Chansey moved about Leo and his team like a mother hen, waddling between him and his pokemon with her egg in hand. Santiago tried to wave her off, but a stern glare from the pink ball of a pokemon had him all but cowering, allowing her to spoon-feed him some of the yolk from said egg. Leo watched it all with a sort of morbid fascination; everyone, including Spiritomb who Chansey had somehow sensed in Leo's pocket, hiding in its keystone, was extremely kind and respectful to her – to the point of fear.
Though even more than that, the fact that Chansey's egg could even heal Spiritomb, the ghost having accepted some of the yolk and "ate" it with its ectoplasmic mouth, the golden-yellow food dissolving rapidly, was astounding to Leo. Much less that Spiritomb even let Chansey treat it; though that could have been because she threatened to spike the keystone into the ground if it made a fuss. A threat Spiritomb seemed to take seriously. It seemed his team had some wariness from dealing with Pokemon Center Chansey all the time, which amused Leo to no end. They'd jump right into the fray when Ultra Beasts came knocking, but were tiptoeing around a Chansey.
Leo plucked at his clothes as his attention drifted, turning from his team and the fire crackling in the firepit in the middle of the room, rising up out of a chimney, to the rest of the Kahuna's hut they now resided in. The building was, surprisingly, mostly intact even if in obvious disrepair. The fronds on the roof needed to be replaced, and it was in dire need of a deep cleaning with all the dust built up on…well, everything, but the thick log structural supports all seemed stable, the wooden floors were fine and didn't creak too badly, and there was a remarkable lack of pokemon sign inside the building proper.
Despite, of course, the Chansey who had decided to make her home and medical station here in the Kahuna's house. One table sitting off to the side beneath a portrait of an older man that looked like Hala but also not was covered in medical supplies – dried herbs, used potion bottles, cracked revive capsules, a stinger from a Beedrill, gauze, a number of first aid kits that hadn't been opened, and more – while there were more obvious signs of the Chansey using this place as a medical ward of sorts throughout the house. Even the guest bedrooms were kept clean, meticulously so, if shown by the way Chansey had a number of feather dusters piled up off to the side was any indication.
"Hap!" a tiny little voice called from beside Leo, prompting him to look down and smile at the pink blob. Three Happiny stared up at him curiously, though the smaller and braver of the three held up a small round stone, polished white to look like an egg, for Leo to hold.
"Oh, thank you," he cooed, reaching down and patting the little one's head, accepting the stone and admiring it. "That's beautiful," he twisted the smooth river rock around in his hand a few times, admiring the way it caught the firelight. Then he returned the object, poking her in the round belly with it first. She giggled sweetly and trundled off towards Chansey, the other two following and giving the members of Leo's team they passed a quick once-over as they did so.
Chansey paused in her fussing over Xena, the dragon obediently lying still while she peered into her mouth to check the condition of her teeth, to chatter something at the Happiny. Two of them nodded and resumed their checkups, while the smallest started chattering away at Chansey. The pokemon smiled sweetly and nodded along, adjusting the tattered and nigh-unrecognizable, once-white apron around her waist before resuming checking up on Xena. Leo smiled at the sight and slowly stood, putting a hand to his still-swollen face and walking towards the front of the house.
One of the small windows next to the door was broken, though the glass had long since been removed. He leaned against the windowsill and stared out, enjoying the cool breeze even as his face throbbed. It was amazing, really, he thought as he reached up a hand to press gently at the bandages pulled around the left side of his face. To think that Chansey could even treat humans to a degree.
Though he'd tried to get her to treat his team first, she insisted on him. He'd been too out of it to really protest with how inflamed his face had been and with the throbbing starting to give him an intense migraine, so before he knew it she'd force fed him a tiny dollop of her egg and proceeded to place gauze on the swollen side of his face and tie it with cloth strips around his forehead.
It would solve the problem immediately, as this was Nihilego poison affecting him, but that was beside the point. A little relief was better than no relief. He sighed and pulled himself out of his thoughts, looking out over the ruined town, half-destroyed barricades, towards the sun setting over the dense green jungle canopy. The sky was ignited with shades of orange and dark, dark blue, clear as could be, but something told Leo was storm was coming, and not metaphorically.
It smelled like rain. After a moment's pause, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Tapu Koko's feather.
"The real question is what you are, and what to do with you," he muttered, admiring it in the dying light of the day. It was a long feather of a strange orange and yellow, yellow in the sense that when the light hit it at a certain angle, it seemed to change color. The hairs on his arm stood on end from the electricity running through the feather, though that was all he could really feel on that front. He knew instinctively that there was more to the feather, but it was far more…subdued, he supposed was the word, than he expected.
It was a mystery though, why only a feather of the Tapu was within the shrine, and why the barrier of lightning opened for him and him alone. It didn't make sense that the barrier would have been keyed to him specifically; it was an accident he came here. So, then, why did it open for him? Was it because he was a human? That was likely part of the puzzle, though there were other pieces. So it was because he was human, and something else. Something unique to him…
He was dark, and he had started along the path of discovering aura. Even as he thought it he got the feeling that he was partially correct. The barrier had probably been made to open in response to a certain kind of aura, and he had that aura. Though "kind of aura" was a bit of a misnaming as, if his talks with Cynthia on the subject had told him anything, the shape of one's aura reflected the shape of one's soul. Or in other words, personality and all that runs deeper. So his aura might have acted like a keycode, letting the barrier open because it took a certain shape…though this was all guesswork.
That in turn had his thoughts drifting back to Victoria, Cynthia, Lusamine, and Professor Oak. They were probably sick with worry, though he hoped they all made it out of the ultra-beast attack alright. He sighed and allowed himself a moment of worry, a moment that was ended when Zuko came plodding over and nudged him with his snout, whining a little. Leo smiled at him and scratched his head, feeling the short blue fur in-between his fingers as the Typhlosion pushed his head further into the scratches.
"We've got a long journey home ahead of us, bud," he said, staring out the window and listening to the day's final birdsong.
"Easy, Diana, easy," Leo soothed as said Pupitar slowly jetted forward. Losing her side spike had affected her more than either of them had realized – Leo having not really let her out of her ball much on the journey to Iki town because she was still recovering from poison – namely in the sense of aerodynamics. Already the spike was longer than it had been, having regained a full inch of solid stone armor since they'd met Chansey a few days ago, but it was still a slow process. Plus, considering the spike was at least a foot and a half long…there would still be some time before she could fly right again. As for now, they had to relearn the whole flying process.
Diana wiggled happily as she came to a stop, her eyes squinting in happiness as she allowed her carapace to rest on the dirt wall she had marked as her target. Leo smiled at her and walked over, resting a hand on her side an praising her.
"Now let's try going a little faster," he urged, taking a step back. Santiago perked up from where he'd been reading; just a small picture book they'd found in one of the Iki town houses as he'd only started to learn a few weeks ago, even if he was picking up the skill incredibly fast, and focused on Diana. She wiggled, excited to try again and jetted forward with a controlled speed, wobbling as she went.
The lost spine made her constantly try to twist in the air, not by her own volition, and when she really got going she could spin wildly out of control. So they were starting slow, to help her to readjust. That's also why Santiago was on standby. When she started getting speed he would focus and catch her with his psychic power if she lost control – or at least soften the landing if he couldn't do that.
"Bell," Link said, nodding to himself as he watched Diana go. Leo looked down at the Bellossom, the littlest Happiny standing next to him holding her stone and humming happily, and nodded in agreement.
"She is doing much better. You seem to be feeling better too," he commented. Link shrugged and folded his arms, not dignifying that comment with a response. Happiny looked at him, looked down at her little hands, then did her best to copy. Leo snorted at her and looked back at Diana, thoughts still lingering on Link.
He was doing better. When they first got here Link was still pale and lethargic, not having the energy to move around more than absolutely necessary. But with just a few days under Chansey's care, he was already looking near top form again. The flowers on his head were a vibrant red, and his kilt was a fresh green color – not to mention that he'd started sparring with some of the local pokemon.
Though he was inexplicably terrified of Chansey, and as such didn't push things too far during the spars. She was busy enough as it was, treating wild pokemon and what Leo could only guess were Buzzwole's victims. Those were…hard to look at, at times. The mosquito-like pokemon literally drained them of their strength, leaving them as weak blobs of skin and bone – brought back from the brink by Chansey's miraculous healing abilities. They were few and far between though, which told Leo that either Buzzwole didn't feed often, or that its victims didn't always survive. Honestly the first idea was nothing more than hope, but he could hope all he wanted.
Thankfully Buzzwole seemed to avoid Iki town, leaving Chansey's little clinic as a safe-haven for Leo and wild pokemon alike. Though her patients never stayed for long, eager to get back out there though they were.
Speaking of, he winced as Diana crashed into one of the dirt walls, disturbing a burrow of Yungoos that had made it their home. The normal type weasels (inferior weasels to Furrett, in Leo's humble opinion) poked their heads out and chittered angrily at her, though were reluctant to actually try anything.
Happiny babbled something and toddled forward, pulling the small white stone out of her pouch and waving it in the air. A sound like a bell chimed out, a little pink glow reaching out towards Diana and the Yungoos to touch them. It didn't do anything, mostly because no one had actually been hurt by the accident, but it seemed to satisfy Happiny regardless as she chattered at them, waving one hand as if in admonishment, then promptly turned back around and went back to standing next to Link.
Leo laughed lightly, then stepped forward to continue Diana's training. The rest of the team were off somewhere, save Spiritomb, resting or training a bit on their own. Iki town had been good to them but they couldn't stay here forever. The issue was that they had to have a way to handle ultra beasts – healing up here went a long way towards that, but when they left? They couldn't rely on luck to avoid the beasts. Right now his biggest hope was that Chansey was willing to travel with him, and he was fully prepared to catch her and all of the Happiny if she agreed to go. But, on the other hand…
"How's heal pulse coming, Santi?" Leo asked. Santiago looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"No different than two hours ago, when you last asked me. Chansey tried to help, but she's not the best at explaining things," he drawled, a little bit of annoyance seeping into his tone. Leo nodded and raised his hands defensively.
"Xena and Zuko picked up their moves real quick, I don't know why you're struggling so hard," he teased without any real heat, and Santiago rolled his eyes at him, turning his back and watching Diana as she slowly rumbled across the open ground of the town center – at some point having picked up a Yungoos and let it hitch a ride. Heal pulse was a move so far removed from Santiago's current skillset, it didn't surprise him that he hadn't gotten it down yet. Though he had faith.
Xena and Zuko had both learned a new move, each, thanks to a few TM's he'd found in the Kahuna's house. He'd been worried that they wouldn't work due to the whole "interdimensional travel" thing they had going on, but thankfully the codes in the TM were similar enough that their pokeballs could read it, and therefore teach them the basics of the move. In Xena's case that move was drain punch; not the best of moves, but it gave her some sort of sustainability when it came to drawn-out battles, while Zuko got thunderpunch. He was still getting that one down, learning to use electricity and whatnot, but it would vastly improve his close-quarters combat against pokemon who could withstand the heat.
The rest of the TMs were essentially useless, either broken, used in the case of the non-reusable types, or consisted of the type of moves one might hand out to budding trainers. Rock smash, for example, though there were two that Leo was saving for later; brick break and superpower. He was holding off on using those though, partly because none of his team besides Xena could really use them yet and he wanted her to work on dragon-type moves too, not just fighting. The lesser TM's could at least be used on any potential new members he caught, just to bump up their movepool if necessary.
But still, they weren't ready to battle ultra-beasts. If he could, he'd stay here and train for a bit more, heal up as much as possible, but at the same time he was worried that their presence here would attract said beasts to Chansey's poke-clinic. Although, was keeping moving even a viable strategy or was it a non-issue? There were too many questions and not enough answers, and worrying about it too much wouldn't do anything productive. He had to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Which meant putting off offering for Chansey to join the team wasn't smart either.
"Right, let's get this over with," he said. "Diana! I'm going to go see Chansey for a bit, so be careful, ok!" he shouted. She hummed in response, a Pikipek having landed on one of her spines and joined the ride alongside Yungoos.
"She says 'that's no fun!'" Santiago drawled, and Leo snorted as he turned away, heading towards the Kahuna's house, where Chansey probably was.
Sure enough as he gently pushed open the door, being very careful not to rip it off its hinges, he was greeted to the sight of Chansey sweeping the floor with a makeshift broom. The broken end of one broom had been loosely tied to a longer stick with a dirty rag, and she gently swept it back and forth, trying to keep her workstation clean. Leo had tried to offer to clean it for her, but she had adamantly refused, pushing him away with surprising strength and insisting she do it herself.
"Hey, Chansey," he said, getting the pink pokemon's attention. "I have something to ask. Do you want to join my team?" he said bluntly, approaching her and kneeling to get to her eye level. She blinked at him, digested what he said, then reeled back in surprise. Her little arms waved as she shook her head, eyes darting about, looking back and forth rapidly at her clinic. Leo watched her panic for a bit, frantically shaking her head, before nodding quietly.
"I know you want to stay here, don't you?" He asked. "I'm prepared to bring all your Happiny with me if you want, too. But if you really don't want to go I won't force you. Is this place special to you?"
Chansey nodded rapidly at that, her whole body bobbing up and down.
"It's not necessarily the place that makes something special. It's the memories and the people within; what this place means to you, only you will know. But," and at this Leo hesitated, then sighed. "I'll be going away. Leaving this world entirely, Chansey, to a world that hasn't been destroyed like this. Where there's still people. It may take months, possibly longer, but that's where I'm headed. You don't have to stay here. You have nothing to prove," he explained softly, standing up.
"Take some time to think about it. I won't be leaving immediately, after all," he said with a smile. He waited until Chansey acknowledged the offer with a bob of her head, calming down slightly when he stood and made to leave. He wasn't sure what else to say to convince her to come with him, but he knew he couldn't force her, nor was pressuring her too much a good idea. So he let her be, and let her think about it.
They stayed in Iki Town for only a few more days, a grand total of seven, and Leo spent most of that time pouring over maps to decide their route to Poni Island, training his team, helping Chansey and the Happiny, and other, similar things. For the most part everyone healed up. The worst of the poison was purged from their systems; though Leo still had occasional bouts of pain, it was nothing severe, and Diana's spike was slowly regrowing. But no amount of Chansey's healing magic would speed up that process, and it might take months for it to fully fix itself, the regrowth having slowed after that initial burst.
The issue he was running into right now was that he had no way to cross the sea to get to Poni in the first place. He wasn't confident in sailing, though it'd be incredibly easy with an engine boat – assuming there were some still working. Sailing in a sailboat not so much – crossing on the back of a pokemon might be risky too. There was a lot of potential what ifs, but the main thing was finding suitable transportation across the ocean.
Thankfully some of the islands were visible from one another so navigation wasn't an inherent issue…ok, he was a little worried about it because Poni wasn't one of those you could see from Melemele, but he at least knew what direction it was in. So long as nothing interfered…like an Ultra Beast. Or, knowing his luck, Regigigas would have moved the entire island somewhere.
But on the seventh day he put his worries aside and finalized his course to the coast, aiming for Hau'oli city again and the ports therein. It would be a three day walk – hopefully shorter, as it was downhill and Leo was feeling better, albeit still not one hundred percent – and then he'd have to spend some time scouring the Marina for any boats he could use…or convincing a pokemon to let him hitch a ride to Poni. All while praying he didn't run into Buzzwole.
Santiago nudged him as he stood outside the Kahuna's house, his backpack on his back and staring blankly at the door. He was stalling, and he knew it.
"Ok then, here we go," he said, stepping forward and pushing open the door. Chansey was already waiting for him inside, patting a freshly healed Trumbeak as it lay in a makeshift nest, apparently still not ready to leave yet. "We're leaving, Chansey," he said. Chansey nodded but said nothing, expression looking a little conflicted. Leo held his breath for a moment, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't, he asked one final time.
"Did you think about what I said?" he asked, and Chansey nodded. "…staying here still?" he asked, and she nodded once again, slower this time. Leo mentally sighed, not letting it show on his expression.
"Sey," Chansey said, moving away from Trumbeak and waddling over to the desk on the far right side of the room. There, on the desk, lay a single pokeball, part of the red paint flaking off. She gently picked it up and waddled back over to Leo, pressing it into his hands without a word. He looked down at it, looked up at her, and furrowed his brows. "Chan,"
"She says take care of her," Santiago explained, and Leo looked down at the pokeball with mixed feelings, not entirely sure how to feel about it.
This was undoubtedly one of the Happiny.
"Chansey, I won't be coming back. I will be going somewhere very, very far away; you probably won't see her again," he said softly, kneeling down to her level. He'd seen how much she cared for the Happiny; she was their mother, their caretaker, she took extra time out of her day to teach them how to heal and be a healer. Chansey just nodded, tears beading up in the corners of her eyes as she stood there, the little tendrils of hair-like substance on the sides of her head quivering as she began chattering away. After a moment of listening, Santiago began translating for Leo's sake.
"She is the only one who wanted to go with you. The child of my dear friend, the last Blissey on the island, and the eldest of the three; she's always been the most adventurous. She wants to go with you. See the world. I don't know about you leaving for a place with humans – but she still wants to leave. And you, the one who earned the trust of the Tapu…I can let her leave with you. I've seen your heart. My own children do not want to go adventuring, they want to stay here with me. I cannot leave here. My human entrusted this clinic to me. She died here, and I can't –" Santiago cut himself off, the muttering apparently devolving into incoherent mumbles. Leo's gaze softened as he reached forward, placing a hand on Chansey's head. She stiffened at the contact, looking up at him tearfully.
"You don't want to abandon her memory, huh?" he asked, and she nodded. He was silent for a moment, piecing together his thoughts. Even if she was a pokemon, Chansey was someone very much like him; at one point she'd lost everything she knew and loved. He didn't know if she watched her loved ones died, or if they'd just faded into obscurity; he didn't know the entire history of this planet. But he did know how she was feeling, if only just a little. "Your human's memory doesn't live here. It lives here," he said, poking Chansey's chest, just over her heart. She blinked at him.
"You're right. I can't ask you to abandon this place. You've built a safe haven here for all manner of injured pokemon; in a world as crazy as this, that's quite the feat. Your human would be proud, and I thank you for all that you have done for me, my team, and every pokemon you've met so far." He said honestly, shaking his head and standing up, Happiny's pokeball feeling heavy in his hand. He thumbed the release almost absently, the ball clicking open with a hiss and spitting out Happiny, the little pink pokemon yawning and stretching before looking around curiously. "I won't let you leave here and leave anything unresolved. Happiny, do you want to travel with me? Do you know what that means? I probably won't be coming back. It will be a long, dangerous journey ahead of us," he asked, kneeling down before the little pokemon. She blinked up at him, smiled sadly and crossed her arms, shuffling her feet and spinning like she'd seen Link do.
He watched her for just a moment, then looked up at Chansey. The pokemon looked like she was about to start bawling, holding back the tears through sheer force of will as she stepped forward and said a few quiet words to Happiny. Santiago didn't translate for him, but he didn't need to. This was a moment for Happiny and Chansey, not for him. At the end of it Happiny chattered a little, hugged Chansey, and stepped away to look at Leo, who smiled softly at her.
"Are you willing to follow me?" he asked, and she nodded, pulling her little oval stone out of the pouch on her belly and holding it up to Leo. Gently he took it, smiled and praised it, then handed it back to the little normal type who did a little happy dance as she put it back in her pouch. Leo held out the pokeball once more and she returned herself, earning a smile from Leo as he stood and turned to face Chansey once again. She sniffled, big wet teardrops pooling up in the corner of her eyes as she nodded to Leo.
"I – thank you. I will take good care of her," he said, any further words dying in his throat. Following his instincts he bowed at the waist, just a little bit, and found his words once again. "Thank you for everything you've done. You should be proud of what you've made here. You are a wonderful nurse," it was during the ensuing silence that Leo knew something was up, and when he raised his head ever so slightly, he bore witness to something extraordinary. Chansey was glowing with the light of evolution as she beamed at him.
Now Leo had seen a few evolutions. The light from them was usually bright, but not absolutely overwhelming; if he tried hard, he could probably watch one from start to finish without looking away or scarring his retinas. Chansey's evolution was not like that; the sheer heat she exuded, the brightness of the light itself, forced him to look away and shield his face as a veritable star erupted in the middle of the Kahuna's house. Followed by a sharp tingle from Tapu Koko's feather, stowed in Leo's backpack. The scent of ozone filled the air as lightning crackled around Leo from the feather, doing him no harm but clearly seeking something, and finding that something in Chansey.
Thunder boomed as the silver star of pure evolutionary light dominated the interior of the hall, wood cracking and groaning as Chansey grew and grew and grew. She grew tall enough that, when the light faded and Leo had blinked the spots out of his eyes, he was staring up at her, the tattered nurse's hat still situated atop her head was brushing the second floor balcony overlooking the main hall. She shook herself, the puffy white frills on her shoulders fluffing themselves as she looked down at herself in wonder.
And for a moment, Leo thought he could see something. If he squinted and tilted his head just slightly, he could see what looked like the faint outlines of an aura – but there was no denying the presence she had. It seemed to roll off of her in waves, and was a presence Leo barely recognized. He'd only ever felt it once before, in truth. The Totem Kommo-o from Poni Island had the same kind of presence, though Leo hadn't realized what it was back then. This was the aura of a totem pokemon; champions of the Tapus. The feather in his backpack lay silent now, but Leo had no illusions to the fact that it was still very much active.
Is that what you want me to do? He wondered silently, admiring Blissey's new form as she looked down at herself in wonder. She looked up at him, their eyes met, and she just smiled. A Totem pokemon had just returned to Melemele.
Leo flipped Tapu Koko's feather over in his hands, running his fingers along it, a slight static tingle running up his arm from the contact. It flickered yellow and orange in the sunlight, and Santiago nudged him, the Slowking still waving to Blissey and the two Happiny who wanted to stay as they and Iki town slowly disappeared behind a hill.
Leo looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.
"What was that?" Santiago asked. "With the feather and the lightning,"
"Tapu Koko blessed Blissey to become a Totem Pokemon," Leo said, frowning and swishing the feather back and forth in the air, looking up to watch Zuko as he ran ahead. The Typhlosion would stop and sniff the odd rock or branch lying on the road – a road overgrown with thick green vegetation and missing chunks of stone. He was honestly surprised it hadn't been completely swallowed by the jungle, the trees and dense undergrowth creeping in on both sides, but it hadn't happened yet.
"Is that why he let you in his shrine then? So you can run around blessing pokemon to be Totems?" Santiago asked, sounding a little disgruntled. "I thought we were supposed to get to Mount Coronet as quick as possible,"
"We are going to. I think it's more of a 'Since you're here, would you do this for me?' Kind of a thing," Leo said, frowning and running his free hand through his roughly cropped, messy black hair. He'd tried to trim it a bit at Iki town, but the lack of a decent mirror and experience in the field probably meant it was an absolute hack-job. "But I don't think Blissey is going to be par for the course though, if we are going to be meeting and 'promoting' potential Totem Pokemon,"
"So it won't be just 'induce an evolution, and slap them with a feather?'" Santiago asked. Leo nodded, whistling sharply to get Zuko's attention. He perked up from where he'd been sniffing a Cutiefly resting on a signpost covered in moss and vines, and promptly came scampering back a few dozen feet. He'd been getting a little too far ahead, in Leo's opinion.
"No, I don't think so. Blissey obviously had a trainer before…whatever happened, happened; it was a shame even she wasn't sure, besides the Ultra-Beasts appearing. But it doesn't matter if she was trained by a Nurse Joy or whoever, she had that spark that let her become a Totem. And if I remember right, Totem pokemon are trained by Trail Captains and Kahunas before they're accepted as Totem pokemon. I don't think I really realized the difference between the real thing and it being a title. I mean, I knew that there was something there, but I didn't really understand it. It explains why the Kommo-o on Poni was Totem, and not Dragonite," he said.
"I see," Santiago said. Leo was silent for a moment, rubbing his calloused hand down his face and just…thinking. It was almost funny, in a way, that here he was, abandoned in a foreign world with no way home, and once again he had been given a baby to be taken care of. He snorted and tossed Happiny's pokeball into the air, catching it and smiling down at the orb before a frown overtook his face.
A warm breeze rippled through the air, blowing up the street towards him and bringing with it the scent of the jungle; decay and life and all manner of scents all wrapped into a bouquet of smells – smells wholly absent of a human touch. He relished the smell, but here and now it seemed to carry with it a weight. It was indescribable, and for the umpteenth time since coming to the pokemon world he wondered why?
Why was he in this world? Not just this new world, but in the pokemon world in general? Why here, why now, why as a child? What was he doing here? Celebi had told him before that he was a cosmic accident; someone who shouldn't have come to the world, travelling through the void to land here. He believed that but as more and more was revealed to him he suspected more and more that it wasn't the whole truth. There was too much coincidental positioning in his case; even if he was being humble he could admit that he had been in a position of importance in the pokemon world. Not because he himself was powerful or important; but because he'd forged connections with some very influential people. The Oaks first and foremost, following by what he did with Lusamine and how Cynthia showed up and he got a bloody Spiritomb.
Legendary pokemon clearly had the power to put him in a different position, but they didn't. Celebi could have yeeted him into the future, beyond what he understood as canon knowledge – as spotty as that was for him at this point – so he didn't disrupt anything too important. Instead he was placed where he had been; and then wound up in an entirely different world, right as he was starting to make even more connections. There were so many questions Leo had to ask, that he'd had no real chance of having answered up until this point. He'd been too busy acclimating, adjusting to the world and its ways and figuring out how to survive and live as a person here. Making friends with pokemon and exploring, looking at the underneath. Now he was starting to see further, he got the feeling, and that some of these questions would be answered for him.
Because he refused to believe this was coincidence.
A sharp hiss from Spiritomb had him looking down at his pocket, where the ghost was peering at him with one eye. It had been extremely quiet ever since falling through the ultra wormhole, which was another thing he needed to address. Regardless he smiled down at the swirling ball of purple, black, and green formed into an approximation of an eye, and patted his pocket, feeling the sharp edges of Spiritomb's cube keystone through the fabric.
"You're making that face again," Santiago said softly.
"What face?" Leo asked, letting Happiny out of her pokeball and scooping the little normal type up into his arms. She giggled and waved her arms, squirming weakly and little legs kicking as Leo cooed at her a bit, letting her enjoy the sunshine and views.
She was leaving home, after all, and though she'd already said goodbye to her family it was a little cruel to just leave without letting her see the world.
"Your thinking face. You make it whenever you're divining the nature of the universe," Santiago drawled sarcastically, giving Leo a look. Leo grinned at his buddy, his green eyes meeting Santiago's charcoal-grey, and shrugged.
"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm wondering about the relationship between people and pokemon, and our relationship to the legendary pokemon. Maybe I'm wondering about the role of the legendary pokemon and their purpose in the world. It's not as straightforward as it seems, methinks," Leo said with a shrug. Happiny squirmed a bit more, enough to force Leo to set her down and let her happily trot alongside him, humming Link's Bellossom song. Leo smiled at her and whistled along.
"Seems like a heavy subject," Santiago drawled, trying his hardest to not sound interested. Leo glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, smirking and watching the Slowking's expression. His muzzle was as expressionless as was expected of his line; even Slowking weren't exactly the most facially expressive, but the frilly collar around his neck would fluff up whenever he got excited or interested in something.
"It is. Maybe I'll let you in on it when you're older," Leo said, patting his buddy's shoulder. "No use overthinking the subject until I get more information, though. So let's focus; I don't want Buzzwole or another ultrabeast sneaking up on us somehow," he said, letting out Link after but a moment's thought. He'd rotate the team around as the day went, but seeing as he let Happiny out and the little one had bonded with Link specifically, he figured why not?
As said Bellossom shook himself out, stretching and rustling the leaves of his kilt before locking eyes with Happiny, Leo looked skyward.
Only fools claimed to know what the future held, but damn if he didn't want a little bit of certainty right now.
Hau'oli city was not as Leo had left it. The crumbling ruins were smoking, massive skyscrapers with chunks blown out of them and Nihilego floating in the skies above. He himself was hiding in a bush, peering through the undergrowth and watching the white jelly-fish like creatures floating through the skies. There were only two or three, but they were definitely in the air there. Spiritomb hovered in the air next to him, the swirling mass of purple ectoplasm wrapping around his shoulders protectively as he stared out at the crumbling city. The suburbs sprawled out behind him, what was once a small park now overgrown with vines and shrubbery providing the cover he had hidden in.
Any of the nearby houses probably would have worked as cover – and for that matter, he should probably try to loot a few of them to see if there was anything of value, which he somehow doubted would be the case – but he'd been closer to the park and figured it would allow for more avenues of escape if he were to be noticed. Thankfully that didn't seem to be the case, so, after a few more minutes of waiting, he slowly extricated himself from beneath the overgrown jungle gym – dense ivy-like plants hanging down from the metal flooring overhead, and retreated towards a decent-sized two-story house that was relatively intact.
After circling the house, seeking a way into the building, he finally came to stop at the backdoor and decided his best way in was abusing Spiritomb's ghostly powers.
"Would you unlock this for me?" he asked, rapping on the door with his knuckle, the white paint peeling with age and exposure. Spiritomb hissed and snaked out of his pocket, phasing right through the door and unlocking it with a click. Leo gently pushed it open, the hinges squeaking awkwardly, and quietly walked through the dark, humid house. Mold and mildew grew everywhere it seemed, the musty stench filling his nostrils and forcing him to cover his nose with his shirt. It took only a little bit of time to search the house for anything dangerous, though it struck him as odd that the entire place seemed intact. Nothing of value had been taken – pictures still hung on the walls and there were even the remains of rotting food in the pantry.
It quickly became apparent why it seemed so untouched when Leo pushed open the door to the master bedroom, and beheld the previous owners of the house in all their skeletal glory. Two skeletons lay on the bed, still half beneath the tattered covers, while a third pokemon skeleton lay curled up on the foot of the bed. Glass lay on the floor from the broken window off to the side of the room, sunlight and vines streaming in through the second-story window and illuminating the bed in a decidedly pretty way, despite the morbidity of the sight.
He shuddered, nervousness shooting through him at the sight. Slowly he closed the door behind him, staring at the empty eyes of the canid-like pokemon skeleton as he did so, and quietly exited the house, taking with him a single thing; a magazine, miraculously intact – if a bit yellowed and waterlogged from sitting beneath a pile of soaked…stuff – that looked like it might give him some idea of what the hell happened to this world.
But first he just wanted out of the house, and to put some distance between it and himself.
Sticking to shadows and alleyways, Leo carefully made his way out of the suburbs, heading towards the dense jungle he knew was relatively safe. But it seemed each corner he turned around led him to a new discovery – another skeleton nearly hidden beneath grasses, shrubs and vines; or the shattered remains of a pokeball, or any other such morbid discoveries. There were fewer pokemon remains than human, but now that Leo knew to look for it, he was starting to see the signs everywhere. It was a miracle he hadn't stumbled across any remains on his way into the area – or when he first arrived for that matter, but in his defense, he hadn't been in a residential area and he'd been severely disoriented by the Nihilego poison – even if the remains were usually hidden beneath plant growth or broken apart.
Still, he kept quiet as he left the neighborhood, slipping into the noisy jungle and leaving the dilapidated neighborhood houses behind. Though he did pause to give another look at the neighborhood, houses stretching on for a few miles before giving way to the ocean with trees just starting to grow up around them. The leafy green trees popped up in the middle of streets, in backyards, and even one or two growing through the roof of collapsed houses…it was truly a destroyed city. Yet there was none of the silence he would expect to come with that.
Bugs buzzed in the jungle around him, pokémon moving about through the undergrowth and bird pokemon singing their songs. Off in the distance the Nihilego still moved about, flying as little white dots above the crumbling skyscrapers of Hau'oli city; smoke curling up into the sky from whatever battle had recently occurred there. He scowled at the ultra beasts and pushed further into the jungle, plants tugging and pulling at his clothes until he broke into a clearer section of jungle, where the canopy was too thick for much undergrowth to really grow, leaving all but bare soil, thick brown tree trunks, and plenty of room for Leo to let his team out.
"We've got trouble, guys," he said as they appeared, Diana immediately revving her vents a little to move closer to Leo. She whined and pressed her hard rocky carapace into Leo's side, being very careful to not put too much weight on him, and he gently scratched between her eyes. Even if she couldn't feel it, she seemed to like it. Seemingly satisfied, Diana backed off a bit, dragging her carapace over to a tree and leaning up against it, the thick bark cracking a little under her weight. "Ultra beasts are in the city. I don't know what or how many beyond a few Nihilego I saw flying above downtown, but it's enough to get me a little worried. Obviously there are a few more places we could check for transportation off the island, but the Marina was the closest and best bet in my opinion. Not to say we won't be able to find a boat elsewhere, but…"
Zuko sniffed the air, twisting his head this way and that as he examined the trees, apparently uninterested, and Xena seemed to be joining him. In fact, the only two who he could actually believe were paying attention to him were Link and Santiago; Spiritomb was quiet in Leo's pocket, and Diana was…Diana. Adorable but not always paying full attention. And Happiny…well, she had moved on from copying Link and was now following Zuko around, picking up sticks and rocks for him to sniff. He did so, not because he was interested in said rocks or sticks, but because it got a happy giggle from Happiny and she'd run off to find something else for him to sniff.
Xena was keeping a close eye on her as well, now that Leo was paying attention, the dragon seeming to want to join in on the fun but not willing to do so unless asked.
Link crossed his arms and nodded, closing his eyes and seeming to ponder.
"Bell," he said finally.
"Yeah, I think finding a pokemon willing to let me ride them across the ocean is best for the long-term, too. But that means either finding a pokemon that is already willing to do so, or catching one and training them up until they are ready to cross. Because I bet you that the waters are going to be dangerous," Leo said, pulling the magazine he'd picked up in the abandoned house and waving it at them. Santiago raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side and focusing on the magazine. A light blue glow surrounded the magazine and Leo let it go, letting Santiago float it over to him and peer at the cover.
It was splotchy, and the colors had bled quite a bit, but Leo had seen enough to know that this…destruction? Just as Lunala had implied, it hadn't been isolated to Alola.
"A big…storm?" Santiago parsed out, struggling to read the words. He was a quick study, having picked up reading children's books relatively quickly, but the bigger, more mature reading materials were still mostly beyond him unless he took a lot of time to sit down and read.
"Yeah, in Kanto and Johto. I haven't read the whole thing, but the cover does not inspire confidence," Leo said, shaking his head. The best he could tell, it was a picture of Fuschia City, flooded and ravaged by a hurricane. He may not have ever seen Fuschia in real life, but the picture on the front cover was of the Safari Zone, and that was such a tourist attraction that everyone in Kanto and Johto knew what it looked like. The big front gate, complete with rows and rows of observation decks and areas for flying pokemon to pick up passengers – aerial safari's of the Safari Zone were incredibly popular, because you didn't have to be a trainer to take pictures of the exotic pokemon within – was the Kanto equivalent of the Sydney Opera House, or the Eiffel Tower. Even if you'd never been, you knew what it looked like.
But on the front cover? It looked absolutely trashed. Well…beyond all the bleeding colors, anyway.
"And this has to do with crossing the ocean?" Santiago asked, and Leo nodded, sitting down and turning his head to watch Happiny jump about as she chased after Zuko. He was actually surprised by the strength in her legs; she was getting a good foot off the ground. An impressive feat for a creature that looked like a pink egg, and was only a foot and a half tall. Santiago watched her as well, frowning slightly.
"Bell, Ossom," Link said, nodding, and Santiago raised an eyebrow.
"The god of the tides?" he repeated.
"Lugia?" Leo asked. "Yeah, maybe. If I remember right Lugia doesn't really do 'angry typhoons,' though. I'm more worried about a few other potential things," Things I have no real right knowing about. My first thought is Mewtwo of course, but wasn't there that one movie where Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno started kicking up a fuss? The one with Lugia and the talking Slowking? He thought to himself, glancing at Santiago. "Let's just start with me being a little leery of heading to Indigo if there's this kind of stuff going on. That is the shortest route, of course, but I don't want to go there if it's going to be life-threatening. Even moreso than Alola. BUT, the real point I was trying to get at is that there's a potential the weather has messed with the ocean-going pokemon.
"You probably don't remember Santi, but while I was at Professor Oak's ranch I did help him a little with a research project involving water types and how severe weather changes can effect their patterns. It was a collaborative project with Hoenn, I think? I didn't do much other than help with a few wild Slowpoke, but I did end up reading some of the findings. And like you'd expect, severe weather can agitate wild pokemon and disrupt their patterns and territories. Who knows if a particularly temperamental Gyarados has decided to make the ocean between here and Poni its territory?" Leo explained. At least in the other world, common passage points were routinely patrolled and maintained by the leagues, to ensure safety.
"We can't spend all our time worrying about potentials," Santiago said with a frown. "Besides, I can sense other pokemon if it comes down to it," he said, tapping his crown.
"You're right, but it's good to keep in mind," Leo agreed.
"Bell," Link said smugly.
"No, I'm not going to throw you into a Gyarados' mouth again," Leo deadpanned. "So I guess I wanted your input. Obviously I want to keep looking for a boat, but should we seriously consider me catching an ocean-going pokemon? Do you want to stick around, see if the Nihilego will leave, or head down the island in search of an easier target?" he asked.
"As much as I want to pick a fight, heading down the island is probably safer. Last thing I want is you getting poisoned again," Santiago said to both Leo and Link. They'd been hit by Nihilego's poison the hardest, after all. It was at this point that Diana interjected, revving her air vents and wiggling from where she lay against the tree, blinking her big eyes owlishly. "She says new friends are always fun. Just look at Happiny,"
Leo nodded, absently glancing to said pink pokemon and pausing when he saw what she was doing.
She was holding a log, easily four times the size of her, in the air for Zuko to sniff. Xena was carefully watching, her claws flexing as she prepared herself to jump in to help Happiny, but the giddy little pokemon showed no signs of strain whatsoever, holding the log aloft as she was. Zuko sniffed it tentatively, then backed away slowly on all fours as Happiny dropped said log, giggling happily and running over to give his front leg a hug.
"…yes. Fun. So that's settled then. Link, I'm leaving it up to you to find us a good spot to camp tonight. I think we're far enough away from the city to avoid detection by the Nihilego, but I want to be sure we're at least covered up just in case. It's only an hour or two until sunset anyway," Leo said. Link saluted and darted off immediately, weaving around Happiny as he ran off towards the denser part of the jungle. Leo watched him go, then turned to Santiago and the magazine he'd given him.
There was a lot to read there, and many questions to answer. After all, the storms he'd been thinking of shouldn't happen for another few years at least in the old world. Was it something different, or was time wonky?
"People think time as a straight line, but it's not. It's more like a big ball of wibbly, wobbly, timey-wimey…stuff," Leo muttered, shaking his head and chuckling. Well, only one way to find out, he supposed. Reading with Santiago.
And hoping they found more magazines or newspapers that could give them clues. That should probably be on the priority list too, actually.
Leo was up reading by the light of his pokedex when it happened. The magazine only provided hints as to what he thought happened to this world, never revealing the truth in full mostly because the people writing the articles didn't seem to know for sure beyond "this happened," and at times was hard to parse out due to damage. That didn't stop Leo from trying though.
That was, until he noticed movement in the night. The fact that he noticed it first – before Spiritomb was roused from its stasis-like slumber, and before Santiago raised his head from where he reclined in a small pool of water, dug out and filled by himself and for himself, should have warned Leo of its nature. But as it was, all he noticed as he lay in his little hammock, lashed between two decent-sized trees and surrounded on all sides by dense undergrowth, was a slight rustling and whispering winds.
He peeked up from the magazine, turning off the light on his pokedex with a swift flick of his finger and just listened for a moment. Rustling and whispers were what greeted him, and it wasn't the metaphorical wind this time. Very carefully he extracted himself from the hammock, putting his bare feet on the ground and silently moving to where he knew Xena was on guard. He quietly pushed through the undergrowth, laying a hand on his dragon's side. She didn't jerk at all, showing that she already knew he was awake as she stared off into the jungle, lying on the ground with her head up though she was. The flexing of her claws as they lay crossed before her head told Leo that she knew something was out there, and so he sat beside her, one hand on her scaled neck as they watched the jungle and waited for whatever it was to show up.
They came as whispers in the night. Gastly and Drifloon, Duskull and Phantump, and a number of ghosts he couldn't quite make out floated through the trees – literally through the trees and shrubbery – from the direction of Hau'oli city. Xena stiffened as she watched them, but Leo held her steady, not wanting to disturb the ghosts on their march.
The will-o-wisps came next, small balls of bluish-purple fire drifting through the air and nimbly dodging the foliage and vines that hung from the lower-hanging tree-branches, leaving little embers of light as they passed and followed by Haunter and Shuppet, the sheet-like pokemon added to the whispers with a strange rasping sound, the sound of cloth dragging on leaves. The whispers never increased in sound, not even when a wandering Duskull passed overhead, its lone eye catching sight of Leo and holding his gaze before moving on.
As if that was the key, more and more ghosts started to take notice of Leo and Xena, the dragon stiffening beneath his touch as Gastly, Haunter, and all manner of other ghosts came over to investigate. But Leo held her back, remaining perfectly calm and meeting the eyes of each and every ghost that came close. He was calm. He showed neither fear nor aggression. He did not give an inch, and they did not ask for it, simply moving on when their curiosity was sated. Twice did the more volatile ghosts approach, wide grins splitting their faces as they looked at Leo with a hunger.
Those ghosts he stared at unflinchingly, setting himself and preparing for a fight as they tried to scare him, to elicit a reaction. But he showed them nothing, because agitating the swarm of ghosts was nothing short of death waiting to happen. This lack of fear, lack of wariness turned the ghosts off, the Bannette and Haunter turning away disappointed as they moved to follow their brethren, the procession showing no signs of stopping any time soon.
But that was when the dancers came. Purple birds flitted through the trees, swirling and trailing a very light purple light as they danced and spun and sang a soft, eerie, yet somber and kind song. Will-o-wisps split and followed them, the ghostly fires caught in the winds from their wings and the fan-like appendages at the tips to follow after them. The other ghost pokemon paused as the Sensu-style Oricorio joined them, harmonizing with the ghostly parade and taking it over in mere moments.
A small gasp escaped Leo as he watched the Oricorio rounding up the ghosts, spinning and dancing and creating a swirling vortex of purples and blues and ghosts and birds, leading it away, back towards Hau'oli City. For half an hour Leo watched the Oricorio dance and sing, the ghosts cackling and joining in with far more fervor than he'd seen from them before as they were led off into the distance, joining in on the song with a purpose. Gone was the melancholy and sadness, replaced with a relatively upbeat song – though not happy and definitely somber, it was not the creepy sadness that followed the ghostly parade when they first arrived.
As the last ghost left, a single Oricorio landed in front of Leo, the smallish bird eyeing him, chirping, and giving a sweeping bow before darting off to follow its fellows. He watched them go, not relaxing until the last ghost was gone.
"Well, that was something," he whispered, patting Xena's neck. "Think we should move?" he asked, and Xena glanced at him. She held that gaze for a long moment before craning her neck, looking over her shoulder at the camp behind her.
His team lay out in a loose circle around one another, all asleep save for Zuko, who was staring after the ghosts while curled around Happiny. Sensing Leo's gaze, the fire type looked back at Leo, looked back towards the ghosts, and laid his head back down, right next to Happiny's sleeping form. But his eyes didn't close. Leo snorted. Of course the others hadn't woken up; he would've expected that from Link, but Santiago wouldn't wake unless the world was ending.
Xena shook her head after another moment's pause, lying down and snorting. With a smile Leo patted her shoulder, careful not the bang too hard against her scales, and maneuvered back towards the hammock, lying down in it and clasping his hands over his stomach as he resituated himself and stared up at the canopy above, stars and a crescent moon peeking through the foliage.
He doubted he'd get any sleep tonight, he realized as he felt his racing heart and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Funny how he hadn't felt that in the moment, but now that the danger was past he was hyper-aware of it. But that was ok. There may be time yet for sleep to come to him; and so the night began to pass, and Leo began to hum, whistling the tune to the ghost song. And remembering the dance.