[PD] Shy 'n Sassy [Alexis and Tulip] [FIN]

[Mewmouse]

Tulip had been enjoying her rather uneventful days. Even though she now looked (and felt) different, all the other Pokemon seemed to have finally accepted that she was still the same, sassy Bulbasaur. After much coercing, the Bellosoms in the flower clearing had come to dance for her again. The various water types had come to the lakeside to speak with her about the day and the goings-on on the other side of the lake . And the Azumarill family still thought they were the best. So, all-in-all life went on as it had before.

Today, Tulip was feeling a little anxious. She hadn't left her forest area since changing and she was needing some new clothes. The only thing that was holding up, was her Reaper Sash that she had tied around her neck. Her socks were full of holes, so much that her toes were peeking out of them now. And her pretty pink dress was all but shredded. It was time to look for a new outfit.

With a little sigh and a wave to the Seedot that promised to watch over her treehouse while she was out looking for clothes, she set out. She knew where the nearest human village was, but was hoping to find a house that was a little more remote. She'd been told that across the lake and a little ways off, lived a small family. The Psyduck that had relayed this information to her, however, couldn't remember much else. This was probably going to be a wild Swanna chase...

An hour into the trip, she had circumvented the lake, and was B-O-R-E-D! She was about to turn around and give to venture up! Nothing was happening, she needed a companion to stave off this dullness!  

[Tyche Fortuna]

After staying with Celes for a few days, Alexis had finally worked up the confidence to explore the forest around her new home. Well, that, and Celes had to go to work and she was a bit bored staying home alone. She didn’t intend to go far; she just wanted to get a look around. The night she had first found herself at Celes’, she had been far too scared to form an accurate mental map.

Right off the bat, she noticed something unusual, there weren’t many wild pokemon about. True, she normally avoided others, but she didn’t even sense them. This worried her slightly, she suddenly found herself a bit paranoid. Had staying with a human rendered her unable to sense the emotions of others of her kind? Had she lost her primary survival mechanism, the thing that kept her safe? In a panic, she dived into a nearby bush.

Tens of minutes passed, when she sensed something, boredom. Not her boredom, she had been too panicked to be bored. Her panic, though, had subsided, to be replaced by curiosity. Was this the boredom of another pokemon? Had she been worrying for nothing? She slowly crept out of the bush and made her way to the source of the boredom. She had to know if It was another pokemon.

It didn’t take her long to get to the source, despite her slow pace. It seemed to heading towards her. Peering out from behind a tree, she caught sight of, well she wasn’t quite sure what it was. It looked female, but other than that, she was confused. It looked kind of like a pokemon, but was shaped like a young human. She thought the girls vision passed over her. In a panic, she jumped back behind the tree, her back pressed against it. Did the girl see her? She couldn’t be positive, but it seemed like it.  

[Mewmouse]

Tulip's Bulbasaur ears twitched, something had been watching her. She paused in her trek, scanning the surrounding area for any sign of life. She'd heard something rustle in the bushes, but she hadn't been positive about the direction. She began to worry, what if she'd already been found out? Best to hide and wait then!

She rushed for the nearest tree, only to run into a little Ralts that was hiding there. Using her vines, she vaulted over the tiny thing and landed rather haphazardly on the other side. "Ow..." Lifting herself into a sitting position, she inspected herself. Apart from a few more tears in her clothes, she was fine. A little frustrated, she turned towards the Ralts. "What're you doing here? I almost smushed you!" she scolded in a hushed tone. If there were any humans about, she didn't want them to find her... or this Ralts. Heck if SHE was going to be responsible for the capture of a fellow Pokemon!  

[Tyche Fortuna]

Petrified, that could best describe Alexis as the girl vaulted over her. She just stood there, wide eyed staring. Finally she snapped out of it and prepared to defend herself. She let loose her most powerful and intimidating means of self defense. She growled. Though, in truth, it would be hard to call it a growl while keeping a straight face. It was more of a cross between a growl and a squeak. If she had somehow succeeded in being intimidating, it would of failed the moment she made her next move; she knelt down and covered her head with her arms.

“I…I… was just looking around,” she stammered, peeking through her arms. “I’m sorry if I invaded your territory. I just wanted to see the forest around my new house.” Deciding that if this girl meant her harm, that the situation couldn’t get any worse from her asking, she inquired, “What are you?”  

[Mewmouse]

The look on Tulip's face was that of confusion, covering laughter at the growl/squeak that emanated from the little Ralts. Her laughter/confusion was quick-lived, however, as soon as Alexis started cowering. Tulip might be snippy, but if she caused another Pokemon unwarranted pain, emotional or physical, she melted right away. Regret in her voice, she tried to calm the little one down, "Oh, no, this isn't my territory or anything. Please, I'm sorry I snapped. Don't be afraid!"

And then came the question that was inevitable: What are you? Tulip sighed, she was so used to this question by now, but it didn't sting any less. "I'm a Bulbasaur." She was still trying to deny any relation to humans, seeing as she'd only ever met one good one.  

[Tyche Fortuna]

Sensing the feelings of the Bulbasaur while hearing her reply, helped to calm Alexis. She unfurled her arms from around her head and stood up a bit straighter. “Oh, ok. So, um, what brings you here?” She was no longer scared, but still nervous; she didn’t have the most experience conversing with other pokemon. Generally it was run first and never be around to ask any questions. “Oh, I am Alexis, you can call me Lexi for short; Celes does! I kind of like it.” She was now all grins and her mood seemed to have brightened considerably. “What is your name?”

Thinking about the other pokemons response, she replied, “I’ve never met a Bulbasaur before, I don’t meet a lot of other pokemon actually; I didn’t realize Bulbasaurs looked so...human like.” It wasn’t that she was dumb, she could be rather bright at times; she just lacked a bit of worldly experience.  

[Mewmouse]

"I'm, uh..." Tulip looked for the words. "...unique. Bulbasaurs don't really look like I do." She had to confess it at some point, she supposed it might as well be now. "I, uh... Something happened to where I... um... changed." Tulip still wasn't sure what had happened that night that she had gotten a hold of the Star Piece.

"But, anyway, my name's Tulip." She waved a vine nonchalantly, now remembering something else Alexis had said. "Who's Celes?"  

[Tyche Fortuna]

“Oh? You are unique for a Bulbasaur? What do they normally look like?” After thinking about it for a moment, she had a sudden realization. “Um, I think I met another pokemon like you,” she began, “I can’t remember what species he was, but he was a ghost type.” She shuddered visibly from the comment; ghost types always scared her. Not sure where to begin in her description, she began, “He didn’t have legs like you do, but he did have arms. He also wore clothing.”

“Hello Tulip, it is nice to meet you.” She was a bit nervous talking about Celes, she had mentioned her, but that was without really thinking; most wild pokemon, including her till recently, seemed very wary of humans. “Well, when I first came here, I, uh, was lost and hungry and I found her. She was really sweet; she took me into her home and fed me. She is who I have been staying with; she is, uh, a human.”  

[Mewmouse]

"You've met another like me?" Tulip was really rather stunned, other than herself she'd only met one humanoid-Pokemon and it was definitely not the one that Alexis had spoken of. "So, like, I'm not alone!" Her face lit up. The knowledge that it was quite possible to have more than just a few sparse "oddities" among the world was something she found great joy in. There was hope for her being among others like her yet!

"Yeah, I know whatcha mean about Ghost types, though." She'd caught that shudder. "I ran into one once, and like, totally got this sash from it!" She passed a hand under the sash around her neck, letting it slip off. it was a deep purple, ghastly looking thing, but somehow looked nice the way she had it. "I'd like found it first and he tried to STEAL it from me! Ugh! The nerve of some Pokemon!"

Her smiled faded when the Ralts mentioned her human companion. "Oh," was all she managed to reply at first. She was still unsure about humans and there ways. She'd met plenty of bad ones and not enough good ones to make up for those others. "I guess she sounds nice," she managed, though in a thoroughly flat and unamused tone.  

[Tyche Fortuna]

Alexis nodded eagerly and replied, “Yes, another pokemon like you.” She was confused though, she couldn’t understand how a pokemon could become humanoid; she had to ask. “So, um, how did you get like that? Human like with arms and legs? If you don’t mind me asking that is; I don’t want to pry.”

“Yeah, they are scary, so are a lot of Dark types.” The unease that she felt was quickly pushed aside by interest at Tulips mention of her sash. “It’s a very pretty sash; it looks good on you!” She had already asked so many questions, but she had to hear more. “So you found it and got it before a Ghost type could? You must be so brave! If you don’t mind, could you tell me the story of how you got it? It sounds so amazing; I don’t think I could ever do something like that. They, they make me all shaky and nervous.”

“I-I know it sounds odd,” she began, “but it’s true, she is really nice. She isn’t the type of person that would try and capture us. When I found her, she treated me kindly and even has been letting me sleep in her bed. She works as a nurse! She heals for her job, she even healed me! I had a scrape, and she cleaned it up and dressed it and its all better now.”  

[Mewmouse]

"To be honest, I have like, no clue!" Tulip answered truthfully. " I just woke up like this one morning. And let me tell you, it was QUITE a shock. Oh my gosh, like, I totally flipped out! But then, who in their right mind wouldn't? one moment you're a normal Pokemon, the next you're like this!" She motioned to her form.

"Well," An amused chuckle began her next answer, "I don't wanna like brag, or anything, but it was pretty scary. It wasn't like a baby Ghost type or anything, it was a Dusclops!" She lurched forward, hands out like the Pokemon she was talking about. It was all for effect... and so was her change of tone, into something a kin to a spooky storyteller. "It was dark, and out in the middle of nowhere. I'd never been to this part of the forest before. The night air was thick and not even the Noctowl were making a sound. I was minding my own business, searching for a treasure I'd heard about from a friend." She neglected that the friend had been the same Psyduck that forgot various details of any information it relayed. "So, like, anyway, I was searching for something in the deep, dark, forest, when I came across a clearing. In the clearing sat my sash, alone. I crept up to it, inspected it, and waited for like, EVER, seeing if it was, in fact, someone's. After several HOURS of waiting, I picked it up and began to head home." She was, of course exaggerating the time she waited, it was really more like a couple minutes. But to her it felt like hours, so that counted, right? "As I was heading home there was the big bellow! GRAAAHHHH!" Tossing her hands in the air, and making the scariest face she could, would probably through Alexis for a loop. It was all part of being a story teller, though. "I started to run as fast a my little legs could carry me! Then I saw it! The most biggest Dusclops I'd ever seen! And it was headed right... for... me! Needless to say, I was totally scared now, so I ran. But it caught up to me! It snatched me up in one of its giant hands and glared at me with its one eye." At this point Tulip had scooped up some grass and, closing one of her eyes, glared down at the clump in her grasp. "GIVE IT BACK!" She boomed. "I don't know what you're talking about!" She threw the grass down and defiantly looked up at nothing. "MY CLOTH!" She boomed again. "It's mine! I found it fair and square! You can't bully me outta it!" A vine unwound from her bulb and came to assist in the telling of the story. "And with that said, I used one of my vines to use a move I KNEW was good against Ghosts. It's called Knock Off, and I've known it since I hatched. It's a Dark move that makes like, whatever I'm fighting, let go of stuff." Her vine glowed with a dark energy for a moment before her explanation was complete. The glowing then subsided and her vine slowly wound itself around her bulb again. "So, I smacked it right in the face with that move, and high-tailed it on out of there!" Proud of being able to brag about her work, she sighed happily.

"Well, I guess it's okay that you found a nice human," she managed after she caught her breath after her story. "There're not many of 'em out there. I've only met like one nice one."  

[Tyche Fortuna]

“So um, you just woke up like that?” Alexis started, “That does sounds shocking.” After thinking about it for a moment, she added, “I wonder if that could happen to anyone. It happened to you, to that ghost; could it happen to anyone? To me?” The thought startled her; what if something like that happened to her? She didn’t know what she would do. The changes brought on by normal evolution worried her as it was, let alone this seemingly unnatural change.

As Tulip began her story, Lexi listened intently. She never really did brave adventurous things. Sure she had traveled a long distance via a river and explored a new area, but that was by accident. If Lexi had been wearing shoes, she would have jumped out of them as Tulip lurched forward like a Dusclops. Still listening intently, she mouthed, “Ooo treasure,” as Tulip mentioned what she had been searching for. She had never been on a treasure hunt, Tulip has done so much! At Tulip’s GRAAHH, she jumped again, hiding behind her arms; she knew it was just the story, but still it had caught her off guard. She was completely caught up in the story, practically running in place as Tulip described her pursuit and she couldn’t help but let out a little cheer when the story had concluded. “You are so brave,” she exclaimed, “and you waited so long; it must have felt like an eternity! And you know a Dark move? All I can do is growl. I didn’t realize you were so good at telling stories; I felt like I was right there with you!”

“Yeah,” she replied, “I agree. Most humans are not nice, but Celes, she is!”  

[Mewmouse]

"I suppose it could happen to anyone," Tulip reasoned. She couldn't see why one Pokemon would be chosen over another.

"Well, like, I'm probably a little older than you," she began, "So, I probably know more moves and like, whatever. So, yeah, anyway, don't worry about it." Her ego was inflated more when Alexis complimented her on her story-telling skills. "Well, thank you." This Ralts must be using her psychic abilities to know exactly what to say to Tulip for the Bulbasaur to feel so flattered. A self-amused chuckle and Tulip was all buttered up.

"I suppose I wouldn't, like, mind meeting this Celes," She stood, brushing herself off, trying to get every speck of dirt. "You seem quite happy and well-cared for... I wonder, could I meet her?" To be truthful, Tulip had an ulterior motive to meeting the human, she needed clothes and she was hoping the girl had something to her liking... that would fit.  

[Tyche Fortuna]

“I wonder if it could happen to me?” Alexis questioned while looking down over her body to double-check that she hadn’t suddenly changed forms while talking with Tulip.

“Hmm, probably, I guess,” she answered, “Do you know any other powerful moves?” While she had been scared at first, Lexi was glad to have met this Bulbasaur. She had always been afraid to meet new pokemon, but she was hoping, that just maybe, she had made an actual friend. She had never really done that before, made a friend. She was generally too busy hiding away to do that. Well Celes was her friend, but she was a human; this could be her first pokemon friend.

“You want to come meet Celes?” Alexis asked with a wide grin on her face. She knew Celes would love to meet Tulip; she was oh so very nice. “Of course you can! She wasn’t home when I left though, but she might be when we get there, or soon after! You ready to go?”  

[Mewmouse]

"Powerful? Well, nothing like major, or anything," Tulip reasoned, "I mean, i know like basic moves for my kind. And Knock Off really isn't that powerful..." She trailed off, wondering if she was going to be able to learn the normal moves that any Bulbasaur would learn. She wondered, too, if she was going to be able to evolve. These thoughts really hadn't crossed her mind until Alexis had started asking her all these questions. In truth, Tulip wanted to evolve, but at the same time was nervous about it, Venusaurs were not the cute little things that Bulbasaurs were. But the flower on their backs was gorgeous! Oh well, she'd cross that road when she came to it, she supposed.

"Sure, we can go now," Tulip smiled, "Lead the way, Lexi."