Welcome to Gaia! ::

“It….it…it’s too cold,” Honey stuttered out, her arms tightly wrapped around herself. Despite the layers of extra clothing, she was still quite cold, not dangerously cold, but definitely not pleasantly cold. Despite generally being reluctant to go exploring, when Lilly dragged her along she generally ended up having a good time. This wasn’t looking to be one of those times. A Combee, even a humanoid Combee, was simply not meant for the cold.

This was not what Lilly had expected. For the first time, Lilly actually regretted going exploring. Her Grass Type body was not made for cold weather. She too was wearing way more clothing than normal, but it did not seem to help. In general, for a Grass Type, it would be a good idea to be wary of Fire Types, but, at this moment, she would love to meet one. When Lexi and Sasha had told her about the time they had played in the snow, it had sounded like so much fun. Maybe they had just gone too high into the mountains, but, currently, this was not fun at all. “Ye..ye…yeah it is,” Lilly replied. This would be one of the few times that she would be willing to admit to having a bad idea.

Still, Lilly wasn’t quite ready to quit, so the two of them trudged onwards, through the snow.

“What’s that?” Lilly asked, looking upwards and ahead.

“It looks like….smoke?” Honey replied.

“Smoke? Out here?” Lilly questioned, wondering what had caused it. It definitely didn’t look like a lot of smoke. “Maybe someone built a campfire?”

“A campfire!" Honey cried out. Just the thought of it was enough to warm her slightly. "That sounds so nice! Nice and toasty!” Normally she would be reluctant to approach some fire wielding strangers in the middle of the wilderness, but the cold was changing Honey’s stance, at least for now.

“Yeah it does!” Lilly exclaimed. She couldn’t wait to be warmer. Maybe this trip would end up being a good idea after all! “C’mon, let’s go!”

At that, the two girls rushed towards the source of the smoke.

At Venka’s comment that she was expecting them, both girls couldn’t help but be befuddled. The fire, though, was close and rather inviting, so neither commented on the unexpected circumstances, they both merely rushed towards it and sat down in front of it.

“So warm….” Honey cooed, a smile of relief making itself apparent, on her face. “I thought we were going to freeze out there. Thank you Venka. I’m Honey.”

Lilly stretched her legs out in front of her, glad to finally warming up. “We weren’t in any real danger, silly. Thank you, though, Venka! This does feel a lot nicer then the cold did. Oh! And I am Lilly! What kind of Pokémon are you?”

Somewhat less determined in making her point, mostly due to the Victini’s help, Lilly replied, “Well, if you say so….. Still, I don’t think it was anything we couldn’t have handled. Lexi and Sasha did it just fine.”

Giving Lilly an icy look, Honey stated, “I don’t think this is quite where they went to play in the snow.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right….” she replied, before adding, “I bet they didn’t go nearly as far into the mountains! Wait till they hear about it!”

Her look softening, Honey smiled and shook her head slightly as Lilly’s comment. Turning to face Venka, she replied, “So you’re a Victini? Wow! I have read about those, but I never thought I'd come across one!”

“Victini?” Lilly echoed, “Victini… Victini…. Victini…. OH! You are a Fire and a Psychic type right? Lexi is a Psychic type too! She is one of our roommates! She is also a Ghost Type though…. Psychic and Ghost! I am a Lilligant! A Grass Type!”

Honey couldn’t help but giggle at Lilly’s excitement. She had been drilling her for hours about the various Pokémon types; it looked like her flowery companion was finally catching on to them all. Honey then added, when she was sure Lilly had finished, “And I am a Combee…. Though we aren’t a normal Combee or Lilligant… We found this odd star and it changed us into…well… it changed us into this.”

Blushing slightly, Honey replied, “Thank you, but really, we were just normal Pokémon before.I mean, we are certainly different not, but before the star, I don’t think there was anything out of the ordinary with us; we just got lucky. And well, I really wanted to find one; maybe that helped?”

“I didn’t like the idea of changing so much,” Lilly admitted, “Though once it happened, it was nice. I knew that Honey wanted to, but I…I liked being a Lilligant, but now I am a unique Lilligant! So it is even better!”

“Yeah, but we know a bunch of other Pokémon like us; it seems to be happening more frequently? I’m not really sure….”

“The star, it looked like an um, star,” Lilly answered, “It glowed! We found it in a very big bush.”

Honey couldn’t help but quietly giggle at Lilly’s answer, “It is hard to be more specific then that… It didn’t hurt, but it did make us very sleepy; when we woke, we were like this. But the star was gone then…so we really only saw it while tired. It is hard to remember it clearly.”

“Well, up until a few months ago, we hadn’t ever met any changed Pokémon,” Honey began, slightly adjusting her glasses, “but then we met, CAIZU, a group of Exeggcute. They were the first changed Pokémon we found. They we came across Lexi, who is part Kirlia and part Mismagius, and Sasha, who is part Golett and part Simipour. They were both changed and they let us live with them! Then we found a star and changed. Then we got some more roommates, Meadow, a changed Miltank, and Myrrh; she is a changed Spiritomb. There also is Cascade; she is part Skiploom and part Jellicent! I know some of them have met some others, but I don’t think any of them have been changed Legendaries. Lexi and Sasha met an Arceus…but he was normal. They did say he was looking into the changes, I think?”

Cutting in, before Honey could continue, Lilly added, with a grin, “Why? Do you want to find a star?: Giggling she continued, “The bush where we found ours was near our house, which is in Mana’s grove. “ Turning to Honey, she asked, “Um, do you know about the others?” She had probably been told at some point, but she couldn’t remember.

“Well, both Lexi and Myrrh found their star at the house,” Honey explained, “Meadow, she was on the farm where she was born though. I don’t really know where that is, but it is a few days away and to the south. Sasha, she doesn’t remember where, and Cascade never said. I don’t know where CAIZU found the star…but we met her North of the mountains…so maybe there?”

Nodding, Honey replied, “Yeah, the stars seem to find you, or maybe someone is sending the stars?”

“Sending the stars?” Lilly asked, “You think someone is sending them?”

“Well, I haven’t really thought of it before, but stars are coming to people on purpose, it seems like they would be sent by someone. That makes more sense than sapient stars.”

“Sap…sapient?”

“Able to act intelligently,” Honey replied, figuring that was a good enough answer. “The stars were lying in wait; they didn’t seem to be placed at ran…..wait, did you say a Mew?” She didn’t know of any Mews in the area…though they were able to transform and become invisible. She had read about a legend of one before, but she had thought it was just a myth. A Legendary Pokémon, like Venka, would likely be more aware of such things. “Is there really a Mew in the grove?”

“We live by a Mew?” Lilly questioned, somewhat loudly. She wasn’t as knowledgeable about other Pokémon as Honey was, but she knew about Mew.