White dust blanketed the grass and dusted the trees, the rich green almost violently offsetting the layer of snow that had fallen overnight. Leo's breath came out in ragged huffs of white air as he slowed to a brisk walk, his early morning run having carried him here, to a small clearing where he could train with his pokémon. The chilly air stung his lungs in a nostalgic way, reminding him of hiking through the mountains at home, even as his heart thudded in his chest.
A Sunflora turned to face him as he approached, the sunflower-esque pokémon covered in a light dusting of frost, its normally yellow petals turned brown on the edges from the cold.
"This sudden snow must be rough on you, huh?" Leo asked conversationally, the Sunflora shivering. He wasn't overly familiar with the Sunflora line, but it wasn't uncommon for wild grass types to enter a sort of hibernation during the winter, not unlike the dormant rest plants and trees went through. But the snow had come suddenly, so this particular Sunflora had probably been caught off-guard. Still, it made no move to leave, so Leo let it be for the moment.
He released Santiago onto the snowy ground and bent to pet his starter's head, the slowpoke taking a moment to take in his surroundings, register the cold weather, and sniff the snow as if he'd never seen it before.
"Sloooow?" he called questioningly.
"I know bud, I find it hard to believe that it was all sunny yesterday, too," Leo said, glancing at the cloudy grey sky that threatened even more winter weather. The contest had only been yesterday, and yet the weather was turning cold far, far quicker than he would've liked. "But we've still got to train, right?"
"Pooooo," he answered, lumbering forward, swinging his head side to side, plowing through the thin layer of snow to reveal the green grass once more while his tail wagged happily in the air. Leo shook his head. He'd get to him later, once the rest of the team was working. Besides, he was focusing on psychic training for the slowpoke at the moment. That usually meant working with him at night, when winding down for sleep. He could afford to take the morning off.
"Zuko, Diana, come on out," he said, releasing both the pokémon. Zuko immediately shot Leo a scandalized look, lifting his paws to glare at the dampness that now coated his fur, while Diana shivered the moment her feet touched the ground. Her red eyes grew wide at the drastic transformation that the landscape had undergone, bending to scoop a small handful of snow up to sniff curiously – while Zuko flared his back fires and raised the temperature of his body, the ambient heat melting the snow and making the whole situation far more comfortable for him.
I wonder if this is Diana's first-time seeing snow up close? Leo wondered, recalling that she had most likely spent her entire life underground before he caught her as she experimentally tasted the snow, the chill shocking her tongue. She blinked rapidly and sniffed it, staring at it in a new light.
"Alright guys, focus," Leo said, snapping his fingers. He'd let Diana play in the snow later; it was good to stick to a set training schedule. That meant early morning training routines. "Zuko, I want you running laps again. Since it snowed I'll allow you to light yourself on fire but don't go too crazy; you don't want Santiago dousing you with a water pulse again, do you?" Leo asked.
Zuko seemed to understand Leo's meaning perfectly if the way he visibly shuddered was any indication. Last time he'd gotten too enthusiastic Leo had sicced Santiago on him, and he'd been…judicious with the water pulses. Zuko wouldn't be repeating that mistake any time soon.
"Good. But also try to build up smoke at the same time. I want you to be able to use flame charge and the smoke bomb technique – you know, superheated smokescreen – at the same time. Once you're all warmed up we'll get started on swift," Leo said. Zuko grunted and shook himself off again, starting into a dead sprint and zooming past Santiago; coming as close to startling a slowpoke as anything ever really could. That meant Santiago actually raised his head to stare after Zuko, as if in surprise, and not much else.
"Diana, you and Spiritomb will be with me today. Your rock throw has gotten much better, so let's focus on other things for the moment, ok? Wouldn't want to let your close combat skills be neglected, right?" Leo asked, bending to run a hand along the Larvitar's crest. She cooed at him and bit at another handful of snow, screwing her eyes shut at the cold. "Silly girl. Try to mimic me, ok?"
Diana followed his feet for a moment, slowly working through the various positions and motions Leo led her through in her own, clumsy, short-legged way. Content that she would follow the motions on her own for a little bit – a nice warm-up for the more intense training he had planned for her – he turned his attention to Spiritomb, who had been uncharacteristically quiet this morning.
"Spiritomb, I want you to extend those black shadow tendril things," he commanded. The ghost was silent for a brief moment, but eventually acquiesced. A chill ran up Leo's spine as the tendrils of darkness emerged from his pocket, accompanied by a single glowing green eye that hovered just to the side of Leo, the ghost looking at him quizzically. "Wrap them around my arms. I want you to follow my movements and listen to my words – you need to be able to focus all your thoughts and spirits in a single direction; this should be a step in that direction,"
Whispers echoed in Leo's ears as the tendrils wound their way around Leo's arms and torso, wrapping around his palms and flattening out to mimic the shape of his hand. He sucked in a deep breath at the feeling, having not really expected what the tendrils actually felt like against bare skin. Through clothes the darkness felt almost solid, but touching it now…it felt more like an extension of Spiritomb's ectoplasmic body, only stickier. Is it part of Spiritomb's body, or a result of its dark typing or something? Leo wondered silently. Just because he knew that Spiritomb could do this, didn't mean he understood what this ability was or how it worked. Not even Oak was a hundred percent sure, though he did have a few theories due to a few other ghost-types having similar abilities. Cofagrigus, for one, could also use appendages like this.
Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Leo slid into an unfamiliar stance and worked his way through a series of movements that were far more unfamiliar to him than his primary martial art. This was Tai Chi, and though his knowledge of the art was rudimentary at best, what he did remember would help in his current purposes. If he remembered it right Tai Chi was a type of moving meditation – it might help Spiritomb focus itself.
"Focus on following me, without restricting my movements," Leo said softly, slowly shifting his stance and moving his hands in tune with his body. The shadowy tendrils flickered but followed, only occasionally offering resistance to Leo's movements, or lagging behind. "And center yourself on how we're moving. Focus and calm, let the voices run free but do not let them distract you," he said, just talking more than anything as the chaotic whispers of Spiritomb continually spoke in his ears.
And so this continued for a good ten minutes, at which point the ever-present whispers of Spiritomb calmed down to almost nothing by the end of their warm up. Leo grinned and slapped his face, the cold morning air stinging his cheeks. Now it was time to get some blood pumping, and as he looked out over the rest of his team as they worked, he decided to up the difficulty level a bit. "Spiritomb, would you release your Pressure please?" he asked, and immediately the clearing was flooded with the heavy weight of Spiritomb's presence. Diana stomped her foot on the ground and shook her head but continued on with her movements regardless, completely ignoring Zuko as the Quilava stumbled and nearly crashed into her. Santiago's head drooped, his eyes lighting up with the glow of psychic power, the Slowpoke turning to glare at Leo and Spiritomb.
Even the Sunflora minding its own business shot him an affronted look, and he smiled at it apologetically. But he wouldn't stop now. Now, it was time to really train.
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"You're leaving then?" Leo asked Daisy, picking through his plate of food. Breakfast in the motel wasn't all that great, but it was better than nothing. Powdered eggs, toast with oran berry jelly smeared all over it, and a few pieces of fruit were what constituted his breakfast.
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind. Norman told me of a place where I might be able to find a moon stone here in Johto – he found the stone he used to evolve his wife's Skitty there. Not that he's willing to lend it to me, of course – moon stones may be reusable, but they still need to recharge, for lack of a better word," Daisy said. Leo didn't bother wondering how a stone recharged – that was a crazy idea that he didn't want to get into right now. There was enough on his mind already.
"I see how it is," Leo said with a cheeky grin. "You just wanted me to help you in the contest, then you'd ditch me. I can't believe you'd use me like that," he bemoaned dramatically, slumping over the table and shooting her a look filled with mock-hurt.
"Shut it," she said, rolling her eyes and picking at her cereal. "I'd ask you to come with me – the Tohjo falls are technically on a route, so it wouldn't be illegal, and they are in the Silver Mountains – but Victoria would kill me if I kept you from getting your third badge before the season ends,"
Leo frowned at that, and scratched his chin. "Yeah, about that. What do you think about her opinion on Lance? I'm not really sure what to think," the games and anime had made Lance out to be a powerful trainer, after all, and a respected Champion. But this was neither the games nor the anime. This was a real world, with real people. There were bound to be differences.
"I can't say for sure. He's certainly got a very…direct personality, and some of his ideas are pretty wild, but I don't think it'll be as bad as she's making it out to be. Becoming a Champion isn't just about winning – it's also about earning the approval of enough gym leaders; especially if you want to stay Champion for long and actually 'rule' it as a leader. If Lance wants to become a Champion and stay the Champion of the Indigo League, thereby replacing Martin, he's going to have to tone it down a bit. He'll get in there and realize that some of the things he wants to do just aren't feasible," Daisy reasoned, picking at her food. "Like that strange berry tax he wants to implement, to help fund the poor. It shows an astounding lack of knowledge on the field – berry farming doesn't yield that much profit in Kanto or Johto. Many farmers are subsidized by the League as-is, anyway," she continued, Leo recalling that subsidizing something meaning the League helped fund something – in this case farms, in case there was a bad harvest or whatever.
"Huh. Thanks," Leo said. Daisy smiled at him and shrugged. "Still think I should head to Azalea for my third badge, or should I give Goldenrod a shot?" he asked, switching the subject.
"Azalea. That's a guaranteed win for you, and if Goldenrod is busy you might not be able to apply for a rematch in time for the season to end if you lose there," Daisy said. "Zuko will demolish the bugs in Azalea, and Diana will crush them."
"Fair enough," Leo said, nodding. The two fell silent for a moment longer before Leo had enough, and finally spoke his mind. "By the way, when you get done with your journey to the Tohjo falls, you should go visit Gary."
Daisy winced at the comment, and glared at him a little. He, however, didn't care and met her gaze.
"I don't need you guilt-tripping me," she hissed.
"Obviously you do since you haven't gone back to Pallet in over a year now. To my knowledge at least. Family is family, Daisy. I don't care why you haven't gone back yet but you should at least drop by every once in a while to visit Gary," he said bluntly. Daisy glared at him for a moment longer then let her shoulders sag.
"I know. I was planning on visiting the Ranch once the league season ended," she said softly.
"See that you do," he said with a nod, standing up. "On that note, though, I should probably think about leaving soon. The snow's already let up and the weather forecast says the skies should clear by this afternoon. I'd rather get a good enough head start." He said.
"You sure you don't want me to fly you to Azalea?" Daisy asked, and Leo hesitated before he could immediately say no. "It's not too far out of the way, and Pidgeot won't mind,"
Victoria had told him to quit messing around…and, quite frankly, the whole "travel Johto on foot" no longer held the same appeal that it had before with winter quickly setting in. That, and, if he was honest, that was more of a personal preference than anything else. He just loved the idea of wandering through Johto, seeing the sights. It'd been so beautiful so far.
"If you don't mind," Leo said with a sigh, shoving his mental protests to the idea to the side and shaking his head. "It'd be far dumber of me to not accept honestly. I was just being stubborn when I said no before," Daisy smiled at him.
"You? Stubborn? Never. Prepare for the cold though – it won't be a strictly comfortable flight," she warned. "We'll leave once the weather clears up though. Once the cloud cover breaks Pidgeot will be able to get us to Azalea in a few hours, max, though we may need to land to spend the night if it gets too dark," Leo nodded and rolled his shoulders, already counting his money and considering his current clothes in his head.
He might need a better coat for this, but good coats were expensive. Well, at least once I get my shopping done that means I can dedicate the rest of my time to training or research. He added mentally, then agreed to meet up in front of the Center in a few hours, once the skies cleared up, and headed off towards the nearest clothing store. Hopefully some good scarves or something would work, too.
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Pidgeot landed in a flutter of feathers, Leo shivering uncontrollably as he slid off the giant avian's back and immediately released Zuko. The Quilava took one look at his trainer and proceeded to worm his way up underneath his newly-bought jacket – it was long and made of Mareep wool, reaching down to his knees – and wiggling up through it until his head popped out of the collar, his nose sticking up into Leo's chin.
"Quiiiillll," he cooed, his high body temperature immediately making Leo feel better. He sighed and wrapped his arms around Zuko, still shivering.
"H-help me get a f-f-fire started," Daisy said through chattering teeth, sliding off Pidgeot who looked down at the two humans with disdain, as if to say "this little bit of cold bothers you?" Leo decided he didn't like the bird anymore, then and there.
"Okay," Leo grunted, Zuko sliding out of his coat as he stood and set about helping start a fire. With the light slowly fading he had to work quickly – he didn't want to be without a fire in the Ilex forest. There was just something about this place that set him on edge – perhaps it was the mist that perpetually filtered through the trees, perhaps it was the way the trees groaned and moaned in the windless night…
Whatever it was, the forest put him on edge. And he wasn't one who shied away from the wild, or saw phantoms in the dark. After all, he knew what phantoms were. He had one in his pocket.
Wish the cloud cover broke earlier. I would've liked to make Azalea today. Leo thought icily to himself as he struck his flint and steel together, the shower of sparks hitting the kindling of the fire and igniting. He could've had Zuko start the fire, or Daisy's Ponyta, who was out and standing next to Daisy to help stave off the cold, but he needed to practice his survival skills; especially in situations like this where he was shivering and shaking to the point he could barely hold his knife right.
He'd hate to be separated from Zuko somehow and be unable to start a fire because he couldn't control his hands. And considering he'd randomly appeared in the middle of nowhere before, he figured his concern was founded.
"Aren't you going to toss more wood on there?" Daisy asked, her chattering having subsided as she draped herself over Ponyta, who whinnied at her.
"No," Leo muttered, checking the thermometer he had strapped to the outside of his pack and wincing. It was already five degrees, and the sun had just set, the sky turning the dull grey color that came just before the night sky rose. It would probably reach the negatives tonight. "A few small fires will do more than one big fire. We can get closer to them, and they'll put off more relative heat than one big one. You can't get close enough to the big ones to get all the heat you need,"
"Huh," Daisy said. "Good to know. Do you need more firewood?" she asked, watching as her Meganium and Clefairy trundled out of the surrounding woods with a mouthful and armful of sticks, respectively.
"Yeah, if we want to keep at least one fire going," Leo responded, cursing as he fumbled with the striker. A sudden shiver had him jerking as he struck the blade against the striker, and familiar black tendrils shot out of his pocket to steady his hands, protecting his fingers from the blade. Spiritomb whispered in his ear, almost chidingly, and he murmured his thanks, finally getting the second fire going. He had started them far enough apart that Daisy and him could sleep between them – hopefully it worked as well as he imagined it would. With two people it was different.
Eventually the two settled down in their respective sleeping bags, Leo snuggling with Zuko and having stuffed his bag with clothes and blankets for extra layers, and cursing his stupid self for forgetting his tent. He didn't even remember where it had vanished to, the little one-person tent he'd had when he entered the Silver Mountains. Stupid thing had just…up and vanished one day.
"We'll get an early start in the morning, it should be just a few more hours to Azalea," Daisy said from her own bedroll and pile of blankets. "So try to get some sleep," Leo grunted but didn't respond, eyes glued instead to the tall pines that surrounded them, the shadows dancing in the firelight. It felt like something was watching them.
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"I don't like this forest," he said aloud, frowning. "It feels…sinister. I know it shouldn't, that there's very little out there that will actually come to hurt us, but…maybe it's just my paranoia acting up,"
"You? Afraid of a forest? First time for everything I guess," Daisy said with a laugh, rolling over so her back was facing him. "There's nothing out there, especially not with Zuko, Ponyta, Meganium, and Pidgeot around. Except for, of course, evil spirits. The ancient Azalean people used to perform rituals to appease them, you know," she teased softly.
Leo just frowned and lay still, quietly trying to force himself to sleep. Long after Daisy had fallen asleep he lay awake, staring at the sky and humming the Bellossom song to himself. It always made him feel better. Clefairy, who sat bundled up next to Daisy, whistled to him and began softly singing the fairy song, Leo joining in even as he drifted off into a light slumber.
He dreamt of many things. He dreamt of shadows merging, of pokémon battles, of Spiritomb piecing itself together after having been broken like a puzzle, and of a thousand other things that he couldn't remember. It was thanks to his tossing and turning and the vivid dreams he had that he woke when he did, eyes snapping open to behold the brilliant night sky. A thousand stars twinkled through the twisting claws of the Ilex forest's pine trees, overshadowed though they were by the myriad of massive red eyes staring down at him from the trunks. His breathing hitched as he and the trees stared back at each other, the branches moving slowly in ways reminiscent of limbs.
This was no bloody forest. This was a Trevenant grove. How did he keep ending up in these situations?!
Spiritomb whispered frantically in his ears as he slowly, carefully, extricated himself from the sleeping bag, the Trevenant watching his every move but not acting against him. Zuko twitched in his sleep, the Quilava having burrowed deeper into Leo's sleeping bag at some point, but remained asleep. Leo let him have his rest. There was little he could do against an entire Trevenant grove at his current level.
"Show yourself, Spiritomb, but be slow and careful about it. We need to show we're not a threat," Leo whispered, feeling his ghostly friend's panic through his own emotions. There was a part of him that agreed with Spiritomb and wanted to flee immediately, and part that wanted to fight the trees off, as foolish as that sounded. His common sense won out though. Neither of those options were ideal – the ghosts were already too close.
Spiritomb slowly snaked its way out of his pocket, its green eyes wide and maw open wide in preparation for battle. The trees groaned and creaked as Leo glanced towards the still-sleeping Daisy, opening his mouth to try and wake her with a whisper. He was afraid that any loud noises that he made would set off the Trevenant, but she was a powerful trainer. He needed her awake and aware if the Trevenant did want to try anything.
Just because he'd had good luck getting out of intense situations like these before didn't mean he wanted to continue testing his luck.
"Calm down, they're peaceful," a softy, feminine voice echoed out from behind him. The Trevenent groaned as their eyes flickered then faded, their clawed hands fading back into branches as Leo slowly turned, coming face-to-face with a green face and wide blue eyes. He remained stock still as the Celebi grinned at him, bee-like wings flitting rapidly in the dim firelight as it – she, the voice was definitely female – observed him.
"Hello," Leo said dumbly. Celebi giggled.
"Hello, little Lion," she said, buzzing a little higher into the air, then glancing at the sleeping Daisy. "Follow me. I don't want to wake the little flower," she continued, and buzzed off into the darkness.
Leo glanced at Daisy, at the still-sleeping Zuko, considered the utterly confused whispers of Spiritomb, and finally looked at the trees that he now knew were Trevenant.
"The trees were merely curious, not malicious. Fairy-songs are not common in this forest. She will be safe there," Celebi promised, her voice echoing oddly in both his ears and ringing in his head. Leo hesitated for just a moment longer before bending and picking up his jacket from where it lay bunched up in his sleeping bag – the removal of said garment from the pile not disturbing Zuko in the slightest – and slipped it on as he followed after the legendary pokémon, his emotions oddly calm.
It was, quite frankly, about time that a legendary came to talk to him. He'd been ready for an explanation for years, and Articuno hadn't exactly seemed like the best conversationalist.
"Winter is quite the interesting talker, once you get to know him. His offspring are more fickle but Winter himself, the original bird, has many stories and secrets to tell. There is more to the winter than just cold and snow," Celebi said, apparently reading his thoughts.
"I knew there was more than one," Leo muttered, not even bothering to feel surprised that Celebi knew what he was thinking, instead fixating his gaze on the little things that gave him some idea of the being he was now faced with.
Its power wasn't some grandiose feeling that pressed down on him from all sides – not like the Pressure from Articuno – but rather in the way the grass beneath his feet – shoeless though he was, his Mareep wool socks were plenty warm and the grass thankfully wasn't wet – brightened up and turned towards Celebi as the green onion-bee thing passed, and in the way the wind slowed to a gentle breeze nearby.
The trees fell silent, their creaks and groans ceasing as Celebi grew near as if in respect to the legendary's presence. It was still fall, of course, nearly winter, and the plants did not liven up simply because Celebi was here. Instead the grass simply appeared…fuller, in the dark night, the bushes the two passed seeming to grow healthier as if they gained more nutrients simply from her presence. It was…odd, because words could not fully describe how a plant could suddenly look fatter, ready to hibernate for the winter like a bear might.
A Spinarak skittered across Leo's foot as he walked, the bug-type paying neither Leo nor Celebi any mind as it vanished off into the night, giving him a bit of a fright.
"So," Leo began, breaking the sacred silence that had fallen over the forest.
"Make sure you know your question before you ask it," Celebi answered over her shoulder, buzzing up into the air and peering through the branches of a set of trees. Leo squinted and looked through the gap as well, a singular star outlined amongst the pine needles.
"Why am I here? Why were Jack and I brought here?" Leo blurted.
"Didn't you already get that question answered?" she asked rhetorically. He sighed and scratched the back of his head, recalling the visions he'd had when unlocking Spiritomb. Yes, he did recall the endless Void, yes he did recall falling through the barrier between dimensions…but had it really been an accident? His gut told him yes, but his mind…it argued otherwise. Things like this didn't just happen, he wanted to argue. "It was an accident, your arrival in this world. However, just because you are now here does not mean that you don't have a place. You are here now, and no one would deny you your right to existence, your right of choice,"
Leo clicked his mouth shut and just nodded. A part of him had been hoping for some manifest destiny or what-have-you. Travelling between universes by utter accident, due to a fault in the fabric of reality (as he understood it), seemed far more…lackluster in comparison to having been called here, though perhaps just as impressive in its own right.
"Do not be ridiculous. Travelling between worlds in the same universe is no easy feat for a mortal soul – let alone travelling between universes. It is a testament to your own self that you did not shatter under the Pressure," Celebi chided. Leo frowned and pressed one hand against the trunk of a tree, the rough bark grounding him back in reality as a severe sense of vertigo suddenly took hold. A wave of fresh air hit him like a freight train, warmth that had nothing to do with temperature flooding his body and making him grunt. Memories continued to flood through his brain, and for a brief moment he relived his time travelling through the void, as naught but a soul, in excruciating detail.
It took a moment for him to right himself, the fresh air providing a grounding anchor that helped him center himself back in reality – though he was shocked to see that he had proceeded further into the forest during his little "vision fit," or perhaps he had been standing before a shrine the entire time and just hadn't noticed it. The small wooden shrine stood on stilts, raising the structure about four feet off the ground with the slatted doors closed shut despite the burning candles situated on either side of the doorway. The shrine itself was no bigger than Leo's torso, and Celebi settled on the roof of the shrine, staring at him with an amused smile.
"What's this?" Leo asked, raising his eyebrows. A gentle wind rustled the tall pines, pulling brown needles off their branches and sending them fluttering through the air, providing movement to the absolute stillness that surrounded the tiny structure. It appeared as if…frozen in time, not even the flames of the candles flickering as they burned and gave off heat.
"An anchor," Celebi corrected. "A spot which I can always return to, no matter how far I travel in space or in time,"
"Why did you bring me here?" Leo asked, not sure where else to start with his questions. Now that he was actually standing in front of a legendary that was willing to talk to him, his thoughts had become disordered. He didn't know where to start he had so many questions – or perhaps it was just that he didn't know how to phrase them.
"Because you followed me," Celebi answered. Leo scowled at her.
"Don't start with me. Why are you here? Why now? Why did you seek me out?" Leo demanded. Celebi smiled and closed her eyes, the buzzing of her wings freezing in place as the wind picked up, tearing through the trees with a veritable roar that sent a cascade of pine needles fluttering through the air.
"What do you see here?" Celebi asked instead of answering, gesturing widely to the shrine. Leo huffed in annoyance and squinted at the shrine, deciding to humor her for the moment.
"I don't know," he said lamely. Celebi shot him a look that spoke volumes of what she thought of that statement, and he sighed, shaking his head.
"You, who see the nobility of slowpoke and sing to the grasses and fairies of the world, can only see a shrine?" she asked, the tone of her voice sounding more accusing than anything else. Leo grumbled and shrugged, somewhat understanding what she was getting at. There was something here that Celebi wanted him to see, he just had to look for it.
Leo set his shoulders and circled the shrine, examining it closely. Surprisingly it showed little to no signs of wear and tear, appearing very well maintained barring a few scratches and nicks in the stain that kept the weather out of the wood. Little ornate pokémon were carved into the walls, and the candles still glowed with orange light despite sitting very still – Leo saw all this, but didn't know what he was supposed to be seeing.
"What am I supposed to be seeing here?" Leo asked. Celebi was silent for a moment, as if debating whether or not to answer, before she shrugged.
"When I am here, I do not see anything. I experience the world's aura in melodies and song – the trees, the air, the ground, each plays their little symphonies for all to hear, and I choose to listen. That tree there, for example, sings in a rich baritone – I quite like it. Your song is strong, but meanders back and forth like a lazy river, unsure which way to go. How do you experience the world, little Lion?" Celebi explained, flitting up off of the shrine and buzzing about the clearing, humming happily to herself. Her hum did not sound like the droning of a bee, like Leo had expected, but rather rang out like a chorus of voices all singing together, young and old, woman and man, pokémon and human – it was a song that Leo could only define as one that defined time. It was the past, the present, and the future all layered together into one, and listening to that song Leo felt he could almost see his future as well as he recalled his past.
But despite his habit of singing to grass-types, and how he enjoyed playing those songs Leo did not experience the world that way. The world was beautiful, but he did not hear it as nothing but a song.
He glanced down at his coat pocket, where Spiritomb remained absolutely silent. Taking a deep breath, Leo stamped down on all his emotions, allowing his worried and fears to slip away. The concern about getting his next badge, his worry and excitement concerning finally finding a clue about his friend Jack, the talk about Lance and his potential ineptitude at leadership, all of it bled into the background before finally flying from his mind, leaving naught but silence.
Slowly Leo reached out and rested his hand on the shrine, closing his eyes and simply allowing himself to feel. He liked to think he knew himself well, and understood how he really experienced the world. Sure, he could see things, but more importantly he felt them.
His instincts kept him alive in the Silver Mountains, they helped him in earning Tyrus' approval to keep Diana, they led him to befriending Froslass, and guided him in surviving Spiritomb's initial outburst. It was not emotion, simply…a sixth sense sort of feeling that guided him. His gut, if you will. Snorting to himself in amusement, he recalled what Professor Oak had said about him; "smart, but doesn't think things through." If that wasn't the truth, he didn't know what was.
For a solid ten minutes Leo stood there, hand against the shrine and remaining silent, basking the in the peace and quiet, when he felt something. It was small at first, a tingling sensation he thought had been a lack of blood leading to the hand touching the shrine, but it swiftly became apparent that it was something else. There was a…current, beneath his hand, that did not disturb his skin but roiled nonetheless.
"Do not look away," Celebi urged, voice both close and far away at the same time. Leo breathed out, listening to his heart as it slowly beat in his chest, then refocused on the current. He could feel it, all he had to do was touch it…no, he had to let it in. Leo breathed in through his nose, relaxing his body and splaying his fingers against the shrine, not willing or forcing the current to touch him – he already knew that wouldn't work as he had tried it – but rather imagining a hole in his hand that would allow the current in.
Almost immediately images began to dance behind his eyelids, darting across his mind like scenes from a movie. He saw the Silver Mountains, covered in ice and snow as a flock of Articuno, led by Articuno itself, raged in the skies above, blizzards drenching the mountains in tens of feet of snow. The scene shifted, the snow gone, but the nevermeltice glacier that contained the ultra-beasts appeared next – or at least a shell of it did. People milled about before the shattered glacier, equipment strewn about as they locked three blue-colored pokeballs away in cases…again the scene shifted, showing Victoria on a hospital bed. It shifted again, and Giovanni battled Lance in a duel for the ages. The Rocket Leader's expression was calm and neutral as his rhyperior shot down Lance's Charizard, the flaming dragon replaced with a beast of colossal stature – its black hide gleaming in the sun of the stadium, jaw-like hands snapping hungrily in the air as its main body, more mouth than body, turned towards its prey ready to consume all in its path.
Leo saw more; a city in flames, a city covered in snow – he saw Lance become crowned champion as a crowd of people, Giovanni among them, turned away from the stage in disgust. Then, finally, the visions slowed, and he found himself looking through the eyes of a woman, cradling the head of a man. He felt her sadness and grief as it tore through her, the man bleeding out in her arms – Leo felt the way it tore her up inside. And when she looked up to see the perpetrators, he saw the infamous red R emblazoned on their shirts, their silhouettes illuminated against a burning house in the background.
He gasped and yanked away from the shrine, putting an immediate end to the visions. His veins burned in his arm as he gasped for breath, the current he had felt not having travelled through him without causing some damage – his palm stinging with a sharp pain as he rested his hands on his knees and wheezed. Leo coughed, hacked, and spluttered for but a few more minutes, his stomach churning with nausea and the pain in his arm slowly receding, when he finally looked up at Celebi.
"What was that?" he wheezed. Celebi smiled at him, giggling.
"Silly, I told you that is an anchor in time. It is a powerful point in space, one I am connected to – it gave you a glimpse of a future, one that may or may not come to pass," Celebi said, nodding gravely.
"You could have warned me," Leo gasped, standing up straight and rolling his shoulder, wincing as the muscles pulled. "That hurt!"
"I asked you what you saw, not what you felt," Celebi said innocently. "Allowing the energy within the shrine to flow through you, therefore connecting you to the Future Sight, was bound to hurt if you touched it," Leo opened his mouth to retort, closed it in frustration, opened it again to tell Celebi off, then thought better of it and grit his teeth. Celebi hadn't told him to touch the shrine, true, but he would have appreciated a warning!
But, more importantly, Leo considered what he saw.
"That…future, do you know what I saw?" he asked. Celebi nodded, and Leo frowned. "Team Rocket rises in response to Lance becoming Champion then?" Celebi shrugged.
"Perhaps. Most likely. What you saw is but one future amongst many – depending on how people choose to act it may come to pass, only pieces may come to pass, or perhaps not at all," Celebi said. Leo frowned, recalling the pain of the woman who lost her…lover? He shuddered, and clutched at his chest as it constricted with grief for a person he did not personally know.
…he felt responsible now. He knew what might be coming, it was his duty to try and change it right? The image of Victoria laying in a hospital bed flashed in his mind once more, and a flash of anger made his blood burn red-hot. As a trainer it was likely you'd end up in the hospital eventually, but at the same time if she wound up in the hospital not due to a training related thing but caused instead by actions from Giovanni or Lance…well, that was just unacceptable.
"How do I stop it from happening?" Leo asked, meeting Celebi's amused gaze with his own determined one. She smiled and just shook her head.
"You cannot," she said simply. Leo stared at her, processing that, and she took that moment of silence to continue. "They have made their choices, they will proceed as they will. The people of Indigo are not wholly susceptible to the whims and actions of one boy, like yourself. Perhaps what you saw will not come to pass, perhaps the people of Indigo will choose a different path – perhaps not. But as you are now, you can do nothing,"
"Then why show me that at all? To taunt me?" Leo demanded, but Celebi just smiled and stared at him, as if waiting for him to figure it out himself. It took him a moment, then it clicked. "Wait, you said 'as I am now.' What did you mean by that?" Celebi giggled.
"Obviously you have to grow stronger," she said.
"You mean training?" Leo asked, frowning. His team did need work, of course. He knew that. He'd been working on it.
"Not just training. What strength means is up to you; will you be the great trainer who travels about, solving problems that others can or will not? Will you be a Champion who guides the region to further greatness? Or perhaps the singer, who seeks to change the world with song?" Celebi asked with a shrug. "The choice is yours,"
"Okay then," Leo grumbled, running a hand through his hair. The last option there was a moot point – he figured Celebi threw that in there as more of a joke than anything else – and the others weren't much better. It was nothing that he didn't know already, albeit with more pressure in the form of that future vision. But he guess he saw the point she was trying to make. "How do I go about that?"
"That, too, is up to you. Though I will say that Alola will be good for you," Celebi nodded sagely, rising up off her shrine with a buzz of her wings. Leo blinked at her as her body started to fade, the air around her rippling with power.
"Wait! I still have more questions! Is Jack ok? I know he's ok, obviously, but I mean – what happened to him? How can I get in contact with him? What about all that stuff about aura? And - " Leo cut himself off and glanced down at his pocket, where Spiritomb's keystone was kept. "How do I help Spiritomb? What is Spiritomb? I know it asked me for help but I have no idea what I'm doing here,"
At the last question Celebi's form ceased to fade, leaving her as a half-translucent image hovering above the shrine which, to Leo's shock, was similarly half-translucent.
"You really wish to know about Spiritomb?" she asked softly. Leo hesitated once more, then nodded.
"Yes, among all the other things I mentioned," he said.
"Your friend is fine where he is – he was not placed in a situation nearly as dangerous as yours. And as for Spiritomb, well, you are not too far off the mark with your thoughts," Celebi said vaguely. "Try to feel it from them – you have the ability, and all things have aura. Feel it out and keep doing what you have been doing. You're doing good so far," she said and vanished, leaving Leo gaping at where she, and her shrine, had once been. Now all that was left in the forest was him, a shaft of silver moonlight filtering through the trees, and pine needles falling from the branches of trees.
"But…huh?" Leo muttered, scratching his head about the whole aura comment. The thing about Jack was reassuring, but until he heard from his friend he would reserve his judgement, so instead he focused on the problem he had in front of him.
Spiritomb, and aura. "I suppose aura is life energy and flows through all living things, so it makes sense that even if I'm dark that I'd be able to sense aura – though maybe I really should take Oak's advice and stop thinking about things in terms of type. He said things like 'dark' and 'psychic' types don't really apply to humans," Leo murmured to himself, becoming increasingly aware of the chill seeping through his coat to stab at the flesh beneath. He shivered and turned, heading back toward camp, rubbing his arms and shaking his head.
He'd never get to sleep after that whole experience.
And he was right, of course.