42

"Your name will be Aerith," Leo announced, looking down at Happiny as she stood triumphantly on top of Diana, stubby little arms in her best approximation of "on her hips," having just finished play-fighting with her. Diana hummed and wiggled in the white sand of the beach, setting the newly-dubbed Aerith to shaking on her precarious perch. The little pink pokemon stumbled and jumped off of Diana, landing unsteadily on her feet and giggling the whole time. The sand of the beach dug up to her knees as she danced about, kicking it everywhere.

"Hap!" She cried happily, turning and grabbing Diana's side, gently helping lift her into an upright position where she was balancing on the end of her shell. Diana blinked. Leo blinked. Aerith giggled. And a wave of ocean water came crashing onto the beach, washing up another Pyukumuku that Aerith waddled over to, grabbed, and promptly hurled back into the ocean, the casual toss sending the wriggling pinkish-brown orb-like pokemon dozens of feet across the water.

No matter how many times he saw it, Aerith's immense strength continued to amaze. That was part of the issue with coming up with a namer for her, though. There weren't many "healers" in common media that he could think of off the top of his head, especially after having not seen any of it for four years, let alone with immense strength like her. So after mulling over the few options he had, he settled on Aerith. From what he remembered of her she had some healing abilities and could fight decently well, so, it wasn't a bad option.

"What do you think of Aerith?" Leo asked Santiago, who was sitting beside him in a plastic lawn chair while reading a book about playing the guitar. They'd found a little music shop on the way out of town, and had picked up a few books for him to read. They hadn't grabbed any of the intact guitars because no one wanted to lug it around while the situation was still this serious, but Leo kept it in mind for if and when they found better transportation.

"You're going to decide on whatever name you want," Santiago drawled, flipping the page and looked up at Leo, unimpressed. He was really looking at the pictures for the most part, still struggling with reading as he was, but seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. "I'd just call her Happiny. Names aren't the same for us as they are for humans,"

"I know, just seeing if you had an opinion," Leo said. Santiago snorted and turned back to his book as Leo turned back to the ocean. In the week and a half they'd been travelling away from Hau'oli City, nothing of extreme note had happened. They'd had a few run-ins with hostile wild pokemon – namely a grizzled old Bewear with visible scars through its greying fur that had been hyper-aggressive, but Link had fought him off without too much trouble – and had eventually found themselves near Ten Carat hill, the famous home of Carbink and Rockruff, the former being famous rock-fairy types that produced fine gems.

But Leo wasn't so much interested in any of the pokemon in Ten Carat Hill as he was any pokemon that might help him cross the ocean. Finding a boat had been easy; there were plenty stashed away in garages of the houses that lined this part of the beach, though finding the keys to turn the motorized boats on or figuring out how to get them to the ocean was another matter. He was still just a little paranoid about crossing the expanse of blue water, and wanted to make sure to account for as much as he could before jumping headfirst into it.

Well, and he needed to figure out what fuel was good for the motorized boats. Especially since he had no idea how to operate sailboats, and trying to row across the ocean to Poni Island seemed like a bad idea. And he needed to figure out what to do if the motor decided to crap out on him in the middle of the ocean…

Probably he'd just bring some oars, or hope Santiago could somehow manipulate the water to keep sailing.

Leo grumbled to himself and toyed with Spiritomb's keystone. All this worrying was getting him nowhere. But thankfully he had something to distract himself with; the cottage-turned-lab that had been built on the beach near Ten Carat Hill. Kukui's old laboratory had been a bit of a mess when he'd first arrived; windows had been left open on the top floor, letting sand and rain and leaves in, but a day of cleaning had revealed remarkably little damage. Against his instinct to keep moving to keep the ultra beasts off their trail, Santiago convinced him to stay in the lab for a few days; see if they could find anything useful. Physical documents were useful, and sealed away in file cabinets in the basement, but what Leo was really looking for was the data on the computers.

He'd found some intact solar panels in a storage shed in the relatively nearby neighborhood, and laid them out on the beach in the sun, connecting them to a series of big car-batteries he could only hope weren't utterly useless. From there it had been a bit of a task to figure out how to connect the batteries to the equipment in the lab. But, thankfully, he found enough of the right cords and connectors to make it work. Hopefully. Granted, the batteries didn't seem able to hold much of a charge, or just charged really slowly, but that was beside the point. It was only mid-morning now; if everything worked out the way he hoped it would, they'd be able to start turning on the computers one-by-one here soon.

That, or he'd need to find new batteries, or see if the connection is bad.

With a shrug Leo sat down on the beach, watching Diana and Aerith play and enjoying the warmth of the sun. But it didn't last; soon his face was set to throbbing, the Nihilego poison still circulating in his body making its presence known. Though the effects had been diminished quite a bit from when he first landed in this world, it was still not very much fun. And it burned; the sunlight he'd been enjoying abruptly turned harsh, and he covered his face with his hands as he lay on the sand, seeking some respite.

"Are you ok?" Santiago asked.

"Yeah," Leo muttered, pushing down a flash of irritation and sitting up with one hand still to his forehead, hiding a wince. He hated this stuff – the poison was a constant pain in the rear. With a grumble he stood and shook his head. "Just going to go check on the computers," he said. Santiago watched him go and said nothing as he stumbled back towards the house. Zuko napped on the front porch, though he perked up and snorted out a puff of smoke when he heard Leo approach.

Leo forced a small smile on his face as he passed the fire-type by, stopping to stoop and scratch his head. Zuko leaned into the touch and made a sound not unlike a purr, twisting his head and licking Leo's hand.

"Hey bud, doing ok?" he asked rhetorically. Zuko huffed and laid his head back down, shifting to a more comfortable position and kicking what was once the leg of a rocking chair out from underneath him. Leo pushed open the tattered screen door and stepped inside, the shade of the house bringing minor relief to his face. He sighed and just stood there for a moment, trying to relax but finding himself unable to thanks to the throbbing. The worst part was that it wasn't skin-level, either. Rubbing his face didn't seem to actually do anything to alleviate the pain, it almost felt like it was beneath the bone and behind his eyes.

He groaned and shook his head, opening his eyes and examining the interior of the building.

What had once been a fishtank occupied the far right wall, the glass having been shattered long ago and swept away by Leo when they first arrived. The faint smell of mold and mildew was largely overtaken by the number of candles Leo had lit in the interior, providing most of the light he needed to maneuver the small, two-room house. Minus the basement.

Gingerly Leo moved deeper into the house, grabbing his pokedex, which had been resting on the kitchen's marble countertop, and headed towards the stairs leading to the basement. He flicked on the light function and carefully headed down the creaky wooden stairs, cautious not to move too fast. If he did, he might aggravate the poison more, and make things worse.

To his surprise, though, the light from his pokedex was not the only source of light in the basement. Along the furthest wall from the stairs lay a row of computers, mostly intact, with servers and tons of other equipment mounted on the concrete wall behind it. One of the computer screens, one that had been hooked up to the cords running up the stairs and to the solar panels, had come on. The blue screen illuminated the basement eerily, reflecting off of the still-intact portion of the fish tank that ran down through the floor and into the basement. The pokemon that had once lived in there were long gone.

Besides, the water that remained in the wall-sized tank and round tubes that stretched from ceiling to floor, connecting the tank to the smaller, broken one above, were filled with murky green water that was only suitable for algae or other still-water…things.

Excitement flashed through Leo as he moved forward, grabbing the rickety old wooden chair he'd stolen from upstairs and moved down here – the office chair made of fabric and foam had been covered in a brown mold that didn't seem safe, so Zuko had burned that with surprising glee – which had been tossed in the corner by Xena for some reason or another, and sat it in front of the computer. The blue light made his eyes ache, the dull throbbing in the back of his head growing worse simply because he was looking at a computer screen. But, that was irrelevant at the moment.

"Please work, please work," he silently prayed, sitting down in front of the blue-screened computer and jiggling the corded mouse. Nothing happened for a moment, and the screen flickered.

[Rebooting…Please Wait]

Leo blinked and sat back when the message flashed on the screen, grinning to himself. It had worked. It worked! Despite his limited skill in electrical things, and all his searching for cords and batteries that had been spared the worst of weathering, it worked! All he had to do was wait, and hope the charge on the batteries held.

[Rebooting…Error. Power insufficient…Error…E&$…

…

Error code: 667896632. Resolve? Yes/No]

Leo hit the enter key, selecting "Yes."

[…

Rebooting. Restoring system to a previous version. Please wait.]

Leo waited patiently, patting his pocket where Spiritomb's keystone still was, the ghost remaining quiet, and watched the progress bar as it slowly ticked up. He rubbed his forehead, trying to alleviate some of the pain that throbbed beneath his skull, as the slowly ticking progress bar wasn't distracting him enough any more. It was because of that, that he missed the flashing of lights from the other computers, little lights blinking on and then off as a jolt of power shot through the system. He didn't miss, however, when the screen blinked off, then came back on with a red warning screen.

[Error, system malfunction. Containment protocol failure.

Danger! DaNGeR! Daaaaa-a-a-aNNNNGeeer]

The system spoke with a tinny, robotic, glitchy voice through the speakers on the computer, almost indecipherable through the crackling. The screen blinked and started glitching out, going out completely for a span of a few seconds.

"What -?" Leo started, confusion and a tiny bit of nervousness lacing through his system as he stood up cautiously. Spiritomb hissed in response, and he could feel the ghost readying itself for…whatever; but neither of them could react fast enough for what came out. Something came shooting out of the screen in a shower of sparks and a flash of pink and blue, followed by a flash of orange and blue that was shrieking its rage to the world. Spiritomb hissed and Leo stumbled back as the two pokemon clashed, electricity arcing through the air and casting the concrete basement in a blue glow.

'DEFENSE MODE ACTIVATED. ELIMINATE HOSTILES.'

To say time slowed as Leo tossed himself to the side, away from the two pokemon that had leapt from the computer, would be a disservice to the speed of the attack that struck him. Pink light screens flashed into the air as the hostile Rotom shrieked, the orange ghost-pokemon unleashing a hellish bolt of blue plasma that crashed through the light screen the glitchy, round Porygon was building, straight into Spiritomb's hastily erected guard of black and purple, and straight into Leo.

His muscles seized, feeling as if they were pulling and pushing all at the same time as he crumpled to the floor, teeth clenched together involuntarily and keeping his shout of pain in his throat. And it was so hot. He tried to keep his eyes open, he really did – but his vision narrowed, a halo of darkness creeping into his vision and forcing it to black.

That was when the hex hit him, ghostly purple fire slamming into his chest and vanishing altogether.

And then, he saw no more.

Spiritomb was in turmoil. Half of itself wished to protect the Center – squishy, defenseless, protect, shield, help, help, help – while the other half wished for nothing more than blood – aggressor, kill, KILL, attack!, fight, KilL!

As such, only half of its power was dedicated to either task, and so Leo was hit. The bolt of light - burning, BURNING! – shot through its shadows and connected with their Center – danger, Danger! – setting his clothes alight and him crumpling to the floor. Most of itself was in shock – heh, pun! – at the sight, but one of itself had the brilliant idea to scream at the top of their lungs, calling backup, even as another ghostly attack struck Leo while Spiritomb snuffed out the flames on his clothes.

One of the attackers, the ball of blue burning light – electricity, the Center calls it – shrieked back, zooming about the room with sparks of light zipping off its form, sparking against Spiritomb's shadows and sending pain through a few of its auxiliary spirits. That only ignited their Rage, especially when a few more sparks hit the Center, even through its protective veil. Shadows writhed, tendrils reaching out and smashing viciously against the blurring attacker, easily breaking through the defensive screens the Pink Shaky One had been building – and slamming into the electric one with a scream.

That is when Fire arrived. He came crashing down the steps with a howl, waves of heat rolling off of him as his neck ignited in flames – flames, like the Tower! Don't let it burn, don't let it burn! House above! – and an orange glow burned in his throat. Froslass acted first, directing a tendril of shadow to grab the Center and move him over towards Fire, shrieking at him to get him out of here. Fire did not hesitate, grabbing the Center by the scruff of his clothes and dragging him upstairs with careful speed while Spiritomb removed itself from his pocket.

That done, Spiritomb could finally fully focus the entirety of itself to the task at hand; beating the absolute crap out of these two. Rage pushed them forward in a wave of furious darkness, the orange ghost – ghost, pain, ghost – shrieking and darting for the stairs with blinding speed. But Spiritomb was everywhere. Spiritomb was the shadows on the wall, the chill in the air, the voices in their heads – We are Legion – and the rage in their hearts. Electricity sparked along Spiritomb's ghostly body, illuminating its purple and greens in an eerie blue glow and making the malicious smile on its face that much more intimidating.

[DangGer, daangeR. HosTiile eNtiTy….power low. Enter power saving mode? Option override, entering power saving mode. Excess functions disabled – defense mode engaged.] The pink one droned, voice staticky, but growing clearer as it talked. Light glowed from it, more screens flashing into existence.

Spiritomb shrieked, and crashed down on both of them. The ghost stood little chance, falling prey to a dozen lashing tendrils and a shrieking ominous wind – half of Spiritomb encaged the ghost, wrapping itself around it so it couldn't vanish or play dead – while the other half refocused on beating the other pokemon senseless.

[Switching to containment mode] the 'mon droned, shaking itself free of its own shelter – ice crystals forming on its rounded outer body as Froslass breathed an icy wind over it, painting half of the room white and carefully avoiding the computers. [Error, power low. Unable to sustain.] Spiritomb shrieked once more as a green blur came shooting down the stairs, the Swordsman appearing just in time to watch Spiritomb lash the pink one with more tendrils – it split into a dozen parts that shone with a blue light. Then it shattered, shocking Spiritomb once again as it dissolved into blue squares of light and seemed to just…vanish.

Strange, strange. Spiritomb whispered. Kill? No kill. Victory! Center, CENTER! With that all of itself whirled, Froslass leading the charge up the stairs, past the Swordsman, out of the house proper – homely, nice – and into the burning sunlight. The Ruler hovered nervously over the Center, hands – paws – splayed out over him while he lay in the burning sand, not breathing. Pink energy slowly flowed down from the hands, at the direction of the Little Egg, while she held her hands out and rang an invisible bell. The Center's coughed, chest shaking at it started to rise and fall again, the angry red that scorched his right arm slowly fading back to a normal color. The shakes that plagued his muscles stilled, and for a moment Spiritomb thought all was well.

Poison, poison! The spirits within itself whispered, this one once a doctor. Spiritomb hissed and flowed down, falling over the Center's body like a blanket despite the Little Egg's protests. – Danger, danger! Pain! – and let one of the Greater Spirits take charge. The warrior. He touched upon their connection with the Center, and a wave of sudden pain and anguish washed over them. Spiritomb set aside the spirits wailing in pain, taking on some of the Center's burden, while Froslass took control of the voice, speaking to the other Teammates.

- Poison, aura. Fight, help! Be ok – she said, as the warrior spirit slowly delved down into the Center's mind, pulling the rest of Spiritomb with him. One by one they all sank into the Center's aura, like they practiced every night when the Center pieced them together – puzzle fun! Pieces of a picture; pain, fix! – to the place of souls. Only Froslass remained behind, keeping control of the Body, to help protect it and keep the electric ghost contained. And then, there was darkness.

Santiago did not know what to do. Heal pulse was new to him, learned in the heat of the moment upon seeing Leo's prone form, wracked by electrical currents that still flowed through him. The newly named Aerith had cured him of the paralysis, and while she had helped guide him on where to focus heal pulse, Leo still hadn't woken up. Diana now lay next to him, just inside the treeline of the jungle, while Link and Xena worked to build a makeshift shelter to protect him from the worst of the weather. She had said something about keeping the sunlight off of him, and now refused to leave his side.

An annoyed grunt escaped Santiago as he lifted a few palm leaves, the wide, green leaves awkwardly twisting in his grip, and gently placed them over the hodge-podge shelter. All it really was, was a bunch of tall sticks leaned up against Diana so they were over Leo. The idea had been to then cover the sticks with leaves, but it was difficult. They didn't want to stay in place. He growled to himself, tossing the leaf aside and looking down at Leo as he lay on the loamy soil, sweat slicking his forehead and brows furrowed as if in concentration. Santiago frowned in worry, wringing his hands and shifting from foot to foot nervously.

Leo didn't look good. His clothes were singed, burn marks still covered the right side of his body despite the healing, and his face was pale. He knew that humans weren't as durable as pokemon, but by all rights Leo should have woken up by now.

"How long until he wakes up?" he asked, mostly to himself, even though he knew Aerith was within earshot. The little Happiny was mashing up berries on the other side of Diana, trying to make some sort of soup or something for Leo to eat so his body didn't cannibalize itself when Santiago used heal pulse. Or so she said. A jug full of fresh water sat next to her, and Santiago had taken to force-feeding him the liquid whenever Aerith demanded it.

Unfortunately though it was not Aerith who answered his question. It was Spiritomb.

The ghost hissed and poked on eye out of Leo's charred pockets, the cubic stone it inhabited all but falling out of a hole burned into the canvas "cargo shorts," as Leo had called them. The glowing green eye was struggling to maintain its shape, twisting into odd patterns and bleeding down, only to reshape itself quickly as Spiritomb spoke in…coherent sentences. None of that odd, hissing cadence Santiago was used to.

Spiritomb said that the damage to his body was repairable. He would likely recover fully. The problem was the poison in his body. The electrical current had activated it somehow. It wasn't normal poison, on many levels.

Santiago asked how, switching away from human words to continue the conversation. Pokespeak was not truly verbal, as many assumed. Sure, they spoke, but understanding came from a different place, and place Santiago didn't fully understand.

Spiritomb said it didn't know. But that it was trying to contain the poison, and it needed time to help Leo, the Center, push through it and burn it out of his system. Or, at least, it was trying to help Leo do that.

Aerith poked her head around Diana, who was quietly listening to all of this, and squeaked angrily at Spiritomb, telling it that was not how poison worked.

It is a poison of aura, as much as it is of the body, Spiritomb told her, and left it at that.

It was at this point that Diana finally spoke up, her "voice" thrumming through the air and making the ground vibrate as she made her opinion known. It did not matter what it was. All they had to do was protect him until he woke up again. And then she fell silent, not bothering to elaborate. Santiago grunted and looked back at Leo, furrowing his brows and reaching out to touch his mind with his own, a tendril of psychic power seeking purchase.

But it was not meant to be. Leo had completely shut himself off from the world as a defensive reaction; the moment the hostile ghost had appeared he went full dark. There was nothing he could do, and that galled him. He huffed in annoyance and started trying to fix the palm leaf in place again, right up until Xena approached, the dragon snorting at his fumbling attempts. She wordlessly approached, grabbing him by the shoulders and none-too-gently pushing him away from Leo and the poor excuse of a shelter they'd built for him.

Go, she said in an annoyed growl. More was said under her breath, something about him hovering too much, but it was lost in translation. Despite pokemon having a universal language amongst themselves, it was actually fairly easy to misunderstand what was being said by the other if one didn't want to be understood. Santiago allowed himself to be shoved away though, stamping down the rush of annoyance he felt at being treated like a child and accepting the fact that he was hovering.

Leo was injured. How could he not be worried?

But that left him all but alone on the beach, Link and Zuko both standing guard over the defeated electric ghost pokemon, trapped in a cage of stone created by Diana. He honestly had no idea what to do with that thing, either. They'd tried capturing it in one of the many pokeballs Leo had, but it just kept frying them. Not only that, but it was wholly unresponsive to any form of communication, and since it was a ghost it wasn't like they could just kill it. Link tried.

"Anything new?" he rumbled, plodding through the sand and coming to stop next to the rough-hewn cage the ghost was contained in. Link shook his head, planting his substitute shield in the ground and eyeing the ghost as it gently buzzed inside the prison, bolts of blue electricity sparking off the stone only to recoil. It turned its little orange body to Santiago and sneered, sparking dangerously. "We'll have to figure out what to do with it eventually. For now we continue taking turns guarding it," Link nodded and Zuko huffed out a plume of smoke, turning a small section of sand black from the heat as he bathed in the sunlight.

Santiago sighed and pressed a paw to his crown, feeling the weight of it. He didn't know what to do.

He didn't. The others seemed content to let Leo heal and relax, but he couldn't get past the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Maybe it was Leo rubbing off on him; he wasn't the best planner, but he did like to make sure everyone at least knew of the possibilities. Which lead to him trying to make plans for what might happen – like an ultra beast showing up. They might need to retreat back to the Totem Blissey with Leo in tow if worst came to worst.

That was worst-case scenario. And he prayed to the first god he'd seen, Winter, that it wouldn't come to pass.

The worst had come to pass. Three days after Leo's accident, in the middle of the night, it descended. They had little to no warning as the red bug descended from the skies, buzzing in challenge as it roared out in its unfamiliar language and landed beside Leo. Buzzwole, Leo had called it. Here for a rematch; and Leo wasn't around this time to calm it with that strange dance of his.

Santiago roared out a challenge, having sensed the bug first, and drew its attention away from the prone human, Diana lying beside him. The bug, with bulging muscles that would make a Machoke jealous and veins of bubbling red liquid, buzzed out a challenge in response, shooting towards him with great speed. But he was ready, and a blast of psychic energy knocked the bug down and out of the trees, crashing through the jungle and out towards the beach.

Santiago charged after it, but he was slow. Zuko was the first to reach it, having been sleeping on the beach keeping a watchful eye on the house, breathing a line of fire across the beach to engulf the bug. It did not retreat, darting forward and slamming a fist into Zuko's head, sending him crashing to the ground at the bug's feet. Link charged across the sand with a battle cry, leaf blade drawn and leaping at Buzzwole – Santiago realized what was going to happen too late. Zuko exploded, the shockwave rocking the beach and sending Buzzwole tumbling through the air and into the ocean. Link vanished in the blast; even Santiago felt the effects, the shockwave nearly bowling him over.

Zuko huffed and stood from his smoking crater, panting hard and with patches of fur missing from the force of his own explosion, only to stop and stare at Buzzwole as it picked itself up out of the surf. Santiago cursed and looked for Link, the little Bellossom smoking as he picked himself up out of the sand weakly.

Then came Xena and Diana. With a ferocious roar and the howling of Diana's vents, the two came barreling out of the jungle towards Buzzwole, dragonfire spilling from Xena's maw to wash over the bug, while Diana crashed headfirst into it, heedless of the dragon's flames. Santiago hesitated. Wondered how he should direct the team. Then he gave up and joined the fight.

Psychic power enveloped Buzzwole, freezing it for a crucial split-second and allowing Diana to smash a series of stones into its side; it buzzed angrily, tensed to break itself free of Santiago's hold, and shot up into the sky in a spray of sand and surf. Diana shot into the sky to chase despite his shout of warning; only to be smashed back to the ground by Buzzwold, the bug using her as a springboard to push itself further away.

Santiago sighed. At least that was over –

Pain wracked his body as something hit him, electricity pouring through his system and seizing his limbs in place. But his mind was not held still like his body, and a sharp burst of psychic power pushed out in all directions, knocking away the ghost that was shocking him. Then Xena was there, a whirlwind of claws and draconic fury dug into the ghost, forcing it away and into the shadows. It vanished with a cackle, shooting off through the jungle as little more than a blue blur. Santiago coughed and shook his limbs out, nodding to Xena in thanks. The damn thing must have escaped during the fight.

With a grunt he turned back to his teammates, wandering over to Link and Zuko before using heal pulse on the both of them. Pink energy washed out of him in a wave, soothing their wounds but not fully healing them. He didn't have absolute mastery over the move, but at least it could do a bit.

Link huffed and shot Zuko a glare, and though the Typhlosion did apologize sheepishly, the warrior Bellossom just waved it off. It had been his fault too, for rushing in without thinking, after all. Santiago nodded and looked to the skies, resisting the urge to rub his face. Now what did they do? That ghost was likely to stick around and terrorize them, and with Spiritomb tied up helping Leo they had little way to predict when it would appear next. Such was the nature of ghosts, after all, especially mad ones like that thing.

Plus, the ultra-beasts had found them. It would be a matter of time before more came; so maybe they should retreat back to Blissey and the Tapu Den…

All thought was then cut off by the sound of Aerith's shout.

Leo woke up!

The worst thing about having been knocked unconscious, Leo decided, wasn't the pain. At some point after the first few minutes he'd returned to consciousness, though unable to move, and could feel every inch of skin that had been seared off. The worst part wasn't even being painfully aware of his surroundings, despite being unable to move; he'd been forced to watch through his lashes as his team tried and failed to make a shelter around him, unwilling to take him back to the house. Which was fair, considering there might still be hostile pokemon there – a Rotom and what he could only assume had been a Porygon Z – but that didn't make it any less painful to watch.

No, being trapped in his own body, painfully aware of the rock sticking into his back and every single minor discomfort, the Nihilego poison racing beneath his skin making everything throb and itch wasn't the worst thing about his predicament.

It was the memories.

Just as he was acutely aware of his physical form, he was simultaneously aware of his mental and spiritual. He could feel the Nihilego poison as it rampaged about within him, parasitizing his aura, the lifeblood of his veins, and attempting to erode at his soul. It did, in ways, eating away at the softer parts of him – it was hard to describe. If his soul was a hard ball somewhere in his chest, his aura surrounding it like a mist, the poison was tiny little lines of fire that burned it away. His aura was pushed aside easily, the mist doing little to hinder the fire as it poked and prodded at the core of his being. Never did it do much, burning away little soft bits here and there, but it did do a little bit.

Even with Spiritomb's help in containing it, the ghost trying to fight both Rotom's hex as it kept him paralyzed and the Nihilego poison, there was only so much they could do. And it was only a matter of time before the fire touched something important; though when it did happen it was nothing like what Leo had expected.

It was memories. He wasn't sure what exactly caused it, but the poison touched on what he could only describe as a seal, breaking free a myriad of memories he had repressed and forgotten. Memories of his time between worlds. Memories of the Void, and memories of his old life that had been touched by the Void. And lo, did he wish they had remained forgotten.

How does one describe a place without length? A place where time does not exist? How do you explain to someone what the passage of time feels like; something you do not realize has a feeling until the only thing you can feel is yourself. The Void is a place of nothing, and it was only something because Leo and Jack were floating there for…however long it was, as nothing but souls. And it consistently tried to return to that state of nothingness, and take Leo along with it.

Something he resisted, and protected that fellow soul from as well.

The memories made him weep internally, turning his face to the pain and embracing it with all his heart. Nothing was as bad as truly feeling nothing at all, feeling yourself; memories, emotions, your very existence, fading into nothingness. Luckily he had slipped through a crack into the pokemon world when he had. Otherwise things may not have ended so well…

Spiritomb hissed in his physical ear, and Leo turned his attention to the happenings around him, not just his physical and mental condition. Something was crashing through the jungle, the sounds of combat reaching his ears as Diana gently moved herself away from Leo before blasting off through the jungle. Aerith fussed over him nervously as the battle raged, grabbing a stone from the ground and patting it hard, breaking off chunks at a time and comparing it to the little white stone in her pouch. This he could hear, not see, as the little Happiny waddled around him, humming the tune to a song she'd heard him sing before his…accident.

Panic surged through him for a split second, Spiritomb's hackles rising as a bolt of blue light shot by overhead, Rotom's eerie cackle echoing through the jungle as Aerith whimpered. His chest constricted in fear at the thought of the ghost attacking him while he was immobilized, or worse, while Aerith was defenseless and Spiritomb was busy trying to contain his poison; fear that was quickly replaced by the bubbling rage of righteous defiance, burning in his chest.

MOVE! He screamed at his body, trying to will his body into motion. His aura surged at his command, passing by the burning lines of poison to fill his limbs with its misty presence, his muscles seizing momentarily then relaxing entirely. Leo grit his metaphorical teeth and tried again, this time forcing his eyes open during that moment of lucidity.

"It's…ok…" he gasped out, jerking his shoulder to roll over onto his chest, so he was facing Aerith. The Happiny stared at him with big, watery eyes as he twitched his mouth, feeling like a puppeteer trying to control three puppets at once as he pulled his lips into a crude mockery of a smile. "Santi….ago…" he gasped out.

"Hap!" Aerith cried, rushing over to him and forcefully rolling him back onto his back. He grunted in pain as a sharp jolt ran up his spine as a rock dug into his back, but he didn't dare waste any energy to move away. "HAP!" she cried again, louder this time. Crashing reached his ears through the jungle, and suddenly Zuko was there, panting and staring right at Leo. He managed a weak smile as the Typhlosion ambled forward, gently pressing his nose to Leo's face before licking him happily.

"Leo!" Santiago cried, and Leo grunted, moving his head away from Zuko's lapping tongue.

"Pokedex…basement of house…Rotom," he managed to get out as Zuko backed off a bit, staring at Leo worriedly. The sound of a jet engine roared over the sounds of the jungle as he met Santiago's eyes. He hesitated for a moment, then nodded and turned to lumber off, racing through the trees as fast as his legs and large body could let him go just as Diana barreled past him. Tree limbs cracked as she forced them out of her path, green smears that used to be ferns and bushes dotting her grey-stone carapace as she barreled forward, screeching to a halt just over Leo.

Her eyes crinkled up into a smile, and wiggled happily as she laid down next to Leo, being incredibly careful not to squish him as she dug her spikes into the ground and scooted as close as she could to him.

"Rock…in back…" Leo muttered with an exasperated smile. The earth rumbled, and suddenly he was laying on soft, churned soil. Leo blinked, and Diana hummed as they lay there, Xena and Link coming running through the jungle to look at him and smile at his lucidity. "Don't…have long…tired. Hard to…move," he explained, tongue thick and refusing to move right. The two nodded, Link sagging in relief before quickly fixing his posture.

They only had to wait a few minutes before Santiago came rushing back, Leo's pokedex held in one hand as he rushed forward, dropping the device on his stomach. Leo forced his hands to move, his control over his own body fading as he shakily grabbed the device. He had only seconds to turn the thing on, thankful that it had somehow survived the battle, even if the screen was glitching now. Desperation fueling his fingers, he awkwardly typed in the word Rotom in the search function; hoping for something, anything to go off of. The screen flickered at him, glitching out a little before popping up with a picture of Rotom and a short description of it and its abilities. Leo huffed and gently set the pokedex off to the side, arms like noodles and lacking the strength to hand it back to Santiago, and said one more piece before letting go of his hold on his body.

"Rotom…electric ghost…inhabit machines…hit me with…hex…other was…Porygon" he muttered tapping the screen and closing his eyes. Silence followed his statement, but he hoped Santiago understood his statement. He still couldn't read all that well, but he might still be able to glean something from the pokedex on Rotom…

Though to be honest, he was surprised Rotom's data was on there. He didn't remember it being on there when he was researching ghosts for Spiritomb and Froslass, but Professor Oak could have updated it at some point and he hadn't noticed. Either way, the point was made, and Leo turned his attention back to himself. Himself, and the fiery poison that continued to try and burn through him. He looked at it, felt it, and felt his aura. He could control his aura to a degree, that misty substance that floated around his body on a mental and physical level, as if it inhabited both. In it he could feel a little bit of Void, that nothingness, and made a slight connection. Was that why he was dark? He supposed it didn't matter, absently listening to Spiritomb's whispers as he twisted his aura around, sending it at the poison to see what happened.

It was sluggish and slow to respond, and sheer force of will didn't seem to work against the aura, but at least now he felt like he could do something. Even if he was still dead weight, in a hostile world, where fierce battle-hungry beasts were chasing them. And all he could do was sit here.

He mentally grit his teeth. Nothing could be easy, could it?

Victoria Oak stared at Professor Oak, eyes flicking to the two children that stood at his side. One was the brat Gary, the other…some other brat from Pallet Town, with a tiny Pichu on his head. Gary had an Eevee at his side, the fluffy normal type sniffing his Rockruff curiously.

She raised an eyebrow at them, then turned her attention back to Professor Oak, the sounds of the ocean lapping at the shore filling the silence. There was much she wanted to shout at him. What was he thinking, bringing those kids here? They hadn't had another ultra beast invasion since the tournament, but it was still dangerous and she still had a lot to do. She wanted to be mad, but in the end just mentally sighed, turned on her heel, and marched off, whistling for Stein to follow after her.

The Type: Null made a strange droning sound and fell in step beside her, from where it had been lounging on the beach. It wasn't her problem, she decided. She had other things to do.

Samuel Oak, for one, just scratched his chin and watched the grouchy brown-haired woman march off with a bemused look. She clearly furious but even more tired, which is probably why she hadn't even said anything to them. He laid a hand on Gary's head, the boy looking up at him questioningly as his pokemon played at his feet. He'd given Gary an Eevee because there was no way in Distortion he'd let him run off without a Samuel Oak approved starter at his side.

"Well, that went better than expected," he said. "Now come on, it's time for you two to meet my cousin. You'll be going to school!"