--- Breakthroughs ---
The water didn't actually feel different this time, but Alexa knew how to move as a Lobasalt much better. How the stiffness of hardened lava could best move, and how to use all of her limbs effectively. Admittedly she had not had time to properly swim, and that made her somewhat regret not going across the water to Cianwood, but this wasn't as uncertain of an attempt as the first time.
"You need to find some time to learn to swim properly," William said to her. He had revealed that he typically turned into a Buizel with an illusion to swim when he joined her down there. "It is an important skill. I think I've overheard that even Charizard had lessons on that."
"We had lessons on how to deal with water getting on our tails. I simply took those so far I practically learned how to swim," her Fire/Water typed Starter specified jokingly from next to her.
"I don't trust him on that," Kingler noted dryly. "He was swimming just fine right after his first change to actually be his favorite type."
"Do I need to be down here for this?" the other Buizel shaped pokemon questioned. Chesnaught had to put up with being a secondary target of William's illusion of this kind, apparently for combat reasons Alexa didn't quite get yet. "You don't seem to need a spotter, and Charizard is worrying all the locals enough without me looking like an unevolved pokemon."
"We didn't get a swim across a water Route this year," William half complained as he managed a complicated maneuver that a Lobasalt definitely could not match. "I'm probably not going to get another chance to show Alexa how I handle those. It needs a lot more diving than just a few lakes and rivers to cross."
"I'm a Grass/Fighting type, I'm not supposed to get this waterlogged," Chesnaught complained and made for the surface. "That doesn't change no matter how many times you do this to me."
Alexa went up as well, done with this form and not quite ready to try and switch while underwater. She now had enough of a handle to be willing to try Mephagic in the water without poisoning anyone, and she also wanted to see what Spectslurry or Gatpotear was like in this pond. Only before she could try she ended up saving Bellossom from a conversation that her Grass/Electric pokemon had become stuck in with some traveling trainers on their way to Blackthorn.
"I hope we reach the point where 'talking pokemon' doesn't just mean 'pokemon-trainer' soon," Bellossom complained as the group of trainers left towards Dark Cave with a glare at something the plant-lizard pokemon was holding.
"I'm not sure it really means that right now," Charizard laughed. "You just got cornered by someone who thought it meant that while Alexa was off doing something else."
"You weren't here either," Herman pointed out with a smirk. "You are a talking pokemon-trainer too." Charizard huffed at that, but the point was made. "But honestly they probably will figure it out when they run into what's going on with Dark Cave."
"Alexa, I think I've got something with how to shift the energy," Rhydon cut in happily. "Can you help me go between Ground, Dragon, and Steel for a bit?"
"Sure, what part of those three do you think is the important one?" Alexa asked, and quickly was entirely distracted from what she had been doing before.
---
The clearing looked unimportant, but ever since they arrived Alexa had been feeling the tension from their attempts to just change types without a substance or item. Rhydon was the only other member of their team that had noticed that sensation, although it was usually only happening when the two of them made an attempt.
"So, back here again," Charizard said uneasily. "And you're trying new stuff again," he added with a glance towards Suicune. "Please tell me you are going to be safe about this. The first time was terrible enough, even if it worked out in the long run."
"Honestly, this doesn't sound like it should be dangerous to Alexa," Suicune specified in response to that glance. "It is actually a bit strange that she hasn't become able to do this yet. It fits with your natures, and isn't that big of a change from what she has been doing. I don't know what else to try if going back to this location doesn't trigger it, but that might be a worse outcome of trying."
"Worse?" Alexa asked, suddenly uneasy with that odd tension. "Worse how?" The fact that she was human shaped at the moment only made the worry greater as she couldn't understand the rest of her team.
"I'd have liked to hear that before we got here," Bellossom complained idly, and the way the words had to be repeated to be understood reminded Alexa that Bellossom had the team's other translator. With how often Alexa could just understand pokemon herself, and how many trainers now had their own translators, it was hard to tell who was using one.
"Worse in that I don't understand why you couldn't pull off that sort of change, and it would mean there is an aspect of your Legendary nature none of us currently understand," Suicune answered carefully. "I don't know what it would mean, and that is much more hazardous than anything else that I could think of happening as a result of trying."
Alexa felt a bit more nervous about trying with that knowledge, but it was still something she at least wanted to see if she could do, and working together was helping Rhydon work out how to properly do the shifts too. "Well, Rhydon thinks that the Mercury Contagion is a good place to start for his own attempts, and I want to try forcing a Vipercury change on myself as part of this," Alexa specified, going back to just trying the attempt. "Then if that works the next bit is to try and shift to Dragon, because the power of that change is a bit stronger than the others and it doesn't last as long. Then shift back to normal."
Rhydon then started to explain what he would be doing, at least Alexa assumed that was what he was saying. He was going to try not to use any Contagions at all while going through the same three changes, although with his Ground/Grass form as a baseline instead of his original one without any changes as his normal. His attempts to change himself had not quite worked all the way yet, but he had reached the point where he could gain a third Steel type without using an external move.
"Okay, Mercury Contagion forced to work on myself," Alexa said as Charizard got out the Pokedex, although this probably would not be data they made public. The drop hit her, and by this point the sensation of melting into flowing liquid metal was actually familiar. Although becoming a large liquid metal snake wasn't the same as a liquid metal Vespikiln or a watery clay Spectslurry. It was thinner, and more notably the serpent form seemed to want to splash across the ground a lot more. "I feel more like a little stream than a snake," she commented as she started to inspect the change itself.
Visually she wasn't much different from the other Vipercury they had met/made so far, but with regards to the energy of the change she could see a difference. There was a 'mark' of sorts on her energy where it had been forced to accept the change, one that was firmer than the change itself. An alteration that Alexa would have to deliberately remove from herself, or presumably anyone else she forced to change, before Mercury Contagion stopped being able to work on her again. It was somewhat familiar, at least in comparison to how the forms she knew worked on herself fit together with the natural shape of her energy.
"I think I can see how to make stuff not work on people," Alexa noted aloud about that last detail. It would be as 'simple' as changing that natural shape in the other way, so the energy didn't 'fit' anymore. "So that is another option for how to handle combat use of changes better when it comes to other trainers." The energy shape was interesting enough on its own, and felt similar to what Rhydon had been trying to make without the details of Alexa's senses for such things. "Hmm."
"Sounds like you have an idea," Rhydon said eagerly at that sound.
"Do we need to back up?" Charizard asked with amusement, although William's team apparently took him seriously as they moved a bit farther away with their own practice.
"Maybe a little, I'm going to try and shift to Crackleling now," Alexa specified and attempted to do something more like what Rhydon had suggested they try next. Instead of just forming the pattern of having the extra type, she tried to specifically form the pattern of being able to change to the specific set of types. It wasn't quite the same as the pattern she could now see to change when exposed to the right substance, but the goal was to change without that exposure.
The tension got slightly worse as she started, and slightly painful as she made a couple of failed patterns. The shape was tricky, but every time she was able to work out a bit better what was needed. Then after a half dozen attempts, and William's team moving closer again, it suddenly dropped away entirely with a pop as her types shifted directly from Steel/Poison Vipercury to Dragon/Electric Crackleling.
"Oh! Oh that makes a lot of sense," Alexa declared as more than just that specific change clicked into place, sparking wildly as she started to poke at other forms. With only a minor effort compared to the first time she shifted to Mephagic next, then Vespikiln, and then- "Oh, well. That's a limit," she stopped herself with a bit of annoyance as going to the Mercury Contagion Vespikiln variant failed to work in a way that would be a lot trickier to get around. "I still need to get other layers the hard way."
"Please go back to human to show you still can," Bellossom requested tiredly as Rhydon eagerly got started on his own experiments.
"Fine," Alexa jokingly buzzed, and then reset her types to her natural even level. Which easily resulted in her going back to human form. "There see?"
"Looks to me like it works," Herman said, and Alexa froze at the still clear and understandable way he spoke. "Um, what's wrong?"
"Charizard, if you're done with the Pokedex I need a scan of how loose my energy is right now," Alexa requested and nearly interrupted Rhydon-
Glowing and growing to the size of his Dragon typed change in a clear show of evolution. The glow receded to reveal a form close to, but quite not the same as, his prior Grass/Dragon typed change. His leaves now seemed to be a wider variety of shapes, and possibly changing shape a bit as he moved. He looked a lot more like a Rhydon actually, with the vines and leaves filling in better than before, and Alexa saw him shift types a few times as various core materials formed at the heart of the collection of plant material that made him up.
"Well. It's a good thing I like being a Rhypiary," Rhydon nervously joked at the result. "Because I think I'm going to need layers to stop being a plant now."
"Are we going with 'Rhypiary' for this one?" Alexa asked a bit nervous herself, and drew attention off the new evolution. "Yeah, I think I understand pokemon all the time now too, but that's not as big as this."
"Rhypiary works," her newly evolved pokemon confirmed as he stretched and moved a bit. "Let me try something." Rhypiary's body then shifted entirely to match Suicune's shape, and then color, while still being a mobile bush that was notably larger than Suicune actually was. "Huh, well I guess I'm able to just do this all the time."
"Well, I'm not sure I should help a potential rival this close to the Tournament," William started with amusement. "But I can help you with that sort of thing if you want. Did you change types for that too?"
"Grass/Water," Charizard answered for Rhypiary. "I think we know what Rhypiary is going to be working on next: how to do something with every type."
"I think that was already his plan," Kingler complained as she clattered over to look at him more closely. "Honestly, I'm more worried about what happened to Alexa. We all knew Rhydon wasn't going to stop looking like that, this just means he'll stop worrying about using Crystal Syrup to stay that way."
Rhypiary then shifted and changed to match Kingler, although still at the same much larger size. "True, but you at least can go back to the way you were before," he half complained in her shape, then went back to his new default shape. "I'm not going to fit into rooms as easily now."
Alexa flinched at that, and then only halfway intending to shifted to Florabedtor. "Okay, that is a problem we need to handle," Alexa said to her pokemon.
"Did you change on purpose there?" Charizard questioned bluntly.
"Kinda, I might need to get a handle on this," Alexa admitted as she waddled over to Rhypiary to get another look at him. "But I can at least change my size when I need to."
---
"So," Suicune said thoughtfully later that night. "Now that it has had a chance to settle, I want to talk about what happened today." She had misjudged the situation to a degree. "And the mistake that I might have made."
The now Rhypiary looked at her, while Alexa was exploring being a Vipercury and looked unhappy to be distracted from that. "Is this about my evolution, or Alexa's energy?" Rhypiary questioned a bit grumpily.
"The evolution more than the energy, but both to a degree," Suicune answered regretfully. "I had thought this would simply allow you both to develop an ability to expand what you could do, not fully unlock a new aspect of being Legendary. This was the sort of thing that cannot be taken back, and if I had realized it was what was happening I would have instead suggested caution and consideration before continuing with attempts. I'm sorry that I've left both of you altered in ways that cannot be undone."
"Is this a Fire thing?" Alexa carefully asked with a bit of confusion, and Suicune couldn't quite place what the Fire type had to do with this. Even if it made her uneasy to hear for some reason.
"I think that you mean a Vaporeon thing," Rhypiary said, and the meaning became clear. As well as what was actually bothering Suicune, as this was too close to that disaster.
"Yes, it is something I am worried about because it happened to me," Suicune confirmed with a wince. "I have many regrets, even if I also have many joys, from that outcome."
"Kingler wasn't wrong about me wanting this form as my default," Rhypiary specified bluntly. "I'm not upset about being a Rhypiary, I'm upset that Rhypiary are apparently this big. Its annoying, but it isn't bad."
"I'm not sure I understand why what has happened to me is a problem?" Alexa said with more confusion now. "I get why you'd be upset with what happened to Rhypiary, but I can just understand pokemon now. Well, I guess change more easily too-"
"Too easily, she keeps changing on accident. Now Alexa needs to work on holding a shape better," Herman cut his trainer off. "Although on topic, I don't want to be stuck with a bat, I just want to use it for the League. So I'd like to know what went wrong specifically, so I don't end up stuck next."
"It isn't precisely something 'wrong'," Suicune carefully corrected, and tried to remember the last time she had to deal with this. Which now that she considered it might have been when she was changed if her siblings dealing with the issue didn't count. "It is a natural change in this case, and one that took active action to produce. As long as you don't work on that method exclusively in your bat form it shouldn't get you stuck there."
"And if you don't want to be stuck there then don't try it now," Rhypiary warned with a rustle of leaves. "This method does not handle layers past the lowest, so it wouldn't even help with your bat form's other type variants in that case."
"I think working on more layers is my next personal project after the League," Alexa added in response to that, and shifted form again. The main Typechange Legendary was doing that a lot now.
---
It was technically a problem that her team had just finished fixing. "Technically" because Rhypiary also struggled with this new development as much as Alexa. It wasn't trying not to break a type, but the change made it so types were optional in a too easy to shift way. Florabedtor was the closest single form, and the only one Alexa could manage to control additional type changes for so far, with how that form's secondary type shifted naturally.
"I think we need to face the idea that Alexa isn't having the same problem we were," Charizard mirrored her thoughts on the latest failures to stay stable. "She's just, not fixed in form anymore. Like being liquid, only for full body shapes instead of just how you move." That description actually helped a bit, as holding a form when liquid was a much different problem then not breaking a type.
"Maybe try your Frozen Flame," Kingler suggested thoughtfully. That was a solid enough idea since that form was one Alexa had not tried yet, even if she might not need it anymore to change to Wendrago.
"If it works to keep me one thing for a while, then I guess I can put up with taking it off again," Alexa admitted and opened up the bag to find it. "I nearly lost the thing in Ice Path, but Storm helped me find it to make sure I didn't add another thing to their pile of lost transformation trinkets."
The little box she knew that she put it back into, specifically because of that mentioned event, was quickly found and opened. Only for the stone to immediately begin to melt down into a mixture of water and dragon fire that streamed into Alexa.
"Is that a good sign or a bad one?" Herman asked in the silence that followed.
"Well, the goal was to get Alexa to stay in a single form, so it just doing whatever that was is a bad one for that plan," Charizard pointed out.
"I'm still not sure that I needed that to happen to make this change," Alexa said as she deliberately shifted to Wendrago. "But I think I might just need to practice. Can anyone spot it in me now?"
"Nope, just solid ice and scales where it used to be," Kingler dully noted. "Maybe some flames inside your ice now? Hard to tell in this light."
---
[Author's Note]
Rhypiary was a goal for me that I knew would still work despite the loss of the Fighting Gym arc, but Alexa's situation here was more of a maybe.
In the end... I had too many people end up self-shapeshifting as a result of doing a lot less than Alexa has in DSS, and I realized that I probably shouldn't make her an exception to that.
Also some more Suicune character moments here that I like how they fit in.
