20-21

White dust blanketed the grass and dusted the trees, the rich green almost violently offsetting the layer of snow that had fallen overnight. Leo's breath came out in ragged huffs of white air as he slowed to a brisk walk, his early morning run having carried him here, to a small clearing where he could train with his pokémon. The chilly air stung his lungs in a nostalgic way, reminding him of hiking through the mountains at home, even as his heart thudded in his chest.

A sunflora turned to face him as he approached, the sunflower-esque pokémon covered in a light dusting of frost, its normally yellow petals turned brown on the edges from the cold.

"This sudden snow must be rough on you, huh?" Leo asked conversationally, the sunflora shivering. He wasn't overly familiar with the sunflora line, but it wasn't uncommon for wild grass types to enter a sort of hibernation during the winter, not unlike the dormant rest plants and trees went through. But the snow had come suddenly, so this particular sunflora had probably been caught off-guard. Still, it made no move to leave, so Leo let it be for the moment.

He released Santiago onto the snowy ground and bent to pet his starter's head, the slowpoke taking a moment to take in his surroundings, register the cold weather, and sniff the snow as if he'd never seen it before.

"Sloooow?" he called questioningly.

"I know bud, I find it hard to believe that it was all sunny yesterday, too," Leo said, glancing at the cloudy grey sky that threatened even more winter weather. The contest had only been yesterday, and yet the weather was turning cold far, far quicker than he would've liked. "But we've still got to train, right?"

"Pooooo," he answered, lumbering forward, swinging his head side to side, plowing through the thin layer of snow to reveal the green grass once more while his tail wagged happily in the air. Leo shook his head. He'd get to him later, once the rest of the team was working. Besides, he was focusing on psychic training for the slowpoke at the moment. That usually meant working with him at night, when winding down for sleep. He could afford to take the morning off.

"Zuko, Diana, come on out," he said, releasing both the pokémon. Zuko immediately shot Leo a scandalized look, lifting his paws to glare at the dampness that now coated his fur, while Diana shivered the moment her feet touched the ground. Her red eyes grew wide at the drastic transformation that the landscape had undergone, bending to scoop a small handful of snow up to sniff curiously – while Zuko flared his back fires and raised the temperature of his body, the ambient heat melting the snow and making the whole situation far more comfortable for him.

I wonder if this is Diana's first-time seeing snow up close? Leo wondered, recalling that she had most likely spent her entire life underground before he caught her as she experimentally tasted the snow, the chill shocking her tongue. She blinked rapidly and sniffed it, staring at it in a new light.

"Alright guys, focus," Leo said, snapping his fingers. He'd let Diana play in the snow later; it was good to stick to a set training schedule. That meant early morning training routines. "Zuko, I want you running laps again. Since it snowed I'll allow you to light yourself on fire but don't go too crazy; you don't want Santiago dousing you with a water pulse again, do you?" Leo asked.

Zuko seemed to understand Leo's meaning perfectly if the way he visibly shuddered was any indication. Last time he'd gotten too enthusiastic Leo had sicced Santiago on him, and he'd been…judicious with the water pulses. Zuko wouldn't be repeating that mistake any time soon.

"Good. But also try to build up smoke at the same time. I want you to be able to use flame charge and the smoke bomb technique – you know, superheated smokescreen – at the same time. Once you're all warmed up we'll get started on swift," Leo said. Zuko grunted and shook himself off again, starting into a dead sprint and zooming past Santiago; coming as close to startling a slowpoke as anything ever really could. That meant Santiago actually raised his head to stare after Zuko, as if in surprise, and not much else.

"Diana, you and Spiritomb will be with me today. Your rock throw has gotten much better, so let's focus on other things for the moment, ok? Wouldn't want to let your close combat skills be neglected, right?" Leo asked, bending to run a hand along the larvitar's crest. She cooed at him and bit at another handful of snow, screwing her eyes shut at the cold. "Silly girl. Try to mimic me, ok?"

Diana followed his feet for a moment, slowly working through the various positions and motions Leo led her through in her own, clumsy, short-legged way. Content that she would follow the motions on her own for a little bit – a nice warm-up for the more intense training he had planned for her – he turned his attention to Spiritomb, who had been uncharacteristically quiet this morning.

"Spiritomb, I want you to extend those black shadow tendril things," he commanded. The ghost was silent for a brief moment, but eventually acquiesced. A chill ran up Leo's spine as the tendrils of darkness emerged from his pocket, accompanied by a single glowing green eye that hovered just to the side of Leo, the ghost looking at him quizzically. "Wrap them around my arms. I want you to follow my movements and listen to my words – you need to be able to focus all your thoughts and spirits in a single direction; this should be a step in that direction,"

Whispers echoed in Leo's ears as the tendrils wound their way around Leo's arms and torso, wrapping around his palms and flattening out to mimic the shape of his hand. He sucked in a deep breath at the feeling, having not really expected what the tendrils actually felt like against bare skin. Through clothes the darkness felt almost solid, but touching it now…it felt more like an extension of Spiritomb's ectoplasmic body, only stickier. Is it part of Spiritomb's body, or a result of its dark typing or something? Leo wondered silently. Just because he knew that Spiritomb could do this, didn't mean he understood what this ability was or how it worked. Not even Oak was a hundred percent sure, though he did have a few theories due to a few other ghost-types having similar abilities. Cofagrigus, for one, could also use appendages like this.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Leo slid into an unfamiliar stance and worked his way through a series of movements that were far more unfamiliar to him than his primary martial art. This was Tai Chi, and though his knowledge of the art was rudimentary at best, what he did remember would help in his current purposes. If he remembered it right Tai Chi was a type of moving meditation – it might help Spiritomb focus itself.

"Focus on following me, without restricting my movements," Leo said softly, slowly shifting his stance and moving his hands in tune with his body. The shadowy tendrils flickered but followed, only occasionally offering resistance to Leo's movements, or lagging behind. "And center yourself on how we're moving. Focus and calm, let the voices run free but do not let them distract you," he said, just talking more than anything as the chaotic whispers of Spiritomb continually spoke in his ears.

And so this continued for a good ten minutes, at which point the ever-present whispers of Spiritomb calmed down to almost nothing by the end of their warm up. Leo grinned and slapped his face, the cold morning air stinging his cheeks. Now it was time to get some blood pumping, and as he looked out over the rest of his team as they worked, he decided to up the difficulty level a bit. "Spiritomb, would you release your Pressure please?" he asked, and immediately the clearing was flooded with the heavy weight of Spiritomb's presence. Diana stomped her foot on the ground and shook her head but continued on with her movements regardless, completely ignoring Zuko as the quilava stumbled and nearly crashed into her. Santiago's head drooped, his eyes lighting up with the glow of psychic power, the slowpoke turning to glare at Leo and Spiritomb.

Even the Sunflora minding its own business shot him an affronted look, and he smiled at it apologetically. But he wouldn't stop now. Now, it was time to really train.

"You're leaving then?" Leo asked Daisy, picking through his plate of food. Breakfast in the motel wasn't all that great, but it was better than nothing. Powdered eggs, toast with oran berry jelly smeared all over it, and a few pieces of fruit were what constituted his breakfast.

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind. Norman told me of a place where I might be able to find a moon stone here in Johto – he found the stone he used to evolve his wife's Skitty there. Not that he's willing to lend it to me, of course – moon stones may be reusable, but they still need to recharge, for lack of a better word," Daisy said. Leo didn't bother wondering how a stone recharged – that was a crazy idea that he didn't want to get into right now. There was enough on his mind already.

"I see how it is," Leo said with a cheeky grin. "You just wanted me to help you in the contest, then you'd ditch me. I can't believe you'd use me like that," he bemoaned dramatically, slumping over the table and shooting her a look filled with mock-hurt.

"Shut it," she said, rolling her eyes and picking at her cereal. "I'd ask you to come with me – the Tohjo falls are technically on a route, so it wouldn't be illegal, and they are in the Silver Mountains – but Victoria would kill me if I kept you from getting your third badge before the season ends,"

Leo frowned at that, and scratched his chin. "Yeah, about that. What do you think about her opinion on Lance? I'm not really sure what to think," the games and anime had made Lance out to be a powerful trainer, after all, and a respected Champion. But this was neither the games nor the anime. This was a real world, with real people. There were bound to be differences.

"I can't say for sure. He's certainly got a very…direct personality, and some of his ideas are pretty wild, but I don't think it'll be as bad as she's making it out to be. Becoming a Champion isn't just about winning – it's also about earning the approval of enough gym leaders; especially if you want to stay Champion for long and actually 'rule' it as a leader. If Lance wants to become a Champion and stay the Champion of the Indigo League, thereby replacing Martin, he's going to have to tone it down a bit. He'll get in there and realize that some of the things he wants to do just aren't feasible," Daisy reasoned, picking at her food. "Like that strange berry tax he wants to implement, to help fund the poor. It shows an astounding lack of knowledge on the field – berry farming doesn't yield that much profit in Kanto or Johto. Many farmers are subsidized by the League as-is, anyway," she continued, Leo recalling that subsidizing something meaning the League helped fund something – in this case farms, in case there was a bad harvest or whatever.

"Huh. Thanks," Leo said. Daisy smiled at him and shrugged. "Still think I should head to Azalea for my third badge, or should I give Goldenrod a shot?" he asked, switching the subject.

"Azalea. That's a guaranteed win for you, and if Goldenrod is busy you might not be able to apply for a rematch in time for the season to end if you lose there," Daisy said. "Zuko will demolish the bugs in Azalea, and Diana will crush them."

"Fair enough," Leo said, nodding. The two fell silent for a moment longer before Leo had enough, and finally spoke his mind. "By the way, when you get done with your journey to the Tohjo falls, you should go visit Gary."

Daisy winced at the comment, and glared at him a little. He, however, didn't care and met her gaze.

"I don't need you guilt-tripping me," she hissed.

"Obviously you do since you haven't gone back to Pallet in over a year now. To my knowledge at least. Family is family, Daisy. I don't care why you haven't gone back yet but you should at least drop by every once in a while to visit Gary," he said bluntly. Daisy glared at him for a moment longer then let her shoulders sag.

"I know. I was planning on visiting the Ranch once the league season ended," she said softly.

"See that you do," he said with a nod, standing up. "On that note, though, I should probably think about leaving soon. The snow's already let up and the weather forecast says the skies should clear by this afternoon. I'd rather get a good enough head start." He said.

"You sure you don't want me to fly you to Azalea?" Daisy asked, and Leo hesitated before he could immediately say no. "It's not too far out of the way, and Pidgeot won't mind,"

Victoria had told him to quit messing around…and, quite frankly, the whole "travel Johto on foot" no longer held the same appeal that it had before with winter quickly setting in. That, and, if he was honest, that was more of a personal preference than anything else. He just loved the idea of wandering through Johto, seeing the sights. It'd been so beautiful so far.

"If you don't mind," Leo said with a sigh, shoving his mental protests to the idea to the side and shaking his head. "It'd be far dumber of me to not accept honestly. I was just being stubborn when I said no before," Daisy smiled at him.

"You? Stubborn? Never. Prepare for the cold though – it won't be a strictly comfortable flight," she warned. "We'll leave once the weather clears up though. Once the cloud cover breaks Pidgeot will be able to get us to Azalea in a few hours, max, though we may need to land to spend the night if it gets too dark," Leo nodded and rolled his shoulders, already counting his money and considering his current clothes in his head.

He might need a better coat for this, but good coats were expensive. Well, at least once I get my shopping done that means I can dedicate the rest of my time to training or research. He added mentally, then agreed to meet up in front of the Center in a few hours, once the skies cleared up, and headed off towards the nearest clothing store. Hopefully some good scarves or something would work, too.

Pidgeot landed in a flutter of feathers, Leo shivering uncontrollably as he slid off the giant avian's back and immediately released Zuko. The Quilava took one look at his trainer and proceeded to worm his way up underneath his newly-bought jacket – it was long and made of mareep wool, reaching down to his knees – and wiggling up through it until his head popped out of the collar, his nose sticking up into Leo's chin.

"Quiiiillll," he cooed, his high body temperature immediately making Leo feel better. He sighed and wrapped his arms around Zuko, still shivering.

"H-help me get a f-f-fire started," Daisy said through chattering teeth, sliding off Pidgeot who looked down at the two humans with disdain, as if to say "this little bit of cold bothers you?" Leo decided he didn't like the bird anymore, then and there.

"Okay," Leo grunted, Zuko sliding out of his coat as he stood and set about helping start a fire. With the light slowly fading he had to work quickly – he didn't want to be without a fire in the Ilex forest. There was just something about this place that set him on edge – perhaps it was the mist that perpetually filtered through the trees, perhaps it was the way the trees groaned and moaned in the windless night…

Whatever it was, the forest put him on edge. And he wasn't one who shied away from the wild, or saw phantoms in the dark. After all, he knew what phantoms were. He had one in his pocket.

Wish the cloud cover broke earlier. I would've liked to make Azalea today. Leo thought icily to himself as he struck his flint and steel together, the shower of sparks hitting the kindling of the fire and igniting. He could've had Zuko start the fire, or Daisy's Ponyta, who was out and standing next to Daisy to help stave off the cold, but he needed to practice his survival skills; especially in situations like this where he was shivering and shaking to the point he could barely hold his knife right.

He'd hate to be separated from Zuko somehow and be unable to start a fire because he couldn't control his hands. And considering he'd randomly appeared in the middle of nowhere before, he figured his concern was founded.

"Aren't you going to toss more wood on there?" Daisy asked, her chattering having subsided as she draped herself over Ponyta, who whinnied at her.

"No," Leo muttered, checking the thermometer he had strapped to the outside of his pack and wincing. It was already five degrees, and the sun had just set, the sky turning the dull grey color that came just before the night sky rose. It would probably reach the negatives tonight. "A few small fires will do more than one big fire. We can get closer to them, and they'll put off more relative heat than one big one. You can't get close enough to the big ones to get all the heat you need,"

"Huh," Daisy said. "Good to know. Do you need more firewood?" she asked, watching as her Meganium and Clefairy trundled out of the surrounding woods with a mouthful and armful of sticks, respectively.

"Yeah, if we want to keep at least one fire going," Leo responded, cursing as he fumbled with the striker. A sudden shiver had him jerking as he struck the blade against the striker, and familiar black tendrils shot out of his pocket to steady his hands, protecting his fingers from the blade. Spiritomb whispered in his ear, almost chidingly, and he murmured his thanks, finally getting the second fire going. He had started them far enough apart that Daisy and him could sleep between them – hopefully it worked as well as he imagined it would. With two people it was different.

Eventually the two settled down in their respective sleeping bags, Leo snuggling with Zuko and having stuffed his bag with clothes and blankets for extra layers, and cursing his stupid self for forgetting his tent. He didn't even remember where it had vanished to, the little one-person tent he'd had when he entered the Silver Mountains. Stupid thing had just…up and vanished one day.

"We'll get an early start in the morning, it should be just a few more hours to Azalea," Daisy said from her own bedroll and pile of blankets. "So try to get some sleep," Leo grunted but didn't respond, eyes glued instead to the tall pines that surrounded them, the shadows dancing in the firelight. It felt like something was watching them.

"I don't like this forest," he said aloud, frowning. "It feels…sinister. I know it shouldn't, that there's very little out there that will actually come to hurt us, but…maybe it's just my paranoia acting up,"

"You? Afraid of a forest? First time for everything I guess," Daisy said with a laugh, rolling over so her back was facing him. "There's nothing out there, especially not with Zuko, Ponyta, Meganium, and Pidgeot around. Except for, of course, evil spirits. The ancient Azalean people used to perform rituals to appease them, you know," she teased softly.

Leo just frowned and lay still, quietly trying to force himself to sleep. Long after Daisy had fallen asleep he lay awake, staring at the sky and humming the bellossom song to himself. It always made him feel better. Clefairy, who sat bundled up next to Daisy, whistled to him and began softly singing the fairy song, Leo joining in even as he drifted off into a light slumber.

He dreamt of many things. He dreamt of shadows merging, of pokémon battles, of Spiritomb piecing itself together after having been broken like a puzzle, and of a thousand other things that he couldn't remember. It was thanks to his tossing and turning and the vivid dreams he had that he woke when he did, eyes snapping open to behold the brilliant night sky. A thousand stars twinkled through the twisting claws of the Ilex forest's pine trees, overshadowed though they were by the myriad of massive red eyes staring down at him from the trunks. His breathing hitched as he and the trees stared back at each other, the branches moving slowly in ways reminiscent of limbs.

This was no bloody forest. This was a trevenant grove. How did he keep ending up in these situations?!

Spiritomb whispered frantically in his ears as he slowly, carefully, extricated himself from the sleeping bag, the trevenant watching his every move but not acting against him. Zuko twitched in his sleep, the quilava having burrowed deeper into Leo's sleeping bag at some point, but remained asleep. Leo let him have his rest. There was little he could do against an entire trevenant grove at his current level.

"Show yourself, Spiritomb, but be slow and careful about it. We need to show we're not a threat," Leo whispered, feeling his ghostly friend's panic through his own emotions. There was a part of him that agreed with Spiritomb and wanted to flee immediately, and part that wanted to fight the trees off, as foolish as that sounded. His common sense won out though. Neither of those options were ideal – the ghosts were already too close.

Spiritomb slowly snaked its way out of his pocket, its green eyes wide and maw open wide in preparation for battle. The trees groaned and creaked as Leo glanced towards the still-sleeping Daisy, opening his mouth to try and wake her with a whisper. He was afraid that any loud noises that he made would set off the trevenant, but she was a powerful trainer. He needed her awake and aware if the trevenant did want to try anything.

Just because he'd had good luck getting out of intense situations like these before didn't mean he wanted to continue testing his luck.

"Calm down, they're peaceful," a softy, feminine voice echoed out from behind him. The trevenent groaned as their eyes flickered then faded, their clawed hands fading back into branches as Leo slowly turned, coming face-to-face with a green face and wide blue eyes. He remained stock still as the Celebi grinned at him, bee-like wings flitting rapidly in the dim firelight as it – she, the voice was definitely female – observed him.

"Hello," Leo said dumbly. Celebi giggled.

"Hello, little Lion," she said, buzzing a little higher into the air, then glancing at the sleeping Daisy. "Follow me. I don't want to wake the little flower," she continued, and buzzed off into the darkness.

Leo glanced at Daisy, at the still-sleeping Zuko, considered the utterly confused whispers of Spiritomb, and finally looked at the trees that he now knew were trevenant.

"The trees were merely curious, not malicious. Fairy-songs are not common in this forest. She will be safe there," Celebi promised, her voice echoing oddly in both his ears and ringing in his head. Leo hesitated for just a moment longer before bending and picking up his jacket from where it lay bunched up in his sleeping bag – the removal of said garment from the pile not disturbing Zuko in the slightest – and slipped it on as he followed after the legendary pokémon, his emotions oddly calm.

It was, quite frankly, about time that a legendary came to talk to him. He'd been ready for an explanation for years, and Articuno hadn't exactly seemed like the best conversationalist.

"Winter is quite the interesting talker, once you get to know him. His offspring are more fickle but Winter himself, the original bird, has many stories and secrets to tell. There is more to the winter than just cold and snow," Celebi said, apparently reading his thoughts.

"I knew there was more than one," Leo muttered, not even bothering to feel surprised that Celebi knew what he was thinking, instead fixating his gaze on the little things that gave him some idea of the being he was now faced with.

Its power wasn't some grandiose feeling that pressed down on him from all sides – not like the Pressure from Articuno – but rather in the way the grass beneath his feet – shoeless though he was, his mareep wool socks were plenty warm and the grass thankfully wasn't wet – brightened up and turned towards Celebi as the green onion-bee thing passed, and in the way the wind slowed to a gentle breeze nearby.

The trees fell silent, their creaks and groans ceasing as Celebi grew near as if in respect to the legendary's presence. It was still fall, of course, nearly winter, and the plants did not liven up simply because Celebi was here. Instead the grass simply appeared…fuller, in the dark night, the bushes the two passed seeming to grow healthier as if they gained more nutrients simply from her presence. It was…odd, because words could not fully describe how a plant could suddenly look fatter, ready to hibernate for the winter like a bear might.

A spinarak skittered across Leo's foot as he walked, the bug-type paying neither Leo nor Celebi any mind as it vanished off into the night, giving him a bit of a fright.

"So," Leo began, breaking the sacred silence that had fallen over the forest.

"Make sure you know your question before you ask it," Celebi answered over her shoulder, buzzing up into the air and peering through the branches of a set of trees. Leo squinted and looked through the gap as well, a singular star outlined amongst the pine needles.

"Why am I here? Why were Jack and I brought here?" Leo blurted.

"Didn't you already get that question answered?" she asked rhetorically. He sighed and scratched the back of his head, recalling the visions he'd had when unlocking Spiritomb. Yes, he did recall the endless Void, yes he did recall falling through the barrier between dimensions…but had it really been an accident? His gut told him yes, but his mind…it argued otherwise. Things like this didn't just happen, he wanted to argue. "It was an accident, your arrival in this world. However, just because you are now here does not mean that you don't have a place. You are here now, and no one would deny you your right to existence, your right of choice,"

Leo clicked his mouth shut and just nodded. A part of him had been hoping for some manifest destiny or what-have-you. Travelling between universes by utter accident, due to a fault in the fabric of reality (as he understood it), seemed far more…lackluster in comparison to having been called here, though perhaps just as impressive in its own right.

"Do not be ridiculous. Travelling between worlds in the same universe is no easy feat for a mortal soul – let alone travelling between universes. It is a testament to your own self that you did not shatter under the Pressure," Celebi chided. Leo frowned and pressed one hand against the trunk of a tree, the rough bark grounding him back in reality as a severe sense of vertigo suddenly took hold. A wave of fresh air hit him like a freight train, warmth that had nothing to do with temperature flooding his body and making him grunt. Memories continued to flood through his brain, and for a brief moment he relived his time travelling through the void, as naught but a soul, in excruciating detail.

It took a moment for him to right himself, the fresh air providing a grounding anchor that helped him center himself back in reality – though he was shocked to see that he had proceeded further into the forest during his little "vision fit," or perhaps he had been standing before a shrine the entire time and just hadn't noticed it. The small wooden shrine stood on stilts, raising the structure about four feet off the ground with the slatted doors closed shut despite the burning candles situated on either side of the doorway. The shrine itself was no bigger than Leo's torso, and Celebi settled on the roof of the shrine, staring at him with an amused smile.

"What's this?" Leo asked, raising his eyebrows. A gentle wind rustled the tall pines, pulling brown needles off their branches and sending them fluttering through the air, providing movement to the absolute stillness that surrounded the tiny structure. It appeared as if…frozen in time, not even the flames of the candles flickering as they burned and gave off heat.

"An anchor," Celebi corrected. "A spot which I can always return to, no matter how far I travel in space or in time,"

"Why did you bring me here?" Leo asked, not sure where else to start with his questions. Now that he was actually standing in front of a legendary that was willing to talk to him, his thoughts had become disordered. He didn't know where to start he had so many questions – or perhaps it was just that he didn't know how to phrase them.

"Because you followed me," Celebi answered. Leo scowled at her.

"Don't start with me. Why are you here? Why now? Why did you seek me out?" Leo demanded. Celebi smiled and closed her eyes, the buzzing of her wings freezing in place as the wind picked up, tearing through the trees with a veritable roar that sent a cascade of pine needles fluttering through the air.

"What do you see here?" Celebi asked instead of answering, gesturing widely to the shrine. Leo huffed in annoyance and squinted at the shrine, deciding to humor her for the moment.

"I don't know," he said lamely. Celebi shot him a look that spoke volumes of what she thought of that statement, and he sighed, shaking his head.

"You, who see the nobility of slowpoke and sing to the grasses and fairies of the world, can only see a shrine?" she asked, the tone of her voice sounding more accusing than anything else. Leo grumbled and shrugged, somewhat understanding what she was getting at. There was something here that Celebi wanted him to see, he just had to look for it.

Leo set his shoulders and circled the shrine, examining it closely. Surprisingly it showed little to no signs of wear and tear, appearing very well maintained barring a few scratches and nicks in the stain that kept the weather out of the wood. Little ornate pokémon were carved into the walls, and the candles still glowed with orange light despite sitting very still – Leo saw all this, but didn't know what he was supposed to be seeing.

"What am I supposed to be seeing here?" Leo asked. Celebi was silent for a moment, as if debating whether or not to answer, before she shrugged.

"When I am here, I do not see anything. I experience the world's aura in melodies and song – the trees, the air, the ground, each plays their little symphonies for all to hear, and I choose to listen. That tree there, for example, sings in a rich baritone – I quite like it. Your song is strong, but meanders back and forth like a lazy river, unsure which way to go. How do you experience the world, little Lion?" Celebi explained, flitting up off of the shrine and buzzing about the clearing, humming happily to herself. Her hum did not sound like the droning of a bee, like Leo had expected, but rather rang out like a chorus of voices all singing together, young and old, woman and man, pokémon and human – it was a song that Leo could only define as one that defined time. It was the past, the present, and the future all layered together into one, and listening to that song Leo felt he could almost see his future as well as he recalled his past.

But despite his habit of singing to grass-types, and how he enjoyed playing those songs Leo did not experience the world that way. The world was beautiful, but he did not hear it as nothing but a song.

He glanced down at his coat pocket, where Spiritomb remained absolutely silent. Taking a deep breath, Leo stamped down on all his emotions, allowing his worried and fears to slip away. The concern about getting his next badge, his worry and excitement concerning finally finding a clue about his friend Jack, the talk about Lance and his potential ineptitude at leadership, all of it bled into the background before finally flying from his mind, leaving naught but silence.

Slowly Leo reached out and rested his hand on the shrine, closing his eyes and simply allowing himself to feel. He liked to think he knew himself well, and understood how he really experienced the world. Sure, he could see things, but more importantly he felt them.

His instincts kept him alive in the Silver Mountains, they helped him in earning Tyrus' approval to keep Diana, they led him to befriending Froslass, and guided him in surviving Spiritomb's initial outburst. It was not emotion, simply…a sixth sense sort of feeling that guided him. His gut, if you will. Snorting to himself in amusement, he recalled what Professor Oak had said about him; "smart, but doesn't think things through." If that wasn't the truth, he didn't know what was.

For a solid ten minutes Leo stood there, hand against the shrine and remaining silent, basking the in the peace and quiet, when he felt something. It was small at first, a tingling sensation he thought had been a lack of blood leading to the hand touching the shrine, but it swiftly became apparent that it was something else. There was a…current, beneath his hand, that did not disturb his skin but roiled nonetheless.

"Do not look away," Celebi urged, voice both close and far away at the same time. Leo breathed out, listening to his heart as it slowly beat in his chest, then refocused on the current. He could feel it, all he had to do was touch it…no, he had to let it in. Leo breathed in through his nose, relaxing his body and splaying his fingers against the shrine, not willing or forcing the current to touch him – he already knew that wouldn't work as he had tried it – but rather imagining a hole in his hand that would allow the current in.

Almost immediately images began to dance behind his eyelids, darting across his mind like scenes from a movie. He saw the Silver Mountains, covered in ice and snow as a flock of articuno, led by Articuno itself, raged in the skies above, blizzards drenching the mountains in tens of feet of snow. The scene shifted, the snow gone, but the nevermeltice glacier that contained the ultra-beasts appeared next – or at least a shell of it did. People milled about before the shattered glacier, equipment strewn about as they locked three blue-colored pokeballs away in cases…again the scene shifted, showing Victoria on a hospital bed. It shifted again, and Giovanni battled Lance in a duel for the ages. The Rocket Leader's expression was calm and neutral as his rhyperior shot down Lance's Charizard, the flaming dragon replaced with a beast of colossal stature – its black hide gleaming in the sun of the stadium, jaw-like hands snapping hungrily in the air as its main body, more mouth than body, turned towards its prey ready to consume all in its path.

Leo saw more; a city in flames, a city covered in snow – he saw Lance become crowned champion as a crowd of people, Giovanni among them, turned away from the stage in disgust. Then, finally, the visions slowed, and he found himself looking through the eyes of a woman, cradling the head of a man. He felt her sadness and grief as it tore through her, the man bleeding out in her arms – Leo felt the way it tore her up inside. And when she looked up to see the perpetrators, he saw the infamous red R emblazoned on their shirts, their silhouettes illuminated against a burning house in the background.

He gasped and yanked away from the shrine, putting an immediate end to the visions. His veins burned in his arm as he gasped for breath, the current he had felt not having travelled through him without causing some damage – his palm stinging with a sharp pain as he rested his hands on his knees and wheezed. Leo coughed, hacked, and spluttered for but a few more minutes, his stomach churning with nausea and the pain in his arm slowly receding, when he finally looked up at Celebi.

"What was that?" he wheezed. Celebi smiled at him, giggling.

"Silly, I told you that is an anchor in time. It is a powerful point in space, one I am connected to – it gave you a glimpse of a future, one that may or may not come to pass," Celebi said, nodding gravely.

"You could have warned me," Leo gasped, standing up straight and rolling his shoulder, wincing as the muscles pulled. "That hurt!"

"I asked you what you saw, not what you felt," Celebi said innocently. "Allowing the energy within the shrine to flow through you, therefore connecting you to the Future Sight, was bound to hurt if you touched it," Leo opened his mouth to retort, closed it in frustration, opened it again to tell Celebi off, then thought better of it and grit his teeth. Celebi hadn't told him to touch the shrine, true, but he would have appreciated a warning!

But, more importantly, Leo considered what he saw.

"That…future, do you know what I saw?" he asked. Celebi nodded, and Leo frowned. "Team Rocket rises in response to Lance becoming Champion then?" Celebi shrugged.

"Perhaps. Most likely. What you saw is but one future amongst many – depending on how people choose to act it may come to pass, only pieces may come to pass, or perhaps not at all," Celebi said. Leo frowned, recalling the pain of the woman who lost her…lover? He shuddered, and clutched at his chest as it constricted with grief for a person he did not personally know.

…he felt responsible now. He knew what might be coming, it was his duty to try and change it right? The image of Victoria laying in a hospital bed flashed in his mind once more, and a flash of anger made his blood burn red-hot. As a trainer it was likely you'd end up in the hospital eventually, but at the same time if she wound up in the hospital not due to a training related thing but caused instead by actions from Giovanni or Lance…well, that was just unacceptable.

"How do I stop it from happening?" Leo asked, meeting Celebi's amused gaze with his own determined one. She smiled and just shook her head.

"You cannot," she said simply. Leo stared at her, processing that, and she took that moment of silence to continue. "They have made their choices, they will proceed as they will. The people of Indigo are not wholly susceptible to the whims and actions of one boy, like yourself. Perhaps what you saw will not come to pass, perhaps the people of Indigo will choose a different path – perhaps not. But as you are now, you can do nothing,"

"Then why show me that at all? To taunt me?" Leo demanded, but Celebi just smiled and stared at him, as if waiting for him to figure it out himself. It took him a moment, then it clicked. "Wait, you said 'as I am now.' What did you mean by that?" Celebi giggled.

"Obviously you have to grow stronger," she said.

"You mean training?" Leo asked, frowning. His team did need work, of course. He knew that. He'd been working on it.

"Not just training. What strength means is up to you; will you be the great trainer who travels about, solving problems that others can or will not? Will you be a Champion who guides the region to further greatness? Or perhaps the singer, who seeks to change the world with song?" Celebi asked with a shrug. "The choice is yours,"

"Okay then," Leo grumbled, running a hand through his hair. The last option there was a moot point – he figured Celebi threw that in there as more of a joke than anything else – and the others weren't much better. It was nothing that he didn't know already, albeit with more pressure in the form of that future vision. But he guess he saw the point she was trying to make. "How do I go about that?"

"That, too, is up to you. Though I will say that Alola will be good for you," Celebi nodded sagely, rising up off her shrine with a buzz of her wings. Leo blinked at her as her body started to fade, the air around her rippling with power.

"Wait! I still have more questions! Is Jack ok? I know he's ok, obviously, but I mean – what happened to him? How can I get in contact with him? What about all that stuff about aura? And - " Leo cut himself off and glanced down at his pocket, where Spiritomb's keystone was kept. "How do I help Spiritomb? What is Spiritomb? I know it asked me for help but I have no idea what I'm doing here,"

At the last question Celebi's form ceased to fade, leaving her as a half-translucent image hovering above the shrine which, to Leo's shock, was similarly half-translucent.

"You really wish to know about Spiritomb?" she asked softly. Leo hesitated once more, then nodded.

"Yes, among all the other things I mentioned," he said.

"Your friend is fine where he is – he was not placed in a situation nearly as dangerous as yours. And as for Spiritomb, well, you are not too far off the mark with your thoughts," Celebi said vaguely. "Try to feel it from them – you have the ability, and all things have aura. Feel it out and keep doing what you have been doing. You're doing good so far," she said and vanished, leaving Leo gaping at where she, and her shrine, had once been. Now all that was left in the forest was him, a shaft of silver moonlight filtering through the trees, and pine needles falling from the branches of trees.

"But…huh?" Leo muttered, scratching his head about the whole aura comment. The thing about Jack was reassuring, but until he heard from his friend he would reserve his judgement, so instead he focused on the problem he had in front of him.

Spiritomb, and aura. "I suppose aura is life energy and flows through all living things, so it makes sense that even if I'm dark that I'd be able to sense aura – though maybe I really should take Oak's advice and stop thinking about things in terms of type. He said things like 'dark' and 'psychic' types don't really apply to humans," Leo murmured to himself, becoming increasingly aware of the chill seeping through his coat to stab at the flesh beneath. He shivered and turned, heading back toward camp, rubbing his arms and shaking his head.

He'd never get to sleep after that whole experience.

And he was right, of course.

21

In the end, Leo never told Daisy about his meeting with Celebi. While it was sure to be an interesting conversation with the Professor, the way he saw it that meeting was private, and Daisy wasn't liable to actually believe him all things considered. To her, he was just a twelve-year-old, albeit a strangely smart one. Either way, the next morning the two left for Azalea, the short two-hour flight spent in relative silence; each left to their own thoughts.

Which led them to where they were now; standing outside of the Azalea gym, Daisy's Pidgeot standing proudly next to them as they rubbed their arms in an attempt to return feeling to them. The cold morning air turned to freezing when flying.

"This is as far as I go," Daisy said, squinting up at the tall stadium. Leo nodded, watching a troop of wooper waddle their way from one pond to the next, the decorative water features providing the playful water-types with plenty of room to splash about in.

"Thanks for the ride," Leo said through chattering teeth, nodding to Daisy. "I appreciate the company too. And don't forget to go back to Pallet," he told her.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes mother," she teased. Leo gave her a lopsided grin and waved her off. "You be careful, and make sure to call Victoria once you get your third badge. Bug type gyms may not be overly challenging in these regions, but they make up for that by dragging you down and wearing your team ragged. Oftentimes the test is battles of quantity over quality," she reminded him, laying one hand on Pidgeot's side as the big avian nipped at her hair impatiently.

"Will do. Thanks for the tip," he said, nodding. Daisy smiled and, taking a deep breath, clambered back on Pidgeot.

"See you around," she said, and Pidgeot, with a shriek and flap of its mighty wings, lifted into the sky and disappeared as nothing more than a brown blur in seconds.

Leo watched them go for a moment, frowning slightly, then turned his attention back to the gym. The green paint was faded and chipped, while the large sliding glass doors were covered with what looked like the drawings of toddlers, mostly of bug type pokémon and normal bugs. He idly wondered if that was the work of Bugsy, who was undoubtedly too young to be training at the moment. Leo didn't remember just how old he was in the games, but that was a question for another time. After all, he'd be battling Bugsy's predecessor instead.

He confidently walked into the building, reveling in the wave of warm air that washed over him as he did so, and glanced around the surprisingly busy interior. A dozen or so trainers milled about the lobby, most looking young – almost like rookies with their clean shoes and unmarked clothes. It was a sharp contrast to Leo's already worn clothes and shoes, barring his newly purchased coat. They probably are rookies, trying to get their last badges in before the season ends, he mused, walking up to the front desk where an elderly gentleman with a trim goatee sat, watching him approach.

"How may I help you?" the man asked, eyes flicking to the three pokeballs on Leo's belt.

"I'd like to register for a gym battle of the third badge level," Leo announced. The older man just snorted and extended a hand, accepting Leo's pokedex as form of identification and pulling up his trainer record. His expression remained unchanged as he stared at the screen for a moment, reading something. "Is there an issue?" Leo asked, furrowing his brows.

"Normally I would advise you to not challenge this gym as a Youngster – the current gym leader is staunchly opposed to the Youngster Liscence Law – and while your official battle record leaves much to be desired your gym challenge record is…acceptable," he said, tapping on the table. Leo frowned. There was a lot to unpack there.

"My official battle record?" he asked.

"Yes. Your win loss ratio in official battles. Though you haven't lost a challenge in a gym yet, your ratio is heavily skewed to the losing side," he said, peering at Leo.

"Ah. That. Yeah, I challenge a lot of people above my badge level," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "They're usually pretty nice about it, and even veterans have new pokémon that need training," That he didn't really care about his win loss ratio went unsaid. It was gym challenges and tournament wins that actually mattered for serious trainers.

"Hmm. Well, regardless, let me warn you. This gym challenge will be difficult for you – by law the Leader must give you a fair challenge, but that doesn't mean he won't make it as difficult as possible," he said. "I suggest perhaps going to another gym," Leo frowned at that, rubbing the back of his neck. Did he have time to go to another gym…?

"How difficult are we talking?" he asked instead.

"Difficult. It will be above third badge level," he said.

Leo hummed and considered his options. It would be hard to beat this gym, arguably, but he held a distinct advantage here with both Zuko and Diana having major strengths against the bug type. And while type wasn't everything, at his current level it did make a big difference. On the other hand the only other gym he could reach in time was Goldenrod, and that might be cutting it close. It'd take a good week to hike back to the city unless he managed to get a ride there, and even then it posed a similar problem in that he might not be able to get a rematch…no, his best bet was to try this gym and, if he lost, train as hard as possible so he won the rematch.

"I'll take the gym challenge here," Leo said. "If it is required that the challenge at least be passible, then I still have a shot,"

"Don't say I didn't warn you," the receptionist said with a sigh, typing on the computer for a bit. "The first available test date we have is two days from now, and, assuming you pass, your badge challenge will be a week after that. Gym Leader Art will most likely challenge you personally. If you fail the test, it will be scheduled exactly two days after your initial challenge. If you fail your battle, it will be scheduled three days after your loss. Is this acceptable?" he asked. Leo nodded.

"Yes," he said, and just like that, he had the date for his third gym battle.

The Professor's face flicked to life on the video screen, a kindly grin on his face as he answered the call. Leo had splurged a bit on this video call, paying for a private line in the back of the Pokemon center – something he hadn't known had existed until he asked the Nurse about private calling booths – so the quality of the call was both better, and the small, square room was completely secure, the only occupant being himself, Santiago, and the video booth. He wanted the extra privacy for the conversation he was about to have.

"Hey, Professor," Leo said with a small wave, scratching Santiago's head with his other hand. The slowpoke had placed his front paws on Leo's lap, his head resting on his thighs and tongue lolling out as he panted like a dog, drool soaking Leo's left leg. He didn't mind though.

"Leo, I see you made it to Azalea! Fairly quickly too, by my estimates," Professor Oak said.

"I did. Daisy gave me a ride, then left for the Tohjo falls – heard a rumor about moonstones there and went to go check it out," Leo explained, not even flinching when Santiago turned his head and engulfed his hand in his mouth. Calmly he removed the appendage from the slowpoke's mouth and continued to pet him, the sticky feeling of slowpoke slobber a familiar feeling by now. It wouldn't go away until he washed his hands anyway, there was no point in getting grossed out.

"I see. I do wish she would call every once in a while," the Professor said, shaking his head. Leo snorted.

"I told her to visit the ranch once she got done, made her promise to do so in fact. She should uphold her end of the bargain, I tried to guilt-trip her pretty hard," he said. The Professor smiled at him, then shook his head.

"Thank you, but I doubt you called just to talk about my wayward granddaughter. Is it something with Spiritomb? I must admit I am itching to get another read on it," the Professor said, hands twitching in greed at the thought. "Professor Rowan has been quite helpful in sending me information on the species as well. I'll update your pokedex with the relevant lore next time we meet,"

"No, Spiritomb's fine. I've got a theory on how to improve its cohesion, but I need to test it before I submit any actual thoughts or results to you," Leo said, almost scratching the back of his head with his slimed hand before thinking better of it. Santiago grunted and butted his head against Leo's stomach, demanding more scratches, which Leo obliged.

"Is it about Jack then? I did just receive word from Professor Juniper this morning, she received your letter and will aid in our search for your friend. She was actually very amenable to the idea – she focuses her research on pokémon mythology, you see, and the Alolan myths are among the more observable of all the regions," he continued. "I sent your letter to her via email the moment I got the response. All I needed was for you to call to tell you the news,"

"Really? That's great!" Leo beamed. "Keep me updated on that, but it's not about that either,"

"Hmm? Then what is it? Training advice? Want me to come watch your gym battle? Or – oh, have you visited the slowpoke well yet? I highly recommend that," the Professor continued, Leo's grin widening as he continually spat out thoughts. He was having fun building up the suspense like this, considering what he had to tell the Professor.

"No, but the slowpoke well is a good idea. I'll put that on the list," Leo said, nodding and scratching his chin thoughtfully. That was where a King's Rock was located in the games, which meant that, if Santiago was ready for evolution, he could potentially evolve. That was assuming his starter was ready for that. Leo…wasn't actually sure of that answer.

"Well don't keep me waiting. There are tauros pens that need mucking," the Professor said, and Leo waved his hand dismissively.

"Isn't that what you keep Gary around for? Make him do the mucking," he said, and the Professor laughed. "No, the reason I called you is because I met Celebi in the Ilex Forest last night," he said in the most casual tone he possibly could.

Leo had been expecting more of a response from the Professor. Maybe something like when he showed him the Articuno scans – a knee jerk "you what?" sort of reaction followed by excitement or shock. He hadn't been expecting the slow blink, frown, and for Oak to lean back in his chair and simply motion for Leo to continue.

Leo wet his lips, caught off guard a little, and regaled the Professor with as much detail as he could…leaving out some bits and pieces of the Future Sight that he could only vaguely recall. It had been a lot to throw at him, after all, and his memory wasn't perfect. Santiago, of course, occasionally interrupted the storytelling when Leo got too distracted and stopped petting him – groaning loudly until he resumed the scratching of the slowpoke's ears.

In the silence that followed the conclusion of the story, Leo found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable. The Professor was simply staring at him expressionlessly, his eyes seeming to bore straight into Leo's as if all his secrets were laid bare.

"You're not joking, I see," he said, and Leo shook his head. The Professor sighed and ran a hand through his greying hair. "I expected you to run into a Legendary eventually but not so soon. Most who are capable of sensing aura beyond what the average person is capable of will at some point. Your…vision, while concerning, isn't unexpected. Many Kantoan gym leaders have voiced their concern over Lance's rise to Champion, Giovanni among them. But unlike what you seem to think Giovanni is not the leading cause of this discontent, nor is Lance wholly to blame. They are just the current figureheads of the two political sides of the coin,"

All of that Leo could see, and he felt almost ashamed to have phrased the vision in such a way that it seemed like Giovanni, and to a lesser extent, Lance, were the cruxes of the potential issues he'd seen. If his learning in the history and politics of Johto and Kanto were any proof, it was that the problems behind the current…potentially tumultuous political situation in the Indigo League were far deeper than issues between two men. Remove either and another was likely to take their place. Which, he realized with slowly dawning horror, was why Celebi told him there was nothing he could really do.

Even if he could go challenge Giovanni or discredit the man by revealing the existence of Team Rocket (who he still had heard nothing about, suspicious as that was) Leo could not oppose all of those who sided with him. Nor did he know who those people were.

Still, one thing about Oak's speech did stick out to Leo beyond the political side of things, and that ended up being what he voiced his comment on.

"You believe in aura?" Leo asked suspiciously. Most scientists he'd met from his old world almost violently opposed esoteric concepts like aura or qi – which were essentially the same concept if Leo's understanding was correct – whenever said subjects were brought up. The same could be said about certain religious groups of course, but only the former was currently relevant. Oak casually mentioning aura like that threw Leo off.

"You have some funny misconceptions about what a researcher like myself does, Leo," the Professor said, amusement coloring his voice as Merri, his Alakazam, poked her head over his shoulder to smile at Leo. "Most regional Professors agree that some concept like aura exists, even if we cannot observe its fundamental, physical form in most capacities and disagree on its base functions. Where do you think pokémon get their abilities from? What about the energy from evolution? Or why do new species of pokémon appear at random, like magnemite did once power plants started being built en mass? Our best guess is that it stems from aura somehow – the fundamental, binding energy of the universe,"

"That's…" Leo started, trailing off when he realized he didn't know what to say. Vaguely he recalled an anime episode where the Lumoise City gym leader in Kalos was measuring energy output between Ash and Greninja, and he furrowed his brows in confusion. "You can't observe it?"

"Yes and no. We can detect and observe certain forms of aura – such as electricity, energy from evolution, or even, arguably, the power from the Alolan Z-moves, but the true base form of aura is beyond the grasp of modern technology. Despite there being people who can see, hear, smell, or feel it. All energy is, allegedly, a different expression of this aural building block," the Professor explained. "Though I will admit I am biased towards this theory, as other researchers doubt that is the case,"

"Biased how?" Leo asked. The Professor was many things, but Leo did not count biased among them.

"I can see aura to some degree. It's not actually much, but it's enough," he said, tapping the side of his head with a knowing smile. "It's what helped me get to where I am today, in the forefront of researchers investigating pokémon-human relations," If Leo's jaw could have dropped any further, it would have. As it was he felt like it was about to fall off. The Professor could see aura?! What in the blue blazes?!

Oak chuckled at Leo's expression. "Just don't expect to be going around throwing 'aura spheres' around just because you can feel aura now. That kind of thing is a storybook fantasy. It will, however, help you grow closer to your pokémon in a way you cannot imagine,"

"How so?" Leo blurted, mind reeling.

"Well I can't prove it scientifically yet, but the bond between pokémon and human is aura-based in nature. Think of it like a symbiotic relationship – we connect our human aura to theirs, and fuel their growth. That's why trained pokémon tend to be stronger, smarter, and evolve quicker than those in the wild. On the flip side, the pokémon aid us in the growth of our aura – though the effects are far less noticeable with the exception of psychics trainers, whose power grows marginally alongside their pokémon. I'm still researching the nature of aural growth outside of psychicsy, so I hope you don't mind if I use you as a case study. Not that you actually have a choice, since I gave you a pokedex and shelter for two years," the Professor teased, tone hinting that he was just giving Leo a hard time.

"Fair. The guilt tripping was unnecessary, but fair," Leo said, shaking his head and allowing a grin to overtake his face.

"I guess what I'm trying to get at with this long-winded speech of mine is this – don't worry too much about what's out of your control, and that aura, while cool and the subject of many myths and stories, is not going to give you superpowers," Oak said simply. Leo huffed and nodded, scratching the back of his head. Telling him not to worry was a fool's errand, however; those visions were sure to keep him up at night for a while yet. Either way, Oak was right in that there was little Leo could do – in fact, the only way forward he could see now was to train harder and get stronger. Strong enough that people might listen to him, or he could at least better protect those he cared about, as cliché as that sounded.

Further training was, honestly, the only way he would be able to have an impact on the things to come. I really will have to kick it up a notch. He thought, jaw setting as the image of Victoria on a hospital bed flashed through his mind, as well as thoughts of what may happen to the rest of the Oak family. Then he shook his head and smiled at the Professor, changing the topic to lighter topics. It may take some time for my team to get strong enough, but there's no way I can just sit back and let bad things happen. Especially since I think I know what might be coming. Stupid sense of responsibility. Why must you make things so hard?

Azalea was truly a beautiful city, Leo thought as he walked through the outskirts with a purpose. The inner city itself was your typical fare – with tall buildings and too many people intermixed with pokémon of all sizes – but the outskirts made it plain and clear that this was the home of generations of bug-and-grass-type masters. Pines lined the roads, silken threads from Kakuna and Metapod populations that made the trees their home lining the lower branches and giving them an almost gothic look. Butterfree flapped through the air, the scales that fell from their wings glimmering in the mid-morning sun, while a lone Ariados eyed them from a bush that poorly hid its large red body. None of the civilians seemed to mind the giant red spider either, simply passing the bush by without a care in the world – it was likely a trained 'mon.

Leo was heading to the Slowpoke well, given that there were a few hours left in the day after his talk with Oak and some training in one of the Center's private training fields. He wasn't sure what he'd find there – he doubted it was like the games, where a King's Rock was waiting in the very back of the cave for the player to get – but considering that it was the one place in the entirety of the games dedicated solely to Slowpoke as a species he was hoping it would have something for Santiago.

The gem from Longinus' crown could only go so far, after all. Santiago hardly reacted at seeing the psychic gem anymore, and Leo couldn't figure out what else it might be good for yet besides sentiment. He was sure there was something, though.

A Ledyba buzzed by Leo's head as he walked, circling back around and staring at him curiously, its little white hands clenching and unclenching as the bug watched him, before it buzzed off towards a playground covered in screeching children and brightly colored flowers – where the drone of regular bugs was loudest. Leo swatted at a fly that buzzed in his ear. A part of him knew that bugs were important for the ecosystem, as bug type pokemon couldn't fill all roles that regular bugs could, but another part of him wished they didn't. Flies were annoying.

Still, despite his distraction with observing the city, Leo soon found himself leaving the outskirts of town – marked by a tall green hedge that, if Leo were to hedge his bets, was home to even more bug-type pokémon – with the Slowpoke Well on the horizon. It took another thirty minutes of walking to reach the well – situated next to a small, mesa-like rise in the forest outside of the city limits in a clearing of trees. The grey-stones and red-roofed well cover were clearly worn from age, paint chipping from the "roof" tiles while a copper plaque, turned green from years outside in the weather, told a small folktale from hundreds of years ago.

"Supposedly Azalea was saved by the Slowpoke who once inhabited this area, because they brought rains that ended a drought," Leo muttered to himself, fingers tracing the lettering. He leaned over the edge of the well – calling it a well was a bit of a misnomer, though, because the townspeople didn't actually draw water from it out of respect for the Slowpoke population that inhabited it – and peered down into the darkness below where the sounds of dripping water echoed.

"Great, enter at your own peril indeed," he muttered, testing the wooden ladder that led into the depths of the well and recalling the Nurse Joy's words to him when he had asked her for directions. She hadn't seemed thrilled at the idea of him coming here, but…well, disapproval hadn't stopped him before, much less from someone he didn't know. "Down we go," he grumbled, and slowly descended into the well, placing each foot carefully on the ladder rungs.

His hiking boots splashed in a small puddle of water on the stone floor, goosebumps running up his arms from the chill. He flicked on a flashlight and let Santiago out of his pokeball, the Slowpoke immediately perking up at their surroundings, his pink head swiveling back and forth and nostrils flaring. A low whine rumbled out from the back of his throat and Leo bent to lay a hand on his starter's head.

"Hey buddy. You sensing where we are?" he muttered, vague hope blossoming in his chest. Santiago didn't respond, staring into a wide passage, tall enough for a grown adult to easily walk through, with blue light gently shining from his eyes. "Alright, let's go," he said, and trudged forward, flashlight trailing the slick cave walls. Santiago followed behind him sedately, quiet, but alert. Not once did he get distracted or stop to sniff at something, or just lay down because he was feeling lazy.

That, in and of itself, was an impressive change from his normal behavior.

Maybe twenty feet into the passage the cave opened up into a massive cavern so large the light from Leo's flashlight could not reach the far end, and only barely glinted off the long stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. Long pools of water sat like ominous patches of inky blackness all across the ground in front of him, with no telling how deep they went or what was contained within. For a moment Leo did nothing, not even following the beaten path that led further into the cave – undoubtedly created by centuries of visitors. He just stood there, unsure of what to do next.

A rock moved off to his right and he jumped, whipping his head and flashlight around to find, lo and behold, a Slowpoke staring at him.

"Sloooow?" it said, tilting its head to the side curiously, large eyes staring unblinking at Leo.

"Pooooke," Santiago responded, his call prompting dozens of responses from deeper in the cavern. Glowing blue eyes blinked open in the darkness, sitting atop large mounds and all turned towards the intruders in the cavern. "Sloooow," Santiago called again, though the eyes showed no change.

Sweat beaded on the back of Leo's neck as he met the gaze of several dozen Slowpoke, all staring directly at him and flaring their psychic powers. The Slowpoke in this well were supposed to be harmless…weren't they?

After a few tense moments, during which time Santiago never left his side, the glowing eyes faded as the Slowpoke lost interest, and Leo let out a sigh of relief. That had been far more intense than he had been expecting for an introduction. Was it because Santiago was a foreigner, by all rights, and the Slowpoke had wanted to see if he was a threat? He shook those thoughts from his head and continued forward, letting Santiago take the lead this time as his partner nudged his way forward, pushing past Leo and ambling along the trail.

Dripping water echoed through the chambers, the only sound beside the occasional shuffling or call from a Slowpoke and Leo's own footsteps. Santiago forged on ahead, leading the way further into the caverns despite Leo occasionally stopping to admire some of the cave formations. Stalactites and stalagmites hung from the ceiling and rose from the floor, while the dark water pools remained utterly calm in the silence of the cavern. Leo could almost imagine meeting some monstrosity from a fairy tale down here…he shuddered and shook his head, dismissing the notion and rising from where he was examining a pool of water, imagining a giant tentacle rising from it, covered in suction cups and dripping water.

Sometimes having an overactive imagination wasn't the greatest thing in the world.

"Where are you going, buddy?" Leo asked in a stage whisper, walking quickly – albeit carefully on the slick rocky ground – to catch up to Santiago, who was slowly climbing up a rocky mound. Leo was starting to get a little worried. The path was still plain and clear, but he had absolutely no desire to go off said path and wind up lost in this cave. That wouldn't end well.

"Sloooow," Santiago replied, slipping on a particularly slick patch of stone as he struggled his way up.

"Oh, gee, thanks, that clears everything right up," Leo grumbled, rubbing his face with his free hand and slowly climbing up as well. They wandered about the cavern for at least ten minutes – not covering a lot of ground due to Santiago's lack of speed, Leo's caution, and the trail winding back and forth around the deep pools in the center – before finally coming to the end of the trail, where it led straight into a long pool of water.

Santiago walked straight up to the water's edge and peered into it while Leo looked around, not content to think this was the extent of the well.

There was a second floor to this thing in the games. Leo mused, twisting his head this way and that and, to his surprise, spotting the light from the entrance off to his right. At least I'll be able to find my way out that way. He thought, fixating his gaze on three Slowpoke that lounged lazily nearby.

"Sloooow," Santiago called, sniffing and snorting as he stood by the edge of the water.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked, moving over to crouch next to him. Santiago glanced at him briefly and he sucked in a breath at the harsh blue glow that burned in Santiago's eyes – a glow that was mirrored in the water before them. A giant Slowbro emerged with nary a ripple from the placid waters, its greying, scarred hide glistening in the light of Leo's flashlight and glowing blue eyes locked onto the duo unblinkingly. Its expression was as intense as a Slowbro's expression could be – the dopey smile replaced by an intense frown, even as its jaws still hung open, its tongue lolling.

Leo immediately stood and splayed his free hand in a non-threatening manner, making sure the light from his flashlight wasn't pointed towards the Slowbro's eyes.

"Brooooo," the Slowbro called, ignoring Leo in favor of Santiago. The rest of the Slowpoke in the cavern responded with low calls of their own, and Santiago responded with a simple grunt. The two locked eyes, and did absolutely nothing else.

It wasn't very exciting at all, despite the implications of the aging Slowbro appearing. As their name implied, the Slowpoke line was almost universally uninclined to do thing with any speed – with the exception of Santiago, who was always quick to jump into battle. Which meant Leo was standing there for a solid ten minutes while the Slowbro and Santiago stared at each other before anything actually happened, the chill of the cavern seeping through his clothes, and the dripping water and slowly shuffling Slowpoke the only noise to accompany him.

He had been kneeling next to a particularly curious Slowpoke that had approached – it was exceptionally dull even for its species, having bumped into his leg and stared up at him as if wondering when he got there – when something finally did happen. There was a burst of power that washed over Leo, water droplets flying through the air and stinging his face, emanating from the Slowbro as it rumbled dangerously. Santiago growled back, squaring his feet and eyes burning with psychic power. Another massive blast from the Slowbro had Leo reeling back on his heels, the Slowpoke he had been petting merely cocking its head to the side in confusion, not even realizing the war of psychic powers going on in front of it.

Santiago launched himself forward, skull aglow with psychic energy as he bashed it into the stomach of Slowbro, doubling it over with the force of the strike. Slowbro whirled, bashing Santiago with its spikey tail, but he remained unmoved, a jet of water blasting up into Slowbro's face and temporarily blinding the beast. A short burst of psychic power blasted from Santiago in a straight line at Slowbro, only visible from the way water droplets flew off of Slowbro's body in a glimmering arc in the light of Leo's flashlight.

Slowbro reared back and roared, a massive ball of water forming in its maw that vibrated and pulsated with rhythmic power, the water pulse far bigger than anything Santiago had ever created. Leo opened his mouth to give a command – Santiago was too close to be able to take that attack head-on, so he had to counter it somehow – but his starter beat him to the punch.

Another concentrated burst of psychic energy deformed the water pulse as it formed, a concave indent forming that was swiftly pierced by a thin jet of water – the water gun bursting the bubble violently. Leo shielded his eyes from the spray, standing and taking a few steps back from the ensuing battle and nearly tripping over yet another Slowpoke that had laid down behind him. He took the risk of turning his eyes away from Santiago's battle to scan his surroundings, only to stare in surprise. When had he been surrounded by Slowpoke? A loud thud had Leo turning back to the battle, Santiago sent stumbling by Slowbro's fist.

Slowbro roared and spat a stream of bubbles at Santiago, who tanked the violently exploding bubblebeam without even flinching and responded with a water gun that pierced straight through the bubbles to splash harmlessly against Slowbro's belly. This was bound to be a war of attrition and, if Leo's guess about this Slowbro was right, one that Santiago was bound to lose if he didn't pull off some miracle. Slowbro probably knew heal pulse, after all.

Leo opened his mouth to give a command, but found the words stuck in his throat as Santiago barreled forward, smashing his thick skull into Slowbro's leg and sending the behemoth down onto one knee. The tell-tale glow of curse suffused Santiago as Slowbro once again punched him, grunting in pain this time. He wanted to intervene, but…something told him not to. There was definitely something about this place that, while it didn't hold the same awe-inspiring wonder and mysticism of Celebi's shrine, it did inspire a sense of respect.

Whatever this was, it didn't feel like a normal battle. But that could be just him projecting his desires onto the situation. Santiago could have, in all honesty, just picked a fight rather than this being some rite of passage thing. Either way Leo would stay out of it. This was Santiago's problem to solve. He wouldn't take the risk of intervening unless Santiago was going to get seriously hurt.

Santiago tanked another blow from Slowbro, still glowing with the energy of curse, then suddenly burst into action, raising his head just as Slowbro brought its fist down one more time, flesh meeting the thick bone of Santiago's skull with a resounding crack. Slowbro grunted in pain, recoiling and staring dumbly at its obviously mangled hand – and the pink glow of heal pulse began to emanate from it.

Then Santiago made his move – his eyes flashed red, just briefly, and Slowbro found itself rendered immobile by disable, albeit temporarily.

It was a chance Santiago did not capitalize on, instead backing off and calling lowly to the Slowbro who, now freed of disable, continued to heal its broken hand. Then, ever so slowly, it turned back to Santiago and opened its maw once more, a water pulse forming in its mouth. Santiago's eyes flashed red again, disabling the attack and responding with a water pulse of his own, then waited for Slowbro to respond. It tried once more, and the process repeated itself once. Then twice. Then thrice. It took seven whole tries for Slowbro to finally get the picture – that Santiago could cancel its attacks and just wail on it in the meantime.

Though he was obviously wearing thin on his uses of disable. He'd gotten pretty good at it recently but it was still taxing on him, and would be hard to consistently use until he evolved.

Slowbro blinked slowly at Santiago, water dripping from its open mouth and cocked its head to the side. "Sloooow?" it asked.

"Sloooooooow," Santiago responded.

"Pooooooooke," the legions of Slowpoke gathered around Leo responded, almost rattling the cavern with the sound of their voices. Leo blinked and swung his flashlight around again, eyebrows raising high into the air upon noticing the number of Slowpoke around him had at least tripled. Since when were these little pink buttheads so stealthy?

Slowbro rose up to its full height and bobbed its head up and down, clearly unharmed despite the many attacks Santiago had pushed upon it – or perhaps that was the work of the heal pulse it had used. Either way, in a war of attrition it was clear to Leo that Slowbro would have won the battle. The gap evolution made between the two was too big, and neither had a reliable way to damage the other (which made Leo really want to give Santiago the shadow ball TM he had received from Morty, for added versatility). So Slowbro would have won by sheer tankiness alone.

What Santiago did was outsmart the Slowbro.

It was clever, the trick he pulled with disable, fooling Slowbro into thinking it was helpless against Santiago, and the thought made Leo's heart swell with pride. His starter was finally starting to grow up. Queen would be so proud.

Another bellow from Slowbro had the entire cavern echoing his call, Leo wincing at the noise as he slowly and carefully approached Santiago, his starter never having looked away from Slowbro, the latter of whom fixated its gaze on Leo blankly. He knelt next to his starter and laid a hand on his head, scratching his head fondly and eyeing the massive Slowbro. It was truly an impressive specimen, bigger than any other Slowbro he'd seen. It was too bad he wouldn't be able to see the beast in full sunlight – he was sure it was a sight to behold.

Slowbro's eyes suddenly began to glow with a furious blue light, eyes narrowing dangerously and a low growl rumbling in the back of its throat as it stared at Leo, who blinked at it in surprise. Psychic power pressed at his mind angrily and, after a moment's consideration, Leo refused the Slowbro entry. It didn't feel very friendly.

It blinked, then growled again, water bubbling in the back of its throat, and Leo's eyes narrowed as his heartrate skyrocketed.

"Hey," he protested, splaying his hands, but his intervention was unnecessary. With a furious wail Spiritomb made its presence known, the pitch black of the cave roiling in the light of Leo's flashlight, the ghost in its home turf now. Slowbro recoiled reflexively as a strand of black shadow wrapped around its torso and legs, glowing green eyes appearing in the dark and glaring furiously at Leo's would-be attacker.

Slowbro stumbled backwards as Spiritomb screeched again, wisps of ghostly purple energy, only visible due to the pitch-black surroundings of the cave, filling the air.

Santiago chuffed in irritation and spat a jet of water into Spiritomb's face, halting any further retaliation as the ghost blinked at him in surprise, even as Leo patted his pocket and whispered soothingly to the keystone therein. He appreciated the ghost's intervention, he did, but he also didn't want to pick a fight with the entirety of the Slowpoke well, despite Slowbro apparently taking issue with his presence. Had it just not seen Leo earlier, or had it forgotten he was here altogether?

"Calm, I'm not here to interrupt or harm you," Leo whispered in his best soothing voice, keeping his voice down. "But Santiago is my pokémon, and I am allowed to support him,"

Slowbro stared at him for a moment longer before snorting and turning on its metaphorical heels, grunting repeatedly as it slid into the water. In an eerily synchronized movement all the Slowpoke stood and ambled forward into the water Slowbro had disappeared into, each slipping into the inky black pool and swimming off into the darkness. Leo watched silently until the last one entered the water, and he was gently pushed forward by Santiago butting his head against his back.

"What? You want to follow?" Leo asked. Santiago grunted and shoved once more, sending Leo onto his hands and knees from the force. He glared at his starter, then looked back at the water. But….but…this was going to suck, wasn't it? The water would be so cold. "I hope you know what you're doing," Leo grumbled, slipping off his backpack and setting it next to the cavern wall, along with his jacket. He wanted something warm and dry for when he got out of the water.

Santiago grunted again and ambled into the water, turning around to wait patiently for Leo, only his eyes visible above the waterline like some absurd pink crocodile. Leo shivered, suppressed his paranoid imagination, and stepped into the frigid waters with a shiver and his flashlight clenched tightly in one hand. With a firm grasp he gripped onto Santiago's tail, his starter presenting the appendage for him, and allowed himself to be drug along the water's surface deeper into the cave, through a water channel where paths did not lead. As the cold firmly settled in he shuddered, thanking the legendaries above that he had a fire-type to warm him up later, and praying to those same legendaries that whatever was down in these caverns was worth it.

It was worth it. Five minutes of swimming, another disagreement with the Slowbro that was swiftly resolved by Santiago alone this time, and a gently sloping path leading further underground later and Leo could safely say that despite his constant shivering and incessant cold, it was absolutely worth it to be down here.

This was no mere well. This was a mausoleum.

Graves built exactly like the one Longinus, Archibald Oak's champion Slowking, had been buried in minus the ice, lined the small inner cavern. There were at least twenty in total, built with methodically stacked, flat stones. The battle-scarred Slowbro and multitude of Slowpoke accompanying them dared not enter the room further, standing at the entrance to the small room as Leo and Santiago entered, the former of whom gawked at the graves.

It took him a moment, but eventually he spotted the carvings on the walls, naming the graves of Kings long past. King Meiji. King Akihito. King Shinichi. More names, placed above carvings of various Slowking of different builds dotted the walls, each perfectly legible even in the dim light of Leo's flashlight. Metal torch holders, devoid of torches, were nailed into the ground at the base of each grave, marking the presence of humans once upon a time. At the far end of the small cave lay an off-white Slowbro, its hide faded with age.

Leo wondered if this place was even remembered anymore, beyond being called the "Slowpoke Well." It didn't seem like any humans had been down here in a long while.

Santiago inspected each grave individually, sniffing the stones for a minute before ambling to the next, and the next, and the next. It was a slow process but Leo tamped down his impatience, which was mostly rearing its head due to the cold. He could wait while Santiago did his thing.

Eventually Santiago reached the white Slowbro, the beast far smaller in stature than the other if its relative size to Santiago was anything to go by. It opened on eye to stare at the Slowpoke before it, regarding Santiago coolly as he continued his slow walk up to the Slowbro. For a brief moment nothing happened, then Santiago froze mid-step and the Slowbro turned its head to Leo. A gentle pressure tickled Leo's mind, asking for access, and this time Leo relented.

The psychic presence did not seem malicious this time, and he was rewarded with a simple message formed not with words, but with feelings and impressions. The Slowbro nodded once after its message was relayed, and with an astounding display of psychic finesse for creatures usually locked into brute forcing their psychic abilities, the Slowbro gently lifted a spiked rock into the air from where a pile of them lay in the corner of the room and floated the stone onto Santiago's head. When nothing happened it proceeded to float the crown-shaped rock over to Leo, who gently grabbed the small, round crown-shaped rock and stared at it with a frown.

The Slowbro closed its eyes once more and turned away from Santiago, who blinked a few times and waddled back over to Leo, gaze locked onto the King's Rock in his hands.

Leo sighed and shook his head. The impression he got from the Slowbro had the same meaning as the display it had just put on. A simple crown did not a King make – it was a symbol of leadership and power, not proof. There was another key they were missing. Still, at least he had a King's Rock now, and Santiago had finally made a decision about what he wanted to evolve into. Leo smiled down at his starter and started to walk back up the slope, shivering in the cold and intent on returning to his pack and the surface.

Still, Leo thought to himself, passing by the slowbro Santiago had battled and carefully stepping over the horde of slowpoke that now lined the passage, even as Santiago barreled through them without a care. We've got our first step forward now.