15-16

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.

16

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.