38

"You should designate one or two of your teammates as standard leads," Cynthia said, sitting across from Leo. A Togetic sat in her lap, the little white 'mon cooing happily as she scratched the top of her head. They were killing some time until Victoria got to the training room Cynthia had reserved for the Spiritomb confrontation, and the topic of conversation had come around to battle strategies.

Leo hummed and continued scratching Xena as she lounged next to him, softly snoring as she rested. Amazingly she hadn't needed much healing from the center, most of her injuries being superficial. Even her shed scales would be quick to come back, as that was a natural thing for Hakamo-o to do. They periodically shed their scales, and though Autotomize sped up the process and made her lighter, therefore able to move faster, there were already fresh scales growing back in.

That did leave him with a heap of Hakamo-o scales he had no idea what to do with though.

"Wouldn't it be better to adjust my lead based on who I'm battling?" Leo asked. Cynthia shook her head, scratching beneath Togetic's chin and earning a happy cry from the little fairy type.

"You'd think that because generalists, like yourself, value their versatility. But ironically that makes you predictable. Say you're going up against a water-type specialist. Naturally you're going to lead Bellossom, right?" she asked, and Leo almost instinctively nodded. That, or Santiago for his defensive prowess. "Well, the water type specialist knows your team. He'll be expecting that. So he'll lead a natural counter to Bellossom, such as an ice type or flying type; like Lapras or Gyarados. That immediately takes out your most effective 'mon against water types. Unlike a specialist, you likely don't have multiples of different types and counters built in for your counters. Right?"

"Not yet," Leo admitted. They had mostly been focusing on building up power than shoring up weaknesses, though that was the next stage of training.

"Choosing one or two leads has the opposite effect. It forces the opponent to adapt to you," she said. "Think about it this way. If you were to lead with your Hakamo-o, what would that water-type specialist have to do?"

"Lead a counter," Leo said. "Like the Lapras or Gyarados you mentioned,"

"Exactly, but in this case probably not an ice type thanks to Hakamo-o being fighting type. Or maybe they'll fling out a fairy type, such as Azumarill. Either way, you have a pretty solid chance of knowing what kind of pokemon they'll throw out to counter your lead. Then you train your lead to counter those common counters, and so on. It may not seem like it, but this means that you are immediately dictating the flow of battle – they have to send out a counter to your lead, or risk said pokemon tearing their way through their team. It makes them as predictable as you are, and also allows you to get a feel for the opponent's battle style, so you can see and stall out some of the tricks up their sleeves – like tailwind – and so on," Cynthia explained. Leo nodded, part of that making sense to him and part of it not.

"Speaking of tricks, are these gimmicky type strategies common in the upper tiers of battle?" Leo asked, and Cynthia shook her head.

"No, they are not. They dominate the Intermediate and lower Elite tiers, but once you start getting further and further into the tournament proper those gimmicks start to fade away. It's a great way to guarantee a win against the unwary, such as yourself, but typically they don't hold up against trainers with established teams and strategies," she said, and Leo breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't want to deal with any more exploding Golem or perish song Absol than he had to. Kiawe's style of battling was much more to his liking.

Absently he scratched Xena's chin as she snoozed, the dragon rumbling in contentment from the attention, even half-asleep, and pushing her muzzle further into Leo's hand. He chuckled and obliged the drowsy dragon, giving her all the scratches as she basked in the attention. Honestly he was a little surprised how much she liked attention. Everything he'd heard about dragons was that they could be incredibly prideful and sometimes didn't even let their trainers touch them; Xena was nothing like that. She didn't always go out of her way to get attention, not like Diana tended to, but she also didn't turn it down.

He and Cynthia chatted for a few more minutes, the topic of conversation slowly changing from battle strategies to being a champion, and what that means. It was interesting hearing Cynthia talk about it; she clearly put a lot of thought into what it means to be a leader and how one's image as a trainer translated into how the public's view on said champion effected their reign. Take Champion Martin, Lance's predecessor, for example. He was a competent leader, but because of his lacking showing in taking the throne from his predecessor, he was very looked down upon. Well, that and his attempt at a Youngster License ruined whatever goodwill he'd managed to garner from his competency as a leader.

It was then that the door to the relatively empty, concrete training room opened, revealing Victoria with her Furrett, Gypsy, draped over her shoulders like a scarf. She looked tired overall, not the kind of tired that Cynthia was, but the kind of tired that came from working too much and dealing with too many people.

"Sorry I'm a little late, hope you weren't waiting too long," she said, raising a hand in greeting. "This the girl you were telling me about?" she asked.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Cynthia Shirona; and don't worry about it, Leo and I were discussing battle strategy and what it means to be champion," she said, standing and bowing slightly. Her Togetic chittered at her in annoyance as he was disturbed from his spot on her lap, fluttering into the air next to her.

"Victoria Oak," Victoria said in greeting. "You have a Spiritomb?"

"I do," Cynthia said. "I did not know that the person Leo called was an Oak. He merely said you were a normal type master,"

"Yeah, well, he doesn't like to spread it around. Either way, Leo'll be the one leading this little operation, I'll be here to stop the ghosts if I notice them doing anything weird. Got it?" Victoria said, thumbing the release to Sage, her Oranguru. The orangutan-like pokemon thumped on the floor, fanning himself as he stared blankly at the two.

"I understand," Cynthia said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you for your time,"

"This is the most interesting thing I've got to do all day," she said with a shrug. "Sure beats shaking hands and greeting people,"

"Still, thanks," Leo piped up. She shrugged, and Leo motioned for Cynthia to sit back down. "Now, just remember. When you let out your Spiritomb, refrain from having any of your pokemon attack it. They can be defensive of you, but let me and my Spiritomb take the forefront, alright? We don't want to antagonize it any more than necessary," he said. Cynthia nodded and plucked her Spiritomb's ultra ball off her belt, holding it out and pausing as she held her thumb over the release button.

"Ready?" she asked. Leo recalled Xena and pulled Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket before nodding. Taking a deep breath, Cynthia pressed the release button.

All hell broke loose.

Shadows raged and twisted as Spiritomb exploded in a fury, a horrendous screech filling the training grounds and echoing through Leo's ears. Cynthia winced and moved to cover her ears as Leo stood, his own Spiritomb coming to life with a cackle. Immediately a pressure descended on the room, the sheer weight of the ghosts' presence forcing a grunt out of Leo as it slammed down on his shoulders indiscriminately. Cynthia's Togetic chirped furiously as he flared his wings, glitter floating from his wings. Her Spiritomb fully materialized, its furious face turning and glaring at her and Leo both, its malice all-encompassing and indiscriminate.

Leo's Spiritomb did two things at once in response. First, it wrapped Leo up in a cloak of shadows, protecting him from the seeking tendrils of power from Cynthia's ghost, and then it shrieked. The entire room stilled, Victoria not even flinching at the noise as the two Spiritomb stared each other down, the sheer shock of seeing another of their kind forcing them to take a moment to assess.

It was a moment filled with tenseness, and Leo had to hold up a hand – not an inch of skin to be seen, as Spiritomb still swirled around every part of him but his face – to stop Cynthia from making an order. This was a test of her Spiritomb. He wanted to see its attitude with his own eyes. And he felt the hatred, the intent to do harm rise within the ghost before it ever acted; whips of shadow lashing out towards Leo and Cynthia both, only to be stopped by his own Spiritomb's furious screech and a veritable shield of swirling purple. The two ghosts clashed in an impressive display, slamming together like waves, splashes of power reaching out and slapping against the thick walls. They raged like a whirlpool, almost losing track of who was who as they duked it out in a ball of inky black darkness, swirling purple, and spots of eerie green lights.

It swiftly became apparent that Cynthia's Spiritomb had more power behind it. Its shadow balls were bigger and made quicker, when it struck with its lashes, it cleaved into Leo's Spiritomb, and the ominous winds it generated were enough to force his ghost back for brief moments at a time. There was just one difference – Leo's Spiritomb was focused. Cynthia's was a wrecking ball, a wall of force, but Leo's was an instrument of precision in comparison. Shadow balls were countered with will-o-wisps, ominous winds laced with icy wind to slow the other ghost's attacks, and the massive burst of power were cut apart with pinpoint slashes of darkness. This continued until, eventually, Cynthia had her fill of watching.

She stepped forward and, with a commanding shout, put a halt to the battle.

"That is enough," she said, voice carrying across the sounds of combat despite her not raising it. Her Togetic chirped as he floated around Cynthia, glitter still floating down from his wings as the two Spiritomb paused in their brawl. Leo's Spiritomb looked back at him for confirmation and, after a stiff nod from him, disengaged and retreated back to his side, leaving only Cynthia's Spiritomb still out. It glared around the room balefully, not even just focusing on Cynthia; though its gaze did linger on her, until slowly it retreated back to its round keystone and took on a more…typical appearance. The spiraling purple and green ectoplasm that made up its body still promised violence, but it at least seemed contained now.

"You and I have our own issues, but that is no reason to lash out against others. Calm yourself. Leo here has experience in dealing with Spiritomb, and has agreed to help us work out the…kinks, in our relationship," Cynthia said sternly. Her Spiritomb hissed angrily, ectoplasm roiling, but remained still regardless.

"What do you think?" Leo asked his own Spiritomb, while Cynthia stared hers down. It hissed, pressing vague emotions through their bond that he slowly sorted through. Rage, pain, rage, confusion, fear, rage, mind-boggling terror, resignation, and hurt. Leo frowned at the resignation one. That one wasn't like the others…

"I apologize about that," Cynthia said, bowing at the waist. "Normally Legion is not so volatile, but I suppose I may have left it riled up,"

"Legion? Is that the nickname you gave it?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow. She nodded, and Leo just shook his head. While that made thinking about the two separate Spiritomb's far easier, it also reminded Leo that his Spiritomb absolutely refused to be given a nickname until it was "complete" and "whole" again. Which was, admittedly, a long process. "I guess that's to be expected though. I did want to let the fight play out, but that's for another time, I guess," Leo said with a sigh.

"Your Spiritomb almost won. I stopped it to prevent Legion from doing anything rash," Cynthia said, and Leo furrowed his brows.

"Huh?" he asked.

"A Spiritomb's weakness is their keystone. Against normal opponents it's not really much of a weakness, but against more powerful ghosts and pokemon who can use aura, like Lucario, the keystone is a prime target. It houses their 'consciousness,' after all. Your Spiritomb was moments away from getting ahold of Legion's and ending the fight," Cynthia said matter-of-factly, earning herself an irritated groan from Legion. "Hush, you. You are powerful, but it is important to acknowledge when you lose, or were about to,"

"…well, learn something new every day," Leo said, shaking his head. That made sense in hindsight, but why hadn't he figured that out earlier? Probably because it never really came up. Either way, with that initial outburst out of the way he let Santiago out of his pokeball. As he materialized he yawned, glanced at Legion, and frowned.

"Well that's a mess," he drawled, not even needing to be able to touch the Spiritomb's "minds" to know what was going on there.

"Yes," Leo agreed. Their plan was already laid out beforehand, so there was no need to go over it now. Considering Santiago was a psychic while Spiritomb and Leo were darks there was only so much he would be able to do, but even if he couldn't directly interfere, he would still be able to notice if something strange was going on. And he could allow Cynthia and Leo to communicate mentally, so any changes to their "plans" would go unnoticed by her Spiritomb.

That was the idea, anyway. Leo had no idea if it would be necessary or useful, having Santiago out. They were technically in unfamiliar territory right now. With a hum he slowly got up and stepped towards Legion, Cynthia walking right next to him. Legion hissed at them, Leo's Spiritomb hissing back as it hovered its face over Leo's left shoulder. This, of course, only made Legion even more irritated as it shrunk backwards, threatened by the two trainers and powerful ghost approaching.

"Let me go first," Leo said, pausing mid-step. Cynthia frowned at him but said nothing, though Leo had to glare at Spiritomb for a short time for it to reluctantly shrink back into his pocket, where the keystone was still kept. Legion watched all this warily as Leo knelt down in front of the ghost, raising an eyebrow at it.

This was the weird part. How did he proceed? To really see what the issue was with Cynthia's Spiritomb he had to get into the mindscape – but how to go about doing that?

"May I?" he eventually settled on asking, pointing to the keystone. Legion hissed at him angrily, prompting another hissing match between his Spiritomb and Legion, as said Spiritomb popped an eye out of his pocket to glare. Leo let them work it out, silently listening as they continued to hiss and glare at each other. It took a good few minutes before Legion retreated, allowing Leo to reach out and grab the keystone upon insistence from his own Spiritomb.

"It's a trap," Santiago intoned, inspecting his paws while the gem on his crown glowed. Leo glanced over his shoulder at the Slowking, raising an eyebrow.

"I am well aware," Leo drawled, rolling the round keystone between his hands and just…feeling it. The roiling emotions beneath the stone, threatening to burst forth even while being forcibly held back by…something. It was moments like this that Leo was astounded by how far his sensing of aura had come. Or, more accurately, how much he hadn't realized he was sensing through aura and was now slowly becoming aware of it. Still, there was only one issue with Legion holding itself back, no doubt thanks to Mismagius' influence.

Leo wasn't in the mood to hold back. As stupid and machoistic as it sounded, a part of him wanted the Spiritomb to lash out at him. To try and suppress him, like his Spiritomb before it, because he was in the mood to pick a fight. But the more rational part of his mind reminded him that this likely wasn't a purely malicious being. There was probably a reason for its anger; be that because of a mistake Cynthia made or the nature of its own creation pressing it to desire wanton destruction, he didn't know. But he intended to find out.

"You're going to spring the trap anyway," Santiago said more than asked, dusting off the collar-like frills that ran around his neck absently. Leo didn't respond, instead looking towards Cynthia. She looked at him, hesitated, then nodded, thumbing the release to her Lucario. The moment the blue canid appeared Legion hissed frantically, anger surging through it that it barely managed to contain. Obviously Lucario had been used to suppress it before. Leo hoped it was just an anger borne of rivalry – or whatever twisted form of rivalry Legion felt towards a pokemon that had, in all likelihood, stopped it from hurting Cynthia – and not an anger borne of mistreatment.

Though a part of him was pretty sure Lucario, and by proxy their trainers, were incapable of intentional mistreatment. What with being the paragons of justice, able to sense aura and all.

Cynthia walked forward and knelt in front of Leo, who held the keystone gently in his hands out towards her.

"What are you doing?" Victoria asked.

"Something stupid, probably," Leo half-joked, nodding to Cynthia. The older – or younger, depending on perspective – girl laid her hands over Leo's and let out a breath. That little action was all it took, and Legion surged out from the gaps between their fingers, smothering their vision in darkness.

Before Leo could blink he was in a shadowy landscape; ruined buildings, smoldering purple fires, and scattered bits of weaponry and armor dotting the surroundings. Pokemon and skeletons alike laid in heaps on the land, shades drifting about in the air above them – he stood on an ethereal battlefield, and Leo could feel the attention of the entire world on him and the shining ball of light next to him. Instinctively he knew that this ball was Cynthia, and if he was able to focus he'd be able to truly see her, but any attempt to do so was rudely interrupted by Legion.

One hundred and six shades appeared in the air around him and Cynthia, forming a dome of purple, misty figures each connected to each other with faint, shimmering silver lines. A trap indeed. Leo steeled himself even as his own Spiritomb made its mental presence known, forty five spirits swirling to life around him with a cackle of glee – Froslass and the Spirit Warrior forming directly behind him.

They arced forward as the oppressive spirits descended, cutting through them like a knife through butter – there were many of them, but Spiritomb was focused, in control. It was not to be defeated, not here. The rising wave of spirits were split apart by Spiritomb, the forty-odd soul fragments swirling together like a lance of shadow, headed by Froslass and the warrior. The Pressure still descended upon him and Cynthia, however, and though he grunted Leo let it roll off of his shoulders like water. This much was…not much.

Cynthia, on the other hand, was not handling it quite so well. What Leo could only think of as a physical representation of her soul – his mind, conjuring images of what he saw into a picture his mind could comprehend – was a ball of light slowly condensing downwards, walls of solid steel painted gold rising up in defense against the pressure – it was a losing battle, like building a dam against a raging, flooding river. One does not fight the river, you relax and let the waters carry you. Surrender to the flow, and it will not harm you.

"Relax, Cynthia. Do not build up walls, let it wash around you. Nothing here can harm you," Leo tried to soothe. Cynthia did not answer verbally, though the light that flashed from her ethereal form indicated distress and disbelief. Leo hummed, idly noting that it was the tune to the Bellossom song, before speaking again. "Listen to my voice. Hear my intent, and repeat my words.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul."

Leo began, the words not as important as the intent he broadcasted behind them. Here, in this space, where body was gone and communication was far easier, it rang out like a clear bell. Legion's spirits flinched at the words, the sense of invincibility the words conveyed seeming to give them pause, and redoubled their efforts to get at Leo and Cynthia. Spiritomb was having none of that, of course. Leo's ghost swirled around them in a tornado of fury, cackling madly the entire time as it continuously rebuffed Legion's attacks.

"In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud

Under the bludgeoning's of chance,

My head is bloodied, but unbowed,"

With a flick of intent Spiritomb parted for Leo to pass, stepping out into the maelstrom of Legion's desperate attempts to reach him. The spirits howled in glee as he bared himself to the storm, completely and utterly calm in the face of such rage. Their raking claws scraped against his skin like paper against steel, sliding off and finding no purchase. Froslass cackled as she spun by, a trail of snow following after her as she went, behaving as if the whole thing was one massive joke. Leo smiled and stretched out, Legion's spirits gripping to his "limbs," or what could pass for them in the mindscape, as they tried to drag him down.

That, admittedly, did take a bit of effort to overcome. Though Leo still did turn back towards Cynthia, amused at the whole situation. Was Legion just less powerful because its attention was split between three different beings, or had he truly grown that much since he'd last been at his own Spiritomb's relative mercy?

"Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shad,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid."

Leo was calm in the eye of the storm, completely unharmed and immovable as he stood there, watching. Slowly, Cynthia began to lower her barriers, baring herself to the "elements" such as they were, and Leo began to truly "see" her. And, at the very forefront of her own soul, sat connections to others. To her team. The wings of a Togetic spread around the ball, an aura of nobility from her Lucario falling about her like a cloak, while sheer, relentless power rumbled through the air from some unseen force. The scent of roses reached Leo as she continued to bare herself, resplendent and calming, even giving Legion pause for a brief moment.

"It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul."

And with that declaration, Leo's Spiritomb ceased its battling, spreading out with multiple dozen cackling laughs before easily sliding back over to his side, cleaving through Legion's desperate attempts at assault. Legion was powerful, but Spiritomb was focused. But that was not the crux of Leo's attention – no, instead he watched as Cynthia's ball of light brightened to a dazzling degree, then settled as she relaxed, and allowed the waves of crushing anger and hatred, mostly borne of fear, wash over her like waves on a beach.

The lesson was a simple one. Why was she fighting so hard against her Spiritomb, when she was indestructible? In the physical world, the ghost could hurt her. If, by some miracle, it could get past her team, it could reasonably kill her. But Leo had learned long ago that, unless the opponent is some unfathomably powerful ghost such as the Aegislash of Ecruteak facing off against someone who didn't know what they were doing, in the mindscape you were all but invincible. That was why Leo waited for a few moments before starting the lesson. That was why he allowed the two Spiritomb to fight. He was testing the waters. And with all the fury behind Legion's attacks, there was little chance it was some mastermind of a pokémon, waiting for a chance to act.

Besides, if that actually had been the case, that was why Victoria was there.

Spiritomb was wearing Cynthia down mentally, because that's all it could try to do. Now even that was being taken away from it, and it began to rage even harder. The attacks fell uselessly against her, even as they picked up in intensity. Leo could feel Cynthia's hesitation, but he decided to let her work through that on her own. He figured he had done about as much as he could here, except for maybe…

Leo started to wander, Froslass and the warrior spirit sticking close by his side while the others gallivanted about, either "playing" mischievously with Legion's spirits by blowing gusts of wind at them right when they tried to attack Cynthia, poking them and pretending they were part of the swarm (which never worked, but they thought it hilarious regardless), or any number of small inconveniences; or they were attacking any spirit who drew too near, only acting in perceived defense of Leo. It was actually quite hilarious to watch.

Still, he was looking for something else; Mismagius, and the Ghost In Charge. Neither had been seen so far, if there even was a ghost in charge instead of a conglomerate of spirits, and Leo could not deny his curiosity. Cynthia's Spiritomb felt fundamentally different to his own. Like, hers was more connected to begin with, like a hive mind, while his was far more scattered – though somehow more focused. It was a strange duality, but regardless, he wandered for a bit, traversing through the battlefield while keeping Cynthia, still getting used to the weight of the Pressure, in sight. For a long time he saw nothing, felt nothing. Just…drifted along over the battered field.

That was when he felt it. It was a slight click, a little motion that shifted the entire scenery of the field, almost unnoticeable. Leo furrowed his brows as he looked around, wondering what in the world that had been – only to freeze as it happened again. This time Froslass pointed towards Cynthia, the ice-type's expression dancing with mirth and pride.

Leo turned back to Cynthia, and almost immediately had to avert his eyes. Cynthia burned in a corona of golden light, the sheer pressure she radiated forcing Legion away, while the accepting silence held within said light drew the same spirits closer. And Leo watched with fascination as she silently combined two of the spirits, her aura never flickering. Because she wasn't alone. Even through it all Leo could feel the pride of her dragon, the noble strength of her Lucario, the serenity of a fairy…he couldn't count how many auras he felt connected to Cynthia's own, each strengthening her as she accepted each spirit, watched their memories, and combined them into one.

Next to her, almost hidden by the golden light Cynthia radiated, a young woman wearing revealing purple robes and a witch's hat eerily reminiscent of a Mismagius' sat in midair, legs crossed and satisfaction radiating from her. Leo met the spirit's eyes, the woman smiling and nodding once in appreciation to him before returning to watch Cynthia. The message was clear, and was about what he expected. This was Cynthia's trial, her duty to complete. Leo could do nothing but watch.

So he did. Silently. Slowly being pushed back by the ever-increasing pressure that emanated from whatever Cynthia was doing – she wasn't stopping at one fusion, she just kept going – and watching as the setting of Legion's mindscape slowly changed. It wasn't for the better, at first. The battlefield came alive, slowly, fires increasing in size and temperature as bodies began to pick themselves up, grabbing weapons from where they lay and walking around aimlessly, stooped over as if they were zombies aimlessly ambling. Cynthia reached out and snagged another few spirits, drawing them in and slowly combining them with the ones she'd already merged, and the setting changed again.

The people all became livelier, colors spreading across armor and Pokemon rising from the rubble and stone – a skeletal Rhydon rising in front of Leo, its armor hanging off of bones and eyes glowing with blue fire as it rumbled and slowly turned towards Cynthia – making no move towards her other than that. Leo watched as all the other beings ambling about turned towards her as well – the walking undead all facing that way.

Leo frowned but remained quiet, turning his attention to Cynthia once again, surprised to see that her golden ball of light had been superimposed with an image – an image of a melting metal form, cherry red and slumped over. It looked vaguely familiar, and as he watched the glow from the form intensified. Leo's eyes flew wide as the form exploded, shockwaves rippling through the area and blowing Leo backwards with the force. He stumbled, grit his teeth, and tried to hold his ground as the entire mindscape was set alight with a burning golden glow. The skeletons and people were illuminated by this glow, slowly becoming healthier and more lifelike in its radiance, but Leo was constantly pushed backwards.

Don't fight it, please. This is not for you. A soft, lilting voice whispered, echoing in his mind. He looked up, towards that glowing figure that was slowly becoming whole again – its molten form reshaping itself – and saw Mismagius staring directly at him even through the light. She nodded and after a tense moment Leo relaxed, allowing himself to be ejected from the mindscape.

Leo came back to his physical body with a jerk, whipping his head around to stare at the pokemon that surrounded him. Santiago stood off to the side, watching with a bored expression, while Cynthia's Lucario and Togetic hovered over the blonde girl worriedly. She, herself, had her brows furrowed in concentration as she gripped the keystone tightly, having taken it from Leo at some point. With a groan he stretched, feeling his back pop in multiple places as he stood and rolled his neck, Lucario turning to him quizzically, his red eyes boring into Leo.

"She's got a handle on things now," he told the fighting-type with a yawn. He hoped, at least. She seemed to when he was forcefully ejected. Lucario bowed his head in thanks and turned back to his trainer, holding his paws out so as to sense her aura.

"All good? You've been sitting there for over an hour," Victoria said, rousing herself from where she lay, head resting on Prince, her Persian's, side. Sage was still staring at Cynthia, mouth hidden by his leafy fan as the Oranguru lounged in the corner opposite of Santiago.

"Yeah, she's just doing weird ghost stuff now. I'll keep an eye on her until she's done. Should be fine. Any news on my opponents tomorrow?" Leo asked, walking over and sitting down next to her. Victoria grunted and scooted over, patting the floor next to her. Leo hesitated for a moment, meeting Prince's eyes. The great cat very casually lifted one paw to lick, showing off his massive teeth in a casual, but decidedly threatening, manner. Leo shuddered, half sure the cat would eat him just for the fun of it, but sat down next to Victoria regardless.

Only, he didn't lounge with his head on the Persian like Victoria was, all sprawled out and comfy. No, he valued his life, thank you very much.

"Your next opponent is a water-type trainer from the Orange Islands, one Ryota Onami," she said, lazily grabbing her pokedex from where it rested at her side.

"Any gimmicks you think I need to watch out for? Perish song? Explosion?" Leo asked, and Victoria smirked at him.

"No, thankfully. He's an ocean-based water trainer though, so you can expect him to try to immediately create a field advantage. Pools of water, that sort of thing," Victoria said, waving her pokedex in the air dismissively. "And as much as I want to tease you about your absolutely humiliating defeat at the hands of an exploding Golem, I'd much rather talk about you and that pretty girl over there," Victoria said, grinning mischievously.

"No, not you too," Leo hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I have questions I would like answered as well," Santiago said from across the room, raising one paw like a schoolkid and rapidly trundling forward. Leo could practically feel the insufferable smirks on both of their faces despite not looking at either, praying for patience as he was.

"Is my little Leo finally becoming aware of girls? I didn't think you even knew the difference between a boy and a girl," Victoria said.

"Well considering my first real frame of reference was you, that's a fair assumption," Leo shot back. Victoria slapped him upside the head good-naturedly, laughing. Unfortunately that was anything but true. Were he closer to his real, mental age, Victoria would've been well within his strike zone.

"Brat," she said, sitting up with a grunt. The mischievous smile still plastered on her face gave Leo no hope for the future, and he resigned himself for a day of teasing while Cynthia finished up what she was doing.

Cynthia spent the better part of the day and well into the night with her Spiritomb, and only assurances from his own Spiritomb and Leo himself kept her team from shaking her awake. By that point both Leo and Victoria both were starting to get anxious, and when she shook herself back into consciousness Victoria ran through a few cognitive tests to make sure she wasn't suffering from anything, then breathed a sigh of relief.

The future Champion looked exhausted though, swaying where she stood and eyes drooping even as she spoke. And though she had a thousand questions she wanted answered – and Leo did too – a combined effort of her Lucario threatening to let another member of her team out, Victoria gently holding her upright with one hand, and her Togetic trying to sing her to sleep eventually convinced the girl to return to her room for some much needed rest.

By the time his match rolled around early the next morning she still hadn't woken up – or, if she had, she hadn't contacted him – so he found himself battling without having any closure on the topic. Thankfully he wasn't too distracted by the lack of closure and could focus on the battles themselves.

"Surf!" Ryota, Leo's blue-haired opponent, called. His Lapras trilled and reared back its head, water surging from the pokemon's mouth and absolutely drenching the field. Xena gritted her teeth and planted her feet, the dragon weathering the wave before darting forward, blocking an ice-beam that froze the ground with one arm as she lashed out, catching the Lapras in the side with a dragon claw.

This field wasn't very conducive to Ryota's team, the wide battlefield allowing most of the water his Lapras produced to soak into the ground or run off the field, and so he'd taken to freezing the ground with ice-beam. That, at least, would give pokémon like Lapras or the Gyarados Leo knew he had on his team some more mobility. Xena had done her best to keep that from happening, but there was only so much she could do.

"Finish it off!" Leo called, clenching his fist against the railing as Lapras fired another ice beam, narrowly missing Xena as she jumped onto the Lapras' back with dragon-claws bared. She struck once, twice, cutting off the Lapras' attempt to put her to sleep with sing with a particularly vicious strike to the throat, and finally put the 'mon down with a sustained dragon breath to the head.

Xena leapt off Lapras' shell, panting, as Ryota recalled Lapras. She slipped on the ice as she landed, growling with blue dragonfire burning in the back of her throat, and glared as Ryota let out his next battler, giving her no time to melt the ice.

Lapras had done a fair bit of damage, but the real issue was the setup it had done. Maybe Zuko would be ok on the ice, as his natural body temperature would melt it, but most of Leo's more mobile members would be seriously hampered by the slick field. He'd have to adjust accordingly as the massive Gyarados that Ryota released roared, the sound reverberating through Leo's chest and sending a spike of adrenaline through his veins. He'd never seen the famous sea-serpent in person until now, and he had to admit.

It was properly terrifying. Its fangs gleamed in its gaping maw, and the glint in its eyes promised murder and destruction. A raw, primal fear that came from being faced with a being intent on destruction and nothing but lanced through Leo, remaining even as he pushed through it and recalled Xena, who vanished with a snarl of defiance directed at Gyarados. He deliberated for half a second before sending out Santiago, Gyarados already snapping at him the moment he appeared. In a moment of pure instinct the Slowking blasted it with a burst of psychic power, the blow just barely moving Gyarados enough that Santiago could jump out of the way, a shadow ball already formed between his hands and splashing against the massive serpent's scales.

"And Leo responds to Ryota's unbeatable Gyarados with a Slowking – how will the duel between two kings of the water play out?!" the announcer boomed, much to Leo's annoyance.

The man was abnormally hyped about this battle.

"Dance and sweep!" Ryota called, thrusting one fist into the air dramatically, much to the crowd's delight. Leo remained silent as Santiago blasted Gyarados with another psychic, watching as Gyarados curled its massive body up into a ball – punished by another shadow ball in the meantime – and promptly began to glow with an eerie red light. Santiago braced himself, glowing with a curse as Gyarados whipped itself around, water surrounding the serpent's tail in a raging wave.

There was nowhere for Santiago to dodge to, such was the size of the beast. So he took it, the force of the blow knocking him off his feet and sending him crashing into the psychic barriers, a shadow ball exploding into Gyarados' mouth as it lunged towards him, a crunch at the ready.

Gyarados roared in fury at the attack to the inside of his mouth, and Santiago peppered it with a few more attacks for good measure, all the while glowing with curse.

"Rain and thrash!" Ryota howled with glee, eyes gleaming with delight. His Gyarados roared to the heavens, storm clouds forming overhead according to the beast's will. Droplets of rain hit the ground slowly, a manic expression overtaking the Gyarados' face as it locked eyes with Santiago.

Just in time for a yawn attack to hit the beast. The white bubble popped against Gyarados' nose, the beast flinching, expecting some pain, then narrowed its eyes in anger. Ryota cursed and held up a pokeball, using his switch to recall Gyarados and keep it from falling asleep, then narrowed his eyes at Santiago. He stood firmly on the cracked, icy battlefield, seemingly right at home on the slick material. Leo, on the other hand, could see his starter holding himself in place with slight uses of psychic power – he wasn't all that mobile to begin with, so the slick ice was basically a non-issue, but holding himself upright at least made things so that he didn't have to worry about slipping at a crucial moment.

"That's a tricky 'mon you've got there!" Ryota laughed, clapping his hands together gleefully. "But it's no match for my next partner! Starmie, let's show 'em how it's done!" he shouted, and hurled his next pokemon onto the field.

The purple starfish appeared in a flash of light, gem flashing with a multitude of colors as it spun through the air. Santiago grunted, the gem on his crown flashing back at Starmie as the two engaged in a brief psychic battle.

"Set up!" Ryota ordered, the starfish pokemon immediately switching from offensive to defensive. Santiago grunted and started peppering the opposing psychic type with shadow balls, Starmie spinning out of the way and blocking the few that were on target with light screens. Leo frowned as rain poured down on the battlefield, shielding his eyes with one hand as he watched the battle unfold. Starmie was slowly shrinking in size, only occasionally taking an attack from Santiago – usually a water pulse that he used, to switch things up a bit – all while spinning rapidly through the air, picking up speed.

Well, that wasn't good. What was Ryota's play here? If it was Leo, and if he remembered the Starmie line right, he'd use thunderbolt or thunder to take advantage of the rain…the line was a great special attacker with a highly varied movepool after all.

Thankfully, Santiago was a tank. He couldn't take many hits from something like a thunder, but it would be enough to wear down Starmie. He didn't have to win his fights. Only make it so that the rest of his team could win theirs.

"Santi, close the distance," Leo commanded. Santiago huffed and lumbered forward, slowed thanks to his constant use of curse, and Starmie spun away, peppering him with swift stars. He wholly ignored the attack, blasting Starmie with a shadow ball in retaliation – one that miraculously hit despite Starmie's increasingly small size and incredible speed. For a split second it hesitated midair, long enough for Santiago to lock onto it with a disable, further stalling the 'mon.

Santiago roared as he threw himself forward with a burst of psychic force, grabbing onto Starmie with both hands and smashing a headbutt into the starfish. It spun and thrashed against his grip but he held firm, ignoring the crackling electricity sparking between Starmie's limbs to once more bash his head against the starfish.

"Thunder!" Ryota called, a little bit of panic entering his voice, though it was masked by sheer excitement. The sky above roared, a bolt of lighting streaking down from the sky in an instant and blasting Santiago and Starmie both – though Starmie looked far less damaged by it than Santiago, who struggled to remain upright after as Leo blinked spots from his eyes. The Slowking groaned as another, weaker, bolt of lighting struck them again, forcing him to his knees. His hands slipped off of Starmie, wracked by spasms as he was, and the starfish slowly drifted away, blasting Santiago with another bolt of lightning.

He sagged and slumped forward, his head bending down low as he slowly fell to the ground – only to whip his head up at the last moment and score a direct hit on Starmie with another shadow ball. The starfish flickered and wobbled from where it sat floating in the air, its psychic power failing, and Santiago surged forward, forcing his limbs to obey and haphazardly throwing a punch directly into Starmie's gem. It was sloppy. It was weak. It wasn't even a real attack. But Leo was proud anyway as the starfish pokemon wobbled and fell to the ground, out like a light.

Santiago huffed and stood tall, basking in his victory…only to fall over backwards, completely spent as his body was wracked by another bout of paralysis spasms.

Leo recalled him with a smile, thanking him for his hard work and slowly enlarging Link's pokeball as Ryota unclipped Gyarados' ball once again.

"Alright, I'll admit that was unexpected! But we're not done yet; you still have to get past Gyarados! It's time for our comeback," Ryota boomed, tossing Gyarados' ball high into the air.

"Link, time to go dragon hunting," Leo said calmly, letting his little grass type onto the battlefield. He wasted no time, summoning a substitute shield and flinging a sunny day into the air – moments after Gyarados attempted to renew the rain dance – and overriding the weather. The glowing ball of light broke the cloud cover, illuminating the battlefield and making Gyarados roar in fury.

Link hurled magical leaves into the beast's mouth in response, dashing forward with a leaf blade drawn. Gyarados lunged, mouth gaping wide in a crunch, and Link leapt up to meet it, vanishing within the giant serpent's gaping mouth. Leo blinked in utter shock, the announcer started stammering and the crowd screamed – Ryota's face went pale as he realized what had happened, his Gyarados rearing up with mouth still closed.

Then it flinched. Brilliant light exploded from Gyarados' mouth, the beast's pained roar echoing out as an explosion of power rocked its head back, Link coming flying out of its mouth with another solarbeam charging. Leo winced as Gyarados crashed against the psychic barriers that protect the stadium proper, its tail lashing out and slapping Link out of the air in a reactive motion. The little grass type rolled and popped up, dropping his broken substitute shield and creating another. In just one hit – two, if the crunch counted – Link's substitute was broken.

Such was the absolute power of a Gyarados. But Link wasn't finished by a long shot, and he charged in once more, whipping himself into the air with a petal dance – the pink flower petals swirling dangerously around him, the winds that petal dance produced lifting him into the air as Gyarados raised its head and unleashed a dragon rage.

The blue dragon fire was not as clear-cut as it was in the games. It didn't deal a set amount of damage – such a thing just wasn't possible – but it did deal a lot of damage. It was the distillation of a pokemon's raw fury and anger, increasing in intensity the angrier a pokemon was. For a perpetually angry Gyarados it was the perfect move, and it ignited the petal storm into nothing short of a maelstrom of blue dragonfire, Link vanishing from sight.

Still, he did have a counter for it. Brilliant pink light flashed from within the storm, cutting through the fire and revealing Link, glowing with the light of a dazzling gleam and once more on the ground, hurtling through the remnants of the fire with his leaf blade bared.

Gyarados roared and thrashed, its coils raging about wildly as Link leapt through them, sliding beneath one section and using the force from another to bounce himself further into the air, where he blasted yet another solarbeam into its face. The water-type roared and whipped its tail once again, but this time Link was ready. Although he couldn't mitigate the damage done to him, he could strike against the Gyarados, and thus had a leaf blade pointed at the tail as it swatted him to the side, using its own attack to injure it.

"Last resort!" Leo ordered, sensing Gyarados' frustration reach a fever pitch. Although Link didn't actually know that move, it was still a viable order. Link was heavily injured from just a few hits and wouldn't be able to take much more, and as such this was their "final act," so to speak. A retaliatory strike for what would knock him unconscious. Link sprinted forward, throwing leaves and small round seeds across the arena, magical leaves pelting relatively harmlessly against Gyarados' thick scales.

Gyarados roared, brilliant white light building up in the back of its throat as it reared its head, Link pulling himself to his feat and summoning yet another substitute shield as Gyarados unleashed a hyper beam. Leo was forced to shield his eyes as the attack struck, scoring a long line in the ground as Gyarados sought Link. Dust and debris flew into the air, small bits of sand and stone pelting against the psychic barriers directly in front of Leo, the scent of ozone filling the air.

It was only when the attack died down seconds later, flickering and coming to a halt, that Leo dared to look. The battlefield was littered in debris, a long score cut into the middle of the field from Gyarados' hyper beam. Green dots covered the field as well, mostly centered around Gyarados, while Link stood just to the side of the hyper beam's path, his substitute shield torn to pieces and half of his petal kilt blackened from the attack.

He struggled to even stand, but with a last look of defiance, looked up at Gyarados and nodded his head in respect.

Then the battlefield exploded. Seed bombs went off all over the place, the timed detonations – a trick Leo and Link had figured out and mastered just days before the tournament started, and were only breaking out now – rocking the battlefield. Gyarados screamed as it was blown backwards, once more crashing into the psychic barriers, but this time falling still afterwards. Leo recalled Link as the Bellossom slumped to the ground, spent, thanked him for his hard work, and clipped the ball to his belt as the announcer boomed his victory.

He still had Xena left, after all, even if she was injured by her fight.

With a grunt he leapt down from the trainer's stand into the battlefield, meeting Ryota halfway across the field and shaking his hand. The young man's hands were rough and calloused, his grip firm as he happily shook Leo's hand.

"That was a great battle! Miffed that I lost, but that's life I guess. Say, where'd you get a Slowking? I've tried raising Slowpoke and Slowbro before – the coastal breeds, anyway – and they were never to my liking. A Slowking I might like though," he said, shaking Leo's hand vigorously. "Anything ocean-dwelling I love, but a more land-based 'mon might let me battle in actual tournaments more,"

"Raised him from a cub. What about that Gyarados of yours? Never actually seen one," Leo said.

"He was my starter! I got lucky enough to catch a feral Magikarp aboard my dad's fishing boat, and we've been together ever since. Been a while since we've been in a serious tournament like this though, so we're a little out of practice," Ryota said sheepishly. "Still, if you ever want to trade some pointers just let me know. I know I could use some in raising a Slowpoke into a Slowking, and I'm more than willing to trade tips," he said. Leo smiled and nodded, telling him he would and accepting the young man's pokegear number (which Leo still didn't have one), then waving to the cheering crowd before being marched off the field.

He still had one more battle today, tonight, and then he'd be one battle from the top eight.

He could do this.

"Cynthia did what now?" Leo asked, bewildered. Victoria scratched her head, Cynthia's Lucario standing beside her and looking very anxious to get back to his trainer.

"She woke up long enough to send me a message saying she was ok, then apparently went straight back to meditating," she deadpanned. "This time without supervision,"

"Cario," Lucario said, nodding his head sagely and shifting from paw to paw. Leo sighed and rubbed his face. There wasn't much time until his next battle, and he'd been getting a little anxious to hear from Cynthia beyond just an "I'm ok," but this wasn't what he wanted to hear either. He glanced at the clock on the wall, gauging the time. Fifteen minutes until his next battle…that wasn't enough to be able to go find Cynthia and drag her away from what she was doing. He of all people understood wanting to rush through meditating with Spiritomb, but it didn't work like that.

With a frown he thought about what he knew of Cynthia, and what might be incentive to get her to leave her room…

"Do you think ice cream would work?" Leo mused aloud, glancing at Lucario. The fighting-type blinked owlishly, then nodded rapidly. Leo reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet, checking to see if he had any cash on him – which he did – and flipping a bill to Victoria. "Would you please go tell Cynthia that I'll buy her ice cream if she actually comes out of her room? That, or buy a bowl of ice cream and have Lucario here wave it under her nose or something," he said with a sigh. Victoria took the offered cash, glanced at it, then smirked at Leo. "Not a word," he said rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Victoria said, still smirking at him. He just sighed and rubbed his face. "All jokes aside, Lusamine had something she wanted to talk to you about after your battles today,"

"Is she already here?" Leo asked, and she nodded.

"Been in the area for a few hours now, she was getting settled in her hotel room with her kids. She probably wants to have dinner with everyone later," she said, already backing out of the room. "I have an idea of what she wants to talk about, it's…good and bad. You know how it's been after Faba, nothing except for her kids is ever really 'good' anymore,"

"It's all a little bitter, yeah," Leo said. Lusamine was still recovering from the Nihilego poison, after all. Even with the insane medical knowhow of this world – and the wonder of Blissey eggs – the process of synthesizing poison that had been in her body for years, constantly building up and inhibiting certain processes of her brain was a long and arduous one. She was taking it very hard, and being even harder on herself when she caught herself acting irrationally.

As such, she'd been a more than a little bitter and gloomy lately. Except when it came to her kids. She always lit up when she talked about how they were doing, having latched onto them and their growth as a substitute for Ultra Beasts. It wasn't exactly a healthy obsession either, but it was at least a start.

"What's that face for?" Victoria asked. Leo wiped the small frown that was creeping across his face, and shook his head.

"Nah, nothing much. Just finding it kind of strange that all the people I've met in the past few months have all had some sort of problem I've had to solve. Lusamine with Faba being a jackass, Cynthia with her Spiritomb…this one guy Guzma just being an arrogant putz and picking on young trainers. You're not going to spring something on me too, are you?" Leo joked, shaking his head and trying to make light of it all. Victoria laughed, a deep belly laugh that echoed through the small, competitor's waiting room.

"Kid the day I come to you to help me solve a problem is the day Uncle Oak admits he's wrong about something, anything, and the world catches fire," she said, wiping a fake tear from her eye. Leo chuckled, shaking his head. "You just have fun on your pokemon journey and let me handle all the big bad guys, ok?" she continued, adopting the kind of tone one might use when talking to a two-year-old child. Leo rolled his eyes and made a shooing motion.

"Don't you have a task to do? Lucario looks like he's about to pass out from impatience," he said, pointing to the Lucario that had been very impatiently waiting just off to the side, his paw already on the door out of the waiting room. Victoria scoffed and opened the door herself, letting Lucario out and stepping out herself.

"Just behave yourself, and win this battle. I won't accept anything but the top spot," she said firmly. Leo shrugged noncommittally as she closed the door, then glanced at the clock. After battling so much in the tournament so far, he was getting far more confident in his and his team's abilities. This, however, was going to be a difficult match. It was him versus a flying type expert, after all, and he didn't have very many good counters to them.

Well, he'd figure something out. Especially since Zuko could create updrafts and Diana really wanted to learn to fly.

And who better to teach a rock monster how to fly than a bunch of birds?

Diana didn't just want to learn to fly. She wanted to be an anti-aircraft gun too, apparently.

The Gliscor his opponent, an Alolan trainer name Kanoa Manu, sent out frantically dodged the massive chunks of rock Diana launched into the sky from where she lay on her back. Six spires of stone rose up around the Pupitar, the tops of said spires cracking apart from a quick use of bulldoze, and a flex of her terrakinesis sending the newly-freed stone block hurtling skyward. Leo, for one, was giddy with excitement as the Gliscor dodged, the only thing keeping him from being taken out being the tailwind he'd set up early in the match.

He'd tried to set up stealth rock, too, but that had been utterly overcome by Diana. Namely because she took the floating stones and used them as her initial source of ammunition against Gliscor. Now she had resorted to other means, but that didn't make them any less effective.

"U-turn!" Kanoa cried as Gliscor was clipped by another thrown rock, the bat careening through the air wildly. Diana hummed dangerously, her air vents whining as she hovered slightly off the ground, prepared to meet Gliscor head-on.

"Ranged counter, Diana," Leo ordered, amending whatever it was she was trying to do. He didn't want to give Kanoa the advantage of switching pokemon. Diana hummed as even more spires of rock jutted up around her, forming something of a castle with only one entrance. Gliscor would have hesitated, were it not already committed to the charge. With an impressive acrobatic maneuver the bat-thing twisted through the air, narrowly avoiding the newly-created walls of stone around Diana to come swerving in over the top to the "entrance" of her little castle.

But Diana was ready for it. A dark pulse blasted out the moment Gliscor came around the corner, the sheer force of the attack catching his wings and sending him hurtling backwards. Stones shattered as Diana came barreling out, the roar of a jet-engine booming through the arena as she smashed into Gliscor, the bat thinking fast and slamming a metal-claw into her armor even if it did no damage whatsoever.

With a cry Gliscor peeled itself off of Diana before she could slam him into the ground, her vents whining as she adjusted course – her spikes dragging along the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust – spinning back around to launch herself into the air after Gliscor.

"Gliscor, return!" Kanoa called, using his switch early. He wasted no time in swapping out with a Pelipper, the bird squawking and catching the last of Gliscor's tailwind to jerk it aside and out of the way of Diana's charge. A dark pulse still blasted out of her as she passed, knocking Pelipper sideways and giving her a chance to recover from her charge. Pelipper squawked, clouds slowly forming in the sky overhead as it whipped up another tailwind to keep it ahead of the curve. Leo frowned and eyed the skies – that's right, Pelipper could have the drizzle ability. He hadn't been sure what that would look like in this world, but judging by the way clouds were slowly gathering overhead it was just a slower form of rain dance.

That did mean, however, that they either had until it started raining for Diana to take out Pelipper, or he needed to swap to someone who could counter the weather. Leo frowned as he surveyed the battlefield.

Well, there was more than one way to have battlefield control…

"Diana, make spires!" Leo ordered, and idea popping into his head. She hummed as she forcefully slowed herself, stopping just short of crashing into one of the barriers, and exerted her will over the battlefield. Spires of stone burst from the ground, joining those already created by Diana, absolutely ruining the field and creating a maze of earth and stone. It wouldn't be a problem for fliers, of course, unless they had to come down to the ground for some reason. But this wasn't for Diana. "Now, dark pulse!"

Diana screeched, the sound reverberating around the arena, as she blasted up into the sky once more, a dark pulse exploding off of her and smacking the Pelipper to the side. The bird awkwardly flapped to the side, spitting a water pulse at Diana and hitting her dead-on in retaliation, then blurred into a double team from an order from Kanoa. Leo chewed his lip, watching the battle unfold as Diana continued to rocket around the arena, hurtling through the air and crashing back down to the earth all while blasting dark pulses around her whenever she got close to one of Pelipper's double teams.

Rarely did she hit true, the bird's body doubles convincing enough and moving around fast enough that even if she did choose the right one to approach the 'mon was already moving away. And it punished her each time for it – hitting her with water-pulses, scalds, and even the occasional air cutter. It was just wearing her down, and with the rain now pouring down, the water attacks were hitting that much harder. Leo watched as Diana hurtled into the sky, plowing through two double team doubles, before being hit with another water pulse and was sent crashing to the ground. He waited until she picked herself back up, whining and wiggling unhappily at Pelipper, before using his switch and recalling her.

"Diana, return. Zuko, smokescreen!" Leo called, letting out the Typhlosion. He hit the field with a roar, smoke billowing out of his mouth and immediately covering the field. He vanished into the smoke almost immediately, the falling rain hissing and popping as it fell into the superheated black smoke that continued to surge over the battlefield, swirling around the spires until they were completely covered. Pelipper squawked in distress, firing a water pulse into the smoke uselessly.

Swift stars burst from the smoke, flying up and homing in on Pelipper, smacking into its underbelly. Leo chewed his lip and glanced at the skies, debating strategies for a split second. It was still raining, the dark clouds covering only the stadium. Zuko could send up a sunny day to counter drizzle, or he could try and finish off Pelipper. No, he didn't want to contest the weather. Zuko wouldn't be as helpless against Pelipper as Diana was, despite the type advantage.

"Heat wave!" Leo ordered. He had a tentative idea to use heat to control the air above a field by creating severe updrafts, but he wasn't really familiar with thermodynamics. Guess this would be a good case study.

Zuko roared from within his smoke, a burst of swift stars homing in on Pelipper giving him an idea of where to aim as he roared out a heat wave. Pelipper didn't even bother dodging either attacks, rising higher into the sky as it was, letting the hot air and embers roll off its feathers.

"Hurricane!" Kanoa called gleefully, a wide grin stretching across his face.

"Cover!" Leo roared, hoping Zuko understood what he meant.

Pelipper squawked as it flapped higher, Zuko spitting out as many swift stars as he could, the attacks ignoring the double teams to hit the bird. It winced and pushed through the attack, flapping its wings as it hovered directly over the battlefield. Wind roared, the rain began to fall sideways, and Zuko's smoke began to swirl, rising up into the sky as it formed a vicious tornado of wind and smoke. Stones were picked up by the gale-force winds, whipping through the air and cracking against the barriers, reducing visibility to nothing as more and more smoke poured onto the field.

The winds continued for a solid minute, until the superheated smokescreen was all but dispersed and Pelipper was sagging from the struggle to keep the attack up that long. Still, he could see steam rising from the bird's blacken-tinged feathers, the smokescreen having not been wholly ineffective at the high temperatures Zuko created it at.

Though said 'mon was nowhere to be seen.

"Stay aloft, Pelipper," Kanoa said warily, eyes locking onto the little stone castle composed of haphazardly created stone spires built by Diana just as a flurry of will-o-wisps shot out of said castle and smacked into Pelipper. Zuko roared, his cover blown, scrambling to the top of said spires and unleashing a gout of flame into the air, the flamethrower briefly covering Pelipper before it awkwardly flapped out of the line of fire.

Only to be punished with a series of swift stars, all focused on the bird's right wing. With a cry it momentarily lost control of its flight, falling to the ground where Zuko pounced, wreathed in flames even as said bird spat a scald on him. He pushed through and fell on Pelipper with all the fury of a volcano, fire, smoke and claws flying as he savaged the downed bird. Injured and tired though it was it didn't last long under Zuko's onslaught, and was quickly recalled.

Almost immediately Zuko began spewing out smoke once more, wasting no time as Kanoa once more sent out his Gliscor. The bat blurred into motion, a tailwind catching its wings as it crashed claw-first into the ground, an earthquake ripping through the stadium. The spires that Diana set up shook dangerously, many falling over from the roiling ground. Zuko yelped and stumbled out of his smoke cloud, being met face-first with a night slash from Gliscor. He snarled and spat a quick burst of flame at the flying type, but it was already gone.

"Calm, and keep setting up. Punish it for getting close, jump when I tell you to." Leo ordered. Zuko huffed and flared his back fires, charging a sunny day in mere moments before launching it into the sky. The great ball of flame broke through Pelipper's leftover cloud cover, the rain slowly dying out as Gliscor blurred down to attack Zuko once more.

But then he exploded.

The ball of fire rocked Gliscor back, the bat-thing tumbling across the ground, and smacking into a half-destroyed spire. Zuko darted towards Gliscor, wreathed in flames, as it picked itself up with a snarl.

"Earthquake!" Kanoa called hastily. Gliscor raised both claws and slammed them into the ground the moment Zuko reached it, the fire-type taking the full explosive, ground-shattering force of the attack as he landed on Gliscor, fires roaring. Leo winced as Zuko sagged, the spire of stone next to him collapsing on himself and Gliscor. The hurricane from Pelipper, even through cover, had to have hurt him a ton, let alone two earthquakes. There was no surprise there that Zuko was KO'd now…though he was pleased that Gliscor hadn't been able to escape the strength of its own attack, trapped on the ground as it had been. Leo recalled Zuko as Kanoa recalled his Gliscor, his expression one of intense concentration. He met Leo's eyes for a brief moment, frowned, then nodded and let out his next pokemon in the same moment Leo tossed out Spiritomb's keystone.

They'd talked before the battle, and it was fine with being used this time around. Now that Cynthia's Spiritomb was mostly settled.

A Noivern burst onto the field with a screech as Spiritomb swirled to life, matching Noivern's screech as it winged into the sky. Spiritomb hissed and swayed back and forth, tracking Noivern as it zoomed through the sky at great speeds, almost a blur even in the tightly confined arena. Kanoa frowned and cursed a bit, then shook his head and made his order.

"Tailwind, then dragon pulse! Strafe!" he ordered. Noivern screeched its assent, winging through the air and blasting at Spiritomb with a dragon pulse as it zipped about overhead. The ghost cackled as it swirled about, spitting out a few shadow balls that missed terribly, going wide as Noivern zipped about. Leo frowned and ordered an icy wind as Zuko's sunny day slowly faded, the temperature of the arena dropping considerably as ice cold wind started to blow. Noivern shrieked and flew higher, blasting out dragon pulses at Spiritomb from range. Spiritomb simply split around the attacks, its ectoplasmic body shifting and flowing like mist.

Kanoa chewed his lip while Leo stared, drumming his fingers against the railing. This was a stalemate, obviously. At the range Noivern was shooting from it was impossible for Spiritomb to hit, but Spiritomb was too slippery for Noivern to accurately hit with a pinpoint attack like dragon pulse. Finally coming to a decision, Kanoa nodded.

"Hurricane!" he ordered.

"Fill it with will-o-wisps, then shrink into your keystone," Leo commanded in response. Spiritomb cackled and began popping out will-o-wisps, the little balls of ghostly fire swiftly being picked up by the hurricane's winds – but Leo underestimated the force of Noivern's hurricane. The will-o-wisps were snuffed out almost as soon as they were created, Noivern's hurricane greatly eclipsing Pelipper's in power. Winds raged and Spiritomb's shriek was swiftly drowned out by the roaring winds that whipped up high into the air, forming a veritable tornado. Leo shielded his eyes as the winds slipped through the barriers – though the worst of it was contained, there was still enough force behind it to make Leo's eyes water and lose sight of Spiritomb.

Then, abruptly, the winds began to die down. A massive boom rang out over the battlefield as Noivern thrashed, barely visible through the whipping winds and dust, a black and purple shadow wrapped around it.

"That worked better than I expected," Leo muttered. Since Spiritomb's main body was attached to the keystone, he'd hoped that the hurricane's winds would pick up the small stone and carry it up high enough to reach Noivern with a sneak attack – hence why he told Spiritomb to hide back in its keystone. He'd hoped to at least get it in range of a shadow ball or icy wind, to slow Noivern down. He hadn't expected Spiritomb to actually be able to physically reach the dragon. From here Leo couldn't see the keystone, but he assumed it was either falling right now, or Spiritomb had somehow managed to attach it to Noivern.

"Dive! Get it off!" Kanoa roared, and Noivern immediately folded its wings and dove straight towards the ground. Spiritomb shrieked as the two fell, wrapping tendrils around the dragon's eyes to blind it, trailing small tufts of snow as it continuously summoned an icy wind. "Acrobatics!" Kanoa ordered moments before Noivern struck the ground, and the dragon flared its wings, not slowing a bit as it ripped itself to the side and positively tore through Spiritomb's ectoplasm. The sudden change in direction knocked the keystone off of where it had been held against Noivern's back, the ghost shrieking in outrage.

Noivern spun around mid-air, blasting out a dragon pulse that struck Spiritomb dead-on. The ghost shrieked and Leo scowled, an order on the tip of his tongue as Noivern spun back around, air cutters held beneath its wings and a dragon pulse building in the back of its throat, intent on finishing the job –

When Spiritomb scored a direct hit with a sudden ice beam.

Noivern shrieked and fell, ice suddenly built up over the joint of one wing, but still managed to fire off its dragon pulse at Spiritomb.

The ghost retaliated by creating a flurry of shadow balls and peppering the dragon as it righted itself midair. With another roar it blurred forward, flapping out a series of air cutters that ripped through Spiritomb's ectoplasm, then blurred forward as a tailwind kicked up. Spiritomb shrieked and summoned another ice beam, tracking Noivern as best it could, barely missing at times. It retaliated with dragon pulses, and thus began the battle of beams.

By the time Spiritomb finally caught Noivern with an ice beam, clipping the dragon's wing and freezing a good portion of it, the ghost was having trouble maintaining its physical form. The edges wavered and flickered, looking about ready to recede back into the keystone for good at any moment as the dragon crashed to the ground, still kicking and snarling – but Kanoa recalled it before it could finish off Spiritomb.

Even if it could defeat the ghost, frozen as its wing was Diana would be able to make short work of the downed flying type. Spiritomb shrieked its victory and promptly sucked itself back into its keystone as Leo nodded to Kanoa. The young man smiled thinly at Leo, running a hand through his hair in frustration as he leapt down from the trainer's stand. Leo did the same, walking over and picking up Spiritomb's keystone, thanking the ghost for its work before shoving it back into his pocket and turning to Kanoa.

The two shook hands but didn't exchange any words as Kanoa turned and left the stadium, clearly frustrated. Leo, for one, was just glad he only had to battle half of the man's team. If it had been a six-on-six he would've been far more concerned for his chances of victory. Santiago was perhaps the only other team member of his who had the ability to fight flying opponents; Xena, Sunny, and Link would all be at a severe disadvantage. Though Link could probably still pull something off.

Shaking his head, Leo waved to the crowd as the announcer and referee both boomed his victory. Mentally, he ran a hand through his hair, a little frustrated at how much he felt like he had to do now. Not only did he have to prepare for his next match – which, if he won, would let him into the top eight – but he also had to talk to Lusamine and go find Cynthia. Of course all of this had to happen at once.

Cynthia opened her eyes and let out a long, slow breath, feeling her Spiritomb, misnamed Legion, through their link. Turns out, the issues they'd been having with each other had been due to a massive lack of communication. Now that she saw the truth in the ghost's core it was hilarious how blind she felt. She'd tried to let Spiritomb fight and train because that is what she thought it wanted – as an outlet for its violent and malicious behavior. And, perhaps, they'd be able to work past that together through training.

Spiritomb, on the other hand, reacted so violently to her attempts at training and battle because it thought she was trying to use it as a weapon – use it to defeat her enemies and fight her battles, like the one who created it had used it for. Before it had been Spiritomb. Before its spirit had shattered, Uxie had sealed the worst of its memories at its own request, and combined it with the memories of those who had died on the battlefield, victims of it's unwilling wrath. And now Cynthia was helping it to piece itself back together, to rebuild that unfortunate soul that had been forced into unwilling war.

Thankfully, as a student of history, she knew just about what war it had been used in – but she'd need to brush up on the specifics to find out the when and where's. It had been a bloody civil war between the eastern and western halves of Sinnoh, so there was a lot to sift through though.

A friendly hand brushed through her hair, and she looked up to smile at Mismagius. The ghost had split off from Spiritomb sometime last night, having completed its task now that the other ghost was calmed and Cynthia had soothed the worst of its fears and rages directed towards herself. Leo had been right in that regard; in the mindscape, there was no hiding anything. Spiritomb could see her own intents and thoughts as clearly as she could see it when they were connected; that, and that alone, had assuaged the ghost's fears. Now it was docile, though hostility still brimmed towards anyone but her in a defensive response.

Cynthia sighed, recalled her Spiritomb, and stood, stretching and feeling her back pop in multiple places. She just had so many questions! And many of those questions would be answered as she continued to merge Spiritomb's spirits, seeing the memories they contained; some happy, some terrible, but all held pieces of the puzzle. But at the same time she couldn't stay cooped up in her hotel room all the time; already Spiritomb's merging process was slowing down now that she was two thirds of the way done. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't just get it all done in one fell swoop.

So she'd settle for the next best thing; she'd contact her grandmother in Celestic Town to get ahold of some of the records of that civil war, and perhaps get some answers about the other topic she was curious about. Leo.

She was one of the few people who could see aura to a degree, though she was still learning to control the Sight. But in the mindscape? Where everything was bared for the world to see? She'd been able to see Leo at the very core of who he was, even if understanding and seeing were to very different things.

Looking at him was…like looking at a tree. A tree with nebulas for the leaves, and a crown of stars hanging overhead – representing his connection to his Slowking, she assumed – while a merry little fire burned at its roots, the entire base of the trunk surrounded by a ring of stone and scale floating in the air. Each connection to each of his pokemon was represented by a different thing, and she wasn't able to understand each one. It had been a peaceful sight, still and silent, but, at the same time, she had been able to understand something.

That had not been a young sapling. That had been a grown tree, with deep roots and wide branches. It had also been otherworldly. That was the only word she could use to describe it. Like, it had deep roots, but it appeared to her like it was still laying them down – but perhaps she was just overthinking things.

Without actually hearing his life's story, she had no true way to interpret what she saw.

With a sigh she exited the hotel, letting her thoughts momentarily consume her until Mismagius popped out of the ground in front of her with a short yell, startling her.

"Mismagius, don't do that!" Cynthia said, holding a hand over her hammering heart. The cheeky ghost just cackled and flew around her, ghostly fires licking at the edges of her hat. "You are going to give me a heart attack," she complained shaking her head at the ghost. A few passersby, tourists who had traveled to Alola for the Tournament, like her, chuckled at the ghost's antics.

Mismagius just laughed at her and floated behind Cynthia to rest her chin atop her head. Cynthia sighed fondly, glad to have Mismagius back despite the ghost incessantly trying to jump scare her to death. Honestly, it was like she was trying to make up for lost time…not that Cynthia was actually complaining. Garchomp, her starter, could be just as unruly at times.

Blinking slowly Cynthia drug herself out of her thoughts once again and looked around, slowly realizing that she had wandered into the tournament grounds. Temporary stadiums rose up all around her, the bleachers and small battlefields illuminated in the orange glow of the setting sun. This looked to be a part of the Intermediate to Beginner level brackets – many of the pokemon she could see were either not fully evolved, or the battles themselves were very simple – while large TV screens broadcasted the more interesting battles. On one such screen, around which a few people were gathered, licking ice-cream cones and eating malasadas, was Leo and his Pupitar battling it out against a Gliscor that was little more than a blur on screen.

What stadium is that? She pondered, peering closer at the screen and eventually spotting the number 14 in the bottom left corner. Destination now set she squared her shoulders and resumed her walk, this time forcing her thoughts to remain uncluttered as she observed the tournament grounds and the people therein. Alola was a beautiful region. The people were lively and kind, the pokémon were varied and wild; it honestly made her a little sad that she wasn't well versed in the region's history and culture. But, well, that's part of why she was here. To learn and experience the world.

So wrapped up she was in enjoying the sights – only barely managing to tear herself away from the few ice-cream stands she saw – that she almost missed Victoria Oak entirely. Mismagius saved her once again, bumping into her and bringing drawing her attention away from a stand selling traditional Alolan herbal remedies that were more for cultural tradition than anything else, and pointing to Victoria, Cynthia's Lucario, and a short man leaning on a cane, with a baby Dratini wrapped around his neck like a scarf.

The moment she looked over her Lucario noticed her, visibly relaxing and letting out a sigh of relief. Cynthia hid her surprise. Had she really worried him that much?

"…very much like you. Bull headed and stubborn. I told you that I said it'd take him five years to get to the top of Poni Island, and what does he do? Turns around and goes to meet the Lucario tribe," the short man said as Cynthia approached.

"I did hear that," Victoria said with a laugh. "I'm sure they were happy to see a potential Guardian again,"

"No, the kid is more along the lines of a – well, hello there," the short man cut himself off as he noticed Cynthia, Victoria looking up at her as well.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" Cynthia said, meeting the shorter man's eyes and smiling kindly at him. That was when she saw it. For just a brief moment the man glowed like the burning sun, sheer power radiating from him without him exerting himself. She almost flinched away but managed to stop herself – her Lucario, who was far more sensitive to aura, did flinch – and almost as soon as the burst of aura appeared it was gone.

"No, I was just coming to look for you," Victoria said, as if she was completely oblivious to what just happened. Cynthia kept her expression as calm as possible when faced with someone as powerful as that – she had never met anyone with an aura as blinding as that, and it hadn't even been directed at her! And now she could barely see it as he hid it from view, constraining it as he was.

"You know this girl?" the shorter man asked.

"Yes. Well, sort of. She's Leo's acquaintance. Sofu, this is Cynthia, Cynthia this is Sofu, the Kahuna of Poni Island. That's a position kind of like an Elite Four member, but I suppose he'd also double as the Champion," Victoria explained.

"No, no, you're more Champion material than I am," Sofu said, shaking his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, young Cynthia. It is good to know the younger generation will be protected by guardians such as yourself,"

"Guardians?" Victoria voiced, and Sofu snorted out a laugh as Cynthia stilled. How did he…?

"You cannot tell me you didn't notice? Her aura has all the markings of a future Guardian," Sofu said casually. "Have you received any formal training?"

"Um, in a way. My Lucario is from one of the ancient Lucario tribes guarding Sinnoh, and he's been passing down some of the teachings of the aura guardians to me," Cynthia admitted, keeping her voice down so as not to be overheard by other people. It would sound like she was talking of a childhood fantasy if overheard by other people, after all. Very few actually believed in the aura guardians anymore, even if, according to her Lucario, they had simply changed, not disappeared. Sofu smirked and looked up at Victoria, as if he had won some sort of argument with her.

"…huh." Victoria said. "Neat. Anyway, how's all that mess with Spiritomb coming?" she said, quickly changing the subject. Cynthia nodded, glad for the subject change, and gestured to Mismagius who floated behind her.

"Quite well, actually. I've been learning a lot, but now I've got more questions than answers. Some of them are about Leo, some are for Leo, and some are about history," she said vaguely, waving one hand dismissively. "I have a lot of research to do,"

And wasn't that the truth. At least she had a lead though, from her Spiritomb's true name. As the conversation with Victoria and Sofu continued, Cynthia patted her Spiritomb's ultra ball fondly.

Though I should probably stop calling you that, huh? She thought. When I woke you from your slumber, I did promise to help you. It may have taken me some time to get to where I can and to figure things out, but we got here, despite our rocky start. So help you I will, Magearna.