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“It hurts Sasha, it hurts,” Alexis whimpered, tears in her eye. They had been running about a field, when Lexi had suddenly tripped and skinned her knee. She still sat upon the ground, having no desire to stand on it. The scrape wasn’t really that bad, but, to her, it seemed horrifying.

“It doesn’t look to bad, Lexi. You’ll be all better in no time! I’m sure Celes can fix it up,” came Sasha’s reply. The scrape didn’t seem that bad to her, but concern could still be heard in her voice.

“But Celes won’t be home for hours! It could get infected!” Lexi countered. Looking down at the ground, she asked, “What if they have to cut it off?!” Just the thought, no matter how unlikely, was enough to make the little ralts girl shake in worry.

“I’m sure that won’t happen!” Sasha proclaimed. Suddenly it hit her, though, and she added, “I am pretty sure I saw a Poke center not far from here. It’s one of those ones that is just in the wild. I am sure they can patch you up there!”

A wave of relief passed over Lexi at the thought of getting immediate medical attention. It was just then, that she remembered Myrrh. She had dropped the little stone when she had fallen. “Where’s Myrrh?!” she exclaimed as she frantically looked about.

Being a rock, Myrrh didn’t respond to tell her that she was merely a few feet away. That wasn’t a problem though; Sasha soon saw the stone and retrieved her. “I got her!” Sasha giggled out. She couldn’t help but think that Lexi’s devoting to the rock was amusing.

“Thank you for finding her, Sasha!” Lexi exclaimed. “Um, Sasha,” Lexi asked, “do you think you could help me get to the poke center?”

“Of course!” came Sasha’s answer, as she bent down and picked the Ralts up in her arms. Despite Lexi technically being older, Sasha had a very easy time carrying her.

Myrrh in Lexi’s arms and Lexi in Sasha’s, they proceeded to the Pokémon Center. They hoped to find medical attention, but who knew what else they might find. It was only a short distance away and, before long, they were at the entrance.

Sasha rushed through the doors, and then stopped, looking around in confusion. She had never actually been in a Poke Center before; at least she couldn’t remember ever being in one. “Um, Lexi,” she asked, “where exactly do we go?”

Pointing at the front desk, Lexi replied, “Over there!” She had never actually been to a Poke Center either, but she was much more familiar with human dwellings and businesses then Sasha was; she was also a tad brighter. Not that Sasha was stupid, she was just lacking in experiences.

Rushing to the front desk, Sasha set Lexi on top of it. Lexi sat there, her legs out in front of her,
leaning back on the palm of her right hand, and whined, “My knee, it hurts!.”

The Nurse Joy looked at Lexi and Sasha in confusion. She had probably heard the rumors, but she had, obviously, not actually seen a Poke-human before. It would be an unusual sight for anyone not use to it. Luckily, the injury was very mild; otherwise, the Nurse would be at a loss as what to do. The likes of Lexi and Sasha weren’t exactly standard training. Her scraped knee, though, could be easily taken care of. The Joy pulled out a first aid kit and quickly set about patching her up.

Holding up the odd keystone, Lexi added, “Myrrh fell too! She should get a band aid!” The nurse, amused by this, pulled out an extra band aid and handed it to Lexi, so that she could bandage the stone. Lexi placed it carefully on the crack that had been there ever since she had found the stone. Despite it already being there, it was the most fitting spot for a bandage.

As Lexi was getting her scrape checked, Sasha looked about the Poke Center. She smiled and waved when she saw the small Cyndaquil, she had never seen a Pokémon like that before! She wanted to go over and meet the little guy, but, Sasha wasn’t going to leave her good friend and roommate alone at the counter. She was sure she was almost don’t getting patched up though.

“Thank you!” Lexi replied once the nurse said she was finished. She then quickly added, with a giggle, “Myrrh thanks you as well!” At that, Sasha grasped onto Lexi and lifted her off the counter and set her back on the ground. Looking down at her knee and bending it, she happily exclaimed, “All better!”

Now that Lexi seemed healed, Sasha turned her attention back to the little Cyndaquil. Hurrying over, she enthusiastically proclaimed, “I’m Sasha!” then added, first pointing at Alexis, then at the rock in Alexis’ hands, “This is Lexi and that’s Myrrh! What’s your name?” Not really giving the little Pokémon a chance to reply, she bent down to lick his face, being sure to avoid the areas that appeared to be on fire.

Seeing Sasha set off, Lexi noticed the Cyndaquil as well. She was a bit nervous, since he was obviously a fire type and she had more than a healthy fear of fire. Still, she had Sasha with her. Sasha would keep her safe! So, not completely paralyzed with fear, she followed after her companion. Though, once she saw Sasha bend down, she knew what was coming. “Sasha! No! Wait!” she started, but it was, as usual, too late.

Sasha, who was convinced that she could guess a Pokémon’s type by taste alone, proudly proclaimed, “You are a fire type! “ For the first time in her life, Sasha guessed correctly! With a giggle and a slight shake of her head, Lexi couldn’t help but think, you mean the flames on his back didn’t give it away.

Catching up the Sasha, Lexi exclaimed, “Sasha! I keep telling you, it’s rude to lick strangers! Even if you think you can guess their type by doing it.”

Turning to Lexi, she replied, “Sorry, but I am certain I got it right this time!” Turning back to face Tori, Sasha added, “It is a pleasure to meet you Tori! What kind of Pokémon are you? Um, I don’t really know what happened. I don’t have any memories before looking like this. I’m not even sure what kind of Pokémon I use to be….” Trailing off, she gestured to Lexi, “She remembers things before though!”

At Sasha’s remark, Lexi started, still standing behind Sasha, but peeking around, “Well, I don’t really know what happened. All I know is one day, I am a Ralts and then I found a star and blacked out. When I woke up, I looked like this.” Shrugging slightly, she added, “I am certain the star had something to do with it, but I’m not sure how it worked or what will happen next.”

“I was right!” Sasha exclaimed in a state of complete elation. She knew if she had kept at it, she would soon learn to perfect the ability to taste the type of her fellow Pokémon. She had no idea what species of Pokémon she was, but obviously it had that ability.

Even though she knew it was obvious, thanks to the Cyndaquil's flaming
back, Lexi couldn’t help but feel disappointment. She knew that Sasha had to eventually get it right, just based on random chance. Now that she had succeeded once, though, Lexi didn’t think she would ever convince her friend to stop licking strangers. It was just rude! Also, it was very unhygienic. Sasha didn’t have any idea where these other Pokémon had been.

“So, um, is that your trainer over there?” Lexi inquired of the little fiery Pokémon, as she gestured towards the seated man. She had never had a trainer and was rather unsure of the whole thing. She lived with Celes, but that wasn’t a normal trainer and Pokémon relationship. Celes took care of her, but she never had her battle and she had never seen the insides of a pokeball. During Lexi’s inquiry, Sasha brought her tail to just over her mouth and rung it out. She was thirsty!

“His first Pokémon?” Sasha began, “So he has others? What other kinds? Where are they? Are they healing in the pokecenter?” She managed to get through all of that without a single pause for breath. It practically came out as one sentence. She was still excited about being correct in her guess, and she was hoping that she might be able to meet even more Pokémon!

Lexi though, her focus was on a different part of the Cyndaquil’s statement.
“Team Rocket?” she repeated back slowly. It sounded familiar to her. She was sure she had heard the name before, but she couldn’t quite place it. “What is team rocket?”

"Yeah," Sasha added, "What is Team Rocket?" Unlike Lexi, the name had no connections in her mind whatsoever. This was the first time she had ever heard it.