Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Let’s try up there,” Alexis suggested, from her perch on top of Sasha shoulders.

“Where?” Sasha questioned, looking up from the trail they had been following.

“Right there!” Lexi replied, eagerly pointing repeatedly at a side path, which led up the face of the hill. “I’m sure there are berries up there!”

Giggling, Sasha answered back, “There better be!” She left it unspoken that the past 5 detours, that Lexi had suggested, had turned up nothing. For a psychic Pokémon, she certainly lacked precognition.

“I just know we will find something amazing!” Lexi giggled out, as she bounced up and down on Sasha’s shoulders.

They had actually been planning on visiting a nearby lake. Despite the cold weather, Sasha wanted to swim. Lexi, though, had no intentions of swimming. She did not have Sasha’s minerally make up and an icy cold dip did not seem pleasurable in the least. While Sasha swam, though, she could look for berries! At least that had been the plan. Instead Lexi seemed determined to find a hidden cache of delectable, sweet berries on the way. Sasha didn’t mind though, she shared Lexi’s love of berries.

So, at Lexi’s urging, they veered off the forest trail, that, due to the encroaching greenery, seemed rarely traveled, onto one that seemed even more run down. The vegetation was much sparser as they ascended the hill and, as they reached the crest, they found that they had given up trees and bushes for rocks and the occasional hardy weed. They also were now on a much more restricted path, as after just a short distance, they found the path now weaved slowly up the hill side, bordered on one edge by the mountain itself and on the other by a steep drop. Thanks to the ever decreasing amount of vegetation, as they made their way along the path, Sasha began to doubt that they would find anything. Lexi didn’t have any doubts though, she was sure they would find something up here. Just ahead, the path seemed to turn inward, towards the interior of the mountain. As they neared the corner, Lexi proclaimed, a wide grin across her face “I bet that just around this corner, there will be a secluded area full of berries!”

Smiling, Sasha replied, “Even if we don’t find berries, maybe there will be treasure!” She then added, with a giggle, “I just hope it’s not zubats!”

“You believe we will find something, right Myrrh?” Lexi asked the stone she held in her hand. As usual, it was silent.

“What’s Myrrh think?” Sasha inquired, completely serious. She couldn’t sense the life inside the rock, like Lexi could, but she had no reason to doubt that the stone was alive and was more than open to the possibility. After all, parts of her body were made of stone.

“Um, I don’t know… she just feels normal for her.” Normal for the stone was sad. Lexi couldn’t know for sure if she was getting through to the little stone, but she remained resolute that she was. As determined as she was that they would find something interesting down this path, she was even more certain that the stone could hear her, even if it didn’t react.

As they rounded the corner, Lexi’s eyes widened at the sight of the very large Pokémon. It’s no wailord or anything, but still, it seemed to tower over them.”What is that?” Lexi nervously whispered to Sasha.

“I have no idea!” Sasha eagerly replied. Whereas Lexi’s eyed widened with worry and a hint of fear, Sasha’s widen with curiosity; she began to move forward at an increased rate. Myrrh remained completely silent on the matter.

As they got closer to the large Pokémon, Lexi pulled herself close to Sasha’s head, trying to hide, despite Lexi’s full body being quite a bit larger then Sasha’s head. All she succeeded in doing was getting her clothes wet with Sasha’s perpetually wet hair. Oblivious to Lexi’s nervousness, Sasha called out to the Pokémon, “Hello! I am Sasha!” She then added pointing to the little Ralts girl, “This is Lexi! How are you?”

Hearing her name called out, Lexi closed her eyes and awaited a reply.

Confusion filled Lexi’s face and a squeak escaped her lips, as Eilam’s voice spoke directly into her mind. How is he doing that? she pondered. She had, in the past, worked thoughts into people’s heads, but actually speaking to them? That was well out of her range of abilities. The power this Pokémon must possess; it frightened her. She lowered herself off of Sasha’s shoulders and down her back. She would feel safer with her much sturdier friend and roommate standing between her and this unknown Pokémon. “Hello,” she stated, her voice quivering slightly. Standing on her tiptoes and barely peaking over Sasha’s right shoulder, she added, raising the stone, that she was holding, up in the air, “This is Myrrh.” Despite her introduction, the stone had nothing to add.

Sasha was decidedly less disturbed by the voice in her head. Not realizing Lexi’s fear, she headed towards the large Pokémon, intent on closing the distance between them. Lexi approached with her, staying pressed against Sasha’s backside. “It a pleasure to meet you as well Eilam! And you too Deanna!” she exclaimed with a giggle; she was genuinely excited to meet someone new. She then stated, as she approached Eilam, “Um, I’ve never heard of an Arceus before….” Then, before Lexi could realize what she was about to do, and try to stop her, Sasha moved in to lick her new acquaintance.

“Sasha!” Lexi exclaimed, popping out from behind Sasha, “It’s rude to lick strangers!” Her shock at Sasha, once again licking someone, caused her to momentarily forget her fear. “I’m sorry,” she continued, now looking at Eilam, “She is convinced that if she licks enough Pokémon, she will be able to figure out their type by taste.” Turning back to Sasha, she added, “Sasha! You should apologize!” As Eilam’s statement, about what an Arceus was, began to sink in, she was once more reminded to be afraid. With another squeak, she slid back behind Sasha. She then set Myrrh on top of her head and peaked over Sasha’s left shoulder.

“I will be able to though! Just because I haven’t gotten any correct yet, doesn’t mean I won’t!” Sasha replied, before adding, as she looked directly at the Arceus, “Um…are you rock? You kind of taste dry. That could just be because I am so wet though….” Sasha couldn’t help but giggle at Eilam’s explanation for Lexi’s fear. “No, that’s not it at all,” Sasha explained, “She is afraid of everyone! Well, strangers at least! That and Pokemon that are bigger than her, as well as ones that are smaller than her. Also the dark, and ghosts….. You aren’t a ghost type or a dark type are you? You didn’t taste like those. "

Hearing Dea’s cough, Sasha inquired, “Are you thirsty? I have plenty of water if you are!” To demonstrate her supply of water, she rung out a small portion of her hair. This caused a puddle to form at her feet.

Before Dea had a chance to answer, Sasha suddenly asked the Arceus, "Um, you created the world? Does that mean you made us? Did you change us into what we are now?”

Hearing Sasha's question, Lexi chimed in, "Yeah, did you make us like this?"

“See, I told you it doesn’t work Sash,” Lexi stated at hearing Eilam’s reply in her head, “you can’t tell a Pokémon’s type by licking it.”

Giggling, Sasha replied, “I just need more practice. Flying was going to be my second choice, anyways. So I was close!”

At Sasha’s reply, Lexi found herself suddenly as silent as Myrrh. She just didn’t know what to say to her; Sasha was just so convinced that it would work. Maybe she should just let her believe she could do that, maybe the belief that she has some unique ability helped her get over the fact that she has no memory of the events before her transformation. Lexi just didn’t know what to do.

Lexi’s silence was broken by Sasha, who asked, “What is wrong with Dea? What sort of medicine does she take? And um, you created us… So I just licked my creator?” At that thought, Sasha couldn’t help but giggle.

“Um,” Lexi started, “who do you think did this to us? Is it permanent? Could we change even more?” If this Pokémon had answers, Lexi wanted to hear them.

“What’s a cold or flu like?” Sasha asked, intrigued. To the best of her knowledge, she had never been ill. Maybe she had a hardy constitution or just couldn’t get sick. She didn’t have any idea in the slightest. Even though she knew being sick was a bad thing, she kind of wanted to experience, just to know what it was like. There were so many things she had yet to experience! The thought of licking her creator, though, instantly changed the topics of her thoughts. She couldn’t help but find it amusing and was soon overtaken by a giggle fit.

“A Jirachi?” Lexi asked. The type of Pokémon sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place where she had heard it before. “Tulip seemed to get bigger….I guess I will to then…”she stated, almost under her breath. Suddenly, a thought sprang to mind and she inquired, “You said you cannot be certain quite yet….yet….does that mean you are looking into it?”

Her giggling fit brought short by Dea’s answer, Sasha, wincing at the thought, replied, “That doesn’t sound fun, not fun at all. How exactly do you get sick?” It might seem like it should be common knowledge, but, in her defense, she only really had memories that stretched back a month or so and nothing like this had ever come up in that time. Her previous thoughts, regarding wanting to experience it, just to experience something new, greatly diminished. She decided it might be a bad idea and wanted to do what she could to avoid it.

Lexi knew a bit more about illness, but she figured she would leave it to a sick person to explain. Dea would surely be a better teacher in this subject then she, herself, would be. This talk about the legendary Jirachi peaked her interest though. “How could the Jirachi of found me to give me a star, and why?” she wondered out loud. She couldn’t remember ever seeing a Pokémon that matched that description, but it must have seen her, as well as Sasha. Though, even if Sasha had witnessed the Pokémon prior to her change, she would not remember it.

“A lin…linguist?” Sasha asked, scratching her head. She was completely unfamiliar with that word.

“It means that she can speak to Pokémon,” Lexi stated, with a self assured nod in answer to her companion.

“But we can do that, does that mean we are linguists too?” Sasha inquired with a giggle.

“No, silly,” Lexi giggled back, “we don’t have jobs!”

Returning to the rest of what Dea said, Sasha proclaimed, “You should take better care of yourself then! So that you don’t get sick. Or maybe you could get someone to help take care of you! I help take care of Lexi.”

“No, I help take care of you Sasha,” Lexi retorted. “You don’t even know what linguist means!”

“Sure I do!” Sasha countered with a grin, “you just told me!”

Smiling and shaking her head, Lexi continued, “Oh! So this Jirachi might be humanoid too? And if it is changing Pokémon…. Could it change you?”