The furrett scrabbled in the dirt, the weasel-like pokemon digging up nuts and mushrooms and munching on them happily. Leo watched from his spot up in the pine tree, lounging like a panther on a thick branch ten feet of the ground. One arm dangled over the branch, his opposite leg hanging down as well, while his chin rested on his other hand – eyes watching the wildlife that passed below. The furrett, so far, had been his most frequent companion, and he found watching the playful creature to be a blast.
Everything seemed to be a game to it. Even when it would pick up a pinecone to dig at the nuts hidden inside, it would flip it around and toss it in the air, playing with it like a ball or something. Then it would race around trees, seemingly chasing its own tail, scrabbling up and down tree trunks and rolling in the dirt; just having a grand old time. Every once in a while another pokemon would appear, mostly rattatta or various bird pokemon, and the furrett would go charging off, chasing the pokemon in what appeared to be an impromptu game of tag. A game only the furrett seemed to be playing.
Had it not been a game, Leo was sure the pidgey it had pinned to the ground earlier would have been killed or eaten, not set free with a proud swish of the furrett's tail.
Speaking of pidgey, off to his right a pidgey chirped and Leo whistled back, the noise catching the furrett's attention as it looked up, holding a half-destroyed pinecone in its paws. It chittered something and went back to work, bits and pieces of the pinecone flying everywhere as it tore it to shreds.
Leo hummed to himself, pondering the merits of taming a wild sentret or furrett. Though in the games they were weak pokemon, he'd always held a soft spot for ferrets and weasels back in his home world. Plus it would be great to have a companion that was more knowledgeable about foraging than he – they were sure to be able to find all kinds of goodies to eat. Maybe they'd even find one of the famed berry bushes from the games, and wouldn't that be great. Leo missed fruit. Unfortunately, it was doubtful he'd be able to tame this furrett. If Archibald's journal was anything to go by, it was far easier to tame baby or young pokemon, or, barring that, adult pokemon with the aid of another pokemon.
Which means he'd have to search for a young sentret, if he decided upon the furrett line.
"I'll just keep my options open, I guess," Leo yawned, sitting up and stretching. The movement startled the furrett, who sat bolt upright and stared at Leo with wide, unblinking eyes. Leo waved at it with a smile, grabbing the branch with both hands and dropping into a hang before letting go and hitting the ground with a thud. By the time he looked up the furrett was gone, pinecone forgotten as it scrambled off. Leo laughed, scratching the back of his head and walking away, his torn shirt billowing annoyingly in the gentle wind. He'd have to find a replacement for it soon.
Maybe he'd try making a grass shirt, right around the time he wove the hat he'd been promising himself he'd make for…well a long time. How many days or weeks had it been now?
"Problem is that I can't make anything better than that. I have no idea where to start with tanning a hide, and I still haven't successfully hunted anything yet," he said with a frown, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Should probably get on that last bit,"
A pidgey, different than the one he'd just been whistling to, as evidenced by the shortened length of its tail feathers and smaller body, flitted onto a tree branch in front of Leo. It chirped and Leo responded with another whistle, to which it whistled back. Leo grinned at it.
"What about you, huh? Want to be my pokemon partner? I can help you find food – well, not really, but the point stands," Leo asked. The pidgey just cocked its head to the side and chirped again before it flew off in a furious beating of its wings. "Thought not. Why would you? You're probably wondering what this funny looking two-legged is even talking about."
With another sigh, Leo shook his head and continued on, no destination really in mind.
Leo fumbled with the long blade of grass, watching the sunflora out of the corner of his eye as he tried to mimic the way they formed the grass whistle. He folded it length-wise, and tried to curl the edges into a dome to blow on it, but nothing seemed to work. He scowled and tossed the coarse blade of grass, plucking another, shorter one, and attempting to blow on it. He glanced one more time at the sunflora, who were happily blowing away on their instruments now, pulled the blade of grass taut and tried again, blowing on it length-wise.
When a sharp whistle sounded out, Leo grinned happily. Then he flinched and leaned back behind the bush he had been using as cover, watching the sunflora through the branches. They glanced his way for a moment, then cooed softly to one another and continued to play with their whistles. Leo let out a breath, relaxing slightly. He didn't want to spook the placid creatures, watching them was quite a bit of fun, actually, though he held no real hope of befriending or taming them. Maybe if he could find a sunkern, but at that point the real question was how much kelp a sunkern could actually be. He'd seen the tiny pokemon around, and doubted their usefulness in his situation.
Leo shrugged and turned back to the sunflora, peeking around the bush and listening to the tune they were playing, trying to memorize it. He hummed along to the tune, tapping his leg with one hand as if adding a drum beat, as his eyes tracked a few hoppip as they floated through the blue skies on a gentle breeze. Soon enough the sunflora quit their playing and turned to face the sun, their large yellow faces basking in the noon-day sun's rays. Leo remained still for a few more minutes before slowly standing up and backing off, leaving the sunflora behind. He supposed it was just about time for lunch and a nap, midday was perfect for naps, but first he had a whistle to play around with.
Muttering to himself as he walked, Leo blew on the blade of grass and recoiled sharply when it sounded much more like an animal cry than the musical tune the sunflora had been playing. He frowned and tried again, blowing at different speeds and only succeeding at playing an intermittent noise. A brief wind blew, making his torn shirt billow and flutter annoyingly.
"Harder than it looks," he muttered, pausing in his walking to rework his grip on the grass, trying to work it again. A few sharp, short blasts of noise later that were sounding increasingly like animal cries, Leo was broken from his focus by a sharp tug on his pants leg. He looked down in confusion, freezing when he spotted the bellossom standing right next to him, smiling up at him and still gripping his pants leg.
Leo dared not move, but the bellossom had no such qualms. With a simple motion it let go of his pants, reached down to its petal dress, and plucked off one of the leaves, offering the yellow leaf up to Leo. Unsure of what else to do, he slowly reached out and grabbed it, eyes never leaving the bellossom, whose smile was unwavering.
The pokemon cooed softly, holding both hands beside its mouth and blowing softly. Leo cocked his head to the side and glanced at the leaf, then back at the bellossom. No way, he thought, realization as to what the bellossom wanted slowly dawning upon him. He brought the leaf to his mouth and, holding it like he had been holding the grass, put his lips on it and blew. At first there was no sound, so Leo readjusted his lips and tried again, this time a clear, ringing sound echoing out.
With a giggle the bellossom twirled, a soft ringing reverberating from it. Leo gaped. The bellossom laughed and, with a wave, wandered back to the small gaggle of oddish hiding poorly in a section of short grass.
Leo started walking again, slowly, glancing over his shoulder at the bellossom that was playing with the oddish now, paying him no heed. He blew on the leaf experimentally again, rubbed his forehead, and groaned as he finally regained his mental faculties.
"That's just…wow," Leo murmured. That bellossom showed a level of intelligence and understanding he had not been expecting, with a very simple action. It opened up a whole new slew of possibilities to Leo, though he needed some time to process all this. Really, he'd known that in the anime and such pokemon showed high degrees of intelligence at times, but he hadn't been expecting it. Up until this point, he'd only really seen the base "animalistic" side of pokemon. Meaning they weren't stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but they weren't…human, either.
"Once again, I am shown how little I actually know about this place," Leo muttered. "I'm just bumbling about like a freaking child, aren't I?"
A sharp jab to his ribs sent Leo stumbling away, scrambling to keep ahold of himself and not get knocked to the ground again. The tyrogue advanced, the scarred fighting-type not giving him much room to breathe, and launched a few experimental jabs. Leo largely ignored them, moving only the bare minimum to avoid the deliberately slow punches, and waited for an opportunity to strike back. Leo had thought he'd been lucky to stumble upon a tyrogue, the fighting type being really rare in the games, according to his memory, but he hadn't expected it to immediately rush him for a fight.
"Jerk," Leo hissed, twisting out of the way as it tried to bodily tackle him. Without missing a beat Leo lashed out with his foot, catching the tyrogue in the back and sending it off-balance, stumbling forward. It whirled on him before he could take advantage of it being off-balance, yellow eyes narrowing as it locked onto him.
"You're going to have to do better than a tackle," Leo taunted, resettling into his stance, hands set into a loose, open palm. He shifted his feet and sunk his knees, letting out a breath to settle down as he prepared to fight once more. He'd already taken a few good hits – it was time to get some payback.
The tyrogue growled at Leo, setting its fists in a way he imagined a boxer would, and rushed him. Leo took advantage of his reach over the little monster, batting away its jabs with open palms before sliding forward, punching at the tyrogue. It spun out of the way, only allowing Leo a glancing blow, its foot snapping out and hitting Leo in the shin as it tried to create some distance. Leo wasn't having it, however, and gave chase, momentarily forgetting himself as he advanced.
The tyrogue whirled on him quite suddenly, leaping into the air with more height than Leo had expected and slamming its foot into Leo's face. His head snapped back and he stumbled, disoriented from the pain, when the tyrogue started to punch him in the gut with a series of sharp jabs.
"Knock it off!" Leo roared, pain transforming into anger as he lashed out, snagging one of the tyrogue's arms in one hand and punching it in the face with his other. It twisted and fought against Leo's grip but he didn't let go, yanking the tyrogue close and kneeing it in the gut, followed by an elbow to the side of the head that had it falling to its knees. Leo let go of the tyrogue, breathing heavily and bleeding from his nose and taking a few steps back. "You done?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.
The tyrogue looked up at him and grinned toothily, rising to its feet and howling a savage warcry as it once again leapt at Leo, covering the distance in a single jump and ramming its mohawk-like head spikes into his gut. Leo wheezed and fell to the ground, the tyrogue landing on top of him and recovering first. Two punches to the face later and Leo rolled sharply to the side, tossing the tyrogue off of him and rising to his feet in one smooth motion, scrambling to block and dodge the strikes of the tyrogue.
"Fine," Leo ground out between dodges. "If that's how you want to play, then lets play," he snapped, switching immediately to the offensive. Once again he tried to grab the tyrogue's arm, but this time it was expecting it. The moment Leo's hand clenched around its small, thin arm, the tyrogue was already leaping into the air, yanking Leo down with his own grasp on it and driving its forehead into Leo's face. Leo yelped and let go, freeing the tyrogue, who immediately went to work punching Leo's gut.
The fight swiftly ended after that, the tyrogue knocking Leo to the ground with a sweeping kick to the knee, followed by a one-two punch that laid him out flat on his back. Pain radiated from Leo's body as he lay there, bleeding from his face and seeing stars fly circles in the sky – only a few puffy white clouds marring the sight. The grassy meadow rustled in a light breeze, the cool grass feeling good on his aching head. Leo could vaguely hear the tyrogue celebrating through the ringing in his ears, and he scowled, rolling over and pushing himself up. Blood pooled in his mouth that he spat out, wincing as his tongue found a loose tooth.
"Hey," Leo croaked, lifting his head and glaring at the tyrogue, who had turned to regard him curiously. "Get back here. I'm not done with you yet," he snarled angrily. The pain that came with moving only served to piss Leo off more.
The tyrogue grinned and charged at Leo once more, who remained on his knees. He waited, and waited, and just before the tyrogue reached him he leapt forward, slamming into the smaller creature's chest with his shoulder and knocking it to the ground. It tried to roll backwards as Leo scrabbled to his feet, kicking the rising tyrogue like a football and sending it sprawling once more. Before it could move Leo leapt upon it, snaking his arms around its body, pinning its arms to its chest and locking it in a headlock, his legs locking together and pressing the tyrogue's legs to the ground, its body pressed against his chest.
"Yield," he snarled, tightening his grip on the tyrogue as it struggled, thrashing this way and that in a vain attempt to escape its bigger and stronger captor. Leo would know, he'd spent enough time being pinned in this exact same position from his older brother. "I know you understand me, now yield!" Leo roared.
For a moment the tyrogue stilled, and just when Leo thought the tyrogue had listened it started to yell and glow a bright white-blue color.
"For the love of -" he shouted, shoving the tyrogue away and scrambling backwards. He didn't know how evolution worked, and a part of him didn't want to stick around to find out, but he stood there transfixed by the metamorphosis and brilliant white glow regardless. Light spilled from the tyrogue as its body began to shift and grow, its head widening and arms and legs elongating, body filling out as a sharp spike protruded from its head. Then, with a snap, the light faded and before Leo stood a hitmontop, staring at its hands in wonder, its blue and tan fur pristine and gleaming in the midday sun.
It twisted and bent experimentally, throwing a few jabs into the air and kicking at nothing. Leo cursed his luck and took a step back, the action drawing the attention of the hitmontop to him once more. It grinned, and Leo cursed louder this time.
"This is gonna suck," Leo said, slipping into a stance again. The hitmontop let him get settled with a curious expression, then attacked. The fight was over before it even began this time, the fighting-type flipping over onto its head and spinning like a top, flashing towards Leo with blinding speed and hitting him before he even had a chance to react.
Leo felt three separate kicks hit him, once in the face and twice in the chest, the last hitting him into the air, though the pain didn't register until he hit the ground. His breath came in short, sharp breaths and he struggled to breath, coughing and rolling onto his side as darkness crept along the edges of his vision, threatening a blackout. His eyelids fluttered and Leo fought it as best he could, but to no avail as he slipped into unconsciousness.
When he came to, Leo was surprised both by the distance the sun had moved across the sky, and by the fact that he had been knocked out. It must have been at least an hour since his defeat, but it seemed like mere moments. With a groan Leo sat up, wincing as his muscles pulled and his sides ached, a pounding reverberating around his skull as he leaned forward, gripping his head in his hands.
"Lets not do that again," he muttered grumpily, just sitting there for a while. "Stupid evolution, stupid tyrogue. Why'd you have to go and attack me? I'm going to be hurting for days now," he groused, rubbing his face and looking up, then freezing as he locked eyes with another pokemon.
The tyranitar stared at him from where it stood between two trees, the coloration of its belly standing out as it watched him. It snorted, shooting dust from its nostrils, and cracked its jaws open in a yawn as it turned away, lumbering off into the forest. Leo stood after a moment, choosing not to think about the tyranitar as he took a deep breath. A groan escaped him on the exhale, his ribs and stomach aching and head throbbing.
"I just…can't today," Leo said, pushing the thought of the tyranitar out of his mind and stumbling back to the slowpoke herd. It would take a good hour or two normally, but with how gingerly he was moving now that time would probably increase a good amount. Pressing a hand to his forehead and glancing at the horizon, where dark stormclouds were looming, Leo sighed once more.
Either his luck was really good or really terrible, and usually Leo couldn't decide which it was. Today? Today, it felt like the latter.
Leo shuddered and shook as he crouched over his tiny fire, the flames barely catching on the slightly damp wood, other pieces of fuel laying about the firepit to dry. The rain had only stopped a half-hour ago, having persisted well into the night, and leaving Leo absolutely miserable. He was cold, wet, aching, and exhausted, yet unable to sleep because he was cold, wet, and aching.
Thunder rumbled and Leo sneezed, rubbing his bare shoulders futilely. He had taken his shirt off once the fire had started, the damp cloth doing more harm than good once it had been fully soaked. Normally he loved rain, he loved the sight and sounds of storms rolling in, he loved the smell it left and how everything just looked and felt clean afterwards. When he was alone in the wilderness, however, with no real form of cover, as he had been unable to find proper shelter beyond crouching behind a rock to avoid the worst of the wind, Leo found himself hating it.
"Stupid storm," Leo grumbled.
"Broooo," one of the slowbro called, yawning.
"Shut up, Bob. No one asked you," Leo snapped. Then he sighed, and held his face in his shaking hands. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. I love you, Bob," he amended.
"Slooow," one of the slowpoke said.
"Hush, Steve, I already apologized didn't I?" Leo muttered, sighing once more and rocking back away from the fire. "What am I even doing? Here I am, having a conversation with slowpoke and slowly freezing to death,"
He wasn't actually dying, not really, but that was the way Leo felt. Even when more wood had dried out and the small flame grew to a merry blaze, steam rolling off of larger sticks set next to the fire to dry, Leo still shivered, the bone-deep cold not fading any quicker. His eyes flicked away from the fire, glancing at the slowpoke herd a few dozen feet away, next to the lake and hidden in patches of tall grass. Leo found himself envious of them.
They hadn't even really cared that it rained, or was cold. The slowpoke had all the heat they needed, and could find food far easier than Leo could. He still relied heavily on them for the main source of his nutrients, after all. Most of them were even asleep now, something Leo probably wouldn't accomplish until morning, and the ground dried up.
"Alright, focus on something else, Leo. Find something to do, thinking about your misery isn't going to get you anywhere," Leo chided himself, slapping his cheeks and rising, heading over to his backpack. He silently thanked the heavens for the waterproofed canvas as he flicked it open, pulling out one of his notebooks, a pencil, and gingerly withdrawing the leaf the bellossom had given him from a side pocket. It was still perfectly healthy and vibrant, surprisingly, despite it having been a few days since his meeting with the bellossom.
"Wait, how long has it been?" Leo muttered to himself, scratching his cheek. It'd been a couple days, he knew…maybe four or five? He was losing track of time. All he knew was that the days were getting hotter and the forest had been in full bloom for a while now. "Should probably keep track of the days, and prepare to head down the mountains actually. I don't want to be here when winter hits," he muttered, rubbing his face. But, that was a problem for future Leo to figure out – the Leo of today just wanted to relax and stop hurting for a minute.
After writing and doodling for a few minutes, his hands slowly warming up as he used them, Leo began to play with the leaf. He pulled the leaf taut and blew on it, the soft ringing sound it created coming in short, discordant bursts. Leo scowled at it and huffed, trying a few more times. He never really had much musical talent in the first place, but at least the leaf was fun to play with. It only took few minutes of disjointed playing for Leo set the leaf off to the side, though, as he looked up at the stars. A part of him wondered how Jack – the friend he was certain had travelled to this world with – was doing, and what kind of a situation he was in. Leo hoped it he had been deposited closer to civilization – he wasn't certain Jack could survive for too long in the wilds.
"I shall admit, I did not expect to see a human child attempt to play a song on a bellossom's leaf," a new, deep and tired-sounding voice called. It was distinctly male and distinctly inhuman, and that definitely creeped Leo out. He jumped and whirled, his heart racing and finding himself thoroughly disappointed and confused to see the pink creature standing behind him, just outside the light of his fire.
"Uh," Leo said eloquently, staring at the slowking. He observed Leo with sharp, intelligent eyes and a small smile on his face, its hands held behind his back as he stood there regally. Shadows danced across its features, the pink gem in the middle of his crown reflecting the firelight in its smooth surface. The slowking's eyes held Leo's gaze, the expression on his face never faltering.
"Worry not, I am not here to cause you trouble," he said regally, the words coming out slowly and with a lot of forced enunciation. When Leo didn't respond, the slowking frowned, cocking his head to the side. "I am speaking the language of your people, yes? It has been so long since I have last spoke in this tongue, I am afraid I might be a little rusty."
"Uh, no, I mean yes, I can understand you, I'm just…surprised," Leo stammered out, trying to collect himself. The slowking smiled.
"I cannot say I am not surprised at that. It is not an everyday occurrence you meet a talking pokemon. May I sit? I do wish to converse with you for a time," he said. Leo nodded slowly, rubbing his forehead and sitting down on the opposite side of the fire from the slowking, the regal creature gingerly falling onto his backside with a groan. "Ah, I am getting too old," he muttered.
"Slooow," one of the slowpoke called, which Leo ignored in favor of staring at the slowking.
"Now first of all, I do have one question that must be answered – what is a child like you doing out in the woods like this?" the slowking asked. Leo frowned, but decided he was a little too tired to try to play any mind games. Besides, it was a slowking. What was the point of lying to a pokemon?
"No idea," Leo answered honestly. "I, quite literally, fell through the sky one day," at this, the slowking's eyes widened. Then they narrowed, and the pink creature sat forward, stubby hands resting on his knees.
"Explain," he demanded in all seriousness.
"Do you know of Lunala?" Leo asked. The slowking hummed and stroked its chin, closing his eyes for a moment.
"The embodiment of the moon, yes? That legendary being which is said to travel between dimensions – and makes its home originally in those islands to the far south, I believe," the slowking mused, nodding.
"Right, that one. Big old bat creature made of stars. Anyways, I originally…well, I can't quite remember what I was doing, but I was just living my life when all of a sudden I fall through a hole in space and time, land on a tropical island with my friend, the sky opens again and Lunala comes through before whisking me off to here – and dumping Jack, the friend I mentioned, god knows where." Leo summarized bluntly. This wasn't the story he would probably give to other humans, of course, but telling the slowking probably wouldn't cause any harm.
He might even have some insight into the situation that Leo hadn't thought of yet.
"I see," the slowking murmured. "That is quite the story you're telling,"
"The truth is stranger than fiction sometimes," Leo said with a shrug. "I mean, it's awfully strange that you can speak English, my native tongue. I didn't know English was a multi-universal language,"
"Maybe you're not speaking this…English, who is to say that you are not speaking our native tongue? Perhaps the legendary pokemon made this possible," the slowking remarked casually, waving one arm dismissively. Leo blinked, and the frowned, immediately wanting to dismiss the notion before realizing he had no way to disprove the slowking. Namely because the unown letters still looked like English letters to him, and who's to say his perception of language hadn't been changed? Lunala was part psychic type, right? So wasn't that plausible?
"Y'know, I wasn't actually wanting a rational answer," Leo grumbled, rubbing his already aching forehead.
"Apologies, it is a habit of mine to play the Giratina's advocate – especially when I am distracted." The slowking murmured. Leo huffed and shuffled back, moving to lean against a nearby tree. He was still cold, and it was still chilly, but his conversation with the slowking was definitely taking his mind off of things. "Unfortunately, this is beyond my ability to comprehend. Your situation is unique, so far as I have heard," the slowking said eventually, shaking his head and sighing.
"You…believe me?" Leo asked hesitantly. The slowking nodded, tapping its head with a smile.
"I am a psychic, dear child, I can read the base brainwaves of your mind to tell whether you are lying or not. And either you speak the truth, or have gone insane – though I doubt it is the latter," the slowking said. Leo blinked slowly, then nodded in understanding. It felt a little strange knowing that the slowking was essentially reading his mind, but he felt awfully calm about it. Maybe he was just desensitized to surprise by this point. "It also coincides with the rumors I have been hearing going around the forest. You have been travelling with the slowpoke herd for three and a half months –"
"How long?!" Leo interrupted, eyes flying wide open. He hadn't think that much time had passed! The slowking, however, forged ahead, uncaring of Leo's surprise as he explained his thoughts.
"Starting on the day of the spring equinox. I felt an awfully large surge of psychic activity that day – perhaps Lunala had something to do with it," he said, nodding. "Though I would not be surprised if other legendaries were involved besides the Living Moon. Perhaps the lords of space and time? T'would not be unreasonable for you to have disturbed their domains in your travel,"
"Huh," Leo said eloquently. The slowking shook his head and smiled at him.
"Though all of this is guesswork on my part. It will most likely be up to you to figure out your own situation," he said, and Leo nodded, disappointed. After a few moments of silence, during which time Leo added more wood to the fire and laid more out to dry, the slowking spoke again.
"I do believe this topic has brought us off-track. My true purpose in coming here was to meet the friend of the slowpokes," the slowking said, smiling. "It seems to me they have been in your care for a while now,"
"More like I've been in their care. Doubt I could have survived without them," Leo said honestly, huddling closer to the fire as the chill began to set in once more.
"Indeed," the slowking said somberly. "It is quite impressive you have survived this long, and even had the ability to survive against the weavile pack,"
Leo shuddered at the mention of the creatures. He'd seen a few of their tracks since the attack – having made sure to memorize their footprints so as to be better prepared – though hadn't actually seen any of the sneasel. That just meant the sneasel were still around, and he needed to be prepared.
"Less like survived and more like got saved by the slowpoke," Leo muttered, shaking his head. The slowking nodded, eyes roving over the sleeping forms of the slowpoke. "It feels a little weird, being so indebted to the slowpoke. Don't think I've ever really felt that way for…most anyone before, besides maybe my parents,"
"Slowpoke do not count debts," the slowking said sagely. Leo grunted but didn't reply, not doubting the slowking's words. The issue was, he couldn't think of a way to repay the slowpoke, besides maybe finding and king's rock or whatever to help King evolve. They wanted for nothing, really. Food was plentiful, and life was good for a slowpoke.
Leo's thoughts began to wander as silence reigned, unsure of what to ask and even if he needed to ask anything. True, he wanted to know the location of any civilization, but for some reason he couldn't get the words out. Like they had lodged themselves in his throat and refused to budge. His thoughts drifted to his home and family, who he would most likely never see again, barring another twist of fate.
His musing was broken by a wet head butting up against his back, followed by a low call from the slowpoke. Leo turned and smiled tiredly at who he recognized as King, the slowpoke ambling forward to lie down with a thump next to him, staring at the slowking unblinking.
"Hey King," Leo said with a smile, scratching King's ears. They flicked, droplets of water sent flying from the motion. "What are you doing up, huh"
"She is a good slowpoke," the slowking said, making Leo's eyebrows raise. Well, at least he knew King's gender now…though should he rename her Queen then, if it's a girl? The slowking leaned forward, meeting Leo's eyes intensely. "Though why do you call her King?"
"Oh, uh, because that's what she is?" Leo said with a frown, scratching his cheek and glancing down at the slowpoke beside him. "I mean, just look at what she does at night. King here always circles the herd, never bedding down until the last slowpoke has settled in – and at some point included me in that circle. Not to mention that she was the first to respond to the sneasel. If those aren't the actions of a leader, I don't know what are," he summarized with a shrug.
The slowking remained silent for a moment, then nodded his head. "I see. It would seem dear Archibald's journal did fall into the hands of a promising young human," he said, and Leo took a moment to process that information. "Allow me to answer your question before you pose it – yes, I was once Archibald's companion, as was the old tyranitar you have run into. Though he was old even before he joined the Team, and was the newest member. The rest of the team has faded with time, though a few of their descendants still remain in these mountains," slowking said.
"Huh," Leo said eloquently. "So…these slowpoke are all your kids then?" At this, the slowking laughed heartily, slapping his knee.
"Oh no, of course not! I have had no children in my time here – I am a King who lost his throne and his people thanks to a careless mistake. I am unfit to sire more children, save for those I left already on the shores of Cerulean," the slowking said sadly, and Leo blinked, gaining a sudden insight to the slowking. "In fact, I dare not call myself a king anymore. Archibald was our king, there could have been no other,"
"I see. I'm sorry," Leo said awkwardly.
"It is fine, many years have passed since that day. Though it seems you and I have much in common," the slowking explained with a dismissive wave of its hand…paw, thing. Leo wasn't sure what the stubby appendage was really called, because it looked like a hand but also a paw like a slowpoke's.
"How so?" Leo asked, shaking away his idle thoughts. He was far more tired than he thought if he was thinking about things like that.
"You and I both had our worlds stripped away by twists of fate," the slowking said simply, and Leo stilled. He looked at the slowking and, for a moment, felt just as he did. Tired, and old. Remembering a world and a life that could have continued on to greater heights, only to have it stripped away. The only difference was that Leo was given a new chance, another start, even if he hadn't wanted one.
"How did he die?" Leo asked, trusting the slowking would understand he was talking about Archibald. The slowking didn't reply immediately, opting to stand instead and yawn.
"I will tell you in the morning. There is must we must talk about, I believe. In the meantime, rest, it has been a long day and you are still injured from the hitmontop," he said. Leo barely registered the statement and how he knew Leo had fought a hitmontop as weariness suddenly washed over him like a wave, forcing his eyes to flutter shut. He wanted to voice more questions, but, as if some unseen force had struck him, instead he slumped over King and fell into a deep slumber, darkness taking him.