18-19

The answer to Leo's question about him being dark and/or psychic was another question. One that he did not have a prepared answer for, but Professor Oak seemed to have an infinite amount of patience that morning and was willing to wait.

"What do I think being dark means?" Leo asked, cocking his head to the side. The good Professor nodded, sipping on his coffee and watching Leo through the video phone. Before coming to this world a question like that would have been way too much to ask of him this early in the morning, with the sun just barely starting to rise to set the sky on fire outside the Pokemon Center windows, but that had changed ever since he had become an insufferable morning person. Now he had his wits about him in the early mornings, and could come up with an answer.

"Yes," Oak said, nodding appreciatively off screen as Merri levitated a packet of sugar over to him. Leo hummed in thought as the Professor added the sugar to his coffee and stirred it around. He…had ideas, but they were mostly esoteric, and most likely not what the Professor was looking for.

"I don't know," Leo admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Morty said something about being immune to psychic influence?"

"Forget what Morty said," Oak said, waving his hand dismissively. "Forget what anyone's told you. What do you think, Leo?"

"Uh…I guess it might make me harder for psychics to detect?" Leo asked more than said. The Professor sighed, shaking his head and looked off screen once again. His face morphed into an incredulous expression.

"Gary, eat your food don't wear it. Thank you for helping, Merri," he grumbled, standing up then sitting back down as whatever was happening off-screen was apparently handled by Merri. As much as the Alakazam didn't like Gary, she did help out plenty enough with keeping the rambunctious boy out of too much trouble. "Leo, stop thinking in terms of types. We cannot classify humans in the same sense that we classify pokémon in – in fact, most pokémon have many arguments against their respective typings. Did you know that Typhlosion were once considered fire and rock types? The eruption technique that the stronger members of the species can learn is a technique that is, arguably, both fire and rock type as well, which was part of the reasoning for that classification. Stop thinking in terms of types," Oak lectured, and Leo grumbled to himself, scratching the back of his head.

That was…fair enough, he supposed. Leo frowned and hesitated a moment more, considering what he knew. Or, more importantly, what he could infer. Why did psychics like him? Why did Merri like him? He recalled their conversations about why she avoided Gary for the most part – it was because his mind was too loud.

"Silence," Leo said, more musing aloud than anything else.

"Yes," the Professor said, pleased. "It's about silence. It's about being able to silence your mind without ceasing function – on a very basic level, being Dark is about being able to live without thinking, but not without thought. This alone makes it hard for most psychics to detect your mind, and is usually where 'trained' dark people stop. A natural dark, like yourself, has that same effect plus some. It's like taking your mind and draping a blanket over it, then shutting off the lights. When you shut off your mind or close it off, essentially walling the brainwaves psychics sense in, a talented psychic may be able to find it but they won't be able to do more than feel your presence. Not only that but you'll be able to slip from their grasp on a physical level far easier. And that's with you not making a conscious effort to hide," he explained. Leo snorted.

"Live without thinking, but not without thought. Sounds about right; we both know I don't always think before I act," Leo smirked. Oak laughed and nodded, extending one hand to the side and pulling a syrup-covered Gary on screen, the boy grinning unapologetically at the screen. "What on earth did you do, goofball?" Leo laughed, shaking his head.

"Made Merri grumpy," he said with a confident smirk, earning himself another telekinetically thrown syrup-covered pancake to the face from Merri. He had the gall to just laugh, muffled thought it was by pancake, even as the Professor gave Merri the stink eye. "So are you psychic? Gramps was saying you might be,"

"I dunno, am I?" Leo asked, quirking an eyebrow. He had a better idea of what being dark meant now, but had no idea of the other.

"Technically? Yes. Officially? I do not believe you would qualify as a psychic according to the Saffron Psychics Association," he said, shaking his head and peeling the pancake off of Gary when the boy made it clear he had no desire to remove his impromptu facemask. "All people have some level of psychic ability, yours is pretty average, and how it manifests is usually called 'instinct.' That, however, is not enough for the psychics to accept you as a 'true' psychic. You'd need to exhibit abilities like sensing emotions, telekinesis, or something like that. My best guess as to what happened with your levitating during the Spiritomb incident was a combination of Spiritomb's ghost abilities levitating you – we've both seen it can levitate its keystone – and Longinus' gem. That is a powerful psychic focus, it wouldn't be unthinkable that it would have some effect on…bolstering psychic abilities," Oak explained patiently. "Or at least, making it easier for them to flow through you. Most ghosts do have psychic abilities too, you know,"

"So I'm not, by technical definition, a psychic then," Leo clarified.

"No, you are not. Using items to help amplify psychic powers does not count," Oak said, shaking his head. Leo hummed and nodded. For a moment longer the two chatted – mostly about Leo's plans from here and what Daisy was doing; Professor Oak and Gary both seemed surprised that Daisy would be travelling with him for a bit, so there was that, but eventually the call was ended as the two Oaks needed to go about their day.

Leo sighed and leaned back in his chair, pulling Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket and running his thumb along the edges of the cube. The ghost hissed at him gently, almost a little subdued as he stood and headed to the Center lobby, where Daisy was probably already waiting for him. At least he had something of an answer to the psychic question now.

Leo hummed happily as he examined his souvenir, glad to be on the road again and out of Ecruteak, the bustling tourist-laden city sprawled out behind them like the urban forest it was. Daisy watched him with some amusement from the side as he flipped the wooden, leaf-shaped object in his hands over and over. They'd walked past a few mom-and-pop shops that sold little curios and such on the way out of town and of course one had something that caught Leo's eye – a bellossom leaf replica. Not only that, but it was actually an instrument, sounding like a mix of a flute and a harmonica that could somewhat replicate the sound of a bellossom leaf; it wasn't the same, of course, but it was close enough that Leo could play those songs without butchering them. Potentially.

He just had to figure out how to actually play the stupid thing, because it was different than the leaf.

"Why am I not surprised that the first thing you buy when you get a bit of money is something to do with bellossom," Daisy said, shaking her head. Her Clefairy skipped happily beside her, twinkling motes of silver light left glittering in its wake.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, confused, and considering letting Zuko out to roam. He eventually decided against it as he wasn't ready to put out literal fires yet. Zuko could be a bit overenthusiastic when chasing bugs and rattatta, after all.

"Back on the ranch you'd always be playing with the oddish line, bellossom first and foremost. I'm actually shocked you don't have one on your team yet, I figured it'd be the first thing you'd catch," Daisy said, and Leo frowned.

"Can't say I haven't considered it, but I guess none have really caught my eye. Nor I theirs. If one asked to come along I'd catch it, but I'm not going to just catch any old oddish," Leo said with a shrug. A buzzing and droning sound from above had Leo looking up, pausing to watch a swarm of magnemite drift along the power lines that led to Ecruteak, sparks occasionally shooting off their glinting, metallic bodies.

"You never know if a pokémon will actually fit in with the rest of your team until you try it," Daisy argued, and Leo laughed, shrugging.

"So why did you want to follow me?" Leo asked, changing the subject. "Instead of, you know, going back to the Ranch to spend time with Gary or something," Daisy shot him a sharp look, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes and Leo immediately knew he stepped on a proverbial landmine.

"Are you trying to guilt trip me? Is gramps putting you up to this?" she snapped.

"Uh, no, no," Leo said, raising his hands up defensively and thanking his stars that Daisy had unwittingly given him a way out of the danger zone. "I was actually thinking he might've told you to follow me considering all the trouble I tend to get myself into," Daisy met his eyes for a few more moments, never slowing her stride, then snorted and shook her head.

"No, he didn't. I'm actually being honest when I said I need a bit of a break from training. It's…not as appealing to me as it was when I first started out, and I don't know what I want to do anymore," she admitted glumly, surprising Leo none. She was a talented trainer, that was never in doubt, but she had never struck Leo as the get-badges type of trainer either. He was surprised she got as far as she did, actually. "That, and I wanted to enter a competition with you," she said.

"Competition?" Leo echoed.

"Yes, the bug catching competition in the National Park. They're having a special duo's style competition this weekend, and I heard rumors that the grand prize may be a moon stone. Clefairy here isn't quite ready to evolve yet, but I want to have the stone for when she is," Daisy said confidently.

"Why me? Don't you have other trainer friends, with more badges, that would be better help? In case I must remind you, I am twelve," Leo said, arching an eyebrow at her and blowing on his new leaf-flute experimentally. The sharp whistle made him wince and glare at the offending piece of wood. That was not what he wanted it to sound like.

"That's where the 'duo' bit comes to play. It's a mentor and mentee competition. Competitors are to either bring their own rookie or will be assigned one from the local schools – or you'll be assigned a rookie trainer. Anyone who has been a trainer for three months or less or is below the age of fourteen is the rule, I believe. Trainers don't just have to start their journey at the beginning of the league season, after all, so there's plenty of rookies to go around. The idea is that veteran trainers are to show the wanna-be or rookie trainers the ropes of catching a pokémon – and I'd rather not get saddled with some random kid," she said with a shrug.

"So you want to cheat by bringing someone who's underage, but still a trainer?" Leo asked. He might've only been a trainer for a few months, but he was past the "less than three months" line for certain.

"Nope, it's not cheating. Youngsters are encouraged to come as well…think of it as a way to assess how you're faring on your journey." Daisy said. "Besides, it doesn't automatically mean we'll win," she said, and Leo sighed, watching a pidgey peck at the ground just off the side of the road. It chirped a few times and hopped off, not even bothering to fly away when the two trainers neared.

"If you say so. Let me think about it," Leo said, scratching the back of his neck. He technically fit the criteria for age, if not length of time training, but it still might feel weird. It'd probably be a decent learning experience, though. Daisy has been travelling for a while…and if I remember right, the National Park competition in the games is a place to catch bugs? I don't know much about bug pokémon. He mused.

"I'll let you keep the pokémon we catch. There are some rare species like pinsir and scyther in the National Park. Sometimes they'll even bring in foreign bugs," she tried to entice him.

"The last thing I need is another member of my team right now. I'd rather focus on getting who I have up to snuff – adding too many at once could wear me out. So unless there's something I absolutely cannot pass up like, I dunno, a larvesta or accelgor then nah," he reasoned. "But if there's a cash prize I'll take that,"

"Deal," Daisy said quickly, grinning at him cheekily. It was only then that he realized he had essentially agreed to compete with her. I probably would've agreed sooner or later anyway, he thought with a mental sigh. It's not like he'd be doing any harm by competing, not really, but maybe he could get something else out of this deal if she was essentially going to be using him.

"You need to help me train a bit, though," he added, meeting Daisy's gaze. Her grin widened and she shrugged.

"I can do that. Anything in particular you're wanting to work on?" she asked. He hummed in thought, considering what flaws he needed his team to cover. Some things wouldn't be possible to really cover right now – he'd have to spend money on TM's to expand Zuko's move pool but those were way out of his budget range. Besides, he'd been considering Zuko's admittedly limited move pool, and thinking hard about where his training could go. He wasn't sure that adding a whole bunch of various moves to his repertoire was the play.

"Combo moves, first and foremost. Zuko – my Quilava – can only learn so many moves at the moment so he needs to string them together somehow. I'd like to teach him flame charge as well, but for the moment the idea isn't to overload him with new moves. It's to enhance his use of his current moveset, so anything he can use can be applied to as many situations as possible. Swift would be a good addition as well though, give him another ranged move," he rattled off.

"And the others?" Daisy asked, frowning. He got the feeling she wouldn't be able to help him much there if her reaction was anything to go by.

"Diana needs work on ranged attacking. She's a savage beast in close quarters, but she's a sitting ducklett at range. The pokedex says she can't learn shadow ball, unfortunately, but accuracy training with rock throw might be best. Santiago…well, he needs work on his psychic abilities and with combo moves as well. I'd like to get him to strategize more rather than be a berserker, but that's like asking a rock to stop being a rock. It's what he does," Leo laughed, shaking his head. He loved his stubborn slowpoke, he did, but Santiago needed to learn to listen.

"And your ghost?"

"I'll handle that one," Leo said dismissively. "It needs to learn to focus its mind more, but I don't want to risk you setting it off by trying to train it or anything. We still know very little about it," he reasoned, Spiritomb waking up with a quiet hiss as the topic of conversation moved to it. It had probably been paying attention the whole time.

"I think I can help you with some of that. You said you got shadow ball from Morty right? I might consider teaching that to Santiago or your ghost. It might help with their focus – the move is intensive for weaker pokémon, and they learn to focus their energies better by learning a powerful move like that. Aim training is easy too, we'd just need space and time, but Zuko…well the most I can help with there is combo moves, though I might have an idea for flame charge. It's largely considered to be superior than flame wheel so you're on the right track there.

"Release him, and we can get started," Daisy commanded.

"Now?" he asked.

"Now. Flame charge should be simple enough – all it is, is a run cloaked in flame. Mastery of the move means he'll get faster as he goes, but right now we can at least try to get the basics down by having him run sprints and trying to keep the flame cloak of flame wheel up – minus the rotation aspect," she explained. Leo hummed and didn't argue, letting Zuko out of his pokeball and watching the Quilava closely as he sniffed the air.

"Zuko, focus," he said, snapping his fingers to get his attention. The Quilava snapped his head to Leo, at full attention. In turn Leo glanced at Daisy with a raised eyebrow, waiting for instruction, but to his surprise she didn't immediately take charge and start commanding Zuko around. Instead she gave Leo instructions, guiding him on how to train Zuko rather than doing the training herself. And soon enough Zuko was running sprints, running back and forth down the road as flame sparked and sputtered along his blue hide, wanting to ignite but not quite getting there.

This continued for a few minutes until he wore himself out and Leo recalled him and let him rest for a while. Once he'd had an hour or so of rest Leo let him back out and told him to do the same thing again – albeit slower this time, so as not to wear him out as fast. Intense training like that couldn't last forever, however, so eventually he was forced to put the training to an end – but it had killed a good few hours and Zuko had made impressive headway. His talent with fire type moves remained as strong as ever.

When night fell and the two made camp Leo let out Santiago to train a bit while Zuko rested by the fire – having not been allowed to lay on the coals this time – and Diana explored and played with Daisy's team. Unfortunately Daisy didn't have anything new to help him with on that front. She didn't have a slowpoke, and the psychic training she suggested was what he was already doing; training Santiago's finesse rather than his power.

Once his starter's patience had worn thin, however, Leo settled back to watch Daisy interact with her own team. Her Meganium leaned into her touch, the floral dinosaur cooing as she murmured softly to it and trimmed its petals – using clippers to pull away brown spots and allow for fresh growth. Leo remembered pruning his mother's garden when he was younger, pulling off dead flowers from bushes, so he assumed it was a similar process. Her Clefairy tried to help, of course, jumping up and down and tossing fistfuls of "fairy dust" across Meganium's back as it sang a soft, lilting song.

It was nothing like the bellossom song, but at the same time eerily similar. While the bellossom sang of springtime and growth, Clefairy's song was just as fitting for its own typing – the tune itself reminded Leo of a night like tonight; a warm fire, good company, and a sky full of stars.

His attention was pulled away from the song by a loud crash and a whine that sounded suspiciously like Diana. With a swift movement he stood, glaring at where Diana and Daisy's newest teammate, a Ponyta, had been inspecting each other. Diana was rubbing her forehead, and Ponyta was pawing the ground angrily, snorting flames. Leo started to step forward to intervene in the brewing fight, but Daisy stopped him.

"Wait," she said, standing up from beside Meganium and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I want Ponyta to learn not to pick fights. He's too ornery for his own good," she whispered. Leo grit his teeth and glared at her, about to say that it wasn't her team that was being attacked, but this time it was his own team to keep him quiet.

A thin stream of water splashed Ponyta's face, Santiago gurgling in the back of his throat and slowly ambling forward, tail swishing lazily and drawing the flaming horse's attention to him. It snorted flames again, with no reaction from Santiago other than to slowly saunter in-between Diana and Ponyta and flop down on the ground.

"Sloooow," he called, voicing his thoughts on the matter.

Ponyta neighed and stomped its hooves right beside him, pawing at the ground and trying to elicit a reaction. Clearly it had not met any slowpoke before if it expected a reaction from just that. Tossing its head and sending sparks flying from its fiery mane, Ponyta reared up and snorted out a small burst of fire that splashed against Santiago's back, warming his thick hide but probably doing no harm.

Leo counted down the seconds until Santiago would react – usually it was around four or five – and silently marveled at his starter's actions. The derpy pink blob was smarter than he let on, Leo knew.

"…and one," Leo finished with a nod and, while Ponyta was rearing up to stomp at Santiago once more, the slowpoke whipped his head up in one motion and blasted it in the face with a water pulse, sending the fire horse cantering away with a distressed neigh. Leo snickered, which then evolved into a full blown laugh when Diana picked up a small pebble and tossed it after Ponyta, only for Santiago to whirl around and blast her with a weak water gun.

"Sloooow," he called while she whined piteously and wiped her face, water dripping from her jaw. Leo mentally translated it as don't pick fights. Ironic, considering his battle-mania.

"Did you see that?" Leo wheezed, shaking his head. Daisy patted his back, amused but not dying of laughter like he was.

"I did. I was standing right next to you," she said, clapping her hands and whistling sharply for Ponyta, walking after where it had cantered down the path a little way. They had camped not far off the road, after all. "I told you not to pick fights, didn't I? Now get back here so I can dry you off," she called. Leo reigned in his chuckles and sat down again, calling Diana over and letting her snuggle up next to his leg to calm down.

"Tired, munchkin?" he asked after a few quiet moments, petting her head. She didn't reply, staring at the fire where Zuko had stuck his muzzle into the flames – technically not lying on the coals, but enough that he could enjoy the heat. "Clever boy. Get some rest, we'll be doing more training in the morning," he said, trying to figure out how to incorporate Diana's aim training into their travel.

It turns out he didn't have to, as when they all got up in the morning Daisy dedicated a good hour to having Diana use rock throw on her pidgeot – who she had, for whatever reason, not let out of his ball last night. The massive avian dodged Diana's attacks with ease, smashing a few of the larger stones with steel wing and catching the smaller stones in its talons. The inconsistency of Diana's throwing skills, however, made Leo wonder if literally throwing rocks really was all there was to rock throw – or if there was some other aspect involved. Terramancy? Earthkinesis? He didn't actually know the word, but he would hedge his bets that teaching Diana to control earth and stone was the next step to teaching her more advanced moves like rock tomb or rock slide. Or heck, even to just improve her accuracy. For that matter, could rock throw be adjusted mid-air with enough skill in terrakinesis? Like, if a rock-type was able to control a stone in the air as it flew, could it potentially be turned into a homing rock missile?

These were the kinds of thoughts Leo considered as the two travelled, Daisy occasionally letting out her team members to do their own travel/training. Thankfully, however, his thinking was often interrupted by trainers seeking battle – most of the time it was against casual trainers, which earned him a small bit more pocket change with the few wagers they'd placed, while Daisy took on the more serious competition.

It was a bit annoying actually; Leo enjoyed battling the veterans, even if he almost never won. Though his win/loss ratio on his official battle record suffered for it, the tips and experience he got just by battling them was more than worth it. Still…that didn't mean he let the opportunity to observe two high-badge level trainers duke it out go to waste. There was much to learn from there, as well.

And so the days went in relative peace. Spiritomb was pretty quiet for most of the trip, only occasionally pranking Daisy or himself by waking them up in the middle of the night with an eerie screech, or even whispering in Leo's ears and making shadows dance in the forest. Which made things nice and simple and pleasant – all the way up until they reached the outskirts of Goldenrod, and the National Park.

"I didn't realize it would be a big festival," Leo said, his head swiveling as fast as it could as he looked at each of the food stands and souvenir tents that had been set up for the celebration. Children ran about with sticks of dango or balls of mochi in clean paper cups, screaming and laughing as the adults meandered about, chatting with each other, looking at the wide variety of stands and shops, and occasionally chasing their own children.

"This is nothing," Daisy said from where she was looking through a rack of handmade scarves. "Just wait until you see the Championship festival – now that's a festival,"

"She's right, you know," the kind old man that ran the "handmade clothes" stand Daisy was looking through said. "For shops like mine who travel from festival to celebration to festival from year to year, the yearly Champion's Cup celebrations are our biggest selling points. I do more business in those three weeks than I do in three months the rest of the year,"

Leo hummed and toyed with his bellossom leaf flute, eyes flicking to Daisy's Clefairy as it circled his feet, giggling uncontrollably. It had heard him whistle the bellossom song a few days earlier and now was bound and determined to teach him its own moon song. He was only too happy to oblige. It was a lovely tune, though not quite as catchy as the bellossom song.

"Think Gary'll like this?" Daisy suddenly asked, picking up a pair of fingerless gloves made of blackened tauros leather.

"He's ten; if you get him clothes he'll hate it," Leo reasoned, raising an eyebrow as Clefairy lost interest, dancing back over to Daisy. It was the one pokémon she kept out near constantly, despite its rarity. Clearly she did not think it too dangerous to keep such a rare pokémon out in the open – probably because she had the strength to back it up.

He himself would have Zuko out, but one glance at the crowds had convinced the Quilava that staying out was a bad idea, and had whined until Leo returned him.

"True, but I'm not going to get him a larvitar, either. He's already asked me for one," she said, rolling her eyes. "Still, I'd like to get him something as a gift,"

"Then get him a hat or something – gloves he'll grow out of, a hat or necklace he can adjust to fit as he grows. Maybe even a small pocketknife would be good – something practical, and boys like him and me love sharp pokey things," Leo said, shrugging and picking up a pair of thick leather gloves. Now that he thought about it, a good pair of gloves would be awesome…but these were way too expensive. A hundred dollars for these things? Leo eyed the gloves, and pinched the leather, testing its thickness. His old pair were getting pretty ratty, and were rather cheap.

Plus these might let him pet Zuko when he got all worked up and his body temperature rose beyond safe levels for a human…

"Boys and their weapons," Daisy said with a sigh. "But a necklace isn't a bad idea. Gary hates hats,"

"If it's a necklace from his sister you can bet that he'll wear it. I'll take a pair of these," Leo said, purchasing the gloves from the old man, forking over the cash and promptly stuffing the gloves into his backpack. He could use them later.

For the next hour Leo and Daisy wandered the festival, both searching for the Bug Catching Competition sign-up desk and just looking around. The competition didn't start until tomorrow, so they had time and were in no rush.

There was, admittedly, a lot of cool stuff to see in the festival. People sold pokémon, mostly local 'mon specifically bred for certain traits but occasionally there were rare or even foreign pokémon – they were ungodly expensive, even for something as common as a lillipup – on display either on leashes or upon request. What ended up catching Leo's eye, however, was a Unovan style setup that sold what appeared to be music albums, movies, and other "unovan," or in Leo's mind, "American" style paraphernalia.

"Hello! Anything in particular you're looking for?" the employee manning the stand asked in a heavy unovan accent, gesturing grandly at the relatively large setup. There were at least three racks of miscellaneous items in the small tent, most of which were of movies. Unovan films were widely considered the best, after all. That was, of course, counting the fact that only Unova and Kalos had dedicated movie studios.

"Nah, just looking. You mostly just sell entertainment stuff?" Leo asked, approaching the counter while Daisy browsed the movies.

"Mostly. It is what Unova is most known for after all!" he said proudly. "You are a trainer, right? I can see the pokeballs on your belt. With your sister?" he asked, looking over at Daisy as she examined a rack of

"I am a trainer," Leo agreed, not bothering to respond to the other statement. They weren't brother and sister, of course, but he also didn't think it important to correct.

"Then here, I have just the thing for you. A way to listen to music on the go!" he proclaimed with a smirk, presenting a small square object that looked suspiciously like an iPod. "The newest model just released, and comes pre-downloaded with some of the greatest hits from Unova and Galar,"

It didn't matter if he wanted the thing or not, Leo already knew it was out of his price-range. Besides, he would never listen to it on the road – there was too much to miss out in the wilds – so it would probably end up in the bottom of his pack to collect dust sooner or later. That wasn't to say he wasn't intrigued, he did like his music, but still.

"What music?" Leo found himself asking despite his internal dilemma. If for no other reason than to appear politely interested.

"Well there's a few classics – the Toxtricities are always a hit, their debut album is on here; there's also Koffing and the Toxics, they toured Kanto earlier this year actually. Their new album is outstanding," and from there the man started to rattle off a few more names and albums that Leo had never heard of. He just nodded along for a while until he was offered a pair of earbuds to "hear the quality for yourself." This, of course, was said all loud enough for Daisy to hear because the salesman knew what he was doing and wasn't looking to sell the item to Leo – he was trying to sell it to Daisy for Leo.

Putting the earbuds in Leo hummed as the man selected a song to play, claiming it was the newest hit from Koffing and the Toxics. The rapid strumming of a guitar rang out in Leo's ears, followed by a line that was unmistakable despite them being sung by a female voice and sung to a tune he was unused to.

"I wanna be the very best,

Like no one ever was.

Leo pressed the earbuds deeper, closing his eyes and biting his lip as he listened to the song, a sudden spark of unexpected hope welling up in his chest.

"To catch them is my real test,

To train them is my cause!"

"No way," Leo whispered, swinging his backpack off of his back and digging through it to search for his notebook. While most of his stuff was safely stored in the hotel room Daisy had booked for them two weeks ago – apparently she had been planning this little trip for a while – his important items were still with him.

"I will travel across the land,

Searching far and wide.

Finding the notebook he flicked it open to the first page, tracing the lyrics to the song he had written down in those first few days of being here, more to remember it than anything else.

"Each pokémon to understand

The power that's inside!

Pokemon!

Gotta catch em' all!"

Leo covered his mouth with one hand as he traced the lyrics, word for word, in the notebook.

"Leo, you ok?" Daisy asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Leo waved her off and smacked his face with his book, trying to reign in his emotions. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or to cry – two years he'd been in this world, two years in which he'd asked Oak to keep an eye out for people with stories like his, two years not knowing what fate befell his best friend and the first clue he got was out of some random shop when he least expected it.

"I cannot believe he did this," Leo managed to get out, ripping the earbuds out and moving toward the racks, searching through the CD's for the newest Koffing and the Toxics album. Daisy said something else but Leo was too engrossed to hear it, all but ripping the CD off the shelf and opening it up, thanking the gods that the little information packet that rarely came with CD's was in there. "There it is, Pokemon League Theme song lyrics…sung by Roxie, drums by…don't care, don't care, who wrote the song? HA! I KNEW IT!" Leo howled in triumph, holding the little information packet aloft. There, in italics at the very bottom almost illegible in their size, was the line written by Jack Spalding.

"Leo," Daisy started, but was cut off by a complete one eighty in Leo's mood.

"That rat bastard! He ripped of a song!" he shouted, then glanced at the packet again. "House of the Rising Sun, I Fought the Law…how many songs did he steal?! Scratch that, how did he get them published?! How did he get a band to sing them?!" Leo roared, stomping his foot.

"Leo! What is going on with you?!" Daisy yelled, grabbing Leo by the shoulders and shaking him. Leo just grinned at her manically, eyes watering with unrestrained joy.

"I found my buddy. Now I just need to figure out how to contact him. How much for the CD?" Leo asked, and that, as they say, was that.

"Llllaaaadddies and Gentlemen! I welcome you to the seventy fifth annual National Park Bug Catching Competition!" the announcer howled into the microphone, making Leo wince. His head was pounding, he was tired, and there was way too much noise considering how late he'd stayed up last night. It was time well-spent, mind you, what with him having been researching just how to contact Jack in Unova – he hadn't found an address or anything, and mail between regions was sparse, but a short call to Professor Oak had solved the mailing issue. He did have a contact in Professor Juniper, and she may be able to help on that front.

On that note, the Professor was both surprised and elated to find that Leo had found a clue as to where Jack was. The older man had admitted he had completely forgotten about the friend Leo had arrived on this world with, as there had been no news beyond his story, but that he'd try his best to get them connected. In the meantime, however, Leo had an obligation to help Daisy with the bug catching competition.

He yawned and focused on the competition, glancing around at the other people. There were actually quite a few other Youngsters, as far as he could tell, and a lot of people had prepared bug nets. There were also a lot of people – over fifty competitors, which meant that almost all bug pokémon in the area would either flee in the first thirty minutes, or they'd already gone.

When Leo relayed as much to Daisy she just nodded, having already been palming her Pidgeot's pokeball. They were only allowed one pokémon per team, and she chose Pidgeot due to its keen eyes and high maneuverability. The plan was to jump on its back the moment the crowds were gone, and get ahead of the fleeing bug types that were bred and released into the wild just for this occasion. The speech continued on for a little while longer, then, with a grand flourish the announcer produced a flare gun from his sleeve and promptly fired it into the air with a shouted "go!" Music blared in the background, the literal Pokemon Theme Song blazing to life over the surrounding speakers.

Leo had barely enough time to close his eyes and mutter a quick prayer to the pokémon gods, praying that this song hadn't caught on as much as he thought it had. Then Daisy released Pidgeot, the proud avian shrieking into the air and flaring its wings, and all thoughts fled his mind. It was time to go hunting.

19

Leo was cold, bored, and tired, and that was turning out to be a very dangerous combination. The biting wind cut through his jacket with laughable ease as Pidgeot winged through the sky, its sharp eyes picking out things that he never could. That left Leo with nothing to do but stare off into the distance or try to look down on the trees blurring by – it was both terrifying and exhilarating, and he was already contemplating sliding off of Pidgeot's back because he wanted to try skydiving.

Being caught in the talons of a giant predatory avian didn't sound like as much fun, but that was semantics at this point. He was bored, and it might be a worthwhile experience. Besides, he'd already managed to piss Daisy off when Spiritomb blew a whole bunch of snow into her hair – Leo thought it was hilarious, but she had thought otherwise and threatened to throw him off Pidgeot.

His response had been simple. "Don't threaten me with a good time." Though he did honestly feel kind of bad about it now, but it was relatively a harmless prank.

"I think we've got something," Daisy said through chattering teeth, not immune to the cold at such high altitudes either, as she peered through a pair of binoculars. "There, off on the ridge to the right," she pointed, Pidgeot having already angled that direction as it slowed to a more reasonable pace.

Leo squinted and peered in the direction Daisy was pointing, taking a few moments to spot what she was looking at. To him it just looked like a collection of orange dots blurring about in an open space, just above what looked like a small cliff face. This area of the national park – which was honestly a lot smaller than Leo had expected - had plenty of plateaus, the mesa continuing on far past the borders of the Park toward Olivine.

"Is that even in bounds?" Leo questioned, shouting over the wind. "And what is it?"

"The edge of the park is just over the hill they're on, we'll have to circle around to prevent them from fleeing off the park grounds and push them back. Looks to me like it's a yanma swarm – they're rare enough and if we catch a strong enough one it should net us a fair number of points. We don't have much time left before the competition is over though, so we need to make a decision," Daisy said.

Considering they hadn't run into much of anything up until this point – the best they'd seen was a scrawny-looking beautifly, which while rarer in Johto than butterfree or beedrill, were still not that great of a prospect – yanma were probably their best bet.

"I say we go for it," Leo said. Daisy nodded.

"Alright, I'm going to keep them occupied, you need to help me pick out one to catch and we'll isolate it. Remember, they either need to be strong or big – preferably both. The faster the better too," Daisy said. Leo nodded. "I don't know much about the species, but I promise you that we'll only have a short amount of time to pick a target. Pidgeot isn't all that stealthy and they've probably already seen us. They're going to scatter as soon as we start our approach, so grab a pokeball and be prepared," she ordered.

Leo palmed the pokeball he'd already been toying with, enlarging it and whispering to Spiritomb, who he knew could hear him over the sound of the wind, to get ready. The ghost hissed in response, chittering in imitation of a cricket and cackling when it failed spectacularly.

"Yes, we're going bug hunting," Leo said, rolling his eyes.

Spiritomb's purple ectoplasmic body snuck out of his pocket, where the keystone was kept, and hovered a small tendril of itself just in front of Leo's face. He squinted and sighed heavily when he saw the squirming grasshopper that was contained inside. Had it really been holding that insect hostage just for this joke? Really? How long had it been planning this? He could respect the dedication, at least.

"No, you know what I mean," he said, Spiritomb cackling as it let the grasshopper go free – the insect vanishing in the wind quicker than Spiritomb retreated back into its keystone.

"What?" Daisy asked.

"Nothing," Leo answered, refocusing on the yanma swarm. Now that they had gotten closer, Pidgeot approaching at-speed, he could make out the individuals. There were probably twenty and had all bunched up, facing the incoming Pidgeot and flitting about erratically. Pidgeot banked hard around the yanma swarm its feathers ruffling as it slowed a bit.

"Let's get to it!" Daisy ordered, and Pidgeot pulled up short.

Leo's stomach lurched at the sudden loss of speed, the giant avian pulling up short of the yanma swarm by a few dozen feet and flapping its wings with a mighty shriek. The air warmed uncomfortably, Pidgeot's wing feathers glowing as if a fire had been lit between them as embers flew in a massive wave into the heart of the yanma swarm. The bugs droned unhappily, a few dropping from the air immediately after the attack, while the others buzzed their wings in eerie unison.

"Drop, Leo!" Daisy commanded, and Leo, without hesitation, slid off the back of Pidgeot. He squeezed his eyes shut despite the short drop, expecting the sudden stop that never came.

A strange feeling overtook his limbs and body, not a sense of weightlessness, but as if there was a cold cloth that wrapped itself tight around him and held him aloft. Leo opened his eyes in surprise only to see himself suspended midair approximately a foot off the ground, shadowy tendrils wrapped around his limbs and holding him aloft. Spiritomb cackled at his expression and promptly released him, allowing him to fall stumbling to the ground, hitting the grassy soil feet-first.

Daisy landed with a thump next to him, her knees nearly buckling from the fall. Still, she recovered quickly and scrabbled up the hill, already shouting orders to Pidgeot as the bird blurred into action – now that the squishy humans were off of its back, it could go as fast as it possibly could. And that was fast.

Leo refocused on the swarm, darting between a few trees and examining the bunch to the best of his abilities. None really stood out to him, and he was having trouble picking out individuals as they were all darting about at great speed, zigging and zagging through the air in unnatural patterns. It was to the point where looking at all the orange was giving him a headache; but he had a job to do.

Pidgeot swooped in and the swarm droned dangerously, a few of the yanma shooting sonic booms up at the avian as it passed. Pidgeot just screeched and flapped its wings, air slashes homing in with unerring accuracy on a few of the yanma and knocking them out of the air.

"There," Leo muttered, finally spotting one that fit the bill. It was clearly bulkier than the rest of the yanma and was one of the few that had actually managed to dodge the air slashes. Combined with it having survived the heat wave earlier meant it was probably one of the stronger members. In fact…

Leo's eyes widened as the yanma he was watching zoomed out of the swarm, increasing in speed as it blasted sonic boom after sonic boom at Pidgeot, who dodged them with ease and returned fire with air slashes. He glanced to where Daisy was and pointed at the lone yanma, even as it swerved and rushed to rejoin the swarm, diving down close to the ground and weaving between a few of the trees to avoid the searching talons of Pidgeot as the bird swooped down on it.

Daisy just nodded and whistled sharply, Pidgeot responding with a shriek as it blazed ahead of the yanma and unleashed another wave of air slashes. This time the yanma did not dodge, instead buzzing loudly and meeting the attack with a series of sonic booms. Leo sprinted forward, circling around the yanma swarm and trying to keep low so as not to attract their attention, readying a pokeball. The issue here was that the yanma was quick and its movement erratic, so how…

"Spiritomb, I'm going to need your help here buddy," Leo whispered. "I'm going to try to get close enough, but when I throw this ball I need you to guide it to the yanma. Can you do that?" Leo asked, and though he received no response he prayed that it was listening. Pidgeot shrieked again and dodged a sonicboom, the yanma buzzing menacingly and swerving to the side, intent on rejoining the swarm.

Leo cursed and skidded to a halt, stumbling slightly as he planted his feet and hurled the pokeball as hard as he could in the bug-type's direction. The distance was too far for him to throw accurately and he wasn't all that skilled at it to begin with, so he cursed once again when he noticed it going low and to the right.

That is, until the ball stopped in midair, a tendril of black shadow suddenly appearing between it and him and grasping the pokeball firmly. The oddity of the situation even gave the yanma pause, the bug pulling up short and buzzing nervously at the new appearance. Spiritomb cackled, and with a casual flick hurled the pokeball at yanma's head, the red and white sphere smashing against its exoskeleton with a resounding crack!

Half of Leo was wondering how Spiritomb could grab things with what was essentially shadow – it was a puzzle he still hadn't figured out yet – while the rest watched the pokeball with bated breath as it sucked the yanma inside and fell to the ground. The pine trees groaned in the wind as the ball rattled, Pidgeot shrieked as it circled overhead, menacing the yanma swarm and keeping them at bay and suddenly the ball burst open in a flash of white light.

Leo backpedaled as the bug buzzed angrily, spinning towards him and rearing back – only to be hit with a great ball, thrown by Daisy. This time it did not escape, the ball laying still on the ground after wiggling a few times.

"Leo, back to me! We need to get out of here before the swarm decides we've bothered them too much!" Daisy shouted, whistling for Pidgeot who swooped down in a clearing to Leo's right. He nodded and bolted for the giant avian as it settled on the ground, puffing up its feathers menacingly and glaring at the swarm. Leo hesitated for a moment when he neared, Pidgeot eyeing him dangerously as he approached, but Daisy put an end to that by bodily picking him up and shoving him onto Pidgeot's back before jumping on herself.

With two mighty wingbeats Pidgeot was in the air again and shrieking their victory for the world to hear, Daisy laughing with glee as she held the greatball aloft and Leo's cheeks burning in shame. Spiritomb cackled at his misfortune – there was nothing like being reminded that he was still just a kid than to be picked up like a child, by a girl not three years older than him. Physically.

"We've got a shot at winning now! I was honestly getting worried!" Daisy crowed over the wind, burying her hands in Pidgeot's crest to keep her balance. Leo shivered and tightened his grip around her waist, the cold returning to him now that the adrenaline was wearing off. He sighed wiping off the grin that had wormed its way onto his face. Despite his misgivings at the start, what with all the restrictions on where they could and couldn't go and all the competition they'd be facing, that was actually pretty fun.

Third place. They got third place, which while not a bad showing at all, was not what Daisy had wanted. First place belonged to someone who had managed to catch a scyther of all bloody things, while second place belonged to a shiny butterfree. A shiny butterfree. Since caterpie and butterfree were so common it wasn't super rare for a shiny to show up in their species, but it was still ridiculously uncommon. Especially for a contest like this – and to make matters worse, second place prize had been a moon stone shard, while first place got both a sun and a moon stone.

Leo could do nothing but shake his head and sigh as he and Daisy walked off the stage, Daisy pouting as she went.

"We just got unlucky," she said with a scowl. "Stupid shiny butterfree, stealing my moon stone like that," Leo snorted and shrugged.

"Well, it's not a total loss. You caught the biggest and strongest yanma out of everyone, and the third place cash consolation prize is a fair chunk of change," Leo said. It had been two thousand dollars, which meant Daisy split it evenly between the two, while she kept yanma.

"I guess. You sure you don't want this yanma? It's a little aggressive, but you'd benefit from having a bug type on your team," Daisy said, unclipping the greatball from her belt and shaking it at Leo. Leo shook his head.

"Nah, it's all good. Like you said, it's a little aggressive for me. I still can't believe it kept trying to attack the judge," Leo said with a small laugh. It had been kind of funny to watch because the bug kept trying to shoot a supersonic at the poor man, but that quickly ended when the supersonic hit the microphone and practically blew out the speakers. They recalled it after that. Leo's ears were still ringing.

"Whatever you say," Daisy said with a shrug, clipping the ball back on her belt. "You've got a team of aggressive pokémon, though, one more shouldn't make a difference,"

Leo frowned at that. No he didn't. Santiago was aggressive and battle-hungry, that much couldn't be denied, and Spiritomb was…Spiritomb, but Diana was nothing but a sweetheart and Zuko acted more like a hyperactive puppy than a fire-breathing monster. That, and again, Spiritomb was Spiritomb. One day it acted like Froslass, constantly pestering him and playing tricks, the next it was sullen, silent, and ready to pick a fight with anything that moved.

That had to be reigned in first before he picked up another problem child like an aggressive yanma. The real issue was that after Daisy's comment about bellossom a few days ago he'd been considering finding an oddish or something to catch. They were pretty docile, and didn't require much upkeep…

Leo shook his head. No, he needed to focus on his current team for now. There was already a lot to keep track of, even if their training appeared to be progressing at a reasonable pace.

Still, the temptation was there.

The rest of the day passed relatively peacefully. The festival parts of the competition were slowly being packed away, foodstands and shops closing up and packing away their things as the spectators and tourists, attracted more for the spectacle of the festival than the catching competition, slowly filtered out of the National Park. Though that still left Leo plenty of time to use a bit of his newly earned money to try some of the many foodstands; he hadn't had a real burger in forever, and with the Unova foodstands as abundant as any of the others he finally got his wish. To say the burger and fries, the patty made from ground tauros meat, was delicious would be an understatement. It was greasy and fatty and juicy and everything he both loved and hated about food from America. It wound up sitting like a rock in his stomach of course, but that was to be expected. Food in Johto and Kanto tended to be far lighter and healthier.

"I told you not to eat it so quickly," Daisy chided as Leo pat his stomach happily, a little queasy perhaps but nothing over the top.

"It was worth it. I would gladly do it again," he said without a hint of shame, wiping ketchup off the corner of his mouth and grinning at the older girl. She just rolled her eyes at him as they wound their way around one of the many fountains in the National Park, muttering something about his eating habits. Leo just snorted out a laugh, fully aware that he had looked like a savage animal while eating that burger. To say he shoveled it into his mouth would be an understatement. He practically inhaled the thing.

Besides, Daisy's statement wasn't inherently wrong, either. He absolutely could be a savage animal.

"Daisy Oak! I thought that was you on stage!" a new voice called, catching Daisy and Leo's attention. The couple who approached looked vaguely familiar to Leo, specifically the man. The woman was relatively unremarkable, sure she was pretty but not in the way that she'd stand out in a crowd, though she did hold a young boy of about five or six in her arms while a girl of about eight hid behind her legs. The little girl was the only one in formal wear, wearing a muted pink kimono – or was it yukata? Leo wasn't sure – with cherry blossom petals on it. The man, on the other hand, had short black hair and wore a red sweater, but Leo could've sworn he'd seen him before.

"Norman! It's so good to see you again!" Daisy cried, rushing forward to greet the man. Leo stared for a moment before the name clicked; that was the dad of the main characters in the Hoenn games, wasn't it? The fifth gym leader? He vaguely recalled some lore about them being from Johto, or at least having lived there for a time, but what were the chances of meeting him here and now? On that note, it was surprising Leo thought he looked familiar; Norman does look similar to the anime version of him, as much as any real person could. Far more than Professor Oak ever did.

The Oaks are ridiculously well connected, for Daisy to be friends with a future? Gym leader. Leo rationalized, eyes trailing to the young boy and girl. That must be May and Max, from the anime. The resemblances between them were negligible but there was no other explanation.

"And who is this fine young man?" the wife said suddenly as Leo finally caught up with Daisy. He flinched when she tried to pinch his cheek, utterly flabbergasted and suddenly very wary of the woman. There was being manhandled by Daisy and tossed onto the back of Pidgeot, and then there was that. And she just had the audacity to chuckle at his expression, and try to pat his head!

"That's Leo," Daisy said, as if that explained everything. Leo swatted the woman's hand away and took a step back, just out of her reach. She smiled at him sweetly, and he resisted the urge to scowl at her.

"The kid who you were with in the competition?" Norman asked for clarification. When Daisy nodded he extended a hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Leo, my name's Norman," he said. Leo took his hand and shook it as firmly as he could.

"Pleasure," he said politely. Norman smiled and returned to his conversation with Daisy, catching up with each other and asking the polite questions before digging into the meaty stuff. The wife (Leo should probably learn her name at some point) chatted as well, eventually setting Max down when the young kid started to squirm and whine in her arms, wanting to get down and play or do whatever.

Leo swiftly tuned out the adults' conversation in favor of focusing on the children. Max was staring at him, and May was torn between looking around at all the scenery and pretending to listen to the conversation. Even if it was about the upcoming championship challenges between Victoria, Lance, and the current champion, it was boring. And children were a great way of distracting one's self, Leo had found.

That, and they were far more fun than serious conversations.

"Hello, I'm Leo," he greeted. Max and May just stared at him, May perking up from where she had been studying a dandelion that was growing from the concrete. "Wanna play tag?" The two stared blankly at him, seemingly digesting his words. A small grin formed on Max's face, and May glanced at her mother questioningly even though the woman wasn't paying her much mind. Leo's grin took on a bit of a sinister tinge, his hands forming vague claws as he made a face at the two.

"Beware the tickle monster. He's gonna getcha!" Leo crowed, prompting shrill shrieks from both children as they darted off, Leo bolting after them while cackling.

Clearly, they had played this game before if they understood what the term tickle monster meant.

"Be careful! Don't stray too far!" Norman called after them as they ran off, Leo easily keeping pace and sheparding them away from the worst of the rapidly thinning crowd, while still remaining in sight of their parents. That mostly meant chasing them around the fountain, and catching them whenever they ran too far in one direction.

"Gotcha!" Leo said with a grin, grabbing May with both hands and lifting her up, spinning around as fast as he could. The young girl shrieked with laughter – it would've been funnier had it not been right next to Leo's ear. He jerked his head to the side and set her down, wincing at the loud noise that was a little kid.

He'd almost forgotten about that bit. Kids could be loud, and had no qualms in shouting in your ear. May, on the other hand, remained oblivious to the pain she had caused as she grinned at him and took a few steps back, adjusting her red hairband so the few strands of long brown hair that fell in her face were tucked away, and bounced on her feet in that way a kid did when they were expecting something exciting.

Leo recovered from the shriek and took one step forward, glancing to the side to see Max creeping up on him, apparently intent on saving his sister. Cute. Futile, but cute. Why was it futile? Because that just meant Max would come to him to receive his punishment, and Leo wouldn't have to chase them. The tickle monster knows no remorse, and shows no mercy. Leo cackled and took another step forward and May took another step back, Max inching closer, when suddenly he spotted something.

A pink bulldog the size of a full-grown man, barreling down the street right towards May. Time seemed to slow as adrenaline surged through Leo's system, his legs propelling him toward May even as she bolted away, running right toward the Granbull with her smiling face turned towards Leo. He wouldn't make it in time; he wasn't fast enough and his arms too short to grab her first.

Spiritomb flared to life, a tendril of black shadow reaching out with amazing speed, wrapping around May's waist and hauling her back to Leo, the young girl crashing into his outstretched arms. The granbull's eyes narrowed and it picked up speed, spittle flying from its mouth – it was already almost on top of him. Leo pivoted on his foot, spinning away from the charging hound just in time for it to crash into his back, sending him sprawling as he curled protectively around May. Thankfully his martial arts training involved learning how to fall – he rolled and slapped the ground with one hand, arresting their momentum just a bit as he skidded across the concrete. May screamed in fear this time, but Leo had no time to feel himself for injuries, or check if she was ok – there was still Max to worry about.

He disentangled himself from May and scrambled to his feet just in time to see the Granbull vanish in a flash of red, the dog having skidded to a halt and turned towards Leo, as if surprised he had hit something. Max, on the other hand, was running as fast as his little legs could carry him toward his big sister, who sat on the ground no longer screaming, but clearly dazed and confused. Leo breathed a sigh of relief at Max's safety, and turned his attention toward May once more. Her kimono was in disarray, dirt smudged on the hems both from their game of chase and from the tumble, but otherwise she looked ok.

"Are you ok?" Leo asked anyway, kneeling before her and ignoring the stares of the onlookers. She looked up at him with wide brown eyes and nodded, sniffling. Max patted his sister's leg, whispering something in her ear that had her nodding once more. "Let me see your hands," Leo said softly, grabbing her much smaller hands and checking for any scrapes – only to be pushed aside by the girl's terrified mother.

She fell upon May and Mex in a fashion not unlike a particularly fussy mother hen, her hands flurrying to ensure no harm befell her children. Leo watched for a moment before anger flared in his chest, pivoting on his foot to try and find the owner of the granbull that had caused this mess. That anger died entirely when he saw Norman blowing up at the young man, who had his head bowed and was apologizing profusely, while Daisy approached, concerned.

"You ok Leo? I saw the whole thing, you took a decent hit there," she said softly, putting her hands on his shoulders and kneeling. He nodded, rolling his left shoulder – the side the granbull had hit. There was a bit of pain, but nothing beyond what usually came when he fell or got hit. He'd taken worse tumbles sparring with Victoria – heck, he'd been pounced on by her Persian, Prince, and that had both hurt worse and was far more terrifying. There was nothing like three hundred pounds of angry feline to instill terror into you.

"Yeah, I'm good," Leo grumbled. "What the heck was that? Someone just lose control of their pokémon?"

"From the looks of it, yes. Don't think it meant any harm though," Daisy reasoned, looking back at where Norman was still yelling at the granbull's trainer. Leo winced. Yeah, he looked properly chastised. More importantly, though, Leo pulled Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket and smiled at it.

"Thanks, buddy," he whispered, earning himself the ghost's equivalent of embarrassed whispers echoing in his ears. He shook his head and pocketed the stone again, observing Norman for a bit longer then turning back towards Max and May, who were all perfectly fine now that their mother was done fussing. Leo rubbed his forehead and smiled at the kids, unsure of what to do next. The obvious answer was try and figure out more of Spiritomb's abilities, because he was certain that hadn't been a move it had used to grab May and how did it do that? But at the same time that should probably wait until later.

It wouldn't be very smart to start playing around with a ghost in public, even if most of the large crowds had dispersed; ghosts had enough superstition around them that Leo wasn't going to invite trouble. Not this time.

Soon enough Norman finished his rant and sent the young trainer on his way, checking up on his kids to ensure they were alright. Satisfied that all was well, he and his wife resumed their conversation with Daisy, Max and May sticking close by their sides this time.

Leo, not content to listen to the conversation, wandered about for a bit, eventually finding a nice stretch of green grass not too far from the conversing adults and letting Zuko out to play. That, of course, mostly meant roughhousing with the fire-type, Leo running away from him and juking and dodging the Quilava as he chased, or getting down on all fours and tossing his head and rolling around on the ground while Zuko tried to lick his face and leapt all over his body.

Zuko leapt onto Leo's back and stuck his nose into the back of his neck, sniffing as Leo lay perfectly still on the ground. A small whine escaped the back of his throat as he pawed at his head and sniffed his hair, trying to get Leo back up and playing again. Ignoring him, Leo remained quiet and frozen until Zuko had wormed his way under Leo's shoulder, trying to roll him over, at which point he leapt up and yelled at the Quilava, trying to scare him. A yelp escaped him as he leapt away, embers sparking from his fur as he growled at Leo playfully. Leo grinned and sat down again, feeling more than a little tired now.

"Alright buddy, playtime's over. I think it's time to give Santiago a bit of time," Leo said, earning himself a pitiful whine from Zuko. "I know, I know, but you get the most one-on-one time out of everyone besides maybe Spiritomb since you're out so much," Leo reasoned, palming Zuko's pokeball and returning him, doing his best to ignore the downright pitiful look on the Quilava's face. He would not be guilt tripped, no sir. Zuko was out quite a bit when they travelled. Santiago deserved some playtime too…even if Leo was too tired to really play with the slowpoke. Not that Santiago minded that. He'd enjoy laying perfectly still as much as playing.

The slowpoke appeared next to Leo in a flash of red, his big pink head swiveling side to side as he searched for an opponent. Spotting none, he plopped into the grass right next to Leo and lazily chewed on the grass. Leo snorted and scratched him behind the ears – Santiago only reacting after a few seconds, leaning heavily into Leo's hand.

The two sat comfortably for a while, Leo just enjoying the company of his starter and idly whistling the bellossom song while his mind wandered. More specifically, he thought about Jack. He'd have to talk with Oak about any news he'd gotten about him tonight, but…well. Now also wasn't the time to think about it. He couldn't really do much at the moment besides maybe try and convince Victoria to leave for Unova instead of Alola…

Which might not be a bad idea, now that he thought of it. Ultra wormholes were a lot more common in Alola than anywhere else, so wouldn't it potentially be more dangerous to go there? Professor Oak claims that they're incredibly rare phenomena, but then again there was also a Guzzlord frozen in a nevermeltice glacier in the Silver Mountains. Leo halted his whistling and chewed his lip in thought as he stared at the blue sky. On the other hand, even though he did want to see Jack again going to Alola presented a unique opportunity; he would have the chance to go to the Poni Island shrine and potentially meet Lunala and Solgaleo. He wanted to have a conversation with them – there were questions he wanted answered. And his gut told him there was a decent chance they would appear if he went there.

If I can exchange some messages with Jack before then, I might even be able to get a few of his questions answered too. Leo mused, scratching his chin in thought.

Any further thoughts were interrupted by a gentle tugging on his shirt sleeve. He turned his head from where he lay on the soft grass, coming face-to-face with the smallest hoppip he'd ever seen; it was probably only three inches tall. Near it were three sunkern as well, the tiny yellow buds bouncing eagerly on Santiago's back – who either didn't mind, or didn't notice them.

The hoppip cooed at him, bouncing from side to side and spinning its leaves.

"Hello there," Leo said softly, raising an eyebrow and being extra careful not to startle it. The hoppip cooed again, this time alternating its pitch erratically. "How can I help you?"

"Piiip," the hoppip said.

"Keeeern," the sunkern sang, sing-song. Leo stared at them for a moment longer before realization flashed through his mind. They wanted him to keep whistling.

Chuckling softly Leo sat up slowly, glancing around and making eye contact with May and Max, the two children having snuck up on him at some point and were now watching in fascination as Santiago was subjected to the explorations of the three Sunkern. One even bounced happily on his nose, not that he seemed to mind.

Leo winked at the two children and started to whistle again, the sunkern whistling back while the hoppip flew through the air and cried out happily. Pink glitter fell from its spinning leaves, the weak fairy wind doing nothing more than catching the late afternoon sun as it fell to the ground and setting the air to glittering. Leo smiled and winked again at May and Max, who watched with wide eyes, slowly changing the song from the bellossom song to the song Daisy's Clefairy had taught him. He wasn't as good at it, but nonetheless hoppip loved it. Personally, he wished he knew how to play his bellossom leaf replica better. Just another thing to add to the list of things to do. He mused.

And so the rest of his time in the National Park went; Leo relaxing beside his starter, humming and whistling songs taught to him by pokémon to entertain two human children and four young pokémon – blissfully unaware of the growing crowd of grass and bug types listening in, hiding in foliage.

When Professor Oak answered the video call, he was met by the sight of Santiago licking the screen with a large, wet pink tongue, and Leo wrestling with the stubborn slowpoke to back off.

"What a lovely view," the Professor said dryly as Leo hauled the heavy pokémon away, flicking him on the nose.

"Sorry professor. He's being quite ornery – no I said!" Leo snapped, shoving Santiago off as he tried to clamber into Leo's lap. "Just because I'm sitting down doesn't mean you get to be a lap pokémon again! You're way too big for that!" he protested. Santiago just cocked his head to the side, forcibly walking beneath the plastic chair Leo sat on and moving it a few inches to the right. Leo sighed and tilted the video camera so he was center screen for the Professor again.

"I can see that," Professor Oak said, amused. "How was the competition? Do good?"

"We got third place with a big old yanma," Leo said with a shrug. "Daisy was disappointed, but we got beat out by a shiny butterfree and a scyther so I can't say I'm surprised. It was fun though," the Professor nodded.

"I see. Seeing as how the yanma isn't registered to your profile yet I assume you opted not to train it? A smart choice all things considered. There is nothing wrong with collecting a full team of six quickly, but you must make sure to give them all the attention and training they are due. Yanma are social pokémon – they require a lot of attention to train and you've got a lot on your plate already," he reasoned. Leo nodded in agreement. That was his reasoning too. "That said, I imagine this isn't why you called. I'm happy to say that I did receive word from Professor Juniper. She hasn't had anyone approach her with a story like your own, but said she'd keep an eye out and try to contact the songwriter you spoke of. I already emailed a copy of your letter to her," the Professor said with a smile. Leo grinned back, another weight lifting off his shoulders at the news.

"Thanks, Professor. I appreciate it," he said. "Um, I've also got a few other questions for you though, about the current plan for me to head to Alola after I get three badges," the Professor raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak, but was rudely interrupted.

"Is that the brat on the phone?!" Victoria shouted, followed quickly by loud stomping as she approached. The professor raised his hands defensively, scooting back in his chair and standing.

"I'm going to leave that to Victoria. She's been in a bit of a mood lately and I have no desire to fight with her," he said, backing off and letting Victoria take control of the video call. Leo swallowed thickly upon seeing her expression – she always looked serious with her perpetual tough-girl smirk, but the uncharacteristic frown put Leo on edge.

"Kid," she greeted, then continued before Leo could even answer. "No more messing around. You get your third badge as soon as possible so that as soon as I'm done with my Champion's challenge you can head to Alola. I've seen your battles, you're more than ready for your third badge. Don't dilly dally. I don't want you to have to stay in the Indigo League for much longer,"

"What's this about?" Leo asked, his stomach sinking with worry. Victoria seemed to deliberate for a moment before sighing.

"I'm worried about the future of the Indigo League," she said gruffly, running a hand through her hair and frowning hard.

"Because of the current champion?" Leo asked.

"No, because I'm afraid he'll lose the title to Lance," she grumbled. "Despite his flaws, Champion Martin is a competent leader. The Youngster License was a mistake, but otherwise he's done right by both Kanto and Johto. Eased the tensions between the two regions. Lance doesn't have that savvy, and after our little adventure together calming a bunch of weavile…well, let's just say I'm worried where he'll lead us. He's got some dumb ideas," she said.

"Dumb how?" Leo asked, furrowing his brows. Wasn't Lance supposed to be this larger-than-life character in the games and anime? A paragon of virtue and strength, one of the greatest dragon masters? Someone who could control multiple pseudo-legendary dragons had to be worthy of respect, right?

"He's a warrior, not a leader. To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Hell, I've already heard a whole bunch of complaints from the Kanto leaders about Lance. Giovanni is particularly vocal about not wanting another Wataru as Champion, much less Lance. Heck, even my challenge is more to help Martin warm up his team for Lance than it is for me to get the Champion's certification," Victoria grumbled. Leo frowned. Yeah, that did sound like it could cause some problems…

"I see. And you're worried because…?" Leo pressed.

"The training scene could get ugly for a little while here. I don't want you to get caught up in it. Like it or not, as you're sponsored by me and therefore the Oak family, once you get a fair number of badges your opinion will be asked for. And anything you say can and will be used against you. Reporters are nasty like that," Victoria said. Leo winced. Yeah, that didn't sound like fun.

The media in his world was more vicious and bloodthirsty than the media in the pokémon world, but they were still capable of being mean. Leo didn't want to touch that with a ten-foot-pole.

"Ok, fair enough. I don't want that, and I don't want to cause more controversy. That said, one last question. Are you sure going to Alola is a good idea? UB's are more common there, right? So wouldn't it be more dangerous than, say, Unova?" Leo asked. Victoria snorted and shook her head.

"Kanto has never had an ultra beast problem until now. I doubt any more beasts will appear, I think Samuel said something about the ultra wormhole energy calming down in the Silver Mountains in the past few months since he set up some sensors in the region, but the real question is; do you want to be protected by pokémon, legendaries or not, who have no idea how to fight those things, or protected by island deities, the Tapu's, who have fought them for millennia?" she said. Leo sighed. That was actually a fair point. "Not to mention that the Tapu legendaries are far more personable than most of the Kanto legendaries. The birds aren't known for being kind,"

Leo nodded but silently doubted that. He'd met Articuno, and while it hadn't been overly welcoming it hadn't seemed malicious or anything either. The way Victoria had made it sound, it seemed like she was saying the legendary birds (minus Ho-oh and Lugia) were openly malicious. Still, he wanted to go to Unova now…

"We're going to Alola," Victoria said firmly, reading his expression. "You can't even bring your pokémon to Unova, brat. They're far more strict about those things – you need eight badges and to be sixteen or older to bring your team there. Unova is a region of isolationists after all. I know you want to find your friend or whatever, but trust Uncle Samuel. He'll be able to do more than you ever would in finding him,"

That made Leo puff up in indignation, his first reaction to be denying that fact. Instead, though, he tamped down that reaction and nodded in agreement, rubbing his face as Santiago wormed his way out from under the chair, sticking his nose up against Leo's thigh. It was true, after all. The Professor would be able to do far more than Leo – if for no other reason than because he was a big name. That alone would open doors and avenues of contact that might be denied to Leo.

"Anything else?" Leo asked, scratching Santiago's nose and grimacing when he licked his hand, coating it in slobber.

"No. Just get your third badge," Victoria said.

"Any tips on that? It might be a little rushed for me to get the badge now," Leo reasoned, despite knowing he did still have about a week of travel to reach Azalea. A week wasn't that much time to train, though…

"I've seen your battles, brat. Your team may be lacking in technique, with the exception of Diana, but they've got all the raw power they need to beat the next gym. You'll be fine," she scoffed. "But we'll plan on leaving after my Champion's Challenge. Winter in Alola is pretty mild, so pack light," she said. Leo nodded and, after a few moments of silence they said their farewells and Victoria hung up. Leo stood and rubbed his chin, snapping his fingers to get Santiago to follow him.

It sounded like he needed to brush up on his history again. He knew that about a hundred and fifty years ago Kanto conquered Johto in a military campaign thus forming the Indigo League as he knew it today, but it sounded like there was far more to it than just that. If anything Victoria made it sound like Johto was in control. Yet another thing to add to the list. Leo thought, shaking his head. The things he needed and wanted to do just kept piling up. At least it kept him busy, though. But right now, it was time for dinner and bed. It had been a tiring day, after all.