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“Well,” Alexis started, her eyes at the ground, “Its way more powerful than any move I know.” With a loud exhale, she first looked to her left, and then her right, before adding in a listless tone, “Out here, I am pretty much defenseless. I pretty much have to run away, always.” A hint of hope in her tone, she added, with a slight shrug, almost as an afterthought, “Maybe one day I will learn something a bit more powerful.” After a moment of thought, she sighed and stated, “Well, enough of that; let’s go see Celes!”

The way was slow going; Lexi was very careful as well as quiet. Never one to rely fully on her ability to sense emotions, she peaked around nearly every bush and tree as they went and tried to avoid making any sounds. She could be quite stealthy when she wanted to be. Despite the slow rate of travel, however, it didn’t take that long. They were actually pretty close to the house to begin with; she hadn’t exactly wandered far from her new home. In fact, if Tulip had continued on her course before, there was a good chance she would have come across it without any help from Alexis.

As they neared a clearing, a moderately sized two story house came into view. It was rustic, yet spacious looking, with a tall fence around the backyard. “Well, it doesn’t look like she is home yet, but she should be soon.” Motioning towards a gate, with a small hole at its base, that that stood between the fence and the house, she added, “We can go in there. I can fit through the hole in it, but it should be unlocked.”

Alexis quickly ducked down and scurried through the hole in the gate, the very hole she had gone through when she had first arrived here. It hadn’t been long, but it felt like ages since she had lived at her old home, if you could call a small hole, in a large tree's root structure, a home. After getting through, she noticed Tulip fumbling with the handle and was about to say something, but Tulip figured it out before she had a chance to and was soon on the same side of the gate as her.

At Tulip’s question, she responded, “Um, ok, sure! Follow me!” Scuttling along, she cleared the corner of the house and the full backyard was visible. Surrounded by a wooden plank fence, about 6 ft tall, it was relatively flat and covered in grass. In the far corner was a fruit tree of some sort, and bushes concealed the lower half of most of the fence. Almost directly in the center there was a small plastic pool, about half filled, with pictures of various water type Pokemon on it. Running most of the length of the house, was a wooden deck, only raised from the ground a couple inches. Pointing about as she talked, she explained, “Well, um, this is the backyard. There is the tree. Those are the bushes; Celes said they will sprout flowers soon! That is the pool; she set it up right after I started living here! Over there, next to the house is the, um, what did she call it? Oh! The deck, that is the deck. And over there is the sliding door, that’s how I get in and out. I can’t really reach the handle on the other doors.” She then made her way to the edge of the deck, pulled herself up to it and then pushed her body up against the sliding door. Slowly she was able to get the door open; it took a bit of effort on her part, but once she had it open a little, she stuck her hands in the opening and soon it was open wide enough to enter.

Hopping inside, over the railing of the door, which she probably didn’t really need to hop over, she stated, again pointing things out. “This is the main room.” The room appeared to be a combination dining and living room. The floor was wooden, as were the walls. To the right was a passageway that led to a small kitchen, which was only separated from the main room by a long counter built between them. The counter had a couple of bar stools sitting in front of it and what looked like a small basket on top. Further down that wall was a door and a 2nd lay at the farthest corner of the room. Directly to the left was first a small table with 4 chairs and then a stairway leading up. The room was well lit from the light coming in from the slider and the light that entered from a large window that was in the front wall of the house. Directly in front of it lay an off white couch big enough for 2 people. Roughly next to the couch, but lying perpendicular, was a brown sueded chair. A moderately sized tv say within view of both couch and chair, a solid, wooden coffee table lying between. Against several walls lay bookcases that contained both books and DVDs and random oddities, such as tiny statues. “Over there, in the far corner is the restroom. It’s weird, humans go potty in there, in a cold hard bowl full of water that goes down a hole. That’s the kitchen, there is some fruit on the counter if you would like some. On the other side of the kitchen, is the garage; that’s where Celes parks her car and she has a lot of boxes in there. She said she keeps old games and clothes in them mostly. The door farther down, that leads to the entry way and the stairs lead to the bedrooms!”


She made her way to the stairwell and stopped. Looking up at Tulip, she said, “Well, um, I can get up the stairs myself, but it, um, takes a while. If you don’t want to wait for me, you could give me a hand, if you don’t mind.”

Lexi giggled as Tulip picked her up and placed her on her shoulder. “Yep, just up these. One of the benefits of your new form, I guess, being able to walk up stuff like this easily.” She couldn't help but grin the whole way up, she enjoyed being carried.

From her perched position, she directed Tulip around, “This floor isn’t as big as the other one, just go down the hall a bit and turn; then the hall continues and there are 3 doors. The two on the right lead to empty rooms and the other door, at the end of the hall, leads to Celes’ bedroom. She lets me sleep in there for now, but she said when she gets her next paycheck, she will get me a bed of my own in one of the empty rooms!” The stairs led up to a hallway that went straight, a short distance, and then turned right at a right angle. There was a window at the end of the first passage, that served to light it and just under that was a small end table, with a vase full of roses. After turning down the hall, two doors on the right side could be seen, on the opposite side of the hall were two more windows; three windows in all, they all had a nice view of the forest. The hall ended abruptly in a third door. “The two spare rooms share a bathroom and there is another connected to Celes’ bedroom. If you want, you can see the bedroom, I think that would be alright, but you will have to get the door knob.”

“It should be fine,” Lexi replied, “you’re just looking around, not going through her things or anything, and right now, it’s my room to.” She didn’t think Celes would mind, she hoped she wouldn’t at least. Lexi really liked Celes and didn’t want to upset her.

It was a relatively large bedroom; ending right at the door and continuing along the full length of the front wall was a large wooden dresser. On top of the dresser was a large variety of potted plants. 10 pots in all and over both lay a large window. Like the windows in the hall, this one had a pleasant view of the surrounding forest, unlike them, this one had a screen and the glass had been left open. Directly across from the door, was another open window. Unlike the first one, this one had a rather disappointing view, a view of the garage roof. A slight breeze, however, could be felt blowing through the room. Next to the second window was a large bookcase and next to that lay a queen sized bed with its headboard against the wall, a purple comfortable, and a variety of pillows strewn about it. On the other side of the bed was a wooden sliding door. On the wall far to the right, from entering, in the closest corner, was another door, this one open, and leading to a room with black and white checkered tile on the floor. Next to the door, hanging on the wall, was a painting of a scenic woodland scene. On the ceiling was a fan, that was off, that had several lights on it. There was also another light hanging, just next to the bed.

“Well um,” Alexis explained, “that is her, uh, dresser; she keeps some of her clothes in there. On top of that, she has some plants. Over there is her bed; the blankets and sheets on it, are so soft and comfortable! That’s her picture on the wall; she told me she made it! She used um, I think it was paper or something? She also used paints. She showed me them, they are like water, but thicker, and in different colors. It stains the paper like fruit juices stain my hands when I eat them, only even more! She uses these, um, they were brushes! They have wooden handles and fluffy bits on the end! She let me paint a picture! I didn’t think it was good, but she said it looked great! It’s in the kitchen; she hung it on the um, fridge. Humans put food in those to make them cold. I’m not really sure why. Anyways, next to the bed, that door leads to her closet. She keeps some more clothing in there and the open door leads to her restroom.”

Just as Alexis finished her explanation, a door could be heard shutting downstairs. “Lexi, I’m home,” could be heard coming up from the first floor.

“Oh, she is home!” the little Ralts exclaimed, “We should go see her! She is probably in the kitchen; she said she was going to buy some food before she came home.”

Tulip’s squeaking noise brought a smile to Lexi’s face; she thought it was cute. In her current position though, Tulip probably didn’t notice.

As she rode down the stairs atop of Tulip, she could sense her new friend’s apprehension, but Alexis was sure there was nothing to be worried about. She was rather enjoying being carried about, but she always did, Celes would do it as well, especially when it came time to go upstairs or time to eat’ she would pick Lexi up and set her on the table or the counter.

When they arrived downstairs and Tulip introduced herself, Celes was, just a tad, shocked. She had never before seen a humanoid Pokemon. Luckily, Tulips words and a bit of a psychic push of the word friend from Lexi, helped to settle her first reaction. “Oh, um, high,” she started, “I, um, are you a Pokemon? I have never seen one, well I don’t mean to be rude, seen one that looked so human like and that wore clothing. Well, where are my manners. Hello, I am Celes, it’s a pleasure. Would you like a drink? So wait, can you talk to Lexi and to me? I mean, I can generally get basic ideas and such from her, but I can’t talk to her. Oh, look at me, flooding you with questions.”

“Oh, you’re a Bulbasaur; I see.” Celes was a bit confused; she had seen Bulbasaurs before and, while it was true that she shared many traits with them, she looked vastly different. She had heard rumors that people had sighted a few pokemon that looked much more humanlike than normal. She had believed it about as much as she would a big foot sighting. Now she wasn’t quite so sure; here was proof standing right in front of her. “Sorry, if the question was rude; it’s just that, until now, I had thought the rumors of more humanlike pokemon were, well, just that, rumors. I didn’t even think they were true, let alone think that I would meet one face to face.” She couldn’t help but be slightly envious of Tulip’s abilities to converse both ways. “It always seemed that pokemon could understand us. I know I was always sure Lexi could understand me. It’s really a shame that human’s can’t understand them. I think we would both be much better off if we had an open line of communication, instead of people just assuming they know what is best, but here I am rambling and you must be thirsty, one moment.” At that she made her way back into the kitchen.

“See, she’s nice! She doesn’t mind that you are here!” Alexias happily proclaimed to Tulip. “She was a little surprised, but she doesn’t mind. I hope she gets me some juice! And it’s true; I sometimes do send her some thoughts. It takes a bit of effort though.” She really did think it was going well, she hoped that Tulip thought it was, as well.

Seemingly on cue, right after Lexi had finished talking, Celes came back with a tray and 3 clear plastic glasses. She set it on the table and picked one up, offering it to Tulip. It had water in it; as for the other two, one had a dark bubbly liquid and the other had a light red liquid and a straw.

“Ooo, could you set me on the table please, Tulip?” Lexi asked. “She brought me juice!”

“Well, it would be understandable to get a tad annoyed if you constantly get asked something; I imagine not many people have seen pokemon that look quite like you,” she replied and then added, “Well, I have just heard rumors. Honestly, until I saw you, I had just thought they were just that, rumors, and most likely not true. Having seen you though, well, I have to believe they are true. Alexis mentioned seeing one? That I did not know.” Turning to Lexi, she said with a smile, “It’s too bad you can’t tell me these things, Lexi.” Directing her next statement at Tulip, she added, “Though it does appear you aren’t alone.”

When she was set on the table, she happily hurried over to the cup full of the red fluid. Even though it was over half her height, she quickly sucked down half of it through the straw. ‘I was thirsty!” she exclaimed with a giggle. “Want to try some Tulip? It’s juice! Oh, would you like a straw? It's much easier to drink through it then to lift the giant cup, at least for me!”

Celes pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. “Oh, thanks, I do try and keep it tidy. Oh and feel free to take a seat if you would like.” After taking a sip of her drink, she asked, “Um, I hope you don’t mind more questions, but I was curious, were you always like this? Or were you once a normal Bulbasaur that was changed? Just wondering if, well, some pokemon are being born like this, or if it’s a change that suddenly comes upon them, like evolution. Also, I couldn’t help but notice some of your clothing was a bit torn, do you have any cuts or scrapes you would like me to look at? I am a nurse. Of course I am not trained in humanoid pokemon, but I have both worked with humans and pokemon, so I think I should be able to handle, at least minor things, for you.”

As they talked, Lexi sat herself on the tabletop and looked back and forth between them. She really wished she could join in on the conversation, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get Celes to understand her, other then the occasional thought thrown her way.

“Yeah!” Lexi exclaimed with a giggle. “It’s a berry you can drink! It is so sweet and delicious!” Just to emphasize how much she loved the sweet drink, she took another drink, nearly emptying the glass. It was hard to imagine that the little ralts could even hold that much juice, but she managed. She was very happy to hear that her new friend was also enjoying the juice.

“Well,” Celes began, “I have some old clothing stored in boxes in the garage. If you’d like, feel free to look though them for something to wear. I am sure I am some things in your size and a pretty Bulbasaur like yourself ought to have more than one outfit to wear.” She could tell that the Tulip was a bit embarrassed; she had certainly not meant to embarrass her and hoped that the offer would relift her spirits.

“Yeah, Tulip,” Lexi practically squeaked out in excitement, “You should look for some more clothes! I can help if you’d like!” She was practically jumping up and down as she offered to help.