32

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.