Typechange Johto
- Thread starter E.I.G.
- Start date
-
- Tags
- pokemon sequel transformation
- Pronouns
- He/Him/Ey/Em
It strikes me as a little odd that Hayfever is a Bug-type move, rather than Grass-type.
On an entirely unrelated subject, I've been musing about what type-changes might fail to alter the outward appearance of certain Pokémon. Entei, for example, is already a lion-shaped volcano, complete with ash-cloud mane: anything that gives him the Ground type (or possibly the Rock type) without removing his Fire type probably won't change how he looks much at all. Similarly, Suicine's appearance (and in-game lore!) is coded as much or more for ice and wind as it is for water. The Japanese name for Conversion directly translates as "texture" (in the sense of computer graphics), so Porygon can get away with not altering their shape so long as their coloration is type-appropriate. I've already talked about how a Braixen who has acquired the Grass type with a Burnwillow Wand looks no different until ey evolves. Any other ideas?
On an entirely unrelated subject, I've been musing about what type-changes might fail to alter the outward appearance of certain Pokémon. Entei, for example, is already a lion-shaped volcano, complete with ash-cloud mane: anything that gives him the Ground type (or possibly the Rock type) without removing his Fire type probably won't change how he looks much at all. Similarly, Suicine's appearance (and in-game lore!) is coded as much or more for ice and wind as it is for water. The Japanese name for Conversion directly translates as "texture" (in the sense of computer graphics), so Porygon can get away with not altering their shape so long as their coloration is type-appropriate. I've already talked about how a Braixen who has acquired the Grass type with a Burnwillow Wand looks no different until ey evolves. Any other ideas?
It depends on the thematics of the change itself. The Earthen Contagion might not, because superheated mud is also a thing volcanoes can spew, but my Origin Sand is desert-themed, and would likely result in a very drastic change.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/Ey/Em
I get your point in general, but I'm a bit hung up on your specific example. The big, famous deserts with sand-dune seas happen to be in very tectonically stable places, but nothing prevents desertification from striking the slopes of a volcano, or volcanoes from emerging in a desert.
True, but it's a conceptual thing. Deserts and volcanoes don't really go together, while volcanoes and mud kind of do.
@E.I.G., I think I figured out why Kanto's Fairy-type Pokémon are instead Normal-types. Basically, it's about evolutionary advantage.
Quick clarification to the above - I don't mean evolution in the Pokémon sense, which phenomenon is actually a type of metamorphosis (Pokémorphosis?). I mean actual evolution, AKA a species' biology adapting to fit its habitat over generations.
At least one character in this story has jokingly accused Kanto of being composed entirely of Poison-type Pokémon. There is truth to this, as by a rough estimate around half of the Kantonian evolutionary lines are fully or partially Poison-typed. Fairy is only weak to two Types, but one of them is Poison, so that means there is a significant evolutionary disadvantage to being Fairy-typed in Kanto.
As for the advantages, Fairy-type Pokémon are strong against Dragon-, Dark-, and Fighting-type Pokémon. Kanto has only a few Dragon-type Pokémon and they are collectively few and far between, and Dark-types are similarly scarce. As for Fighting-types, while they aren't rare, exactly, they aren't all that common, and the most common ones tend towards the weaker side. Therefore, being a Fairy-type in Kanto confers very limited evolutionary advantages.
The Normal typing, by contrast, enjoys a single, much-less-prevalent weakness and a severe lack of Ghost- or Steel-type Pokémon to resist their attacks. So, yes, Kanto is much more hospitable to Normal- than to Fairy-type Pokémon, and so Kanto's Fairy-types evolved to become Normal-types.
It's not easy being Sidhe.
Quick clarification to the above - I don't mean evolution in the Pokémon sense, which phenomenon is actually a type of metamorphosis (Pokémorphosis?). I mean actual evolution, AKA a species' biology adapting to fit its habitat over generations.
At least one character in this story has jokingly accused Kanto of being composed entirely of Poison-type Pokémon. There is truth to this, as by a rough estimate around half of the Kantonian evolutionary lines are fully or partially Poison-typed. Fairy is only weak to two Types, but one of them is Poison, so that means there is a significant evolutionary disadvantage to being Fairy-typed in Kanto.
As for the advantages, Fairy-type Pokémon are strong against Dragon-, Dark-, and Fighting-type Pokémon. Kanto has only a few Dragon-type Pokémon and they are collectively few and far between, and Dark-types are similarly scarce. As for Fighting-types, while they aren't rare, exactly, they aren't all that common, and the most common ones tend towards the weaker side. Therefore, being a Fairy-type in Kanto confers very limited evolutionary advantages.
The Normal typing, by contrast, enjoys a single, much-less-prevalent weakness and a severe lack of Ghost- or Steel-type Pokémon to resist their attacks. So, yes, Kanto is much more hospitable to Normal- than to Fairy-type Pokémon, and so Kanto's Fairy-types evolved to become Normal-types.
It's not easy being Sidhe.
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- He/Him/Ey/Em
I have long had the headcanon that whoever established the term "evolution" for the metamorphosis of Pokémon was not a biologist but rather an astronomer or astrophysicist. The changes a star goes through over its lifespan are referred to as "stellar evolution".
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
I'll admit, I have been a fan of that theory, and I might be somewhat leaning into Kanto being very Poison typed overall.
It works nicely for letting me have my childhood Normal typed pokemon, and also trying out the Fairy type as well.
I do not know how I handled it in DSS offhand, but part of the issue might actually be translation troubles.
Namely, I am actively unsure if Japanese has the same distinction between "evolution" and "metamorphosis" that English does, because the term is used very consistently for the various monster related games to come from there.
Although I do want to go with it being a complicated situation in-universe, where the overwhelming presence of pokemon that can alter based on environment led to the longer term evolution process being mistaken at first for the short term one at first by researchers.
Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
There is actually a distinction judging by Japanese Wikipedia. I imagine
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
I do know from watching Digimon Savers with subtitles that at least digimon uses "shinka" in the places where English translations put "evolution".
I did not know the second part there, and am now curious which of the two is used to describe what a caterpillar does to become a butterfly in practical conversation.
Either "shinka" is the correct way to be talking about Butterfree, or Japanese kids have reason to laugh when they learn about butterflies.
Already knew this, but reading this line for some insane reason makes me want to, if I ever write a Digimon story, refer to Evolution as "Digi-Shinka" at least once to make fun the English dub's insistence on everything being digi- something.
Weather Conditions
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
--- Weather Conditions ---
Alexa ended up missing William's Gym match, because it turned out that not using type break had become harder than her team anticipated. So far the only way they could consistently go a full match without the temptation when faced with a poor type match was if they were in a baseline form they liked to stay in. At least eight other trainers had a chance to face off against them in training due to William needing more time to work without her team, although full matches were an interesting change in pace from just working with one or two of William's pokemon.
"We might not be ready by tomorrow," Charizard grumbled, currently Fire/Water because he could stick with Water variants fairly easily. "Not unless we can handle this with basic forms and changing foes."
"We can probably handle Ice type pokemon with our basic forms," Bellossom, who could just manage Fire/Electric as long as she didn't fight someone a pokemon with a Water type attack, argued. "But we won't just be against pure Ice types if Leader Ronald is even just somewhat smart about this."
Rhydon was the only one of them that could handle a wider variety, although with the downside that he wanted to learn to change more easily. "Not to mention-" Rhydon started, but cut off as a cold wind suddenly blew into the clearing.
A clearly unnatural wind, coming from Route 43. Their current training area was close to that road mostly to try and find new trainers to help test out a variety of opponent types, and now there were a number of those trainers making their way back to town as quickly as they could. There had not been any weather reports that said a blizzard would be in the area, which meant that some Ice types were causing a problem somewhat down the Route.
"That's either close to here, or really bad," Charizard noted, and broke his change to get his wings back. "I think we might have to break out the new Contagion just in case."
"Go let the Gym Leader know, you can catch up with us after," Alexa said even as she broke her own change, a Spectslurry one for the day, and went to get their Meltwater vials. "I'll go ahead and do what I can, while we wait to see what the Gym Leader says."
She passed a vial to him before using another on herself, the cold air going from unpleasant to rather nice. Which was a problem because a Gatpotear should not be comfortable at the moment, and it was if anything getting cooler outside. "I'm going to hurry, it is way too comfortable like this and way too fast for it to be this close," Charizard agreed with her thoughts entirely and flew off, his speed a bit faster than normal without his natural weight.
"Pass those around, we might need to actually do some mystical rescue," Kingler declared and held out a claw.
"You are all going into pokeballs just in case I run into something hostile," Alexa countered. "Let me make some rumors true on my own," she then sighed before actually returning them all.
There was some grumbling about the idea, but she was able to get going up the Route on her own, and on all fours to try and move a bit faster. Which soon had her enter a proper snow storm, and as she went farther it became clear that this wasn't stopping on its own anytime soon. Alexa made sure to stop at the visible campsites to check if anyone needed help, thankfully only finding abandoned gear or one inhabited tent with clear weather protection that could handle this for the duration.
After finding that one Charizard winged to her quickly. "Pass me some vials and make some wings," he ordered, and Alexa reacted to the command quickly. "Leader Ronald is going to find the source of this, but he had heard that it was feeling cold all the way to the Lake of Rage yesterday, so we need to check the whole Route for trapped trainers."
"Wings, do we have time for a change?" Alexa asked sharply as she quickly grabbed a handful of vials of Meltwater Contagion to pass to him, the reason for them obvious and frightening.
"You are a shapeshifter with a Fly HM, I'm sure you can make them like that," he said, and flew off as soon as he had a handle on the vials.
It was solid logic, and a quick and rough rework of her arms did get her into the air, but outside of an emergency like this she would not make such an attempt. She also could tell from the HM knowledge that these wings weren't good enough for a passenger. She also wasn't that fast, but Charizard did slow down a bit so they could stick closer together when she got into the air, and it was still quite a bit faster than on foot.
First they paused briefly for a few wild pokemon they spotted, but ended up mostly just chased off. The locals seemed to be doing reasonably well, and they simply didn't have time to try and find and calm every wild pokemon along the route, no matter how much Alexa wanted to keep stopping for them.
Snow soon started to cover the ground below them, and that was made worse by the fact that soon after they crossed the point where someone could probably make it out of the current extent of the storm on foot. By air it wasn't as far, but the worsening weather was something only an Ice typed flyer could handle so it was incredibly unlikely that anyone caught now would be able to get out without time or help.
At first it seemed they would be lucky when the first camp site they found had a pair of tents that were clearly good enough to handle the storm, but when they landed to check the real issue was clear. There were a number of other abandoned lower quality tents that had been left to cram far too many trainers into the two good ones.
"Um, are you Alexa Larch?" the trainer who opened one of the tents asked her, which given she was in a brand new never before seen form said a lot about the impression she made on the region.
"Yes, do you need any help?" she questioned while Charizard went over to do the same for the other tent.
"The tent won't work for all of us overnight," another trainer complained. "Although I don't want to be an..." They trailed off as the looked past the others at her. "Ice cat? Okay, maybe I'd be fine with ice cat."
Alexa and Charizard soon left that set of tents with four Gatpotear who could handle the cold for the night, and hopefully would not try and copy her makeshift wings. She didn't ask if any of them had Fly HMs, but it was unlikely that Gatpotear would be marked compatible by normal Fly HMs either.
The next campsite they found wasn't far away, and was in about the same state. Another offer of a change hopefully helped there, even if Alexa started to worry about how to turn these trainers back after the fact.
After that their luck ran out entirely. Alexa spotted a trail on the path, one that didn't end at a camp site, but instead a trainer who seemed to have fallen more than stopped. "Hey, over here," Alexa called out as her Starter made sure there wasn't anyone else nearby. The trainer didn't look up at her as she quickly landed, it was probably hard to see or hear her in the swirling snow, and immediately she could tell a problem with the young man. His body wasn't shivering, which was why she didn't bother to ask and just splashed him with a vial and a lot of hope.
"Ah, yikes cold! It, isn't as warm anymore?" he questioned concerningly. Then noticed he was a cat made out of icy slush. "Um, wait."
"Try and get to Mahogany as quickly as you can," Alexa instructed the now confused trainer, and checked to see if anyone else was around that needed help before he could question her anymore. She didn't think he was up for telling her if he was with anyone quickly enough.
"Nobody else here, we have to move," Charizard called out with new concern before she could go back to the now transformed human, and they set off with the new plan of not even asking anyone outside of a tent if they wanted the change.
Alexa took off thinking that they now at least had a better idea what to do going forward, but naturally the next stop challenged that immediately. It was a single tent, and even from the outside it was clearly not big enough for the group inside.
"There are tracks near the tent," Charizard said grimly. "I'll check them, you fix that."
With a hope that the tracks were all going towards the tent instead of away, Alexa tapped on the closed entrance as best she could. It was cautiously opened, to reveal a wide eyed boy a bit younger than her, and a whole crowd behind him who clearly already knew they didn't actually fit. "Um, Gatpotear are real?" the boy questioned, which was better than the alternatives to Alexa.
Charizard came back with one relieved Gatpotear when Alexa finished getting a third changed from the tent, and she only had one more who was willing to try. An older girl who Alexa realized with a sense that she had not really felt before would not naturally change from Meltwater Contagion.
"So, is it going to feel fuzzy?" the girl questioned a touch nervously as Alexa got out another vial anyway.
"It does not feel fuzzy," the Gatpotear found/made by Charizard noted loudly. "But it isn't cold outside now. Still a little cool, so not the best possible solution but better than being stuck in there."
"We don't want you guys to make the problem worse," Alexa commented, as she quietly forced the Meltwater Contagion to work on the girl. The change to Gatpotear seemed to look normal, although the girl did shudder a bit more than typical. "So no making the storm worse."
"Oh, okay, that's real... where is my heartbeat?" the girl questioned.
"I don't think we have hearts right now," another Gatpotear half joked, half complained. "Just a bunch of slush."
"I'm not saying it is a bad thing," the girl argued. "I just, I didn't expect to be something like that."
Alexa felt somewhat unhappy about forcing the change in that case, but as Charizard reminded her they still needed to keep going. So they quickly got out of that conversation and back in flight along the Route. From there they had the luck that they made it to the other edge of the storm without needing to change the plan, although with a slight concern that they might actually run low on prepared vials and need to stop to make up some more from the jars of Contagion.
They both went a bit farther to make sure the storm wasn't going fast enough to need them to continue towards the Lake of Rage, and then swung back to double check and see if they could help anyone else.
---
William hated flying in storms of any kind, but a professional trainer needed to know how to react to serious situations. It was the one thing he really knew how to do himself as a pokemon, and it meant he could halfway keep up when Leader Ronald turned out to have an Articuno among the Gym pokemon. A fairly under-trained example of that Legendary from what William could tell, but still notable and more importantly faster than William was.
It did not help that both of them had teams who were somewhat tired, William's from the Gym match he won just before this whole mess started, and the Leader's response team was apparently being used a bit more than normal to try and make up high level matches.
So William wasn't too happy to find an overly tall and somewhat transparent Froslass still standing across from that Articuno as the Legendary shielded a literally half frozen Gym Leader, but he also wasn't entirely surprised. With a quick break of his illusion for a hard but fast landing he put himself between the Ice/Ghost and the Legendary.
"So, cold," the icy pokemon said, and William didn't like the look of the torn up tent behind them. "Cold." A lack of full sentences from a Ghost type was a bad sign, especially when the Ghost was strangely human shaped.
"Goodra, come out," he declared and sent out his pokemon in the best condition. The Froslass looked confused for a moment, and then very confused as the mass of ice and water Goodra was currently made out of emerged. "Distract her."
William then tried something foolish. He made a break for the ruined camp site while his pokemon kept the hostile pokemon busy. The first thing he saw was an Alolan Sandslash huddled next to a form, clearly avoiding looking at the Froslass. The body was the part that he focused on, as he got out the container of Meltwater Contagion he had gotten from Alexa.
---
The storm cut off suddenly, which reassured Alexa a bit, but also made her worried about why exactly it stopped like that. "Keep going or check that out?" she questioned her Starter.
"Get a better flight form when we find whoever stopped it, they might need to get out quick," her Starter answered and broke his Ice type change to go back to Fire/Flying. "Stay in the air for now, but this sort of storm shouldn't just go away like that without someone getting hurt." He paused and clearly checked the air. "The core of the storm was this way."
Flying was much easier without the wind and the snow, but the sun wasn't the best for her Ice and Water types as she continued stay in the air on makeshift wings. The location they ended up at was clearly an off the path but commonly used camp site, and William was present with his Goodra and an Articuno. As they got closer more figures were clear, a Gatpotear next to William half hanging off a Sandslash that looked to have also used the icy Contagion with a less wet than normal outcome, and Goodra next to the Articuno trying to help Leader Ronald get out of a block of ice.
"Charizard, get the Gym Leader out of here," she ordered and then half crashed herself down to get next to William as quickly as possible. "William, what's the issue?"
William looked between the two icy pokemon next to him, and then clearly made a choice about what to tell her. "There was a misunderstanding," he said shortly, and the Gatpotear next to him seemed to cry a bit harder. "I think I need you something that can carry her once we find her Sandslash's pokeball."
"Probably Kanto Zoroark for me then," Alexa noted with a look at how this Gatpotear seemed to have a purple tint to their water. "I don't want to heat her up or cool me down with Vespikiln."
"I want some heat," the Gatpotear said quietly. "I want a lot of heat."
Alexa considered that. "I don't really have any other options that make you feel warmer than this one, but I guess I can see if you can ride a Vespikiln," she told the other slush cat and then broke her own change. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Charizard and Articuno both take off towards Mahogany.
The Gatpotear meowed at her sadly, which was another bad sign that Alexa choose to ignore as she got out a bit of Chitin Powder. "Yikes! You, turned into another pokemon?" the cat questioned cautiously.
"I do that," Alexa deliberately buzzed at the clearly Ice/Ghost typed pokemon as she tried not to think about why this Gatpotear wasn't Water typed. "Try not to phase through me in flight, I'd rather not have to catch you too many times."
The other pokemon then spent a good period of time picking up a ruined camp site, one that looked like it had happened at least a couple of days before. "I think I died," the Gatpotear said slowly in the middle of the ruin after the still quite quiet Sandslash was returned. "I think I might still be dead."
"Well, then we really need to get you to some help," Alexa said more confidently than she felt about talking to someone who recently died and came back as a vengeful Ghost. "Dying even for a little bit isn't good for you." Alexa also was fairly sure this Gatpotear wouldn't be human again without a lot of help. "Well, dying-dying, not just becoming a Ghost type. Those are different things." She considered the details there. "Are you sure you died, or did you just turn into a Ghost type?"
"Did I, did I what?" the slush cat questioned with much more focus than before. "Wait, can you-" She shook her head, sending droplets of Ghostly water around to Alexa's mild annoyance. "No, I am quite sure I died, because this was a wild pokemon attack, not freezing to death or something. I know Slashy isn't up for keeping me alive after what happened."
"How did he end up Ice typed?" Alexa asked as the Gatpotear finally got ready to be carried.
"Alolan," William answered before taking off himself. "I thought you knew of those."
"I might be a bit tired," Alexa admitted, and then blinked at how the Gatpotear had not come close just yet.
"You might be warmer than I wanted," the Gatpotear admitted with a sigh.
---
Alexa sighed at the Mahogany Pokemon Center as she waited for either more Gatpotear to return to humanity, or news on the condition of the local Gym Leader. "Two days gone," she complained.
"We still have some time to find a different Gym if this doesn't work out," Charizard grumbled. "Although I think we could have done without the crisis. How is the dead girl doing?"
That was directed at William, who was helping with trying to spot any Gatpotear that made it to town. "She has been confirmed to be revived," he noted. "I'll admit, I was surprised that she could turn human again, even if I wasn't that surprised she didn't want to stay human after trying."
"Wait, that worked?" Alexa asked Charizard unhappily. "Did you do anything for that?"
"What does that mean?" Charizard asked with what appeared to be genuine confusion.
"You know," she growled, currently Gatpotear shaped to try and attract any others. "Did more than the stuff does on its own."
"Did you change anyone who wouldn't change on their own?" Charizard questioned with continued confusion. That morphed to unhappiness when she didn't immediately reply. "No, I didn't. For her or any of the others. Then again you handled most of the tents, and I think being stranded outside changed what would work a bit."
Then a mass of slush slammed into Alexa. "Thank you, oh thank you," the other Gatpotear declared with a clear shiver. "You saved my life out there. I'm never getting rid of this change."
"Um, you're welcome?" Alexa questioned, and then realized this was the first trainer they had found outside of a tent. "Are you sure you don't want to change back to being human?"
"I never want to feel cold again, and they said if I felt cold like this it means there is a bigger issue," the Gatpotear said firmly. "Also I don't remember a while before you found me, so I am kind of afraid I can't turn back and don't want to test it."
"Trust me, you can turn back regardless," William commented dryly. The Gatpotear blinked at that.
"Well, I still don't want to change back," the cat said firmly. "Thank you again." He then walked over to the local Nurse Joy, and clearly found himself in a position where he would not be able to talk to them more for a while.
"So, was he dying when you found him, or...?" Charizard asked quietly.
"I didn't check," Alexa realized a bit tiredly. "Just saw he wasn't moving and tried immediately. It worked and I sort of just assumed." They all just sat and thought about that as they waited for the next Gatpotear to show up.
"Well, he didn't look Ghost typed?" William suggested uneasily.
"Not a proof honestly," Alexa admitted. "If he wasn't... well it wouldn't have had to make him Ghost typed."
"Alexa Larch? The Gym Leader wants to talk with you," a local Nurse Joy then called out. "He's good enough for a visitor now."
"He was moved to the Center?" Alexa questioned, but followed the Joy to a back room.
"Yes, he unfortunately needed some alternate treatment options we don't have at the local hospital," Joy replied quietly. "I almost want to ask if you can make him into a pokemon to help, but we want to do a couple more tests first."
Alexa found herself led to one of the rooms usually used for injured pokemon. Leader Ronald was laying down, and looked tired. "Hello, Assistant Larch," the Gym Leader greeted her. "I'm afraid I have only bad news for you regarding my challenge to you."
"I'm not getting my seventh Badge match here, am I?" Alexa asked as kindly as she could given the context.
"We aren't sure if anyone is getting any more high end Badge matches from Mahogany this year," Ronald said with a sigh. "My energy was damaged by the attacks I took trying to stop the storm. I'm not a natural Ice type, but right now I'm putting out quite a bit of cold. I've been told it will be weeks on the short end for me to get better."
"Oh, that is not something I think a type change would help with," Alexa admitted a bit nervously. "I mean, your energy isn't..." It was missing pieces from what she could see. A lack of not-Ice making Ice his largest type. "I don't think it is safe to use anything on you right now."
"I was kind of hoping for a 'no, Ronald, I can fix that right up' to be honest," the Gym Leader sighed. "Well then, you might as well just count me out for either Gym Badge at this point. I doubt I won't be packed by the time you get a seventh somewhere else, and that assumes I am up for it before the League ends this year." He shrugged, and then flinched in pain from the motion. "I can offer a League Badge for the help in the storm, but I know those aren't the same."
"I already have one for my third this League," Alexa confessed, unhappy to have another one being offered for the same League.
"Well, there goes that backup plan. I'm still putting you in for one, the storm would have been much worse without you here," he admitted. "For my personal recommendations on other Gyms, I can say you should avoid the Region's Rock type Gym. They are the closest to the League and already were going to be packed beyond what they can handle before we lost my Gym for late Badges. That Gym is too small to handle what they end up getting on a normal year. Your best bet is to hit Blackthorn until you win, and then try for Olivine if you are lucky, or Cianwood more likely. The farthest Gym is a bit of a flight away for a last Gym, but that also means it will probably still have slots."
"That was admittedly our plan already," Alexa sighed herself. "We probably will stick around at least another day to try and get the rest of the people who got changed turned back."
---
[Author's Note]
So, the plan was always that Alexa wasn't getting a Gym Badge here. How that happened has changed a couple of times now, before it arrived on this set of events.
This chapter was delayed by a massive writer's block that caused a major stall out of the writing process. One that has resulted in a choice to cut some planned content going forward.
The good news is that I now have what should be a full outline of chapters all the way to the end of the story, instead of a vague outline that has dangerous holes in it.
While I worked out that issue I gave in to my ideas and started an original work. Check it out if you are interested:
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
It... probably shows my bias for powersets very clearly, but I am proud of how it has turned out so far. I've got two completed arcs of it and now will hopefully be back to this story until we finish here.
Alexa ended up missing William's Gym match, because it turned out that not using type break had become harder than her team anticipated. So far the only way they could consistently go a full match without the temptation when faced with a poor type match was if they were in a baseline form they liked to stay in. At least eight other trainers had a chance to face off against them in training due to William needing more time to work without her team, although full matches were an interesting change in pace from just working with one or two of William's pokemon.
"We might not be ready by tomorrow," Charizard grumbled, currently Fire/Water because he could stick with Water variants fairly easily. "Not unless we can handle this with basic forms and changing foes."
"We can probably handle Ice type pokemon with our basic forms," Bellossom, who could just manage Fire/Electric as long as she didn't fight someone a pokemon with a Water type attack, argued. "But we won't just be against pure Ice types if Leader Ronald is even just somewhat smart about this."
Rhydon was the only one of them that could handle a wider variety, although with the downside that he wanted to learn to change more easily. "Not to mention-" Rhydon started, but cut off as a cold wind suddenly blew into the clearing.
A clearly unnatural wind, coming from Route 43. Their current training area was close to that road mostly to try and find new trainers to help test out a variety of opponent types, and now there were a number of those trainers making their way back to town as quickly as they could. There had not been any weather reports that said a blizzard would be in the area, which meant that some Ice types were causing a problem somewhat down the Route.
"That's either close to here, or really bad," Charizard noted, and broke his change to get his wings back. "I think we might have to break out the new Contagion just in case."
"Go let the Gym Leader know, you can catch up with us after," Alexa said even as she broke her own change, a Spectslurry one for the day, and went to get their Meltwater vials. "I'll go ahead and do what I can, while we wait to see what the Gym Leader says."
She passed a vial to him before using another on herself, the cold air going from unpleasant to rather nice. Which was a problem because a Gatpotear should not be comfortable at the moment, and it was if anything getting cooler outside. "I'm going to hurry, it is way too comfortable like this and way too fast for it to be this close," Charizard agreed with her thoughts entirely and flew off, his speed a bit faster than normal without his natural weight.
"Pass those around, we might need to actually do some mystical rescue," Kingler declared and held out a claw.
"You are all going into pokeballs just in case I run into something hostile," Alexa countered. "Let me make some rumors true on my own," she then sighed before actually returning them all.
There was some grumbling about the idea, but she was able to get going up the Route on her own, and on all fours to try and move a bit faster. Which soon had her enter a proper snow storm, and as she went farther it became clear that this wasn't stopping on its own anytime soon. Alexa made sure to stop at the visible campsites to check if anyone needed help, thankfully only finding abandoned gear or one inhabited tent with clear weather protection that could handle this for the duration.
After finding that one Charizard winged to her quickly. "Pass me some vials and make some wings," he ordered, and Alexa reacted to the command quickly. "Leader Ronald is going to find the source of this, but he had heard that it was feeling cold all the way to the Lake of Rage yesterday, so we need to check the whole Route for trapped trainers."
"Wings, do we have time for a change?" Alexa asked sharply as she quickly grabbed a handful of vials of Meltwater Contagion to pass to him, the reason for them obvious and frightening.
"You are a shapeshifter with a Fly HM, I'm sure you can make them like that," he said, and flew off as soon as he had a handle on the vials.
It was solid logic, and a quick and rough rework of her arms did get her into the air, but outside of an emergency like this she would not make such an attempt. She also could tell from the HM knowledge that these wings weren't good enough for a passenger. She also wasn't that fast, but Charizard did slow down a bit so they could stick closer together when she got into the air, and it was still quite a bit faster than on foot.
First they paused briefly for a few wild pokemon they spotted, but ended up mostly just chased off. The locals seemed to be doing reasonably well, and they simply didn't have time to try and find and calm every wild pokemon along the route, no matter how much Alexa wanted to keep stopping for them.
Snow soon started to cover the ground below them, and that was made worse by the fact that soon after they crossed the point where someone could probably make it out of the current extent of the storm on foot. By air it wasn't as far, but the worsening weather was something only an Ice typed flyer could handle so it was incredibly unlikely that anyone caught now would be able to get out without time or help.
At first it seemed they would be lucky when the first camp site they found had a pair of tents that were clearly good enough to handle the storm, but when they landed to check the real issue was clear. There were a number of other abandoned lower quality tents that had been left to cram far too many trainers into the two good ones.
"Um, are you Alexa Larch?" the trainer who opened one of the tents asked her, which given she was in a brand new never before seen form said a lot about the impression she made on the region.
"Yes, do you need any help?" she questioned while Charizard went over to do the same for the other tent.
"The tent won't work for all of us overnight," another trainer complained. "Although I don't want to be an..." They trailed off as the looked past the others at her. "Ice cat? Okay, maybe I'd be fine with ice cat."
Alexa and Charizard soon left that set of tents with four Gatpotear who could handle the cold for the night, and hopefully would not try and copy her makeshift wings. She didn't ask if any of them had Fly HMs, but it was unlikely that Gatpotear would be marked compatible by normal Fly HMs either.
The next campsite they found wasn't far away, and was in about the same state. Another offer of a change hopefully helped there, even if Alexa started to worry about how to turn these trainers back after the fact.
After that their luck ran out entirely. Alexa spotted a trail on the path, one that didn't end at a camp site, but instead a trainer who seemed to have fallen more than stopped. "Hey, over here," Alexa called out as her Starter made sure there wasn't anyone else nearby. The trainer didn't look up at her as she quickly landed, it was probably hard to see or hear her in the swirling snow, and immediately she could tell a problem with the young man. His body wasn't shivering, which was why she didn't bother to ask and just splashed him with a vial and a lot of hope.
"Ah, yikes cold! It, isn't as warm anymore?" he questioned concerningly. Then noticed he was a cat made out of icy slush. "Um, wait."
"Try and get to Mahogany as quickly as you can," Alexa instructed the now confused trainer, and checked to see if anyone else was around that needed help before he could question her anymore. She didn't think he was up for telling her if he was with anyone quickly enough.
"Nobody else here, we have to move," Charizard called out with new concern before she could go back to the now transformed human, and they set off with the new plan of not even asking anyone outside of a tent if they wanted the change.
Alexa took off thinking that they now at least had a better idea what to do going forward, but naturally the next stop challenged that immediately. It was a single tent, and even from the outside it was clearly not big enough for the group inside.
"There are tracks near the tent," Charizard said grimly. "I'll check them, you fix that."
With a hope that the tracks were all going towards the tent instead of away, Alexa tapped on the closed entrance as best she could. It was cautiously opened, to reveal a wide eyed boy a bit younger than her, and a whole crowd behind him who clearly already knew they didn't actually fit. "Um, Gatpotear are real?" the boy questioned, which was better than the alternatives to Alexa.
Charizard came back with one relieved Gatpotear when Alexa finished getting a third changed from the tent, and she only had one more who was willing to try. An older girl who Alexa realized with a sense that she had not really felt before would not naturally change from Meltwater Contagion.
"So, is it going to feel fuzzy?" the girl questioned a touch nervously as Alexa got out another vial anyway.
"It does not feel fuzzy," the Gatpotear found/made by Charizard noted loudly. "But it isn't cold outside now. Still a little cool, so not the best possible solution but better than being stuck in there."
"We don't want you guys to make the problem worse," Alexa commented, as she quietly forced the Meltwater Contagion to work on the girl. The change to Gatpotear seemed to look normal, although the girl did shudder a bit more than typical. "So no making the storm worse."
"Oh, okay, that's real... where is my heartbeat?" the girl questioned.
"I don't think we have hearts right now," another Gatpotear half joked, half complained. "Just a bunch of slush."
"I'm not saying it is a bad thing," the girl argued. "I just, I didn't expect to be something like that."
Alexa felt somewhat unhappy about forcing the change in that case, but as Charizard reminded her they still needed to keep going. So they quickly got out of that conversation and back in flight along the Route. From there they had the luck that they made it to the other edge of the storm without needing to change the plan, although with a slight concern that they might actually run low on prepared vials and need to stop to make up some more from the jars of Contagion.
They both went a bit farther to make sure the storm wasn't going fast enough to need them to continue towards the Lake of Rage, and then swung back to double check and see if they could help anyone else.
---
William hated flying in storms of any kind, but a professional trainer needed to know how to react to serious situations. It was the one thing he really knew how to do himself as a pokemon, and it meant he could halfway keep up when Leader Ronald turned out to have an Articuno among the Gym pokemon. A fairly under-trained example of that Legendary from what William could tell, but still notable and more importantly faster than William was.
It did not help that both of them had teams who were somewhat tired, William's from the Gym match he won just before this whole mess started, and the Leader's response team was apparently being used a bit more than normal to try and make up high level matches.
So William wasn't too happy to find an overly tall and somewhat transparent Froslass still standing across from that Articuno as the Legendary shielded a literally half frozen Gym Leader, but he also wasn't entirely surprised. With a quick break of his illusion for a hard but fast landing he put himself between the Ice/Ghost and the Legendary.
"So, cold," the icy pokemon said, and William didn't like the look of the torn up tent behind them. "Cold." A lack of full sentences from a Ghost type was a bad sign, especially when the Ghost was strangely human shaped.
"Goodra, come out," he declared and sent out his pokemon in the best condition. The Froslass looked confused for a moment, and then very confused as the mass of ice and water Goodra was currently made out of emerged. "Distract her."
William then tried something foolish. He made a break for the ruined camp site while his pokemon kept the hostile pokemon busy. The first thing he saw was an Alolan Sandslash huddled next to a form, clearly avoiding looking at the Froslass. The body was the part that he focused on, as he got out the container of Meltwater Contagion he had gotten from Alexa.
---
The storm cut off suddenly, which reassured Alexa a bit, but also made her worried about why exactly it stopped like that. "Keep going or check that out?" she questioned her Starter.
"Get a better flight form when we find whoever stopped it, they might need to get out quick," her Starter answered and broke his Ice type change to go back to Fire/Flying. "Stay in the air for now, but this sort of storm shouldn't just go away like that without someone getting hurt." He paused and clearly checked the air. "The core of the storm was this way."
Flying was much easier without the wind and the snow, but the sun wasn't the best for her Ice and Water types as she continued stay in the air on makeshift wings. The location they ended up at was clearly an off the path but commonly used camp site, and William was present with his Goodra and an Articuno. As they got closer more figures were clear, a Gatpotear next to William half hanging off a Sandslash that looked to have also used the icy Contagion with a less wet than normal outcome, and Goodra next to the Articuno trying to help Leader Ronald get out of a block of ice.
"Charizard, get the Gym Leader out of here," she ordered and then half crashed herself down to get next to William as quickly as possible. "William, what's the issue?"
William looked between the two icy pokemon next to him, and then clearly made a choice about what to tell her. "There was a misunderstanding," he said shortly, and the Gatpotear next to him seemed to cry a bit harder. "I think I need you something that can carry her once we find her Sandslash's pokeball."
"Probably Kanto Zoroark for me then," Alexa noted with a look at how this Gatpotear seemed to have a purple tint to their water. "I don't want to heat her up or cool me down with Vespikiln."
"I want some heat," the Gatpotear said quietly. "I want a lot of heat."
Alexa considered that. "I don't really have any other options that make you feel warmer than this one, but I guess I can see if you can ride a Vespikiln," she told the other slush cat and then broke her own change. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Charizard and Articuno both take off towards Mahogany.
The Gatpotear meowed at her sadly, which was another bad sign that Alexa choose to ignore as she got out a bit of Chitin Powder. "Yikes! You, turned into another pokemon?" the cat questioned cautiously.
"I do that," Alexa deliberately buzzed at the clearly Ice/Ghost typed pokemon as she tried not to think about why this Gatpotear wasn't Water typed. "Try not to phase through me in flight, I'd rather not have to catch you too many times."
The other pokemon then spent a good period of time picking up a ruined camp site, one that looked like it had happened at least a couple of days before. "I think I died," the Gatpotear said slowly in the middle of the ruin after the still quite quiet Sandslash was returned. "I think I might still be dead."
"Well, then we really need to get you to some help," Alexa said more confidently than she felt about talking to someone who recently died and came back as a vengeful Ghost. "Dying even for a little bit isn't good for you." Alexa also was fairly sure this Gatpotear wouldn't be human again without a lot of help. "Well, dying-dying, not just becoming a Ghost type. Those are different things." She considered the details there. "Are you sure you died, or did you just turn into a Ghost type?"
"Did I, did I what?" the slush cat questioned with much more focus than before. "Wait, can you-" She shook her head, sending droplets of Ghostly water around to Alexa's mild annoyance. "No, I am quite sure I died, because this was a wild pokemon attack, not freezing to death or something. I know Slashy isn't up for keeping me alive after what happened."
"How did he end up Ice typed?" Alexa asked as the Gatpotear finally got ready to be carried.
"Alolan," William answered before taking off himself. "I thought you knew of those."
"I might be a bit tired," Alexa admitted, and then blinked at how the Gatpotear had not come close just yet.
"You might be warmer than I wanted," the Gatpotear admitted with a sigh.
---
Alexa sighed at the Mahogany Pokemon Center as she waited for either more Gatpotear to return to humanity, or news on the condition of the local Gym Leader. "Two days gone," she complained.
"We still have some time to find a different Gym if this doesn't work out," Charizard grumbled. "Although I think we could have done without the crisis. How is the dead girl doing?"
That was directed at William, who was helping with trying to spot any Gatpotear that made it to town. "She has been confirmed to be revived," he noted. "I'll admit, I was surprised that she could turn human again, even if I wasn't that surprised she didn't want to stay human after trying."
"Wait, that worked?" Alexa asked Charizard unhappily. "Did you do anything for that?"
"What does that mean?" Charizard asked with what appeared to be genuine confusion.
"You know," she growled, currently Gatpotear shaped to try and attract any others. "Did more than the stuff does on its own."
"Did you change anyone who wouldn't change on their own?" Charizard questioned with continued confusion. That morphed to unhappiness when she didn't immediately reply. "No, I didn't. For her or any of the others. Then again you handled most of the tents, and I think being stranded outside changed what would work a bit."
Then a mass of slush slammed into Alexa. "Thank you, oh thank you," the other Gatpotear declared with a clear shiver. "You saved my life out there. I'm never getting rid of this change."
"Um, you're welcome?" Alexa questioned, and then realized this was the first trainer they had found outside of a tent. "Are you sure you don't want to change back to being human?"
"I never want to feel cold again, and they said if I felt cold like this it means there is a bigger issue," the Gatpotear said firmly. "Also I don't remember a while before you found me, so I am kind of afraid I can't turn back and don't want to test it."
"Trust me, you can turn back regardless," William commented dryly. The Gatpotear blinked at that.
"Well, I still don't want to change back," the cat said firmly. "Thank you again." He then walked over to the local Nurse Joy, and clearly found himself in a position where he would not be able to talk to them more for a while.
"So, was he dying when you found him, or...?" Charizard asked quietly.
"I didn't check," Alexa realized a bit tiredly. "Just saw he wasn't moving and tried immediately. It worked and I sort of just assumed." They all just sat and thought about that as they waited for the next Gatpotear to show up.
"Well, he didn't look Ghost typed?" William suggested uneasily.
"Not a proof honestly," Alexa admitted. "If he wasn't... well it wouldn't have had to make him Ghost typed."
"Alexa Larch? The Gym Leader wants to talk with you," a local Nurse Joy then called out. "He's good enough for a visitor now."
"He was moved to the Center?" Alexa questioned, but followed the Joy to a back room.
"Yes, he unfortunately needed some alternate treatment options we don't have at the local hospital," Joy replied quietly. "I almost want to ask if you can make him into a pokemon to help, but we want to do a couple more tests first."
Alexa found herself led to one of the rooms usually used for injured pokemon. Leader Ronald was laying down, and looked tired. "Hello, Assistant Larch," the Gym Leader greeted her. "I'm afraid I have only bad news for you regarding my challenge to you."
"I'm not getting my seventh Badge match here, am I?" Alexa asked as kindly as she could given the context.
"We aren't sure if anyone is getting any more high end Badge matches from Mahogany this year," Ronald said with a sigh. "My energy was damaged by the attacks I took trying to stop the storm. I'm not a natural Ice type, but right now I'm putting out quite a bit of cold. I've been told it will be weeks on the short end for me to get better."
"Oh, that is not something I think a type change would help with," Alexa admitted a bit nervously. "I mean, your energy isn't..." It was missing pieces from what she could see. A lack of not-Ice making Ice his largest type. "I don't think it is safe to use anything on you right now."
"I was kind of hoping for a 'no, Ronald, I can fix that right up' to be honest," the Gym Leader sighed. "Well then, you might as well just count me out for either Gym Badge at this point. I doubt I won't be packed by the time you get a seventh somewhere else, and that assumes I am up for it before the League ends this year." He shrugged, and then flinched in pain from the motion. "I can offer a League Badge for the help in the storm, but I know those aren't the same."
"I already have one for my third this League," Alexa confessed, unhappy to have another one being offered for the same League.
"Well, there goes that backup plan. I'm still putting you in for one, the storm would have been much worse without you here," he admitted. "For my personal recommendations on other Gyms, I can say you should avoid the Region's Rock type Gym. They are the closest to the League and already were going to be packed beyond what they can handle before we lost my Gym for late Badges. That Gym is too small to handle what they end up getting on a normal year. Your best bet is to hit Blackthorn until you win, and then try for Olivine if you are lucky, or Cianwood more likely. The farthest Gym is a bit of a flight away for a last Gym, but that also means it will probably still have slots."
"That was admittedly our plan already," Alexa sighed herself. "We probably will stick around at least another day to try and get the rest of the people who got changed turned back."
---
[Author's Note]
So, the plan was always that Alexa wasn't getting a Gym Badge here. How that happened has changed a couple of times now, before it arrived on this set of events.
This chapter was delayed by a massive writer's block that caused a major stall out of the writing process. One that has resulted in a choice to cut some planned content going forward.
The good news is that I now have what should be a full outline of chapters all the way to the end of the story, instead of a vague outline that has dangerous holes in it.
While I worked out that issue I gave in to my ideas and started an original work. Check it out if you are interested:
Fluid Pestilence (Sci-Fi, LitRPG) Original
The Synch-Tech game "Void Strike" has been her main hobby for the past year and a half, the latest and greatest Synch-Tech experience yet. Surprisingly open ended and detailed fully generated missions, both PvE and occasional PvP foes, no monetization, and a complex gear and skill progression...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
Last edited:
Minor typo, but otherwise, great to see this again!
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Thank you for the correction, and I'm glad to be working on it again too.
Condensed Chargestone
Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
I'm now unsure if the Gatpotear 'Dex entry isn't actually another product of the assorted time-travel, given mountain rescue is as already mentioned a bit off for garbled Chien-Pao rumors.
(The missed Badge on the other hand isn't entirely unexpected given previously mentioned plans; the schedule would've had an extra month from coming out of Ilex when they entered, so an additional delay would be needed somewhere after Olivine burned that extra time, and Blackthorn would've been less likely given how Alexa and co wanted to inflict Dragon and Ice stuff on them.)
On an unrelated note, reading another Pokémon fanfic gave me an Idea during the break.
Doesn't the Gym Leader already know Olivine isn't doing anything high-level after the Lugia issue? Only way that'd work is if Alexa decided to switch out League Badges.
(The missed Badge on the other hand isn't entirely unexpected given previously mentioned plans; the schedule would've had an extra month from coming out of Ilex when they entered, so an additional delay would be needed somewhere after Olivine burned that extra time, and Blackthorn would've been less likely given how Alexa and co wanted to inflict Dragon and Ice stuff on them.)
On an unrelated note, reading another Pokémon fanfic gave me an Idea during the break.
A crystalline stone bearing an intense magnetic flux, currently known to be found in the deepest depths of Unova's Chargestone Cave. The charge held within can either be drawn out of the rock or released by breaking it, either detonating on those incompatible with a nasty shock, or being absorbed by those compatible, changing their typing. Unlike some other electrical typechanges such as Capacitance Moss, the transformer Pokémon cannot actually expel the energy to revert; instead, the energy seems to naturally run down over time, depending on how suited the transformed Pokémon is, the size of the Chargestone, and how depleted the Chargestone is from it.
Three broad categories of effects are currently known; outside these, the ability to change seems to be extremely rare:
-Rock types, along with the occasional Ground-type, gain the Electric type, typically manifesting bright blue crystals on their body that slowly dull until the transformation reverts. However, exceptions exist; most prominently, the Geodude line bear a strong resemblance to the Aloan variation, with the typical transformation tells only visible when using electricity(such as the central charged stone of an Aloan Golem's railgun). Of the three, this change seems to last longest.
-Electric Types gain the Rock type, generally manifesting a crystalline coating over parts of the body with a preference for edges, spikes and the like(a Raichu, for example, would likely have their tail's 'tip' coated); this also allows more powerful electrical discharge from the affected bodyparts. Lasts less time than Rock types.
-While Chargestone 'Mons having an easier time learning Fire moves was a known quirk, the ability for Fire types to regularly transform is a more recent discovery by Blueberry Academy's Briar, as the more common Unovan Fire-types have a higher than normal immunity rate to the change. Whether they gain the Rock or Electric type (with the accompanying tells) is inconsistent and seems to be partly based on base biology, but even with the Rock-type change, an ability to use Electric moves is retained, with less peak power but more sustained output than the change native Electrics undergo. Lasts the least time of the three, with it frequently not lasting a full day with the carriable stones.
Three broad categories of effects are currently known; outside these, the ability to change seems to be extremely rare:
-Rock types, along with the occasional Ground-type, gain the Electric type, typically manifesting bright blue crystals on their body that slowly dull until the transformation reverts. However, exceptions exist; most prominently, the Geodude line bear a strong resemblance to the Aloan variation, with the typical transformation tells only visible when using electricity(such as the central charged stone of an Aloan Golem's railgun). Of the three, this change seems to last longest.
-Electric Types gain the Rock type, generally manifesting a crystalline coating over parts of the body with a preference for edges, spikes and the like(a Raichu, for example, would likely have their tail's 'tip' coated); this also allows more powerful electrical discharge from the affected bodyparts. Lasts less time than Rock types.
-While Chargestone 'Mons having an easier time learning Fire moves was a known quirk, the ability for Fire types to regularly transform is a more recent discovery by Blueberry Academy's Briar, as the more common Unovan Fire-types have a higher than normal immunity rate to the change. Whether they gain the Rock or Electric type (with the accompanying tells) is inconsistent and seems to be partly based on base biology, but even with the Rock-type change, an ability to use Electric moves is retained, with less peak power but more sustained output than the change native Electrics undergo. Lasts the least time of the three, with it frequently not lasting a full day with the carriable stones.
Largely inspired another fic's method of producing regional variants outside of their region.
The Fire stuff in here is actually a Stupid Pun™ based off Chargestone Cave's Japanese name; Tourmaline is presumably known in Japanese as Denkiseki due to its pyroelectric properties, while Chargestone is Denkiishi, using a reading more closely linked to stone than gems. Fire-types getting longer output is basically a 'Monization of said properties.
Briar's mentioned as discovering the Fire effects because A) she's the one who works out Paldea's crystal-based transformation outside there and B)The artificial habitat in her workplace has a recreation of Chargestone Cave; in the conceptualisation of this writeup it has a large immobile Condensed Chargestone for ecosystem purposes that combined with the greater variety of Fire-types allowed the discovery.
Tepig and Pansear just didn't vibe with me for the transformation; Zen Mode Darmitan vibe a bit more, but they're rarer than the normal form.
Finally, it's Condensed Chargestone because the initial assumption was that it's a product of the usual magnetic stones getting condensed further down; in my conception of the Blueberry Academy research they've actually discovered things going the opposite way, their big Condensed one producing lesser Chargestone. The true origin currently remains unclear.
The Fire stuff in here is actually a Stupid Pun™ based off Chargestone Cave's Japanese name; Tourmaline is presumably known in Japanese as Denkiseki due to its pyroelectric properties, while Chargestone is Denkiishi, using a reading more closely linked to stone than gems. Fire-types getting longer output is basically a 'Monization of said properties.
Briar's mentioned as discovering the Fire effects because A) she's the one who works out Paldea's crystal-based transformation outside there and B)The artificial habitat in her workplace has a recreation of Chargestone Cave; in the conceptualisation of this writeup it has a large immobile Condensed Chargestone for ecosystem purposes that combined with the greater variety of Fire-types allowed the discovery.
Tepig and Pansear just didn't vibe with me for the transformation; Zen Mode Darmitan vibe a bit more, but they're rarer than the normal form.
Finally, it's Condensed Chargestone because the initial assumption was that it's a product of the usual magnetic stones getting condensed further down; in my conception of the Blueberry Academy research they've actually discovered things going the opposite way, their big Condensed one producing lesser Chargestone. The true origin currently remains unclear.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
That seems like a perfectly reasonable uncertainty given what I've been doing with my stories.
The idea is that if they are quite lucky, then Olivine might have fixed that part by the time they are done with Blackthorn.
It is a long shot, but they would be stopping there anyway on their way to Cianwood so it would not hurt to check.
That's an interesting one. Not sure which fic you mean, but it is a neat way to have something a bit complicated.
Is the spoiler tags just to reduce post space use, or is this something of a spoiler for that fic?
Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
Space use, there's no actual spoilers for said fic(and it's the Rock effect that's mostly derived from said fic's Aloan Geodude line and shifted to somewhere with actual electromagnetic stone), the Electric and Fire bits are original and pun-based respectivly.
Don't have time for a more in depth response to the chapter at the moment, but definitely glad to see it. A very interesting scenario, with a lot to follow up on. Did I understand correctly that it looks like Alexa's type changes, or at least the Gatpotear tranaformation, can potentially revive the recently dead? That's fascinating, and a bit scary.
Only other thing I have to mention right now is that I noticed the gym leader's name appears to be written as both Ronald and Roland interchangeably. I checked back and this happened last chapter too. There's a couple of Rolands and a couple more Ronalds.
Only other thing I have to mention right now is that I noticed the gym leader's name appears to be written as both Ronald and Roland interchangeably. I checked back and this happened last chapter too. There's a couple of Rolands and a couple more Ronalds.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
It is meant to show that it can possibly do that, although with just enough ambiguity that it might be a bit more scary than if it was just outright a 'yes' that it could.
Ronald is what looking in my notes says it should be. Thank you for this correction, I will see what I can do.
Edit: Should be fixed, thank you a lot for this it was also in the next chapter too.
Last edited:
I figured it was supposed to be Ronald, since that both the most common of the two, and the one that was used when his full name was introduced. Arceus knows it's not the hardest name to mix up, either. I almost didn't notice it this chapter, and missed it entirely last time. Glad I could help.
Uh, what? I feel like a word might have gotten eaten, because my brain can't figure out what is being said here.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
... I'm going to be honest, I might need a moment to work out what I intended by that a few months ago when I wrote it first.
It just about made sense during my check of the chapter, but it did stand out as odd and now I can't be sure which way (stay a Gatpotear or go back to human) I meant for that to imply.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Decided to go with "did not like being human again".
Not going to be explicit in the chapter, but I'm currently thinking "because of obvious scars" as the reasoning.
Mystical Meeting
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
--- Mystical Meeting ---
"So, how many Gatpotear did we end up with?" Charizard grumbled as they made their way down Route 44, in his Fire/Water form just in case he wanted another, hopefully warmer, swim. "Because I was halfway looking forward to a Gym match that we weren't ready for, and instead we have more changed humans."
"We don't know," Alexa admitted with a huff of frosty air. "Some decided not to come to town, and others might have spread it around. We'll ask again in Blackthorn."
"I feel bad about not helping directly, but I had to sit on Pryce to make sure he didn't end up hurt during all of that," Suicune complained tiredly.
"Figuratively, or literally?" William questioned. "Because I can see either one."
"Both, I had to do both," Suicune clarified with a huff. "And had to stay there because it turns out he still has some loyal pokemon who also think he is more capable in his old age than he actually is."
They continued along the well made path, instead of the side path through the woods that was still maintained, but not the main route for major travel. The main route down the Route would have more trainer encounters than wild pokemon, but also would be a bit faster. Given how close they might end up being to get this League's final Badges that was more important.
"Are we still going to practice staying a single type?" Charizard then asked, not really wanting to get on the topic of old age, and the disaster wasn't great for a topic either. "Because I can see other Gym Leaders still picking that."
Alexa frowned at that. "I think it is a skill we need to learn, but I think we should probably start with getting everyone else who wants to try the Ice type a chance," his trainer decided. "That way we have a solid counter to the Dragon type to start from."
"What if they ask for 'weak to Dragon'?" Charizard noted with a chuckle. William rolled his eyes and Suicune giggled.
"That's just the Dragon type," Alexa pointed out dryly with a bit of a glare at him. "And if they do ask for 'all Dragon types' then we should have enough time to rush a Dragon typed change and still make it to Cianwood before the end of the League."
"The last part of the League is always a rush," William grumbled. "You know you only have a couple of Gyms left, but you never know which Gyms will work."
"Even for just one Badge?" Suicune questioned with another giggle.
"On your first League, no, but for any after that about half the challenge is if you can take what the Leader offers you for a fight," William specified, and Charizard paid close attention here. "Stuff like Alexa is dealing with is the high end, but I still might end up with something I can't handle from a Dragon typed Gym. I might have to wait for Cianwood too."
They turned a corner, and found a Lugia and a Witch beyond the bend. They approached cautiously from there, and thankfully were not immediately spotted by the Lugia Champion and the woman who first turned that Lugia into a pokemon. Instead their group had time to brace before the pair saw them, and clearly revealed that this was not a coincidence.
"Alexa, it is good to see you again," Lily the Witch said happily. "I heard you've started making rumors into facts, but this one is more of a mistake than a rumor if I remember right."
"We ran into each other looking for you guys," Ash the younger pointed out. "We've been talking about how lucky I was to not end up with Shamouti back when we first met."
"Is it bad news?" Charizard asked with a joking tone, but honestly it was a serious thing to worry about. "Because I really hope there aren't any more Legendary family issues we have to deal with."
Ash unfortunately got a bit more serious after that. "Well, it isn't Legendary related, but I don't know if it would be what you guys think of as good news," the Lugia grumbled.
"League Badges," Pikachu cut in and revealed himself from behind the large Legendary bird. "Things where I don't get why you trainers don't like them, even when they are rewards for doing something good." Ash sighed and started to get out a good sized box.
"More than one?" Alexa questioned with concern that Charizard felt too.
"Yes, it isn't like you did everything to fix the storm issue yourself," Ash replied a bit more happily.
"I take it I've managed a second without a team?" Charizard grumbled but hoped that would distract from the real bad news there. "Is that a record?"
"Actually, it isn't. I did check and there have been quite a few trainers who managed more than two in a single year without a team," Ash laughed with a bit of surprise. "That is kind of the point of the tests I know you took, to make sure trainers who have the skill but not the team are found when this sort of disaster happens."
"Given you technically have to be registered as part of your own team when you have a pokemon form, even if not as a battle pokemon, you don't entirely count either," Lily pointed out. "I know I have to deal with that when I end up with team paperwork to fill out. You do not want a Joy angry at you about forgetting pokemon that are just you."
Charizard blinked at that, and then frowned. "Huh, yeah I guess that is sort of what I did," he admitted with a waggle of his fins as he took a plain Badge that Ash got out after his question. "Although I did have Alexa. If I count for her and got one anyway, she probably counts for me during that mess too."
"Unfortunately that's the Badge that means the least," Ash got them back on topic. "There is another problem to go with the League Badges. The Johto League is having a bad year. Most of it isn't to do with you guys, and you've helped more than hurt, but after looking things over we don't have enough Gym Leaders left to get all the high Badge matches the League needs. Right now it looks like we won't have enough trainers for the Silver Conference preliminary matches unless something changes."
"Is the changes something to do with League Badges?" Charizard questioned with more concern now. It was one thing to get another one he didn't want, but it was another to have the rules change.
Ash handed his trainer another League Badge, with a far too official movement this time. "As of now the Johto Pokemon League has changed League Badge restrictions and allowances for the next Silver Conference," Ash began to explain. "You can use any number of them this year as long as you complete a normal seventh or eighth Gym Badge challenge, and from now until the end of the year we aren't letting anyone re-test for a League Badge above their fourth. So, congratulations, you only need one more Badge for this year's League."
"So, this one counts, and I can't replace it," Alexa said quietly at that news. "Well, well I guess that means I don't need two more Gyms then."
"Right," Ash agreed a bit too grimly. "Which just leaves the last one."
"Wait, last one?" William questioned suddenly at the implication. "What last one?"
"You saved a Gym Leader and stopped a storm created by an empowered Ghost type," Ash pointed out. "Did you really think that wouldn't count?" he added, but then grew more serious. "Trainer William, I must recognize your actions, and inform you that as you have completed seven Gym Badges before earning this League Badge, you now officially qualify for the current Silver Conference Pokemon League tournament." It sounded like the Lugia was reading from an official document. "Given the difficulty trainers are facing with finding Gym matches it is the case that you will not be allowed to test at a Gym for an equivalent Badge instead this year."
"Okay, yeah, I can see how that is bad news," Pikachu admitted with an apologetic nod towards William.
"Oh, well, at least I don't have to worry about my last Badge," William more complained than anything as he took the third of the plain Badges. "This is not what I expected out of actually getting that Gym match."
"Are you going to stick with us longer?" Charizard had to ask about that way of putting it. He was happy to have a more normal trainer along with them, but he wasn't sure the Zoroark wanted to stay while they tried to get their last Badge.
"Are you going to keep making new pokemon?" William questioned critically, but with amusement in his eyes.
"Okay, not sure about that being why you are saying 'yes'," Charizard laughed at the probably-serious remark. "Because we probably should make that one a 'no' if we actually could at this point."
"I'm actually interested in what the Dragon typed humans will look like," the Zoroark laughed back. "Ice was already an interesting surprise, even if it did become a new species to stop cases of mass frostbite by making them all just frosty."
"You couldn't use that change to help the Gym Leader?" Ash then questioned Alexa curiously. "I know he mostly got frozen, even if it was Ghostly Ice."
"No, we really couldn't, or I would have right there when we found him," Charizard answered for his trainer. "You probably can't see it but his energy was just..." He struggled to find the words to describe the holes where energy should have been. Wounds that were deep and yet not normally visible that was entirely unlike when Charizard had broken his own Fire type. The energy not just shifted, but outright gone.
"Torn up by the ice he was hit with," Alexa continued for him. "It was like it was eating any energy he had that wasn't already Ice typed, and not leaving anything in its place. We could only make that worse if we tried anything we have."
"Oh, that kind of wound," Lily said with a deep cringe, and then took a moment to change into a part-Ghost Typhlosion. "That is something Ghost types that come from deadly wounds tend to cause, reflecting part of their own injury onto others. Usually it strips everything that isn't Ghost, but if the way they were hurt was particularly typed it matches the type. Although, sometimes a shift in the type left behind happens from being treated badly after the wound too."
"She had an Ice typed pokemon of her own who made an attempt to keep her going a bit longer," William added to the details. "From what the doctors were willing to tell me it actually worked well enough that she could be partially revived by my use of the latest Contagion on her, but that also locked in the Ghost typed energy she drew out to try and keep going."
"I'm not entirely happy with how you had to use that," Alexa admitted with a bit of a grumble, and Charizard agreed there. "But given the situation it probably was the best option we had."
"Well, there is one last thing I needed to cover with you guys actually," Ash said with a shrug. "I don't think you really need it, but with this sort of disaster there is a standard warning to give out. All trainers who see a disaster happening need to be careful about what actions they take during the disaster," he once more started to recite. "It is wonderful when you help out and make things easier for everyone else, but if you get yourself in trouble trying to fix things then you have just put another person into danger who needs to be rescued."
"That sounds more like what Leader Ronald needs to hear than us," Charizard pointed out, but considered the idea. "I think William was the only one of us who wasn't Ice typed to get through the storm that way."
"I'm going to be talking with Leader Ronald about that too," Ash confirmed. "But actually that is a good way to say it to you three, even a trainer that usually can handle those sort of disasters needs to be able to tell when they are too overworked to handle it at the moment. The storm wasn't bad enough he couldn't afford to try to call for help yet."
"A good point, we were all practicing or having our own Gym matches too," Alexa admitted thoughtfully. "That might mostly be a William thing though."
"Goodra was both Ice typed at the time and my most rested pokemon," the Zoroark specified. "I'll admit, I did something really risky at the time too, but it was a planned risk."
"Well, if that is out of the way, I do have some news. Nowhere near as important stuff as the League changing rules this year, but I was hoping to catch you to talk about the new species thing," Lily said then. "I've asked around about the impact of turning humans into pokemon."
"Um, as a human turned into a pokemon I don't actually think that isn't as important," Ash pointed out. "Actually, that's why we don't have the Olivine Gym too."
"Olivine is entirely different from the stuff I want to talk about," Lily huffed with a bit of flame. "That was a mess that I don't even want to get close to if I can avoid it. I heard from the magic user that helped them, and that was a Legendary spell gone wrong." The Typhlosion shook her head. "I mean the sort of change Alexa is making where humans end up turned by her substances."
"Good news or bad news? Because I think we want to wait for tomorrow for any more bad news," Charizard questioned. The Badge stuff wasn't entirely bad news, but it did change their plans a lot and Alexa was clearly unhappy. Charizard honestly wasn't too happy with it either.
"Honestly, just news. So, humans turned pokemon like this are rare overall," Lily specified. "Or maybe I should say rarer than regular humans. From what I've found they tend to be like Legendary pokemon in what they can do, but they are like humans in how many of them you find. Which is the thing here, when humans start turning into those sort of pokemon, they tend to take their families with them. Which does two things mystically." She held out a claw. "First it makes it so the overall mystical weight gets a bit less. The more normal it is to be one the less magic is overcharged around them." A second claw followed. "Second, it makes the magic that changes them easier to use. So more people can be changed into and back more easily."
"That is something they found, or that they knew?" Alexa asked thoughtfully. "Because I kind of made multiple species this year."
"Something they knew. Vespikiln hives still exist, and Vespikiln are less mystically impactful where they still have hives than where they don't, but it is also easier to get changed near a hive than other places," Lily confirmed. "Similarly the Mercurial Ninetails' temple is a place where Vipercury are less impactful and easier to be changed into."
"So, what happens when you have a bunch of different species, who are all deciding to make themselves normal to see?" Charizard had to ask at that detail. "Because we made a lot of different ones, and I don't think Lobasalt are going to be a rare species by next year."
"From the sound of things we already have Kanto Zoroark everywhere," William admitted unhappily. "Possibly a lot of them, although mostly in Kanto."
"That is why I think it is just news instead of good or bad. This many different people changed has the effect that it makes all of them less impactful, but it will also make all of them easier too," Lily answered happily. "That's good because it means we don't need a big population of any one of the species to make it less likely that they cause a transformation disaster of some kind, but its kind of not good because it means that we're probably going to have a lot of people changing species a lot more often."
Charizard shared a look with Alexa. "Is that really a problem?" his trainer questioned. "I think that as long as they can keep changing it should be fine, right? I mean, it isn't a bad choice to be able to make."
"Also, the whole translation issue is already making it so we have more pokemon becoming trainers without being humans first," Charizard added carefully. "I think that might be a bigger thing than some humans deciding to be pokemon."
"Wait, if a pokemon turns into a human, could they turn into one of these other kinds of pokemon too?" Pikachu asked with considerable confusion. "I get that you're talking about some special sort of pokemon that are sort of human, but I don't really get why."
"Technically there isn't anything stopping any pokemon from turning into any other pokemon with the right setup," Lily laughed. "That just would be a really strange way to try for that sort of thing." Then the Typhlosion looked thoughtful. "Although it does touch on a topic I wanted to go over with this set of changes. Another thing with humans turned to pokemon is that their kids tend to end up a matching species, like any other pokemon who have kids. However, that doesn't mean that the kids really fit with that pokemon species. So, Pikachu, if you were turned human and we tried to make you into 'the pokemon you were supposed to be' you might not end up a chu."
"I think it might be better to say I might not end up a char," Charizard pointed out, although it was a strange topic to hear about. "Although I doubt I could pull off Venustoise now, I figured out that I really don't like the Grass type since I suggested it to your Charizard."
"You say that like you weren't just making a silly joke," Pikachu pointed out dryly, then seemed to get worried about Charizard's smile in response.
"The joke was that I was serious," he replied with a laugh. "I had half a plan and everything." An exaggeration, he only considered it after saying it, but not truly inaccurate.
"I know, that is my point," Pikachu complained back at him. "You were messing with him and weren't actually going to try anytime soon." Charizard glared at the little rodent for that dig.
---
Alexa had a good enough time talking about the details of what would and wouldn't be easier. It was rather technical, and she wasn't sure she really understood all of it, but the key point seemed to be that it would be safer overall to have it less of an impressive mystical change and more consistent.
"I'm not sure if I'm happier or not about all this stuff being safer," Ash admitted, the Lugia more uncomfortable after hearing all of it. "I'm already in meetings about how we need to handle transformed humans that show up in the TV part of the tournament. We aren't sure if we are going with the standard for pokemon-trainers," He nodded over at William, "Or if we should call attention to the fact that they were changed."
"Um, I'd like to know how you're handling that if you've decided," Alexa pointed out. "I kind of want to use pokemon forms for the League, and a lot of the former humans we're talking about are going to know about me."
"I'm more interested in what the 'standard' I'm going to deal with either way is," William added. "Although it sounds like I might end up asked if I was human before at this rate."
"If you keep your disguise up the whole time we don't mention it at all, if it breaks we go over how pokemon can be trainers," Ash answered William first. "If you don't use a disguise then we have a good five or ten minutes where we have to explain that pokemon can be trainers before they see a match with one. Although we know we're going with that part this time already. The question is mostly if we go over that some of the pokemon who are trainers also used to be human without the trainer saying it first."
"It is a long speech," Pikachu pointed out. "And we've had to listen to it a few times now to see what needs to be fixed. I think I know more than I want to know about the rules for being both at once."
"Has the Johto League ever used that before?" Lily questioned jokingly, although Alexa was interested in the actual answer.
"Three times for the preliminary rounds, but not after in the TV part yet," Ash easily answered. "Not because we haven't had any pokemon-trainers make it that far, but none of them were revealed during the TV part. I'm the only pokemon-Champion we have right now, but one did make it to the finals."
"So you are ready for pokemon-trainers, just not open ones," Alexa pointed out, almost reassured. "I have no idea if it would be better to go along with the ones who want to pretend they were always pokemon or not in that case. I'd rather not go along with that idea, it would just make them think that is a good thing to do, and I don't really approve."
"I think my recent lessons in being a Legendary pokemon say that might matter," Ash said with a look over at an amused but otherwise quiet Suicune.
"I understand much of what Lily has been talking about here, and Ash is quite correct," Suicune agreed thoughtfully. "You will have some influence on the species you created, although likely less than you desire. If you want someone to be able to be those kind of pokemon you should be able to allow the change regardless of their nature, and if you want to reverse or prevent the change it will be possible to some degree. Although you might need to personally remove the change as an option in those cases, and I suppose you already could reverse the changes anyway."
Alexa thought of a number of cold people who needed to be outright icy, in particular one she knew would not change without her forcing it. This technically was only news in that she might be able to do the opposite as well, and take away a change someone had already been able to use. Which sort of hurt to think about, taking away an ability to change that the user might like, but she could also immediately see that she might run into someone who should not be allowed to have a change, at least for some time. Someone like the Mew she had forced to be clay, or the other Lugia that made a curse that angered her so much that Alexa did not want to meet that Legendary for fear of what she would do to that pokemon.
"I kind of hate that we will need to use that eventually," Charizard agreed with her out loud.
---
[Author's Note]
This is the chapter I got stuck on for a long time, and it feels good to finally have it done in a way I like.
... even if it also features a major rewrite to cut an entire planned plot development that just was not working for getting the story to keep going. The majority of the delay was in fact me finally realizing that I needed to cut that part, and that there really was not a way around that reality.
"So, how many Gatpotear did we end up with?" Charizard grumbled as they made their way down Route 44, in his Fire/Water form just in case he wanted another, hopefully warmer, swim. "Because I was halfway looking forward to a Gym match that we weren't ready for, and instead we have more changed humans."
"We don't know," Alexa admitted with a huff of frosty air. "Some decided not to come to town, and others might have spread it around. We'll ask again in Blackthorn."
"I feel bad about not helping directly, but I had to sit on Pryce to make sure he didn't end up hurt during all of that," Suicune complained tiredly.
"Figuratively, or literally?" William questioned. "Because I can see either one."
"Both, I had to do both," Suicune clarified with a huff. "And had to stay there because it turns out he still has some loyal pokemon who also think he is more capable in his old age than he actually is."
They continued along the well made path, instead of the side path through the woods that was still maintained, but not the main route for major travel. The main route down the Route would have more trainer encounters than wild pokemon, but also would be a bit faster. Given how close they might end up being to get this League's final Badges that was more important.
"Are we still going to practice staying a single type?" Charizard then asked, not really wanting to get on the topic of old age, and the disaster wasn't great for a topic either. "Because I can see other Gym Leaders still picking that."
Alexa frowned at that. "I think it is a skill we need to learn, but I think we should probably start with getting everyone else who wants to try the Ice type a chance," his trainer decided. "That way we have a solid counter to the Dragon type to start from."
"What if they ask for 'weak to Dragon'?" Charizard noted with a chuckle. William rolled his eyes and Suicune giggled.
"That's just the Dragon type," Alexa pointed out dryly with a bit of a glare at him. "And if they do ask for 'all Dragon types' then we should have enough time to rush a Dragon typed change and still make it to Cianwood before the end of the League."
"The last part of the League is always a rush," William grumbled. "You know you only have a couple of Gyms left, but you never know which Gyms will work."
"Even for just one Badge?" Suicune questioned with another giggle.
"On your first League, no, but for any after that about half the challenge is if you can take what the Leader offers you for a fight," William specified, and Charizard paid close attention here. "Stuff like Alexa is dealing with is the high end, but I still might end up with something I can't handle from a Dragon typed Gym. I might have to wait for Cianwood too."
They turned a corner, and found a Lugia and a Witch beyond the bend. They approached cautiously from there, and thankfully were not immediately spotted by the Lugia Champion and the woman who first turned that Lugia into a pokemon. Instead their group had time to brace before the pair saw them, and clearly revealed that this was not a coincidence.
"Alexa, it is good to see you again," Lily the Witch said happily. "I heard you've started making rumors into facts, but this one is more of a mistake than a rumor if I remember right."
"We ran into each other looking for you guys," Ash the younger pointed out. "We've been talking about how lucky I was to not end up with Shamouti back when we first met."
"Is it bad news?" Charizard asked with a joking tone, but honestly it was a serious thing to worry about. "Because I really hope there aren't any more Legendary family issues we have to deal with."
Ash unfortunately got a bit more serious after that. "Well, it isn't Legendary related, but I don't know if it would be what you guys think of as good news," the Lugia grumbled.
"League Badges," Pikachu cut in and revealed himself from behind the large Legendary bird. "Things where I don't get why you trainers don't like them, even when they are rewards for doing something good." Ash sighed and started to get out a good sized box.
"More than one?" Alexa questioned with concern that Charizard felt too.
"Yes, it isn't like you did everything to fix the storm issue yourself," Ash replied a bit more happily.
"I take it I've managed a second without a team?" Charizard grumbled but hoped that would distract from the real bad news there. "Is that a record?"
"Actually, it isn't. I did check and there have been quite a few trainers who managed more than two in a single year without a team," Ash laughed with a bit of surprise. "That is kind of the point of the tests I know you took, to make sure trainers who have the skill but not the team are found when this sort of disaster happens."
"Given you technically have to be registered as part of your own team when you have a pokemon form, even if not as a battle pokemon, you don't entirely count either," Lily pointed out. "I know I have to deal with that when I end up with team paperwork to fill out. You do not want a Joy angry at you about forgetting pokemon that are just you."
Charizard blinked at that, and then frowned. "Huh, yeah I guess that is sort of what I did," he admitted with a waggle of his fins as he took a plain Badge that Ash got out after his question. "Although I did have Alexa. If I count for her and got one anyway, she probably counts for me during that mess too."
"Unfortunately that's the Badge that means the least," Ash got them back on topic. "There is another problem to go with the League Badges. The Johto League is having a bad year. Most of it isn't to do with you guys, and you've helped more than hurt, but after looking things over we don't have enough Gym Leaders left to get all the high Badge matches the League needs. Right now it looks like we won't have enough trainers for the Silver Conference preliminary matches unless something changes."
"Is the changes something to do with League Badges?" Charizard questioned with more concern now. It was one thing to get another one he didn't want, but it was another to have the rules change.
Ash handed his trainer another League Badge, with a far too official movement this time. "As of now the Johto Pokemon League has changed League Badge restrictions and allowances for the next Silver Conference," Ash began to explain. "You can use any number of them this year as long as you complete a normal seventh or eighth Gym Badge challenge, and from now until the end of the year we aren't letting anyone re-test for a League Badge above their fourth. So, congratulations, you only need one more Badge for this year's League."
"So, this one counts, and I can't replace it," Alexa said quietly at that news. "Well, well I guess that means I don't need two more Gyms then."
"Right," Ash agreed a bit too grimly. "Which just leaves the last one."
"Wait, last one?" William questioned suddenly at the implication. "What last one?"
"You saved a Gym Leader and stopped a storm created by an empowered Ghost type," Ash pointed out. "Did you really think that wouldn't count?" he added, but then grew more serious. "Trainer William, I must recognize your actions, and inform you that as you have completed seven Gym Badges before earning this League Badge, you now officially qualify for the current Silver Conference Pokemon League tournament." It sounded like the Lugia was reading from an official document. "Given the difficulty trainers are facing with finding Gym matches it is the case that you will not be allowed to test at a Gym for an equivalent Badge instead this year."
"Okay, yeah, I can see how that is bad news," Pikachu admitted with an apologetic nod towards William.
"Oh, well, at least I don't have to worry about my last Badge," William more complained than anything as he took the third of the plain Badges. "This is not what I expected out of actually getting that Gym match."
"Are you going to stick with us longer?" Charizard had to ask about that way of putting it. He was happy to have a more normal trainer along with them, but he wasn't sure the Zoroark wanted to stay while they tried to get their last Badge.
"Are you going to keep making new pokemon?" William questioned critically, but with amusement in his eyes.
"Okay, not sure about that being why you are saying 'yes'," Charizard laughed at the probably-serious remark. "Because we probably should make that one a 'no' if we actually could at this point."
"I'm actually interested in what the Dragon typed humans will look like," the Zoroark laughed back. "Ice was already an interesting surprise, even if it did become a new species to stop cases of mass frostbite by making them all just frosty."
"You couldn't use that change to help the Gym Leader?" Ash then questioned Alexa curiously. "I know he mostly got frozen, even if it was Ghostly Ice."
"No, we really couldn't, or I would have right there when we found him," Charizard answered for his trainer. "You probably can't see it but his energy was just..." He struggled to find the words to describe the holes where energy should have been. Wounds that were deep and yet not normally visible that was entirely unlike when Charizard had broken his own Fire type. The energy not just shifted, but outright gone.
"Torn up by the ice he was hit with," Alexa continued for him. "It was like it was eating any energy he had that wasn't already Ice typed, and not leaving anything in its place. We could only make that worse if we tried anything we have."
"Oh, that kind of wound," Lily said with a deep cringe, and then took a moment to change into a part-Ghost Typhlosion. "That is something Ghost types that come from deadly wounds tend to cause, reflecting part of their own injury onto others. Usually it strips everything that isn't Ghost, but if the way they were hurt was particularly typed it matches the type. Although, sometimes a shift in the type left behind happens from being treated badly after the wound too."
"She had an Ice typed pokemon of her own who made an attempt to keep her going a bit longer," William added to the details. "From what the doctors were willing to tell me it actually worked well enough that she could be partially revived by my use of the latest Contagion on her, but that also locked in the Ghost typed energy she drew out to try and keep going."
"I'm not entirely happy with how you had to use that," Alexa admitted with a bit of a grumble, and Charizard agreed there. "But given the situation it probably was the best option we had."
"Well, there is one last thing I needed to cover with you guys actually," Ash said with a shrug. "I don't think you really need it, but with this sort of disaster there is a standard warning to give out. All trainers who see a disaster happening need to be careful about what actions they take during the disaster," he once more started to recite. "It is wonderful when you help out and make things easier for everyone else, but if you get yourself in trouble trying to fix things then you have just put another person into danger who needs to be rescued."
"That sounds more like what Leader Ronald needs to hear than us," Charizard pointed out, but considered the idea. "I think William was the only one of us who wasn't Ice typed to get through the storm that way."
"I'm going to be talking with Leader Ronald about that too," Ash confirmed. "But actually that is a good way to say it to you three, even a trainer that usually can handle those sort of disasters needs to be able to tell when they are too overworked to handle it at the moment. The storm wasn't bad enough he couldn't afford to try to call for help yet."
"A good point, we were all practicing or having our own Gym matches too," Alexa admitted thoughtfully. "That might mostly be a William thing though."
"Goodra was both Ice typed at the time and my most rested pokemon," the Zoroark specified. "I'll admit, I did something really risky at the time too, but it was a planned risk."
"Well, if that is out of the way, I do have some news. Nowhere near as important stuff as the League changing rules this year, but I was hoping to catch you to talk about the new species thing," Lily said then. "I've asked around about the impact of turning humans into pokemon."
"Um, as a human turned into a pokemon I don't actually think that isn't as important," Ash pointed out. "Actually, that's why we don't have the Olivine Gym too."
"Olivine is entirely different from the stuff I want to talk about," Lily huffed with a bit of flame. "That was a mess that I don't even want to get close to if I can avoid it. I heard from the magic user that helped them, and that was a Legendary spell gone wrong." The Typhlosion shook her head. "I mean the sort of change Alexa is making where humans end up turned by her substances."
"Good news or bad news? Because I think we want to wait for tomorrow for any more bad news," Charizard questioned. The Badge stuff wasn't entirely bad news, but it did change their plans a lot and Alexa was clearly unhappy. Charizard honestly wasn't too happy with it either.
"Honestly, just news. So, humans turned pokemon like this are rare overall," Lily specified. "Or maybe I should say rarer than regular humans. From what I've found they tend to be like Legendary pokemon in what they can do, but they are like humans in how many of them you find. Which is the thing here, when humans start turning into those sort of pokemon, they tend to take their families with them. Which does two things mystically." She held out a claw. "First it makes it so the overall mystical weight gets a bit less. The more normal it is to be one the less magic is overcharged around them." A second claw followed. "Second, it makes the magic that changes them easier to use. So more people can be changed into and back more easily."
"That is something they found, or that they knew?" Alexa asked thoughtfully. "Because I kind of made multiple species this year."
"Something they knew. Vespikiln hives still exist, and Vespikiln are less mystically impactful where they still have hives than where they don't, but it is also easier to get changed near a hive than other places," Lily confirmed. "Similarly the Mercurial Ninetails' temple is a place where Vipercury are less impactful and easier to be changed into."
"So, what happens when you have a bunch of different species, who are all deciding to make themselves normal to see?" Charizard had to ask at that detail. "Because we made a lot of different ones, and I don't think Lobasalt are going to be a rare species by next year."
"From the sound of things we already have Kanto Zoroark everywhere," William admitted unhappily. "Possibly a lot of them, although mostly in Kanto."
"That is why I think it is just news instead of good or bad. This many different people changed has the effect that it makes all of them less impactful, but it will also make all of them easier too," Lily answered happily. "That's good because it means we don't need a big population of any one of the species to make it less likely that they cause a transformation disaster of some kind, but its kind of not good because it means that we're probably going to have a lot of people changing species a lot more often."
Charizard shared a look with Alexa. "Is that really a problem?" his trainer questioned. "I think that as long as they can keep changing it should be fine, right? I mean, it isn't a bad choice to be able to make."
"Also, the whole translation issue is already making it so we have more pokemon becoming trainers without being humans first," Charizard added carefully. "I think that might be a bigger thing than some humans deciding to be pokemon."
"Wait, if a pokemon turns into a human, could they turn into one of these other kinds of pokemon too?" Pikachu asked with considerable confusion. "I get that you're talking about some special sort of pokemon that are sort of human, but I don't really get why."
"Technically there isn't anything stopping any pokemon from turning into any other pokemon with the right setup," Lily laughed. "That just would be a really strange way to try for that sort of thing." Then the Typhlosion looked thoughtful. "Although it does touch on a topic I wanted to go over with this set of changes. Another thing with humans turned to pokemon is that their kids tend to end up a matching species, like any other pokemon who have kids. However, that doesn't mean that the kids really fit with that pokemon species. So, Pikachu, if you were turned human and we tried to make you into 'the pokemon you were supposed to be' you might not end up a chu."
"I think it might be better to say I might not end up a char," Charizard pointed out, although it was a strange topic to hear about. "Although I doubt I could pull off Venustoise now, I figured out that I really don't like the Grass type since I suggested it to your Charizard."
"You say that like you weren't just making a silly joke," Pikachu pointed out dryly, then seemed to get worried about Charizard's smile in response.
"The joke was that I was serious," he replied with a laugh. "I had half a plan and everything." An exaggeration, he only considered it after saying it, but not truly inaccurate.
"I know, that is my point," Pikachu complained back at him. "You were messing with him and weren't actually going to try anytime soon." Charizard glared at the little rodent for that dig.
---
Alexa had a good enough time talking about the details of what would and wouldn't be easier. It was rather technical, and she wasn't sure she really understood all of it, but the key point seemed to be that it would be safer overall to have it less of an impressive mystical change and more consistent.
"I'm not sure if I'm happier or not about all this stuff being safer," Ash admitted, the Lugia more uncomfortable after hearing all of it. "I'm already in meetings about how we need to handle transformed humans that show up in the TV part of the tournament. We aren't sure if we are going with the standard for pokemon-trainers," He nodded over at William, "Or if we should call attention to the fact that they were changed."
"Um, I'd like to know how you're handling that if you've decided," Alexa pointed out. "I kind of want to use pokemon forms for the League, and a lot of the former humans we're talking about are going to know about me."
"I'm more interested in what the 'standard' I'm going to deal with either way is," William added. "Although it sounds like I might end up asked if I was human before at this rate."
"If you keep your disguise up the whole time we don't mention it at all, if it breaks we go over how pokemon can be trainers," Ash answered William first. "If you don't use a disguise then we have a good five or ten minutes where we have to explain that pokemon can be trainers before they see a match with one. Although we know we're going with that part this time already. The question is mostly if we go over that some of the pokemon who are trainers also used to be human without the trainer saying it first."
"It is a long speech," Pikachu pointed out. "And we've had to listen to it a few times now to see what needs to be fixed. I think I know more than I want to know about the rules for being both at once."
"Has the Johto League ever used that before?" Lily questioned jokingly, although Alexa was interested in the actual answer.
"Three times for the preliminary rounds, but not after in the TV part yet," Ash easily answered. "Not because we haven't had any pokemon-trainers make it that far, but none of them were revealed during the TV part. I'm the only pokemon-Champion we have right now, but one did make it to the finals."
"So you are ready for pokemon-trainers, just not open ones," Alexa pointed out, almost reassured. "I have no idea if it would be better to go along with the ones who want to pretend they were always pokemon or not in that case. I'd rather not go along with that idea, it would just make them think that is a good thing to do, and I don't really approve."
"I think my recent lessons in being a Legendary pokemon say that might matter," Ash said with a look over at an amused but otherwise quiet Suicune.
"I understand much of what Lily has been talking about here, and Ash is quite correct," Suicune agreed thoughtfully. "You will have some influence on the species you created, although likely less than you desire. If you want someone to be able to be those kind of pokemon you should be able to allow the change regardless of their nature, and if you want to reverse or prevent the change it will be possible to some degree. Although you might need to personally remove the change as an option in those cases, and I suppose you already could reverse the changes anyway."
Alexa thought of a number of cold people who needed to be outright icy, in particular one she knew would not change without her forcing it. This technically was only news in that she might be able to do the opposite as well, and take away a change someone had already been able to use. Which sort of hurt to think about, taking away an ability to change that the user might like, but she could also immediately see that she might run into someone who should not be allowed to have a change, at least for some time. Someone like the Mew she had forced to be clay, or the other Lugia that made a curse that angered her so much that Alexa did not want to meet that Legendary for fear of what she would do to that pokemon.
"I kind of hate that we will need to use that eventually," Charizard agreed with her out loud.
---
[Author's Note]
This is the chapter I got stuck on for a long time, and it feels good to finally have it done in a way I like.
... even if it also features a major rewrite to cut an entire planned plot development that just was not working for getting the story to keep going. The majority of the delay was in fact me finally realizing that I needed to cut that part, and that there really was not a way around that reality.
Last edited: