- Baseline Shifts -

"I think we're on the right track," Alexa told William and the other trainers who had sort of joined up with them, at least until the Moomoo Farm. She had explained the idea to the whole group a couple of times before as they worked on it, but the other trainers weren't all that interested in the goal. This was mostly just an update on why they were doing what they were at the moment. "We've managed to work out how to make the energy patterns that can be filled with different types, and we have just about got them to actually express those types instead of somehow just going to Normal."

"This pattern is currently based on the secondary type," Charizard added from right next to her, with a bit of annoyance she could feel from his head. "Which works for these bodies, but we probably want to work out primary type as well. Notably it does not work for types you don't have. Altering the type seems to throw this pattern off." Which was sort of what they wanted, if it only worked because you altered your type to fit it wasn't going to get the boosted strength of a move using one of your current types.

"It is working as a way to get a claw attack at least," Kingler grumbled while she worked with Bellossom as a second head. "The energy shot variant might be working for primary, but we've mostly tested that one with Dragon so far." With the exceptions to 'mostly' being a couple of short splits and a handful of brief attempts with layers of Contagions on top.

"The pulse is working," Herman pointed out, currently split apart from Rhydon who was resting in his pokeball for a bit after a long night the two had spent on that one. "For either primary or secondary type. It just..."

"It just has a tendency to turn the targets into the type you use too," Charizard pointed out with a look at one trainer who had unfortunately helped with that one's testing the most. "And not even for a consistent time. We can't use that until we work that part out. Although I would like a variable Soak for other types. I'd be nice to have for Dragon and Ghost forms."

"I have no idea why I thought you guys working on new moves would be a more normal sort of thing to deal with," William complained. "As long as you work that problem out so it happens all the time or none of the time I think the rest of us will be fine with it. The big problem was the accidental part." There was a murmur of agreement from the other trainers, some amused some worried.

"Alright, I want to make one more try while fused before we all split up to see if we can keep these results going on our own," Charizard laughed. Alexa held back just to watch and feel as he made the latest attempt at a general type shifting attack.

Her current other head's Water typed energy filled the shape that focused it to their shared claws, without being changed by the shape. That had been a hard part to deal with, as it was far easier to make a pattern that fit a specific type instead, and those always at least tried to change it when you made the attempt. The strong Dragon type had helped a lot with that, as starting with that as the base made it more obvious when that didn't work.

The next step was where they were having the most problems at the moment. If it worked it would coat their claws in Water typed energy that would hit harder than just getting their claws wet. Charizard had their body slash towards the small boulder they were using as a target, at a spot not yet marked by failed attempts. Unlike those other shallower cuts this sliced clean through the entire rock and scattered some water droplets at the same time.

"Alexa, try that," Charizard said with unease, and Alexa wondered if she missed something. It had looked right to her this time.

Alexa made sure to use the same pattern shape, filled it with the changed Ground type her head could use instead of his Water, and happily saw that it didn't change to either other type. With a swipe she hit one of the remaining halves of the boulder, and it once again split. Apparently to Charizard's surprise from what she could feel. "Looks like it is working to me," she said.

"Huh, I was sure it was getting the type too well that time," her Starter replied. "Now just to test it out alone." The two of them split back apart, which wasn't as uncommon as testing without being fused had been. Sleeping in the combined state gave them both the same odd dreams that weren't that pleasant. "I'll start."

Alexa looked at him with interest, as for the moment at least he would be without a secondary type at all. He picked the undamaged half of the boulder that Alexa had not attacked, and with another spray of water he cut through the stone.

"Huh, it is working, I think," Charizard said with a smirk.

"My turn then," Alexa laughed and aimed for one of the other pieces left. Ghost typed energy properly built up in the pattern, a good sign because that wasn't what she had tested before, and while it didn't make as dramatic of a cut as Water or Ground, it did make a notable slice through the stone.

"Miss Larch?" one of the trainers asked for Alexa a while later. She was in the middle of trying out the new moves with Mephagic, working on minor problems like how the claw attack didn't do as well when you didn't have natural claws. "My team and I wanted to talk with you about the translator problem. Maybe your team, but mostly you."

He was older than her, with a current team of four that she had overheard was smaller than normal because he was on the lookout for others who wanted to join up. His third League from what she could recall from that conversation with Suicune, who was apparently having fun being able to just act like a normal human in this expanded group.

"I don't know if I want to talk to all of them, Kyle," his Empoleon said. The metal winged penguin pokemon was clearly Kyle's Starter. Behind the emperor penguin was a red and white bird pokemon with a big bag of stuff, Delibird if Alexa remembered right, one of the dragon-like fossil Aerodactyl, and a big boulder shaped Golem. "At least not yet." They were trying to cluster around the little translator so they could all use it as once, and outside like this that just didn't work very well.

Alexa looked over to where most of the others in this large group were helping out her team. "I almost want to offer a change to be able to understand your team better while we talk," Alexa admitted with a bit of a laugh. "Although I guess that isn't a great way to fix a problem with the translator."

"Um, well it probably would help just for this conversation," Kyle admitted. "But we really want to talk about being able to talk to each other. Maybe I could try whatever you are right now?"

Alexa was a bit nervous about the quick agreement, which his team didn't even object to, but she got out some more Toxin Contagion for him to try. The result was another former human Poison/Water frog pokemon, this time with sharp crossing lines for markings. "There, now you don't need to try and listen to it over the wind to hear everyone," Alexa said more cheerfully than she really felt about this. "So, is there a problem with being able to talk to each other?"

"It isn't that being able to talk to Kyle is a problem," Aerodactyl said uncertainly.

"Things are better now," Golem rumbled as if that was a bad thing. "They didn't feel bad before, but they're better now."

"Does that mean it was bad before?" Kyle finally asked clearly. "I mean, I tried to keep up with any problems, and to make sure I knew what was wrong."

"But it is just so much easier when we can just talk to him," Delibird said quickly. "I've been having a problem with the food, and sure he was getting better stuff all the time, but its just fixed now. I just had to tell him things I didn't know about before."

"Turns out there was this gunk stuck between by back rocks that wasn't supposed to be there," Golem agreed, which led to a confusing mess of the five of them just listing problems that had quickly been fixed since getting the translator.

"I'm, not sure I really understand," Alexa admitted. It sounded similar to her current situation, but apparently this was a problem somehow. "Is any of this actually stuff you could have done more about before?"

Kyle and his team paused at that question. "Well, no, we were already doing most of it beforehand," Empoleon admitted but he seemed a bit uneasy with that. "But everything is different now. We're talking to him all the time now."

"Not just getting stuff across, actually talking," Aerodactyl specified. "I've been out of my ball more this last week than the rest of the time I've been on the active team."

"He's exaggerating," Golem complained with a bit of a glare at Aerodactyl. "He's also our flier, of course he's been out of the ball more than that before. We spent most of a week just in flight because Kyle and Aerodactyl both conspired to try and fly all the way from Hoenn to Kanto."

"It wasn't that bad of an idea," Kyle and Aerodactyl both said slightly apart in timing, which was a bit strange to hear after days of Alexa's team speaking in pairs. Then both the new Mephagic and Aerodactyl looked at each other. "Okay, maybe it was- What do you mean by that?" they then continued just slightly apart.

"That is kind of the thing I mean, actually," Empoleon pointed out unhappily. "Sure you turned Kyle into a pokemon so we could talk easier, but we're talking like this now. Everyone in this group is talking with their trainers and their pokemon like we're all the same."

Alexa paused at that statement. She had not paid much attention to that sort of thing on her first League, and had mostly been traveling with William for this one. Looking around the area she could see a number of pokemon and humans who she had recently seen act very awkwardly with each other.

"I can't say that isn't a difference from how things are before you can talk," Alexa admitted and looked herself over. It had been a while since she used her first pokemon form, and the toxic frog shape was the one she had that was most well known to be a transformed human. "Actually, I can probably say that we're all going through this problem everywhere now. Ecruteak wasn't the only place getting these, and all League I've been seeing and doing things that make it harder to just say humans are humans and pokemon are pokemon."

"Have you turned any pokemon into humans?" Delibird asked with understandable concern.

"I have not turned pokemon into humans yet," Alexa carefully specified. "Other than ones who I turned into pokemon from humans," she then added to be more accurate.

"It feels like you shouldn't have to say that second part, but our trainer is a pokemon right now because of you," Empoleon said with a glance around the area at all of the currently human looking people present. "I heard a rumor," the likely Starter pokemon then said. "It's part of why I just wanted us to talk to you. Is it true that your Starter could have been a trainer? That they actually asked him to try for those tests too?"

Alexa wasn't sure how much she wanted to say about Charizard's situation without his permission, and she couldn't think of any answers that wouldn't reveal something he might be uncomfortable letting this group know.

"Actually, my family was worse than that," Charizard interrupted that overly long pause from a lot closer than Alexa had expected. She quickly glanced over, and spotted a large metallic puddle that was changing from the shade of the grass to the silvery blue of his Water/Steel form. "Sorry for listening in, but I wanted to see why Alexa turned yet another human into a pokemon," he chuckled. "They didn't ask me to take those tests, they just gave me the tests, the trainer card, and I was only able to tell them I'd rather be a Starter after I realized what they thought I would want instead."

"If you have a trainer card, you are a trainer. Even if you never start a League," Kyle pointed out, literally pointing at Charizard. The new Mephagic looked really uncertain now. "You were able to be a Starter for someone else after becoming a trainer."

"If there aren't any rules that say a pokemon can't be a trainer, why would there be rules that say a trainer can't be a Starter?" Charizard joked with a shrug. "Can't say I'm entirely prepared for the world changing either, but I was only expecting to have to talk myself, not all pokemon having to put up with it."

"So, it is something you can do instead?" Empoleon questioned, and Alexa paused at the tone the other Starter had as he asked that. "I mean, they didn't offer it to everyone before, but you could have been a trainer instead?"

"I was able to read by the time I took the tests," Charizard explained. "I guess they were going to give me a rarer translator, maybe just have me write everything. You needed to be able to talk to humans already before, and honestly I was a Charmander who got half raised as a human."

"... you say that like most Starters don't know how to read and write," Empoleon said after a short pause. "And now that I say that I realize I didn't see any of the other Starters writing in my class. They might have been staring at me." The penguin pokemon now looked very troubled. "Most Starters don't know how to read and write, do they?"

"You know how to read and write?" Kyle asked, and Alexa had to not laugh at the strangeness of someone else asking that.

"Well, I know how to read and knew how to write," Empoleon answered with a waggle of his wings. "I'm not quite sure how to do it now that I've evolved. My claws changed shape and I'm not sure how to hold a pen anymore."

"I forgot to test how writing changes," Alexa realized aloud, which made Charizard laugh. "I've decided to help the pokemon who do try and be trainers and such with getting stuff made for them."

"They do make pen caps for claws," Charizard pointed out before she could go farther on the topic. "Mostly for fun if you look at the packages, have your pokemon 'try' to draw pictures or something, but you should be able to use them to write again with a bit of practice." Empoleon looked somewhat interested in the idea, and Alexa wondered if she could convince Charizard to let them buy some of those without complaint now. "I think I have a few hidden away. I don't need to use them, but they are useful sometimes when I don't want to get the right grip with my claws."

"As nice as it is to hear we could have had this problem earlier," Aerodactyl cut in. "We still need to figure out what we're doing. Before we reach the farm and can call the ranch where everyone else on the team is right now."

"Do translators work over the phone?" Delibird asked Charizard.

"Well, I'm not sure about the ones you have, but worst case you can have your trainer transform like this again," Alexa's Starter pointed out.

Somehow Alexa turning someone into a pokemon, again, led to that other person joining them in working on the new moves more directly. Kyle didn't know any real moves, so it sort of made sense that he would at least want what another Mephagic was working on, but Alexa wasn't sure if this was just curiosity or if he was actually going to fight in his next battles.

"We might need something other than a claw attack for up close," Bellossom, currently in her claw-less natural shape, complained. "We just don't always have claws to use."

"I think we might be able to make it more general," Alexa said without much real argument. "But we probably want to get the other two working right first." The energy shot had turned out to still have a good amount of Dragon type conversion that threw it off in the final formation stages, and they still had not worked out what part of the pulse was changing types.

"We're already shapeshifting to get the types, why not just make a move that gives us claws when we use it too?" Rhydon suggested with a rework of his leaves. Alexa could admit that he had done some experiments to show his current body could do something like that to go between unable to use it in its current state and back to able to use it.

"Claws made out of your type doesn't sound that odd compared to the rest," Kyle agreed with a splatter of not very damaging water that seemed to be what happened when you didn't have claws to focus the pattern more.

"I can't really help there, Alexa," William admitted from where she had asked him to look over what they were doing more closely. "I have claws, and I wasn't raised by a Move Tutor. If I want my team to learn a move I can't, then I need more help myself. I take it you have a better idea there, Kyle?"

"I said 'compared to the rest'," the other Mephagic specified. "It sounds more like the sort of thing a Legendary pokemon would do to make a move, but given how much they're all changing I think looking at what Legendary pokemon do is probably a better idea." He looked thoughtful. "I'd heard my own rumor about your group, Alexa. That you were traveling with Suicune now, because she was interested in what you were doing too."

"Well, I am the reason she had to be very specific about what she had done to turn pokemon into humans," Suicune said from where she had moved to watch more closely. "Although this does have the same problem for me as well." The Legendary Beast changed back into her natural form from human form. "I also have claws naturally, and I don't think any of the forms Alexa has allowed me to try lack them."

"Suicune has been talking to all of us this entire time?" Kyle questioned with a concerned look towards Alexa.

"It isn't like you all haven't been taking every chance to talk to every pokemon along the way," Charizard pointed out with a claw extended to Sui the new Vipercury, who was sort of swarmed by curious Pidgey. "I think you've disrupted the entire route with that, and I have to wonder what wild pokemon all across Kanto and Johto are thinking right now."

"You weren't wild before," Bellossom pointed out. "Then again, I guess I could take that like a human saying it," the Grass/Electric type teased.

"I kind of was," Charizard admitted. "I am practically a human right now with all that's happening. Which is why it is confusing to them." He nodded at Kyle. "I know the obvious thing that happens around Alexa is humans getting turned into pokemon, but what we've really been talking about is pokemon getting treated more like humans."

"Which is not a new thing," Suicune said. "The wild pokemon around now understand and live with humans much more easily than when humans were just hollowing out Apricorns. Admittedly, I've heard from older Legendary pokemon that there have been times like this in the distant past too, but I think this one is having a bigger impact than those. I have gone from hearing fearful statements about the spheres that take away kin, to arguments over what kind of pokeball they will get when they find their trainer." The Legendary looked wistful. "I can firmly remember a time when humans were cursed for taking berries that could save pokemon from injury, and yet I can also recall a bit of a fiasco last year where a bunch of wild Sentret bought out the Ecruteak Pokemart's potion stock while pretending to belong to trainers with some dropped money." The Pure Water pokemon laughed to herself about that memory.

Alexa considered that little story as she tried to shift the claw attack slightly, using a bit more energy to try to forge some temporary claws. Alexa knew that wild pokemon she had grown up with were more chatty and fearless of humans than the shows and stories she grew up with. In fact she could recall a couple of stories from older trainers that called out how those things were supposed to be already making pokemon look more human like than they were.

Blue shimmering claws made of water clicked into place at the ends of Alexa's webbed fingers, and she quickly cut through the air in front of her. Drained a bit more, and with less strength than when used with proper claws, but still a partial success.

"Wait a second," Alexa cut everyone off before they could comment. Instead of using her secondary Water type, she tried to fill the pattern with her primary Poison type. The extra energy worked once more to create a toxic shimmer of hardened poison at the end of her fingers, and this slice was once more successful while also being stronger than the Water attempt. "I think that might be the trick for using either type."

The change to the world had already happened, Alexa considered uncertainly, she just was at the point where everyone noticed. Charizard had been put on the path to be a trainer at the same time she was, William had been a pokemon who grew up living just like humans, there was no way the translators weren't around for far longer than the past year.

The pattern was already there, it just needed the right stuff put into it.