Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a hot day. Actually it had been a hot week; Alexis was absolutely sweltering. Today though, she was going to do something about it! Underneath her normal clothing, she had on a swimsuit and tucked under her arm was a cloth bag that held a water bottle and a towel. Lexi was getting more used to the human lifestyle. It had actually seemed like ages since she had seen a normal Pokémon. She didn’t know how they would react to her, but currently, the heat was her biggest concern. She was heading for a rivet, the river that had brought her here. It was quite intimidating before the transformation, but now, she was pretty sure she could handle it.

Upon reaching the riverbank, she set down her bag, and slid off what she had been wearing, over the rather modest swimsuit. Neatly folding her clothing, she set them in a pile on top of the bag. She then edged over to the river and first stuck a toe in. The water was cool, but not too cold. With a smile, she slowly made her way into the river. She was quite shocked to find, that in her new form, the water at the center of the river only came up to her shoulders. The current didn’t feel nearly as swift as it had before. She sighed, a happy smile on her face. Then she noticed something odd. On the opposite bank of her clothes, some of the grass seemed blackened. She made her way over to the other side and slowly made her way out. That’s weird, she thought, it looks like the grass has been burned.

As she examined the trail of burnt grass, she thought she heard a voice. Startled, she jumped and then looked about, trying to find the source. Seeing the little, fiery slug, she panicked. She realized it was a Pokémon, but not being that well versed in the many different varieties; she had no idea what type the slug was. As she stood frozen, she looked up at the Slugma and down at the trail. Thinking that it was likely that this creature had caused the burns and that more likely than not, it could very well be rather hot, she was glad she was near the river.

In her panic, she used the only move she knew. She growled at the Slugma, though it came out as more of a squeak, then she fled into the water. From the safety of the cool water, she, somewhat, regained her composure. “Um, hello, how are you?” she replied, before sinking into the water, so that just the top half of her head was exposed, more than enough to see the little fire slug or to hear her reply or even to continue breathing, which was always a plus.

The Slugma had done nothing to harm her, but she was a bit jumpy, and she certainly knew that fire hurt.

Sticking her head out of the water enough to talk, Lexi replied, “Um, it’s ok, Just, I didn’t expect to run into the fire and the burning and I was just planning on going for a nice swim, I don’t mean to be rude though; I’m not saying you can’t come here. I was just caught off guard, yeah,” she replied in a bit of a ramble; it was clear she was still a bit shaken. The fear of fire is far from uncommon and it seemed likely that she had at least a little bit of it, in addition to whatever fears of strangers she might possess. It was easy to worry about one’s safety when all you could really do was growl and run away.

“Well that’s good; I am alright, I guess, the water is nice and cool,” she commented back, nodding nervously. “What brings you out here, near the river, so frequently, it seems, based on all the burn marks?” she inquired of the Slugma, before adding, “Oh, and I am Alexis, who are you? And um, I don’t know many Pokémon, uh, what are you?”

Lexi watched the little Slugma tilt her head and tried to mimic her, though she was quite incapably of tilting it nearing as far as Calcifier. Not really even realizing that she was saying it out loud, she muttered, ‘Wow, you tilt your head far…” She was intrigued by her flexibility; she wished she could move like that. It would come in handy when looking all about for danger.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to apologize. I should apologize for over reacting!” She didn’t really think she had overreacted, running from lava is a natural reaction, but Calci was sad; Lexi didn’t want to make her feel sad.

“Can you swim in lava?” she asked, not really having any idea if a pool of lava would be like a pool of water, other than the heat of course. She then quickly added another question, “Can I call you Calci?”

“Well,” she started as she began her explanation, “I was originally a regular Ralts. I had met a couple Pokémon who were like I am now though. After I moved in with my human though, I found this star outside. It made me go to sleep, for like days. When I woke up, I looked like this. Well, Celes gave me the clothes, but more or less, like this.”

“Wow!” Alexis replied in wonder, “You have no bones? That means you never have to worry about breaking them and could get through all sorts of things!” She could really get away if she had no bones and could squeeze through things!

“Oh, well that makes sense, I guess. That would be weird though, not being able to tell where you were exactly.” She didn’t like the way that sounded, it didn’t seem right, to not be able to tell where you were. She understood why Calci wouldn’t want to do that.”I’m sorry you can’t swim,” she added with a saddened look, “even the hottest water would be too cold for you….”

“Ok, Calci it is!”

“Really? I have met a few, but never a Jirachi! I wonder how many Pokémon are like me.” She couldn’t help but find it odd that she knew so many more changed Pokémon, then regular ones.

“Um, so the water itself wouldn’t hurt you? It would just harden you?” she repeated back thinking. “Well, um,” she began, “you would have to count on someone else, but would it be possible for you to swim, for maybe a moment or two, until you harden, and then have someone else carry you back to lava and drop you in? Would that make you all lava-y again?” She thought it might work, but she really had no idea. “Do you think you could feel the water while hardened? And slugmas don’t sleep? Not even near lava where it is really hot?” The initial fear passing, she was all full of questions of her new fiery friend.

“I wonder if I will ever meet this Jirachi; it would be nice to meet another like me,” she replied. Smiling at the little slugma, she commented, “Well, if you are interested, keep your eyes open for a star! I wonder though, if you did transform, if you would still need to be so hot? Maybe you wouldn’t need to be, maybe less lava-y?” She really had no idea, but was curious.

“Oh, that’s unfortunate that even near lava you will harden. It sounds like it would be very tiring always having to move, never being able to sleep,” Alexis replied, “It sounds like it would be best not to try then, it would be a long walk and we wouldn’t want you to be in pain; that would be very bad…” She couldn’t help but be saddened that she couldn’t do anything to help. Suddenly a pop jumped into her mind. “If you do see the star, be careful! I hope it changes you so that you could stop moving, cause, well, when I first found it. It, um, knocked me out and I was asleep for a while.” She was worried about what might happen to the slugma if it didn’t change her in such a way.

“Maybe I will.” That thought brought a smile to her face; she would like to meet another one of her kind. “Oh? How old is he really?”

Lexi nodded at her question, “It is real warm today…for me. It has been warm for a while and just keeps getting warmer; that is why I am swimming."

“Oh,” Lexi replied, “I guess since it’s all you know, that you would be use to it…” She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to never sleep, to never stop moving. She wasn’t lazy or anything, but she really enjoyed sleeping, and always moving, just watching the slugma constantly moving was tiring her out.

“Hmm, I wonder if that means he doesn’t age. I wonder if I will be stuck looking like the cross between a Pokémon and a human child, for the rest of my life, or if eventually I will look like an older human or if I will still even evolve?” She would be lying if she said that all of this uncertainty, about her new form, didn’t worry her.

“Overheating isn’t nice, but really, just being in the water is enough to stay cool. I don’t want to keep you though, if you have to go.”