E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Thank you, I'm always glad to hear that people have enjoyed my works.
Typechange Johto
- Thread starter E.I.G.
- Start date
-
- Tags
- pokemon sequel transformation
Route 31
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
--- Route 31 ---
Puddles had not been intimidating when Alexa was in her other three forms. They had been on the road all morning, and she had managed to avoid direct contact so far mostly by luck. Humans and pokemon had been easier to dodge.
"You should at least let a few drops hit you," Charizard noted and deliberately stepped in another puddle. Not one anywhere close to her, the Fire/Water type had been very polite about that so far, but he had not stopped his usual playful nature while he had this sort of change.
"This is honestly really strange," Alexa said with a glance at the water on the ground and trees as she hovered along. "I have felt water before, I know it isn't a big deal normally, but right now I'm just- Ahh!" she cried out as a good sized splash fell onto her from a branch overhead. It felt like someone had dipped her in ice so cold it instantly burned. Without really thinking she responded with a blast of flames from her wings at the branch.
"And that is why you need to know what it feels like," Charizard sighed and spat some water to put out the now burning branch. "My biological mother made sure to dip each and every one of us in a pool, carefully of course, before we were ever allowed outside after a rain storm. Until we could manage to handle getting a bit wet without getting mad at trees."
"I bet you had a good time with that," Alexa joked, but her Starter's face shifted into a frown that made her stop and land.
"She dunked me three times to make sure the first wasn't a fluke, and then left me with her trainer's family for the next month while my siblings learned to handle it," he said a touch sadly. "There were six of us, a big clutch, and she was overworked and happy to pass me off. Her trainer's family had a young kid of their own, and he was learning to read and write at the time."
Alexa turned to fully face Charizard as he paused to collect his thoughts. Well aware that this was important she kept quiet and simply ran one of her four hands through the not even damp fuzz on her back where the water had landed.
"I consider him to be another brother, and his parents to be mine too," Charizard continued. "I was bored, reading and writing looked interesting, and at first it was just amusing to watch me try and mimic the letters." He flexed his fins and looked at her directly for the first time since he started the story. "Then I wrote down a question I wanted to ask, not very well but good enough to be understood, and suddenly it wasn't just lessons for my human brother anymore."
"Is that when the decided to try and make you a trainer?" Alexa had to ask, because it was clear enough how that came from this somehow.
"Maybe, but I'd say it was when they started trying to raise me a bit like I was a human. My biological mother didn't let them do everything, and I still play battled with my other siblings, but I also sat in on all of my human brother's lessons," Charizard corrected her and looked away again. "They didn't send either of us to a proper school, just did it themselves. First actual classes I got were the ones for being a trainer." He laughed humorlessly. "Do you know what they said when I asked why they didn't tell me the truth about those?" Alexa had to shake her head, unable to understand any reason why. "They didn't want to get my hopes up. Advanced Starter pokemon really do take it too, but because I could write and be understood I could actually complete the entire course."
Alexa easily remembered that they gave out a temporary trainer card at the end of the training. Her father had framed hers after she got her first real one. "Are they still pushing for that?" she had to ask. Alexa wasn't sure how much contact he had really had, there were times he could have sent his own letters.
"It has been a bit strained since then. I don't want to be human, I want to be a Char, and I'd rather be a Starter on a team than a pokemon leading one," Charizard answered. "I love them, I really do, but I have been a bit too upset with them to write as much as I should. Short emails when you aren't paying enough attention isn't my only option now too."
Alexa nodded at that, and decided to change the topic back. "No, you definitely should do more than that since I know about it. Now, is it better to practice with hot water or cold?" she questioned with another glance at a puddle.
"Just as bad," he replied, possibly with a bit of relief. "Fire types run hot enough that it is the evaporation that is the real issue, and that drags the heat out of you real quick unless it is humid enough to half drown by breathing. That's where it takes the most energy out of you."
The rest of that day was filled with Alexa's very hands on lesson about why pokemon weak to Water types didn't like rainy days.
---
"Cleaning this thing out is a pain, Alexa," Kingler noted as they sort of rushed to get all of the Chitin Powder on the bottom of the tent contained safely before it could set long enough to possibly extend Alexa's time or change any of the others for days. "Is it dry enough to avoid the tent tonight? Because this is a lot of work for this sort of thing."
"I need a weather tracker," Alexa mostly agreed, it was difficult even with four arms. "But at least I've made progress on the heat issue."
"Not enough that I'm not holding the bag," Charizard grumbled from a good distance away with said bag in claw. "Although we have made good time. We should reach Violet City sometime tomorrow morning at this rate. Later in the day if we run into problems."
"Are you really sure it is a good idea to show up like this?" Alexa asked again. It had occurred to them as a possibility when they first found Alexa could manage a good pace with her flight.
"Even if there is some concern with you, I should still be in the League systems," he sighed, repeating information from the prior day's conversations that neither of them wanted to need to use. "I should be able to at least get us set up to have you checked on, and when you change back it will confirm things."
They finished the much longer packing up process that being a Vespikiln caused, and set out again. The main path was a bit too risky for running into another trainer, and Alexa did not want to have to explain without a trainer card to back her up. That should have meant more wild pokemon encounters, but so far a fully evolved Char had been enough to discourage any locals. It honestly was a well known downside to letting a pokemon travel outside of their pokeball, and a reason why a typical starter who got ball-sick was generally a bad thing as they grew. The famous Pikachu with that condition from her home region at least didn't have an immediately intimidating appearance.
"I think the cartoon might have made him look like it was worse than the actual pokemon," Charizard noted when she brought up the idea. "I mean, I'm not sure if they made up the whole Team Rocket group, dad heard some odd rumors about how that comedy group got started, but a lot of the show was supposed to be exaggeration."
"'Supposed to be'?" Alexa had to asked with some amusement and turned in mid air to fly backwards to see his reaction.
"I would have said it was one before you started turning into a pokemon, but there was that one where the Lugia Champion was turned into a Pikachu too," Charizard noted a bit too seriously, although Alexa still had to smother a laugh at calling the cartoon version the title the real one held. Given the cartoon one still wasn't a Champion yet last she knew it was a joke she was very familiar with about the Kanto celebrity.
"Any idea what region that was in? We might be able to check and see if it was real," Alexa jokingly offered.
"No, I don't in fact remember where a cartoon I watched before I met you was happening," Charizard laughed. Then Alexa turned back to the faint path slightly off the main road that was either made by pokemon or trainers who wanted to try and catch some pokemon. They discussed the bits of the cartoon they could remember until they stopped for lunch.
---
Rhydon was still amused by how Alexa seemed to almost like Charizard's food more than the winged lizard had ever enjoyed it. Heracross was more than willing to eat her old mix until it was gone, and since the last League they had known Viridian had different brands than most of the rest of Kanto. Apparently they stocked Johto brands from what Charizard had said were in the Cherrygrove store.
"So are we going to get back to fights when you get those card things?" he questioned, a bit farther away from his trainer than normally because she was still very new at Fire control, and it turned out Lobasalt had been more Rock than Fire. As a metallic bush pokemon he had twice the reason to be wary about that. "We haven't even done much foraging this last trip, and you did say money would be a problem."
"Yeah, practice is good but I think we forget to get some battles before the next Gym," Bellossom agreed with him, not quite as far away but still a bit more distant.
"I know, and at this point I almost wish I had just stopped and tried everything back in Viridian," Alexa admitted with an annoyed buzz that raised the heat notably. "Then everything would already be done and I'd have already been stuck like this before."
"Sounds like a bit much to me," Kingler commented with a grumble. "Honestly I halfway wish you had spaced this one out a bit more."
They all gave agreements to that and Rhydon went back to focus on how eating worked now that he was a plant pokemon. He needed a lot less, and his mouth still worked to get the food into his currently molten metal core, but it was a big change from being a particularly rocky animal. He glanced to see how Alexa was doing with her new mandibles, and smothered a giggle as the once again ate a bit fast and nipped one of her claws.
---
"Who dares enter my territory?" a pokemon hooted dangerously a while later after Alexa and Charizard had gone back on the road.
She had flown ahead a bit too far, and the large owl pokemon that swooped down sharply to land in front of her clearly wasn't in the mood for an actual answer. Well actually the harsh yet silent burst of wind that tore at her own wings told her that, and her still instinctual burst of flame in response probably did not help. He was big, colored with various shades of brown, with red eyes, harsh talons, dark triangular markings on his chest, and an impressive light brown set of feathers along the top of its eyes that was like both eyebrows and horns.
Alexa then attempted to back off, only to have her wings not quite work the way she expected. She found herself smashing into a tree, and barely rolled out of the way of the other pokemon's talons. It was possibly the result of a Confusion attack.
This time Alexa's Fire typed attack was more deliberate, a quick Ember that while not really trained did at least buy her some time to think as the owl dodged. She wasn't very strong when it came to combat yet, but a quick look told her she only really needed to hold this pokemon off until Charizard caught up. The owl was strong for the area, but not at her team's level.
The bird followed up with another burst of slashing wind that Alexa jumped, and then she had to force herself up sharply so she flew over the bird themselves in their followup attack. Then she heard the other pokemon crash. Its feathers were now fusing together into chitin, and its wings splitting into both clear membranes and thick shells. The horn like eyebrows markings were becoming actual horns, and Alexa realized dully that it had gotten hit by some of the Chitin Powder that flaked off her body with her movement.
"Do you think this trickery is enough to defeat me?" the now beetle pokemon shouted and this time she avoided a Psychic attack she could barely detect. His wings were clearly just as strong as before, and she doubted this pokemon was any less of a risk to her.
Alexa on the other hand was now a much greater risk to him, and she showed that off with a widespread fire attack that was probably not quite an Ember, but did prove the expert trainer back in Cherrygrove's comment about the change in defense true. Unlike the first slightly stronger Ember this one sent her opponent back with a sharp movement that reminded her of her brush with water the day before.
"Alexa!" Charizard suddenly roared, and she saw the exact moment the former owl fighting her realized the fully evolved Char was looking for her. Charizard took one look at the altered pokemon, huffed out a far more intimidating puff of flames that sent it flying off rapidly, and leveled a bit of a glare at her. "Do not get that far ahead of me again."
She half crashed to the ground and simply let herself breathe instead of responding, too worked up by the sudden fight to even reply. The Pokedex came out quickly, and she found her Starter going over her injuries critically.
"Here, we have some spring water that should build your defenses back up," Charizard sighed and got out one of the bottles. "Maybe an Oran berry too. You took at least two bad hits."
It was a costly result, water of a quality to work as a treatment for defensive energy depletion was about as expensive as a battle potion for the same, but she could not disagree and quickly drank the offered bottle. Then he got out one of their healing berries and she curled into herself in embarrassment and dismay as she ate it. "I'm sorry," she mumbled around the last fourth of the fruit.
"I know it has been quiet," he admitted and sat down next to her. "But we can't be careless like this. You don't look human, and wild pokemon aren't going to be as wary about a random pokemon as they are a human that might have hidden pokemon."
Alexa knew that, but this was the proof that she didn't need to drive the point of the information home. "Can we work on my heat issue? I want to get back to carrying our stuff," she dully replied and nodded at the chastisement.
"Yeah, we can do that today," her Starter agreed. "Let's see if we can find a campsite nearby. I think we've gone as far as we can handle, and we should still make it to Violet tomorrow."
---
[Author's Notes]
So if you know the details of the included reference to the pokemon anime then you have the reason why this chapter exists. Originally there was no chapter between the last one and the next one, but that would mean that I had gone directly from Alexa turning into a Vespikiln to her turning back after a moment, and I realized with a bit of horror that I was about to pull the same thing the anime did with Ashchu.
That has made this a bit shorter and outside of my normal proof-reading process, but I think it is important to fill in that time a bit more.
Puddles had not been intimidating when Alexa was in her other three forms. They had been on the road all morning, and she had managed to avoid direct contact so far mostly by luck. Humans and pokemon had been easier to dodge.
"You should at least let a few drops hit you," Charizard noted and deliberately stepped in another puddle. Not one anywhere close to her, the Fire/Water type had been very polite about that so far, but he had not stopped his usual playful nature while he had this sort of change.
"This is honestly really strange," Alexa said with a glance at the water on the ground and trees as she hovered along. "I have felt water before, I know it isn't a big deal normally, but right now I'm just- Ahh!" she cried out as a good sized splash fell onto her from a branch overhead. It felt like someone had dipped her in ice so cold it instantly burned. Without really thinking she responded with a blast of flames from her wings at the branch.
"And that is why you need to know what it feels like," Charizard sighed and spat some water to put out the now burning branch. "My biological mother made sure to dip each and every one of us in a pool, carefully of course, before we were ever allowed outside after a rain storm. Until we could manage to handle getting a bit wet without getting mad at trees."
"I bet you had a good time with that," Alexa joked, but her Starter's face shifted into a frown that made her stop and land.
"She dunked me three times to make sure the first wasn't a fluke, and then left me with her trainer's family for the next month while my siblings learned to handle it," he said a touch sadly. "There were six of us, a big clutch, and she was overworked and happy to pass me off. Her trainer's family had a young kid of their own, and he was learning to read and write at the time."
Alexa turned to fully face Charizard as he paused to collect his thoughts. Well aware that this was important she kept quiet and simply ran one of her four hands through the not even damp fuzz on her back where the water had landed.
"I consider him to be another brother, and his parents to be mine too," Charizard continued. "I was bored, reading and writing looked interesting, and at first it was just amusing to watch me try and mimic the letters." He flexed his fins and looked at her directly for the first time since he started the story. "Then I wrote down a question I wanted to ask, not very well but good enough to be understood, and suddenly it wasn't just lessons for my human brother anymore."
"Is that when the decided to try and make you a trainer?" Alexa had to ask, because it was clear enough how that came from this somehow.
"Maybe, but I'd say it was when they started trying to raise me a bit like I was a human. My biological mother didn't let them do everything, and I still play battled with my other siblings, but I also sat in on all of my human brother's lessons," Charizard corrected her and looked away again. "They didn't send either of us to a proper school, just did it themselves. First actual classes I got were the ones for being a trainer." He laughed humorlessly. "Do you know what they said when I asked why they didn't tell me the truth about those?" Alexa had to shake her head, unable to understand any reason why. "They didn't want to get my hopes up. Advanced Starter pokemon really do take it too, but because I could write and be understood I could actually complete the entire course."
Alexa easily remembered that they gave out a temporary trainer card at the end of the training. Her father had framed hers after she got her first real one. "Are they still pushing for that?" she had to ask. Alexa wasn't sure how much contact he had really had, there were times he could have sent his own letters.
"It has been a bit strained since then. I don't want to be human, I want to be a Char, and I'd rather be a Starter on a team than a pokemon leading one," Charizard answered. "I love them, I really do, but I have been a bit too upset with them to write as much as I should. Short emails when you aren't paying enough attention isn't my only option now too."
Alexa nodded at that, and decided to change the topic back. "No, you definitely should do more than that since I know about it. Now, is it better to practice with hot water or cold?" she questioned with another glance at a puddle.
"Just as bad," he replied, possibly with a bit of relief. "Fire types run hot enough that it is the evaporation that is the real issue, and that drags the heat out of you real quick unless it is humid enough to half drown by breathing. That's where it takes the most energy out of you."
The rest of that day was filled with Alexa's very hands on lesson about why pokemon weak to Water types didn't like rainy days.
---
"Cleaning this thing out is a pain, Alexa," Kingler noted as they sort of rushed to get all of the Chitin Powder on the bottom of the tent contained safely before it could set long enough to possibly extend Alexa's time or change any of the others for days. "Is it dry enough to avoid the tent tonight? Because this is a lot of work for this sort of thing."
"I need a weather tracker," Alexa mostly agreed, it was difficult even with four arms. "But at least I've made progress on the heat issue."
"Not enough that I'm not holding the bag," Charizard grumbled from a good distance away with said bag in claw. "Although we have made good time. We should reach Violet City sometime tomorrow morning at this rate. Later in the day if we run into problems."
"Are you really sure it is a good idea to show up like this?" Alexa asked again. It had occurred to them as a possibility when they first found Alexa could manage a good pace with her flight.
"Even if there is some concern with you, I should still be in the League systems," he sighed, repeating information from the prior day's conversations that neither of them wanted to need to use. "I should be able to at least get us set up to have you checked on, and when you change back it will confirm things."
They finished the much longer packing up process that being a Vespikiln caused, and set out again. The main path was a bit too risky for running into another trainer, and Alexa did not want to have to explain without a trainer card to back her up. That should have meant more wild pokemon encounters, but so far a fully evolved Char had been enough to discourage any locals. It honestly was a well known downside to letting a pokemon travel outside of their pokeball, and a reason why a typical starter who got ball-sick was generally a bad thing as they grew. The famous Pikachu with that condition from her home region at least didn't have an immediately intimidating appearance.
"I think the cartoon might have made him look like it was worse than the actual pokemon," Charizard noted when she brought up the idea. "I mean, I'm not sure if they made up the whole Team Rocket group, dad heard some odd rumors about how that comedy group got started, but a lot of the show was supposed to be exaggeration."
"'Supposed to be'?" Alexa had to asked with some amusement and turned in mid air to fly backwards to see his reaction.
"I would have said it was one before you started turning into a pokemon, but there was that one where the Lugia Champion was turned into a Pikachu too," Charizard noted a bit too seriously, although Alexa still had to smother a laugh at calling the cartoon version the title the real one held. Given the cartoon one still wasn't a Champion yet last she knew it was a joke she was very familiar with about the Kanto celebrity.
"Any idea what region that was in? We might be able to check and see if it was real," Alexa jokingly offered.
"No, I don't in fact remember where a cartoon I watched before I met you was happening," Charizard laughed. Then Alexa turned back to the faint path slightly off the main road that was either made by pokemon or trainers who wanted to try and catch some pokemon. They discussed the bits of the cartoon they could remember until they stopped for lunch.
---
Rhydon was still amused by how Alexa seemed to almost like Charizard's food more than the winged lizard had ever enjoyed it. Heracross was more than willing to eat her old mix until it was gone, and since the last League they had known Viridian had different brands than most of the rest of Kanto. Apparently they stocked Johto brands from what Charizard had said were in the Cherrygrove store.
"So are we going to get back to fights when you get those card things?" he questioned, a bit farther away from his trainer than normally because she was still very new at Fire control, and it turned out Lobasalt had been more Rock than Fire. As a metallic bush pokemon he had twice the reason to be wary about that. "We haven't even done much foraging this last trip, and you did say money would be a problem."
"Yeah, practice is good but I think we forget to get some battles before the next Gym," Bellossom agreed with him, not quite as far away but still a bit more distant.
"I know, and at this point I almost wish I had just stopped and tried everything back in Viridian," Alexa admitted with an annoyed buzz that raised the heat notably. "Then everything would already be done and I'd have already been stuck like this before."
"Sounds like a bit much to me," Kingler commented with a grumble. "Honestly I halfway wish you had spaced this one out a bit more."
They all gave agreements to that and Rhydon went back to focus on how eating worked now that he was a plant pokemon. He needed a lot less, and his mouth still worked to get the food into his currently molten metal core, but it was a big change from being a particularly rocky animal. He glanced to see how Alexa was doing with her new mandibles, and smothered a giggle as the once again ate a bit fast and nipped one of her claws.
---
"Who dares enter my territory?" a pokemon hooted dangerously a while later after Alexa and Charizard had gone back on the road.
She had flown ahead a bit too far, and the large owl pokemon that swooped down sharply to land in front of her clearly wasn't in the mood for an actual answer. Well actually the harsh yet silent burst of wind that tore at her own wings told her that, and her still instinctual burst of flame in response probably did not help. He was big, colored with various shades of brown, with red eyes, harsh talons, dark triangular markings on his chest, and an impressive light brown set of feathers along the top of its eyes that was like both eyebrows and horns.
Alexa then attempted to back off, only to have her wings not quite work the way she expected. She found herself smashing into a tree, and barely rolled out of the way of the other pokemon's talons. It was possibly the result of a Confusion attack.
This time Alexa's Fire typed attack was more deliberate, a quick Ember that while not really trained did at least buy her some time to think as the owl dodged. She wasn't very strong when it came to combat yet, but a quick look told her she only really needed to hold this pokemon off until Charizard caught up. The owl was strong for the area, but not at her team's level.
The bird followed up with another burst of slashing wind that Alexa jumped, and then she had to force herself up sharply so she flew over the bird themselves in their followup attack. Then she heard the other pokemon crash. Its feathers were now fusing together into chitin, and its wings splitting into both clear membranes and thick shells. The horn like eyebrows markings were becoming actual horns, and Alexa realized dully that it had gotten hit by some of the Chitin Powder that flaked off her body with her movement.
"Do you think this trickery is enough to defeat me?" the now beetle pokemon shouted and this time she avoided a Psychic attack she could barely detect. His wings were clearly just as strong as before, and she doubted this pokemon was any less of a risk to her.
Alexa on the other hand was now a much greater risk to him, and she showed that off with a widespread fire attack that was probably not quite an Ember, but did prove the expert trainer back in Cherrygrove's comment about the change in defense true. Unlike the first slightly stronger Ember this one sent her opponent back with a sharp movement that reminded her of her brush with water the day before.
"Alexa!" Charizard suddenly roared, and she saw the exact moment the former owl fighting her realized the fully evolved Char was looking for her. Charizard took one look at the altered pokemon, huffed out a far more intimidating puff of flames that sent it flying off rapidly, and leveled a bit of a glare at her. "Do not get that far ahead of me again."
She half crashed to the ground and simply let herself breathe instead of responding, too worked up by the sudden fight to even reply. The Pokedex came out quickly, and she found her Starter going over her injuries critically.
"Here, we have some spring water that should build your defenses back up," Charizard sighed and got out one of the bottles. "Maybe an Oran berry too. You took at least two bad hits."
It was a costly result, water of a quality to work as a treatment for defensive energy depletion was about as expensive as a battle potion for the same, but she could not disagree and quickly drank the offered bottle. Then he got out one of their healing berries and she curled into herself in embarrassment and dismay as she ate it. "I'm sorry," she mumbled around the last fourth of the fruit.
"I know it has been quiet," he admitted and sat down next to her. "But we can't be careless like this. You don't look human, and wild pokemon aren't going to be as wary about a random pokemon as they are a human that might have hidden pokemon."
Alexa knew that, but this was the proof that she didn't need to drive the point of the information home. "Can we work on my heat issue? I want to get back to carrying our stuff," she dully replied and nodded at the chastisement.
"Yeah, we can do that today," her Starter agreed. "Let's see if we can find a campsite nearby. I think we've gone as far as we can handle, and we should still make it to Violet tomorrow."
---
[Author's Notes]
So if you know the details of the included reference to the pokemon anime then you have the reason why this chapter exists. Originally there was no chapter between the last one and the next one, but that would mean that I had gone directly from Alexa turning into a Vespikiln to her turning back after a moment, and I realized with a bit of horror that I was about to pull the same thing the anime did with Ashchu.
That has made this a bit shorter and outside of my normal proof-reading process, but I think it is important to fill in that time a bit more.
Alexa used Ember! It was Super Effective!
I imagine it'll take some time for her to become battle-capable in that form, but it'll probably be an important thing to do, just for personal safety. Wandering the world without Pokémon is dangerous, wandering the world as a Pokémon even more so.
I like the contrast between Vespikiln being so uncomfortable with the water after Lobasalt enjoying it. A good direct introduction for her to understanding how different species, even with shared types, react differently to things.
I imagine it'll take some time for her to become battle-capable in that form, but it'll probably be an important thing to do, just for personal safety. Wandering the world without Pokémon is dangerous, wandering the world as a Pokémon even more so.
I like the contrast between Vespikiln being so uncomfortable with the water after Lobasalt enjoying it. A good direct introduction for her to understanding how different species, even with shared types, react differently to things.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Vespikiln are another rather intimidating pokemon from that perspective. A part Fire type that can make you into a Bug type, reducing your resistance to Fire.
It will take time to train, with a bit of issue of being stuck in this one for three days at a time so she doesn't want to do so much. The multiple forms on one hand make it harder to train any one of them well, but on the other hand it is still training that can possibly be applied to the other forms. For example, her Fire moves here are better than they would be without her Lobasalt form practice.
I'm glad to hear it. It is a nice way to keep the two forms truly different too despite both being Fire typed.
Poke Trainer
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
--- Poke Trainer ---
William had grown up mostly human. Sure he was a human sized fox monster in reality, but his parents ran the local bakery and about half the town were also fox monsters. There had been four kids who tried being a trainer in his year, and only one of them was actually human. Naturally the one human was currently back home again while William was an ocean away in the land next to a place that had a few too many Poison types and Normal typed versions of quite a few Fairy types.
"It is just a few more hours at this point, Alexa," a familiar voice said from just off the path. "We should probably hurry into town."
"Alexa and Charizard?" he called out and moved closer. "Looks like I caught you-" Charizard was there in his strange Fire/Water form, but instead of a human trainer there was a human sized bee pokemon that put out a lot of heat.
"William," the bee said with something fairly close to Alexa's voice. "Oh, I uh, wanted to wait until I was back to human to contact you honestly, but it is nice to see you." She buzzed down in front of him, and despite everything his illusion simply broke at whatever the hell was happening. "Wait, you don't need to-"
"I think I'm going to need a lot of focus for, this. What exactly happened to you?" William cut her off with a wince. "I was fairly sure you were a normal human."
"I did mention that some kinds of pokemon are humans with types, or at least some pokemon are humans that can be altered by the stuff we've been using," Alexa, who William still could not quite believe was a pokemon right now, explained. "This one, Vespikiln, lasts three days, so I've been stuck like this for a while now and really want to get back to being human at this point."
"When I said multiple forms were an option for trainer cards, I kind of meant for Ditto and other actual shapeshifter pokemon," he commented as he processed the work 'stuck' being part of that answer. "I didn't think that there were human options for that at all. How many different things do you have that can do this?"
"Uh, it will be easier to show you which ones we've tried so far when this is done, but I kind of want to save that for the trainer card mess I kind of hoped you could help with," the insect pokemon in front of him admitted. "I've found three so far, this one, a Poison/Water type called a Mephagic, and another one that we've been calling Lobasalt but I don't know if anyone has ever seen that last one before."
"That's just the base forms we've tested so far, and we stuck with the options that Alexa is most likely to get hit with by accident," Charizard clarified and moved closer to her. "Alexa put off the one of those that actually lasts a couple of days until now. We haven't tried some of the harder to use by accident ones yet, like the one I'm using, although we can probably count the Mundane Clay as safe." William decided firmly to overlook that entire idea for now.
"I'll try them when I have some proper trainer cards for these forms so I can actually be safe to talk to other trainers," Alexa said with an annoyed buzz that was not actually human language. "It isn't like this one is particularly bad to be, but I don't like not being able to change back on my own."
"I- I actually don't know if the trainer cards would really help there," William had to admit as he considered the idea of being openly a pokemon that was a trainer. Meeting this Charizard had been the first time he had needed to consider that there might be trainers that could not look human, let alone something like a human trainer that could become a pokemon. "I'll help with what I can to sign you up for the cards, maybe stick around a bit to help out, but I mostly just act like a normal human trainer. I'm not even registered to fight in official matches myself."
Alexa was harder to read like this, her face wasn't human and William wasn't familiar with this species of insect pokemon, but if he guessed he would say she hesitated because she was nervous. "I haven't been able to decide on that yet," she admitted, but he couldn't tell what part of the idea made her nervous. "I think I'm going to need to try fighting in a controlled match first, but I don't know if they will let me try that." He did not miss the specification of 'controlled'.
"I'm not entirely happy with that plan, but I will admit it is what I did," Charizard added with a huff. "William, have you at least considered that part before?"
He had not, because he was a baker's son, not the child of what sounded like an entire line of Starters or a Professor who apparently worked with stuff that made humans into pokemon. Just the idea of being asked to participate himself had been one of the complications that Kanto had surprised him with. "No, my kind typically stay a bit more human than that back home," William actually said aloud. "I can fight, but I wouldn't know how to begin to do that in an official match."
"Alright, worth asking at least. Well, if you're willing to help out it would be nice to get a trainer card for this form without having to go back into it," Alexa half questioned. "Can you help get me to the Pokemon Center like this?"
---
Alexa was not sure how to talk with William about this. It sort of helped that she had seen what he looked like as a pokemon now, but unless she got a good form out of a Mercury Contagion layer she probably wouldn't have illusions as an option herself. Luckily the Pokemon Center was near the entrance to the city from Route 31 so while she didn't have time to really look at the city there also wasn't much of the city that could look at her before she got to the facility.
"Hello, you seem to be in a hurry," the Nurse Joy greeted their expanded group, and visibly paused at the sight of her and her Charizard. "Is there an emergency?"
"I need to have my trainer card updated quite a bit," Alexa started off and William moved forward to the counter ahead of her, once again in his human disguise. "Also I have a pokemon to report that wasn't in my Pokedex, so I need to check what the official information is on it."
"She just ended up with pokemon forms, and needs this kind of update," William quietly said and showed both of his own cards.
"Oh, Assistant Larch," the Joy said with only a bit of a cringe. "Your father called ahead about this being possible. Let me call the Gym Leader and take you to the scanner room." The Nurse led all of them to the back room that usually was off limits to anyone but the staff and pokemon being treated. A distinction that Alexa realized included her for once because she was the one going in for a checkup. "Do you have long in that form left? Your father did say the Bug typed one was tricky to time right."
"I have some options that could make it last longer if we really need to, but I should have another hour at least," Alexa admitted with a disappointed buzz that was hopefully human language. Working out the difference was her first goal when she got these new trainer cards.
"An hour should be enough time for this," Nurse Joy agreed with some relief and quickly grabbed a camera. "Although let me get a picture for the card now just in case." Three attempted pictures later they had one that worked to show enough markings, and Nurse Joy motioned her into the largest of the pods in the nearby row. The chamber closed around her, and she could actually feel the various scanners as they inspected her physical and energy systems. "Is it alright if we keep you in their until it ends?"
"I think so, although Charizard might want to use the Clearwater Geode again," Alexa replied and settled down. "Also you probably will need to clean this one out, I shed a lot like this and we probably don't want to find out who else would become a Vespikiln."
"That is part of why we are using the largest scanner, it is easier to clean," the Joy admitted.
Alexa listened as she waited to William and Charizard's discussion on the differences between their training to be a trainer as a pokemon. Charizard had been with other pokemon on that front, so it was sort of like hearing what Starters were trained from her Starter. William's on the other hand had been so close to her own that she had to chip in that the Psychic kid had also been given an explanation of illusion etiquette, and that she had also been told by her parents that she needed to watch out for type interactions with humans. Admittedly to make sure she didn't hurt a typed human for that second one instead of how to manage her own type, and she admitted openly that she now probably needed a more advanced lesson on that topic that fit what he learned better.
"Alright, I will admit that Alexa needs to learn some of the 'don't light people on fire' stuff," Charizard started, only to change into growls that Alexa could not understand as she felt the familiar heat of changing back from the Fire type and how her body took a bit longer to cool down then it did to lose the tolerance for heat that came with that energy. Then her body began to rapidly change, her abdomen and wings shrank away, her two pairs of insect arms fused back into one pair of human arms, her legs grew outward into bulkier human legs again, her clothes formed on her body, and her head and face face shrank back into its more mobile and expressive human form.
"Uh, I didn't catch that second part," she said to her starter apologetically. "Maybe we should wait to continue this until the next form?"
"Let's start by getting a new photo for your human form," Nurse Joy replied as the chamber opened. "Also, if it isn't too much trouble can you change to the next one inside the scanner?"
"I think my Poison/Water typed form is small enough for that, but I kind of wanted to get the one we need to identify better next and that one might be a tight fit," Alexa allowed with a glance at Charizard. Her pokemon got out both of the vials of Contagions just in case.
"Your form that is the unidentified pokemon you mentioned?" William asked with a blink.
"I've reviewed the database your father suggested to us, and according to him you have the same one on your Pokedex," the Nurse carefully explained. "There weren't any other human derived pokemon the League database we have access to that would have added to the list, so you might have a genuine new pokemon there. Which I think if it can fit should probably get the full scan."
Alexa nodded at the logic and looked over the pod again. It would be a bit of a tight fit, but she felt she would be able to turn into her Lobasalt form without breaking it. "Alright, the Magma Contagion then, Charizard," she instructed and he handed over the red lava filled vial, then the chamber closed again. Once she sort of felt the scanners start again she proceeded to use it on herself. The cold sensation was easier to handle, and she now had even more reference for the feel of becoming an exoskeletal creatue. She braced on her now four legged stance, and cringed a bit at how tight the fit had turned out to be. Alexa wasn't quite pressed against the walls, but it was a bit nerve wracking to be molten rock so close to the probably delicate machinery.
"Okay, hold steady for a moment. Uh, that pokemon is not on any of my files at all," Joy said loudly. "What have you been calling it?"
"Lobasalt, because I look like a giant volcanic lobster," Alexa explained with a bit of embarrassment.
"The trainer that finds a new pokemon species helps to name the species in most cases, but I don't think we've ever seen a case where the new species is the reporting trainer before," Nurse Joy replied, and a moment later the chamber door opened again. The Nurse blinked with surprise at Alexa's appearance, and William's jaw dropped. "You are bigger than I expected. Does this form produce as much of the material that causes the change?"
"Yes and no, it can technically leak out when I move," Alexa explained and carefully maneuvered an arm into view and shifted the joint areas to show off the cracking and reforming nature of her movements. "Some leaks out as I move, but nowhere near as much as the other two forms and it hardens quick. It is pretty easy for me to make more myself though." She allowed some to pool in a claw before she let it harden to demonstrate.
"Mention the ability, we need to get a better idea on how that works," Charizard suggested before she could continue. "We have a good start but this is better equipment."
Alexa passed on the message along with what they had found so far and William joined Nurse Joy in looking at the new readings, although the other trainer did not look like he entirely understood what they indicated. "It is an interesting ability, definitely the kind found on Legendary pokemon more than for typical pokemon. We would need to preform practical tests for more details," Nurse Joy admitted with a bit of a frown. "I'm going to need more pictures for this form, and probably to add some extra data to your card for it."
"Legendary pokemon?" William questioned with a bit of a yip. "What about Legendary pokemon?"
"The majority of pokemon that are specifically altered humans have been classified as Legendary pokemon in the past," Alexa admitted slowly. "They tend to be smart, powerful, and to stay at the edge of human civilization where they aren't seen much. Most are minor Legendary pokemon, but only a few aren't technically classified as Legendary by the League. Wendrago are the most complicated there, because in the region they are from most are actually Champions and Legendary pokemon at the same time."
"It is a metaphysical consequence of the importance of humans being transformed in that way. Humans are held to be different than pokemon by most, so a form that is naturally human and pokemon at once is stronger," Nurse Joy added, which Alexa had not known and earned the Joy confused looks from the rest of them. "I have dabbled a bit in magic."
They moved on to the extra photos and documentation to register a new species of pokemon, which took long enough for the local Gym Leader to arrive to officially sign off on the new cards. Falkner was one of many long time Leaders, and was a rare Flying type Gym Leader as well. The Flying type was almost always a secondary type, with the few exceptions being notable for being exceptions and only a bare handful of pure Flying types in existence. The somewhat older blue haired man arrived, looked around the room at Alexa and Charizard, and sighed. "I didn't miss a Flying type human did I? Because I missed meeting that Brian guy who owns too much Stable Cloud, and I don't want to miss another," Falkner questioned. "It might not work on me, but I can overlook that oversight with reality."
"Stable Cloud doesn't work on me directly either, but I haven't tested it with my other forms yet since it lasts a full day," Alexa replied as she tried to place the name the Gym Leader mentioned. It sounded familiar, but not for something she had paid much attention to herself. "You did miss the one that can fly, but that is only because of the Bug type."
"It might work if you try something else first?" Falkner asked with a bit too much eagerness. "Do you have any recommendations?"
Alexa turned towards Charizard to see if she had somehow hallucinated that question. She spotted that William had dropped his human illusion, and that her Starter had buried his face in his claws, so it probably had just happened. "I have not had time to work on that topic yet. Maybe you should get in touch with my father instead?" she slowly said and was suddenly glad her Lobasalt form was not very expressive. "That might be faster."
"Leader Falkner, can this wait until after we have finished the update to Assistant Larch's registration?" Nurse Joy asked with a long suffering tone. "I think we only have one form left to see, and Ms. Larch likely wants to do something other than stand in a scanner today."
That worked to get Alexa back into the scanner's chamber again, and after a brief explanation she slowly used Contagion Cure on herself to change back into a human for the second time in one day. The way the scanners felt when she went from loose usable energy to tight protected energy was even more unusual this time as she was actually prepared enough to expect the change. The chamber opened yet again, and Charizard passed the last of the planned vials over to her. "Last one is a Mephagic form," she informed everyone but Charizard, who obviously knew already.
Nurse Joy flinched at that. "Well another scan of that species would be helpful," the Nurse replied a bit nervously.
"Isn't that the magic frog thing you ended up stuck as for a week about a year ago?" Falkner questioned the older woman with a smug smile. "The one with the toxic hair and the medical symbols all over it?"
"A Mephagic's markings are an indication of their preferred kind of magic. Not all of them have medical symbols," Joy replied a bit sharply. "It was an accident while I was treating a group of Muk with this really toxic material that had been 'made mostly safe' according to my sister in Goldenrod. I ended up stuck for over a week before we found a strong enough cleaning product to restore me."
"My team might need to see if we can work out a good way to teach Contagion Cure," Alexa admitted, then had to explain what exactly the substance was and how her team had developed it. Which William and Nurse Joy seemed to follow much better than Leader Falkner, and that meant her personal understanding of the move had probably complicated the explanation. "Uh, so we need to scan mine to compare to yours?"
"I would like to compare them, I ended up changed a second time to get a good scan to try and make a cure as good as what your team seems to have worked out," Joy replied with a glance at the curious fox pokemon-trainer. William had not restored his illusion yet, but he was glancing between the two of them.
"I know some magic, because of my species' illusions. If you have a form with natural magical talent I might be your best option to learn to use it safely while on the road," he explained to Alexa, and she breathed a sigh of relief at the idea of actual instruction for that aspect of being a Mephagic.
"That would be appreciated," Alexa said to him and Charizard rumbled an agreement that Alexa wished she could understand as a human. After three whole days without a break from being able to understand pokemon it was even harsher of a change. "Mephagic are naturally magical, it isn't just most of them learn magic?" she asked the Nurse.
"It will probably be easier to explain if you are one," Joy admitted and Alexa went back into the scanner to change yet again.
Mephagic was the form Alexa was the most nervous about using around her stuff. Fire and heat proof clothes and equipment were much easier to find than stuff that was safe when exposed to toxic materials. Not to mention how she couldn't safely handle food or some of their other stuff while she was a toxic frog. The change was about the same as before, with her limbs staying bone filled even as her feet and legs got more limber and her face grew wider than it ended up in the other two forms.
The door opened, and Alexa decided that even if it was more difficult to get stuff for this form she was done with switching around for the day. "I think I'm going to just stay this way if that's alright. This has been a lot of transformations for one day," she declared aloud.
"So I'm stuck still carrying everything," Charizard sighed a bit jokingly. "Alright, but I expect a human trainer for at least a day or so to make up for it."
"Type symbols," Nurse Joy noted about Alexa's markings and drew her attention back to the topic at hand. "That is interesting. Hmm, William, do you think that means she might be able to learn to change herself between the forms?"
"I have no idea. I didn't even know this could happen to humans before today," the pokemon-trainer said thoughtfully. "It is possible, although probably a bit more advanced than she should start out on, she already knows about other ways to change types that probably are easier to start with."
"We do actually know about type changing spells," Alexa noted and stepped out of the chamber. "I've got, well, I guess it is basically a digital spell book that covers every type. I don't know how safe any of them are though, so we were going to wait for an expert's help."
"I said I know some magic, not that I'm an expert," William corrected her. "I can help with the real basics to know how to manage being a natural magician, but actual full magic use probably would need a real magic user."
"So, is this one a better or worse one than the lobster for possibly flying?" Falkner interrupted.
---
It turned out that they did have some toxin proof clothes available for sale locally, although given the local Nurse Joy had also been a Mephagic that made a lot of sense. A set she could wear to get to the clothing shop that could handle her other forms had been delivered by the time Alexa got her new set of four different trainer cards. Her human one had changed a bit, but it mostly just looked like a nicer picture than the original card to her. The biggest alteration was the marking that said she was considering battle herself. Apparently that was a classification in Johto that came mostly from the local Dragon typed trainers instead of the more typical Psychic or Fighting humans that she was familiar with from Kanto. It bought her time to work out what she wanted to do.
The picture on her Vespikiln card was of an insect pokemon, which Alexa had known it would be but there was a difference in being able to see herself in a Bug typed pokemon. Her antenna were a bit fuzz covered, her eyes were big and expressionless, and her mouth was not human in the slightest, but it was also still her and she could remember her emotions when the picture had been taken.
Her Lobasalt card was honestly a bit less expressive. It had a few additional notes on the species, but the main feature was the rocky face that was just a jagged line of magma and a pair of magma eyes on a dome. Of the three it was the form she wanted to use in public the most, but with the card in front of her she could see it might not be the most social form she had.
The last card was currently on the top of the pile. The frog face of her Mephagic form was just as different from her human face as the other two, but it actually had expressions and movement. The fact that there was a flow of Toxin Contagion over her left eye was apparently just as much a visual feature as her markings. If not for being entirely toxic it would be a much better pokemon form to use around humans. That was possibly an indication she should try out different changes with her Mephagic form first.
"Are you really sure you want to be in public like that?" Charizard questioned as William distracted the still fairly single mined local Gym Leader. Falkner had really latched onto the idea of being able to become a Flying type pokemon, and Alexa honestly kind of wished that Stable Cloud had worked on the Gym Leader just so he would not have reason to ask so much.
"I am a bit tired of going through different sets of limbs, and I need more clothes for this one anyway," she replied, and hopefully in a way humans could understand. There were a few people still out and about, but it had gotten late enough that most travelers were off the road. The locals seemed to double take as they noticed her markings and hair parting were different. "Not to mention we know this town has seen one before."
"That might be overstating things miss," one of the shopkeepers interjected from the front of his cafe. "Nurse Joy said she was out sick those days, even if some of us do know about it most of the town only heard about it secondhand."
"That's still going to be better than my other options, or how other towns might take it," Alexa replied and looked to see if William was catching up yet.
"'Other options', were you the bee pokemon that went in earlier too?" the old man questioned. "I didn't think there were many shapeshifter Legendary pokemon in the region."
Alexa froze for a moment at being called a Legendary, despite the fact that she intellectually knew she was one right now. It was different to be called that by someone, and had made the paperwork a bit more complicated than she liked to get her new trainer cards. Even though she had started as a human and planned on mostly traveling as one, it still was the case that her human trainer card had been updated to one for a human illusion or disguise used by a pokemon-trainer.
"She's a bit of a unique one," William said with a slightly fragile smile that said he also wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea. "She is signed up to be a trainer and everything."
"It is more complicated than that," Alexa grumbled to the Zoroark, but mostly moved on towards the clothing store. "Oh. It is a pokemon clothing store," she realized as she spotted the shop and the non-human mannequins displaying the merchandise. "I guess that does make sense."
"Trust me, human focused stores can't stock enough variety for non-human bodies. My legs and hair don't really work with normal human clothes," William confirmed a bit strongly. "We admittedly had a Zoroark specific section in my home town, but I think about half the town was Zoroark so it is a bit of an exception."
"They make some nice Char focused stuff that handles our tails and wings, and I know they can handle fireproofing well," Charizard contributed. "We can probably find a good bag too so you don't need one of us out and about with you. Definitely at least a few ball belts, maybe some that have extra spots for vials and those sphere things."
---
[Author's Note]
Here is the last chapter of Alexa avoiding people because she didn't have proper documentation. Now we move on to her being another open shapeshifter on her team.
This one had an early development full rewrite, mostly because my first past was too dramatic and angsty.
William had grown up mostly human. Sure he was a human sized fox monster in reality, but his parents ran the local bakery and about half the town were also fox monsters. There had been four kids who tried being a trainer in his year, and only one of them was actually human. Naturally the one human was currently back home again while William was an ocean away in the land next to a place that had a few too many Poison types and Normal typed versions of quite a few Fairy types.
"It is just a few more hours at this point, Alexa," a familiar voice said from just off the path. "We should probably hurry into town."
"Alexa and Charizard?" he called out and moved closer. "Looks like I caught you-" Charizard was there in his strange Fire/Water form, but instead of a human trainer there was a human sized bee pokemon that put out a lot of heat.
"William," the bee said with something fairly close to Alexa's voice. "Oh, I uh, wanted to wait until I was back to human to contact you honestly, but it is nice to see you." She buzzed down in front of him, and despite everything his illusion simply broke at whatever the hell was happening. "Wait, you don't need to-"
"I think I'm going to need a lot of focus for, this. What exactly happened to you?" William cut her off with a wince. "I was fairly sure you were a normal human."
"I did mention that some kinds of pokemon are humans with types, or at least some pokemon are humans that can be altered by the stuff we've been using," Alexa, who William still could not quite believe was a pokemon right now, explained. "This one, Vespikiln, lasts three days, so I've been stuck like this for a while now and really want to get back to being human at this point."
"When I said multiple forms were an option for trainer cards, I kind of meant for Ditto and other actual shapeshifter pokemon," he commented as he processed the work 'stuck' being part of that answer. "I didn't think that there were human options for that at all. How many different things do you have that can do this?"
"Uh, it will be easier to show you which ones we've tried so far when this is done, but I kind of want to save that for the trainer card mess I kind of hoped you could help with," the insect pokemon in front of him admitted. "I've found three so far, this one, a Poison/Water type called a Mephagic, and another one that we've been calling Lobasalt but I don't know if anyone has ever seen that last one before."
"That's just the base forms we've tested so far, and we stuck with the options that Alexa is most likely to get hit with by accident," Charizard clarified and moved closer to her. "Alexa put off the one of those that actually lasts a couple of days until now. We haven't tried some of the harder to use by accident ones yet, like the one I'm using, although we can probably count the Mundane Clay as safe." William decided firmly to overlook that entire idea for now.
"I'll try them when I have some proper trainer cards for these forms so I can actually be safe to talk to other trainers," Alexa said with an annoyed buzz that was not actually human language. "It isn't like this one is particularly bad to be, but I don't like not being able to change back on my own."
"I- I actually don't know if the trainer cards would really help there," William had to admit as he considered the idea of being openly a pokemon that was a trainer. Meeting this Charizard had been the first time he had needed to consider that there might be trainers that could not look human, let alone something like a human trainer that could become a pokemon. "I'll help with what I can to sign you up for the cards, maybe stick around a bit to help out, but I mostly just act like a normal human trainer. I'm not even registered to fight in official matches myself."
Alexa was harder to read like this, her face wasn't human and William wasn't familiar with this species of insect pokemon, but if he guessed he would say she hesitated because she was nervous. "I haven't been able to decide on that yet," she admitted, but he couldn't tell what part of the idea made her nervous. "I think I'm going to need to try fighting in a controlled match first, but I don't know if they will let me try that." He did not miss the specification of 'controlled'.
"I'm not entirely happy with that plan, but I will admit it is what I did," Charizard added with a huff. "William, have you at least considered that part before?"
He had not, because he was a baker's son, not the child of what sounded like an entire line of Starters or a Professor who apparently worked with stuff that made humans into pokemon. Just the idea of being asked to participate himself had been one of the complications that Kanto had surprised him with. "No, my kind typically stay a bit more human than that back home," William actually said aloud. "I can fight, but I wouldn't know how to begin to do that in an official match."
"Alright, worth asking at least. Well, if you're willing to help out it would be nice to get a trainer card for this form without having to go back into it," Alexa half questioned. "Can you help get me to the Pokemon Center like this?"
---
Alexa was not sure how to talk with William about this. It sort of helped that she had seen what he looked like as a pokemon now, but unless she got a good form out of a Mercury Contagion layer she probably wouldn't have illusions as an option herself. Luckily the Pokemon Center was near the entrance to the city from Route 31 so while she didn't have time to really look at the city there also wasn't much of the city that could look at her before she got to the facility.
"Hello, you seem to be in a hurry," the Nurse Joy greeted their expanded group, and visibly paused at the sight of her and her Charizard. "Is there an emergency?"
"I need to have my trainer card updated quite a bit," Alexa started off and William moved forward to the counter ahead of her, once again in his human disguise. "Also I have a pokemon to report that wasn't in my Pokedex, so I need to check what the official information is on it."
"She just ended up with pokemon forms, and needs this kind of update," William quietly said and showed both of his own cards.
"Oh, Assistant Larch," the Joy said with only a bit of a cringe. "Your father called ahead about this being possible. Let me call the Gym Leader and take you to the scanner room." The Nurse led all of them to the back room that usually was off limits to anyone but the staff and pokemon being treated. A distinction that Alexa realized included her for once because she was the one going in for a checkup. "Do you have long in that form left? Your father did say the Bug typed one was tricky to time right."
"I have some options that could make it last longer if we really need to, but I should have another hour at least," Alexa admitted with a disappointed buzz that was hopefully human language. Working out the difference was her first goal when she got these new trainer cards.
"An hour should be enough time for this," Nurse Joy agreed with some relief and quickly grabbed a camera. "Although let me get a picture for the card now just in case." Three attempted pictures later they had one that worked to show enough markings, and Nurse Joy motioned her into the largest of the pods in the nearby row. The chamber closed around her, and she could actually feel the various scanners as they inspected her physical and energy systems. "Is it alright if we keep you in their until it ends?"
"I think so, although Charizard might want to use the Clearwater Geode again," Alexa replied and settled down. "Also you probably will need to clean this one out, I shed a lot like this and we probably don't want to find out who else would become a Vespikiln."
"That is part of why we are using the largest scanner, it is easier to clean," the Joy admitted.
Alexa listened as she waited to William and Charizard's discussion on the differences between their training to be a trainer as a pokemon. Charizard had been with other pokemon on that front, so it was sort of like hearing what Starters were trained from her Starter. William's on the other hand had been so close to her own that she had to chip in that the Psychic kid had also been given an explanation of illusion etiquette, and that she had also been told by her parents that she needed to watch out for type interactions with humans. Admittedly to make sure she didn't hurt a typed human for that second one instead of how to manage her own type, and she admitted openly that she now probably needed a more advanced lesson on that topic that fit what he learned better.
"Alright, I will admit that Alexa needs to learn some of the 'don't light people on fire' stuff," Charizard started, only to change into growls that Alexa could not understand as she felt the familiar heat of changing back from the Fire type and how her body took a bit longer to cool down then it did to lose the tolerance for heat that came with that energy. Then her body began to rapidly change, her abdomen and wings shrank away, her two pairs of insect arms fused back into one pair of human arms, her legs grew outward into bulkier human legs again, her clothes formed on her body, and her head and face face shrank back into its more mobile and expressive human form.
"Uh, I didn't catch that second part," she said to her starter apologetically. "Maybe we should wait to continue this until the next form?"
"Let's start by getting a new photo for your human form," Nurse Joy replied as the chamber opened. "Also, if it isn't too much trouble can you change to the next one inside the scanner?"
"I think my Poison/Water typed form is small enough for that, but I kind of wanted to get the one we need to identify better next and that one might be a tight fit," Alexa allowed with a glance at Charizard. Her pokemon got out both of the vials of Contagions just in case.
"Your form that is the unidentified pokemon you mentioned?" William asked with a blink.
"I've reviewed the database your father suggested to us, and according to him you have the same one on your Pokedex," the Nurse carefully explained. "There weren't any other human derived pokemon the League database we have access to that would have added to the list, so you might have a genuine new pokemon there. Which I think if it can fit should probably get the full scan."
Alexa nodded at the logic and looked over the pod again. It would be a bit of a tight fit, but she felt she would be able to turn into her Lobasalt form without breaking it. "Alright, the Magma Contagion then, Charizard," she instructed and he handed over the red lava filled vial, then the chamber closed again. Once she sort of felt the scanners start again she proceeded to use it on herself. The cold sensation was easier to handle, and she now had even more reference for the feel of becoming an exoskeletal creatue. She braced on her now four legged stance, and cringed a bit at how tight the fit had turned out to be. Alexa wasn't quite pressed against the walls, but it was a bit nerve wracking to be molten rock so close to the probably delicate machinery.
"Okay, hold steady for a moment. Uh, that pokemon is not on any of my files at all," Joy said loudly. "What have you been calling it?"
"Lobasalt, because I look like a giant volcanic lobster," Alexa explained with a bit of embarrassment.
"The trainer that finds a new pokemon species helps to name the species in most cases, but I don't think we've ever seen a case where the new species is the reporting trainer before," Nurse Joy replied, and a moment later the chamber door opened again. The Nurse blinked with surprise at Alexa's appearance, and William's jaw dropped. "You are bigger than I expected. Does this form produce as much of the material that causes the change?"
"Yes and no, it can technically leak out when I move," Alexa explained and carefully maneuvered an arm into view and shifted the joint areas to show off the cracking and reforming nature of her movements. "Some leaks out as I move, but nowhere near as much as the other two forms and it hardens quick. It is pretty easy for me to make more myself though." She allowed some to pool in a claw before she let it harden to demonstrate.
"Mention the ability, we need to get a better idea on how that works," Charizard suggested before she could continue. "We have a good start but this is better equipment."
Alexa passed on the message along with what they had found so far and William joined Nurse Joy in looking at the new readings, although the other trainer did not look like he entirely understood what they indicated. "It is an interesting ability, definitely the kind found on Legendary pokemon more than for typical pokemon. We would need to preform practical tests for more details," Nurse Joy admitted with a bit of a frown. "I'm going to need more pictures for this form, and probably to add some extra data to your card for it."
"Legendary pokemon?" William questioned with a bit of a yip. "What about Legendary pokemon?"
"The majority of pokemon that are specifically altered humans have been classified as Legendary pokemon in the past," Alexa admitted slowly. "They tend to be smart, powerful, and to stay at the edge of human civilization where they aren't seen much. Most are minor Legendary pokemon, but only a few aren't technically classified as Legendary by the League. Wendrago are the most complicated there, because in the region they are from most are actually Champions and Legendary pokemon at the same time."
"It is a metaphysical consequence of the importance of humans being transformed in that way. Humans are held to be different than pokemon by most, so a form that is naturally human and pokemon at once is stronger," Nurse Joy added, which Alexa had not known and earned the Joy confused looks from the rest of them. "I have dabbled a bit in magic."
They moved on to the extra photos and documentation to register a new species of pokemon, which took long enough for the local Gym Leader to arrive to officially sign off on the new cards. Falkner was one of many long time Leaders, and was a rare Flying type Gym Leader as well. The Flying type was almost always a secondary type, with the few exceptions being notable for being exceptions and only a bare handful of pure Flying types in existence. The somewhat older blue haired man arrived, looked around the room at Alexa and Charizard, and sighed. "I didn't miss a Flying type human did I? Because I missed meeting that Brian guy who owns too much Stable Cloud, and I don't want to miss another," Falkner questioned. "It might not work on me, but I can overlook that oversight with reality."
"Stable Cloud doesn't work on me directly either, but I haven't tested it with my other forms yet since it lasts a full day," Alexa replied as she tried to place the name the Gym Leader mentioned. It sounded familiar, but not for something she had paid much attention to herself. "You did miss the one that can fly, but that is only because of the Bug type."
"It might work if you try something else first?" Falkner asked with a bit too much eagerness. "Do you have any recommendations?"
Alexa turned towards Charizard to see if she had somehow hallucinated that question. She spotted that William had dropped his human illusion, and that her Starter had buried his face in his claws, so it probably had just happened. "I have not had time to work on that topic yet. Maybe you should get in touch with my father instead?" she slowly said and was suddenly glad her Lobasalt form was not very expressive. "That might be faster."
"Leader Falkner, can this wait until after we have finished the update to Assistant Larch's registration?" Nurse Joy asked with a long suffering tone. "I think we only have one form left to see, and Ms. Larch likely wants to do something other than stand in a scanner today."
That worked to get Alexa back into the scanner's chamber again, and after a brief explanation she slowly used Contagion Cure on herself to change back into a human for the second time in one day. The way the scanners felt when she went from loose usable energy to tight protected energy was even more unusual this time as she was actually prepared enough to expect the change. The chamber opened yet again, and Charizard passed the last of the planned vials over to her. "Last one is a Mephagic form," she informed everyone but Charizard, who obviously knew already.
Nurse Joy flinched at that. "Well another scan of that species would be helpful," the Nurse replied a bit nervously.
"Isn't that the magic frog thing you ended up stuck as for a week about a year ago?" Falkner questioned the older woman with a smug smile. "The one with the toxic hair and the medical symbols all over it?"
"A Mephagic's markings are an indication of their preferred kind of magic. Not all of them have medical symbols," Joy replied a bit sharply. "It was an accident while I was treating a group of Muk with this really toxic material that had been 'made mostly safe' according to my sister in Goldenrod. I ended up stuck for over a week before we found a strong enough cleaning product to restore me."
"My team might need to see if we can work out a good way to teach Contagion Cure," Alexa admitted, then had to explain what exactly the substance was and how her team had developed it. Which William and Nurse Joy seemed to follow much better than Leader Falkner, and that meant her personal understanding of the move had probably complicated the explanation. "Uh, so we need to scan mine to compare to yours?"
"I would like to compare them, I ended up changed a second time to get a good scan to try and make a cure as good as what your team seems to have worked out," Joy replied with a glance at the curious fox pokemon-trainer. William had not restored his illusion yet, but he was glancing between the two of them.
"I know some magic, because of my species' illusions. If you have a form with natural magical talent I might be your best option to learn to use it safely while on the road," he explained to Alexa, and she breathed a sigh of relief at the idea of actual instruction for that aspect of being a Mephagic.
"That would be appreciated," Alexa said to him and Charizard rumbled an agreement that Alexa wished she could understand as a human. After three whole days without a break from being able to understand pokemon it was even harsher of a change. "Mephagic are naturally magical, it isn't just most of them learn magic?" she asked the Nurse.
"It will probably be easier to explain if you are one," Joy admitted and Alexa went back into the scanner to change yet again.
Mephagic was the form Alexa was the most nervous about using around her stuff. Fire and heat proof clothes and equipment were much easier to find than stuff that was safe when exposed to toxic materials. Not to mention how she couldn't safely handle food or some of their other stuff while she was a toxic frog. The change was about the same as before, with her limbs staying bone filled even as her feet and legs got more limber and her face grew wider than it ended up in the other two forms.
The door opened, and Alexa decided that even if it was more difficult to get stuff for this form she was done with switching around for the day. "I think I'm going to just stay this way if that's alright. This has been a lot of transformations for one day," she declared aloud.
"So I'm stuck still carrying everything," Charizard sighed a bit jokingly. "Alright, but I expect a human trainer for at least a day or so to make up for it."
"Type symbols," Nurse Joy noted about Alexa's markings and drew her attention back to the topic at hand. "That is interesting. Hmm, William, do you think that means she might be able to learn to change herself between the forms?"
"I have no idea. I didn't even know this could happen to humans before today," the pokemon-trainer said thoughtfully. "It is possible, although probably a bit more advanced than she should start out on, she already knows about other ways to change types that probably are easier to start with."
"We do actually know about type changing spells," Alexa noted and stepped out of the chamber. "I've got, well, I guess it is basically a digital spell book that covers every type. I don't know how safe any of them are though, so we were going to wait for an expert's help."
"I said I know some magic, not that I'm an expert," William corrected her. "I can help with the real basics to know how to manage being a natural magician, but actual full magic use probably would need a real magic user."
"So, is this one a better or worse one than the lobster for possibly flying?" Falkner interrupted.
---
It turned out that they did have some toxin proof clothes available for sale locally, although given the local Nurse Joy had also been a Mephagic that made a lot of sense. A set she could wear to get to the clothing shop that could handle her other forms had been delivered by the time Alexa got her new set of four different trainer cards. Her human one had changed a bit, but it mostly just looked like a nicer picture than the original card to her. The biggest alteration was the marking that said she was considering battle herself. Apparently that was a classification in Johto that came mostly from the local Dragon typed trainers instead of the more typical Psychic or Fighting humans that she was familiar with from Kanto. It bought her time to work out what she wanted to do.
The picture on her Vespikiln card was of an insect pokemon, which Alexa had known it would be but there was a difference in being able to see herself in a Bug typed pokemon. Her antenna were a bit fuzz covered, her eyes were big and expressionless, and her mouth was not human in the slightest, but it was also still her and she could remember her emotions when the picture had been taken.
Her Lobasalt card was honestly a bit less expressive. It had a few additional notes on the species, but the main feature was the rocky face that was just a jagged line of magma and a pair of magma eyes on a dome. Of the three it was the form she wanted to use in public the most, but with the card in front of her she could see it might not be the most social form she had.
The last card was currently on the top of the pile. The frog face of her Mephagic form was just as different from her human face as the other two, but it actually had expressions and movement. The fact that there was a flow of Toxin Contagion over her left eye was apparently just as much a visual feature as her markings. If not for being entirely toxic it would be a much better pokemon form to use around humans. That was possibly an indication she should try out different changes with her Mephagic form first.
"Are you really sure you want to be in public like that?" Charizard questioned as William distracted the still fairly single mined local Gym Leader. Falkner had really latched onto the idea of being able to become a Flying type pokemon, and Alexa honestly kind of wished that Stable Cloud had worked on the Gym Leader just so he would not have reason to ask so much.
"I am a bit tired of going through different sets of limbs, and I need more clothes for this one anyway," she replied, and hopefully in a way humans could understand. There were a few people still out and about, but it had gotten late enough that most travelers were off the road. The locals seemed to double take as they noticed her markings and hair parting were different. "Not to mention we know this town has seen one before."
"That might be overstating things miss," one of the shopkeepers interjected from the front of his cafe. "Nurse Joy said she was out sick those days, even if some of us do know about it most of the town only heard about it secondhand."
"That's still going to be better than my other options, or how other towns might take it," Alexa replied and looked to see if William was catching up yet.
"'Other options', were you the bee pokemon that went in earlier too?" the old man questioned. "I didn't think there were many shapeshifter Legendary pokemon in the region."
Alexa froze for a moment at being called a Legendary, despite the fact that she intellectually knew she was one right now. It was different to be called that by someone, and had made the paperwork a bit more complicated than she liked to get her new trainer cards. Even though she had started as a human and planned on mostly traveling as one, it still was the case that her human trainer card had been updated to one for a human illusion or disguise used by a pokemon-trainer.
"She's a bit of a unique one," William said with a slightly fragile smile that said he also wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea. "She is signed up to be a trainer and everything."
"It is more complicated than that," Alexa grumbled to the Zoroark, but mostly moved on towards the clothing store. "Oh. It is a pokemon clothing store," she realized as she spotted the shop and the non-human mannequins displaying the merchandise. "I guess that does make sense."
"Trust me, human focused stores can't stock enough variety for non-human bodies. My legs and hair don't really work with normal human clothes," William confirmed a bit strongly. "We admittedly had a Zoroark specific section in my home town, but I think about half the town was Zoroark so it is a bit of an exception."
"They make some nice Char focused stuff that handles our tails and wings, and I know they can handle fireproofing well," Charizard contributed. "We can probably find a good bag too so you don't need one of us out and about with you. Definitely at least a few ball belts, maybe some that have extra spots for vials and those sphere things."
---
[Author's Note]
Here is the last chapter of Alexa avoiding people because she didn't have proper documentation. Now we move on to her being another open shapeshifter on her team.
This one had an early development full rewrite, mostly because my first past was too dramatic and angsty.
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Human yes, normal however, not so much.
You'd think "don't light people on fire" would be a fairly obvious thing, but in a world like this lessons on that subject might actually be necessary.
Nurse Joy seems to be taking things exceptionally well, but I suppose that's a combination of prior experience taking on a new form, and the fact that even in our boring world, medical professionals see some crazy stuff.
Magic is one thing I wish the canon Pokémon universe went into more detail on. It exists, and we see the occasional reminder of this, but it's one of those background things that never seem to pop up much.
Losing the ability to understand your friends would certainly be a bit frustrating. Sounds to me like Alexa needs to take a visit to DSS and get the "learn to understand Pokémon" download. At least she doesn't need to worry about a sudden case of "What species am I?" She's already experienced some of that.
Drama and angst can be fun, but it can also be hard to get exactly right.
- Location
- United States
Here's hoping her dad can wire her a chunk of money for all this. Fire and toxic proof clothes arent cheap and they are basically broke.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
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I'd say it is a recent development, but the next chapter does not back that up.
Charizard is sort of exaggerating there, but given Alexa is still having heat output problems it is a concern that matters for pokemon who are just starting to travel with humans.
Yep.
Actually I kind of like that it doesn't, that leaves a lot of room to explore the topic in unique ways in fanfic, but also shows it can be a thing with major effects.
The timeline unfortunately does not match up quite right, but that isn't to say it is definite that she won't find a way.
It isn't currently planned, but that kind of detail is within possibility later on.
It was much too harsh, and took things a bit more dark than dramatic.
Many salvageable bits were put back in after the fact, so not everything was lost from that effort.
Might need to add clarification here, but the situation is that her dad is buying the clothes and gear for the forms. The tent is a travel supply, and most trainers at least try their best to avoid any need to ask their families for help with that sort of thing.
That said it will be "my dad is paying for these" instead of "my dad has given me more money to make up for buying these".
Considering that there are Pokémon whose 'Dex entries imply to be walking cataclysms, there's definitely a few species who need some degree of training in the form of "okay, for our species this is fine but outside the home this is considered lethal." *cough*Magcargo*cough*
I'm not saying that I want strictly defined details or anything like that, but a bit more inclusion of the magical side of things in canon material would be nice. Certainly nothing that might stifle creativity, but a bit more than the few scattered references that currently exist. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any notable examples outside of the well-known Ash-to-Pikachu transformation, and arguably some of the incidents of possession. There's a few ghostly hijinks from time to time, and plenty of aura and psychic references, but while those seem related, I don't think they quite count as magic.
Yeah, that one was me joking about it more than a serious suggestion or anything. Though I am curious now, where does this story and DSS belong in comparison to each other? I'm not sure if you might've mentioned it somewhere, but if so I don't remember it coming up.
Going to be honest, I don't see an upside to the trainer participating in battles.
If you have time to train yourself to that degree you have time to train another battler that won't be restricted on when they can be used. Especially for this team with their plethora of type alters and accompanying move pools.
If you have time to train yourself to that degree you have time to train another battler that won't be restricted on when they can be used. Especially for this team with their plethora of type alters and accompanying move pools.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
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- It/They
A very good example of one. Poison types might be another easy one to point out.
A Charmander's open flame tail and a Bulbasaur's toxic secondary type are examples just among the Kanto Starters.
Yeah, that makes sense. Some more "this is doing magic" moments would be fun.
... I admittedly have not watched through the more recent seasons, so I wasn't sure if there have been more, but I do know there have been some oddball episodes and movies.
So the current link between the two is Alexa's discovery that made it easier to make Crystal Syrup. Early on in the first arc of DSS Shawn buys some of the first results of that process, and they are later used when Jack's Flygon, Vibration, is critically wounded during the second arc.
So the start of DSS happens a few months after the start of this story.
Very true. If Alexa wasn't a bit unusual for trainers that make it to the League Tournament for going that far with only 5 pokemon she wouldn't have any reason to consider it compared to keeping her team in good shape.
That said pokemon like to fight, and it can feel bad to sit out while your team fights. So Alexa is keeping her options open for the time being.
Now that you mention it, I do remember that scene with the Crystal Syrup. Thanks for the reminder.
IronLucario2012
<Verified Pokémon> <Licensed Mech Pilot>
- Location
- Ireland
You know it's from the anime originally right? Not a thing made up by that fanfic?
And I imagine it wouldn't work properly on her at this point, even if she is in the right region to get some.
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Robo-Bird
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- It/They
Honestly, that is a great question that I'm going to have to consider for when the topic comes up.
It will depend on the details of the magic involved actually. It might simply fail, cause her to assume one of her known pokemon forms, or it might even still turn her into a known non-human-derived pokemon species.
Given that it was misunderstood as providing "understanding" of pokemon the second is the one I lean towards at the moment, although which form would say an interesting amount about Alexa.
Honestly considering the metaphysical implications of being one of the first people to go this hard and fast on monkeying with their own genetics, intentionally anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if something utterly ridiculous popped out like a Protean Mew....
Alexa's transformations are explicitly avoiding genetics, it's pure metaphysics.
Remember how humans are described as having their Type Energy coiled up inside of them so tightly that the only way it can interact with the world is through Aura and meditation or other metaphysical resonance tricks?
Alexa's transformation items interact with humans by catalyzing that tightly coiled energy to unspool outwards from its normal self-quarantine configuration, it loosens up so much so that this core of typed energy is able to spread out and encompass the entire human body, meaning the human body is now subservient to(aka smaller than) its natural core of Type Energy, rather than the core of Type Energy being subservient to (aka smaller than) the human body.
This is why human transformation item reactions are different from pokemon transformation item reactions. Pokemon have a foreign type energy template impressed on top of their already presnt existing whole-body-sized Type Energy template that can be literally shed like dead skin over time or through evolution derived energy explosion
, but humans uniquely undergo Animorphs style transformation in both directions, where Pokémon only express animorph style shape-shifting one-way.
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E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
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- It/They
An interesting prospect. I will likely need to watch the episode itself to help work out the final details.
A fairly well done explanation. It covers most of the situation accurately.
This is where it gets a bit inaccurate. Humans that can use their typed energy actually have energy that is looser than a typical human, that is why high end pokeballs can work on them.
The way I personally think of it is in comparison to phases of matter. Pokemon energies are like a gas, easy to move/use and easy to disrupt compared to others. Humans are solid, barely if at all movable either on purpose or when attacked. Humans that can use moves tend to be somewhere around a liquid, not as fixed as a solid but not as loose as a gas. Capture mechanisms in this analogy would be vacuums, a small one can grab a gas, but a large potent one would be needed for a solid.
How tightly a humans energy is bound can vary based on a variety of factors, but most humans don't have a clear type. An very rough analogy for that I can give is that a pokemon or human with a type has a set of pens where most of them are only one or two colors, while the typical human has a set of pens where there are only a few that match their colors.
So only a few humans with looser energy have the type to pull off moves, with a separate group of humans with types who have tight energy like most humans. The former can loosen up their energy by using it more, and in turn can possibly teach the latter how to do the same to get results. Changing from mostly solid or solid to liquid, and in extreme cases even partially to gas.
Honestly, the main reason I went with Mew, was mainly because of its direct association with shapeshifting in all bits of canon, and the fact that a woman was accidentally turned into a Mew during an experiment in the Pocket Monsters Manga. Or, depending on how far you're willing to stretch, being indirectly involved with what happened at the climax of the Detective Pikachu movie.
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Robo-Bird
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... is it a specific person who was transformed in the manga? Because canon pokemon somehow surprises me all the time with how often it turns humans into pokemon.
The main reason I'm a bit hesitant about Mew specifically is that, well Mew learns Transform and that kind of takes all the fun out of juggling transformation items to get unique forms.
Bill's assistant, actually. He actually gets transformed into some sort of leopard man in the process. Honestly, the thing about Mew would be that while the user instructions and Safety Data Sheets for something like a Clearwater Geode could in theory fit on a couple sheets of paper, learning how to use Transform without the necessary instincts and prior knowledge would probably be like getting a complete set 747 flight manuals in Klingon and be expected to learn how to fly with just that. To say nothing of any side effects of trying to Transform while being already transformed by a potion....
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Robo-Bird
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- It/They
A good argument, although the possible side effects are another part of the hesitance. I've already written a character in the setting who ended up actually a Zoroark after he was supposed to only be temporarily transformed into one, and they only use illusions to change shape.
Then again the side effects don't have to be horrible, it could be something as weird as finding out that while, yes, you can substitute an ingredient or two with Pinkan Berries... it might not be a good idea, appearance wise.... "I thought it was my lack of experience that made everything I turned into neon pink, but it was the berries. Even my actual Mew form wasn't naturally that loud of a shade of pink."
Ah, but how does Transform work, exactly? Bearing in mind that my experience is mostly limited to games and anime, so if there's anything that contradicts what I say in other sources I don't know. But…
Ditto naturally use Transform, but they generally rely on having a living template in front of them in order to transform. Transformations from memory tend to result in inconsistencies, and attempts to transform from pictures tend to result in transforming into the object the picture is in, rather than the subject.
Mew transform from memory without issue, but how many years does the average Mew have to learn their abilities so well? Centuries at least, I would think. They also have the advantage of being a Legendary Psychic type. So, most likely enhanced intelligence and memory, at least in my own view of things. So in theory they could memorize the metaphysical or genetic patterns needed for the transformations, depending on how you envision Transform working.
Alexa has the advantage of human creativity and laboratory experience, but would be basically starting from scratch as far as being a Mew goes. I'd imagine she could imitate her party fairly well given some practice, maybe even transform into one of her item-forms with some effort, but I doubt she'd be able to transform into something without any direct reference. Forms such as Wendrago, despite being technically available to her, would be functionally impossible to access without significant experience or having a template available.
So, in order for her to access unique type-changed forms resulting from juggling items in her Mew form, she has to at least have been in that form naturally at some point. Possibly several times, in order to memorize the patterns needed to retake it using Transform.
At least, this is my own theory on this. Obviously you do what you think works best, but this is personally how I'd handle having Alexa with a Mew transformation.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
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True, but I do want to be careful about that kind of thing.
Getting the exact recipe from the episode is a good part of that.
This is a very good point to consider. I'm going to have to think on it.