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Chapter Text

Leo counted his blessings – most of which were laid out before him. First and foremost was a pocketknife; a small flip-blade with an inch long blade which would be his most important possession in the coming days. Second was the plastic water bottle he had; it would be good to have a container like that, be it for water or something else. Third was his backpack; the heavy duty green canvas was waterproofed, and, in a pinch, he could dissect it to use as bandages or the like. Fourth was the small pack of matches he had apparently left buried in the deepest depths of his pack and only found now, when he dumped most everything else out. Everything else in there was trash – some college papers, folders, the like. They could be used for kindling but wouldn't do much else in his current predicament. That wasn't to say his blessings ended there, however. His fifth and sixth blessings weren't physical objects.

Fifth was his location. Tall pine trees rose around him and mountains loomed on either side of the green valley he sat in the middle of, a river gently flowing off to his right. Leo sucked in a deep breath, appreciating the scent of pine, and listened to the wind as it rustled the trees. He was a mountain boy through and through. And though his wilderness survival skills may be a little rusty thanks to college and work taking up most of his time in the past few years, he was certain that he could at least survive here. It'd take a little bit of work, some trial and error to get his skills back up to snuff, but it was certainly doable. Which led him to his sixth blessing, which also doubled as a problem. He was not alone.

At least, I wasn't alone, Leo thought acidly. It had been a rollercoaster of a day. First, he got magically transported to a swirling tunnel of void and stars thanks to a literal hole in the sky, which had been utterly terrifying but at least he had company. His good friend Jack had been transported with him, and while it wasn't ideal in any way, Leo was glad for the company. It would keep him from losing his mind, at least, as they floated through a literal void of space, somehow without dying. That was until a massive bat made of sky and stars came out of literally nowhere, snatched the two up, and flew through yet another hole in the sky. To top it off the bat was sentient and spoke to Leo telepathically, which wasn't strange at all and totally didn't freak Leo out, having another voice in his head, and had promised to take the two to where they were meant to be.

Apparently that meant dumping Leo in the middle of a forest, and whisking Jack off to who-knows-where. Which led him to his next problem; he wasn't on Earth anymore. Taking a deep breath Leo closed his eyes, then looked up and glared at the pink face that stared at him.

"Sloooow?" It asked, cocking its head to the side, blank eyes staring directly at him. Leo frowned even harder. Slowpoke. The bat – who he figured had to be Lunala, there was nothing else that fit the description – had dropped him into the middle of a slowpoke herd. He was surrounded by the things, dozens of pink blobs of fat lounging around the river, dipping their tails in the water and occasionally swishing them side to side. He even spotted a few slowbro slowly swimming about in the placid waters, their splashes adding to the peaceful ambiance of the forest.

Leo was sure there was some sort of implied insult here, what with the whole where you're meant to be line.

So his biggest problem wasn't that he was alone in a forest with no idea of his general location or the location of any sort of civilization, but that he was in a completely foreign world; the world of pokemon. Oh sure, he knew enough about pokémon as a long-time fan, but there was a truly massive difference between game mechanics and reality. How did attacks work? How did pokémon behave? Were they as intelligent as portrayed in the anime, or were they closer to the animals back home? There was very little he knew and only so much he could figure out without simply experiencing it firsthand. Which could be mighty dangerous.

And to top it all off Leo was far, far shorter now. Everything just seemed bigger, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't because everything was bigger in this world. He was almost certain that it was because he had gotten shorter – his hands looked smaller and softer too, the hands of a child – which, if he'd read enough fanfiction to come up with an idea of what that meant, was not good news. Either he had regressed in age, or had a new body, both of which came with a whole slew of existential/philosophical issues that he, quite frankly, did not have the luxury to worry about right now. His first order of business was just to survive.

"Ok, my first order of business is fresh water," Leo muttered to himself, standing and looking towards the river. Another problem was that he had no way to boil water, ensuring it was safe to drink. He supposed he could try his luck with the river water, figuring that it most likely didn't have the problems many of Earth's rivers had with pollution, but did he really want to risk getting giardia? He wasn't sure he had much of a choice. Leo swallowed heavily at the thought of getting sick out here. It would be a death sentence, so long as he didn't have a proper food and water supply and –

"NO," Leo chided himself, shaking his head to clear it of all thoughts. "Don't think like that, it'll do you no good. You can't control what's going to happen, so roll with it. Focus on the next steps; food and shelter." His nervousness did not leave despite his pep talk, the emotion bubbling in his stomach even as he tried to ignore it, but now he was refocused.

Moving with purpose, Leo bent and stuffed all his things into his backpack before standing and stretching, slinging said backpack over his shoulders. Glancing around, he made a note of his location relative to the two mountains the river wound between, picking out key features so he could make his way back to the slowpoke herd. It would be pretty simple, all told. The valley wasn't that wide, and the mountains fairly steep – Leo wouldn't be climbing up them in the near future. Besides, if nothing else, he understood that the slowpoke were docile and, if his hunch was correct, they may be able to provide him with some food. Slowpoke tails were edible, right? He remembered that from the games, even if it had been frowned upon. At least, that's what the games led you to believe when Team Rocket was hunting slowpoke tails.

And so, he started off marching into the woods confidently and cautiously, trying his hardest to keep his wits about him. He would survive this, no matter how insane the situation was. He just had to take things one step at a time.

Leo figured out pretty quickly that sticking next to the slowpoke herd as they headed downstream was a great idea. Mainly because they provided a steady source of food in the form of fish – mainly magikarp and goldeen of varying sizes. For whatever reason the fish seemed to flock to their tails whenever the slowpoke would dip them in the river, biting the tips and allowing the slowpoke to fish them up with relative ease. It was easy enough to snatch a few of the fish away from the slow pokemon, the harder part was cooking them.

"C'mon, work already," he hissed in frustration, rubbing his hands together as fast as he could, trying his hardest to get the stick he was holding to create enough friction to create sparks and ignite his kindling. It had already been three days since he'd been dumped into this world, and Leo was getting frustrated. He didn't have the strength anymore to reliably use the hand drill method, and he'd never really practiced it too much in the first place. His matches weren't unlimited, he had at most twenty of the things left, so before he ran out he wanted to have an alternative method of starting a fire, which had led to his current activity.

"I miss my survival kit," Leo grumbled, setting down the stick and rubbing his face. He'd had at least five different ways to start a fire in his survival kit back home, plus a whole bunch of other necessities, and just thinking about having that kit right now made him…well, he wasn't sure how he felt. Nostalgic? Sentimental? Like he wanted to cry because he had left his entire world behind? Like death was a very real possibility right now? All of the above and more, most likely.

A cool wind blew through the tall pines, whistling through the valley floor and making Leo shiver, his hair standing on end and goosebumps crawling up his arms. The small copse of trees he had chosen to take shelter in blocked the most of the wind, but nights up here got real cold real quick, and, if the brilliant orange in the sky and how the sun had already hidden itself behind the mountains were anything to go by, night was coming soon. Leo shuddered and glanced at the magikarp off to his left, sighing. He'd told himself that if he didn't get a fire started with the hand drill, he wouldn't eat fish tonight, even if the fish was far smaller than the anime and games had portrayed. The red, crowned fish was maybe the size of a trout, six to eight inches long, but he supposed that made sense. There was no way a river a foot deep could support entire schools of massive magikarp. So, with a heavy heart, Leo picked up the fish, stood, and tossed it as hard as he could, barely getting it into the river a dozen or so feet away.

"Stupid kid arms," Leo grumbled, lamenting not for the first time his sudden lack of strength. He was pretty sure that was the reason he couldn't get the hand drill to work, the strength in his arms weren't letting him get enough friction. But that could also just be an excuse.

With a sigh, Leo pushed his makeshift fire starter to the side – maybe he made it wrong, that could be the problem – and looked out over the slowpoke herd. His hand absently reached to the side, picking at the pile of pine nuts he had set on a small rock to his right. They were tiny things, almost inedible and definitely out of season, but pinecones were plentiful, and calories were calories. He had to keep his strength up, even if he was punishing himself for failure. Plus, he'd eaten a ton of magikarp and goldeen over the past few days, that was part of the reason he felt comfortable forgoing a meal.

The slowpoke herd, on the other hand, felt no qualms about skimping on meals. Leo watched as a slowbro that had been slowly ambling through the shallow waters of the river moved over to pick up Leo's discarded fish and swallowed it in one gulp. The massive creature was at least five feet tall, and it fixated its dopey eyes on Leo for a brief moment before turning and wading back into the river. It was the biggest one of the herd, the other slowbro being a mere four feet tall and the slowpoke ranging between standing at two to three feet, and Leo had taken to calling him Derp. Not the most flattering of names, but that was all Leo could use to describe the big, dopey creature. It just didn't seem to be altogether there.

"Slooooow," it called, pushing on down the river, prompting similar calls from the rest of the herd. Leo counted exactly twenty three slowpoke and two slowbro in the herd, and they were, for the most part, pleasant company. Yes, they were slow moving, only covering a couple miles in a day as they migrated downriver, and they reminded him of cows in a way, but they didn't even seem to register his presence either. He could walk among them without earning their ire, though a few did watch him warily the first few times he'd stolen their fish.

It was also kind of fun to observe their habits. Most slowpoke didn't really seem to care where they slept during the day, so long as it was in the sun, but at night they took their time picking out the softest parts of the riverbank. Whether that entailed digging into the silt and soil, or stamping down grass to make a bed of sorts, they spent at least an hour every night just settling down. They even got in arguments over who got the best spot sometimes, that was what caused the first pokémon battle Leo had ever seen in this world. All it consisted of was two short water guns, one which missed and the second hitting the other slowpoke in the face, but still! It was amazing to see water shoot out of a slowpoke's mouth at great speed.

Still, it did remind him that slowpoke were pokemon, and had abilities. They were potentially dangerous and, if his memory serves him correctly, part psychic type. Whatever that entailed or how it worked, he didn't know, but it wasn't like he could worry too much about it either. The slowpoke were his food source and, thankfully, the river had clean water. It wasn't like he could just skedaddle on out of the mountains when he had no idea where to go, or what might be or not be food. He needed to secure his future first, then he could explore.

Another cold breeze broke Leo out of his musings, and he shivered, deciding it was time for bed. He'd forgo a fire tonight, since he couldn't get it started the primitive way, and instead turned to the pile of pine needles, leaves, and the one fairly big and bushy pine bough he had picked up off of a fallen tree. That was his bed for the night, and though it was by no means comfortable – Leo would have to resituate himself several times throughout the night – it would keep him warm even without a fire.

Thankfully he still had his backpack to use as a pillow.

"Goodnight, slowpoke," Leo whispered, sliding into his pile and struggling to not itch himself as the pine needles poked through his clothes. The slowpoke did not reply, and Leo watch the sky fade from orange to grey to black, a brilliant sky of stars coming into being through the treetops, as he lay there trying to sleep.

It was going to be a long, restless night.

Leo muttered to himself as he shifted through the pile of shale, tossing the flat rocks to the side as he searched through them. It had been a solid week since his arrival in this valley, and the slowpoke were slow movers. They had travelled maybe ten miles in the past four days, which at least did allow Leo enough time to practice his survival skills and try to get them back up to snuff.

He still hadn't gotten the hand drill fire starting method down, so now he was searching for another solution; flint. His knife – which had been invaluable over the past few days, and he needed to find a good whetstone for it to keep it sharp – was made of carbon steel, which would work well to create sparks if he could find a good rock to bash against it. Heck, he was pretty sure he didn't even need flint, just something hard and with an edge to strike against the back of his knife.

"You'd think I'd be able to find something in this big old pile of rocks, but no," Leo grumbled, halting his search to look around. The pile was at least a hundred feet tall and twenty five feet across, and consisted largely of squared, black stones. "These rocks are all useless,"

To prove his point, Leo struck the back of his knife against one of the rocks, chipping off a piece of stone the rock and producing no sparks, nearly losing his grip on his knife in the process. With a sigh Leo shoved his knife back in his pocket and began shifting through the stones once more.

That is, until one of the rocks he grabbed began to move.

"What in the – " Was all the managed to get out when the head-sized rock opened its eyes and glared at him. Shale flew as the geodude burst forth from its hiding spot, one fist barreling forward and planting itself directly into Leo's chest.

His breath left him with a whoosh and, briefly, Leo found himself falling through the air. Then he was tumbling head over heels down the mountainside, slamming into rocks. Pain rocketed through him as stone dug into his skin, and suddenly he was lying flat on his back, staring up at the cloudless blue sky with grass beneath him.

Leo groaned, trying to ignore the pain all over as he craned his head to look back at the shale pile. He could still see the geodude, clambering its way up the mountain as it fled. It would have looked funny to see a ball of rock powering it's way up a mountain on two oversized arms, were it not for the pain he was in. Though he should probably consider it a small blessing that it didn't chase after him.

"Ugly, goofy little creature," Leo grumbled as he slowly sat up, checking to see if anything was broken. Thankfully it didn't seem like it, but he was sure to be sore and bruised, and he was certainly bleeding. So Leo sat there for a few minutes, catching his breath and calming his nerves as he stared at the shale pile. He needed another way to create fire, other than matches. Flint and steel would be easier than the hand drill method, too. And, now that he thought about it, he may be able to find a rock that might serve as a platter for cooking so he wasn't roasting whole fish on a stick like you'd see in a cartoon, or even one that could be turned into bowl of sorts. He had to keep looking.

But first he was just going to sit here and hurt.

The pidgey cooed, and Leo, laying flat on his belly watching the bird hop across the ground in search of seeds or bugs, cooed back. This pidgey had been hanging around him for the past few hours, noticable by the almost reddish tint to its feathers that other pidgey lacked, and Leo had decided now was a good time to bird watch, and perhaps make friends. The pidgey seemed indifferent to his calls for the most part though.

Sighing, Leo sat up, wincing slightly as his back twinged in pain from his fall with the geodude a day ago. He hadn't even found any flint, either. Thankfully the slowpoke were still fishing their hearts out, providing Leo with enough easy food. He honestly didn't know what he'd do without them.

Though speaking of food, Leo eyed the grasshoppers that buzzed and flew through the air every time the pidgey got too close. It had been a bit of a discovery for Leo to realize this world had actual bugs like Earth, not just bug pokemon. The small, normal-sized and shaped bugs were a staple food source for many critters, and important for the ecosystem. Pokemon were just…too big to fill that role, Leo figured.

Ever so slowly, Leo reached out and snagged one of the locusts that had been lounging on a grass stalk just in front of him. It was…time for lunch, and Leo figured he should at least try to eat the bug. He'd heard somewhere that grasshoppers were excellent sources of calories.

"Through the lips, over the gums, look out stomach – you're not gonna like this," Leo whispered, trying his hardest to ignore the buzzing in his hand as he, in one swift motion, popped the grasshopper in his mouth, bit once filling his mouth with disgusting bug juices, and swallowed. This was immediately followed by gagging and retching that echoed throughout the meadow, startling the pidgey and causing it to shoot off into the air with an annoyed squawk and the flapping of wings.

"That was vile," Leo hissed through his teeth, holding the back of his hand to his mouth and fighting back the urge to vomit. "I'll probably just stick with ants. At least they just taste like salt," this was a fact Leo could attest to, as he had eaten quite a few ants when he was a kid. His brother had dared him to, so he did, and lo and behold he liked the taste.

"I want a hamburger. And chicken, or fruit," Leo said wistfully. His diet almost exclusively consisted of nuts and fish, neither of which were seasoned and thus, bland. Plus he had to go through a lot of work just to get a few pine nuts. It made him really appreciate the ease of access for food in his previous world, which brought him around to thinking about proper nutrition. Leo did have a few concerns about the variety of his diet and whether he was getting all the proper nutrients, but again, there was little he could do. Maybe if he understood what plants were edible or not he could do something about it, but he didn't, so the point was moot.

Glancing at the sky next, Leo frowned. The temperature was already starting to drop despite it being midday, and on the horizon sat ominous grey clouds. A storm was coming and he didn't really have any real shelter from it. There weren't any convenient caves nearby, no rocks to hide under, and his trick with the pine needles to keep warm wouldn't really help with staying dry. Leo rubbed his chin, trying to think of something that might help…

The meadow in front of him was useless, and the tall pines weren't really helpful either. Further down the river was a bunch of willow-like bushes, dense green things with heavy, almost minty-smelling leaves that could probably provide some cover, but he wasn't sure he wanted to crawl in there after watching an spinarak scuttle its way in the bushes earlier. Leo shuddered just thinking of the massive green spider. He may have gotten over his fear of spiders years ago, but that didn't mean he liked the horrific creatures. Much less one that was a foot in diameter.

I wonder how spinarak tastes…Leo thought randomly before shaking that image out of his head. He had almost imagined the spinarak like a land crab, and though he'd heard of people eating the massive bird-eating spider in his old world, he wasn't quite desperate enough to follow suit quite yet. No, his top priority was to find shelter from the storm, and, as he tended to do now, he turned to the slowpoke for help.

On the other side of the river bank was the slowpoke herd, having crossed over sometime the previous night, and were hanging out next to a rocky outcropping, sunning themselves on the rocks and lounging in the shallow waters. The rocks could be an option, but that would mean crossing the river. The murky waters didn't look dangerous, and the current wasn't fast, but Leo wanted to avoid that if at all possible. He didn't know why, really, he just didn't want to cross the river. Besides, the rocks wouldn't keep him dry, they'd just shelter him a bit from the wind – thus, useless.

"Slooow," one of the slowpoke called, yawning immediately after. The rest of the herd yawned as well, almost like it was choreographed. Leo bit back his own yawn, the effort making his eyes tear up.

"Right, let's go take a look around, see what I can find," Leo said, standing up slowly and gingerly. His knee popped painfully as he stood, and he grimaced. "Should be fun," he told himself through gritted teeth, and moved off into the forest.

After about an hour and a half of searching, during which time he ran across a colony of oddish led by a foul-smelling gloom that had eyed him warily, Leo stumbled across a god-send. A copse of trees at the base of the mountain, about a mile from where Leo had last seen the slowpoke herd, stood tall and dense, but most importantly, they were of a different species of tree than Leo had seen around. Aspens and tall pine were common, but the grove consisted mostly of a blue-spruce lookalike with big bushy branches that bent and touched the ground, completely covering the base of the trunk. And when Leo pushed aside the branches it revealed a completely covered area free of tree branches that Leo could easily lay underneath and ideally stay dry.

"Finally, some more good luck," Leo breathed in relief, smiling to himself. He hadn't found a good stone to help him start fires yet, nor was the hand drill method working, so he was glad something else had gone right. Plus this grove consisted almost entirely of these same trees! So if he got bored of the first tree, then he could move!

It was a good thing he found the trees, too, because not an hour later, while he was busy trying to find a good whetstone for his knife along the river, it started to rain.

Leo pocketed the smooth river stone he had been examining, squinting up at the sky as it began to drizzle. He could still see sunny skies to his left, in the direction the storm was heading, but to his right was nothing but increasingly dark storm clouds and the rumbling of thunder. Leo sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the scent of rain and letting the misty droplets slick his hair.

"Gotta love a good storm," he said, trying to remain upbeat as he headed back to his tree, sliding underneath the branches and laying still, pleased to see he was right, and that he was being kept dry for now. He'd have to see if that stayed true if the rain picked up, but for now he remained hopeful.

After a few moments of watching the rain through the branches, Leo pulled out his knife, flipped it open, and pulled out the stone he had grabbed. He didn't know if it was the right coarseness to get the best edge, but the blade was dull enough as it was, so anything would help. The sound of metal scraping against stone filled Leo's ears for the better part of an hour, at the end of which his knife was a fair bit sharper than it had been.

Left with not much else to do as the temperature continued to drop and the rain picked up, Leo pulled a few of the branches aside to watch the rain.

Most critters seemed to have the same idea as Leo and were hiding, but some had different plans. Five wooper came waltzing out of the river, shaking their little blue bodies in the rain and happily skipping about, shooting jets of water and globs of mud at each other as they played. Lei chuckled quietly as he watched their antics. They traipsed about for a while, whooping and playing and shuffling in the mud. Leo noticed one digging up plants and chewing on something just a little ways away from the river, which he made a mental note to check out when it stopped raining. But they didn't stay out for long, and vanished back into the river just as quickly as they had come.

Then another brilliant idea he should've thought if earlier flashed into Leo's mind and, shuffling through his backpack, which he had stowed beneath the tree before the rain hit, he procured his water bottles, filled with murky river water as they were. Leo promptly dumped those out and placed them beneath streams of rainwater pouring from the tree he lay under to fill up. There, he thought with a small smile, laying down. Now I have something to drink besides river water.

The rain lasted for a solid sixteen hours. Leo wasn't actually sure how long it rained, he was more of guessing based on how the rain started around mid afternoon, and ended mid morning the next day. Which sucked because now Leo was cold and stiff from laying beneath a tree for that long, unable to really cover himself at all and the tree cover only providing the bare minimum of support. And now he was hungry, so as he slid out of the tree cover, the wet soil clinging to his hands and knees and squelching beneath his feet, he made immediate plans to procure food.

Steam rolled off the ground as the early morning sun warmed it, setting the world into a picturesque moment that Leo had to stop and admire. The morning sun filtered through the trees in individual rays, and the pine needles glistened with water. Leo groaned and stretched, his knees and back popping loudly. The cold clung to his body bone-deep, and he wiggled his fingers in an attempt to bring life back into them. He stamped his feet and started moving, heading towards the slowpoke herd, and jumping up and down to get his blood pumping, trying to alleviate at least some of the chill. So fixated on the cold he was, he almost didn't notice the churned soil where the wooper had been digging the previous day.

Leo hesitated for a moment, debating coming back later to investigate. No, he thought to himself. I should take a look now, before I forget. So he bent over, searching around for what the wooper had dug up.

It took a good few minutes for Leo to find anything, most of the evidence having been washed away by the rain save for the holes in the ground the wooper had left, and what he did find filled him with hope. A plant had been dug up, with broad, dark green leaves and a large, round root that had chunks torn out of it. It looked an awful lot like a tuber – a wild potato maybe? Leo searched for more, the distinct leaves proving easy to find. He dug one up with enthusiasm, his hands clawing at the soft soil, until it revealed to him its prize – an unblemished, albeit dirt covered, root that fit snugly into the palm of his hand. It was maybe three inches long, and an inch around.

Looking at it, Leo could see the resemblance to a potato, and when he broke it open with a wet snap to taste it, his suspicions were confirmed. The pale white meat of the tuber tasted like a bitter potato, and Leo laughed aloud. Here he was, surrounded by vegetables, and he didn't even know it.

Still, he couldn't help but grin wildly. As terrible as the situation was currently, Leo could survive.

"No, not just survive," Leo told himself, digging up more of the pseudo potato plants for breakfast. "These mountains can provide everything I need to thrive."

Chapter Text

Rock clashed against metal and sparks flew, landing in the loosely packed pile of dead grass and pine needles. Smoke began to rise from the set of kindling and Leo scrambled forward onto his hands and knees, his knife and the stone he had been using tossed to the side as he leaned down to gently blow on the budding fire, coaxing the sparks to bloom into a full-blown flame. Soon enough flames started to catch on the tee-pee style formation of twigs settled around the kindling, and Leo began to add bigger sticks to it, feeding the fire but trying not to smother it with too much fuel. It took maybe two minutes for Leo to be satisfied that his fire wouldn't die, and he laughed at the sight of the small, merry flame slowly growing in size before him.

"What do you think of that, huh?" Leo boasted smugly to the slowpoke not but three feet to his right, its blank eyes staring at the flames.

"Sloooow?" It called, tilting its head to the side, tail slowly wagging back and forth.

"Finally, I have successfully found a replacement for matches – though I should probably still figure out the hand drill method, don't you think?" Leo asked, crossing his arms and sitting back, content to just watch for now.

The slowpoke made a strange noise in the back of its throat and, with a slow, almost methodical movement, opened its mouth to shoot a jet of water at the flame, successfully dousing it and the pile of sticks Leo had collected behind it. Leo's jaw dropped, the remains of his creation now just a pile of blackened twigs and smoke. His first successful fire without using matches, and a stupid slowpoke destroyed it.

"Slooow," the slowpoke said, and Leo could almost see the smug gleam in its eyes as it turned to look at him.

"You little jerk," Leo hissed, resisting the urge to shove the slowpoke away. With slow, methodical movements the slowpoke turned around and ambled back to its herd, greeting its fellow slowpoke with low calls and the occasional nudge. Leo just glared as it left, uncaring about how upset Leo was with it.

He couldn't stay mad though, and slumped forward. At least he knew he could start a fire now, and he hadn't really needed it at the moment. Still, it would have been nice to revel in his victory for a few more moments before the slowpoke put out the fire.

Stretching and standing, Leo turned his attention to the slowpoke herd. They had led him to a big lake, he estimated it was probably at least a mile long at its widest, though the slowpoke had congregated where the river flowed into the lake. The slowbro swam lazily through the waters, occasionally diving beneath the surface, while the slowpoke lounged on the shores, tails dangling in the waters. Three butterfree danced in the air above the lake, glittering scales falling from their wings to land on the surface of the water, which was set to gleaming by the mid-morning sun. To the right side of the lake dense trees grew, following up the entirety of the mountain. More mountains rose in front and to the left of the lake, great behemoths of rock and stone that held untold secrets – or so Leo liked to romanticize it.

"What a beautiful day though, isn't it?" Leo murmured. And truly it was. The air was crisp and cool, the slight breeze rustled the trees, and the buzzing of insects coupled with the occasional cry of a pokémon created a symphony that flowed through Leo's body and touched his very soul.

There could be a lot to complain about his situation, that is true, but Leo would be lying if he said he wasn't having fun. Adventure hadn't been laid at his feet, he had been submerged fully into it – there was no escaping it even if he wanted to, not that he did. He just had to force himself not to think about all that he left behind, all he had left undone. Which at the moment, was hard to do.

Leo let out a breath and looked at the sky, a singular bird pokémon flying high above.

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been!" he recited slowly, drawing upon his memories of a poem he had read long ago written by one John Greenleaf Whittier. Leo had enjoyed poetry to some degree, but never really got too into it. There had always been other things to do, but the quote here had always stuck out to him and was just a bit too relevant.

He didn't want to think that he had been given another chance in this…new life, for that is all Leo could really think to call it, because that would be something along the lines of admitting defeat. He had been young, he had found a purpose, and now, all he could dream about his old life was what might have been. He might have been great, or good, or…any number of things. Now he was here, in this world, with no explanation as to why. It had better be a good reason, Leo thought, a bubble of anger worming its way into his stomach.

"But there's no point in dwelling on 'might have beens.' You've still got things to do Leo," he told himself, tamping down his anger and pushing away his thoughts. "You've got an alternative fire method down, and you still need to figure out the hand drill method, but right now you need to secure another supply of meat besides mooching off of the slowpoke. So let's start with tracking, and figuring out traps," he muttered, rubbing his face.

Sure, he could gather edible plants for food, but he had been considering another problem – clothing. He had no idea what time of year it was, and this high in the mountains things were sure to get cold in the winter. Leo was not dressed for winter. All he had was his black, Billy Joel concert t-shirt and plain jeans, which spelled almost certain death during the first snow. So he wanted to find and hunt a furry pokémon that he could potentially tan and turn into a coat or something. Tanning leather was another problem though, but one he'd have to figure out once he got around to successfully hunting things.

"It's a good thing I'm a master of camouflage," Leo joked with a laugh, stripping completely nude and traipsing towards the lake. First he was going to "camouflage" himself, then he would go start tracking and trying to sneak up on things. He'd seen a few sentret and rattata around, they should make good practice targets. A wide grin spread across Leo's face as his toes sunk into the mud of the shore. "Who am I kidding? This is just an excuse to play in the mud," he declared proudly, and promptly fell flat on his face to roll about on the muddy shoreline.

He slathered and splashed mud all over himself, sticking blades of grass and twigs into the larger clumps that stuck to him more for his amusement than for any form of camouflage. A part of him wondered how well this would work, another didn't really care. Though that internal debate was settled mostly by the sudden appearance of a slowpoke, dropping itself onto the ground next to him and thrashing about, covering its pink hide with mud.

It stopped after a brief second and stared blankly at Leo, cocking its head to the side with a smear of dark brown mud on top of its head.

"Slooow?" it called, and Leo laughed.

He laughed hard and long, especially when more slowpoke came to join him in rolling in the mud, a curious display, he was sure. He could only imagine how it would look to any passersby to see a naked boy slathering himself with mud while slowpoke rolled all around him. And that thought was nothing short of hilarious, so Leo laughed deeply and fully for the first time since he had arrived here.

Leo crouched low to the ground, a hefty stick held loosely in one hand, and his prey in sight. He crept forward, careful not to step on any breakable twigs, and trying not to rustle the dead grass around him too much. It wasn't very tall, maybe ankle height brown and green grass, but it did make a lot of noise if brushed against. And unfortunately, the rattata he was stalking seemed to have sensed something was up.

The purple rat paused in its scrabbling in the dirt to sniff the air and Leo froze, casting his eyes downward ever so slightly because the face was the most easily recognizable part of the body. Sweat beaded on Leo's forehead as he waited, stock still in an awkward position with the sun beating down on him from above. After a second of holding his breath Leo looked up, adrenaline surging through his veins when he saw that the rattata had turned its back to him – and it was in range. Carefully Leo pulled back his arm, fingers clenching around the smooth grooves he had carved into the stick.

His heart hammered in his ears, his blood roared, and his muscles surged as he hurled his stick towards his prey. The stick arced, spinning beautifully through the air at the unmoving rattata only to sail right over its head and clatter against the ground, startling the rattata so much it shot a foot in the air and scrambled off into the brush and safety. Leo slumped in defeat, standing up and cursing at his aim. He was so close too. And at least his stalking skills were better than his tracking and trapping skills were. Those were…abysmal, to say the least. His tracking could be remedied with practice, but he wasn't seeing much hope for trapping at the moment.

"Not that I ever got much practice with traps," Leo grumbled to himself, striding over to his designated throwing stick. The occasional sharp rock or thorn poked into the bare soles of his feet, but Leo persevered. He wanted to toughen his feet up, in case he lost his shoes. That, and really, being naked and covered in mud wasn't really the same if he was wearing shoes. If he was going to play the part of the savage wild-man, he might as well really look the part, right?

Angry chittering drew Leo's attention, his gaze falling upon the rattata he had missed. It crouched not far in the budding brush to Leo's right, its fur blending in rather well with the shadows and densely packed branches, its overlarge teeth gnashing at Leo angrily. Leo narrowed his eyes at the creature. Did it really want to play that game? Fine. He'd play that game.

Leo dropped his stick and picked up a hefty rock, hurling it at the rattata and missing it by inches, mostly because it dodged out of the way and continued to chitter at him, pacing back and forth.

"You little – you're taunting me, aren't you?" Leo demanded, picking up his stick. "Fine, let's go buddy boy," he said, advancing towards the brush. The rattata retreated further into the bush, but still chittered at Leo. For a brief moment, Leo considered pushing into the brush. It was taller than he was, with dense, albeit thin branches that would poke and prod him to no end. It would be difficult, but was getting the rattata worth it…? He poked experimentally at the bush, pressing against it and testing its resistance.

With blinding speed the rattata darted forward, white light sparking off its little rat paws. Leo yelped and jumped backwards in surprise, his quick reaction the only thing that saved him from the loud snap! Of the rattata's jaws slamming shut where his feet had been but moments before. Leo's eyes widened and he hyper-focused, all thought fleeing his mind in lieu of one reaction – fight.

"Yaaaah!" Leo cried, kicking at the rattata, who scrambled away and back into the bush, still chattering angrily. Leo scowled at it and backpedaled away, locking himself into a stare down with the little creature. The rat gnashed its teeth one more time, its curled tail waving back and forth, and Leo decided then and there that it wasn't worth it to continue this fight. He sighed and turned away, trudging back to his temporary home next to the lake, glancing down at his throwing stick. He needed a better hunting method if traps were out, and his aim sucked. It would be great if he could make a bow, but he had no idea where to even start there…But, Leo thought, looking down at his stick as he sorted through his memories. I might be able to get the next best thing. All I need is to figure out how to make cordage.

It took Leo three days to finally figure out the proper method of making cord or rope from plant fibers, and even then it wasn't perfect. Dead grasses seemed to work the best for his purposes, but he still thought he was missing a step or two somewhere – he was thinking he might have to figure out how to separate the fibers themselves from the plants. How he would go about this he didn't exactly know, but that was a step for another day. Mainly because he had found a way to circumvent the need for cordage for the moment, a rather simple solution that had him feeling a little stupid. But for now he had a working prototype weapon to test out.

Leo gripped the short, stiff length of wood with one hand, his index finger stretching up to hold a longer, more flexible length against a sharpened nub on the end of the short branch. The longer piece of wood he had sharpened to a fine point and hardened in the fire, and was aimed into the wide open meadow Leo currently stood on the edge of.

"Atlatl test one, let's see how this thing works," Leo said to no one in particular. He did a little hop-skip step and threw his arm forward like he was throwing a baseball, flicking the shorter length of wood as hard as he could, and sending his thin, impromptu "spear" through the air. Leo whistled as he watched it fly, going at least fifty feet before embedding itself in the ground. He glanced appreciatively at the base of his weapon, weighing it in one hand. "That went better than expected. I've got distance, now I just need to focus on how much power I'm getting, and my accuracy,"

That, however, would just take practice. And, the way Leo saw it, he would be getting a lot of practice. Mostly because he was dumb, and hadn't realized what time of year it was when it was quite literally staring him in the face.

He tried hard not to acknowledge the budding flowers his spear – or dart, whatever it was called – had landed next to, pulling the ammunition out of the ground and looking at the sky. The flowers hadn't fully budded yet, not all of them, at least, which meant this was early to late spring. Even the bush that the rattata had hid in wasn't fully bloomed yet, and for that, Leo felt like a right idiot. Here he was feeling all smart and proud for remembering about the atlatl, the ancient precursor to the bow that was stupid easy to make in the wild, and for finding a rock suitable for the flint-and-steel method of fire making, when he couldn't even figure out what time of year it was based on freaking plant growth.

"Well, at least it keeps me humble," Leo told himself, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair. He let out a breath and looked around the meadow, eyes fixating themselves on a small patch of grass that was much shorter than the rest of the knee-high foliage. This meadow was one he frequented because he found out the longer, yellow grasses helped make decent rope, but that one spot always worried him. When he had investigated it a few days prior he had found evidence of ash and soot – which led him to think of a fire-type pokémon. It wasn't uniform enough to be a human's work, and there was no evidence of a camp that he could find, so the only reasonable solution was a fire type.

Which could be both good and bad. Mostly bad though, the majority of fire-type pokémon either seemed to live in volcanoes, or were predatory. Charizard, pyroar, and houndoom all came to mind. Leo shuddered and forced that idea out of his head. He hadn't run into any real predators yet, and he wasn't prepared for an up-close and personal encounter. Leo didn't like his chances of winning a fight against a flying, fire-breathing dragon, or a fire breathing dog.

"Don't get me wrong, it'd be so cool to see one, but let's keep them at a distance for now," Leo said to himself, swinging his atlatl spear, which was about half as tall as he was, around carelessly. A gust of wind roared through the trees, whipping the grasses to the side as the slapped at Leo's bare thigh. Pine needles fell from the trees and waves of green pollen followed suit, filling the air to the point it looked like a fire was raging somewhere. Leo sneezed and rubbed his nose, shielding his face as he looked up at the sky. The sun was really harsh, and all this walking around naked or covered in mud was starting to annoy him. He didn't want to get even more sunburned than he already was.

"Yep, it's time to make a hat," Leo decided. "And to put my clothes back on. Now it's getting a little silly," he said, and laughed to himself, turning on his heel and marching off towards his temporary camp, singing the tune of Joy to the World by Three Dog Night as loudly as he could. Today was a good day.

Leo crouched low in the bushes, eyes fixated on the truly magical sight before him. Two sunflora stood in a large, open meadow on the far end of the lake, surrounded by at least a half dozen bellossom that danced and spun around them, their little flower-petal dresses spinning around as they danced to the mystical music. An odd ringing sound rang through the meadow, accompanied by the soothing, almost flute-like sound of the grass whistles the sunflora were blowing on.

The bellossom laughed and twirled, jumping into the air as they danced about, the tinkling, ringing sounds only seeming to intensify as they did so. Petals floated through the air gaily, spinning and swirling around the musicians and their dancers, intense rays of sunlight beating down on the meadow like a beacon. They danced and swayed and even sang in small, lilting cries that somehow fit together perfectly with the tune, which in turn harmonized with the wind and the rustling of the grass and the groaning of trees. Leo found himself humming along and did nothing to resist the urge, swaying to the tune and drumming the soil with his fingers.

The beat picked up, the whistling of the sunflora sharpened, and the bellossom leapt into the air. Green light sprang forth on the ground, the grass growing visibly healthier and more wild beneath the bellossoms' feet. Then the beat slowed, and the bellossom ceased their erratic jumping, standing in place and swaying side-to-side, the petals that flew through the air slowing to a gentle drifting pattern, swirling around the meadow like a protective veil.

Leo doubted he'd ever forget this sight, and for the next hour that was all he did. Sit in the shadows, and watch the flowers dance.

That night, Leo did something he hadn't thought about doing since he landed here in this world. With his filleted magikarp dinner roasting on a flat rock over the fire, a ring of pine nuts and the potato-esque plants he had found around it as a garnish, Leo pulled out one of the many notebooks he had in his backpack and a mechanical pencil that had been in his pocket, and began to write a poem. It wasn't anything special really, he'd never gotten into poetry writing the way some of his fellow classmates had, mostly because he preferred to write stories over poetry, but he wasn't in the mood to write a story and watching the bellossom today had stirred something within him.

It was a strange, esoteric side of him that looked at the world in a lens of rose color and metaphor – the same one that had taken the bellossom and sunflora dance as a blessing and admired its beauty, but left whatever it might mean metaphorically alone because, quite frankly, to try and capture that sight into words was doing it an injustice.

So Leo wrote and rewrote and stared at the flames of his fire, at the dying light of the sun, and the slowpoke as they settled in to bed – funnily enough, the herd had taken to rolling in the mud just like he had taught them when he tried to camouflage himself. He watched, for a moment, one slowpoke as it wandered through the herd, nudging a fellow herd member every once in a while. Leo took inspiration from these sights and scratched away at the paper, putting his feelings to form.

After a few moments the smell of something burning reached his nose and Leo cursed, setting aside his pencil and scrambling to remove his dinner from the heat. The cooking rock he had used was longer than it was wide and was fairly thin, allowing for it to heat up well. That also meant he had "handles" to grab onto in the form of the excess rock that stuck out over the fire pit he had dug – propped up as it was on a "stand," in the form of two smaller, albeit squarish, rocks.

That didn't mean it wasn't hot though, and Leo cursed as he grabbed the sides, the heat very uncomfortable. The moment he set it down, away from the fire, Leo leapt to his feet and did a dance of pain, hopping about and waving his hands as if to cool them off.

"Ow, ow, ow that's hot," he hissed, clenching and unclenching his fists. Smoke rose from the nuts and potato-things as they lay on the rock, and Leo cursed his short attention span. Couldn't writing have waited until he was done with dinner? Of course not, he had to go and lose focus, and now his dinner was burned. Gingerly, Leo poked at the fish fillet to ensure it was done and, satisfied that it was, he popped a chunk of white fish meat into his mouth.

Unfortunately, the bottom of the fillet was burned. Fortunately, a little bit of burned food never hurt anyone, and though it wasn't a good taste at least it was a different flavor than the rather bland, basic taste of a magikarp fillet. Muttering to himself Leo settled back down, peeling his food off of his impromptu plate and looking back out over at the slowpoke herd. The sun had set by now and the darkness of the night settled, and thanks to the light from the fire Leo's night vision hadn't adjusted yet. But he could still see the lumps that formed the slowpoke herd, and that same slowpoke that had been wandering about earlier, finishing a complete circuit before settling in itself.

Leo hummed and polished off his meal, flipping his cooking rock upside down over the fire to clean off whatever had stuck to it and settling back contentedly against a tree. The small grove he had settled his camp in was enough to keep the wind and rain off, but if the slowpoke decided to stick around this lake for a while then he'd need to find something more permanent.

When his eyelids began to droop and the fire began to die, Leo stood and stretched, determined not to sleep yet. If he fell asleep this early then he'd wake up well before dawn, so, to keep himself awake for a little longer yet Leo headed away from his fire and toward the lake.

Somewhere in the distance a hoothoot hooted (and wasn't that a funny phrase) as Leo came to stop next to the shoreline, hands in the pockets of his jeans, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. The moon was a half-crescent, and the myriad of stars above shone with such brilliance Leo's breath was taken away even after having seen the same sight practically every night since he arrived here. There were so many stars, it made even the mountains of his home seem polluted. It wasn't even hard to pick out the "milky way," or whatever galaxy this was, that stretched as a band of densely gleaming stars in the sky.

The hoothoot hooted again somewhere to Leo's right, followed by a sharp flapping of wings that carried the round-ish bird from the tree it had been in into the sky, visible only as a black blob that quickly vanished. After a few more minutes, life returned to the forest as the nocturnal creatures came fully to life – though it was still far calmer than any point during the day. Leo yawned and shrugged off the melancholy he'd been feeling.

Maybe he would go to bed soon. Staying awake wasn't doing him any good, he was just thinking too much.

"Night, slowpoke," Leo murmured, turning his back to the lake.

A blinding white flash suddenly lit up the night sky, illuminating the forest for miles around. Leo whirled back around as a thunderous roar buffeted him, his eyes catching the last fleeting glimpse of a beam of white light streaking off into the sky. A metallic shriek rang through the air, stilling the forest and sending fearful chills down Leo's spine. He remained perfectly still as he stared in the direction of the flash, the only sound he heard being the hammering of his heart and the swiftness of his breath. Around him the slowpoke stirred, raising their heads to look at the direction of the disturbance. Time stretched on, but no further noise was made, and after fifteen minutes of silence the forest began to move again. Bugs buzzed about, and Leo even spotted a few zubat flying about in the open air, hunting for food.

The slowpoke grunted and laid back down, closing their eyes and falling into a slumber, which prompted Leo to move back over to the embers of his fire and sit down next to his "bed," a pile of leaves and pine needles. He sat there for a long time before he lay down, watching the direction the beam of light had come from. Only one other creature seemed to care about it anymore; a slowpoke, whose head remained raised and looking off into the distance even as its brethren slept.

"You too, huh, buddy?" Leo asked it in a whisper, more talking to himself than the slowpoke. "Looks like I won't be getting much sleep tonight," he murmured, rolling onto his back. He wondered what caused that, and what the shriek was, as he lay there. A small part of him wanted to go check out what it was, to find out what caused all that, while the rest of him screamed danger.

Leo sighed, already knowing which part of himself would win the contest of wills.

"Looks like I'm going tracking tomorrow," he muttered, and closed his eyes.

Leo dusted his fingers along the divot in the ground, eyes easily picking up the features of the track. Whatever had left this was incredibly heavy and large, as the three-toed track sunk deep into the soil. Amazingly though, it doesn't seem to leave much trace on the surroundings, Leo thought, glancing around the forest. True, the trees here weren't very densely packed, and there weren't many bushes or anything for the creature to smash with its feet, but there weren't even any broken branches or gnawed on grass that could suggest what kind of creature left this.

Leo's first thought was a golem – he'd seen the unevolved forms around so he knew graveller and geodude were in the area, but he also wasn't certain that golem could use what he could only assume to be a hyper beam. Maybe an ursaring? He knew what bear tracks looked like, and this wasn't a bear, but then again maybe the pokémon ursaring had different tracks than what Leo was used to seeing from bears. Standing up, Leo grabbed his atlatl and continued forward, the extra darts he had crafted held in his other hand.

He moved as silently as he could, following the clear trail the monster had left in its wake and keeping his eyes and ears open. Most importantly he was listening to the noise of the forest, and the sound of the bugs. Right now flies buzzed, grasshoppers chirped, and the forest was just alive. If all that fell silent, then it meant there was something else in the woods, something dangerous. But things were good now, and Leo could afford to relax a little.

He followed the tracks for at least a mile, long enough for him to begin to doubt that he was, in fact, following the right trail, when he came across the scar of the short battle he had only seen the after effects of. A hole had been blasted through the trees at an upward angle, branches and even entire tree trunks snapped in half from the force of whatever hit it. Leo whistled as he surveyed the damage. The beam hadn't just blown through a few of the trees, it had seemingly evaporated entire chunks of what had been in the way. One tree in particular had an almost perfectly round, semi-circular hole on the side of its trunk. It was a miracle it was even standing upright.

Pausing to examine the tracks, Leo situated himself where he thoughts the creature had positioned itself to fire its attack. Both feet were planted firmly on the ground parallel to each other, evidenced by the divots about three feet apart in the ground, and what Leo could only assume was a tail had slammed against the ground far behind it. A small shrub was even crushed by it.

"What were you shooting at?" Leo murmured, squinting in the direction the beam had been fired. Frowning, Leo moved forward, looking at the sky, the ground, the trees, anything that might give him a hint. It surprisingly didn't take him long, as he spotted what he was looking for as it lay in a bush, shining in the sunlight Leo furrowed his brows in confusion as he knelt and plucked the large, oblong metal…thing, out of the bush.

It was surprisingly light and was patterned much like a feather would be, with a long, thin tube running along the spine of the curved object, providing support. The edges were even fairly thin, and though it had the same sort of multifaceted texture as a normal feather, despite its size, it was solid and made entirely of metal. Realization dawned upon Leo as he hefted the object in one hand, fitting the stalk of it in his palm. This was a feather, a metal feather. Which left two options for what could have left it – either a skarmory or a corviknight, the only two steel and flying type pokémon Leo could remember. But he doubted it was a corviknight, this feather was polished to a high sheen and the edges were sharp – not razor sharp, no, in that respect it was duller than his knife, but it still held a noticeable edge. He was pretty certain corviknight didn't have sharp feathers, and had a darker coloration.

"Then what picked a fight with a skarmory?" Leo mused, swinging the feather experimentally. It was long, at least three feet long and too large for his small body, and had a few dents in it, but it was a solid weapon. He'd find a use for it somehow. He was pretty sure the lore of skarmory indicated their feathers could be used as swords, which Leo could see why, though he wouldn't be using it as such. Unless the wielder was very skilled it wasn't likely a sword would do a lot of good against a powerful wild pokémon.

Leo's immediate instinct was to go back to tracking, but something told him to have a further look around, see if he could find any more feathers. They would be incredibly useful, he was sure, and after a few minutes of searching Leo had found two more feathers. Well, more like a small, palm sized shard of one and a slightly longer, twisted and bent feather. Shoving both of his smaller finds in his backpack, as well as his atlatl, the ends of the darts sticking out of the pack, Leo headed back towards the tracks and continued to follow his prey, toying with his newest find.

He was so distracted by the large feather, in fact, that he almost missed the quieting of the forest before it was too late. Bugs still buzzed in the distance, and pidgey cried somewhere out to his left, but in his immediate vicinity it was dead silent. Leo froze and swiveled his head, adrenaline spiking through his veins as he scaned the trees above and the forest around him. To his left was a large outcropping of rocks, patches of light green moss growing on the white boulders, while to his front and his right the forest grew denstly together and headed downhill – small, shrub-like plants with light yellow leaves covering the ground. Nothing moved and neither did Leo for a moment, when he slowly began to back up, heading the way he came.

A scraping sound to his left, from the direction of the rock outcropping, had Leo freezing in his tracks, eyes widening as he saw the stones move. Boulders that easily weighed more than a few tons were rolled to the side as a tyranitar, in all its glory, revealed itself. It stretched to its full height of over seven feet, craning its neck to look at the sky and unleashing a yawn that revealed four sharp fangs and rows of dull, flat teeth. Yet as Leo stared down its ominously black gullet, he found himself eerily calm. If he did anything rash he could very well earn the creature's ire, so all he could do was stand there, and pray it paid him no mind.

The tyranitar's faded green hide was littered with cracks and scars, tips of the spikes that adorned its spine shattered or broken off completely, while its tail thrashed to and fro, casually sliding the boulders in its way with its immense strength. Leo could not help but admire the beauty of the creature. It did not look young – its hide was far too faded and scarred for what could reasonably be considered young (not that he knew how evolution worked here, this was all conjecture), but its regal might was not to be denied.

Stone ground on stone as the tyranitar shook itself, small pebbles falling from its back and head when, quite suddenly, it finally caught sight of Leo. It didn't make a move, and Leo found time stretching as he and the tyranitar just looked at each other, its large charcoal colored iris just…looking at him. Slowly, Leo laid his skarmory feather on the ground, and held up his hands.

"I mean no harm," he said softly, calmly. The tyranitar regarded him for a moment, then snorted and shook of its entire body again, rock dust flying into the air, before lumbering off up the hill to the left, each footstep thudding against the ground.

Leo didn't move until well after the tyranitar had left and the sounds of the forest returned to the area. In fact, he didn't move at all until his legs involuntarily gave out, and the sudden tenseness of the situation he had just survived washed over him. So that was a tyranitar, a pseudo-legendary. Leo laughed shakily, licking his lips and flopping onto his back, staring at the sky and well aware of the stupid grin on his face. His pack made the action of lying on his back very uncomfortable, but he couldn't find it in him to care.

"I think," Leo muttered, "I'm going to need a change of pants,"

Chapter Text

Days blurred into weeks as the slowpoke herd remained by the lake, slowly migrating down its shoreline. With each passing day Leo ventured further and further away from the herd, practicing his skills and exploring the world of pokémon in its rawest form. He had seen quite a bit, from herds of stantler to a lumbering ursaring, to even a stunky as it wandered through a patch of wetlands. But most importantly he had started to climb up and over mountains, exploring more territory on a daily basis.

This led him to his current activity – he was going to explore a cave. The six-foot-tall cave entrance situated at the base of a small, twenty foot tall cliff was a solid half day's worth of travel from the lake, and though Leo didn't know all that much about spelunking, he also wasn't planning on going in too deep. But his curiosity had been peaked, so he had to check it out.

He'd stumbled across the tyranitar tracks a couple days ago – unmistakable as they were – and in a moment of insanity had decided to follow them. They led him to this cave not once, but three separate times as the tyranitar travelled in circles near the entrance. Not once, however, did the behemoth of a pokémon enter the cave. It just…stood outside, if the tracks were anything to go by. It peaked Leo's curiosity, and he decided he had to find out what was in that cave.

Leo double checked his torches, tapping the sticky ends of the three short sticks, and nodding to himself. He was proud of his creations, mostly because it had been quite the process to make them. Normally he'd use a can or something to melt pine sap, thus creating a gummy, flammable material he could put on the end of stick to use as a torch (or use as glue, but that was beside the point), but with a lack of said can or any container that might work, Leo had…struggled. He'd made it work eventually by melting the sap on the flat of his big skarmory feather, but it was still an annoyingly tedious process.

"Right, let's get in, then back out," Leo said, standing and igniting one of his torches in the small fire he had built off to his left before kicking it out. A small curl of smoke rose from the ashes, but quickly vanished. Gripping his spare torches in his spare hand and rolling his shoulders, his pack shifting to a more comfortable position with the action, Leo boldly delved into the cave.

The entrance quickly narrowed from a six-foot-wide hole in the mountainside to a four-foot-tall and two foot wide passage that left Leo crouching to pass through and immediately worried this cave would turn out to be nothing. The cool air of the cave sent goosebumps running up Leo's arms, his footsteps echoing down the chamber as his torch cast flickering shadows on the wall. He was already lamenting the fact that he didn't have a smokeless light source – the smoke had nowhere to go here, which forced it into Leo's face.

Still, even through watery eyes and the dim, almost unreliable orange glow of his torch, he did manage to spot the geodude as it sat perfectly still in the middle of the cave floor. For all intents and purposes it looked like three lumps of stone sticking out of the ground, but Leo could see the almost too-uniform curve of its arms and fists, and the evidence of it having moved recently in the form of scrape marks on the ground.

"I see you," Leo grumbled, gingerly stepping around the unmoving pokémon. After his first mishap with getting punched by a geodude, Leo made a point to learn how to identify them from regular rocks. While he wasn't perfect – mistakes which had cost him a few more bruises – he was getting the hang of it.

Grinning to himself, Leo waved his torch back and forth in front of him, almost putting the tiny flame out with the aggressive movement. He panicked as it flickered dangerously, freezing instantly and praying that the flame wouldn't die. At least he could still see the light from the entrance from here, though, as it was just fifty feet back, but he still didn't want to stumble in the dark.

"Just a little further, then I'll head back," Leo whispered to himself, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves as the torch flame settled. Forging ahead once more with only a foot or two of light to guide the way, he swiftly came up on a small bend in the cave, which, when he rounded the corner, came to a dead end. A cave-in was what it looked like, with rocks all piled up on top of each other in a sloping wave.

A wave of disappointment washed over Leo as he stared at the cave in and frowned, shaking his head sadly as he turned to head back the way he came. His foot bumped against something solid and sent it clattering along the floor, and Leo furrowed his brows as he turned to look at it. The sound it made was distinctly…metallic. Crouching down, Leo lowered his torch to the floor, searching for what had made that sound.

It took a little bit to find, mostly because the metal ball had been completely encased with rust by this point and thus blended in better with the dusty, almost sandy tan ground, but find it he did. The large ball was split open down the middle, revealing a hollow interior and a hinge that connected two sides, almost like a chest. A strange design swirled up the sides and a large button-like appendage resided on top of it. Leo inspected it closely, setting down his spare torches to pick it up. It was heavier than he expected.

"It can't be. This can't be a pokeball, can it?" Leo mused aloud, looking back at the collapsed wall. He could vaguely remember seeing something similar to this ball in one of the old pokémon movies, the one with Celebi and Ash time-travelling, but he wasn't certain.

An idea began to take root in Leo's mind and he sighed, carefully moving forward and sticking his lit torch in between two rocks, so he wouldn't have to hold it. Then he lit another one in the fire of his first torch, and found a new place to put it so it illuminated the wall further. He saved his last torch just in case and took a deep breath, carefully examining the cave-in.

When he found the skeleton hidden off to the right-most side of the cave wall, its bones covered in grey dust and cracked almost beyond recognition, Leo felt neither joy nor surprise. He just sat back on his haunches and stared at the empty eye sockets of the deceased human skull, unsure what to feel.

"Poor sap," he muttered. The lower half of the person's body was crushed beneath a stone easily the size of Leo's torso, and if it hadn't been an instant death, it was most certainly fatal. Glancing at the ancient, opened pokeball, Leo felt something strange bubble up in his stomach, almost like respect. If his suspicion was right, then the person who was killed here had released his pokémon prior to their death and said pokémon might, potentially, be the same tyranitar that paced in front of the cave.

Leo brushed aside those thoughts and began searching for more items on his hands and knees, feeling bad that he was looting what was essentially a grave, but also knowing that if there was anything else here, it could be a huge help. Even the pokeball, rusted though it was, could be used for a variety of purposes. Creating pine pitch, for example. It'd make a fine substitute for a can.

His hands flew with a desperate fury as he worked, eyeing his torches and praying they would stay alight long enough for him to complete his search.

Though his time was short, he did manage to find two more similarly opened pokeballs and the tattered remains of a backpack, tossed a few feet away from the skeleton and half-crushed by another fallen rock. It was mostly useless, the fabric moldy and decayed and anything potentially useful most likely drug away by scavengers, but Leo did find something interesting. Stashed away in a side pocket that was miraculously intact was a decent sized leather-bound book with yellowing pages and smudged ink.

Excitement coursed through Leo's veins as he gathered up his finds, shoving them in his own backpack and lighting his final torch. The other two were tossed carelessly to the ground, where they fizzled out on the cool ground as Leo hightailed it out of the cave. He accidentally kicked the geodude on his way out, and though it leapt from its resting place with an angry grunt Leo was already too far gone, all but sprinting out of the cave and stopping next to the smoldering remains of his fire, breathing heavily.

"I don't ever want to go in a cave again," Leo said, shuddering at the thought and putting out his torch. The skeleton only confirmed everything he feared about going underground – the cave could and would collapse and kill him. "But in the meantime, lets get out of here. I don't want to be around if the tyranitar comes back," With a grunt of effort Leo rose to his feet and double-checked his heading, making sure he was heading back to his camp based on the position of the sun and his relative position to key landmarks on the mountainsides, before heading off at a brisk pace.

Leo rubbed his eyes as he stared at the book, gingerly turning the pages so as not to break the yellowing paper. When he first opened the book – a journal, he had come to realize – he had been more than a little disappointed. Not only was the writing smudged, water having bled through the pack it had been in and ruining a few of the pages, but it had appeared to be in an entirely different language. It wasn't really unexpected, now that Leo thought about it, but it had been disappointing.

That is, until he began to recognize the alphabet.

It was almost funny, Leo thought to himself as he ran his finger along a passage, slowly deciphering it, that the pokémon world even used pokémon as their alphabet. It wasn't that it was a foreign language, rather, the pokémon world had adopted the unown as a writing system. He recognized most of the capital letters as typical unown shapes, it was the lower-case letters which were giving him trouble. He was getting it down, slowly but surely, but it was a process.

"…the monsters have…grown aggressive lately. I will have…to…in-vestigate route four soon," Leo parsed out, sounding out each word individually. "Dang, Archibald, you really kept a detailed journal, didn't you?" Leo asked, sticking a blade of grass in-between the pages so he didn't lose his spot and flipping back to the front.

There, written on the inside of the front cover, was the author's first name and a smudge that could have once been his last; Archibald. Leo had only read a few pages, but already it seemed like Archibald had led an interesting life. Seemed to be a fairly powerful trainer, too, though Leo couldn't tell just from the writing. He'd been asked to handle an issue on the routes, and though Archibald had mentioned a few of his pokémon they were nicknamed so he couldn't tell what they were.

"Slooow?" a dopey voice called and Leo smiled, closing the book and setting it to the side as he looked up at the slowpoke that had come to say goodnight. The pink creature ambled up to Leo's fire, carefully maneuvering around the small blaze to butt its head against Leo's shoulder. The gentle movement still threatened to knock Leo over though, hiding the dopey creature's deceptive strength.

"Heya, King. Coming to say goodnight? Everyone's falling asleep early tonight, must be tired," Leo said, scratching the slowpoke who Leo had dubbed King behind its round ears. The slowpoke's skin was still wet from the lake, though Leo didn't really mind much. "You done doing your rounds, making sure everyone's settled?" he continued absently, looking out over the lake. The rest of the slowpoke herd had already settled in for the night, the dying light of the sun slowly fading, having already hidden itself behind the mountains. Leo probably wouldn't even have enough light to read by soon.

"Slooow," King called, cocking its head to the side and eyeing Leo's fire.

"Don't you dare. You know I need that," Leo chided, gently pushing the slowpoke's muzzle away from the fire. King didn't respond but also didn't put out his fire again, something he had struggled to teach the slowpoke about for weeks, so Leo figured he got the gist. "I'll be up for a bit longer, you don't need to worry about me. I'm going to work on my spear a bit then I'll head to bed," Leo told King. The slowpoke remained still for a few minutes, Leo content to stare at the brilliant orange coals of his fire with some company. Then it turned and trundled off, sound a low call as it once again began to circle the slowpoke herd.

"You're not ready to sleep either, huh?" Leo asked with a chuckle, watching King as it ambled slowly along, nudging one of the slowbro as it went. He watched the slowpoke for a minute before shaking his head and turning his attention to the palm-sized skarmory feather shard he had found, and the long, straight-ish tree branch he was trying to attach it to, leaning up against the tree next to him.

For a little bit he had used the shard as a sort of hatchet, burying the shard in a thick branch and using it that way until he figured out the sword worked better for that purpose. So he had spent the past few weeks trying to make a spear out of it, with little luck. The primitive and still-not-perfect cordage he'd been making out of grass fibers wasn't strong enough to handle rough impacts, and whenever he tried to fix the tip to the spear in other ways it would, for one reason or another, fail.

It wasn't like he really needed a spear though, he was getting proficient with his atlatl even if he hadn't killed anything with it yet, it would just be fun to have.

Maybe he was getting a little lax, now that he was figuring things out and getting comfortable in his survival. Leo hummed to himself as he worked, trying to wedge the spear tip into a small groove he had carved into the makeshift haft. He wrestled with it, and struggled a bit, trying not to press on the edges so he didn't cut himself, and eventually gave up when the haft started to split. Leo sighed, wresting the spearhead out of the shaft and tossing it to the side in annoyance.

It wasn't long before his fire began to die out and, with a little bit of reluctance, Leo turned and crawled into his bed. He had really lucked out with this find – a medium sized hole had been dug beneath the roots of a particularly tall pine and Leo had literally stumbled upon it. All it took was a little bit of digging and Leo had a decent little hidey hole, and sure he had to curl up into a ball in order to fit, but there was very little chance he would be seen and he would be kept warm when he crawled into it. It had been his bed for the past two days, in fact, and worked beautifully.

Leo shuddered a bit as the temperature continued to drop, sharper than he expected, and eyed the dull orange glow of the remains of his fire. If it rained hard he could be in for a rough night, especially if his hole started to fill with water. But sleepiness overtook his concern and, after crawling inside and pulling his backpack in front of the hole to add another layer of protection, he soon drifted off to sleep.

A chill ran down Leo's spine, his eyes snapping wide open to stare at the dirt wall in front of him. It was so dark he almost couldn't see directly in front of him. Yet, as he let out a short, silent breath, his breath came out in a white puff. Adrenaline was already spiking through his system when he woke, the cold that embraced him largely ignored thanks to that, but now it quickly settled into an icy calm. Something was wrong.

The forest was dead silent. Not a sound could be heard, and when Leo slowly turned his head to peer out of his hole past his backpack, he could see the layer of white that covered his fire pit. His eyes narrowed. He dared not move, even the sound of his heart beating seemed too loud as he strained his senses, searching for anything that might give him a clue as to what was going on.

A dark shape skittered past the entrance, soft chitters reaching Leo's ears in the near-silence. He nearly flinched when something skittered over the top of his den, landing softly in front of the entrance. A singular sleek, black leg was visible through Leo's peep hole, red feathers stretching down to brush the ground behind it. Leo tensed, pressing his feet against the dirt wall behind him and preparing to leap out if the pokémon noticed him.

For a moment, nothing happened, and it seemed like it would just move on. The creature stood there, then slowly turned and began to shuffle around, messing around with Leo's backpack. It paused, and Leo held his breath one clawed hand reached around the edge of the pack, its head lowering to look in at Leo with piercing red eyes.

"HAAAAAH!" Leo roared, launching himself out of his hole and slamming into his backpack, which in turn hit the pokémon. It yelped in surprise as it was tossed away, skittering off into the darkness as Leo scrambled to his feet, his head whipping back and forth wildly in search of the pokémon. His mind quickly processed what he'd seen – black fur, red feathers, bipedal, ice on the firepit – a mild curse left his lips as he snatched up the spear haft. He could only think of one pokémon that fit that description.

"Sneasel," he ground out, taking a fighting stance and levelling his weapon at the dark forest. He dared not risk crossing the firepit to reach the skarmory sword – it was too unwieldy for him anyway – as he searched for the pokémon. The trees and bushes that had made up this part of the forest were nothing more than dark blobs to his eyes, a white mist filling the air and making visibility even worse. Every once in a while dark shapes flitted between trees and around bushes, chittering and hissing to each other ominously through the trees.

A sudden burst of freezing wind sent Leo to shivering, ice forming on his t-shirt and in his hair, his eyes narrowing as he sought out his aggressor. Red eyes flashed at him, and claws scratched on trees as multiple sneasel darted about through the trees.

Leo's blood ran cold. Sneasel were pack pokémon, and as a young, defenseless human without any pokémon to defend himself with, Leo was prime prey. Perhaps even better than the slowpoke herd behind him – at least they had methods to fight back with. Another blast of icy cold wind was shot at him but this time Leo moved out of the way, only able to detect it from the sound of leaves rustling. It left a fine sheen of white on the ground, and basked the trunk of a tree in a layer of white.

What could only be described as snickers echoed from all around – above, in front, behind – and Leo shuddered as terror began to grip him, his heart hammering and breathing coming in short, ragged bursts. Then one sneasel revealed itself, black fur blending in so well with the dark night that it was only ten feet away when Leo noticed it. The bipedal 'mon stared at him with piercing red eyes, the red feathers on top of its head twitching in anticipation as it rubbed its claws together menacingly. The yellow dot on its forehead was almost bewitching as it slowly, methodically advanced. Leo let out a long, slow breath, accepting what was about to happen.

The fear he had been feeling drained from his body as he settled, fixing his posture slightly and shifting his attention away from the visible sneasel. He could already hear footsteps running up behind him and Leo tensed, whirling around with his staff swinging, catching the leaping sneasel in the side and sending it hurling away with a yowl of surprise. In the next second he was swinging back around, forcing the other sneasel to back off to avoid the swing. It snarled at him, and Leo did the only logical response.

He snarled back.

"Get back here!" He snapped, advancing on the sneasel with sharp thrusts from his staff, not unlike how he would use a spear. The sneasel hissed at him and scampered off, well out of Leo's reach but remained visible, eyeing him carefully.

Leo huffed and glanced around, keeping his eyes on the ground and trees above him, slowly backing up towards the lake. If he could get his back to the water, at least that way the sneasel wouldn't be able to gang up on him from all sides, and he might even be able to draw the help of the slowpoke herd.

The sneasel seemingly did not follow, and Leo didn't understand why until one of them dropped onto his back from the trees above. Sharp claws dug into his shoulders and Leo howled in pain, dropping his staff when icy coldness began to flood through his bloodstream. The rest of the sneasel howled in unison, charging forward to attack, abandoning stealth. The large creature on his back hissed and rumbled, looking far larger than its brethren as it reared back in preparation for another attack, its maw wide open to reveal rows of razor sharp teeth.

Leo moved then, ignoring the pain simply moving his arms brought as he reached over his right shoulder and shoved as much of his hand as he could into his aggressor's mouth, curling it into a fist around its tongue. Pain flashed through Leo once more as it retracted its claws and leapt off, its teeth leaving scratch marks on his fist as it choked and spluttered, the slimy tongue slipping out of Leo's grasp. The rest of the sneasel skidded to a halt and Leo risked a glance over his shoulder to get a good look at the sneasel – no, the freaking weavile – that had wounded him.

It was tall, shoulder-height at least, with sharp claws covered in a black-ish substance and red eyes that promised death as it glared at Leo. Leo's shoulders sagged as he stood there, his arms dropping to his sides as warmth spread down his shoulders. He growled at the weavile, who growled back and once more began to advance. Leo whirled on it and charged, the weavile's eyes growing wide in surprise as Leo kicked it in the chest, putting all his strength into the blow. The weavile wheezed as it stumbled backward, eyes flashing and claws further unsheathing as it growled hatefully, feet digging into the ground, ready to attack once more –

Only to be sent flying as a pink mass crashed into it, heralded by a furious "SLOOOOW!" The weavile hissed furiously as it landed, eyes narrowing as it glared at who Leo recognized as King, the slowpoke livelier now than he had ever seen it. A blue glow radiated from its eyes, sticks and rocks hurtling from some unseen force at the weavile, who batted the projectiles away with its claws and breathed out a vicious wave of ice. King weathered it unfalteringly, growling in the back of its throat.

Jets of water blasted through the trees as the slowpoke herd advanced, catching a few of the sneasel off-guard if their yowls of pain were anything to go by. Leo gulped in relief and fear, glad that the slowpoke herd had decided to attack, but both afraid for them and for the pain that echoed deep in his shoulders. The latter he could ignore for now thanks to adrenaline – which Leo hoped meant it wasn't too bad – but the slowpoke were another matter. Sneasel were part dark-type, which meant they had the advantage over the psychic-type slowpoke.

Sneasel launched themselves with indignant shrieks at the slowpoke, who retaliated with headbutts and jets of water as they engaged, King duking it out with the weavile while the slowbro stayed back, observing the battle with watchful eyes. Then one fixated its gaze on Leo, its eyes glowing blue, and cocked its head to the side.

This distraction cost Leo, as he mistakenly assumed the sneasel would ignore him in favor of taking out the slowpoke. A dark blur leapt through the air, sharp claws raking across his chest and drawing a scream from him as he stumbled backward, falling flat on the ground. The sneasel leapt upon him but Leo, with pure instinct guiding his movements, shoved his feet upward in a kick, catching the little monster in the chest and sending it stumbling away, where a fierce blast of water sent it sprawling.

A slowbro suddenly loomed over Leo, staring down at him curiously as a wave of pink energy burst from its body, washing over Leo and the nearby slowpoke. His chest and shoulders tightened, pain dulling significantly but strength escaping him as the energy soothed him. Leo let out a breath as the slowbro moved back once more, its massive spiked tail nearly smacking Leo as he tried to sit up.

Whatever the slowbro had done hadn't fully healed him – he still hurt, and the wound on his chest was now a massive scab – but now he could at least defend himself. Leo looked up, glancing around the battlefield. There were only a dozen or so sneasel in the pack – merely half of the twenty or so slowpoke – but they did have the upper hand. King was still duking it out with the weavile, keeping the agile monster at bay for now as they tested each other's defenses, while the other slowpoke attempted to gang up on the remaining sneasel. The sneasel, however, had the same idea, and were ganging up on the slowpoke with a minimum of two per slowpoke attacked

Anger flared in Leo's chest as he stood, charging at the nearest sneasel – who just so happened to be latched onto a slowpoke's back, slashing away – and full-body tackled it. The furry creature yowled in surprise, claws raking at Leo's arms as he pinned it to the ground and punched it in the face. The slowpoke bellowed and bodily shoved Leo out of the way, looming over the sneasel before smashing the prone creature with its head.

This seemed to set off the sneasel pack, a collective hiss echoing out in the night as they scrambled away – the sneasel Leo had attacked slashing the slowpoke's muzzle with its claws, blasting Leo with a point-black wave of icy-cold wind from its maw, and scrambling off into the darkness. Leo fell over from the attack, teeth immediately set to chattering and ice crawling on his skin. The weavile was the last to leave, snarling at King as the slowpoke stared at it unblinking, and breathed a blast of freezing cold air at the herd as a parting gift.

For a moment nothing moved, the slowpoke staring off into the night, uncaring of their wounds as they made sure the pack was gone. After a few minutes they relaxed, one by one ambling towards the slowbro, who stood unharmed in the back. Leo remained where he was, breathing heavily as he lay flat on his back. Pain slowly crept up on him, stabbing deep into his shoulders and radiating in waves across his chest, which was bleeding again.

Then waves of pink energy blasted out from the slowbro, washing over the slowpoke herd and even catching Leo, as he lay on the edge of their range.

His skin crawled as it stitched itself back together, feeling far weaker with each successive burst of energy, but the pain was lessening and, when he touched his chest tentatively, Leo's wounds were healing. He let out a long, slow breath, feeling dangerously close to passing out. Well, he thought as he lay there, another wave of energy washing over him. At least I survived. But now I need to get a fire started before I freeze to death. He thought with a shudder, sitting up and dusting the snow off of his arms and now-ruined shirt.

The skin on his shoulders and chest pulled angrily as Leo stood, wincing at the sensation, and moved over to his small wood pile, miraculously untouched by the battle. It took a hot minute for Leo to assemble the kindling and fumble with his matches, not trusting his shaking hands enough to properly use flint and steel, but eventually he got the fire started. Soon enough a small blaze licked at the wood, the warmth from the flames soaking into Leo's skin as he fed it. Satisfied with the size of the fire he lay sidewise, exposing as much of himself as he could to the warmth that slowly chased away the biting cold.

Even a few slowpoke joined him, ambling over and flopping down next to the fire with low groans.

"I agree," Leo murmured in response, eyes fluttering shut. He was coming down from the adrenaline high, and probably was woozy from blood loss or something, but right now he was too tired to rationalize anything. His last thought before he fell asleep before the fire, was of pokémon. "I need a pokémon," he muttered, and slipped into dreamland.

The next day Leo and the slowpoke gorged themselves. The healing move the slowbro had used, which Leo could only assume was heal pulse, had left Leo and the slowpoke herd noticeably thinner and weaker. He could only assume that was because the wounds had to use something to fix themselves up with, and it wasn't raw "magic healing power" heal pulse used. This led to the routine feasting of fish, insects, and edible plants for both Leo and the slowpoke, the slowpoke surprising Leo by showing that they did, in fact, know about the potato plant, as they dug up the tubers in mass quantities.

By midday, basking in the warmth of the sun by laying on a rock, Leo felt almost human again. If one didn't count the torn, blood-soaked shirt that clothed him, and the pervasive weakness in his limbs. It'd take more than just one day of good eating to get back up to tip-top shape, Leo was sure.

Still, as he lay on a large rock by the edge of the lake, two slowpoke laying below him in the mud as they all basked in the sun, beedrill buzzing on the far edge of the water and murkrow cawing as they flew through the air, Leo turned his thoughts to the previous night. The slash on his chest was an angry red line, sure to leave a scar, same as the two holes on his shoulders. He shuddered at the memory, and how lucky he'd been with that. Had he not been near the slowpoke, or had they chosen not to come battle the sneasel, he would have been dinner. It was plain and simple.

Honestly, Leo had prepared himself for the possibility of being attacked by a predator. He'd imagined fighting an ursaring, a persian or luxray, and even had notions on how to fight off massive birds of prey, like pidgeot or staraptor. Nothing had prepared him for a pack of ice-wielding creatures of the dark, and it drove home one simple fact – he was not in the world he once knew. Pokemon could do things he normally wouldn't expect, and all his survival knowledge would only get him so far in a battle against creatures who could spit literal waves of snow. This was something he knew academically before, but only now really understood.

Leo sighed and sat up, grabbing his atlatl from where it lay next to him and fitting a dart to the end as he stood, turning his back to the lake. A circle of rocks was set up twenty five or so feet away from the boulder and Leo, after aiming for a second, hurled his dart at it. It stabbed into the ground two feet to the left of the circle, making Leo frown.

"Way I see it, there are two solutions here, guys," Leo said to the slowpoke down below as he sat back down, propping his chin up on his fist. "Either I figure out how to fight and hide myself better, or I somehow find a partner pokémon to help me out. What do you think?" he asked. The two slowpoke looked up at him and, after a delay that stretched minutes, responded in low calls.

"Sloooow," they rumbled.

"Both? Well yeah, doing both is a good idea, but I don't really know where to start with taming a pokémon. No offense guys, but I'm not sure I want to rely on you in times of trouble. Besides, I don't really want to take any of you from your herd yet," Leo reasoned with them.

"Sloooooooow,"

"Yeah, I know, but really, as much as I love you as pokémon now, I think I need something that can hide with me and travel with me. You slowpoke seem mostly confined to the river," Leo argued. "Don't get me wrong, if I ever do become a trainer I'll absolutely seek you all out and see if anyone wants to join me on whatever journey, but until then I'm going to keep mooching off of you, and mostly leave you be. Hey, I'll even be your early warning system, like I was with the sneasel. Because I'm pretty sure they were coming to prey on you all originally, what with the type advantage and how fat you all are."

"Slow," the slowpoke said. Leo sighed and rubbed his face, nodding.

"Yes, that is assuming I actually get back to civilization in the first place, I know. But let's get back to the matter at hand; finding a partner and befriending it through the power of anime. It's not like I have any pokeballs, those ancient ones are busted through and through, nor do I really think I have some superpower to befriend any pokémon I come across. I've got to be reasonable here, but befriending a pokémon might be my only option. Beyond that, I don't know the first thing about training. It's not like I have a manual or any –" Leo cut himself off and straightened his back so quickly it cracked, his eyes widening.

"Waitaminute. I may just have a training manual. Stay here guys, I'll be back," Leo said, ending his imaginary conversation with the slowpoke and jumping off the boulder, running back toward his camp. He largely ignored the splashes of blood and obvious signs of a scuffle as he searched for Archibald's book, and laughed triumphantly when he found it, safely tucked away in his backpack which had been largely left alone.

Returning to the rock and clambering up it, Leo flipped open the pages and grinned down at the words. "Now, lets see what secrets you hold, hmm?"

Wood cracked against wood as Leo danced around the tree, ignoring the way his chest and shoulder muscles pulled tightly with each movement. His staff – for it was just a staff now, as long as it didn't have a spear head – was held loosely in front of him, levelled at his target as he focused. He swept and twirled his staff, practicing motions he hadn't used in far too long with a body far too small, striking firmly at the tree and working out his aggression.

Sweat beaded down his forehead from the exertion and Leo let out a breath, relaxing slightly and dropping his shoulders. He hadn't even been working that hard, but he was still light-headed from the sneasel attack and healing two days ago, so any exercise was a bit harder on him. Which really only served to irritate him further, as he took a deep breath and glared at the book set next to his backpack to the right.

It wasn't the fact that it wasn't really a training diary, and that Leo had to infer how to train and tame pokémon based on how Archibald described soothing other pokémon – discounting the idea of using one pokémon to beat up another – that had Leo worked up. Nor was it that the book was so dry and boring it had taken a full two days just to get through. That he hadn't been sleeping well out of paranoia and fear didn't help either, but right now that wasn't the big issue. No, what really worked him up was the name that had popped up on the very last page of the book and what it signified.

Grunting, Leo moved over to the journal and, after dropping his staff, flipped it open to the last filled-in page, about three quarters of the way through. He had to read it again, for the fifteenth time, just to make sure he read it right.

Its been three weeks since I reached the Silver Mountains, and I think I'm getting close. A nearby cave system holds some promise – serious seismic activity indicates onix activity below, which could be the cause of the mass agitation of pokemon in the area. With any luck I'll be in and out in a reasonable period of time. I'd hate to be here when that blizzard hits. Plus, I want to see Sam's first Elite Four battle. At the rate he's going, it won't be a surprise if there's another Oak claiming the title of champion by the end of next year. Guess the shadow I cast wasn't that intimidating, huh?

And that was it. No follow up, no nothing, but based on context from the rest of the journal it was clear that Archibald was the father of Sam. Samuel Oak to be precise, which was too coincidental of a name to be anyone but the original pokémon professor himself.

Leo ground his teeth, unsure whether to scream in rage or laugh. This was all just…way too coincidental. Of course he would find the journal of Professor Oak's deceased father.

"Where you're meant to be," Leo muttered mockingly, glaring up at the sky. "I see what you're doing, and I'm unamused!" he shouted, clenching his fists.

"Sloooow," one of the slowpoke called in answer. Leo rolled his eyes and sat down, rubbing his face. He sighed and moaned and groaned for a bit before standing and heading off in search of more food, wiping away all of his thoughts. The problem with the journal could come later. There were other problems to solve first, mostly revolving around his continued survival, and Leo intended to work on rectifying them.

So, whistling and singing a merry tune that wasn't mirrored by his actual feelings, Leo headed off into the forest, his goal set. Food, and then a pokémon.

Chapter Text

The furrett scrabbled in the dirt, the weasel-like pokemon digging up nuts and mushrooms and munching on them happily. Leo watched from his spot up in the pine tree, lounging like a panther on a thick branch ten feet of the ground. One arm dangled over the branch, his opposite leg hanging down as well, while his chin rested on his other hand – eyes watching the wildlife that passed below. The furrett, so far, had been his most frequent companion, and he found watching the playful creature to be a blast.

Everything seemed to be a game to it. Even when it would pick up a pinecone to dig at the nuts hidden inside, it would flip it around and toss it in the air, playing with it like a ball or something. Then it would race around trees, seemingly chasing its own tail, scrabbling up and down tree trunks and rolling in the dirt; just having a grand old time. Every once in a while another pokemon would appear, mostly rattatta or various bird pokemon, and the furrett would go charging off, chasing the pokemon in what appeared to be an impromptu game of tag. A game only the furrett seemed to be playing.

Had it not been a game, Leo was sure the pidgey it had pinned to the ground earlier would have been killed or eaten, not set free with a proud swish of the furrett's tail.

Speaking of pidgey, off to his right a pidgey chirped and Leo whistled back, the noise catching the furrett's attention as it looked up, holding a half-destroyed pinecone in its paws. It chittered something and went back to work, bits and pieces of the pinecone flying everywhere as it tore it to shreds.

Leo hummed to himself, pondering the merits of taming a wild sentret or furrett. Though in the games they were weak pokemon, he'd always held a soft spot for ferrets and weasels back in his home world. Plus it would be great to have a companion that was more knowledgeable about foraging than he – they were sure to be able to find all kinds of goodies to eat. Maybe they'd even find one of the famed berry bushes from the games, and wouldn't that be great. Leo missed fruit. Unfortunately, it was doubtful he'd be able to tame this furrett. If Archibald's journal was anything to go by, it was far easier to tame baby or young pokemon, or, barring that, adult pokemon with the aid of another pokemon.

Which means he'd have to search for a young sentret, if he decided upon the furrett line.

"I'll just keep my options open, I guess," Leo yawned, sitting up and stretching. The movement startled the furrett, who sat bolt upright and stared at Leo with wide, unblinking eyes. Leo waved at it with a smile, grabbing the branch with both hands and dropping into a hang before letting go and hitting the ground with a thud. By the time he looked up the furrett was gone, pinecone forgotten as it scrambled off. Leo laughed, scratching the back of his head and walking away, his torn shirt billowing annoyingly in the gentle wind. He'd have to find a replacement for it soon.

Maybe he'd try making a grass shirt, right around the time he wove the hat he'd been promising himself he'd make for…well a long time. How many days or weeks had it been now?

"Problem is that I can't make anything better than that. I have no idea where to start with tanning a hide, and I still haven't successfully hunted anything yet," he said with a frown, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Should probably get on that last bit,"

A pidgey, different than the one he'd just been whistling to, as evidenced by the shortened length of its tail feathers and smaller body, flitted onto a tree branch in front of Leo. It chirped and Leo responded with another whistle, to which it whistled back. Leo grinned at it.

"What about you, huh? Want to be my pokemon partner? I can help you find food – well, not really, but the point stands," Leo asked. The pidgey just cocked its head to the side and chirped again before it flew off in a furious beating of its wings. "Thought not. Why would you? You're probably wondering what this funny looking two-legged is even talking about."

With another sigh, Leo shook his head and continued on, no destination really in mind.

Leo fumbled with the long blade of grass, watching the sunflora out of the corner of his eye as he tried to mimic the way they formed the grass whistle. He folded it length-wise, and tried to curl the edges into a dome to blow on it, but nothing seemed to work. He scowled and tossed the coarse blade of grass, plucking another, shorter one, and attempting to blow on it. He glanced one more time at the sunflora, who were happily blowing away on their instruments now, pulled the blade of grass taut and tried again, blowing on it length-wise.

When a sharp whistle sounded out, Leo grinned happily. Then he flinched and leaned back behind the bush he had been using as cover, watching the sunflora through the branches. They glanced his way for a moment, then cooed softly to one another and continued to play with their whistles. Leo let out a breath, relaxing slightly. He didn't want to spook the placid creatures, watching them was quite a bit of fun, actually, though he held no real hope of befriending or taming them. Maybe if he could find a sunkern, but at that point the real question was how much kelp a sunkern could actually be. He'd seen the tiny pokemon around, and doubted their usefulness in his situation.

Leo shrugged and turned back to the sunflora, peeking around the bush and listening to the tune they were playing, trying to memorize it. He hummed along to the tune, tapping his leg with one hand as if adding a drum beat, as his eyes tracked a few hoppip as they floated through the blue skies on a gentle breeze. Soon enough the sunflora quit their playing and turned to face the sun, their large yellow faces basking in the noon-day sun's rays. Leo remained still for a few more minutes before slowly standing up and backing off, leaving the sunflora behind. He supposed it was just about time for lunch and a nap, midday was perfect for naps, but first he had a whistle to play around with.

Muttering to himself as he walked, Leo blew on the blade of grass and recoiled sharply when it sounded much more like an animal cry than the musical tune the sunflora had been playing. He frowned and tried again, blowing at different speeds and only succeeding at playing an intermittent noise. A brief wind blew, making his torn shirt billow and flutter annoyingly.

"Harder than it looks," he muttered, pausing in his walking to rework his grip on the grass, trying to work it again. A few sharp, short blasts of noise later that were sounding increasingly like animal cries, Leo was broken from his focus by a sharp tug on his pants leg. He looked down in confusion, freezing when he spotted the bellossom standing right next to him, smiling up at him and still gripping his pants leg.

Leo dared not move, but the bellossom had no such qualms. With a simple motion it let go of his pants, reached down to its petal dress, and plucked off one of the leaves, offering the yellow leaf up to Leo. Unsure of what else to do, he slowly reached out and grabbed it, eyes never leaving the bellossom, whose smile was unwavering.

The pokemon cooed softly, holding both hands beside its mouth and blowing softly. Leo cocked his head to the side and glanced at the leaf, then back at the bellossom. No way, he thought, realization as to what the bellossom wanted slowly dawning upon him. He brought the leaf to his mouth and, holding it like he had been holding the grass, put his lips on it and blew. At first there was no sound, so Leo readjusted his lips and tried again, this time a clear, ringing sound echoing out.

With a giggle the bellossom twirled, a soft ringing reverberating from it. Leo gaped. The bellossom laughed and, with a wave, wandered back to the small gaggle of oddish hiding poorly in a section of short grass.

Leo started walking again, slowly, glancing over his shoulder at the bellossom that was playing with the oddish now, paying him no heed. He blew on the leaf experimentally again, rubbed his forehead, and groaned as he finally regained his mental faculties.

"That's just…wow," Leo murmured. That bellossom showed a level of intelligence and understanding he had not been expecting, with a very simple action. It opened up a whole new slew of possibilities to Leo, though he needed some time to process all this. Really, he'd known that in the anime and such pokemon showed high degrees of intelligence at times, but he hadn't been expecting it. Up until this point, he'd only really seen the base "animalistic" side of pokemon. Meaning they weren't stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but they weren't…human, either.

"Once again, I am shown how little I actually know about this place," Leo muttered. "I'm just bumbling about like a freaking child, aren't I?"

A sharp jab to his ribs sent Leo stumbling away, scrambling to keep ahold of himself and not get knocked to the ground again. The tyrogue advanced, the scarred fighting-type not giving him much room to breathe, and launched a few experimental jabs. Leo largely ignored them, moving only the bare minimum to avoid the deliberately slow punches, and waited for an opportunity to strike back. Leo had thought he'd been lucky to stumble upon a tyrogue, the fighting type being really rare in the games, according to his memory, but he hadn't expected it to immediately rush him for a fight.

"Jerk," Leo hissed, twisting out of the way as it tried to bodily tackle him. Without missing a beat Leo lashed out with his foot, catching the tyrogue in the back and sending it off-balance, stumbling forward. It whirled on him before he could take advantage of it being off-balance, yellow eyes narrowing as it locked onto him.

"You're going to have to do better than a tackle," Leo taunted, resettling into his stance, hands set into a loose, open palm. He shifted his feet and sunk his knees, letting out a breath to settle down as he prepared to fight once more. He'd already taken a few good hits – it was time to get some payback.

The tyrogue growled at Leo, setting its fists in a way he imagined a boxer would, and rushed him. Leo took advantage of his reach over the little monster, batting away its jabs with open palms before sliding forward, punching at the tyrogue. It spun out of the way, only allowing Leo a glancing blow, its foot snapping out and hitting Leo in the shin as it tried to create some distance. Leo wasn't having it, however, and gave chase, momentarily forgetting himself as he advanced.

The tyrogue whirled on him quite suddenly, leaping into the air with more height than Leo had expected and slamming its foot into Leo's face. His head snapped back and he stumbled, disoriented from the pain, when the tyrogue started to punch him in the gut with a series of sharp jabs.

"Knock it off!" Leo roared, pain transforming into anger as he lashed out, snagging one of the tyrogue's arms in one hand and punching it in the face with his other. It twisted and fought against Leo's grip but he didn't let go, yanking the tyrogue close and kneeing it in the gut, followed by an elbow to the side of the head that had it falling to its knees. Leo let go of the tyrogue, breathing heavily and bleeding from his nose and taking a few steps back. "You done?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

The tyrogue looked up at him and grinned toothily, rising to its feet and howling a savage warcry as it once again leapt at Leo, covering the distance in a single jump and ramming its mohawk-like head spikes into his gut. Leo wheezed and fell to the ground, the tyrogue landing on top of him and recovering first. Two punches to the face later and Leo rolled sharply to the side, tossing the tyrogue off of him and rising to his feet in one smooth motion, scrambling to block and dodge the strikes of the tyrogue.

"Fine," Leo ground out between dodges. "If that's how you want to play, then lets play," he snapped, switching immediately to the offensive. Once again he tried to grab the tyrogue's arm, but this time it was expecting it. The moment Leo's hand clenched around its small, thin arm, the tyrogue was already leaping into the air, yanking Leo down with his own grasp on it and driving its forehead into Leo's face. Leo yelped and let go, freeing the tyrogue, who immediately went to work punching Leo's gut.

The fight swiftly ended after that, the tyrogue knocking Leo to the ground with a sweeping kick to the knee, followed by a one-two punch that laid him out flat on his back. Pain radiated from Leo's body as he lay there, bleeding from his face and seeing stars fly circles in the sky – only a few puffy white clouds marring the sight. The grassy meadow rustled in a light breeze, the cool grass feeling good on his aching head. Leo could vaguely hear the tyrogue celebrating through the ringing in his ears, and he scowled, rolling over and pushing himself up. Blood pooled in his mouth that he spat out, wincing as his tongue found a loose tooth.

"Hey," Leo croaked, lifting his head and glaring at the tyrogue, who had turned to regard him curiously. "Get back here. I'm not done with you yet," he snarled angrily. The pain that came with moving only served to piss Leo off more.

The tyrogue grinned and charged at Leo once more, who remained on his knees. He waited, and waited, and just before the tyrogue reached him he leapt forward, slamming into the smaller creature's chest with his shoulder and knocking it to the ground. It tried to roll backwards as Leo scrabbled to his feet, kicking the rising tyrogue like a football and sending it sprawling once more. Before it could move Leo leapt upon it, snaking his arms around its body, pinning its arms to its chest and locking it in a headlock, his legs locking together and pressing the tyrogue's legs to the ground, its body pressed against his chest.

"Yield," he snarled, tightening his grip on the tyrogue as it struggled, thrashing this way and that in a vain attempt to escape its bigger and stronger captor. Leo would know, he'd spent enough time being pinned in this exact same position from his older brother. "I know you understand me, now yield!" Leo roared.

For a moment the tyrogue stilled, and just when Leo thought the tyrogue had listened it started to yell and glow a bright white-blue color.

"For the love of -" he shouted, shoving the tyrogue away and scrambling backwards. He didn't know how evolution worked, and a part of him didn't want to stick around to find out, but he stood there transfixed by the metamorphosis and brilliant white glow regardless. Light spilled from the tyrogue as its body began to shift and grow, its head widening and arms and legs elongating, body filling out as a sharp spike protruded from its head. Then, with a snap, the light faded and before Leo stood a hitmontop, staring at its hands in wonder, its blue and tan fur pristine and gleaming in the midday sun.

It twisted and bent experimentally, throwing a few jabs into the air and kicking at nothing. Leo cursed his luck and took a step back, the action drawing the attention of the hitmontop to him once more. It grinned, and Leo cursed louder this time.

"This is gonna suck," Leo said, slipping into a stance again. The hitmontop let him get settled with a curious expression, then attacked. The fight was over before it even began this time, the fighting-type flipping over onto its head and spinning like a top, flashing towards Leo with blinding speed and hitting him before he even had a chance to react.

Leo felt three separate kicks hit him, once in the face and twice in the chest, the last hitting him into the air, though the pain didn't register until he hit the ground. His breath came in short, sharp breaths and he struggled to breath, coughing and rolling onto his side as darkness crept along the edges of his vision, threatening a blackout. His eyelids fluttered and Leo fought it as best he could, but to no avail as he slipped into unconsciousness.

When he came to, Leo was surprised both by the distance the sun had moved across the sky, and by the fact that he had been knocked out. It must have been at least an hour since his defeat, but it seemed like mere moments. With a groan Leo sat up, wincing as his muscles pulled and his sides ached, a pounding reverberating around his skull as he leaned forward, gripping his head in his hands.

"Lets not do that again," he muttered grumpily, just sitting there for a while. "Stupid evolution, stupid tyrogue. Why'd you have to go and attack me? I'm going to be hurting for days now," he groused, rubbing his face and looking up, then freezing as he locked eyes with another pokemon.

The tyranitar stared at him from where it stood between two trees, the coloration of its belly standing out as it watched him. It snorted, shooting dust from its nostrils, and cracked its jaws open in a yawn as it turned away, lumbering off into the forest. Leo stood after a moment, choosing not to think about the tyranitar as he took a deep breath. A groan escaped him on the exhale, his ribs and stomach aching and head throbbing.

"I just…can't today," Leo said, pushing the thought of the tyranitar out of his mind and stumbling back to the slowpoke herd. It would take a good hour or two normally, but with how gingerly he was moving now that time would probably increase a good amount. Pressing a hand to his forehead and glancing at the horizon, where dark stormclouds were looming, Leo sighed once more.

Either his luck was really good or really terrible, and usually Leo couldn't decide which it was. Today? Today, it felt like the latter.

Leo shuddered and shook as he crouched over his tiny fire, the flames barely catching on the slightly damp wood, other pieces of fuel laying about the firepit to dry. The rain had only stopped a half-hour ago, having persisted well into the night, and leaving Leo absolutely miserable. He was cold, wet, aching, and exhausted, yet unable to sleep because he was cold, wet, and aching.

Thunder rumbled and Leo sneezed, rubbing his bare shoulders futilely. He had taken his shirt off once the fire had started, the damp cloth doing more harm than good once it had been fully soaked. Normally he loved rain, he loved the sight and sounds of storms rolling in, he loved the smell it left and how everything just looked and felt clean afterwards. When he was alone in the wilderness, however, with no real form of cover, as he had been unable to find proper shelter beyond crouching behind a rock to avoid the worst of the wind, Leo found himself hating it.

"Stupid storm," Leo grumbled.

"Broooo," one of the slowbro called, yawning.

"Shut up, Bob. No one asked you," Leo snapped. Then he sighed, and held his face in his shaking hands. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. I love you, Bob," he amended.

"Slooow," one of the slowpoke said.

"Hush, Steve, I already apologized didn't I?" Leo muttered, sighing once more and rocking back away from the fire. "What am I even doing? Here I am, having a conversation with slowpoke and slowly freezing to death,"

He wasn't actually dying, not really, but that was the way Leo felt. Even when more wood had dried out and the small flame grew to a merry blaze, steam rolling off of larger sticks set next to the fire to dry, Leo still shivered, the bone-deep cold not fading any quicker. His eyes flicked away from the fire, glancing at the slowpoke herd a few dozen feet away, next to the lake and hidden in patches of tall grass. Leo found himself envious of them.

They hadn't even really cared that it rained, or was cold. The slowpoke had all the heat they needed, and could find food far easier than Leo could. He still relied heavily on them for the main source of his nutrients, after all. Most of them were even asleep now, something Leo probably wouldn't accomplish until morning, and the ground dried up.

"Alright, focus on something else, Leo. Find something to do, thinking about your misery isn't going to get you anywhere," Leo chided himself, slapping his cheeks and rising, heading over to his backpack. He silently thanked the heavens for the waterproofed canvas as he flicked it open, pulling out one of his notebooks, a pencil, and gingerly withdrawing the leaf the bellossom had given him from a side pocket. It was still perfectly healthy and vibrant, surprisingly, despite it having been a few days since his meeting with the bellossom.

"Wait, how long has it been?" Leo muttered to himself, scratching his cheek. It'd been a couple days, he knew…maybe four or five? He was losing track of time. All he knew was that the days were getting hotter and the forest had been in full bloom for a while now. "Should probably keep track of the days, and prepare to head down the mountains actually. I don't want to be here when winter hits," he muttered, rubbing his face. But, that was a problem for future Leo to figure out – the Leo of today just wanted to relax and stop hurting for a minute.

After writing and doodling for a few minutes, his hands slowly warming up as he used them, Leo began to play with the leaf. He pulled the leaf taut and blew on it, the soft ringing sound it created coming in short, discordant bursts. Leo scowled at it and huffed, trying a few more times. He never really had much musical talent in the first place, but at least the leaf was fun to play with. It only took few minutes of disjointed playing for Leo set the leaf off to the side, though, as he looked up at the stars. A part of him wondered how Jack – the friend he was certain had travelled to this world with – was doing, and what kind of a situation he was in. Leo hoped it he had been deposited closer to civilization – he wasn't certain Jack could survive for too long in the wilds.

"I shall admit, I did not expect to see a human child attempt to play a song on a bellossom's leaf," a new, deep and tired-sounding voice called. It was distinctly male and distinctly inhuman, and that definitely creeped Leo out. He jumped and whirled, his heart racing and finding himself thoroughly disappointed and confused to see the pink creature standing behind him, just outside the light of his fire.

"Uh," Leo said eloquently, staring at the slowking. He observed Leo with sharp, intelligent eyes and a small smile on his face, its hands held behind his back as he stood there regally. Shadows danced across its features, the pink gem in the middle of his crown reflecting the firelight in its smooth surface. The slowking's eyes held Leo's gaze, the expression on his face never faltering.

"Worry not, I am not here to cause you trouble," he said regally, the words coming out slowly and with a lot of forced enunciation. When Leo didn't respond, the slowking frowned, cocking his head to the side. "I am speaking the language of your people, yes? It has been so long since I have last spoke in this tongue, I am afraid I might be a little rusty."

"Uh, no, I mean yes, I can understand you, I'm just…surprised," Leo stammered out, trying to collect himself. The slowking smiled.

"I cannot say I am not surprised at that. It is not an everyday occurrence you meet a talking pokemon. May I sit? I do wish to converse with you for a time," he said. Leo nodded slowly, rubbing his forehead and sitting down on the opposite side of the fire from the slowking, the regal creature gingerly falling onto his backside with a groan. "Ah, I am getting too old," he muttered.

"Slooow," one of the slowpoke called, which Leo ignored in favor of staring at the slowking.

"Now first of all, I do have one question that must be answered – what is a child like you doing out in the woods like this?" the slowking asked. Leo frowned, but decided he was a little too tired to try to play any mind games. Besides, it was a slowking. What was the point of lying to a pokemon?

"No idea," Leo answered honestly. "I, quite literally, fell through the sky one day," at this, the slowking's eyes widened. Then they narrowed, and the pink creature sat forward, stubby hands resting on his knees.

"Explain," he demanded in all seriousness.

"Do you know of Lunala?" Leo asked. The slowking hummed and stroked its chin, closing his eyes for a moment.

"The embodiment of the moon, yes? That legendary being which is said to travel between dimensions – and makes its home originally in those islands to the far south, I believe," the slowking mused, nodding.

"Right, that one. Big old bat creature made of stars. Anyways, I originally…well, I can't quite remember what I was doing, but I was just living my life when all of a sudden I fall through a hole in space and time, land on a tropical island with my friend, the sky opens again and Lunala comes through before whisking me off to here – and dumping Jack, the friend I mentioned, god knows where." Leo summarized bluntly. This wasn't the story he would probably give to other humans, of course, but telling the slowking probably wouldn't cause any harm.

He might even have some insight into the situation that Leo hadn't thought of yet.

"I see," the slowking murmured. "That is quite the story you're telling,"

"The truth is stranger than fiction sometimes," Leo said with a shrug. "I mean, it's awfully strange that you can speak English, my native tongue. I didn't know English was a multi-universal language,"

"Maybe you're not speaking this…English, who is to say that you are not speaking our native tongue? Perhaps the legendary pokemon made this possible," the slowking remarked casually, waving one arm dismissively. Leo blinked, and the frowned, immediately wanting to dismiss the notion before realizing he had no way to disprove the slowking. Namely because the unown letters still looked like English letters to him, and who's to say his perception of language hadn't been changed? Lunala was part psychic type, right? So wasn't that plausible?

"Y'know, I wasn't actually wanting a rational answer," Leo grumbled, rubbing his already aching forehead.

"Apologies, it is a habit of mine to play the Giratina's advocate – especially when I am distracted." The slowking murmured. Leo huffed and shuffled back, moving to lean against a nearby tree. He was still cold, and it was still chilly, but his conversation with the slowking was definitely taking his mind off of things. "Unfortunately, this is beyond my ability to comprehend. Your situation is unique, so far as I have heard," the slowking said eventually, shaking his head and sighing.

"You…believe me?" Leo asked hesitantly. The slowking nodded, tapping its head with a smile.

"I am a psychic, dear child, I can read the base brainwaves of your mind to tell whether you are lying or not. And either you speak the truth, or have gone insane – though I doubt it is the latter," the slowking said. Leo blinked slowly, then nodded in understanding. It felt a little strange knowing that the slowking was essentially reading his mind, but he felt awfully calm about it. Maybe he was just desensitized to surprise by this point. "It also coincides with the rumors I have been hearing going around the forest. You have been travelling with the slowpoke herd for three and a half months –"

"How long?!" Leo interrupted, eyes flying wide open. He hadn't think that much time had passed! The slowking, however, forged ahead, uncaring of Leo's surprise as he explained his thoughts.

"Starting on the day of the spring equinox. I felt an awfully large surge of psychic activity that day – perhaps Lunala had something to do with it," he said, nodding. "Though I would not be surprised if other legendaries were involved besides the Living Moon. Perhaps the lords of space and time? T'would not be unreasonable for you to have disturbed their domains in your travel,"

"Huh," Leo said eloquently. The slowking shook his head and smiled at him.

"Though all of this is guesswork on my part. It will most likely be up to you to figure out your own situation," he said, and Leo nodded, disappointed. After a few moments of silence, during which time Leo added more wood to the fire and laid more out to dry, the slowking spoke again.

"I do believe this topic has brought us off-track. My true purpose in coming here was to meet the friend of the slowpokes," the slowking said, smiling. "It seems to me they have been in your care for a while now,"

"More like I've been in their care. Doubt I could have survived without them," Leo said honestly, huddling closer to the fire as the chill began to set in once more.

"Indeed," the slowking said somberly. "It is quite impressive you have survived this long, and even had the ability to survive against the weavile pack,"

Leo shuddered at the mention of the creatures. He'd seen a few of their tracks since the attack – having made sure to memorize their footprints so as to be better prepared – though hadn't actually seen any of the sneasel. That just meant the sneasel were still around, and he needed to be prepared.

"Less like survived and more like got saved by the slowpoke," Leo muttered, shaking his head. The slowking nodded, eyes roving over the sleeping forms of the slowpoke. "It feels a little weird, being so indebted to the slowpoke. Don't think I've ever really felt that way for…most anyone before, besides maybe my parents,"

"Slowpoke do not count debts," the slowking said sagely. Leo grunted but didn't reply, not doubting the slowking's words. The issue was, he couldn't think of a way to repay the slowpoke, besides maybe finding and king's rock or whatever to help King evolve. They wanted for nothing, really. Food was plentiful, and life was good for a slowpoke.

Leo's thoughts began to wander as silence reigned, unsure of what to ask and even if he needed to ask anything. True, he wanted to know the location of any civilization, but for some reason he couldn't get the words out. Like they had lodged themselves in his throat and refused to budge. His thoughts drifted to his home and family, who he would most likely never see again, barring another twist of fate.

His musing was broken by a wet head butting up against his back, followed by a low call from the slowpoke. Leo turned and smiled tiredly at who he recognized as King, the slowpoke ambling forward to lie down with a thump next to him, staring at the slowking unblinking.

"Hey King," Leo said with a smile, scratching King's ears. They flicked, droplets of water sent flying from the motion. "What are you doing up, huh"

"She is a good slowpoke," the slowking said, making Leo's eyebrows raise. Well, at least he knew King's gender now…though should he rename her Queen then, if it's a girl? The slowking leaned forward, meeting Leo's eyes intensely. "Though why do you call her King?"

"Oh, uh, because that's what she is?" Leo said with a frown, scratching his cheek and glancing down at the slowpoke beside him. "I mean, just look at what she does at night. King here always circles the herd, never bedding down until the last slowpoke has settled in – and at some point included me in that circle. Not to mention that she was the first to respond to the sneasel. If those aren't the actions of a leader, I don't know what are," he summarized with a shrug.

The slowking remained silent for a moment, then nodded his head. "I see. It would seem dear Archibald's journal did fall into the hands of a promising young human," he said, and Leo took a moment to process that information. "Allow me to answer your question before you pose it – yes, I was once Archibald's companion, as was the old tyranitar you have run into. Though he was old even before he joined the Team, and was the newest member. The rest of the team has faded with time, though a few of their descendants still remain in these mountains," slowking said.

"Huh," Leo said eloquently. "So…these slowpoke are all your kids then?" At this, the slowking laughed heartily, slapping his knee.

"Oh no, of course not! I have had no children in my time here – I am a King who lost his throne and his people thanks to a careless mistake. I am unfit to sire more children, save for those I left already on the shores of Cerulean," the slowking said sadly, and Leo blinked, gaining a sudden insight to the slowking. "In fact, I dare not call myself a king anymore. Archibald was our king, there could have been no other,"

"I see. I'm sorry," Leo said awkwardly.

"It is fine, many years have passed since that day. Though it seems you and I have much in common," the slowking explained with a dismissive wave of its hand…paw, thing. Leo wasn't sure what the stubby appendage was really called, because it looked like a hand but also a paw like a slowpoke's.

"How so?" Leo asked, shaking away his idle thoughts. He was far more tired than he thought if he was thinking about things like that.

"You and I both had our worlds stripped away by twists of fate," the slowking said simply, and Leo stilled. He looked at the slowking and, for a moment, felt just as he did. Tired, and old. Remembering a world and a life that could have continued on to greater heights, only to have it stripped away. The only difference was that Leo was given a new chance, another start, even if he hadn't wanted one.

"How did he die?" Leo asked, trusting the slowking would understand he was talking about Archibald. The slowking didn't reply immediately, opting to stand instead and yawn.

"I will tell you in the morning. There is must we must talk about, I believe. In the meantime, rest, it has been a long day and you are still injured from the hitmontop," he said. Leo barely registered the statement and how he knew Leo had fought a hitmontop as weariness suddenly washed over him like a wave, forcing his eyes to flutter shut. He wanted to voice more questions, but, as if some unseen force had struck him, instead he slumped over King and fell into a deep slumber, darkness taking him.

Chapter Text

Leo scrabbled up the mountain after Slowking as said pink pokemon calmly levitated up the hillside. To say Leo was envious of the slowking's psychic prowess was an understatement. He wanted to float over the stony ground – Slowking having chosen the absolute hardest way for Leo to climb up the mountain – but settled for imagining a much buffer and brawnier version of himself striding up the mountain with casual ease. A much different image than that of his current climb; crawling over rocks taller than himself, hand over fist, fighting inch by inch just to climb the rocky, avalanche-destroyed mountainside.

Thankfully though Leo could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Not but a hundred feet in front of him was the top of the climb, marked by a sharp ledge and blue sky beyond it. Pausing for breath, Leo sat down on the boulder he had climbed over and wiped sweat from his brow, looking back out over the river valley. He could see the lake the slowpoke herd congregated around, glittering in the midafternoon sun while the river snaked its way toward him, twisting to and fro as it wove between mountains. The mountain range seemed to stretch on forever from his position, growing taller the further upriver he looked. A few of the furthest peaks still had snow on them even.

Leo pulled a bottle of water from his pack and took a long drink, forcing himself to not drink too much. He wanted to save some for the trip down.

"Come, boy, it is not far to the top now," Slowking said, floating a good thirty feet up the mountain.

"Easy for you to say," Leo snapped, making Slowking chuckle. Leo panted and lay flat on his back, scowling as the sun's intense rays scorched his skin. He'd need a bath after this, otherwise everything would stink of sweat. That, and he really needed to get that hat made.

"Say, why is this mountain so much shorter than all the others?" Leo voiced. Before Slowking had drug him all the way over here, Leo had thought this mountain was connected to the mountain behind it, not a mountain of its own. It was only half as tall as the surrounding mountains after all, and much of its surface was covered in rockslides and dense forest. It hadn't looked fun to climb, which was why Leo hadn't travelled this way to explore yet. Besides, it was a solid half-days walk downstream just to get here and Leo wasn't keen on spending the night away from the slowpoke herd.

"Finish the climb," Slowking said after a moment of silence. Leo grumbled to himself, took a deep breath, and turned back towards the mountain, carefully picking where he placed his feet. The rocks were loose enough in this section of the climb that Leo didn't want to risk kicking any loose, or disturbing a geodude and getting himself punched again. He was still sore from the hitmontop, after all.

It took a good few minutes of climbing for Leo to reach the top, where immediately he had his already short breath stolen from him by the sight laid out before him. The entire other side of the mountain had been blown away. Dead trees lined the crater side, either killed off, snapped in half, or burnt to cinders. Massive round holes dotted the ground and remaining mountainside, leading deep into the earth itself. Deep lines carved themselves into the stone and smaller craters littered the ground, while tall spires of rock reached haphazardly into the sky.

"What in the world happened here?" Leo breathed, eyes wide and still wheezing, hands on his knees. The ledge he stood on was a mere two feet wide and relatively flat, sharply falling off into the crater below. He felt nervous just standing there, as if the ground would give way any moment and send him tumbling into the crater below.

"Tyrus, the old tyranitar you have met and my old ally, fought a war – we all did," Slowking said somberly, setting himself on the ground next to Leo and staring out at the ancient battlefield, eyes growing distant. Leo allowed Slowking his moment of silence, struggling to remain quiet as he panted and sweat like a pig. It wasn't until Leo had caught his breath that Slowking continued.

"This is not where Archibald died, as I am sure you are aware. This is, however, where his team released their vengeance. This mountain used to be a place where onix would come to evolve into steelix, being rich in the metals required for their evolution. It had been a particularly active year, and that is what drew Archibald to the mountain in the first place – though it is not the onix who killed him. No, that year, Winter came early to the mountains," Slowking said.

Leo swallowed heavily, looking out over the crater. If this was the kind of devastation a champion-level team could dish out…that was insane. How many pounds of TNT would it take to blow up an entire mountain?

"When the Living Winter arrived the onix and steelix were above ground, basking in the last rays of the summer sun. The harsh blizzards hit without any warning, driving the onix below ground with such speed and ferocity that it caused tunnels to collapse all across the range. Archibald had the poor luck of becoming trapped beneath the mountain. With the help of Tyrus he managed to get back to the entrance, but…well," Slowking sighed. "The tunnels were too small for a tyranitar, so Archibald recalled him, and released me instead. I heard the shifting rock, but thought nothing of it. Instead, I was focused on the blizzard outside the cave, and in my distraction the cave collapsed, crushing Archibald. With his last breaths he released his team. I blamed myself. The others blamed Articuno, and sought revenge. What could I do but aid them?

"It was…folly to fight a blizzard. The winter birds were powerful in their element, diving in and out of the storm, vanishing from even my psychic senses. Legendaries are called such for a reason, and yet even against two of the powerful ice-types we managed to hold our ground. We even managed to ground one, which led to our downfall. Tyrus unleased a powerful earthquake upon the downed bird, which disturbed the onix below and crumbled the mountain. Only three of us survived, the others' bones buried beneath the rubble," At this point Slowking fell silent, and Leo keeping quiet out of respect.

Until, that is, his curiosity got the better of him.

"So…did you all cause the crater, did the onix, or did the articuno?" Leo asked, observing the destruction laid out before him closely. "Because this is really impressive,"

"Directly after the battle, this mountain was a pile of rubble. Thirty five years of battle between Tyrus and whoever dared challenge him has reduced even that to dust. It has even become an official battleground for a few of the more powerful pokemon in the region. That, and it is the place where Tyrus challenges the Winter every year they visit," Slowking explained, making Leo raise his eyebrows.

"Tyrus challenges articuno every year?" he asked. "Is it articuno or Articuno? There's more than one legendary Articuno?"

"Yes, there is more than one Winter Bird. I know not how many, only that they roost in the Silver Mountains from time to time. As for Tyrus, well, he seeks ever stronger and greater challenges. It is in his nature. It is why he followed Archibald, because he could be given the greatest of challenges and claim to be the strongest as Champion. So every year when winter falls on the mountains, Tyrus seeks to fight the ones whom he still believes 'defeated' Archibald. And though articuno does not come every year, the results are usually the same. Tyrus loses," Slowking explained slowly. Leo hummed to himself, coming to terms with the knowledge being bestowed upon him.

This world wasn't like the games at least. No articuno, with their four times weakness to rock, could defeat a tyranitar without a lot of luck and massive level differences. Even then Leo wasn't sure an articuno could win, especially not if Tyrus was as strong as Leo expected.

"However, I did not bring you here to reminisce," Slowking said with a sigh. "I brought you here to teach you respect I fear you may lack."

"Respect?" Leo echoed, furrowing his brows in confusion, and feeling a little worried. Usually the term "teaching respect" came with some…concerning connotations.

"Indeed. You respect pokemon as creatures, that I do know. But a pokemon cares not for your respect. You must learn to respect, and fear, our power,"

"Fear," Leo repeated, raising his eyebrows. He didn't like the sound of that.

"Perhaps not the wisest choice of words, but it does accurately summarize my point. We will sit here and wait, until Tyrus fights," Slowking said with a firm nod.

"Oh-Kay," Leo drawled, enunciating each syllable of the word as he slid off of his spot and hid just below the ledge, out of the sun. "And how long will that take?"

"Not for an hour or two yet," Slowking promised. Leo glanced at the sun and frowned, running a hand through his increasingly long and greasy hair. Looks like he wouldn't get back to the slowpoke herd tonight.

So Leo sat, and waited. To pass the time he tried to weave a few grass stalks together, but the only grass on this part of the mountain was short and thin, unsuited to weaving. Giving up on that he lay back and watched the clouds as they passed overhead. There was nothing wrong with being lazy every once in a while, and he could use a nap.

After close to three hours passed Slowking nudged Leo awake from where he had been napping. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, blinking away sleep as he focused on Slowking. The pink creature didn't say a word, instead jerking his head toward the crater. Leo squinted and peered over the ledge, squinting and shading his eyes from the setting sun. There was no tyranitar below, and he couldn't see anything else, so he turned to Slowking for answers.

"What is it?" Leo asked.

"A challenger. Most the time Tyrus must seek out foes in the surrounding mountains, but certain species seek him out. A dragonite used to, as did a skarmory and scizor. In the past decade, certain fighting types have begun to appear. I believe they find fighting Tyrus to be a test of skill, or a rite of passage," Slowking explained softly.

Leo hummed in understanding, not finding it very surprising that fighting types would seek out challenges. That dumb tyrogue-turned-hitmontop had challenged him for Pete's sake.

"Where is it? And where is Tyrus?" Leo asked.

"Tyrus is coming. This is his nest, after all. It would not do to allow trespassers. The challenger is there, at the ridgeline of the crater. It is sitting down, so I do not expect you to see it," he said, and fell silent. Leo pulled himself up onto the ledge and peered down into the crater below, searching for the "challenger," as Slowking called it.

The minutes that passed by stretched like hours to Leo, as he searched for both Tyrus and the challenger. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed, then the challenging pokemon moved, standing from where it had been sitting and striding out into the crater. It was bipedal, and three flashes of metal caught Leo's eye as it passed through a patch of sunlight.

Leo gasped when he recognized the pokemon, a shiver running down his spine as it leapt through the air and landed right next to one of the onix holes.

"Lucario," Leo breathed, eyes wide. He couldn't make out the features exactly, but there was little else the blue, bipedal blob could be. Even hitmontop didn't have the metal spikes Leo thought he could see from here. "I thought those weren't native to Kanto?" Leo asked, confused. Wasn't he in the Silver Mountains, as in, Mount Silver?

"There is a small pack up north, near Rota. Terribly powerful pokemon, they are," Slowking explained. "This one appears young, younger than the other two who have come to challenge Tyrus. Either that means it is skilled, or arrogant,"

Any further conversation was cut abruptly short as, with a bone-shaking roar of unfiltered rage, a beam of pure white light lanced out of the mountain side arcing straight towards the lucario. A sort of fundamental, primal fear jolt Leo's system as he shielded his eyes from the intense ray, making his hair stand on end and a shiver run down his spine. That fear only intensified as he searched for the Lucario – had Tyrus just disintegrated a freaking lucario?!

"It seems Tyrus is being kind today. Look up," Slowking remarked. Leo looked skyward, nearly missing the lucario as it fell to the earth, slamming into the stony ground with a burst of blue power cracking the stone beneath its feet.

Spires of rock abruptly shot out of the ground, catching the lucario in the side and sending it stumbling as it spun away, blue light flashing from its paws, spheres of energy blasting out and disappearing down the hole the hyper beam had been shot out of. Another angry bellow rewarded the lucario and Tyrus came charging out of the darkness, clad in a purple-white light. Each mighty footfall sent more spires of rock jutting skyward, trapping the lucario for a brief second - long enough for Tyrus to cover the distance with surprising speed and bodily slam into it.

Rock shattered as the lucario was hurled through its prison of stone, dust flying everywhere as waves of pitch-black energy rippled from Tyrus body in a sphere of darkness. Leo's breath hitched as the lucario righted itself midair, paws barely touching the ground before it blurred, vanishing from sight and dodging the black energy. The second the darkness faded Tyrus roared, a sharp crack ringing out and the lucario appearing behind him with more blue light radiating from its form.

Spires of rock burst from the ground, the lucario nimbly dodging out of the way as Tyrus thrashed his tail, dirt and dust swirling around him and blurring his body, covering the crater until Leo could see nothing but flashes of light as the two pokemon duked it out. Explosions rattled the air, and Leo paid rapt attention as the cloud of dust was blown away by a massive blast. Tyrus and the Lucario stood on opposite ends of the field, and though Leo couldn't tell who was worse off, it didn't look like either were hurting –

Tyrus roared, a massive ball of light appearing in front of his maw. The Lucario raced forward, smashing a fist into Tyrus' chest, who wholly ignored the attack and continued to pour power into the ball of light, said attack increasing in size rapidly. Leo blinked. Then he stared. And then terror welled up inside him as the Lucario continued its relentless assault, and Tyrus didn't care. He just stood there, holding his attack, the ball of light growing in size until it was half as big as he was.

A shield of shimmering green flashed to life around Leo and Slowking, and not but moments later Tyrus whipped his head around, a truly massive beam of white light bursting forth and annihilating the mountainside. Leo flinched as the beam passed not but twenty feet below him, and stumbled when the mountain shifted, parts of the mountainside sliding forward and falling to the crater below. The only thing that saved Leo from falling himself was an unseen force that bound his limbs and held him aloft, floating mid-air until the mountain settled and he could find his footing.

Only when his feet touched ground did Leo allow himself to breathe. His heart hammered in his chest and adrenaline spiked through his veins as he stared wide-eyed at the destruction the hyper beam had caused. Nearly the entire top of the mountain had been sheared off, chunks of stone and dirt falling to the crater below and leaving a large, awkward-looking gouge where the attack had struck.

Leo swallowed thickly, tearing his eyes away from the destruction to look at the fight once more – though it was already over. The lucario – whose once blue fur now looked black all over – leapt weakly at Tyrus, who bared his teeth and smashed his forehead into the lucario's chest, sending it crashing to the ground. Tyrus roared, planting one foot on the lucario's chest in victory, and scowled down at the defeated pokemon.

"What happens now?" Leo asked, voice nothing but a whisper and shaking more than he would've like to admit.

"Depends on how Tyrus is feeling today," Slowking answered. "That lucario may not survive, or it may be allowed to run free. It did intrude into Tyrus' territory," Leo clenched his jaw and watched Tyrus as he stood there silently. Slowly, the tyranitar turned its head to look up at Leo and Slowking, and his breath hitched. Slowking stiffened slightly, and Leo stared right back at Tyrus. A few tense moments passed, then Tyrus shook himself and stomped back into one of the onix holes, disappearing into the inky blackness and leaving the lucario laying below. Slowking relaxed only when Tyrus disappeared, turning to Leo somberly.

"Come, it is time to descend. It would not do to test Tyrus' patience and remain so close to his nest," Slowking said, turning and floating down the mountain. Leo remained where he was however, perched on a broken slab of stone that had been thrust upward when the mountaintop shifted. He fixated his eyes on the lucario, or where he thought the lucario to be, as the light continued to fade.

"What about the lucario?" Leo asked.

"It will live. In a few hours it will have enough strength to move again, and it will be safe enough in Tyrus' nest. Only the foolish or the powerful come here, after all," Slowking explained. Leo sighed and nodded, reluctant to just leave like that, but also knowing Slowking was probably right. He didn't understand pokémon the way Slowking probably did. Plus he didn't want to irritate Tyrus, especially after that display of strength.

Leo turned around and started to follow Slowking when realization struck him and he cursed. They'd spent too much time here, and now he'd have to climb down in the dark. Already the sunlight was fading fast, and with any luck Leo could get halfway down this particular rocky area before it got really dark. Hopefully Slowking would help him out, but if the way the pink creature was simply floating down the mountainside without sparing Leo a glance it wasn't likely.

Leo cursed again and started his careful climb down, praying to the gods that the rocks wouldn't fall and that he wouldn't slip. Or that he wouldn't run into any geodudes. Or…well, a lot of things.

Carefully making his way down the rocky area alone took Leo a good hour and a half in the dark, and even though he managed to get over to the edge of the exceedingly rocky spot and get into some trees, the steep terrain and deadfall littering the ground prevented any form of quick movement. Rushing down the mountain in the dark was a sure way to break an ankle or something, and all the dead trees lying across the mountain – though plenty more were still standing, the deadfall was plenty old for forest to have grown back up around it – only made things more dangerous.

At one point Leo even found himself calf-deep in wet, muddy grass, the clearing he though was a meadow actually turning out to be swampy wetlands. Seriously, how in the world was a swamp like this on the side of a freaking mountain?! Not to mention that he accidentally angered a trio of psyduck who clutched their heads and angrily spat water at him. The fact that the water guns had sheared bark off of the tree trunk next to him had everything to do with the fact that Leo moved as fast as he could away from the yellow ducks, cursing his luck all the while.

All of this led to Leo camping at the base of the mountain, wringing his tattered socks out over the small fire he made and letting his shoes dry in the heat of the flames. He hadn't brought much with him on this little adventure, a mistake in hindsight, but he had brought tools to make a fire. Namely, his knife and the flint-like stone. Leo was rash sometimes, but he wasn't stupid. He needed ways to stay warm, and wasn't keen on repeating last night's misery in the cold.

Slowking had originally wanted to push on into the night and reach the slowpoke herd, but Leo had put his foot down. Accompanied by a powerful psychic or no, Leo wasn't going to traipse any further into the night. The dark didn't scare him, but he was tired, exhausted, wet, and still had a lot to digest from what he had witnessed today. In the end he managed to convince Slowking, and now the bulky pokemon sat across the fire from him, eyes closed and meditating.

"Why did you want to show me that?" Leo asked aloud, fighting off sleep as he waited for his socks to dry, hanging over the fire as they were. It wouldn't do to let his socks burn up, but they needed to dry out so his feet wouldn't get super cold while he slept. Stupid swamp.

"You mean the fight?" Slowking asked. Leo nodded, forgetting Slowking had his eyes closed, but apparently sight wasn't necessary for the psychic type because he continued anyway. "I wanted see how you'd react,"

"How did I react?" Leo muttered, rubbing his face. He was too tired to play mind games with Slowking. Was this some sort of test? Leo would hedge his bets on it being a test. Why did Slowking feel the need to test him? Because he had Archibald's journal?

"How did you react?" Slowking asked back, and Leo shrugged. He was still figuring that out. The sheer power both Tyrus and the lucario displayed was mind-boggling, quite literally something out of an anime. How was he supposed to react to that? He did know one thing though; Slowking was right. Leo hadn't really understood the power pokemon wielded until now. He wasn't sure he understood it even now.

"Dunno," Leo said after a minute, and Slowking nodded, showing no other outward emotion.

"To be expected, I suppose. We will return to that topic to that later, once you have had some time. I forget how fragile humans are," Slowking said. Leo bit back a retort, his mind wandering to the lucario. He was doubtful he could have survived a hyper beam, period. Yet the lucario had not only taken the attack, but had still had enough energy to continue fighting, albeit barely. "Though to be fair, you are quite young,"

Leo hummed in response, flipping his socks over on the tall stick he had them hanging on. It wasn't the most effective method, but it was working. The two sat in silence for a while until Slowking stood and stretched, looking off into the darkness.

"I will leave you for a time now. Nothing will threaten you this close to Tyrus' mountain, as there is very little dumb enough to pick a fight with a tyranitar, but I do suggest you return to the slowpoke herd tomorrow," Slowking said.

"That was the plan," Leo murmured, patting his empty stomach. He'd munched on some bugs and other edibles – namely pine nuts and the one potato look-alike he'd found – on the way up the mountain, but nothing really satisfying.

"Good. Though one more piece of advice – I would not stay with the herd for much longer. Although their path does lead toward human civilization I doubt their pace will suffice this year. I fear winter will arrive early once more. Slowpoke can survive the cold, you cannot," Slowking said ominously, and Leo suddenly felt much more awake as he watched Slowking leave. That wasn't good news, now was it? It meant he had a few months until winter, sure, but that might mean fall would be cut short.

Leo let out a long, slow breath and shook his head. He was just…done with today. With life in general right now. Why couldn't anything be simple and easy?

"Everything is simple," Leo hissed to himself, slamming an open palm into the tree trunk and biting back a wince at the pain. He danced backwards, feet sliding into a firm, solid stance as he continued to circle the tree. His hands were held out towards the trunk, palms facing his chest as he slowly moved around it. "If winter is coming, then I just need to leave before it gets here," Leo said, sliding in and striking the tree with his elbow, followed by a knee and a singular punch before he backed off.

"If I can't hunt, then I'll just smoke some fish and make due with veggies and bugs," Leo told himself, anger flashing through his chest. He snarled and punched the tree multiple times, tearing the skin on his knuckles and causing them to bleed – though he didn't care. "If I can't find a pokemon to travel with me then I'll make due and figure things out myself,"

Another flash of irritation welled up inside Leo, though he stamped this one down and settled back, correcting his stance so his legs weren't too close together and he was less off-balance. As he moved he was beginning to remember what it felt like to be "in stance" and how it felt to move about in the style of martial art his father had taught him, though it would take a bit more time for him to really get back into the groove. He was too small now, too weak, and it'd been at least a year and a half since his last lesson in the art.

"If tyrogue want to pick fights with me, then I just have to get stronger. If I can't make a stupid hat because the grass sucks and I don't actually know how to weave, then fine! I'll just get a tan," Leo ground out, taking a deep breath and practicing a few kicks against the tree. The first few were hesitant, his bare shins – for he was naked save for his underpants at the moment – tapping the bark gently a few times until Leo got annoyed with his own hesitance and slammed his leg against the tree.

"The answer is simple, don't complicate things, Leo," he told himself, breathing heavily and relaxing his stance, glaring up at the midday sun.

"Slooow," one of the slowbro called from off to his right, where it stood watching him curiously.

"Don't mind me. Just working myself out of a funk. That Tyrus thing really messed with me for some reason," Leo assured it, running a hand down his face. For the past two days he'd been mulling over everything he'd heard and witnessed until he came to the conclusion that he needed to stop thinking about it. Despite his initial reaction, solutions to big problems usually were simple. Winter was coming? Leave. Don't want to die? Don't piss off a tyranitar. Simple as that.

"Brooo," the slowbro answered, turning and walking back to the lake. The herd was almost to the end by now, looking like they were ready to start heading further downriver.

Leo sighed and glanced around the big valley he had apparently spent months in. He was familiar with this land – he knew where to find food, where to find whetstones for his knife and skarmory feathers, and even where a pile of the flint-like rocks he needed to spark against his knife was. But that comfort was also holding him back, holding him here, and Leo needed to move on.

Letting out a breath, Leo closed his eyes and folded his hands beneath his navel. He breathed slowly, in and out, imagining for a moment that all of the irritation and anger that had built up ever since Slowking left him alone near Tyrus' mountain was flowing out of his feet and into the ground on every exhale. His body relaxed slowly, muscles untensing and thoughts becoming less cluttered as he did this small meditative exercise. Things were going to be ok, he just had to survive.

How does that poem go? Leo asked himself, trying to remember the words.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horrors of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

"Sloooow," a slowpoke called, and Leo jumped in surprise.

"Did you have to do that?! I was trying to psyche myself up!" Leo snapped, whirling on the slowpoke angrily. It ignored his outburst and stared past him, fixated on something behind him. Leo glanced over his shoulder and sighed in irritation. "If its not one thing it's another. What do you want?" Leo asked sharply, turning to glare at the hitmontop that was walking in his direction. It looked a little scuffed up, but Leo thought he recognized it as the same one he had fought before. Back when it was a tyrogue anyway.

The blue-furred pokemon seemed to just grin at him, weaving its way around a thicket of brush that reached up to mid-thigh on it, and stopping about ten feet away from the edge of the trees Leo was standing in, out in the middle of a small meadow.

"It has come here to challenge you again," Slowking said from behind Leo, making him jump and whirl again.

"Would you all stop doing that?!" Leo yelped, then scowled when he realized how whiney he had just sounded. "Stop sneaking up on me, and why is it challenging me?" Leo hissed. Slowking smirked, clearly enjoying the situation.

"You are the one who has been declaring your challenge to the world for the past hour. Hitmontop here lost a fight to the lucario a few hours ago – it's returning to fight you because you helped it evolve. Since you've been so vocal in your intent to fight, it decided to pay you a visit," Slowking said.

"I've just been punching a tree for a little bit!" Leo exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air and stalking toward the hitmontop. He was pissed off as it was, and wanted to start a fight anyway. "But if it's a fight it wants, then it's a fight it will get!"

"Odd choice," Slowking said, and Leo scowled, exiting the trees and raising his hands into a fighting stance. "Don't die,"

"Shut up!" Leo barked, and the hitmontop charged. It only took two moves for the hitmontop to land a kick to Leo's chest and send him flying, his back slamming into a tree. The pain only served to flare his temper more as he fell to his knees, swiftly rising and fixating a glare at the hitmontop. Leo snarled and raised his fists again, uncaring that he was going to take an absolute beating here. He needed to hit something.

The hitmontop grinned at him and charged, thankfully not doing the unfair spinning-like-a-top move, tossing a light punch that Leo met with his face, bulldozing his way through the strike to return it in kind, punching the hitmontop in the face as hard as he could.

Blood trickled from Leo's nose but he ignored it, pressing his advantage as he smashed an elbow into the hitmontop's chest, immediately transitioning the blow into an open palm strike to its jaw, followed by a knee to its leg and another punch with his other hand – the latter of which was caught by the hitmontop. With a cry it spun Leo around, tossing him away and chasing after him, smashing a foot into his ribs while he struggled to remain standing, effectifely sending him to the ground. Leo hissed and rolled away, the hitmontop kneeing and kicking him every time he tried to stand.

Leo cursed and reversed directions, rolling into the hitmontop and knocking it off balance as he threw his entire body weight into its legs. It didn't go down however and promptly punched Leo in the back of the head, sending him sprawling onto the ground. And he just…lay there, vision swimming and head pounding until the words from that poem echoed in his head. My head is bloody, but unbowed.

With a groan Leo pushed himself up, wiping the blood off his face with one hand and fixing the hitmontop with a cool glare as it stood a few feet away, watching him curiously. He needed to calm down. Settle down, and then fight. He was lucky enough as it was that this was still a young hitmontop, not a really experienced one.

"Unless you knock me out, I will keep getting up," Leo warned, hissing in discomfort as his body began to ache. The hitmontop made a weird chuffing sound, and Leo heard Slowking sigh. White light glowed on the hitmontop's feet and it flipped over onto its hands, momentarily startling Leo when it performed a front flip, performing a swinging kick at him that went wide.

Leo's body reacted before his brain did, dropping to the ground and sticking his feet up in the air, the hitmontop's own momentum carrying it into his mule kick. Unfortunately it was heavier than he expected and his knees collapsed, allowing the hitmontop to crash into him with his full weight. Next thing Leo knew his arms were pinned to the ground and the hitmontop was headbutting him until his vision blurred and mind turned foggy. He felt it get up off of him, he heard it walk off after saying something to Slowking, and yet he only was able to react until after Slowking had walked over to stand over him.

"You are the only human I have seen who is dumb enough to look at a fighting-type pokemon and think 'Oh, I can fight that.'" Slowking said bluntly as Leo rolled over, groaning and spitting a glob of blood onto the ground. The hitmontop was even taking it easy on him. "Though the hitmontop did praise your tenacity, if not your skill," Slowking said, almost disdainfully.

"'S your fault," Leo mumbled, working his jaw absently as he propped himself up on his elbows. He could almost feel his lips swelling up, and skin start to bruise.

"Excuse me?" Slowking asked.

"You said you wanted to scare me," Leo said, leaning his head down to his hands and pinching his nose, attempting to stop the bleeding. "I don't wanna be scared,"

"I said I want you to respect the power of a pokemon, not physically attack them," Slowking reprimanded. Leo shook his head slowly, not wanting to argue. Yes, it had been stupid to fight the hitmontop again, and yes he was willing to admit that. But he had been feeling ornery and would most likely do so again, if given the chance. He just…had some aggression to work out.

"I want to go home," Leo whispered to himself, anger momentarily turning to sadness.

"Hmm?" Slowking asked.

"Nothing," Leo grumbled, pushing himself into a sitting position and dusting dead grass and pine needles off of his bare skin. "Do you need anything else, or are you just here to tell me I'm an idiot?" Slowking watched him carefully for a second, folding his hands behind his back and peering down his muzzle at Leo.

"No, I am simply here to tell you that I will be dropping by every few days to check on you until you leave the slowpoke. From here, if you follow the river, it is approximately a month's journey to the nearest human settlement. I suggest you start sooner than later," Slowking said.

"Great. Any advice on that? What I should expect once I reach human civilization again?" Leo asked.

"It has been a long time since I last visited the human world, though I will say it is far different from the wilds," Slowking said, rather slowly. Leo rolled his eyes. As if I didn't know that already, he thought. "Though I will ask you this favor – if you can, seek out Archibald's son. Give him the journal. I feel Archibald would wish that,"

"Yeah," Leo said, nodding. "I can do that," It had been his plan to do so anyway, regardless of whether or not Slowking asked him to do it. It was the last testament of a Champion, the least he could do was provide some closure to the man's legacy.

"Thank you," Slowking said, his shoulders sagging ever so slightly.

"One last thing before you go. How would I go about befriending or taming a wild pokemon, without a pokeball?" Leo asked. "I figure having a companion would up my chances of survival,"

"Just do what you have been doing. When you find a pokemon that is willing to travel with you, you will know," Slowking said, bowing slightly to Leo. "Then I will take my leave for now,"

"Yeah, bye," Leo said glumly, waving off Slowking and slumping forward, resting his chin in his hands and his elbows on his knees. He still had a funk to work himself out of.

Chapter Text

Leo spent another three or so weeks with the slowpoke herd before he finally felt ready to move on. During that time he'd achieved a few things. The biggest thing was killing a Pidgey with his atlatl, the dart having just enough force behind it to get the job done. Leo had celebrated with a dance and a feast, glad to have something other to eat than fish and nuts. Sure, the bird was a little dry and tough after he'd skinned, gutted, and cooked it, but he'd relished it all the same.

He'd also managed to make something akin to a hat – it was flat and barely even resembled a circle, with many holes in the thick grass weave, but he'd figured out a way to keep it on his head and it at least kept the worst of the sun off, so that was a win in Leo's book. Other than that, he'd had no other big experiences. He'd run into the Bellossom again, who laughed at his amateurish attempts at blowing the leaf it had given him – which still hadn't withered or dried out, which astounded Leo – and had almost managed to grab ahold of a Sentret.

Literally. He'd managed to sneak up on it and almost managed to grab it with both hands but had stepped on a twig and scared the little pokemon off.

A big change had also overtaken the Slowpoke herd closer to the beginning of those three weeks – the females had given birth to little, baby Slowpoke. Apparently spring came late to Slowpoke, because Leo was pretty sure most animals gave birth in late spring, not early-to-mid summer. But then again, pokemon. What did he really know about them? He hadn't even noticed any of the Slowpoke were pregnant, right up until they were giving birth. Though something that had both surprised him and not was that the Slowpoke didn't lay eggs, instead giving birth to live creatures. Some part of him expected pokemon eggs instead of live births, but hey, it didn't make a whole lot of sense for all pokemon to come from eggs either. For game mechanics, sure, but not for real.

Nevertheless, the little pink blobs of adorableness that were baby Slowpoke had been a blast to play with. They weren't quite as energetic as puppies, but they would still romp and play and roughhouse in their own, slow way. He'd even napped on the riverbank surrounded by the little guys, the seven Slowpoke sprawled around and on top of him. It was a pity he had to leave, he would've loved to see the Slowpoke grow up.

That's if they survive the winter, Leo thought somberly as he sat next to his supplies, laid out so he could do a final count, and watched the Slowpoke herd in the early morning light. Queen was up early, as was usual these days, corralling the seven little Slowpoke as their mothers fished. The little guys had been small enough for Leo to hold in the crook of his arm before, but after a mere three weeks that had changed. Still though, if winter was coming early, then the Slowpoke may not have enough time to grow big enough to survive before the snowstorms hit.

"Right, let's double check everything," Leo muttered, turning away from that train of thought and glancing at the sky to judge the time. The sun was just starting to rise over the mountaintops, the long, early-morning shadows slowly fading and warming the cool mountain air. A fine layer of dew dusted the ground, and Leo shivered, glancing at his long-dead firepit. At least he'd slept well last night, even if it meant he'd let his fire die.

"Ok, Skarmory feathers, check," Leo muttered, glancing at his trio of Skarmory feathers laid to his right, next to all of his other supplies. They still hadn't seen overmuch use, but he'd keep ahold of them just on the off chance he'd need them. Plus the longest one made for a good makeshift axe. "Water bottle, check. Fire starting supplies, check. Whetstone check, atlatl check, Bellossom leaf check," Leo started listing off his supplies, shoving what could be carried in his pack, in his pack. Last came food. Potatoes, a pile of nuts, and a small portion of smoked fish – along with his first attempt at dried Pidgey which turned out edible, but awful tasting – were wrapped in the remains of Leo's tattered shirt. It did him little good as clothing anymore.

"That's everything though," Leo said, scratching the back of his head once he was finished. The only things that wouldn't fit in his pack was the biggest of the Skarmory feathers, and a walking stick he'd made out of the old spear haft. He was travelling light on purpose, not that he had much to begin with. "Nothing else I can really think of that I'd need. The food will only last so long, but…"

Leo trailed off and looked to his right, at the Slowpoke herd. They were lazily dipping their tails in the river, taking advantage of how active Magikarp were in the early mornings to eat a hearty breakfast. Even the Slowbro seemed more active than usual, happily splashing and swimming about in the river, snatching up the occasional Magikarp.

"I'll certainly miss you all." Leo said somberly, shaking his head and hefting his pack, fiddling with the straps so it sat on his back better. "And not just because of the food, you all were actually fun to be around,"

"Slooow," one of the Slowpoke called.

"Wish I could take one of you with me too, but I don't think any of you want to go. I mean, maybe Queen would, but…one does not just take a Queen from her people," Leo said with a shrug.

"Bro," a Slowbro answered.

"Yeah, I'll be back eventually. Hopefully. Bye," Leo replied, waving weakly and heading off, following the river. He made it maybe a mile before Slowking arrived, walking straight out of the forest and smiling at Leo.

"Surely, you did not believe you could leave without saying your farewells?" He asked teasingly.

"Of course not, but I wasn't going to wait around for you either," Leo replied without missing a beat. Over the past near-month he had grown fond of the rather testy pokémon, it being his only real conversation partner. He'd learned a lot about the world in that time, too. Mostly about how human civilization was far less spread out than in his old world, probably due to the presence of superpowered animals.

"It is probably smart of you to get a move on so soon. It will take a month for you to reach the nearest city, and another month further for winter to arrive. That is but my best guess, however, and you do not want to cut it too close," Slowking said, nodding. Leo smiled at him and shrugged.

"That's the idea," he said.

"Good. I would hate to see such a promising young man die due to stupidity," Slowking agreed, and Leo laughed.

"I'll miss you too," he said. "Goodbye, Slowking,"

"Farewell, Leo. May you travel safely," Slowking replied. Leo grinned as he started walking once again, shrugging his shoulders.

"Safely? Where's the fun in that?"

The first few days of travel passed by mostly uneventfully, and he took to playing the Bellossom leaf as he travelled, despite still being terrible at it. His progress was hampered a small rainstorm on the second day, and by the third day he had run out of his dried meat which meant he might need to go hunting again, but overall things were looking pretty good. The land around the river was relatively flat and easy to traverse, though sometimes the dense growth around more fertile parts of the river kept Leo from walking the riverbank. The fifth day, however, held a bit of excitement.

It was early morning, and Leo had been splashing his face in the river when he'd heard something like a birdcall off to his left. At first he thought nothing of it, until it called again, and he realized he had heard that call before – in his own world. It was a light chirp, sharp and short, and was quickly followed by a longer yowl from his right. Leo's blood ran cold, his heartrate skyrocketing as he slowly shuffled away from the water's edge, pushing his way into the dense willow brush he'd used for a bed last night and scanning the green foliage at the water's edge.

That was the call of a mountain lion, and though no mountain lions existed in this world, he had an idea as to what this might be. Persian. The only other big cat-like pokemon he could remember from Kanto. And, unlike in the games where Persian was mediocre at best, Leo knew better. Big cats were probably the most lethal predators on Earth, stealthy, powerful, and faster than sin. Thankfully if the two Persian were talking they most likely weren't hunting, but it still unnerved Leo.

He didn't move that day until well into mid-afternoon, remaining perfectly still even as both bugs and bug pokémon crawled over him. Seeing the Venonat as it stepped between his legs would have been interesting, had it not been for his fear of the Persian. He could fight a fighting-type pokémon like Hitmontop, who was looking for a fight rather than a meal. He'd be lucky to survive an encounter with a predator like a Persian, or an Ursaring. Leo may be stupid enough to fight a Hitmontop, but he wasn't suicidal enough to push his luck with Persian.

Thankfully though, despite that setback, the rest of the day was uneventful. The next day Leo tried to capture a Caterpie that was just…sitting on a tree, and hadn't really reacted when he approached. Until, that is, it shot him in the face with string shot after he'd grabbed it. Needless to say the bug got away and Leo spent the rest of the morning trying to get the sticky string off of his face and out of his hair. That also cemented the idea he'd originally had in his mind about a partner pokemon – no bugs. They were disgusting creatures anyway, despite how he ate them.

On the seventh day Leo found the first sign of human civilization he'd seen since arriving here, besides Archibald Oak of course. It was a small building constructed on the edge of another lake – much smaller than the previous one, but still fair in size – and crumbling. It had probably been a cabin at some point, but the rotting wood and collapsed ceiling made it utterly useless. Even when Leo had searched the interior for anything of value he had found nothing. Bits of pottery or plates, a fork rusted beyond belief, and nothing else but rotten wood. Still, it was reassuring in a way, and Leo decided to spend the night at the lake.

So he hunted the rest of the day, managing to kill a Sentret that he skinned and cleaned, making sure to keep the gut pile far away from where he'd be sleeping, and roasted it over a fire while staring up at the full moon. The band of stars that stretched across the sky was nothing short of phenomenal – the full beauty of the night sky unhindered by pollution of his old world. Were there even any satellites up there? Would Rayquaza knock them down before they got into orbit? For that matter, what other space pokemon were there?

Leo paused at that thought, then flipped the bird at the sky. He hoped Lunala saw that. Stupid space-bat, dropping him in the middle of nowhere.

"Though I can't really complain, it's actually been pretty fun," Leo groused, biting into the Sentret and savoring the grease that burst into his mouth, dripping down his chin and falling onto the ground with heavy, wet plops. A part of him knew that anything would taste good at this point, but he couldn't help but marvel at how rich the meat was. How…satisfying, even over the Pidgey, when compared to his diet of Magikarp, nuts, and potato-things. "Gods above this is good. Good Sentret, I thank you for your sacrifice so I may fill my belly with your delicious meat," Leo praised, taking another hearty bite and chuckling to himself.

"If only I had a stiff drink to go with this," he mused.

"Slooooow," a familiar voice called.

"Right? Some gin or whiskey would be – waitaminute." Leo sat bolt upright and glared at the lake, knowing what he heard. There couldn't be another Slowpoke herd around here, could there? He scanned the dark lake waters, searching for the source of the call, and only spotted it when the lumbering creature hauled itself out of the water and slowly ambled up toward Leo. The Slowpoke stared at him blankly as it came into the firelight, and Leo narrowed his eyes. This looked suspiciously like Queen, the Slowpoke having the same head-shape and the same habit of swishing its tail in circles when it walked.

"Slooow," it called, ambling forward and nudging Leo.

"What on god's green earth are you doing here?" Leo all but demanded, narrowing his eyes at the creature. "Queen, what are you doing here?" he asked again, sighing heavily and rubbing his face. A small part of him was hopeful, maybe Queen had come to travel with him? But he was also utterly confused as to why she would come here. Didn't she have a herd to keep track of?

"Slooooow," Queen called again, nudging Leo again before wandering back to the water's edge, plopping herself down in the mud. Leo watched at her for a while, taking another bite out of the Sentret before sighing and lying back, staring at the sky.

"You and I need to have a talk, Queen," Leo said, squashing his thoughts on training a pokemon and focusing instead on his food. He still had quite a bit left over. Did he risk saving it and attracting predators? Leo thought for a moment, then nodded. Yes, yes he did risk it. He was tired of eating bugs for protein, and he had no desire to try and eat a Caterpie or Weedle. Just the thought…ugh. "Slimy yet satisfying" only applies to kids movies and oysters.

Eventually though, Leo's exhaustion caught up with him and he pulled himself into bed – sliding into the pile of pine needles, leaves, and other dead foliage he had gathered for just this occasion. Sleep soon overtook him, tired from the day of travel as he was.

"What is your problem, Queen?" Leo asked exasperated, glaring at the slowpoke that stood in front of him, preventing him from going further downriver. The Slowpoke made a rumbling noise in the back of her throat, and Leo furrowed his brows. "Are you growling at me?" he asked.

A weak jet of water to the face was his reply, and Queen butted her head against his legs hard enough to knock him over as he spluttered.

"Hey!" he protested. "What's your deal?! I told you, I can't stay with you all anymore!"

"Slow," Queen said resolutely, her normally dopey eyes uncharacteristically focused. Her wide mouth opened and she bit down on Leo's pant leg gently as she began to drag him, pulling him upriver

"Knock it off!" Leo snapped, yanking his leg out of her mouth. "Are you trying to get me to come back to the herd?" he asked, grumbling as he stood up. Queen let out another low call and butted her head against Leo's leg once more, softer this time.

Leo sighed. He thought he understood what Queen was trying to do, and it was heartbreaking to think about. It must've taken her a while to figure out Leo had left for real this time – after all, he'd gone on day trips before with Slowking – and she came searching for him to bring him back to the herd. That, or there was something really dangerous downriver that she didn't want him heading to. Leo was betting and hoping it was the former.

"Look girl, I can't stay. You all can survive the winter out here, I can't. I'm just a silly two-legged human, who wouldn't have been able to survive had I not stolen from you all for a long time. It's time I head to meet more of my kind," Leo said softly, kneeling down and scratching her behind her ears. "If you…if you want to come with me you can, but you've also got a herd to look after. Right? That's why I call you Queen, isn't it? Because it's your herd?"

Leo met Queen's gaze as she stared back at him, unblinking. Her eyes began to glow a soft blue color, the light flickering and unstable, and Leo hesitated as a wave of feelings came crashing over him – a mishmash of muddled emotions to the point where Leo didn't even know how he felt anymore. The feeling of returning somewhere was prominent, and Leo quickly deduced exactly what was happening.

"Is this how psychic power works?" Leo mused, easily pushing those emotions out of his mind to sort through later. Queen's eyes continued to glow and, in a moment of inspiration, Leo pushed his own thoughts and emotions to the forefront of his mind. He didn't think, not with words. He doubted Queen would actually understand them anyway, so he just…brought up things she could understand. Scenes and emotions.

The biting cold winds of winter, Leo struggling through a blizzard when he was younger (mentally speaking) as he hiked through a mountain in search of his horse, the warmth of a fireplace, the love of his human family, watching the snow from inside a house, the desire for home, and the desire to explore. He thought of leaving the mountains for his own safety, how thankful he was to the Slowpoke herd, and he thought of Queen and her herd – how she had a home. And that he could now take care of himself.

He didn't know how much he got across to her, he got the feeling the connection was tenuous at best, but if the way the Slowpoke's body relaxed was any indication Leo figured she got the gist of it.

"I can't go back. I have to go forward," Leo said softly, not even he himself knowing whether he was talking about the Slowpoke herd or going back to his world. Queen stared at him for a moment longer, and a new emotion washed over him, one Leo couldn't decipher before the connection was cut and the glow faded from her eyes.

"Slooow," she called as she turned and lumbered off into the lake. Leo sighed, both glad and disappointed. He had wanted Queen to stay with him, truthfully, but she had a herd to get back to. The Slowpoke's body quickly vanished into the waters of the lake, though after a moment he spotted a ripple in the river moving with surprising speed upstream.

Leo smiled slightly to himself, nodded, and continued on down the river. He still had a lot of ground to cover, though the ruined cabin had given him hope. Maybe civilization was closer than Slowking had said.

Unfortunately for Leo, the terrain was gradually getting more difficult. The mountainsides were getting steeper, and the valley narrower, forcing Leo to either climb the mountain or push through the dense greenery around the river. It only took Leo a half day to figure out the latter was a bad idea for his current bare-chested self. His stubbornness and unwillingness to climb the mountains, which were covered in this knee-high brush that was almost too thick to walk through, force him to push through the foliage next to the river – which left him bleeding and scratched all over from the whipping and scratching branches.

On the second morning of this, with Leo having crawled once more into the willowy growth that crowded the narrow river valley to sleep, he woke up to Queen staring right at him from the river, only her muzzle and the top of her head visible as she rested in the water.

He didn't say anything as she stared at him, nor did she to him for a moment. Her eyes glowed blue, and Leo was suddenly struck with his own memories thrust back at him – of the biting cold winter, of death, and of the warmth of a fire. Following that was a few more confusing images, of taking fish and then of Leo leaving. Then she crooned, soft and low, moving up and butting her head against Leo's prone form.

"What's up?" Leo asked softly, scratching Queen behind the ear. She crooned once more and turned around, waddling off into the river and swimming back upstream without saying anything else. Leo watched her go, utterly confused until he noticed what she had left behind.

A baby Slowpoke lay on the muddy riverbank, apparently sleeping as it lay curled up. Leo stared at it, and stared at it, then looked back upriver, then stared at the baby Slowpoke some more. He frowned, a million thoughts running through his head all at once, then slammed his forehead into the ground. He'd known Queen was smart, and far more aware of herself and her surroundings than the rest of the Slowpoke herd – who were lazy enough to let a Magikarp gnaw on their tails for hours rather than fish it up – but he hadn't expected this.

His best guess as to what happened? Queen had understood their little psychic conversation perfectly – so well, in fact, that she came to the same conclusion Leo had about the baby Slowpokes; that at least a few wouldn't survive the winter. But surprise! Leo was leaving to escape the cold, so why not send at least one of the babies with him?

"You have got to be kidding," Leo grumbled, pulling himself out of the willows and dusting himself off, hands sticking to the sap on his chest. He focused on the still sleeping Slowpoke as he stood over it. It was probably just about as long as his arm, from snout to the tip of its tail, and still just a chubby baby. Well, not that normal Slowpoke weren't chubby either, but still. "When I said I wanted a partner pokemon I meant something that could help me survive, not that I would have to help survive,"

Leo crouched down in the mud and examined the baby Slowpoke, looking back upstream and waiting for a while to see if Queen would come back. He waited for a good hour, watching the willows wave in the light wind that blew through the valley and the pod of Wooper that shuffled in the mud on the opposite riverbank, when the baby Slowpoke woke up and Leo gave up on the idea of Queen coming back to get it.

Call it a gut feeling, but he would bet money on Queen not coming back.

"Wish I had a boat," Leo muttered to himself, watching the baby Slowpoke as it looked up at him blearily. "Then I could travel as fast as she did. It's pretty impressive she got all the way to the herd and back in just two days," the Slowpoke waddled over to him, tail waving from side to side lazily, and butted its head against his leg, letting out a soft whine.

Leo scratched its head, but when it didn't stop whining turned back to the short willows and pulled his backpack out of the brush, retrieving one of the three potato things he had found. They were getting scarcer; he would have to spend some time just stocking up or search for a replacement plant. All the while the Slowpoke continued to whine, even going so far as to trying to fit the heel of Leo's shoe into its wide mouth.

"You hungry? Is that what this is about?" Leo asked rhetorically, presenting the potato to the Slowpoke, who gobbled it up happily. "Hope you can fish with your tail, or at least learn how to. Don't know how I'll get you fish otherwise. It's a good thing you don't need milk anymore," Leo admitted, scratching the back of his head as he watched it eat. The Slowpoke didn't respond, instead spitting out a remaining chunk of potato and flopping onto the ground. For the umpteenth time in the past hour, Leo sighed.

Things just got harder.

After three more days of travel the lush green valley transformed into steep cliffs, and Leo had to spend a good half-day backtracking just to climb the mountain so he could avoid swimming down the river. That the river was getting more turbulent too wasn't promising either, and Leo wasted another solid day just foraging and hunting – managing to kill a Rattatta with his atlatl, and find a good fifteen potatoes, thankfully – in preparation for hiking across the mountain and away from the river.

The as-of-yet unnamed baby slowpoke did not make things easy either. It was, first and foremost, slow, and still a baby. It did not have much energy to go travelling long distances, and so Leo was forced to figure out a way to carry it. His young arms were too weak to carry the good twenty-pound creature far, so he alternated between carrying it while he strapped his Skarmory feather unsafely to his back, and stuffing the little creature into his backpack, which killed his back. That wasn't even to mention that it was dangerous to leave the Slowpoke in his backpack, both because it would squirm its way out if it suddenly felt adventurous, and because it would eat or soil his food. Cleaning poop out of his pack wasn't fun, and he had to isolate his journals and Archibald's journal after that incident.

Still though, Leo grit his teeth and forged ahead, carefully walking along the steep cliffside and occasionally stealing glances down the sixty-foot drop to the raging river below.

"Slow," his little 'buddy' called from behind him, having been walking behind Leo for the past hour. Leo stopped and turned around, raising one eyebrow at the creature as it stood at the cliff's edge, looking down at the raging water.

"I'm not coming to get you if you jump off," Leo warned, crossing his arms. The Slowpoke ignored him, staring down at the water unblinking for a solid few minutes before turning its head to look at Leo and repeating its call. Then it turned back to the river and experimentally put one foot on the edge of the cliff, forcing Leo to jump forward and grab the little pokemon, hauling it away from the edge. "I said no, you little idiot! Do you not understand that you'll die if you try to go down that way?!" he hissed in its ear, sitting down and pulling the creating into his lap, laying it on its back so it couldn't wander off.

"Slooow," the Slowpoke crooned, flopping its head back into Leo's chest and exposing its creamy white underbelly to the world.

"What am I going to do with you?" Leo asked, slumping his shoulders in defeat and giving the baby a few belly scratches. It was only midday and Leo was already considering making camp for the night – he was dead tired from having to carry the Slowpoke up and down the stupid mountain all day. His arms were tired, his legs hurt, and his back felt like it was going to give out from carrying around the Slowpoke. "Tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to sit here and rest for a few minutes. You are not allowed to kill yourself during that time, understand me?" Leo muttered as he lay on his back, staring at the sky.

The Slowpoke grunted and squirmed, rolling off of Leo and flopping down onto the ground, where it lay unmoving. Leo grumbled to himself and slipped the straps of his backpack off, rolling away from the Slowpoke and lying belly-down on the ground, propping his chin up on his hands. The mountain sloped gently upward from the cliff, pine trees covering the hillside and preventing much in the way of small plants from growing as they blocked the sunlight. Off to his right was an aspen grove, the white-trunked trees grouped together densely. Amusingly, no branches grew on the lower part of the aspens' trunks, instead only growing near the top and giving the grove a whole "dark, evil forest" vibe as it cast the ground in shadow.

What caught his eye, however, was the few bushes that filled some of the space between the aspen and the pine, with pink…dots, covering the bush.

"What in the world?" Leo muttered, forcing himself up and taking a step forward. He paused, and looked at the slowpoke. "Stay here, I'll be right back,"

Excitement surged through his veins as he got closer, a wild grin stretching across his face as he identified the dots as fruit. Pink berries, to be precise, which made him think these were the titular Berries of the pokemon universe. What kind he wasn't sure, but who cared? Berries! Fruit! Sugar!

Leo hastily plucked the fruit from their bushes, popping a few of the sweet, pink fruits into his mouth and relishing the sweet juices that exploded into his mouth with every bite. He groaned in appreciation, watching between chews as a Ledyba buzzed up, snagged a berry for itself, then flew away munching happily. That made Leo pause in his eating, glancing down at his arms, where he had started placing as many of the berries as he could grab.

"I should be more careful," Leo muttered, sniffing the air. The sugary sweetness of the fruit wasn't only confined to the berries themselves, the scent wafting through the air and filling the entire area with the smell of berries. Heck, even one berry itself, when Leo raised it up and smelled it, smelled so sweet and delicious he had to eat it right away. But that meant that if he could smell it, pokemon could as well, and they had better senses of smell than he. The last thing he wanted to do was attract a hungry Ursaring because he had a backpack full of berries.

That, however, didn't stop him from stuffing his face and taking a fair amount down to the Slowpoke to eat. He'd ended up taking almost all the ripe fruit off of the bush because of it though, leaving the green and therefore unripe fruit be.

"Yeah, you like those don't you? Me too," Leo asked, feeding the Slowpoke berries one-by-one. It smacked its jaws loudly as it happily munched away, licking Leo's fingers in between chews to get berry juices off. He smiled at the little creature and patted his own, full belly and smacked his lips, readjusting his sitting position and glancing up at the sun. He'd sit here and rest a few more hours before moving on, after eating so much he was sure he'd want to get a nap.

A sudden warm, wet feeling around his hand had Leo jerking back, yanking his hand out of the Slowpoke's mouth as it sucked the rest of his berries out of his hand, juices running out of its mouth as it chowed down. Leo made a face and flicked his hand, Slowpoke slobber flying everywhere.

"Ew," he said. "Don't do that again, you little monster,"

"Sloow," the Slowpoke replied, bits of berry falling out of its mouth as it did so. Leo smiled fondly and scratched its head, looking back upstream as he hummed a little ditty to himself. It's amazing how far a little food can go in improving my mood, Leo thought to himself, leaning back and lying his head against the soft grass, tilting his grass hat so it shielded his face from the sun. The sun was a little intense for him to sleep right here, so he'd retreat back into the trees eventually to take a nap, but for now he just wanted to enjoy the sunlight.

"It's gotten colder," Leo noted, pulling himself out of his debris pile – the pile of pine needles and other debris he made to sleep in almost every night – and rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm up. His breath came out in white puffs. "I mean, I know mornings are always cold, but not this cold. Makes me wish I hadn't let the fire die. Though I hope this is just a cold front, and not the promise of something worse. Pretty sure it's still summer after all," he mumbled, hopping up and down to get his blood pumping.

Behind him leaves rustled as his Slowpoke companion crawled its way out of Leo's bedding, the pokémon having served as a personal heater during the cold night. After two more weeks of travel the Slowpoke had gotten a little bigger and harder to carry, but conversely could walk further on its own and generated more heat at night. Since the cold front had blown in, Leo appreciated the extra warmth. He smiled when the Slowpoke butted up against his leg, yawning heavily and blinking up at Leo with big, dopey eyes.

"I want to get an early start today, so it's breakfast on the road. The weather is worrying me," Leo said, bending down and scratching the slowpoke behind the ears. It let out another soft call and wandered towards the gently flowing river, about a hundred feet to Leo's right. With how far down they'd descended in elevation while following the river he shouldn't have to worry about snow too much, and there still should be a month left until Slowking's estimation of when winter would arrive, so he was feeling pretty good about the journey, all things considered. Even if his pace had slowed significantly due to the baby Slowpoke he ought to have plenty of time to make it to the city.

Not that he minded the pace. Leo appreciated the slower pace, it was easier on his body and allowed him to gather more food, not to mention that caring for the little one was far easier than he had initially expected. Maybe it was because it was a wild pokémon that it had to grow up relatively quick, but Slowpoke was almost self-sufficient at times, even finding its own food every once in a while. It still couldn't fish, despite Leo trying to show it how, but he had faith the little guy would figure it out somehow.

"Still need to find a name for you though. After I figure out whether you're a boy or a girl," Leo muttered, watching the sun rise over the snowcapped mountains, igniting the white tips with the colors of orange and yellow…

"Oh crap," Leo said suddenly eyes flying wide open as he stared at the snowy mountaintops. They were incredibly tall at this point, rising thousands of feet higher than Leo, to the point where the timber line could still be seen – trees ceasing to grow above it. Back in his old world snow wasn't uncommon on those kinds of peaks, even this time of year. The problem was they hadn't been white yesterday.

"Buddy, we need to go!" Leo called, grabbing his backpack and Skarmory feather, rushing to where slowpoke had wandered off to. Almost immediately he froze, gaping at the white creature that loomed over the little slowpoke as it sat at its feet, looking down at it with crimson red eyes.

A single, curved, scythe-like horn curled from the side of the canine's head, and when it looked at Leo he felt his blood run cold. An Absol was not but inches away from his slowpoke. He knew the lore of Absol, he knew what its appearance could mean, and while a part of him was ecstatic at seeing one of his favorite pokémon of all time, he was now terrified.

"Um, can I help you?" Leo asked softly, taking a slow step forward. The Absol didn't make a sound, simply turning and slowly walking further downriver. After walking about twenty feet, however, it stopped and looked over its shoulder at him. "Uh…" Leo said dumbly. Did it…did it want him to follow?

It jerked its head downstream, and Leo swallowed thickly, setting his shoulders and trying his hardest to remain outwardly calm as he moved over to the Slowpoke, opened his backpack, and convinced it to slip inside, where it shuffled around a bit and closed its eyes after eating one of the two potato things Leo had. With a grunt of effort Leo slipped his bag back on, standing and gripping the hilt of his Skarmory feather as he nodded to the Absol. It held his gaze for a moment, then promptly loped off downstream.

Leo followed as best he could, legs burning as he struggled to keep up. He could almost feel the Absol's urgency with the way it constantly circled around Leo, leading him downstream and pushing him to go faster when he started to slow. Even when his legs threatened to collapse under him and his body coated itself with sweat Leo forged ahead, crawling hand-over-fist when the river valley got too narrow to travel next to the water, and forcing his way through dense brush. A couple times he did let the slowpoke out to travel alongside him as the day wore on, but it was slow and had a tendency to wander when Leo wasn't paying attention. This, in turn forced the Absol to circle back and push Leo harder.

Close to evening, Leo finally caught a glimpse of what he thought had the Absol so worried. Dark grey storm clouds were rolling in from the northwest, the barometric pressure dropping as quickly as the temperature. His breath was coming in ragged huffs as he leaned against a tree, a fourth wind – as he had already blown through his second and third winds earlier in the day after stumbling across another berry bush – spiking its way through his system riding a wave of adrenaline as he watched the storm.

"Look, either you get me to where I need to go soon, or I need to start hunkering down to try and ride this storm out," Leo panted, leaning against a boulder and relieving his shoulders of the weight of his backpack by resting it on said boulder. The Absol let out a long, slow whine, poking Leo's hip with the tip of its horn and making him yelp. "Alright, I get it! Let's keep going," he huffed, standing upright and almost falling over as he unbalanced himself. He cursed his own tiredness but followed the Absol anyway.

Night fell and the stars disappeared behind clouds as Leo stumbled through the tree-covered valley, chasing the white shadow that was Absol. Even his own exertion wasn't enough to keep him warm, a chill settling deep into his bones as he worked his way through the darkness. A howling wind carried daggers of frozen air with it, tormenting Leo's bare-chested form. Somewhere along the way he dropped the Skarmory feather, leaving it abandoned in the forest as his fingers numbed up.

He would've missed his salvation in his exhausted haze had the Absol not howled at him from the door of the long, low wooden cabin built nestled in a grove of tall pines. A fully intact cabin, with a stone chimney and windows – though no light came from inside. Leo almost sobbed in relief as he stumbled through the unlocked front door, the Absol vanishing immediately after he passed the threshold and collapsed onto the floor. For a solid ten minutes he just lay there as he gathered his wits, closing the door behind him with his foot. It was a small, one-room cabin with a double bed close to the wall next to the cold fireplace, blankets draped over the bed itself and piled in a basket at the foot of the bed.

The Slowpoke crooned from inside his backpack and Leo rolled it off his back, forcing himself to sit upright. Here, he might be able to survive the storm. He'd just need to get a fire going, which was easy enough with the split logs and kindling stacked neatly next to the fireplace. Leo didn't sleep in the bed though, instead stripping all the bedding off and throwing it into a pile before the fireplace, curling up into a ball in the huddle of blankets with Slowpoke wrapped up inside with him.

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier as the wind howled outside, warmth returning to him as shadows danced on the walls and he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

That night, it snowed.

Chapter Text

Leo woke to the sound and smell of something cooking. The heavenly aroma had him salivating even before he sat bolt upright in bed – and when did he move into the bed? Last he remembered he was on the floor – eyes wide open and searching for the food being cooked. It only dawned on him after he locked eyes with the other inhabitant of the cabin that someone had to be cooking the food.

"Glad to see you're alive," the woman said gruffly, raising one eyebrow at him as she stirred whatever was in the skillet she was holding, the mix of veggies and meat tossing grease and flavor into the air. Leo could practically taste it with his eyes, though the fact he had finally met another person took immediate precedence.

"Um," was Leo's eloquent response as he took in the sight of another human being. She was tall and muscular, with long brown hair pulled into a rough ponytail and wearing a black t-shirt that showed off the whipcord strength in her arms. A furrett lay draped across her shoulders like a living scarf, its beady black eyes watching Leo as the woman focused on what she was cooking, eyes facing front. A fire crackled in the metal oven, not the fireplace, and filled the small cabin with a steamy warmth.

"You're a smart brat, you know that? Mew knows why you're all the way out here but you would've died had you not gotten that fire started…and curled up with all those blankets, and your slowpoke." she continued, removing the pan from the heat, setting it to the side and fixing Leo with a stare that spoke volumes as to what she was thinking. Her almost charcoal-colored eyes bored straight into Leo, and he just smiled at her.

"Thank you, but I probably would've died had that absol not shown me to the cabin," Leo said, scratching the back of his neck and kicking off the mess of blankets covering him. Sunlight filtered in through the cabin window, and Leo took a deep breath.

"You know what an absol is?" she asked.

"White furred, scythe for a horn, and a canine? Said to herald disasters, but came to warn me of one? Yes, I know what an absol is," Leo said, raising one eyebrow at her.

"Well that explains some things at least," the woman murmured, scratching the furrett behind the ears and making it coo in response. "I'd been tracking a non-native species through the mountains for a few days now, and imagine my surprise when the tracks of a young human join up with it. Followed them here and arrived an…hour or two after the snowstorm hit? Pokemon tracks vanished off into the night, not that I was going much further in a snowstorm, and you were sleeping in front of the fire. But an absol, of all bloody things…what on earth convinced you to follow an absol?" she demanded.

"It led me here," Leo said, furrowing his brows in confusion. "There was a snowstorm coming, I'm shirtless and had no supplies, and figured I had to try something to survive. The absol seemed to want me to follow it, so I did," the woman nodded, folding her arms and smiling when Leo's eyes darted to the still-sizzling pan of food.

"Well, we can talk details later. First, it looks like you need to eat," she said, and Leo couldn't agree more, ignoring the aching of his limbs as he leapt to his feet and sought food.

He demolished the entirety of the food she had prepared in record time, inhaling the divine goodness that was salt and pepper – sprinkled over the mess of veggies and diced meat liberally – and swearing up and down that it was the greatest thing he'd ever tasted. The woman – who named herself as Victoria – only laughed and told him to try it again after he'd eaten real food for a while. "Everything tastes better in the wild," she said, which while Leo could confirm that, he didn't much care. She apparently was not famous for her cooking, a joke which had Leo coughing on his food while he struggled not to laugh.

"So, what's a kid like you doing out here anyway?" Victoria asked, seating herself on the floor while she watched Leo run his finger on the plate he had been given, determined to get every last drop of flavor. It beat everything he'd eaten so far – unseasoned foodstuff was bland.

"Dunno, fell through a hole in the sky," Leo answered before he could even think. Victoria blinked at him.

"What?" She asked.

"I don't know," Leo clarified, looking up at her. "Got lost, I guess. Something like that anyway – I just…woke up and found myself in the middle of a slowpoke herd,"

"Really," Victoria said deadpan, raising her eyebrows at Leo and not masking her disbelief.

"Really. The truth is stranger than fiction, I promise," Leo countered, setting his plate to the side and scratching the head of the still-sleeping slowpoke as it lay curled up at the foot of the bed.

"And how long have you been out here?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Months," Leo replied. At this, Victoria whistled but didn't look overly surprised. Leo supposed he looked the part of a wild child – his hair was long and undoubtedly greasy, and his clothes might as well be made of dirt and mud at this point. Her eyes lingered on the scars on his chest – leftover from the sneasel attack. They were thin and small, nothing to truly be concerned about, and Leo hadn't given the fact that they had scarred much thought.

"…where are your parents?" she asked after a moment, looking back up to meet Leo's eyes. He frowned and shook his head, barely registering the dull throb of his heart when he thought of his parents. He'd…never see them again, and he'd had how many months to dull that ache? He didn't even know anymore, but Leo supposed it was a blessing in disguise that he'd been so preoccupied with survival that he hadn't really had time to mourn the loss of his old world, and everything in it.

"I see," Victoria said, falling silent. Leo half expected to hear her attempt comforting words, or pry deeper into the situation but she remained silent. He was almost glad for it, considering how hollow those words would have sounded to him – and didn't that thought surprise him. For some reason Leo thought he had taken being shoved into another world better, but maybe he had just put those thoughts on the backburner, and now that he was in the presence of another person, arguably safe now, they were coming to the front.

Thoughts for later.

"I was on a mission to track that absol – didn't know it was an absol until now, so thanks for that – but I'm pretty sure this takes priority. C'mon, kid. I'll take you to the nearest police station, they'll know what to do with you," Victoria said suddenly, standing up and dusting off her green cargo-pants legs, the furrett squeaking in protest as it was jostled out of its position and leapt to the floor with a thud.

"Now? Didn't it just snow?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She laughed and threw open the cabin door, revealing the world painted in white…or so Leo expected. There had to have been at least four inches of snow on the ground at some point, and it was still visible in the drifts that formed near trees and boulders, but the sun was shining bright and the snow was already starting to melt off. Some patches of ground were even bare now, if a little muddy.

"Late-summer snows aren't that uncommon in the Silver Mountains, kid. It's already sixty degrees outside, and the snow will be melted off by nightfall," she explained, grabbing a red jacket from where it lay crumpled on the floor and tossing it to Leo, but not before taking a handful of red and white orbs out of the pockets, sticking them into her pants pockets. "Wear that, since you don't have a shirt. It'll keep the wind off,"

"Uh, thanks," Leo muttered, fanning out the jacket and scanning it momentarily. It was plain, a simple red jacket made of a thick, demin-like material that he quickly struggled on. It was too big, the sleeves dwarfed his arms, but Leo was at least glad he had something to wear again.

"Bran here will get us to the nearest town in just a few hours, so jump on and hang on tight," Victoria said, pulling one faded pokeball from her pocket and releasing a three-headed bird in a flash of red light. Leo blinked, awestruck by the sight of a pokemon materializing before him for the first time. The dodrio cawed sharply, two of the three heads pecking at the middle one before Victoria snapped her fingers, the sharp sound immediately gaining the attention of all of its heads. "Behave yourself," she chided, brushing a hand against the dodrio's flank and glancing back, smirking.

Leo tried, and failed, to wipe the gobsmacked look off his face. That big bird – easily six feet tall – had just appeared out of thin air, and it looked much cooler than in the games. Much like a three-headed ostrich, but meaner and with far longer and sharper beaks, and feathers the color the rich brown chocolate. As much as he had known academically that this would happen, he still wasn't prepared for it.

"You want me to ride him?" Leo asked rhetorically, meeting the gaze of all three of the dodrio's heads. The middle head snapped its beak at him irritably, and he took a calm, not-at-all intimidated step back.

"Like I said, Bran should be able to get us to town in just a few hours," Victoria said, amusement clear in her voice as she casually smacked the beak of the middle head. "So just come here, hop on, and let's go,"

"Let me grab my stuff at least," Leo protested, glancing back into the cabin to look at his backpack and the sleeping slowpoke.

"Hurry up then," Victoria said impatiently, waving Leo forward. After a brief moment Leo scrambled, darting into and about the cabin as he picked up his scattered supplies. Apparently in his exhausted haze he didn't have the presence of mind to keep most of his backpack together, so it was all over the place. Thankfully Archibald's book was still where it was supposed to be though.

Once he darted out of the cabin, slowpoke strapped into his backpack once more and shoes crunching the snow underfoot, Victoria grabbed him by the collar and bodily hauled him onto the back of Bran, the dodrio hardly even flinching at Leo's weight. Said boy briefly scowled at the casual reminder of how small he was now, but that was shoved out of his head when Victoria patted Bran's side, the three-headed bird crouching slightly to allow her on behind him.

"Um, no saddle? Can Bran carry both of us?" Leo asked, placing his hands in the spaces between the dodrio's three necks to brace himself as it rose back to full height. Victoria wrapped one arm around his waist as she shifted behind him.

"Nah, no need for a saddle. You weigh hardly anything, and Bran here's a big boy. He can take it," she said gruffly, whistling sharply. Bran lurched forward with a shriek, a caw, and a coo as the third head turned around and pecked affectionately at Victoria, who batted the head away. Leo bounced up and down a bit as Bran worked up speed, a relatively warm wind brushing through Leo's hair as it bound through the river valley, leaping clear over large boulders and bushes.

Leo laughed aloud, any hesitation vanishing and replaced by a manic grin as the dodrio sprinted down the length of the river. This was, undeniably, fun.

Leo was starting to get annoyed. The first day had been a blur – Victoria had got him to town, he'd checked in with the police station and at the small clinic built in the small mountain town, he'd been given some actual clothes even if they were hand-me-downs from the station lost-and-found, and then he'd eaten a hamburger. He didn't even know what kind of meat it was, but he had inhaled that thing quicker than he could breathe in, fries and all. It was divine, and heavenly, and Leo had almost swooned. That had been the highlight of his day beyond, you know, arriving in a town and taking a shower.

He had to have spent at least an hour, just letting the hot water run over him. It was nice, having modern amenities again. Lights at night so he could do things other than sleep or fiddle with sticks in the firelight, and air-conditioning during the day so he didn't get too hot…yes, it was nice. Too bad he didn't have any money so he could buy food. He wanted sweets, so freaking bad.

Later the police had allowed him to spend the night in the clinic – which he abhorred, sleeping in an uncomfortable cot-like bed while surrounded by the unnaturally sterile scents of the clinic, though it was better than his pine-needle bed – after which followed today. The day Leo told them his story, and about finding Archibald Oak's journal.

He hadn't been expecting the upset that would cause. At first the police hadn't believed him, but when he showed them the book and essentially proved that it was the ex-champion's journal they got real excited real quick. They grilled him over his story for hours, and when the media somehow caught wind of the entire thing…well, that led to his current situation, where he stuck to his room in the clinic more to hide from reporters and more questions than for any other reason.

"I regret even mentioning this stupid book," Leo grumbled, rubbing his forehead to fight off the budding headache as he sat on the clinic bed. He had forgotten how tiring people could be.

"Well, I wouldn't have been able to warn you against it really," Victoria said from where she stood next to the clinic room door, her furrett curled up around her feet. "Honestly I didn't expect you to be hiding this kind of secret. But I suppose it's to be expected – finding the journal of an ex-champion is a big deal, kid,"

"You don't say," Leo drawled, fixing Victoria with a dry look. She had been the first human contact he had ever received in this world, and Leo was just glad she had stuck around. Even if it was, in her own words, until he was dealt with. Something about her duty? Leo wasn't sure, though he'd had a grand old time going tit-for-tat with her. She was a sarcastic jerk, just like him!

"Well, the best is yet to come," Victoria said cryptically, pushing herself off the wall and stretching, her back popping audibly.

"Joy," Leo muttered, holding his head in his hands. After a brief moment a thought occurred to him, and Leo looked up. "Let me guess, Professor Oak himself is coming to verify whether or not the journal is his father's," thankfully it had been confirmed earlier that Archibald had, in fact, been the father of Samuel Oak, just like Leo had suspected.

As if on cue the door clicked open and in walked a clean-shaven man with greying hair and wearing a thick brown jacket. His eyes traced the room quickly, settling on Victoria. A smile split his face as he stepped forward, extending a hand for her to shake.

"Ah, Victoria! It is good to see you again. How goes the training?" the older gentleman asked. The younger woman smiled at him and shook his hand genially, her bicep bulging as she squeezed his hand tightly. To the man's credit, however, he didn't even flinch which immediately gave Leo respect for the man. Victoria's grip was no joke.

"Well enough I suppose, so long as I don't keep getting interrupted. How have you been, Professor?" Victoria asked, and Leo's eyes widened as he fixated a stare at the older man, who he could only assume was Professor Oak. Now that he looked…he still couldn't quite make out the resemblance from the anime. He was much younger, for one, and his hair hadn't quite gone fully grey yet. His brown hair was peppered with grey streaks, true, but it wasn't all grey yet and, for another thing, it was hard to replace a real person with a cartoon character.

"Well enough, I suppose. Not what I was expecting to be doing today, but I suppose I can't complain about it. Still had to wrap up a few things before I hopped on Mizuchi, my dragonite, but I got here quick as I could," he said, releasing Victoria's hand and turning to Leo. "Speaking of which, I suppose you're Leo?" he asked.

"Uh, yes, sir," Leo said, standing and extending a hand to Professor Oak. He smiled and took Leo's hand, being gentle with his grip despite Leo ensuring he had a firm grip. Once again Leo was reminded of how small he was now, and once again he found himself utterly frustrated by it. They were treating him like a child, and while that may work out well for him in the legal sense – what with him needing an entire new identity now - it did nothing for his pride.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Leo. I am Professor Samuel Oak. I hear you found my father's journal?" He asked slowly, and Leo nodded, pointing to the worn, leather-bound journal.

"It's right there," Leo said. Oak smiled at Leo and moved over to the book, carefully stepping over the sleeping slowpoke, who was sprawled out on the floor, and gingerly grabbing it. Leo watched with bated breath as Oak flipped it open, eyes scanning the contents yet his face remaining perfectly neutral.

"It is indeed my father's. I recognize the signature and the writing style from his old reports," Oak said after a few minutes, flipping to the front cover and running his hand along the page. "Where on earth did you find this?" he asked, turning back to Leo.

"In a cave. It was hidden inside a backpack, next to Archibald…I mean, Mr. Oak's skeleton. There was a cave-in, he was crushed. I, uh, do also have the remains of his pokemon's pokeballs though. It was his last action to release his team," Leo said, suddenly remembering the rusted pokeballs he had discovered and diving into his backpack – which was hanging from the foot of the bed – after them. He pulled the two balls out after a brief moment, handing them over.

Oak accepted the rusted balls silently, broken open as they were, and flipped them over and over. His fingers traced once section of the balls almost reverently, and though Leo thought for a moment he could see Oak's hand shake but that could've been his mind playing tricks on him. Still, watching Oak was starting to get to him. It made him think of his own family. He had just given Professor Oak some sort of closure to his father's disappearance, but Leo? He wouldn't be able to hear the voices of his parents ever again.

"Thank you, this means a lot to me," Oak said, meeting Leo's eyes. Leo shrugged carelessly and averted his gaze, looking at the bed and resisting the urge to fidget uncomfortably. The appreciation in Oak's voice touched Leo a bit closer to home than he had expected.

"Yeah, well, I mean, I would do a lot to hear my father's voice again, so I thought…you might want the same, or something," Leo said, immediately regretting what came out of his mouth. That wasn't what you wanted to say! What you wanted to say was "it was the right thing to do!" he mentally yelled at himself. Well sooorry, but I panicked and that's what I said, just roll with it! He argued back.

Oak turned out to be Leo's saving grace from himself, as he sighed and sat down on the bed, unzipping his jacket. "That does bring up a good point Leo. How did you end up in the Silver Mountains anyway?" Oak asked.

"I fell through a hole in the sky," Leo drawled without thinking, snapping his mouth shut and once more cursing himself at his thoughtless comment. It was easy enough to play of as a joke though…at least, that was what he expected to have to do. Instead he watched Oak narrow his eyes and lean forward on the bed, clasping his hands together and smiling a little too…genially to be a real smile. His gaze flickered to Victoria, who nodded.

The interaction made Leo frown, then curse himself as he remembered a few things. He'd made a few comments about the hole in the sky and Lunala, more accurately describe as, in his own words, "the stupid bat made of stars," with Victoria around. She must have some connection with Oak, who had enough information to piece it all together.

"What, it's just a joke," Leo grumbled half-heartedly, figuring he might as well try to pass it off.

"No, it's not," Oak said, smiling thinly. "Leo, I need you to be very detailed on what you remember, okay? This is important. You said you fell through a hole in the sky, can you describe it for me?"

Leo felt his nerves spike, and he narrowed his eyes, meeting Oak's gaze and trying to gauge his reaction. The seriousness in his gaze

"It was a big hole in the sky that showed the stars in the middle of the day," Leo said slowly. "Honestly didn't think anyone would take me seriously when I said it. What made you?"

Oak didn't immediately answer, sharing a look with Victoria who shrugged. Indecision marred Oak's expression for a brief moment before he sighed and shook his head.

"What I'm about to tell you is to be a secret, ok? Don't tell anyone," Oak said, and Leo nodded, choosing to ignore Oak's tone – like he was speaking to a child. "That hole in the sky you fell through, we believe to be something called an ultra-wormhole. It's a phenomena that only recently has begun to be researched, and my cousin is spearheading the research in Alola. The specifics aren't important, but your mentioning of a 'bat made of stars,' and the hole in the sky were too coincidental to pass up," Oak explained softly.

"The fact is, you may be in an entirely different world than where you were born," Victoria said bluntly, and Oak shot her a withering glare. Leo, on the other hand, kept his expression neutral. Tell me something I don't know. He scoffed mentally. "Better to get it over with now, professor," she said with a shrug.

"I'm pretty sure I understand," Leo said, cutting of the conversation. "I kinda floated around for a while in ultra-space for a while, I'm pretty sure. Was an…interesting experience,"

"You know about ultra-space?" Oak asked, surprised.

"Information about it wasn't exactly restricted where I'm from, but I don't know a lot," Leo said quickly, thinking fast. Already his secret was out, far quicker than he had anticipated, so he needed to come clean in a way. It would be easier to share some of his knowledge and twist a story around the half-truths than it would be to forge a backstory of lies. Especially with psychic pokemon around, Leo had no idea whether they could tell if he was lying or not. Of course, there were some parts he would leave out though.

Things like being from a world where pokemon was a video game, or him actually being much older than his current body would suggest? Those are best left unsaid.

"…that makes things easier," Victoria said after a moment, raising her eyebrows at Leo.

"Mm. I can't tell you much more about the wormholes other than what I just said, other than that they lead to parallel worlds or something? I think people can pass through them with some equipment and such, though there's a lot of room for error from what I remember. You never know where you might end up. I do know that the legendary pokemon Solgaleo and Lunala – Lunala was actually the one who snagged me out of ultra-space and dropped me in the mountains – can travel freely through ultra-space though," Leo explained. A small nudge against his leg had him looking down to see slowpoke banging his head against his leg.

The pink creature looked up at him with dopey eyes and cooed softly, in the way he always did when he was hungry. At least I know he's a he now, Leo thought to himself. A kind nurse had confirmed it for him, and showed him how to tell a slowpoke's gender.

"I…see. And you said you were in the Silver Mountains for a number of months, correct? That would put you there sometime around early spring?" Oak asked.

"I'm pretty sure it was the day of the spring equinox, or something like that. Your dad's Slowking was the one who helped me figure that out," Leo said casually.

"Longinus is still alive?!" Oak barked, sitting bolt upright and making Leo flinch with the outburst.

"Yes, and so is Tyrus. So, Longinus is Slowking's name then? He never actually told me what it was. It might be a good idea for you to go visit him, he was pretty adamant that I help return Archibald's book to you. He'd probably be able to give you more closure than I ever could," Leo said, moving over to sit on the plastic stool set in the corner of the clinic room, right next to one of the cabinets.

Oak pressed his index and thumb to the bridge of his nose and let out a breath, shaking his head.

"Let's take one thing at a time here. My father can wait, we need to figure out your situation first. You are aware then of your own circumstances," Oak asked, looking up at Leo.

"Sort of. I was kind of raised in a backwater," not a lie, Leo added mentally, I was raised in a small town. "And I never really got to see much of the world or anything so I might be pretty ignorant about things," Which was more of a lie, he'd actually travelled a whole bunch in his old world.

"I see," Oak said. "I must say, you are taking this remarkably well,"

"I've had six months to come to terms with it all. It's not perfect, but I'm managing," Leo admitted with a shrug. Oak was silent for a moment then, the quiet cut abruptly short when his phone started to ring. The older man blinked and pulled the device out of his pocket – it looked vaguely reminiscent of what Leo remembered a pokedex looking like – scowling at the front screen for just a moment before standing and giving Leo an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I have to take this. Give me just a moment, please," Oak said, tapping the phone and answering it with a "Hello," as he swiftly exited the room. Leo blinked in surprise and glance at Victoria, who shrugged.

"He's an important man," she said, pushing herself off the wall and moving to the door. "Give me a moment and I'll be back. See if I can't get your slowpoke any food. Want anything?" she asked.

"Chocolate," Leo answered immediately, having been craving that since he woke up. Next on his agenda would be ice cream, but eating so many heavy foods too quickly would be hard on his stomach too, so Leo had to pace himself lest he face the wrath of a stomachache. "If there is any, I want chocolate,"

"Of course you do," Victoria said with a snort. "Gypsy will stay here to keep you company, I won't be long," she said, her furrett raising her head when Victoria said her name to watch her trainer leave. Leo hummed as his slowpoke once again butted his head against his leg, calling out once more in a desperate bid for attention.

"Well, that was something," he said, bending down and picking up the slowpoke, absently scratching his head as he pondered what had just transpired. Things had gone…remarkably well, he thought. All that was left now was to become a trainer or find some way to support himself, so he wasn't mooching off of the kindness of strangers. That sort of thing left a bad taste in his mouth, after all.

"Well?" Victoria's voice cut the silence of the empty lounge as Oak snapped his phone shut, sighing heavily. The older man looked up at the younger woman and sighed.

"That was Giovanni. He's just being nosy again, asking if it is truly my father's journal. Makes sense that he would be interested, in a way, as this little town is technically in the jurisdiction of Viridian," Oak answered, rubbing his forehead. Dealing with Giovanni always gave him a headache, even if their conversations were usually pleasant. He didn't know why, but it always felt like he had to keep his guard up around the Viridian City Gym Leader.

"That's not what I care about, but okay," Victoria deadpanned, crossing her arms across her chest and arcing an eyebrow at Oak, who shook his head. "I'm wondering what you think of the boy's story,"

"He is telling the truth. Alakazam was monitoring his brainwaves the entire time, and most everything he said was truthful," Oak answered. "Even the timing of his appearance in the Silver Mountains matches the timing of ultra-space related phenomena Samson, your father, recorded in Alola. Around the spring equinox, of course,"

Victoria grunted, pulling a crumpled wad of bills out of her pocket and feeding one into one of the lobby vending machines, forcing the wrinkled bill into the feeder when it didn't want to accept it. Oak watched her struggle with the machine for a moment, the woman gradually getting more and more frustrated as it continually refused to accept her money. Sometimes it was hard to connect the image of her with her father, his own cousin Samson Oak, in his head. Her drive to train and become stronger was nothing like her father, who desired nothing more than to research and spread knowledge, nor was her short temper anything like the genial Samson Oak.

"The smart thing to do would be to hand him over to InterPol. They're the ones who handle ultra-space related incidents, as few and far between as those are," Oak continued, speaking more to himself than to anyone else. Victoria slammed a fist against the vending machine, grumbling angrily to herself as it finally accepted her bills.

"But you know exactly what they're going to do with him if you do that," Victoria said, punching in a number on the machine. "What was that poor girl's name again?" Oak internally winced upon Victoria bringing that up. He recalled how excited Samson had been when a girl had appeared out of an ultra-wormhole, and how equally devastated he'd been when said girl, untrained as she was, was killed not but a few months later on a mission for the International Police.

"I don't recall. Samson would know," Oak said, shaking his head. The newly-dubbed UB-project, spearheaded by InterPol, was a hot mess in Oak's humble opinion. Ever since Alola had opened up to the Leagues ten years ago, InterPol and other inter-regional organizations had become supremely interested in the islands' happenings, especially in the ultra-wormhole phenomena. Oak himself was only privy to certain information regarding said phenomena because they had consulted him on the appearance of legendary-class pokemon, dubbed Ultra Beasts, a few years prior.

"What I do know is that I cannot, in good conscience, condemn a child to the sort of life InterPol would consign him to," Oak continued, rubbing the bridge of his nose. InterPol had started the UB project to combat these Ultra-Beasts in the same way they had entire squadrons dedicated to combatting legendaries, should those pokemon ever threaten human civilization. He knew very little about the UB project other than that, it was more the jurisdiction of his cousin Samson, but what he did know was that ultra-beasts were drawn to the energy given off by ultra-wormholes, and those who passed through the wormholes retained some of that energy.

Which, while Kanto was nowhere near the hot-spot (and wasn't that a misnomer, considering the rarity of the phenomenon) for ultra-wormholes that Alola was, meant Leo had a very real chance of being chased down by legendary-class pokemon for the rest of his life. InterPol would try to prepare him and train him for that, but, if their prior history held true, InterPol would most definitely toss him into the fray without any training whatsoever if they thought it necessary.

"…earth to Professor Oak, you still in there?" Victoria's voice broke Professor Oak out of his thoughts, jolting the old man back to awareness. "I was asking what your plan is. I don't know anything about these holes in the sky other than what you've told me, which isn't a lot. Are they dangerous?" she asked.

"No, not particularly. What comes out of them, on the other hand, are potentially very dangerous," Oak admitted.

"And are you one hundred percent certain that he came out of one of the ultra-wormholes?" Victoria pressed, making Oak pause, then shake his head.

"The fact that he knows what an ultra-wormhole is makes me want to say yes, but the only way to be certain would be to test him for the energy ultra-wormholes give off," Oak muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. "I'll probably need to keep an eye on him regardless, though."

"Because he found your father's journal," Victoria said, bending down to pull a chocolate bar out of the vending machine.

"Partly, yes," Oak said. "But I am not sure if helping him is the right choice in this situation. There are too many variables to take into account," Victoria hummed and shrugged her shoulders, one hand resting on her belt of pokeballs.

"Take your time to think about what you're going to do. He's shown interest in being a trainer, you know, so you might be able to help him there. Hell, he seems pretty smart. Could probably become a Youngster if he tried," she said, turning to head out of the empty lobby. Oak scowled at the idea. The legal age in which one could become a trainer was fourteen – though that limit could be circumvented by taking a test to get a Youngster License, a license that essentially allowed anyone under the age of fourteen to become a trainer provided they stick to certain rules and remain on designated Routes.

Oak had been against the law allowing Youngster Licenses being passed, and he was all for the growing movement to repeal said bill now. Anything younger than fourteen was too young to be allowed to train the powerful beings known as pokemon. Unfortunately, Leo being skilled enough to survive in the wild for six months on his own – in addition to his perceived maturity – would most likely allow the young boy to pass the test.

Too many children had died as a result of that law for Oak to be comfortable allowing that.

Well, let's just keep it to myself then, Oak thought, sticking his hands in his pockets and feeling the familiar, comfortable shapes of his team's pokeballs. If he doesn't know all the options, then he won't be able to choose the Youngster License.

Chapter Text

Leo hadn't known what he had been expecting when he met Giovanni for the first time, but it hadn't been what he found. He had been searching for Professor Oak for the past hour or so, his freshly-named slowpoke, Santiago, following at his heels. He'd found a solution for his predicament in the form of the Youngster License (wasn't the news a wonderful thing? Even if all it did was disparage said License – rightfully so, in Leo's opinion – at least it gave him the information he needed to circumvent the age-fourteen trainer restriction) and wanted to push the idea onto Oak.

He knew the man probably wouldn't like the idea, as Leo was just a kid in Oak's eyes, but if he had proved anything at all it was that he could take care of himself. So, he searched Oak out, tried to think of a convincing argument, and ran into the group of Oak, Victoria, and a well-dressed man he came to know as Giovanni having an intense discussion by the river.

"…is not any of your business, Giovanni," Oak said in a firm tone, crossing his arms and glaring at the sharply dressed man. Leo's eyebrows rose at the name, and he faltered in his steps as he observed the leader of Team Rocket.

His first impression? The man was classy. His charcoal-colored suit was immaculate, while the silver wristwatch he wore spoke of wealth. The way he held himself – back straight, shoulders set but not over-exaggerated – projected an air of cool confidence that left Leo with little doubt he could be the leader of the pokemon equivalent of the mafia.

"Of course not, forgive my curiosity. It is simply not every day one gets to examine the records of a former champion," Giovanni said coolly, a placating smile on his face.

"There's a reason for that. Champions like to keep their secrets," Victoria grunted out.

"All Masters like their secrets, Victoria. Including both you and myself," Giovanni countered coolly, turning to smile at the woman and, with that motion, spotting Leo. "Would that happen to be…?" he asked, looking back at Oak and indicating Leo.

"Ah, Leo. I thought you were doing…research, was it?" Oak asked as more of a statement.

"Yeah, I was looking up stuff about tyranitar but I got distracted," Leo said, eyeing Giovanni. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous knowing he was approaching a literal mafia boss, but having Professor Oak and Victoria there – Oak being an ex-champion and Victoria apparently being a Master of the normal type (which Leo hadn't realized was a rank, not just a title, until Oak spelled it out for him) made it a bit easier to bear.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Leo. My name is Giovanni, Leader of the Viridian Gym," the man himself said, stepping around Victoria to greet Leo, who looked up at him silently. Giovanni stood a good head and a half taller than him, clean shaven and with immaculately groomed hair, his calculating grey eyes maintaining a respectful eye contact.

Leo resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at him, but extended his hand in greeting regardless. "Leo. It's a pleasure," he said. Giovanni smiled and shook his hand, giving him a proper, firm handshake.

"Your story has gripped the hearts of many, young Leo. Surviving the Silver Mountains for six months, without a pokemon partner no less? Even experienced Rangers may have trouble with that," Giovanni praised, though Leo doubted Rangers would even get themselves into that situation in the first place. Plus, he had gotten lucky. Extremely lucky.

"Thanks, but it was a lot of luck involved," Leo said with a shrug, gently shoving Santiago away as the small slowpoke tried to eat his shoe foot and all. "Knock it off, Santiago," he muttered, glancing down at the slowpoke.

"You finally named your slowpoke?" Victoria asked, picking up on the name. Leo nodded, grinning as he remembered how he had come up with that name.

"Yeah, it's actually quite the story. While I was reading something he was down by the river, right? He's down there for at least a good half-an-hour, so when I finish reading I go down there to find him, only to see him digging his feet into the ground as he struggled up the hill, tail in the water, and the biggest freaking magikarp I've ever seen hanging onto it. I honestly could only stand there as he struggled his way up the hill, pulling the magikarp that was easily twice his size out of the water, where he just plopped down and stared up at me. The magikarp ended up letting go of his tail and flopping away, but it was still pretty funny. Anyway, Santiago was a famous fisherman I'd read about back home, so that's how he got the name," Leo explained, bending down and rubbing Santiago's head fondly.

It had been a good two hours since then, so Santiago had enough time for a nap and to regain some energy. Hence why he was now following Leo around, rather than being carried.

"Slowpoke are known for the fishing talents," Professor Oak allowed, smiling tiredly. "What brings you here though, Leo?" he asked, and Leo blinked, having momentarily forgotten his purpose.

"I was reading the newspaper today, and had an idea. Why don't I apply for the Youngster License? I've got the survival skills for training, and I'm pretty sure I'd be able to pass any test that may be given to me," Leo said bluntly, forgoing mentioning that basic pokemon knowledge may be lost on him. Things like habits of rarer or more dangerous pokemon, or how they used their abilities and whatnot. But that was what the internet and libraries were for, and it wasn't like Leo couldn't learn.

That's probably a pretty arrogant thought, Leo realized after a moment. I can't learn everything by myself, and just because I got lucky for those six months doesn't mean that trend will continue. Not that I'm looking for a repeat, either…he grumbled to himself.

"No," Oak said flatly, and Leo winced. He'd been expecting that, he'd admit, but had been hoping Oak would think otherwise.

"With his skills it would be a cakewalk for him to pass the test…the practical exam, anyway. His…pokemon would be a problem, however," Giovanni added thoughtfully, earning himself a glare from Oak.

"The slowpoke is a little young to be used in battles," Victoria said, and Leo wilted a bit further. That was true, but he could always catch a pidgey or something to use until Santiago grew up, right? Using a pokeball should make the capture process much easier.

"Regardless, it is not a good idea for you to begin your journey so young, Leo," Oak said. "Especially not one in your position," Leo frowned at that and scratched the back of his head, agreeing now that he thought about it but still unsure what else to do. He couldn't work – too young – and it wasn't like he could expect the winnings of a trainer would cover all of his expenses.

But on the flip side, there was no way in hell he was going back to school for another four years. He'd done that song and dance, and in no way, shape, or form did he want to revisit his elementary/middle/high school years again. It wasn't like he could ask Oak to take care of him for the next few years, either. That wouldn't be fair to the man, regardless of whether Leo found Archibald's journal or not.

Sure, Leo would like some help from the kind Professor, but still.

"Indeed. Funds for orphans don't extend that far, after all," Giovanni said. "Training can get expensive, just as it is lucrative,"

Leo sighed and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. He hadn't given up, not yet, but there was definitely some more thinking he had to do. Ways to make money so he wasn't dependent on the generosity of Professor Oak; heck, he needed to see if there was some sort of League-sponsored fund for people in a situation similar to his. Meaning, people without backing.

"He could always join my Trainer Initiative," Giovanni suggested casually, and Leo whipped his head to look at the man so fast his neck popped. Coming from anyone else, that statement was innocuous, or perhaps hopeful. Coming from Giovanni? Leo was suspicious. Seeing as he was a mob boss, it was likely he used this "Trainer Initiative" for some purpose involving Team Rocket.

"What's that?" Leo asked, and Giovanni smiled knowingly.

"It is a program I am supporting in Viridian. It aids young trainers in becoming the absolute best they can be, teaching and training them for when they might, eventually, start their journeys," Giovanni explained. Oak's snort of amusement caught Leo's attention, but his gaze remained fixed on Giovanni, his mind processing what he heard and filing it away for later perusal. He didn't actually know if Giovanni was genuinely being chivalrous here or if there was some underlying scheme.

What he did know was the he needed to warn Professor Oak about Giovanni potentially being the leader of Team Rocket. The Trainer's Initiative was sending up all kinds of red flags. Perhaps a screening process, for potential grunts?

"I do not think that will be necessary, Giovanni. I intend to bring Leo back to Pallet Town – at least for a while," Oak said firmly, earning himself another look from Leo. He hadn't been told anything about plans for the future yet.

"The legendary Samuel Oak is intending to tutor a child? Now that is interesting news indeed," Giovanni said humorously, making Victoria chuckle for whatever reason and Oak frown. "Relax, Professor, I am not one to spread gossip. I leave that to the gossip mongers, of course. Their reach extends far enough even without my aid," Giovanni said with a laugh that sounded like he had enough experience with the topic. Even Oak cracked a bitter smile, nodding his head in agreement.

Leo glanced down at Santiago, gently shoving him away from Giovanni's lacquered black shoes with his foot. Don't try to eat Giovanni's shoes, you little idiot, Leo thought with a shake of his head. I've attracted enough of his attention as it is.

The next day Leo sat in Oak's lab, still blinking away the disorientation of being teleported an hour prior as he sat on a cold, metal table, bare-chested and many wires and monitoring devices attached to his body. Professor Oak sat staring at a computer screen directly to Leo's right, his fingers typing at blazing speed as he "constructed an algorithm," as he had called it, while the man's alakazam levitated cross-legged in front of Leo, watching him curiously.

"So, what are we doing again?" Leo asked.

"Wormhole energy," Professor Oak replied as he stared at the screen, absolutely no help at all. He'd been like this for the past half-an-hour, after ushering Leo inside his lab and doing a few things to prepare for whatever test he wanted to run. Leo frowned and scratched at one of the pads on his chest, wiggling uncomfortably. This was all kinds of weird.

"Fret not, youngling. Oak simply wishes to understand the effects of travelling through the space-tear. He fears it may have effects on your body," A voice whispered inside Leo's head. He jumped about a foot into the air at the suddenness and strangeness of the event, noticing the voice as not his own not because he could tell the difference between the voice and his own, inner thoughts, but because he knew his own mind, and he didn't construct sentences like that.

"Was that you?" he whispered to the alakazam, earning himself a nod and an amused smile from the psychic type.

"It is a pleasure to finally speak with you, Friend of the Slowpokes. I did not expect your mind to be so…mature, upon first touching it," Alakazam said.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Leo thought back, remembering his interaction with Queen and making the sentence the foremost thought in his mind, almost burning the words into his subconscious so the alakazam could read it. He didn't know how psychic powers worked here, so he figured he'd just test it out to find the boundaries.

"It is indeed. Tell me, for I am interested, what is it you wish to do in this world?" Alakazam asked, and Leo frowned. The question itself was simple, but that was not all the alakazam was asking. The full weight of its curiosity was imposed on that question, pressing down on Leo's mind and enfolding it like a blanket, wrapping it in the emotions the alakazam felt – curiosity, excitement, concern, wonder – and the depth of the question itself. It wasn't just asking what Leo wanted to do casually, it meant it down from the very fundamental level of Leo's being. What was it he wanted?

Leo's mind screeched to a halt as he considered the question, no real words coming to mind. There was much he wanted to do. And to give full credit to how he felt about the situation, he figured putting it to words would not do it justice. So, Leo did what he did with Queen, and brought forth all his emotions on the matter. He thought of finding Jack, his best friend whom he wondered if he would ever see again, he thought of finding his own purpose in the world (tied to the feeling of having his old life, and any purpose he found therein, stripped away), he thought of warmth of family, of the intense joy he found in exploring the world. Leo remembered playing for the bellossom and watching Tyrus fight, but most of all he impressed his own idea of what he must do in the face of adversity.

Stand up, and keep going.

Alakazam was silent for a moment, regarding Leo as it parsed through his thoughts, eyes glowing blue for brief moments. Finally, it nodded.

"I do doubt my friend will allow one as young as you leave on a journey so early. Him allowing you to leave before you have reached fourteen years of age would be nothing short of a miracle from Mew," alakazam said. Leo smiled.

"It's a good thing I'm not actually ten then, isn't it?" he asked, and the alakazam smiled.

"We will see," it said cryptically, and said no more. Leo was silent as well, trying his hardest to not think as he sat on that table, occasionally scratching at the wires and watching Oak as he typed away like a madman, examining whatever he was finding with intense scrutiny.

It was another good hour before Professor Oak finally finished, standing up and rubbing his eyes tiredly. Leo had long since laid down, content to nap even though the table was anything but comfortable, though he still opened one eye at Oak's movement.

"Seems like there's no serious abnormalities. He does radiate wormhole energy, but on a scale that seems manageable. Still no guarantee, but…Merri, would you go over this again with me? I want to make sure I'm looking at this right," he muttered. The alakazam, whose name was apparently Merri, floated forward and peered over Oak's shoulder. Leo frowned, something about that statement tugging at a memory in his head. But what was it…? Something about the wormhole energy Oak mentioned, but he couldn't quite recall all the details of the Sun and Moon games, and he never really watched the anime.

After a few moments Professor Oak sighed and stood, stretching and groaning, which in turn prompted Leo to sit up.

"I am getting too old to be sitting in this chair all the time," he grumbled, turning and smiling at Leo. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes, however. "The good news, Leo, is that travelling through ultra-space didn't have any unforeseen consequences on your body. We already knew you were healthy enough due to the medical exams you took, but I just wanted to do a deeper scan just in case,"

"Good to know," Leo said, nodding. "What happens now then? All you told me was that we were coming to Pallet Town, not what was going to happen after."

Professor Oak hummed, pinching the bridge of his nose and wincing. "I will not lie to you, Leo, your situation is precarious and unique. There is a chance legendary-class pokémon may come through an ultra-wormhole and chase after you, due to you also having come through a wormhole," Leo sucked in a deep breath, eyes widening. How could he have forgotten such a crucial piece of information from the games? Sure it was just, like, one line in the post-game that said ultra-beasts did that, and he hadn't played that game in years, but still!

"Which leaves us here. In Pallet you will be relatively safe, my team from my Champion days still resides around the ranch, and we have enough firepower to fight off a legendary if need be. Victoria, too, is near Elite level, though she is in town with less frequency than I. It would not be a bad idea for you to get a Youngster License, if that is your wish, but I still advise against it. Of course, there is always Giovanni's Trainer Initiative," Oak rattled off, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Leo chewed his lip for a moment then, his mind made up, nodded.

Outing Giovanni would cause insane ripples, no matter what version of the world he was in, but it would be remiss of Leo to not do anything, either.

"Not Giovanni. In my world, he was the leader of a terrorist organization called Team Rocket," Leo said bluntly, giving Oak pause.

"You're joking," he deadpanned, and Leo shook his head. "That's…news. I will take that into due consideration," he said, falling silent for a moment. Leo allowed the man to absorb the bombshell he dropped, but eventually his patience wore thin and he cleared his throat.

"Uh, you were saying about the Youngster License and stuff?" Leo asked, eyes flicking to Merri for any hints as to his thoughts. Merri shrugged, giving him no information to go off of. He decided, however, to assume that Oak would fight him on getting the License, even though there really was only one choice for Leo here. He had to get strong enough to fight off any ultra-beasts that may come after him. If he didn't, that was dangerous not only for himself, but for all those around him.

It wasn't like Oak could dedicate his life to protecting Leo, nor did he want that. In fact, Leo realized, he was treating the news much like he had thought about his own survival in the mountains. Either he got better and polished his skills, or things go haywire. Simple.

"Right, that. I'll see what I can do about Giovanni though – you do understand that we cannot make a move against him without proper evidence. Even more so if he is in charge of a Team," Oak warned, and Leo nodded. He expected nothing less. "Good, good. Where was I? Right, Leo's options. Thank you, Merri,"

"I want the Youngster License," Leo blurted out, cutting the man off. "If legendary pokemon will come after me, I don't want to put anyone else in danger. So, I should travel, gather a team, and get stronger while I can," he said.

Oak tried, and failed, to hide a grimace. "I can let you take the test, but what if you fail?" he asked. Leo hummed thoughtfully.

"I can take the test once every three to six months, right? I'll probably study, then keep taking it until I pass," Leo reasoned. It's not like Santiago can battle right now anyway. I need to pass that test if, for no other reason, than to get a combat-ready pokemon. I believe the article said something about handing out starters to trainers even if they already have a pet, right? Does Santiago count as a pet?

"Tell you what. Pass the test, and you go on your journey. Fail, and you can stick around and help out around the ranch. We could always use more help, and I was raising growlithe litters by your age," Oak reasoned. Leo's eyebrows raised and he once more glanced at Merri, whose expression was unreadable. This was suspicious, but…helping out around a pokemon lab? This was an opportunity, wasn't it? This way, Leo almost wouldn't mind if he failed…almost. He'd be pissed if Oak sabotaged him somehow.

"Deal," Leo said, shaking Oak's outstretched hand. The older man smiled, and Leo inwardly scowled as he ripped off all the monitoring equipment still strapped to him and followed Oak out the room.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Here, for Santiago," the older man said, pulling a red and white orb out of his coat pocket and handing it to Leo. His irritation momentarily forgotten, Leo accepted the pokeball and stared at the metal ball almost reverently. "You can officially catch him now, if you want. He'll be registered to me until you get a license, but transferring a pokemon to another trainer is a relatively pain-free process. There's a few things I want to catch up on since I'm back in the lab. I'll show you around a bit later, and show you where you'll be sleeping," Oak said, planting a hand on Leo's head and ruffling his hair. Leo scowled at him but the Professor didn't see, having already moved off to talk to another white-robed lab assistant to talk about whatever.

Leo shook his head and headed out of the lab, following the long, white-tiled hall out to the lobby where Santiago was keeping himself entertained with the help of the friendly secretary, the brown-haired man casually tossing a small, blue ball across the room for the little slowpoke to trundle after. Acts more like a dog than anything else, Leo thought, amused, as he watched Santiago bat the ball into the wall with his head.

"Thanks," Leo said to the secretary, nodding to him before kneeling down next to Santiago, pressing the center button on the pokeball and nearly dropping it when it expanded. "Now, how does this work? Do I just," Leo muttered, pressing the ball against Santiago and dropping it when it snapped open, sucking the slowpoke in with a flash of red light.

It didn't wiggle. No lights blinked. Instead the ball just sat there, and, to the soft congratulations of the secretary, Leo sarcastically congratulated himself on his first capture. It wasn't much of a capture. Not really, but what did Leo expect? It was a baby pokemon. Still, that didn't mean Leo wasn't excited about it. He couldn't contain his grin as he picked the ball up, pressing the button once more to see if it would release his slowpoke and, to his pleasure, the ball cracked open. Santiago appeared on the floor in a flash of red, blinking up at Leo owlishly.

"Sloooow?" It called.

"Trippy, huh?" Leo asked, rubbing the slowpoke's head and glancing out the sliding glass doors of the lab. Outside sat the rest of Pallet, the small town a good mile from the front of the lab, with rolling green hills and the Silver Mountains looming in the distance. Orange blobs played on the hillside outside, watched over by the massive, majestic form of an arcanine.

A pang of excitement rolled through Leo as he watched the growlithe play. He should probably answer Oak's challenge by going to study or something but, dogs were playing outside. Puppies. More importantly, fire-breathing puppies. He had to go say hi, didn't he? Besides, this would just be practical experience right? He'd need a lot of that to be a trainer, Leo was sure. At least, that's what he told himself as he rushed out the front door, excitement coursing through his veins as he rushed out of the lab, Santiago following behind with a low call of excitement, to go play with the growlithe. After, of course, he made sure the arcanine watching over them was ok with it.

He didn't want to piss the fire-breathing hound off, after all. Leo didn't fancy becoming barbeque.

Oak hummed idly to himself as he examined Leo's test, eyes tracing the papers for the umpteenth time. The boy had, in truth, surprised him. His grasp on pokemon biology and the way pokemon moves worked was shoddy at best, some of his answers to the essay questions sounding more like educated guesses than anything concrete. But still…he had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of pokemon species and their evolutions, not to mention being able to deduce the type of a pokemon relatively easily and, while not wholly impressive on its own, had memorized the type chart. How far his knowledge of pokemon descended, Oak wasn't sure, as most of the questions involved base-level knowledge in that category.

What really intrigued Oak was some of Leo's answers to pokemon evolution. How in the name of Mew did he know a slowpoke could evolve into Slowking with a king's rock? The official stance was that slowpoke evolved when a shellder bit them on the head, using a king's rock was a far more specialized way that resulted in far more intelligent slowking – slowking like his father's Longinus. Oak had added that question to the test on a whim, but now he was glad he did. He'd have to talk to Leo about that later.

Sighing, Professor Oak set the papers down and looked out the window of his lab, watching the subject of his current headache as he animatedly described his adventures in the Silver Mountains to Gary and Daisy Oak, his grandchildren. The eight and thirteen-year-olds listened on, enraptured, as Leo re-enacted some form of combat with a growlithe, the energetic little fire-hound all too happy to wrestle and play. Oak smiled, glad to see his grandchildren having fun, laughing at Leo as he tried, and failed, to shove the growlithe off of him as it enthusiastically licked his face.

Daisy smiled and laughed less after their parents – Oak's daughter – had died two years ago. Gary, being six, didn't remember much, but he tended to catch onto his sister's moods. Time was healing the children, but it was slow.

"Did he pass?" Victoria asked, slipping into the room behind Oak, who resolutely ignored the pain in his chest at the memories of his daughter.

"No," Oak said truthfully, handing the test to Victoria, who took it and scanned over the questions with a frown, brushing away an errant strand of brown hair that hung over her eyes. "But I also didn't give him the Youngster exam. Didn't stop him from passing the practical exam, which I expected, but his theoretical and battling skills need work," Oak ran a hand through his hair, fixating his gaze on the ceiling and counting the black dots on the plastic panels.

"He would've passed the Youngster exam," Victoria stated more than asked, flipping through the test and shooting the Professor a glare. "You do realize that you can't actually keep him here like this. He may very well go behind your back and take the exam elsewhere – kid's smart, I wouldn't put it past him," she deadpanned, and Oak grumbled, standing and looking out the window.

"I know, I know. But he needs this. Ten is too young for him to go adventuring, staying on the Youngster Routes or not. This way I can keep an eye on him, and make sure his education is up to snuff," Oak reasoned, shoving his hands into the pockets of his long, white lab coat. "At least for a few years. Maybe until he's twelve or thirteen; that's when I started my journey. But things were different back then. We needed trainers more than we do now,"

That wasn't the only reason, of course. Privately, Oak felt like Leo could most definitely cut it as a trainer if he left right now – he showed maturity beyond his years, and though his book knowledge was lacking he did do well on the practical exams – but he also wasn't one to send someone out underprepared. Leo needed a deeper understanding of the world he lived in now, because he suspected there was quite the difference between where he had been, and where he was now. More than Leo let on.

On another hand, Oak didn't want to be seen as supporting the Youngster License. It wasn't as bad an idea as some of the news outlets made it out to be – deaths were actually relatively low, quite a few of which due to unavoidable mishaps like natural disasters – but Oak still wanted the law gone. Given a year or two, it very well might be rescinded, what with all the flak Champion Marvin has been taking for the bill. Even if the current Champion didn't make a move to rescind the law, the next champion very well might. That young dragon tamer, Lance, was a promising candidate, though dragons were notoriously slow to grow…

"Isn't this the exam you give to Starter applicants?" Victoria asked, tossing Leo's exam onto the desk next to Oak, who nodded. "And he still got a forty percent on it?"

"He did decidedly well, considering that. Most of his wrong answers were founded in solid logic too, he just lacks a deeper understanding of the mechanics involved. Who knows, I might even be able to give him one of the Kanto Starters if he studies hard enough," Oak said, grinning. It was unlikely, there were plenty of brilliant young trainers vying for the prestigious reward of the regional starters, but still a possibility.

Victoria stared at him searchingly, the gruff woman folding her arms across her chest and staring at Professor Oak long enough to make him feel uncomfortable. Then she grinned cheekily.

"Sounds like you've found yourself a protégé," she said mockingly, and Oak's smile immediately flipped into a frown. "Don't give me that, you're taking him under your wing! Taken an interest in him, or feel bad because of his sob-story?" she asked, and Oak frowned harder, fixing her with a glare.

"Get out," he said, though the statement held no heat. Victoria laughed and held her hands up defensively, backing out of the room and shutting the door behind her. Oak sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, fighting off the oncoming headache. He just hoped Leo wasn't as quick to learn as Oak feared he would be, judging by his already impressive knowledge base for his age, or else keeping him on the ranch would be a chore. Not to mention, somehow the boy had gotten Merri onto his side. The alakazam hadn't been subtle in telling Oak Leo was ready for an adventure.

Another glance out the window of his office, and Oak relaxed slightly as he watched Leo roughhouse with Gary, the brown-haired boy picking Gary up in a bear-hug and spinning him in a circle, head tossed back in a laugh while Daisy watched, smiling to herself. Kids should be kids, Oak thought firmly, then pushed all those thoughts out of his mind. He had a project to finish, after all, and what a project it was.

Hopefully he'd be able to finish his pokemon encyclopedia prototype before Daisy left on her own pokemon journey in a year. Though all trainers would benefit he hoped above all else that it would help keep his grandchildren safe. That was all he could hope for. It was all he wanted, anymore.

True to his word, Professor Oak had Leo working on the ranch in a farm-hand type position the day after he had shown Leo that he failed the test. It wasn't a surprise, the written test was way harder than Leo thought (not that tests were his forte anyway), and Leo had promptly shut down the ugly voice in his head that suggested Oak had rigged the test. As it were, working on the ranch, and by proxy in the pokemon lab, was doing wonders for his knowledge of pokemon.

He learned more by doing, after all, and it didn't get much more hands-on than wrangling the hordes of pokemon Oak kept around his lab. Nidoran, growlithe, lakes full of water-types, tauros, rapidash, and seemingly a thousand other kinds of pokemon called the Oak ranch their home, and Leo loved it. Daisy Oak had helped him out a lot in the beginning, guiding him around showing him which pokemon were too ornery to deal with, or how to get around that ornery-ness, what they ate, how to soothe them…honestly, there was so much to remember Leo's head felt like exploding sometimes, but he threw himself into learning the processes with all the gusto he could muster.

Though he still never studied. He hated studying. And tests. He did, however, look up things that interested him – such as tyranitar. Now that he was on his way to becoming a trainer, Leo had his heart and mind set on capturing a larvitar. It would happen.

He also met Ash Ketchum for the first time, the little black-haired kid being just as energetic as Leo remembered from what little he watched of the anime. He didn't actually interact with the boy as much as he might've liked, but seeing as how he and Gary Oak were still friends at this point, Leo ended up getting to know him at least a little. But Oak kept him pretty busy regardless.

At one point, about a month into Leo's stay, (Professor Oak had a repurposed room above his garage he let Leo stay in, and though it seemed like a cozy enough home, it seemed lonely with just him, the Professor, and his two grandchildren to occupy it. But it felt wrong for him to ask about the children's parents, or about Oak's wife, so he didn't pry) Professor Oak enrolled Leo in the Pallet Town elementary/middle school.

Leo protested by ditching class. Repeatedly. As in, Oak would drop Leo off, and as soon as the man was gone Leo was racing off into the forests surrounding Pallet Town. He'd tried to show up for science class on the first few days, but they'd been learning such basic stuff Leo had forgone all idea of attending. He knew the mitochondria was the powerhouse of the cell. Couldn't file his taxes properly, but he knew about the mitochondria.

One good thing did come from those few classes he did attend though; he'd found out something that had been bothering him for a while about people eating were two different, official classifications for certain pokemon. Domestic, and Wild. Wild were the ones used in battle, while Domestic often enough never evolved, never got stronger, and didn't show the intelligence Wild pokemon tended to. Not all species of pokemon were differentiated this way either, as not all pokemon had Domestic variants.

Leo hadn't really understood what it all meant until Victoria had shown him her tauros, Duke, next to a domestic tauros. Duke had been intelligent and prideful, his almost-black fur shining in the sun and eyes boring into Leo with relentless determination and the unquenchable fury of a perpetually angry bull. The domestic tauros, in comparison? They were just cows. Big cows, with the capability to occasionally use attacks when startled.

People ate domestic pokemon. They shied away from eating Wild ones.

When Oak found out Leo had been ditching school he wasn't too happy, and had immediately sicced his arcanine on Leo, who brought him back to school happily and covered in dog drool. Leo, true to his nature, didn't let that deter him and turned it into a game, eventually roping Merri, Oak's dragonite Mizuchi, and even Victoria into the mix whenever she was around. Leo jokingly called the game "Escape of the prisoner," because he felt much like a convict escaping the law. Victoria called it "Find the F-ing brat and beat some sense into him." Leo found that amusing and, say what you will about how often he was caught, Leo got really good at hiding and running away.

It was on one of these little escapades that Leo had surprised Victoria by showing her he knew at least a little bit of martial arts, shoddy and rusty though they were. She had responded by transforming the game of chase from metaphorically trying to beat some sense into Leo, into literally trying to beat some sense into him. She tried to disguise it by calling it sparring. Leo knew better. She was just annoyed he kept doing this, especially because she was so brutal about it. Very rarely did he not have bruises from those sessions.

What really got to Leo wasn't those "sparring" sessions though. It was when she would use her Persian to chase him down. He could run from Oak's arcanine, who acted more like a puppy than any growlithe, and dragonite all day long – especially dragonite. The kindly-yet-battle-scarred dragon more often than not took him on joy-rides through the blue skies of Kanto rather than take him back to school, and Leo made sure to always treat the noble creature with respect. But Victoria's Persian? That thing was terrifying, and it truly enjoyed scaring the daylights out of Leo. Many a time he found himself flat on his back, the cat's claws pressing dangerously into his skin, as it stared at him with deep green eyes that pierced his soul, fangs bared and poised above his throat.

Leo shuddered every time he remembered it.

By the time the sixth month of Leo's stay in Pallet Town rolled around, he was getting pretty good at escaping even if it was officially winter now. He'd never truly been successful, mind you, but Victoria wasn't always around and Oak's pokemon weren't willing nor able to always keep an eye on him. On those days Leo would slip into the woods and vanish for hours on end, playing with Santiago, the slowpoke steadily growing bigger and more intelligent with each day even if he picked up more than one bad habit from the growlithe litters plaguing the Oak Ranch, and harassing wild pokemon.

He whistled and sang for bellossom as they danced, his own bellossom leaf having finally withered, dove into snowdrifts to go hunting for ice-types whenever snowstorms rolled in, stalked rattatta, poked pineco as they hibernated beneath tree roots, and raced with the pidgey as they flew south, some flocks much later than others.

Unfortunately during this time there had been no moves to oust Giovanni either, and very little actual news about any Team Rocket. Which Oak said was because there was no real evidence that Giovanni was the Leader of Team Rocket. Irritating as it was, Leo figured it made sense. One did not simply become the leader of the Viridian Gym and lead a terrorist organization, especially in this world, where Gym Leaders were essentially Governors of their respective territories, without knowing how to cover your tracks. (The government in this world was weird, Leo was still trying to figure out how it all worked with Leaders and Councilmen, and Elites and Champions even with Oak's patient explanations.)

And every three to four months, Leo would try to pass the increasingly Youngster exam, failing each and every time. Until, a year and a half after his arrival at Oak's ranch and at the beginning of his second year in the pokemon world, he suddenly didn't.

Chapter Text

Oak shuffled through Leo's latest test papers, eyeing them critically in a show that had Leo rolling his eyes. The Professor liked to put on a show before giving out the test results, but now it didn't affect him as much as he'd been taking the increasingly difficult test for the past…what was it, year and a half now? Something like that, he looked about twelve now and it was the start of Leo's third spring in this world, with the spring equinox right around the corner. Anyways, the Professor liked to put on a show.

Admittedly, for the first two times Leo had taken the test, Oak's process of going over the test made him a little nervous. Now? Now he just went with the flow.

"Unfortunately," Oak began, and Leo felt his heart sink a little as he anticipated the word "you fail." Every time he took the test it got a little harder, so Leo had been extra diligent this time around and over-studied. He thought it had paid off, he was pretty certain he got a lot of the questions right (not to mention the practical exams, which he always passed.) "I have to pass you this time. There is no reason not to," Oak said, and Leo sighed.

Then he blinked, and fixed Oak with a look, the Professor's expression a mixture of regret and amusement.

"Did you just say I passed?" Leo asked, and Oak nodded.

"As usual your practical exam was easily over par. Though you may miss the more specific details to pokemon training, and don't know the official terms for many processes, you understand how to employ them. As for your written test…well, it is passable." Oak explained, shaking his head before grabbing another stack of papers. "Not even your school tests were failing – despite your chronic absences. Even history you passed," Oak said, fixing Leo with a glare that he met with a raised eyebrow.

He told Oak he didn't need to go to school. Besides, history was interesting and Leo had researched that on his own.

"So this means I can go on my journey, right?" Leo asked, and Oak hummed.

"Yes and no," he said, and Leo frowned. Oak held up a hand to stop him from protesting, leaning back in his chair. He ran a hand through his slowly greying hair before continuing. "As you know, the official League season does not begin for another week and a half, beginning on the spring equinox. As a first-time trainer, you won't be allowed to leave until after then, and you have been registered as a trainer,"

Leo nodded, relaxing a bit at that and absently rubbing Santiago's head as the slowpoke lounged next to him. He'd gotten a lot bigger in the past year, eclipsing Queen in height and weight. No longer was Leo able to carry the goofy creature around – not that it stopped him from demanding as much.

A wetness enveloped Leo's hand as Santiago shifted and pulled his hand into his mouth, idly gnawing on it. Leo let him, having long since given up trying to rid him of that habit. Feeding him so many treats was a mistake, Leo thought resignedly, feeling the slowpoke's flat teeth gently massage his hand. He was getting spoiled.

"So, I just need to wait for that, right?" Leo asked.

"Yes. I suppose it is best if I tell you now though – I will not be the one sponsoring your gym challenge," Professor Oak said firmly. Leo frowned and scratched his chin with his free hand. A good sponsor could be a great thing for the typical gym challenge, what with the sponsor providing access to certain training materials – like TMs – as well as food for pokemon, which was actually relatively cheap, and a number of other necessities.

Someone like Professor Oak sponsoring a trainer meant he would provide housing for a trainer's excess pokemon, so they weren't stuck in the storage system all the time, food, access to research materials, and any number of other things – the flip side to sponsorship was that the trainer was basically a walking advertisement saying "we sponsor powerful trainers," or "we sponsor trainers like this!" Which was why corporations also sponsored trainers. It provided a lot of fame and a steady income for trainers, while being good advertisement for companies.

That was, of course, mostly for the gym challenge and contests, which were the biggest "sports" in the pokemon world. Seeing as how pokemon were such an important part of the world, the gym challenge was much more than just a sport though – it was simply the best way Leo could describe its massive popularity and entertainment factors entwined therein. This wasn't to say one needed a sponsor, either. It was fully possible to challenge the gyms without a sponsor, but if you were looking for a head start in popularity, access to training equipment, and the like, it was suggested to find one.

"Ok, then I'll be on my own then?" Leo asked quizzically. He once thought that might be a problem, but that wasn't the case now. The world was full of food, and he was certain that, with enough time, he could come up with ways of making money that didn't involve battling for cash prizes. Like catching wild pokemon. Or designing T-shirts. There was always a market for both, after all. He'd just need some design software for the t-shirts.

"Not necessarily," Oak said slowly. "Victoria has decided to be your sponsor." At this Leo blinked in surprise, pulling his hand out of Santiago's mouth, earning himself a whine from the pink creature, and wiping it on his pant's leg.

"I thought she didn't like me that much," he said teasingly, trying to wrap his head around what Oak said. He and Victoria had a…strange relationship. He knew she didn't hate him or anything, but he also didn't think she liked him enough to be his sponsor. In fact, he still had bruises from their last "sparring" session.

"You certainly annoy her!" Oak laughed. "But she likes your game of hide-and-seek far more than she lets on, I assure you." Leo frowned and leaned back in his chair, wondering why Oak wasn't sponsoring him while Victoria was. He knew that Oak didn't approve of the Youngster License, and the man had already done so much for him, but…The answer struck Leo like a ton of bricks, and he sighed, shoving away Santiago's head as he vied for Leo's attention.

"You're not sponsoring me because of politics, aren't you? I think I heard that the Youngster License is set to being abolished at the end of the year or something. It'd be pretty bad if you, a staunch anti-Youngster, was seen supporting me." Leo reasoned out. Victoria was a lot less restricted that Oak in that regard. Heck, he wasn't even sure where she stood on anything regarding politics – she stayed right out of most of it.

"Knew you'd get it. It's the price of being high-profile, though I still think it foolish to send you off now instead of waiting a few more years. I wanted to try to keep you here, but Victoria has no such qualms. Perhaps it is her upbringing – she was practically raised in Alola. The islands are far safer and friendlier than Kanto," Oak mused. Leo just raised his eyebrows at him, unsurprised by the Professor's admission. He was half-expecting another attempt to get him to stay, but he was getting too antsy for that. His wanderlust had been ignited in the past month or two - he needed to go explore with a passion he hadn't felt in a while.

"I suppose I owe her a thank you, then," Leo said. Oak nodded.

"I suppose," Oak said, then, after a brief pause, continued. "This does mean you will not be receiving a starter from me – not that you qualified for a Kanto starter regardless," Leo nodded, idly touching his shoulder where he had been burned from his last encounter with one of the Kanto starters. That charmander never did like him much, and it had made its displeasure known that day.

"Can't say I'm not unhappy at not having to walk away with a charmander," Leo said dryly, masking his disappointment with the joke. Don't get him wrong, he would've loved to have a charizard on his future team, but…well, he wanted to get a bit of experience training less dangerous pokemon first. Like blastoise or venusaur.

And yet my first priority upon getting my license is to go catch a larvitar. You just keep telling yourself that about a charmander, Leo. Leo thought to himself, smiling wryly and standing up.

"I guess I'll get going then, unless there's something else you want to talk about. I've got a week to get everything ready, right?" Leo asked, and Oak nodded. "C'mon, Santiago," the slowpoke looked up at him with unblinking eyes, and he sighed, recalling him into his pokeball when he showed no sign of movement. Like he said; spoiled.

The next week flew by, with Leo making all the necessary preparations. Namely this just meant making sure he had supplies, as the true "trainer" items, like pokeballs, an actual license, and a pokedex – the second generation of which was slated to come out around spring – would be given out the day he started his journey. Oak had barely managed to get the first gen dex completed in time for Daisy Oak's journey to start, and it was by far the man's most successful invention. Already other regions were scrambling to copy it, which Oak happily complied to help with so long as everyone could come together to form a National PokeDex. He was struggling with that last bit due to politics.

That left Leo with a backpack, extra clothes, a tarp, a sleeping bag, the survival kit he had put together, and a few cooking utensils. With room for food. It was actually a little annoying, there weren't any hammer space bags that Leo knew of, which meant he had to lug everything around. That got real heavy, real quick, especially for his stupid now-twelve-year-old body, so he packed light.

He also had his route to plan out, which was a bit more complex. As a Youngster he had to stick to the designated Routes – which wasn't going to happen, Leo was already planning ways to give the rangers who patrolled said Routes the slip – but more importantly Leo didn't know which way to go. He wanted to go to the Silver Mountains first thing, but there were…issues with that. Did he travel a bit first, and then try to go catch a larvitar? Build up a team so he wasn't completely helpless against tyranitar in case he pissed one off? Or did he just go for broke, because he knew Tyrus and Longinus were in the area? Longinus, Archibald's slowking, at least was reasonable and might point him in the right direction. It was Tyrus Leo was worried about.

On the day of the official start of the League, Leo made his decision.

"I think I need to catch at least one more reliable pokemon before going larvitar hunting," he muttered, sitting on the grass outside Professor Oak's lab, waiting for his license. The rumbling sounds of conversation echoed from the back of the lab, where Oak was handing out pokemon to the few kids in Pallet now old enough to start their journeys. For the most part he handed out basic pokemon; oddish, poliwag, and even the occasional growlithe. They were easily trainable pokemon, whose evolutions could still be powerful in their own right, but were also relatively common.

But every year he did hand out the three Kanto starters as prizes for some of the best-testing trainers in the entire region. One had to apply for them, undergo an intense screening process, and even then only three prospective people were chosen to receive one of the Starters as a beginning pokemon. It gave Leo a lot of questions actually. Did Ash Ketchum actually pass that test and was just late to receiving the starters, or did he fail out of it? The latter made more sense logically speaking, but Leo wasn't sure. He didn't think you could be late to receiving a starter unless it was by days.

Sounds of cheering resounded out from behind the lab, startling both Leo and the few spearow perched on the edge of the plain building. He listened hard for a moment, then shrugged and flopped onto the ground, petting Santiago idly as he watched the clouds.

He would've already left, his supplies all packed in the backpack that sat next to him, it was just a matter of actually receiving his training license now. Victoria supposedly had that, but he hadn't seen her all week. She wasn't on an assignment for the League, Oak had made that clear, but he was getting anxious.

It was already almost noon…he wanted to hit the road as soon as possible.

"Calm yourself, she will be here soon," Merri said, popping into existence next to Leo. The alakazam peered down at him where lay on the soft grass, stroking her moustache and nodding. "I would agree with you in your assessment that finding another team member before hunting for a larvitar is the best course of action. Santiago has come far in these past few months, but he is no match for a tyranitar," she mused, her voice taking on a feminine edge in Leo's mind.

Leo found giving her a distinct voice made figuring out what was her telepathy and what was his own thoughts easier. Though it wasn't actually her voice, just Leo's mental representation of it…psychics were weird.

"Mm. Hey, think any of the abra would want to come with me?" Leo asked, craning his neck to look up at Merri. A ghost of a smile twitched on Merri's lips, and she shook her head.

"Psychics, more than any other type, choose their own trainers – with exceptions among species, of course. None of my children desire to travel the world yet. They all inherited my own flightiness, I am afraid. I tried to teleport away from Oak for the first three weeks of knowing him, after all," Alakazam chuckled, passing along a few images of escape over their psychic connection. Leo smiled, but couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at that. An abra would be a great help in traversing the wilds. Namely for their teleport abilities. Teleport would be invaluable for getting out of danger, not to mention that their species were unnaturally adept at sensing said danger.

Oh well. He'd figure things out eventually. Planning ahead wasn't his strong suit anyway, beyond broad goals. Like surviving, or catching a larvitar.

The next few minutes were spent in discussion with Merri, the alakazam giving him a few more tips on training a psychic type, even if it was mostly a moot point. Santiago hated training – oh, Leo could convince him to do it, and they'd worked on a little bit while at the ranch, but he was notoriously stubborn about actually training. Sure, he would battle, but train in the typical sense? As in, honing accuracy and improving power and all that? Not so much.

"I believe I have worn out my welcome though. You have visitors," Merri said abruptly, cutting Leo off mid-thought as her face scrunched up into what Leo recognized as discomfort. Then she poppedout of existence with a teleport, leaving Leo bewildered. He found out why she had left five seconds later, when familiar, childish screams reached his ears.

A mop of blonde hair came tearing up the hill towards Leo, followed closely by a head of spikey black hair, and he braced himself for impact, having barely enough time before Gary Oak came crashing down upon him in a tidal wave of ten-year-old energy. Ash Ketchum followed shortly after, shouting "dog pile!"

"LEO! I heard from Gramps you're going on your journey today!" Gary screeched in his ear. Leo winced and twisted himself out of Gary's grasp, dancing away from the two menaces as they looked up at him from their pile on the ground. What was it Merri had said to Leo about not liking Gary? Something about his mind being too loud?

"How come you're leaving so early?! Aren't you too young?" Ash asked, falling limply on the ground as Gary pulled himself out from beneath him. Leo nodded and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, I am. Just need my license. And it's because I'm a special case, Ash." Leo said, shrugging. Gary frowned at him, crossing his arms and pouting.

"And you were going to leave without saying goodbye, weren't you?" He demanded. Leo laughed and shook his head, ruffling Gary's hair and grinning wickedly.

"Of course not. But I did want to get my license first," Leo said. Gary huffed and crossed his arms, clearly still miffed that he was leaving on his journey so early, and Leo grinned evilly. "Don't worry, I'll come back and say hi once I become Champion," he teased. Leo didn't actually have plans to become champion at the moment, but saying that did tend to aggravate Gary.

"It'll be a short reign. I'll take that title from you," Gary said firmly, and Leo's grin widened. The kid had fire, behind all that sass.

"And I'll become a pokemon master!" Ash chimed in, forcing Leo to ruffle his hair, too.

"Well, I look forward to it. Now I've got an idea – there's some time yet for me to kill, so I figured, why not play a little game?" Leo asked, voice taking on a dangerous edge. Gary groaned and started inching away, Ash all but vibrating in place as he, too started to back off. "It's called, 'ESCAPE THE TICKLE MONSTER!'" Leo howled, tearing off after the two kids as they darted down the hill, screaming in childish excitement.

And that's how Victoria found Leo, chasing around two little kids, dragging them to the ground where he'd tickle them without mercy or remorse, leaving them breathless until they found the energy to move again.

"Kid, get over here," Victoria called, catching Leo's attention. He froze in his assault on Ash, the kid squirming out of his grasp like a slippery eel and dashing up the hill, laughing breathlessly.

"Victoria," Leo said, feigning calm as he caught his breath, standing and moving over to where Victoria stood next to her dodrio, Bran, at the base of the hill the pokemon lab was built on. The three-headed avian eyed him with one head, the other two idly bickering with each other, beaks snapping. Victoria herself looked fairly travel-worn, with dust and dirt smudged all over her face and travel gear, her hair tied up in a greasy ponytail. A perfectly ringed outline of dirt showed where her riding goggles sat over her eyes, something she wore whenever she went on long trips on the back of Bran. Her mouth stretched into a smile as Leo approached, a slightly dangerous expression that usually promised pain on Leo's end, but this time promised something else.

"Here's your license," she said simply, shoving a small metal credit-card-sized plaque into Leo's hands. He blinked and looked down at it, flipping the card over and over in his hands and scrutinizing it closely. His trainer ID number was there, the location of his hometown (labelled as Pallet, of course) as well as the region of issuance; Kanto/Johto. Technically they were two separate regions, but in practice they were the same. Same government, same League…yeah.

"Thanks, Victoria. I appreciate it, I really do," Leo said gratefully, shoving the license into his pocket. He wanted to say more, express how grateful he was that she finally helped convince Oak to let him go on a journey, but what she did next stopped him and put him on edge. She smirked and put one hand behind her back, immediately making Leo suspicious. She only did that when she was about to do something particularly evil…like that time she dumped a bucket of ice water on him, or hit him with a tree branch.

…the more he thought about it, the more Leo realized they had a weird relationship.

"That's not the best part. I know Uncle Samuel wouldn't let you have one of the Kanto starters, stingy that he is, so I took the liberty of scrounging something else up for you. If you're going to be travelling the region in my name, I might as well give you a leg up, huh? Can't have you making me look bad," Victoria said, producing a pokeball from behind her back. Leo blinked at her and stared in surprise at the pokeball, its bright red paint gleaming in the sun.

"What is it?" Gary asked from beside him, startling Leo. He hadn't heard him sneak up.

"Keep your grubby mitts off," Victoria snapped, smacking Gary's seeking hands away from the ball with her free hand. "Take it, Leo, before I'm forced to strangle the munchkin here," she said, glaring at Gary playfully. The blonde boy just giggled a little, backing off and looking ready to sprint in case Victoria gave chase.

"Um," Leo said, snagging the ball from her palm and rolling it about in his hands. Tentatively he pressed the middle button, enlarging it, and glanced at Victoria for confirmation. She made a 'go ahead' gesture and, taking a deep breath, Leo pressed the release mechanism.

"I kind of had to guess which one you'd want, but knowing you, figured this would be a good choice," Victoria explained as the blob of red poke-power coalesced into a tiny, blue-and-tan furred creature. Leo's breath caught in his throat as he examined the small, hedgehog-esque pokemon as it shook itself out, looking around curiously. Its eyes, which looked a little small for its rather large head, locked onto Leo and the two stared at each other for a moment. This was beyond what he had expected, to be honest. Mostly because he hadn't expected anything.

"A cyndaquil?" Gary asked, a touch of disappointment coloring his tone. "They're rare, but not used that often competitively. You could find a better fire type. There's a reason they're considered second-tier in comparison to the Kanto starters," Santiago apparently wasn't too impressed by the appearance of the cyndaquil either, if the way the slowpoke growled – a wet gurgling sound that was anything but intimidating – and eyed it was any indication.

"Be nice," Leo snapped, glaring at both offenders. Santiago didn't respond, but Gary held up his hands defensively while Ash, who had returned from fleeing, stared at cyndaquil star-struck.

"IT'S SO COOL!" he shouted, Leo wincing from the volume.

"How on earth did you get a cyndaquil?" Leo demanded, turning his attention back to Victoria, who was still grinning. From what he knew the Johto starters were as rare, if not rarer than the Kanto versions because they were less prized in competitive battling. Why use a typhlosion when charizard had air superiority? Or a meganium when venusaur had better typing and more potent status moves? Only feraligatr and blastoise were comparable, but because they were good at different things. Hence, the johto starters were usually given away as consolation prizes or something similar. Starters for those who hadn't made the cut for the Kanto starters; still good, but not as good.

"Professor Elm owes me a few favors, and he was all too happy to 'stick it to Oak,' as he put it, by giving his pupil a starter," Victoria said with a careless shrug. "From your expression though I think I guessed right. Didn't think totodile or chikorita were your speed,"

"His pupil?" Leo echoed, raising an eyebrow. Victoria rolled her eyes.

"Had to play to Elm's ego a little to convince him to let go of one of the Johto starters. And you are technically Samuel's pupil, having worked on his ranch and all. Don't let it get to your head though," Victoria said, making Leo laugh a little. The cyndaquil squeaked at his feet and Leo smiled down at it, bending over to rub its head. The short blue fur was soft and warm, and though the cyndaquil flinched away from the initial touch, it quickly leaned into Leo's ministrations.

"It's more than I expected," Leo said honestly, looking up at Victoria, who waved it off.

"Spare me the gratitude, I did it because I wanted to. And don't give me any of that 'you shouldn't have' crap either. Consider it a birthday present if you must," she said. "Don't think I forgot your birthday is on the equinox. I forgot last year, not this one," Leo laughed a little, having forgotten he had set his birthday as the spring equinox in this world. With a shake of his head he stood back up, scratching the back of his neck. Any words of gratitude died in his throat as he stood there, now fully prepared for his journey. He'd need to think of a name for cyndaquil sooner or later, but first he wanted to get going.

"Well, I guess this is it then. I don't want to stick around too much longer – or else Professor Oak will make me spend the night again," Leo said, prompting a sad, lonely look from Gary and a small smile from Victoria.

"Make sure you visit him before you go, either way. He may not be willing to publicly support you, but he will give you a pokedex. Much as I don't like them, they are useful tools. And one more thing," Victoria said, putting a hand on Leo's shoulder and leaning down to eye-level. "You and I both know you've been ready for your journey for a while, but don't get cocky, alright? You've got a good head on your shoulders and I'd hate to see it ruined by arrogance or stupidity," she said bluntly.

Leo smirked, brushing the praise off because, in truth, it was a little condescending considering he was much older than twelve. Of course he had a good head on his shoulders for being twelve. Still, he took it for what it was; praise.

"I can promise humility, but not intelligence. Being stupid is too much fun," Leo said, and Victoria laughed, clapping him on the shoulder and standing upright.

"Ain't that the truth! Get going, kid, before you decide to stick around," she said, spinning on her heel and getting back onto Bran's back, who squawked at her. "I'm going to go rest and take a shower, but I expect I'll see you again soon. Later, kid!" she said, and kicked her heels into Bran's side, the dodrio taking off at a sprint. Leo was silent for a moment, watching her go and only vaguely aware of the pestering questions of Gary and Ash, as well as the timid squeaks from the cyndaquil.

Fire burned in his chest, and a grin stretched across his face. Adventure awaited him, and he no longer had to ignore its call.

It took Leo a little bit longer than expected to get out of Pallet – thanks to Gary being a bit clingy and Professor Oak giving him a stern lecture about following rules of the Youngster License, officially transferring Santiago and the cyndaquil's pokeballs to him, giving him a few gifts such as pokemon food and a pokedex, gave a speech about using the pokedex, and assured him he could come back any time – but he still got out of there before four o'clock in the afternoon, so Leo considered that a win.

That did not mean, however, that Route One was very exciting either. Pidgey and spearow chirped in the trees as he trodded along, Zuko, his newly-dubbed cyndaquil, held in his arms so the two could bond a little. It was, in truth, a bit of a boring journey to Viridian City. Route One was heavily patrolled and kept clear of most dangerous pokemon, and it took Leo a good two days of trekking down the dirt road to get to Viridian. Granted, he had opted to take the scenic route rather than follow the paved road, but it was still a long journey. There weren't even any trainers for Leo to battle, though, unlike Santiago, Zuko took to training rather well.

He seemed good at following orders, though that made sense for a Professor-raised pokemon. Mostly Leo just worked the cyndaquil in circles, testing his stamina and fire-generating abilities before letting him rest. At night Leo spent at least a little bit of time looking up information on Oak's pokedex, the second generation device still being rather large and clunky-looking, but Leo couldn't deny its usefulness. He'd learned a lot about the cyndaquil line from the 'dex.

When he got to Viridian City, the large metropolis teeming with people and businesses, Leo's first instinct was to head back into the surrounding forest. But he resisted. Even Zuko shied away from the noise of the city, hiding behind Leo's legs at the sight of all the people. There weren't nearly as many automobiles as Leo was used to in his old world, most people opting to walk, use public transport, or ride on pokemon to get where they were going. It made sense, in a way, and saved Leo from having to dodge traffic every time he tried to cross a street.

"Better recall you, little guy," Leo murmured as he walked deeper into the city, recalling Zuko as he plodded through the suburbs. Even if Viridian was famously clear of crime thanks to Giovanni's presence, Leo knew better than to walk around with a rare pokemon like cyndaquil out. Perhaps especially because he knew better. That Giovanni could still cover his tracks despite Leo outing him to Professor Oak all that time ago spoke volumes of the man's skill and careful planning.

It nearly took him until nightfall to actually find the Viridian Pokemon Center – the official one, not the small clinics that dotted the city – despite the large, red-roofed building sticking out like a sore thumb amidst the rest of the tall, grey buildings. A large, park-like area covered in trees and bushes sat in front of the building and, as Leo crossed the street dodging cars and ridden pokemon alike, he noticed the presence of a couple battlefields set up alongside the Center. Trainers filled the fields, sunken into the ground as they were, shouting commands as pokemon of all stages of evolution duked it out in the single largest display of competitive battling Leo had ever seen. Live, anyway. He'd watched a few League matches on Oak's television.

He watched that for a little bit, admiring one trainer's butterfree in particular as it picked apart all comers with an astounding proficiency with powder moves – until a man with an arbok came along and smashed it into the ground. Satisfied, he headed into the Center to book a room for the night. It was early spring, and the air was getting chilly despite Leo's thin, mareep-wool jacket.

The sliding glass doors opened with a whoosh, warm air washing over Leo's chilled extremities and giving him another appreciation for civilization. He loved the wild, but things like heat and AC were a godsend.

Inside was busier than Leo expected, dozens of trainers of various ages milling about in the waiting room, lounging on chairs to watch one of the many TV's hanging from the wall or talking to their smaller pokemon companions. Three pink-haired Nurse Joys stood behind the counter on the far wall, pink blobs Leo recognized as chansey waddling around behind the counter, only the tops of their round heads visible.

Leo ducked beneath one trainer's zubat as it flitted about the room as he approached the counter, one Nurse looking up as he approached.

"Hello! I'm here to book a room," he said. She smiled at him as he pulled out his trainer ID card, handing it over before she could question his age. Her eyes narrowed at it for a moment, eyes locking onto the words "Youngster License" printed on the metal, then at Leo before she shook her head and handed it back.

"Alright sweetie, I'll get you a room. Do your pokemon need looking at?" she asked in a too-sweet voice, like she was talking to a much younger child. Leo ignored it and plucked his pokeballs from his belt, idly realizing he had yet to mark them so they were easily identifiable, and placed them on the counter.

"Please. The slowpoke's last checkup was a month ago, so he should be good, but I'm not too sure about the other," Leo explained. The Nurse smiled at him and passed a key over, Leo accepting it and pocketing it immediately.

"If all is well it should only be a few minutes until your pokemon are ready, until then please wait in the lobby, okay? And remember to turn in your key again after you've stayed the night. Hope you don't mind rooming with someone else, we're a little crowded at the moment," she explained slowly and carefully, making Leo smile wryly. He'd gotten used to being spoken to with at least some level of respect for his maturity, and this was…different. It wasn't even what she said, what she said was fine; it was how she said it.

"Thanks. I'll wait over there then," Leo said, accepting his ID once more and plopping down in one of the plastic chairs along the wall. He only had to wait a few minutes before he was approached by someone – a young man, probably eighteen or nineteen – with a patchy beard and messy brown hair. Leo watched him approach from the corner of his eye, more interested in the TV.

"Where you from, rookie?" The man asked immediately. Leo blinked away from the news station – it was an interview with the current Gym Leader of the Saffron City Gym, a fighting-type specialist with snow-white hair and a wrinkled, old face – and smiled at him. Immediately his eyes locked onto the Ranger badge pinned to the left breast pocket of his faux-leather jacket.

"Pallet Town. I'm Leo by the way, what's your name?" Leo responded politely.

"Richard. You a Youngster? Look a little young to be hanging out in a pokemon center." Richard said, crossing his arms and smiling tightly. Leo laughed.

"Do I? Probably do. But I suppose you could say I am – just a little early though. Couldn't wait the last few months to start my journey, and passed the Youngster and official trainer exam," Leo lied smoothly, implying that he might be a bit older than he looked, and that he didn't have far to go until he was fourteen. Joke's on you, I'm actually twenty-five by now. He thought to himself. Richard visibly relaxed upon Leo's admission, his smile loosening up a bit.

Being a Youngster is more frowned upon than I thought. Guess there's a reason the bill will be repealed by the end of the year. Leo thought to himself. The comm dinged on then, announcing that Leo's pokemon were done, and he stood.

"Gotta go get my pokemon," he said, dipping his head to Richard.

"Ah, hold on a sec. You just started your journey recently, right?" Richard asked.

"Two days ago. That's how long it took me to get here from Pallet," Leo answered.

"Have you done much battling yet? I've got a new teammate that hatched recently; just got into training two weeks ago. Care to see how you match up?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Leo considered this for a moment. He hadn't had an official battle yet, just some mock-battles with Santiago against other pokemon, but it wasn't the same as real battling from what Oak and Victoria told him, nor from the stories Daisy told when she called back.

Speaking of, he wondered how she was doing? Last he heard she'd finally gotten her fifth badge after only a year of training. Quite the feat, from what he knew.

Leo banished those thoughts from his head and refocused on what was in front of him. "Sounds like fun," he said with a grin.

Leo stood across from Richard in the well-lit arena, spotlights illuminating the packed-dirt field. The two trainers stood on small, metal platforms that stood a good five feet above the field itself, a safety measure so most attacks wouldn't hit trainers – assuming the fighting was limited to the ground. Low concrete walls surrounded the arena, and despite the sun having gone down a few minutes ago a few people were still watching the battle from the metal bleachers on the right side.

It was to be a two-on-two battle, so Leo could test out both of his pokemon in battle. Zuko would, of course, go up against Richard's newest member, while Santiago would take on one of his older teammates.

Richard grinned at Leo and held up a purple ball.

"Ready? We'll release at the same time. Three, two, one, release!" he called, and tossed the greatball onto the field. Leo pressed the release button on his own pokeball, the device not needing to be thrown as it had a point-and-release function, masking his nervousness behind a mask of calm as Zuko appeared on the field with a shake of his head and a tiny cry from the fire-type. On Richard's side of the field a small blue elephant appeared, trumpeting happily and prancing about.

"We're going to battle, Zuko. Let's see what you can do, ok buddy?" Leo called with confidence he didn't quite feel. If he remembered right that other pokemon was a phanpy, a ground type. Had no idea what its move-pool was, but he was nervous. This was his first battle.

Zuko, on the other hand, growled in determination, fixing his attention on the rambunctious phanpy, the little red dots on his back sparking with fire.

"A cyndaquil?" Richard asked, raising an eyebrow. Leo shrugged, hiding his sweating palms and the tiny bit of pride he felt at Richard's surprised expression.

"I did good enough on the tests to receive one," Leo said back.

"Right. Well, start off with tackle!" Richard snapped. The phanpy immediately halted its exuberant dancing and charged Zuko with surprising speed, kicking up dust as it bore down on the smaller cyndaquil. Leo hesitated for just a moment, indecision wracking him, but he swiftly cast that aside.

"Evade!" Leo called, "evade" being one of their set orders for a move. Zuko belched out a thin screen of black smoke as he dashed to the side, a blur of blue and tan as he ran on all fours, trailing the smoke out of his mouth. It wasn't a perfect smokescreen, just the beginnings of the move, but it was enough to confuse the young phanpy. "Ember," Leo ordered. Immediately after Zuko belched small balls of flame, the fire pelting phanpy's side as it searched wildly for Zuko in the smoke.

A yelp of surprise and pain came from the phanpy and Leo winced, his heart clenching at the sound. He knew that pokemon battles were essential in this world, and had seen his fair share by now, but being in a battle and watching them were two different things.

"To your right! Good, now rollout," Richard called, his voice exceedingly calm as he pointed Zuko out to the phanpy.

"Dodge and ember, keep it up" Leo responded, watching as phanpy trumpeted and curled into a ball, bearing down on Zuko with far greater speed this time. He leapt out of the way faithfully, the spots on his back glowing a dull red as he opened his mouth and unleashed another, unfocussed barrage of embers. Only a quarter of the small fireballs hit their mark, making no noticeable difference this time as the phanpy continued around the arena with increasing speed.

This same sort of scenario continued for a few rounds, Richard calling out Zuko's position with simple, abbreviated commands and phanpy charging, getting closer and closer to Zuko every time, while he retaliated with ember attacks. The cyndaquil was panting from the exertion, not yet having the stamina for an extended battle like this. Phanpy, however, showed no signs of tiring or slowing down, curled into a rollout ball though he was. Leo frowned slightly, trying to think of a way out of the situation and letting Zuko battle autonomously when suddenly everything was flipped on its head.

"Ancient power!" Richard called firmly. The phanpy stumbled as it came out of its rollout, nearly falling over as it skidded to a halt.

"Evade!" Leo responded, and Zuko spit out more of the black smoke, but it was far thinner now. Not even enough to fully obscure him. And certainly not enough to throw off phanpy's aim as it summoned ghostly chunks of rock out of thin air and hurled them at Zuko. "No!" There was nothing he could do, though, as the cyndaquil dodged the first rock but failed to see the second, allowing a clean hit. The ghostly rock shattered upon impact and sent Zuko sprawling, the phanpy trumpeting a victory cry and charging in.

Leo leaned forward and gripped the railing of the platform, palming Zuko's pokeball even as he stood up, firing another ember into phanpy's face, his back flaring up with fire right as it crashed into him. The phanpy knocked Zuko out, but cried out in distress when it stuck its face into Zuko's back fire, singing its trunk and making it stumble backwards. Leo hastily recalled the cyndaquil, gripping his pokeball in a white-knuckle grip. That had been better than he expected, but not what he wanted.

Battling was intense, and despite the cool night air Leo felt a bead of sweat run down the back of his neck.

"Good job, Zuko," Leo murmured almost as an afterthought, watching the phanpy as it tossed its head and tried its hardest to look fierce. It was still just a baby elephant though, so despite the beat-down it had given Zuko Leo couldn't help but find it a little cute.

"Mind if I keep Oli here out? I want him to get as much practice battling as I can," Richard said. Leo paused, considering this.

"I mean, yeah, but I would suggest switching out. This next one I've raised since he was three months old," Leo tried to warn. Richard waved it off and, with a sigh, Leo palmed Santiago's pokeball, pressing the release button.

When the pink pokemon appeared on the field, flopping down on his belly with a huff as he gazed dopily around the arena, Leo suddenly realized just how big he had gotten. Whereas he used to be the size of the phanpy, smaller even, now he was at least two and a half times bigger – wider, longer, and bulkier.

"Alright, Oli, start things off with a rollout!" Richard called. Leo didn't bother giving Santiago a command – he wouldn't listen anyway. So instead he watched with morbid curiosity as the phanpy bore down on Santiago, picking up speed once more as it curled into a ball. Santiago lazily turned his head to face Oli, ever so slightly pointing his muzzle towards the ground just in time for the phanpy to roll full-steam into his skull – only to be launched skyward by the impromptu ramp the dense slowpoke had made with his own body.

Richard cried out in shock and Leo's eyes widened as Santiago leapt up with surprising speed, spinning around and blasting his opponent with a pinpoint jet of water the moment his opponent hit the ground. Leo winced as the phanpy crashed into the wall, unmoving.

"Return, good work Oli," Richard said, surprise coloring his voice. He eyed Leo closer then, taking a good look at Santiago. "Y'know, that was a pretty well thought out thing to do. I'm honestly surprised you've trained your slowpoke that well, they're notoriously difficult to train,"

"He's impossible to train. I've had him for nearly two years now and I still haven't gotten a completely successful training session out of him. But he loves to battle," Leo said with a long-suffering sigh. Santiago was a bloody natural at battling, though it might have more to do with him hanging around the growlithe for too long – the fire-puppies play fought incessantly, which Santiago got into far too often – than anything else.

"Huh. I'll keep that in mind," Richard said slowly, reaching for his next pokeball. "Either way, let's get on with the battle," he said and, without warning, released his next pokemon.

The golbat winged through the air with a furious screech, its too-big mouth opening wide and revealing its gleaming fangs. Leo winced slightly and Santiago whimpered, burying its forehead into the ground and rubbing it against the dirt. Pain finally kicking in, huh? That's what you get for taking a rollout head on. Leo thought, but didn't say.

"Santiago, you need to listen to me a little on this one," Leo warned, watching the golbat as it winged through the night sky. It was almost impossible to keep track of in the dark, and near silent in its flight.

"Three, two, one…begin! Mega drain," Richard called, and Leo cursed silently.

"Water gun!" Leo ordered and Santiago complied, firing a jet of water into the air harmlessly as the golbat winged around the other side, sinking its fangs into his side. A green energy enveloped the slowpoke, though he didn't make a sound as he promptly fell onto his side and squished the golbat before rolling off. The golbat shrieked indignantly and hopped to its feet, baring its fangs angrily only to receive a water gun to the face in response.

"Quit taunting it – drain it," Richard ordered. The golbat winged into the air in a burst of speed, vanishing for a split second before reappearing behind Santiago, sinking its fangs into the fleshy, nerve-less tail. He didn't even appear to notice the golbat's presence, his head swiveling around and searching the sky for threats.

"Santi! Fish!" Leo roared, the slowpoke immediately reacting, swinging his tail violently around and twisting his whole body up in a suplex-esque slam, swinging the golbat up and over his body to smash into the ground. Santiago lay on his back and golbat groaned as it let go of his tail. "Pin it!" Leo ordered, desperation seizing his body as a chance of winning showed itself. If they could keep the golbat out of the air, then –

Golbat shrieked and spat a blob of poison in Santiago's face, winging up into the air and proceeding to rain attacks down onto the slowpoke from a distance. Air slashes, swifts, and blobs of poisoned rained down on the practically immobile Santiago, and though he tried to retaliate with a water gun or two, Leo quickly realized they were fighting a losing battle. So, with a sigh, he recalled his pokemon and waved at Richard, who waved back and held out an arm for golbat to land on, the bat looking none the worse for wear.

Leo walked down the steps calmly, forcing his heartrate down and trying his hardest to not just run to the Nurse and give her his pokemon. That had been…something. Far more thrilling than Leo had thought it would be, but different too. Different how, he wasn't sure.

"Hey, that was a good battle kid," Richard said, extending his free hand for Leo to shake as he approached, having descended from his own perch in the arena. Muted applause came from the audience, and Leo shook Richard's hand with a smile. The golbat hissed at him, though Leo ignored it as Richard recalled the bat. "Much better than I was expecting. Your pokemon are young, but so are you so I'm sure you'll get better. That slowpoke was a surprise for sure, I wasn't expecting it to be so vicious. Lacked the power to actually do solid damage to Bats, but still,"

"Thanks. I'm going to go get my pokemon healed now though," Leo said, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. Richard stopped him.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not mean enough to take cash from a rookie. C'mon, I'll walk you to the Center," Richard said. Leo nodded and, after a moment of walking in silence, started drilling the boy with questions which he answered all too happily, seemingly enjoying the chance to teach someone else.

Leo took it as the gift it was, and that ended up being how he spent the rest of the night. Listening to Richard regale him with stories of his own journey, and his days as a ranger. It was, in all, a good start to his journey and after calling Pallet Town on the Center video phones to ensure Professor Oak he got to Viridian safely, he fell asleep feeling satisfied and excited for the future.

Chapter Text

Leo spent the next three weeks in Viridian, battling trainers around the city – specifically around the Center and the Gym. He found that most of the more competitive battlers hung around those areas, with casual trainers battling in the city-sanctioned arenas. Just to see what it was like, Leo did spend some time in the casual arenas mucking about, but it wasn't quite the same as when he battled competitively.

He never got that nervous rush like he did with his first battle when battling against the casual trainers – maybe it was the impression that the battle actually meant something when going against the competitive trainers that made Leo more jittery. Whatever it was, Leo knew he didn't like it, so he battled as much as he could to both train his pokemon and to get those jitters out of the way. Which he did, eventually. It just took a little bit of time.

Thankfully the veteran trainers around the area were more than willing to help him out. Like Leo had assumed and the games led him to believe, Giovanni's Gym was considered the gateway to the pokemon league. It was the last gym to battle before Victory Road, the titular Eighth badge that, while it could be avoided by going to a lesser gym, was a sign of a "true competitor" the receive. It was also the only gym besides the Blackthorn gym that could only be challenged after a trainer got seven other badges. In other words, only the most ambitious and most powerful gathered to challenge the Viridian Gym. But even veterans such as those challenging the Viridian Gym had new teammates that needed training up.

The skill level varied greatly, sometimes when Leo challenged them he'd be facing barely-into-training pokemon like Richard's phanpy had been, and sometimes he'd be facing team members that were much stronger but not yet up to snuff. He still lost more often than not – far more often than not, his win loss ratio was abysmal – but thankfully money was basically a non-issue, especially since most of the battles were considered off-record. (A seven-badge trainer challenging and beating a rookie? That looks like bullying on paper.) Pokemon Centers let trainers dorm with them for a set amount of time every month for free, and Victoria had set up a small weekly fund for basic necessities for Leo and his team, such as food. So, with immediate needs and concerns out of the way, he dedicated himself to training with the older trainers.

He preferred the company of the older trainers compared to the young ones anyway. The emotional maturity gap was what really got to Leo – rookie trainers were just not as interesting or engaging to be around. They could be, but most weren't.

That wasn't to say that all the veterans helped him. Most really only "helped" by giving Leo experience battling, and the famous and really powerful trainers didn't even give him the time of day. But the older guys? The retiree's and the ones who had been training for twenty-plus years? They were a wealth of knowledge, and once Leo displayed his willingness to actually listen to them, they started to give a bit more than he asked. It was…eye opening.

At the same time though, he didn't understand how strange his approach to training was until Richard, who he'd been hanging out with from time to time since their battle, pointed it out to him.

"I wish I would've done what you are when I was just starting out," Richard lamented, gazing wistfully at the ceiling as the two sat in the Viridian Ranger Base, situated in one of the skyscrapers that made up Viridian's downtown area. It was the base of operations for the entire Viridian territory, or so Leo was told.

"What am I doing?" Leo asked, brushing Zuko's soft, short fur with a fine-toothed comb. The little fire type dozed happily under his ministrations, his unnaturally high body-heat soaking into Leo's legs but never getting uncomfortable. It was almost like his jeans were in a perpetual state of coming fresh out of the drier, Leo mused. Or at least, the part Zuko was sitting on was.

"Battling the veterans. The seven-badge trainers, the old guys who don't have their full teams anymore but have all the skills they did when they were younger. I learned too late that trying to do everything on your own was…inefficient," Richard said, kicking his feet up onto the glass coffee table and leaning back even further on the leather couch.

"Huh," Leo said eloquently, raising an eyebrow at Richard. He paused in his brushing, which disturbed Zuko and prompted him to nudge Leo's hand with his snout, urging him to get back to brushing. "But didn't you learn a lot about battling in school or something?"

"Yeah, and I learned a lot from my dad too. He got six badges before he quit the circuit. But, y'know, there's just this thing among our generation. It's that whole 'gotta do it myself' stigma. Traditionally, taking a journey is supposed to be a coming-of-age thing. You're supposed to do it yourself, but I feel kids our age have it worse. No one asks for help, and unless it's a gym leader talking, we never take advice," Richard lamented.

"Seems like a normal teenager to me," Leo muttered, remembering his own teenage years.

"Maybe," Richard said with a shrug, and Leo refocused on Zuko, who squeaked in happiness when he scratched his head. Richard could be onto something though. Daisy, for example, hardly ever called Professor Oak for anything. Leo on the other hand? The man was a wealth of knowledge, and if he ever wanted a second opinion on something he'd learned, he'd call the man and double check it.

Case in point, three days ago he'd battled against a retired trainer's slowbro with Santiago. Leo lost, of course, but the man had given him a lot of advice on how to train slowpoke and slowbro – which Leo had fact-checked with Oak, who just shrugged and said "probably. I've never personally trained a slowpoke, but it falls in line with what I do know."

"So what's your plan now? You can't just stick around Viridian forever you know," Richard said.

"Probably head down route twenty-two, follow it to the League Gates. I'd like to see them before I really start my journey," Leo said, setting down his brush and scratching behind Zuko's ears. They were small things, almost invisible on his head, and he let out a huff of contentment as he lay there.

"Aaah, going to go see the goal, eh?" Richard said with a wink. "Can't say I blame you. Every trainer should start off their journey with seeing the gates to Victory Road, it's just…an experience," he said wistfully, eyes growing distant. Leo nodded but didn't comment. After all, his reason for heading down route twenty-two was a bit different.

Namely, it led close to Mt. Silver. As a Youngster he wasn't technically allowed to go all the way to the Gates, as the route started to get too rough and wild, but all Leo was looking for was a bit of a head start before someone came looking for him. His goal was a larvitar after all, and though he could head to Mount Moon to try and find one – the presence of a tyranitar hadn't been confirmed there but from all the research Leo had done he would swear one used to live on the mountain – he knew there was a tyranitar in the Silver Mountains.

"Yeah, I'll probably leave tomorrow. Santiago's still sore over his last battle, and I want him fresh when I hit the road." Leo reasoned.

"Good idea. Wish I could come with you honestly. I love the rangers, I do, but sometimes I wish I hadn't given up my journey midway through. Only got to my third badge, did you know that? Then I joined the rangers. On my next vacation I might go and challenge a gym, get myself a fourth or even fifth badge. My team's more than strong enough for it, and it might make my next promotion easier," Richard said.

Leo smiled and nodded along, content to just listen as Richard jabbered away, launching into tales of his journey in much the same way the old men that hung around the Viridian Gym, complaining about the quality of trainers these days, did. Zuko whined and nudged Leo's hand, having fallen still as he listened to Richard. Leo chuckled at the needy pokemon and massaged his head with his fingers.

He had been expecting a pokemon with a lot more spunk as a fire type, but instead he got the equivalent of a lap dog without a mean bone in its body. Outside of battling, anyway. Still, Leo thought, running his hands through Zuko's fur. This is nice too.

Route twenty-two was very different from what Leo remembered from the games, and he wasn't sure it ever showed up in the anime. Though that was true of many things, so Leo wasn't sure his surprise at the Route was very valid. For one, as he followed the river upstream into the mountains – it turned south sometime just before Viridian and ran down through Pallet to the sea – there was an actual road to follow. Like, laid with bricks and well-kept. Sure, some pokemon roamed the lightly forested area close to the route, but it was maintained well enough that people could drive on it for miles. About a day and a half of walking from Vermillion, only half a day into the Silver Mountains, Leo passed through the same little town Victoria had first brought him to.

It was the last piece of civilization he would see besides the Gates and the cabin, and Leo couldn't wait. Even as he sped through the town (not wanting to be recognized by anyone, just to be on the safe side) he could feel anticipation bubbling up in his chest, urging him onward, further into the mountains. He was so excited, even, that as he followed the swiftly narrowing road – going from paved, to dirt, to a barely marked trail in the span of a few short hours – he almost missed the turn to the Gates, leading north towards the Indigo Plateau.

He paused for a brief moment, contemplating the idea of heading up there to see the gates. He had said he would, but he also didn't want to risk running into anyone that would ask for his Trainer ID. Already he was in a forbidden area for Youngsters, though it could be excusable for ignorance. Any further, on the other hand, was willful negligence of the rules. Not that Leo cared much, but still.

Fluffy white clouds drifted overhead and a cool breeze chilled Leo as he stood at the intersection, looking up north where the path wound its way up a mountain, disappearing between boulders and beneath the shadows of the mountains. He shifted his gaze west then, upriver to where knew what awaited him – a month-long trek, perhaps longer due to it being uphill this time, and at least two Champion-level pokemon. He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, placing his hands over the two pokeballs at his waist. He'd let them out soon enough but…this was his step to take. And he wanted to take it in the silence of being alone.

He had his supplies. During his time at Oak's ranch, he had honed his skills. And, despite all the warnings that had been given to him about re-entering the Silver Mountains, it being considered a zone exclusively for six-badge trainers or higher, preferably higher, Leo was ready.

He had a larvitar to find, and so he marched westward, vanishing into the wild.

Leo shuddered as he lay in the small, one-person tent he had picked up in Viridian, huddled in his sleeping bag with his arms wrapped around Zuko, the fire-type's innate high-temperature providing much needed heat as the wind whipped and howled outside. The spring snow pounded on the tent fabric, and Santiago crooned pitifully as the slowpoke shifted inside the tent, his bulk crowding Leo even as he curled up as small as he could inside his sleeping bag. Zuko whined pitifully, not from the cold temperature, but because he didn't like the confined space.

"Sorry buddy, but I want to conserve heat," Leo whispered, trying hard to keep his teeth from chattering as he buried his head in the sleeping bag. Even fully clothed he was feeling too cold – the wind earlier had pierced right through his jacket, even if it was much warmer in the tent. Zuko's small eyes blinked at him, and though he huffed and squirmed a bit, he stayed put.

"Slooow," Santiago called grumpily, butting his head against a drift of snow piling up outside the tent. Leo reached out with one gloved hand and smacked him.

"Knock it off, butthead. Don't go collapsing the tent, I just barely got it up in time," Leo groused. Santiago grunted but didn't react, dull eyes still fixated on the snow falling outside the tent, only barely visible through the thin fabric.

Leo sighed. Only a week into the journey upriver and already his luck was infinitely worse than it had been that first year. Apparently, it had been a very mild spring, because this? This crazy spring snow came out of freaking nowhere and blindsided Leo. One moment it had been sunny, there was still two hours to sunset, and then storm clouds had rolled in. Leo barely had enough time to set up his small tent before snow was falling.

"Bloody snow. I love snow, but not right now," Leo grumbled, shivering as he practically felt the temperature drop. Santiago huffed, his breath coming out in a puff of white, and stood, staring at the zipped-up entrance to the tent. "What are you doing? Sit down, it's still plenty warm in the tent and I'm not opening the door to let it out," he said firmly, reaching out of his bag and putting a hand on Santiago's haunches, trying to force him to sit.

Zuko whined, Santiago growled, and suddenly there was a knock on the tent door. Leo froze, head whipping to the shadow hovering just outside the fabric of the tent.

But it had just been a trick of the light, shadows dancing in the corner of his vision. Leo let out a sigh, cursing his mind for playing tricks and his pokemon for acting strange – a giggle froze Leo once more, and he dared not move. Once more there was a knock on the tent, a soft tap, tap, tap, that came with the appearance of something outside. It was still day, after all, and the dim light that the cloud cover allowed through let Leo see through the thin fabric. It was thin and long, floating in midair and never sitting still as it paced outside the tent.

The creature giggled once again, vanishing alongside a gust of wind, only to reappear on the opposite side of the tent and knock. Leo's breath hitched and he prayed to everything holy that this was a friendly pokemon.

The shivers that ran down his spine just at seeing this creature's silhouette, however, told him otherwise. It drifted through the air outside Leo's tent, never fully taking shape, as if it was getting lost in the wind and snow. Haunting shrieks and eerie giggles echoed out through the forest, each noise making Leo's blood run cold.

It was a sight Leo was sure would haunt him, even as he pulled out his pokedex and powered it up, muting the speakers and recording the audio. Suddenly something heavy and wet slapped against the tent, forming a dark shadow on the wall before it was swept away by the wind. Another giggle, followed by another wet plop. Leo shivered as the temperature in the tent dropped several degrees, frost creeping up the walls. Fear spiked its way through his system as his mind sluggishly recognized this, white-hot adrenaline doing little to wake up his alarmingly sluggish mind. It's trying to freeze us. Leo realized, shaking his head to clear it.

Zuko whined and struggled its way out of Leo's stiff grip, sparks flaring from his back as it stood guard next to Santiago, steam rolling off of the little cyndaquil's body as it prepared to fight. But…he was right next to me. Why am I so cold? Leo wondered, working his fingers in an attempt to breathe life back into them. Their attacker giggled again, tapping on the tent once more, and Leo finally had enough.

"Stop," Leo croaked, struggling his way out of his sleeping bag. The giggling specter, fell silent as Leo spoke. "You're killing us," he said, glancing at his pokemon. Santiago was shivering a little, but otherwise seemed fine, and Zuko was glancing warily between Leo and the tent door, seemingly none the worse for wear. You're killing me. Leo amended quietly.

Silence reigned for a few moments longer, the temperature in the tent slowly dropping, when the knocks on the door repeated. This time, however, the silhouette that appeared alongside the knocks did not disappear, hovering just outside the tent.

It wants in. Leo realized, taking a deep breath of frigid air and nearly hacking his lungs up because of it. Santiago grumbled and butted his head against the tent wall, eyes flashing with the blue glow of psychic power. Leo shuddered and debated the merits of opening the door. There wasn't much choice though, despite the fire now roaring from Zuko's back, threatening to melt the tent, Leo would freeze to death before long if he didn't get this thing to stop whatever it was doing.

With a shaking hand – because of the cold, Leo told himself - he reached out, grabbed the zipper, and zipped down the front of the tent to see his aggressor.

It was darker than he had thought outside, the light he had mistaken for the sun replaced by blue and yellow witch light that danced in the air, floating between and through the pine trees of the forest. Fat, heavy snowflakes gently drifted to ground, whipped through the air by a fierce wind located only around the tent itself. The creature that floated in front of the tent, skin gleaming like a faceted diamond in the witch light, watched him with piercing blue eyes as it floated in the air. The red ribbon tied around its waist slowly fluttered in the breeze, the torn fabric dusted with frost and snow.

A froslass. It watched Leo as he crouched in the tent, shivering and shaking, and sucked in a deep breath as he slowly forced himself out of his little shelter, limbs aching as he moved and stood.

No warning was given when Santiago fired a jet of water at the pokemon, the froslass' body dissolving into a snowstorm when the water struck – only to reform not but a second later. Its eyes narrowed ever so slightly, a mirthless chuckle escaping its frozen, purple lips that would've sent shivers down Leo's spine were he not already shivering. As it were, he felt too cold to feel fear, and met the froslass' gaze without emotion.

"Are you finished?" he ground out through chattering teeth.

The froslass howled in response, eyes growing far too wide for its face and eerie shadows covering its body, the wind whipping forward with shards of ice forming around it, lancing forward with malicious intent. Leo would've died were it not for Zuko and Santiago. Psychic power enveloped the froslass, flickering weakly as a jet of water knocked the ice shards off course, while Zuko dashed forward through the snow to stand in front of Leo, steam roiling from the ground and air as fire blazed from his back, smoke curling from his mouth and nose and flames sparking from his paws. The froslass hesitated in the face of the fire-type, ignoring Santiago entirely.

"That is enough, froslass," Leo said firmly. The ice-type ghost hissed at him, white arms waving in the wind as it floated around Leo, looking him up and down. He watched the ghost out of the corner of his eyes, Zuko and Santiago growling at it and struggling to keep themselves between it and Leo. A wide grin split froslass face as suddenly it darted forward, forehead aiming for Leo's chest as it faded out of existence.

His sluggish mind instantly got an idea as to what the ghost was doing, and it filled him with righteous anger. His hands snapped out, palms open and slapped against the froslass' still solid forehead, shoving it away and preventing it from possessing him. The icy cold of the froslass' body instantly froze Leo's gloves, ice clinging to the fabric, but Leo didn't have time to care as he straightened his shoulders and met the shocked eyes of the ghost.

"YOU WILL NOT." He bellowed. The froslass spun through the air chased by balls of fire and a jet of water, the two attacks from Leo's pokemon slamming against it and obscuring it in a cloud of steam.

Almost immediately Leo felt better. The icy cold was no longer so oppressive, in fact the bone-deep chill seemed nothing more than a figment of his imagination as he straightened, his breath coming out in forceful, even puffs of white. The froslass rematerialized, watching Leo curiously even as the whipping winds around the tent vanished – allowing the snowflakes to gently and peacefully accumulate on the ground. An almost imperceptible glow appeared around the froslass' hands as Leo met the pokemon's eyes, and he nearly missed the way it twitched, and the chill suddenly returned.

Leo scowled and, without really knowing what he was doing, flicked his hands outward in a motion reminiscent of flicking off water droplets – simultaneously a shiver ran up his spine, feeling as if a giant strip of ooze was being peeled off of it. The cold vanished again, and Leo took a step forward.

"Do that again, I dare you," he challenged with a snarl, blood rushing to his head in a wave of heat, his fists clenching by his sides. When the froslass did not react, he continued. "If you try to possess me again, I swear to everything holy I will – I just, I'll…pain! I promise pain!" Leo ground out, coherent words not coming to him in his anger-addled mind. The froslass stared at him blankly, then shrieked, icy wind kicking up once more and blinding Leo for a brief second – a second in which the froslass vanished along with her witch lights, the floating balls vanishing like candles being snuffed.

Leo stood outside for a few moments, staring at the sky and letting his eyes adjust to the near blackness of the night. The trees creaked and groaned, snow fell, but the world was peaceful now. He huffed out a breath and looked down at his pokemon, who were still looking around warily. Then he examined himself, noticing that his gloves were not as frozen as he thought, and despite the dusting of frost on his hair and jacket, the froslass hadn't caused much damage with her ice attacks.

"Stupid ghost," Leo grumbled, climbing back into his tent and whistling sharply for his pokemon. Zuko immediately bounded in, curling against Leo's side and whimpering as he lay down, but Santiago took a bit more urging. The slowpoke eventually did amble back into the tent and flop down on the ground, allowing Leo to zip the entrance back up. And, for a moment, Leo just lay there until he remembered he had started recording with his pokedex.

He fumbled around in the dark for it for a second, the device having fallen off his sleeping back so the camera was, miraculously, facing the door. It had been recording video, apparently. Leo grumbled and pulled off one glove to thumb through the device as he wriggled down into his sleeping bag, after, of course, remembering to dust off the snow. A few minutes of perusing later, the screen hurting his eyes in the dark, Leo finally figured out the scan function and blinked in surprise at realizing it had scanned the froslass – just a little.

Not much was known about the ghost, apparently, as they were rare enough that few studies could be performed on them. Folklore was a major part of the entry – something about a young woman dying on a mountain during a snowstorm? Like he said, folklore. But what really caught Leo's eye was the two moves the pokedex had somehow managed to recognize. (How that worked Leo had no idea.) The witch light was will-o-wisp, and…Leo stared dumbly at the second move. It was the only thing Leo could think of that explained the sudden lack of cold, and the sudden changes in temperature surrounding the froslass.

"Confuse ray? Did that stupid ghost really confuse me?! How does that even work?!" But alas, there was no answer readily available to Leo, for knowledge about the effects of confuse ray was limited within the 'dex. Does that mean confuse ray is just as much about illusions than anything else? He mused. With gritted teeth and far too much grumbling Leo settled in for the night, and fell asleep a tad too quickly for someone who had just been attacked by a ghost.

It wasn't the scariest thing he'd seen in this world, after all. That title belonged to Victoria's persian.

The next few days Leo forged ever onward, undeterred by the spring snow. Well, not undeterred. He had debated the merits of continuing on despite the snow having hit, but the relatively warm weather and the way the snow quickly started to melt off cemented the idea of forging onward into Leo's head. Despite it being the mountains, the relatively low elevation and regional climate prevented winter from being too harsh or too long – discounting the intervention of articuno, of course. A far cry from his home mountains, where winter could last eight months and have far too much snow.

He continued to follow the river, growing increasingly aware that he had a follower. Santiago, who spent much of his time out of the pokeball swimming in the river alongside Leo, would occasionally pop his head out of the water and shoot a water gun at seemingly nothing, or perhaps a passing spearow or pidgey. Zuko, who often followed close to Leo's heels, only leaving to go sniff some edible plant that was only just starting to push out of the snow, would growl at shadows and fire bursts of flame at snow drifts, sending clouds of steam into the air.

It wasn't until a few days later that Leo finally caught sight of his follower as she darted through shadows – a glimmer of snow in an otherwise snow-free patch of land indicated that the froslass was following him. And from then on he continued to spot her as she tailed him, usually only catching a glimpse here or there and the occasional feeling of being watched as Leo sat by the fire at night. The gazes weren't malicious this time, however, merely curious. His instincts did not scream that he was being hunted here, and Leo tended to trust his instincts.

Still, it annoyed him to no end when he tried to lay down in his tent every night, to feel like something was watching you. Not even the constant presence of Zuko and Santiago could ward that off. And it wasn't like the pokedex was very helpful either – according to it, there had only been three known cases of a trainer having a froslass in the past two hundred years. Not even Agatha, the ghost-mistress herself, had one of the apparently fantastically rare and diabolically evil ghost types.

Because of course they were, and of course Leo had attracted one. Even if, again, this one didn't seem overly hostile anymore.

"You can come join me by the fire," Leo called into the darkness, as he had taken to doing in the past few days. It'd been a little over three weeks since he'd left the trail to the League Gates, and he'd finally gotten annoyed enough to start calling out to the froslass. The suspense was killing him; he just wanted to know what she wanted already.

He hadn't actually been expecting it to work, but a sudden chill ran up his spine and Leo turned around, meeting the icy-blue gaze of the froslass not inches from his face. He yelped and launched himself to the side, avoiding the fire and setting the ghost-type to cackling madly even as Zuko leapt to his feet from where he lay by the fire, charging with a war-cry and fire flaring from his back.

The froslass grinned, shadows stretching and dancing in the firelight as it vanished long before Zuko could crash into it. Leo sighed and dusted himself off, standing.

"Funny," he deadpanned, returning to his old position and flipping the two magikarp he was roasting over the fire. Courtesy of Santiago, of course, the slowpoke was living up to his namesake and could provide more than enough fish for himself, Leo, and Zuko, though the latter was omnivorous. That is, provided Leo occasionally warned him when there actually was a magikarp on his tail. He would forget sometimes.

From then on, the froslass took to harassing Leo. Making it snow even while it was sunny, chill the sleeping bag before he slipped into it, make shadows dance outside his tent at night, pop out of shadows to scare the living daylights out of him…oh yes, the ghost got plenty of opportunities to mess with Leo. It was only right that, a day after another light snowstorm left a dusting of snow on the ground, Leo got his chance at revenge.

He'd been playing around with a ball of snow, having collected it as he walked, and spotted froslass as she floated through the trees aimlessly. She seemed distracted, not really noticing Leo at all, and a thought came to mind that had Leo grinning manically. Crouching, he crept forward, froslass' back still turned to him as he approached, weaving through trees and carefully placing his steps so he didn't make too much noise until he was in range. Then he pulled back his arm, aimed, and threw his snowball as hard as he could.

He laughed triumphantly as it struck true, catching the froslass in the side. The ice-type whirled on him in surprise, eyes going wide and a terror-inducing shriek echoing through the river valley. A blast of frigid wind hit Leo, whipping his hair back and followed by a ball of hard ice that caught him in the stomach. His breath left his lungs and swirling nausea made him want to puke, sheer force of will being the only thing that kept his lunch down.

The froslass cackled evilly, vanishing into the shadows between trees with a haunting cry.

"Ok, note to self, don't try to start a snowball fight with a froslass," Leo wheezed, slowly standing. Luckily Zuko wasn't out, or else he'd be stuck putting out fires as the little fire-type tried to chase froslass. Again. For all he was quiet and calm most the time, Zuko sure didn't like froslass.

Leo sighed then and stood upright, wobbling through the trees as he continued on, still a little bit queasy.

It took Leo another week and a half to finally reach the site of Tyrus' nest, and when he did, he literally stumbled upon it. Nothing looked familiar to him at first, and when he stumbled through the trees to see Tyrus' mountain he understood why.

What had once been a half-destroyed mountain was nothing but a foothill and rubble, churned earth stretching far and wide away from the crater that was Tyrus' nest, the onix tunnels still visible despite the wanton destruction. Entire swaths of forest were blown down, trees pointing away from the mountain, branches still covered in green and brown needles. Boulders of all sizes littered the ground, and despite all this, Leo's eyes were drawn to something else entirely.

A hundred and fifty foot tall glacier loomed in the center of the crater, gleaming so brightly in the sunlight that Leo nearly had to avert his eyes. But his sheer incredulity won out, and he remained staring dumb-struck at the chaos.

"What in god's name happened here?!" he blurted out.

"Sloooow," Santiago answered, walking forward to chew on a bunch of pine needles.

"Can't be. There's no way a fight between Tyrus and articuno caused this when they'd been fighting for thirty-five years and only whittled the mountain down by half – and that's with the help of a ton of rampaging onix. It doesn't make sense," Leo reasoned, replying to Santiago more out of habit than anything. "C'mon, let's go. I want to get a closer look,"

Leo clambered over and around the fallen trees, eventually stopping to recall Santiago when the slowpoke got stuck, and releasing Zuko in his place. The much smaller pokemon had an easier time than Santiago, though he still struggled to get through some places and wound up clinging to Leo's shoulder with all his might. Eventually he did make it to the edge of the crater, which was thankfully clear of most was still mostly as Leo remembered, with the onix tunnels leading deep into the earth and the tell-tale scars of battle, albeit with a giant glacier and no mountain backing it up now. The small hill that had once been a mountainwas littered with craters and deep lines, snow still visible in the more shaded parts of the barren landscape.

"Froslass, if you can hear me, don't get too aggressive. You may very well end up challenging a tyranitar," Leo said aloud, not sure if the ghost type was around. He hadn't seen her in a few days, but better safe than sorry. He reached over his shoulder and peeled Zuko off his shoulder to set him on the ground before sliding down the crater side, wanting to get a better look at the glacier.

Zuko squeaked and scampered after him, narrowly avoiding falling down into a few of the onix tunnels. The glacier itself, Leo found, wasn't all that wide. Maybe fifty feet across as compared to its far larger height, and he closely examined it as he walked a circle around the object, narrowing his eyes at the stark white ice.

"What could you be?" he murmured, watching as Zuko curiously sniffed the object, sneezing a lick of flame when a piece of snow flew up his nose. It didn't even leave a mark. Could this be nevermeltice? Leo mused, pulling out his pokedex and trying to scan the object with it. It took a bit as Leo continued to slowly circle, eyes focused on the screen, until it finally pinged.

"Nevermeltice, a rare form of ice that is said to never melt except for under extreme circumstances. Formed in extremely cold areas in the presence of many ice-type pokemon, it has been shown to withstand temperatures exceeding three hundred and eighty degrees Fahrenheit before starting to melt, although records suggest a more powerful ice-type pokemon may be able to create stronger ice." The pokedex intoned in a dry, metallic voice.

"This is the first time I've actually used you to scan something, isn't it? Froslass doesn't count, it was unintentional. Should probably fix that…" Leo trailed off as he looked up, the sturdy device slipping from his hands and falling to the ground with a thud as his eyes landed on the creature encased in ice.

He should've seen it coming, he really should have. In the past few years he'd almost completely forgotten about coming through an ultra-wormhole. And yet here, in front of him, encased in a tomb of ice, stood simple proof that the wormholes were still active. Two long, black, mouth like appendages reached towards the edge of the ice, visible only through a foot of the thick prison and leading deeper into the ice towards a dense, black shape.

Only one pokemon fit that description. Guzzlord. Probably the most insane ultra-beast of the Sun and Moon series. Leo glanced at Zuko and swallowed heavily. I hope Tyrus is still alive, he thought honestly.

"Lets, uh, wait around for a bit before going searching for a larvitar. I think I need a few days to wrap my head around this, and try and figure out what happened."

Leo hung around the ruins of Tyrus' nest for three days before the tyranitar appeared. For the most part he spent that time exploring the surrounding area, trying to find Longinus while also not straying too far in case Tyrus showed himself. Longinus – Slowking, Leo had to remind himself, for he wasn't sure he would appreciate being called Longinus – was nowhere to be seen however. Whether that was good or bad remained to be seen, though Leo did run into his old bellossom friend.

The grass type had been busy dancing in a circle with a few other bellossom, grasses growing over a scar in the land and tree saplings planting their roots, and had asked Leo for a song after finishing up. He played a little after receiving another leaf, the bellossom laughed at his still-clumsy melody, and all in all it was an interesting experience. No nearly as impactful when compared to seeing Tyrus again, but fun nonetheless.

He felt Tyrus arrive more than anything else. It was the way the air stilled, silence suddenly overtaking the blown-down forest as Leo huddled beneath a few of the fallen trees, piled on top of each other like a teepee as they were. The flames of his fire flickered, and Leo calmly placed a hand on both Zuko and Santiago.

"He's coming," he said, and as if on cue, he spotted the lumbering form of Tyrus as he marched his way across the scarred landscape, appearing more as a moving mound in the dark than anything else. It wasn't until the tyranitar halted at the very edge of the firelight that Leo got a good look at him – Zuko and Santiago tense but unmoving beneath his hands.

Tyrus was different, more scarred. His armor was cracked and broken in multiple places, the green stone completely torn of in parts and ground down in divots in others. Entire spines were missing from his back, and his eyes – one milky white, the other still gleaming black – were far more tired than they had been before. Whereas before he had been a proud ruler of the mountains, now Leo was reminded of a wounded warrior. He couldn't even imagine the sort of battle that took place here, and stripped Tyrus of his armor and pride.

Leo and Tyrus stared at each other for a long moment, Leo trying hard to think of something to say, and Tyrus unmoving. Patiently waiting. In the end, Leo decided to focus on what he came here for – asking about the battle seemed wrong somehow, despite his dying curiosity. If Longinus were here, he'd tell me, Leo thought, quietly ignoring the possibility that the Slowking had perished in the battle.

Leo stood and bowed, slapping his right fist into the palm of his left hand and lowering his head, a way of bowing in the martial art he knew. "I ask your permission to catch a larvitar," he said simply, voice low. For a moment there was silence, only the crackling of fire audible in the night, until Tyrus snorted.

Dust sprayed itself all over Leo's head, and he glanced up to meet his gaze as the tyranitar looked down on him. He inclined his head slightly and turned, revealing his chewed-upon tail as he lumbered back into the mountain, descending into the first onix tunnel he came across. Leo didn't bother suppressing his wild grin – that could easily have been a dismissal on the tyranitar's part, but he was willing to bet it was approval. I've got a shot at getting a larvitar now. Leo thought to himself smugly.

That smugness faded as he looked out over the destruction of Tyrus' nest, and recalled the damage wreaked on the tyranitar himself. His natural armor would regrow, given time, but it had been sobering to say the least. If this is what I'm going to have to defend myself against, I wonder if a larvitar will be enough.

Leo started his expeditions into the onix tunnels with grim determination and tentative optimism masking his fears of delving underground. Larvitar lived underground for the first part of their lives, only emerging close to their evolutions into pupitar, so it wasn't like Leo could just wander around and hope to stumble across one. Unfortunately, however, the onix tunnels were convoluted and wide, stretching deep into the earth with seemingly endless twists and turns. This meant Leo had to be extra cautious so as to not lose his way and become trapped beneath the mountain, all while keeping an eye out for signs of larvitar.

Thankfully his pokedex did have something of a mapping function, which he was able to sort-of utilize to gather his bearing whenever he lost the markers he set, so he hadn't gotten to lost yet. And, according to the research he'd done, larvitar often lived close to tyranitar out of safety more than anything, at least until their evolution/maturities, so Leo was certain he was looking in the right place…the problem was finding them.

It had taken a good two months of searching for Leo to finally recognize some larvitar signs, and he celebrated by taking a good three days off of spelunking. It was old sign, the half-eaten rock probably years old if his guesses were right, and the caves wore on him. He didn't want to go underground ever again if he could help it – it was a godsend that onix tunnels weren't super tight and claustrophobic… except for when they had collapsed.

As a way to preserve his mental health Leo took to taking a few days off of spelunking now and then, something Zuko and Santiago appreciated. They weren't much help in the caves and didn't like them anyway, so more often than not Leo kept them in their pokeballs the entire time just to keep them safe and less-stressed.

By the third month of his searching Leo began to consider heading back to civilization – Professor Oak and Victoria were undoubtedly worried, despite him having left something of a note for them telling what he had gone to do – but actually seeing a larvitar reignited his passion. It had been just rummaging about in the darkness of the onix tunnels, and Leo had only gotten a glimpse of it in the light of his headlamp before it dove into the ground, vanishing. He searched that area for two week afterward, but it was long gone, and Leo eventually settled for searching other chambers. At least he got to see fresh larvitar tracks that way.

Leo sat on a boulder in a relatively large alcove, the stone bored away by one rock or ground type or another. He stared mutely at the ground, his headlamp shining brightly – he'd just replaced the bulb, he'd brought spares just in case – and providing the only source of light in this damp, dark environment. His eyes traced the old signs of larvitar in the area, one had passed through at some point, but he'd slowly grown…tired of searching. Spending so much time underground wandering around was boring and mentally exhausting, not to mention hard on the eyes, and he'd spent much of the past two weeks above ground, playing with Zuko and Santiago and annoying froslass, who had returned to bugging him in the past few days.

Speaking of the ghost-type, Leo glared at her as she floated in the air around him, watching carefully as if expecting something. It…worried Leo. He wasn't that far into the onix tunnel, maybe a few hundred feet underground? He'd been in this stretch before, there was nothing here. But froslass' presence worried him. Normally she refused to enter the passages, understandably so.

"What's got you so worked up?" Leo demanded, shifting himself on his boulder. Froslass tensed, then relaxed and shook her head sadly. "Knock it off, you're bothering me," Leo said, waving his hand dismissively. Four months of failure to catch a larvitar had made him…well, everything seemed lackluster, for lack of a better word. He just couldn't see the point of continuing the search for much longer. Maybe he'd come back, when he had another teammate to help out, and was a bit stronger.

Some part of Leo raged at the implication that he couldn't do it now, but he had to know when to quit. He'd hate to be here when winter hit again, even if that might not be for a while. Plus, the longer he stayed out here, the more likely Oak was to have a heart attack or something.

Lost in thought as he was, he missed froslass approach entirely, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up being the only warning he received when she leapt in front of his face with a soft, albeit extremely creepy, call. Leo jerked backward with a yelp, falling off the boulder and slamming onto his back with a groan, his backpack breaking the fall.

"What was that…" Leo trialed off when he felt the ground beneath him shift. "for?" he managed out, just when the cave floor gave way and he fell even further. The breath left his lungs as he hit the ground with a whuff, dust, dirt, and stone pelting him as it, too, fell into the cavern below. More groaning had Leo scrambling away despite his lack of breath, the rest of the cavern floor collapsing downward in a spray of dust and dirt that filled the air and dimmed the light of his headlamp, leaving him coughing and stumbling through the dark.

He almost howled at froslass for trying to kill him, but sudden movement on his left had him whirling around, still coughing furiously and squinting through the dust flying through the air. Fearing another cave-in, Leo held his breath and stopped moving, trying to not disturb anything. Rocks and dirt rumbled and fell from the other end, and through it all he heard a distinct, methodical…crunching sound.

His heart skipped a beat as the dust settled slowly, revealing a shape in the darkness. Leo squinted at it, eyes narrowing slighting as panic surged through his veins. A long spike atop a small head, small body and a moving arm…Leo was hurling a pokeball – the empty ones secured on the right side of his belt just in case he needed quick access to one - through the dust before his brain could catch up. A flash of red light illuminating the cavern for a brief moment as the shape was sucked inside.

Leo didn't wait to see if the ball was successful, grabbing at the first pokeball he felt on the left side of his waist and releasing his teammate, Zuko appearing with a sneeze and a flare of irritated fire. Leo snapped his finger, catching Zuko's attention, and pointed in the direction of the pokeball in the darkness, waiting for the ball to burst open.

He waited. And waited. And waited, and when nothing continued to happen, he pushed forward through the clearing dust, coughing again, and searched for the pokeball.

When he found it, he couldn't contain his excitement, picking the successfully closed device up and grinning happily, whipping his pokedex out of the side pocket of his backpack and pressing the scanning lens to the ball, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he stared at the screen with giddy hope.

"Please be what I think it is, please, please, please," he chanted.

"Larvitar, the rock skin pokemon. Larvitar is born deep underground, and does not emerge until it has consumed a sufficient quantity of minerals from the surrounding soil. Only once it has breached the surface will its guardian tyranitar show itself, and ensure the larvitar is ready to leave on its own," the pokedex intoned, text appearing on the screen along with the words. "This larvitar is female, weighing 147 pounds (66.6 kilograms), and stands 1 foot 9 inches (.5 meters) tall."

"YES! HELL TO THE YES!" He whooped, thrusting the pokeball into the air and laughing heartily before hacking from the still-present dust in the air. Zuko squeaked, worried, while the haunting laugh of froslass echoed through the chamber. But despite his coughing nothing could dampen Leo's sprits. He'd finally caught a larvitar.

Chapter Text

"You're a curious little thing, aren't you?" Leo murmured, letting larvitar sniff his hand as she explored him and his stuff. Already she'd chewed on a plastic water bottle – hadn't liked that, spit it out immediately – torn a small hole in his backpack while nibbling on it, and tried to eat a pokeball, managing to dent the metal sphere before Leo took it away from her.

She tentatively licked his hand, her rough tongue gently sliding against his skin. She immediately recoiled at the taste, shooting Leo a scandalized look. He just chuckled and pulled back said hand, his other hand gently resting on Santiago, the slowpoke resting next to him. They were currently on the edge of the onix tunnels, hanging out in the shadows while the midday sun hung high overhead. Leo had wanted to spend some time letting larvitar get acquainted with the team, and see sunlight for the first time, though he was also waiting for Tyrus.

If the pokedex entries on larvitar were to be believed, then Tyrus may very well decide to pay a visit to see his daughter…or granddaughter, or whatever larvitar was to him.

Zuko squeaked at larvitar, drawing the rock-type's attention as he danced about in the sunlight, no doubt glad he wouldn't have to go down into the onix tunnels again. Leo smiled as larvitar cautiously walked out of the shadows of the cave, extending one rocky arm out into the sunlight and, after seeing it wasn't going to cause any harm, stepped out of the shadows. Zuko sprinted up to her and squeaked happily, poking her belly with his nose and making the larvitar giggle – a grating, gravelly sound not unlike two rocks banging together.

"He's getting big, should evolve any day now," Leo said, scratching Santiago's ears. Zuko hadn't just grown in size in the past few months, his fire had gotten hotter and he'd grown far more energetic, racing about at high speeds – both signs of an impending evolution. "The real question is, where is Tyrus? I expected him to be waiting for us once we got out," Leo murmured, leaning back against the cave entrance, watching larvitar chase Zuko around on her stubby little legs. She never strayed too far from the cave entrance, however, always retreating to the shadows once she got too nervous to head out further, or would momentarily get distracted and start eating gravel.

Leo patted his leg during one such instance, inviting larvitar closer. She, curious little thing that she was, came running back to Leo and looked up at him, big red eyes shining. Once more Leo extended a hand for her to sniff and, once she was finished, ran a hand over her head, scratching the rough exterior.

"You're not anything like what I expected a larvitar to be," he said. "Not nearly as aggressive. But that's not a bad thing." He had been prepared to deal with an overly aggressive larvitar, but he was glad that, so far, it had been a non-issue. Just because he had been prepared to deal with it didn't mean he wanted to.

A deep shadow suddenly loomed over Leo and he looked up, freezing in utter surprise at the sight of Tyrus glaring down at him, not but four feet away. He hadn't even heard him walk up. Santiago took a bit longer to notice the tyranitar's presence, but when he did, he stiffened, the slowpoke unmoving beneath Leo's hand.

Larvitar, on the other hand, had no such qualms about Tyrus' presence, leaving Leo and running over to him, crashing her head against his leg with a bang. A deep rumble echoed out of Tyrus' chest as he bent down, nudging larvitar with his nose and snorting out a plume of dust onto her. She opened her mouth and chattered a bit, butting her head against his leg once more before looking back at Leo, who had stood.

Tyrus met his gaze, and Leo bowed slightly, not saying anything. Although tyranitar were, for the most part, solitary creatures, the research he'd done on them prior to the start of his journey suggested that they were surprisingly protective towards their larvitar offspring. They would protect the larvitar until they were strong enough to dig their own way out of the ground, then send them on their way. Which is why Leo had waited for Tyrus; his new larvitar hadn't dug her way out. Thus, he figured Tyrus might want to check on her before he left, make sure she was ready.

"Slooow," Santiago called, heaving himself up and meeting Tyrus' gaze. A moment of silence passed, during which time all Leo could hear was his own heartbeat thundering in his chest, then Tyrus calmly and quietly moved out into the sunlight, standing in the scarred battlefield and turning back to face Leo. Zuko huddled next to a rock just a few feet away from the tyranitar, watching him carefully.

Leo sighed. He had an idea of what was coming next.

"Am I to challenge you?" Leo asked, and if tyranitar could scoff, that's what Tyrus would have done. Instead Leo was treated to the grating, boulder-upon-boulder rumble that was Tyrus' best impression of a laugh, fixing him with a firm gaze. Santiago growled, water burbling in the back of his throat, and Leo grit his teeth. This…wasn't going to be fun, was it?

"Santiago, hold. Zuko, I want you to go first," Leo said. Santiago whined and looked up at Leo pitifully, Zuko shooting him a look of absolute shock and betrayal. "I know, but trust me. The only thing we can do here is try to make a good impression," Santiago whined once more and threw himself on the ground despondently, larvitar moving over to sniff him. Zuko, on the other hand, glanced at Leo, then looked at Tyrus, then looked at Leo, the back and Tyrus and sighed.

Tyrus nodded and stomped his foot to the ground, roaring at the sky. Taking that as his que, Zuko took off like a bullet from a gun, white light blurring from his paws in a quick attack…Leo blinked as the white light traveled up his body, consuming Zuko's entire form as he blurred across the battlefield, embers trailing in his wake. He wasn't using quick attack, he was evolving. Tyrus paused mid-stomp, narrowing his eyes and allowing the event to unfold, Zuko picking up speed until he burst from his roving ball of white light as a blur of blue and orange, fire already curling around his longer body – the crude beginnings of a flame wheel.

"Smoke bomb!" Leo called hastily, hands clenching by his side. Before, Zuko hadn't been able to drum up enough heat to produce his tentatively-named unique move, but with the evolution…

Zuko puffed up his cheeks, the quilava hesitating for just a moment as his haunch and head blazed with fire. Then he belched, inky black smoke blasting out of his mouth with speed and force unfitting for a simple smokescreen – no, the superheated ash flowed over the land like an avalanche of black, washing over Tyrus angrily, the tyranitar's body vanishing from view. It was an attempt for a weaponized smokescreen, as the heat wouldn't harm Zuko at all, and if the black smokescreen was hot enough would most certainly cause damage to other types. Leo had wanted to recreate the pyroclastic flow from volcanoes, though it was most definitely a work in progress.

The smokescreen ended when Zuko ran out of breath and he sucked in a deep breath before taking off at speed again, zooming around in a circle around the inky black cloud that encased Tyrus and blasting waves of embers into the smoke.

Neither he nor Leo expected the ground to heave, launching Zuko sky high as it bucked beneath the quilava's feet. He squealed in surprise and pain as he flailed in the air, Leo scrambling for his pokeball, only barely managing to recall Zuko before he hit the ground. That was game, set, match for Zuko right there. It was a casual display of power from Tyrus, but that one move had easily shown Leo the gap in power between he and his team. He grit his teeth, fists clenching at his sides as he glared at Tyrus, the soot-blackened tyranitar emerging from the slowly settling cloud of smokescreen, fixing Leo with an unamused look. The air shimmered around him, betraying the temperature the smokescreen had gotten to and, by proxy, how it had heated up his armor.

"Santiago, water pulse," Leo ordered, not missing a beat.

Santiago leapt to his feet, larvitar scrambling away as he charged out into the sunlight with a bellow of challenge, a pulsating, vibrating ball of water forming before his maw and lancing out towards Tyrus. Tyrus just roared and met the water pulse head-on, the water exploding into a cloud of hissing steam as he charged to meet Santiago. Leo reflexively cursed. He'd hoped Zuko would get Tyrus' armor hot enough that a sudden burst of water would cause it to crack or something, though he knew it was a long shot.

Purple energy shrouded Santiago's form, the slowpoke slowing down as he focused a strange energy about himself, his muscles bulging slightly as he lowered his head. Tyrus snarled and raised one foot up, stomping down at Santiago's head even as he raised himself up to meet it. Head met foot with a resounding crack, and Leo was proud to say that, for just a moment, Santiago matched Tyrus' strength – even if it didn't look like the tyranitar was struggling much. Neither moved for a moment, then Tyrus stomped down harder, pressing Santiago's head into the dirt and effectively KOing him.

Though if the water spraying out from beneath Tyrus foot, and the way Santiago's body continued to glow with the strange power of curse, he certainly didn't believe that was the case.

"Return," Leo said, recalling his slowpoke and thanking him through the ball. A small tug on his pants had Leo looking down at his newly captured larvitar, smiling at her. Then he glanced back up at Tyrus, who was watching him carefully.

Leo bowed slightly, slapping his fist into the palm of his other hand in the traditional bowing style of his learned martial art. "I cannot promise to make her the strongest, nor anything like that. What I can promise is that I will help her become everything she can be," he said firmly, raising his voice so Tyrus could hear him. The tyranitar stomped his way across the field to Leo, looming over him for just a brief moment as he passed, not deigning him with a response. Instead he nudged larvitar with his foot, jerking his head to Leo and grunting roughly before heading deeper into the mountain.

Leo's heart thumped in his throat at the perceived meaning, the apparent approval, and he glanced over his shoulder at Tyrus.

"Wait," Leo said softly. Tyrus paused and looked over his shoulder at him. "Where's Longinus?" he asked. He…had to know. The slowking may have been a bit of a jerk, but he'd done so much for Leo that he had to know where he was. If the battle had claimed his life.

The question hung heavy in the air for a brief moment, and during that moment Leo saw a sudden shift in Tyrus demeanor. His shoulders slumped and battered tail drooped, just briefly, before he straightened and marched back out of the cave with a grunt.

He hesitated for just a moment before hastily recalling larvitar – he had to come up with a name for her soon, Godzilla wouldn't work since she was a girl – slinging his discarded backpack onto his back and packing up what little supplies he had taken out. Tyrus did not slow as he marched through the downed trees, and Leo scrambled to catch up. It's a good thing I packed up my tent today, he thought as he chased after Tyrus. Because I have no idea where Tyrus is going to take me.

The two travelled a few hours through the mountains, leaving the river behind and traversing a more densely wooded area, the ancient forest pressing in from all sides. It would have been serene, but Tyrus' mere presence scared away most smaller pokémon and kept the forest in a state of absolute silence. Once a pidgeot had thought to descend from the sky, but a simple grunt from Tyrus had it flapping heavily to gain altitude once more.

Tyrus stopped at the edge of a small pond, maybe twenty feet across, with an equally small creek burbling down the valley he had led Leo up. Mountains rose tall on either side, a cliff face maybe thirty feet high rising directly in front of him like a sort of grey-stone wall, the edge of the pond pressing up against the base of the cliff. On the ridge above trees continued to grow, nearly blotting out the sun from view and casting long shadows into the forest below. The air was chilly, a light wind gently rustling the treetops above. Leo focused his attention on the pond, wondering if Longinus was somehow hiding in the shallow waters. Green, green moss grew around the edges of the pond, and a soft giggle that sounded in Leo's ears told him froslass was nearby.

"Must be a natural spring," Leo muttered, bending down and touching the cold water with his fingers. A grunt from Tyrus drew his attention, the massive tyranitar standing a little ways away from the pond, hands against a fair-sized boulder pressed up against the cliff face. Stone ground on stone as the boulder was rolled aside, revealing a cave entrance that glowedwith ethereal blue light.

Leo glanced at Tyrus, whose stony face had morphed into an expression of apathy. He wasn't an expressive pokémon, but the expression was plain to see on his normally angry-looking face. Tyrus motioned towards the cave, and Leo nodded, getting the message. Longinus, whatever state he may be in, was in there.

When he stepped in front of the cave he was assaulted by a blast of cold air, goosebumps running up his arms as he walked inside, hiking boots immediately splashing against damp stone and a shiver running down his spine. Small crystals embedded themselves in the walls, emanating a soft blue glow that wasn't quite enough for Leo to reliably see by. Thankfully his pokedex was handy, and when the light from the entrance faded he flicked on the flashlight that came with the device. The damp rocks gleamed in the soft white light, the beaten path sloping upwards, lined with those glowing crystals.

Another shiver ran down Leo's spine and he turned his head, spotting froslass as she floated quietly behind him. The somber expression on her face did little to calm his nerves – she had a perpetual mischievous, borderline malicious smile on her face. To see her somber was…alarming.

"What are we going to find?" Leo asked, though the question went unanswered by froslass. Silence surrounded him, save for the steady drip, drip of water droplets splashing on rocks as he ascended. He found his answer a few moments later when, as he rounded a bend in the long tunnel, an opening revealing sunlight came into view. And what he saw through that opening, not but ten feet in front of him, froze his breath in his lungs.

A bird of brilliant white and blue plumage, as pristine as freshly fallen snow glittering in the first light of dawn, lay upon a dais of stone. Four small waterfalls streamed down the walls to the ground around it, splashing into pools of half-frozen water on the rocky ground. Sunlight streamed into the cavern from an opening in the ceiling high above, perfectly illuminating the avian. Its breast rose and fell gently, beak tucked under one wing as it slumbered, and Leo found himself struggling to remain still.

Articuno, the breath of winter itself, was lying before him. Slowly Leo managed to tear his eyes away from the legendary bird, his gaze landing on the mound of frozen stones laid before the stone dais it slept upon, a crown of ice carved atop it. Beside it stood a slowking, who watched Leo with a small smile.

His first thought was that this was Longinus, but his memories told him otherwise. Longinus looked old, tired, his hide bleached from the sun. This slowking was young, skin a fresh pink and crown gleaming, lacking the innumerable scratches that had tarnished Longinus' own crown. Which meant…Leo looked over at the mound of stones, and his heart dropped. That must be Longinus, or at least, his grave.

"Come," the slowking said, voice soft and melodious as it beckoned Leo forward. "Sit, listen,"

"What happened?" Leo whispered as he stepped into the much larger cavern, eyes flicking to the still-slumbering articuno. It was not nearly as cold as he had expected, being closer to a chilly fall day than the depth of winter, but if the waves of frigid air rolling off of the legendary bird were any indication that was only because articuno was asleep.

The slowking shook its head, and smiled at Leo, pointing to itself. "Queen," it – no, she – said, and Leo stared at her. Then he blinked, eyes growing wide.

"Queen?!" He asked in a harsh whisper. She nodded proudly, patting her chest and pointing to Leo.

"Leo, Queen," she said succinctly. "Winter, King, Tyrus, fight. King, end, Tyrus, fall, Winter, freeze. Rest, now," Leo furrowed his brows as he parsed together Queen's broken statement, the pauses between each word throwing him off. Clearly she hadn't had much time to learn human language, he was actually surprised she knew anything at all, but that was beside the point. From what he gathered, Tyrus, Longinus, and articuno had all fought…probably the guzzlord. (Which, to his chagrin, Leo had been unable to scan with his pokedex. The ice was too thick, and the ultra beast unidentifiable.) Tyrus had been defeated, articuno froze the guzzlord, and Longinus had died.

"I see," Leo said softly, looking over at the tomb and raising his pokedex. Pausing, he looked at Queen. "May I?" he asked. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, then nodded, and Leo proceeded to scan her, the tomb – which was made of nevermeltice, which Leo figured was a testament to articuno's respect for Longinus – and articuno. The 'dex didn't have any information on articuno, and registered it as an unknown pokémon. Thankfully, unlike the anime, the pokedex didn't immediately start spewing information on pokémon aloud. It had a mute function, so he didn't have to face waking up a legendary.

"Leo," Queen whispered, approaching Leo with a single arm outstretched. Leo looked up at her, the slowking (slowqueen?) having closed the distance so she was within touching distance. Her eyes glowed blue and Leo was suddenly aware of a prickling sensation around his head, as if something was pressing against him.

She's asking permission to connect psychically, Leo realized, and nodded his head in acceptance, relaxing his entire body. Queen smiled and he felt the familiar sensation of a psychic touching his mind – and then a scene was playing in his head, concepts pressing themselves into his mind and presenting themselves to his interpretation.

Queen sat atop a rock, watching the Lonely King as he hauled his beaten body out of the river, wheezing as he looked up at her. The Herd called for their Queen, and she answered, watching the Lonely King stand and smile brokenly at her. No words passed forth from his lips as he bowed, his powerful Mind touching her own and impressing his own thoughts onto hers. But she was but a slowpoke, and such things were beyond her – until the King grabbed his Crown.

Queen stood and called at him, urging him to not remove the Crown. She was smart for a slowpoke, she knew that to remove a Crown meant returning to a slowpoke. But he just smiled, and wrenched it from his head with a might heave, a dull black light enveloping him. But he did not change. Instead the Crown floated forward, separating itself from the pink gem in its center along the way, and planted itself on Queen's head – and suddenly she was no longer Queen the Slowpoke. She was Queen the slowking, standing where she had once lay.

And she understood, grasping the King's gem in one hand and watching sadly as her King fell to his knees and allowed his life to slip through his fingers, his last words the newly crowned Queen's to pass on to another.  Thank you, Leo, for fulfilling my last wish. I may not have seen you return to the Oak, but I know you did. Merri the Oak alakazam told me so – so I thank you.

But it was not just a simple thank you. Gratitude of the purest form presented itself to Leo through the memories, a wave of relief and appreciation so powerful it nearly sent him on his knees as it swept through his chest in a enveloping wave. Years of regret, suddenly given fulfillment, were lifted from Longinus' chest by Leo's action, allowing the slowking to die in peace. And Leo felt exactly how much it meant to him.

Tears fell down his cheeks unbidden as the memories flowed, watching as articuno swept down in a swirl of snow, led Queen to the cavern, and entombed Longinus for his bravery. Leo scrubbed his eyes, biting his lip to try and keep himself under control. The raw emotion he felt, however, was not to be ignored. It was not even sadness he felt, just…happiness, almost. A somber, tearful happiness that came from heartfelt gratitude expressed with more than mere words.

Queen reached forward and gripped his hand with her own stubby paw, pressing a hard, round object into his hand. When Leo looked at it, scrubbing his bleary eyes and cursing his emotions, his breath hitched once more. A small, spherical pink gem lay in his hand. Another impression placed itself into Leo's head, and he understood. This was the gem from Longinus' crown – the gem from a Slowking, now given to him as a final memento.

"Thank you," Leo whispered, slipping the gem into his pocket and not trusting his voice to stay steady were he to speak up. Queen patted his shoulder as his throat choked up. Another wave of gratitude swept over Leo, this time from Queen herself, though for what he wasn't sure. It left him looking away and furiously scrubbing his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself and thoroughly embarrassed – which led to irritation directed at himself – for being unable to control his emotions.

He had just acted. He hadn't been expecting…this.

Queen let Leo get himself under control, minutes ticking by like hours as Leo fought back the hiccups building in his chest. Then, once he was ready, Queen pointed to his belt, where his pokémon sat in their balls.

Without a word Leo released Zuko and Santiago, leaving larvitar in her pokeball. The flash of red and hiss of their forms materializing echoed around the chamber, droning out the splashing of the waterfalls for a brief moment, his team falling absolutely silent as they appeared. It was understandable, injured and in the presence of a legendary as they were. Queen quickly rectified the former, however, a heal pulse enveloping them and soothing their admittedly mild wounds. Zuko relaxed and let out a breath, relaxing his body while Santiago fixated his gaze on Queen curiously.

Leo bowed to her, and Santiago padded up to her questioningly, his dopey eyes looking even more confused now as he met one of his evolved brethren. Together Queen and Santiago's eyes glowed blue, a psychic conversation passing between them.

Leo left them to it and turned to Zuko, freezing in place alongside the fire-type as articuno raised its head and opened on brown eye to regard him. The temperature in the room dropped significantly, Leo's breaths coming out in ragged huffs as a weight slammed itself down onto his shoulders. He stumbled and fell to one knee, pain lancing up his leg as it crashed into the cave floor. Zuko whined, bowing his head and crouching low to the ground as he shivered.

A breath of air escaped Leo and he grit his teeth, shrugging off the initial pressure as best he could and rising to his feet, legs shaking with the effort. Silently he looked up and met articuno's eye, the legendary bird regarding him not with malice or even arrogance, just…curiosity. So, Leo bowed his head.

"I apologize for disturbing your rest," he said. Articuno shifted, flickers of white caressing the edges of Leo's vision, before resettling. The pressure vanished and Leo let out a breath, stumbling forward as his head snapped up, only to see articuno once more resting with its head beneath its wing.

Zuko whined and, with a silent apology, Leo returned him, looking back at Santiago and Queen. The two were still locked in psychic conversation, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened.

"Today has been a day," Leo muttered, flopping down on the cool ground and letting out a breath. It hadn't even been twelve hours since he'd caught larvitar, and already so much had happened. Once more Leo glanced at the still-conversing Queen and Santiago, then allowed his eyes to close. He just wanted to rest for a moment and silently pay his respects to Longinus. Then tomorrow it would be time to head back.

The sky was just turning blue, the sun still hidden behind the mountains, when Leo rose the next day. Queen had accompanied him outside the cave, engaging with Santiago and Leo in psychic conversation for most the evening before returning to her place – apparently having taken it upon herself to guard articuno while it recuperated from the battle with the ultra beasts. Her herd was safe for the moment, according to her.

Leo still didn't completely understand the battle that had transpired though. Queen hadn't been present for the fight, so hadn't any light to shed on what happened beyond lots of loud noises, and Longinus' death being a result of it. Which left Leo with only guesses.

Tyrus had also wandered off grumpily once Leo exited the cave, and froslass was…well, nowhere to be seen at the moment. In fact, he hadn't seen her once since that time in the cave, but that wasn't so unusual. So, Leo stretched, his joints popping and hair standing up on his arms in the cool morning air, ready to start his morning routine. Sensing his movement, Zuko stood and stretched as well, the quilava stumbling a bit as he wormed his way out of the tent, still getting used to his new body. Although his instincts helped him overcome the worst of the challenges the changes evolution caused in his body, there were still things to get used to. Like having a longer torso.

Which meant that, instead of the normal exercises Leo had the fire-type do in the mornings – runs, flaring up the fire on his back, shooting embers into the sky, endurance training, that sort of thing – Leo just had him run circles around the camp and get used to himself. Santiago, on the other hand, slumbered peacefully in the tent, content to not move until Leo recalled him. Which was ok, Leo trained Santiago at night for now anyway. He was good with water moves right now, what with him having mastered water pulse and all, but his psychic powers left something to be desired. Leo didn't have the patience to sit still and train Santiago's brain in the mornings.

That, and to call it training was a bit of a misnomer. Santiago only "trained" in the typical sense when he was pit against Zuko, or was fighting the more aggressive zubat, geodude, and even the occasional graveler that could be found in the onix tunnels. Leo had honestly been shocked at how aggressive they could get, but quickly realized that was because he was infringing on their territory. As bad as he felt about beating up wild pokemon, Santiago and Zuko both got a lot of practice in against them so it turned out ok in the end.

What was really fun was when he managed to convince other pokémon to have a mock battle with him, outside the caves. Bellossom had done that a few times over the months, beating Santiago to a pulp in the process, and Leo had found a machoke that would accept challenges every so often. None of these pokemon wanted to join his team, unfortunately, and Leo couldn't find that hitmontop that beat him up all those years ago, but they were friendly enough and made for good practice.

Shaking his head Leo stretched and started his own morning routine, ignoring the cold firepit and the hunger he felt rising in his stomach. Zuko didn't need direction right now, which left him to perform his own exercises. It wouldn't be as intense as the normal exercises he did back at Oak's ranch, as he wanted to conserve energy because his food supplies consisted of what he could hunt or forage or have Santiago fish up for him, but it would keep him in shape an familiar with the movements of his martial art.

It was when he was just about to start getting into the meat of his morning self-training regimen that Leo noticed larvitar watching him, her big red eyes wide and curious as she stood off to the side, watching him.

"I'm going to be honest with you, I completely forgot I let you out last night," Leo said. She tilted her head to the side and looked down at her little legs, shuffling her feet around then looking back up at Leo, unblinking. He snorted at her. "Well if you want to watch that's fine. In fact, I should probably think up a morning routine for you too, if you want," Leo muttered, shaking his head and setting his feet in a wide stance.

It was called the Earth stance, his feet set shoulder-width apart and knees bent, arms and head facing the right. It was one of the sturdier stances, all things considered. That was, so long as he was being attacked from the side, not the front. He breathed out slowly and slid forward, bare feet drawing lines in the topsoil. A rustling sound came from his left, distracting him, and he turned to see larvitar attempting to imitate his movements.

Her feet were spread as wide as they could go – which wasn't that much wider than her normal stance – and her stubby arms were turned to the right just as his were. She glanced at her feet, then at Leo, then looked at him expectantly. Leo narrowed his eyes imperceptibly, moving slowly and methodically. His left foot swept back, pivoting on his right so he was facing a new direction, and larvitar fell over as she tried to do the same.

"Well," Leo murmured, sliding out of stance and stepping over to larvitar, rolling her onto her belly so she could stand up. The rock type stood and dusted herself off, which sounded a lot like two rocks banging together, looking back up at Leo with that same, innocently curious look. "If you want to imitate me, I think I can work with that," he said with a smile, glancing over at Zuko distractedly as the quilava stumbled, tumbling head over heels through the trees but never slowing, leaping to his feet and taking off with sparks flying from his back.

Leo snorted, and a soft crunch drew his attention back to larvitar. Her face was screwed up in disgust as she spat out bits of a pine cone, a half-eaten cone dropped to the ground unceremoniously as she pawed at her mouth, whining in annoyance.

"Dummy, that's not a rock," he muttered, shaking his head. He couldn't fault her curiosity, though. She had literally lived underground all her life. Again, not what I expected from a larvitar, but I'll take it. Leo thought with a smile as she once again spat and sniffed at the ground. Now I guess it's time to head back. League season lasts until winter, so I should be able to get a badge or two if I hustle – assuming Oak and Victoria don't kill me of course.

Froslass hovered in front of Leo, staring unnervingly at him as he studied the map on his pokedex for the final time. Everything was packed and his 'dex was fully charged thanks to the solar power recharger thing installed on it, and he was just going over his plans to travel back to civilization before executing them.

Originally he had planned to follow the river back, as it was familiar country and he knew he could find food and water along the riverbanks, but had been second-guessing himself when he saw just how close Blackthorn City was. He estimated only a week and a half of travel to the city of dragons, and that was allowing for some leeway with difficulty of terrain. The idea that Tyrus lived so close to the known territory of dragonite boggled Leo's mind – but that was beside the point. The point was that it would be difficult travel that way, and since the river turned north but two day's travel from where he was now, Leo couldn't guarantee a proper food supply unless he foraged wildly and smoked some fish.

So he was going to go back downstream, until froslass made her displeasure known. The ghost frowned at him, none of the normal mischief present on her face and instead replaced by melancholy. She shook her head at him and gestured west, upriver, with one snow-white hand.

"You want me to travel upstream?" Leo asked hesitantly. Zuko hissed at his side, still agitated by the presence of froslass even after all these months. Froslass seemed to hesitate for a moment, her ghostly expression conflicted, before she nodded and presented Leo with something. The pink gem in her hand had Leo patting his jean pockets, narrowing his eyes when he realized Longinus' gem was gone, and now in froslass' hands.

He promptly snatched it from her with a glare, stowing it back in his pocket and ignoring the biting cold that came with touching the ice type. "Don't take that again," he warned, though it lost all heat when he saw the look in froslass eyes.

It was…sad, but hopeful, but…Leo didn't know how to explain it. Like she expected something from him. Leo bit his lip. On one hand this was a ghost type. Everything he'd learned of them from his research spelt disaster and mischief. But at the same time, he'd spent a significant amount of time with froslass. She meant no real harm beyond that first encounter and he might even consider themselves to be friends.

Leo sighed and ran a hand through his greasy, filthy hair, looking at her expression and cursing himself. "Can you lead me to food and water on the way? I've got some supplies foraged, but I don't know if it will last a week. Water won't unless I stoop to drinking Santiago's stored water. Food might last if I keep everyone in stasis in their pokeballs," he asked. Froslass nodded. "Are you sure?" he asked again, and she nodded once more.

Leo worried his lip and rubbed his face. Then he nodded, and froslass smiled weakly, floating past him and heading upstream. Leo and Zuko shared a look, Zuko cocking his head to the side and staring at him as blandly as a quilava could.

"Quiiil," he said.

"I hope I know what I'm doing too, buddy," Leo muttered, turning on his heel and following after froslass, Zuko on his heels.

He took the time travelling along the river to allow Santiago to fish and feast to his heart's content, cooking an extra magikarp or two every night and wrapping it up in the plastic baggies he'd brought along for just such an reason. Froslass also stuck around for the entire time, never vanishing from sight and leading the way. She also interacted with Leo and his team much, much more, and he found himself talking to the froslass randomly, just spouting nonsense or chattering, even when he was bonding with larvitar. Though he did finally figure out why larvitar was so calm – as first-stage evolution larva-type pokémon, larvitar tended to be much more mellow than even their second-stage pupitar, to say nothing of tyranitar, as they spent most of their time eating and growing.

Leo had learnt a lot just from reading pokedex entries, though all entries on froslass were still annoyingly vague and inconsistent. And mostly involved warnings to stay away from the ghost type – from all ghost types, actually. They were dangerous and whimsical, according to the pokedex.

Leo glanced up from his reading on the gastly line, having migrated there from reading up on froslass, snorunt, and glalie, to look at the froslass that had been following him. She was just floating midair, watching larvitar (still had to think of a name, he sucked with names) as she sleepily chewed on a few stones, leaning against Santiago for support. Santiago slumbered happily, belly full of magikarp and tail twitching as he slept. Leo's hand drifted to his side, where Zuko lay curled up next to him, twitching and huffing in his sleep. It was peaceful tonight, with the river providing pleasant background noise, but he couldn't help but worry about froslass.

So far, he'd seen the whimsical nature of ghosts, as well as a bit of their maliciousness, but that had faded away very quickly after their first meeting. He could only wonder if that was all there was to ghosts, or if there was something more. His instincts, and experiences with froslass, screamed that there was something more to it. Fighting back a yawn, Leo flicked off his pokedex and set it aside, laying down on his sleeping bag and staring up at the night sky. He'd elected to not put up his tent tonight, content to lay beneath the stars.

It didn't look like he was going to sleep much tonight though, there was too much on his mind. Between froslass, travelling, and the frozen ultra-beast that constantly hung on the edges of his thoughts, reminding him that he could very well be a ticking time bomb, he had plenty to keep his mind occupied.

The next few days froslass proved her trustworthiness, the ghost type always leading Leo to water so he could replenish his stocks, and even occasionally pointing out edible plants that he would miss while walking (he constantly thanked Oak for downloading the Wild Edible Plants book to his pokedex, it had proven its worth many times over.) Though that wasn't to say the journey had been easy.

The terrain had been harsh and he'd even once managed to piss off an ursaring, though Zuko and Santiago had managed to get the irate bear to back off long enough for Leo to beat a hasty retreat. Froslass had led him around the ursaring's territory after that, but aggressive pokémon were still common. His team, even larvitar, who battled against a few geodude with a childish sort of curiosity, got a fair workout in even despite travelling. It was during one of these battles that Leo even came up with a name for larvitar – Diana, like the superhero Wonder Woman. A strong and honorable warrior – that was what Leo could see Diana becoming.

But the journey was nearing its end, and froslass was leading Leo up a mountain towards the snowy peak. His heart hammered in his ears with each step, paranoia telling him that froslass was taking him to her lair to freeze him, and make him join her ice sculptures. His reason won out though, and he swallowed his fears as he followed her up the mountain. The climb took most of the day, and Leo had stopped to put on his jacket when the temperature plummeted and patches of snow began to appear in the shadowy parts of the mountain. The cover of trees had been left behind, and soon Leo found himself wading through knee-deep snow, panting with exertion and at the lack of oxygen. This mountain in particularly was stupidly tall.

He was only a little ways from the top, sweat dripping down his brow and threatening to soak his clothes, when he stopped to take a breather and look out over the mountain range. His breath caught in his throat at the sight laid before him, the numerous rocky peaks stretching as far as the eye could see, massive bird pokémon wheeling through the sky. This mountain was taller than almost all around, snow covering its peak and providing an excellent view. The sun, only an hour or two until sunset, beat down on the snow around him, a sharp wind sending a shiver up his spine.

"Laaaass," froslass called, drawing Leo's attention. She hovered twenty feet away, just beneath the peak and next to a small boulder. Leo nodded, controlling his breathing.

"I'm coming, just give me a second," he muttered, forcing his way up the mountain to meet her. She watched him for a brief second, eyes roaming searchingly over his form, and Leo braced himself for whatever would come next.

He expected the deep breath she took, and his hand ghosted against Zuko's pokeball. He half-expected the trembling of the snow as it shifted, and the howling winds as froslass exerted a never-before-seen control over snow and ice, clearing a patch on the rocky mountain peak. Leo had not been expecting, however, the body it revealed, perfectly preserved in the frozen ice.

A young, blonde woman, features covered in frost, lay peacefully on her back, preserved in time. Robes covered her body, and in her hands was clutched a square object of unknown design. Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath, steadying himself.

"What is this?" he asked softly, opening his eyes to meet froslass' gaze. She cooed, the sound soft and sad, and floated down to rest a hand on the woman's forehead. "Who is this?" he amended, quieter this time. "Your trainer?" Froslass shook her head, prying the object from the woman's hands and floating back into the air, exerting her will over the ice and snow. The dead woman vanished beneath the wave of white, and Leo rubbed his arms, not wanting to think about the other possibility, but…needing to know.

"Was that…you?" he asked, in a whisper so silent it was almost lost in the wind. She nodded, then shook her head, and shrugged as if to say "yes, but no."

Leo could do nothing but stare. A thousand emotions raged within him, but froslass did not allow him the time to process it all. Witch light flared to life around her, a brief glow suffusing her form and snow blurring into motion as it formed recognizable shapes. Idly Leo recognized the effects of confuse ray surround him, blurring his mind, but the images froslass was now showing him, undoubtedly due to the illusionary effects of confuse ray, convinced him to leave it be.

A woman fled from a tower covered in icy flames, clutching the square object, running through the forest as men and pokémon alike chased her every step. One by one she evaded them, but one pokémon in particular, a fox with nine tails, chased her all the way to the peak of the mountain. She fell to her knees as the ninetails approached, and Leo thought he saw articuno appear in the image for a brief second. What happened next was a blur, the fox touching the woman with its tails and the details whirling out of focus. The illusion was broken by froslass' face bursting through the snowy illusion, prompting a yelp of surprise from Leo as he fell backwards into the snow.

Froslass cackled, floating forward and presenting the square object to Leo. He shook his head and sat up, eyeing the object.

"I, uh, what is it?" he asked. She shook her head and pointed to the horizon, in the direction of Blackthorn. "You want me to take it to Blackthorn?" he asked. She shook her head. "Somewhere in Johto then?" She nodded, and Leo frowned. He had an idea as to what this was, symbolically anyway, and what it was she was wanting from him. So he took the square stone from her, two inches on each side with strange characters intricately carved onto each face, and carefully placed the frigid object into his backpack.

"I'll return it for you, though I need your help figuring out where to return it to," Leo said. Froslass nodded, and her expression was, for a brief moment, nothing but hopeful. Then she vanished in a gust of wind and snow, leaving Leo alone on the snowy mountaintop and with the echoes of a ghostly cackle.

He stayed there, moving next to the boulder to avoid the worst of the wind and just…absorbed everything he had learned. Was that woman beneath the ice really froslass? She had said yes and no, what does that mean? What did he feel about the illusory images he'd been shown? It wasn't until fifteen minutes later, hard wingbeats disturbing the quiet, that Leo stood and looked up. A massive shadow descended on the mountain, the braviary it belonged to landing on the peak of the mountain with a prideful shriek, nearly shaking its rider off.

"You alright, kid?" Victoria Oak asked after swatting her mount irritably, shutting it up. With supernatural grace she leapt off the predatory bird Leo had, admittedly, never seen before. Though he hadn't met her full team, either.

"How did you find me?" Leo asked instead, flexing his fingers and finding, to his surprise, that he still wasn't very cold. Victoria smiled, eyes roaming the mountaintop and landing on the spot where the woman's body was buried. They lingered too long for coincidence, and Leo realized that she had probably been watching the whole time he had talked with froslass, at the very least.

"I never lost you, kid. Did you really think I wouldn't know you were planning to go larvitar hunting? Uncle Samuel may not have known, but I'm no fool." Victoria revealed with a sharp smile, patting Leo on the shoulder. "And let me tell ya, kid, you're everything I thought you were. Now c'mon, Blackthorn's only a twenty-minute flight on the back of General here. Let's go get you cleaned up,"

Chapter Text

Victoria was many things – aggressive, harsh, brash, and overconfident among other things – but stupid was not one of them. That wasn't to say she was intelligent in the scientific sense, no, her father had kept those genes to himself. Instead she would call herself street smart. She worked on instinct, and damn if she wasn't usually right. Which is why she knew that Leo needed to go on his journey as soon as possible – she knew it better than he did, even.

When she thought back on her decision to sponsor Leo, she usually told herself that he had the skills to survive, and was plenty smart enough to learn what else he needed to. For example, when he spent time in the woods around Pallet he called it games or playing around – she saw it for what it really was. He was learning how to interact with pokémon, in a way that most trainers didn't learn until they had spent far too much time with their teams and broken a few bonds. It was hands-on experience, something Victoria thought a lot of Kanto schools were lacking.

She didn't take Leo's age into consideration either, as she had started her journey at twelve – all Alolans did. He was plenty old enough to be trusted. But it was her instincts that told her to sponsor him, and when she asked her gut why that was, it told her a few different stories.

Maybe it was the way he got a far-off look sometimes, staring blankly at the sky like an old man. She had thought him too young to understand what coming through an ultra-wormhole meant, that he had lost his entire world, but maybe that wasn't so. Or maybe it was the way he talked and moved like someone much older, despite his childish and naïve habit of ditching school. Perhaps part of it was the way he constantly searched for something with an undirected drive – a drive she had seen in other Masters like herself, a drive with a purpose. Except his drive had no purpose, and he was searching for a purpose like it was something he had lost. But the most likely option was because Leo reminded her of herself.

Cocky, overconfident, and a tad bit too gung-ho. Not to mention Leo's plans to enter the Silver Mountains was ditto to Victoria's own plans when she got her trainer's license.

She had bought a rowboat and rowed all the way to Poni Island to spend the first year of her Island Challenge there, after all. It was the Alolan equivalent of diving headfirst into the Silver Mountains. Plus, rumor had it Professor Oak had done the same as Leo, back when he first started, and that's how he got his dratini-turned-dragonite. That was back when the official starting age for a trainer was twelve in Kanto, too, so it wasn't like Leo was doing anything different.

Victoria had been making excuses to explain her actions, and she knew it. Didn't make a difference that she had sponsored Leo and let him essentially break the law and Uncle Oak's trust, but it sure made her feel better about it.

Samuel Oak resisted Victoria's push to get Leo a license at first, but once she learned that Oak was essentially giving Leo ACE Trainer exams and he was getting over fifty percent on the written portions – which meant he would've passed the regular trainer exams with flying colors – the old professor had no excuse to stop Victoria from sending Leo on his way. She'd had to threaten to take him to Alola and get him a license there to get it done though.

But what did come as a surprise to Victoria was how easy it was for Leo to slip past the rangers on route twenty-two, which only served to confirm a long-held theory of hers as to his true nature. This was doubly so when she got her oranguru, Sage, to confirm the fact.

Leo was Dark. He had the innate ability to remain undetected to psychic types if he so wished – it just so happened that most the time he was Open, willing himself to be affected by psychic energy. Which was why Merri, Oak's alakazam, never participated in the "catch Leo games;" she'd never be able to find him. It was also why he was so easily able to bypass the Ranger-employed psychics, put in place just to catch kids like Leo and stop them from entering the Mountains unprepared. When he wanted to hide, he instinctively flicked his Dark nature to full power, and vanished from psychic sight, if not its influence. This condition was about as rare as being psychic was, and not nearly as potent as a dark-type pokémon. He wasn't wholly unaffected by psychics, after all.

This discovery did drive home another point for Victoria – Leo needed to see the dangers of the Silver Mountains. With how much Kanto relied on their psychic types for border patrol, it was unlikely that Leo could've been stopped from leaving unless a full-time guard was slapped on him. It was best he get some of his carelessness out of his system now – after all, Victoria couldn't be around to keep an eye on him all the time. Sometimes children had to learn not to play with fire, by playing with fire.

Still, she doubted Leo himself knew of his own ability, but it did explain why psychics liked him so much. To have the ability to block out psychics, but to willingly stay open to their powers like he did most the time? They would instinctively like and trust someone like that, even if he did so unintentionally.

All this meant that, for the most part, Victoria let Leo have his little journey and search for a larvitar. Gypsy followed him around, the furrett unassuming enough to follow Leo and not make him suspicious, while she went off to train the rest of her team against the stronger denizens of the mountains. Gypsy was more than capable of warding off most dangers, or at least keeping Leo safe, and only occasionally would she return to check on Leo. Usually to find him doing something stupid, or incredible. Sometimes both.

Incredible like when he would whistle a tune for a group of bellossom, and incite them to dance for him, which was always a treat. Victoria recorded a few of those encounters for blackmail material later – pokedexes were nifty like that after all. Or stupid, like when he battled Archibald Oak's old tyranitar, Tyrus. Clearly he had just been testing Leo, but it had taken almost every ounce of willpower Victoria had to not jump in to the rescue. Tyrus could have easily killed Leo and his team had he not found him up to snuff.

Victoria sighed, readjusting her grip on General's saddle and feeling Leo's arms tighten around her waist, said boy staring out at the clouds as her braviary winged through the sky. One of the most troubling aspects of the journey had been the ghost Leo had attracted, falling just short on the "troubling scale" of the nevermeltice glacier in the middle of Tyrus' nest. Those two things were alarming.

Unfortunately, there was little she could do about the nevermeltice, and what she suspected was contained within. She wasn't sure, but Leo seemed like he recognized the dark shapes within, and InterPol was acting like they were certain it was an ultra-beast in the ice. The problem was that they weren't willing to send an expeditionary force into the known territory of a champion-level tyranitar, as well as potentially angering a legendary bird, to remove it. She hadn't seen articuno, but its presence was clear. InterPol was understandably hesitant to infringe in its territory. Supposedly they were going to send a representative to investigate it, but when Victoria had no idea. The Indigo League was steadfastly resisting InterPol sending a team of agents into the Mountains for unknown reasons too, because for some reason InterPol saw fit to suppress all evidence and information on Ultra Beasts.

So all the League knew was that InterPol wanted to send high-level trainers into the mountains, with no explanation as to why. Yeah, that was sure to go over well.

Unfortunately this tied Victoria's hands because her dad Samson, Samuel, and herself could all face major legal repercussions if she revealed the ultra-beasts to the Leagues. It was an absolute political and bureaucratic nightmare, one she was ill-equipped to deal with.

Those thoughts can be dealt with later, with the help of Dad and Samuel. If anyone can convince InterPol that they're being idiots to hide ultra-beasts from the Leagues, it's those two. Victoria thought, General banking and letting out a shriek to announce his presence. Blackthorn had just come into view, the city of dragons alive and buzzing with human activity. A roar of a dragon answered General's call, and Victoria had to swat him to keep the ornery bird from challenging the beast.

"Not while we're riding you, idiot," she hissed, the great bird shaking his head and clacking his beak irritably. Victoria sighed and glanced over her shoulder at Leo.

Well, at least she could take care of the boy's ghost problem. This wasn't the last he'd seen of froslass, she was certain, but that, at least, she knew how to handle.

"What are ghosts?" Leo asked, and Victoria glanced up from her newspaper, peering over the edge of the dull greyish-beige paper. She had been expecting this question for a while now, so had an answer prepared.

That didn't stop her from folding her newspaper up and leaning forward, stalling for time while she collected her thoughts. Currently the two were sitting in the Blackthorn City pokémon center, Leo freshly showered and waiting while his pokémon underwent a checkup. He was stalling against calling the Professor on the center's video phones, and Victoria was preparing his alibi. She wanted to keep his foray into the Silver Mountains a secret from Samuel, and the only way to swing his lack of check-ins was if she convinced the old professor that Leo had been training with her.

This way, neither of them would get in trouble over letting Leo go off the beaten path. And if she was being honest, Victoria feared Samuel Oak's retribution far more than she did the League's. They rewarded successful bravery, after all. Even if it was foolish.

"Ghosts can be one of two things," Victoria said, refocusing her thoughts and toying with Duke, her tauros', pokeball. "Natural born ghosts are your typical ghost-types. They're hard to study and elusive, but act as much like pokémon as any other type – albeit with a mischievous streak a mile wide. Not much is really known about their origins, or how they multiply, but from what I've gathered it's almost a form of mitosis or…spawning. They just kinda…split," she explained, hoping she was using the correct word in "mitosis."

"And the other?" Leo asked, leaning forward and fixing her with an intense gaze. She met his brown eyes, rubbing her chin thoughtfully and eyeing him up and down.

"That's why they get the name 'ghosts,'" Victoria said, glancing around the pokecenter to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. It wasn't exactly classified information, but it wasn't well known either. "Because in ancient times they were thought to literally be the lost souls of the deceased. We've since confirmed thats not the case, but I mean, it's not wholly wrong either. My best guess as to what they are is that they're potential ghosts – ghost type spores, if you will – that come in contact with residual negative emotions created by people.

"Somehow these ghosts suck up the emotions and, rarely, they form a ghost that has the same memories as the ones who created them. Usually its formed from people who died with a lot of residual emotion. Regret, anger, hate – those are powerful emotions that tend to hang around. You're lucky you ran into a regret-based ghost. Hatred ghosts would have killed you without a second's thought, and are marked by the League to be exterminated the moment they're located. Still, they're rarer than you might believe, and, before you ask, no they're not the souls of people transformed into pokémon. I'm pretty sure, anyway. Most of the spiritual mediums and hex maniacs I've spoken to don't think so," She explained. Leo frowned, running a hand through his still damp brown hair.

"You sound like you speak from experience," he said. Victoria grinned, though it felt a little sharp even to herself. She felt she was uniquely qualified to help Leo here, but was surprised by his observation.

"I do. People think dark-types are the bane of ghosts, but the truth is normal types are an almost perfectly evolved natural counter. Completely immune to their most harmful attacks, impossible to be possessed, and second only to dark types in utilizing dark-type attacks; and because I am a normal type Master, I get called in to deal with ghosts a lot," she explained, leaning back in her chair.

"Never thought of it that way," Leo said, frowning thoughtfully. "…Do you think froslass is gone?"

"Not a chance. That thing's following you for sure. Probably won't leave until you complete its regret, whatever that is, or I chase it off. Might even join your team," Victoria said. Leo hummed and fell silent, idly picking at his fingernails. She studied him as he sat, carefully watching his expression and trying to judge his thoughts.

Her plan could have backfired spectacularly if Leo quit training because of this. She wanted to curb his irrational tendencies and teach him a lesson about danger, not scare him off of training entirely. And she wasn't a therapist! She couldn't imagine stumbling across a frozen woman when she was twelve, much less a skeleton when she was ten. But if he did quit, maybe that was meant to be then.

"I'm sorry," Leo said, breaking the quiet and looking up at Victoria. "I know it seems like I was kind of spitting in your face for ignoring your warnings and heading into the Silver Mountains, and I didn't mean to be disrespectful or anything,"

Victoria frowned at him, schooling her expression into a stern one. "Look, what you did was stupid and reckless, I won't deny that. But I'm not going to be hypocritical here and say that you shouldn't have done so. I let you go – heck, it's what I expected of you. And now that you've caught your newest teammate and seen whatever it is you needed to in those mountains, you won't go doing it again for a while, right?" she asked. Leo nodded, and Victoria continued before he had a chance to elaborate. "Then don't worry about it too much. Train your team up. Get some badges. Try not to let Professor Oak find out what we did, and we'll be fine. Then, when it's all said and done and you're old enough, you can apologize to him,"

"Are you not worried about the League's response if they found out?" Leo asked. Victoria shrugged.

"Not particularly. You'll get reprimanded, a slap on the wrist and maybe a temporary suspension of your license, but with how much flak the current Champion is getting for approving the Youngster Licenses I imagine they'd want to use you as a poster-boy instead. Something along the lines of 'see, there are kids who are capable of taking care of themselves!' Kind of a thing," she explained dismissively. She didn't hold the current Kanto and Johto champion in high regard, so she wouldn't put it past the man to try such a stunt to save his failing reputation.

Not to mention that Kanto in particular loved individuals who were both brave and skilled. He'd probably get an interview with a news company for his stunt, all painted in a good light, of course. Maybe. Politics made things tricky.

"Huh," Leo said eloquently, falling into silence. Then, after a moment, asked one more question. "What did you mean by 'see what I needed to see,' by the way?"

Victoria snorted. "Kid, if you just wanted a larvitar you would've researched where to find them more. There's a known group of tyranitar that live in the mountains west of Fuschia, and they're a lot tamer than the Silver Mountains. Maybe you found it poetic to go back to where it all started," she said, and Leo furrowed his brows in thought. After a few minutes of silence, Leo stewing over whatever it was that went on inside that little head of his, a voice came on over the intercom telling him that his pokémon were ready.

Victoria leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling as he got up to go to the front desk. Once again, her thoughts turned to Professor Oak.

…the more she thought about it, the more she figured that he already knew about Leo's excursion. She was going to catch hell for this, wasn't she?

Professor Oak was furious. He originally hadn't wanted to believe that Leo had ignored his warnings and gone running off into the Silver Mountains again – he was smart, after all, despite everything. But all that intelligence did nothing for his wisdom, apparently, because he had gone right off into the Silver Mountains not but three weeks into his journey. And Oak didn't even learn of that until a month later! Not to mention that Victoria had decided that such a course of action was perfectly acceptable and had followed him into the mountains!

He had half a mind to go after them and drag Leo back kicking and screaming. But he didn't. Because it wasn't that Leo had gone into the Silver Mountains that angered him – no, if the boy had proved anything it was that he was more than capable of surviving in the wilderness. That was especially highlighted by the fact that he spent most of his time at the ranch interacting with wild pokémon and honing his skills. Ditching school had been an issue, but…with how often he self-studied, and how easily he passed the typical trainer tests Oak had given him, he really couldn't hold it against Leo. He, himself, never even graduated from a research institute – it was the knowledge, rather than the institution, that was important in Oak's opinion. And even if Leo's knowledge was spotty at times, and non-existent in certain areas, he still learned enough.

That didn't stop him from giving Leo much harder tests, though. And eventually Oak found a difficulty that seemed to stump Leo, learning that, unfortunately, he didn't seem to have an interest in becoming a researcher. A pity, too. He was good enough with pokémon.

What really angered Oak about the situation was that Leo clearly did not think it through how successfully surviving in the Silver Mountains as a Youngster would appear to the public – or, Mew forbid, how it would look if he captured and could successfully control a larvitar. The League would use it as an opportunity to legitimize the Youngster License. That Victoria didn't realize the issue with this fact only served to infuriate Oak further – this wasn't Alola. The Islands were notoriously friendly, people and pokémon alike. Plus, the islands were relatively small. It was never too far to get to a city or town – help was never far away, except on Poni Island.

Kanto, on the other hand, was not. Culturally, socially, environmentally; even the pokémon were more aggressive and dangerous here than in Alola. Kanto children were not equipped enough to deal with the dangers of the world, and could easily get lost. They wouldn't be ready until they were thirteen to fourteen, at least. Oak would know. He had started his journey at twelve, after all, and Leo even seemed to agree with him, thinking himself the exception. Which, admittedly, he was. But just because his mind was older than his body didn't give Leo a free pass; because as far as the Leagues were concerned he was twelve.

It had been a bit of a surprise when Merri took Oak to the side and told him about Leo's true age, in those first few months of the boy being under his wing, but truth be told it hadn't been a shock. He'd started to suspect something was up with Leo in those months – sometimes what he said and did didn't match up with his physical age; Leo was many things, but an actor wasn't one of them. You can only act like a child so well, after all. It wasn't unthinkable either – Oak himself knew that time was nothing if not relative to legendary pokemon, his own experiences with celebi attested to that. Some sort of strange time-reversal on Leo's body wasn't unthinkable. This age, however, only helped to further Oak's anger at Leo. He expected more. More forethought, more patience, more awareness.

Added to this was that Vitoria discovered evidence of ultra-beasts in the Mountains – but that was a whole 'nother headache to deal with. He had left the Champion seat behind partly because of the inherent bureaucracy of the League – he despised the mind games and politicking involved. It prevented anything from getting done, like InterPol from moving in to ensure the breach was closed (it was, Oak and Merri had teleported nearby with the appropriate scanning equipment, courtesy of his cousin Samson, and found no energy leaks save from what radiated from the nevermeltice glacier – and wasn't that a sight! He'd never seen one that large.)

Legendaries – it was a wonder anyone got anything done in the League.

But as time passed and weeks turned into months, the Professor found his anger cooling off. Technically speaking Leo was still young in this world, and politics and culture were difficult to understand even for natives. Who's to say he didn't just think he'd be punished for going off-route? Kanto people rewarded bravery, and Johto honored tradition. Leo's route through the mountains honored both of those things – honoring the sacred journey, and bravely entering the mountains (even if it was foolish.) If anything, this meant his actions might be subject to public punishment, but a private reward. The Indigo League liked to snatch up promising young trainers early, after all.

Oak wasn't going to allow that to happen to Leo, not without giving him a choice. ACE wasn't a good place for him – for all his wits, if not wisdom, Leo was no soldier. All Oak had to do was be prepared for when Leo exited the mountains, and catch him before he caught the League's eye.

In the meantime though, he had research to do and a Gym Leader to keep an eye on. The more he watched Giovanni, the more Leo's claim that he was a crime boss started to make sense. The theory was there, he just needed evidence.

Merri teleported Oak to Blackthorn with a flex of her psychic powers, and the world shifted. A few hours ago he'd received a notification from Leo's trainer's registration that he'd checked into the Blackthorn Pokemon Center – a privilege he got from being Leo's registered guardian. And lo and behold, he had a third teammate; it was pure luck Oak caught it in time. He barely managed to stop the system from sending a notice to the League that a larvitar, a potential pseudo-legendary, was in the possession of a Youngster. As Kanto's premier Pokemon Professor, he had the right to hide certain facets of data from the League – he dealt with a lot of sensitive information after all, including diagnostic checks on official Elite teams.

Agatha trusted nobody else to ensure her team was hale and healthy, despite his and her…antagonistic relationship. It actually warmed Oak's heart a bit to think about, in a weird sort of way.

Oak blinked his eyes as Blackthorn City came into view, the darkness on the edges of his vision receding along with the disorientation that came with long-distance teleporting. A psychic force kept him from stumbling, pressing against his chest like a firm hand, and he nodded to Merri. The Alakazam just smiled serenely at him, glancing at the city around them with obvious distaste.

"No matter how many times we do that, I still can't get used to teleporting," Oak said, shaking his head. Merri made a small noise of amusement, briefly touching her mind to his to tell him where Leo and Victoria were, before recalling herself into her pokeball. He smiled and patted his side, where most of his old team sat in their respective balls, before schooling his features and marching off in the direction Merri had pointed him.

He didn't really notice the way the people of Blackthorn side-eyed him as he walked, each stride purposeful and confident, nor how they carefully moved out of his way, parting as if the sea before a gyarados. Nor did he pay much mind to the two gym trainers, marked by the gym uniforms they wore proudly, who watched him closely as he worked his way into the city. He chalked that up to them recognizing him, but that wasn't quite the truth.

This was Blackthorn. The people here were accustomed to old dragons intent on making their displeasure known.

It took only a few minutes for Oak to find Leo and Victoria, the sun having set but an hour ago and the two sitting on the patio of a casual-looking café, illuminated by the hanging lanterns Johtoans seemed to prefer. The smell of coffee and pastries wafted through the air, and Oak narrowed his eyes at the duo. Leo's back was facing him, the boy's long, messy brown hair poofing out at odd angles. Victoria sat beside him, voraciously tearing into the remains of a meal.

Oak frowned, and Leo visibly stiffened, slowly turning around in his seat, eyes scanning the crowd until he finally spotted the quickly approaching Professor. He took an almost sadistic satisfaction at the way Leo's eyes widened and color drained from his face, food forgotten as he turned and nudged Victoria, her own expression mirroring Leo's when she, too spotted him.

All it took was a deepening of the frown that he currently sported for Victoria to curb her immediate urge to flee, the woman stilling from where she had started to stand, slowly sinking back into her chair with an expression of defeat.

Good. Oak thought. They should be afraid.

"Lovely weather for a meal outside, isn't it?" Oak asked coolly as he vaulted the low, wrought-iron fence surrounding the café patio, sliding into a chair next to Leo, facing Victoria, with the smooth grace of a practiced gentleman.

"Yeah," Leo answered, voice surprisingly steady.

"What are you doing here, Professor?" Victoria asked, sounding much more nervous. His eyes narrowed imperceptibly, irritation welling up inside him. Wasn't she a Master? Didn't she know how to hide her emotions better?

"I believe the answer to that is obvious, Victoria," Oak said. Victoria swallowed thickly, and Leo sighed in resignation, slumping in his chair. Did you really think I wouldn't notice? Oak thought idly, staring dead at Victoria. I am not some tottering old fool.

"Sorry," Leo said, at least sounding sincere.

"You should be," Oak snapped. He had intended to let the game play out, see what excuses they would make and let Victoria dig herself and Leo into a hole, if they wanted to play the fool, but that admission let all his frustration come out. "Do you even realize why I didn't want you to go into those mountains? Hmm? Did you even stop and consider that maybe it wasn't because I didn't think you capable? That maybe it was because I didn't want you to start another wave of foolish children from jumping off into the wild unprepared?" he snapped, and Leo's eyes grew wide.

"I, uh," he stammered.

"Be quiet. You I can potentially excuse due to ignorance. You're absolutely smart enough to be able to understand the politics of Kanto and Johto though, so don't think you're off the hook. Ignorance is one thing, but willful ignorance is another. And Victoria? I expected more out of you. Did you stop to think why I was holding him back? Hmm?" Oak asked, waiting expectantly for Victoria to answer.

"Uh, because he's too young?" Victoria asked hesitantly. "But I told you, Alola –"

"This isn't Alola." Oak said bluntly. "This is Kanto. Dragonite do not gorge themselves on berries to become fat, friendly dragons. Here, the dragons rule the skies and seas and help only when they deem fit. Here, tyranitar do not sleep beneath the earth, only emerging once every half century on Mount Lanakila. They are tyrants. They roam the mountains, fight, rage, and destroy. This is the region snorlax are feared, not played upon like overgrown jungle gyms. This is the region muk are toxic, not recycling machines. And this is most certainly not the region where the Elites are friendly as your Kahunas,"

Victoria leaned back in her chair, her rattled expression morphing into a frown.

"I know that," she said.

"Do you?" Oak snapped.

"Yes!" She snapped back. "I do! And it's not like the pokémon in Kanto are more aggressive without reason – you Kantoans treat them more like Domestics than anything! They're perfectly reasonable creatures whenever you treat them with respect!"

"You are right about that. It's not the team that gets everyone killed or hurt, it's the trainer," Oak agreed, nodding. "Which is why I'm not angry about you going into the Silver Mountains because they're dangerous. I'm angry because you might just start another wave of Youngsters, this time with no excuse not to go in the most dangerous region of Kanto and Johto." That shut Victoria up for a moment, but if the frown on her face was anything to go by she was more than ready to keep arguing.

Oak was prepared to let her, until Leo spoke up.

"He's right, I think," he said, rubbing his face. "I did this without really understanding my position, or the politics of Kanto. I thought I did, but I didn't. I'm sorry. Got tunnel vision, I guess,"

Oak leaned back in his chair, idly noticing that they'd attracted a bit of attention from the other customers. But he found himself not caring much. This was important to get out now, rather than wait until later and let it lose its weight.

"I believe you are. But would you do it again?" he asked, meeting Leo's eyes. The boy nodded immediately, and Oak just wanted to throw his hands up into the air in exasperation. Had he not been listening?! "Why?! Were you not listening?"

"Do you really think I just went into those mountains for a larvitar?" Leo countered, and Oak hesitated. He can't say he'd really thought much about Leo's reasons. "I hadn't even thought about it much myself until Victoria said something to me earlier. Just had one goal in mind, y'know? Find a larvitar. Get Tyrus to let me take a larvitar, more precisely. But I just…had something to prove, I guess,"

"To who?" Victoria asked, furrowing her brows. Oak pressed his lips into a thin line, guessing where this was going and hating that he understood what he was about to say.

"Me. Who else would I be proving something to? You? The world? Nah, I needed to let myself know that I still had it. That my skills weren't just a fluke, that what I learned in the mountains wasn't just pity taken on a stranded child. That I still had my drive," Leo said, meeting Oak's eyes.

He understood – he didn't agree with it, but he understood – the need to test one's self. To prove that something, his survival in the Mountains in this case, wasn't a fluke or due to a legendary's influence. He'd gone through much the same thing after meeting celebi when he was a kid. So he didn't argue, instead he closed his eyes and sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose and trying to fight off his impending headache.

The conversation lapsed into silence from here. Leo asked a few questions; how much trouble was he in, would he expect anything from the League, that kind of stuff. Oak had waved it off for the most part – the League wouldn't find out what Leo did for a while, nor would InterPol discover his presence at the ultra-beast site. But the personal punishment, which would come from Oak, had yet to be decided. It would probably involve lectures, which seemed to be the one thing Leo actively despised.

They had a few more days before Oak had to be back at the lab for any serious length of time anyway – Gary was under the care of his sister, who was taking a break from journeying for the last few months of the League Season. This gave the professor plenty of time to come up with a suitable punishment, even if he couldn't force Leo to come back to the lab.

The next day Leo sat in a training field just outside of the city, his team released before him and stretching in the early-morning light. A cool mountain breeze rustled the pine trees and low oaky bushes, setting Leo's hair to stand on end as he enjoyed the morning. Despite feeling guilty for…well, everything, he had still managed to get a decent night's sleep. The Center beds were anything but comfortable, but it was nice to have a real mattress again.

"Slooow," Santiago crooned, butting his head against Leo's leg impatiently.

"You're riled up today, aren't you?" Leo asked, amused. Santiago growled lightly, rubbing his forehead against Leo's shin. "Yes, yes, we'll get started. Unless that's not what you want, huh?" he asked, bending down to rub Santiago's head affectionately. Zuko squeaked, darting forward and forcing his head under Leo's other hand, so he would start petting him too. Not to be left out, and because she was still curious as to what head-scratches felt like (they were kind of hard to feel through the Larvitar's rocky carapace), Diana ambled forward and proceeded to gently headbutt Leo in the gut, knocking him over.

Leo laughed and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, the little rock-type squirming under his grip.

"You little monster, you," he laughed, freeing her and letting her stumble away. "It's a good thing you were gentle there, that would've hurt quite a bit otherwise," he admonished, but Diana just tilted her head to the side and got distracted, ambling over to a rock lying on the ground. Leo ignored the crunching that followed, and set to work instructing Zuko and Santiago on their training regimen today.

With a clean bill of health from the Center and a good while ahead of them in civilization, Leo figured it was time to kick things up a notch. So he'd start the day with a spar between Zuko and Santiago, and spend some time with Diana. Santiago would try to hit Zuko, though using confusion didn't count because the Slowpoke couldn't quite control it yet, and Zuko would either dodge or intercept the attack with one of his own. It'd get everyone all nice and warmed up.

Once that was started he moved over to Diana, still chewing on her rock, and promptly started to go through his own martial arts movements. She watched him for a while, then stood and began to copy once she got her curiosity up. Leo grinned at her, stopping to gently correct her stance, basically just widening her feet, and adjusted his movements so that she could follow.

Occasionally he would call out a name for the stance, or strike, so that she could start associating the words with the movements. That would, hopefully, mean she could use this in a battle. If it was even remotely feasible. Leo hoped it was. A tyranitar that knew martial arts sounded awesome, even if they did have relatively short arms.

It was a pleasant morning, despite the grunts and growls and hisses of steam from fire meeting water in the background, with spearow flitting through the trees and the occasional bug-type visible in the dense pines that surrounded the training ground. Leo sighed and continued his motions, trying his hardest to not let his mind wander. It would do no good to overthink what Professor Oak had said last night; it was either learn more about the culture, customs, and politics of the Indigo League, or keep making mistakes. It was that simple.

"They're looking good. Got a nice team going, here," a familiar voice said from behind him, startling Leo.

"Professor! You're back early. I thought you would still be at the lab," Leo said, turning to greet him. Professor Oak had on casual clothes today, a tight t-shirt and jeans, and had a small smile on his face. It was a sharp contrast to the disappointed frown from last night, Leo noted.

"Gary's at school and the aides are taking care of the pokémon. I don't need to micromanage everything, you know," Oak said with a chuckle. "Teaching martial arts to your Larvitar though? That's certainly…interesting," he said, tone clearly telling Leo of his doubts.

"She started copying me in my morning routine – who am I to stop her? Besides, it could be interesting," he said, glancing at his newest capture and nodding to himself in satisfaction. Even though he had stopped moving, she was still going, attempting to spin in a circle in a way as similar to Leo as she could. He refrained from helping her, though. She needed to figure some of it out by herself, there was only so much he could do for her as their bodies were so different. Instruction was ok, micromanagement was not.

"I see. Well, I was hoping we could chat for a bit. It's been a while after all," he said, and Leo winced.

"Sorry," he said. Before he could continue, apologizing for taking advantage of Oak's kindness and all that, Oak waved his hand dismissively.

"It's the life of a trainer. Sometimes you just need to disappear for a while," he said. "Tell me about your trip, I'm interested to hear about it,"

Leo hesitated for a moment, then grimaced. He'd forgotten to tell the Professor about Longinus last night – mostly because he had left for Pallet right after chewing both him and Victoria out, promising to be back in the morning. Though, honestly, there was a lot to tell.

"I mean, Victoria already told you about the ultra-beast, right? Said that there won't be any action to remove the beasts so long as they remain encased in ice," Leo mused, scratching his chin and putting the topic of Longinus off.

"Yes," Professor Oak said, sitting down on the grass and watching Leo's team train. He followed suit, the dew-covered grass immediately soaking through his pants as his eyes roved over Diana, then moved to the blur that was Zuko and the pink tank of a slowpoke charging after him with all the grace of an angry Tauros.

"Well, then I'll tell you about froslass and articuno first," Leo said, grinning when the professor's head whipped toward him in surprise. And, for the next hour or so, Leo regaled the Professor with stories of the Silver Mountains, telling him of what it was like meeting articuno, of froslass' annoyingly mischievous behavior, of all the species he saw and of froslass' origins, and more. About halfway through his stories Leo had gone to his pack, lying on the edge of the training field, and retrieved both his pokedex and Longinus' gem. The former so Oak could review some of the scans, the gem for the conversation he'd been avoiding for a while now.

Why was it that Leo was always the one telling Oak someone he knew had died?

"I'll want to copy this data and examine it further at the lab," Oak said, scrolling through a few of the pictures Leo had taken. Santiago currently lay in a heap next to the older man, Zuko laying across Leo's legs, panting, the two having tired themselves out with their training session. "I don't think the scanner worked as well as I would've liked, especially in scanning articuno, but it's probably more hard data we've gotten on the legendary than has been discovered in the past century. That's not even mentioning all the scans you did of froslass – I am honestly shocked by how many rare pokémon you ran into this trip. Either your luck is terrible, or amazing," Oak said, shaking his head.

Leo smiled thinly, stroking Zuko's warm fur, careful to keep his hands away from the red dots on his head and rump, lest the Quilava have a sudden flare-up, and figured now was a good a time as any.

"Sure. There is one more thing though," he said. "Longinus is dead,"

"Hmm?" Oak said, looking up. Leo presented Longinus' gem to him, the little pink gem resting softly in his palm.

"He, uh, gave his crown to Queen after battling the ultra-beast. You know, the slowpoke who helped me so much before. She's the one who evolved, but he did separate his gem from his crown. Articuno froze his body, that's the mound of rocks you see in some of the pictures," Leo explained as Oak reached out and took the gem from him.

He examined it for a while, expression unreadable, before handing it back to Leo.

"You keep it. A psychic focus like that will come in handy for training Santiago, or any other psychic you happen to catch," he said, meeting Leo's eyes with a sort of sad/amused smile. "Don't give me that look, he's been gone for nearly forty years now. I can hardly remember what his voice sounded like, and I already grieved Longinus once. I've done enough mourning to last a lifetime." Oak said, and Leo nodded silently. The silence lasted for a moment more before the Professor stood, stretching and groaning like an old man.

"Speaking of, you should probably focus on resolving your little froslass problem. Since you accepted the responsibility of resolving her regrets, you need to see it through as quick as possible. These types of ghosts won't let you rest until you get it done," he said sternly.

"Was planning on it, so long as you didn't forbid me from travelling anymore or anything," Leo said. "Can't say I'd blame you for it,"

"Mm. I still have to decide on a suitable punishment – the problem is I can't exactly ground you from television. You'd probably like that," Oak said, and Leo chuckled. He would. Surprisingly enough, Leo felt like he didn't miss television or the internet. There was an entire, crazy world to explore here. It was more than entertaining enough. "Any idea where you're going to start? A burning tower…can't say anything comes to mind. Lavender, maybe?" he mused.

"Froslass pointed towards Johto, so I'm betting it's somewhere in the region. Was thinking either the Sprout Tower in Violet City – I've heard that's burned down once or twice – or Ecruteak," Leo reasoned. "I'll have to see if there are any other sites where towers burned. Who knows, maybe I'm interpreting the vision all wrong anyway,"

"Maybe," Oak said, rubbing his chin. "Good places to start though. Should even be able to get your first badge if you go to Violet first. Falkner is notoriously easy on rookies, though. Shouldn't be much of a problem for your current team – the first badge is generally achieved within the first three months of training,"

"Huh," Leo said, standing and recalling most of his team. Diana was left out, mostly so he could continue bonding with her. She was truly a joy to be around, and incredibly amusing. She tried to eat a bench earlier, but disliked the taste of steel and had proceeded to rub her mouth in the dirt with a disgusted expression. 'Twas priceless.

"In the meantime, we have some lessons to get through," Oak said, grinning.

"Lessons?" Leo asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Lessons. Merri just gave me a great idea, and even agreed to help me. For the next few days, I'll be educating you on the politics of the Indigo League – and you have no right to complain." Oak said, and Leo groaned. Yes, he did agree that he needed to understand this part of the world more, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Plus, learning from Oak meant lectures. Leo hated lectures. They didn't work for him, and more often than not, he found his attention…drifting. Focusing on things he didn't like was hard.

"Let's get this over with," Leo grumbled, rubbing his face.

"That's the spirit! Let's start with the general legislative structure surrounding the Gym system," he said, and Leo forced an attentive look on his face, inwardly lamenting and praying that there wouldn't be a test. And he prayed that this punishment would not last too long.

Chapter Text

Leo's back hit the ground with a thud, the breath leaving his lungs as he stared up at the bright blue sky. He'd found himself in this position a lot recently. After taking lectures with Oak for the past week, he would go and spar with Victoria who would promptly beat him into the ground. And yet, despite all their spars, he honestly couldn't tell whether or not she had received any actual hand-to-hand combat training or if she was just skilled at fighting. It didn't really matter, he figured as he just lay on his back. Every single time they sparred she beat him, almost flawlessly.

"Still just a kid," Victoria said, offering him her hand. He took it and she hauled him to his feet, wincing as his bruised ribs ached. "What amazes me is how eager you are to jump into a beating. It's almost like you enjoy it or something,"

"Thanks. And nah, I can just be bull-headed. It's genetic, my father was the same way," Leo admitted, leaning into the pain in his sides and hissing as he glanced around the Pokemon Center training areas. It was an indoor arena, so that meant concrete floors, a few training dummies set up off to one side, and a set of rules embossed on a sign next to the door telling trainers what level of pokémon and attacks they could use in the room.

Repairs were expensive, after all. Thankfully he wasn't doing any dangerous training with his team – in fact, only Santiago was receiving any training at the moment, sitting off to Leo's left. Victoria's Oranguru lounged in front of him, the big white-furred ape locked in a staring contest as the two's eyes glowed blue with psychic power - their minds clashing in a psychic duel. And since they were mostly stationary, that left plenty of room for Leo and Victoria to spar in, without fear of getting in the way of any pokémon attacks.

"You don't say," Victoria said dryly, raising an eyebrow. "Have you thought any more about my offer, by the way?" she asked, and Leo nodded with a frown, kneading the back of his neck with a knuckle.

"I think I'll take you up on it. Going to Alola sounds nice right about now, and it'd keep me out of trouble. There's too much surrounding the Youngster License, too much heat, and though they can't revoke my license if it gets repealed, I just…I don't want to touch the situation with a ten-foot pole. Can't say I'm knowledgeable enough about the situation to keep myself out of trouble, and I know myself well enough that I can't make any guarantees. So if I'm going to cause trouble, I might as well remove myself from the equation." Leo reasoned. Victoria nodded.

"That just means you need to get, what, two, three badges before the Season ends in a few months? Otherwise the League won't let you travel to another region as a trainer," Victoria mused.

"Yeah, that's the easiest way. There are a few ways around it, but if I want to go to Alola that'd be my best shot. Which leaves me with, what, three or so months to get those badges?" Leo asked.

"Yes," Victoria agreed.

"I'd probably better get started then. Yesterday was the last day Oak had set aside for tutoring, so now's a good time. Was actually planning on leaving today to head toward Violet City, but I'm pretty sure I already told you this," Leo said, marching over to Santiago. It was only seven or so in the morning right now, so there was still plenty of time to hit the road. It was kind of funny how he was such a morning person now.

Never would he have thought he'd turn into a morning person. In his old world he almost never got up before ten, preferring to stay up late writing or playing video games with Jack, so this early morning thing was new and exciting. He liked it to be honest. Felt productive.

Leo frowned as he knelt next to Santiago, laying a hand on the Slowpoke's head to let him know that it was time to be done. He hadn't thought about Jack, his friend who had come with him through the ultra-wormhole, in a while now. Despite consistent searches on what passed for the internet in this world for people with similar stories to Leo in other regions, or other telling factors that might tell Leo where Jack might be, he'd seen and heard nothing. This was probably due to news from other regions being suppressed or largely ignored by the people of the Indigo League, though. He was, at least, fairly certain Jack wasn't in Kanto or Johto. Barring…unfortunate circumstances Leo didn't want to imagine.

Part of him hoped he'd find Jack in Alola. The realistic side of him doubted it. Wherever he was, though, Leo just hoped he was safe.

"Earth to Leo, you there?" Victoria said, laying a hand on Leo's head and raising an eyebrow at him. He batted her hand away in a practiced motion, standing and recalling Santiago, who had been staring at him with blank eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I just spaced," Leo said, idly noticing that Victoria had recalled her oranguru.

"I can tell. Have you told the Professor about Alola?" She asked.

"Yeah, he said it wasn't a bad idea. I get to go around and be adventurous and nobody tries to turn me into an icon to send kids out into the wild. It's a win-win," Leo reasoned. "Again, just need to get my badges and deal with the ghost problem first. Technically I could go to Alola now, but then I'd have to leave most, if not all, of my team behind,"

"Definitely not a good idea, especially with a team as young as yours. Santiago may be fine, but Zuko and Diana are still bonding with you. You need to continue to strengthen those bonds," Victoria said, nodding. "As much as he may not like the idea of you continuing around on your journey, you won't be doing anything that hasn't been done by a Youngster before, and I'm sure he'd agree with me on the bonding. The first year is crucial to team development,"

"So I've heard," Leo said, heading toward the exit. "What are you going to do while I'm off doing my thing?" he asked.

"I've got a few jobs I picked up here in Blackthorn, a few requests that may not require the attention of a Master but would still give my team a decent workout. Apparently the local Rangers are having trouble with an encroaching sneasel pack – the sneaky little jerks are unusually aggressive," Victoria said. Leo raised an eyebrow at her, holding the door open for her as she stepped out of the training area. Leo slid out behind her, the door closing with a hiss of compressed air. The hall was lined with three similar doors, each holding a similar training ground, and off to the right the light of the Center lobby shone brightly.

"A sneasel pack? Does the League really need your help containing them? From what I know of sneasel they're pretty skittish of anything that poses a threat," Leo reasoned. He idly touched the scars on his shoulders from his own run-in with sneasel, and Victoria grinned sharply.

"Ah, that's the glory of being a freelance Master, unaffiliated with any Leagues. I can stick my nose wherever I want," she said. "They can't really complain if I decide to handle a few local problems here and there,"

"They probably can," Leo deadpanned as they walked out into the lobby. The Nurse Joy in charge squinted at them blearily, the early morning sun streaming in through the glass windows to land directly on her face. Leo waved at her. She didn't wave back, nursing her cup of coffee and looking half-dead.

"Probably. Won't stop me from doing it anyway though, it's an official request through the local Center. See ya 'round, kid. Keep up with your martial training while I'm away! I want to see some improvement next time I see you!" she said all too cheerily, all but bolting outside and releasing General on the empty street.

The Braviary stretched his wings and shrieked at the sky as Victoria vaulted onto his back, slapping him upside the head as she did so, and pointed upward. A single powerful beat of his wings later, and the two vanished from Leo's sight. He sighed and shook his head, nodding to the Joy and glancing around the relatively empty lobby.

The official request thing Victoria mentioned had been something he learned about recently. People could put in job requests for trainers through Pokemon Centers, which would be picked up and completed by trainers at their discretion, usually for monetary reward. He'd heard it could be for pretty much anything, from moving companies asking for extra hands, to requests for aid from the local Ranger station. The latter was rare though. The Rangers were pretty good at their jobs.

Leo scratched his chin as he headed back to his room to get his stuff. He remembered something similar being in the Sword and Shield games, as a little side thing for your stored pokémon to do while you did whatever. He'd never really given it much thought, though, until Victoria brought it up a few times. Was a nice way to make a little extra money – or would've been, had Leo been eligible for those services.

As a Youngster, a lot of systems were off limits to him. He got certain levels of healing, a little bit of free room each month, and maybe some food, but other than that? Nah. No trade services, no job boards, nothing – at least through the Pokémon Center, anyway. Honestly kind of sucked.

"Oh well, my job can just be beating people in battle," Leo told himself, chuckling, as he opened the door to his room and collected his backpack and replenished supplies. It was a lie, of course. He wouldn't be beating many serious trainers around Blackthorn. Like Viridian, it was an Eight Badge town. Rookies were rare, and the serious trainers were very competitive.

Slinging his backpack over one shoulder, Leo doubled checked the room and nodded to himself, sure he had packed everything. It was time to hit the road once more.

"Give it back, Froslass!" Leo howled in anger, chasing after the specter. He crashed through bushes and leapt over fallen trees, Zuko zooming about ahead of him as Froslass giggled and darted between trees, holding his pokedex in one ice-white hand. Branches and brambles whipped at his face, catching on his clothes and backpack as he tore through the forest after the mischievous ghost. Haunting giggles echoes through the ever-darkening trees, a noctowl poking it head out of its nest to watch Leo run by with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Zuko, try an ember!" Leo ordered. The Quilava skidded to a halt and spat out a short burst of embers, the tiny balls of fire mostly spattering harmlessly against the trunk of a tree, while the few that were on target vanished in the icy cold aura of Froslass. She giggled and waggled her head side to side, taunting the two.

If Zuko wanted, his embers could absolutely burn hot enough to reach Froslass without being snuffed out by the cold. The problem was Leo didn't want to start a forest fire by ordering that. He scowled, chest heaving as he doubled over, hands on his knees as he glared at Froslass.

"Give it back," he commanded. A command which, to his surprise, Froslass actually acquiesced to, tossing the pokedex back to him. He warily picked it up from where it landed at his feet, dusting off the casing and checking to make sure it still worked. He'd hate for Froslass' eternally cold body to have frozen the internals or something. "Still works," he muttered, checking the map function and nodding when the 'dex picked up a gps signal. He was a little off course thanks to Froslass, who had led him a good mile north on Route 31. Technically he was still within the bounds of the Route, so he wouldn't get in trouble if the Rangers caught him, but still.

A chill ran up Leo's spine and he turned to cock an eyebrow at Froslass as she floated behind him, grinning evilly.

"It's nice to see you again too. Thought you vanished on that mountain," Leo deadpanned. Froslass pouted – as well as an ice spirit could anyway – and disappeared into a puff of ice and wind that floated north-west. "You want me to follow you that way?" he asked. She reappeared and nodded vigorously.

"I'm heading to Violet City first," Leo argued. She frowned and he help up a hand. "Look, I'm going to help you, but I want to get a few badges out of the way too. Violet's on the way. Obviously, your tower isn't the Sprout Tower, though. Ecruteak, then?" Leo asked. She shrugged but gestured north-west once more.

Leo sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. So far, the journey had been relatively uneventful. The dangerous Ice Path was heavily restricted to Youngsters, so heading West to Mahogany from Blackthorn was out of the question – which left Leo travelling South for a while down to Cherrygrove, then back up north towards Violet. It'd taken him a solid two weeks of constant travel, but that was more because of the convoluted Routes rather than the actual distance covered. South of Blackthorn, Leo forgot the Route number, was the worst. It had way too many canyons and cliffs to wander around.

Still, there had been a few trainers to battle, so his team got a lot of training in against other trainers. Except for Diana. Oak had warned him to keep her out of official battles until he was strong enough to defend against those who might want to coerce him out of the larvitar, and this time Leo heeded his advice. Besides, she was a little sweetheart. Though she would grow more aggressive as she matured, right now she'd much rather eat rocks than battle.

"Don't suppose you'd want to help me get my first badge?" Leo asked conversationally, heading once again towards Violet. "A powerful ice-type like you would absolutely sweep the flying type gym. At least at this level,"

A sharp giggle and a burst of cold wind was his answer, and Leo sighed. He just hoped she didn't decide to sabotage his first gym battle – he wouldn't put it past her.

Violet City was big. Bigger than Viridian, and by far the biggest city he'd been to in this world – which was still much smaller than the big cities back on Earth. So, despite the growing crowds and bustling people, each heading their own way in the midday sun, Leo didn't feel too overwhelmed. He may have spent most of his time out in the wilds this past half year, but that didn't make him unable to cope with a lot of people.

Didn't mean he liked the city, what with its filthy city smell, constant noise, and an ever-present buzz that spoke of people constantly on the move. The noise hardly left him any room to think – a far cry from the silence of the wild. He was used to it just being him, his team, and the sounds of the forest. It was…soothing, unlike the city.

Which led him to where he was now – standing in front of the Violet City Gym, after having spent the better part of the morning just searching for the stupid thing. Like he said, the city was large. Despite receiving directions from Nurse Joy as to where the gym was both that morning and the night before, Leo having gotten to Violet yesterday and spent the night in the Center, using up one of his allotted "free days," he still got hopelessly turned around. Thankfully the locals seemed more than willing to point him in the right direction.

The gym was tall and domed, not unlike a stadium with its open roof, and from the inside he could hear yells and cheers ringing out. The sounds of combat blasted out of the open roof, setting Leo's heart to pounding. As this was his first gym badge he wouldn't be standing on the big stage, like whatever was happening now – that was reserved for high-badge battles or famous trainers, which attracted a lot of attention and crowds – but the idea that he could be there, one day, was…well, he wasn't quite sure what to think about it yet. It was both intimidating, yet also really cool.

As it was now, no one cared about his battles. First badge battles were considered casual things – battles that anyone with a half-trained pokémon may be able to get. It wasn't until the fourth and fifth badges that things really started to heat up and get competitive.

"Right, no point putting it off," Leo muttered, shaking his head clear of his wandering thoughts and pushing forward. The sliding glass doors gleamed in the evening sun, making him squint as he stepped inside. He was greeted by a dull roar from the stadium and soft music playing on the lobby speakers. The lobby itself was relatively empty, despite its massive size – it was easily a hundred feet wide and lined with couches, TVs displaying the ongoing battle, and with numerous doorways and stairs leading to the stands and other arenas filled the lobby. Directly in front of him sat a man behind a counter, his eyes glued to the TV.

Leo side-eyed the TV's as he approached, where a grey-haired woman was battling Falkner's Skarmory with an umbreon. As he watched Skarmory swooped down, wings glowing silver, and crashed harshly against the protect shield of Umbreon, who retaliated with a wave of darkness that washed over Skarmory's armor without much visible effect. The camera zoomed out quickly, following Skarmory as it flew back up into the air, shadows trailing like mist from its metallic feathers.

"Hello," Leo greeted, leaning against the front lobby counter. The receptionist jerked in surprise, whipping his head to Leo then smiling thinly.

"Hello. How may I help you?" he asked.

"I'm here for a gym battle," Leo said, glancing at the TV. "Or, at least, to register for one,"

"Gotcha. Can I have your Trainer ID please?" he asked, turning to a computer and waiting expectantly for Leo as he pulled out his ID, reading the numbers off of the metallic card for the man, whose eyes kept drifting to the TV screen. "Excellent, let me pull up your data here…alright. Leo Angelico, Youngster, started this year, no badges. This will be a challenge for your first badge then?" he asked, glancing up at Leo.

"Yes,"

"You're in luck. We have very few low-badge trainers scheduled today, so you'll be able to get the Gym Test out of the way today if you'd like. Once you get that done, if you pass, we can schedule your challenge," the receptionist replied.

"Thanks…what's your name again?" Leo asked.

"Josh," the man replied.

"Thanks, Josh. Where should I go from here?" he asked. Josh smiled and pointed him down one of the halls to the right, explaining that it would lead him to one of the smaller arenas, and telling him a bit about the test. Falkner's test was fairly simple, at least for first-badge trainers. It started with a few accuracy tests, hitting targets at range and in close quarters, and ended with one or two trainer battles.

Leo thanked Josh for the advice and headed down the hall, the roar of the crowds dimming as he plodded along. He palmed an empty pokeball, expanding and shrinking the device absently. It didn't take long for him to run into another guide, who led him to the examination room and promptly began setting up his test, looking thoroughly bored the entire time.

The first part of the test was both a test of his control over his team and accuracy on his pokemon's part, with hanging targets – comically painted red and white, some swinging and some stationary over rocky terrain, and each numbered – strategically placed around an arena with a number of boulders dotting the terrain. He was tasked with ordering his chosen pokémon to hit the target indicated by the instructor.

Leo went with the obvious choice. Santiago wouldn't listen to instructions if it wasn't an actual battle, so the only real choice was Zuko. By the fifth target swiftly and efficiently hit by Zuko's embers he thought that the instructor might bump up the difficulty level, having showcased Zuko's accuracy. The targets were nothing when compared to aiming at zubat flitting about a dark cave, after all. But there was no such luck to be had – the test continued for a few more targets, the instructor even stating that a few had to be hit in close range or physically, before it finally ended.

"Good job, bud," Leo said, recalling Zuko from the rocky field. He looked over to the instructor expectantly, who nodded to him.

"You passed the first stage. Would you like to continue to the trainer battles, or take a chance to rest your pokémon?" he asked. Leo frowned, hoping the question was rote and not serious. There was no way Zuko was tired after that farce of a test. Maybe he'd be a little worn out as a cyndaquil? This is a first badge challenge, they're supposed to be achieved in the first three months of training. His brain helpfully supplied.

"I'll continue," Leo answered. The instructor nodded and pressed a button near the exit, stepping to the side of the small arena and up onto the referee podium. The targets on the field retracted into the ceiling and floor, pulled up into the metal rafters via pullies and just lying on the ground for the stationary ones, and the instructor-turned-ref looked Leo dead in the eye as he spoke.

"This will be a two-on-two battle with a gym trainer. No switches are allowed; recalling your pokémon will count as their becoming unfit for battle. Standard battle rules apply. Do you understand?" he asked monotone.

"Yes," Leo responded, itching to get on with it. He wanted to see where he was actually at when it came to battling. He figured he might be a bit over-leveled for the first gym, to use game terminology, but he wanted to be sure. The instructor nodded back and, after a few minutes, the door to the arena opened, revealing a disgruntled young woman with a harried expression. She couldn't have been older than sixteen, from the looks of it.

"Sorry for the wait! I wanted to watch the end of Karen's match – she won by the way. Her Umbreon is a beast," she said excitedly, grinning at the instructor.

"I'm sure I'll be able to watch the recording," he said, boredom still coloring his voice. "If you would please? And please tell me you grabbed a first-badge team this time," he said, gesturing to the opposite side of the field from Leo. She laughed and, after assuring the instructor she had grabbed a team meant for this low-level of battle, moved to stand across from Leo.

"How's it going, kid? Ready to be destroyed by the might of flying types?" she asked cockily, unable to hide the smile on her face. Leo snorted in amusement, shaking his head.

"Ok, be honest with me. Do they make you say stuff like that at the beginning of battles?" he asked. She winked at him and pulled a pokeball off her belt, but didn't reply. If I were a gym leader, I'd make everyone use puns. It'd be the punniest gym around. He thought with a grin.

"Begin!" The instructor called, and Leo and the girl released their pokémon at the same time.

Santiago appeared between two rather tall boulders, while across from him, in clear line of sight of the slowpoke, a spearow appeared with a squawk and ruffling of feathers. Without even waiting for a command Santiago leapt into action, a jet of water lancing out from his mouth even as he lowered his stance to do battle. The spearow was caught completely by surprise by the sudden attack, taking the jet of water head-first and tumbling wing-over-feather to the ground. Silence reigned for a moment as the spearow lay there, unmoving, Leo and Santiago caught completely by surprise as to how quickly that battle had ended. The girl and the instructor, on the other hand, shared a look as she recalled the downed spearow.

"Uh…sorry 'bout that. Santiago gets a little excited when it comes to battling. Is Spearow ok?" Leo asked tentatively. The girl smiled at him and waved the comment off.

"He'll be fine. Young pokémon like him bounce back quickly," she assured him, hand hovering over the right side of her belt, where three pokeballs sat. She seemed to deliberate for a moment before choosing the one furthest back, releasing a zubat onto the field without a command. The purple bat screeched irritably, flitting about erratically as it discovered its surroundings with echolocation.

"No!" Leo barked, stopping Santiago from immediately attacking, and waiting for the start command. Santiago whined pitifully, head swiveling back and forth as he tracked the zubat, tail drooping.

"Begin!" The ref called, content that Santiago would follow Leo's commands.

"Water gun!"

"Supersonic!"

A jet of water lanced out towards Zubat, narrowly missing the evasive bat as it screeched at Santiago. He paid no heed to the aggravatingly loud screech, which set Leo's ears to ringing, and instead hunkered down to let the purple glow of curse surround his body. Leo's expression narrowed as Zubat zipped in towards Santiago, fangs bared and dripping poison.

He knew this strategy. It was common amongst Zubat, instinctual almost. And the position Santiago was now providing for the bat was all but an open invitation for it to latch onto him and attempt a leech life – his eyes were closed, he was crouching low and seemingly not paying attention as he built up more muscle and mass. Unfortunately for the Zubat, this reaction was exactly what Santiago was going for. The moment its dive was too close to abort his eyes snapped open and he whipped himself around, so his tail smashed straight into Zubat's face. The much smaller pokémon tumbled through the air, only just managing to right itself before it hit the ground, squeaking in surprise and pain.

Santiago pressed his advantage then, spinning back around to face Zubat and spitting a water pulse at it.

"Dodge!" the girl called desperately, but alas Zubat was still too disoriented from being hit earlier to fully dodge. The speeding ball of water barely managed to clip its wing as it flapped to the side, sending it spinning through the air.

"Confusion," Leo commanded, knowing that the battle was effectively over at this point and wanting Santiago to get at least a little practice in with his one known psychic move.

Santiago stilled, his eyes flickering blue for a brief moment as his weak psychic powers came into play, suffusing the opposing Zubat in a blue glow even as the girl called for it to use astonish. The confusion turned out to be too much for the bat to take, however, and it fell to the ground unconscious. The girl recalled it with a sigh, nodding to Leo respectfully before leaving the arena.

Leo recalled Santiago, the slowpoke not even breathing hard from the battle, and frowned. He took two things away from this battle; one, that Santiago had finished that entire fight without taking a hit. And two; the girl's last-ditch effort to cancel out Santiago's confusion. Using a ghost-type attacking move like astonish to weaken confusion, even if it hadn't worked at the time, seemed like a brilliant strategy. He'd have to remember that one.

Leo looked up from his magazine as the door to the waiting room opened, revealing Falkner himself chatting good-naturedly with the silver-haired girl he'd seen fighting on the TV earlier – Karen. He raised one eyebrow at the pair, folding his magazine up and glancing towards one of the gym employees that sat off to the side, behind a desk tapping away at his computer. Supposedly he was looking up when Leo could schedule his battle against Falkner, or whoever would be filling in for the low-level badge that day.

After all, it wasn't really fair for the gym leader to have to take on the sometimes-literally thousands of people searching to challenge them in one day. It wasn't uncommon for gym trainers would fill in – at least at the lower tiers. First and second badge battles were fair game, it was the third badge where training got serious. Or so Leo heard.

"…I must say, I think you stand a fair chance at winning in Blackthorn, Karen. Clair is still new at the position, so she's trying to cement her strength by defeating as many potential challengers as she can. But after today's battle I'd say you just might be able to pull it off, even if she is going no-holds-barred," Falkner said amiably.

"I appreciate your praise. My team has worked very hard, but I want to make sure we're ready for Blackthorn. Might challenge Clair first thing next season, if I don't think we're ready," Karen responded, patting her belt full of pokeballs. Falkner nodded, eyes scanning the room and passing over Leo – only to return to him, one eyebrow raised.

"I wasn't aware we had another challenger today," he said, glancing over at the gym staff sitting behind the counter. Said man only briefly glanced up at Falkner, swiftly turning his attention back to his computer even as he replied.

"We don't. He just finished his test and is looking to schedule. I'm trying to fit it in, but you're pretty booked up for the next week or so. Just waiting on Janice to get back to me with a few things before I give him the options available," he replied. Falkner hummed in thought.

"How was his test score?" Falkner asked. Leo frowned, not really appreciating being talked about like he wasn't in the room, but also not really caring. A part of him hoped that Falkner would let his challenge happen now, since he was finished with his battle against Karen and now had no other challengers, apparently.

"Flawless," the staff member said. This made Falkner's eyebrows rise, and he moved over to look at the computer over his shoulder. Leo fidgeted.

"How many badges you got, kid?" Karen, the silver haired woman, asked with a raised eyebrow. Leo glanced at her and, in that brief moment where she stared at him with an eyebrow raised and her hip cocked to one side, looking a little annoyed at Falkner's flighty attention span, he thought he recognized her. She can't be…the future member of the Elite Four, can she? He vaguely remembered hearing about her as an up-and-coming dark-type-specialist before he left on his journey, but hadn't made the connection at the time.

"This'll be my first," he replied, shelving his thoughts for now. It didn't really matter if she was or wasn't that Karen. Yet, anyway.

"Bit late into the season to be getting your first badge, don't you think? Did you just start your journey or something?" She asked. Leo shrugged.

"I got distracted along the way. What about you? You just got your seventh badge, right? Saw you on the TV. How long have you been training?" Leo asked, shifting the topic of conversation away from himself.

"Two years," she said, puffing her chest out with pride. "I turn seventeen in a few months. Impressive, right?" Leo immediately reevaluated his opinion of her training skills. To get five badges in one year like Daisy Oak had (again, he hadn't heard from her in a while – was she doing alright?) was impressive and genius-level. To get seven badges, possibly eight if Falkner's words were to be believed, in two was nigh unheard of. The difference in skill level required for the sixth, seventh, and eight badges respectively, when compared to all those before, were leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. It normally took years to get to that level.

"Hey, Leo!" Falkner said, interrupting Leo and Karen's conversation. "You want to challenge me now? I've got some time before I'm needed elsewhere, we could go ahead and knock your challenge out," he said.

Leo frowned at him. "Didn't you just battle Karen? You're not tired?" he asked. High-level battles could be tiring. At least, he imagined they were. They were more stressful and more intense after all.

"I've been battling high-tier trainers for a while now, and any low-badgers that do come in are relegated to my gym trainers. I could use a little break and have a nice, casual battle. What do you say?" he asked. Leo hummed and glanced at Karen more to give himself time to think than anything else. It wasn't like Santiago or Zuko were tired after the tests, so…

"Sure, sounds good. I appreciate it," he said, standing. Falkner grinned and clapped his hands together, an evil glint appearing in his eyes that made Leo immediately suspicious.

"Great! I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of Youngster would catch Victoria Oak's eye. For her to be your sponsor is quite a statement. She helped me train my own Dodrio, you know!" he said with a laugh and Leo internally groaned. Of course having the Oak name attached to his trainer's license in the form of his sponsor would attract attention to himself. Of course it would.

"Victoria Oak? The normal-type Master? You're sponsored by her?" Karen asked, interest plain to see on her face. "…hope you don't mind an audience then,"

Leo barely managed to withhold his groan once more, but still rubbed his face irritably. And now he had an audience. Most first-badge battles didn't because they weren't as interesting to viewers. Well, look on the bright side. At least now that Falkner knows Victoria sponsored me, my team might get a challenge out of this battle.

Why did I agree to this? Leo asked himself for the umpteenth time, standing across from Falkner on the battlefield. Empty bleachers surrounded the indoor field, the ceiling a good twenty feet in the air above the barren arena, with flickering lights illuminating the area. The bleachers themselves were empty, save for Karen and a few gym trainers who had come to watch Falkner. Leo recognized the girl he had fought during the test, but none of that was the source of his current headache.

His headache came from him agreeing to a three-on-three battle with Falkner. The gym leader had all but pleaded Leo to up the pokémon limit, it usually being a two-on-two for first badge trainers, as he "wanted to see the full extent of Victoria's training, not just the best you have to offer." That, combined with the gym leader assuring full confidentiality in case Leo had a rare pokémon (which was his main source of concern, larvitar were coveted after all - but if he couldn't trust a gym leader who could he trust?), as well as keeping the recording private, had led Leo to accept the terms to a three-on-three battle.

That, and the fact that Leo didn't really need to beat Falkner to earn his badge. Just impress him, and assure him that he had reached a certain level in training. Gym Leaders were allowed to hand out badges at their own discretion.

In reality, it wasn't a logical choice. Leo had just caved in front of the Leader's constant asking. Let's just hope Santiago and Zuko can finish this before I need to use Diana. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Leo refocused on the imminent battle. The referee had just finished with stating the rules, and now had one hand raised in the air, preparing to start the match.

"Begin!" he called, and Leo and Falkner released their first pokémon at the same time.

Zuko appeared in front of Leo, while before Falkner a doduo appeared in a flash of red. Its two heads squawked at each other, beaks snapping irritably even before it realized that it had an opponent.

"Ember!" Leo immediately called, Falkner simply snapping his fingers to get the bird's attention. Zuko spat a stream of embers at Doduo, the small balls of flame peppering its torso and snapping the two heads to attention as it leapt towards Zuko in one large leap. Zuko scrambled out of the way as the bird came down on top of him, claws scratching and beaks jabbing, and only just getting out of the way. He responded with another short burst of embers before sprinting away from the much larger bird – with only one problem. Doduo was faster. Its legs were longer and its beak had further reach, so it was only a matter of time before it caught him.

"Smoke bomb yourself," Leo ordered.

"Fury attack," Falkner said with a frown. Doduo launched itself forward, leaping clear over Zuko, who skidded to a halt and sucked in a deep breath, before whipping around and jabbing with both of its heads.

The twin beaks jabbed viciously into Zuko's sides, but unfortunately for the bird its leftmost head came dangerously close to the red dots atop Zuko's head. The quilava squealed in anger, flaring up his fire – which singed the side of one of Doduo's heads – and belched out a stream of superheated black smoke all over Doduo. It squawked indignantly, scrambling back out of the increasingly large cloud of smoke and shaking itself vigorously. A dull red glow from inside the smoke indicated Zuko's position, which quickly faded when the smoke ceased to grow.

"Rage, quick," Falkner ordered. One of Doduo's heads squawked in anger, shaking itself vigorously, while the other bobbed its head, beak glowing white. White light burned off of its talons as it all but vanished from where it stood, displacing the smoke as it sped through the cover and slammed into Zuko, who went flying with a yelp. To his credit, though, he was ready and unleashed another torrent of embers at the doduo, who came tearing out of the smoke with singed feathers and a thirst for blood.

"Flame wheel!" Leo commanded, eyes widening at the sheer speed of Doduo. Zuko hadn't quite mastered the move, but there was nothing like a little bit of pressure to overcome that final hurdle. Fire flared and sparked around Zuko's body as he curled into a ball mid-air, the flame wheel only half-formed when Doduo reached him. Twin beaks lanced forward with astounding precision and speed, jabbing into Zuko once more and sending him flying even further away – and giving him all the momentum he needed to start rolling.

The quilava crashed into the ground like a rolling tire, flames licking at the ground as he rolled around the arena, spinning on almost a dime to aim straight back at Doduo, who was continuing their charge. It wasn't expecting such a sudden change, and thus Zuko slammed into its torso, sending the bird sprawling as he stumbled out of his attack, the orange flames dying off. For a moment there was silence as Falkner watched Doduo struggle to rise, then recalled it.

"Doduo is unable to battle! The winner is Quilava!" the referee called. Leo let out a breath, grinning despite himself. Zuko looked tired – he was panting and Doduo's attacks had clearly hurt, but it didn't look like he was out of the fight just yet.

"Ready to keep going, bud?" Leo asked. Zuko huffed and flared up, indicating his readiness.

"Got a pretty quick Quilava there," Falkner remarked casually. "For it to keep ahead of Doduo as well as he did is impressive. But I doubt you'll find this next pokémon so easy to give the runaround! Farfetch'd, let's do this!" he called, pumping his fist in excitement as he released his next pokémon onto the field. Leo raised an eyebrow at both the gym leader's enthusiasm and the rare duck pokémon. Farfetch'd were hardly seen in the Kanto or Johto region, from what Leo knew. Thus, he had no idea what to expect from it besides what the newest Galar games reminded him of.

"All contestants ready? Begin!" The referee called. Zuko didn't wait for Leo's command this time, immediately moving into a strafing run as he zipped about the flat arena, embers spewing from his mouth. Unfortunately he was noticeably slower than before, the battle against Doduo having taken its toll.

Farfetch'd scoffed audibly, raising its leek and batting away the incoming embers. Zuko hissed and reared back, spewing smoke from his mouth that Farfetch'd leapt over with a casual flap of its wings, retaliating by whipping its leek sword-like through the air, blades of green energy flying off the leek and hurtling towards Zuko.

He leapt out of the way, only a single leaf managing to strike him and with a glancing blow at that. Farfetch'd quacked at him, flipping its leek into its bill so it could fly through the air properly, and soar lazily above the arena. Zuko tracked him through the air, occasionally testing the bird's reaction speed with a burst of ember attacks.

Leo chewed his lip in thought, trying to figure out a way out of this. Farfetch'd looked far stronger and better trained than Doduo, and if he remembered right they were mostly physical attackers. As a special attacker, it would be best to keep Zuko away from Farfetch'd…a normal smokescreen might be useful at times like this, but it obscured Zuko's vision as much as everything else.

His thoughts were interrupted by Farfetch'd dive bombing Zuko with a sudden burst of speed, smacking him upside the head with his leek and, instead of flying off in the hit-and-run tactics typical of flying types, proceeded to land and viciously attack Zuko.

"Tackle it off you!" Leo called and, to his credit, Zuko did just that. He slammed his head into Farfetch'd's gut and flared the flames atop his head, adding fire to the basic attack even as Farfetch'd smacked him with his leek one more time. The bird awkwardly flapped away with an indignant quack from the attack, breast feathers singed, and eyed Zuko warily from where he lay on the ground, panting heavily. Leo watched for a second, eyes flitting between Zuko and Farfetch'd before deciding Zuko was done. He could barely stand, let alone fight, after the beating he'd just taken.

"Return. I forfeit Quilava," Leo announced formally, calling his friend back and murmuring words of thanks to the ball. He didn't know if Zuko could actually hear him, but everyone did it so he figured it to be a good idea. Wouldn't harm anything even if Zuko couldn't hear him.

"Good choice. You beat the ref to the call. Your Quilava very well might have been able to get off another ember or two, but Farfetch'd would've been able to dodge them even easier." Falkner praised. Leo dipped his head in acknowledgement, plucking Santiago's pokeball off his belt.

"Santiago, you're up," he said, releasing his slowpoke.

A long, low call followed by a yawn sounded out from Santiago, his head idly sweeping side-to-side until he spotted Farfetch'd, who stood cockily across the arena. He squared himself off then, his normally dopey expression focusing on the threat and his call turning to a wet, bubbling growl as water built up in the back of his throat.

"Begin!" the ref called, and a jet of water immediately arced towards Farfetch'd, who dodged out of the way.

"Fury cutter until it's down," Falkner ordered casually, leaning against the railing with a grin on his face. Leo scowled, but didn't give any orders of his own. Santiago was just as likely to win this at range as he would in close-quarters, fury cutter being super effective against him was irrelevant. Stubbornness could go a long way in a pokémon battle, and Santiago had that in spades.

A water pulse clipped Farfetch'd in the side as it leapt in, leek glowing with green energy and knocking it off course for a brief moment. This allowed Santiago enough time to boost himself with a curse before the bird closed in and began viciously whacking away with its leek, wielding it like some absurd club-sword-thing. Santiago growled and smashed his head into Farfetch'd, sending it stumbling back, but it was undeterred and leapt once more, this time utilizing its superior mobility to keep ahead of Santiago. Santiago largely ignored the attacks though, his dulled sense of pain alleviating most of the immediate shock-value damage, and instead attempted to trade blows with the aggressive duck. For every other fury cutter, Santiago would return with a sweeping tail, a brief burst of water, a flicker of psychic power, or simply ramming the bird with his much-larger body.

At this rate, Leo honestly had no idea who would win. Santiago hit hard and was tanky, but that Farfetch'd was taking and dishing out plenty of damage on its own. He didn't know how many hits Santiago could take.

The answer turned out to be a lot. In real time it took maybe twenty to thirty seconds for the Farfetch'd to go down, Santiago falling to a heap on top of it, breathing heavy but still ready to fight if for no other reason than pure bull-headed stubbornness, but in the fight that translated to a good twenty or so hits from fury cutter onto the slowpoke.

"Farfetch'd and Slowpoke are unable to battle!" The referee called, obviously disagreeing with Leo's internal assessment. He scowled but didn't argue, recalling his starter and murmuring words of thanks as Falkner did the same. He was pretty sure Santiago was lying on Farfetch'd to keep it down, not out of exhaustion.

"That's quite the aggressive Slowpoke you've got there. What did you feed him to get him like that? Most don't even want to move for food," Falkner teased, grinning.

"He's always been like that. Raised him since he was just a few months old – he'll fight me every step of the way when it comes to training, but in a battle he comes alive," Leo said with a shrug, nervously palming Diana's pokeball. He really didn't want to have to reveal she was on his team, especially with Karen in the stands. No matter how badly Falkner fought it, he shouldn't have agreed to this…

A shiver ran up Leo's spine, the hairs on his arms standing on end as the air around him chilled. And, for a moment, he could feel the presence of Froslass. The shadows danced on the walls and he could feel her eyes upon him, as if waiting for…something. It was an offer, he realized, that she might be willing to fight in this battle. Leo gripped Diana's pokeball, conflict within him raging for but a few brief moments. Did he accept Froslass' offer, and use her to finish this fight? Or did he elect to trust in Falkner, and that his privacy would be respected?

Coming to a decision, Leo released his Larvitar onto the field. "Diana, you go this," she appeared in a flash of red, her curious red eyes scanning the area and blinking owlishly. Silence reigned over the arena for a moment, and Leo felt Froslass' presence recede, the temperature returning to normal. Briefly he felt an icy-cold hand place itself on his arm, comfortingly, but when he glanced down he couldn't see anything.

Thank you. He thought, appreciating the show of support from the normally wholly mischievous ghost.

"I see now why you were so reluctant to have a three-on-three." Falkner said seriously. "Don't worry, this won't be made public. There are a number of laws in place to protect rookie trainers like you, who have rare, and potentially incredibly powerful pokémon. I swear on my title as a gym leader. That said, where on earth did you find a larvitar?" he asked. Leo smiled.

"Mount Moon. I spent five months searching the caverns there, delving deeper than I honestly should have, until I literally stumbled upon her. Fell through the floor, and there she was, munching on a few rocks. Ran into the mom on the way out – and wasn't that an experience!" Leo laughed, lying smoothly. Oak had helped coach him on what to say. "She trashed my team making sure that I was worthy of taking Diana here along and – hey! No! Don't eat that!" Leo barked, cutting himself off when he noticed Diana had waddled over to the referee stand, and was looking to take a bite out of the painted metal.

She flinched, glancing back over at Leo with as innocent a look as she could muster.

"We're about to get into a battle, girl," Leo said, shaking his head. Falkner chuckled, and pulled his own pokeball off his belt.

"Well, I'm at least glad to hear it wasn't a gift. There's favoritism, then there's gifting your protégé with a potential pseudo-legendary. Pidgeotto, time for battle," he barked, releasing the avian onto the field. The bird shrieked and flapped its wings, lifting itself above the arena. Diana blinked and tilted her head at Pidgeotto, having never seen the evolved form of pidgey before.

"Diana, focus," Leo said. "Get back to the center, leave the podium alone,"

Diana blinked at him, looked back at the flying bird, and casually waddled back over to the center of the stage. The referee cleared his throat and shook his head, giving Leo a look and holding up his hand.

"Begin!" he called, and Pidgeotto shrieked.

"Steel wing!" Falkner cried, and Leo mentally panicked. Before he could even give an order Pidgeotto swooped down, wings gleaming silver, and slammed its wing into Diana's gut. The little rock-type was lifted off her feet from the impact, tumbling to the ground and skidding a solid foot before coming to a stop. Leo's breath caught in his throat as he watched Diana stand, dusting herself off and…totally unharmed. She dusted her stomach, patted her shoulders, and looked back up at the now-circling Pidgeotto with an excited look. Almost as if that was…fun.

Leo couldn't help it, he laughed. He knew larvitar had tough armor – not nearly as tough as their evolved forms, but for Diana to survive a steel wing from a pidgeotto without a scratch? The flying type was going to break its wings before it managed to hurt her at this rate.

"Try mud slap!" Falkner ordered, pointing dramatically. Pidgeotto shrieked once more and swooped low over the arena, talons sinking into the hard-packed dirt floor and flicking clods of dirt at Diana. Mud slap was a bit of misnomer, Leo thought, because it didn't actually require mud. It was more of an upgrade to sand attack, throwing large chunks of dirt that might do damage at an opponent and obscure their vision, rather than throwing dust around.

"Lunch!" Leo said simply. Diana perked up, opening her mouth wide and biting down on one of the chunks of dirt, chewing and grimacing at the looseness of the ground. She promptly bent over and spit it out with a whine, pawing at her mouth and looking back at Leo pitifully. She preferred solid foods, not grainy clods of soil.

"Okay…" Falkner said, clearly at a loss. "Try steel wing, one more time!" he ordered.

"Earth," Leo said, wanting to try something. All Diana really knew how to do was bite and tackle right now, which wasn't very versatile. He wanted to see if any of her copying him had paid off – they hadn't had much chance to try it in an actual battle, though she now knew to connect certain stances and strikes with words.

Diana turned sideways, sliding her feet apart and turning her head so she was facing the incoming Pidgeotto. It shrieked a war cry as it homed in on her, wings glowing silver and slamming into Diana, who lowered her head to meet the impact with her forehead. With an almighty crack the pidgeotto's wings folded and slid off Diana's head spike, leaving a sharp line in the stone but not breaking it. The bird squawked awkwardly as it tumbled to the ground, hopping to its feet and holding its wing gingerly to one side.

"Pidgeotto, return," Falkner called, the bird disappearing into a flash of red even as it tried to shriek at Diana. Said Larvitar blinked in surprise, rubbing her head-spike and feeling the cut. She whined and glanced back at Leo who smiled at her and leapt out of his podium, walking over and placing a soothing hand on her back. She leaned into the touch, still touching the cut, distressed.

"Good job, girl. You did great. We'll get you fixed up in no time," he said, recalling her and looking up at Falkner, who was walking towards him with a smile.

"I can't say I'm that surprised. Even if you hadn't won, I'd say you're skilled enough for the Zephyr badge. Congratulations," he said, handing over the small green pin. Leo accepted it with a smile, starting to reach out to shake Falkner's hand before remembering Professor Oak's lecture about Johtoan etiquette. You were supposed to bow, not shake hands here.

So Leo bowed slightly, and Falkner's grin grew wider.

"Normally I'd give a few words of encouragement here, or bemoan my loss dramatically. But instead I think I'll just give you a piece of advice – you're right to be cautious with your team, and hiding the rarity of some of your teammates. Quilava and larvitar are prized pokémon for a reason, your Larvitar's toughness alone is testament to that. But don't be afraid to use them either. This is not some barbarous country where you'll be mugged for your pokémon on every street corner, not like Orre. This is Johto. We respect your ability to train what you will. Now get out of here, and go celebrate your first badge," he said, patting Leo on the head, much to his chagrin, and looking back at Karen.

Leo grinned and looked down at the Zephyr badge, clenching it in his hand as he made his way to the door. The battle against Falkner had been quite a bit tougher than he expected after the ease of his test, but…well, he was one step closer to Alola now.

Leader Falkner had to hold Karen back before she could go tearing off after young Leo, as she was intent on learning where and how to catch a larvitar. A tyranitar would be quite a boon to her dark-type team, after all, but there were laws in place that prevented older trainers from coercing rookies into giving away their pokémon. Falkner felt the need to remind the normally calm young woman of that fact before letting her go chase off after Leo.

Leo Angelico, huh? Falkner mused, sitting down behind his personal computer and looking at the boy's profile. He wasn't a supporter of the Youngster License, but even he wouldn't deny that a kid like that was more than deserving of going on his journey early. He didn't give many orders, but his pokémon knew what they were doing even without that. He had the beginnings of a serious trainer, at least.

In fact, that was the reason he was sitting here, now. Because the boy had some powerful pokémon, and it was necessary to cultivate talent. Much like the Wataru who had ruled them for centuries, Johto believed in cultivating strength, without letting the wielder know of their power. As such, Falkner put a little note on Leo's profile letting the other gym leaders know he had beaten a second-to-third gym-badge level team (with the exception of Pidgeotto, he was first-to-second badge level) on his first try, to let them know to test him. To beat the iron while it was hot, so to speak.

He sipped at his chilled tea, nodding to himself as he read over the notes on Leo's profile. Figures that the Oaks would churn out another prodigy, even if he isn't blood related. They've got at eye for talent. Makes me look forward to when the youngest comes of age.

Falkner sighed and smiled to himself. Some days he hated being a gym leader. The responsibility, the busy schedule, few chances to train or simply go flying with his beloved flying types…but some days? Days like today, where he got to battle an upcoming Master who he was sure would surpass himself, and see a young talent at the beginning of his journey? Days where he got to use Farfetch'd, his favorite pokémon even if they aren't good competitively? Well, even if he was young, only been a gym leader for two years at this point, it warmed his heart. This is what dad was talking about when he would wax on and off about being a Leader. He thought and smiled, closing his eyes. The smile faded as another thought occurred to him, and he sighed …seems I inherited his sentimentality, too.

Chapter Text

Leo fiddled with the stone cube, his fingers tracing the designs as he flipped it over and over, examining its every side. To him, it looked just like a normal, if exquisitely carved, stone. He had no idea why the woman on the mountain would have been hunted over it, and neither Professor Oak nor his own limited researching into the subject had borne any fruit as to what the stone might be, or why it had been important. If it was important at all, and not just symbolic in some way.

With a sigh Leo put the stone back in his backpack and looked out over the lawn of the Sprout Tower, admiring the beauty of it all. A burbling creek ran through the middle of a perfectly manicured lawn, bellsprout wandering about the edges of the lawn and leaping in and out of the tall green hedges that bordered the property in some sort of game. People and monks – sorry, 'sages' – milled about in the area, children running wild as their parents took in the beauty and historical significance of the area.

The tower itself was relatively tall, at least five stories, and the big pagoda was covered in mossy vines and red tiled roofs that gave a splash of vivid color to the almost unnaturally green grounds. It was beautiful, in a natural, overgrown kind of way.

Leo himself was waiting for a tour to start, and was killing time. It was the day after he got his badge from Falkner, and after he'd had a conversation over the video phone with Professor Oak, during which he'd congratulated Leo on the win and assured him that using Diana during gym battles was OK ("I know I said to be cautious, but I really just meant to not walk around with her out of her pokeball in cities, or use her in casual battles. Gym battles are perfectly acceptable, and expected even. I wouldn't deny you that, and you need to bond with her. Battling is a good way to do that," he'd said.) Leo had decided that he wanted to visit the Sprout Tower before he left.

he little history he did know was cool – they were an offshoot of Ecruteak's own religious sect. The difference was that they used to worship Celebi rather than Ho-oh and Lugia. That worship had since died off, but the respect towards grass-types still remained, hence why bellsprout, the most common grass-type in the area, was so heavily revered in the tower. Apparently they used to think of the bellsprout as "Celebi's blessing." That could have something to do with the hundred-foot-tall bellsprout that allegedly formed the center pillar of the tower, though. Whether that was just folklore or not, Leo wasn't sure. He'd be interested to find out though.

A gentle nudge had Leo pulling himself out of his thoughts, looking down at Zuko, who whined at him pitifully.

"What's up, bud?" he asked. Not all fire-types were allowed on the Tower grounds, but the sages had said Zuko was ok so long as he behaved, so Leo had let him out to run around. He was his most well-behaved pokémon, after all.

"Quiiiilll," Zuko whined, pawing again and looking at the kids running about.

"What? You want to play?" Leo asked. In response Zuko wormed his way under Leo's hand and stood up, placing his front paws on Leo's chest and licking his face excitedly. Leo laughed and shoved him off, standing in one smooth motion and taking off at a sprint across the tower courtyard. Zuko sprinted after him, nipping at his heels as Leo juked, jumped, and dodged out of the way of the fire-type in a game of chase, laughing the whole way.

A few bellsprout even joined in on the fun, snaking vines and leaves to trip up the duo and wiggling happily whenever Leo or Zuko would stumble over the grasping appendages. During one such time, when Leo had the misfortune of running straight into a cleverly hidden vine and fell face-first into the grass, Zuko jumping on his chest shortly after and licking his face much like a hyper-excited puppy, he even whistled the tune to the bellossom dance. The bellsprout had loved that to death, wiggling and swaying in time to the tune and doing a crude approximation of dancing.

That was how Karen, future Elite Four member and budding dark-type specialist, found Leo – splayed out on the ground of the Sprout Tower, his Quilava on his chest, and four bellsprout wiggling and gurgling happily along with his broken approximation of a whistle.

"Looks like you're having fun," she said dryly, standing over him and raising one eyebrow. Leo squinted up at her, her head blocking the mid-afternoon sun.

"Hey, Karen. Didn't think you'd stick around," he admitted, gently pushing Zuko off of him and sitting up. She had found him at the Pokemon Center yesterday, mid-call to Professor Oak, and had drilled him for information on larvitar after the call was done. It wasn't that she wanted his Larvitar, like he had initially feared, more like she wanted firsthand accounts on how he found Diana, as that might help her catch her own.

Very few people in the modern age had a larvitar, as they were rare and typically seen as more difficult to handle than dratini. Fewer still would be willing to talk to her about how to get one. So, she figured she struck gold when Leo was willing to talk to her about it. Leo, on the other hand, didn't see much harm in it. His cover story was solid enough, and finding a larvitar was as much luck based as it was skill. He would know.

"We talked about me sticking around last night," Karen countered.

"I distinctly remember you saying you were going to consider it, not that you would, but whatever," Leo said, waving a hand dismissively. He'd actually enjoyed talking with her a little – she was young, true, but had quite a few interesting stories and a sarcastic streak a mile wide. She was a little pushy, but Leo could forgive that.

"Well," Karen said, scratching her cheek in discomfort. "I wanted to pick your brain a bit more. Besides, you could use some tips on training from an experienced trainer like myself," she grinned cockily at that, setting her hands on her hips and squaring her shoulders. Leo just raised an eyebrow at her, stamping down his smile for a neutral expression.

More experienced than Victoria or Samuel Freaking Oak? He thought to himself, not unkindly. Maybe if he were actually twelve he'd see Karen for the powerful trainer she was, and not an excitable, high-school age girl who was trying really hard to get something out of him. She wasn't mean about it, and was genuinely trying to give Leo a fair deal for his information about larvitar with this offer to help him train though, so he wasn't adverse to the idea. In fact he welcomed it. He needed more friends than just Victoria, Professor Oak, and his pokémon.

Besides, giving her a few tips wouldn't do much harm. He could give out how to track larvitar and see the signs of their presence, but it still came down to her own luck and skill if she'd catch one or not. He'd just have to remind her to not be stupid and piss of a Tyranitar. Only he was allowed to be stupid like that.

"Oh, could I?" Leo asked, teasingly, recalling Zuko as the Quilava barked at one of the Bellsprout. "Well right now I'm going to take a tour of the Sprout Tower – y'know, like I told you? Training can wait until later," at that Karen almost visibly deflated, as if suddenly realizing where she was.

"What does a kid like you have an interest in this tower for anyway?" she asked. "It's just an old tower," Leo just laughed and shook his head, not deigning that with a response as he headed towards where a group of people were gathering up in front of a sage. The tour was about to begin, and Leo flashed a ticket for the sage, having had to pay a not-insignificant fee for the tour. It felt a little…annoying, almost, that this tower had been partially transformed into a tourist trap, but then again it was nothing new to him. Happened all the time in his old world.

Karen, surprisingly, grumbled and handed over her own ticket, sticking her hands into the pockets of her jeans sulkily and rolling her eyes.

"We'll start with a tour of the tower interior, and slowly work our way up through the floors. Please stick together, and proceed in an orderly fashion," the sage said softly, yet his voice was not drowned out by the chattering tourists. Instead they quieted down, and followed along behind the old man in brown robes as he led them into the tower, through the green-embossed wood doors. As soon as they crossed the threshold, he began to talk of the history of the tower.

It was interesting to hear the history of it all from someone who had studied that history almost his entire life, even if it was abbreviated for the sake of the tourist group. Leo found himself listening only half-heartedly though, instead taking in the sights of the tower itself. The central pillar was massive, and was the centerpiece for most of the discussions of the sage. He waxed on and off about the various theories behind the hundred-foot-tall bellsprout that had died and formed the pillar with its body, before ascending a level and talking of the sage practices within.

Most, Leo figured, aren't practiced anymore. Or at least are hidden away – this temple has become too public for that. Can't imagine they'd get much work done with so many tourists around.

Eventually, around the third floor, Leo got bored and started to speak with Karen in hushed whispers in the back. Mostly about training things, and Karen tried to convince him to ditch the tour because she was bored. Leo refused, of course, because if he bought a ticket for the whole tour, then he'd stick through it.

It wasn't until the tour group reached the top floor, instructed as they were to keep absolutely quiet so as not to disturb the head sage or any of the other sages meditating, that Leo found what he hadn't know he'd been looking for. The plainly-decorated tower had been bare of any pictures or ostentatious ornamentation up until this point, but here, in the tallest part of the tower, there were a number of tapestries and portraits.

The tour guide did not speak on this level and asked the group to do the same, leaving the sages to their meditations even as the tour group gawked at their surroundings.. But what drew Leo's attention were the paintings – of old sages and lords of Violet. He scanned the faces absently, men and women all dressed in plain brown robes in recent years, that slowly grew more and more extravagant and colorful the further back in time one went.

Almost as if they were running from their Ecruteak heritage, Leo mused, scanning the faces. Who, as I understand it, dress in the finest silk kimonos and robes. Gold and silver are their primary colors. They were probably trying to distance themselves from the ones who angered Lugia and Ho-oh, and burned down their sacred tower. At least, that's what they believed at the time. Many cities had distanced themselves from Ecruteak in the years following the burning of the Brass Tower, and Violet was one of them.

It wasn't until he got to the middle of the paintings that he had to do a double-take. The portrait that caught his attention was of a finely robed woman wearing numerous prayer bead necklaces, her eyes closed in prayer and hands folded in front of her. One of the necklaces had a small, circular pendant on it, carved with a design that looked very familiar…

Leo's eyes grew wide and he pulled out the stone cube, running his hands over the same wave-like design that was etched into one of its sides. The same design on the woman's necklace. That, alone, wouldn't have given Leo enough cause to draw a real parallel, only suspicion. But as he stared at the woman, engraving her face into his memory, he came to a realization.

He'd seen her before. She was the woman hidden beneath the snow, that Froslass had shown him. A shiver ran down Leo's spine as he stared at the painting, wishing it would come to life and spill its secrets to him, tell him who she was, what had happened…but eventually he settled for the next best thing. The sages who curated the Sprout Tower would surely know.

"Excuse me," Leo said, approaching the tour guide and tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. The white-haired old man raised an eyebrow at him, obviously annoyed at Leo's lack of silence. Leo didn't really care – he had to know. "Who is she?" he asked, pointing to the painting. At this the man's eyes softened, and he glanced towards another sage. The two nodded to each other, and the tour guide knelt down to Leo's level, leaning in conspiratorially.

"I will tell you when we descend," he said, and Leo nodded.

They remained on the top of the tower for a good ten minutes before descending all the way to the tower bottom, at which point the group dispersed and Leo once again approached the sage.

"Ah, the inquisitive young man," he said, stroking his wispy beard. "You asked about the paintings, yes?"

"Yes. Specifically the woman in the twenty first painting," Leo said, having counted the paintings so he knew exactly which one she was. The sage hummed and closed his eyes, then snapped his fingers in remembrance.

"Ah, yes. Lady Tsubaki. An infamous story, I am afraid. She was one of our first Elder Sages, the youngest ever to reach that level at the time, and supposedly quite beautiful. A talented trainer as well, according to the records. Alas, in those days the Sprout Tower was not an independent place of worship, instead it was under the control of Ecruteak. In the final days before the Burning of the Tower Lady Tsubaki was called to Ecruteak to participate in a ritual to appease the gods. She was within the tower when it burned down – perished in the fires," he explained. Leo absorbed this information.

"Now, do you know why we paint our elders?" the old man asked. Leo shook his head. "It started as a sign of worship towards Celebi, so the time travelling Legend may find us by face, if not name, if ever she may need to," he said, and Leo internally groaned as he sensed an incoming lecture. Well, at least he might get some more insight into Froslass from this…he already had so many questions on the subject.

Leo whistled to himself as he worked, setting up his small tent while Santiago and Zuko lay next to the fire. It was only a few days after he visited Sprout Tower – unfortunately there had been no further answers there, only more questions. Still, it was good to know that his destination should very well be Ecruteak, and Froslass had agreed.

She'd appeared again the moment he left Violet City, urging him on further and faster, despite his protests.

"You really do want to get to Ecruteak quickly, don't you. You don't want to train at all on the way?" Karen asked from where she sat next to the fire. "Morty is no slouch. Gave me a lot of trouble, even with Umbreon and Houndoom," she said, laying a hand on her Houndoom as he lounged next to her. Leo glanced at her and shrugged, hammering another stake into the ground so the tent wouldn't blow away in any wind.

"I've got an important errand to run there," he said, standing and dusting himself off. Karen grumbled something, and Leo chuckled softly. She'd stuck true to her word and had followed him out of the city, intent on learning as much as she could from him about Larvitar to up her chances of catching one. Leo, in turn, had been surprised to learn that she had a Haunter on her team, and had let her drill him for information in exchange for him questioning her about ghosts. Victoria may know a lot, but he wanted to hear more from someone who had experience with one on their team.

"Right, so you've said," Karen said, rolling her eyes. Leo smiled at her, stretching until his back popped with a pleasing crackle, then moving over to sit in front of the fire he had started, across from her. The two sat in silence for a moment, Karen rubbing her calves and muttering about the length of Routes. It wasn't honestly that far to Ecruteak, just a few more days, but hey, Routes were long. Leo wouldn't deny that. "I do have another question for you though," she said slowly, drawing Leo's attention.

He looked up at her and had to hide a sudden smile, spotting Froslass as she floated idly behind Karen. Gently she raised one palm over the silver-haired girl's head and sprinkled a few dustings of snow on top, snickering silently into her other palm.

"What's that?" Leo asked, carefully keeping his voice neutral as Froslass continued her work.

"You've been explaining tracking and such to me a lot these past few days, and I gotta know – how do you already know so much? You're what, twelve?" she asked. Leo raised an eyebrow at her. Because I've been hiking in the mountains longer than you've been alive. Was his first thought which, while true, wasn't wholly accurate. Not all that time had been spent in the mountains, unfortunately, though he had been practicing bush craft since he was four.

"Well," Leo started, pausing when he saw Karen's Haunter come out of her shadow, eyeing Froslass for a moment before a Cheshire grin stretched across its face and it started picking up twigs and leaves to stick in Karen's hair. "My dad used to take me out into the woods a lot. He showed me a lot," Leo said, stifling a laugh.

"Hmm," Karen mused, scratching her chin.

"Tell you what, tomorrow, we'll walk a little slower and I'll really put your tracking skills to the test. Sound good?" Leo asked.

"Mmm," she hummed noncommittally. Her Houndoom looked up from where it lay at her side, spotting Froslass and baring its fangs – only to stop when it spotted Haunter joining in on the fun and huffed in annoyance, lying back down on its paws.

"If you don't mind me asking," Leo began, watching Froslass dust snowflakes onto Karen's shoulder. "What made you want to be a dark-type specialist? I mean, did you always know, or did it just happen?" Karen shifted, scratching Houndoom's head as she thought. She didn't get far, though, as Haunter grabbed an entire branch covered in broad green leaves and tried to dump it on her head. She shrieked in alarm and anger, flicking the branch away and leaping to her feet, twigs and snow falling all about her as she moved.

"YOU LITTLE SHITS!" she hollered, swiping angrily at both Haunter and Froslass with open palms, the two ghosts cackling madly as they drifted higher into the night sky, out of her reach. "For the love of Ho-oh…did you see what they were doing?" she snapped, shooting a glare at Leo. He coughed into a fist, refraining from answering. She narrowed her eyes and continued to ruffle her hair, intent on getting all the debris out and grumbling about "stupid ghosts." When she was finished she sat back down next to Houndoom, who hadn't moved an inch during the whole debacle.

For a moment Leo thought she wouldn't answer his question, angry as she was. Then she started to speak again. "My starter was a psychic type, an exeggcute. We…never really got along, and I ended up releasing him after I got my second gym badge. I'd caught Doom here," she said, patting her Houndoom, "just before then, and Ikebana, my Vileplume, just a bit earlier. From there I just continued my journey, and after my Eevee evolved into Umbreon, I released a few more partners, and I caught Haunter and my Murkrow I came to realize that I just liked dark-types more than others." She admitted with a shrug.

"They're easier to train for me, and I connect with them more. Haunter and Ikebana are the exceptions, but in general that's what I've found. Then I talked with Pryce when I challenged him for my fifth badge, and…well, he talked me into becoming a type specialist. Pity dark-types are so rare in the Indigo League," Karen admitted, her voice gradually losing the edge it had started with as she talked. She did, however, keep glancing over her shoulder to ensure the two ghosts weren't picking on her anymore.

"Huh," Leo said, scratching his chin and glancing at his pokeballs, laid off to the side. He wondered if he'd end up a type specialist someday. It didn't seem like it now, but who knew what the future held? "Makes me wonder about my own training," Karen smiled and shrugged, tossing another stick onto the fire more out of boredom than any need to feed it.

"Specializing isn't for everyone. It's given a bad rap by the general training community, what with the whole 'Generalist Supremacy' kick going around, but there's a reason most gym leaders and Champions are specialists. And it's not just because we know our type the best," she said, meeting Leo's eyes. "I can't claim to understand it all that well, but I'm starting to. We…share a connection with our type, that runs deeper than with normal trainers," she said, and left it at that.

Leo waited for more. He wanted more, but she didn't continue, clearly done with that line of thought. It made him wonder though…what did she mean by "connection?" Was it the bonds that Professor Oak studies and talks about all the time? It probably was, but still…it left him wondering. Maybe that bond was more than what the games let on.

The road to Ecruteak City turned out to be a long one, and not because of the distance but because Leo and Karen kept getting distracted. Most of the time Leo spent teaching Karen about tracking, and her giving him hints and tricks about training, which led to far too many detours. Leo, for one, was appalled at Karen's lack of tracking skills. She mostly relied on her Houndoom's nose to track what she wanted, but Leo was having none of it. He promptly had Haunter steal Houndoom's pokeball, who was more than happy to get up to some mischief, and had Karen track him and Zuko through the woods.

She hadn't enjoyed it at first. Well…she never learned to enjoy it, but after a few days of his draconian training she came around to the usefulness of tracking, mostly because she caught sight of fresh Ursaring tracks when they were setting up camp one night. That had prompted them to move, and for Karen to inform the local Rangers, which was a good idea because when they returned the next morning to check it out again they spotted where said Ursaring had killed a Stantler, before the Rangers had come and moved it off-route.

She was a bit more appreciative after that, and after Leo explained to her that Larvitar could cover their scent with dirt and stone. He hadn't run into that problem himself, lacking a tracking pokémon as he was, but he had read about it a fair bit. But either way their journey together, lacking the day-to-day wonder that travelling the Silver Mountains did, as the Routes were admittedly very well patrolled, was still pleasant, even though it came to an end just outside of Ecruteak City.

"No, no, no, you want to combine the moves, not string them together in a chain. Use quick attack and ember at the same time – don't use quick attack to reposition, stop, use ember, then jump into it again," Karen said exasperated, setting her hands on her hips – something she did whenever she was trying to look stern – and glaring at Zuko.

"He's having trouble with this," Leo remarked, frowning as he watched Zuko blur into a quick attack once more, trying at the same time to cough up embers. For the most part of their training together Karen had worked with Leo on coming up with combo attacks, and teaching him how to go about training his pokémon to use them. It was…useful, because he'd struggled with teaching his pokémon that before.

"He's not doing bad. His enthusiasm for training certainly is helping – much easier to work with than your Slowpoke," Karen remarked, keeping an eye on Zuko as he ran, spitting out a pitiful amount of embers as he struggled to keep up quick attack.

"I guess you could say he's fired up," Leo said casually, earning himself a slap upside the head.

"Enough with the puns," she said, hiding the humor in her voice.

"You're lucky I don't have any electric types. You'd be shocked at how many puns I have for them," Leo said, tracking Zuko across the battlefield. The dream was for him to use flame wheel – which, with Karen's help, Zuko had mastered – while using quick attack at the same time. For now though, they were stuck with high-speed strafing runs with ember and quick attack.

"I hate you," Karen groaned.

"You're leaving today. I have to get my puns in while I can," Leo grinned, making her roll her eyes. He refocused when Zuko tripped and went tumbling across the ground, rising to his feet panting and looking expectantly at Leo. "Great job, bud. Take a rest for now, we'll try again later," he told the Quilava, whose tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he flopped on the ground once more.

"Well, I'd call that a successful last training session. Shame that your Quilava is really the only one you can train," Karen lamented. Leo shrugged. Diana could train, but…she still needed a lot of fundamentals built up. Don't get him wrong, she'd done fantastic during the gym battle, but she also hadn't actually had to do much there besides stand there. She still needed some basic fighting techniques, to learn to obey and understand commands better, battle experience, strategy…well, less of that last one because that was Leo's job, but that was beside the point. Leo wanted to get her fundamentals down before he tried teaching her a bunch of new moves. That, combined with Santiago's unwillingness to just train, left Zuko as the only one who could train conventionally.

The results were showing, of course, but it was a gradual thing.

"Where are you going, again?" Leo asked.

"Ice Path. The sneasel in the area have been unusually aggressive these past few months, and the Rangers are calling me in to help figure out why they're so agitated. As a dark-type specialist they're hoping I'll have a leg up on the situation," Karen said. "Who knows? Maybe I'll find a sixth teammate there,"

Leo hummed, nodding his head. Wasn't that what Victoria went to do? He mused, but let the thought go, instead looking out over the treetops – illuminated in the early morning sun as they were – towards Ecruteak. The Bell Tower rose high over the city, taller than even the high-rise buildings that had popped up in the downtown area. It'd take a good half-day travel until he reached the city proper, most likely.

"One last thing, Karen," he said suddenly, a thought occurring to him. "I've got one more thing to tell you about larvitar before you head out,"

"What's that?" she asked, furrowing her brows as she slung her backpack over her shoulder.

"It's about where to find them. I know I said I found my Larvitar in Mt. Moon, but that's an iffy area at best. Hardly saw any sign. You'd have better luck finding one in the Silver Mountains. If you follow the river west from Viridian City, after about a month's walk you'll come to a destroyed mountain – a Tyranitar's nest. It's much more dangerous; Tyrus, Champion Archibald Oak's old Tyranitar, lives there. But it's absolutely certain there are Larvitar in the area," Leo said quickly.

"How do you know this?" she asked suspiciously.

"When I was ten I was…essentially abandoned in the Silver Mountains. Survived six months there, and ran into Tyrus," Leo said. "But he's reasonable, so long as you're respectful. More so than your average Tyranitar, from what I've gathered," Karen searched his face for a moment, looking for…something, and then shrugged.

"I'll keep it in mind. Don't really have a desire to mess around with a Champion-level Tyranitar, but it's something to remember for when I become an Elite," she said with a cheeky grin. Leo smiled back, nodding at her decision. Probably smart. Certainly smarter than his own decision regarding getting a larvitar. "I am going to head out now, though. See you around. Keep up the training, and if you need something don't call me," she said with a teasing grin. Leo scoffed. She'd given him her pokegear number during their time together – which meant Leo could send messages to her over pokémon center video phone, as he didn't have an official phone yet – so, and he quotes, "you can call when you gets into trouble, or find a dark type you don't want."

"Never crossed my mind, I assure you," he fired back. She laughed at him and ruffled his hair – what was it with people and doing that?! – turning on her heel and traipsing off in the direction of the Ice Path. Leo watched her go for a moment and sighed, looking back towards Ecruteak as Zuko curled around his feet with a whine. Pidgey and Spearow flitted about in the early morning sun, crowing their displeasure to the world, while a small flock of Murkrow cawed in the distance.

Despite their time being short, Leo had enjoyed the company of Karen. She was a sweet kid, and travelling together was just…different, new and exciting compared to travelling alone. Now he understood why Ash always travelled with people during the anime. Besides, he'd enjoyed teaching her about tracking – and enjoyed her own lessons about training.

Maybe I should find a permanent travel partner. Leo mused as he headed towards Ecruteak. Then he snorted to himself, recalling Zuko when he noticed him lagging behind. Ah, well. I enjoy being alone too. We'll see how it goes.

Leo left the Ecruteak City Gym thoroughly disappointed. After checking into the pokémon center, getting his team all healed up, and heading to the gym he'd tried to schedule a test for the day. Unfortunately the gym was all booked up through the next five days, which left Leo with an inordinate amount of time to spend in Ecruteak. He'd wanted to get his gym badge before taking on Froslass' request, just in case it turned out to be something big – not that he thought it would, he hadn't heard of any "lost artifacts" from the Burned Tower that matched the cube's description during his search – but it looked like he should start that sooner than later. Maybe he should train for his gym test and subsequent battle, but that didn't sound like an appealing way to spend the next five days. He wanted to get a bit of training in, sure, but he also wanted his team rested and in peak condition for it too.

Which is where he stood now, standing on the corner of the street in front of the Gym, looking up at the mid-afternoon sun and trying to figure out what to do. A growl from his stomach made the decision for him.

"Right. Lunch, and then the Tower," Leo murmured, looking around for a place to eat.

He'd thought Violet was big, but Ecruteak was another beast entirely. The multitudes of traditional-japanese-style buildings that lined the roads were covered in ornate designs and splashes of intense color, paper lanterns hanging over the streets unlit. Hordes of people streamed down the street, dressed in various attire – from classic business suits to refined kimonos, and the casual clothes Leo was used to seeing from Kanto. It was far busier than Violet, and Leo wandered through the streets until his nose led him to a ramen street stall – the smell so enticing that he had no choice but to sit down in the little booth thing and order some food.

Johto style ramen – real ramen, not those nasty little freeze-dried packets that he'd had a few times back on Earth – was absolutely fantastic. The noodles were thick and cooked to perfection, the broth was tasty, yet not overpowering, and the meats and veggies piled high on top had him drooling even before the bowl was set in front of him. He ate it in record time, marveling at the taste and debating ordering seconds. The kindly man at the counter just laughed at his expression, obviously pleased at Leo's enthusiasm, and sent Leo on his way with a pat on the back and directions to the Burned Tower.

For some reason, though, Leo couldn't focus on that. He kept getting caught up in the culture of the city, viewing and wandering into the little tourist-trap shops and mom-and-pop stores that sold all kinds of knick-knacks and cool items. From traditional Johtoan sculptures and pottery – still handmade, to this day! – to small little dessert shops that sold ice cream, dango, and mochi, Leo found the day swiftly turning to night as he explored the city. He didn't buy anything, though, because souvenirs take up space and cost money. He was building a list of things he'd have to come back and buy once he had a more stable life style and source of income, though.

The people were all too happy to entertain Leo as well, viewing him as a bright-eyed, excitable kid. Which, in this moment, he was. There were too many cool things here for him to not be. Like when he walked into one shop that sold talismans to ward off ghosts, only to find that the two Noctowl sculptures he thought had been sculptures turned out to be live Noctowl. That had been freaking scary, when one glided over to land on the counter and hooted at him. Leo had thought the old man behind the counter was going to give himself an aneurism he was laughing so hard.

Eventually, though, with the night sky over head and the dim lights of the outskirts of the city surrounding him, Leo found his way to the Burned Tower, not but five hundred feet away from the towering Bell Tower in all its gold-and-red painted glory. A somber silence fell over Leo as he stared at the remains of the tower, the ancient wood still blackened from the fires that had ravaged it. Only two stories still stood above ground, blackened wood rising into the air – tattered windows and doorways allowing a glimpse into the dark interior.

He stood there, at the base of the stone steps leading up to the memorialized tower, just staring at it for while. There were no fences, no guards, nothing protecting the tower from wayward wanderers, but for some reason Leo felt that it wasn't those that kept people away. A frozen hand materialized in the air and placed itself on Leo's head, Froslass cooing softly as she made her presence known. Almost immediately the temperature dropped, and shadows skittered away from the ghost-type.

Gastly, Haunter, and even a Duskull all fled from Froslass' presence, the ghosts peering out from the shadows to stare at Leo and his ghostly companion.

Leo glanced at Froslass, the ghost uncharacteristically quiet as she stared somberly at the burnt tower. He swallowed and felt the stone cube in his pocket, looking back up at the tower for just a moment before striding forward with as much confidence as he could muster.

The ghosts here were mostly harmless – the League would exterminate them if they weren't, especially this close to a major population center – but that didn't mean they weren't incapable of harm. A shudder ran down Leo's spine as he stepped through the threshold of the tower, floorboards creaking and support beams groaning as he stared at the remains of a once magnificent tower. A litwick blinked at him from where it sat atop a tarnished metal candlestick, stuck on the wall with new screws, though it vanished when Froslass floated through a wall and spread her hands wide, witch light dancing through the air around her and illuminating the small entryway.

Though the tower was large, the area where visitors could view the interior was small. Floors had been reinforced with concrete and new beams, and a small metal railing had been installed to keep visitors from tumbling into the three-story deep pit that made up the tower's basement – or at least, what was left of it. On the railing was a small metal plaque that read "Trainers, enter the tower at your own risk." And nothing else. At least I know it's not illegal to enter the tower now. Leo thought, though he wondered why it wasn't more regulated. Considering ghosts can turn incorporeal, and thus dodge pokeballs, I suppose it makes sense that they wouldn't have to. From everything I read, ghosts, like psychics, tend to choose their trainers. He thought, approaching the railing and peering down.

A massive hole was dug into the floor, debris littering what remained of the three rotten and destroyed floors below. Leo thought he saw a Misdreavius floating about, weaving between collapsed beams, but his attention was swiftly caught by Froslass, who cooed softly and floated towards the side, passing straight over the railing and turning to look at Leo expectantly.

"You want me to follow?" Leo asked rhetorically, already moving. Froslass bobbed up and down as Leo slipped under the metal railing, testing his footing before taking a breath and gingerly following Froslass as she guided him further into the tower.

He made sure to be extra careful as he went, testing each foothold and gingerly moving across the beams where flooring was absent, hoping that the ancient wood would hold but not wanting to test his luck. Leo actually considered it a miracle that he got as far as he did without any of the wood breaking beneath his feet, though when he glanced back at the entrance he noticed he hadn't actually moved that far.

"Where are we going?" Leo asked, meeting the eyes of a curious Haunter floating between two beams above him, framed by the night sky. It cracked an evil grin and he raised an eyebrow at it, only for Froslass to scare it off with just a glance. Frost crawled at the wood beneath the frigid ghost, and Leo's breaths came out in white puffs as she floated down a level, between two beams, and looked back up at Leo.

"All the way down?" Leo asked. She nodded, and he hummed. Didn't you find the three legendary dogs down in the basement in Gold and Silver? Is Froslass somehow connected to them? He wondered as he descended, but there were no answers forthcoming. At least, not until he reached the very bottom floor, his hiking boots hitting the concrete with a thud and a puff of dust. Ghosts skittered away from him and Froslass as she floated between some of the debris, pushing towards one side that was totally covered in thick layers of rotten wood and crumbled stone.

"Laaaaasssss," she called softly, scratching at the wood.

"Behind here?" Leo asked, grabbing at some of the smaller pieces and pulling them away. She nodded and helped him, doing what little she could to clear a path through the rubble.

For a moment they worked in silence, hauling small and large beams off of the wall. Sweat dripped down Leo's brow, panting with exertion until finally, finally, a section of the dark, almost black concrete wall was revealed. More specifically, a small slot in the wall, filled with dirt and ash and what-have-you, that was almost perfectly square in shape. Froslass paused and stared at it for a long moment, prompting Leo to still, and let out a long, slow whine.

She looked at him sadly, and motioned towards the hole.

"One sec," Leo said, struggling with his breath and releasing Santiago. "Bud, use water gun on that hole for me, would you?" he asked, and after a moment's confusion in which Santiago slowly figured out there was nothing to fight, he promptly spat a small jet of water into the hole.

It wasn't much, but it was enough to clear out most of the crud that clogged the hole, the rest coming free with a few insistent tugs from Leo. Pulling the stone cube out of his pocket he glanced at Froslass. She stared at him silently, white skin glimmering in the moonlight and looking inherently beautiful, rather than scary.

"Here goes," Leo muttered, slotting the stone cube into the slot in the wall. In the silence that followed, Leo momentarily relaxed. He had honestly been expecting something to happen – maybe a secret room to open, maybe Froslass to do something, who knows – but there was naught but silence.

Then Froslass moved, floating forward and placing her hands on Leo's cheek, resting her frigid forehead against his own.

"Laaaasss," she called softly, remaining that way for a moment.

"Uh, glad I could help," Leo murmured, feeling wholly out of his depth now. Froslass let go and looked skyward, Leo following her gaze and his stomach suddenly sinking. There, a floor above and staring down at them silently, stood a Ninetails. Its silver, aged fur gleamed as ghostly balls of fire surrounded it, dancing to and fro as ghosts – litwick, gastly, and various others of undetermined shape – floated around it, watching the proceedings closely.

Please don't be mad, please don't be mad, please don't be mad, Leo prayed silently, almost missing the way Froslass bowed her head and floated towards the wall.

"Hey, what -" Leo began, but cut himself off when Froslass pressed one hand on the cube, and something shifted. Lines of blue light, the same color as Froslass' witch light, burned themselves into stone as they ran down the basement walls, radiating out from the stone cube. Ghosts wailed and Froslass shrieked, a fierce, ominous wind kicking up and painting the world in purple light. Santiago whined and hunkered down, dust whipping through the air and stinging Leo's skin.

The Ninetails acted then, tails spreading out into a wide fan and curling forward, the tip of each alight with red and blue fire. The air around it shimmered in a haze of heat, the ghostly lines carving themselves into the floor finally completing their circuit around the basement walls and floor, forming a massive circle that burned bright even beneath the rubble.

Panic, confusion, the desire to flee, the need to recall Santiago…Leo didn't even have time to feel, much less process these emotions and desires it all happened so fast. And for a moment Leo genuinely feared that he had done something terrible, unleashed some unholy horror onto the land. But that moment passed, and was replaced by utter shock and a primal fear as Froslass turned to him, lines of blue light etched all across her skin as she smiled sadly at him.

"Help them. Help us. Please," she said slowly, the words pouring from her mouth in a wave, layered dozens of times on top of each other to the point where it sounded as if a hundred people were all chanting at once. Leo clenched his fists and grit his teeth, hands shaking but unable to move as an intense pressure placed itself on his shoulders. But he stood in front of Articuno, the Living Winter itself – this pressure was not as strong in comparison.

"How?" Leo managed to get out through grit teeth, one shaking hand reaching for Santiago's pokeball in an attempt to recall the Slowpoke. Black wisps like living shadows misted out of the cracks surrounding the stone cube. Froslass just smiled, this time serene, and allowed herself to be sucked into the cube, her body dissolving as it was absorbed by the stone.

Power exploded out from the wall, lines of pitch-black energy blasting out and crashing into an invisible barrier above, Ninetails howling silently as it strained to keep whatever was coming out contained. A hundred ghostly shrieks filled with rage, pain, and hatred echoed out through the tower floor, flashes of green and black sweeping out in a grand wave that flowed across Leo's skin like sickly, sticky water. The stone cube itself burst from the wall, cracks forming along one side that leaked the purple, black, and green waves of power and energy, and clattered to the floor.

On pure instinct Leo lunged, hands wrapping around the stone just as the pokémon contained within fully formed, bursting forth with an earsplitting wail that sent Leo's heart into overdrive, abject terror trying to worm its way deep into his bones. Eyes of green and black formed in the ectoplasmic body of the ghost, peering deep into his soul. A grin filled with malice formed in the ghost's body and it lunged, flowing through Leo as if he didn't exist, the stone shaking in his hands.

A pressure unlike anything he had ever felt before built up in his body as he resisted the incursion, his heart clenching painfully and a migraine building up in his skull, threatening to break him. It was then, in the midst of this painful resistance, trying to keep this ghost out, that a soft voice echoed in his mind, far clearer than any psychic he had ever met.

Relax. The tree that breaks is the one that does not bend. It whispered, soft and melodious, cutting through the ghost's influence like a ray of sunlight on a rainy day. Leo struggled with that concept for a few moments, then found it in himself to relax and allow the pressure to sweep him away. And his mind went dark.

The darkness that surrounded Leo when his mind became aware again was not something as mundane as darkness of night – no, it was the blackness of pain, sorrow, and all encompassing sadness. It was the darkness that suffused the soul in the darkest of hours, and Leo found himself drifting through its currents while a hundred or more voices screamed their troubles at him in a language without words.

The emotions slammed into him with all the force of a battering ram, his own emotions surging into righteous fury. Anger bubbling within him, ready to explode as all his own misfortunes played before his eyes – he had lost his entire world. Everything he had, had been, and would have been; stripped away with nary an explanation and tossed to the wind, only for him to be left in the middle of the wild where he was more likely to die than survive. How dare the pokémon gods do this to him? How dare they?

NO. Leo's mind burned with sudden force of will, the anger and hatred he felt stumbling to a screeching halt. He had lost everything, yes, but in the process had gained another opportunity. Discovering what that was, was a joy in and of itself. His anger began to cool, from burning magma to the crackling of a flame. He had been left in the wild, yes, but would he trade his experiences there for anything? The honest truth was that no, he wouldn't. It had been a wonderous experience, despite the perils. The crackling flames of rage flickered and sputtered. The gods abandoned him? Leo thought about his good fortune – meeting Slowking, earning Professor Oak's favor, Victoria's teachings…he could chalk it up to luck, but perhaps there was another hand at play here. Besides, he didn't want divine intervention. Life was about the struggle, in his mind.

The flames of anger fully died then, leaving behind naught but burning coals – coals that sat in his gut and filled him with passion and drive. A drive he had just proven he still had, by finding Diana.

And in the silence that followed he remembered something he had forgotten, as much as it had been sealed away. He remembered a space far darker than this, the space between worlds where the Void stretched between universes. He remembered the all-consuming vacuum that threatened to rip apart his very soul, that very nearly did wipe him out of existence, and he remembered stretching himself thin to aid the soul that travelled with him, preventing it from falling to pieces as well. He remembered the Bright Being finding them, protecting them from the vacuum (as Leo could not have held on much longer,) and ushering him into the Space after recreating his body, where the Night Bat found them and deposited them here, in this world.

He remembered that travelling across worlds was not an easy task, especially an accidental slip through an inter-dimensional tear as his and Jack's had been, travelling from Earth to Poke-Earth. And he recalled these memories being sealed, until he was ready to see them again. They were…traumatic, in a way. Had he not grown, and experienced the Pressure on his soul once more in the form of Articuno – though this time much weaker than it had been between worlds, the memories might have consumed him. Even now he could feel that not everything was clear, only vague recollections.

Leo relaxed his mind and opened his "eyes," staring straight into the darkness. This was not the physical world, he felt, but a space between spaces. A space in which emotion and the mind were made manifest, a space the ghostly aberration, who had not ceased its wails, had brought him to.

Dozens of shapes flitted about in the darkness, half-formed spirits that thrashed and writhed, bound together by chains of a sickly green hue. He observed them for a moment, listening to their stories, before a familiar shape materialized before him. Froslass, with the face of the woman frozen on the mountain, floated before him. A question presented itself to Leo, one formed without words – because what use was language in the world of emotion and minds? – and he smiled, standing up.

Will you help us? She asked. Leo just smiled once more, and stepped forth into the maelstrom of spirits without hesitation or fear.

One hundred and seven voices howled at him of injustice, how they had not asked to be bound together this way. How the one to have bound their spirits here had tortured them, caused them great pain and sorrow, just to make a single creation.

Leo apologized and stretched out a metaphysical hand, offering it to them and offering to help in any way he could, if they would just accept it.

One hundred and seven spirits recoiled, hissing of lies and shrieking that humans would betray them again. They had trusted the Scholar, who sought to create ghosts. He did create a ghost, a powerful ghost, despite it being stalled and sealed away by the Burning of the Tower, and they would not trust again.

Leo reminded them that this was a place where lies could not be told – where the mouth could deceive, the mind could speak only truths, or lie so poorly all would know it was false. It was a lesson he had learned intimately in his conversations with Merri, Oak's Alakazam. The mind, despite its power, struggled to hold up a lie when stripped from the body. So it was with confidence he told them he was here to help, if they so wished.

One hundred and seven spirits – more vague memories and half-formed ghost pokémon than true spirits – hesitated, and searched for more ways to deny Leo.

Leo assured them. I want to help. But you must let me. Just as you cannot force your will unto me, I cannot force my will unto you.

One voice questioned him how he would help, a hundred and six responded no.

Leo stretched his hand to the side, touching Froslass' shoulder from where she floated beside him. He would help them the same way he helped her – by getting them to let go of their hatred, their anger, their fear and regret. But it would not be as simple for them as it was for her. It would take time.

One hundred and six voices screeched and raged and writhed, bearing down on Leo with all the force of a vengeful storm. Ghostly claws whipped past him, seeking purchase against his soul, to do him harm, but found that they could do none. Here, they had no power against him. Their claws barely touched him, sliding against the representation of his soul and mind without harm. In the physical world they could kill, but here? In this…mind scape? He was the master of his soul, not them. And he had survived worse.

But, to his pleasant surprise, one spirit stepped out of the raging crowd and stood before him. It materialized slowly, coming to form an image of a warrior dressed in traditional samurai armor and a blank, featureless face. Leo extended his hand and the warrior, dropping his sword, took it.

One hundred and six voices yelled in anger and righteous injustice, but two voices, Froslass and the unnamed warrior, replied that they were tired of the struggle. What had been done to them was downright unforgivable, but the ones who had done this to them had died long ago, either killed by time or by the blaze the woman who had become Froslass had set in the tower. She had tried to right their wrong by destroying everything, and succeeded only in preventing the hundred and eighth spirit, her spirit, from being added to the pile. Now, she sought aid from Leo.

One hundred and five voices yelled back this time, and once more Leo offered what help he could. He could not promise revenge or justice. The time for that had passed. But he may help them find their peace, whatever that may be.

One hundred and five voices howled, and Leo repeated himself, with little variation.

One hundred and four voices screeched, and four fought back. Leo remained steadfast, and listened to their stories.

One hundred and three voices….

One hundred voices…

Ninety-four…

Eighty-two…

Eighty….

Leo wasn't sure how much time passed in the realm of spirit and emotions, but he did slowly start to become aware of his body's surroundings as he did his utmost to soothe the rage of the spirits. When only forty voices of the one hundred and eight fought back against his aid, he became aware of Ninetails' barrier, still going strong high above him and burning with a light that stretched into this world of the mind.

When only twenty remained, he became aware of the ball of burning mind energy in his pocket, the Slowking Longinus' gem providing just enough energy and focus to aid his mind in resisting the onslaught of the spirits' rage.

When seven still resisted, Leo could feel Santiago's psychic powers pressing against his mind, the Slowpoke tired but still awake, intent on ensuring his friend-parent-teacher-comrade's safety from the danger-hate-evil-ghost. A surge of gratitude swelled in Leo's chest at the feeling, but he couldn't focus on it.

Not until the last of the spirits finally assented to Leo's help with a grumble and a promise of retribution if he went back on his word, and one hundred and eight "spirits," "ghosts," or "collection of memories," (Leo wasn't sure what they actually were at this point, but he was certain they, with the exception of what had once been Froslass, were not souls nor fully-formed ghost pokémon), stood before him in that mind scape, waiting with barely concealed rage.

Thank you for trusting me this much. I will do what I can to set you free, he promised, and, with a final shriek of anger, the spirits withdrew. Leo basked in the emptiness of the mindscape for a moment, enjoying the feeling of being alone – just him in the rawest, truest form of himself, stripped of all unnecessary thought – but knowing he couldn't stay for long.

And when he let go of that state of mind, the world came crashing back down around him.

When Leo opened his eyes, he was greeted by the orange sky of dawn, and a cool, crisp air that felt pleasant on his sweat-slicked, bare arms. Ninetails stared down at him from above, haggard and tired looking, but an expression of pleased gratitude on its face all the same. Or, at least what could pass as such on a fox face. Leo sucked in a deep breath, filling his lungs with oxygen for what felt like the first time in hours, and glanced down at himself.

He sat cross-legged, hands cupped a just in front of his chest, with the cracked stone cube floating a solid inch above his palms, suffused in a blue glow. So great was Leo's surprise at this sight that he promptly fell two inches from where he had been levitating to the ground, the stone falling into his palm.

Had I been…levitating? He wondered incredulously, unfolding his legs and shifting so the piece of rotten wood he had landed on was no longer digging into his thigh.

"Sloooow," a soft voice called, a familiar pink head butting into Leo's side and nearly bowling him over. Leo laughed and wrapped both arms around Santiago's head, the slowpoke blinking up at him, his eyes tired and red from staying up all night long.

"Thank you, bud. There's no one else I would've preferred to have watch over me. Rest for now," Leo murmured, scratching Santiago's ears and recalling him into his pokeball. He didn't make a too much of a fuss, not even flinching away as Leo recalled him.

With a groan Leo stood, his joints popping and back aching from staying in one position for too long. He felt…good. Like a weight had been lifted from his mind, despite the metaphorical weight now pressing down on his shoulders from accepting to help a Spiritomb with its issues. Because now that he was aware, he realized that's all the ghost could be – a Spiritomb, an amalgamation of over a hundred spirits according to the lore. A little warning from Froslass that this was what I was walking into would've been nice. He mused, and a hiss from the stone he still held reminded Leo that he wasn't quite alone.

"Hush, you. You've caused enough trouble for me for one day," he murmured, flicking the cube. It hissed again but fell silent, none of the purple and green power visible on its surface. Spiritomb would be quiet…for now. "Why do I get myself into these kinds of situations? First Slowking asks me to do something for him, then Froslass, who turns into a freaking Spiritomb. I just…I need a nap," Leo declared, glancing up at where Ninetails had been, only to see it was now gone.

A yawn forced its way from Leo's lips as he pocketed Spiritomb's keystone and began his climb up and out of the tower. Now that it was day, and Spiritomb was by his side, he got the feeling that none of the ghostly inhabitants would give him much trouble.

Now I'll need answers. Mostly on what in God's name a Spiritomb is, because it's confusing me, how they're created, and why there was an incomplete one in the bottom of the Burned Tower. Froslass completed it by fusing with it, essentially freeing the spirits and forming Spiritomb at the same time but not all the spirits are the same…though they had technically been Spiritomb before then, if I'm remembering their stories right? Gah, this is so confusing.

"I'll need to contact Professor Oak, and Victoria. Keep this a secret as long as I can, though Morty might be another good resource. Falkner was perfectly reasonable, and I'm pretty sure Morty's family are essentially Ecruteak nobles, stretching back two hundred years. I'll consult Oak about it," Leo reasoned aloud, hauling himself up a plank of wood. He glanced at his hands as he did so, and frowned. Then he stretched his hand out, focused on a small piece of rubble, and tried to make it float like the cube had been.

Nothing happened.

"That, and find out why the cube was floating," Leo muttered suspiciously. Was he psychic? That would be awesome, it'd be like using the Force. Probably. Maybe. Another yawn escaped Leo, his adrenaline fading and exhaustion settling in. But again, first, I sleep.

Chapter Text

Leo awoke to loud knocking on the door to his room in the pokémon center. With a groan he rolled over and glanced at the clock, blanching at the time. It read 8:13. He'd only been asleep for forty minutes since he got back to the Center, after the Spiritomb covered his head with the cheap Center pillow, burrowing his way deeper into the mattress as if to escape the knocking that was slowly becoming louder.

Eventually, though, he had to give up. There was only so much noise he could take so, groggy as all get out and dressed solely in the shirt he'd forgotten to take off before crashing in bed and his underpants, he yanked open the door to stare at the offending person.

He was greeted by the sight of an equally disgruntled Morty, the Ecruteak gym leader only recognizable to Leo thanks to him having been at his gym yesterday and seen him on TV. The leader's blonde hair was a mess, skewed in all placed with his trademark headband nowhere to be seen. The look in his eyes was borderline manic, and with a sudden motion he seized Leo's shoulders and brought his face way too close for comfort.

"Did you -" the leader's words were cut off by Leo's knee jerk reaction to suddenly being grabbed and yelled at; he punched Morty in the stomach as hard as he could. Purely as a reaction he pulled away and slid into a defensive stance, stopping himself from following up the strike with another punch by sheer force of will.

It took only a moment of watching Morty wheeze, doubled over as he was, for Leo to realize what he'd done.

"I am so sorry," he gushed, his exhausted haze vanishing as he reached forward to pat Morty's shoulder, only to freeze when he spotted the silver pokémon behind him. Ninetails – more specifically, the same Ninetails from last night. Regular Ninetails didn't have silver fur, after all. And there it was, just staring at him blankly with its shining red eyes, watching him silently and closely.

"Ow, I – guh," Morty groaned, standing upright and wincing, placing a hand on Leo's shoulder and taking a deep breath. This time, Leo didn't punch him for touching him. "Kid, where is Spiritomb?" he asked, the same manic intensity as before sparking in his eyes. Leo blinked at him, glanced at Ninetails, then looked over to the tiny nightstand that sat next to the equally small Center bed, where Spiritomb's keystone sat. Diana lay beneath the table, curled up in a small ball of brown rock, snoozing away peacefully.

"Lemme see it," Morty said, bursting into the room, shoving Leo aside with a 'hey!' and snatching the stone from the table.

"I wouldn't -" Leo began but was cut off by Spiritomb, who burst out of its keystone in a blur of purple and green so sudden Morty yelped in an undignified manner and dropped the keystone. The swirling purple ectoplasm that was Spiritomb hissed in a dozen different voices, one ghastly green eye fixing itself on Morty while the other watched Leo. "It's still upset, I wouldn't touch it," Leo said, walking over and plucking up the keystone without hesitation. Touching Spiritomb's ghost body was weird, it felt cold and warm, sticky and smooth, all in borderline unpleasant manners. Almost as soon as Leo picked up the stone two dozen voices started whispering in his ears even as the ghost retreated into its stone cube, forcing him to shake his head and push away the…temptations of the spirits.

At least five of them wanted Leo to punch Morty again. They had thought that was great, and didn't like him touching their home-body-cell either.

"It's really here," Morty breathed, glancing over at Ninetails as it entered the room, pushing the door shut behind it with its tails.

"I'm feeling a little out of the loop here," Leo said, though he had his suspicions. "Clearly, you already know what this thing is,"

"How did you find it? How did you calm it?" Morty demanded, desperation clear in his voice. Leo hesitated, wanting more than anything to question Morty himself, but at the same time the crazy way he was looking at him made Leo second-guess himself.

"Froslass – er, a Froslass led me to it. Asked me to return this cube to the burned tower, and when I did the ghost appeared and I sort of…well, melded into its mindscape for a bit? I promised to help bring it peace," Leo explained slowly. While in the mindscape he hadn't said those exact words, that was his intent. He wasn't going to help Spiritomb do just anything – what if it wanted to commit mass murder? Not that Spiritomb struck him as that malicious, but the point still stood. He would help Spiritomb his way, whatever that meant, and hoped that whatever was left of Froslass in there understood what that meant. Even if Leo didn't exactly understand it himself.

Morty shot him an incredulous look, and Leo sat down on his bed, suddenly becoming acutely aware that he wasn't wearing any pants. A problem he quickly set about rectifying, carefully maneuvering so he didn't wake the still-sleeping Diana.

"Bring it peace," Morty repeated, running a hand through his hair and falling into a sitting position on the bed. He looked exhausted, and hopeful, and tired, and…just about everything in between.

"Um…are you ok?" Leo asked slowly, struggling into a pair of jeans.

"No," Morty admitted, placing his face in his hands. "You have no idea what you just did, do you?" he asked. Leo shook his head, realized Morty couldn't see him as he was still resting his face in his palms, and verbalized his negative answer.

Ninetails chuffed and flicked its tails, earning itself a dangerous hiss from Spiritomb, still held in Leo's hand, and a glare from Leo. Stupid fox, he thought acidly, then blinked. Whoa. Where had that thought come from? Morty and Ninetails shared a look with each other, and Morty threw his hands into the air in exasperation.

"Alright, alright, I get it! Fine. Kid, have you told anyone about Spiritomb yet?" Morty asked.

"Uh, no. Should I not?" Leo asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I'm not going to get in trouble with the League for carrying it with me, am I? It's not some super rare and dangerous pokémon, is it?" Morty snorted and shook his head, relaxing ever so slightly.

"It is a Spiritomb, and it's probably no more dangerous than an average ghost. On the flip side, there's not a single person in the Indigo League besides myself that actually knows what a Spiritomb is – not even Agatha or the esteemed Pokémon Professors. If anything you'll be credited with the discovery of a new pokémon," Morty said. "There are maybe, maybe, five people in the entire world that know of the existence of Spiritomb as a species, and four of them are from Sinnoh. I don't think there's ever been anyone who's ever actually caught or trained one either. Not in the conventional sense," Morty explained. Leo blinked in surprise at that – he figured Spiritomb would be rare, but that rare? That's technically even rarer than Articuno – at least people know about Articuno. And didn't Cynthia have a Spiritomb? Or had she not caught it yet?

For that matter, was she a Champion yet? Interregional news was sparse, sure, but Leo should probably look into that. If she had a Spiritomb he might try reaching out to her for advice.

"Okaaaay, so what is a Spiritomb then, exactly?" Leo asked, glancing down at the stone. Morty huffed out a laugh.

"I'm not exactly sure. All I have to go off of is a few dusty old records of my family – who were tasked with keeping an eye on the Burned Tower after it, y'know, burned down. My best guess? An artificial pokémon, not unlike Claydoll or Golurk. Ah – do you know what those are?" Morty asked. Leo nodded, recalling some vague pokedex information on those particular species. They were considered to have been created by humans, right? "Right, well they basically started as artificial pokémon some hundreds of years ago, created for war of course, but eventually became able to procreate somehow. That's how they spread from their native regions. Spiritomb was Sinnoh's attempt at duplicating the process, albeit less successful."

"Less successful?" Leo asked, frowning and setting Spiritomb's keystone on the nightstand. He didn't know much about Spiritomb's strength, but he guessed it was easily his strongest pokémon right now – and he called that unsuccessful?

"Yes, less successful. They're not able to naturally form, so far as I'm aware, which makes them not nearly as successful as the Golurk or Claydoll line – as rare as they are, themselves, they've still somehow managed to reproduce in the wild. I need you to understand what, exactly, it is that you're carrying with you right now," Morty said.

"I…see," Leo said, speaking through a yawn. Man, he was tired.

"And because, quite frankly, you happened to end a curse that was laid on my family, however unwittingly you did so," Morty said, dropping yet another bomb on Leo. At his surprised look, Morty continued. "My family, while not wholly implicated in the creation of Spiritomb and the subsequent Burning of the Tower, was cursed by this here fox to watch over the Burned Tower until such a time that Spiritomb was released. In other words, until the Froslass of the Silver Mountains brought someone who she felt capable of taming Spiritomb to Ecruteak, and completed Spiritomb's creation. I didn't ask to be loved by ghosts, nor did the rest of my family,"

Leo rubbed his face, wholly unsure how to take that information and ignoring the scathing look Ninetails shot at Morty. He was at a loss as to what to say, or do, with this information. Probably nothing, but he felt like he should say something, at least.

"So now what?" Leo asked after a moment, staring down at the still-sleeping Diana.

"Now? I don't know, that's on you. You're the one who has to deal with Spiritomb now, whatever that entails. Spiritomb is attached to you now, and Ninetails seems to think you're adequate for the job, if not the first choice. My job is almost done, all I need to do is test you and make sure you're capable of controlling the ghost. Then you're on your own," Morty said bluntly. Leo blinked at him in surprise, then frowned.

"That seems very…irresponsible of you," he said, feeling a little hypocritical the moment he said irresponsible. Morty bared his teeth in a sharp grin, laughing and shaking his head.

"No one can tell you how to train ghosts, boy! Oh sure, you'll hear plenty of theories and plenty of people will want to tell you there is absolutely one single way to earn their trust – after all, it worked for them! But it's all a load of tauros dung. Ghosts are as varied and whimsical as psychics and fairies, and as fierce and dangerous as dragons and dark types. There is nothing to stop them from just up and leaving their trainers, not even pokeballs can contain them, not really, not completely. It's all on you to earn their trust, get them to stay, and figure out what they want," Morty said, getting a little heated at the end.

Leo stared at him for a moment. That made…a lot of sense, actually. For example, with Karen, he didn't think he ever saw her Haunter go inside its pokeball. And Froslass was too wild to ever want to be caught, she had stuck around only because she wanted something from him. Spiritomb may be different, as it had a physical keystone keeping it bound, but the fundamentals of that would stay the same most likely.

"Ok, so I'm on my own for training, and I can tell people about Spiritomb but it's likely that I won't receive any help in figuring anything out. Mostly because nobody will know what Spiritomb is. Did I get that right?" Leo asked.

"Just about. Oh, and you can expect me to want to battle Spiritomb in your gym challenge later this week. I'm not going to move the date or anything to give you some time to bond with it, but I need to make sure you're going to be ok with it around. After a week I should be able to tell whether Spiritomb is trying to manipulate you or if you can't control it," Morty said rapid-fire.

"Uh, ok," Leo said bluntly. "That makes more sense, but I think I'll be fine with the manipulating part. It already tried that, and failed," he said, recalling how Spiritomb initially tried to tear his mind apart, or whatever that was. Morty grinned and shook his head.

"We'll see," he said cryptically, standing up and stretching. "As it stands, I'll be keeping an eye on you. Don't be surprised if you see ghosts in the corner of your eyes," he said, and headed towards the door. Ninetails let him leave, leaving Leo utterly baffled as to the whirlwind of an experience meeting him had been, and the fox continued to stare at him. Spiritomb hissed, another spectral eye appearing out of its keystone.

"What do you want?" Leo asked suspiciously. It tossed its head and fanned out its tails, rubbing opposite ends of the small room with the tips, Spiritomb's hissing only growing louder. Whispers sounded out in Leo's ear, which he ignored in favor of staring at Ninetails. It nodded its head, slowly, then vanished altogether in a shimmer of light. Leo stared, and stared, and promptly turned and fell face first onto his bed.

He was too tired to deal with any of this right now.

True to his word, Leo found that Morty did, in fact, send a ghost to watch over him in the form of a Dusknoir – he'd seen it staring at him creepily from the shadows once he woke up, having only been able to sleep for a few hours. Then he'd promptly scanned Spiritomb with his pokedex, confirming Morty's statement about it being unknown, thanks to the pokedex having no information on it whatsoever other than it was a ghost type pokémon, and promptly gave Professor Oak a call.

"A new species?!" Oak practically yelled into the video phone, making Leo wince. The Center-provided headphones were awfully loud, so he turned down the volume a bit.

"Yeah, something like that. Gym Leader Morty seemed to know what it was, but at the same time, he had no idea what it was." Leo said, recalling how Morty had given him few actual answers as to what Spiritomb actually was, beyond it being artificial.

"That's…that's amazing!" the Professor gushed, excitement clear on his features. "You have to send me the data on your pokedex – and oh, I'll have to run a few tests! You said it's a ghost type? And that Froslass not only led you to it, but merged with it? Fascinating!" Oak said, the researcher in him showing.

Leo nodded, surprised at Oak's reaction but not adverse to it. He half expected him to start yelling at Leo again, with how much trouble he thought he caused. Maybe this wasn't as serious an event as he thought?

"Yeah, I'll give you the full story and all the data I can later, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like Spiritomb wants to go into a pokeball," Leo grumbled, showing off two broken halves of a pokeball, the metal still warm from when Spiritomb violently burst free, hissing and spitting like a cornered cat. It had calmed down afterwards, having only panicked from being "sealed away" again (or at least, that's what Leo deduced from the whispers that he had come to associate with Spiritomb speaking), but it wanted nothing to do with pokeballs now.

"Worry not, pokeballs are useful tools but ultimately we can only learn so much from pokémon inside of them. As much as I would love for you to transfer it over now so I can study it, ghosts are notoriously hard to handle by people other than their chosen trainers – I would know, I deal with Agatha's ghosts all the time. That said, I will ask you to study, scan and routinely check in with me regarding the…Spiritomb, was it? Spiritomb's development. Write down observations – treat this like an experiment. If we want to learn all we can about Spiritomb, you need to be on top of things," Oak said, rattling off instructions and clearly excited. "Where are you, Ecruteak? I can't leave the lab for the next few days, there's a bit going on here that I need to be present for, but I will send over some equipment for you to use that may help with your studies. So exciting! You should be very proud, you could go down in history for a discovery such as this! Assuming, of course, that Sinnoh hasn't officially discovered them either like you're suggesting,"

Leo chuckled at the Professor's enthusiasm, scratching Zuko's head as the Quilava poked his head up over the desk edge, sniffing at the screen curiously. He doubted he'd go down as the person who discovered Spiritomb, after all, Morty had known about them, but it was hard to deny the Professor's excitement.

"I'll see what I can do. There are a few things I remember about the species from home – they were rare, but some information was available about them – but again it sounds mostly like hearsay. Something about them being formed from one hundred and eight spirits, bound into a keystone? And there was one who was sealed in a tower by an aura guardian, I think," Leo mused, vaguely recalling something like that from the anime, not that he watched it much. Really he'd just looked up Spiritomb on the internet back home because he used one on an Alpha Sapphire nuzlocke run once. That story had popped up in his searching.

"So mostly folklore," Oak mused. "A connection to aura guardians is not all that common, but they're warriors of myth. Perhaps it, in fact, refers to a Lucario tribe that sealed it away? We'll discuss this later. I unfortunately have to run, but this is exciting, Leo!"

"Ah, two more things," Leo said, catching the Professor's attention once more. "First off, will this affect my carry limit? I haven't technically caught Spiritomb after all."

"No, it won't. Not officially. You still can't use seven pokémon in a battle, but there's no reason a wild pokémon can't follow you around." Oak explained impatiently, glancing off screen for a second.

"Neat. Second; I think I may be psychic. I'll have to tell you the story later, but the gist was that I was floating Spiritomb's keystone between my hands and levitating while calming it. I don't know if that was Spiritomb's influence or not though,"

"…that is news. It would be wonderful if you were psychic, truly. Psychics are given far more liberties at a younger age than regular children. But we will have to discuss this later, I truly need to go," Oak said, pulling himself away from the screen.

"Yeah, sorry to keep you. Bye, Professor," Leo said. Oak smiled and waved farewell, then pressed a button and the screen cut out. "That went far better than I expected, bud," Leo said, scratching Zuko's head. The Quilava squeaked and pressed his head further into Leo's hand, urging Leo to scratch more even as he pushed him off his lap and stood up, taking off the headphones and freeing the video phone for whoever might want to use it next.

With a groan Leo stretched, popping his back and yawning loudly as he headed into the Center lobby, looking around at all the trainers. Most walked around with their smaller pokémon out – one boy had a Pikachu, a girl cradled a Nidoran in her arms, and one older trainer walked with a Totodile hopping about happily at his heels. What really caught Leo's eye, however, was the fishing pole the older man carried in the crook of one arm, and the tackle box in his other hand.

"Y'know what, Zuko? I think I could use a bit of a break. How about we go fishing tomorrow? Santiago will appreciate it, and I'm sure Diana will want to explore. What do you say, should I splurge and buy a fishing rod?" Leo asked rhetorically, glancing down at Zuko as he passed through the lobby and headed out the main door. The sun was still setting, and after a brief glance at the passing crowds Leo recalled Zuko.

He didn't want to get separated from him after all, and he figured finding a fishing shop would take some time. With that in mind, Leo set off, thumbing Spiritomb's keystone and looking for a fishing store.

Dawn rose over Route 42, brining with it a burning sunrise and the rising calls of pidgey and spearow. Leo breathed in the fresh air as he hiked down the beaten path, carrying a cheap, thirty-dollar child's fishing rod over one shoulder and a small tacklebox in his other hand. Zuko scampered about in the bushes next to him, all too happy to be out of his pokeball and running around, no matter how early in the morning it was.

"Don't stray too far, bud," Leo called, shifting his backpack on his shoulders and watching a Sentret out of the corner of his eye.

Zuko didn't pay him much heed, however, darting in-between the tall pine trees chasing after a grasshopper. Leo shook his head and looked forward, where the trees opened up to reveal a small lake. There were plenty of these things surrounding Mount Mortar, at least that's what Leo thought the mountain was called, and Leo had intentionally chosen one that was a little off the beaten path when he looked at the map last night so he had little chance of running into any other people.

That, and the kind older fisherman who had helped him at the fishing shop – which was more like an outdoor recreation store – had suggested this very fishing hole. Said it was an excellent spot, and Leo wanted to test it out.

"Sssssss," Spiritomb whispered in his ear, and Leo rolled his eyes. Though the ghost's keystone was in his pocket it had this funny ability to project its voice anywhere within a certain distance, which meant it always sounded next to his ears. He didn't know how far it was, as he had no way to test it though. It was at least ten feet however, as Spiritomb had given him quite the scare last night. For reasons unknown it had decided the mimicking persian growls coming from his closet would be hilarious. Oh yes, it got quite a kick out of watching him wake up in a cold sweat, wide-eyed and staring fearfully at the small Center closet that could have, in no universe, held a full grown persian.

It had laughed until Leo threatened to throw its keystone out the window, or flush it down the toilet. That experience, combined with his dreams being plagued with images of the Spiritomb mindscape, meant he didn't get much sleep last night - which left him here. Already at the lake, which was a two hour hike from the outskirts of the city, and the sun just rising.

"I'm going to introduce you to the team today, Spiritomb," Leo announced. "Officially, at least. I realized on the way up here that I never actually introduced Diana, Zuko, and Santiago to you – even if you have already seen them. Be nice, will you? They're friends," Spiritomb didn't reply, which Leo expected, so he fell silent and approached the water's edge, admiring the cool blue color and the rippling water glittering in the sun. Zuko crashed through some bushes to his right, chasing after a rattata, but after a sharp whistle from Leo he came scampering back.

"Leave the local wildlife alone, Zuko. You know better than that," he admonished, personally not wanting to piss off a raticate or something bigger, but Zuko just panted and looked up at him innocently, paws squishing in the muddy ground. Leo shook his head and, after glancing around to make sure there were no other people, he released Santiago and Diana.

Santiago was still sleeping as he materialized in the waters of the lake, water now splashing against his side, and Diana appeared with a yawn. The little Larvitar rubbed her eyes and blinked, looking around a bit before spotting Leo and ambling up to him to press her forehead against his shin. Leo chuckled and bent down, scratching the back of her head and pulling Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket with his free hand.

"Diana, Zuko, come here. There's someone I want you to meet," he said, holding the suspiciously silent keystone out for them to sniff.

Santiago was still sleeping and Leo knew from experience he wouldn't be able to wake him up, so he didn't get to participate yet. That, and he'd already met Spiritomb. Technically.

"Taaaar," Diana cooed, leaning forward and sniffing the stone. Zuko glanced at it disinterestedly, then turned away to watch Santiago as he lay in the shallow waters. Leo tensed when Diana opened her mouth, gently reaching forward like Leo had trained her, as if to accept a treat.

"No, no eating the -" Leo started, but was cut off by Spiritomb suddenly bursting from the stone, purple and green lights flashing as it created two gaping mouths and shrieked in both Leo's and Diana's faces simultaneously.

"For god's sake!" Leo yelped, dropping the keystone and leaping back while Diana tumbled over backwards with a startled yelp. Zuko shot a solid foot into the air in surprise, whirling on the new – and loud – threat with back-fires flaring, while Santiago slept soundly. "Spiritomb, I swear to god!" Leo all but shouted, taking a deep breath to calm his beating heart while Spiritomb cackled madly in its multi-layered voice.

The ghost reformed its face but allowed its eyes to split apart, one eye twisting around to watch Zuko and the other focusing on Diana, who pushed herself up and stepped forward hesitantly, looking from Spiritomb to Leo, then back to Spiritomb, then back to Leo again.

"Spiritomb is a jerk, Diana, you can be mean to him," Leo said softly, nodding his head and taking a bit of pleasure out of the look Spiritomb shot him. It was very clearly unamused by his joke, but Diana wasn't listening anyway. She was too busy eyeing Spiritomb's keystone which, Leo realized, might be a problem.

"Diana, just…don't eat the stone," Leo said with a sigh, though the little Larvitar showed no signs of actually having heard him. She did stop moving toward it though, so he took that as a win.

Shaking his head Leo turned toward the lake, intent on actually getting to fish today even if he would mostly be catching domestic magikarp – in other words, pokémon that were as close to animals as it could get in this world. These lakes were chock full of domestic-type magikarp and goldeen, though Leo was hoping to be able to catch a feral version of either. Not to keep by any means – feral magikarp could be sold for a small chunk of change, usually about five hundred dollars from what Leo figured, and that might add some leeway to his admittedly tight funds.

"I can't even imagine trying to train a gyarados. I'm pretty sure they're even more aggressive than tyranitar," Leo muttered, sitting down to attach the lure to his line. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched Zuko as he sniffed about the lake, digging into the ground at random, and kept an eye on Diana and Spiritomb, who were still interacting.

Diana looked about ready to munch on the keystone again, but a mouthful of snow shot from Spiritomb's own mouth stopped her, the cold substance making her sneeze and shake her head fiercely. I'm pretty sure Spiritomb can't learn any real ice moves, I remember their move pool being rather limited. Leo thought with a frown, tying off the fishing line and tugging on the lure to ensure it was properly secured. Is the reason Spiritomb can use an ice move now, whatever move that may be, be because of Froslass being sucked into it? I'm pretty sure Froslass' personality is dominant since it's pretty lax around me all things considered, so it'd be reasonable to assume her powers were transferred over somehow. I'd probably make a note of this, Oak did ask me to study Spiritomb. Leo mused, putting aside his fishing rod and pulling out his pokedex, typing his observation into the notes section he had started for Spiritomb.

There weren't many observations or anything yet, just a few memories Leo had of the pokemon, his thoughts on the "creation process," and Morty's own limited insight, but it was a start. The most interesting thing was the training potential Spiritomb's natural Pressure might provide – much like training with physical weights, Leo theorized that training under the effects of the "mental weight" of Pressure might speed up growth of the more…esoteric variety. Meaning, not physical attributes, but the…well, Special attributes.

It might even push Santiago to train his psychic abilities more. Though, as Leo glanced at the still sleeping Slowpoke as he lay in the lake waters, a small, palm-sized magikarp splashing about in the shallows trying to nibble on his tail, Leo doubted it. He was as stubborn as he was battle-hungry.

Pushing all further thoughts out of his head, Leo stood on the bank of the lake and cast his fishing line out into the water. He came out here to relax and possibly lightly train after that intense experience one – er, two days ago. And what better way than to fish?

Leo severely underestimated the trouble his team could get into in a short amount of time. Or, more specifically, how much trouble they could give him. In just the few hours that he'd got to the lake, Zuko had managed to start three separate fires chasing after wild pokémon, Diana had tried to eat Spiritomb at least twenty five times before realizing that the ghost was alive and not for eating – then proceed to go and chew through a tree that nearly fell on Leo! And she didn't even like the taste of wood! Not only that, but Spiritomb seemed all too happy to scare all the fish away from his lure using its ghostly powers – and had even convinced Morty's Dusknoir, who was still following them, to eat the one magikarp Leo had managed to catch before cutting his line altogether. Then it picked a fight with Zuko, which was how the third fire got started. And top it all off, even with all the commotion going on Santiago slept through almost all of it then, when he did wake up, managed to catch fifteen magikarp in under forty-five minutes with his tail.

It was borderline humiliating for Leo to toss the ones Santiago didn't eat – or more specifically Leo wouldn't let him eat, because if he had his way he'd gorge himself until he burst – back into the pond.

What had started out as a relaxing adventure had turned into Leo corralling his team. And he was livid.

"If you all can't control yourselves, you're going back into your balls!" Leo shouted, glaring at each of his pokémon in turn. Zuko looked suitably chastised, wilting under Leo's glare and letting out a low whine that went ignored by Leo. He should feel bad, he nearly burnt the forest down! As for Diana, she was still working on scraping sap off of her tongue, the little moron whining pitifully as she tried to scrape the sticky substance off. Santiago predictably ignored him, tail still in the water as he lay next to his two newest prizes, the magikarp still flopping about, but he was also the only one Leo wasn't genuinely mad at.

Spiritomb, on the other hand, glared at him testily, hissing angrily. Zuko turned to regard it as the ghost type flared up, its stone glowing purple and rising into the air as its ectoplasmic body puffed up, doubling in size and releasing its Pressure. Zuko growled, legs trembling, and Diana whined, clutching her head. Santiago whipped his head around and shot a jet of water at Spiritomb, hitting its stone directly and only serving to enrage it further.

Pure anger flooded Leo's mind, filled with the whispers of ghosts and memories, urging him to act. And act Leo did, but not at all in the way Spiritomb seemed to expect. Instead of lashing out, trying to punch it or throw the stone away or whatever, Leo forcibly shoved those emotions down and stomped forward, each step renewing his purpose as he reached out and snatched Spiritomb's keystone out of the air.

"You will listen to me," he hissed, glaring directly into Spiritomb's narrowed green eyes. It looked…different than before. The green color had darkened, its eyes a different shape, and from the sound of the whispers…it sounded different. But that was a thought for later.

"Fight, fight, FIGHT!" Spiritomb shrieked, and Leo winced in pain from the noise.

"SHUT UP!" Leo roared, startling Spiritomb into silence. Before it was just doing harmless pranks, things he was used to from Froslass, no matter how irritating. When it had picked a fight with Zuko it had just been malicious. "Stop being a pain for half a second and listen!" he growled. Spiritomb hissed, retracting its form into the stone slightly and increasing the intensity of its whispers, a familiar pressure pressing down on Leo's head. Leo grinned savagely. "We've done the battle of wills before, Spiritomb. The odds are stacked in my favor. You sure you want to do this again? Because I will beat you into submission if I have to," Leo said with such firmness that it gave the ghost pause, the pressure receding.

"Good. Now, you need to learn to control yourself. I get that Zuko was being nosy and not leaving you alone, but he was just being curious. I'm okay with you smacking him around when you've had enough – he has to learn somehow – but I saw you getting malicious about it. No trying to intentionally, seriously harm teammates – hell, don't do that to anyone. Are we clear?" Leo ground out. Spiritomb hesitated, the pressure in Leo's head increasing once more. He steeled his will, doing the mental equivalent of putting his foot down, and restated himself. "Are. We. Clear?"

After a brief moment of silence Spiritomb averted its eyes and retracted itself back into its stone, all of its pressure vanishing instantly. Leo huffed and pocketed the keystone, glancing back at the rest of his team who was watching him warily. Even Morty's Dusknoir made itself known, its single red eye gleaming from the shadow of a tree.

"As for you two, Zuko, Diana, if you've got that much extra energy to burn off I think we should do some extra hard training," Leo said firmly. Zuko whined and Leo shot him a look. "You're going to work on rollout. You've already got flame wheel going, so I figure it's high time you add some variety to your arsenal. Rollout should be simple from there," Leo said, fixing Zuko with a stare and knowing the truth was opposite what he said. The rock move was supposedly very difficult for the cyndaquil line to learn, albeit possible, so it would be perfect for punishment. Especially since the training required actually seemed very difficult to pull off.

"Diana, you're going to have to pay attention for once, because we're doing dodging practice," Leo said, and those words alone had Diana pausing and staring at him in fear. They'd tried dodging practice once before, and it ended horribly. Dodging was not her strong suit. That, however, was the point. "Santiago here will fire weak water guns at you, and you're going to try to dodge. Got it?" Leo said, and Diana just stared at him as he clapped his hands together, looking at Santiago.

"Practice gun," Leo commanded, pointing at Diana, and Santiago squirted a weak, easily-dodgeable line of water at Diana. It splashed against her belly and she squealed uncomfortably, taking a few steps back. Leo raised his eyebrows at her. "Dodge," Leo commanded and, to his surprise, Diana scrambled out of the way of another water gun from Santiago. Guess she really didn't like that.

And that was how Leo spent the next hour, working his team ragged. Zuko spent most of his time rolling about in a mimicry of flame wheel – just minus the fire – and slamming into objects by accident occasionally. Leo would let him take breaks whenever he got too dizzy which was, admittedly, kind of funny to watch him stumble around drunkenly. Diana got switched to basic command training after a few minutes of dodging practice, as she was getting pretty frustrated with it. It was obvious with the way she would stomp her feet and throw a little fit every time she got struck with water gun, so Leo didn't push his luck and adjusted the training.

She appreciated it, if the way she followed the orders she understood to the letter was any indication.

After that, and Leo was satisfied that both Zuko and Diana had settled down, he went back to fishing peacefully while those two napped in a pile. Zuko lay atop a sprawled-out Diana, who hardly seemed to notice his weight, in the midday sun. Leo chuckled and shook his head as he fished, he himself having calmed down as well.

He hadn't caught a single fish today, but that was ok. This was just for fun anyway.

"Think you'll want to evolve sometime, Santiago?" Leo asked suddenly, his thoughts wandering as he fished. Santiago, who had finished with his own fishing and instead lay basking in the mid-afternoon sunlight, blinked at him. "I mean, you've got some options to choose from. You could be a Slowbro or a Slowking – I'll help you get there either way – or you could stay a Slowpoke," Leo said, frowning.

Technically speaking Slowpoke could evolve into Slowbro and Slowking without the aid of a shellder, but the process was strange and varied. For Slowking that other, non-shellder process was a King's Rock. For Slowbro…well, Leo didn't actually know for that one. All his research into the subject was cagey at best – which was fair, most of the more esoteric evolution methods were hidden. Evolving a pidgey into a pidgeot took training and effort, but evolving a haunter into a gengar? Who knew how that worked, because it certainly wasn't the same as the pokémon games.

"Sloooow," Santiago answered. Leo snorted and shook his head, jerking his fishing rod to try and entice any fish. This time of day, he was doubtful there'd be any takers.

"True, true, evolution is a ways off for you. You're still growing as a Slowpoke, I'm not trying to rush you," Leo replied.

"Pooooke," Santiago called, standing up and wagging his head side to side.

"You think so? I have to agree. But you have to decide whether you're a King or not, not me," Leo said, cocking his head to the side and cracking a grin. It'd been a while since he'd had a conversation like this with any of his pokémon. One sided as it was, since he couldn't actually understand Santiago, it was fun.

Spiritomb chose that moment to speak up, hissing and rattling in his pocket.

"Really? All that? That's amazing, Spiritomb," Leo said absently, shaking his head to clear the whispers away. Spiritomb cackled, then fell silent again. And Leo fished the rest of the day away, deciding at random to spend the night in the great outdoors.

The fire crackled merrily as Leo stared into it, one hand absently rubbing Diana's head as she lay curled up next to him. She wasn't sleeping yet, going by the occasional crunch of stone that came from her, but she'd been almost completely still for the past half an hour so it was only a matter of time. As it were, she was pressed up as close as she could be to Leo's leg, not just content to be touching him but one of her small stone hands pressed firmly onto his shoe as if to keep him in place.

Sparks flew into the air, dancing like fireflies as the floated up into the starry night sky as Leo stirred the coals with a long stick, his belly full of roasted magikarp and the cool, fall air reminding him that he didn't have much time left before the League Season ended on the winter solstice. Not that it mattered at the moment, he was content to just sit here and enjoy the night.

"Quiiil," Zuko called, emerging from the forest in a rustle of leaves, glancing at Leo before pressing his face fully into the fire, the flames licking at his snout. A comfortable squeal escaped him as he, once again, glanced at Leo to make sure it was ok.

"Go ahead," Leo said, and Zuko happily laid atop the fire, sending a cloud of sparks and smoke flying skyward as he draped himself over the burning wood, rolling about happily. His flame-proof fur made the experience pleasant, Leo supposed.

Santiago was back at the pond, sleeping in the water most likely. It wasn't too far away, just past a few trees and nearly hidden by brush despite the light, moonlit night. A noctowl hooted somewhere in the distance, and Leo hooed back, disappointed when he received no answer. After enjoying the silence a bit more Leo began to hum and sing a little to himself, remembering the tune, if not all the words, of one of the songs of his home world.

It was nostalgic in a comforting way, even when Spiritomb interrupted with some irritated hissing.

"What's your problem, huh?" Leo muttered. It hissed again, one glowing green eye appearing in the shadows across the fire Zuko was laying on, this time a bit louder. Leo frowned at it until it hissed again, swaying back and forth. "Wait, are you…singing along?" Leo asked, barely recognizing the butchered tune. Spiritomb always sounded like a hundred different voices speaking at once, even the hisses were like a hundred snakes, and it was all discordant, disjointed, and lacked any rhythm at all. But still, the hissing did follow the general beat of the tune…

So Leo sung a little louder this time, bad as he was at singing, and Spiritomb reciprocated, hissing alongside him. It was…nice, in a word, and was truly funny to see the ghost trying to dance to the tune, its ectoplasmic body twisting and swaying oddly and keystone bouncing around randomly. He was glad to have found something Spiritomb liked, at least.

But he was tired from the day's events and quickly faded, putting out the fire while half asleep – much to Zuko's dismay – and curling up in his sleeping bag with Diana pressed firmly against his side, Zuko settling down to lay on his legs, and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber the moment his head hit the pillow. And so he slept, under the watchful eye of his new ghostly friend.

Chapter Text

The Joy watched the three water pokémon swim in a small pond critically, making little notes on his pad and glancing occasionally at the Chansey that stood next to him. Leo, on the other hand, was entirely silent as he stared at the pink haired male Joy, who apparently worked at the Ecruteak Pokemon Center as some sort of sales representative, helping to both manage local requests that trainers could take at the Center and also helping to manage the…trading, aspects of Centers.

Leo had never considered the fact that, up until the later games, pokémon centers were the place to trade pokémon was an important fact. Until now. They weren't just healers, the Joys were pokémon experts. If you wanted a fair trade, you ran the trade through the Centers, expensive fees or not. Leo hadn't known this until he caught two feral magikarp and a feral goldeen while fishing – his fishing trip having lasted for three whole days, rather than the planned one – and had come down to the Center to ask where he could go to sell them. The nurse on duty had laughed at him, then said they would buy them.

"The two magikarp you've brought me are indeed feral, but unremarkably low in strength. Probably only hatched this year. I can give you two hundred dollars each, minus fifty dollars if you want replacement pokeballs." The Joy said critically, never taking his eyes off of the three water-types in the pond. One magikarp splashed about in the shallows, lazily flopping back into the deeper part of the water and continuing to lazily swim about.

"Ok," Leo said, nodding. That made sense. He expected more, but the Joys had to make money off of the trade somehow. "Who will buy the magikarp anyway?"

"Aquariums, the well-to-do, foolish trainers who believe they can actually evolve the things," the Joy replied. "The Bell Tower will most likely buy them though. They recently had a problem with a pidgeotto flock stealing their magikarp out of their koi ponds, and need fresh fish to replace them. Feral magikarp as pets are status symbols, you know, and the kind caught around Mount Mortar have little to no records of evolving into Gyarados. It's easiest to evolve ocean-born magikarp after all," he said rote, feeding Leo a tidbit of information that he hadn't asked for but found himself appreciating nonetheless.

He had heard that last bit before though. Freshwater magikarp were infinitely less likely to evolve into gyarados than ocean-based specimens. There simply weren't enough lakes large enough to support a massive creature like a gyarados for it to be otherwise.

"And the goldeen?" Leo pressed, eyes tracking the white-and-gold fish as it elegantly swam about the pond, scales glimmering spectacularly in the mid-morning light. It swerved around one of the magikarp, surfacing for just a moment to snap at a bug that had landed on the water before returning to just…swimming about. That one had been a lucky catch, Leo hadn't seen a single goldeen until that one showed up in a pond a little further off the beaten path than Leo should've gone.

"That one's a bit harder to tell. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly a feral and has lovely colors – the orange is brilliant, even for its species – but whether it will be sold as a battling 'mon or a decorative 'mon depends entirely on its personality and ability. Neither Goldeen or Seaking are famed battlers, but they do have their niche," the Joy explained patiently. "However, I would estimate around seven hundred dollars for a price. Flat out I will tell you that the Center would be willing to buy it for seven hundred and fifty, with twenty five take off for a replacement pokeball. That would be a gain of…one thousand twenty five dollars, if you want the replacement balls,"

Leo mulled it over but didn't really have much to think about. He'd caught these three fishes on a whim anyway, and selling them would be better than either releasing them and wasting the two-hundred-dollar a piece pokeballs he had caught them in, or keeping them on his person as dead weight and extra mouths to feed. For whatever reason pokeballs weren't reusable after all.

"Sure, I'll sell them to you," Leo said, scratching the back of his neck and ignoring the whispers of Spiritomb as the ghost came to awareness. It chose to sleep, or fall dormant in the more likely scenario, at the oddest of times. Like as soon as Leo wakes up, or midday, or mid training session.

Lazy jerk. At least Leo had confirmed that the ghost's natural ability, Pressure, was good for Santiago's psychic training. The slowpoke had improved by leaps and bounds despite his general unwillingness to train – compared to his previous progress that is. Confusion was now a lot more viable for Santiago to use mid-battle, Leo figured. It would help for his coming battle with Morty tomorrow.

"Excellent. We'll get the paperwork sorted out right away then – do you have any preferences to where they're sold to?" The male Joy asked, turning his attention fully to Leo this time.

"You know better than me where a good place will be. Just don't sell the magikarp to restaurants. There are plenty of non-feral magikarp to go around," Leo said, and the Joy chuckled at that, making a little note on his notepad.

"Restaurants wouldn't sell a reasonable sum for magikarp, but I'll keep it in mind. Now if you would recall the pokémon and follow me, we'll get you all sorted out," he said, recalling the Chansey and turning on his heel, marching stiffly out of the Pokemon Center's "backyard," for lack of a better term, and back into the massive hospital. Leo recalled his fish and followed sedately, plodding along happily. He had money now! He might even be able to – gasp – buy a souvenir!

"What in the name of all that is holy got into Victoria?" Leo muttered, staring wide-eyed at the TV in the PokeCenter lobby. Santiago lay at his feet, his big head laying directly on Leo's left foot and cutting off all bloodflow to the appendage. Leo, however ignored the increasing discomfort in his foot in favor of watching the news program, and the obvious excitement it generated in both the newsperson and the trainers in the lobby.

"…in what will surely be an epic showdown that will define a generation of rising Champions, Victoria Oak, the renowned Normal-type Master who swept through all sixteen Indigo League gyms a few years ago, and Lance Wataru, the rising star of the Wataru clan and newly-minted Dragon-type Master, both issued challenges to Champion Martin on the same day…" the announcer said, continuing to rattle off speculations and trying to hype up all the listeners as well as listing off the dates already assigned to the challenges. They would be held at the end of the League Season, in the last two weeks of it actually. Right after the official "we collected eight badges" tournament that, once won, actually allowed people to challenge the Elite Four and Champions. There was more to it than that, of course, and other ways to earn the right to challenge the Elite Four, but Leo wasn't sure of the details.

The one thing he was sure of was that with a potential three challengers pining for the title, it was going to be one heck of a tournament. That, and that something must have happened to make Victoria want to be Champion because as far as he knew she had no such desire.

"It's about time someone challenged Martin. He's been on the throne for too long, and not once has he really proved he has the strength to hold it," a trainer muttered from next to Leo.

"True," another trainer said, scratching the head of his Pikachu as it lay curled up in his lap. "He's nothing compared to the previous Champion. The only reason he beat Layla in the first place is because she was getting old,"

"Maybe we'll finally have another Johtoan take the mantle this time. Kanto trainers may be tough, but they have no clue how to lead," the first trainer grumbled, making Leo frown. "Besides, Martin's been pushing for a succession of Kanto from the Indigo League. Creating rifts. Maybe Lance being on the throne would fix that. Even another Oak as champion would be better than what we have now,"

Leo frowned and dug through his backpack, which was in the seat next to him, searching for his pokedex. When he found it he immediately flicked it on, scrolling through the email section in search of any new messages or emails that might've been sent, but not received by him due to the lack of signal out near Mount Mortar. What he found was a single message from Oak saying that he'd be swinging by the Ecruteak Pokemon Center today, in a few hours actually, to give Leo some equipment to study Spiritomb with and to do a check-up and inspection on the ghost, but otherwise nothing from Victoria.

It irritated and worried Leo. Had something happened to make Victoria have a change of heart? He obviously missed something while on his little fishing/training vacation – because fishing, of course, was not the only thing he did – and he needed to find out what.

Recalling Santiago and standing up, nearly falling over at the sudden pain in his foot from it getting blood flow again but quickly righting himself, Leo headed off to go hunting for information. He'd start with recent news, in hopes something would jump out at him, and then proceed from there. After an hour of search turned up nothing of great importance besides a few articles on the increased activity of sneasel near the Ice Path warning off trainers, Leo found himself falling into a deeper spiral of searching for other information.

Obviously there was no information on Spiritomb in any references Leo could find, not even on the internet had been any help – though he hesitated to call it the internet. It wasn't nearly as intuitive or easy to use as Earth's internet, there weren't even any search engines! It was weird. But he did learn that Cynthia was not the champion of Sinnoh yet. As sparse as interregional news was, information on Champions and Elite Four was easy to come across. They were the most recognizable faces of any region after all, and as such Leo knew that Lucian, a psychic type trainer, was currently the Champion of Sinnoh. It was also interesting to see that Steven had only become the Champion of Hoenn last year, that Alder was still the Champion of Unova, Diantha was the Champion of Kalos, and some guy Leo had already forgotten the name of was the Galar Champion. That information, at least, was easy to find.

That was mostly irrelevant though. What was relevant was his disappointment in not being able to contact Cynthia about Spiritomb, and get some answers. Still, with Lance soon to be Champion – so long as Victoria didn't take it from him – Leo expected he'd be hearing about her soon. It probably wouldn't be long until she took the throne of Sinnoh Champion.

So with that out of the way, Leo set about to do some light training with Santiago. He'd train his entire team a bit harder later, but he didn't want to tire them out too much before the gym battle. Even if it was tomorrow, rest days were important.

"Focus, Santi. You know what I want you to do," Leo said, snapping his fingers and staring into his slowpoke's eyes. Santiago blinked slowly, his blank gaze meeting Leo's as he cocked his head to the side. He snapped his fingers once more and the slowpoke righted his head, tail perking up slightly and wagging as if to play. "C'mon, bud, use your psychic powers," he said, pointing his index fingers skyward and wiggling them back and forth in a rhythmic motion.

Santiago's eyes tracked the movement, his tail swaying in time with the rhythm and holding his attention for a solid ten seconds before his eyes began to glow. Wiggling his fingers became harder in response to Santiago's psychic manipulation, as he tried to stop the motion with his psychic powers, but not impossible. Still the fact that he was using his psychic abilities was a good sign and Leo decided to move onto the next step. Slowly he reached into his pocket and withdrew Longinus' crown gem, the pink sphere gleaming in the midafternoon light.

Santiago's eyes immediately fixated on the gem, still glowing blue. "Wait. Wait. Now lift," Leo commanded, and the gem was suffused with blue light and slowly lifted into the air, far steadier than it had been even a week ago. It seemed almost effortless to Santiago now to exhibit this kind of control, whereas before it would wobble as it lifted into the air. "Good boy," Leo praised, snatching the gem out of the air and presenting Santiago with an oran berry with his other as a reward. Merri, Oak's Alakazam, had told him to train Santiago's finesse first, rather than big things like bashing rocks with waves of psychic force. Most slowpoke were only capable of using psychic powers like a hammer, it would be unexpected and would get Santiago further in his training if he could train his finesse.

The probably was actually getting Santiago to train. Today was a good day if he was already listening to Leo.

Santiago happily snatched the berry, jerking forward and encasing Leo's entire hand in his mouth before pulling away, berry in tow. Leo wrinkled his nose in disgust, flicking his now saliva-covered hand to wick the worst of it off.

"You know I don't like it when you do that, butthead," he grumbled without any heat. He'd long since given up actually trying to get Santiago to stop doing that, even though it had been a while. "But I guess you earned it. And now that you're properly motivated, let's try to move on to multiple objects," Leo said, pulling a few more small pebbles out of his pocket and placing them on his hand. This was the next step, and though Santiago was, technically, making headway, it was slow going. Mostly because, again, he just didn't want to train.

"Ah, Leo, there you are! Merri told me you'd be in the training grounds," a familiar voice called, prompting Leo to turn and grin at Professor Oak as he stepped through the sliding door of the indoor training arena – rented by Leo with his newly earned money. Santiago, on the other hand, took that as his cue to stand up and wander off, wholly ignoring Leo now.

"Hey, no! We're not done yet," Leo barked, but Santiago ignored him, trundling over to Leo's pack that leaned against the far wall. "Great. And you were actually listening for once. How's it going, Professor?" he said, standing up and greeting the Professor with a handshake.

Merri, on the other hand, frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, raising one eyebrow at Professor Oak while her moustache twitched irritably. Oak paused for a moment, then furrowed his brows and raised an eyebrow at Leo.

"Merri says she can't talk to you," he said. Leo blinked in surprise, then nodded in understanding, pulling Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket and shaking it like he was mixing a drink.

"Whatever you're doing, stop it. I told you to stop making me immune to psychics – is that why Santiago couldn't stop my fingers from moving? I told you not to do that, we were training," Leo chided, earning himself a few harsh whispers from the ghost. He'd figured out two days ago that Spiritomb could extend its ghostly influence to Leo, and effectively neutralize psychic powers that came into contact with him. It made training Santiago even harder until he had a talk with Spiritomb about doing that, and though he hadn't thought about it until now, it was pretty obvious that it meant Spiritomb could close his mind off to psychics as well.

"Is the ghost a dark type?" Merri's voice came through, almost…staticky sounding to Leo's mind. Thankfully he hadn't forgotten the touch of the Alakazam's voice, so parsing her words out from his own thoughts was easy despite the interference.

"I'm pretty sure, yes. Best I can figure, so long as I keep it close it can cover me with a…veil that keeps psychics from being able to see me," Leo said with a shrug. He was just spit-balling there, he wasn't actually sure what Spiritomb was doing.

"A ghost-dark type…is that a unique typing?" Professor Oak mused, eyes fixated on the keystone.

"No, Sableye is also a dark and ghost type," Leo corrected. Oak snapped his fingers and nodded, pulling a small pocket journal out of his pocket and clicking a pen he pulled from his white lab coat.

"I forgot about the gem eaters. I've never really had a chance to study one, which is a shame. It surely would've helped here," Oak lamented, making a quick note before putting it away, a grin stretching across his face. "But oh well. This is entirely new territory for me! Merri, we have the equipment, right?"

Merri rolled her eyes and teleported away, reappearing moments later with a few boxes in tow. Oak grinned and hefted one of the boxes, unpacking them one by one and littering the ground with various pieces of scientific equipment. Leo's attempts to help him unpack were met with mild annoyance, the Professor setting everything up exactly how he liked it and leaving Leo to watch from the sidelines. When Leo finally asked what all the equipment was for, Oak cheerfully replied that he didn't have anything pressing to attend to today, and as such had decided to come over to Ecruteak and run some tests on Spiritomb.

"You have done an admiral job resisting the ghost so far. Your mind remains untainted so far as I can tell," Merri said as she floated next to Leo, casually raising one hand and levitating a camera-looking thing so it didn't fall over when Oak bumped against it. At the same time her eyes shone with a brilliant white light, not as a use of telepathy or other psychic powers, but something else.

"Untainted?" Leo asked, resisting his instincts to go help Oak set up whatever it was.

"Indeed. Most ghosts communicate with their chosen partner through mental contact, not unlike psychics but on a different level. Between new partnerships – and especially with young ghosts who do not know what they do – this usually results in unintentional changes to the weaker partner's psyche and personality. I sense none of those changes in you," Merri explained. Leo blinked and rubbed the back of his neck.

"That explains the mood swings," he muttered. "I've been noticing some random changes in my emotions, and some weird thoughts that don't necessarily feel like my own from time to time. I guess that's from Spiritomb?" A sudden hissing from Spiritomb, sounding far more agitated than before, had Leo jumping in surprise and glancing down at the keystone he still held.

"I'm using Miracle Eye. It's upset it can no longer shut me out on a whim," Merri explained with an uncharacteristic smirk. "And yes, you can attribute that to Spiritomb. That sort of empathic link is normal, expected even, between ghosts,"

"I see. Should I be worried about Spiritomb trying to manipulate me? We've already done the whole battle of wills thing when I first met it, so I'm not too worried, I just want to know if it's going to try something else," Leo said, feeling incredibly calm about what Merri had just revealed despite the implications. Maybe it was because of what he just said, but his gut told him there was something more to his confidence.

"I would need to know the ghost more to determine such a thing. As I look at it now, though, it seems not as malicious as I had originally feared. Such an origin story does not always bode well for a being such as its personality," Merri said. "But that is what we are doing now. We want to see the depth of your connection. Research into ghosts is tenuous at best, but…we have made headway,"

"That's reassuring. If Froslass is the dominant personality like I believe her to be, then I shouldn't have much to worry about. She's mischievous, but usually not malicious," Leo said, nodding along. Merri hummed and fell silent, still staring at Spiritomb's keystone and doing…something with her psychic powers.

"Ok, I think we're ready," the Professor said, setting up another camera and proudly examining the small array of scanners, cameras, and the single computer he had set up, all connected to the single electrical socket in the training area. It was actually impressive all that had fit inside the few boxes Oak had brought along. The Professor hummed and thought for a moment more, then grinned and nodded his head, turning towards Leo with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

Leo groaned mentally, rubbing the bridge of his nose and trying to fend off a headache. When Professor Oak had said he wanted to run a few tests, he hadn't thought that would involve standing around for hours while he did various scans, poking and prodding at him and Spiritomb, as unwilling as the ghost had been at first, until they were satisfied with whatever the scanners picked up. Idly he watched Diana as she rolled awkwardly on her back trying to get back on her feet from being prone - a motion Leo noticed she had trouble with, with the stone armor she had. He didn't want her to be helpless if she ended up on her back, after all.

Since he wasn't doing anything but stand there and look pretty for Oak's cameras, as well as hold Spiritomb up and coax it out of its keystone, he figured he might as well work with Diana a bit too.

"Fascinating," Oak murmured for the umpteenth time, staring with blood-shot eyes at a computer screen and nodding his head absently. Merri stared at the screen over his shoulder, similarly transfixed and pointed something out with a spoon, earning herself a nod and a few more murmurs from the Professor.

"Anything?" Leo asked, spinning Spiritomb's keystone on his finger, the stone wobbling dangerously as it did so. The ghost inside chuckled, seemingly enjoying the spinning sensation. Diana looked up at him from where she lay on the ground, practicing rolling onto her belly from that position and whined. Surprisingly she and Spiritomb had been the best behaved so far, even if Diana had initially tried to eat the electrical cords. He'd recalled Santiago earlier when he started trying to tear apart Leo's backpack to get at the oran berries stashed inside, and he'd recalled Zuko when he annoyed Merri by trying too hard to play with her.

Though admittedly it had been amusing to watch the Quilava bounce around Merri, snapping at her playfully and rolling about on the floor in an attempt to get her to play. Merri had just threatened to knock him out herself if Leo didn't recall him, so he did.

"Nothing concrete. This is raw data, it will take time for us to get any truly in-depth answers out of this. That said, your bond with Spiritomb does appear different than those of other ghosts," Merri said telepathically, still staring at the screen.

"Spiritomb's main body is rooted to the stone, that much it true, but for some reason the energy signatures are blurry and I can't make out any detailed information about its structure. Even with its ectoplasmic body out of the stone all I'm getting is blurs and distortions – not unlike what you would see if you took a picture of, say, a dark pulse with this equipment but at the same time subtly different," Oak explained absently, staring at the screen further. After a few more moments he sighed and stood, rolling his neck. "It is very different from many other ghosts I've seen – but at first glance it looks closer to a Dusknoir in structure than anything else,"

"Huh. And that means?" Leo pressed.

"To you? Not much. From a purely scientific perspective, however, it could mean a lot. Dusknoir are fabled to be pokémon that help others pass into the afterlife – from a research perspective, this means they physically devour ghosts, memories, and other such esoteric things. Memory ghosts, like the Froslass you followed, are a favorite prey of theirs. The truly fascinating part is that they store the memories they consume in their belly and can call upon them for a short time before they fade away. Your Spiritomb has a similar structure to the interior of a Dusknoir who has eaten a number of the "memory ghosts," so I theorize that it can call upon memories of the hundred and eight "spirits" that you mentioned." Oak explained passionately.

"Huh," Leo said eloquently. "I mean, it would make sense if what I sensed in the mind-scape is correct. There were a few personalities in there, but for the most part the different voices seemed like fragments of actual minds – like, echoes, if you will."

"Exactly," Oak said, nodding and going back to staring at the screen. Leo was silent for a moment longer, watching Diana as she rolled over and managed to push herself to her feet, beaming at Leo when she stood upright. He grinned back at her and congratulated her, tossing her a round stone he had in his pocket for her to munch on, then brought up another topic he'd been meaning to ask about.

"Hey, do you know why Victoria challenged the current Champion?" Leo asked, and Oak tore his eyes away from the computer screen to stare at him.

"Victoria what?" he asked.

"She challenged the current Champion, the same day Lance did. It's been all over the news," Leo said.

"I've been so busy lately I must've missed it. I mean, Victoria has been training to get her Champion certification so she probably feels ready for it now," Oak said slowly, thinking.

"Champion…certification?" Leo asked.

"Yes. Victoria can't actually become the Champion of the Indigo League because she was born in Alola – it'd be a conflict of interests if a foreigner could become Champion. But becoming a Champion-Tier trainer does come with a lot of benefits," Oak said slowly. "It's how I got started with all my research grants, by becoming Champion. No one would fund the kind of research I wanted to do without it,"

Leo hummed and nodded, silently wondering what kind of research Oak was talking about. He remembered from the games that Professor Oak was an expert in pokémon/human relations, but he didn't exactly know what that meant…oh sure, he'd seen Professor Oak do plenty of experiments; testing psychic powers, breeding pokémon, doing research to add to the Pokemon Encyclopedia, but Leo didn't see how that applied to "human/pokémon relationships."

"It's just kind of weird because Victoria told me she didn't have any interest in becoming Champion, so I was curious," Leo muttered. The Professor nodded and turned back to his screen, tapping away for a few moments before quickly closing the laptop and stretching, Merri putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Right, well, I do believe it's time for me to head back. I'll take everything here back with me, but I'll be back tomorrow to bring you the laptop and a better scanner for Spiritomb," he said.

"What time do you think you'll be dropping by? I've got Morty's gym test in the morning, and then I'm scheduled to battle him around five," Leo said.

"I know. Daisy came back from her journey, finally, and both she and Gary want to come watch your gym battle. We booked some seats," the Professor said with a smirk.

"What if I don't pass the gym test?" Leo asked before he could think. Oak gave him a look that spoke volumes.

"As doubtful as I am that you will, Morty's test is not one you can fail. True, it's marked as one of the hardest tests in the entire Johto region, but on the flip side there is little to no chances of you failing. I think in the entirety of the time he's been leader, only one person has failed," Oak explained. Leo made a small noise of surprise, not sure what to think about that. Leaders typically liked to keep their gym tests secret until it was time for the trainer to take their test, as a sort of unwritten rule. And Leo didn't know anyone who would be willing to divulge what Morty's test would be, so his curiosity was through the roof.

"Well, that'll be fun I suppose," Leo mused, scratching his chin. "You could use a vacation, and the kids will like it. I don't think I've ever seen you take a day off now that I think about it. Will you go watch Victoria's Championship match too?"

"If I can," Oak said, continuing to pack away his stuff. Leo nodded and let the conversation die, packing away what he could with the Professor. Once he left there would be just a bit more time for Leo and his team to get some last-minute training in, and at the rate things were going now he felt like he would need it.

With all that had happened Leo doubted Morty would take it easy on him.

Morty greeted Leo at the front entrance of the Gym early next morning, expression blank as he led him deeper into the stadium-like building, passing through the empty reception area without saying a word. Leo followed just as quietly, toying with the keystone in his pocket and trying his best not to think too much about what was to come. To be honest he wasn't worried about the test, but he doubted Morty was going to take it easy on him.

"Leave your team here," Morty commanded after winding through the complex gym halls, pulling up short of an ominous iron door and pointing at a small metal box hanging from the wall. Leo stared at him in confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"My test is for the trainer, not the pokémon. The gym battle is for testing pokémon. Leave your team in the box – including Spiritomb – and enter the room," Morty commanded again in a tone that brooked no argument. That made Leo a little nervous, but he did as asked and watched as Morty closed the lid on the box and locked it with a key that he then handed to Leo. That, at least, made Leo feel a little better about leaving his team in the middle of a hallway. He was certain anyone with a strong enough pokémon could get the box open, but then again who was dumb enough to try that in the middle of a Gym? Much less a ghost gym?

Morty opened the door and Leo stepped inside, glancing around the empty, dark-stone room lit only by a single, glowing yellow lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. The door slammed shut behind him and despite the way his adrenaline spiked, flooding his veins with white-hot energy, Leo found himself a little disappointed. For a ghost gym this was a little stereotypical wasn't it? Empty room, dim lights, lots of shadows – what next, a ghost will appear right? Maybe a rotom from the lightbulb, or a gengar will phase through the wall?

"Ah, there it is," Leo said, suddenly feeling a little dizzy. A blue ball of fire appeared in his field of vision and he shook his head, banishing the confusion from his mind and clearing the dizziness with an effort of will. Confusion could be nasty, true, he'd discovered that plenty of times when Froslass would use confuse ray on him, but that just gave him practice with breaking free of it. "That was….what the hell," Leo murmured, blinking rapidly and rubbing his eyes at the sudden change in his surroundings.

Gone were the metal walls, gone was the light, and in its place was a dark, almost pitch-black field lit only by an orange glow in the distance. Shadowy pine trees rose to his left and right, while an eerie wind rustled through the grass that he could barely make out at his feet. Leo rubbed his eyes again and shook his head, doing his utmost to see if he was still confused or not.

"Well then, let's see how this goes," Leo said aloud, more to provide himself with a sense of comfort at being alone in the silence than anything else as he sat down in the grass, cross legged with his eyes closed and hands clasped in his lap. He took deep , calming breaths and pushed away all thoughts and emotions with an almost physical effort, bleeding out his nerves through his feet and into the ground below with each exhale and building up his courage with each inhale.

It was a practice his father had taught him, when he was very little. He wondered how his old family was doing?

"You left us," an eerily familiar voice said, freezing Leo's blood in his veins. "How could you leave us?" Leo opened his eyes and stared at the figure that now towered above him, face obscured by shadow but unmistakable in stature. The man that stood before him was not overly muscular, nor was he tall or overbearing. It was just the way he stood, shoulders set, back straight, feet spread apart just so that gave him an air of authority, an air of someone you should and will listen to when he spoke. Or at least he should've been. The phantom that stood before Leo now, accusing him of heinous things and screeching in hatred and anger was no more than that – a phantom. A shadow of the man it imitated.

It was nothing like Leo's father.

"YOU LEFT US!" It howled in anger, prompting Leo to stand and punch it in the face. His fist passed straight through the illusion, but was effective in silencing its howls.

"You really think that imitating my family will get to me? What you just did shows how little you know about me or my family. Is this another mindscape thing? Is that the song and dance you want to play? Fine. Let's play it," Leo said slowly, ignoring the phantom as it leapt at him, passing straight through him harmlessly. And though he sounded brave there, Leo was shaken by the appearance of his father. He'd wished for so long to hear his voice again, to see the faces of his family…and yet there he was, even if it is poor imitation.

"So be it," a soft, but powerful voice said, and suddenly the world shifted. Gone were the illusions and shadows, replaced by nothing but pure darkness – a scene Leo had seen before with Spiritomb. But this time it was different. It was not the darkness of apathy and hatred, but rather a darkness of silence. There was nothing here, nothing but Leo's own thoughts and even those were slowly consumed by the void. Leo struggled against it for a fleeting moment, but it proved itself too much, the silence too alluring, and so his thoughts slipped away until all of himself was encompassed by nothing but silence. The purest of quiet.

Then with all the suddenness of a tropical storm a presence slammed itself down onto Leo's psyche, pressing down, down further and further and breaking past all of his resistances. Caught off guard he could do nothing as the presence forced his consciousness into a tight, tiny little ball, pain splitting through his head as he fought and struggled against it with all his meagre might.

"Who are you?" the voice asked, but it was not a verbal question. How Leo understood it he didn't know, but it was presented to him in much the same way as psychics asking questions when they could not speak verbally – it was a question of intent, not of language. And it was a question Leo did not know how to answer, as he panicked and struggled against the presence that forced him into this state of smallness.

For a moment there was fear, but that was swallowed by the silence. For a moment there was anger, but that too was swallowed by the silence. All that was left was the pressure, and the question, and Leo did not have the presence of mind to answer it. It almost felt as if he was being pressed into the ground, face first, with a boot on his entire body. Like someone was stepping on him.

For one terrifying moment the pressure increased, threatening to shatter Leo and crush his psyche into dust when, suddenly, the face of his father appeared in his mind. It was no illusion, this time, but a memory. "Sometimes we fall just to see how far we've climbed. See how far you've come?" he said in that familiar, knowing tone. And Leo stopped struggling. He stopped resisting the pressure and "looked" up, as best he could and stared at the presence that suppressed him. It looked big, true, but he was more interested in how big he himself had been. How "big" he had been before, and how small he was now. He'd grown quite a bit even since his time travelling through ultra space, hadn't he? But there was always room to grow further, always things to continue to improve upon. That was the lesson here, and he hated that he had to be pushed this far to be reminded of that.

So he did the only thing he could do – he laughed. He laughed long and loud, tears streaming down his face as he stood and basked in the pressure. He remembered his father, and the love of his mother, and the warmth of his former family. He saw their faces clearer than he had since he first arrived in this world, and cried tears of joy as he enjoyed their memories. And to answer the question that had been posed to him, the question of who he was, Leo bared his soul.

The presence peered into his soul laid bare, judging the depth of his very being as if looking for something specific. Just as abruptly as it had arrived it backed off, letting Leo's psyche relax and expand again, regaining its full awareness and presence of mind as he "filled out" his own mindscape once again.

For a moment further nothing was said, until the voice spoke again. "Hello again," it said, and Leo opened his eyes to a blank ceiling, and worried-looking Morty.

"Hello," he said, and smiled.

Morty fretted nervously, pacing back and forth in the locked room and looking down at the prone form of Leo. The silver Ninetails stood next to him, occasionally pawing at the glimmering shield of silver energy that surrounded the boy as he lay prone, his eyes flicking rapidly beneath his eyelids and sweat beading his brow as the ghost that had elected to test him did its thing. That was his test, after all, a simple question posed to trainers by a ghost – who are you? The lucky ones even got a ghost partner, after his haunter confused them and knocked them out with hypnosis. But not Leo. No, Leo apparently kept all the bad luck to himself and Morty did not envy him for it. Originally Ninetails had wanted to test him until something else decided to butt in, and Ninetail just let it.

Why Kusanagi, the Imperial Aegislash kept in the Bell Tower had elected to test Leo, Morty didn't know. What he did know was that if the katana, its sash wrapped tightly around Leo's left arm and sheath laid across his chest, the blade itself stuck into the stone floor next to him, was in any way displeased with Leo's fortitude then it could very well kill him or worse.

He didn't want to be the one to receive Professor Oak's wrath for killing one of his pet projects. And, sure he could sic his team on the Aegislash and try to forcibly pry it away from the boy, but the King's Shield it had erected around the two prevented most interference, and he wasn't sure what the Aegislash would do if he actually pressed it. So he was forced to wait and see.

"Ok Ninetails, give it thirty more seconds before you melt that shield." Morty said, chewing his lip worriedly. The Ninetails, his family's ancestral guardian and the oldest living member of its species known to man at over a thousand years old, flicked its tails impatiently and sending will-o-wisps scattering across the empty room. Morty hesitated a moment further, fists clenching, when the shield dropped entirely and Kusanagi unwound its sash from Leo's arm. The sword lifted itself up into the air, sheathing itself while its big, green eye blinked at Morty.

"Well?" Morty asked it, glancing nervously at the boy still laying on the ground. The ghost hummed, a strange sound that was reminiscent of a sword being unsheathed, and gently bumped its sheath into his arm. For a brief moment Morty was allowed access into the ghost's thoughts. It was strange no matter how many times he felt it, not unlike when a psychic tried to talk to him, but far…deeper. Whereas psychics left room for interpretation, ghosts did not. That simplicity made them far more…complicated to understand at time. Which obviously meant that what Kusanagi said confused him to no end.

He smells like the moon. What does that mean? Morty mused, watching as Aegislash placed itself in the corner of the room, settling still as Leo stirred. He wondered what secrets he held, what unfortunate destiny he had to have caught the eye of Ninetails, to have drawn Kusanagi to him, and to have brought himself to Spiritomb. I do not envy him. My life is hard enough with all these stupid ghosts haunting me. Morty thought to himself, scratching his chin as Ninetails moved forward, sniffing Leo as he stirred.

And even as his eyes flickered open, the sword spoke once more in a tone much clearer. He is a Traveler, born under the light of a different sun.

Chapter Text

It took Leo a good thirty minutes to get over his experience, and to fully understand what had just happened to him. For thirty minutes he sat in a room, on a chair with a glass of water in front of him – standard fair for those who went through Morty's test – and mulled over the events inside of his head. It was a solid thirty minutes of him working himself into a rage-fueled frenzy, absolutely intent on verbally tearing Morty's head off the next time he saw him.

That ghost had tried to kill him. It hadn't been like Spiritomb, who had lashed out in anger and fear and panic, nor was it like any of the other pokémon that had tried to kill him – like the sneasel pack – who each had discernable reasons to attack him. Like for food. The Aegislash, Morty had told him his "tester" had been an Aegislash before disappearing somewhere to let Leo recuperate, had torn through Leo's memories without his consent if the whole "dad appearing" thing was anything to go by, and proceeded to beat him down until it got what it wanted. How did it even read his mind anyway? Wasn't that a psychic thing, not a ghost?

Leo would eat a pokeball if that was the test Morty gave to everyone. No, that ghost sword was looking for something and apparently found it. So now Leo was pissed off, because hadn't he already proven enough? He calmed Spiritomb, Merri said he wasn't under its influence and he trusted a Champion-level Alakazam to know what she was talking about, and by god he was just…just...

The glass of water was promptly hurled across the room, shattering against the far wall of the purple-carpeted waiting area. Leo's chest heaved as he took deep breaths in a weak, almost token effort to calm himself down. Spiritomb whispered words of rage and anger in his ears from where it sat in his pocket, and for once Leo did nothing to resist its effects. He wanted to be angry. He was angry.

And that was what greeted Morty when he walked into the room, Ninetails at his side and a sword and flag strapped to his back; Leo, standing at the wooden table that sat in the middle of the room, fury etched on his features. The moment he saw Morty, however, the raging inferno inside of him cooled into a cold fury.

Morty paused and held up his hands defensively. "Now I know what you're going to say-" he started, but Leo cut him off.

"Do you?" he asked in a voice far calmer than he felt. Morty hesitated, then sighed and bowed slightly.

"I am sorry for putting you in that situation. I did not realize that Kusanagi would be the one to come test you – normally the test is far safer and not nearly as…well, Aegislash are…" Morty sighed again, and Leo felt himself relax just a tad, his anger subsiding slightly with the apology. Spiritomb still demanded blood of course, but Leo ignored those calls this time.

"Normally. What is the test normally?" Leo asked, sitting back down.

"It depends on the trainer and is never so intrusive, but mostly it's about testing your mental strength. Most of the time it's being hit by a confuse ray – it'll make you see things, the trainer will wobble around a bit, I or a gym trainer will explain what happened, and then depending on the trainer we'll either do it again or pass them. The idea is to get trainers accustomed to mental influences, to test their minds and remind them that many powerful pokémon, especially psychic or ghost types, do have the capability to induce mental effects. I seek to make sure they're training their own minds, as well as their teams – there's a reason my gym is usually challenged by older, more experienced trainers after all." Morty explained slowly, shrugging his shoulders. "Didn't you read the challenge agreement when you signed up for a battle? It's detailed in there – basically a consent waiver,"

Leo scowled because no, he hadn't read that. "But mine wasn't like that," he said bluntly.

"No. Unfortunately, Kusanagi had other plans for you," Morty said with yet another sigh. Leo watched in mild fascination as the sword on his back floated off, dragging the flag-banner along with it, and settled on the side of the wall.

Morty turned to raise an eyebrow at it.

"I thought Aegislash were sword and shields?" Leo asked suddenly, confused.

"The typical ones are. But Aegislash are more the ghosts inhabiting the sword, not necessarily the sword itself. If the sword breaks the ghost can find a new sword to turn into an Aegislash, if the Aegislash dies, the sword returns to being a normal sword. Here in Johto we've never really used shields though, so the Aegislash adapted to use banners and be flag bearers," Morty explained slowly, watching Leo carefully and sitting down in another chair across from him. Leo scratched his chin, staring at the Aegislash.

Hints of green and gold flecked the sheath, its massive eye staring right back at Leo. The flag-banner thing that was drug along with it was green in color, with a long dark wood shaft, and depicted a golden sun that glittered unnervingly in the dim light of the room. It was held by one of the ghost's sashes, ensuring it never left its side.

"I see," Leo said simply.

"For the record, you passed. Kusanagi is Imperial Regalia from the golden age of Ecruteak – I'll probably catch hell for it coming here later from the sages of the Bell Tower, where it's usually kept. For it to have taken an interest in you is either really good or really bad," Morty continued, shaking his head. "I don't know what god you pissed off, but they sure cursed you with an interesting life,"

"Good or bad? Which do you think it is?" Leo echoed, raising an eyebrow. He didn't really remember much lore about Aegislash besides them being able to detect the inherent qualities of leadership – but Leo doubted that was why he caught the sword's attention. He had no desire to become a Leader, or politician. Even becoming a Champion seemed a little much, though maybe doing what Victoria was doing and just become Champion class without the title would be worth doing.

"Depends. Does the phrase 'born under the light of a different sun' mean anything to you?" Morty asked. Leo stilled, and levelled him with a look that demanded an explanation. "It's what Kusanagi told me when I asked what had brought its attention to you. That, and that you smell like the moon,"

Leo put his face in his hands and let out a long-suffering sigh. It seems his little secret was bound and determined to come out, even without him trying to tell people about it. Oak had figured it out because of his position and knowledge, Morty now had the basics even without Leo saying anything.

"Does it mean anything to you?" Leo asked instead.

"No," Morty replied bluntly. "I have no idea what it could mean unless it has something to do with the legendaries. Are you a foreigner, maybe?" Leo nodded, thinking that was about as accurate as it could get. It was probably completely out of the question to think Leo was literally from another world anyway, so his secret was still technically safe. Kusanagi hummed, the blade vibrating in its sheath, and Leo's eyes immediately snapped to it.

"How did it even get that information anyway? It can't read my mind can it?" Leo asked.

"I can't say whether or not it can or can't, due to it being as old as it is but…no, typically not. Ghosts operate in the subconscious part of the mind – they might be able to sense the more powerful, personality defining things, but nothing so deep as mind reading." Morty explained patiently. Leo nodded and Spiritomb flared up, chattering away in Leo's ear. Morty snorted, covering his mouth with one hand.

"I'm sorry, have you seen what your ghost just did to you?" he asked, gesturing to the top of Leo's head.

"What?" he asked, reaching up and feeling his hair. It was sticking straight up into the air, like he had gelled it, and he could feel Spiritomb's ectoplasmic body swirling about above his head. Leo sighed again, allowing a small smile to tug at the corner of his lips. But there were a few more issues to take care of before Leo would allow himself to lose his anger-fueled motivation.

"This guy. I can't ever have a serious conversation unless it is directly involved," Leo muttered, rolling his eyes and recalling all the times Froslass had interrupted his and Karen's conversations. Had that really only been last week that he travelled with her? Time flies. "But I've still got questions for you. What would you have done if I had been killed by that thing? Would it have killed me, or possessed me or something?"

"Ghosts can't possess you," Morty replied instantly, and Leo blinked at the vehement answer. "Or at least, the common idea of possession is a myth produced by popular media. Only the truly insane can have their minds taken over by ghosts, or those who willingly give up their mind and body. It's…got something to do with how the soul, or psyche, or what-have-you is tied to the body. Without the original owner the body just…dies, so a ghost cannot take over your body. Period. You'll die first, and even then they'd have to kill you physically. It's a lot harder to truly kill a mind than you'd think – they're pretty resilient, and even powerful psychics can only stall the outer brain functions for short amounts of time, to say nothing of the subconscious mind. Trauma, causing problems in the mind? Easy. Killing it by slamming one mind into another? Much, much harder. Heck, even psychics can't control you like how movies and such shows – sure, they can puppeteer your body if they overcome your natural strength, but you will still be you inside and have some degree of control so long as you actively resist.

"Ghosts like Aegislash, mostly rely on long-term manipulation if they have ulterior designs. Influencing dreams, your subconscious mind, all that jazz. In that sense ghosts are actually more dangerous than psychics – with training you can learn to detect psychic influence. With ghosts you have to be more careful," Morty explained, more heated than Leo had expected from him.

"Huh. Makes sense, I suppose," Leo mused, now far calmer than before. Just like Morty said, although he could feel the emotions of Spiritomb and could hear psychic voices in his head, and though it was sometimes hard to discern the difference between his thoughts and psychic thoughts, there was still a difference. "Sounds like it might be like the laws of matter. Like, two atoms cannot occupy the same space or something? I dunno. I guess that also means brainwashing isn't a thing then?"

"It is, but not the popularized version. More the…long-term psychological manipulation kind of brainwashing. Psychics and ghosts just go about it in more direct ways than, say, a human brainwashing a human might. The fundamentals are still the same," Morty explained "It's a little bit easier for you, I imagine, to resist than other people, but most can learn to be like you eventually,"

"Like me?" Leo asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Dark," Morty said.

"Huh?"

"You don't know? That you're dark? You're naturally able to resist psychic influence, Leo. That's the first thing my ghosts told me – you're able to completely shut psychics out of your mind and ghosts struggle to find purchase," Morty said bluntly. "I, frankly, think that's a good thing. Though it's more a skill in my experience than anything else. I'm not classified as dark but can do much the same thanks to extensive training of my mind. Much how all people are psychic but only a few are true psychics, all people can be dark, but not true darks,"

"That, I, uh, okay," Leo stammered, unsure how to take that. Did Oak and Victoria know? They probably did. Why didn't they tell him something so important? Was it important? What did that even mean? Wait, had he been completely open with psychic types this whole time when he didn't have to be? On second thought, that was probably a good thing if Merri's reaction to him was anything to go by. "Then was I actually in danger of dying?" Leo asked.

"Yes. I had no way to stop Kusanagi from sucking your life away without risking that same exact thing. The situation was completely out of my control and for that I apologize," Morty said, bowing his head formally once more.

"Uh…ok, it's ok," Leo said slowly. It had worked out ok, and Kusanagi hadn't actually made a move to kill him he didn't think, so that was Ok? He wouldn't trust Kusanagi until he heard from the sword, if he even could, but it wasn't Morty's fault. He may be a gym leader but he couldn't be everywhere, and ghosts were tricky. "What happens now?" Leo asked. Now that all this had happened he just…wanted to get out of the city. It was time to leave, and that meant hopefully battling Morty as soon as possible.

"It is not ok. This is my duty as a gym leader and I failed to ensure your safety. That being said, after the test I usually have one of my gym trainers battle the challenger. I figure we can forgo that and just straight into the battle at the scheduled time if you're still feeling up to it," Morty explained, sitting up straight and meeting Leo's eyes. Leo firmed his expression and nodded, folding his hands across his lap.

"Sounds good. It's still at five, right?" Leo asked. Morty nodded. "Then I'll spend that time here, if you don't mind."

"I do not. There is a food court if you get hungry – one of the gym trainers would be happy to guide you. Come to battleground five for our match – and Leo? Although I am sorry for what happened do not think that I will go easy on you because of it. You have more than proved your mettle; but strong mettle does not a good trainer make," Morty said, standing up and heading towards the door. Leo scowled, but nodded. He hadn't expected anything less, but he didn't need Morty to repeatedly apologize. Once was enough.

"Then you don't expect the same," Leo snarked back. Morty snorted out a laugh and, after sending a glare at Kusanagi to ensure it was coming with him, exited the room with all his pokémon in tow.

Leo sat there for a moment before releasing his team. Santiago gurgled at him, Diana cooed, and Zuko sniffed the air as the three appeared. He'd give them breakfast in a minute, but first they needed to have a chat. Leo knelt down and attempted to look his team in the eye, even as they sniffed and looked about the room.

"Alright guys, I know we've talked about this gym battle before but I think I need to make myself extra clear. We are not going to go easy. This is going to be full throttle right from the start – I want each and every one of you to be fighting as hard as you can here. We are not. Losing." Leo said forcefully, hoping that the sheer seriousness in his tone would catch his team's attention. Santiago blinked at him and gurgled again, tail wagging happily as he was being addressed. Zuko twisted himself into a u-shape and scratched his butt with his teeth, and Diana cooed and ran forward, demanding headpats. Leo obliged, but not without a sigh, running a hand over her crest lovingly as she looked up at him with her big red eyes.

"You have no idea what I'm saying, do you? You just know I'm upset, huh girl?" Leo said softly, scratching Diana beneath the chin, the only way Leo could tell she felt the motion being the way she closed her eyes.

In fact, the only one who really seemed to notice him at all was Spiritomb, who whispered softly in his ear; its body appearing out of his pocket in a weird sort of black mist. An image of two men fighting both wielding swords appeared in the mist, followed by the sound of metal striking metal.

"Yes, we're going to fight," Leo said softly. Spiritomb's eyes appeared next, staring into Leo with an intensity he hadn't seen from it since the night he met it – instinctively he knew that this was not Froslass he was looking at now. The images it had fighting in the mist ended when one warrior stabbed the other, then vanished. Leo shook his head. "No, we are not fighting to the death. It is just a battle…training, almost, but a test to see our skill. Fight with all your might, but don't fight to kill or maim," Leo said softly. Spiritomb stared into his eyes for a moment longer, its mouth appearing in a frown, but slowly bobbed its face up and down nonetheless before vanishing.

Leo let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. He was glad Spiritomb chose to clear that up now rather than during the battle. That could have been disastrous.

"Now if only the rest of my team would listen to me," Leo said, patting Spiritomb's keystone through his pocket. "Wouldn't that be something,"

Leo knelt in the hallway that led to the much larger stadium than he had anticipated – relatively empty though it was – and took a deep breath. Spiritomb was uncharacteristically quiet, though he could feel its anticipation for a fight echoing through his head, and the rest of his team sat comfortably in their balls. They'd had plenty of time to relax, they'd warmed up even before coming in with a few light stretches, and now it was time for a battle.

He stood and walked forward confidently, breathing in deep and glancing to the side for only a moment to spot the Professor, Gary, and Daisy Oak all sitting in the front row bleachers. Merri; Mizuchi, Oak's Dragonite; and a Clefairy that stood next to Daisy also filled out the seats – Mizuchi's happy wave and cheeful call brought a smile to Leo's lips as he marched up the small set of stairs leading into the trainer's stand, looking down on the wide, barren battlefield. Morty stood across from him, expression calm and cool and arms crossed as he waited for Leo to finish up.

The announcer took a deep breath and launched into his pre-battle spiel, outlining the rules – a four-on-four battle (presumably with Spiritomb as the last) – for Leo's second badge.

"Challenger, are you ready?" the announcer asked.

"Yes," Leo replied.

"Gym Leader Morty, are you ready?"

Morty didn't verbally respond but nodded all the same.

"Battle…start!" he shouted, and Leo released Zuko onto the field without a moment's hesitation. Morty gestured wildly with one hand at the same time, a Misdreavus floating up out of the floor with a sinister cackle. Zuko snarled, smoke curling from his lips as he slowly stalked forward, body pressed low to the ground while the opposing ghost eyed him calmly, casually. Leo remained quiet, sticking his hands in his pockets and shutting out the quiet whispers from Spiritomb – who sounded all too excited.

"Confuse ray," Morty commanded with a snap of his fingers. Misdreavus cackled but didn't immediately obey, rotating her body upside down midair before launching the speeding ray of purple and green energy at Zuko – who leapt out of the way in a quick attack. Morty grinned and snapped his fingers again. "Spite!" he ordered and Misdreavus glowed a ghastly purple color, Zuko suffused in the same light and yelping as…something happened.

In the games spite lowers the pp of moves, right? That must mean Morty wants to zap Zuko of his power, weaken him so even if Misdreavus can't take him out the next ghost will. Leo reasoned with himself, chewing his lip as Zuko blurred forward, charging straight at Misdreavus in seemingly blind fury, smoke trailing from his mouth and passing straight through the ghost. It cackled at him and vanished, another green and purple confuse ray hurtling forward and this time connecting with Zuko.

Leo didn't panic, though, as Zuko proceeded to halt in his tracks and belch out even more smoke, his back fires flaring up menacingly. Misdreavus cackled and glowed purple once more though Leo couldn't tell if it actually effected Zuko through the smoke or not. That was the point of the smokescreen though, for all Misdreavus knew its attack missed as well. Morty seemed to consider this for a moment before switching tactics.

"Shadow ball," he commanded. An orb of darkness coalesced in front of Misdreavus' mouth, taking a moment to build up as the ghostly energies crackled and writhed. Leo counted the seconds – two – until the ball of shadows was complete and sent hurtling into the smoke, detonating just inside of the cloud of smoke. An entire section of the smoke was blown away, revealing a very angry, very much not confused Zuko. Embers blasted out of the hole and caught Misdreavus by surprise, peppering the ghost with glowing embers even as it tried to phase into incorporeality.

"Ominous wind!" Morty ordered.

"Keep up ember," Leo commanded, waiting for the right moment. The oscillating wave of ghostly power Misdreavus fired phased right through the orange embers that Zuko fired, forcing the Quilava to dodge out of the way and leap back into his slowly dissipating cloud of smoke where he promptly started spewing out more, rebuilding his cloud. Leo smiled at Morty, who frowned. Ghosts were notoriously tricky and hard to pin down – Leo figured the best way to fight against them at this level was to either power through, or beat them at their own game. He wasn't certain they could power through, but Zuko could be a pain to pin down with his smokescreen.

"Shadow ball," Morty ordered.

"Flame wheel!" Leo snapped, seizing his chance. Misdreavus cackled and floated higher, opening its mouth to form the shadow ball as Zuko sped out of the cloud of smoke, fire blazing from his paws as he leapt into the air as high as he could – only just starting to spin up as he just barely clipped Misdreavus' belly, sending the ghost careening. He didn't stop there, however, continuing his roll and speeding around the arena as the ghost fired its shadow ball, just barely missing.

"Astonish," Morty ordered, still calm. Misdreavus seemed to consider this for a moment before blurring forward with admittedly surprising speed, its features distorting into a vicious mockery of itself as it smashed itself face-first into the still moving, still on fire, form of Zuko. Needless to say it did not come out unscathed, even as Zuko wobbled and careened out of control of his roll. But he was clearly the more lucid of the two as Misdreavus wobbled and spun, shaking her head from the impact, and Zuko unrolled himself and firing an ember directly into the ghost's face.

Misdreavus wailed, used spite one last time as a last-ditch effort to hurt Zuko, and was finally recalled in a flash of red as it fell to the ground unconscious. Leo resisted the urge to cheer as Morty frowned and called upon his next pokémon – a haunter who appeared by floating down from the ceiling.

"You good to keep going?" Leo called, catching Zuko's attention. The Quilava snorted and flared up his back fires in response, eyeing the Haunter as it cackled and stuck out its tongue, its disembodied hands making weird motions in the air.

"Begin!" the referee called again, and Zuko once again blurred into motion – smoke pouring from his mouth as white light blurred from his paws. Once again he started setting up his field, but Haunter wasn't content to let him just do what he wanted. The ghost cackled and flew straight up, a shadow ball forming in a split second and launching forward, detonating just to the side of Zuko and staggering him. The ghost took this opportunity to charge him at speed, tongue lolling as it aimed to lick Zuko. It just didn't count for one thing – the smoke.

Zuko's smoke bomb technique, where he superheated the smokescreen, had advanced to the point where he could use it practically at will now. So when Haunter passed through a cloud of smoke seeking to flank Zuko it found itself surrounded by intense heat. The Haunter shrieked and flew straight up into the air, trailing smoke and chased by embers from Zuko who sought to take advantage of the ghost's surprise.

"Okay," Morty said, raising an eyebrow. "Weaponizing smokescreen somehow, I guess? Haunter, go swimming," Haunter cackled evilly, a tinge of anger in its voice as it dove down into the ground and vanished. Leo cursed, having hoped that it would play at least a little fair – now Zuko would basically have to wait to be hit. It would be a game of trading blows, and Zuko was already tired. But Haunter were fragile ghosts, it wouldn't be able to take many hits either. Zuko had already hit it with an ember, so hopefully it couldn't take too much more punishment.

"Zuko, get ready to counter," Leo ordered, gripping the railing and watching the battlefield carefully for any sign of Haunter. Asking Zuko to run around right now was stupid, it would only tire him out more. It was a waiting game.

To his credit, Zuko knew exactly what to do when Haunter reappeared from below and punched him in the gut – he cloaked himself in fire and scratched, bit, and chewed on whatever he could get ahold of. Haunter shrieked and sank back into the ground, reappearing moments later with a shadow ball already formed and fired before Leo could blink – effectively knocking Zuko out with the blast.

Leo recalled Zuko when he was certain the quilava was done fighting, collapsing on the ground in a heap after being struck by the ball of shadows.

He chewed his lip as he considered his options, thumbing Santiago and Diana's pokeballs. He could have used Spiritomb, but Morty wanted him to save that for last. As he had explained before the battle, this was essentially a three vs three with an exhibition match tagged onto the end. Spiritomb's battle didn't matter so much as the others did. So, what he needed to do now was clear the field for Santiago. Haunter was a menace, and with its shadow ball and far superior speed he was worried that Santiago would be a sitting duck.

"Diana, it's time for battle," Leo said, tossing out her pokeball. The Larvitar appeared on the field with a cry and a blink, staring at the Haunter in curiosity. She glanced around the arena a bit, spotted Morty, turned back toward Leo, then focused on Haunter and settled into a deep stance.

"Begin!"

"Lick!" Morty ordered.

"Counter it," Leo said calmly, and Morty frowned. Haunter, however, didn't hesitate and lurched forward its tongue reaching out to properly slime Diana. Or at least, it tried to. Diana grabbed hold of the fleshy appendage with both hands and, with a war cry that sounded more cute than dangerous, judo flipped the floating ghost over her shoulder and slammed it into the ground. Flecks of dark energy curled off her arms and she didn't let go of the tongue, rearing her head back and biting it, prompting a shriek from Haunter.

"Shadow ball! Get it off you!" Morty ordered, voice heating up. Haunter stretched its two hands outward, holding them steady despite the vicious way Diana shook her head with its tongue in her mouth, two shadow balls forming in a matter of seconds. Diana twisted her body violently when it fired, spinning Haunter so that it caught one of its own attacks full-blast and letting the other just barely scrape her armor. It still did, technically, hit though so she took that opportunity to release Haunter and full-body tackle him in another payback – or, in other words, the dark-type counter.

"Up!" Morty commanded and Haunter dipped down into the ground to escape Diana's grasp then shot up into the sky, out of her reach even as her red eyes remained locked onto the ghost.

Leo, on the other hand, cursed. Diana was doing tons of damage, and Haunter was a glass cannon for a pokémon anyway, but she shouldn't have let it go. She was a close-combat fighter, and now Haunter could blast away with its shadow balls with her having little to no ways to retaliate. It was pretty dumb of Morty to let Haunter get close in the first place though. What was he thinking? Leo mused, then shook that thought out of his head. He still needed a way to get Diana to hit Haunter, or he could recall her and let Santiago take it out…

"Shadow ball, keep hitting it until its down," Morty commanded. Haunter frowned but did as was asked, forming a single shadow ball and blasting it at Diana. She tanked the purple orb, whining in pain as it struck.

"Try rock throw, Diana," Leo urged. Diana bent over as Haunter fired another shadow ball and dug her hands into the ground, tearing a chunk out of the gym floor and hurling it up at Haunter, who cackled and floated out of the way, the rock being caught by another ghost just before it landed in the stands, then deposited safely in a seat. Diana tanked another shadow ball and Leo raised her pokeball, stopped short by Morty's next call.

"Mean look," he commanded, and massive eyes suddenly appeared around the field as Haunter spread its hands with an eerie scream. Shadows pooled and eddied, obscuring the field all together for a brief moment before vanishing entirely. Despite knowing what the move did Leo still tried to recall Diana – only to find the recall beam blocked by one of the ghostly eyes. Effectively trapping Diana on the field.

Leo scowled and considered his options, watching as Diana dug another rock out of the ground and threw it at Haunter. He could forfeit her, but there had to be a way to get that Haunter. There had to be, but she couldn't reach him…wait. If she couldn't reach the ghost, they had to bring him down somehow. Why not beat Morty at his own game? If he wanted to play hard to get, they could play hard to get. It all hinged on whether or not Diana could understand the order though.

"Diana, dig a hole and cover it with rocks!" Leo called. The Larvitar hesitated for a moment, tilting her head to the side curiously and taking another shadow ball for her inattention – which pissed her off, if the way she angrily stomped her foot was any indication. But she appeared to understand him, grabbing another chunk of stone out of the ground, heaving it up and into the way of another shadow ball. The ghost attack shattered on the stone, leaving a small dent in the Larvitar-sized chunk but ultimately doing no damage. This seemed to give Diana an idea, and she continued to dig large chunks of rocks out of the ground and added them to her makeshift wall, effectively barricading herself in the small hole in the ground she had dug even as Haunter rained fire down from above.

Haunter fired another shadow ball experimentally, this one visibly smaller and weaker than the previous ones, and when it got caught in a crack in Diana's walls, exploding harmlessly against stone, it looked to Morty for advice. The Gym Leader just nodded appreciatively.

"Haunter, look for gaps big enough for a shadow ball. If you don't see any, go into the ground and try to get a lick on it," he said, the ghost phasing into the ground and vanishing.

"Diana, get ready to counter," Leo called, hoping that the Larvitar could hear him in her little rock shelter. What followed was a waiting game. Haunter tried, and failed, to attack the walls of her small fort – especially since she kept plugging gaps with chunks of the gym's floor – and eventually focused on trying to lick Diana. It was impossible to see what was going on though, the interior of the stone shelter had to be small and even though Leo was certain he saw the light of a confuse ray eventually the battle ended with Diana's victory – Haunter screeching in pain and sent hurtling from the stone shelter, hands falling limply to the ground and tongue lolling uselessly even as Diana plowed through the stone wall in a shoulder charge.

She wobbled unsteadily, most likely confused, and her movements were stiff and jerky.

"Haunter is unable to battle. The winner is Larvitar!" the referee called, and Leo took that chance to recall Diana. She would be useless in the next fight if she was confused – and if Santiago went down he needed her in top form.

"Good choice. Larvitar isn't down and out yet, but my next pokémon would take her out easily. Gourgeist, it's time" Morty called confidently, tossing out a pokeball this time. Leo frowned hard. Gourgeist was, type wise, a perfect counter for Santiago. Yet as the grass and ghost type appeared on the field, lights flickering in its gourd-like body and face carved into a jack-o-lantern smile, Leo felt confident that Santiago could take it. Or, at least, get it weak enough that Diana had a fighting chance to finish it off.

"Santiago, it's time for battle," Leo said, releasing the Slowpoke onto the field. He yawned loudly, tongue lolling out of his mouth and drool dripping to the floor, though he visibly perked up when he spotted the Gourgeist.

"Let's throw them for a loop, Gourgeist. Trick or treat, then shadow sneak!" Morty called. Santiago stood stock still and Leo racked his brains trying to figure out what trick or treat did – he had no clue, honestly, so he had better plan for the second move. The first would at least give Santiago some time to set up…which he was already doing. A red glow immediately formed around Santiago, curse seeping through his body as the haunted gourd danced forward, extending one frond-like hand to Santiago and holding a strange berry.

"Wait, no!" Morty called, suddenly panicked.

"Don't eat that!" Leo called as well, but Santiago, the stubborn butthead that he was, didn't listen. Instead he reached forward and bit down as hard as he could on the frond, shook his head side to side, and promptly released the Gourgeist from his grip, the berry gone and presumably inside Santiago's stomach. A purplish glow suffused him, which the Slowpoke wholly ignored, and proceeded to set up with curse once again.

Only this time it didn't act the same. Gourgeist and Santiago glowed a sickly purple at the exact same time, Santiago's tail sagging and head drooping as the gourd was suddenly wracked with pain, a harsh scream resounding throughout the arena. Though Leo was utterly confused as to the development he seized the opportunity it presented nonetheless.

"Disable it, then hit it with as many water pulses as you can!" he ordered. Their only hope right now was to try and confuse the blasted thing, then rain attacks on it until it quit moving. Leo only hoped that Santiago would remember their newly trained move – disable. It had been a surprise to find out he'd learned it two days ago when he froze Diana in place in training, but Leo wasn't going to complain.

Thankfully Santiago did remember the command, a red glow surrounding his and Gourgeist's body, freezing the two in place as the Slowpoke opened his maw, forming a water pulse slower than was normal for him. Still, it was quick enough that by the time the disable had ended Santiago had already fired it, the oscillating ball of water slamming into the ghost at-speed.

"Shadow run!" Morty ordered. Gourgeist screeched in pain once more, ghostly energy swirling around it as fired two shadow balls into Santiago, vanishing when the balls hit and reappearing underneath him, slamming head-first into his stomach. It didn't matter that his nervous system delayed pain, that had to hurt and Leo knew it.

Santiago pushed through though and whirled on the possessed plant, eyes glowing blue with psychic power but held back by the ghostly energy still surrounding him. To Leo's eyes it looked forced inward, suppressed…which meant when he headbutted the ghost it didn't pass harmlessly through it – no, Santiago veritably crashed into Gourgeist, sending it sprawling and followed by yet another water pulse that splashed against it.

"Seed run!" Morty commanded. The Gourgeist leapt to its feet looking slightly haggard, streams of glowing green blasting from its mouth and peppering Santiago – though he powered through it as he advanced on the ghost once more. Through all the action Leo cursed when he spotted a few seeds stick to Santiago's pink hide, tendrils lashing out and wrapping themselves around him as they sucked up his energy. Leech seed was mixed in with bullet seed – obviously, "run" meant combination moves. That meant they were on even more of a time limit.

Then Gourgeist faltered, shrieking once more in pain and ceasing its barrage momentarily, allowing Santiago time to close in and headbutt it once more, skull still surrounded by a psychic glow. If a plant could scowl it would have been, the ghost leaping backwards with surprising nimbleness and promptly resuming its barrage, mixing in a wide array of attacks this time. Santiago was a tank, true, and relentless in the pursuit of his foes, but under a constant barrage of bullet seed, shadow balls, confuse rays, razor leaf, and having his strength constantly sucked away by leech seed, even he couldn't keep going.

"Slowpoke is unable to battle, the winner is Gourgeist!" The announcer called once Santiago's legs gave out and he crashed to the ground, unmoving but still weakly trying to spit a water gun.

Leo frowned as he recalled his starter, thanking him for his hard work and frowning harder as Gourgeist danced forward, snatching up the three leech seeds that fell to the ground when he recalled Santiago and popping them into its mouth.

"Release your next pokémon," Morty ordered, crossing his arms and looking particularly hurried. Leo huffed and released Diana, watching in interest as the Gourgeist shrieked in pain once more, its gourd-like shell withering even as its wounds healed slightly from the leech seed.

Something was wrong with it, and Leo had no idea what. But it was good for them in this case.

"Diana, start off strong. Get in close and hammer it hard, use rocks to block any grass attacks, and don't let up. Be relentless," Leo ordered. Diana settled into a stance once again, clearly tired but determined nonetheless.

"Begin!" the referee ordered, and Diana charged.

Gourgeist fired a scintillating confuse ray followed by a stream of leech seeds, and Diana had no choice to take them head on. Or so Leo thought – instead, she opened her mouth wide and chomped down on the confuse ray, the ghost move splintering and vanishing before the tendrils of dark energy that raced through Diana's jaws. The leech seeds all hit though, but Gourgeist wasn't expecting her to charge straight through it all. Leo hadn't expected her to do that either, but was thoroughly unsurprised when she shoulder-checked the Gourgeist into next week, sending it sprawling to the ground.

"Sneak away!" Morty called, gripping the railing. An inky black pool formed beneath Gourgeist, who promptly began to sink into it.

"Don't let up!" Leo called, more as a reminder than an actual order. Diana had no intention to though, leaping forward and reaching into the black pool with her face, then yanking her head out a screeching Gourgeist clamped between her jaws, effectively hauling it from the shadows.

What happened next could only be described as a one-sided beatdown. Diana judo-flipped Gourgeist onto its back and proceeded to sit on the ghost's face with her not-insignificant weight, promptly pummeling it with her little fists, bashing her head into the ghost's body whenever she felt she wasn't doing enough damage.

It didn't matter that leech seed was sapping her strength. It didn't matter that Gourgeist was lashing her rocky hide with razor leafs hidden in its fronds, scratching her armor. It just didn't matter, because she was going to beat it until it stopped moving. Leo knew it, Morty knew it, and the referee knew it – such was the absolute savagery Diana was displaying. So it came as no surprise to Leo when Morty recalled the ghost and announced that pokemon's forfeit.

Diana paused for a brief moment when the target of her ire vanished, then turned her head skyward and did her best attempt at a roar – a squeaking, yet gravelly sound that somehow sounded more cute than intimidating.

This was Leo's little indestructible rock monster. The same one who ate sticks even though she hated the taste of wood, who tried to eat anything and everything, and who slept curled up in Leo's side whenever she could. Leo grinned at her, and she beamed back at him, little legs running as fast as they could back to his side of the field. Leo recalled her and released her in the trainer's box right next to him, just so he could envelop her in a hug.

"That was amazing, girl. Simply amazing," Leo whispered, Diana squirming happily in his arms. Gently she opened her mouth and placed her jaws onto his shoulder, almost like she was biting him, and purred. Leo laughed and stroked her head, looking at the referee. "I'm forfeiting Diana – er, Larvitar from the match. She can't continue," he announced, recalling her after another muttered thanks, and the ref nodded.

"I'll admit, I should've seen the curse move coming," Morty said aloud. Leo looked up at him. "Trick or treat effectively grants the eater of the 'trick' berry the ghost typing for as long as it sits in their belly – and curse acts differently for ghost types than other types. Your Larvitar wouldn't have been able to win had it not been for your Slowpoke's impromptu cursing of Gourgeist. Well done,"

Leo absorbed that information, silently vowing to keep the fact that he had no idea that would happen to himself.

"Let it be known that you have already earned the Fog Badge. Still, we have yet to see how your final pokémon will fare in battle. Let us do so. Gengar, to the field." Morty said formally. The Gengar that appeared on the field did exactly that – appeared out of thin air. There was no shadow show. No darkness gathering or oozing on the floor in a creepy display. Gengar was just suddenly there, grinning widely and displaying its rows of unnaturally white teeth, its red eyes gleaming with malicious desire. Leo didn't even have to know the ghost to get the feeling that this was not one of the friendly ones. This was no Casper the Friendly Ghost. It meant business.

Spiritomb spoke up for the first time since the start of the match as Leo stood, excited whispers filling his ears. The adrenaline that already pumped through his veins multiplied tenfold, white hot energy coursing through him as the whispers worked themselves up into a proper frenzy, demanding blood, demanding a fight, demanding war.

The sound of a sword being unsheathed echoed in Leo's ears as he tossed the keystone onto the field, the stone clattering against the pock-marked ground. The entire room was silent for a brief moment – save for some quiet whispers coming from the Oaks – until the ref called to begin.

Darkness exploded out of Spiritomb's keystone, raging outward and covering the entirety of the field, splashing against the concrete walls of the arena like water against stone. Gengar casually floated upwards, avoiding the wave and cackling even louder – shadows stretching across its features and red eyes glowing. Spiritomb howled in a hundred different voices, the sound echoing about the chamber as its entire body spread out, forming a crashing, ebbing wave of purple and green that stretched towards Gengar like a grotesque hand. Gengar scoffed, body twisting in on itself and vanishing only to reappear next to Spiritomb's keystone, fist clenched and seething with black shadows as it punched the stone.

Spiritomb howled in pain as its main body skittered across the ground, its ectoplasmic body scattering and roiling. Gengar cackled and danced forward, easily spinning past the lashing tendrils of darkness Spiritomb hurled in all directions and eyes glowing with a blue outline.

"Settle down, Spiritomb," Leo barked harshly, narrowing his eyes. This was something he'd noticed about the ghost – it tended to be too…uncoordinated. The spirits that composed its body didn't work together all the time, which meant that it couldn't focus its power at all. Froslass seemed to be the best at organizing the voices, but clearly she couldn't do much in this situation.

"Hypnosis," Morty said with a frown. "Then confuse ray," Gengar cackled and snapped its fingers, drawing Spiritomb's attention to itself.

"Don't look!" Leo called but in vain, Spiritomb's eyes locked onto the rhythmic motions of Gengar's hands as it hypnotized it, lulling it into a sleep. Leo cursed, watching Spiritomb's body sink back into its typical round shape, deflating slightly and eyes flickering. Gengar cackled and prepped a confuse ray, gripping the ball of confusing light in its hand and winding up like a baseball pitcher in an overly dramatic display. Then the unexpected happened – Spiritomb opened its eyes. But it was…different. Its eyes were a deep purple color instead of green, the purple of its body lightening until it was almost blue. It hissed, the voices fewer in number but more harmonious, giving Gengar pause as its body changed shape – transforming into a vaguely humanoid form with the keystone floating up into the center of its chest. Its face split into a vicious grin, more than a little unnerving.

Leo stared, dumbfounded. What in the world was happening?

Gengar threw the confuse ray, and Spiritomb split the scintillating ball of ghostly light in two with a brief, focused ray of dark energy. Leo stared harder.

"Is it asleep?" he murmured, watching as Spiritomb spread its "feet" apart and took a stance not unlike his own martial arts. "Or did only a few of the spirits take the hypnosis attack, and therefore…oh, that's clever. Only some of the spirits fell asleep, and the rest are more coordinated now because of it," Leo realized, eyes widening as he watched Spiritomb advance on Gengar, who fired a machine-gun like burst of shadow balls. Spiritomb focused a ball of darkness in its palm, releasing a burst of concentrated power that split the shadow balls in twain, effectively neutralizing the attacks.

If Leo had to describe it, it looked like a ghostly warrior wielding a sword of darkness, cutting through the shadows balls with ease. In fact it reminded Leo of the warrior he had met in the mind scape…which was probably who was in control now.

"Press it," Morty ordered. Leo considered giving a command as well as Gengar leapt into the air, will-o-wisps flickering to life and spinning around it in a defensive circle, its claws lengthening and dripping shadows. Then he decided otherwise, raising an eyebrow as Spiritomb opened its mouth and screamed out an icy wind, ice crystals forming on Gengar's body as it darted forward with blinding speed, claws bared and will-o-wisps slamming into Spiritomb's ectoplasmic body. It stepped backward and hissed, using its dark aura to parry the slashes from Gengar. Spiritomb seemed to know what it was doing, and Leo had no real clue as to what attacks it had beyond the scant few it'd shown. The best he could do was try to plan ahead and let Spiritomb do its thing.

Besides, this battle was way above his current level if the sheer number of attacks being thrown around was any indication. Haunter and Misdreavus had taken a while to charge up one shadow ball; this Gengar spit them out with ease.

Gengar continued its slashing routines until Spiritomb seemed to catch a break, parrying the shadow claw with a burst of dark energy then whipping in through the ghost's body, which split in half then formed back together. Gengar's grin widened.

"Step back, use range," Morty said. Gengar vanished before another slash of dark energy hit it – Spiritomb somehow manipulating it to form thin, lashing lines – and reappeared on the other end of the field. It grinned viciously and pressed its hands together, its body glowing a bright white and blasting out a glittering white beam that left spots in Leo's eyes. Spiritomb howled in pain as it struck, rushing forward with maw gaping and fists clenched. Gengar cackled and floated skyward, the smell of ozone filling the air as it began to rain down thunderbolts from above.

Spiritomb wasn't quick enough to dodge the first yellow bolt of lightning, tanking the attack and howling its anger, blasting at Gengar with roiling waves of darkness that the ghost dodged with ease. Leo frowned. Spiritomb was slow, much slower than Gengar to the point where it couldn't even land any attacks. They had to slow it down.

"Spiritomb, use icy wind," Leo tried. Spiritomb glanced at him and seemed to consider the order, taking another thunderbolt to the face for the inattention, then growled and unleashed a blast of freezing wind upon the area. Gengar barely managed to dodge so Spiritomb tried again, this time waving the icy wind around so it covered a larger area. Gengar could not dodge it fully, and when it moved it was noticeably slower.

Great, so icy wind works the same as the games. Makes the opponent slower – presumably due to the cold, so it should wear off if Spiritomb doesn't keep it up. Leo mused, tracking Gengar's movements. They were clear and precise – Leo got the feeling it wasn't going all out yet – but the fact that Leo could actually track it meant the Gengar had slowed a significant amount.

Unfortunately, however, their luck was at an end. Spiritomb's form shifted and a hundred wailing voices echoed around the arena, the rest of the spirits waking up from hypnosis and undoing the control the samurai spirit had exerted, reverting back to its base, swirling circular form.

"Interesting. I think we've seen enough, Gengar. Finish it with hex," Morty ordered and Gengar cackled its compliance, tracing symbols in the air with ghostly fire that lingered for brief moments. Spiritomb howled, losing even more cohesion and lashing out randomly with its dark energy as the spell assailed it.

"Icy wind!" Leo hollered and miraculously Spiritomb listened. The temperature noticeably dropped as it exerted its power over ice and snow, ice crystals forming in the air and crawling up the walls even as it focused in on Gengar. The purple ghost shivered as the ice accumulated on its body, solidifying it momentarily – just long enough to annoy it, and for it to finish things off with a barrage of shadow balls that finally silenced Spiritomb.

Ignoring the calls of the ref Leo leapt from the stands and moved over to pick up Spiritomb's keystone, the ghost faintly whispering in his ears.

"You did good – amazing, even, for our first real battle together. Rest now, ok?" he whispered, pocketing the stone and wondering if potions would have any effect if he sprayed them on the keystone. Pokemon centers could only do so much for ghosts, after all, especially with an unknown species like Spiritomb.

"Well, Spiritomb certainly shows promise. A little uncoordinated, except for when it was under the influence of hypnosis, but its attacks held plenty of power," Morty said, descending from his own stand to stand in front of him. Leo nodded. Had Spiritomb been more coordinated then they would've put up a better showing – the question was how to do that? Each spirit had its own instincts and desires despite not being full consciousnesses.

"The rest of your team is adequate. Quilava needs more versatile moves – flame wheel, smokescreen, quick attack, and ember are basic, a good base, but you need to expand his power and speed for him to truly shine. Slowpoke was surprising – vicious and a natural fighter, he seems to have a decent array of moves but lacks mobility like most of his species. Larvitar…I know too little about Larvitar to be any help, but it doesn't move like any Larvitar I've seen. Most just tank attacks, yours actively tried to lessen the blows," Morty assessed, presenting a badge with his hand. Leo accepted it and thanked him for his advice, for what it was worth. Some of it just seemed rote – who ever heard of an agile Slowpoke?

Still, as angry as he was earlier, Leo bowed to Morty as a show of respect. If for no other reason than he was a Gym Leader, and he respected the station, if not the person. (Though he did sort of respect the person, despite the…issues they may have had.)

"And…here, as an apology," Morty continued, handing Leo a small disc drive. He frowned and flipped it over a few times, confused as to what it was. "That's shadow ball, in a one-time-use TM. Careful who you use it on," he said.

Leo nodded and thanked him once again, closing his fist around the Fog Badge. That left only one more badge to get, then he'd leave Johto behind and head to Alola. After his little adventure in Ecruteak, he couldn't wait.

"I say we celebrate," Daisy said, pulling Leo along through the streets of Ecruteak with Gary and the Professor trailing slowly behind.

"There is no need for that," Leo laughed, shaking his head. After the gym battle and Leo had said farewell to Morty – hopefully meaning he'd never have to visit the gym again, and the ghosts therein would leave him alone from now on – and met up with the Oak family, who had promptly congratulated him on his win.

And apparently Gary now wanted a Larvitar for a starter. Leo wished the Professor luck in talking him down from that idea.

"Nonsense, you just got your second badge! That's an important milestone!" she cheered. Leo smiled to himself and shook his head. Wasn't the third badge supposed to be a big milestone that separated casual trainers from more professional trainers? But he'd let her have her fun – he hadn't seen her in a while, and it was good to see she was in high spirits. The Professor was certainly happier now than he'd seen her in a while.

"Sure, sure," Leo laughed, shaking his head and allowing himself to be drug.

She wound up leading them to a nice restaurant – treating everyone to the meal. It was…nice. Gary was a nuisance, as always, constantly badgering him for stories of his journey so far and to meet his team, most of whom were left at the center for treatment. But still, it was nice and relaxing, and Leo enjoyed the company of the Oaks. He'd grown fond of them, and the casual talk without any beratement or knowledge bombs to be dropped on him was pleasant. That didn't mean he was any less surprised when Daisy offered to travel with him for a time after the Professor and Gary left back for the lab, however.

"I've travelled alone for long enough. Thought I might join you on your journey until you head for Alola," she explained with a smile. Leo raised an eyebrow at her.

"After a year of no contact with the Professor, you just…want to travel with me? What brought this on?" Leo asked, immediately suspicious. Daisy winced at that but swiftly recovered, patting the head of her clefairy as she lounged in her chair. Did the Professor ask her to travel with him after seeing all the trouble he got into?

…ok, that actually wasn't a bad idea. He hated to admit it, but it really wasn't and would be totally deserved.

"Yeah, I could use a break from my journey. I just want to travel a bit," she said softly, her clefairy wiggling its fingers and giggling as puffs of smoke curled from her nostrils. Did it just use metronome for giggles? "I need to figure out who to challenge for my next badge, but I'm not quite ready for that next tier. And with the gym season drawing to a close I figured letting my team relax for a bit would be good," she said.

"I mean, sure, I'd love the company. I don't know where I'm heading yet though – Olivine or Goldenrod are the closest, but I could also reach Azalea in time for the league season to end. With plenty of time, actually, and that'd help me get my team ready for third badge level fights," Leo explained.

"I'd suggest Azalea. It's not a very hard gym, but at the third badge level it can be a real challenge. Any higher and there's a steep difficulty drop off – if you want to collect all the Johto badges I'd suggest getting Azalea early just so you get the challenge level right," Daisy suggested, grabbing Clefairy's hands so it couldn't use metronome again. The cheeky fairy just giggled at her, bouncing in her lap.

"Azalea it is then," Leo said, nodding and yawning. It'd been a long day, and he was ready for bed. His team, barring Spiritomb, would be fully healed by tomorrow morning so they could leave by then. Spiritomb would have to heal naturally, whatever that meant. Ghosts were resilient, according to the Professor.

Daisy nodded and stood, stretching and brushing a strand of brown hair out of her face.

"Awesome. I'll see you tomorrow then? I'm getting tired," she said with a yawn. Leo nodded.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow," Leo said, waving her off and standing up, leaving the Center lobby and heading to his own room to mull over the battle a bit more. He ended up not, however, having exhausted himself and with a belly full of good food, Leo fell asleep on the bed without even changing into his pajamas, his last thought being that he'd forgotten to ask the Professor about him being dark, and potentially psychic. Oh well, he'd call in the morning.

Chapter Text

The answer to Leo's question about him being dark and/or psychic was another question. One that he did not have a prepared answer for, but Professor Oak seemed to have an infinite amount of patience that morning and was willing to wait.

"What do I think being dark means?" Leo asked, cocking his head to the side. The good Professor nodded, sipping on his coffee and watching Leo through the video phone. Before coming to this world a question like that would have been way too much to ask of him this early in the morning, with the sun just barely starting to rise to set the sky on fire outside the Pokemon Center windows, but that had changed ever since he had become an insufferable morning person. Now he had his wits about him in the early mornings, and could come up with an answer.

"Yes," Oak said, nodding appreciatively off screen as Merri levitated a packet of sugar over to him. Leo hummed in thought as the Professor added the sugar to his coffee and stirred it around. He…had ideas, but they were mostly esoteric, and most likely not what the Professor was looking for.

"I don't know," Leo admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Morty said something about being immune to psychic influence?"

"Forget what Morty said," Oak said, waving his hand dismissively. "Forget what anyone's told you. What do you think, Leo?"

"Uh…I guess it might make me harder for psychics to detect?" Leo asked more than said. The Professor sighed, shaking his head and looked off screen once again. His face morphed into an incredulous expression.

"Gary, eat your food don't wear it. Thank you for helping, Merri," he grumbled, standing up then sitting back down as whatever was happening off-screen was apparently handled by Merri. As much as the Alakazam didn't like Gary, she did help out plenty enough with keeping the rambunctious boy out of too much trouble. "Leo, stop thinking in terms of types. We cannot classify humans in the same sense that we classify pokémon in – in fact, most pokémon have many arguments against their respective typings. Did you know that Typhlosion were once considered fire and rock types? The eruption technique that the stronger members of the species can learn is a technique that is, arguably, both fire and rock type as well, which was part of the reasoning for that classification. Stop thinking in terms of types," Oak lectured, and Leo grumbled to himself, scratching the back of his head.

That was…fair enough, he supposed. Leo frowned and hesitated a moment more, considering what he knew. Or, more importantly, what he could infer. Why did psychics like him? Why did Merri like him? He recalled their conversations about why she avoided Gary for the most part – it was because his mind was too loud.

"Silence," Leo said, more musing aloud than anything else.

"Yes," the Professor said, pleased. "It's about silence. It's about being able to silence your mind without ceasing function – on a very basic level, being Dark is about being able to live without thinking, but not without thought. This alone makes it hard for most psychics to detect your mind, and is usually where 'trained' dark people stop. A natural dark, like yourself, has that same effect plus some. It's like taking your mind and draping a blanket over it, then shutting off the lights. When you shut off your mind or close it off, essentially walling the brainwaves psychics sense in, a talented psychic may be able to find it but they won't be able to do more than feel your presence. Not only that but you'll be able to slip from their grasp on a physical level far easier. And that's with you not making a conscious effort to hide," he explained. Leo snorted.

"Live without thinking, but not without thought. Sounds about right; we both know I don't always think before I act," Leo smirked. Oak laughed and nodded, extending one hand to the side and pulling a syrup-covered Gary on screen, the boy grinning unapologetically at the screen. "What on earth did you do, goofball?" Leo laughed, shaking his head.

"Made Merri grumpy," he said with a confident smirk, earning himself another telekinetically thrown syrup-covered pancake to the face from Merri. He had the gall to just laugh, muffled thought it was by pancake, even as the Professor gave Merri the stink eye. "So are you psychic? Gramps was saying you might be,"

"I dunno, am I?" Leo asked, quirking an eyebrow. He had a better idea of what being dark meant now, but had no idea of the other.

"Technically? Yes. Officially? I do not believe you would qualify as a psychic according to the Saffron Psychics Association," he said, shaking his head and peeling the pancake off of Gary when the boy made it clear he had no desire to remove his impromptu facemask. "All people have some level of psychic ability, yours is pretty average, and how it manifests is usually called 'instinct.' That, however, is not enough for the psychics to accept you as a 'true' psychic. You'd need to exhibit abilities like sensing emotions, telekinesis, or something like that. My best guess as to what happened with your levitating during the Spiritomb incident was a combination of Spiritomb's ghost abilities levitating you – we've both seen it can levitate its keystone – and Longinus' gem. That is a powerful psychic focus, it wouldn't be unthinkable that it would have some effect on…bolstering psychic abilities," Oak explained patiently. "Or at least, making it easier for them to flow through you. Most ghosts do have psychic abilities too, you know,"

"So I'm not, by technical definition, a psychic then," Leo clarified.

"No, you are not. Using items to help amplify psychic powers does not count," Oak said, shaking his head. Leo hummed and nodded. For a moment longer the two chatted – mostly about Leo's plans from here and what Daisy was doing; Professor Oak and Gary both seemed surprised that Daisy would be travelling with him for a bit, so there was that, but eventually the call was ended as the two Oaks needed to go about their day.

Leo sighed and leaned back in his chair, pulling Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket and running his thumb along the edges of the cube. The ghost hissed at him gently, almost a little subdued as he stood and headed to the Center lobby, where Daisy was probably already waiting for him. At least he had something of an answer to the psychic question now.

Leo hummed happily as he examined his souvenir, glad to be on the road again and out of Ecruteak, the bustling tourist-laden city sprawled out behind them like the urban forest it was. Daisy watched him with some amusement from the side as he flipped the wooden, leaf-shaped object in his hands over and over. They'd walked past a few mom-and-pop shops that sold little curios and such on the way out of town and of course one had something that caught Leo's eye – a bellossom leaf replica. Not only that, but it was actually an instrument, sounding like a mix of a flute and a harmonica that could somewhat replicate the sound of a bellossom leaf; it wasn't the same, of course, but it was close enough that Leo could play those songs without butchering them. Potentially.

He just had to figure out how to actually play the stupid thing, because it was different than the leaf.

"Why am I not surprised that the first thing you buy when you get a bit of money is something to do with bellossom," Daisy said, shaking her head. Her Clefairy skipped happily beside her, twinkling motes of silver light left glittering in its wake.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, confused, and considering letting Zuko out to roam. He eventually decided against it as he wasn't ready to put out literal fires yet. Zuko could be a bit overenthusiastic when chasing bugs and rattatta, after all.

"Back on the ranch you'd always be playing with the oddish line, bellossom first and foremost. I'm actually shocked you don't have one on your team yet, I figured it'd be the first thing you'd catch," Daisy said, and Leo frowned.

"Can't say I haven't considered it, but I guess none have really caught my eye. Nor I theirs. If one asked to come along I'd catch it, but I'm not going to just catch any old oddish," Leo said with a shrug. A buzzing and droning sound from above had Leo looking up, pausing to watch a swarm of magnemite drift along the power lines that led to Ecruteak, sparks occasionally shooting off their glinting, metallic bodies.

"You never know if a pokémon will actually fit in with the rest of your team until you try it," Daisy argued, and Leo laughed, shrugging.

"So why did you want to follow me?" Leo asked, changing the subject. "Instead of, you know, going back to the Ranch to spend time with Gary or something," Daisy shot him a sharp look, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes and Leo immediately knew he stepped on a proverbial landmine.

"Are you trying to guilt trip me? Is gramps putting you up to this?" she snapped.

"Uh, no, no," Leo said, raising his hands up defensively and thanking his stars that Daisy had unwittingly given him a way out of the danger zone. "I was actually thinking he might've told you to follow me considering all the trouble I tend to get myself into," Daisy met his eyes for a few more moments, never slowing her stride, then snorted and shook her head.

"No, he didn't. I'm actually being honest when I said I need a bit of a break from training. It's…not as appealing to me as it was when I first started out, and I don't know what I want to do anymore," she admitted glumly, surprising Leo none. She was a talented trainer, that was never in doubt, but she had never struck Leo as the get-badges type of trainer either. He was surprised she got as far as she did, actually. "That, and I wanted to enter a competition with you," she said.

"Competition?" Leo echoed.

"Yes, the bug catching competition in the National Park. They're having a special duo's style competition this weekend, and I heard rumors that the grand prize may be a moon stone. Clefairy here isn't quite ready to evolve yet, but I want to have the stone for when she is," Daisy said confidently.

"Why me? Don't you have other trainer friends, with more badges, that would be better help? In case I must remind you, I am twelve," Leo said, arching an eyebrow at her and blowing on his new leaf-flute experimentally. The sharp whistle made him wince and glare at the offending piece of wood. That was not what he wanted it to sound like.

"That's where the 'duo' bit comes to play. It's a mentor and mentee competition. Competitors are to either bring their own rookie or will be assigned one from the local schools – or you'll be assigned a rookie trainer. Anyone who has been a trainer for three months or less or is below the age of fourteen is the rule, I believe. Trainers don't just have to start their journey at the beginning of the league season, after all, so there's plenty of rookies to go around. The idea is that veteran trainers are to show the wanna-be or rookie trainers the ropes of catching a pokémon – and I'd rather not get saddled with some random kid," she said with a shrug.

"So you want to cheat by bringing someone who's underage, but still a trainer?" Leo asked. He might've only been a trainer for a few months, but he was past the "less than three months" line for certain.

"Nope, it's not cheating. Youngsters are encouraged to come as well…think of it as a way to assess how you're faring on your journey." Daisy said. "Besides, it doesn't automatically mean we'll win," she said, and Leo sighed, watching a pidgey peck at the ground just off the side of the road. It chirped a few times and hopped off, not even bothering to fly away when the two trainers neared.

"If you say so. Let me think about it," Leo said, scratching the back of his neck. He technically fit the criteria for age, if not length of time training, but it still might feel weird. It'd probably be a decent learning experience, though. Daisy has been travelling for a while…and if I remember right, the National Park competition in the games is a place to catch bugs? I don't know much about bug pokémon. He mused.

"I'll let you keep the pokémon we catch. There are some rare species like pinsir and scyther in the National Park. Sometimes they'll even bring in foreign bugs," she tried to entice him.

"The last thing I need is another member of my team right now. I'd rather focus on getting who I have up to snuff – adding too many at once could wear me out. So unless there's something I absolutely cannot pass up like, I dunno, a larvesta or accelgor then nah," he reasoned. "But if there's a cash prize I'll take that,"

"Deal," Daisy said quickly, grinning at him cheekily. It was only then that he realized he had essentially agreed to compete with her. I probably would've agreed sooner or later anyway, he thought with a mental sigh. It's not like he'd be doing any harm by competing, not really, but maybe he could get something else out of this deal if she was essentially going to be using him.

"You need to help me train a bit, though," he added, meeting Daisy's gaze. Her grin widened and she shrugged.

"I can do that. Anything in particular you're wanting to work on?" she asked. He hummed in thought, considering what flaws he needed his team to cover. Some things wouldn't be possible to really cover right now – he'd have to spend money on TM's to expand Zuko's move pool but those were way out of his budget range. Besides, he'd been considering Zuko's admittedly limited move pool, and thinking hard about where his training could go. He wasn't sure that adding a whole bunch of various moves to his repertoire was the play.

"Combo moves, first and foremost. Zuko – my Quilava – can only learn so many moves at the moment so he needs to string them together somehow. I'd like to teach him flame charge as well, but for the moment the idea isn't to overload him with new moves. It's to enhance his use of his current moveset, so anything he can use can be applied to as many situations as possible. Swift would be a good addition as well though, give him another ranged move," he rattled off.

"And the others?" Daisy asked, frowning. He got the feeling she wouldn't be able to help him much there if her reaction was anything to go by.

"Diana needs work on ranged attacking. She's a savage beast in close quarters, but she's a sitting ducklett at range. The pokedex says she can't learn shadow ball, unfortunately, but accuracy training with rock throw might be best. Santiago…well, he needs work on his psychic abilities and with combo moves as well. I'd like to get him to strategize more rather than be a berserker, but that's like asking a rock to stop being a rock. It's what he does," Leo laughed, shaking his head. He loved his stubborn slowpoke, he did, but Santiago needed to learn to listen.

"And your ghost?"

"I'll handle that one," Leo said dismissively. "It needs to learn to focus its mind more, but I don't want to risk you setting it off by trying to train it or anything. We still know very little about it," he reasoned, Spiritomb waking up with a quiet hiss as the topic of conversation moved to it. It had probably been paying attention the whole time.

"I think I can help you with some of that. You said you got shadow ball from Morty right? I might consider teaching that to Santiago or your ghost. It might help with their focus – the move is intensive for weaker pokémon, and they learn to focus their energies better by learning a powerful move like that. Aim training is easy too, we'd just need space and time, but Zuko…well the most I can help with there is combo moves, though I might have an idea for flame charge. It's largely considered to be superior than flame wheel so you're on the right track there.

"Release him, and we can get started," Daisy commanded.

"Now?" he asked.

"Now. Flame charge should be simple enough – all it is, is a run cloaked in flame. Mastery of the move means he'll get faster as he goes, but right now we can at least try to get the basics down by having him run sprints and trying to keep the flame cloak of flame wheel up – minus the rotation aspect," she explained. Leo hummed and didn't argue, letting Zuko out of his pokeball and watching the Quilava closely as he sniffed the air.

"Zuko, focus," he said, snapping his fingers to get his attention. The Quilava snapped his head to Leo, at full attention. In turn Leo glanced at Daisy with a raised eyebrow, waiting for instruction, but to his surprise she didn't immediately take charge and start commanding Zuko around. Instead she gave Leo instructions, guiding him on how to train Zuko rather than doing the training herself. And soon enough Zuko was running sprints, running back and forth down the road as flame sparked and sputtered along his blue hide, wanting to ignite but not quite getting there.

This continued for a few minutes until he wore himself out and Leo recalled him and let him rest for a while. Once he'd had an hour or so of rest Leo let him back out and told him to do the same thing again – albeit slower this time, so as not to wear him out as fast. Intense training like that couldn't last forever, however, so eventually he was forced to put the training to an end – but it had killed a good few hours and Zuko had made impressive headway. His talent with fire type moves remained as strong as ever.

When night fell and the two made camp Leo let out Santiago to train a bit while Zuko rested by the fire – having not been allowed to lay on the coals this time – and Diana explored and played with Daisy's team. Unfortunately Daisy didn't have anything new to help him with on that front. She didn't have a slowpoke, and the psychic training she suggested was what he was already doing; training Santiago's finesse rather than his power.

Once his starter's patience had worn thin, however, Leo settled back to watch Daisy interact with her own team. Her Meganium leaned into her touch, the floral dinosaur cooing as she murmured softly to it and trimmed its petals – using clippers to pull away brown spots and allow for fresh growth. Leo remembered pruning his mother's garden when he was younger, pulling off dead flowers from bushes, so he assumed it was a similar process. Her Clefairy tried to help, of course, jumping up and down and tossing fistfuls of "fairy dust" across Meganium's back as it sang a soft, lilting song.

It was nothing like the bellossom song, but at the same time eerily similar. While the bellossom sang of springtime and growth, Clefairy's song was just as fitting for its own typing – the tune itself reminded Leo of a night like tonight; a warm fire, good company, and a sky full of stars.

His attention was pulled away from the song by a loud crash and a whine that sounded suspiciously like Diana. With a swift movement he stood, glaring at where Diana and Daisy's newest teammate, a Ponyta, had been inspecting each other. Diana was rubbing her forehead, and Ponyta was pawing the ground angrily, snorting flames. Leo started to step forward to intervene in the brewing fight, but Daisy stopped him.

"Wait," she said, standing up from beside Meganium and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I want Ponyta to learn not to pick fights. He's too ornery for his own good," she whispered. Leo grit his teeth and glared at her, about to say that it wasn't her team that was being attacked, but this time it was his own team to keep him quiet.

A thin stream of water splashed Ponyta's face, Santiago gurgling in the back of his throat and slowly ambling forward, tail swishing lazily and drawing the flaming horse's attention to him. It snorted flames again, with no reaction from Santiago other than to slowly saunter in-between Diana and Ponyta and flop down on the ground.

"Sloooow," he called, voicing his thoughts on the matter.

Ponyta neighed and stomped its hooves right beside him, pawing at the ground and trying to elicit a reaction. Clearly it had not met any slowpoke before if it expected a reaction from just that. Tossing its head and sending sparks flying from its fiery mane, Ponyta reared up and snorted out a small burst of fire that splashed against Santiago's back, warming his thick hide but probably doing no harm.

Leo counted down the seconds until Santiago would react – usually it was around four or five – and silently marveled at his starter's actions. The derpy pink blob was smarter than he let on, Leo knew.

"…and one," Leo finished with a nod and, while Ponyta was rearing up to stomp at Santiago once more, the slowpoke whipped his head up in one motion and blasted it in the face with a water pulse, sending the fire horse cantering away with a distressed neigh. Leo snickered, which then evolved into a full blown laugh when Diana picked up a small pebble and tossed it after Ponyta, only for Santiago to whirl around and blast her with a weak water gun.

"Sloooow," he called while she whined piteously and wiped her face, water dripping from her jaw. Leo mentally translated it as don't pick fights. Ironic, considering his battle-mania.

"Did you see that?" Leo wheezed, shaking his head. Daisy patted his back, amused but not dying of laughter like he was.

"I did. I was standing right next to you," she said, clapping her hands and whistling sharply for Ponyta, walking after where it had cantered down the path a little way. They had camped not far off the road, after all. "I told you not to pick fights, didn't I? Now get back here so I can dry you off," she called. Leo reigned in his chuckles and sat down again, calling Diana over and letting her snuggle up next to his leg to calm down.

"Tired, munchkin?" he asked after a few quiet moments, petting her head. She didn't reply, staring at the fire where Zuko had stuck his muzzle into the flames – technically not lying on the coals, but enough that he could enjoy the heat. "Clever boy. Get some rest, we'll be doing more training in the morning," he said, trying to figure out how to incorporate Diana's aim training into their travel.

It turns out he didn't have to, as when they all got up in the morning Daisy dedicated a good hour to having Diana use rock throw on her pidgeot – who she had, for whatever reason, not let out of his ball last night. The massive avian dodged Diana's attacks with ease, smashing a few of the larger stones with steel wing and catching the smaller stones in its talons. The inconsistency of Diana's throwing skills, however, made Leo wonder if literally throwing rocks really was all there was to rock throw – or if there was some other aspect involved. Terramancy? Earthkinesis? He didn't actually know the word, but he would hedge his bets that teaching Diana to control earth and stone was the next step to teaching her more advanced moves like rock tomb or rock slide. Or heck, even to just improve her accuracy. For that matter, could rock throw be adjusted mid-air with enough skill in terrakinesis? Like, if a rock-type was able to control a stone in the air as it flew, could it potentially be turned into a homing rock missile?

These were the kinds of thoughts Leo considered as the two travelled, Daisy occasionally letting out her team members to do their own travel/training. Thankfully, however, his thinking was often interrupted by trainers seeking battle – most of the time it was against casual trainers, which earned him a small bit more pocket change with the few wagers they'd placed, while Daisy took on the more serious competition.

It was a bit annoying actually; Leo enjoyed battling the veterans, even if he almost never won. Though his win/loss ratio on his official battle record suffered for it, the tips and experience he got just by battling them was more than worth it. Still…that didn't mean he let the opportunity to observe two high-badge level trainers duke it out go to waste. There was much to learn from there, as well.

And so the days went in relative peace. Spiritomb was pretty quiet for most of the trip, only occasionally pranking Daisy or himself by waking them up in the middle of the night with an eerie screech, or even whispering in Leo's ears and making shadows dance in the forest. Which made things nice and simple and pleasant – all the way up until they reached the outskirts of Goldenrod, and the National Park.

"I didn't realize it would be a big festival," Leo said, his head swiveling as fast as it could as he looked at each of the food stands and souvenir tents that had been set up for the celebration. Children ran about with sticks of dango or balls of mochi in clean paper cups, screaming and laughing as the adults meandered about, chatting with each other, looking at the wide variety of stands and shops, and occasionally chasing their own children.

"This is nothing," Daisy said from where she was looking through a rack of handmade scarves. "Just wait until you see the Championship festival – now that's a festival,"

"She's right, you know," the kind old man that ran the "handmade clothes" stand Daisy was looking through said. "For shops like mine who travel from festival to celebration to festival from year to year, the yearly Champion's Cup celebrations are our biggest selling points. I do more business in those three weeks than I do in three months the rest of the year,"

Leo hummed and toyed with his bellossom leaf flute, eyes flicking to Daisy's Clefairy as it circled his feet, giggling uncontrollably. It had heard him whistle the bellossom song a few days earlier and now was bound and determined to teach him its own moon song. He was only too happy to oblige. It was a lovely tune, though not quite as catchy as the bellossom song.

"Think Gary'll like this?" Daisy suddenly asked, picking up a pair of fingerless gloves made of blackened tauros leather.

"He's ten; if you get him clothes he'll hate it," Leo reasoned, raising an eyebrow as Clefairy lost interest, dancing back over to Daisy. It was the one pokémon she kept out near constantly, despite its rarity. Clearly she did not think it too dangerous to keep such a rare pokémon out in the open – probably because she had the strength to back it up.

He himself would have Zuko out, but one glance at the crowds had convinced the Quilava that staying out was a bad idea, and had whined until Leo returned him.

"True, but I'm not going to get him a larvitar, either. He's already asked me for one," she said, rolling her eyes. "Still, I'd like to get him something as a gift,"

"Then get him a hat or something – gloves he'll grow out of, a hat or necklace he can adjust to fit as he grows. Maybe even a small pocketknife would be good – something practical, and boys like him and me love sharp pokey things," Leo said, shrugging and picking up a pair of thick leather gloves. Now that he thought about it, a good pair of gloves would be awesome…but these were way too expensive. A hundred dollars for these things? Leo eyed the gloves, and pinched the leather, testing its thickness. His old pair were getting pretty ratty, and were rather cheap.

Plus these might let him pet Zuko when he got all worked up and his body temperature rose beyond safe levels for a human…

"Boys and their weapons," Daisy said with a sigh. "But a necklace isn't a bad idea. Gary hates hats,"

"If it's a necklace from his sister you can bet that he'll wear it. I'll take a pair of these," Leo said, purchasing the gloves from the old man, forking over the cash and promptly stuffing the gloves into his backpack. He could use them later.

For the next hour Leo and Daisy wandered the festival, both searching for the Bug Catching Competition sign-up desk and just looking around. The competition didn't start until tomorrow, so they had time and were in no rush.

There was, admittedly, a lot of cool stuff to see in the festival. People sold pokémon, mostly local 'mon specifically bred for certain traits but occasionally there were rare or even foreign pokémon – they were ungodly expensive, even for something as common as a lillipup – on display either on leashes or upon request. What ended up catching Leo's eye, however, was a Unovan style setup that sold what appeared to be music albums, movies, and other "unovan," or in Leo's mind, "American" style paraphernalia.

"Hello! Anything in particular you're looking for?" the employee manning the stand asked in a heavy unovan accent, gesturing grandly at the relatively large setup. There were at least three racks of miscellaneous items in the small tent, most of which were of movies. Unovan films were widely considered the best, after all. That was, of course, counting the fact that only Unova and Kalos had dedicated movie studios.

"Nah, just looking. You mostly just sell entertainment stuff?" Leo asked, approaching the counter while Daisy browsed the movies.

"Mostly. It is what Unova is most known for after all!" he said proudly. "You are a trainer, right? I can see the pokeballs on your belt. With your sister?" he asked, looking over at Daisy as she examined a rack of

"I am a trainer," Leo agreed, not bothering to respond to the other statement. They weren't brother and sister, of course, but he also didn't think it important to correct.

"Then here, I have just the thing for you. A way to listen to music on the go!" he proclaimed with a smirk, presenting a small square object that looked suspiciously like an iPod. "The newest model just released, and comes pre-downloaded with some of the greatest hits from Unova and Galar,"

It didn't matter if he wanted the thing or not, Leo already knew it was out of his price-range. Besides, he would never listen to it on the road – there was too much to miss out in the wilds – so it would probably end up in the bottom of his pack to collect dust sooner or later. That wasn't to say he wasn't intrigued, he did like his music, but still.

"What music?" Leo found himself asking despite his internal dilemma. If for no other reason than to appear politely interested.

"Well there's a few classics – the Toxtricities are always a hit, their debut album is on here; there's also Koffing and the Toxics, they toured Kanto earlier this year actually. Their new album is outstanding," and from there the man started to rattle off a few more names and albums that Leo had never heard of. He just nodded along for a while until he was offered a pair of earbuds to "hear the quality for yourself." This, of course, was said all loud enough for Daisy to hear because the salesman knew what he was doing and wasn't looking to sell the item to Leo – he was trying to sell it to Daisy for Leo.

Putting the earbuds in Leo hummed as the man selected a song to play, claiming it was the newest hit from Koffing and the Toxics. The rapid strumming of a guitar rang out in Leo's ears, followed by a line that was unmistakable despite them being sung by a female voice and sung to a tune he was unused to.

"I wanna be the very best,

Like no one ever was.

Leo pressed the earbuds deeper, closing his eyes and biting his lip as he listened to the song, a sudden spark of unexpected hope welling up in his chest.

"To catch them is my real test,

To train them is my cause!"

"No way," Leo whispered, swinging his backpack off of his back and digging through it to search for his notebook. While most of his stuff was safely stored in the hotel room Daisy had booked for them two weeks ago – apparently she had been planning this little trip for a while – his important items were still with him.

"I will travel across the land,

Searching far and wide.

Finding the notebook he flicked it open to the first page, tracing the lyrics to the song he had written down in those first few days of being here, more to remember it than anything else.

"Each pokémon to understand

The power that's inside!

Pokemon!

Gotta catch em' all!"

Leo covered his mouth with one hand as he traced the lyrics, word for word, in the notebook.

"Leo, you ok?" Daisy asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Leo waved her off and smacked his face with his book, trying to reign in his emotions. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or to cry – two years he'd been in this world, two years in which he'd asked Oak to keep an eye out for people with stories like his, two years not knowing what fate befell his best friend and the first clue he got was out of some random shop when he least expected it.

"I cannot believe he did this," Leo managed to get out, ripping the earbuds out and moving toward the racks, searching through the CD's for the newest Koffing and the Toxics album. Daisy said something else but Leo was too engrossed to hear it, all but ripping the CD off the shelf and opening it up, thanking the gods that the little information packet that rarely came with CD's was in there. "There it is, Pokemon League Theme song lyrics…sung by Roxie, drums by…don't care, don't care, who wrote the song? HA! I KNEW IT!" Leo howled in triumph, holding the little information packet aloft. There, in italics at the very bottom almost illegible in their size, was the line written by Jack Spalding.

"Leo," Daisy started, but was cut off by a complete one eighty in Leo's mood.

"That rat bastard! He ripped of a song!" he shouted, then glanced at the packet again. "House of the Rising Sun, I Fought the Law…how many songs did he steal?! Scratch that, how did he get them published?! How did he get a band to sing them?!" Leo roared, stomping his foot.

"Leo! What is going on with you?!" Daisy yelled, grabbing Leo by the shoulders and shaking him. Leo just grinned at her manically, eyes watering with unrestrained joy.

"I found my buddy. Now I just need to figure out how to contact him. How much for the CD?" Leo asked, and that, as they say, was that.

"Llllaaaadddies and Gentlemen! I welcome you to the seventy fifth annual National Park Bug Catching Competition!" the announcer howled into the microphone, making Leo wince. His head was pounding, he was tired, and there was way too much noise considering how late he'd stayed up last night. It was time well-spent, mind you, what with him having been researching just how to contact Jack in Unova – he hadn't found an address or anything, and mail between regions was sparse, but a short call to Professor Oak had solved the mailing issue. He did have a contact in Professor Juniper, and she may be able to help on that front.

On that note, the Professor was both surprised and elated to find that Leo had found a clue as to where Jack was. The older man had admitted he had completely forgotten about the friend Leo had arrived on this world with, as there had been no news beyond his story, but that he'd try his best to get them connected. In the meantime, however, Leo had an obligation to help Daisy with the bug catching competition.

He yawned and focused on the competition, glancing around at the other people. There were actually quite a few other Youngsters, as far as he could tell, and a lot of people had prepared bug nets. There were also a lot of people – over fifty competitors, which meant that almost all bug pokémon in the area would either flee in the first thirty minutes, or they'd already gone.

When Leo relayed as much to Daisy she just nodded, having already been palming her Pidgeot's pokeball. They were only allowed one pokémon per team, and she chose Pidgeot due to its keen eyes and high maneuverability. The plan was to jump on its back the moment the crowds were gone, and get ahead of the fleeing bug types that were bred and released into the wild just for this occasion. The speech continued on for a little while longer, then, with a grand flourish the announcer produced a flare gun from his sleeve and promptly fired it into the air with a shouted "go!" Music blared in the background, the literal Pokemon Theme Song blazing to life over the surrounding speakers.

Leo had barely enough time to close his eyes and mutter a quick prayer to the pokémon gods, praying that this song hadn't caught on as much as he thought it had. Then Daisy released Pidgeot, the proud avian shrieking into the air and flaring its wings, and all thoughts fled his mind. It was time to go hunting.

Chapter Text

Leo was cold, bored, and tired, and that was turning out to be a very dangerous combination. The biting wind cut through his jacket with laughable ease as Pidgeot winged through the sky, its sharp eyes picking out things that he never could. That left Leo with nothing to do but stare off into the distance or try to look down on the trees blurring by – it was both terrifying and exhilarating, and he was already contemplating sliding off of Pidgeot's back because he wanted to try skydiving.

Being caught in the talons of a giant predatory avian didn't sound like as much fun, but that was semantics at this point. He was bored, and it might be a worthwhile experience. Besides, he'd already managed to piss Daisy off when Spiritomb blew a whole bunch of snow into her hair – Leo thought it was hilarious, but she had thought otherwise and threatened to throw him off Pidgeot.

His response had been simple. "Don't threaten me with a good time." Though he did honestly feel kind of bad about it now, but it was relatively a harmless prank.

"I think we've got something," Daisy said through chattering teeth, not immune to the cold at such high altitudes either, as she peered through a pair of binoculars. "There, off on the ridge to the right," she pointed, Pidgeot having already angled that direction as it slowed to a more reasonable pace.

Leo squinted and peered in the direction Daisy was pointing, taking a few moments to spot what she was looking at. To him it just looked like a collection of orange dots blurring about in an open space, just above what looked like a small cliff face. This area of the national park – which was honestly a lot smaller than Leo had expected - had plenty of plateaus, the mesa continuing on far past the borders of the Park toward Olivine.

"Is that even in bounds?" Leo questioned, shouting over the wind. "And what is it?"

"The edge of the park is just over the hill they're on, we'll have to circle around to prevent them from fleeing off the park grounds and push them back. Looks to me like it's a yanma swarm – they're rare enough and if we catch a strong enough one it should net us a fair number of points. We don't have much time left before the competition is over though, so we need to make a decision," Daisy said.

Considering they hadn't run into much of anything up until this point – the best they'd seen was a scrawny-looking beautifly, which while rarer in Johto than butterfree or beedrill, were still not that great of a prospect – yanma were probably their best bet.

"I say we go for it," Leo said. Daisy nodded.

"Alright, I'm going to keep them occupied, you need to help me pick out one to catch and we'll isolate it. Remember, they either need to be strong or big – preferably both. The faster the better too," Daisy said. Leo nodded. "I don't know much about the species, but I promise you that we'll only have a short amount of time to pick a target. Pidgeot isn't all that stealthy and they've probably already seen us. They're going to scatter as soon as we start our approach, so grab a pokeball and be prepared," she ordered.

Leo palmed the pokeball he'd already been toying with, enlarging it and whispering to Spiritomb, who he knew could hear him over the sound of the wind, to get ready. The ghost hissed in response, chittering in imitation of a cricket and cackling when it failed spectacularly.

"Yes, we're going bug hunting," Leo said, rolling his eyes.

Spiritomb's purple ectoplasmic body snuck out of his pocket, where the keystone was kept, and hovered a small tendril of itself just in front of Leo's face. He squinted and sighed heavily when he saw the squirming grasshopper that was contained inside. Had it really been holding that insect hostage just for this joke? Really? How long had it been planning this? He could respect the dedication, at least.

"No, you know what I mean," he said, Spiritomb cackling as it let the grasshopper go free – the insect vanishing in the wind quicker than Spiritomb retreated back into its keystone.

"What?" Daisy asked.

"Nothing," Leo answered, refocusing on the yanma swarm. Now that they had gotten closer, Pidgeot approaching at-speed, he could make out the individuals. There were probably twenty and had all bunched up, facing the incoming Pidgeot and flitting about erratically. Pidgeot banked hard around the yanma swarm its feathers ruffling as it slowed a bit.

"Let's get to it!" Daisy ordered, and Pidgeot pulled up short.

Leo's stomach lurched at the sudden loss of speed, the giant avian pulling up short of the yanma swarm by a few dozen feet and flapping its wings with a mighty shriek. The air warmed uncomfortably, Pidgeot's wing feathers glowing as if a fire had been lit between them as embers flew in a massive wave into the heart of the yanma swarm. The bugs droned unhappily, a few dropping from the air immediately after the attack, while the others buzzed their wings in eerie unison.

"Drop, Leo!" Daisy commanded, and Leo, without hesitation, slid off the back of Pidgeot. He squeezed his eyes shut despite the short drop, expecting the sudden stop that never came.

A strange feeling overtook his limbs and body, not a sense of weightlessness, but as if there was a cold cloth that wrapped itself tight around him and held him aloft. Leo opened his eyes in surprise only to see himself suspended midair approximately a foot off the ground, shadowy tendrils wrapped around his limbs and holding him aloft. Spiritomb cackled at his expression and promptly released him, allowing him to fall stumbling to the ground, hitting the grassy soil feet-first.

Daisy landed with a thump next to him, her knees nearly buckling from the fall. Still, she recovered quickly and scrabbled up the hill, already shouting orders to Pidgeot as the bird blurred into action – now that the squishy humans were off of its back, it could go as fast as it possibly could. And that was fast.

Leo refocused on the swarm, darting between a few trees and examining the bunch to the best of his abilities. None really stood out to him, and he was having trouble picking out individuals as they were all darting about at great speed, zigging and zagging through the air in unnatural patterns. It was to the point where looking at all the orange was giving him a headache; but he had a job to do.

Pidgeot swooped in and the swarm droned dangerously, a few of the yanma shooting sonic booms up at the avian as it passed. Pidgeot just screeched and flapped its wings, air slashes homing in with unerring accuracy on a few of the yanma and knocking them out of the air.

"There," Leo muttered, finally spotting one that fit the bill. It was clearly bulkier than the rest of the yanma and was one of the few that had actually managed to dodge the air slashes. Combined with it having survived the heat wave earlier meant it was probably one of the stronger members. In fact…

Leo's eyes widened as the yanma he was watching zoomed out of the swarm, increasing in speed as it blasted sonic boom after sonic boom at Pidgeot, who dodged them with ease and returned fire with air slashes. He glanced to where Daisy was and pointed at the lone yanma, even as it swerved and rushed to rejoin the swarm, diving down close to the ground and weaving between a few of the trees to avoid the searching talons of Pidgeot as the bird swooped down on it.

Daisy just nodded and whistled sharply, Pidgeot responding with a shriek as it blazed ahead of the yanma and unleashed another wave of air slashes. This time the yanma did not dodge, instead buzzing loudly and meeting the attack with a series of sonic booms. Leo sprinted forward, circling around the yanma swarm and trying to keep low so as not to attract their attention, readying a pokeball. The issue here was that the yanma was quick and its movement erratic, so how…

"Spiritomb, I'm going to need your help here buddy," Leo whispered. "I'm going to try to get close enough, but when I throw this ball I need you to guide it to the yanma. Can you do that?" Leo asked, and though he received no response he prayed that it was listening. Pidgeot shrieked again and dodged a sonicboom, the yanma buzzing menacingly and swerving to the side, intent on rejoining the swarm.

Leo cursed and skidded to a halt, stumbling slightly as he planted his feet and hurled the pokeball as hard as he could in the bug-type's direction. The distance was too far for him to throw accurately and he wasn't all that skilled at it to begin with, so he cursed once again when he noticed it going low and to the right.

That is, until the ball stopped in midair, a tendril of black shadow suddenly appearing between it and him and grasping the pokeball firmly. The oddity of the situation even gave the yanma pause, the bug pulling up short and buzzing nervously at the new appearance. Spiritomb cackled, and with a casual flick hurled the pokeball at yanma's head, the red and white sphere smashing against its exoskeleton with a resounding crack!

Half of Leo was wondering how Spiritomb could grab things with what was essentially shadow – it was a puzzle he still hadn't figured out yet – while the rest watched the pokeball with bated breath as it sucked the yanma inside and fell to the ground. The pine trees groaned in the wind as the ball rattled, Pidgeot shrieked as it circled overhead, menacing the yanma swarm and keeping them at bay and suddenly the ball burst open in a flash of white light.

Leo backpedaled as the bug buzzed angrily, spinning towards him and rearing back – only to be hit with a great ball, thrown by Daisy. This time it did not escape, the ball laying still on the ground after wiggling a few times.

"Leo, back to me! We need to get out of here before the swarm decides we've bothered them too much!" Daisy shouted, whistling for Pidgeot who swooped down in a clearing to Leo's right. He nodded and bolted for the giant avian as it settled on the ground, puffing up its feathers menacingly and glaring at the swarm. Leo hesitated for a moment when he neared, Pidgeot eyeing him dangerously as he approached, but Daisy put an end to that by bodily picking him up and shoving him onto Pidgeot's back before jumping on herself.

With two mighty wingbeats Pidgeot was in the air again and shrieking their victory for the world to hear, Daisy laughing with glee as she held the greatball aloft and Leo's cheeks burning in shame. Spiritomb cackled at his misfortune – there was nothing like being reminded that he was still just a kid than to be picked up like a child, by a girl not three years older than him. Physically.

"We've got a shot at winning now! I was honestly getting worried!" Daisy crowed over the wind, burying her hands in Pidgeot's crest to keep her balance. Leo shivered and tightened his grip around her waist, the cold returning to him now that the adrenaline was wearing off. He sighed wiping off the grin that had wormed its way onto his face. Despite his misgivings at the start, what with all the restrictions on where they could and couldn't go and all the competition they'd be facing, that was actually pretty fun.

Third place. They got third place, which while not a bad showing at all, was not what Daisy had wanted. First place belonged to someone who had managed to catch a scyther of all bloody things, while second place belonged to a shiny butterfree. A shiny butterfree. Since caterpie and butterfree were so common it wasn't super rare for a shiny to show up in their species, but it was still ridiculously uncommon. Especially for a contest like this – and to make matters worse, second place prize had been a moon stone shard, while first place got both a sun and a moon stone.

Leo could do nothing but shake his head and sigh as he and Daisy walked off the stage, Daisy pouting as she went.

"We just got unlucky," she said with a scowl. "Stupid shiny butterfree, stealing my moon stone like that," Leo snorted and shrugged.

"Well, it's not a total loss. You caught the biggest and strongest yanma out of everyone, and the third place cash consolation prize is a fair chunk of change," Leo said. It had been two thousand dollars, which meant Daisy split it evenly between the two, while she kept yanma.

"I guess. You sure you don't want this yanma? It's a little aggressive, but you'd benefit from having a bug type on your team," Daisy said, unclipping the greatball from her belt and shaking it at Leo. Leo shook his head.

"Nah, it's all good. Like you said, it's a little aggressive for me. I still can't believe it kept trying to attack the judge," Leo said with a small laugh. It had been kind of funny to watch because the bug kept trying to shoot a supersonic at the poor man, but that quickly ended when the supersonic hit the microphone and practically blew out the speakers. They recalled it after that. Leo's ears were still ringing.

"Whatever you say," Daisy said with a shrug, clipping the ball back on her belt. "You've got a team of aggressive pokémon, though, one more shouldn't make a difference,"

Leo frowned at that. No he didn't. Santiago was aggressive and battle-hungry, that much couldn't be denied, and Spiritomb was…Spiritomb, but Diana was nothing but a sweetheart and Zuko acted more like a hyperactive puppy than a fire-breathing monster. That, and again, Spiritomb was Spiritomb. One day it acted like Froslass, constantly pestering him and playing tricks, the next it was sullen, silent, and ready to pick a fight with anything that moved.

That had to be reigned in first before he picked up another problem child like an aggressive yanma. The real issue was that after Daisy's comment about bellossom a few days ago he'd been considering finding an oddish or something to catch. They were pretty docile, and didn't require much upkeep…

Leo shook his head. No, he needed to focus on his current team for now. There was already a lot to keep track of, even if their training appeared to be progressing at a reasonable pace.

Still, the temptation was there.

The rest of the day passed relatively peacefully. The festival parts of the competition were slowly being packed away, foodstands and shops closing up and packing away their things as the spectators and tourists, attracted more for the spectacle of the festival than the catching competition, slowly filtered out of the National Park. Though that still left Leo plenty of time to use a bit of his newly earned money to try some of the many foodstands; he hadn't had a real burger in forever, and with the Unova foodstands as abundant as any of the others he finally got his wish. To say the burger and fries, the patty made from ground tauros meat, was delicious would be an understatement. It was greasy and fatty and juicy and everything he both loved and hated about food from America. It wound up sitting like a rock in his stomach of course, but that was to be expected. Food in Johto and Kanto tended to be far lighter and healthier.

"I told you not to eat it so quickly," Daisy chided as Leo pat his stomach happily, a little queasy perhaps but nothing over the top.

"It was worth it. I would gladly do it again," he said without a hint of shame, wiping ketchup off the corner of his mouth and grinning at the older girl. She just rolled her eyes at him as they wound their way around one of the many fountains in the National Park, muttering something about his eating habits. Leo just snorted out a laugh, fully aware that he had looked like a savage animal while eating that burger. To say he shoveled it into his mouth would be an understatement. He practically inhaled the thing.

Besides, Daisy's statement wasn't inherently wrong, either. He absolutely could be a savage animal.

"Daisy Oak! I thought that was you on stage!" a new voice called, catching Daisy and Leo's attention. The couple who approached looked vaguely familiar to Leo, specifically the man. The woman was relatively unremarkable, sure she was pretty but not in the way that she'd stand out in a crowd, though she did hold a young boy of about five or six in her arms while a girl of about eight hid behind her legs. The little girl was the only one in formal wear, wearing a muted pink kimono – or was it yukata? Leo wasn't sure – with cherry blossom petals on it. The man, on the other hand, had short black hair and wore a red sweater, but Leo could've sworn he'd seen him before.

"Norman! It's so good to see you again!" Daisy cried, rushing forward to greet the man. Leo stared for a moment before the name clicked; that was the dad of the main characters in the Hoenn games, wasn't it? The fifth gym leader? He vaguely recalled some lore about them being from Johto, or at least having lived there for a time, but what were the chances of meeting him here and now? On that note, it was surprising Leo thought he looked familiar; Norman does look similar to the anime version of him, as much as any real person could. Far more than Professor Oak ever did.

The Oaks are ridiculously well connected, for Daisy to be friends with a future? Gym leader. Leo rationalized, eyes trailing to the young boy and girl. That must be May and Max, from the anime. The resemblances between them were negligible but there was no other explanation.

"And who is this fine young man?" the wife said suddenly as Leo finally caught up with Daisy. He flinched when she tried to pinch his cheek, utterly flabbergasted and suddenly very wary of the woman. There was being manhandled by Daisy and tossed onto the back of Pidgeot, and then there was that. And she just had the audacity to chuckle at his expression, and try to pat his head!

"That's Leo," Daisy said, as if that explained everything. Leo swatted the woman's hand away and took a step back, just out of her reach. She smiled at him sweetly, and he resisted the urge to scowl at her.

"The kid who you were with in the competition?" Norman asked for clarification. When Daisy nodded he extended a hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Leo, my name's Norman," he said. Leo took his hand and shook it as firmly as he could.

"Pleasure," he said politely. Norman smiled and returned to his conversation with Daisy, catching up with each other and asking the polite questions before digging into the meaty stuff. The wife (Leo should probably learn her name at some point) chatted as well, eventually setting Max down when the young kid started to squirm and whine in her arms, wanting to get down and play or do whatever.

Leo swiftly tuned out the adults' conversation in favor of focusing on the children. Max was staring at him, and May was torn between looking around at all the scenery and pretending to listen to the conversation. Even if it was about the upcoming championship challenges between Victoria, Lance, and the current champion, it was boring. And children were a great way of distracting one's self, Leo had found.

That, and they were far more fun than serious conversations.

"Hello, I'm Leo," he greeted. Max and May just stared at him, May perking up from where she had been studying a dandelion that was growing from the concrete. "Wanna play tag?" The two stared blankly at him, seemingly digesting his words. A small grin formed on Max's face, and May glanced at her mother questioningly even though the woman wasn't paying her much mind. Leo's grin took on a bit of a sinister tinge, his hands forming vague claws as he made a face at the two.

"Beware the tickle monster. He's gonna getcha!" Leo crowed, prompting shrill shrieks from both children as they darted off, Leo bolting after them while cackling.

Clearly, they had played this game before if they understood what the term tickle monster meant.

"Be careful! Don't stray too far!" Norman called after them as they ran off, Leo easily keeping pace and sheparding them away from the worst of the rapidly thinning crowd, while still remaining in sight of their parents. That mostly meant chasing them around the fountain, and catching them whenever they ran too far in one direction.

"Gotcha!" Leo said with a grin, grabbing May with both hands and lifting her up, spinning around as fast as he could. The young girl shrieked with laughter – it would've been funnier had it not been right next to Leo's ear. He jerked his head to the side and set her down, wincing at the loud noise that was a little kid.

He'd almost forgotten about that bit. Kids could be loud, and had no qualms in shouting in your ear. May, on the other hand, remained oblivious to the pain she had caused as she grinned at him and took a few steps back, adjusting her red hairband so the few strands of long brown hair that fell in her face were tucked away, and bounced on her feet in that way a kid did when they were expecting something exciting.

Leo recovered from the shriek and took one step forward, glancing to the side to see Max creeping up on him, apparently intent on saving his sister. Cute. Futile, but cute. Why was it futile? Because that just meant Max would come to him to receive his punishment, and Leo wouldn't have to chase them. The tickle monster knows no remorse, and shows no mercy. Leo cackled and took another step forward and May took another step back, Max inching closer, when suddenly he spotted something.

A pink bulldog the size of a full-grown man, barreling down the street right towards May. Time seemed to slow as adrenaline surged through Leo's system, his legs propelling him toward May even as she bolted away, running right toward the Granbull with her smiling face turned towards Leo. He wouldn't make it in time; he wasn't fast enough and his arms too short to grab her first.

Spiritomb flared to life, a tendril of black shadow reaching out with amazing speed, wrapping around May's waist and hauling her back to Leo, the young girl crashing into his outstretched arms. The granbull's eyes narrowed and it picked up speed, spittle flying from its mouth – it was already almost on top of him. Leo pivoted on his foot, spinning away from the charging hound just in time for it to crash into his back, sending him sprawling as he curled protectively around May. Thankfully his martial arts training involved learning how to fall – he rolled and slapped the ground with one hand, arresting their momentum just a bit as he skidded across the concrete. May screamed in fear this time, but Leo had no time to feel himself for injuries, or check if she was ok – there was still Max to worry about.

He disentangled himself from May and scrambled to his feet just in time to see the Granbull vanish in a flash of red, the dog having skidded to a halt and turned towards Leo, as if surprised he had hit something. Max, on the other hand, was running as fast as his little legs could carry him toward his big sister, who sat on the ground no longer screaming, but clearly dazed and confused. Leo breathed a sigh of relief at Max's safety, and turned his attention toward May once more. Her kimono was in disarray, dirt smudged on the hems both from their game of chase and from the tumble, but otherwise she looked ok.

"Are you ok?" Leo asked anyway, kneeling before her and ignoring the stares of the onlookers. She looked up at him with wide brown eyes and nodded, sniffling. Max patted his sister's leg, whispering something in her ear that had her nodding once more. "Let me see your hands," Leo said softly, grabbing her much smaller hands and checking for any scrapes – only to be pushed aside by the girl's terrified mother.

She fell upon May and Mex in a fashion not unlike a particularly fussy mother hen, her hands flurrying to ensure no harm befell her children. Leo watched for a moment before anger flared in his chest, pivoting on his foot to try and find the owner of the granbull that had caused this mess. That anger died entirely when he saw Norman blowing up at the young man, who had his head bowed and was apologizing profusely, while Daisy approached, concerned.

"You ok Leo? I saw the whole thing, you took a decent hit there," she said softly, putting her hands on his shoulders and kneeling. He nodded, rolling his left shoulder – the side the granbull had hit. There was a bit of pain, but nothing beyond what usually came when he fell or got hit. He'd taken worse tumbles sparring with Victoria – heck, he'd been pounced on by her Persian, Prince, and that had both hurt worse and was far more terrifying. There was nothing like three hundred pounds of angry feline to instill terror into you.

"Yeah, I'm good," Leo grumbled. "What the heck was that? Someone just lose control of their pokémon?"

"From the looks of it, yes. Don't think it meant any harm though," Daisy reasoned, looking back at where Norman was still yelling at the granbull's trainer. Leo winced. Yeah, he looked properly chastised. More importantly, though, Leo pulled Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket and smiled at it.

"Thanks, buddy," he whispered, earning himself the ghost's equivalent of embarrassed whispers echoing in his ears. He shook his head and pocketed the stone again, observing Norman for a bit longer then turning back towards Max and May, who were all perfectly fine now that their mother was done fussing. Leo rubbed his forehead and smiled at the kids, unsure of what to do next. The obvious answer was try and figure out more of Spiritomb's abilities, because he was certain that hadn't been a move it had used to grab May and how did it do that? But at the same time that should probably wait until later.

It wouldn't be very smart to start playing around with a ghost in public, even if most of the large crowds had dispersed; ghosts had enough superstition around them that Leo wasn't going to invite trouble. Not this time.

Soon enough Norman finished his rant and sent the young trainer on his way, checking up on his kids to ensure they were alright. Satisfied that all was well, he and his wife resumed their conversation with Daisy, Max and May sticking close by their sides this time.

Leo, not content to listen to the conversation, wandered about for a bit, eventually finding a nice stretch of green grass not too far from the conversing adults and letting Zuko out to play. That, of course, mostly meant roughhousing with the fire-type, Leo running away from him and juking and dodging the Quilava as he chased, or getting down on all fours and tossing his head and rolling around on the ground while Zuko tried to lick his face and leapt all over his body.

Zuko leapt onto Leo's back and stuck his nose into the back of his neck, sniffing as Leo lay perfectly still on the ground. A small whine escaped the back of his throat as he pawed at his head and sniffed his hair, trying to get Leo back up and playing again. Ignoring him, Leo remained quiet and frozen until Zuko had wormed his way under Leo's shoulder, trying to roll him over, at which point he leapt up and yelled at the Quilava, trying to scare him. A yelp escaped him as he leapt away, embers sparking from his fur as he growled at Leo playfully. Leo grinned and sat down again, feeling more than a little tired now.

"Alright buddy, playtime's over. I think it's time to give Santiago a bit of time," Leo said, earning himself a pitiful whine from Zuko. "I know, I know, but you get the most one-on-one time out of everyone besides maybe Spiritomb since you're out so much," Leo reasoned, palming Zuko's pokeball and returning him, doing his best to ignore the downright pitiful look on the Quilava's face. He would not be guilt tripped, no sir. Zuko was out quite a bit when they travelled. Santiago deserved some playtime too…even if Leo was too tired to really play with the slowpoke. Not that Santiago minded that. He'd enjoy laying perfectly still as much as playing.

The slowpoke appeared next to Leo in a flash of red, his big pink head swiveling side to side as he searched for an opponent. Spotting none, he plopped into the grass right next to Leo and lazily chewed on the grass. Leo snorted and scratched him behind the ears – Santiago only reacting after a few seconds, leaning heavily into Leo's hand.

The two sat comfortably for a while, Leo just enjoying the company of his starter and idly whistling the bellossom song while his mind wandered. More specifically, he thought about Jack. He'd have to talk with Oak about any news he'd gotten about him tonight, but…well. Now also wasn't the time to think about it. He couldn't really do much at the moment besides maybe try and convince Victoria to leave for Unova instead of Alola…

Which might not be a bad idea, now that he thought of it. Ultra wormholes were a lot more common in Alola than anywhere else, so wouldn't it potentially be more dangerous to go there? Professor Oak claims that they're incredibly rare phenomena, but then again there was also a Guzzlord frozen in a nevermeltice glacier in the Silver Mountains. Leo halted his whistling and chewed his lip in thought as he stared at the blue sky. On the other hand, even though he did want to see Jack again going to Alola presented a unique opportunity; he would have the chance to go to the Poni Island shrine and potentially meet Lunala and Solgaleo. He wanted to have a conversation with them – there were questions he wanted answered. And his gut told him there was a decent chance they would appear if he went there.

If I can exchange some messages with Jack before then, I might even be able to get a few of his questions answered too. Leo mused, scratching his chin in thought.

Any further thoughts were interrupted by a gentle tugging on his shirt sleeve. He turned his head from where he lay on the soft grass, coming face-to-face with the smallest hoppip he'd ever seen; it was probably only three inches tall. Near it were three sunkern as well, the tiny yellow buds bouncing eagerly on Santiago's back – who either didn't mind, or didn't notice them.

The hoppip cooed at him, bouncing from side to side and spinning its leaves.

"Hello there," Leo said softly, raising an eyebrow and being extra careful not to startle it. The hoppip cooed again, this time alternating its pitch erratically. "How can I help you?"

"Piiip," the hoppip said.

"Keeeern," the sunkern sang, sing-song. Leo stared at them for a moment longer before realization flashed through his mind. They wanted him to keep whistling.

Chuckling softly Leo sat up slowly, glancing around and making eye contact with May and Max, the two children having snuck up on him at some point and were now watching in fascination as Santiago was subjected to the explorations of the three Sunkern. One even bounced happily on his nose, not that he seemed to mind.

Leo winked at the two children and started to whistle again, the sunkern whistling back while the hoppip flew through the air and cried out happily. Pink glitter fell from its spinning leaves, the weak fairy wind doing nothing more than catching the late afternoon sun as it fell to the ground and setting the air to glittering. Leo smiled and winked again at May and Max, who watched with wide eyes, slowly changing the song from the bellossom song to the song Daisy's Clefairy had taught him. He wasn't as good at it, but nonetheless hoppip loved it. Personally, he wished he knew how to play his bellossom leaf replica better. Just another thing to add to the list of things to do. He mused.

And so the rest of his time in the National Park went; Leo relaxing beside his starter, humming and whistling songs taught to him by pokémon to entertain two human children and four young pokémon – blissfully unaware of the growing crowd of grass and bug types listening in, hiding in foliage.

When Professor Oak answered the video call, he was met by the sight of Santiago licking the screen with a large, wet pink tongue, and Leo wrestling with the stubborn slowpoke to back off.

"What a lovely view," the Professor said dryly as Leo hauled the heavy pokémon away, flicking him on the nose.

"Sorry professor. He's being quite ornery – no I said!" Leo snapped, shoving Santiago off as he tried to clamber into Leo's lap. "Just because I'm sitting down doesn't mean you get to be a lap pokémon again! You're way too big for that!" he protested. Santiago just cocked his head to the side, forcibly walking beneath the plastic chair Leo sat on and moving it a few inches to the right. Leo sighed and tilted the video camera so he was center screen for the Professor again.

"I can see that," Professor Oak said, amused. "How was the competition? Do good?"

"We got third place with a big old yanma," Leo said with a shrug. "Daisy was disappointed, but we got beat out by a shiny butterfree and a scyther so I can't say I'm surprised. It was fun though," the Professor nodded.

"I see. Seeing as how the yanma isn't registered to your profile yet I assume you opted not to train it? A smart choice all things considered. There is nothing wrong with collecting a full team of six quickly, but you must make sure to give them all the attention and training they are due. Yanma are social pokémon – they require a lot of attention to train and you've got a lot on your plate already," he reasoned. Leo nodded in agreement. That was his reasoning too. "That said, I imagine this isn't why you called. I'm happy to say that I did receive word from Professor Juniper. She hasn't had anyone approach her with a story like your own, but said she'd keep an eye out and try to contact the songwriter you spoke of. I already emailed a copy of your letter to her," the Professor said with a smile. Leo grinned back, another weight lifting off his shoulders at the news.

"Thanks, Professor. I appreciate it," he said. "Um, I've also got a few other questions for you though, about the current plan for me to head to Alola after I get three badges," the Professor raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak, but was rudely interrupted.

"Is that the brat on the phone?!" Victoria shouted, followed quickly by loud stomping as she approached. The professor raised his hands defensively, scooting back in his chair and standing.

"I'm going to leave that to Victoria. She's been in a bit of a mood lately and I have no desire to fight with her," he said, backing off and letting Victoria take control of the video call. Leo swallowed thickly upon seeing her expression – she always looked serious with her perpetual tough-girl smirk, but the uncharacteristic frown put Leo on edge.

"Kid," she greeted, then continued before Leo could even answer. "No more messing around. You get your third badge as soon as possible so that as soon as I'm done with my Champion's challenge you can head to Alola. I've seen your battles, you're more than ready for your third badge. Don't dilly dally. I don't want you to have to stay in the Indigo League for much longer,"

"What's this about?" Leo asked, his stomach sinking with worry. Victoria seemed to deliberate for a moment before sighing.

"I'm worried about the future of the Indigo League," she said gruffly, running a hand through her hair and frowning hard.

"Because of the current champion?" Leo asked.

"No, because I'm afraid he'll lose the title to Lance," she grumbled. "Despite his flaws, Champion Martin is a competent leader. The Youngster License was a mistake, but otherwise he's done right by both Kanto and Johto. Eased the tensions between the two regions. Lance doesn't have that savvy, and after our little adventure together calming a bunch of weavile…well, let's just say I'm worried where he'll lead us. He's got some dumb ideas," she said.

"Dumb how?" Leo asked, furrowing his brows. Wasn't Lance supposed to be this larger-than-life character in the games and anime? A paragon of virtue and strength, one of the greatest dragon masters? Someone who could control multiple pseudo-legendary dragons had to be worthy of respect, right?

"He's a warrior, not a leader. To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Hell, I've already heard a whole bunch of complaints from the Kanto leaders about Lance. Giovanni is particularly vocal about not wanting another Wataru as Champion, much less Lance. Heck, even my challenge is more to help Martin warm up his team for Lance than it is for me to get the Champion's certification," Victoria grumbled. Leo frowned. Yeah, that did sound like it could cause some problems…

"I see. And you're worried because…?" Leo pressed.

"The training scene could get ugly for a little while here. I don't want you to get caught up in it. Like it or not, as you're sponsored by me and therefore the Oak family, once you get a fair number of badges your opinion will be asked for. And anything you say can and will be used against you. Reporters are nasty like that," Victoria said. Leo winced. Yeah, that didn't sound like fun.

The media in his world was more vicious and bloodthirsty than the media in the pokémon world, but they were still capable of being mean. Leo didn't want to touch that with a ten-foot-pole.

"Ok, fair enough. I don't want that, and I don't want to cause more controversy. That said, one last question. Are you sure going to Alola is a good idea? UB's are more common there, right? So wouldn't it be more dangerous than, say, Unova?" Leo asked. Victoria snorted and shook her head.

"Kanto has never had an ultra beast problem until now. I doubt any more beasts will appear, I think Samuel said something about the ultra wormhole energy calming down in the Silver Mountains in the past few months since he set up some sensors in the region, but the real question is; do you want to be protected by pokémon, legendaries or not, who have no idea how to fight those things, or protected by island deities, the Tapu's, who have fought them for millennia?" she said. Leo sighed. That was actually a fair point. "Not to mention that the Tapu legendaries are far more personable than most of the Kanto legendaries. The birds aren't known for being kind,"

Leo nodded but silently doubted that. He'd met Articuno, and while it hadn't been overly welcoming it hadn't seemed malicious or anything either. The way Victoria had made it sound, it seemed like she was saying the legendary birds (minus Ho-oh and Lugia) were openly malicious. Still, he wanted to go to Unova now…

"We're going to Alola," Victoria said firmly, reading his expression. "You can't even bring your pokémon to Unova, brat. They're far more strict about those things – you need eight badges and to be sixteen or older to bring your team there. Unova is a region of isolationists after all. I know you want to find your friend or whatever, but trust Uncle Samuel. He'll be able to do more than you ever would in finding him,"

That made Leo puff up in indignation, his first reaction to be denying that fact. Instead, though, he tamped down that reaction and nodded in agreement, rubbing his face as Santiago wormed his way out from under the chair, sticking his nose up against Leo's thigh. It was true, after all. The Professor would be able to do far more than Leo – if for no other reason than because he was a big name. That alone would open doors and avenues of contact that might be denied to Leo.

"Anything else?" Leo asked, scratching Santiago's nose and grimacing when he licked his hand, coating it in slobber.

"No. Just get your third badge," Victoria said.

"Any tips on that? It might be a little rushed for me to get the badge now," Leo reasoned, despite knowing he did still have about a week of travel to reach Azalea. A week wasn't that much time to train, though…

"I've seen your battles, brat. Your team may be lacking in technique, with the exception of Diana, but they've got all the raw power they need to beat the next gym. You'll be fine," she scoffed. "But we'll plan on leaving after my Champion's Challenge. Winter in Alola is pretty mild, so pack light," she said. Leo nodded and, after a few moments of silence they said their farewells and Victoria hung up. Leo stood and rubbed his chin, snapping his fingers to get Santiago to follow him.

It sounded like he needed to brush up on his history again. He knew that about a hundred and fifty years ago Kanto conquered Johto in a military campaign thus forming the Indigo League as he knew it today, but it sounded like there was far more to it than just that. If anything Victoria made it sound like Johto was in control. Yet another thing to add to the list. Leo thought, shaking his head. The things he needed and wanted to do just kept piling up. At least it kept him busy, though. But right now, it was time for dinner and bed. It had been a tiring day, after all.

Chapter Text

White dust blanketed the grass and dusted the trees, the rich green almost violently offsetting the layer of snow that had fallen overnight. Leo's breath came out in ragged huffs of white air as he slowed to a brisk walk, his early morning run having carried him here, to a small clearing where he could train with his pokémon. The chilly air stung his lungs in a nostalgic way, reminding him of hiking through the mountains at home, even as his heart thudded in his chest.

A sunflora turned to face him as he approached, the sunflower-esque pokémon covered in a light dusting of frost, its normally yellow petals turned brown on the edges from the cold.

"This sudden snow must be rough on you, huh?" Leo asked conversationally, the sunflora shivering. He wasn't overly familiar with the sunflora line, but it wasn't uncommon for wild grass types to enter a sort of hibernation during the winter, not unlike the dormant rest plants and trees went through. But the snow had come suddenly, so this particular sunflora had probably been caught off-guard. Still, it made no move to leave, so Leo let it be for the moment.

He released Santiago onto the snowy ground and bent to pet his starter's head, the slowpoke taking a moment to take in his surroundings, register the cold weather, and sniff the snow as if he'd never seen it before.

"Sloooow?" he called questioningly.

"I know bud, I find it hard to believe that it was all sunny yesterday, too," Leo said, glancing at the cloudy grey sky that threatened even more winter weather. The contest had only been yesterday, and yet the weather was turning cold far, far quicker than he would've liked. "But we've still got to train, right?"

"Pooooo," he answered, lumbering forward, swinging his head side to side, plowing through the thin layer of snow to reveal the green grass once more while his tail wagged happily in the air. Leo shook his head. He'd get to him later, once the rest of the team was working. Besides, he was focusing on psychic training for the slowpoke at the moment. That usually meant working with him at night, when winding down for sleep. He could afford to take the morning off.

"Zuko, Diana, come on out," he said, releasing both the pokémon. Zuko immediately shot Leo a scandalized look, lifting his paws to glare at the dampness that now coated his fur, while Diana shivered the moment her feet touched the ground. Her red eyes grew wide at the drastic transformation that the landscape had undergone, bending to scoop a small handful of snow up to sniff curiously – while Zuko flared his back fires and raised the temperature of his body, the ambient heat melting the snow and making the whole situation far more comfortable for him.

I wonder if this is Diana's first-time seeing snow up close? Leo wondered, recalling that she had most likely spent her entire life underground before he caught her as she experimentally tasted the snow, the chill shocking her tongue. She blinked rapidly and sniffed it, staring at it in a new light.

"Alright guys, focus," Leo said, snapping his fingers. He'd let Diana play in the snow later; it was good to stick to a set training schedule. That meant early morning training routines. "Zuko, I want you running laps again. Since it snowed I'll allow you to light yourself on fire but don't go too crazy; you don't want Santiago dousing you with a water pulse again, do you?" Leo asked.

Zuko seemed to understand Leo's meaning perfectly if the way he visibly shuddered was any indication. Last time he'd gotten too enthusiastic Leo had sicced Santiago on him, and he'd been…judicious with the water pulses. Zuko wouldn't be repeating that mistake any time soon.

"Good. But also try to build up smoke at the same time. I want you to be able to use flame charge and the smoke bomb technique – you know, superheated smokescreen – at the same time. Once you're all warmed up we'll get started on swift," Leo said. Zuko grunted and shook himself off again, starting into a dead sprint and zooming past Santiago; coming as close to startling a slowpoke as anything ever really could. That meant Santiago actually raised his head to stare after Zuko, as if in surprise, and not much else.

"Diana, you and Spiritomb will be with me today. Your rock throw has gotten much better, so let's focus on other things for the moment, ok? Wouldn't want to let your close combat skills be neglected, right?" Leo asked, bending to run a hand along the larvitar's crest. She cooed at him and bit at another handful of snow, screwing her eyes shut at the cold. "Silly girl. Try to mimic me, ok?"

Diana followed his feet for a moment, slowly working through the various positions and motions Leo led her through in her own, clumsy, short-legged way. Content that she would follow the motions on her own for a little bit – a nice warm-up for the more intense training he had planned for her – he turned his attention to Spiritomb, who had been uncharacteristically quiet this morning.

"Spiritomb, I want you to extend those black shadow tendril things," he commanded. The ghost was silent for a brief moment, but eventually acquiesced. A chill ran up Leo's spine as the tendrils of darkness emerged from his pocket, accompanied by a single glowing green eye that hovered just to the side of Leo, the ghost looking at him quizzically. "Wrap them around my arms. I want you to follow my movements and listen to my words – you need to be able to focus all your thoughts and spirits in a single direction; this should be a step in that direction,"

Whispers echoed in Leo's ears as the tendrils wound their way around Leo's arms and torso, wrapping around his palms and flattening out to mimic the shape of his hand. He sucked in a deep breath at the feeling, having not really expected what the tendrils actually felt like against bare skin. Through clothes the darkness felt almost solid, but touching it now…it felt more like an extension of Spiritomb's ectoplasmic body, only stickier. Is it part of Spiritomb's body, or a result of its dark typing or something? Leo wondered silently. Just because he knew that Spiritomb could do this, didn't mean he understood what this ability was or how it worked. Not even Oak was a hundred percent sure, though he did have a few theories due to a few other ghost-types having similar abilities. Cofagrigus, for one, could also use appendages like this.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Leo slid into an unfamiliar stance and worked his way through a series of movements that were far more unfamiliar to him than his primary martial art. This was Tai Chi, and though his knowledge of the art was rudimentary at best, what he did remember would help in his current purposes. If he remembered it right Tai Chi was a type of moving meditation – it might help Spiritomb focus itself.

"Focus on following me, without restricting my movements," Leo said softly, slowly shifting his stance and moving his hands in tune with his body. The shadowy tendrils flickered but followed, only occasionally offering resistance to Leo's movements, or lagging behind. "And center yourself on how we're moving. Focus and calm, let the voices run free but do not let them distract you," he said, just talking more than anything as the chaotic whispers of Spiritomb continually spoke in his ears.

And so this continued for a good ten minutes, at which point the ever-present whispers of Spiritomb calmed down to almost nothing by the end of their warm up. Leo grinned and slapped his face, the cold morning air stinging his cheeks. Now it was time to get some blood pumping, and as he looked out over the rest of his team as they worked, he decided to up the difficulty level a bit. "Spiritomb, would you release your Pressure please?" he asked, and immediately the clearing was flooded with the heavy weight of Spiritomb's presence. Diana stomped her foot on the ground and shook her head but continued on with her movements regardless, completely ignoring Zuko as the quilava stumbled and nearly crashed into her. Santiago's head drooped, his eyes lighting up with the glow of psychic power, the slowpoke turning to glare at Leo and Spiritomb.

Even the Sunflora minding its own business shot him an affronted look, and he smiled at it apologetically. But he wouldn't stop now. Now, it was time to really train.

"You're leaving then?" Leo asked Daisy, picking through his plate of food. Breakfast in the motel wasn't all that great, but it was better than nothing. Powdered eggs, toast with oran berry jelly smeared all over it, and a few pieces of fruit were what constituted his breakfast.

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind. Norman told me of a place where I might be able to find a moon stone here in Johto – he found the stone he used to evolve his wife's Skitty there. Not that he's willing to lend it to me, of course – moon stones may be reusable, but they still need to recharge, for lack of a better word," Daisy said. Leo didn't bother wondering how a stone recharged – that was a crazy idea that he didn't want to get into right now. There was enough on his mind already.

"I see how it is," Leo said with a cheeky grin. "You just wanted me to help you in the contest, then you'd ditch me. I can't believe you'd use me like that," he bemoaned dramatically, slumping over the table and shooting her a look filled with mock-hurt.

"Shut it," she said, rolling her eyes and picking at her cereal. "I'd ask you to come with me – the Tohjo falls are technically on a route, so it wouldn't be illegal, and they are in the Silver Mountains – but Victoria would kill me if I kept you from getting your third badge before the season ends,"

Leo frowned at that, and scratched his chin. "Yeah, about that. What do you think about her opinion on Lance? I'm not really sure what to think," the games and anime had made Lance out to be a powerful trainer, after all, and a respected Champion. But this was neither the games nor the anime. This was a real world, with real people. There were bound to be differences.

"I can't say for sure. He's certainly got a very…direct personality, and some of his ideas are pretty wild, but I don't think it'll be as bad as she's making it out to be. Becoming a Champion isn't just about winning – it's also about earning the approval of enough gym leaders; especially if you want to stay Champion for long and actually 'rule' it as a leader. If Lance wants to become a Champion and stay the Champion of the Indigo League, thereby replacing Martin, he's going to have to tone it down a bit. He'll get in there and realize that some of the things he wants to do just aren't feasible," Daisy reasoned, picking at her food. "Like that strange berry tax he wants to implement, to help fund the poor. It shows an astounding lack of knowledge on the field – berry farming doesn't yield that much profit in Kanto or Johto. Many farmers are subsidized by the League as-is, anyway," she continued, Leo recalling that subsidizing something meaning the League helped fund something – in this case farms, in case there was a bad harvest or whatever.

"Huh. Thanks," Leo said. Daisy smiled at him and shrugged. "Still think I should head to Azalea for my third badge, or should I give Goldenrod a shot?" he asked, switching the subject.

"Azalea. That's a guaranteed win for you, and if Goldenrod is busy you might not be able to apply for a rematch in time for the season to end if you lose there," Daisy said. "Zuko will demolish the bugs in Azalea, and Diana will crush them."

"Fair enough," Leo said, nodding. The two fell silent for a moment longer before Leo had enough, and finally spoke his mind. "By the way, when you get done with your journey to the Tohjo falls, you should go visit Gary."

Daisy winced at the comment, and glared at him a little. He, however, didn't care and met her gaze.

"I don't need you guilt-tripping me," she hissed.

"Obviously you do since you haven't gone back to Pallet in over a year now. To my knowledge at least. Family is family, Daisy. I don't care why you haven't gone back yet but you should at least drop by every once in a while to visit Gary," he said bluntly. Daisy glared at him for a moment longer then let her shoulders sag.

"I know. I was planning on visiting the Ranch once the league season ended," she said softly.

"See that you do," he said with a nod, standing up. "On that note, though, I should probably think about leaving soon. The snow's already let up and the weather forecast says the skies should clear by this afternoon. I'd rather get a good enough head start." He said.

"You sure you don't want me to fly you to Azalea?" Daisy asked, and Leo hesitated before he could immediately say no. "It's not too far out of the way, and Pidgeot won't mind,"

Victoria had told him to quit messing around…and, quite frankly, the whole "travel Johto on foot" no longer held the same appeal that it had before with winter quickly setting in. That, and, if he was honest, that was more of a personal preference than anything else. He just loved the idea of wandering through Johto, seeing the sights. It'd been so beautiful so far.

"If you don't mind," Leo said with a sigh, shoving his mental protests to the idea to the side and shaking his head. "It'd be far dumber of me to not accept honestly. I was just being stubborn when I said no before," Daisy smiled at him.

"You? Stubborn? Never. Prepare for the cold though – it won't be a strictly comfortable flight," she warned. "We'll leave once the weather clears up though. Once the cloud cover breaks Pidgeot will be able to get us to Azalea in a few hours, max, though we may need to land to spend the night if it gets too dark," Leo nodded and rolled his shoulders, already counting his money and considering his current clothes in his head.

He might need a better coat for this, but good coats were expensive. Well, at least once I get my shopping done that means I can dedicate the rest of my time to training or research. He added mentally, then agreed to meet up in front of the Center in a few hours, once the skies cleared up, and headed off towards the nearest clothing store. Hopefully some good scarves or something would work, too.

Pidgeot landed in a flutter of feathers, Leo shivering uncontrollably as he slid off the giant avian's back and immediately released Zuko. The Quilava took one look at his trainer and proceeded to worm his way up underneath his newly-bought jacket – it was long and made of mareep wool, reaching down to his knees – and wiggling up through it until his head popped out of the collar, his nose sticking up into Leo's chin.

"Quiiiillll," he cooed, his high body temperature immediately making Leo feel better. He sighed and wrapped his arms around Zuko, still shivering.

"H-help me get a f-f-fire started," Daisy said through chattering teeth, sliding off Pidgeot who looked down at the two humans with disdain, as if to say "this little bit of cold bothers you?" Leo decided he didn't like the bird anymore, then and there.

"Okay," Leo grunted, Zuko sliding out of his coat as he stood and set about helping start a fire. With the light slowly fading he had to work quickly – he didn't want to be without a fire in the Ilex forest. There was just something about this place that set him on edge – perhaps it was the mist that perpetually filtered through the trees, perhaps it was the way the trees groaned and moaned in the windless night…

Whatever it was, the forest put him on edge. And he wasn't one who shied away from the wild, or saw phantoms in the dark. After all, he knew what phantoms were. He had one in his pocket.

Wish the cloud cover broke earlier. I would've liked to make Azalea today. Leo thought icily to himself as he struck his flint and steel together, the shower of sparks hitting the kindling of the fire and igniting. He could've had Zuko start the fire, or Daisy's Ponyta, who was out and standing next to Daisy to help stave off the cold, but he needed to practice his survival skills; especially in situations like this where he was shivering and shaking to the point he could barely hold his knife right.

He'd hate to be separated from Zuko somehow and be unable to start a fire because he couldn't control his hands. And considering he'd randomly appeared in the middle of nowhere before, he figured his concern was founded.

"Aren't you going to toss more wood on there?" Daisy asked, her chattering having subsided as she draped herself over Ponyta, who whinnied at her.

"No," Leo muttered, checking the thermometer he had strapped to the outside of his pack and wincing. It was already five degrees, and the sun had just set, the sky turning the dull grey color that came just before the night sky rose. It would probably reach the negatives tonight. "A few small fires will do more than one big fire. We can get closer to them, and they'll put off more relative heat than one big one. You can't get close enough to the big ones to get all the heat you need,"

"Huh," Daisy said. "Good to know. Do you need more firewood?" she asked, watching as her Meganium and Clefairy trundled out of the surrounding woods with a mouthful and armful of sticks, respectively.

"Yeah, if we want to keep at least one fire going," Leo responded, cursing as he fumbled with the striker. A sudden shiver had him jerking as he struck the blade against the striker, and familiar black tendrils shot out of his pocket to steady his hands, protecting his fingers from the blade. Spiritomb whispered in his ear, almost chidingly, and he murmured his thanks, finally getting the second fire going. He had started them far enough apart that Daisy and him could sleep between them – hopefully it worked as well as he imagined it would. With two people it was different.

Eventually the two settled down in their respective sleeping bags, Leo snuggling with Zuko and having stuffed his bag with clothes and blankets for extra layers, and cursing his stupid self for forgetting his tent. He didn't even remember where it had vanished to, the little one-person tent he'd had when he entered the Silver Mountains. Stupid thing had just…up and vanished one day.

"We'll get an early start in the morning, it should be just a few more hours to Azalea," Daisy said from her own bedroll and pile of blankets. "So try to get some sleep," Leo grunted but didn't respond, eyes glued instead to the tall pines that surrounded them, the shadows dancing in the firelight. It felt like something was watching them.

"I don't like this forest," he said aloud, frowning. "It feels…sinister. I know it shouldn't, that there's very little out there that will actually come to hurt us, but…maybe it's just my paranoia acting up,"

"You? Afraid of a forest? First time for everything I guess," Daisy said with a laugh, rolling over so her back was facing him. "There's nothing out there, especially not with Zuko, Ponyta, Meganium, and Pidgeot around. Except for, of course, evil spirits. The ancient Azalean people used to perform rituals to appease them, you know," she teased softly.

Leo just frowned and lay still, quietly trying to force himself to sleep. Long after Daisy had fallen asleep he lay awake, staring at the sky and humming the bellossom song to himself. It always made him feel better. Clefairy, who sat bundled up next to Daisy, whistled to him and began softly singing the fairy song, Leo joining in even as he drifted off into a light slumber.

He dreamt of many things. He dreamt of shadows merging, of pokémon battles, of Spiritomb piecing itself together after having been broken like a puzzle, and of a thousand other things that he couldn't remember. It was thanks to his tossing and turning and the vivid dreams he had that he woke when he did, eyes snapping open to behold the brilliant night sky. A thousand stars twinkled through the twisting claws of the Ilex forest's pine trees, overshadowed though they were by the myriad of massive red eyes staring down at him from the trunks. His breathing hitched as he and the trees stared back at each other, the branches moving slowly in ways reminiscent of limbs.

This was no bloody forest. This was a trevenant grove. How did he keep ending up in these situations?!

Spiritomb whispered frantically in his ears as he slowly, carefully, extricated himself from the sleeping bag, the trevenant watching his every move but not acting against him. Zuko twitched in his sleep, the quilava having burrowed deeper into Leo's sleeping bag at some point, but remained asleep. Leo let him have his rest. There was little he could do against an entire trevenant grove at his current level.

"Show yourself, Spiritomb, but be slow and careful about it. We need to show we're not a threat," Leo whispered, feeling his ghostly friend's panic through his own emotions. There was a part of him that agreed with Spiritomb and wanted to flee immediately, and part that wanted to fight the trees off, as foolish as that sounded. His common sense won out though. Neither of those options were ideal – the ghosts were already too close.

Spiritomb slowly snaked its way out of his pocket, its green eyes wide and maw open wide in preparation for battle. The trees groaned and creaked as Leo glanced towards the still-sleeping Daisy, opening his mouth to try and wake her with a whisper. He was afraid that any loud noises that he made would set off the trevenant, but she was a powerful trainer. He needed her awake and aware if the trevenant did want to try anything.

Just because he'd had good luck getting out of intense situations like these before didn't mean he wanted to continue testing his luck.

"Calm down, they're peaceful," a softy, feminine voice echoed out from behind him. The trevenent groaned as their eyes flickered then faded, their clawed hands fading back into branches as Leo slowly turned, coming face-to-face with a green face and wide blue eyes. He remained stock still as the Celebi grinned at him, bee-like wings flitting rapidly in the dim firelight as it – she, the voice was definitely female – observed him.

"Hello," Leo said dumbly. Celebi giggled.

"Hello, little Lion," she said, buzzing a little higher into the air, then glancing at the sleeping Daisy. "Follow me. I don't want to wake the little flower," she continued, and buzzed off into the darkness.

Leo glanced at Daisy, at the still-sleeping Zuko, considered the utterly confused whispers of Spiritomb, and finally looked at the trees that he now knew were trevenant.

"The trees were merely curious, not malicious. Fairy-songs are not common in this forest. She will be safe there," Celebi promised, her voice echoing oddly in both his ears and ringing in his head. Leo hesitated for just a moment longer before bending and picking up his jacket from where it lay bunched up in his sleeping bag – the removal of said garment from the pile not disturbing Zuko in the slightest – and slipped it on as he followed after the legendary pokémon, his emotions oddly calm.

It was, quite frankly, about time that a legendary came to talk to him. He'd been ready for an explanation for years, and Articuno hadn't exactly seemed like the best conversationalist.

"Winter is quite the interesting talker, once you get to know him. His offspring are more fickle but Winter himself, the original bird, has many stories and secrets to tell. There is more to the winter than just cold and snow," Celebi said, apparently reading his thoughts.

"I knew there was more than one," Leo muttered, not even bothering to feel surprised that Celebi knew what he was thinking, instead fixating his gaze on the little things that gave him some idea of the being he was now faced with.

Its power wasn't some grandiose feeling that pressed down on him from all sides – not like the Pressure from Articuno – but rather in the way the grass beneath his feet – shoeless though he was, his mareep wool socks were plenty warm and the grass thankfully wasn't wet – brightened up and turned towards Celebi as the green onion-bee thing passed, and in the way the wind slowed to a gentle breeze nearby.

The trees fell silent, their creaks and groans ceasing as Celebi grew near as if in respect to the legendary's presence. It was still fall, of course, nearly winter, and the plants did not liven up simply because Celebi was here. Instead the grass simply appeared…fuller, in the dark night, the bushes the two passed seeming to grow healthier as if they gained more nutrients simply from her presence. It was…odd, because words could not fully describe how a plant could suddenly look fatter, ready to hibernate for the winter like a bear might.

A spinarak skittered across Leo's foot as he walked, the bug-type paying neither Leo nor Celebi any mind as it vanished off into the night, giving him a bit of a fright.

"So," Leo began, breaking the sacred silence that had fallen over the forest.

"Make sure you know your question before you ask it," Celebi answered over her shoulder, buzzing up into the air and peering through the branches of a set of trees. Leo squinted and looked through the gap as well, a singular star outlined amongst the pine needles.

"Why am I here? Why were Jack and I brought here?" Leo blurted.

"Didn't you already get that question answered?" she asked rhetorically. He sighed and scratched the back of his head, recalling the visions he'd had when unlocking Spiritomb. Yes, he did recall the endless Void, yes he did recall falling through the barrier between dimensions…but had it really been an accident? His gut told him yes, but his mind…it argued otherwise. Things like this didn't just happen, he wanted to argue. "It was an accident, your arrival in this world. However, just because you are now here does not mean that you don't have a place. You are here now, and no one would deny you your right to existence, your right of choice,"

Leo clicked his mouth shut and just nodded. A part of him had been hoping for some manifest destiny or what-have-you. Travelling between universes by utter accident, due to a fault in the fabric of reality (as he understood it), seemed far more…lackluster in comparison to having been called here, though perhaps just as impressive in its own right.

"Do not be ridiculous. Travelling between worlds in the same universe is no easy feat for a mortal soul – let alone travelling between universes. It is a testament to your own self that you did not shatter under the Pressure," Celebi chided. Leo frowned and pressed one hand against the trunk of a tree, the rough bark grounding him back in reality as a severe sense of vertigo suddenly took hold. A wave of fresh air hit him like a freight train, warmth that had nothing to do with temperature flooding his body and making him grunt. Memories continued to flood through his brain, and for a brief moment he relived his time travelling through the void, as naught but a soul, in excruciating detail.

It took a moment for him to right himself, the fresh air providing a grounding anchor that helped him center himself back in reality – though he was shocked to see that he had proceeded further into the forest during his little "vision fit," or perhaps he had been standing before a shrine the entire time and just hadn't noticed it. The small wooden shrine stood on stilts, raising the structure about four feet off the ground with the slatted doors closed shut despite the burning candles situated on either side of the doorway. The shrine itself was no bigger than Leo's torso, and Celebi settled on the roof of the shrine, staring at him with an amused smile.

"What's this?" Leo asked, raising his eyebrows. A gentle wind rustled the tall pines, pulling brown needles off their branches and sending them fluttering through the air, providing movement to the absolute stillness that surrounded the tiny structure. It appeared as if…frozen in time, not even the flames of the candles flickering as they burned and gave off heat.

"An anchor," Celebi corrected. "A spot which I can always return to, no matter how far I travel in space or in time,"

"Why did you bring me here?" Leo asked, not sure where else to start with his questions. Now that he was actually standing in front of a legendary that was willing to talk to him, his thoughts had become disordered. He didn't know where to start he had so many questions – or perhaps it was just that he didn't know how to phrase them.

"Because you followed me," Celebi answered. Leo scowled at her.

"Don't start with me. Why are you here? Why now? Why did you seek me out?" Leo demanded. Celebi smiled and closed her eyes, the buzzing of her wings freezing in place as the wind picked up, tearing through the trees with a veritable roar that sent a cascade of pine needles fluttering through the air.

"What do you see here?" Celebi asked instead of answering, gesturing widely to the shrine. Leo huffed in annoyance and squinted at the shrine, deciding to humor her for the moment.

"I don't know," he said lamely. Celebi shot him a look that spoke volumes of what she thought of that statement, and he sighed, shaking his head.

"You, who see the nobility of slowpoke and sing to the grasses and fairies of the world, can only see a shrine?" she asked, the tone of her voice sounding more accusing than anything else. Leo grumbled and shrugged, somewhat understanding what she was getting at. There was something here that Celebi wanted him to see, he just had to look for it.

Leo set his shoulders and circled the shrine, examining it closely. Surprisingly it showed little to no signs of wear and tear, appearing very well maintained barring a few scratches and nicks in the stain that kept the weather out of the wood. Little ornate pokémon were carved into the walls, and the candles still glowed with orange light despite sitting very still – Leo saw all this, but didn't know what he was supposed to be seeing.

"What am I supposed to be seeing here?" Leo asked. Celebi was silent for a moment, as if debating whether or not to answer, before she shrugged.

"When I am here, I do not see anything. I experience the world's aura in melodies and song – the trees, the air, the ground, each plays their little symphonies for all to hear, and I choose to listen. That tree there, for example, sings in a rich baritone – I quite like it. Your song is strong, but meanders back and forth like a lazy river, unsure which way to go. How do you experience the world, little Lion?" Celebi explained, flitting up off of the shrine and buzzing about the clearing, humming happily to herself. Her hum did not sound like the droning of a bee, like Leo had expected, but rather rang out like a chorus of voices all singing together, young and old, woman and man, pokémon and human – it was a song that Leo could only define as one that defined time. It was the past, the present, and the future all layered together into one, and listening to that song Leo felt he could almost see his future as well as he recalled his past.

But despite his habit of singing to grass-types, and how he enjoyed playing those songs Leo did not experience the world that way. The world was beautiful, but he did not hear it as nothing but a song.

He glanced down at his coat pocket, where Spiritomb remained absolutely silent. Taking a deep breath, Leo stamped down on all his emotions, allowing his worried and fears to slip away. The concern about getting his next badge, his worry and excitement concerning finally finding a clue about his friend Jack, the talk about Lance and his potential ineptitude at leadership, all of it bled into the background before finally flying from his mind, leaving naught but silence.

Slowly Leo reached out and rested his hand on the shrine, closing his eyes and simply allowing himself to feel. He liked to think he knew himself well, and understood how he really experienced the world. Sure, he could see things, but more importantly he felt them.

His instincts kept him alive in the Silver Mountains, they helped him in earning Tyrus' approval to keep Diana, they led him to befriending Froslass, and guided him in surviving Spiritomb's initial outburst. It was not emotion, simply…a sixth sense sort of feeling that guided him. His gut, if you will. Snorting to himself in amusement, he recalled what Professor Oak had said about him; "smart, but doesn't think things through." If that wasn't the truth, he didn't know what was.

For a solid ten minutes Leo stood there, hand against the shrine and remaining silent, basking the in the peace and quiet, when he felt something. It was small at first, a tingling sensation he thought had been a lack of blood leading to the hand touching the shrine, but it swiftly became apparent that it was something else. There was a…current, beneath his hand, that did not disturb his skin but roiled nonetheless.

"Do not look away," Celebi urged, voice both close and far away at the same time. Leo breathed out, listening to his heart as it slowly beat in his chest, then refocused on the current. He could feel it, all he had to do was touch it…no, he had to let it in. Leo breathed in through his nose, relaxing his body and splaying his fingers against the shrine, not willing or forcing the current to touch him – he already knew that wouldn't work as he had tried it – but rather imagining a hole in his hand that would allow the current in.

Almost immediately images began to dance behind his eyelids, darting across his mind like scenes from a movie. He saw the Silver Mountains, covered in ice and snow as a flock of articuno, led by Articuno itself, raged in the skies above, blizzards drenching the mountains in tens of feet of snow. The scene shifted, the snow gone, but the nevermeltice glacier that contained the ultra-beasts appeared next – or at least a shell of it did. People milled about before the shattered glacier, equipment strewn about as they locked three blue-colored pokeballs away in cases…again the scene shifted, showing Victoria on a hospital bed. It shifted again, and Giovanni battled Lance in a duel for the ages. The Rocket Leader's expression was calm and neutral as his rhyperior shot down Lance's Charizard, the flaming dragon replaced with a beast of colossal stature – its black hide gleaming in the sun of the stadium, jaw-like hands snapping hungrily in the air as its main body, more mouth than body, turned towards its prey ready to consume all in its path.

Leo saw more; a city in flames, a city covered in snow – he saw Lance become crowned champion as a crowd of people, Giovanni among them, turned away from the stage in disgust. Then, finally, the visions slowed, and he found himself looking through the eyes of a woman, cradling the head of a man. He felt her sadness and grief as it tore through her, the man bleeding out in her arms – Leo felt the way it tore her up inside. And when she looked up to see the perpetrators, he saw the infamous red R emblazoned on their shirts, their silhouettes illuminated against a burning house in the background.

He gasped and yanked away from the shrine, putting an immediate end to the visions. His veins burned in his arm as he gasped for breath, the current he had felt not having travelled through him without causing some damage – his palm stinging with a sharp pain as he rested his hands on his knees and wheezed. Leo coughed, hacked, and spluttered for but a few more minutes, his stomach churning with nausea and the pain in his arm slowly receding, when he finally looked up at Celebi.

"What was that?" he wheezed. Celebi smiled at him, giggling.

"Silly, I told you that is an anchor in time. It is a powerful point in space, one I am connected to – it gave you a glimpse of a future, one that may or may not come to pass," Celebi said, nodding gravely.

"You could have warned me," Leo gasped, standing up straight and rolling his shoulder, wincing as the muscles pulled. "That hurt!"

"I asked you what you saw, not what you felt," Celebi said innocently. "Allowing the energy within the shrine to flow through you, therefore connecting you to the Future Sight, was bound to hurt if you touched it," Leo opened his mouth to retort, closed it in frustration, opened it again to tell Celebi off, then thought better of it and grit his teeth. Celebi hadn't told him to touch the shrine, true, but he would have appreciated a warning!

But, more importantly, Leo considered what he saw.

"That…future, do you know what I saw?" he asked. Celebi nodded, and Leo frowned. "Team Rocket rises in response to Lance becoming Champion then?" Celebi shrugged.

"Perhaps. Most likely. What you saw is but one future amongst many – depending on how people choose to act it may come to pass, only pieces may come to pass, or perhaps not at all," Celebi said. Leo frowned, recalling the pain of the woman who lost her…lover? He shuddered, and clutched at his chest as it constricted with grief for a person he did not personally know.

…he felt responsible now. He knew what might be coming, it was his duty to try and change it right? The image of Victoria laying in a hospital bed flashed in his mind once more, and a flash of anger made his blood burn red-hot. As a trainer it was likely you'd end up in the hospital eventually, but at the same time if she wound up in the hospital not due to a training related thing but caused instead by actions from Giovanni or Lance…well, that was just unacceptable.

"How do I stop it from happening?" Leo asked, meeting Celebi's amused gaze with his own determined one. She smiled and just shook her head.

"You cannot," she said simply. Leo stared at her, processing that, and she took that moment of silence to continue. "They have made their choices, they will proceed as they will. The people of Indigo are not wholly susceptible to the whims and actions of one boy, like yourself. Perhaps what you saw will not come to pass, perhaps the people of Indigo will choose a different path – perhaps not. But as you are now, you can do nothing,"

"Then why show me that at all? To taunt me?" Leo demanded, but Celebi just smiled and stared at him, as if waiting for him to figure it out himself. It took him a moment, then it clicked. "Wait, you said 'as I am now.' What did you mean by that?" Celebi giggled.

"Obviously you have to grow stronger," she said.

"You mean training?" Leo asked, frowning. His team did need work, of course. He knew that. He'd been working on it.

"Not just training. What strength means is up to you; will you be the great trainer who travels about, solving problems that others can or will not? Will you be a Champion who guides the region to further greatness? Or perhaps the singer, who seeks to change the world with song?" Celebi asked with a shrug. "The choice is yours,"

"Okay then," Leo grumbled, running a hand through his hair. The last option there was a moot point – he figured Celebi threw that in there as more of a joke than anything else – and the others weren't much better. It was nothing that he didn't know already, albeit with more pressure in the form of that future vision. But he guess he saw the point she was trying to make. "How do I go about that?"

"That, too, is up to you. Though I will say that Alola will be good for you," Celebi nodded sagely, rising up off her shrine with a buzz of her wings. Leo blinked at her as her body started to fade, the air around her rippling with power.

"Wait! I still have more questions! Is Jack ok? I know he's ok, obviously, but I mean – what happened to him? How can I get in contact with him? What about all that stuff about aura? And - " Leo cut himself off and glanced down at his pocket, where Spiritomb's keystone was kept. "How do I help Spiritomb? What is Spiritomb? I know it asked me for help but I have no idea what I'm doing here,"

At the last question Celebi's form ceased to fade, leaving her as a half-translucent image hovering above the shrine which, to Leo's shock, was similarly half-translucent.

"You really wish to know about Spiritomb?" she asked softly. Leo hesitated once more, then nodded.

"Yes, among all the other things I mentioned," he said.

"Your friend is fine where he is – he was not placed in a situation nearly as dangerous as yours. And as for Spiritomb, well, you are not too far off the mark with your thoughts," Celebi said vaguely. "Try to feel it from them – you have the ability, and all things have aura. Feel it out and keep doing what you have been doing. You're doing good so far," she said and vanished, leaving Leo gaping at where she, and her shrine, had once been. Now all that was left in the forest was him, a shaft of silver moonlight filtering through the trees, and pine needles falling from the branches of trees.

"But…huh?" Leo muttered, scratching his head about the whole aura comment. The thing about Jack was reassuring, but until he heard from his friend he would reserve his judgement, so instead he focused on the problem he had in front of him.

Spiritomb, and aura. "I suppose aura is life energy and flows through all living things, so it makes sense that even if I'm dark that I'd be able to sense aura – though maybe I really should take Oak's advice and stop thinking about things in terms of type. He said things like 'dark' and 'psychic' types don't really apply to humans," Leo murmured to himself, becoming increasingly aware of the chill seeping through his coat to stab at the flesh beneath. He shivered and turned, heading back toward camp, rubbing his arms and shaking his head.

He'd never get to sleep after that whole experience.

And he was right, of course.

Chapter Text

In the end, Leo never told Daisy about his meeting with Celebi. While it was sure to be an interesting conversation with the Professor, the way he saw it that meeting was private, and Daisy wasn't liable to actually believe him all things considered. To her, he was just a twelve-year-old, albeit a strangely smart one. Either way, the next morning the two left for Azalea, the short two-hour flight spent in relative silence; each left to their own thoughts.

Which led them to where they were now; standing outside of the Azalea gym, Daisy's Pidgeot standing proudly next to them as they rubbed their arms in an attempt to return feeling to them. The cold morning air turned to freezing when flying.

"This is as far as I go," Daisy said, squinting up at the tall stadium. Leo nodded, watching a troop of wooper waddle their way from one pond to the next, the decorative water features providing the playful water-types with plenty of room to splash about in.

"Thanks for the ride," Leo said through chattering teeth, nodding to Daisy. "I appreciate the company too. And don't forget to go back to Pallet," he told her.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes mother," she teased. Leo gave her a lopsided grin and waved her off. "You be careful, and make sure to call Victoria once you get your third badge. Bug type gyms may not be overly challenging in these regions, but they make up for that by dragging you down and wearing your team ragged. Oftentimes the test is battles of quantity over quality," she reminded him, laying one hand on Pidgeot's side as the big avian nipped at her hair impatiently.

"Will do. Thanks for the tip," he said, nodding. Daisy smiled and, taking a deep breath, clambered back on Pidgeot.

"See you around," she said, and Pidgeot, with a shriek and flap of its mighty wings, lifted into the sky and disappeared as nothing more than a brown blur in seconds.

Leo watched them go for a moment, frowning slightly, then turned his attention back to the gym. The green paint was faded and chipped, while the large sliding glass doors were covered with what looked like the drawings of toddlers, mostly of bug type pokémon and normal bugs. He idly wondered if that was the work of Bugsy, who was undoubtedly too young to be training at the moment. Leo didn't remember just how old he was in the games, but that was a question for another time. After all, he'd be battling Bugsy's predecessor instead.

He confidently walked into the building, reveling in the wave of warm air that washed over him as he did so, and glanced around the surprisingly busy interior. A dozen or so trainers milled about the lobby, most looking young – almost like rookies with their clean shoes and unmarked clothes. It was a sharp contrast to Leo's already worn clothes and shoes, barring his newly purchased coat. They probably are rookies, trying to get their last badges in before the season ends, he mused, walking up to the front desk where an elderly gentleman with a trim goatee sat, watching him approach.

"How may I help you?" the man asked, eyes flicking to the three pokeballs on Leo's belt.

"I'd like to register for a gym battle of the third badge level," Leo announced. The older man just snorted and extended a hand, accepting Leo's pokedex as form of identification and pulling up his trainer record. His expression remained unchanged as he stared at the screen for a moment, reading something. "Is there an issue?" Leo asked, furrowing his brows.

"Normally I would advise you to not challenge this gym as a Youngster – the current gym leader is staunchly opposed to the Youngster Liscence Law – and while your official battle record leaves much to be desired your gym challenge record is…acceptable," he said, tapping on the table. Leo frowned. There was a lot to unpack there.

"My official battle record?" he asked.

"Yes. Your win loss ratio in official battles. Though you haven't lost a challenge in a gym yet, your ratio is heavily skewed to the losing side," he said, peering at Leo.

"Ah. That. Yeah, I challenge a lot of people above my badge level," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "They're usually pretty nice about it, and even veterans have new pokémon that need training," That he didn't really care about his win loss ratio went unsaid. It was gym challenges and tournament wins that actually mattered for serious trainers.

"Hmm. Well, regardless, let me warn you. This gym challenge will be difficult for you – by law the Leader must give you a fair challenge, but that doesn't mean he won't make it as difficult as possible," he said. "I suggest perhaps going to another gym," Leo frowned at that, rubbing the back of his neck. Did he have time to go to another gym…?

"How difficult are we talking?" he asked instead.

"Difficult. It will be above third badge level," he said.

Leo hummed and considered his options. It would be hard to beat this gym, arguably, but he held a distinct advantage here with both Zuko and Diana having major strengths against the bug type. And while type wasn't everything, at his current level it did make a big difference. On the other hand the only other gym he could reach in time was Goldenrod, and that might be cutting it close. It'd take a good week to hike back to the city unless he managed to get a ride there, and even then it posed a similar problem in that he might not be able to get a rematch…no, his best bet was to try this gym and, if he lost, train as hard as possible so he won the rematch.

"I'll take the gym challenge here," Leo said. "If it is required that the challenge at least be passible, then I still have a shot,"

"Don't say I didn't warn you," the receptionist said with a sigh, typing on the computer for a bit. "The first available test date we have is two days from now, and, assuming you pass, your badge challenge will be a week after that. Gym Leader Art will most likely challenge you personally. If you fail the test, it will be scheduled exactly two days after your initial challenge. If you fail your battle, it will be scheduled three days after your loss. Is this acceptable?" he asked. Leo nodded.

"Yes," he said, and just like that, he had the date for his third gym battle.

The Professor's face flicked to life on the video screen, a kindly grin on his face as he answered the call. Leo had splurged a bit on this video call, paying for a private line in the back of the Pokemon center – something he hadn't known had existed until he asked the Nurse about private calling booths – so the quality of the call was both better, and the small, square room was completely secure, the only occupant being himself, Santiago, and the video booth. He wanted the extra privacy for the conversation he was about to have.

"Hey, Professor," Leo said with a small wave, scratching Santiago's head with his other hand. The slowpoke had placed his front paws on Leo's lap, his head resting on his thighs and tongue lolling out as he panted like a dog, drool soaking Leo's left leg. He didn't mind though.

"Leo, I see you made it to Azalea! Fairly quickly too, by my estimates," Professor Oak said.

"I did. Daisy gave me a ride, then left for the Tohjo falls – heard a rumor about moonstones there and went to go check it out," Leo explained, not even flinching when Santiago turned his head and engulfed his hand in his mouth. Calmly he removed the appendage from the slowpoke's mouth and continued to pet him, the sticky feeling of slowpoke slobber a familiar feeling by now. It wouldn't go away until he washed his hands anyway, there was no point in getting grossed out.

"I see. I do wish she would call every once in a while," the Professor said, shaking his head. Leo snorted.

"I told her to visit the ranch once she got done, made her promise to do so in fact. She should uphold her end of the bargain, I tried to guilt-trip her pretty hard," he said. The Professor smiled at him, then shook his head.

"Thank you, but I doubt you called just to talk about my wayward granddaughter. Is it something with Spiritomb? I must admit I am itching to get another read on it," the Professor said, hands twitching in greed at the thought. "Professor Rowan has been quite helpful in sending me information on the species as well. I'll update your pokedex with the relevant lore next time we meet,"

"No, Spiritomb's fine. I've got a theory on how to improve its cohesion, but I need to test it before I submit any actual thoughts or results to you," Leo said, almost scratching the back of his head with his slimed hand before thinking better of it. Santiago grunted and butted his head against Leo's stomach, demanding more scratches, which Leo obliged.

"Is it about Jack then? I did just receive word from Professor Juniper this morning, she received your letter and will aid in our search for your friend. She was actually very amenable to the idea – she focuses her research on pokémon mythology, you see, and the Alolan myths are among the more observable of all the regions," he continued. "I sent your letter to her via email the moment I got the response. All I needed was for you to call to tell you the news,"

"Really? That's great!" Leo beamed. "Keep me updated on that, but it's not about that either,"

"Hmm? Then what is it? Training advice? Want me to come watch your gym battle? Or – oh, have you visited the slowpoke well yet? I highly recommend that," the Professor continued, Leo's grin widening as he continually spat out thoughts. He was having fun building up the suspense like this, considering what he had to tell the Professor.

"No, but the slowpoke well is a good idea. I'll put that on the list," Leo said, nodding and scratching his chin thoughtfully. That was where a King's Rock was located in the games, which meant that, if Santiago was ready for evolution, he could potentially evolve. That was assuming his starter was ready for that. Leo…wasn't actually sure of that answer.

"Well don't keep me waiting. There are tauros pens that need mucking," the Professor said, and Leo waved his hand dismissively.

"Isn't that what you keep Gary around for? Make him do the mucking," he said, and the Professor laughed. "No, the reason I called you is because I met Celebi in the Ilex Forest last night," he said in the most casual tone he possibly could.

Leo had been expecting more of a response from the Professor. Maybe something like when he showed him the Articuno scans – a knee jerk "you what?" sort of reaction followed by excitement or shock. He hadn't been expecting the slow blink, frown, and for Oak to lean back in his chair and simply motion for Leo to continue.

Leo wet his lips, caught off guard a little, and regaled the Professor with as much detail as he could…leaving out some bits and pieces of the Future Sight that he could only vaguely recall. It had been a lot to throw at him, after all, and his memory wasn't perfect. Santiago, of course, occasionally interrupted the storytelling when Leo got too distracted and stopped petting him – groaning loudly until he resumed the scratching of the slowpoke's ears.

In the silence that followed the conclusion of the story, Leo found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable. The Professor was simply staring at him expressionlessly, his eyes seeming to bore straight into Leo's as if all his secrets were laid bare.

"You're not joking, I see," he said, and Leo shook his head. The Professor sighed and ran a hand through his greying hair. "I expected you to run into a Legendary eventually but not so soon. Most who are capable of sensing aura beyond what the average person is capable of will at some point. Your…vision, while concerning, isn't unexpected. Many Kantoan gym leaders have voiced their concern over Lance's rise to Champion, Giovanni among them. But unlike what you seem to think Giovanni is not the leading cause of this discontent, nor is Lance wholly to blame. They are just the current figureheads of the two political sides of the coin,"

All of that Leo could see, and he felt almost ashamed to have phrased the vision in such a way that it seemed like Giovanni, and to a lesser extent, Lance, were the cruxes of the potential issues he'd seen. If his learning in the history and politics of Johto and Kanto were any proof, it was that the problems behind the current…potentially tumultuous political situation in the Indigo League were far deeper than issues between two men. Remove either and another was likely to take their place. Which, he realized with slowly dawning horror, was why Celebi told him there was nothing he could really do.

Even if he could go challenge Giovanni or discredit the man by revealing the existence of Team Rocket (who he still had heard nothing about, suspicious as that was) Leo could not oppose all of those who sided with him. Nor did he know who those people were.

Still, one thing about Oak's speech did stick out to Leo beyond the political side of things, and that ended up being what he voiced his comment on.

"You believe in aura?" Leo asked suspiciously. Most scientists he'd met from his old world almost violently opposed esoteric concepts like aura or qi – which were essentially the same concept if Leo's understanding was correct – whenever said subjects were brought up. The same could be said about certain religious groups of course, but only the former was currently relevant. Oak casually mentioning aura like that threw Leo off.

"You have some funny misconceptions about what a researcher like myself does, Leo," the Professor said, amusement coloring his voice as Merri, his Alakazam, poked her head over his shoulder to smile at Leo. "Most regional Professors agree that some concept like aura exists, even if we cannot observe its fundamental, physical form in most capacities and disagree on its base functions. Where do you think pokémon get their abilities from? What about the energy from evolution? Or why do new species of pokémon appear at random, like magnemite did once power plants started being built en mass? Our best guess is that it stems from aura somehow – the fundamental, binding energy of the universe,"

"That's…" Leo started, trailing off when he realized he didn't know what to say. Vaguely he recalled an anime episode where the Lumoise City gym leader in Kalos was measuring energy output between Ash and Greninja, and he furrowed his brows in confusion. "You can't observe it?"

"Yes and no. We can detect and observe certain forms of aura – such as electricity, energy from evolution, or even, arguably, the power from the Alolan Z-moves, but the true base form of aura is beyond the grasp of modern technology. Despite there being people who can see, hear, smell, or feel it. All energy is, allegedly, a different expression of this aural building block," the Professor explained. "Though I will admit I am biased towards this theory, as other researchers doubt that is the case,"

"Biased how?" Leo asked. The Professor was many things, but Leo did not count biased among them.

"I can see aura to some degree. It's not actually much, but it's enough," he said, tapping the side of his head with a knowing smile. "It's what helped me get to where I am today, in the forefront of researchers investigating pokémon-human relations," If Leo's jaw could have dropped any further, it would have. As it was he felt like it was about to fall off. The Professor could see aura?! What in the blue blazes?!

Oak chuckled at Leo's expression. "Just don't expect to be going around throwing 'aura spheres' around just because you can feel aura now. That kind of thing is a storybook fantasy. It will, however, help you grow closer to your pokémon in a way you cannot imagine,"

"How so?" Leo blurted, mind reeling.

"Well I can't prove it scientifically yet, but the bond between pokémon and human is aura-based in nature. Think of it like a symbiotic relationship – we connect our human aura to theirs, and fuel their growth. That's why trained pokémon tend to be stronger, smarter, and evolve quicker than those in the wild. On the flip side, the pokémon aid us in the growth of our aura – though the effects are far less noticeable with the exception of psychics trainers, whose power grows marginally alongside their pokémon. I'm still researching the nature of aural growth outside of psychicsy, so I hope you don't mind if I use you as a case study. Not that you actually have a choice, since I gave you a pokedex and shelter for two years," the Professor teased, tone hinting that he was just giving Leo a hard time.

"Fair. The guilt tripping was unnecessary, but fair," Leo said, shaking his head and allowing a grin to overtake his face.

"I guess what I'm trying to get at with this long-winded speech of mine is this – don't worry too much about what's out of your control, and that aura, while cool and the subject of many myths and stories, is not going to give you superpowers," Oak said simply. Leo huffed and nodded, scratching the back of his head. Telling him not to worry was a fool's errand, however; those visions were sure to keep him up at night for a while yet. Either way, Oak was right in that there was little Leo could do – in fact, the only way forward he could see now was to train harder and get stronger. Strong enough that people might listen to him, or he could at least better protect those he cared about, as cliché as that sounded.

Further training was, honestly, the only way he would be able to have an impact on the things to come. I really will have to kick it up a notch. He thought, jaw setting as the image of Victoria on a hospital bed flashed through his mind, as well as thoughts of what may happen to the rest of the Oak family. Then he shook his head and smiled at the Professor, changing the topic to lighter topics. It may take some time for my team to get strong enough, but there's no way I can just sit back and let bad things happen. Especially since I think I know what might be coming. Stupid sense of responsibility. Why must you make things so hard?

Azalea was truly a beautiful city, Leo thought as he walked through the outskirts with a purpose. The inner city itself was your typical fare – with tall buildings and too many people intermixed with pokémon of all sizes – but the outskirts made it plain and clear that this was the home of generations of bug-and-grass-type masters. Pines lined the roads, silken threads from Kakuna and Metapod populations that made the trees their home lining the lower branches and giving them an almost gothic look. Butterfree flapped through the air, the scales that fell from their wings glimmering in the mid-morning sun, while a lone Ariados eyed them from a bush that poorly hid its large red body. None of the civilians seemed to mind the giant red spider either, simply passing the bush by without a care in the world – it was likely a trained 'mon.

Leo was heading to the Slowpoke well, given that there were a few hours left in the day after his talk with Oak and some training in one of the Center's private training fields. He wasn't sure what he'd find there – he doubted it was like the games, where a King's Rock was waiting in the very back of the cave for the player to get – but considering that it was the one place in the entirety of the games dedicated solely to Slowpoke as a species he was hoping it would have something for Santiago.

The gem from Longinus' crown could only go so far, after all. Santiago hardly reacted at seeing the psychic gem anymore, and Leo couldn't figure out what else it might be good for yet besides sentiment. He was sure there was something, though.

A Ledyba buzzed by Leo's head as he walked, circling back around and staring at him curiously, its little white hands clenching and unclenching as the bug watched him, before it buzzed off towards a playground covered in screeching children and brightly colored flowers – where the drone of regular bugs was loudest. Leo swatted at a fly that buzzed in his ear. A part of him knew that bugs were important for the ecosystem, as bug type pokemon couldn't fill all roles that regular bugs could, but another part of him wished they didn't. Flies were annoying.

Still, despite his distraction with observing the city, Leo soon found himself leaving the outskirts of town – marked by a tall green hedge that, if Leo were to hedge his bets, was home to even more bug-type pokémon – with the Slowpoke Well on the horizon. It took another thirty minutes of walking to reach the well – situated next to a small, mesa-like rise in the forest outside of the city limits in a clearing of trees. The grey-stones and red-roofed well cover were clearly worn from age, paint chipping from the "roof" tiles while a copper plaque, turned green from years outside in the weather, told a small folktale from hundreds of years ago.

"Supposedly Azalea was saved by the Slowpoke who once inhabited this area, because they brought rains that ended a drought," Leo muttered to himself, fingers tracing the lettering. He leaned over the edge of the well – calling it a well was a bit of a misnomer, though, because the townspeople didn't actually draw water from it out of respect for the Slowpoke population that inhabited it – and peered down into the darkness below where the sounds of dripping water echoed.

"Great, enter at your own peril indeed," he muttered, testing the wooden ladder that led into the depths of the well and recalling the Nurse Joy's words to him when he had asked her for directions. She hadn't seemed thrilled at the idea of him coming here, but…well, disapproval hadn't stopped him before, much less from someone he didn't know. "Down we go," he grumbled, and slowly descended into the well, placing each foot carefully on the ladder rungs.

His hiking boots splashed in a small puddle of water on the stone floor, goosebumps running up his arms from the chill. He flicked on a flashlight and let Santiago out of his pokeball, the Slowpoke immediately perking up at their surroundings, his pink head swiveling back and forth and nostrils flaring. A low whine rumbled out from the back of his throat and Leo bent to lay a hand on his starter's head.

"Hey buddy. You sensing where we are?" he muttered, vague hope blossoming in his chest. Santiago didn't respond, staring into a wide passage, tall enough for a grown adult to easily walk through, with blue light gently shining from his eyes. "Alright, let's go," he said, and trudged forward, flashlight trailing the slick cave walls. Santiago followed behind him sedately, quiet, but alert. Not once did he get distracted or stop to sniff at something, or just lay down because he was feeling lazy.

That, in and of itself, was an impressive change from his normal behavior.

Maybe twenty feet into the passage the cave opened up into a massive cavern so large the light from Leo's flashlight could not reach the far end, and only barely glinted off the long stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. Long pools of water sat like ominous patches of inky blackness all across the ground in front of him, with no telling how deep they went or what was contained within. For a moment Leo did nothing, not even following the beaten path that led further into the cave – undoubtedly created by centuries of visitors. He just stood there, unsure of what to do next.

A rock moved off to his right and he jumped, whipping his head and flashlight around to find, lo and behold, a Slowpoke staring at him.

"Sloooow?" it said, tilting its head to the side curiously, large eyes staring unblinking at Leo.

"Pooooke," Santiago responded, his call prompting dozens of responses from deeper in the cavern. Glowing blue eyes blinked open in the darkness, sitting atop large mounds and all turned towards the intruders in the cavern. "Sloooow," Santiago called again, though the eyes showed no change.

Sweat beaded on the back of Leo's neck as he met the gaze of several dozen Slowpoke, all staring directly at him and flaring their psychic powers. The Slowpoke in this well were supposed to be harmless…weren't they?

After a few tense moments, during which time Santiago never left his side, the glowing eyes faded as the Slowpoke lost interest, and Leo let out a sigh of relief. That had been far more intense than he had been expecting for an introduction. Was it because Santiago was a foreigner, by all rights, and the Slowpoke had wanted to see if he was a threat? He shook those thoughts from his head and continued forward, letting Santiago take the lead this time as his partner nudged his way forward, pushing past Leo and ambling along the trail.

Dripping water echoed through the chambers, the only sound beside the occasional shuffling or call from a Slowpoke and Leo's own footsteps. Santiago forged on ahead, leading the way further into the caverns despite Leo occasionally stopping to admire some of the cave formations. Stalactites and stalagmites hung from the ceiling and rose from the floor, while the dark water pools remained utterly calm in the silence of the cavern. Leo could almost imagine meeting some monstrosity from a fairy tale down here…he shuddered and shook his head, dismissing the notion and rising from where he was examining a pool of water, imagining a giant tentacle rising from it, covered in suction cups and dripping water.

Sometimes having an overactive imagination wasn't the greatest thing in the world.

"Where are you going, buddy?" Leo asked in a stage whisper, walking quickly – albeit carefully on the slick rocky ground – to catch up to Santiago, who was slowly climbing up a rocky mound. Leo was starting to get a little worried. The path was still plain and clear, but he had absolutely no desire to go off said path and wind up lost in this cave. That wouldn't end well.

"Sloooow," Santiago replied, slipping on a particularly slick patch of stone as he struggled his way up.

"Oh, gee, thanks, that clears everything right up," Leo grumbled, rubbing his face with his free hand and slowly climbing up as well. They wandered about the cavern for at least ten minutes – not covering a lot of ground due to Santiago's lack of speed, Leo's caution, and the trail winding back and forth around the deep pools in the center – before finally coming to the end of the trail, where it led straight into a long pool of water.

Santiago walked straight up to the water's edge and peered into it while Leo looked around, not content to think this was the extent of the well.

There was a second floor to this thing in the games. Leo mused, twisting his head this way and that and, to his surprise, spotting the light from the entrance off to his right. At least I'll be able to find my way out that way. He thought, fixating his gaze on three Slowpoke that lounged lazily nearby.

"Sloooow," Santiago called, sniffing and snorting as he stood by the edge of the water.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked, moving over to crouch next to him. Santiago glanced at him briefly and he sucked in a breath at the harsh blue glow that burned in Santiago's eyes – a glow that was mirrored in the water before them. A giant Slowbro emerged with nary a ripple from the placid waters, its greying, scarred hide glistening in the light of Leo's flashlight and glowing blue eyes locked onto the duo unblinkingly. Its expression was as intense as a Slowbro's expression could be – the dopey smile replaced by an intense frown, even as its jaws still hung open, its tongue lolling.

Leo immediately stood and splayed his free hand in a non-threatening manner, making sure the light from his flashlight wasn't pointed towards the Slowbro's eyes.

"Brooooo," the Slowbro called, ignoring Leo in favor of Santiago. The rest of the Slowpoke in the cavern responded with low calls of their own, and Santiago responded with a simple grunt. The two locked eyes, and did absolutely nothing else.

It wasn't very exciting at all, despite the implications of the aging Slowbro appearing. As their name implied, the Slowpoke line was almost universally uninclined to do thing with any speed – with the exception of Santiago, who was always quick to jump into battle. Which meant Leo was standing there for a solid ten minutes while the Slowbro and Santiago stared at each other before anything actually happened, the chill of the cavern seeping through his clothes, and the dripping water and slowly shuffling Slowpoke the only noise to accompany him.

He had been kneeling next to a particularly curious Slowpoke that had approached – it was exceptionally dull even for its species, having bumped into his leg and stared up at him as if wondering when he got there – when something finally did happen. There was a burst of power that washed over Leo, water droplets flying through the air and stinging his face, emanating from the Slowbro as it rumbled dangerously. Santiago growled back, squaring his feet and eyes burning with psychic power. Another massive blast from the Slowbro had Leo reeling back on his heels, the Slowpoke he had been petting merely cocking its head to the side in confusion, not even realizing the war of psychic powers going on in front of it.

Santiago launched himself forward, skull aglow with psychic energy as he bashed it into the stomach of Slowbro, doubling it over with the force of the strike. Slowbro whirled, bashing Santiago with its spikey tail, but he remained unmoved, a jet of water blasting up into Slowbro's face and temporarily blinding the beast. A short burst of psychic power blasted from Santiago in a straight line at Slowbro, only visible from the way water droplets flew off of Slowbro's body in a glimmering arc in the light of Leo's flashlight.

Slowbro reared back and roared, a massive ball of water forming in its maw that vibrated and pulsated with rhythmic power, the water pulse far bigger than anything Santiago had ever created. Leo opened his mouth to give a command – Santiago was too close to be able to take that attack head-on, so he had to counter it somehow – but his starter beat him to the punch.

Another concentrated burst of psychic energy deformed the water pulse as it formed, a concave indent forming that was swiftly pierced by a thin jet of water – the water gun bursting the bubble violently. Leo shielded his eyes from the spray, standing and taking a few steps back from the ensuing battle and nearly tripping over yet another Slowpoke that had laid down behind him. He took the risk of turning his eyes away from Santiago's battle to scan his surroundings, only to stare in surprise. When had he been surrounded by Slowpoke? A loud thud had Leo turning back to the battle, Santiago sent stumbling by Slowbro's fist.

Slowbro roared and spat a stream of bubbles at Santiago, who tanked the violently exploding bubblebeam without even flinching and responded with a water gun that pierced straight through the bubbles to splash harmlessly against Slowbro's belly. This was bound to be a war of attrition and, if Leo's guess about this Slowbro was right, one that Santiago was bound to lose if he didn't pull off some miracle. Slowbro probably knew heal pulse, after all.

Leo opened his mouth to give a command, but found the words stuck in his throat as Santiago barreled forward, smashing his thick skull into Slowbro's leg and sending the behemoth down onto one knee. The tell-tale glow of curse suffused Santiago as Slowbro once again punched him, grunting in pain this time. He wanted to intervene, but…something told him not to. There was definitely something about this place that, while it didn't hold the same awe-inspiring wonder and mysticism of Celebi's shrine, it did inspire a sense of respect.

Whatever this was, it didn't feel like a normal battle. But that could be just him projecting his desires onto the situation. Santiago could have, in all honesty, just picked a fight rather than this being some rite of passage thing. Either way Leo would stay out of it. This was Santiago's problem to solve. He wouldn't take the risk of intervening unless Santiago was going to get seriously hurt.

Santiago tanked another blow from Slowbro, still glowing with the energy of curse, then suddenly burst into action, raising his head just as Slowbro brought its fist down one more time, flesh meeting the thick bone of Santiago's skull with a resounding crack. Slowbro grunted in pain, recoiling and staring dumbly at its obviously mangled hand – and the pink glow of heal pulse began to emanate from it.

Then Santiago made his move – his eyes flashed red, just briefly, and Slowbro found itself rendered immobile by disable, albeit temporarily.

It was a chance Santiago did not capitalize on, instead backing off and calling lowly to the Slowbro who, now freed of disable, continued to heal its broken hand. Then, ever so slowly, it turned back to Santiago and opened its maw once more, a water pulse forming in its mouth. Santiago's eyes flashed red again, disabling the attack and responding with a water pulse of his own, then waited for Slowbro to respond. It tried once more, and the process repeated itself once. Then twice. Then thrice. It took seven whole tries for Slowbro to finally get the picture – that Santiago could cancel its attacks and just wail on it in the meantime.

Though he was obviously wearing thin on his uses of disable. He'd gotten pretty good at it recently but it was still taxing on him, and would be hard to consistently use until he evolved.

Slowbro blinked slowly at Santiago, water dripping from its open mouth and cocked its head to the side. "Sloooow?" it asked.

"Sloooooooow," Santiago responded.

"Pooooooooke," the legions of Slowpoke gathered around Leo responded, almost rattling the cavern with the sound of their voices. Leo blinked and swung his flashlight around again, eyebrows raising high into the air upon noticing the number of Slowpoke around him had at least tripled. Since when were these little pink buttheads so stealthy?

Slowbro rose up to its full height and bobbed its head up and down, clearly unharmed despite the many attacks Santiago had pushed upon it – or perhaps that was the work of the heal pulse it had used. Either way, in a war of attrition it was clear to Leo that Slowbro would have won the battle. The gap evolution made between the two was too big, and neither had a reliable way to damage the other (which made Leo really want to give Santiago the shadow ball TM he had received from Morty, for added versatility). So Slowbro would have won by sheer tankiness alone.

What Santiago did was outsmart the Slowbro.

It was clever, the trick he pulled with disable, fooling Slowbro into thinking it was helpless against Santiago, and the thought made Leo's heart swell with pride. His starter was finally starting to grow up. Queen would be so proud.

Another bellow from Slowbro had the entire cavern echoing his call, Leo wincing at the noise as he slowly and carefully approached Santiago, his starter never having looked away from Slowbro, the latter of whom fixated its gaze on Leo blankly. He knelt next to his starter and laid a hand on his head, scratching his head fondly and eyeing the massive Slowbro. It was truly an impressive specimen, bigger than any other Slowbro he'd seen. It was too bad he wouldn't be able to see the beast in full sunlight – he was sure it was a sight to behold.

Slowbro's eyes suddenly began to glow with a furious blue light, eyes narrowing dangerously and a low growl rumbling in the back of its throat as it stared at Leo, who blinked at it in surprise. Psychic power pressed at his mind angrily and, after a moment's consideration, Leo refused the Slowbro entry. It didn't feel very friendly.

It blinked, then growled again, water bubbling in the back of its throat, and Leo's eyes narrowed as his heartrate skyrocketed.

"Hey," he protested, splaying his hands, but his intervention was unnecessary. With a furious wail Spiritomb made its presence known, the pitch black of the cave roiling in the light of Leo's flashlight, the ghost in its home turf now. Slowbro recoiled reflexively as a strand of black shadow wrapped around its torso and legs, glowing green eyes appearing in the dark and glaring furiously at Leo's would-be attacker.

Slowbro stumbled backwards as Spiritomb screeched again, wisps of ghostly purple energy, only visible due to the pitch-black surroundings of the cave, filling the air.

Santiago chuffed in irritation and spat a jet of water into Spiritomb's face, halting any further retaliation as the ghost blinked at him in surprise, even as Leo patted his pocket and whispered soothingly to the keystone therein. He appreciated the ghost's intervention, he did, but he also didn't want to pick a fight with the entirety of the Slowpoke well, despite Slowbro apparently taking issue with his presence. Had it just not seen Leo earlier, or had it forgotten he was here altogether?

"Calm, I'm not here to interrupt or harm you," Leo whispered in his best soothing voice, keeping his voice down. "But Santiago is my pokémon, and I am allowed to support him,"

Slowbro stared at him for a moment longer before snorting and turning on its metaphorical heels, grunting repeatedly as it slid into the water. In an eerily synchronized movement all the Slowpoke stood and ambled forward into the water Slowbro had disappeared into, each slipping into the inky black pool and swimming off into the darkness. Leo watched silently until the last one entered the water, and he was gently pushed forward by Santiago butting his head against his back.

"What? You want to follow?" Leo asked. Santiago grunted and shoved once more, sending Leo onto his hands and knees from the force. He glared at his starter, then looked back at the water. But….but…this was going to suck, wasn't it? The water would be so cold. "I hope you know what you're doing," Leo grumbled, slipping off his backpack and setting it next to the cavern wall, along with his jacket. He wanted something warm and dry for when he got out of the water.

Santiago grunted again and ambled into the water, turning around to wait patiently for Leo, only his eyes visible above the waterline like some absurd pink crocodile. Leo shivered, suppressed his paranoid imagination, and stepped into the frigid waters with a shiver and his flashlight clenched tightly in one hand. With a firm grasp he gripped onto Santiago's tail, his starter presenting the appendage for him, and allowed himself to be drug along the water's surface deeper into the cave, through a water channel where paths did not lead. As the cold firmly settled in he shuddered, thanking the legendaries above that he had a fire-type to warm him up later, and praying to those same legendaries that whatever was down in these caverns was worth it.

It was worth it. Five minutes of swimming, another disagreement with the Slowbro that was swiftly resolved by Santiago alone this time, and a gently sloping path leading further underground later and Leo could safely say that despite his constant shivering and incessant cold, it was absolutely worth it to be down here.

This was no mere well. This was a mausoleum.

Graves built exactly like the one Longinus, Archibald Oak's champion Slowking, had been buried in minus the ice, lined the small inner cavern. There were at least twenty in total, built with methodically stacked, flat stones. The battle-scarred Slowbro and multitude of Slowpoke accompanying them dared not enter the room further, standing at the entrance to the small room as Leo and Santiago entered, the former of whom gawked at the graves.

It took him a moment, but eventually he spotted the carvings on the walls, naming the graves of Kings long past. King Meiji. King Akihito. King Shinichi. More names, placed above carvings of various Slowking of different builds dotted the walls, each perfectly legible even in the dim light of Leo's flashlight. Metal torch holders, devoid of torches, were nailed into the ground at the base of each grave, marking the presence of humans once upon a time. At the far end of the small cave lay an off-white Slowbro, its hide faded with age.

Leo wondered if this place was even remembered anymore, beyond being called the "Slowpoke Well." It didn't seem like any humans had been down here in a long while.

Santiago inspected each grave individually, sniffing the stones for a minute before ambling to the next, and the next, and the next. It was a slow process but Leo tamped down his impatience, which was mostly rearing its head due to the cold. He could wait while Santiago did his thing.

Eventually Santiago reached the white Slowbro, the beast far smaller in stature than the other if its relative size to Santiago was anything to go by. It opened on eye to stare at the Slowpoke before it, regarding Santiago coolly as he continued his slow walk up to the Slowbro. For a brief moment nothing happened, then Santiago froze mid-step and the Slowbro turned its head to Leo. A gentle pressure tickled Leo's mind, asking for access, and this time Leo relented.

The psychic presence did not seem malicious this time, and he was rewarded with a simple message formed not with words, but with feelings and impressions. The Slowbro nodded once after its message was relayed, and with an astounding display of psychic finesse for creatures usually locked into brute forcing their psychic abilities, the Slowbro gently lifted a spiked rock into the air from where a pile of them lay in the corner of the room and floated the stone onto Santiago's head. When nothing happened it proceeded to float the crown-shaped rock over to Leo, who gently grabbed the small, round crown-shaped rock and stared at it with a frown.

The Slowbro closed its eyes once more and turned away from Santiago, who blinked a few times and waddled back over to Leo, gaze locked onto the King's Rock in his hands.

Leo sighed and shook his head. The impression he got from the Slowbro had the same meaning as the display it had just put on. A simple crown did not a King make – it was a symbol of leadership and power, not proof. There was another key they were missing. Still, at least he had a King's Rock now, and Santiago had finally made a decision about what he wanted to evolve into. Leo smiled down at his starter and started to walk back up the slope, shivering in the cold and intent on returning to his pack and the surface.

Still, Leo thought to himself, passing by the slowbro Santiago had battled and carefully stepping over the horde of slowpoke that now lined the passage, even as Santiago barreled through them without a care. We've got our first step forward now.

Chapter Text

Leo huffed in annoyance at the King's Rock, having just attempted to put Longinus' gem onto the rock, then the rock onto Santiago, to no effect. He really should've known that simply adding another part to the King's Rock wouldn't induce an evolution but he'd been hoping it would have.

"It was worth a shot," Leo muttered, standing and putting the King's Rock back in his bag before turning to his team. Santiago lounged while Zuko and Diana played, Zuko happily zipping about in a circle around Diana, occasionally trying to push her over with his front paws, while she swiped at him and giggled in that weird, rock-rumbling way of hers. It was adorable, watching her try to toddle after him on her short legs – she was actually pretty quick, but next to Zuko she might as well have been standing still.

His thoughts drifted to the nearing gym test, and he frowned. They were strong, his team, and he had no doubts as to their ability to overcome the test (of course there was that niggling little sense of doubt and worry in the back of his mind, but that was quickly squashed) but they had little practice fighting bugs. Going in against Morty relatively blind was to be expected – ghosts were rare enough as it was, and his team actually had plenty of practice with Froslass' pranks. But they'd never really had a good chance to challenge a whole bunch of bug types.

He'd been complacent, thinking this gym badge would be an easy victory, and now the test was looming and he was worried they'd be caught flat-footed. Bugs could be tricky, from the few times they'd battled them, and had a whole bunch of status moves that, while relatively useless or quickly became obsolete in the games, were far more debilitating in real life. String shot was one such example. Though it was a moot point against a pokémon like Zuko, who would turn it all to ash.

"New plan today, guys. Our test is tomorrow, so we're going to go practice battling against bug-types instead of basic training. The gym isn't an option for obvious reasons – they don't let you train against gym trainers when you've got a test scheduled – so we need to go find either trainers with bug types or go fight aggressive bugs. Picking a fight with wild bug types doesn't seem wise, though," Leo said, thinking aloud to the blank stares of his team.

He'd done some side-research on the local gym leader, and what he found was a bit distressing. There was a high chance he'd be battling a foreign bug-type in his official gym challenge. Scyther, Pinsir, and Heracross were all obvious threats, but he had methods to deal with each of those. Scyther wouldn't be able to do much damage to Diana, barring specific moves, while the other two could be taken out by Zuko or, in Heracross' case, Santiago. Heracross didn't have any ranged options, and Santiago could keep it at bay with disable and psychic attacks.

No, the real problem were the non-native bug types. For fourth tier badges, which Leo had repeatedly been told he'd most likely be facing a team of that level, the gym leader liked to use the alolan pokémon Araquanid – a terrifying water-spider that effectively countered three of Leo's team both offensively and defensively – and, in rare cases, a Galvantula. The electric spider looked to be an absolute nightmare to fight as it turned the entire battlefield into a hazard with electrified webs. Even Diana would struggle with it as, according to his pokedex, an adult Galvantula's threads could be as strong as a steel cable. She'd get stuck before she could hit the stupid thing.

"Sloooow," Santiago called, and Leo scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, I don't like the idea of picking a fight with wild pokémon either. Trainers would be the best bet, unless there's some job listing in the Center that is too good to pass up," Leo reasoned.

"Pooooke,"

"I know I'm not officially able to accept those jobs, but who's to say I can't just 'stumble' across a problem and elect to fix it? I'm not going to bite off more than I can chew, don't worry," Leo said, waving his hand dismissively. Santiago grunted and flopped down on the ground, tongue lolling as he stared blankly at Zuko and Diana. "Good talk. Alright everyone, return," he said, shaking his head and recalling his team. The Center training ground was strangely empty with his team recalled, only a patch of concrete, cold walls, and the near-silent hum of the lights.

Spiritomb whispered in his ears, nonsensical noises filling the silence. Leo smiled and patted the stone in his pocket, turning and heading out the door.

It didn't take long for Leo to find something that might fit the bill of what he needed. It wasn't a job listing or anything of the sort, but a bug sanctuary – more of a petting zoo for tourists, if Leo was reading the listing right – located near the edge of the Ilex forest that promoted battling and viewing of bug-types. A few rarer bugs were listed on the little brochure as well, even promoting viewing of an old Heracross that was supposedly champion-tier, and a number of foreign bug-types that had produced a few of the current gym-leader's official team members.

Destination now in mind Leo set out, walking through the city with determined steps until he came upon the large greenhouse nestled on the edge of the city, surrounded by the tall pines of the Ilex forest. Multiple outdoor training grounds surrounded the building, only a few of the concrete arenas occupied by trainers of various skill levels duking it out. For a few minutes Leo lingered on the edges of those arenas, observing the battles – paying particularly close attention to the trainers who had bug types, and the tactics they used in battle – before he was approached by a trainer not much older than he was. Maybe fourteen, to his twelve-almost-thirteen.

"Hey kid! You looking for a battle?" he called, waving one hand cheerily at Leo.

Leo smiled at him. "Well I'm trying to prepare for my upcoming gym challenge, and was hoping to battle a few bug types. Got any of those?" he asked. The other kid paused, clearly not having expected Leo to be requesting a specific kind of battle.

"Yeah, I actually do. An Ariados. How many badges do you have?" he asked.

"Two. Working on three," Leo answered.

"I've got four. Been training for my fifth gym badge, but I don't think I'll get there until next season," the kid answered, puffing out his chest with pride. Leo plastered a suitably impressed expression on his face and nodded. Call him a little cynical, but after having grown up with Daisy and talked a lot with trainers that had between six to eight badges, four didn't seem all that impressive. Though it probably was fairly impressive, especially for a kid his age.

"That's great! Still want to battle me?" Leo asked, suddenly realizing that this kid was probably in the skill level range he would be facing in the gym, probably a little higher. This was perfect.

"Of course! Ariados still needs work to catch up to my other teammates, so I'll definitely be using him. And you get to see what someone with four – almost five! – badges can do!" he said. Leo nodded in agreement, though he didn't like the sound of that last bit. It sounded like he was being challenged to boost this kid's ego.

Oh well. Either way, he got what he wanted, and if the kid started being a punk he'd just withdraw from the battle. There was no reason to just let his team get hurt if the kid was intent on steamrolling him. Soon enough though he was facing off against the kid, standing in the small trainer's stand above the concrete arena.

"This'll be a three-on-three, alright? Let's go, Ariados!" the kid yelled, releasing the large spider onto the field. It hissed, poison dripping from its fangs in an attempt at intimidation.

"I'm not sure I have three battle-ready pokémon," Leo answered in response. He wasn't sure he wanted to use Spiritomb or Diana against this kid.

"Then you're not ready for a third gym badge. Release your pokémon!" the kid answered, making Leo sigh. He'd probably just withdraw if both Zuko and Santiago lost. No point in revealing that he had a Larvitar to some kid he just met. The real question then, was whether to use Santiago or Zuko…Zuko was the obvious choice, but at the same time he wanted to make sure Santiago knew how to battle bugs as well, so he wasn't completely helpless.

"Santiago, you're up," Leo decided, releasing his slowpoke onto the field after a moment's hesitation.

"Slooow," Santiago called, squaring up against the giant, creepy spider across from him. The kid scoffed.

"A slowpoke? Really? Recall that thing and send out a real pokémon," he said, and Leo frowned.

"No. Santiago stays out," he said firmly.

"Your loss. Ariados, let's start things off with poison sting!" the kid called, pumping his fist into the air. Leo didn't even have to order Santiago to counter, a disable flashing out and cancelling the move, only to be followed up by a water gun that blasted the spider in the face and sent it scuttling backwards.

"Don't let it poison you, bud. Keep it away with water attacks, but if you get the chance blast it with confusion," Leo advised, eyes focusing on the Ariados and trying to figure out its tells. The kid yelled a few instructions and the spider scuttled forward, darting in-between water gun blasts and spinning web behind it, circling Santiago. Leo frowned as the Ariados continued to circle Santiago, forgoing shooting poison stings in favor of just spinning its web, slowly closing the encirclement and limiting where Santiago could move.

"Set up," Leo ordered, and Santiago ceased spamming water gun to crouch and use curse a few times. "Then continue with water gun. Drench the field," he had no idea if water would affect the Ariados web much, but it was worth a shot.

Ariados seemed content to let Santiago set up for the moment, but swiftly blurred into action when he started blasting water guns again. It was slower than Leo expected, if he was honest, and Santiago managed to counter the reaching fangs of the bug-type by slapping it in the face with his tail as he turned, a water pulse already building up in his mouth.

Ariados shrieked and dodged to the side, the pulsating ball of water catching one of its spindly legs and sending it spinning.

"Change tactics! Ghost mode!" the kid called, and Leo frowned. That's right, Ariados and Spinarak could learn a few ghost-type moves, couldn't they? The spider's eyes glowed an eerie red as it crouched low to the ground, a thin line of something lancing outwards and suffusing Santiago, who grunted in pain.

"Try your new move, bud!" Leo said, hesitating for just a moment. Santiago grunted and opened his mouth, pausing to concentrate for a good two seconds. A small, thumb-sized ball of black, ghostly energy formed in-between his jaws, growing no bigger before it was shot out to uselessly splash against Ariados' hard carapace. It did, however, disrupt the ghost move it was doing. So…mission accomplished?

"What was that?" the kid asking while laughing. "That was the most pathetic shadow ball I've ever seen! Ariados, shadow sneak!"

Leo shot the kid a glare, tamping down his irritation at the brat. There was no call for that; Santiago had literally only learned the move from a TM last night, after the Slowpoke Well. Of course it was still weak. TMs didn't immediately teach moves, only the basics, contrary to popular belief.

"Headbutt," Leo drawled, leaning against the railing. Santiago grunted and began to move – only to freeze in place once on of his feet got caught in one of the webs Ariados had spun. Leo cursed, and Ariados struck, fading into the shadows and reappearing right next to Santiago, fangs bared and sinking into the Slowpoke's side. He grunted and whirled, forehead glowing with psychic energy, and bashed his skull into Ariados'.

The spider did not rise, its legs sprawled out on the ground, twitching.

"That's why you don't let a pokémon set up with status buffs," Leo muttered to himself, watching while Santiago struggled to remove his front left foot from the web, the kid repeatedly calling for the KO'd Ariados to get up. I should start to consider controlling the battlefield more though. He mused, scratching his chin. Santiago shuddered and Leo narrowed his eyes at his starter as he slowly turned and ambled back towards Leo's side of the field.

The kid returned Ariados and laughed dismissively. "I guess Ariados is falling further behind than I thought if he lost to a slowpoke. He's impressive though, I'll give him that," he said, nodding to Santiago. Leo smiled at him.

So not a complete jerk then. He'd have hated to have run into someone as stereotypically…mean as what appears in some fiction. In his experience not a lot of people were actually like that, though they did exist.

"But my next pokémon will be a bit harder on you! This isn't my ace, but it's still powerful, and won me the badge against Chuck! Let's go, Jumpluff!" he called, releasing the grass-type pokémon. Leo sighed. Santiago was in for a bad time on this one, the matchup was terrible and Jumpluff were surprisingly tanky, especially with giga drain and leech seed.

The battle that followed was nothing less than a one-sided beatdown on Jumpluff's part. Oh sure, Santiago got off a few good hits with a disable/confusion combo, and splashed it with water a few times, but when up against the mega drain, leech seed, and powder abilities of a Jumpluff? Nah, Santiago was down for the count before too long. He'd been too tired from the Ariados, which had poisoned Santiago at some point, Leo suspected, to really do much damage.

Still, it was good practice for him against a stronger, type advantaged opponent while he was weakened. That was why Leo didn't immediately swap him out. This was training, not a serious competitive battle.

"Zuko, you're up," Leo said, recalling Santiago and releasing his Quilava on the field. Zuko stretched and glanced at Jumpluff, then back at Leo. "It's a spar, bud. It took down Santiago, so you've got this one and the next," Leo said. Zuko glanced back at the Jumpluff, the cotton ball pokémon floating in the air seemingly by magic, and huffed out a plume of smoke.

"3…2….1…begin!" Leo called, and Zuko took off like a bullet from a gun. Fires flashed from his paws as smoke billowed out from his back fires, superheated in a split second and covering the arena in even less time. Jumpluff had the misfortune of having one cotton hand caught in the smoke, screeching as it was burned and floating higher, spitting leech seeds into the smoke. A swift attack immediately burst from the inky smog, the stars shaky and harmless, pinging off of Jumpluff uselessly – Zuko could form the stars now, but couldn't do much damage with them. But that wasn't the point of it. The point was actually the blast of embers that scored Jumpluff's side that followed immediately after the swift, the grass type warbling in distress.

This had been their solution to the sight issue with his superheated smokescreen. Using swift to determine an enemy's location – and though it was limited in its usefulness, it could still be used.

And it allowed Zuko to absolutely thrash Jumpluff. Leo actually felt bad about it, with the streams of embers and swifts keeping it off guard and hurting, until finally Zuko leapt from the smoke and barreled bodily into the grass-type, covered in flame, and tackling it down to ground level – where it would be helpless in the superheated smoke and pit against Zuko's flames.

This time the kid wasted no time in recalling his pokémon, a hard frown on his face. Leo, himself, was frowning as well. This kid had four badges? Unless the rest of his team were far stronger, he wasn't seeing it. Granted, Jumpluff had a bad matchup against Zuko, but Santiago had taken out Ariados too. Surely he'd have a counter to something like Zuko's smoke screen by now, right?

Vaguely Leo had become aware of the small crowd that gathered around the arena, but largely ignored it in favor of studying his opponent, whose lips had thinned into a grimace and his hands were shoved into his pockets.

"You've got a powerful team there. Those your best pokémon?" he asked.

"They're up there," Leo said noncommitally. Each had their own strengths – he wouldn't say any trumped the others. Except for Spiritomb. In terms of raw power, the ghost had all the rest of his team beat, if not in control. The latter was improving by leaps and bounds, however.

"Mm. You'll have no trouble beating the third gym. But – here. Let me show you what the power of a fifth-gym-level pokémon is like. He's battled Pryce's Piloswine and won! Charizard, battle time!" he shouted, tossing a gleaming pokeball into the air. Leo's eyebrows reached his hairline as the giant orange dragon appeared on the field with a roar, fire streaming from its nostrils. It wasn't a particularly large specimen, nothing like some of those Leo had seen at Oak's ranch, but a Charizard was still a Charizard. And with a single flap of its wings the smoke screen was blown off the field, leaving Leo coughing and Zuko wholly revealed.

Well, there went that strategy.

Leo gulped, and his fingers twitched towards Zuko's pokeball, even as said pokémon growled and squared himself up against the large pseudo-dragon. Light glinted off the creature's scales as the onlookers gasped in surprise and delight – surely more excited to see the vaunted Charizard, perhaps one of the most famous pokémon around, than any of the pokémon that had appeared in the battle so far. But, more importantly, how did this kid manage to get ahold of a Charizard?!

"This is my unofficial starter! My dad was a breeder for the Charific Valley! Hope you're ready, because we're about to bring the heat!" the kid crowed, pumping his fist into the air. Leo hesitated for a moment, narrowing his eyes. Charizard could be dangerous, and while he'd put his team in battles against powerful, dangerous pokémon before, this felt…different. Like something was off.

"Zuko, you want to keep going or tap out here?" Leo asked loudly, deciding to leave the decision up to him. The Quilava flinched and shot him a scandalized look, back fires flaring in indignation. Charizard growled, getting Zuko's attention, and he growled back. Well, that answered that question.

"And begin! Slash!" the kid commanded, Charizard rumbling forward with surprising speed on its stubby legs.

But it wasn't quick enough for Zuko, who was both already set up from constant use of flame charge, and already blurring away in a quick attack. Embers flew from his mouth as he darted about, peppering the Charizard's thick hide as the dragon uselessly tried to track Zuko…though it was remarkably unconcerned about the whole affair. It didn't even bother to shield itself, lazily tracking Zuko as he sped about. Leo chewed his lip. Charizard traded their ground-based speed for flight speed upon evolution, actually being slower on the ground than Charmeleon, so it made sense Zuko was quicker right now. That would change if Charizard took to the skies. The real problem, however, was that he couldn't do any real damage unless he got close – maybe through judicious use of quick attack, and perhaps a rudimentary rollout? Ember wasn't going to cut it, clearly.

"Flamethrower!" The kid yelled, and the dragon roared. Bright orange flames spilled from its mouth as it stood in the center of the field, flowing across the ground and sending a wave of scorching heat up into Leo's face, who winced and took a step back from the edge of the stand. Knowing Zuko he was probably enjoying the heat. That was one advantage the Quilava line had over Charizard – their fire resistance was noticeably higher.

"Quick attack!" Leo shouted, shielding his face, and Zuko obliged. He couldn't see the Quilava through the flamethrower, but he did hear the resounding crack that came from Zuko leaping up and headbutting the Charizard's jaw from below. The dragon's maw snapped shut, flames spilling from the corners of its mouth and eyes widening in shock and pain. Leo grinned as Zuko planted his rear paws on the Charizard's belly and shoved, blurring away and forming a quick succession of swift stars to further harass the dragon.

And that is where everything went horribly wrong.

Blue fire flared in the Charizard's tail flame, a furious roar escaping the dragon's maw as it howled its wrath to the heavens. Zuko froze at the sound of the large predator announcing its ire, goosebumps rising up Leo's arms as he stared in shock at the beast.

Blood trickled from its mouth, where one of its fangs had been cracked off from the force of Zuko's blow.

What happened next happened all too quickly for Leo to react to, but just slow enough that he could realize what was happening. Orange fire streamed from the Charizard's mouth towards Zuko, purple and blue flames of searing intensity mixed in and giving it a truly hellish appearance. Zuko shrieked in pain, and Leo whipped out his pokeball, recalling his Quilava in a flash, anger searing through his limbs.

Dragons weren't considered hard to train just because of their power and aggressiveness – it was because dragon fire was among the most dangerous of elements. Zuko had natural fire resistance, true, but not against dragon fire.

"What the hell was that?!" Leo bellowed over the victorious roar of the Charizard, expression twisted in anger. The kid hesitated, narrowing his eyes at Leo.

"What? Upset your little rat lost against my dragon?" he said in a mocking manner. It was the wrong thing to say.

"Are you daft?! Your Charizard can't control its dragon fire – you could have seriously injured Zuko!" Leo yelled, gripping the railing so tightly his knuckles turned white. The Charizard scoffed, and Leo fixated the dragon with a glare. Now that he was looking for it, he could see the signs. The horns were short, its scales weren't fully developed – even the membranes on its wings still looked fresh, with none of the wear and tear that came with age. He'd seen many Charizard on Oak's ranch, more than most actually, and had come to be able to recognized the young and cocky – and freshly evolved – versus the more experienced.

How had he missed that? How?!

"Oh, he'll be fine, Quilava are impossible to really hurt with just a little fire," the kid said dismissively.

"Are you blind?! Did you not see the dragon fire mixed in with that flamethrower?! Freshly evolved Charizard can't control the strength of their flames – and dragon fire is no ordinary flame! How long ago did it evolve?!" Leo yelled. There was a reason dragon type gyms and trainers usually only appeared when they were already strong. In some ways, fighting an untrained dragon, with access to dragon type moves, was more dangerous than a fully evolved one. It was like the idea of baby snakes on Earth – baby rattlesnakes were more dangerous than adults because adults only injected some of their venom, while babies injected all of it in a knee-jerk reaction.

Same principle, but with fire capable of overwhelming even a magmar's fire resistance instead of poison. Untamed dragon fire was dangerous.

"Uh, a month," the kid said, taken aback.

"A month, a month he says!" Leo laughed in mock hysteria. A small part of his mind pointed out that it was impressive the Charizard was starting to use dragon type moves at that age – even the most well-bred of the Charizard line could only use dragon rage naturally when they were Charmeleon – but that was largely ignored. "You had better hope that Zuko is ok. What were you thinking, sending out a freshly evolved Charizard out against a two-badge trainer?!"

Quietly, in the back of his mind, Leo rationalized that his own mistake was assuming this kid had command over his pokémon like those veterans he always battled did. But that was a thought for later.

Charizard growled, only to take a step back as Spiritomb flared to life around Leo, the ghost hissing and cackling as the shadows crept outward. The kid gulped visibly, even across the stadium, and Leo glared as the shadows crept and swirled, flaring up behind him. His temper flared, fed by the growing anger of Spiritomb, who whispered furiously in his ears and demanding violent action.

He wanted to be mad, he really did. He wanted to lash out at this kid, to order Spiritomb to teach the Charizard a lesson. But cold rationality forced him to try to keep his calm, wrestling the anger to a manageable level; after all, if he lost his cool there would be nothing left to keep Spiritomb in check. He could feel the ghost's anger bubbling as it urged for Leo to act, to punish that stupid Charizard – who lashed out in anger because something weaker than it did damage – but he couldn't let it. At least, not in the way Spiritomb wanted; it wanted to maim. If it just wanted to humiliate Charizard Leo might've let the ghost – but not maim. He was in control, not Spiritomb.

"I, uh," the kid stammered, cut off by the roar of Charizard as its eyes flashed in anger.

Spiritomb hissed in response, ignoring Leo's mental protests as the keystone rattled, pulling itself out of Leo's pocket to form a wall of purple and green ectoplasm, shielding Leo from the Charizard's anger. Before any further violence could erupt, however, Charizard was recalled in a flash of red.

"Control your ghost, and go get your Quilava looked at. We'll call the battle here," the kid said, obviously a little shaken as he clipped the ball to his belt. Leo was torn for a split second between continuing to shout, and going to get Zuko checked out – but concern won out over anger as he grabbed Spiritomb's keystone from where it floated and turned on his heel, sprinting off toward the pokémon center. Maybe he should've let Zuko out to make sure he was actually ok first, or maybe he should've gotten the kid's information just in case he did really injure Zuko, but the only thing on his mind was the 'what ifs'.

And so, Leo ran.

It was a bit sobering, hearing the extent of Zuko's injuries from Nurse Joy as he was treated. The dragon fire hadn't actually done a ton of damage – the real problem came from where it had burned through his fire-proof fur and the layer of heat-resistant skin, allowing the flamethrower through. He'd have a scar or two, probably, but would make a quick recovery. Nothing to worry about, or so the Nurse said.

But worry Leo did, as he sat in the lobby.

"Was it my fault?" Leo whispered, head in his hands. "Did I get Zuko injured because I didn't spot the signs? Shouldn't I have just withdrawn once the Charizard was let out?"

Spiritomb had a ready response in the form of whispers, a cold wind ruffling his hair as the ghost exerted its influence.

"But I didn't think he was dumb enough to send out a freshly evolved Charizard – and now the Nurse is mad at me, questioning my competency as a trainer," Leo muttered. "I should've gotten that kid's info,"

Comforting emotions ran through Leo's mind – reminding him of warmth on a cold day, and shade from the intense sun.

"Thanks, Spiritomb," Leo sighed, rubbing his face. It had already been two hours since the Nurse started working on Zuko, and he had already run his mind through all the stages of blaming himself. None of it had helped, and now he was just exhausted. Exhausted from the anger, and exhausted from the worry.

"Mr. Angelico?" a gentle voice called, and Leo looked up to see the Nurse Joy looking down at him, her expression kind. "Your Quilava has finished his treatment. Given a few days the fur that was burned off will grow back completely – other than that he's made a complete recovery," she said.

"So what do I need to do then? Do I need to keep him from training or battling for a set period of time – does he need supplements to regrow his fur?" Leo asked. The Nurse smiled and shook her head, sitting down next to him in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, procuring Zuko's pokeball from the pocket of her medical jacket. Leo accepted it gingerly, rolling the device in his hands.

"No; your Quilava is perfectly healthy all things considered. It's not that unheard of for their fur to be burned off, especially in their more natural habitats. Those who live in volcanoes tend to have that issue as well, at least until evolution. It might actually do him some good to do a bit of training, to work the healed skin a bit so he regains full range of motion. The only real thing that was damaged was his pride," she said. "That said, I apologize for my outburst earlier. Your Quilava is in excellent health; I've just had too many experiences with pokémon being injured due to trainers neglecting their pokemon's well being. Quilava can be burned if they're not eating right after all," she said, bowing her head slightly in apology.

"Oh, uh, it's ok," Leo said, blinking at her in surprise. "I understand,"

"Thank you," she said, taking a deep breath. "That said, you might consider putting your Quilava on a specialized diet. What have you been feeding him so far? The standard fare for omnivorous fire types? Although they're more expensive, there are food supplements that promote healthy growth for the Quilava line," she said, not unkindly. Leo nodded.

"Thanks, Nurse," he muttered.

"Don't feel bad," she said, patting him on the shoulder. "Is this the first time your pokémon has been badly hurt?"

"No," Leo said, frowning. There were times in the Silver Mountains where his team had been hurt, but this was the first time it had been explicitly out of his control – and felt like his fault. Fighting Tyrus for Diana had been a calculated risk, but…Tyrus was also intelligent, powerful, and knew his own strength. There was little reason for him to go all out against Leo when his team was so weak – unless of course Leo did something to piss the Tyranitar off. "It is the first time it's been my fault though,"

"Well, lesson learned then," she said simply. "Though your opponent should have known better than to send out a freshly evolved Charizard out against a weaker trainer. If he comes in here while I'm here, I'll give him a piece of my mind," she hissed, frowning. Leo smiled at her appreciatively, and thumbed the release button for Zuko. The Quilava appeared in a flash of red, and immediately hunkered down to look up at Leo.

"Hey bud, you ok?" Leo asked softly, examining his partner's injury and reaching down to pet his head. Small patches of fur had been burned off along his left flank, revealing bluish white skin beneath, with a few patches missing on his back. What really caught Leo's attention though was the patch of fur burnt off around Zuko's left eye. "Not gonna lie, that little patch of missing fur around your eye makes you look kinda cool," Leo tried, smiling softly. Zuko blinked, bowing his head slightly and not looking him in the eye.

"Quil," he softly cried.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put you into that situation," Leo said, putting a hand on his friend's head. Zuko pressed up into his palm, peeking up around his hand with one big blue eye to stare at Leo. "I understand if you're mad at me,"

Zuko was silent for a moment, then snorted out a puff of smoke through his nostrils and sharply bit Leo's hand. Leo jerked away, shocked at the sudden action, which swiftly morphed to confusion as Zuko leapt up into his lap, placed his front paws against his shoulders, and gently headbutted Leo in the chin.

"What-" Leo protested, shaking his hand and going cross-eyed trying to look at Zuko, but was cut off by the Quilava licking him. On the face. While his mouth was open.

Leo spluttered, but Zuko did not relent licking his face enthusiastically. "Stop – hey, what – no, I said – disgusting! Knock it off!" Leo protested, jerking his head this way and that in an attempt to escape the slobbery onslaught, fighting back laughs.

The nurse giggled beside him, and as he placed a hand over Zuko's mouth to prevent more licking he glared at the nurse.

"He clearly doesn't like you very much," she said, a Cheshire grin on her face. Leo scowled, and Zuko took that opportunity to headbutt him in the chest, hard, before glaring up at him.

"…ok, ok. I'm sorry," Leo said, though at this point he wasn't sure what he was apologizing for anymore. Zuko stared at him for a moment longer before nodding and laying down length-wise across Leo's lap, paws dangling off the sides of the small chair and chin resting against his knee. The warmth of the fire-type's body was almost uncomfortable, but all things considered he was loath to remove his friend from his lap.

"Should probably reschedule my gym challenge though, huh?" Leo muttered. Zuko froze, and Leo stilled as the Quilava whipped his head around to stare directly at Leo, his body temperature rising sharply. Leo swallowed thickly, and turned to the Nurse for help, who was frowning.

"…well, that's up to you. I wouldn't recommend it, but from a medical standpoint your Quilava is fighting fit. Chansey eggs aren't miracle cures, but they do wonders for injuries. Just be careful with any fire-type attacks, especially ones that cover a large area. Quilava fur protects them from their own attacks, as well as opposing fire types." The Nurse said, and Leo blinked in surprise.

"I was fully expecting you to side with me, and force him to rest and heal," he admitted. The Nurse smiled at him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I might have, were it not for the fact that your Quilava might burn you if you do. Besides, his fur should grow back in within the next week or two," she said, then leaned over to whisper in Leo's ear. "A harsh defeat can be just as important as a strong victory for a pokemon's growth," she said, and leaned back, smiling. "That said, think about my advice with the diet. He's a fine example of his species, it'd be a waste to squander his potential. Now get going. You don't need to be cooped up in here, moping about," she said, patting him on the back and standing as she walked back to the counter, waving at the receptionist Joy who had been watching their conversation closely. Leo stared for a moment, until Zuko's intense stare got to be too much to bear.

"What do you think, want a few day's rest? We can reschedule, and I don't want you pushing yourself too hard," he said, turning his attention back to his Quilava.

His answer came in the form of a jarring headbutt to the chest that threw him back against the wall, chuckling as Zuko yipped angrily at him. Seems like someone's pride had been stung. Leo pet Zuko's head, calming him down as a knot of worry relaxed in his chest. Maybe his pokémon were more like him than he realized. Getting hurt wasn't a setback.

It was motivation.

There was only one word Leo could use to describe the Azalea Gym gym test; chaos. Bug types skittered about throughout the small battle arena, dozens flitting around and crawling over the ground as they harassed his team. None were very strong, and there were only three full evolutions in the form of two butterfree and one beedrill, but the sheer number of them were overwhelming.

Yet his team persevered, even as he himself darting throughout the arena, hiding behind rocks to escape the pursuing bugs. Because that was the nature of the test – Leo's team not only had to defeat the swarm, but protect Leo all the while. String shots and sleep powder would take him out of the equation in an instant, and getting hit by one of those would mark his loss.

The other problem was that there was no trainer setting up the swarm or giving directions; the system was almost entirely automated, so Leo couldn't even try to get a read on the trainer. Even the bug swarms' release and recalls was automated, or at least controlled by someone he couldn't see.

Though it wasn't like he was in any real danger. Leo took a moment to peer around the boulder he had taken cover behind, observing the battlefield. Santiago stood back, away from the worst of the battle, and struck every opportunity he got – blasting water pulses, water guns, and the occasional confusion into the swarm to weaken or try and pick off stragglers. He mainly focused on keeping the swarm away from Leo, however, blasting the Butterfree or Beedrill whenever they tried to get too close.

Diana charged through the swarm with reckless abandon, smashing through the Spinarak and tearing through their webs with ease – or relative ease. Her arm got stuck in a particularly strong strand as she tried to punch a Metapod, jerking in place as she struggled against it. Diana whined, blinking owlishly and swatting at a particularly aggressive Spinarak with her free arm – only for her, the Metapod, and the Spinarak to be bathed in flame as Zuko went speeding by. When the flames died, Diana stood relatively unharmed, shaking herself off and staring after Zuko curiously.

Zuko, on the other hand, had been nothing but a right terror – blazing through the battlefield with his fires burning at a hundred percent from the get-go, fighting as if he had something to prove. Leo couldn't help but be impressed, actually, watching as he battered the Beedrill with an ember that finally knocked the bug out, only to switch targets as he continued to sprint, his strafing run clumping the remainder of the swarm together so Diana could throw a massive rock at them – their hard exoskeletons preventing lasting damage, but the rock itself still knocking a good few of them out.

All in all, Leo didn't even feel the need to hide. His team had it covered, and Spiritomb hadn't even made an appearance yet.

As if to prove him wrong, the hairs on the back of Leo's neck stood on end and he hopped to the side – his instincts saving him from the intricate net that was about to be dropped on him from above. Or, at least they would have had Spiritomb not decided to flare up and bat the net – and their assailant – out of the way with a massive blast of dark energy. The ghost cackled as an ominious, purple wind blew from its mouth, catching the white spider-web net and promptly tossing it over the body of the yellow arachnid that had attacked them.

Leo stared at the Galvantula as it squirmed not but ten feet away from him, flipping itself over off of its back and chittering at him angrily, the electrified webbing it had spat falling off of its arachnid body harmlessly. Its big eyes stared at him like a predator, and he took an instinctive step back as Spiritomb flared once more, darkness enshrouding his form from the giant bug.

"The hell is this?!" he spluttered, backing up further and glancing at his team, who were finishing up with the swarm.

"Congratulations, you defeated the swarm. Now you have to face a sixth-tier pokémon in battle – survive for sixty seconds, and you will have passed the gym test," a new voice, not the gym trainer who had started the challenge, said over the intercom. Leo frowned and took another step back, only able to see the Galvantula vaguely through the swirling black mists summoned by Spiritomb. They may obscure his vision, but he also got the feeling it was another way in which Spiritomb was protecting him.

Galvantula lunged with surprising speed, its legs propelling it across the arena at Leo – only to be batted away as Spiritomb's ectoplasmic body surged from the ground beneath its feet, blasting it into the air with electrified webbing spewing from its abdomen. Leo backed up further, the wall of swirling darkness moving with him as Zuko blazed past like a comet, leaping into the air and slamming head-first into the Galvantula as it came crashing to the ground.

The spider screeched and tumbled away, landing on its feet and blurring away while still trailing web, electricity sparking from its body and surging out in all directions. Diana moved to intercept it, the Larvitar hurling a large chunk of rock at it that it nimbly dodged, falling upon her in a flurry of limbs. Its mandibles sank down into Diana's rocky hide and she retaliated with a payback, the powerful move jerking the bug upwards and sending it scrambling away – narrowly dodging a flame charge from Zuko and skittering to the side to avoid the worst of Santiago's water gun.

Leo clenched his fists and watched the battle with as intense of a stare as he could. While Zuko, Diana, and Santiago held their own together against the bug-type, it quickly became apparent that they would be picked apart by the Galvantula were it not for Spiritomb. The ghost made its presence known in the most annoying of ways – sucker punching when Galvantula went in for a serious strike against anyone, blowing icy wind at random intervals, and overall just proving to be a nuisance as its cackling filled the air. Spiritomb might actually be able to match Galvantula in power, were it not for a lack of discipline. Leo mused as Galvantula completed yet another lap around the arena, still trailing webs and sparking randomly.

"What is it doing?" Leo wondered, narrowing his eyes. It had probably been close to a minute by now, so what…?

That exact moment, Galvantula sprung its trap. Spiritomb suddenly jerked to a halt as another blast of weak electricity burst from the spider's body, the winds dying down and ectoplasmic body freezing in place as if it was paralyzed, while the webs it had spun across the arenawere pulled taut with a swift jerk of Galvantula's leg. Leo's breath caught in his throat as his entire team was caught in its trap; Diana locked in place by the webs, Santiago shuddering in pain as an electric current flowed through the webs he stood on, and Zuko yelping as his two front legs struck a particularly thick strand – sending him tumbling into another electrified web with a yelp, where he stayed.

And though Zuko immediately began to burn his trappings away, Galvantula had been granted all the time it needed. It lunged for Leo, darting across the ground so quickly he almost didn't have time to react.

Almost.

What he ended up doing surprised himself, the Galvantula, and probably everyone watching; he screamed because Big Scary Spider coming rightatmeohgod! And kicked it right in between the four eyes that sat on its forehead. The spider made a strange noise as it skidded to a halt, jumping back from Leo – probably because it hadn't expected him to actually attack it – and eyeing him warily as he scrambled away.

A burst of fire caught Galvantula's attention next as Zuko came blazing back into the fray, smoke curling from his form and a snarl on his lips as he crashed into the bug, biting, clawing and scratching with little regard to his own safety and fires. Spiritomb flared to life again, roaring its displeasure at having been tricked – Galvantula must have managed to paralyze it somehow – and just like that it was over. Galvantula was recalled in a flash of red light and Zuko, faced with nothing left to vent his ire on, spat a stream of embers at the ceiling. Spiritomb hissed angrily and Leo collapsed to his knees, patting the keystone softly and releasing a shaky breath.

That had been…intense.

"Sloooooow," Santiago called, still trapped by the webbing, and Zuko's fires dimmed a bit, the Quilava glancing to the side as if ashamed. Leo chuckled and shook his head, glancing back toward where the Galvantula had disappeared. It had been running, true, but to avoid all of his team and also set a trap for them at the exact same time? That was nuts. Leo bit his lip and clasped his hands behind his back, standing slowly on shaking legs.

It was a big scary spider, yes. Not only that, but it was an electric big scary spider, that almost passed by Spiritombs senses to capture him, had fooled his entire team, and had proved that he had no real counter to the electric/bug type. It was a nightmare – not visually, the yellow spider was actually kind of cool looking if a bit creepy because, again, big scary spider – that he was most likely going to have to battle in his fight against the gym leader. But that wasn't the important bit.

The important bit was that now he wanted one. It was a small thought, but a thought that stuck nonetheless.

"Congratulations," the voice from the intercom said, startling Leo out of his thoughts as the door to the isolated arena sliding open, revealing the gym trainer that had been his original examiner. "Your gym battle will be scheduled after five days, at noon. Meaning; you will get five days to rest and train, after which you will battle the Gym Leader for your third badge," the voice said, crackling over the speakers.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck, shaking the hand of the gym trainer and accepting his congratulations as he recalled his team; Diana was still stuck, and the pitiful look she gave him was heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. He'd find her some nice rocks to chew on later, as thanks for her hard work. In fact, all his team deserved a thanks – even Spiritomb.

He hummed and stuck his hands in his pockets, pondering what to do next. You know what? I've been in civilization for quite a while now. I think it's time to go out into the woods and relax and train for a bit. Ilex Forest, here I come.

Chapter Text

"There once was a ship that put to sea

The name of the ship was the Billy o' Tea

The winds blew up, her bow dipped down

O' blow my billy boys blow!" Leo sang, stomping the ground and clapping his hands to the beat of the song. Diana cheered, tossing her little arms up in the air and stomping her feet in a crude imitation of Leo's own terrible dance – despite practicing martial arts, when it came to dancing sometimes he felt like he had two left feet and a third right foot to boot – while Santiago watched from the side.

"Soon may the wellerman come,

To bring us sugar and tea and rum,

One day when the tonguin' is done,

We'll take our leave and go!" he roared, spinning and laughing as he spotted Zuko chasing a Butterfree, the bug-type floating just out of the reach of his jumps, chittering and spinning in the air to the beat of the song.

"She had not been two weeks from shore,

When down on her, a right whale bore,

The Captain called all hands and swore;

He'd take that whale in tow!"

A lone Bellossom joined him in his dance, Skiploom floating in the air above it as they spun around Leo, the gentle ringing of Bellossom's leaf skirt adding a soft quality to the song. Though it was also at this point that Leo forgot the rest of the lyrics, so switched to an entirely different song that he butchered to fit the same beat as the other. None of the pokémon seemed to mind, however, simply joining in on the dancing until Leo collapsed, laughing breathlessly into the soft grass below.

Leo twined his fingers through the grass, noting how thick and rich it was now, the grassy terrain used by the Bellossom having woken it from its slumber – preparing for winter as the world was. Bellossom giggled and walked over to him, patting him on the forehead as he lay sprawled on the ground, waggling one hand at him and humming the tune to the song to itself.

"You liked that one, huh?" Leo asked softly, earning himself a twirl from the grass-type. He grinned at Bellossom and sighed in contentment, looking up at the sky as Santiago trundled over to him and lay his fat head on his chest. Leo chuckled and scratched his starter behind the ears, closing his eyes and just…feeling the world around him.

It started simple. The smell of fall lay draped over the land, masking the smell of soil and grass beneath the scent of a coming storm – it reminded him of sleep and rest, and laying dormant until the world came alive again. He breathed a little deeper, and allowed his conscious mind to slip away, fading into the background as he felt a…connection, for lack of a better word, between himself and his pokémon. He could sense Santiago's inattention, his chest rising and falling as he refused any thoughts to enter his mind, leaving him simple and pure. He felt the chaotic attention of what could only be Spiritomb, the ghost eyeing him from where it rested in its keystone, remaining perfectly still while still somehow translating its manic energy – it was buzzing, ready for action.

Leo felt Diana and Zuko, the Larvitar solid as a stone and reminding him of the manic energy of a child in an amusement park – her infectious joy at simply being alive stirring Leo's heart into a rapid thump of excitement – while Zuko was far more quiet than his fiery nature belied. When Leo felt him, it was as if he was feeling the embers of a campfire – still burning hot, and ready to burst into flames at the slightest moment, but still far quieter than a raging bonfire.

Another breath escaped Leo and he felt his consciousness expand further, relaxing into the feeling as the land opened up beneath him and the forest reminded him that, despite the coming winter, it was still very much alive. But that was as far as he got, pressing forward no further as he both could not force it, and because the feeling of being watched overcame him.

Leo opened his eyes and sat up, forcing Santiago's head off of his chest and slowly turning his head, searching for what was staring at him, but finding nothing.

He frowned. "Must've been my imagination," he muttered.

"What was your imagination?" a vaguely familiar, yet frustrating unfamiliar, voice asked from the edge of the woods – at the edge of the small clearing Leo lay in. His head whipped toward the speaker and he immediately narrowed his eyes, the well-dressed man that emerged from the tree line and flanked by two red-jacketed, stern faced rangers looking aloof for all the world.

"Uh, hello," Leo called, standing and dusting dead grass off his pants.

"Hello," the well-dressed man replied, his pinstriped charcoal suit pressed neatly and without a single wrinkle, his short brown hair combed neatly to one side, and standing in a picture-perfect posture.

"You are Leo Angelico, correct?" one of the rangers asked sharply. Leo nodded.

"You are a Youngster, and Youngsters are not allowed off route. What are you doing this far off route?" he demanded. Leo raised an eyebrow at him.

"Am I off route? I didn't realize, I thought the route ended at the river a quarter mile to the North," Leo apologized.

"Ranger, calm down," the well-dressed man said smoothly.

"But Leader Mike, he's close enough to the border that it shouldn't matter! This is how Youngsters get killed," the Ranger protested.

"Maybe," Gym Leader Mike, Leader of the Azalea Gym, said slowly and without ever losing that peaceful smile on his face. "But the trees have eyes, and we do not want to anger them," A chill ran up Leo's spine as he slowly turned to where the Leader indicated with a nod, eyes widening slightly at the sight of at least five Trevenant watching from the treeline – their red eyes their only distinguishing feature in the woods. Even the Bellossom from before was staring silently at the conversation, while his team looked ready to start a fight.

"Oh," the Ranger said, stiffening and reaching for his pokeballs. The Trevenant groaned, and Leo held up his hands trying to placate both the Ranger and the Trevenant.

"Ok, ok, it's ok, don't do anything rash," Leo said quickly.

"They're not hostile," the Leader said calmly, placing a hand on the Ranger's shoulder. "Just don't provoke them any further. Thank you for guiding me here, but I will take it from here. You are dismissed," he said, patting the Ranger firmly on the back. For a second it looked like the Ranger might disobey, but eventually he relented and, taking his hand off of his pokeballs, walked back into the forest with the other Ranger. Leo watched them go silently, wondering just what in the world was going on here.

"So, care to explain?" Leo asked, glancing at the Trevenant just in time to see them close their eyes and fade back into the forest.

"Apologies, I had asked the kind Rangers to aid me in finding you; I did not know he would get to be so aggressive. That said, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Leader Mike, of the Azalea Gym," the Leader said, crossing the distance between them with a few swift strides. Zuko growled at him, back fires sparking, but Leo silenced him with a hand gesture and met the Leader's firm handshake with his own.

"I'm Leo Angelico," he said, nodding respectfully. "It's nice to meet you,"

"You had quite the performance during my Gym Test the other day. Clearly you are above the standard for a third badge trainer," he said, smiling kindly at Leo. It was, in a word, unnerving. Everything Leo had heard about this man so far had been nothing but negative, so why was he being so kind?

"It was a tough challenge," Leo allowed.

"As you say. Quantity has a merit all its own – a merit many bug types exploit," the man said, nodding. "And while I am sure you are wondering as to the nature of my visit, I assure you, this topic of conversation is not wholly unrelated,"

At this the Leader sucked in a deep breath and gazed longingly at the surrounding forest, his smile transforming into a nostalgic one. "Care to join me for a walk? I have not been out in the Ilex Forest in far too long…ever since I took up the duties of a Leader, as I recall. Unfortunately my duties take up far too much time for casual jaunts,"

"Uh, sure. There's a nice view of the river that way," Leo said, pointing northward. The Leader nodded and started off, Leo following close behind after recalling his team. For a while neither spoke, until finally, Leo could stand the tension no longer. "So, what brings you all the way out here?" he asked.

For a moment longer the Leader was silent, looking up at the tall pines as they continued to walk. "Well there are many reasons. First and foremost being that Victoria asked me to find you. She's quite upset that you didn't call her upon reaching Azalea – she wants updates as to how your challenge is going,"

"Victoria asked you to find me?" he asked.

"Without directly asking, yes. Though the second reason would be to warn you," the Leader said, and paused, looking directly into Leo's eyes and making him swallow thickly. "There's a snowstorm coming. Not too big, but it'll drop a decent amount of snow by my guess. You should probably return to Azalea for your safety – getting caught out here would be…difficult," he said, and smirked as Leo stiffened, not sure how to react about that.

He was expecting a different kind of warning, and if the Leader's smirk was anything to go by, he knew that.

"But I suppose what I really wanted to do was simply meet you, and see you with my own eyes – not over a camera or on a screen." He said, and Leo frowned, sticking his hands into his pockets and fingering Spiritomb's keystone. "Youngsters like yourself are hard to come by – truly talented, with intelligence and wisdom beyond your years."

"I thought you were against the Youngster License?" Leo blurted, and that earned himself a slight frown from the Leader.

"I oppose certain aspects of the License, yes. It was designed for trainers like yourself and my own son, Bugsy, but my issue is that others had taken it as an excuse to vilify supporters of the License, and was used by parents to stroke their own ego at having children who earned said license. Not every Youngster deserves one of those licenses – in other words, the idea was acceptable, if not wise, but the implementation was disastrous." He said, his frown turning into a full-blown scowl. "Not to mention that the title genius put upon you by earning that license leads to arrogance, and the fame can go to your head. Many talented young trainers have been ruined by fame, burning bright in their younger years but ultimately amounting to nothing,"

Leo scratched the back of his head, recalling something he'd realized about child actors in his own world. A lot ended up going off the deep end because of their fame, and never really amounted to anything later in life. He'd always attributed it to the fame getting to their heads while they were younger, and all that pressure warping their personalities – which was terrible. And he could see the same being the case here, but that wasn't what he latched on to.

This guy was Bugsy's dad? He vaguely recalled that information, but it was good to know.

"What my reputation stems from is my reaction towards the League trying to instate my son as a Leader before he was ready," The Leader said with a scowl. "He is young and talented, yes, having at least a sixth-badge team without having earned any badges yet, but I fear what the pressures of Leadership might do to him if he is not ready yet. Ah – if you didn't know, Azalea is among the last of the hereditary gyms. It's been in the family for generations, and while I declined the position initially when my father retired, the old coot ended up leaving the gym to Bugsy in his will. Which meant I had to take over until my child is ready," he explained, reading the confusion on Leo's face. "I can't say I even really have the team for being a Leader – a few of my personal pokémon are powerful, but I don't have a full team of near-elite 'mon,"

"I can't blame you, really. I don't know what duties a Leader has, but I can't imagine a kid being a good fit for the position," Leo said, nodding.

"Indeed, but while I worry, Bugsy does show promise. I will not allow the League to force the position on him if he is not ready, but when he is ready I will not stand in his way either. That said, I didn't come here to complain about my own troubles to you," he said, coming to a stop beside a thick pine tree with branches so dense Leo couldn't see the trunk.

"I'm still not sure why you're here either," Leo admitted. "Despite Victoria asking you to find me, I can't imagine you couldn't have sent someone else to get me,"

"True, true. I have…an offer, if you will," the man said hesitantly, eyes staring off into the distance as he started walking again. "Regarding your challenge. By League mandate I am forced to give trainers a beatable test – if it were up to me, I would provide an unbeatable test, and hand out badges based on their performance therein – however you find yourself in a unique situation. You have the backing of a major family, the praises and support of the two gym leaders you have previously faced;" at this Leo made a face, and Leader Mike chuckled. "Oh yes, Morty and Falkner both consider you to be a trainer to watch out for – a veritable rising star."

"Really?" Leo blurted. "I mean, Morty I can kind of understand despite my misgivings about the man, but Falkner?"

"Yes, Falkner was the one who first brought you to the Gym Leaders' attention in the first place. He was impressed with your ability to command a Larvitar at your age. Morty, on the other hand, said to keep an eye on you because you attracted Kusanagi, the Aegislash of one of the most famous emperors of Ecruteak in Johto's history. I wasn't sure I believed it until you came here, and returned from the Well with a King's Rock," the Leader said.

"I think I'm missing some context here," Leo said, maneuvering around a bush as he spoke. "I get that attracting the Aegislash was supposed to be a big deal, despite it trying to kill me and everything, but I still don't understand it,"

"Aegislash are attracted to Kings, Leo. If the path you and your team were taking to reach Kinghood matched Kusanagi's desires, you would be travelling with an ancient and powerful Aegislash," the Leader said bluntly, and Leo almost tripped over his own feet. "Not all Kings reside in a palace, or seek to conquer new lands like Kusanagi does. Most don't in fact. Some are far simpler in nature; and make no mistake, just because your Slowpoke is the one who will earn the title of King in his name if he evolves, you are not exempt from that title."

Leo frowned and looked forward, falling silent as the trees broke and revealed a smoothly flowing river. It was maybe a hundred feet wide, and deeper than it looked, but the waters were relatively peaceful as the river flowed, eddies curling up on the edges where water type pokémon undoubtedly rested.

For a moment the two stood there, admiring the view, and Leo watching the clouds roll down from the North – thick white clouds that promised winter weather. What the Leader said about Kings did ring true; Queen, for example, didn't rule from a palace – he would dare say she didn't rule. Instead, she guarded her herd. Yet she had earned her title as a Slowking.

"Back to what I was saying, though, I have an offer due to your unique situation. You could take the regular gym challenge I have planned for you – it will be challenging enough, yes, but you are all but guaranteed a badge at the end of it. I actually doubt it will be very challenging for you at all, based on the restrictions I must place on myself to keep it fair in the eyes of the League. Or you could accept a real challenge, and fight a battle that will prove you are everything you believe yourself and your team to be," he said mysteriously.

Leo shot him a look out of the corner of his eye. "I don't have to prove anything to anyone," he said bluntly.

"No, not anyone. Just to yourself," the Leader said knowingly, and procured a beat-up pokeball from his pocket. "Just think about it. Either way, I suggest you come back to Azalea before nightfall – the snowstorm is coming, and remember that Victoria Oak was looking for you," he said, and let an Abra out of the pokeball. The fox-like psychic type regarded Leo for a second, its psychic powers running over Leo's skin like pinpricks, before it nodded, and with a farewell from the Leader, teleported away.

Leo stayed at the river for a while yet, just staring out over the river frowning. He let Santiago out for good measure, the Slowpoke romping about in the river water and fishing up a rather large magikarp that he promptly swallowed whole. All while Leo watched, and wondered why everything had to be so complicated.

Or am I making it complicated? He mused. I don't think the offer is malicious, but is it really necessary?

"I can be stubborn," Leo said aloud, rubbing his face. "But I do need to realize when beating my head against a wall isn't the best solution,"

"Sloooow," Santiago replied from where he poked his head out of the river.

"I am stubborn, you're right. What do you think? Do we make things harder on ourselves? I kinda just want to get to Alola," Leo said, scratching the back of his head. Santiago remained silent this time, offering no support. With a sigh Leo nodded. "I do have multiple days to think this over. There's no rush, I suppose, the offer itself just confuses me. C'mon, let's get back to camp. We've got some packing to do if we need to head back to town,"

Leo did not, in fact, end up going back to town. He got distracted, gathered a whole bunch of wood for a fire, built a small lean-to to keep the worst of the northerly storm off of his tent, and spent the night out in the Ilex forest – only to wake up to two inches of snow and his breath coming out in puffs of white air. It was glorious, and in the early morning light he found himself spellbound by the beauty of the frozen forest. Grey clouds hung low over the treetops, a light breeze blowing puffs of snow from the canopy and fluttering to the ground below, giving the illusion of more snow fall.

The meadow he had been training in was picturesque, tall golden grasses peeking out of the layer of pure white snow with not a single track on it – besides the tracks left behind by the wind; shallow furrows and drifts left by moving snow. The trees themselves sat as silent as ever, hardly rustling in the breeze though Leo was sure they were looking down at him, quite literally in some cases. The Trevenant were indistinguishable from regular trees.

Leo stood silently in front of the meadow, wrapped up in his Mareep wool jacket and with thick mittens on. It wasn't that cold all things considered, and for the moment he was simply enjoying the silence – the kind of silence that only fell on a forest after a snow, when everything was bedded down and content to remain unmoving until the sun rose and promised some modicum of warmth. That was why his team currently wasn't with him, having not stirred when Leo slipped out of the tent and remained asleep even now. Even Spiritomb had been quiet and still, and Leo was loathe to disrupt their slumber. They deserved some rest, and he wanted to enjoy the morning.

Soon enough his feet started moving, taking him North toward the river and simply wandering about. His fingers traced the tracks of a Rattatta, the first awake besides himself, and he stumbled across a shed Stantler antler – a fantastic find. It was clearly from a small buck, with only four points, but Leo picked up the bone either way and carried it with him as he moved to the river, examining the purple gem-like thing pressed deep within the antler's root. Stantler only shed their horns once every five years, unlike deer in his old world which shed their antlers far more often, so Leo counted himself lucky.

It was at the river that Leo ran into the Bellossom from the previous day again, the little grass type drinking from its waters and waving the moment it spotted Leo. Leo waved back, smiling at it. He recognized it because it had an odd number of petals on its – no, his, Leo was pretty certain Bellossom was a him – on his head flowers. The red flowers had seven petals each, as opposed to the usual four or five.

"What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be hibernating, or whatever it is you grass types do during winter?" Leo asked, crouching next to Bellossom.

"Bell!" he cried happily, tossing his arms in the air. Leo smiled at him and shook his head, standing and stretching.

"Right, well I'm going to head back. Sun's rising, and I want to get my daily workout in before my team starts their training," he muttered to himself, turning on his heel and heading back to the meadow. The grass-type followed him all the way there, walking on top of the snow and, after Leo checked on his still-sleeping team and triple-checked his breakfast – a few granola bars he'd eat after his morning workout – he set about moving through the stances of his martial art, throwing strikes and, at times, running in circles in stance.

His feet plowed through the snow and his breath came out in ragged huffs, leaving trails in the meadow while Bellossom stared at him from the side.

"Bell," he said, suddenly approaching and halting Leo mid-stride. His muscles burned as he held his stance in an awkward position, slowly correcting himself so it wasn't so hard to hold.

"What's up, bud?" Leo asked between breaths, looking down at Bellossom.

"Som," he said with a cheery smile, the tiny grass type waving his hands in the air. "Bell, o, som," he repeated, spinning and waving his hands before looking pointedly at Leo.

"It does look like dancing, huh?" Leo asked with a chuckle. Bellossom smiled, and repeated the same motion, then stared at Leo expectantly. "What, you want to join in?" he asked. Bellossom shook his head, pointed at Leo, then pointed at himself. "To copy you?" he asked.

"Bell," he said, nodding, and Leo smiled, relaxing slightly.

"Sure. I was just about done anyway. Lead the way," he said, and awkwardly mimicked Bellossom's dance. He moved slowly at first, matching the pace of the grass type as he spun and danced, laughing as the gentle ringing of Bellossom's petal skirt began to sound out, filling the air with music.

The two danced, the sun peeking over the treetops and illuminating the duo in its warming light as they moved, spun, swayed, and occasionally leapt about, leaving Leo breathless and exhausted by the end of it. His legs collapsed under him and he fell to the ground, staring up at the sky while his muscles ached. That had been more of a workout than he'd been planning, and the coolness of the snowy ground felt good on his back.

"Bell," Bellossom said simply, patting Leo on the forehead and slowly ambling off, disappearing into the trees.

"Quiiiiiiiiil!" Zuko's cry blasted through the silence of the meadow, the fire-type sprinting up to Leo and leaping on his stomach.

"Ooof! Careful buddy, you're getting heavy!" Leo laughed, placing a hand on his Quilava's head as he nuzzled up against his face, full of energy despite the early morning. "If the rest of the team isn't up, you certainly woke them up. C'mon, let's go get breakfast. Then it's training time,"

Leo whistled sharply, Santiago cutting off his water gun mid-stream and switching seamlessly to confusion, shoving the rock Diana tossed at him to the side with nothing but psychic force. Ever since the Slowpoke Well Santiago had become far more dedicated in his training, though it was still a chore and a half to get him started.

"Good, Santi. Now try to hit Diana. Diana, counter," Leo ordered. Santiago's eyes glowed and Diana clenched her little fists, the Larvitar screwing her eyes shut as a single wisp of darkness curled around her, signaling her mastery of the payback technique. A battle of wills continued between the two for a moment before Santiago's concentration broke, his technique fading as Diana's payback technique successfully cancelled out the confusion.

There has to be a way around that. Maybe payback is just one of those moves that is great for defense against psychic types, but if just using a dark type move is enough to counter psychic type moves that's ridiculously overpowered. He mused, scratching his chin. But then again, maybe that's the point. Checks and balances.

"Keep that up. Diana, you're doing great with your physical training but you need to focus on your latent dark type. Keep it up," he encouraged, Diana whining at him and stomping her foot on the ground in annoyance. "Don't give me that. Just imagine, once you get to be able to use dark pulse you'll be able to blast away just about anything that tries to hit you from afar,"

Diana whined again and scratched at her stomach, then bent down and scooped up a mouthful of dirt, made a face at the texture, but swallowed anyway and glared at Santiago before starting again. She was making great headway in all honesty. Her power, speed, and defenses were all top notch, especially considering she could use honest-to-god martial arts, but they'd neglected learning new moves beyond the ones she already knew because of it. It was time to correct that, and even though dark pulse was probably out of her reach until evolution, it was still a good goal. Along the way she'd pick up other techniques, or at least that was the idea.

Santiago, on the other hand, was fed up with his psychic abilities, clearly, if the way he started shooting weak shadow balls at Diana was any indication. She took the attacks and just blinked at Santiago, cocking her head to the side as if confused as to what he was doing and completely unbothered by the attack. Leo sighed. He'd leave them to it.

Next he turned his attention to Zuko and Spiritomb, the latter of which was swaying and cackling as it dodged all of Zuko's attacks, opening holes in its ectoplasmic body for embers and flame charges to pass through harmlessly. The swift stars Zuko shot at Spiritomb it didn't bother dodging, just letting the normal type move pass right through it.

"Spiritomb, what are you doing? Focus, man. I told you to try countering Zuko's embers and swift stars with your own moves. Try shadow ball, try anything. Hex, even, I'm pretty sure I saw you use that," Leo chided. Spiritomb cackled, a strange mixture of emotions flowing over their connection – which Leo had gotten far better at parsing from his own emotions – that he had no idea how to read. One thing was for certain though; Spiritomb didn't like that idea, and like Santiago, Spiritomb wasn't a pokémon that could be easily convinced to do something it didn't want to.

"What am I going to do with you?" he muttered not unkindly, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head, switching to watching Zuko. He blazed about, training his speed, stamina, and control over the heat of his fires. He was still a bit of a one trick pony, but Leo didn't think having many moves up his metaphorical sleeve was where his strengths lie. That kind of tactic was best left to other species with greater control over various elements, like normal types.

No, the Quilava line excelled at using their fires to solve any and all problems, with maybe some normal or ground type moves or the occasional thunder punch thrown in to throw off enemies. They didn't have a different move for every problem – they had five moves that they master to such a degree they can be used to solve any problem. Leo decided to lean into that strength, and make Zuko the best he could possibly be at using fire to solve problems.

Besides, wouldn't it be great to one day watch Zuko's own flamethrower overpower the dragon fire of a Charizard? He got excited just thinking about it, and Zuko seemed to agree.

"Well, keep it up I suppose. Zuko, make sure to keep your fires from getting too hot. Control is key – once you can more freely adjust the temperature of your fires, then we can start going hotter and hotter," Leo said. Zuko didn't show any sign that he heard him, but kept training regardless.

"LEO!" a familiar voice called, making Leo turn on his heel and grin at Victoria as she strode out of the trees, glaring at him with that same Bellossom hot on her heels. His smile faltered.

"Hey, Victoria," he said, wincing and recalling that Leader Mike had said she was looking for him. Oops?

"What in Mew's name are you doing still out here? Didn't it snow last night?" she demanded, kicking at a puff of unmelted snow for emphasis. Between Zuko's fires and the sun, most of it had melted off by now.

"It wasn't that bad," Leo said, waving off his team as they halted their training to turn their attention to the newcomer. "Besides, it's midafternoon and it's already almost melted off,"

Victoria glared at him for a second longer, then laughed and shook her head, her stern expression fading. "You little brat. You just stayed out here to, what, prove a point?" she asked.

"Essentially, yeah," Leo said with a grin, despite not really having to prove anything. "It's not winter yet, and the forecast didn't say anything about any big snowstorms coming in last time I checked. Leader Mike said it might be big, but I wasn't too worried,"

"Amazing, you actually did think this through," she chuckled, moving up and ruffling his hair. Leo batted at her hand, annoyed. "You sure surprised the Distortion out of Mike – he wanted to treat you to dinner or something when you got back, and when you didn't show up he panicked and sent me after you. Took me half the morning just to find you,"

"I thought you were already looking for me," Leo said. Victoria shrugged.

"I was. But now, I think I want to see how much you've grown since I last saw you. Prepare your team, because Prince is coming to get you," she said, releasing her Persian. The great cat lazily licked one paw as it appeared in a flash of red, immediately drawing the attention of all of Leo's pokémon as it stared directly at him with hungry, predatory eyes. Leo shivered.

This…probably wasn't going to be fun.

Leo lay in a heap on the ground, Victoria standing over him with a savage grin on her face while Prince continued to savage his team – which was an overstatement, yes, but the Persian was thoroughly trouncing everything his team could throw at him – including Spiritomb, once the ghost got riled up enough to actually battle – and routinely proving that at any point, he could knock any one of Leo's team members out with a single hit. Except maybe Spiritomb, who was hard to hit to begin with.

It wasn't even funny, except it kind of was. It was humbling in a serious way, and Leo found that the only thing he could do at that was laugh. Especially when Bellossom tried to console him by patting his forehead as he lay there, the grass type having stayed to watch for some reason.

Leo was starting to suspect he might want to be a part of the team, but when he asked the Bellossom had turned him down. Shame.

"Not too shabby. Not where you could be, but not shabby at all. Seems like travelling with Daisy actually did you some good," Victoria said, watching his team while offering a hand to help him up. "Though you personally still have a habit of bull-rushing me when you get angry. That you need to stop doing," she said, referring to the spar she had just forced upon him. And, yes, Leo had gotten frustrated and lost his cool and charged her with everything he had.

The flying tackle hadn't done as much as he hoped, and she punished him for it.

"Thanks," Leo grunted, accepting her hand with one hand and brushing off Bellossom's incessant patting with the other. Victoria hauled him up, and he looked at the sky, groaning in pain and soreness. "Only got a day left until the battle. Think we're ready? I'm probably going to accept the Leader on his offer to make things more difficult,"

"Good. I would've been disappointed had you not – Mike's a good guy, despite the rap he gets. Not the best trainer – he's good a low tiers, though at high tiers he's a bit of a pushover – but he's a natural teacher," Victoria said, nodding. "And your pokémon need the push. They're getting close to their respective thresholds; evolving will open up a lot for them,"

"Really?" Leo asked, looking at his team as they battled Prince, the Persian dodging attacks with ease and retaliating with weak swipes that still sent the ones he hit reeling. Diana in particular was getting annoyed that Prince could send her flying so easily, stomping her feet and charging headlong into the Persian in a way very reminiscent of what Leo just did to Victoria.

It ended just as poorly too, with Prince batting her to the side and casually stepping on her to keep her down, all while keeping Spiritomb at bay with a shadow claw. The ectoplasmic form of the ghost swirled around Prince but refused to get too close; it seemed nothing Spiritomb could do could surprise the Persian.

"Yeah. Zuko needs to up his power, Santiago just needs to focus his control and to find whatever it is he needs to evolve, and I can't imagine Diana is that far off. Larvitar grow slow, but she'd been growing even before you caught her – I wouldn't be surprised if she's already thirty years old or something. Rock types age incredibly slowly," Victoria said, scratching the back of her neck. "That said, take it easy tomorrow. Train a little but give them some time to rest too. They've been working hard, and you'll need all your strength to overcome Mike's challenge,"

"I…see, thank you," Leo said, accepting her advice.

"I'll stick around until after your battle, but after that you'll be heading off to Alola. It'll take maybe a week or two to get the paperwork signed and get your travelling trainer's registration, but I don't plan on wasting too much time," she said.

"I've been meaning to ask; why the rush? Is it really that bad?" Leo asked. She paused, whistled sharply at Prince for no apparent reason, then looked Leo in the eyes.

"Yes and no. Lance is…look, I may have been a little harsh on Lance to start with, but I can't say I'm not worried. He's got the capability to be a strong leader – but he's arrogant and idealistic in some worrying ways. Once he gets to be champion – and he will, he's got the support from enough Gym Leaders that he'll be able to officially take the title once he beats the current Champion, after all it's not just about strength but also votes – he's going to run into a brick wall. Many of the things he's saying he'll do just won't be feasible. The question is; how long and how much will it take before he learns his lesson?" she said, shaking her head. "Kanto is a powder keg, ready to explode. They're sick of Johto leadership. I worry what the cost of Lance's rise to champion will be, and how much he'll have to give before he learns when to stop pushing,"

"Huh," Leo said, summing up his thoughts on the subject. He wasn't actually sure what to make of that.

"So that's why I'm sending you to Alola. Uncle Sam will be safe in Pallet as he's literally the only interesting thing about the town and too valuable where he is, but as a trainer you might be called upon if the situation does get hairy, Youngster or not. Besides, you'll love Alola. There's hardly any restrictions on exploring the islands," she said with a grin, and Leo grinned back despite the seriousness of the conversation. Exploration was his bread and butter.

The two lapsed into silence and Leo watched as Prince continued to decimate his team, beating them down, letting them catch their breath, and then doing it all over again. Bellossom eventually got bored of watching and drug Leo into another dance, which prompted Victoria to try it with him, which somehow or another led to Leo getting dogpiled by his team while Victoria wrestled with a playful Prince.

It was a good day.

When Leo headed back to Azalea for his gym challenge, he hadn't been expecting Leader Mike to expedite their battle by a few hours. Previously the battle should have been scheduled later in the day – close to eight o'clock at night, the last match of the day. When Leo told the gym leader that he'd be accepting his harder challenge, the Leader had clapped his hands happily and moved the battle up to four o'clock, a mere two hours away. Which wasn't bad, but he'd been hoping for a bit more time to mentally prepare himself and his team.

He had also been expecting to have their battle in a small arena, like the ones he'd battled Morty and Falkner in. So the fact that he was sitting in a locker room, listening to a sixth-tier gym battle going on in the official Gym stadium and waiting his turn to enter that field, left him a little shaken.

The gym stadium was reserved for battles of fifth tier or higher. Leo got the feeling he'd underestimated how serious Leader Mike was about making things hard on him. He glanced at the clock and bounced his knee nervously, counting the seconds while his team roamed about the locker room. His match was next, after this battle finished up.

"Sloooow," Santiago called, ambling past a few lockers and plopping down right next to Leo.

"I know, I'm just a bit nervous," Leo admitted, underselling just how nervous he actually was. "We got this though. I believe in you all," he said.

"Poooke," Santiago replied, nudging Leo's knee.

"I just – how big of a crowd do you think there's going to be?"

"Slooo,"

"This'll be the first time I've really been in a stadium – I mean, sure, I've battled with an audience before, but this is going to be something else. And are we actually ready?" Leo rambled. Santiago blinked at him as he continued to chatter, then in one swift motion opened his mouth and stuck both of Leo's hands inside the orifice. "Gross! Santiago, what that for?!" Leo yelped, yanking his now thoroughly slobbered hands out of his starter's mouth and glaring at him.

"Slow," Santiago said, staring blankly at him. Leo glared right back and shook his head.

"Butthead," he said, but couldn't help the grin that came over his face. Well, at least he wasn't fidgeting or rambling anymore.

"Leo Angelico, to the field, Leo Angelico, to the field. Your battle will start in five minutes," a voice said, crackling over the speaker. Leo looked up, nodded to himself, and stood, wrapping his jacket tighter around himself and clapping his hands. Diana and Zuko ran over, Diana with a concrete dust all over her face – no doubt she had been eating the floor or something – and Leo gave them a few short words of encouragement, recalled everyone, and promptly headed out of the locker room and into the long hall that led to the battle arena.

His boots echoed on the concrete floor, the dull hum of the crowd drowned out by the nervous whispers of Spiritomb in his ears. Leo patted the keystone in his pocket comfortingly and stepped out into the light of the stadium, blinking into the bright light.

Floodlights shone down on the field, illuminating the large stadium where the late afternoon sun would not. Two seven-foot-tall trainer's stands loomed over the once-grassy field, scorch marks and craters in the dirt showing where attacks had rent the field, or were parts no one had bothered to fix. Leo took a deep breath and glanced around at the stadium stands while walking to the trainer's podium, gauging the crowd.

Most of the spectators were leaving, though it wasn't all that full to begin with. Maybe only half the stands were full – and it wasn't anywhere close to the size of a stadium from his old world, this one maybe holding two or three thousand people max as opposed to twenty or thirty thousand. Leo felt slightly relieved at that, that fewer people would be around to watch. He'd have to get used to it eventually though, he was sure.

"And now, as an intermission between battles, we have a new Challenger approaching the field. This will be a fourth tier battle folks, but make no mistake, this will be no simple challenge," the announcer began, but Leo swiftly tuned him out in favor of looking around.

"BEEEEELLLL!" a small shrill voice screamed over the noise of the stadium, catching Leo's attention immediately. He whipped his head towards the source, blinking at the Bellossom that waved all-too-cheerily at him from the front row, standing atop the concrete wall that separated the audience from the gym floor. He stared for a moment, then furrowed his brows in confusion. That was the same Bellossom from the forest – the one he danced with. What was it doing here?

An old woman grabbed Bellossom before he could leap out of the stands and shook her head, meeting Leo's eyes and raising one grey eyebrow. Leo waved at her, and turned back around, climbing the ladder up into the trainer's box.

He wasn't sure what to make of that.

"This will be a four-on-four battle," the announcer said, listing off the rules of battle through the speaker when Leo situated himself, staring out across the battlefield at Leader Mike as he stood in the opposite podium. "The challenger is allowed three switches – after that, the challenger may no longer change pokémon without them fainting. Additionally, the Gym Leader is allowed two forced switches – upon using these switches, the challenger must switch their pokémon. This does count towards your number of switches. Do you understand the rules and additional rules as I have read them to you?" Leo frowned. Those additional rules sounded…harsh. That could be trouble.

"I do," Leader Mike said, voice booming over the field.

"I do," Leo agreed, pressing a small button on the side of the stand to activate the microphone so he could be heard by everyone.

"Then trainers, release your pokémon!" The announcer boomed. Zuko appeared on the field in a flash of red, across from whom a Butterfree appeared. Leo stared at the beautiful butterfly as it fluttered slowly in the air, lazily drifting as it chittered. "The challenger starts off with a mean looking Quilava, while Leader Mike chooses his infamous Butterfree! Remember folks, this is the same Butterfree that took down a Gyarados not but three days ago – this will be a tough battle for Quilava! Three, two, one, begin!"

"Smoke bomb!" Leo ordered, and Zuko took off like a bullet from a gun. Fire engulfed his form and black smoke billowed from his fires, covering his half of the field in an instant.

"Quiver dance, tailwind," The Leader ordered almost lazily. Leo's eyes flew wide open at the command, Butterfree darting through the air in an elaborate dance, each wingbeat causing a gust of wind to surge through the air – simultaneously speeding Butterfree up and blowing away bits and pieces of Zuko's smoke.

"Seeker!" Leo amended, and swift stars burst from the smoke chased by embers, the latter of which were avoided easily, and the former met with a clever use of string shot – the silk meeting the stars and preventing them from properly seeking their target. Only one swift star got through to impact Butterfree, the bug shrugging it off.

"Whirlwind, clear the air," Leader Mike commanded, and Butterfree fell out of its dance to blast away the smoke with a single wingbeat, catching Zuko and sending him stumbling, then went straight back to dancing in the air. Leo cursed as Zuko flared his backfires and belched a stream of superheated smoke straight at Butterfree in anger, surprising the bug and engulfing it. Butterfree hissed and burst from the smoke, wings singed from the heat, and fired a retaliatory psybeam that Zuko darted out of the way of. It dug into the ground viciously, blasting away a chunk of dirt.

This couldn't be allowed to continue. If Butterfree continued to use quiver dance so liberally, eventually it would reach the point where none of Leo's team members could stop the stupid bug. There was a reason quiver dance was so commonly used as a set up. But how to beat it…? Leo traced Butterfree through the air with his eyes, watching as the bug dodged and wove out of the way of Zuko's attacks with ease – the normally highly accurate Quilava reduced to only scoring a glancing blow here and there. Butterfree was too fast, and too tricky. Using string shot to counter swift? Ingenious, and showed remarkable skill. Still, they needed a way to get a direct hit – or limit the bug's movement maybe?

Leo swore. No, if accuracy was the issue, they needed an area of effect attack so Butterfree couldn't dodge.

"Zuko! Heat up!" Leo barked, out of options. The superheated smokescreen would just be blown away by Butterfree now that it was expecting it, however, if Zuko heated up enough to superheat the air around him…well, hopefully that meant that Butterfree would take damage every time it got too close to Zuko. Leo had no idea if it would actually work, but it was worth a shot.

Zuko skidded to a halt, throwing off Butterfree's aim and dodging another psybeam that scored a long line in the dirt, and immediately flared his back-fires as he stoked his fires and heated up.

"String shot, tie it up," Leader Mike ordered.

"Don't stop! Go as hot as you can go!" Leo shouted, hands clenching on the railing and heart pounding in his chest. Zuko let out a savage cry, his back fires flaring up even hotter as heatwaves shimmering off of his form even as silky string began to drape itself over his body. For a moment nothing happened, Zuko remained still even as silk continually draped itself over him. Then the silk began to blacken and, in a rather marvelous display, burst into flame. Butterfree panicked at the sudden ignition of its silk and backed off, fluttering higher and firing yet another psybeam. This time Zuko couldn't dodge, and took it head on.

"EMBER!" Leo roared, and Zuko screamed out a challenge. Fire pooled in his mouth and a massive wave of embers flew into the sky, igniting the very air as it went. Butterfree screeched in pain, aborting a second psybeam as the wave of heat and fire sent it flying even higher into the sky on the updraft, violently jerking its wings back. It hovered for a split second, then began to fall. "Charge!" Leo barked, and Zuko blurred into action, already aflame and running to meet Butterfree as it fell.

Time slowed as Zuko leapt into the air just as Butterfree righted itself mere feet from the ground, a psybeam already formed and firing as Zuko leapt towards it – tanking the hit, his fires faltering but his momentum unshaken – and crashed into the bug. They fell to the ground together, Zuko biting and scratching savagely while Butterfree returned the favor – antenna glowing blue with psychic power even as it bit at Zuko.

"Whirlwind!" Mike commanded, and Butterfree flapped its wings once, twice, three times from the ground before a gust of wind howled and shoved Zuko off Butterfree, allowing the bug to rise into the air once more. "Air slash!" Butterfree flapped its wings once, desperately, blades of wind lancing out and scoring deep lines into the ground around Zuko, a few striking the fire type. Zuko ignored the damage and pressed his advantage, however, bombarding the tired bug with a flurry of embers – scoring a direct hit and dropping it to the ground.

This time it did not rise.

The announcer shouted something into the speaker, but it faded into the background to Leo. It wasn't anything regarding rules, so he tuned it out and celebrated Zuko's victory. Zuko had taken a lot of damage, but he was fired up now and ready to dish out even more.

"Nice Zuko!" Leo cheered, the Quilava flaring up defiantly. He was ready and raring to go, blood singing through his veins and –

"Switch pokémon, Leo," Leader Mike said calmly, recalling Butterfree with a satisfied expression on his face. Leo scowled and produced Zuko's pokeball, recalling his teammate. That was cheap, killing their momentum like that. Zuko tanked a number of hard hits during that battle, resting would do more harm than good what with letting the adrenaline fade from his system.

"Fine. Do I release first or do you?" Leo asked.

"At the same time," the Leader said. Leo grunted and thought for a moment on who to pick.

Offensively the choice was Diana, but he was loathe to let another of his trump cards get tired so early. Zuko was still able to fight, but Leo didn't know for how much longer, and Santiago was weak to bug types. The logical option, then, was Spiritomb, who was more of a safe, defensive pick. Not to say the ghost couldn't bring the pain, but…

"Spiritomb, you want to take this one?" Leo asked, glancing sideways at the crowd. There were plenty of people watching the battle. Seems like a quite a few who were leaving had come back to sit down. Leo swallowed and refocused on the battlefield, waiting for an answer from his ghost. Spiritomb hissed in the negative, popping one ghostly eye out of his pocket to shake it side to side. "Okay then, Diana it is,"

"Three, two, one, release!" Leader Mike commanded, releasing a Shuckle of all things onto the field. Diana appeared across from the bug, earning herself some shocked muttering from the crowd, shaking her head and eyeing the red-shelled insect speculatively. Recalling that Shuckle was a rock type, Leo almost opened his mouth to remind her that Shuckle was not for eating – but then changed his mind and kept his mouth shut. Bite was technically an attack.

"Withdraw, safeguard – start setting up," Leader Mike ordered, the yellow bug retreating within its red shell.

"Attack, Diana. That's a tough bug," Leo said, frowning hard. Shuckle itself wasn't that dangerous of a 'mon, but it could do some ridiculous set up strategies. Power trick in particular was incredibly dangerous – or whatever the move was that swapped attack and defense. It transformed the bug from a defensive monster, to an offensive nightmare. He just prayed it wasn't set up to toxic stall – meaning it would poison Diana, then use protect and other defensive moves to stall until she fainted from the poison.

Diana did Leo proud though as she ran right up to Shuckle as it sat there unmoving, grabbed the shell, picked it up and started bashing it into the ground repeatedly. Shuckle didn't even make a sound, however, rings of blue light surrounding the shell and protecting the bug – not from damage, but from status effects. A waste, really, since Diana was a bruiser.

"Get inside the shell!" Leo ordered.

"Power trick! Gyro ball!" Leader Mike commanded, and a strange pink glow surrounded Shuckle's shell. Leo hesitated for a moment but didn't end up giving Diana the order to back off – with power trick going, now was the time to defeat this stupid bug. Its defense was supposed to be terrible now, even if it would hit like a freaking meteor. Diana seemed to understand this, or she was just too lost in the throws of trying to break apart Shuckle's shell to care, as she promptly latched her jaws onto the shell of Shuckle and viciously shook her head side to side, tossing bug this way and that even as its shell glowed silver, its long, sinuous limbs reaching out and planting themselves on the ground.

Diana was hurled to the side as Shuckle spun like a top, its limbs propelling it to the side, then back around towards her as she picked herself up off the ground and glared at the incoming 'mon. Diana tensed, bracing herself and squaring her feet, settling down into a stance and narrowing her eyes.

"Deflect and throw!" Leo ordered, not wanting Diana to take a direct hit from a super effective, overpowered gyro ball. For a split second Leo worried she hadn't heard him, then she shifted ever so slightly and twisted at just the last moment so Shuckle went bouncing off of her side, delivering only a glancing blow. Diana whined and stumbled, unable to follow up as she misjudged the power of the attack, and looking to Leo for help as she cradled her side. Even just a small hit had hurt.

"Calm, girl. Water stance to dodge. Calm," Leo ordered, forcing his voice to remain steady. He had absolute faith in her, she just needed to remain calm. She had all the training she needed.

"Rock slide, sticky web. Trap her," Mike said, and Shuckle stopped its spinning to shriek at the sky, raised its limbs skyward, and smashed them down with incredible force. The ground split and roiled, stones three times the size of Diana launching from the ground into the sky towards her. She stepped slowly to the side, dodging the projectiles with inches to spare, sometimes allowing the smaller stones to bounce off of her armor harmlessly. Shuckle wasn't finished though, spitting a massive glob of webbing into the air. Leo scowled as it dropped down, draping over the stones that acted as pillars and supports and created a sort of impromptu maze.

"Your turn, Diana. Mimic him; rock slide," Leo said calmly, hoping that the example would prompt her to learn the new move.

"Laaaaaar!" Diana cried, raising one foot and stomping it on the ground as hard as she could. The battlefield cracked, but remained unbroken, and she stomped her foot again. This time a single stone popped into the air right in front of her, which she grabbed with one hand and hurled at Shuckle, the stone flying through a gab in the web to bounce off of its shell.

"Gyro ball!" Mike ordered, and Shuckle once more began its rotation, hurtling itself around the maze of stone and webs, searching to confuse Diana and find a way inside of its own trap.

"Get ready. Water, Diana, water," Leo soothed as Diana whined again. The seconds ticked by as Shuckle spun around the arena. Diana watched it closely as she settled into a shallow stance – as shallow as could be for her stubby legs – and prepared for the strike. The bug ended up choosing an unexpected route to Diana – opting to plow through one of the stones from its rock slide in a shower of debris, and slam into the Larvitar. Diana twisted harshly, grabbing hold of Shuckle's shell with both arms and spinning with him, feet dragging the ground and kicking up a dust cloud as she spun, and spun, until finally she stopped.

"PUNISH IT!" Leo roared, and Diana obliged.

"Struggle bug!" Leader Mike ordered as Diana bashed the Shuckle into the ground harshly. Its long yellow limbs snapped out of its shell and slapped Diana harshly, making her wince.

But Diana was on a roll now, and Shuckle was the object of her ire. Her punches left dents in the shell, her bites gouged holes in the bug's armor, and after a few short moments, the bug moved no more. Diana panted harshly, shouting her victory to the skies as Mike recalled the bug. He wasted no time in releasing his next pokémon, and Leo cursed harshly when the brown insect appeared on the field, chittering angrily, flexing its arms, and gnashing its horns together.

Pinsir. He'd sent out a bloody Pinsir.

"For the record," Leader Mike said with a small smile. "The two pokémon you just defeated were fourth-tier gym pokémon. You performed admirably, but it is time to turn up the difficulty a bit. Pinsir here will not be taking it easy,"

"You good to keep going?" Leo asked Diana loudly, ignoring the Gym Leader and keeping an eye on the Pinsir that stalked around the outside of Diana's prison of web and stone. She didn't bother answering, digging up a chunk of stone and hurling it at Pinsir.

It simply caught the rock in its horns and crushed it, sending pebbles everywhere.

"Keep it at a distance," Leo said, but Pinsir would have none of that. The moment Diana dug her hands into the ground to haul up another chunk of earth, the great bug leapt over the strings of web Shuckle left, tore through a strand or two, and crashed into the ground next to her. Leo had no time to think of any commands, let alone give out any orders, as the bug bodily slammed itself into Diana and tossed her into the webs; where she stayed, stuck hanging midair. A strangled cry left his mouth as Pinsir leapt forward with that same astounding speed and grabbed her with its horns, ripping her free of the webs even as she pounded on its head with her fists.

"Vital throw," Mike ordered. Pinsir chittered and paused for a moment, Diana squirming in its grip, then promptly suplexed her. For a terrible moment, Leo was convinced Diana had fainted – he already grabbed her pokeball and was preparing to recall her – when Pinsir was hurled off of her by a spire of rock suddenly bursting up from the ground and impacting its side. Diana lay facedown on the ground, one arm wholly encased in dirt where she had punched the ground and raised stone, and turned her head to glare at Pinsir. Leo bit his lip, worry welling up in his chest as he watched her raise herself up on shaking limbs, her armor obviously cracked in multiple places.

He had never seen her this tired, or this injured.

"LAAAAR!" She roared, standing, dust and rocks falling off her form from where Pinsir had driven her into the dirt. Pinsir met her gaze as it recovered and chittered angrily, gnashing its horns together. Leo frowned. Diana wouldn't last much longer here, especially with Pinsir capable of learning so many fighting moves. He either needed to switch, or – "VITAAAAAAR!" Diana cut off his train of thought by doing something completely unexpected.

She glowed a brilliant, white light, and began to evolve. Gasps rose from the crowd as Diana's cry reached a fever pitch, the light spilling from her form turning blinding – then suddenly ending, leaving Leo blinking spots out of his eyes. The first thing he noticed was not anything visual, as he was still blinded by the light, but rather a sound. A deep rushing sound resounded throughout the stadium, audible even over the ecstatic cheering of the crowd. It thrummed through his chest and when he blinked away the spots, he was greeted to the sight of Diana's glorious new form.

Her grey carapace gleamed in the afternoon sun, her red eyes locked dead on to Pinsir as she balanced precariously on the very tip of her shell. Pressurize air blew away all the loose debris in a circle around her, vented out of gaps in her new armor and keeping herself balanced; Diana squinted and, with a sudden pulse of power, a ring of darkness blasted out of her body and slammed into Pinsir, sending the bug tumbling once more.

"Nice, Diana!" Leo cheered, his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. "Take that bug out!"

"Vise grip, submission," Mike ordered calmly, looking unperturbed by Diana's sudden evolution. The start of Diana's assault was marked by a sudden high-pitched whine that reminded Leo of a jet engine, a blast of air shooting out from her shell and launching her at-speed at Pinsir; who didn't even have time to dodge even if it wanted to. She crashed into Pinsir and the two went flying through the air – Leo grinned manically as she landed on top of the bug, though that swiftly faded when he realized it hadn't let her go.

Another dark pulse blasted out, washing over Pinsir's exoskeleton, but it held fast as it struggled to its feet, grabbing onto Diana with both hands and its horns.

"Get out of there!" Leo called, now very worried, but it was too late. With a mighty heave Pinsir suplexed Diana once more, but this time didn't let up. With all the grace of a frenzied animal Pinsir proceeded to unleash hell on Diana, bashing her armor, punching her, kicking her, gnashing its horns against her shell hard enough to break off one of the spikes on said horns – even as Diana tried to fight it off. Two more dark pulses were fired off, and once she managed to almost shake off Pinsir with another attempted tackle, but there was nothing she could do.

She was too damaged from her time as a Larvitar, and her Pupitar body was too different from before. Pinsir would hold her there until she stopped moving.

"Diana, return," Leo said, recalling her and making eye contact with the referee, who nodded at him. She vanished in a flash of red, leaving Pinsir panting and kicking angrily at the dirt. "Excellent work, girl. That was amazing – you take a good rest,"

"And despite Larvitar's perfectly timed evolution, the newly evolved Pupitar was defeated, having taken too much damage prior to evolution! The question is, will young Leo keep his lead, or will Pinsir mark the beginning of a turnaround for our Gym Leader?!" The announcer boomed. Leo frowned at Pinsir, thinking up a strategy and smiling coldly. Fine. He wanted to play dirty by sending out an overlevelled 'mon? Well he could play dirty too.

"Time to be cheeky. Santiago, you're up," Leo said, letting his starter out onto the field. Santiago yawned and blinked at Pinsir, the bug locking onto him immediately and hissing angrily. Neither side was willing to wait for the ref, so Leo started first. "Yawn," he said.

Santiago opened his mouth wide, a bubble of spit connecting his top and bottom jaws as he let out a jaw-popping yawn. Pinsir charged forward, and the bubble popped, the sound even making Leo drowsy. Leo made eye contact with Leader Mike as Pinsir closed in on Santiago, an x-scissor charged on his horns, and smiled.

"Santiago, return," Leo said, recalling his starter and immediately releasing Zuko on the other side of the field, opposite Pinsir. "Zuko, quick attack. Play keep away until Pinsir goes to sleep." That's two switches. One more. Leo mused, watching as Zuko blurred away in a quick attack, away from Pinsir.

If Leader Mike wanted to let out a bruiser of a pokémon that could tank its way through an evolution from Diana, that was fine. Leo didn't have to play nice either, and Santiago had plenty of moves that could be used in annoying ways. Even if he hardly ever used them. Yawn had never been used before in an official battle, Leo didn't think. Putting Pinsir to sleep would at least let Zuko set up with flame charge and smokescreen again.

"Dig and swords dance. Set up below ground, come up when you're ready," Leader Mike said, and Pinsir promptly dove into the dirt in a flurry of debris, noticeably slower as it struggled to stay awake. Leo snorted.

Like that would save them. That just gave Zuko a stationary target.

"Swift into the hole. Then try using heat wave again – bake it," Leo commanded. Zuko darted over to the hole and sucked in a deep breath, multiple stars forming in the air around him and flying into the hole, then began to heat up once more. It took a few seconds, the move still probably unusable in actual battle from how long it took Zuko to charge up, but Pinsir was probably asleep by now so they had time.

"DIG!" Leader Mike bellowed, but Pinsir showed no response as Zuko blasted the hole with a heat wave, screaming his fury into the underground.

There was silence for just a moment; then the ground beneath Zuko ruptured and Pinsir came storming out of the ground beneath Zuko, snapping and snarling and trailing smoke from its charred carapace, smacking Zuko aside with its horns. He helped and twisted midair, somehow managing to land on his feet and launching a barrage of embers at Pinsir before blurring away in a flame charge.

Pinsir hissed furiously, stomping at the ground and wholly ignoring the embers Zuko peppered it with in favor of chasing after him in mindless pursuit.

"Vital throw! Take it out of commission!" Mike ordered, and Pinsir suddenly stilled, closing its eyes. Zuko continued to dart about the arena, smoke billowing from the fires of his flame charge as he started to set up in earnest, all while continually blasting embers at Pinsir. Leo frowned at the command. Wasn't vital throw a never-miss move? How did that work? Swift was cheating enough, so how –

Pinsir acted before Leo had time to blink, darting to one side the moment Zuko came a little too close and catching the flaming 'mon in his iron-gripped horns. Zuko yelped, still on fire, as Pinsir promptly bashed him once, twice, into the ground, before tossing him away bonelessly. Zuko hit the ground, struggled to rise once, then fell still. Leo swallowed thickly and recalled him, thanking him for his hard work.

Pinsir screeched at the sky, burns and bruises covering its body as it stood there on trembling legs, barely standing. It looked like a strong breeze would knock it over, but still it stood. Leo hesitated for a moment, looking down at his belt and trying to decide who to use next.

"Santiago, this thing's almost done but it's not out yet. Be careful," Leo said, releasing his Slowpoke onto the field and frowning at Pinsir. Unless Santiago could pull off a miracle, Spiritomb would have to come in clutch here. He hoped that Pinsir was the ace of this team, but he wasn't going to bet on it. Santiago would finish off Pinsir, deal as much damage as possible to the next contender, and then Spiritomb would finish up. That was the plan, anyway.

Pinsir locked eyes with Santiago and screeched, digging its feet into the ground and charging forward – bulldozing through the water pulse Santiago countered with but falling short when he switched to a psychic blast from confusion. Pinsir shrieked as it stumbled, earning itself a water gun to the side, but quickly recovered and slammed its horns into Santiago in a vicious x-scissor. He grunted and slid in the dirt, loosing a disable that stunned Pinsir, and finally put the beast of a bug down with a headbutt and water pulse combo.

"Pinsir is unable to battle!" The announcer called as Leader Mike recalled the bug. "And Leader Mike is down to his last pokémon, while Leo still has two pokémon left – his Slowpoke and an unknown fourth teammate!" The Gym Leader just nodded his head and rubbed his chin, then reached down and pressed something on the side of his stand.

"You've done an excellent job battling so far," Leader Mike's voice came out of a speaker right next to Leo on the stand, startling him. The little speaker was built into the railing, and was quiet enough for him and him alone to hear. Clearly the Leader didn't want anyone else to hear what he was saying. "But this is not a test of your battling skills. Your pokémon are powerful and well trained, and two of your members were very advantageous to fighting bug-types. Pinsir was a fifth-tier pokémon, and you still managed to put him down. So what is the lesson here? I am not here to just beat you down," he said.

Leo didn't know what to make of that, but filed it away in his brain regardless and prepared himself. Leader Mike smiled at him and released his next pokémon – a Heracross. The blue beetle's carapace was faded and battle-scarred, deep lines etching its horn marking the many battles it'd gone through. It stretched, exoskeleton clacking together loudly as its eyes roamed over the battlefield, lingering on Santiago. Chittering, it turned back to Mike questioningly. He said something Leo did not hear, and with a firm nod Heracross turned back to Santiago, bowed, and squared itself for a fight.

"And Leader Mike sends out his starter, Heracross! Though old and nearing retirement, this pokémon is no less powerful for it – Leo is in for an uphill battle in this fight!" The announcer boomed, making Leo pale. This was Mike's personal Heracross?! There was no way his team was ready to battle something like that! Wasn't a Leader's team supposed to be close to Elite level?! Apparently the crowd agreed with Leo's indignation as jeers filled the air, and he himself almost shouted out a protest until he recalled what the Leader had just told him.

This was a test, but what was the lesson? Insurmountable odds?

"Santi, focus. It's a close combat monster so try to keep it at a distance," Leo said, frowning. Santiago huffed and spat out a water pulse, the ball of water harmlessly splashing off of Heracross' carapace. The beetle-like pokémon hummed, shaking off the water and opened its mouth casually – only to spit a stream of seeds right at Santiago. He lowered his head and tanked it, glowing with the tell-tale sign of curse. Heracross moved forward at a relatively sedate pace, in no hurry to cross the distance as it continually spat bullet seeds at Santiago.

"Disable," Leo ordered. Santiago didn't even pause his curse setup as he used disable, forcing Heracross to stumble and freeze, his attack halting. Heracross huffed and flexed, breaking free of the disable with casual ease and eyeing Santiago almost speculatively. Santiago met his gaze, grunted, and fired a water pulse that Heracross intercepted with his horn. The bug burst into motion, crossing the distance in an instant and lowering his horn, sliding it underneath Santiago and flipping him over his back.

Santiago cried out in surprise and confusion, flailing in the air and hitting the ground with a hard thump. Leo winced on impact, clenching his fists and jaw. They needed to do more damage to Heracross if they were going to win. As it is their chances were looking pretty slim.

"Yawn!" Leo called.

"Megahorn," Mike countered. Heracross' horn glowed and he charged as Santiago opened his mouth in a yawn, a bubble forming – but the move didn't form in time, and Heracross slammed his horn into Santiago and sent him flying once more. Leo cursed; they didn't have enough practice using yawn, it took too long to form and Heracross was too fast.

"Confusion, and headbutt when he gets close," Leo said, switching tactics. Santiago grunted and stood, a eyes glowing as Heracross came charging in once again – though the attack did no noticeable damage. He was forced to meet Heracross' attack head-on, horn meeting skull with a terrible crack. Leo winced again as, even despite curse having buffed Santiago up, Heracross pushed him back.

Santiago growled and struggled, stubby legs digging into the cracked ground and pushing back with all his might, but Heracross still pushed him further and further away. Leo's mind worked furiously on how to get Santiago out of there – despite his plan being to use him to chip away at Heracross, Leo had quietly hoped Santiago would still pull through.

"Santiago, return," Leo said with a sigh, raising his pokeball and pressing the return.

The red beam lanced out and with a sudden jerk of his body, Santiago freed himself from Heracross and dodged the recall beam.

"SLOW!" Santiago bellowed, head glowing with psychic power and bashing against Heracross' side. The bug grunted in pain and backhanded him in retaliation, then threw him across the ground with his horn.

"Santiago, return!" Leo tried again, pressing the recall button. Santiago, despite being on the ground and already struggling to stand, somehow managed to meet the beam with a water gun, disrupting it and preventing the recall. Leo met his eyes then, and whatever he was going to say died in his throat. His eyes, normally so dopey and blank, glinted with sheer determination as he stood once again, turning to face Heracross and blasting it with another confusion.

Leo swallowed thickly and lowered Santiago's pokeball, clenching his free hand on the railing but keeping the pokeball ready for when Santiago fainted. He couldn't switch him out after that. He couldn't. This meant something to Santiago, and he would respect that determination, damn his personal feelings.

There had to be a way out of this. Leader Mike had said that the challenge had to be winnable, so what was the play? What wasthe way out?

"What is the lesson?" Leo muttered, clenching his fist and thinking back on the rest of the battle. Zuko versus Butterfree, Diana versus Shuckle and Pinsir…wait, come to think of it, both of them had major developments during this fight, hadn't they? Zuko learned heat wave in dealing with Butterfree, who was uniquely suited to dealing with his precision, while Diana was backed so far into a corner she evolved to try to pull through. So what was the lesson here? What was Heracross versus Santiago meant to be?

Leo narrowed his eyes, watching as Heracross routinely mopped the floor with Santiago. He tossed him, smacked him around, fired pin missles and bullet seeds at him, and despite all that, Santiago kept getting up. He kept trying to fight back, despite being outclassed. He just. Kept. Trying. Leo tuned out the noise of the crowd and focused solely on his starter, his heart clenching at the pain he was going through – but more so at the sheer determination and willingness to go on that he showed. He was battered and bruised and stood on shaking legs – weak to the point that even Heracross paused his battling to stare curiously at him, and glance up at Leader Mike.

"Slow," Santiago growled weakly, taking one shaking step forward.

"Santiago, look at me," Leo said, just loud enough for him to hear. Slowly he turned his head towards Leo, big, normally dopey eyes drooping but filled with a desperate determination that Leo hadn't ever seen in him before. It was jarring, in a way, to see such raw emotion on the Slowpoke's normally dopey or stoic face. "It's ok. You've done enough," he said softly.

Santiago didn't register the words at first, but when he did, he took a step towards Leo as his eyes began to glow. A gentle psychic touch touched Leo's mind, Santiago knocking on his head to ask permission. It was a simple thing to let him in, letting all thoughts flee his mind and allowing the psychic powers to fill his brain with thoughts and emotions.

He saw a crown of stone, resting in his backpack back in their hotel room, and felt an intense, desperate desire to be worthy of it. He saw Queen, and heard snippets of the conversation she and Santiago had standing before Articuno in the Silver Mountains, and felt the requirements she told him about to become a King. Honor. Duty. Power. Responsibility. The ability to bear the weight of the crown. He felt the sheer weight of responsibility he felt, going to the Slowpoke Well, receiving a crown he was not ready for, and standing in the presence of such an ancient line of royalty. Of standing before a line of Slowpoke who had repeatedly proved themselves worthy of being Kings.

But most of all, Leo felt the respect, pride, and love Santiago felt for Leo, the one who raised him, and the one he felt he needed to make proud. And the simplicity of his desire; Santiago knew they needed to win, and that was it. He knew not that they had a chance to fight again. He knew not that this was not heir only shot. He knew only that Leo needed to win, and so he gave it everything he had.

Leo heart shattered and he bit back tears, shook his head, and vaulted over the railing of the trainer's box. He ignored the protest of the announcer, and walked over to kneel in front of Santiago, who stared at him and continued to send that same feeling of love and respect over their connection.

No words passed between the two as Leo knelt, laying a hand on Santiago's head. Instead, he brought up everything he felt, and pushed it through their psychic connection. He recalled dragging Santiago through the Silver Mountains when he first arrived here – his constant companion on a lonesome journey. He recalled laughing at the little Slowpoke's antics, at him fishing with his tail and dragging a giant Magikarp out of the river, the way he earned his name. He recalled watching Santiago play with baby Growlithe, and Gary, and every small moment that he could. He reminded Santiago of the time he stayed awake, watching over Leo while he tamed Spiritomb, and the times he stood guard while Froslass was still haunting them. A protector. A guardian. One who looks after others.

He had been Leo's companion from the start, he had watched him grow and would always be proud of him. Santiago was his little bull-headed, lovable, dopey, battle-happy butthead, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

It wasn't the victories, the battling, or any of that, that Leo felt defined Santiago. He didn't care whether he won, lost, chose to battle and picked a fight, or opted out – he was and would always be his companion and starter. His friend, for all that was worth.

"You don't need a crown to be a King," Leo whispered, laying his forehead against Santiago's. "You are a King," words could not truly convey all of what Leo was trying to say – but thankfully the mind needs no such crutch as language to convey meaning. And the beautiful simplicity of Slowpoke, and Santiago's pure, unflinching trust in Leo, came to a glorious head in that moment.

Leo could feel it, the moment Santiago processed his meaning and words, and accepted them as truth from the very depth of his being. That simple action, that realization that being a King is not defined by a crown and that Leo believed in him with all his heart forced him to accept it, and believe that as truth in his own. And it sparked greatness.

Santiago began to glow with the brilliant light of evolution, and Leo stayed with him throughout it all. When the light died and Santiago finished growing, Leo looked up at a worn, weary, but proud Slowking standing before him, a resplendent crown of coral atop his head and a gem gleaming with power. Santiago stood tall, and rather than examine his new form or revel in his power, he extended a hand to Leo and helped him to his feet. One meaty paw laid on Leo's shoulder as Santiago turned to Heracross and Gym Leader Mike, the latter of whom had a brilliant smile on his face, and bowed. Leo carefully wiped the tears from his eyes and bowed as well.

"A-amazing, folks! Not only do we get to witness the evolution of a Larvitar, a rare enough event, we even get to witness the evolution of a Slowpoke into a Slowking! Without the use of a Shellder to spark the evolution! Is that even possible?!" The announcer all but screamed into the microphone, all but frothing at the mouth in excitement.

"Do you wish to continue the battle?" Leader Mike asked, voice surprisingly calm despite the excitement on his face. Leo looked at Santiago, who shook his head, shoulders sagging now that the rush of evolution had faded. Spiritomb, however, whispered excitedly in his ear, now ready and raring to go.

"Santiago is too tired to continue," Leo said, presenting his pokeball to the newly evolved Slowking, who recalled himself with a weary sigh. He'd been ready to collapse as a Slowpoke. Even through evolution, he needed to rest. "But Spiritomb wants to pick a fight,"

"So be it. Send out your ghost, and let's finish this thing," Leader Mike said. Leo smiled, fished out Spiritomb's keystone, and tossed it onto the field as he turned and headed back to the stand.

"Once I get back to the stand, hypnosis if you can, then finish this," Leo called over his shoulder, not really bothering to worry about whether or not Spiritomb would win. It would be too much to ask for, for there to be another great breakthrough in this hell of a battle.

Spiritomb hissed, the arena exploded into darkness the moment Leo got to his stand and the announcer resumed the battle. Spiritomb never really stood a chance against an Elite level pokémon, but it put up a valiant fight. Still, even despite losing in the end, Leo left the stadium with his head held high and pride in his heart.

He could ask nothing more from his team, and at the end of the day, he still earned the badge.

Chapter Text

"Once again, thank you," Leo said, bowing to Leader Mike as the man presented him his badge. The Leader laughed and shook his head, pressing the Azalea gym badge into his hand. Behind him his Heracross stood, carapace battle-scarred and dulled, but no less impressive for it. The large bug-type chittered at Leo, nodding its head.

"No, thank you. It is a rare sight to see such an evolution; I am honored to have born witness to it. Last time I saw something like that was when Clair evolved her Kingdra – it was just as moving as yours was," he said, patting Leo on the shoulder. Leo grinned and flipped the badge over in his hand, still giddy with excitement. Currently his team was being healed, so he couldn't really congratulate them, but that was beside the point. Even if they'd lost in the end, he had obviously earned his badge.

…though it was kind of crazy to see Spiritomb faint. He'd never seen that before; the ghost kind of just sucked up in on itself after a particularly nasty megahorn from Heracross struck its keystone. It'd put up a good fight, too…

"Thank you again anyway, you gave us that final push we needed," Leo said, truly grateful.

"You and your team did all the work, but you're welcome anyway. That's the job of a Gym Leader, y'know, to help trainers grow," Mike said. "But, sorry about forcing you to fight in the stadium. It was…necessary, however," he said.

"Necessary how?" Leo asked, cocking his head to the side. Leader Mike stared at him for a moment, then shook his head.

"Victoria told me you probably hadn't noticed, but I don't think I believed her until now. You've caused quite a stir, Leo. Someone caught sight of your team after Ecruteak and managed to take pictures – the media's been raising a fuss over how powerful a team you have as a Youngster. A Larvitar and an unknown ghost type? Dangerous," Mike said. "But you put those dissenters to rest with a public battle! No one can doubt your capabilities now, after watching that,"

"Wait, what? Why didn't I know about this? Shouldn't someone have, I dunno, approached me or something?" Leo stammered, eyes wide.

"Yes and no. The picture was grainy so your face wasn't well known, but you've been followed since the moment you entered Azalea. It's amazing you avoided any reporters during your stay here, though I suppose that's the benefit of hiding out in Ilex," Mike said, rubbing his chin. "That said, it's not over yet. You'll have a few interviews to do, and there's a meeting you'll need to go to,"

"Meeting?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow and feeling a chill run down his spine.

"Yes. Some of the Gym Leaders are getting together to talk about your team. A formality, I promise. And that's part of the reason why I had your battle be so public – the media is now firmly on your side. If the other Leaders – some have kicked up a fuss about Oak playing favorites and getting you a Larvitar – want to do anything untoward they had better think twice. The media will rip them apart for it. No pokémon evolves like that, without truly bonding with their trainer," Mike said, laying out his master plan. Leo blinked at him and just sighed, running a hand over his face.

Now he really couldn't wait until Alola, so he didn't have to worry about things like…this.

Leo really hadn't understood what a stir he had caused. After his conversation with Leader Mike he'd had a good few hours full of interviews, then he'd congratulated his freshly-healed team and thanked them for their hard work before trying to help Diana and Santiago get acquainted with their new forms. He'd also had to evade nosy trainers and reporters hounding him for information on his team, which led him to where he was right now. Sitting at a rectangular wood table in a large, dimly lit room, with Leader Mike on his left and Professor Oak on his right, while all around him sat a large number of powerful members of the Indigo League.

First and foremost of which, sitting directly across from Leo and dressed in his typical pinstriped suit, was Giovanni Vittore himself, his Nidoqueen looming in the shadows behind him. He sat with his hands folded in front of him and his attention directed away from Leo, focusing on the vast array of other people who had gathered to talk about…well, him. And while Giovanni made Leo the most nervous, there were plenty of other people to intimidate him as well.

Lance was present, sitting to the left of Giovanni, his cape draped dramatically over the back of his chair while his Dragonite stood behind him menacingly. Agatha was there as well, the old woman leaning back in her chair and staring at Leo unblinking, the red eyes of her Gengar visible on the wall behind her. Falkner, with a Noctowl perched on the back of his chair, sat next to her while Morty sat on Falkner's other side with his Ninetails casually grooming himself off to the side. Leo's eyes roamed the room in the silence, picking out a few more people of interest.

Two white-robed men with golden bells emblazoned on the front of their robes sat next to Morty; monks from the Bell Tower, Leo realized. There were a few other gym leaders present as well; Koga, with his Arbok curled around him; Pryce, the old man sitting back with a Weavile behind him; and a few others that Leo didn't recognize. Victoria was there too, her Oranguru, Sage, sitting behind her as she glared at the head of the table. Surprisingly the old woman with the Bellossom was there as well, said Bellossom sitting on her shoulder while she picked at her fingernails. It made him wonder just who exactly she was, but it was only an idle thought with all the rest of the figures at the table.

Like the Champion himself.

Champion Martin and his Starmie took the head of the table, the weary, balding, middle-aged man looking for all the world like he would rather be anywhere but here. Leo could understand the sentiment.

"You'll be fine," Merri, Professor Oak's Alakazam, spoke in Leo's head. "We are all here with you, and remember that Santiago stands behind you,"

Leo nodded, smiling to himself as he glanced over his shoulder at Santiago, the Slowking staring imperiously down the bridge of his nose at the rest of the table. That, or he was just staring. He'd been a little space-cadet since he evolved, which made sense considering that the speed of his brain functions increased from Slowpoke levels to genius levels in the span of a few seconds. But everyone in the room could have a pokémon out, and there was no one else Leo would rather have out than Santiago. The rest of his team were at the Pokemon Center anyway, getting a thorough checkup in preparation for his inter-regional travel plans. It was…different than the standard healing procedure.

I had no idea I had caused this much of a stir. Leo thought with no small amount of horror. The terrifying thought was not that all these people were here for him, or because of the evolutions in his team. It was that they had already been in Azalea just to watch the battle.

"Let's get this meeting started then," Champion Martin said, squaring his shoulders and looking around the room. Lance refused to meet his gaze, looking over at Agatha instead with a raised eyebrow, though Leo made sure to nod in respect to Martin when he looked at him. Love him or hate him the man was still Champion, and you had to respect that title if nothing else.

"Boy," Agatha rasped, staring at Leo. "What is that ghost you carry?" she demanded.

"Starting with that already you old crone?" Morty asked dryly. "Wait your turn,"

"Do not interrupt me, you Ecruteak upstart!" she snapped, eyes snapping to someone else for the first time since Leo first entered the room. "I was not talking to you,"

"Then don't ask questions you already know the answer to. I sent you all everything my family knows about Spiritomb the moment Champion Martin requested it; you know what the ghost is," Morty scoffed.

"I wouldn't trust an Ecruteak brat to know anything about ghosts. I would much rather hear the boy's thoughts, as ignorant as they may be," Agatha sneered, and Morty bristled.

"You Lavender town hypocrites; you truly believe that just because you've been around ghost types longer than my family that you know more than us? That alone shows how little you actually know," Morty said with no small amount of venom in his voice. Agatha sneered and opened her mouth again when Champion Martin interjected.

"Silence! I did not come here to listen to you two bicker over old grudges; we are all of Indigo, and I expect you to act like it!" he barked, effectively cowing the two ghost-type users. Then he sighed and steepled his fingers, leaning forward to look Leo in the eyes. "We are here to discuss the future of a rather talented young trainer – and to learn all we can about how he got such a powerful team in such a short time," he said.

"Let us start with the Slowking," one of the monks of the Bell Tower said, leaning forward. "For a child to have captured a Slowpoke worthy of Kinghood implies incredible luck, or a guiding hand," at this, the monk's eyes fell on Professor Oak, who bristled at the implication.

"Leo raised Santiago from a baby," Oak said firmly. "He emerged from the Silver Mountains with Santiago in tow, who was a freshly-born Slowpoke at the time, only a few months old. He stayed with Leo after I took him in, and the results are as you can see. Neither I nor Victoria had any hand in raising that pokémon,"

"Then what of the Quilava and the Larvitar? Both are incredibly rare pokémon, the former of which being a starter-class pokémon, while the latter is a pseudo-legendary; while it is commendable that he is capable of exerting such control over such a…bad-tempered species, how did he even come across such a capture? The routes are strictly controlled, there should be no Tyranitar within range of the routes. Not even in Mount Moon," Pryce said, the ice-type gym leader shaking his head.

"Commendable? You seem to underestimate just how bad-tempered a Tyranitar can be. You forget the dragons of the Wataru hold a longstanding grudge with the Tyranitar of the Silver Mountains. We understand their temper better than most. I'd say it's absolutely astounding to see a Youngster capable of controlling one, pre-evolution or not. I'm no fan of the license itself, but Leo here has proven himself more than capable of controlling such a creature. Only the Wataru have proven themselves capable of doing so from a young age, and with a species far more open to human interaction than even the kindest of Tyranitar. Who cares if he was gifted the beast? He clearly has the talent to handle it," Lance said, leaning back in his chair.

"Because it is illegal to gift a rookie trainer with less than five badges a Larvitar," Champion Martin said dryly. "Barring unique circumstances of course, such as those surrounding the Wataru. And Samuel Oak's father did have a Tyranitar on his championship team, which makes the Oak family a plausible source for Leo to have gotten a Larvitar,"

"I can assure you that I did no such thing," Professor Oak said.

"The kid caught her all his own. Diana – her name is Diana, right? – does claim heritage to Tyrus, Grandpa Oak's Tyranitar, but we had no hand in the capture," Victoria said, almost bored.

"So you're saying that Leo strayed off-route to go catch his Larvitar? Tyrus' territory is known to be deep within the Silver Mountains, the closest city to which being a good month away," Pryce said, leaning forward.

"What I'm saying, if I'm saying anything, is that Leo survived six months in Tyrus' territory when he was ten. Alone, without any trained pokémon, and repeatedly ran into the Tyranitar according to his story," Victoria said, picking at her fingernail. Prince, her Persian, licked his paw behind her, tail flicking in annoyance. "Take that as you will,"

"The boy is a survivor," Giovanni said smoothly. "Skilled and capable of controlling pokémon far more powerful than he has any right to. Rather than bicker about whether to punish him, we should nurture that talent,"

"We all know about your Training Initiative, Giovanni. Tell me, how many eight-badge trainers has it produced? One? Two? For all your bluster, talent seems wasted in Viridian. What was that one boy's name? Archer? Where is he now? He had such potential, and yet we have not seen hide nor hair of him for years now," Lance said, leaning forward and grinning savagely at Giovanni, clearly trying to get a rise out of the man.

"He went his own way," Giovanni said smoothly, unperturbed by the jab. "And I, at least, prepare all people for the rigors of Pokémon training and the harshness of the world. Blackthorn may be content to roll over and play submissive to the dragons you claim to train, but I am not," Lance's grin morphed into a scowl, though a steady hand from his Dragonite laid upon his shoulder kept him from doing anything else.

"Back on topic, you're saying that Tyrus, a championship Tyranitar, saw some potential in Leo before he even had any pokémon, and gifted him with a Larvitar?" Martin asked, trying to reign in the conversation.

"I am saying that he caught Diana fair and square; what Tyrus saw in him I cannot say," Victoria said, flinging one arm over the back of her chair.

"I see," the Champion said, locking eyes with Leo. Under the desk Professor Oak grabbed Leo's arm and squeezed it reassuringly, though the Champion quickly looked towards Koga, who leaned in to whisper something in his ear. "And what does Leo have to say about this?" he asked, after listening to Koga. Leo frowned and hesitated, lies held on the tip of his tongue, when Santiago's meaty pink paw laid itself on his shoulder.

He looked up at his partner, who nodded and gently connected with Leo's mind. Then proceeded to blast a single idea into his head at full volume – not having full control over his powers – that boiled down to one word; truth.

"He is right, Leo," Merri said telepathically, confirming Santiago's meaning. "Coming clean would be best, in this case," Leo sighed and ran a hand through his long hair, glanced at Professor Oak who nodded encouragingly, and sighed once again.

"I caught Diana in the middle of the Silver Mountains," Leo admitted. "I entered through route…I don't remember what route, the one that leads right by the gates of the Pokémon League, and hiked in to where I remember waking up in the Mountains. There I spent many months exploring the Onix-caves Tyrus claimed as his home until I finally caught Diana, after which he challenged my team; which consisted only of Santiago and Zuko at the time, and somehow deemed me worthy of training Diana. Then I returned to civilization, and a few weeks later challenged Falkner for my first badge," Leo said, giving them the abridged version. Champion Martin blinked at him, glanced at his Starmie who flashed its gem once, then leaned back in his chair.

Was Starmie there to read him and try to discern truth and lies? That was mildly concerning. Though Leo had left himself open to psychic readings for the meeting; he'd gotten much better at understanding what that felt like. Being dark was a pain at times.

"And did anything else happen in the Mountains?" Giovanni pressed, attention fully focused on Leo. Leo's mind went to the nevermeltice glacier, and the ultra-beast trapped within, then shrugged.

"Do you want the order of events in chronological or alphabetical order? We can start with the Butterfree," Leo said dryly. The old woman with the Bellossom snorted out a laugh, but held her tongue otherwise.

"While you did break the law in regards to a Youngster license, he cannot be punished for the action for it follows the old ways," Koga said, adjusting his scarf. "In my family it is still tradition for a child to tread out into the wilds with nothing but their will and wits to bond with and capture their starting pokémon. We must respect that he caught the Larvitar through his own merit, age notwithstanding,"

"The Wataru start raising their dragons from a young age as well, hell, I hatched my starter when I was ten. The Larvitar may not be his starter, but considering his age it might as well be," Lance added, earning himself a look from Koga. "And trained dragons, at times, can be even more dangerous and unpredictable than wild pokémon,"

"If a live start in Lavender you had better make friends with a ghost, or they might eat you," Agatha added, determined to get her two cents in.

Champion Martin glanced at Koga out of the corner of his eye then looked around the room, meeting everyone's eyes in turn.

"…indeed," he finally relented. "The law of Indigo is with him if that story is true. I will, however, move to keep the true origin of his Larvitar a secret; we do not wish to prompt a wave of foolish trainers heading into the Silver Mountains and getting themselves killed," murmurs of agreement rippled at his statement, Lance shooting Leo a wink and reclining in his chair. Professor Oak patted his shoulder in reassurance.

Leo frowned and sat back in his own chair, listening as the topic of conversation moved away from Diana and moved to Spiritomb. Immediately Agatha started bombarding him with questions, which prompted Morty to intervene, which had Champion Martin laying into them again to get things back on track – and suddenly Leo realized that this meeting wasn't actually about him and his team. They were treating this as an ego-trip, nothing more and nothing less, meant to lord the virtues of their own people above each other.

It pissed Leo off.

"…I doubt the child's capability to control such a chaotic ghost," Agatha rasped, finishing a small rant that Leo had tuned out in the depths of his revelation. "For such a chaotic creature, it needs a far steadier hand than some…twelve-year-old is capable of,"

"That's rich, coming from you. How often do the ghosts of Lavender get too riled up to control?" Pryce barked out a laugh, the pot-bellied old man shaking with mirth.

"Ghosts are not as easy to tame as your ice, Pryce," Agatha snapped. "Which is exactly my point,"

"Kusanagi, the Aegislash of the Bell Tower and the partner first emperor of Ecruteak itself has recognized his talents," the monks of the Bell Tower said, nodding to Leo in respect. Besides Champion Martin, Leo realized, they had been the only ones so far to address him directly. "He should remain in possession of the ghost specifically because we know so little about it, and because he has been entrusted with it by the legendary blade,"

"I would hardly trust an Aegislash to make a competent judgement of skill," Agatha scoffed. "They are manipulative, conniving, and prone to intense bouts of violence. For all we know it is sending the boy to his death," this made the monks of the Tower bristle, but Martin raised his hand to silence them. Agatha, on the other hand, fixated her gaze on Leo and he suddenly realized what it was he saw in her eyes.

Greed. She wanted Spiritomb for her own team, didn't she?

"Despite coming off as far too harsh, Agatha does make a valid argument. No one is doubting the judgement of a millennia-old relic that guided Johto to a prosperous future, we are simply doubting Leo's ability to live up to that expectation," Champion Martin said, soothing the monks with his words. Leo smiled at that, and shook his head as he leaned back. He did have a way with words. "Spiritomb is an unknown, what qualities does he have that could keep it in check?"

"He has the trust of the Trevenant of the Ilex Forest," the old woman with the Bellossom commented idly, inspecting her fingernails while her Bellossom danced on the table in front of her. Silence fell over the table at the statement.

"I don't have the trust of the Trevenant," both Morty and Agatha said at the same time, glaring at each other the moment afterwards.

"That should be telling then, shouldn't it?" the woman replied, not bothering to meet their gaze as she continued to inspect her fingernails. Leo marveled in the silence that followed that no one rose to challenge her words. Just who was she?

"It's true. When I first met Leo in Ilex I had to send the Rangers who accompanied me away as they agitated the Trevenant, who had awoken in response to ill-intent towards his person," Leader Mike said coolly. Champion Martin nodded to him.

"So, the boy has a knack for taming pokémon far above his level, or at least earning their trust, and has shown incredible competency towards training pokémon for a boy his age. My experts rank him at a fifth-badge level, and that is even with spending multiple months in the Silver Mountains. Which, as we all know, are far too wild and dangerous to be considered proper training grounds for anyone below eighth badge level," Champion Martin said, nodding. "The question is, then, what do we do with him?"

"My offer of training still stands," Giovanni said. "Training under a Master of a respective type will aid him regardless of the typing, and his team is sorely lacking in some of the sturdiness that the ground-type can provide. Of course, I would not pass him off into the programs I have set up for the less fortunate – he would be taken in as a gym trainer,"

"A paltry offer," Pryce said with a sneer. "I knew your mother, and I know you. You will let him waste away in that position; anything would be better than allowing him to train with you," Giovanni twitched at the mention of his mother, and turned to face Pryce fully.

"And you could do better?" he countered, expression the picture of calm serenity. "You, who lost to Champion Martin and Champion Layla, his predecessor, in the fight for the title? You, who sits in Mahogany and wastes away, a shadow of better trainers?" That obviously hit a sore spot as Pryce slammed his palms on the table, standing up and glaring at Giovanni.

"Enough," Champion Martin snapped, and Leo looked up at the ceiling and begged the heavens for patience. This was turning into an absolute madhouse. These were the leaders of the Indigo League?

"They do make fair points," Lance said, shrugging. "Though the Wataru would do the best job at training him, rather than Viridian or Mahogany. He has the heart of a dragon, though no dragon on his team. We could shape him into a true trainer, and train him better than any other here," Agatha scoffed, earning Lance's attention. "Tell me, Agatha, how many Champions has Lavender produced? If I recall, you were beat to the title by the Professor, and he retired only a few days after being crowned. Whereas the Wataru have produced dozens; only the Wataru have a consistent track record of producing Champion-level trainers,"

This earned a ripple of discomfort from the Gym Leaders present, and Leo shook his head as the table descended a bit further into arguments. This wasn't about him, like he thought. This was about ego, and lording one faction's power of the other. If Giovanni got to train Leo, that would be a win for his faction, if Lance got his way then the Wataru would have their egos stroked as another potentially powerful trainer went to them for training. Agatha wanted Spiritomb, Leo was sure, and Champion Martin was just playing mediator between these bickering children, unable to make any true decisions.

"I do believe you all are forgetting something," the monks of the Bell Tower said, interjecting into the conversation and effectively silencing the room. Leo actually marveled at the response the room had to their speaking. If his reading of history was right then while the Bell Tower, once the seat of power for the first Emperor of Johto, no longer held any true political power, it still held its own form of influence. "This is not your decision to make. It is his," the monk said, folding her hands inside the sleeves of her robes and nodding to Leo.

"I would not trust him to make the wisest of decisions," Koga said firmly. "He does not have a history of wise decisions, despite an excellent training record,"

"Perhaps they were not wise decisions on paper," the monk allowed. "But when looking at where he has reached now, who can say that it has not done him good? The wisest choices are not always the most logical ones, and he raised a King,"

This seemed to mean something to the rest of the room, and Leo suddenly blinked as the attention was turned back to him. Professor Oak patted his arm beneath the table in support, and Leo took a deep breath.

"My offer still stands. I can provide you with much opportunity to travel and grow," Giovanni said, leaning forward and clasping his hands on the table, looking straight into Leo's eyes. Lance just smirked at him and clasped his hands behind his head as he reclined in his chair, his Dragonite bobbing its head as it looked around the room challengingly.

Leo, on the other hand, stared right back at Giovanni and felt a wave of conflicting emotions run through him. This was a mob boss extending him an offer, and he really wanted to avoid a "made him an offer he couldn't refuse" sort of situation. So how did he decline Giovanni while still soothing whatever pride he had? Without being rude and potentially ticking him off?

Leo bit his lip and hesitated, but his hesitation was cut short by Santiago, who once again laid a hand on his shoulder.

"NO," Santiago boomed, his voice deep and powerful – the first word he had ever spoken aloud. The Slowking met everyone's gaze equally, as if in challenge, and Leo laughed to himself as he looked up at his starter. "NO," he growled out again, and looked down at Leo, nodding to him. It was a simple gesture, but it still reminded him that he was not alone here. He had backing, in the form of the Oaks, and in the form of his team.

"Thanks, buddy, you're right," he said, patting Santiago's paw before turning back to the table. "I decline all of your offers because I want to go to Alola,"

"Alola? What is in Alola that is not here?" Morty said, sounding genuinely confused. The derisive snort that came from Agatha displayed her thoughts on the subject as well.

"Alola," Giovanni said, frowning. "They are not the most…competent battlers,"

"And yet every time Kanto launched a military campaign against them in the past, you were soundly beaten. Let him speak," Victoria snapped, her Persian growling. Giovanni frowned at her but fell silent, allowing Leo to clear his throat.

"It's not what is in Alola that really matters, though I will say I'm looking forward to exploring the islands and meeting all kinds of new pokémon – ok, I think Alola has a lot to offer. But right now? Right now it's what isn't in Alola that is attracting me,"

"And what is that?" Champion Martin asked.

"You all," Leo said bluntly. "Over there I can roam and explore and train to my heart's content. Here I have to watch my every step – even with me trying to keep a low profile and requesting the Gym Leaders to keep my privacy, my team still got out and became a big deal. I could have seriously done without the publicity. And before you ask why; this is why. I don't want to be drug into your politics. Over there I'm just another rookie," Leo shook his head and sighed.

"He makes a valid argument," Koga allowed. "Though it would not do to have him poached by a foreign nation. Indigo needs strong trainers,"

"But at the same time, we do not know his future," Giovanni said, tearing his eyes from Leo. "If we invest too much into him to build him into a powerful trainer and he falls short, that is a waste of time and effort," at this Victoria finally stood up and cleared her throat.

"You forget that I am his sponsor," she said firmly. "Not you. And I was born in Alola. He will go there whether you like it or not,"

"Indeed. The Oaks do have legal custody of Leo, and as a third-badge trainer, Youngster or not, Leo does have the legal right to make his own decision and travel between regions," Leader Mike said, speaking up for the first time. Leo said nothing, and half listened to the conversation as it continued in his favor. This was entirely too much work for something that had already been decided.

"That was painful," Leo said, walking beside the Professor as they left the large conference hall, Merri levitating behind them and psychically conversing with Santiago, who lumbered along unsteadily on his two feet.

"Now you understand why I left the Champion's seat," he said. "It is entirely too much politicking, and far too little spending time with pokémon,"

"Do they always bicker like schoolchildren? Agatha took almost every statement as a personal attack, Morty couldn't let anything she said go, Lance seemed to think the Wataru were the end-all-be-all of training, Pryce was a bitter old man, and Champion Martin seemed to have his hands full keeping them on track," Leo complained. "I can't imagine what a meeting between all the gym leaders and elite four of Indigo is like,"

"Well you handled it admirably. It was mostly just a formality – there was no way they could take your team or force you to do something you didn't want to – but you did well," he said, patting Leo's shoulder. "What do you say we go ahead and return to the ranch? Victoria will be along shortly,"

"I'd like to go visit the Slowpoke Well with Santiago again," Leo said.

"I would advise against it. You've already drawn a lot of attention, if you go to the Well then others might follow you and disturb the Slowpoke with their searching. You evolved a Slowking using a method unknown to the public on live TV; people are asking questions as to how," the Professor reasoned. "Even teleporting you to the Well with Merri is risky – teleports can be traced by other powerful psychic types, to some degree. I would wait until things have calmed down and Santiago has established his power and presence more, until he's become a more established King, if you will, and then return,"

Leo frowned and mulled it over. It made sense, to a degree, and he got the feeling that the Slowpoke of the Well liked their privacy. Their mausoleum may have been forgotten in time by most, but maybe that's the way they liked it? Besides, Santiago was still coming down from his evolution high.

"There is a lot for him to process," Merri mentally supplied, speaking telepathically and turning away from his conversation with Santiago. "He went from a Slowpoke's mind, which is slow and methodical, taking in only the information necessary, to the mind of a genius-level psychic. He can see and process and think so much more that he's coming to terms with the entire universe at once. Taking him to the Slowpokes in such a state would be a mistake,"

"Makes sense, I guess. I'm just impressed he spoke so quickly, even if it was one word," Leo said, nodding along. He did figure that part out himself, but appreciated having his own thoughts confirmed.

"He grew up around humans – there is bound to be some sort of speech recognition already ingrained within him," the Professor said. "Now are you ready to return to Pallet then, or is there something else you need to do?"

"Just need to get my team and my stuff from the Pokemon Center," Leo said.

"Go now, I'll meet you at the Center. I might be a minute, however, as I should probably save Mike and Victoria from the others," Oak said, nodding to Merri and promptly turned on his heel, walking off.

Leo immediately recalled Santiago to save some time and took off towards the Center, avoiding the worst of the crowds and vaguely aware of the stares he was receiving. Maybe it was just his imagination, but it felt like there were plenty of people who were watching him as he walked, even without Santiago by his side. The moment he stepped inside the Pokemon Center, however, his paranoia was proven true when as soon as the first person noticed him walking through the lobby, everyone turned to look at him.

It was utterly terrifying in its own way, and Leo grabbed his backpack from his Center room as quickly as possible, returned his key, received his team from Nurse Joy, and stepped outside as quick as he could and without looking at anyone. Spiritomb whispered happily at his return, having not liked being left alone at all, and Leo spent some time consoling the ghost.

He really needed to work on that with Spiritomb. Leo would like to avoid the ghost developing some sort of separation anxiety.

"Leo," Professor Oak said, appearing through the crowd moving along the busy street with Victoria in tow and catching Leo's attention. The surprising thing, though, was that there was a third person as well. The old woman with the Bellossom, to be exact, though the grass type was nowhere in sight. Leo glanced back to the Professor, whose expression was carefully neutral, while Victoria looked all too smug as she walked next to the old woman. "Layla here would like a word with you,"

"Layla?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow. The name didn't mean anything to him…except in regards to Champion Martin's predecessor…

"Yes, brat," Layla said, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of the pocket of her jeans. She pulled one out and lit it, taking a deep breath and glaring around at the constant throng of people that threatened to push her over. Carefully she stepped closer, scowling at Leo as she looked him dead in the eye. "Layla, the ex-champion of Kanto and Martin's predecessor," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Ex-champion?" Leo parroted, raising his eyebrows and glancing at Victoria. She just grinned at him.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Layla said, taking another drag on her cigarette. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that mess. Hell, I started training when I was ten, don't know what these fools in charge of the League are thinking, getting so worked up about a trainer's age. If I was still Champion I'd beat the crap out of all of them and strip them of their ranks. Especially Agatha – that greedy, conniving woman has no right being an Elite Four member. I fought it for years, keeping her out of the seat, but Martin needed support to supplant me, and that was the price he paid for it," she hissed, shaking her head.

Leo glanced at Professor Oak, who just smiled thinly and shrugged. What exactly was going on here?

"But I'm too old, too tired, too damn sick to be running around kicking ass like I used to. My whole team's dead too, all that's left of me is an old husk waiting to die," she said, taking yet another drag and coughing violently. Leo flinched and almost moved to help her, but she swiftly got herself under control and met his eyes once again, baring her teeth in a feral grin. "Still, I sense some fire in you. More than this idiot Oak has – he would've made a better Champion than me or Martin, had he the guts to stick with it,"

"Yet he's changed the world with his inventions and studies on Pokémon," Leo countered, raising an eyebrow. "He's not just the Champion of Indigo, he's the Pokémon Professor, perhaps the most renowned in all regions," Layla laughed, an unsettling noise that sounded like something was rattling around in her chest.

"That is true, that is true. But I'm not here to complain to you. I'm here to give you a pokémon. Bellossom," she said, producing a pokeball. Leo stiffened and looked at the red and white orb, then narrowed his eyes and looked at her suspiciously. "Don't give me that look, he's the one who wanted it. It's tradition for an ex-champion to give an egg or pokémon to aspiring trainers – unfortunately for you I already gave away an egg and a starter-type pokemon. The two wound up pissing their lives away becoming Coordinators. Bah, as if the brood of my Championship team are fulfilling their potential by playing dress up!" she spat, snarling. Leo frowned.

Well, sure, Coordinators weren't the most popular profession – battling was much more exciting to the masses – but they were far from the worst.

"Bah, listen to me rant. He's the best damn Bellossom I've ever raised, and I'm too damn old to do anything about it. I don't care what you do with him, just take him. He evolved a year ago now, so he's well established in his new body, but he's got room for improvement. Just…don't waste his potential," she said, and tossed Leo the pokeball. He snagged it, fumbling for a moment, then looked up to see her already walking away, coughing into her fist.

"Um," Leo started, but Professor Oak laid a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Let her go," he said. "Just accept it," Leo frowned and looked down at the pokeball, feeling the weight of it.

It was heavy, and not in the physical sense. Leo sighed. Every single pokémon he caught or received seemed to come with strings attached.

The moment Professor Oak teleported them to the ranch – though Merri forgot to cast miracle eye on Spiritomb's keystone, and had to teleport back to fetch it grumbling curses about dark types the whole time – Leo let the rest of his team out, barring Bellossom, and was promptly dog-piled by them.

It was not a pleasant experience to be tackled by a three-foot-tall rock cocoon, a fire weasel, and a giant pink otter-thing but Leo laughed regardless and somehow managed to push them off. Santiago thoroughly slimed him with his tongue of course, the Slowking not having changed that habit, or perhaps still growing out of it, but he at least retreated after a few gentle shoves. Before getting to know Bellossom Leo wanted to spend some time with his team.

"I'll be around if you need me," Victoria said, waving as she walked off followed by the Professor, who looked like he needed a stiff drink as he slowly trudged back to the lab which sat upon a hill a few hundred yards away.

"I will return later, to continue aiding Santiago," Merri promised, the Alakazam levitating mid-air. "I may not be able to alleviate the strangeness he is experiencing, but I may speed the process up. For now, enjoy some time to relax," and then teleported away.

Leo turned towards his team, smiling at Zuko as the ever-energetic Quilava already blurred away, leaping and rolling in the fields behind Professor Oak's lab. Santiago sucked in a deep breath, the gem in his coral crown flashing as he looked up the hill, towards where a familiar red and black Arcanine stood, staring down at the new arrivals. It wagged its tail happily and whuffed, vanishing from sight and reappearing at Santiago's side with a crack of speed, already sniffing the newly evolved Slowking.

Santiago bowed slightly and laid a hand on the Arcanine's head, blank eyes focusing ever so slightly. Leo let him be and turned towards Diana, who looked around with wide, red eyes. She stood upright on the tip of her shell somehow, in a fabulous display of balance, though he was sure the pressurized jets in her shell kept her upright somehow. Even if he couldn't hear them at the moment.

"You ready to try moving again, girl?" he asked, walking over and laying a hand on her armor. She wiggled happily at the touch, squirming and shaking and pressing closer until her entire face was pressed into Leo's chest. The hum of air escaping her shell created deep, resounding vibrations in his chest, almost like a massage. "There's no ceiling for you to crash into this time, so let's try again, ok? Come to me," he said, stepping away and backing up a good ten paces.

The newly-evolved Pupitar stared at him, and suddenly the sound of jet-engines sounded. Leo hit the dirt before she even moved and inch, but his fears were unfounded. She hadn't even shot in the right direction, instead blasting into the air like some sort of misguided rocket, careening through the sky until suddenly she wasn't, tumbling end over end and crashing into the ground in a spray of dirt.

Santiago and Arcanine stopped their greetings to look over, while Leo picked himself up and dusted himself off.

Only to dive to the side as Diana came rocketing past, a spray of dirt following her in a grand rooster tail as her shell drug the ground. Spiritomb hissed in anger, shadows snapping up around him and protecting his arms and face as he dove, snagging a clod of dirt out of the air when it threatened to fall on him.

"DIANA! SLOW DOWN!" Leo hollered, but too late. Her shell caught something in the ground and she flipped end over end, out of control and narrowly missing a fence…only to crash right through a thick pine tree, and wind up somewhere in the forest. "For Hades' sake, DIANA! STAY!" Leo shouted, picking himself up again and watching with horror as the tree fell over, crashing to the ground.

Snapping sounds and the sound of a jet-engine told Leo that Diana either didn't hear him, or didn't care. Though, to his relief, she emerged from the thicket of trees at a much more sedate pace than she had entered at – even if she was rapidly picking up speed, seemingly out of control. Santiago stepped in front of him with a huff, raising his arms in preparation to do…something. He ended up not having to though as Arcanine met Diana halfway, the great orange hound launching himself through the air and planting a single paw on her face, forcing her into the ground. He barked once, loudly, reached down and picked Diana up in his mouth, and happily trotted over to Leo to deposit her at his feet. An impressive show of strength, to be sure.

The Arcanine whuffed proudly, planting one foot on Diana's face, who had the gall to wiggle happily, eyes scrunching up in joy and looking at Leo with an expression of let's do that again! Leo didn't even know Pupitar could be that expressive, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"What am I going to do with you?" he muttered fondly, though there was no heat to it. "Thanks Arcanine, thanks Spiritomb," the great orange hound barked happily in response, licked his face, and then bounded off while Leo spluttered and wiped the drool off.

…ah, right. That's where Santiago got that habit from.

Diana hummed and wiggled again, the movement more akin to rocking back and forth, and Leo shook his head, sitting down next to her and laying a hand on her shell to calm her. Well, it might take some time, but they'd get her new form of locomotion down eventually. He just hoped that it happened before she broke something important. Like the lab. Or him.

Leo sighed as he sat on the back porch of Professor Oak's house down in Pallet Town proper. Santiago stood next to him, eyes glowing as he talked telepathically to Merri, who was in the kitchen washing dishes with Gary. Zuko squirmed and whined, worming his was into Leo's lap and settling as he started to scratch his ears, eyes closing. He was getting too big for that, his butt hanging off the side of the chair as it was. It would certainly be much different for him when he evolved again.

Though Leo had the hunch that Zuko would, somehow, stay a lapdog despite any upcoming evolution.

Spiritomb whispered gently, shadows dancing in the dying light of the sun at its command, forming intricate yet nonsensical shapes. Once again Leo let out a long breath, this time in contentment, and took a sip of his drink, pleased. It had been a good day. He'd played with Gary, Diana made some progress on her movement after their initial failure, and Santiago was…well, still staring off into space, but that was nothing new.

It'd taken Leo a good hour and a half just to get Gary, and by proxy Ash, who had tagged along with the young Oak, to stop talking about his gym battle. Then the two boys had taken to tiring out Zuko, then Leo, then proceeded to climb all over Diana and Santiago like they were their personal jungle gyms. Diana was surprisingly well behaved for it all, and Santiago was used to them so he was fine. And that was the rest of the day. It was cathartic after the meeting with the leaders of Indigo that morning, to just mess around with his team and two kids.

Still, there was one thing left to do. He pulled the pokeball given to him by ex-champion Layla out of his pocket and rolled it around in his palm. The Professor had transferred it to his Trainer profile earlier, so Bellossom was officially his pokémon.

"Ready?" Leo asked Santiago, who glanced at him. For a moment his eyes focused in awareness and he nodded, laying a hand on Leo's shoulder. Leo patted his paw. "Thanks for always being with me, bud," he said, knowing he didn't have to say it – they had a whole connection thing going on just yesterday that caused his evolution – but wanting to anyway.

Then he pressed the release and watched carefully as Bellossom appeared in front of him, twirling into existence and falling into a bow towards Leo.

"Sloow," Santiago mumbled, raising himself to full height.

"Bell!" Bellossom cried happily, waving at Santiago. "Ossom!" the Slowking waved back, and Zuko slid off of Leo's lap to pad over to Bellossom, inspecting him with a sniff. Bellossom giggled and patted Zuko's head, much to the Quilava's surprise and amusement. Spiritomb poked one eye out of Leo's pocket, dark tendrils swirling up and around Leo, stretching out in an eldritch display as if to grasp the grass-type.

Bellossom, however, was unperturbed, and grabbed one tendril to shake it like a hand. Leo was surprised at the gesture, and Spiritomb equally so if the way it retracted its tendrils was any indication. Bellossom looked around a bit more, then turned to Leo and cocked his head to the side questioningly. Leo shook his head.

"Diana's in her pokeball. She's been way too excited about her evolution, if I let her out now she'll cause a ruckus," he said. Bellossom nodded sagely. "So. Layla said you wanted to come with me? Just so you know we won't be staying here; I'll be leaving for a far-off region soon. Strange pokemon, strange lands…lots of strange and new stuff," Leo said. This, if anything, just seemed to excite Bellossom, as he nodded enthusiastically.

Then he did something…strange. Whipping a leaf from his little skirt – was it a skirt or a kilt, since he was male? Thoughts for later, Leo figured – Bellossom laid it lengthwise along his palms, knelt in the grass, and bowed his head as if presenting something. Leo cocked his head to the side in confusion, not sure what the symbolism was for. Santiago nudged him, urging him on and, bemused, Leo bent down from his position in his chair to gently accept the leaf.

"Thanks," he said, picking it up and flipping it over in his hands. Bellossom stood with a happy twirl and chattered excitedly as he carefully climbed down off of the porch to go exploring in the Professor's backyard, walking amongst the grasses. Leo watched him go then glanced at Santiago, who shrugged. "Odd. I'll need to think of a name for him though; what's a good name for a male Bellossom?" he said, leaning back in his chair. He'd stick with the theme of naming his pokemon after fictional characters, but who would be good for a…well, a flower child?

Thoughts for later, Leo decided eventually, leaning back in his chair and watching the sun set. Now was time to relax and just…enjoy life.

Enjoy life Leo did, in the last few days he spent at the Oak ranch. Sure, there was the odd reporter and the odd trainer that came to try to interview or challenge Leo in battle – sometimes both at the same time – but most were turned away by Oak's pokemon or Leo himself. He had no desire to answer more interviews, or do anything like that. A part of his brain whispered that he should answer those interviews to try and reach out to his friend Jack, in hopes of some news from Indigo reaching Unova, but the rest of him said not to bother. He was just some punk, he didn't want or need the publicity, and it wouldn't travel that far. Unova was a distant region, perhaps the furthest away from Indigo out of all the regions.

He did, however, find out a name for Bellossom. During his morning training routine Bellossom had taken to dancing with him. With Diana unable to mimic Leo at the moment, though she did tend to watch from the sidelines, wiggling her shell back and forth in time to Leo's movements, he appreciated the company. And on the third day of their new routine Bellossom did something new.

He pulled a leaf off of his skirt, brandished it like a sword, and began to dance. Leo paused as he watched the Bellossom move, twisting and twirling on the ground with the leaf trailing green energy – in a leaf blade, he'd later come to realize – as he whipped it through the air tracing intricate designs. Embarrassingly enough that hadn't been enough for Leo to realize he was actually using the leaf blade like a sword – it wasn't until Bellossom cajoled him into practicing with him, and stuck a branch in Leo's hands to imitate a sword, that it clicked for Leo.

He was a little swordsman, and needed a swordsman's name.

Leo debated on names like Beowulf, Aragon, Zolo, Ichigo, Arthur, or even Muramasa – but eventually decided against them and settled on Link. The green motif of Link fit Bellossom the most out of the possibilities Leo could think of, and he wanted to keep the theme of naming his pokemon out of fictional characters. Though come to think of it, he had yet to nickname Spiritomb, didn't he…? Thoughts for later. At least Bellossom approved, after Leo explained what the name Link meant to the little grass-type.

All too soon however, his time at Pallet came to an end. He stood outside the Oak household with all his stuff packed into his backpack and a small suitcase, smiling at Gary, the Professor, and even Ash, who had come to see him off with Gary. Victoria stood beside him, one hand on her Braviary's pokeball as she waited for the fair wells to finish.

Gary looked like he was going to cry, though the stubborn boy hid it well. The Professor had a smile plastered on his face, one that Leo couldn't see through. Ash looked sleepy – the messy black-haired boy was rubbing his eyes tiredly. Leo was honestly surprised he was up this early, the sun was only just starting to rise after all.

"Thanks again, Professor," Leo said. "I'll make sure to call every once in a while,"

"Make sure you do. And don't go causing too much trouble in Alola – not that there's much trouble to cause," the Professor chided with a wink.

"There's more than you think," Victoria said bluntly, though her teasing grin told what she really thought.

"Indeed. But do call, remember to upload your pokedex data every once in a while, and if you ever have any questions feel free to ask. You'll do alright, Leo," the Professor said, stepping forward and wrapping Leo in a hug before he could protest. Then he released him and Leo just smiled, tamping down the awkwardness he felt.

"You better be ready," Gary said, puffing up his chest. "I'll get my Youngster's License next year, and then I'll stomp you and your team flat,"

"Yeah!" Ash chirped in agreement, immediately perking up at the idea of becoming a trainer. Leo just snorted out a laugh, stifling another at the Professor's eye roll.

"Nah, you won't. They're going to repeal the Youngsters License before that. You, little Gary, still have a few more years to go before you're a trainer," Leo said – and something in his chest twisted at that idea. Gary, a trainer? He knew that the anime probably exaggerated things, and the games were, well, games, but…there was a lot that happened there. Many things. Dangerous things to come. Leo shoved those thoughts to the side for the moment, not wanting to dig himself into that rabbit hole for the moment.

"Well, I'll still stomp you flat. I'll take the title of Champion from you," Gary said, crossing his arms. Leo laughed at him.

"Sure thing, Gary, sure thing," he said, shaking his head and not even really sure he wanted to be Champion. Sounded like a lot of work, and a lot of problems to deal with. An image of Layla, Lance, and Champion Martin flashed through his mind and he glanced at the Professor, who was just smiling at the discussion.

"Aren't you going to give it to him?" Oak pressed, nudging Gary. The sandy-blonde haired boy blinked then flushed as he turned and darted back into the house without another word. Leo raised an eyebrow at the Professor quizzically. "He wanted to give you a present. To help you look cooler, he said. Thinks the dancing and flute playing on Bellossom leaves is too cutesy for you," the Professor said, no small amount of humor in his voice.

Moments later Gary came running out of the house carrying a very familiarly shaped case, presenting it to Leo who took it with raised eyebrows.

"Is this a guitar?" he muttered, unzipping the black leather case and revealing the acoustic guitar contained within. The wood was dark and the strings were fine; it looked like a good instrument. But Leo knew nothing about guitars, so he couldn't really say. Nothing at all.

"It's cooler than a flute," Gary asserted, crossing his arms and giving Leo a critical look up and down. The ten – or, well, he was eleven now, wasn't he? – year old boy snorted. "You need to think about your image more now that you're becoming a popular and powerful trainer. All trainers have their flair – and you were on the news yesterday. Someone released a video of you playing with Bellsprout at the Sprout Tower, which then led to another releasing a video of you playing a song for a variety of grass types – I don't know where, looked like in the National Park. And guitars are cooler than flutes – it'd fit your team theme better,"

"Team theme?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You have a future Typhlosion, a future Tyranitar, a Slowking, and a crazy scary ghost type. That is awesome and intimidating. Shredding the guitar will make you look like you fit in with your team more than a flute will," Gary said, nodding as if that made perfect sense. Leo found that hard to believe.

He just couldn't see any of his team – besides Spiritomb – as intimidating. Even Diana, she was too cute and he honestly expected her to be the same loving creature she was as a Larvitar. It was in her nature.

"Professor, what have you been teaching this kid? He's too young to be talking like this," Leo accused, pointing at Gary. The Professor laughed and ruffled Gary's hair, much to the younger boy's annoyance. No eleven-year-old talked like that, analyzing things like unique flair. Most boys that age were idiots. This must be the Oak genius gene starting to show.

"He's certainly above average for his age," the Professor said carefully. "But he's still got growing to do," Gary scowled, and Leo shook his head.

"Well, thanks Gary. I really appreciate it, I wasn't expecting anything like this," he said, zipping the guitar back up and slinging it over his shoulder. "I'll send you some souvenirs from Alola – I'm sure they've got tons of cool stuff you'll love," Gary just huffed and nodded.

"Be sure you do," he said. "And when you catch a new pokémon, or better yet, before you do, tell me what you're planning so I can tell you whether it's good or not. Mew knows you don't understand what is and isn't powerful, with a Bellossom now on your team. Vileplume is much better, competitively," he protested, and Leo laughed. Victoria tapped him on the shoulder and jerked her head, releasing her Braviary. It was time to go.

So Leo said his final farewells, giving Gary a hug, patting Ash on the head, and giving the Professor one last hug before jumping aboard Victoria's Braviary. With a few mighty flaps the bird lifted into the air, taking him and Victoria to Viridian City so they could catch the next flight to Alola.

It gave Leo time to think, as he stared at the Silver Mountains off to his left. That little interaction with Gary there at the end, when he was talking about becoming a trainer, worried him. He'd had a grand old time on his journey so far – the only issues he'd honestly run into – besides Froslass nearly killing him and Spiritomb being a jerk – came from humans. He couldn't help but be worried, especially since he had some idea of the future. Would Lance be a good champion? What was Giovanni going to do? Or, what about Mewtwo? That was a problem he hadn't though of yet.

Leo sighed, shaking his head and watching the trees pass by beneath them. I guess I'll just have to train hard enough that such things aren't as much of a problem anymore. There's nothing I can do about it now – I even told Professor Oak about Giovanni and Team Rocket and the man still has his Gym Leader position. That should show how good he is at hiding his tracks. He thought, and after shaking away the dark thoughts, smiled. It's a good thing that exploring and journeying counts as training. And that I find training fun, for the most part. Ah, Alola, what wonders await me there? Leo's thoughts began to drift towards Tapu's and legendaries, of all kinds of crazy adventures he might have.

But not before one last thought drifted through his mind, the last thought of Indigo before he left the region to explore, and train, and satisfy his wanderlust. Well, if all else fails and my faith in the League is shaken, I could always become Champion. Gods forbid, please, don't make be become Champion.

Chapter Text

Leo woke to the sounds of rain hitting palm tree leaves, and with a yawn he sat up to look outside his little shelter. The sun was just starting to rise in the distance, where the skies were clear, while rain dropped from the dark grey clouds overhead, providing a crisp chill to the usually incredibly humid air. The smell of rain filled his nostrils and he let out a content sigh, stretching out on his bed of palm leaves.

Two months he had been here, and he'd spent all but three days out in the wilds of Alola. And wasn't that something he hadn't really been expecting – wilderness. Truthfully Leo had been expecting something like Hawaii; a chain of islands that were relatively large, but nothing too big. He expected to be able to hike across Melemele Island in a day – but no. The islands were big, big enough that it took Leo a full week to cross from one end to the other, and sparsely populated enough that he could go hide in the dense jungle without seeing anyone for a while. Unless he sought them out.

"Ready to get up and at 'em, bud?" Leo asked rhetorically, gently pushing the still-sleeping Zuko away from his legs and rolling off of his sleeping mat, crouching in the low-hanging ceiling of his shelter and dusting off the dirt and twigs that stuck to him.

"Bell!" Link called, wandering in from outside and dripping from the rain. In his little hands he carried a small wooden bowl Leo had carved himself filled with berries and a few multi-colored pokebeans; his breakfast for the day.

"Right on time as always," Leo praised, popping one of the beans in his mouth and biting down. It hard, dry, and had little flavor, but they were excellent sources of nourishment and as such were perfect survival food. Link nodded and set the bowl down, twirling once then wandering back out from the small shelter – well, Leo says small. It was large enough for him, Zuko, Diana, and even Santiago when he felt like it to lay under comfortably. The roof was built of thick tree limbs to hold everything together and multiple layers of palm leaves, tilted so water would run off rather than gather on the roof.

It'd taken trial and error to get it properly done, but after a week and two good rainstorms he'd figured it out. Still had a bit of a wind problem, but it wasn't bad considering the shelter was built in a decent grove of trees that protected from most of the wind.

"Today's the day we need to go back to town to give Professor Oak a call, right? To check in? I'm sure Samson would appreciate us checking in too, y'know, to make sure we're still alive and all that," Leo reasoned aloud, munching on his breakfast and staring out into the world. His shelter was built atop a small hill, just high enough that he could see the glittering blue ocean just over the tops of the palm trees. A sailboat with neon orange sails slowly cut its way across the water, only visible as a bright orange dot.

"Quil," Zuko replied with a yawn, stretching and blinking at Leo. Leo nodded.

"Yeah, we've had a few lazy days recently. Some battles with actual trainers and a nice hike will do us some good. Today we head back to town; now I just have to round everyone up," Leo said, finishing off his breakfast and putting on some clothes. Really he only put on his shorts – as filthy as they were from two months out in the dirt and wild – and slid out into the now-drizzle. This kind of weather was actually common in Alola – where it was raining one place, but just over the next hill or just off in the distance the sun was shining and the skies were blue.

Link stood off to the side, spinning and dancing in the rain with a giant grin on his face. Leo smiled as he watched, having decided to take the day off of training himself – off days were important – but after a few moments put a move on. He grabbed his teams pokeballs and slid them into his pockets along with Spiritomb's keystone, patting each one to make sure they were all there.

Diana was already recalled, having not wanted to stay out in the rain. Plus she was usually too restless to sleep the entire night anyway…

Who knew that a rock cocoon could be so lively?

"Zuko, Link, with me. Let's go find Santi," Leo whistled, waking Zuko up – who stretched and yawned, and breaking Link out of his routine. The little grass type happily trotted over to Leo and held his hands up in a demand to be lifted, a demand he complied with, bending down and picking him up to set on his shoulder.

"Bell!" Link cried pointing his arm towards the ocean dramatically.

"I'm going, I'm going. Man, I feel like your steed or something," Leo chuckled, whistling for Zuko, who darted forward ahead of him and disappeared into the undergrowth.

There wasn't much moving in the jungle yet thanks to the rain, though Leo figured that would rectify itself soon. By the time he had reached the beach, where Santiago usually liked to hang out, the drizzle had slowed to become almost non-existent, leaving the plants wet and shining in the early morning light. Santiago himself stood at the edge of the water, looking out over the waves with his arms clasped behind his back.

Leo suppressed a laugh as he snuck up, carefully pushing through the last of the jungle growth and bare feet making no noise in the soft, wet sand.

"Whatcha doin'?!" he called loudly right next to Santiago, slapping his shoulder and making the Slowking jump. Leo cackled and danced backwards as his starter whirled on him, one paw swinging to try and cuff him on the back of the head. "You left yourself wide open, bud," he said, grinning.

Santiago huffed and snorted in annoyance, but Leo could still see the smile on his face so he counted that as a win.

"Plan is to head back to town today. I've had my fun, and we need to check in with the Professor again. Probably see about hitting the island challenge soon as well; you and Diana have had plenty of time to get used to your new power and bodies," Leo said. Santiago nodded, closing his eyes and heaving a breath. "Don't give me that, we can't have lazy days all the time. Besides, there's plenty of island to explore! Not to mention other islands to see, and a thousand watering holes to go fishing in. That, and we've got so many fights to pick,"

Santiago hesitated for a split second, and Leo knew that he'd hooked his partner. If there was one way to get him to go anywhere, it was with the promise of battle and fishing. He loved it, and it was quite the sight to see a Slowking holding a fishing pole, luring fish to bite the lure with his psychic powers.

That part was absolutely cheating, but hey. It meant they ate fresh fish almost every day. Magikarp and Goldeen tasted good. And so did Tentacool, actually. They were a little harder to eat because Leo had to carefully extract the poison sacs – he had a book the described the process and showed pictures, a surprisingly simple process once you figure it out – but afterwards? Oh, Leo had forgotten how much he missed calamari, even if it wasn't fried. Granted, a few times they'd caught feral pokemon – the intelligent kind of pokemon, not "domestic" which were animal-levels of intelligence and used as food sources – and Leo had to toss them back, but that was to be expected.

It was surprisingly simple to tell the difference between feral and domestic 'mon. The feral ones typically were bigger, stronger, and had a certain…look in their eyes. Personality, intelligence. That sort of thing.

"Yes," Santiago said slowly, enunciating the word carefully. Leo slapped him on the shoulder.

"Great, let's get going then. We've pretty much got everyone rounded up now," Leo said with a grin. Santiago nodded, and Leo immediately turned and headed back up to his camp. It only took a half hour for him to get everything reorganized and to tear down his makeshift shelter – he didn't intend to really return, and it had served its purpose – slinging his backpack over his shoulder and grabbing the guitar Gary gave him, stored safely in its case and wrapped in a plastic trash bag just to be sure, before heading off in the direction of Iki town. Santiago lumbered along behind him through the jungle, Zuko romping ahead chasing after Cutiefly and various non-pokemon bugs, while Link walked a little way ahead of Leo. The Bellossom occasionally bent to pick up a stick that caught his interest, or to sniff a flower. But he never strayed too far, and always looked ready to act if the need arose.

It was maybe an hour into the hike that Leo started frowning at the rapidly darkening sky, the clouds having returned with a vengeance and rumbling with thunder. He was still a good two to three hours away from Iki town, his camp had been set up somewhere off of route one, not too far from the Kala'e Bay – or so he figured, he was still figuring out the layout of the island– and didn't want to get caught out in the rain again.

He was still wary about storms, and this one seemed to have whipped itself up out of nowhere.

"If it starts dumping I'll need to return Zuko," Leo muttered, Spiritomb whispering in agreement. With a grunt he stepped over a bush and pushed aside some dense leaves, revealing a small clearing filled with dense green grass. Zuko stood just at the edge next to Link, sniffing the air curiously as Leo admired the view…for a split second.

Before he even had time to think a yellow flash of light blinded him, the crack of thunder setting his ears to ringing as he stumbled backwards with a yelp of pain. He hissed and blinked away spots, shaking his head to clear it – his sight and hearing returning with surprising speed, revealing the shadowy tendrils of Spiritomb swirling around him protectively and the meadow itself now ruined from the lightning strike. Or, more importantly, the pokemon responsible for said lightning strike.

Lightning crackled around the outside of the Tapu's yellow and black shell. With deliberate slowness it cracked open, revealing the slim orange body of the legendary pokémon and piercing eyes that bore right into Leo, who swallowed thickly. With a mighty shriek the Tapu shoved its arms apart and burst with power, electricity racing across the meadow, wreathing the ground in lightning. Its intentions could not be clearer as it give Leo and his pokémon – who had stepped forward protectively – a challenging look. It danced back and forth in anticipation, bouncing like a boxer before a fight.

"BATTLE," he demanded in a voice like booming thunder, rattling through the trees. Zuko growled, his back-fires flaring. Santiago growled, water building up in the back of his throat. Link whipped one of his leaves from his skirt and held it like a sword, and Spiritomb hissed.

Leo, on the other hand, just stared at the Tapu incredulously. There was no way it had waited until he was ready to battle seriously – until Diana and Santiago were used to their evolutionary forms – to reveal itself, just so it could fight him. Could it?

"You didn't really wait until we were all ready to battle to come here, did you?" Leo asked. The Tapu paused in his dancing to cock his head to the side curiously, then nodded happily.

"YES," he said. "NOW BATTLE ME, MOON-TOUCHED OTHERWORLDER,"

"For the love of – fine, fine! You all up for a fight?!" Leo shouted, letting Diana out of her pokeball. His team responded in the affirmative and Tapu Koko made a happy noise.

"GOOD! COME, ALL OF YOU!" he cried.

And all hell broke loose.

"Sunny day!" Leo ordered, and Zuko flared up as Link knelt, focusing their powers to create a ball of heat and light that floated between the two of them. Tapu Koko whirred, electricity crackling off of his form and blasting out in a massive wave – only for an entire section of it to be blocked by Diana, caused a spire of rock to burst from the ground, absorbing part of the attack. Santiago closed his eyes, gem flashing as psychic energy built up. Whatever he was planning, Leo left him to it.

The Tapu wasn't still after his attack was blocked, crashing through the rock with his shield-like arms and sending stones flying towards his team – stones that were mostly grabbed mid-air by a psychic from Santiago and sent hurtling back towards the Tapu, cracking against his shell with such force the stones shattered. Diana shot forward to intercept with the roar of a jet engine, but was knocked away when the Tapu violently spun, redirecting her momentum and sending her crashing through the jungle.

That small diversion was enough for Zuko and Link to finish charging up their sunny day, and as Santiago blasted Tapu Koko with a wave of psychic force and Spiritomb spat a shadow ball at him, the glowing ball of heat shot into the sky. The clouds instantly cleared, chased away by the intense heat of the false sun, and Zuko and Link blurred into action. Fire washed over the Tapu's shields and Link leapt in front of a thunderbolt aimed at Santiago, soaking up the worst of the damage with a grimace.

"Diana! Unbalance!" Leo bellowed over the sounds of combat, hoping she could hear him. His command was answered swiftly and with extreme prejudice, spires of stone bursting from the ground and knocking Tapu Koko to the side, knocking his shields apart long enough for Leo and the legendary to lock eyes once again.

There was no mistaking the unbridled glee in his eyes. The Tapu was enjoying this.

"All out! Beat him down!" Leo roared out in command. Attacks surged on the Tapu, Santiago prying his shields apart with sheer psychic force and an audible grinding of his teeth; Zuko immediately peppering him with embers and swift stars and a massive sunny-day powered heatwave; Diana came hurtling out of the jungle at full speed, intent on body-checking Tapu Koko; Spiritomb unleashed its tendrils, slapping at the legendary's exposed body; and Link began to sling solarbeams, swinging his leaf like a sword and unleashing screaming blasts of light from the tip.

Tapu Koko weathered the attacks for the few moments it took Diana to approach…then blurred into action. Suddenly he was above Diana, one shield bashing her into the ground with such force she left a crater. Leo didn't even have time to curse as the Legendary sped forward, smacking his shield into Zuko with a burst of yellow lightning, knocking him out with a single blow.

Leo fumbled for Zuko and Diana's pokeballs as the legendary sped forward, tanking another psychic from Santiago before smacking him with his shield and a thunderbolt for good measure. To his credit, Santiago did not fall from that. He skidded backwards, gem flashing brilliantly as he bellowed out in rage and defiance against the legendary, who screeched back with glee.

Link interrupted him, darting forward as a little green blur, sliding into Tapu Koko's guard with a leaf blade coming to bear, intent on striking him…only to be blasted away by a massive discharge, knocking out Santiago and sending Link flying away. Spiritomb hissed in anger as its shadows swirled around Leo, shielding him from the few stray bolts of lightning that came too close for comfort.

"Return!" Leo said, shocked by the sudden destruction of his team. Santiago, Zuko, and Diana were all returned swiftly, but Link slowly stood from where he had fallen to the ground. "Link," Leo started, and a small glance from the grass-type told him everything he needed to know. Any hesitation was swallowed, and Leo locked eyes with Tapu Koko, who was bouncing back and forth like an excitable child.

"Show him what you're made of," he said, and Link was off. Bolts of lightning struck from the Tapu at Link, who shouted in defiance and spun quickly, whipping up a storm of leaves and petals that deflected the worst of the electric attack. All the while he glowed with a healing light, the rays of the sunny day strengthening his synthesis.

"Solar blade!" Leo commanded, and Link whipped his leaf blade to the side as he charged, leaping into the air, up over the Tapu, and swinging down with his leaf blade to unleash a slashing line of burning solar energy that struck the legendary and made him stumble. Link couldn't actually use solar blade, but they'd come up with the leaf blade/solar beam combo regardless.

The Tapu whirled and bashed with his shield but Link spun away, kicking off of his shield to get some distance. He continued to back up when he landed, dancing across the ground in a quiver dance all while the petal blizzard raged about him.

"GOOD!" the Tapu roared, and Leo knew it was over for Link. The scent of ozone filled the air and Link squeaked out his best imitation of a roar in defiance, charging the biggest solar beam Leo had ever seen him make in a matter of seconds. But the high-powered attack was no match for the legendary pokemon's power, a streak of lightning bursting from his body and blasting straight through the solar beam, knocking Link unconscious. Leo returned him, thanked him for his hard work, and turned his attention back to the Tapu.

He still had one pokemon left, and Spiritomb was ready and raring to go.

…though he said that, Spiritomb wasn't actually attacking, and hadn't been for a moment yet. The ghost hovered around Leo protectively, hissing and screeching at the legendary pokemon even as its ectoplasmic body roiled and twisted, seemingly caught in indecision.

Attack, or protect Leo? He could almost feel that question burning in his connection with the ghost – something that, most days, just faded into the background anymore.

"YOU…ARE NOT WHOLE," the Tapu boomed, cocking his head to the side curiously as he stared at Spiritomb. "THIS BROKEN CREATURE. WHERE DID YOU FIND IT?"

Leo scowled at the Tapu.

"Spiritomb isn't broken. I met Spiritomb at the Burned Tower, if you know what that is. A sacred building built for Lugia by humans. A…friend asked me to help it, and I've been trying to," Leo said, patting his pocket where Spiritomb's keystone resided.

"I WILL NOT FIGHT IT, IF IT IS NOT ITSELF YET. STILL TOO MANY VOICES. HEAL IT," the Tapu said. "HELP IT FIND ITS TRUE FORM. THEN COME FIGHT!" Leo scowled at the legendary as he puffed his chest out proudly, the plume of feathers on his head fluffing themselves.

"Sure, yeah, maybe, if you answer some questions for me," Leo demanded. The Tapu cocked his head to the side and deflated a bit. "Don't look at me like that, Lunala dropped me off in the middle of the mountains with no explanation. Then you come by, decimate my team, and I still have no answers. I even met Celebi, and she didn't give me any real answers besides showing me a vision of the future! I've got a good friend out there and haven't been able to contact him either! So please, please, give me some help here,"

"I DO HELP. A LITTLE. YOU NEED STRENGTH. OTHERWORLDERS MIGHT SENSE YOU, COME FIGHT YOU. I TEST, YOU TOO WEAK. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO DO, WHO TO SEEK. MEET THE MOON AND SUN. LEARN THE DANCE," the Tapu boomed. Spiritomb hissed as he bent his head and swung one shield-arm forward, tossing up a spray of dust. In that spray was a glittering object, and Leo snatched it out of the air as it passed harmlessly through Spiritomb's shadows. Then, with a cry and a crackle of electricity, the Tapu shot into the sky and vanished, dispersing the sunny day before vanishing into the sky. Leo stared up at the sky for a moment, then glanced down at the stone in his hands.

It sparkled, unrefined and dirty though it was. He really hoped this was what he thought it was, even if he was still supremely annoyed at the Tapu.

Man, he thought he was getting stronger too. That battle put things into perspective for him.

"C'mon, Spiritomb, let's go to Iki town. After that battle everyone needs some healing," Leo said, then paused as he surveyed the battlefield. What was once an idyllic clearing in the jungle was now a mess of torn-up ground and scorched plants.

All that destruction, and they had hardly managed to put a scratch on the Tapu.

"I think their egos are going to be more bruised than their bodies, however," Leo said with a rueful chuckle. Spiritomb joined him in the small laugh as he started walking again, Leo thanking the Tapu mentally for at least showing some restraint in beating his team.

Though that thanks was mostly overshadowed by his cursing and grumbling at the legendary for being vague, and for picking a fight in the first place.

He still had a lot of jungle to walk through.

Iki town was an old town, with hints of the modern. Most of the homes were traditional Alolan – wooden buildings with roofs made of palm fronds layered atop each other. The few modern buildings were mostly quality of life things – the clinic for example, as well as the small police station. But as for the three restaurants and the grocery store? All traditionally Alolan, albeit with a few modern amenities stored away inside. They kept ahold of their traditions, but didn't deny that technology just made things so much easier.

The coolest things about Iki town, however, was that it was built around the pokemon battling arena at the center of town. With how much importance the Alolan people placed on battling, it made sense in a way. In fact, as Leo walked through one end of the town towards the other, where the clinic was located, he noticed at least three different pokemon battles all happening at once. Two were on little side-streets and were just casual battles, kids fighting with Yungoos and Rattatta, but the third was more serious. Two teenagers battled on the large arena in the center of town, watched over by their elders, their two bird pokemon duking it out.

Leo watched them for a few minutes before moving on towards the clinic so he could get his team healed, and make a video call to the Professor. While it wasn't a pokémon center, and thereby not held to the same standards as the Joys, it was still excellent.

Alola had gotten on fine without the Joys for centuries – in fact, they only started allowing true pokemon centers to be built on their islands in the past twenty years, when globalization really started to become a thing. Places like Iki town stuck to their roots and local healers. Not a bad thing, really, and the services were relatively cheap.

So he left his team with the medical staff on duty, save for Spiritomb who was still ok, and proceeded to hop on the video phones located off to the side, much like a pokemon center. They were dated, but they did do inter-regional calls so that was good enough. It took a good five minutes for the call to connect with Professor Oak, who looked bleary-eyed and tired. Leo stared for a moment, mentally calculating the time-difference, and frowned when he recalled that it was eight o'clock in the morning in Kanto compared to mid-afternoon here. The Professor was usually up and about at this time and had been for hours – he looked far too tired for just that.

"How are you, Professor?" Leo asked cheerily, despite his confusion over the Professor's disheveled state.

"Ah, Leo. I was wondering who this was. How are you?"

"Good, just calling to check in. Santiago and Diana have finished acclimating to their evolutions, so I figured I'd try to start the Island Challenge now. Any ideas where to start for that? I was going to ask your cousin Samson too, but I wound up calling you first," Leo said.

"Other than talking to the Kahunas, I haven't the faintest idea. How is my dear cousin by the way? Seen him recently?" he asked, a little bit of life returning to his face at the line of questioning.

"Not really. I've stopped by to say hi a few times since I got here but for the most part I've been running about in the jungle like a wild child," Leo said, shaking his head. The Professor grinned as the video feed flickered slightly, distorted by the distance.

"You know, he told me when I first mentioned you coming to Alola that he was going to put you in his school and give you an education. He gave me quite the earful about allowing you to ditch school so much when you were younger – and as strange as it is for me to say, it does give me a small measure of satisfaction that you've done the same to him," he said with a chuckle.

"Now that you mention it," Leo said slowly, rubbing his chin. "I do remember him saying something like that when I first got off the plane. Didn't really give it much thought – I was busy watching a Toucannon," Oak laughed, shaking his head fondly.

"Of course you were. Either way you won me a bet with my cousin," he grinned, and Leo grinned back.

"How's Victoria?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Good, or as good as can be expected. You watched her Champion match, right?" he asked, and Leo nodded. That had been televised, and he had returned to civilization for a full day just to watch it. Every other time he'd stopped by civilization for a few hours, he'd still spent the night sleeping outside; for Victoria's match he had slept in a pokémon center on the other side of the island, near Route 3. "Well after winning her match and earning herself the Champion title – not of Indigo, as I'm sure your aware, she just proved herself to be worthy of being a champion tier trainer – and after Lance's subsequent victory and election to become the new Indigo Champion, she had a few ceremonies to attend and whatnot. It's not fun for her, but she should be done soon. After that she'll come to Alola, but it might be a week or two more," the Professor said.

Leo nodded in acceptance. That made sense at least. The battle itself had been pretty intense, to say the least. Martin had been Champion for a reason, and his Starmie was an absolutely insane powerhouse, especially with recover keeping it in play for such a long time. But Victoria was Victoria, and bulldozed her way through all of Martin's tactical schemes…in much the same way that Lance had beaten Martin, come to think of it. Raw power could go a long way.

"Any other news?" Leo asked, once that line of conversation had died down.

"No, not really. Professor Juniper still hasn't been able to contact either your songwriter friend or Roxie for some reason – I'll let you know if there are any updates. She did hear that there's talk about Roxie going on another international concert tour, but that's about it. What about you?" Professor Oak asked.

Leo shrugged, then rubbed the back of his neck, hiding his disappointment at the lack of news regarding Jack. "Well, I got my butt kicked by Tapu Koko earlier today. Then he gave me this," Leo said, producing the shining stone from his pocket and showing it to the camera. Spiritomb hissed as he jostled the keystone with his movement, and Professor Oak's brows furrowed.

"I cannot say I exactly know what that is…is that Kahuna Hala?" Oak asked, suddenly looking at something behind him. Leo blinked and turned around, immediately spotting the rotund man in a yellow floral jacket and with white hair striding towards him. Leo vaguely remembered Kahuna Hala looking similar to that in the games…well, this made things much easier.

"Did I just hear you right? The Tapu battled you?" the old Kahuna said, eyes fixated on Leo.

For once, Leo was glad that the video phones in this particular clinic weren't private. He hadn't been quite sure how he wanted to approach the Kahuna about starting the island challenge yet – Indigo didn't seem to have the best reputation in other regions, and they'd fought multiple wars in trying to conquer Alola. It wasn't always as simple as asking to challenge another league, though the Alolan people had been remarkably accommodating so far. But, so long as the stone Tapu Koko had given him actually was a Z-crystal, that should expedite things.

"Alola, Kahuna Hala," Leo said formally, trying and failing to do the little hand gesture thing. "Yes, that is what I said. My team is currently being treated,"

"I'm sorry, I hope he wasn't too harsh on your team," Hala said with a weary sigh, rubbing his temples as his shoulders slumped. "Our Tapu is a fickle beast – for the past two months he's been running about battling just about every trainer that caught his eyes, which was an unfortunate many. Hopefully he'll calm down soon,"

I get the feeling he's much calmer now, Leo thought icily, not voicing that the reason the Tapu had been so restless was most likely because of him. That would be difficult to explain, and was just a thought anyways. Tapu Koko seemed flighty to begin with.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you were on the phone, forgive me. I am Kahuna Hala, the Kahuna of Melemele Island," the Kahuna said, leaning over Leo and putting his face in the camera. Leo blinked in surprise and leaned back, a little miffed that he had just butt in like that.

"Hello again, Hala. It's been a while," the Professor greeted, seemingly unperturbed.

"Ah, Samuel! It has been a while! How are you? How are things in Kanto?" Hala asked.

"Well we recently crowned a new Champion, so things have been busy as the region settles into that," the Professor said, waving his hand dismissively. Hala hummed, then glanced at Leo.

"So, this must be Victoria's boy, then?" he asked. "I've heard a lot about him,"

"Yes, that would be him," the Professor said. Hala turned to face Leo fully, eyeing him up and down as he lounged in the chair. It was kind of intimidating, in all honesty. Hala was a big man – not tall, not just fat, but big. He had a gut to him certainly, but his shoulders were broad and arms thick; Leo imagined he could see the man he had been in his prime hiding in that old man's body. Someone who, if rumors were to be believed, could wrestle with a Hariyama and win.

"Nice to meet you," he said politely.

"Nice to meet you," Hala returned with a warm smile, his eyes drifting down to the stone Leo held in his hand. "May I see that?" he asked. Leo wordlessly handed the stone over, and Hala grunted. "And the Tapu already gave you your own," he said.

"Is that what I think it is? I wasn't sure," the Professor asked, and Leo kept his mouth shut this time around. Please be a Z-stone, please, please, he mentally prayed. That would be so freaking cool…and he'd heard very little about z-moves even after coming here. For that matter, he hadn't heard anything about mega evolution either – or much of anything along those lines. It was probably a secret or something.

"Yes," Hala said simply. "Boy, let me hang onto this for a few days. It'll take me a little bit to refine it properly, but it's an important part of taking on the Island Challenge,"

"What is it?" Leo asked, hiding his excitement.

"That is a secret of the island challenge," he said, pocketing the stone and stepping back. Leo suppressed a smirk. Called it. "After I get this back to you we'll get you started on your Island Challenge. It was nice meeting you, Leo. Sam," Hala said, bidding farewell and leaving just as quickly as he came. He hummed to himself as he walked away, nodding respectfully to one of the secretaries at the front desk before pulling a soda out of his coat pocket and placing it in front of the old woman.

She thanked him, he said something, they laughed, and then he left.

"Well, that happened," Leo said, turning back to the Professor with a smile. He just shook his head, chuckling.

"I can't say I'm surprised. From what I hear, there are many ways to start the Island Challenge, and gaining the interest of the Tapu is certainly one way to do it," he said.

"I wonder why I did that," Leo asked rhetorically, earning himself another chuckle from the Professor, followed by a yawn.

"Indeed. Well, I have quite a bit to get done today – the Tauros got out last night, and fences need fixing. Don't get into too much trouble now," he said.

"That doesn't sound good. I'll talk to you later though, and good luck with that," Leo said, and the Professor ended the call.

Iki town at night was quite the sight to behold. The only electric lights were in homes, with the streets lit by tiki torches and regular torches. This was not the norm in Alola, but Iki town was special. It was one of the few places that held onto the old ways, as an homage to their ancestors. And Leo was lucky, in a way, as a few kids from Melemele were about to begin their Island Challenge – something he was quickly learning was more nuanced than the games suggested.

For starters, there were two different island challenges. There was the challenge, then there was the Challenge. The first was what happened every year – it was the equivalent of the Gym Challenge. Most people went through that, and, in recent years, it had become a bit of a tourist attraction. Not entirely so, but it did attract foreign trainers for its…uniqueness. The other, however, was…different.

It was only started once in a blue moon, in times of unrest, and as a means to appease the Tapus and honor the celestial gods – Lunala and Solgaleo. That was the challenge that was starting today. That was the challenge Hala was putting Leo, a foreigner, on in defiance of tradition, and all because Tapu Koko had picked a fight with him and given him a stone.

Honestly can't say I wasn't expecting the attention though, Leo mused, watching the Litten and Rowlet duke it out on the large stage. It's not like the Tapus won't know what I am. They're literally here to guard against otherworldly threats. The two kids who were commanding the pokemon, their starters from the looks of it, were twelve years old maybe, and no one Leo recognized. Or at least remembered. So, his focus wasn't really on them, not to say it wasn't interesting. It was just a low-level, first-time battle, and they were doing alright but he was mentally preoccupied.

Mostly with what the Tapu said to him about Spiritomb, and now that he'd done everything he needed to for the day he had some time to sit down and really examine it. As he sat there next to a small fire, tuning out the small crowd cheering on the battling trainers, he focused his mind inward to where the connection between himself and his ghost was.

He could vaguely feel it, it was clearer to him now than it was when he first started, but it still took a few minutes for him to really focus on it. All other thoughts slowly trickled out of his mind, and he felt Spiritomb turn its attention to him. It was like a hundred eyes were suddenly fully focused on him, a feeling he was only partially used to now, and he took a deep breath to keep his calm.

"Let me see, bud," he said slowly, in barely a whisper. Indecision wracked Spiritomb for a brief moment, but soon enough Leo felt the connection between them widen. Voices whispered in his head, shapes swirling about in his minds eye as a myriad of emotions and fragmented memories flooded him. For a moment he was overwhelmed, but it wasn't anything like how it was when he first met the ghost. As such he slowly stemmed the tide and refocused on the task at hand.

What did the Tapu mean by "too many voices?"

Spiritomb was a hundred and eight spirits in one body, or in this case fragmented spirits and one whole ghost type, so it made sense that it was really disjointed. Not to mention Tapu Koko said something about Spiritomb not being whole, so was there not enough spirits within it?

Leo sucked a deep breath and pushed even further, allowing himself to be drug deeper into Spiritomb's subconscious. The ghost did not resist as he entered that same swirling mindscape it had pulled Leo into before, for the first time since the Burned Tower. To be honest Leo had never expected to be there again, and took a few moments to gather his bearings. Purple and black mists swirled about as shapes moved in the darkness, undoubtedly the spirits that formed Spiritomb's conscious mind.

Two forms approached him through the mists, ones he recognized. One was Froslass, flickering in and out of her frozen form as she spun around Leo. Whispers filled his ears and he nodded to her, smiling. The other was a warrior, standing before him silently and respectfully, as nothing more than a shadowy figure. He vaguely remembered this one, though it somehow seemed far more…substantial than before. Its form more solid.

"I need to count you," Leo said, and the two nodded, whistling sharply. The shapes moving in the mists froze in place and Leo whispered his thanks before beginning his count.

Once he was done, he counted again. Then again, just to be sure, making sure he didn't miss any.

"There's only sixty-three of you," he said with dawning realization. "What happened to the others?" Froslass and the warrior remained still, Froslass turning into little more than an incorporeal blur with an unsettling smile. The shades in the distance began to come closer, whispering and chattering as memories began to flash in and out of existence in Leo's mind, until they were all settled in front of him – with Froslass and the warrior in the center. Leo waited for a moment, just feeling their intentions over their connection, as he slowly digested what they were trying to tell him.

It was difficult, parsing out meaning from feelings and instinct, but eventually he understood and reached out to touch one of the shades. Memories of a guard in the Burned Tower bubbled up in his mind, first of a man wielding a spear, then of a Noctowl, and then of flames. It was fragmented, and he looked at the warrior shade, more formed together than all the rest besides the ex-Froslass. She watched him closely as he pressed the shade towards the warrior, the weaker shade not resisting and even seeming…eager.

Help us, the voices insisted, and Leo pressed further. The warrior remained still as Leo squished the guard shade and it together – there was no resistance as the two merged, clicking together almost like puzzle pieces.

But it wasn't that easy. It couldn't be – and Leo understood where the difficulty lay when the memories of the guard and the warrior shade surged through him, warring with one another and filling his mind with their emotions. Rage, regret, the desire to do battle and the desire to protect alongside a myriad of others rampaged through his mind until, finally, the merge was completed and Leo broke free from the mindscape.

Sweat poured down his body when he opened his eyes, breathing labored and arms shaking. He felt exhausted. That little exercise left him drained physically and mentally, and Spiritomb's whispers were anything but comforting when they started. The ghost poked an eye out of his pocket, watching him as he tried to regain his composure.

He said nothing as he rubbed his face and slouched. It sucked that the rest of his team were still recuperating – the clinic not being nearly as fast as a Pokemon Center – as he could've used some of their…well, presence. Not that Spiritomb wasn't comforting in some ways, but considering what just happened? It was like when Zuko got too insistent on playing, even after Leo was done. Sometimes he needed a break.

With a groan Leo stood and, fighting back a wave of nausea, looked out over the fire to see Hala looking at him. He smiled and waved and the Kahuna waved back before he wandered off to bed. The clinic had provided him a room for a small fee, and he would gladly take it tonight.

Chapter Text

"Your first trial is to find the first trial," Hala said as he handed Leo a fancy new bracelet, complete with the stone he had been given embedded inside of it.

"Huh?" Leo asked, voicing his confusion.

"Not all trials are trials of combat," Hala said mysteriously. "And for you, I can think of no better test of skill than to force you to find the first trial yourself. And not the trial off of route three, the one which all trial-goers face – no, you must find the true first trial," he said. Leo digested that while slipping on the bracelet, suppressing his glee. Z-moves, here we come! Time to transform mundane moves into something far more dangerous! He just…needed to figure out how it all worked, first.

"And how will I know when I find the first trial?" he asked. "What am I even looking for?" Hala hesitated on answering, then shrugged and patted his belly with a laugh.

"You will know. The totem pokemon you will be facing for your trial is far larger and stronger than others of their species – though I will tell you that the first trial is always a trial of the normal type," he said. Leo frowned and racked his brain for anything he could recall about an oversized pokémon he'd seen, heard rumor of, or seen sign for.

Of course, he'd scoped out the site of the "official" island trial in his time exploring, but that was now nixed. Hala said he wouldn't be taking that trial. The oversized Alolan Raticate he'd seen there would have been quite the opponent, but that wasn't an option anymore. The only other thing he'd seen was a large track that had caught his eye explicitly because of its ridiculous size. Not only that, but it was a track Leo knew fairly well, thanks to Professor Oak sitting him down and telling him to stay away from this kind of pokémon. It was usually extremely dangerous – at least in Kanto. Alola was a bit different, but Snorlax were still a pokémon to be feared.

"Please tell me you're not sending me to fight a Snorlax," Leo deadpanned, and Hala just laughed and shook his head, waving him off and starting down the street, not answering his question. He frowned harder and looked down at the z-ring he now had on his wrist, the stone one of the key ingredients in using what he remembered as z-moves; essentially mega evolution for pokémon moves. And all pokémon could use z-moves, unlike mega evolution.

Well, he had to find z-crystals first, but the journey was started!

"Let's just hope it's not a Snorlax," he sighed, and started off, immediately heading directly into the jungle. Then he paused, and thought about it for a second. "On second thought, I think we should head to the city to try and get some more supplies. Pokeballs, some medicine…I might need to catch a few pokémon to sell for funds, but that shouldn't be a big problem. I've still got five pokeballs I can use," he muttered, listing off a few things on his fingers and taking a mental stock of his monetary funds. Which, unfortunately, were running pretty low.

He just didn't have to worry about money when he was literally living off the land, he and his pokémon together. But if he was going to head into a big old "boss fight" against a potentially super powerful pokémon, then he wanted to be extra prepared. Skilled at survival or not, arrogance and unpreparedness led to pain and possibly death. Even if the island trials, like the gym challenge, were meant to be safe enough for participants it was still good to practice at least a bit of caution.

But he did have a choice to make. Either use the remainder of his funds to catch a bus into the city, or hike there and try to catch a few pokémon to sell. The latter would take a good day or two, but the former would get him to a pokémon center, where he could see what kind of pokémon were selling and for what prices…give him an idea of what to look for to make the most out of his current stock of supplies rather than going in blind. He had an idea for what was selling, but not the best of ideas…

"Let's do a bit of both. Hike to the beach, then try to catch a bus into Hau'oli city. I need to get set up on the pokeride system, if that's even a thing here yet. Riding a flying type around these islands would be so much nicer than having to worry about transportation," he said with a sigh, shaking his head. Maybe he should catch a pokémon that could fly soon. Just for travelling purposes. But then he shook his head and refocused on the task at hand.

One thing at a time. "I should also stop by the pokémon school, say hello to Samson…actually, now that I think about it, there's a pokémon center attached to the school, isn't there? I may be able to take care of two things at once if I head there," he muttered, rubbing his chin. "Y'know, that's actually a great idea. I think the bus can take me there, and from the school I'll head to the city,"

Mind made up, Leo faced the direction Hala had disappeared in, bowed slightly, then turned right around and headed in the opposite direction. He had some preparations to make.

The bus ride to the Pokemon Academy run by Samson Oak was long, and the bus was relatively empty, so Leo let Santiago out during the ride. The Slowking was silent for the most part, staring out of the bus window curiously at the jungle speeding by and steadfastly ignoring the gazes of the few other passengers. Even in Alola a Slowking was a rare sight.

"Should be just a few more minutes," Leo said, idly picking at the guitar that lay in his lap. As he had expected, he was terrible at the guitar. He had no concept on how to play it besides picking the strings, and though he appreciated Gary's gift he worried that it was a bit of a waste – that was, until he came up with an idea for it. Though that was an idea for later, not now.

"Slow," Santiago responded, eyes fixed on the jungle.

"I wonder what Samson's going to say? Honestly, I feel kinda bad now for ditching him like I did. I was just so excited to finally get here that I slipped out the back door and never looked back. I mean, I did call every once in a while to let him know I was alive, but those calls were never really comprehensive," Leo said, recalling what he knew about Samson Oak. The younger cousin of Professor Samuel Oak, Samson Oak struck Leo as a stricter man than Samuel, but somehow at the same time more easy-going. Like, he wanted people to follow the rules, but accepted when people proved themselves already capable outside of his pre-determined rules than Professor Oak would.

If that made sense. Leo wasn't sure it did.

"It'll probably be fine. I am certainly ready to be going on the Island Challenge – I'm getting that itch again," he continued, resting his chin in the palm of his hand as he looked out the window. A large brick wall kept the jungle at bay – marking the beginning of the school grounds. It was a large school, if he remembered right. A true academy, with miles of untamed jungle for wilderness survival exercises…or at least that was the pitch Samson Oak had given him.

Pity Leo didn't want to just perform exercises on wilderness survival. He could probably teach that class.

"Slow," Santiago said, drawing Leo's attention. He was still looking out the window, but his brow was furrowed and muzzle contorted into a frown. The psychic gem in the center of his crown flashed weakly as he used a small amount of his psychic power.

"What's wrong, bud?" Leo asked. Santiago slowly turned his head to face Leo, seemed to consider the question, then mimed his head exploding. Leo furrowed his brows. "Your head hurts?" Santiago shook his head.

"Too…" he muttered, furrowing his brows and closing his eyes. But he didn't find the next word, and pressed both of his paw-hands to the side of his head, then pushed outward as if to say his head was growing bigger.

Leo frowned. Actually, that was probably exactly what he was talking about.

"Too big?" Leo asked, and Santiago nodded. "There's too much going on up here, isn't there?" he said, pointing to his own head, and Santiago nodded again.

"Yes," he said. Leo hummed, having known that Santiago would run into this from Merri, Oak's Alakazam. However, he hadn't asked Leo for help or advice yet, so he hadn't said anything.

"That's actually pretty funny, in a way. Your problem is the opposite of most humans and psychics," Leo said, laughing. Santiago frowned. "The mind is a tricky thing, bud. And I do mean that literally, it is tricky. People have to go their whole lives silencing their mind because it makes them overthink, it creates emotions and warps memories to the point that they are unrecognizable to the actual events; and while logic has been attributed to the mind, it is far too effected by emotion to be reliable for the most part. The conscious mind, anyway. I firmly believe the subconscious knows what is logical, what a rational course of action is, but people are too wrapped up in themselves to notice it,"

"You, on the other hand, grew up as a Slowpoke. Your mind was already quiet for the most part – and now you're learning what happens when you let it run free. Not the other way around, where you have to learn what being quiet means. You're going to have to let your mind be as loud and full of…junk as it is right now," Leo said bluntly, holding up a hand at Santiago's scandalized look. He wasn't finished. "The key is to let it all go. See what you're thinking about, recognize it, then let it fly away. Silence is never true silence, there will always be noise up there. But thoughts can come and go, almost like the wind. Let's see…imagine your mind like a small child at a birthday party. It's excited. You've never felt like this before, this is so fun! There's all these things going on, you can't stay still. Eventually you'll calm down, but you're still riding your evolution high. Let yourself calm down, it'll just take time,"

Santiago frowned and huffed, crossing his arms.

"No," he grumbled, and Leo laughed.

"No, it's not very fun. But everything takes time. There are no shortcuts for what is worthwhile," he said sagely. Hey, that wasn't a bad line. Leo thought, raising an eyebrow at himself. Then he shook that away, and turned back to Santiago. "But I do have an idea to help you along. Let's give you something to focus on, eh? Something to learn so you're not continuously overwhelmed by everything. Something to ground yourself with. Take this," he said, and pull the guitar at his feet up to hand to his starter. Funny that he'd just said his idea to use the guitar as training was for later, and here he was giving it to Santiago now.

Santiago took the wooden acoustic guitar gingerly, furrowing his brows as his massive paws gripped the instrument. There was no way he was playing that with his hands – he lacked the digits and the motor control. But that wasn't the idea, either.

"I want you to play that with your psychic powers. Be careful not to break it, but learning to play an instrument with nothing but your psychic ability should prove both challenging and entertaining. Not to mention it'll train your finesse – I know you can lift boulders with nothing but your mind, but just like when you were a Slowpoke, we need to work on your fine control. I planned on holding off on this training idea until you were more used to your expanded psychic abilities, but I do believe you're good enough for now. Heck, I don't even know if this is possible," Leo tried to explain, waving a hand at the guitar. Santiago cocked his head to the side, processed Leo's words, then looked down at the instrument again.

Maybe Leo would have to find him a book to read about playing the guitar…if Santiago could read yet. Shoot, that was another thing to consider, wasn't it? Another thing to add to the to-do list, see if Santiago could or wanted to learn to read.

The bus slowed to a stop and Leo stood, exiting the bus with his backpack slung over one shoulder, guitar case held in one hand, and Santiago carefully extracting his bulk from the narrow bus doorway, still holding the guitar and frowning at it. Hopefully that would help. It always helped Leo whenever he got too mentally wound up to focus on something he enjoyed – like how writing used to be, and how playing with his pokémon, dancing, and practicing martial arts was for him now.

I should break out my journal again. I haven't written anything in ages, he thought to himself, whistling as he approached the wrought-iron gates of the school. A bored-looking man in a security guard's uniform sat in a small booth just outside the gates, while two Alolan Exeggutor sunned themselves on either side of said gates – their massive necks swaying like tree trunks in the light breeze.

It only took Leo a few minutes to get past the security guard – apparently his information was already in the system as a student, which both amused and irked Leo at the same time – as the man had to look him up, contact someone in the school itself, then waved him through. Santiago lagged behind, eyes fixated on the guitar as he experimentally plucked the strings, listening to the sounds.

It was probably horribly out of tune. Leo really had no idea what he was doing with that thing.

The dirt road crunched under his worn boots as he walked the mile up to the school proper, the circular, multi-story building surrounded by natural and man-made ponds, with students milling about in the courtyard and pokémon frolicking in the fields. There were all kinds of pokémon too; Rockruff yipped as they danced about, chasing after their trainers or Cutiefly that buzzed through the air, the former sometimes playing fetch with the lovable rock hounds instead. Yungoos, small tan weasel-like pokémon, scampered about, while a lone Alolan Meowth sunned itself by one of the pools, next to its trainer.

The building itself was pretty neat, with many elements of traditional Alolan architecture worked into the modern structure. Entire balconies were made of bamboo, with patio roofing made of palm fronds.

Leo watched everyone as much as he could as he approached the school doors, large sliding glass things, more out of curiosity than caution. At least the kids weren't cooped up inside all day for class. In a place as beautiful as Alola, such a thing should be illegal.

"Leo Angelico, to the headmaster's office, Leo Angelico, to the headmaster's office," a voice crackled over the intercom, making Leo jump slightly just as the doors slid open.

Santiago chuckled, and Leo shot him a look over his shoulder.

"Don't you laugh at me, that was surprising and you know it," Leo said, earning himself another chuckle from his Slowking. "Yeah, well…shut it," he said eloquently, and entered the school.

And promptly took ten minutes wandering in search of the headmaster's office, who was in fact Samson Oak, before finally breaking down and asking for directions. From there it only took a minute for him to make his way there.

The headmaster's office was located at the very top of the building, a long spiraling staircase leading to a dark wood door that, when opened, revealed a spacious office with an entire wall of windows overlooking the academy grounds. Leo gawked at the sight when he pushed the door open, eyes flicking over all the decorations on the walls – ancient Alolan weapons and paintings, depictions and diagrams of pokémon, various artworks…it was an impressive office, for sure. One Leo wouldn't mind having, himself. But quick enough his attention was drawn to the three people within the room, and his blood chilled.

A tall blonde woman lounged in a comfortable-looking armchair, her obscenely long blonde hair falling in waves over the back of the chair, and a glasses-wearing purple-haired woman standing behind her. Samson Oak sat behind his desk, pausing mid-sentence to look at Leo, raising one eye. Seeing him again reminded Leo just how uncannily similar Samson looked to Samuel Oak – in fact, the only real difference between the two was the god-awful Alolan shirt Samson wore, the deep tan from years of living beneath the sun, and long, bleach-blonde hair swept back over his head to reach his shoulders. But other than that, the man's face looked exactly the same as Professor Oak's, and by proxy, so was his disappointed gaze.

"Leo," he said, voice monotone. Leo waved at him, eyes flicking to the blonde woman dressed in pure white clothes, with a green gem hung around a necklace on her chest. Movement behind her chair caught his eye, a Clefable poking its head out to look at Leo curiously. That could only be Lusamine, the Big Bad Evil Girl in the Alolan games. There was only one question – was this the kind anime Lusamine, or the psycho games Lusamine? Leo bet it was some nightmarish combination of the two, but he definitely had to watch out for her.

He had come through an Ultra Wormhole, and if she, who was obsessed with ultra beasts found that out? That would be nothing but trouble.

"Hello," Leo said, waving with forced cheer at Samson. Santiago grunted as he squeezed himself through the doorway, making unhappy noises at all the stairs he had to climb.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Samson asked, and by his tone Leo guessed he was none too happy with him. Probably because he disappeared for two months, with minimal contact. An understandable reaction, coming from Samson. Leo paused, scratched his chin, and said the only real thing that came to mind.

"Ok, I get why you could be mad at me, but in my defense I fail to see how what I did was surprising," he said, shrugging unapologetically. Samson should have heard a lot about him from Victoria and the good Professor. He should have expected something similar.

"Samson, who is this child?" Lusamine asked, her voice smooth and elegant sounding. Her green eyes bored into Leo almost aggressively, as if trying to peer into his very soul.

Leo had stood before Legendary pokémon. He'd talked with Celebi and greeted Articuno. He'd even sat in on a meeting with the biggest figures in the Indigo League, and talked to Giovanni without losing his nerve. But Lusamine? She unnerved him. Just her eyes…and suddenly something clicked in Leo's head. That look was not one of someone meeting someone else for the first time. She knew him.

Or, more accurately, his gut told him that she knew what he was. He wouldn't have to worry about protecting his origin from her, because somehow she already knew. Leo cursed in his head, the creativity of said curses sure to put even sailors to shame.

"This is Leo Angelico, my cousin's newest trainer project," Samson said, breaking off Leo's mental tirade.

"Ah yes, the boy found in the Silver Mountains. Dreadful stuff, to have been abandoned there – it must have been so hard," Lusamine cooed, shaking her head sadly. Leo nodded stiffly, not sure how to react until Santiago put a hand on his shoulder. Just that action had Leo settling, feeling his friend's presence even as Spiritomb whispered so only he could hear.

"It was actually kind of fun, thinking back on it," Leo replied, forcing his tone to be light and cheerful. "I met Santiago there, along with a colorful cast of characters," he said, thinking about Longinus, Tyrus, and even that one Hitmontop that he'd gotten in a fight with. Man, that seemed so long ago.

"It is good that you have found happiness beyond that terrible fate handed to you," Lusamine said, sounding genuinely glad for Leo. He smiled and bowed his head to her as she stood. "If there is anything you require aid with in your stay in this wonderful region, do not hesitate to ask. The Aether Foundation is here to help, and I, personally, will gladly aid someone who has lost so, so much," she walked towards Leo, bending down to his level to smile at him. There was true sympathy and pity in her voice as she spoke to him, and Leo found himself smiling back.

The problem was, he could almost taste the manipulation. She was sympathetic to his origins, yes, but at the same time she wanted something from him. She wanted him on her side. Or something like that, Leo couldn't pretend to know what her goals were, only that she was trying to manipulate him.

"Thank you," Leo said, deciding to accept her graciousness even if he didn't plan on accepting her aid. It wouldn't do to snub her, but he did want to be cautious.

"Miss Lusamine, I am trying to scold him," Samson said with a sigh, no real heat to his voice.

"I apologize. You really should listen to your elders, though. Adults have experience and wisdom to give you, children should listen to them," she said, standing and raising one eyebrow, a classic 'disappointed parent' look on her face.

"I have a history of being a rebel," Leo said, shrugging and patting Santiago's paw, prompting him to step back. "I'm a free spirit, I go where the wind takes me,"

"Still, you should have come to at least visit the school. We have a myriad of courses here that would not only build upon your base of skills, but prepare you for the island challenge. Even the Kahunas respect this establishment; taking some time to attend classes here is the best way to ensure your acceptance into the island challenge. After all, not all foreigners are accepted," Samson said in a clearly prepared speech. Leo coughed and made a show of stretching, flashing his shiny new bracelet to the Oak. And Lusamine.

"You make a valid point, true, but what if I'm already on the Island Challenge?" Leo asked, smirking at Samson's surprised expression.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded.

"Kahuna Hala made it for me, after I, uh, found a stone," Leo said, grinning. Lusamine raised one eyebrow at him, examining his bracelet curiously but saying nothing.

"That is…" Samson said, then sighed. "Of course you did. My daughter warned me about you, but I didn't listen. You are very much like her," he said.

"Your – you mean Victoria? I honestly forgot she was your kid, there's not much resemblance," Leo admitted, narrowing his eyes slightly. Actually, now that he looked, Victoria and Samson had the same eyes.

"She takes after her mother," he said, shaking his head fondly. "But there goes almost my entire argument for getting you to actually attend school. Like my cousin warned me, you exceed expectations,"

"I have a history of doing that," Leo said, tone light and joking. "And technically I am a year older than your average Alolan child when they start their island challenge. You only have to be twelve, compared to Kanto's fourteen, right?"

"He does make a valid point. We cannot stop him from doing the island challenge," Lusamine allowed, though from her tone she clearly disagreed with it.

"Right. So, if you're already on the island challenge and you're not going to attend school, then why did you come back here?" Samson asked with a sigh of defeat, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You have a pokémon center. I wanted to get my team checked out as well as check the market price on certain pokémon, so I can start building up my finances. I get the feeling the trials will be exceptionally hard, and wanted to get some good gear and stock up on medicine before I went off in search of the trials," Leo explained.

"That's right! I forgot about that! You technically have a Youngster's license, right? Now that you're in Alola I can get that transitioned to be a true training license. It would take a few days, but then you'd have full access to all of the pokémon center's facilities, including the job board and global trade system," Samson said happily. That gave Leo pause. "After all, you are old enough to be training fully in Alola – Indigo's laws have no hold here,"

"That would actually be fantastic," Leo said. "What do I have to do for that?"

"Take a test, let some people examine your team, sign some papers. Getting it processed from Kanto is what will take the longest, but it's not too hard," Samson explained. "But again, it would take a few days. So why don't you stick around for a while, audit some classes, do some things like that?" he asked.

"There is also the option of him coming to the Aether Foundation. I would be happy to give him a tour of our facilities," Lusamine said.

"That is an excellent idea," Samson said. "You will love the Foundation, Leo. It is a haven for all manner of pokémon, be they anything as common as a Caterpie or as rare as a Bagon,"

Leo was silent for a moment, mentally scowling. He was sure that the Foundation was going to be wonderful – he didn't remember the games and anime all that clearly anymore, but he did recall that, on the surface, the Aether Foundation was a conservationist society/company that specialized in healing pokémon. Or something. All the research he'd done on it prior to coming to Alola said something similar – to the point where he had discovered that they invented many modern pokémon medicines, including potions and antidotes. Not only that, but they'd made these remedies readily available and easily accessible, catapulting the pokémon world into a new age of advancement for humans and pokémon alike.

The money they earned off of that funded their conservation pursuits – which, while it began in Alola, was slowly spreading to the other regions. It was as close to a truly altruistic company as could be by appearances.

That said, he knew about the games. And that Lusamine, at some point, went crazy and was completely obsessed with ultra beasts. And while he also seemed to recal that she wasn't completely irredeemable, he was tired of playing these mind games with people. He was from another world, passed through an Ultra Wormhole. Of course she was interested in him.

"Why don't you just tell me why you really want me to go there," Leo said icily, expression turning stony. Samson jerked at Leo's sudden change, Lusamine cocking her head to the side while the purple-haired lady behind her stiffened.

"Clef?" Lusamine's Clefable said, poking its head out from behind the chair.

"What do you mean?" Lusamine asked a little too sweetly.

"If I were you, I would not treat me like a child. It will save us all a lot of time and headaches to just assume I am smarter and know more than you think I should. The Aether Foundation researches ultra wormholes, right? It's not hard to put two and two together," Leo said.

"…how do you know that?" Samson asked warily.

"An offhand comment from your cousin," Leo lied smoothly, meeting Lusamine's eyes and daring her to deny it. She held his gaze for a second, glanced up at Santiago who was looming over Leo's shoulder, then back down to him.

"I see. Yes, that is true. We provided much of the equipment Professor Oak used to examine you when you first arrived in his care, and helped him to examine the data, alongside Samson. I will admit that part of the reason I wished to bring you to the Aether Paradise, our headquarters, was to scan you with some of our more powerful equipment. I am interested to see if the ultra wormhole energy that clung to you has degraded at all. However, that is not the only reason," she explained, setting her hands on her hips not unlike a stern parent. Leo just raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

"We wish to offer you a position in our company," the purple haired woman said, speaking up for the first time. She smiled kindly at him.

"I will admit to have been keeping up with your training life – and what I have seen has impressed me. You show remarkable ability to get along with pokémon, especially grass types. That little singing routine you do is beautiful. We were going to give you a tour, show you what we at Aether are all about, and offer you a position as a field operative," Lusamine explained. "Originally, we intended to offer a part-time position, so you could attend school as well. However, if you will not be attending school, that can be altered,"

"Field operative?" Leo asked, glancing at Santiago who remained stoic.

"Yes. It's a position that would send you to the various islands in search of injured pokémon – maybe a trainer released a pokémon in a habitat not its own, and now we have to go capture it again. Maybe a storm blew through and caused a mudslide – that sort of thing. We'd be asking you to essentially be a rescue operative; as a thirteen year old boy we wouldn't be asking too much of you, but it would allow us to keep an eye on you while also giving you plenty of freedom to go on your Island Challenge," the purple haired woman said, picking up where Lusamine left off. "It is not unlike being a Ranger, but without the political ties,"

"In addition to that, we pay," Lusamine added. "I understand you don't have much in the way of actual funds,"

"That…is true," Leo said, mulling it over. He wasn't sure what to think about it yet; part of him recoiled at the idea of getting involved with Lusamine any more than he had to, but another part was…interested. "I'll have to think about it. I appreciate the offer, I do, but this is something I need to think about,"

"Of course. There is no need to rush your decision, it is an open invitation," Lusamine said smoothly, drawing a raised eyebrow from Samson. She didn't notice, but Leo did. An open invitation is unusual then, he noted.

Santiago grunted and nudged Leo with the guitar he was still holding.

"Is there anything else?" he asked.

"No, that is about it. Lusamine, when do you want to do the tour?" Samson asked.

"Tomorrow. I will send Wicke to pick you up around ten. For now, I believe I have a meeting approaching and must leave," Lusamine said, glancing at the purple-haired woman, Wicke.

"You have a video call with Mr. Stone in fifteen minutes," she said.

"Ten it is," Samson said. Santiago pushed him again and Leo sighed.

"Sorry, Santiago's getting pushy. Best get on my way then. Where's the pokémon center here?" he asked.

"Bottom floor, right next to the front entrance. You can't miss it," Samson said, waving him off. Leo nodded, murmured his thanks, and promptly turned and left the room, his mind abuzz with thoughts while Santiago followed.

The two walked in silence for a while, Santiago occasionally plucking at a guitar string experimentally, and only rarely passing by a student that wasn't in class. They varied in age, from a teen to maybe six or seven.

"What do you think, bud?" he asked rhetorically, not expecting Santiago to answer. The rational part of his brain screamed at him to run away from Lusamine as fast and as far as he could. That it was too dangerous and risky to be so close to her due to her obsession with ultra beasts. But at the same time he hesitated. He wasn't sure why yet, but his gut was telling him not to write it all off and go gallivanting off into the wilds once more. He would certainly enjoy it, but…something was holding him back, keeping him from running. Leo just wasn't sure what it was yet.

"I trust you," Santiago said, pulling Leo up short. As in, he stopped mid step, and slowly pivoted so he was facing his starter.

"Did you just say 'I trust you?'" he asked. The Slowking shrugged, a smug look on his muzzle as he clammed up, gem flashing as he used his psychic powers to gently try and pluck one of the guitar strings. It was too weak to actually create any sound, probably because he was afraid of breaking the instrument. "You suck. You've been improving your language skills without telling me," Leo pouted, though the statement held no heat. "Though I don't know if I should be trusted. I have a history of making poorly thought out decisions," he said, laughing ruefully.

Santiago just shrugged again and returned his attention to the guitar, earning himself a shake of the head from Leo.

He had a lot to think about, though he'd be lying if he wasn't a little mollified by Santiago's vote of confidence. He just hoped he could live up to it.

Leo couldn't sleep that night. The soft bed of the dorm room was nothing but uncomfortable, the familiar weight of Zuko curled up at his feet restricting, and the moon that streamed in through the window onto his face was nothing but distracting. He'd tried everything at this point – counting sheep, meditating…he'd even tried to combine Spiritomb's spirits for a while. That had been an exercise in frustration and futility. The spirits refused to budge for the most part, and when he finally did get one of the fragmented spirits to merge with the much more whole warrior spirit, it completely drained him mentally. Not only because he saw and lived what that spirit could remember, but because it was just exhausting to do.

But still he didn't sleep. He was exhausted, but could not sleep. It was infuriating, and the worst part was that he knew why this was happening. Lusamine's offer, and why he wasn't just running away from her.

Leo let his thoughts whir for a little bit longer before clenching his fist and standing, carefully extracting his feet from beneath Zuko so as to not disturb the sleeping fire-type, putting on some clothes, and silently leaving the small dorm room he was "renting" from the school. He only took one pokeball with him; Diana's. She rarely slept anymore, and the rest of his team was undoubtedly asleep at this ungodly hour, so she was the only one he felt comfortable bugging.

Not that he was going to let her out right away.

Instead, as Leo exited the building in nothing but a plain white t-shirt and shorts, he wandered until he found a training field, and proceeded to punch the ever-living crap out of a wooden pole set up as a target. Each strike was purposeful and full of intent, Leo's calloused hands from years of working hard, practicing martial arts, and just being outside smacking loudly against the wood. When his hands became sore and bloody he switched to other strikes, using his elbows, legs, knees, shoulders, and the palms of his hands as he circled around the pole, each strike letting some of his frustration out.

Yet he never made a sound. No grunts of pain, no shouts of anger. Just a silent, seething mess that quietly left him, until he stood, panting and drenched in sweat, in front of the wooden pole. Relaxed, and thinking clearly once again.

He'd been "running" ever since he'd left the Silver Mountains with Diana, trying to avoid problems. In a way, he'd been running ever since he first arrived in this world. From winter in the Silver Mountains, from being forced to live life as a child, from the League itself, and from politics. Then he'd arrived here to train and become strong enough that he didn't have to worry about such things, hoping to be free from the worst of it, only to be shown that he was not. He was still under scrutiny. And while he could run off into the wilds of Alola and disappear, he knew himself better than that. He was stubborn, and dammit if he was tired of running from things. His team would never be strong enough to avoid everything.

He had to go ahead and throw himself and them into the fire. They were ready to start that path, and if they didn't start now, things could only get worse.

Someone else might ask if it was even their right to try and interfere with Alola's future, to try and fix any problems that Lusamine and Team Skull may cause before they actually become a problem. They might think it dangerous and foolhardy, considering what might lay before him. Ultra beasts, legendary pokémon, maniacal people…especially considering his team had just been thrashed by Tapu Koko.

Leo didn't really care. If the past few days had taught him anything, it was that these things would not just leave him alone. They saw a child. They saw someone weak. He was not. His team was strong, but they were not the ones in question. Leo was. It always came back to that same question; could he be trusted?

Leo let out a breath and rolled his neck, determination steeling in his gut. He had nothing to prove to anyone, but they were getting on his nerves and he was tired of playing their games, tired of sitting back. They poked him, and it was time to see what it was they just woke up. It was time to let the warrior out.

So, he'd go see what Lusamine had to offer, go see what it was all about. Whether or not he accepted his offer depended on what he learned. His future steps depended on it, actually. But he wasn't going to roll over and run away, like he had in Kanto. There he felt helpless. Here in Alola? Not so much. Even without a whole bunch of foreknowledge on what was coming, of who everyone was and what they were like, he could make a difference.

And he would. Simple as that. Of course he wouldn't give up on the Island Challenge, that was another path to strength, but…well. There were other things he could do in the meantime. Just training was not always as valuable as experience in difficult situations.

Leo let out a breath and smiled, glad that that was over.

"Kinda dramatic. Why'd you have to go and beat up a poor, defenseless pole, Leo? What did it ever do to you? Jeez, that's so rude of you," he muttered, making fun of himself and pulling Diana's pokeball out of his pocket. He was exhausted both physically and mentally now, but refused to go to sleep still frustrated. His solution was Diana; working with her never failed to put a smile on her face.

She appeared in a flash of red light, the Pupitar blinking at him and wiggling happily in her shell. Leo laid a hand on her and smiled, stroking the spot between her eyes. All this wasn't to say that he wouldn't still enjoy life, and go exploring and such. That was as much a part of who he was as anything else, and he wasn't going to give that up.

"Taaaar," Diana cooed, breaking Leo out of his thoughts as she vibrated and pushed her massive rocky form harder into Leo's hand, as if desperate for his touch. He chuckled and rubbed harder, earning himself a hum. He had no idea whether or not she could feel it or not, but it didn't really matter as she seemed to enjoy it.

"Hey, girl. I can't sleep, so how about we try me riding you again?" he asked with a grin. Diana's eyes squinted in joy and she wiggled, rocking back and forth as the pressurized air in her shell blasted out in one short burst, sending dust from the field below flying everywhere. Leo coughed and shook his head. "I'll take that as a yes. Hold on, let me slip around behind you. I'll let you know when I've got a good hold," he said.

Grabbing ahold of Diana was easy enough, he just slipped around behind her, grabbed ahold of her spines and placed his feet on her back while she held herself upright, and then said the word.

"Alright, I'm ready. Go slow," he said, and Diana immediately picked up speed. She wobbled at first as she slowly drug herself along the training ground, her "jet engines" set to a low hum that still managed to move her massive bulk, Leo clinging to her back. They'd tried this before to varied success, but she was getting better. "Ok, pick up a bit of speed," Leo said, swallowing his nervousness. Diana vibrated in excitement, her air jets whining louder as she picked up speed, zooming about the training ground at a decent pace.

Leo laughed, Diana hummed happily, and the two continued to ride around. In the end, Leo didn't go back up to the dorm.

Instead, the rising sun found him sprawled out on Diana as she lay flat on her back, snoring, while Zuko and Link – having left the dorm and somehow released himself from his pokeball, respectively – lay atop him as well. Zuko curled up awkwardly across Leo's chest, and Link nestled between two of Diana's spines. He didn't wake until the students began to move about, making a ruckus, and greeted the sun with a smile.

Whatever came next, he was ready for it.

Chapter Text

"…so you're telling me that Lusamine might be crazy?" Victoria asked over video phone early the next day. She looked tired, with bags under her eyes and a glare stuck on her face, but otherwise ok.

"Not might be. She is," Leo said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "It's been a while so I don't remember everything, but in my old world she went off the deep end and entered ultra space to…I dunno, study ultra beasts or something. Went totally bonkers," he explained. "There was something about her lost husband too, but it's all pretty hazy at this point. Kinda forgot to write this stuff down because, you know, survival was more important in the beginning and by the time I got to civilization and safety I'd forgotten to write what I remembered down,"

"…I actually remember you telling me something like this, a long time ago. That Lusamine was crazy – I didn't take you seriously then, so I wrote it off. I'm sorry," she said. Leo frowned. He didn't remember doing that, but seems he was already ahead of himself.

"What changed?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Victoria's tone didn't sound very reassuring.

"Giovanni. You said he was the head of a criminal organization, but no matter how much the Professor and I dug – which admittedly was not very much, we're not investigators – we couldn't find any concrete evidence. But now that Lance is Champion, Giovanni's been quiet. Too quiet for how much of a fuss he was raising about him becoming Champion; and now a group of pokémon thieves have been running all across Kanto and Johto. Well equipped thieves," she admitted, rubbing her face. "It hasn't gotten bad enough to mobilize the Gym Leaders or Elite Four yet, but I suspect it's only a matter of time,"

"Probably not, Giovanni's smarter than that. He wants to ensure his victory against Lance – he'll play the long game. Though I am just guessing," Leo said. That was another thing he had to try and prevent, but he had to increase his power base first. He had powerful allies in the form of the Oaks, but more allies and a more powerful team wouldn't hurt either. "But, back on topic, Lusamine. I'm going to the Aether Paradise today because she's got a job offer for me. Debating on taking it, because if I remember right she's not wholly irredeemable. Just crazy. There's a chance we, or I, can prevent whatever is going to happen. Plus, ultra-beasts. I'm going to have to figure out how to fight them eventually, and if they're studying them I can learn about them. So I'm not blindsided,"

Victoria huffed and leaned back, running a hand through her hair. "How do you even know this stuff if it hasn't happened yet?"

"Time and space is my theory. I didn't just get sent from one dimension to another, I got punted backwards in time too. People think time is a linear path, but it's not. It's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey…stuff," he said, rubbing his chin and absolutely making that up on the spot. Well, not the timey-wimey thing. He vaguely remembered that from a TV show and was shamelessly stealing it.

"That is the strangest definition of time I have ever heard," she said with a snort.

"Thank you," Leo said with a grin. She shook her head and paused, seeming to consider something.

"Alright. Here's what I want you to do; accept the offer, or at least seriously consider it. The Aether Foundation is reputable and I know Lusamine – she's actually a good friend of mine. Losing Mohn, her husband, was rough I know, but it shouldn't have been enough to make her crazy like you say. I'll be there in a month or two to help see what's going on. In the meantime, I also want you to go meet my old teacher; the Kahuna of Poni Island. If anyone can get you where you want to go training-wise, it's him. But you have to ask him yourself, and be sure that is what you want, Leo," she warned.

"I'm tired of being at the whims of the crazies," Leo said bluntly. Victoria snickered.

"Unfortunately, that's how it is no matter how strong your team gets. There's always some rule you have to follow. Call me if you get into trouble, kid, but otherwise? Remember to have fun. Sounds like you've already been doing that, but don't let what might happen get to you. What if's are dangerous. See ya," she said, and flicked off the screen, ending the video call. Leo sighed and leaned back, reaching one hand down to pet Zuko's head as the Quilava napped next to him. He checked the time.

Only ten minutes until Lusamine came to pick him up.

"Let's get going, bud. We've got a heck of a day ahead of us,"

"Think about it, words are just grunts and noises that we make and prescribe meaning to. They don't actually mean anything until we give it meaning," Leo said, unsure as to how the topic of conversation got onto communication, but leaning into it all the same. Lusamine raised an eyebrow as she sat across from him, the boat bobbing up and down in the water as they headed towards the Aether Paradise.

"Words are fundamental to culture – all culture. It is what helps us record things, to communicate with each other and pass along information, and communicate with future generations," Lusamine argued.

"True! Very true, but then how are we certain to understand the intent of the writer? How can we say we really understand what is being said and what the meaning behind words and writing is? Let's take the word 'king' for example," Leo said, slapping Santiago's arm and making the Slowking jump, whipping his head from staring out the window at the ocean to glaring at Leo. "I've known three Slowking in my time. Longinus, Queen, and Santiago – and I've had the privilege of naming two of them. And a king is a kind of ruler, right? So Slowking is a ruler of the Slowpoke line, a leader of sorts, right?"

"Indeed," Lusamine said, folding her hands in her lap and raising one immaculate eyebrow at him. Leo was on a roll though, an almost manic gleam in his eyes as he continued, so she didn't intimidate him much at the moment.

"But to the Slowpoke, is king a word or a noise? They say their name all the time; Slowking, slowking, slowpoke, slowbro, all that jazz. It has to have many meanings to them. We humans just chose the word king and decided that it means ruler. Did we steal it from the Slowking and decide to make it arbitrarily have a specific meaning? Barring that, let's say for the sake of argument that the word king does hold some meaning to the Slowpoke, that it does represent someone worthy of rule – which it doesn't, by the way, I'm convinced it's the form and evolution that holds meaning, not the word – then let's talk about human misinterpretation.

"According to the dictionary, a King is a male ruler. But there's no such requirement for Slowking, or Kingdra for that fact. In fact the only such species that has a difference in what a King is, is the Nido line, with Nidoking and Nidoqueen – so who's to say that we didn't misinterpret what king meant to them? Or that we twisted it – because I guarantee you Slowking do not care about gender; whoever is worthy of being a King is one." Leo took a breath and sat back, grinning at Santiago who raised one eyebrow at him, then turned back towards the ocean.

"What I guess I'm trying to say here is that communication is weird. We try to interpret words and understand intent, but since we don't actually understand intent, actual meaning is up to the receiver's interpretation. So something nice can be seen as mean, something helpful can be seen as harmful, and something mean can be misunderstood as welcoming," Leo said, shaking his head. What was the point of all that? He didn't actually know, but it was kind of fun to rant.

Maybe because she was trying to connect with ultra-beasts, which were literally aliens. No matter how intelligent they were, communicating with them was going to be difficult. And they made a mess of things in the games.

Santiago slapped him upside the head then and, ignoring Leo's cry of protest, pointed out the window at the massive building sitting in the middle of the ocean – an artificial island – they were swiftly approaching.

"Seems we're here," Lusamine said with a smile. Leo leaned over Santiago and peered out the window, eyebrows raising as he beheld the white-painted Aether Paradise, bird pokémon circling overhead while many, many different kinds of boats and water-type pokémon ferried people in and out of the docking area. It was at least four stories tall, too, with more levels underwater. An astounding work of modern architecture is what it was.

Leo was suitably impressed.

From there it only took a few minutes for the boat they were riding to pull into the docking zone, Leo recalling Santiago as it pulled in. He was a bit too big to fit through the cabin door, and Lusamine didn't want him out in the elevator either, but Leo figured the time in the boat was nice for him. It was a new experience, after all.

That didn't mean Leo was left without a pokémon out though – he still had Spiritomb in his pocket, and he immediately released Link upon exiting the boat. The little Bellossom promptly climbed up his body to stand on his shoulder, observing the world from a high perch. Lusamine chuckled at the sight, following after him as they wandered down the docks.

"This is the docking zone, clearly, where shipments come in and people leave from. So long as they're leaving via boat or water-type pokemon, I should say," she explained, waving her hand towards the myriad of Aether employees, all clad in white, moving large crates around with the help of forklifts and pokémon. She led him further into he building, towards an elevator located at the far end of the dock.

Her heels clicked loudly against the metal floors, the employees stepping out of her way and nodding respectfully before continuing on with their duties.

"The first level is where a lot of the uninteresting things are," she explained. "Equipment, a few of the labs, things like that. There are a few neat features, like viewing of underwater pokémon, but for the most part it is dedicated to necessities to keep this place up and running. The third level, where we are headed, is where the conservatory is located,"

"Sounds good," Leo said, stepping into the elevator next to Lusamine and poking at Link with his finger. The little Bellossom swatted his hand away and poked his cheek in retaliation. Leo had to stop himself from poking him again. That would devolve into a poking fight, and that wasn't the best choice right now.

The two rode in silence for a moment as the elevator rose, cheery piano music playing over the speakers, before Lusamine spoke up.

"What you were saying about communication, do you believe that applies to humans as well as pokémon? Perhaps between people you know well?" she asked slowly.

"Of course it does. It especially applies to humans – speaking the same language is a crutch in that regard, because we think we know what words mean. But we don't, not really. What one person could see as a personal attack against their character, could actually be said out of concern for that person's well-being," Leo said absently. "Shoot, I'm still trying to figure out what I mean when I say anything, let alone anyone else," he joked. Lusamine hummed as the elevator doors dinged open, revealing a wide-open lobby where Wicke, the purple haired woman, was waiting for them.

"Welcome back, Miss Lusamine," she said, bowing slightly. "And Leo, welcome to the Aether Paradise,"

"Hello again," Leo greeted.

"If you would follow me, I will show you to the conservatory," she said, turning and leading the way towards a set of large sliding doors. Leo and Lusamine followed, Link still on his shoulder – and promptly had his breath taken away when the doors slid open to reveal the conservatory.

Tall trees reached up towards a domed glass ceiling, while dozens of different species of pokémon danced about in their little sanctuaries. Raised walkways let employees and tourists view the floor of the conservatory while not restricting the movement of pokémon – save for the few species that were cordoned off, thanks to their more volatile nature. A Scyther, for example, sat in its own little corner, one of its arm-blades wrapped in bandages and tied tightly to its side.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Lusamine asked. "We rescue and habilitate pokémon that have been injured, providing for them all the love and care they need to get back on their feet. Take those Corsola for example, they are constantly preyed upon by Toxapex and Mareanie, to the point where they are becoming endangered in the Alola region. We shelter select groups to aid in the repopulation of their species, so they can continue to live and thrive," she said, sweeping one hand towards the conservatory, passion coloring her voice.

"But you also study them, right?" Leo asked, whipping out his pokedex and starting to scan everything he could.

"Indeed. Corsola's recover ability helped in making what is now known as a hyper potion – and the move refresh helped in the creation of the fabulous full heal. By aiding these pokémon we come to further understand them, thereby helping to deepen the bonds between pokémon and man – a truly beautiful thing, is it not?" she said wistfully. Leo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he scanned the Corsola, the rock and water types lounging in a shallow pool while an employee tested the water with a chemical strip.

"We also, however, help to rehabilitate those pokémon who have been released by trainers. It is truly unfortunate, but sometimes a trainer will release a pokémon in a habitat not its own. Take this Meditite, for example. He was brought over from the Sinnoh region and released here, in Alola, where Meditite are not naturally found. He was badly poisoned by a Salazzle when we found him, and is currently still being rehabilitated," she said sadly, shaking her head and pointing to where a Meditite sat upon a rock, legs crossed and eyes closed as it meditated.

"Huh," Leo said, scanning the fighting type and furrowing his brows.

"Some people cannot give love to every pokémon," Lusamine said, shaking her head. "We at Aether give it freely, to all pokémon in need,"

An exaggeration, I'm sure, Leo thought to himself. From there the tour continued, Wicke picking up once Lusamine had to leave for a conference call, and leading him around the island, showing him what all they did. He got to see the medical facilities – where a Lapras was being treated after it got stuck in a fishing net – the aviary, where all the flying type pokémon brought in mail or were being retaught how to fly after having been badly injured; and more. He even got to see the control room, where a field operative was performing a rescue of a Cubone that had fallen halfway down a cliff in real time. The operative had a camera mounted on her head, and the video was broadcasted to a massive screen being watched by numerous people.

That had been pretty cool, actually, and Wicke had let him stay to watch for a while longer. The room was even set up like one of those movie control rooms, with the auditorium-like seat setup for all the techies.

The timing ended up working out perfectly despite that small detour, because that gave Lusamine enough time to finish up her meeting. Which then led to him, Lusamine, and Wicke in a small office-like room, with the contract to join the Aether Foundation in front of him. Leo, of course, read through the thing thoroughly and found that he'd have to be a right idiot to not accept.

It wasn't even a contract, or a job offer. It was less of a contract, in fact, and more of a license that allowed Leo to hire himself out as a free agent to corporations like Aether, or organizations like the Rangers, to perform tasks for said corporations or organizations. In other words, he kind of would become a mercenary. As a trainer he already had a lot of legal freedom in regards to pokémon, such as being allowed to catch, train, and handle said creatures, but this license would give him even more wiggle room. Obviously the Foundation, or at least Lusamine, wanted him to work primarily for them, and there were some caveats about performing a few jobs and such to protect their investment in giving him this license, but nothing overly serious.

It was a ridiculously good deal, but the real caveat wasn't the license he'd be getting from it. That would be the sponsorship Lusamine was offering alongside it. But first he wanted to understand the license.

"So," Leo began, intent on understanding what this…thing, was. "How is this different from just accepting jobs from the Pokemon Centers?" Link, still on his shoulder, poked his cheek and Leo swatted his hand.

"Skill level and specialties," Lusamine said, hands folded on the faux wood table as she stared at him. "The Pokemon Centers mostly deal with local tasks – farmers, people who wish to find a good pet, Rattatta infestations, the like. Trainers accept those tasks and are paid by the poster, and the Center receives a nominal fee once the task is complete. This, on the other hand, puts your name into a bigger playing field. We would approach you with tasks we believe are suited to your skill set with the promise of pay, training, or supplies. This would then allow other organizations to do the same,"

"…I see," Leo said, nodding. That aligned with his own research for the most part. The Centers had plenty of tasks for trainers to do, posted on their job boards mainly by locals, but didn't necessarily handle the large things. Such as natural disasters. Or poachers (trainers without training licenses).

"We believe you more than capable of performing a wide variety of tasks – especially those in regards to grass-type, ghost-type, and psychic-type pokémon. The latter two of which are highly regarded as the more difficult to be able to handle," Lusamine continued.

"Alright, then what's this about you becoming my sponsor?" Leo asked, frowning and watching as Link leapt from his shoulder to the table, looking down at the paper contract and nodding as if the Bellossom actually understood what it was.

"Well, besides allowing us to keep an eye on the wormhole energy still stuck to you, becoming your sponsor is mutually beneficial," Wicke said. "Miss Lusamine has become very interested in your training career, and we both agree that you have the potential to go far. Having a powerful, skilled trainer on our side is always a boon. It's what all companies are doing nowadays – since the entertainment boom, all companies are scrambling to pick up skilled trainers to add to their brand. We at Aether are lucky to not need to do that, as our name is already large enough as it is, but a little extra advertisement never hurts,"

"That, and we wish to protect you," Lusamine continued, earning herself a look from Leo. "Your Slowking's evolution has earned you no small amount of fame – surely, many organizations would be clamoring over themselves to try and get you into their clutches. That is, were you not already sponsored by Victoria. But her name, and by proxy the Oak name, only goes so far, and people want to know how to evolve a Slowking. Allowing us to sponsor you would keep the larger Houndoom at bay, so to speak. And of course, we are a rich organization with plenty of resources. The training equipment you would have access to is state of the art,"

"Well I'd need to talk to Victoria about this first," Leo said.

"I have already spoken to both Victoria and the good Professor Samuel Oak, and send copies of the contract to them. They agree that this is a fair deal," Lusamine said. Leo frowned and mulled it over, narrowing his eyes at Lusamine. She didn't sound as manipulative as yesterday, for whatever reason, but perhaps that is just him getting used to her. What did make him leery is that Lusamine said "hire" yesterday, not "sponsor." Why the change?

"I'd like to call them," he eventually decided, and Lusamine nodded as if she hadn't been expecting any less.

Two phone calls and twenty minutes later, Leo found himself tentatively signing the sponsorship contract and the paperwork for the "mercenary" license, for lack of a better word, with a few caveats. He wouldn't wear a tracking beacon like Lusamine wanted, but he would keep an actual phone on his person so they could contact him; he wouldn't accept every task sent his way, but would accept a minimum of five tasks per year; and while he had initially argued against allowing himself to be used in advertisements once he got stronger and more famous, Lusamine eventually turned him around on it.

The fame involved wouldn't hurt if he ever needed to, say, become Champion.

He also learned something very interesting – Victoria was officially sponsored by the Aether Foundation. So, he accepted their offer because, in her own words, if he lets worrying about what could be consume his actions, he'll never really be able to take a step forward.

And if nothing else, he'd be able to understand more about what the Foundation would do in the future by being on the inside. The thought made Leo chuckle to himself. It was like he was a spy or something.

What happened next was a whole bunch of legal jargon and contract signing that left Leo exhausted and wondering why it took so long to complete. Which was followed by an orientation that lasted all of an hour, and then…not much else. Lusamine had already scanned the ultra-wormhole energy off of Leo with scanners built into the building proper – which wasn't ominous at all – then pushed through the rest of the work to finalize things.

Leo even got an official uniform that he refused to wear – honestly, it was pure white and wouldn't last more than a day with him. What did they expect, that he wouldn't go rolling around in the mud because he was wearing a nice white outfit? After that, he was shown the rest of the facility and given a rundown on what all was available to him now. There was advanced training equipment designed for specific pokémon and specific types, doctors who came up with diets for pokémon to promote growth in certain areas, and access to medicines like Protein and Zinc (for a price, though. That stuff was expensive and Leo didn't get it for free.)

What interested Leo the most, however, was that he was getting almost completely unrestricted access to training records and research documents pertaining to training and pokémon behaviors. While he had access to plenty of research documents via the pokedex, which were neatly organized by the device's design, these went far more in-depth and there were more of them. Lusamine had been more than happy to show Leo some of Victoria's personal notes about training normal types, which, while not as cool as having her personally train him from time to time, was still neat.

There was just one issue with the training notes, however. For the most part? He already knew the advice being given. Sure, there were nuggets of information that he didn't know or wouldn't have figured out on his own – and an Alola perspective on training was far different than a Kanto perspective, and thus gave him a deeper understanding of subjects – but there was a reason he mostly battled veteran trainers. Because when he lost to them, or, less often, won, they gave him some advice. That advice tended to pile up, and they were all too happy to help someone as young as him.

It was one of the few things Leo was happy about with his physical age.

Still, Leo hadn't had true training references since he'd discovered Archibald Oak's journal, which contained some of the ex-champion's training routines, so it was nice to have a physical copy to remind him of things he'd forgotten.

And so the weeks passed. Leo was pushed through the basic training at the Foundation, briefing him on search and rescue operations and making sure his knowledge of potential disasters was at least passible, and he trained his team a lot during his free time. At first he was surprised at how bare-bones the basic training was in certain areas, but then brushed it off. He wasn't training to be a search and rescue specialist, Lusamine just wanted to make sure he knew how to handle certain disasters in case they did pop up.

In fact, the real problem turned out to be Lusamine herself, who wanted to micromanage his every move. Leo, of course, had none of that, and quickly figured out how to push her buttons to let him do what he wanted, not do things her way. For example, she really didn't like it when he got up early in the morning to practice martial arts, saying that a child should have no reason to practice such things, but Leo pointing out that it was one of the few ways he could remember and honor his lost family – which was true to a degree, it was one of his anchors to his old family – got her to shut up and allow it.

All he had to do was play her heartstrings a little and she'd cave. Still, learning the ways of the Aether Foundation wasn't too bad, and he got a lot out of it despite not much happening therein.

It was on the day he was to be done with basic training, and potentially free to go roaming again, that something…different happened.

"What do you think, Link?" Leo asked the Bellossom at his feet, staring at the Alolan Graveller on the other side of the battlefield. The Aether Employee he was currently battling was one of the more skilled ones – a field operative named Holly that had taken a shine to beating his team, and, very rarely, losing to Leo, after he'd started challenging the other employees for training purposes. Most weren't competitive trainers. They were too easy.

This time, however, Leo would be battling one of Holly's newer team members. So they had a chance to win.

"Bell," Link replied, pointing at a Zuko's pokeball as it sat on Leo's belt. Leo hummed and palmed the ball, critically examining the Graveller.

Well, Zuko did need a bit more practice against 'mons he was weak to…

"Zuko, get ready for an uphill battle," he said, releasing him onto the field. Zuko appeared in a flash of red and a puff of smoke, fires already flaring from his back as he stood upright, sniffing at the Graveller. The rock/electric type smashed its fists together, sparking aggressively and reminding Leo that he still kind of wanted a Galvantula. Maybe he should go look for a good electric type…who knew if he'd find a Joltik or Galvantula that worked well with him, but an electric type would be useful.

"Begin!" The ref called, and the two combatants started their attacks.

The Graveller dug stones up from the ground and hurled them at Zuko, but the Quilava was already gone in a stream of smoke and a blast of embers. The little balls of flame splashed mostly uselessly against its rocky hide, but the point of them wasn't to do damage.

The most common method for a fire type to defeat a rock type was to overheat the rock. Their armor was hard to get through, true, but it meant they didn't leech heat as well either – so it became a battle of attrition. Which would give out first? The rock's armor, or the fire type's stamina? Zuko had stamina aplenty, Leo just hoped he wouldn't get hit too many times in the process. He wasn't the bulkiest of pokémon.

Graveler reached into the ground and pulled up a hunk of rock, hurling it at Zuko who dodged out of the way, continuing to pepper it with embers.

Graveler grunted in annoyance, shielding its face with one stone arm as Zuko circled it, and charged forward while crackling with electricity. Zuko nimbly dodged the attack, belched a plume of dark smoke into Graveler's side, and resumed his attack strategy. Leo narrowed his eyes, waiting and watching for that key moment in which they could try out their new move. He'd spent the entirety of his small stipend from the Foundation – basically his first paycheck – on a TM for Zuko, and he was dying to test it out in battle now that they had it combat ready.

Graveler huffed and barreled out of the smoke, sparking with electricity and uncaring of the embers Zuko shot at it as it charged straight at him. It was visibly annoyed now.

"Agni Kai!" Leo ordered, using the code-word for the new move. Zuko didn't even flinch, seamlessly switching from red fire to blue, then back to red. The blue fire shot out as tiny, ember-like balls of flame, splashing against the rock-type's armor and leaving long, black scorch marks. Will-o-wisp was a devastating move, and Graveler visibly slowed, groaning as the burns began to hurt. "Escape, heat wave!"

"No!" the Graveler's trainer, Holly, cried. "Discharge!"

Electricity sparked from Graveler and burst from its body, a few stray bolts striking Zuko and momentarily freezing him, but he replied in kind with a heat wave that scorched the training ground floor. From there, it was only a matter of time. Graveler could do little damage to Zuko and couldn't even catch him, with the occasional discharge it fired off doing hardly any damage at all. This was, honestly, a bad matchup for the rock-type. It was far too stationary, and too reliant on close quarters for a speedy ranged attacker like Zuko, type advantage or not.

After a few more minutes Graveler crumpled to the ground, unconscious and glowing cherry-red in places, leaving Zuko panting as he stood victoriously across the stage from it. Holly sighed and recalled Graveler.

"Thanks for the battle, kid. Butthead here was getting too arrogant – hadn't lost a battle against a type he was strong against in a while. This ought'a whip him into shape, light that fire back in his belly," she said, grinning at the pun. Leo snorted as he leapt out of the stands, carefully approaching Zuko as he cooled off.

"Nice work, buddy. You take a rest, and we'll play tons later," he whispered. Zuko just continued to pant, thoroughly exhausted as the recall beam sucked him back up into his pokeball.

"Bell!" Link said happily, nearly startling Leo as the grass type all but appeared at his side.

"I need to get you a bell or something," Leo grumbled, laying a hand on Link's head and scratching, earning himself a pleased hum. "Thanks for battling me, Holly," he continued, looking up at the older trainer as she approached. "I appreciate you taking the time to help me train,"

"Don't mention it. Say, when are you going to let me have a rematch with that Bellossom of yours? Pira is dying for a rematch," she said with a grin, Pira being her Primarina. The monster of a water-type had nearly defeated Link last time they battled, despite the type disadvantage, and was now, apparently, holding a grudge. Link perked up at the mention, and Leo scowled down at him.

Link was the only one who could consistently beat members of Holly's team. The rest of Leo's team had to play catch-up first.

"No, you aren't going to battle Pira again yet. Maybe in a few weeks, but you need to let everyone else get some experience fighting strong pokémon too. Santiago would benefit the most from battling her," Leo chided, earning himself a pout from Link.

Holly chuckled and shook her head, eyeing the grass type.

"Say, what's that little dancing routine you do with him early in the mornings?" she asked.

"Martial arts," he said instinctively. Link enjoyed joining Leo in his morning routine, much in the way Diana used to, and would copy Leo for the first little bit. Then, after he was done, they'd swap, and Leo would mimic Link as he worked through what could only be described as a sword dancing routine. There were lots of twirls and slow elegant movements – emphasizing control over power. It was unique, and Leo enjoyed it. Plus, he was already halfway used to it from dancing and singing to Bellossom all the time.

"No, the other thing. Where you dance like a hula dancer," she teased, and Leo flushed a little, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Yes, it probably did look like that.

"It's, uh, the Bellossom dance," Leo said, and briefly explained what that meant. That he learned it from the Bellossom, and learned their song as well. Holly hummed and rubbed her chin, eyeing Leo seriously.

"You're Victoria's kid, right?" she asked.

"Well, she technically sponsored me but – wait, you know Victoria?" he asked.

"She and I were something of rivals back when we first started our Island Trials. Though I wound up falling behind and never catching up – turns out competitive battling isn't for me. She and Kukui though, man, you should've seen them tear through the trials…" she said, trailing off with a wistful tone to her voice. Then she shook her head. "Listen to me reminisce. It's like I'm getting old or something. You been to Poni Island yet?" she asked.

"No. That was on my list of things to do. We've been busy getting set up here, finalizing things with the Foundation becoming my training sponsor and going through that orientation thing. I was planning on either doing that, or going back to Melemele and trying to find the first trial," Leo explained. He remembered Victoria said to go find her old teacher, but…the idea of tracking some monster of a pokémon across Melemele only for it to end in a climactic battle appealed to him as well.

"We're going to Poni then," Holly announced, grabbing Leo's shirt and hauling him upright. He blinked in surprise but let it happen, following after Holly with a mixture of curiosity and…well, more curiosity than anything. "Go get your stuff and meet me by the docks. Don't tell anyone where you're going; if Lusamine catches wind she'll never let us leave,"

"Really?" Leo asked, partially surprised but also not.

"Really. She's unnaturally, ah, protective of you. Normally for orientation we send recruits on short training missions out on the islands – even sending them to clear Island Trials to make sure they know how to battle, or just to observe others in action. She refused to let you leave her sights," Holly said, and Leo's mood immediately darkened.

The Foundation, and by proxy Lusamine, had been excellent to him so far. The training equipment was state of the art – even if Leo had no idea how to use them most of the time, and he had access to all kinds of resources he didn't when just wandering around. It was helping him to focus his training efforts, for sure. He would hate for Lusamine to go and ruin things by trying to stifle him.

Leo didn't want to stay in this place. The Aether Paradise was cool, yeah, but it wasn't the wilds. He wasn't free here, despite all the good things going for it. He'd get too restless eventually.

"She normally isn't this bad, but when it comes to certain things she can be a bit…obsessive. I've seen how she treats her kids. Sure, she's a loving mother, but sometimes the worst thing is a helicopter parent. And I refuse to let her smother your talent. Besides, I owe Victoria a favor. Figure she'd appreciate this," Holly announced, shoving Leo towards and elevator. Leo recalled Link, the grass type having not moved from his spot in the battlefield. "Meet me at the dock, bay three. Don't take too long," she snapped, and headed off towards…wherever, walking with a purpose.

It took Leo all of twenty minutes to get all of his stuff ready – running Zuko through a quick healing cycle in one of the healing machines Aether had on standby in the meantime – and reach the docks. He still only had a single backpack for his stuff – though it had been filled out with new supplies. Extra clothes, minor equipment that would help with survival, stuff like that. His favorite new item was a little handaxe that sat at his waist now, but that was beside the point.

What was the point, was that Lusamine was arguing with Holly at the docks. She had her hands on her hips, blonde hair pulled back perfectly and white clothes all but blinding in bright lights from the LED's overhead, and her expression was the stuff of nightmares. From where Leo was approaching from he could see the whole of her expression, and it just screamed "pissed off and disappointed mother that is about to teach you a lesson with a frying pan."

Holly, on the other hand, had her arms crossed and was wearing thick, white field clothes with the mark of Aether on the back while she stood next to a boat. A boat Leo presumed was her own.

"Poni is far too dangerous a place for a boy as young as Leo," Lusamine said coolly.

"He is no boy," Holly snapped angrily. "He's got the potential to be a better trainer than I,"

"He is a boy. Only thirteen years old," Lusamine replied. Holly huffed and said something Leo couldn't make out, only for Lusamine to laugh and cover her mouth with one hand. "Training? He can train here, of course. We have state-of-the-art equipment, the best medical facilities outside of the Joy headquarters in Sinnoh, and more at his disposal." She said smoothly, and Leo could immediately tell that Holly was losing this argument. Not because of logic or anything like that, but simply because she was losing her temper, and Lusamine was remaining calm.

Leo squared his shoulders and plastered a patient smile on his face as he walked up, catching Lusamine's eye and waving.

"Leo, go put your bags away, darling. You'll be staying here for a while yet," she said smoothly, her voice sweet and, dare he say, motherly.

"Sorry, but I actually want to go to Poni Island," Leo said with a shrug. "This your boat, Holly?" he asked, gesturing to the small vessel at the dock. Holly nodded, still scowling, but raising an eyebrow as Leo tossed his bag into the…cockpit? Deck? He should learn boat stuff sometime. But not now.

"You should listen to me. Poni is dangerous, you and your team could get seriously injured. Stay here, train and grow stronger, and in time you'll be able to go to Poni," she said.

"I thought I told you that it was in everyone's best interest if you did not treat me as a child," Leo warned, raising an eyebrow.

"You are a child," Lusamine insisted, setting her hands on her hips and looking down at him with a disappointed look. Leo was unfazed. "And children should listen to adults, who know better,"

Gotcha. Leo thought, smiling thinly. "You're right, I should. Which is why I'm going to Poni. Lots of adults are telling me to go there – Victoria told me to, Professor Oak agrees, Holly said I should, even Kahuna Hala insisted that I explore to complete the Island Challenges," Leo said, stretching the truth a bit to fit his point. "So if more adults are saying that I should go to Poni, should I listen to you, or all of them? I mean, Professor Oak and Victoria are both Champion level trainers, so surely they know what they're talking about right?" Leo asked, and Lusamine frowned.

Leo said no more, looking at Holly, who was nodding along.

"Leo has the battling skills to take care of himself, and just from talking to him, I'd probably trust him in a survival situation more than most of the Employees here. Call what we're doing boot camp, if you have to, but practical experience is a vital part of training," Holly said. Leo smiled a little at the praise – Holly had been one of his examiners during the orientation process to make sure he knew his stuff.

And sure, Leo didn't know the technical terms for a lot of things, but he knew his stuff. Hours spent reading the pokedex and just experiencing the world made sure of that.

"Is that so," Lusamine said. "Well, there's an easy way to test your theory. Battle me, Leo, and if you win I'll let you go to Poni,"

"…how many pokémon?" Leo asked. "I only have three badges, you know,"

"I admit that you are a talented trainer, so don't sell yourself short. You are not merely a three badge trainer. But in the interest of time I don't have the time to battle all your team. Besides, I myself earned eight badges back in my days as a trainer. Most of your team wouldn't be able to match up," she said, checking her watch. "Let's make it a quick one-on-one. How's that sound?" she asked, and Leo knew it was a trap. She was a boss in the games, the Big Bad. Though he didn't remember her team, he knew she probably had a strong team.

Holly opened her mouth to intervene, probably to complain, but he cut her off.

"Deal," he said firmly, eyes narrowed. He was feeling ornery today and, as he said to himself before, he was tired of being pushed around. Besides, if he lost here he could just sneak aboard a boat or something. It wasn't like Lusamine actually had the capability of stopping him, even if he was on her own private artificial island. Spending two years playing "escape the Dragonite" with Professor Oak's Dragonite prior to starting his journey had taught him a lot of escape skills.

Lusamine appeared a little surprised at Leo's swift acceptance, but took it in stride nonetheless.

"Very well. Follow me then, let us make this quick," she said, turning on her heel and stalking away. The few workers that had stopped to watch the conversation quickly scrambled back to work, and Holly frowned at Leo, tapping his shoulder.

"She's going to mop the floor with you. What are you doing?" she asked. "The strongest member of your team, by far, is Bellossom, and she knows that. She'll choose a pokémon that will have an inherent advantage over your Bellossom – not only that, but she's no slouch at battling. She has strong pokémon,"

"I'm aware, but do you really think she'd just let me go that easily? This way, if I do win, then I have some leverage. If I don't I'll call Victoria or Professor Oak; they'll vouch for me," Leo reasoned, strangely calm about the entire situation. Link was the strongest member of his team by far, having been bred and trained by an ex-champion – and though he hadn't had a chance to truly shine in battle yet, Leo had faith in his abilities.

So long as she didn't choose something ridiculous. Like a Ninetails, or Salazzle.

Holly shook her head and muttered something about a crazy kid, slapping him upside the head. He grumbled but accepted the punishment, following Lusamine to one of the training fields, stark white and free of any blemishes. It was almost blinding in its brilliance, and Lusamine took the stage opposite Leo, already holding a pokeball in one hand.

"You release first," Leo said, touching Link's pokeball with his fingers.

Lusamine casually flicked out her pokeball, releasing a floating purple creature with red orbs dangling from its neck and a strange, hat-like head. It smiled eerily, its mouth stretching far wider than it would naturally allow, as the ghost faded in an out of existence, wispy strands of purple energy trailing off of its form.

A Mismagius. Leo blinked and stared at it as Lusamine muttered a few words and the ghost began to chant eerily, balls of mystic fire floating around its head. For a brief second Leo fell under its spell, a wave of ghostly energy washing over him and dulling his mind – before he brushed it off with practiced ease. If that thing thought it could enthrall him with a few quick words like that, it had another thing coming. But barring that, now Leo was well and truly pissed off. Had she really just tried to manipulate him? With a ghost?

Who did she think he was?

"What have I told you about putting people under spells?" Lusamine chided the ghost. "Let him free of your illusions. Honestly, that is the one bad habit I cannot seem to break you of," she began, not aware that Leo had resisted the Mismagius' spell in the first place. Thankfully though, he wasn't the only one angry at that fact.

Anything else she had to say was cut off as Spiritomb, for the first time in weeks, burst to life. Anger surged through Leo as his ghost exploded from his pocket, purple and black energy roaring out with a furious screech as Spiritomb made its displeasure known – it was seething mad, for Leo's sake. He could feel it through their bond, and that made resisting the ghost's fury all the harder.

Especially since, for the first time, all of Spiritomb's scattered spirits were focused in on one thing; protect Leo. And that ghost had crossed the line.

"Call begin," Leo said, voice smooth as butter despite his raging emotions and the screeching mass of rage that was Spiritomb. Mismagius flinched away, shying away from Spiritomb as it expanded its form, darkness overtaking half of the arena. "I don't know how long Spiritomb will be able to hold back,"

"Begin!" a voice said over the intercom, and Spiritomb attacked with savage fury. Mismagius darted backwards, blasts of fire blazing out to engulf entire sections of Spiritomb's massive, shadowy form – but there was no stopping the tidal wave of darkness. Tendrils of shadow and blasts of icy wind snuffed out the fires and slapped at Mismagius, sending the ghost careening through the air as it tried to dodge the onslaught.

Shadow balls blasted outward, Mismagius dodging expertly and showing its skill as it retaliated with a large number of attacks. Ominous wind, magical leaf, shadow ball…they all fired at Spiritomb, to little effect. It was clearly well trained, but seemed a little out of practice. Its attacks weren't as swift as it could be, nor as powerful, and Spiritomb took vicious advantage of that.

"Phantom force!" Lusamine commanded, a bit of worry seeping into her voice. Mismagius shot down towards the ground, vanishing into the shadows - but there was no escaping Spiritomb. Spiritomb was the shadows and darkness, and Mismagius found itself caught in a spectral hand. Spiritomb's body condensed on the hand, forming a humanoid body made of shadows, purple light, and sickly green swirls that held Mismagius still.

Power surged and a dozen shadow balls formed in the air around the two, all poised to strike. Tendrils of shadow sprouted from Spiritomb's chest area, where its keystone floated in its body, and creepily reached out to wrap around Mismagius, further halting its movements.

It took a moment for Leo to find his voice. He'd known that Spiritomb was powerful, just lacking the ability to harness said power due to its hive mind not really playing well with itself, but holy shit. How strong even was that Mismagius? How strong was Spiritomb?! The argument could be made that Spiritomb had surprised Mismagius, and therefore it didn't get a chance to fight back properly, but still!

"My literal gamble paid off, I think?" Leo muttered to himself. "Lusamine, recall Mismagius. The battle is over," Lusamine said nothing for a moment, eyeing the results of the battle calculatingly, but eventually recalled her ghost.

"You are talented," she allowed, a mix of emotions warring across her face, eventually giving way to a warm smile and a shake of her head. "Very well. I don't like it, but you may go to Poni. Just be sure to call every day to check in,"

"Every week," Leo countered. Lusamine hesitated, then nodded and without another word, left the arena. He stood there in silence for a moment until Spiritomb approached – or, more like, suddenly took up the entirety of his field of vision with its grinning face and a screech. Leo jerked backwards and cursed, glaring at his ghost. "Well you're certainly feeling good, aren't you? Thanks for the help, bud. That was incredible," he praised. Spiritomb cackled and sucked itself back up into its keystone, leaving the square cube on the ground. Leo picked it up and put it in his pocket just as Holly entered, having been watching from some separate viewing booth or something.

"That was insane," she said. "I had no idea your ghost was that powerful. Though we got lucky, in more ways than one,"

"How so?" Leo asked, following her out of the training area. A few employees were giving him strange looks as he left, but he paid them no heed.

"Lusamine was in a good mood. She actually let you go without much of a fight," she said. "Don't be too hard on her. She's got that whole helicopter parent thing going on, but she means well. Her obsessive tendencies have just been getting worse and worse lately. She used to be so much more in control,"

"She did? What happened?" Leo asked.

"…I don't know," Holly admitted. "I used to think it started after her husband disappeared, but I'm not sure that's the case anymore. She grieved for him for a while, yes, but she only started getting really controlling a few years after he vanished. But it's the only thing I can think of," Holly said with a sigh. Leo hummed and mulled that over, but eventually let it go. That was an interesting fact to remember, but useless at the moment. For now, he just had to look forward to going to Poni.

As Victoria had said; it's like the Silver Mountains of Alola. Wild, dangerous, and filled with all kinds of powerful pokémon. Leo couldn't wait.

Chapter Text

The wind whipped Leo's hair back as he leapt from the boat onto the docks, the salty breeze filling his nostrils as he surveyed the area. There was very little in the way of people on Poni Island – in fact, what he remembered as a small town of ocean-faring folk from the games was nothing more than a small dock with a pokemon center sitting on the beach. Even that was faded, with peeling paint and being maybe a quarter of the size of the standard center.

Clearly, this place did not get a lot of traffic.

"Welcome to Poni, the greatest wild place in Alola," Holly said, anchoring her boat and tying it to the dock. "Here is where tradition stands strong, and history is preserved," a hint of reverence entered her voice at that, and Leo nodded along, squinting and shading his eyes as he looked up at the tall volcanic mountain that rose from the center of the island. A large stretch of plain-like wilderness lay directly in front of him, dotted with palm trees, vast swaths of greenery, and ending with tall cliffs that rose in the distance.

"So where are we headed?" Leo asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. Everyone was talking Poni up so much, his expectations could not be higher.

"It's about half a day's walk along the trail to the Ancient Poni Path. That's where Sofu, the Kahuna, lives with his family," Holly said, pointing towards a small path that lead East. "Stick close to me, so you don't get challenged by anyone. The trainers here are a bit strong for you…well, for most of your team," she amended, walking down the dock and pulling out a pokeball, releasing an Alolan Persian. The black, panther-like cat yawned and stretched, sniffing Holly as she passed it by, then plodding along silently behind her, completely ignoring Leo.

He was fine with that. Alolan Persian or not, he still held a deep-seated wariness for Persian thanks to Victoria's, Prince. It "hunting" him all the time while he lived at the Oak ranch was one of his more terrifying memories.

They walked for a little way, following what were essentially game trails – trails made in the ground by wild pokémon, not humans – and only occasionally running into a trainer. And they were all trainers, usually with camps set up right on the side of the trail with their pokémon out. Some waved at Holly and she waved back, while others tried to challenge her but were turned away. Her Aether uniform was useful in that sense, she could turn away the more battle-hungry trainers by saying she was on a mission for Aether, and couldn't risk her team in battle.

The further they got from the docks, however, and the rarer trainers became. Wild pokémon became more prevalent, Alolan Raticate scuttling about in the slowly thickening plant life, while Exeggutor wandered about and bird pokémon flew overhead. The heat of the day hit Leo like a freight train, the sun beating down oppressively, the humidity of the air skyrocketing. Thankfully Leo was getting used to the heat; when he first got here from Kanto, the weather made him want to die.

The two walked in silence for the most part, Leo bending down to pick up interesting rocks as they walked, only to toss them away, and running his hands along the myriad of plants that lined the path. Once he accidentally grabbed the flowers of a sleeping Comfey, the fairy type glaring at him before floating off deeper into the wilds.

After a few hours of walking the scent of the ocean returned, the path they followed winding along cliffsides the butted up against the ocean. The salty spray threatened to drench Leo at times when the now-rocky path narrowed, squeezing travelers between the sheer, dark-stone cliffside and the ocean waves beating on the rocks below. It was at this point that Leo released Diana, who happily wiggled, looked up at the few puffy white clouds in the sky, and immediately shot straight up into the sky. Leo sighed and prepared her pokeball, watching closely as she shot up, up, up…then stalled and tumbled back toward the ground. He waited until she got in range, recalled her before she hit the ground, then let her back out right next to him.

"Are you done?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. She wiggled happily, caught sight of the sun glinting off the ocean, and bolted out to sea in a plume of dust. Leo recalled her before she could get too far out this time, skimming over the water though she was. He let her out again, this time laying a hand on her shell to keep her from going anywhere. "Stick next to me, ok girl? No wandering off this time, you need to learn to go slow," he chided. She wiggled happily, squinting her eyes and leaning into Leo's touch. He just shook his head.

"What was that about?" Holly asked once they started walking again, her Persian plodding along next to Diana, who slowly drug her shell across the rocky ground thanks to her pressurized air vents. She constantly echoed a low hum, but Leo was slowly learning to tune it out.

"She's been wanting to go touch a cloud since practically day one of her evolution; doesn't have the power to do so yet, but she wants to. And I guess the ocean looked pretty, too," Leo said with a shrug, looking back at Diana in a mixture of exasperation and fondness. Holly snorted and shook her head, once more falling silent.

From there it was another good hour until, finally, the path widened into a clearing filled with what could only nominally be called a village.

There were maybe five houses, all made of a pale adobe-like material, though only one of them looked lived in. Smoke curled from the chimney, the smell of cooking food mixing with the scent of the ocean, while clothes hung out to dry and a child was playfully chased by a Mudbray. The little girl laughed joyfully whenever the horse pokémon caught her, while an old woman watched over them.

"Seems Hapu is here today," Holly muttered to herself. "This is Sofu's, the Kahuna's, home. They're one of the only families to truly live on the island anymore; the rest are trainers or tourists," she explained. Leo nodded.

"What should I expect?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said. "You stay here for a minute while I go say hello," With that, she headed off towards the house. Leo stood there awkwardly until Diana moved over to him and pressed her face into his side – which was very much like living granite trying to give him a hug. He chuckled and pet her, scratching her spines as best he could and earning himself a pleased rumble. Who knew if she could actually feel it, but she seemed to enjoy it. After a few minutes of waiting she started to get twitchy from standing still for too long, so Leo started walking her around.

That is, until a little girl with poofy purple hair and wearing blue overalls walked over and stared at Diana in wonder. She couldn't have been older than ten, which was still very young by his books, and had one hand on her hip and the other on her Mudbray's neck.

"Hello," Leo said with a smile. "Cool, isn't she? This is Diana," he said.

"Hiya," she said with a bit of a drawl. "This is Popsy. What is she?" she asked, patting her Mudbray then gesturing to Diana. The colt whinnied at his name being said.

"A Pupitar," Leo said, Diana turning to face Hapu and carefully, very carefully moving closer. Her air vents blasted rock and dirt all over the place, forcing him and Hapu to squint and shield their eyes until she got close enough to her that she could pet her. "Sorry about all the dust, it's how she moves around. You can pet her, by the way. Of anyone in my team she's probably the one who'd enjoy it the most," he said with a chuckle.

It felt ironic to him that Diana, the one destined to grow up to be a giant green rock monster, was arguably the most social of his team. Zuko and Link were ok, but…they preferred Leo's company, and not much else. Santiago was too quiet and Spiritomb was Spiritomb.

Hapu laid and hand on Diana's carapace, and the Pupitar wiggled in greeting. Hapu giggled, withdrawing her hand.

"Are you here to see gramps?" she asked.

"I think so," Leo said.

"He's been kind of weird lately. Something about the Tapus being restless," she said. Leo nodded.

"I heard about that. Tapu Koko came out of nowhere and fought me," Leo said. Hapu scrunched her face up in doubt, crossing her arms.

"Liar," she said. Leo shrugged, preparing Diana's pokeball as she rotated her body to look up at the sky. He could see the gears turning as she contemplated the clouds; it was only a matter of time before she tried to take off again.

"It's true! He tried to zap me and my team, but Diana blocked it. I've also met Articuno, a legendary ice bird in Kanto," he said, tone sounding like he was joking even though it was the truth. Hapu crossed her arms and squared her feet.

"Nuh uh!" she said.

"Yuh huh!" Leo countered. Diana's "engines" revved up, oxygen being sucked into her carapace and creating a whoomph sound, and Leo immediately recalled her, shaking his head. Silly girl. Rocks don't fly.

Or, well, she doesn't yet. He'd had nightmares about Diana truly learning to fly before. He could only imagine how terrifying a flying rock monster would be to his opponents, let alone a flying rock monster who knew martial arts…once she evolved. And if she kept that ability to move using her air vents. Leo hoped she did, because if he considered a flying Diana terrifying he could only imagine what his opponents would think.

Hapu, in the meantime, stood there blinking in surprise at Diana's sudden recall. Leo just shrugged at her, unsure what to say.

"Leo!" Holly called, exiting the small adobe house followed by a short, white haired old man walking with a cane. "This is Sofu. Sofu, this is Leo,"

"Alola. It is a pleasure to meet you," Leo said, giving the formal Alolan greeting and extending a hand to the man. He really was very short, maybe an inch taller than Leo, but when Sofu gripped Leo's hand in a firm, iron-like handshake, any notions that the man could be losing his touch with age flew out the window.

These were the hands of a man who had worked hard all his life, and would continue to work until the day he died.

"Leo, huh," Sofu said. "So, you're here to help out around the ranch? Muck the stables, tend to the 'mon? Holly here says you'd make an excellent helper,"

"Uh, I mean, sure, I can help out around the place. I've got experience working at Professor Oak's ranch," Leo started. "But I was kind of hoping that you'd also help me train,"

"Help you train what?" Sofu asked gruffly. "Your body? Your mind? Your pokémon? Do you even know what you're asking? Do you even know who I am?"

"Um," Leo said, taken aback. "No, I don't actually. I just know you're a Kahuna, and that you trained Victoria Oak,"

"Little miss Oak? Train is a strong word," Sofu said, shaking his head. "I gave her some advice and that's about it. A few words of encouragement is all it took for her. What'd she say about what she learned from me?"

"She didn't?" Leo said, as more of a question. Now he was getting confused.

"Of course not. Trust an Oak to throw a kid into something without telling them anything," he grumbled. "And you're just coming here on their word? What about me, what do I get out of training you?" he asked.

"Uh," Leo spluttered.

"Didn't even think about that, did you?" Sofu continued.

"Didn't really have the chance. Holly drug me here as quick as she could. Is there anything you need or want?" he asked.

"Of course she did. These brats, coming here and trying to dump another project on me. You don't even know what you're asking, do you, kid? What if I can't even train you?" he asked, not expecting an answer.

"Stop being mean, gramps," Hapu interjected suddenly, frowning at her grandpa from atop her Mudbray. When did she climb up on its back?

"Quiet, Hapu," Sofu said with no heat to his voice. "I'm talking to the boy here," he said, and suddenly fell silent, studying Leo contemplatively. "Fine. Tell you what; I've got some projects around here that need finishing up. Fences to be fixed, pokémon taken care of. You help me for the next week or so, and we'll figure out if I want to train you or not,"

Leo contemplated that. "Deal," he said finally. "Er, well. Holly, will Aether make a fuss about that?"

"No," Holly said. "You have no obligations to go on any missions yet, and I'll tell Lusamine what's going on. Just don't forget to call her, or she may show up here looking for you. She can be really neurotic about some things,"

"I don't want that, so I won't," Leo said with a sigh. His pokedex got upgraded with a call function at Aether, so now he didn't have an excuse to fall off the map completely. Unless, of course, he was somewhere ridiculous without any signal. Like in the heart of Poni Island. But this close to the ocean should be fine.

"Good. Now let your team out and come on, we're wasting daylight," Sofu said, turning on his heel and marching back towards the house. Leo hesitated for a moment, glancing at Holly. She nodded to him.

"Go on," she said, jerking her head toward the house.

"Let your team out! They'll be helping!" Sofu shouted, making Leo jump. He said a quick thank you to Holly, said goodbye, then let his entire team out and hurried after Sofu.

He wasn't sure what he had been expecting today, but it wasn't this.

Sweat poured down his body and muck flew as Leo shoveled, cleaning out the Mudsdale stalls as best he could. He didn't have much thought beyond cleaning, allowing the monotonous labor to clear his mind as his body moved, the carts full of muck carted off by Diana, who was hooked to the wood constructs like a beast of burden. They would then be dumped in a pit Sofu indicated, to be spread out and used as fertilizer at a later date. Or not at all. It didn't really matter to Leo.

The rest of his team were off doing whatever else – Link was chopping wood with his leaf blade, Santiago was helping Sofu's wife fluff and fold laundry, while the man himself had taken Zuko away to help him with pottery. Or something. Leo wasn't exactly sure and, as he looked up at the midday sun wiping sweat from his brow, he hadn't really thought about it for a few hours. For all he knew they had all moved on to different chores by now.

"I'm about done here," he muttered, looking out over the pens he had cleaned up. The entire thing had been a bit of a muddy mess – from excrement, so not the kind of mud Mudsdale actually enjoyed – but now it was looking far better. Next would be to shovel clean, loose dirt back into the pens, and let Santiago spray it down with a bit of water. Mudsdale and Mudbray loved mud, as their name suggested, so it was healthy to keep the stalls a little muddy. Unlike for regular, non-pokemon horses.

One of the Mudsdale neighed, tossing its head at him and stomping its feet from the other side of the wooden fence, getting his attention. Leo waved at her, the mare snorting and glaring at the ground. The pasture she roamed was wide open and large, a few other of her species milling about munching on grasses or standing beneath the shade of the few trees. On particularly energetic Mudbray pranced about in the small watering hole in the middle of said pasture, splashing water everywhere.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'll make it nice and pretty for you before the day's out, don't you worry," Leo said dismissively, waving at the ornery mare that was still glaring at him. She snorted again but moved off all the same, giving the closed gate into the pens a wide berth. Leo sighed and took off his shirt.

He was absolutely drenched in sweat, and the heat of the sun was only making things worse. Thankfully he had plenty of water to drink though.

"Diana! When you're done meet me over by the mudpit!" he shouted, marching in the direction of the area Sofu told him to pull fresh dirt from. He had a lot to do, and little time to do it in, so he'd better get to it.

Leo pulled on the wire fencing, stretching it as tight as he could with Santiago's help. "Hold it steady," he said around the thick, u-shaped nails in his mouth, Santiago gripping the wire with his meaty paws and heaving with a grunt. With practiced ease Leo pulled the u-shaped nails from between his teeth, grabbed his hammer from where it lay at his feet, and pounded it into the wooden fencepost. He did this five more times in different spots, until the chain-link fence was tightly secured, then stood up and surveyed his handiwork.

He and Santiago had spent the past day and a half fixing this fence, replacing the wire. The many hundreds of feet of fencing had been a pain, but he'd persevered and gotten it done. It was a good thing this wasn't his first fence fix though; not only had he helped repair the Oak ranch from time to time, but he'd also built animal pens when he was much younger.

"Leo! Lunch is ready!" Hapu called happily, the little girl coming running up with her Mudbray trotting along behind her.

"Great timing! I just finished with the fence," Leo answered, taking a swig of water and patting Santiago's arm. The Slowking stretched his arms and rolled his neck, unused to using his muscles this way. In a way, it was actually good muscle training for him. He'd been focusing too much on training his psychic abilities, and after figuring that out, Leo had actually forbidden him from using his psychic powers to help. As a bonus it did wonders on the Slowking's mental state as well. He was far less space-cadety at the moment; there was nothing like a little manual labor to clear the mind.

"Awesome! Maybe now gramps will let me teach you how to ride a Mudsdale," Hapu cheered, earning a chuckle from Leo.

"After lunch, and maybe after a nap, but yeah, that'd be fun," he said, ruffling Hapu's hair and starting the long walk back to Sofu's house. He'd ridden horses before, but never a horse-like pokémon.

The fence he'd fixed wasn't really there to keep the Mudsdale in – a sufficiently determined Mudsdale would plow right through the stupid thing – as much as it was to deter wild pokémon. Not keep out, just deter. If a determined pokémon wanted it, it would get in. According to Sofu, however, eventually the fence would be covered with the special mud Mudsdale spat and made much stronger. But that was a job for another time, and apparently that was a project he'd had "in the works" for many, many years.

After lunch, which was just sandwiches, Leo was eventually cajoled by Hapu to go ride the Mudsdales. She, of course, rode her Mudbray, while Leo was saddled with the grumpy mare that had been glaring at him the whole time he'd cleaned their pens out. Mostly for Hapu's amusement, of course, because Leo couldn't tell her where to go despite having ridden horses before. She just went.

And go she did. The powerful beast didn't go anywhere fast, but she plodded along without a care in the world, be it up and down hills or over streams. She also purposefully ran him into tree branches that were just high enough to hit his face, which not only seemed to amuse the Mudsdale, but also made Hapu laugh.

By the end of the two hour horse ride Leo had come to dislike the mare that he had ridden. The feeling was mutual, he could tell. Don't get him wrong, he enjoyed the ride, but if only his ride hadn't been so…mean.

The week passed much like this; Sofu giving him various tasks to complete around the ranch, and Leo doing so to the best of his ability. He still had time to train his team during the mornings and evenings, and figured out ways to train their talents even while working. But it wasn't the same, and he grew more and more agitated the longer he worked on the ranch. So, when Sofu finally came to get him on the night of the seventh day of his time on the ranch, Leo sitting out by the campfire he had built in the courtyards of one of the abandoned homes with his team splayed out, Santiago trying to master the guitar, he felt relieved.

He still wasn't sure what to expect from Sofu if the man did agree to train him, but the man knew his pokémon and was Kahuna of the most wild island in Alola for a reason.

"Follow me. Leave your team," Sofu said, appearing through the darkness, hobbling forward on his cane. "Don't return them, just leave them here. Including your ghost," Leo hesitated for just a moment, meeting Santiago's eyes before nodding, pulling Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket, and laying it on the ground next to the fire. Thankfully it stayed quiet, allowing Leo to follow Sofu without raising a fuss.

He was led to the coast, looking out over the ocean with the full moon shining down on the water. It was beautiful, watching the light reflect off the waves and feeling the cool ocean breeze, and Leo just took a moment to enjoy the peace and quiet. He was without his team for the first time since…well, in forever, and in a way it was nice. Quiet. Without anyone he actually knew to disturb his thoughts – just a callous old man who stood next to him, and made him do work stuff.

Eventually though, Leo had to break the silence. His curiosity was killing him.

"So, training," Leo started, and Sofu sighed.

"Kid, what have you seen so far that would convince you that I would make a good teacher?" he asked, and Leo was silent. Honestly, not much. Sofu lived a simple life, feeding his animals and acting as a rancher. Sure, he had a way with pokémon but anyone who has spent time with pokémon tended to pick up a few tricks. Which was basically everyone. But he was Kahuna of Poni Island, and that had to count for something, right? "You're expecting something, and I don't know what. You don't know what,"

"No, I don't," Leo allowed. Honestly, so far he wouldn't be all torn up if Sofu decided to not teach him. Poni seemed like a great place to train anyway, and he'd probably stick around for a while. Go do some missions for Aether, battle some people, things like that. He wouldn't arrogantly claim that he knew the best path to training his team, but there were plenty of other people out there with advice to give. Some good advice, some not.

"You're a good kid, Leo. Got a strong heart and you work hard. Pokemon like ya, and you're good with Hapu," Sofu said. "I can see why Victoria likes you; you're like a miniature version of her,"

Leo wasn't sure what to feel about that. Awkward? Proud? He owed a lot to Victoria and Professor Oak and loved them like family, but they weren't his parents. Leo settled on feeling gratitude towards the statement. It was a compliment, and he would treat it as such.

"Unfortunately that also means you've got her fire to do things. You could just be a farmer, like me. Live a life like this, make a living tending the land. The world will move on even if you sideline yourself. Shoot, that Professor of yours would probably gladly take you in if you're the sciencey type. Teach you how to be a researcher," Sofu said.

Leo thought about it for a moment. He would love that life, if he was honest. Probably wouldn't be a farmer, but a ranger? A hermit in the mountains, living off the land and living in a cabin he himself built? That would be so much fun. He was a simple man, he didn't need much to be satisfied, but…maybe that's what was killing him too. Because as he thought about the mess in Kanto, he thought about the visions he'd seen from Celebi, and he thought about the ultra-beasts, Lusamine, and all the things he sort-of knew was coming, he found he couldn't sit still.

It was a simple feeling in his stomach. A firm sort of determination that came from when he didn't like what he had to do, but knew that he had to do it. He may not be able to change the world completely, but he could just a little, right?

"I can't," Leo said simply. Sofu nodded, as if he had been expecting that, and looked out over the ocean again.

Silently Sofu drew a knife from the sheath on his waist, and examined the blade in the moonlight. Satisfied, he showed the knife to Leo.

"Look here, kid," he said finally. "See how sharp this is?" he held out one arm, covered in fine silver hair as it was, and scraped the edge of the knife at an angle along his arm, shaving off a good chunk of hair with ease.

"Nice," Leo said, not sure what else to say. Nodding, Sofu immediately pressed the blade down as hard as he could against his skin and drug it across his arm. Leo yelped in surprise and horror, reaching out to try and stop the bleeding that…didn't come.

There was no blood. There was no cut. Only Sofu's whole, hale arm.

"Wh-what?" Leo stammered.

"That is a party trick," Sofu said, grabbing ahold of Leo's arm and pulling it out, pressing the blade against Leo's arm. Leo stiffened at the contact, and met Sofu's eyes. "Trust me," he said simply. Rationality warred within Leo's mind, but slowly he relaxed, and eventually he nodded to the man. The moment he did Sofu nodded, a tingling sensation ran up Leo's arm, and he drug the blade across Leo's skin, doing no harm. He could feel the sharpness, but it just didn't…cut.

"What in the world…?" Leo said, eyes wide as he examined his skin. The only damage done was a thin white line that showed something had touched him, peeling back already dead skin.

"Aura, boy, aura. If anything, that is what I can teach you," Sofu said quietly, and Leo's head snapped up. "Like all people, you have the ability to use aura. You can already feel it, can't you? When you practice in the mornings and dance with the Bellossom you unconsciously are using it, throwing it everywhere with your punches, your strikes, your movements, everything. Everyone does this as aura is a natural energy, used by all, but you, for whatever reason, unconsciously let it flow through you more naturally. You open yourself up to it more,"

"I do?" he asked.

"Yes. But like I said, what I just showed you is just a party trick. A showman's tale. And what you're doing is unconscious, unrefined. Aura is so much more than that," Sofu said slowly. "It is the bond between pokémon and human, the will of the universe, the life and death of all things. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is. And it has a will of its own,"

"How do you know all of this?" Leo asked, furrowing his brows.

"Doubting me, are you? Boy, there are very few who know aura like I do; maybe three in the entire world can see the world as I can see it. Among humans, that is. I cannot speak for the Lucario or other aura-attuned creatures. When I look at the world, I do not see the physical shapes – I see it in aura. I can see the bonds that bind humans and pokémon, the symbiotic relationship that has defined our species together for hundreds of thousands of years. I can hear the intents of another's actions, and feel the emotions of others if I get too close to them. It is almost too much at times," he said with a sigh. For a moment his eyes glowed in the night, flashing with power, and he levitated and inch off the ground before he settled back down.

"And you, Leo, have much aura at your command. You simply need to be taught to use and control it," he said, but something in the way he said it made Leo frown. It didn't sound like he wanted to be the teacher.

"Will you train me?" Leo asked.

"No," Sofu said firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because you are not ready for it," Sofu said softly. "We are having this conversation so you can understand a little of where you stand, but…you are not ready for it yet,"

"When will I be ready for it?" Leo asked. It wasn't really a question anymore of whether or not he wanted Sofu to teach him, to train him. It wasn't quite the training he had in mind when he first arrived, but this was just as cool if not cooler. Aura training?! Who in their right mind would pass that up? Plus, he can train his team while he's at it! It's a win-win!

Sofu was silent for a while. "Once you reach the Altar of the Sunne, beyond the Vast Poni Canyon. Do that, and then you'll be ready," he said.

"That's all?" Leo asked, furrowing his brows. "I don't have to, I dunno, grow older or something? Fight a dragon with my bare hands? Learn the secrets of the aura guardians?"

"Your aura is not that of a child, Leo, so you do not need to grow older. Yes, as you grow older your aura strengthens, but that is not the only method. As I said before, pokémon and humans have a symbiotic relationship. Once you bond with a pokémon, you share your aura with it, which fuels their growth. For trainers, that could mean sparking evolutions or simply letting your team become more powerful; and in return, that bond strengthens our own auras, and gives us deeper insights to the world. Many do not recognize this growth, but most all of your truly powerful trainers will be aware of aura in some respect," Sofu said slowly.

"So climbing to the Altar of the Sunne will get me to where I need to be for you to train me," Leo said, as more of a statement than a question. "Does that mean I need to complete the Island Trials?"

"That's up to you," Sofu said dismissively, turning and heading back. "Alola is a land of freedom. If you think the Trials are what will get you there, be my guest. If you think throwing yourself at the mountain over and over until you reach the top is best, do so. But I will not train you without you reaching the Altar – and not by teleporting there either. I don't expect it will take you any less than five years," and with that, the old man walked back towards his house, leaving Leo alone at the coast.

The fire that was burning in his gut, urging him onward, intensified with newfound direction. All he had to do was reach the Altar of the Sunne which, if he remembered right, was the altar on Poni Island where Lunala and Solgaleo could be summoned. He'd show Sofu. By the end of the year, he'd be at the Altar.

Leo left early the next day, saying goodbyes to the family that housed him for the past week – Hapu wasn't very happy he was leaving, wanting him to "stay and play for just a little longer!" – and carefully headed into the Vast Poni Canyon. The canyon itself was, like its name suggested, vast and glorious. Deep ravines and steep cliffsides dominated the landscape, scraggly trees growing out of cracks in the stone while small tufts of grass or bushes grew where they could.

Pokemon were scarcer here, though Leo did see a midday Lycanroc running across the top of the ravine once. But otherwise? There wasn't much. The land here just seemed to be bare, and he was nearly forced to dip into his emergency rations on occasion as food was scarcer. There were cactuses he could eat, and a few tubers and some berry-like things, but it wasn't a whole lot. Thankfully most of his team was self-sufficient. Not only did pokeballs slow down a pokemon's metabolism, and therefore their need to eat, but Link mostly only needed sunlight, water, and a little bit of food, Zuko hunted small Rattatta and veggies on his own, and Santiago could find food wherever he went.

That, and there were a few ponds to fish from. Even one of the most sparse area of Alola was, honestly, abundant in food compared to many other places. Despite being more difficult to procure it, and to find fresh water.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the fifth day that Leo finally made his way to the end of the canyon. They hadn't run into very many aggressive wild pokémon, the few that did try to attack were repelled with relative ease – except for one particularly angry Honchkrow. It took Zuko repeatedly blasting it into the canyon wall with a heat wave to finally get it to leave them alone. Nor had there been any trainers in the area, though there was some sign of human activity.

Leo hesitated upon seeing the two multicolored pillars rising on either side of the cavern walls, and the carved stone monument that stood just beyond them. This was the last stretch of the canyon. He could practically see where the path led out, the steep walls giving way to open skies while the volcanic mountain loomed not too far away. Above, natural bridges of stone criss-crossed through the canyon, creating a latticework of natural stone.

"Zuko," Leo said calmly, calling the Quilava back from where he had been sniffing the monument. "Stay next to me," Zuko ambled back over to Leo, and after a moment's thought he let out Diana as well. The Pupitar appeared in a flash of red, wiggled happily, and promptly tried to "hug" Leo by falling at him. He casually stepped out of the way and, shaking his head in amusement, placed a hand on her back as she lay face-first on the ground.

"C'mon, silly girl. Up and at 'em. I think we've got a fight ahead of us," he said, helping her push herself back up into a standing position. She wiggled happily, squinting her eyes at him. Taking a breath Leo crossed the threshold of the multicolored pillars and approached the stone monument, running his fingers over the words etched into stone.

It read:

Ahead lies a sacred ground of trials. None who do not take part in its trials will be allowed to walk upon this earth. Those lacking the courage to defeat the totem guarding this land will be denied entry. But those who believe in their Pokemon and walk beside them shall gain great power!

Leo looked further into the canyon, now certain he was being watched. So, he had to go through the last trial of the Alola region to get to the Altar of the Sunne? If he was remembering his games right that meant fighting a Kommo-o and its pre-evolutions. Not just any Kommo-o, but a totem Kommo-o – a pokémon that was bigger, stronger, and overall just better than your average pokémon of its species. For a pseudo legendary, that meant a lot.

"Well crap," he muttered, looking down at Zuko. "We could push on ahead, or try to circle around, but…I get the feeling that this will be the test either way. If a pseudo-legendary is guarding these grounds, and I assume that means the Altar of the Sunne as well, then I'd have to be pretty lucky to sneak by. What do you two think?" he asked.

Zuko looked up from where he was sniffing at a bug crawling across the ground, and Diana just blinked at him before slowly dragging herself forward, deeper into the canyon. Zuko sneezed from the dust she kicked up and followed after.

"That answers that question. Let's see how strong we are compared to the strongest totem Pokémon," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "It's a good thing I brought plenty of potions,"

It only took a few steps further into the canyon for Zuko to tense up and look around for threats, even though Diana happily continued on without a care in the world. The layered stone walls of the canyon echoed with the sounds of her air vents, and the sound of metal banging rhythmically against stone began. Leo palmed Link and Santiago's pokeballs, keeping his eyes peeled as they continued deeper.

Shapes began to appear from indents in the walls above them, a few Jangmo-o, small quadrupedal dragons with thick yellow scales, poking their heads out and hissing at him threateningly, stomping their feet. The beat of the banging picked up, and this time even Diana seemed to notice. Slowly more noise was added, until it reached a crescendo as they rounded the final bend in the narrow canyon.

Five pokémon stood before them and the canyon exit; two Jangmo-o, two Hakamo-o, and a single Kommo-o. The Jangmo-o stomped their feet and snorted agitatedly, while the Hakamo-o beat their chests, producing loud clanging sounds from their scales. And the Kommo-o glared, its tail swaying back and forth, its large, round, armor-like scales rubbing against each other and creating a ringing beat that bound together the noises its pre-evolutions made.

It was the beat of war drums, and Leo found himself smiling as the primal sound set his blood to surging through his veins, white-hot adrenaline pumping into his system and driving him excitement up to the absolute maximum. There was no doubt what was coming next – and the sudden stop of the pounding noise had him clutching Link and Santiago's pokeballs in anticipation.

A roar ripped through the newfound silence, sending a thrill up Leo's spine even as fear tried to pierce into him – and from the top of the canyon jumped another Kommo-o. It fell a hundred feet or more to the bottom of the valley, landing with a boom that shook the ground itself. Leo's breath caught in his throat as the pseudo-legendary rose to its full height, absolutely dwarfing the Kommo-o that stood behind it. It was at least twice as tall, its scale armor scratched, chipped, and beaten from the many intense battles it must have had. Yet they still gleamed in the light that shone down from above, speaking of the care that went into maintaining said armor.

This was Leo's first time meeting a totem pokémon. It did not disappoint.

"We gonna battle?" Leo asked, and the Kommo-o snorted, flexing its massive, clawed hands and grunting. From behind it came the two Jangmo-o, glaring and snarling as they plodded forward on all fours. The totem pokémon growled, drawing Leo's attention as it pointed directly at him, held up one finger, then pointed at Zuko and Diana. It took him a minute for the reason for this to click. "You want me to use one pokémon at a time?" he asked. Kommo-o nodded, rearing its mighty head and staring Leo down imperiously.

Who first? Leo wondered, chewing his lip. None of his team members were particularly strong against dragons, in fact most were offensively weak to them. In the end, however, Zuko made the answer for him, snarling and flaring up as he walked forward to meet the Jangmo-o. Leo laid a hand on Diana's shell as she rumbled.

"You stay back for now, girl. Let Zuko have first go," Leo said. Zuko snarled, the Jangmo-o growled, and the fight began.

Immediately the Jangmo-o charged in, the tiny dragons thirsting for battle, only to be met with a barrage of swift stars as Zuko darted out of the way of the first one. He didn't account for the second, however, and was tackled from the side, sending him sprawling.

"Will-o-wisp, then heat wave!" Leo ordered. There was no need to codify his commands here, but using Agni Kai to have Zuko will-o-wisp the totem pokémon might be a good strategy. It was intelligent, and a burn against that monster of a 'mon would be great to force it out of close quarters.

Zuko huffed and flared his back fires, the Jangmo-o that was advancing on him backpedaling at the sudden display, then spat out a flurry of ethereal blue embers at the two dragons. Only a few hit as they scrambled to the side, but it was enough to slow them down a bit. They did not, however, get out of the way of the heat wave that soon followed, making the little dragons grimace from the intense blast.

They screeched back at him, the noise rattling Leo's ears and forcing him to take a step back as Zuko winced – but they didn't just screech. One kept up the shrieking, while the other charged in to hit Zuko. He barely leapt out of the way, shaking off the disorientation, and responded with an ember – but in the process forgot about the second Jangmo-o, who crashed into his side with a headbutt.

Leo winced. They hadn't trained much in two-on-ones, except against hordes of weaker pokémon like Zubat, so Zuko wasn't doing all too hot handling two at once. The other Jangmo-o came charging in while the Zuko duked it out, headbutting his backside. He flared up, fire coating his form as he growled and bit at the Jangmo-o in front of him, tossing the little dragon to the side and kicking away the second one.

"Close quarters, Zuko! Headbutt, flame charge," Leo called, changing up the strategy a bit. Zuko was great at one-on-one targets at a distance, with heat wave being a powerful crowd control option, but he was at a disadvantage here with his fire attacks being not as effective.

Besides, Leo mused, watching as Zuko charged into the two dragons as a furious ball of fire, he does appear to be stronger than these two. As if to punctuate the thought Zuko bodily slammed into one of the small dragons, sending it skidding backwards while the other spun and slammed its tail, covered in a blue glowing energy, into Zuko's head. He snarled and pounced on the dragon, not biting or scratching, instead just heating up the fire that was already surrounding him and blasting embers at the one he had rolled, now coming at him for more. It pushed through the fiery attack, ramming its armored forehead into Zuko and forcing him off of the one he'd been standing on.

That one did not get up.

From there it was child's play for Zuko to defeat the last Jangmo-o, despite his type disadvantage. He just ran circles around it, blasting it with embers and swift stars until it conceded defeat by lying on the ground and lowering its head. Zuko snorted triumphantly between pants, his fur scuffed and his back-fires flickering weakly as he stood there, watching as the conscious Jangmo-o drug the unconscious one off the battlefield.

"You take a rest, bud. We'll need you for the last fight," Leo said, recalling him and looking at Diana. "You up for a battle?" She vibrated in excitement, pushing herself in front of Leo and letting out a burst of air that sent dust and pebbles flying everywhere. A Hakamo-o scoffed in response, stepping out of the crowd and staring Diana down, beating its clawed hands on its chest.

Leo glanced at the Totem pokémon, who was watching the battle unconcerned. That was the final boss, and he had to save as many team members as he could for it.

"It'll be coming at you for close combat, Diana, so either keep it at range or don't give it a chance to get started. Got it?" he asked. Diana hummed, and the ground trembled beneath his feet. The Hakamo-o stumbled, stones rattling on the ground next to it, and suddenly Diana was off in a blast of air that nearly sent Leo flying. A terrific smack! Sounded out as Diana smashed directly into Hakamo-o, sending the bidpedal dragon tumbling across the ground as she kept going, straight at the herd of Jangmo-o and Kommo-o.

Almost casually the massive totem Kommo-o reached out and stopped Diana with one paw, muscles flexing as it turned her around and set her on the ground, gesturing at the Hakamo-o that was picking itself up off the ground. Leo's breath caught in his throat at the display, eyes widening as he stared at the totem pokémon in newfound respect. He knew Kommo-o were strong, but to stop Diana with barely a grunt of effort? That's insane!

The totem pokémon grunted again, and Diana blasted off at the Hakamo-o once more. This time, however, the dragon was ready for her and shoved both hands out to catch her.

The moment she impacted the Hakamo-o spun, redirecting her momentum and judo flipping her face-first into the ground, where it stood over her, on foot stomping on her shell and claws glowing with blue light. It slashed once, twice, ineffectual dark pulses blasting out from Diana and washing ineffectually over the dragon's scales.

"Spin!" Leo commanded, a bead of sweat running down his brow, despite the coolness of the canyon. Diana immediately responded, the vents on one side blasting air and sending her into a violent spin that sent the Hakamo-o flying away, and a veritable storm of sand and dust swirling into the sky like a tornado. The Hakamo-o dug its claws into the ground and righted itself, growling at the growing debris in the air – only for a spire of rock to burst from the ground and slam into its side, right before Diana blasted out of cover and tackled it into the wall.

It roared in anger but did not kick her away, instead headbutting her, and raking its claws all up and down her armor – doing very little visible damage. It wasn't until Diana tried to back up, only for the Hakamo-o to grab onto her and proceed to punch her into the ground, that Leo knew she was in trouble. The Hakamo-o did not let up, pounding her shell with its fists and slashing at her with claws of blue energy, preventing her from escaping.

A rock shot out of the ground and smashed into Hakamo-o's head to little effect, another dark pulse washed over it – and still the dragon continued its brutal onslaught.

"Diana, fly!" Leo ordered, gritting his teeth. They'd have to make a sacrificial play here, if this didn't work.

Diana's air vents fired at full blast, sending her shooting into the sky with Hakamo-o holding on for dear life, a surprised yelp barely audible over the roar of Diana's "engines." She banged against stone bridges and the walls as she shot skyward, her ascent petering out as she flipped back around, and blasted straight back at the ground with Hakamo-o still holding on. Leo wasn't sure why the dragon didn't leap off; perhaps it was too surprised, or perhaps it was too stubborn to let Diana go. But either way, when Diana and the dragon slammed into the ground at full speed, neither of them got up.

Leo recalled Diana even before the dust settled, the awkward spluttering of her air vent making it clear to him that, while she was still conscious, she was fading fast. She was done for the fight – which was just as well. She probably wouldn't have been able to do much against a Kommo-o. Not yet. She'd get there, probably after she learned earthquake or evolved, but not yet. Hopefully. A fighting-type was a bad matchup for her.

The totem pokémon moved this time, and Leo almost reached for Santiago's pokeball – but he hesitated. Instead of moving aggressively the great dragon walked to where Hakamo-o lay crumpled on the ground and scooped it up in one paw. Its unconscious form flopped limply in the totem pokemon's grasp.

"Uh, would you like a few potions or something for them? I brought a lot," Leo asked after a moment's hesitation. Kommo-o paused and looked at Leo, shook its head, and turned back to its little herd of followers, laying the unconscious Hakamo-o at the feet of one of the others. Leo blinked. The number of dragons had increased – there were at least a dozen of the Kommo-o line now watching.

"KOOOOOOOO!" Leo flinched at the roar, sliding into a fighting stance unconsciously as the smaller Kommo-o, the one that wasn't a totem, suddenly leapt over its fellow dragons to land in the field, beating its chest and jingling its scales. It was like a shockwave hit him, his hairs stood on end, his eyes narrowed, and Spiritomb hissed from where it sat in his pocket. Another shot of adrenaline renewed its presence in Leo's bloodstream, a giddy, yet somehow determined smile making its way onto his face.

"Santiago, you're up," Leo said, letting him out. Santiago appeared in a flash of red, squaring his shoulders and regally looking at the dragons arrayed before him. He met eyes with the totem pokémon and inclined his head ever so slightly, earning himself as respectful nod in return, then turned to face his opponent. The smaller Kommo-o snorted and stomped its feet, armor clanging together rhythmically as it stomped forward, not rushed, but calmly approaching Santiago with claws ready and teeth bared.

Santiago glowed with ghostly energy as he used curse, a water pulse firing at Kommo-o only to splash harmlessly against its scales. The dragon responded with dragon pulse, the beam catching Santiago in the chest as the dragon advanced.

A dim light shone from Santiago's forehead gem, and Kommo-o pushed through the disable with little effort. Finally it came to loom over Santiago, who was completely unconcerned, and raised one clawed hand to strike him – only to be literally tossed away by a blast of psychic force that send it hurtling into the canyon wall, followed closely by a shadow ball that detonated on its scales. Kommo-o roared in fury, pushing itself off the wall and barreling towards Santiago, ignoring the second psychic blast that threatened to toss it away, and punching at Santiago's face.

He met the blow with his crown, deflecting the blow with the hard coral and taking a step into Kommo-o's stance, surprising the dragon. He jerked upward, crown glowing, and slammed the spikey top into the underside of Kommo-o's jaw, jerking its head upward.

"Psychic, then keep it down!" Leo commanded as Kommo-o took advantage of their close proximity, grabbing Santiago with both hands. He blasted it with another psychic, and ineffectually tried to restrain the dragon with his psychic powers. Kommo-o grunted and lifted Santiago, breaking free of his psychic hold with sheer strength alone, and slammed him into the ground. Leo cursed as he tossed Santiago away, already preparing a pokeball, but for the umpteenth time in the Slowking's life he surprised Leo.

Santiago landed on his feet, stumbling backwards and breathing heavily, hands clenched at his side as he glared at the Kommo-o. The dragon stared at him as Santiago took a few steps forward and said something, straightening his back and tilting his chin up, glaring down his muzzle at it. Kommo-o did not snort or scoff, but it did smile. The toothy grin overtook its face and it roared out a challenge, Santiago matching with a bellow of his own and charging headfirst into the fray.

Glowing green energy encased Kommo-o's arms and tail as it moved to meet Santiago, no longer playing around. It punched Santiago in the face, but he did what he did best – kept on trucking as he bodily tackled into Kommo-o, his crown practically glowing with psychic power. The dragon grunted and swiped at his back with glowing claws, then just grabbed him and tossed him away again. Santiago tumbled through the air, caught himself with a psychic, and blocked the beam of greenish-purple light that blasted from Kommo-o's mouth with a stream of water pulses. His feet had barely touched the ground when Kommo-o was on him once again, snarling and spinning, slamming its tail into Santiago's stomach and smashing him into the wall.

Leo's stomach dropped as Santiago fell – but once more he exceeded expectations, catching himself and standing tall, one paw on the canyon wall to keep himself upright.

"Santi," Leo said, and his starter looked over at him – and he was smiling. This was fun for grinned back, a feral smile that had his blood singing. Kommo-o was not going to let him get another hit in, however, and finished the job with another dragon pulse. It struck Santiago in the chest and he fell to the ground. This time he did not rise, and Leo recalled him. "Thank you, bud. That was amazing,"

Kommo-o snorted, drawing Leo's attention. It bowed, and Leo bowed back, unclipping Link's pokeball.

"Link, it's up to you and Spiritomb now," Leo said, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. The little Bellossom appeared on the cavern floor kneeling, head bowed as if in prayer. Kommo-o grunted and stomped its feet, making Link look up. Leo could feel his excitement from where he stood, drawing a leaf blade, and green energy building up in his head flowers. Kommo-o roared and fired a silvery beam at Link, who spun out of the way as he continued to power up a sunny day.

What happened next was a bit of a blur; Kommo-o charged, but had already given Link enough time to fling the sunny day into the air, the energy he had been gathering hanging as a small ball of orange light halfway up the canyon walls, illuminating the valley. It was maybe half as big as the one he and Zuko had used against Tapu Koko, but it was enough. Link turned into a blur of green, leaping into the air to avoid Kommo-o's dragon claw and retaliating with a leaf blade, sparks flying from the dragon's armor-like scales as he danced up the dragon's arm, narrowly dodging away from its snapping jaws and scoring another line across its scales.

With a furious roar Kommo-o shook itself, scales clanging together in excruciating loudness as purplish energy blasted off of it in radiating waves. Link was sent flying, flipping through the air and landing nimbly before darting back into the fray, throwing magical leaves like boomerangs. The leaves carved lines into the dragon's scales, and Kommo-o roared to the skies.

This time, there was a response. An excruciatingly loud screech filled the canyon, forcing Leo to cover his ears as a shape descended from the sky, screeching the whole way down. Link leapt away from Kommo-o and wasted not time turning himself into a grass-type anti-aircraft gun, blasting solarbeams at the incoming form as fast as he could charge them. But he didn't forget about the Kommo-o, who retaliated with a dragon pulse. Link leapt to the side, blasting another solarbeam and landing right as the flier slammed into the ground where he used to be, kicking up as much dirt as possible.

Leo scowled, gripping Spiritomb's keystone and preparing to toss it out into the fray. Right. He forgot about this part.

Totem pokémon called for help from their allies. This Kommo-o may not be a totem pokémon, but it was still capable of calling for help.

"Spiritomb, help out Link!" Leo commanded, hurling the ghost's stone at the newly landed Noivern. The wyvern-like dragon screeched, shockwaves of sound blasting Link away and into the canyon wall – only to stop as Spiritomb's keystone hit it in the side of the head.

But the ghost did not reveal itself. To all the world, it looked like Leo had just thrown a rock at the dragon, and he gulped. Slowly Noivern turned to glare at Leo, taking a single step toward him when, suddenly and without warning, Spiritomb burst from the stone with a cackle, surprising the hell out of the dragon and engulfing it in darkness.

Leo glanced at the totem pokémon, who didn't budge. Good. It wouldn't intervene if he sent out two pokémon. That was good news.

"Link, substitute and strength sap! Offensive to defensive! Spiritomb's running interference, so you need to hit hard, we don't know how long its focus will last," Leo shouted over the noise of Noivern screeching into Spiritomb's purple and black body. The two were literally just a blob of darkness that thrashed about, and it gave Leo a headache just looking at it.

Link nodded and levelled his leaf blade at Kommo-o, who looked torn between fighting Link or going to help Noivern. In the end it chose to trust its companion, and advanced at Link. The Bellossom stood there for a moment, concentrating as an opaque white substance poured from his body and made a round shield in his free hand. Substitute was a weird technique. Some pokémon used it to create physical decoys of themselves, kind of like a higher-tier double team, while Link used it to create a literal shield in his hand.

Kommo-o charged in, thrusting its palms at Link in a controlled, swift motion, giving him no room to make a play. Link leapt and dodged and deflected blows with his shield, getting visibly frustrated as the fight continued, Kommo-o not allowing him to close the gap or get away to create distance. He was still getting hits in with leaf blade, but the damage was minimal and he wasn't able to use strength sap. It was a little too intensive of a technique to handle while being pressured so closely. Leo scowled and glanced at the Spiritomb vs Noivern fight as the dragon finally broke free of the entrapment, hurtling itself skyward with a few powerful wingbeats. A dragon pulse shot down from the sky and cut through Spiritomb's body, earning an agitated hiss from the ghost, but otherwise neither seemed too badly injured.

"Spiritomb, help Link," Leo commanded. The ghost cackled and moved in a wave of purple shadow, darting with surprising speed over to Kommo-o and slamming into the dragon's side. It grunted in surprise and Link took his opportunity to dart into its guard and press his hand against Kommo-o's leg, suffusing himself in a red glow. Kommo-o roared and kicked him away, swiping at Spiritomb with its claws, swiping through the swirls and tendrils that currently made up Spritomb's body like butter.

The ghost hissed and formed its face off to the side, breathing out a wave of frigid air, ice collecting on Kommo-o's armor. The dragon wasted no time in punching said face with a dragon claw though. By this point Link had recovered and was running in again, firing a solar beam at Noivern as it swooped in again – just in time, too, as the sunny day he had set up flickered out of existence – and threw a couple of leech seeds onto Kommo-o. Spiritomb lashed the dragon with shadowy tendrils, the two focusing their efforts on the fighting/dragon type for the time being.

Noivern shrieked once more, this time the sound accompanied by shockwaves of air that blasted down into the cluster of pokémon. Kommo-o covered its ears, resisting the boomburst without much damage, and Spiritomb didn't even seem to notice, but Link was heavily effected. The Bellossom winced and fell to his knees, nearly dropping his sword and shield in the process. But, like the trooper he was, he swiftly stood up again and dodged out of the way of Noivern's follow-up air slash,

Leo's eyes grew wide when Kommo-o growled in fury, finally having enough of Spiritomb's harassment. Shadowy tendrils wrapped around the dragon, the ghost itself breathing a constant stream of icy wind into the dragon's face and lashing at its limbs with the ghostly energies. A blue glow burned in Kommo-o's mouth, waves of heat distorting the air around him, and Leo panicked.

"Spiritomb, shadow sneak away!" he roared, but it was too late. Angry blue flames burst from every crevice, every scale, every inch of Kommo-o's body. The leech seeds Link had placed burned, while Spiritomb shrieked and flailed helplessly as the dragon fire scorched it, overwhelming the ghost and forcing it back into its keystone. The square stone dropped to the ground lifelessly, but Leo didn't have time to pay attention to it. "LINK! PROTECT!" Leo shouted, the little Bellossom ceased his stare down with Noivern.

The other dragon had leech seeds all across its body, and magical leaves stuffed down its ears – when had Link managed that? – but all fight was momentarily forgotten when Kommo-o leapt through the air, flames still wreathing its form as it brought its fists down into a mighty hammer arm that shattered the green protect shield Link erected. Acting on pure instinct Link raised his substitute shield, Kommo-o's next fist sending him hurtling into the wall – it was the only thing that saved him, and he tossed away the smoldering shield to glare at the two dragons across from him.

Noivern didn't seem to care much about the furious Kommo-o, eyes focused solely on Link as the other dragon panted in rage, blue flames shooting from its nostrils with every breath.

Outrage. The Kommo-o had used bloody outrage.

"Link; dance, fight, win," Leo ordered. Link nodded solemnly, whipping his leaf blade to the side and spinning gracefully as Kommo-o charged. Noivern hissed and shot a dragon pulse from its mouth, which Link spun away from. Kommo-o charged right as Link completed his dance, leaves rapidly sprouting from his flowers and petal skirt – kilt – and flying into a veritable storm of leaves encircling him. Petals danced and sang, the symphony of Bellossom petals clashing and mixing with the roaring, thunderous sound of Kommo-o's scales clanging together.

The draconic titan crashed into the wall of leaves, petals ripping through the fire and coming out burning, transforming the tornado of petals into a tornado of draconic fire. Leo lost sight of what happened next, but the tornado surged and burst apart in the end, Link hurtling through the air as a burning comet – a comet that landed on Noivern and proceeded to cut the ever-living crap out of it. Noivern thrashed and shrieked, the leaves that clogged its ears bursting out as Link flipped and slashed with his leaf blade like an energizer bunny from hell – globules of green energy occasionally flying from Noivern to Link, whose burns slowly healed from each drain.

Kommo-o roared, the flaming tornado ceasing as it barreled out of the flames and crashed into Noivern, a single swipe of its claws blowing Link away from the dragon. Link landed, crouched and holding onto his leaf blade with both hands, breathing heavily and flowers singed. Kommo-o didn't give him time to breathe, Noivern launching into the air as it charged at Link, who levelled his leaf blade. Power surged, and Leo suddenly felt an urge – a need, to move. To fall into the Bellossom dance. Link took a step, and so did he. He twirled, and Leo planted his feet, pushing his palms together. Link raised his sword, the green blade elongating and growing until it was twice the size of Bellossom, and Leo pushed his hands upwards, following the feeling that surged through his chest.

The gem on Leo's wrist glowed, and grass bloomed beneath Link's feet.

The green blade clashed with the flaming behemoth of Kommo-o, and burst into an explosion of green and flowers. When the dust settled, the connection Leo felt was gone, and Link fell to the ground, unconscious. Kommo-o still stood, the flames that suffused him dying out as he turned towards the fallen form of Link, and bowed in respect. Leo sighed, recalled Link, and stepped out onto the field to retrieved Spiritomb's keystone.

"Thank you, both of you," he whispered, pocketing the keystone and clipping Link's pokeball to his belt. Zuko was still able to fight, so technically he could keep going, but there was no way he would send out the already injured Quilava out against two dragons that looked relatively ok. At least now they knew where they stood in terms of power – there was still a bridge to gap before they were ready to complete this trial, but it wasn't that big a gap. They had pushed the dragon, there at the end. But what was that last thing? Leo wondered, glancing down at the Z-crystal on his arm. He had an inkling suspicion, but…

A shadow looming over him suddenly stopped that train of thought, and Leo looked up at the totem Kommo-o, who stared at him imperiously. Next to him the Kommo-o they had just fought stood, breathing a little labored, while the Noivern sat on the other side, nibbling on a berry and looking none the worse for wear.

"Uh, right. Thank you for the battle. I'll be leaving now," he said, bowing slightly. The totem pokémon snorted, and stepped aside, revealing a Hakamo-o. It was not the one that Diana had fought, looking far cleaner and, dare he say, younger than that one. Leo blinked, and cocked his head to the side. Then the Hakamo-o took a stance, the mid-evolution pokémon growling and clenching its fists. It slowly dawned on Leo that he had willingly stepped into the battlefield of pokémon, and that maybe, just maybe, the trial wasn't over yet.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, looking at the Hakamo-o, the totem pokémon, then back at the Hakamo-o. The totem Kommo-o grunted gestured towards the Hakamo-o, then pointed at Leo and made a fist. "You want me to fight?" he asked. The Kommo-o nodded and slammed one fist into its chest, indicating the start of the battle.

Only one thought entered Leo's mind as he shed his backpack and slid into his own stance, the Hakamo-o charging forward with arms spread. That thought was; finally!

Pain lanced through Leo as he was struck in the face, his ears ringing as he spun away from the Hakamo-o's clenched fist. Pain that instantly turned to determined anger, clearing his mind and driving him to action. Instead of just falling he turned with the momentum, flinging his foot up into a backwards roundhouse that caught Hakamo-o in the jaw and snapped her head to the side. Leo grinned as his adrenaline kicked into full gear, planting his feet and hands snapping out in palm-strikes against the Hakamo-o's chest armor. She grunted and lowered her shoulder, stepping in to shoulder check him.

Leo accepted her gift of close proximity, grabbing onto the dragon and twisting, following her momentum and flinging her away. He chased after her as she stumbled, jumping up and driving a knee into her back, arms wrapping around her neck. That proved to be a mistake, as she simply reached back and, with strength far exceeding that of a human's, threw him over her shoulder. He twisted and tumbled on the ground, popping up back in a fighting stance even as the Hakamo-o charged once more, this time taking a lower stance and not rushing in blindly.

Leo brushed away her first jab, slapping her fist to the side and retaliating by punching her in the maw. His fist stung from the impact, having hurt himself more than the dragon, but grinned nonetheless. Far too often he watched his pokémon fight without being able to join in. Sometimes he just wanted to get into a fight himself. Which is why, when Hakamo-o's next strike laid him out on his back, he couldn't help but laugh as he rolled over and stood, ready for round two.

"That all you got?" he taunted, beckoning her forward. Hakamo-o grinned and charged, and Leo returned the gesture by waiting until she was close enough, then stepping to the side and kicking at her knee, the impact driving her to the ground.

What followed next was a dangerous dance of Leo ineffectually hitting Hakamo-o, while the dragon hit him like a truck. Even though the dragon was holding back her strength, it still hurt like hell to be punched. But every time he fell he got back up, until his knuckles were bleeding and he couldn't see right. Only when his legs betrayed him and he could no longer stand did Leo eventually concede defeat, his consciousness fading as he watched the dragons approach him. He was hurting, he was tired, and he was beat to pieces. A part of him was pissed that he had to fight a Hakamo-o like that; something so far out of his league it wasn't even funny. But deep down, he knew the truth; he had enjoyed that.

Lusamine listend to Leo's story silently, staring at the computer screen the young boy had appeared on. The connection to his pokedex was tenuous at best, his face flickering in and out of view; but what she could see almost drove her to fly to Poni island and drag him off of that rock herself. He had a black eye, scratches all along his face, and his hair was an absolute mess. Yet despite it all a persistent smile danced on his lips, his eyes almost gleaming with excitement as he finished his tale of fighting with the Hakamo-o.

She remained silent throughout it all, just staring at him long enough to make him feel uncomfortable.

"So where are you now?" she asked.

"Dunno. The Kommo-o left me here while I was unconscious – left the Hakamo-o I fought beside me until I woke up. She ran off the moment I did, disappearing back towards the main mountain, but there is one distinct feature nearby. This big old tree – must be hundreds of feet tall," he said, and turned the pokedex camera so a giant tree was visible in the background. Truly it was massive, probably the size of a skyscraper with boughs that covered the land below in shadow.

It wasn't the Battle Tree, the place on Poni that was where the strongest gathered to duke it out, but Lusamine knew what that tree was either way. Dragonite lived there. She knew the exact area Leo was in, and was once again tempted to send a team after him and extract him. But a part of her whispered no, and for whatever reason, she listened to that part.

"Are you ok? Do you need anything?" she asked instead.

"I'm great. This is great. It's going to be a great place to train and just live for a while. My team needs a little bit to heal, but they're not actually too banged up. They'll be back to fighting form in no time. I'll probably need to add a few more members to my team though – I'll have to see what's around to catch. Maybe I'll be able to catch a Jangmo-o!" he said excitedly. Lusamine frowned.

"Well, just be careful. Poni is dangerous, but as Holly said, you have the ability to survive there. I will be calling you soon for a mission of some kind though; we are your sponsor, and you need to have a presence here," she warned.

"Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You're…not going to send a team after me though?" he asked. Lusamine shook her head, and he stared at her for a moment. Really stared at her. "Thank you for that. I need this," he said. Lusamine smiled thinly, and he narrowed his eyes further. She didn't know what it was, but in that moment it appeared as if he was looking through her, not just at her. It was…strange. "Are you ok?" he asked, and Lusamine smiled genuinely at the concern in his voice.

At least someone cared for her well-being, even if the rest of her family didn't seem to at times. Even if said boy didn't really know her well yet. But that would change, given time.

"Yes. You take care, Leo. I'll be in touch soon," she said, and hung up the call before the darkness in her skull forced her to do something rash. Lusamine took a deep breath and reigned in the irrational thoughts that threatened to take over her mind. Her finger slowly tapped the arm of her chair as she sat in her little office, surrounded by trophies and pictures of her family. Trophies she had won in her days as a trainer, back when she earned eight badges; even if she didn't advance much further. What a beautiful time that had been…though she wouldn't trade her life now for the world.

She had two beautiful children, despite them being so young and starting to reach a rebellious age, and though her husband had disappeared he had given her a wonderful, beautiful life. She wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by beautiful things, and she still felt like she was…

Lusamine turned her attention to the second computer in the room, a laptop displaying information about ultra-wormholes. The experiments to temporarily open a few in the lowest levels of the Aether Paradise were continuing smoothly, though little information remained on what was on the other side. Sure, they could identify what had come through the wormholes and when they opened, so long as there were powerful enough sensors in range, but precious little was actually known about them. In fact, there were very few ultra beasts that had been seen, let alone that were available for study. Lusamine frowned as she recalled a rather disturbing file from just about half a year ago. Leo found a number of ultra beasts encased in a nevermeltice glacier in the heart of the Silver Mountains…negotiations were still ongoing with InterPol to gain access to said beasts, and they were still struggling with getting in there to retrieve them.

Hiding what was in the Silver Mountains from the Indigo League was proving to be difficult. Even Lance wasn't to be allowed to know. The beasts were too dangerous, and the dragon tamer too ambitious.

She shook her head and clicked away from the current data display, trusting that Faba, her lead scientist, was hard at work with figuring out what caused wormholes, and how to control them. She frowned when her mouse hovered another file open on her computer, a proposed experiment by Faba to create an ultra-beast killing weapon. Or, in this case, to genetically engineer a pokémon specifically to fight ultra-beasts. One with the ability to change into any type, so as to best combat whatever came out of the wormhole.

Lusamine scowled and minimized the research proposal, but didn't trash it like she had before. This was the fifth time Faba had proposed this idea, and while she didn't find the idea of engineering a pokémon for war so heinous anymore, it still left a bad taste in her mouth.

There was a line between studying gene therapy to heal, and studying gene therapy to twist and corrupt. Weapons of war were not the way of Aether; healing and discovery was. It was what she believed in. What Mohn, her husband had believed in before he vanished into an ultra-wormhole. And she would continue to uphold that belief.

For now. A small part of her mind whispered. Shut up. Another part of her brain whispered, but it was overshadowed by the other part. The darker part. The part that dwelled in what-ifs and possibilities and spiraled down, down in to darker and darker thoughts.

I should recall Leo, put him in the research team. He reeks of ultra-energy; if he's at Aether Paradise something may decide to come through the portals we open to see what he's doing here. I have to make sure he never leaves, he's too important. What if I gave him a pokémon? Indebted him to me? I already sponsor him, but a little extra leverage wouldn't be bad. Hm, and at the rate he's going he could be Elite Level in a few years. I could use another Elite Level trainer in my hands. Hmm. Yes, I think I will recall him…

He could help me keep Gladion and Lillie in line too. Honestly, I wish my children would just listen to me. They could be so successful if they just listened to me; Gladion has the smarts to take over my seat as CEO, and Lillie, beautiful Lillie…she should just stay where she is. A cute, adorable little doll forever. If only I could preserve what beauty I can see forever…Ah, how I wish the world was as beautiful as my children. Maybe the world beyond the ultra wormholes is more beautiful. Maybe that's why Mohn never returned.

She didn't notice when Mismagius released itself from her pokeball on the table, caught up in her thoughts as she was. Nor did she notice when the ghost furrowed her brows in concern, waved its ghostly appendages, and chanted softly. Ghostly magics wove into the air, filling Lusamine's ears and soothing her thoughts. Her agitation fell and the dark thoughts receded, replaced by more rational thoughts.

Rational thoughts, and a general disgust towards the direction her thoughts had turned. No, Leo should stay where he is; he seems happy there, and is that beautiful in and of itself? Joy? And what of her children? So they were starting to disagree with her a little, Gladion most of all. Children did that, it was part of growing up.

Lusamine smiled and opened her eyes, just barely missing Mismagius sinking into her shadow with a satisfied smile, and glared at her computer screen again. Sometime during her little…depressive state, she had reopened Faba's Type: Full proposal. This time she trashed the proposal and emailed a simple response back; never bring that up again.

With a sigh and a stretch Lusamine stood, shaking her head and leaving her office. She should visit her children. Yes, that's what she should do. They were growing a bit distant as of late, and she should treasure their youth while they were still young. Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation she had with Leo in the boat about a week ago, about communication.

Maybe she should have a chat with them too. She'd been working hard lately, with the ultra-wormhole experiments ramping up and dealing with production issues of full heals, and deserved a little break. Spending time talking with her children seemed like a wonderful change of pace.

Chapter Text

Leo scratched his chin as he looked at his game plan, typed into his pokedex and scribbled in the dirt at his feet. Santiago and Link peered over his shoulder – or looked down from his shoulder, in Link's case – and examined the ideas and training directions Leo had mapped out.

"Right, so, let's start with training for you all," Leo began, and pointed a stick at Zuko, who was chasing after a Yungoos and popping in and out of the scrubby brush that surrounded them. He had left the area of the giant tree for the moment, wanting to explore a little, and had discovered this place. Now that his team was mostly recovered from their fight against the Kommo-o they had come here for training.

"Zuko first. He needs to intensify his fires. Turning ember into flamethrower is the main goal here; once he does that he'll be ready for evolution. I can't imagine it'll take him long, he's already got heat wave down and that is, arguably, harder to learn than flamethrower. After that we'll introduce him to a few electric techniques, but that's for later," Leo said, waving his hand. Zuko truly had to be close to evolution; he was incredibly strong for a Quilava and only getting stronger. How close he was exactly to evolution Leo wasn't sure; he'd need to be able to measure the temperature of his fires to know that. Quilava evolved into Typhlosion once they could produce hot enough fire, after all, though Leo forgot the specific threshold.

"Diana, on the other hand, needs to work on her terrakinesis and motor control. Right now she's a juggernaut in a straight line; but as we saw, that can be countered with sufficient strength. Adding agility, more flexible attacks, or both to her abilities would be good," Leo said, pointing to Diana, who was lying flat on her back looking at the sky. He was counting down the seconds until she took off, but so far she had surprised him and remained stationary.

"Spiritomb I just need to help the spirits combine and then it'll be able to focus more. The power is there, but not the concentration. Link, there's a few things we can do for you, bud," he jostled the Bellossom on his shoulder, who slapped the side of his head in retaliation. "First, we can try to teach you solar blade. With how you use solarbeam it's not that far-fetched that you could learn it. Second, further incorporate petal dance, petal blizzard, and those sort of attacks into your current fighting style. Sword fighting is cool, but imagine if each and every leaf from those attacks is a sword that you command with your mind. That would be even cooler. Third is, and you're not going to like this one, we teach you things like moonblast, moonlight, and stun spore,"

"Bell!" Link cried in indignation, glaring at Leo.

"I know, I know, you're already awesome. But those moves would give you a bit more versatility in other areas. Synthesis might be better than moonlight though, but just think about it; there are other ways to get stronger than learning new moves. I'm just laying out your options," Leo said. Mentally he also added a fourth thing; figure out what that half z-move was they did during the Kommo-o fight was, and how to replicate it. Because that was awesome.

"Slow," Santiago said, gesturing to himself.

"Psychic control, and water attacks. You have brute force but still need fine control of your psychic abilities. If your psychic attacks had been more focused they would have done far more damage to Kommo-o. Plus, being able to levitate yourself would be a great asset in battle," Leo said bluntly. "And we have neglected your water abilities. Water pulse is great, but we can do better. Right?" Santiago pondered that, then nodded and gestured for Leo to continue.

"Ok, and next order of business is that we need more teammates. I've kind of written down a few things to think on. Obviously there's type coverage and things like that, but this isn't a game where fire beats grass and psychic beats fighting all the time. Yes, there's type advantages, but it's not a static adventure. Any pokémon can be powerful; but to a degree. I don't see a Caterpie beating a Dragonite anytime soon," Leo said. Santiago nodded along and pointed to one of the words Leo had scribbled in the sand.

"Support," Santiago said, and Leo nodded.

"Yes, support members. I can apply to have my carry limit expanded to add support members to the team, which is easier than unlocking my carry limit to have more than six battle members. Support members would be teammates not meant for battling, specifically," he said. "And what we need is healing and transport. You, Santi, can learn heal pulse, which would take care of healing needs, but you're also a main battler. I think a dedicated healer would be nice; something like an Audino, Blissey, heck even a Comfey could fill that position. That's probably going to be the hardest thing to find,"

"Bell," Link said, and Leo nodded.

"We absolutely can make do without them. But it'd sure be nice," he reasoned. "It would turn the two day rest period we had after the Kommo-o into one day, or half a day," at that Link nodded in understanding, crossing his arms and furrowing his brows as he looked down at the scribbles in the dirt.

"Bellossom," he said seriously, gesturing to the next topic.

"Right, transport. While catching a team member who can fly would be great, they're likely to be a battler to and will take time to grow unless we get lucky. We'll get to that later. There's also water transport because, while you're great Santiago, you're no ocean-crossing pokémon. If I want to do that, it's something I need to consider. However, what I really want to focus on is a team member who can carry things into and out of areas like this," Leo said, gesturing around. "My immediate thought is Mudsdale. Strong, sturdy, and can carry a literal ton of supplies. As the team expands it's likely we'll need more stuff. Hence where this would come in; a rideable pokémon or pack pokémon that makes long distance foot travel easier. Mudsdale is commonly used for this, but Stoutland is another that I've seen used here in Alola,"

"What about battle?" Santiago asked slowly, tasting each word as he said them.

"Battling teammates? Well we've got two slots left to fill before I'm full up on my carry limit – as I haven't officially caught Spiritomb, it doesn't technically count towards that number. I'm not so much worried about that though; what I am worried about is what will fit in our roster," he said, and Santiago frowned. "Think about it. What will mesh well with the team dynamic? You don't all have to like one another, but you still have to live and work together. If two or more teammates are constantly butting heads then it's bad for everyone in the long run," Leo explained.

"Bell," Link said, shaking his head.

"Yes, it can be overcome, but…well, let's use Diana as an example. Tyranitar and Dragonite have been, for ages, rivals in the Silver Mountains. It's the old dispute of 'who's the strongest?' The two species, at least the Kanto versions of them, as they're more aggressive in Kanto than in other regions, don't mesh together well on a team. It's also why dragon tamers are so rare, and why they typically only have one pseudo legendary on their team – one apex battler. Because that one pokémon tends to keep the others in line. Salamence, Garchomp, Hydreigon, even Goodra all have this problem, and it makes people like Lance, who can train multiple pseudo legendaries even more amazing. We could probably make it work somehow, and I think Kommo-o isn't out of the question for our team, but it is something to consider," Leo explained.

"I think Metagross and Salamence are another Tyranitar and Dragonite example – it's hard to get those two to work together on the same team, because they're apex species who have had thousands of years to foster a rivalry," Leo said and, upon noticing the blank look on Santiago's face, realized that he had no idea what those species of pokémon were. Link was nodding along like he understood, but not Santiago. "Sometimes people don't mesh well together, Santiago. I've dealt with teams of humans who end up causing more trouble than its worth because they can't play nice. I would like to avoid that with you all, because, as the trainer, I will be forced to mediate,"

At this Santiago nodded in understanding, and Leo pointed out his list of potential teammates, or at least those types he thought would suit him and his team, asking Santiago and Link for advice on who and what they thought would make a good teammate.

For a while Leo just shot ideas at them, asking what types and what pokémon might be a good idea to look into – and having to explain what some of the more exotic pokémon were. Link liked the idea of a Heracross, a Scizor, or a Bisharp, probably so he could practice his sword fighting with the Bisharp, though Santiago mostly remained quiet.

"Fight," Santiago said, pointing to the word "Kommo-o." Leo nodded.

"I'd love a Kommo-o too and, like I said, of all the pseudo-legendries Kommo-o is the most likely to work, but if I'm forced to choose between either a Kommo-o or Diana, I'm choosing Diana," Leo reasoned. "Remember what I said about pseudo-legendaries. They typically don't play well together," Santiago shook his head and placed a hand on Leo's shoulder. He furrowed his brows and worked his tongue, trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say.

"You…I, fight," he said, then pointed at Link. "Fight," then pointed at Diana, and Zuko, and said the same thing. Then he tapped Leo in the chest, nodded and said it once again. "Fight. We fight," he said.

Leo didn't respond immediately, absorbing what he said. "You're saying we're all fighters?" he asked. Santiago nodded, then shook his head, patting his chest. "We have the heart of fighters," he amended, and Santiago nodded. Link hummed and nodded respectfully to Santiago.

It made sense, actually, Leo realized. His team was composed exclusively of fighters – warriors, perhaps would be a better term. Santiago was a King, yes, but he loved battle. He had the will to keep going and going; Zuko was a little soldier. He didn't enjoy the fight as much as the others, but Leo had yet to find a battle that he wouldn't give his all in. Diana practiced martial arts and seemed to enjoy it, but was still growing, and Spiritomb had the spirits of many human warriors within. Link was self-explanatory.

"So, we need to focus on finding teammates that fit that theme," Leo muttered. It seemed like simple theme to make work. For a battling team, that was kind of the whole point, wasn't it? For them to be fighters? There might be more to it than that or he might be overthinking it but, like anything, it would probably be a case of trial and error.

"Bell," Link said, patting Leo's head. Leo turned to look at the little Bellossom, who gestured to Santiago, said a few words, then looked expectantly to Leo.

"Link say…come," Santiago said, then frowned. "Fighter…will come. Do not worry. You will know," Leo smiled and poked Link in the stomach with his free hand.

"What, who will fit and who won't? Thanks, bud. I appreciate that. I am tired of sitting around waiting for things to come to us, though," he said, shaking his head. Link just shrugged and leapt off his shoulder.

"Bellossom," he said, and Leo sighed. Santiago opened his mouth, and Leo help up a hand to stop him.

"I don't need that translated, I know. Patience, right?" Leo asked, and Link nodded. He grumbled a bit but stood and clapped his hands together anyway, intent on getting things going. Discussion time was over. It was time to train.

Leo lay flat on his belly, not daring to breathe as the Bewear and its cubs, three Stufful that wandered along behind it, lumbered through the clearing. The deceptively cute-looking bear paused and sniffed the air as it reached the edge of the jungle, beady black eyes scanning the grasses of the meadow.

I am a bush. Think bush thoughts. Leo chanted in his head, remaining perfectly still. Zuko and Link had fought a fully grown Bewear earlier in the week – the stupid thing had taken far too much to finally knock out. He'd also learned the absolute terror of the beasts when said Bewear wandered into his camp; it had split a decent-sized tree in two with a single strike. That kind of strength wasn't to be meddled with, and Leo really didn't want to get into a fight with an angry mama Bewear.

Finally though the pokémon vanished into the trees, branches snapping as the fluffy pink bipedal bear lumbered further into the jungle. Leo didn't let himself breathe until a few minutes had passed, a sigh escaping his lips as he sat up. Grasses stuck up all over the place on his body, having been woven into a crude mockery of a ghillie suit and a grassy hat. Zuko popped his head up as well, pushing out of the bush he'd been hiding in, the Quilava sniffing the air and sneezing violently.

"That was awesome," Leo said with a grin, scratching at his mud-covered face. "Terrifying, but awesome. C'mon, let's get going," he said, and pushed deeper into the jungle. He was swiftly coming to realize that Poni was a lot more plains than jungle – a sharp contrast to Melemele, which was all jungle – save for a few specific locations. One such area was the Poni Meadow, an area of plateaus, crevasses, mesas, and bluffs that were absolutely covered in dense green jungle. It was also right by that giant tree Leo had woken up under – which was truly massive, an awe-inspiring sight to behold – and was home to a large number of caves.

"Quil," Zuko said, watching a Toucannon as it sat upon a branch. The toucan-like pokémon stared at Leo and Zuko, clacking its beak once before flying off.

"Right, I'm glad we weren't spotted either. C'mon, we've still got a lot of ground to cover," he said, readjusting his backpack and picking up his grass-covered guitar case. He really wished that the matter-condensing technology of pokeballs – if that was even how they worked; he actually had no idea, and last time he asked Professor Oak the terminology had gone right over his head – would apply to items and stuff too. Lugging the guitar around was a hassle, but now Santiago refused to go anywhere without it.

Leo had suggested leaving it at a pokémon center or sending it to the Aether Paradise for safekeeping while they trained and travelled, but Santiago had shot that idea down right quick. Maybe he should just leave Santiago out of his ball all the time, and make him carry it. He sighed. They really needed a pack pokémon, and Mudsdale was looking to be the superior choice.

With a shake of his head Leo refocused on his surroundings, Zuko running ahead sniffing everything and generally just having a grand old time, without straying too far away. All sorts of pokémon moved through the jungle – from bug types like Ribombee and Butterfree, to the odd Foamantis that watched him from the dense undergrowth. They once even passed by a troupe of Mankeys squabbling with each other in the trees, though Leo was quick to hurry through there. He didn't want to annoy the notoriously short-tempered primates.

It wasn't until around mid-afternoon, two or so hours before sunset, that they stumbled across something really interesting. By this time Leo had let Link out to travel with them as well – something he avoided when there was a lot of ground to cover. Link had this tendency to challenge strong pokémon to duels that made travel difficult. Thankfully that was not the case today though, and as Leo pushed through a particularly dense clump of undergrowth after having climbed up onto the top of a plateau, he came across something…interesting.

It was an old, cylinder-like building and what looked to be a solar-powered radio tower, though the tower had been mostly demolished. Vines and mosses covered the structures, the door to the building swung open wide and windows broken, vines crawling in through the windows. Leo sighed and dropped the guitar and his pack, rubbing his shoulders. He still wasn't used to the extra weight.

"We've only got an hour or two left of sunlight and this looks like an interesting place to camp. Let's explore," he said cheerily, thumbing the release for Santiago and Diana while he was at it. The two blinked and looked around the moment they were released; Santiago wandering over to Leo's pack and started digging through it, while Diana moved over to the edge of the plateau, admiring the view of the jungle from above. The view was fantastic, complete with the ocean glittering in the distance to the East, the volcano rising to the West, and the jungle covered mesas all around. Either that, or she was contemplating flying off the edge and seeing how far she could go.

Either or.

"What are you, then?" Leo muttered, stepping into the cylindrical building with Zuko on his heels. The Quilava sniffed at a bench covered in moss and fungus, blinking when a multicolored patch of mushrooms opened its eyes and stared at him. Leo pulled his pokedex out of his back pocket and flicked it open, the 'dex being something he'd been neglecting recently, and scanned the pokémon, reading the entry with a hum. "Morelull," he said, turning on the flashlight function and shining it around the relatively dark building.

It was maybe forty feet long, with broken cabinets and abandoned tech lining the walls – the far end housing two closed doors that had to have been the bathroom and bedroom.

A hole in the roof let sunlight in, moss and ferns hanging over the edges of the hole down into the building itself. There was no doubt this place had been abandoned, but the question was for how long. The jungle grew fast; it could have been a few years, it could be a few dozen. Still, Leo searched through everything regardless, opening broken cabinets to see what was inside and pulling out anything that might have been intact or useful – which wasn't much. The only thing he'd found was a waterproof map of the area, rolled up in a hard, sealed case. He'd look at it later, after camp was set up.

Other than that, though, the place looked pretty picked clean. There was a computer with a smashed screen, though it wouldn't have worked without power anyway, and a few forks and such but nothing of interest. The bedroom was filthy and covered in yuck, and the bathroom wasn't much better. Overall – nothing to indicate what the building was for or why it had been abandoned.

"C'mon, Zuko, leave the mushroom alone," he said, exiting the building and turning to the radio tower. Long vines curled up the still-shiny metal, having not rusted somehow, painting the lower half green. Zuko yipped as he bounded out of the building chased by a sharp cry from the Morelull, who took the opportunity to uproot itself and fly out of the building and into the jungle. Leo watched it go, shook his head, and headed to the radio tower.

He wasn't expecting to find anything, really, just giving things a cursory glance. So when he opened the breaker box on the radio tower – or whatever it was called, all he knew was that the wires from the still-intact solar panels connected to this box and there was a big yellow lightning bolt on it – and was met with a pokémon, he was admittedly surprised. Though not as surprised as when said pokémon opened its eye, beeped at him, sparks flying from the screw on top of its head into the wires dangling down from above, and floated out of the open back of the box.

"HOLY – gods above, what in the world?!" Leo yelped, jumping a few feet back and placing a hand over his heart from the jumpscare. Zuko growled as the metallic pokémon floated up the inside of the radio tower, through a gap in the metal, and floated back down, the magnets on its sides flashing red and blue light.

It droned at him, sparks arcing between the two ends of the magnets, and Leo could hear the sounds of his team gearing up for battle behind him. The Magnemite's beeped and fired a weak bolt of electricity from its magnets into the ground right in front of him, the droning noise it emitted intensifying. He got the feeling that it wasn't an actual threat, but more of a warning shot. It had looked more like a thunder wave than anything.

"Zuko, guard. If it tries to shock again, hit it with embers until it drops," Leo said, holding up a hand to stop his team from rushing the site. Zuko growled again and flared up. Leo tensed for a moment, watching the Magemite. His eyes widened and, just before it flashed its lights menacingly and sparked once more he threw his hand down. "Hit it!" he ordered, and Zuko blasted it with embers.

A low groan resounded out from the metal pokémon but it didn't hesitate, a sharp jolt of electricity lancing out and zapping Zuko, who squealed in surprise and pain. It droned and flashed its lights, an ear-splitting shriek – like metal grinding on metal – pierced through the air. Leo grit his teeth and covered his ears, shouting an order to Zuko that was lost in the noise – though apparently he had the same idea, as he immediately fired a heat wave that scorched the greenery and sent the Magnemite spinning backwards. It didn't even flinch despite the damage it took, a ball of silvery light forming between the two screws on its front.

"Dodge, distract, defeat!" Leo ordered, leaping to the side and out of the way of battle as the Magnemite fired, the beam digging into the ground as Magnemite tracked it after Zuko. The moment the beam ended the steel-type changed tactics, a short jolt of electricity lancing out and striking Zuko in the side.

He winced and retaliated with an ember, scorching the Magnemite's sides and setting the lights on the ends of its magnets to flickering, but the pokémon didn't care. It just wobbled a little, righted itself, then built up a ball of electricity above its head. Zuko struggled to rise, paralysis still wracking his muscles – and Leo wasn't about to let him be hit by the large electro ball the Magnemite was preparing.

So he threw a pokeball at it.

The red and white orb bounced off the Magnemite's shell, sucked it into the ball, and fell to the ground where it shook a few times. Leo sighed and motioned to Link, who approached the ball with a leaf blade drawn, stared at it for a moment, then nodded to Leo. It was safe to approach.

"You ok there, Zuko?" Leo asked, looking at Santiago and nodding. His starter nodded back and walked over to the bag, undoubtedly searching for either a paralyze heal or a cheri berry; they had found a few bushes of those yesterday, and Leo had kept a few in case of an immediate emergency. They didn't keep well, but it would be better to use those than their non-perishable paralyze heals.

"Quiiil," Zuko groaned, working his limbs and wincing. Leo nodded and knelt next to him, laying a comforting hand on his head.

"Yeah, we haven't fought many electric types. That thunder wave caught us both off guard. Still, what was a Magnemite doing all the way out here? They usually stick to cities, where electricity is more readily available," Leo muttered, accepting the cheri berry from Santiago and feeding it to Zuko. The effect wasn't immediate, but the paralysis should begin to wear off in the next five minutes or so. He just had to endure the discomfort for a little bit.

"Bell," Link said, grabbing the fallen pokeball with both hands and handing it to Leo. He nodded and took it, scanning it and the pokémon inside with his pokedex. Magnemite hadn't been on his list of potential partners to catch, but it seemed strong. And besides, they weren't native to Poni anyway. Leaving it here would have been irresponsible; if Leo didn't like Magnemite, he could always release it in its natural habitat or sell it on the global trade system. Probably the latter, as Magnemite could be considered pests. Professor Oak had trouble with a swarm a few years ago that nearly knocked out the entire lab's electrical system.

Unfortunately the pokedex didn't instantly load the information, like in the anime. It took a few minutes for the 'dex to analyze the pokémon inside the ball, so Leo decided to be productive in the meantime.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's set up camp," he said, whistling to signal Diana. She turned to look at him as he stood and stepped into the middle of the clearing, away from the ruined building, and stamped down the outline of a small, five-foot circle in the thick grass. Then he stamped down another, smaller circle in the middle.

"Diana, would you clear the grass here? Stay in the big circle; and the small circle is going to be the fire pit, so put some big rocks there, ok?" he asked. Diana rumbled and moved herself away from the edge of the plateau and inspected the circle. Then she closed her eyes, and the ground rumbled a bit, loose earth churning and grasses being uprooted as she overturned the dirt and make a small divot in the ground with her earth-based abilities. Small rocks jutted out around the divot, forming a true fire-pit. Leo smiled and patted her on the side, earning a pleased rumble and wiggle from the Pupitar.

"Good girl," he cooed. The first time they'd tried this it had been a disaster – but in the span of a few short days she'd gotten the hang of it. They'd need to step up to bigger projects soon. From there it was easy to set up camp; he went out and gathered firewood while Link and Santiago went foraging for food, and Zuko started the fire when the paralysis finally wore off. After that Leo dug a second, larger firepit with Zuko's help, building a second, larger fire for Zuko to lay in. The Quilava was all to happy to jump into the flames, wiggling about over the burning logs and sending sparks hurtling skywards.

Leo chuckled at him as he lay in the flames, sighing contentedly and letting smoke curl from his nostrils. They didn't always do it this way, but Zuko had been working hard lately and deserved a little something extra to help him relax. Especially with the paralysis incident.

Speaking of…Leo glanced at the returning Link, who wandered out of the jungle and dumped a pile of berries, pokebeans, and tubers next to the pile, dragging a makeshift basket of leaves behind him filled with similar edibles and decided it had probably been enough time to let the Magnemite out. It had probably calmed down, and the pokedex was done analyzing it – though it hadn't given anything convenient like a list of moves it knew.

"Diana, Link, I'm going to let out the Magnemite, give it a lookover," he said, to little effect. Neither of them even looked his way, though Zuko did raise his head from the fire and stare at Leo. He sighed and flipped open the 'dex, skimming the entry on Magnemite behavior once more before thumbing the release.

The ball of steel floated in the air in front of him, a low hum filling the air as it blinked and spun its screws and magnets. Leo waited for it to do something, anything, but it just sat there staring at him.

"Uh, hi?" he tried. It remained silent, not even sparking to acknowledge it was feeling…anything. Leo blinked and looked down at his pokedex, searching the behavior page for any hints as to what the robot-like pokémon might be thinking. This caused a reaction in the Magnemite, the hum intensifying as it narrowed in on the pokedex. Leo paused, watching it closely as it floated closer and just stared at the small machine.

"You finding this interesting?" he murmured, holding the 'dex a little closer. It stared a moment longer, then looked up at Leo with its lone, unblinking eye. Leo raised an eyebrow then glanced at his pokedex, cursing at the message he saw on it. Battery low. Activate the solar charging system under "SETTINGS" or plug in the pokedex in the nearest outlet. "I did have it charged! It was at eighty percent battery just…a…" Leo trailed off as he spoke, checking the battery level at the same time and seeing that it was just as high as it had been before. He frowned, then looked at Magnemite. Then at the pokedex. Then at the Magnemite.

Wait, it had been in the breaker box, right? Had it been absorbing the electrical charge from the solar panel? The panel itself was still intact, right, so was it still generating electricity?

"Uh, ok? Go charge?" Leo tried. Magnemite beeped at him and floated back to the radio tower, settling in the now-open face of the breaker box and appearing to power down. Leo frowned at it and glanced at his pokedex, the message having disappeared, and started reading the entry on Magnemite once again. He read the basic description thoroughly this time, learning that yes, the Magnemite was most likely charging its electrical power reserves in that little station (which Leo didn't think was the most efficient place to be, but he was no electrician), as well as learning that they mostly communicated with the lights on the ends of its magnets. But there was nothing about what it did to the pokedex.

"Right, so, starting to take notes now," Leo muttered, pulling up a new document on the 'dex note's system and typing in a few questions about Magnemite. Come to think of it, he'd also been taking notes on Spiritomb for a while now, recording his observations and such in the pokedex. He had yet to let Professor Oak read it, but figured he should probably do so. He'd kind of fallen behind on things like that.

Leo spent the next little while reading the pokedex entry on Magnemites as he leaned up against Diana. They were…an interesting species. He wasn't sure what to make of it, really, it was entirely different than any of his other teammates. There was just no expression in a Magnemite, no body language to read – they were just different. Powerful once trained, but different. Oh and, until they evolved a lone Magnemite typically couldn't generate enough of its own internal electricity to be as powerful as they could, which was another thing and explained why the Magnemite was feeding off the solar panel.

It wasn't for another hour when Santiago returned, speaking lowly to an Oranguru as they approached camp. Leo looked up and raised an eyebrow at the psychic monkey, who nodded to Leo then continued his conversation with Santiago.

"Well, this has been a productive evening," Leo remarked, petting Diana's shell and setting the pokedex to the side. She rumbled at him in agreement and he sighed, glancing back over to Magnemite. It just seemed so…foreign to him. Spiritomb chose that exact moment to make its presence known, hissing and flaring up as if in a delayed reaction to Magnemite's attack towards him. "Easy bud, easy. Calm down, you're fine," he muttered, almost absently running his hand through the tendrils of shadow that snaked out of his pocket. He could feel Spiritomb's sudden agitation, the ghost shaking off whatever dream had disturbed it…

He frowned, just feeling that emotion from Spiritomb and sending soothing feelings in return. Sofu said that aura was the connection between human and pokémon, right? Then wasn't this connection he had with Spiritomb aura? If so, what about his connection with his other pokémon or, say, Magnemite? Could he, theoretically, use aura to understand more about Magnemite? Leo closed his eyes and relaxed, listening to the sounds of the camp and falling into the same meditative mindset that he used to help combine Spiritomb's spirits. The crackling of the fire, the low conversation between Oranguru and Santiago, the low rush of air as it entered and exited Diana's air vents, her form of breathing…

He let his mind go free – the harder he searched for the connection, the harder it was to actually find. That was a lesson he had learned from Spiritomb and –

Suddenly it was like he could see. No, that wasn't quite right. As Leo felt the emotions of the pokémon he was connected to; Santiago, curiosity as he spoke; Diana, contentment as she lay; Zuko, a comfortable silence as he relaxed; and Link, a quiet as he watched; he realized that it wasn't that he could suddenly see when he couldn't before. It was that he finally realized he could see all along, but was, for the first time, acknowledging it. How else could he tell how Diana was feeling, when she was a literal cocoon of rock?

He was sensing the way her aura reacted to her emotion, that's how he could tell. Most people probably just saw her wiggling and narrowing her eyes, not the tiny little squints she did when she was happy, or her excited vibrations. And this connection extended to all his pokémon; he could feel their emotions, their intentions…it was hard to describe accurately because it was just there.

Leo turned his curiosity to Magnemite, who still sat in the radio tower despite the sun having set. There was no real connection between them to speak of, not that he could inherently feel, but it wasn't like he couldn't "see" the steel type with his newly realized sight. If he were to describe what he did feel when he looked at the Magnemite, it would be smooth surfaces and straight lines. There was a certain…streamlined process to it that he couldn't quite describe.

"Bell," Link said, moving over from his spot by the smaller fire to settle next to Leo.

"Oh not much. Just realizing that I'm an idiot for not noticing this sooner," Leo said, holding onto his meditative state of mind even as he spoke. What else could he feel like this? Was this aura reading? It sure seemed like it, but was he even doing it right?

"Ossom," Link said, shaking his head. Leo snorted in amusement.

"Hey now, I at least know I'm foolish. The first step is acknowledging it," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. Link laughed, a small, squeaky sound, and patted Leo's leg. For a moment longer the two were silent, watching as the Oranguru Santiago had been conversing with stood, bowed to him, and wandered back out of the camp while waving its leafy fan at itself.

Santiago stood and walked back to the fire, stopping to pick up the guitar as he went, and sat across from Leo while staring at the guitar strings contemplatively.

Leo hummed to himself. He was starting to understand what Professor Oak and Sofu had meant by aura being "so much more than that." In the stories of this world – and especially in stories of his old world – aura was shown primarily in use of…well, fighting. Aura Guardians; people using pokémon moves; the list went on. But that was only the surface. Aura wasn't just about "becoming powerful," it was seeing the world for what it was; what lay beneath the surface level.

And Leo was only scratching the surface of the surface.

"Sing," Santiago rumbled, breaking Leo out of the thoughts that swirled in his head.

"Sing?" Leo parroted back as Santiago plucked at the strings, his psychic power creating a small burst of noise. He was getting the hang of it, but it was still crude. Leo was proud of his progress, even if he was frustrated by how slow said progress was. "You want me to sing?"

Santiago nodded, and Leo scratched his chin, nestling further back into the crook in Diana's spines he had settled himself in, and pondered what song would be good. Briefly he considered searching for a song with his senses, in the aura of the land or whatever – was that even possible? He recalled Celebi said she experienced the world through music – but eventually scrapped that idea. He just wanted to enjoy the night, so he chose a song he though fight best.

"Ever since the days of old,

Men would search for wealth untold.

They'd dig for silver and for gold,

And leave the empty holes." He sang. Santiago picked up the tune, strumming a simple beat along with it, slowly getting the hang of things.

"And way down South in the everglades,

Where the black water flows and the saw grass sways,

The Fearow fly and the Chansey play,

In the land of the Seminole," Tropius groaned from the jungle behind them, arcing their necks and looking over the treetops, though Leo paid them little heed. They were harmless.

"So blow, blow Seminole wind,

Blow like you're never gonna blow again,

I'm calling to you like a long lost friend

But I know who you are,"

He sang, twisting the lyrics he did remember into ones that fit the creatures of this world, and improvising the lyrics he didn't remember.

And that was how the night went. Santiago played the guitar as well as he could, Leo sang, Link, Zuko, and Diana listened, and Spiritomb at one point joined in by adding a haunting wail or two. It was a peaceful night, a pleasant night, and Leo never noticed the pokémon who were listening in.

Chapter Text

Leo examined the map he'd found at the abandoned site, frowning as he stood at the base of the plateau. It was actually astonishing, not only was it a detailed map of the local area, but it showed that there was a cave system that wound its way through the plateaus and mesas – there was a whole underground ecosystem just waiting to be explored. What really caught Leo's eye, however, was the handwritten notes on said map. There were big X's and circled areas, routes planned out and, written in bold letters at the edge of the map, were the words "Search for the Cave of Resolution."

Leo had no idea what that meant, but it sounded awesome. Maybe the person was searching for some cave of legend, like the moon stone beneath Mt. Moon? Or perhaps an archaeologist searching for a lost city or something – his imagination was running wild, and his wanderlust was telling him to go search for it too. The map had quite a few places marked off, so that narrowed down where he could start his search too.

"Right, so the entrance should be around here somewhere," he muttered, glancing around the dense jungle. Santiago hummed and looked around, stomping through the undergrowth as he lugged around the guitar case. "Oh, quit your bellyaching. I've been carrying that thing around for days now, you can carry it for a few hours," Leo told him. Santiago huffed, pushing aside a group of vines and looking up the tall cliff face to Leo's left. The entrance to the caverns should have been around here somewhere…

"Magnemite," Santiago said suddenly, and Leo looked up sharply, head swiveling as he looked for said steel type.

"Oh, crap. Where'd it go now?" Leo cursed, rolling up the map and shoving it back in its case, then putting the case awkwardly in his pack before standing. He'd been trying to get Magnemite acclimated to him, perhaps get a judge on its personality by letting it follow after them, but the past week and a half had been a trial.

It wandered away constantly, picked fights with strong pokémon, and just generally made itself a nuisance. Its attacks were always clinical, too. It always paralyzed its opponents and never went in for the KO, either; always keeping a healthy distance and shooting thundershocks or flash cannons to keep the pokémon corralled. He was beginning to suspect the 'mon had been trained before, and not as a battler based on its behaviors.

"Magnemite!" Leo barked, pulling out its pokeball and listening intently for the sounds of combat. All was silent in the jungle, and Leo looked back at Santiago. "Which way did it go? I swear to the gods, I'm never going to let it out of its ball again," he grumbled. Santiago shrugged and Leo cursed again, nearly missing the zapping sound further in the jungle. "For the love of – c'mon, Santi," Leo grumbled, taking off into the jungle after the rogue Magnemite.

It didn't take long to find it after that, the sounds of combat quickly picking up in the jungle. A metallic dong rang out like a bell, followed by Magnemite's drone of pain, and Leo cursed again, pulling Link's pokeball off his belt and hurling it through the trees.

"Link! Intervene and calm!" he shouted upon hearing the release trigger. Link shouted in confirmation, and the sounds of fighting intensified. Leo burst through the trees and was met by a horrifying sight – a freaking Lucario was engaged in combat with Link, meeting his leaf blade with a metal claw, while Magnemite weakly floated above the ground. Its lights flickered but stubbornly held on, slowly floating backwards as it focused on the fighting type. The Lucario grit its teeth as it dodged a small jolt of electricity, Magnemite's magnets flaring with light and sparking, readying its claws for a slash. Link darted in and met the Lucario's metal claw, shouting something at it as the two attacks collided.

"Return!" Leo barked, pulling out Magnemite's pokeball and recalling the nuisance. His first instinct was to shove the pokemon's pokeball in his backpack so he'd never have to see it again, but found himself a little distracted by the angry blue canid exchanging a flurry of blows with Link.

Santiago burst from the trees behind Leo, drawing the Lucario's attention for a split second, and Leo barked another order.

"Link, back," he said, forcing his tone to be calm. Link met Lucario's glowing silver claws with his blade once again, and used the momentum of the bigger pokemon's strike to allow himself to be flung backward, disengaging as he flipped through the air back toward Leo.

The canine pokémon growled, muzzle pulled into a snarl as it pointed its claws at Leo, who splayed his hands peacefully. The Lucario snarled once more, taking a threatening step forward, and Santiago growled, water bubbling in the back of his throat. Spiritomb hissed and snaked its way out of Leo's pocket, the darkness of the trees deepening as the ghost readied whatever method it had planned to protect Leo. For a brief few moments they all had a stare down, a stare down that was broken when a man dressed in cargo shorts, a tan loose-sleeved shirt, sporting a cowboy hat decorated with teeth, and wearing an eyepatch over one eye burst through the jungle.

"Lucario, what'd you find – " he said in a heavy Unovan accent, and cut himself off when he saw Leo. Lucario growled and tensed, looking ready to attack once again now that the man was here. "Hold!" he snapped, and Lucario froze in place. Spiritomb hissed again, this time in an even angrier tone as more shadowy tendrils flowed out of Leo's pocket. Its face appeared on one of the tendrils, glaring balefully at the new appearance.

"Spiritomb, enough," Leo said, his ghost hissing but reluctantly withdrawing, sucking itself back into his pocket.

"Slow," Santiago said, stepping up in front of Leo.

"Spiritomb?" the man said, surprise coloring his tone. "Ah, sorry, sorry, is everyone ok?" he asked, quickly recovering.

"Yes," Leo said, shaking his head. "Sorry, this is my fault. I caught a Magnemite a few days ago, and it's been nothing but trouble. Went after your Lucario, and caused this whole mess," he explained. The man frowned and scratched his stubbled chin, making a placating hand-gesture towards the Lucario as his eyes roved over Link and Santiago, then settled on Leo. Something about the look in his eyes was…unsettling.

"Magnemite you say? Where is it now? I lost a Magnemite a week and a few days ago – massive thunderstorm rolled in, and it followed after the lightning, the stupid thing," the man explained. That wasn't an uncommon occurrence, according to the pokedex. Before power plants became widespread large swarms of Magnemite could sometimes be found following after thunderstorms. Used to be a big problem for cities, because they brought down more lightning strikes and caught things on fire. Now it's a bit more regulated, but…

"Sure. Here it is," Leo said, letting Magnemite out of its pokeball, then frowning. Wait, if it was this man's pokémon, then how was he able to catch it? Magnemite appeared in a flash of red, blinked once, and immediately floated over to the cowboy-hat wearing man where it started to orbit him.

"Man, this is the one! Reggie's going to be so happy we found you," he said, laughing and poking the metal 'mon. Magnemite clearly knew the man, from the way it was acting. Orbiting people was one of Magnemite's way of showing recognition or affection. "Though it sucks that you caught it. We leave them uncaught, typically,"

"Uncaught?" Leo asked, furrowing his brows. That made little sense.

"Yeah, uncaught. Me and a few guys work as hunters – we hunt and catch rare pokémon and sell them – but it's hard for people in our profession to expand our carry limits for the number of supporting pokémon we need. So, typically we have a team for battling and support-type purposes – some of those pokémon we go after can get pretty nasty, tell you what – and rent the other support-type pokémon we need. Magnemite here is one of those; we leave it uncaught to bypass the carry limit," he explained, pulling a battery out of his pocket and holding it up to Magnemite. It leaned forward and touched the small, double-a type battery, droning happily as it drained the charge therein. "Though we do keep the pokeball it was originally caught in on hand, just for situations like this,"

"Huh. I'm guessing Magnemite is for paralyzing pokémon, make them easier to capture?" Leo asked, glancing at the Lucario. It was still glaring at him, and it was making him uncomfortable. Was there something wrong with his aura that made it not like him? That would be upsetting in all kinds of ways. Lucario were one of his favorite pokémon – but prohibitively rare.

"Yes, that's a bonus, but also no. Really we're more interested in its ability; magnet pull. But I can explain that later; how about you follow me back to our camp? It's not too far and I'd like to get Magnemite taken care of. Its internals are probably running low," the man said.

"Sure," Leo said slowly. "I do want to double check that this Magnemite is yours or you're renting it like you said, though. I'm not going to just go around giving away pokémon I caught," he said.

"Fair 'nough. Let's talk as we walk. Oi! With me," the man said, gesturing to the Lucario to follow. "Name's Boone, by the way. What's yours?"

"Leo," he answered, glancing at Santiago. He shook his head, and Leo frowned, accepting the guitar case from him. Link wandered over and promptly climbed up Leo's leg and torso to perch himself on his shoulder, keeping a vigilant eye out.

"Nice to meet you, Leo," he greeted, pushing through the jungle with Leo following close behind. "Though back on the topic of Magnemite, you really interested in how we use them?" he asked.

"Yes, actually," Leo said. "They're usually pest pokémon, and it's obviously trained with a specific purpose in mind. If I had to guess, it would be to corral and contain pokémon until the cavalry arrives – with their ability to levitate I imagine they're decent scouts," he scratched his chin curiously, watching Magnemite as it continued to orbit Boone and the Lucario.

"You've got a good eye. Yeah, that's part of what we use them for, but we've been also using them to help us catch steel types. Usually Magnemite latch onto each other with their magnets to keep themselves bound to the swarm, but we're using that ability in a different way," Boone said. "Magnet pull keeps steel types from escaping, and Alolan Diglett, Alolan Sandshrew, and Skarmory all are pretty hard to pin down. Diglett tend to be more of a novelty than anything, but Alolan Sandshrew and Skarmory are much more sought after for their rarity and fighting abilities,"

"Skarmory seems like quite the catch for a single Magnemite," Leo said, glancing at Link. He was watching the Lucario though, brows furrowed in concentration, and as such didn't give much help.

"It is! That's why we use four or more in tandem. Encircle the beast and tug on it with the magnets; that keeps 'em tied up enough that we don't have to worry too much about escape. Plus, having four Magnemite means that at least three of 'em will last long enough for me or one of my men to arrive and take the 'mon we're chasing down. Unless they're stupid strong, then we're outta luck and have to let them go, or get into a nasty fight," Boone explained happily. Leo raised his eyebrow and was about to ask why they used Magnemite instead of Magneton or Magnezone, but then realized he already had that answer. Magneton's magnets were too strong, and tended to interfere with one another when in close proximity. There were plenty of stories of Magneton locking onto each other, and being unable to separate.

And Magnezone were rare and hard to find. Very few people had a Magnezone, and few knew how to evolve them. Leo certainly didn't know, besides some information from the games about being in a specific spot with a lot of magnetic influence or something.

"Huh. So, Magneton are too strong then," Leo mused.

"Yep. And more pokémon will sense a Magneton coming than a few Magnemite. The smaller guys are much stealthier, despite being literal balls of steel. How 'bout you, kid? What you doing all the way out here? Watch your step, by the way," Boone asked, pointing towards a hidden hole in the dark soil. Leo carefully stepped over it, and shrugged.

"Training mostly. Came here from Johto after I got my third badge to train and grow, I guess. Too much political stuff going on there that I didn't want to get into," he said.

"Three badges, huh? And how long you been in Alola?" Boone asked, stepping beneath a particularly low-hanging branch. Magnemite banged against said branch as it passed it, a low dong echoing in the jungle.

"Oh, about three, three and a half months now. Maybe four. Been pretty caught up in a lot of stuff," Leo said noncommittally. "How far is your camp, by the way?"

"A few hours walk," Boone said. "We made camp just at the edge of the meadow. If we find a clearing I can fly us there if you want, though. My Mandibuzz can carry myself and a pipsqueak like you," Leo nodded, glancing back at Santiago. He flashed his gem and touched Leo's mind with his own, passing along feelings of distrust. Specifically about the Lucario – he couldn't feel the 'mon's mind. Like it was dark typed.

"I wouldn't be opposed to that," Leo said. Boone grinned at him and nodded, whistling to Lucario and sending it on ahead – probably to scout for a place clear enough for a Mandibuzz to take off and land. From there Leo and Boone just kind of chatted, following after the Lucario's trail and talking about stuff.

Like what Boone was hunting for, what kind of contracts he took and how much he got paid – depended on the contractor and the rarity of the pokémon being hunted, as well as market price of said pokémon – as well as some of the most popular pokémon. Wild Eevee, for example, sold for very little because they are a line that has been bred in captivity for generations. The human bred Eevee lines are far stronger than most wild caught Eevee due to selective breeding, as such, despite being a rare, expensive pokémon, they are not the most sought after for Boone's profession. On the other hand, pokémon like Luxray, Beartic, most first-evolution dragons, or setting specific pokémon like Alolan Marowak, went for premium prices because they were species that could not be "tamed" like Eevee could. Sure, they could be bred, but not in the same fashion.

It was a fascinating subject, and Leo ended up talking to Boone about it for a solid twenty minutes before the subject changed to something else. Namely, his eyepatch.

"Oh this?" Boone asked. "This is from when a Luxray tore my eye out. Got scars all up and down my left side from when it mauled me, electrical burns and claw scars both, and my Scoliopede and Krokorok eventually put the bastard down. Poisoned it to death, but it left me with quite the reminder. This patch here is actually made of that same Luxray's pelt," he said, pointing to the patch and turning to fully face Leo.

"Good lord," Leo said, raising his eyebrows.

"It's dangerous work I do, kid. Dragons don't like it when you try to capture their babies, and predators don't like it when you invade their territory. I don't blame 'em for trying to kill me, but work is work, and I'm good at what I do," he said with a shrug. "In fact, I tend to keep a little trophy of those ones that get a little too close to ending my career early. This hat is made outta Krookodile hide, the gator nearly got me when I was just starting out. The teeth are from various critters that either left a scar on me or my pokémon, and so on," he said.

"That's a little morbid," Leo said, tamping down on his suspicion. Yes, that was pretty messed up, especially considering most of the pokémon he named were going to all be sentient. There were domesticated, animal-like pokémon, sure, but Luxray didn't have any domesticated versions of themselves. They were all feral, all relatively sentient beings. So taking trophies was a little messed up even if, based on his story and league laws, what he'd done was technically legal.

"A bit, yeah! But like I said, it's a dangerous line of work. A buddy of mine just died a few weeks ago, trying to capture a Galarian Stunfisk for a professor that studies Galarian regional pokémon. It up and snapped him right in half, and by the time the medics got to him he was dead. I always told him to pick up a healing pokémon, but not even an Audino or Blissey can fix a wound like that. For Kyurem's sake, my boat got wrecked just a few days ago! One of the new guys decided to try and catch a Gyarados as it swam next to us and BAM! Down goes the boat. No one died, but I sure did want to kill that man," Boone rattled off, laughing about it despite the bitterness in his voice. "Didn't help that that freaking mist came through, driving everyone mad," he grumbled, low enough that Leo almost didn't hear it.

All kinds of alarm bells were ringing in Leo's head now. Maybe he was the different one, but in his experience the Pokemon world wasn't that hostile. So long as you were respectful to the pokémon and understood that they were alive and could think, then they treated you with respect as well. For the most part. Though then again, he hadn't been trying to capture them or their children. And he asked for permission from Tyrus before catching Diana…technically. It was probably much different for Boone, now that he thought about it. You're being paranoid, Leo. he thought to himself.

He imagined trying to capture Diana, and then run away from Tyrus. That would…well, that would have ended in his death, most likely. Buying a Larvitar would have been less dangerous, technically, but a) try finding a seller for a Larvitar was incredibly difficult and expensive and b) he wouldn't have bonded with Diana the same way if he had. So. There's that.

"Ah, here's a good clearing," Boone said, pushing through the jungle and revealing a relatively clear meadow. Lucario sat in the clearing, just standing there aggressively, and Boone recalled it the moment he saw it. Leo thought the Lucario's form flickered when the recall beam hit it, showing a different pokémon, but it could have been a trick of the light.

In the next moment Boone tossed out another pokeball, this time releasing a relatively large Mandibuzz. The vulture like pokémon didn't make a sound as it appeared, clacking its beak and looking around skeptically. Leo recalled everyone but Link in response, the Bellossom stepping off his shoulder, onto his pack, unzipping it, and slipping inside with his head poking out. For whatever reason, he didn't want to be recalled at the moment.

That was fine with Leo as he climbed up onto the back of the Mandibuzz, the dangerous looking bird giving him the stink eye in response, with Boone in front of him.

Something about Boone was giving him a bad feeling. He hoped it was just paranoia because he'd been friendly enough so far, but…just in case, Link being out helped ease his concerns.

The camp was not a few hours walk away, like Boone had said. It would've probably taken him the better part of two days to walk there, from the few hours of flying it took to reach the beach-side camp. And the camp itself was not quite what he had been expecting, either. Large metal cages, of both wired and prison-bar-like variety, empty for the most part, surrounded the camp itself, where six white tents stood in a circle around a firepit. That wasn't the confusing part, Leo had somewhat expected that. The real confusing part was the shipwreck off in the distance.

A metal boat of fairly large size lay on the beach maybe two hundred yards from the camp, its side torn open and deep slashes in the hull. The deck was all but shattered, bits of boat scattered across the white sands, and Leo could even see some pokémon moving about in the wreckage.

"Uh," Leo said eloquently.

"The Edmund Fitzgerald. Not the best boat I've ever had, but it was mine. Pisses me off that we lost it," Boone shouted over the wind. Mandibuzz squawked and tilted down, diving hard down into the camp and pulling up sharply at the last second, setting Leo's stomach to churning as it settled down outside of the camp proper. Boone immediately jumped off and let out Lucario again, the pokémon appearing in flash of red and running off into camp without a word. Leo groaned as he slid off the bird of prey, Boone patting it on the wing and making a hand gesture.

The Mandibuzz clacked its beak and launched itself into the sky once more.

"Follow me, we've got the equipment to transfer Magnemite in camp. Er, well, you can always just release it. But the info regarding Magnemite is in camp," he said, adjusting his hat. "Follow me,"

"So, what are all the cages for?" Leo asked as they passed the big metal containers by. Only a few were filled – he saw a Meinfoo, a Rufflet, a shiny Comfey, a Staravia, a few Pikachu, and a litter of five Rockruffs, plus a few on the other side of camp he was sure – while the rest were completely empty, with the doors swinging open and everything.

"Our captures. I don't have a ranch or nothing to send the captured 'mon to when they're caught in a pokeball, and keeping them in a pokeball at all times is bad for the beasties. We sometimes have to wait months before we get a chance to sell them, so the cage is a nice stopgap. 'Sides, pokeballs can be expensive, especially since they don't work all the time and we're not looking to keep the pokémon. If they won't break out, they get knocked out and tossed in a cage," he said, gesturing to the Meinfoo. The fighting type watched Leo and Boone closely, glaring at the two. "Those who will break out we keep in pokeballs. It's a very hands-off method, for sure. We don't want to bond with a buyer's new pokémon, you know?" he explained casually.

Leo nodded, somewhat understanding what he was saying, but mentally shook his head. He wasn't sure how to feel about all this. But, he supposed, especially with the advent of the global trade network it's become far easier for trainers to buy and sell their captures all across the world. If that didn't bother him, why would this? Boone was earning a living by catching and selling pokémon – a time-honored tradition, practically. Even Leo had done it with the few water types he'd caught. So, again, why was a larger operation like this not sitting well?

There was something Leo wasn't seeing, or he was being hypocritical. One or the other. Besides…pokeballs weren't that expensive, were they? He supposed they might be if you used a lot of them.

"Jackie! We've got company!" Boone shouted as he carefully stepped over the cords keeping one of the tents held up. Leo followed after him, stepping into the camp center. Three other people milled about in the camp, each dressed in the same "safari" getup as Boone, while said man's Lucario stood off to the side of one of the tents silently. "He caught one of our wayward Magnemite!"

"Oh, sweet. Harold and Kat caught two more to the west, so that brings us back up to eight," one of the men, who Leo assumed was Jackie, said, approaching. "Though Harold went back out with a few of them afterwards – said he thinks he found a good catch,"

"Eight is good. Not great, but manageable. We can probably start hunting a bit bigger game before they come to pick us up, then," Boone said, a hint of bitterness entering his tone, then turned to Leo to explain the situation. "We radioed for help, but they won't be able to start helping us clean this mess up and move our merchandise for another week or so. Something about a bad storm. We've got to try and mitigate our losses on this disaster at least a little,"

Leo nodded, wincing. "Yeah, fair enough. How much did you lose?" he asked.

"A lot. Not all from Alola either. Those Staravia are pretty much the last of our out-of-region stock, and we lost a bunch of pokeballs in the ocean. Been working on recovering what we can, but we don't have many water types and it's slow work," Boone grumbled, and Leo frowned. Wait, so did that mean there might be invasive species on Poni now? That…wasn't good.

"Have you contacted the Aether Foundation yet?" Leo asked. "They'd probably help you out. I mean, if there are foreign species now roaming the island and all…" he trailed off suggestively.

"Huh? Oh, Aether? Yeah, right, they could help," he said distractedly, waving his hand noncommittally and pointing to one of the open tents. "Here, let's head in there. We've got our equipment all set up there,"

Leo nodded and followed after him, Link remaining perfectly calm and still in his pack, and entered the tent. A lot of electrical equipment was inside, almost all still sitting in hard plastic, presumably waterproof containers. A few computers and what looked to be a cheap healing machine – like the ones in pokémon centers – were up and running however. Weren't those really hard to get ahold of? Or at least, took a lot of bureaucratic work to get ahold of?

From there, it was a pretty simple process of taking a look at the files Boone pulled up, and letting out Magnemite to confirm that the physical description, along with the marking along the underside of the steel-type that Leo had failed to notice until now. The evidence was pretty clear, and while Leo was a little hesitant, he still was pretty much convinced. There was just a little bit more paperwork to file or something before Leo released Magnemite and gave it back to Boone.

In the meantime Leo set the guitar case and pack down, and let Link wander a bit.

"So, Spiritomb," Boone said, in the middle of searching through some of the computer files. He had Magnemite's old pokeball next to him, the one it was previous caught in before Leo caught it, and was looking up the serial number for it. Leo looked up from where he was studying a map of Unova. "That's what you said that freaky ghost of yours was. What is it?"

"Oh, just a ghost," Leo said noncommittally. "Kind of a pain in the butt most the time," Boone hummed and nodded, then tapped the computer.

"Here it is. See? The pokeball's registered to this Magnemite, or at least it was until the 'mon was released," Boone said, pointing to the screen. Leo leaned over, read the description, and nodded. Well, that all checked out. It was a complete bill of sale, too – the Magnemite was officially owned by Reggie McEntire, but leased to Boone Enterprises for the purpose of hunting pokémon.

"Well, here you are then," Leo said, releasing the Magnemite. It was a relatively simple process; all he had to do was hold the capture button a certain way, twist it a few times, and update his pokedex, and the Magnemite was officially free of the pokeball. "One Magnemite, back in your possession,"

Boone nodded and opened his mouth, but a commotion outside caught his attention.

"Boss! Howard is back; he's got a bloody Scizor with him!" one of the men said, popping his head into the tent. Boone burst into motion, blowing past Leo and whistling for Magnemite, who followed with a beep as Boone burst from the tent and automatically started shouting orders. Leo hurried after, excited to see what was happening. Boone released another pokémon – a Krokorok which quickly burrowed underground as they hurried out of the camp.

He could barely see the ongoing fight through a gap in the cages surrounding the camp, but what he could see was amazing. A red Scizor, its carapace already beaten and dented from the struggle, swung helplessly at a Herdier that hounded it, nipping at its heels and barking. A Tranquill and a Whimsicott both floated in the air around it, shooting attacks and slowly whittling down its health. The real interesting part, however, were the four Magnemite that circled it. Small jolts of electricity sparked from them to the Scizor, slowing its movements, while their magnets practically glowed. Every time the bug type tried to make a big swing at the Herdier, or attack the Tranquill or Whimsicott, or turned to make an escape, the Magnemite held it back.

It was like watching a mime trying to escape invisible ropes in a way. The Magnemite had bound themselves to the Scizor with their magnets – every time it tried to move or make a big attack, the Magnemite would tighten their hold and pull back. They weren't always able to stop the attacks, but it did slow them and give the other 'mon enough time to get away, or get an attack of their own in.

"Hey! It's tired, but still fighting! Already took out the rest of my team – Whimsicott can't seem to powder it either!" A man shouted, invisible to Leo.

"Get that thing down! Get the Butterfree or Watchog out, put it to sleep or something! I don't want it to hurt our pokémon any more than necessary; we've still got a lot of hunting to do!" Boone shouted, a bit of excitement in his voice. Leo felt himself start to get excited, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

"Zoro, get in here!" Boone shouted. The Lucario snarled and darted away from the tent it had been guarding, vaulting over the cages and launching itself into the fray – almost immediately, it was struck by the Scizor and yelled at by Boone. Leo watched as its form faded, literally flickering as if a movie projector, revealing a Zoroark. The dark type snarled and slunk back from the fight, vanishing between the cages as its illusions were remade. Leo didn't get to see what it turned in to, especially because his attention was instead drawn to the tent itself.

Cautiously he walked over to it and pulled open the tent flap, silently beholding what was inside.

A Hakamo-o – one he recognized – lay dead on the floor of the tent. Its scales were halfway peeled off, and fangs lay in a tray to the left of it. This was the same Hakamo-o that had beaten Diana, and Leo closed his eyes. Hunting Pokemon wasn't illegal by any means, but certain species did require a hunting license to kill them – or at least, feasible evidence that it was in self defense. It wasn't unlike his old world, in some cases. But pokémon like Hakamo-o? Pseudo legendaries and super rare pokémon? Almost entirely off-limits to hunting. Catching them was one thing, but killing?

Link stepped past Leo, the grass type silently kneeling next to the deceased dragon.

There were far too many stories of an angry mama dragon burning a village down in response to their child being killed and skinned. They were too intelligent and too powerful to just…disrespect like that. There was a reason some pokémon were like animals – called domestics – and some were sapient – called ferals. Leo purposely sought out the domestic ones when he went hunting. Like Magikarp, Ratatta, Yungoos, Tentacool, Krabby…the typically "food" pokémon. It was pretty easy to tell the difference between what was "food" and what was "not food."

But as Leo's eyes roamed the interior of the tent, he spotted pelts and trophies of pokémon that were, typically, feral, sapient types. The pelt of a midday Lycanroc, the skull and fan of an Oranguru…plus a few others. They clearly hadn't been at it for long, and he doubted they had hunting licenses for these pokémon. Especially since most of them weren't legally huntable. Leo turned and left the tent, immediately pulling out his pokedex as he calmly walked to the opposite side of camp, away from the fighting. Link followed silently.

He had signal. Good.

"Leo? It's a bit early for your weekly update, what's wrong?" Lusamine's voice came through on the first ring, and Leo smiled to himself. For once, her obsessive nature came in handy.

"Lock onto my location now; I know you have it, and I've already activated the GPS beacon on my 'dex. I am currently in the center of a poacher camp on the beach of Poni. There's a shipwreck nearby. They've killed a Hakamo-o. I'm going to try to get out of here, but, well, it's pretty flat ground," he said bluntly.

"We know the camp. Got reports of a shipwreck only a few hours ago, only just started investigating it – a team will be there shortly. Be safe, Leo, and get out of there," Lusamine said. Leo nodded, but paused as he hung up the phone. The sounds of combat had stopped, and sitting on a cage in front of him was Boone's Mandibuzz, staring down at him hungrily.

He hadn't wanted to risk his pokémon in a life-and-death fight against Boone and his people – especially since he was outnumbered – but now there might not be a choice.

"Kid, what are you doing?" Boone asked, voice booming as he approached from behind. Leo turned to face him, face set into a stony expression, and observed the team arrayed before him. Five people total, Boone was flanked by Zoroark and Krokorok, the others with various mid-tier pokémon. Herdier, Purrloin, Swoobat…and the Magenmite, all orbiting the area. Link stepped forward and whipped a leaf blade out, standing at the ready with a low growl.

Boone glanced at Link, looked at Leo, pokedex still in hand, then glanced back at the butcher tent. He scowled.

"You didn't call anyone, did you?" he spat.

"Aether will be here shortly," Leo said. "You know I had to. Severe losses or not, it's illegal to hunt Hakamo-o like you did, let alone an intelligent psychic like Oranguru. Psychics are protected under –"

"I know the law, brat. Why'd you go and do that?" he spat. "I was going to just take your Spiritomb, it'd go a long way towards recouping our losses with the bounty out for it now, but now I'm going to have to take all your pokémon before we scram,"

Leo scowled and started plucking pokeballs from his belt, deliberately and slowly, ignoring the shuffling of the Mandibuzz behind him. "Bounty?" Leo asked, narrowing his eyes. Boone snorted and pulled a few more pokeballs from his belt, his companions doing the same.

"Someone wants a Spiritomb, and bad. Doesn't have to be yours, but…I doubt they care where it comes from, with the price tag attached. Give up now, kid, and your pokémon won't be hurt," Boone growled out, glancing up at Mandibuzz. "I don't want to hurt you more than I have to, but I will,"

"Let me go," Leo said firmly, not a trace of fear in his voice. "Everything you did was legitimate up until this point. It doesn't have to go like this," he said that, but even through the nerves that burned his system, he knew what was coming. There was no escaping this fight. It was either beat, or be beaten.

Boone did not respond, just tossing out the entirety of his team while his employees did the same, releasing quite the array of pokémon at the same time as Leo. His team, a Slowking, a Pupitar, a Bellossom, a Quilava, and a Spiritomb stood against a small army. Boone's pokémon were the biggest threat; he had Mandibuzz, Zoroark, Krokorok, a Scoliopede, a Herdier, and an Amoongus. The rest were not as big of threats to Leo's eyes, mostly mid-to-first tier evolutions like Woobat, Zubat, a Liepard, a few Herdier and other, more support-type pokémon. Like Cottonee, Butterfree…things like that. Individually, not a threat, but together? Much more dangerous. In fact, the most dangerous looking 'mon that wasn't Boone's was a Sawk.

Boone's eyes widened as he looked at Leo's team, and his eyes narrowed. Seeing the rarity of Leo's team hadn't helped the situation at all, he was sure.

There was no warning for when the battle started, and it wasn't Boone's side that launched the first attack. It was Link, the Bellossom flinging a sunny day into the air and launching himself forward with a savage war cry.

That prompted everyone to attack. As Link blurred through the enemy lines, his leaf blade cleaving through the weaker 'mons, the Mandibuzz gave a sharp cry and leapt from its perch, claws bared at Leo's back. Spiritomb intercepted it, shadow tendrils lashing out and wrapping themselves around the bird's wings, sending it crashing to the ground. More tendrils snaked out of Leo's pocket as the ghost began spitting shadow balls into the oncoming crowd, doing as much damage as it could while beating on Mandibuzz with its tendrils.

Santiago roared, blasting out a psychic and a water pulse at the Scoliopede and Liepard that leapt at him, respectively, and charging forward with all the grace of a berserker. Diana did what she did best – turned herself into a cannonball and plowed into the opposing ranks, dark pulses blasting out and spires of rock jutting randomly from the ground, sowing discord wherever she went.

Zuko was, perhaps, the most tactful of the bunch. Instead of charging into the fray to sow discord like the rest of Leo's team, he turned and helped Spiritomb take out the Mandibuzz, savaging the bird with fire and claw alike. The fewer threats on the field the better, especially to get rid of their air superiority. Even though the bird struggled and fought with all it had, it wouldn't last long.

"Don't just stand there, get the kid!" Boone shouted over the sound of battle, backing up a few steps. His companions didn't even hesitate, circling around the battle with their gaze locked on Leo. He glanced at them, then surveyed the immediate battle. There was some time until they reached him – they had to navigate the camp-turned-battlefield.

His team was holding their own – Zuko finally turned away from the Madibuzz, who was bodily picked up by Spiritomb and tossed over the cages, to enter the fray, firing a heat wave at the cluster of Magnemite raining electricity down on the battle – but they could use more backup. Santiago was being pretty damaged by all the dark types around, but he was successfully keeping the Scoliopede away with judicious use of psychic, even as the Liepard and a few Zubats bit and clawed at him. But he wasn't stupid, either, and had somehow managed to tear down a tent and toss the fabric over the feline pokémon and a few others that hounded him, giving him room to focus on other threats.

Diana was a tank as ever, plowing through the weaker pokémon even as she focused on Boone's Herdier and Krokorok, the crocodile diving beneath the ground even as a spire of rock slammed into its side. Link, on the other hand? Link leapt from opponent to opponent like a little green blur, leech seeds hitting everything and everyone as he danced about, pink petals falling through the air like individual swords, cutting deep. He was the best off, and had already KO'd some of their attackers, but he was only one pokémon.

"Spiritomb, it's time for you to intervene. I'm going to recall Santiago for a second, and I need you to take his place. See if you can't take out that Amoongus, too – I don't want it catching anyone with a spore attack," Leo said, spotting the mushroom pokémon as it sat just outside of the melee, watching for an opening. "I'll be fine. If we don't take some more of these guys out, it's going to be very, very bad,"

It must have understood what Leo was saying, because in a split second Spiritomb withdrew itself from his pocket, stone and all, and coalesced into its humanoid form. Then it focused in on Santiago, who had been hit by a supersonic from one of the Zubat and was now in danger of being struck by Scoliopede, who charged with horns lowered.

Leo recalled Santiago just before the bug hit, making it tumble and slam into the two Liepard behind him. One shimmered and shifted form, revealing Zoroark, though the dark type snarled and shimmered again swiftly after, taking the form of a Herdier and darting back into the fray. Leo scowled and let Santiago out as Spiritomb rushed in to take his place, knocking out the Swoobat and a few of the flying types with swift, fierce jabs of shadowy tendrils. He glanced at the advancing people. Just a few seconds left.

"Connect," Leo said forcefully, pointing to his head. Santiago, though disgruntled from the sudden change, connected to Leo's mind as he presented his plan. They needed more battlers. There were pokémon in cages all around them. Those were the obvious ones, and they didn't have time to search for the pokeballs of the "strong" captures. Santiago was the only one who could both release the pokémon and convince them to join the fight.

He nodded and turned, gem flashing as he blew away an approaching Tranquill with a psychic blast, and ran as fast as he could along the cages, blowing open the first one he found and releasing a Pikachu.

Leo watched the battle for a moment longer, keenly aware of the man trying to take advantage of his apparent inattention, dashing at him at full speed. Things had settled. The weaker 'mon had calmed and backed off, playing the long game while the main battlers duked it out with Leo's team. Sawk and Krokorok versus Diana, a Cottonnee blowing fairy winds at her while Amoongus snuck up from behind; Tranquill and Butterfree harassing Link, while he tried to take out a small pack of Herdier – they seemed to be trying to keep him contained, rather than take him out.

Leo took a sudden step back, dodging the man who charged him and letting him crash face-first into the nearby cages. He didn't have time to focus on these fools. His team was entirely caught up in the fight and had to each with their battles before helping the others –

A hate-filled caw echoed through the air, wings flapping as the Mandibuzz from before took to the skies, injured but apparently not out of the fight.

"Diana, up!" Leo ordered, the roar of Diana's jet engines filling the air, and glanced at the two men approaching him from either side. The one to his left had pulled himself out of his cages, and the other had a Purrloin by his side, the cat hissing with claws bared – but suddenly the dark cat was tackled by a flaming blur, Zuko snarling and planting his foot on the cat's head, burning it the whole time, while he spat a stream of embers at the four pokémon hounding him.

Chance. Leo whirled into motion, taking the sudden distraction to jump at the man to his left.

"Easy kid-" he started, but didn't finish. Leo struck with all his might, fist sinking into his gut, just below the ribs in the solar plexus, and stepped to the side as he involuntarily began to vomit. Leo didn't stop, however. And upwards elbow to the man's face jerked his head back, his eyes rolling back into his head as he collapsed, unconscious. That worked out better than planned. Leo thought, doing a quick survey of the battle.

A horrendous crack filled the air, followed by a squawk of pain, and suddenly Mandibuzz was falling, having been struck by Diana. Said rock behemoth controlled her fall, air vents flaring as she sped up, curved her fall, and plowed full speed into the Scoliopede battling Spiritomb, smashing the bug into the cages before extracting herself and charging back into the masses.

"Get that kid, dammit! Amoongus, what are you doing?! Put them to sleep!" Boone shouted, giving orders as even more pokémon joined the fight. The Pikachu from before countered the Magnemite, mostly, absorbing their electric shocks and shooting them right back. The five little Rockruff crashed into the melee Zuko was engaged in, the rocky hounds tackling a Watchog off him and freeing him to fire a heatwave at some of the aerial battlers. The shiny Comfey scattered healing energy on Link, and Santiago howled in pain and frustration as he battled Zoroark, on the other side of camp, who vanished into invisibility even as he blasted it with a water pulse. He was still trying to let out some of the caged 'mon.

"C'mere, kid!" strong arms wrapped around Leo and he mentally cursed himself for not paying attention.

"Santiago, hit the void in your senses! Dark means there will be nothing there!" Leo shouted, relaxing his body completely as he was lifted into the air. Link had managed to get into a fight with the Sawk, the Herdier he had been fighting now defeated, but that wasn't a priority target.

"Boss, got 'im!" the man shouted. Leo's eyes narrowed. Amoongus was now being attacked solely by Diana, having hit her with a rage powder, and was sucking her dry with giga drain as she charged the mushroom and fired stone edges at it.

"Got me my ass," he said, twisting his hands to grab one of the man's thumbs and pulling. It broke with a snap and he was dropped, but Leo didn't back off. Instead he whirled and laid into the man. Each punch was punctuated by another command to his team. "Spiritomb, finish off that stupid Scoliopede! Link, get that Amoongus off Diana; Zuko, Rockruff, crowd control!" Leo shouted, sinking his elbow into the man's gut, then snapping his fist up to bash his face, followed by a swift kick to his knee, and finished with a roundhouse to the side of the man's head as he fell to one knee, knocking him over.

Leo turned to face the last two people, having finally made their way over to him. A man and a woman. The woman frowned and took a step closer.

"Oh, you're approaching me? Instead of staying away, you're approaching?" Leo taunted, settling into another stance. The woman paused, then reached behind her back and pulled out a knife.

Instinctively he took a step back, his foot hitting something…metal. Leo glanced down, saw a metal tent pole that was maybe four to five feet long, bent, picked it up, and spun it a few times.

"Zuko, get those Tranquill off of Link – oh, nice!" Leo started to give the order, but paused when a Rufflet, Staravia, and Meinfoo joined the fray, the larger bird shrieking in a war cry and falling upon the Woobat and Tranquill above Link, who was, at least, distracting Amoongus from Diana.

Spiritomb was thrashing about wildly, having been caught by a spore by Amoongus, and lost its cohesive form. A Lampent Leo hadn't seen before burned Spiritomb with ghostly fire, while the Scoliopede spat sludge bombs at it from a distance, the two keeping the ghost contained, though the bug was clearly hurting. Leo glanced at the field. They were winning now. Spiritomb just had to fully awake, and things would be much, much better.

"Give up, kid, before we hurt you," the woman said.

"Come closer so I can beat your face in," was Leo's response, because at this point the adrenaline had gone to his head and he wasn't thinking clearly anymore. There was no flight left in the phrase "fight or flight."

The woman charged and thrust with the knife, and Leo reacted on pure instinct. Out of sheer luck he positioned the hollow metal tent pole in just such a way that the knife stuck in the end, the blade sliding up to the hilt in the pole. He immediately twisted, spinning the pole around and yanking the weapon out of her hand, the back end of his weapon slamming into her side and sending her stumbling. She groaned and he pressed – only to be forced back by the Sawk, the pokémon jumping in and catching the pole as he swung it.

"Get him!" the other man shouted. Leo cursed, let go of his weapon, and took a step back as the Sawk swung, its chop narrowly missing his face. It followed up with a sharp kick, though Leo lifted his leg, his bent knee catching the blow, and took two jabs to the face and ribs despite trying to block them. The fighting type hit hard, but Leo pushed through the pain even as his vision wavered, and punched the Sawk back. It clearly hadn't been expecting that because it gave him an opportunity, taking a sliding step back that let Leo take two sliding steps forward, slipping past the 'mon.

"Link, wake up Spiritomb and wrap things up!" Leo commanded, sprinting past the Sawk towards its trainer. He was, however, stopped with the ground beneath his feet burst open and Krokorok burst out, jaws open wide. Time slowed as Leo tried to stop himself – and he was saved by a flaming blur once again. Zuko slammed into Krokorok, driving it away, the heat of his flame charge nearly burning Leo's skin, and falling into a heap next to the crocodile. Flame met sand, and Leo didn't have time to focus on the fight.

"FOO!" A small form darted up to him and, using Leo as a spring board, leapt into the air to punch the Sawk as it tried to grab Leo.

"Thanks for the save!" he shouted at the Meinfoo, who unleashed a flurry of blows on the Sawk, and promptly turned his attention to the trainer.

The woman was behind him. The Sawk trainer was in front of him.

Battles all around.

Santiago wrapped Zoroark up in a tent and was repeatedly headbutting the squirming mass.

Link laid waste to the remaining ground forces.

Diana charged Scoliopede, who was somehow still up, while Amoongus lay in a smoking heap.

And Leo beat the ever-living tar out of the man in front of him. He sprinted forward in a flying mule-kick, both feet connecting with the man's chest. Both fell to the ground, but Leo was expecting it, kicking himself back up into a standing position and leaping onto the fallen man, punching him square in the face, then in the jaw, then in the face again before he was tossed off.

"You little -" he started, but Leo ignored him, jumping into the air and spinning, his heel connecting with the jaw of the woman, who was trying to get him from behind, and dropping her. The man didn't last much longer; Leo drove a knee into his face as he tried to stand, sending him to the ground as well.

The other two he beat looked like they were starting to stir, groaning and rolling on the ground, but the battle was almost over. Zuko roared with fury and fire, burning the Krokorok with a flamethrower as it tried to dig away – though it stopped moving with half its body still out of the ground. The Herdier were scattered and fallen, the Rockruff hounding a last Purrloin, and Santiago bodily tossed the Zoroark back into the middle of camp, where it fell and stayed. Link was breathing heavy, the Comfey healing him, while Diana hovered threateningly over the battlefield, the remaining Woobat defeated in a circle around her from a dark pulse, while spires of rock jutted out of the ground at the stragglers randomly. The only battles left were Spiritomb and the Lampent, Sawk and Meinfoo – though the latter was being helped by Rufflet and Link, who wasn't content to just watch – and Pikachu versus the Magnemite, though a pile of flying types surrounding the electric mouse suggested that it hadn't been idle.

"Give up, Boone," Leo said, rolling his shoulders and striding confidently across the battlefield. "It's over now,"

"It's over when I say it's over! I'll kill you, and your team, and take your Slowking's crown as a trophy!" Boone snarled, reaching behind his back and drawing a revolver. And Spiritomb chose that exact moment to fully wake.

Boone didn't even have time to point the pistol at anyone before a horrendous, soul-shaking shriek filled the air, darkness exploding towards him. He shouted in fear, whirling, but dark tendrils bound him before he could move.

The Lampent was sent flying from the biggest shadow ball Leo had ever seen as Spiritomb whirled on Boone, binding him and tying him to the ground with shadowy tendrils while the dark ghost snarled viciously in his face.

"Don't kill him, Spiritomb. Keep him bound, and help clean up," Leo said calmly. For a brief, terrifying moment, Leo didn't think it'd listen. But Spiritomb looked up at Leo, nodded, and lashed out at the stragglers with its dark tendrils.

The rest didn't last long under the combined assault of his team and the rescued 'mon, and from there it was only a matter of tying up the people – the two men Leo had first knocked out woke up, saw the state of the battle, and surrendered when Leo threatened them with Spiritomb – and recalling the fainted pokémon. For those that had no pokeballs he put in the cages just in case. For safety's sake.

That done, Leo surveyed the state of things. Spiritomb was slowly losing cohesion, probably poisoned from the Scoliopede; Link was sitting on the ground silently; Santiago was waving off the efforts of the Comfey to heal him, pointing to the other pokémon first; Zuko huffing and spitting fire, stalking back and forth in front of the tied up poachers with the five little Rockruff following him, daring them to do anything; and Diana was happily exploring the camp, none the worse for wear with not a scratch on her shell.

The others were licking their wounds, for the most part. Comfey was floating around, giving aid to those who needed it, and most of the camp was an absolute wreck. No tent was left standing, though miraculously Zuko hadn't set anything on fire with his attacks. Rock spires stood tall at random points and the wall of cages was wrecked in multiple places; he'd have to start looking through the tents to see if there was anything salvageable.

Speaking of, Leo looked down at the revolver in his hand, the pile of knives and other weaponry at his feet that he'd confiscated from the poachers, and the flask of whiskey that he'd found in Boone's pocket. Guns were…something, in this world. He actually didn't know the laws, but he was pretty sure they were illegal for civilian use. Which meant he wouldn't be keeping this, not that he wanted it anyway.

"Whatcha gonna do with that, kid?" Boone taunted from where he sat tied up. The thick rope he'd used to tie them all together, hands in their laps, had been found in one of the ruined tents.

"Toss it aside, never look at it again," Leo said with a shrug, setting the pistol down and unscrewing the cap of the flask. He sniffed the contents and wrinkled his nose in disgust, shooting Boone a judging look.

"What, a snot nosed brat like you doesn't like whiskey?" Boone taunted again, earning himself a growl from Zuko. The Rockruff followed suit soon after, growling almost…cutely at the tied up group. "Can it, scruffy," he snapped unflinchingly.

"I don't like rotgut whiskey. If you're going to drink, at least make it the good stuff," Leo said, taking a sip and baring his teeth as the liquid fire settled on his tongue and in the back of his throat. "Does have a nice burn though, even if the taste leaves much to be desired," he said, screwing the cap back on and tossing it to the side.

Boone laughed. "So what now then, brat?" he asked. "You going to guard us until Aether comes, huh? For what, killing a few pokémon?"

"I'm not going to get into a battle of philosophy with you. You tried to take my team, I alerted the authorities, and this is how things ended up. Was killing the Hakamo-o wrong? Yeah, I'd say so. They're not dumb animals, Boone," Leo said.

"Pokemon are tools to be used. You're naïve if you think a dragon will give you any quarter. Kommo-o, Dragonite, Hydreigon, they'll kill you dead in seconds. You ever met a legendary, kid? One of the 'Alolan Tapus,' like the one that wrecked my ship? Yeah, that's right, a Tapu, not a Gyarados destroyed my ship. Didn't bother to finish the job though. Tell you what, the day you meet one you'll learn that it's not just sunshine and roses in this world. It will just as soon kill you than look at you," Boone snarled. Leo raised an eyebrow and just shook his head.

Boone really didn't get it, did he? Leo had practically done all of that already, but he had nothing to prove to the man.

A tug on his pants leg drew Leo's attention to the Meinfoo, the little fighting type looking up at him and pointing towards a hole in the cages. Towards a procession of pokémon, marching to war.

Leo swallowed thickly and snapped his fingers, drawing Santiago's attention. Their eyes met and, wordlessly, Santiago stood and walked over to Leo, squaring his shoulders and raising his head. Leo hadn't noticed it before, but there were a few new chips in his crown – he'd obviously used it to block a few powerful attacks.

"Where you going?! I'm still talking!" Boone roared. Leo gave him a half glance and dismissed him, walking towards the hole in the cages.

"Shut up and stay there; do that, and we might just survive this," he said, and marched towards the incoming pokémon. Spiritomb joined him, slipping in his pocket, while Link leapt up on the cages, keeping an eye on that which was coming, and those in the camp.

The Kommo-o had arrived. And they'd brought friends.

Chapter Text

War drums beat as the Kommo-o approached, Dragonite, Dragonair, and Noivern joining them in the skies above, while Lucario and Scizor ran with the pack. Each of their loping strides coincided with the thunderous clang of scales, an ominous beat that promised war and pain to any who stood against them. Leo swallowed his fear as he watched them approach, standing just outside of the camp proper and counting their numbers.

No less than four Kommo-o, the Totem among them, and just over half a dozen Hakamo-o formed the core of their forces; joining them were a few Lucario and Scizor, flitting around the dragons. Only two Dragonite had joined the cause, one average sized and the other truly massive – rivalling the size of the Totem Kommo-o – with twice as many Dragonair and an equal number of Noivern. For there to be this many pseudo legendaries running at him…he wondered how many dragons there were on this island. It didn't matter, he supposed. This was probably enough pokémon to worry even an Elite Four member. In fact, it was probably enough to warrant multiple Elite Four members…

Leo shook those thoughts from his head and squared his feet, setting his shoulders back and standing as still as he could. There was nothing he could do to stop the rampage of the dragons, if that's what they wished to do. Santiago stood behind him to his right, his partner ready for whatever happened next. Leo glanced down at the little Meinfoo standing behind his leg, peering curiously and unafraid at the incoming horde.

The Kommo-o roared and spread out, encircling the camp, while the flying types soared overhead, ensuring escape to the skies was impossible. The Totem Kommo-o remained in front of him, meeting his eyes with a fierce, battle ready gaze, while three others stood next to him. A Lucario, the massive Dragonite – it having landed upon arriving – and a Hakamo-o. Leo recognized that one as the one he fist fought in the trial, and he felt relief flood him. Hopefully she recognized him, and understood that he had nothing to do with the poachers.

"I am sorry," he said, bowing at the waist. "I didn't know. I wasn't quick enough," silence reigned for a few moments, and he heard someone approaching. A paw laid itself on his back, and Leo looked up to see a Lucario looking down at him. The canid pokémon smiled, knelt, and patted Meinfoo's head, before turning and gesturing into the camp. The Totem Kommo-o solemnly walked into the camp, passing Leo by with not even a glance, and Leo moved to follow as he straightened.

The Lucario, however, placed a paw on his chest and shook his head. Leo stilled his expression and glanced at Santiago. He stared silently at the camp as well, though Leo could see him clench his fists. Their teammates were in there, and though Leo felt an eerie sense of calm pressing itself upon him, Santiago was not so lucky. With a frown Leo observed his own state of mind, that pervasive calm of his, only vaguely aware of the Lucario shooting him a glance. There was nothing to fear here. Not for him, anyway. The wrath of the dragons wasn't that…it wasn't wrath, and it wasn't directed at him.

Leo frowned and dug deep, trying to figure out what he felt about the dragons who had arrived, and their mission. There was no wrath within them – well, there was a desire for destruction. But it wasn't overwhelming. He watched the Totem Kommo-o disappear behind the wall of cages, moving slowly but with purpose. His fists were clenched and fury in his eyes, but it looked to Leo like he was restraining it.

It wasn't vengeance.

There was a roar within the camp, a roar filled with sorrow and pain, as the Kommo-o undoubtedly found the body of the Hakamo-o. Leo had to wonder – did they have some sort of blood connection? Was the Hakamo-o the son of the Totem pokémon? The grandson?

It wasn't hatred.

Silence echoed from the camp. It was unlike anything Leo had ever heard, making the Staravia and Rufflet atop the cages shuffle nervously. It wasn't the silence of the forest, calm and comforting. It was the silence of judgement; the Totem Kommo-o was deciding one whether or not the poachers should live or die.

It was anger and fury, but those were just emotions.

A second roar ripped through the silence, though it was not pierced by screams of panic or anything like that. It was a roar of sorrow and grief, the pain evident in the Kommo-o's voice, but that is where it ended.

The dragons had come here for justice. To quell the crimes dealt upon themselves and others. They had not come to vent their wrath, but to seek justice for the fallen.

Leo stood all the straighter as the Totem Kommo-o exited the encampment, the deceased Hakamo-o cradled in his arms like a child. Leo could see no blood or viscera on the Kommo-o's arms, no evidence that he had killed Boone and company, but his eyes were drawn mostly to the sorrowful expression on the Totem Kommo-o's face. He paused at the very edge, just past the wall of cages, and looked up into the sky. For ten heartbeats, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the Kommo-o began to stomp his feet.

His scales began to clang; a low, slow sound, that was slowly joined in on by all the other Kommo-o and Hakamo-o. The Dragonair and Dragonite began to hum, a crooning noise that ran through the air like a cool breeze, the Noivern adding to things with a slow beat that echoed from their ears. Leo closed his eyes and listened, feeling the beat of the drums and the taste of the song.

Beside him Santiago joined in, his deep voice adding a rich hum that sang deep within Leo's chest. It was…he didn't quite know. He did, but words were hard – there was no translation for that which he found in the song of the dragons. It was all at once a song of pride and strength, of days gone, of death, and of the pride of life. He could feel it in his bones, vibrating up his spine and echoing about in his chest, begging to burble forth.

Leo couldn't have stopped it even if he wanted to. He began to sing – a wordless melody, sounding more like a chant and hum that rose and flowed in time with the beat of the dragon's song. Leo opened his eyes. The beat rose and rose as the Totem Kommo-o began to walk forward, marching forth with the dead Hakamo-o still held in his arms. He was still at a slow walk when he passed by Leo, and graced him with a respectful nod before continuing on, gradually picking up speed until he was at a full sprint, and the dragons began to follow.

"The Funeral March of Dragons," Leo said to himself, once the Kommo-o and company were gone from sight, leaving only a dust cloud and the faintest echoes of their song. It still rumbled through him, sticking in his mind, but now it was just a whisper.

"Leo," Santiago said, poking him with a finger.

"Yeah? Yeah. We should probably check and see if Boone is still alive," Leo said, shaking off his distraction and turning. Something told him Boone was perfectly fine –

Leo paused, and stared at the collection that stood behind him. The Lucario was still there, as was the massive Dragonite and the Hakamo-o he had fought before. But behind all them, standing halfway between the shipwreck and camp, was a team of Aether folk, watching carefully with a team of pokémon at the ready, but very wisely not coming any closer. His eyes widened a little, but his attention was quickly snagged as the Dragonite hummed and knelt, pulling a scale off of its arm and handing it to Leo. The golden scale was the size of his palm, and weighed a good pound and a half.

The dragon cooed and looked at Santiago, who nodded.

"We are…to go to the dragon…rock-bury?" Santiago tried to translate, cocking his head to the side.

"Funeral?" Leo suggested, and Santiago nodded. The Dragonite spoke again and Santiago continued.

"Sundown, he will…return, take us there. Go now. Ensure the Slayer of Sons…justice," Santiago said. "Totem-Daughter and Cave Guard will stay, until time is right,"

Leo bowed his head.

"He will answer for his crimes," Leo promised. Of that, he had no doubt.

Dragonite nodded and flared his relatively small wings, levitating off the ground and soaring into the sky without a single wingbeat. He was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving Leo with quite the mess to clean up. The little Meinfoo at his side tugged on his pants leg once again, and he glanced down at it, following its pointing hand back to the Aether folk – specifically a particular blonde-haired woman in a blindingly white outfit marching towards him. Her Mismagius floated along behind her, along with her Clefable, while six pokeballs gleamed at her waist. Even from a distance Leo could tell that she was dressed for war.

"She came personally," Leo said, somewhat surprised.

"Leo, are you alright?!" Lusamine called, rushing forward.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," he answered, walking forward a few paces and glancing into the camp, through the hole. He could still see Boone and the others tied up in the center of camp, watched over by the captured pokémon and the rest of his team, looking very much still alive, if not terrified. Rightly so.

"You're bleeding!" she cried, coming to a stop in front of him and grabbing the sides of his face, twisting it back and forth as she examined him. "Get over here!" she snapped, looking over her shoulder. An Aether Employee that had been lurking behind her moved forward and pulled a swab from his pack, Lusamine stepping aside as he dabbed at Leo's face. It came away tinged slightly red.

"Bleeding – what?" Leo asked, jerking away and touching his forehead, feeling mostly dried blood crusted there. He frowned. That…was one of the places he'd been punched by the Sawk. He hadn't even noticed he was bleeding at the time. "It's fine, just a flesh wound," he said, relaxing and letting the man continue his examination, cleaning the cut and placing a little white bandage on it before agreeing that it was, in fact, just a small cut. During this time the rest of the Aether Employees entered the camp with their pokémon at their heels.

"What happened? I told you to get out of there," Lusamine demanded.

"I didn't get the chance," Leo said, wincing and rolling his shoulder. With a grunt he pulled up his shirt and grimaced at the two bruises forming on his ribs – where the Sawk had jabbed him. "They had me surrounded pretty much by the time I hung up the phone – it all happened so fast that there was no time for me to escape. It forced me into a battle, which, as you can see, didn't end in the favor of the poachers," he explained. Lusamine gasped at the sight of his bruises, but remained silent for most of his story.

"Because that's when the Kommo-o arrived," the medical employee said, moving closer again and lifting Leo's shirt to examine the bruises.

"No, actually," he said, hissing as the man's hands pressed into Leo's side. There was the pain. It was like he'd forgotten to feel it in the middle of the fight. "My team managed to beat all their pokémon – with the help of a few of their captures. It probably helped that they just caught a Scizor, too, which weakened a few of their stronger 'mon," Leo reasoned, the doctor muttering something about just bruising, and no damage to bones.

"You beat them? And what's the bruises from?" Lusamine demanded.

"I think it'd be better if I started from the beginning. Remember that Magnemite I caught…?" Leo asked, but was interrupted by one of the Aether folk shouting a warning.

"Dragon!" she shouted, pointing skyward. Leo tensed and whirled, gaze flicking skyward and instantly picking out the pair of crimson red wings that hurtled towards them. The camp scrambled, Lusamine stepping in front of Leo with her Clefable beside her, while the others started letting out their own pokémon. The Hakamo-o and Lucario beside Leo, however, didn't react. They simply watched the dragon come in, completely at ease.

They needn't have worried though, as the Salamence wasn't there to attack. It landed with a thud, crimson wings flaring and fierce gaze daring anyone to meet them, as Sofu slid off the dragon's back. The short man grunted and stumbled when he landed, glaring around at the assorted people and pulling out a pokeball, recalling the dragon.

"Kahuna Sofu," the doctor man said, bowing his head in respect to the man. "We didn't know you were coming,"

"Seems everything's been taken care of," he said, locking eyes with Lusamine and glancing at Leo. "Please tell me the Kommo-o didn't kill anyone,"

"They didn't," Lusamine said firmly. "No thanks to you, though. Young Leo here had to do everything by himself. Isn't that what Kahuna's are here for; to help solve problems before they start?" she demanded.

"No, it's not," Sofu said, moving closer. "Now, tell me what exactly happened here," he said, looking straight at Leo. Lusamine looked over her shoulder at him, and he rubbed his face, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before launching into the story. After he was done he had Lusamine frowning at him, Sofu looking thoughtful, and the Aether doctor shaking his head. Lusamine had been silent through the whole story, her expression growing darker and darker the moment Leo started talking about the battle – which he didn't go too much detail into. Just enough to get the point across.

"That's it," Lusamine said firmly, after the story was done. "You're coming back to Aether right now. No more running around Poni, you need time to rest and recuperate," she said, her tone leaving no room for arguing as she grabbed Leo's arm. Leo took a deep breath, really not wanting to argue with Lusamine about this. Not because he disagreed with her, but because he agreed. He did want some time to go back, relax, and have a professional look at his team to make sure they were ok. But it couldn't be right now.

He'd made a promise to the Dragonite, he at least needed to see it through.

"No," Sofu interjected, saving Leo from having to say anything and stepping forward. "Leo was invited to the Funeral of Dragons. That is something he has to go see," Lusamine turned slowly, intimidatingly, and stared down the shorter man. "Don't give me that look. You heard the boy, the Kommo-o expect him to be there. They even left the Totem pokemon's grandchild and a Lucario here to help him out – that's about as clear a sign as can be," Sofu explained.

Lusamine crossed her arms.

"I don't want him doing anything more dangerous," she said firmly.

"It won't be dangerous," Sofu said. "Kommo-o are, among dragons, the most honorable. Had Leo not subdued the poachers, this camp would have been a bloodbath. I would have been too late to stop it. But arriving here, seeing that the poachers were already beaten? There's no honor in killing an already beaten opponent. Leo will be safe among them; they would never let harm befall one who aided them. Not in the heart of their territory,"

Lusamine stared at Sofu, then looked at Leo. She clearly didn't like the situation, not that Leo could blame her.

"As soon as it's over, I'll come right back to the Aether Paradise. I promise," he assured.

"How long will it take?" Lusamine asked.

"The whole night," Sofu said.

"Will you be going?" Lusamine asked.

"No. The next time I go there will be for my own funeral," he said matter-of-factly. Lusamine stared at him for a moment longer, clearly not liking that answer, but eventually relented.

"You get one night, and call me when you're done. If you're not back by morning I'm sending a team after you," she said bluntly.

"Deal," Leo said. "And, thanks, Lusamine," he said sincerely. Her expression softened just a tad, she nodded, then turned on her heel and marched off into the camp, Mismagius floating behind her, and Clefable waddling ahead. Already she was barking orders while the rest of the employees ensured Boone was properly secured, and organized the rest of the camp. The doctor bowed his head to Sofu and followed after.

"Kid, a word of advice," Sofu said, drawing Leo's attention. The older man's gaze flicked to Santiago, then the Meinfoo, then the Lucario and Hakamo-o still standing watch. "If I were you, I'd pick your dragon soon. You're going to start a fight if you don't," he said with a chuckle.

"Pick my dragon?" Leo asked with a frown.

"Yes. The Kommo-o like you. The Dragonite like you; you got a scale from their Patriarch, right? The Dragonite have fought over the position of Totem with the Kommo-o since time immemorial – ah, I'm rambling. But just listen, they could pick a fight over who has the right to claim you if you don't choose one,"

Leo frowned at him.

"Why would they want to fight over me in the first place?" he asked, not quite understanding things. Sure, he'd helped out the dragons, but that didn't really mean they should be leaping over each other to join his team…right?

"Why wouldn't they?" he asked, and just by his tone of voice Leo knew that was a loaded question. Deciding it best not to question Sofu, mostly because he didn't want to deal with that right now, Leo continued on.

"Ok, but then, how do I choose one? And what about that whole 'no two pseudo-legendaries on the same team' thing?" Leo asked.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. You said you're Oak's student, right? The Professor, I mean, not Victoria," Sofu asked. Leo nodded. "That is good advice for an…average trainer. Dragons can be temperamental and territorial, and if you don't know how to handle them they can cause a lot of damage to team dynamics. However you are not average, simply because of understanding. The right trainer, with the right understanding, can make anything work. Just look at the dragon clan from Johto – they routinely pump out dragon masters with multiple dragons and pseudo-legendaries on their teams. Why? Because they have made understanding and training dragons their life, they've turned it into an art form.

"And you, boy, can do that too. You can sense pokemon here, and here," Sofu continued, pointing to Leo's heart and head, respectively. "And I have faith that you can make any pokémon that you want to have on your team, or wants to join your team, fit. Strong bonds, Leo, strong bonds," he said.

"Oh," Leo said, scratching the back of his neck. "Uh, thanks. What should I do now though, while waiting? I mean, I want to make sure Boone -"

"I'll take care of the poachers, as will miss Lusamine, so don't worry about them. You do what you want, I can't tell you what to do. I would suggest talking to some of those pokémon you rescued, though," he said, starting off towards the camp. Leo was silent for a few moments, then glanced at Santiago, who nodded.

Well, ok then.

Leo stared down Zuko, who was giving him puppy-dog eyes and whining pitifully. Behind him the five Rockruff pups lay piled up together, mostly asleep but occasionally kicking and making little noises. According to the Aether folk and his own pokedex, they were relatively young. Still too young to go out on their own, at least – the Lycanroc pelts they'd found in the "butcher tent" were likely their parents. Which was pretty morbid, all things considered, but now Zuko had adopted them. Or wanted to, at least.

"No," Leo said, though his argument was a failing one. "We are not adopting them. We don't even know if that's allowed," a lie, and a bad lie at that. Poaching was illegal, as was overhunting certain populations of pokémon, but there was nothing to say that catching pokémon solely for trading was. It was a respectable profession. And, in the event of someone stopping an illegal hunting or poaching operation, the pokémon therein are technically, by some statutes, fair game. Especially if they want to go with the trainer who rescued them.

And especially if they're invasive species.

Plus, Lusamine had already given him a bit of a green light when it came to adopting certain pokémon. She wouldn't mind.

"Quillll," Zuko whined, puffing smoke at Leo. The Lucario smacked Leo on the back of the head, and he turned to glare at it.

"What was that for?" he demanded.

"Cario," it said simply, crossing its arms, then turning back to the chattering Meinfoo, nodding along appropriately.

"You want me to tell the truth?" Leo asked, trying his best to interpret what was said. The Lucario nodded again, still not looking at him, and Leo sighed heavily. Before he could turn back to Zuko, however, he spotted Link showing off his sword-skills to a few Scyther and the one Scizor that the Aether folk had released from Boone's supply of pokémon – they were island natives, after all, but had stuck around for whatever reason.

The Bellossom spotted Leo and waved, gesturing happily to the bug-types. Leo got the meaning. He wasn't sure he liked it.

"Santiago would you…" Leo turned to his starter and trailed off, finding him deep in a psychic conversation with one of the Aether folk's Kadabra, the fox-like pokémon teleporting randomly before resuming the conversation. Diana, likewise, was no help, as she seemed to be talking to the Hakamo-o that was still following him, wiggling happily and talking through her air vents. He sighed, and turned back to Zuko, who was sniffing the Rockruff pile. The pups whined, one of the awake ones batting Zuko's snout with a paw and receiving a lick on the nose from Zuko in return. The Rockruff sneezed.

Damn. Leo thought, his heart melting. That's adorable. No, no. No! Don't give in! You don't need to be adopting five bloody Rockruff! Then a treacherous part of his mind added: well, you won't need to keep them necessarily. Just let them grow a little. And, you know, Gary and Ash could use a pokémon. They're old enough to start at least taking care of them, right? The more they know and all that…

"The Professor would never approve," Leo reasoned to himself, but at the same time knowing that Victoria would probably help him convince the old Professor, if for no other reason than to spite his stubbornness. Besides, maybe a companion like Rockruff would keep Gary from becoming a colossal jerk like in the anime…though honestly I doubt he'd become like that to begin with.

"Bad thoughts, Leo, stop thinking, we'll deal with it later," he muttered, rubbing his face and scanning the rest of the camp. For the most part things had been cleaned up nicely. A few employees had pitched one of the tents again and were booting up the electronics, downloading data and analyzing what they could – the initial outlook wasn't very promising, from what he'd heard. The number of pokémon lost was well into the hundreds, not all of them caught by Boone, with a large number of cages missing from the shipwreck as well. That meant potentially invasive species on the island.

Boone was still here as well, as were the other poachers. Lusamine had taken command over them, having released a Salazzle that glared at them and occasionally dripped poison from her jaws, just to intimidate them. Boone was being sort-of helpful, actually, answering a few of Lusamine's questions but remaining completely quiet on the others – and he kept shooting Leo glances.

He didn't say where he was going, but the documents in the camp's computers indicated towards Kanto, which immediately made Leo suspect Team Rocket. Not that he was a member of the Team, but ordering pokémon from a black-market dealer couldn't be that far-fetched…could it? Maybe they were the black-market dealers, and Boone was the supplier.

Other Aether Employees milled about, taking stock of the pokeball stash found buried in a few duffle bags, cleaning the camp, healing injured pokémon, and various other support stuff. All of them seemed to be steering clear of Leo, though, giving him odd looks and whispering among themselves. Whatever that was about, he didn't like it.

"Rio," a sudden voice said, the Lucario laying a paw on Leo's shoulder. He jumped slightly and turned to face him, raising an eyebrow.

"Foo!" the Meinfoo cried happily, performing a few punches in the air and looking at Leo expectantly.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Lucario," it replied, taking a few steps back and taking a stance. Leo glanced at the Meinfoo, who was staring at him with great expectation, then looked back at the Lucario, who was smiling serenely.

"No. I have had quite enough fighting for one day, thank you very much," Leo denied, shaking his head. The Lucario just stared at him. "No. Not in front of all these people," The Meinfoo tugged on his pantleg and whined piteously. "No, I said!" he protested.

"No whining," Santiago ordered, glaring at Leo then turning back to his conversation with the Kadabra. "Get it over with,"

"Traitor," Leo scowled, sliding into a stance despite his protests and meeting the Lucario's eyes. What followed wasn't a one-sided beatdown, or anything that could even be considered a fight, really. It was a slow dance, the Lucario moving at a slow, steady pace and miming strikes, and Leo doing the same – their 'hits' only ever being light taps and shoves as they followed through with the motion. And it lasted all of thirty seconds before, satisfied, the Lucario stepped back, placed his paws together, and bowed. Leo returned the gesture, rubbing his aching side.

It still hurt, where the Sawk punched him.

"Cario," the Lucario said, gesturing over Leo's shoulder. He turned around and met the eyes of Hakamo-o, as she slid into a stance as well. With a defeated slump of his shoulders he matched her stance, stepping firmly and letting out a breath, preparing himself for a bit more intense of a mock fight than before.

She, however, did something entirely different. She went through a series of motions, then prompted him to mimic her. When he did, she joined him in the motions, the two sliding across the ground, stomping their feet, and making odd motions with their hands. It quickly became apparent to him that they were dancing, much like how he and Link danced, with each of her movements causing her scales to clang together in a beat not unlike a war drum. Leo quickly lost himself in the dance, slowly taking the lead and leading her through a mix of the dragon dance and the Bellossom dance, merging the two into a whole.

It didn't last long, and Leo soon stopped because he was getting tired and was suffering from an adrenaline crash, but that was apparently all the Hakamo-o wanted. She nodded to him and wandered off, leaving Leo to meet the curious eyes of the Aether folk, who were all watching him.

"What?" he asked, and they all went back to their business. Leo flushed with embarrassment, but stomped that feeling down.

"You're one of them," Boone said, a massive grin stretching across his face. "It all makes sense now! Ha! He's one of them! No wonder I lost!" he crowed triumphantly, tossing his head back in laughter.

"Be quiet before I let Suzie here melt your bones," Lusamine said, so calm and deadpan that Leo honestly believed that she would let her Salazzle do it. Considering Salazzle were the most corrosive poison type pokémon in the world, there was little doubt she'd even need her fire to do it, either. "Now get back to work, or I'll go ahead and send you to prison," Boone wasn't cowed, however, grinning manically at Leo and reaching up to snag his hat from his head, despite still being handcuffed.

"You know what? Here, catch, kid," he said happily, and frisbee threw it to Leo. It froze midair, caught in Santiago's psychic hold.

"What are you doing?" Lusamine demanded, stepping forward and snapping her fingers, her Salazzle rising up to her full height and hissing, the purple lines along her back glowing. Boone raised his hands defensively as Santiago floated the hat over to Leo, who snagged it by the brim.

"Look, I've got a habit of taking trophies of things that nearly got me killed or beat me. The kid not only beat us soundly – even though we were still recovering from the shipwreck, so keep that in mind before it gets to your head, kid – he also saved the lives of me and my men by talking to those Kommo-o. I figure that warrants a trophy from me," Boone explained quickly, taking a few steps away from the angry Salazzle. P

Lusamine narrowed her eyes and looked at Leo, who examined the hat with a complicated expression. It was…heavy, for a hat, and the teeth lining the brim would probably need to go. But it seemed to be high quality and…well, Leo wasn't sure what to think of this.

"I mean, ok, I guess," he said, glancing at Santiago, who looked back at Leo and shrugged.

"Not ill," he said, then turned back to his conversation with the Kadabra.

"You heard him. He's got no ill intent," Leo said, meeting Lusamine's eyes. She scowled and looked like she was going to protest, but a quiet word from Sofu, who had emerged from the other side of the camp, calmed her. Boone grinned as he was forcibly turned back to the task at hand with a shouted "take care of it!" Aether folk stepping forward and guiding him away from Lusamine and back towards his companions. They'd be teleported away soon, presumably to the police or something. Sofu would take care of it, especially considering the way people jumped to do whatever he asked.

Especially the Alolan natives. They were especially respectful to the old man.

Leo shook his head and tossed the hat onto his open pack, pausing because he hadn't remembered opening it. He frowned and watched as Zuko bounded over to the pack, stuck his head inside, retrieved a pokeball, and ran back over to the Rockruff pile, placing it in the already-growing pile of pokeballs placed in front of the sleeping rock-types. It would have been cute, were it not kind of annoying. As it was, Leo could only shake his head and laugh to himself, all while trying to figure out what to do about it. If Zuko wanted to catch the Rockruff that badly…

A sharp tug on his pants leg drew his attention away from that scene to the Meinfoo at his feet. She looked up at him expectantly.

"What, you want to come with me?" he asked in a half-joke, getting a rapid nod in answer. "Santiago, thoughts?" he asked, turning to his starter, who wholly ignored him. "Link?" but Link was likewise preoccupied, waving off the Scyther and Scizor as they flew deeper into the island, returning home. Zuko sat patiently next to the Rockruff, five pokeballs laid out on the ground before them, panting and staring at Leo expectantly. Diana was also no help, as she had moved over to investigate Boone, who shied away from the massive rock-type staring at him curiously.

Leo could only imagine how intimidating that was from his end, because Diana just wasn't scary to him. Not as well as he knew her. Shaking his head because his team was no help whatsoever, he turned back to Meinfoo.

"You saved my butt with that Sawk, so I'm ok with it. Just go capture yourself in one of the pokeballs Zuko laid out and we'll get acquainted after the Funeral of Dragons. Ok?" he said.

Meinfoo cheered and darted forward, slapping the capture button on one of the pokeballs and letting herself get sucked up. It closed without a fight and clicked in acknowledgement of a successful capture, and Leo moved over to pick it up, getting no small amount of amusement from Zuko's scandalized look. It didn't change his answer though.

"Don't give me that, she earned her capture," Leo said, setting his hands on his hips. "And for the last time, no, we're not catching the Rockruff,"

INSERT LINE BREAK HERE

Leo caught the Rockruff. Lusamine had been the one to actually convince him, saying that she could keep them at her mansion on Melemele Island until they were old enough to start training, but Leo didn't intend to keep them there for too long. The issue was finding new homes for them – if he kept them he was bound to bond with them, and that would make giving them to other trainers, like Gary or Ash, all the harder. Zuko, of course, was ecstatic that Leo would be helping to raise the pups. It had taken quite a while to get him to calm down, but Leo had made sure he knew that they wouldn't be truly keeping them. There was wanting to take care of the pups, and then there was wanting to adopt them for real.

Ironic how he was just talking about adding a whole bunch of teammates, and now was finding himself backpedaling when they were practically dropped in his lap.

Maybe Lillie and Gladion will bond with them. Leo thought to himself. Speaking of, I still don't know how old they are yet. Nor have I met them. That'll probably be soon though, considering how Lusamine kept mentioning her house on Melemele. Bet she intends to take me there for some R and R.

A sudden sense of vertigo gripped Leo as the Dragonite he was being carried by banked, hurtling towards the jungle-covered plateau at great speeds. No wind whipped Leo despite their speed, however, the dragon-type using its immense power to curve the wind around them and keep Leo safe from the high-speed winds.

"Woah, hold on there!" Leo cried, squirming in the massive Dragonite's grasp as he hurtled towards the side of the plateau. Nervousness transformed into outright worry and minor terror as they crashed through the jungle canopy and through a thick wall of greenery, bursting through unscathed to reveal the insides of a relatively large tunnel, leading further into the earth. Leo didn't relax as the Dragonite wove through the tunnel at speed, the darkness within making sight impossible, and juking around invisible obstacles and corners. Finally though, after what felt like hours but was only a few dozen seconds, they arrived at a massive, dimly-lit cavern. The Dragonite flared its wings, coming to a halt, and let Leo go.

Leo stumbled as his feet hit the ground, legs shaking, while the Dragonite made a sound not unlike a chuckle.

"I can't decide whether that was awesome or terrifying," he muttered, shaking his head and looking around. The cavern itself was less of a cavern and more of a hidden valley – the rock walls curving up and around, but leaving a large hole where the evening sky could be seen. Long vines hung down from the hole, reaching towards the cavern floor, while large glowing crystals provided what little light there was.

Half of the cavern was taken up by the Kommo-o and Dragonite lines. Jangmo-o, Hakamo-o, Dratini, Dragonair, and the odd Kommo-o and Dragonite all stood silently in a half circle, facing two white-stone-carved life-sized statues of Dragonite and Kommo-o, lying as if asleep on a flat stone pedestal.

Silence filled the air. Leo watched as the Hakamo-o that had been sent to watch him arrived through a different tunnel, the dragon having left the poacher camp once Sofu assured her that things would be taken care of, and let out his own team to watch the proceedings. Zuko immediately found a nice spot to curl up and close his eyes – exhausted from the day's events – while Link and Santiago stood right beside Leo. Diana was quiet for once, looking around the cavern with large, curious eyes before settling her attention on Meinfoo, who was silent as she looked out over the large collection of dragons before them.

From there, they didn't have to wait long. The Kommo-o line began stomping their feet, the Dragonite line filling the still air of the cavern with a solemn hum, the sounds echoing around the cavern. It was a sad tune, yet somehow triumphant, as the Totem Kommo-o emerged from a tunnel opposite the statues, still carrying the deceased Hakamo-o. The song reached a crescendo as Kommo-o crossed the cavern floor, yet Leo remained quiet this time. This, unlike the previous one, was not a song he was welcome to join. That was the feeling he got.

The Totem Kommo-o laid Hakamo-o at the foot of the statues' pedestal, and took a step back as Jangmo-o and Dratini moved forward, carrying stones in their mouth to begin building a tomb for the deceased dragon. Each rock was purposefully placed, the clash of stone-on-stone blending in with the still-ongoing song, until finally the Hakamo-o was covered and the song came to an abrupt end. Silence filled the cavern – like a held breath, in anticipation of some great event.

And the Kommo-o statue moved. Leo's eyebrows rose as the stark-white Kommo-o, scales bleached from what Leo assumed to be age, raised its head and blinked its milky white eyes at the Totem pokémon, then looked down at the tomb before it. The Totem Kommo-o bowed his head to the much smaller pokémon in askance, waiting silently for an answer. The elder Kommo-o shook itself, scales rattling against each other hollowly, and snapped its jaws at the white Dragonite beside it. It did not respond, and the stillness of the cavern changed. That is, until the Kommo-o nipped the Dragonite's hide, and the dragon raised its head.

A sigh of relief escaped the large Dragonite still beside Leo, and he suddenly realized that the dragons had assumed the white Dragonite dead. Considering how old the two must be to have turned completely white, he supposed that wasn't an invalid concern.

"Draaaa," the white Dragonite yawned, showing off toothless gums. It turned its eyes to the Totem Kommo-o and sniffed the air, then glanced down at the tomb before them. With a yawn, blue fire welled up in the back of its throat, dragonfire racing out and scorching the stone tomb. Leo's eyes widened as the show continued, stone fusing together and binding until it was a single, cherry red boulder. The Dragonite coughed as its dragon breath ceased, smoke billowing from its nostrils. With another yawn it laid its head back down and closed its eyes, falling into slumber as the elder Kommo-o shook its head, scales clanging together hollowly once more, and sending out waves of blue light that washed over the molten stone, sinking into the material.

That finished, the elderly Kommo-o stretched its neck out a bit and laid back down as well, though it kept one eye open to watch the proceedings. The Totem Kommo-o silently stood there, watching the still cherry-red stone and waiting for it to cool. A sudden tap on Leo's shoulder made him jump in surprise, turning to look at the Lucario that now stood behind him, holding a paw over her mouth as if to say "hush."

"The interesting bit is over now. Come, there is something I wish to show you. Leave your team here – except for Meinfoo. The ghost can come too, I suppose," she said in a low whisper, the words echoing in Leo's head almost like telepathy. A little bit of excitement jolted through him and he nodded, tapping Santiago's arm and briefly explaining the situation. He nodded and waved Leo off, turning his attention back to the funeral, as Leo moved to follow Lucario. Meinfoo was already walking beside the blue canid pokémon, practically bouncing with excitement. With one last look at the dragons assembled below, Leo turned and followed Lucario into the darkness of the tunnels.

A blue light appeared over one of her palms, lighting the way, and she once more began to speak.

"You've made quite the impression on the little one here," she said, glancing over her shoulder at Leo.

"Well, thanks. She saved my butt against a Sawk," Leo said. Meinfoo chattered animatedly now that they were away from the silence of the funeral, gesturing grandly to Leo.

"She says she hardly did anything besides distract it. It was your team who wound up knocking it out," Lucario said. "…thank you, for rescuing her. She had been caught this morning, by her account. She'd been out on a journey to find a suitable trainer for herself, and had challenged the poachers in hopes one of them would be worthy. They were not,"

"Searching for a trainer, huh?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow and carefully stepping over a hole in the ground. Droplets of water dripped down onto his head from above and he flinched, looking up to see stalagmites hanging down.

"Yes," she said, pausing at a flat portion of stone. "We could not give her what she sought, and so she went searching for one who could," and with that, stepped through the stone. Light curved around the edges of the hidden entryway, prompting Leo to carefully walk forward and admire the relatively hidden passage. It would be nigh impossible to spot even if he had a flashlight, such was its positioning in the rock and amongst the shadows.

"What do you mean by that?" Leo asked, catching up to Lucario as she led him deeper into the caves.

"The Lucario of Resolution Cave are peaceful by nature. There are some who follow the warrior's path, but many of us, and many of the pokémon who join us, are pacifists," she explained. "Alola is a peaceful region, and the Tapus and Totems ever-vigilant. During times of war we have taken up arms to defend our homes, but…it is not a necessity here. We pursue strength and skill to master our own inner selves. Not like the warrior tribes of Rota, who are fighters and champions by necessity,"

"Pacifists?" Leo echoed, raising an eyebrow. Lucario stopped and turned back to look at him, expression blank. "I can respect that," he finally decided. There were many martial artists who were pacifists by choice. Bruce Lee's teacher, famously known as IP Man, was supposedly a pacifist. The movies about him said otherwise, but if he was remembering some of the man's history right, then he was.

Not everyone learned martial arts to be able to beat up people, or defend themselves.

"Can you now?" she asked.

"Sure. It's not that hard to believe, is it?" he questioned.

"No, perhaps not," she continued, turning back around and continuing down the path. The way was much smoother now, craggly rocks replaced by a well-worn path, and glowing stones now lighting the way in place of Lucario's aura. "In any case, the little one has decided that the adventure she wants, the training she desires, is not that of the Alolan Lucario. She desires to travel, to adventure, and to overcome the human trials of combat like the warriors of old. With a human companion," Lucario explained, Meinfoo nodding eagerly.

"I see," Leo said. Well, that was his current goal…

"You are taking the fact that I can communicate with you so clearly quite well. I was expecting a bit more shock and awe, the mystical and theatrical displays we put on are half the fun," Lucario joked, changing the subject a little. Leo thought about that for a moment, then shrugged.

"The way I see it, aura is about understanding. Feeling and understanding the world around you. It would make sense that a Lucario skilled in aura would be able to communicate," Leo reasoned.

"That is a fair assumption. Who is to even say I am speaking your language? Perhaps I am only sending intent towards you so strong that your own aura and mind interprets it as language," Lucario said with a chuckle.

That was…actually, that was pretty strange to think about.

"But nevermind that, we're here," she said, ducking beneath a low-hanging boulder and prompting Leo to do the same. The other side was a wide, plain-looking cave lit by those same glowing rocks. Small alcoves covered one side of the smooth cavern walls, while water dripped from long stalagmites into a pool of water in the center of the room. The room continued to rise at the far end, leading up to a flat area where another Lucario and Meinshao stood.

Meinfoo let out a happy cry and darted up to the two of them, leaping into the Meinshao's embrace.

"The parents. I thought they might like to meet their child one more time," Lucario whispered. Leo nodded, though that statement did twist his gut a little. "Do not feel guilty. She is a restless soul, having already left the nest despite her youth. For her to have found a soul such as yours to help her along her journey is a blessing,"

"Even though I'm dark?" Leo asked almost instinctively, watching as Meinfoo jumped into the other Lucario's arms next. Almost immediately he regretted that statement because, despite him being dark, psychic types seemed to love him. Why would fighting types be any different?

"Partly because you are Dark. That only means you understand the value of silence – and what do you believe this place is? Many humans and pokémon alike have come to this cave to uncover the secrets of the Dark and Silence. It is only in the silence of the mind and stillness of the heart that truth can be found," Lucario said sagely. Leo frowned, not quite understanding.

Humans and pokémon…?

"Wait, so humans came here to train?" he asked.

"More in search of enlightenment of the self than in the arts of combat. Solitude can be a great teacher, and, once upon a time, many peoples from across the world came to the Island of Poni to train. That was back in the days of the aura guardians, however. Times have changed since," Lucario said wistfully, and Leo reeled for a moment. Aura guardians came here to train? As if reading his mind, Lucario smiled sadly. "It is a pity, what happened to them. After Sir Aaron's sacrifice at the Tree of Life, the role of aura guardians changed in the world. Nations sought to turn them into soldiers, powerful warriors to change the tides of battle in their petty struggles – and so they disappeared from the world. There are still as many who are capable of using aura as there were before, but…perhaps not so openly. Those who would once be called aura guardians are far more subtle now," she explained.

"That's a lot to take in," Leo admitted.

"Is it? It is quite simple really. All places have history. When you look at this place, what do you see? When you first arrived you read the aura within, and you were unimpressed beyond the physical beauty of the place. I could see it in you. It is just a cave, not the temple of training others have found. Not the place where others have come to find resolve in their hearts and minds. The Dragon Kahuna himself, Sofu, saw this place as a temple. He learned about the nature of silence here. But you? Where do you find your temple to be?" she asked.

Leo didn't respond to the question, because he knew the answer. His 'temple' was in the wild, amongst the mountains and trees. But Lucario wasn't looking for an answer. She was simply getting him to think. Or, better yet, understand himself. He looked up at Meinfoo, who was showing off her moves to her parents, who watched fondly. They were coarse and unrefined, not the flowing grace of a well-trained fighting type, but she no less enthusiastic for it.

"Why did you come to Alola? Were you running from something, or seeking answers?" Lucario continued, and Leo's thoughts immediately went to Lunala, who had originally left him in the Silver Mountains. He had come here for answers, hadn't he? To escape the politics of Kanto, right? Some part of him disagreed. It was true, but…not the whole truth."I think you know the answer of why you are here. You know what choice you made in life, instinctively, as we all do. There is a path you chose to follow, from the moment you stepped into the world. The question then is not what choice you made, but why you made it. You may not understand yet, you may not be able to put it into words, but it is there. The greatest teacher is time, and aura. It can guide you,"

"Thank you," Leo said, after a long moment. Then, he worked up the courage to ask a question. "Would…you, or one of the Lucario be willing to teach me about aura?"

"Have you truly not realized it yet? You already know how to use aura. I was present when you fought the Kommo-o in the trial – you began to use a Z-move with the Little Knight without the use of a crystal. All z-moves are simply manifestations of aura, and the crystals help you shape it. You had half the jungle listening in to your songs at night whether they wanted to or not, blasting your intent and aura into the world as you were. It is refreshing, in a way, to see someone so open and honest about who and what they are. Another example would be the poachers. You cannot convince me that you did not know the danger they posed. Some part of you sensed it, and still you walked right into their den," she said, barking out a laugh. Hearing her physical voice layered over her aura voice was a bit weird – she sounded very gruff physically, but very calm aurally. Leo smiled a little at that, not quite sure about it, and considered what she said as he turned his attention back to Meinfoo.

That was a lot to take in.

When he returned to the dragon cavern, the funeral was essentially over. The stone coffin was being moved into one of the side-tunnels, and now the Kommo-o and Dragonite were having a discussion. Diana immediately noticed his return and moved over to him, pressing her face into his side and wiggling. She was bored and tired, and Leo chuckled at her.

"We're almost done, I promise," he whispered. She either didn't listen or didn't care, and continued to push against him, rocking side-to-side and letting her air vents hum a little. He paused and smiled, recognizing the tune she was trying to play, and quietly began to hum it back to her. That seemed to mollify her as she stopped moving, even as she continued to try and match his hum with her own low droning sound.

Separately from those two, the massive Dragonite that flew him into the cave grunted, the sound echoing out over the cavern, adding his two cents into whatever conversation was being had between the dragons.

"Bell!" Link suddenly shouted, anger coloring his tone. "Bellossom!" Leo's head whipped up to the little grass-type, standing on Santiago's crown as he was, to get a better view, as he waved his arms angrily.

"Oh dear, it appears the Kommo-o have angered the Little Knight," Lucario said, stepping up beside him while holding Meinfoo. The smaller fighting-type squirmed out of her grip, landing lightly on the cavern floor and dusting herself off. The farewell with her parents had gone smoothly – they let her run free, and made a nonverbal threat to him before leaving the Cave of Resolution entirely. He would take care of her, or they would hunt him down.

"How so?" Leo asked, pausing his humming but continuing to rub Diana's carapace between her eyes. She vibrated happily, continuing to hum.

"Bell, Bellossom!" Link continued, and Lucario blinked.

"It seems they were considering whether or not you were worthy of taking one of the Jangmo-o or Dratini with you on your journey. They can be prideful creatures, the dragons, and that annoyed the little knight. Hold on," Lucario said, listening as Link continued to rant. Santiago bobbed his head in agreement, nearly dislodging Link. "He says, 'If anything, you should not be debating whether or not he is worthy of you, but if you are worthy of him! It is he who I, Guardian of the Ilex Forest and decedent of Rose, guard of the Plateau, pledged my sword to, it is he who raised a Slowpoke into a King, and carries with him the blessings of Moon and Time. It is he who bears the legacy of the Unholy Flame that burned the temple of the sea and teaches it to be whole again, he who crossed the Silver Mountains, aided in the rise of yet another King, received the blessing of the previous, stood before the Living Winter, and earned the right to raise the child of Tyrus, Tyrant of the Mountains and Valleys!'

'So if you think yourself worthy, step forth! We will judge you, because he will not,'" Lucario paused, making sure Link was done, then shook her head. "Courageous little one, isn't he?"

Leo didn't respond, as silence had fallen over the cavern. The others must have been telling stories about their adventures to Link, because he wasn't there for most of that. Still, it warmed his heart to know that Link thought so highly of him. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to challenge the dragons like that, though. Especially since they were still technically recovering from the fight against Boone.

"Well?" Santiago boomed, standing straight and tall. Leo could only see his back, but he could imagine the challenging look he was giving the dragons. "What say you?" After a few more beats a single pokémon stepped forward – the same Hakamo-o Leo had danced with. And she began to speak.

"I have seen the strength of your team, Young Chief," Lucario translated, though Hakamo-o was looking directly at Leo, not any of the others. "And seen the courage you hold. But that is not why I would wish to join you in your journey. This is not a reward for defeating one who needed to be beaten. We are the Guardians, preparing for when darkness tries to take over the world; any strength and valor of arms you need, we will bring. No, I have seen your dance, and heard your song. It resonates with me, and I would join you to protect that, and bring it out into the world. And that is why I would wish to join,"

Leo nodded his head in acceptance, finding it strange to have someone translate for him. Usually he just made his best guesses. Though, honestly, he wanted the Hakamo-o to join his team ever since they fought each other in the canyon. He'd just thought his hopes were dashed when she didn't ask to afterwards.

"She'll want to fight one of your teammates in one-on-one combat. Such is tradition, before you catch her. Now is the time to choose, Legacy Bearer," Lucario continued, as Hakamo-o took a stance. Leo nodded and looked around the cavern, meeting the eyes of the dragons. The elder dragons still slept, but the rest all watched the proceedings closely. It was Diana who finally sealed the deal though, even if there was little doubt Leo was going to add the dragon to the team. She turned to face Hakamo-o and wiggled happily, bobbing up and down in excitement at the idea of making a new friend.

A new female friend, no less.

"Who wants to take this one?" Leo asked, glancing at his team. Spiritomb hissed in affirmation, Link nodded his head, Diana didn't seem to care, Zuko was sleeping off to the side, and Santiago just shrugged. "Alright…Link then. Spiritomb, you were poisoned earlier today. I want to make sure that's all out of your system…whatever counts as a system in a ghost, anyway, before you get into a fight again," Leo said, patting his pocket and mollifying his resident ghost. Link bowed to Leo and leapt off Santiago's crown, approaching Hakamo-o with a leaf-blade ready.

Hakamo-o took a stance and bared her fangs, the two staring each other down before some unseen signal started the fight.

It immediately became apparent that both were tired, Link from fighting earlier and Hakamo-o from running across the island all day, but Link had the edge. Hakamo-o charged in headfirst, claws bared, and he simply darted between her legs, slashing at them with his leaf blade. He whirled and tossed out a series of magical leaves, the glowing leaves scratching the outside of her scales, then casually waited for her to whirl and charge again. This time he parried her first blow with his leaf blade, sidestepping when she tried to stomp on him and slashing her chest with his blade.

Then he punched her in the leg, green light flowing from her to him as he sapped her strength. Hakamo-o roared, but was cut off when Link spun once, pink petals rising from his skirt and driving into her, sending her stumbling back. She roared and sucked in a deep breath, unleashing a torrent of dragon fire at Link, who leapt into the flames with a slash of his leaf blade. The short burst of purple fire was split in two, leaving Link singed but not burned. He darted forward and met Hakamo-o's next dragon claw, only for her to spin and slam her tail into him, sending him flying.

Link flipped midair, summoning another petal dance to protect against Hakamo-o's follow up dragon breath, and threw a few leech seeds at her. The tiny seed sprouted vines that wrapped around Hakamo-o's body the moment they touched her, prompting a snarl and for her to start stomping her feet and roaring to the skies. Link shot another barrage of magical leaves, then looked at Leo pointedly, making a motion like he was dancing.

Leo took a deep breath and stepped forward, peeling himself away from the overly-clingy Diana, understanding what Link was wanting. They'd been practicing the z-move dance a bit since they first got it started in the trial, but had never had much success in it. He felt like this would be the time. He and Link moved at the same time, taking a few dancing steps.

Hakamo-o's eyes widened as she glanced between Link and Leo, charging forward in a desperate attempt to stop the z-move, but it was too late. Leo planted his feet and thrust his hands skyward, as if miming a sprouting tree, while Link thrust his leaf blade skyward. Something within Leo stirred, flowing forward until it connected with Link, the green light of his leaf blade intensifying tenfold, burning like the sun in this cavern. Link let the blade fall, the tip hitting Hakamo-o in the head and exploding in flash of brilliant light.

Diana slammed her face into Leo from behind, determined to not be ignored, and he stumbled forward, keeping his eyes on the battle while gently pushing her away. When the light faded, plants grew. The vines from the hole in the ceiling had sprouted flowers, the thick green plants reaching down and touching the ground, where they spread across the cavern floor. Grass surrounded Link, and Hakamo-o tore her shaking legs out of a cage of thick grass that had grown over her. She was breathing heavy, but so was Link. That move took a lot out of him.

"Finish this, Link," Leo said. The little grass type nodded and closed his eyes, levelling his leaf blade and closing his eyes. Wisps of pink-silver light surrounded the glowing green blade, and Hakamo-o roared as she charged. Link raised his sword one last time, ducked under her swinging claws, and drove the sword into her stomach. She whuffed out a breath and fell face-first onto the ground, breathing heavy. Leo had been working Link on learning moonblast, but it was slow going. He already had some practice in it before, thanks to his training with Layla, but as far as they'd gotten was just those small wisps of light. Still, it was a start, and effective in its simplicity.

Link bowed to the fallen Hakamo-o as Leo tossed a pokeball, which sucked up the unconscious dragon, wiggling a few times before falling still.

Leo walked down to the pokeball and picked it up, staring at it quietly before turning to the Kommo-o and bowing.

"Thank you for the opportunity, and for the honor of watching the funeral," he said. The Totem Kommo-o approached with great, thundering steps, standing before Leo once more and eyeing him. He didn't need a translator to understand what he was trying to say. "I will take care of her," he promised, and the Totem pokémon nodded, then roared, a roar that was joined in by all the dragons present save the elders. It echoed around the cavern to the point where Leo thought his ears might burst, but he resisted the urge to cover them.

That done, the Totem pokémon turned and walked away, the Kommo-o line of pokémon exited the chamber via the tunnels, and the Dragonite line flying out of the hole above, chased by the still-echoing roar.

And thus ended the Funeral of Dragons.

Giovanni sat in his office in Viridian, sipping a fine wine and reading the newest reports his people had of Lance's movements. The new champion was poking around the Silver Mountains for some reason, and he had yet to figure out why. There were plenty of theories, but no concrete answers. And Giovanni hated guessing. They'd probably need to investigate.

"Sir, some bad news," his subordinate, Archer, said, entering the room with a clipboard in hand. Giovanni raised his head and raised an eyebrow, motioning for him to continue. "Our latest batch of pokémon will not be arriving. The ship wrecked, and the captain and crew caught,"

"Who was it?" Giovanni asked with a frown.

"Boone Enterprises, sir," Archer replied. "He was sailing through the Alola region when the local Tapu caught wind of him and destroyed his ship. Most of the stock is gone, and now Aether is moving into clean up the mess,"

Giovanni sighed and shook his head, taking another sip of his wine and petting the head of his Persian. The great cat purred as it sat beneath his desk, letting the man's fingers caress his ears. This was why he kept his people's activities outside of Alola. In fact, any acquisitions expert, like Boone, worth their salt would steer clear of the islands save for brief tours. The pokémon there were tight nit, and if you angered the wrong pokémon they were liable to all come crashing down on you.

Not to mention the trainers. They didn't produce as strong or as many strong trainers as Indigo – few Regions could claim they did – but a strong trainer could be anyone in Alola. He remembered his mother taking him to the islands on a vacation for a few months when he was a boy, and when he went to get his hair cut, the hair dresser turned out to be an Elite level trainer who got tired of the life and opened up their own salon. No, Alola was dangerous, and for different reasons than other regions.

"We knew about this before, didn't we? He radioed for help if I recall," Giovanni said.

"Yes. Petrel sent out a recovery team, though I just told him to bring them back," Archer replied. Giovanni nodded. Good.

"Then why are you here," he demanded. There were plenty of other things to occupy his time than this. Namely, in this case, relaxation. Things had been…stressful, lately, with the Oaks snooping about his business and the new Champion being the royal pain he was. Stupid Wataru's and their superiority complexes. Already Lance was rerouting funds from the Kanto Gym Circuit to put into funding for a planned Safari Zone in Johto, not caring that the Safari Zone in Kanto was one of the biggest tourist attractions in the region. It would take away valuable revenue from Kanto, which was already struggling with a poor economy. Giovanni couldn't help the scowl that threatened to take over his face. Fool. Kanto prided itself on its strength of arms, it was one of the few things it could. Taking that away would only incense the region.

"Because I thought you might like to see this," Archer said, procuring a small, pad-like screen, not unlike the pokedex Oak had released. "It's a video about the incident. Apparently a single kid put down the entire team of poachers, not that hard to believe because they weren't the best battlers, not like Hunter J, but what happened next is interesting,"

Archer put the pad down in front of Giovanni, revealing a video pulled up on the pad. With a single tap of the screen the video started to play, showing a young boy talking to the Kommo-o of Alola, then singing alongside them. Giovanni's eyebrows rose as he recognized the child, the grainy video zooming in on him. That was Leo Angelico, the Oak's pet project.

"Where did you get this?" he demanded. Their contacts in Alola focused mainly on Aether, and the genetic research going on within. He had little to no knowledge of the region's inner workings, especially without the World League being present there.

"It's from a video service that's based in Unova called YouTube. Popped up a year or two ago, and has been spreading like wildfire. Johto's been rebuffing their efforts to extend their services over to Indigo, but we can still get some access, with the right channels. Apparently an Aether agent on scene recorded this and uploaded it to there, which is completely unprofessional, but good for us – there's even a second video where the kid is dancing with a Lucario and a Hakamo-o," Archer explained with a grin. Giovanni frowned and considered the situation. "What do you think, want to go after him? Try and pull him into the fold again? Or do we take him out for messing with Team Rocket? Make an example?"

"You are not to touch him," Giovanni decided firmly. It was important to know what enemies to make, and what enemies to make friends of. Leo was, potentially, part of the latter group. Just like that psychic in Saffron. "It appears I was correct in my assumption of him. He is a Child of Viridian – one who can understand and speak to pokémon on a primal level,"

"You mean like Lance," Archer said, and Giovanni nodded.

"If any of our men go after him or his pokémon, I will personally take care of them. And, if he happens to dig deep enough to find that contact in Aether – Faba, was it? – then we will cut ties with him," Giovanni said decisively. Archer's eyebrows rose.

"That bad, huh?" he asked. Giovanni nodded.

"Yes. If his blood runs deeper than just being a Child of Viridian, he is not an enemy to make," he said. "Lance alone is bad enough as it is, let alone the whole of the Wataru clan. As we are now, we cannot win in a direct confrontation with the new league, we don't need to swell their numbers. Not when the Origin Project is so far from completion," Archer nodded and picked up his pad, turning and walking away with the promise of letting the men know. Giovanni ignored him for the most part, allowing his mind to drift back into nothingness, emptying it of the troubles that had been ailing him.

His mother had built Team Rocket, and she had designed a hammer thinking it a scalpel. A scalpel she had intended to use to cut Kanto free of Indigo, and Johto's economic influence. When Giovanni inherited it, he'd mostly kept the team quiet. Hammers were not always the answer, and that left him to become the scalpel. He had to know when and where to make cuts. But the time of the hammer was coming, unfortunately. Lance was leaving him no choice.

Still, it was a shame about Boone. There were some fine pokémon arriving in that shipment, if he recalled. And if his team was to be a hammer, they deserved more than Rattatta and Zubat.

Chapter Text

Leo calmly watched as Sunny, his newly named Mienfoo, did a running leap, foot outstretched as she hurtled towards him. With a simple sidestep he dodged, causing her to go crashing into the ground behind him in a heap of tan and pink fur. She whined and looked up at him pleadingly from where she lay on the grass, causing him to shake his head and sigh.

"I told you that, as cool as it looks, running jumps like that are impractical as all get out. It's far too easy to dodge or block," he lectured. "Now come at me again, slowly," She pouted and pulled herself upright, slipping into the stance he had shown her and moving aggressively towards him, much slower this time. He matched her movements, blocking her slow kick with his shin and frowning a little. Teaching her how he fought was a little weird, considering their size differences, but when she evolved she'd grow in size. As it was now, she did need practice fighting opponents larger than her, but it seemed a little off…

"Xena, would you come over here? I think it's time for Sunny to spar a bit," Leo called, glancing at where his two pseudo-legendaries were playing.

Xena looked over from where she was pushing against Diana, the Hakamo-o having designated Diana as her official sparring-partner-slash-dumbbell in the two days since they'd been back at Aether Paradise, and grunted in acknowledgement. The last time Leo had checked on them the two had been enjoying the sun, Leo having taken his team to the top of the man-made island for some sunlight and relaxation, but apparently that had devolved into a lighthearted wrestling match.

Sunny – whom Leo had named after Sun Wukong, though Sunny was a nickname that fit her better than just Sun – readied herself with a sharp cry, clearly happy to be moving on from the repetitive movements Leo had her practicing.

Leo could show her the moves, but she would have to figure them out in battle via sparring due to their size differences. Xena didn't mind being the main sparring partner either, so far at least, though Diana and Santiago occasionally chipped in. Link made it pretty clear he didn't care to spar with her, but Leo figured he'd come around eventually. And if he didn't that was fine too.

They'd only been at this for a little while, after all, so they were still figuring things out.

"Sunny, I want you to practice movements first against Xena. We can practice strikes later," Leo said. Much like Diana had been, she was an absolute blank slate when it came to martial arts. Sunny knew how to hit things and hit them hard, but that was it. Fighting types relied heavily on technique and skill to properly apply their immense strength, and while Sunny was clearly capable of hitting things, she still lacked the skill. Hopefully that was something Leo could help her with, though.

He watched as Sunny launched herself at Xena, completely forgetting everything Leo just tried to teach her, and was promptly smacked aside with a casual swipe of the claws. She snorted and looked at Leo with a raised eyebrow, unimpressed, as Sunny picked herself back up none the worse for wear. Leo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd been hoping that Sunny would pick things up quicker because she was a fighting type, but maybe that was a naïve way of thinking.

"Leo," Santiago said, not moving from where he lay in the green grass. He lay right next to the concrete path that led towards Lusamine's mansion – the house she stayed in while she was at the Aether Paradise. It was big, painted stark white, and absolutely blinding, like much of the artificial island. All around it were green grassy fields, giving a splash of color to the otherwise dull island, where various employees and their pokémon relaxed and played in the sun.

With a final reminder for Sunny to take it easy, because they weren't in a training area and he didn't want to tear up the grass, Leo turned to Santiago.

"What's up, bud?" he asked, catching sight of Zuko and Link as they played with the Rockruff pups, not too far away. Link was dancing around them like a bull fighter, tossing leaves in their faces to blind them as the pups charged and laughing as he spun away, all while Zuko ran circles around the group. Every time one of the curious pups started to wander too far away he'd tackle them, roughhouse a bit, and toss them back to Link. It was adorable to watch.

"I was expecting Lusamine to send the Rockruff to her mansion on Melemele, not send them here," Leo commented, recalling that she had a mansion on the other island as well. One for work, one for leisure and so her kids could go to school, as she had said. "When we leave Aether Paradise I might ask her if they can stay at the other mansion, though. I would hate to have to come all the way back here every time we needed to see them,"

"Leo," Santiago repeated.

"But I guess, once we get some transport, that won't be an issue," he continued, rubbing his chin.

"Leo," Santiago said again, exasperation creeping into his voice.

. "Oh, right, have you thought about if you want a TM or not? I might be able to find you one for teleport, if you think that'll work. They're rare, and only made in Kanto, but with the money we earned so far with the sponsorship and the bounty on Boone I might be able to afford one," Leo asked. And hadn't that been a surprise. Apparently Boone was wanted in multiple regions for pokémon smuggling, and had a reward for his capture posted by InterPol. It wasn't much, but it was enough that Leo could think about buying some training stuff to up his team's versatility. In particular he was looking at thunderpunch for Zuko, and maybe something for Link. Zuko was coming along with his flamethrower technique – it wasn't perfected yet, but it was much better than before – and as a celebration for getting it down Leo wanted to gift him thunderpunch.

"Maybe. Now focus, and look," Santiago said, shaking his head and pointing down the walkway, towards where the elevator reached the top level. A youngish woman followed by a man carrying a heavy-looking box was quickly approaching, her heels clicking against the concrete path as she approached. Though he couldn't see her eyes beneath her sunglasses, he got the distinct feeling she was looking at him.

Leo raised an eyebrow and waited patiently, glancing down at Santiago, who had gone back to napping completely unconcerned. His crown sported a number of new chips and scratches in the coral that he hadn't noticed before, giving him a much more…battle-scarred look. It was a good look for him.

Shaking that random thought from his head, Leo looked back at the woman, who waved at him. He waved back and she finally came to a stop in front of him, the man with the box looking at her a little nervously.

"Are you Leo Angelico?" she asked.

"Yes," Leo said suspiciously. "Can I help you?"

"My name is Mona, a reporter with the Alolan News Network, and I was wondering if you had time for an interview?" she asked, smiling brilliantly and brushing a strand of brown hair behind her ear. Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Is this about the poachers?" he asked.

"More or less," she said, taking off her sunglasses and squinting in the harsh sunlight, then promptly putting them back on.

"Sure, I don't see why not. You'd probably get more out of Miss Lusamine than me though, she probably understands the situation better," he admitted. Though he had made a point to ask questions to try and understand the situation as best he could, there was, of course, going to be gaps in understanding. It was something he wanted to fix, but there was a lot to learn and wading through political jargon wasn't his strongest skill. Flowery language was fine and all, but not when the only one who understood what was being said was the one who wrote it.

"We just got out of an interview with President Lusamine," Mona said, motioning for the man behind her to open the box. Leo blinked in surprise when he unlatched it and revealed a video camera, like what one would see in the movies for live, on-the-scene reporters. "And I would like to hear your unique perspective on the events that transpired,"

"Oh," Leo said, frowning. Why hadn't Lusamine told him about that? Was there something he wasn't supposed to say, or was she just being overprotective again? Well, it wasn't like he explicitly wanted an interview – the one he had after his third gym battle was bad enough – but still… "Ok then,"

"Right, let's move over here a little," she said, walking around Leo so the sun wasn't glaring right in their faces, or in the camera's lens. "Turn to face me, and…perfect. This won't take long, I promise," she said, and made a motion to the cameraman, who flicked a switch. Leo paid that no mind, his attention turning towards his team. How long they would last, he didn't know.

"Good," Leo said, glancing at Diana, who was now joining in with Xena and Sunny's spar. More like she was acting like a punching bag, allowing Sunny to jump and hit her shell and bounce off…waitaminute. Leo squinted at her. She was wiggling the moment Sunny would hit, and redirecting the force of the blow so it did even less damage than it would have normally. Huh. "She seems fine right now, but I don't know how long Diana's attention will hold if I'm not there to distract her. She might see a cloud that looks particularly fluffy and poof! Go shooting up into the sky,"

"Diana…that's your Pupitar, right? She can fly?" Mona asked incredulously.

"Well, not really. It's more like falling in style. Pupitar move around by expelling vast amounts of pressurize air from the ports on the side of their shell – you can see where they are on Diana, right along here," Leo said, running his hands along his sides, up the ribcage, and then gesturing to the base of her shell. "With enough power anything can move, and Diana's discovered that if she sucks in a deep breath and then expels it all at once, it'll shoot her into the air. I have to watch her quite a bit because her attention span has shortened ever since she evolved. One second she'll be fine and the next she'll be rocketing off to go investigate the newest shiny thing that caught her eye,"

"That sounds terrifying, a few-hundred pound rock monster blasting off at high speeds. How do you keep her in control?" Mona asked. Leo snorted in amusement.

"Terrifying? Nah, she's just curious. Honestly I think that half of her 'tackles' are her wanting to give the opposing pokémon a hug. At Mach two," Leo said, chuckling to himself. "She'd never intentionally hurt someone, and she's actually very careful. I've never seen her go full speed in a crowded area,"

"How do you even train a pokémon like that, though?" she continued.

"Like I'm going to tell you that. You show me a Larvitar you've caught yourself, and I'll gladly give you any tips you want – off-record, of course. But, like all pseudo-legendary pokémon, you have to earn your capture first. You'll understand what that means if you ever see one caught in the wild," Leo said dismissively.

"Well, I had to try. Tips about training and catching pseudo legendary pokémon are hard to come by," she said teasingly, and Leo shrugged. He wasn't going to give anyone any more ideas than necessary, there was a reason that information wasn't well-known. "Speaking of pseudo-legendaries, I think I see a Hakamo-o over there. Seems you impressed the Kommo-o enough that they allowed you to take one of their progeny with you,"

"Sure, let's go with that," Leo said with a bark of laughter. "Xena joined me because she wanted to, not because of the Kommo-o. And it wasn't just because of the poachers, mind you, though beating Boone and bringing him to justice certainly did help,"

"I did hear that right after you beat the poachers that the Kommo-o led you away. After seeing you sing to the dragons and calm them down, I think we're all wondering what happened next," she said.

"Ok, first off, I didn't calm them down by singing to them. Kommo-o are noble creatures, they wouldn't debase themselves by slaughtering an already beaten opponent. Secondly, I'm not going to answer that," Leo said, thinking back to the funeral of dragons. When Mona asked why not, he continued. "Because, sometimes, when you see something really special, you have to just let it be. That's what makes it sacred – no video or retelling can do what I saw justice," he said, shaking his head.

Mona nodded, and Leo almost did a double take when he noticed the microphone she was now holding. When did she pull that out?

"Right, do you want to start the interview now? I got a little sidetracked there," he said with a chuckle. Mona glanced at the camera, and realization slowly dawned on Leo. She'd been recording this whole time, hadn't she? "Ah, I see. That's what you meant by 'we're all wondering,'" he said.

"Sorry, we started the camera and you got into talking about your Pupitar, but it was so interesting that I didn't want to stop you," Mona said sheepishly. Leo waved it off.

"It's ok. Though, I do have a question. How did you know about the dragon's song? Did Lusamine tell you about that, or…?" Leo asked.

"Oh, you don't know? One of the Aether Employees recorded your song and dance with the Hakamo-o and Lucario and posted it on YouTube. It was a serious breach of etiquette, but in the two days since it's been up, it's exploded all across the platform," Mona explained, and Leo stilled.

"YouTube?" he asked, frowning at her. No, there was no way. YouTube didn't exist in this world, unless.. "That's…uh," he stammered.

"Oh, right, you're from Indigo. They don't have YouTube there, do they? It's a new app for internet devices where people can upload videos; it's been surging in popularity ever since it popped up in Unova a year or two ago. Your video's one of the more popular videos on the site now, right after the Purrloin kitten and Lillipup puppies videos," Mona explained. Leo was silent for a long moment, forcing a smile onto his face that he was sure was strained, and wrestling with his emotions.

It was a good thing Jack was alive, because when they met, he was going to kill him. That copycat bastard.

"I see. That's unfortunate," Leo said. Mona, noticing his tension, cleared her throat and placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry, a little fame isn't a bad thing. Now give me just a second, I need to do introductions. We'll be editing the video later, to make it fit and flow right," she said, launching into a short introduction before asking Leo her next question. The beginning was pretty simple stuff, she asked him to explain what all went down, how his team handled the situation, what his plans were next – train, travel the islands, and hopefully help with Aether's efforts at recovering the poached pokémon from Poni Island, if Lusamine would let him (not a guarantee, which annoyed Leo) – and things like that.

Honestly, it was almost tedious, answering those questions. They seemed…rote, almost.

"Now, moving away from the topic of your recent accomplishments, I'd like to talk to you about your past accomplishments. Your team is quite astounding, to be frank. A Slowking who can talk, whose rarity is only matched by their intelligence; a Pupitar, king of the underground; a Hakamo-o, the noblest of the dragons; a ghost no one has ever seen before; a Quilava, the traditional starter of Johto; a Mienfoo, famous for their skill and tenacity in a fight; and a Bellossom, who seems to be the most normal addition to your team," Mona said. Leo snorted.

Link, being normal. Yeah right. He was probably one of the more terrifying members of his team, right behind Spiritomb simply because, well, he was a ghost.

"My question is, how did someone so young get access to so many rare and powerful pokémon?" she asked.

"Luck and persistence," Leo said honestly. "Finding rare pokémon and training them is a matter of being lucky enough to stumble across them, and persistent enough to pursue them. I've been lucky enough that my team meshes well together, and persistent enough in our training that, when the time comes to add a powerful new member, we can,"

"Sounds uncertain," Mona said.

"It is. I can't say I expected to get any of the members I have now at the start of my journey, save Santiago and Diana. Santiago because I hand raised him, and Diana because that was priority number one when I started my journey. Catch a Larvitar," Leo replied.

"I see. Well, thank you for the insight," Mona said, checking her watch and glancing towards the elevator. "That just about wraps up what I had for you. We covered Boone, the situation in Kanto…oh! I suppose there are two more things I'd like to ask of you," she said.

"Shoot,"

"What are your thoughts toward Lance revoking any and all Youngster Licenses, making any and all badges earned under said training license null and void?" Mona asked.

"I was warned that might be a possibility," Leo allowed, chewing his lip a little. "And, honestly? Badges are just little pieces of metal. I still have mine, and what they represent to me and my team means more than what they do to the League. I just hope they're ready for me when I'm of age, because I won't be pulling my punches and neither will my team. Besides, they already filled out my travel papers, letting me go between regions. That's a Pokemon World League thing now, not just Indigo. They can't revoke it…right?"

Mona agreed with him and said a few more things to the camera, making a nice little segue into her next question.

"And, before we go, I think we all would like to hear the dragon song again," Mona said playfully. Leo blinked at her.

"No," he said firmly.

"It doesn't have to be the dragon song. There's also the grass song and dance that you perform – there have been a few more videos of you doing that popping up here in Alola. You spent the majority of your first two months here in the wilds of Melemele, right? Some travelers saw you and recorded you then, too," Mona pleaded. Leo frowned. That had happened right after his third gym battle too, hadn't it? Apparently he wasn't as observant as he thought he was, if so many people could record him without his knowledge.

Leo almost denied her, but it was at this point that Xena decided to make her presence known. The dragon sidled up to Leo and huffed, jabbing him with one claw. He yelped and whirled at her, glaring.

"What? Aren't you supposed to be watching Diana?" he demanded, rubbing his side ruefully. That had hurt. Xena snorted and glanced at the camera, then at Diana, who was lying on her back staring at the clouds, then back at Leo. She grumbled something, and Santiago snorted in amusement.

"She said don't argue and sing your song," he said. Leo blinked.

"What? Why?" he asked incredulously. Xena gave him a look and gestured to the reporter, then back at him, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. He didn't necessarily need Santiago to translate what she meant there, and he felt his face heat up a bit. "I'm not trying to impress her," he hissed, hopefully low enough that neither Mona nor the camera could hear it.

"Mo," Xena said, looking towards Link for help. The little grass type had wandered over sometime during the interview, leaving Zuko to continue corralling the Rockruff on his own.

"Bell!" he cried, spinning and setting his leaf kilt/skirt thing to ringing. Leo felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. No, he wasn't going to sing for TV. That was…just no. He was still coming to terms with having the dragon song posted on YouTube – which he hadn't even known had existed until this point!

Xena stomped her feet, setting her scales to clanging in time to the tune set by Link, and Diana thrummed her air vents happily, recognizing the tune as well. Leo groaned as Santiago stood, an insufferable smirk on his face as he watched the proceedings, Sunny running in and joining Link's dance without a second thought.

"No, I'm not doing it," Leo huffed, crossing his arms. It was then that Spiritomb decided to join in, shadows sneaking out of his pocket and wrapping themselves around Leo's arms and legs, gently leading him into a dance. At first Leo resisted, but the gentle insistence of Spiritomb eventually won out, and he let himself be led into a dance by his team. He grit his teeth. "I hate all of you," he said without any real heat to it.

"Just a small town girl,

Living in a lonely world," Santiago started, singing low and slow. He wasn't bad, all things considered, but he wasn't quite used to singing yet either. Leo groaned despite that, rolling his eyes at the song choice. He'd sung that song to his team once while hiking through the jungle, most likely butchering the words because he wasn't sure he remembered it all, but of all the songs they chose, this is the one? Don't Stop Believing?

Well, fine then. If that's how they want to play it, fine. Leo thought to himself, taking control of his own movements from Spiritomb.

"She took the midnight train going anywhere.

Just a city boy,

Born and raised in South Detroit,

He took the midnight train going anywhere," Leo belted out, ignoring the embarrassment he felt at doing this with the trained experience of someone who had worked in the service industry for a long time.

Xena snorted and tossed her head, squaring her shoulders and stomping her feet, then looking pointedly at Leo as if telling him to do the same. He just laughed at her and continued singing.

"A singer in a smokey room,

The smell of wine and cheap perfume,

For a smile you can share the night,

It goes on and on and on and on,

Strangers, waiting, up and down the boulevard,"

And from there, things only devolved. The Rockruff broke free from Zuko's corralling, after a few more lines that Leo probably butchered – even if he was trying for the chorus at that point, and made a mad dash to Leo, having been attracted by all the noise and movement. This prompted Diana into action, as she had been waiting patiently all this time to blast forward and brake hard just before crashing into the group, coming face-to-face with Leo and all but falling on him in what could only be described as a hug. He dodged out of the way of her, not wanting to be squished, and landed in Xena's arms, who lifted him into the air and growled something at Diana, who simply wiggled happily on her face and forced herself back upright, squinting her eyes at the odd sight of Xena holding Leo up in the air like a child.

Spiritomb didn't like this one bit and screeched, shadows sneaking out and slapping Xena's hands away, dropping Leo to the ground and right into the pile of Rockruff at Xena's feet. Now swarmed by puppies Leo had no choice by to fall over and disappear under the swarm of brown fur, Zuko and Link joining in because why not, and thus ending any chance of further interview. Judging by Mona's laughter, which Leo could barely hear over the excited yips of the Rockruff and the bellowing laughter of Santiago, she didn't mind, either.

Suddenly realizing this might be his last chance to say something to Jack, and only praying his friend might be able to watch this interview, he shouted the first thing that came to mind.

"You've lost that lovin' feelin'!"

What it meant to the two friends, only they knew. But, if Jack did somehow watch this part of the interview, there would be no doubt in his mind that it was Leo here. Because he did look much younger than the last time they'd seen each other – and besides, that one little line was sure to piss him off more than almost anything else. Leo could only pray he heard it.

Far away in the Unova region, a young boy sat watching an interview of his best friend, nodding along to what was being said. There was little doubt now that this was Leo; before he wasn't so sure. He didn't want to get his hopes up, because it'd been a long time since they'd seen each other and obviously they'd both changed, but seeing him dancing with his pokémon and belting out the tune of Don't Stop Believing had him convinced. He'd always liked singing, but regressing in age had done wonders for his previous tone-deaf self. Now he wasn't half bad.

"Good for you, Leo," Jack said, nodding to himself and taking a sip of his drink. Most of the time interviews like this – especially from Alola – didn't play in Unova, but being rich had its perks. He had access to more…global sources of news than most. Still, as he watched his friend, he decided that he now had some good blackmail for him. That was wholly embarrassing, to watch him do that. His singing wasn't bad, but…still. It was just kind of silly and stupid.

Jack scratched the ears of the Purrloin that sat on his lap absently. Still, he wouldn't contact him. Not for a while yet, they needed to grow a bit more and he had some things in the works that required his full attention. A letter or something probably wouldn't hurt, but…

Jack paused the interview and frowned, rewinding it a bit as his ears caught something being shouted in the background, while the reporter was finishing her closing statements and Leo was being mobbed by what looked like puppies. He wasn't sure the species of pokémon.

"Aaaand, play," he muttered to himself, listening closely.

"YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN'!" Leo shouted, the reporter laughing slightly at his antics and continuing on. Jack felt a vein throb in his forehead.

"THAT BASTARD! I TOLD HIM TO NEVER MENTION THAT AGAIN!" he shouted at the screen, startling his Purrloin and causing it to leap from his lap, scrabbling across the room. He leapt from his chair and paced angrily, completely forgetting about any thoughts of not contacting Leo fleeing his mind in favor of finding a way to get back at him. There was no mistaking that memory – in fact, even as he stood there he was having flashbacks of drunkenly belting out the tune to You've Lost that Loving Feeling to – no! He wouldn't fall for that! That memory was buried deep for a reason!

"Oh I'm so going to kill him, where's my – I need paper, an envelope, and my computer!" he shouted at no one, marching off through the relatively empty halls of his house in search of the items he needed. If Leo wanted to start a war by bringing up terrible friendship memories, then so be it. Jack would give him a war.

Two weeks passed by in the blink of an eye. Lusamine had been annoyed that the news station had interviewed Leo at first, but eventually let it slide because it wasn't that big of a deal. She hadn't wanted them to interview him in the first place, apparently, but that wasn't her call to make and seemed to accept that. Surprisingly.

Besides, it was hard to admit that the interview itself wasn't fun to watch. Leo personally thought his voice sounded weird, and until he saw himself on TV hadn't noticed how scruffy looking he'd gotten with his ever-growing hair (that he hadn't cut in years for some reason). At least the part where he was talking about his team was interesting, and seeing how goofy he looked dancing with all his pokémon, and Santiago's singing, had gotten a good chuckle out of him. Those were far and above the best parts, as the rest of the questions just seemed to have rote responses from him.

Plus, it was cut down to only a few minutes, removing some of the less interesting parts. Though he was glad to hear that his little shout-out to Jack made the cut.

But other than that, the rest of his time at the Aether Paradise was uneventful. Lusamine kept him pretty much on lockdown, which he allowed for all of two more days. After that, he battled with everyone he could, trained his team and spent time with the Rockruff pups, and soon found himself to be incredibly bored. Even Holly, the one who took him to Poni in the first place he grew tired of. But maybe that was because she was off recovering pokémon from Boone's shipwreck most the time, and he was stuck in the base.

He'd even taken to calling the Professor and Victoria when he was bored, the former happily indulging some of Leo's more scientific-related questions and the latter annoyed at Leo's pestering of her – despite her being initially overjoyed that Leo, and he quotes, "nabbed his first bad guy." Though, as a side note, Professor Oak did show interest in letting Gary have one of the Rockruff pups once they were grown a little bit more. They weren't as dangerous as the Growlithe line could be, because there was no fire for eleven-year-old pyromaniacs to abuse, but were just as loyal, which was always a bonus. But, that was beside the point.

The point was, Leo was bored and his team was bored. And that was a bad combination, even considering that Santiago and Zuko both got new TM moves to learn.

All of this came to a head in week two of Leo's confinement at Aether, approximately ten days after the interview. It was longer than he thought he'd last, actually.

"Get out!" the chief medical advisor said, slamming the door closed behind Leo as he forced him out. Leo frowned and stuck his hands in his pockets, admitting to himself that, yeah, maybe he'd been hovering a bit and bugging all the nurses – not to mention poking and prodding at all the different pokémon recovering – and that they were right to kick him out. There was only so much he could do in this place.

"I need to get out of here," he said, scratching his chin. Spiritomb hissed in agreement, the ghost having grown increasingly restless of late. Leo'd been curbing most of his tendencies by meditating with it and trying to combine the spirits, which had made just a little bit of headway, but Spiritomb still took to pranking Leo a lot. Hiding in his pack and bursting out whenever he opened it, freezing his hair when he got out of the shower…turning off the lights when he turned them on. That sort of thing. Harmless, but good to see that some of Froslass old mischievous nature was starting to shine through again.

With determined steps he walked down the halls of the Aether Paradise to his room, gathering up his team from where they all lounged about, enjoying a day of rest from training in the Paradise facilities, and promptly marched towards Lusamine's place of residence.

The mansion atop the island.

It was a short walk, all things considered, and the closer Leo got the more frustrated he became. He was tired of sitting around, he'd played Lusamine's game for a little bit and relaxed a bit, and now it was time to go. Hadn't he already proven himself capable of defending himself? That he was physically and mentally more capable than she gave him credit for?

It wasn't until he'd stepped through the massive main doors of the mansion that he broke himself out of his thoughts – and even that was mostly because of a blonde-haired blur that came hurtling around the corner at him the moment he stepped through the doors. She skidded to a stop on the marble floors, not even the slightest bit out of breath from the running she just did, her hair only mildly in disarray.

"Leo!" Lillie, Lusamine's daughter and the best friend of the protagonist in the Sun and Moon games, not to be confused with the rival, who was someone completely different, shouted at him. Instead of being a twelve year old girl, however, she was a mere six or seven years old. She still had the signature blindingly light blonde hair of the family, and wore a pure white dress, but her personality wasn't that of what Leo remembered. If he remembered right, the Lillie from the games was actually pretty shy and timid, not the ball of energy that was before him now.

"What's up, squirt?" he asked, grinning at the girl. Behind her Gladion, her brother and one of the main rivals of the games, walked down the large, gold-gilded set of stairs that led up to the second floor of the mansion.

"Can we play with the puppies again?!" she demanded, bouncing up and down on her heels. Leo scratched the back of his head and made a thoughtful face, putting all thoughts of confronting Lusamine in the back of his mind for now. Lillie needed to be dealt with first.

"Hmm, I don't know…" he said, trailing off. "The Rockruff were pretty tired after you played with them last time. I think you might wear them out," he teased. Lillie flushed a little, but it didn't dull her excitement as she looked up at him with big, hopeful eyes.

"Please?" she begged. Leo laughed and ruffled her hair, completely destroying her hairstyle and drawing a cry of protest from the young girl. She was so prim and proper that it was fun to draw out her young, playful side. Especially since she was at an age where she didn't seem to care about being clean, she only did so because her mother told her to.

"I have to talk to your mom about a few things first, and then we'll see," he allowed, glancing at Gladion. "Any luck on convincing her to let you take care of a Rockruff yet?" he asked.

"No," Gladion said, frowning. "She's been pretty distracted lately, not like that's a new thing," he said, a little bitterly.

"Hey, she's got a lot on her plate," Leo said with a shrug, knowing full well that wasn't comforting to the almost twelve-year-old boy. It was true though. Lusamine was a single mother – having lost her husband a few years back – and the CEO of a large corporation. Dealing with all of that had to be tough, and while Leo understood how that kind of pressure might warp her personality a bit he didn't feel very sympathetic to it either. Maybe that was because he was a little worked up right now though.

"I know that," Gladion scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Are you sure we can't play with them while you're talking to Mom? We'll be extra good, I promise. Gladion will be there to watch me!" Lillie begged, and Leo hesitated. The Rockruff were kept in a kennel in the mansion itself, with access to a running pen just outside the building proper. This wasn't the first time Lusamine had hosted a bunch of young pokémon, apparently, and her house was built with that in mind.

Thus, Leo had taken to letting Lillie and Gladion play with the Rockruff while he was there, especially since they had needed a bit of training and socializing to get them used to people. That immediately made Leo the coolest person ever to Lillie – because puppies – and Gladion – though he thought Leo was cool mostly because of his team.

And, so far, they had been pretty good. And the puppies were well-behaved as well, especially with Leo or one of the other team members around.

"Ok, but take Santiago with you," Leo said, letting said pokémon out of his pokeball. Santiago blinked and looked around, gaze settling on Lillie and Gladion, then flicking up to Leo questioningly. "They want to play with the Rockruff. Would you play babysitter?" he asked innocently. Santiago made a face.

"Don't be like that, if you the misbehave you have my permission to soak them," Leo scoffed, then paused. "Actually, you have my permission to soak them no matter what, just do it outside," Lillie cried out in protest, giggling all the while, while Gladion just crossed his arms. Leo raised an eyebrow at him, and made eye contact with Santiago. He was trying to 'play it cool.' There would be no such thing in Leo's presence, and now it was Santiago's job to break the boy's shell with a judicious use of a weak water gun.

"Now git, go play," Leo said, waving them off. Lillie cried out happily and grabbed Santiago's paw, dragging him outside with Gladion following and Santiago shooting Leo a dirty look. He didn't necessarily like either of them because they were loud, but he could deal with it. Leo didn't really care because, most importantly, he was picking a fight by doing this and he was feeling ornery.

Lusamine said they couldn't play with the Rockruff without supervision. Technically, Santiago counted as supervision. He just didn't know if she would see it that way.

Making his way through the opulent house, past brass lamps and fine wooden furniture, Leo finally came to a stop right outside of Lusamine's office. The large, intricately carved wooden double doors were absolutely meant to be intimidating – carved with the likeness of the sun and moon deities of Alola. Lunatone and Solrock danced beneath the carvings, and Leo admired it for a second – because truly, they were magnificently carved, and he could enjoy them no matter the situation. But it was time for a confrontation, and Leo pushed open the doors fully expecting to pick a fight with Lusamine until he got his way.

"Ah, Leo," she said, looking up from where she had been tapping away on her laptop and smiling. The smile was genuine, and pleasant, stretching across her face fully in a way that it had never before. She looked…relaxed, and Leo was immediately caught off guard. "I suppose you're here to ask about your team limit expansion?" she asked, and Leo took a moment to gather his thoughts, eyes flicking to the other occupant of the room, lounging in an armchair.

He calmly turned to look at Leo and smiled, the balding, blonde man rising from his chair.

"I'll take my leave then. Lusamine, Leo," he said, clipping a pokeball to his belt and pushing past Leo.

"Goodbye, Faba," Lusamine said, nodding to the man as he left the room. Leo watched him go down the hall, then returned his attention to Lusamine.

"Sorry, was I interrupting?" he asked, and Lusamine shook her head.

"Faba and I were just wrapping up. You were wondering about the team limit, correct?" she asked again. Wait, wasn't Faba one of the bad guys under Lusamine in the games? He didn't quite remember.

"Uh, yeah," he said, having completely forgotten about the team limit, actually. He'd applied for that about a week ago, hadn't he?

"Well good news! Your team limit has officially expanded to ten teammates, with room for three support pokémon – not that you have any yet. Please do note that support pokémon can count as uncaught pokémon, like Spiritomb, or pokémon who are in training to catch up to the rest of your team, like your Mienfoo, Sunny," she explained, and Leo blinked, entering the office fully and closing the door behind him.

"That was quick," he said, glancing around the room. There was a globe off in one corner, while bookshelves filled the walls to his left and right. Various pieces of paraphernalia filled the lower shelves, with books covering the upper portions, and a large chandelier hung from the ceiling. Behind Lusamine was a large window, which clearly displayed Lillie and Gladion running about with the Rockruff puppies hot on their heels. Santiago stood off to the side, watching them and looking perfectly ready to spray them all down with water.

"Yes, well, handling an Elite level crisis can expedite the process," she said. "Regardless of the fact that you had no control over whether or not the Kommo-o killed Boone or not, you are being attributed with handling the crisis. That alone awards you extra privileges,"

"Huh. Cool," he said, sitting down in the chair that Faba had just been occupying. "So," he started, and Lusamine rose from her seat.

"Regarding that, I have come to a decision. How do you feel about aiding in the conservation efforts on Poni?" she asked. "You've more than proven your skill and maturity. It would be a good opportunity," she said, and Leo paused.

That was…exactly what he wanted.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" he asked.

"I talked to Victoria this morning. We had a bit of a chat and she changed my mind," she admitted. Leo mentally thought to thank Victoria later, because that saved him a lot of trouble, but still remained suspicious. This was completely out of character for her. What in the world was going on here?

"What did she say?" he asked, and Lusamine just shook her head.

"It doesn't matter, really. The point of the matter is that she was right. You are better off not being stuck here," she said, shaking her head and clasping her hands behind her back as she started to pace. Leo narrowed his eyes, part of his mind screaming for him to not look a gift horse in the mouth, because this was exactly what he wanted, but the rest of his brain telling him that no, this was wrong, pay attention.

"I've actually given it a lot of thought, if you can believe it. The Aether Paradise is a good place to keep you safe, however it is not a place for you. So I came up with a compromise. I can't just let you wander around the islands, given what happened, but I can keep an eye on you by sticking you with a team of trainers. That way you get the adventure you want, while still keeping you relatively safe," she reasoned, and Leo frowned even harder. He understood fundamentally what she was saying, but also didn't agree with it.

"I came in here looking to pick a fight to get my way," Leo started, picking at the velvety arms of the chair he sat in, "and you're telling me that you've already thought about it?"

"Yes. Don't think medical hasn't told me about your pestering of them," she said amused. Her expression was a little stiff for Leo's liking, however. It was that same smile that said everything was ok, and that she was there to help – it wasn't an expression Leo had ever seen her make, even on her good days.

"Okay," he said slowly, letting Lusamine forge ahead as he wracked his brain for something that might give him a reason as to why Lusamine would suddenly want him to leave. He had been prepared to demand a battle from her in order to earn his freedom, and while this was a pleasant surprise, something about it seemed…off. But, for the life of him, nothing came to mind.

"Does that sound acceptable to you?" she asked, and Leo nodded.

"Sure, but I'm still not following why you're letting this happen. Just a few days ago you were bound and determined to keep me here until the end of time," Leo said. "You were quoting how I seemed to run into trouble all the time – which, by the way, running into poachers once does not qualify as all the time – how I was too young to go travelling on my own in the dangerous parts of the island, and how my team was still growing. So, again, why the sudden change of heart?" he all but demanded.

Lusamine frowned and seemed to think about it for a moment, allowing Leo time to catch sight of Santiago spraying Lillie and Gladion with water in the background. The Rockruff, surprisingly, seemed to think that was great fun, and were jumping up to bite at the gentle spray of water. Wait, on the mention of pokémon, where were Lusamine's pokémon? She always had her Clefable with her.

"Victoria started telling me stories about your time in the Silver Mountains," she began, and started rattling off reasons that he should be given more trust and responsibility. Leo, for the most part, ignored her prattling and glanced around the room, eventually spotting Clefable napping in a corner peacefully. "So does that answer your question?"

"Yeah," Leo said, turning back to her. "Hey, have you thought about my proposition to have Lillie and Gladion each raise one of the Rockruff I caught?" he asked, and Lusamine's expression immediately stiffened and morphed into a more strained smile. One of those fake smiles that a waiter would give you after asking for one too many things.

"I'll consider it. They're a little young, though," she said softly, and that settled it. There was something going on here. He looked back at her and narrowed his eyes, prior experience with her telling him that demanding answers here and now would only result in them butting heads – but that was why he came here, isn't it? To butt heads?

"Lusamine, what is going on," he demanded. She blinked and opened her mouth, but Leo slammed his hands on the table instead, cutting her off. "I told you to quit treating me like a child. Now, you have been actually very kind to me so far – a little overbearing, yes, but you've offered me a place to stay and train, a place to keep my pokémon and came to get me personally when I was in trouble. You even let me get TMs at a reduced rate to what they normally are, which is awesome even if I can't afford a lot. Now, these past few days I've been trying to be patient with you, only asking you once in a while about when I'd be allowed to leave, and not once have you ever acted like it would be even the slightest bit ok for me to leave the Aether Paradise.

"Now it's all fine and dandy and you're perfectly willing to let me leave? That's a load of Tauros dung. What. Is. Going. On," he demanded, and Lusamine frowned at him disapprovingly.

"I'm trying to be considerate, and this is your reaction? Maybe it's not a good idea after all," she said, and Leo scowled at her.

"Don't patronize me, woman. I am not a child," he spat.

"You are," she said firmly.

"You're not listening. I am a child physically, but when I fell through the wormhole it did more than just transfer me to another world. It literally regressed my physical age back multiple years, all while leaving my brain untouched. I am much older than I look," he said with such simple finality that Lusamine had to do a double take. She squinted at him and, for a brief moment, Leo saw her struggling with something in her mind.

Then a light returned to her eyes that Leo hadn't known she'd been missing, and she put a hand to her forehead.

"You must be joking with me," she said disbelievingly. "That's not possible,"

"I am not and it is. Call Professor Oak if you want to confirm, he figured it out himself. Actually, now that I think about it, you're the only one that I've ever actually told this," Leo said, shaking his head. "It's a bit hard to believe though, right? Now, why do you want me gone so bad now? I won't be insulted if you say it's because I smell funny," he joked, though it fell flat.

"I – I don't know," Lusamine said, shaking her head and sitting back in her chair. Leo frowned at her as she frowned, drumming her fingers on the table. "I…odd, I can't recall. Just this morning I was arguing with Victoria about why you shouldn't be allowed to leave. I calmed down a bit when Mismagius sung me her song, and I thought that maybe I'd give you the chance to prove yourself to me with a test or something, but never did I think that you were ready to go back out there. Not until I was sure there'd be no repercussions for your actions, no one trying to get back at you," she said, rubbing her forehead.

And the plot thickens. Leo thought to himself, listening as Lusamine went through her day, ticking events off on her fingers like she was trying to remember what her day even was. Simultaneously he was trying to remember everything he could about the games – he'd spent some time writing what he could remember down in these past few days due to boredom, so most of it was fresh, but seeing Faba and hearing that name was digging up some old memories. What was his role again? Didn't he have psychic pokémon…?

"Then I sent Mismagius with Wicke to go check on one of our outposts, because she doesn't have any combat pokémon, mind you; I met with Faba and we talked about – " here she paused, frowning a little and glancing at Leo. He motioned her to continue.

"Please. There's something wrong here, Lusamine," he said softly. "You weren't acting yourself earlier. What were you talking about?"

"We were talking about Ultra Wormholes, and the threat the beasts that come through can pose. He's convinced that we need to design and create a pokémon that can battle them, because what comes through can be anything and what pokémon we have on hand aren't sufficient. He's been pressing for this even before Mohn disappeared," she said.

"And what did you say?" Leo asked. That sounded a lot like Type:Null, one of his favorite Alolan Pokemon. It was like Mewtwo in that it was a genetically altered pokémon – albeit much less powerful – designed to fight Ultra Beasts.

"No, of course. We don't experiment with pokémon here, it's an inhumane practice. I don't know why he keeps bringing it up," she said dismissively, and Leo's eyebrows rose to meet his hairline. She said no? If he remembered right, Type: Null was Gladion's starter, and he stole that from a secret lab in the Aether Paradise. Considering that Gladion was nearing the age of being able to be a trainer, that meant that either Gladion didn't start training at twelve, or that Type: Null already existed.

"Then what?" Leo asked, and Lusamine started to talk, then paused.

"Strange, I don't quite recall. Clefable tried to get my attention, and Faba and I started discussing something…then you came in," she said, expression dulling. She shook her head violently, and Leo glanced at the sleeping Clefable.

"What pokémon does Faba have?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, a Claydoll, Bruxish, and Hypno. He's not a very skilled trainer, but they help him in his work, somehow," she replied, and everything started clicking into place for Leo. Brainwashing wasn't a thing, like in movies or TV shows, but it was possible to a degree. Hypno in particular could do it, given years of experience and practice on a single target – Leo was starting to suspect that Faba had been trying to hypnotize Lusamine into allowing him to start the Type: Null project officially. Or something along those lines – she said he'd been trying for years, and he was a bad guy in the games – like an Admin for one of the teams – but right now the evidence was damning. He'd heard that certain drugs could also aid in it, too.

Clefable was asleep, who Lusamine said had tried to get her attention, she was acting weird, and – well, Leo didn't want to believe it. But…

Leo frowned and looked out the window in thought, not wanting to jump to conclusions, but likewise not wanting to –

He froze upon seeing Faba holding hands with Lillie and Gladion in the small yard just outside the window, a Hypno to his right and Kadabra to his left, Santiago staring at the ocean instead of them and the Rockruffs in a pile, fast asleep; only to watch in mounting horror as they all vanished in a teleport.

Nevermind. Now was exactly the time to jump to conclusions. He had no idea what was about to happen, but everything about that situation was screaming out in alarm.

"Lusamine, where's your team?!" Leo demanded, jolting up from his seat and snapping Lusamine out of her revelry.

"What? Well, I only have Fluffy on me right now," she started, and Leo scowled, glancing at Clefable. He didn't know who Fluffy was, but it'd have to do.

"Recall Clefable and come with me, Faba just took your kids somewhere and we need to go," he hissed.

"Faba – what?!" she demanded, awareness flashing across her face. There's the overprotective mama bear. Leo noted, heading to the window and swinging part of it open. Thankfully there was a latch, and Leo held Santiago's pokeball outside, recalling him.

"I just watched him teleport away, he had a Kadabra and a Hypno with him – I can only assume he hypnotized Santiago. Where could he have gone?" he asked, ready to jump out the first-floor window to give him a leg up.

"That's a heavy accusation, Leo," Lusamine said, voice icy cold.

"I don't give a shit what it is, that's what I literally just saw. He even just had you hypnotized – if I'm wrong I'm wrong, but I'd rather overreact now than let something bad happen," he said bluntly. Lusamine stared at him, all traces of her previous expression gone, and she sighed.

"I remember him letting Hypno out, but my memories are fuzzy afterward," she said finally. Leo ignored her rationalization and let Santiago out of his pokeball, the Slowking appearing standing next to her desk, his eyes closed and snoring softly. Asleep while standing. Leo pointed to Santiago pointedly. "Fine. I know where he probably went – down to the research labs. He never leaves the island unless forced to," Lusamine said, recalling Clefable and forcibly pulling Leo back into the house.

"I will go –" she started, but Leo cut her off with a glare. They didn't have time to argue about this, because he was going, regardless of what she thought. "Fine. You can come too, but stay behind me. We will talk about what you said later, but for now, let's go find Faba. Either way we will learn the truth then," she said, rising from her chair in a smooth motion, closing the window, and marching out of the office. Leo followed close behind, fingers running over the pokeballs on his belt and feeling the keystone in his pocket.

He got the feeling that this would not be fun.

Chapter Text

Lusamine marched down the halls of Aether Paradise, all traces of her confusion gone as she snapped her fingers at the first two employees she came across. The badges on their chests made it clear they weren't just common mooks, being a little higher rank than the majority of employees, but that didn't matter to Lusamine as she started barking orders.

"You, go get me two awakenings. You, fetch me security. I need at least two with potential blackout capabilities – for interference in a teleport. Relay what I said specifically, and send them to control room alpha. Go!" she barked, sending the two scuttling off. "Leo, I need you to call Victoria when we get to the control room. There are cameras down in the research labs and we'll be able to get a decent idea of what's going on down there from them – I pray that you are wrong in your assumption of Faba," she said icily.

"Me too," Leo said honestly. "But Kanto is a long way away, do you think Victoria will be able to get here in time?"

"It'll take ten minutes for her to teleport here, assuming she can find a powerful enough teleporter to get all the way from Kanto to Alola. They have to make pit stops in order for the teleporter to lock on to the next location properly. Even if she cannot make it and we have to move without her, then at the very least she can send some of her team over to aid us. She does keep a few team members here in Alola," Lusamine explained, approaching the elevator doors and pressing the down button.

"Got it. What is Faba's research about?" Leo asked, trying to figure out why he would take Lillie and Gladion down with him. Faba was the one who made Type: Null, so…

"Ultra-related phenomena," Lusamine said grimly, the doors to the elevator dinging open and stepping inside. "Though why he would need my children for anything regarding that is beyond me," Leo cursed and rubbed the back of his neck, thumbing the release for Link and feeling Spiritomb's agitation through their bond. The Bellossom appeared on the floor of the elevator as Leo slipped in as well, the doors sliding shut as it began to descend.

"So we need to be prepared for Ultra Beasts in the worst case scenario," Leo reasoned, and Lusamine nodded slowly. He hummed and thought about what he knew about Ultra Beasts – something he'd been thinking about a lot since coming to this world. "If that's the case and Faba is trying to summon an Ultra Beast – I dunno, using Lillie and Gladion as bait? Have they been exposed to ultra wormholes before?" he asked.

"Maybe once," Lusamine said, running her fingers over the two pokeballs she had and scowling. "Back when Mohn was alive. We saw a wormhole open during a picnic once, though nothing came out – it was what truly jump-started the research of the phenomenon. They don't have any residual energy on them, however. I scanned them myself a few months ago, it would've made more sense to kidnap you if that was the case,"

Leo winced. "Maybe I'm not the best choice to go down there, then," he said, considering that his presence might further attract ultra beasts.

"No, you're right in that you need to come. You being dark makes you a valuable asset against Faba's psychic types, especially if his Hypno is a trained hypnotist. Besides, for an ultra-wormhole to open very specific criteria have to be met; criteria that, after the last set of scans yesterday, have not been met," she said hesitantly. "However if, on the off chance that he has figured out a way to open the wormholes himself or tampered with the scan data to hide his experiment, then an ultra beast may be coming after you. And, as harsh as it may sound, we don't want them tearing through the entire Aether Paradise to get to you. There are containment measures in place, so we may have you placed near them, or run towards those,"

The doors to the elevator dinged open then, and Leo followed Lusamine down the long hall towards one of the control rooms on the second level.

"Worst case scenario, evacuation procedures need to be prepped," Leo said, thinking about some of the more dangerous ultra beasts that could come out. "If something like Blacephalon or Guzzlord appear, and possibly Kartana, then the whole building will be in danger. Even if they're focusing on me, they could cause serious damage and I doubt they'd stop once they got to me," he reasoned.

"How do you know about those?" Lusamine asked, giving him a sidelong glance.

"Where I came from, information about ultra-beasts wasn't as suppressed as it is here. Honestly it's probably a good thing it's secret," Leo half-lied smoothly. "If anything comes out of an ultra-wormhole, I bet it will be Nihilego. Poison-rock type, looks like a floating white jellyfish – er, Tentacruel, almost. Don't let it get close, the poison it emits is a neurotoxin. From what I remember it's not lethal, but it can and will mess with your mind and behaviors," Leo said, stepping into the control room with Lusamine. She frowned but didn't say anything, barking out orders at the five employees in the room, having them close what they were doing on the large, wall-mounted screens and start pulling up security camera footage.

"The phone is over there. Go pull up Victoria or Professor Oak's number and be ready to dial. We'll know what's going on soon enough," Lusamine said, pointing to a computer with a camera mounted on top on the left side of the room. Leo nodded and sat down at the computer, pulling up the video call function and dialing in the number to Professor Oak's ranch without actually calling quite yet.

The large screens fizzled for a bit as Lusamine typed rapidly on one of the computers, entering a few passwords until she bypassed the security and the cameras were pulled up on-screen. They flickered for a bit and Lusamine cycled through them, eventually pausing when Lillie and Gladion showed up on-screen, standing together passively while Faba messed with a bit of equipment across from them. The room they were in was relatively barren, with thick steel plates boxing them in, and the camera situated in one corner of the room.

Lusamine scowled.

"That's Ultra Wormhole equipment. Leo! Call Victoria, you and you, get me a teleporter to fetch Holly, we will potentially need heavy hitters," Lusamine barked out, and Leo immediately hit call. She continued to call out orders in the background, Leo vaguely becoming aware of the security team arriving as Professor Oak picked up.

"Leo, my boy! What a -"

"Sorry Professor, bit of an emergency, no time to chat. Where's Victoria?" Leo asked rapidly, forcing the older man to blink in surprise. His eyes narrowed.

"She's out training with Duke, her Tauros, I believe. Why?"

"Can you fetch her now? Like, right now? There's a potential ultra-beast situation," Leo asked, and the Professor's eyes widened. A slight pop signified a teleport happening in the background, and moments later it happened again, Professor Oak leaning back and Victoria leaning into the screen.

A hand grabbed Leo's shoulder and pushed him back, Lusamine stepping in to take control of the conversation before Victoria could ask any questions.

"Faba's gone rogue," she stated bluntly. "I can't access any of his computer files and he's kidnapped my children. We believe he may have been trying to hypnotize me as well, and now he's pulled out equipment that we've used to try to open and sustain ultra-wormholes. Potential code black," Victoria blinked, narrowed her eyes, and glanced over at Professor Oak.

"How quickly can Merri get me to Alola," she demanded more than asked.

"Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes. It's been years since she's been to Alola, and she's not a specialized teleporter, but she can get you there," the Professor said. "You get more information, I'll gather your team – I'd come, but I doubt Merri would be able to teleport us both without needing extra time to prepare,"

"I'll call my dad too, Lusamine. I don't know if we can get to my other Alolan team members in time, but Emperor likes to hang out on the academy grounds. He'll be able to get you him quicker than I can get there," Victoria said, already spinning away to another computer. Lusamine nodded.

"We may be able to hold of the operation until then, but the longer we wait the more likely it is that Faba will succeed in whatever he's doing," she said.

"Uh, miss Lusamine? We may not have twenty minutes," one of the security guards said, pointing to the camera feed. It showed Faba as he began to power up the equipment, the walls glowing with light and a pokeball flashing, releasing a chimeric dog-like pokémon with a heavy iron harness around its head.

"Recording test 67; Ultra Beast combat. Previous tests failed due to a lack of stability on subject Type: Null, formerly categorized Type: Full, and from a lack of response from ultra-space. To sidestep the latter problem it was decided to use Lillie and Gladion as a lure for ultra-beasts, specifically Nihilego, codename UB-01 Symbiont, due to the species natural attraction to President Lusamine and, by proxy, her children. Based on the projected size and stability of the wormhole it should only allow a single, medium-sized beast through," Faba said, before rattling off a few numbers and terms relating to the wormhole he was trying to open – something to do with stability, size of the wormhole, and weakness of space which would allow the wormhole to open in the first place.

"That's not good," Leo remarked, glancing back at the video call where Victoria had just pulled back into view.

"Dad will have Emperor there in minutes via the pokecenter transport system," she said.

"We'll need his help," Lusamine said darkly, standing as an employee rushed into the room and offered her two purple sticks. "Leo, let out your Slowking and snap this awakening under his nose. That should undo the hypnosis," she said, tossing one to Leo.

"Ma'am, we should get a move on. Holly's ETA is ninety seconds," one of the security team said, pressing a hand to his ear – likely where a mic was. "I suggest a small team – quarters will be tight down there and despite the reinforced nature of the building we don't want any large-scale attacks going off. Us three and Holly will be more the sufficient to keep Faba contained," he said, gesturing to himself and two others, all wearing the same stark-white clothes of every other employee, save for one key difference.

What looked to be white Kevlar vests were strapped around their torsos, their pokeballs strapped across their chests, already enlarged.

"Leo and I will be entering with you. If what Faba said is correct we shouldn't attract any extra ultra-beasts, and in the event that a beast appears we will be the main attraction. Ideally, we should shut down the equipment before it fully activates – for that reason we need to get a move on and plan as we walk," Lusamine said, standing and letting out Clefable, Leo doing the same to Santiago. He snapped the purple stick under his starter's nose, instantly recoiling at the foul stench and resisting the urge to retch. Santiago wrinkled his nose and jerked backwards, eyes snapping open and regaining their clarity, sneezing violently as the foul scent brought him back to the waking world.

"Glad to have you back, bud," Leo said, tossing the awakening into a nearby trashcan.

"Leo, the kids," Santiago started, but Leo cut him off by gesturing to Lusamine, who was outlining the game plan as she started to move, leaving the room. Santiago nodded and plodded after Leo as he moved to follow, trailing behind the security officers and listening intently. Link fell in by Leo's side, ready for battle at any time, and Leo fingered the rest of his pokeballs, wondering who would be best for this situation.

"Emperor in particular will be able to handle anything Faba tries to throw at us, but until we get into the lab I can't let him out. He's too big," Lusamine said firmly. "So that handles power in the long run. What else do we need?"

"If Faba has a psychic type out, the whole operation will be blown before we get close. It'll sense us miles away, unless it's solely focused on what's happening with the wormhole," one of the officers said.

"We also need to consider that Faba probably isn't acting alone," Leo butted in. "To be able to run all this he likely either is manipulating many more people, or has other employees on his side. Since I'm dark and I've got my ghost with me I can bypass the psychic types, the issue will be those other people I mentioned and actually knocking out the psychics before they're able to teleport anyone away or launch an attack," he said as the group turned the corner, entering what could only be described as a knock-off pokémon center.

Lusamine barked out a few commands to the unfortunate nurse on duty, the young-ish man scrambling as he typed into the computer and handed her a rather beat-up pokeball. She examined it for a moment then nodded, thanking the boy, and exited just as quickly.

"It will have to be quick then," she said as she came back, clipping the ball to her side and glancing over Leo's shoulder. "Holly, just in time. We'll explain the situation as we walk," Leo turned and nodded to the woman who was approaching, Holly looking flustered and uncertain but still grim-faced and ready to go.

"I got a short debrief of what's happened so far, but would appreciate any further info you have," she said, falling silent as she was quickly caught up to speed. Leo listened as well, making sure he hadn't missed anything either and doing his best to try and decide which team members would be best for this kind of battle. It was bound to be cramped down there, and there was limited space for maneuvering without flooding the halls with pokémon.

Six people was a lot already, after all.

All too soon the group was at the elevator that led down into the secure research facility, a plan roughly laid out for them. A new team of people were up in the control room providing as much information as they could via cameras – with more reinforcements coming in to help close off any physical escape routes. Namely, the two elevators out of the secured research facility. The team would then be split into two parties; one group would head to the power generators and shut down power to Faba's lab, and therefore the experiment, while the others would go confront him directly. Only two of the group would be shutting down the generators, Holly and one of the security officers, and would meet up with the others upon completing their task. She actually knew how to shut things down, after all, having worked with maintenance before moving to where she was now.

Lusamine was the heavy-hitter with Emperor, being the only person present the pokémon would listen to (though Leo still had no idea who or what Emperor was, as Victoria had never introduced her starter to him – until this point, he honestly thought her Persian was her starter), so her role would be that of a hammer, essentially. If a fight broke out it would be her job to end it; though her primary concern was her children, and as such she would ensure their safety first.

The other security officers were to detain Faba and make sure he couldn't teleport – their two anti-teleport pokémon, an Incineroar and a Sneasel, would be able to intercept any psychic types with what was called a "blackout" or "taunt" tactic; there wasn't time to explain how it worked so Leo wasn't quite sure of the specifics, but what he did understand was that it would prevent the target pokémon from using certain moves by interrupting them. It was a very difficult skill to master and use, which had the side-effect of tying down the "taunter" into doing just that.

Originally Leo's job had been to get those taunt pokémon into range of Faba, since he was dark and would therefore be able to bypass psychic detection, but the control room said that Faba didn't actually have any pokémon out over the radio yet, so he was relegated to a much simpler role. That of a hammer – he'd take out any collaborators, any combat pokémon of Faba's that were unknown, distract the ultra beasts – etcetera. Out of the entire group he was the one with the most solely combat-focused pokémon on his team (six, excluding Sunny because she was a little behind everyone else in terms of power and skill) and as such he would be put to that use.

That was excepting Holly, who had a powerful team as well, but she was needed to head to the power station, both in case there was someone guarding it, and because she knew how to shut it down. Faba's lab ran on a separate server than the facility's main power, after all, and couldn't be shut down remotely. Or it could, but it required actually being in the lab itself – something like that. Either way, the physical method of shutting things down was quicker than the technological method, which required bypassing too many security firewalls and safeguards.

However, as with all things, that plan did not survive contact with the enemy.

Namely because, while they were in the elevator, the control room contacted them over their radios and informed them that an ultra wormhole had been successfully opened in the main testing room. They didn't have time to sneak around anymore – it was to be a blitzkrieg.

The minute the doors to the elevator dinged open Lusamine stepped through, letting Fluffy, her Bewear, out of his pokeball and stalking towards the metal, sealed double-doors that led to the research labs. The two employees who stood guard on either side of said doors glanced at each other and stepped forward nervously.

"Persident Lusamine, welcome. Branch Chief Faba insisted nobody enter the labs – he's performing a volatile experiment," the man on the left said.

"Fluffy there are obstacles in the way. Remove them," Lusamine said coldly. Her Bewear, his thick coat as fluffy and soft-looking as his name suggested, squeaked in a decidedly unthreatening manner…to those who didn't know what a Bewear was. The guards, however, did know and promptly leapt out of the way. Holly and another security officer rushed forward with handcuffs to the surrendering men, but Fluffy was unsatisfied with the lack of a fight.

He had been given an order to remove obstacles. The doors to the research lab counted as such.

Leo watched in fascinated horror as, with a furious squeak of adorable rage, Fluffy charged the doors and sunk a paw into the metal, denting one so much that he could now see inside the labs themselves. Immediately red lights began to flash – though the alarm itself was silent – as Fluffy reached forward with both paws and tore the doors apart with a horrible shriek of metal-on-metal and stomped further into the labs, Lusamine following close behind.

Holly cursed as she finished cuffing the employees – they might or might not be collaborators, but there was no taking any chances – and made eye contact with Leo.

"Stick by Lusamine! Make sure she's safe! You, with me, we need to cut the power now!" she said, pointing to her designated partner and rushing to the only other door in the small-ish entry room. It had the word electrical painted on it, so that was pretty self-explanatory.

The two other security officers cursed loudly and chased after Lusamine, their Sneasel and Incineroar following after them. Leo thumbed the trigger to most of his team's pokeballs, letting out Zuko, Xena, Link, and Santiago – the latter two having been recalled earlier so everyone could fit into the elevator – and chased after Lusamine. Diana wouldn't have the room to maneuver properly in an enclosed space like this, so she and Sunny would be in reserve for this fight. The other guards had their teams to let out, too, after all.

Without a word Leo chased after Lusamine, the short thirty foot hallway all but bare. Three labs sat on the left side, empty of any people from what he could see as he sprinted by, with large blast-doors at the far end. Lusamine had just finished typing numbers into the keypad when he arrived, the two security members standing by as, with a groan, the blast doors began to slide open.

Yellow lights flashed alongside the red alarms and the metal floors vibrated as the large doors slid open, an eerie blue glow shining out from within the secured testing chamber and Faba's irate voice ringing out over the groaning of the doors.

"Who's opening the doors?! I said no interruptions – Lusamine! Bah, not again!" he shouted, and Leo's eyes narrowed further. Again? Was this not the first time Lusamine had discovered Faba's ploy? Then how on earth hadn't Lusamine noticed?

The second the doors were opened wide enough Fluffy burst through, followed by Lusamine who was priming Emperor's pokeball – he hadn't been released yet due to size constraints – and the two security officers and their pokémon. Leo pushed through as well, and got his first physical look of the lab proper.

It was a large, dull room, probably thirty-feet by thirty-feet and just as tall, the walls made of thick steel while various pieces of glowing equipment were meticulously situated on the far end. A glowing, psychedelically fluctuating portal that hung in the air on the opposite end of the room was the most eye-catching feature, and while nothing appeared to have come through yet Type: Null was waiting patiently off to the side of it, unmoving and wholly unconcerned. Lillie and Gladion were huddled together in the middle of the room, Gladion shaking his head as if he was just breaking free of his hypnosis while Lillie still stood there blankly – and Faba was nowhere to be seen.

"Lillie, Gladion!" Lusamine cried, darting forward to her children while Fluffy advanced towards Type: Null menacingly.

"You have a habit of showing up at the worst times, Lusamine!" Faba's voice complained, coming from loudspeakers in the corners of the room. Leo looked around frantically for any hint as to where he could be, eventually spotting a regular-sized door in the wall, right next to a black rectangle that he assumed to be one-way glass.

"He's in the observing room, Lusamine we need it open!" one of the security officers barked, his Sneasel hissing by his side.

"Where are the two officers you usually bring? And is that Leo I see – why do you keep dragging more people into this, woman?!" Faba shouted in irritation. Lusamine stood from where she had been embracing her children, slowly turning to the one-way glass and narrowing her eyes, thumbing the release to Emperor's pokeball. Only, nothing happened.

Lusamine frowned and looked down at the ball, pressing the release button again, a look of realization coming over her face. Leo frowned and pressed the release trigger on Diana's pokeball, only for nothing to happen as well. Well. That wasn't good.

"You told me the pokeball interference technology wasn't ready yet," Lusamine said slowly. "Fluffy, break the glass," Her Bewear squeaked angrily and backed away from Type: Null, who, surprisingly, had been growling at the bear but not attacking yet, and charged the glass, planting one fist into it and setting the whole thing to shaking. But it held, somehow.

"I told you a lot of things," Faba said, and with a pop of teleportation suddenly a Hypno was standing in front of Lusamine, its pendulum already swinging. But Leo had been expecting something like that, and was ready for it. Spiritomb burst forward from where he stood, not too far from her, shadows engulfing the psychic type and wailing in hideous anger. Then suddenly Sneasel was there, leaping through the shadows with claws bared and cutting into the Hypno with savage glee – the psychic flared its powers once, a focus blast bursting from its palms and phasing harmlessly through Spiritomb's ectoplasmic body as a last hurrah before it fell, succumbing to the onslaught.

Like Leo had thought, the Hypno wasn't trained for battle but hypnosis. Thus it didn't last long.

"I am going to kill you," Lusamine said coldly, walking around the fallen Hypno and heading to the still-closed doors as Fluffy slammed his paw once more into the glass.

"Santiago, Xena, get the kids out of here," Leo ordered, snapping his fingers to the two children. Gladion blinked owlishly and narrowed his eyes at Leo, his mind coming back to him as Xena ran up and grabbed the two children – handing Lillie off to Santiago and shoving Gladion in his direction as well before turning her attention back to the ultra wormhole. Santiago glanced at Leo, the two nodded to each other – Leo with Spiritomb's shadowy tendrils still swirling around him in a protective shell – and he started towards the still-open blast doors, guiding the two children.

"Nope, nope, now I have to make sure no one leaves quite yet," Faba said, and the doors rumbled as they started to close. Santiago grunted and took another step forward, his gem flashing with power as Lillie and Gladion were picked up in a psychic hold and roughly tossed through the closing doors. They hit the ground outside just seconds before they slammed shut, the locks engaging with an ominous clanging sound. Leo grit his teeth and glanced to the still-glowing portal. They'd gotten the kids out of the way, but why hadn't the power been cut yet?

A few things happened in rapid succession at that point; Lusamine hit a few buttons hidden behind a panel on the wall, opening the observation room door and letting the two security officers rush in, Fluffy cracked the glass with a series of punches in rapid succession, and Type: Null began reacting to the ultra wormhole. The chimeric canid growled at the glowing portal, prompting Leo to turn his and his team's attention to the wormhole.

Santiago growled, water burbling in the back of his throat, and stood next to him, glancing at the unconscious Hypno at their feet as he squared up. Zuko growled at Santiago's feet, hissing smoke, while Xena beat her fists together and took a few threatening steps forward, Link riding on her head with a leaf blade already ready. Leo thumbed Diana's pokeball, wishing that they weren't in an enclosed, underwater facility with a mad scientist and an ultra-wormhole.

Type: Null was acting even before the ultra beast came all the way through, the moment the sickly white tentacles emerged from the portal it was slashing with its front claws and launching air slashes at the beast. It shrieked – an eerie sound that rippled through the air – and flailed its tentacles but kept pushing through regardless.

"Hit it!" Leo barked out, Santiago firing water pulses, Link throwing magical leaves, and Zuko blasting the portal with ember. He had started to master flamethrower but ember was, for the moment, far more accurate and less likely to interfere with the others attacks as well. The Nihilego shrieked again and pulled back into the portal at the barrage, prompting Leo to call off the attack and wait patiently for the next one. Well, maybe not patiently. "Can someone please shut this thing down!?" he shouted, glancing over at Lusamine.

She was frozen in place on the other side of the broken glass, staring at the portal with a puzzled expression while Faba wriggled uselessly in Fluffy's grasp. The two security officers were glancing at each other uncertainly, both of their pokémon by their sides in case Faba somehow managed to let out a teleporting pokémon, however unlikely. Leo thumbed Diana's pokeball again, the release not triggering.

"Crap," he said, looking back at the portal. Type: Null was still growling and was starting to pace, so he was getting the idea that the worst had yet to come. And while he remembered Lusamine's fascination with ultra-beasts, he didn't recall her ever just…freezing up in the games to stare at them. Sure the player had to battle them instead of her, but he thought that was just for narrative purposes, not…whatever this is.

It was at that moment Holly's voice came crackling over the radio Leo had strapped to his side, sounding out of breath and flustered.

"Cutting the power in three…two…one," she said, and the lights flickered off, only to be quickly replaced by glowing red emergency lights. The ultra-wormhole equipment flickered a little and died, the electric hum of the projectors of whatever they were falling silent. Only, the portal didn't close immediately. The edges fractured – which was weird to see, a clean break in what was essentially air – and it noticeably started shrinking, but it didn't close immediately.

Leo thumbed the trigger to Diana and Sunny's pokeballs. Still no response.

"The portal's not closed!" Leo called, Spiritomb hissing in his ears as Type: Null stilled, a low growl echoing out from behind the metal helmet encasing its head.

"I'm working on it, but we're probably going to have to let it bleed off its energy. If the data I saw was right it needs to bleed off the energy it accrued," Lusamine responded, snapping out of whatever fugue state she had been in. Leo caught her eyes and she held his gaze. She nodded, bending down to look at what was probably some sort of control panel in the observation room, and scowled. "Damn it, Faba, how do you turn off the pokeball inhibitor?" she snapped at the dangling man. He made a noise like a squeak, but a collective growl from Leo's team had him turning his attention away from that interaction and back to the portal.

Multiple tentacles emerged, much thicker than the previous ones. and promptly hauled the body of a Nihilego through the opening. Type: Null growled and launched itself at the beast, claws raking against its surprisingly tough exterior and dragging it to the ground with its weight. Leo's team started to surge forward to help, but a second set of tentacles emerging had Leo cursing under his breath.

"Blast the portal," he ordered, and the onslaught of attacks resumed. This time even Xena joined in, breathing out a stream of dragon fire, but the Nihilego persevered and pushed through, spitting a glob of poison at the arrayed pokémon. Santaigo paused in his water pulse firing to annihilate the poison with a psychic blast, protecting everyone. The beast shrieked in anger and pain, flying forward at speed towards Leo and his team. This time it was Spiritomb's turn to intervene, black tendrils lashing out at the floating jellyfish and binding a group of its tentacles together, halting its movement. Xena snarled and bounded forward with a single great, loping stride, claws burning with the power of a dragon claw as she tore into the beast's hide, jaws latching onto its tentacles.

Link joined her, leaping from her head to the bulbous top of the Nihilego and cutting into it with his leaf blade with righteous fury.

"Santiago, when you get a chance I need you to use yawn on these things. It may not put them to sleep, but it might get them to the point where Xena can push them back through the portal," Leo said, yawn being one of those moves that Santiago always could use, but rarely had a chance to. "Xena, focus on the body, not the tentacles! Link, if Xena gets pushed back start up a petal dance, we have to keep that thing contained," Leo ordered, chewing his lip and tossing out a few strategies as the Nihilego continued to flail under the combined assault of his pokémon.

Spiritomb's shadowy tendrils constricted around the Nihilego, a few more splitting off to tie up the tentacles that had been lashing against Xena's armored hide and freeing her up to start tearing into the jellyfish's body with tooth and claw – the display of savagery absolutely overwhelming. Link, on the other hand, seemed to have found his spot atop Nihilego's head. His feet were planted as he wailed on its bulbous, clear top, his leaf blade tearing into the creature with ease. The issue was the purple liquid that splashed on Link when he attacked, causing the grass type to wince in pain.

"Leo, again!" Santiago barked, gem flashing with psychic power as he blasted the portal, a third Nihilego forcing its way through. Leo cursed and whistled at Zuko, who hadn't quite yet joined in on attacking for fear of hitting his allies, and jerked his thumb to the new Nihilego. Type: Null was still beating the tar out of the first one, though it'd clearly been poisoned judging by the multiple wounds from the beast's thrashing tentacles, and Xena, Link, and Spiritomb had the second distracted.

That meant splitting their forces far more than he'd hoped. He needed the aid of the security officers – Incineroar and Sneasel had been standing by to counter the appearance of any teleporters, but now he needed their power.

"Guys, we need help!" Leo called, taking a few steps back as the new Nihilego, far larger than the other two that had come through, seemed to survey its surroundings, completely ignoring the assault from Zuko and Santiago. The psychic power that assaulted it made its movements jerky and not nearly as graceful as it could have been, and Zuko's fires washed over the beast's hide as he launched a flamethrower at it, but it didn't seem concerned.

It turned to him, seeming to study him for a second despite not having a face, then turned to Lusamine and drifted forward.

Fluffy growled, tossing Faba to the ground and leaping through the hole he had made in the one-way-glass, bashing his fists together threateningly. The security guards Incineroar and Sneasel stepped up as well, hissing and baring their claws in an intimidation attempt. The third Nihilego paused, regarded them, then spat a glob of venom that absolutely drenched Fluffy. The Bewear squeaked in outrage, momentarily blinded, and Nihilego took that chance to dart forward with surprising speed, blowing past Fluffy and reaching towards Lusamine with its long tendrils.

"Spiritomb -" Leo started, but cut himself off when Fluffy, even while blinded, reached out and grabbed hold of the Nihilego's tentacles with both paws. "Get ready to hit it!" Leo ordered as Fluffy reeled in the jellyfish-like pokémon, taking another glob of purplish poison to the face and squeaking in outrage. With a grunt and a heave he hurled the Nihilego blindly, sending it sailing through the air…straight at Leo.

Spiritomb immediately moved to defend, retracting its tendrils and exploding into a wall of purple shadow and darkness, a horrific shriek echoing through the enclosed chamber. Leo didn't even have time to wince from the loud noise as the Nihilego crashed to the ground beside him, redirected just enough by Spiritomb, and he stumbled away, careful to avoid the flailing tentacles. Santiago growled and took full advantage of the situation, his gem glowing like a spotlight in the red-lit room as he assaulted the beast with the full might of his psychic powers.

Metal began to warp under the pressure as Santiago struggled to keep it down, Zuko moving in to blast it with a flamethrower while Spiritomb hissed and spluttered at the fallen beast, retracting its tendrils.

"Santi, keep it down! Spiritomb, start using shadow ball. Hit both Nihilego, alternate targets," Leo barked, dancing away from the worst of the fight and swiftly realizing there was nowhere to go. Fluffy had joined Xena and Link in attacking the one Nihilego, which took up a good corner of the room; Type: Null still had the other pinned, though seemed to be slowing down; while the third, largest Nihilego was currently struggling to get up through Santiago's psychic hold. Lusamine and the other humans were still in the side room, which Leo figured would be the safest place if he could get there…were it not for Link, Xena, and Fluffy fighting the Nihilego between him and there.

"Zuko, keep up the heat! If that thing spits poison you need to vaporize it," Leo said when Zuko paused to take a breath, the temperature in the room increasing uncomfortablly thanks to his fire attacks. As if on cue the Nihilego spat a gob of poison at Santiago, drenching him and sending him stumbling back. Spiritomb shrieked and blasted it with a swift burst of shadow balls, but the beast largely ignored that, shying away from the attacks and spitting out another glob of venom that Zuko managed to catch with his flamethrower. Though not all of the attack was stopped, it did still manage to stop it from hitting anyone important.

Dazed, confused, and now free from Santiago's psychic, the Nihilego rose off the ground and warbled, waving its tentacles threateningly.

"Got it! Leo, get back," Lusamine barked, standing swiftly and procuring Victoria's pokeball. Leo glanced at the wall that was mere inches from his back. There was nowhere for him to go. Fluffy shrieked and pummeled Nihilego, sending it floating backwards as Link and Xena disengaged, the dragon growling while Link darted to the side, immediately changing targets to the one Type: Null was now struggling with. Despite a strong initial showing, the synthetic pokémon was flagging now, barely able to keep the white jellyfish on the ground while attacking with a single-minded determination.

None of that mattered when Lusamine released Emperor, though. When the massive brown and tan pokémon appeared on the cold metal of the room, yawning lazily and scratching his belly with one hand as he lounged, Leo's first thought was A Slaking? Really?

"Emperor," Lusamine said, prompting the Slaking to look at her quizzically. "The white ones are enemies, push them back through the portal," she said, and that was enough for Emperor. With a grunt he pushed himself up and stood at his full height, yawning and reaching for the first Nihilego he could find – the one Type: Null was battling. With a single, meaty paw he grabbed it, hauled it into the air with Type: Null still clawing at the tentacles, and promptly hurled it back through the portal with an irritated grunt. The portal shuddered, cracks appearing deeper withing the swirling, geometric patterns, but held strong as the beast vanished.

If nothing else, that got the other two ultra-beasts attention. Leo immediately recalled Santiago after making sure his pokeballs were working again, his starter still standing but struggling with the poison, and let Diana out in his place. She rumbled and flared her vents, firmly placing herself between any of the Nihilego and Leo, but their attention was not on him. It was on Emperor, who blocked two globs of venom from the two separate ultra-beasts with his paws, frowning in annoyance at the poison and lumbering forward, swatting the first one to the ground and grabbing the second by the tentacles, intent on throwing it through the portal as well. It warbled at him and lashed out, stinging his arms and summoning eerie floating stones to pelt the Slaking.

Emperor grunted, then roared in rage as the pain assaulted him, grabbing the Nihilego with both hands and pulling. The ultra-beast screeched as tentacles were ripped off in an impressive display of strength, floating backwards dripping purplish liquid and spitting another gob of venom at Emperor. This time he didn't even bother blocking, just smacking the beast with an open palm and sending it hurtling against the wall. With a weak warble it peeled itself away and floated to the portal, leaking blood and venom as Emperor dealt with the final ultra-beast, streaks of white running down his arms as he charged and shoulder-checked the beast, sending it to the ground once more. Type: Null launched a few air slashes at the retreating Nihilego, the weak air blade doing little more than annoy it as it floated through the portal.

Emperor grabbed the last beast and, with a furious roar, hurled it through the portal as well. Once more the ultra-wormhole shook, further cracks appearing, but still it held. Emperor snorted furiously and stalked in front of the wormhole, none of the lethargy the species are known for visible in his demeanor. And just like that, it was over.

Leo let out a breath and set about looking over his team, making sure everyone was ok. Xena was breathing hard and winced when he touched her, having taking a few solid hits, and Link looked about ready to keel over. His complexion was a nasty shade, so Leo recalled both him and Xena without a second thought, resolving to get them to a healer as soon as possible.

This is why fighting poison types sucked.

Zuko was mostly ok, having avoided the worst of the hits, and Spiritomb was as chaotic as usual, none the worse for wear but still floating around Leo protectively. Diana hummed and jetted over to him carefully, pressing into Leo's side and vibrating in concern.

"I'm ok," he assured her, pressing a hand against her carapace. She wiggled and closed her eyes, leaning into the contact while Leo watched the portal flicker and finally suck in on itself as it closed. He breathed out a sigh of relief the same time Emperor snorted, ceasing his pacing and lying on the ground, facing the wall and scratching his belly.

The immediate danger over with he moved over to Lusamine, who stood imposingly in front of Faba as he lay on the ground inside the observation room. Fluffy had been recalled, replaced by Clefable, the fairy type looming over Faba with a downright murderous expression on her face. That was nothing compared to Lusamine's blank, emotionless stare, which Leo caught sight of as he pushed through the doorway and into the observation room. In the red light of the testing facility, she looked almost demonic.

"Are you ok, Leo?" she asked, not turning to face him. The two security officers nodded to him respectfully, one patting his shoulder as Leo checked himself over.

"Yeah, I'm good," he said, satisfied that no poison or anything had splashed on his skin or clothes. "Do you have Faba's pokeballs? We should probably recall his Hypno," Leo said, glancing at the still-unconscious form of Hypno. Zuko stood guard over it, but he didn't like the idea of just letting it be out, unconscious or not.

"Good. Officer Ricardo has the balls, he'll handle it. Now, Faba," she said, leaning down and grabbing him by the collar, hauling the man to his feet. "Care to explain what, exactly, all this is about?"

Faba's expression was one of absolute terror, and he swallowed thickly.

"I want to speak to my lawyer," he said softly, and Lusamine smiled thinly, coldly. She let go of his collar and reached behind her, absently feeling around until her hand brushed against a long, black-glass shard that had fallen onto the console of the room. Still smiling she put her other, free hand on Faba's shoulder and just stood there, expression unmoving. Leo felt his breath catch in his throat at the scene, the two guards shifting nervously as, for a split second, Lusamine seriously contemplated murder.

Faba seemed to understand this too, as he shakily reached up and pushed aside the green-tinted glasses covering his eyes.

"N-now, let's not do anything rash," he stammered out, holding his hands up defensively. Lusamine was quiet, her eyes flicking over to Leo before returning to Faba.

"You are lucky there is a child present," she hissed, letting go of the shard and shoving Faba against the wall. "And we will have plenty of time to discuss your…actions while you are incarcerated," Leo shuddered at her phrasing, but watched carefully as she moved away and motioned for the security officers to move forward. They did, cuffing Faba and recalling his Hypno for him, as well as the Ledian Fluffy had crushed, while Lusamine grabbed Leo and led him out of the side room. Diana hummed at them as they passed, Lusamine pulling out a radio.

"We've secured Faba. Get us out of here," she said into the radio, then looked at Leo as she put it away. "We're lucky that they were young," she said, gesturing towards the ultra-wormhole equipment.

"The Nihilego?" Leo asked, and she nodded.

"I've seen them before. I…forgot about it, until now. Maybe it's something Faba did, I – it's something we'll look into later. The one I saw took on my entire team, and was only just barely pushed back. This was back before I retired from the trainer life, too, so they were at the peak of their game," she said, eyes growing distant. Leo whistled and glanced towards where the twitching tentacles Emperor had torn off still lay. Despite Spiritomb having defeated her Mismagius before, Lusamine was still an eight-badge trainer.

She had a full team of high-level pokémon, not just one or two with a few playing catch-up, unlike Leo. Because as much as Leo liked to think of his team as all roughly on the same level, that wasn't the case. Link and Spiritomb were his most powerful team members – despite Spiritomb's issues with focus. And while none of his other team members were weak, per say, they just had more growing to do to reach that level.

That was the difference between a good trainer and a great trainer. A good one could have one or two strong pokémon. A great one could have entire teams worth. So if a single Nihilego could push back Lusamine's entire team, that meant the older ones were very strong.

"Seems a lot of luck is involved whenever I'm around," Leo said, shaking his head and glancing at Emperor, who was still just lounging around. "Still, I'm just glad the plan worked out, despite a few complications," he said, and looked at the still-closed blast doors. He was also glad he'd managed to get Lillie and Gladion out of here before the fighting started. That did still leave one thing, though…

"What are we going to do about that?" he asked, jerking his head towards Type: Null, who stood off to the side panting and injured. Some small part of him hoped to be able to add it to his team, but he quickly silenced that part of his brain. Now was not the time for that.

"I don't know. I hope Faba has its pokeball stored away somewhere nearby though, I hate to just leave it out while it's so injured," she admitted, then shook her head. "Regardless, we can discuss all this later. For now, I just wanted to say thank you for snapping me out of the hypnosis and for helping protect my children," she said, looking directly into Leo's eyes and bowing slightly. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You're welcome," he said slowly. She deserved better than the hand she got, that was sure. Faba was a founding member of Aether, and supposedly one of her close friends if he remembered right. Being so deeply betrayed by one you trust? To the point where his meddling was twisting her personality (at least, he assumed it was. She'd have to go into therapy after this to undo whatever Faba did for sure) and using her for his own personal gain? That was pretty messed up.

He was just glad he'd managed to make a difference. Maybe now Lusamine wouldn't go off the deep end like in the games.

Any further conversation was cut off, however, as the lights came back on, and, moments later, the blast doors began to open.

"We can talk more later," Lusamine promised, turning towards the observation room. "For now let's get the rest of this mess cleaned up,"

"I'm going to kill him," Lusamine promised, gnashing her teeth and gripping the arms of her chair tightly. Victoria stood beside Leo, bobbing her head up and down with a dark look on her face. It had been all of four hours since Faba's arrest, giving plenty of time for Victoria to arrive, nearly tear apart the lower levels of the research labs as she sought them out, calm down, and for them to start going through Faba's research notes. The ones he'd kept on his personal computer took an hour to two to finally gain access to, and Lusamine had decided to skim over them while they had some time in the aftermath.

"I'll hold him down for you," Victoria said, rolling Emperor's pokeball over her knuckles.

"May I suggest using a rusty spoon?" Leo chimed in, tone dead serious despite knowing it wasn't really on the table. Still, Faba probably deserved it. If the Geneva Convention was a thing in this world, he was pretty sure Faba had violated it, if their brief scan of the files were anything to go by. Just the initial research notes of how Faba had begun creating Type: Null, at that time called Type: Full because it was supposed to be all types, made Leo want to throttle him even more than he already did – let alone what other notes hinted he'd done to Lusamine.

This wasn't the first time Faba had called upon a Nihilego. And if he was being truthful in his notes, then he had extensive knowledge about the effects of their poison. Specifically how it effected the mind, and how low doses left an effected mind far more susceptible to psychic influence.

Yes, Faba probably needed to die.

"Well the good news is that he's locked up now," Leo said, shaking his head in disgust.

"Yes," Lusamine said, clenching her fists, then deflating a little. She was silent for a long, long moment before standing abruptly, her gaze a little distant. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go see my children again," she said, as she started out of the room. Leo stepped to the side and bowed his head slightly, letting her pass without comment. And if he saw her hands shaking, he pretended not to notice. She probably needed time. A lot had been revealed today, Leo could only imagine how she felt. Probably like her whole world had been turned upside down.

The door clicked shut, leaving Leo and Victoria alone together. For a few minutes they just stood in silence, until Leo sighed and slumped against the wall. Spiritomb hissed in his pocket, the ghost still lively despite the battle, and poked a single eye out of his pocket.

"You ok?" Victoria asked.

"That's, like, the fifth time you've asked me this," he said, giving her a look. She shrugged and glanced at the computer screen, drumming her fingers on the off-white desk she was leaning against. She looked tired. There were bags under her eyes and her hair was a frazzled mess – not that she was one to care for appearances, but this was different. "Are you ok?" Leo asked, flipping the question back to her. She nodded, then paused and shook her head.

"It's been a long few months. And now, hearing that this has happened to Lusamine? She didn't deserve that," she said bitterly. "I should've noticed something was off sooner,"

"I'd say don't blame yourself, but we both know that telling you what to do is an effort in futility," Leo joked, earning a snort of amusement from her. She shook her head and pocketed Emperor's pokeball, giving the other ten or so balls on her belt a once-over. "You said Emperor is your starter?" he asked, his own hand reaching for where his team usually sat, and finding the spots mostly empty. Only Diana and Sunny were with him at the moment – excluding Spiritomb, who still didn't have a pokeball – as the others were in the medical ward.

"Yeah, he is. He's a big lazy bum though, so he usually stays at Dad's place. Unless I need him for a big battle, which is rarely," Victoria said with a nod. "I didn't need him to earn my Champion-level trainer certification from Martin, but if I ever battle Lance I'd have him on my team,"

"I've never seen a Slaking before, but he seems very…lively for one. Nearly tore a Nihilego in two," Leo said, shuddering as he recalled the almost casual way he'd dealt with the Nihilego. Victoria laughed and nodded in agreement, looking a bit better now that the topic of conversation was away from Lusamine and now towards her pokémon.

"You know my dad researched variant pokémon, right? Like how Raichu in Alola is different than Raichu everywhere else. Well, that applies to unique members amongst a species as well. It's like…there's always a chance of a pokémon being extremely different from its brethren. Sometimes that produces a whole other line of evolution, like Santiago. He was smarter than other Slowpoke even before his evolution, hence he evolved into a Slowking instead. Or, to use the Pikachu example again, imagine a Pikachu who can affect ground-types with electric attacks. Professor Oak said he met a Pikachu like that once. Emperor is one of those – he's lazy, yes, but only about as lazy as a Snorlax. Not as lazy as a typical Slaking, and that makes him dangerous," she explained proudly. Leo blinked and scratched the back of his head as he absorbed that information.

That made a terrifying amount of sense. And if he remembered what Slaking's stats were from the games, that made Emperor absolutely terrifying, and stronger than most pseudo-legendaries. This wasn't a game, of course, but he did like to use that as a bit of a baseline for his knowledge of this world…to a degree. Bellossom sucked in the games. Link was awesome in this world.

Though he disagreed on what she said about Santiago. He hadn't been smarter as a Slowpoke, just more driven…even if back then he was a pain and a half to train.

"That's insane," Leo finally said, shaking his head. Victoria chuckled and nodded, pushing herself off the desk and heading toward the door.

"C'mon, let's go see what else we can do to help. Lusamine probably needs some time alone," she said, and Leo nodded, following after her and letting his mind wander some.

Lillie and Gladion had been mostly ok after the whole ordeal, and Lusamine had spent a good half an hour right after the operation fussing over them. They were a little dazed – Gladion was ok for the most part, Lillie couldn't seem to remember what had happened – but otherwise they were none the worse for wear. Which was good, because, y'know, Lusamine might have actually committed murder if they hadn't been.

Faba, on the other hand, was in hot water, locked up as he was in a secure part of the facility. InterPol was likely to get involved because of his work with ultra-beasts, which meant he'd be locked up for a long, long time. Which was good, because he absolutely deserved it.

"What's going to happen to Type: Null, do you think? There's three successful specimens, aren't there?" Leo asked as he followed Victoria down a long hall.

"We'll probably have to rehabilitate them," Victoria mused. "This is new territory for me, man-made pokémon. I know that some people in Kanto have been working on an artificial pokémon, but that's more like trying to create an AI than what's happening here. Porygon, I think the project is called? We'll probably need to call in some experts on Claydoll and Golurk…shoot, you'd probably not be a bad choice either, since you've got Spiritomb. They're all man-made pokémon, right?"

Leo patted Spiritomb's keystone and considered that. That was actually a good point. Since Claydoll and Golurk had started out as creations of man given life – that since have come to be able to reproduce on their own, thus becoming full-fledged pokémon species – it would make sense that trainers of those particular species would be solid choices to call in for understanding how to handle Type: Null. He wasn't sure how much help he could be since Spiritomb was…unique, and not at all like Type: Null, but if it meant he had a chance to work with and potentially add said pokémon to his team? He was more than willing to give it a shot.

He'd need Lusamine's permission first, of course. That was technically her decision to make, not his, but he wasn't going to bug her about it yet. She had enough to worry about right now as it was.

"Makes sense. What about Faba's pokémon? Will it be like with Boone, the poacher, where his pokémon will be confiscated and potentially rehabilitated? Or something else?

"I don't know," Victoria said. "With InterPol likely to get involved there's a lot of question as to what's going to happen. They don't have the greatest track record of being prompt about handling issues," she said a little bitterly. Leo frowned and scratched his chin.

"Where are we going, by the way?" he asked.

"I –" Victoria cut herself off when her pokedex started ringing in her pocket, the device doubling as a phone in her case, and she flipped it open. "Victoria Oak here," she said, and immediately frowned. Then her entire body tensed, and Leo was reaching for his pokeballs even before she had a chance to turn to him.

"Faba escaped," she repeated into the 'dex. "One of the security officers got him out. He has a teleporter," she turned to Leo and ended the call, face a stormy mask. "Follow Lusamine, her kids are up in her mansion so that's where she'll be. I doubt Faba will be going after her, most likely he wants to just escape, but it's better safe than sorry. We don't know how long ago he got out, so he's probably long gone by now. Damn it! How many team members do you have with you?" she barked out.

"Three; Diana, Spiritomb, and Sunny, one of my recent captures," Leo said.

"Take Prince too, just in case. I'm going to head to the research lab, if anything I'd bet he'll be heading there to salvage notes and equipment. Now go," she said, tossing Leo a pokeball. He caught Prince, Victoria's Persian's pokeball and sprinted off down the hall as Victoria ran the other way, winding through hallways until he found a staircase, following that up to the very top of Aether Paradise.

The moment he reached sunlight he knew something was wrong. No employees filled the grassy expanse, and the sounds of combat echoed out from the direction of the mansion. The sun was just in the perfect position to make looking that way difficult, hanging just over the roof of the mansion itself, but he thought he could make out what looked like a Claydoll locked in combat with Clefable.

"Diana, hit the Claydoll! Dark pulse the crap out of it!" Leo barked, throwing her pokeball as hard as he could, getting as much distance as possible, while also thumbing the release for Prince. The Persian materialized with a lazy yawn, licking his paw before glancing up at Leo. If he was confused as to why Leo was here instead of Victoria, he didn't show it. "We need to protect Lusamine and knock out a few pokémon. Psychic types are the enemy here; Victoria lent me you to help with that," he explained quickly. Prince eyed him, yawned, then stood and casually loped off towards the mansion. After another moment's thought Leo let out Sunny, scooping up the fighting type and sprinting forward as he ran.

Sunny squirmed a bit in his grasp, but he mostly ignored that in favor of assessing the situation.

Lusamine was roaring orders at Clefable as she battled Claydoll, her Mismagius battling Faba's Hypno, an Alolan Raichu spitting sparks, and a Slowbro – how was it already back up?! He knocked that thing out just a few hours ago! – but was holding her ground. He watched as Mismagius tanked a psychic blast from Hypno for the chance to nail the Raichu with a shadow ball, the psychic/electric type falling to the ground unconscious, only to be recalled by Faba.

Then Diana, with the roar of her jet engines chasing her, crashed into Claydoll with all the fury of a few-hundred-pound rock monster, dark rings roiling off of her and blasting the psychic-type. Prince launched himself forward with ease, pouncing on the Hypno and batting it away with a night slash, the psychic type stumbling and giving Mismagius time to recover, the ghost immediately whirling on Slowbro.

"Sunny, go stand by Lusamine. Protect her from any attacks," Leo whispered, letting the little fighting type down. She sprinted over to Lusamine and he started barking commands to Diana, who had been thrown off of Claydoll with a burst of psychic power.

"Payback!" he barked, and Diana jetted forward again, shadows swirling about her as she crashed into Claydoll once more – its psychic powers useless against the dark Diana wielded.

"Leo! I should have known you'd cause even more problems! You've ruined everything! How'd you even figure out what I was doing?! Lusamine should have kept you distracted!" Faba shrieked in anger, a Kadabra standing by his side, ready to teleport. Leo didn't respond, already trying to figure out how to keep Faba here, while also figure out why he was here rather than anywhere else. Claydoll floated into the air as Diana righted herself, only for the ceramic-looking pokemon to be smacked in the side with a moonblast by Clefable. Faba cursed again as Leo pulled Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket, throwing it as hard as he could at the mad scientist.

"Take out Kadabra!" he shouted, but Faba was ready. With a pop he and the psychic type vanished, avoiding Spiritomb and reappearing right beside Lusamine. That was why Sunny was there though, and the fighting type launched herself at Kadabra with a vicious warcry, slapping it across the face and making it flinch backwards.

"Keep it off balance, fury swipes and don't let up!" Leo barked, Meinfoo unleashing a furious burst of speed upon Kadabra, jumping all over the psychic type as she absolutely pummeled it. Faba cursed and the two teleported away again, leaving Sunny behind and Lusamine with a fist half-cocked, aiming for where Faba had been, as he reappeared across the field.

"Lusamine, just give it to me already!" Faba shouted. "No one will get hurt that way!"

"An empty threat, Faba! Even just two of my team members were more than enough to counter yours! Clefable, hyper beam!" she commanded, and Clefable disengaged from Claydoll, who had been completely overwhelmed by Diana and now Spiritomb, who had attacked the first enemy it saw, to charge up a glowing ball of energy in her hands. The beam burned through the air as it fired, screaming with fury as the pure energy cut through where Faba had been moments before, shining as bright as the sun for a full five seconds. Then it ended, leaving spots dancing across Leo's vision, and Clefable huffed in anger.

Faba had teleported out of the way again, just a few feet to the left. With fumbling hands Faba recalled Claydoll, procuring two more pokeballs right as Mismagius burst from the ground below him, shadows curling as she launched herself at Kadabra. Faba shrieked, and with another hasty pop teleported away. He reappeared a few dozen feet away for a brief second – Mismagius surging towards him, but he'd had enough time now. Leo sprinted forward, intent on trying to grab him – to do something, but it was too late. With another pop he was gone, and this time he didn't reappear.

Leo cursed. Lusamine cursed and stood there, fists clenched and absolute rage plastered all over her face. Prince yowled as he stood victoriously over an unconscious Hypno and Slowbro. Diana jetted into the sky, spinning around as if searching for more enemies before slowly allowing herself to come down. Sunny cheered, and Leo cursed once more.

They'd won, but Faba still escaped. Lusamine shouted her anger to the skies, and Leo clenched his fists, grinding his teeth.

"Damn it all,"

Chapter Text

A maelstrom of emotions whirled through Leo's chest as he stood there, fists clenched and teeth gritted as he stared at where Faba had been. He got away. How did he get away?! Hadn't they put reliable guards on him? Was Faba really that entrenched into Aether that he could escape no matter what?

"Maaaa," Lusamine's Mismagius cried softly, earning herself a glance from Leo. Then he did a double-take, because she didn't look right. Her face was contorted into a savage grin, the wisps of her ghostly hair billowing ominously as grey light glowed from her eyes. The brim of her hat flickered with ghostly fires – and he furrowed his brow.

"Lusamine, what's Mismagius doing?" he asked, glancing to the blonde woman. She whirled at him, face contorted into a snarl that he hoped wasn't directed at him, and locked eyes with Mismagius. Immediately her snarl lessened, then morphed into a frown, and then her eyes widened.

"Destiny bond," she whispered, her expression tightening into one of grim determination. "We need to get Victoria up here, so long as Mismagius is holding that bond we may be able to track him," she said with urgency, patting her pockets in search of something. Hastily she whipped out a small radio, smacking it against her palm a few times and speaking into it.

"Victoria, you need to get topside. This is Lusamine, Faba's escaped. I repeat, get topside," she said, and waited a few moments before repeating the message. "I hope this thing is working," she muttered, turning to Leo and making a shooing motion, as she repeated the message once again. Leo got the gist of what she wanted and immediately turned to sprint to the nearest employee or intercom, intent on telling them to call or find Victoria. He got three steps before a small pop alerted him to a teleport, and whirled back around half-prepared for another fight. But it was only Victoria, with Merri floating beside her looking a little tired. The Alakazam's moustache drooped, and the bags under her eyes indicated that she needed sleep – or had expended a great deal of power recently, and still needed rest.

"Victoria, Merri, Faba teleported away. Mismagius marked his Kadabra with a destiny bond, can you trace it?" Lusamine barked out immediately. Merri's moustache twitched in amusement, her eyes lighting up.

"It would be my pleasure, dear. Teleporting halfway across the world is a difficult task for any psychic, even specialized teleporters, but this? This I can do," she said telepathically, letting go of the spoons she held. A glowing eye composed of multicolored light appeared on her forehead and her spoons floated into the air, spinning in a slow circle as she closed her eyes. Mismagius' expression remained an eerie snarl, her fires flaring as Merri did…whatever it was she was doing.

"Sage, aid her. Instruct," Victoria said, letting her Oranguru out of his pokeball. The large psychic ape grunted and walked around to situate himself in front of Merri, reaching his long arms out to grasp her comparatively frail-looking hands. Together they just sat there in silence for a tense few moments, until Merri made a noise not unlike a chuckle.

"Thank you, Sage. They teleported multiple times in rapid succession to try and throw any pursuers off, an old but relatively effective trick, but it appears they have made it to their destination," Merri said, moustache twitching in amusement. "Thanks to your Mismagius' bond I have now locked onto Faba's position, and – oh, dear. He's psychic," Merri said, flinching slightly.

"Excuse me?" Lusamine asked. "Faba's psychic?

"Faba has minor psychic abilities. They are so minor I did not notice them at first, but I managed to avoid detection I believe," Merri said. "That explains part of his escape. Kadabra was piggybacking off of his psychic power to avoid the disruption of your Mismagius' ghostly abilities. Quite clever, actually, but wouldn't work if a true dark type pokémon was there,"

"Where is he now?" Victoria demanded.

"A safehouse in the jungle. He appears to be waiting for someone or something – I cannot get a clear picture from here," Merri said.

"Can you teleport me there?" she asked.

"Yes, but I advise against it. He and his Kadabra are on high alert – you will be detected the moment you arrive, and he will teleport away again," Merri said. Victoria scowled as Merri's gaze settled on Leo. With a short nod he recalled Diana and Sunny, clipping their balls to his belt and preparing himself for what was going to come next. Victoria and Lusamine both looked at him as well, the former with a scowl.

"What do you need me to do?" Leo asked. Merri frowned, the glowing third eye increasing in intensity as she focused on him. In a matter of moments she relayed a plan to him via telepathy, connecting with Victoria and Lusamine at the same time and sending the former scuttling off. Lusamine just frowned at Merri as Leo prepared himself.

From what Merri could glean by using Miracle Eye and Future Sight, the power of both bolstered by Sage's aid, Oranguru being among the only species capable of bolstering another pokemon's power outright, Kadabra was not a fighter. Its specialties lie in subterfuge and teleportation – it made a heck of a getaway pokémon for it, even if it couldn't quite teleport all the way between regions yet, but through its training it could detect and escape threats almost as good as an average Alakazam; and it wasn't even a fully grown Kadabra yet.

But it didn't know miracle eye, and therefore would be blind to Leo and Spiritomb.

So he needed to get in, take out Kadabra, possibly subdue Faba, and call in reinforcements in case any collaborators showed up. They didn't have long before Faba teleported away again according to Merri's prediction, so they needed to move quickly. Thankfully, Sunny had proven to have a very special move meant just for delaying opponents from acting. She'd shown it on the Kadabra before, and they'd practiced with it a few times. She would be the crux of the operation here, unless Leo could get close enough to the two to let Spiritomb hit Kadabra. The problem would be getting Sunny close – while in a pokeball Kadabra wouldn't be able to detect her, but as soon as she was let out…

That meant Leo had to get within throwing distance, or close enough, and hurl Sunny's pokeball (and probably Spiritomb's keystone) at the psychic at the same time. Sunny would delay, and Spiritomb would annihilate.

With Faba likely hyper-aware thanks to his recent escape, and paranoid of any tails, it would have to be a blitz from the get-go; a stealthy blitz, but once again Leo was on a time limit.

"I'm ready whenever," Leo said, rolling his shoulders and gripping Spiritomb's keystone in his hand. Merri met his eyes and nodded, but waited patiently.

"The moment I teleport you, go full dark. Let no psychic see you, even myself. I will be watching via future sight, but Mismagius is the key here. The moment Kadabra goes down, destiny bond will fail and I will teleport Victoria, Lusamine and whoever else Victoria gets to your location. Understood?" she asked. Leo nodded, drumming his fingers over the few pokeballs on his belt. He wished he had his entire team, but unfortunately didn't think it made a difference.

The members who could contribute to this were already here.

"Do it," Leo said, kneeling and allowing Merri to project an image of where he would be teleported to into his mind.

Silently he vanished, and silently he appeared in the middle of a dense, dark jungle, only slightly disoriented by the sudden transition. The sun was hidden behind a large hill, shadows stretching in the dense undergrowth and Leo remained perfectly still. The safehouse's roof was just within view in front of him, but mostly hidden in by the mess of bushes and ferns that covered the jungle floor.

Nothing moved in the jungle either, no pokémon, no bugs, nothing. It was still as a mouse, which was both a boon and a problem. He wouldn't disturb anything, but there was nothing moving to mask his sounds either. Leo glanced down at his clothes – a green t-shirt and brown pants – and thanked himself for liking earth tones. Though his shoes were a problem – good hiking boots they may be, he was far quieter without shoes on. So, he took them off, along with his socks, and slowly moved forward, digging his feet into the damp, loamy soil.

It had to have rained recently, because as he moved moisture from the plants around him soaked his clothes and let dirt and other jungle debris cake his feet – this was a blessing though, because it made moving much easier to do without making too much noise. Leo crept forward, keeping his eyes peeled for any sentries but spotting none. That seemed suspicious, but if Faba's entire team had been taken out earlier it made a bit of sense. He probably only had Kadabra out and able to do anything, which would make sneaking up on him far easier. And the battle far easier – he wouldn't have to have Spiritomb take out any fighting 'mon, and both it and Sunny could focus on Kadabra.

Pushing through the undergrowth, Leo finally was able to fully see the safe house. It was less of a house and more of a one-room shack, the log walls simple and plain, with a rickety-looking wooden door facing Leo with a cloudy window beside it. Clearly it had not been maintained all that well, and was fairly old.

Through the window, from where he lay hidden in a dense cluster of ferns, Leo could see Faba pacing back and forth in the middle of the room, occasionally pressing his face close to the glass to glance around outside. With a mental curse Leo backed up a bit and worked his way around the left side, where there was no window for Faba to peek out of, and made his way to the wall of the cabin. Vaguely he could hear muttering through the wall as he circled around the outside, Spiritomb's keystone in one hand and Sunny's pokeball in the other, sneaking up on a second window on the other side of the shack.

Taking a deep breath and stilling his nerves, Leo peeked in the window for a split second before hiding again. Faba had his back turned and Kadabra, who was sitting silently in the middle of the relatively bare room, was focusing on its psychic powers. Probably trying to detect anyone nearby – actually, now that he thought about it, it was probably a really good thing there weren't any pokémon in the immediate area. Kadabra would've noticed their distress, which might have alerted it to his presence.

"Ok, Spiritomb, I'm going to set you on the windowsill. When I throw Sunny's pokeball you head straight towards Kadabra, ok? Take it out before it can teleport," he whispered to the keystone, the ghost whispering in his ears in response. He could practically taste the ghost's agitation, feeding off of Leo's own anger and frustration with the man in the cabin as it was. With a short nod Leo placed Spiritomb's keystone in a corner of the windowsill, doing his best to hide it behind the wooden frame, before moving back around to the front door. Bracing himself and placing his thumb on Sunny's release trigger, he mentally started to count down, preparing for the hopefully brief fight to come.

That was when a phone rang, startling him and nearly sending him into the door.

"Yes, yes! Hello, I'm here!" Faba all but shouted frantically, calming Leo's racing heart for a moment. That had surprised the crap out of him! "Where were you?! I had to escape myself – I know I pressed the panic button, so where was my extraction?! Do you know how many plans I burned getting out of there? Now that my physical escape routes are exposed, it will be all but impossible to get back in and recover the rest of my research!"

Leo paused, filing that information away for later. So…Faba didn't have any help escaping? He found that hard to believe. Static answered Faba, and although Leo strained his ears as hard as he could, even lying down to listen at the crack of the door, he couldn't hear what was being said over the…phone? Radio? Whatever it was.

"What do you mean burned?! I have valuable information!" Faba protested. More static answered him. "I don't care how much of a risk you're taking – you were supposed to help me take over Aether! What happened to that?" he demanded. More static answered him, and Leo worried his lip, wondering when to step in and take out Faba. He really wanted to…but this seemed important as well. Faba was receiving outside help, and those people needed to be taken care of as well.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait, I have – I have information! On a legendary pokémon – a mythical class, even! If you help me out of here I can give it to you," Faba said, suddenly desperate. "No, it's not part of my project, I already have a flash drive with some of the research notes on them. It's not the complete experiment but I can recreate it – ok, ok. Look, I can't tell you until you help me out here. I have very valuable information for you and your organization – just get me out of here, please. If you can't help me take over Aether then get me out of the region. What? No, of course I haven't been followed. I've been planning this escape ever since I first started my work, just in case I got noticed. Please, I'm begging you. Please,"

Silence, then the sound of Faba moving.

"Right, ok. Ok. Ok. Thank you, yes, I'll be there on time. The hotel on Route 8, at four tonight. Got it. In the meantime I'll keep moving, to make sure no one's on my trail. Trust me, your bosses will thank you. Yes. Ok," Faba said, and no more static answered him. "We're in the clear, Kadabra. They'll have a boat ready by four," he said, letting out a sigh of relief, and Leo chose that exact moment to strike. He'd heard what he needed and there was no time to lose.

Winding up like a baseball pitcher, Leo hurled Sunny's pokeball through the window, the metal sphere shattering the glass and letting the Meinfoo out of her ball mid-air.

"Fake out!" Leo shouted, bursting through the front door in the next moment. Sunny was on Kadabra quicker than either it or Faba could blink, slapping it across the face and sending the psychic type stumbling back. Spiritomb wailed hideously, shadows taking over the entire other side of the room as it burst forth, phasing through the glass window with a vicious, unforgiving snarl.

To Faba's credit, he reacted quickly, even if he did scream in a very undignified manner. With a flick of his wrist a pink fish burst from its pokeball, the Bruxish flopping on the ground uselessly.

"Protect!" Faba shrieked, a green shield flickering into existence around him, Kadabra, and the Bruxish. Leo almost cursed, but Sunny was on top of things. Namely, that she was inside the protect shield, and wasn't letting up on Kadabra for a moment. The little fighting type slammed force palm after force palm into the psychic type, beating it into the interior of the protect shield and keeping it stunned just long enough for the protect to fail, and Spiritomb to fall upon them with a vicious savagery.

Kadabra fell first, a tendril of darkness wrapping around its neck and a shadow ball blasting it in the face to knock it out, allowing Spiritomb to descend on the flopping fish next, which flailed and snapped its fangs uselessly against the ghostly aggressor. Leo focused on Faba, who was pale as a ghost and staring at where Kadabra was now unconscious, Sunny growling and advancing towards him threateningly.

"Surrender," Leo began, and Faba screamed, jumping out the window nearest to Spiritomb, heedless of the potential injuries the glass it may cause. Leo cursed and plucked Prince's pokeball off his belt, throwing the Persian out after Faba. "Stop him!" he bellowed, only just catching sight of the tan feline appearing, yowling, and pouncing on something. A cursory glance out the window showed Prince sitting on Faba's chest, one massive paw planted beside the scientist's head while he himself gently placed his fangs on the man's throat, daring him to move.

With a short nod Leo stepped back, vaguely aware of a sharp pain in his foot that, when he glanced down, showed how stupid it was to run into a room full of glass with no shoes on. He was bleeding now, thanks to breaking the windows. With a sigh he sat on the ground, grabbing his foot and turning his head only when the sound of crashing in the jungle indicated Victoria had arrived once again. Sunny whined at him, walking up and placing a paw on his bleeding foot, a wide shard of glass sticking out of the sole, looking up at him worriedly.

Leo pat her on the head, smiling reassuringly, and watched as Spiritomb finished off the Bruxish, tossing the psychic fish against the wall with a shriek. He shook his head. Let's not let Faba escape this time.

"I hope you understand that you won't be going with us," Victoria said, arms crossed as she stared down at Leo. He was currently sitting on a bed in the medical wing of the Aether Paradise, having been teleported back by Merri after ensuring Faba was secured once again. Just moments ago he'd had the glass shard removed from his foot, which was then wrapped in bandages. He'd already given the debriefing of what happened to Victoria and Lusamine, telling them about Faba's planned extraction, and a punitive strike team was promptly formed to take care of it.

It would, of course, be spearheaded by Victoria, but consisted of local Rangers and police officers, and one InterPol agent who had been teleported in only recently, instead of Aether staff.

"I don't want to," Leo said honestly. "Not after stepping on glass like an idiot. Plus, half my team is down. Spiritomb seems ok, but fighting the Nihilego still tired it out a bit – which leaves me with Diana, who is the opposite of subtle, and Sunny, who has more than proven her worth but still needs training. It would be stupid of me to go," Victoria grunted, nodding her head and visibly relieved she didn't have to argue with Leo about it.

"We figured out how Faba escaped, by the way," she said. "Replayed the security footage. Unfortunately there weren't any cameras in the room he was being held, but there were cameras where he emerged. Want to go see?" she asked. Emerged? What did she mean by that? Leo figured he'd find out soon enough.

"Yes, please. I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to," Leo said. "All being in this room is doing is reminding me that, after all that – the Ultra Beasts, Faba, everything – that the only thing that actually injured me was my own idea," Victoria stifled a snort of amusement, watching Leo carefully as he swung his legs over the bed and carefully put some pressure on his injured foot. A sharp pain interrupted that, making him wince. The glass shard was bigger than he'd thought it'd been, and would probably take some time to heal. So he begrudgingly reached for the crutches he'd been given, and followed after Victoria like a three-legged goblin.

"I do need to talk to Lusamine after this, though," Leo said on the way.

"We both do," Victoria agreed. "But I have to wait until later. You should be able to find her in her mansion. She, uh, still needs some time to recover, though Nanu posted some troopers outside to keep an eye on things while he and Holly make sure Faba doesn't go anywhere,"

"Nanu?" Leo asked.

"The Kahuna of Ula'Ula Island. He's also the head of the police for all of Alola, though with all the complaining he does about the job I expect he'll find a replacement soon," Victoria explained. "He's still here somewhere, I think. Helping the investigation – InterPol was trying to make this their thing and keep everyone else out, but Nanu stepped in after Faba's escape attempt. InterPol has its uses, but…I don't know. I haven't been all that impressed with the way they handle things recently. It's like they're trying to handle too many things at once, and therefore can't find the time to focus on what they're doing. Shoot, part of the reason Faba escaped in the first place was because the InterPol officers were arguing with the guards we posted outside his holding area,"

Leo hummed at that, testing his foot again because he hated the crutches and finding that, as he expected, it still hurt.

"That sucks," he said, but it made sense in a way. InterPol was a relatively new organization, only having been founded a dozen or so years ago, as a result of increased traffic and communications between regions. If everything he'd heard about them was right then they were still experiencing growing pains, and struggling with the bureaucracy that came with dealing with interregional politics. "Bet they're thinking that if they take charge of this situation and help 'solve' it, that will help further legitimize their authority in other regions. I understand they've been having trouble with that everywhere outside of, like, Sinnoh,"

"Most likely," Victoria said, a little bitterly. "Which would certainly help them do what they were created to do, but they don't have to be such jerks about it. Anyway, here we are. Go inside and see if you can find the issue," she said, gesturing towards a small, relatively empty room. Two mechanics stood outside, talking to each other and scratching their heads as Leo pushed the door open, examining the interior.

There were no windows. The door was sturdy, but not overly thick or anything. This wasn't a room designed to hold prisoners – Aether Paradise was not a prison, it was a place for research and healing. This room had clearly been repurposed, though the metal lock in the door indicated it may have once been for keeping supplies.

"Why wasn't Faba immediately moved to a prison cell?" Leo questioned, shaking his head. Victoria didn't answer as he moved about, kicking the walls and looking for anything obvious. A closer inspection of the room revealed not much either, and Leo admitted that he was stumped. Faba hadn't just teleported out?

"Look here," Victoria said, coming up behind him and moving him out of the way. She bent and very carefully dug her fingernails in-between two of the metal panels that made up the floor – there was no carpet or linoleum covering the floor like there was most of the rest of the manmade island, it was just metal – and pulled up. The steel sheet lifted with a bit of effort from Victoria, revealing a narrow crawlspace lined with pipes and wires. Leo whistled, setting his crutches aside and lying on the ground, sticking his head down there and looking left and right.

"How far does this go?" he asked.

"A ways. So far it seems to be a maintenance crawlway, Lusamine has some people looking into the building plan to see if it was added later, or if this was part of the design," she said.

"What are the odds that Lusamine chose this exact spot to keep Faba?" Leo muttered, horror gnawing at his gut as a terrible thought occurred to him. It wasn't coincidence, was it? "No one helped him escape?"

"Not that we can tell. Security footage shows him emerging close to medical, where his pokémon were being kept, and teleporting topside from there. His timing was impeccable – he slipped in and out of the holding area with his pokémon without being noticed. Some of Nanu's people are questioning the medical staff about it, but we're not holding out hope," Victoria said. "He's been planning this escape for years, and no one knew he himself was psychic. Lusamine said to put him in this room specifically to hold him until InterPol or whoever came to get him – do you want to know what her two backup plans had in common with this one?" Victoria asked.

"No way," Leo said, appalled at the implication. "You can't be serious. They all have access this?" Victoria nodded and Leo pushed himself up, letting her close the hole up. That was…

That was meticulous planning from Faba. Hypnotizing Lusamine so that his escape route was secured when things went south, on top of everything else he did? He should've broken at least one of Faba's bones while he had the chance. Preferably multiple.

"Lusamine has a long road to recovery ahead of her," Victoria said softly. Leo sighed heavily and nodded. He wished he could do more – because that was just not right. On so many levels. With a sigh he grabbed the crutches and stood back up, rubbing his face tiredly. It had been a long day and he wanted to sleep now, but there were still some things he wanted to do. "But she's tough. She'll manage,"

"Yeah. I hope so," Leo said. They were silent for a moment longer before Victoria clapped her hands together and cracked her neck.

"Right, well, just wanted to catch you up on that. I've still got to go to the briefings and prepare, so I'll see you later," she said, patting him on the shoulder as she passed him by. Leo wished her luck as she left, then, with another heavy sigh, headed towards the elevator. He wasn't necessarily looking forward to meeting up with Lusamine again to drill her for information, but his curiosity was burning him up. Because if Faba was desperate enough to go after Lusamine right after escaping, then whatever she had was important.

"Come in," Lusamine called from inside her office, prompting Leo to enter. She must've known he was coming because the door had been unlocked, and the officers guarding the front door let him in without a word. Gladion and Lillie had been there to greet him, the Rockruff piled at their feet in the entry hall, but they were subdued. Understandable, of course, but it still pained Leo to see them like that. A few quick jokes and riling up the Rockruff quickly solved that, and the two kids ran off to play with the puppies.

"Hey," Leo said, hobbling his way into the office and keeping his eyes on Lusamine. Her eyes were a little puffy but her expression was a stiff mask – had he not been looking for it, he doubted he would've caught her distress. She might've been crying even, not like Leo could blame her for that.

"I suppose you're here to ask about the mythical pokémon?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and drumming her fingers on her desk. Mismagius floated behind her, hiding in the curtains and smiling mischievously at him, witch fire dancing along the brim of her hat.

"Among other things," he said, nodding. Leo had told Lusamine what Faba had said about mythical pokémon, and she had immediately stiffened. She knew what was going on there. "Medical wanted me to tell you that Fluffy was going to be fine. The venom didn't have enough time to sink fully into his system, same as my team. Give them a few days, and they'll have the toxins completely flushed out,"

"Good. Good. I suppose I owe him some treats now, for all the helping he did," Lusamine said, forcing a smile on her face. Silence reigned for a little bit, before she reached down, opened a drawer on her desk, and pulled out a dull, steel-colored pokeball. Leo frowned. He'd never seen anything like that, in or out of the games. Was it an unpainted pokeball? "This is what Faba was after,"

"You caught a mythical pokémon?" Leo asked, raising his eyebrows. Since when?!

"No. This is just a shell that my late husband found right after Lillie was born. Its name is Magearna, a mythical pokémon said to have been created over five hundred years ago by an ancient civilization," Lusamine said slowly. "Though we never found a way to activate it. It's missing a key component – the thing that gives it power. The shell itself is still a marvel, however; despite studying it for the better part of six years, we still don't completely understand how it works," to emphasize her point Lusamine pressed a button on the pokeball, the release trigger, and tossed it to the side.

With a snap and a hiss the ball expanded, cracking open and metal pouring out of the now-opened ball, the golem-like body of the pokémon expanding from the inside while the ball itself increased in size, splitting apart until finally it formed a three-foot-tall metal being with a hole in its chest and eyes without light.

"Best we can figure, its body is also its pokeball," Lusamine said. "And this thing was made five hundred years ago, back when pokeballs were made from apricorn shells,"

"Faba was after this?" Leo asked, circling around the shell of a pokémon and raising an eyebrow. Lusamine nodded.

"That, or the Type: Null. I didn't have them on me at the time though, they're in their pokeballs in the medical wing under heavy security, so I can only assume he was after Magearna. Ever since Mohn brought this home – to be a gift to Lillie, once she was old enough and if we ever found out how to turn it on – he's wanted to run more dangerous tests than I was willing to allow on it to see how it was made. Despite everything that's happened, that was one thing I never let him do," Lusamine said sadly, a bit of life entering her voice despite that. Leo smiled at her and nodded, though he was thoroughly blindsided by this turn of events.

Who'da thunk that Lusamine had a mythical pokémon? Even if it wasn't functional. Hell, Leo only vaguely remembered Magearna from seeing it standing there now, not knowing any of the lore or history behind the pokémon at all. He didn't even know what type it was.

"Well, at least Faba's well and truly behind bars now," Leo said. "He escaped the first time because of luck and bureaucracy. That won't happen again, and now Nanu's taken a personal interest in him. Victoria said he's got a tracker on him now, too,"

Lusamine huffed and bit back a comment, rubbing her face. Obviously she had something to say about that, but thought better of it and let it be. Leo, on the other hand, now had very little to really say. He wasn't sure where to go from here, so turned and headed toward the door.

"What you said, before all this, about you being older than you look," Lusamine started, stopping him at the door. "Were you being serious?"

"Yes," Leo said, looking at her over his shoulder and readjusting his crutches. He should really stop being a baby about the cut in his foot and toss the crutches but…he put some weight on it again, and winced. Painful things were painful. "It's been an interesting few years, reverting to a child,"

He thought for a moment about his past, and smiled. "Funny, I haven't really talked to anyone about my old life since coming to this world. Sure, Victoria and Professor Oak know but…they don't know, you know?" he asked.

"I do believe I understand what that feels like," Lusamine said, readjusting her position in her chair. She hesitated briefly, then gestured to one of the armchairs across from her. "Will you tell me about it? I find the idea hard to believe, fascinating, and entirely plausible considering the crazy things that can happen in the world," Leo nodded and hobbled back over to the chair, setting his crutches on the floor and settling down, wondering where to start. Most of the places, names, and things wouldn't mean anything to Lusamine, so he started with simple stories about his family, friends, and life. Silly things, funny things, and after a few minutes he and Lusamine were swapping stories about life that had them both chuckling.

And that was how they spent the night. She couldn't sleep, not even after everything that had happened, so after she made dinner for Lillie and Gladion, played with them a little, and put them to bed, they resumed their conversation until late in the night. Leo couldn't do much beyond that. He was not therapist, and he was no doctor to help her work through whatever Faba had done to her mind. The only thing he could do was distract her from the weight of what happened, because agonizing over things like that didn't help. And if he could make her forget her woes for a little while, then he considered that a success.

The raid went about as well as could be expected, from what Leo learned after the fact. About a dozen people were apprehended, and a number of names of conspirators within Aether revealed. Said people were quickly arrested and set to be put on trial at a later date, while the Alolan Police Force collected evidence against them, and the trial was prepared. There were no immediate connections to organizations outside Alola, but both Leo and Victoria suspected there were. He couldn't quite remember right the details right, but there should be a number of synthetic pokémon made by humans in other regions.

Mewtwo was an obvious one, and one of the first conclusions he jumped to, but there was also the likes of Porygon and Spiritomb…he was pretty sure Genesect from Unova was a synthetic pokémon? Maybe not, but this kind of research would be valuable to a lot of people. Faba created pokémon capable of battling very, very powerful extradimensional beings – and while only three of the however many dozen test subjects are actually viable, he still did it. Outside collaborators and investors were all but guaranteed, but the initial search hadn't turned up any solid leads.

Maybe they'd find something with further investigations, but not yet. As it was, it was out of Leo's wheelhouse. He wasn't a detective, and involving himself further into the situation would likely cause more problems than it solved – simply because he wouldn't know what he was doing, and he had to know when to take a step back. As much as he wanted to be a part of things and help fix this issue, he couldn't. Even Victoria stepped aside, letting Nanu take the reins because she is, and he quotes "a hammer – great for hitting nails, but not much else." On the flip side, she was spending a lot of time with Lusamine and the team she'd left behind in Alola, as well as "training" Leo once his foot healed up by routinely beating him and his team into the ground.

It wasn't until about three weeks after Faba's arrest – who remained in custody to this day, with very little hope of ever getting out. Super Max prisons, where Faba had been moved to, were no joke here. Armed guards, powerful pokémon, lots of ghosts, dark types, and psychics…yeah, it was actually insane how much security went into those kinds of prisons. Either way, it wasn't until three weeks after Faba's arrest that the big changes started to settle in.

"So, care to explain what your thought process here is?" Professor Oak asked, watching Leo train his team. The old professor had arrived two weeks ago, taking a "business trip," as he called it, to come to Alola and help out. He didn't actually do a whole lot of meddling besides taking a keen interest in Faba's research notes and helping to decode those, but his presence did give everyone a bit of peace of mind. He was THE Professor, after all.

"He's trying to up her agility," Gary said from off to the side, where he was wrestling with two Rockruff. Leo watched him out of the corner of his eye for a moment, then turned his attention back to Diana.

"Try again, girl, you've almost got it. Remember what I taught you about being in stance? It's not about taking a stance and holding it, it's about being able to unleash powerful strikes no matter what position you're in – or, rather, having a strong stance no matter how it's held so you can strike," Leo advised. Diana hummed and stared at the thick metal pole lodged in the ground. With a blast of air she shot forward, a second blast diverting her from hitting it and arresting her momentum and, in that same instant that she stopped right next to the pole, shooting her to the side to crash into it with a metallic clang. That was close, but not quite what they were looking for. Her adjustments of movements were still a little slow.

"Ever since she's evolved she's had a bit of trouble with mobility. Not that she can't move, but that she can only move in straight lines. If we can adjust that her utility will increase tenfold, and she'll be better equipped to handle situations. She's got the power to do it, we just need to practice," Leo said, watching Diana closely. The Professor nodded, scratching his chin.

"You really think it will work?" he asked for the umpteenth time.

"You tell me, you're the professor," Leo quipped with a smile, showing there was no real meaning to it. "Yes, it will work. You've already seen the progress we've made – when we started, she would've just crashed into the pole,"

"True, true. Merri saved millions in structural damages by stopping your Pupitar from crashing into walls in that first week," he said with a laugh. Leo grinned and glanced stretched, glancing around the room. A few days ago he, Professor Oak, and Gary all went to Melemele for some relaxation and to see the islands, but now they were back at the Aether Paradise.

With a glance at the clock hanging on the wall Leo sighed and recalled Diana, telling her good job and letting Xena out of her ball next. The dragon yawned, glanced around, then butted her head against Leo's shoulder.

"Yes, yes, hello to you too," he laughed, scratching the side of her neck as she grumbled at him. "Sorry but we're not going to be training quite yet. It's time to go see Type: Null," Xena whined and pushed harder against him, earning herself another chuckle. With a gentle shove he pushed her away, the dragon shaking herself and stretching not unlike a cat, yawning as she did so.

"She's quite affectionate," the Professor remarked, glancing at his watch. "But yes, I do believe it's about time to go. Gary! Recall the Rockruff and let's go,"

"But gramps, they can follow me!" Gary protested, one Rockruff tugging on his shirt while the other gently held his arm between his jaws, pulling him in the opposite direction.

"No buts," Oak said, and though Gary whined some more he pulled himself out of the Rockruff's grasp and recalled them. The Professor hadn't said he'd let Gary have one, nor had he said anything about Ash, but all it took was letting Gary play with the Rockruff once and Leo knew the old man would succumb eventually. Even in the pokémon world, the "boy and his dog" trope was well and truly alive – Gary would be getting a Rockruff, one way or another.

With that, Leo led the way through Aether and up to the conservation area, where the Type: Null were being released to socialize with other pokémon. This would be their fourth introduction – the first two times all three had just stood around, ignoring everything but commands from their handlers, but on the third time they'd showed a little bit of a reaction when a group of Ribombee fluttered by an started harassing them playfully.

Hopefully this time they'd be a little better.

"…but, like I said, Spiritomb's showing surprising growth," Leo explained as he walked, Professor Oak having started asking about Spiritomb. The ghost in his pocket whispering in his ears at the mention of its name, but quieted when it realized Leo wasn't addressing it. They stopped walking in front of the conservation area doors, and were waiting for them to be opened. Because of Type: Null the area was currently off-limits to non-essential personnel. Leo was, thankfully, considered essential. "Not only is it much calmer now than when I first got it, but it's even started playing pranks on me. I think that's Froslass' personality starting to shine because, if you remember, she was absorbed into it, but it's still nice to see," with a ding the doors to the conservation area opened, letting them step through.

"I see. You mentioned the spirits themselves merging in one of your reports, any progress on that front?" Oak asked speculatively, eyes forward and scanning the area.

"Last I checked, we were about halfway done. The number of spirits are hard to count, but I think we've gotten down to the fifties. The merge rate actually spiked after dealing with Faba and helping Type: Null," Leo said, recalling the last time he'd managed to meditate and merge a spirit with Spiritomb successfully. That…had not been a fun night. Doing that meant reliving the memories of that particular spirit and, fragmented though they were, that spirit was a soldier. Leo learned what it felt like to be slashed with a sword that night. But, imagine his surprise afterwards when the number of spirits were vastly different from last he recalled.

"Why do you think that is?" Oak asked as they walked along the metal walkway, coming into view of the medical staff, pokémon handlers, and various other employees who were watching Type: Null as they roamed the enclosure.

"Spiritomb was created by someone, Professor. There was no name to this creator, but that's what the memories of the ghost and Leader Morty's records point to; a real mad scientist sort that experimented on people and pokémon to combine them into what we see know. What was Faba? A mad scientist. The parallels helped it, I think. We couldn't stop what happened to Spiritomb and caused the burning of the tower – we could stop Faba, and rescue the Type: Null," Leo reasoned. Gary, at this point, darted past the two and ran to the railing, oohing and aaahing at the chimeric pokémon below.

"Leo, you're a little late," one of the handlers said, turning to him. Leo nodded, patting Xena as she squeezed between himself and the Professor, staring down at the Type: Null as they cautiously sniffed Santiago, who stood still as a statue and just let them assess him. The Slowking had taken an intense interest in the Type: Null, and always insisted on being present and awake for when Leo got to interact with them. It was to the point where he left Leo alone to go interact with them by himself.

"I see Santiago got a head start," Leo said dryly, walking up to the woman and waving the Alolan greeting. "They're clearly more active now than before,"

"Therapy is starting to have positive effects on them," the handler said, waving back and gesturing down to Santiago. "Your Slowking has been very helpful in that regard; he's very gently been coaxing reactions out of them, and encouraging them to interact with each other and other pokémon. It's been very interesting, especially when he brings the guitar out. The music seems to be having a positive effect on the Type: Null,"

"Good, good. Do you want me to hop down there, then?" he said, Xena already launching herself over the handrail and into the conservation pit. She landed with a thud and, though the Type: Null whipped their heads towards the newest pokémon didn't bristle or move to attack. Instead one of them moved over to inspect her, jumping up and putting its claw-like front legs on her shoulders, sniffing at her through its metal helmet.

"Not quite yet," the handler said. "We want them to get used to other pokémon too, not just humans. Let them have some time to roam a bit, and we'll be watching with their pokeballs," Leo nodded and took a step away from the railing, a little disappointed but understanding of the situation. Interacting with the Type: Null was like talking to a brick wall at times, or a robot because they were perfectly obedient, but that made the moments they surprised him or reacted outside their established norms all the more rewarding.

"Got it. I'll stay back then," he said, and just…watched for a moment. Now that their inspection of Xena and Santiago were done, the three Type: Null cautiously began to move about the rest of the enclosure, investigating the fences that separated them from the rest of the conservation area and shuffling through the dirt.

This went on for about thirty minutes, just letting the Type: Null socialize and observing them, until Lusamine finally appeared. Leo had to do a double-take when he spotted her, walking hand-in-hand with her children and wearing something that wasn't stark-white. Instead she wore a simple green dress, of similar make to her other, flared dresses, but still different enough to surprise him. She motioned her kids forward and, preempting the demands he was sure to be barraged with, Leo let out Zuko and Sunny on the platform to distract the children.

Lillie squealed and welcomed Zuko with open arms as he leapt at her, butting his head up against her chin, Sunny joining in by wiggling into her hug as well, while Gladion was distracted primarily by the Type: Null.

"Leo, it is good to see you," Lusamine said, approaching him with a smile. Leo nodded to her, having not seen her much the past few days. She'd been pretty busy dealing with the fallout of Faba the past few weeks, but the last few days had been hectic in particular.

"Lusamine, how are you doing?" he asked, exchanging pleasantries with her.

"Good. Better. I was hoping I'd find you here," she said, looking over Leo's shoulder at Professor Oak, who had taken notice of the conversation and was approaching. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss with you," she said.

"Shoot," Leo said.

"I'm going to be stepping down from being the President of Aether," she said bluntly, and Leo blinked at her. What? "Wicke will be taking my place as the interim president until I return, but…I'm going to be taking a few months to go to therapy, and," she paused there, as if not sure how to continue.

"That's a great idea," Leo said, filling in for her. "Take some time to be with your kids, your team, to relax, and focus on healing. Don't let yourself get too bored though, not having an entire company to run and children to raise at the same time,"

"I will be taking time to recuperate, yes. Some vacation time is long overdue for me. Of course, I will still be assisting Wicke, but I will be stepping away from the primary duties of the president," she explained. "That said, I do have a few requests for you. If you are willing, I will be giving you more responsibilities within Aether. You won't be managing anything, I wouldn't want to take you away from your journey, but we will be giving you more tasks to complete. As in; the conservation efforts part of your sponsorship contract will finally come into play,"

"So like, I'd finally be able to go around helping you all deal with problem pokémon and such?" Leo asked, and Lusamine nodded.

"Yes, but in a much higher capacity than I was originally going to give you. If you've proven anything, it's that you can handle yourself. This rise in position will come with a few benefits, of course, including access to a few ride pokémon, for ease of travel around the island. At least until you have your own," she said.

"That sounds awesome, thank you," Leo said gratefully. He'd been needing reliable transport, badly.

"Wicke will give you the contracts you need to sign later. Secondly, I want you to represent Aether in an upcoming tournament on Akala. It's a tournament held in celebration of the Tapus, a yearly holiday that's turned into a massive event. The details will be given to you later, but you should have a month or two to prepare," she explained. Leo nodded. He could do that. Come to think of it, he hadn't been doing much competitive battling recently, had he? There had been a bunch of fights that he'd gotten into and he'd done a lot of training, but not much in the way of trainer-on-trainer one-on-one battles.

"I can do that," Leo agreed, glancing down into the enclosure to see a handler slowly lowering himself down and greeting one of the Type: Null as it approached. He wore thick leather gloves that went all the way up past his elbows, which was necessary because the Type: Null had sharp claws and little sense of gentleness. Many a lab coat had been torn to shreds by them until that lesson was learned. "A tournament sounds fun – I've never actually competed in one. Are there prizes?"

"Of course," Lusamine said. "The winnings will all be yours, but you will be required to wear something more…appropriate than your usual clothes. Something with Aether's logo on it," Leo chuckled at that and nodded in agreement. Since Aether was his sponsor, it did only make sense for him to at least have some sort of logo visible when making public appearances like that. It was like being an athlete in that regard.

"One more thing," she said slowly. "I want you to train a Type: Null, both for your own safety in case ultra-wormholes start to open again, and for the sake of the pokémon itself,"

"Really?!" Leo asked, unable to hide his surprise and excitement. She'd let him take a Type: Null?! That was awesome! He wasn't going to lie and say he hadn't been hoping for this though, that was part of the reason he tried to be so involved in the process of rehabilitating the pokémon themselves. Plus there were three of them, which meant Gladion could still get his own if and when the time came, if he managed to snag one.

"Under conditions," Lusamine said sharply, curbing Leo's excitement. "You must make frequent reports on the pokemon's progress and abilities, you must aid in the research, and you can't always take it with you on your journey around the islands. They will need time here for routine checkups. And if anything untoward starts to happen – its too unstable, it starts to get sick, anything like that? It's back to us. Professor Oak, our own Professor Kukui, and my own advisors all agree that letting one travel and train with a human could give us valuable insight into the species, but we must be careful,"

"Got it. Understandable," Leo said, nodding vigorously.

"Good. Now, I'm going to be going public soon about stepping down, and telling the press what happened to Faba. They're already starting to catch wind, and it'd be best to come clean before this blows up," she said. "It's honestly a miracle we've managed to keep things quiet so far,"

"That's true, I'm surprised it hasn't been all over the news," Leo said. It was a stark contrast to what happened with Boone – that was all over the news even before Leo realized he'd been filmed. This was the exact opposite, he kept waiting for it to hit the news but it never did.

Either way, things were rapidly changing now. And, as he stood there leaning over the railing of the walkway watching the Type: Null, his team members, and listening in as Lusamine and Professor Oak struck up a conversation about the bonds between pokémon and human, and how they were beneficial to both human and pokémon, he came to a quiet realization. He actually could change things.

As of now, it seemed like the events of Sun and Moon had been averted – at least, in the main vein. Something might still happen, but it didn't look like Lusamine was on track to becoming the main antagonist anymore. Faba was behind bars, and the corruption that had snuck into Aether was slowly being purged. And Leo had started it all. He allowed himself a small moment of pride at the thought, a smile worming its way onto his face as he watched Xena bat playfully at the head of a Type: Null, the chimera not quite understanding what to do about it. The dragon was insistent though, and Leo had faith that it would figure it out.

Still, there was work to be done. This crisis had been averted, but there was still the mess that was Kanto. Leo frowned at that thought. He wasn't quite ready to tackle that can of worms, but before he'd felt entirely helpless. Now he was starting to think otherwise. He sighed as that thought entered his mind, and stuck there.

Damn his sense of duty. He'd have to try to do something about Kanto now, wouldn't he? But that was for later. Now he just wanted to enjoy some time with his team, and with his friends.

Two days later, Leo received a package from Unova. It was small, and when he opened it glitter exploded all over his face, sending him, Santiago, and Link spluttering and reeling away from the offending package.

The sender was one Jack Spalding from Opelucid City, the address neatly stamped in the upper corner of the package. Leo spat glitter out of his mouth and cackled, pulling out the small letter Jack had written, calling him all kinds of names and asking him how he was. Now he had an address. Now was time for war.

Chapter Text

"…are you even listening, Leo?" Victoria asked, exasperated, as she paused in her explanation. Leo himself didn't even flinch at the accusation, continuing to wrestle with Zuko while Stein – short for Frankenstein, his newly named Type: Null, watched from the sidelines. Zuko yipped at him and spluttered as Leo playfully shoved him away, bounding backwards with his back arched and tongue lolling.

"Yes. You were explaining the different tiers in the Akala tournament," Leo said, never letting his eyes leave Zuko. The fire type lowered himself to the ground in anticipation, muscles tensing as Leo slowly lowered himself to the ground as well, so his chest was pressed against the dusty, reddish-brown dirt of the Wela Volcano Park. "Beginner, Intermediate, Expert, and Captain,"

"And what are the differences?" Victoria asked. Zuko chose that moment to attack, leaping forward and planting both front paws on Leo's head, shoving his face in the dirt and prompting him to reach up and grab him by the sides, rolling him off. Zuko rolled many more times than was necessary, coating his blue fur in a fine layer of dust before popping up and darting off, running as fast as he could into the dry grass not too far away, then back out again.

"Beginner is easy baby mode, captain is for Trial Captains and people of that level," Leo explained simply. Victoria rolled her eyes. "You want me to enter the expert tier though, for some reason,"

"Because, like I said, if you enter in Intermediate there's a good chance you'll win, but the trainers won't get challenging for you until the later rounds. Expert will be much more of a test of skill for you and your team," she explained. Leo sighed and sat up, dusting off his shirt and petting Zuko as the hyperactive Quilava came running by, rubbing up against his leg before darting off again.

"I'm no expert," he said bluntly.

"It's just a skill level system, Leo. Think of it in terms of badges, if that helps you; Beginner is one to three badges, Intermediate is three to five, and Expert is six to eight. Captain is actually for what you would call ACE or Victory Road trainers – there will be a special exhibition for the current trial captains and Kahunas. When you left Johto you were estimated to be at a five badge level – now you're probably at six or seven. You're not at the top, not yet, but you're getting there," she explained. "Besides, I think you're misunderstanding that you don't have a choice in the matter. You've already been signed up for the expert tier tournament,"

"I understand that, I'm still just trying to wrap my head around it," Leo said slowly, eyes locking onto Stein as the canid pokémon stood up. His eyes, almost hidden behind the heavy iron mask he wore, were fixated on Leo as he advanced, talon-like claws digging deep furrows into the ground.

"You're overthinking it, is what you are," Victoria said. "If I didn't think you'd find at least some measure of success in the tournament, then I wouldn't have pushed to put you there. That being said, we do still need to do a lot training so you don't embarrass me in your first tournament,"

"That's why we're here," Leo said with a sigh, lifting a hand so Stein could sniff it, then gently running said hand down the canid's neck. Feathers covered the neck area, while fur of varying consistency covered the rest of his body. In some areas it was course and rough, while others were luxurious and soft – it was truly a strange mismatch of textures. "Easy, Stein, easy," he said firmly as the Type: Null reached up with one taloned paw and laid it on his shoulder, sniffing him through the mask.

Leo winced as said talons dug into his skin, and winced again when Stein loosened his grip and withdrew his talons – the claws sticking into the fabric and absolutely shredding his shirt.

"Hey, be careful!" he protested, standing up sharply and glaring at Stein. Another quick glance at his shoulder through the mangled green fabric that had once been his shirt showed him that he'd been cut, too. Three thin lines of blood appeared from where Stein had cut him, and while Leo knew that it hadn't been intentional, "be careful" was a lesson he'd been trying to impart on the pokémon ever since he was first given the ultra ball a few weeks ago. Stein cocked his head to the side uncomprehendingly as Leo showed him what he did to his shirt.

"Be careful," he reiterated sternly, hoping the point got across. He didn't know his own strength, after all. After a few moments Leo sighed and patted Stein's side, scratching his neck a few times before recalling him.

"All good?" Victoria asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I just didn't bring an extra shirt, like an idiot," Leo grumbled. Now he knew why Gladion dressed like such an edge lord in the sun and moon games. A sweatshirt and sweatpants with tears in them? In the Alola region, a tropical paradise? It screams angst.

It's also practical to have heavy, disposable clothing you don't mind being ruined when dealing with a pokémon that doesn't understand the concept of gentleness on a daily basis. Well, at least Stein was learning.

"Well that's on you then," Victoria dismissed, turning from where she sat on a small rock and looking up at Wela Volcano. She'd brought him here for some training, and seeing as how this was a haven for fire types, it was training for one of Leo's teammates in particular. It was training for Zuko. He was ready to evolve. Ever since Faba's arrest, Zuko had been working tirelessly on flamethrower. Honing it, turning it from a blunt hammer of an attack into a fiery laser. Now, he was nowhere near mastering the move – but he was far above where he had been before, and now he was looking and acting ready for a final evolution.

The trick was just getting the butthead to evolve. He was ready. Leo knew he was ready. Zuko himself knew he was ready. Santiago said he was ready. Victoria wondered why he hadn't already evolved. Yet he still hadn't.

He was a stubborn little fool, that was to be certain. He couldn't be certain, but Leo was almost positive that Zuko was holding himself back from evolving for some reason or another.

"What's the goal here again?" Leo asked.

"Go find the Totem Pokemon, challenge it to a fight, win, then see if your little firestarter got enough spark in him to evolve from that," Victoria summed up, shrugging her shoulders.

"That's a pretty straightforward plan, at least," he admitted, glancing around the barren area. They'd been in this spot for a little while now, waiting for the Totem to show because apparently Victoria knew this was one of its sparring spots or something, and Leo was getting a little bored. Hence why he'd been wrestling with Zuko, and asking questions about the tournament. Speaking of which, that reminded him that he had another question to ask…

"Back on the topic of the tournament, what kind of competition will I be facing? Do you have any idea?" he asked. Victoria paused what she was doing, whittling a piece of wood into the crude shape of a Persian – Leo said crude, but that was only because it was in the beginning stages – and hummed thoughtfully.

"The higher you go in the ranks of trainers, the more specialized the teams become. Lower tiers are a mishmash of pokémon, you can just as well run into a team full of Rattattas as a team of half-evolved flying types in the beginning tier. Intermediate is where people start to find their stride, it separates the talented from the lucky and you never know what you'll find there. Expert is a strange middle-ground, actually. It's made up of people who have found their type specialty, like normal or grass or whatever, but may not have filled out their teams with that type yet. Or, better yet, they may specialize in a more esoteric type, like defensive 'mon. You may even run into a true-blue veteran testing out a new team composition," she summarized. "So basically, expect to be fighting specialists. Be it bulky water types, speedy attackers, or, shoot, I've even run into someone who specialized in canine-type pokémon, there's going to be a lot of that in the expert tier,"

"Figures," Leo said. Generalists were a lot harder to come by in the upper tiers, for many reasons. The first and foremost being that you had to understand and learn how to train and handle far more pokémon than specialists. Using Victoria's example of a trainer specializing in "defensive pokémon," it meant that the trainer only had to think about learn about a specific style of fighting. One that could be applied to all their pokémon – and that made them incredibly dangerous.

It was like…in martial arts, Leo figured there were two basic schools of thought. There was what he called the Kung Fu, or Chinese, school of thought, which was to have a move or strike for any situation, and then there was the Karate, or Japanese, school of thought, where you had a minimum number of moves that were honed and practiced to such a degree that they could be used in any situation. It was the difference between improv and rote acting, in a way. Both could be great, and both could be horrible. That was what specialists did – they found their niche and dominate it, be it hard offensive improve, or rote defensiveness that ground down opponents with outrageous endurance.

Generalists typically tried to do everything and failed, or had yet to find their battling style. But for the ones that were good…well, they were the best. Unconquerable. The founder of the Indigo League all those centuries ago was a generalist, though there weren't really any good examples of that style of trainer at the moment. The generations of champions Leo knew from the games were only just starting to take their titles. Cynthia, the go-to example of a generalist trainer for Leo, wasn't champion yet either, for example. At least, not last time he'd checked.

Either way, it meant Leo had to go into this tournament with as much momentum as he could – he'd be at a disadvantage against trainers with well-established teams and styles. Especially since, unlike in the games, a single pokémon with type advantage couldn't take out an entire team of pokémon. Xena wouldn't be able to sweep a team of rock-types all by herself. Not unless the power disparity was massively wide.

"You'll do fine, don't worry about it. Or should I say, you will do fine, because if you do poorly I'm going to beat the living tar out of you," Victoria added in jest. Leo laughed and shook his head, knowing that she was only half-joking. If he disappointed her somehow, like getting wiped by a shmuck of an opponent in the first round, then she'd run him through training hell for sure.

With that little threat out of the way, Leo settled back in to wait for the Totem Pokemon to show up, chatting with Victoria and watching Zuko be, well, Zuko. That was, until a shiver ran up his spine and Spiritomb began whispering all kinds of nonsense in his ears. With a frown Leo started looking around, sensing something amiss, and finally settled his gaze on his shadow. His very, very dark shadow. In the afternoon, with the sun directly overhead.

He sighed.

"Do you mind?" he deadpanned, staring at his shadow unimpressed, then shuddered as another something seemed to slide down his spine. In response ghostly purple fires flickered around the edges of his shadow, the darkness swirling as a bone-white skull rose up out of the ground. It was followed by blackened skin that burned with the same ghostly fires, and continued to rise, and rise, and rise, until the Alolan Marowak was looming a good head and shoulders over Leo. The ghost/fire type stared at him and he stared back, not unimpressed, but not overly impressed by the display either. Maybe he was a bit jaded.

It was impressive in its own right, but the Marowak wasn't as awe-inspiring as the Totem Kommo-o and Dragonite. Still, respect was due to the Totem pokémon, and Leo intended to give it. Just because it wasn't as impressive didn't give Leo the right to not respect the 'mon just as much.

"We have come for a trial," he said respectfully, bowing at the waist. The Marowak stared at him for a moment, then grunted and took a few steps back, readying the bone club it held in one hand. Leo whistled and Zuko came bounding over, followed by a Fletchling he'd found in the tall grass. The little bird took one look at the massive Marowak and fluttered off, however. "Alright, Zuko, you're up first. Ready?" he asked, receiving a bark of affirmation.

Without warning the Marowak moved, barreling forward and swinging its club at Zuko.

"Quick thrower!" Leo barked, the command leaving his lips the moment Marowak started to move. Zuko darted forward as a blue and orange blur, his back fires blasting as he quick attacked straight through Marowak, using its ghostly form against it to escape the attack. The totem pokémon wasn't phased by Zuko phasing right through its body, whirling with purple fires burning on the ends of its bone club and meeting the gout of flame Zuko blasted at her. The club windmilled in an impressive display of dexterity, the Totem pokémon using her innate ability to control fire to catch Zuko's flamethrower and disperse it, the purple flames of the Marowak "catching" Zuko's attack and guiding it away, it seemed.

Well then, a new strategy was in order.

"Smoke bomb," Leo ordered, and Zuko halted his stream of fire in favor of spew inky black smoke from his mouth, covering his side of the impromptu battlefield in inky black smoke. Marowak scoffed and strode forward confidently, ghostly fires flickering as she stepped into the smoke and vanished entirely, ignoring the searing heat. Leo crossed his arms and considered their options. He wasn't too worried about Zuko at the moment – he had plenty of practice fighting ghosts after all, what with their occasional spars with Spiritomb – and instead focused on how to get Zuko to beat this thing.

The obvious choice was to wear her out. Deal chip damage with small fire attacks until it fell. Zuko couldn't tank hits but he could deal a lot of damage, and Alolan Marowak weren't immune to fire. But that didn't sit well with Leo, either.

He closed his eyes. Right, they needed a new strategy…but then again…

Zuko wasn't a multitool. He was, like the entirety of the Quilava line, a blunt instrument. They had one trick only – maybe two tricks – but they were among the best at what they did. Even a Charizard's flames couldn't compete with a full-grown Typhlosion. Sometimes the answer was to double-down, not change things up.

"Heat wave, seekers, flame rotation," Leo commanded. For a moment nothing happened, then Zuko huffed loud enough for him to hear through the smoke, and proceeded to glow bright red. The smoke was blasted away almost instantly, ruining the cover he had so painstakingly created as the heat wave burst out from him, but also had the bonus effect of catching Marowak off-guard. With the shadows she had been slinking through dispersed, her mask a little discolored from the smoke and the heat wave, she found herself standing in the middle of an open area with Zuko blurring around her, fire trailing from his form as he ran circles.

Then the flamethrower hit. It slammed into Marowak's back, rotating along with Zuko's path as he ran circles, but Marowak wasn't idle either. She spun the bone club she held, deflecting the flames for a moment and giving her time to aim, before rotating out of the immediate line of fire to hurl her club at Zuko. It connected with a loud smack Zuko yelping and rolling across the ground, leaping to his feet and darting away from the rapidly approaching Marowak, blasting her with a burst of embers.

Good thing Marowak was mostly a physical attacker, and he could escape.

"Dig," Leo ordered, deciding to put a bit more of their training to use. Zuko didn't even hesitate, running at full speed as he was he leapt into the air and dove into the ground, the soil splitting for him like water and leaving a dark hole in the red soil. Marowak made a noise that sounded like a scoff and promptly sank into the ground like the ghost she was, leaving the battlefield suddenly empty.

Leo smiled a little. It wasn't like they hadn't planned for this – Victoria had been pretty cagey about telling them which pokémon was the Totem, but it hadn't been that hard to guess which might be which – and so he simply waited. And waited. And then the ground started steaming and turning cherry-red. Leo took a step back as the ground promptly exploded, a smoking Marowak hurtling out of the ground with Zuko in her grip, the air around them distorting as the heat increased even further in intensity. Chunks of red-hot soil landed all over the place as Marowak swung her club, batting Zuko away and wincing as she glanced down at her singed hand.

Zuko, on the other hand, rolled to a stop and shook himself as he stood up, looking at Marowak curiously but not moving to attack quite yet. Marowak huffed and stared at him, then looked at Leo with no small amount of anger in her eyes.

"Maro, marowak," she grumbled, and Leo blinked. Uh, what? He got the feeling she was upset – was it because they came to try and battle her?

"I'm not following," he admitted, cocking his head to the side. Marowak rolled her eyes and gestured to Leo's belt, miming picking a pokeball off and letting out a pokémon. "You…want me to let out more pokémon?" he asked.

"She's asking why you're not taking this seriously," Victoria answered from where she lay on her rock, watching the battle with one eye open.

"I am," he said.

"She doesn't think so," she grumbled, sitting upright and giving Leo a look. "C'mon, kid, use that noggin of yours."

"Just because I'm not using a pokémon that's strong against you doesn't mean I'm not taking this seriously," Leo protested, not sure if that was what the problem was, but assuming so anyway. "If I just wanted to complete the trial I would've sicced Spiritomb, Santiago, my Slowking, or Diana, my Pupitar, at you. This is about Zuko," he explained, gesturing to the Quilava, who was now cautiously approaching Marowak, having sensed the lull in battle.

Marowak cocked her head at him in confusion, glanced at Zuko, then back at Leo.

"Wak," she said, looking directly at Zuko.

"Quil," Zuko called back, circling around her and moving over towards Leo. Marowak stared a little longer, then snorted and shook her head, dusting her mask off with one hand. The purple fires that burned around her flickered and died out with a flick of her club. Leo frowned and scratched the back of his head as she said a few more things to Zuko, looking up at Leo in amusement now.

"Um," was all he said, as she slowly slid into a stance and started to dance, twirling her club and stomping her feet a few times, ending the short routine by thrusting her hand out in a palm thrust. Fire burst from her palm, weak little sparks, but fire nonetheless.

"Maro, marowak," she said, and nodded to Leo a little, waiting for him. It wasn't that hard to figure out what she wanted this time, and with a slight sigh he fell into a dance that mimicked the Marowak's movements. It took a few tries for him to get it right, but with Marowak gently guiding him it was only a few tries. Though at the end he still didn't feel any of the same power surge he felt when performing the Bellossom dance with Link, even if he knew it should be there.

Ah, well. He'd learned the dragon dance from Xena as well, and was still working on that. At least he'd learned to fire dance too. Slowly but surely, he'd learn all the type dances.

Still, what about Zuko? While Leo practiced he'd been watching curiously, occasionally moving over to sniff at Marowak, occasionally earning himself a short rap on the head with Marowak's club when he got too close. Leo called him over with a whistle as Marowak backed off, slowly fading into the shadows with a short nod to Leo. He returned the nod as he knelt, rubbing Zuko's head. Clearly he was waiting for something before evolving, but Leo hadn't the foggiest idea what it could be.

"Alright then, bud. Do you want to practice the Inferno Overdrive z-move, or just head back to the beach?" he asked. Though he couldn't understand Zuko's Quiiil! Of a response, he understood his buddy well enough to know what he meant. "To the beach it is. Victoria! We're going," he shouted, and started marching off in the direction of the beach. Even if what he wanted to happen hadn't happened, this had still been a relatively fruitful encounter.

But who knew when Zuko would evolve?

"It's ya boy, Guzma!" a rather loud voice called, startling Leo as he sat atop a rock overlooking the ocean, a granola bar hanging out of his mouth. Victoria sat in the shade of the boulder below him and muttered something about obnoxious kids as Leo slowly turned away from where Zuko chased Sunny around on the beach to face the speaker who, to his surprise, had not actually been talking to him.

Guzma looked far younger than in the games, albeit with the same white-ish hair wildly mussed atop his head and wearing a black and white tracksuit. Two golden chains hung from his neck, flashing in the afternoon sun, as he spoke directly to a pair of siblings no older than Leo – young trainers, by the looks of things. Behind Guzma stood a young man dressed similarly to Guzma and a young woman with long pink pigtails – most likely the young version of Guzma's right-hand woman…who Leo could not, for the life of him, remember the name of.

"I challenge you kids to a battle," Guzma announced haughtily. "Let this veteran trainer teach you a lesson or two!" Leo blinked and glanced around their small section of beach. It wasn't overly crowded at the moment – though Wela Volcano Park was a relatively popular tourist destination, there was more to the island than just the beach. Right now a trial was going on, on the mountain above, and many tourists were up there spectating the legendary "island trials," a system so different than the gym challenge the rest of the world used. Leo somehow doubted that the Totem Pokemon for that challenge was the same Marowak he fought, considering how much of a tourist trap the… "showy" trial up there was.

Still, that left the beach, and the trail not too far away, relatively devoid of people. Sure there were still some, but not too many.

"Yeah!" the little boy cheered, snagging a pokeball of his belt. "I only have two pokémon though," he said, pausing. The girl next to him shyly took a ball of her belt as well, not saying anything.

"Haha, then both of you come at me together! This future trial captain here will show you how to battle!" Guzma declared haughtily. Leo felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. A part of him wanted to give Guzma the benefit of the doubt, that he really was going to try and teach these kids something good, but with the way he was acting and speaking…he got the feeling that he was just some punk throwing his weight around.

It was….aggravatingly stereotypical.

"Zuko, Sunny, get up here," Leo called over his shoulder, settling down to watch the battle as the kids and Guzma got into position. Almost immediately he heard scrambling in the sand, and then Sunny was there, plopping herself into Leo's lap as Zuko ran up to his side, shooting Sunny an affronted look. Leo snorted as Zuko wormed his way into Leo's lap regardless of Sunny, curling around her and letting his butt hang off of Leo's lap, his head resting on his other knee.

The little boy let out a Yungoos, while the girl released a small Fomantis, the little grass type swaying back and forth as it surveyed the battlefield.

Guzma sneered and flicked out a pokeball lazily, an Ariados appearing on the field with a clack of its mandibles. Immediately Leo could tell that the kids were way out of their league here, and prepared himself to intervene. Hopefully this would end with Guzma at least being classy – Leo himself knew it was important to learn about how to act when you run into a pokémon way out of your league, but this did not seem to be that kind of lesson.

"Um, are you going to let out another pokémon?" the girl asked hesitantly.

"Ariados is more than enough for this fight," Guzma declared arrogantly. "C'mon, we'll even let you have the first hit." He said. For a moment the two said nothing, then with two quick commands the Yungoos blurred forward while the Fomantis began hurling leaves at the spider that bounced harmlessly off its carapace. The Yungoos opened its jaws wide and clamped down on Araidos' leg, but the arachnid didn't even flinch at the attack, only staring at the weasel-like pokémon with its beady insect eyes.

"Poison sting," Guzma said lazily, and Ariados lunged, sinking its fangs into Yungoos and drawing a sharp cry from it. What happened next could only be described as a predator playing with its prey. Ariados ran circles around its opponents, poisoning them and then skittering about, narrowly dodging their attacks just to aggravate them but never retaliating, letting them wear themselves out via poison. It wasn't a fair battle. It was cruel.

Leo had enough when Guzma ordered a full-powered bug bite attack, sending the Yungoos flying out of their makeshift battle area as the little boy hurriedly recalled the pokémon.

"That's enough!" he barked, shooting to his feet and grabbing his pack, which sat next to the rock. Sunny and Zuko leapt from his lap gracefully, taking places on either side of Leo as he stepped off his rock and stalked towards the battle. Guzma either didn't hear Leo or didn't care, though, as he ordered another bug bite on the Fomantis, the girl already reaching for her pokeball to recall the 'mon.

"Intercept," Leo ordered, but his pokémon were already on it. Sunny darted forward with speed just behind Zuko's, Zuko tackling the Fomantis out of the way of the attack, while Sunny slammed a fake out slap right into the bug's side, sending it sliding across the ground, six legs scrabbling for purchase. Guzma's expression darkened as he opened his mouth and spouted some nonsense – Leo paid just enough attention to hear it turn into some self-righteous "I was just teaching them" nonsense before turning him out and turning to the kids.

"Here, take these antidotes and give them to your pokémon," he said, unzipping his pack and pulling out two purple canisters, passing them to the two kids. The girl was stony faced and silent, while the boy was red-faced and looked to be holding back tears. Leo smiled at them, then turned around to face Guzma.

The first thing he noticed was that Ariados had not stopped attacking, and Sunny was busy fending the bug off. It was a poor matchup for her – with her fighting-type attacks being all but useless against the bug, she was left scrambling about, hitting the joints of the spider's legs, scratching at the bug's abdomen with fury swipes, and slapping its face with force palms just to keep it away, all while Guzma watched on with a confident, self-righteous smirk.

"Sunny, disengage," Leo commanded. She yelped, dodging a burst of thread, slammed a force palm into the ground to create a bit of a smokescreen, and scrambled over to Leo's side. Zuko, on the other hand, placed himself between Leo and the Ariados, growling at the spider and keeping it back.

Even as bloodthirsty as the spider seemed to be, it didn't want to pick a fight with an angry fire type.

"What's the big idea, huh?" Guzma said cockily, making exaggerated movement with his arms. "I was just teachin' the kids a little lesson about powerful bug types, and here you come, jumping in and messing up the lesson. It's an important lesson, one they had better be grateful to have. I'm gonna be the next Alolan Trial Captain, after all!" he proclaimed, and Leo, still smiling, shrugged.

"I know. I saw your lesson and it was just so wonderful I couldn't help but want to get a piece of the action myself. You see, I haven't even defeated my first Totem Pokemon yet, so I was hoping a veteran such as yourself could give me and my team some pointers. And since you had clearly beaten these two I thought I should properly issue my challenge. So, future trail captain, I challenge you to a battle," Leo said, feigning calm.

"Guzma'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget!" Guzma's follower, whom Leo mentally dubbed the Hype Man, called out. Guzma scowled for just a moment, then narrowed his eyes, crossed his arms, and laughed.

"Of course I'll accept! How does a two-on-two sound?" he laughed, recalling his Ariados. Leo voiced his agreement as he recalled Sunny, but left Zuko out. He only needed one pokémon for this fight. "Be prepared for big bad Guzma to beat you down! Golisopod, let's teach 'em pain!" he ordered, and tossed out his pokémon.

The large white beetle-like pokémon that appeared snarled and hissed, baring its claws and narrowing its beady black eyes at Zuko, while Leo just crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow at it. If he remembered right Golisopod was a bug/water type that had a very strange ability, one that recalled itself if it took too much damage or something. Which was fine by Leo, it didn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things.

"Zuko, ready?" he called. Zuko glanced back at Leo and smirked.

"Golisopod, make a good first impression," Guzma ordered, and Golisopod burst into motion. For a brief moment, Leo thought Zuko was going to do nothing. He didn't think he'd have to give Zuko an order to dodge, but there he was, standing still, an order halfway out of Leo's mouth when Golisopod skidded to a halt in front of Zuko, claws flashing downward, pointed to hit Zuko –

And then Zuko exploded.

The burning heat of fire scorched Leo's skin as the brilliant light of evolution pierced the fire and flames that suffused Zuko's form, blasting Golisopod away as Zuko chose that exact moment to evolve. And to…explode.

Leo had no choice but to look away as the blinding evolution rocked the entire field – bits of molten sand and dirt hurtling every-which way as the intensity of the heat radiating from Zuko increased tenfold. And through it all, Zuko did not make a noise. He did not shout. He did not hurl flames. He did not move save for that first blast of power that rocked Golisopod. He simply evolved, and brought with him the raging might of a volcano.

When the light died the blistering heat remained, and when Leo looked back at the battlefield, to the oohs and aahs of the few onlookers who had crowded around, Zuko stood tall. Smoke curled from the charred ground around him, flames blazing in a collar around his neck as he stood on his two hind legs, clenching and unclenching his newly dexterous front paws experimentally. Leo gawked at him for a moment, ignoring everything else.

Of all the things, this was what made Zuko evolve? Or, rather, this is what Zuko chose to evolve for? Leo couldn't help the smile that overtook his face, even as he stood there confused. Well, it wasn't like Zuko was like Santiago – a battle junkie who would likely only ever have evolved in the midst of some epic battle. He was much humbler than that. And Guzma might need a little humility, considering how he was picking on those kids.

Guzma gawked at the scene as well, but grit his teeth and shouted out a command to Golisopod despite the newly evolved Typhlosion before him. "Liquidation! Put out that thing's fires!" he barked as Golisopod slowly rose to its feet. But, the pokémon didn't immediately move. Instead the beetle warily watched Zuko for a moment, until another shouted order from Guzma prompted it into motion.

Zuko roared out a challenge. Then he exploded again.

The explosion rocked Golisopod backwards with twice the force as before, the shockwave blowing Leo's hair back while the flames themselves scorched the ground. A gout of flame burst from smoke left once the explosion faded and enveloped Golisopod before it even had a chance to react, leaving the bug smoldering on the ground and completely unconscious. Zuko roared out another challenge as the smoke cleared, shooting a jet of flame into the sky, earning himself a round of cheers from the ever-growing crowd of onlookers. Just the few people who had been on the beach were now crowding around, keeping a healthy distance from the fight while also staying close enough to watch.

"You –" Guzma growled, unable to complete his sentence as he recalled Golisopod and let out a Scyther. Leo grinned, his eyes never leaving Zuko as his buddy moved to engage with the bug, experimenting with his new body. Zuko had finally evolved!

Scyther blurred away from Zuko with astounding speed as he loped forward, running on all fours like he had as a Quilava. Even without using quick attack, however, he was able to match pace with the flying bug, neither increasing or decreasing the distance between them. Seemingly realizing that creating distance was impossible, Scyther suddenly flipped around, blurring towards Zuko with scythe claws outstretched. Zuko met the bug head-on, blurring forward with a burst of speed and slamming head-first into Scyther, gripping the bugs arms as he wrestled it to the ground.

"Finish up, Zuko!" Leo ordered, not wanting things to drag out – that would be hypocritical of him. With a snort that left smoke curling from his nostrils, Zuko coated himself in flame and sucked in a deep breath, preparing to flamethrower Scyther. To his credit, Guzma didn't let his Scyther take the attack. He recalled the bug with a flash of red and glared hatefully at Leo, who took a moment to tamp down his excitement over Zuko's evolution to address the matter at hand.

"Thank you," Leo said, nodding to Guzma. "I've been trying to help him evolve for a while now, and you gave him that final push. Just like a Trial Captain would be able to," he said, earning himself another scowl from Guzma.

"You're lucky I took it easy on you, brat," he spat. "C'mon, let's get out of here," he grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and stalking away, followed by his two companions. Leo sighed and shook his head, wanting to say more but holding his tongue. Words were not the end-all-be-all of changing someone's mind – in fact, something said with good intentions could be just as harmful as insults. So Leo said nothing else, and turned his attention to Zuko, a wild grin stretching across his face as his newly evolved Typhlosion came sauntering up to him, grinning smugly and shoving his head into Leo's chest.

He was much larger now, big enough that his entire head was about the size of Leo's chest, and when he stood on his hind legs he was a good head and shoulders above him. Zuko pressed hard against Leo's chest, forcing him stumbling backwards, laughing, as he continued to rub up against him.

"Easy, buddy, easy! You're huge now," he laughed, scratching behind Zuko's ears with both hands. He rumbled in contentment, a pleasant warmth seeping from his fur as he pulled away from Leo, standing up on his hind legs and inspecting himself. Leo pat his side, admiring his buddy's new form. It was then that another person approached, a tanned girl in a swimsuit with a towel wrapped around her waist, that clapped a whistled, admiring Zuko.

"That was a great battle, kid!" she praised. "How about another? Seeing an evolution like that has me ready to rumble!" she proclaimed, rolling a pokeball between her fingers. Leo paused and raised an eyebrow at her, then looked up at Zuko, who was clenching and unclenching his fist experimentally. Well, he did need to get used to his new body, and the fact that he could grab things with his paws now…

"One sec," he said, spinning in a circle and searching for Victoria. When he spotted her, lounging on the rock he'd been sitting on with her Persian by her side, she just shrugged and made a "go on" motion with her hands. He grinned and playfully punched Zuko's belly, earning himself an affronted look. "You up for another battle?" he asked, and Zuko glanced at the girl, then nodded and flared his collar of flames slightly.

She grinned and clapped her hands happily, already retreating across the battlefield to the cheers of a few more of the onlookers.

"Alright then, let's see how hot your pokémon can go! Magmar, light it up!" she announced, letting the flaming red pokémon out of the pokeball in her hand. Zuko huffed and advanced, slowly ambling forward on his hind legs before deciding that all fours was better, and loping forward. The Magmar hissed, spitting out a stream of flames. The air seemed to still a little as the two fire-types stared each other down.

"Begin!" the girl called.

And Zuko, once again, exploded.

And Leo began to fear the kind of monster he just raised. Forget Electrode. Fear the exploding Typhlosion.

Chapter Text

"I'm a little disappointed I haven't heard anything back from Jack yet," Leo said into his mic, covering it with one hand as the Tropius he was riding winged through the Alolan sky. Ride pokémon were such a great idea – even though he didn't have a flying type pokémon himself yet, he could still get one from the many trained and raised by Aether and the Alolan people to travel across the islands. It made travel so much easier between and across said islands, such as like right now, when he was flying over Akala Island on his way to the start of the tournament.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't hear anything from him ever again. A stink bomb, really?" Lusamine's voice said over the phone, barely audible over the sound of the wind rushing past Leo's face. He laughed. While it wasn't quite a stink bomb in the traditional, cartoony "explode into a cloud of yellow gas," it was pretty close. Gloom extract sealed in a plastic pouch that would, if Leo positioned it right, be opened when Jack opened the box it came in. Hopefully it wouldn't be detained by customs, though he'd sent a letter alongside the thing just in case. It wouldn't do to make Jack think he was ignoring him.

"He'll be fine. He sent me a glitter bomb, he has to be expecting some form of retaliation," Leo explained dismissively, leaning into the massive grass type beneath him as she banked hard to the left. Below him a massive plaza lay stretched out, absolutely covered in multicolored tents, people, and pokémon, all leading up to the large arena looming at the northern end of the area.

The Royal Avenue, home of the Battle Royal dome and the Akala Grand Tournament.

The Tropius circled for a short while, slowly bleeding off speed and altitude not unlike a plane, until coming in for a landing just outside of the avenue grounds. Patting the Tropius on the neck, Leo slid off the saddle on its back, tossed the beast a berry, and allowed it to fly off into the sky. Where it went Leo wasn't sure, but the ride pokémon system was not unlike a taxi service – the Tropius would probably return to Aether, rest a bit, and then go pick up someone else.

"Are you going to be entering any other tournament brackets, other than the Expert Single Battles?" Lusamine asked, changing the topic of conversation from his elusive friend to the tournament. Technically it started today, but that was only for the opening ceremony. Some of the more notable names would be announced, exhibition matches would be revealed, the tournament schedule would be updated with all the last-minute names, and so on.

"No. I was wanting to enter the doubles tournament, but Victoria convinced me otherwise. The Expert tier battles will be hard enough, and I don't have enough pokémon to make two teams. All the battling would wear my current team out too much," he said, disappointedly. There were far more battling tournaments here than he had initially expected. While the singles battles were by far the most popular – the typical one-on-one battles that most people were familiar with – there were also double battles, triple battles, and even the four-on-four style free-for-all Leo vaguely remembered from the Sun and Moon games, and were unique to Alola.

There would even be contests and such going on – it truly was an insane set up here. Comparable the Indigo League Conference in scope and size. Which Leo figured was fair enough since Alola didn't technically have a league yet, this was their version of the "Conferences." Victoria and Lusamine hadn't been joking when they'd said that this tournament was a big deal, and though he wouldn't be participating in the top-level battles, the expected rewards for first place in the singles tournament would still be awesome.

Or so he hoped.

With a thought Leo let out Link, scooping up the little Bellossom and placing him on his shoulder as he exited the landing area and entered the festival proper.

"That is probably wise. Some trainers have over twenty battle-capable pokémon – while I myself never gathered that many nor felt the need to, it does make participating in multiple tournament events possible," Lusamine said. "Are you wearing your Aether outfit, by the way? It is important that you wear it,"

"Yes," Leo said reluctantly, looking down at his current garb. Lusamine had forced him to swap out his usual clothes; gone were his usual greens and browns with maybe a jacket, swapped to a brilliant white shirt with the golden Aether logo stitched onto the arm and breast, and similarly colored cargo pants. He shone in the sun.

It was awful.

"Good. And make sure to show the tournament organizers your Aether ID, that's what will qualify you for the tournament," Lusmaine added.

"I got it, I got it," Leo said good naturedly, having heard these instructions at least a dozen times before. He wove around a group of people chatting happily in front of a food truck, the scent of plentiful spices wafting from the truck itself. "How are Gladion and Lillie doing, by the way? They been training the Rockruff well?" he asked. Lusamine and Professor Oak both had finally succumbed to their children and grandchildren's puppy-dog eyes, and let them adopt the Rockruff. Gladion and Lillie had taken one each (the latter of whom named hers Rocky), while Professor Oak had taken two, one for Gary, and one for Ash. Well, not for Ash, but there was no doubt in Leo's mind that the kid would eventually take a shining to the pup.

That left one left, one that currently sat in a pokeball at his waist.

"They've been doing well. Gladion's been getting really into training, as I'm sure you've noticed. I have to thank you again for being so patient with them," she said, and Leo waved the thanks off before realizing she couldn't see him. Instead he just laughed. Stupid video phones being the norm – it made the standard issue Aether cellphone/radiophone or whatever it was, practically a novelty in this world, feel weird to use.

"It's my pleasure. He's not a bad kid," Leo said. "Anyway, it's probably best if I cut off here. You'll be coming to watch the tournament, right?"

"When I can. I'll be here for the main event, for sure, but I don't think I'll be able to clear my schedule for the prelims. Good luck and have fun, Leo. I'll talk to you later," Lusamine promised, and hung up. Leo pulled the earpiece out of his ear and placed it in one of the pockets of his pants, nearly blinding himself when he looked down thanks to the stark-white clothing, and continued on through the festival.

There was a lot to see. Stands being set up, filled with all sorts of different kinds of knickknacks and paraphernalia, souvenirs for tourists as well as cultural items for the locals. Leo even passed a stand that sold traditional Alolan weapons – swords made of Skarmory and Sandslash claws, as well as replica armor made to look like the Jangmo-o scale garb the great warriors of old wore into battle. That had really caught his eye, and he promised himself to come visit said stand. Though, just from the passing glance he gave it, the price tags on those items were well out of his budget.

In the center of it all a large arena was being made in the traditional Alolan style, carved palm tree trunks situated in the four corners while a thick, canvas-like fabric was pulled taut over the wooden from. Whatever that was, it wasn't meant for pokémon battling, but Link was obviously interested based on the way he focused on the stand. The two observed the people for a while longer before continuing deeper, enjoying the exotic sights and sounds and allowing himself some time to just wander and explore. Still, he had places to be and couldn't just wander about all day, and so made his way to the stadium proper.

The massive battle arena, bigger than even the gym stadiums in Johto, was absolutely packed to the brim with people and pokémon. The moment the sliding glass doors opened to allow him entry he was bombarded with the roar of conversation – with this many people talking in one place, even if they were whispering, it would still be loud.

"Bell," Link grumbled, covering his ears and glaring around at the crowd. Leo couldn't help but agree with the Bellossom; this place was too loud.

With a grunt of effort he began forcing his way through the crowd, muttering apologies until he found the reception desk for Elite level trainers. The line waiting to get to the desk was almost non-existent, surprisingly, but when Leo glanced at the other desks he understood. There were far more beginner and intermediate trainers than there were elite, and few were dumb enough to claim they were elite without actually having the strength to back it up.

So it didn't take long for him to reach the front desk, though that didn't stop him from becoming distracted by all the trainers. One woman had a Ribombee dressed in a top hat dancing in the air alongside a quad of Oricorio, the dancing birds singing a lovely tune to the delight of the onlookers. Even over the roar of the crowd the song was audible, and sufficiently distracting.

"Hello! Have you already registered for the Elite level single battle tournament, or are you registering after passing the qualifying rounds?" the receptionist called, drawing Leo's attention away from the birds and to the man at the counter.

"I've already registered. Leo Angelico, Aether affiliation," Leo said, stepping up and handing the man his Aether ID. Link made a small noise in the back of his throat, his gaze still locked onto the dancing Oricorio.

"I see. I should have been able to guess that from the outfit. Leo Angelico…so you're the trainer they chose to fill their slot in the tournament," the receptionist said, handing the ID back and tapping away on the computer in front of him without looking at his fingers or the screen, instead looking Leo up and down. "I must ask, did they make you wear that, or did you wear it by choice?"

"It was forced upon me," Leo said good naturedly. Despite his complaints about how it looked, he wasn't actually all that bothered by it. Aether was his sponsor after all, they did a lot for him. The least he could do was make their affiliation known in his first true tournament.

"My condolences. Ah, here we are. Leo Angelico, no Trials completed, only three Johto gym badges…and an absolutely abysmal win-loss ratio. Right. So, to complete the sign up form, I need you to do a final confirmation of your team composition form. You are allowed to choose eight pokémon total; in order to account for any injuries that may take your pokémon out of the tournament for a time and allowing for proper team rotation, so your pokémon do not get unduly tired. Do you confirm that the pokémon submitted with your application are correct?" he asked, turning the computer screen towards Leo.

Pictures of his team, all except for Rockruff, were lined up neatly on the screen next to the species names; though Spiritomb had no picture. Even Stein had been allowed to join, Victoria thinking it might be good for the 'mon to participate in some official battles. Leo highly doubted Stein would see much, if any, use in the tournament – he was still a work in progress on his training after all.

"Yes," Leo agreed. Hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about using Stein anyway, though. The six-on-six battles didn't start until the top eight were decided. Before then it was going to be two-on-two's and three-on-three's. Just because of the high number of participants, if the battles were full team brawls from the beginning the tournament would likely take months to complete. Already it was two weeks long, and that was a lot of battling to cram into that timeframe – especially considering the top eight main events got special attention. And, since it was a double elimination tournament, that all but doubled the number of battles needed to get to said top eight.

You had to lose twice to get knocked out; though that changed when the top eight were decided. Then it became single elimination.

"Excellent, that means you should be just about good to go. Keep this badge with you at all times, here is the battle itinerary, and make sure you're at the opening ceremony tonight. Do keep in mind that your battle schedule will only be released tomorrow morning, and there is a very high chance that you'll be battling first thing tomorrow morning. We have a lot of battles to get through before the end of the tournament. That said, good luck, and happy battling. Next!" the man said, handing Leo a bag stuffed full of papers with a lanyard that said "Elite Participant" on top, surely eager to move on to the next applicant.

Leo stepped aside and looked down at his new bag of stuff, slipping the lanyard around his neck. Now that was over, he could go explore a little. With a moment's hesitation, he let Santiago out of his pokeball as well, and led the way out of the stadium. Exploring was always fun, and maybe he'd be able to spot some of the competition doing…training, or whatever.

"This is going to be fun," he said aloud. Link patted his head and Santiago grunted in agreement. It would be a nice change of pace from the high-stakes style battles he'd seemed to be having recently.

The opening ceremony had been an utter waste of time. All it was, was the Kahunas giving a short speech praising the Tapus, the trainers who were participating, and hyping up the battles. It lasted all of forty minutes. Really, the only thing he'd learned about the tournament itself was that Victoria was the "final boss" of the Captain tier of battles – and when her name had been dropped, the crowd had absolutely erupted with excitement. She was the end goal it seemed. The "champion," in a way, that rivalled even the Kahunas.

Other than that, though, it was pretty boring, and did nothing to prepare Leo for how big this tournament was. Oh, sure, he knew academically that it was a big deal and that there was a lot of people watching and participating, but he wasn't prepared for it. Even in the heart of the stadium, while he waited to be called to battle, he could hear the thrumming excitement of the crowd. To say nothing of what it sounded like when he stepped out onto the field.

It was deafening, the sound reverberating through the air, shaking the ground, and resounding in his bones. His heart thumped with excitement and nerves as he walked towards the trainer's stand, Spiritomb whispering agitatedly in his pocket at all the attention placed upon him. This wasn't even the main event, and the stadium was completely packed.

There were sixty four elite-level trainers in the bracket as of right now, to say nothing of the number of beginner and intermediate trainers and the various other battle formats, with dozens of stadiums scattered all across the tournament grounds. All with battles happening in them right now. And yet, the small-ish stadium he was now going to be fighting in was still packed full with at least a thousand to two thousand people. Maybe in his old world that wasn't a lot of people, but it was still very different standing in front of them, than it was being part of the crowd. Leo heavily underestimated how important this tournament was.

But, to be fair, he'd only ever watched a league conference on the TV. He'd never actually visited one.

"On the blue side, we have Leo Angelico of the Johto region! This dark horse trainer sponsored by the Aether Foundation is a relative unknown, looking to make his debut in the Akala Grand Tournament! Don't let his age fool you, he is a force to be reckoned with!" the announcer boomed as Leo stepped up onto the platform, waving at the crowd before settling in to stare across the field at where his opponent would emerge.

Banishing all thoughts on the crowd, Leo focused intently and thumbed the pokeballs at his waist. If he lost he'd still have more chances to battle in the loser's bracket, but he'd rather not. Winning meant giving his team more time to rest, and more time to analyze his opponents battling styles. Losing meant battling far, far more and having all his tricks exposed.

"And on the red side, we have the Alolan native Hazel!" the announcer boomed, and this time the crowd exploded with cheers. Leo actually winced from the noise, and chuckled ruefully to himself. Well, now he knew who the crowd favorite was. "Hailing from Iki town on Melemele Island, this is Hazel's third time in the Expert Tier of the Akala Grand Tournament, with an absolutely outstanding showing in the qualifying rounds!" Leo tuned out the announcer's voice in favor of observing his opponent, a short young woman with dark brown hair and a round face. Her posture was relaxed, yet when she stepped up onto the red platform and met Leo's eyes, he could almost see the calculations running through her mind.

Unfortunately he had very little information on this trainer. Trainer profiles weren't public information, and she wasn't quite famous enough for her team composition to be easily discovered – that, combined with the fact that he'd only learned her name two hours ago, when the brackets were officially released, meant that he'd only been able to glean a few ideas about her basic strategies. Such as; she liked ranged attacks. That could mean a lot of things, from psychic types to water types, so Leo had to be prepared for anything.

"This will be a two-on-two battle, with one substitution allowed on each side. Standard battle rules apply. Each trainer will release their pokémon at the same time. Ready?" the referee asked, booming over the crowd as he stepped up to his little podium on the side. Leo nodded in affirmation, palming Link's pokeball. He was speedy enough in the sun, and excelled in both close-and-mid-ranged combat – and while he was at a disadvantage against a fire or flying type pokémon, he was strong and skilled enough to at least wear said pokémon down if Leo didn't immediately switch him out.

"BEGIN!" The referee called, and Leo hurled Link's pokeball onto the field, the little 'mon appearing in a flash of red. Across from him Hazel released a Decidueye, and Leo immediately frowned as it landed on the battlefield, cursing slightly. While it wasn't the worst case scenario, it was close to it. He didn't know much about the grass-type Alolan starter pokémon other than its ability to shoot quills as arrows, but he did know that Link was going to struggle with this one.

He already had a hand on Zuko's pokeball when Link blurred into action, never hesitating as he summoned a substitute shield, three feathered arrows thudding into the shield not but a split-second later. He blurred into motion, flicking out a leaf blade and cleaving another arrow, this time wreathed in shadows, in twain. Leo paused as Link flung out a magical leaf, the seeking leaves countered by a flurry of pin-point accurate razor leaves, and rapidly closed the distance between the two.

Decidueye leapt into the air to maintain the distance between the two, and Link punished that momentary pause by flinging a sunny day into the sky.

"Link, you go this?" Leo called.

"Bell!" Link answered, blurring into motion as he chased after the bird from the ground, positively glowing with energy.

"Evasive," Hazel called out, just as Link blasted the still-airborne Decidueye with a solarbeam, blocking another arrow with his substitute shield as he did so. The bird squawked and fell awkwardly, feathers smoking slightly from the attack, but swiftly righted himself and blurred into a double team.

Multiple versions of Decidueye appeared on the field at the same time a series of light screens got put up, the glowing rectangular psychic barriers flickering to life in a circle around Link. A shot of adrenaline surged into Leo's veins as he realized that they would finally be able to try out their newest move, the encircling images of Decidueye proving to be the perfect target.

"Circle slash!" Leo called, and Link crouched, holding his leaf blade to the side as he built up a sunny day powered solar beam and channeled it into his leaf blade. Hazel shouted out an order as well, but it was drowned out by the power of Link's attack. Radiant green energy burned through the air as Link spun rapidly, just like his namesake, absolutely annihilating the double team and shattering a good number of light screens.

In the aftermath Decidueye had vanished, and Leo frowned. Right. The bird was a ghost.

"Shadows!" Leo called out, just in time for it to burst from Link's shadow with talons bared, slipping past his shield and slamming said talons into Link's stomach. He flew backwards from the force of the blow, spinning through the air. Decidueye kept up the pressure, shooting an arrow at the sky as he darted forward, drawing a leaf blade and baring a shadow claw on the tips of his wings as he shot towards Link.

The two clashed in a flurry of blows, leaf blade meeting leaf blade and shadow claw meeting substitute shield, while the arrow Decidueye shot arced up and up, aiming for the sunny day Link had set up.

"Sunny day's coming down!" Leo warned, shielding his eyes as the arrow hit the ball of burning light, exploding into a fiery display. Link responded by dropping his substitute shield, the shield almost shattered anyway, and tossed a seed bomb at his feet. The resulting explosion blew the two apart from each other, Link tumbling across the ground and Decidueye riding the shockwave on his wings, hitting Link with two more arrows as he rose to his feet. Link scowled and shouted out a battle cry, cutting down two more arrows and responding with a flurry of magical leaves.

"Shadows," Hazel called, and Decidueye blurred forward, darting into the thin shadow cast by the stadium walls and suddenly tripling in speed. Link readied a leaf blade just in time, the glowing green sword clashing with claws made of shadow, and blurring as the two exchanged blows. Leo chewed his lip, considering their options. At this point he doubted Link would accept being recalled – he was a proud pokémon, and constantly looking for challenging fights like this. The real question was how to get Link out of this – he was obviously on the losing end of this exchange, even though he was getting in two attacks for every one of Decidueye's. Only, leaf blade was doing significantly less damage than Decidueye's attacks. Link was at a disadvantage here, and still took too long to use fairy type moves for it to be viable in this battle.

"Shackle him!" Hazel called, and Decidueye disengaged, pushing back and drawing an arrow in the same motion, his wing forming the bow and dark energy wreathing his limbs. Link huffed and darted forward, raising a new substitute shield and glowing as he started to use synthesis, but the arrow didn't even pause. It phased right through the shield, right through Link, and into his shadow. He winced and jerked forward, suddenly unable to move as the arrow pinned his shadow, and him, in place. Leo cursed, not quite having time to puzzle out how that move worked, and furiously tried to think up a counter plan.

"Execution!" Hazel called, and Link let out a deep breath, lowering his sword and taking a stance. Decidueye backed up a ways, creating plenty of distance between the two, and drew back his bow. Arrows rained down on Link at the speed of a machine gun and though Link did his best to dodge them with the little he could move, the arrow pinning his shadow to the ground preventing him from dodging too much.

His substitute shield was absolutely covered with arrows by the time it shattered, and he himself had taken a good number of hits, yet somehow remained standing.

"Petal dance!" Leo ordered desperately, searching for some way to get Link out of that situation. Pink petals flew from Link's kilt/skirt into the air, swirling about and blocking a few arrows as a massive storm of petals rose into the sky, before turning and crashing down on Decidueye in an explosion of color. The ghostly avian cried in alarm, tearing through the petal dance with talons bared, light screens flickering into existence around him as he darted forward. No amount of petals could stop him as he appeared in front of Link, slamming one taloned foot into the smaller grass-type and sending him flying.

Link did not rise after that blow, even as Decidueye panted and fell to one knee.

"Return," Leo called, recalling his Bellossom and giving the pokeball a small smile. He fought bravely, but it was a bad matchup. There will be hell to pay when he wakes up. Link will train like never before. Leo thought to himself, looking at Decidueye with a raised eyebrow. There were a few potential specialties Hazel could be, she could even be a generalist, but either way, there was really only one choice for Leo.

Spiritomb had made it clear that it didn't want to be used yet prior to this battle, so that left only one real counter to the specialties Decidueye could indicate – ghosts, ranged attackers, and grass type.

"Zuko, you know what to do," Leo said, tossing out Zuko's pokeball. The badger-like pokémon appeared in a ball of fire, and Hazel's expression fell as she watched Zuko emerge from the flames. Decidueye visibly winced, more light screens flickering into existence, and Zuko scoffed.

Razor leaves flung out, only to be incinerated by a lancing flamethrower that singed Decidueye's feathers, the bird scrambling away and leaping into shadows, blurring in a shadow sneak. But it was not meant to be, as the light of a sunny day was soon shining down on the field, slowing the bird just enough for Zuko to encase himself in flames and blaze forward, tackling Decidueye in a flame charge. The bird rewarded Zuko with a shadow claw to the face for his trouble, but was recalled by Hazel moments later when he stopped moving beneath the flaming Zuko.

"Was hoping you'd be a grass specialist, too," Hazel called with a frown, running her fingers over her pokeballs. "Or maybe fairy. Why do you have a fire type? Still, I wouldn't be much of a specialist if I didn't have something of a counter. Shiftry, let's go!" she called, and tossed out said grass type.

"Don't get cocky now, Zuko. They've probably got a few tricks up their sleeves," Leo called, and Zuko snorted out a short burst of fire. Shiftry hissed and rustled her white mane, holding her leafy fans out and remaining perfectly still, content to let Zuko make the first move. "Flamethrower," Leo said, breaking the silence, and Zuko exhaled a great burst of flame.

Shiftry blurred into motion, not dodging but whirling her fans at high speed. Wind howled, forming a tornado of power that sucked up the flames and directed them away. Leo blinked in surprise as the flames circled around Shiftry, following the funnel, and were promptly aimed back at Zuko, who didn't even bother to dodge as the flamethrower splashed over him.

So that was a thing then.

"Swords dance, nasty plot!" Hazel called, and Shiftry began to move in an intricate pattern, flicking out the leaves of its fans and dancing about. Zuko snorted and coated himself in fire once again, loping forward at increasing speed until he was all but blurring across the battleground, Shiftry leaping away on a gust of wind while still dancing.

That was when the chase began. Air cutters slashed out at Zuko as he tried to close the distance, coating himself in flames that distorted the air from their heat, the slashing air punishing him for trying to get close. And yet, whenever Zuko would try ranged attacks like flamethrower, Shiftry would dodge, start up the hurricane again, and redirect the flames. Not without getting singed a few times, but still, she was annoyingly capable at redirecting flames.

Zuko winced as Shiftry's eyes glowed, a psychic attack of some sort forcing him to pause in his flame charge. He tripped, falling to the ground and rolling in a dramatic display that, to Leo's gaze, was clearly intentional. However it seemed to do the trick as Hazel shouted out an excited command, Shiftry darting in with fans trailing wisps of dark energy and braving the heat.

Leo bit his tongue as Shiftry closed in, Zuko just looking up to see the grass-type swinging down on Zuko with night slashes at the ready. Leo understood the idea. They had to finish of Zuko quickly, and with decisive blows. Staying at range was still getting Shiftry hurt, and they weren't actually doing much damage to Zuko with the air cutters either. He was too fast, and keeping Shiftry mostly on the defensive. So they had to capitalize on this mistake, deal a good amount of damage thanks to swords dance, and then get away before Zuko could recover.

There was just one issue with that. An issue no one who didn't know the Typhlosion line would see coming.

Zuko exploded.

The force of the blast sent Shiftry reeling, tumbling across the ground with smoke curling from her white mane. Zuko roared and chased after her, bearing down on the downed grass-type with fangs bared and smoke curling from his nostrils.

To Shiftry's credit, she didn't panic. Now that Zuko had caught her, her only choice was to fight and fight hard – so fight hard she did. Night slashes met claws and fangs of fire, and she gave just as good as she got, with one minor difference. Just being in close proximity to the intense heat was hurting Shiftry, whereas the same could not be said for Zuko.

With a snarl of annoyance Zuko pinned Shiftry's arms and sucked in a deep breath, unleashing a flamethrower right into Shiftry's face. The grass-type wailed and slammed a knee into Zuko's gut, but it was all in vain. Soon enough Hazel recalled Shiftry with a frown on her face, the announcer booming over the roar of the crowd as he announced Leo the winner. He smiled and recalled Zuko, the Typhlosion sitting on his haunches and looking around curiously now that the battle was over, and thanked him through the pokeball.

Well, that was step one down.

After the battle was a blur of activity. Once he'd congratulated Hazel on a well fought battle, and made her promise to give Link a rematch with her Decidueye he was ushered out of the arena and into a long hall, past a few other contestants all hanging around in the back, and into an after-battle area where he handed Link and Zuko's pokeballs to a harried looking Nurse Joy. After the short checkup, which lasted all of an hour, he was given the pokeballs back and allowed to go on his way – one of the event supervisors informing him that his next battle would be later that night, in a stadium on the other end of the tournament grounds. His opponent had already finished their battle, too, and as such their bracket was going to be one of the first to advance.

Leo blinked in surprise at the information, but nodded regardless – it made sense that they'd be expediting the battles, though it meant that Link and Zuko were most likely out of the running. He wanted to make sure they got plenty of rest, and were fighting fit for the rest of the tournament. That was most likely the idea, though. Trainers could cram in multiple battles per day when only using two pokemon each time – when the battles reached full six-on-sixes, they'd most likely need a full day between each battle. At least.

That done, Leo exited the stadium, blinking in the early morning sun and scratching his cheek. He was getting hungry, and there were plenty of food stalls around – it'd probably be good if he went searching for information about his next opponent too; now that the first round of battles was going on, there was likely to be much more information to go off of. Maybe he'd also be able to scope out the rest of the competition finally,

Though maybe he should ask Victoria to help…

He already knew the main threats at this level of fighting, but didn't know much about the non-canon characters. For example; he recognized Kiawe, the fire-trial captain from the games, in the list of competitors as well as Kukui, the future regional professor of Alola, but other than that there were very little he knew. Maybe this was his memory failing him since it'd been years since he'd played the games though.

"Regardless, first off I need to get food for everyone," Leo decided, meandering through the buzzing crowds and vaguely listening to the booms of the competitions. Dozens of stadiums and arenas all lined the tournament grounds, the sounds of combat overcoming even the roars of the crowds as dozens, if not hundreds of trainers all battled at once. The only tier that didn't have battles ongoing was the Captain tier, and only then because they were the true crowd pleasers. Trial Captains, Kahunas, and trainers who had completed the Island Challenge were all competing in that one, and it would be a sight to behold.

But Leo wasn't quite interested in that yet. He was more interested in the smell of food wafting through the air from the hundreds of food stalls – most of them without long lines thanks to the obscene number of battles going on now – as well as the various stalls with souvenirs and other knickknacks for sale. So he wandered about for a bit, eventually settling on a stall that was selling fresh-caught, fried fish. It was delicious, even if it was a bit too salty, and as Leo settled down at a wooden table facing a large flat-screen TV set up at another food stall, one of the many battles going on today playing live, he let out Santiago.

"We won the first round," Leo said, popping a fried veggie in his mouth – it reminded him of okra, but was distinctly different and blue in color – and handing a fish fillet to the Slowking, who ate the entire thing in one bite. "But I'm not too sure who our next opponent will be. Round two is later tonight, and Link won't be up for a battle that soon. He got knocked out and as tough as he is, I don't think using him again is wise,"

"Too salty," Santiago said, smacking his lips and eyeing the rest of the fish.

"You're probably the most versatile member of the team," Leo continued, rubbing his chin. "Mostly because psychic moves are ridiculously useful. So, unless our opponent is a ghost-or-dark type specialist, you'll be my first choice,"

"So long as I can fight, sure" Santiago said, snagging another fish and downing it in one gulp. Leo shot him an amused look and drummed his fingers on the table, scratching the side of his head.

"The real problem is finding information about our opponent. Yes, the official trainer profiles aren't officially released, but Aether should have stuff on most of the Alolan trainers. That, or I'd be able to find something in news articles relating to them – it's times like these that I miss the internet, and the ease of access of information that provided. I'm sure Lusamine would be able to help out if I asked, but at the same time, there aren't just Alolan trainers here," Leo mused, scratching his chin.

"We know this. Victoria told us," Santiago said, scratching his chin.

"She did. I'm just thinking out loud," Leo said, shrugging. All the regions were becoming more and more accustomed to interregional trainers and travel – with the advent of new technology it became easier than ever, and a new fad amongst trainers, especially high-tier ones, was to go to other regions to train. Both for exotic pokémon to add to their teams, and to pick the brains of other specialists and masters. However, Alola had been practicing something similar long before any of the others in sending their trainers out to gain experience. And the Akala Grand Tournament was the only tournament in the world – or perhaps the very first major tournament – that not only accepted foreign trainers, but had very few limitations as to who could enter said tournament.

It made information gathering that much harder, and information was part of the game.

"Just call Lusamine," Santiago said, swiping Leo's plate from him and dumping the contents in his mouth, chewing slowly. Leo glared at him for the offense, but the cheeky butthead just shrugged.

"You suck," Leo said, shaking his head and palming the rest of his pokeballs. "But, I guess it is time to feed everyone. We'll do that, and then go information gathering,"

"So you want some help looking up your opponent?" an Aether employee asked over the Aether-issued phone. It was so much easier using that thing, which had been given to him as part of his promotion, than heading to the Pokemon center to use the video phones there.

Unfortunately, however, Lusamine was a bit busy at the moment and couldn't personally help Leo out besides. As such he'd been redirected here. In the past month he'd worked with the person on the end of the line a few times, mostly when Leo had gone on conservation assignments for Aether. He hadn't done many due to spending most of his time training for the tournament, but still a few.

"You do realize that it's considered good form to leave the opponent's team as a surprise, right?" the man asked.

"Ever since the advent of the TV and live battling, that's become impossible and you know it. Those days are long gone, and those who say otherwise are just clinging to tradition for appearances sake; it's not impossible to keep a secret, but's hard to keep one for long," Leo scoffed. It was true though; in the olden days, battles were between two trainers who knew very little about each other's team, even at high levels. Nowadays that was less true, especially at high levels, like with the champion. Everyone knew the basic composition of the local champion's team, and if said champion added a new member or came up with a new trick, that secret was out the moment it was used in battle.

"Fair enough. Good work on passing the first round, by the way. Hazel's no slouch of an opponent – grass-type specialist, has lots of tricks up her sleeves. Loves powder moves. Placed tenth in the last Akala tournament. Now, what's the name of your opponent?" he asked.

"Torry Everfrost," Leo said.

"Torry…Everfrost…this'll take just a moment," he said. Leo nodded to himself and glanced over at his team, most of whom were eating. Currently they were inside one of the stadiums, in a team room designated specifically for those competing. It was quiet, isolated, and, most importantly, helped to keep team compositions mostly secret from prying eyes. Ironic, considering what he was doing now.

His last Rockruff chowed down on a pile of pokechow alongside Zuko, who carefully roasted his pile of berries and chow before eating, and Stein, who ate mechanically. Sunny and Xena ate together, while Link sat off to the side, slowly eating his own food with a frown and furrowed brows. His petals drooped and looked worn out, still recovering from the intense battle, and he almost seemed to have a…melancholic air about him. Leo would probably need to address that eventually, but not now. Link was a big boy; he could handle a loss.

A bored hum caught Leo's attention and he turned just in time for Diana to gently lean into him, pressing into his side as she vibrated in anticipation. She hardly ate anymore, now that she'd evolved. And when she did eat she simply sucked up some dirt through one of her air vents, to provide a bit more sustenance. She was a cocoon – she didn't need to eat, she needed to grow. It was still weird, considering how much energy she had to be burning moving around as much as she did. He wondered where she got it all from?

"Say, you remember that Pancham you brought back last week while you were protecting the researchers gathering data on Komala, the one that had its foot caught in a plastic ring?" the man on the phone suddenly asked. Leo scratched Diana's carapace absently, earning himself a hum.

"Yeah," he said. "What about it?"

"Well, he was released back into the wild today. His recovery went well – although the ring was cutting off circulation to his foot the damage wasn't irreversible yet, and it was decided he was plenty ready to go back home," he said, and Leo smiled.

"Good, that's great news," he said, gently shoving Diana away. She rocked back a few inches, then rocked forward into Leo again, then repeated the motion on her own with an amused hum. The Pancham he'd caught had been pretty irritable and could barely put any weight on his foot – it'd taken tossing a pokeball at the small panda, catching him, and letting him out back at Aether to actually get close enough to get the plastic ring off in the first place, so it was good to hear that he'd made a full recovery.

It was those little things that made the odd jobs he did for Aether's conservation efforts kind of fun. Besides the whole "wandering around meeting large amounts of pokémon" thing it tended to entail.

"Alright, I think I've got something. Torry Everfrost; he's a foreign trainer from Sinnoh I believe, so we don't have much on him. Nothing, really, other than what we've seen in the tournament so far. Skimming through the qualifying rounds, it seems like he uses a bunch of ghost or dark types, so be careful of that. He used an Absol in the qualifiers," he said, and Leo hummed. Dark and ghost types, huh? He could handle that. In fact, four of his pokémon would be good for that; Diana, Xena, Sunny, and Spiritomb if they were up for fighting. He was a little hesitant to use Sunny against someone who used ghosts, mainly because she hadn't figured out how to use foresight or any dark-type moves yet and so her movepool would be limited.

This might actually be a good matchup for him and his team, unlike if he ran into a water-type specialist.

Ah, the joys of being a generalist. In a two-on-two format like these early battles, it was hard to beat their versatility. We'll see how well it goes in later rounds, though. He mused to himself.

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it," Leo said.

"No problem. Just do me a favor and beat this guy without losing a single pokémon, alright? I've got a hundred on you to do that," he said, and Leo laughed.

"I'll do my best. See ya," he said, and hung up. That out of the way, he turned back to his team and let them finish their meals. He'd go over a few things with them, and see who should be sent out first against Torry. Then it would only be a matter of waiting.

"So, for curiosity's sake, will there ever be a bigger ceremony to kick off the tournament? Because there was that little thing we all went to when it started, but that really wasn't much," Leo asked one of the staffers in the small stadium he was waiting in. Santiago stood resolutely by his side, silently judging everyone who entered the little waiting room. Admittedly, he drew many interested gazes as well. It wasn't everyday you saw a Slowking, after all.

"Oh yes, of course. You a foreigner then?" the girl ask, pausing as she finished restocking some towels kept in the waiting room.

"I'm from Indigo," Leo replied.

"Yeah, you wouldn't know then. We honor a different Tapu each year, and this year its Tapu Koko, the deity of battle. Tapu Koko demands we fight as quickly as possible, and only celebrate the stronger trainers. Last year we honored Tapu Bulu; the opening ceremony lasted two whole days," she explained with a smile, and Leo thought about what he knew about Tapu Koko.

"…is that because Tapu Koko wants to know which trainers to challenge to battle?" he asked dubiously, and she laughed.

"If we're lucky!" she said, and Leo smiled thinly.

…he wondered if, if he won, Tapu Koko would show up to battle him again.

"Leo Angelico, make your way to the stadium. Leo Angelico, to the stadium," a crackly voice called over the loudspeakers. With a grunt Leo stood, running his thumb along his pokeballs, patting Spiritomb's keystone, said goodbye to the staff, and promptly made his way to the tunnel. The crowd's endless chatter echoed in the chamber once again, and he took a deep breath while waiting for the announcer to call him out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the last battle of the day! Hailing from Johto and sponsored by Aether, he had an outstanding showing earlier today against Hazel, a crowd favorite and grass-type expert. Please welcome Leo Angelico!" he boomed, and Leo stepped out into the electric lights of the stadium, expression set and eyes locked on the empty podium across the battlefield as he climbed the ladder up to his own podium. The sky overhead was dark, yet the energy from the crowd was no less excited for it – in fact, it was still positively electric.

"And next up, another foreigner this time hailing from the far-off Sinnoh region, this ex-gym trainer is sure to leave you dazed and confused. Give it up for Torry Everfrost!" the announcer boomed. Leo raised an eyebrow at the young man who stepped up onto the trainer platform across from him. He looked nothing like a ghost-or-dark type trainer, as Leo had come to expect from them. Instead of moody and broody, he was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed young man with a small smile on his face that looked borderline playful.

It immediately made Leo suspicious. He knew what playful and ghost-types meant.

"Trainers, are you ready?! BEGIN!"

"Diana, be ready for anything," Leo called.

"Absol," Torry called, and Leo nodded. Well, that lined up with his information, at least.

Diana's vents hummed violently as she blasted forward, Absol leaping out of the way, planting his feet, and jumping again as a spire of rock burst from the ground beneath him. The canine showed borderline supernatural dexterity as he leapt about the arena, dodging Diana's charges and rocks without retaliating. Leo was content to keep silent for a moment, keeping the exchange between the two pokémon to the probing that was happening now, and letting them build up a sense of security about Diana's movement patterns.

"Must be using detect or something," Leo muttered with a frown, watching as Absol leapt in the absolute perfect place to dodge both Diana's charge, and two spires of rock that burst from the ground, threatening to blast him away.

"Ice beam," his opponent called. Absol leapt away, mouth open and glowing with energy as he blasted a straight beam at Diana – who erected a stone pillar to block it. She hummed, glancing at Leo curiously. Ok, let's try some real offensive. Leo mused.

"Diana, bulldoze," he ordered, and she rocketed forward, the ground seeming to ripple beneath her as she exerted some of her terrakinesis. Absol fired another ice beam that Diana wholly ignored, crashing through it and narrowly missing Absol, who dodged with a yelp. He did not, however, dodge the bulldoze forming beneath Diana, a wave of earth catching his paws and sending him rolling. Diana punished him for this mercilessly, spires of rock blasting up out of the ground all around Absol – who managed to somehow dodge the worst of the attack, despite being on the ground – and forming a sort of stone forest.

The crowd roared its approval.

"Set up, Absol!" Torry called, Absol immediately falling into a strange, loping dance, and Leo frowned. Right. Can't let that happen.

Then he paused and looked up at Torry himself, taking his eyes off the battle and trusting Diana to do what she thought was best for the moment. His expression was excited, yet calm. Despite Absol being on the back edge, unable to retaliate with how focused he was on dodging Diana and her rocks as well as his set up moves, he appeared wholly confident. Maybe that was part of being an elite trainer. Maybe he had tricks up his sleeve.

Leo didn't want to take the chance.

"Adjust! Finish this!" Leo barked as Diana blasted past Absol once more.

Immediately the hum of Diana's vents became much more pronounced. She did not pick up speed, but as she spun around to make another pass at Absol, one could tell something was clearly different. Absol tensed and leapt out of the way of her charge once more, dodging by inches – only for her to unleash a dark pulse that caught him mid-air, sending him stumbling.

Air blast out of Diana's vents, violently redirecting her movements in a split second and sending her hurtling towards the still-tumbling Absol, who scrambled with surprise but still couldn't wholly avoid Diana's attack. She clipped his rear end and he rolled, leaping up and running away with a limp. The announcer boomed something over the intercom, but Leo ignored it.

"Trap and eliminate! Then pass it off!" Torry called, and Absol let out an ear-piercing shriek, a keening wail that had even Diana pausing in her mad charge to his position. It lasted for a solid three seconds, long enough for even Spiritomb, in Leo's pocket, to start hissing irritably. Then, in a flash of blue light, Absol returned himself. Torry smiled cheekily at Leo as he released his next pokémon – a set of floating swords, a Doublade.

"Make sure they can't get away, and play defensive," he ordered. Leo frowned. What were they getting –

"Oooh, and it's a perish song-baton pass combo! Don't be alarmed, folks, even if your pokémon heard the song they will be perfectly fine. The effects of the move should be limited to the battlefield itself, thanks to the barriers provided by the event coordinators – even the trainers in their podiums should be unaffected!" the announcer boomed, and Leo paled.

Well crap.

"Return," Leo called, raising Diana's pokeball. He had one switch, at least.

"Block!" Torry countered, and Leo cursed loudly as Doublade leapt in front of the recall beam, dispelling it. Tricky little –

Diana blasted forward, darkness trailing off of her as she shot out a massive dark pulse, the attack slamming into Doublade and sending the sword-ghost reeling as she bore down on it. She visibly winced as she charged slammed into the swords, the edges scraping against her carapace and leaving long slash marks as the ghost slid away and danced through the air, shining in the light of the spotlights.

Diana shrieked suddenly, slowing as pain wracked her and forcing her to slow, giving Doublade enough time to make some distance and start setting up. Diana was on a time limit, and he was not.

"Diana, do as much damage as you can. Forget about taking damage, just go wild," Leo said, gritting his teeth and glaring at Diana's pokeball. Doublade had positioned itself between him and Diana so it could block any attempts to recall, and while Leo doubted he'd be able to get past that defense to recall her, he'd still keep an eye out for it.

Diana hummed angrily, the ground rumbling at her displeasure as she rose off the ground, levitating midair with darkness trailing off of her armor. Doublade unsheathed itself, levelling the blades at her and tensing as she blasted forward, stone spikes shooting out of the ground and slamming into Doublade, knocking it off guard and allowing Diana to slam into the swords. Then she exploded in a dark pulse.

Doublade retaliated with a whirlwind slash, weathering the attack and barely throwing Diana off itself, only for her to fire another dark pulse at the ghost. It danced backwards, cleaving through the worst of the attack with a night slash. Diana was an unstoppable juggernaut, however, as she blasted forward again and slammed into the ghost once more, stone spires bursting out of the ground and trapping both her and the Doublade in close proximity. Doublade shrieked horribly, the sound like metal scraping against metal, its blades shining as one destroyed the pillar pressing its sheathes against Diana, while the other hit Diana herself – who retaliated with another dark pulse.

Now freed, Doublade shot away from Diana, wheeling through the air like a boomerang in case any more rocks tried to hit it, but Diana didn't follow. With a heart-wrenching cry of pain Diana fell to the perish song, and the violent hum of her air vents sputtered out.

Leo felt his heart clench at the sound, and recalled her with a heavy heart.

"That was amazing, Diana. You did great," he praised. And she did, too. Both Absol and Doublade were injured now – enough that his next teammate had a fighting chance against Torry's team. If only she hadn't been done in by a cheap trick, and instead by honorable battle. Cheap tricks are still a viable strategy. He thought with a sigh, clipping Diana's pokeball to his belt. Since he's from Sinnoh, I was hoping for a Froslass or Mismagius as the ghost type. Better the devil I know…

"And Leo's monstrous Pupitar finally falls! Is this the beginning of the end for Leo, or will his next pokémon turn things around for him once again?!" the announcer boomed, the words echoing in Leo's ears .

Now was the conundrum. Who to pick? Zuko was probably the best bet because of his advantage against Doublade, and the area of effect attacks he could use for Absol, but he was still tired from Hazel's battle. Ironically Sunny was probably the best counter for Absol, what with her unique moveset and all, but Doublade was a hard counter for her. He chewed his lip a bit in indecision, eventually grabbing Spiritomb's keystone from his pocket.

"You ok with battling, bud? I know you said you wanted to wait, but –" Spiritomb cut him off by hissing angrily, absolutely seething with anger towards the Doublade. Well, that answered that question. "Give 'em hell then,"

And with that, he chucked the stone cube into the battlefield.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Doublade was tense at first, but upon the keystone hitting the ground and nothing happening, it turned towards its trainer in confusion.

"Trainer Leo, please release your pokémon," the referee called, and Leo sighed. Just as he opened his mouth to start giving orders, Spiritomb acted.

Ice and snow swirled through the air, coating Doublade in a thin layer of frost, as the shadows started to creep forward. Torry shouted out a command, but it was too late – Spiritomb's ghostly body burst forth like a tidal wave of purple and black darkness, tendrils of shadow lashing out as Doublade attempted to counter, a night slash on one blade, and a shadow claw curling off the other, cutting through the tendrils with ease.

But that was just a distraction. Spiritomb condensed into its humanoid form in an instant, retracting its tendrils and slamming one purple fist into Doublade's sheathes in a nasty sucker punch, its other hand snapping out and grabbing one of the blades by the hilt. Torry shouted in alarm, Doublade's pink sash wrapping around Spiritomb's arm and attempting to drain its life force, but the ghost wasn't going to give it any leeway.

Spiritomb held the blade close to its face, and used hypnosis. That the other sword coated itself in a night slash and cut into Spiritomb's chest didn't phase it, its ectoplasmic body just sucking itself back together as it continued to try and lull Doublade to sleep, the sword's struggling and erratic attacks slowing until, finally, it clattered to the ground asleep.

"Dream eater," Leo ordered, and Spiritomb cackled, glowing with a pink energy as it started to devour…something of Doublade's, healing itself in the process.

"I forfeit Doublade," Torry said, recalling his ghost rather than let Spiritomb get a free meal and free energy.

It was the smart, tactical decision. After all, those attacks of Doublade's had to have hurt, even if Spiritomb didn't show it, and letting Spiritomb heal up from dream eater on the off chance Doublade would wake up before it fainted was a losing bet. Which just left Absol for Spiritomb to deal with – and this time they didn't have to worry about perish song. Forcing a draw like that counts as a loss. Unfortunately detect was still a thing, which meant they had to play it smart.

"What in Arceus' name is that ghost?" Torry demanded, locking his gaze onto Spiritomb.

"One you probably don't want to catch," Leo admitted far too cheerfully. Torry frowned and let Absol out onto the field. The white and black canine limped slightly from where Diana hit him earlier, and Spiritomb hissed menacingly, momentarily losing cohesion.

"Begin!" the referee boomed, and the battle resumed once more.

Spiritomb didn't charge forward, instead taking a fighting stance and making a big, sweeping motion that sent a wave of frigid air hurtling across the battlefield, frost collecting on Absol's fur as he loped straight at Spiritomb. Four orbs of purple fire flickered to life around his horn, visibly staving off a good portion of the chill in a technique Leo was all too familiar with – will-o-wisp.

They wanted to cripple Spiritomb's close-range, then.

Leo opened his mouth to bark out a command, but Spiritomb surprised him by doing two things at once; forming will-o-wisps around itself, the fiery orbs wobbling and wavering; and punching at Absol despite the distance between them. Neither Leo nor Absol expected Spiritomb's arm to extend, much less to cross the ten foot distance between them with such speed as it slammed a sucker punch into Absol's side. The canine yelped and stumbled, the will-o-wisps darting forward and sinking into Spiritomb's arm even as he frantically dodged Spiritomb's own will-o-wisps, meeting the ghost's attack with hastily fired air slashes and a single, astoundingly precise slash with his curved horn.

"When did Spiritomb learn will-o-wisp?" Leo muttered with a frown, watching as Absol fired an ice beam that sunk straight into Spiritomb's body. "Shadow ball, keep it on the defensive!" The ghost cackled in anger and started to punch the air, firing shadow balls with every punch like some sort of awkward cannon. Absol showcased its nimbleness and skill by dodging most of the attacks, though he still took a few glancing blows thanks to his injuries slowing him down.

"Mega-slash!" Torry barked, and Absol immediately changed tactics, darkness trailing from his horn that was almost immediately overwhelmed by a burning green light. Spiritomb didn't hesitate, running forward to meet Absol head-on, fists clenched and prepared to attack while Absol leapt into the air, swinging his horn down as hard and decisively as he could.

Both pokémon were using their movements as nothing more than feints, however. Spiritomb exploded into a wave of shadows, the mega horn slashing uselessly through the air even as Absol crackled with electricity. Arcs of yellow lighting blasted into Spiritomb's ectoplasmic form as it surrounded Absol, thrashing and bashing him with everything he had at close range. Torry cursed while Leo clenched his fists on the railing, the swirling purple and green shadows that was Spiritomb illuminated with flashes of electricity from the Absol trapped inside.

That is, until Spiritomb retreated, flowing away from Absol and leaving both it and the canine panting for breath. Spiritomb's form wavered, its cohesion starting to fail, and seeing a chance to strike Absol took a step forward – only to faceplant into the dirt, out cold. Leo let out a breath, and smiled. What a terrifying trainer to fight.

Roars of approval erupted from the crowd as the announcer boomed out praise.

"And what a battle between two equally talented trainers! Give it up for Torry Everfrost and his team – they put up quite a fight, but in the end could not stand up to Leo's Pupitar and ultra-rare ghost type!" the announcer boomed, and Leo leapt over the railing of the trainer's box, calmly walking over to Spiritomb and picking up its keystone. The ghost sunk its ectoplasmic form into the keystone, whispering and cackling madly, the stone itself covered in a layer of frost.

"Thank you, bud. That was great, and you deserve a rest," Leo praised, patting the keystone kindly and shoving it back into his pocket. Spiritomb whispered in his ears, more of a babble really, then fell silent.

"That was a great battle, kid," Torry said, having leapt down from his own podium and approached Leo. He stuck his hand out, and Leo shook it, smiling at the older boy. "You deserve the win – and can I say, I love battling trainers like you. The overly aggressive, no-holds-barred all-out offensive type – when you fall to my tricks it's exciting, and when you overcome them with brute force and raw power, it's equally awesome," he praised.

"Thanks! I never saw the perish-song, block combo coming. It takes a lot to take out Diana, and you did it without even losing a pokémon," Leo said. Torry laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Fat lot of good it did with that crazy ghost of yours. I'd look into getting one of my own, but my team's pretty full up right now. But hey, maybe I'll see you later in the tournament – I may have lost now, but I'm itching for a six-on-six rematch," Torry said, and Leo smiled. Considering Torry just lost in a major tournament, even if he wasn't knocked out of the running yet he was being very friendly about the whole thing.

"Well either way, it was a pleasure. And maybe after the tournament, if we don't see each other again, we can still have that battle," Leo promised, and Torry grinned. It was a savage, playful grin that left Leo with little doubt as to what his thoughts on that was. It almost made him regret offering. Almost.

Leo grumbled to himself as he trudged back to his hotel, the room reserved for him by Lusamine, with his hands stuck in his pockets. It was a hotel specifically built with tournament challengers in mind, complete with a fully functional pokémon center in the front lobby, and as such Leo would be dropping off the pokemon who battled today there for an overnight checkup. With the exception of Spiritomb, who probably wouldn't want to leave Leo's side. Leo scowled as his thoughts of getting his team checked up led to him thinking about Spiritomb, which led to him recalling the meeting he just came from.

Immediately after beating Torry a few reporters had pulled him aside and started hounding him on information about his team. He'd dodged most of their questions and eventually managed to sneak away, only to be hounded by a few more people who recognized him inside the stadium and wanted to congratulate him on his success so far. That, and they started to recognize him from his dancing dragon videos, which he'd all but forgotten about, and pestered him to give them a little show until he'd managed to sneak away, citing that he wanted to keep his team on the down-low until the tournament was in full swing. The whole thing had been one giant headache, and he wasn't sure how to handle all the fame.

Not only that, but by the time he'd gotten away a good few hours had passed, which left Leo with even less time to sleep, investigate his next opponent – who he thankfully wouldn't face until tomorrow evening – get his team checked up, and just unwind a bit after the exhausting, albeit exhilarating, first day he'd had. Leo rubbed his forehead. That was another thing, he still had to research his next opponent; which meant turning on the TV when he got back to the hotel room, and trying to catch the highlights of today's battles. Seeing who his opponent was and how they battled would be a massive boon over just hearing about it.

Leo wound his way past the now-empty food and souvenir stalls, head down and stuck in his own thoughts as he let his feet guide him. So stuck in his own thoughts was he that he didn't notice the person shouting at him to catch his attention until Spiritomb started hissing threateningly.

"Calm," Leo said absently, turning around and patting Spiritomb's keystone. Behind him stood a Lucario, pointing at him with one paw while a girl, no older than eighteen with long blond hair ran to catch up with him. He raised an eyebrow at her as she skidded to a stop, resting her hands on her knees – she was wearing a light blue shirt and black slacks – as she panted to catch her breath.

"W-wait, wait a second please," she said, gasping for air. Leo raised an eyebrow, gaze flicking to the Lucario, who was still pointing at him, even as the fighting-type directed its gaze towards the girl, one eyebrow raised in an unimpressed look.

"Can I help you?" he asked, not able to help how unimpressed his tone ended up coming out as. He couldn't help it, he was a little irritated right now.

"I – sorry, I ran quite a way to catch up to you, was afraid I missed you in the stadium until Lucario caught sight of you," she said, standing upright and sucking in greedy lungful's of air. Leo waited patiently for her to catch her breath, wondering what all this was about. He looked at the Lucario again. This wouldn't turn out like Boone, would it? Where she scooby-doo villain unmasked herself and her evil pokemon disguised as a Lucario as some crazy person? He hoped not.

"Sorry, but I'm a little tired right now," Leo started.

"Spiritomb. I have one too," she said quickly, and Leo paused, meeting her golden eyes with a surprised look. Wait. Wait a moment. Hold up. He'd been considering this ever since he'd caught Spiritomb, but for this encounter to happen now? "My name is Cynthia, and I'm a trainer from Sinnoh. If you're willing, I do believe there is much we could talk about,"

Chapter Text

"What brings you to Alola?" Leo asked, walking beside Cynthia in the dead of the night. Xena walked beside him, claws clicking against the ground as she eyed this newcomer up and down. The dragon was so excited to be a part of the tournament, but hadn't had a chance to show her worth yet. He was sure it was driving her nuts, and so had let her out to walk around a bit.

"I'm on vacation, actually," Cynthia said with a smile. "I heard Alola was beautiful this time of year, and I've got some time off until the next league season starts so I decided to pay a visit. It helps that their biggest tournament is going on right now – plenty of skilled battlers have shown up here,"

"Are you taking part in the tournament?" Leo asked out of curiosity. Xena snorted, earning herself a chuff-like laugh from Cynthia's Lucario, the fighting type walking beside her and keeping his red eyes trained forward.

"No, no, I'm here on vacation, remember? We're here to take a break before next year," she said, shaking her head dismissively.

"So, you're a trainer then?" Leo asked, trying to figure out where she was in terms of skill level. He imagined she'd gotten pretty far in the league at this point – she had to become champion and earn herself a fearsome reputation by the time Ash got there in, what, seven years? Leo was just about two years older, physically, than Ash and Gary, which made them eleven, almost twelve. And considering it most likely took Ash a full year to traverse each region, he probably had four or so years on top of that to get to Sinnoh. Maybe three. So yeah, six or seven years. Leo was thirteen plus a few months, now that the Spring equinox had passed. If he remembered right Sinnoh's league season didn't begin until closer to the end of spring thanks to their harsher and longer winters, so the math checked out.

"Yes, but no. I am a trainer for the League, but I have not started my gym challenge yet. I'll be doing that next year," she said, nodding. Leo's thoughts ground to a halt. What?

"Why not? What do you do if you're not a trainer?" Leo blurted out without thinking. How was Cynthia, the champion who gave him nightmare flashbacks from his few Platinum nuzlocke runs, not yet a trainer?

"Well, I'm actually a bit of a consultant for the League, not unlike what you said you do for Aether. Though I haven't stayed in Sinnoh, my work has taken me to many different regions; the job itself is actually why I can take my team with me through the regions despite not having any badges. It's been a wonderful experience, the world is so rich with culture and history that it'd be a shame not to travel everywhere I can. That's part of why I put off my league challenge so long – I wanted to travel a bit more, get experience, let my team grow into their own before forcing them down that path," she said with a small smile. Leo was quiet for a moment, soaking that in until she dropped the next bombshell on him. "I am aiming to become champion. Not just any Champion, but The Champion. My official battle record may not be spotless, but my gym challenge will be," she said firmly, and Leo let his mind chew on that a bit.

Wait a minute. She was letting her team grow, and she wanted to do the gym challenge after they had already becoming strong, right…?

"Are you wanting to earn your badge after beating each gym leader at their strongest?" Leo asked and Cynthia's smile grew wider.

"Yes. I want to battle their true teams and win – not their eighth badge teams, their true teams. I don't know if we're ready yet, but by the end of the next league season we will have to be," she said firmly. Her Lucario huffed and laid a hand on her shoulder. "But that's enough about me. I wanted to talk to you about Spiritomb," she said.

"Yeah, but I kinda wanna know more about you," Leo said honestly. "I mean, that's a heck of a goal. What on Earth inspired you to do that?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, a lot of things," she said, trailing off a bit. Seeing the answer for what it was, Leo let the topic drop and instead changed gears back to Spiritomb, however reluctantly. Again, he knew Cynthia would be champion, but if his time with Lusamine had taught him anything, it was that he didn't truly know anyone in this world. This, as cliché as it sounded, was not the games.

"So, Spiritomb," he started, and she nodded.

"Yes. Spiritomb. How long have you had one? Are you ok? Been having much trouble with it?" she asked, concerned. She stopped walking, stepping in front of Leo and looking him in the eyes, her silver-grey eyes boring into his with intensity as she searched for…something.

"I'm fine, thank you," he said, amused. Xena grumbled something as Spiritomb hissed in his ears, taking offense to Cynthia's accusation that it was anything other than a perfectly gentlemanly ghost. "Spiritomb was a little bit of a handful at first, but it's turned out to be relatively mild-mannered. It gets a bit overprotective sometimes, but for the most part it stays in my pocket all nice and quiet-like," he said, recalling the numerous times Spiritomb had burst forth to protect him. It was almost like having a helicopter parent around, ready to burst in at the first sign of trouble…if said parent was a ghost, and was heavily reliant on him for emotional and mental support.

"In your…pocket?" Cynthia asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. Lucario made a noise not unlike a scoff, and Leo furrowed his brows.

"Spiritomb doesn't like pokeballs," he said, pulling the keystone out of his pocket and showing it to Cynthia. "Sorry, I thought you watched my match? I didn't use a pokeball on it," Spiritomb hissed and poked one eye out of its stone, the swirling mass of green narrowing at Cynthia before retreating with an uncomfortable hiss. Was…was it being shy?

"No, I only saw part of your match on TV, and rushed to come find you. I just, but, how is it out?" she stammered, watching closely as Leo put Spiritomb's keystone back in the safety of his pocket. "The pressure alone should –" she started, then cut herself off.

"The pressure? I mean, yeah, Spiritomb can use pressure but we figured out pretty early on how to turn that on and off. It remains off most the time; my Spiritomb can hardly focus enough to battle sometimes, let alone control its pressure output. It's not quite battle ready," Leo said, even if that was an aspect of Spiritomb's arsenal they had largely forgotten about. It would be useful, but he'd wanted to work on the ghost's cohesion in battle without relying on the Pressure ability to keep opponents down.

"You can what?" Cynthia all but demanded. "How is your Spiritomb so docile? Mine is battle hungry and malicious on a good day, and almost never listens to me," she said, setting her hands on her hips.

"Uh," Leo said eloquently. How did he explain this? Well, now that he thought about it, he did kind of have experience putting his experiences with Spiritomb into words what with him sending reports to Professor Oak periodically, so maybe he could try again…?

"No, no, sorry. I apologize for my outburst," Cynthia said with a sigh, rubbing her face.

"It's ok, don't worry about it. It kind of just happened, if I'm honest. Our relationship started off rocky enough – shoot, Spiritomb was afraid, or more accurately intimidated, by me for the first month or so. That's what started it," Leo said, scratching his cheek and recalling those early days. It hadn't always seemed like it, but after that initial meeting of theirs, Spiritomb had been intimidated because it couldn't get to Leo, not really. He chalked it up to that mental influence thing the ghost could do being its natural defense, and Leo being able to essentially brush it aside making it very wary. And, when he explained as much to Cynthia, she turned pensive.

"I think we should start from the beginning. How did you meet Spiritomb?" she asked.

"How did you?" Leo asked back. She smiled a little and nodded.

"Right, I suppose I should start. I met my Spiritomb a little over a year ago, in an ancient tower in Sinnoh, having been guided there by a legendary pokemon," she said, and paused for a minute. Leo showed no reaction other than a slow raise of one eyebrow, patiently waiting for her to continue the story. "Cresselia, to be specific. Well, I say guided, but it was more of being shown vague dreams about the location, and subtle hints that I should go there; plus there was a Mismagius that wound up showing me the way. We woke Spiritomb by accident," she said, trailing off. Lucario laid a paw on her shoulder, and she patted it, being very careful to avoid the spike.

"Mismagius was eaten by Spiritomb the moment it woke, and it moved to attack me by trying to invade my mind. Lucario and the rest of my team aided me in subduing the ghost, and from there I captured it. Taming it has been…a trial, to say the least," she admitted. Leo nodded, rubbing his chin. He couldn't help but draw the parallels between the two stories, and as he relayed his own story to her, he could see in her expression she did the same. The only difference being that she said her ghostly guide was eaten, whereas Froslass willingly allowed herself to be absorbed so as to complete the ghost.

"Are you sure that Mismagius isn't still in there somewhere, among the personalities you've seen?" Leo asked her, after his story.

"I never thought to check, if I'm honest," she said slowly, frowning. "I was…afraid of what I might find. I had grown to really like her. How are you so sure that Froslass is still in there?"

"I can meet her, from time to time. Her personality is one of the stronger ones," Leo mused. "Though the interactions are never wholly hers. There are too many other personalities in there, but I can usually tell when she's at the forefront because it can still use a weak icy wind," Cynthia patted one of the pokeballs at her waist thoughtfully – or, now that Leo looked at it, an ultraball.

"That's a lot to think about," she said. "Though one of my theories has been proven through this conversation; Spiritomb are, somehow, tied to legendary pokemon,"

"That is probably true," Leo said with a sigh. Seeing as how Articuno was somewhat involved in his Spiritomb's story, as well as it being created in the basement of Lugia's burned tower, where the Johto legendary dogs were born, it was highly likely. Though whether the legendaries were just guardians of the broken, hurting pokémon or something more remained to be seen.

Before meeting Tapu Koko and learning that Spiritomb was incomplete, he was leaning more towards the former. Now he wasn't so sure.

"By the way, how far along is your Spiritomb? Mine's down to about forty spirits left," Leo asked curiously. Cynthia stared at him, and he blinked back in confusion. Waitaminute. She doesn't know if her Mismagius friend is somewhere inside Spiritomb. Does she know about the whole…merging spirits thing? Are our Spiritomb even the same like that? "Ok, judging by your expression, I think I need to explain myself a bit. I've found that the spirits inside Spiritomb, which started off at one hundred and eight, are less whole souls and more fragmented memories. Shards of souls, if you will, that can be merged together in an attempt to create a greater whole. They mostly merge into dominant personalities; such as Froslass' personality, though she has eaten maybe two or three compared to a different one which has combined, like, sixty into himself."

"What." Cynthia deadpanned.

"Yeah, exactly. I figured this out because Tapu Koko came rocketing out of the sky and wiped the floor with my team, then gave me a hint about Spiritomb; then Spiritomb sucked me into the mind space again and I counted all the spirits within," Leo said, scratching his chin. Xena snorted and poked his side with a claw curiously, drawing his attention. He laid a hand on her head and scratched her scales, acutely aware of her interest in this conversation. Strange, he figured Link or Santiago would have told her this story by now.

"How does that even work?" Cynthia demanded. "We know about ghost types eating emotions and memories – sometimes even giving birth to a ghost that exemplifies those distinct emotions, if the residual aura is strong enough – but combining spiritual shards?"

"Beats me. Probably a quirk of their biology," Leo said, shrugging and patting Spiritomb's keystone. "Part of Spiritomb's issue, initially, is that they have a hard time focusing. Even when most of the spirits unite towards a common goal – this happens mostly when they're trying to protect me, in my experience – they're still unable to exert the full extent of their power. Think of it like a hive mind, where all the different minds disagree with one another. Combining the spirits is mitigating that problem, while maintaining the total amount of power they can wield. And, more importantly, it makes them feel better," he said.

"That's…" Cynthia said, shaking her head.

"The problem is that when I personally aid in combining the spirits, which takes quite a bit of mental effort, let me tell you, you have to live through some of the memories from the spirit's point of view," Leo added, running a hand through his hair. Xena made a noise in the back of her throat, her scales gently clanging as she moved a bit. Leo continued to scratch her scales absently, judging Cynthia's reaction.

Her expression was wavering somewhere between uncomfortable realization, and shocking revelation.

"I – well," she said slowly.

"You've already experienced that, haven't you?" Leo asked.

"I have had a few nightmares that sound similar to what you're describing," she said slowly, shaking her head. "Living through an experience of another person, through their eyes, feeling their emotions…it was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Offer a sympathetic ear, if you will," she said. Leo smiled genuinely.

"Well, thank you, but I put myself through that torture of my own free will," he said with a chuckle. She smiled thinly, and Leo mentally sighed. He never considered himself a bedrock of emotional support when it came to other people, but he did know when he might need to just listen. "But, it doesn't seem like you feel the same. Are you ok?"

"That is the question I am meant to ask you," she said again, shaking her head. Leo looked up at the night sky as if judging the time, looking at the full moon and the stars – many of which were hidden by the abundance of lights in the tournament grounds, even this late at night.

His next battle wasn't until late tomorrow, so he had some time to sit and chat. Besides, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested. This was Cynthia. And while she was younger than he had expected, she was still one of the most famous, or infamous depending on what context you were speaking about her in, champions in all of Pokemon.

"I know what it's like to be run through with a sword," Leo blurted out, earning himself a surprised look from Cynthia. That particular memory of Spiritomb's had been very, very unwelcome. "Kept me up for days afterwards – sometimes I'd wake up feeling the phantom pain. Thankfully there haven't been very many of those kinds of harrowing memories, and I'm able to separate myself from them eventually, but they're still…" he trailed off, not quite finding the words to properly display how he felt. Cynthia was silent for a moment.

"I find that it's the mundane ones that are harder to separate from. To remember that I am me, and that I haven't lived through half the things they have," she said slowly. "It is the slow-burning, but deep, emotions of the common day-to-day that stick with me, even as these memories come to me in my dreams," she said, and Leo found himself nodding along. He didn't get that many of the common day-to-day memories, but now that she said it, whenever he did run across one it tended to stick with him for a while longer.

The emotions therein were harder to separate from his own emotions, as it were.

"What was your favorite one?" Leo asked, out of curiosity. She called the memories 'nightmares,' but…they couldn't all be bad, could they?

"A favorite?" Cynthia asked, cocking her head to the side. She thought about it for a moment, then smiled weakly. "Well, there was this one…" she said, and started to tell the story.

And that was how the two spent the better part of the night; swapping stories about Spiritomb and just chatting. And, even if he was mostly focused on Cynthia and helping her figure out her own ghost, it felt good for Leo to get some of the things he experienced with Spiritomb off his chest to someone who understood, and went through the same thing.

Leo thumbed his pokeballs, eyeing his opponent across the stadium. From all the research he'd done, he had come to the conclusion that the man across from him had a very unique specialization, and tended to play very defensively. All of his 'mon were heavy, hit like trucks, and used protect or detect liberally. Which meant Leo had just the pokemon for mixing things up a bit.

"Remember, trainers, this will be a three-on-three battle. Red trainer, are you ready?" the referee boomed, gesturing to Leo. He nodded and plucked Sunny's pokeball off his belt. "Blue trainer, are you ready?"

"Let Coeus Akamai show you how it's done, kiddo!" the trainer, Coeus, boomed with a laugh.

"Begin!" he shouted, and Leo hurled the pokeball out onto the field.

Sunny appeared with a sharp war cry across from a Hariyama, bolting across the field in an instant to slap Hariyama in the face with a fake out, leaping a good four feet into the air to accomplish this. The larger fighting type blinked at the action, less hurt and more surprised as Sunny started to lay into him, slapping a fury swipes across his legs, leaving long, thin scratch marks on his legs.

"If he's gonna give us a free set up, let's take it! Belly drum!" Coeus crowed to the skies, slamming one meaty fist against his chest. Hariyama mimed the action, slamming his two, large fists into his chest and shouting out a massive war cry. Leo winced and covered his ears at the impressively loud roar, a flickering red energy suffusing the Hariyama as he stomped his feet, the ground cracking beneath his weight. Sunny wisely backed up, retreating half the distance of the battlefield and giving the Hariyama some space as he stomped about.

Then, almost without warning, Hariyama blurred into motion. His open palms flashed silver as he blurred forward in a bullet punch – though, to Sunny's credit, she was prepared for such a thing. A weak blue wall of light appeared between her and Hariyama as she threw up a quick guard, the larger fighting type crashing into the barrier and stalling for just a moment; giving Sunny enough time to slap a force palm into Hariyama's knee, then slide between his legs to get behind him.

"Springboard!" Leo yelled.

Hariyama whirled, palms wide open as he swept along the ground, intent on catching Sunny. Instead of leaping over the strike like Hariyama had been expecting, Sunny darted closer, jumping up onto his knee and using it as a springboard to jump up and slam a force palm into his chin. Hariyama stumbled and slapped at Sunny again, this time the palm thrust sending her hurtling back away from the fight. She flipped through the air, landing on her feet and skidding as Hariyama charged forward.

Her expression stiffened as he snapped his hands out in an arm thrust, the wind that the attacks generated alone buffeting her. Sunny scrambled as she dodged the attacks, unable to retaliate for the most part. Leo chewed his lip as he watched, not willing to distract her by shouting out an order but still thinking about how to advance from here. Sunny was wholly focused on dodging Hariyama's attacks, with no room to counter. Considering one more attack could very well take her out of the fight entirely, that was a reasonable concern.

Belly drum was a nightmare of a move.

Still, so long as she could keep dodging, Haryiama would eventually tire of the arm thrusts. Especially since, at times, the larger fighting type would miss by mere centimeters; it had to feel like trying to swat a fly. Sunny was so much smaller than Hariyama that it was hard to get a good angle on her, and she could slip through gaps most other 'mon wouldn't be able to. So it was a patience game, at this point.

"Heavy slam!" Coeus ordered, growing tired of the flow of battle the moment Leo thought about patience. Hariyama abruptly slapped his hands together, stomping his feet and tensing his feet. Sunny took that chance to slam a force palm into Hariyama's midsection, the larger 'mon grunting, and leaping high into the air.

Sunny was already running as Hariyama came crashing back down, the ground beneath him shattering from the force of the blow. Despite it not being a direct hit, Leo couldn't help but fear that Sunny would still be knocked unconscious – she stumbled, she fell, and she was struck by chunks of flying earth and stone, but in the end she shakily got to her feet, obviously heavily injured. Leo clenched the railing, struggling to keep his expression calm as he shouted out his next order, not that Sunny needed prompting.

"Reversal!" he howled, loud enough for Coeus to hear. That was the intent, after all – he needed Coeus to hear. Sunny paused for a split second, shaking her head and getting her bearings as Hariyama yanked his feet out of the holes he'd driven them into, before she darted forward.

"Protect yourself!" Coeus answered, just as Leo hoped he would. Hariyama snorted and thrust his palms towards Sunny in a defensive motion, a shimmering dome of green energy surrounding him a second before Sunny got there. And, for a split second, she seemed to vibrate. Her left foot planted on the ground and she spun, body blurring as she slipped through the protect shield; hidden from Coeus and Hariyama's view thanks to the fighting type's massive bulk, and large hands.

Leo honestly missed what happened next. Sunny vanished behind Hariyama's massive hands as she leapt up inside his guard, the fighting type visibly surprised by Sunny's sudden appearance inside his protect dome, and the next moment he was sent hurtling backwards, his dome vanishing as he was bodily tossed to the other side of the battlefield. Sunny landed lightly on her feet, despite breathing heavily, and did not let up.

Before Hariyama had a chance to rise she was on him again, jumping up onto his torso as he lay flat on his back, and slamming repeated force palms into his face.

"Whirlwind!" Coeus shouted, but it was too late. Sunny raised her tiny paws high above her head and slammed them back down into Hariyama's face, the massive reversal snapping his head back and knocking him unconscious.

Silence reigned for a few moments, and the crowd erupted as Coeus recalled his Hariyama, muttering words of encouragement even through his massive grin. Leo ignored his apparent pleased expression, and held up Sunny's pokeball. The little weasel wouldn't last very long against this next challenger, whoever it would end up being, and so recalled her. She wasn't out of the fight yet, he was just using one of his swaps.

"Never expected that! You're gonna have to tell me how you got past protect after the battle!" Coeus shouted happily. Leo smirked. Feint was not a very common or popular move, but it made Sunny an absolute menace when faced with 'mon that abused protect and detect. "But I doubt you'll be able to do it twice! Golem, let's go!"

The Alolan Golem that appeared on the field sparked angrily, stomping its feet and rumbling threateningly. Leo raised an eyebrow.

Then he let out Xena.

The dragon tossed her head amidst the cheering of the crowd, her scales clanging beautifully as she stomped her feet and roared her challenge to the skies. Golem rumbled, the sound of stones grinding together as it loaded the "cannon" thing on its back sounding over the noise of the stadium.

"Stealth rock," Coeus said, his expression now considering. Leo frowned as Xena charged in, spewing a dragon breath at the rock monster as it fired its cannon, chunks of electrified stone hanging in the air around the battlefield, bits of dragon fire leaving a few blackened and scorched. Xena crashed into Golem claws bared – or at least, Leo thought she did. Her attack skittered harmlessly off of a protect shield, and the moment it dropped Golem fired a massive stone straight into her chest.

She stumbled backwards a few feet from the impact, instinctively shielding herself from the blow. She growled, low and dangerous as Golem zapped her with a weak thundershock, and retaliated with a burst of dragon breath as she closed the distance once more. This time Golem didn't counter with protect, instead throwing its massive bulk forward, into Xena's guard, and trying to knock her off balance with a weak tackle. She snarled and grabbed Golem's rocky armor, heaving it off the ground even as the massive rock type zapped her with more electricity, and with a mighty heave, lifted the massive rock type over her head.

"EXPLOSION!" Coeus roared, and Golem began to glow a bright white color. Xena roared and moved to hurl the rock-type away, but a quick, well timed protect trapped both her and the Golem within the green shell. Leo cursed and ripped Xena's pokeball off his side, watching with wide eyes as the protect shell shattered, and Xena was sent hurtling out of the explosion. The psychic barriers that protected the bystanders and trainers alike flexed dangerously with the explosion, and Xena slammed into them. Hard.

His dragon groaned and struggled to rise, showing her mettle as, even through that, she tried to get up – only for her arms to fail her and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Leo scowled and grit his teeth, recalling her and muttering an apology for not anticipating something like that. A suicide move, to beat one of his Aces. It seemed his most powerful pokemon were all getting the short straw in this tournament – Link, falling to Decidueye in a bad type matchup; Diana, falling to a perish song; and now Xena, defeated by a point-blank explosion.

"You seem to be lacking versatility, kid!" Coeus said with a laugh. "A quick protect might've saved your dragon! And now you've got to face my next partner!"

Leo scowled and glared at the man, annoyed at all these…petty tricks catching him off guard. Was this the expert tier? He kinda hated it. He much preferred the one-on-one slugfests he was used to, but maybe that was the point. At the lower levels, Leo's team would've swept. Here? Here he had to think, strategize, and adapt to rapidly changing situations. Still, Leo was technically up a pokemon. This was a winnable situation.

The question was who to send out next? Type-wise, Santiago was a potential winner. From what Leo'd seen so far in this match, and what information he'd learned of the man, his team had a Crabominable, a Mudsdale, and a Turtonator on it. The other members were mysteries, but…well, Santiago was pretty versatile, and he seemed to favor fighting and rock or ground types with Turtonator being the outlier. For a moment Leo hesitated over letting Sunny out next, to get a good grasp of what Coeus' next pokemon would be, but then he eyed the stealth rocks still somehow up.

Even though the explosion had knocked a few of them down, a good number were still out. She wouldn't likely be able to take a hit from one, not after the short rest in her ball she's had so far, and she was still a threat with her move reversal. The more injured she was, the harder she hit…a good trump card. So he decided against it, and plucked Santiago's ball from his belt.

"This'll tell us who wins, kiddo," Coeus said, grinning cheekily. "If my gamble pays off, we'll know now,"

And with those ominous words, Leo put Santaigo's ball back, and pulled Sunny's ball out. He felt bad for using her as a sacrificial piece, but it would be better to play it safe. He sent out Sunny the same time Coeus hurled his pokeball out onto the field, a Metang appearing in the air across the way. Leo's eyebrows rose as Sunny hit the field, immediately dancing around a stealth rock that hurtled towards her, the electrified stone zapping her weakly as it passed.

She wasted no time in charging towards Metang, the floating psychic type catching her in a psychic and bashing her against the ground once, twice, until she stopped moving. Leo recalled her, as the announcer boomed her defeat.

"You did great, Sunny. Thanks for the hard work," he muttered, putting her pokeball back. Ok, so a Metang. That meant either Spiritomb or Zuko and – Spiritomb hissed at him in annoyance, voicing its desire to not fight. It probably wanted to be whole and healthy for when they talked to Cynthia's Spiritomb later today; a sentiment Leo shared. She had insisted that her Spiritomb could be highly volatile, so…

Zuko it was.

"Heat wave!" Leo barked, tossing Zuko out onto the field. He appeared in a burst of flame, the air distorting around him as he fired himself up. Metang droned and blasted him with a burst of psychic power, knocking him to the ground. Stealth rocks hurled themselves towards him, smashing into his body while he was down. That did not stop Zuko from unleashing his heat wave, the superheated air flicking out and scorching Metang's outer shell.

The steel-type groaned mechanically, light screens flickering into existence around it. Zuko immediately shifted tactics, will-o-wisps popping up all around him as he inhaled, and unleashed a massive flamethrower. Metang deflected the attack with light screens, eyes glowing as it spun away from the attack, keeping the light screens interposed with the flamethrower as Zuko tracked it.

The will-o-wisps zipped forward when Zuko paused to take a breath, the small balls of purple fire arcing around the light screen shield and splashing against Metang's body, turning parts of the gleaming metal cherry-red. Metang's eyes flashed with psychic power, and the ground beneath Zuko heaved, bits of stone bursting from the stone and pelting his stomach.

Zuko coughed violently and scrambled away, coughing out a puff of a smokescreen to temporarily hide himself from Metang.

"Close the gap," Leo ordered, frowning. Although on paper Zuko had the innate advantage against Metang, he of all people knew how tough pseudo-legendaries could be even if it was a pre-evolution. That was why the tournament people didn't play around with them; taking out Diana and Xena with quick, decisive orders, even if they did have to sacrifice 'mon to get it done. So they had to play this smart, and quick, and not let them pick up steam.

"Sunny day," Leo ordered. Zuko paused and flared his back fires, a yellow glow burning in his throat as he turned his face skyward and spat out a sunny day; the burning ball of light coming to hover over the field menacingly. Metang didn't let this go unpunished, however, and paused for a brief moment as it seemed to focus.

"Meteor beam!" Coeus called, grinning widely. Zuko turned his face back towards Metang and roared, a great gout of flame erupting from his maw, the sunny-day enhanced flamethrower overwhelming Metang's light screen defense and drowning the steel-type in flame. It droned in pain, and a burst of blue light suddenly rocketed through the heart of Zuko's flamethrower, slamming into his chest and sending him hurtling backwards.

Metang burst from the lingering flames, glowing cherry-red with lightning crackling around its two claws as Zuko slowly picked himself up.

"Explode!" Leo shouted, and Zuko didn't even hesitate. His fur sparked and an explosion rocked the arena – not as powerful as Golem's had been, but still powerful – only to splash harmlessly against a protect shield erected by Metang. It burst through the explosion unharmed, caught Zuko in a psychic hold, and bashed both of its claws into his forehead, the twin thunder punches sending him crashing to the ground. He whimpered and tried to rise, but Metang didn't let up, hitting him again, and again, pushing through the flames that burst from Zuko's back and licked at Metang's still-glowing metal armor to beat him until he fell.

Leo's fists clenched against the railing as he recalled Zuko, the fact that he just lost hitting him like a truck. Metang wobbled mid-air as Coeus recalled the steel-type, the older man grinning widely as the announcer boomed his victory. Leo bit back a curse, jumping down from the trainer's stand and walking to meet Coeus halfway across the field. The man was at least two heads taller than him, broad-chested with massive hands that dwarfed Leo's when they shook.

"You've got a heck of a team, kid," he said, shaking his hand and clapping him on the shoulder. "But you're lacking a bit of experience. Don't worry, kiddo, you've got another shot to make it to the top eight. You really took me by surprise! I had to pull out some old, old tricks! I look forward to our rematch!" he said, grinning widely. Leo smiled.

"Thank you for the battle," he said genuinely. Coeus just grinned and slapped him on the back again as Leo left the field, waving at the crowd and basking in their cheers. It wasn't until he was away from the crowd, in an empty hallway, that he reacted.

His fist struck the wall so hard the bones in his hands ached.

"Damn it,"

Leo sat in the pokemon center twiddling his thumbs, waiting for the nurses to release his pokemon back to him. He could only imagine how frustrated Xena would be with her loss. The same went with Zuko, and Link, and Diana. Maybe he could blame their loss on not being accustomed to competitive fighting; they'd had nothing but wild free-for-alls and fights to the death lately, but he didn't. That didn't seem right. He mostly blamed himself instead.

He glanced up when Cynthia sat down in one of the plastic chairs next to him, the blonde girl clearly having something to say.

"That was a good battle," she said, and Leo snorted.

"No it wasn't," he scoffed. "I fell into too many traps. Didn't anticipate enough. Forgot about protect when Metang was doing that final charge, and thus left Zuko vulnerable to assault. Should've had him disengage and run away, rather than go for the kill. The list goes on,"

"The explosion trick was…unexpected, but expected. There was little the Golem would have been able to do against your Hakamo-o, so a sacrificial play was likely the correct choice on your opponent's part. And maybe you would have been able to win had you saved your Meinfoo for last, rather than as a sacrificial piece." Cynthia allowed, nodding. "But then again, I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit,"

"How so?" Leo asked, both annoyed and confused by her statement. Annoyed because he was pissed off right now and didn't really want to talk to anyone, and confused because, well, that wasn't what he'd expected the hear.

"You tell me. Instead of beating yourself up for a loss against a far more experienced trainer, I want you to tell me what you did well," she said, folding her hands in her lap and looking at him expectantly. Leo raised an eyebrow at her, and sighed. Well. Shit. He knew exactly what she was trying to do here. His dad used to do something similar whenever he beat himself up over something – like being unable to beat him in a spar, or sucking at a sport or whatever. After all, his father had taught him martial arts.

It was a simple trick, but an effective one. And as much as it annoyed him to do, he played along.

"Sunny beat Hariyama," he said, rubbing his chin. "I knew that Coeus loved protect and other defensive moves, and Sunny knowing feint and reversal allowed her to turn a losing battle on its head – from sheer unexpectedness. That was good. Recalling her was also good, I waited until I saw who was next, and sent out my best counter. Using Sunny for the same purpose on Coeus' last pokemon wasn't a bad idea either; it let me pick the best counter to it I could,"

"Why didn't you choose Spiritomb?" Cynthia asked.

"Because I wanted it to be ready for when we meet yours, and because it didn't want to fight. And, if it doesn't want to do something, even if I force it to, it won't fight at full power because of its…volatile, disjointed nature. I was more likely to lose if I forced Spiritomb into battle than if I used Zuko," Leo reasoned, rubbing the back of his neck and feeling just a tad bit frustrated at Spiritomb. Said ghost whispered in his ears in concern, sensing his agitation, but he just waved it off. He didn't want to talk to it right now.

"So you anticipated what you could against a far more experienced opponent, forced him to play things cautiously, respected the wish of your pokemon to not fight, and still almost won," Cynthia summed up.

"That doesn't make me feel better. I still think I could have done more. We could have done more," Leo corrected himself, rubbing his face.

"Probably," Cynthia agreed, drumming her fingers on her leg. "But at the same time, probably not. You said you've been a trainer for, what, a year and a half now?" she asked, and he nodded. "What you're running into is that your team is strong, powerful, but not versatile. At least that's what you feel, right?" she asked.

"Sounds about right," he grumbled.

"That's because you're too new at this. It takes trainers years to build up their teams, not just because pokémon, like humans, take time to grow into their adult forms even after reaching their final evolution; but also because they need experience. It takes time for them to master the moves they already have – and even more time to learn more moves, and understand how to use them to their fullest extent," Cynthia reasoned. "You lost not because your team is weak, or because you're a terrible trainer, but because you and your team just need time to grow," Leo scowled and rubbed his face, hating that he knew she was right.

Stupid logic. Why couldn't he just be mad at himself for a little bit?

"You're probably right," Leo said, and then snorted to himself. "Maybe that's why I'm a kid again," he muttered, low enough that Cynthia couldn't hear him.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing. What do you suggest I do then?" he asked, looking at her.

"When is your next battle?" she asked.

"Tomorrow morning, against Kiawe. A fire-type specialist, about fourteen years old," Leo said. "I have full confidence in being able to beat him," he said. It was a little weird, going up against someone who Leo remembered as being a Trial Captain in the games when they were still an up-and-coming trainer, but oh well. He wasn't a Trial Captain yet.

"If you're confident, why are you asking me? It's you and your team that will be doing the fighting," she reasoned, and Leo nodded. That was fair enough, he supposed. Still, he'd better have a talk with his team when the time comes. Diana and Link were disheartened by their losses, and undoubtedly Xena and Zuko would be, so he needed to have a bit of a…heart-to-heart with his team. Before the battle tomorrow. He glanced over at where the nurse was manning the pokemon center desk, the pokemon who battled clearly not finished healing yet.

That could come later, when everyone was ready. Leo took a deep breath, balling up his frustration and anger in the pit of his stomach, then imagining as if he was pushing it out through his feet on the exhale – like blood, draining from his body.

"Do you want to go get some ice cream?" Cynthia suddenly blurted out, and Leo blinked at her. "There will be some time before your team is ready, and I've been dying to have some,"

He glanced at the clock, and mulled over the offer. Well, it sure beat hanging around here, moping over his loss and overthinking things.

"I think that's a great idea," he said, and followed her out of the pokemon center back towards the tournament proper, engaging in small talk with her on the way. If only he had remembered how much she enjoyed ice cream from the few times he'd watched the anime, he might have been spared the shock of watching her pack away an entire double sundae, all by herself. But, as it was, it was…an enjoyable time.

Victoria Oak was not having a good day. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Despite her brat – and since when did she start thinking of him as her brat? – doing well enough in the Tournament (albeit not as well as she knew he was capable of) and the overall serenity she felt whenever she returned to Alola, she was not having a good day. Alola was her homeland, and she would live here for the rest of her life if she was allowed to.

But, and this was a big but, she also could not turn away from the Motherland, where the first Oaks came from and where their roots first took hold. She was proud of her familial lineage – one that stretched from Sinnoh with the famous Professor Rowan Oak, the cousin of her own father Samson Oak who researched in Alola, to Samuel Oak himself, fabled as one of the greatest Pokemon Professors of all time and ex-champion of the Indigo League, like his late father before him. And that was where the Oaks were from; Indigo. They had laid their roots there generations ago, and have since spread across the globe as researchers, battlers, and all the positions in-between. Indigo was the homeland of the Oaks, as much as Alola was Victoria's homeland.

Which was exactly why this news was so disheartening. To think that Indigo had fallen apart so much.

"You're certain," Victoria asked again. Giovanni nodded tiredly, rubbing his face. Even over the distances they were communicating on a secure, protected, and thereby not-very-high quality video phone, she could see the stress-lines on his forehead and the absolute exhaustion in his eyes. The image flickered a little and Victoria angrily wondered if an errant Magnemite was floating by, or if bloody Zapdos was making a ruckus somewhere far away. This was why it took so much work to get regions to communicate with each other – there was so much interference, all the bloody time.

"I am. It could be a week from now, it could be a month, it could be a year, but I cannot hold back the rogue elements in Kanto. Cerulean, Vermillion, Saffron, and Fuchsia are all ready to explode," Giovanni asserted. Victoria scowled. There was no way those gym leaders could defeat the entire might of Indigo and the Elite Four, not even if they managed to defeat and kill Lance. Not that it was likely, barring catching the dragon-master with his pants down. He truly was a powerful trainer, after all, and had far more allies than he did enemies.

"They're going to fail," Victoria said stiffly. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"When it comes down to it, I will have to side with Indigo. Kanto as a whole is not in a place to challenge Johto's might, and the leaders who understand this will either remain neutral or join Lance's side. As Viridian is the gateway to the League, I must side with Lance, even if I wish to remain neutral," Giovanni lamented. Victoria frowned and leaned back in her chair, allowing her mind to conjure up how this conflict would end.

Lance, proving his power as Champion, subduing the rogue elements of Kanto that have been voicing their complaints over his misadministration. He would get the glory she knew he craved, "glory" in battle against terrorists screeching their war song of injustice, and oppression of their people. And while they were not wrong, the Kantonians were too rabid about it – the kind of rabid that turned the sympathetic away from their cause, not towards it. They would lose, with Lance at the lead, the Elite Four behind, and Giovanni showing the way from the gates of Viridian.

Victoria thought about what she knew about Giovanni, and what Leo had told her. The puzzle pieces he'd provided all those years ago slowly clicked into place. Giovanni would earn Lance's trust through his efforts in subduing the rebellion, despite his obvious distaste of the Champion, and he would earn a voice in deciding who would take over the dissident cities. Saffron, the center of all of Kanto; Vermillion, an important naval port and central hub of the military; Fuchsia, the home of the eternally feuding ninja clans; and Cerulean, the tourist trap of a city. From her knowledge of politics in the region, the Waterflower family of Cerulean would undoubtedly retake control of the city, thanks to their constant and vocal support of Lance, having lost their right to gym-leaderhood two dozen years ago, but for the others?

Giovanni would undoubtedly try to land his people, lieutenants, if you will, into leadership positions in the cities. Strengthening his own position and hiding what he would surely do next, something she never would have considered a possibility before; establishing a terrorist organization within Kanto, most likely set on weakening Johto's influence. The man had the viciousness and wit to succeed in such an endeavor; had Victoria not been looking into him these past few months, she probably never would have put it all together.

Between the two, Lance and Giovanni, the entire political landscape of Kanto would drastically change, as even leaders who did not take a side find themselves replaced. She could only see Pewter and Rota, the latter of which is only nominally a part of Kanto, would remain the same – simply because their respective histories revolved around their neutrality, with the exception of when war found them. Pewter did not take sides, and Lance would respect that. For the other leaders who remained neutral? He would pressure them. Hard.

"For the love of the Tapus," she cursed, shaking her head.

"…You should be wary as well, Victoria Oak. There are elements on both sides that see your attempts at peacekeeping as support for the 'enemy.'" Giovanni warned. The image flickered again, and he frowned over the screen. "I must go. The connection is getting weaker, and the longer we speak, the more likely we are to be noticed. Until we meet again," he said, and cut the connection. Victoria cursed once more and ran a hand through her hair, standing up from her chair and snapping her pokedex shut. It was an advanced model, but still only capable of long-range video chats thanks to some tech she didn't understand.

Victoria let out a long, slow breath and considered calling Samuel, but eventually shelved that idea for now. They'd known that Kanto would reach a tipping point sooner than later, but never really knew when. It had all been guesswork until now, and though she'd hoped that it wouldn't go this far, that had apparently been a fool's hope. He'd be ok for now, and telling people that she knew what was going to happen was…dangerous. She'd try to run damage control, of course, but right now? Right now she needed to come to terms with what was about to happen.

With an absent twitch of her hand she let Prince out next to her, the Persian rubbing up against her leg as she reached down to scratch between his ears.

"C'mon, let's go see your favorite chew-toy," she said, and Prince purred loudly, clearly liking the idea. She chuckled and led the way out of her private room – a villa that had been reserved for her at the top of the Royal Stadium. It was a tad too luxurious for her tastes, with golden faucets and all the modern amenities she needed plus far more that she didn't, but it was at least private.

A destination in mind, Victoria wandered out of the stadium, greeting those who recognized her and signing a few things, taking the odd picture, then politely making her way out of the worst of the crowds. She'd never get to where she was going if she didn't get away from those who recognized her. So, silently and stealthily she made her way to the hotel she knew Leo was staying at, Prince leading the way, undoubtedly searching for him as well.

She just wanted to see him.

To ground herself a little.

What was coming between Kanto and Johto was…

Terrifying.

He had come to be her little slice of normalcy in this crazy world. Just a kid, going on an adventure, seeing the world for the first time…and yeah, he got caught up in some crazy stuff. But who didn't? At least when she heard about it from him, it seemed mostly fun. Like an adventure should be. It was what she wanted to do and have. To go back to that time in her life, when she could just…run away, and play in the jungles.

She didn't want to fight in a war, but she couldn't turn her back on it either. It wasn't in her nature to do so, and as much as her brain told her that she'd be better off staying in Alola, training, enjoying life, and helping raise Leo up into the trainer she believed he could be, her gut said it could never happen. One way or another she'd find herself entangled in the conflict in Indigo, be it by her own choice, or forced by another's hand. So she walked, and walked, and just…stewed. Coming to terms with what she might have to do.

When she did find Leo, it wasn't quite where she expected. Or, rather, he wasn't doing quite what she expected. Instead of hanging out in a pokemon center, or having a talk with his team, or any of the other things she expected from him after his most recent loss, Victoria stumbled across him hanging out at an ice-cream stand.

She would've missed it had it not been for Prince pointing it out to her. He was sitting at a table across from a pretty blonde girl, laughing as he held a half-eaten ice cream cone, the girl herself tearing through a heaping mound of the frozen treat, while his Slowking stood off to the side next to a Lucario. The two pokemon were enjoying their own cones – or, the Lucario was. Santiago was licking his paws, as if he had just finished; it was more likely he just ate the whole thing in one go though.

Victoria just watched for a moment, standing in the crowd and just…observing, before finally turning away and letting him go about his business. As much as she wanted to go tease him about the situation, now that she saw him she felt a little better. At least he wasn't moping about his loss, even if he did still have a chance to make it to the top eight. That had been her problem when she was his age.

Leo sat down with Link, Zuko, and Xena, the three pokemon who were taking their losses the hardest, in a small secluded park outside their hotel the next morning. He'd already spoken to Diana, the Pupitar flipping her mood around just because he was giving her some one-on-one bonding time and promptly coerced him into practicing their riding skills again, much to Cynthia's amusement. Thankfully he'd gotten a lot better at riding Diana over the past few months, so it wasn't quite as disastrous as their first few attempts.

Still, that left these three to take care of.

"So," he started, raising an eyebrow at them. "You all got your butts handed to you,"

"Hak," Xena growled, turning away and huffing. Link scowled and crossed his arms, while Zuko just bowed his head in shame.

"Admittedly, I made some mistakes in commanding your fights," he started, and held up a hand as Link opened his mouth to speak, likely to protest in some way. "Link, we should've kept up the pressure on that Decidueye – it's a ranged fighter, and you're best at melee. Giving it space like we did, however unintentionally, was a mistake. Zuko, we should've abused quick attack more. Your ability to explode is a great ability, but we've been focusing on it too much since your evolution, and left some of your other tactics behind. It's time to revisit those, and see what we can do about expanding them. And Xena…there's not much I can say there besides bad luck. I never would've expected an exploding Golem, but maybe I should have," he said with a shrug.

Xena huffed again and banged her scales together, shaking herself vigorously.

"I get that you're proud of your scales; they're an impressive defense against most opponents. Hell, that Nihilego we fought together could barely get past them. But against a point blank explosion? Be realistic," he reasoned, and Xena huffed again. "If anything, though, this tournament is pointing out plenty of weaknesses and loopholes in our current strategies and move sets that need to be adjusted or accounted for. That said, we don't have time to do that now. In just an hour we'll be fighting Kiawe, a fire type specialist. Xena, so long as Santiago and Diana don't mop the floor with his team, you'll get a chance at redemption at this fight. But don't be expecting it; they have as much to prove as you do.

"The real question is, how are you all going to take the rest of the tournament? I'm going to start playing things a bit smarter; adjusting my commands and strategies more beyond this whole 'barrel through with brute strength' thing I walked into the tournament with. I expect you to do the same when we win this battle today. Top sixteen isn't enough for me. We've been through enough. Done enough training. Fought enough real battles. Let's make it to the top," he said, decisively, firmly, with no room for argument.

None of them said a word for a moment, until Zuko looked up and just nodded his head, determination shining in his eyes. Leo nodded back, and Link stepped forward to make a sweeping bow.

"Bell," he said. Leo nodded to him, and turned his attention to Xena.

The dragon's eyes burned with determination and desire; her pride as a dragon, as a powerful warrior of the Poni Kommo-o tribe, had been hurt yesterday. She would not rest until she proved that her pride in herself was not misplaced. Leo knew it wasn't, but that wasn't the point. She had to prove it to herself.

"Good. We'll have plenty of time to figure things out after the battle today, but I wanted to get this out of the way. For now, return," he said, recalling Zuko and Xena. "You'll stay with me for a bit, Link," he said, the little Bellossom nodding, eyes flicking to the side.

"That was quite the speech," Cynthia said, having walked up to observe at some point. Leo jumped a bit in surprise, turning on her and flushing just slightly. He…hadn't expected anyone to hear his little speech besides his team.

"Ah, thanks…" he said, trailing off as he observed the girl. Her eyes were puffy and red, dark bags hanging under them indicating a severe lack of sleep. Her hair was a bit of a mess too, and her shoulders were slightly slumped – a drastic change from her usual dignified posture. A Roserade walked by her today, exuding a pleasant scent from her flower hands, and she occasionally glance up at her trainer with worry. "You ok?" Leo asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Is it really that noticeable?" she asked with a self-depreciating chuckle. When Leo didn't answer, she continued. "I…apologize. When we didn't get to interacting with our Spiritomb yesterday, admittedly by my own insistence, I got a bit impatient and tried your little meditating technique," Leo closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Yeah, he felt bad about not getting to that, but she had personally delayed him meeting and helping with her Spiritomb until after today's battle; citing that it wouldn't do to distract him when he had an important battle coming up or whatnot. Probably out of worry that his loss left him not in the right state of mind. It worked out just as well for him, though, since he got some research on Kiawe done instead.

"I told you to wait for me to do that. I can't guarantee the same method would work for you as it did for me. Did you at least have Lucario out with you?" he asked, and she shook her head. Maybe that was hypocritical of him to demand of her, but just because he was foolish didn't mean others had to be.

"Like a fool, no I did not," she said softly. "I did not think the reaction would be so…violent," the fact that she probably let her pride get ahead of her, thinking 'if someone Leo's age could do it, so could I' went unsaid. Maybe that was Leo just filling in gaps though.

"What happened," Leo said more than asked. Her Roserade shot him a glare, and Link stepped between him and the other grass-type.

"I got to the mindscape, but Spiritomb forcefully pulled me within. I – I tried to fight it, to touch the spirits and grasp them, to combine them like you said, but nothing I did worked. It was as if my hands phased right through them. I couldn't touch them, Leo, and then the nightmares started," she said, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry," she eventually finished with, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I shouldn't have come to you with this right before your match,"

"No, you did the right thing. Walk with me," he said, already leading the way. His match started soon, so they couldn't deal with her Spiritomb yet, but that didn't mean he couldn't try to take her mind off of it. "Tell me about the dreams,"

Cynthia was silent as she fell in step beside him, seeming unwilling to share. So they walked in silence, passing through the tournament grounds and abruptly stopping for ice cream – Cynthia's idea, she just stopped and grabbed two ice cream cones, both for her – before continuing on towards where Leo's battle would be held. It wasn't until the small stadium came into view, and they could see the double doors themselves that she spoke.

"Mismagius was there," she said eventually. "I could feel her pain. She'd been forcefully holding back spirits within all this time, preventing them from overwhelming me, and I opened the floodgates. These were not fragmented spirits, like how you described. They were too coordinated, too like-minded. They struck at me with purpose and intent; I only managed to ward them off because of the time I'd spent with it so far. I saw their pain, the fire and blood that created this ghost…and at the heart of it all, controlling everything, was a single spirit. It was malicious, and evil. When it touched me I could sense its emotions and desires; it wanted nothing more than to break me. Mismagius intervened before it could try anthing else, and I returned Spiritomb afterwards, but…the nightmares remained," At this she fell silent, and didn't speak again.

Leo looked at the stadium, and weighed his options. They needed to deal with this sooner than later. From what she said they both underestimated Spiritomb's maliciousness, and though he'd rather go handle this now, he couldn't just abandon the tournament either. He was doing this as much for Lusamine and Victoria as he was for himself; and he was representing Aether, not just himself either. In fact, it was a little alarming that one of his first thoughts was skipping his match entirely to go help Cynthia. Did he truly think so little of the tournament?

No, that wasn't right. He was just in the mood to fight, and was planning for two fights back-to-back.

"I'm sorry for dumping this on you right before your match," Cynthia said with a sigh, rubbing her face and scratching the top of her Roserade's head when she pressed up against her leg, trying to comfort her. "I think I just needed to talk to someone who understood, even a little. Go to your match, I'll be ok,"

Leo frowned at her, glanced at the stadium, then sighed.

"Are you sure?" he asked seriously, and she nodded. "Ok. I doubt it will take long; meet me here after the battle, and we'll go deal with your Spiritomb together. I'm going to contact Victoria, my original sponsor, and she'll probably be able to stop by and help too,"

"You don't have –" she started, and then cut herself off. She took a deep breath, looked Leo in the eyes, and bowed her head. "Thank you. I appreciate your help," she said formally.

"Save that until after we've sorted out your Spiritomb," he said, looking down at Link as the little Bellossom started climbing his pants leg to get up to his shoulder. "But for now, try to relax a little. Send out your Lucario. Eat some more ice-cream if you need to. Try to take a nap or something with your team in the meantime; this'll probably take at least half an hour to finish so you've got some time. Then we'll take a look at your ghost," he said, walking backwards toward the stadium, Link clinging to his shirt awkwardly.

Cynthia made a shooing motion with one hand, already facing her Roserade, and Leo turned on his heel to march straight into the stadium.

It didn't take long to get past the reception zone, sneaking past the few people who were starting to recognize him, no thanks to his blindingly white Aether outfit, to reach the waiting room, where he recalled Link and let out Santiago. When he appeared he took one look at Leo, raised an eyebrow, and chuckled.

"Over a girl?" he asked.

"Would you be quiet?" Leo said, rolling his eyes and immediately regretting letting him out. Ever since he'd become proficient in the human language, he talked almost nonstop…when they were alone. Usually joking around at Leo's expense.

"You had ice cream together, and even introduced me to her. Doesn't that count as a date?" he continued, wiggling what counted as his eyebrows.

"How do you even know what that means?" Leo demanded, looking at his starter incredulously.

"I just want what's best for you, Dad," Santiago said, setting a paw on his shoulder and smiling, not unlike a proud father. "She's pretty for a human. Right?" he said, suddenly not as confident as he was before.

"That's beside the point. And what's this dad business?" Leo asked, narrowing his eyes at his starter.

"Is not Dad what you call the male figure who raised you? Or am I thinking of Father?" he asked innocently, cocking his head to the side as he pondered the question. Leo remained frozen. That was infuriatingly endearing of him, when he was just being plain irritating. The butthead.

"You are correct, I guess," Leo allowed, and Santiago immediately grinned as if he had just won an argument. Leo didn't want to think about it. "And we are going to help Cynthia because her Spiritomb is being a jerk. The plan is to do that immediately after the battle today. The sooner we get this battle over with, the better,"

"Send Xena out first," he said without hesitation. "As much as I want to battle, if we are to deal with a hostile Spiritomb I need to be present and healthy. Besides, the Young Warrior has something to prove now,"

"You sure?" Leo asked. He had been thinking along the same lines, and to hear Santiago say the same was…comforting.

"Positive," he said, nodding.

"Good. Then it'll be Xena, Diana, and you as a backup," Leo said.

"You won't need me," Santiago said with full confidence, and promptly recalled himself. Leo clipped Santiago's ball back to his belt and waited silently, stilling his mind. The roar of the crowd echoed through the stadium as he sat there, the ongoing battle wrapping up until, finally, his name was called. Slowly he exited the hall out into the arena proper, climbing the trainer podium and staring across the battlefield at Kiawe. The dark-skinned, black and red haired, shirtless young man grinned and waved at the crowd, while Leo just remained calm and unruffled.

He clipped Xena's pokeball off he belt and prepared to throw it, ignoring the roar of the crowd and the booming of the announcer in favor of focusing his undivided attention on Kiawe.

"BEGIN!" the announcer boomed, and Leo let Xena loose.

"You're my lead, Xena," Leo said firmly, calmly. "Show me what you're made of,"

The Turtonator Kiawe released on his side of the field was immediately buffeted by a roar of immense power, Xena tossing her head back and roaring to the heavens above, Turtonator flinching and ducking its head back into its shell. Xena capitalized on this, rushing forward with draconic claws bared, green light spilling off of them.

"Shell trap!" Kiawe ordered with an energetic shout. The air around Turtonator distorted as it heated up, turning to face its shell towards Xena as she barrled towards him. Leo didn't have to warn her about the trap, having already been forewarned by Kiawe's shout. Instead of aborting her charge, however, she doubled down. Her clawed feet slammed into the ground as she roared once again, leaping up and over Turtonator and landing in front of him. She snarled, Turtonator spat a flamethrower at her, and she let the flames roll off of her as she drove one of her dragon's claws into the ground and, using that as leverage, promptly whipped herself with such force her tail, shining with green energy, threw the much larger and heavier dragon to the side.

She roared again, beating her chest and working herself into a frenzy as she snorted and paced angrily, watching as Turtonator picked itself up. The large fire turtle ducked its head back into its shell as a gout of dragon fire washed over it, overwhelming its innate heat momentarily, letting Xena rush forward once more.

"Dragon pulse!" Kiawe commanded.

Turtonator turned its back to Xena once more and angled its nostrils over the edge of its shell, charging and firing a beam of destructive blue light, not unlike a laser, directly at Xena. She jerked her head out of the way as she ran, allowing it to lightly splash against her scales as she closed the gap in moments; there had barely been enough time for Turtonator to charge the dragon pulse, let alone adjust aim.

"Go low! Get it on its back!" Leo barked quickly. Xena juked around Turtonator, barely bypassing its dangerously hot shell as it tried to adjust position to keep her at bay, and bent to grab both of the turtle's feet.

"Body slam!" Kiawe ordered desperately, but it was too late. Xena threw her shoulder into Turtonator's belly and heaved on its feet, tipping the heavy pokemon backwards onto its back. The fire type groaned as Xena leapt up onto its belly, firing off a hasty, half-charged dragon pulse at her point-blank. She jerked her arm up, blocking the worst of the dragon pulse with her scales as she drove a furious dragon claw into the turtle's face.

Once, twice, through a flamethrower, then a smog of purple gas, until Kiawe admitted defeat and recalled his first pokemon.

"What a stunning start, folks! Leo's Hakamo-o proves it's a force to be reckoned with, and shows just why his previous opponent saw fit to take it out with a sacrificial explosion! What will young Kiawe, grandson of the current Island Kahuna, do against the unstoppable rage of a dragon?!" the announcer boomed.

"That caught me off guard! But you didn't get out of that fight unscathed, so here's our comeback; Marowak, let's do this!" Kiawe called, letting his next pokemon out onto the field. Leo raised and eyebrow at this choice; it wasn't a bad one, all things considered. Since Alolan Marowak was a ghost type, it countered some of Xena's fighting moves. Though he'd been expecting the Talonflame he'd seen Kiawe use before, but maybe the fire bird was still recovering from his last battle. Regardless, this would be an interesting matchup.

"Burn it to ashes," Kiawe ordered, and the ghostly Marowak cackled, sinking into the ground, leaving glowing will-o-wisps floating where it once stood.

Xena hissed and worked the arm that had been hit by the dragon pulse, growling through the pain as she glanced around, waiting for Marowak to make an appearance. Leo watched the field as well, in particular watching the shadow at Xena's feet. He'd seen Alolan Marowak's ability to sink into shadows from the Totem pokemon he'd run into, back before Zuko evolved.

He recalled that it liked his own shadow…

"Xena, when I shout a direction, fire a dragon breath," Leo said, and Xena huffed. Blue fire flickered in the back of her throat as she looked around, still searching and keeping a wary eye on the will-o-wisps still floating about.

"Now!" Kiawe shouted, and Leo almost flinched. But he didn't, and Marowak didn't make a move. "Dang, I was really hoping that would," Kiawe started, and it was then that Marowak struck.

"Down!" Leo roared, barely noticing how Xena's shadow darkened just slightly, reacting to Marowak's presence, before the ghost-type leapt from the shadow at Xena's feet, bone burning with blue fire. Xena reacted at-speed, dragon fire spilling out of her mouth as Marowak drove its bone into her stomach. She coughed, the flames of her dragon breath spluttering and splashing against Marowak's skull helmet.

"Burn her!" Kiawe roared, and the will-o-wisps moved. Xena growled and slammed a dragon claw into Marowak's side in retaliation, the will-o-wisps from earlier darting forward and slamming into her joints and torso, searing the flesh beneath her protective scales. She roared in pain and fired another dragon breath at Marowak, who nimbly danced out of the way, and charged again.

Marowak cackled and met her dragon claw with its bone, ducked out of the way of her follow-up strike, and promptly encased itself in fire, punishing Xena for trying to close the distance. Leo frowned a little as he watched the dance continue, Xena uncaring about her proximity to fire as she swept and struck at Marowak, while the ghost expertly danced and spun out of the way of most of her strikes, only retaliating when it was sure to get a good, clean hit in. That was usually when she tried to attack with her left arm, though, as that was the arm that had blocked the dragon pulse.

It hurt more than she let on, at first, and now Marowak was capitalizing on that injury.

Xena was slowing thanks to her burns as well, he could see it in her movements. Thankfully, there was a way to fix that.

"Autotomize!" Leo ordered, and Xena growled. She stomped her foot, taking another swipe at Marowak; her and he punished her with a strike to the side with his bone. A scale flew off from the impact. She roared and took another step forward, shaking herself vigorously and shedding a fair amount of scales. Her next swipe nicked Marowak's arm as he spun away, catching him by surprise. More scales shed, and she barreled forward with shocking speed, sinking both of her dragon-clawed fists into Marowak's stomach. The ghost type was flung backwards, fires spluttering momentarily as he hit the ground hard.

Xena did not let up, darting forward. Marowak waved his bone through the air as he leapt to his feet, ghostly fires burning around him and Xena; ripping a pained scream from the dragon even as she spun and smashed a dragon tail into his face.

He rolled with the blow, spinning in a circle all the way around, only to smack Xena in the jaw with his bone again.

She growled as he made a strange hand-gesture, her muscles spasming and joints locking up – but not enough to save Marowak from a point-blank dragon's breath. Marowak grunted but pushed through the fires, delivering a massive uppercut to Xena's jaw with his bone and sending her to her knees.

To her credit, she did not fall. She was stunned for all but a moment, and when she recovered she lunged, claws bared, only to be finally knocked out by a bone strike to the side of her head. Leo waited a good three seconds, watching her as she lay on the ground, motionless, in case she was faking. Then he recalled her, thanking her for her hard work, and watched as Marowak fell to one knee, panting.

Leo raised an eyebrow at it. Well, Marowak certainly wouldn't like his next opponent. The announcer boomed through the battlefield as Leo unclipped Diana's pokeball, glancing at Kiawe for but a moment before letting out his next team member.

"Diana, dark pulse," he commanded. A wave of darkness spread over the field as soon as Diana materialized, washing over Marowak and nearly knocking him over.

"BONEMERANG!" Kiawe screamed, desperate to get some damage in as Diana fired up her jet engines and bore down hard on the ghost. He hurled his bone club, the burning blue fires flickering dangerously as it smashed into Diana's shell with a resounding crack, but didn't slow her in the slightest. Although she actually passed straight through Marowak, the bulldoze she trailed behind her did not, the wave of earth and stone knocking him flat on his back and out of the fight.

Kiawe recalled him with a stiff expression, eyeing Diana, then looking up at Leo.

"Seems like your team is almost tailor-made to counter mine," he said, laughing bitterly. "Still, we won't go out without a fight! Magmar!" he shouted, and unleashed the fiery beast onto the field. But his heart wasn't in it. He knew his loss was impending, and the moment Diana had her target locked on Magmar, that became apparent. She was too fast, her defense too thick, and Magmar was too stationary to be able to effectively handle her rock attacks. Even when it spat out a smokescreen she had little trouble handling the fire type.

She had plenty of practice against Zuko, after all. She just bulldozed the area filled with smoke, and indiscriminately blasted dark pulses. Thus it wasn't long before Magmar fell to Diana's relentless onslaught.

Leo recalled her and thanked her for her hard work, leaping down into the battlefield to wave to the crowd, collect Xena's shed scales, and say hello to Kiawe. It wasn't until he saw the budding fire-type expert's expression that he snapped out of his narrow-minded focus, however.

"Man, I had a run of bad luck this tournament," Kiawe said with a rueful chuckle and proffering a hand. "First that water-type trainer, then you? What luck. And I thought I was getting strong," Leo shook his head, shaking Kiawe's hand at the same time.

"Yeah, just bad luck. The announcer said you were the Kahuna's grandkid, though? You looking to become a Trial Captain or something?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. Don't think I want to go for Kahuna, but my family's been the Trial Captains of the Wela Volcano Park for generations now. I'd like to keep that mantle up," he said, smiling thinly. "Seems I got a long way to go though,"

"Sure, we're still just kids. Tell you what though, I'm going to give you some advice that I learned from a gym leader back home if you're ok with it," he said, slapping Kiawe's shoulder and waiting until he nodded his assent before speaking. "He was the one who helped me evolve my Pupitar, actually. One of the key things to being a Trial Captain or Gym Leader is learning not how to win, or be strong, but how to lose. How to lose to a trainer, and how to make a loss on their part still feel like a victory in the end. Victory through defeat, in other words. I'm not trying to be mean or patronizing here. And maybe you already know this, but becoming strong can only come through time and effort. The lessons you learn along the way, through failure and loss, are the important bits until you get that strong. If what I said is a little confusing, ask your grandpa about it. I'm sure he'd be able to put it into words better than I can,"

Kiawe frowned, but didn't refute it as Leo was pulled away by the announcer, his victory being announced to the crowd. But Leo wasn't really paying attention, even as he waved to the crowd and eyed the scales Xena dropped, still intending to pick them up.

He had a ghost's ass to kick, after all.

Chapter Text

"You should designate one or two of your teammates as standard leads," Cynthia said, sitting across from Leo. A Togetic sat in her lap, the little white 'mon cooing happily as she scratched the top of her head. They were killing some time until Victoria got to the training room Cynthia had reserved for the Spiritomb confrontation, and the topic of conversation had come around to battle strategies.

Leo hummed and continued scratching Xena as she lounged next to him, softly snoring as she rested. Amazingly she hadn't needed much healing from the center, most of her injuries being superficial. Even her shed scales would be quick to come back, as that was a natural thing for Hakamo-o to do. They periodically shed their scales, and though Autotomize sped up the process and made her lighter, therefore able to move faster, there were already fresh scales growing back in.

That did leave him with a heap of Hakamo-o scales he had no idea what to do with though.

"Wouldn't it be better to adjust my lead based on who I'm battling?" Leo asked. Cynthia shook her head, scratching beneath Togetic's chin and earning a happy cry from the little fairy type.

"You'd think that because generalists, like yourself, value their versatility. But ironically that makes you predictable. Say you're going up against a water-type specialist. Naturally you're going to lead Bellossom, right?" she asked, and Leo almost instinctively nodded. That, or Santiago for his defensive prowess. "Well, the water type specialist knows your team. He'll be expecting that. So he'll lead a natural counter to Bellossom, such as an ice type or flying type; like Lapras or Gyarados. That immediately takes out your most effective 'mon against water types. Unlike a specialist, you likely don't have multiples of different types and counters built in for your counters. Right?"

"Not yet," Leo admitted. They had mostly been focusing on building up power than shoring up weaknesses, though that was the next stage of training.

"Choosing one or two leads has the opposite effect. It forces the opponent to adapt to you," she said. "Think about it this way. If you were to lead with your Hakamo-o, what would that water-type specialist have to do?"

"Lead a counter," Leo said. "Like the Lapras or Gyarados you mentioned,"

"Exactly, but in this case probably not an ice type thanks to Hakamo-o being fighting type. Or maybe they'll fling out a fairy type, such as Azumarill. Either way, you have a pretty solid chance of knowing what kind of pokemon they'll throw out to counter your lead. Then you train your lead to counter those common counters, and so on. It may not seem like it, but this means that you are immediately dictating the flow of battle – they have to send out a counter to your lead, or risk said pokemon tearing their way through their team. It makes them as predictable as you are, and also allows you to get a feel for the opponent's battle style, so you can see and stall out some of the tricks up their sleeves – like tailwind – and so on," Cynthia explained. Leo nodded, part of that making sense to him and part of it not.

"Speaking of tricks, are these gimmicky type strategies common in the upper tiers of battle?" Leo asked, and Cynthia shook her head.

"No, they are not. They dominate the Intermediate and lower Elite tiers, but once you start getting further and further into the tournament proper those gimmicks start to fade away. It's a great way to guarantee a win against the unwary, such as yourself, but typically they don't hold up against trainers with established teams and strategies," she said, and Leo breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't want to deal with any more exploding Golem or perish song Absol than he had to. Kiawe's style of battling was much more to his liking.

Absently he scratched Xena's chin as she snoozed, the dragon rumbling in contentment from the attention, even half-asleep, and pushing her muzzle further into Leo's hand. He chuckled and obliged the drowsy dragon, giving her all the scratches as she basked in the attention. Honestly he was a little surprised how much she liked attention. Everything he'd heard about dragons was that they could be incredibly prideful and sometimes didn't even let their trainers touch them; Xena was nothing like that. She didn't always go out of her way to get attention, not like Diana tended to, but she also didn't turn it down.

He and Cynthia chatted for a few more minutes, the topic of conversation slowly changing from battle strategies to being a champion, and what that means. It was interesting hearing Cynthia talk about it; she clearly put a lot of thought into what it means to be a leader and how one's image as a trainer translated into how the public's view on said champion effected their reign. Take Champion Martin, Lance's predecessor, for example. He was a competent leader, but because of his lacking showing in taking the throne from his predecessor, he was very looked down upon. Well, that and his attempt at a Youngster License ruined whatever goodwill he'd managed to garner from his competency as a leader.

It was then that the door to the relatively empty, concrete training room opened, revealing Victoria with her Furrett, Gypsy, draped over her shoulders like a scarf. She looked tired overall, not the kind of tired that Cynthia was, but the kind of tired that came from working too much and dealing with too many people.

"Sorry I'm a little late, hope you weren't waiting too long," she said, raising a hand in greeting. "This the girl you were telling me about?" she asked.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Cynthia Shirona; and don't worry about it, Leo and I were discussing battle strategy and what it means to be champion," she said, standing and bowing slightly. Her Togetic chittered at her in annoyance as he was disturbed from his spot on her lap, fluttering into the air next to her.

"Victoria Oak," Victoria said in greeting. "You have a Spiritomb?"

"I do," Cynthia said. "I did not know that the person Leo called was an Oak. He merely said you were a normal type master,"

"Yeah, well, he doesn't like to spread it around. Either way, Leo'll be the one leading this little operation, I'll be here to stop the ghosts if I notice them doing anything weird. Got it?" Victoria said, thumbing the release to Sage, her Oranguru. The orangutan-like pokemon thumped on the floor, fanning himself as he stared blankly at the two.

"I understand," Cynthia said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you for your time,"

"This is the most interesting thing I've got to do all day," she said with a shrug. "Sure beats shaking hands and greeting people,"

"Still, thanks," Leo piped up. She shrugged, and Leo motioned for Cynthia to sit back down. "Now, just remember. When you let out your Spiritomb, refrain from having any of your pokemon attack it. They can be defensive of you, but let me and my Spiritomb take the forefront, alright? We don't want to antagonize it any more than necessary," he said. Cynthia nodded and plucked her Spiritomb's ultra ball off her belt, holding it out and pausing as she held her thumb over the release button.

"Ready?" she asked. Leo recalled Xena and pulled Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket before nodding. Taking a deep breath, Cynthia pressed the release button.

All hell broke loose.

Shadows raged and twisted as Spiritomb exploded in a fury, a horrendous screech filling the training grounds and echoing through Leo's ears. Cynthia winced and moved to cover her ears as Leo stood, his own Spiritomb coming to life with a cackle. Immediately a pressure descended on the room, the sheer weight of the ghosts' presence forcing a grunt out of Leo as it slammed down on his shoulders indiscriminately. Cynthia's Togetic chirped furiously as he flared his wings, glitter floating from his wings. Her Spiritomb fully materialized, its furious face turning and glaring at her and Leo both, its malice all-encompassing and indiscriminate.

Leo's Spiritomb did two things at once in response. First, it wrapped Leo up in a cloak of shadows, protecting him from the seeking tendrils of power from Cynthia's ghost, and then it shrieked. The entire room stilled, Victoria not even flinching at the noise as the two Spiritomb stared each other down, the sheer shock of seeing another of their kind forcing them to take a moment to assess.

It was a moment filled with tenseness, and Leo had to hold up a hand – not an inch of skin to be seen, as Spiritomb still swirled around every part of him but his face – to stop Cynthia from making an order. This was a test of her Spiritomb. He wanted to see its attitude with his own eyes. And he felt the hatred, the intent to do harm rise within the ghost before it ever acted; whips of shadow lashing out towards Leo and Cynthia both, only to be stopped by his own Spiritomb's furious screech and a veritable shield of swirling purple. The two ghosts clashed in an impressive display, slamming together like waves, splashes of power reaching out and slapping against the thick walls. They raged like a whirlpool, almost losing track of who was who as they duked it out in a ball of inky black darkness, swirling purple, and spots of eerie green lights.

It swiftly became apparent that Cynthia's Spiritomb had more power behind it. Its shadow balls were bigger and made quicker, when it struck with its lashes, it cleaved into Leo's Spiritomb, and the ominous winds it generated were enough to force his ghost back for brief moments at a time. There was just one difference – Leo's Spiritomb was focused. Cynthia's was a wrecking ball, a wall of force, but Leo's was an instrument of precision in comparison. Shadow balls were countered with will-o-wisps, ominous winds laced with icy wind to slow the other ghost's attacks, and the massive burst of power were cut apart with pinpoint slashes of darkness. This continued until, eventually, Cynthia had her fill of watching.

She stepped forward and, with a commanding shout, put a halt to the battle.

"That is enough," she said, voice carrying across the sounds of combat despite her not raising it. Her Togetic chirped as he floated around Cynthia, glitter still floating down from his wings as the two Spiritomb paused in their brawl. Leo's Spiritomb looked back at him for confirmation and, after a stiff nod from him, disengaged and retreated back to his side, leaving only Cynthia's Spiritomb still out. It glared around the room balefully, not even just focusing on Cynthia; though its gaze did linger on her, until slowly it retreated back to its round keystone and took on a more…typical appearance. The spiraling purple and green ectoplasm that made up its body still promised violence, but it at least seemed contained now.

"You and I have our own issues, but that is no reason to lash out against others. Calm yourself. Leo here has experience in dealing with Spiritomb, and has agreed to help us work out the…kinks, in our relationship," Cynthia said sternly. Her Spiritomb hissed angrily, ectoplasm roiling, but remained still regardless.

"What do you think?" Leo asked his own Spiritomb, while Cynthia stared hers down. It hissed, pressing vague emotions through their bond that he slowly sorted through. Rage, pain, rage, confusion, fear, rage, mind-boggling terror, resignation, and hurt. Leo frowned at the resignation one. That one wasn't like the others…

"I apologize about that," Cynthia said, bowing at the waist. "Normally Legion is not so volatile, but I suppose I may have left it riled up,"

"Legion? Is that the nickname you gave it?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow. She nodded, and Leo just shook his head. While that made thinking about the two separate Spiritomb's far easier, it also reminded Leo that his Spiritomb absolutely refused to be given a nickname until it was "complete" and "whole" again. Which was, admittedly, a long process. "I guess that's to be expected though. I did want to let the fight play out, but that's for another time, I guess," Leo said with a sigh.

"Your Spiritomb almost won. I stopped it to prevent Legion from doing anything rash," Cynthia said, and Leo furrowed his brows.

"Huh?" he asked.

"A Spiritomb's weakness is their keystone. Against normal opponents it's not really much of a weakness, but against more powerful ghosts and pokemon who can use aura, like Lucario, the keystone is a prime target. It houses their 'consciousness,' after all. Your Spiritomb was moments away from getting ahold of Legion's and ending the fight," Cynthia said matter-of-factly, earning herself an irritated groan from Legion. "Hush, you. You are powerful, but it is important to acknowledge when you lose, or were about to,"

"…well, learn something new every day," Leo said, shaking his head. That made sense in hindsight, but why hadn't he figured that out earlier? Probably because it never really came up. Either way, with that initial outburst out of the way he let Santiago out of his pokeball. As he materialized he yawned, glanced at Legion, and frowned.

"Well that's a mess," he drawled, not even needing to be able to touch the Spiritomb's "minds" to know what was going on there.

"Yes," Leo agreed. Their plan was already laid out beforehand, so there was no need to go over it now. Considering Santiago was a psychic while Spiritomb and Leo were darks there was only so much he would be able to do, but even if he couldn't directly interfere, he would still be able to notice if something strange was going on. And he could allow Cynthia and Leo to communicate mentally, so any changes to their "plans" would go unnoticed by her Spiritomb.

That was the idea, anyway. Leo had no idea if it would be necessary or useful, having Santiago out. They were technically in unfamiliar territory right now. With a hum he slowly got up and stepped towards Legion, Cynthia walking right next to him. Legion hissed at them, Leo's Spiritomb hissing back as it hovered its face over Leo's left shoulder. This, of course, only made Legion even more irritated as it shrunk backwards, threatened by the two trainers and powerful ghost approaching.

"Let me go first," Leo said, pausing mid-step. Cynthia frowned at him but said nothing, though Leo had to glare at Spiritomb for a short time for it to reluctantly shrink back into his pocket, where the keystone was still kept. Legion watched all this warily as Leo knelt down in front of the ghost, raising an eyebrow at it.

This was the weird part. How did he proceed? To really see what the issue was with Cynthia's Spiritomb he had to get into the mindscape – but how to go about doing that?

"May I?" he eventually settled on asking, pointing to the keystone. Legion hissed at him angrily, prompting another hissing match between his Spiritomb and Legion, as said Spiritomb popped an eye out of his pocket to glare. Leo let them work it out, silently listening as they continued to hiss and glare at each other. It took a good few minutes before Legion retreated, allowing Leo to reach out and grab the keystone upon insistence from his own Spiritomb.

"It's a trap," Santiago intoned, inspecting his paws while the gem on his crown glowed. Leo glanced over his shoulder at the Slowking, raising an eyebrow.

"I am well aware," Leo drawled, rolling the round keystone between his hands and just…feeling it. The roiling emotions beneath the stone, threatening to burst forth even while being forcibly held back by…something. It was moments like this that Leo was astounded by how far his sensing of aura had come. Or, more accurately, how much he hadn't realized he was sensing through aura and was now slowly becoming aware of it. Still, there was only one issue with Legion holding itself back, no doubt thanks to Mismagius' influence.

Leo wasn't in the mood to hold back. As stupid and machoistic as it sounded, a part of him wanted the Spiritomb to lash out at him. To try and suppress him, like his Spiritomb before it, because he was in the mood to pick a fight. But the more rational part of his mind reminded him that this likely wasn't a purely malicious being. There was probably a reason for its anger; be that because of a mistake Cynthia made or the nature of its own creation pressing it to desire wanton destruction, he didn't know. But he intended to find out.

"You're going to spring the trap anyway," Santiago said more than asked, dusting off the collar-like frills that ran around his neck absently. Leo didn't respond, instead looking towards Cynthia. She looked at him, hesitated, then nodded, thumbing the release to her Lucario. The moment the blue canid appeared Legion hissed frantically, anger surging through it that it barely managed to contain. Obviously Lucario had been used to suppress it before. Leo hoped it was just an anger borne of rivalry – or whatever twisted form of rivalry Legion felt towards a pokemon that had, in all likelihood, stopped it from hurting Cynthia – and not an anger borne of mistreatment.

Though a part of him was pretty sure Lucario, and by proxy their trainers, were incapable of intentional mistreatment. What with being the paragons of justice, able to sense aura and all.

Cynthia walked forward and knelt in front of Leo, who held the keystone gently in his hands out towards her.

"What are you doing?" Victoria asked.

"Something stupid, probably," Leo half-joked, nodding to Cynthia. The older – or younger, depending on perspective – girl laid her hands over Leo's and let out a breath. That little action was all it took, and Legion surged out from the gaps between their fingers, smothering their vision in darkness.

Before Leo could blink he was in a shadowy landscape; ruined buildings, smoldering purple fires, and scattered bits of weaponry and armor dotting the surroundings. Pokemon and skeletons alike laid in heaps on the land, shades drifting about in the air above them – he stood on an ethereal battlefield, and Leo could feel the attention of the entire world on him and the shining ball of light next to him. Instinctively he knew that this ball was Cynthia, and if he was able to focus he'd be able to truly see her, but any attempt to do so was rudely interrupted by Legion.

One hundred and six shades appeared in the air around him and Cynthia, forming a dome of purple, misty figures each connected to each other with faint, shimmering silver lines. A trap indeed. Leo steeled himself even as his own Spiritomb made its mental presence known, forty five spirits swirling to life around him with a cackle of glee – Froslass and the Spirit Warrior forming directly behind him.

They arced forward as the oppressive spirits descended, cutting through them like a knife through butter – there were many of them, but Spiritomb was focused, in control. It was not to be defeated, not here. The rising wave of spirits were split apart by Spiritomb, the forty-odd soul fragments swirling together like a lance of shadow, headed by Froslass and the warrior. The Pressure still descended upon him and Cynthia, however, and though he grunted Leo let it roll off of his shoulders like water. This much was…not much.

Cynthia, on the other hand, was not handling it quite so well. What Leo could only think of as a physical representation of her soul – his mind, conjuring images of what he saw into a picture his mind could comprehend – was a ball of light slowly condensing downwards, walls of solid steel painted gold rising up in defense against the pressure – it was a losing battle, like building a dam against a raging, flooding river. One does not fight the river, you relax and let the waters carry you. Surrender to the flow, and it will not harm you.

"Relax, Cynthia. Do not build up walls, let it wash around you. Nothing here can harm you," Leo tried to soothe. Cynthia did not answer verbally, though the light that flashed from her ethereal form indicated distress and disbelief. Leo hummed, idly noting that it was the tune to the Bellossom song, before speaking again. "Listen to my voice. Hear my intent, and repeat my words.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul."

Leo began, the words not as important as the intent he broadcasted behind them. Here, in this space, where body was gone and communication was far easier, it rang out like a clear bell. Legion's spirits flinched at the words, the sense of invincibility the words conveyed seeming to give them pause, and redoubled their efforts to get at Leo and Cynthia. Spiritomb was having none of that, of course. Leo's ghost swirled around them in a tornado of fury, cackling madly the entire time as it continuously rebuffed Legion's attacks.

"In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud

Under the bludgeoning's of chance,

My head is bloodied, but unbowed,"

With a flick of intent Spiritomb parted for Leo to pass, stepping out into the maelstrom of Legion's desperate attempts to reach him. The spirits howled in glee as he bared himself to the storm, completely and utterly calm in the face of such rage. Their raking claws scraped against his skin like paper against steel, sliding off and finding no purchase. Froslass cackled as she spun by, a trail of snow following after her as she went, behaving as if the whole thing was one massive joke. Leo smiled and stretched out, Legion's spirits gripping to his "limbs," or what could pass for them in the mindscape, as they tried to drag him down.

That, admittedly, did take a bit of effort to overcome. Though Leo still did turn back towards Cynthia, amused at the whole situation. Was Legion just less powerful because its attention was split between three different beings, or had he truly grown that much since he'd last been at his own Spiritomb's relative mercy?

"Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shad,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid."

Leo was calm in the eye of the storm, completely unharmed and immovable as he stood there, watching. Slowly, Cynthia began to lower her barriers, baring herself to the "elements" such as they were, and Leo began to truly "see" her. And, at the very forefront of her own soul, sat connections to others. To her team. The wings of a Togetic spread around the ball, an aura of nobility from her Lucario falling about her like a cloak, while sheer, relentless power rumbled through the air from some unseen force. The scent of roses reached Leo as she continued to bare herself, resplendent and calming, even giving Legion pause for a brief moment.

"It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul."

And with that declaration, Leo's Spiritomb ceased its battling, spreading out with multiple dozen cackling laughs before easily sliding back over to his side, cleaving through Legion's desperate attempts at assault. Legion was powerful, but Spiritomb was focused. But that was not the crux of Leo's attention – no, instead he watched as Cynthia's ball of light brightened to a dazzling degree, then settled as she relaxed, and allowed the waves of crushing anger and hatred, mostly borne of fear, wash over her like waves on a beach.

The lesson was a simple one. Why was she fighting so hard against her Spiritomb, when she was indestructible? In the physical world, the ghost could hurt her. If, by some miracle, it could get past her team, it could reasonably kill her. But Leo had learned long ago that, unless the opponent is some unfathomably powerful ghost such as the Aegislash of Ecruteak facing off against someone who didn't know what they were doing, in the mindscape you were all but invincible. That was why Leo waited for a few moments before starting the lesson. That was why he allowed the two Spiritomb to fight. He was testing the waters. And with all the fury behind Legion's attacks, there was little chance it was some mastermind of a pokémon, waiting for a chance to act.

Besides, if that actually had been the case, that was why Victoria was there.

Spiritomb was wearing Cynthia down mentally, because that's all it could try to do. Now even that was being taken away from it, and it began to rage even harder. The attacks fell uselessly against her, even as they picked up in intensity. Leo could feel Cynthia's hesitation, but he decided to let her work through that on her own. He figured he had done about as much as he could here, except for maybe…

Leo started to wander, Froslass and the warrior spirit sticking close by his side while the others gallivanted about, either "playing" mischievously with Legion's spirits by blowing gusts of wind at them right when they tried to attack Cynthia, poking them and pretending they were part of the swarm (which never worked, but they thought it hilarious regardless), or any number of small inconveniences; or they were attacking any spirit who drew too near, only acting in perceived defense of Leo. It was actually quite hilarious to watch.

Still, he was looking for something else; Mismagius, and the Ghost In Charge. Neither had been seen so far, if there even was a ghost in charge instead of a conglomerate of spirits, and Leo could not deny his curiosity. Cynthia's Spiritomb felt fundamentally different to his own. Like, hers was more connected to begin with, like a hive mind, while his was far more scattered – though somehow more focused. It was a strange duality, but regardless, he wandered for a bit, traversing through the battlefield while keeping Cynthia, still getting used to the weight of the Pressure, in sight. For a long time he saw nothing, felt nothing. Just…drifted along over the battered field.

That was when he felt it. It was a slight click, a little motion that shifted the entire scenery of the field, almost unnoticeable. Leo furrowed his brows as he looked around, wondering what in the world that had been – only to freeze as it happened again. This time Froslass pointed towards Cynthia, the ice-type's expression dancing with mirth and pride.

Leo turned back to Cynthia, and almost immediately had to avert his eyes. Cynthia burned in a corona of golden light, the sheer pressure she radiated forcing Legion away, while the accepting silence held within said light drew the same spirits closer. And Leo watched with fascination as she silently combined two of the spirits, her aura never flickering. Because she wasn't alone. Even through it all Leo could feel the pride of her dragon, the noble strength of her Lucario, the serenity of a fairy…he couldn't count how many auras he felt connected to Cynthia's own, each strengthening her as she accepted each spirit, watched their memories, and combined them into one.

Next to her, almost hidden by the golden light Cynthia radiated, a young woman wearing revealing purple robes and a witch's hat eerily reminiscent of a Mismagius' sat in midair, legs crossed and satisfaction radiating from her. Leo met the spirit's eyes, the woman smiling and nodding once in appreciation to him before returning to watch Cynthia. The message was clear, and was about what he expected. This was Cynthia's trial, her duty to complete. Leo could do nothing but watch.

So he did. Silently. Slowly being pushed back by the ever-increasing pressure that emanated from whatever Cynthia was doing – she wasn't stopping at one fusion, she just kept going – and watching as the setting of Legion's mindscape slowly changed. It wasn't for the better, at first. The battlefield came alive, slowly, fires increasing in size and temperature as bodies began to pick themselves up, grabbing weapons from where they lay and walking around aimlessly, stooped over as if they were zombies aimlessly ambling. Cynthia reached out and snagged another few spirits, drawing them in and slowly combining them with the ones she'd already merged, and the setting changed again.

The people all became livelier, colors spreading across armor and Pokemon rising from the rubble and stone – a skeletal Rhydon rising in front of Leo, its armor hanging off of bones and eyes glowing with blue fire as it rumbled and slowly turned towards Cynthia – making no move towards her other than that. Leo watched as all the other beings ambling about turned towards her as well – the walking undead all facing that way.

Leo frowned but remained quiet, turning his attention to Cynthia once again, surprised to see that her golden ball of light had been superimposed with an image – an image of a melting metal form, cherry red and slumped over. It looked vaguely familiar, and as he watched the glow from the form intensified. Leo's eyes flew wide as the form exploded, shockwaves rippling through the area and blowing Leo backwards with the force. He stumbled, grit his teeth, and tried to hold his ground as the entire mindscape was set alight with a burning golden glow. The skeletons and people were illuminated by this glow, slowly becoming healthier and more lifelike in its radiance, but Leo was constantly pushed backwards.

Don't fight it, please. This is not for you. A soft, lilting voice whispered, echoing in his mind. He looked up, towards that glowing figure that was slowly becoming whole again – its molten form reshaping itself – and saw Mismagius staring directly at him even through the light. She nodded and after a tense moment Leo relaxed, allowing himself to be ejected from the mindscape.

Leo came back to his physical body with a jerk, whipping his head around to stare at the pokemon that surrounded him. Santiago stood off to the side, watching with a bored expression, while Cynthia's Lucario and Togetic hovered over the blonde girl worriedly. She, herself, had her brows furrowed in concentration as she gripped the keystone tightly, having taken it from Leo at some point. With a groan he stretched, feeling his back pop in multiple places as he stood and rolled his neck, Lucario turning to him quizzically, his red eyes boring into Leo.

"She's got a handle on things now," he told the fighting-type with a yawn. He hoped, at least. She seemed to when he was forcefully ejected. Lucario bowed his head in thanks and turned back to his trainer, holding his paws out so as to sense her aura.

"All good? You've been sitting there for over an hour," Victoria said, rousing herself from where she lay, head resting on Prince, her Persian's, side. Sage was still staring at Cynthia, mouth hidden by his leafy fan as the Oranguru lounged in the corner opposite of Santiago.

"Yeah, she's just doing weird ghost stuff now. I'll keep an eye on her until she's done. Should be fine. Any news on my opponents tomorrow?" Leo asked, walking over and sitting down next to her. Victoria grunted and scooted over, patting the floor next to her. Leo hesitated for a moment, meeting Prince's eyes. The great cat very casually lifted one paw to lick, showing off his massive teeth in a casual, but decidedly threatening, manner. Leo shuddered, half sure the cat would eat him just for the fun of it, but sat down next to Victoria regardless.

Only, he didn't lounge with his head on the Persian like Victoria was, all sprawled out and comfy. No, he valued his life, thank you very much.

"Your next opponent is a water-type trainer from the Orange Islands, one Ryota Onami," she said, lazily grabbing her pokedex from where it rested at her side.

"Any gimmicks you think I need to watch out for? Perish song? Explosion?" Leo asked, and Victoria smirked at him.

"No, thankfully. He's an ocean-based water trainer though, so you can expect him to try to immediately create a field advantage. Pools of water, that sort of thing," Victoria said, waving her pokedex in the air dismissively. "And as much as I want to tease you about your absolutely humiliating defeat at the hands of an exploding Golem, I'd much rather talk about you and that pretty girl over there," Victoria said, grinning mischievously.

"No, not you too," Leo hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I have questions I would like answered as well," Santiago said from across the room, raising one paw like a schoolkid and rapidly trundling forward. Leo could practically feel the insufferable smirks on both of their faces despite not looking at either, praying for patience as he was.

"Is my little Leo finally becoming aware of girls? I didn't think you even knew the difference between a boy and a girl," Victoria said.

"Well considering my first real frame of reference was you, that's a fair assumption," Leo shot back. Victoria slapped him upside the head good-naturedly, laughing. Unfortunately that was anything but true. Were he closer to his real, mental age, Victoria would've been well within his strike zone.

"Brat," she said, sitting up with a grunt. The mischievous smile still plastered on her face gave Leo no hope for the future, and he resigned himself for a day of teasing while Cynthia finished up what she was doing.

Cynthia spent the better part of the day and well into the night with her Spiritomb, and only assurances from his own Spiritomb and Leo himself kept her team from shaking her awake. By that point both Leo and Victoria both were starting to get anxious, and when she shook herself back into consciousness Victoria ran through a few cognitive tests to make sure she wasn't suffering from anything, then breathed a sigh of relief.

The future Champion looked exhausted though, swaying where she stood and eyes drooping even as she spoke. And though she had a thousand questions she wanted answered – and Leo did too – a combined effort of her Lucario threatening to let another member of her team out, Victoria gently holding her upright with one hand, and her Togetic trying to sing her to sleep eventually convinced the girl to return to her room for some much needed rest.

By the time his match rolled around early the next morning she still hadn't woken up – or, if she had, she hadn't contacted him – so he found himself battling without having any closure on the topic. Thankfully he wasn't too distracted by the lack of closure and could focus on the battles themselves.

"Surf!" Ryota, Leo's blue-haired opponent, called. His Lapras trilled and reared back its head, water surging from the pokemon's mouth and absolutely drenching the field. Xena gritted her teeth and planted her feet, the dragon weathering the wave before darting forward, blocking an ice-beam that froze the ground with one arm as she lashed out, catching the Lapras in the side with a dragon claw.

This field wasn't very conducive to Ryota's team, the wide battlefield allowing most of the water his Lapras produced to soak into the ground or run off the field, and so he'd taken to freezing the ground with ice-beam. That, at least, would give pokémon like Lapras or the Gyarados Leo knew he had on his team some more mobility. Xena had done her best to keep that from happening, but there was only so much she could do.

"Finish it off!" Leo called, clenching his fist against the railing as Lapras fired another ice beam, narrowly missing Xena as she jumped onto the Lapras' back with dragon-claws bared. She struck once, twice, cutting off the Lapras' attempt to put her to sleep with sing with a particularly vicious strike to the throat, and finally put the 'mon down with a sustained dragon breath to the head.

Xena leapt off Lapras' shell, panting, as Ryota recalled Lapras. She slipped on the ice as she landed, growling with blue dragonfire burning in the back of her throat, and glared as Ryota let out his next battler, giving her no time to melt the ice.

Lapras had done a fair bit of damage, but the real issue was the setup it had done. Maybe Zuko would be ok on the ice, as his natural body temperature would melt it, but most of Leo's more mobile members would be seriously hampered by the slick field. He'd have to adjust accordingly as the massive Gyarados that Ryota released roared, the sound reverberating through Leo's chest and sending a spike of adrenaline through his veins. He'd never seen the famous sea-serpent in person until now, and he had to admit.

It was properly terrifying. Its fangs gleamed in its gaping maw, and the glint in its eyes promised murder and destruction. A raw, primal fear that came from being faced with a being intent on destruction and nothing but lanced through Leo, remaining even as he pushed through it and recalled Xena, who vanished with a snarl of defiance directed at Gyarados. He deliberated for half a second before sending out Santiago, Gyarados already snapping at him the moment he appeared. In a moment of pure instinct the Slowking blasted it with a burst of psychic power, the blow just barely moving Gyarados enough that Santiago could jump out of the way, a shadow ball already formed between his hands and splashing against the massive serpent's scales.

"And Leo responds to Ryota's unbeatable Gyarados with a Slowking – how will the duel between two kings of the water play out?!" the announcer boomed, much to Leo's annoyance.

The man was abnormally hyped about this battle.

"Dance and sweep!" Ryota called, thrusting one fist into the air dramatically, much to the crowd's delight. Leo remained silent as Santiago blasted Gyarados with another psychic, watching as Gyarados curled its massive body up into a ball – punished by another shadow ball in the meantime – and promptly began to glow with an eerie red light. Santiago braced himself, glowing with a curse as Gyarados whipped itself around, water surrounding the serpent's tail in a raging wave.

There was nowhere for Santiago to dodge to, such was the size of the beast. So he took it, the force of the blow knocking him off his feet and sending him crashing into the psychic barriers, a shadow ball exploding into Gyarados' mouth as it lunged towards him, a crunch at the ready.

Gyarados roared in fury at the attack to the inside of his mouth, and Santiago peppered it with a few more attacks for good measure, all the while glowing with curse.

"Rain and thrash!" Ryota howled with glee, eyes gleaming with delight. His Gyarados roared to the heavens, storm clouds forming overhead according to the beast's will. Droplets of rain hit the ground slowly, a manic expression overtaking the Gyarados' face as it locked eyes with Santiago.

Just in time for a yawn attack to hit the beast. The white bubble popped against Gyarados' nose, the beast flinching, expecting some pain, then narrowed its eyes in anger. Ryota cursed and held up a pokeball, using his switch to recall Gyarados and keep it from falling asleep, then narrowed his eyes at Santiago. He stood firmly on the cracked, icy battlefield, seemingly right at home on the slick material. Leo, on the other hand, could see his starter holding himself in place with slight uses of psychic power – he wasn't all that mobile to begin with, so the slick ice was basically a non-issue, but holding himself upright at least made things so that he didn't have to worry about slipping at a crucial moment.

"That's a tricky 'mon you've got there!" Ryota laughed, clapping his hands together gleefully. "But it's no match for my next partner! Starmie, let's show 'em how it's done!" he shouted, and hurled his next pokemon onto the field.

The purple starfish appeared in a flash of light, gem flashing with a multitude of colors as it spun through the air. Santiago grunted, the gem on his crown flashing back at Starmie as the two engaged in a brief psychic battle.

"Set up!" Ryota ordered, the starfish pokemon immediately switching from offensive to defensive. Santiago grunted and started peppering the opposing psychic type with shadow balls, Starmie spinning out of the way and blocking the few that were on target with light screens. Leo frowned as rain poured down on the battlefield, shielding his eyes with one hand as he watched the battle unfold. Starmie was slowly shrinking in size, only occasionally taking an attack from Santiago – usually a water pulse that he used, to switch things up a bit – all while spinning rapidly through the air, picking up speed.

Well, that wasn't good. What was Ryota's play here? If it was Leo, and if he remembered the Starmie line right, he'd use thunderbolt or thunder to take advantage of the rain…the line was a great special attacker with a highly varied movepool after all.

Thankfully, Santiago was a tank. He couldn't take many hits from something like a thunder, but it would be enough to wear down Starmie. He didn't have to win his fights. Only make it so that the rest of his team could win theirs.

"Santi, close the distance," Leo commanded. Santiago huffed and lumbered forward, slowed thanks to his constant use of curse, and Starmie spun away, peppering him with swift stars. He wholly ignored the attack, blasting Starmie with a shadow ball in retaliation – one that miraculously hit despite Starmie's increasingly small size and incredible speed. For a split second it hesitated midair, long enough for Santiago to lock onto it with a disable, further stalling the 'mon.

Santiago roared as he threw himself forward with a burst of psychic force, grabbing onto Starmie with both hands and smashing a headbutt into the starfish. It spun and thrashed against his grip but he held firm, ignoring the crackling electricity sparking between Starmie's limbs to once more bash his head against the starfish.

"Thunder!" Ryota called, a little bit of panic entering his voice, though it was masked by sheer excitement. The sky above roared, a bolt of lighting streaking down from the sky in an instant and blasting Santiago and Starmie both – though Starmie looked far less damaged by it than Santiago, who struggled to remain upright after as Leo blinked spots from his eyes. The Slowking groaned as another, weaker, bolt of lighting struck them again, forcing him to his knees. His hands slipped off of Starmie, wracked by spasms as he was, and the starfish slowly drifted away, blasting Santiago with another bolt of lightning.

He sagged and slumped forward, his head bending down low as he slowly fell to the ground – only to whip his head up at the last moment and score a direct hit on Starmie with another shadow ball. The starfish flickered and wobbled from where it sat floating in the air, its psychic power failing, and Santiago surged forward, forcing his limbs to obey and haphazardly throwing a punch directly into Starmie's gem. It was sloppy. It was weak. It wasn't even a real attack. But Leo was proud anyway as the starfish pokemon wobbled and fell to the ground, out like a light.

Santiago huffed and stood tall, basking in his victory…only to fall over backwards, completely spent as his body was wracked by another bout of paralysis spasms.

Leo recalled him with a smile, thanking him for his hard work and slowly enlarging Link's pokeball as Ryota unclipped Gyarados' ball once again.

"Alright, I'll admit that was unexpected! But we're not done yet; you still have to get past Gyarados! It's time for our comeback," Ryota boomed, tossing Gyarados' ball high into the air.

"Link, time to go dragon hunting," Leo said calmly, letting his little grass type onto the battlefield. He wasted no time, summoning a substitute shield and flinging a sunny day into the air – moments after Gyarados attempted to renew the rain dance – and overriding the weather. The glowing ball of light broke the cloud cover, illuminating the battlefield and making Gyarados roar in fury.

Link hurled magical leaves into the beast's mouth in response, dashing forward with a leaf blade drawn. Gyarados lunged, mouth gaping wide in a crunch, and Link leapt up to meet it, vanishing within the giant serpent's gaping mouth. Leo blinked in utter shock, the announcer started stammering and the crowd screamed – Ryota's face went pale as he realized what had happened, his Gyarados rearing up with mouth still closed.

Then it flinched. Brilliant light exploded from Gyarados' mouth, the beast's pained roar echoing out as an explosion of power rocked its head back, Link coming flying out of its mouth with another solarbeam charging. Leo winced as Gyarados crashed against the psychic barriers that protect the stadium proper, its tail lashing out and slapping Link out of the air in a reactive motion. The little grass type rolled and popped up, dropping his broken substitute shield and creating another. In just one hit – two, if the crunch counted – Link's substitute was broken.

Such was the absolute power of a Gyarados. But Link wasn't finished by a long shot, and he charged in once more, whipping himself into the air with a petal dance – the pink flower petals swirling dangerously around him, the winds that petal dance produced lifting him into the air as Gyarados raised its head and unleashed a dragon rage.

The blue dragon fire was not as clear-cut as it was in the games. It didn't deal a set amount of damage – such a thing just wasn't possible – but it did deal a lot of damage. It was the distillation of a pokemon's raw fury and anger, increasing in intensity the angrier a pokemon was. For a perpetually angry Gyarados it was the perfect move, and it ignited the petal storm into nothing short of a maelstrom of blue dragonfire, Link vanishing from sight.

Still, he did have a counter for it. Brilliant pink light flashed from within the storm, cutting through the fire and revealing Link, glowing with the light of a dazzling gleam and once more on the ground, hurtling through the remnants of the fire with his leaf blade bared.

Gyarados roared and thrashed, its coils raging about wildly as Link leapt through them, sliding beneath one section and using the force from another to bounce himself further into the air, where he blasted yet another solarbeam into its face. The water-type roared and whipped its tail once again, but this time Link was ready. Although he couldn't mitigate the damage done to him, he could strike against the Gyarados, and thus had a leaf blade pointed at the tail as it swatted him to the side, using its own attack to injure it.

"Last resort!" Leo ordered, sensing Gyarados' frustration reach a fever pitch. Although Link didn't actually know that move, it was still a viable order. Link was heavily injured from just a few hits and wouldn't be able to take much more, and as such this was their "final act," so to speak. A retaliatory strike for what would knock him unconscious. Link sprinted forward, throwing leaves and small round seeds across the arena, magical leaves pelting relatively harmlessly against Gyarados' thick scales.

Gyarados roared, brilliant white light building up in the back of its throat as it reared its head, Link pulling himself to his feat and summoning yet another substitute shield as Gyarados unleashed a hyper beam. Leo was forced to shield his eyes as the attack struck, scoring a long line in the ground as Gyarados sought Link. Dust and debris flew into the air, small bits of sand and stone pelting against the psychic barriers directly in front of Leo, the scent of ozone filling the air.

It was only when the attack died down seconds later, flickering and coming to a halt, that Leo dared to look. The battlefield was littered in debris, a long score cut into the middle of the field from Gyarados' hyper beam. Green dots covered the field as well, mostly centered around Gyarados, while Link stood just to the side of the hyper beam's path, his substitute shield torn to pieces and half of his petal kilt blackened from the attack.

He struggled to even stand, but with a last look of defiance, looked up at Gyarados and nodded his head in respect.

Then the battlefield exploded. Seed bombs went off all over the place, the timed detonations – a trick Leo and Link had figured out and mastered just days before the tournament started, and were only breaking out now – rocking the battlefield. Gyarados screamed as it was blown backwards, once more crashing into the psychic barriers, but this time falling still afterwards. Leo recalled Link as the Bellossom slumped to the ground, spent, thanked him for his hard work, and clipped the ball to his belt as the announcer boomed his victory.

He still had Xena left, after all, even if she was injured by her fight.

With a grunt he leapt down from the trainer's stand into the battlefield, meeting Ryota halfway across the field and shaking his hand. The young man's hands were rough and calloused, his grip firm as he happily shook Leo's hand.

"That was a great battle! Miffed that I lost, but that's life I guess. Say, where'd you get a Slowking? I've tried raising Slowpoke and Slowbro before – the coastal breeds, anyway – and they were never to my liking. A Slowking I might like though," he said, shaking Leo's hand vigorously. "Anything ocean-dwelling I love, but a more land-based 'mon might let me battle in actual tournaments more,"

"Raised him from a cub. What about that Gyarados of yours? Never actually seen one," Leo said.

"He was my starter! I got lucky enough to catch a feral Magikarp aboard my dad's fishing boat, and we've been together ever since. Been a while since we've been in a serious tournament like this though, so we're a little out of practice," Ryota said sheepishly. "Still, if you ever want to trade some pointers just let me know. I know I could use some in raising a Slowpoke into a Slowking, and I'm more than willing to trade tips," he said. Leo smiled and nodded, telling him he would and accepting the young man's pokegear number (which Leo still didn't have one), then waving to the cheering crowd before being marched off the field.

He still had one more battle today, tonight, and then he'd be one battle from the top eight.

He could do this.

"Cynthia did what now?" Leo asked, bewildered. Victoria scratched her head, Cynthia's Lucario standing beside her and looking very anxious to get back to his trainer.

"She woke up long enough to send me a message saying she was ok, then apparently went straight back to meditating," she deadpanned. "This time without supervision,"

"Cario," Lucario said, nodding his head sagely and shifting from paw to paw. Leo sighed and rubbed his face. There wasn't much time until his next battle, and he'd been getting a little anxious to hear from Cynthia beyond just an "I'm ok," but this wasn't what he wanted to hear either. He glanced at the clock on the wall, gauging the time. Fifteen minutes until his next battle…that wasn't enough to be able to go find Cynthia and drag her away from what she was doing. He of all people understood wanting to rush through meditating with Spiritomb, but it didn't work like that.

With a frown he thought about what he knew of Cynthia, and what might be incentive to get her to leave her room…

"Do you think ice cream would work?" Leo mused aloud, glancing at Lucario. The fighting-type blinked owlishly, then nodded rapidly. Leo reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet, checking to see if he had any cash on him – which he did – and flipping a bill to Victoria. "Would you please go tell Cynthia that I'll buy her ice cream if she actually comes out of her room? That, or buy a bowl of ice cream and have Lucario here wave it under her nose or something," he said with a sigh. Victoria took the offered cash, glanced at it, then smirked at Leo. "Not a word," he said rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Victoria said, still smirking at him. He just sighed and rubbed his face. "All jokes aside, Lusamine had something she wanted to talk to you about after your battles today,"

"Is she already here?" Leo asked, and she nodded.

"Been in the area for a few hours now, she was getting settled in her hotel room with her kids. She probably wants to have dinner with everyone later," she said, already backing out of the room. "I have an idea of what she wants to talk about, it's…good and bad. You know how it's been after Faba, nothing except for her kids is ever really 'good' anymore,"

"It's all a little bitter, yeah," Leo said. Lusamine was still recovering from the Nihilego poison, after all. Even with the insane medical knowhow of this world – and the wonder of Blissey eggs – the process of synthesizing poison that had been in her body for years, constantly building up and inhibiting certain processes of her brain was a long and arduous one. She was taking it very hard, and being even harder on herself when she caught herself acting irrationally.

As such, she'd been a more than a little bitter and gloomy lately. Except when it came to her kids. She always lit up when she talked about how they were doing, having latched onto them and their growth as a substitute for Ultra Beasts. It wasn't exactly a healthy obsession either, but it was at least a start.

"What's that face for?" Victoria asked. Leo wiped the small frown that was creeping across his face, and shook his head.

"Nah, nothing much. Just finding it kind of strange that all the people I've met in the past few months have all had some sort of problem I've had to solve. Lusamine with Faba being a jackass, Cynthia with her Spiritomb…this one guy Guzma just being an arrogant putz and picking on young trainers. You're not going to spring something on me too, are you?" Leo joked, shaking his head and trying to make light of it all. Victoria laughed, a deep belly laugh that echoed through the small, competitor's waiting room.

"Kid the day I come to you to help me solve a problem is the day Uncle Oak admits he's wrong about something, anything, and the world catches fire," she said, wiping a fake tear from her eye. Leo chuckled, shaking his head. "You just have fun on your pokemon journey and let me handle all the big bad guys, ok?" she continued, adopting the kind of tone one might use when talking to a two-year-old child. Leo rolled his eyes and made a shooing motion.

"Don't you have a task to do? Lucario looks like he's about to pass out from impatience," he said, pointing to the Lucario that had been very impatiently waiting just off to the side, his paw already on the door out of the waiting room. Victoria scoffed and opened the door herself, letting Lucario out and stepping out herself.

"Just behave yourself, and win this battle. I won't accept anything but the top spot," she said firmly. Leo shrugged noncommittally as she closed the door, then glanced at the clock. After battling so much in the tournament so far, he was getting far more confident in his and his team's abilities. This, however, was going to be a difficult match. It was him versus a flying type expert, after all, and he didn't have very many good counters to them.

Well, he'd figure something out. Especially since Zuko could create updrafts and Diana really wanted to learn to fly.

And who better to teach a rock monster how to fly than a bunch of birds?

Diana didn't just want to learn to fly. She wanted to be an anti-aircraft gun too, apparently.

The Gliscor his opponent, an Alolan trainer name Kanoa Manu, sent out frantically dodged the massive chunks of rock Diana launched into the sky from where she lay on her back. Six spires of stone rose up around the Pupitar, the tops of said spires cracking apart from a quick use of bulldoze, and a flex of her terrakinesis sending the newly-freed stone block hurtling skyward. Leo, for one, was giddy with excitement as the Gliscor dodged, the only thing keeping him from being taken out being the tailwind he'd set up early in the match.

He'd tried to set up stealth rock, too, but that had been utterly overcome by Diana. Namely because she took the floating stones and used them as her initial source of ammunition against Gliscor. Now she had resorted to other means, but that didn't make them any less effective.

"U-turn!" Kanoa cried as Gliscor was clipped by another thrown rock, the bat careening through the air wildly. Diana hummed dangerously, her air vents whining as she hovered slightly off the ground, prepared to meet Gliscor head-on.

"Ranged counter, Diana," Leo ordered, amending whatever it was she was trying to do. He didn't want to give Kanoa the advantage of switching pokemon. Diana hummed as even more spires of rock jutted up around her, forming something of a castle with only one entrance. Gliscor would have hesitated, were it not already committed to the charge. With an impressive acrobatic maneuver the bat-thing twisted through the air, narrowly avoiding the newly-created walls of stone around Diana to come swerving in over the top to the "entrance" of her little castle.

But Diana was ready for it. A dark pulse blasted out the moment Gliscor came around the corner, the sheer force of the attack catching his wings and sending him hurtling backwards. Stones shattered as Diana came barreling out, the roar of a jet-engine booming through the arena as she smashed into Gliscor, the bat thinking fast and slamming a metal-claw into her armor even if it did no damage whatsoever.

With a cry Gliscor peeled itself off of Diana before she could slam him into the ground, her vents whining as she adjusted course – her spikes dragging along the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust – spinning back around to launch herself into the air after Gliscor.

"Gliscor, return!" Kanoa called, using his switch early. He wasted no time in swapping out with a Pelipper, the bird squawking and catching the last of Gliscor's tailwind to jerk it aside and out of the way of Diana's charge. A dark pulse still blasted out of her as she passed, knocking Pelipper sideways and giving her a chance to recover from her charge. Pelipper squawked, clouds slowly forming in the sky overhead as it whipped up another tailwind to keep it ahead of the curve. Leo frowned and eyed the skies – that's right, Pelipper could have the drizzle ability. He hadn't been sure what that would look like in this world, but judging by the way clouds were slowly gathering overhead it was just a slower form of rain dance.

That did mean, however, that they either had until it started raining for Diana to take out Pelipper, or he needed to swap to someone who could counter the weather. Leo frowned as he surveyed the battlefield.

Well, there was more than one way to have battlefield control…

"Diana, make spires!" Leo ordered, and idea popping into his head. She hummed as she forcefully slowed herself, stopping just short of crashing into one of the barriers, and exerted her will over the battlefield. Spires of stone burst from the ground, joining those already created by Diana, absolutely ruining the field and creating a maze of earth and stone. It wouldn't be a problem for fliers, of course, unless they had to come down to the ground for some reason. But this wasn't for Diana. "Now, dark pulse!"

Diana screeched, the sound reverberating around the arena, as she blasted up into the sky once more, a dark pulse exploding off of her and smacking the Pelipper to the side. The bird awkwardly flapped to the side, spitting a water pulse at Diana and hitting her dead-on in retaliation, then blurred into a double team from an order from Kanoa. Leo chewed his lip, watching the battle unfold as Diana continued to rocket around the arena, hurtling through the air and crashing back down to the earth all while blasting dark pulses around her whenever she got close to one of Pelipper's double teams.

Rarely did she hit true, the bird's body doubles convincing enough and moving around fast enough that even if she did choose the right one to approach the 'mon was already moving away. And it punished her each time for it – hitting her with water-pulses, scalds, and even the occasional air cutter. It was just wearing her down, and with the rain now pouring down, the water attacks were hitting that much harder. Leo watched as Diana hurtled into the sky, plowing through two double team doubles, before being hit with another water pulse and was sent crashing to the ground. He waited until she picked herself back up, whining and wiggling unhappily at Pelipper, before using his switch and recalling her.

"Diana, return. Zuko, smokescreen!" Leo called, letting out the Typhlosion. He hit the field with a roar, smoke billowing out of his mouth and immediately covering the field. He vanished into the smoke almost immediately, the falling rain hissing and popping as it fell into the superheated black smoke that continued to surge over the battlefield, swirling around the spires until they were completely covered. Pelipper squawked in distress, firing a water pulse into the smoke uselessly.

Swift stars burst from the smoke, flying up and homing in on Pelipper, smacking into its underbelly. Leo chewed his lip and glanced at the skies, debating strategies for a split second. It was still raining, the dark clouds covering only the stadium. Zuko could send up a sunny day to counter drizzle, or he could try and finish off Pelipper. No, he didn't want to contest the weather. Zuko wouldn't be as helpless against Pelipper as Diana was, despite the type advantage.

"Heat wave!" Leo ordered. He had a tentative idea to use heat to control the air above a field by creating severe updrafts, but he wasn't really familiar with thermodynamics. Guess this would be a good case study.

Zuko roared from within his smoke, a burst of swift stars homing in on Pelipper giving him an idea of where to aim as he roared out a heat wave. Pelipper didn't even bother dodging either attacks, rising higher into the sky as it was, letting the hot air and embers roll off its feathers.

"Hurricane!" Kanoa called gleefully, a wide grin stretching across his face.

"Cover!" Leo roared, hoping Zuko understood what he meant.

Pelipper squawked as it flapped higher, Zuko spitting out as many swift stars as he could, the attacks ignoring the double teams to hit the bird. It winced and pushed through the attack, flapping its wings as it hovered directly over the battlefield. Wind roared, the rain began to fall sideways, and Zuko's smoke began to swirl, rising up into the sky as it formed a vicious tornado of wind and smoke. Stones were picked up by the gale-force winds, whipping through the air and cracking against the barriers, reducing visibility to nothing as more and more smoke poured onto the field.

The winds continued for a solid minute, until the superheated smokescreen was all but dispersed and Pelipper was sagging from the struggle to keep the attack up that long. Still, he could see steam rising from the bird's blacken-tinged feathers, the smokescreen having not been wholly ineffective at the high temperatures Zuko created it at.

Though said 'mon was nowhere to be seen.

"Stay aloft, Pelipper," Kanoa said warily, eyes locking onto the little stone castle composed of haphazardly created stone spires built by Diana just as a flurry of will-o-wisps shot out of said castle and smacked into Pelipper. Zuko roared, his cover blown, scrambling to the top of said spires and unleashing a gout of flame into the air, the flamethrower briefly covering Pelipper before it awkwardly flapped out of the line of fire.

Only to be punished with a series of swift stars, all focused on the bird's right wing. With a cry it momentarily lost control of its flight, falling to the ground where Zuko pounced, wreathed in flames even as said bird spat a scald on him. He pushed through and fell on Pelipper with all the fury of a volcano, fire, smoke and claws flying as he savaged the downed bird. Injured and tired though it was it didn't last long under Zuko's onslaught, and was quickly recalled.

Almost immediately Zuko began spewing out smoke once more, wasting no time as Kanoa once more sent out his Gliscor. The bat blurred into motion, a tailwind catching its wings as it crashed claw-first into the ground, an earthquake ripping through the stadium. The spires that Diana set up shook dangerously, many falling over from the roiling ground. Zuko yelped and stumbled out of his smoke cloud, being met face-first with a night slash from Gliscor. He snarled and spat a quick burst of flame at the flying type, but it was already gone.

"Calm, and keep setting up. Punish it for getting close, jump when I tell you to." Leo ordered. Zuko huffed and flared his back fires, charging a sunny day in mere moments before launching it into the sky. The great ball of flame broke through Pelipper's leftover cloud cover, the rain slowly dying out as Gliscor blurred down to attack Zuko once more.

But then he exploded.

The ball of fire rocked Gliscor back, the bat-thing tumbling across the ground, and smacking into a half-destroyed spire. Zuko darted towards Gliscor, wreathed in flames, as it picked itself up with a snarl.

"Earthquake!" Kanoa called hastily. Gliscor raised both claws and slammed them into the ground the moment Zuko reached it, the fire-type taking the full explosive, ground-shattering force of the attack as he landed on Gliscor, fires roaring. Leo winced as Zuko sagged, the spire of stone next to him collapsing on himself and Gliscor. The hurricane from Pelipper, even through cover, had to have hurt him a ton, let alone two earthquakes. There was no surprise there that Zuko was KO'd now…though he was pleased that Gliscor hadn't been able to escape the strength of its own attack, trapped on the ground as it had been. Leo recalled Zuko as Kanoa recalled his Gliscor, his expression one of intense concentration. He met Leo's eyes for a brief moment, frowned, then nodded and let out his next pokemon in the same moment Leo tossed out Spiritomb's keystone.

They'd talked before the battle, and it was fine with being used this time around. Now that Cynthia's Spiritomb was mostly settled.

A Noivern burst onto the field with a screech as Spiritomb swirled to life, matching Noivern's screech as it winged into the sky. Spiritomb hissed and swayed back and forth, tracking Noivern as it zoomed through the sky at great speeds, almost a blur even in the tightly confined arena. Kanoa frowned and cursed a bit, then shook his head and made his order.

"Tailwind, then dragon pulse! Strafe!" he ordered. Noivern screeched its assent, winging through the air and blasting at Spiritomb with a dragon pulse as it zipped about overhead. The ghost cackled as it swirled about, spitting out a few shadow balls that missed terribly, going wide as Noivern zipped about. Leo frowned and ordered an icy wind as Zuko's sunny day slowly faded, the temperature of the arena dropping considerably as ice cold wind started to blow. Noivern shrieked and flew higher, blasting out dragon pulses at Spiritomb from range. Spiritomb simply split around the attacks, its ectoplasmic body shifting and flowing like mist.

Kanoa chewed his lip while Leo stared, drumming his fingers against the railing. This was a stalemate, obviously. At the range Noivern was shooting from it was impossible for Spiritomb to hit, but Spiritomb was too slippery for Noivern to accurately hit with a pinpoint attack like dragon pulse. Finally coming to a decision, Kanoa nodded.

"Hurricane!" he ordered.

"Fill it with will-o-wisps, then shrink into your keystone," Leo commanded in response. Spiritomb cackled and began popping out will-o-wisps, the little balls of ghostly fire swiftly being picked up by the hurricane's winds – but Leo underestimated the force of Noivern's hurricane. The will-o-wisps were snuffed out almost as soon as they were created, Noivern's hurricane greatly eclipsing Pelipper's in power. Winds raged and Spiritomb's shriek was swiftly drowned out by the roaring winds that whipped up high into the air, forming a veritable tornado. Leo shielded his eyes as the winds slipped through the barriers – though the worst of it was contained, there was still enough force behind it to make Leo's eyes water and lose sight of Spiritomb.

Then, abruptly, the winds began to die down. A massive boom rang out over the battlefield as Noivern thrashed, barely visible through the whipping winds and dust, a black and purple shadow wrapped around it.

"That worked better than I expected," Leo muttered. Since Spiritomb's main body was attached to the keystone, he'd hoped that the hurricane's winds would pick up the small stone and carry it up high enough to reach Noivern with a sneak attack – hence why he told Spiritomb to hide back in its keystone. He'd hoped to at least get it in range of a shadow ball or icy wind, to slow Noivern down. He hadn't expected Spiritomb to actually be able to physically reach the dragon. From here Leo couldn't see the keystone, but he assumed it was either falling right now, or Spiritomb had somehow managed to attach it to Noivern.

"Dive! Get it off!" Kanoa roared, and Noivern immediately folded its wings and dove straight towards the ground. Spiritomb shrieked as the two fell, wrapping tendrils around the dragon's eyes to blind it, trailing small tufts of snow as it continuously summoned an icy wind. "Acrobatics!" Kanoa ordered moments before Noivern struck the ground, and the dragon flared its wings, not slowing a bit as it ripped itself to the side and positively tore through Spiritomb's ectoplasm. The sudden change in direction knocked the keystone off of where it had been held against Noivern's back, the ghost shrieking in outrage.

Noivern spun around mid-air, blasting out a dragon pulse that struck Spiritomb dead-on. The ghost shrieked and Leo scowled, an order on the tip of his tongue as Noivern spun back around, air cutters held beneath its wings and a dragon pulse building in the back of its throat, intent on finishing the job –

When Spiritomb scored a direct hit with a sudden ice beam.

Noivern shrieked and fell, ice suddenly built up over the joint of one wing, but still managed to fire off its dragon pulse at Spiritomb.

The ghost retaliated by creating a flurry of shadow balls and peppering the dragon as it righted itself midair. With another roar it blurred forward, flapping out a series of air cutters that ripped through Spiritomb's ectoplasm, then blurred forward as a tailwind kicked up. Spiritomb shrieked and summoned another ice beam, tracking Noivern as best it could, barely missing at times. It retaliated with dragon pulses, and thus began the battle of beams.

By the time Spiritomb finally caught Noivern with an ice beam, clipping the dragon's wing and freezing a good portion of it, the ghost was having trouble maintaining its physical form. The edges wavered and flickered, looking about ready to recede back into the keystone for good at any moment as the dragon crashed to the ground, still kicking and snarling – but Kanoa recalled it before it could finish off Spiritomb.

Even if it could defeat the ghost, frozen as its wing was Diana would be able to make short work of the downed flying type. Spiritomb shrieked its victory and promptly sucked itself back into its keystone as Leo nodded to Kanoa. The young man smiled thinly at Leo, running a hand through his hair in frustration as he leapt down from the trainer's stand. Leo did the same, walking over and picking up Spiritomb's keystone, thanking the ghost for its work before shoving it back into his pocket and turning to Kanoa.

The two shook hands but didn't exchange any words as Kanoa turned and left the stadium, clearly frustrated. Leo, for one, was just glad he only had to battle half of the man's team. If it had been a six-on-six he would've been far more concerned for his chances of victory. Santiago was perhaps the only other team member of his who had the ability to fight flying opponents; Xena, Sunny, and Link would all be at a severe disadvantage. Though Link could probably still pull something off.

Shaking his head, Leo waved to the crowd as the announcer and referee both boomed his victory. Mentally, he ran a hand through his hair, a little frustrated at how much he felt like he had to do now. Not only did he have to prepare for his next match – which, if he won, would let him into the top eight – but he also had to talk to Lusamine and go find Cynthia. Of course all of this had to happen at once.

Cynthia opened her eyes and let out a long, slow breath, feeling her Spiritomb, misnamed Legion, through their link. Turns out, the issues they'd been having with each other had been due to a massive lack of communication. Now that she saw the truth in the ghost's core it was hilarious how blind she felt. She'd tried to let Spiritomb fight and train because that is what she thought it wanted – as an outlet for its violent and malicious behavior. And, perhaps, they'd be able to work past that together through training.

Spiritomb, on the other hand, reacted so violently to her attempts at training and battle because it thought she was trying to use it as a weapon – use it to defeat her enemies and fight her battles, like the one who created it had used it for. Before it had been Spiritomb. Before its spirit had shattered, Uxie had sealed the worst of its memories at its own request, and combined it with the memories of those who had died on the battlefield, victims of it's unwilling wrath. And now Cynthia was helping it to piece itself back together, to rebuild that unfortunate soul that had been forced into unwilling war.

Thankfully, as a student of history, she knew just about what war it had been used in – but she'd need to brush up on the specifics to find out the when and where's. It had been a bloody civil war between the eastern and western halves of Sinnoh, so there was a lot to sift through though.

A friendly hand brushed through her hair, and she looked up to smile at Mismagius. The ghost had split off from Spiritomb sometime last night, having completed its task now that the other ghost was calmed and Cynthia had soothed the worst of its fears and rages directed towards herself. Leo had been right in that regard; in the mindscape, there was no hiding anything. Spiritomb could see her own intents and thoughts as clearly as she could see it when they were connected; that, and that alone, had assuaged the ghost's fears. Now it was docile, though hostility still brimmed towards anyone but her in a defensive response.

Cynthia sighed, recalled her Spiritomb, and stood, stretching and feeling her back pop in multiple places. She just had so many questions! And many of those questions would be answered as she continued to merge Spiritomb's spirits, seeing the memories they contained; some happy, some terrible, but all held pieces of the puzzle. But at the same time she couldn't stay cooped up in her hotel room all the time; already Spiritomb's merging process was slowing down now that she was two thirds of the way done. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't just get it all done in one fell swoop.

So she'd settle for the next best thing; she'd contact her grandmother in Celestic Town to get ahold of some of the records of that civil war, and perhaps get some answers about the other topic she was curious about. Leo.

She was one of the few people who could see aura to a degree, though she was still learning to control the Sight. But in the mindscape? Where everything was bared for the world to see? She'd been able to see Leo at the very core of who he was, even if understanding and seeing were to very different things.

Looking at him was…like looking at a tree. A tree with nebulas for the leaves, and a crown of stars hanging overhead – representing his connection to his Slowking, she assumed – while a merry little fire burned at its roots, the entire base of the trunk surrounded by a ring of stone and scale floating in the air. Each connection to each of his pokemon was represented by a different thing, and she wasn't able to understand each one. It had been a peaceful sight, still and silent, but, at the same time, she had been able to understand something.

That had not been a young sapling. That had been a grown tree, with deep roots and wide branches. It had also been otherworldly. That was the only word she could use to describe it. Like, it had deep roots, but it appeared to her like it was still laying them down – but perhaps she was just overthinking things.

Without actually hearing his life's story, she had no true way to interpret what she saw.

With a sigh she exited the hotel, letting her thoughts momentarily consume her until Mismagius popped out of the ground in front of her with a short yell, startling her.

"Mismagius, don't do that!" Cynthia said, holding a hand over her hammering heart. The cheeky ghost just cackled and flew around her, ghostly fires licking at the edges of her hat. "You are going to give me a heart attack," she complained shaking her head at the ghost. A few passersby, tourists who had traveled to Alola for the Tournament, like her, chuckled at the ghost's antics.

Mismagius just laughed at her and floated behind Cynthia to rest her chin atop her head. Cynthia sighed fondly, glad to have Mismagius back despite the ghost incessantly trying to jump scare her to death. Honestly, it was like she was trying to make up for lost time…not that Cynthia was actually complaining. Garchomp, her starter, could be just as unruly at times.

Blinking slowly Cynthia drug herself out of her thoughts once again and looked around, slowly realizing that she had wandered into the tournament grounds. Temporary stadiums rose up all around her, the bleachers and small battlefields illuminated in the orange glow of the setting sun. This looked to be a part of the Intermediate to Beginner level brackets – many of the pokemon she could see were either not fully evolved, or the battles themselves were very simple – while large TV screens broadcasted the more interesting battles. On one such screen, around which a few people were gathered, licking ice-cream cones and eating malasadas, was Leo and his Pupitar battling it out against a Gliscor that was little more than a blur on screen.

What stadium is that? She pondered, peering closer at the screen and eventually spotting the number 14 in the bottom left corner. Destination now set she squared her shoulders and resumed her walk, this time forcing her thoughts to remain uncluttered as she observed the tournament grounds and the people therein. Alola was a beautiful region. The people were lively and kind, the pokémon were varied and wild; it honestly made her a little sad that she wasn't well versed in the region's history and culture. But, well, that's part of why she was here. To learn and experience the world.

So wrapped up she was in enjoying the sights – only barely managing to tear herself away from the few ice-cream stands she saw – that she almost missed Victoria Oak entirely. Mismagius saved her once again, bumping into her and bringing drawing her attention away from a stand selling traditional Alolan herbal remedies that were more for cultural tradition than anything else, and pointing to Victoria, Cynthia's Lucario, and a short man leaning on a cane, with a baby Dratini wrapped around his neck like a scarf.

The moment she looked over her Lucario noticed her, visibly relaxing and letting out a sigh of relief. Cynthia hid her surprise. Had she really worried him that much?

"…very much like you. Bull headed and stubborn. I told you that I said it'd take him five years to get to the top of Poni Island, and what does he do? Turns around and goes to meet the Lucario tribe," the short man said as Cynthia approached.

"I did hear that," Victoria said with a laugh. "I'm sure they were happy to see a potential Guardian again,"

"No, the kid is more along the lines of a – well, hello there," the short man cut himself off as he noticed Cynthia, Victoria looking up at her as well.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" Cynthia said, meeting the shorter man's eyes and smiling kindly at him. That was when she saw it. For just a brief moment the man glowed like the burning sun, sheer power radiating from him without him exerting himself. She almost flinched away but managed to stop herself – her Lucario, who was far more sensitive to aura, did flinch – and almost as soon as the burst of aura appeared it was gone.

"No, I was just coming to look for you," Victoria said, as if she was completely oblivious to what just happened. Cynthia kept her expression as calm as possible when faced with someone as powerful as that – she had never met anyone with an aura as blinding as that, and it hadn't even been directed at her! And now she could barely see it as he hid it from view, constraining it as he was.

"You know this girl?" the shorter man asked.

"Yes. Well, sort of. She's Leo's acquaintance. Sofu, this is Cynthia, Cynthia this is Sofu, the Kahuna of Poni Island. That's a position kind of like an Elite Four member, but I suppose he'd also double as the Champion," Victoria explained.

"No, no, you're more Champion material than I am," Sofu said, shaking his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, young Cynthia. It is good to know the younger generation will be protected by guardians such as yourself,"

"Guardians?" Victoria voiced, and Sofu snorted out a laugh as Cynthia stilled. How did he…?

"You cannot tell me you didn't notice? Her aura has all the markings of a future Guardian," Sofu said casually. "Have you received any formal training?"

"Um, in a way. My Lucario is from one of the ancient Lucario tribes guarding Sinnoh, and he's been passing down some of the teachings of the aura guardians to me," Cynthia admitted, keeping her voice down so as not to be overheard by other people. It would sound like she was talking of a childhood fantasy if overheard by other people, after all. Very few actually believed in the aura guardians anymore, even if, according to her Lucario, they had simply changed, not disappeared. Sofu smirked and looked up at Victoria, as if he had won some sort of argument with her.

"…huh." Victoria said. "Neat. Anyway, how's all that mess with Spiritomb coming?" she said, quickly changing the subject. Cynthia nodded, glad for the subject change, and gestured to Mismagius who floated behind her.

"Quite well, actually. I've been learning a lot, but now I've got more questions than answers. Some of them are about Leo, some are for Leo, and some are about history," she said vaguely, waving one hand dismissively. "I have a lot of research to do,"

And wasn't that the truth. At least she had a lead though, from her Spiritomb's true name. As the conversation with Victoria and Sofu continued, Cynthia patted her Spiritomb's ultra ball fondly.

Though I should probably stop calling you that, huh? She thought. When I woke you from your slumber, I did promise to help you. It may have taken me some time to get to where I can and to figure things out, but we got here, despite our rocky start. So help you I will, Magearna.

Chapter Text

Leo sat across from Lusamine, Lillie and Gladion sitting next to her with their eyes glued to the TV screen in the restaurant – ironically replaying Leo's latest battle. He didn't pay it much mind, chatting with Lusamine as he was, despite the revelations weighing on him. Cynthia's Spiritomb being named Magearna could be a coincidence, but he highly doubted it. It just wasn't common enough of a name. The true question was if her Spiritomb truly was a Magearna, or if it was some sort of cruel mockery of the mythical pokémon.

A pokemon he unfortunately knew very little about. Unlike, say, Mewtwo. Or the Tapus, or the Kanto and Johto legends, who he had researched when he could actually find legends and mythos about the 'mon.

"We do have a few business-related things to talk about today," Lusamine said, pulling a briefcase out from underneath the desk and setting it on the table, sliding Lillie and Gladion's food to the side to make room for it. Leo swallowed the last bit of hamburger – made from ground domestic Tauros meat – and nodded to her, motioning for her to continue as he wiped his greasy fingers.

There was plenty of amazing Alolan food available, but Leo had been craving a burger.

"First off, I wanted to congratulate you on your performance in the tournament so far. Despite not being in the top eight quite yet, you've done well. That being said, we need to consider your presentation when you do end up in the top eight," she said.

"When, not if," Leo half-joked, and Lusamine smiled, nodding.

"Yes. What this means is that we need to develop and think of an image for your 'trainer' persona, beyond the bland white Aether outfit you wear now. Initially I didn't think much of it, until the chief officer of branding pointed it out to me; Aether has no real image in the competitive trainer's field. We are the medicine makers of the world and conservationists, and that's what we're known for. Not for sponsoring powerful trainers; but for sponsoring trainers who perform rescue work. Victoria is actually the only truly competitive trainer we sponsor, but image for her was never an issue. She's an Oak. That is image enough. Whereas you aren't technically an Oak, and thus do not officially bear that image," Lusamine trailed off, looking Leo up and down pointedly.

"Don't I already have an image what with Santiago's evolution being on camera, and the dancing dragons thing?" Leo asked, furrowing his brows.

"Yes and no. That is the start of it; what we need to focus on is the look," she started.

"The look," Leo deadpanned. He didn't like where this was going. The white Aether suit he wore now already was far beyond his style, not that he knew anything about fashion to begin with. "Isn't that what I'm wearing now?"

"No. That is about as bland of an outfit as I could find, but it beats the typical rags you wear. In the upper tiers of training, this is very important in helping to establish your image to your growing fanbase. Think of it this way; the current Champions all have their styles. Lance, the dragon master, with his hairdo, cape, and clothes that are perfectly suitable for training dragons while still looking stylish enough. That boy from Hoenn, Steven, who just overthrew his predecessor, with his clean suit and tie. Alder from Unova, in his traditional ancient-Unovan garb. This even goes down to the Elite Four and Gym Leaders. Each has a distinct style that screams 'this is who I am.' Just as much as your team, it is what helps people discern what persona you have," Lusamine explained. Leo frowned and scratched his chin.

That did make sense. Branding was important for the public side of being a trainer…a side he'd largely neglected. For the most part he was just a trainer, running around doing whatever he wanted. If he wanted to continue to do that in other regions beyond just Kanto, Johto, and Alola, he needed a reputation that would let him travel and just do whatever he wanted without anyone minding. Working for Aether helped in that regard, and building up an image as a trainer would help as well.

When did I start thinking about going to other regions so naturally? He mused, taking a sip of his drink. He wasn't even done in Alola yet, yet he was already considering going elsewhere.

Still…

"That sounds like a lot of work," Leo said.

"It is. But that is just something for you to think about; I'll have someone come talk to you further later. As I said, the plain white Aether Employee uniform isn't quite outstanding enough," Lusamine said. Leo didn't object, sighing and rubbing a hand over his face.

"Right, right. Anything else?" he asked, and in response, Lusamine opened her briefcase, pulling out a manila folder and setting it in front of Leo.

"We decrypted a few things in Faba's database that might be of interest. Primarily, his research on Type: Null was blasted out to multiple regions across the globe just prior to his arrest. So far we've traced it to Kanto, Sinnoh, and Galar," Lusamine said bluntly, and Leo stilled. Though it wasn't certain, he was almost positive he knew who that research data was sent to.

Team Rocket, Team Galactic, and…the bad guy of Galar was that chairman dude, right? The one who wanted to wake up an ancient eldritch entity to use as a power source for the region like some sort of Doom video game ripoff? It was sad to think Leo didn't think he was the worst person on the list. Was he above Giovanni? …maybe. But definitely below Cyrus, who literally wanted to just destroy and remake the entire universe. And, if he remembered right, the man thought Giratina's distortion realm was beautiful and perfect or something.

That was…not good. Especially since Faba's research notes on Type: Null indicated he was trying to replicate Arceus' mythical ability to be any pokemon type; and…Arceus and Sinnoh…

Leo cursed mentally, consciously aware of the two kids next to him. Riveted to the TV as they were, he still didn't want to take the chance they'd overhear him. He flipped through the folder Lusamine had given him, skimming the technical information about Type: Null as it wasn't overtly relevant at the moment, and eventually shook his head.

"We'll need to have a discussion about that later," Leo said, and Lusamine paused. Then nodded. Might need to get Cynthia involved too. This gives me a bad feeling. "Anything else you learned from it?"

"Faba pushed my husband, Mohn, into an Ultra Wormhole after he figured out what Faba was doing for the Type: Null project," Lusamine said with a sad smile. Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He, Victoria, and Professor Oak had considered this possibility, but to have it confirmed was another matter entirely. Before he could even offer his condolences, Lusamine continued however. "And he might still be alive,"

"Huh?" Leo said, the word just slipping out. "Wait, how?"

"Faba must have done something to hide all this information from me while I was searching for Mohn, but there have been reports of other people who have survived passing through an Ultra Wormhole – only to come out the other side with no memories," Lusamine said, her smile slowly widening. "I'm almost afraid to hope, but there's a chance that Mohn is out there."

"That's great!" Leo said, beaming at her. "Do you have an idea of where to start looking?"

"I don't, not really. But Mohn used to joke with me back when we were dating that if he hadn't thought to become a scientist, he'd have been an Alolan pokebean farmer. I'll probably start there," Lusamine said with a light laugh. Something about that clicked in Leo's head, a small memory that was half-forgotten, and he smiled. Something about a pokebean farmer in the games, and a fan theory he vaguely recalled about him. But it could also be his imagination, so he just smiled and nodded along.

I truly hope that works out for you. He thought, poking Gladion in retaliation after the boy accidentally elbowed him. They chatted a bit more about that, mostly Lusamine reminiscing about her lost husband and getting her thoughts back in order, before the next topic popped up. Or, more specifically, Leo decided to bring up the original topic that had occupied his thoughts once there was a lull in conversation.

"So you know that girl that I've been hanging out with recently? Cynthia?" Leo asked.

"Yes, Victoria told me about her," Lusamine said, smiling knowingly. "She's quite pretty," Leo ignored that and forged ahead.

"I've been helping her with her Spiritomb, and about two hours ago she told me that her ghost had a name before she caught it; before it was officially a Spiritomb. Magearna," he said conversationally, and at this Lusamine's expression stiffened. "She doesn't know what the name means, but her Spiritomb was found in Sinnoh and she mentioned something about a civil war? I thought you might want to know,"

"I do. Thank you," she said, nodding. She lapsed into silence as Leo sucked the rest of his drink up, sighing and stretching in his seat. Now that the day was over, he was feeling pretty exhausted. Despite this just being a battling tournament, the amount of drama stuff he'd had to deal with during it was alarming. More annoying. Though Faba blasting out the Type: Null information did bug him. But there was only so much he could do and only so many warnings he could give; Giovanni had proved that to him. Despite him telling Professor Oak what he was and what he did, nothing had happened. The man covered his tracks well.

Let's just hope the other "Bad Guys" aren't as competent.

Leo fought back a yawn as he stood in the trainer's podium, toying with Xena's pokeball and looking out over the battlefield. It'd been a long night yesterday. Not only had he only gotten three hours of sleep, but he spent the better part of the night talking with Cynthia, who rambled on about the history of Sinnoh for hours, theorizing potential origins for her Spiritomb. Then he'd been trying to get Stein under control, the Type: Null having been particularly ornery while Leo tried to feed him; and he'd had a short chat in a more secured environment with Lusamine about the Type: Null data that had been leaked, which culminated in Lusamine declaring that she needed to do some digging on the "Teams" and promising another talk if and when something came of it.

That didn't satisfy Leo, but he really hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise. Lusamine was…well, Lusamine. The Teams seemed to be well-hidden in this world, and Team Rocket had taught him that there might be other circumstances involved around them. But those were thoughts for later.

Right now he had a battle to win. And, since the opponent – a middle-aged man named Alexander – had a team of ground, psychic, and rock types, mostly focusing on "ancient" pokemon, Leo figured his back-up lead would be perfect.

"BEGIN!" the announcer boomed, and Leo sent out Link. Across from him a Carbink appeared, the little rock fairy spinning and immediately trying to set up a stealth rock without any prompting. Apparently that was a very common strategy. Leo supposed there was no harm in having a lot of pokemon learn that move, if there was no hard-limit of four moves like it the games.

Link, on the other hand, let Carbink do its thing and threw up a sunny day, the ball of bright light floating into the sky, then darted forwards with a leaf blade bared. Carbink took the first attack head-on, hardly even flinching as Link's attack skittered off its stone body, and retaliated with a point-blank ancient power. Orbs of silvery light appeared in the air around Carbink, and Link moved. He spun away from the first thrown ancient power, only to be caught by two more, the orbs blowing him backwards and giving Carbink some space.

Immediately Link threw out a few magical leaves that embedded themselves in Carbink's stone body, the rock type making a jingling sound as it tried to put up a light screen.

"Leech bomb," Leo ordered, Link immediately obeying. He reached into his leafy kilt and pulled out a handful of different sized seeds, tossing the larger, explosive ones at Carbink first. Another ancient power rose into the air in response, the silvery orbs meeting the seed bombs halfway in an explosion of silver and green. They didn't, however, stop the much smaller leech seeds from hitting their target. Three of the little things landed on Carbink's body, immediately sprouting vines that wrapped around it and began sucking the life out.

"Power gem!" Alexander called, large, purple, ethereal stones appearing around Carbink and rocketing towards Link. He nimbly flipped out of the way, sprinting to the side and summoning a substitute shield. Sunny day continued to beat down on the battlefield, and Link decided to make use of it. A solar beam blasted out from his leaf blade like a laser, blowing straight through a power gem and the light screen Carbink still had active, the weakened but still powerful beam knocking it sideways.

Link capitalized on the opportunity, sprinting forward and laying into the recovering rock type. For the most part it, surprisingly, seemed to ignore the blows, relying on its impressive defenses as it floated back up into the air and smashed its body into Link's substitute shield. He took a step forward and twisted, sliding around behind the Carbink and unleashing a point-blank solarbeam at its back.

Carbink wobbled in the air as Link planted a few seed bombs on the rock type's back and disengaged, detonating the seeds. A tinkling sound rang out as Carbink hit the ground, giving one last parting shot in the form of a small rock that shot out of the ground and bounced off Link's forehead before falling still. Alexander recalled Carbink, his expression cool and calm as ever, as Link darted forward and scooped up the leech seeds it had left behind. He immediately popped one of the three into his mouth, visibly perking up as his next opponent materialized on the field; a Sigilyph.

Leo raised an eyebrow at the strange avianoid, drumming his fingers against Link's pokeball. This was exactly the pokemon he wanted to draw out, but since Link still had two seeds left from the leech seed, he figured he'd let him stay out and wear down Sigilyph a little.

"Dazzle it," Leo ordered, at the same time Sigilyph whipped up a tailwind and flapped its wing-like appendages rapidly. A red glow emanated from its wings while Link glowed blindingly white, a flash of pink energy filling the stadium for a split second. Sigilyph droned oddly, but the red glow continued as it whipped its wings forward, embers flying forward as the air distorted from the heat wave. Link hunkered down beneath his substitute shield as the attack struck, the shield cracking and falling to pieces from the sheer heat.

Sigilyph struck once more in that moment, firing a psybeam from its center eye-like design that struck Link dead-on. The little grass type tumbled backwards, stabbing his leaf blade into the ground to arrest his momentum, and flung out a series of magical leaves. Sigilyph didn't bother trying to dodge, taking the hits and flicking out an air slash that Link scrambled to avoid. Leo frowned as Link tossed out a series of seed bombs, Sigilyph ascending in the air to dodge, then caught the avian with a glancing blow from a last-second solarbeam – right in time for the sunny day to fade.

Another psybeam caught Link, and he popped another leech seed in his mouth, absorbing the energy within.

"Cosmic gravity," Alexander ordered, and Sigilyph glowed with an eerie blue light. Link grunted and fell to one knee as the gravity around him intensified, glowing bright as he shot off another dazzling gleam, the attack only rocking Sigilyph back a bit.

"Link, return. Santiago, you're up," Leo said, recalling his grass type and letting Santiago out onto the field.

"Whirlwind," Alexander ordered calmly the moment Santiago appeared.

"Shadow ball!" Leo barked, gripping the railing of the trainer's box. He wasn't exactly sure how whirlwind worked in the real world, but in the games it forced a switch into a random pokemon. Which could be both bad or potentially really good, if he got someone like Diana.

The winds picked up harshly, whipping around Santiago as he spat out a shadow ball, the attack striking Sigilyph dead-on as it raced forward through the winds, slapping one wing into Santiago's chest and the two glowing with psychic power. Santiago grunted as he was bodily tossed backwards, spinning like a corkscrew, the winds catching him and slamming him into the psychic barrier directly in front of Leo. He groaned and fell to the ground, pushing himself up even as Sigilyph followed up on the attack with a series of psybeams and air slashes.

Santiago growled and spat out a water pulse, Sigilyph erecting a light screen to deflect the attack, and darted out of the way of a follow-up shadow ball.

Alexander remained calm and cool throughout the entire exchange, his expression not changing as the man, dressed in what looked to Leo like safari-expedition type clothes, made occasional orders and palmed Sigilyph's pokeball.

It wasn't until Santiago scored another hit with a shadow ball that Alexander recalled Sigilyph, swiftly replacing it with a Cradily before Santiago could attempt to recover with slack off. Leo raised an eyebrow at the fossil pokemon, mentally going over what he knew about it. He knew that it should be very rare, as it was literally a revived fossil, and that it was massively defensive and should be good for stalling, but that was about it.

"Keep it away from you," Leo said, frowning. Santiago grunted and spat out a few water pulses, Cradily using its tentacles to protect its face from the worst of the attacks. With how slow the plant-like 'mon was, it didn't bother trying to dodge. Instead it lashed the tentacles that weren't protecting itself in the air, throwing a series of seeds and a ray of purple light at Santiago. He stopped the seeds with a blast of psychic energy, knocking them back and away from him, though the ray of light continued on to strike Santiago…to no visible effect.

He didn't stumble, nor did he flinch when it hit him; for all the world, it seemed like the confuse ray didn't do anything to Santiago.

In return Santiago grabbed Cradily in a psychic hold and, despite the ancient fossil digging into the ground with its vine-like legs, tossed it to the other side of the arena, where he bombarded it with a series of shadow balls. Cradily groaned and picked itself up, vines glowing green as it refocused its attention on Santiago. Before Leo could blink a ball of green light shot from Cradily to Santiago, knocking the Slowking off his feet with the force, the fossil surging forward as green motes of light pulled themselves out of Santiago's body and gently floated back to Cradily.

Every time it absorbed some of the floating lights, its wounds seemed to heal. Vines that had been battered and bruised perked up, and Cradily even seemed to pick up speed.

"Santi, yawn," Leo commanded as the Slowking stood, shaking his head and yawning fiercely. A white bubble popped out of his mouth, floating along with the green motes towards the ancient fossil.

"Slap it out of the air," Alexander said calmly, sounding completely unconcerned.

"Close the distance," Leo said, and Santiago surged forward as Cradily shook itself, vines preparing to slap the yawn attack away. For a moment, Cradily appeared torn on what to do. On one hand, yawn was likely to take it out of the fight if it couldn't take Santiago out quick enough. On the other hand, there was an angry Slowking running towards it like a freight train. Tossing aside its indecision, Cradily once more glowed green, this time spitting out an energy ball that collided with the yawn, broke through it, and met Santiago as he lowered his head in a zen headbutt. Santiago twisted his head the moment the attack touched his crown, the ball of green light sliding off the coral and flying off towards the psychic barriers.

Now there was nothing between him and Cradily. The fossil pokemon quickly flicked out a few seeds, the leech seeds clinging to Santiago's hide, but it was already too late. He slammed into Cradily with all the force he could muster, crown lowered so the spikey coral could dig into its tough, rubbery body, bodily tackling the beast. The two fell to the ground in a heap, Santiago repeatedly bashing his head into Cradily's midsection, vines whipping his body harshly and green motes once more beginning to float out of his body.

Santiago growled and spat a water pulse directly down Cradily's throat, headbutted it again, blasted it with a point-blank psychic, and generally just flat-out brawled with it as they rolled around on the ground. The roaring of the crowd almost deafened Leo as he watched the spectacle – it looked less like a pokemon battle, and more like a drunken brawl.

That was when Santiago yawned again, the white bubble striking Cradily point-blank, and stunning it long enough for Santiago to disentangle himself and throw the grass-type away with another psychic.

"Slack off!" Leo barked, seeing his starter struggling to remain standing. He huffed and closed his eyes, visibly relaxing as the gem in his crown flashed pink. Cradily picked itself up and fired another hasty energy ball, only for it to be diverted at the last second by a quick burst of psychic energy, Santiago's eyes flying open. He backed up a few steps, summoning a shadow ball but not firing it. This was a waiting game now, and he was now on the defensive until Cradily fell asleep.

It didn't take long. Try as it might, the fossil pokemon couldn't do enough damage to Santiago in time to knock him out before falling asleep – especially with Santiago countering energy balls with shadow balls, and healing himself with slack off to offset the damage from leech seed and giga drain. And, once Cradily fell asleep and Santiago forcibly ripped the leech seeds off of himself, Alexander called the match.

"I forfeit," he said, voice still as calm as ever as he recalled Cradily.

The crowd erupted as the announcer boomed out Leo's victory, he, himself, stunned but not necessarily surprised by Alexander's forfeit. It would be a losing battle for him. With Santiago and Link still up, they'd be able to do more than enough damage to Sigilyph, who had already taken damage, to make it an easy battle for whoever Leo chose for his third member.

For his part, Leo recalled Santiago, thanked him for his hard work through the pokeball, and leapt down into the battlefield to meet Alexander halfway.

"Excellent battle," he praised, shaking Leo's hand. "Pity I couldn't make it to the top eight, but that's life I suppose. It was admittedly a bad matchup for me – your Bellossom and Slowking counter too many of my team members. Not to mention some of the rest of those monsters you have on your team,"

"Ah, uh, thanks. Your team's pretty awesome too – where'd you even find a Cradily?" Leo asked.

"I'm a relatively successful archaeologist. Cradily was a fossil I found in an old dig site, and a colleague of mine revived her for me. She's not a big fan of battling, but battling with her draws interest from sponsors, which fund my digs and gives me access to new sites," Alexander admitted freely, shrugging. "Helps that I can at least hold my own in the expert tier of battling." Leo looked Alexander up and down, nodding as something clicked in his head. What he called safari clothes earlier could also look like what one would think of if they thought "archaeologist." Pale cargo shorts, a wide-brimmed hat hanging from a string around his neck, and so on.

Was that what Lusamine was talking about when she mentioned a "style?" Because looking at this man's clothes, he did fit into that certain kind of stereotype.

"That's actually pretty cool." Leo admitted, and Alexander smiled.

"It is my life's work. Anyway, congratulations on the win. I'll be rooting for you," he said, and backed off the field as the announcer approached, booming Leo's victory and entrance into the top eight of the elite tier of pokemon trainers.

"Remember folks, the top eight battles will resume in four days, alongside the Captain-Tier tournament and the top eights from the other battling tiers! Battling schedules will be posted after the celebration ceremony in three days, so keep an eye out for your favorite trainers!" The announcer said, voice echoing above the chattering of the crowd. And after another round of congratulations, Leo was released off the field to go do whatever he wanted. He had a full two days to relax until the official ceremony – which was essentially just showing off the top eight of each battling tier before reaching the semi-finals, as well as honoring Tapu Koko, whom the tournament this year was dedicated too – but he already had it filled up with stuff he needed to do.

Leo shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked, heading towards the healing station reserved for contestants to get Link and Santiago healed up.

He needed to talk to Cynthia about Team Galactic and have another talk with her about Spiritomb and Magearna, he needed to meet with whatever stylist Lusamine had roped in to do her bidding the day before the ceremony, he probably needed to talk to Professor Oak and Victoria about a few things, he needed to work with his team like usual and spend more time with Stein, the Type: Null having had less time to interact with others as of late…

"I'm sure I'm forgetting something," he muttered, handing off Link and Santiago's pokeballs to the on-duty nurse. Stein was a whole other issue entirely. He just wasn't bonding with the synthetic pokemon like he did with others – he didn't feel a connection with it. Yes, Type: Null was strong and followed commands to a T, but for whatever reason the two hadn't clicked yet. Maybe that was because Stein was still recovering from the training Faba put it under, and he just needed to be patient though.

With a sigh Leo sat down in one of the waiting room chairs, folding his hands in his lap and looking at the ceiling as he organized this thoughts and toyed with a few of the pokeballs on his belt. He still had that extra Rockruff to deal with too; he'd been giving the little dog pokemon plenty of attention, but…it wasn't the same as having a real trainer. Though he'd been keeping it at the Aether Paradise for the most part, letting it play with its siblings and Lusamine's kids. Maybe I should just suck it up and train him. Though I'm loathe to introduce another team member when Sunny and Xena are still kind of getting settled. He mused.

"Congratulations on making it to the top eight. Guess I can't put you through training hell now," Victoria said, breaking Leo out of his thoughts as she sat down next to him. He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't only contestants allowed back here?" He asked, looking around the relatively empty waiting room. There was only one other person, a boy of maybe eleven who kept looking at Leo and an older gentleman in fine clothes reading a magazine on pokemon fashion.

"I am the guest of honor," Victoria said with a yawn. "Of course I can be back here. Whoever wins the Elite and Captain tiers of battle gets to battle me; though to be honest I don't expect to see you in the finals,"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Leo deadpanned. "I've been doing alright so far, except for that one loss."

"True, but you've got some real competitors this year. That Kukui kid's got a monster of a team; I'd put him in the Captain tier, personally, but the tournament organizers wouldn't let him register as one. My money's on him to win it. But the other competitors aren't anything to scoff at either, there's this girl Mina, who specializes in fairies; Ilima, a normal specialist like me…and a few others I'm forgetting. Pretty sure there's another grass specialist, rumor is she's in line to take over the Grass Trial once the old hag who currently runs it steps down." Victoria said, shrugging.

"I'm good, but not Captain good is what you're saying," Leo said, vaguely recalling the names Mina and Ilima from the games. He knew very little about them, but they were names he recognized. And of course he recalled Kukui being a good trainer – in the original Sun and Moon games, not only was he the regional professor but you also had to battle him for the champion's seat. Shirtless macho-man he may be, he had a powerful team.

"Exactly. Honestly I'm impressed you got this far," she said, and Leo smiled at her.

"Yet you kept threatening me to do better," he pointed out.

"I just wanted an excuse to beat you and your team into the ground, what can I say?" she said with a helpless shrug.

"Not like you need a reason to do that anyway," Leo said, and Victoria laughed.

"True, true! I can do that any time I want. That said, how you holding up? A lot's been going on in this tournament, what with the Spiritomb debacle and all that." She said, putting a hand on Leo's shoulder.

"Eh, I'm fine. There's a few things I think we need to talk about in a more private setting though." He said, rubbing his forehead. "Lusamine's also pushing me to find a…style? Which is interesting, I suppose,"

"Don't let her force you into doing anything you don't want to," Victoria advised. "She was pushy even before Faba, now I'm almost afraid she'll want to dress you up in a hula costume and make you dance for the audience," Leo paused and thought about that, shaking his head and chuckling as he imagined himself, dressed in a leafy kilt like a Bellossom's, dancing in front of a stadium of people with Link and Xena.

"Not saying I'd ever want to, but you can't deny it'd be fitting," he joked, and Victoria snorted.

"Fair point. What's the super secret thing you wanted to talk to me about? We're pretty secluded here," she said, watching the gentleman get up and approach the nurse, who handed him a few pokeballs and sent him on his way. The young kid had already left, sometime while Victoria and Leo were talking.

"I need to get my thoughts in order for it first. But it involves Faba blasting the Type: Null data all over the place," he said.

"Does it have anything to do with that terrorist organization you mentioned? Team Rocket, was it?" she asked.

"Something like that. It's a different organization in Sinnoh," Leo said, and Victoria nodded.

"Then it's something we need to discuss." She said, shoulders sagging a bit. Leo patted her shoulder apologetically, feeling a bit bad about always bringing bad news and unfortunate information to her. She shrugged the action off though, standing and ruffling his hair, much to his annoyance. "But for now, we celebrate. Lusamine is planning a dinner or something, and Professor Oak may be teleporting in for a bit. I think he might be planning to bring Gary and Daisy over for the finals, if you make it that far."

"That'd be pretty cool," Leo said, smiling. Victoria nodded, paused, and gave him a critical look.

"Be honest with me, brat, how are you liking competitive battling so far?" she asked.

"It's…different," Leo allowed, shaking his head. "It feels different than the gym challenge even, though I can't put my finger on why."

"That's because your experience in battling is far more real-world than what you'll see in tournaments like these," Victoria said simply. "This is a sport more than anything else. The battles and tournaments are designed for people to enjoy watching them, the strategies involved reflect that. It may not be very sportsmanlike to use a move like explosion – but it is exciting. As for the gym challenge, well, those are from the old days where gyms were meant to create trainers that could survive in the wilds for long periods of time. Back when the routes weren't patrolled and regulated – the gym leaders are competitive battlers, yes, but the gym tests themselves were designed to literally train you, as a trainer."

Leo nodded slowly, rubbing his chin. That made sense, actually. And he could absolutely see competitive tournaments like this as a sport especially after what Alexander said. There was a lot of money in pokemon battling, and sometimes the best way to attract sponsors was through appealing to the masses. In fact, that was probably the main way to do it, now that he thought about it.

"Though to be a good trainer, you have to understand both sides of battling," Leo mused, and Victoria grinned at him.

"Exactly. You don't become champion by just battling in tournaments and doing the gym challenge over and over again," she said, ruffling his hair. Something dinged in her pocket and she pulled out her pokedex, frowning at the screen. "I'll see you at dinner, kid." And with that, she up and left him in the waiting room.

Leo shook his head and sat back, waiting until the nurse called his name, indicating that his pokemon had finished healing. There was still some leftover fatigue from all the battling they'd been doing, but that would easily be fixed up over the course of the next four days. Yes, he had some plans to do light training with them, but that was about it. He wanted his team in top shape for the upcoming battles, if they were going to be as hard as Victoria promised they'd be.

Exiting the medical room and heading outside the stadium, Leo stretched and kept an eye out for Cynthia. She'd said she'd be waiting for him outside the stadium, and, true to her word, he spotted her leaning against a lamp post with her head buried in a thick book, her Roserade standing next to her inspecting a nearby bush covered in white flowers. As he watched the grass-type poked the bush, prompting a few Comfey to go flying out of the plant with cries of displeasure. Leo chuckled, thumbing the release to Link's pokeball, immediately bending down to scoop up the Bellossom and place him on his shoulder.

"Bell," Link said, sounding only slightly tired. Leo smiled and poked him in the stomach.

"Hush, you. Sigilyph would have picked you apart," he said, approaching Cynthia, who still hadn't noticed him yet.

"Bellossom," Link insisted.

"And then what? You would've swept the third member, tired and exhausted as you were?" Leo asked.

"Bell," Link nodded.

"Oh, I see. Well I'm sorry for doubting you," Leo laughed, shaking his head. Link snorted and nodded as if he proved his point. "Cynthia," he called, finally getting said girl's attention. She looked up from her book and smiled.

"Leo! Come take a look at this," she said, waving him over and thrusting the book towards him, finger held over one specific paragraph. Leo raised and eyebrow and looked at the page, reading the passage that meant very little to him, even if it was interesting. It was about a certain battle in the Sinnoh civil war she'd been talking about that ended when a mysterious pokemon unleased a rain of fire upon the combatants, effectively ending the battle.

"Ok," he said, eyes tracing over to the drawn picture next to the passage and shrugging. "Does that ring any bells with the memories you've seen from Spiritomb?" he asked.

"Well – no, I'm not really sure to be honest." Cynthia said, some of her excitement dying down. Leo chuckled in amusement as she pulled the book back, rereading the passage with a frown. At least she seemed to be having fun. "But there's some contention about the pokemon that caused this in the records I've seen, so I thought it might be Magearna," she defended.

"It might be. But you've got a first-hand witness of everything in that book sitting in a pokeball at your side. Ideally you'll be able to fact-check everything you find in there with the memories of your Spiritomb and thereby cross-reference and get a general idea of what your pokemon's history is," Leo said.

"I'm doing that, but the memories are fragmented at best." She said with a sigh. Leo shrugged, not sure what else to say about it. It would take time, that's all. Hopefully Lusamine would be able to help, if she felt like sharing with Cynthia. Not that Leo would blame her for not sharing what she knew about Magearna – it is a mythical pokemon with potentially incredible power, as well as a gift her husband left for their children. Things like that are meant to remain secret. So Leo wouldn't say anything, because it wasn't his secret to share.

"Come on, let's go get something to eat and go over what you found so far," he said, yawning. Cynthia nodded, closing the book with a snap and starting to chatter away at him about some of what she'd found. Leo listened, though he was a little distracted, his thoughts all swirling inside his head like a storm. "Oh, by the way, congrats on your win. How'd it go?" she suddenly said, pausing mid-sentence to say that.

"Thanks, it went pretty well. Won without losing a 'mon, though he forfeited in the end," Leo said with a smile, Link puffing his chest out proudly. "You were saying about – what was his name again?"

"General Atami," Cynthia said, nodding and once again restarting her explanation of the particular battle she was trying to get to – starting by building up the context Leo would need for understanding it. But that was true of most history – for example, everyone had heard of Emperor Julius Ceasar of the Roman Empire, but knowing he was an emperor wasn't the same as knowing his history of how he became said Emperor, and defeated the other two members of the Triumvirate to get there.

Thankfully Leo had actually read up on pieces of the history of the pokemon world so he wasn't completely at a loss as to what she was talking about, that being one of the few things that actually interested him back when Professor Oak had tried to get him to go to school. Even then, most of what he knew ended up being self-study. Unfortunately, however, most of his knowledge was on the former political climate of Indigo, and more recent events had drawn parallels. Which was another issue to think about, now that he thought about it.

His list just kept growing. He still hadn't even completed any of the island trials, which might be the only part of his "to-do" list he was actually looking forward to.

"What a mess," Leo said, shaking his head.

"It doesn't get better," Cynthia agreed, pausing her explanation of how one commander essentially burned down the entirety of Floaroma Town just to flush out a few revolutionaries. He nodded in agreement, smiling to himself at the timing of his thoughtless comment. Now just to figure out how to breach the topic of Team Galactic with her…better yet, how does he explain it? Just jumping in and saying they're bad guys isn't all that great of an idea – just look at how his ousting of Giovanni turned out.

Literally nothing changed, because Leo didn't understand how Team Rocket rose in the first place. Looking at Indigo now, it's becoming apparent to him that it will rise in response to Lance for some inane reason, but it hasn't been an overt occurrence just yet. So how was Team Galactic any different? What did he know about them, what didn't he know? They had multiple skyscraper-esque bases all across Sinnoh, as best he remembered, so going around spouting that they're going to try to destroy all of creation sounds a lot like a conspiracy theory.

Leo sighed.

Oh, the joys of having knowledge he has no way to act on.

"So not tonight then," Leo said to Victoria over the video phone. She nodded apologetically while Link hung from Leo's shoulder, peering at the screen and trying his hardest not to fall asleep. But he didn't want to be returned, so Leo didn't return him.

"No, we won't all be having a celebratory dinner tonight. We will soon though. Lusamine and I had to run back to the Aether Paradise for work reasons." She said.

"Got it, no problem. It's not that big a deal anyways," Leo said with a shrug. He was doing good in the tournament, true, and making it into the top eight was something to be proud of, but he also didn't feel the need to make a big deal out of it. Would he like to treat himself or be treated to a nice meal? Absolutely. But that could easily wait.

"It's a big deal to Lusamine. She wants to do something nice for you," she said.

"She doesn't have to do that," Leo argued, knowing that it was a moot point. "But I do appreciate it anyways. What's the big reason though – anything I should be worried about?" he asked. Technically he was employed by Aether, it wasn't unthinkable that they'd send him out into the field if it was a big enough issue. Not that he actually expected that to happen, but still.

"Nah, should be nothing. Pretty sure it's just one of the Type: Null acting up." She said with a shrug. "You relax, focus on the tournament, and spend some time with that pretty new friend of yours." Leo stared at her blankly.

"She's right next to me, Victoria," he deadpanned, glancing at said girl out of the corner of his eye, Cynthia herself smiling and shaking her head in amusement as she stood off to the side of the public video phone. Victoria had sent him an email on his pokedex asking him to call her on the Aether Paradise phone line, so here they were.

"I know. Bye!" she said all-too cheerily, and promptly ended the call. Leo sighed and shook his head, ending the call and stepping away from the phone booth. A few other people used the line of video phones, but for the most part the crowds still seemed to be hanging around the stadiums themselves, what with the intermediate and beginner tiers still having a lot of battles happening. Gently he reached over his shoulder and picked up Link, pulling the little Bellossom fully onto his shoulder once more.

"Well now I've got time to kill," he said mostly to himself, glancing at the time on his pokedex. It was only a quarter to five, so there was still plenty of time left in the day. Cynthia said nothing, just looking at him from the corner of her eye and bending over to pet her Roserade, the grass type leaning into her touch.

"That's not such a bad thing. It's better than having too little time," she said. Leo nodded, already trying to decided what he wanted to do for dinner as he feet carried him away from the phones and towards the festivities. Cynthia followed, seeming to not have much of a direction or plan either. Though from the way she kept looking at him from the corner of her eye, he figured there was something she wanted to ask or say, but just hadn't figured out how to say it yet.

So he waited, and waited for her to ask, letting his feet carrying him wherever they wanted to lead. Until finally she spoke up.

"So, I have a question for you, and I'm sorry in advance if it's a little too private," she said slowly, brows furrowed.

"Shoot," Leo said. If he didn't like the question he wouldn't answer, but there was no harm in hearing it out.

"When we were in the mindscape, I saw your…aura, your soul, for lack of a better term. I was just curious about it. Victoria told me about your time in the Silver Mountains, but it doesn't entirely explain what I saw and what I continue to see." She said, frowning. Well. That was a little personal, in Leo's opinion, mostly because he shouldn't be running around telling everyone he fell through an ultra wormhole – not that he fully understood her question in the first place. What did she even see?

"What did she tell you about it?" he asked, Link perking up a little on his shoulder, seeming to pay attention to the conversation.

"Just that you survived for six months in the wild, alone, without any pokemon, when you were ten," she said softly.

"Yeah, I did. And? I'm not really sure what you're asking here," Leo admitted, frowning.

"I guess I just want to know your story. For your aura to show some of the things it does, it has to be quite the story. Does it have to do with your Spiritomb?" she asked, genuinely curious. Leo relaxed a little and debated on how far to go into his story, before mentally shrugging and deciding it wasn't really a secret. So long as he left out anything to do with the ultra-wormholes and Lunala, that is.

He started slow, not going into details on how he ended up in the Silver Mountains in the first place, stating that he didn't remember and his memories before that time were patchy at best, just…telling the story. From meeting Queen and her herd, and how they saved him from the Sneasel pack, to Tyrus and Longinus, finding Archibald Oak's remains, and finally escaping the Silver Mountains themselves with a baby Santiago on his back practically the entire way.

He ended the story with meeting Victoria, hiding from a snowstorm in the ranger cabin an Absol led him to. Cynthia just listened for the most part, nodding along and adding the odd question whenever Leo's storytelling was unclear, but otherwise just listening for the most part.

"That's an amazing story. You learned to dance the Bellossom dance? I'd love to see that," she said at the end. Leo flushed a little and shrugged. He'd already been forced to dance and sing on television by his own pokemon, what would showing off a dance be compared to that? "No wonder his soul seems so mature, going through that…" she muttered that last part so lowly Leo almost missed it. Equal measures of relief and disappointment washed through him upon hearing it though – a part of him was relieved that she assumed his aura was mature because of his experiences, thus keeping his "age regression" secret a secret, while another part was disappointed that she didn't figure it out. He didn't want to be treated like a child, not that she'd ever treated him that way. Being a trainer helped, he supposed.

Though to be fair, "age regression" wasn't really a viable thing to think of in situations like this. It was unrealistic.

"Maybe someday," Leo said. "Now you tell me your story. Maybe how you met your starter, or who even is your starter? Since we're swapping stories it's only fair," he said and Cynthia smiled.

"Ah, well," she started.

"Bell! Bellossom!" Link suddenly shouted in Leo's ear. He jerked his head away, his wince of pain almost immediately turning into an annoyed scowl as Link pointed eagerly in a direction.

"What?!" he snapped, following Link's pointing and almost immediately freezing. No. There was no way it was that convenient.

"Well, talk about Giratina," Cynthia muttered, crossing her arms and chuckling. What they were looking at was a stage, more like an attraction than anything else, that had two people dressed in hula skirts made to look like Bellossom leaves, dancing across a stage with a half dozen Bellossom, a few Comfey floating about, and Oricorio danced alongside them. A soft song played over a set of speakers, guiding the dance while the two humans strummed on stringed instruments reminiscent of ukulele's, but uniquely different. All in all it was a pleasant sight.

Ironic, considering they had just been talking about this. They stood there watching for a bit, and Leo silently judged the performance. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't a true Bellossom dance – shoot, it wasn't a true Dance. He could feel it, in the way the Bellossom moved, how the dancers played the ukulele knockoffs, how the Oricorio danced and sang. Something about it was off, and when he said as much, Link nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.

"I – well, how do I explain this," Leo said, rubbing his chin and looking at the speakers. "It's nice, sure, but they're just dancing. And that's ok, it certainly doesn't have to be anything special or amazing, but…it's just entertaining," he judged, finding that to be the only suitable response. It wasn't a bad thing, per se, but it was as if the pokemon and people were just going through the motions and putting on a show, not really strutting their stuff. Though judging by Cynthia's expression, she still didn't understand.

"Are you going to show me?" she asked leadingly.

"Not here, no. If you want me to show you somewhere more private I can," Leo said firmly. He wasn't going to just jump on the stage and go "this is how it's done, scrubs." That would be egotistical and stupid.

She laughed at him and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Feeling shy? You danced on television, you know," she teased.

"You saw that?"

"I'm pretty sure everyone saw that. It was blasted all over YouTube."

"Of course it was. But this is different," Leo said, rolling his eyes. Link poked his cheek, pointed to the stage, and shook his head. "See? Even Link agrees," Cynthia just laughed at him as they stood there, watching the show. And that was mostly how he spent his day, wandering about the festivities until the sun fell, and they split up to feed their respective teams. She said she had some training to do as well, which Leo took as her wanting to meditate with her Spiritomb. Which was all fine and well, but boring for Leo to sit around and watch, so he went off to do his own thing.

There was only one problem though; he had the itch. He'd seen the Bellossom dancing, they'd been talking about it, and with all this serious stuff that had been going on he just wanted a break. So off he went as the moon started to rise, leaving his hotel and heading off into the jungle, letting his team out as he went.

He set up in a small opening in the dense jungle, out of sight of the routes, and slowly started going through his martial stances. It was a slow thing at first, methodical and calm, with Link and Sunny slowly following him through the forms. Diana wiggled along with him from where she sat propped up against a tree, just happy to be there and humming what Leo vaguely recognized as a song through her air vents, and Xena joining in moments later. The gentle clanging of her scales as she slipped into a dance alongside Leo, Sunny, and Link.

Stein and Santiago watched on, the latter humming along with the tune, water burbling in the back of his throat, while Zuko slunk around the clearing, sniffing everything. Spiritomb whispered in his ears as he slid into the dance he vaguely recalled the Lucario from when he fought Boone leading him through, the ghost slid its tendrils of darkness up his arms, mimicking him in its own way.

He did not stop. For thirty minutes he danced, all thoughts fleeing his mind as he stomped the ground and spun, following Xena through the dragon dance. He could feel it, as Sunny scrambled up his leg to jump off his shoulder, soaring through the air and spinning, the little kung-fu weasel having long since started her own dance. But to Leo's eyes, it wasn't a wild, crazy, out-of-tune dance that wasn't choreographed to the rest of the world. It was hers, and hers alone. He could feel it, as he continued to move, taking on the movements of the Bellossom dance.

His thoughts completely faded, leaving him alone in the jungle with his team, listening and dancing to the tune. An entire orchestra hummed beneath his feet, guiding and responding to his movements in turn. He could hear it all, and felt everything. Fire burned in his chest, grass grew beneath his feet; the calm focus of Santiago bled over a connection he could feel, a connection that he shared with every other member of his team; save for Stein, whose connection was tenuous at best.

But he spared it no more thought, continuing to dance and pushing deeper into what he felt. There was something more there, and he wanted to see it. But the harder he pushed, the further away it seemed, so he relaxed and let it come to him. Sweat poured down his body as he moved, muscles burning pleasantly as he bobbed and flowed and moved to the tune he was hearing.

He danced. He danced to Diana's tune; a deep thrumming sound that reverberated through his chest and spoke of the sheer joy of life, the love of living, and the thrill of discovery. He danced to the crackling of Zuko's fires, as he lay watching the proceedings, the bonfire they danced around, and followed Spiritomb through a half dozen broken dances, two stronger than the rest, before he finally turned inwards.

His own dance. He could feel it, though he didn't know what he was feeling. It was there, it was waiting for him, and when he took the first step he tripped and fell face-first into what he had been seeking.

It washed over him like a wave, accompanied by a single musical note that he vaguely recognized, as he crashed to the ground and rolled over onto his back. For a brief moment he could see the jungle, the entire interconnected web of life, laid out before him. He could only understand a fraction of it – all the trees, and grasses, and ferns, and pokemon talking to one another in a speech so soft and profound even utter silence could not reveal it – and in that fraction, he had a vision.

It was different than the vision he'd had when touching Celebi's shrine, that one had been clearer and far easier to understand. This one was faded, and jumped about far too much; there was a tree, its branches wide and covered in leafy foliage, casting shade on a hillside; he saw the Tapus, felt the ocean breeze, and listened to the sounds of battle; he saw Victoria twice, once laying on a hospital bed, the second standing in the middle of a cracked stone shrine; and he saw oceans and mountains and the silence of nature, in particular, a single mountain rising high above the rest in its chain.

He instinctively knew what it was, he didn't know how, but he knew. Mt. Coronet.

"Foo!" Sunny giggled, moving over and collapsing next to Leo and snuggling up into his side. He let out a long breath and wiped his brow, feeling absolutely exhausted now. Link moved over and patted Leo's face, looking none the worse for wear, and highly amused.

"Bell," he said.

"Did either of you see that?" Leo asked rhetorically as Xena made her way over, glancing at Sunny, snorting, and sitting down on the other side of Leo, her tail pressed up against him. The thrumming of vents alerted Leo to Diana rapidly approaching, and with a surge of movement Xena stood, grunting as she stopped Diana from ramming into everyone. With a snort of amusement and a happy wiggle from Diana Xena promptly picked Leo up by one arm, laid Diana down, and plopped him down against her side. He remained silent through the entire thing, thoroughly amused and patting Diana's side fondly as Sunny scrambled to take up position in his lap, and Xena laid down not too far away.

"I'll take that as a no," Leo said, shaking his head. With a sigh he closed his eyes, and silently absorbed what he'd seen. It felt almost like a question, somehow, but he didn't know what. But it did instill in him concern. Something was coming, something big. He just didn't know what, even if he had a suspicion. Still, as he drifted off to sleep his last thoughts were not of doomsday and all the other crazy things that were going to happen in the world – they would resolve themselves, eventually, though Leo was loathe to leave everything to a kid like Ash. His last thoughts were of Victoria. Twice now he'd had a vision of her in a hospital bed, though this time there was a secondary vision.

If, somehow, he was able to help avert an outcome where Victoria was crippled or killed – which he automatically assumed was the case from the visions – he would. So long as he didn't damn himself in the process.

"I hate YouTube," Cynthia and Victoria said at almost the exact same time. Leo blinked from where he lay on the ground with Zuko, looking up at the picnic table that said two women ate their meals at. Well, Leo said meals, but Cynthia was plowing her way through a bowl of ice cream the size of her own head, and Victoria was angrily picking at what could only best be described as a pulled pork sandwich. Leo wasn't actually sure what kind of meat it was, since it couldn't be pork, but it looked and tasted similar enough. Lusamine and her kids were off at the ice cream stand getting dessert, this being the celebration she had promised to Leo. It was small, and simple, and everything Leo liked.

Sure, he would've liked a fancy meal, but something simple like sitting around a picnic table eating good food was just as good. Besides, she didn't have long until she had to get back to Aether to do more work.

"You do?" he asked, scratching Zuko's head as the fire type squirmed. "Sit still, you oaf. We need to clean you up a bit," he admonished, running a comb through Zuko's short blue fur. The fire type whined, having already been sitting here for the past ten minutes, but Leo was undaunted. He'd rolled in something earlier, and it still had his fur all matted up and sticky despite having washed it a few times, and burned it with fire.

"It's just an ego trip for people who want attention," Victoria spat.

"People have no idea what is and is not acceptable to record," Cynthia said in disgust, dropping her pokedex on the table.

"How so?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. Call him jaded, but he kind of expected that from people. His world's YouTube had been great for some things, but…there was a lot of mess up stuff on there too. Though he was morbidly curious as to how that would look in this world.

"They posted a video of Deino somewhere in Unova, even told everyone where it was, and twelve stupid trainers ran off to go catch them. Fourteen people died from the mama Hydreigon's wrath because of it," Cynthia spat.

"I saw that. Idiots will be idiots; there's a reason we try to regulate information about where rare and dangerous pokemon are. The spread of said information isn't illegal, per se, but we try to manage it so it doesn't get out of hand. It's why Indigo hasn't allowed YouTube into the region yet; it just exacerbates the problem," Victoria said, reaching down and petting Prince's head. The Persian purred and leaned into her touch, though his eyes were locked onto Leo and his comb. If he didn't know better, Leo would say he was jealous.

"To make matters worse, some idiot posted a video of Mespirit on YouTube, somewhere west of Mount Coronet. The league caught the video and removed it in half an hour, but that apparently wasn't quick enough. Just today a group of people swarmed the location to try and capture it," Cynthia grumbled.

"Did they succeed?" Leo asked, whipping his head around as his stomach twisted into knots.

"No. It was just a bunch of teenagers who didn't know any better, but they didn't succeed. If the report is right they did see the legendary, though, and she flung their pokeballs back at them before teleporting away," Cynthia said.

"How do you know all that?" Victoria asked, furrowing her brows. Cynthia smiled thinly.

"I work closely with the Sinnoh League; I am planning on becoming Champion, and a few of the current Elite Four have voiced their support for me. The current Champion is getting older and looking for a successor anyways," she explained. Victoria nodded.

"Just teenagers?" Leo pressed, still stuck on the topic. "Not part of some bigger organization?"

"No, just kids," Cynthia said. "Who else would be stupid enough to try to catch a legendary?"

"You'd be surprised," Victoria said dryly, meeting Leo's eyes and raising an eyebrow. Leo gave her a look, and she scowled. "Why?" she pressed.

"Ah, I was just worried that something like a team would be put together to do something like that," Leo said, putting heavy emphasis on the word team in hopes Victoria picked up on it. Judging by her expression she did, mouthing the word Giovanni? Leo shook his head. "Different than that, though," he explained without explaining. Victoria grumbled and dropped her face into her hands as Cynthia looked on, confused. "I guess it will be years before people start getting organized about it. Catching legendaries, I mean; sure, information may be spread around a lot more, but how successful can catching a legendary be?" he asked, though the words felt hollow in his throat as a sudden realization came to him.

The spread of information. Wasn't that part of the games, too? Legendary pokemon were usually a mystery in the games as best he remembered, though not so much the anime. That may have been intentional – in fact, that may be why it took so long for the Big Bads of whatever region to get their plans started. They lacked information on the legendary pokemon, and had to gather and plan as they built up their powerbase. But, if YouTube and whatever other "inventions" Jack came up with in the future accelerated the passing of information, wouldn't that also accelerate the plot?

Zuko nudged Leo's hand and whined, earning himself a smile as he resumed the brushing. He had full confidence that whatever plots the Teams could come up with would be resolved one way or another, after all, the legendary pokemon were usually in Trios for a reason, but it did concern him. What if this was more like the anime, and this time Ash wasn't around to save the world because the timeline had been accelerated?

Did Leo now have to run around cleaning up the mess that Jack unintentionally left lying around? That would so piss him off.

"Team Galactic," Leo muttered, shaking his head.

"Is that their name?" Victoria asked, obviously having overheard. Leo nodded, startled though he was, and she nodded back, turning towards Cynthia.

"What?" Cynthia asked, confused.

"If I were you, I'd start looking into something called Team Galactic," Victoria said bluntly.

"Do you mean Galaxy Team?" Cynthia asked, cocking her head to the side. "They're a company in Sinnoh revolving around energy. Used to be a research group, way back when Sinnoh was called the Hisui region. Why should I look into them?" she asked.

Leo sighed, but Victoria took the reigns.

"Leo has minor precognitive abilities," she said simply. "They're incredibly unreliable and uncontrollable, but he's been right about a few major things so far. If he says that Team Galactic will be a problem, it's worth double checking,"

"But he's dark," Cynthia argued, seemingly not following that logic. "You're saying he's psychic too?"

"Dark is just another facet of aura, but no, he's not psychic. Not in the fullest sense of the word. But he has had run-ins with legendary pokemon, same as the rest of us, and you know what that can do to you," Victoria explained, and Cynthia nodded in realization. Leo hummed and thought about that. Well, that was fair enough. He only had a vision when Celebi was around the first time, and he can't say he didn't come away from meeting Articuno unchanged either.

It was intimidating, knowing something that big was out there.

Also mildly infuriating, knowing how small he was in comparison to an arguably lesser legendary.

"Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" Lillie asked, scampering back over to the group and plopping down right beside Prince, leaning fearlessly into the Persian. Leo stared in horror as Prince licked the top of Lillie's head affectionately. Since when was that thing capable of affection?

Then Prince returned to glaring at Leo, and he relaxed. That was much better. Much less alarming than Prince being kind.

"Adult stuff, Lillie," Gladion said, sliding onto the table next to Victoria. "Probably how badly Leo's going to get stomped by Kukui,"

"You don't think he has a chance?" Cynthia asked, not so subtly changing the topic now that children who were non-trainers were at the table.

"We're going to get massacred if I make it that far. It's going to be awesome," Leo said, genuinely excited. He'd watched a few of the man's matches over the past few days, and the man was an absolute monster of a battler. Not as good as Victoria, but it was pure art watching him battle. Not because it was beautiful, but because it was almost poetic; Kukui had an innate ability to choose the correct move to use at the most opportune moment, in ways that surprised even Victoria. They'd overcome seemingly impossible challenges through sheer skill and willpower alone – Leo was going to be creamed by him, and he couldn't wait for it.

It would be the first underdog match he'd had in a while, one that wasn't life-threatening at least.

"Kukui is a Professor-in-training that's studying pokemon moves. What better way to get information than the heat of battle?" Victoria said, smirking. "He's a brat who enjoys taking his shirt off too much, but even I can't deny that he's skilled. Once the mess in Kanto is taken care of, he'll probably go challenge them like I did,"

Leo nodded as the conversation continued, Lusamine eventually coming over and sitting down with them, handing Leo a chocolate-chip ice-cream cup and joining in on the conversation, eventually steering it to the style conversation she'd had with him. He just listened, not contributing much, and entertained Lillie and Gladion after they got bored of the talking. He always kept one ear on the conversation, though, just in case he missed something important.

Eventually, though, it came to an end. Something beeped on Victoria's pokedex and she flipped it open with a scowl. Then she left, muttering something about idiots and faulty detectors before flying off – but not before Leo made sure to tell her to be careful. There he'd been, talking to himself about helping Victoria avoid being crippled or killed, and there he went adding more onto her plate with Galactic. He hated being where he was – stuck somewhere between being able and unable to help. After all, he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could actually take on an entire criminal organization on his own. Not like the games. Not like a Champion.

Which left him with Lusamine, her kids, and Cynthia, walking through the fair grounds as they headed towards the open fields. Lusamine had to get back to Aether in an hour to put her kids to bed and do some work, and so he was walking her to the ride area – where she could call her ride pokemon. Cynthia was coming along because she had become invested in talking to Lusamine about wildlife preservation, and the work that Aether did in creating medicines as well as protecting wildlife populations.

"Does Sinnoh not have an Aether branch?" Leo asked.

"No. They've always rebuffed my efforts to extend a branch there citing that they have their own methods of protecting the region," Lusamine said, not as a criticism but as a statement of fact.

"The rangers do a good job, but in recent years the training world has been evolving faster than they can adapt. Sinnoh can be very traditional at times, even if we do tend to be forward-thinking, so the upper echelons have resisted too much external influence," Cynthia explained. "Which is ironic, considering that the International Police was our idea in the first place,"

"They've run into far too many problems to be as effective as we all wish and know they could be. Far too much resistance from other regions," Lusamine said with a sigh, scooping Lillie up into her arms from where the little girl stumbled. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, leaning her head against Lusamine's shoulder and closing her eyes tiredly.

Leo nodded in agreement. The Faba fiasco highlighted that; they didn't have enough authority in Alola to get their highest-ranking officers out here, which meant it wasn't handled as efficiently or cleanly as it could have been. That had been a major factor to Faba's initial escape, despite him having been caught by Leo not but a few minutes later.

With a yawn he turned his attention to the night sky, visible even through the light pollution of the tournament grounds, only to be drawn back to the conversation when he picked up the word Magearna being thrown around.

"Do you know what Magearna is?" Lusamine asked curiously, making Cynthia shrug.

"I originally thought it was just a name, but the few records I've been able to find have suggested the potential for it to be otherwise," Cynthia started, Lusamine listening closely and not letting anything that might betray she knew more than she let on, onto her face. Leo listened closely as well, gauging Lusamine's reaction and trying to be nonchalant about it as he fell in step beside and just slightly behind them.

But for whatever reason, he couldn't pay attention. Something was tickling at his senses, pulling him away from the conversation and towards their surroundings. It was late. The moon was out, hanging full overhead, and there was nobody out and about in this part of the tournament grounds – most people had already gone home, so the staging area for ride pokemon was empty. Four landing pads for fliers were unmanned and left completely alone; not an uncommon thing, actually. This time of night it was to be expected, all things considered.

"The teleporter should be here soon," Lusamine said during a lull in conversation. "Normally I wouldn't use them so frivolously, but with the kids here…" she trailed off, pointing her chin to Lillie pointedly, the girl fast asleep on her mom's shoulder. Gladion scowled a little and rubbed his eyes, fighting back a yawn.

"Not going to lie; if I had the resources, I would abuse teleporters maliciously; a journey is all nice and good, but sometimes you just want to get where you're going," Cynthia said with a laugh. Leo turned around, glancing at the night sky and unable to shake the feeling that something was coming.

It nagged at him, and nagged, to the point where he could no longer ignore it as paranoia.

To the north was the tournament grounds proper, lights still shining on the big, main arena and the smaller stadiums, though they were slowly flickering off or dimming. To the south was dense jungle, the thick foliage pushing up against the cordoned off "ride pokemon" area, while only a few buildings lay to the east and west. If they had to run, Leo gave the south the best chance of success –

"Cool it, Leo," he muttered, shaking his head and pulling his hand away from his pokeballs, having instinctively reached for them with all the alarm bells going off in his head. There was no reason to be alarmed –

Then a flash of pink darted across the night sky, a ball of pink moonlight rocketing out from it and impacting a smaller, darker form. Leo's eyes widened as the creature was blasted away, only for another shape to rise up behind the pink pokemon; illuminated against the full moon, he was able to see its silhouette for all it was.

He immediately released Stein.

"Defend mode," he barked, and the chimeric pokemon settled into a stance, not making a sound but clearly ready for action.

"Leo," Lusamine said, confusion lacing her tone.

"Nihilego. Do you have any pokemon on you?" Leo asked, pointing to where what he assumed was a Tapu was engaging with the two Ultra Beasts. Lusamine's expression immediately stiffened, shifting from horror to shock as she looked up, tightening her grip on Lillie and wrapping a protective arm around Gladion.

"Only my Clefable," she said softly.

"What is going on?" Cynthia asked.

"Prepare for multiple legendary-class hostiles, potentially incoming. Two are engaged with the island Tapu, but prepare for more. Stein, guard Lusamine. How long until the teleporter arrives?" Leo barked, Stein immediately straightening up and dashing over to Lusamine as he released Diana. To her credit, Cynthia did not question anything further. She simply pressed one of the pokeballs at her waist, and let out her Togetic.

"Maybe three minutes," Lusamine said grimly. "I just hit the distress beacon, but hopefully soon."

That was all the time they got. A horrendous screech filled the night air as something came hurtling towards them. Diana hummed angrily, the Pupitar levitating a solid foot off the ground as she turned to face the attacker. Leo let out Xena as well, narrowing his eyes at the thin pokémon gleaming in the moonlight, its silver and green body shining and two katana-like arms waving menacingly.

"EVADE!" he shouted, jumping to the side as the Kartana rocketed towards them. Diana aborted the charge she was about to make, juking to the side as it flew past, cleaving through one of her spikes with all the ease of a knife through hot butter. Leo cursed loudly, unable to reach for Zuko's pokeball as he had to scramble, the sword-like pokemon choosing to chase him, of all people. "Use fire! Don't block! It can cut through a lot!" he shouted, not remembering much about Kartana besides it being dual grass/steel, and being really, really sharp. Spiritomb hissed and roused itself, dark tendrils lashing out at Kartana, only to be cut to pieces as it rapidly approached.

Xena roared and spat a dragon breath at Kartana, the draconic flames washing over the pokemon and drawing its attention away from Leo long enough to let him release Zuko.

"Flamethrower!" Leo ordered, glancing over to Lusamine to make sure she was ok. He cursed, seeing that Stein was currently engaged with a Nihilego that had appeared out of nowhere, the flying jellyfish monster struggling to throw him off. That left her alone as another Nihilego descended from the sky, this one far bigger than any of the others. The night lit up as Zuko caught Kartana with a flamethrower, the ultra beast screeching in pain as it shot out of the flames and into the night sky, Zuko tracking it with swift stars and embers as it raced higher.

A tremendous roar split the night air as Cynthia let out her Garchomp, the massive blue dragon leaping into the air with a single bound, crashing into the Nihilego descending on Lusamine with all the fury it could muster, tackling it to the side. Her Lucario appeared next, the fighting type darting forward without question and slapping a force-palm into another Ultra-Beast that came crawling out of the jungle. This one was long and sinuous, crackling with electricity and looking for all the world like a power line of some sort.

"That's an electric type!" Leo shouted, pointing to the Xurkitree as it blasted Lucario with a thunderbolt and pressed the release buttons for all his pokemon – save for Rockruff, who was back at Aether Paradise – and began shouting orders. Alarms blared in the distance as a bolt of crackling yellow split the night sky, Tapu Koko engaging something in the skies above as the fight devolved into chaos.

Sunny leapt to engage the Nihilego with Stein, Link joining up with Xena to engage with another Nihilego that had appeared, Zuko keeping Kartana at bay with his flames, while Diana shot into the sky to intercept yet another Nihilego. Where had all these things come from?!

"Lusamine!" Leo roared over Lillie's screams. Her Clefable appeared in a flash of light, immediately stepping into a guard stance and charging up a moonblast. He was immediately distracted, however, as Spiritomb shrieked in his ear and yanked him backwards with its tendrils. Kartana shot by with blinding speed, a howl from Zuko indicating that it had dodged past his flamethrowers. Zuko blurred by, flames cloaking his form as another flamethrower ripped through the air, this time catching Kartana.

Leo skidded to a halt and looked to Santiago, who was helping Stein put down his Nihilego, all while the Xurkitree blasted half of Cynthia's team with lighting, the pokemon weathering the attacks surprisingly well. But that left her mostly unguarded, a Nihilego descending from the sky on top of her while two more descended towards Lusamine and her kids. Her Clefable fired attack after attack, but it did little more than annoy the ultra-beasts.

"Sunny, fake out, Santi, guard!" Leo barked, Spiritomb swirling up around him and spitting a shadow ball towards one of the two heading towards Lusamine. Santiago turned his attention away from Stein and immediately blasted another Nihilego with a psychic, getting that one's attention. Sunny, on the other hand, crossed the distance between her and Cynthia in a matter of a half second, leaping into the air using her shoulder as a springboard, and slapping a fake out into the descending Nihilego. It did little more than shock the pokemon, but that was more than enough time for Cynthia's Mismagius to take notice and engage to distract the creature.

"Thanks!" Cynthia shouted, directing her Glaceon as it joined up with Link and Xena. Leo nodded, took a step forward, and immediately jumped a foot in the air as Diana crashed to the ground next to him, unmoving. He gaped at her, then looked to the skies and where she'd fallen from.

Three Tapu pokemon engaged with a horde of Nihilego in the skies above, not falling back, but unable to keep them all from descending towards Leo and the others. Two cracks in the sky had appeared, ultra wormholes, with more ultra beasts flowing out even as they slowly closed. But Diana hadn't made the mistake of engaging with them, no, she had been bodily tossed aside by the Nihilego Santiago had been harassing, the one that now shot a power gem at him hard enough to knock him off his feet.

He struggled to rise, and Leo immediately recalled both him and Diana, then let Santiago out again next to Lusamine.

"Heal!" Leo barked. "Cynthia, circle up around Lusamine! We need to keep them off us long enough for the Tapu to clear the skies! To me!" Leo shouted over the chaos. Cynthia nodded her affirmation and barked a few orders, calmly walking towards Lusamine as she huddled with her kids, repeatedly mashing her finger against panic button on her phone. Lillie huddled beneath her while Gladion watched everything with wide eyes, unable to take his eyes from the chaos.

"Gather!" Leo roared again, sprinting across the distance to skid to a halt in front of Lusamine, half expecting the teleporter to arrive before he got there. It didn't, but that didn't necessarily mean it was a good thing.

"Recall Link!" Santiago roared, strain written all over his face as he held back a Nihilego with sheer force of psychic power. Spiritomb hissed and left Leo's pocket for a moment, tendrils of darkness lashing out and shadow balls spitting into the air as Leo turned his attention to Link and Xena; Xena tearing into a Nihilego with dragon claws as it wrapped its tendrils around the unmoving form of Link, the remains of a substitute shield shattered on the ground. Leo immediately recalled him, then Xena too, as the Nihilego slapped her with a tentacle and sent her sprawling. He let her out again right next to him, the dragon wincing and growling as she stood.

Many things happened at once then. Xurkitree fell to the onslaught of Cynthia's Gastrodon, Lucario, and Roserade, freeing up more combatants to engage the others. Stein let go of his fallen opponent to rush at Cynthia's Garchomp, the great dragon battling two more ultra beasts – one a Pheromosa, the other a strange humanoid looking one with a ball for a head – while Leo recalled Santiago when he was struck by another power gem, knocking him out cold. The jungle behind him came alive, trees and vines lashing out against all opponents as the fourth and final Tapu, Tapu Bulu, rushed out of the jungle and into the skies with a bellow of rage, taking one of the problem Nihilego with him.

The arrival of the newcomer gave Kartana pause, giving Zuko a chance to disengage and roar at the Nihilego Spiritomb was battling in the sky just twenty feet above Leo's head, and Sunny leapt up on Gladion's shoulder, trembling but holding a steady stance as she waited for something to approach.

Kartana did something he didn't expect, then; slashing at the air repeatedly until it literally split open, revealing another ultra wormhole, and disappearing inside. Xena growled and ran forward, meeting the Nihilego Santiago had been keeping at bay head-on, stalling it for a precious few seconds. Panic welled up in his chest as she struggled against the beast, Zuko rushing in to join the fray, savaging the beast with flaming claws and fangs.

Too much was happening at once; a Nihilego descended on Lusamine, and though Sunny was already slamming force palm after force palm into the beast's tentacles as they lowered to grab the trio, he had nothing else to really help her with besides jumping in himself. But that turned out to be unnecessary, as an Abra teleported in and teleported out with her and the kids in tow in a split second, the Nihilego vanishing with them. Leo cursed aloud – that meant their teleporter would most likely be stalled for another few seconds after having teleported all those people and pokemon.

Seconds they didn't have. Cynthia recalled her Togetic as it fell to a power gem, her Roserade not far behind, having sustained too much damage from the Xurkitree. Her Glaceon still fought valiantly, waves of ice shooting into the sky and keeping the five Nihilego left unsure of what to do against the biting cold, while her Lucario, Garchomp, and Stein all slowly pushed back the Pheromosa and the ball-head pokemon.

Spiritomb shrieked, letting go of the Nihilego above as it fled into the ultra wormhole Kartana had created, vanishing from this plane of existence. Leo cursed and recalled Xena and Zuko as the Nihilego threw them off, hoping to spare them the pain of crashing and planning to let them out again immediately after – only for a bolt of lighting as wide as Leo was tall to annihilate the ultra beast, Tapu Koko descending a moment later to grab the stunned jellyfish thing, fly towards the newly made wormhole, and slam dunk it through the portal before shooting back up into the skies, cackling like a madman all the while.

"We just need to hold for a bit longer!" Cynthia shouted, only a few feet away from Leo. He nodded to her but immediately reacted as he beheld the Nihilego behind her, already reaching out to wrap her in its tentacles.

"MOVE!" He roared, but it was too late. It grabbed her by the arms and legs, pulling her backwards with a scream as it moved towards the wormhole, intent on escaping with its prize. The logical part of Leo's mind told him he should have expected this, as without Lusamine to direct their seeming fascination with her and her family – which had been a major point last time he'd met a Nihilego – towards either himself or Cynthia, the only other blonde in the area. The part that was in control of his body moved. He crossed the distance and leapt at Nihilego, grabbing Cynthia's arm as she thrashed and shouted orders at her pokemon, digging his feet into the ground and pulling.

Nihilego paused for a crucial moment, as if unsure what to do with the sudden interference, giving Cynthia's Lucario enough time to blur across the battlefield in an extremespeed and slam into it. The ultra beast flinched, but ultimately didn't let go as it continued to rise in the air, more tentacles extending to wrap around Leo's limbs, lifting him into the air as well as he continued to try to pull Cynthia out.

"Stein!" Leo bellowed, Spiritomb hissing in fury and extending its tendrils to help pull Nihilego's tentacles away from himself and Cynthia. An aura sphere impacted the side of Nihilego, and a roar of fury indicated Garchomp finally taking note of the situation, though from the sounds of combat it was still locked in battle. The blonde girl thrashed again, hissing in pain the same moment Leo felt something inject itself into his veins from the Nihilego, immediately flooding him with fury.

As if he wasn't pissed enough already.

"Icy wind," Leo growled, grabbing hold of a tentacle with his free hand, tensing, and flipping himself around so he was upside down, his feet bracing themselves against the Nihilego's bulbous head and chest in Cynthia's face. With a grunt he placed one hand on Cynthia's shoulder, and began to push down.

"Get off of me!" Cynthia shouted, thrashing even harder now, slowly coming free from Nihilego's grasp. Another aura sphere impacted Nihilego, followed by Lucario leaping into the air and slamming a bone rush staff into the tentacles that held both Leo and Cynthia, forcing them to loosen further. Spiritomb continued to combat Nihilego, a shadow ball impacting the underside of Nihilego's head while the ghost itself tried to cut the tentacles off. That was followed by another aura sphere as Lucario fell, knocking Nihilego further into the air towards the wormhole, but loosening its grip just enough for Leo to give one more good shove.

He pushed down on Cynthia's shoulders, nearly coming free himself, and she dropped twenty feet to the ground.

Spiritomb screamed, detonating another, massive shadow ball in Nihilego's face, giving him just enough room to wiggle free – and then one of the ultra beasts exploded.

Just as Victoria teleported in, multiple Abra at her side, just as a bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky and two other Tapu descended to aid in the fighting, just as Cynthia's Garchomp and Stein seemed to put down one of the final Ultra Beasts, the red and white and yellow clown-looking one; said ultra beast grabbed its detachable, ball-like head, tossed it into the air, and it exploded. Spiritomb screamed again, surging forth to protect Leo, darkness covering half of his body as the explosion hit him and Nihilego. Heat seared the side of Leo's face, forcing a scream out of him, as the concussive blast caught him and Nihilego, and tossed them through the wormhole.

The world faded, a pinprick of light in the distance as a swirling multicolored tunnel spun into existence around them, Nihilego screeching and careening wildly out of control as space slipped past. Fear spiked through Leo, overcoming the rage he felt, as he stopped struggling – not wanting to go wherever Nihilego was going, but also not wanting to wind up in the middle of nowhere space.

Well, that and he couldn't breathe.

"Hold still!" a new voice suddenly called echoing in his mind. Nihilego was blasted backwards by an unseen force, and a blue bubble appeared around Leo as Lunala tore through space, snatching up Leo as he greedily gulped down breaths of air that had miraculously arrived with the bubble of force around him. The giant space bat flapped its wings once, reversing their trajectory and flying backwards, away from the fleeing Nihilego. "I gotcha, don't worry – oh ARCEUS WHY NOW?!"

Leo's head whipped to the side, a lance of pain accompanying the motion as a black blur slammed into Lunala, forcing the giant bat off course. Space around them twisted, light bending towards the prismatic black pokemon – Necrozma – and Lunala fired a beam of light at it before darting away.

"Crap, crap, crap! Why are you awake?! Where's Solgaleo when you need him?!" Lunala cursed, speeding down the tunnel through space as Necromza pursued, laser beams shooting out of its everywhere. Spiritomb hissed in Leo's ears as Lunala juked around the lasers frantically, doing barrel rolls and flips that would have killed Leo were he being subjected to gravity right now. "I'm going to have to put you down somewhere while I deal with this! Eldritch entities that eat legendary pokemon typically take precedence, sorry!" she shouted, all that information passing to Leo in a fraction of a second.

He understood that sentiment. He didn't like it, but he understood it. Lunala continued to dodge as more lasers shot past, shooting by what looked to be branches in the tunnel of light that was the interior of an ultra wormhole. Were Leo not in pain and currently fearing for his life and the life of his team, he might have found it pretty.

"No, no, not there…there!" she shouted, and darted towards a wormhole.

Only for Necrozma to slam into her, knocking her slightly off course and through another wormhole. The world twisted around them and Leo crashed to the ground, the blue bubble popping as Lunala grappled with Necrozma, finally freeing herself with a blast of energy and flying high into the sky.

"This one's ok, too! Sorry, gotta run!" Lunala screeched, opening another wormhole and vanishing inside, Necrozma following right behind her. Leo winced as she touched his mind once more, just before vanishing, and dropped a bit of information into his head. He winced and resolved to digest it later, as he stood, gingerly touching his face and hissing in pain, and looked up and around at his surroundings. He froze, and stared. A ruined city rose around him, sky scrapers half-broken with vines growing up their sides, cracked and shattered streets overgrown with vegetation. No people moved in the city, in fact nothing did.

"What. The. Fuck."

Chapter Text

Victoria glared at the wormhole as it closed, fists clenched and taking deep, shuddering breaths as the roaring fire of her rage burned in her stomach. She'd arrived just in time for Leo to vanish in that portal, and she couldn't do anything about it. Going in after him was suicide. She knew that much. You needed a guide to traverse ultra space, or else who knew where you'd end up? At least, that was what Lusamine's research had indicated.

Emperor roared furiously behind her, stomping the ultra-beast he'd been "fighting" into the ground.

Victoria scowled and ground her teeth, the sounds of Prince's yowls of victory reaching her ears as he undoubtedly mauled whatever beast he had chosen as prey. Her attention was on none of that. Not the blonde girl being looked over by her Lucario, her Garchomp curling around her protectively and snarling at everything that came near; not her pokemon, cleaning up the stragglers; not Stein, savaging a tentacle that had been torn off of a Nihilego; she wasn't even paying attention to the remains of the wormhole. Her attention had one target only now; the Tapus that were slowly descending from the sky now that the battle was over.

All four were here. Tapu Koko of Melemele, Tapu Lele of Akala, Tapu Bulu of Ula'Ula, and Tapu Fini of Poni.

"Explain," she growled when Tapu Bulu landed in front of her, the bull-like pokémon snorting at her – then freezing at her glare. "What. Happened."

"A GOOD BATTLE!" Tapu Koko shouted excitedly, still crackling with electricity.

"Leo fell into a wormhole," she snarled, whirling on the yellow and orange pokemon. It flinched back in surprise, blinking rapidly and looking at the other three Tapus for help. "How did this happen? Where did it come from?" she snapped.

"WE DON'T KNOW." Tapu Fini said, her voice lilting and musical despite the sheer volume. Victoria didn't know if the Tapus couldn't control the volume of their voices or just wouldn't, but either way today she found it incredibly annoying. "THE MOON ALERTED US. THE SUN IS SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS."

"And?" She pressed.

"NOTHING ELSE. IT IS UP TO THE MOON NOW."

Victoria scowled at the answer and took a step forward, almost menacingly, before stopping herself. No, now wasn't the time for that. Her initial instinct was to immediately head to Lusamine to hack out a rough plan of action for getting Leo back, but the Champion part of her reminded her that she had a mess to clean up. The Tapus sure wouldn't be of any help, and she had what was essentially an alien invasion to explain to the public. Without actually telling them what it was.

She rubbed her forehead. They needed to get the Kahunas here, ASAP so they could take on a lot of the workload. And she needed to tell Lusamine what happened, so she could direct her own panicked energy at trying something, anything, to track Leo. At least she had one consolation in this whole debacle. So long as Leo landed on another planet and wasn't left drifting out in space, she had faith he could survive for long enough for help to arrive.

And she would send help. Even if it meant battling Solgaleo himself. She would not lose him. She would not.

Cynthia sat with her team arrayed around her – at least, those who were still combat ready. Her Garchomp, Lucario, and Roserade were the only ones, the rest had fallen in battle and were now being treated by Aether. She had tried to get everyone to go with Aether to the medical wing, but the ones who were awake only accepted the most basic of treatments and treatment for poison, then refused to go anywhere else. So now here she was, sitting in Aether Paradise unable to do anything. It had only been three hours since the attack, after all, and everyone was still running damage control.

Lucario nudged her and she smiled at him, though she didn't feel it. Everything that had just happened was hitting her like a rampaging Rampardos; there was just too much happening. What even was all that? And what happened to Leo? What was that…hole in the sky? Ancient Sinnoh records told of a rip in space and time that would spawn pokemon from different time zones – most notably during the conflict that destroyed the temple atop Mount Coronet – was this something like that? She grit her teeth and stood, shaking her head.

She'd given them enough time to get their shit together. Now she needed answers; Victoria seemed like the most likely choice, but Lusamine had clearly recognized the pokemon as well. The problem was, as far as she was aware, Victoria was still back at the tournament grounds. So Lusamine it was.

"Find Lusamine," she said, glancing at Lucario. The canid nodded and closed his eyes as Garchomp and Roserade roused themselves, her dragon stepping forward and pressing her head into Cynthia's back with a rumble of displeasure. "I know, but we have to find out what happened," she soothed, turning around and putting a hand on the dragon's neck. She rumbled more, clearly unsatisfied, and wrapped her arms around Cynthia protectively.

"Cario," Lucario said, and promptly jogged out of the small medical room they were staying in.

"Let me go now," Cynthia said soothingly, pulling herself out of Garchomp's embrace. The dragon reluctantly let go – however, as soon as she turned around to follow Lucario she felt Garchomp's face press into the back of her neck, her jaws closing around Cynthia's clothes as she was lifted into the air like an unruly pup. "Put me down!" she protested, but it fell on deaf ears. Garchomp lumbered forward, squeezing through the doorway and following after Lucario, who gave the dragon and approving nod and raced forward.

"We talked about this, girl, you can't carry me everywhere," Cynthia complained as she dangled from the dragon's jaws, her shirt starting to choke her a little. Garchomp snorted into her hair, telling her exactly what she thought about that, and continued through the halls of the Aether Paradise unphased. Overprotective twits, the lot of you. She thought to herself without any heat. The care her team showed her did warm her heart.

Though it did nothing to maintain the dignified image she tried to project, being carried around by her Garchomp.

It didn't take long to find Lusamine. Lucario stopped just outside a large metal double-door, pointing inside, and Garchomp dropped her at the doors. Roserade came running after, brushing one of her flowers against Cynthia's leg to let her know she was there as Lucario opened the doors for her. Cynthia cleared her throat and smoothed her shirt out, grimaced at the drool that had soaked her back, patted Garchomp's neck comfortingly, and stepped through the doors.

The large, auditorium-like room was empty save for Lusamine who sat in front of a computer off to the side, talking with someone over the video phone. A large screen was situated in the center of the far wall, lit up with warning signals and indicators over a map of Akala – most centered around the tournament grounds. Cynthia's eyebrows furrowed. So they did know what this was.

"Miss Lusamine," Cynthia said, approaching and finding herself not really caring that she was interrupting. Yes, it was rude, but she deserved to know what was going on, and what happened to Leo. The boy had saved her. Righteous anger flooded her that she quickly suppressed, annoyance bubbling up at the emotion. Anger was natural and right, but in this situation it would cloud her judgement. Hence, it had no place.

"Cynthia! I apologize, just a moment please," Lusamine said, glancing at Cynthia with a small smile. Her eyes were red and puffy, and Cynthia faltered slightly. Then she saw who was on the video phone, and stilled. Professor Samuel Oak, the arguably greatest professor of their time and inventor of the modern pokedex, a device that has been making waves in the scientific community even despite the very careful selection of people allowed to have one. And his expression was carefully blank. "We are doing all we can to -"

"We will discuss this later," Professor Oak said bluntly, and the video call ended abruptly. Lusamine sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly before she straightened herself and turned to Cynthia.

"Where is Leo?" Cynthia said bluntly, and Lusamine winced.

"Are you alright? What are you doing out of medical? I sent doctors to you specifically," Lusamine asked in lieu of answering.

"I'm fine. What happened, Lusamine?" Cynthia asked again.

"No, you were wrapped up by a Nihilego and potentially poisoned. It may not feel like it, but believe me, that poison is no joke. It's a very specific type of neurotoxin, a high enough dosage can drive you mad. We have to be sure you were not affected," Lusamine said, standing and putting a hand on Cynthia's shoulder. This gave her pause, and she furrowed her brows, a wave of slight anger trying to bubble up in her stomach again. Once again she suppressed it with a thought, though she could feel her pokemon's worried gazes on her back.

"They said they didn't find anything wrong with me," Cynthia allowed, finally relenting to the topic. "They gave me some medicine, then went to check on the rest of my team,"

"Oh, good. That's a relief. I'm sure we'll want to keep an eye on you for the foreseeable future, however, just to be safe," Lusamine said, putting a hand over her chest and sighing. "Your team will take some time to recover as well. If they were afflicted by poison it will take a few days for them to purge it, even with the help of modern medicine. Nihilego poison is…persistent," she explained.

"What were they?" Cynthia pressed. Lusamine frowned at her for a moment, seeming to consider what to say or if to say anything.

"Extraterrestrial pokemon," she finally said. "From outside of our dimension. It will take some time to explain fully what they are, but the point of the matter is that Leo fell through one of their…wormholes, the portals that are used to travel through dimensions, and we have no way of getting to him," Cynthia digested that for a moment.

"No way?" she pressed.

"No. Believe me, I've tried," she said bitterly. "Victoria is convinced that the legendary pokemon of Alola might help. I am less certain," Cynthia furrowed her brows and worried her lip, mind running a mile a minute as she tried to connect what little she knew about Alola's history with what happened here. Lusamine mentioned that they were extraterrestrial, extradimensional pokemon. Alola has long since called themselves a guardian region – she never understood what that meant. Does it mean that they are guardians against these foreign pokemon? If so, there must be some way for them to predict and counter these…incursions.

"There must be a way," Cynthia decided. Lusamine's smile turned fragile as she shook her head.

"There is nothing you can do. I have everyone I can working on this," she said softly. "But we've already done extensive research on the subject, and almost all research into the subject of travelling dimensions has hit a dead end so far."

"Sometimes all you need is a fresh perspective. I have to try; he was saved me from the same fate. I can't just let it go," Cynthia argued back, now getting irritated that Lusamine was giving up so easily. Said woman sighed but nodded nonetheless.

"Fine. You may help as a representative of the Sinnoh League. I will send you pertinent information at a later date. In the meantime get some rest, heal your team. I have work to do; despite my seeming negativity, I do have a potential lead. There is someone who may have left this world and come back before, but we have to find him first." Lusamine shook her head. "But I'm rambling now. Go," she said, not unkindly.

Cynthia nodded in thanks and promptly left, spinning on her heel and leaving the room, her pokemon close behind. Her immediate intention was to go get her stuff and pull up some of the documents her grandmother had given her, about the history of Sinnoh in order to look up space-time rifts, but Garchomp had other plans. She reached down and plucked Cynthia off the floor again, rumbling as she ambled off, Cynthia flailing in her grip.

"Let me down!" she protested.

"Rest first," her Lucario's broken aura speak came through as said pokemon moved to stand beside Garchomp as his red eyes met her own. "Rest first," Cynthia deflated a little. She wanted to do something, but…it had been a long day. And she didn't get much sleep the previous night either, up as late as she was reading up on history for Spiritomb/Magearna. She rubbed her face in embarrassment even as Garchomp continued on through the halls, carrying her all the way. That was when Roserade started to play a song, blowing on a grass whistle.

Cynthia felt her eyelids droop as the pokemon move washed over her, trying to lull her to sleep. Well, that was just cheating.

Leo was not having a good time. Rummaging around the interior of a abandoned, vine-covered pokemon center with only Zuko to light the interior – who was tiredly slinking about, sniffing for any medicines he could find – was not his idea of a good time. Much less with half of his face swollen from the Nihilego poison, said poison feeling like fire running through his veins. Anger and frustration bubbled in his chest, amplified by the poison, as he flung open a chest revealing a small stash of potions. Maybe five or six, and while helpful, that wasn't what he needed.

He needed antidotes and revives to get his team up and running again.

A horrendous shrieking sound had Leo's head whipping up – immediately wincing and groaning in pain as the action ignited the nerves in his face and neck, under attack by the swelling – and when his vision stopped being so blurry he focused on Xena.

She had ripped a hole in a wire-mesh cage, visible in the flickering fires from Zuko, and was now looking pointedly at Leo. With a grunt he grabbed a few of the potions, dropping them in the canvas bag he'd looted from an abandoned storefront, and hobbled over to the cage, weaving through and around destroyed and ransacked shelves and boxes, and carefully stepped into the cage.

Zuko whined as Leo paused to press a hand gingerly to his face, wobbling unsteadily, being careful not to get too close as his fires were still burning. Spiritomb let out a low hiss, one eye poking out of his pocket to look at him with concern.

"I'm ok, just…" he trailed off, not bothering to finish that sentence as he started to search. Thankfully, it turned out fruitful. Ten revives, all properly sealed, three full restores, and a few antidotes lay in white containers alongside half a dozen various other useful items. Leo resisted the urge to chug an antidote – as it would at least alleviate the poison in his system, though not fully counter it. Instead he carefully placed it all in his pack, put a hand on Xena, and let her lead him out of the pokecenter with Zuko lighting the way. He passed a small sign that read "Hau'oli Pokemon Center," and paused to stare at it a moment before continuing on.

As soon as he entered the lobby, sunlight streaming through the large glass double-doors and through the domed glass ceiling, he plopped down on the ground, winced again, and started setting up his little medical station. Starting, first and foremost, with reading the backs of the antidotes to choose one he thought would counteract Nihilego poison.

He'd paid attention when the doctors were prescribing Lusamine with medication, just in case he ended up running into another Nihilego. Turns out that was a wise precaution.

"C'mere, you two," he said waving over Zuko and Xena as he screwed off the cap of an antidote, taking a small sip. Pokemon medicine wasn't as effective on humans, but antidotes, at least, weren't completely useless. He just had to be careful not the take too much, so he'd only sip it. Slowly. And never an entire bottle, maybe an eighth of one.

Zuko and Xena both plopped down in front of him, allowing him to administer antidotes in case they were poisoned, and sprayed potions on the worst of their injuries. Spiritomb hissed at him in confusion when he sprayed the keystone with a mist of potion, seeming to have no effect, though the ghost usually had always recovered naturally, or with the help of a direct pokemon move like heal pulse. Still, Leo hoped that would at least help it feel a little better.

"Now onto the fun part," Leo whispered, putting a hand gently on his swollen face and hissing. He needed to find a hospital, too, so he could get some antibiotics or pain meds for himself. There had been a first aid kit in one of the back rooms, as well as some medications for humans that Leo didn't recognize and therefore didn't want to mess with, but it wasn't sufficient.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Leo pressed the release on Santiago's pokeball, the unconscious Slowking appearing on the ground with his eyes closed and breathing steady. Leo cracked a revive open and dumped the powdered contents into his starter's mouth, then leaned back and let the medicine work. It wasn't immediate, like in the games, but it would eventually wake him up.

Next was Link. The little Bellossom looked absolutely terrible, his leaf kilt wilted slightly and looking far paler than Leo had ever seen him. The immediate application of some medicine seemed to help, but it would only go so far, so quickly. Link was tough, but Leo bet that he'd need some time to recover – time Leo wasn't sure they had. As he sprayed a super potion on the bruises that had formed on Link's arms, Leo's mind wandered to the packet of information Lunala had left in his head. He'd given it a once-over, but…no, now wasn't the time for that.

He had to get his team healed up first.

Last was Diana, and she was in no better shape than any of the others. Unconscious though she was, it was a chore to check her over entirely; he had to rely on Xena lifting her up and flipping her over to check her back, and spray potions on there. A careful inspection of the spike that had been cut off by Kartana revealed that there would be no lasting damage – the spikes were made of solid stone and were mostly for defense purposes, so nothing important was lost – but it had been worrying at first. A few new scratches in her armor was the worst of the physical damage to Diana, which told Leo she had probably been knocked out by the sheer force of the blow, or by poison. Which meant liberal applications of antidote.

Giving Diana medicine was odd. As her armor was so thick, and she didn't actually have a mouth, he was forced to finagle the medicine up her air vents, allowing it to be sucked into her and absorbed by her body.

That out of the way, Leo leaned back against the ruined front of the center reception desk, wincing as another spike of pain ran down the left side of his face, and let out a breath. Xena and Zuko both watched him closely, the silence of the center and the city deafening. \

"I need to see what Lunala…left me," he said, wincing as he spoke and gently putting a hand to the swollen side of his face. It was…tender. "Keep an eye out. Don't stray too far. Spiritomb's pretty out of commission too," he ordered, closing his eyes and sighing. Then he let the bubbling thoughts that Lunala had left him flow to the forefront. It started with one simple idea.

Get to Mount Coronet.

A single, snow-covered mountain with a ruined parthenon-esque temple at its peak stood against a cloudy background, snow gently falling from the skies. Then the image faded, and more images popped into his head, along with a vague understanding. There were three places in the world where ultra wormholes – passages through space and time into other dimensions and alternate universes – could routinely appear. The first was the majority of Alola, a place where the fabric of space was, almost universally, weak.

The second was a specific cave system in Galar, squirrelled away in the frozen south of the region.

The last was Mount Coronet – the seat of the "gods," as it were. Only ultra beasts very rarely appeared there, as after all, very few were truly stupid enough to try that. Not when the literal god of the pokemon world had its strongest physical connection to said world at the top of the mountain. Leo forced down the questions that were bubbling up at the topics of the first part of this mental information package, instead allowing the information to continue to flow.

This is a decayed world, and one that you were not supposed to go to.

Fleeting images of Necrozma's impact onto Lunala flickered through Leo's mind, from the space-bat's point of view. And, for a moment, he saw a sliver of a fraction of how Lunala saw the multiverse and inter-dimensional travel – a million different pathways intersecting with dozens of different worlds, some connected to each other as alternate timelines, some not; but all, in some way or another, connected by the golden web of ultra-space.

Pathways between dimensions. Pokemon dimensions. Not his original world.

But the impact of Necrozma slamming into Lunala knocked them off course – just slightly. Two worlds, sitting right next to each other (on a cosmic scale); one similar yet obviously different to the one he was used to, the other? An alternate timeline. A ruined world.

Get to Mount Coronet.

This is a dangerous world. It is not without hope – those are barren and dead – but it is potentially dying. A world without Guardians. A world without Heroes.

A world without Spirit.

Images flashed through Leo's mind then, of disasters rising and civilizations falling. Volcanoes erupted, and a glowing red behemoth rose from the lava, the eruption decimating towns. Seas churned and raged, massive waves rising high into the sky as the skies above crackled with lighting. Alola swarmed with ultra beasts, Guzzlord devouring an entire city on its own before starting on the ground below. And in Alola these beasts made their home, different species from different worlds banding together to make a living in this foreign plane. And, unfortunately, this world seemed to be the source of the ultra beast invasion.

Cities lay abandoned, and pokemon roamed freely. Humanity was all but gone, all that was left was pockets of life sheltering against the disasters that walked the world. Shadows of their former selves, and pokemon were not much better.

But that was all Leo could glean. There was little else to learn, because that is where the information started to end.

I am sorry I could not be of more help. This world it outside of my jurisdiction, and I am not familiar with it. At this, Leo caught another glimpse of the multiverse at large. Many Solgaleo and Lunala roamed the cosmos, travelling between worlds, between dimensions, managing the passageways and spaces between space, and briefly, images of fighting off invaders. This is all I could glean in the short amount of time I had – as it is, I have to focus on not being eaten by Necrozma. If I can, I will make it back to you. I marked you with a psychic signature that will guide either myself, Solgaleo, or any other we send to you. No matter where you are in the world.

Just because ultra wormholes are most common in the three places mentioned, does not mean they cannot be opened elsewhere.

But, that is no guarantee in light of these new events. Mount Coronet is, I believe, your best bet. Devoid of most beings that would seek to harm you. That does mean traversing the ocean, however. The choice is yours – wait for rescue, or seek salvation?

Leo let out a breath and opened his eyes to see Santiago, slowly pushing himself up. He grunted with the effort, looking around as he was. When he turned his inquisitive, pained gaze to Leo, he could only shrug. Though he winced from the movement, it sending a wave of pain through his neck and face as it pulled at the inflamed, angry skin.

"This seems…horrible," Santiago said, glancing at the still forms of Link and Diana.

"I dunno, could be nice. No people, plenty of pokemon…lots of things trying to kill us," Leo said dryly. "Sounds like a proper vacation."

"Yes, vacation," Santiago grunted, rubbing his stomach and giving Leo's swollen face a look. Nothing was said, however, as he simply…observed. "So what's the plan?" he asked.

"I'll let you know when the others wake up. And when I have a better idea. Long story short, we're in another world. It's most likely up to us to get back home. And I'm worried we may be hunted the entire time," Leo said bluntly, leaning back against the lobby desk and letting out a long sigh. Santiago just stared at him for a long moment, shoulder's slumping as he realized that Leo wasn't joking, and laid back down to stare at the sun through the broken glass-domed roof.

He cursed, and Leo silently agreed. This was even worse than he had originally anticipated. That said, he did still need to do a recheck of what supplies he had – besides what he'd already found.

Pokeballs were decently plentiful, he'd found a box of them in the storage area, and he had three vacant ones that fell through the portal with him. They'd been in his pocket, same as the knife he had in his back pocket, and the little, mint-tin sized survival kit that he kept in his pockets at all times. It was just a little thing he'd whipped up a long time ago but never had a need for until now. Just in case something crazy happened to him again, like falling through a portal to another world.

"If I had a nickel for every time that happened, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice," he joked to himself, shaking his head as he popped the lid open and examined the contents. A pack of waterproof matches, a whistle with a compass on it, a small spool of fishing wire, a needle, a metal striker for fires, a small razor-blade, a tiny bottle of disinfectant, an equally small bottle of water purification tablets, two safety pins, and a small, push-button flashlight. It was a surprising amount of stuff he could stuff in there, but now it didn't feel quite like it was enough.

Well, there was no survival kit like a team of pokemon, so it didn't really matter. And he got the feeling that there would be plenty of looting to be done. Especially if Lunala's directions were accurate. A journey to Sinnoh would be…tiresome.

He'd have to check a map to get a good bearing on his path – supposing that Alola was a bust and he wouldn't be able to find a way back home in the region – but that meant sailing across the sea to Sinnoh. He wasn't going to hedge his bets on there being a pokemon who could teleport him all the way to Sinnoh, not when even Merri, Professor Oak's Alakazam, couldn't make the trip from Pallet to Alola in one jump. Plus there were very few pokemon that could fly across the world, the first and foremost being –

Leo stopped his thoughts there, hands pausing as he checked up on Link's breathing. The little Bellossom's color was starting to return, but he probably wouldn't have a full recovery for a while. Nihilego poison was annoyingly persistent, even for a pokemon's biology, and while the antidote would help flush it out somewhat, it wasn't a cure-all.

But that wasn't the important bit. The important bit was that one of the pokemon that can fly across the world – relatively swiftly, too – was Dragonite. And he just so happened to know where a colony of said dragons lived. Hopefully. Even if this was a different world. It was worth a shot, at least.

"Ok, first goal. Get to Poni Island," Leo mused. He might even pay the Altar of the Sunne a visit, just to double check the accuracy of Lunala's statement. But that also brought up another point – Lunala mentioned that this might be where the Ultra Beasts that invaded the tournament grounds originated from. If that was the case there's a fair chance they might pursue him, in which case he might need more team members solely for the numbers. That, or powerful allies, like a Tapu.

He winced as another small spike of pain shot through his face, grinding his thoughts to a halt. So much to do, and so little time.

He had to admit, this world had a beauty to it. Leo stood in the middle of the street, looking up at the abandoned superstore he had just finished looting for supplies. His body still ached and his face still hurt, but it wasn't anything he couldn't force his way through; and he now found himself looking up at the nest of Toucannons that had made their home in a half-collapsed wall, vegetation growing up and around the building itself and into the birds' nests, vines curling around stone and rebar.

It was, in a way, beautiful. Despite everything.

"Let's go," Santiago said from beside him, hoisting a backpack of his own and giving Leo a look. Xena stood on his other side, another backpack full of supplies – she carried the non-essential items, as she was one of his main combatants, so she could just toss the backpack and go – strapped to her back. The dragon bobbed her head in agreement, eyes scanning the surroundings suspiciously. The rest of his team, sans Spiritomb, rest inside their pokeballs. Link and Diana both had woken up, but with the Nihilego poison still effecting them and Diana still injured from whatever hit her, he wanted to let them rest.

Zuko needed the rest as well, though Xena insisted she stay out, as did Santiago.

"Yeah. It's a long walk to Iki Town," Leo agreed, tearing his eyes from the superstore and the ruined city beyond. Skyscrapers covered in vines…it was scenery he'd only seen in his dreams; exploring a ruined city appealed to his inner explorer. But they had a journey to make, and a Tapu to see. Tapu Koko's shrine lay just beyond Iki Town, Leo remembered the path even though he'd never taken it, and he wanted as much protection as he could get.

He squashed the little voice that told him the Ultra Beasts would not be roaming free if the Tapu's were still around. He needed to see it.

So he turned and started walking, new boots crunching against the cracked asphalt of the road as he walked. It was quiet, all things considered, and not just because of the lack of people. Even the pokemon seemed subdued, none of the vigor that inhabited the Alola he knew present in them as they went about their day-to-day activities. It was disconcerting, and Leo readjusted his half-filled backpack almost absently, touching the pokeballs at his waist. Hopefully it wasn't true of everywhere.

For three days he walked, occasionally stopping to inspect the rare car or bus that were all, inevitably, useless for one reason or another. (Most commonly, a pokemon had savaged the internals or the tires were blown.) It was three hours to sunset on the third day that he reached Iki Town, or at least what once was Iki Town, home of the Melemele Island Kahuna.

Craters and cracks covered the ground, the remains of makeshift barricades completely overgrown with vines surrounding the remains. Leo stood just outside the gates, Xena and Santiago flanking him while Zuko ran ahead, and took a deep breath. Some small part of him hoped there would be people here, but apparently not.

"Careful," Leo advised, slowly walking forward while adjusting his hat so the sun wasn't in his eyes. The poison and swelling of his face hadn't gotten any better – in fact, he'd say it'd gotten worse, despite treating it with antidote and a few other medicines he'd found along the way – but there were times where it was manageable. Now, however, direct sunlight stabbed his eyes and forced him to move slowly and carefully.

Santiago laid a hand on Leo's shoulder as they walked, gently guiding him through the old battlefield – past spears stabbed into the ground, bones of deceased pokemon and people, and the shattered remains of pokeballs – towards the other end of the village, where the path to Tapu Koko's shrine was. The deeper they went, the more barricades there were, even if they were destroyed. Sharpened bamboo stakes stabbed into the ground as makeshift fences, mounds of dirt covered with grasses and ferns dotting key positions in the town – each with their own variation of damage to mark the battle that happened here. And all throughout, Leo could not shake the feeling of being watched.

Sure, there was the odd Yungoos or Alolan Rattatta watching them, but this felt different.

Leo kept an eye out and continued on, dreading what he might find.

The path was long and winding, and nearly completely covered in vegetation. Eventually, though, Leo did manage to make it to the long, wooden bridge that crossed a massive chasm, on the other side being the Tapu's shrine. Santiago and Xena were silent, Zuko running up to Leo with a whine and butting his head into his stomach. Leo scratched the Typhlosion's head as he considered the situation. He had to cross somehow, and the bridge did look intact…

He swallowed thickly, and, after a lot of testing the bridge's stability, crossed with little fanfare. Silence met him on the other side – there were no bugs, no pokemon, no sounds other than the wind and the roaring of the river in the chasm below. His pokemon stayed close as he slowly approached the Tapu's shrine, nothing more than a rock entryway set into a cliff.

Bones littered the exterior. Ultra beast and normal pokemon alike claimed the outside of the Tapu's shrine as their graves, the massive, skeletal remains of a Guzzlord notable among them. Leo carefully stepped around these remains, taking extra care to not disturb any of them lest he provoke a ghost, as he made his way to the shrine. His pokemon were all silent as well, carefully maneuvering around the remains and approaching the entrance to the shrine.

Lightning blocked his path. Yellow bolts as wide as he was tall zipped around the entrance, crackling softly and filling the air with the smell of ozone as they did so. It was amazing to Leo how there was little to no sound, and as he peered through the lightning, careful to not get too close, the barrier of electricity started to change. It split apart just wide enough for Leo alone to slip through, and he glanced back at his team cautiously.

Xena had her head respectfully bowed, though glanced up just long enough to wave Leo onward. Santiago nodded to him, gem on his crown glowing as he prepared himself, and Zuko whined piteously, not liking any of it. Leo could understand that sentiment, swallowing thickly and clenching his fist. This was as clear an invitation as it could get.

With a deep breath, he approached, stepping through the lightning barrier and into the shrine's interior. Immediately the barrier closed behind him, though it opened again when Leo tried to exit. It was just blocking any of his pokemon from following. He made a dismissive motion with his hand to assuage the worries of his team and turned to the shrine's interior, mentally preparing himself for what he might find.

It was surprisingly pristine here, despite the harsh battle that happened inside and the lightning that raced along the walls, illuminating the interior and filling it with a soft buzzing sound. The shrine itself was intact, little more than a large fan of leaves colored with a few blue paint designs, and two or three empty stone braziers before what could only be a stone altar. Otherwise it was empty – save for a single orange feather, undoubtedly taken from the fan atop Tapu Koko's head – resting on the altar. Leo sucked in a deep breath, steeled himself, and approached.

He expected something to happen when he touched the feather. Nothing did, and he stood there holding it starting at the walls in confusion.

"Do I take this?" he asked aloud, to no response. For a few more minutes he waited, but there was no change in the shrine. So with a mental shrug he slipped his backpack off his shoulder and put the feather in a safe side-pocket, hoping he wasn't offending anyone by doing this. But there was little else he could really think of to do, having been allowed into the shrine like this.

Pain lanced through his face as he slowly turned and started back out of the shrine. This wasn't worst-case scenario, but it wasn't a great idea either –

"WOOOOLE!" a sudden battlecry tore through the relative silence, and Leo darted out of the shrine to behold a terrifying scene. An obscenely muscular, giant red mosquito stood in the clearing outside, bones crushed beneath its feet, and Xena picking herself up from where she'd been tossed. Zuko and Santiago growled at the Buzzwole, the latter already charging up a flamethrower to fry the ultra beast, while Leo's thoughts raced.

"No, wait!" Leo shouted, but it was too late. The moment Zuko fired, Buzzwole arced through the flames to slam a fist into Zuko's gut, tossing him backwards with alarming speed. Santiago fired a psychic blast, momentarily freezing the bug and allowing Xena to leapt at it, claws bared, but it broke free a moment later and grabbed the dragon by the arm. Dragon fire raced over its body as it spun, hurling Xena at Santiago and sending the two to the ground. The Buzzwole cried out happily and flexed its muscles, sparking a small memory in Leo's head as his team slowly righted themselves.

It was a stupid scene from the anime, but…

Leo flexed his muscles and struck a pose, ignoring the pain of his muscles. Buzzwole froze, eyeing him, and took a different pose. Leo mimicked it and, with a happy buzz, the ultra beast took another pose. Then another, then another, until Leo had well and truly had enough, the pain of his swollen body and the poison still in his system making the entire process extremely arduous, and his team was staring at the scene incredulously.

"Buzz!" Buzzwole cried happily, slamming its fists against its chest. Leo did the same, and, just as quickly as it came, the bug type launched itself into the air with a mighty leap, vanishing over the top of the jungle. Leo fell to his knees in pain, bringing a hand to his face as he tried to get his body back under control.

"I can't believe that…worked," he muttered.

"Leo! You, can you help?!" Santiago called worriedly, and Leo looked up. There, slowly waddling across the bridge to the graveyard wearing a tattered nurse's hat, was a Chansey. Well. Leo thought through the pain. Maybe my luck hasn't completely run dry yet.

"How can you just sit there and do nothing?!" Gary shouted, not really expecting an answer as he sprinted out of the room. Professor Oak winced as Gary slammed the door shut behind him, running off deeper into the lab. He let the boy go, stomach twisting itself into knots at the conversation that just happened. Gary had always been smart, but to be able to hack into his personal computers and record the video calls he'd been having with Lusamine? He'd have to double up on his security. That did, however, mean that Gary had learned about what happened to Leo though…

He sighed and stood up from his chair, feeling far older than he was even considering he was in his fifties. It was a fair reaction from Gary, if he was honest. He'd already lost his parents, Daisy had been distant for a long time and was only now starting to reconnect, and Leo, who he had become fast friends with, was now just…gone. Oak would be lying if he said he didn't feel similarly to Gary – it was his daughter that had died – but he had responsibilities. He had to be here for Gary and Daisy. He had to be the adult and make sure everything was taken care of; he couldn't just run off on an adventure to go save Leo like he would've in his pre-champion days.

But, unlike what Gary believed, that didn't mean he wasn't doing anything. His cousin Samson was already on the case, doubling down on research on the ultra-wormholes alongside Aether, and studying the Ultra Beasts that the Tapu defeated and Victoria captured. The ones who hadn't made it back through the Ultra Wormholes. And he himself was dedicating part of his staff and own time to researching the subject and looking up lore to the legendary pokemon of Alola. At least, the parts that weren't already dedicated other projects that couldn't be dropped…

Kanto was a mess.

He shook his head and stuck his hands in the pockets of his lab coat, ambling out of the lab and out towards the pastures, letting his thoughts wander a bit as he, too, wandered. No, I know where I'm going. He thought to himself as his feet carried him forward, down the long path between the fences of the pastures, pokemon watching him go as he was joined by his ever-faithful Arcanine.

Professor Oak laid a hand on the great canine's shoulder, fingers running through his fur as he headed into the forest surrounding the pasture's borders. It didn't seem like a long time before he reached his destination, but was in fact close to an hour, as the trees cleared and he beheld a familiar sight.

A small shrine nestled in the woods, a house on stilts, built by his own hands back when he first took over this abandoned laboratory in the then-smaller Pallet Town. It was a peaceful place, and though the red paint was starting to peel he liked it just the way it was. Because it did what he wanted it to do – he closed his eyes and focused for a moment, willing his aura sight to manifest, and slowly opened them.

Celebi was there to greet him.

"Hello again! Doing well, I see," she buzzed happily, flying a quick circle around Oak and Arcanine, earning herself a happy yip from the pokemon. Professor Oak nodded, smiled politely, and raised an eyebrow at her leadingly. "Now I know why you called me," she started.

"What happened?" he said, tone not…demanding, but leaving no room for argument. Celebi was his contact to the inner workings of the world – with her help, he had been gradually learning how the world worked alongside his own scientific research into the subjects. She didn't always answer his calls, but the times she did were…enlightening in some ways, and incredibly frustrating in others. Knowing that Kanto would go to war, but being unable to do anything about it without sacrificing things he wasn't willing to give? Frustrating. Learning about the bonds of aura between people and pokemon? Enlightening, even if he did have to delve deeper into it himself, after Celebi gave him the hint.

"…plans are changing," Celebi said slowly. "Some things have been accelerated. Others have been slowed,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Professor Oak asked, and Celebi sighed heavily, visibly sagging.

"I told you before. The future is always in flux; when you're told a prophecy or see the future, typically speaking you're peeking into a time stream that has not been decided yet. The job of a Celebi is to try and steer individuals and the world to a better future; a lot of times through these visions. I may show people a future so they run as far away from it as possible, or so they run towards it. Or simply as a warning. What you do with this information no one can influence, though. My role in this world is that of a messenger. A 'here is what you're heading towards from the choices you've made; here's how to make the most of it' kind of thing.

"That said, the future this world was barreling towards heedless of my warnings has been altered by the appearance of new players in this game for the future," Celebi said.

"Leo?" Oak asked, raising an eyebrow.

"And Victoria. And his friend Jack. And Lusamine, now that she's been freed. And Lance, and the Ultra Beasts…and YouTube," Celebi listed off. "But primarily Leo and Jack. Their actions and presences have allowed for certain players to be freed up, or moved around, or have accelerated events while extending the timeline for others. YouTube is responsible for that last one, by and large, though Leo is solely responsible for accelerating events in Alola," Celebi reasoned, no small amount of distaste in her tone when she was talking about YouTube.