Louis sighed ad he poured over the various charts and papers aligned on his work desk. He hadn't expected a group of gem thieves to have such a skilled geology department behind them... What had they called themselves? Team Stellar? They always had such stupid names. Regardless, it was clear something was going on here. When they had busted the Stellars' little illegal mining operation on Jasper Atoll, they found a whole science lab, stocked full of all these bizarre research papers. Not exactly what you'd expect from a group of wanna be pirates and gem smugglers.

Of course, that also meant now it was Louis' job to parse any kind of meaning from this jumble of jargon. He was the only one on the whole team, Darren included, that had a degree, so naturally they assumed he knew everything about anything. Never mind that it was a degree in Pokemon battle tactics...

The leafeon sighed and used a vine to fix his glasses. Lucky for them he was an obsessive reader of all things intellectual, so at the very least he understood the terminology being thrown around in these papers, though the data was a bigger beast to tackle. Louis used his vines to sift through the papers, humming thoughtfully to himself. They are had one common denominator: a singular focus on a "glowing blue gem or crystal with bizzare energy readings".

He looked over to his laughably rudimentary testing setup. It would have to do until they could sail back to Sapphire Isle or Opal Bay. Everything seemed as ready as it was going to be. At least he might be able to figure out if it's dangerous in any way...

"Hey Ty, I think everything is set up in here. Go ahead and bring me the crystal." Louis called out to the next room where his Braixen friend was waiting with some of the gear they'd shanghaied from the site.

"On it." He heard Ty call back. The leafeon returned his attention to the research papers. Why were they so obsessed with this particular gem? They clearly didn't know what it was, and from the sounds of it the properties were unusual. The readings and descriptions vaguely reminded Louis of more familiar "magic rocks" like everstones and firestones, but everything seemed off somehow. It didn't help that whoever wrote these was intentionally guarded and vague, which made sense if you were going to align yourself with an illegal operation. No wonder the Ranger Division had been so keen on them breaking this whole thing up.

This second bout of pondering was cut short as Louis detected a distinct lack of either gem or Braixen in the room. Louis sighed. That airhead was probably distracted already. Daydreaming about Darren most likely.

"Hey Ty, hurry up with that weird gem!" Louis insisted, louder this time. He was ready to get this stuff handled and packed away so he could get back to his hoard of books back in his room. He had so much reading to catch up on. Then again, perhaps he should spend more time with Darren. He HAD promised himself he'd try opening up more. If only days could be longer...

Suddenly, the leafeon's ears perked up. A strange noise had just come from the room Ty was in, and he couldn't help but notice a strange charge in the air.

"Ty? Ty?! The hell is going on in there?" Louis called, hopping down from his perch on a swivel chair and heading for the door. He noticed faint, wispy blue smoke filtering in. Had that buffoon set something on fire?

"Ty are you ok-" Louis began to ask as he pushed the door aside, only to find his words caught in his throat as his eyes fell NOT on a twinky Braixen, but a fluffy, unusually colored Typhlosion. The hat on his head, however, and the two unmistakable fire sticks on the ground, made it clear that this simply HAD to be his friend.

"Ty?! What the-"

For the second time in a row, Louis' words were cut short, but this time thanks to the sudden burst of discomfort as he accidently stepped on something hard and jagged. He looked down just in time to see the glowing gem under his foot, before a bright burst of light and mist, followed quickly by an electric jolt. Louis' cry of surprise was caught in his throat as a strange heat rushed through his body, followed by a bizarre numbing sensation in his legs, as if they weren't even there. His weight felt off, his center of gravity vanished, and for a moment he felt like he was falling, but he didn't. If anything he felt... taller?

But, just as quick as it came, the feeling vanished, and as the mist dissipated, Louis felt remarkably disoriented and dizzy. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes feeling himself sway from side to side. Wait, why did everything seem... smaller?

"...Pourqoui?" Louis' eyes snapped opened. He looked around the room, finding Ty in his gaze. The typh looked just as off kilter as he was, but now it was Ty looking UP at him, and not the other way around, and his expression was telling.

"Uh oh..." He eeped, looking Louis up and down. Louis blinked again.

"...What?" He asked, before looking down and, like his friend before him, let out a startled cry of surprise. No, not a cry, a hiss! Instead of a small, fluffy leafeon body, he had a large, winding length of green coils, leading up to his head. He moved to get close to the window to see his reflection, but simply found himself flumping forward. He... he didn't know how to move like this! He couldn't walk like this, but how the hell did snakes slither?!

"WHAT?! HOW?! WHY AM I A SERPERIOR?!" The poor grass type exclaimed, head flopped on the ground as he tried to uselessly wriggle about. Ty winced, walking over somewhat awkwardly, not used to his own weight and snaller legs... but at least was still bipedal!

"W-well at least you still look cute?" Ty tried to say, smiling awkwardly. Louis locked his gaze on the big fluffy fireball, his mind clicking in that moment, putting two and two together.

"You opened the CASING?! ESPECE D'IDIOT! À QUOI PENSAIS-TU?! -" Louis launched into a tirade in his mother tongue as Ty quickly cascaded into a flurry of apologies and excuses. It was certain to gain the attention of the whole boat in minutes, but at the moment Louis' wasn't really thinking about how he'd explain this mess to Darren and the rest.

But, well, at the very least, they now had an idea of what the crystal could do...

- - -

And now Louis too?! What a comedy of errors!~ He DOES make a very cute serperior though. It'll certainly be interesting for him to learn how to move again though, unlike Ty he underwent quite a drastic change!

So ye, this is just a fun little peek of the story in my pokemon setting, something of a test-trial of this concept that doubles as a reference for these alt-forms for Ty and Louis.~ As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated!