am not having you use the Jade either," Bellossom bluntly agreed. "... can I borrow the translator?"

"Are we sure we don't want to try and help with the translator problem?" Charizard asked Alexa directly at that.

"If you are willing to see what they have in the local Pokemart," Alexa answered a bit tiredly in response to that idea. "Then you can use your trainer card to try and charge that to the League."

"I think it is a better idea to have a general one than to try and pass around whatever mine turned into," Charizard sighed, apparently in agreement about how the idea felt. "I'll see if I can get one for you before we go in, Bellossom." Alexa was a bit uneasy with seeing her Starter walk off to do that.

"So, can I try now?" Kingler questioned, and Bellossom luckily took care of that as Alexa once again couldn't really use her forelimbs as arms that well. Unfortunately it wasn't that impressive of a change from Kingler's now typical form, which wasn't that unusual as the armor from the Frozen Flame didn't seem to like to shift. Once again the only change was under the armor, where Kingler changed into a collection of thin vines that looped through the plates, and bloomed into enough flowers to practically hide the purple plates inside of a bush of colorful flowers. "I'd say I'm getting tired of this kind of change, but I like the Dragon type too much to try it without that."

"Well, at least you have a consistent theme," Herman laughed. "Now, my turn next? We still need to make it to the tower."

"I want at least a chance for Charizard to get back with a translator," Bellossom complained, but moved over to him with another vial anyway. "Also to have him along to see what they do about Fire types there too, just in case I want to see some of it without being a Grass type too. If I'm going lizard anyway that should be easy enough."

Herman's change was a bit stranger. The bat pokemon's wings turned into a massive pair of somewhat spiky green leaves, while his head changed into a massive blue colored flower that was head shaped, his tail and legs shifted into good sized roots, and a number of smaller spikes along his now stem-like body. "Oh, that's a bit odd," the now plant-bat said. "Huh, I think I get why Charizard could not like this, but it is neat." He flapped into the air and looked down at himself. "Although this petal head is odd. How do you deal with your whole body being like this, Rhydon?"

"Pretty easily at this point," the topiary pokemon answered. "It is a nice way to move all of yourself around." Rhydon rippled in a very clearly deliberate way to show off just how much his leafy body could move. Then he shifted to look more like Alexa currently looked. "Gives some good options for how to look."

"I'm not going to try and reshape my face like that," Herman said bluntly, but doing that did cause a bit of reshaping to look like he was talking with a normal mouth.

"The local Pokemart has just got an entire stock of newly made low end translators," Charizard cut in with an unnerved tone. "I asked about them, they asked for my trainer card, and then they just gave me one despite the fact I could speak to them already. Then the rest of the trainers there decided to try, and I think the League might have just paid for every trainer in the region to get one free translator." He handed the small device to Bellossom. "I think I want the distraction of Sprout Tower now."

"Hanako, is this working?" Bellossom asked to try it out. Alexa blinked at the repeat from the small device, still not quite able to tell the difference.

"Yes, I can understand it," the Kimono Girl answered. "Although it is a bit quiet. Does it have a volume control?"

Alexa paced over to look at the device while Bellossom checked. The small translator didn't seem to have very many controls at all. "Yes, but I think it is already turned all the way up," the lizard pointed out, fiddling with a control knob. "Oh, no the little lines are just placed funny. Is this better?"

Bellossom listened with only half an ear as Alexa and the other trainers spoke with the older humans who were running the tower. The place looked much better from the outside, and she could tell that it had a sturdy sort of feeling that the old structure had ominously lacked before now that she could compare the two. "So, can normal pokemon tell that was about to fall over before?" the Grass/Electric lizard asked her topiary teammate quietly.

"Maybe," Rhydon admitted. "It felt off the first time we were here to me."

"Same for me. The wood had decayed a bit too much on this side," Chesnaught added with a nod. "Probably pokemon attacks or something hit a place where it wasn't doing that great or got too old. Given it is for Grass types, probably a few too many energy absorbing moves that missed their targets. That damages just about everything, but wooden structures aren't as good at recovering as some other stuff for some reason."

"Huh, maybe because it was alive but stopped being alive?" Bellossom questioned not really expecting an answer anytime soon.

"Did you hear any of that?" Herman asked the three of them, and Bellossom had to shake her head. "We're going in two groups and we need to work out who is in which one. William is going with Hanako, Floreon, and Chesnaught so far. Alexa, Charizard, and I are what we have for the other group. The three of us are apparently big enough they want us in the smaller group if that is possible."

"There are a few other people in the tower right now, but not many," Alexa added. "Two trainers with a handful of pokemon all together, and battles have currently been forbidden so we don't need to worry about that." The Florabedtor chuckled. "I think the people in charge are more disappointed than I am about the battles thing."

"I kind of want to see what happens with William," Rhydon suggested. "Kingler hasn't decided yet?"

"I wanted to see what our actual grass types wanted first," Kingler answered with a bit of a rustle as the crab pokemon shuffled. "So your pick, Bellossom, which one do you want?"

"I want to see what Floreon thinks of things," Bellossom said after a moment of thought. "I think I've seen enough of people being surprised by Alexa being a Florabedtor."

"I kind of have too, but it is my best Grass typed form so far," Alexa agreed with a laugh. "In that case have fun."

Bellossom then followed along as William and Hanako both acted as the humans for the first group going inside. The first floor was usually for non-battling visitors, although apparently the repairs weren't quite enough for those to happen on the higher floors. The central swaying pillar was visible and Bellossom found herself one of many pokemon swaying with it. All of her group's Grass types seemed to be doing the same, with Floreon being particularly happy looking.

"Ah, Kimono Girl Hanako," one of the fairly rare older women present said with recognition. "Oh? And who is this with you?" The old lady asked with a hand pointed at Floreon.

"Espeon and I actually found a way to change from Psychic to Grass type," Hanako happily declared. "So I have a Floreon instead now."

Bellossom got out the team's new translator, but didn't join the conversation just yet. In fact she paused to consider what she had just started to do. None of the humans around her were her trainer, and none of the pokemon either. She would be speaking for herself without a trainer around to stand for her, and that was a different place in human society than any she had been in before.

"You okay?" Rhydon asked with concern while the Eeveelution showed off. "You looked like you were going to say something."

"Just thinking about how we've changed," Bellossom admitted. "I'm going to blame it on Legendary stuff," she mostly lied. This didn't really feel like the Legendary problem, it was a talking problem. "Charizard said they were giving them to everyone," she then realized aloud. "It might not just be us."

"You, didn't really explain the problem," Rhydon pointed out and nodded to where William and the others were heading up the stairs. "What's wrong with the translator?"

"Alexa isn't here, and I think William is treating me like a human," she admitted, halfway hoping the Zoroark wasn't close enough to hear from where they lagged a bit behind. "And I'm almost doing it too. I was just going to talk to a human, like that was normal, and apparently lots of trainers will be able to let their pokemon do that."

"I think most pokemon won't want to try," Rhydon pointed out a bit uneasily. "When you put it like that it makes me nervous about it."

"Being able to tell humans they're thinking wrong might be worthwhile," Chesnaught cut in, closer than Bellossom realized the Started had been. "But I'd rather have William handle that than do it myself. Then again, this League has been different. Your team talks with your trainer a lot more than most with human trainers, and it doesn't feel like a new thing for you guys." The massive Grass/Fighting type sighed. "So I think you might actually be underestimating what kind of change those things being everywhere would be for most pokemon."

"This place is just as great as we heard, Lisa," a pokemon then said from just ahead. An unexpected pokemon, because he was quite clearly a Florabedtor, speaking pokemon at a trainer Bellossom didn't recognize. One who seemed to have a much fancier translator than even what the Gym Leaders had been using.

"Hello there," Bellossom found herself saying, her translator on and repeating her. "I'm surprised to see a Florabedtor up here." Alexa was going to be a few minutes behind them.

"Oh," Lisa said nervously, but didn't seem too surprised at the machine's translation. "You recognize what Able is?"

"Yeah, although I'm not sure how there is another one here right now," Bellossom admitted aloud with a careful look at the pair. "Given we were fairly sure Floral Contagion," the two of them flinched, "was something new I developed. I don't think we've misplaced any."

"Oh," Able said a bit faintly and backed up a couple of steps. "You're? We're then?" he asked with quite a bit of concern, now speaking like a human as well.

"So, more time travel then?" Rhydon asked with a sigh. "I think we might need to actually talk to Celebi about this."

"You're That Bellossom," Lisa said with a mixture of worry and wonder. "I... can't say anything because we're in the past."

"I'm at least going to thank her for letting me be a Starter," Able grumbled but stepped back forward. "Because this is a body I like better, and I wasn't missing out on your journey, Lisa." He looked Bellossom in the eyes. "Thank you for making my current form." He did a nod that seemed like a bow.

Which shook Bellossom, as that wasn't quite what she had expected to have to think about. "Your welcome, I'm glad you like it," she said a bit faintly. Then realized something funny. "Although you might want to talk to Charizard instead, he wanted to be a Starter more than the alternate too."

Both of the now identified time travelers blinked at that information, which Bellossom wasn't sure meant good things about what Charizard would end up dealing with in the future. "He's here now too?" Lisa asked, and then paled. "Wait, are all of you here?"

"You didn't pick a time when Alexa's full team was here?" William questioned, which was a good point. This was a strange time for time travelers to show up and not know the team was here. "Why did you use time travel then?"

"The renovations changed the layout a lot, and some stuff stopped being displayed after it," Able replied uneasily. "This was one of the only days that has both the old stuff, and some other stuff that was only here during the renovation."

"Also I wanted to avoid having my team battle while we saw the higher floors," Lisa added. "We- Well a Florabedtor isn't the most notable part of mine. Um, at least I think they are." The trainer looked away. "Also I really need to keep my illusion up and I'm not great at keeping it going during a battle."

"I'm not sure I know what to think about that possibly being an issue for trainers in the future," William said with a confused look.

"I probably shouldn't say any more," Lisa said a bit more firmly. "Actually we should probably just say 'hi' and leave now."

"I'm glad this happened on our way back down," the Florabedtor admitted. "We probably should go soon," he then added as Alexa made it up the stairs.