5-6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What is it?" Leo asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What about the lucario?" Leo asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horrors of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Excuse me?" Slowking asked.

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

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

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

"Hmm?" Slowking asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Slooow," one of the Slowpoke called.

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

"Bro," a Slowbro answered.

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

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

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

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

"That's the idea," he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Slooooow," a familiar voice called.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Things just got harder.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That night, it snowed.