37

"What brings you to Alola?" Leo asked, walking beside Cynthia in the dead of the night. Xena walked beside him, claws clicking against the ground as she eyed this newcomer up and down. The dragon was so excited to be a part of the tournament, but hadn't had a chance to show her worth yet. He was sure it was driving her nuts, and so had let her out to walk around a bit.

"I'm on vacation, actually," Cynthia said with a smile. "I heard Alola was beautiful this time of year, and I've got some time off until the next league season starts so I decided to pay a visit. It helps that their biggest tournament is going on right now – plenty of skilled battlers have shown up here,"

"Are you taking part in the tournament?" Leo asked out of curiosity. Xena snorted, earning herself a chuff-like laugh from Cynthia's Lucario, the fighting type walking beside her and keeping his red eyes trained forward.

"No, no, I'm here on vacation, remember? We're here to take a break before next year," she said, shaking her head dismissively.

"So, you're a trainer then?" Leo asked, trying to figure out where she was in terms of skill level. He imagined she'd gotten pretty far in the league at this point – she had to become champion and earn herself a fearsome reputation by the time Ash got there in, what, seven years? Leo was just about two years older, physically, than Ash and Gary, which made them eleven, almost twelve. And considering it most likely took Ash a full year to traverse each region, he probably had four or so years on top of that to get to Sinnoh. Maybe three. So yeah, six or seven years. Leo was thirteen plus a few months, now that the Spring equinox had passed. If he remembered right Sinnoh's league season didn't begin until closer to the end of spring thanks to their harsher and longer winters, so the math checked out.

"Yes, but no. I am a trainer for the League, but I have not started my gym challenge yet. I'll be doing that next year," she said, nodding. Leo's thoughts ground to a halt. What?

"Why not? What do you do if you're not a trainer?" Leo blurted out without thinking. How was Cynthia, the champion who gave him nightmare flashbacks from his few Platinum nuzlocke runs, not yet a trainer?

"Well, I'm actually a bit of a consultant for the League, not unlike what you said you do for Aether. Though I haven't stayed in Sinnoh, my work has taken me to many different regions; the job itself is actually why I can take my team with me through the regions despite not having any badges. It's been a wonderful experience, the world is so rich with culture and history that it'd be a shame not to travel everywhere I can. That's part of why I put off my league challenge so long – I wanted to travel a bit more, get experience, let my team grow into their own before forcing them down that path," she said with a small smile. Leo was quiet for a moment, soaking that in until she dropped the next bombshell on him. "I am aiming to become champion. Not just any Champion, but The Champion. My official battle record may not be spotless, but my gym challenge will be," she said firmly, and Leo let his mind chew on that a bit.

Wait a minute. She was letting her team grow, and she wanted to do the gym challenge after they had already becoming strong, right…?

"Are you wanting to earn your badge after beating each gym leader at their strongest?" Leo asked and Cynthia's smile grew wider.

"Yes. I want to battle their true teams and win – not their eighth badge teams, their true teams. I don't know if we're ready yet, but by the end of the next league season we will have to be," she said firmly. Her Lucario huffed and laid a hand on her shoulder. "But that's enough about me. I wanted to talk to you about Spiritomb," she said.

"Yeah, but I kinda wanna know more about you," Leo said honestly. "I mean, that's a heck of a goal. What on Earth inspired you to do that?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, a lot of things," she said, trailing off a bit. Seeing the answer for what it was, Leo let the topic drop and instead changed gears back to Spiritomb, however reluctantly. Again, he knew Cynthia would be champion, but if his time with Lusamine had taught him anything, it was that he didn't truly know anyone in this world. This, as cliché as it sounded, was not the games.

"So, Spiritomb," he started, and she nodded.

"Yes. Spiritomb. How long have you had one? Are you ok? Been having much trouble with it?" she asked, concerned. She stopped walking, stepping in front of Leo and looking him in the eyes, her silver-grey eyes boring into his with intensity as she searched for…something.

"I'm fine, thank you," he said, amused. Xena grumbled something as Spiritomb hissed in his ears, taking offense to Cynthia's accusation that it was anything other than a perfectly gentlemanly ghost. "Spiritomb was a little bit of a handful at first, but it's turned out to be relatively mild-mannered. It gets a bit overprotective sometimes, but for the most part it stays in my pocket all nice and quiet-like," he said, recalling the numerous times Spiritomb had burst forth to protect him. It was almost like having a helicopter parent around, ready to burst in at the first sign of trouble…if said parent was a ghost, and was heavily reliant on him for emotional and mental support.

"In your…pocket?" Cynthia asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. Lucario made a noise not unlike a scoff, and Leo furrowed his brows.

"Spiritomb doesn't like pokeballs," he said, pulling the keystone out of his pocket and showing it to Cynthia. "Sorry, I thought you watched my match? I didn't use a pokeball on it," Spiritomb hissed and poked one eye out of its stone, the swirling mass of green narrowing at Cynthia before retreating with an uncomfortable hiss. Was…was it being shy?

"No, I only saw part of your match on TV, and rushed to come find you. I just, but, how is it out?" she stammered, watching closely as Leo put Spiritomb's keystone back in the safety of his pocket. "The pressure alone should –" she started, then cut herself off.

"The pressure? I mean, yeah, Spiritomb can use pressure but we figured out pretty early on how to turn that on and off. It remains off most the time; my Spiritomb can hardly focus enough to battle sometimes, let alone control its pressure output. It's not quite battle ready," Leo said, even if that was an aspect of Spiritomb's arsenal they had largely forgotten about. It would be useful, but he'd wanted to work on the ghost's cohesion in battle without relying on the Pressure ability to keep opponents down.

"You can what?" Cynthia all but demanded. "How is your Spiritomb so docile? Mine is battle hungry and malicious on a good day, and almost never listens to me," she said, setting her hands on her hips.

"Uh," Leo said eloquently. How did he explain this? Well, now that he thought about it, he did kind of have experience putting his experiences with Spiritomb into words what with him sending reports to Professor Oak periodically, so maybe he could try again…?

"No, no, sorry. I apologize for my outburst," Cynthia said with a sigh, rubbing her face.

"It's ok, don't worry about it. It kind of just happened, if I'm honest. Our relationship started off rocky enough – shoot, Spiritomb was afraid, or more accurately intimidated, by me for the first month or so. That's what started it," Leo said, scratching his cheek and recalling those early days. It hadn't always seemed like it, but after that initial meeting of theirs, Spiritomb had been intimidated because it couldn't get to Leo, not really. He chalked it up to that mental influence thing the ghost could do being its natural defense, and Leo being able to essentially brush it aside making it very wary. And, when he explained as much to Cynthia, she turned pensive.

"I think we should start from the beginning. How did you meet Spiritomb?" she asked.

"How did you?" Leo asked back. She smiled a little and nodded.

"Right, I suppose I should start. I met my Spiritomb a little over a year ago, in an ancient tower in Sinnoh, having been guided there by a legendary pokemon," she said, and paused for a minute. Leo showed no reaction other than a slow raise of one eyebrow, patiently waiting for her to continue the story. "Cresselia, to be specific. Well, I say guided, but it was more of being shown vague dreams about the location, and subtle hints that I should go there; plus there was a Mismagius that wound up showing me the way. We woke Spiritomb by accident," she said, trailing off. Lucario laid a paw on her shoulder, and she patted it, being very careful to avoid the spike.

"Mismagius was eaten by Spiritomb the moment it woke, and it moved to attack me by trying to invade my mind. Lucario and the rest of my team aided me in subduing the ghost, and from there I captured it. Taming it has been…a trial, to say the least," she admitted. Leo nodded, rubbing his chin. He couldn't help but draw the parallels between the two stories, and as he relayed his own story to her, he could see in her expression she did the same. The only difference being that she said her ghostly guide was eaten, whereas Froslass willingly allowed herself to be absorbed so as to complete the ghost.

"Are you sure that Mismagius isn't still in there somewhere, among the personalities you've seen?" Leo asked her, after his story.

"I never thought to check, if I'm honest," she said slowly, frowning. "I was…afraid of what I might find. I had grown to really like her. How are you so sure that Froslass is still in there?"

"I can meet her, from time to time. Her personality is one of the stronger ones," Leo mused. "Though the interactions are never wholly hers. There are too many other personalities in there, but I can usually tell when she's at the forefront because it can still use a weak icy wind," Cynthia patted one of the pokeballs at her waist thoughtfully – or, now that Leo looked at it, an ultraball.

"That's a lot to think about," she said. "Though one of my theories has been proven through this conversation; Spiritomb are, somehow, tied to legendary pokemon,"

"That is probably true," Leo said with a sigh. Seeing as how Articuno was somewhat involved in his Spiritomb's story, as well as it being created in the basement of Lugia's burned tower, where the Johto legendary dogs were born, it was highly likely. Though whether the legendaries were just guardians of the broken, hurting pokémon or something more remained to be seen.

Before meeting Tapu Koko and learning that Spiritomb was incomplete, he was leaning more towards the former. Now he wasn't so sure.

"By the way, how far along is your Spiritomb? Mine's down to about forty spirits left," Leo asked curiously. Cynthia stared at him, and he blinked back in confusion. Waitaminute. She doesn't know if her Mismagius friend is somewhere inside Spiritomb. Does she know about the whole…merging spirits thing? Are our Spiritomb even the same like that? "Ok, judging by your expression, I think I need to explain myself a bit. I've found that the spirits inside Spiritomb, which started off at one hundred and eight, are less whole souls and more fragmented memories. Shards of souls, if you will, that can be merged together in an attempt to create a greater whole. They mostly merge into dominant personalities; such as Froslass' personality, though she has eaten maybe two or three compared to a different one which has combined, like, sixty into himself."

"What." Cynthia deadpanned.

"Yeah, exactly. I figured this out because Tapu Koko came rocketing out of the sky and wiped the floor with my team, then gave me a hint about Spiritomb; then Spiritomb sucked me into the mind space again and I counted all the spirits within," Leo said, scratching his chin. Xena snorted and poked his side with a claw curiously, drawing his attention. He laid a hand on her head and scratched her scales, acutely aware of her interest in this conversation. Strange, he figured Link or Santiago would have told her this story by now.

"How does that even work?" Cynthia demanded. "We know about ghost types eating emotions and memories – sometimes even giving birth to a ghost that exemplifies those distinct emotions, if the residual aura is strong enough – but combining spiritual shards?"

"Beats me. Probably a quirk of their biology," Leo said, shrugging and patting Spiritomb's keystone. "Part of Spiritomb's issue, initially, is that they have a hard time focusing. Even when most of the spirits unite towards a common goal – this happens mostly when they're trying to protect me, in my experience – they're still unable to exert the full extent of their power. Think of it like a hive mind, where all the different minds disagree with one another. Combining the spirits is mitigating that problem, while maintaining the total amount of power they can wield. And, more importantly, it makes them feel better," he said.

"That's…" Cynthia said, shaking her head.

"The problem is that when I personally aid in combining the spirits, which takes quite a bit of mental effort, let me tell you, you have to live through some of the memories from the spirit's point of view," Leo added, running a hand through his hair. Xena made a noise in the back of her throat, her scales gently clanging as she moved a bit. Leo continued to scratch her scales absently, judging Cynthia's reaction.

Her expression was wavering somewhere between uncomfortable realization, and shocking revelation.

"I – well," she said slowly.

"You've already experienced that, haven't you?" Leo asked.

"I have had a few nightmares that sound similar to what you're describing," she said slowly, shaking her head. "Living through an experience of another person, through their eyes, feeling their emotions…it was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Offer a sympathetic ear, if you will," she said. Leo smiled genuinely.

"Well, thank you, but I put myself through that torture of my own free will," he said with a chuckle. She smiled thinly, and Leo mentally sighed. He never considered himself a bedrock of emotional support when it came to other people, but he did know when he might need to just listen. "But, it doesn't seem like you feel the same. Are you ok?"

"That is the question I am meant to ask you," she said again, shaking her head. Leo looked up at the night sky as if judging the time, looking at the full moon and the stars – many of which were hidden by the abundance of lights in the tournament grounds, even this late at night.

His next battle wasn't until late tomorrow, so he had some time to sit and chat. Besides, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested. This was Cynthia. And while she was younger than he had expected, she was still one of the most famous, or infamous depending on what context you were speaking about her in, champions in all of Pokemon.

"I know what it's like to be run through with a sword," Leo blurted out, earning himself a surprised look from Cynthia. That particular memory of Spiritomb's had been very, very unwelcome. "Kept me up for days afterwards – sometimes I'd wake up feeling the phantom pain. Thankfully there haven't been very many of those kinds of harrowing memories, and I'm able to separate myself from them eventually, but they're still…" he trailed off, not quite finding the words to properly display how he felt. Cynthia was silent for a moment.

"I find that it's the mundane ones that are harder to separate from. To remember that I am me, and that I haven't lived through half the things they have," she said slowly. "It is the slow-burning, but deep, emotions of the common day-to-day that stick with me, even as these memories come to me in my dreams," she said, and Leo found himself nodding along. He didn't get that many of the common day-to-day memories, but now that she said it, whenever he did run across one it tended to stick with him for a while longer.

The emotions therein were harder to separate from his own emotions, as it were.

"What was your favorite one?" Leo asked, out of curiosity. She called the memories 'nightmares,' but…they couldn't all be bad, could they?

"A favorite?" Cynthia asked, cocking her head to the side. She thought about it for a moment, then smiled weakly. "Well, there was this one…" she said, and started to tell the story.

And that was how the two spent the better part of the night; swapping stories about Spiritomb and just chatting. And, even if he was mostly focused on Cynthia and helping her figure out her own ghost, it felt good for Leo to get some of the things he experienced with Spiritomb off his chest to someone who understood, and went through the same thing.

Leo thumbed his pokeballs, eyeing his opponent across the stadium. From all the research he'd done, he had come to the conclusion that the man across from him had a very unique specialization, and tended to play very defensively. All of his 'mon were heavy, hit like trucks, and used protect or detect liberally. Which meant Leo had just the pokemon for mixing things up a bit.

"Remember, trainers, this will be a three-on-three battle. Red trainer, are you ready?" the referee boomed, gesturing to Leo. He nodded and plucked Sunny's pokeball off his belt. "Blue trainer, are you ready?"

"Let Coeus Akamai show you how it's done, kiddo!" the trainer, Coeus, boomed with a laugh.

"Begin!" he shouted, and Leo hurled the pokeball out onto the field.

Sunny appeared with a sharp war cry across from a Hariyama, bolting across the field in an instant to slap Hariyama in the face with a fake out, leaping a good four feet into the air to accomplish this. The larger fighting type blinked at the action, less hurt and more surprised as Sunny started to lay into him, slapping a fury swipes across his legs, leaving long, thin scratch marks on his legs.

"If he's gonna give us a free set up, let's take it! Belly drum!" Coeus crowed to the skies, slamming one meaty fist against his chest. Hariyama mimed the action, slamming his two, large fists into his chest and shouting out a massive war cry. Leo winced and covered his ears at the impressively loud roar, a flickering red energy suffusing the Hariyama as he stomped his feet, the ground cracking beneath his weight. Sunny wisely backed up, retreating half the distance of the battlefield and giving the Hariyama some space as he stomped about.

Then, almost without warning, Hariyama blurred into motion. His open palms flashed silver as he blurred forward in a bullet punch – though, to Sunny's credit, she was prepared for such a thing. A weak blue wall of light appeared between her and Hariyama as she threw up a quick guard, the larger fighting type crashing into the barrier and stalling for just a moment; giving Sunny enough time to slap a force palm into Hariyama's knee, then slide between his legs to get behind him.

"Springboard!" Leo yelled.

Hariyama whirled, palms wide open as he swept along the ground, intent on catching Sunny. Instead of leaping over the strike like Hariyama had been expecting, Sunny darted closer, jumping up onto his knee and using it as a springboard to jump up and slam a force palm into his chin. Hariyama stumbled and slapped at Sunny again, this time the palm thrust sending her hurtling back away from the fight. She flipped through the air, landing on her feet and skidding as Hariyama charged forward.

Her expression stiffened as he snapped his hands out in an arm thrust, the wind that the attacks generated alone buffeting her. Sunny scrambled as she dodged the attacks, unable to retaliate for the most part. Leo chewed his lip as he watched, not willing to distract her by shouting out an order but still thinking about how to advance from here. Sunny was wholly focused on dodging Hariyama's attacks, with no room to counter. Considering one more attack could very well take her out of the fight entirely, that was a reasonable concern.

Belly drum was a nightmare of a move.

Still, so long as she could keep dodging, Haryiama would eventually tire of the arm thrusts. Especially since, at times, the larger fighting type would miss by mere centimeters; it had to feel like trying to swat a fly. Sunny was so much smaller than Hariyama that it was hard to get a good angle on her, and she could slip through gaps most other 'mon wouldn't be able to. So it was a patience game, at this point.

"Heavy slam!" Coeus ordered, growing tired of the flow of battle the moment Leo thought about patience. Hariyama abruptly slapped his hands together, stomping his feet and tensing his feet. Sunny took that chance to slam a force palm into Hariyama's midsection, the larger 'mon grunting, and leaping high into the air.

Sunny was already running as Hariyama came crashing back down, the ground beneath him shattering from the force of the blow. Despite it not being a direct hit, Leo couldn't help but fear that Sunny would still be knocked unconscious – she stumbled, she fell, and she was struck by chunks of flying earth and stone, but in the end she shakily got to her feet, obviously heavily injured. Leo clenched the railing, struggling to keep his expression calm as he shouted out his next order, not that Sunny needed prompting.

"Reversal!" he howled, loud enough for Coeus to hear. That was the intent, after all – he needed Coeus to hear. Sunny paused for a split second, shaking her head and getting her bearings as Hariyama yanked his feet out of the holes he'd driven them into, before she darted forward.

"Protect yourself!" Coeus answered, just as Leo hoped he would. Hariyama snorted and thrust his palms towards Sunny in a defensive motion, a shimmering dome of green energy surrounding him a second before Sunny got there. And, for a split second, she seemed to vibrate. Her left foot planted on the ground and she spun, body blurring as she slipped through the protect shield; hidden from Coeus and Hariyama's view thanks to the fighting type's massive bulk, and large hands.

Leo honestly missed what happened next. Sunny vanished behind Hariyama's massive hands as she leapt up inside his guard, the fighting type visibly surprised by Sunny's sudden appearance inside his protect dome, and the next moment he was sent hurtling backwards, his dome vanishing as he was bodily tossed to the other side of the battlefield. Sunny landed lightly on her feet, despite breathing heavily, and did not let up.

Before Hariyama had a chance to rise she was on him again, jumping up onto his torso as he lay flat on his back, and slamming repeated force palms into his face.

"Whirlwind!" Coeus shouted, but it was too late. Sunny raised her tiny paws high above her head and slammed them back down into Hariyama's face, the massive reversal snapping his head back and knocking him unconscious.

Silence reigned for a few moments, and the crowd erupted as Coeus recalled his Hariyama, muttering words of encouragement even through his massive grin. Leo ignored his apparent pleased expression, and held up Sunny's pokeball. The little weasel wouldn't last very long against this next challenger, whoever it would end up being, and so recalled her. She wasn't out of the fight yet, he was just using one of his swaps.

"Never expected that! You're gonna have to tell me how you got past protect after the battle!" Coeus shouted happily. Leo smirked. Feint was not a very common or popular move, but it made Sunny an absolute menace when faced with 'mon that abused protect and detect. "But I doubt you'll be able to do it twice! Golem, let's go!"

The Alolan Golem that appeared on the field sparked angrily, stomping its feet and rumbling threateningly. Leo raised an eyebrow.

Then he let out Xena.

The dragon tossed her head amidst the cheering of the crowd, her scales clanging beautifully as she stomped her feet and roared her challenge to the skies. Golem rumbled, the sound of stones grinding together as it loaded the "cannon" thing on its back sounding over the noise of the stadium.

"Stealth rock," Coeus said, his expression now considering. Leo frowned as Xena charged in, spewing a dragon breath at the rock monster as it fired its cannon, chunks of electrified stone hanging in the air around the battlefield, bits of dragon fire leaving a few blackened and scorched. Xena crashed into Golem claws bared – or at least, Leo thought she did. Her attack skittered harmlessly off of a protect shield, and the moment it dropped Golem fired a massive stone straight into her chest.

She stumbled backwards a few feet from the impact, instinctively shielding herself from the blow. She growled, low and dangerous as Golem zapped her with a weak thundershock, and retaliated with a burst of dragon breath as she closed the distance once more. This time Golem didn't counter with protect, instead throwing its massive bulk forward, into Xena's guard, and trying to knock her off balance with a weak tackle. She snarled and grabbed Golem's rocky armor, heaving it off the ground even as the massive rock type zapped her with more electricity, and with a mighty heave, lifted the massive rock type over her head.

"EXPLOSION!" Coeus roared, and Golem began to glow a bright white color. Xena roared and moved to hurl the rock-type away, but a quick, well timed protect trapped both her and the Golem within the green shell. Leo cursed and ripped Xena's pokeball off his side, watching with wide eyes as the protect shell shattered, and Xena was sent hurtling out of the explosion. The psychic barriers that protected the bystanders and trainers alike flexed dangerously with the explosion, and Xena slammed into them. Hard.

His dragon groaned and struggled to rise, showing her mettle as, even through that, she tried to get up – only for her arms to fail her and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Leo scowled and grit his teeth, recalling her and muttering an apology for not anticipating something like that. A suicide move, to beat one of his Aces. It seemed his most powerful pokemon were all getting the short straw in this tournament – Link, falling to Decidueye in a bad type matchup; Diana, falling to a perish song; and now Xena, defeated by a point-blank explosion.

"You seem to be lacking versatility, kid!" Coeus said with a laugh. "A quick protect might've saved your dragon! And now you've got to face my next partner!"

Leo scowled and glared at the man, annoyed at all these…petty tricks catching him off guard. Was this the expert tier? He kinda hated it. He much preferred the one-on-one slugfests he was used to, but maybe that was the point. At the lower levels, Leo's team would've swept. Here? Here he had to think, strategize, and adapt to rapidly changing situations. Still, Leo was technically up a pokemon. This was a winnable situation.

The question was who to send out next? Type-wise, Santiago was a potential winner. From what Leo'd seen so far in this match, and what information he'd learned of the man, his team had a Crabominable, a Mudsdale, and a Turtonator on it. The other members were mysteries, but…well, Santiago was pretty versatile, and he seemed to favor fighting and rock or ground types with Turtonator being the outlier. For a moment Leo hesitated over letting Sunny out next, to get a good grasp of what Coeus' next pokemon would be, but then he eyed the stealth rocks still somehow up.

Even though the explosion had knocked a few of them down, a good number were still out. She wouldn't likely be able to take a hit from one, not after the short rest in her ball she's had so far, and she was still a threat with her move reversal. The more injured she was, the harder she hit…a good trump card. So he decided against it, and plucked Santiago's ball from his belt.

"This'll tell us who wins, kiddo," Coeus said, grinning cheekily. "If my gamble pays off, we'll know now,"

And with those ominous words, Leo put Santaigo's ball back, and pulled Sunny's ball out. He felt bad for using her as a sacrificial piece, but it would be better to play it safe. He sent out Sunny the same time Coeus hurled his pokeball out onto the field, a Metang appearing in the air across the way. Leo's eyebrows rose as Sunny hit the field, immediately dancing around a stealth rock that hurtled towards her, the electrified stone zapping her weakly as it passed.

She wasted no time in charging towards Metang, the floating psychic type catching her in a psychic and bashing her against the ground once, twice, until she stopped moving. Leo recalled her, as the announcer boomed her defeat.

"You did great, Sunny. Thanks for the hard work," he muttered, putting her pokeball back. Ok, so a Metang. That meant either Spiritomb or Zuko and – Spiritomb hissed at him in annoyance, voicing its desire to not fight. It probably wanted to be whole and healthy for when they talked to Cynthia's Spiritomb later today; a sentiment Leo shared. She had insisted that her Spiritomb could be highly volatile, so…

Zuko it was.

"Heat wave!" Leo barked, tossing Zuko out onto the field. He appeared in a burst of flame, the air distorting around him as he fired himself up. Metang droned and blasted him with a burst of psychic power, knocking him to the ground. Stealth rocks hurled themselves towards him, smashing into his body while he was down. That did not stop Zuko from unleashing his heat wave, the superheated air flicking out and scorching Metang's outer shell.

The steel-type groaned mechanically, light screens flickering into existence around it. Zuko immediately shifted tactics, will-o-wisps popping up all around him as he inhaled, and unleashed a massive flamethrower. Metang deflected the attack with light screens, eyes glowing as it spun away from the attack, keeping the light screens interposed with the flamethrower as Zuko tracked it.

The will-o-wisps zipped forward when Zuko paused to take a breath, the small balls of purple fire arcing around the light screen shield and splashing against Metang's body, turning parts of the gleaming metal cherry-red. Metang's eyes flashed with psychic power, and the ground beneath Zuko heaved, bits of stone bursting from the stone and pelting his stomach.

Zuko coughed violently and scrambled away, coughing out a puff of a smokescreen to temporarily hide himself from Metang.

"Close the gap," Leo ordered, frowning. Although on paper Zuko had the innate advantage against Metang, he of all people knew how tough pseudo-legendaries could be even if it was a pre-evolution. That was why the tournament people didn't play around with them; taking out Diana and Xena with quick, decisive orders, even if they did have to sacrifice 'mon to get it done. So they had to play this smart, and quick, and not let them pick up steam.

"Sunny day," Leo ordered. Zuko paused and flared his back fires, a yellow glow burning in his throat as he turned his face skyward and spat out a sunny day; the burning ball of light coming to hover over the field menacingly. Metang didn't let this go unpunished, however, and paused for a brief moment as it seemed to focus.

"Meteor beam!" Coeus called, grinning widely. Zuko turned his face back towards Metang and roared, a great gout of flame erupting from his maw, the sunny-day enhanced flamethrower overwhelming Metang's light screen defense and drowning the steel-type in flame. It droned in pain, and a burst of blue light suddenly rocketed through the heart of Zuko's flamethrower, slamming into his chest and sending him hurtling backwards.

Metang burst from the lingering flames, glowing cherry-red with lightning crackling around its two claws as Zuko slowly picked himself up.

"Explode!" Leo shouted, and Zuko didn't even hesitate. His fur sparked and an explosion rocked the arena – not as powerful as Golem's had been, but still powerful – only to splash harmlessly against a protect shield erected by Metang. It burst through the explosion unharmed, caught Zuko in a psychic hold, and bashed both of its claws into his forehead, the twin thunder punches sending him crashing to the ground. He whimpered and tried to rise, but Metang didn't let up, hitting him again, and again, pushing through the flames that burst from Zuko's back and licked at Metang's still-glowing metal armor to beat him until he fell.

Leo's fists clenched against the railing as he recalled Zuko, the fact that he just lost hitting him like a truck. Metang wobbled mid-air as Coeus recalled the steel-type, the older man grinning widely as the announcer boomed his victory. Leo bit back a curse, jumping down from the trainer's stand and walking to meet Coeus halfway across the field. The man was at least two heads taller than him, broad-chested with massive hands that dwarfed Leo's when they shook.

"You've got a heck of a team, kid," he said, shaking his hand and clapping him on the shoulder. "But you're lacking a bit of experience. Don't worry, kiddo, you've got another shot to make it to the top eight. You really took me by surprise! I had to pull out some old, old tricks! I look forward to our rematch!" he said, grinning widely. Leo smiled.

"Thank you for the battle," he said genuinely. Coeus just grinned and slapped him on the back again as Leo left the field, waving at the crowd and basking in their cheers. It wasn't until he was away from the crowd, in an empty hallway, that he reacted.

His fist struck the wall so hard the bones in his hands ached.

"Damn it,"

Leo sat in the pokemon center twiddling his thumbs, waiting for the nurses to release his pokemon back to him. He could only imagine how frustrated Xena would be with her loss. The same went with Zuko, and Link, and Diana. Maybe he could blame their loss on not being accustomed to competitive fighting; they'd had nothing but wild free-for-alls and fights to the death lately, but he didn't. That didn't seem right. He mostly blamed himself instead.

He glanced up when Cynthia sat down in one of the plastic chairs next to him, the blonde girl clearly having something to say.

"That was a good battle," she said, and Leo snorted.

"No it wasn't," he scoffed. "I fell into too many traps. Didn't anticipate enough. Forgot about protect when Metang was doing that final charge, and thus left Zuko vulnerable to assault. Should've had him disengage and run away, rather than go for the kill. The list goes on,"

"The explosion trick was…unexpected, but expected. There was little the Golem would have been able to do against your Hakamo-o, so a sacrificial play was likely the correct choice on your opponent's part. And maybe you would have been able to win had you saved your Meinfoo for last, rather than as a sacrificial piece." Cynthia allowed, nodding. "But then again, I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit,"

"How so?" Leo asked, both annoyed and confused by her statement. Annoyed because he was pissed off right now and didn't really want to talk to anyone, and confused because, well, that wasn't what he'd expected the hear.

"You tell me. Instead of beating yourself up for a loss against a far more experienced trainer, I want you to tell me what you did well," she said, folding her hands in her lap and looking at him expectantly. Leo raised an eyebrow at her, and sighed. Well. Shit. He knew exactly what she was trying to do here. His dad used to do something similar whenever he beat himself up over something – like being unable to beat him in a spar, or sucking at a sport or whatever. After all, his father had taught him martial arts.

It was a simple trick, but an effective one. And as much as it annoyed him to do, he played along.

"Sunny beat Hariyama," he said, rubbing his chin. "I knew that Coeus loved protect and other defensive moves, and Sunny knowing feint and reversal allowed her to turn a losing battle on its head – from sheer unexpectedness. That was good. Recalling her was also good, I waited until I saw who was next, and sent out my best counter. Using Sunny for the same purpose on Coeus' last pokemon wasn't a bad idea either; it let me pick the best counter to it I could,"

"Why didn't you choose Spiritomb?" Cynthia asked.

"Because I wanted it to be ready for when we meet yours, and because it didn't want to fight. And, if it doesn't want to do something, even if I force it to, it won't fight at full power because of its…volatile, disjointed nature. I was more likely to lose if I forced Spiritomb into battle than if I used Zuko," Leo reasoned, rubbing the back of his neck and feeling just a tad bit frustrated at Spiritomb. Said ghost whispered in his ears in concern, sensing his agitation, but he just waved it off. He didn't want to talk to it right now.

"So you anticipated what you could against a far more experienced opponent, forced him to play things cautiously, respected the wish of your pokemon to not fight, and still almost won," Cynthia summed up.

"That doesn't make me feel better. I still think I could have done more. We could have done more," Leo corrected himself, rubbing his face.

"Probably," Cynthia agreed, drumming her fingers on her leg. "But at the same time, probably not. You said you've been a trainer for, what, a year and a half now?" she asked, and he nodded. "What you're running into is that your team is strong, powerful, but not versatile. At least that's what you feel, right?" she asked.

"Sounds about right," he grumbled.

"That's because you're too new at this. It takes trainers years to build up their teams, not just because pokémon, like humans, take time to grow into their adult forms even after reaching their final evolution; but also because they need experience. It takes time for them to master the moves they already have – and even more time to learn more moves, and understand how to use them to their fullest extent," Cynthia reasoned. "You lost not because your team is weak, or because you're a terrible trainer, but because you and your team just need time to grow," Leo scowled and rubbed his face, hating that he knew she was right.

Stupid logic. Why couldn't he just be mad at himself for a little bit?

"You're probably right," Leo said, and then snorted to himself. "Maybe that's why I'm a kid again," he muttered, low enough that Cynthia couldn't hear him.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing. What do you suggest I do then?" he asked, looking at her.

"When is your next battle?" she asked.

"Tomorrow morning, against Kiawe. A fire-type specialist, about fourteen years old," Leo said. "I have full confidence in being able to beat him," he said. It was a little weird, going up against someone who Leo remembered as being a Trial Captain in the games when they were still an up-and-coming trainer, but oh well. He wasn't a Trial Captain yet.

"If you're confident, why are you asking me? It's you and your team that will be doing the fighting," she reasoned, and Leo nodded. That was fair enough, he supposed. Still, he'd better have a talk with his team when the time comes. Diana and Link were disheartened by their losses, and undoubtedly Xena and Zuko would be, so he needed to have a bit of a…heart-to-heart with his team. Before the battle tomorrow. He glanced over at where the nurse was manning the pokemon center desk, the pokemon who battled clearly not finished healing yet.

That could come later, when everyone was ready. Leo took a deep breath, balling up his frustration and anger in the pit of his stomach, then imagining as if he was pushing it out through his feet on the exhale – like blood, draining from his body.

"Do you want to go get some ice cream?" Cynthia suddenly blurted out, and Leo blinked at her. "There will be some time before your team is ready, and I've been dying to have some,"

He glanced at the clock, and mulled over the offer. Well, it sure beat hanging around here, moping over his loss and overthinking things.

"I think that's a great idea," he said, and followed her out of the pokemon center back towards the tournament proper, engaging in small talk with her on the way. If only he had remembered how much she enjoyed ice cream from the few times he'd watched the anime, he might have been spared the shock of watching her pack away an entire double sundae, all by herself. But, as it was, it was…an enjoyable time.

Victoria Oak was not having a good day. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Despite her brat – and since when did she start thinking of him as her brat? – doing well enough in the Tournament (albeit not as well as she knew he was capable of) and the overall serenity she felt whenever she returned to Alola, she was not having a good day. Alola was her homeland, and she would live here for the rest of her life if she was allowed to.

But, and this was a big but, she also could not turn away from the Motherland, where the first Oaks came from and where their roots first took hold. She was proud of her familial lineage – one that stretched from Sinnoh with the famous Professor Rowan Oak, the cousin of her own father Samson Oak who researched in Alola, to Samuel Oak himself, fabled as one of the greatest Pokemon Professors of all time and ex-champion of the Indigo League, like his late father before him. And that was where the Oaks were from; Indigo. They had laid their roots there generations ago, and have since spread across the globe as researchers, battlers, and all the positions in-between. Indigo was the homeland of the Oaks, as much as Alola was Victoria's homeland.

Which was exactly why this news was so disheartening. To think that Indigo had fallen apart so much.

"You're certain," Victoria asked again. Giovanni nodded tiredly, rubbing his face. Even over the distances they were communicating on a secure, protected, and thereby not-very-high quality video phone, she could see the stress-lines on his forehead and the absolute exhaustion in his eyes. The image flickered a little and Victoria angrily wondered if an errant Magnemite was floating by, or if bloody Zapdos was making a ruckus somewhere far away. This was why it took so much work to get regions to communicate with each other – there was so much interference, all the bloody time.

"I am. It could be a week from now, it could be a month, it could be a year, but I cannot hold back the rogue elements in Kanto. Cerulean, Vermillion, Saffron, and Fuchsia are all ready to explode," Giovanni asserted. Victoria scowled. There was no way those gym leaders could defeat the entire might of Indigo and the Elite Four, not even if they managed to defeat and kill Lance. Not that it was likely, barring catching the dragon-master with his pants down. He truly was a powerful trainer, after all, and had far more allies than he did enemies.

"They're going to fail," Victoria said stiffly. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"When it comes down to it, I will have to side with Indigo. Kanto as a whole is not in a place to challenge Johto's might, and the leaders who understand this will either remain neutral or join Lance's side. As Viridian is the gateway to the League, I must side with Lance, even if I wish to remain neutral," Giovanni lamented. Victoria frowned and leaned back in her chair, allowing her mind to conjure up how this conflict would end.

Lance, proving his power as Champion, subduing the rogue elements of Kanto that have been voicing their complaints over his misadministration. He would get the glory she knew he craved, "glory" in battle against terrorists screeching their war song of injustice, and oppression of their people. And while they were not wrong, the Kantonians were too rabid about it – the kind of rabid that turned the sympathetic away from their cause, not towards it. They would lose, with Lance at the lead, the Elite Four behind, and Giovanni showing the way from the gates of Viridian.

Victoria thought about what she knew about Giovanni, and what Leo had told her. The puzzle pieces he'd provided all those years ago slowly clicked into place. Giovanni would earn Lance's trust through his efforts in subduing the rebellion, despite his obvious distaste of the Champion, and he would earn a voice in deciding who would take over the dissident cities. Saffron, the center of all of Kanto; Vermillion, an important naval port and central hub of the military; Fuchsia, the home of the eternally feuding ninja clans; and Cerulean, the tourist trap of a city. From her knowledge of politics in the region, the Waterflower family of Cerulean would undoubtedly retake control of the city, thanks to their constant and vocal support of Lance, having lost their right to gym-leaderhood two dozen years ago, but for the others?

Giovanni would undoubtedly try to land his people, lieutenants, if you will, into leadership positions in the cities. Strengthening his own position and hiding what he would surely do next, something she never would have considered a possibility before; establishing a terrorist organization within Kanto, most likely set on weakening Johto's influence. The man had the viciousness and wit to succeed in such an endeavor; had Victoria not been looking into him these past few months, she probably never would have put it all together.

Between the two, Lance and Giovanni, the entire political landscape of Kanto would drastically change, as even leaders who did not take a side find themselves replaced. She could only see Pewter and Rota, the latter of which is only nominally a part of Kanto, would remain the same – simply because their respective histories revolved around their neutrality, with the exception of when war found them. Pewter did not take sides, and Lance would respect that. For the other leaders who remained neutral? He would pressure them. Hard.

"For the love of the Tapus," she cursed, shaking her head.

"…You should be wary as well, Victoria Oak. There are elements on both sides that see your attempts at peacekeeping as support for the 'enemy.'" Giovanni warned. The image flickered again, and he frowned over the screen. "I must go. The connection is getting weaker, and the longer we speak, the more likely we are to be noticed. Until we meet again," he said, and cut the connection. Victoria cursed once more and ran a hand through her hair, standing up from her chair and snapping her pokedex shut. It was an advanced model, but still only capable of long-range video chats thanks to some tech she didn't understand.

Victoria let out a long, slow breath and considered calling Samuel, but eventually shelved that idea for now. They'd known that Kanto would reach a tipping point sooner than later, but never really knew when. It had all been guesswork until now, and though she'd hoped that it wouldn't go this far, that had apparently been a fool's hope. He'd be ok for now, and telling people that she knew what was going to happen was…dangerous. She'd try to run damage control, of course, but right now? Right now she needed to come to terms with what was about to happen.

With an absent twitch of her hand she let Prince out next to her, the Persian rubbing up against her leg as she reached down to scratch between his ears.

"C'mon, let's go see your favorite chew-toy," she said, and Prince purred loudly, clearly liking the idea. She chuckled and led the way out of her private room – a villa that had been reserved for her at the top of the Royal Stadium. It was a tad too luxurious for her tastes, with golden faucets and all the modern amenities she needed plus far more that she didn't, but it was at least private.

A destination in mind, Victoria wandered out of the stadium, greeting those who recognized her and signing a few things, taking the odd picture, then politely making her way out of the worst of the crowds. She'd never get to where she was going if she didn't get away from those who recognized her. So, silently and stealthily she made her way to the hotel she knew Leo was staying at, Prince leading the way, undoubtedly searching for him as well.

She just wanted to see him.

To ground herself a little.

What was coming between Kanto and Johto was…

Terrifying.

He had come to be her little slice of normalcy in this crazy world. Just a kid, going on an adventure, seeing the world for the first time…and yeah, he got caught up in some crazy stuff. But who didn't? At least when she heard about it from him, it seemed mostly fun. Like an adventure should be. It was what she wanted to do and have. To go back to that time in her life, when she could just…run away, and play in the jungles.

She didn't want to fight in a war, but she couldn't turn her back on it either. It wasn't in her nature to do so, and as much as her brain told her that she'd be better off staying in Alola, training, enjoying life, and helping raise Leo up into the trainer she believed he could be, her gut said it could never happen. One way or another she'd find herself entangled in the conflict in Indigo, be it by her own choice, or forced by another's hand. So she walked, and walked, and just…stewed. Coming to terms with what she might have to do.

When she did find Leo, it wasn't quite where she expected. Or, rather, he wasn't doing quite what she expected. Instead of hanging out in a pokemon center, or having a talk with his team, or any of the other things she expected from him after his most recent loss, Victoria stumbled across him hanging out at an ice-cream stand.

She would've missed it had it not been for Prince pointing it out to her. He was sitting at a table across from a pretty blonde girl, laughing as he held a half-eaten ice cream cone, the girl herself tearing through a heaping mound of the frozen treat, while his Slowking stood off to the side next to a Lucario. The two pokemon were enjoying their own cones – or, the Lucario was. Santiago was licking his paws, as if he had just finished; it was more likely he just ate the whole thing in one go though.

Victoria just watched for a moment, standing in the crowd and just…observing, before finally turning away and letting him go about his business. As much as she wanted to go tease him about the situation, now that she saw him she felt a little better. At least he wasn't moping about his loss, even if he did still have a chance to make it to the top eight. That had been her problem when she was his age.

Leo sat down with Link, Zuko, and Xena, the three pokemon who were taking their losses the hardest, in a small secluded park outside their hotel the next morning. He'd already spoken to Diana, the Pupitar flipping her mood around just because he was giving her some one-on-one bonding time and promptly coerced him into practicing their riding skills again, much to Cynthia's amusement. Thankfully he'd gotten a lot better at riding Diana over the past few months, so it wasn't quite as disastrous as their first few attempts.

Still, that left these three to take care of.

"So," he started, raising an eyebrow at them. "You all got your butts handed to you,"

"Hak," Xena growled, turning away and huffing. Link scowled and crossed his arms, while Zuko just bowed his head in shame.

"Admittedly, I made some mistakes in commanding your fights," he started, and held up a hand as Link opened his mouth to speak, likely to protest in some way. "Link, we should've kept up the pressure on that Decidueye – it's a ranged fighter, and you're best at melee. Giving it space like we did, however unintentionally, was a mistake. Zuko, we should've abused quick attack more. Your ability to explode is a great ability, but we've been focusing on it too much since your evolution, and left some of your other tactics behind. It's time to revisit those, and see what we can do about expanding them. And Xena…there's not much I can say there besides bad luck. I never would've expected an exploding Golem, but maybe I should have," he said with a shrug.

Xena huffed again and banged her scales together, shaking herself vigorously.

"I get that you're proud of your scales; they're an impressive defense against most opponents. Hell, that Nihilego we fought together could barely get past them. But against a point blank explosion? Be realistic," he reasoned, and Xena huffed again. "If anything, though, this tournament is pointing out plenty of weaknesses and loopholes in our current strategies and move sets that need to be adjusted or accounted for. That said, we don't have time to do that now. In just an hour we'll be fighting Kiawe, a fire type specialist. Xena, so long as Santiago and Diana don't mop the floor with his team, you'll get a chance at redemption at this fight. But don't be expecting it; they have as much to prove as you do.

"The real question is, how are you all going to take the rest of the tournament? I'm going to start playing things a bit smarter; adjusting my commands and strategies more beyond this whole 'barrel through with brute strength' thing I walked into the tournament with. I expect you to do the same when we win this battle today. Top sixteen isn't enough for me. We've been through enough. Done enough training. Fought enough real battles. Let's make it to the top," he said, decisively, firmly, with no room for argument.

None of them said a word for a moment, until Zuko looked up and just nodded his head, determination shining in his eyes. Leo nodded back, and Link stepped forward to make a sweeping bow.

"Bell," he said. Leo nodded to him, and turned his attention to Xena.

The dragon's eyes burned with determination and desire; her pride as a dragon, as a powerful warrior of the Poni Kommo-o tribe, had been hurt yesterday. She would not rest until she proved that her pride in herself was not misplaced. Leo knew it wasn't, but that wasn't the point. She had to prove it to herself.

"Good. We'll have plenty of time to figure things out after the battle today, but I wanted to get this out of the way. For now, return," he said, recalling Zuko and Xena. "You'll stay with me for a bit, Link," he said, the little Bellossom nodding, eyes flicking to the side.

"That was quite the speech," Cynthia said, having walked up to observe at some point. Leo jumped a bit in surprise, turning on her and flushing just slightly. He…hadn't expected anyone to hear his little speech besides his team.

"Ah, thanks…" he said, trailing off as he observed the girl. Her eyes were puffy and red, dark bags hanging under them indicating a severe lack of sleep. Her hair was a bit of a mess too, and her shoulders were slightly slumped – a drastic change from her usual dignified posture. A Roserade walked by her today, exuding a pleasant scent from her flower hands, and she occasionally glance up at her trainer with worry. "You ok?" Leo asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Is it really that noticeable?" she asked with a self-depreciating chuckle. When Leo didn't answer, she continued. "I…apologize. When we didn't get to interacting with our Spiritomb yesterday, admittedly by my own insistence, I got a bit impatient and tried your little meditating technique," Leo closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Yeah, he felt bad about not getting to that, but she had personally delayed him meeting and helping with her Spiritomb until after today's battle; citing that it wouldn't do to distract him when he had an important battle coming up or whatnot. Probably out of worry that his loss left him not in the right state of mind. It worked out just as well for him, though, since he got some research on Kiawe done instead.

"I told you to wait for me to do that. I can't guarantee the same method would work for you as it did for me. Did you at least have Lucario out with you?" he asked, and she shook her head. Maybe that was hypocritical of him to demand of her, but just because he was foolish didn't mean others had to be.

"Like a fool, no I did not," she said softly. "I did not think the reaction would be so…violent," the fact that she probably let her pride get ahead of her, thinking 'if someone Leo's age could do it, so could I' went unsaid. Maybe that was Leo just filling in gaps though.

"What happened," Leo said more than asked. Her Roserade shot him a glare, and Link stepped between him and the other grass-type.

"I got to the mindscape, but Spiritomb forcefully pulled me within. I – I tried to fight it, to touch the spirits and grasp them, to combine them like you said, but nothing I did worked. It was as if my hands phased right through them. I couldn't touch them, Leo, and then the nightmares started," she said, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry," she eventually finished with, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I shouldn't have come to you with this right before your match,"

"No, you did the right thing. Walk with me," he said, already leading the way. His match started soon, so they couldn't deal with her Spiritomb yet, but that didn't mean he couldn't try to take her mind off of it. "Tell me about the dreams,"

Cynthia was silent as she fell in step beside him, seeming unwilling to share. So they walked in silence, passing through the tournament grounds and abruptly stopping for ice cream – Cynthia's idea, she just stopped and grabbed two ice cream cones, both for her – before continuing on towards where Leo's battle would be held. It wasn't until the small stadium came into view, and they could see the double doors themselves that she spoke.

"Mismagius was there," she said eventually. "I could feel her pain. She'd been forcefully holding back spirits within all this time, preventing them from overwhelming me, and I opened the floodgates. These were not fragmented spirits, like how you described. They were too coordinated, too like-minded. They struck at me with purpose and intent; I only managed to ward them off because of the time I'd spent with it so far. I saw their pain, the fire and blood that created this ghost…and at the heart of it all, controlling everything, was a single spirit. It was malicious, and evil. When it touched me I could sense its emotions and desires; it wanted nothing more than to break me. Mismagius intervened before it could try anthing else, and I returned Spiritomb afterwards, but…the nightmares remained," At this she fell silent, and didn't speak again.

Leo looked at the stadium, and weighed his options. They needed to deal with this sooner than later. From what she said they both underestimated Spiritomb's maliciousness, and though he'd rather go handle this now, he couldn't just abandon the tournament either. He was doing this as much for Lusamine and Victoria as he was for himself; and he was representing Aether, not just himself either. In fact, it was a little alarming that one of his first thoughts was skipping his match entirely to go help Cynthia. Did he truly think so little of the tournament?

No, that wasn't right. He was just in the mood to fight, and was planning for two fights back-to-back.

"I'm sorry for dumping this on you right before your match," Cynthia said with a sigh, rubbing her face and scratching the top of her Roserade's head when she pressed up against her leg, trying to comfort her. "I think I just needed to talk to someone who understood, even a little. Go to your match, I'll be ok,"

Leo frowned at her, glanced at the stadium, then sighed.

"Are you sure?" he asked seriously, and she nodded. "Ok. I doubt it will take long; meet me here after the battle, and we'll go deal with your Spiritomb together. I'm going to contact Victoria, my original sponsor, and she'll probably be able to stop by and help too,"

"You don't have –" she started, and then cut herself off. She took a deep breath, looked Leo in the eyes, and bowed her head. "Thank you. I appreciate your help," she said formally.

"Save that until after we've sorted out your Spiritomb," he said, looking down at Link as the little Bellossom started climbing his pants leg to get up to his shoulder. "But for now, try to relax a little. Send out your Lucario. Eat some more ice-cream if you need to. Try to take a nap or something with your team in the meantime; this'll probably take at least half an hour to finish so you've got some time. Then we'll take a look at your ghost," he said, walking backwards toward the stadium, Link clinging to his shirt awkwardly.

Cynthia made a shooing motion with one hand, already facing her Roserade, and Leo turned on his heel to march straight into the stadium.

It didn't take long to get past the reception zone, sneaking past the few people who were starting to recognize him, no thanks to his blindingly white Aether outfit, to reach the waiting room, where he recalled Link and let out Santiago. When he appeared he took one look at Leo, raised an eyebrow, and chuckled.

"Over a girl?" he asked.

"Would you be quiet?" Leo said, rolling his eyes and immediately regretting letting him out. Ever since he'd become proficient in the human language, he talked almost nonstop…when they were alone. Usually joking around at Leo's expense.

"You had ice cream together, and even introduced me to her. Doesn't that count as a date?" he continued, wiggling what counted as his eyebrows.

"How do you even know what that means?" Leo demanded, looking at his starter incredulously.

"I just want what's best for you, Dad," Santiago said, setting a paw on his shoulder and smiling, not unlike a proud father. "She's pretty for a human. Right?" he said, suddenly not as confident as he was before.

"That's beside the point. And what's this dad business?" Leo asked, narrowing his eyes at his starter.

"Is not Dad what you call the male figure who raised you? Or am I thinking of Father?" he asked innocently, cocking his head to the side as he pondered the question. Leo remained frozen. That was infuriatingly endearing of him, when he was just being plain irritating. The butthead.

"You are correct, I guess," Leo allowed, and Santiago immediately grinned as if he had just won an argument. Leo didn't want to think about it. "And we are going to help Cynthia because her Spiritomb is being a jerk. The plan is to do that immediately after the battle today. The sooner we get this battle over with, the better,"

"Send Xena out first," he said without hesitation. "As much as I want to battle, if we are to deal with a hostile Spiritomb I need to be present and healthy. Besides, the Young Warrior has something to prove now,"

"You sure?" Leo asked. He had been thinking along the same lines, and to hear Santiago say the same was…comforting.

"Positive," he said, nodding.

"Good. Then it'll be Xena, Diana, and you as a backup," Leo said.

"You won't need me," Santiago said with full confidence, and promptly recalled himself. Leo clipped Santiago's ball back to his belt and waited silently, stilling his mind. The roar of the crowd echoed through the stadium as he sat there, the ongoing battle wrapping up until, finally, his name was called. Slowly he exited the hall out into the arena proper, climbing the trainer podium and staring across the battlefield at Kiawe. The dark-skinned, black and red haired, shirtless young man grinned and waved at the crowd, while Leo just remained calm and unruffled.

He clipped Xena's pokeball off he belt and prepared to throw it, ignoring the roar of the crowd and the booming of the announcer in favor of focusing his undivided attention on Kiawe.

"BEGIN!" the announcer boomed, and Leo let Xena loose.

"You're my lead, Xena," Leo said firmly, calmly. "Show me what you're made of,"

The Turtonator Kiawe released on his side of the field was immediately buffeted by a roar of immense power, Xena tossing her head back and roaring to the heavens above, Turtonator flinching and ducking its head back into its shell. Xena capitalized on this, rushing forward with draconic claws bared, green light spilling off of them.

"Shell trap!" Kiawe ordered with an energetic shout. The air around Turtonator distorted as it heated up, turning to face its shell towards Xena as she barrled towards him. Leo didn't have to warn her about the trap, having already been forewarned by Kiawe's shout. Instead of aborting her charge, however, she doubled down. Her clawed feet slammed into the ground as she roared once again, leaping up and over Turtonator and landing in front of him. She snarled, Turtonator spat a flamethrower at her, and she let the flames roll off of her as she drove one of her dragon's claws into the ground and, using that as leverage, promptly whipped herself with such force her tail, shining with green energy, threw the much larger and heavier dragon to the side.

She roared again, beating her chest and working herself into a frenzy as she snorted and paced angrily, watching as Turtonator picked itself up. The large fire turtle ducked its head back into its shell as a gout of dragon fire washed over it, overwhelming its innate heat momentarily, letting Xena rush forward once more.

"Dragon pulse!" Kiawe commanded.

Turtonator turned its back to Xena once more and angled its nostrils over the edge of its shell, charging and firing a beam of destructive blue light, not unlike a laser, directly at Xena. She jerked her head out of the way as she ran, allowing it to lightly splash against her scales as she closed the gap in moments; there had barely been enough time for Turtonator to charge the dragon pulse, let alone adjust aim.

"Go low! Get it on its back!" Leo barked quickly. Xena juked around Turtonator, barely bypassing its dangerously hot shell as it tried to adjust position to keep her at bay, and bent to grab both of the turtle's feet.

"Body slam!" Kiawe ordered desperately, but it was too late. Xena threw her shoulder into Turtonator's belly and heaved on its feet, tipping the heavy pokemon backwards onto its back. The fire type groaned as Xena leapt up onto its belly, firing off a hasty, half-charged dragon pulse at her point-blank. She jerked her arm up, blocking the worst of the dragon pulse with her scales as she drove a furious dragon claw into the turtle's face.

Once, twice, through a flamethrower, then a smog of purple gas, until Kiawe admitted defeat and recalled his first pokemon.

"What a stunning start, folks! Leo's Hakamo-o proves it's a force to be reckoned with, and shows just why his previous opponent saw fit to take it out with a sacrificial explosion! What will young Kiawe, grandson of the current Island Kahuna, do against the unstoppable rage of a dragon?!" the announcer boomed.

"That caught me off guard! But you didn't get out of that fight unscathed, so here's our comeback; Marowak, let's do this!" Kiawe called, letting his next pokemon out onto the field. Leo raised and eyebrow at this choice; it wasn't a bad one, all things considered. Since Alolan Marowak was a ghost type, it countered some of Xena's fighting moves. Though he'd been expecting the Talonflame he'd seen Kiawe use before, but maybe the fire bird was still recovering from his last battle. Regardless, this would be an interesting matchup.

"Burn it to ashes," Kiawe ordered, and the ghostly Marowak cackled, sinking into the ground, leaving glowing will-o-wisps floating where it once stood.

Xena hissed and worked the arm that had been hit by the dragon pulse, growling through the pain as she glanced around, waiting for Marowak to make an appearance. Leo watched the field as well, in particular watching the shadow at Xena's feet. He'd seen Alolan Marowak's ability to sink into shadows from the Totem pokemon he'd run into, back before Zuko evolved.

He recalled that it liked his own shadow…

"Xena, when I shout a direction, fire a dragon breath," Leo said, and Xena huffed. Blue fire flickered in the back of her throat as she looked around, still searching and keeping a wary eye on the will-o-wisps still floating about.

"Now!" Kiawe shouted, and Leo almost flinched. But he didn't, and Marowak didn't make a move. "Dang, I was really hoping that would," Kiawe started, and it was then that Marowak struck.

"Down!" Leo roared, barely noticing how Xena's shadow darkened just slightly, reacting to Marowak's presence, before the ghost-type leapt from the shadow at Xena's feet, bone burning with blue fire. Xena reacted at-speed, dragon fire spilling out of her mouth as Marowak drove its bone into her stomach. She coughed, the flames of her dragon breath spluttering and splashing against Marowak's skull helmet.

"Burn her!" Kiawe roared, and the will-o-wisps moved. Xena growled and slammed a dragon claw into Marowak's side in retaliation, the will-o-wisps from earlier darting forward and slamming into her joints and torso, searing the flesh beneath her protective scales. She roared in pain and fired another dragon breath at Marowak, who nimbly danced out of the way, and charged again.

Marowak cackled and met her dragon claw with its bone, ducked out of the way of her follow-up strike, and promptly encased itself in fire, punishing Xena for trying to close the distance. Leo frowned a little as he watched the dance continue, Xena uncaring about her proximity to fire as she swept and struck at Marowak, while the ghost expertly danced and spun out of the way of most of her strikes, only retaliating when it was sure to get a good, clean hit in. That was usually when she tried to attack with her left arm, though, as that was the arm that had blocked the dragon pulse.

It hurt more than she let on, at first, and now Marowak was capitalizing on that injury.

Xena was slowing thanks to her burns as well, he could see it in her movements. Thankfully, there was a way to fix that.

"Autotomize!" Leo ordered, and Xena growled. She stomped her foot, taking another swipe at Marowak; her and he punished her with a strike to the side with his bone. A scale flew off from the impact. She roared and took another step forward, shaking herself vigorously and shedding a fair amount of scales. Her next swipe nicked Marowak's arm as he spun away, catching him by surprise. More scales shed, and she barreled forward with shocking speed, sinking both of her dragon-clawed fists into Marowak's stomach. The ghost type was flung backwards, fires spluttering momentarily as he hit the ground hard.

Xena did not let up, darting forward. Marowak waved his bone through the air as he leapt to his feet, ghostly fires burning around him and Xena; ripping a pained scream from the dragon even as she spun and smashed a dragon tail into his face.

He rolled with the blow, spinning in a circle all the way around, only to smack Xena in the jaw with his bone again.

She growled as he made a strange hand-gesture, her muscles spasming and joints locking up – but not enough to save Marowak from a point-blank dragon's breath. Marowak grunted but pushed through the fires, delivering a massive uppercut to Xena's jaw with his bone and sending her to her knees.

To her credit, she did not fall. She was stunned for all but a moment, and when she recovered she lunged, claws bared, only to be finally knocked out by a bone strike to the side of her head. Leo waited a good three seconds, watching her as she lay on the ground, motionless, in case she was faking. Then he recalled her, thanking her for her hard work, and watched as Marowak fell to one knee, panting.

Leo raised an eyebrow at it. Well, Marowak certainly wouldn't like his next opponent. The announcer boomed through the battlefield as Leo unclipped Diana's pokeball, glancing at Kiawe for but a moment before letting out his next team member.

"Diana, dark pulse," he commanded. A wave of darkness spread over the field as soon as Diana materialized, washing over Marowak and nearly knocking him over.

"BONEMERANG!" Kiawe screamed, desperate to get some damage in as Diana fired up her jet engines and bore down hard on the ghost. He hurled his bone club, the burning blue fires flickering dangerously as it smashed into Diana's shell with a resounding crack, but didn't slow her in the slightest. Although she actually passed straight through Marowak, the bulldoze she trailed behind her did not, the wave of earth and stone knocking him flat on his back and out of the fight.

Kiawe recalled him with a stiff expression, eyeing Diana, then looking up at Leo.

"Seems like your team is almost tailor-made to counter mine," he said, laughing bitterly. "Still, we won't go out without a fight! Magmar!" he shouted, and unleashed the fiery beast onto the field. But his heart wasn't in it. He knew his loss was impending, and the moment Diana had her target locked on Magmar, that became apparent. She was too fast, her defense too thick, and Magmar was too stationary to be able to effectively handle her rock attacks. Even when it spat out a smokescreen she had little trouble handling the fire type.

She had plenty of practice against Zuko, after all. She just bulldozed the area filled with smoke, and indiscriminately blasted dark pulses. Thus it wasn't long before Magmar fell to Diana's relentless onslaught.

Leo recalled her and thanked her for her hard work, leaping down into the battlefield to wave to the crowd, collect Xena's shed scales, and say hello to Kiawe. It wasn't until he saw the budding fire-type expert's expression that he snapped out of his narrow-minded focus, however.

"Man, I had a run of bad luck this tournament," Kiawe said with a rueful chuckle and proffering a hand. "First that water-type trainer, then you? What luck. And I thought I was getting strong," Leo shook his head, shaking Kiawe's hand at the same time.

"Yeah, just bad luck. The announcer said you were the Kahuna's grandkid, though? You looking to become a Trial Captain or something?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. Don't think I want to go for Kahuna, but my family's been the Trial Captains of the Wela Volcano Park for generations now. I'd like to keep that mantle up," he said, smiling thinly. "Seems I got a long way to go though,"

"Sure, we're still just kids. Tell you what though, I'm going to give you some advice that I learned from a gym leader back home if you're ok with it," he said, slapping Kiawe's shoulder and waiting until he nodded his assent before speaking. "He was the one who helped me evolve my Pupitar, actually. One of the key things to being a Trial Captain or Gym Leader is learning not how to win, or be strong, but how to lose. How to lose to a trainer, and how to make a loss on their part still feel like a victory in the end. Victory through defeat, in other words. I'm not trying to be mean or patronizing here. And maybe you already know this, but becoming strong can only come through time and effort. The lessons you learn along the way, through failure and loss, are the important bits until you get that strong. If what I said is a little confusing, ask your grandpa about it. I'm sure he'd be able to put it into words better than I can,"

Kiawe frowned, but didn't refute it as Leo was pulled away by the announcer, his victory being announced to the crowd. But Leo wasn't really paying attention, even as he waved to the crowd and eyed the scales Xena dropped, still intending to pick them up.

He had a ghost's ass to kick, after all.